Chapters: Sixteen to Nineteen
AN: Yes, this is a repost, I have through chapter 22 done and am hoping to finishing this fic by the end of the summer. I'm not sure of the netiquette of posting Eureka's Twist of Fate here, but I'll see what I can do. Notice: My yahoo group is changing, it will be for authors actually interested in finishing-a-fic, as a discussion group.
Chapter Sixteen: This is a Girl's Bathroom
Harry Potter felt uneasy.
This was, he felt sure, an understatement.
His unease existed on several levels.
First. He was currently wandering around a castle. What as a London street rat doing in a Scottish castle? Was his first reaction.
Next there was castle itself. Nice place, filled to the brim with people. Oh, and we aren't talking tourists here. Most of these people were looking for him. Oh just for fun, lets not forget to mention that one of the group of people looking for him, where the very black robes that he had been escaping from. Ok, to be fair he didn't know if the black robes were looking for him here. But then he was use to working on worst case scenario, and that was it so he was using it as a known condition. The second group was much nicer. The majority of them had a great deal of red, or black hair and he had to leave just to keep them safe. The third and largest group of all in the castle were students, just like Ron. And then there were the House Elves, who were he was sure in a league all their own, if only he could figure out which. He sighed, he could couldn't stay here, he would put them all in danger. He didn't know which group worried him more. He wasn't even going to go near the whole concept of appearing doors and portraits that talked and walked around in their frames.
Second was Ron. The small boy shuddered, where was his head? He had broken the first of all the street rules. Never tell a normal your name. Normal being anyone not on the street. And Ron was everything he wasn't. He was a normal kid, going to school, and with a very large, very happy family. Harry's heart ached at that thought, there was no use wishing for things that couldn't be. He had learned that one at the Dursley's hands. Forcing his thoughts away from his own family he concentrated on the Weasleys. What a family. There had to be ten of them at least. Also, Harry couldn't shake the feeling as if he knew them somehow. Oh sure, there was the day dream he had seen of Ron when he was nine. Then there was the whole wizards oath thingy, but beyond that he couldn't help to shake the feeling that he knew them from somewhere else. Somewhere he had felt safe, if only he could remember where.
The pair of boys had reached a set of stair cases. The light was much brighter here because of the torches that started lighting up when the pair walked by them. Harry waved his hand and the small ball of light that had been following the pair of boys vanished.
With a gulp of astonishment, Ron stated. "We're somewhere near the fifth floor." he said after a moment. The Hogwarts student knew where the landing was that they were standing, on but had never seen the corridor before. "We have to go down this way. I want to show you the green houses." Said Ron picking the first thing that came into his head that they could get to from here.
Harry had looked up from his musing and after nodding at Ron, the pair started down the staircase. Harry's mind took note of the new information and then returning to his list of worries, his body was working on automatic.
Number three on his top three list of worries was his dog...er...man...Padfoot or Sirius. Whatever. The man/dog was obviously 'his' to worry about. Really, they had been together for what six or seven months now, since the beginning of the fall. And then there was the trip north that they took. He had needed the dog or man...er dog to get here. But then here is where both the cat lady and the Padfoot had, after some consideration, wanted him to go. So when push came to shove he trusted Sirius. But then Sirius had wanted him to come to Hogwarts. He pondered that a moment. Should he be trying to stay? But that would mean putting everyone here in trouble. Which was something he was not going to do. Before he did anything else he needed to find out how things were going with Sirius and Remus. Shirley, Sirius and Remus had enough time to talk things out. Hadn't they? He knew that they belonged together somehow, but still. Could he trust Remus? That was his biggest worry at the moment.
He looked up and realized that he and Ron had come down a flight of stairs. The windows showed that the storm was still going strong. Harry figured it was about three in the afternoon, and if this storm continued much longer he would be stuck here for the night. The upside of which was that he figured no more black robes would be able to get in. The down side of course would be that if they couldn't get in he couldn't get out. Getting out meant getting away from, well at this point; He stopped to make a list, getting away from Ron first; Sirius second, then the Castle third. That one was going to be much harder to do undetected. He had the oddest sensation that the Castle was watching him.
Which of course led to worry number four; That was way down on the list, that something was wrong in the castle itself. And that wrongness was totally unconnected with himself, it was that 'something' to annoy 'Dumbledore' that the oily black robe had mentioned. His weird senses about these things said watch out. He wondered idly if he could get out of here before that happened. That was of course if... IF he could leave his... He gave up at this point searching for the right word and worried if he could leave Sirius with Remus.
He started to consider this fifth major worry of the day. He looked up to discover that Ron had started to lead him down a second flight of stairs. His body snapped back onto automatic as he considered this "wizard's oath" thing. He wondered idly if he could give it back. Or maybe it was just for the day sort of thing. Nope, he mentally shook his head he knew he wasn't that lucky. Knowing his luck it was two way thing that the Weasleys would start arguing was only a one way thing. He sighed, why was his life so complicated.
They were half way down a second stair case when something tingled. Harry's head snapped up and moving with the swiftness that was learned in world that Ron might see but never understand, grabbed his new friend with one hand and as his other slapped over the startled boy's mouth. Before the other boy could protest Harry jerked the red headed boy behind a large marble statue that was set in front of a small alcove in the wall a few steps above the landing that they had almost reached. Harry pulled the taller boy down and crouched there waiting. His eyes taking in both the right and left hand corridors that lead off the landing a few feet down from them.
Ron eyes were bulging out of his head and he was gurgling behind the hand that Harry had clamped firmly over his mouth. Harry frowned at him and shook his own head then nodded toward the end of the right hand hallway. Ron took the hint and swivelled his eyes to the right to look down the hall. He didn't have to wait long to for the reason for Harry's caution to appear.
Down the long hallway came two witches. Well that was what Harry thought they were called. In between them was a floating body, much like the ones Harry had seen up in the infirmary a little while ago. The two witches were talking.
"What do you mean." Asked the first.
"I mean,' came the exasperated reply from the second witch, 'just what I said. The monster has struck in broad daylight, as this child, at that... that message are evidence of. She'll have to join the rest of the unfortunates in the infirmary. I only hope that they will be able to brew the Mandrake Potion soon."
"But what about..." started the first witch.
She was cut off by the second witch to said sharply her voice on the edge of panic. "Enough. You get this girl to the Infirmary and under Madam Pomfrey's care. I'm going to make the announcement and check in with my Head Boy and Girl to take over the head count in my house. Then I'll meet the Headmaster back here. We must get all the students back in their dormitories where they will be save and discover the identity of the, of the victim. After that, well, we'll let the Headmaster handle it."
She pulled out one of those funny sticks that Ron called a wand and said 'Emergentia Senoris' suddenly startling both boys they heard. "All students report to their common rooms! Will the Headmaster please report to the third floor right hand corridor. All students report to their common rooms. Will the Headmaster please report to the third floor right hand corridor. Thank you."
The first witch started up the stairs with the floating body beside her. The second witch started down the stairs to the first floor, Harry presumed she was going to check on her students or something, before she returned to meet the headmaster back here.
Taking the opportunity to snoop he released Ron to hurried down the now abandoned hall. There was a few shocked looking portraits and there at the end of the hall, on the wall in red paint was a message.
"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE."
Beneath it there was another message.
"HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER."
He didn't take time to do more than memorize both before he hurried back down the hall to the landing where he left Ron who was now standing almost distractedly. The witches had asked that the Headmaster report to the third floor right hand corridor. And that was enough for Harry. 'Headmaster' meant Dumbledore and Harry was not going to hang around for that. He checked that the coast was clear and pulling a lethargic Ron out from behind the statue, he headed down the nearest escape route, the third floor left hand corridor.
Fifteen steps down the hall there was a girls bathroom with a sign that said 'Out of Order' on it. What better place for two boys to hide than in an abandoned girls bathroom? Still dragging a lethargic Ron after him he opened the door and stepped inside.
The room was so dark that the first thing he did was to call the small lumos ball back into being.
Ron was leaning against a wall. Well more of sliding down it into a puddle on the floor muttering 'Hermione."
"I know." Replied Harry running his hand over his face. Why him? Why did his life always get this strange, this complicated? He should have known that he was going to get involved somehow, into this little 'Dumbledore' diversion. Now he was going to have do something about it. This had suddenly had just become very personal and he was just a little more than miffed. But Ron was so out of it he didn't notice that every torch in the room roared to life.
"I..." He started to say to Ron. But he got not further when he felt something whoosh past him.
"What.." Harry started when he was cut off.
"This is a GIRLS bathroom." Came a very loud very annoyed girl's voice.
Three men in a small waiting room where on the verge of ripping either the painting off the wall or ripping into each other within seconds of hearing the announcement.
Luckily Throckmorton Goldthwaite re-entered the portrait at that moment. All sense of mirth or frivolity was erased for he looked stern and urgent at the same time. He then demonstrated to them why he had been asked to be the first Protector.
"First, HE is still in the castle and safe.' he held up this hand to halt any comments from the three men. 'HE was no where near the attack when it happened. And Yes, I know his exact location. HE is in the company of the one of the red headed Protectors. I will keep you three apprised of any movements He and the boy with him might make. Second, Mr Lupin, Mr Black I would recommend that you both meet the Headmaster at the third floor right hand corridor. You will assist in this matter and discuss the current situation with him. Mr Black I suggest you go in your canine form. I realize Professor Snape, you will want to check on the children in your care but then I urge you to stop first in the Infirmary and then report to the Headmaster. Fourth, I will continue to watch over HIM until you three Get This Mess Straightened Out." The last coming out as a direct order.
The portrait then opened and the three men, alright two men and a very large grim like dog, rushed out of the room and found themselves in the main hall.
The visiting lycanthrope and unregistered Animagus hurried up the main staircase.
Severus of course rushed off down the staircase to the dungeons.
Half way up the first staircase Padfoot looked back at the bat like robed man disappear down the stairs and barked sharply at Remus. Remus glanced down at Padfoot then back at Severus and grinned. "He's head of Slytherin House." He explained to the barked question.
The Animagus barked with what the only could be described as astonished joy. He was wiggling with pleasure from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tale. With an accompanying grin from Remus the pair turned to bound up the stairs. Oh the pranks the three of them would play, once this was all straightened out.
"All students report to their common rooms! Will the Headmaster please report to the third floor right hand corridor. All students report to their common rooms. Will the Headmaster please report to the third floor right hand corridor. Thank you."
Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, Bill and Charlie Weasley who had just reached the Headmasters office hitched up their robes took off at a run. Percy startled, shouted after Professor McGonagall that he would handle Gryffindor tower and would come to report to her. McGonagall waved back at him that she had heard him and taking that as a go ahead, and he sprinted away in the opposite direction.
A few moments later the adults arrived at the third floor right hand corridor. They were met by a very flustered head of Ravenclaw house. She started before the Headmaster had a chance to speak.
"I was walking down the stairs. Coming down to check my classroom, for the next week when I heard a splash. Then this." A sweep of her hand indicated the water on the floor and the new message on the wall with the motion.
The group looked on to the wall and realized that the message had been added onto. Madam Hooch continued. "There was girl petrified in front of the wall.' she glanced at McGonagall. 'I don't know her name but she was a Gryffindor." she confided gently to Minerva.
At the gasp from the Weasley's she smiled "No, she didn't have red hair." There were relieved breaths that were released.
"Oh my." Gasped Minerva looking even more alarmed. "I have.. Percy Weasley volunteered to check Gryffindor tower." she stated weakly.
Hooch looking just as shell shocked. "I have my head girl in my house checking my house as well." She confided to Minerva as if to reassure the deputy headmistress.
Albus nodded and turned to Minerva. "We must have a head count of all the students. We'll need to know which student had been taken. There is no way that we will be able to keep this out of the press now. I fear that the Board of Ministers will order that Hogwarts will be closed, if only to attempt to save more children from being petrified."
Dumbledore turned to the younger Weasleys. "Charlie, would you be so kind as to go and sit with Hagrid? I fear he will blamed again for something he had no part in and I want him surrounded by friends." Albus asked them kindly.
The young man nodded at the Headmaster and after kissing his mother he hurried away to take the huge gamekeeper in hand.
The Headmaster then turned. "We'll need be to get back to my office. The others heads of house will, I feel sure, be reporting to me there. And I feel that there is nothing more than we can do here." He spoke gently to the group but was speaking more to Minerva who still looked shaky.
There was a thunder up the stairs and the group was joined by Remus Lupin and a huge dog. Looking around and seeing both Hooch and Minerva he slightly out of breath said "Severus is checking on the Slytherins', then he'll check in at the infirmary to see if anything can be done."
"I'll send him word there to have him to join us in my office after he is finished there." Albus commented coolly. Albus looked at the dog sharply. "And the boy?"
Remus looked at first at the Headmaster then down to his friend who was now sitting on his haunches and looking smug. "He is in the castle and was not involved in the attack. Oh, and he is being accompanied by a red head boy from the infirmary. We have a... friend keeping an eye on him. We do need to talk about Him, and the dog, Albus." He confided to Albus knowing the man would take the unspoken request to discuss all of this, privately, in his office.
"Very well." Albus replied frostily. .
The Headmaster then turned to Madam Hooch and said "If you could check in with Professor Sprout and check on the head count in Hufflepuff. Then send me word of both houses through the house elves.
Madam Hooch nodded her agreement and hurried off in the general direction of the Hufflepuff caverns, while the rest of the group turned to move to back to the Headmasters office.
The group of wizards witches and a dog walked soberly, and if Arthur Weasley had his wand trained on the dog walking ahead of him, no one made a comment. Although the dog did seem to smirk a little each time his head swiveled around to check if the Weasley patriarch was still keeping him in his sights, as it were.
They had reached the griffin that guarded the Headmasters door. "Lemon sherbet." he intoned. And the griffin swung around so that the group in could traipse up the stair case all the while Arthur Weasley kept his wand trained on the dog.
Once in the Headmasters office, they discovered two house elves waiting for them.
Albus bent over and they whispered quickly into his ears. One into his right and one into his left. At the same time. They then vanished quietly and quickly.
Albus straighten and turned back to the group. "Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff report all students are accounted for." he reported soberly.
Minerva swayed perceptible and pulling his own wand out Remus transfigured a book into a wingback chair and helped here into it. "Oh dear." She murmured.
Molly patted her shoulder and said "Tea?" to the room in general.
Albus nodded and snapping his fingers a house elf appeared. Albus bent down again to the small creature and a moment later it disappeared to reappear a almost instantly with two other elves and enough tea for a group three times the size of the current group.
Remus grinned at the appearance of the tea but did not take any. Padfoot looked worriedly from Minerva to Arthur as he sat down next to the fire.
Molly poured out and put an extra dollop of honey into her tea.
"So, what's so dangerous about the dog, that dad's keeping his wand on him?" Bill asked the room in general as he accepted his cup of tea from his mother.
"An excellent question." Replied Albus, "One that will have to wait until we have the student situation in hand. This is a reprieve only. We will be dealing with you shortly." With this the Headmaster's voice hit its coldest that Remus had ever heard it.
Padfoot did nothing but Bill could have sworn to the Ministry of Magic that the dog nodded back to Dumbledore.
A third small crack filled the room and there stood a very small house elf. The Headmaster bent down for a third time, the elf after delivering whatever message it had, disappeared as quietly as it had arrive.
Dumbledore straightened almost resignedly, reported gravelly. "That was the elf from Professor Snape. All of the Slytherins have been accounted for."
A moment later there was the sound of someone pounding on the door of the headmasters office.
There was then a pounding on the door and it swung open to reveal a very dis-shelved Percy Weasley. He was panting as if he had run all the way from Gryffindor tower. Which everyone in the room assumed he had.
Tears running down his face he said. "The girl in the infirmary." Gasp. "Its Hermione Granger." He broke down at that and started to sob. Bill crossed to him and wrapped his arm around his younger brother looking very confused.
Minerva alone in the room realized the implications of that statement. In that instant she was up and out of the wingback chair and holding on to Molly Weasley very firmly. When she spoke she did so very clearly and very gently. "Molly. Where Ms. Granger went, Ginevra went. They were as close, if not closer, than your Fred and George. They were inseparable. "
Molly looked from Minerva to her son sobbing in his brother's arms and then finally understood what Minerva was telling her.
It was her daughter that the monster had taken.
It was her daughter, her littlest, that was either dead or would be dead soon.
It was the apple of the families eye, the along waited girl child that they would never see again.
Molly felt herself being placed gently into the wingback chair, by two sets of hands, both Molly's and Remus' as she was unable to move under her own steam.
Sirius caught Arthur Weasley before he hit the floor.
Chapter Seventeen: Discussions in the ethereal plane
"This is a GIRLS' bathroom." Snapped the irritated comment.
Harry looked up into the eyes of a girl.
And through the girl to the wall behind her.
She was transparent and floating, a few feet above the floor.
Blinking a few times Harry looked a second time and then his mind connected. A look of wonder spreading crossed his face. "Excuse me. I do beg your pardon, but are you a ghost?" He asked her.
"Of course I'm a ghost" she retorted nastily floating back a few feet.
"Oh, I thought you might be." Harry replied placatingly. "You see I've never met a ghost before. I wasn't sure how to ask such a...' he paused, 'a personal question, without being rude." He explained.
"Hmm." Replied the ghost who it seemed to blush as this comment.
The ghost thought this over and started to reply when, there was a groan from near the door. Harry and the Ghost looked over at the boy with red head hair, he was leaning on the wall and sliding down it to sit in a bump on the floor.
"What's wrong with him then." Came the girl ghosts voice.
"He's...he's had a bit of a shock." Harry replied walking over to his friend.
"Ginny." He looked up at Harry, "You don't understand, Hermione never goes anywhere without Ginny." Ron's eyes were hollow.
"I do understand." Replied a Harry. He just didn't know what to do about it. Not yet anyway. It was his street training kicking in. Don't get mad, get even, but don't bring the cops down on you.
He turned back to the ghost who was floating near a large circular window behind a circular row of sinks. "Pardon me, but did you see or hear anything a little while ago? We, we seem to be hunting a monster. It's petrified a friend of ours and taken Ron's sister." He explained.
The girl looked down at him, "Well, I was sitting in the u-bend, thinking about death, when I thought I heard a scrapping sound a little earlier, but by the time I poked out it was gone." She replied with a shrug.
Harry thought this over. It didn't seem to help at all.
"It's very rude not to introduce yourself." Came the huffed comment from above him.
"I apologize. I'm, I'm Harry. Just Harry." He replied with a smile to the apparition floating next to him.
Something about this bathroom bothered the boy from the London streets.
And when something bothered him like this bathroom was bothering him, he had to check it out. He started looking at the door and started to moved counter clockwise around the room.
"My name's Myrtle." She replied on a painful moan.
"What a lovely name. Your parents must have loved you very much." Was Harry's distracted reply he was checking out the stalls having passed over a still moaning Ron to get there.
"Why would you say that?" Myrtle asked in a shocked tone.
"Well, Myrtle is a very pretty flower. Silver Myrtle and purple Myrtle, are my favorites. And in ancient Greek 'Myrtle' means both sturdy tree; Greeks loved sturdy trees, which the Greeks made everything out of. Everything meaning weapons. Very big with Ancient Greeks; and it means victorious as well." Harry informed her, looking around the sinks that were standing in a circle in the center of the room, while he spoke.
"How did you..." Started Myrtle unsure how to continue her question.
Harry looked up at her when he realized that the rest of the question was not being posed. He grinned when he realized what she wanted to ask and answered her unspoken question.
"There are wonderful places to hide from the Librarians in the British Library, if you know where." He explained, as if this explained everything, which it did not.
"You're not a student at Hogwarts then?" came Myrtle's next question as she floated up to look out the window at the storm that was no where near dying down.
"No, I'm not. I'm just visiting." Replied Harry who was still examining the circular arrangement of sinks that was currently worrying him.
"I don't get many visitors, at least not boy's in a girls bathroom.' Myrtle commented thoughtfully, 'The last time there was a boy in the girls bathroom was the night I was... the night I was..." as Myrtle was talking her words became extremely distressed an the sentence ended on a wail and she flew up to the ceiling to cry.
He would have to turned to comfort the distressed ghost had not his scar flashed in a pain and once again he was lost in a day-mare, from which he could not awaken. His scream so startled Myrtle that she plunged into her favorite u-bend, sending a shower of water up as she disappeared.
Ron on the other was on his feet in an instant and beside his new friend calling out,
"Harry! HARRY!"
But the small London street waif could not hear him he was watching the oddest things in front of his eyes.
He wasn't flying this time. In fact he was still in this very bathroom. But everything was moving very fast, he could hardly keep up with the visions as they flashed like still camera shots, in front of his eyes. At first he saw nothing but the bathroom. Then his vision centered on the funny circular arrangement of sinks as they began to move. To fly up and out, revealing a long dark tunnel. He shuddered as he was sucked down the black hole and into its slimy depths. He had a quick visions, of a dank cavern, then of a door and snakes and a boy with blood red eyes and finally a glimpse of a struggling girl with red hair. Just as suddenly as this day-mare had started he felt as if he was jerked backwards, back past the cavern, up the long pipe and it was over.
Harry realized he was back in the bathroom and the day-mare was over when he fell over.
The oddest thing was that this time when he fell over, because he often fell over after having one of these day-mares, is that someone caught him. Blinking a few times Harry looked up in the worried eyes of Ron Weasley.
"Thanks." Said Harry with a grin.
"Anytime." replied Ron matching the dark haired boy's grin.
"You mind telling me what just happened?" Asked Ron his grin quickly giving way to a look of concern and worry.
"Don't worry about it, it happens every now and then." Harry was already starting to stand up and shakily make his way over the worrisome circular collection of sinks.
"Don't worry. You suddenly scream at the top of your lungs, pass-out but are still wide awake and shaking, then fall over. This is something to worry about." He replied hotly, he voice getting a little higher at the end of the sentence.
Harry grinned at him and keep looking at those movable sinks.
Ron followed him around them three times before he finally gave up and asked.
"What are you looking for?"
"Don't know. But I'll know it when I find it." Harry replied truthfully.
"Then what." Asked Ron.
"Then we hunt down a monster, and get our Ginny back." Replied Harry grimily his eyes flashing a brilliant green.
"Cool." Replied a grinning Ron.
Sirius Black looked up to find no less than five wands trained on his head, heart and various other parts of his anatomy that he was rather fond of. He glanced with a look of 'help' over at Remus, but the man was grinning madly at him, and pouring out a cup of tea. He then walked over and handed it to a distraught but wand holding Molly Weasley.
"Help me out here Remus." Sirius pleaded.
"Oh, certainly." Replied Remus, who pulling out his wand quickly transformed the rug underneath his feet into a couch that he could lay the unconscious man onto.
Sirius growled "Oh, thank you very much." Sarcastically enough to be compare to Severus Snape.
"Not at all. Here Molly, you look a little pale take a little something stronger with that tea." Remus replied replacing his own wand, took a small silver phial out of his inside coat pocket poured some scotch into the tea she was holding. "Remember, this is Hogwarts, where anything can happen. You must keep your hopes up." He said kindly. Then moved to pour out a second cup for Minerva and added in a stronger dash of scotch to her cup before handing it to her.
Moving slowly the Animagus laid the man down on the small couch and then keeping his hands out from the sides of his body, he straightened slowly and backed away from the prone figure, as the three remain wands followed his every move.
"Where is the child, what have you done with him you, you..." Minerva began but was unsure how to continue.
"You 'Fiend'?" Remus suggested helpfully, startling Percy and Bill Weasley out of their minds as he handed them both a cup of steaming tea. "Drink that up, both of you." He then urged the pair as they accepted their libation.
Remus then turned back to Minerva. "The boy is fine Minerva. He was no where near the attack when it happened. I don't know the young man's name but the youngest Weasley boy was with Him. They are both fine.' He assured Molly, who gasped at this information. "I know this because we are being constantly updated with His location by, well let's just say a two dimensional friend. The 'we' I speak about it, Sirius, Severus Snape and myself. We had quite a conversation, before the attack happened. A discussion that...We will need to talk to you about Albus. However, the real problem here is the disappearance of Ms. Weasley and these attacks on the students. I recommend that for now we should concentrate energies on these attacks." Remus finished by handing Albus a cup of tea that the had prepared as he was talking.
It was then that Sirius realized that his very brave, smart, and skillful friend had indeed helped him out by disarming the entire room. He lowered his hands slowly and backing up to the wall carefully sat down with his back to it staying very still as not to startle anyone into pulling their wands again.
The headmaster sighed.
Taking the cup with a slight frown, Albus walked around and sat in his chair behind his desk. "I reluctantly agree.' He said sitting down.
'But, Sirius Black, do not for one moment think that I have forgotten about you. Only your obvious wandlessness, and apparent help to the Weasley twins last night, not to mention getting the boy here at all, is keeping me from summoning the aurors.' Albus Dumbledore glanced out the window at the howling snow and wind. "That and the current storm we seem to caught in the middle of." His eyes twinkled as he shrugged and sipped his tea with a grin
Remus grinned, "We'll deal with the 'Sirius' situation that later. Now what can you tell us about the attacks. What wasn't in the papers?"
Taking a deep breath Albus recounted the attacks which had left three students, one house ghost and a cat petrified in the hospital wing.
"If we can not get to the bottom of this mystery soon, I fear that the school ministers will order Hogwarts closed." For the first time in a long time the twinkle had left the eyes of the man's eyes.
"Surely, it can't be that bad." Remarked Molly Weasley.
"I can not think that the appearance of Lucius Malfoy, calling for my removal on the very day of an attack is a coincidence. As the most vocal of the school ministers he has already tried to have me removed twice before." Albus commented as took a small tin from his robes and said "Lemon Drop, anyone." offering the tin around.
"You know I wonder where Malfoy is at the moment. He couldn't have made it farther than Hogsmeade in this storm." Molly commented worriedly as she looked over at her husband.
"Does it matter?" Grinned Bill back at her, trying to cheer her up a little.
"No. I supposed it doesn't." She replied tiredly, tears streaming down her face.
"So, you have search the entire castle?" Remus asked.
"Every stone. Every room. From the highest tower to the lowest dungeon." Replied Minerva. "We even checked the old records of searches that are kept in the restricted section of the library. Nothing." She informed them dis-heartedly.
"Older records?" Asked Sirius to find several frowns thrown his way as he asked the question.
"I fear that this has happened before." Replied Dumbledore.
"When?" Asked a confused Bill.
"It was when I was a very young professor here. The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened there was a death of a student." Albus reported, "At least this time there have not been an deaths. And we might still have time to save young Ms. Weasley."
"Well, there has to be a way out of this. Who was killed? And where..." Remus started but was interrupted by the sound of a groan.
All eyes in the room swung around and looked at the man who had been laying on the couch.
Arthur Weasley was waking up.
Sirius who was closest was quickly at his side and steadying the man who was slowly sitting up, and holding his head with one hand. Remus quickly poured a final cup of tea and passed it to Sirius.
Sirius guided the tea to Arthur's lips saying gently, "Easy now, here drink this.'
Concentrating solely on the steaming cup of tea in front of him. Finally under control he looked up at the man holding him. "Thank y... SIRIUS BLACK!" at which his eyes rolled back up into his eyes and he fainted dead away.
"Are you ever in a room where there ISN'T someone FAINTING?" Came annoyed voice of Throckmorton Goldthwaite.
Severus Snape was not pleased. If there had been any students in the hallways at the time, they would have jumped out of the windows to get out of the way.
After getting out of that ridiculous room with the werewolf and dog, his only concern were his Slytherins. By some luck it was not one of his that was missing. But it was a student in this school and he was worried. His left arm had begun to sting. He had just finished his head count and sent a house elf off to Dumbledore when he had first noted it. He commanded his Head Boy and Girl to keep the students amused as if they could with that Malfoy whelp in his house.
The tall man was half way to the hospital wing when he had realized to his horror why he was shaking his arm, as if he could rid himself of something pinching him. The Dark Mark. He would have gone at once to Dumbledore, but that painting had been very animate, well for a painting anyway, that he need to check in with Madam Pomfrey. First, he would see to what ever was wrong in the infirmary and then go to inform Dumbledore that the Dark Lord was involved in this mess in some way.
The tall potion master stalked into the infirmary with long strides. He would have made this quick, but what he found however changed those plans drastically.
"Severus. I was just going to send for you. They're worse." Said the matron in a brisk tone meeting him at the door.
The matron and the potion master moved quickly to the beds holding the identical twins. Severus picked up first one then the other of the charts holding the boys progress. He studied both charts for several minutes.
The medical witch stayed silent as the dour potions master's mind worked. She knew that he would identify the problem but only if allowed to concentrate uninterrupted. The tall man suddenly moved forward and reached under the covers of the nearest boys (Fred's) and pulled his hands out from under the bed spread.
Severus examined the boy's fingernails, then moved to check George's hands and fingernails as well. The black robed man ran a hand over his own chin and moved to stare out of the nearest window, the storm that continued to blow unseen as he moved the bits of the puzzle, looking at the problem one way then another until they fell into place.
"The concise algae flowers, they must have found them, harvested them and were starting back when they were waylaid." He growled suddenly, whirled and headed for the infirmary medicine cabinet pulled out several bottles of potions. "Tell Albus I'll be back and that I will need to speak to him on Order business." He commanded the startled witch as he headed for the door. "Keep them warm and get as much fluids down them as you can, use those muggle IV's." The last part of the sentence coming out as a direct order as he dashed out of the door.
Shaking her head the medical witch turned and started to gather the items she would need to force fluids into the youngsters. She knew exactly what the concise algae flowers had to do with this. She started the IV's. At this point she wasn't going to question Snape about the fluids, he had saved to many of children in her hospital over the years.
Severus Snape ran towards the front hall of Hogwarts. If he could find Hagrid, the huge man might be able to lead him to where the twins 'might' have found the flowers. If he were very lucky, he might find the remains of the flowers and could then make the antidote to the additional poison in their systems.
It was a the concise algae flowers that were now the twins problem. Neither Madam Pomfrey or he and thought that they had found them. Now he knew that the foolish children had obviously found them, or he and they, wouldn't find themselves in this ridiculous position. Knowing those two, they might have even taken the correct precautions to keep from getting themselves killed. If...IF...those foolish Gryffindors had gotten back to the Castle in time, and if... If... they had pre-prepared the correct cleansing potion before hand, which Severus grudgingly admitted to himself that they would have. The Weasley twins were almost Slytherin in their preparations for a good prank. He didn't believe the extra homework story for a minute.
But they hadn't gotten back to the Castle in time and both he and Poppy had overlooked the possibility that they had harvested the flowers. Without a cleaning potion to bath in after collection, a slow and deadly poison would building up, was building up in the twins systems. The cure was the remains of the flowers. A basic cleansing potion and the ash of the flowers was the antidote. It was simple to brew and could be done in only a few moments. If he and the game keeper could find the spot in time, he would brew it there and then and send resulting potion back with his owl, straight to Poppy, who would know what to do with it.
He dashed out the front door whirling his cape about him. He calling out to his owl to follow him and started to struggle through the howling wind and snow towards to Hagrid's hut.
It was going to be along afternoon.
Deep in the bowels of the Slytherin Common Room Draco Malfoy was holding court. Snape had done a head count and left the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Draco smirked, as if they would do anything without his approval first. His personal flunkies Crabb and Goyle were sitting near him and the rest of the house fawned him. Even the seventh years knew who was in charge of Slytherin now.
Draco was currently plotting the complete destruction of the Gryffindors.
After this morning's humiliation he was angry and activity plotting their destruction, Gryffindors in general and the Weasley's specifically.
First up was how to overcome the physical aspect of the plan. The Slytherin's had long known exactly where Gryffindor tower was, destroying it was of course another matter.
"So, what we will need is a three part plan. First, to physically bring the tower down I think that we will have the fourth years work on that. Don't they have that engineering/construction enthusiast in the fourth years? Check on it for me won't you Crabb." Who grunted in the affirmative.
Grinning Draco continued. "Next, on the agenda will be the finding the correct spells to remove the safely wards on the tower. You'll take care of that won't you my dear Marcus. I know how you have built up the whole athletic image, but you're just would love to wrap your mind around this one wouldn't you." The captain of the Quidditch team smiled at the younger Malfoy.
"As soon as the Heir takes care of 'whomever' sending us all scurrying, into our houses,' at this there were chuckles around the room, 'we'll work on the final part of the problem. Keeping the Slytherin involvement totally out of the picture." Finished Malfoy with a grin. There were the general sound of agreement from all sides.
"I don't think you have a very good idea there, Malfoy. I have a feeling this will blow up in your face." Blaise Zabini commented coolly, looking up from his history of magic essay.
"I didn't ask your opinion Zabini." Draco snapped. "How you got sorted into Slytherin, I'll never know. Head always in a book, should have been a bloody bird." He commented, provoking further to the giggles and laughs in the surrounded the common room.
Zabini made no further comment but picked up his school work and moved away from the other boy. He didn't want to be anywhere near Malfoy when the revolution came.
Draco stood up and moved to stand next to the three huge marble pillars that stood in the corner. Laughing he commented. "That's right Zabini, hurry away, I'm sure that there is..." The pillar behind him rumbled.
It started slowly, like a small avalanche of sound and a gentle vibration that began somewhere behind him startled Draco. The second year turned to look for the source of the disturbance. Suddenly, it had become a huge roar, startling the blonde boy as he realized that the huge columns was where the sound was emanating from.
Horrified, Draco backed away, as did most of the rest of the Slytherin's. The grey swirl patterns that for generations the Slytherin's had taken for the veins in the purest wizarding marble began to crack, move and shift.
Very quickly the grey was washed away as the common room realized that the column weren't marble but the filth that had actually lined the insides of three huge clear glass pipes. The sound of water moving through the pipes intensified slightly and now and again a beautiful tropical fish or electric eel was observed swimming by.
There was a second roar of sound. In the center clear crystal pipe there rose from its base a huge swirl of water bubbles and motion.
Floating up from bottom of this central pipe, as in slow motion, was the figure of a man. Dressed in the finest robes, holding a cane, with wild pale blond hair that rippled in the water currents it was caught in.
Father and son looked at each other for a moment before Lucius was washed up, up, and away when a third roar of water swept him from view.
Draco turned back to completely empty common room.
Empty except for Zabini, who merely arched an eyebrow at his classmate before turning and walking out as well.
Chapter Eighteen: The reports of my death...
Charlie Weasley had to take over making the tea.
At Dumbledore's suggestion Charlie had ventured out into the winter storm, across the Hogwarts grounds, to the small hut that was the Gamekeepers and the Keeper of the Keys' home. After nearly getting shot with a crossbow, Hagrid and he had a very strained chat on how not to greet visitors. After that they slipped into a normal conversation, but not even the latest dragon news could keep Hagrid engaged in conversation for along.
Always trying to be a good host Hagrid, even though he was rather distracted, had suggested tea. But when it came to brewing of it Hagrid's hands had been shaking to hard to hold the kettle. Plus the huge man was tending to drop things to jump up at the slightest sound from outside and cross to the door with his crossbow in his hands. Charlie couldn't blame him. The last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened a student had died, and Hagrid's pet had been blamed. Hagrid himself had been unfairly expelled. Few knew the truth about Hagrid's past, the Charlie had found out the secret one day when the Gamekeeper had not shown up for the Halloween Feast in Charlie's final year at Hogwarts.
Charlie as Head Boy, asked for, and was granted permission to, find the huge man. The Head Boy had found Hagrid sobbing into his beer at the Three Broomsticks with Miss Rosmerta wringing her hands at the sight of him. The with Charlie's assistance they had had bundled him up and Charlie had walked him home before he could embarrass himself further. It was as Hagrid was being helped into to bed that the whole story had come out. Charlie had stayed with his new friend all night and in the morning had gotten up early to brewed a hangover potion so that it would be ready for Hagrid. Charlie waited until Hagrid was fully awake and no longer an interesting shade of green before pumping the whole story out of him. He then promised Hagrid that his secret would stay just that, a secret. The two wizards had been firm friends ever since. In fact it was Hagrid's friendship and his infusing Charlie with a love of Dragons that had prompted Charlie to become a Dragon Handler. Charlie routinely supplied Hagrid with pictures and letters from the Romanian Dragon Colony.
The 'other' upside of being a Dragon Handler was that it required no up front costs, only a six month apprenticeship. If you lived through the apprenticeship, the pay was great, and it allowed him to afford his University distance education classes in his first love, Potions. By combining the two he was going to become the first Potion Master with a Specialties in Dragon Potions.
So when the water ended up on the floor for the fifth time, instead of in the tea kettle, Charlie had taken over making the tea. The pair of wizards were currently sitting in front of the large fire place and sipping the tea and munching on Hagrid's rock cakes. Well, sort of. Charlie was trying to LOOK like he was eating and hiding them in his pockets, he really didn't want to break his teeth. Besides, the dragon's thought the rock cakes were great, so he would place a stay fresh charm on them and owl them off to Romania later.
In an attempt to distract the keeper of the Keys, and get another rock cake into his pocket, Charlie finally asked "When did you get an owl?" Nodding over at the huge Snowy White owl that was resting on an owl perch next to an enchanted owl window.
This question seemed to depress the man even more... "I bought her' 2 summers ago." he said darkly.
"Oh, really!' Charlie said brightly, thankful to find a safe subject to discuss, 'What did you name her?"
"Didn't. She was to be a birthday present for, but he, he died..." tears were forming Hagrid's eyes as he continued... "He was going to start at Hogwarts same as your little brother... But he never answered his letters, so the headmaster sent me out. On his birthday...It should hav' been his second year by now but, but, but... His family had to tell me...he was killed in a Muggle car crash...Never even got his Hogwarts owl.." the huge man was sobbing as he confided this to Charlie.
'Out of the frying pan into the fire' thought Charlie as he handed a huge handkerchief to the man who was crying into his tea. "There, there, Hagrid." he said kindly patting the man on the arm, this mind working furiously, trying to thing up something to say. Dash it all. His mother was better at this sort of thing.
There was a pounding at the door. Hagrid was on his feet, in an instant his eyes clearing, crossbow in his hands and pointing it at the exterior portal when the pounding sounded a second time.
"Now Hagrid, don't do anything foolish. It might be nothing." Charlie tried to sound encouraging and soothing at the same time. The younger wizard stood and joined him facing the door.
The pounding echoed around the small cabin for the third time, this time accompanied by a voice that could be barely heard over the wind howling outside.
"HAGRID! ARE YOU IN THERE? OPEN UP YOU OVERSIZED EXCUSE FOR A GARDENER!"
Hagrid moving with surprising swiftness, shot to the door, un-stringing his crossbow as he did so. The huge man quickly pulling back the door bolt. The howling wind seemed to hurl in not only the door, but also the figure of a tall wizard in a sharp black cloak, that was softened only by the film of white snow flakes that covered all available fabric.
Once the wizard was safely inside the door had to be pushed, with all the huge man's strength, his massive shoulder pressed to the wood, to close it again. Once Hagrid had his front door shut, he threw the bolt home locking the wind out. The door seemed to raddle against this action in protest.
"What were you thinking, you greasy git? Coming out in this weather?" Asked the huge man with gruff kindness. Hagrid then bustling over to the kettle and pour out a steaming cup of tea which he then forced into the Potion's Master's hands.
Severus Snape took the tea cup, warming his hands on its sides and sipping it without answering.
He was too busy Glaring®.
The person whom he was Glaring® at was grinning at him, as the younger man deftly relieved the sodden black cloak about his shoulders.
This made Severus Glare® all the more.
Charlie grinned at the thin man before him. He had not been the Potions Master's student for many years and dealing with dragons had taught him a thing or two about prickly stallions.
"Yes indeed, what brings you out on such a day Severus?" Charlie asked the tall man pulling out his wand, charming the dour man's cloak, first with a drying spell, then added a very handy spell his younger brother Bill had taught him. The second spell would add a heating and water repelling charm that would keep the handsome yet irritating man warm and dry when he left to return to Hogwarts. This done the then hung it over a cloak peg next to the door before turning to smile at Severus.
"Your brothers." Severus replied with a concerned scowl.
"Which ones?" Charlie asked with a grin.
"The twins." replied the tall man tersely. Charlie's grin faded, he had a horrible suspicion he knew what had brought the Potion Master out of the castle in this kind of weather.
"What could they have possibly done now? They're in the infirmary." Hagrid wondered aloud.
"The Concise Algae Flowers. They found them." Charlie stated, waiting for the tall man's confirming nod. He had not been the first Weasley to take a Potion's Newt in two hundred years, let alone work for a Potions Mastery for nothing. (That fact that the Potions Master in front of him was tall, dark and handsome and had a voice that would melt butter had Nothing to do with it.)
Hagrid, who had not taken his Potions Newts, looked from one to another of the wizards in front of him and ask said "Huh."
"For the potion the twins were trying to create, the Concise Algae Flowers must be picked with the bare hand, then added into the potion within an hour. One draw back. Once the flowers ARE picked the wizard or witch, who picked them, must use an external cleansing potion, the key ingredient being the Concise Algae Flowers or..." Charlie shuttered. "We have to find those remaining flowers."
"Exactly, Madam Pomfrey is administering fluids to keep to stabilize their condition but it is only a temporary measure. I must find those remaining flowers to create the cleansing potion." Severus explained as he placed his now empty tea cup down with the rest of the tea things.
"Won't that be hard?" Hagrid asked already on his feet and at the door, pulling on his heavy winter coat.
"The potion itself is simple to brew, only the ingredients are... difficult." Severus unexpectedly stumbled over the last word as he felt his cloak being gently placed back around his shoulders. He looked over to discover Charlie Weasley cloaked as well. His eyes' narrowed as he took a second look at the dragon handler's cloak. Shocked, he looked up into the face of the man standing before him.
"Then we should go quickly." Charlie said resolutely, steadily looking into Severus' eyes.
"Right." Hagrid swung into action. "Charlie you carry the emergency potions box, you'll find it over there, top shelf, next to the pickled dodo eggs. You take up the rear behind Severus. Severus you're behind me. Wands out at all times, the both of you." Hagrid commanded, as he gathered a few more knives, as was in the process of getting out the wind resistant charmed lantern, and another quills of arrows for his crossbow.
Charlie, breaking eye contact, crossed to the side pantry and quickly found the featherweight charmed box with the two crossed red wands twinkling on the side. Pulling it off the shelf by its handle, he pulled his wand out with the other hand and went to stand patiently next to the door.
"You can't mean to drag another Weasley into the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid!" Severus exclaimed, as he watched the younger man retrieve the emergency box and cross to the hut's door. (He also mentally making a note to find out where Hagrid was getting Dodo eggs.) He was appalled at the thought of the younger man exposed to danger. The fact that Charlie was the only student of his to pass his' potions NEWT's with a perfect score, in the last ten years, or that he had shoulders that went on forever, and had a voice that could charm a dragon out of the sky, had Nothing to do with it. The additional fact that Charlie was a dragon handler of the first rank, and that the Forbidden Forest would be child's play to him, was completely ignored.
"He'll need to carry the emergency box." Hagrid commented absently as he was checking a few of his arrows, "Are you ready for a little flying Girl?" He said as he looked up to discover a second owl sitting next to the first. This one was jet black and sat still looking at the white owl next to it.
"My owl Midnight." Commented Severus still annoyed.
"We'll tak'm both. Well? What are you waiting for? Off! The both of you." Stated Hagrid.
The White owl without a name looked at the Black owl named Midnight hooted once, shook her feathers and took off from the perch, the charmed window opening for her as she swooped out. After a moment a rather put upon hoot came from the black owl who followed her out the window.
"Ready now?" Hagrid asked the other two men, and without waiting for an answer, threw the bolt on the door and strode out of the hut and into the forest.
Charlie grinned at Severus and motioned him to proceed him out the door.
Severus just Glared® at him and muttering under his breath 'Idiotic Griffindor's. The pair of them." as he did so.
Charlie just grinned all the more and pulled the door shut behind himself as he followed the huge man and the still grumbling, still handsome professor, out and into the forbidden forest.
Currently, the first supporter of Voldemort was getting a tour.
A very unique tour.
One saved for those select few that the castle had marked down on it's 'special' list.
The castle hadn't like the little blond twerp when he had been a student here and she didn't like him now.
On top of that, the little one didn't seem to like him either, which was another mark against the twerp, and good enough for her to act on the dislike.
Besides, it had been years since some of those pipes had been cleaned.
Oh wait, she just remembered a few pipes that no one had used in years, surely they needed a good cleaning too.
The insiders guided tour of Hogwarts continued.
Harry had gone around the strange circle of sinks three times before a confused Ron asked "What are you doing?"
The small boy from the London streets smiled as he looked up. "Looking it all over, like the guy who built it would have." Was the reply and he went back to looking.
Ron looked at Myrtle, who shrugged.
Myrtle looked back a Ron, who shrugged.
Both Hogwarts student and ghost went to lean, and float, next to the wall as they watched the boy circle it again. And again. And again.
At the seventeenth time around, Ron called out, "Can't you at least go the other way? I'm getting dizzy."
Harry looked up at Ron, grinned and changed direction circling the other way around. After seventeen times around the other way, even Harry was getting seriously dizzy. At that moment there was a very loud rush of water through the pipes behind the north wall. The fact that screaming seemed to be coming from the wall as well startled all three in the bathroom. Ron look at Harry who shook his head, he didn't know what was going on. Ron looked at Myrtle who giggled and said the pair of boys. "The Castle isn't happy with someone. She hasn't sent anyone through the sewage pipes in ages."
Both boys looked at each other and shrugged at the same time.
Harry thought that perhaps he needed a new perspective and went to explore the rest of the bathroom.
Ron, having watched silently from beneath the one round window in the room, decided to asked a question, well one of them anyway, that was bothering him.
"Harry, back there, in the infirmary. Why did you run? That is, look, I know you were scared of something. What you scared of ?"
Harry looked up from his inspection of the first of the toilet stalls. He wasn't use to answering questions but Ron was a friend, and you did tell friends the truth. Didn't you? It seemed to work with Padfoot, er., Sirius. He took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "Well, you know that man, the one with the twinkling eyes, from the big table. At breakfast?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore?" Ron asked confused.
Harry nodded and went to look at the second toilet stall. A small pot on a tripod sat in the stall. Surrounding it were various small bottles full of stuff, marked first, second, 3 stirs counter clockwise, third five minutes later, fourth: One/ half stir counter clockwise, three clockwise. From left to right, the last one read fifteen petals added one per minute on the minute with a figure eight pattern twice between each petal. The other stalls were empty, and Harry looked at them feeling perhaps he had said too much already.
After a few moments of silence Ron gave up and asked "Well, what about him."
The smaller boy was looking at the last empty toilets. 'Well it's not like I'm staying after all. I'll just help Ron find Ginny, check on Padfoot, er. Sirius and Remus, then go.' he thought to himself and with his brows pulled together he replied. "He was coming, and I don't trust him." the small street urchin finished in a rush.
Ron grinned at his new friend and started to reassure him that this was just not something he was every going to have to worry about.
"Don't worry, if there is anyone in this castle you can trust it's the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world! He defeated the Dark Wizard Gridewald, and he's Headmaster of Hogwarts, and he gives out great candy, and he never yells at students, and you never have to worry about getting killed, or eaten by something with huge fangs, if you get a detention from him. He's very powerful, even my parents say that he was the only person that 'You Know Who' feared. "You Know Who" never tried to attack Hogwarts because Albus Dumbledore was the Headmaster here." Ron stated confidently.
Harry looked at him suspiciously. Ron seeing the look rushed on, "You'll see how wonderful he is when you come to school at Hogwarts next year."
"I'm not coming to school at Hogwarts." Harry said firmly.
Ron laughed. "Sure you will. You'll be getting your Hogwarts owl as soon as you turn eleven. Then you'll come to Hogwarts with the rest of the first years."
Harry shook his head in disbelief and explained patiently, "I'm twelve and a half."
This stunned the taller boy. "But then you should be in my year. How come you didn't answer your owl?" Ron demanded.
Harry shrugged, not sure what Ron was on about, "I didn't get an owl. Whatever that is."
"Right." Ron was beside himself. "Let me just get this straight. My sister has been taken in the lair of the monster of the Heir of Slytherin. My best friend, Hermonie Granger, has been petrified by said monster and is currently laying Motionless in the hospital wing, with the rest of it's victims. And to top all of this off my newest friend, who I had to twist his arm to just get his name out of him, and to whom I and my entire family owed a wizards debt, a friend who literally walked two, TWO of my brothers, who, lets not forget this part, Were ABOUT TO BE DECLARED DEAD! Out of the Forbidden Forest! And He Doesn't Think He's a Wizard! Even though he can create light balls, and doors out of thin air, he doesn't get fazed by a ghost, No offense Myrtle. Oh wait, Did I forgot to mention that he seems to have some kind of magical dog. And after all of this HE DOESN'T Think He Should Be at HOGWARTS." Ron had to take a breath at this part before he started again, "Well, mate, take it from me; YOU Are a WIZARD, You should be Here at Hogwarts, and any of the Houses would be bloody glad to have you. AND Headmaster Dumbledore Will Fix whatever is wrong so you can come to Hogwarts. And if he Can't, I'll eat my Wand." Ron finished his rant with his hands on his hips and staring at the small dark haired boy.
Harry looked up at the start of Ron's rant, fascinated by his view of the description of the last day and a half. What really impressed him though was the faith that the other boy had for this Dumbledore person. It was shining out of Ron's eyes. Perhaps he was wrong about the man with the long white beard and twinkling eyes. For Ron's sake he was willing to give Dumbledore the benefit of the doubt. For the moment though the would have to get Ron away from the thought that he was staying. He didn't want to disappoint his new friend, by telling him that even if Dumbledore could fix it so he could stay, Harry knew he couldn't. He would always be a danger to those around him, as long as the Black Robes were free and able to track him down. He grasped at the first thing that he didn't understand from the before the rant to ask and distract the other boy.
"Oh. Ok. Ok. I believe you. Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world, and he gives out great candy. Who's 'You Know Who?' Harry asked, trying to give Ron something else to bother with. Harry walked over to look at a toilet that was bothering him almost as much the sinks were.
"Oh you know.' Ron's answered Harry's question, his voice becoming very soft, almost fearful. 'Voldemort." he disclosed with a whispered.
"Who's Voldemort?" Harry asked looking at the worrisome toilet.
"Don't Say That Name!" Ron almost shouted, he looked scared and was looking around as if someone or something was going to jump out at them.
Startled, Harry looked around checking to see that the coast was clear. Yup. Nothing.
"So 'who' is 'he'?" Harry tried again using a pronoun instead of the name that seemed to bother his friend.
"You don't know who? Oh. Sorry. I forgot you're a muggle born. Must have been why you didn't get your owl." Ron mused.
"Muggle? Owl? What do owls have to do with anything?" Harry asked even more puzzled than before.
"Muggle's are Non-Magical people, we wizards call them muggles for short. Muggle-borns, like yourself, are new wizards that have non-magical parents. In the Wizarding world we send letters and packages by owl through the Owl Post." Ron explain confidently. "As for 'You Know Who,' see,' and at this he went into a full lecture mode. 'Well its like this, not all wizards are good. About twenty years ago there was a really nasty one called...called..."
"Voldemort?" Harry supplied helpfully.
Ron looked around the bathroom very worried but nodded and continued "Yeah. And Don't say that name to loud, he might come back. Anyway, I hear it was terrible, he and his followers were going around killing people. Muggles, muggle-born wizards, wizards that were married to muggle born wizard. He didn't like muggles or anyone or anything that had to do with muggles."
"Nasty." commented Harry. "And Dumbledore stopped him?"
"No, it was..." Ron still ready to explain to his new friend, got no further when Myrtle wailed and floated through the bathroom.
"Myrtle? Is everything alright? Is there anything we can do?" Harry called out. The ghost seemed to stop wailing in mid-wail. No one had ever asked that of her before, well, not since she had become a ghost that is.
"No. There's nothing you can do. But, it was very kind of you to ask." She replied, dabbing her eyes with a shimmering ghostly handkerchief.
Something, and he had no idea where the thought had come from, urged Harry to blurt out "Ms. Myrtle, I wondering, if it was ok, I don't want to offend you or anything, but I was wondering... How did you die?"
Myrtle, if was possible for a ghost to blush, blushed, for no one had ever asked her that question before.
"Oh, it was just Awful. I died in this very toilet.' She floated over to where Harry was standing. 'I was crying. There had been a girl who was horrible to me that day at school. So I was having a good cry, when I heard a boy in the bathroom. He was talking a funny made up language. I opened up the door to tell him to go away, and then I died. Just sort of floated away." She finished with a sigh.
"Nothing else?" Asked Harry fascinated.
Myrtle tilted her head for a moment, remembering. "Well, just for a second, I remember seeing a pair of big yellow eyes."
"Where were those yellow eyes?" Harry asked, feeling it was important.
"Over there." Myrtle replied and pointed to the one sink that had bothered Harry the most.
He went over and looked at that one sink again. Up, down, left to right, right to left, he saw nothing until...There on the side of the hot water handle, so delicately traced that if you had not been looking straight at it you wouldn't have noticed it, a beautiful coiled snake.
The question was of course, what to do now.
Ron stifled in his attempts to bring his new friend up on the current state of wizard history wandered over and asked "Whatcha find?"
"A snake on the sink handle." Harry answered studying it intensely.
"Well, that fits." Replied Ron looking at the snake as well.
Harry looked over at his new friend with confusion in his eyes. "Oh,' Replied Ron. 'The symbol for Salazar Slytherin, and Slytherin house is a snake. The thing is, what's it doing here? I mean in the middle of a girls bathroom?"
"I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets." Harry replied, his eyes narrowing as he studied the etching.
"Wonderful.' replied Ron. 'Well, what now? We say Open Sesame?" Ron wondered aloud as he started to poke and prod under the sink, trying to locate a hidden spring or lever.
"Open-Up"
Ron jumped back in surprise as the sounds came from the boy standing next to him. He watched in horrified fascination as the young, nope can't be a muggle born, and how did he learn to do that, repeated the hissing sounds coming from his throat.
"Open-Up" Harry said again and this time it worked.
The sink seemed to simply float up and out of the way, to reveal a long dark tunnel that poured forth a foul wind that howled in a soft lower, and threatening tones.
Harry peered over the edge.
Ron peered over the edge.
Myrtle floated over to peer over the boys and then over the edge.
"Harry?" Ron asked.
"Yes?" Harry answered.
"It that?" Which came out on a gulp.
"Yes." the firm replied came.
"And our Ginny is..." The voice trailed off.
"Yes." the other boy said darkly.
"Harry?"
Harry looked up in to the concerned face of the ghost that haunted this bathroom.
"Yes Myrtle?" the small urchin asked.
"Are you two going down there?" Myrtle indicated the hole.
Harry confirmed with a nod.
"Oh. Well. If you die down there. You're welcome to share my toilet." Myrtle invited.
"Thank you, Ms. Myrtle." Harry said very formally and sincerely. Myrtle blushed again, then giggling she floated away.
The smaller boy looked over at the taller one. Harry nodded at the hole. Ron squared his shoulders and nodded as well. The smaller boy took a step forward and disappeared down the hole.
Ron took a deep breath and followed.
The sink slowly descended back into place and all traces of the entrance disappeared.
"Its not my fault." Sirius proclaimed testily.
"Of course its your fault." Replied the painting calmly, "I mean look at yourself. It doesn't look like you've had a bath in ten years, let a hair cut or a shave. In fact you look like you've been living on the streets of Muggle Lundinium for six or seven months. Really, IF I wasn't so use to odd things like this, I would have fainted myself."
Sirius looked over for help from Remus but the wizard was merely grinning at him, nodding and refilling Minerva's cup with the liquid from his silver flask.
Albus Dumbledore decide at moment that perhaps he should start to find out what was going on in his castle. "Good afternoon sir." Directing this comment to the portrait.
The portrait looked over at Dumbledore as if he was something he might have found on the bottom of his shoe.
"Good afternoon." Throckmorton replied coolly.
"I was wondering..." Started Albus.
"Wonder all you like." replied Throckmorton coldly.
Albus was astonished, he was rarely insulted by the portraits in the castle, well the Hufflepuffs Headmasters portraits get rather creative now and then, but other than that...
The painting looked over at the assembly. Rather interesting collection this. At that moment a the figure of a small girl in a pink robe dashed into his painting and tugged at his robes.
"Excuse me." he murmured to the room, and turned and gave the small child his full attention.
It was during this interim that Arthur Weasley woke up for a second time. He wondered briefly why he was laying on a small chaise and why his son Bill was handing him a warm cup of tea. Oh Great Merlin GINNY, Ginny was, his little Ginny was in hands of the monster. And something else was nudging the back of his brain for attention, what was it. Oh yes, Sirius Black the mass murderer, and escapee from Azkaban was in the room. Arthur scanned the room desperately, he had to be wrong about that, he had to, his eyes raking the room. Ah there. Yes. Sirius Black was indeed leaning on the wall next to the portrait of that odd wizard and currently smiling at him. Arthur gulped down the rest of the tea in the cup and his son filled it again from the small flask that Remus handed over to him.
This time Sirius wisely stayed on the other side of the room as Bill Weasley handed his father a cup of tea, laced with whatever was in the silver flask that Remus Lupin was carrying around with him.
Arthur took a several small sips as the restorative liquid, (Wiseacres XXX Phire Whiskey if he had been asked to identify it) to calmed his nerves. The Arthur closed his eyes, counted to ten and glanced back over at the wall. Yes, that was very much Sirius Black, ex-auror, convicted mass murderer, escaped Azkaban prisoner, repudiated wizard, leaning against the wall smiling at him. He shuddered and took another sip of 'tea.'
"The little one and his new red headed friend. You have very sturdy son' madam." The painting of Throckmorton smiled at Molly Weasley from across the room. "The boys have ducked inside a girls bathroom on the third floor." Throckmorton informed Sirius who had turned to look into the painting, as the sound of a small child skipping reached his ears. Sirius was just quick enough in his turn to see the small girl in a pink robe skipping out of the picture frame.
"You sure he'll be safe?" Sirius asked up at Throckmorton, still worried.
"Please, what can happen to a boy in an out of order girls bathroom?" Throckmorton snickered. Then summoned a painted chair, and sat down in it to watch the fireworks about to go off.
Sirius saw the argument, though not totally convinced he shrugged, before turning back to face the occupants of the room.
"By 'little one' I would assume that the portrait means the muggle boy. The one that came in last night with the dog, er... Right. The boy that came in with you last night. YOU! You were the one that saved my brothers, the twins last night. Mother! He's the dog that was with the little muggle boy that brought Fred and George out of the Forbidden forest last night. He was at breakfast this morning and then the hospital wing." Bill explained to his flabbergasted mother as the realization that he was correct washed over her as well.
Arthur Weasley smiled weakly. His wife was going to kill him when she one found out that he had known exactly who the small boy was, and what, and who, the dog was since breakfast. He momentarily considered the ways she would do him in. Of course, Molly was then going to bring him back to life and kill him again when she realized not only had he had known Who the boy was but that He hadn't told her. The fact that if he tried to say the child's name he started to spout bad poetry wouldn't come into it. He had been ok about the whole thing when Dumbledore had spoken to him across the Head table at breakfast. It had been simple then, just separate the boy from the murder/Animagus. Oh yes, that had gone so well hadn't it. He could just add Albus to the list of people who where going to kill him shortly. First Molly and then, if there was anything left she would turn him over to Albus. He was toast. He glanced at his wife, he could see the gears shifting in that brilliant mind of hers. He was so doomed. Oh well, it had been a good life, he raised six fine son's, one beautiful daughter. A sharp pain in his heart reminded him that now he had only sons.
Molly Weasley tilted her head and looked again at the scraggly man in front of her, then the wizard/werewolf pouring out more tea, and more of the puzzle pieces came together in her mind. Startled she he started to speak "You two, you were, best friends with... and the only child that you would ever go to this much trouble for would be 'their' child, let alone might care for,... which would mean that little boy with Ron is..." She didn't drop her cup but it did rattle on her saucer loudly. "Dear Merlin, that little muggle boy isn't a muggle boy at all is he?" She demanded of the two men.
Remus had the good grace to look a little sheepish.
Sirius grinned a feral grin and shook his head.
"But how? I thought... you haven't killed him." She said stunned.
"KILL HIM! I'd die before I let anything happen to..." Sirius exclaimed coming off the wall, only to find Bill's wand at his neck.
"Settle down Sirius." Remus chided. "And you. Put that away, he won't hurt anyone here. He's just a little hmmm... overprotective when it come to family, shall we say."
Bill looked at Sirius and read in his eyes that he would not harm anyone in the room or the castle and returned his wand to his robe.
"I don't understand." Bill said quietly.
"You aren't the only one." Came Minerva's quiet comment as she sipped her tea.
"Perhaps now, might be the time to have that conversation that Remus spoke of when you arrived." Dumbledore spoke quietly but firmly, seated behind his desk, sipping his tea. "There is little else we can do to find Miss Weasley, that we have not already done. The storm is keeping the Aurors and Ministry officials who wish to conduct a more extensive search of the castle, at bay. The decision to close the school and return the students home for the remainder of the school year is hampered for a similar reason. The School Ministers can not make that determination without the report of the Aurors. And at the moment neither group can reach us to do the storm. Which for some reason has doubled in intensity in the last hour." The fact that his eyes were tinkling was not lost on any of the members of the room.
"Albus. What have you done?" Demanded Minerva with a stern look.
Before he could speak there was a sharp crack and a small house elf in a tea towel was standing at the Headmaster's elbow. It pondered the room with huge eyes and handed Dumbledore a small envelope. With another crack it was gone.
Dumbledore opened the letter and his face grew very grave as he read the missive's major points aloud to the assemble. "Its from Poppy. Arthur, Molly." Dumbledore sighed heavily. "It seems that I must impart even more bad news. Poppy reports that the twins must found the Concise Algae Flowers. But because of their delay in the Forbidden Forest, they were not able to create and use the necessary counter potion. Currently, she has them on muggle intravenous fluids, which has stabilize their condition, but this not a solution, only a temporary remedy. She reports that Severus was the one that diagnosed their condition and he has gone to enlist Hagrid's help in finding the last of the Concise Algae Flowers to make the counter potion she will need to cure them. She says that they twins are safe for now and that she has ever expectation that they will be back on the mend as soon as Severus can brew the cleansing solution." He finished slowly handing the note over to Minerva who passed on to Molly.
Molly quickly read through the note and nodded to herself before slipping it into one of the many pockets in her robes. "If Severus says he'll find the flowers, he will. I won't loose Any of my children today." She said firmly.
"That's right, Molly dear.' Arthur went and sat by his wife. 'Don't forget, Charlie is out at Hagrid's right now too. If anyone can help Severus find and brew those flowers it will be Hagrid and Charlie."
Molly nodded at her husband and Arthur put his arm around her as she smiled through watery eyes at him.
"I believe that you might wish to return to the discussion of the boy." Commented Throckmorton, from his comfy chair in the portrait.
Albus stood up and crossed briskly to the portrait. "I have been at Hogwarts as for a good many years, but I don't believe that I have ever seen you before." He commented.
"Oh, if only it could have lasted longer." Drawled Throckmorton.
"If there is some reason for this animosity? I don't believe I've every ordered your portrait disposed of, or moved to a, shall we say, unique location." Albus' eyes twinkled as he spoke.
"I don't care one way or the other.' replied Throckmorton. "It's just the boy doesn't trust you, and until he changes he's mind, and for that you will have to give him a very good reason to do so, I won't trust you either." at which point Throckmorton waived his wand and table with a complete tea, floated into the painting and he started to pour out.
Completely astonished Albus looked at first Remus and then Sirius both of whom looked as perplexed as he was. Bill confused and knowing that he was the only one in the room still no in the know, but not wanting to annoy a mass murder pulled out all his Griffindor courage and addressed the scruffy man.
"Perhaps, you can tell me, Mr. Black. Who exactly is the boy? I mean what's his name" Asked Bill, the only person still in the dark as to the identify of the small savior of the twins from the night before.
"Just call me Sirius. And the answer to your first question, the boy is my godson." Replied Sirius with a grin.
"And his name would be?" Bill asked both men. "Or are you going to start spouting bad poetry too?"
"Bad poetry?" Sirius asked confused.
"Yes, it seems that whenever we attempt to say young...There once was a rover from Dover...' started Arthur, slapping his had over his mouth appalled at himself.
Molly looked shocked and said "Arthur."
"Sorry dear." Arthur Replied.
"The poetry seems to be getting worse. Its moved onto dirty limericks" Commented Minerva.
Both Sirius and Remus' only response was to break into a coughing fit, barely covering their smiles and laughter. Only a stern look from their former Head of House was able to reign in the pair.
"That's you all over Throckmorton." Sirius said after he could speak again.
"I had a hand in it." Replied the smug voice from the portrait.
"But why?" Asked a bewildered Bill.
"Because the little one doesn't trust the current Headmaster." Replied Throckmorton. "And because it was obvious that he didn't want any here to know his name. At the time that I cast the spell, that is."
"And now? You seemed to be implying that... the child doesn't mind now, why continue with the spell" asked Minerva.
"Well, you have to admit it is rather fun to listen to." Commented Throckmorton.
Suppressed giggles from almost everyone in the room annoyed Minerva who with a shake of her head sipped her tea.
"And the 'little one' is? I assume one of you two can Say his name." Asked Bill refusing to allow the conversation to be diverted from his line of questioning.
"His name is Harry, Harry James Potter. He's my Godson." Replied Sirius.
Bill's eyes got very wide and there was a very strange gurgling sound from his throat. Remus handed Bill his small silver flask that he quickly drained.
"Kinda has an kick, doesn't it?" Remarked Sirius, knowing what kind of spirits that Remus favored smiling at Bill. The escapee then frowned as he noticed Remus' silver flask.
"Remus?" He growled, looking pointedly at the flask.
Remus smiled gently and pulling the flask from Bill's semi numb fingers pocketing the now empty flask remarking. "Tell you later."
The Animagus growled but held his peace.
Bill having finally recovered looked up and asked worriedly, "But I thought, didn't I read something in the Royal Scarab, that the Daily Prophet reported Harry Potter died in a muggle car crash?"
"Perhaps, we should tell this story Chronologically. Before we all be come hopelessly muddled." Commented Dumbledore, who nodded to Minerva to start.
"The summer before last the First Year's letters went out as usual. All the letters were answered but one.' She glanced at the Painting. Throckmorton waved his hand and she continued. "Harry Potter's letter was not answered. So a day later we sent another, then two, then four, then eight. When the letters being sent out reached the triple digits, we sent Hagrid to hand delivered Mr. Potter's Hogwarts letter. Hagrid, arrived at the Dursley's home. They were less than cordial from what Hagrid reported later. Vernon and Peony." The Transfiguration professor explained then looked over to Albus to continue.
"Petunia." Sirius corrected with a growled.
"Met her at James and Lily's wedding. Not happy to be there, I believe I heard her describe Lily as a 'Freak'." Commented Remus with a shudder.
"I can't believe you left Harry with her." Sirius growled at Albus.
"At the time it was the best option in a bad situation. The blood magic that could be created between Harry and his aunt allowed for several layers of protection spells to be placed that could not have been created otherwise. Alas, we found out to late the family was not all that we hoped." Albus remarked darkly, his eyes failing to twinkle.
"Albus Dumbledore if I thought for one minute that you knew one tenth of what was written in Harry's journal, I'd hex you back to your chromosomes." Sirius promised darkly.
Albus nodded his head, he understood Sirius comment all to well, but continued the telling. "Hagrid arriving at the Dursley's asked to see Harry. That is when Vernon told Hagrid about the muggle car crash. As Hagrid was on a second errand for me at the time he didn't report that information straight back here, but continued on to Diagon Alley. There he finished his errand for me, but stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for a spot."
Remus and Sirius both groaned. "Let me guess. Hagrid had his usual, and spilled the beans." Remus supplied what happened next.
"Yes. Before 'We' could check on the veracity of the Dursley's story it was already out." Replied Minerva.
"Who do you mean when you said 'we' there?" Asked Sirius.
"Any of the old crowd." Replied Arthur. "Fudge, current Minister of Magic,' he said to Sirius, who nodded, before he continued. 'Got wind of it and he sent one of the Muggle/Child Relationship Specialist out to check things out. You know the job, a wizard or witch that is send the family of a muggle born witch or wizard. The children who have received their Hogwarts letter and don't know what to do next, the specialist explains it all to them, sort of ease them into our world. The witch that the Department sent was a muggle specialist, not an investigator, no Auror training at all. She bought the Dursley's story, hook, line and sinker." Arthur' sounded exasperated.
"So of course the Daily Prophet got hold of it." Molly explained gently to the pair who where starting to look steamed around the edges.
"At that point, the Ministry presented the official statement that Harry had died in a car crash. Certain elements in the Ministry, were ready to believe that he was dead, and were unwilling to allow me to investigate further. They had Dursley's home watched, not for any sign of Harry but for a sign that I or anyone from the old crowd might make contact with them. It wasn't until this last summer First Years letters were compiled that we could act." Albus said confidently.
"Why?" ask Bill.
"Because, Harry's name was again listed among the First Years. It meant that the child was alive and the Dursley's were lying.' Minerva said with a grin.
"You should have seen their faces when Minerva got done with them." Arthur grinned.
"It was then Minerva learned that Harry had run away from home." Albus said thoughtfully.
"RAN AWAY FROM HOME?" Exploded Sirius.
Remus shouted "PETRIFICUS TOTALIS" and then caught his friend before he could fall to the floor and hurt himself. Laying him on the conjured sofa, Remus replaced his wand in his sleeve and turned to the room "You've been lied to again. Harry Didn't run away from home. The Dursley's dropped him off in the middle of Muggle London almost three years ago.' he growled. Remus looked around for a moment. 'We left Harry's bag in that little room, it has a journal in it. Harry told Sirius that he could read it to me, said it would help. To explain things. It is quite detailed about the how the Dursley's, treated him. Then got rid of him, where and when. And the only reason I immobilized Sirius, is because I may rip you limb from limb myself."
"Get in line." came the furious voice of Throckmorton.
"Hear Us Out! Please!" Remarked Albus holding up his hand for silence. "Minerva."
"Really, You don't have much of an opinion of me Remus Lupin, if you think for even a moment that I BELIEVED them. They had already lied to the wizarding world once. I was not prepared to believed them again." The head of Gryffindor House was livid, but with the apologetic looks on Remus' and Sirius' faces, and how Sirius' did that while being petrified she hadn't a clue, mollified her slightly.
"I apologize, Lady." remarked Throckmorton.
"As well you should, whoever you are.' She replied hotly, it was rare for her to get angry but when she was, watch out. Taking a deep breath she continued. "I realized at once that they were lying and went into full, 'how dare he leave such a wonderful home' mode. The Dursley's bought that and I was invited inside to have a cup of tea. Forty Five minutes looking at their son's baby pictures. Pictures I might add that did not once show a single sign that they had another boy living in the house. Ten years of baby pictures and not one sign of Harry in any of them. Fearing that they might again lie to us, before I left Hogwarts.' At this the witch looked slightly ashamed of herself, 'I picked up a phial of Veritserum from Severus. I poured it in their tea. I asked them again what happened to the child and that's when they told me that they had abandoned him on the streets of London nearly a year and a half before his eleventh birthday."
Molly, Arthur and Bill as well as several others in the room looked like they wanted to murder someone, if not that then destroy several large pieces of furniture.
"Once Minerva was back and told us the truth the Order went into full search mode." Arthur hasted to assure his wife and son. "We started looking every where for Harry, but he seems to have a natural notice me not spell about him and he is barely plottable too. But of course that,' here the man had to stop himself from saying something that would have had his mouth washed out with soap if there had been any round and continued. 'Minister Fudge found out and ordered the whole thing sealed up again."
"It was only when the information reached the Death Eaters, that Harry was still alive, were we able to do something." Minerva informed them.
"We have a contact in the Death Eater ring, shall we say.' Remarked Albus dryly, 'While we could not approach the Dursley residence, he could. He used a little known locater spell using something of Harry's. It would not get us directly to the boy, but it would get us to a two mile radius position of him. The agent, shall we say, informed the Death Eaters, but not before he informed us. Our first attempt to locate the boy, resulted in..."
The sound that reached the rooms' ears was one of muffled rage filled with laughter. A very odd combination but one that they quickly discovered coming from the still petrified wizard.. Remus, one eye brow winging upwards, muttered the counter curse and Sirius was free, laughing and raging at Minerva at the same time.
"First Attempt? You nearly cost me months of work gaining Harry's trust. And it doesn't come easy to a London street kid. And another thing, you should have worked that last point out. He was and still considers himself to be a street kid. There are only two kinds of people who use your real name when you are on the street. The first is street family, Harry had none and he didn't know you from Merlin. The only other person that would use his real name, to him anyway, is the muggle equivalent of Wizarding Children's Aid, which is what he thought you were, so of course he ran."
Minerva nodded sadly, "I didn't realize until that moment that what the Dursley's told me was the truth, I didn't want to believe it that they hadn't told him anything about his parents, his heritage, about the Wizarding World."
"And I didn't realize the Death Eaters were closing in either. Sorry Minerva." Came Sirius sincere reply.
"How did he get away from us, New Year's Day?" Arthur wondered allowed.
This sent Sirius laughing again. He was about to launch into the tale when he noticed Remus staring to his right. Sirius followed his gaze and watched as The Bloody Barron, floated out of the picture frame with some speed. Sirius got up and went over to the portrait. Throckmorton was looking worried.
'We have a problem." he told the First.
"What problem would that be?" Sirius asked warily.
"The boy." Throckmorton stated.
"What about the boy." the soft growl came from the normally easy going werewolf.
"I don't know where he is." Explained the portrait darkly.
"You said he was in a girls bathroom on the second floor. You said you would know where he was at all times." Exploded Sirius furious.
"I did. But he and the second youngest Protector ducked into the bathroom on the third floor. One without a painting in it. It still wasn't a problem,' he hastened to assure the two men who had by this point were ready to rip him off the wall. 'I had the house ghosts keeping and eye on them. But..."
"But what?" growled Remus.
"But now, he is not there." Confessed Throckmorton, frustrated and running his hand through his hair.
"How." Came the barely contained anger from Sirius's throat.
Before the portrait could reply, there was a sound, a horrid sound filling the room. Even Fawkes who was sleeping at the time, woke up and gave a very startled trill as the sound of something heavy and screaming could be heard falling through the pipes.
"Ha. The castle is having the pipes cleaned. Argus will be so please." Dumbledore commented.
Owl translation spell "Idiotic Griffindor's
Chapter 19: Catch
Thank you! For all the kind reviews:
Harry found himself falling down through a pipe, a surprisingly clean pipe. It was kind of like the pipe that was at the water park that Dudley had screamed and whined to be taken to one summer. The commercials were right, it was a lot of fun, but at the moment Harry was more concerned with other things too truly enjoy it.
What was he concerned about? Oh, the usual. Where the heck was this pipe going? Where and when would he get his next meal, what was he going to do with these new friends that seemed to be spring up all over the place. The pipe curved quickly to the right as he pondered how he was going to get Ginny out of this mess, getting out of this castle before the black robes found him, finding somewhere to sleep to night and most worrisome if Padfoot would be coming with him tonight. This was all getting way to complicated.
Concentrating instead on the inadvertent amusement park ride he was taking, Harry mused that it seemed as if he had been falling through the pipe for ages. He estimating that they must have gone a good mile from Myrtle's bathroom. The exclamations and protestations he heard coming from behind him meant that Ron had followed him down the pipe. The pipe was angling slowly straight and was not as steep in its decent. Harry realized that the pipe was nearing an end. He realized he was correct, as just then angle of decent was gone and he slid forward, slowly coming to the end of the line lying now in the open air and half of the pipe. Harry popped off this odd shelf, trying to get out of the way, knowing that Ron who would arrive an instant later.
After hitting the ground Harry wished he hadn't. His feet reached the ground in the blackness that surround him, then they sunk into a layer of moist muck, slimy muck that crunched as he stepped away from the end of the pipe. Grimacing, he wondered briefly where and when he would be able to get his shoes cleaned. He heard rather than saw the thump that announced Ron's arrival. Grumbling followed along with the sound of more crunching as Harry surmised that Ron had also swung his legs off the ledge and down onto, er into the mucky floor as a "Ooo, Yuck." resounded across the darkness.
"Luminos." Responded Harry and immediately there was a small light ball floating above the boys heads. They both at that moment wished that Harry had not summoned the ball of light.
The pair were standing in a circular room of grey stone. The pipe that had carried them here wrapped serpentine around the curved walls until it ended where Ron was currently standing. The room was not the problem. It was the floor covered from wall to wall with the skeletons of a multitude of small animals, skin, and what looked like half digested bits of other animals, some of which Harry could only guess at. Worst, beyond the smell, was the distinct impression in the litter on the floor was the foot prints of a pair of small feet crossing the room and disappearing into the archway across from the end of the pipe.
"Ginny." Said Ron desperately, as he waded through the skeletons crunching noisily as he went. Harry nodded his understanding and with a sweep of his hand the small light ball preceded Ron under the archway and into the darkness. Ron plunged forward and Harry followed.
The boys found themselves in a strange cavern, half formed as if someone had blasted the thing out of the shear rock. Most sections were rough and sharp yet other sections were weirdly polished smooth as if a careful craftsman had been hard at work trying to create a thing of beauty out of the raw rock of the cavern. Here too there were the skeletons of small animals littering the walk way. The boy moved slowly forward following the trail of small foot prints in the litter. Ron's mind which until this point had been running in low gear, shifted up a notch and a small but persistent worry surfaced.
"Harry, I know you said your parents are dead, but I was wondering how..." The embarrassed boy trailed off.
"They died in a car crash." Harry replied automatically.
There must have been something in his voice because Ron immediately said "But?"
"But,' he said with a sigh, 'I checked. I looked in ALL the records. On October 31st there were 18 car crashes in England, 13 in Scotland, and 8 in Wales, no deaths and no Potters. None." He said frustrated.
"Potter?" Ron quietly squeaked.
"Yeah." Harry replied mentally kicking himself.
That was it. He had lost his mind, Harry admonished himself. Ron now had both parts of his name. You never told a 'normal' what your full name was. You told them whatever you would think that a 'normal' kid would believe, and pass the believable story onto their parents. Of course by the time you knew a 'normal' i.e. a non-street kid well enough for the parental concern to kick in, it was time to move on anyway.
It was a given, a 'normal' kid's moms and dads always wanted to know all about who their kids hung with. Giving out your real name was the stupidest thing a street kid could do, the first thing a 'normal' kid would do would be to answer the simple question a Mom or Dad asked "And What is So-n-So's last name?" Last names. If you lived in a normal house you have a last name, on the street you didn't. Or if you did, you forgot it real quick.
Not many street kids made the mistake of giving a last name. The 'normal' kid would tell the 'normals' parents who would in turn would look up the name in the telephone directory and start calling around. Meet the other parent's kinda thing. It might only take a day or two, but it was always the same, the kid's parents would discover no one by that surname, had a kid that age in town. Concerned the parents would of course call Child Protective Services.
That is what happened to him the first time the Dursley's had kicked him out of the house. What had he been seven? Harry had told some 'normal' he had met in the park his full name. The kid's parents had called Children's Protective Services. Who must have showed up a couple of days later at the kid's house and grilled him. 'What had been the kid's name? Colin something?' Always taking pictures.
Harry could just imagine the conservation Services had with the kid... "Where did you meet him dear? Do you see him there very day? When, after school? Now, we just want find out more about your little friend and get him help if he needs it. You Want to Help your Friend Don't You? Then we can count on you to not tell him we want to talk to him? No, you're not in trouble dear, No, no! We don't want to hurt him we just want to talk to him." Services knew all the buttons to push and the kid must have caved. Harry was back in his cupboard in less than a week. He still winced when he thought of the bruises plus the month in the dark he had lived through.
The second and the last time he had been picked up it had been in a raid. There had been an area that the street kids had banded together for warmth. It had been the following winter? That time it had been a repeat of what had happened a year and a half before. The lot of them had been taken to a processing center. Then Services had re-photographed and fingerprinted him, quickly checking their database and finding the file on him, then came the promises; "Well, let just get you a hot meal. Don't worry, we believe you. We're always ready to listen. Just a few days and we'll get you into a good foster home, somewhere that they can take care of you." After a few days in the center for 'evaluation'. Harry knew that what Services had actually been doing was looking for each of the street's kids family and interview them. In his case the Dursley's had been easy to find. They had filed a runaway report on him just to make it look good.
Next came the lies "So you live with your Aunt and Uncle and Cousin?" "No, you won't have to go back there." "We just want the best for you dear." "We're just going to take a little drive. We'll all be back before dinner; we're having hot dogs tonight." Only they hadn't been back before dinner, Harry had tried to run as soon as the car had pulled into Privet Drive and the lies had continued. "Calm down dear. No you won't be staying. We just wanted to have a little chat with you and your Aunt and Uncle and your Cousin, he missed you so! Won't that be fun?" and then wham, "Well, here he is. Back home safe again."
The Dursley's had been all smiles, hand shaking, and fake tears, fake thank yous all around, but as soon as Services had left, back to the cupboard under the stairs. Harry shuttered.
It was the one rule you just didn't break. You don't tell normal your name. Where was his brain? Harry berated himself walking quietly behind Ron the darkness. The Black Robes! How was Harry going to keep them all safe from the Black Robes too... Harry just shook his head and trudged after his friend.
Ron Weasley on the other hand, was trying not to hyperventilate.
This explained so much. How Harry was so powerful and all the stuff he could do. Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Ron knew that Boy Who Lived was a kid, but whoa, Harry was smaller than he was. He was glad that Harry couldn't see his face.
Questions were zipping around in his head faster than a snitch. Why didn't Harry know anything about the wizarding world? Did Harry even know he was The Boy Who Lived? Where had he been? He was supposed to start at Hogwarts last year and be in the same year as him. He should be a second year now. McGonagall called his name and everything last year when Ron had been waiting to be sorted. Did his Mum and Dad know that' Ron swallowed, 'the Weasley's had a Wizard Debt to Harry Potter? How was he going to explain all of this to Harry?'
Just then Ron's foot trod on something that crinkled not snapped. Glancing wildly downward at the change of the noise, he realized that now was not the time. "Harry, once we sort this all out... Ginny that is, and well, everything, we have to talk." he informed his new friend over his shoulder.
Harry looked up to where Ron was walking and shrugged. Harry too, had stopped suddenly when his feet too crinkled instead of crunched. Waving the small ball of light downward the pair of boys found that they were treading on a huge dried snake skin.
"It's a snake skin. Whoa, this thing must be 40 feet long." Ron estimated walking the length of it.
"Bigger than a boa. Anaconda maybe?" Harry commented worriedly.
They stared at the skin for a moment but a faint shriek brought the pair back to the real reason they were in this strange cavern. As one the pair moved downward deeper into the cavern to where they felt the sound had come from. Only one thing on their minds. Ginny.
A second later they rounded a corner and were stopped in the tracks of small bones littering the floor. The small ball of light that had moved obediently in front of them had hit a wall. But it wasn't a wall. What had stopped it was a huge circular portal.
Ron and Harry stared at the door.
It was a huge metal door was decorated with snakes and old runes, left half open, as if someone had rushed through it in a hurry and forgotten to shut it behind them. The pair heard another groan coming from inside.
Ron rushed through the portal and found himself in long dim chamber with columns of stone snakes holding up the ceiling flanking each side of a long walkway. He wondered where Ginny was and moved forward peering into the shadows on both the right and left of the wide slippery walk way that lead deeper into the chamber. Suddenly, the long entrance spilled into a huge semi-circular room. The circular room was twice as wide as the long hall way that he had just emerged from. The back of the chamber was dominated by the statue of a man's face. It was the sound of a soft moan that shook him from his shock and pulled his eyes downward to a small lump of clothes at the base of the statue.
"Ginny" Ron cried and ran the twenty or so yards to her still form.
His sister was didn't move as he shook her and called her name. He put his head down to her chest and listened relieved to find a heart beat. "Come on Ginny, wake up, we have to get out of here."
"She won't wake." A calm voice behind Ron spoke firmly.
The second year Gryffindor whirled around and found himself staring at a tall thin boy he had never seen before wearing Slytherin house robes.
"Who are you?" Demanded Ron.
The tall thin Slytherin smiled and said "Tom Marvolo Riddle." with a half bow.
"But you can't be. I mean there's a plaque with your name on for Special Services to the School in the trophy room. It's dated sixty years ago.' Noticing the slightly fuzzy edges of the boy Ron asked 'Are you ghost?"
"A memory. Preserved for sixty years in a diary." Tom pointed to a small slim book clutched in Ginny's hand.
"Whatever' Replied Ron. 'We have to get out of here. There's a huge snake down here. It's at least 40 feet long. Give me a hand..."
Tom went and leaned against a column. "Don't worry. The monster won't come until its called." he replied calmly.
Ron looked at him. "I'm not taking any chances!' he replied hotly, attempting to scoop up his sisters arms. "Come on, you're a Prefect. You have to help me get my sister out of here." He commanded.
"No." Tom smiled as he said it.
The red head looked at him in shock; he gave up and went back to trying to wake up his sister. "Wake up Ginny, come on now Gin..."
"I told you she wouldn't wake." Tom commented more forcefully this time.
"How do you know?" Demanded Ron looking over at the fuzzy boy who was now leaning on a column. He looked entirely too smug, even for a Slytherin. "Do you know how Ginny got like this?" he asked warily.
Tom grinned. It was not a reassuring grin. "A much better question. And on only your fourth try. Gryffindor must be getting smarter. I'll have to do something about that later. As to the answer, to your first sensible question that is, my diary.' he nodded again to the slim volume on Ginny's chest. 'She has been writing in it. Writing to me."
"So?" Asked a confused older brother.
"SO...It was rather boring really. Listening to her boring little life. The new friends she was making, how having four big brothers at school with her was such a pain, her little troubles, grades in classes. Who had a crush on whom. I was ready to, what do the call it now a days? Oh yes. I was ready to hurl." The boy informed Ron with a sneer on his face.
"What does all this have to do with why she won't wake up?" Ron asked uneasily.
The thin Slytherin smiled again. "Every time she opened the diary, she was pouring out her troubles and woes to me. Every time she shared her feelings with me, to me. And each time I look a little bit of the energy that makes her alive. Just a little at time so she wouldn't notice, mind you. Nothing too much or too fast, taking over her a little at time."
"And all of this has a point how!" Ron demanded confused.
The tall boy laughed. "Maybe I won't have to worry about Gryffindor at all, if they're all as stupid as you and your sister are. Come on. Put it all together. She's unconscious lying in the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny's are the only foot prints leading into or out of the chamber. Until now.' Tom interrupted himself, 'she must have left the bathroom door open when she came down, stupid girl.'
The memory of Tom Riddle returned his full force of its passion at Ron. "It was Ginny who opened the Chamber of Secrets. It was she that called the monster. It was she that set it to the kill the mudbloods in the Castle. And all the while confiding in 'her' diary daily. Daily giving me a bit more here a little more there of her life energy. As more of her power, and life energy was transferred to me, the more power over her I HAD. The easier it was to take over her and make her do all the little things I needed done."
"No!" Ron denied horrified.
Tom laughed even harder walking to stand and stare almost longingly at the statue that dominated the end of the chamber. "She didn't realize what was happening at first.' he informed the other boy almost lazily. 'She started to tell me in the diary about missing time and how her older brother, the prefect... what's his name again?"
"Percy." Ron spat out at the boy.
"Oh yes... Percy the Prefect was starting to suspect her..." Tom was most amused with his little tale he didn't notice that Ron had stalked up to him and trying to grab his arm to swing him around to face him. But all that Ron caught was a film hanging in the air as his hand went through the taller lad.
Extremely angry at the affront of the Gryffindor Tom turned and struck the boy across the face. Unlike Ron's hand which had gone through nothing, Tom's hand was solid with quite a bit of power behind it. Ron flew back, and landed stunned against one of the pillars. Ginny moaned in pain.
Tom continued as if he hadn't even been interrupted, let alone thrown the other boy across the room. "So it was Dear Ginny that painted the first message on the wall. And sent the monster to kill the mudbloods above. Pity really. That they haven't been killed yet. Still, it's only a matter of time. A little longer and I'll have all the power I will need." the boy mused half to himself reaching down to pick something up off of the floor.
Shaking off the pain Ron rose and demanded. "Undo whatever spell you cast on my sister!"
"Never." replied Tom his tone cold as ice. "I've been waiting too long to come back from where that 'brat' sent me. I have to speed up the time table as it is. Something strange is happening in the Castle...' the half spirit said bemused, 'I had to unleash the creature again and then bring her down here for the final transfer sooner than I had planned. She's fighting it, silly girl."
"Final transfer, final transfer of what?" Ron asked standing a little unsteadily, his ears still ringing.
"Final transfer of ALL of her life energy to me." The tall boy patiently explained.
"No!" Ron denied looking horrified, finally realizing why Ginny wouldn't wake.
"Oh, Yes! You see, she's dying. Slowly. Much more slowly than I planned, as I said, she's fighting the transfer.' Ron watched horror stricken as the tall boy passed the room and calmly, dispassionately explained Ginny's current condition. "I didn't have time to drain as much of her life force as I would have liked. I wasn't expecting to do this so soon, but with the odd things going on upstairs... Well, I'm sure Ginny won't mind me upping the time table just a little bit." He laughed. "Oh and thank you for the wand by the way." Twirling it in his fingers
Ron tried to get his hand around the older boy a second time but again his hands failed to gain a purchase on the semi-transparent youth. He tried to get his wand back as well but that to just passed through his hands.
Tom just leaned his head back and laughed.
Severus Snape trudged behind Hagrid and in front of the Dragon Handler out of the Forbidden Forest. If he hadn't needed to create a cleansing potion from the ingredients from the Concise Algae Flowers he wouldn't have been out about in this storm. Of course the problem with the weather was that it was cold and wet and did nothing for his temper at all.
The fact that he had a nice warm weather insulating cloak was not lost on him.
That infernal red headed Gryffindor had charmed it Severus just knew it. He was at a loss, wondering what he had ever done that would have led Charles to think for an instant that the younger wizard would be allowed to lavish this kind of attention on the prickly Potions Master. A warming and drying spell and on such a personal item, the thought just left a most unexpected warming of his heart region. Such a spell was very tricky and rather hard to do and required a great deal of force behind it to cast. Let alone the amount of time it had continued. Such a charm reflected the strength of the emotions of the caster that placed it and Charles had done it swiftly and almost silently bemused the older wizard. And it had been what several hours at least. Of course it was rather flattering, in an odd sort of way, but really... It just wouldn't do for his image as the dark man of the dungeons.
The wraith like Potions Master thought to himself as he marched along behind Hagrid's sheltering hulk. He was going to have 'words' with the Dragon Handler. Come to think of it, he was also going to demand an explanation about that potion too. A gale force wind blew out of the north, as if it were trying to halt the trio's advance. The weather, which had let up slightly around noon was getting steadily worst through out the day. It seemed to the tall potions master that Hogwarts itself had gone out and insulted half the weather witches in Britain. Severus began to speculate who had paid for the weather witches for such a week they had been having. Who was behind it? And for what reason would this unknown person want Hogwarts isolated like this. None of his thoughts were pleasant.
Severus pulled his cloak a little tighter and turned as Hagrid turned, hopefully towards Hogwarts. Was Hagrid walking them through his Favorite Forest Spot's? Severus shuttered. What had he been thinking about? Oh yes. The Red Head. Severus thought back to how Charles had been rather good in potions when he was at Hogwarts but now... just this afternoon in the Forbidden Forest... well; it was like having a lab assistant in the forest with him. The younger wizard had handed him the ingredients in the correct order and had anticipated each item needed. Chopping and shredding to perfection the potion ingredients without his direction. Severus grumbled to himself annoyed, that potion was very much beyond a N.E.W.T. Level Potion. If he had not been so worried about those idiot twins in the Infirmary, or those strange sounds that had been circling the trio as they had brewed the antidote, let alone having to leave his Slytherins alone when there was a monster about the castle, he would have demanded an explanation there and then.
As it was, those noises that had left Hagrid, who had been standing guard, holding his crossbow very softly, almost twitching, in his hands. Severus shuddered, he might have asked the Dragon Handler about his potions skill at the time, but there was just to many strange things going on in that forest to warrant the distraction.
The potion with Charles' help, was completed in just under an hour. It should have taken only half an hour at most but the patch of flowers were too decayed to simply pick. The trio had to spend an extra half an hour just to find fresh enough specimens to use in the potion itself. After that, extra chopping was required to get the ingredients to the correct proportions for the potion. Once Severus had filled four phials of the potion, both owls were then entrusted with two phials of the mixture each and sent off to the hospital wing. If one owl didn't get through this horrid weather, it was hoped that the second owl would succeed.
If neither owl made it Severus had filled four additional phials with the last of the potion; two he had handed the Dragon handler and two he kept himself. One of them had to make it back to the castle. At Hagrids' insistence the threesome had quickly packed up, stomped out the fire and headed, post haste, out of the Forbidden Forest. It had taken them an hour and a half to find the flowers, and hour to brew the potion and they were looking at least an hour walk back. With the sun setting so early at this time of year and the weather so foul, they all hoped to be back safe in Hogwarts before dinner.
While walking, Severus planned. He was a Slytherin; it was second nature to him. The first thing he would do when he got back to the school would be to check on his Slytherins. Great Caesars Ghost! This situation was impossible, a monster running about petrifying students and he was in the Forbidden forest with a Dragon Handler. He just thanked Merlin he had trustworthy prefects and the Baron guarding the Slytherins dorms. If this hadn't been life threatening situation for the Weasley Twins, he would have never left the castle.
Next, on the 'to do list' was to find out where that wretched boy had gotten off to. Just like a Potter to make his life complicated. If those two mangy canines hadn't roped that child in and stuck him under the Sorting Hat by the time he got back. At this point the Pride of all of British Wizard society was at stake. Any of the other schools could claim the boy, if he wasn't enrolled in Hogwarts by the time the International Wizengot found out about…
It hit Severus like an epiphany. This then was why Potter and Lily never told anyone about the child. They would have wanted him safe at home, here at Hogwarts, before the rest of the Wizarding World found out. The last three Wizards had been born in England but not one of them had attended Hogwarts, the Wizengot had ordered them educated at elsewhere. He humpfted to himself. That was a reason for not shouting the child's birth from the roof tops he could understand, rather Slytherin of the pair of them really. He would have to care of the matter himself he supposed. And IF he had to take care of it himself... As his mind move on to task three a look of intense pleasure echoed across his face.
Task three consisted of hunting down that infernal Black, skinning him and nailing his hide to his potion class room wall. The thought gave him a warm glow, bringing an rare smile to his face. Finally, after all that was done, he was going to sit that infernal Red Head, that Gryffindor Dragon Handler, down and demand some answers.
Charlie Weasley on the other hand was having a fine time. Getting to look at his favorite tall, dark, and handsome, potion professor without interruption was a treat he was going to savor as long as he could. He couldn't wait to tell his university tutor that he had been able to assist Severus with a cleansing potion. His tutor had never had a chance to create that particular potion correctly, let alone get to assist the premier potion maker of Britain in making it. Charlie grinned to himself, he could write a paper on a study of just the movements of Severus hands had made while he completing the potion. Such a paper, properly submitted to the International Journal of Potions and Deadly Drafts, well, it was a given that they would publish it.
It was a know fact in the potions world.
Severus Snape never gave interviews, never took apprentices and rarely submitted anything to the leading potions journal in the world. But when he did...Whoa... the last one rocked the wizarding world. "A Potion for the Removal of Homicidal Traits of Werewolves." The 'Wolfsbane Potion', as it came to be called, was heralded to be the first step to the complete eradication of the curse of lycanthrope. For the first time werewolves could be studied in close range without the fear of death or spreading the curse on to the wizards researching with them. Charles sighed and continued to study fondly the man in front of him. He hoped the warming and water repelling charm he had put on Sev's cloak was still holding up. He made a note to add a booster to the charm when they got back to the castle.
Hagrid was worried with getting all three of them out of the Forbidden Forest. So, he was watching the trail. Again.
In actuality he had watched it carefully on the way in and quickly discovered the correct path back to the Concise Algae flowers patch. He was in no way going to risk these two particular wizards near Aragog's family. So the huge man had safely skirted the huge spiders' lair, plus a dozen or so really nasty spots, leading the two men to the patch of decaying flowers that had bloomed a week ago. It had taken twice the time to get there than Hagrid had expected it too.
This was due to the strange weather that seemed to be buffeting Hogwarts for the last week had added several inches of snow to the ground, making it harder to find the correct semi hollow that sheltered the herbalogical specimens. Hagrid had watched with crossbow at the ready as the two potions wizards had concocted the brew that would save the lives of the Weasley twins. Such a snow storm would have brought out a few rather nasty little creatures that he just as soon not have to deal with at the moment. Thank you very much. A screeching white pinknard was not something to take on without at least four extra wizards to watch your back.
As soon as the Potions Masters were finished, he had watched as the pair sent the potions skyward on the wings of the black and white owls that valiantly followed them into the Forest. Breaking the emergency potions camp he had lost no time stomping out the fire and was hustling the full and soon to be full potions masters' out of the Forbidden Forest. The sooner they were out of the Forest altogether the sooner Hagrid would breath easier.
The weather was getting worst and it was dangerous ground to get back to the castle from where the flowers had bloomed this year. Thought he didn't tell the either of the two wizards, even Hagrid worried when he had to travel into this part of the Forbidden Forest. To take two irreplaceable potions masters into the Forbidden Forest. He shuddered. It was one thing to take in a student or two, when it was comparatively safe, say early fall or late spring. But in the middle of the winter, and a snowstorm to boot?... It was nearly two hours of hard walking before they broke the edge of the ancient wood and caught sight of the towers with flying white trimmed flags of the four houses merry calling the potions expedition home. The daylight was just starting to wane in the sky, and Hagrid breathed a sigh of relief once they were clear of the Forest. He hadn't told either Severus or Charlie but it had taken an hour longer to get the two potions wizards in and out of the Forbidden Forest than he had planned. At least here near castle, the weather was a bit better.
For the first time since the trio had left the hut that was Hagrid's home he voiced a question that had worried him since the night before.
"Nope. I just can't rightly figure it. I just don't rightly know how that little muggle boy got his'self through the Forest, what with the weather being as bad as it has been the last few days or so. Let alone finding the twins, plus getting them two away from... Nope just can't rightly figure out how that little muggle did it." Hagrid's train of thought rumbled off as he hosted his crossbow to his shoulder, no longer needing the weapon this close to the protective wards of Hogwarts.
"What Muggle?" Severus asked irritated.
"The one that found the Twins." replied Hagrid.
"He's just a little boy, can't be more than eight or nine from the look of him." Supplied Charlie, and when Hagrid half turned in his walking and tossed him a questioning look over his shoulder, Charlie continued. 'Met him this morning. He and that Grim like of a dog of his, came into the great hall for breakfast, just appeared out of nowhere. Its official too. Father invoked with a Wizards Debt and shook his hand. We all did, every Weasley including the twins. Then wouldn't you know it, a little after lunch, Bill, Percy and I were just getting back from Hogsmeade.
Here the dragon handler interrupted himself. 'Percy realized how bad the weather was getting and ordered the whole student body at Hogsmeade back to the castle, just in time too. Well, anyway the three of us were bringing up the rear, making sure everyone got back safely, no stragglers, when there he was again. He and that dog of his were in the entry hall keeping Ginny and Hermione from getting hurt. Some… bigger boys were being particularly nasty." Here Charlie changed directions not wanting to get any Slytherins in trouble with their Head of House.
"Must have been Malfoy." replied Severus shaking his head. He would have to have yet another talk with the boy.
"Well, that's right nice of him.' Hagrid smiled jovially, "But, I still wonder how an eight year old got his 'self here..."
"He's not a muggle and he's 12." Commented Severus absently, his mind still on his miscreant Slytherin.
"How do you know he's 12 Severus?" Asked Charlie from behind him stopping in surprise.
"How do you know he's not a Muggle?" Asked Hagrid stopping in surprise.
Severus, who was watching where he was putting his feet, not Hagrid, ran into the back of the huge wizard, halting his forward movement. Annoyed, the potion master stepped back and looked up at the huge man who had turned around to face the smaller wizards he had been leading. He didn't look like he was going to move without an answer to his question.
"Severus?" Asked Charlie quietly behind him.
"Gryffindors.' He muttered. 'On what day was the 'Boy who Lived' born?" he asked Hagrid.
" 'arry was born on July 31." Hagrid answered promptly.
"Would you consider him to be a muggle?" Severus directed the next question to Charlie.
"Of course not." replied Charlie instantly.
Severus merely cocked an eyebrow at them and waited for them to figure it out.
Charles paled first.
Hagrid's confused expression remained there for few moments more as he considered the information that the tall man was telling him. You could see when the candle wick caught, as his eyes grew very large and white.
"Arry?" Hagrid gasped at the tall man in black.
Severus inclined his head at the huge wizard and glanced at Charles who was as white as the snow around them. Severus realized that Charles had moved on past the whole 'Boy Who Lived' stage and had mentally moved on to the personal repercussions.
"But the muggles, his aunt and uncle...they said..." Hagrid gushed confused.
Severus sighed. The keeper of the keys deserved at the very least, a minimal explanation. Hagrid had been the one that had discovered Potter's 'death' as it were. It had shaken the Gamekeeper to the core, as he had been the instrument to take the child to the Muggles and the one that Dumbledore had sent to bring him back to the Wizarding World. Tom from the Leaky Cauldron had to fire call Albus after the third day of heavy drinking. The tall man paused for a moment, glanced at the castle and then began.
"Potter's name appeared on the Sorting Hat's roll again this last summer, for a second year. The Order,' here Severus paused for an instant glancing at Charlie unsure how much the younger wizard understood. Charlie's eyes were full of understanding nodded slightly at the tall man to continued. "We realized at once that we had been lied to."
Hagrid sniffed loudly and searched in the pockets of his huge coat for handkerchief, trying to hold back the tears that seemed to hover at the edge of erupting.
"When the owl with the second Hogwarts letter was released a tracing spell was attached to it. We assumed that it would head straight for the Dursleys, the child's muggle relatives, and that we could then force them to surrender the boy. It did nothing of the kind, the owl merely circled over London for several days, before giving up and returning to Hogwarts. The relatives,' at this Severus sneered sardonically, 'after a little Firm persuasion, revealed that they had abandoned the boy on the streets of London two and a half years. Before Potter's first Hogwarts letter arrived. Some nonsense about a teacher's hair turning blue. They didn't know where the child was, nor did they care."
"Regretfully, because of the tracing spell, the Ministry of Magic had become involved at that point and that was all the Order could do officially. With the Ministry involved it was only a matter of time before the information found its way into the hand of the Dark Lords forces. Who quickly found the Dursleys. Without the boy there and no protection from the Ministry…" He let the sentence trail off, the other two wizards understood what was unspoken. The Dursley's did not survive meeting the Death Eaters.
"The house itself did reveal a bit of useful information. It allowed for the creation of a tracing potion. Minerva used it just before Christmas to locate the boy. It worked perfectly. It took her straight to the child. McGonagall explained at she was there to escort Potter to Hogwarts.' They could hear Severus' teeth grind with annoyance. 'She reported that the boy acted as if he didn't know what she was talking about. She was still arguing with Potter when the portkey that she had with her activated and she was forced to return without him. Unfortunately, the Death Eaters had the same idea. But they used rather… faulty potions ingredients."
"Old Fennel Root and over-ripe Pickled Ginger..." Charlie supplied absently.
Nodding the older wizard continued. 'So their potion only allowed them to locate the general area in London the child was hiding in. Luckily, someone warned the Order, and we sent in as many agents as we could muster. The boy simply disappeared in front of both groups." Severus concluded sounding vaguely frustrated by that turn of events.
"And he hasn't been seen again until last night. When he marches out the Forbidden Forest, a month later with my lost and half dead brothers in tow." Concluded Charlie in a shocked tone. "We've pledged a Wizards Debt to the 'Boy Who Lived'.
After a moment or two Severus commented dryly. "I don't believe that is one of his formal titles."
The manner in which he said it made Charlie's hair stand on end. That and the look on the dark haired wizards face had him worried. "One of his formal titles?" he asked.
The tall potions master inclined his head at the Castle.
The Keeper of the Keys and the Dragon Handler/Potions Apprentice both looked back at Hogwarts standing like a fortress against the stormy sky. Seeing, nothing.
Confused they glanced back at Severus, who with a raised eyebrow looked pointedly skyward, or at least at the top of the castles towers.
It was expected that Hagrid would realize the difference first; his long familiarity with the imposing structure would allow him to quickly spot the difference. Severus watched as the huge wizard realized the change on the castles battlements. Hagrid's face turned into one of marked puzzlement and he wondered aloud. "Why they go and put white on all the house flags fer?"
This revelation had a similar effect on Charlie as well. He turned to Severus a question in his eyes.
The tall dark wizard only looked even more amused as he asked. "When did you change your cloak Charles?"
The first thing that popped into Charlie's head was to start to explain to the other wizard that he would really like it if Severus would call him Charlie, or Lee, or anything other than Charles. Calling him that made it seem very formal and formal wasn't what he wanted to be with this particular wizard.
The second thing that went through his head was that the fumes from the potion might have affected Severus' mind, which worried him. All his money from dragon handling went for potions ingredients and paying for tuition at his distance education program at Britain Wizarding University. He really didn't have any money for... he glanced down at his old worn and stained traveling cloak. Same as before, really, what was Severus trying to...
Charlie froze as he caught sight of a small patch on the front of his cloak that hadn't been there when he had put it on this morning. On his right chest was patch of silver with a gold shield centered on it. In the four quarter fields of a golden shield there were a wand, a staff, a sword and a lighting bolt. The shield shined like a newly minted galleon. In the center of the shield shining in silver was a very plain looking capital P.
For an instant Charlie was confused how did that get there... Then memories washed over his mind.
"...for the last three weeks have be discussing the Constitution and Government of Witches and Wizards. On this final day we will cover the only exception to all the previous Wizarding laws. Today we will cover that rarest of wizards..." Professor Binns droned endlessly on. "My owl was great fun...Oh you'll love it Trelawney is up to it again...with the house Protectors, Gryffindors red and black...the best designs, updated robes..." Bill's voice speaking in the darkness from the night before. "But the shield always stays the same, though the robes might change with the fashion of the time... Silver patch, with a gold shield in the center. The shield is divided into four quarters with a wand, a staff, a sword...the fourth is the only part that changes symbols, it is reflective of the current Wizard." Binns voice again. "They hadn't shamed the dignity of the office that they were aspiring to..." Bill voice overlaid on Binns in his head...
All of the color drained out of Charlie's face as he turned to Severus shaking his head as if to clear the voices of the memories out with the movement. "I...We...have a Wizards Debt to the Wizard of Wizards?" Severus nodded. "And his 'Protectors shall arrive with him red and black'. Weasley's have been red heads for five centuries. And that huge dog was coal black. How did she know?"
"You would be surprised at the number of correct predictions that she does make, and as for that dog..." Severus started to remark as he watched the huge Keeper of the Keys before him.
Hagrid seemed to be swaying on his feet. " 'arry, little 'arry?" He asked as if not wanting to believe it.
"Yes." confirmed Severus gently.
A worried glance between the potions master and the potions graduate student had both their wands out at that instant. As the huge man fell forward the shouts of their combined spells keep him from hitting the ground.
"Hospital Wing?" Asked Charlie.
"Yes. Madam Pomfrey will give him a calming draft. I can take the opportunity to check on your younger brothers and we could both drop off the extra phials of antidote as well." Severus pointed out logically.
"Alright' agreed Charlie, "But after that, we have to talk."
A slight smile touched the darker man's face and an interesting procession returned to the safety of Hogwarts shortly before sundown.
It had to be the most personally mortifying afternoon of Lucius Malfoy's entire life.
After what had seemed like hours of being used as a human scouring tool in the most disgusting parts of Hogwarts plumbing system he had at last been dumped out of the pluming system and into some kind of septic tank. For an instant he wondered how many scourging charms he was going to have to employ before he would ever feel clean again. He wondered where he was and how he was going to get out of this particular nasty tub of excrement.
His shock at being able to move freely did not last long. He was grabbed by what seemed like hundreds of little hands and cared like a trophy on his back through the lower halls of Hogwarts. For an instant he thought that he was going to be cooked by the House Elves for that evening dinner. But he quickly regained his senses and ordered them to put him down at once.
That's when the giggling started. You never wanted to hear a house elf giggle. It was a high pitched maniacal almost hysterical in its glee of being able to do almost anything it wanted. The last time he had heard it, was when he was visiting an old aunt's house on Narissa's side of the family. He simply shuddered and pondered his fate.
His fate it seemed was to be washed within an inch of his life. He was stripped in the middle of a huge room of all of his vestments, and he watched in horror as his wand was born away in one direction and his clothes in another by a horde of gleefully house elves. He was then lifted again and like sack of boober tubers, hauled down yet another hallway. He had fleeting impressions of various portraits laughing at him and one that... For a moment he could have sworn that the portrait was dressed in ancient wizarding robes and was giving the house elves orders. Orders that the house elves seemed to be obeying. He instantly dismissed this as impossible but before he could consider extricating himself he had other issues to deal with.
Lucius found himself hauled into a warm humid room where he was dumped head first into an impossible deep bath. When his feet could not find a purchase and he kicked upwards gasping for air as soon as he hit the surface. He noted that it was bubble bath and that it was of course his favorite kind of bubble bath. House elves were very good on the small points. And he even thought for an instant that he thought he saw his own house elf standing on the side wringing his hands gleefully about the current situation. Dobby would of course not be a part of any of the current humiliation, not if he wanted to be beheaded instantly on arrival home. But his personal house elf would not be above watching this spectacle, and for that Dobby could and would be punished for when Lucius removed himself from this situation.
All thoughts of pain and degradation he planned on inflicting on the house elf disappeared when he reached for the edge of the tub. Hundreds of small hands appeared in the water and were washing every inch of his body. The first time he tried to lash out and hit one of the hands a house elf on the edge of the tub simply pushed his head under water. It was quickly clear to the tall man that he would either permitted the bathing of himself to continue at the house elves discretion or get half drowned should he refuse to submit to this invasion of privacy. It was the fact that so many small hands touching him and that he could do nothing about it that he found reprehensible. Lucius attempted to shout that he could do it himself or to release him at once, but this had been met with only more maniacal giggling and head dunking.
Just as he began to tire of treading water in a hot scented bath, he was then hauled out by his ears and attacked. Well it seemed like an attack to him. Thousands of small hands with towels or better described at bits of towels were patting him dry. It seemed to him, that they were taking great delight in batting down his most embarrassing spots. It seemed to him that they were bloody well getting off on the entire situation!
As however he was out of the bath, he supposed for a moment that he would have an advantage. He supposed wrong and as he started to swing out about to strike the small things away from himself when he heard a sardonic voice say..."I don't think so." He had again a brief impression of portrait in a gold frame, of a wizard in ancient robes when he was frozen. It was if a first year had placed a Petrificus Totalus on him. To the sound of a man's laughter and to the giggling of house elves he was picked up yet again and placed in a small room.
When the spell had worn off he found that he had been placed in a room approximately six feet by seven feet square. With the one extra foot on one of the square room having a build in bench stretched across it. The bench was covered with a plush red velvet cushion and was very comfortable. Across from the bench, on which he was currently sitting was clearly a door that seemed to be split right down the middle of the wall and on a small panel next to the door various intriguing buttons that lit up when pushed. They said various things like. "Last stop before you drop." Or "Up and Out" Or for some strange reason "Square Candies that Look Round". None of them seemed to work when he had tried them.
There were three additional drawbacks to the present situation. First, there was the oddest sensation was that the room itself was moving slowly up and down, pausing occasionally for some unknown reason and then starting again. As far as he could tell there was no pattern to the movements.
Second, his clothing had not been returned to him, so he was currently draped in a huge enchanted Hogwarts bath towel that he had found on the cushion. He knew it was charmed because every time he tried to move the towel so that the Hogwarts crest was behind him, the crest magically returned to the front of his 'robe'. He was just thankful that no one could see him like this, he looked like an overgrown blond house elf in a roman toga.
Third. There was a small plaque proclaiming MUSAK compliments of the Wizard World Wireless. He realized it was the musical equivalent of a auditory calming potion. But he had never been forced to listen to it before. Now he realized that he had been lucky in missing it before. The music grated on his nerves and the off switch on the control panel was either broken or had been deliberately deactivated. He was currently listening to what the announcer had the pleasure of introduced as a "Girl from Ifiagina."
In the past hour he had been subjected to the pleasure of "Pink Floyd's the Wall." "We're not going to take it." "The Macharana" "Bang your head." "I can't drive 55." "Helter Skelter" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy." And the announcer with quiet and cultured tones promised that coming up next was the Wizard and T'Neal, starting with "Muskrat Love" followed by a full of hour of their greatest hits. He had tried to rip the panel off the wall but the resulting stunning charm had left his finger numb for nearly seven songs.
He slowly was going to go insane.
The room had stopped and there was an auditory ping. The doors parted, but before Lucius could do more than stand up, he heard a snicker, the giggling of many little girls. Lucius caught a impression of a room that was decorated in gold and scarlet with a huge fire before the door snapped. An instant later the little room had resumed its seemingly endless traveling up and down. The second time the doors opened it was to room of rows of books, for a second Lucius thought it was the library before he caught sight of an eagle on a banner. Luckily, either there were no students present or they were all studying elsewhere. 'Ravenclaw' Lucias thought to himself, 'it will be Hufflepuff next.'
Again the door closed smoothly, but the slow motion room had previously displayed was replaced by a sudden terrifying drop. He automatically reached for the walls with his perfectly manicured nails. When the room came to an abrupt halt, he was slammed down onto the bench and barely time to right himself before the doors jerked open. He gathered his wits and gingerly stood up, straightening his 'towel' as he did so. He looked out of the small room and into the silver eyes of a startled second year Slytherin. They pair contemplated each other for an instant before doors snapped shut, like huge jaws of a wild animal trap.
The cultured tones of the announcer of the WWW was informing him that the next hour would be a selection from the best of Wizard Al Yakovic. And the room restarted its seemingly endless up and down.
Harry, much more cautious than Ron, stepping through the strange portal tentatively.
Moving into the chamber slowly, Harry discovered that were wide side passages leading to the torch lit central cavern. He shifted into the darkness sneaking around the pillars that lined the main walk way and hiding in the shadows on the darker left side of the ante-chambers. There was a boy talking to Ron, both standing over Ginny's prone still figure.
There was a small dark object lying on top of Ginny. It was pulsing slightly, almost like a heart beat. The boy that Harry could see through the shadows, there was something about that boy that Ron had started to talk to. Something tingled in green, however before Harry could identify why he was feel uneasy the sound of decidedly feminine melodic voice, one very near tears, reached his ears.
Eat, Eat, Eat you must EAT. Eat my destroyer! Eat so 'I' can take over the world, you must get stronger… the voice was obviously mimicking someone else. Silly two legs. I feel ugly. If I have to eat one more rat I'm going to hurl, I swear. Shed, shed, shed, then itch, itch, itch, and I. Look. FAT. Of course there is always that one spot that Never sheds right…maybe if I curl this way…And will HE help me? Noooooo! Won't even listen when I tell him it HURTS...The voice sounded like it was ready to cry and Harry felt rather than saw the now 42 foot snake slither past one of the columns, engaging in the oddest gyrations he had ever seen a snake do. On the other hand, hearing a snake talk was for Harry, one of the most normal things he had heard in the last 24 hours.
Snakes were nothing new to him (Harry had had long conservations with several garden snakes about just this type of nasty shedding problem.) and snakes, being very nice creatures he had found, he piped up with Sounds painful. May I help? he inquired gently and without waiting for an answer he stated firmly. Now don't jump, I'm just going to put my hands on your lower third and check things out.
Pain radiated up through his hands from the serpent below him startling him. Oh my. Harry ran his hands up past the lower portion on the snake and moved up gently exploring and trying to find where the shedding 'problem' was.
Oh, this feels awful. I can't imagine what it must feel like for you. You're muscles are all knotted up.Commented Harry soothingly, as he continued to gently run his hands up the snakes back.
The snake had started to hum while he was doing this. He quickly found the patch of scales that had been the major complaint for the beast and began to manipulate the dead and flaking skin so that it would come loose.
Startled the snake started to move around but Harry stopped it by saying Now don't wriggle. I've got to do it that way to get rid of the nasty patch, there... yes... just there...Harry commented as he continued to work on the harder section of dried skin that refused to release from the snake and was causing all the problems.
Now, I'm going to do this very slowly, but you will tell me if I'm moving too fast won't you?The small boy asked worriedly as he continued to pull dried skin. Oh, I forgot to tell you. My name is Harry. What's yours? Steady now this last bit is just about to shed and I don't want to hurt you when it comes…off. At that the final bit of snake skin released from the over grown serpent and he tossed it way over his shoulder.
The serpent hissed with mix of pain and relief as the last of the dead skin was finally removed from its back. The surrounding area looked tender and slightly less colorful than the rest of the beast scales now that it was out in the open.
Oh dear. These are Not happy scales.Commented Harry cupping his hands together until a small gentle pink glow appeared between them he then moved both the pink ball of light and his hands very carefully onto the offending area. The serpent hissed with pleasure as the warmth of his hands and the gentle massage that Harry was providing eased its pain.
Better?Harry asked continuing to massage the knots out of the beast's muscles.
The snake hissed in contentment and raised its head slightly to nod at the question.
You have a crown on your hood! I've Never seen a snake with a crown on its hood like that!Exclaimed the small boy.
Of course I do. I'm a Basilisk. I'm the monarch of snakes. Replied the beast.
Oh. How do you do? Er... Your Majesty? Harry asked uncertainly.
The snake giggled, well as much as snake could giggle. Silly two legs.
Thinking about it a minute Harry shrugged his shoulder and said Can't argue with that one. What may I call you then?
Well, the snake mused. 'He' calls me 'Destroyer' or 'Monster' but I don't like either of those names.
I can see why. They aren't nice names. Hmmm. Well, how about I call you Salz? After the dude that built the place. Salazar Slytherin? Harry suggested.
YOU Want to Name Me! After the Great One, The Maker? Salz was shocked, pleased but shocked.
Well why not? You're the greatest snake I've ever met and you do live in 'his' chamber. I don't think that he would mind. So that's what I'm going to call you.Harry decided firmly settling the matter and continuing his ministrations. I take it that you don't like the 'kid' that's been giving you orders?The young boy then asked leaning around one of the pillars to take a look at where the oddly fuzzy around the edges boy in question was still talking to Ron.
No. The snake shifted irritated under Harry's hands He's not The Wizard and he's not like my last Master either. He woke me up with a spell. It's the second time he has too. And he makes me eat till I get big enough too... Here the snake stopped and looked fearfully towards the boys in the main chamber then changed the subject. And he never wants to play any games. My last Master always played games with me. It confided.
Harry knew the kinds of games that snakes played. It was all those conversations with snakes in his Aunt Petunia's gardens were very informative. But he could tell that Salz was upset about something else and the best way to get to it might be by letting the serpent vent. Really. What kind of games do snakes play?
Salz took the diversion and ran, er, slithered with it. Oh wonderful games! There's staring of course if you can find a partner, and then there's hanging, you hold on to one end of a tree with your tail and see how low you can hang down. Yo-yo of course is where you catch prey in your coils and well yo-yo it up into the tree with you. I like coiling myself, how many times around a prey you can go, long prey is best for that game. The best game of all is knotting. That's were you...
The boy who was currently trying to unknot the muscles of the snake in front of himself cut the creature off sharply. I get the idea! Don't You Even Think about showing me. I've only just got half of you done and I'm not going back to re-do you.
If a snake could laugh, Salz did so then. Harry grinned and creating another ball of pink light went back to kneading and stroking the scales in front of him. He was now nearly three fourths done.
I wish 'He' was more like my last Master, more like you. You'd never make me...Salz stopped talking suddenly and laid down on the floor in a dejected lump.
The boy currently massaging the strained muscles of a forty odd foot snake considered his options and decided that prudence was the best course of action.
Well, I don't know about coiling, Can't do that one. Yo-Yo's... well we two legs use a round ball on a piece of string to make it come back to us. Harry explained. Then continued with Of course if you have a partner you can play hide and seek...
Ohhh... Hunting! I like that game.Interjected Salz.
And then there's catch and keep away.Harry finished his thought while smiling at the serpent.
What's that?Salz inquired.
Catch?The snake nodded.
Oh that were you toss a ball back and forth to a friend. Explained the small boy to the huge snake.
Oh. Like snatching your dinner out of the air? And Keep Away? Ask Salz understanding 'catch' and valiantly moving on to 'keep away'.
Well you need three for that. It's were you toss a ball or something 'Over' the person in the middle someone's head, to your partner, so you keep it away from the one in the middle.commented Harry.
Hmmmm sort of like protecting your dinner?Mused Salz not understanding at all.
Something like that. Harry agreed with a grin, all the while gently easing the snakes aches and pains.
The pair lapsed into a companionable silence as Harry finished his massage. Now he was just stroking the snake as if it were a cat.
Harry could take it no longer. What does 'he' make you do? he asked very gently.
As if it had only been waiting for someone to unburden herself on Salz burst into tears. The Maker, the great Slytherin said it was bad. My last 'real' master said it was bad too, you see. So I've been soooo careful, my eyes they don't just stun if I'm too big. If...'He' sends me hunting... you see, up above. I have to! HE orders me to. But I do it with my eyes half closed. I can kill two legs if I'm not careful and the Great Maker Slytherin and my last Master said that I was Never ever to get big enough to use my eyes to kill two legs. But "He' keeps making me eat and sending me hunting in the pipes above. But I'm too big! I don't have to even be hunting! If I just look at a two legs and and I could, I could... I've been so careful this time! I don't think that any two legs have been killed but the last time the last time...he...woke...me...uppppp...Salz couldn't talk any more, it was sobbing to hard.
The small street waif merely held the huge beast and rocked it back and forth and finished the sentence for it. But the last time he woke you up, you popped up out of the pipe and there was a little two legs there and she got killed.
The beast was so over come with grief that all it could do was nod while sobbing on the boy's shoulder.
Well, don't worry so. We'll figure out what to do about 'Him". And I'll tell Myrtle you didn't mean it.Soothed Harry.
But he's just going to order me to do nasty things again. Sobbed Salz.
Hmmmmmm. Why do you take 'his' orders? Asked Harry trying to understand.
Because he is the one that opened the Chamber and he's the only one that can talk to me.She explained her, for she was most defiantly a 'she', her sobs winding down only slightly.
The ONLY one?Harry asked with a grin.
Salz, realized in that moment that she wasn't alone anymore and wriggled from the top of her crown to the tip of her tale. For a second Harry wondered if there was a little bit of rattle snake in her.
Harry leaned back, poking his head out from behind the column that that shielded the pair to look over at Ron and the odd boy again. They were arguing, and that thing on top of Ginny looked like it was pulsing weirdly magenta even harder.
Salz, do me a favor, just hang around here. And DON'T come if he calls you. Only come if I call you. You'll know it's me I'll use your name. SALZ. Like that. Ok? Now wait here, I think I gotta take care of something. Harry told the snake waiting only for a nod of understanding before he slipped into the shadows of the larger cavern.
It was clear that the two boys were arguing. Harry for his part had been concentrating so much on Salz that he hadn't paying much attention to what was going on in the rest of the chamber. But with the increase of just plain bad vibes in the area he had cut his discussions with Slaz short and moved in the shadows to see what the heck was going on.
"Final transfer? Final transfer of what?" He heard Ron asked standing up and looking like he was very unsteady on his feet.
Harry circled left, one ear listening to the argument while the rest of his mind was concentrated on that thing lying on Ginny's chest. It just seemed to pulse with a weird magenta light. Light that seemed to moving from Ginny to the tall boy Ron was talking to.
"The final transfer of ALL her life energy to me." Replied boy smugly going to stand over Ginny's prostrate form.
Harry watched as Ron screamed "No!" and fumbled toward the boy standing over his sister. He watched as Ron tried to fight the half shadow boy. The tall boy merely chuckled backing way from Ginny to walk to the great statue at the rear. In the shadows, Harry moved a rounded the pillar and circled to the other side of the chamber away from Salz and closer to Ginny. That thing was still pulsing like a heart beat.
While the odd boy ignored Ron and stared intently at the face of the stature in the semi darkness, Harry reached out his hand and pulled. But the thing on Ginny's chest would not budge. Harry glanced between the thing and the odd boy. The power was traveling from Ginny to the boy that much Harry could tell. But something was keeping him from pulling it through the air. He didn't want to wait for that thing to really harm Ginny.
"Look, you can see her dying. Slowly. Much more slowly than I planned, she's fighting the transfer. I didn't have time to drain her as much as I would have liked I wasn't expecting to do this so soon, but with the odd things going on upstairs... Well, I'm sure Ginny won't mind me upping the time table just a little bit." The boy looking at the over sized statue, threw his head back and laughed. "Oh and thank you for the wand by the way." The laugh cut short as if he had a sudden sharp pain that stopped the merriment.
It was in that instant that Harry took a calculated risk and darted out from the shadows and snatched the thing from off of Ginny's chest. It felt slick and slimy in his hands and he backed away from Ginny and realized that the pulsing was going slower but still pulsing. He didn't know what it was but it was hurting Ginny. In that moment he knew that he would have to destroy this thing to keep it from killing his new little red headed friend.
The tall boy's gasp of shock echoed through the hall. He turned and scanned the area, with his eyes falling on Harry. They narrowed in anger and contempt as his eyes took in the appearance of the small child dressed in rags and standing resolutely before him.
"So, you pathetic son of a muggle lover. Don't think I don't realize exactly how your family has disgraced the title of wizard. You... First you dared enter the Great Salazar Slytherins' chamber. But to compound that sacrilege you've brought a filthy muggle with you!" He sneered. "I will pull that stupid Gryffindor tower down brick by brick for this insult. But before I do that I will kill you, and then your muggle servant. You will sleep in the belly of the monster for this outrage." He spoke to Ron as if Harry was not even there. MONSTER! COME! I COMMAND IT! Shouted the tall boy.
Harry grinned to himself and took a step back and a few steps to the right. In doing so he placed the tall boy and Ginny firmly between Ron and himself. The Tall boy was now turned with this back to Harry as he vented at Ron and screamed for Salz. So he didn't see Harry's grin and or the wave he gave to Ron. Harry held up the diary and pantomimed the throwing of it to Ron. Ron who had been watching Riddle caught the movement in the corner of his eye. Understand the instructions but not the reasons for it, Ron gave the slightest of nods. Harry grinned even harder and nodded back. As the tall boy finished his rant of promised pain and death, Harry couldn't take it and giggled.
The boy whirled at the sound even angrier then before. It was at the moment that he realized what Harry was holding in his hands.
"Return that to where you found it, muggle." Commanded Tom.
"No. It's hurting Ginny." Harry replied taking yet another step to the side in a clear line of sight with Ron.
"Gryffindor Fool, if you know what is good for you, you will order your servant to return it at once." Tom had swung around and was venting his anger at Ron.
Harry watched Ron's eyes and nodded. Ron gave a half nod to Harry turned his attention to the half ghost in front of him.
"You know you are really a smeg head." Commented Harry lazily. In the instant that the half phantom had turned towards Harry, the smaller boy had tossed the diary to Ron.
Tom had just caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and had whirled back to Ron.
"Give me that." He demanded.
"Sorry.' Ron replied. 'Just can't help you there. You're just too much of a smeg head." Replied Ron grinning at the apparition having no clue what a 'smeg head' was but going along with whatever his friend was cooking up.
The tall thin boy made two steps towards Ron, as Ron backed away from him. At the third step Ron lifted his arm and tossed the leather bound object to Harry. Tom had raised his hand to catch the book but it sailed cleanly over his head and into Harry's waiting hands.
"You know I don't think that you are a nice wizard. I bet you grow up to be a black robe." Commented Harry absently, as he watched like a hawk each move the tall boy in the middle made. As the older boy stalked him, the more nimbly Harry danced away.
"The pair of you are trying my patience! Return the book and I will spare you from the monster." Riddle promised them.
"What do you think Ron?' Asked Harry, who tossed the book to his friend at the same time he spoke. 'Do you think he looks very trustworthy? Do you think if we give the book back he'll call off his 'Monster'? "
"I wouldn't trust him even if I had a Quidditch pitch between us and a hundred wands pointed at his head." Replied Ron coldly.
"I don't think so either. Where I come from we'd have pegged him as either a snitch or a player. At Ron's confused look he continued. "You know someone who plays both sides of a situation until to get what he wants? Why don't like him?" Inquired Harry as he caught the next pass of the leather book from Ron discussing Tom as if he were a specimen in a lab.
"He might be wearing a Head Boy's Badge, but he doesn't have a CLUE what that means. It's the reason they entrust you with the job, you're supposed to defend and protect the students, not try to hurt them." Ron explained as he caught and then tossed the book back to Harry.
"You will both pay for this insult. MONSTER COME TO ME! Screamed the tall boy. Tom face was now red with anger.
"You know Ron you're right. He doesn't have a clue!' and directed his next comment to the tall enraged boy, 'You are never going to get a girl if you talk to them like that. Girls ignore you if you shouted at them mate." Harry told the boy seriously.
The book went sailing back through the air and as the tall boy leaped for it it was snatched out the air by the agile Weasley. Laughing Ron quickly back peddled to get away from the enraged youth. "But the question is would he know what to do with a girl if one actually talked back to him?" Ron queried.
"You will know exactly the extent of my knowledge of pleasure it will afford me, as I watch my Monster slowly devour you bit by muggle loving bit." Snarled the enraged head boy.
SALZ? Would you please come here? Oh and keep your eyes half shut will you, Please? Harry called softly, too softly for the other two arguing boys to hear. Then deftly caught the tome as it hurled upward from Ron. As Harry danced away from the tall half ghost of a boy, the sound of something huge moving reached the ears of the three boys.
"Finally,' said Tom with a grim satisfaction. 'You will soon be nothing but a stain on the floor for the house elves to clean up. Monster! Attack them, kill them.
Salz did nothing of the kind and merely slithered over and around Harry to get a good look at the smaller body on the floor. Her tongue realizing it was a human, and therefore not a food source, moved around it and with half lidded eyes kept watching the interaction of the evil one and her new friend and her new friend's friend.
Monster! I command you, attack and kill the intruders!
Salz did nothing but flick her tongue out at him, content to lazily watch the four humans and consider the next thing that her new Master would ask her to do.
En-Rage the tall boy realizing that the monster was either not obeying him or to full to eat. "Whatever spell you used on the monster will avail you not!" and pulling Ron's wand from this robes shouted "Rictusempra."
Chuckling Ron hurried over to the stunned lad who had been thrown against one of the pillars from the force of the backlash. The stunned boy was now slowly shaking head as to clear the ringing that was currently effecting his hearing.
"Could have told you not to try that mate. M'wand got almost snapped back at start of term. Hasn't worked right since, been misfiring all year. Guess, I'm going to have to thank those Slytherins now." Ron chuckled, then gasped and ran across the room as the formerly stunned boy rose quickly making a grab for him.
While Ron had been watching Tom, Harry had been watching Ginny. At the moment that Tom had hit the pillar and was knocked out for a moment, Ginny had moaned. It seemed to Harry that she had struggled almost awake when 'Tom' had been almost out cold. Also there was the nasty book in his hand, it had seemed to not pulse quite so hard when 'Tom' was out of it.
The en-raged boy was up on his feet and and following Ron around the room, heaping verbal insults at him. While this was happening Harry looked down at the thing in his hand and then at the boy that was more spirit then flesh. He looked up at Salz, who had taken an half raised position near the entrance of the cavern. Harry raised up his hand and waived the book at Salz. Fascinated she followed it with her eyes.
Tom must have sensed the eminent danger, or perhaps he had noticed Salz moments out of the corner of his eye. Confident that the monster was finally going to act on his he turned and smiled for an instant. It was then that he realized that the monster was watching the smaller black haired boy who's arm had just swung as if he were going to toss something.
"NO" he screamed.
In that instant Harry hurled the book at the huge snake, who like the good hunter she was, snatched it out of the air and caught in one of her foot long fangs.
Two things happened simultaneously.
First, 'Tom' took three steps trying to reach the snake, when there was an explosion from inside of his torso, huge rays of light blinding in their golden radiance poured out of him and across the room to where Ginny lay. He boy seemed to thrash in mid-air for a moment as if he was a rag doll being pulled and pushed back and forth in a giant's invisible fist.
Across the room the book, now firmly embedded on one of Salz's fangs was gushing a black substance from its pages. As it did so, Salz's attempted to remove the thing from her fang, trashing her head back and forth as to rid herself of the oozing tome.
A powerful but silence explosion rocked the room as the book was wrenched from off Salz's fang and the boy who was only a memory from the past finally disappeared with a final shower of lights exploding and imploding his body.
Salzs continued to attempt to clean out her mouth of whatever the foul substance was spewing from the book and complaining loudly. (At least to Harry said that she did not like this version of 'catch' because it didn't taste good, and she would stick to birds and bats thank you very much.) In that moment Ginny sat straight up and gasped in pain and shock.
"Ginny." Exclaimed Ron and rushed to his sister's side, helping her to stand on shaking legs.
"Oh, Ron. It was me." she said in tears.
Putting an arm around his crying sister, Ron hugged her awkwardly. "It'll be O.K. Gin."
Harry took a deep breath and looked around to see Salz start to slither off into the darkness.
That it, I'm going back to bed. Call me when you need me, or when I get back down to a nice length. 20 feet or so should be slim enough. She groused as she slithered into the mouth of the large statue of a Salazar Slytherin.
Harry laughed gently as he bid Salz a Alright! Good night, Sweet dreams! as she disappeared into her sleeping bower. He turned around and found both Ron and Ginny staring at him.
"Er. Harry." Ron started.
"You can talk to snakes?" A shocked Ginny asked.
"Yep." Replied Harry turning around and looked at the pair with a grin.
"Harry? Your name is Harry?" Ginny asked.
"Er. Gin. We have to talk." Ron stated with a worried look on his face, as he hugged her a little closer. Ginny took the hint and shut up.
Harry looked at them both and shaking his head said, "I think that we need to get out of here, lets her sleep." Crossing the floor he picked up the black stained book and headed back to the passageway.
"Her?" Ron asked shocked as he started to follow Harry back out of the large room.
"Yep, definitely a her. Lumos." Harry stated firmly, recreating the little light globe and sending it in front of the threesome as they started back through the semi-carved passage. Grinning a little as he heard the small soprano intake of breath as he created the ball.
"Harry, we have to talk." Ginny squeaked.
Laughing out loud now Ron, Ginny and he started into the cavern.
"Ginny, don't worry about that right now. Lets just worry about getting back up to the school and to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey will want to check you over for Dark Magic. I know that Mom and Dad, Dumbledore and McGonagall are going to want an explanation, might as just as well save it till then."
"Oh, Ron. I'm going to be expelled." Ginny voice was as near to a sob at it could be.
"No you're not." Replied Harry reaching back to help Ron who was helping Ginny over a very large boulder.
"Thats right, you're not. Huh.." Ron started to assure her.
Harry grinned. "How old was that 'boy'?
Ron thought for a moment. "He had to be over sixty. There is a plaque to him for special services to the school dated at least 60 years ago in the trophy room."
"So. What he really was, was a grown-up. You can't be blamed because you were taken in by a grown-up. Kids aren't responsible for what grown-up make us do, you know."
"Still, it was me, wasn't it?" Replied Ginny still not convinced.
Harry sighed. 'Normal' kids were lucky. "Ginny. That boy wasn't a 'boy' he was a grown-up. He was using you, for something bad. Your Mum and Dad are not going to blame you for being taken in by a grown up who should have known better."
"He's right Ginny. That kid 'Tom Riddle' had on a Head Boy's badge, and still he was using you to hurt you and the other kids that got petrified. We tell 'that' to Dumbledore he is going to be angry! But not at you. It's like I told that kid, you get the Head Boys Badge because you're supposed to take care of the little kids. This guy didn't, he was bad, you weren't." Ron assured the sniffling girl. Who was comforted but not yet truly convinced.
The three continued onward to the entrance.
"What I want to know is, where did you get this thing." Harry asked holding the dripping book up into the light for the other two to see.
"It was in my cauldron, when we got back home from getting our school supplies at Diagon Alley." Ginny informed him.
"Anything funny happen while you were there?" Harry inquired, not knowing what a Diagon Alley was but ignoring it for the more important information. He glanced at the ground followed their trail to the correct corridor. He still had a funny feeling about the book he had in his hand.
"No." replied Ginny.
"Ron?" Harry asked the other boy.
"Nope. Oh, except that Dad almost popped Malfoy's dad in the nose. The blond git was going on about pure blood wizards." Ron grumbled as he nearly tripped over a part of huge snake skin, as the three children had entered that part of the cavern.
"Oh, I had forgotten about that. Yuck." Remarked Ginny as she walked around another part of the dried skin, trying to find an easier route to walk past it.
"Hmmm." Harry replied, looking at the book suspiciously. 'Malfoy again.' he thought to himself.
There was quiet for another few minutes, punctuated only by the sound of feet shuffling across hard stone, until the trio reached the entrance to the chamber that contained the pipe from Myrtles bathroom. For Ginny it was the first time she was aware of what was in the entrance her comment of "Ugh." echoed the sentiments of the two boys when they had arrived earlier.
"How are we going to get back up that pipe." Ron worried.
"I don't know.' replied Ginny, 'I'm not sure if I've been down here before. If I have been; Well, whenever I woke up, I was always in my room in Gryffindor tower." Ginny supplied on a unsure note.
Harry looked over the walls and sent the small globe around the room slowly as he did so. He reached out one are and stopped the ball in front of a seemingly empty section of formed stone.
OPEN he hissed at the small very faint outline of a snake carved into the ancient wall.
The wall swung back to reveal a small room. Gesturing for first the ball of light and then the other two to proceed him, the three adventurers entered the room. Ginny's eyes becoming very concerned as the wall swung back encasing them in the small room. Ron's arm went back around her shoulders. "Its O.K. Gin." He said firmly.
Harry grinned at the pair of them, and locating another small carved snake on the inside of the wall that had just closed on them commanded it UP.
The three were for a moment were jostled off balance as the floor beneath them rumbled and then started to move back up to the castle that Harry estimated was a mile above them. They quickly regained their equilibrium and grinned at each other as they watched the walls move passed them. Every few moments there would be bright green snake painted or etched into the wall to mark the passage up they were taking. But whether the other two noticed it or not Harry couldn't tell.
"Easier go up than going down." Remarked Ron.
Ginny looked puzzled, so he explained. "To get down you have to jump into a huge pipe and ride it all the way to the bottom."
Both boys smiled at her indignant expression. "That sounds like a lot of fun and I don't remember it? Bother." replied Ginny.
Harry and Ron's laughter echoed out into the bathroom as the stone elevator came to a stop and opened into an empty toilet stall. Harry supposed correctly that the toilet like the wash basin had moved out of the way for creating the entrance. He let Ron and Ginny step out first and turned to watch exactly that as the stone wall closed on the elevator and the toilet raise up from the floor, moving back into position and concealing the exit again. Harry grinned and exiting the stall himself moved passed the sinks in the middle of the room and headed to the door
"OI! Hang On" Ron cried. "This isn't Myrtle's bathroom. This is the boy's bathroom across the hall."
"Of course it's not Myrtle's bathroom." Replied Harry striding for the door.
"But WHY isn't it Myrtle's bathroom?" Ask Ron completely confused but following him.
"Really Ron! Have you ever tried to Sneak Out of a Girl's Bathroom?" Commented Harry as he opened the door a crack, checked both ways and exited.
Grinning Ginny tugged at her bemused brother's arm and pulled him out of bathroom. "Well, he does have point there." he muttered to himself.
The hall way that the trio found themselves in was empty and Harry looking around asked, "Which way?"
Ron took the lead this time and started back towards the stairs, "That way.' he pointed as he started off. "First thing; Ginny to the infirmary for a check up with Madam Pomfrey, and No Arguments Gin! Then we'll check in with Mum, Dad and the Headmaster." he stated firmly.
"Right." Harry agreed following Ron who was holding Ginny's hand tightly in his own as if to keep her from disappearing again. Ginny still looked worried that she was going to be expelled only nodded her head in resignation, and trailed after her brother.
It was when they reached the grand staircase and Harry put his hand on the rail that he felt it.
"Ron, Take Ginny and Go! Get your Mum and Dad." Dashing down the stairs as Ron started up the staircase.
"But..." Started Ron.
"Don't ask! Just Get Them! Or My Dog! Hurry!" Came the shouted reply, as Harry dashed down the Great Stairs.
Malfoy wisely did not push that particular button and it alone was the only button not currently glowing.
