Harry made his way to the great hall and sat down, some of the Griffindor and Hufflepuff first years were sitting there due to a problem with Mr. Lockhart's classroom. Harry sat down near the end of the Griffindor tables. Ginny noticed him and stood up, ignoring her friends and moving over to where Harry was seated. She sat down across from him, shuffling until she found a comfortable position. She began to play with her hair, bringing it down in front of her face so it would cover her eyes. "Are you feeling better Harry?" she asked nervously. She began to fiddle around with her bag, "You … you know… harry" she stumbled over her words. She grabbed a book from her bag and held it tight to her chest suddenly getting courage. "You've really got a knack for getting into trouble and my Mother always said that boys need a women to keep them in line… I guess what I'm trying to say is" She managed "HARRY I LOVE YOU! Please go out with me!" Harry gapped. He didn't know what to say, he'd seen how Ginny looked at him but never in a million years would he have suspected this, this is ridiculous. Ginny's confidence drained and her face began to get red.
Harry began to calm down, though he knew that his face was now red too, he leaned over and whispered something in Ginny's ear. Ginny looked shocked, and flashes of fear, apprehension and betrayal phased across her face. Finally she stood up, tears streaming down her face as she clutched the book tighter running from the great hall, without looking behind her. Her friends from down the table glared at Harry before rushing off to find their crushed peer. Harry turned so he was straddling the bench and fell back, wincing as he felt his head hit the hard and sturdy wood. He stared up at the charmed roof watching the black clouds roll in. He felt the presence of a storm and not the one outside but rather the one that was bound to happen as soon as Ron heard about this incident. He closed his eyes as a tear ran down the side of his face, he wondered why life had dealt him all the hard cards.
That night Harry went into the common room to find an ambush waiting for him. Ron stood their looking rather peeved and Hermione was sitting their reading a book, looking like she would rather be anywhere else. She obviously didn't want to be present for whatever was about to occur and thought that whatever Ron was going to say was a horrible idea. Harry turned to walk out, hoping he could stall this talk for some time when he was better prepared. Ron's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Harry turned around, giving Ron his full attention, ready for an ear lashing. "How dare you do that to my sister." He said in a low dangerous voice, "She loves you, and she'd do anything for you." He continued pulling Harry deeper into the common room. "You embarrassed her, and I want to know what you told her. She has been crying in the bathroom all day, she won't even come out to see me." He spat. "I tell you Harry, you don't know what you've turned down. She is a brilliant girl, and you'd better go to that washroom and apologize. Beg her to go out with you. I thought you were a decent guy. I thought you'd see just how amazing she is, but now I see you'll need a little pushing. You had better go to my sister or you'll be losing the first friend you've ever made." He said grabbing Harry's robe tightly in his fist. He leaned his face close to Harry so close he could feel his breath on his cheek. Ron appeared to be waiting for a response and when none came, he wound back his arm and punched Harry in the face. When Harry just stumbled back a step, Ron made to strike him again. Stopping just short of Harry, his mouth falling open and his eyes filled with shock.
Harry just stood there as he heard the voice of the youngest Weasley yell "Don't you hit him again! I can stand up for myself, RON!" she spat the name disgusted. "If you force him to go out with me, it means NOTHING! You're despicable."
It was Halloween, and Hermione and Ron were sitting in the Great Hall, Ron snacking on some of the candies, making a point not to look at his ex-best friend. Harry and Hermione were sitting in the awkward silence. Ron hadn't talked to Harry since they had had the fight and his sister hadn't talked to either of them. She'd spent most of her time hiding off somewhere only coming out for classes and meals. Harry didn't like it; he didn't like it even more because he had been hearing voices coming from all around talking about murder, torture and terrible things.
After Harry had eaten, he left the hall early, not caring about any of the festivities that were happening. He hated Halloween, bad things always happened. He performed more accidental magic on Halloween than he normally had in any other month. This only led to more beatings because of his "freakishness". Then there was the feeling he always got, like he was being watched, like someone else was there with him, seeing what he saw and experiencing what he experienced. Harry didn't like it.
Harry began rooming the halls of Hogwarts looking for a quiet place to sit and think. He was deep into the dungeons before he found a suitable place. It was covered in dust, meaning students and cleaning staff alike didn't traverse here very often. He sat on a ledge at the wall, looking out the window. He admired the beautiful scene and couldn't help but wonder if it was actually a real window or something charmed to look like a real window. . However from where he was there was really no way to tell which of the two it might be, so Harry just enjoyed it because it was something to amazing either way. He knew that he couldn't really see the true beauty of the scene due to the fact that his sight was dark and slightly blurry due to an overuse today, despite the new spells Dumbledore had added to make them more magically efficient. By the time Harry decided it was time to head back to the common room it was well past curfew. As he was walking back he began to hear the voices again, coming from the walls he began to run, and continued running until something caught his eye. There sitting in the middle of the hallway was Mrs. Norris the cat.
She was staring at a suit of armour, her mouth hanging open as if she was meowing at something or someone. She was stone still, as if frozen in time. Harry looked towards the suit, seeing a hand curled around the far arm of the medieval decorations. He began to move towards the armour with his wand out he said "Alohomora" moving closer to see the bright red short hair of the youngest Weasley boy.
"What are you doing Potter" said a voice from behind him. Harry turned around to see Professor Snape standing behind him. "You're out past curfew. And who's that there? Mr. Ron Weasley." Snape drawled grabbing Harry's shoulder and dragging him toward the young redhead. Snape grabbed the other boys shoulder and stopped in surprise, looking at the boy. He then saw the cat frozen on the floor. "Stay there" the professor said sternly before rushing off. It wasn't too long before he arrived back with the grandfatherly old headmaster and Madam Pomfrey.
"Harry, my boy, I think it's time that you go back to your dorm. Professor Snape will lead you there." The old man said looking at Harry through his gold spectacles. Snape glared at Harry and then at Dumbledore, before turning around and stalking off in the direction of the Griffindor Common room.
Over the next couple of days rumours started spreading about Harry, being caught on the scene, wand out and pointed at one of the victims doesn't really sound very good and Snape wasn't afraid to tell anyone who asked about the incident. Harry tried to defend himself, telling them about the voices, but this only made things worse. Now it was time for defense and Harry's foul mood was only getting worse. Lockhart began once again bragging about his brilliant duelling abilities and it was getting on Harrys nerves. "If he's such a great duellist, why doesn't he stop bragging and start teaching us duelling. That is part of his job right? Teaching us defense." Harry said quietly to nobody.
Lockhart stopped his speaking and looked directly at Harry, pausing for a moment. "Is that what you want to do? Learn how to duel?" looking over the students he saw an overwhelming amount of nodding. Students are always willing to learn how to duel and especially when there was someone running around petrifying people.
The next day he announced that they were starting up a defense club. Professor Snape will also we participating, Harry thought that that might be because Headmaster Dumbledore wanted Snape to keep Professor Lockhart and the other students in line.
"Gather round! Gather Around, now can everybody see me? Can everybody hear me? Excellent" said the blonde teacher climbing onto and pacing along the long table in the centre of the room. "In light of the dark events of the last week, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club. To train you all up in case you need to defend yourselves, as I have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works." He said throwing his cape out into the audience; several girls lunged for it and the one who successful looked as if she had won some grand prize. "Now, let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Everyone looked to see the dark teacher climb up onto the table elegantly but without the same foolish flourish that Lockhart had perfected. "Now he has sportingly agreed to help me with a little demonstration. Now I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your potions Professor when I'm through with him." He said pointing to crowd, "Never fear" he said gently and charmingly, drawing his wand with great flourish.
The two teachers faced each other, bowing before turning away, "One, Two, Three" Mr. Lockhart said to start the duel.
In mere moments the DADA teacher was on his back after Professor Snape shouted a quick "Expelliarmus".
Professor Lockhart got up, and started walking briskly back to where Professor Snape was standing. "An excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying, It was pretty obvious. Ah, what you were about to do, and if I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy." Lockhart said easily in a bragging tone.
"Perhaps it would be prudent to show students how to first block unfriendly spells, Professor." The potions master drawled, completely unimpressed.
"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape! Ah, let's have a volunteer pair, ah… Potter! Neville!" Lockhart called.
"Neville has shown incompetence with even the easiest of spells. May I suggest someone from my own house, Malfoy perhaps?" Snape said swirling around pointing to Malfoy and gesturing him up before leaving the table as Neville's bright red face fell.
The two boys stood in the center of the table before bowing and taking their steps back. "Now, on the count of three, I want you to cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm. We don't want any accidents here. One, two"
"Everte Statum!" Malfoy shouted, not waiting for the three count. The spell hit harry and he flew backwards into the air.
Harry rose from the floor and pointed his wand at the form of Malfoy shouting his own spell "Rictusempra" his voice boomed.
This time it was Malfoys turn to fly through the air. He fell on his butt and looked up at the dark potions master, who scowled and dragged his Godson to his feet, forcefully turning him around to meet his opponent.
Malfoy glared at Harry as though he had been the one dragging him to his feet. A dark look loomed in Draco's eyes as he said "Serpensortia!", a snake flew out of his wand and started slithering towards Harry.
"Don't move, Potter, I'll get rid of it for you." said professor Snape taking quick deliberate glides towards the snake.
"Allow me, Professor Snape! Alarte Ascendere!" Lockhart said as he pointed his wand at the snake. The snake raised high into the air before dropping it uninjured but annoyed back onto the table.
The snake hissed at those surrounding it, looking around. Harry took a step forward hissing back at the snake. The rest of the room stood stone still as Harry continued to communicate with the snake as it edged closer to one of the students. It looked almost like it was going to attack before Professor Snape snapped out of it and burned the snake to ashes.
The room remained silent, everyone staring trying to explain what had just occurred before their eyes. Suddenly someone managed a "Parseltongue", of course it had been Professor Lockhart. With this the room filled with whispers about "The Dark Prince", "Heir of Slytherin", and "The Chamber of Secrets". Snape stalked forward grabbing Harry's fist without seeming to look at him, dragging him down the long table and down the steps transfigured at the end of them. He kept dragging Harry towards the Dungeons, ignoring all demands for an explanation and destination. They reached a portrait of Salazar Slytherin and Snape cast a quick spell preventing Harry from hearing the password. The portrait gave both the potions professor and Harry a weird look before opening the door as Snape released the spell. Harry was dragged to the couch before being ungraciously thrown onto it. Falling into it, Harry had the wind knocked out of him. He sat there for a second trying to regain it, noticing the youngest potions master pace back and forth like a caged and feral animal. Harry had the feeling interrupting his thoughts would be dangerous and sat in silence. So instead he looked around the room, seeing the small chamber decorated in calming greens, pale silvers along with earthy browns and some blacks. There weren't many furnishings inside the room and there were only three doors, the one they had just entered from and two more. One of them was left open a crack and through it Harry could see what appeared to be a bathroom. The other must be Snape's bedroom. Besides the couch he was sitting on there was another chair, behind a desk with piles of papers, a bookshelf, and a fireplace which at the moment was mostly embers. The embers burned brightly and the wood crackled and sparked, none of the burning pieces leaving the fireplace. Harry watched one of them fly like it was going to land on the dark green carpet outside the fireplace and wondered as it seemed be blown back in by some invisible spell. Harry saw the room darken slightly as the charmed amulet went into a power saver sort of mode detecting that the room didn't have as much magic floating around as the rest of the castle. Snape must avoid doing magic in his chambers and there was a possibility that the fireplace spell was the only active one in the room.
"You just live to make my life difficult, don't you Potter?" beginning with a spiteful tone, but sinking into sad resignation.
"Ummm…" Harry started quietly "What did I do?" stopping his pacing Snape stopped to look at him angrily as if he was an idiot for not realizing.
Snape sighed looking away towards an empty fishbowl peculiarly placed as a centerpiece on the bookshelf; he stared at it intensely as if willing it to do something. "You're a Parselmouth Harry; the ability to speak to snakes is a rare and misunderstood gift. It's passed through bloodlines, and since it certainly didn't come from the Potter bloodline, it must have come from your mothers, meaning rather than a mud… muggleborn, she must have come from a long line of squibs." He said, the look in his eyes only getting more intense. "Unfortunately this information will soon reach the whole school and therefore the parents of all these silly children. Most of them will be able to put the 'Heir of Slytherin' together with the recent petrification and deduce that the Chamber of Secrets is open. This leaves you to be the obvious culprit for the recent crime. Harry you have just put yourself in a very difficult position. Harry there is only one other person known to be a Parseltongue, and that is 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'. " Snape looked him in the eyes and as soon as their gazes connected a pained look crossed Snape's face for a mere moment.
Harry had already guessed that being a Parselmouth wasn't as common as he had hoped. Just another thing to add to the list of freakish things about him, and of course the only other one known to share this talent had to be the freaking Dark Lord. Life was just out to get him, Harry sat back on the couch leaning his head against the back of it looking up at the ceiling which was uncharmed and unremarkable, trying to blink back tears of frustration. Now he was the top suspect for the petrification's, as if arriving on the scene first wasn't enough to peg him as the culprit.
Snape shifted uncomfortably, obviously seeing his frustration and tears, as if arguing as to whether or not to taunt or comfort. "Harry, you should probably head to your dorms, you shouldn't add breaking curfew again to your list of mischief." Snape said, smoothly and confidently. Harry looked at the clock, he still had 3 hours to get back before curfew. Even if he got lost in the dungeons, he would still have tonnes of time to get back to the common room before bed. Even so, he left, understanding that Snape was not comfortable with a Lion crying inside what Harry had deduced must have been his chambers. He left quickly without a word refusing to acknowledge the tears sliding down his cheeks until he had left Snape's chambers and found that the hallway outside them was clear. Wiping them with the sleeve of his robe he started walking to the common rooms. He was careful to take hallways that were less used by students, both for travel and snogging. Harry was thankful when he only ran across a couple of students in the hallways. He spoke the password to the Fat Lady and made his way into the common room. Harry walked into the loud and rambunctious room, noticing silence creep upon the students wearing red and gold as Harry pushed his way through them. They began to move out of his way and suddenly Harry felt very alone. As he pass through the last of the crowd, he turned back to look at his fellow housemates noticing their cold scared stares. Harry turned from the crowd and walked up the stairs to his dorm room. Collapsing on his bed he heard the noises in the common room return to normal and Harry ignored the new hot tears.
Harry was walking down the halls of Hogwarts, alone, with Ron petrified and Hermione spending all of her time ignoring Harry and looking up petrification in the library Harry had been alone a lot. He saw Luna Lovegood, one of the few not afraid of him and waved at her. She was wearing two mismatching socks and shoes. The strange thing was the sock on the right foot matched the shoe on the left and visa-versa. She nodded back, giving him a generous smile. She looked slightly blurry because he hadn't let his magic amulet charge as much as he should have over the past couple of days and the charge was beginning to run out. She continued skipping buy carrying her books upside-down and humming a song that sounded very much like "Humpty Dumpty".
"Loony Lovegood now? What is that now 3? Luna, Hermione and who was it… Ginny? Got yourself quiet a little harem there don't you Potter?" Alone wasn't quite the right word. Malfoy and his goonies had been following him ever since he'd got a letter back from his father. He was the main suspect for being the Heir of Slytherin, a title claimed by the culprit. "The Heir of Slytherin returns, the Chamber of Secrets reopened." Over one of the latest victims, there were now 5 in the hospital wing, not including Mrs. Norris.
"Why, no one's safe from your charms, eh Potter? A crazy, a mudblood bookworm, and a blood traitorous redhead, wow potter, you sure know how to pick them. They're all crazy for you, yet I bet none of them will even let you go near them. What's the saying? Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink? I bet you've never even touched a woman. I bet little Potty here won't ever get laid. Seems they'll go for anyone these days. Even Orphans, halfbloods, people with horrible facial disfigurement, and oh yeah, MURDERERS. " Malfoy said.
"Shut up!" Harry shouted a Draco.
"What's wrong? Don't like us picking on your girlfriends?" Malfoy teased.
"SHUT… UP! I don't like them that way…" Harry said.
"Or is it that since your dear dead mommy was killed when you were a baby you don't know how to interact with women and now you'r…"
"I'm GAY! Yes! I'm GAY, Malfoy. Now LAY OFF!" Harry shouted, he then stormed away from Malfoy along the dark and long hallway. Malfoy now had this shocked and disgusted look on his face as if he'd just stepped in a hot steamy load of hippogriff dung.