They had finally arrived at Hogwarts for their second year! The silver trio Harry, Draco, and Tobias made their way to the Great Hall. They sat down at the Slytherin table with the rest of their house. Theo and Blaise were already there, and Gregory and Vincent showed up a short time later. They noticed Gildroy Lockhart sitting at the teachers table.
Tobias groaned. "And I thought it would be bad enough to have a fan of his as our DADA professor. To have him teach us himself is just cruel and unusual punishment."
"Ugh I dislike that man. Ever since he tried to do a photoshoot with me he's been harassing me by owl." Harry said unhappily. "He keeps trying to schedule a photo op with me, saying 'he's doing me a favor'. This years DADA is going to be intolerable."
"What was Dumbledore thinking? He's getting more senile every day." Draco said scowling.
"Well there is that curse on the DADA position. Maybe he's the only one who applied for it?" Theo said.
Soon every student was seated and the sorting began. They stared at all the new first years standing there trembling in fear of where they would be sorted. It didn't seem that long ago that they all were sorted themselves. Tobias remembered what the sorting hat told him about being sorted before. What did that mean?
The sorting went as usual with the sorting hat being placed on the heads of the scared first years. An excited looking boy named Colin Creevy was sorted into Gryffindor and he whooped and ran over to the Gryffindor table. A blond girl with a calm dreamy expression was sorted into Ravenclaw. And a bit later Ginny Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of her siblings. Percy gave her a pat on the back and the twins whooped for her. Soon the sorting was finished and Dumbledore had said his start of term announcements. They all dug into their food. Harry thought to himself as he ate his food, about how that houseelf told him something dangerous was going to happen at Hogwarts. He wondered if what Dobby said was true.
Soon the feast was over and they all headed to their dorms. The Slytherin common room looked the same as always. Their dorm room door now had a sign saying Second Years on it. Tobias went over to Nagini's carrier and wakes her up. Hedwig was sitting on a window sill waiting for Harry. He went up and stroked her feathers. She hooted and flew onto his shoulder, nipping at his ear. She was glad that she was able to fly to Hogwarts rather than stay in that cage of hers. Nagini hissed her jealously then went off to hunt somewhere. Hedwig rubbed her head against Harry and then flew back to the Owlery. Harry and the rest of the second year boys settled in for the night.
School was pretty normal so far. No trolls trying to injure students. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Slytherin boys' first class was Herbology with the Ravenclaws. When they arrived at the greenhouses they noticed Lockhart trying to tell Professor Sprout how to take care of various plants of hers. She looked rather disgruntled and not at all her usual cheery self.
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" Professor Sprout said as she tried to ignore Lockhart.
The students were rather interested. Greenhouse three housed far more interesting and dangerous plants than Greenhouse one where they usually worked. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. They filed into the greenhouse.
Professor Sprout strode over to the center of the room and behind a trestle bench. About twenty different colored earmuffs were lying on the bench.
"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
A Ravenclaw boy raised his hand. "Mandrake is a powerful restorative. It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."
"Excellent. Ten point to Ravenclaw." Professor Sprout said. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is however dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
Tobias raised his hand. "The cry of a Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it."
"Precisely. Ten points to Slytherin." Professor Sprout said. "Now the mandrakes we have here are still very young so they wont kill you but they will knock you out for several hours. Which is why we have the earmuffs." She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke. A hundred of so of tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there in rows. They look rather ordinary to the silver trio.
"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs." Professor Sprout said.
Everyone scrambled to grab a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy.
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered." said Professor Sprout. "When it is safe to remove them I will give you a thumbs up. Right - earmuffs on."
Everyone snapped the earmuffs over their ears. They shut out sound completely. Professor Sprout placed the pink fluffy earmuffs on , rolled up her sleeves, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.
Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. It had green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.
Professor Sprout grabbed a large plant pot from under the table and stuffed the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost. She dusted herself off and then gave a thumbs up, removing her own earmuffs.
"Four to a tray. There is a large supply of pot over there. And be careful of the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething." She gave a sharp slap to the spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been sneaking up her shoulder.
Harry, Tobias, and Draco were joined at their tray by Theo. They didn't really have much time to talk as they had their earmuffs back on and were dealing with the mandrakes. The mandrakes didn't want to come out of their pots but it also seemed that they didn't want to go back in either, They squirmed and kicked and one even bit Draco. Harry spent way too long trying to stuff a particularly fat one into a pot.
By the end of the class everyone was sweaty, aching and covered in earth. Draco complained about loudly. They headed back to their common room for a quick shower and then headed to their next class.
Professor McGonagall had them all trying to turn a beetle into a button. Tobias managed it immediately and managed to make the button fancy and engraved. Harry made his beetle flat but it still scuttled around to his dismay. Draco only made his beetle lose it's legs. McGonagall noticed Tobias's button and gave him several points for Slytherin.
After class they headed to lunch. Harry's brain felt like mush after that class.
"So what's our next class?" asked Harry.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts unfortunately." Draco said with a groan.
"Oh that'll be fun. He'll probably spend the whole lesson talking about himself." Tobias grimaced.
A mousy haired boy came up to them at the Slytherin table. He was clutching a muggle camera.
"All right, Harry? I'm Colin Creevy." He said tenatively. "I'm in Gryffindor. D'you think - would it be alright if - can I have a picture?"
Most of the Slytherin table was staring at him as if he was very unwelcome. Harry sighed and got up to lead the boy away from the table.
"You have a lot to learn Colin. Most of Slytherin house are not very tolerant of muggleborns. Yes you can have a picture but only if you promise not to put yourself at risk like by going up to Slytherin table like that."
"Oh ok. Sorry. I just really wanted to meet you Harry. People have told me all about you. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you. About your lightning scar on your forehead. And a boy in my dorm said that if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures will move. It's amazing here isn't it? I never knew the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got a letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. I'm taking as many pictures as I can to send home to him."
Harry led Colin back to the Gryffindor table. he let Colin take a picture of him and headed back to Slytherin table. Harry got a headache as he passed Ginny writing in her book. Odd.
"Did you really have to play nice with that mudblood Harry?" Draco sneered as Harry got back to the table.
"Draco what have I told you? Muggleborns might not even be muggleborns. They might be squib born. If that's the case, they are still from a wizarding family, the magic just skipped a generation or two." said Harry.
"Yeah yeah. Still he's risking exposure of the wizarding world by taking pictures of this place and giving them to his muggle father. There should be laws against that." Draco said.
After lunch they headed to the DADA classroom. The classroom was filled with portraits of Lockhart in various poses. Tobias felt like throwing up. Harry and Tobias headed for seats at the back of the classroom so they wouldn't have to deal with the real Lockhart. The rest of the class showed up, and Draco sat down on the other side of Harry.
When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He picked up one of his books off one of the students table and held it up to show the picture of himself on the front.
"Me." he said, pointing at it and winking. "Gildroy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Forces Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
He laughed at his own joke. The students did not.
"I see you all have bought a complete set of my books, well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about - just to check how well you've read them.
He handed out the test papers and returned to the front of the class and said "You have thirty minutes. Start now!"
Tobias looked down at the quiz paper and snorted. He knew the ponce would make this class all about him. The questions were all about Gildroy Lockhart and had little if nothing to do about defense against the dark arts. I mean really? 'What is Gildroy Lockhart's secret ambition?' was one of the many questions. Tobias did even bother writing any of the answers. He just wrote at the bottom of the page: "Do you plan on teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts or just teaching a class about yourself?"
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and looked through them. He paused when getting to Tobias's quiz and looked annoyed for a second. Then he continued going through the papers.
"Tut, tut. Hardly any of you remembered what my ideal birthday gift was. In Wanderings with Werewolves I clearly state that it would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples."
Quite a few of the Slytherins sneered at that.
"It seems most of you need to read my books more carefuly. My favorite color is lilac not pink. Oh well. Onto business!"
He reaches beneath his desk and brings out a large covered cage, placing it on his desk.
"Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourself facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."
Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. The class was curious about what was in the cage and were leaning forward to see.
"I must ask you not to scream." said Lockhart. "It might provoke them."
He whipped off the cover.
Tobias snickered at what he saw in the cage.
"Yes. Freshly caught Cornish pixies." Lockhart said very pleased with himself.
"Cornish pixies aren't very dark are they though?" said Theo who was trying not to fall out of his chair from laughing.
"They are devilish tricky little blighters make no mistake." Lockhart said as he puts his hand on the cage latch. "Now let's see what you make of them!" He opened the cage.
It was chaos. The pixies shot in every direction. Several made a break for it shooting straight through the windows, raining glass on several students. The rest pretty much destroyed the classroom. They upended tables, dumped ink bottles over peoples heads, tore up books. Before long most of the class was hiding beneath desks. Lockhart was urging them to round the pixies up as if that was an easy thing to do. He rolled up his sleeves and flourished his wand saying some rather made up sounding spell as he pointed his wand at the pixies. Unsurprisingly nothing happened. He freaked out and decided to let the students deal with the pixies themselves, running out the door. Tobias sighed and stood up. He placed an Immobulus charm around the pixies and placed them back in the cage.
"Incompetent teachers." Tobias mumbles to himself as he gathers his things and walks out the door. Draco and Harry rush to follow him.
The next few days were mostly spent with Harry trying to dodge a very persistent Gildroy Lockhart. The man just wouldn't leave Harry alone. Tobias suggested several curses that would deal with Lockhart but Harry didn't want Tobias to get kicked out of school for him.
Their other classes went pretty well as normal. Potions was a bit more bearable for Harry since Snape was actually helpful now and not sneering at everyone. Things seemed pretty normal and a bit boring for the silver trio.
Then Quidditch try outs arrived. Draco and Harry were very excited but also scared that they wouldn't get on the team. Harry wanted to be a seeker and since Draco conceded that Harry was better at catching the snitch than he was, he agreed to instead try out for a chaser position.
Marcus Flint gathered all the people that were trying out by the bleachers. "Alright you lot listen up! Popularity isn't going to win you anything here with me. You are either good at what you try out for or you don't get on the team." he glares at a few he knows wont make it. "Chasers first. Line up!"
Draco got rather nervous as he lined with the other students trying out for chaser. Marcus gets their keeper to go by the goals and gets out a quaffle.
"Ok one at a time. Try to score a goal. Without bludgers this ought to be easy." Marcus said as he tossed the quaffle to the first student.
One by one each of the students try out. Some did pretty good, others rather bad. Draco managed to score most of the goals he threw so he felt a bit more confident in his abilities by the end of it.
Then they do flying trials. Each of them see how well they can get around with bludgers trying to hit them. Then they practice passing the ball. By the end Drao and the others are rather tired.
"Good job you lot. Now make way for the seeker try outs!" Marcus said
Harry and a few other stand up and go to the middle of the field with their brooms.
"This one will be simple. All you have to do is catch the snitch first." Marcus released the snitch and it darted off.
They all took to the air searching for it. Harry flew around searching for the small flying ball. Tobias, not one for making a fuss about sports, sat in the stands silently giving him support. Suddenly he saw the snitch. It was right by Marcus's head. He checked to see if any of the other people can see it and then darted towards the ground where Marcus was standing. A few of the others noticed and followed him but it was too late. Harry snatched it out of the air as it tried to dart away. He landed and hold it up for Marcus to see.
"Well done Potter. That was some of the fastest flying I've ever seen. You're on the team Potter." Marcus said impressed at him. The others accept defeat and walk away.
"As for the chasers well most of you did well but only two of you are getting on the team. Malfoy you are on the team. Warrington you are also on the team. Now don't be late for team practices when I start them or you will be sorry."
Draco beamed. All he could talk about when they got back to their common room was how he got on the team and was going to get a new broom now. Harry had to admit he was excited to play Quidditch as well.
Sure enough not two days later the entire Slytherin Quidditch team, save Harry who already got one, got new brooms sent to them by Draco's father. Draco had to wonder to himself if he had gotten on the team because of his father but Marcus assured him he had not been aware that Malfoy senior was going to send brooms and that that wouldn't have changed his choice of players even if he had known.
About a month into the school year Nagini comes up to Tobias and Harry when they are in the common room and gives them some interesting news.
"There's another snake in the castle, masters! He is a king of snakes and I was humbled before him. He seems ill though as if he has been in the dark too long." Nagini hissed in an awed tone.
"A king of snakes? What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Harry I think she means there is a basilisk in the castle. They are known as the king of snakes." Tobias said having read about it somewhere. "Where is he Nagini? I would very much like to meet him."
"He is in the pipes master. I met him while hunting for rats in the pipes. I'm not sure where his nest is though. He seemed rather lonely. I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you master." Nagini hissed.
"In the pipes? Well that makes things difficult. There must be some entrance a human could use." Tobias said thinking. "Nagini can you search for an entrance for us? No hurry really. I'm just curious."
"I will do my best master. There are a lot of pipes and tunnels throughout the school. It may take a while to find an entrance that you can use."
"Thank you Nagini." said Tobias.
A few days later as Harry is wandering the halls he hears a hissing voice that seems to be coming from the walls.
"Come...come to me...Let me rip you...Let me tear you...Let me kill you..."
Harry jumps and looks around nervously. Then he realizes that the voice is in parseltongue. It must've been the basilisk that Nagini told them about! Harry looked around at the walls. There must be large pipes running through the walls. Harry thought to himself that the snake sounded a bit unhinged. He supposed after being stuck in the castle for who knows how long he might've gone insane with loneliness and boredom. He'll have to tell Tobias about what he heard.
October arrived and they still hadn't found an entrance. Tobias got Nagini to keep the basilisk company but he still didn't reveal where his nest was. Snakes do tend to be a bit territorial so she wasn't surprised. She was surprised he hadn't eaten her yet though. She supposed he appreciated the company.
Harry and Draco were rather busy with Quidditch practice. Marcus Flint was tough on them because he wanted to win.
Harry came in from a very rainy practice one time by himself, Draco being forced to stay and practice more after he complained to Marcus that he was too cold and wet to practice. Harry dripped mud all over the floor as he walked. He noticed Mrs. Norris, Caretaker Filch's cat, eyeing him as he passed. He tried to get away but Filch seemed magnetically drawn to the spot his cat was and noticed how Harry was getting his floors dirty.
"Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me, Potter!" Filch growled.
Harry gloomily followed Filch downstairs and to Filch's office. He'd never seen Filch's office before. The room was dingy and small. Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around looking for parchment. When he found some he listed Harry's name and his supposed crime of messing up the floors.
Suddenly there was a large bang on the ceiling of the office.
"Peeves!" Filch roared and stormed from the room.
Harry wait for him to come back. He sat in a moth eaten chair next to the desk. He noticed a glossy envelope on the desk. Harry was curious so he picked up the envelope and read: Kwikspell - A correspondence Course in Beginners Magic. He read through the paper. It talked about people not being able to do spells well and how it would teach them to be better at magic. He thumbed through the rest of the envelope.
Suddenly Filch returned and Harry quickly placed the envelope back on the table before he could notice. Filch's eyes darted to the kwikspell envelope and too late Harry noticed it was two feet away from where it had been.
"Did you read...?"
"No." Harry lied quickly.
Filch look really nervous. "If I knew you'd read my private...not that it's mine...for a friend...be that as it may..."
Harry had never seen Filch look so mad before.
"Very well...go..and dont breathe a word...not that...however, if you didn't read...go now, I have to write up Peeves' report, go."
Harry sped out of the office, up the corrider and up the stairs.
"Harry! Harry! Did it work?" came a two voices at once.
Fred and George leaned against the wall staring at Harry expectantly.
"That was you two?" Harry said.
"Well sort of." said Fred.
"We noticed Filch harassing you." said George.
"And thought it would be funny to mess with him a bit."
"So we bribed Peeves the Poltergeist to make noise one floor above Filch's office."
"We saw him go running..."
"But we weren't sure if we distracted Filch enough to get him to not punish you as harshly."
Harry smiled. "It worked. He didn't punish me at all. But why would you help me? I'm a Slytherin."
"We don't care about the color of someone's tie." said Fred.
"We are glad you escaped punishment Harry." both twins said. "See you later Harry." They walked off, leaving Harry to smile at the fact that not all the Gryffindors hated him.
Halloween rolled around. This time the silver trio decided to skip the Malfoy family's annual Samhain party. They went down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Draco sneered at how 'muggle' they had made the holiday. Carved pumpkins were floating in the air around the room and several spiders had been convinced to make intricate webs around the room as decoration. The meal consisted of a large quantity of sweets along with several different meats and potatos. Harry ate so much he got a bit sick and had to make his way to the bathroom with Tobias's help. On their way back they started to hear the strange voice in the walls again.
"...rip...tear...kill..."
They followed the voice certain that it would lead them to an entrance of some kind.
"...soo hungry...for so long..."
Harry and Tobias started running after the voice.
"...kill...time to kill..." The voice seemed to be moving upward. They ran up some stairs to the second floor and continued to follow it.
"I smell blood...I SMELL BLOOD!" Harry was sure that the snake was after something larger than a rat this time.
"It's going to kill something Tobias I know it!" Harry shouted.
They turned a corner into the last deserted passage.
"Look Harry what is that?" Tobias said pointing ahead of him. Something was shining on the wall ahead of them. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. There were words written on the wall in what looked to be blood. The words said: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
"What that hanging underneath?" Harry asked nervously.
They edged neared and almost slipped. There was a large puddle of water on the floor. They got near enough to see what it was that was hanging beneath the letters.
Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was as stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
"She's been petrified Harry. We need to leave now. We don't want to be found here." Tobias said grabbing Harry's arm to get his attention.
It was too late though. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs.
The noise died down suddenly when everyone noticed the hanging cat. Then someone shouted through the quiet.
"Enemies of the Heir beware! You'll be next Mudbloods!" It was Draco. Tobias rolled his eyes. Why did Draco have to be so dramatic? Tobias thought to himself.