Thank you very much for waiting, so sorry for the wait, it's been a hectic week, I'm working on finals this week, afterwards this should be getting updates at a more even pace.
7k+ words. Enjoy.
You guys are probably going to hate me after reading his chapter, not that I care.
Once again, thanks for waiting and enjoy.
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
Harry's head was spinning violently, he stumbled constantly as he tried to walk straight, unbeknownst to himself that he was using the walls of the hallways to keep himself upright. The voice he kept hearing echoed louder and louder. His breathing was sporadic, sweat rolling off his forehead and brows. The students who were all exiting Dueling Club were all looking at him quizzically. To them, all they saw was a student who was having a hard time standing straight and breathing heavily. Many attributed his state as an aftereffect from dueling so they just passed him on their way to their respective Common Rooms, that is before giving him a slap on the back and a congratulations on winning, which he wearily reciprocated. Those except Hermione and Historia were the only ones who noticed that Harry wasn't looking fine, that he wasn't suffering from Magical exhaustion, rather something else.
"Harry," Historia said tentatively, she placed a hand on his shoulder. The Boy-Who-Live had taken off his glass as his head was starting to throb and his eyes began to water from the pain. "Are you alright?" Harry looked up, his eyes squinted in agony as he tried to make out the blurry figure in front of him.
"Historia?" Harry asked at the blurry figure in front of him. "Is that you?" He wiped his eyes once more.
"Yeah, Hermione's with me as well, are you okay?" She asked. Harry could only make out blurry outlines of the people in front of him.
"My head is hurting, so is my scar." Harry exhaled loudly. "The weird voice I keep hearing is getting louder. Ah." He exclaimed in pain, rubbing his temples then his forehead. He touched his scar.
"What voice?" Historia asked seriously. Both her and Hermione were baffled, why was Harry hearing a voice? And from the looks of it, he kept the pain he was experiencing to himself. Typical Gryffindor behavior was her first thought, but then again, hearing voices wasn't natural, even in the Wizarding World, so it made sense to her that Harry would keep it a secret to himself. Hermione, Historia noticed, was probably thinking the same thing along the lines as she was.
"T-the voice." Harry looked at her incredulously. "You can't hear it?"
"Harry," Hermione said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We literally don't know what you're talking. What voice, what does it sound like?" Harry looked at them with weary eyes, why couldn't they hear it? He was exhausted, as the days went for him, the voice began to speak more and more often, it was driving him insane.
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
"It sounds like-"
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
"Like-"
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. §
"Hissing." Harry's eyes were filled with fear, he obviously did not know what was happening. Hermione and Historia looked at him and then each other with much concern. Hissing? There were many things that hissed, that hardly narrowed it down.
"Have you told Gerrod or one of the Professors perhaps?" Hermione asked.
"No." Harry said, "I've told Gerrod, but not a Professor, I don't think they'd believe me."
§ Youuu heeear meee. I sssmelll yourrr fearrr. § The voice said again, its menacing hissing getting louder to Harry. "What's the voice saying?" Hermione asked. Historia eyed her with a raised brow, why would she want to know that?
"Its saying," Harry breathed heavily once again. § Suchhhh defenssselessssss preeey. § "Something about prey. That they're defenseless." Then with a sudden burst of energy, he shouted loudly. "It's going to attack something!" Harry broke into a run, sprinting down the corridors, Hermione and Historia yelled at him to wait for them after they broke from the shock of his newfound energy.
Harry swallowed his spit and huffed loudly as he ran and ran. The voice seemed like it was taunting him like it found his fear amusing. § Runnn. Little Wizzzard. Catchhh meee if youuu dareee. Finnnd meee. § Its words spurned Harry to run faster, whoever the voice was after, Harry needed to find them quickly before it got to them. "Harry wait!" The voice of one of the girls yelled from behind him, he didn't hear, he kept running. His eyes search frantically up and down the halls, around corners, and into empty classrooms. Twisting and turning through the hallways, Harry stopped in his tracks finally.
Blood was everywhere. The floor, the walls, the ceiling. It was still wet. Before him was the now-dead form of Argus Filchs' cat, Mrs Norris. The scene was horrific. Blood was splattered like a spilled jar of exotic red paint, entrails were laying all over the place, it looked like Mrs Norris had been tossed around like a ragdoll, a person could look into the cats', remaining lifeless eye, and could still see its fear written all over it. Footsteps sounded behind Harry, then gasps.
On the bloodied walls were smeared and bolded words.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN
THE BEAST OF SLYTHERIN HAS BEEN RELEASED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
FRIENDS OF THE HEIR DO NOT DESPAIR
"What the hell." Historia rasped in disbelief of the scene in front of her, Harry turned to just see her cover her mouth and go to the wall before sounds of retching started to echo in the hallway. Hermione looked green with disgust and unease, she too turned away from the scene before her. Harry was no better off, Harry was catatonic, he couldn't speak, couldn't think straight, looking away from the grisly remains had finally allowed for him to register what actually happened to the horribly mutilated animal.
Falling on his knees, eyes filled with shock, his body began to fall down on itself, Harry extended his arms subconsciously to stop himself from hitting the bloody ground, which his hands were now covered in red with. And then he retched his food, or whatever was left in his stomach.
"Are you guys okay? You sound awful, what's going on?" The sound of a student asked from around the corner. They had just turned into the scene of the bloodbath. "What the fuck is going on." The person said. It was Marcus, he was heading to Dueling Club with Pansy, the two had been talking on their way to it, well, Marcus' way to it, she was tagging along because she wanted to. When they saw the carnage before them, their instincts told them to run to the other three. "Harry, Hermione, Historia, what happened." Hermione kept throwing up whenever she spoke, Harry was still in shock, Historia, did her best to speak, but whenever she accidentally eyed the remains, her stomach lurched and her eyes recoiled in disgust and unease.
"Harry was feeling unwell after Dueling Club." She explained. She recoiled again. "Hermione and Istayed to make sure he was alright, then he started talking about some strange voice he kept hearing." Marcus frowned at the mention of a strange voice. "Anyways, all of the sudden Harry began running saying something about the voice and finding some prey or something... and then we ran into this," Historia whispered out, she was scared, in fact, all five of them were. She looked at Mrs. Norris' disturbing remains and lurched away from it. Pansy had the same reaction as well, Marcus, he was indifferent, but his eyes gave away his disgust. He most certainly would be trying to wash his eyes out for the entire night.
"Harry." Marcus knelt down in the blood and internal remains, he frowned at what he did and looked at his knee, "Hey, Harry." He grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him, saliva and drool from his retching were rolling down his mouth and lips. Marcus slapped him and instantly made a face, he'd gotten some of the salivae on his hand, he wiped it off on Harry's robe in disgust. The slap had broken Harry out of his daze, but now he was breathing sporadically. "Harry, what the fuck happened here?"
Harry couldn't answer, his mind was too fracture from what he witnessed, the wet blood he was seeing on the floor wasn't helping his case. Before Marcus could ask another question, the cranky and thunderous voice of Argus Filch rang throughout the halls. "MY CAT!" He screamed in rage. "What have you little devils done with my cat!" He ran, hobbled, to the best of his abilities, and grabbed Marcus by the collar of his robe. Students, dozens upon dozens had started to show up. Many of them gasped and gave outcries of horror and disbelief, many of them shunned the other students' eyes away from the horrific scene. Of them was a very disheveled-looking Percy Weasley. The Headmaster calmly walked in, gracefully passing through the body of students who heard Filch yelling and gathered a crowd as they ran to his screams and outcries.
"What did you do, what did you dooo!" Filch screamed and screamed, over and over as he shook Marcus' collar demanding answers from the imposing man before him. Marcus, who was not in the mood and was tired of Filch invading his personal space, punched him square in the jaw, causing the Schoolkeeper to reel back in pain.
"Touch me again, Filch, and I'll kill you." Marcus threatened. A poor choice of words.
"Argus. Mr. Flint, enough please." Dumbledore said in a serene and calming manner. He eyed the students who were present, those being the ones who were already at the scene, Harry, Hermione, Historia, and Marcus and Pansy. "Harry, my boy, what on heavens happened here?" He spoke in his grandfatherly tone.
"I'll tell you what they did, they killed my cat, there's blood everywhere, she's been mutilated for sport I tell you, mutilated for-"
"Argus." Dumbledore said with the slightest bit of stern. This caused the old caretaker to shut his mouth to the point where it was a thin, near unseeable line. The Headmaster looked at the horror displayed before him, the shocked face of Harry, the sound of spitting from Hermione, lurching from Historia and Pansy, and a numb look from Marcus told him that they weren't the culprits. Albus looked at the mess before him in reminiscence of Voldemort's Insurgence, better known as the First Wizarding War. He hadn't seen such a disgusting display of killing in so long, it brought back a plethora of memories, some of which were during the time of Gellert Grindelwald, and his best friend's quest for dominance and dominion over the Wizarding and Muggle World. Long and bloody were their battles, the same with Voldemort, but his, Voldemort's, was at a less bloody and threatening scale. "Thank you." He said after everyone had finally calmed down.
More of the Professors had arrived, each one looked just as horrified, save for Severus who had a grim but neutral face. He read the words on the wall, what was the Beast of Slytherin, who is this heir? Who are their friends and foes?
"Severus, if you would take Harry, Miss Malfoy and Grindelwald, as well as Marcus and Miss Parkinson to my office, that would be much appreciated." Slytherin's Head of House nodded reluctantly and moved to gather the students Albus asked for him to shepherd to his office. "Come along, Potter." He mumbled as he grabbed and then started to drag Harry away from the scene, though what Severus didn't know was that he was subjugating Harry to read the words on the wall over and over again.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN
THE BEAST OF SLYTHERIN HAS BEEN RELEASED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
FRIENDS OF THE HEIR DO NOT DESPAIR
Again.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN
THE BEAST OF SLYTHERIN HAS BEEN RELEASED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
FRIENDS OF THE HEIR DO NOT DESPAIR
And again.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN
THE BEAST OF SLYTHERIN HAS BEEN RELEASED
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
FRIENDS OF THE HEIR DO NOT DESPAIR
And again.
The words flashed in Harry's mind as he was being pulled away from the carnage, fellow classmates looked at him with concern, they saw the sweat dripping from his body, the scarred look in his eyes, the sudden tiredness and devoid fixture his body was weighed down with.
"Professors, Head Boys and Girls, and Prefects as well, if you will please escort the other students back to their Common Rooms, that would be much appreciated." Dumbledore said with a sweet smile. He took his wand out and began to Scourgify the floors, the walls, ceiling, everything. Dumbledore completely restored the bloodied hallways to their original, non-bloody, state. Argus, after Dumbledore finished Scourgifying the halls, wanted the students to be punished, feasibly arguing that they were responsible for the death of his cat. It was by the subtle, yet stern reproach Dumbledore gave him that caused the matter to be dropped altogether.
Harry had finally started breathing normally, well, as normal as he could, the incident had shaken him to his core. Hermione was still clutching her stomach and mouth, Historia had a sick look on her face, and Pansy was clutching on the arm of Marcus who was all stone-looking but pale-faced. Gerrod had caught up with them and was quietly talking to his Sister.
"Are you alright?" Harry heard him whisper. He'd never heard Gerrod sound visibly concern, if he did, he couldn't remember when, he was always a cold and calculated person who showed very little of his emotions.
"Yeah. Thanks." Harry heard Historia say, it sounded like she was happy. Then silences fell onto the group again, Snape paid no attention to the students behind him, he'd let go of Harry when he finally began to function on his own. A hand gripped one of Harry's shoulders.
"We'll talk later." Gerrod whispered in his ear before walking away.
Snape and the entourage of students, who he was escorting, made their way into Dumbledore's office after a few more minute of walking through the intricate walls. Though they also got stuck on the changing stairways until Snape casted a variation of the Freezing Spell with an Area of Effect Enchantment to stop them from moving. They entered the Headmaster's office one by one, each one being stared down by the imposing figure of Professor Snape, who was leaning outside of it with his arms crossed. Only after all the students entered, did he.
"What... happened." Snape said in a very annoyed voice, the pause between each word seemed forever, he was looking at Harry, Hermione, and Historia. Marcus and Pansy, he didn't care about, he knew they were innocent as he saw them walk past him on their way to Dueling Club. "Potter." He said menacingly, Harry looked up. "Explain."
"I-I don't know, sir." Harry rasped. Snape raised an unconvinced brow. "I was feeling unwell after Dueling Club, sir, my head started to hurt, you see."
"Harry said he was hearing voices." Hermione revealed to her Godfather. He gave the Boy-Who-Lived a sterner look. Just what was Harry hiding? "He said it was like something was hissing." Harry was giving Hermione a look, not an angry one, nor annoyed, but something akin to betrayal of privacy. "Don't give me that look, Harry, if I didn't say something no one would have."
"She is right." Historia muttered. Her arms were crossed as she watched the two intensely stare at one another. "What do you think it could be, Professor?" She asked Snape, her head tilting up to look into his eyes, Historia was waiting for Harry and Hermione to stop acting petty towards one another.
"A creature that hisses and kills a cat?" Snape asked aloud in his normal drawling voice. Historia nodded. "There could be a number of Magical Creatures of such ferocity and viciousness. The trait of hissing is common in many, if anything, it broadens the scoop on finding a culprit, it wouldn't even come close to being categorized as a way to narrow down suspects."
"What about if only one person could hear it? Does that narrow things down?" Hermione asked, she wasn't the best when it came to Magical Creatures, while she studied them thoroughly, she actually wasn't that good at memorizing the traits and characteristics and such as there were so many, Draco on the other hand was amazing at it.
"Hardly." Snape said with a dull tone. His head perked up a little, he was looking at the door which Marcus noticed. Marcus nodded to Snape, letting him know that he had heard Dumbledore walking up the stairs. "The Headmaster is coming, Potter. Tell him what you have told me, but utter not a word of the voice you hear, it would not do well for you to have the Headmaster think you are unwell in the mind." He advised to which Harry nodded with silent obedience.
The Headmaster entered with a neutral face, but it lit up and his eyes twinkled when he looked to Harry, though less so when he looked at all the Slytherin, including Snape, he had hoped that Slytherin's Head of House would have left already, leaving him alone with the students to interrogate. While he was disappointed, it mattered not as he would still be able to gain information, just not as much as he wanted, especially with Lord Flint in the room.
"Harry, my boy, how are you?" The Headmaster said as he outstretched his arms and hugged Harry, letting go to pat the sides of his shoulders before sitting down. "Now, tell me, what were you doing near Mr. Filch's cat's body?"
"I wasn't feeling well sir." Harry said, not looking into the eyes of the Headmaster, he learned from that mistake.
"Me and Historia stayed behind when we saw Harry looking unwell after Dueling Club." Hermione explained as she fidgetted. "He said his head hurt... so I thought it was because of Magical exhaustion from dueling Gerrod, you know how it is Headmaster. Well, um, anyways, we were making our way to Madame Pomfrey when we say what happened to Mr. Filch's cat, and you know the rest." Dumbledore smiled.
"I see." He said with thought and a slight frown, he smiled afterward. While it was a good lie, it wasn't good enough. Dumbledore was able to easily tell that Hermione was lying, she fidgeted, her hands were wringing each other out, she kept looking away from him, her feet were crossed as well and when she spoke, her voice was faster and hesitant, the Headmaster knew she was making up the story to cover up what really happened. "Did you happen to see anything else? Anything that could help us investigate and find the culprit?"
Hermione nodded no. "What do you think it could be?" Marcus asked. Pansy squeezed his hand, signaling him to not push their luck.
"I do not know Mr. Flint." Dumbledore said with a grandfather smile, his eyes twinkling with mischief and a hidden knowing. "But if any of you remember anything or think of something that may help the investigation, please inform me immediately. You may leave, now, I must speak with you Severus." The students nodded and proceeded to make their way out of the Headmaster's office, quickly.
They walked down the stairs in silence, out of fear that Dumbledore would hear them. "He knows you were lying." Marcus spoke the moment they were in the hallways and away from the stairs to Dumbledore's office.
"How do you know?" Pansy questioned her fiancée.
"Call it a feeling." He replied to which Pansy just rolled her eyes at.
"Either way, whatever is happening to Harry is something we should all look into." Hermione said with concern. "The question is how we should be going about doing so."
"Separate studies?" Harry suggested. Hermione nodded no.
"That'd take too long." She said.
"Why don't we pay Ravenclaw to do the researching?" Said Historia, they all looked at her curiously. "I mean, most of them are already in the business of making some coin doing research, plus its already in their wheelhouse. Its a win-win for the both of us."
Marcus nodded in contemplation of the idea. "We can run that idea by with Gerrod when a meeting is called." He told them. "For let's get some sleep."
Sleep came to Harry easily, staying asleep was another subject. The voice plagued his dreams, it turned his fantasies of having a normal and pleasant life into a living, unescapable, nightmare. It ate away at him, trying its best to break him, to make him snap. Hissing menacing words and coy remarks, as if it had some agency and was knowledgeable. It was smart, that much Harry knew about it, being able to speak to him had to equivalate to some intelligence.
Harry woke from his sleep with a gasp, sweat-drenched his body, it evaporated in the cold air, causing him to shiver. He rubbed his arms, which got goosebumps, up and down to generate some heat. His breathing was shaky, his mouth was quivering, eyes wide with fear, his mind blurry from the exhausting sleep and constant whispering of the sinister voice. Harry looked around in the room he shared with Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Ronald Weasley, each one was sound asleep, Ronald was snoring loudly. And each one weren't able to hear the hissing voice he was now constantly bombarded with. Sleep came to Harry, though it was light, and in the morning, bags drooped under his eyes, they were noticeable, but not bad, he had gotten enough sleep to function properly. Well, as properly as he could function. His walk to the Great hall wasn't any better.
As he walked at a sluggish pace, many students stared and whispered under their breaths. Many eyed him with suspicion, students rushed and passed him or made an effort to keep their distance with him, acting as if he were sick with some deadly disease or something, not wanting to catch it.
"Potter killed Filch's cat, right?"
"That's not what I heard, I heard that he was trying to save the cat and went mad."
"Shut up, he'll hear you."
"Hey, you have something to say, you say it to mine or Harry's face." The voice of Cedric Diggory shouted at the whispering students, who all jumped at the sound of his yell. "Scram, the lot of you." He sneered as best as he could, well, tried his best to look menacing, it worked, mostly, though there were some who gave him an odd look. "Alright there, Potter?" Cedric asked, Harry just sighed, his shoulder slumped with heavy tiredness, a weight that dragged them down.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Cedric." Harry acknowledged and smiled almost grimly.
"No problem, Potter," Cedric said. Susan Bones came running up to them.
"Hurry up, Cedric, we're going to be late for breakfast." Susan grabbed Cedric's hand and forcibly dragged him, "You coming, Harry?" She asked, Harry nodded with a small shrug while Cedric smirked at her antics as she dragged him to the Great Hall, purposely leaning back to go slower. When the three of them finally reach the Great Hall, it was as if a funeral was taking place, all the students and even the Professors were as quiet as the dead.
Many students kept giving Harry hostile looks, Cedric and Susan left him to go to their own table, not before Cedric gave Harry an encouraging pat on the back. Harry meekly walked to Gryffindor's table and sat down, the Professors eyed him wearily, most, if not all, thought he was responsible for the death of Filch's cat. Hermione and Neville both moved to sit with Harry, Hermione sitting to his left and Neville across from him. The three of them looked up to see that Dumbledore was going to give a speech, he grabbed the sides of the golden podium, wandlessly and wordlessly casting Sonorous on himself. "Before we eat, I would like to say a few words..."
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Neville whispered, leaning across the table.
"Fine, just a little tired, didn't get much sleep." Harry answered, he rubbed his eyes, squinting as he did so.
"Why do I not believe you?" Hermione said with a slight tone of annoyance. "Don't push, yourself, what happened yesterday is on everyone's mind." She shuddered. "I still can't get the images of Filch's cat out of my head." Both Harry and Neville nodded, though in Neville's case, he fainted the moment he saw all the blood and intestines all over the hallway, a very reasonable reaction. The three finally gave their attention to Dumbledore who announced that he would take the highest security measures possible and work as hard as he possibly could to find the culprit who killed Filch's cat. With the ominous announcement finished, breakfast was served, though some of the students didn't eat as much as they did the past few days, a lot of them were still recovering from the trauma from yesterday's events, except Ronald, he was engorging himself.
"Any word from Gerrod?" Neville asked to break the silence between them. He started filling a bowl up with cereal and milk, Harry filled a plate with sausages, eggs, some grits, porridge, and milk, Hermione made herself toast and jam, adding scones and such to her plate, she drank some orange juice and answered Neville's question, playing with her necklace as she did so.
"None, not that I've told or heard of anything, anyways." Hermione bitterly complained. She tucked her necklace into her undershirt. "What in Merlin's name is he doing?" Harry shrugged, he didn't know, if there was anyone Gerrod kept information from or left out of discussions, it was Harry. Though he didn't mind, Harry knew he had a problem and was also a blabbermouth at times, it certainly got him many detentions with Snape.
Their day was uneventful in the sense that they had a normal day of class without even a single interruption of something or someone causing a ruckus. It was odd to say the least, usually a fight broke out before lunch, or the Twins causing an explosion somewhere, or the Court settling beefs and feuds in empty hallways or classrooms, none of which had happened. It was just a slow, plain day.
Nighttime fell on the castle quickly and the students were sent to bed, but the Court called a meeting. There was one missing, Anthony Goldstein, which many did not note on as they cared little for him in terms of usefulness, Harry was informed that Anthony was abusing his power and was stripped of his position on the Court, though it didn't really matter, he wasn't important to the Court overall. This caused him to practically become free game to anyone who wanted revenge, and revenge they took, though the Court made sure nothing extreme was done.
With the expulsion of Anthony Goldstein, Luna Lovegood was given his seat on the Court, though this was done mainly to get her to stop pestering them, mainly Gerrod, about joining the Court Meetings. It was also because no one, not even Gerrod, had the mental capacity, nor willpower, or strength to tell Luna no, so in the end, she eventually won. Now she was sitting on Daphne's lap, not even on her own seat, rocking back and forth as she smiled her dreamy-faced smile. She absolutely loved to pester Daphne who quite honestly had no choice but to do Luna's bidding if she wanted a happy marriage.
Harry, well, he watched the two interact with much amusement, in front of him was the impassive Ice Queen of Slytherin showing an incredible range of emotion, most of which related to discomfort and the fact that her Lady Wife was starting to eat, munch on her beautiful blonde locks. In fact, Daphne looked like she was ready to cry from the amount of emotion she was showing in incredible range.
Gerrod spoke first after banging the gavel onto the block. "For those that don't know, Goldstein isn't-"
"Why the bloody hell are those two even on the Court anyways?" Cho Chang voiced with annoyance, pointing to Daphne and Luna.
Gerrod looked pointedly annoyed at Cho for interrupting, "Goldstein isn't here because he's been abusing his power as a Court Member, that being said, he's been removed from his position and we will be looking for someone to replace him. Luna is on the Court because I'm getting tired of her coming up and pestering me, she isn't a replacement for Goldstein." He stated with a hard voice. "Harry," Harry looked up. "What exactly happened?"
All of the Court Members stopped what they were doing, be it goofing around, eating or drinking, or conversing privately, they now all had their eyes on the Boy-Who-Lived. Even Luna who quietly, as best as she could, spat out Daphne's hair and rested her shoulders on the table, propping her head up with her hands, causing Nermaius to rub his eyes in embarrassment and regret. Regret about informing her about the Court of Hogwarts. Members like Zacharias and Ernie were left out of the loop, and while they were Court Members, they didn't contribute much to the Court, so they were informed of things that were happening in the castle at later times. Even Theo and Blaise worked harder than those two, though to be fair they ran the Court's Treasury, its funds and favors its collected over time, so they were by far two of the heaviest contributors to the Court as they were the ones who heard secret gossip that Nermaius did not.
"Well," Harry began. "For those who don't know, I've been hearing a voice in my head." Shouts of disbelief and outrage were voiced instantly.
"What the fuck are you going on about?" Cormac asked incredulously.
"What voices?" Angelina said.
"So the Boy-Who-Lived is going insane, is he?" Wood snarked.
"Well, Fred, it looks like dear Harry here-"
"Is just as crazy as us, Georgie." The Twins said in synchronization.
Cho scoffed, "And just when I thought the Court couldn't get any more bonkers and stupidly, outright odd." Daphne looked at her, it was almost as if she were insulting Luna and was trying to be coy with it. "Merlin, everyone's becoming a nutter aren't they?" Yells and insults began to fly back in forth, Marcus and Wood were nearly having at it with their... colorful exchange of words. Daphne was taking her sweat time glaring at Cho while Luna just sat oblivious to what she was doing, enjoying the ruckus being made, thinking it was some game.
"Be... quiet." Gerrod said with a tone of finality, his voice had been amplified with the Amplifying Charm. It was like his voice was a sharp, loud wind, cutting off everything and everyone. Every Court Member fell into silence, with that, Gerrod released the Charm he casted onto himself and then put away his wand. "Marcus, Wood, watch your language and snark. Fred, George, you are not helping. Cho, keep your opinions to yourself or remove yourself from this Court Meeting. Theo, Blaise, let go of Zacharias and Ernie. Cedric, Susan, thank you for stopping those two idiots. Draco, put your wand away now. The rest of you, thank you for not acting like barbaric, idiotic nitwits." Slowly, very slowly, the Court unraveled themselves from the chaos they created. "Harry, continue." Gerrod grabbed his cup of tea that he was served and drank.
Harry blinked, shaking his head as he broke out of his stupor. "Right, uh, as I was saying, I've been hearing this voice, its like a hissing sound."
"Are you still hearing it, Potter? The voice?" Nermaius asked, his voice calm and serious.
"No," Harry said, "It's odd, its like the voice is awake in the mornings, asleep at night, but when I go to sleep it almost immediately starts to talk."
"That is odd," Nermaius said, he stared at the round table as he thought, looking up he spoke to Harry once again. "I'll see what I can find tomorrow. Ravenclaw has a near free day, only Potions in the morning and Arithmancy afterwards."
"We can pay some of the Ravenclaws to research voice Harry keeps hearing." Marcus suggested. "Historia mentioned it earlier today." A lot of the Court Members nodded in agreement with the suggestion.
"What will we do if we find out what the Beast of Slytherin is?" Cedric asked. "Obviously its a dangerous creature, its not like any of us could actually deal with it."
"Dumbledore could," Susan said. Draco scoffed at the suggestion which caused Hermione to slap him on the arm. "What's wrong with that, Draco?"
"You really think that the Headmaster gives a damn." Susan opened her mouth but Draco wasn't finished. "I mean he might, then again I can see the old man using the beast of Slytherin for his own gains."
"Then why not have my Aunt deal with it?" Susan counter-suggested to Draco's comments. "She is Head of the DMLE."
"Wouldn't hurt." Draco shrugged, relenting because he was satisfied with the solution that Susan brought up. He hated Dumbledore and didn't want him to gain more power. "How are we going to inform her."
"If! We inform her." Gerrod intervened. "We haven't decided on anything, though Lady Bones might be the best course of action."
"Why not have Dumbledore deal with it?" Harry asked. "I mean he is the most qualified to do so."
"He probably is," Draco said. "But he already has so much pull in the Wizengamot, that him dealling with this Beats of Slytherin will probably propel him to a near untouchable position."
Susan scoffed and chuckled at Draco's description of Dumbledore. "Isn't that a little hypocritical? I mean House Malfoy practically leads the Dark. House Greengrass leads the Grey, but they rarely do anything, no offense Daphne," Daphne mouthed quietly that it was fine, "what makes you guys any different?"
"She has a good point, Draco." Hermione said to her Brother. "We aren't any better than Dumbledore. That being said, we aren't as hypocritical as he is, preaching about tolerance and then voting for laws that'll restrict many peoples and races." Draco groaned and rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Fine, whatever. You're right, happy?" Said Draco in a peeved manner. "Gerrod, what are we doing?" Everyone looked at Gerrod, those who only listened were contemplating their position and support in the discussion.
"That'll be Harry's choice." Gerrod said. Draco made a frustrated sound. "Your problem, your choice, you deal with it the best you can." He told his friend.
"Let's vote." Harry said. "All in favor of letting Susan's Aunt deal with this situation?" Most hands were raised in favor with no opposition when Harry asked for those opposed, there were a few who didn't vote, those being Daphne and Luna along with Cho, the Patil Twins, and Angelina, who were almost always neutral in votes, and Ernie, who still wasn't an official member. Harry was overjoyed, hopefully, Lady Bones could solve what was happening at Hogwarts. "Great, if one of us could message Lady Bones, preferably Susan, or just a bunch of us, than we can get started on researching to help her Aunt." They all nodded in agreement and Gerrod banged the gavel to make it official.
"Meeting-"
"Hang on Gerrod." Daphne interrupted. "I have a matter to bring up." Gerrod sighed, he could feel the trouble that was going to ensue after Daphne said whatever she wanted to say.
"And what would that be?" Gerrod asked. It was getting late and many of them wanted to go to sleep.
"I wish to move to a vote to remove Cho Chang from the Court of Hogwarts." Daphne with as much seriousness as one could muster with a person sitting on their lap, rocking side to side with an innocent smile and oblivious nature. More shouts of disbelief and outcries were voiced.
"The hell are you on, you tosser." Oliver yelled at her. "Are you crazy? What has Cho done to you?"
"Oh, don't even get me started." Daphne raised her voice higher than usual, she was annoyed, very annoyed. "Cho, every since the Court has been made has always had a beef with me. Ever since she was inducted into the Court, she's been getting worse and worse." She leaned forward and whispered in Luna's ear. "Get off. Now." Daphne knew that a fight was likely to start and was trying to rile Cho up to do so, but she wanted to have Luna out of the way. Luna, ever-smiling, got off and sat in her own seat which magically appeared, she was balled up resting her chin on his knees, still rocking side to side oblivious to what was really happening.
"Says the slag and her daft dog." Cho retorted with menace. "Every time I see the two of you it make me want to toss my lunch."
"What..." Daphne said with barely contained rage. She stood slowly. "Did you call Luna?"
"I called her a daft dog." Cho shouted back as she jumped from her seat. Daphne pulled her wand out and casted the first Spell which came to her mind.
"Ebublio!" Water shot from Daphne's wand at Cho, it surrounded her head. Daphne was trying to kill Cho.
"Fuck." Oliver drew his wand and aimed it at Daphne to stop her from killing Cho, but before he could cast anything, he was disarmed by none other than Marcus. Every Court Member was now drawing their wands, everyone except Gerrod and Nermaius. It was chaos, Wood had his hands up, Zacharias and Ernie were then immediately disarmed. Hermione, Draco, Marcus, and Pansy were in a stalemate with their wands pointed at both of the Weasley and Patil Twins, Fred and George, and Padma and Pavarti. Cedric and Susan were facing off with Yaxley and Angelina. Harry was in a staring contest with Hannah and Historia, while Theo and Blaise were both facing each other, Theo on Daphne's side while Blaise was on Cho's because Daphne attacked first, the same with Harry, who was siding with Cho due to Daphne's violent response. Cormac just watched in confusion, unsure what he should be doing. The same with Neville, he was taking a neutral stance in all of the drama.
"Nermaius." Gerrod said to the quiet and still Ravenclaw who was watching the chaos unfold. Gerrod jerked his head to the struggling form of Cho Chang, she was gripping her neck, trying her best to stop the water, Daphne's eyes were filled with rage as she gripped her wand like it depended on it. She really was trying to kill Cho. Nermaius took his wand out and casted the Disarming Charm on Cho's head, breaking the bubble of water that was engulfing her face and drowning her. Daphne saw that Nermaius stopped her and yelled with unadulterated rage. She cast Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes at Nermaius who very quickly rolled off his seat and onto the ground. And all hell ensued. Spells began flying everywhere, some punches were thrown all the while Gerrod sat in his seat sipping tea from a cup the House Elf served at the beginning of the Court Meeting, acting like nothing was happening.
Cho was coughing up water and stomach bile, her eyes were red from the lack of oxygen, water, and shock her body was going through, her clothes were soaked through with water. She looked up to see Daphne walking towards her, wand aiming at her face. Cho frantically searched for her wands, spotting it just barely out of her reach, she scrambled to her feet, barely dodging the Curse sent her way. She stumbled onto the ground and grabbed her wand, flipping around, landing on her shoulder with a loud smack.
Harry spotted the two just fast enough to cast his own Spells in hopes of stopping them, never in his life did he think that Luna would jump in between the two.
Their three Spells collided into her, and Luna crumpled to the ground.
Time seemed to slow.
Daphne's scream halted everyone around her. To their horror, they saw her crying as she cradled Luna's limp body. Gerrod spoke something Harry did not catch, the world became garbled, a blur to him as he watched Marcus grabbed Luna from Daphne, who was screaming and fighting Marcus, yelling at him. Marcus ran to Gryffindor's sigil as their Common Room was the closest to the hospital as it was right across from it, mainly because it was Gryffindors who were always getting hurt. Each Common Room, took a point on a compass, Gryffindor to the east, Slytherin to the west, where the Black Lake was, Ravenclaw to the north, and Hufflepuff to the south. The Great Hall was in the middle of the castle with the Headmaster's office and tower being in the secluded back of the castle near the Quidditch field. With the hospital to the east, all of the classrooms were to the west along with the school library, all on different floors, the Quidditch field was to the north where the Forbidden Forest was, and the open field any activities like picnics, informal duels, and such along were to the south. And the hidden kitchen above the Great Hall, disguised as the beautiful ceiling. Then there were the other buildings like Hogsmeade, the old Clock Tower entrance and exit, it was facing Hogsmeade which was to the east, the Quad, which was the open inner castle yard, and the Viaduct which was the long, giant, stone bridge that made up the main entrance to the exotic castle. The Grand Staircase which was connected to every Common Room lead to the upper parts of the school, mainly the upper library and other classrooms and such.
Gerrod grabbed Harry's shoulders. "You alright?" He asked Harry, snapping him out of his trance. The remaining Court Members were quiet, Daphne was near-catatonic, Cho was hysterical at what she had done, the rest were in various states of shock and disbelief.
"Why didn't you stop them?" Harry breathlessly asked.
"Because." Gerrod said. "Daphne and Cho needed to learn a lesson and it wasn't my place to do so. I was counting on Luna intervening, but never in my wildest imagination did I think she would jump in front of the three of your guys' Spells." With that he walked away, Harry knew Gerrod would be kicking himself for letting such a thing happen.
§ Pattthetic beingsss. §
The voice sounded disappointed, Harry, on the other hand, froze, had it been watching them?
It most certainly had been watching them, specifically Harry, from one of the large sewage tunnels above the Court of Hogwarts that was hidden with simple Concealing Charms.
To be continued...
[Edited 07/20/2021]