Harley Potter and her world famous twin

The chamber of secrets

Gideon was the only one who noticed that Harley was not her usual self at the Halloween feast. Sure Harley was quite but she was lost in her thoughts and even sighed a couple of times.

Gideon watched Harley watch the skeletons with a rueful smile, until she suddenly got up and left. The slytherins around him looked at her leaving in astonishment and asked among themselves why she did so.
No one asked Gideon, and he didn't tell them.

.......................

Harley wandered around the castle having lost her appetite. She was not particularly interested in the Halloween feast unlike her friends. What she liked the most about Halloween was the spooky but- not-really-spooky decorations and the overall atmosphere.

Pansy as well as the rest of the girls were excitedly talking about the dancing skeleton Dumbledore was going to summon.

Harley was in quite a good mood until she heard that. Because when she did, all she could think was of Sirius. Sirius,  who made the skeletons in the anatomy museum dance, Sirius who stole a skull back to use as Halloween decoration in their tiny single bedroom apartment.

She had watched the skeletons dance for a while, until she noticed Gideon watching her closely with a worried look. He was, perhaps the only one to notice her mood swings in Hogwarts. But she couldn't let her gloominess affect him.

Perhaps Moaning Myrtle would be the perfect companion for her tonight.

Harley stopped when she spotted something glistening in the wall. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAVE BEEN OPENED .ENEMIES OF THE HEIR ,BEWARE.

  The words were in blood. Harley was about to laugh it off as a prank or something when she noticed the cat. Mrs Norris, Filch's beloved cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch
bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring. Harley was really scared for the first time in past two years.

She didn't know what to do, or who to trust . Her first thought was to go to Filch as he should be the only one to care about the cat but she had a feeling that she would be blamed if she went to him.

Then she thought of professor Snape. He will not punish or blame a slytherin without reason and why not admit it? Harley trusted Snape and felt safe around him.

Severus Snape looked down at the young girl, panting heavily in front of him.
"What is it this time, miss Black? "
The girl had a tendency to look for him. Unlike the other students, Harley Black was not afraid of him. The girl took a deep breath .

"The chamber of secrets have been opened "
Snape visibly pale at that. He pushed her into the office, asking her to stay there and be calm until he returned. Then he turned and left with a flounce , his great black cloak billowing.

Harley sat in the potion master's office trying to regulate her breathing. She wasn't scared of blood. But she knew what the words meant. The heir of slytherin has opened the chamber of secrets.

Chill, Harley! It could be a prank. But Harley could not think of a prankster who'd dare to write something like that. Even if it's not a prank, it doesn't have to be the truth. Yes that's the best possibility, someone with malicious intent is trying to ruffle people up. But the chambers are probably not open

Yet.
Harley knocked her head against the table —She didn't have to maintain an image without anyone to see her— just why did she have to be a pro at finding out the dark side of things?

To take her mind off things, Harley looked around her. The room, like the potions class room, had a wide range of potion supplies and that included glass jars of pickled animals and parts .But she is one of those people who like anatomy and chemistry labs. Someone who used to find comfort in the smell of chemicals. She obviously didn't mind the atmosphere.

She walks around the office for a while before returning to the chair. On the table Harley noticed a book : Brews for the Mind. Harley opened it hoping that professor Snape wouldn't mind. If he did... Well she hoped she wouldn't be found.

*****************

S

everus Snape had almost forgotten about the young girl in his office in all the rush. It was almost morning when he came back to his office to find the girl asleep in a stiff backed chair, head on the table.

He noticed that the girl still had a book, his book, open. It looked as if she had fallen asleep reading it. He wasn't surprised at that, most of his students were bored by potion classes themselves, not to mention Snape's personal reading material.

What shocked him was that the girl had a sheet of parchment besides her on which she had taken notes from the book. Her quill was lying on the floor and it had leaked ink all over.
Snape picked up the notes. The girl had a beautiful cursive. She had taken down three complex potion recipe before falling asleep.

One a potion for numbing mind, often used for hysteric people;  another a potion for improving concentration and memory;  and the last was one for clarity of mind, helpful when making serious decisions.

Snape smiled as he thought of the girl's mother. But he knew now that Harley was more than that. That she was more than either her parents. He thought of the day the little girl came to apologize to him.

The professor gently lifted the child's hand and took the book in her clutch. Then he cleaned up the mess on the floor with a quick spell.

*****************

Harley woke up on a couch in the common room. Her bag was on the floor beside her and the parchment paper she used to note down the potions were on a table along with her quill and inkpot. She had a vague memory of falling asleep in the potion master's office.

She wondered when she got back. As for how, she already had a pretty good idea. Professor Snape brought her back. Who else could it be?