October had been a funny old month for the trio. The first out-of-ordinary thing to have happened was Harry being severely told off by Filch for trailing mud into the castle, following him into his office and discovering that he was what wizards and witches referred to as a Squib. He soon learnt that this meant that Filch was born into a wizard family as a Muggle.

Then, Nearly Headless Nick had invited them to a deathday party filled with solemn ghosts. The resident ghost of the out-of-order girls bathroom - Moaning Myrtle - had screamed at Hermione for insulting her.

Next, Hermione had made Professor Binns - their History of Magic teacher - tell the class everything he knew about the Chamber of Secrets. They discovered that there was somebody in the school who was the Heir of Salazar Slytherin, who had supposedly created this chamber when he was a founder at Hogwarts. Inside the chamber was said to be a monster that only the heir could control. Last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened - 50 years ago - a Muggleborn girl had died. That information had been much more than Harry had expected, and a lot more unnerving too.

"It's Malfoy, isn't it?" Ron asked as they left the classroom,"He's the Heir of Slytherin."

Hermione frowned,"I doubt it."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You heard what he said! 'You'll be next, Mudbloods.' Of course he's the heir!" Ron said in disbelief.

"Just because you don't like him," Hermione sniffed,"doesn't mean he's the Heir of Slytherin. It would have to be someone more...obvious."

"More obvious? Who's more obvious than that git?" Ron asked angrily.

But Harry understood. He was fully aware that most people in the school now thought that he was Slytherin's heir, despite him being a Gryffindor.

"Salazar Slytherin lived a very long time ago. Even some of the oldest witches and wizards alive today could be the heir. Besides, if it was opened fifty years ago, surely no one apart from the heir could have done it. So, it can't be..." Hermione glanced at Harry,"...a student. Surely not."

"But what if there were two heirs, Hermione?" Harry asked,"One who did it then and one who did it now."

"Nonsense." She insisted,"If it were to be two different people, they would have to be very closely related."

"So it could be Malfoy!" Ron yelled.

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed,"Though I do hate him, I doubt that Lucius Malfoy is in his fifties, Ron."

"Well, what about his dad?"

"I said closely related. But I still can't see how it could be him."

Harry sighed and looked down,"They all think it's me."

"Is it?" Ron asked.

"Of course it's not!" Hermione snapped. She looked at Harry, who was still staring at the ground,"It's not."

"It might be." Harry said.

Hermione frowned,"But it's not. You'd know."

"Would I?"

"Mate," Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder,"I think you'd know if you'd opened the Chamber of Secrets, killed a Muggleborn fifty years ago and could talk to a monster. You are not the bloody Heir of Slytherin. And, in case you forgot, you're a Gryffindor."

"That doesn't have to mean anything." Hermione said thoughtfully,"Not necessarily." The trio walked in silence for a minute before Hermione gasped,"The voices!"

"Excuse me?" Ron asked.

"The voices you could hear!" Hermione turned to Harry excitedly,"They might have something to do with this!" However, as she realised what that could mean, her face darkened,"Oh."

***********

Ron reached for the brass doorknob, but recoiled his hand before he touched it,"Can't go in there. That's a girls toilet."

The trio had been investigating the area in which the incident with Mrs. Norris had happened when Hermione had realised where all the water that had been on the floor that night had come from; the out-of-order girls bathroom.

"No one will be in there." Hermione opened the door and led the boys in,"No one ever is. No one except-"

"They're not girls!" A high-pitched voice shrieked,"Why are they here?"

"Hello, Myrtle." Hermione said warily,"Sorry to bother you, but I was desperate to show them both how...nice it is in here."

"Ask her if she saw anything." Harry whispered to Hermione.

"What are you whispering?" Myrtle swooped towards Harry angrily, forcing the trio backwards.

"No...nothing!" Harry stammered,"We just wanted to ask-"

"Nobody ever listens to me!" Myrtle wailed, floating over to the first stall,"I may be dead, but I still have feelings!"

Hermione stepped forwards anxiously,"He didn't mean to upset you, Myrtle. No one does. Harry just wanted to-"

"Pah!" She spat,"Good one. 'Ooh, no one wants to upset poor little Myrtle. No one would ever do such a thing!' Hilarious!" The ghost snarled, mimicking Hermione's voice,"My life was made a misery and now you three all come here to ruin my death too!"

"We just wanted to ask you if you saw anything funny the night Mrs. Norris was attacked outside of here."

Myrtle sobbed loudly, put her ghostly face right up against Hermione's and growled dramatically,"I wasn't paying attention. Peeves upset me so much that I came in here," her voice raised to an ear-splitting volume as she cried,"and tried to kill myself. Then I remembered that I'm-"

"Already dead." Ron said helpfully.

"Yes!" Myrtle flew up into the air and dived headfirst into a toilet, spraying the room with water.

The boys shuddered but Hermione just shrugged,"Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle. Come on."

***********

"I've figured out a way for us to see whether Malfoy has anything to do with this Chamber of Secrets business, but it'll be risky and we'd be breaking about fifty school rules." Hermione said quietly to Harry and Ron before a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson the following week.

"Go on." Ron grew excited.

"We need to be able to ask Malfoy all these questions ourselves. We'd need to get into the Slytherin common room and ask him without anyone knowing that we're us."

"That's impossible!" Harry said.

"No," Hermione corrected him,"it isn't. We just need some Polyjuice Potion."

"What's that?" The boys asked.

"Snape was talking about it yesterday in his lesson."

Harry and Ron gave her a look which clearly said 'you know we weren't listening.'

"It transforms you into somebody else. We could easily turn into three Slytherins and no one would know it was us. Malfoy'd probably tell us anything that was remotely impressive about himself, he's so boastful." She explained irritably.

Ron shook his head,"Sounds dodgy. Don't fancy being a Slytherin my whole life..."

"We won't stay like them forever you idiot!" Hermione snapped,"The effects wear off after a while. But first we're going to need to brew some."

"Great." Harry perked up,"How do we do that?"

"I don't know. But I know how we can know."

The boys stared blankly at her.

Sighing huffily, Hermione explained,"I know somewhere that we can find the recipe out."

"The library?" Ron groaned,"I refuse to spend more than one minute looking for more information in that bloody place, whether it helps us get Malfoy caught or not."

"No need to search." Hermione said rather proudly,"I already know what book we need: Moste Potente Potions."

Harry was over the moon,"Perfect! We can go and take it out after school!"

"Well," Hermione shifted uncomfortably between her feet,"there is just one little problem. It's in the Restricted Section."

"Oh, bloody hell!" Ron yelled

"Shhh!" Harry looked around nervously, hoping no one had heard.

"Sorry..." He mumbled.

"But how are we going to get it then?" Harry asked Hermione.

She thought for a moment before tilting her head to the side, a sly grin appearing on her face,"Leave that to me." Hermione paused for a moment before adding,"And Lockhart, of course."

"Huh?"

"All you need to take a book from the Restricted Section is a note from a teacher. Convincing Lockhart I want it for something to do with one of his books will be easy. Just you watch."

And so, after the lesson, Harry and Ron watched as Hermione approached Lockhart's desk angelically and spoke to him in an airy voice.

"Excuse me, professor? I was just wondering if you could sign this note. See, I wanted to get this book out of the library," she held up the fake note she had written during the lesson,"but the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section, so I'd need a teacher's permission. I thought the book may help me to understand a little better what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms."

Luckily, Gadding with Ghouls had turned out to be Lockhart's favourite book of his, so it was easy for 'the top student of the year' - as he had called her - to get 'a little extra help'.

He signed the note in large, loopy letters before handing it back to Hermione and beginning to talk to Harry about how he used to be a Quidditch Seeker and turned down the offer of being in the National Squad to devote his life to teaching. He said he was more than happy to pass on his expertise to less able players.

Harry had made an indistinct noise before hurrying off after Ron and Hermione.