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With her books in her arms Sally-Anne Perks enters the library. Everybody in the Hufflepuff Common Room is excited about Halloween and she can't focus on her homework for Transfiguration. She has to finish it, so she decided to visit the library.
She spots Neville Longbottom sitting at one of the tables -she recognises him from her Herbology classes. He has a natural talent for plants and he seems really nice. So she walks up to him and he seems a little startled when she speaks. "Hey. Can I sit here?" she asks. He seems like he doesn't really know what to say, but then nods. "Y-yeah, sure," he says, almost breathlessly. She shoots him a grateful smile and sits down. She spreads her assignment on the table and starts working.
Hours must have passed because before she realises, Justin Finch-Fletchley is in the library. "Sally-Anne!" he calls. "We've been looking for you forever! The feast is starting," he says, and Sally-Anne nods. "Thanks, Justin. I'll see you there -save me a seat?" Justin nods and walks off together with Susan Bones and Wayne Hopkins, who waited for him outside of the library.
Sally-Anne gathers her stuff and smiles at Neville again. "Thank you," she says, and they might not have spoken much before today, now she's determined to talk to him more. He seems really nice and in need of some friends. Neville smiles back at her nervously. "Thank you, too," he says.
The feast is fantastic and afterwards Sally-Anne is one of the first to leave the table and go upstairs. She's listening to Ernie Macmillan arguing with Justin about if they have a chance for the Quidditch or House cup this year.
Then, she stops, as does everybody next to her. In the corner stand three students from her year: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Mrs Norris, Mr Filch's cat, is hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She's as stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
On the wall, there is red paint -it couldn't be blood, right- illuminated by the flaming torches.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
What the hell?
Draco Malfoy pushes through the crowd, takes a look at the writing and then the three standing there. From Hermione Granger his gaze moves over to Sally-Anne, and he grins, his usually pale face flushed as he grinned. "Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
And there it is. The word she hates so much -the word Draco Malfoy isn't capable of keeping in his mouth every time he sees her. She, and many others. The only other muggle borns in her year are Justin, Hermione Granger and Dean Thomas -both in Gryffindor. At least, Dean Thomas is called a muggleborn because he cannot prove his father was a wizard. She doesn't really have contact with Hermione, but she finds Dean in the crowd and he frowns at her. Justin, who is still standing next to her, grabs her hand and squeezes it.
And the year gets worse. Muggleborns get attacked and then two of them get paralysed at the same time -Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater, a fifth year Ravenclaw. From then on, they were escorted everywhere.
During Herbology, Dean Thomas approached her. "Malfoy's been throwing the "mudblood" word around like it's his dad's money," the dark-skinned boy says. Sally-Anne looks at him, frowning. "I've noticed. And not only us and the first-years, either. He's calling out everybody," she says. Dean nods. "Do you think he's the heir?" he almost whispers. Sally-Anne shakes her head. "No. Malfoy is too young and stupid for that, no I don't think it's him. I never believed it was Harry, either," she continues, knowing that the Gryffindors are familiar with the way Hufflepuff had suspected the Potter boy after the snake thing with Justin.
She misses Justin, sometimes.
"Really? Not that I did, I just mean..." Dean trailed off. Sally-Anne nods. "Yeah. He came by to say sorry to Justin, right before we found him. Harry is a Gryffindor, if he would've wanted to attack Justin he wouldn't have come to apologise. A Slytherin might do it, or a Ravenclaw, clever and sneaky to cover up, but Harry's a Gryffindor which means he's blunt and honest to the bone," Sally-Anne explains. Dean nods. "I've heard you're a good singer," he says. Sally-Anne nods. "I love to sing and I'm not half-bad, yeah," she confirms, wondering why Dean is asking.
Dean looks at her and grins. "I have a plan that might scare the crap out of Malfoy. We're going to need all the other muggleborns and -raised for it to work, but it might just scare him enough for him to back off."
Sally-Anne grins.
"I'm in."
She's stumbling around the corridor, on her way to the Great Hall for dinner. She sees Malfoy in front of her and hurries to catch up. As soon as he enters the Great Hall, she bumps into him, dropping her books to the ground.
Quietly she bends over to gather her books but Malfoy shoves her so she falls. "You filthy Mudblood," he spits, "how dare you attack me," Sally-Anne gets up quietly, ignoring his rambles about the heir and how she'll be the next one to be attacked, and locks eyes with Dean. She nods, a small nod that Malfoy doesn't notice, and he grins and nods back. He stomps on the floor, twice, and claps. He repeats. Soon, all the muggleborns in the Great Hall -from every house and every year- has joined in. The pure bloods all look around confused, and some halfbloods who were raised in a muggle environment laugh and join in.
Sally-Anne gets up and steps forward. Noticing she's in his personal space, Malfoy stops speaking.
She's as tall as he is and now she's so close to him he seems a little intimidated. He's reaching for his wand -but there are teachers around, he wouldn't dare- and then she starts to sing.
"Buddy you're a boy make a big noise," she starts out, quietly, and then a fifth year Ravenclaw shouts "Sonoros," and the whole Great Hall can hear her voice.
The people stomping and clapping are moving closer to her, standing beside and next to her, all facing Malfoy.
"Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day," Malfoy looks confused. Sally-Anne bites her lip, as hard as she can, and then spits her blood on Malfoy's face. He stumbles back as if he was physically struck. "You got mud on yo' face, you big disgrace," she continues as Malfoy keeps stumbling back. "Kickin' your can all over the place, singin'," All the people beside her join in and when she glances at the Teacher's table she can see that even some teachers have joined in with the clapping and singing.
"We will we will rock you," the noise makes the floor of the Great Hall tremble.
Malfoy turns on his heel and starts running away, half stumbling. He's crying out, "the mudbloods have gone mad, gone mad I tell you!" directed at his shadows, Crabbe and Goyle. Sally-Anne continues, her amplified voice chasing Malfoy through the castle.
"Buddy you're a young man, hard man, shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day. You got blood on yo' face, you big disgrace, wavin' your banner all over the place," then, she shouts, together with the entire Great Hall -all except most of the Slytherins.
"We will, we will rock you!"
She stops there, the people behind her still shouting and repeating the sentence until long after Malfoy has disappeared from view. Then, one by one, they quiet down. When the Great Hall is entirely quiet, Sally-Anne takes place at the Gryffindor table next to Neville Longbottom, who's staring at her with wide eyes. "Hey Neville," she says. The fifth-year Ravenclaw who had amplified her voice also takes place at the table, and then Dean. Soon, everybody is sitting somewhere and 30% of the students aren't sitting at their own table.
Potter and Weasley had abducted professor Lockhart, rescued Ginny Weasley, killed a Basilisk and sent Lord Voldemort back to the shadows where he's been lurking for the past years.
Dean Thomas and Sally-Anne and every student at Hogwarts who knew Queen had taught Malfoy and everybody who shared his opinion a lesson, and while everybody quickly forgot this in the face of the peril Harry Potter had once again saved them from, Sally-Anne and Dean Thomas and all the other muggleborns remembered forever.
When Justin came to, he found Sally-Anne next to his bed, grinning broadly at him. Next to her was Dean Thomas -a Gryffindor.
"Shouldn't you be on the other side of the room?" he asks him, pointing at where he saw Hermione Granger being given the potion that would wake her up. Dean Thomas grins.
Sally-Anne laughs out loud. "Oh, Justin, you're not going to believe this," she exclaims. Dean Thomas shakes his head. "You're not going to believe you missed this," he corrects her.
In the end, Justin found that Dean Thomas was right. He can't believe he missed this.