Chapter Twelve: The Evil Within the Pages:
The attack on Mrs. Norris was devastating and caused most of the school to be in a panic. However, it was brushed underneath the rug within a few days and after a while people went on their lives, brushing it off as an isolated incident. Over the next few weeks, people went beyond their business, except for Filch who was in hysterics and more horrible to students than ever. Other than that, most of everyone went on with their lives and the incident was only something that was scarcely talked about, except by the more paranoid students who thought there might be something up like Harry Black.
However, while a cat was only a slight cause for concern, a second attack, with similar symptoms to the first one had cropped up a few weeks into November. It was first year Gryffindor Muggleborn Colin Creevey, who had been getting a reputation throughout the school as a potential stalker for the Girl-Who-Lived. Up until yesterday, he had followed her around but no longer. He had been found, petrified much like Mrs. Norris had just weeks ago.
As for his camera, well that was quite the grisly sight. The film had been destroyed, burned as if some kind of acid had destroyed it. Any evidence of an attacker was lost and the security of the Hogwarts students had been lost as well, as they were looking around any corner.
Fearful that what happened to Colin Creevey might happen to them. The cat was one thing, but the fact a student had been attacked was an entire matter entirely. It was much easier to harm an animal than it was to harm a living breathing human being.
And that was only after the news that Creevey had been petrified had spread through the school. The public outrage from the press, the Ministry, and the parents of the Hogwarts students would spread soon enough and who knew what would happen from there.
-
Harry had heard about what happened with Creevey and quite frankly the fact that the little nuisance had been petrified was of little concern to Harry. The fact he was pestering Lizzie after every waking moment, had caused Harry to wish for some kind of harm on Creevey. Besides, it was not like whatever happened had killed the little creep, in fact he was going to make a full recovery. He was going to live to stalk another day. That was not the issue, but something had came back up, that Harry had brushed off after Mrs. Norris had been attacked, as he had much like everyone else had dismissed it as an isolated incident in the end, even if he was among the last, along with Ginny, to let to go. Still, he felt vindicated they were right and thus a new problem was brought forth.
Rather a more pressing matter had caused Harry some grave concern and he addressed it when he was hanging out with Luna, Ginny, and Draco the next day on the ground.
"Creevey was petrified, by someone," said Harry thoughtfully.
"Or something," interjected Luna helpfully and Harry nodded. "I imagine there may be some dark creatures who might have had a hand in petrifying young Colin."
"Maybe," said Harry as he turned towards Draco, who was looking in the distance, deep in thought. "What could petrify someone? Spells, potions, creatures, all sorts of things. What could have done that to Creevey?"
"Why are you looking at me?" inquired Draco as both of the girls struggled not to giggle.
"Because Draco, your father has some questionable tastes in books and it stands to reason that you might have accidentally snuck a look at some of them," said Ginny as she struggled to keep a straight face.
"Touché, Weasley," remarked Draco in an irritated voice. "And for information, I do read and yes, someone being petrified can happen in a number of ways. Potions and spells, very dark, nothing that any of the students at Hogwarts could pull off. Even I can't and you know how skilled I am."
"Yes we do, after you blasted yourself in the wall that one time you tried a summoning charm," said Harry and Draco looked at him with mock outrage. "Still, you do have a point; no student at Hogwarts could pull off the dark magic to petrify anyone or anything. Which is even more baffling…"
"It is," said Ginny as she looked at Harry, she could tell he was frustrated that he could not figure this out. Harry hated not knowing anything. "It couldn't be one of the teachers could it?"
"I doubt it very much, they are a bunch of Dumbledore lovers who couldn't even pull off the most rudimentary of magic that's considered dangerous, much less complex dark magic," said Draco.
"Unless it's Snape," remarked Ginny. "He was rumored to dabble in dark magic a time or two in his day."
"It's not Snape," said Luna confidently without blinking or even missing a beat.
"How do you know?" asked Ginny curiously, as Luna just had one of her looks as if she was certain she was right and no one would sway her.
"No motive, as it just doesn't make sense for him to attack Colin," said Luna. "He wouldn't do anything to risk messing up his position with Dumbledore either."
"True Luna," said Ginny grudgingly, before she turned to the others, brushing her flaming red hair away from her eyes, as she was deep in thought as she reached an unfortunate conclusion. "Which leads us back to square one…"
"Knowing less than nothing?" offered Harry and the other three nodded. "It could be a dark creature, do any of you know anything that can petrify someone?"
Luna and Ginny shook their heads and Draco looked thoughtful for a moment, racking his brain but after a moment, he shook his head as well. Harry could have sworn he read about something somewhere that had the ability to petrify someone by looking them indirectly in the eye. It was ages ago and Harry had only read about it in passing. He could not even remember what book it might have been. It was going to bug him until he figured it out, but he had a feeling that if he remembered this vital piece of information
-
The entire school was buzzing after what happened to Colin Creevey. The most insane tales were flying around the school, as the theories appeared to get more and more absurd by each passing hour. Even Ravenclaw was not immune, as many of the members of the normally logical house had began to lose their heads and take a journey into the absurd.
Still, no matter how it had happened, the facts were there, Colin Creevey was found late last night, petrified. Reports varied slightly, but the most accepted answer was that Dumbledore had found him and brought the first year Gryffindor to the hospital wing. He had been petrified much like that cat had been just weeks ago. Mandrakes were being prepared, as a project by the second year students, but it would be quite some time before they would be ready for harvest. The end of the year appeared to be the time table and at that time, the Restorative Draught would be concocted to bring Mrs. Norris and Colin out of their states.
"It's weird, I can't think of anything that could be doing this," said Lisa with a frown, as she said with Elizabeth and Padma in the back of the library, in quiet voices. "With the cat, I was willing to let it go as just being a prank gone wrong, but now two for two…"
"Some advanced dark magic, I would imagine, it would have to be," muttered Padma as she strained to think of anything. "Obviously I have no idea on the specifics but if he could leave Creevey petrified and even Dumbledore can't undo it…"
"Are we sure Dumbledore can't undo it? Because there are a lot of things he should and can undo that he chooses not to," asked Elizabeth in a bit of a challenging voice, as she clutched her bag, with the diary on the top. She had heard about the Creevey incident and had a feeling of subconscious dread that she could not really pinpoint. The fact was that Mrs. Norris suffered her fate after Elizabeth had a run in with Filch and Creevey was now petrified after he was taking being annoying to a whole new level. Then he was petrified. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but something strange was going on, people that she was having run ins with had been dropping petrified. Elizabeth did not believe in coincidences and wondered if the person behind the attacks were trying to frame her. Her mind reasoned that Dumbledore might be behind this somehow, trying send her back to the Dursleys. Once again, Elizabeth envisioned Dumbledore's bloody demise and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Too bad there was little chance of it ever becoming a reality.
"Well no," admitted Lisa as she looked at her friend, with a raised eyebrow. "It's just what everyone is saying…"
"I would have thought you two would have not believed what everyone was saying after what Dumbledore put me through," said Elizabeth in a bit of a testy voice as she looked at her friends, who recoiled slightly at the intense look in their friend's eyes. "He's nothing but a two timing old bastard who would put a few lives in peril for his own benefit…"
"We know Elizabeth, but I don't think you should really take that tone with us, we don't know really what happened, we just are saying what everyone else is talking about," said Padma as she looked at Elizabeth. "You've had a short temper lately…"
"I know, I don't know what's going on, all the press, it's really starting to get to me," responded Elizabeth, but even this feeble explanation sounded beyond absurd in her mind. To be honest, she thought the press had something to do with it. Skeeter had written another article that had implied that it was Elizabeth's fault for what happened at the Dursleys and also made a remark along the lines of the Wizarding World needing to choose their heroes better. She never met Skeeter in her life, but she seemed like a parasite who was only worried about enhancing her own reputation and making a bit of extra gold.
Still she could not shake the feeling that there was something else going on. Elizabeth made a mental note to talk to Harry, but for some reason, she felt it was not too pressing of a matter to waste Harry's time.
"Actually, it's alright Elizabeth, you must be under a ton of stress," offered Lisa. "The hearing should be coming up and hopefully the Dursleys will be nothing but a bad memory. Even the Wizengamot can't ignore the facts."
"I hope you're right Lisa, I really do," said Elizabeth, who decided to talk to Tom, instead of Harry. There was no need to bother Harry, he had his own friends and she had intruded herself on his life once too often. Tom had nothing better to do and besides he was a help, teaching her all kinds of advanced magic that Hogwarts would never teach. Besides, since he was only a diary, Elizabeth felt no hesitation in ranting to him.
-
Severus Snape wanted to strangle Gilderoy Lockhart. The pompous blow head was talking about how if the person who was behind this had ever faced him, the attacks would stopped.
"If anyone who is dangerous enough to petrify someone ever came in contact with you, Lockhart, you would be running in the other direction as fast as you could, providing they did not kill you first," muttered Snape as he moved around where Dumbledore stood.
"You seem troubled Severus," remarked Dumbledore and Snape looked at Dumbledore. The old man might be brilliant but he had the tendency to state the obvious at times.
"These attacks, has the Chamber of Secrets really been reopened or is this an elaborate hoax?" asked Snape and Dumbledore looked at Snape calmly.
"I believe we should consider the possibility that it has been opened and it is a very grave one at that, the attacks last time it was opened were rather horrifying and in one case, lethal," responded Dumbledore, who was at a loss to see how Tom was doing it after all of these years. The last time he checked, he was in Albania and there was only a tiny fraction of him left, barely enough to even move without possessing something.
"Do you have any ideas on who may behind it?" asked Snape.
"Naturally I have my ideas Severus, but without proof to back them up, they tend to as worthless as any person's ideas," said Dumbledore as he looked at Snape with a sigh. "The upcoming custody trial for Elizabeth Potter, it sounds like the Wizengamot has scheduled it for February. She needs to be returned to the Dursleys but I fear retaliation from certain parties if I interfere too much in these matters."
"Headmaster, Andromeda Black won't give up on this, after the state she saw the girl in, and quite frankly I'm at a loss knowing what good this will do because you have a potential nightmare on your hands when one of two things happen," said Snape. "You will have a public relations nightmare when Potter gets killed or she kills the Dursleys. Take your pick which one you will think is likely to happen, but either of them would not be good to your reputation. Skeeter might be taking down Potter's reputation right now but she will attack yours as well giving the proper motives."
"Yes, Rita Skeeter does have that unfortunate tendency to write the worst about people, but there is far more at stake than a girl's happiness, besides she is perfectly safe," responded Dumbledore calmly, with a twinkle in his eyes. "Adversity breeds greatness in some people."
"It also breeds dark wizards and witches in many cases, Headmaster," said Snape as he looked at Dumbledore. "What makes you so sure she's not beginning to resent all Muggles?"
"She'll be safe, the Wizengamot has to see that, I have presented the specifications of the protections around the house to Amelia," said Dumbledore. "I have a feeling a logic minded woman like her not to mention the rest of the court could see the necessity of Elizabeth being sent back to the Dursleys even over other circumstantial evidence that she was being mistreated by her family."
"Have it your way Headmaster, but when this blows up in your face, don't say you weren't told this will happen," commented Snape lightly.
-
"February?" asked Ginny a couple of days later as she was talking to Harry privately in a corridor. "They managed to push it back that long."
"I'm afraid so, that's the soonest we could hope for, but at least this will be tied up by the end of the school year and Elizabeth won't have to spend another minute with those monsters," responded Harry as he sighed. "Mum's been collecting evidence, the pictures I took will help, but she also found records of several reports of abuse that had never been followed up. There was some digging there, but she found it nevertheless. Elizabeth has a pretty good chance of not going back there, I hope."
"If the evidence is so good, shouldn't it be cut and dry?" asked Ginny.
"You're right, it should be but it isn't, the Wizengamot has people with their own agendas, some will look at everything objectively, but most will look at how this will benefit them," said Harry. "Still, many could think that protecting the Girl-Who-Lived from an abusive household and being the people who voted to revoke the Dursleys guardianship rights would be something that might benefit their own agenda. Still with any luck, Elizabeth will join us and be away from them forever, although I can't shake the fact that Dumbledore still might have something up his sleeve."
"I hope not, but everything will work out, it has to," said Ginny in a firm voice, as she looked Harry in his eyes. "Of course, if this happens, there will be something that you need to tell Elizabeth, that you should have told her the first time you met her, you know…the twin thing."
"I know Ginny, believe me, I should have, I'm have to, and I'm going to when the time is right," responded Harry in a resigned voice as he looked at his friend. "The thing is, I've had half of my life to think about it and…it's something that I'm not sure how I'm going to do it even after all of this time."
"Perhaps you can go with something along the lines, 'Elizabeth can I talk to you? How are you doing? Good, oh and by the way, we were twins that were separated at birth because of some hair brained scheme of Dumbledore's, which was none of my fault so please don't hex me. By the way, what's for lunch'", responded Ginny and Harry gave her a look with narrowed eyes. "I know, but that's the best I can come up with. When the time is right, you will come up with a way to explain this to her with a minimum of bloodshed, but it might be better if it's done soon of the year."
"By the end of the year, I'll think of something by then," said Harry as he looked at Ginny who nodded, it was obvious she was going to make sure Elizabeth knew one way or another.
"It would be better for both of you and we don't have to sneak around, keeping this secret from our friends," said Ginny. "Do you plan on telling the press about this if Dumbledore tries something later on?"
"I really don't want it to come to that, because I'll have all those, Harry Potter is actually the Boy-Who-Lived nutcases coming out of the woodwork, not that there are not a fair deal of those folks around now, thinking I'll in some shack, being raised to be some ultimate warrior of magical power, with Elizabeth being used as a decoy, but thankfully those rumors have died down in recent years," said Harry, as he looked at Ginny. "I'm still worried about what's Petrifying these students.."
"We all are to an extent, especially since no one has found anything linking to who might behind the attacks," said Ginny and Harry could see worry etched in her eyes.
"Anyone could be behind this, your brother is sprouting off some insane theory that Draco is behind it, just because he's Slytherin," remarked Harry with a bit of irritation in his voice and Ginny did not need to ask Harry to clarify which brother he was talking about. "Granger is agreeing with him and you know how rare that is. At least Longbottom has some brains, along with a bit of common sense, and is trying to convince them that they might be making a mistake but too bad he doesn't have too much of a spine to force your brother to listen to reason, logic, or just listen period."
"True," said Ginny as the door opened. They quickly acted natural but it was just Luna, who walked in.
"There you two are, I've been looking all over for you," remarked Luna as she looked at her two friends. "I thought you two might be interested but there is a dueling club down in the Great Hall, the first meeting starts in ten minutes."
"Really, that's interesting," commented Harry as Ginny nodded by his side, as they followed Luna.
"Draco is already down there with his approved friends, but he told me to come and get you two, because I doubt you would want to miss this," commented Luna lightly, as she lead Harry and Ginny towards the Great Hall.
"I wonder who is teaching the class," said Harry, the two girls as they walked forward.
"Well they said it could be someone with a dueling background, Professor Flitwick was said to be a dueling champion when he was younger so it could be him," remarked Luna. "Snape might be another possibility, or maybe even Dumbledore himself."
"Yeah that could be but knowing our luck, it will probably be Lockhart," remarked Ginny in a joking manner as they approached the podium but she stopped, as Harry looked at her. Sure enough one Gilderoy Lockhart was approaching the stage with a bright smile. She looked around towards Harry and Luna, who both struggled not to laugh at the look of utter revulsion on her face. "I hate it when I'm right."
"In this case, I agree, why did you have to be right, Ginny?" asked Harry as he felt sick at the very sight of Lockhart as he waved, with that vomit inducing smile. Several girls swooned, which made Harry very glad that they kept who was teaching the Dueling Club a secret. If there were masses of fan girls there, he did not know if he could take it.
"Everyone welcome to the dueling club," said Lockhart in a boisterous voice. He looked around, he appeared to have one setting, egotistical and self serving whether it was an autograph signing, "teaching" Defense Against the Dark Arts, or leading a dueling club. As he stepped back to look around, they spotted Snape sitting there, who appeared to want to distance himself from this as much as possible. "I will be teaching this club and Professor Snape will be my assistant. I understand he knows a bit about dueling himself."
"Just a bit?" whispered Ginny. "Are we talking about the same Severus Snape?"
"Hopefully they give a realistic demonstration," remarked Harry which caused Luna and Ginny to snicker, Draco appeared to be disgusted on the other end, as Pansy, along with several others, swooned at the very presence of Lockhart.
"I'm ashamed on belief of the female sex right about now," said Ginny as she looked away in disgust.
"Especially since some people should be smart enough," muttered Harry.
"Now we will deliver a short demonstration of what we might be teaching you, naturally none of us will be aiming to kill," said Lockhart.
"Damn," whispered Ginny sadly.
"Think if we slipped Snape ten Galleons, he might throw something that would snap Lockhart's neck or at the very least remove his vocal cords," remarked Harry.
"Maybe some kind of warts curse or have his hair fall out," suggested Ginny but several girls looked scandalized but Luna looked on with interest, not saying much. She had read Lockhart's books, admitting she had serious self harm issues because of that fact. She tended to have an open mind but they did seem too far fetched. Lockhart and Snape circled each other and Snape easily blocked Lockhart's laughable attack before he knocked him to the ground. Harry heard some snickers, mostly coming from the two girls on either side of him. He looked up and Elizabeth looked positively amused as well and Draco did not bother to even hide his mirth, laughing, getting glares from Pansy the entire time. Crabbe and Goyle even chuckled and mostly everyone who did not have a crush on Lockhart because of his smile was positively amused.
"Need a hand up, Gilderoy," said Snape in calm amusement.
"No thank on Severus, I'm fine," responded Lockhart as he rose to his feet, wincing in agony before he decided the time for demonstration was finished, given the fact that Snape might be a little more rough during the next attack. "As Professor Snape just demonstrated, he used the disarming charm, the incantation Entrailarius…"
"Expelliarmus," corrected Snape with narrowed eyes. He hated when people got spell incantations incorrect.
"Yes, that would be it," responded Lockhart shaking his head. "I believe we could be paired up into groups to practice, remember disarming only, and then we can move forward with this dueling club."
-
Elizabeth wondered if someone was out to get her. A couple of weeks ago, a vase nearly toppled onto her head and she put it off to being an accident, but being in a dueling club with that pompous fool as the instructor really annoyed her. To make matters worse, she was partnered up with Granger. There were times where she wondered if the gods were playing some demented game of can you top this with her life. Padma and Lisa were paired up nearby and she could see Draco and Harry paired up, with Luna and Ginny paired up as well.
"Elizabeth," remarked Hermione calmly.
"Hermione," said Elizabeth calmly. "I believe dueling etiquette mandates we bow right now but I'm sure you read that in a book."
"Yes I have," said Hermione calmly with a nod, getting a sense she was being mocked. "Ready."
"Yes, I am," said Elizabeth and they turned to each other. Before Hermione could even say the incantation, Elizabeth threw a disarming charm. Hermione was hoisted up and her wand fell to the side. The Girl-Who-Lived looked on with a nod as Hermione got up.
"You said that spell silently," said Hermione in an accusing voice.
"Yeah, Harry taught me last year," said Elizabeth and Hermione just looked utterly enraged. She had rarely seen Elizabeth in the library, yet the girl had passed her by in nearly every subject. In fact, Harry appeared to be the only person smarter than the Girl-Who-Lived in their year, with Draco up there, the only thing holding him back was his lack of interests in a few subjects he had deemed unworthy. "It's not hard, unless of course you've been practicing with the incantations for five years, then it's a pain in the arse to figure out."
"You're not supposed to learn that until we're in our sixth year," said Hermione, outraged that Elizabeth had what she perceived to be an unfair advantage.
"Well, we're also not to be left with uncaring relatives and be a pawn to sell newspapers either, but life really isn't fair after all, is it?" asked Elizabeth and Hermione had no retort, she just sat back.
"It's obvious you have the spell down, I'll just step out of your way, because it's obvious you don't need to study," stated Hermione in a jealous tone of voice.
"Well if you spent a little less time with your nose shoved in a book, you might have some friends," responded Elizabeth in a hushed voice, the comment had just came out but the pressures of everything that had happened recently. Hermione stalked off, to take her aggressions out on Ron Weasley, who looked utterly hopeless on the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson looked at the Girl-Who-Lived with absolute disgust. Everyone thought she was perfect and heroic, but she was nothing really. She let herself get pushed around by her filthy, common, Muggle relatives, like a common piece of filth. Aiming her wand, Pansy had the perfect spell. She had found it when she had taken a look at one of her older brother's books.
"SERPENTSORTIA!" shouted Pansy suddenly, as a loud bang echoed, that knocked her off of her feet. A giant, but deformed snake appeared, as it turned around. Unfortunately for her, she had inefficient power to properly direct it. The snake made a beeline for a second year Hufflepuff student who paused, standing there like an idiot.
Elizabeth stopped, eyes widened in horror. There was still chaos going in the dueling club and thus it took several seconds for everyone to realize that the second year was about to get his throat torn by the snake. This caused Elizabeth to take an impulsive action that she regretted approximately two seconds later.
"STAY AWAY!" shouted Elizabeth and she recoiled as the entire dueling clubs eyes were on her. Hermione in particular was looking at her with some strange mixture of curiosity, fear, and jealously. Most of everyone screamed in fear.
"She's a dark witch, she just spoke in Parseltongue!" shouted a third year Ravenclaw with widened eyes.
"Knew there had to be something off with her!" shrieked another student as Elizabeth just turned, and rushed off. She could sense Padma and Lisa looking at her, but she could not really bare to see what they were saying. Lockhart looked absolutely perplexed, as Snape casually caused the snake to vanish, without even batting an eye.
Harry took a step forward, but Ginny grabbed him by the sleeve of his robes.
"Wait a couple of minutes, if she's anything like you are, she might be a bit short tempered," muttered Ginny in his ear, so only Harry could hear her.
"So Potter's a Parseltongue," remarked Draco casually as they walked from the dueling club.
"There's not a problem with that, is there, Draco?" asked Harry.
"Do I look like a Gryffindor to you?" responded Draco.
"Well, no, I can just imagine what Ron's saying right now," said Ginny in disgust. Ron had hero worshipped the ground the Girl-Who-Lived walked on but one incident like this would turn everything around.
"Some ill informed tripe I presume," remarked Luna as she looked at Padma and Lisa who walked out, looking very concerned.
"Did you see where Elizabeth went?" asked Lisa.
"She looked upset, I think she thinks that everyone will hate her now," said Padma.
"Most of everyone will hate her now, I knew this was going to happen," said Harry in an off handed voice.
"You knew?" asked Draco and Harry nodded.
"Naturally and I told her not to let anyone know, when she mentioned she had talked to snakes on a couple of occasions, but I guess she was caught up in the heat of the moment," said Harry. "I think she should be left alone for a little bit."
"But she might get the wrong impression and think we hate her," argued Lisa.
"Yeah, if we don't talk to her right away, it might make things worse," said Padma and Harry took a breath, but Ginny responded for him.
"Given all of what's happened lately, this could be the straw that breaks the Hippogriff's back," said Ginny. "Give her time, to cool down."
"She has been snippy lately, true," said Lisa. "It's those articles Skeeter is writing…"
"Believe me, we know and if there is anything I can do, I will put a stop to it," said Harry in a far off voice. Distantly, he could sense Elizabeth's feelings of both sadness and anger at what had happened, along with a strong amount of frustration. The twin bond, which had been deadened when they were separated, was starting to grow slightly stronger. That both caused Harry relief and worry, as he knew sooner or later, he would have to tell the truth. It was difficult, mostly because he had no idea how well Elizabeth would take it right now.
He loved his sister, but she could have a violent temper when provoked. She was mostly fine, as long as Dumbledore or the Dursleys were not brought into a conversation.
-
Parseltongue, talking to snakes, Harry warned me about that, but I didn't listen and now…
Everyone hates you.
Yes, that is a way to put it, Tom, but I wouldn't say everyone. A lot of people don't like me to begin with because I defeated Voldemort. I still have my friends, at least I think I do…
Can you be certain of that?
Of course, Harry at least, he knew and he would never turn away from me. I trust him, he's never lied to me about anything.
Perhaps, Elizabeth, but I do find it odd that everyone is so willing to condemn you, yet they will expect you to rise up when something threatens them. Pitiful, if I may say so myself. Perhaps you should have let the snake kill that foolish boy.
Tom, I can't believe you would suggest such a thing, now, I wanted to ask you something, about my black outs, they have been occurring at the oddest times.
Stress, Elizabeth, you're overworking yourself and those articles are taking a toll. The winter holidays are coming up soon if I'm not mistaken. That will give you time to breath.
I guess, you're right Tom, I'll be seeing you, I need to lie down, I have a headache.
Do rest, I'll be speaking to you soon enough, I expect.
Without another word, the diary closed shut and Elizabeth's mind went blissfully blank.
-
Tom sighed, his hold on the girl was not as strong as he would have liked. He had to exert more force and it was taking much longer to get his hooks into her so to speak than he would have liked. He was intrigued by the power, but she had to be something. She defeated his future self after all. He mentally plotted to give some hints that her friends might be shunning her, while also planting subconscious suggestions to keep her distance from them.
Right now, the time seemed ripe for another attack to make Hogwarts aware of the presence of the heir of Salazar Slytherin.
-
Harry walked down the hallway, deep in thought, at everything that had just occurred in the Dueling Club not even a few hours ago. Technically he was not supposed to be out, as it was after curfew but that never stopped him before. He thought about writing to his mother, asking her for some advice but he stopped when he saw a very peculiar sight.
His sister standing there in the hallway, muttering something under her breath, he could see a shadow moving but he could not get a glimpse of it. She said something in Parseltongue that Harry could not understand as he moved forward and his eyes widened, as he saw a small dark haired first year Hufflepuff on the ground; face looking like it was carved out of stone.
Harry approached Elizabeth cautiously; she was there, with a vapid expression in her eyes. The light was on and no one was home. At the sound of footsteps, Harry made an executive decision to grab her by the arm and pull her behind a tapestry, before anyone could see her at the scene of the crime. There had to be a reasonable explanation about this and Harry was determined to get to the bottom of this.
-
Tom cursed himself, wishing he had not dismissed the Basilisk right away. His hold on the girl was beginning to weaken but he saw Harry Black. He was the one obstacle for total control of the vessel. Black being petrified or worse would cause the girl to pour even more time and emotion into the diary; it was obvious they were rather close friends.
He felt the vessel being pulled up towards the Astronomy tower and the girl slowly coming to her senses. He tried to regain enough control to stun Black but it was not happening as the vessel's eyes were beginning to flicker open.
-
"Harry?" asked Elizabeth in a dazed voice. "What just happened?"
"You were found…you were found over a first year Hufflepuff girl that had been petrified," said Harry quickly and Elizabeth looked horrified. "Look Lizzie, I'm not accusing you of anything but…"
"I believe you Harry," said Elizabeth, as she tried to tell Harry about the black outs she was suffering but her vocal cords were not working. It was almost like some separate entity was controlling her ability to speak.
"Now, Elizabeth, while I know you're not behind this, I do need to know if you might have had any access to any enchanted or cursed objects that might have caused you to do this," said Harry and Elizabeth nearly nodded, before she shook her head. She had no idea what was causing to do this.
"Tom," whispered Elizabeth in a strained voice, causing her throat to be raw red from strain of getting that one word out.
"He's trying to separate us Elizabeth, he's jealous of the friendship we have, he just wants to use you like the rest of them, you have to attack him," muttered a voice in her ear.
"Pardon?" asked Harry in confusion.
"Last thing I remembered…writing in…my…diary…diary," said Elizabeth as she slumped against the wall. "It's…"
"Now, Lizzie, there's really no need for that," said a voice in her ear, it was persuasive and charming. "Sure a few blackouts, but you're more powerful and stronger than ever. Together, we took care of Creevey, we sent Filch a message by taking out his cat. The Hufflepuffs would have said things behind your back and walked all over you, but they knew to fear us now."
"Don't want to…" said Elizabeth as she slowly held the diary out with trembling hands. Harry stepped forward and suddenly, he felt a strong urge to write in the diary. This urge nearly overpowered it. "It's making me…"
"No, Elizabeth, do you want to go back to the Dursleys?" asked the voice. "With my help, you can stop anyone who hurts you, one by one, even Dumbledore wouldn't be a match for you when I'm through with you. Harry will understand, use the coma spell on him to remove him as a witness, it's harmless, he'll be out for six months."
"You want me to attack Harry, I can never…first friend I ever had," said Elizabeth.
"Is he really a friend?" asked the voice. "He left you to linger at the Dursleys, to suffer, he let Dumbledore dictate what he did, he doesn't give a damn, only to make himself look better, because you're the Girl-Who-Lived."
Harry looked at the diary to the flicker expression in his twin's eyes and he knew immediately what must be done.
"Elizabeth, drop the diary, it has a hold on you," said Harry. "It's making you attack these people, you have to fight it, you're stronger than it ever will be."
"Must fight, can't let it take advantage of me," muttered Elizabeth.
"What are you doing?" asked the voice in a slightly hurt tone. "Do you realize what kind of power you're throwing away? I can teach you more than seven years of education at Hogwarts can. Otherwise, you'll always be nothing but a weak little girl."
"I'm not weak!" thought Elizabeth forcefully. "I don't need you to be powerful, I don't need you to be good at magic, I don't need you at all. You've used me to attack people, taken advantage of me…"
"No one denies me, you won't leave here…" stated Tom in a wicked voice. "You are mine to do with as I please. You can't just get rid of me just like that."
Harry snapped his fingers and Elizabeth jerked up. She looked at the diary in her hands, it looked so harmless, so unexpected, but there was nothing more wicked. She looked towards the Astronomy Tower window and the glass window pane vanished, allowing her to throw the diary right out of the Astronomy Tower window.
She collapsed backwards, where Harry caught her before she could smack her hand onto the desk. It felt like something was torn away from her very essence and she felt extremely weak as a result. Still, she knew that she had somehow got rid of Tom before he completely influenced her.
"Are you alright Lizzie?" asked Harry in a concerned voice, as she nodded.
"Fine, but I think I might need the Hospital Wing," said Elizabeth with a strained smile.
"Right away," said Harry as he lead her gently down the stairs, it was a good thing that Madam Pomfrey never asked too many questions. His sister had thrown off what appeared to be a very powerful magical artifact. He planned to go and fetch it immediately in the morning. That was not the type of thing that one left lying around.
-
A pair of gloved hands picked up the book that was lying on the snow early in the morning and walked back into the school with it just moments before Harry had gone out to retrieve it.
Wow, first update in almost two and a half months. To be fair, I've been working on my other story a lot more recently.
Hopefully the next update comes out a bit sooner, at least that's the intention.