Hidden Wings - Part I

Halloween

The time had passed quickly once more, and it was suddenly Halloween.

Sisi had left a week before and would not be back before next year, so Jessamine tried to cheer up the sad blackbird by spending time with her and feeding her pieces of her food.

Jessamine was rapidly improving in her use of magic, and Professor Flitwick had started to teach her charms she wouldn't learn until her third year.

In DADA, Jessamine taught herself as best as she could, considering that her Professor was absolutely useless. She usually didn't like to think badly about others, but Professor Lockhart was making it very difficult.

Her sessions with Professor Snape were going rather well too, and Jessamine always looked forward to the next one.

During the Halloween feast, Jessamine noticed that Hermione, Harry and Ron were absent.
She told herself that she didn't need to worry, but still kept glancing at the door to see if they would pop in.

A little surprise had been the Slytherin Erica Winson, a cheerful first-year who had decided to sit with Jessamine from now on and badgered her with questions about Esma and Sisi.

Erica had troubles fitting in with the other Slytherins, so she had somehow picked Jessamine to be the person she'd stick with.

"Are you a muggleborn?", Erica asked while shoveling sliced of pumpkin pie onto her plate.

"Yes", said Jessamine honestly and ate a slice of her banana.

"Wicked", Erica grinned, "how do you survive here?"

"I placed spells on my things, so that nobody would tamper with them", Jessamine replied with an evil smirk.

That was the truth.

Anybody trying to ruin her books or go through her private stuff would get blocked by a shield and wake up the next day with fiery red hair.

Draco had been hiding in his dorm for a day after he tried it, until his hair had returned to normal.

Jessamine still had to giggle when she remembered his hair.

Erica followed Jessamine out of the hall when the feast was over, when suddenly, Jessamine had a very bad feeling something was going to happen.

She dashed off along the corridor, yelling a "Sorry, forgot something!" over her shoulder to Erica and ran up the steps to find-
Mrs. Norris hanging petrified off a torch, while behind her it said in a blood red color:

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir...beware.

Jessamine gulped in fear. That couldn't be good.

What was the Chamber of Secrets?

Her thoughts got interrupted by Harry, Ron and Hermione showing up behind her, panting heavily.

"Jess?", Harry wheezed, "what are you doing here?"

"I had a bad feeling", Jessamine told them and pointed at Mrs. Norris.
"Look."

The Gryffindors finally noticed the petrified cat.

"Oh no", whispered Hermione fearfully.

More students were returning to their dorms, and soon many saw the message too.

"Mudbloods, you're next!", Draco said maliciously, after he had read it.

Professor Snape pushed his way through the crowd and barked: "Everybody return to their dorms, now."

Jessamine was about to leave, when he added coolly: "Ms. Lince, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, you will come with me."

In Professor Dumbledore's office, Mr. Filch was pointing at the four students with his bony finger.
"It was them!", he shrieked, "they killed my Mrs. Norris!"

Jessamine looked at him sympathetically, he really seemed to love his cat.

"She is not dead, Argus", Professor Dumbledore tried to reassure him.

"She is just petrified. Professor Sprout will have the remedy ready in a couple of months."

Mr. Filch stared at Jessamine and her friends angrily.
"I know it was them", he accused the students and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Perhaps", Professor Snape drawled, "Mr. Potter and his friends were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. However-", he paused, his eyes glittering, "that does not explain why they missed the Halloween feast."

"We were at Sir Nicholas' birthday party", Hermione explained hurriedly, "that's why we missed the feast."

Professor Snape leaned forward, looking down at them.
"But why not go to the feast afterwards, Ms. Granger?"

"We weren't hungry", Harry replied shortly, clenching his fingers into fists.

"Yeah", Ron nodded, "you should have seen the rotten food at Nick's party."

He shuddered.

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at him.
"And you, Miss Lince? Last time I checked, your dorms were in the dungeons", Professor Snape continued his questioning.

"I went up there because-", Jessamine paused, "- I had a bad feeling."

Mr. Filch pointed his finger at her.

"See? She doesn't even have an alibi!"

"Argus", Professor Dumbledore said kindly, "I doubt that a second-year would be able to do perform dark magic."

"But-", Mr. Filch stammered helplessly.

"Mrs. Norris will be fine, we can bring her back in a few months and she will not have been harmed in any way", Professor Dumbledore calmed him.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were excused, however Professor Dumbledore wanted to speak with Jessamine in private.

"Your bad feeling", he said and sat down behind his desk.
"Can you describe it?"

"Well", Jessamine said slowly, trying to remember, "it was more like a nervous feeling. For example if an exam is coming and you just know it will go bad."

Jessamine stopped awkwardly.

This just sounded insane.

Professor Dumbledore watched her intently, his finger folded together.
"That is all, thank you Ms. Lince", he excused her, the usual twinkle missing from his eyes. He seemed tired.

Jessamine walked slowly back to her dorm, when she saw Harry's head peaking around the corner in front of her.
'Tomorrow', he mouthed at her and she nodded.

So they'd talk tomorrow.

Her thoughts kept racing in her head, trying to go over the creatures that could possibly petrify others. She knew none.

When she entered the Slytherin den, it was buzzing with students.

"-Chamber of Secrets-"

"-dead cat-"

"-what is the heir?-"

"-blood on the wall-"

Jessamine made her way through the common room and entered her bedroom.

Daphne, Tracey and Pansy were sitting on Daphne's bed, whispering secretively.

They stopped abruptly when Jessamine came in.

Ignoring them, Jessamine undressed and drew her curtains closed, placing a silencing spell on her bed so she wouldn't get disturbed.

She would try to figure out more tomorrow.