Chloe gathered all of her friends into the Hospital Wing. That bit wasn't hard, actually. Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Ron were all in there anyway. When Chloe had found out that Ginny was the one trapped in the Chamber, she had lost. Her. Mind. Luna had to hold her down to keep her from running and beating up some innocent bystander. But now, everything was okay- or it would be, soon enough.

She sat up on her stool and cleared her throat. The others turned to her, albeit confusedly.

"Hey, um, guys," she said, breathing in deeply. "I have something to tell you."

"Get on with it, then," said Ron. Harry elbowed him.

"Well, remember how every time you talked about parents, I mentioned my mum, but acted all dodgy whenever someone asked about my dad?"

"That was strange," Luna said in her dreamy voice. "I thought maybe you were just sensitive."

"No, it was because..." Chloe suddenly lost all her nerve. She muttered something unintelligible and then buried her face in her knees.

"What was that?" Hermione asked kindly, placing a hand on Chloe's shoulder.

She steeled herself. She would say it. She could tell them. These were her best friends, after all. "My dad is...Snape. Professor Snape."

Ginny gasped, her mouth flapping like a fish. Harry went pale. Only Luna seemed unaffected by this news, just kind of chewing her hair and staring at the ceiling meditatively.

Malfoy broke the stunned silence. "Well, that explains a lot."

"Yeah," put in Ron. "All those times when you stayed after Potions class..."

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Ginny. "We would have understood."

"I know," Chloe said. "But, well...I didn't want people putting my good Potions mark up to favoritism, for one thing. And for another...Well, none of you particularly like Snape, do you?"

Hermione made an uncomfortable face. Ron shook his head vehemently. Harry laughed a little.

"See? That's exactly my point. I was worried that, if you don't like my father-" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You wouldn't like me."

There was a moment of shocked silence. And then Hermione wrapped Chloe in a hug. Luna put her arms around Chloe from the other side. Ginny leaned forward to join in. Ron kind of hugged her shoulder. Harry hugged her from behind Ginny, which made Ginny's face go pink. There was a moment of awkward silence, and then she felt one more person join the group hug. She closed her eyes for a minute, letting the warmth of everything seep in. She had told them her secret. She had told them- and they didn't hate her!

After another minute, Chloe began to feel slightly smothered. She broke away from the hug and smiled softly.

"Come on, guys. The end-of-term feast is starting, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss that chocolate cake."