Mischief

On Halloween night, Cyberlina had just returned from sneaking around outside the school grounds and was debating whether to catch the tail end of the feast when she spotted a rather puffed-up Mrs. Norris.

"Oh... poor little thing, what did you see to frighten you so badly?" Mrs. Norris seemed to offer no resistance as she ended up in Cyberlina's arms. Under her gentle soothing, the alert, scrawny cat gradually relaxed and began to purr softly. "Get some proper rest, kitty."

Cyberlina patted the cat in her arms and lowered her eyes with a soft smile.

The teachers and students were attending the feast in the Great Hall, the ghosts were celebrating Nick's deathday down in the dungeons, and the portraits were gathering for parties all over the place. The vast Hogwarts castle was empty and quiet, with only black candles making faint crackling sounds as they burned.

"Hmm... it really was a fine day for mischief."

Having come to that conclusion, Cyberlina held the sleeping Mrs. Norris and slowly ascended the marble staircase before her, accompanied by the sound of something heavy scraping across the floor from within the walls.

In the deserted third-floor corridor, the sound of liquid dripping from above—drip, drip—came out of the darkness, echoing faintly as it struck the floor.

Standing at the corner outside the corridor, Cyberlina saw the red-haired girl looking up at the wall between two windows, hissing in a way that sent shivers down one's spine. A thick, frigid aura extended from the girl's hand, eventually enveloping her body and concentrating around her head—it was far stronger than the dark magic aura Cyberlina had seen on this girl on the day term began. Cyberlina stepped forward, moving along the wall and into the corridor to look at the girl's face. The lively little face from the Sorting Ceremony was now filled with exhaustion. A cold smile lingered at the corner of her lips, but her eyes were utterly vacant. The black diary in her hand radiated an intense dark magic aura.

Cyberlina frowned. It was not as if she had never encountered disgusting dark magic auras before, but this was the first time she had seen one so nauseating. That viscous thing, carrying traces of a soul, made her feel as though she were about to go blind.

Fortunately, Miss Weasley's soul was still intact. She looked listless, but her vitality was not too poor. What she needed now was merely a sleeping potion.

After exchanging a few words with the thing slithering through the walls, the girl's face showed impatience and irritation. Her features twisted as she let out two hisses, then she tilted her chin slightly and cast a haughty glance at the wall before turning and leaving the corridor, which seemed somewhat eerie under the moonlight—throughout it all, she never noticed the presence of another person and cat in the corridor.

Cyberlina stepped away from the wall and tilted her head to read the words written there—

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

Cyberlina smiled. Her laughter was gentle, yet it added a chill to the hair-raising place. The cat curled in her arms shuddered unconsciously in its sleep.

"Sorry, poor little thing." Cyberlina lowered her eyes and stroked Mrs. Norris's back with a soft laugh as the deep, powerful magical aura around her gradually dissipated.

Several disorderly sets of footsteps came from the stairs, following the thing darting about inside the walls into the corridor. Cyberlina turned her head and saw three panting little figures emerge from the other end of the corridor. Harry, at their head, looked no better than Ginny had moments ago.

Cyberlina smiled instinctively—she knew perfectly well why that was—Snape had recently been dragging Harry, his "key," to his office to study every other night after everyone had gone to bed.

Snape himself was fine; he had long grown accustomed to such a busy life with little sleep. But poor Harry could not manage it. The consecutive late nights had left him looking utterly exhausted.

"Harry, are you sure you really heard it?" Ron asked between heavy breaths.

"I'm sure." Harry frowned, pricking up his ears as though searching for something.

"Ah!" Hermione suddenly cried. "Look at the wall!"

The other two followed Hermione's gaze—and saw the writing on the wall.

Under the candlelight and moonlight, the words seemed to give off a faint glow, making all three of them shiver.

"I told you it was the Chamber of Secrets!" Hermione turned to look at the other two.

That day, she had discovered the legend of the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts, A History and found that it matched the letter perfectly, though there had been no detailed description. She had immediately gone to Professor Bins, only for him to vehemently deny that the Chamber of Secrets was real. Unable to mention the parchment or the office, she could only leave in frustration.

"No, Hermione... I don't think this is the time to argue about that." Ron's mouth curved upward stiffly as he swallowed. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened... but the heir..."

"Voldemort," Harry said with certainty. His eyes were fixed on the writing, his hands clenched tightly. "It's Voldemort. He's come back to Hogwarts."

Ron immediately covered his mouth. "Stop saying it! We need to get out of here—especially you!"

But it was already too late. Crowded footsteps and scattered chatter came from both ends of the corridor, drawing closer and closer. Amid the clearly audible laughter of students leaving the feast, the three bewildered children were pulled toward the windows by an unseen force.

"Shh—don't speak yet. My Disillusionment Charm isn't strong enough to hide your voices." Supporting the cat, Cyberlina lowered her head and smiled at the three second-years. "Come with me, but don't stray too far from me."

Hermione and Harry both looked at Cyberlina with bright eyes and nodded furiously. Though Ron had some objections to his friends placing their trust in a Slytherin, he obediently nodded as well.

Cyberlina smiled in satisfaction. With the three of them lined up behind her, pressed close together, she led them along the windows and down the marble stairs, avoiding the students coming up. By the time all the students stopped at the writing and lowered their voices, they had already ended up behind the entire crowd.

The three second-years were not very tall, so standing behind the other students, they could not see what was happening in the corridor at all. But they could hear it—

Draco read the words on the wall aloud with a laugh, arrogantly telling Muggle-born students to watch out.

Filch angrily demanded to know who was causing trouble, but no one answered him; there was only the rustle of whispered discussion.

Dumbledore arrived with the other professors—the footsteps grew louder and more chaotic, presumably because the students were making way—and the students began to quiet down.

Lockhart began making a great fuss, saying that such a bold prank intended to incite terror should be confessed by its perpetrator to lessen their punishment... and on and on he rambled.

Dumbledore interrupted Lockhart's grand speech and told the students not to worry, as the professors would handle the matter—it seemed that he, too, believed it was merely a prank.

"Wait, Headmaster Dumbledore." Lockhart's self-assured voice rang out. "Perhaps this matter can be solved without going to such lengths."

"Heh!" Snape laughed mockingly. "It seems Professor Lockhart's extensive adventures have already given you the answer."

"Precisely!" Lockhart's voice became even more smug. Clearly taking Snape's words as praise, he said, "All we need to do is see—which student is absent!"

Cyberlina noticed that the three twelve-year-olds beside her all raised their heads at once from their attentive listening posture, and she could not help laughing. "Don't worry, it will definitely be me."

Sure enough, as soon as Cyberlina finished speaking, Lockhart's voice reached the three children's ears—

"I see that Miss Sekerei, that fifth-year, has not attended the feast all evening and is not present now. It must have been her who played this prank!"

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked toward the middle of the corridor—through the Ravenclaw students, none of whom had turned around.

Hermione suddenly froze. She carefully looked over the older Ravenclaw students in front of her several times, then turned to Cyberlina with a puzzled expression—only to see Cyberlina wink at her.

Hermione understood at once and cast a meaningful glance at Harry and Ron, who were being extremely careful not to make a sound.

In the corridor, McGonagall was sternly rebuking Lockhart for maliciously speculating about a student like that.

With both hands tucked into his sleeves, Dumbledore looked around for the second time, then slowly sighed. "Gilderoy, you are indeed being somewhat hasty."

"No, Headmaster, you have to believe me—"

"I believe Miss Sekerei would not make such a joke." Dumbledore smiled at Gilderoy. "I believe her."

"But, Headmaster—"

"Hm? What is going on here?"

A puzzled voice came from behind the students watching the spectacle. The students froze for a moment, then turned around and instinctively moved aside. Cyberlina appeared before everyone, carrying three little ones and a cat in her arms.

"Why are you all gathered here—ah." Ignoring Dumbledore's look, Cyberlina stared in shock at the writing on the wall, as though she had gone blank. "This is..."

At Dumbledore's signal, McGonagall had already begun dispersing the students with the other Heads of House—Snape had the seventh-year prefects take the little snakes back; Flitwick conjured a silver-white hawk to guide the little eagles, then followed behind the group himself; Sprout walked slowly with the little badgers, glancing back as their ears perked up—McGonagall looked at the pale-faced Ginny and headed toward the common room with the little lions.

"I attended Nick's five-hundredth deathday party, Mr. Lockhart." Cyberlina handed the soundly sleeping Mrs. Norris to Filch. Filch carefully took Mrs. Norris, glanced at Cyberlina, then turned and left.

"Is that so... Then who can prove it?"

"We can prove it!" Harry poked his head out from behind Cyberlina and shouted.

"That's right!" Hermione followed up, then looked at Ron.

Ron nodded hard. "I—I can prove it too."

"And those hundreds of ghosts." Cyberlina smiled at Lockhart. "They will certainly—all testify for me, Mr. Lockhart."

Lockhart gave a soft laugh.

After Flitwick had openly hinted at Cyberlina's identity, Lockhart had begun writing to his friends to verify who she was. In the end, he became convinced that Cyberlina was merely the descendant of that formidable Sekerei—because he had found another person claiming to be Sekerei's descendant. That person testified that Cyberlina had indeed been recovering from illness at home all this time and had rarely gone out.

That only made him more certain that she was a spoiled young lady from some family. If she could even pretend to be her own ancestor, then what wouldn't she do for attention?

"You are still too young, Miss Sekerei." Lockhart shook his head with a helpless smile. "That proves nothing. After all, altering memories, Transfiguration, Polyjuice Potion, and so on could all give you an alibi."

Cyberlina's smile deepened. "Oh... Mr. Lockhart, could you perhaps be a genius? At my age, I truly hadn't thought of altering memories right away."

"Of course! I've been clever since I was little!" Lockhart lifted his chin, then realized something was wrong. His expression turned excited. "Are you admitting it? So it really was you!"

"I was being sarcastic, clever Mr. Lockhart."

Lockhart's smile froze.

"Pfft—" Harry could not hold back his laughter.

"This is not the place for the great Savior to play his part." Snape slowly walked up behind the three little lions. "Return to your dormitory! Immediately!"

"Harry stays." Without turning around, Cyberlina smiled as she spoke in an almost commanding tone.

Snape looked at Dumbledore, while Dumbledore looked at Sinistra. "Aurora, could I trouble you?"

"My pleasure, Albus." Sinistra stepped forward, took Hermione's hand, patted Ron on the shoulder, and led them out of the corridor.

Seeing the worried looks on his two friends' faces as they turned back, Harry smiled at them and pointed at Cyberlina, indicating—he was fine; Senior Sekerei was here.

Hermione looked a little better, but Ron seemed even more worried.

Sinistra led Hermione and Ron away, and hardly any of the professors who had attended the Halloween feast remained.

Kettleburn, who had once been fortunate enough to witness Cyberlina fighting a dragon as a child—because he truly could not bear to watch little brat Lockhart get himself killed—wrapped his only arm around Lockhart's shoulders and forcibly dragged him out of the corridor with strength he could not resist.

Watching the figure hopping along while dragging someone away, Cyberlina said helplessly, "Sylvanus worries about me far too much. Am I the sort of person who gets angry over a few words from a child?"

"You absolutely are." Dumbledore immediately retorted, earning remarkably synchronized, somewhat astonished looks from Snape and Harry.

—Neither of them had expected Dumbledore to speak to Cyberlina in that tone. Even Snape, who occasionally traded barbs with Dumbledore, had never seen him speak with such obvious sharpness in his voice.

"Senior Sekerei..." Harry was the first to ask, "Has the Chamber of Secrets really been opened?"

At that form of address, Snape let out a cold laugh—Harry had been to the Headmaster's office with Cyberlina several times already. If he still had not noticed that Harry treated Cyberlina like an elder, then he would hardly deserve to be a double agent. Once he knew that, it became all too easy to see Harry's secretly delighted thoughts when Snape had reminded him. Snape was deeply annoyed.

Thus, on the very day he discovered all this, he made Harry copy Potions textbooks for an entire afternoon and night. Then, in Potions class the next day, he deducted a total of twenty-five points from Gryffindor on the grounds that Mr. Potter had not done his homework and had slept in class.

"Didn't you hear it all?" Cyberlina looked at Harry with amusement. "You were even quite certain who had opened it."

Harry lowered his head somewhat sheepishly. "I was just worked up at the time... Because apart from Voldemort, I don't know who else would both speak Parseltongue and belong to Slytherin..."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Harry, who told you that he once studied at Hogwarts?"

"Huh? I...I..." Harry did not answer, but his gaze guiltily shifted toward Cyberlina.

So Dumbledore looked at Cyberlina.

Cyberlina blinked innocently at Dumbledore, then looked at Snape in surprise. "You actually didn't go tattling to Albus?"

So Dumbledore looked at Snape again.

Snape: "..." He had only just found out that his other boss had attended Hogwarts!!! I told you, do not drag innocent people into teacher-student arguments!

Snape said expressionlessly, "I only just learned of it. You may use Legilimency if you do not believe me."

"Your Occlumency is very good," Dumbledore said with feigned seriousness.

Snape: "..."

Harry, who had recently become rather eager to learn, silently raised his hand. "What is Occlumency?"

"A form of magic that can resist Legilimency." Cyberlina smiled and stroked Harry's head. "Don't worry, you will have to learn it soon enough."

Dumbledore's feigned serious expression became genuinely serious. Seeing this, Snape remained silent and did not press the matter.

Just as all four of them fell silent, a tabby cat dashed into the corridor with a black cloth bag engraved with dark golden runes in its mouth, then landed and transformed into human form.

McGonagall solemnly handed the bag to Cyberlina.

Cyberlina shook the bag at them and smiled. "Look, our troublemaking heir has arrived."