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HP Chapter 32: Fanny’s Secret
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 12:37:10 +0000 UTCTwo days after the Quidditch match, a sudden wave of panic swept through the school, Colin Creevey, a first-year in Gryffindor, had been attacked by the so-called Heir of Slytherin and petrified. Rumors spread like wildfire: he was lying in the hospital wing, stiff as a corpse. First-year students everywhere began moving in tight groups, as though walking alone would make them the next target.
Anne didn’t react at all to the frenzy. She simply spent even more time in the greenhouses. Professor Dumbledore had instructed Professor Sprout to accelerate the maturation of the mandrakes, so a lot of magical plant care had been handed over to Anne and a few Hufflepuff students.
On the second Monday of December, Fanny came into the Slytherin dormitory to wake Anne up as usual. “It’s Monday, Anne. Get up, we’ve got Charms with Professor Flitwick this morning. Oh, and Momo brought you a letter, it’s from your Uncle Aaron.”
Anne shot upright in bed. “What? He hasn’t written to me in a month! Isn’t he still in Africa studying magical creatures? Let me see.”
Fanny handed her the letter and stuffed Anne’s breakfast into the backpack by her desk. “I put your breakfast in your bag. Looks like I won’t have to drag you out of bed today. I’ll wait for you in the common room.”
“Mhm…” Anne got up and began opening the letter as she headed for the bathroom to wash up.
When she came down to the common room, Fanny noticed something off, Anne looked unhappy, her face expressionless and distant.
“What’s wrong?” Fanny asked.
Anne sighed. “Aaron told me not to come home for Christmas. He said he’s doing some magical restructuring in the basement, moving some of the creatures and expanding a few climate zones. I was planning to surprise him during the holidays…”
Fanny gasped. “What? You’re not going home for Christmas?”
“Nope.” Anne took a big bite of her bread, swallowed, then gave Fanny a curious look. “Why do you sound more shocked than I am?”
Fanny quickly composed herself and waved it off. “No reason… it’s just that… I’m not going home either this Christmas. I thought I’d be spending it alone. But now that you’re staying too, we can spend it together!”
Anne nodded. “That’s not so bad then. Besides, something I’ve been working on is just about ready.”
“What is it?” Fanny asked, intrigued.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Anne smiled mischievously. Poor Aaron, she thought. He’s missing out. I was planning to bring it home over the break, but oh well.
That Monday evening, after dinner, Anne and Fanny split up at the Great Hall. Fanny walked at her usual pace through the corridor leading to the Slytherin common room, but when she passed a large pillar, she suddenly stopped and peeked around it, watching Anne’s silhouette disappear out the front doors of the castle.
Once Anne was out of sight, Fanny turned in the opposite direction and quietly made her way up to the third floor. As she approached, her steps grew cautious. She hugged the wall and tiptoed along, glancing around nervously, until she reached the entrance of a girls' bathroom.
She pushed the door open and entered.
The bathroom was old and dilapidated, clearly unused for some time. A faint white mist wafted from one of the stalls. Fanny quickly approached it and knocked once, paused, then knocked twice more.
The stall door opened.
The dividing wall between this and the neighboring stall had been removed. Inside stood Hermione. A cauldron sat on the closed toilet lid beside her, emitting wisps of pale green steam.
“Fanny!” Hermione said excitedly. “Did you get the bicorn horn and African tree snake skin?”
Fanny nodded and pulled a paper-wrapped parcel from her robe pocket. “It arrived this morning from home. Here. But… I might have some bad news.”
Hermione’s hands trembled as she took the package, almost dropping it. “Don’t tell me… Anne found out?”
Fanny’s face went pale. “No! Of course not. Don’t scare yourself. It’s just… she’s not going home for Christmas. Her uncle wants her to stay at school.”
Hermione exhaled in relief. “That’s good. Still, we should go over the plan again, just in case we’ve missed anything.” She carefully unwrapped the package and examined the contents before adding them to the cauldron.
The potion inside gradually darkened to a deep green and stopped steaming.
Hermione scooped out a spoonful to inspect, then stirred it again. She pulled out a worn book from her bag, Moste Potente Potions, and flipped to a bookmarked page. After reading for a moment, she beamed. “Polyjuice Potion will be ready in two weeks!”
Fanny’s eyes sparkled as she gazed into the cauldron. “That’s wonderful, Hermione! You’re amazing!”
Just then, another knock came at the stall door, one knock, pause, then two more.
Fanny opened the door. Harry and Ron slipped in quickly. Thanks to the missing divider, the two stalls formed a large enough space for all four of them to stand comfortably.
Hermione kept stirring. “Fanny brought the last ingredients. In about two weeks, we’ll finally have proof against Malfoy!”
“Brilliant!” Ron pumped his fist. “Let’s see how smug he is then!”
Fanny added, a bit nervously, “But I do have one problem, Anne’s staying at school over Christmas. Her uncle is remodeling the basement at home.”
“What?” Harry and Ron said in unison.
Hermione kept calm. “It’s alright. Let’s go through the plan again to patch any potential issues. We’ve already got Polyjuice Potion brewing, and all the rare ingredients. Fanny has hair samples from Pansy, Goyle, and Crabbe.” She pointed at the boys. “Harry, Ron, you’ll turn into Goyle and Crabbe. I’ll become Pansy. Fanny will lead us into the Slytherin common room. You two will sneak into the boys’ dorm and search for Malfoy’s correspondence.”
Fanny nodded. “Originally, the only tricky part was that both Pansy and Malfoy are staying at school. But I can handle that. The night before the plan, I’ll find an excuse to lure them up to the Astronomy Tower. It takes nearly an hour to get back from there to the Slytherin common room. That should buy us enough time.”
She grew more excited as she explained. “But now the new problem is Anne. Hermione and I are fine, we often walk around together with Pansy. But if Goyle and Crabbe are suddenly with us and Anne spots us… we won’t be able to explain that away.”
Ron rubbed his chin, trying to think, but didn’t come up with anything. Harry spoke up, “What if we split up into two groups? We can all meet here, drink the potion, and then Fanny gives Ron and me the password. You two go first, and we follow a little later. That way, even if Anne sees you, it won’t look suspicious.”
Fanny’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea!”
Hermione set down her stirring spoon and nodded thoughtfully. “That should work.”
Still, something weighed on her mind. She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Speaking of Anne… Fanny, don’t you think she has a right to know?”
Fanny flinched, but her tone was firm. “Remember when I agreed to help you? I promised to keep this secret.”
Ron muttered under his breath, “You and Anne are like opposites. We tried to recruit Anne and she wouldn’t come. But Fanny jumped in on her own. And both of you are Slytherins…”
Hermione and Fanny both glared at him.
Fanny quickly brushed it off and said cheerfully, “Yes, I’m a Slytherin, but that’s only because both my parents were. They’re always busy with work, and my grandmother was super strict. I used to play with Lang all the time growing up, he’s a Gryffindor alumnus! So I actually really like Gryffindor too. And besides, I am curious. Who opened the Chamber? Why? Who’s the Heir? And after what Malfoy said to Hermione last time, calling her a Mudblood, ugh, if he is the Heir, then of course I want to help catch him! Just like on TV, put all the bad guys behind bars!”
Her eyes gleamed with righteous determination.
Ron scratched his head. “What’s TV? And what’s a bar?”
Harry and Hermione launched into an explanation, while Fanny glanced at her watch, muttered about the time, and hurried off.
A few days later, a notice appeared in the Slytherin common room:
Due to recent security concerns, a Dueling Club will be held in the Great Hall tomorrow evening. Students interested in participating are encouraged to attend. Professors Lockhart and Snape will be leading the demonstration.
That evening, as soon as Anne returned to the dorm, Fanny rushed over to her. “Anne! Let’s go tomorrow night! Professor Lockhart and our Head of House, it’s going to be amazing!”
Anne’s internal alarms started flashing at the mention of Lockhart. “Lockhart? Can I say no?”
Fanny blinked. “Absolutely not…”
At 8 o’clock the next evening, Anne and Fanny arrived at the Great Hall. The long dining tables had been cleared away, replaced by a golden stage along one wall, lit by hundreds of floating candles. The ceiling had turned into a pitch-black velvet dome. The entire school seemed to be packed in, everyone clutching their wands and buzzing with excitement.
After a while, Lockhart ascended the stage in a magenta robe, radiant as always. Beside him stood none other than Professor Snape, still in his usual black attire.
Lockhart raised his hands. “Gather round, everyone!”
Fanny pulled Anne closer.
“Can you all see me? Can you hear me? Excellent!” Lockhart beamed. “Professor Dumbledore has allowed me to open this little Dueling Club, to teach you all how to protect yourselves in the same manner I’ve used countless times before. For more on that, refer to my published works.”
He grinned, then gestured toward Snape. “Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape, who tells me he knows a little about dueling. He’s graciously agreed to help me demonstrate. Don’t worry, I’ll return your Potions Master unharmed!”
Anne muttered, “Not sure who’s going to end up worse off…”
Fanny tugged her sleeve.
The two professors bowed to each other, or rather, Lockhart made a showy, twirling bow while Snape barely nodded.
They raised their wands like dueling swords. “On three,” Lockhart announced. “We cast our first spell. Of course, no fatal blows.”
Anne saw Snape’s smile and thought, This should be fun.
“One… two… three!”
Both wands whipped upward.
“Expelliarmus!” Snape shouted.
A flash of red light. Lockhart flew backward off the stage, slammed into the wall, and crumpled to the floor.
The Slytherins cheered. Anne couldn’t help but laugh, but stopped at Fanny’s glare.
She held back her grin, silently giving Snape a thumbs up in her heart.
Lockhart staggered to his feet, his hair standing on end.
“Just as you see, a simple Disarming Charm!” he huffed. “Lost my wand. Nothing to fear.”
After tidying his hair, he announced, “Now, we’ll pair you up! Professor Snape, would you assist me?”
As they moved through the crowd assigning partners, Anne ended up across from Fanny.
“Let’s try this,” Anne said, eyes gleaming. “You cast on me first, don’t worry, your spell won’t throw me across the room like Lockhart.”
Fanny hesitated but nodded. “Alright. Ready? One… two…”
Anne braced herself, wand in hand.
“Three! Expelliarmus!” Fanny’s wand sparked faintly. Anne’s wand jerked out of her grip and clattered to the floor.
“Well done!” Anne encouraged, picking it up. “Now it’s my turn. Ready?”
Fanny nodded excitedly.
“Expelliarmus!”
Fanny’s wand flew straight into Anne’s hand.
“Wow, Anne! That was amazing!”
But the rest of the Great Hall wasn’t as peaceful.
All around them, chaos had broken out, thanks to Snape’s matchups, many students were brawling.
Fanny spotted Hermione locked in a scuffle with Millicent Bulstrode and dragged Anne over.
“Stop it!” Anne yelled.
She pulled them apart, picked up Hermione’s wand, and asked, “Are you okay?”
Hermione flushed, expecting to be scolded, but Anne just looked concerned. She shook her head.
Anne handed back the wand. “Next time, don’t drop it. And never fight people who are bigger but dumber, you’ve got better weapons.”
Hermione blinked. “You’re not going to ask why we fought?”
Anne shrugged. “Everyone’s fighting. I’m guessing Snape said something to Millicent.”
Before Hermione could respond, Lockhart’s voice boomed across the hall.
Everyone turned.
