I don't own the story or the characters of Harry Potter, this work is entirely fan-made. The rights to everything Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling.
New, week, new chapter. Thanks for reading this far into the story.
Quick note: Updates may become less frequent, as I have some College Prep work to do for the eventual return to education.
Enjoy!
The reassurance from Professor McGonagall was enough for some to believe that the Heir of Slytherin would no longer attack, which infuriated others, including Harry and his outcasts. Harry had noticed a small decline of the jabs at him or his friends, partly due to the Rogue Society subtly hinting at the nefarious deeds of Dumbledore that had now seemed to influence McGonagall. They had all listened intently to Harry during the previous meeting and noticed that some of the Slytherins were scared too, namely Tracey Davis and Alexander David, who had to keep telling people that they weren't related, though they spent time together; they were friends and shared the company of Daphne Greengrass, another second-year Slytherin. Others who knew Harry or the outcasts had come up to him, asking for his advice on avoiding being petrified, though his status as a Parselmouth was fully cemented in everyone's heads, thanks in part to Justin Finch-Fletchley's friends, Ernie Macmillan and Wayne Hopkins, who spread the news like dry leaves in a bushfire. The news was old, though still enticing some to stay far away from him as if he had an airborne strand of Dragon-Pox. Harry had a particularly strange encounter outside Defence class just before the lesson started on Friday afternoon too.
Luna Lovegood was a strange type, always babbling about something that no-one had heard of, that she had claimed was famous to her and her 'brilliant' father. She seemed almost brain-damaged, though she was intelligent, fiercely so too, so mentally challenged was off the table. Many theorised that she was an alien, coming from a distant planet and was still referring to her own culture and of her father on her spaceship. Ginny Weasley dissipated the last rumours as she had met Xenophilius 'Xeno' Lovegood, though she stood by the assertion that he was an odd man. "Hello Harry Potter, are you alright? You have to learn to protect your mind more often or else the Nargles and the aquavirus maggots can easily get into your head." Harry's eyes widened and Zoe shot her a dirty look, not believing in those creatures of myth that the Quibbler magazine must have made up. "Well, I just wanted you to know that the Blibbering Humdingers believe that you are innocent. I trust this view completely, though I didn't expect them to tell the truth. They don't do it always, but they do for people of great power. I'll see you around. Good afternoon to you too, Zoe Potter." She said before promptly skipping off down the hall, supposedly to a lesson, though Zoe murmured "to the madhouse." Hermione snickered at the girl's obvious disdain for the imaginary creatures and Neville simply rolled his eyes.
After Defence, in which the whole class had gone over the material that was rumoured to be in the end-of-year exam, Harry and Hermione went for a walk around the castle grounds, a date of sorts, seeing as though they couldn't get into Hogsmede village until third-year weekend trips, which the pair were looking forward to. "Harry, I… I don't want to lose you, so promise me something alright?" Hermione said, in the middle of talking about the looming threat of the Heir of Slytherin. Harry furrowed his brow in confusion yet held Hermione's hands in his and nodded. "If one of us gets petrified, or worse… We do whatever we can to stay out of the fight from then on." At Harry's distraught look, she continued and cut him off from saying something without thinking, as he usually did. Now was the time to listen. "I don't want you getting turned to stone, or-or being taken from this world, from your parents, your sister. If it means letting the person go free, even if they are right in your grasp, please, don't make more enemies. I couldn't live with myself if I was the reason that you got…" She tapered off and looked down, sniffling. "Hermione, I- couldn't let you down like that. If I have the person who took you from me in my hands, within an inch of their pitiful life, you can't expect me to… do nothing, can you?" She looked up at him as he cradled her hands in his. "Yes, because if you go down that path, you won't come back as yourself." Harry massaged the bridge of his nose, deep in thought. "I promise." He said, before lifting her head from her chest and hugging her as if his days were truly in short supply. They sat by the edge of the Black Lake, on the shore, with her head cradled in the crook of Harry's neck, until they went back to the castle for dinner.
As they walked through the archway, framing their conjoined hands, Harry and Hermione witnessed an intolerable sight. "What do you need my cloak and shoes for? If you had asked, you could have them." Luna said as she was put back down. Harry rushed over, Hermione close behind and caught up with the four- 'Ravenclaws?' Harry thought in confusion. "What are you four doing?! Give Luna back her things, please." He growled out, nearly letting his temper slip. The girl at the front of the group was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, one named Harry Potter, yet, despite being two years his senior, she quivered under the glare of the Gryffindor Defence prodigy. "Uhh… Or what, Pott…" She looked up, regaining the confidence she had when stealing 'Loony's' things, which then dissipated when she saw the blazing fire that crackled behind Harry's eyes. "Now, I believe Luna needs a cloak and shoes. Why don't you give them back?" Her friends had bolted in the mere second that it had taken Harry to rush to the first-year's aid, so the girl was alone in her task of standing up to Harry Potter. "So, what is it going to be, give Luna her possessions back, or find out why they call me Duelling Devil?" Harry raised an eyebrow and the older girl flinched, dropping Luna's things to the floor and bolting off in the direction her friends had gone. Harry picked up the cloak and Hermione the shoes and walked over to Luna, Harry trying desperately to rub the dust and dirt off the cloth. "Harry, hold it out for me," Hermione commanded as he unfolded it and smoothed out the creases. "Scourgify!" she said with vigour, pointing her wand at the cloak, ridding it of the major patches of dust and grime. Luna looked at her and gratefully accepted the clothes back, beaming as she slipped her shoes onto her shivering feet. "Thank you both, I don't really know why they needed my clothes. If they did need them that badly they could have just asked me for them. The Umbugular Slashkilter might have minded the cold beneath my feet but I don't mind the sensation one bit." She skipped off again, swaying like a leaf on the vine, sporting a dreamy and dazed look.
Harry and Hermione made it to dinner only four minutes later, with Neville arriving a further nine after that, smelling slightly of sea salt. "Neville, have you already eaten? And how much salt did you put on the cottage pie?" Zoe exclaimed, taking a bite of potato, nearly reeling at the salty smell emanating from the boy. "No, I'm bloody starving. Oh, you're talking about the smell. I went to help Professor Sprout with some new Abyssinian Shrivelfigs. Professor Snape needed some for the shrinking solution, apparently, you need them fresh off the market to get the best sheen in a potion." At the look of confusion on their faces, he just told them he was working to get his grade up so he could shadow Professor Sprout in extra lessons next year. "Neville, you're the best in the year, hell, the whole school, besides Professor Sprout at Herbology. Why does your grade need to get any higher than an O*?" He blushed at Harry's sentiment and sat down to his meal with the rest of them. The needless glaring had stopped from most of the school by now, though the Slytherins seemed less inclined to smile and a band of Ravenclaws were cowering from fear, as Harry was facing in their direction on the Gryffindor table. His subtle movements such as a small smirk here and a narrowing of the eyes there was enough to inspire fear in the four that were stealing Luna's clothes. After an entertaining dinner full of raucous laughter and scowling at the Ravenclaws, Harry and Neville separated at the door to their dorm. Harry went to go to his bed and have a chat with his dad over the current situation with Dumbledore and Lockhart's trials using the communication mirror and Neville gave one sniff of his arms, nearly overwhelmed with the smell of salt. He went off to get a lengthy, steaming shower to calm his anger and abate the smell of the ocean. Relaxing under the ministrations of the hot water droplets, he washed his hair and thought about his time in the herbology greenhouses. Not about the plants, no. About his partner in the tasks at hand, Hannah Abbott. As he drifted off to sleep in his four-poster bed, only ten minutes later, his thoughts were focussed on one blonde witch.
When Zoe woke on Sunday morning, she felt ready for the quidditch training drills that Oliver had set up for today. A few laps around the field were easy, catching a quaffle whilst doing said laps was doable, but dodging two bludgers from the Weasley twins, whilst passing and catching the quaffle was another story entirely. Then again, another minute spent in the library with Hermione tearing her hair out over the species of the monster of Slytherin would be less fun than getting iron balls with minds of their own pelted at her by two fun-loving pranksters who knew no discernable line in their jokes. As she meandered down to the quidditch pitch with Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, Draco Malfoy was walking back from the pitch, seemingly holding his broom, a Nimbus 2001 in his grasp, a trademark sneer on his face. "So, your brother hasn't managed to catch you and turn you into stone yet, has he? Pity. Could have used you off the field in that last match, too distracting for me to focus on the snitch." Katie gawked at his gall to say something so degrading and rude, but Zoe stood still, boring into his eyes that slowly turned from gloating and admiring to zipping around and forming sweat underneath them. She smirked as he made to walk away. "Not used to that Draco. Girls disobeying you and standing up to pompous arses? Thought not, Parkinson doesn't seem like much of an independent girl now, does she?" Malfoy fumed and flipped his cloak around, huffing his way back to the castle. Angelina smiled and held her hand up. Zoe met it in a high-five and did the same for Katie, who was incredibly impressed by her teammate. "Come on, let's go. Oliver will have our heads if we're late again. Don't want to be on the wrong side of him in a fume." Sniggering to themselves, the three girls ran the rest of the way down to the pitch, where an annoyed Oliver Wood barked out their lateness in seconds.
Hermione was in the library, doing more research into the monster that was roaming the castle with an almost ferocious attitude. The page she was currently on was on the abilities of the Greek myth Medusa. The answer was just a few pages away, she could feel it and she was correct. The next page was the entry in the book of dark creatures that was centred around the Basilisk. The ancient creatures were said to be extinct for long by now because of their dangerous and threatening nature. 'Anyone who looks upon the Basilisk's glare will be immediately eradicated by the beast, but indirectly meet its gaze and one will be petrified, turned as rigid and as cold as a stone, whilst keeping the soul intact and the body preserved. The king of the serpents would make more than humans quiver, as the arachnids, namely spiders and acromantula flee before it.' Hermione had finished reading all she needed and had copied the page of the book with a geminio charm, before writing a note to herself: 'Pipes' to explain the travel of the gargantuan beast. She left the Library, eager to get to Harry and Neville to tell them the good news. Looking around a corner to the entrance hall with a hand mirror, Hermione seized up and fell with a small thump to the floor. She could see her assailant, the basilisk itself as it slithered away.
BOOM! You thought because this is Harmony that Hermione wouldn't get caught by the Basilisk. Nope. Totally wrong. Though I pondered on it for a short while, I decided that in the end, she would still have to be petrified, as she would basically kick the Basilisk's ass into the next century by having Harry use Parseltongue or finding some way to weaponise a rooster.
Is this chapter basically filler bar the last paragraph? Yes. Should i be ashamed? Probably. Am I? No. I think that the development of Harry and Hermione's maturity and relationship needed this chapter. Plus, I think we all need a bit of Luna's lightheartedness now. Am I wrong? I actually like doing these types of chapters, more character development in a shorter amount of time. The majority of the last paragraph was taken and modified from my other story, Deserter.
Will Draco think about what Zoe said and strive to better himself past misogynistic and downright dreadful? Nope, not yet. Will Neville stop smelling of salt and finally ask Hannah out? Most likely. Will Harry keep his promise to Hermione? Wait. And. See. ;)
Stay Safe
-E