The next day at lunch, Katie Bell approached Harry and asked him when Quidditch tryouts were.
"How should I know? I was waiting for somebody to tell me," He said defensively.
"You're captain."
"Seriously? Nobody told me that!" Harry said with an air of excitement. "Saturday at six, can you spread the word?"
"Will do Harry!" She called as she walked away.
-HP&PWT-
Harry decided he would take a trip to the Gryffindor common room to see Ron and Hermione about the trip to the Chamber of Secrets later that day. He got the new password from Neville and headed up to the seventh floor.
He gave the password and climbed through the portrait hole. He heard his name and stopped out of sight.
"I feel really bad not telling him," Harry heard Hermione say.
"Things have changed Hermione; he disappeared for a year and now look at him, he's just not the same," Ron's voice hung in the air like a cold wind.
"The least we could do is tell him!"
"Oh I can see that going down well. 'Hello Harry, just dropped by to tell you that we need to stop pretending to be friends with you.'"
Harry's heart stopped. He figured that Ron and Hermione weren't sincere, but it was another thing hearing it come from their mouths. He turned and climbed out of the portrait. Without really paying attention he somehow found himself in his private room.
An hour later Harry heard somebody enter the room.
"Hey Harry."
"What are you doing here, Ron?"
"Just dropped by to see what you were up to."
"You can stop pretending Ron."
"Pretending?"
"Yeah, and tell Hermione the same."
"What are you talking about mate?"
"I'm just too different…"
It finally dawned on Ron that Harry had overheard him and Hermione. "Listen mate-"
"Just go Ron!"
-HP&PWT-
Gabrielle poked her head into the room and saw Harry sitting on the edge of the bed sobbing silently with his head in his hands.
"'Arry? Are you alright?"
Harry quickly turned his head and wiped away his tears, trying to act like nothing was the matter he tried to ask Gabrielle if she was going to quidditch, but the words wouldn't come.
"'Arry, what eez ze matter?" Gabrielle asked delicately climbing on the bed and taking a seat next to Harry.
He just shook his head, silently saying he didn't want to talk about it; a message which she threw out the window.
"Please tell me, I am 'ere for you 'Arry. You know you can tell me anything," she said, practically begging for a response.
"Ron and Hermione…they were just pretending."
Gabrielle placed a hand under Harry's chin and forced him to look into her dazzling blue eyes. "Eet eez not ze end of ze world. You 'ave many friends 'Arry, and you 'ave me."
"I know," he choked out. He gave her a watery smile.
Gabrielle pulled his head to her chest and held him tight, all the time whispering words of comfort into his ears.
"I don't think I can do the DA anymore. I can't see them."
"'Arry, zey need you, even if zey are not your friends; you 'ave ozzer friend zer as well."
Quidditch tryouts the next day went well. The feeling of flying was the ultimate high for Harry, right after spending time with Gabrielle. The only thing that Harry wasn't particularly happy about was that Ron beat Cormac McLaggen for keeper. Harry had to do what was best for the team though and accepted that Ron was better.
-HP&PWT-
Harry woke up the next day in an awkward position. He was laying on his side with Gabrielle's back against his chest and their hips were touching. Harry soon realized another new surprise; he was hard. He quickly got up and tried to get to the bathroom before Gabrielle could see and embarrass him more. Too late though, she got a look at the tent in his boxers and giggled. Harry's face burned and he retreated from the room. He came back into the room twenty minutes later. Gabrielle giggled again when she saw his still red face.
"Did you take care of your leetle problem?"
"It uh…just…it went away…"
She giggled again.
"I'm going to ask Dumbledore to put me back in first year classes," Harry told Gabrielle.
"Why?"
"Well I miss you. Usually I only get to talk to you for an hour or so each day."
"Are you sure eet isn't because of your old friends?"
"Maybe partly, I don't know."
Harry and Gabrielle spent most of the day together, cuddled up on the couch and sneaking kisses now and then. Gabrielle asked him if he'd ever head of a French kiss and he truthfully said no. She offered to teach him sometime; he accepted happily. They fell asleep there on the couch. Harry woke up at four and two hours later found Harry and twenty others standing in Myrtle's Bathroom crowded around the sink.
"Wands drawn everybody!" Harry ordered.
"Why?"
"Because we don't know what's down there. Everybody ready? Open!"
The sink with the snake on the handle moved out of the way and sunk into the floor, revealing a tunnel behind the sinks. Everybody gasped.
"How could Dumbledore not know that was there?" Hermione asked.
Harry ignored her. He jumped into the tunnel and slid down the slick stone shoot for some time before finally shooting out onto a hard floor covered in small animal bones. He jumped up and moved out of the way as he heard somebody else come hurtling down the slide, whooping.
Before too long, the whole DA was arranged at the bottom of the slide. Harry took lead down the passage and they followed him.
"Harry, how are they going to get past the seal on the Chamber? It's sure to have some kind of magical protection on it," Ron asked.
"Voldemort is a parseltongue."
"Surely he wouldn't come down here-"
Somebody screamed and the rest of the group turned and pointed their lit wands at what appeared to be a giant snake curled up on the side of the large cavern.
"Just the basilisk's snake skin," Harry said. "Let's go."
They continued on for another hundred yards before Harry held the group back, threw his invisibility cloak over himself, and continued around a bend to spy that the Chamber seal was open and several black-cloaked and masked figures were standing guard outside it. He slowly backed up, taking care not to step on any bones or kick any rocks that would alert the Death Eaters to their presence.
"What is it Harry?"
"Shhh! Voices down, the Death Eaters made it through the seal," Harry whispered urgently. "I need the three best at combat magic to stay here with me, the rest of you go back and make good use of that snake skin."
Everybody left except Ron, Dean, and Luna.
"On three we're going to cast Bombarda Maxima on the rock above their heads, and then run like hell; about every fifteen meters, the person in the back shoot another Bombarda at the wall. Don't stop for any reason until you catch up to the others. Ready? One, two, three!"
"Bombarda Maxima!" The four spells hit were they were their casters were aiming and the whole cavern shook before several large chunks of rock detached themselves from the roof and fell right onto the Death Eaters.
The small group took off, running like mad. Harry, being the youngest and smallest was bringing up the rear. It didn't take long for the Death Eaters in the Chamber to blow their way through the rock blocking the cavern. Harry was casting Reductors and Bombardas over his shoulder fast as he could. Only fifty yards; he could see the snake skin stretched across the cavern like a giant barricade, and Luna, Ron, and Dean were almost there already. He tried to put on a burst of speed but all of a sudden it felt like every one of his nerves were on fire and he fell to the cround writhing in pain.
A black clad form appeared over Harry and pointed his wand at his face. A purple jet hit the Death Eater in the chest and he flew into the air and smashed into the ceiling before falling crumpled to the ground.
"C'mon Harry, we gotcha!"
Harry looked up to see the Weasley twins. One of them literally picked Harry up and threw him over his shoulder before sprinting toward the DA. The other twin was blowing the cavern apart, stemming the seemingly never ending tide of black.
"Told ya we came back for you, Harry," panted George as they climbed over the skin.
"These are not just Slytherin bullies, these are Death Eaters and they cast to kill. If you see green, get out of the way because you can't block it! Don't be afraid to use lethal force if you have to!" Harry announced. "If you want to leave nobody will blame you but you'd best do it now because you won't have another chance."
"Everybody ready!"
The biggest explosion yet almost turned the rock barricade into dust.
"Duck!" Harry shouted as a dozen spells of every color came flying toward them at the same time. They were either absorbed by the Basilisk skin or went high.
"Now!" And twenty red stunners shot into the cloud of dust.
Nothing happened for almost five minutes and then a flood of people came charging full speed at the students.
"Reductors!" Harry ordered.
Some of the closer enemies heard this and stopped in fear before trying, too late, to turn and run the way they came.
With sickening thumps most of the spells caught flesh and blew groups against walls. Still more kept coming at them. Harry blasted a Death Eater in the face with a stunner as he was trying to climb over the snakeskin. There always seemed to be a hundred spells flying back and forth at the same time.
Harry's arm started to sting when he couldn't block an incoming spell in time. He looked at his left shoulder and saw the sleeve of his robe was sheared and he had a large gash that was bleeding profusely.
"My wand!" Somebody shouted. "It's broke!"
"Here!" Harry dug in his pocket for his extra wand and tossed it to a fourth year boy, who surprisingly the wand chose. "Keep it and cast!"
Harry looked down the line from his position on the left end. He saw a girl catch a Cruciatus Curse in the face and drop to her knees screaming. Another boy farther down was blasted back and a handful of students started to retreat.
"Incendio! Block the tunnel with fire!"
A dozen balls of fire followed his command and soon a raging fire was in between the DA and the Death Eaters.
"Fall back!" was heard from the other side of the curtain of fire and the DA cheered at their first victory.
The group began the trek back to the tunnel with Harry lagging behind, dizzy from blood loss.
-HP&PWT-
Harry woke up on an unfamiliar yet soft white bed. He saw blurry shapes of people standing around his bed and realized he must be in the Hospital Wing. He felt around a bedside table and found his glasses. He put them on and the figures came into focus; Gabrielle, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall, Moody, and a man Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Harry. I am so sorry my boy, I should have believed you. Naturally you would know these things," Dumbledore apologized.
"What happened?"
"You fell into unconsciousness from blood loss and some students brought you up here."
"I think twenty-five points would be appropriate to each of the houses who participated in the defense of Hogwarts last night?" McGonagall asked the Headmaster.
"Make it fifty."
"Harry, did you recognize any of the Death Eaters?" Moody asked him, his magical eye and normal one for once fixed on the same spot; Harry.
"Dolohov," Harry said, trying to ignore the blinding pain building in his scar.
"The minister has agreed to station several Aurors in the Chamber of Secrets to prevent something like this happening again," Shacklebolt said in his slow voice.
Harry started coughing and the worst thing that could have happened did; silver memories began to leak out his mouth.
"No!" Dumbledore and Harry both yelled.
"Harry, who is Sirius Black?" Moody barked.
"I…I don't know," Harry replied. He felt like he should but he couldn't remember.
"Explain the process of casting the Patronus Charm and its purpose," Moody continued.
"I don't know."
"Headmaster? What now?"
"We may not have what Harry knows, but we still have Harry. I suggest that we continue with the plan." Dumbledore held out his hand to Moody and tapped a ring with a black gem. "I talked to Horus; I had no choice but to force the information out of him."
"If what you think is true, what about the Boy. He died remember?" Moody grumbled.
"But not by His hand, it is still there."
Harry had no idea what they were talking about but decided not to say anything. He accepted a potion from Madam Pomfrey and was soon feeling drowsy.
"But surely he deserves to know?"
"He is not ready to know, Minerva. He will figure it out when the time comes, I am sure,"
Harry felt himself slipping into the dreamless sleep that Madam Pomfrey's potion promised.
-To Be Continued-