Today we had our first Quidditch practice.

“It’s Gryffindor team’s Quidditch practice today too, but luckily I got a signed note from Professor Snape, so we’re allowed to practise today,” Flint explained.

The other members of our team sniggered, but Anja and I glanced at each other.

“Angelina won’t like me much after this,” I muttered, but Anja overheard me.

“Who’s Angelina? Is that Alex’s girlfriend? He talks about her a lot,” Anja said, frowning.

I laughed. “No, Angelina Johnson is Alex’s older sister. She’s a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”

Her face cleared in understanding. “Ah. Right.”

Right then, we reached the pitch.

Gryffindor Team were approaching from the other side.

When we reached the middle, Wood and Flint faced each other.

Wood told Flint that they’d booked the pitch but Flint showed Wood our note from Father.

He asked who the new Seeker was and so I stepped asid, as did Anja.

Harry groaned audibly as he realised his direct opposition was now Draco Malfoy.

I remembered what Draco had asked me to do. Hermione and Ron came over and I knew there was going to be trouble.

Especially when Draco liked Hermione.

Rather unwisely, Draco told Harry about his father buying our team Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones.

“Unlike you, my father can afford the best,” he told them.

I shot Hermione a warning glance but she glared back at me and stepped forward.

“At least no-one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent.”

Draco looked at a loss as to what to say to the girl he liked. Finally, his face hardened.

I knew he was going to say something worthy of his Muggle-hating father.

“No-one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!”

I gasped.

That was the worst thing he could possibly say to a Muggle-born like Hermione.

She gasped, too. Anja just looked horrified.

Ron, however, stepped forward.

I couldn’t help but notice that his wand looked like it had been snapped in half.

“Eat slugs, Malfoy!” he ordered.

Immediately, there was a loud bang and Ron, not Draco, but Ron, was thrown backwards onto the ground.

To everyone’s disgust, he began vomiting slugs.

Hermione and Harry escorted him away, off towards the ForbiddenForest.

I guessed it was Hagrid’s hut they were visiting.

I looked at Angelina, and she smiled at me.

“Hi, Jade. I looked after your little brother like you said,” she told me, grinning.

I grinned. “Thanks. And sorry about Flint. He’s a bit of an idiot...well, okay, more than a bit.”

Flint glared over at me. “What was that?” he asked quickly.

“Oh, nothing.”

I laughed, as did Angelina. “Bye, Jade, I have to go.”

She indicated the rest of her team walking off the pitch. I waved.

Our practice went fine.

Anja did remarkably well for her first Quidditch practice – but I supposed it was in our blood, with Father being a Seeker in his school days.

After the practice, Anja and I walked together back to the castle and sat in the Common Room for a while.

Blaise turned up later, saying that he’d been with Alex.

We talked for a while, did our homework and then went off to our dormitories.

I lay in bed, thinking about the events of the day, when I heard it.

“Rip…tear…kill…”

I sat bolt upright in bed. Glancing around, I noted quickly that Pansy and Millicent were nowhere to be seen – probably off flirting with Draco and Goyle, respectively. Evangeline and Anja were both fast asleep.

So I crept out of the Common Room.

Then I heard the voice again.

But this time it was accompanied by an order. “Go to the girls’ bathroom, the one with the ghost…”

I felt my feet take me to the bathroom.

I stepped into the bathroom and the ghost – Myrtle, her name was – stared at me.

“What are you doing here at this time? Come to laugh at me, have you?” She burst into tears and started wailing.

I shook my head quickly, frowning.

The voice had stopped.

“Oh, no, Myrtle, I didn’t come here to laugh at you! I came here to…to…uh…”

What was I doing here?

I remembered what my father had told me: I might have to open  the Chamber of Secrets.

Did this strange hissing voice have anything to do with it?

I had a sudden thought.

A hissing voice?

Hissing, as in…a snake?

“I came here to ask you if you know about the Chamber of Secrets.”

She froze.

“The…Chamber of Secrets? Oh, yes, I know about that. How could I not? It was opened while I was at school. People getting Petrified all over the place…only Muggle-borns were being killed. They all said that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. And I’m Muggle-born. I died, then…I don’t know if that had anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets, though. Why do you ask? Planning to kill someone? Well, if you are, don’t kill me. Though you can’t – I’m already dead!” She giggled hysterically.

I gave a sort of half-laugh. “No, I wasn’t planning on killing anyone. But Myrtle, do you hear these…voices? Saying that they want to kill, and that sort of thing?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, I hear hissing. Heard it just before you came in, actually. But I couldn’t understand it. And I don’t suppose you are going to explain what it was, either. Who’d want to tell Myrtle anything? Miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle! Stupid, ignorant, useless Myrtle!”

She began crying again.

“No, Myrtle.” I tried to explain. “You see, I don’t know what it was either. But the voice told me to come here. Would you have any idea why?”

She nodded. “Oh, yes! You’ll be wanting that sink, just there. At least, that’s where the eyes that killed me were. And that’s where the red-haired girl went, too. Only a couple of minutes ago.”

“What red-haired girl?”

I had a feeling I knew who it was – Ron’s sister.

“Don’t expect me to know her name! She was a Gryffindor. She had red hair. She was quite small – probably a first-year. And she had a vacant expression. Oh, and she talked to the sink in the snake language. Parseltongue. Then it opened for her. So I suppose…she was the Heir of Slytherin?”

She shrugged.

But that didn’t make sense.

The Weasleys had no relation to Slytherin. As far as I knew, they were an almost exclusively Gryffindor family anyway.

So why – and how – hadGinevra Weasley been speaking Parseltongue?

But that sink had significance, I knew it. “Thanks, Myrtle. You’ve been really helpful. But I just want to check something. I’ll be back soon – I think.”

I stepped to the sink she had indicated. I tried to imagine that there was a snake there instead of the sink. “Open,” I hissed in Parseltongue.

The sink sunk into the floor and a tunnel became visible.

Myrtle jumped. “Are you the Heir of Slytherin, too? Are you going to open the Chamber of Secrets again? Well, if you die down there, you can take the cubicle next to me.”

She indicated and then smiled. I smiled back.

“Thanks, Myrtle.”

Then I went into the tunnel. It was unpleasant. It was smelly, damp and full of bones.

I didn’t want to think about how they’d gotten there.

Finally, the passageway opened up.

I knew, instinctively, that this was the Chamber of Secrets.

I walked along the path, right to the end. And there she was, Ginevra Weasley. Sitting there, muttering under her breath.

“Hello,” I greeted her.

She turned around sharply and I saw what Myrtle had meant about her having a vacant expression.

But she didn’t just look vague or confused.

She looked almost as if she was being possessed.

“How did you get here?” she asked in an eerie tone with an underlying hiss.

I realised she was speaking Parseltongue.

“I opened the sink,” I told her. Her eyes widened.

“How do you speak this language? Parseltongue?” she asked sharply.

I realised that this couldn’t be her normal voice. It was much too low and definitely sounded male.

So…she was being possessed by a male who could speak Parseltongue?

I looked at her with an expression of confusion. “Well, I think it’s an inherited ability. I don’t know if my mother could speak it, but some of her ancestors could. Like…Salazar Slytherin. I’m the Heir of Slytherin, you see. But how can you speak it? Are you his Heir, too?”

Ginevra leapt to her feet. “You cannot be the Heir of Slytherin! I am his sole Heir!”

I frowned. So now this person also appeared to be an only child. But I couldn’t let it show that I knew she was being possessed.

“But Ginevra, I thought you had siblings?”

She shrugged calmly. “Yes, but I am the only one who can speak Parseltongue.”

It was then I noticed that she was holding a diary.

“What’s that?” I asked quickly, indicating the diary.

“Just my diary.”

Why would she have her diary with her in the Chamber of Secrets, or all places?

None of this made sense.

And, I reflected, maybe I could think about it in bed.

“I think I’ll go now,” I told her, then began walking away.

“Wait!” she called. I turned around. “If you’re the Heir of Slytherin, and I’m the Heir of Slytherin, then…do we have to unleash the monster together?”

So the guy who was possessing Ginevra also appeared to be genuinely evil. He seemed to be eager to kill a bunch of Muggle-borns.

Which meant I now had a reason to be worried.

Seriously worried.

“Oh, I don’t know. I suppose so. When were you planning on beginning the…attacks?” I asked casually, trying to keep my voice steady.

She shrugged. “Sometime soon, I suppose. Perhaps Hallowe’en? It seems a sufficiently appropriate time to begin.”

I nodded, then left the Chamber. I passed Myrtle and she looked almost diappointed that I wasn’t dead. “You’ll have plenty more opportunities to die,” she reflected. “What was your name again?”

“Jade Evans,” I told her, then headed straight back to my Common Room.

I resolved to tell Father or Headmaster Dumbledore about the Chamber in the morning, at breakfast, but by the time I awoke, I had forgotten all about it.