Author Note:
The second part of this chapter (and probably most of next) is Harry covering his previous years at Hogwarts. I understand some/most people find this boring and extremely tedious, but personally I enjoy reading these kinds of scenes, so I've left it in. If it's not your cup of tea, you can safely skim-read it.
Also, for those avid H/Hr fans out there, my ENTIRE (bar one) favourites list consists of completed H/Hr stories. At the time of writing, there is over one hundred separate stories ranging from 400 to over 200,000 words.
The first day of classes was going well for Harry and Hermione. They had double ancient runes that morning, and Harry firmly established himself as Hermione's equal. Whereas Hermione had near-encyclopedic knowledge of all the runes they learned, Harry had a better grip on the intricacies of drawing runes and combining them. Sharing their knowledge over their link made them a formidable team.
At twelve they entered the great hall, took their seats for lunch and began plating their food. As Hermione took her first mouthful Harry glanced over at Snape, who was reading a note that had been left on his plate. Snape caught Harry staring, and gave him a discreet nod before he began his dinner.
Harry smirked and looked to his own meal. Just at he was about to put the first chunk of chicken in his mouth the hall fell unnaturally silent. Walking purposefully towards them was Cornelius Fudge and Amelia Bones. Harry put his fork down and stood to greet them.
"Minister Fudge, Madam Bones, welcome." He shook both their hands.
"Thank you, Regent-Lord Black, Mrs Potter. Congratulations on your marriage." Said Fudge, with an air of professionalism. Amelia blushed, she forgot to congratulate Harry when they met yesterday.
"Thank you, Minister. We are waiting for a couple more parties to arrive before we descend to the chamber of secrets, but I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't mind you having something to eat while you wait."
The Minister and Amelia took seats and the staff table and engaged in light conversation with the bewildered professors present, namely Snape, Sprout and Flitwick.
Fred and George leaned over.
"Hello, 'ickle Harrykins! Did you say..."
"...You're going down to..."
"...the Chamber of Secrets?"
Harry was, as usual, amused by the twins' antics. "Yes, why?"
"We were wondering..."
"...If we could..."
"...Come down with you..."
"...And maybe invite our Dad?"
Harry conversed silently with Hermione for a moment. "The whole school is welcome, and if you can get your family here on time, they are also welcome. We go down at quarter past."
"Thank you, Harry..."
"...we will do our best..."
"...to get them here..."
"..on time."
They hurried off, presumably to find McGonagal. Several students also scattered. Simultaneously Rita Skeeter entered the Hall with a cameraman in tow.
"Regent-Lord Black! How lovely to see you again."
Harry struggled to keep his voice neutral. "Miss Skeeter, nice of you to make it."
She made her way over to the Minister and Madam Bones, much to their mutual disdain.
Over the next few minutes, the hall began to fill with students and teachers alike. Most sat nervously, glancing between him, the staff table, and their plates. Draco, Luna and Neville came in together and sat opposite them.
"People are saying you're going to open the Chamber of Secrets, Harry." Stated Neville, as he began putting food on his plate.
Harry nodded. "I am. I'm going to collect the corpse of the basilisk I killed."
"You really killed a basilisk, Potter?" Draco almost sneered.
"Of course he did, he wouldn't have invited so many people if he was lying." Said Luna, matter-of-factly.
Draco thought for a moment, before shrugging and returning to his meal. At the same time, Dumbledore strode quickly into the hall and made a beeline for Harry.
He put on the best grandfatherly voice he could manage. "Harry, my boy, can you please explain to me why Miss Skeeter, Madam Bones, and Minister Fudge are currently sitting at the staff table?"
Harry, keeping his eyes on his meal, replied nonchalantly. "They're here to witness my retrieval of the basilisk that I slew."
"But Harry, you cannot simply invite people into Hogwarts without my express permission. I'm afraid tha.."
Hermione decided to interrupt, also not looking at the headmaster. "Actually, according to the rules of the Triwizard Tournament, and I quote. 'A current champion can invite any person/s onto the site of the tournament from the time their names emerge from the goblet of fire to the conclusion of the tournament. Said invited person/s can only be evicted by the champion that invited them or the headmaster of the school, if he/she can provide sufficient evidence to warrant eviction.' I think you would be hard-pressed to provide evidence that the Minister of Magic, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or the Daily Prophet's top reporter are currently a danger to the school or the tournament."
Harry and Neville both smiled, Draco looked slightly shocked they had confronted the headmaster in such a way, and Luna giggled. Dumbledore was standing agape when a very noisy family of red-heads walked in, followed by Xenophillius Lovegood. Luna jumped from her bench and ran to her dad immediately, while the Weasleys gathered at the end of the Gryffindor Table. Ron and Ginny went to greet the rest of their family, and Molly was sending increasingly nasty looks in Hermione's direction.
Xenophillius moved quickly to speak to Harry. He was dressed in a rather ostentatious yellow and purple pinstripe suit, topped with a neon green fedora and a peacock feather. Harry briefly noticed the strange strange triangular pendant he wore around his neck.
"Regent-Lord Black, thank you for inviting me."
Harry shook his hand. "You're welcome, Mr Lovegood, and please call me Harry."
"In which case, you can call me Xeno."
He wandered off abruptly, in much the same way as his daughter, towards the Minister. Dumbledore looked like he had finally gotten his brain back in gear and was about to confront Harry again when the sound of marching brought silence to the hall. Just as Hermione's watch ticked over to quarter past twelve, a baker's dozen of goblins marched into the hall in two lines. Twelve were dressed in gleaming golden armour and armed with a halberd and a short sword on their belt. Their shields were emblazoned with the Gringotts crest, as was their belt buckle and helmet. The thirteenth goblin was Griphook, who was dressed in his usual formal attire. After a moment Harry noticed that a very confused McGonagall had followed the goblins into the hall, meaning every student and staff member was currently present.
"Regent-Lord Black, we can proceed at your leisure." Called Griphook.
"Thank you, Master Goblin. Let us be off." Harry offered Hermione his arm, which she accepted and they set off towards the girls' loo. Following them was possibly the strangest procession that had ever graced the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
At the head was a Triwizard Champion (or Quadwizard Champion, depending on how you looked at it) and his soul-bonded young wife. Following close behind them was thirteen goblins, armed for battle and marching in formation. Behind them walked the current Minister of Magic, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, The top reporters from the Quibbler and the Daily Prophet, and the whole Weasley family. Next was a befuddled and slightly irritated Dumbledore, followed by his equally confused Deputy Headmistress. Bringing up the rear was the entire student body of Hogwarts and all the staff, plus the contingents from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.
Hearing the clatter in the corridors, Myrtle had already hidden in the pipes when Harry pushed the door open to the girl's bathroom. "§Open§" he hissed. Hermione jumped when she heard Harry speaking instead of hissing, but decided now was neither the time nor place to bring it up. With a claws-on-blackboard sound, the sink slid away, revealing the tunnel. After a moment of thought, Harry hissed again. "§Stairs§" Out of the sides of the tunnel steps lid out one after the other. Every so often a torch would slide out of the wall and light itself with an eerie green flame.
o0O0o
Harry turned to address everyone. "Welcome!" His voice echoed off the walls and carried easily to all of the students. "To the Chamber of Secrets!" He turned to face the ornate stone door. "§Open§"
The door opened with a horrid scraping sound as stone dragged over stone. Harry, trying to act nonchalantly, walked right up to the Basilisk's corpse and stopped when he was close enough to touch it. He turned to face the crowd, only to find none of them had moved since he had opened to door. He couldn't help but grin slightly at the sight.
With a little nudging from Harry over their bond, Hermione began walking towards Harry. On one hand, she wanted to rush to him and squeeze the living daylights out of him, but on the other, they had an audience. Moments later a couple of harsh shouts from Griphook got the goblins marching, slightly out of step.
o0O0o
Harry found himself sitting on a conjured dais, across from Rita Skeeter, who was switching between gleeful looks at Harry and fearful looks as the basilisk corpse beside her. To his right was the basilisk corpse, and to his left sat everyone, bar the goblins, on conjured chairs and stools. Hermione was sitting next to Luna, who looked to be on the edge of tears. With a flick of his wand, Flitwick finished the charms on the dais and made his way back to his seat.
"So, Regent-Lord Black, would you be kind enough to regale us with the story of your most dangerous year at Hogwarts?" Asked Rita with a grin.
Harry looked confused. "You want to hear about my third year? I thought you wanted to know about the basilisk."
Rita looked stumped for a moment. "You've been in mortal danger more than once here?"
Harry snorted at the ridiculousness of that statement. "The year I faced the basilisk was probably the least dangerous year I've spent at Hogwarts, including this one."
The audience let out a collective gasp while Rita began writing furiously. Harry had made clear that her Quick-Quotes-Quill was off-limits, but had reluctantly agreed to allow for the dais to be charmed so everyone could hear the interview.
"Would you like me to start at the beginning of my first year?"
Rita, looking like Christmas had come early, nodded vigorously.
Harry looked pensive for a moment. "I guess our first brush with danger was when we came face to face with a Cerberus."
"A Cerberus?!"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I had been challenged to a wizard's duel that was set to take place at midnight in the trophy hall. I went with my second, Ronald Weasley, and unfortunately, we ended up dragging Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger with us. It turned out we had been set up, and the student who challenged me alerted Mr Filch we were out after curfew. We ran and ended up cornered on the third floor. Hermione managed to open the only locked door with a simple Alohomora spell. We hind from Mr Filch inside. We found that if we had walked a few feet backwards, we would have been eaten by a fully grown Cerberus by the name of Fluffy."
Rita was again scribbling furiously. "Fluffy, you say? Interesting. What happened next?"
"Well... next would be the mountain troll."
"M-mountain troll?"
"Yes, it was Halloween, and... it would be easier to just show you. Do you know where we can get a Pensieve?"
McGonagall stood abruptly. "The school has one you can use, Regent-Lord Black, I'll have an elf fetch it for you." Dumbledore, who had been growing more worried and annoyed that Harry was exposing all his carefully hidden mistakes, struggled to find a reason to deny the use of 'his' Pensieve and ended up grumbling silently to himself.
Less than a minute later Harry dropped a silvery strand into the Pensieve.
"On the day in question, Hermione had disappeared for the afternoon. I found out later she had been crying in the girl's bathroom."
After some clever charm work by Flitwick, the Pensieve was projecting a life-sized image. A couple of people giggled when Quirrel fainted after shouting about the troll, but soon everyone was quiet as Harry rushed through the halls. Everyone held their breaths when he came face-to-face with the troll, and several people shrieked when he jumped on its back. Finally, a resounding cheer went up when the troll collapsed and the memory faded. Hermione, surprisingly, was beaming at Harry, which seemed to help ease Luna's nerves.
Rita had gone quite pale. "W-what next?" She seemed to be almost dreading the question.
"Next would be when a Professor jinxed my broom during my first Quidditch match."
"A-and how did that turn out?"
Harry grinned. "Hermione set Professor Snape on fire, which distracted the person jinxing my broom. I won the match."
Several people gasped and looked and Snape and Hermione. Hermione was blushing furiously, trying to ignore the stares, and Snape was trying his best to hold his impassive mask.
"I-is that everything for your first year?"
Harry laughed. "No, still two more deadly encounters to go. Next was Voldemort."
Over a hundred shrieks, yelps and screams echoed around the chamber. Most people jumped or flinched and Rita almost fell off her chair. Fudge jumped up to protest.
"Nonsense! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead!"
Harry gave the minister a questioning look. "Is he?" He pulled another memory from his head and dropped it in the Pensieve. Soon everyone found themselves watching a clearing in the forbidden forest and most spotted the dead unicorn immediately. As the ghostly image rose and made its way towards Harry, most everyone screamed, at least a score of people nearly fainted, and several made use of discreet Scourgify spells on themselves as the memory ended with the arrival of a centaur.
Luna was now openly crying and hanging on to Hermione for dear life. Neville sat on her other side, resting his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Again, Fudge tried to protest.
"That doesn't prove anything! That could have been anyone's spirit!"
Harry inclined his head. "That's true, if It weren't for the last memory I have to show you. Over the year, I, Ronald and Hermione had figured out the Fluffy was guarding the Philosopher's Stone. On this particular night, Dumbledore had left the castle and the other staff member we went to refused to help us, so we went to defend the stone on our own."
Harry caught McGonagall's ashamed look as he prepared the next memory.
The nervousness was palpable as the memory Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way past the sleeping fluffy and the devil's snare. The cheers were loud enough to cause a headache when Harry caught the flying key. McGonagall was muttering furiously to Flitwick as they played across the chessboard. Harry distinctly heard her hissw that Ron should have made him and Hermione the King and Queen. Ron received lots of admiring looks when his memory counterpart sacrificed himself. Hermione would have been blushing furiously as her memory self said goodbye to Harry, if she wasn't too busy holding onto Luna and trying not to cry herself.
The very chamber seemed to hold it's breath as Harry stepped through the flames until he came face to face with Professor Quirrel. Everyone watched Quirrel's over-the-top monologue with bated breath until he began to unwind his turban. When Voldemort's face came into view, pandemonium erupted. Luna, still bawling, buried her face into Hermione's side. Almost everyone present screamed, including Fudge. Rita jumped out of her seat and would have fallen off the dais if Harry hadn't caught the edge of her robes. Amelia made a loud bang with her wand after three seconds of chaos. Everyone seemed to remember that they were watching a memory, and returned quietly to their seats. Fudge, who was on the floor with his robes lifted over his face, failed spectacularly in remaining dignified as he returned to his seat.
Everyone seemed to develop serious constipation as they listened to Voldemort's silky voice, before going into a state of shock as Harry and Quirrel fought. When Voldemort's spirit passed through Harry the memory ended. Aside from the occasional sob, the chamber was once again deathly quiet. Amelia was staring into space, muttering to herself, while Fudge was trying desperately not to faint. Rita was opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, but no sound was coming out.
"Uhh... maybe we should take a break?" Asked Harry.
Rita nodded as Harry stood and jumped down from the dais, in front of Hermione and Luna. Before he could even open his mouth Luna had him in a hug so tight it rivalled Hermione's. She was muttering under her breath to quickly to understand in a determined voice. Hermione followed quickly over, her cheeks tear-stained. Harry pulled her into a one-armed hug and squeezed as tight as he could.
Madam Pomfrey was rushing about, handing out chocolate and calming potions to all the crying students, which was the vast majority of them. McGonagall and Flitwick transfigured and charmed the wizarding version of porter-potties in the Chamber's corner, which the students began queueing for immediately.
Harry began to walk towards Neville, who was talking quietly with Draco. Luna immediately released him from the hug, only to grab onto his left arm like a limpet. Hermione seemed similarly stuck to his other side