"N-no, nothing. When we came here to talk before, there wasn't a mirror here, was there?"
"Uh, we were always in a rush to get here, then in a rush to eat afterward. I never took a proper look around this classroom!"
"No. I'm sure this spot was empty yesterday. And I've seen this mirror before!"
Hermione stared at the green cord hanging from a rusty nail at the top of the mirror frame, her brows tightly knit.
"Hermione, where did you see it? Maybe that clue will lead us to a suspect. And if we find the Chamber Monster's natural enemy too, we'll stand a much better chance!"
Harry rushed up to the mirror, his voice brimming with excitement.
"In the girls' Dormitory. It was in a room that's been empty for decades. Everyone puts things there that they don't want but can't bear to throw away. This mirror's been there for ages—at least twenty years. Harry, Luo Bin, Ron, it's a communal storeroom. Do you see what I mean?"
"Even so, shouldn't that narrow the possible Heirs down to the girl students?"
Ron smacked his forehead. "Good grief. I've only just realized I've assumed the Heir was a boy this whole time. I've never even considered a girl student as a suspect."
Harry pushed up his glasses and pursed his lips. "Not necessarily. When someone went through my things last time, didn't Hermione get into the boys' Dormitory?"
"Oh, right!"
Luo Bin turned around, ripples stirring in his dark, fathomless eyes. "I think you three have been deliberately avoiding one possibility."
"What?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"The Heir could very well be..."
"A student from Gryffindor House!"
Hermione gave the answer before Luo Bin could.
She neither wanted to admit it nor wanted to believe it, but every sign