Chapter 9:

Harry Potter was unhappy about several things.

But on this particular October Wednesday morning, sitting on his bed, hidden from the dorm around him by his bed-curtains, he was unhappy about his abysmally low strength stats.

STR-17

VIT-24(+4)=28

DEX-22(+4)=26

INT-40

WIS-43

LUC-27

His Int and Wis stats were above most adults, but he was only as good as an average seventh year in the Str department. The complete imbalance of the stats towards his Int and Wis just felt really off to him.

Granted, he should have expected that. He was at a school that taught magic. Of course his skills would be more oriented towards the mana side of his abilities. But Harry really didn't want to slack in any department. He was very insistent with himself about that.

It was while riding that particular train of thought, that Harry remembered a memory about one particular idea that he'd heard about quite a while back, but never really used. Closing his eyes, he used Gamer's Mind to pull forth that memory of the Malfoy's New Year party.

Celestina Warbeck eyed her tumbler before looking at Harry. "Wanna take a sip."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me Miss Warbeck, but I'm kind of underage."

"Come on Harry. There's a lot crazier stuff to do than drink underage. The last guy I slept with used to turn his clothes into stone just to try to bulk up. Did it because I told him he was a fat slob once. Wanted to impress me." Celestina said

"So did he? Impress you?"

"Oh hell no. I left him three days later. Too desperate. So don't you wanna have your first drink?"

Harry sighed.

Wearing an inner vest made of stone wasn't exactly the best idea he'd ever had, but he didn't really have anything else he could do here at Hogwarts that could help him increase his Str except long hours training in an ID. And with the school's current atmosphere of pure paranoia and worry, he disappearing for hours on end would not only be suspicious but also stupid.

Besides, he did have his Healing ability, in case he ended up breaking a few bones. So there was nothing holding him back from a bit of experimentation.

He took off his shirt and set his wand onto the vest he was wearing, before he incanted, "Duro"

With an "Oomph!" he slammed right back into the bed.

Stupid idea.

Very stupid idea.

Looking like a turtle that had somehow turned itself upside down, Harry flailed around a bit trying to right himself, before he decided to bugger it and opened up his stat window before feeding 6 points into his Str, bringing it up to 23.

He felt the strain of the stone vest on his muscles reduce as his increased strength stats went to work. Finally able to move his hands enough to cast a spell, Harry put his wand tip to the vest and cast a feather-light charm before he sat back up.

He'd have to ease into the weight, he realized, and not just throw it all on in one go.

Having understood that, he slowly reduced the amount of mana he was putting into the feather-light charm, making the stone vest weigh closer and closer to its true weight, before he canceled the charm entirely. At approximately 15 kilos, it wasn't straining his muscles all that much anymore.

Letting the weight of the vest ease in, Harry moved his torso around a bit, before he slipped on his shirt and robes. Parting the bedcurtains, he stepped off the bed.

The others hadn't woken up yet, he noted as he walked around, getting himself accustomed to the weighted vest. Realizing that Hedwig was awake, and was watching him with glinting eyes, Harry walked over to her gilded perch and scratched her behind her neck, amusedly watching as her eyes slid shut and her right leg started twitching.

"You look like a cat" he pointed out and got a baleful glare in response.

Hearing a melodious trill from outside, Harry looked out the window, only to see the familiar red plumed form of Fawkes fluttering about just outside the tower.

It was Hedwig's time to be off.

Hedwig hopped onto his shoulder, and with a smile, Harry went over to open the window. With a quick flap of her wings, Hedwig took off and joined her older friend before flying off towards the forest to do some free exploration and playtime.

Harry mentally made a note that he'd have to remember to get Fawkes some quality apples for Christmas, incredibly glad that another older Phoenix was around at school to help him take care of Hedwig, who was practically a baby by Phoenix standards.

"She's off to the forest again huh?" came Terry's voice from behind him.

"Yeah," Harry replied, turning around to look at his pajama-clad friend, "She just keeps getting bored in the tower, and a bit of time outside with friends is good for a growing girl like her."

A grin spread across Terry's face, before he remarked, "You sound like my Mum"

"I do huh?" Harry remarked, before schooling his expression into a severe frown and saying in his shrillest voice, "Get ready Terry! Why haven't you changed out of your pajamas yet young man!"

"Wow. That's scarily accurate. How did you do that without ever meeting her?"

"Really?"

"Nah," he said, chuckling, "I'm just screwing with you. She sounds nothing like that."

"Hilarious. Now go get ready. I'll see you at breakfast." Harry shot back, before he headed down the stairs out of the common room, trying to keep his balance with his weighted vest on. Thankfully, his DEX was at a very decent place, and he could handle himself with no problem.

The moment he reached walked into the room, he heard a familiar ring.

Ping!

Due to using torso weights gear, you have gained +1 to Str.

With a smile, Harry headed down the tower staircase to breakfast.

Halfway to the Great Hall, it became very evident that turning his entire vest to stone was a very stupid idea. His movement was not only incredibly restricted, but also felt very clunky and odd.

Deciding to immediately rectify that, Harry quickly slipped into a nearby bathroom and shut himself in a stall.

A couple of Scourgifies later, the stall was entirely clean. He took off his shirt and robes, before he cast the counter-spell onto his vest, turning it back to cloth so that he could move about easier.

Pulling out a used old shirt from his inventory, he cut several rectangular pieces out of it using a few Diffindos, and made sure that they were about twice the size of his hand.

Then, he cast Duros on each of them, turning them into stone, and proceeded to glue them in a spaced-out manner to the front and back of his cotton inner vest, making sure that they wouldn't restrict his side to side movements or bend movements in any way.

Having done that, he put the weighted vest on, and did some actual stretching, making sure that his Strength-cheat-vest version 2.0 was working fine. Thankfully, the vest was one of those that Perenelle had brought for him, and was magical, so it wasn't going to be tearing under the weight anytime soon.

With a grin, Harry put his shirt and robes back on and headed out of the bathroom in a brisk walk. He'd been delayed quite a bit by the impromptu enchanting he had done in the bathroom which meant that Terry would have arrived at the Great Hall by now.

The news that Hannah Abbott had been attacked on Monday and was lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by the evening Tuesday. And today, two days after the attack, its effects on the school's psyche had never been clearer to Harry as he walked through the corridors towards the Great Hall.

The air was thick with rumor and suspicion. Most of the first and second years were now almost exclusively moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone.

Meanwhile, behind the teachers' backs, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets, and other protective devices were sweeping the school. Harry was a bit surprised to see Neville Longbottom buying a large, smelly green onion from a shady looking sixth year near the Grand Staircase. Harry stopped to point out to the jumpy Gryffindor that he was in no danger; he was a pureblood, and therefore quite unlikely to be attacked.

"Hannah was a half-blood. And besides, they went for Filch first," Neville said, his round face fearful. "Everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."

Leaving the boy behind to complete his purchase, Harry entered the Great Hall and made his way over to his usual spot on the Ravenclaw table before he loaded up his plate with potatoes.

He got as far as his first bite before he noticed that something was wrong.

Pausing, Harry blinked and looked all around him to check that he wasn't seeing things before he put down his spoon and turned to Terry.

"Terry," he asked, "where are all the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins?"

Terry looked at him blankly for a second, "You haven't heard? The Slytherins were attacked this morning."

"Attacked!" Harry said, shocked, before asking, "Was someone petrified?"

"Petrified?" Terry seemed thrown off for a second before he realized what he meant, "Oh no. Nothing like that. It was the Hufflepuffs."

"The Hufflepuffs?" Harry asked, getting even more puzzled.

"Yeah. I was talking to Dean and Ron before you came in, and they told me what happened. Apparently, the Hufflepuffs got really mad over Hannah being petrified, and students from all the seven years banded together and attacked the Slytherins on the way to Breakfast. Picked 'em all off in ones and twos. It was a bloody massacre."

"Today!?" Harry exclaimed, "And were they caught?"

"Yeah. Professor Sprout has locked them all in their dorms and took off a load of Hufflepuff's house points. She hasn't come out yet, but Fred and George Weasley somehow snuck into their common room and heard that they won't be allowed out of the common rooms for three days except for food and classes. Plus, they're saying most of the Slytherins won't be released from the Hospital wing until at least tonight. Lots of broken bones and stuff."

Harry didn't know what to say, "Damn…" he muttered, "This is…it is just crazy…"

"Not really," Terry said as he sipped on his pumpkin juice, much to Harry's surprise, "I mean, I know it was bad, and they shouldn't have done it and all. But I get it. One of their own is hospitalized for months now. They have to feed her with tubes and potions now to stop her from starving. She would have died of starvation had Dumbledore not found her in the right time. I can understand where they're coming from. Besides, it's almost a guarantee that one of the Slytherins was the Heir. Now that the Heir is hospitalized, we won't have any more attacks."

"Terry," Harry said softly, "You don't know that. The Heir might not be a Slytherin."

"Really?" Terry maintained with a raised eyebrow, "So you're telling me that the Hat read some kid's mind and saw that the kid was the Heir of Slytherin, and it decided not to put that kid into Slytherin? Just for fun?"

"It could have, but that doesn't make it okay for the Hufflepuffs to just take out everyone in an entire house," Harry insisted, "That's a quarter of the entire school! Besides, Dumbledore said that this kind of dark magic was beyond any student."

Terry shrugged. "Maybe it is, or maybe the heir is just telling the Chamber's monster who to target. Besides, better a quarter of the school than the whole if you ask me," he said before going back to his food, leaving Harry at a loss for words.

And so the breakfast silently continued. Hermione joined them soon after, having almost skipped breakfast to finish the Charms homework in the common room. A few minutes later, Harry finished his breakfast and went over to the Gryffindor table. Making his way over to where Ron and Dean were teasing Ginny about her and Colin Creevey being Potions partners, Harry got their attention and asked, "Hey guys, could you meet me after the classes near the Arithmancy classroom?"

"Arithmancy classroom? Is it about that project you've been going off into the library about?" Dean asked.

"Yeah actually," Harry replied, "I need some help with that."

"Alright mate," Ron said after getting a nod from Dean, "We'll be there."

"Oh, and be careful in Potions," Dean added, "I heard that Snape's pretty pissed off about what happened with the Hufflepuffs. Just keep your head low today."

"Thanks for the heads up mate," Harry tossed back before he made his way back over to the Ravenclaw table, where he extracted the same promise from Terry and Hermione before they all headed off to Potions together.

On the way down to the dungeons, Harry pulled up his Potions skill and checked its level.

Potions, Lv-9 (85%)

Your skill in brewing and creating potions with your magic is shown in this skill.

He was genuinely hoping that this skill would give him something cool when it hit level 10. Maybe a new skill that'd double his brewing speed. Or maybe some sort of subskill to his Mage Sight that's allow him to quickly pick out ingredients for potions in the wild. The possibilities were almost limitless.

As he entered the classroom and took his seat beside Terry, Harry just hoped that the Game wouldn't be an absolute cock-block and just give him nothing when he hit level 10.

That thought and all others flew right out of the window as Severus Snape barrelled into the class, looking more like an angry vampire than Harry had ever seen. What followed was the single most brutal class of Potions that Harry had seen in all his time at Hogwarts.

First, there was the quiz, in which he individually asked them all questions way beyond their year's syllabus. Every student got asked 3 questions, and each wrong answer cost 5 points from the person's house. Ravenclaws suffered the most massive loss of points in what appeared to be a very long time. Furthermore, since the Hufflepuffs were all still in their common room, Snape deducted a further 100 points from them, single-handedly eliminating any chance the Badgers had of winning the House Cup this year.

Fifteen minutes later, ten cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Professor Snape prowled through the fumes with a deep frown, making waspish remarks about any mistakes he found. Harry was pretty sure he saw Su Li almost cry at one point.

In that class, Harry's first potion, a Swelling Solution was a bit too runny, and cost him 5 points when he handed it over. But he couldn't care less, he had something else on his mind.

Ping!

Potions skill has been evolved due to reaching level 10 on an theoretical skill!

Potion Crafting, Lv-10 (85%)

This skill represent the user's skill in Potions. Using this skill, the user can access the Potions crafting window to craft some dank potions, provided that he has all the ingredients and a cauldron handy. Sit back and let your Crafting skill take control of your body in Auto mode, or follow the crisp and clear instructions in Manual mode. Just set your recipe, and you're good to go.

The command 'Potion Crafting' opens up the crafting window. Command 'Recipe List' shows all known Recipes.

Chances of Success: (100 - 10 x Difficulty level + Lv of Potion Crafting)%

Harry read through the new skill's description, feeling a slightly creeped out by the Auto mode thing, before he walked back to his potions desk and mentally commanded, 'Potion Crafting' making a new unfamiliar screen pop up.

Crafting Window: Potion Crafting, Lv-10

Recipe: Not set

Brewing Time: ?

Ingredients Acquired: ? out of ?

Container Required: ?

Difficulty level: ?

Mode: AUTO/MANUAL

Feeling quite impressed with this new skill, Harry imagined the possibilities if there was something similar to this in store for his Enchanting skill.

There was one more potion they had to make for today's class as a revision, a simple Star Grass Salve, and Harry decided to test this new skill with that. He went over to the Potions cupboard and set up all the ingredients he'd need on the table before he opened up the crafting window and set the recipe to Star Grass Salve. The Game quickly filled in all the remaining blanks.

Crafting Window: Potion Crafting, Lv-10

Recipe: Star Grass Salve

Brewing Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients Acquired: 12 out of 12

Container Required: Pewter Cauldron

Difficulty level: 1

Mode: AUTO/MANUAL

Harry pressed AUTO. His eyes widened as he felt a sudden pull, and his hands automatically started dicing up the Stutnam hide and spider legs. They were still under his control, he could tell, but it was almost as if some kind of force was holding his hands and guiding them through all the motions. It was weirdly freaky and not so at the same time.

10 minutes in, when the ingredients were all in the cauldron and all the stirring was done, Harry felt the force let go of his hands, and they were entirely back under his control. Flexing his fingers to check that they were completely back under his control, Harry stared wondrously at the stewing potion that was exactly the shade that it was supposed to be.

In the corner of his vision, a small window had opened up.

Waiting Period: 40/120 seconds

Comprehending the fact that the skill was letting him know how long he'd have to wait to let the salve thicken, Harry waited for a few more seconds to see what would happen next.

Ping!

Please touch the ladle to continue AUTO Potion Crafting 'Star Grass Salve'!

Harry put out his hand and touched the ladle that was half dipped in the cauldron, and the force took hold of his hand once more, adding the final ingredients and pouring the Salve out into a phial, before it let go of his hands for the final time.

Ping!

'Star Grass Salve' Crafting Complete!

Harry happily noted that the color was the exact shade of lime green that it was supposed to be, before he headed up to Snape's table and handed him the phial, in the process successfully managing to make the only potion that hadn't lost its maker any points.

Terry impressedly patted his back as Harry happily packed up his equipment and headed out of the class for the next double periods of Transfiguration.

That skill was at level 8, and would take another few weeks of work to get up to level 10, but if the payoff was anything even remotely as good as this phenomenally powerful Potion Crafting skill, then it would be more than worth it.


That afternoon, after a rather boring double period of Transfiguration, in which once again they were alone due to the absence of Hufflepuff, Harry and Hermione headed up to the second floor, where the Arithmancy classroom was located, while Terry headed up to the Hospital Wing for a bit to grab his flu medicine, promising to meet them directly at the designated meeting spot.

Harry and Hermione idly chatted about what had happened in the morning and the whole Chamber business as they climbed up the Grand staircase to the second floor.

"I don't think they should have done that," she said, frowning, "Besides, I've been thinking about how even Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that made me think that whatever attacked her might not be…well…human."

"That's a rather bold assumption, isn't it? Dumbledore couldn't possibly know all the magic from everywhere in the world. And that Beast, whatever it is, couldn't possibly have survived in the chamber for a thousand years," Harry refuted.

Hermione gave a small shrug, "It's just a thought I had."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the first attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was almost just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message.

The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened

"Filch hasn't stopped his guard huh?" Harry muttered as they walked closer to the message. Harry's observe on the paint only showed it as conjured permanent colour, giving him no clue as to what might have happened. He stared long and hard at the letters, hoping that some sort of pattern would emerge, but nothing did.

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione, "This is funny…"

Harry turned around and crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione wonderingly.

"No," muttered Harry.

A strange daze seemed to fall over him. Half forgetting that Hermione was even there, he placed his finger against the wall near the spiders with an open palm. Some sort of mind control seemed to take hold of the arachnids, as they instantly stopped struggling, and as one turned around and scuttled over Harry's fingers onto his palm.

Hermione watched with an open mouth as Harry opened the window and extended the palm with the spiders outside the window.

As one, the spiders organized themselves in a circle and released several silk threads from their spinnerets into the air, which condensed into one triangular shaped parachute. A small gust of wind came and carried the spiders away on the updraft of the wind towards the direction of the forbidden forest.

Harry stared at his hand wondrously for a second, before he seemed to regain his bearings and quickly shut the window close.

"How did you get them to do that?" Hermione asked in a wondrous whisper.

Harry looked at Hermione, feeling slightly dazed as a memory that even he himself had forgotten bought itself to the front of his mind.

"I…I don't know" Harry absently muttered back, "I think…I think I've been able to for a long time…can't quite remember…"

"But how?" she pushed on.

Harry looked her in the eye. Almost as if moving out of his own control, he heard his own voice start speaking, "Back with the Dursleys, before they enrolled me in school, I didn't have any friends. Spiders…spiders were good company back then. Lived with me in my cupboard, scared off my cousin when he'd come for me, kept all the other bugs away…"

He took a deep breath before continuing, "I remember one day I'd sliced my arm open in the kitchen. It was a big cut, but I didn't want to bother my Uncle, so I just tried to bandage it up in myself with an old shirt. I remember the dry cloth just hurting a lot and crying myself to sleep."

He rubbed the thin scar that ran down his left arm as Hermione looked on with pitying eyes.

"Next morning, I woke up, and there was not a shred of pain in my arm. My entire arm was fully covered in spider silk, and when I washed the silk off, it was almost completely healed. I still don't know how it happened…I remember thinking it was some sort of weird science thing related to spiders…but in retrospect it was probably accidental magic. Ever since then, I've always been good with spiders."

Ping!

By to revisiting an old forgotten memory of magic, you have gained a new skill!

Animal Empathy, Lv-1 (10%)

This skill can be used to sense and understand the emotions of animals and vice versa, allowing a mutual understanding to form between the user and the animal he's understanding. It is not a form of mind control, so aggressive animals may still attack user, although eventually this power may grow to the point where the user can exert some degree of control over the creature.

Unlocked Animals:

Arachnid Empathy: User can use this skill on arachnids.

Snake Empathy: User can use this skill on snakes.

"So you gained some sort of control over spiders?" Hermione finally seemed to ask, and Harry was glad that she didn't comment on the cupboard or ask how he'd sliced his arm open. He waved away the new skill window before replying.

"Not control…empathy is a better way to put it. I can understand them, and they can understand me. If they know that I don't mean them harm, they'll listen to me," Harry said, pausing for a moment before he added, "We'd better go. The others must've arrived by now," and started walking towards the Arithmancy classroom.

Hermione didn't speak again on their way to the Arithmancy classroom, where they met up with the others.

"How did your Potions go?" Harry asked Ron as he led them towards Professor Vector's office a bit ways off the classroom.

"Bad…" Ron muttered, as Dean fervently nodded while adding, "I used to think regular Snape was bad, but this is just…he was pissed off. Angry like I've never seen him before."

"Well, what did you expect?" Hermione snapped, "The Hufflepuffs just threw his entire house into the hospital wing. Of course, he's angry."

Ron opened his mouth but didn't get to say anything. They'd arrived at the Professor's office. Harry poked the entrance portrait's Mimbulus Mimbletonia with his wand, making it burst open and shower the blue bearded wizard in stink sap. The wizard in the portrait grumbled for a second before he waved his own wand, and with a click, the portrait opened up to show an oaken door, which Harry knocked on.

"Come in Potter. And all of you too" called the voice of the Professor.

Harry pushed open the door and led his friends inside the office, where Professor Vector was ruffling through her desk drawers looking for something. With a victorious "Aha!" she pulled out a piece of parchment.

Suddenly realizing that there were five students watching, she quickly schooled her expression.

"Potter, these are your papers from the Ministry," she said, handing him a file, "Your project has been accepted as an official Arithmancy class project. I will be letting Madam Pince know that you are to have access to books from the Restricted Section. Also, you can now take off a set amount of time from your classes to work on your project, provided you do so judiciously. Is that perfectly understood?"

"Of course Professor," Harry said as he took the file from her and subtly dropped it into his inventory for safekeeping.

"Good," she continued, turning to the remaining four second years in the room, "I assume Mr. Potter has told you that he has started working on a little side project of sorts?"

"Yes Professor," came Hermione's clear reply as the three boys nodded. She glanced at Harry hesitantly before adding, "He hasn't told us much about it though."

"That," the Professor replied, "he did on my instructions Miss Granger. The chances of these kinds of project ideas being stolen is very large, which made keeping the project under wraps very much necessary. But now that the paperwork is submitted and done, that's no longer needed. Mr. Potter? Would you like to tell them now?"

"Er…yes please," Harry said before he proceeded to lay out his entire plan of creating his own game and how far he had come with his planning and ideas in front of his friends.

The first person who spoke as soon as he finished, much to Harry's surprise, was actually Ron.

"You want to compete with Quidditch?" he asked in a suspicious voice. Terry's keen look was telling him that he was about to ask the exact same question.

"Well, not really compete," Harry said, lying out of his teeth, "It's not really a sport, is it? It's just an exploration game. Fun relaxing stuff to do on the ground for those of us who can't make the Quidditch team."

Ron wavered, "Well…I'll give you that. The Gobstones club isn't really all that much fun"

"But why bring us here?" Hermione asked next, "Why not just tell us in the tower or at breakfast or something?"

"That is something I'll have to explain Miss Granger," Professor Vector replied, "As a Project Leader, Mr. Potter is allowed to have a few students who can choose to work on the project with him. A team, if you will. Those students will get benefits such as relaxed marking in their end of the year exams. Furthermore, should the team be able to finish the Project and pass the Ministry's review before the end of Mr. Potter's 7th year, all of the team will be awarded perfect Arithmancy NEWT scores."

All four of Harry's friends froze, completely shell-shocked at the prospect of what looked like a free NEWT.

"That seems…generous" Hermione wonderingly muttered, "Why doesn't everyone just make a project of their own and get a guaranteed NEWT? Seems like a pretty obvious loophole to me."

The Professor had an answer to that, "Many reasons, but mostly it's just the lack of good ideas. Every idea is reviewed by the Ministry, and very few are actually even considered for approval. Mr. Potter's idea is not only innovative, it is also incredibly complex. Don't mistake this for a free NEWT Miss Granger. If any of you choose to accept Mr. Potter's offer to join his team, you'll be working for that score."

Much to Harry's relief, it didn't take long after that for them to accept his offer. Professor Vector gave him a key to an empty classroom for them to use, and they resolved to meet every Sunday afternoon to work on the project for a few hours, at least for this year, before they headed out of the class and headed off to their respective common rooms.

That night, Harry took off the weighted vest in the bathroom and dropped it into his inventory before putting his shirt back on, feeling incredibly lighter.

Ping!

Due to using torso weights gear all day long, you have gained +4 to Str!

Happy with that, he hopped into the stalls for a quick shower, before he headed back to the common room to get some homework done before sleep.

Much to his surprise, the common room was much more crowded than it usually was. A small knot of people was gathered around the common room's notice board, reading a piece of parchment that had been pinned up. Terry beckoned him over, looking excited.

"Oi Harry!" he said enthusiastically, "Will you be coming to the dueling club on Friday?"

"Dueling club?"


The Dueling club, as Harry learned throughout the next three days, was something that was a bit of a mystery. Some people were saying that they would be learning some new combat type magic; which Harry desperately needed since his Combat Magic skill, which was his theoretical DADA skill, hadn't levelled up even once this year under Lockhart's tutelage; and others were saying that they would be learning how to fight the Slytherin's monster in case they encountered it.

Either way, it sounded interesting. Like a true Ravenclaw, Harry went off to the library on Friday morning to research Dueling. All the Slytherins had been released from the hospital wing, and the Hufflepuff's common room arrest had ended, so the school was back to looking a bit more normal and populated than it did the last two days.

It was in the library where he first encountered what he later dubbed the Conspiracy Theorist Trio.

Consisting of Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Seamus Finnigan, this particular trio had dedicated an entire back table in the library to find out who the heir of Slytherin was. When Harry found them, the entire table was strewn with newspapers and books on genealogy, with the occasional parchment with family trees on it.

They had used any and all resources they had access to try and trace down every single lead on every single line that claimed to have descended from Slytherin. When they had noticed that Harry was watching them, they had eagerly taken him into their folds and proceeded to explain their entire theory in painstaking detail.

"And so with the Gaunts extinct and the Bulstrodes proven to be just lying, the only guy that is likely to have descended from Slytherin is Theodore Nott."

"Have you even considered the other Slytherins, or are you just pinning blame on him?" Harry asked, scratching his head, trying to understand what logic the three were using.

"What other Slytherins?" Seamus asked, looking thrown off.

"Malfoy? Greengrasses? Parkinsons? Davis? Have you looked into them?"

"Of course we have," Justin butted in, "Malfoy's family was started in the late 1600s by a businessman in France, so he's out of the question. All others are either too new or not purebloods. We've considered all the pureblood families in school. Don't tell Ron, but we even considered the Weasleys for research. We found absolutely nothing on any of them except Nott."

"Besides," Ernie butted in, "You know what's the most damning evidence is? Susan told me that the day before she was petrified, Hannah had turned down a proposition from Nott! And guess who Filch made clean the toilets the day Mrs. Norris was found hung from that torch? Nott!"

In an almost insane manner, this strange theory was starting to make some sense, even to Harry. Notts and Malfoys were close politically and familially. Everyone knew that. Was it that far of a stretch to imagine that Malfoy would have used the Notts for help with his plan to get back at Dumbledore and test Harry? If Lucius Malfoy knew that Nott was the Heir of Slytherin, then why wouldn't he use him in his plans?

"I mean you might not want to pin blame on people mate," Ernie continued, oblivious to Harry's internal thoughts, "but even you'll have to admit that it does seem at least a bit suspicious, how the people Nott's pissed off at are ending up hurt in this mess."

It did.

That night, when the clock hit eight, Harry and his friends made their way to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had been vanished, and a golden stage had been conjured up against one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. Most of the school seemed to be packed in the Hall, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" asked Hermione over the mindless chatter of the stuffed crowd.

"As long as it's not…" Dean began, and Harry knew that exact moment that is Gryffindor friend wasn't going to like the teacher who was climbing up onto the stage.

Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum. A few feet behind him, dressed in a spiffy little blue suit came Professor Flitwick, who floated what looked like a wooden crate up onto the stage before twiddling over to stand beside Lockhart, looking slightly constipated.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called out, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions…for full details, see my published works."

An ominous rattling sound from the crate interrupted the monologue, and Dean and Ron shuddered beside him, no doubt getting flashbacks of that disastrous lesson about pixies that the DADA professor had tried to teach them. Lockhart carried on speaking.

"But now, my young apprentices, let me introduce my assistant, Professor Flitwick," said Lockhart with a wide grin, looking more punch-able to Harry than ever before, "His bouts in the Duelling championships have made sure that he knows his dueling. Not as well as me of course, having dueled down the Vanityfair witch herself. Now, the Professor has sportingly agreed to help me with a few short demonstrations before we begin. Isn't that right Professor?"

"Yes," a slightly pink-faced Flitwick squeaked out.

"That's right," Lockhart said, ambling over to where Professor Flitwick had put down the crate, "Now! I was supposed to teach you all spell-fighting, but in light of recent events, I have come to believe that our opponent is actually not human. And you won't expect the beast of Slytherin to take the time and duel with you, do you?"

A worried murmur spread across the Hall, and Lockhart continued.

"Slytherin's beast, from what we've seen so far, is fast, dangerous, and can easily hide in its surroundings to escape a wizard's attention, hence why we've been unable to catch it so far. What I have here in this box, while not Slytherin's beast itself, is a dangerous beast that something that I have encountered in my travels, that is a master of all that and more. A true danger to wizardkind. And today you youngsters will get to see it in action, all thanks to me, Gilderoy Lockhart." he said, flashing a grin, "Professor Flitwick, could you please open this up please?"

Harry watched curiously as the redness in the charms professor's face seemed to grow even more as he waved his wand, making the crate's lid fly off. Lockhart went in with both hands, and pulled out something that he gently nestled in the crook of his hand, patting it with another. It took a second for Harry to actually realize what it was.

A short silence passed over the hall, before a girl from the front row asked the question that was on all their minds.

"Professor. Is that…is that a duck?"

"Aha!" Lockhart victoriously exclaimed, "Got fooled by its clever natural disguise did you, Miss Clover? No. It is not a duck. But before I tell you what it is, have any of you heard of a Duck-billed platypus…Yes, Miss Bones."

Susan Bones blushed a bit at having been called, before answering, "They have the bill of a duck and the webbed feet of a duck don't they, Professor?"

"Indeed they do Miss Bones. Now, this," Lockhart said grandly, before he raised the white feathered yellow-billed duck in his arms for all of them to see, and magnanimously declared, "This is a Duck bodied platypus. This little guy is called Juan, and he was found in a deep long lost valley in Mongolia. He's the only one left of his kind. He can eat live wizards, and it will charge. So please, no sudden movements."

Half the hall, mostly the female part, oohed and aahed, clearly believing whatever bullshit the blond man was spewing. Harry looked at the beady-eyed bird in the man's hands. It looked like it was getting startled by Lockhart's teeth every time he smiled. Harry cast an Observe to check if it really was some sort of strange creature that Lockhart had managed to acquire.

Duck

Lv-2

HP:50/50

Str-3

Vit-3

Dex-5

Int-1

Wis-0

Luc-1

It's a duck, genius. For more information, read a kid's book. Oh and put your reality-bending powers to better use than observing ducks. Idiot.

Nope. Just a duck.

Lockhart started speaking again, and Harry waved away the screen before paying attention to whatever the fraud extraordinaire was rambling on about. He could feel his own Bullshitting skill grow just by being in the presence of this Merlin of bullshitting, and he didn't want to miss out on any free level ups.

"Believe it or not, this little guy is only a year old, and he will grow up to be about fifteen feet tall. You'll be surprised to know that an adult Duck bodied platypus can take down a full grown dragon, and has the bite force of an adult blue whale. Surprising isn't it?"

Ping!

Skill has leveled up twice due to being in the presence of a master!

Bullshitting Lv-7 (5%)

A combination of lying and the truth said in a very confident manner!

Harry raised an impressed eyebrow before waving away the screen and looking around himself, marveling at the fact that there were people, actual people that were believing this.

This was either sad, or just plain hilarious.

Harry ultimately decided that it was a bit of both, and joined Professor Flitwick in looking like a ripe constipated tomato.

Thankfully, the class didn't fully go down the drain, since about halfway through Lockhart's speech about Duck bodied platypuses, the duck decided to be a revolutionary example to all duckkind and sicced himself, wings flapping and webbed claws scratching, on the blond-haired Professor.

As a result of that, most of the school ended up completely believing in duck bodied platypuses, since no normal duck could have possibly taken down the legendary Gilderoy Lockhart. Even Dean had gained a bit of respect for the man. But the nicer thing that had happened as a result of that duck's revolutionary efforts was that Lockhart had gone off to the hospital wing to treat his scratches, and Professor Flitwick started teaching them some actual dueling, pairing them up and showing them how to hold their wands in a combative positions before firing off spells.

All in all, the latter half of the class had gone quite well, except for the one time Justin Finch Fletchley threw Theodore Nott a few meters across the room with an overpowered Expelliarmus.

While Harry and few others knew that Justin had hit Nott because he suspected him to be the Heir of Slytherin, there was no proof that it wasn't an accident. So Professor Flitwick simply split them up, and the class ended twenty minutes later.


When Halloween rolled around, Harry was feeling considerably less alone and sad than he had felt last year, despite the somber atmosphere brought forth by Hannah's petrifaction and the unrest in the school. Whether that was because he finally had a group of friends to support him, or just a sign of him getting older, he did not know, but being able to laugh and talk and make merry with people he cared about was something he decided that he enjoyed very much.

The stone inner vest had kept giving him Str points for quite a few days. The time between each plus point to his Str kept growing and growing, until one day, it just stopped, leaving Harry's stats in strength at a very solid number.

STR-33

10 points, all from one tiny cheat in the game that he'd discovered in a party half a year ago. It was way more than he'd expected, and an overjoyed Harry couldn't wait to work out what the cheats for all the other stats were.

He and his friends had finally had their first meeting for the Game Project the previous Sunday, in which they had worked out the Minimum Scanning Distances of most of the magical creatures using that handy XXX rating book that Professor Kettleburn had given him at the start of the school year.

Furthermore, the design had progressed too. Harry had always wanted to use the Hologram spell; from those Memory orbs that were used to store prophecies; for the Battle part of the game, but Dean had thrown out an idea about using the Memory Orb itself. He'd pointed out the idea that each Orb could be used to scan one creature, and the player could use the creature's Orb to send or call back the creature in Battles.

It was a fantastic idea, which proved to him that bringing his friends in as his team was a good move that was paying off already.

There had been no more attacks, although the tensions between Slytherin and the rest of the school remained as strained as ever. The Mandrakes that Professor Sprout was making them tend to and grow were starting to develop acne, which meant that they were now entering their pre-pubescent days, and only a few months later Hannah would be cured and would join the school again.

All that and many more slightly optimistic thoughts passed through Harry's mind as he dug into his Halloween feast.

The decorations this year were brilliant, with lively flying bats, little clowns on top of the pumpkin cakes, and the occasional jack in a box that would pop out and scare the eating students. The older students had chosen to wear some costumes, and Lockhart had joined them with his flashy robes and long beard, portraying Merlin the ancient sorcerer. Dumbledore, not to be left behind, had decided to dress as what could only be a purple neon super wizard, with robes that had actual neon tube lights on them.

Everything was going smoothly as Harry laughed and chatted and fed himself up, and for a moment, it was almost as if the Heir and Chamber business didn't exist, and they were just a bunch of kids at school having a good time.

But alas, it was not to last.

Just as Harry had finished his last piece of chicken, the door of the Great Hall opened with a bang, and Peeves the Poltergeist came shooting out, screaming at the top of his lungs,

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAAACK!"

Harry pushed down the weird sense of deja vu that he was getting, and quickly turned to look at the Head Table, where Dumbledore was already whispering back and forth in a hushed tone with Professor McGonagall and Nearly Headless Nick, who had zoomed in right behind Peeves and headed straight to Dumbledore.

Their conversation ended soon before the two Professors stood up as one and pointed their wands at the small door beside the Staff table that led to the small closed off antechamber to the side of the hall.

With a few waves of their wands, the door started expanding in size until it took up almost four times the space in the wall than it did earlier. Then, they walked into the antechamber, and a few of what looked like some huge space expansion charms later, the whole antechamber was almost as big as the Great Hall itself.

Briskly walking out of the now massively expanded space, Professor Dumbledore announced, "Students. Calmly enter the antechamber and do not attempt to get out. Sir Nicholas is of the opinion that there is likely danger outside. Prefects, follow your professors to the location. Your assistance is needed. There have been multiple attacks."

As soon as the last line escaped the Professor, a hush fell over the Hall, and Harry's head swiveled around the hall to make sure that his friends were all there and safe. After making sure that they all were safe, he followed the Professor's instructions and shuffled his way along with the crowd into the antechamber.

As soon as all the non-prefect students were inside the antechamber, Professor McGonagall shrunk the door back to its regular size and locked it shut from the outside.

And all that was left to do was wait.

Less than ten minutes later, a third year Gryffindor who was leaning alongside the wall called in his direction, "Hey Potter! Call for your Phoenix man. Let's go see what's happening!"

"Yeah!" another guy joined in, seeing some merit in that idea "You have a phoenix don't you? Call her mate! Bet we could go out there and investigate! Maybe even help out!"

Harry shook his head, disappointing the dozen students that wanted to get out of the room, "We're too far from the tower. I can't call her from here."

In reality, Hedwig was in his pocket at that very moment, quietly listening to everything. But he wasn't going to use her to help any students get out there and get themselves hurt. If the heir and the beast were actually out there, then staying in this room was the smartest thing to do for everyone else right now. If he had somewhere more secluded, then he possibly could have dropped into an ID and gone to investigate all by himself. But in a place this jam-packed full of students, using his Gamer powers was out of the question.

And so, left without any choices, he waited.

After a whole hour of fretting, when Harry was starting to feel as if his heart would burst right out of his chest with nervousness, there was finally a click on the door, and it swung open to reveal the familiar form of the Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater.

The blond haired girl walked into the room, looking more troubled than Harry had ever seen her before. The students scattered across the room waited with bated breath as she walked to the center of the room, took a deep breath, and finally started speaking.

"The Professors have searched the site of the incident, and found no evidence about the culprit. The only thing we now know is that Seamus Finnigan of Gryffindor, and Justin Finch-Fletchley of Hufflepuff, are now petrified and in the hospital wing under the care of Madam Pomfrey."

She took a breath before continuing, "Fat Friar, the resident ghost of Hufflepuff, was also found with them, completely petrified by whatever it was that petrified the two students. In light of the recent events, the Professors have decreed that there will now be newer, stricter restrictions on student movements in and around the castle."

A collective cry of angry protest started, but before it could grow into anything more, Penelope raised her hand. So grave was the expression on her face that the cry of protest immediately died down. She continued, "Understand very clearly that this is not just for your protection. If even one more student falls prey to whatever this Heir is doing…Hogwarts will be faced with no choice but to shut down."

She looked around at the somber group surrounding her, looking each of them in the eye to make sure that the point was driven in. Nodding, she turned to Harry, her expression more grave and worried than he had ever seen it before.

"Harry," she said, and for the first time, Harry noticed a noticeable waver in her voice, "Dumbledore's calling for you. They're saying he's been sacked."


Let's just say that I'm exploring the ramifications of what will happen in the chamber in a lot more detailed manner this time around. Prepare for the mind-bend of your life in the next chapter, 'THE THREE DUMBLEDORES'. It's coming soon, and it's an interesting one. Do leave a review if you liked. :)