Harry slowly walked towards the Great Hall, scowling at the Halloween decorations that littered the castle. It was the thirty-first of October, a day that the rest of the Wizarding world celebrated. Personally, he utterly loathed it and had a hard time keeping his face neutral as he watched people celebrate the day his parents died. No, not died, the day they were murdered.
He felt his magic rise as his temper flared, only to have it extinguished just as quickly when Hannah playfully bumped into him. He was about to growl at her before he reined in his anger; he knew she did it on purpose to keep his mind off today. Really, he should be grateful, both Hannah and Susan had spent the entire day just distracting him. They didn't even bother being covert about it, Hannah let her exuberant side out and pretty much annoyed him constantly, bringing a small genuine smile to his face.
Personally, he would rather have stayed in his dorm today but he knew his Mistresses wouldn't be pleased by that. Oh, they wouldn't say much, he knew they respected his feelings this day, but that didn't change the fact that he also knew they would consider it a weakness. Sighing he realized he himself would also consider it a weakness to hide in his dorm; their training was catching on a bit too well. What kind of Lord hid in his room sulking when there was a public feast going on?
The food tasted like ash in his mouth as he dutifully forced some of it down. In his youth he had eaten scraps and leftovers left by the fat Dursley's, a foul mood would not deter him from getting some sustenance. Deciding he had shown himself for long enough he calmly stood up and started walking out of the hall. He had barely made it to the doors before he was flanked by the girls again, happily chattering on and seemingly ignoring his stormy mood. He let out a small exasperated chuckle, he should have figured they wouldn't let him out of their sight today.
When they rounded the corner, he heard a faint whisper, barely audible in the drafty castle, the voice almost teasing his ear. He stopped and held his hand up, silencing the girls as they looked at him in question.
"Wha..."
"Sschhh! Did you hear that?"
Susan scrunched up her nose and cocked her head, as if trying to hear better.
"Hear what?"
Harry heard to voice again and started following it at a light jog, starting to make out individual words.
"…rip...tear…kill…flesssshhhh"
He had his wand out in an instant, startling the girls as they shared a questioning glance behind his back. Shrugging, Hannah took out her wand, quickly followed by Susan.
"Harry, where are..."
"Schh! Can't you hear it?"
The girls shared another glance, this one more troubled as they kept pace with him. Susan tried to listen but all she heard was a faint hissing, like a gas valve that had been left open. The hissing kept getting louder and she could feel Harry's magic building. She tried to control her awe at the sensation; she had felt his power several times during the summer and had to focus on not drifting closer to him.
Aunt Amelia had explained it as a natural attraction all witches had towards magical power, mentioning that Harry's power would only attract more attention as he matured. She almost ran into him as he abruptly stopped as they rounded another corner, his glowing green eyes staring at the grotesque find they had made. Or well, he had made, she still didn't quite understand how he led them here.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."
Harry mumbled the sentence written on the wall, the dark red paint reminding him of blood as it dripped down in rivulets. He shifted his gaze to the candle holder on the wall, or more accurately the cat hanging from it. He easily recognized the caretaker's cat, yet the stiff way it dangled seemed unnatural.
Someone wanted to send a message, a gruesome one that was sure to cause discussion. Hearing voices coming from behind him he stiffened, the first person at a scene of a crime was always assumed guilty. Harry quickly reached into his expanded pocket, ripping out the invisibility cloak as he pulled Susan and Hannah with him into an alcove. The cloak barely covered all three of them as they hunched together, his arms hugging them close as he held the fabric around them.
The alcove didn't allow much light in, bathing them in darkness as they were surrounded by walls on three sides. It was a tight fit, forcing them to practically hug each other to fit under the cloak. Harry tried desperately to ignore the fact that two girls that he found quite attractive were flush against him, their budding breasts pushing into his chest.
He knew muggle women could start puberty as early as the age of nine and witches tended to start earlier because of the onset of magic boosting the hormonal activity, yet that knowledge did little to stop him from thinking about how soft they felt. He tried to occlude his thoughts and clear his mind, yet Mistress Narcissa's warning rang in his ears, saying mastery of the mind arts was impossible as a teenager because of all the hormones.
It fully dawned on him how impossible it was at this moment. Their soft bodies moulded to his form, their small panting breaths washing over his neck, sending shivers traveling down his back. He could smell the fruity shampoo they used for their hair as well as the scent he distinctly recognized as theirs.
Susan thought she was going to pass out as she breathed in his musk, feeling her body react to the magic radiating from the boy, no, right now she could only think of him as a young man. She knew her face was as red as a cherry and she could feel herself heating up, not only from the shared body heat but from the way Harry felt against her.
A quick glance at Hannah showed her just as red, panting softly against his skin. Harry shifted slightly, making her impressive Bones bust grind against his chest. She felt her breath hitch as her nipples hardened, trying desperately to think of something else. The alarmed shouts from the corridor made her jump, inadvertently rubbing her thigh against his crotch.
Her face became even redder as he heard a stifled groan from Harry, her heartbeat increasing even further. Without thinking about the repercussions, she tried to manoeuvre her leg away, shifting and rotating her hips to make room.
Harry couldn't hold in the stifled groan that slipped past his lips as he felt Susan's thigh push against him. His Occlumency crashed and burned when to his horror Susan started shifting and rubbing her hips against his crotch.
He hissed "Susan!" through clenched teeth. She didn't seem to be paying attention and kept trying to make room where there was none. Grabbing her lower back in panic he pressed her against him to make her stop, sharply hissing "Susan!" again.
She looked up, somewhat startled at his reaction.
"Would you please stop doing that?"
Susan was about to answer when she felt his very clear reaction pushing against her thigh, becoming harder by the second.
"Oh." She gulped.
"Yeah."
Hannah realized what had happened and started to giggle softly; making Susan feel like her blush was spreading all the way down to her toes. She tried to think of anything besides the very large, very hot rod poking against her.
"I'm, uh, sorry, Harry."
Harry cleared his throat and glanced towards the corridor, seeing practically the entire school standing out there. No chance of leaving any time soon then, Merlin help him.
"Krhm, it's fine, just uh, try not to move so much alright?"
Susan ignored Hannah's loud snort and mumbled a soft "Yeah", looking anywhere but at his face.
Harry's attempts to ignore the sensations were failing miserably, he could smell a light scent of strawberry in the air and had to mentally stop himself before he leaned down and sniffed the girl's hair. The heat in the alcove seemed like it was increasing by the minute and the small shifts Susan made had him biting his tongue to stifle his sounds.
It didn't help that he knew that the girls were most certainly excited; the thin Hogwarts robes did little to hide the erect nipples rubbing against his chest. He wasn't really certain at what point they had switched from just close friends to...something more. It felt like the temperature in the closed space was increasing by the second, his cock insistently pushing against Susan's soft flesh.
He let out a deep sigh of relief as he heard Dumbledore dismiss everyone in the corridor. When the teachers finally left with a petrified Mrs. Norris, the flustered trio stumbled out of the alcove. Susan could barely look at him without glancing at his crotch, her flush easily reaching past her neck. Hannah on the other hand was just as red but kept giggling softly.
Harry tried to keep a dignified air about himself as he started towards the Hufflepuff dorms.
"Right then, lets uh, head back to the common room."
He tried to ignore the way Hannah's giggles seemed to become louder as he stiffly lead the way. The girls luckily seemed to have calmed down a bit by the time they arrived, trying to slip into the common room unseen. That is until Zacharias Smith noticed them.
"Hey! Where have you guys been?"
Most of the house turned to them and Harry felt his mind freeze as he opened his mouth, what in Merlin's name was he supposed to say. It didn't help that Susan flushed completely red again as Hannah exploded into laughter.
"Uhh, just walked back from the feast."
He got the most skeptical look he had ever seen as Zacharias looked between him and the two girls. Susan ran up to her room with a laughing Hannah following at a more sedate pace, holding her belly and seeming to stumble slightly in her mirth.
"Riiight." He didn't need pureblood training to recognize the disbelief in Zacharias's voice.
The people staring at the girls turned back to watching him as he feebly gestured towards his room.
"Right uh, long day, going to call it a night. Good night!"
He heard more than a few snorts as he quickly slipped up to his dorm. His mind was whirling with images of Susan and Hannah and he could feel his erection returning again. Deciding he could use a cold shower instead of attempting to rub one out, one never knew when one of his dorm mates might enter; he dropped his clothes and headed to the bathroom.
The cool water helped clear his thoughts as he relaxed against the wall. He was startled to realize that today had been Halloween. Harry couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping; the girls sure did a fantastic job of distracting him, even if all of it wasn't exactly planned. His bright mood crumbled when he considered what had led them to the alcove.
That weird, unnatural whispery voice. Neither of girls seemed to have heard it, yet he could clearly make out the words. He decided to approach the problem logically. It was not a case of madness as the voice clearly led them to the petrified cat.
He could make out the words clearly yet Susan had described it as a leaking gas valve. A magical language then…a hissing magical language. His mood plummeted like a rock as he remembered his discussion with Mistress Andromeda.
"I have been studying what you had in your scar."
That certainly got his attention; they had agreed to never use the word 'Horcrux' in public in case someone managed to overhear it. A simple precaution that could potentially save them from a huge headache.
"Anything of interest?"
"No. Sadly your situation is very unique and its long-term effects are almost impossible to predict. I do however strongly suspect it will have some effect on you; the shard was in you for such a long time. It had ten years of time where it was connected to both your magic and soul and it would honestly be more surprising if there were no consequences at all."
"What kind of consequences?"
"Hard to tell, if you develop a problem with your magic is it because of the influence from the shard or would you have had it regardless? If you master an obscure magical talent or develop a magical gift, is it because of the shard or was it simply in your blood?"
Parseltongue. He could see no other logical explanation. Knowing sleep would be impossible in his current state he donned his robes and invisibility cloak, he needed to see Mistress Andromeda.
Slipping out of the common room with a silencing spell and the cloak was ridiculously easy and only minutes later he found himself outside of her room. He whispered his personal password and slipped in, dropping the cloak as he entered. Knowing she'd be alerted when he entered, he simply waited for her to arrive.
She walked in wearing a sheer night gown that did nothing to hide her nudity underneath, her pale skin shining in the soft light. She seemed to instantly see through his expression and waved him towards the sofa.
"What's wrong Harry?"
She sat down next to him as he explained the story, running her hand through his hair to comfort him; it was obvious something had greatly disturbed him. When he finished she simply smiled at him?
"That's great."
"W-w-what?"
"Harry, being a parselmouth is good. It means you have access to another language, another form of magic. If anything, you should be happy, you got something very useful out of the scar after all."
"But, it's from…him."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. You are related to the Blacks and have some of their blood in your veins. Maybe the scar simple reinforced something that might have come naturally to you. Maybe it played no part. Maybe it gave you the gift directly. It matters little, what matters is that you have access to a part of the magical arsenal that distinguished the Dark Lord from everyone else."
Seeing that he had calmed down a bit she took out her wand.
"We should confirm the talent. Serpensortia."
A small dark green snake slipped out of her wand and landed on the floor. It turned towards them and hissed out what sounded like an irritated "What do you want?". Harry looked at the snake and then at her and she smiled encouragingly,
"Go on, talk to it."
He nervously cleared his throat before rasping out "do you understand me?" Harry saw the way Mistress Andromeda flinched at the voice and he realized it wasn't English he was speaking.
"A speaker! Yesss I understand you, what do you need?"
Harry swallowed nervously and vanished the snake with a muttered "Evanesco" and a quick flick of his wand, it was confirmed then. He felt her hand in his hair and slowly exhaled, leaning towards her touch.
"This is good news Harry. Yet…you must remember this must be kept secret."
He looked at her and nodded, he had figured that out as well. Not only was it a possible magical trump card but it also carried a hefty stigma in the Wizarding world. Voldemort had done little to improve the way parselmouths were perceived.
"Turns out I was quite right when I called you a silver tongue."
Harry chuckled at the dry humor before sobering quickly.
"If what I heard was a snake talking earlier..."
Mistress Andromeda nodded,
"Yes, that is far more troubling than your gift. I would not recommend wandering alone in the castle this year Harry."
Seeing his nod, she continued,
"Now, were your dorm mates asleep before you left?
Seeing his guilty look, she prodded on,
"Did you leave a decoy before you left?"
A slight flush covered his cheeks. She sighed before quickly giving him a note about where he was in case, he got into trouble.
"Run along then, this is not a good night for you to be caught outside of the dorm."
Harry nodded and moved towards the door. Before he leaving, he turned around and bowed deeply,
"Thank you, Mistress, for everything."
She just smiled at him, "You know you can come to me about anything, hurry to your dorm now."
He smiled and slipped out the door. As soon as he was gone her smile slipped and she summoned Hogwarts: A History into her hands. The more she read about the chamber of secrets the more severe her expression turned. She knew quite well Voldemort loved to call himself the Heir of Slytherin.