The next day, all the other gossip—including whether the male and female student council presidents were dating, and whether Professor Lockhart had been confessed to by an older girl—was completely forgotten.
The young wizards discussed nothing but the attack on Mrs. Norris and the opening of the Chamber of Secrets.
Mrs. Norris had only been Petrified, but even the greatest wizard in the world, Dumbledore, hadn't been able to undo the Petrification Curse on the spot!
Although Professor Dumbledore had announced that once the Mandrakes matured, they could brew a special antidote to revive Mrs. Norris, that didn't stop the young wizards from discussing the incident over and over.
The young wizards also did their best to search for information about the Chamber of Secrets. For the first time, every copy of the long-neglected Hogwarts, A History in the library was checked out.
When Hermione went to borrow the book, she was surprised to find that the waiting list was already two weeks long.
Harley, however, didn't join in the discussions. Instead, she pondered the clues she already knew.
"During the holidays, a House-elf—most likely one belonging to a Pure-blood family—came to stop me from going to Hogwarts.
According to its side of the story, it believed that Hogwarts would face a great danger this year.
For my safety, Dobby had to do everything he could to keep me from coming to school.
Considering that it's a humanoid creature with a suspicious identity, it refused to say anything more.
And it has a magical contract on it. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be able to tell me any of this unless someone ordered it to."
Harley leaned back on the sofa in the common room, while Hermione lay across her lap, enjoying the nimble massage of Harley's hands.
But Harley's