《Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II》|26| Chapter Twenty-Six
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alright?"
Minutes after leaving the Deathday party, Saffron froze when she saw that Harry had stumbled into the stone wall. With a look of desperation, his eyes were shut, in what looked to be a mixture of pain and concentration. Like he was listening intently or something.
"It's that voice again - shut up a minute--" Harry hissed, a note of pure terror evident in his voice. "Listen!"
Saffron clasped her hand over her mouth so to ensure she didn't even breath. She watched on as she, Harry, Hermione and Ron listened to the voice. However, it seemed that only one of the four could hear the voice. Saffron saw Hermione furrow her brow at Harry in disbelief. But Saffron believed him, she of all people understood what it felt like to see or hear things that didn't actually exist. Her mother in the Grey was a prime example of this.
"This way!" Harry shouted suddenly. Without hesitation, he started to run up a flight of stairs in the direction of the entrance hall. Saffron gawked at him but followed immediately, Hermione and Ron both did likewise.
"What's going on, Harry?" gasped Saffron desperately.
"SHH!"
Saffron looked from the worried face of Hermione to the dumbfounded face of Ron and then finally to the horrorstricken face of Harry. Again, he seemed to be yearning for information or clarification of some sort. Listening for what precisely the voice had to say. Until---
"It's going to kill someone!"
Letting out a concerned yelp, Saffron yet again ran after Harry who hurtled up another flight of steps. She hadn't the faintest as to what was going on. All she knew for sure was that Harry was in a state of emotional or mental distress and that he needed them.
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"Harry, what was that all about?" panted Ron when Harry finally came to a stop. "I couldn't hear anything..."
All of a sudden, Hermione let out a horrified gasp, saying: "Look! "
Saffron had to squint in order to read it. Reflected in a puddle of water below it, in large red letters a message was written.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware," Saffron arched her eyebrow at the message with her mouth wide open. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I--" Hermione was speechless. "I don't know," She paused. "It looks like it's written in blood. But what of?"
"Maybe that," said Ron shakily, his hand shaking too as he pointed up at something hanging from the ceiling, unmoving. Saffron thought she was going to throw up - it was Mrs Norris, Mr Filch's cat.
"We need to get out of here," Saffron told them with intent. She grabbed onto Hermione's hand, who nodded. Ron went to follow them, but Harry just stood there, staring. "Now, Harry,"
"Shouldn't we try and help -" spluttered Harry, still not moving from where he stood, his eyes fixated on the cat.
"We can't be seen here," responded Saffron. "Harry come --- oh, no,"
It was too little too late. The sound of hundreds of feet told them that the Halloween feast had come to an end and that in a matter of seconds a sizeable proportion of the school would come flooding through the hall.
The four Gryffindors had no time to go anywhere. All they could do was wait until the first groups of students arrived at either end of the corridor. They came to a sudden halt when they saw the scene in front of them: four students in front of a seemingly dead cat. An eerie silence followed, in which nobody seemed to know what to say.
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Of course, Draco Malfoy found something sooner or later:
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
Saffron stared into the crowd of puzzled students to see Draco at the front of a large group of Slytherins. He wasn't the only one in that contingency to have a smile on their face. Other students broke the silence that followed that by making remarks back at Draco for his vulgar comment.
Mr Filch's words that followed silenced everybody.
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
When he saw Mrs. Norris, he dropped to his knees and covered his face in agony. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"
"You!" he made a start towards Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll--"
"Mr. Filch, we had nothing to do with this, nothing!" Saffron blurted out defensively. There was no way she was going to let them take the fall for doing this. Just because they had stumbled upon the crime scene didn't mean they were guilty of anything.
Filch glared at her and altered her focus onto her. " You murdering scum, I'll get you, I'll--"
"Argus!"
Saffron let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Professor Dumbledore. He made his way over to the children and Filch, but continued to walk past them. He took Mrs. Norris body off from the wall it was attached too. His eyes rested on it for a moment, but then he looked up and addressed the crowd.
"Everybody is to return to their dormitories immediately," When Dumbledore said this, Saffron went to pull Hermione off to join the rest of the crowd leaving the scene. But she knew that prospect was too good to be true. "Not so fast, Miss Mitchell, you four are to stay with me,"
Saffron gulped. They were done for.
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