Harry stood watching his head of house for any sign of annoyance or hostility, but to his surprise he could detect no traces of ill intent towards him. Since almost a full minute had gone by, Harry decided to try and get an idea of what Professor Snape was thinking. With a silent legilems he entered his Professor's mind. Except he received a shock when he was violently thrown out before he could gather anything. Snape spoke up now.
"Trying to read my mind Potter? Normally I would be mad, but for one who is only a second year to not only know what the mind arts are, but be able to cast one successfully let alone silently has saved you from punishment. Follow me to my office, do not speak until we get inside and I have closed the door." Once he had finished saying this Snape turned on his heel and strode out of the door with his robes billowing behind him in his signature way.
Unsure of what was going to happen now, and slightly dizzy from his recent ejection from his Professor's mind Harry was slightly on guard as he followed closely behind his head. It's hard to tell the time of day deep in the dungeon, and Harry wondered how long he had been practicing. It couldn't have been to long he supposed. But he knew that sometimes he got caught up in his practicing and studying. Since he wasn't allowed to talk he let his mind wander back to one of his sessions with his Defense teacher last year.
Professor Quirrell watched him as he cast spell after spell at the objects that had been animated to move around the room. As spell after spell connected with the objects he became relaxed and let his spell casting slow slightly. He was bored with the exercise and wanted to just finish and move on. He was about to turn to ask his mentor to let him stop when his world exploded in pain. His vision went black temporarily and all he could focus on was the needling sensation in the right side of his torso. A sudden wet warmth let him know that he was bleeding. He forced himself to fight through the pain and look around for his attacker. When he turned his head left it was just in time to see a chair come flying at him and collide with his head. He was ready to give way and let unconsciouness claim him, but it was not to be as he heard his mentor's voice "Enervate" and a spell collided with him and suddenly he was fully aware again. Lying on his back the cold stone floor helped to ease some of his pain.
"You became lazy, you thought you had everything figured out. If you had been in a fight that would have cost you your life. Think about that next time you see it fit to go easy during one of our sessions. You must always be aware of your surroundings. Now I will heal you and you will start again. "
As his memory ended Harry cursed himself silently, he had just lost focus and could have been attacked at any time. He needed to learn to keep his memories in check. He had reached the potions classroom now and walked through the door. His head of house was already seated at the desk in the front of the room.
"Shut the door behind you Mr. Potter then come up here."
Harry did as he was told and came to a stop a few feet in front of the desk.
"So tell me Mr. Potter how is it you came across the mind arts?" It seemed the man was going to waste no time. At seeing Harry hesitating to answer he silently applauded the boy for his Slytherin quality, "do not worry, as your head of house I am simply curious as to how one of my students has become so far advanced without my knowing. I will tell none of what you say to anyone else."
Still unsure if the man would keep his word Harry decided to give him partial truths, "I spent the summer in a room in Diagon Alley, sir. I spent a lot of time in the book store reading about different things." It wasn't a complete lie, but that way he didn't have to tell him about the diary. Or so he thought.
"I applaud your attempt to conceal the truth Mr. Potter, but I have been in that store often enough to know that there is no book in there that teaches how to invade someone's mind. Now how about the truth?" He had his hands folded and was peering over then waiting patiently for the young student to tell him the truth. He watched as the boy tried to think of something else to tell him.
At this point Harry was rushing through his mind. He was trying to figure out what to do now. It seemed he had only one way out. He had to tell Professor Snape about the diary. Without revealing too much about what he learned from Tom he began to tell about the diary and what had happened. As Harry told his tale his head of house got paler and paler with every passing minute. He stopped listening about half way through and thought back to a meeting he had been called to during the war.
Severus Snape was young and skilled. He had wanted nothing more than to be powerful, like so many before him, his obsession with power had driven him to join the Dark Lord. That is why he was now standing in a meeting room among many others watching as their Lord called forward his most trusted. He was presenting them with items to guard. He had just given the LeStranges the Cup of Hufflepuff and told them to guard it with their life. "Lucius," the voice of their Lord hissed out like a snake, "come forward and receive the item I have for you." Severus watched as the man stepped forward, he hadn't been too interested in the previous, but Lucius was a friend of his. He watched on as the man was presented with a journal, which their lord went on to explain contained his memories and wisdom.
Harry had finished his tale and was now observing his Head, who looked as though he was reliving some horrible memory. He knew the man had stopped paying attention long ago as he seemed to gaze right through him. Finally the man snapped out of his stupor and addressed Harry.
"Mr. Potter, this is very important, do you know who Tom Riddle is?" Snape seemed to be trying to see into his soul as he stared Harry directly in the eyes.
Harry had left out the part about Tom explaining he was Voldemort to avoid answering why he would accept lessons from a dark lord. "No sir, why?" Harry lied smoothly to the man, and subtly brought up his mind shields hoping his teacher would not probe his mind.
Seemingly satisfied with the answer his professor explained, "Tom Riddle is in fact the Dark Lord Voldemort. Very few know of his real name, I know only because Dumbledore has told me. "After explaining the two dropped into a silence, both digesting what they had heard, or in Harry's case pretending to be shocked and thinking over what Snape had told him.
"I have a very important task for you. The diary contains an evil spirit as you have figured out; it must not be allowed to travel in the hands of a student, or anyone. Especially not an isolated know-it-all like Granger. She may be annoying, but she is slightly talented with a wand. The diary can twist you and make you do its bidding, the last thing we need is a mini dark lord roaming the school. That is why you are going to retrieve the diary and give it to me."
"Me sir?" The fact that Snape was telling him to get the diary and not doing it himself had caught Harry off guard.
"I did not stutter Mr. Potter. You will get the diary, by any means, and bring it back to me. Are we clear?" There was a small trace of a threat in his voice and Harry decided not to push the man too far. Once he received a nod Snape continued, "Excellent, also you will be coming here twice a week at night for private lessons from me. I will not allow you to continue practicing unsupervised as something could go wrong and I do not feel like being held responsible. Do not tell anyone. Now go, I will see you here tomorrow night, and bring the diary. "Sensing a dismissal Harry walked out of the room.
He hurried back to the common room, wanting nothing more than to go to his dorms and collapse on his bed and sleep. He had so much to think about and a theft to plan out. As he walked through the hole in the wall where the bricks separated he took notice that there was no one in the common room. It must be pretty late unsheathing his wand he cast a quick tempus to determine the time. His conversation with Snape had taken longer than he thought; it was now 10:54. Forgetting that he had snuck out he walked up to his dorm. He opened the door trying to be as quiet as possible figuring Blaise had gone to bed. There for he was slightly caught off guard when he was met with the tip of a wand on the back of his neck when he tried to close the door.
A few seconds later the wand was removed and a lumos was cast so that Harry could see his would be attacker. It turned out to be an irritated looking Blaise.
"Where the bloody hell have you been? And why didn't you tell Daphne and me you were leaving?" His friend questioned him with his wand tip pointed directly between his eyes.
The fact that Blaise had his wand aimed at him like he was going to hurt him made Harry angry. This was his so called friend. Shouldn't they trust each other somewhat? "I was out doing some studying; it's not really anyone's business though. And I didn't tell you and Daphne because you two looked perfectly comfortable on the couch. I didn't want to disturb you." Harry wanted to be angry that Blaise liked Daphne, but couldn't bring himself to care. He liked Daphne, but knew that Blaise would be better for her.
Blaise seemed to lose most of his annoyance with Harry once he answered. In fact he looked somewhat ashamed. "Listen Harry, Daphne told me about you two I didn't mean anything today, I don't know what you saw but…" Harry cut him off at this point.
"Blaise don't worry about it, I want you two to be happy. You're better for her than I am anyway. Besides I have a feeling I'm going to be too busy for a girlfriend anyway, and I'm still young I have a long time to find someone. "Blaise seemed very relieved that Harry hadn't taken it so well.
"Oh okay, well, thanks for understanding Harry. Umm, well I'm going to get some sleep mate. Sorry for acting mad at you." Harry just waved off the apology and climbed into bed; he was dead tired and was hoping to get a good night's sleep. His dreams were filled with various ways of getting the diary from that know it all mudblood.
Harry woke up early the next morning. He felt like he hadn't slept at all, but couldn't fall back to sleep. Carefully he gathered his clothes and headed for the showers. He hoped that if he let the water run on his body it would wake him up. It helped a little, but not as much as he had hoped for. By the time he had finished getting ready it was still early, but Harry decided to head down to the Great Hall anyway. For some reason he wasn't in a mood to deal with people and if he could eat his breakfast in peace that would be just fine for him. It didn't take him long to get to the Great Hall, and when he did he wasn't surprised to see it was almost empty. There were a few Ravenclaws with their books out studying, and one or two Hufflepuffs, and Professor Snape sat at the head table. When Harry took his seat his head of house rose and made his way towards him.
"Good morning Potter, I just wanted to remind you that the portraits talk. So keep that in mind today. "He handed Harry his schedule for the day and walked back to the Head Table.
Harry understood what he was told. Don't do anything around the portraits because they will rat you out. As he ate breakfast he thought about the best way to go about getting the diary back. It couldn't be an outright assault in the middle of the hallway because that would draw too much suspicion. After all, what could be so important in a diary of a Gryffindor that a Slytherin would want it enough to attack them? No a brutal attack wouldn't work. He could try and summon it, but figured someone might notice a book flying through the air. He would have to be sneaky about it. He looked down at his schedule and noticed that first was Herbology with the Gryffindors and then Transfiguration with the Gryffindors.
Maybe I can catch her off guard with a stunner, she would never know who cast it and I could grab the diary and go he thought. Deciding that was the best way to go about doing it helped to lift a weight off his shoulders. It was simple enough really. The transfiguration hallway had no portraits, all he would have to do is give the other Slytherins the slip and disillusion himself and wait for Granger to leave. She was always last out because she stayed after to ask McGonagall multiple questions about their assignments.
He finished his breakfast soon after figuring out the details. The Great Hall was still mostly empty, but would start to fill very rapidly in a few minutes. Gathering up his stuff Harry gave his head of house a nod to show that he knew what he was going to do, and also show some respect. To his surprise the man gave a barely noticeable nod back. Harry walked out of the room just as the rest of the school began to file in. Since he had more than an hour before he had to be out at the green houses he decided to go for a walk around the lake. It wasn't often that he went outdoors just to enjoy himself, but he felt like he deserved some time to himself. The sun shined down on him and took away some of the chill that the fall winds brought. As he walked he took notice of the merpeople of the lake seemingly playing in the center of the lake. They would occasionally shoot their heads out of the water look around and then dive back under deep into the depths of the water. As he made his way around he kept focus on the things around him, he didn't want to be hassled by animals or other students. However he became curious when he started getting close to where he had started walking. Off in a small clearing of trees he heard someone casting spells. Casting a disillusionment charm on himself and silencing his feet he made his way towards the voice.
"Impedimenta!" he heard a voice ahead call out. The jinx was used to suspend objects in the air and was usually not taught until fourth year. As he got closer what he saw caught him off guard. Longbottom was the one who was practicing, and he must have been successful as there was a large branch which appeared to have been severed with a cutting hex held in the air in front of him. Harry was momentarily surprised, but then again Longbottom was third in their year. Harry smirked as he thought about who was first, him.
Deciding this opportunity was too good to pass up he carefully walked closer until he was about 2 feet behind the boy who lived. As he dropped his charm he raised his wand and pressed it between the boy's shoulder blades. "Impressive spell work, who knew that the great Neville Longbottom actually read ahead though, and it seems your casting spells that fourth years are. How long have you been practicing?" Harry was mostly sarcastic with his tone, but he was genuinely curious as to just how long the boy had been studying ahead.
"Potter? How the hell did you find me?" The boy had whipped around now and taken a few steps back, apparently thinking Harry wouldn't curse him out right. "And it's none of your business how long I've been practicing, now leave or I'll make you leave." The boy raised his wand and aimed it at Harry.
"I'm not going to leave so I guess you'll have to make me then." Harry smirked, Longbottom may be able to cast some spells, but he hadn't been taking lessons from a Dark Lord. Without saying anything the boy called out a disarming charm which caused Harry to practically laugh. It didn't even look strong enough to disarm him, but he wasn't going to risk it.
"Protego!" he called out allowing the spell to be absorbed harmlessly by his shield, "Nice try, but it's my turn now. Bombarda! Stupefy! Incarcerous!" Apparently Neville hadn't gotten to shield spells yet as he seemed dumbfounded that his spell had done nothing, and stood no chance when the ground in front of him exploded sending clumps of dirt into his eyes. The stunner collided into his gut sending him falling backwards, but not before the magical ropes bound him. When it was all said and done the boy who lived lay helplessly bound with his wand on the ground 3 feet away from him.
Harry walked over and looked down at the supposed savior of the Wizarding world. "I wonder how many people would give an arm to have the boy who lived at their mercy like this." He mused out loud. Realizing he was going to be late for Herbology if he didn't hurry Harry cast an enervate on his captive.
"Listen here Longbottom, savior or not, you are not invincible. You will no doubt be powerful, but right now you know nothing but how to cast a spell. You will always end up the way you are now or worse if you keep up with the cocky attitude of yours. Now I'm going to class, just so you learn your lesson I'm going to leave you here and let you figure out how to get out of this mess. "As Harry walked away from the clearing he failed to notice the strange look he was getting from the boy he had left behind.
Harry made it just in time to the green houses, luckily it hadn't been a far walk from the spot he had left Longbottom so he hadn't had to run either. When he got in he walked over and stood in a spot between Malfoy and Blaise.
"Potter," Malfoy started," you must be out of your mind to skip breakfast."
Harry couldn't tell if there was any real concern coming from Draco but he explained that he had just gone early to breakfast. Malfoy gave him a little nod but didn't say anything else.
Professor Sprout came in and the class quieted down immediately. She wasn't a very mean woman usually, but she asked that you pay attention and not interrupt her class. Herbology was one of Harry's least favorite classes simply for the fact that there was no spell work. He paid attention and did his work, but never did anything extra. Today's they would be working with mandrakes. According to Professor Sprout a full-grown mandrakes cry could kill you, but the baby ones they were working with would only knock you out. Each person was given earmuffs to protect themselves while they worked. Harry smirked when he saw that Weasley had to have the bright pink and fluffy ones.
All they had to do was successfully transplant the mandrake from one pot to a larger one so it could grow more without its roots being crowded. The class was almost over and had gone surprisingly without incident. Then the door to the green house opened and Longbottom came rushing in. Just as he did this, a mandrake let out a cry. It looked like he fell in slow motion as he fainted from the sound and went head first into the ground.
All of the Slytherins let out loud laughs and even a few Gryffindors let out a couple of muffled chuckles.
"Students that is enough! Do not laugh at your classmate's situation." Professor Sprout was trying to get the rest of the mandrakes to be quiet so that it would be safe to wake up her student. After seeing that there were at least 5 more mandrakes unpotted by this time she gave up and ended class. She used her wand to levitate Longbottom in front of her and rushed out saying she was taking him to the hospital wing.
Once everyone had finished cleaning up they filed out of the green houses and onto the grounds. There wasn't enough time to do anything before Transfiguration so the Slytherin second years decided they would just go to the classroom early and talk. No one had said anything to Harry, other than Draco, about him not being at breakfast. Even Blaise and Daphne seemed to be avoiding him, and neither of them would meet his eyes when he looked at them. What is going on he thought why they won't look at me. Deciding to just leave it alone for now, he contented himself with walking in silence while the rest of his classmates chatted with each other.
Transfiguration had never gone slower in Harry's opinion. He liked the subject, but because of his extra studying with his mentors the spells they were learning proved extremely easy for him. He was easily the best in his year without even trying. Professor McGonagall had taken notice of him though. She seemed to critique his work harder than everyone else's, but still could never find anything to criticize.
When the class was finally over he couldn't get out of their fast enough. His nerves were up now, but he knew his plan would work. It was only made easier now that none of the Slytherins were talking to him. He was first in the hall and as soon as he was sure no one was looking he disillusioned himself and leaned against the wall waiting for his target.
He watched as Blaise and Daphne left the room together, and took notice as Blaise gave her hand a little squeeze but then quickly dropped it and continued walking. It wasn't allowed for Slytherins to show affection outside of the common room as it was seen as a sign of weakness. Surprisingly Harry felt nothing at the sight, no anger or jealousy, but no happiness either. Rather he was just impassive and he didn't really care. After five minutes had passed everyone but Granger had left. It was another five minutes before the doors opened again. Granger walked out her bushy hair flying everywhere as she began to hurry down the hall. Harry moved forward and waited until the door had finished closing. He raised his wand and with a silent stupefy a red jet of light fired from his wand towards his target. She never saw it coming as it hit her lower back.
Not wanting to risk being seen Harry never dropped his disillusionment charm as he ran forward to the fallen body. Her bag had fallen and its contents had spilled out onto the floor and just as Harry had hoped the diary was there. Quickly he picked it up and pocketed it, and then left the area. It had been so easy for him to take what he wanted. There was no thrill or anything. It was slightly disappointing for him.
The common room door opened and Harry walked through it. The diary was tucked safely inside his robes. He suspected that by now someone had come across Granger's body and had freed her. Now that he had some free time before he had to see Professor Snape he wanted to talk with Daphne and Blaise. He spotted them in the same spot he saw them the previous night.
"Hey Blaise, Daphne, what's up with you two?" He got right to the point after greeting them.
They both looked down when he called out to him, afraid to meet his eyes it seemed. Harry for the life of him couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then Blaise spoke up, "Umm, well you see Harry, I know what you said last night and all. But we were afraid of how you would react. I figured that last night you were just tired and wanted to put off a fight."
Harry blinked once, then twice. This is the reason they were avoiding him? Harry laughed, he couldn't help himself, "You guys were worried I would be mad? Blaise I told you, I don't mind, you two are good for each other. Both pureblood families, its better this way. Now are you two done avoiding me?" Both of them gave nods. "Good, do you two want to work on some of our homework?" They had to write a paper on uses of mandrake roots for Herbology.
"Yeah sure that's probably a good idea." Daphne spoke up for the first time. The trio pulled out their potions books, thinking it would be the most logical place to start since a lot of the plants they used in Herbology were grown for Professor Snape's supply closet. After about an hour of scanning hopelessly through their text books and finding nothing requiring Mandrakes Blaise flipped.
"AHH! WHY IS THERE NOTHING USEFUL IN THIS BOOK?"
Some of the older students sitting around the common room looked over or glared at him because of the yelling. One of them must have seen which book he was talking about and began to snicker, "don't let Professor Snape hear you calling the book he assigned useless. "
Blaise blanched when he realized what he had just said. He tried to talk but it just all came out in stutters or stammers. Harry thought he heard something in there about that not being what he meant, but wasn't really sure. Then something dawned on Harry that he couldn't believe they over looked, "Guys did anyone look in the Herbology book to see if it listed uses of the root?" When no one said anything Harry just smacked himself in the face. "We're dumb, we could have made this so much simpler." Frustrated that they had been searching all this time in the wrong place Harry began to fish through his bag looking for his Herbology book. Once he found the book he opened to the front to look through the contents. The section on mandrake roots was on page forty-six of the book. When he opened to the page the picture on it began to move, and the mandrake made its horrible screeching sound. Quickly scanning the page he saw that one of the uses for the root was a potion to cure petrification. He told his friends what he had found and suggested they go to the library to see if they could find any books about the potion. So they gathered up their books and started on the walk to the library.
Four hours and twenty inches of parchment later Harry decided he had more than enough to receive top marks on his homework. Blaise and Daphne had slightly less than him, but also decided to stop because of hunger. They had all skipped lunch and were starving. By the time they cleaned up and got down to dinner it was about half over.
The three remained quiet most of dinner choosing to eat their fill instead of chatting. About ten minutes before dinner ended Dumbledore stood up. "Students quiet please, I have an announcement to" At this point Lockhart got up and cut Dumbledore off.
"Don't worry Dumbledore, I'll make this announcement, students you have a rare opportunity available to you. Should you choose, you could learn dueling from me, Gilderoy Lockhart! Please hold your applause. Once a week I, along with some minimal assistance from Professor Snape will be instructing a dueling club." When he was done he flashed his smile and most of the girls in the hall swooned, and the guys just gagged. The teachers were all looking at him with variations of disgust, because of the fact that he cut Dumbledore off or about how self-absorbed he is Harry couldn't tell.
It was then that Harry saw Professor Snape excuse himself from the table and make his way out of the Great Hall. In order to not look suspicious Harry decided to wait a while before he went to see him. He subtly checked his pocket to make sure the diary was still there and let out a breath when he felt the rough edge of the book. He still couldn't believe everything had gone as well as it had. Nothing had gone wrong. It was almost too easy, and Harry couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had about that. In his experience the easiest things always caused the most trouble in the end. Taking a glance towards the Gryffindors table he realized Granger wasn't there, and neither was Longbottom. Putting it out of his mind he tried to focus on what Daphne was talking about so his friends wouldn't think he was ignoring them.
Potion's Classroom
Professor Severus Snape was debating on what to do. In a little while he would have in his possession an item that contained part of the Dark Lord's soul. He could easily hand it over to Dumbledore and the man would offer him protection forever. However, he could use it to communicate with his Lord and devise a plan to return him to glory. He would be an honored servant and well respected above all others. He let out a sigh; sometimes playing both sides was hard. The decision didn't have to be made right away though. Right now he had to prepare for Potter's first session.
The young Potter had baffled him from day one of his time at Hogwarts. The boy had been sorted into Slytherin and seemed to have a strong dislike for muggles and muggleborns. That was not the way anyone had expected him to be. Once the boy had been sorted he expected him to be rejected by his peers, an outcast in the house of serpents, yet he had earned their respect. And now they mostly accepted him, despite his blood status. Then he goes and finds out the boy is performing magic way above what he should know. The boy was an enigma to him, and most of his other teachers from what he understood. He was top of his year, but no one ever saw him put extra effort into anything outside of class. He knew now that the boy must have been secretly practicing and studying.
One thing was bugging him more than anything else right now. How had the boy been able to perform magic outside of school? He couldn't figure it out, the boy would not have known what to look for in order to free him of the restrictions, and someone else had to have helped him. Harry Potter was a mystery and he planned on figuring out just who had been helping the boy.
Outside Potion's Classroom
Harry was just outside of the classroom now and his nerves were getting to him. He didn't know what to expect from this meeting. Part of him was excited to be finally getting lessons again, and another part was afraid that his Head of House might report him. Now he was outside the door "Well Harry time to find out what's going to happen." He said to himself. He pushed the door open and as he did he found himself almost instantly throwing himself to the floor as a spell came rushing towards him. As he fell he fired off a cutting hex in the direction of his attacker. When he hit the floor he rolled to his left which saved him from being hit by a nasty looking purple spell. He pushed himself to his knees but couldn't get any further as he found another spell coming at him. Not in any position to move with desks one way and a wall the other he cast a shield spell. "Protego!" Just as the shield sprang into existence it was impacted and destroyed, it stopped the majority of the spell but part made it through and hit Harry in the shoulder. He felt the bone snap and he let out a cry of pain.
The same spell came at him again this time slamming into his wand arm. He dropped his wand unable to keep a grip with the bone being fractured. Having no other choice as yet another bone breaking spell came at him Harry resorted to his last option and cast a wandless shield spell. It was weaker but managed to deflect the spell enough so it missed Harry, immediately after the impact Harry yelled "Expelliarmus!Difindo!Depulso!" The first two must have missed their target but the banishing charm had been sent at one of the desks. It hit its mark and an "oomph" was heard as well as a thud when a body hit the floor. Forgetting his pain momentarily Harry grabbed his wand and rushed across the room to hold his attacked at bay. He was surprised when he saw Professor Snape laying under the desk smirking up at him.
"Well done Mr. Potter, your use of wandless magic caught me by surprise. Had I known you were capable of such things I would have been ready for something like this," at this point he paused to move the desk off of himself and stand up, "hold still a moment while I mend your bones." He tapped both of the injured areas with his wand and suddenly it was as if they had never been broken. "Now that was a test just to see how well prepared you were for a fight. You passed, but only just. While you may have gotten the best of me it was sheer dumb luck and an element of surprise. Now that I know what you can do I will be prepared for it. Anyway, before we begin I trust you have what I asked you to bring?" Snape peered over his nose and looked down at Harry waiting for the boy to produce the diary.
Harry reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out the book. He gladly handed it over happy to be rid of the vile thing that had tried to make him a servant. His head of house praised him for a job well done and awarded him 15 house points. There's that Slytherin favoritism Harry thought while chuckling in his head.
"Now you are here to learn Mr. Potter. Up to now in school you have been taught spells that are good for your everyday uses around a house or business. That is all well and good, but sometimes you have to protect yourself and others. That is why I'm going to be teaching you some offensive spells as well as defensive spells. These spells are used solely to disarm, hurt, or disable your opponent. If you don't think you can handle the thought of purposely hurting someone then leave now." Snape waited to see if the boy would leave, but he didn't even flinch. "Very well, let's not waste any more time with chatter. The first spell I will teach you is a stronger cutting charm."
By the end of the two and a half hour training session Harry felt exhausted. He had worked on the stronger cutting hex most of the time. The incantation for it was Secar, and when cast correctly with enough intent and power it could sever a limb. Otherwise it would just leave a large gash in a person. Towards the end Snape had decided a duel was needed in order to test out how well he could cast the spell under pressure. He had managed to cast the spell but not much more as his Head seemed to let go and unleash everything he had. Harry barely had a chance to move as two stunners impacted his chest and cutting hex hit his thigh. When he woke up he was healed, and Snape had told him they would duel again next time and to practice the spell whenever he had free time. They decided two days from now would be the best time for their next meeting.
So Harry was trudging his way back to the common room wanting nothing more than to go up to his dormitory climb into bed and pass out. It took him ten minutes longer as he had been walking slower but eventually he made it to the common room. Right as the door closed behind him he heard a voice hissing "Rip, tear, kill." He stopped and listened again, but heard nothing more so he let it be. He went over and said good night to Blaise and Daphne and then went to bed, but all night his dreams were haunted by the voice he had heard.
Chamber of Secrets
The sound of water splashing against the solid stone floor was all that could be heard. The torches danced as if blown by a breeze. They provided minimal light and had an eerie aura to them. One lone figure stood in the middle of the spacious hall staring at the enormous statue head before her. Blood red eyes were all that could be made out of Hermione's face.
"The diary may be gone, but the fool poured enough of herself into it for me to keep hold of her body. I may not be able to control Potter anymore, but I still have Slytherin's beast. Now, speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" As the voice of the young dark lord rang out it seemed to go on forever as it bounced off the walls of the empty chamber. The mouth of the statue slid open and a pair of giant yellow eyes slid out.