"There is nothing like a dream to create the future."
-Victor Hugo
Warning: Some abuse! If you feel a connection to it and don't want to read it, don't! I would feel horrible if I caused emotional scarring. But I'll add that the only part that has abuse is at the end, so the beginning is safe. I have added an additional warning telling you all when it begins.
A/N: Possibly one of the longest chapters I've ever written! Enjoy!
8
Not Rotten
Three hours later, Harry and the others found themselves in bed. He was happy the Weasley's hadn't thrown him out of their home. The fight earlier had him thinking they might, though he doubted they would actually throw him out into the street. He had nowhere to go. Harry hoped that a fight like the one earlier wouldn't happen again; that everything would be fine for the rest of the summer.
After some more thinking about the rest of the summer, he drifted into a deep slumber.
Harry could vaguely remember dreaming about flying on his broom over the Dursley's house, saying that he hated them with his every being. Then he could've sworn he heard a loud explosion coming within 4 Privet Drive, but was suddenly awoken.
There was another explosion coming from downstairs of the Burrow, shaking his bed slightly. Harry grabbed his glasses from the windowsill and, still in his green-striped pajamas, ran to the door. He saw that Ron was no longer in his bed as he swung the door open.
The others were standing in the doorway of Fred and George's room. Mrs. Weasley was further in the room, her hands on her hips. "I've told you at least a hundred times that these experiments of yours can be dangerous! Imagine if your little sister, Ginny, got hurt from something stupid that you two created and accidentally left around the house? What then?" Mrs. Weasley was getting redder and redder in the face as she spoke.
"We never take our experiments or inventions out of our room," said Fred, trying to defend he and his brother.
"Oh! Really? I can think of a few good times when I've found one of your new inventions lying around the house," said Mrs. Weasley angrily. "Remember that time Percy put on those socks you had created and his legs turned blue?"
"I remember that," said George with a small smile.
"That was good, wasn't it?" Fred asked George with an even wider smile. George nodded and the both of them laughed.
"That's not funny, you two!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "You're both helpless! And clean up this mess!" She then walked past Ron, Hermione, Percy, and Ginny to go downstairs, looking furious.
"What happened?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron said, "They were making something in a cauldron and whatever it was exploded. Fred and George are always doing stuff like this."
"Idiots," said Percy under his breath, but Hermione, Ron, and Harry heard. He moved past them and went into his room. Mrs. Weasley called to Ginny, who ran down the stairs, looking unhappy since she probably wanted to see the mess in Fred and George's room. The other three decided to go into the twin's bedroom.
There were two beds a couple feet from each other with a larger side table between them. A desk with a mess of parchment all over it was in the far left corner. All over the floor were large and small black burn marks. And there was a bookcase, which held the most random ingredients in jars and vials; some of those ingredients were also all over the floor, as well.
A cauldron sat between Fred and George, who were sitting in the middle of the room on the wooden floor. They were covered in a yellow gook that looked extremely thick, as it lay spattered all over the floor and all over Fred and George's face and clothes. And it spelled disgusting, like rotten eggs.
"Ugh," was Ron's reply as he saw the disgusting mess and the smell reached his nose. "No wonder mum got upset." He covered his nose with his hand as he sat down on one of the beds.
Both Fred and George got up, wiping the muck off their faces and putting it on their trousers. "Ah. We finally get to meet Harry," said Fred.
"Nice to meet you, Harry," said George, sticking out his hand.
"I'd shake your hand, but that yellow stuff doesn't like quite right," said Harry jokingly. "Well, I've seen you guys around school. I've heard the older Slytherin's talking about you two."
"Really? What'd they say?" said Fred, almost cheerful.
"Said you both are so good at pulling pranks, they wanted to curse you at times," said Harry.
"We'll take that as a compliment," said Fred with a smile.
"Well, watch your back," Harry said.
"We will," said George to him.
Harry had been looking at George that he hadn't realized Fred had moved over to Ron, putting his arm around Ron's head, so he was in a headlock. "Ouch! Get off me, Fred!" cried Ron.
"Sorry, can't. Not with you turning evil and all," said Fred. George laughed in the background.
"What're you talking about?" Ron asked, his head still clutched between Fred's arm and stomach.
"You've got a Slytherin friend. Next thing I know, you'll be marching with the Death Eaters," said Fred jokingly. "You could be going to the dark side, Ronald."
"Don't call me that!" said Ron; his face was now turning red from the odd position and slightly from embarrassment.
"Oh, come on! Let him go," said Hermione from near the door.
"Harry's a Slytherin, but he's not rotten. And I'm not becoming evil!" said Ron, his face really getting red.
"You swear?" Fred asked with a large grin on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, I swear!" Ron said. Fred let him go and he stumbled forward a little. "Fred, you git, you got that nasty stuff all over me, and that hurt!"
"It's brotherly love," said Fred with a smile.
"That's not how you show love," said Ron as he massaged his neck.
"Let's go wash this crap off," said George. "Bye, Ronald." And with that they left the room.
A couple minutes later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the kitchen. Harry was still in his pajamas, but hadn't had any time to change. Ron had decided that he needed something to help his neck, but he must have thought Mrs. Weasley wouldn't be in the kitchen. Except she was and began asking questions about why Ron's neck was sore.
Ron didn't want to tell her, but she eventually forced it out of him, getting even more upset at Fred and George. Mrs. Weasley said, "And I bet that mess is still in their room! I'm making them clean it!"
As Ron held a warm washcloth around him neck and Mrs. Weasley made some sort of concoction to further help Ron, Harry decided it was a good time to get changed into normal clothing. Hermione said she wanted to go get a book and came with him.
She talked about the indecency of Fred and George to do what they did to Ron from the first to third landing. But then Harry stopped her and voiced something that had been bothering him. "You know, not all Slytherin's are evil."
Hermione turned to look at him. "Harry, we all know that. No one's saying that you're evil or anything, it's just—the other people. Most of them are," she said slowly and with some seriousness. Hermione opened the door marked "Ginny's Room" and walked in.
Harry continued on, making his way up two more small flights of stairs. After he had dressed and was walking back down past the twin's room, he heard Mrs. Weasley within. She was telling Fred and George to clean the mess they had made, and that they wouldn't get food until they had.
When he walked into the kitchen, he found it empty, so he walked into the sitting room. Ron, the cloth still around him neck, was trying to get Hermione to play Chess with him. She was, sitting, reading the book from yesterday. "Come on, Hermione." Then Ron saw Harry. "Harry'll play Chess with me, won't you, Harry?" he asked. "I'd rather practice Quidditch, but my mum says that's a bad idea because my neck is stiff."
"Yeah, I'll play," said Harry as he sat down. "Maybe we can practice Quidditch tomorrow."
After a couple moves on both sides, Ron said, "The fact that Fred and George know we're friends, honestly, scares me. I know their going to tease me."
"Oh, calm down. It'll be fine," said Hermione, looking up from her book.
Ron turned to look at her. "That's easy for you to say. You don't have brothers like Fred and George."
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The next couple days were so wonderful and sunny; the sky outside was such a light blue and there were no clouds in the sky. It wasn't as hot as it had been before, and a light breeze even blew past them every so often. Mrs. Weasley had decided they should eat lunch and dinner outside everyday it remained like this. And while she cooked her lavish meals, Harry and the others played Quidditch.
Fred and George may have had old brooms, but they were fantastic Quidditch players. Even Ginny was good on her broom, which looked like it might just fall apart. Ron, however, though he was okay on a broom, kept dropping the Quaffle to the ground. Percy joined in as Keeper, and even Hermione decided she didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she rode Charlie's old broom. She actually wasn't so bad – even though she stayed really close to the ground – but she said she just didn't fancy Quidditch playing.
They decided the teams would be Fred, Ginny, and Ron against George, Harry, and Percy with Hermione as someone who could help both sides. Ron and Percy were the Keepers and the others played Chasers.
"Ron, you keep dropping the Quaffle!" yelled Ginny, as she flew past George. She swooped down to pick up the Quaffle, and then threw it to Hermione. But then Ginny saw Harry looking at her and she blushed, flying away quickly to the other side.
"Sorry," muttered Ron, his ears turning slightly red.
Harry wasn't the best Chaser, but since the Weasley's only had a Quaffle, you were either Chaser or Keeper. They had two substitute goal posts, one on eithor side of their garden, of a basketball hoop, without the netting, attached to a wooden post.
Hermione just caught the Quaffle and then slowly flew toward the goal on Harry's right where Percy was defending. She looked slightly worried she would drop it or fall. Holding on tightly to the broom with her left hand, she threw the Quaffle with her right. It looked like a good shot, but George grabbed the ball before Percy had a chance to hit it away.
George threw the ball to Harry, who instantly caught it and flew in the direction of Ron, who looked somewhat scared. Fred was flying toward him, and was probably going to attempt to knock him off, but Harry swerved out of the way. When he was close enough, Harry locked his eyes on the goal and threw the ball straight ahead.
Fred shouted to Ron, "Knock it away!" But Ron didn't seem to hear him. As it came toward him, he moved slightly to the right, getting ready. But he made to hit it away at the wrong moment and it went into the surrogate goal.
George, Percy, Hermione, and Harry cheered. "Yes!" Harry exclaimed. He had never made a goal before. He usually just caught the Snitch. On the other end, Percy and George high-fived before landing. Ron looked almost devastated, but they played for another two hours after that goal. Ron eventually did knock the Quaffle away after George threw it, and was a lot happier at dinner that night.
They sat outside with the cool evening air around them, as they gathered around the Weasley table, which had been extended by magic to fit two more. Mrs. Weasley, with help from Ginny and Percy, brought out all the marvelous dishes of food. Harry sat between Ron and Hermione. Hermione sat next to Ginny, who was then sitting next to Mr. Weasley at the head of the table, who was sitting next to Mrs. Weasley, who was also sitting next to Fred and George and Percy, who was sitting at the other head of the table.
After Mrs. Weasley had finally sat down, they all dug in to the food. It smelled delightful and Harry piled large amounts of food onto his plate with glee. Everyone was talking and laughing, and it was overall a very warm and pleasant setting.
In the middle of dinner, Fred and George had put a couple of cockroaches into Percy's food, but at first he didn't notice. A minute later, he let out a loud scream and everyone turned to him. One of the roaches that had fallen off his plate was now inching toward Harry's.
Percy gave Fred and George dark looks as Mrs. Weasley came over, wand in hand. "Oh, for heavens sake!" She got rid the "nasty little buggers" (as Ron had called them) with a flick and the chatter continued. Harry could hear Fred and George laughing about it across from him.
Every now and then, Mr. Weasley asked him about some sort of Muggle contraption since he had found out Harry lived with Muggles. They spoke for a while about light bulbs and how they worked. Mr. Weasley, oddly enough, seemed overly-interested, but he didn't mind the questions or answering them.
The conversation, towards the end of dinner, had turned to the new school year. Ginny said she was nervous about going to Hogwarts, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley assured her that there was nothing to be nervous about. But the talk about Hogwarts reminded him of what Dobby had told him about the Chamber of Secrets. Harry had to tell Ron and Hermione about what it as soon as dinner was over.
Half an hour later, the three of them were now inside Ron's unorganized room. They all crammed on Ron's little bed, so none of them would have to sit on the floor. Ron sat on his pillow, Hermione leaned against the wall as her legs hung over the side, and Harry sat cross-legged on the end, trying not to fall off.
"What is it you wanted to tell us?" Ron asked curiously.
"Well, the Malfoy's house elf Dobby told me about something called the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry. "He was really bothered by it and—"
"The Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked; her face was scrunched up in thought.
"Have you heard of it?" Harry asked, leaning forward a little.
"I remember reading about it. I just can't remember what it is," said Hermione.
Suddenly, Hermione jumped off the bed. Without an explanation, she wrenched open the door and left the room at a sprint. Ron and Harry gave each other puzzled looks. A minute later, however, Hermione was back inside the room, sitting with a large book in her lap.
"What is that?" Ron asked as if the book were some horrible object.
"This is a book, Ron. It's something you read," said Hermione somewhat sarcastically as she looked at Ron.
Harry chuckled a little, but then looked at the cover of the book. " 'Hogwarts, A History'?" he asked.
"Yes. I could've sworn I read something about the Chamber of Secrets in here. Let me see," she said as she casually flipped through the book. "Aha! Here it is.
" 'The Chamber of Secrets is a theoretical chamber that was built by Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, in an unknown year. It is said that Slytherin built the chamber after having disagreements with the three other founders, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw, about which students should be let into the school. Slytherin believed that only students of magical families should be allowed to be taught at Hogwarts whereas the other founders believed all students, whether coming from magical family or not, should be allowed to enter.
" 'After having built the Chamber, it is said that Slytherin then put a horrible monster within, so that when his heir finally arrived at the school, only he or she could control it. The monster supposedly would be able to do the job that Slytherin had never been able to: rid the school of Muggle-borns once and for all. Slytherin eventually left the school when agreements could not be made.'"
"Um…what 'horrible monster' are we talking about here? Something along the lines of a dragon?" Ron asked.
"By the looks of it, something much worse than a dragon," said Harry. "Besides, dragons don't even target Muggle-borns."
"I doubt the monster actually targets anyone naturally. The book says the heir can control the monster, so the monster targets certain people according to what the heir of Slytherin wants," explained Hermione.
"But the book wasn't definite that the Chamber even existed. It said 'the Chamber of Secrets is a theoretical chamber that was built by Salazar Slytherin.' Theoretical being the key word here," said Harry.
"That's true," replied Hermione. "But if Dobby is worried about it, maybe it isn't theoretical; maybe it actually exists."
"Perhaps Mr. Malfoy was talking about the Chamber of Secrets and Dobby overheard him," said Ron.
"But why would Mr. Malfoy be talking about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked.
"Well, Dobby had to have heard it from someone," said Hermione. "I'm not saying he necessarily heard it from him, but it seems likely. I doubt Dobby ever really leaves the Malfoy estate."
"So Dobby really thinks this Chamber is going to be opened or something?" Ron asked curiously.
"Yeah, he does," said Harry. "He wanted me to go back to the Dursley's. He kept saying Hogwarts isn't safe. He said…people might die."
Hermione put her hands over her mouth and Ron gasped. "You think so?" he asked.
Harry looked at the others with a seriousness. "Well, how else do you think Slytherin's monster is supposed to rid the school of Muggle-borns? It's certainly not going to put them back on the Hogwarts express. You better be careful, Hermione."
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As he searched for something clean to wear, he found his Conglomerate Stone in the pocket of the cloak he had worn when he had left Malfoy Manor. He took the Stone out and held it. It felt like nothing, like a feather.
Ron was snoring lightly in his sleep and turned over to face away from Harry. His friend's room was a lot dimmer than usual since the curtains were drawn. He stood up, Stone in hand, with a purpose in mind. He was sure Mrs. Weasley would be downstairs already.
And he was right. Mrs. Weasley was making breakfast on the counter as she sang along with the wireless that was sitting on the counter next to the food. The windows were open, bringing in tons of warm light.
"Good morning, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.
"Good morning, Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley replied. She turned to look at him with a smile on her face, and then motioned to the table. "Help yourself to some pumpkin juice."
"Mrs. Weasley?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Since I can't use magic, I was wondering if you could add the Burrow to my Conglomerate Stone," said Harry. But the way he said it was more like a question.
Mrs. Weasley turned, wiping her hands on a white and blue striped washcloth. "Yes, of course," she said. She grabbed her wand from the counter, and then Harry handed the Stone to her. "Which color, dear?"
"Err…orange," replied Harry. Orange was a bright color and the Burrow was a very bright place.
The transparent orange stone – "The Burrow!" – turned opaque. Harry placed it into his pocket after she handed it back to him.
"Sit and have a blueberry muffin as I finish making the rest of breakfast," said Mrs. Weasley kindly. He sat down and took a bite of the warm muffin.
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Abuse Warning!
A week later. Harry had enjoyed every moment of being at the Burrow. No more fights had arisen between he and Ron or anyone else in the Weasley family. He was perfectly fine. The only problem was Draco.
Harry hadn't heard from him since he had left, which had been over two weeks ago, and he was beginning to get worried. He didn't think anything was especially wrong, but he was still wary.
He had awoken for the third time in three days from the horrible dream about Mr. Malfoy and Draco…
"What have I always told you?!" Mr. Malfoy asked furiously.
Draco was standing opposite his father inside his green wall-papered room. He looked frightened by his father, who looked intimidating and terrifying. "That…that Mudbloods are dirt. They are nothing, sir," said Draco, his hands shaking.
"But what were you doing?" asked Mr. Malfoy. His body seemed to swell with every word. He was growing taller. "You were meeting with a Mudblood! With that dirt named Granger!"
"No, father!" Draco tried. "I would never!"
Mr. Malfoy's head was now close to touching the ceiling of Draco's room. Mr. Malfoy slapped his son hard across the face, first on the right cheek and then on the left. Red marks were left behind. Draco fell backwards onto the floor, his hands went instinctively up to his face.
Harry felt, as he saw this all from the corner of the room, not only invisible, but like he couldn't do a thing to stop what was going on – he felt completely powerless.
"I don't want to see you talking to her ever again unless what you're saying happens to be insults! Do you understand me?!" Mr. Malfoy screamed. He was leaning over Draco with a murderous glint in his eyes. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
Draco was whimpering slightly and it was obvious he was holding back tears. The boy sitting on the floor was trying to nod, but he was shaking too much. Mr. Malfoy pulled his right hand back into a fist, and Draco let out a whimper, knowing what was going to happen next.
The punch hit Draco brutally in the left eye and he was forced sideways, so that he lay on the ground. He couldn't hold back any more and let the tears go freely, but still made no sound. He brought his legs up closer to him, almost in a fetal position, as he put his hands up to his face. His eye was starting to swell and turn purple.
Mr. Malfoy walked to the door, no remorse showing on his face. After opening it, he turned to Draco and said, "Let that be a lesson to you." He slammed the door loudly. Afterwards, Draco began to sob noisily as he lay on the floor…
Harry awoke from the same dream he had already had twice. He was sweating profusely and wiped it away lazily with his pajama-sleeve. He put on his glasses and checked his watch. It was just after twelve am. He had only been asleep for a little more than an hour.
But having the dream again was the last straw. He hadn't heard from Draco in weeks and he couldn't help but wonder if his best friend was safe and sound or not. Harry knew that he could get to Malfoy Manor and back to the Burrow with his Conglomerate Stone, but what if Ron woke and noticed he was gone? He would certainly tell Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Should he risk it?
Harry could barely see Ron in the darkness, but he could hear him mumbling in his sleep about spiders. He didn't think Ron would be up and about any time soon. So, after rummaging through his trunk to find his trusty Conglomerate Stone and Hand of Glory, he put on a simple, black robe.
When he was ready, he took the lit candle from the windowsill and lit the wick of the candle in the Hand of Glory, before placing it back. Harry held the Stone in his left hand, putting the Hand of Glory between his left arm and stomach, so his right hand was free.
Harry touched the gray stone in the dark of Ron's room. He felt the peculiar sensations of being pulled at every part of his body and his feet left the floor-boarded ground…
A/N: Just so you know, I post updates on my profile, which you can check every now and then to see what's going on. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Preview of Chapter 9—Malfoy's Have No Friends:
Harry gets into Malfoy Manor and doesn't like what he hears between Draco and Mr. Malfoy…
