Quidditch Match

Ever since Mrs. Norris was attacked, Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts Castle, had become despondent.

Every day, he paced around the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked, glaring hostilely at every student who passed by—especially Slytherin students. He believed the culprit might return there again.

In a sense, Filch's instincts were correct.

The Chamber of Secrets was actually located at the very end of the corridor behind the attack site, inside a bathroom whose door bore the word "Out of Order."

It was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and Myrtle herself had been the victim of the Chamber of Secrets incident fifty years ago.

Whenever Jon passed this place, his heart pounded uncontrollably... as if a Basilisk might crawl out from behind those brass-colored doors at any moment, bite him, or turn him to stone.

Worse still, this bathroom happened to stand at the entrance from the Dungeon up into the castle... which meant that every day, Jon had to pass through here on his way out of and back to the Hufflepuff common room.

As a result, Jon was always extremely cautious when passing by. Unless he found a small group to go with, he absolutely refused to walk through alone.

Every copy of Hogwarts, A History in the Library had been borrowed out, but not every House had a teacher as good as Professor Sprout. Besides, Hufflepuff students were naturally low-key and would not spread news about the Chamber of Secrets far and wide.

During Potions class, he heard Astoria say that two precious ingredients had been stolen from Professor Snape's private potion stores, most likely by several students... Snape was investigating the matter and had sworn to expel the thief.

Without a doubt, it had to be the Trio's doing. Hermione Granger had probably begun brewing Polyjuice Potion.

Jon's progress was half a month ahead of hers. The twelve Lacewing flies had already been stewed for two weeks; after one more week, he could add one ounce of coarse antimony and four leeches with their mouths removed.

Jon believed his talent for Potions was no worse than Hermione's, and the Room of Requirement was clearly a better environment than Myrtle's bathroom. Though he had started learning a year later, he was still confident he could successfully brew the potion.

It was another Saturday morning.

Jon had just woken up and was habitually practicing Occlumency in bed.

"Jon... wake up... wake up..."

The violent pounding on the door nearly made him jump.

"Good morning, Zacharias!" he shouted irritably.

"Jon, hurry... Quidditch match... At nine, we're playing Ravenclaw, and then at eleven it's Gryffindor against Slytherin... We need to hurry and cheer for Hufflepuff..." After gasping out the words, Zacharias Smith ran toward another dormitory to wake the others.

"So it's already time for the Quidditch match..." Jon muttered softly to himself. "The next victim is about to appear."

He slowly climbed out of bed, put on the yellow coat and scarf he had prepared in advance, and left the common room.

He found Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones, then passed by the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked with them.

As soon as he arrived at the Quidditch pitch, he found it surrounded by a sea of yellow and black, blue and bronze. Hufflepuff students wore yellow and black, while Ravenclaw students wore blue and bronze.

Supporters from the two Houses occupied opposite sides of the Quidditch pitch, cheering and shouting.

Ernie Macmillan had made a flag out of an old scrap of cloth, with a cheering Badger painted on it. Ravenclaw refused to be outdone; their blue-and-bronze crowd had formed the shape of an eagle.

"Go, Cedric! You're the best!" Hannah shouted.

"Go, Hufflepuff!"

Both teams had already entered the pitch. Jon saw Cedric Diggory leading the yellow-and-black line. He did not recognize most of the other Hufflepuff players; they were probably all upper-year students.

Ravenclaw also had someone familiar: Cho Chang, an Asian-looking girl at the back of the blue-and-bronze team.

The players from both teams shook hands, then lined up around Madam Hooch, the Judge.

Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle sharply.

Fifteen Flying Broomsticks shot up from the ground and soared high into the air. The match had begun.

"The match begins... Ravenclaw captain Roger Davies immediately takes the Bludger... He races ahead, dodges a Bludger, feints past Cadwallader... Is he going straight for the goal? No, Davies chooses to pass to Chambers, who's facing an open goal... Beautiful... Ravenclaw takes a 10–0 lead!"

When he was not commentating on a Gryffindor or Slytherin match, Lee Jordan's commentary was fairly impartial.

The cool breeze made Jon drowsy. Honestly, he had no interest whatsoever in Quidditch... he had merely been dragged here by his classmates. Besides, he did not want to seem too unsociable. That would make him stand out a little too much.

The match became completely one-sided. Ravenclaw's Chasers scored again and again, and Ravenclaw's cheerleaders erupted in wave after wave of cheers. On Hufflepuff's side, the atmosphere gradually died down.

Lee Jordan continued, "130–20. Ravenclaw truly deserves to be the reigning Quidditch Cup champions. In only twenty minutes, they've established an overwhelming advantage, while Hufflepuff has no way to fight back... Wait..."

"Wait... the Snitch! The Golden Snitch! Cedric Diggory... he's caught the Golden Snitch. Brilliant, Diggory! The match is over! Hufflepuff completes a last-second victory, 170–130!"

The pitch instantly erupted in cheers. Countless Hufflepuff students rushed onto the field to celebrate this "hard-won" victory with the players... Professor Sprout was celebrating jubilantly with her students as well.

Looking at the Ravenclaw players, fans, and Professor Flitwick, whose expressions looked as though they had eaten shit, Jon suddenly found the match rather interesting!

"Ladies and gentlemen, in twenty minutes, the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match will begin..." Lee Jordan's voice rang out across the Quidditch pitch once more.

The celebrating Hufflepuff fans gradually began leaving the Quidditch pitch. Groups of Gryffindor cheerleaders came filing in.

Jon spotted a small group: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, followed by Colin Cleever with a camera and Ginny Weasley with her head lowered... He quickly avoided that "dangerous" little group.

In the stands, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster who had not attended the previous match, had also arrived to watch this one.

All of a sudden, Jon realized something very important:

For the next hour or so, the Trio of Saviors, Ginny Weasley under Voldemort's mind control, and Albus Dumbledore—the important people he needed to avoid—would all be outside the castle.

In other words, as long as he avoided Filch, wouldn't he be able to do whatever he wanted in the castle?

No time like the present!

Jon directly refused Zacharias, who wanted to drag him to the Great Hall to celebrate.

"Sorry, I need to go back to the common room first and get something."

Jon hurried back to the Hufflepuff common room, casually grabbed a robe, and took a ballpoint pen from his drawer.

Three minutes later, Jon appeared in the corridor behind the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked, standing before Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Imitating terrorists from movies, he wrapped his robe tightly around his face so no one could see it.

He grabbed the round brass handle and pushed open the door.

The floor was damp, and near the sinks stood a Cauldron containing liquid that was still simmering.

Several candle stubs burned low in their holders, giving off a dim light that made the floor look sinister... The room was dark and oppressive. Beneath a large, stained, cracked mirror stood a stone sink with peeling surfaces.

Faint sobbing drifted from the broken toilet stall at the very back. It had to be Myrtle.

"A living person..." Myrtle seemed to notice him and drifted over. "Looks like another boy..."

"Get lost, you ugly ghost!" Jon said mercilessly, deliberately making his voice hoarse. "A fat, hideous, sniveling, miserable ghost!"

"Waaah..." Myrtle immediately began sobbing miserably and returned to her toilet, splashing water all over the bathroom.

"Oh, and your face is covered in pimples!"

With that devastating taunt, Myrtle let out a scream and angrily plunged into the toilet, disappearing.

Jon let out a sigh of relief and began searching beneath the sinks.

Very soon, he found it: a tiny snake engraved on the side of a copper tap.

Jon took out the Marker Pen, then suddenly froze.

No, if he wrote it here, wouldn't Voldemort possess Miss Weasley and open the door, then discover it immediately?

After some thought and calm analysis, he came up with an idea.

He walked a few steps to the left and came to a sink beside the Chamber of Secrets entrance.

Bending down, he wrote a line of words in an inconspicuous spot beneath the sink:

"I am Ginny Weasley,

I think I opened the Chamber of Secrets,

and something is controlling my thoughts,

the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets seems to be beside a copper tap beneath the sink on the right,

it can only be opened with Parseltongue,

save me..."

The writing was tiny and inconspicuous, and the entire bathroom was extremely dim... unless someone bent down and looked closely, they would not be able to see anything at all.

Jon clapped his hands and left the bathroom.

He also wiped the door handle clean, erasing the fingerprints he had left behind.