Mara's Magic

ii - not helpful

I walked by Dumbledore's side all the way to his office. Snape trailed behind us, but as we entered his office, it was requested that he remained outside. It was weird. 

I took my usual seat, crossing my legs underneath me. I pulled the tray of licorice wands he had towards me and bit the end off of one, waiting for him to take his seat at his throne of a chair.

"What did you need to speak to me about, Sir?" I asked once he sat. He sighed. 

"I heard from Minerva about these... panicked feelings you've been having. Did you have one leading up to this instance?" He asked. I nodded slowly, knitting my eyebrows.

"Yes. Just before I went looking for Harry," I answered. 

"Any other times?" He furthered. 

"When Filch grabbed him," I replied. "I think if I wasn't there he would have hit him."

"And you believe them to be warning signs," he said.

"Yes. As if your request of me to watch over him has turned magical," I replied. "It only happens when Harry could be or is in danger. It happens on the pitch, during practice, that night that they found Fluffy, and the night they saved the Philosopher's Stone. Since then, I've learned to take them pretty seriously. Do you have any theories?"

He furrowed his brows and settled back in his seat, his hand coming to rest on his chin in thought. "I'm afraid not. Though, I think we could use it to our advantage."

"How so?" I asked. 

"In keeping a closer eye on things happening in the castle. Harry has a knack for finding things he should not, perhaps he will find what is happening," he answered simply, though I knew he was lying.

"Except, Sir, that you do know what is happening," I retorted calmly. He sighed immediately.

"You're a clever girl."

"No, I'm just good at reading people," I replied. "What's going on? What's the Chamber of Secrets?"

He sighed, debating for a moment whether or not to tell me. He leaned forward in his chair, his hands clasped together on the desk in front of him. "You know of the four founders of Hogwarts? Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helena Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin?"

I nodded.

"Slytherin was a pureblood, like the rest of them, but he believed that purebloods should stay purebloods. He hated the idea of muggle-tainted bloodlines and insisted to the other founders that muggleborns and half-bloods should not be allowed at Hogwarts. The other three refused and Slytherin left the school. But, he left it with a gift: the Chamber of Secrets. It's only been opened once before and when that happened a muggleborn was killed. It was rumored that a monster resided in the chamber, though no one ever discovered what it was, where it was, or how to remove it."

"So, we've just been living here with a deadly creature living in our walls?" I asked incredulously. "Professor, how could you not have found it?"

"We believed that we did. But, evidently we were wrong."

"Hell of a mistake, Professor," I said. 

We sat in silence for a long while, both just letting our minds run. Mine ended up looping back to where it always did, especially when I was with the headmaster.

"It's getting worse," I mumbled quietly. He furrowed his brows and leaned back in his chair. "My magic."

"Explain," he said. "If you feel comfortable, of course."

"Over the summer, when I was with Charlie in Romania, it started acting up. I can't use magic outside of school, obviously, but it was like it didn't care. It wanted out." My voice was small and shaky, especially on the last sentence. It wanted out. What was it?