Chapter 297: The Legend of the Chamber
For several days in a row, the topic of conversation around the castle was surprisingly consistent. The students couldn't seem to talk about anything else and spent the entire day discussing the attack on Filch.
Filch had been taken to the Hospital Wing, with Mrs. Norris by his side, keeping a vigilant watch over him. Some students had hoped that life might be easier without this annoying duo around. For instance, they imagined being able to talk loudly in the corridors and pull pranks without fearing someone would pop out of nowhere, yelling for them to be sent to the dungeons.
However, they soon realized they'd been too optimistic. The professors took over Filch's duties, patrolling the castle and catching rule-breakers at every turn, handing out detentions and deducting points. They were even tougher to deal with than Filch had been; the little tricks that worked against him were completely useless on the professors. Within days, the point totals for all four houses had dropped significantly.
Even worse, the cleaning of the castle now fell to those who broke the rules... and they weren't allowed to use magic. Just the other day, Kyle had spotted Fred and George lugging around a large pile of cleaning supplies, scrubbing the words off the walls on the third floor. From the way they were muttering, it sounded like they actually missed Filch.
The Chamber of Secrets had also become a hot topic. Every copy of Hogwarts: A History had been checked out of the library.
"They're just wasting their time," said Cedric, glancing around the Great Hall at the younger students flipping through pages. "I remember clearly that the Chamber of Secrets isn't mentioned in that book at all."
"Did you memorize the whole thing?" Mikel asked in disbelief.
"Of course not; that would be impossible," Cedric replied, shaking his head. "But I've read enough to know. There's nothing about the Chamber of Secrets... not a single mention."
"Oh, I was hoping to borrow it from Millicent after she finished reading it," Mikel sighed, looking disappointed. It seemed he was also quite intrigued by the Chamber of Secrets.