The Peverell Descendent
DISCLAIMER: I, Harbinger of Order do not own Harry Potter and the following story. It is related to the works of J.K. Rowling but I claim no ownership to Harry Potter in any form whatsoever.
It had been a few weeks since Harry heard the mysterious voice. Harry still feels uneasy at his reaction to the voice last time he encountered it. He had been doing some research about killer serpents and the king of all serpents, the basilisk in order to be prepared the next time he encounters it. The Basilisk, as it turns out was a more fearsome beast than he had imagined.
According to history, the last recorded Basilisk was four hundred years ago in India where a local wizard was controlling it to try and take over the lands of the neighbouring kingdoms Though the wizard was not very powerful because of his command of the serpent, he was deemed a threat. It took 75 trained wizards to subdue it and ultimately kill the beast and its master. But the death toll was high. Out of the 75, only 5 survived, many of them dying in the first few minutes of the fight after they looked the serpent in its eye. In the coming centuries, the invention of the Conjunctivitis Curse would have made the fight easier but still due to the keen sense of smell the death toll would have been as high. This incident led to the knowledge of breeding of a basilisk suppressed in India by the Erstwhile Magical Government of India and it was made a taboo to even try to do so. When the British took over India, the sages and their disciples, in order to escape prosecution by their British magical counterparts moved to the Himalayas and escaped with most of the lost rituals and spell including the steps involved in breeding and hatching a basilisk egg with them. It is said that they still live in the Himalayas to this day. Many magical expeditions which have tried to locate them have ended in failure. Even though an independent Magical Government of India has been re-established but it doesn't look like the sages are returning anytime soon.
-An Encyclopaedia of Magical Serpents
This had occupied Harry's thoughts for the past few weeks. When he was not training under Flitwick or studying for his N.E.W.T.s Harry scoured the library for books on combating the basilisk, he already knew the conjunctivitis curse but he hasn't mastered it yet. Unlike masters of this spell who could affect the creature by hitting it anywhere on its body, he has to hit the eye directly for it to affect the creature, which would be very troublesome in case of a basilisk. Harry decided to continue practising the spell meanwhile, he has to keep searching for alternate means to combat the Basilisk.
While all of this was going on, Flitwick had been training Harry trying to improve his reaction time while Harry was in Hyperawareness, trying to increase his speed of spell-casting and spell-deflection, trying to increase the speed at which his mind processed his surroundings for efficient planning, strategy and ultimately a good counter-attack if needed. It was gruelling but Flitwick assured him that it would all be worth it in the future.
He and Cedric were becoming fast friends too. Harry could never make friends easily but Cedric was an easy-going person who was interested in Harry and not in his brother which was a first for Harry. Harry initially was closed off to him and maintained a purely professional relationship at first but after a few weeks of interaction between both of them, Harry found his first friend in Cedric.
It was true the other way around too. Sure Cedric was friendly to a lot of people in Hogwarts, but Harry was the first person he could genuinely consider as a friend.
It had been a week since Aetheria returned. She was getting antsy in his room in the Ravenclaw tower because of which she started to take late night flights in the Forbidden Forest. This lead to a rumour about a white phoenix in the Forbidden Forest which was followed by unsuccessful late night treks by many student groups trying to get a glimpse of her.
It was Halloween; Harry was sitting with Cedric in the Ravenclaw table. He had been animatedly talking for the past few minutes but Harry was barely paying attention to him.
"...and I fell on my arse. This was the first time I was travelling by an international Portkey. Anyway long story short we met up with the representation of the Magical Government of Nigeria who were very accommodating of us. While father talked business I managed to get a behind the scenes tour of the magical reserve! It was…." Cedric continued talking but Harry had already droned him out.
"…rip… tear… kill…"
It was faint but it still it caused a chill to travel down his spine. Harry immediately let go of the spoon which landed on the tart with a splat. Cedric shot Harry a puzzling look as he whipped his head around trying to identify the source of the voice.
"…soo hungry… for so long…"
Harry got up from his seat and walked out of the hall at a brisk pace followed by Cedric who was trying to keep up with him. As he exited the hall, he could hear the end of the feast announcements. Harry paid no heed to it as he ran towards the source of the voice.
"…kill… time to kill…"
Harry identified the source of the voice and was about to confront it when he heard a shout from behind him. Cedric who had been following him slipped on the stairs and had broken his ankle. Harry rushed down the stairs and offered the boy some support as he tried to get up.
"…I smell blood… I SMELL BLOOD!"
The voice was close. It was on the floor up the stairs. Aetheria appeared above them in a burst of flame and let out a trill. Both Harry and Cedric felt a sense of unease and discomfort. Harry acted quickly and readied his wand from his holster, as he unsheathed his wand, his grip on Cedric faltered who slid off his shoulder with a muted yelp and landed on the floor with a crunch. He suppressed a pained wail as he squirmed around on the floor but nobody paid any attention to him. After a few minutes of silence, Harry heard the sound of stone grinding on stone and a faint sound of a large lock clicking into place. Immediately the sense of unease drained out of him and he visibly relaxed even though his wand was still trained at the corridor on top of the stairs.
Aetheria landed on Cedric's leg who by then had stopped squirming and was busy admiring the beautiful avian in front of him. Harry sheathed his wand in his holster and approached the fallen boy. Aetheria lowered her head towards his wound and cried a few tears. The wound started smoking and after a few seconds, the ankle was as good as new.
Harry cast an Episkey on his back. There was a groan of satisfaction by the downed Hufflepuff as he helped himself up. Before Cedric could ask anything Harry whispered "Later".
Aetheria gave Harry a look which said 'We shall soon have words' and disappeared in a burst of flame narrowly missing the crowd of students exiting the hall after dinner. Harry and Cedric mingled in with the crowd and walked up the stairs.
On the floor as they followed the path into a deserted passage. Many of the students noticed the presence of Andrew, Ron, and Hermione who were standing in front of a wall. Harry noticed something shining on the wall. As the group approached it, Harry realized that the shine was coming out of the words daubed on the wall a foot above the ground between two windows. It was shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches which accentuated the sinister nature of the message.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HAIR, BEWARE
And hanging from the torch bracket casting a shadow on the floor below was Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
Evidently, somebody else had noticed the cat and the message and let out a shrill scream. This caused an inrush of students towards the water. Many of the people who approached the message almost slipped due to a large puddle of water on the floor.
As the group moved towards the puddle, Harry's trousers were beginning to get wet due to the splashing of the water underneath. Harry pointed his wand towards the puddle and moved it in a circular motion, the tip of his wand began to glow a turquoise colour. Harry flicked his wand towards the bathroom and immediately the water crawled towards the bathroom and fell into a nearby drain hole and disappearing into the plumbing.
Many of the students looked at him thankfully but a majority of the attention was diverted when shouts were heard near the wall. Andrew and Filch were arguing while Ron and Hermione defended him. Harry pushed his way to the front of the group to see what was going on.
Filch's face had turned red with anger as he pointed his finger at Andrew and shouted "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS POTTER. I WILL STRING YOU BY YOUR THUMBS AND …"
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the arrival of Dumbledore.
"You will do no such thing, Argus." He glanced at the cat hanging from the torch bracket and the writing on the wall. His eyes widening momentarily "As for Mrs. Norris, she is not dead but merely petrified. Someone send for Madame Pomfrey. I'm afraid her services will be needed."
"Ah! Thought so!" said Lockhart as he stroked the fur on Mrs. Norris' head "So unlucky I wasn't here. I knew just the counter curse that would have spared her. Very nasty curse this. This might be the work of an intruder Professor, we might have a breach in the castle wards. I, of course, am available if you want help in reinforcing them." This caused more panic among the gathered students whose were talking amongst each other in a panic. Filch began to look around with narrowed eyes trying to detect the mystery intruder in the castle.
Albus gave him a pointed look that shut him up. "Firstly let me assure you that the castle wards are as strong as they can be. This situation will be investigated thoroughly. For now all students please proceed to your respective dormitories... except you three." Said Dumbledore pointing at Andrew, Ron and Hermione. "There's nothing to see here. The situation is being handled."
As the group dispersed, Andrew, Ron and Hermione were escorted away by Dumbledore as Lockhart and McGonagall followed them. Madam Pomfrey who had arrived on the scene by then levitated the cat out of the torch bracket and started walking towards the Hospital wing while Filch followed her.
As the crowd dispersed, only Cedric remained. Harry looked at him and took a deep calming breath.
This was going to be a long night.
Authors Note: Well before I begin I would like to wish a belated Happy New Year to all of my readers. For the past few months, I have been neglecting this story in favour of my academics. It was a tough few months for me but now I'm ready to get back into it so expect faster updates and revised chapters for better grammar and correcting factual errors (If any).
As usual please read and review!
~HoO
P.S. Little bit of edits and some dialogue here and there. For people asking me to add dialogue, The next chapter will be pretty dialogue heavy.
