Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029 and Gazaran, who beta this story.

Chapter Forty-One

Dueling Club

According to Hermione, the Polyjuice Potion was progressing smoothly and it would be ready sometime during the holiday breaks. This would be prefect because for some reason Malfoy was not going home for this break, which Harry found to be odd. The only hard part about that was that Harry had to convince Remus and Sirius to let him stay.

"What is the matter pup, you don't like us anymore?" Sirius had said when Harry had informed him of his plans of staying at Hogwarts for Christmas.

"Of course that's not it," Harry rolled his eyes as Sirius continued to make puppy dog eyes at him. "I just …"

Harry paused there, he had been trying to decide whether he should tell them the truth or not and actually talking to them made him what to confess.

"What is it, Harry?" Remus asked, giving him a sharp look.

Harry sighed, sometimes it really sucked that Remus knew him so well, it was hard to keep anything from him.

"Ron, Hermione, and I are trying to figure out who is opening the Chamber of Secrets," Harry confessed.

"WHAT?" Sirius said looking shocked and scared. "Are you out of your mind? You can't put yourself in that much danger!"

"Looks who …" Harry started to say but Sirius cut him off.

"NO! Do not give me any flack about what I did at Hogwarts! This is different!" Sirius said.

"Look I …" Harry started to say.

"Harry, Sirius is right, you shouldn't be putting your life in danger for no reason," Remus said.

"The entire school is in some kind of danger … as long as I am here, I am in danger," Harry huffed. "Why don't you just home school me and be done with it?"

"Is that an option, could we do that?" Sirius said looking at Remus.

"No, it's not an option," Remus said firmly. "I'm not trying to mollycoddle you, Harry. I know that you are going to have to face dangerous situations. But that is different than going and looking for them. Harry I …"

"Hermione is scared out of her mind," Harry said not looking at either of them as he spoke. "She tries not to show it, but I know she is. She's not the kind of person that is just going to bow to her fear. She has to try to figure this all out and I have the help her. I can't just let my friends down when they need me."

There was a long silence after this until Sirius said with a heavy sigh, "I understand. But Harry, please promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"You know I can't promise that," Harry sighed too. "But Ron and Hermione will have my back so I'm sure I'll be okay."

"Well that is a comfort," Sirius said truthfully, but it did not make him any less worried.

"What are you planning on doing over the holiday? Why can't you come home?" Remus asked.

"Well, Malfoy was staying over break … we thought we would be able to corner him and get him to spill something to us," Harry said carelessly. As much as he wanted to be honest with them, he wasn't about to tell them about the Polyjuice Potion, knowing that wouldn't go over well.

"I think it would be better if you found a subtler way of getting something out of him then confronting him," Sirius said disappointed. "So, you think that Malfoy is the one that's doing this."

"No, something doesn't feel right, but he still would be someone good to question knowing the standing he has in the house despite the fact that he's only a second year," Harry said. "Still, there is something suspicious about him staying at Hogwarts …"

"No there's not," Sirius said. "Lucius and Narcissa are going to visit Lucius's parents …"

"How do you know that?" Harry questioned.

"What, I can't keep in touch with my cousin," Sirius said innocently and Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine, we raided Malfoy Manner the other day," he added with a huge grin. "You should have seen Lucius's face when we came in … he was all like what the fu …"

"Sirius!"

"Hell," Sirius corrected rolling his eyes.

"Actually I was trying to make you to get to the point already," Remus said shaking his head.

"Huh?" Sirius said and then looked at Harry, who was chuckling at their interaction. "Oh yeah, anyway, they're heading to the elder Malfoys for the holidays and Cissy tries to keep little Draco away from them as much as possible."

"Cissy," Harry muttered to himself. Sirius only called his cousin that when he was thinking well of her. He wondered how bad the older Malfoys were, but he knew better than to ask Sirius about it.

"Harry, I know you feel like it would be easy to blame Draco for this," Remus started to say, he was looking thoughtful. "But I really don't think he could be the one that opened the Chamber."

"Why? Do you know something about the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry said raising his eyebrow at his godfather.

"More than I told you before," Remus sighed. "I had hoped that if I didn't tell you anything you wouldn't try to get involved in this matter, but seeing as it's too late for that it would be best if I tell you everything I know."

"I'm listening," Harry said.

"I'm not sure if any of this is going to be helpful, but here it goes," Remus said and then told him everything he knew about the subject, which unfortunately did not help that much. The most important piece of information Harry got was that it had been open before and that it was before his parents (all four of them) had gone to school, but that still did not tell him when it happened or how it was being opened now.

O

Harry was having a hard time in his defense class today. Lockhart was recounting how he had stopped a werewolf, forcing it to transform back to a man. He was rubbing his temples just listening to the crap that was coming out of Lockhart's mouth. He wanted to call him on every mistake that he made in concerns of this particular case, because they were so obvious, but he didn't want everyone to wonder how he knew so much about werewolves. He was really thankful when the bell finally rung and he could leave.

"Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked him after the class was over.

"Please tell me that you've gotten over worshiping that git!" Harry said harshly.

"Well, I …" Hermione said blushing slightly; she didn't know what to say to that.

"Why would she, she didn't think it was so bad when he made the bones in your arm disappear," Ron stepped in.

"It was a difficult spell," Hermione found herself saying. She couldn't help it; she didn't like being wrong and even more she didn't like being disappointed.

"It's not an easy spell, but any seventh year should be able to do it," Harry pointed out. "Hermione, did you listen at all to what he was saying today. His story doesn't even match up to what happened in the book!"

"He likes to be dramatic …"

"He doesn't teach us a damn thing in class!" Harry huffed. "No spells! No techniques! Nothing! And now he's not even giving us the right information …"

"Harry …" Hermione said biting her lip.

Harry took a deep breath, he knew he was being a jerk, not to mention somewhat a bully, but he couldn't take this much longer. "I'm sorry … I didn't mean to get on your case. I just need to vent about what a useless git he is and it would help if you didn't defend him so damn much."

"I'll try," Hermione sighed. "Go ahead, vent."

"Okay, but remember you gave me permission to do this," Harry said. He took a deep breath and then said, "I can't believe how he was talking about this. That he was able to trap the werewolf in the phone booth and then turn him back to a man like it was no big deal. I'm sure the guy was happy that he didn't hurt or kill anyone but that spell probably took years off that man's life and Lockhart is acting like he's some kind of hero."

"The guy ran from pixies, I doubt he would even have the nerves to face a werewolf in the first place," Ron pointed out and Harry smiled.

"True," Harry said. "And then there was the part about how he identified the guy that was the werewolf … if he didn't make that up I'm the worst flyer at Hogwarts."

"That did sound a bit farfetched," Hermione said.

Harry smiled at her gratefully as they continued to bash Lockhart. When they got back to the common room later in that day, Harry was really starting to feel better and that was only improved when he noticed that there was going to be a Dueling Club. He felt excitement fill him at the thought that he would be able to learn something (finally) that dealt with Defense.

"I wonder who's going to be teaching us!" Ron asked as they walked down to the Great Hall for the first meeting. The three of them where walking together, but it seemed that most of their house mates along with a lot of the rest of the school were going to the lesson too. The Great Hall was almost as full as it was during the opening feast. Everyone seemed to be just as excited as Harry felt.

"Maybe it's Flitwick, I heard that he was s dueling champion when he was younger," Hermione said.

"Really," Harry said. "I wonder if that was because he was really good, or because he was so small that his opponents couldn't hit him."

"Harry!" Hermione reprimanded as Ron chuckled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that," Harry chuckled too.

"Ah, good evening everyone!" Lockhart said walking into the room with a huge smile plastered on his face. He looked around the room and seemed proud of something before he continued his speech. "Can everyone hear me … can everyone see me …"

"I can't believe this," Harry groaned, his earlier annoyance coming back to him. "Why did it have to be him?"

"Because we're just lucky that way," Ron groaned too. "I was really looking forward to these lessons too."

"Don't be so dramatic, I'm sure the lessons will be okay," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It looks like Snape is here too."

"Well, at least someone will know how to cast a curse," Harry sighed. "But something tells me this won't go well for me. He has been on my case more than usually since my potion exploded. I think he knows it was me but just doesn't have any proof."

"You don't think that Nott …" Ron started to say.

"No, if Nott told, he would have proof," Harry insisted.

"Sh … It looks like Snape and Lockhart are about to duel!" Hermione said and the boys looked up towards the stage. Indeed Snape and Lockhart seemed like they were about to duel and Harry found himself almost smiling. He knew it wasn't right, but part of him wished that Snape would put them all out of their misery and do something really bad (or in this case good) to Lockhart.

"… Then on the count of three you start the duel," Lockhart stated before he started to count.

"Expelliarmus," Snape shouted at the end of the count and a flash of red light hit Lockhart in the chest, knocking the other professor off his feet.

"Okay, now I'm happy I came," Ron chuckled.

"You don't have to be a jerk about it, Lockhart could have been hurt," Hermione huffed, which only caused Ron to smile wider, but he had the sense not to say anything else.

"Well there you have it," Lockhart said, getting to his feet and grinning like he always did. "That was the Disarming Charms and as you can all see I have been disarmed. However, Professor Snape was making it pretty obviously what he was about to do and if I wanted to, I could have easily blocked it."

"What, with his impression of a windmill," Ron sniggered.

"You know if you think about it, Snape didn't really do the charm properly. He was supposed to disarm him, not knock him off the ground." Harry noted with a grin.

"He must have put a little too much force into it," Ron said. "That's too bad really."

"Yeah, you seemed all beat up about it," Hermione rolled her eyes. "And if you will stop chatting you would have heard that they're going to be breaking us up into pairs so we could disarm each other."

"Well then Ron, will be my partner," Harry said.

"I don't think so Potter," Snape said from behind them, causing Harry to jump. "I think it would be more advantageous for you to have a better opponent."

"Er … Hermione than …" Harry said hopefully but knew it would be useless.

"No, you don't want to have too familiar of an opponent," Snape said coldly. "I think Malfoy would be the perfect person for you to practices against."

Harry had to bite back his remark to this, as he walked over to face Malfoy. He went over all the spells he had learn over the years, knowing that Malfoy was likely doing the same thing. How often do you get the chance to duel against your rival in a completely sanction situation.

"Is everyone ready?" Lockhart said and when the murmurs died away, he added, "Good. Now I wanted you to bow to your opponent. Good, and on the count of three I want you to try to disarm your opponent.

"Three- Two- One!"

Harry had tried to dodge the curse that Malfoy had sent his way on the count of two, but it hit his arm. A pain shot through his left arm, but it was not too bad. The curse that Malfoy had shot at him was clearly not supposed to hit an arm because it felt more odd than painful. Still he could not worry about that now, as he sent the Tickling charm at Malfoy, hitting him in the leg.

He smirked at the laughing Malfoy, though he knew that he couldn't curse him again while he was on the ground. It just didn't seem right to him. However, he wasn't about to leave himself open for attack so he said, "Expelliarmus."

The red flash hit Malfoy in his wand hand, causing his wand to fly out of Malfoys grip just as the blonde boy was about to say his own spell.

"You're such a coward, Potter," Malfoy hissed at him, no longer laughing. "You can't even handle a little exchange of curses."

"Don't be a sore loser Malfoy, I mean I know you are use to it, but that look isn't so good on you," Harry smirked.

"Why you …"

"Stop, Stop!" Lockhart was suddenly yelling and Harry realized that there was chaos all around him.

"Finite Incantatem!" Snape shouted and all the spells that were being cast on the occupants of the room stopped.

That was when he noticed that Hermione seemed to be caught in a little scuffle with the person she was force to duel against. All he knew about the other girl was that she was a Slytherin, bigger than him and that she had Hermione in a headlock.

"Hey," Harry said going over to help his friend out, pulling the other girl off with difficulty.

Lockhart seemed to be saying something to them but all Harry could do was smirk at Hermione.

"You know, you're the last person I would have expected to be in a fight."

"Oh shut up Harry, she's the one that came after me," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I disarmed her … she really didn't like that."

"Did you even think about you know, cursing her to stop her from getting too close to you?" Harry chuckled.

"I did, but I didn't think it would be fair … she didn't have a wand," Hermione sighed.

"So you thought that wrestling would be your best option," Harry pointed out.

"I might have been a little short sighted in my choice," Hermione agreed.

"How about Potter and Malfoy?" Harry heard Snape say and he looked up to find most of the people looking at him. When he saw that Malfoy was walking toward the stage he felt that he better do the same.

"What's going on?" Harry asked Lockhart when he got there, his eyes on Malfoy, who was talking to Snape.

"Just a demonstration," Lockhart said smiling, "now just remember if you want to block a spell you should just do this …" he made some complicated looking movement with his arms and by the end of which he dropped his wand.

"So to defend myself I should drop my wand," Harry said to him rolling his eyes. He would have to get the useless teacher trying to help him. He looked back at Malfoy, who was nodding his head at whatever Snape was saying.

Well, this should be interesting, if nothing else, Harry thought as he approached the center of the stage. Malfoy joined him there where they were force bow to each other again.

Lockhart then counted. "Three- Two- One- Go!"

"Serpensortia!" Malfoy yelled and Harry was so shocked by this unknown spell that he didn't know what to do. He still couldn't move when he saw the snake shoot out of Malfoy's wand, hitting the floor and slithering towards him. What shocked him most though, was the fact that he wasn't afraid of the snake even though he could sense that it was coming after him.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape said carelessly, "I'll get rid of it …"

"No need, I can handle this," Lockhart said and Harry felt the first wave of panic go through him as the useless git waved his wand at the snake, again causing more trouble than there needed to be. The snake rose into the air, its angry hisses filled Harry's mind, and he was sure the snake was no fan of heights. When it landed it started moving as quickly as it could in the direction it was facing. That just happened to have been towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, who was looking terrified.

Harry did not know what made him do it; all he knew was that he was walking towards the snake, feeling that he had to stop this. "Stop! Leave him alone!" The words fell out of his mouth and he felt how different they seemed to be. It was almost like he was willing the snake to listen to him, and what was even odder; he knew that the snake had listened. That it wasn't going to do anything to Justin now.

He looked at Justin with relief, but he started to panic when the other boy was looking at him as if he had gone mad.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin said, his face was pale and he backed away from Harry before turning away and leaving the hall.

Harry looked at the other people in the Great Hall; they were all looking at him with a mixture or fear and shock. What's going on?

"Come on, we have got to get out of here," Ron said talking his arm and forcing Harry to follow him.

"Harry, come on," Hermione added, pushing him along too.

"What's going on?" Harry said, looking at each of his friends. They were shocked to say the least, and there was fear in their eyes, but it was different than what he had seen in everyone else's eyes. The others had seemed to be afraid of him and his friends seemed to be afraid for him.

"You're a Parselmouth!" Ron said.

"I'm a what?" Harry said feeling numb.

"A Parselmouth!" Ron repeated. "It means you can talk to snakes."

"I know what it means," Harry said breathlessly. "But that can't be true …"

"Then how else could you explain the fact that you just hissed nonsense at a snake and it seemed to listen to you!" Ron said bluntly.

"I … I was hissing?" the numbness in Harry seemed to be filling him more completely. "I don't … I …"

"Harry, did you have any idea that you could talk to snakes?" Hermione asked in a calm voice. The voice she used when she was afraid but tried not to show it.

"No," Harry answered slowly. "I've never seen a snake before today."

"Yeah well, this wasn't really the best time for you to learn this little secret," Ron said. "Everyone saw you speak to that snake …"

"Sorry, I didn't exactly plan this," Harry said, trying to get angry so he could think straight.

"Everyone is going to think that you're the Heir of Slytherin," Hermione groaned.

"I'm not!" Harry stated and looked at his friends.

"We know that!" they both said, looking back at him and he could see that they meant what they said.

"Thanks guys," Harry sighed. "How could I not know that I can talk to snakes!" he added burying his head in his hands. "I didn't even know that I was speaking a different language …"

"I don't know Harry," Hermione sighed, going over to hold his hand.

O

"Thank Merlin our Herbology class was canceled," Ernie said as they walked towards the library.

"Why, I thought you liked Herbology?" Neville said to his friend coldly.

"Come on Neville, you know this doesn't have anything to do with Herbology," Susan said. "You saw what Potter did …"

"Harry," Neville corrected, shaking his head. "He was your friend just the other day and now you can't even call him by his name."

"He wasn't really our friend," Ernie rolled his eyes. "I mean, all we did was study with the guy."

"I always thought he was so nice," Hannah sighed. "He doesn't seem like the type of guy that would do something like this."

"He's not," Neville said.

"He's a Parselmouth, Neville," Ernie said.

"You say that like it's some terrible crime," Neville said.

"Come on Nev, he can talk to snakes!" Ernie said. "Have you ever heard of a decent wizard that could talk to snakes?"

"Actually I haven't heard of either a good or bad wizard that has talked to a snake, not having researched the subject matter much," Neville said. "And I think it's ridiculous to think someone was evil just because of an ability they have. It's not like he ordering the snake to attack anyone!"

"Tell that to Justin!" Susan said. "You saw what happened! Potter made that snake go after Justin."

"Right, that's why the snake attacked him right?" Neville rolled his eyes. "Wait, no, that didn't happened. The snake sat still on the ground after Harry spoke … it wasn't even hissing anymore."

"He has a point," Hannah said.

"He's just trying to think of ways to convince himself that his friend isn't evil," Ernie said. "I get that you don't want him to be the Heir, but let's face it, Potter outed himself when he talked to that snake!"

"Does that really sound like something Harry would do?" Neville asked. "Make a slip like that … let everyone know that he could talk to snakes. He's too smart to do something like that."

"So that is your defense now, that he's too smart to make a slip up," Ernie said.

"Whatever, I'm done trying to convince you," Neville said hotly. "But I'll just say that he was your friend before this, whether you want to admit that or not, and you know that he's not type of guy that would do what the Heir is doing. For crying out loud, his best friend is a Muggle-born, why the hell would he want to kill them off?"

"Nev … wait, don't go …" Hannah called after her friend, who was now storming away from the others.

"Don't bother!" Ernie huffed.

"But …" Hannah started to say.

"He's too loyal for his own good, he's going to follow Potter no matter what," Ernie huffed.

"I hope he doesn't get hurt," Susan said warily.

"Do you actually think that Harry could hurt him?" Hannah asked in disbelief.

"Well …" Susan said uncertainly.

"Nah … he is … er … he is a pureblood," Ernie said uncertainly, too. "Potter doesn't have any reason to hurt him."

Hannah looked at her friends for a second and then back in the directions that Neville had just left in.

"I really don't like the fact that he spoke Parselmouth … But Neville's right, we know Harry better than that." Hannah said making up her mind.

"Hannah," Ernie said grabbing her arm, obviously worried about her conclusion.

"I know that it's easier to just think that Harry's the one that's doing this," Hannah said more firmly than before. "It's not so scary walking through the halls when you think you know who's causing all these strange things that are happening, but you can't let your peace of mind overwhelm your better judgment."

"Thanks Hannah, that was really nice to hear," Harry said walking out from a corridor, causing the three Hufflepuffs that were there to jump.

"Where did you come from?" Hannah gasped.

"From this corridor," he pointed at a tapestry next to him. "It leads to the Charms classroom … it's the quickest way to get to there from the library …"

"So you were just standing there listening to our conversation!" Ernie huffed, glaring at Harry with anger and fear.

"I heard you talking about me … so yeah, I sort of listened to what you had to say," Harry said with a sigh. "I doubt you would have done anything differently if you were in my shoes."

"Did you want something Harry?" Hannah asked before Ernie could say anything.

"Yeah, I was looking for Justin …"

"I knew it!" Ernie exclaimed. "Trying to take care of him … he's been waiting for something like this …"

"I figure that since he is not with you he is hiding somewhere where I can't get at him," Harry interrupted Ernie, having no patients for the other boy's rant at the moment.

"Yeah, he stayed in our common room," Hannah answered.

"Could you just tell him that I was trying to stop the snake, not make it attack him," Harry said.

"Yeah right," Ernie huffed.

"Sure, but I don't know if he is going to believe me," Hannah said. "He's been worried this whole term something was going to happen to him."

Harry sighed and nodded his head. "So has Hermione. Just pass my message on … I'll understand if he doesn't believe me … it can't be easy to be afraid all the time."

"As if you care about that," Ernie said. "You're trying to act all innocent now, but I'm not buying it."

Harry looked at Ernie again before turning back to Hannah. "Thanks again for sticking up for me; you have no idea how hard it is when everyone in the castle hates you."

"It's no problem, Harry," Hannah answered and Harry walked away.

"Ernie … maybe Neville and Hannah have a point …" Susan said watching Harry walk away.

"He's just trying to make you sympathetic to him," Ernie said.

"Why do you have to be so insistent that Harry's evil?" Hannah huffed at her oldest friend.

"Because if you're wrong, Justin could get hurt or even killed," Ernie said. "Hannah, you and Justin are my best friends …"

"What am I, chop liver," Susan huffed in mock annoyance.

"If I'm wrong, than I just made a jerk of myself," Ernie went on like he wasn't interrupted, "but I can live with that because if I'm right, Justin is in danger and I can't stand that."

"So it's just easier to call Harry, Potter, and turn your shoulder on him," Hannah sighed. "It's not right Ernie, but I understand."

"I'm so glad I have your understanding," Ernie smirked.

"Argh, look at the time," Susan said. "We don't have time to go to the library now; we better get to our next class."

"Fine," Ernie and Hannah said together.

"What's going on?" Ernie said when he noticed the crowd blocking the hall. When they got closer, he was able to see something that was black and smoky, which made it hard for him to realize it was the Ghost of Gryffindor, who he could not remember the name of. He was puzzled by this, wondering like most of the other people in the corridor, what had happened to the ghost but that thought quickly left his mind. Because he noticed next to the ghost there was another body. A body that he could recognize easily.

"Justin!" he gasped, his face paling as he looked at his best friend lying motionless on the ground. Panic was filling him … as he feared the worst had happened.

"He's been petrified!" McGonagall was saying and he was able to breathe again.

His eyes then locked onto Potter, and anger filled him. "Caught in the act!"

"That's enough Macmillan!" McGonagall snapped and Ernie clenched his fist and gritted his teeth to prevent himself from saying more. He glared at Harry until he was asked to fan Nick (that's what the ghost's name was) to the hospital wing. This was the last thing he wanted to do, but at least he was able to walk next to his friend.

"Ernie, let me do that," Hannah said when they were halfway to the hospital.

"You still believe that Potter is innocent after what just happened!" Ernie said bitterly, noticing for the first time that he had tears in his eyes.

Hannah did not say anything, she had made up her mind to trust Harry, but at the same time, she knew she could not argue about this with Ernie anymore. He needed her to be on his side, and even though she technically wasn't, that didn't mean that she couldn't be there for her friend.

Ernie could read the truth in his friend's eyes, but he did not say anything. One of his best friends had just been petrified … probably this close to being killed … he could not argue with his other best friend.

A/N: Let me just say that I have no idea where this whole Hufflepuff point of view thing I had going on at the end of the chapter came from, but I think it works. It is nice to see what they were thinking … hope you liked it.