Altered Fates

Part Two: Heir of Slytherin

Chapter Three: The Chamber of Secrets

Filch showed up not one minute after Nico accidentally cursed Draco Malfoy. When he saw what had happened to Ms Norris, he jumped to the conclusion that one of the four friends had killed her, specifically Harry. While he was threatening Harry, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and the git Lockhart showed up. While Dumbledore was calming the caretaker down, Nico had levitated the cat out of the torch bracket she'd been hung in and checked its pulse. "Mr Filch? She's not dead, she definitely has a pulse."

"Then why is she all stiff and frozen? Answer me that, if you can!"

"Argus! We will discuss this privately." Lockhart immediately offered the use of his office for the meeting. Nico smirked, wondering how Lockhart would react to the devastation the pixies had wrought. In the meantime, Dumbledore told the students "Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately. Everyone except you four," pointing at Harry and his three friends. Lockhart then led the group to his office to discuss what had happened.

The pixies devastation of Lockhart's office was total. Not a single book lay intact, his portraits had all been damaged and/or pulled off the walls, even his desk was split in two. Dumbledore just gave a small grin when he saw the office and started examining Ms Norris. "Ms Norris has been petrified, Argus. But how she has been petrified, I cannot say."

"Ask him! It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall! He knows I'm a Squib!"

"And do you really think I care about that? I didn't even know what a Squib was until last month! I've never even touched Ms Norris once since I got here."

"If I may, Headmaster?" Snape interrupted. "Perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter at the feast tonight."

"I'm afraid that's my fault, Severus" Lockhart interrupted. "You see, Harry was serving detention with me, helping me answer my fan mail." Despite the tense situation, Nico smiled. Harry had told him that he had earned a second detention with Lockhart after he punched the glory hound before the Mandrake class. Somehow, Lockhart had thought that the flying car incident was an attempt to gain fame and that he had inspired it, so Harry punched him to shut him up. Snape mentioned that he should have gone to the feast, but Harry quickly countered that he didn't think the feast was still going on when he left, so he was going to head to the kitchens for some food, and he just happened to run into Hermione and Ron.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

"And what about Mr Grace? He hasn't explained where he went after showing us that intriguing spell of his." Mione stared at Nico in shock while he explained what happened, while leaving out any mention of the map.

"My cat has been petrified. I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Professor Sprout has recently acquired a very healthy growth of Mandrakes. As soon as they have matured, I will have a potion made that will restore Ms Norris." After a short argument between Snape and Lockhart about who would make the potion, Dumbledore dismissed them.

A few minutes later, Mione said, "It's a bit strange, isn't it? You hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Ms Norris turns up petrified. It's just strange."

"Do you think I should have told them? Dumbledore and the others, I mean."

"Are you mad? Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world," Ron replied.

"Is there anything you can remember about the voice that could help us identify it if we did hear it, Harry?" Nico asked.

"Other than the fact that it's a cold voice obsessed with killing? No, sorry." Nico filed it away, he was sure that the fact that only Harry could hear this voice was significant, and somehow that voice was also connected to this Chamber of Secrets business and the petrification of Ms Norris. But why would Filch think that him being a Squib had anything to do with it?

Over the next week, Hermione started hanging out in the library even more than usual, and finally on November 6, she revealed that she was looking for information on the Chamber of Secrets, but she had found nothing. Nico had also been looking for information, but by going to his friends. Unfortunately, no one, not even Cedric or Romulus knew much about the Chamber, except for the fact that a monster was supposed to be in there. So, Hermione decided to ask a teacher during one of their classes. Naturally the first class she asked it was History of Magic, the only class taught by a ghost, and easily the most boring of all their classes. Binns was in the middle of a discussion on the International Warlock Convention of 1289 when she made her move. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

Nico leaned over to Harry and whispered, "One Galleon says Binns refuses to answer her."

"Done. Mione can be very persuasive when she wants to be."

Meanwhile, Binns was responding to Mione's question. "My subject is History of Magic. I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends."

He was just starting to continue when Mione interrupted again. "Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"

"That point could be argued, but I refuse to teach such a fanciful myth that has no basis in fact! There is no evidence that Salazar Slytherin built so much as a secret broom cupboard, therefore, it remains a myth!" Harry sighed and passed over the Galleon to Nico.

Hermione made another attempt in their Transfiguration lesson-turning animals into goblets. Ron had just attempted to turn his pet rat Scabbers into a goblet when she asked. (Ron had been unsuccessful, the base looked right, but the rest of the goblet still had fur and a tail and was still squeaking. Far better than should be expected with his broken wand.) "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets."

"I would gladly tell you, but don't you think that is a better question for Professor Binns? He is the History teacher after all."

"Hermione already tried that, Professor. Binns refuses to teach it because it's a legend," Neville responded.

"Very well. You all know, of course that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. When they started out, they coexisted quite harmoniously, as they were great friends. But over the years, Salazar Slytherin got into many arguments with the other three, as he wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families, or in other words, purebloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. Now, according to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle known as the Chamber of Secrets. Though, shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic. Naturally, the school has been searched many times. No such chamber has been found."

Nico was intrigued by this 'horror' that was supposed to be in the Chamber, so he asked, "Professor, what exactly does the legend say lives in the Chamber?"

"The Chamber is said to be home to something that only the Heir of Slytherin can control. It is said to be the home of a monster." A monster, eh? Well, knowing Slytherin, it would probably be some kind of snake. But how could the Heir of Slytherin control the monster?

As the lesson continued, Nico noticed that Neville was still having trouble with the class, despite the boost in confidence he'd had, so he asked when Neville got the wand. "Well, my Gran gave it to me for my birthday-"

"She gave you the wand? You mean that you didn't go to a wandmaker yourself?"

"No, it used to be my dad's wand and she thought that I should use it, why?"

"Neville, she's trying to turn you into a replacement for your dad. Damn, I thought my Howler would have straightened her out. But using your dad's wand is probably why you're not doing so well in our lessons. One of the first things any wandmaker will tell you is that you never get as good of results from another person's wand as you will with one that chooses you. As soon as I get away from my mother this year, you and I are going to get you your own wand, Nev." Neville smiled at the thoughtfulness of his friend, but was a little worried about what his Grandmother Augusta would say if she knew he had his own wand.

After the class, Seamus Finnigan said, "I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony. But I never knew he started all this pureblood nonsense. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me! Honestly, if the Sorting Hat tried to put me in Slytherin, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Then an odd thing happened. Ron, the one person that everyone thought would be Seamus' first supporter hissed at him. It almost seemed as if he was supporting Slytherin. Nico decided to take a different approach.

"Shut up, Seamus. You are taking it completely out of context." Everyone turned to Nico, confused about what he was saying. "The Founders lived over a millennia ago, back when people feared magic and would burn people at the stake when they were believed to be witches or wizards. It makes sense that Salazar would want only the purebloods at Hogwarts. If the Muggleborn's parents ever found out about Hogwarts, the school could have been attacked. Salazar was doing what he thought best for the school and its students. As for the monster, who's to say that it wasn't originally left here to defend the school instead of killing Muggleborns? Also, I can name two great Light wizards that were sorted into Slytherin: the Auror Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody and Merlin himself! How's that for the Snake Pit?" That argument stopped them and forced everyone to start rethinking their prejudice against Slytherin.

While most people went on to their common room, the Trio went to explore the scene of the crime and try to get some hints as to what happened while Nico and Neville went to the library to find some information on Salazar Slytherin. But all they found was the fact that he was an accomplished Legilimens and one of the earliest known Parselmouths. "What are these things, Nev?"

"Legilimency is very complicated, but it is basically mind-reading, telepathy. Of course, most Legilimens would get after you if you called it mind-reading."

"And Parselmouth?"

"A Parselmouth is someone who can speak Parseltongue, snake language, it's a really rare ability. Most people associate it with the Dark Arts and dark wizards. There's only been four known Parselmouths in history: Herpo the Foul, Salazar Slytherin, Paracelsus, the guy who gave the language its name, and You-Know-Who."

"Well that's an interesting coincidence. I know all of them. I've got Salazar and Paracelsus' Chocolate Frog Cards, my mother taught me about Herpo the Foul over the summer, and then everyone knows about Voldemort." Neville shuddered when Nico said the name. "Oh, come on Neville, it's just a name! What could he have done that was so terrible to make you and everyone else scared of even his name? From what I've heard Hitler and even Grindelwald were worse, and people don't mind saying their names."

Neville seemed to be a little confused at that and thought about it before finally answering "I guess it's because of the terror that he spread and the fact that he worked here. Hitler was a mass murderer but both he and Grindelwald fought out in the open, and they were foreigners. V-V-Voldemort fought a war of terror, you never knew where he was going to strike next or what he was going to do next. Those who lived through it were thought that he might show up if they said his name, and after he fell, they taught us to fear his name, though I don't know why."

"Well, at least we found something out about this monster." Neville stared at him in wonder until Nico explained. "It's a snake, Nev. Salazar was a Parselmouth, and he obviously loved snakes considering that's his house symbol. And you said that speaking Parseltongue is a rare gift, so obviously his heir would be able to speak it." Neville agreed with that and they went looking for monster snakes. All they found were the: Amphisbaena, Basilisk, Hydra, Ananta Shesha, Kaliya, and the Naga,none of which could petrify. Beaten, they headed back to the common room, but along the way, they ran into the Trio. They were discussing the Chamber of Secrets and the Heir of Slytherin, naturally. Mione had just asked who could possibly be the Heir.

"Well, let's think. Who do we know that thinks all Muggleborns are scum?" Harry asked quite seriously.

"If you're talking about Malfoy-"

Ron interrupted. "Of course. You heard him. 'You'll be next, Mudbloods.'"

"That was Flint, not Malfoy. But Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin? He was positively terrified of the message," Harry defended.

"Why not? Look at his family, the whole lot of them have been Sorted into Slytherin for centuries. Is it so hard to believe they aren't related to him? Maybe we can trick Crabbe or Goyle into telling us."

"Even they aren't that thick. But there might be another way. Mind you, it would be difficult. Not to mention we'd probably be breaking about 50 school rules, and it'll be dangerous. Very dangerous."

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably.

"Ron, be nice! Mione was just making sure you understood how dangerous it would be. What is it and how can we help?"

"Thanks, Neville. What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."

Nico stared at her in shock. "Polyjuice Potion? You aren't seriously thinking of making Polyjuice Potion, are you, Mione?"

"Well, why not?"

"Because that's a Sixth Year potion, and we're only Second Years!"

"But you're a potions genius! Even Snape has to admit that."

"That's only because I've worked with my brother on the potions beforehand, and he won't be able to help, considering he's only two years older than us instead of the necessary four or five years. Besides, we'd need a copy of Moste Potente Potions, and that's in the Restricted Section. There is no way that a teacher is going to allow us to get that book. They'd have to be thicker than Quirrell to fall for anything we could come up with." Harry just smirked at Nico's objection. Somehow he had come up with an answer to get the book.

Nico ate his words a few days later as Harry and Hermione tricked Lockhart into signing the form the day he assigned a poem about how he defeated a werewolf (Nico planned to write an essay pointing out how it couldn't have happened the way Lockhart wrote or told it.) Once they'd seen how complicated it was and how long it would take, Ron tried to back out again, but Mione was adamant. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggleborns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in."

Nico turned to the others and said "I think we've been a bad influence on her. Attacking and lying to teachers last year, and now tricking and stealing from teachers. What's up for next year, Mione?" She just blushed and led them to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to start making the potion.

That Saturday was the first Quidditch game of the year, and Harry's first game against Malfoy which made him want to win the game even more than usual. Unfortunately, that was made extremely difficult when a Bludger started acting like it was charmed to go after Harry, and only Harry. "You have something to do with this, Malfoy?" he shouted at his rival. Even with both Weasleys protecting him, Harry had to do some fancy flying to avoid getting hit.

"Not a chance, Potter! If I'm going to beat you, it's going to be on my own talents, not because I cheated! I swear, if I find out one of my team-mates did this, I'll make sure they're expelled!"

Harry stopped and stared at him. "You can do that?"

Draco just smirked. "No, but I can frame them for something or make sure they get caught doing something they shouldn't. I am a Slytherin, after all. Watch out!" Harry just managed to dodge the Bludger again before Fred knocked it back.

Eventually, Wood called a time out, demanding to know what the Twins were doing as the Slytherins were killing the Gryffindors. "Trying to keep the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver," George growled at him.

"Yeah, someone's fixed that Bludger so it'll only go after Harry. It's like it's on a leash and it can only go so far before turning back after him," Fred continued.

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then..." said Wood, anxiously.

Then Harry got an odd gleam in his eye, one that the other Gryffindors recognized only too well. It was the kind of gleam that the Twins or Nico would get when they came up with a particularly good prank. "Oliver, do the rules actually say that only Beaters can carry the bats?"

Oliver thought about it before answering "Nooo, why?"

"Are there spare bats in the supply room?"

"Yeess, why?"

But Harry had already ran off to the supply room. When he came back, he had a Beater's bat slung around his left arm. "The only way I could catch the Snitch before is if it flew up my sleeve. This way, I can protect myself and the Twins can go and take care of the other Bludger. What do you say?"

Oliver just shrugged and allowed it. As soon as they took off, the Bludger was back after Harry, and he hit it away. Draco took note of it and called out "A very Slytherin move, Potter. I doubt any Gryffindor would have take advantage of that loophole, but a Slytherin definitely would have."

"Coming from you, Malfoy, I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should. Watch it!" he called out as the Bludger came back. As soon as he did that, he spotted the Snitch by Malfoy's elbow and flew after it. That started a long chase/race between him, Malfoy, the Bludger and the Snitch, passing dangerously close to the stadium before diving into the newly installed trench. However, when the Snitch rose out of the trench, Draco failed to pull up quickly enough and was thrown from his broom, while Harry's arm was broken by the Bludger, throwing him off his broom, but in such a way that he still caught the Snitch, winning the game for Gryffindor.

However, just because the game was over, didn't mean that the Bludger was done going after Harry. It dived at him three times, twice nearly crushing his head, and the third time it nearly hit his crotch before Hermione and Nico blew it up. They were only the first of a number of people that rushed onto the field to help Harry, including Lockhart who offered to heal his arm. Nico had just turned his wand on Lockhart when the git spoke his spell: Brackium Emendo.

Unfortunately, Lockhart's incompetence combined with Harry's usual luck turned it into a disaster as the spell removed his bones instead of healing them. (As Lockhart's reward, Harry hit him hard with the bat, breaking his nose.) Madam Pomfrey naturally was very upset when they finally got him to the Hospital wing, insisting that they should have brought Harry straight to her. "Don't blame us, Ma'am. We tried to bring him, but Lockhart wouldn't let us go and caused this for all his trouble." Madam Pomfrey just shook her head and handed Harry a glass of Skele-Grow to drink.

That night, Nico changed into his animagus form and flew down to visit Harry, only to run into Dumbledore and McGonagall carrying something or someone to the Hospital Wing. It was Colin Creevey, a Muggleborn First Year Gryffindor that was completely obsessed with Harry, so much so that Harry often described him as a talkative shadow. When they arrived at the Hospital wing, McGonagall noticed he had his camera up to his face. "Look. Perhaps he managed to take a picture of his attacker." Unfortunately, the film had all turned to dust. "What can this mean, Albus?"

"It means that our students are in great danger."

"What should I tell the staff?"

"The truth. Tell them that Hogwarts is no longer safe. It is as we feared, Minerva. The Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again." Again? This had happened before? Well, that put a whole new twist on things, and raised a whole new question: When was it opened before?

A/N: I know that Harry's temper seems worse in this than in the book, bur you have to remember that my Hogwarts sends the letters out one year later than in canon, making Harry's current age thirteen, the age that his temper really started showing itself in canon. When he was thirteen in canon, he blew up his aunt, nearly attacked Draco, and wanted to kill Sirius, all thanks to his temper. Also, there are reasons for Harry and Draco's OOCness that will be explained, eventually.