Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall with ‘Mrs Skower’s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover’, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When Filch wasn’t guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like ‘breathing loudly’ and ‘looking happy’.
    Ginny Weasley seemed very disturbed by Mrs Norris’s fate. According to Ron, she was a great cat-lover.
    ‘But you hadn’t really got to know Mrs Norris,’ Ron told her bracingly. ‘Honestly, we’re much better off without her.’ Ginny’s lip trembled. ‘Stuff like this doesn’t often happen at Hogwarts,’ Ron assured her. ‘They’ll catch the nutter who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he’s got time to Petrify Filch before he’s expelled. I’m only joking –’ Ron added hastily, as Ginny blanched.
    The attack had also had an effect on Hermione. It was quite usual for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing almost nothing else. Nor could Harry and Ron get much response from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the following Wednesday did they find out.
    Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks. After a hurried lunch, he went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming towards him. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin caught sight of him, turned abruptly and sped off in the opposite direction.
    Harry found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three-foot long composition on ‘The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards’.
    ‘I don’t believe it, I’m still eight inches short …’ said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll, ‘and Hermione’s done four feet seven inches and her writing’s tiny. ’
    ‘Where is she?’ asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling his own homework.
    ‘Somewhere over there,’ said Ron, pointing along the shelves, ‘looking for another book. I think she’s trying to read the whole library before Christmas.’
    Harry told Ron about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.
    ‘Dunno why you care, I thought he was a bit of an idiot,’ said Ron, scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. ‘All that rubbish about Lockhart being so great –’
    Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable and at last seemed ready to talk to them.
    ‘ All the copies of Hogwarts: A History have been taken out,’ she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron. ‘And there’s a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn’t left my copy at home, but I couldn’t fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books.’
    ‘Why do you want it?’ said Harry.
    ‘The same reason everyone else wants it,’ said Hermione, ‘to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.’
    ‘What’s that?’ said Harry quickly.
    ‘That’s just it. I can’t remember,’ said Hermione, biting her lip. ‘And I can’t find the story anywhere else –’
    ‘Hermione, let me read your composition,’ said Ron desperately, checking his watch.
    ‘No, I won’t,’ said Hermione, suddenly severe. ‘You’ve had ten days to finish it.’
    ‘I only need another two inches, go on …’
    The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.
    History of Magic was the dullest subject on their timetable. Professor Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard. Ancient and shrivelled, many people said he hadn’t noticed he was dead. He had simply got up to teach one day and left his body behind him in an armchair in front of the staff-room fire; his routine had not varied in the slightest since.
    Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming round long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again. He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened before. Hermione put up her