The tension in Sebastian's office was thick enough to be sliced with a silver dagger. Harry stood under the combined weight of Dumbledore's piercing blue gaze and Snape's dark, suspicious squint. He felt like a butterfly pinned to a board.
"I... I followed it, sir," Harry stammered, his eyes darting toward the floor. "The voice. It kept saying it wanted to kill. I thought someone was in danger."
Malfoy, still encased in his squeaky silver armor, didn't bother with the subtle approach. "Look, Headmaster, Potter went mental. He started sprinting up the stairs shouting about ghosts and murder. We followed him because, frankly, we didn't want him to be the only one found near a body. Then we saw the wall. We were going to get you, really, but the whole school turned the corner before we could move a muscle."
"Strange voices?" Dumbledore's voice was a low hum, vibrating with a gravity that made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand up. "And only Harry heard them?"
The silence that followed was agonizing. Ron and Hermione nodded slowly, confirming that they had heard nothing but the wind and Malfoy's metallic clanking. Even Mia, usually so warm and comforting, had a crease between her brows that screamed worry. She quickly performed a diagnostic charm on Harry, the golden light of her wand bathing his face.
"He's perfectly healthy, Albus," she whispered, though she didn't sound relieved. "No curses, no lingering dark influence. It's... peculiar."
Dumbledore eventually dismissed them, his eyes lingering on Harry with a look that wasn't quite suspicion, but something far more unsettling. The four students practically bolted from the room, Malfoy leading the way with a series of frantic, metallic thuds as he hurried back toward the safety of the Slytherin dungeons.
Once the door clicked shut, the office fell into a different kind of silence. Mia turned to Sebastian, her hand gripping his arm. "Is it him? Is Voldemort back again? Why else would Harry hear things no one else can?"
Sebastian pulled her into a quiet embrace, his eyes fixed on the frozen, terrified form of Mrs. Norris on the desk. "Don't jump to the worst conclusions just yet, Mia. I'll keep an eye on things. I'm staying at the castle for the next few weeks to oversee the Alchemy Club's progress anyway. If there's a snake in the grass, I'll find it."
By the next morning, Hogwarts was a powder keg of rumors. The "Chamber of Secrets" was on every lip, though the panic Sebastian expected hadn't quite materialized. Instead, it was replaced by a strange, morbid curiosity.
When Sebastian entered the Great Hall for breakfast, the noise was deafening. Students were huddled in groups, their heads bent together over plates of cooling porridge.
"Did you hear? The 'Monster' got Filch's cat," a second-year Hufflepuff whispered. "But that's it? Just a cat? If this is Slytherin's legendary weapon, it's a bit of a letdown, isn't it?"
"I heard the monster is actually quite small," a Ravenclaw added, sounding disappointed. "Maybe it's just a very aggressive magical toad. I mean, petrification is impressive, but it's not exactly a massacre."
At the Gryffindor table, Hermione sat with her head in her hands. She hadn't slept. The logic of the situation was eating her alive. If the monster was designed to "purge" the school of Muggle-borns, why was she—the top Muggle-born student in the castle—currently eating toast while a cat was the one in the hospital wing? It didn't add up. The monster seemed... weak. Or perhaps, just very poorly directed.
As soon as she spotted Sebastian walking toward the High Table, she nudged Harry and Ron. They intercepted him halfway across the hall, their faces mirrors of anxiety and confusion.
"Professor Swann!" Hermione blurted out, ignoring the social etiquette of breakfast. "Please, can you tell us what's actually going on? What is this 'Chamber'? And if the monster is so dangerous, why did it only go after Mrs. Norris?"
Sebastian stopped, sensing the dozens of other students nearby who had suddenly gone quiet to eavesdrop. He cleared his throat, his voice projecting easily across the hall.
"The history is well-documented, if you know where to look," Sebastian began, his tone that of a lecturer rather than a conspirator. "A thousand years ago, the Four Founders built this place. They were a team, but like all teams, they had a falling out. Salazar Slytherin was a man of his time—a time when Muggle-Witch relations were defined by pyres and hunts. He didn't trust those from non-magical backgrounds. He wanted Hogwarts to be a fortress for pure blood."
He paused, letting the weight of the word 'fortress' sink in. "The others disagreed. Godric Gryffindor, in particular, believed that magic was a gift that ignored bloodlines. They fought, and Slytherin left. But the legend says he built a hidden chamber, a place only his true Heir could open, containing a 'monster' to finish the work he started."
"But that's the thing, Professor," Hermione interrupted, her eyes bright with a frantic need for sense. "If the monster is supposed to 'purge' the school, why a cat? And why now? Hogwarts has had Muggle-borns for centuries. Why did the monster wait a thousand years to come out and petrify a pet?"
Sebastian looked at her, then at the circle of students gathered around. "Do you really think Salazar Slytherin—a man who helped build the most sophisticated magical structure in Europe—was so petty that he'd spend years building a secret basement just to kill a few students he didn't like?"
The crowd went silent. This was a perspective they hadn't considered.