Chapter 10 – Chamber of secrets

Harry and Ginny made their way to the duelling club, everyone's reactions were predictable. Most stayed away from the two hoping they don't get paired with them, some hoped that they could see what the two were capable of and others (mainly Ron and Draco) thought they could use this opportunity to improve their own standings by beating the two. Hermione looked rather hopeful; perhaps if things went well then she could impress both Harry and Lockhart.

"Good evening" Lockhart appeared on the duelling platform shortly followed by Snape "how marvellous to see you all! I am here to instruct you all on how to properly duel; today I will be assisted by Professor Snape, don't worry. You'll still have your potions master when I'm threw with him"

"Two sickles on Snape beating Lockhart with one spell" Ginny whispered as the two went to opposite ends of the

"I know I'd lose that bet but why not? I'll humour you"

The match went exactly how Ginny predicted; one disarming curse and Lockhart had been thrown across the room. A few giggles, laughs and exchanged money followed before Lockhart go to his feet. Naturally he brushed it off and claimed he let Snape do it. The group were all split into pairs and told to practise disarming curses, Harry and Ginny naturally paired up together.

Ginny considered herself fortunate that Harry had such good control, she was under no disillusion about how strong he was. She knew that if he put the slightest bit of effort into his spells then she would be flying into a wall. Snape even applauded him on his control when he walked by, soon everyone had stopped and was told to gather around again.

"Alright guys" Lockhart called "today we'll end by having two demonstrations, one pair of girls and one pair of boys. Let's start with the girls; does anyone want to participate in the demonstration?"

"I will" Hermione raised her hand and stepped on to the platform

"Good girl" Lockhart smiled "anyone you want to do it with?"

"How about.." Hermione stopped as if to think about it "Ginny" Harry rolled his eyes, he couldn't help but wonder what was going through that girls head.

Fortunately for him the only way Ginny was weak was how she looked and that's only when she doesn't look angry. Harry knew people underestimated her because she was small, in his opinion it made it all the more hilarious when she proved them wrong. Ginny took her spot on the platform while Hermione took her own.

"Remember" Lockhart said just before the duel began "winner is whoever disarms the other one first, begin"

"Expelliarmus" Hermione roared as a red light rushed towards Ginny, Ginny easily dodged. Harry had drilled dodging into her mind and body many times; it was second nature to her by this point. Hermione looked absolutely stunned by the fact her spell missed, she had practised it so much and put in far more effort than she saw Ginny and Harry putting in.

"Expelliarmus" Ginny shouted before Hermione could let off a spell, she managed to connect and Hermione flew across the platform whilst her wand flipped in the air and landed in her hand. Ginny was amazed, she'd never managed to do that when she did the spell on Harry, she always found it weird that despite that he insisted that her spell was perfect.

At the point she realised that the only reason it didn't work on Harry was because….he was Harry. Hermione had to be helped up by Lockhart and was congratulated for her effort; everyone could tell she was disappointed with the results and it was obvious she hurt her arm when she landed. As Ginny walked off she received a wink from Snape and a congratulatory hug and kiss on the cheek from Harry. Next came the turn of the boys.

"Now" Lockhart rubbed his hands together "for the boys, Harry, why don't you come up?" Harry got on the platform, not before mumbling some inventive curses under his breath, he knew he didn't have a viable excuse to refuse so he decided to get it other with. "Now who is Harry going to compete against?"

"Me!" Two hands went up at the same time, everyone found that Draco and Ronald had both put their hands up.

"You?" Ronald spoke first "no way, I'm duelling him"

"Please Weasley" Malfoy sneered "the only thing you have less than money is skill, your own sister would beat you"

"She would and you forgot intelligence" Harry added, earning a few laughs.

"Shut up" Ron stood on the platform, unfortunately for him Malfoy got up on the same time

"Are you deaf?" Malfoy yelled "I said I'm duelling him"

"Why do you want to duel him?" Ron demanded

"Oh I know" Harry interrupted "Malfoys a little bit upset because his house elf left him to work for me" There were quite a few snickers and chuckles from the crowd "Don't worry Malfoy" Harry continued "you'll make a real friend someday". Harry earned a few more laughs and even the odd clap

"Mr Potter" Snape interrupted despite really not wanting to do so "as amusing as this is, verbal duelling is a class for another day, now which of these two do you want to face?"

"I don't really have a preference" Harry shrugged "Ginny, what do you think?"

"I don't know Harry, you could probably take them both if you wanted" Ginny spoke with a mischievous grin on her face, Snape raised an eye brow but knew she was right. Perhaps if Potter made a show then the others would back off.

"Very well" Snape agreed "Potter, you will face the pair of them together" Snape walked off the platform, after ignoring the protests from Lockhart, who rather wisely also got off.

Once the duel began, the pair both shot a disarming curse at Harry, who dodged both of them with ease. The pair tried that for a while, like Harry cared, but he was getting rather bored. He was amazed that him simply dodging every attack still kept the audience interested. Eventually Ron began fatiguing so harry disarmed him to put him out of his misery, unfortunately Harry put a bit too much effort into it and Ron landed on his face before Snape sent him away with a broken nose. It was at that point when Malfoy tried to experiment with his curses.

He started with a few Stupefys but eventually stopped when Harry stopped dodging and decided to just bat them away with his wand. He recalled a spell his father had taught him.

"Serpensortia" He roared and a snake appeared from his wand, Harry wanted to order it to strangle Malfoy but decided it'd be best if he keeps his Parslemouth ability a secret for now. He banished the snake with ease, he was getting bored so he disarmed Malfoy. He was preparing to leave when he heard his name called

"Well done Potter" Malfoy drawled "you've done so good, maybe your little tart will pet you head for you?"

Because Harrys back was facing Malfoy, Draco never saw the furious look that appeared on Harry's face. Ginny did, but before she could say anything Harry spun around and aimed his want at Draco. Without a word a fireball shot from the want at Draco, it narrowly missed but did manage to make Draco drop to the floor when his hair caught fire. Snape quickly put it out before he noticed the massive scorch mark on the wall behind him.

The students and both Professors were stunned, not only did Harry toy with Ron and Draco before beating them, he also wordlessly cast a spell that was more powerful than what most seventh years could manage. Ginny got on the platform tried to calm down Harry who was still pointing his wand at Malfoy, it took a while but she had managed to get him to lower his wand.

Snape along with everyone else felt rather relieved thanks to the leash that was Ginny Weasley, after dismissing everyone Ginny took Harry away. Soon Snape found himself meeting with the other head of houses and retelling what happened. Fortunately the headmaster was away on business so they could hopefully deal with it before he gets back. The heads met up in McGonagall's office when Snape retold the events of what happened.

'I knew I should of bet money on those idiots landing in the hospital wing' McGonagall thought when she saw Sprout sliding Flitwick a few sickles.

"Ignoring his extraordinary power" Snape continued "I was very curious to see the look on his face, I've seen that look before, the last person I saw with that look was the dark lord himself. It was pure rage" They were interrupted by a knock on the door, they were surprised to see Ginny Weasley enter by herself, she closed the door and walked forward.

"Sorry to interrupt Professors but I figured I should probably tell you what happened today"

"Professor Snape has already told us what happened" Flitwick spoke softly

"I know" Ginny took a breath "but I know you're all probably wondering what happened to Harry when he got angry."

"The thought had crossed our minds" McGonagall admitted "while you're here, where is Mr Potter?"

"Harry's gone to the quidditch pitch to cool off for a bit" Ginny explained "he said after that he had to go and do something important. He told me I could tell you if I wanted but I want to make it clear that the only reason I'm telling you this is because Harry and I trust you and don't expect anyone else outside of this room to know." After receiving four nods Ginny continued.

"Harry doesn't like to talk about certain things; one of those things is his past. His muggle relatives would beat him up daily, injuring and re-injuring him most of the time. They also made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, while his fat whale of a cousin had two whole bedrooms to himself. They gave him whatever clothes his cousin didn't wear anymore and they didn't care if he was injured or not as long as he did his chores" Ginny wiped a tear away before continuing

"All those years left Harry with some anger issues, he had to bottle and hide his anger and it's become a habit for him. Whenever he gets angry he hides it and locks it away"

"You're saying that's why when he does let go the results are massive?" Snape contemplated her words, it makes sense. Potter had to control his emotions, even more so once he had found his magical powers

"Yes" Ginny nodded "Harry calls it his 'dark half', he sort of divided himself into two parts. The regular happy Harry and the angry at the world Harry."

"Like a split personality?" Flitwick asked

"No" Ginny shook her head "Harry is a lot wiser than people give him credit for, he knows that everyone has good and bad parts. He's just more worried about his because he knows how powerful he is, he knows that it's just a part of him he needs to control. He does his very day best, he runs every morning and even writes in his journal to help with his anger. We even spend time each day just talking about how he feels. He tries to stay with me because he knows I'm the only one who can keep him calm." Ginny blushed a little

"Why you?" Sprout asked "not that there's anything wrong with you but do you know why he only ever talks with you, Longbottom and the twins? The only other people I can think that he gets along with are the quidditch team"

"I know why miss" Ginny spoke softly "Harry never played with anyone when he was younger, than all of a sudden he discovers quidditch and they treat him like a king, he likes it because he's actually getting praised for something he thinks his earned. From what I understand the team members treat him like a younger brother, I had convinced Harry to give the twins a chance. Because they also treat him like a brother, and the fact that they're nice to him really helps.

Harry chose Neville because he thought that Neville was genuinely nice and trust worthy even though he's very shy. When I asked Harry why he liked me after my brother told him he could have any girl in the school he told me it was because he trusted me. Harry said that his past had given him an ability to know when people are being honest with him." Ginny then told them Harrys story about his first friends being spiders and how that girl had tricked him. The teachers were half divided between sympathy for harry and the desire to rip Dumbledore's beard off of his face.

"All I'm asking is you don't judge Harry" Ginny concluded "after all he's been through I think we should be fortunate he hasn't completely isolated himself. Please just treat him like you normally do, Harry trusts you, if you break it then you won't be able to fix it" With that Ginny left.

Harry after flying around for a bit had decided to do something he had been putting off long enough, it's about time he said hello to Salazar's Basilisk, if Harry remembered right its name was Ellie. Harry had promised Salazar that he would check on her and Harry figured he'd do it now while everyone had left him alone and he didn't have to worry about Ginny coming down with him.

Once he got into the chamber he and prepared his wand, he had recorded the sound of a rooster. He trusted Salazar when he said she wouldn't harm him and her but he decided not to take the chance, fortunately for him a basilisks gaze couldn't harm him, unfortunately the massive teeth could. Harry called the basilisk and out of the statue slithered a massive green sixty foot snake.

"Hello Ellie" Harry greeted the snake in parsletounge.

"You know my name?" Ellie was pleasantly surprised, the last person she had to listen to simply referred to her as 'it', 'basilisk' or 'giant snake'.

"My name is Harry potter" Harry introduced himself "I'm the heir to Merlin and all four founders including Salazar, he asked me to bond you to me so nobody else can control you."

"Did he?" Ellie flicked out her massive tongue

"Yes but I won't do it unless you want me to, I won't force you to do so"

"Really?" Ellie asked, failing to mask her surprise, not only was this boy Salazar's heir but he also asked her opinion "What would you say if I refused?"

"Shame" Harry shrugged "I wouldn't force you and as long as you stayed here and didn't harm anyone then I wouldn't complain"

"Really?" Ellie would have raised an eyebrow if she had one "what if I attacked you?"

"Salazar said you could be trusted and I believed him, however I did record some roosters with my wand, just in case you had gotten any funny ideas" Harry then became one of the very few people who ever saw a basilisk laugh, admittedly to anyone else it was just very fast hissing and frantic head movement.

Ellie had agreed and Harry promised that he would occasionally drop by and bring some foot with her, he'd instruct his elves to bring some meat as long as she promised to close her eyes when she they came.

Later on Harry had met up with Ginny and told her about the basilisk, but he left out how he knew about it. Both of them knew that Harry kept secrets from her, normally Ginny would pester someone over something like this but she knew that Harry told her everything. If he didn't tell her now then she'd likely know later, all she had to do was be patient. If Harry didn't want to tell her than she'd have to trust that he had a good reason.

After the duelling club disaster Lockhart could no longer make Harry attend, he had tried to but the other students seemed less than willing to participate if Harry was there. It was almost like they worried about getting hurt. Hermione and Ron got out of the hospital wing the next day, sadly because it was duel club they broke no rules by interacting with Harry and Ginny. Draco Malfoy was not so lucky, his burns were healed but he had to wait for his hair to grow back naturally which meant he had to spend the remainder of the year with no hair on the top of his head and a well-deserved fear or Harry. To make matters worse Snape took away fifty points and gave him detention for the rest of the year.

Eventually everything calmed down; people were still a bit cautious about Harry but were no longer acting like he was the next dark lord. Harry at that point decided that though pranking Lockhart is what gave his year life, he had outstayed his welcome. So one day Snape and Harry decided to work on some truth serum, somehow it ended up in Lockhart's drink, not that either of them knew anything about how that happened. And by coincidence, it happened the exact same day that a ministry official and reporter visited, Lockhart confessed to obliviating people and taking credit for their findings.

Eventually a couple of aurors came to take him away, however not before four more pranks activated. The aurors ended up dragging a wart covered, green haired Lockhart whose mouth was stuck smiling and revealed teeth that were blacker than coal. Harry and Snape were incredibly smug and pleased with themselves, fortunately Ginny and the other head of houses were the only ones who noticed.

On the train ride back Ron ignored the two again, Malfoy didn't show up either, he just needed Hermione to stay away and everything would be perfect. Alas, it was not meant to be.

"Harry" Hermione spoke slowly "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not believing you about Lockhart" she bit her lip, waiting for a response

"Okay" Harry spoke in a neutral tone

"And I was rather hoping that we can forgive and forget, I admit that I should have listened to you about Lockhart. And Ginny I'm sorry for how I've been treating you, I was hoping you and me could make up. It'd be nice to have a friend, especially one who's a girl. I'll see you two later" Hermione walked off, no sooner than she had harry put up some locking and privacy charms.

"What did your instincts say about her?" Ginny asked

"Don't trust her" Harry replied "she's admitted one mistake she's made and only after everybody had to admit it, and that's the only thing she's apologised for. And as someone who knows what it's like not having friends, I can whole heartedly say she's lying"

"Oh I know" Ginny agreed "I've seen her hanging out with Lavender and the Patil twins"

"Then she tries to befriend you despite the fact that she seemed more interested in getting on my good side, then she leaves with that friend comment so we're left stuck thinking about it"

"I see what you mean" Ginny murmured in agreement

"Oh yeah I've forgot to tell you, I looked into our marriage contract and I managed to get a copy. Apparently I was wrong, your family did make a stipulation saying they'd get at least half of my money if I die"

"That's not good" Ginny sighed

"No but I have another option" Harry smiled

"What?"

"I think you and me can soul bond"

"You mean like in those fairy tales" Ginny raised an eyebrow

"Soul bonds are real" Harry assured her "it's just they're so rare that people think they're fake. I've looked up soul bonds, both participants need to be at least thirteen because that was the age of marriage a while back, meaning we could do one by our fourth year"

"Yeah but why would we? No offense but what does this have to do with the contract?"

"None taken" Harry replied "soul bonds do a few things. The first is increase the love the couple already possesses, the second is give them specific abilities like detecting each other's emotions, the ability to read each other's thoughts and the ability to teleport to wherever the soul mate is. It also acts as a legally binding marriage contract that would make us officially of age" Ginny's eyes widened

"The current contract is supposed to be carried out once we're of age, however one clause allowed it to be cancelled if the girl who in this case is you decides to break the contract. They raised you on stories about me so you'd never want that, but they kept their options open in case someone richer came along or they changed their mind"

"I can't believe them" Ginny voice was covered in disgust

"Sorry to tell you this, I know it upsets you but you need to know. If we soul bond then you've broken the contract by not fulfilling it and marrying me sooner than you were supposed to. You could cancel it anytime you want but I'd recommend waiting for us to soul bond first, that way your mum can't say anything because we'll be of age and capable of doing two things amongst others. That's do magic whenever we want and live wherever we want"

"You've got somewhere to live for us?" Ginny's eyes glazed with excitement

"Yeah but I'll tell you about it after this summer once your occlumency shields are strong enough to keep out Dumbledore"

"Fine" Ginny grumbled "but as for this whole soul bond business, count me in."

"You sure?" Harry asked, knowing the answer

"Hell yeah!" Ginny shouted "it's too late to back out now Potter, you're stuck with me"

Soon the train stopped and the two got out when they were met by the Weasley family, Mrs Weasley congratulated them on their relationship before reminding them they were too young to do certain things and engaging in another futile attempt to find out where Harry lived. Harry said goodbye and left with the promise of visiting over the summer. He arrived home and after sending a letter to Sirius he laid down in bed.

"I'm going to marry that girl, I bet you'd like her. Good night mum, goodnight dad" Harry whispered before falling asleep