Harry potter and the Time of Retirement

Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR

Chapter 37 – Year 2

Lumos active in his wand, carefully looking for any movement amongst the shadows, Harry walked right into the middle of the chamber, surrounded by the columns that were supporting the distant ceiling. The absence of snake skins and bones supported his hope that the basilisk was still contained behind the statue of Slytherin, but it didn't hurt to be wary. Not as much as if his hope was proven uncorrect, anyway.

The omnipresent engravings of snakes on all the columns didn't help with his fears. One thing was certain: the old Slytherin founder wasn't shy about declaring what his favourite animal was. 'Pretentious' was Harry's disdainful opinion: beside the banners there were no other badgers in Hufflepuff's house, nor could he remember that many lions in Gryffindor's common room either.

Finally he arrived at the end of the Chamber, the huge statue of Slytherin in front of him. Nothing remarkable separated the space between the statue's feet from the rest of the floor, and yet Harry could easily imagine Ginny's body quite clearly laying there. His original descent here was one of his most vivid memories after all, and he was painfully aware of how much it had scarred his, once, wife too.

Moving his wand closer to the ground, eyes shifting occasionally to the columns surrounding him, Harry searched carefully for any possible line or trace left into the dust under the statue finally relaxing after he found none. Frozen in a magic-induced sleep or simply confined to some corner of the forbidden forest that not even Hagrid knew of, it was clear that the basilisk had no access to the Chamber – for now. He was safe for the time being.

"Seems like you weren't needed today, buddy" murmured Harry, looking down at the rooster inside its cage and placing it on the ground. Standing up fully, Harry observed the chamber with narrowing eyes. His old memories were now flooding into him, and he was decidedly not happy about them. Angry, he kicked a pebble on the ground and heard its bounces all the way until the walls. 'I should have never been allowed to come here' he considered, frowning deeply.

And indeed, his adventure in the chamber at the time had probably cemented his tendency, as a teen, to take charge of everything without asking for help no matter how dangerous the situation was. 'Those were the days' thought Harry, sarcastically. The Diary managing to sneak inside Hogwarts and its supposed unpenetrable wards, and him almost dying facing the Basilisk… those he could understand, if barely. He didn't expect students be protected from all and everything.

'The school should have been closed after the first assault' he thought, bitterly. "Lockhart should have never been hired. And Ginny should have been cared for!" he raged almost silently, but in a poisonous tone. His own kids and grandkids had been relatively safe at Hogwarts, for all he knew…. but it was unlikely that this happened due to the faculty's efforts. The students were simply abandoned to themselves here, for anything but their studies - and when it came to Snape, not even there. With Apparition available to most parents, or the floo… was this system really the best option?

Shaking his head, Harry tried to focus. If there was one reason to attend Hogwarts now, one over which he had no doubts at all, was to prevent a repeat of at least that year. Everything else was no longer his business, not if anyone asked him anyway. Looking up, again, to the face of the statue Harry started to think again of the dangerous snake somewhere behind it. The whole point of his presence here was to set traps ready to be sprung, just in case. 'Absolutely just in case' he thought.

Sealing the mouth of Slytherin could be a start, but… 'what if the carrier comes here before I discover it?' considered Harry: chances were it would try to release the basilisk immediately, even if only to check for its health. No, sealing the statue was something to remember if it could came in handy, but not something to do right then. Other measures would be needed.

"Aguamenti" stated Harry, trying to measure the power of the spell. A small stream of water erupted from his no longer illuminated wand, and Harry aimed it at the base of the statue. Done that, he cast a general transfiguration on the area, to turn water into oil. Casting Lumos again, Harry winced at the results.

'It is noticeable' he admitted: while it was, at least, hard to notice in the dim light of his wand and probably it would be even less with the light of the torches that he could remember from his past, the puddle of oil was still a dark stain over the rest of the stone floor. Small and dark, it was hard to see unless one was searching for it but it was there.

After some consideration, Harry decided to leave it anyway. Even if the carrier noticed it, it could easily be confused for some natural slime from the snake that fell down from the opening, or maybe something it transpired through the rocks over the decades. Grimacing, Harry hoped that if it ever came to notice it Riddle's apparition would not immediately suspect foul play and, at the very worst, ignored it or removed it. It was, after all, just oil – a non magical element.

Moving on, he started casting Defodio on hidden corners of the Chamber and on some columns – the charm quickly creating several small holes into the stone. Casting Lumos again, Harry nodded at the results: these were much less noticeable, and he was planning to use some disillusionment charm on them, too. Walking out of the room, all the way back to the main tunnel, Harry picked up his big satchet and quickly went back to the Chamber.

Methodically, he started placing several of the items he was carrying in it inside the new holes of the chamber, disguising them both at the best of his capabilities. After a solid half an hour of work, satisfied, he walked back to the center of the chamber and smiled: this could help, if necessary.

Looking back at the puddle of oil he grimaced again but, after a moment of consideration, he approached it. After a chain of Scourgify, Defodio, Aguamenti and more transfiguration the oil trap was now hidden under the floor level, between that and the wall. Now undeniably artificial, true, but almost impossible to notice for those unaware of its existance.

Picking up the now half empty satchel and the cage, he walked back towards the entrance of the tunnel. The rooster clucked here and there, but was otherwise calm and yet was also the only source of sounds all along the way back. Once arrived back at the opening of the tube, Harry cast one more overpowered Defodio to the surrounding wall, and placed inside the satchet with all the remaining items, plus the school broom, before casting a light Reparo on the surface, sealing it.

'Can't do much better than this today' grimaced Harry, partly satisfied. His satisfaction unfortunately disappeared the instant he turned towards the tunnel.

With a sad, long sigh he finally cast the featherweight charm on himself, a light Epoximise on his shoes, and – wand and cage in his hands – he started the long and steep walk back towards the school. 'This is going to take a while' thought Harry, resigned to the long walk back to the school.

With the Chamber taken care of, all that remained for Harry was to wait for Halloween to arrive. The only noteworthy event happening in the meantime was a visit to Hagrid, to give him back his rooster; the friendly, naive half-giant never doubted Harry's motives and offered him to keep it for longer should he want to, "as it's nice an' good for yeh kids to learn taking care of animals, Harry", to use his own words. Harry, smiling, refused quickly with some thread-bare excuses: he had no intention to start caring for chickens just in the vague possibility that he could have one on hand if and when caught by surprise. So, after a pleasant but unremarkable chat, he left Hagrid's hut empty handed and went to his routine of classes, reading and waiting for the "big day".

On the morning of Halloween Harry had to make some conscious effort to keep himself relaxed and show a casual behavior, but his efforts must have been only partially successful. At least he could assume so because, at lunch time, Megan had loudly declared to everyone that "Oh, he is moody again", to the giggles of most of the girls and a couple snorts from the boys. All because he didn't show the proper enthusiasm for what everyone promised would be the star of the night. 'Damn Lockhart', was Harry's reaction, but a partially entertained one.

Apparently the professor, aware of his diminishing popularity, had decided to liven things up that Halloween. Not with a grand announcement, no, but by carefully spread whispers and rumors through a single student for each year and house. Something special had been organized, aimed specifically at third years and lower – with the assistance of selected, but mysterious, older years and everyone who "wanted to be scared to death and face some of the horrors that he had to vanquish" had been invited to join in. Or so, at least, said Susan to everyone else starting from the day before: and those everyone else seemed to have liked the idea of some kind of horror themed attraction set up for the festivity.

Harry, busy with his own worries for the night, paid only lip service to their enthusiasm but – no matter how he recognized how petty the feeling was – he also wondered if the same thing had been organized back in his own time, and how it was he could have missed it. Was this a new occurrence, a slight change introduced by his meddling, or had he simply remained originally unaware due to his participation to almost headless Nick's deathday… and being so unpopular among Gryffindors that no one bothered to warn him, Ron and Hermione?

With a sad sigh, Harry recognized how easily it could have been the latter. The three of them did spend way too much time on their own, as a solitary group… in fact, Harry could remember more time spent with the house's quidditch team than with his other classmates. Hermione had probably been no better, maybe even worse than him and Ron... 'actually, Ron managed pretty well' considered Harry. The redhead always seemed to be a bit more social than them, flush with more connections anyway.

Smiling bitterly, Harry wondered if he and Hermione had been looked at as those weird classmates that no one really likes, with only Ron being unsensitive enough to stomach them. And with how he was constantly surrounded by problems, rumors and drama he couldn't exactly consider it unfair, either. 'Every one of my years at school could almost become a novel by itself' snorted Harry, irritated 'I wonder if it was fun, at least, watching me from the outside'.

Nevertheless that was how Harry found himself walking together with the rest of 2nd year Hufflepuffs – and an unspecified number of other students of various years, but mostly lower ones – towards a 5th floor hallway. The excitement, among the kids, was palpable; on the stairs, both whispers and shouts could be heard. Justin was even wearing a costume, admittedly a nice one: a heavily decorated robe "I am a vampire, Harry!" with plastic teeth and enough makeup on his face to give it a vaguely realistic aura. Or a ridiculous one. Harry leaned towards the latter, but his classmates must have not agreed as almost everyone else had asked him to apply some of it to their faces, too.

"Because why shouldn't we copy the muggles even more" had complained Zacharias, exasperated, to Ernie when they still were in their common room.

"Ow, lighten up Zack" was Ernie's answer, quite busy creating a nasty-looking scar on his right eye.

"It's just for fun. Take that broomstick out of you for once" added Wayne, smirking, while playing with the plastic long talons that were part of Justin's costume.

"You are sure these colors will go away easily, right?" asked Hannah, busy giving herself what was supposed to be a huge, bloody grin.

"Absolutely, so pour it on. Zach doesn't want his share, right?" said Justin while looking at him, smugness oozing from him. Megan and Susan had already joined in trying those "weird muggle colors" while surprisingly it was Sally-Anne that was just watching from the sidelines, even if with clear longing towards the lipsticks and some kind of light-reflecting dust that Justin had called "glitter". Zackarias watched her for a second, before whispering to Harry.

"What is everyone thinking, here!"

Harry just shrugged, but that wasn't enough to deter the boy. "Isn't it enough that we call it Halloween? Should we hang muggle toys from the ceiling, too?" added Zach, unhappy.

"Don't take it so personally, Zach. He is not doing it to annoy you." said Harry.

"His face says otherwise" he countered, not without reason. "And remember how he kept saying that last Halloween was lame? Like this stuff of his is better."

"It's not a competition, Zack. And if it is one, wait for Lockhart's show or whatever he is planning" added Harry, calmly.

"As if that charlatan could come up with something impressive" grumbled the boy.

"Ernie had a point, Zack. Lighten up" had concluded Harry, walking away towards their group.

Regardless of Zacharias' complaints, all their year's Hufflepuffs were having a good time so far; they received quite some stares, but there were enough muggleborns and even some half-blood among the school population to explain what they were doing to keep the stares contained. In fact, Harry managed to hear some whispers of jealousy here and there, and promises to copy the idea the following year.

"I am not sure you look scary, Sally" said Harry to the girl, smiling, while they were still climbing the stairs.

"I am not supposed to be" she countered lightly, her lips and cheeks even too ridiculously red, her hair shining with glitters. "Not everyone likes bats and blood, you know?"

"I know, I know" he answered.

"You could have done something yourself, Harry. Even Wayne joined in" said Hannah, next to them.

"Maybe… do you agree with Zach?" asked Sally, toneless and with her eyes downcast.

"No, it's not that" affirmed Harry, while they finally reached the 5th floor. The lights were noticeably dimmer in the hallway, almost being dark at the end of it, and the temperature itself seemed colder. An unusual mist, coming from ominous looking decorations placed on the ceiling, partly obscured the sight. In the distance, students from the younger years could be seen, but little noise came from them. Harry recognized also some 2nd year from Ravenclaw.

"Let's just see what Lockhart has planned. I am sure it is awesome" said excitedly Megan, leading the way…. only to stop when a loud scream of horror pierced the air. Nothing bad followed it, though, so their group soon restarted moving, even if a new found hesitation.

'He certainly put in some effort, here' admitted Harry, while they reached the other students. A couple groups of them were visible busy whispering between themselves, some with apprehension and others, more distant, with a definite area of excitement. Taller, older students both male and female could be seen stationed talking with them, or in front of a room while carrying lanterns.

"Professor Lockhart bids you welcome, young Hufflepuffs" said an approaching older boy, wearing a black mantle with no house colors upon it "you, too, have come to be tested by the worst horrors that the magical world has to offer. Rest assured, you should survive the night…. so long as you heed our warnings."

Harry's classmates appeared suddenly nervous, and he could even see Hannah picking up Susan's arm, half hiding behind her. Harry was a bit less impressed, though; even if this assistant was keeping an apparently emotionless face, the light in his eyes and the corner of his lips told a different story: he was clearly enjoying scaring younger children to death. 'And why not' thought Harry, half smiling; Halloween was not his favourite holiday, sure, but scaring his own kids with horror stories and sudden "light malfunctions" was sometime he and Ginny enjoyed fondly, in their past.

"All of you, one at the time, will enter the Dungeon" continued their guide, pointing at the door of a normally unused room now decorated with arcane runes, two older boys standing as guards at its sides "and there you will face your trial. Rest assured…" he stopped when another scream could be heard, this time much stronger, coming from the room. The kids got startled, but the older student just smirked for an instant, before recomposing himself.

"As I was saying" he continued "professor Lockhart will do his best to protect you, inside, and his best is much. Take comfort in that."

"Ehm…" started, unsure, Justin "What are those screams?" he asked. Around him, some of the other kids nodded.

"Oh, those are a good thing" said the older student, a malevolent smile now on his face "Someone that can scream so much should still be alive, right?"

"I am not doing this" whispered Sally-Anne, stepping back, only to bump into Ernie that was standing behind her. "Don't miss out on this, Sally" said Ernie, encouraging "when we gather later, you would regret it." Meanwhile, the door of the "Dungeon" opened, and one of the waiting students stepped inside, almost pushed in by one of Lockhart's assistants.

"Absolutely" said Wayne "I can take whatever it is!"

"That's the spirit" nodded the older student, approvingly, before taking a step towards Wayne with enlarged eyes and a creepy grin "in fact, I think I'll let you go first, aren't you lucky?" Suddenly Wayne seemed less courageous, but he still didn't retreat. "Now, wait, and gather your strength. Few are left in front of you, and soon you will face your fate" he concluded, before walking around them and placing himself on the way out, as if to prevent them from escaping.

'So far, it's impressive' admitted Harry, looking around himself: the girls had gathered themselves in a tight group, while the boys – noticeably paler – were busy whispering and looking around themselves. Another scream came from the room, startling more of them – Hannah and Sally seemed on the verge to run away. Even him was starting to feel nervous, much more than usual – or normal.

'What is happening here?' considered Harry, feeling a deep unease. Taking his time to look around himself he wondered how much this grim, sure, but simple setup could influence them so much. The dim lights, the assistants, the decorations…. narrowing his eyes, Harry focused on the mist coming out of the lanterns. It did have a peculiar smell. 'I wonder….' thought Harry, eventually smiling. The nervousness was still there, but he could appreciate it more now. 'It's all for show, I should just enjoy it' he concluded eventually, trying to relax.

The door of the Dungeon kept opening semi regularly every 3 or 5 minutes, though no one ever came out of it; screams could still be heard for almost every student that had walked in. Soon, kids from their own group started going inside. Wayne first, although he managed apparently to go through his "fate" without screaming his throat out, a feat that no other Hufflepuffs after him managed to match. Soon, the only one remaining were Harry, Zacharias and Sally.

"You are next, Zach" said Harry, amused. Zacharias had tried to keep a cool face so far, but now that there were only the three of them his nervousness was showing.

"Hhmmph. I am not going to scream, you'll see. Still, Harry…." he said in a low voice, giving a sideway glance to Sally-Anne.

"What?"

"Isn't this better than silly muggle costumes? Come on, admit it!" asked Zacharias, with a wide smile.

"Eh" said Harry, amused. "Just go inside and have fun, Zach. Or fear. Both are ok" quipped Harry, just when the door opened once again. Lockhart's assistant approached them and, after an instant of hesitation, Zach rose his head and walked towards the door. Once the door closed, Sally – almost green in her face with nervousness - turned towards Harry.

"You first Harry, I don't mind" she said, moving from one feet to the other.

"So that you can escape, Sally? I don't think so" he said, smiling lightly. "Are you really that scared?" he added, even though he could easily feel his own fears gripping him.

Sally didn't answer, but she kept looking around herself like a cornered animal. "It's not like you have to do it…. but I too think you would regret missing out" added Harry, encouragingly.

"I don't want to goooo…." she whined, but made no move to run. A minute after, a loud scream could be heard from the Dungeon and Harry sniggered quite loudly. "Oh, Zach" he said softly – and even Sally-Anne showed a small smile. They remained silent, and soon the door opened again. Sally turned again to Harry, wide eyed, but her apparent desperation was useless against his wide smile. "Nope. Go, and don't forget to scream."

Shaking, Lockhart's assistance almost pushing her inside by force, Sally entered inside the room with the door closing softly behind her. Harry, shrugging, just waited – minutes after, a girlish scream could be heard. At this, Harry nodded satisfied. Looking around himself, he could see an unease group of 2nd year Gryffindors, and an almost bold Ron among them. "Good luck with your spiders, mate" murmured Harry; he was sorry he was probably going to miss quite the loud scream from him.

Eventually, his own turn arrived and Harry walked through the door. Inside, the "mist" was much thicker, and its smell dominated the room. Many black curtains hanging all the way from the ceiling obstructed the view; lanterns or torches, placed behind them, were the only source of light and were creating weird shadows everywhere. Moving aside the curtains in front of him, Harry stepped into the center of the room where Lockhart himself was waiting, wand in hand; close to him, a large wooden chest was placed, a chest that was rumbling as if containing… something.

"So, another one dares to step inside my Dungeon, and face the horrors it barely contains? Welcome, young Harry" started the professor, for once dressed in a sharp silver-black robe, his usual smile absent from his face. "You must be very brave, or very foolish, to come and test yourself against the horrors I gathered here!"

"What should I do, professor?" asked Harry, his own nervousness rising.

"Escape, Harry. Unhurt, if you can – I'll try to protect your life, but you must cooperate. The exit, your only hope" continued the professor, pointing dramatically towards the other end of the room "is over there, but to open the way you will need the golden key hidden inside that chest. Only the brave of heart can recover it safely – cowards will be stopped by the Guardian. What are you, Harry?"

"Brave of heart, of course" answered Harry.

"Many claimed the same" countered Lockhart, his eyes narrowing dangerously "yet their screams of fear still echoes in these dangerous grounds. Show me your worth, Harry. Face your destiny" he concluded, waving towards the chest. Appropriately, the chest itself moved again, as if something from the inside was trying to get free.

'Here it goes' thought Harry, rigid with fear. Having a rough idea of what was inside the chest couldn't overcome the spooky atmosphere and whatever potion he had inspired until then. His hand shaking, he unlatched the chest: pure darkness was inside. Darkness that instantly moved towards him, raising, as tall as the ceiling. 'A Dementor' thought Harry unsurprised, an almost smug smile on his face appearing even as he took an instinctual step back. "Been a while since I heard from mom…." he murmured, while a wave of frozen air spread through the room.

His smile, which was already unstable, didn't last long – for the voices he heard were not those of his parents. They sounded much younger, clearly crying, and horribly familiar to him.

"Dad, where are you? Help! Help me!"

"Mom, why isn't dad helping us?"

"Grandpa, where are you? It hurts!"

"Harry, please! Help me! Help!"

'It's a boggart. A boggart. A b…' thought Harry, now frantic, while fumbling inside his pockets for his wand. The voices were getting louder while the lights of the classroom, around him, were getting dimmer. The being, boggart or dementor that it was, got even closer to him and Harry took another step back, horrified, only to bump into something. Turning around, he saw professor Lockhart right behind him.

"Take courage, Harry, for I am protecting you. Accio!" said the professor, and a shining gold key flew from the chest right towards them – Harry catched it almost by reflex. "Go, take the key and escape! Run, Harry!" said Lockhart, giving him a rough shove in the back. For a second Harry sent a resentful stare at the professor, but when the dementor turned again towards him and the voices from his past rose again in volume, he ran.

Moving the curtains aside, he found a door and he managed to open it with the key – the key itself turning into a chocolate one once he extracted it from the lock. Outside, Harry slammed the door closed and took a big breath.

"Happy Halloween, kid" said an older boy, grimly, standing by the door – another of Lockhart's assistants, probably. "The hallway is over there, enjoy your key."

Harry looked at him, his face pale and devoid of emotions, before leaving. Turned a corner he met all his classmates, which cheered for him once he was out. Most of them smiling, even if Sally-Anne seemed still a bit shocked.

"Harry, finally!" said Ernie, a big smile on his face.

"Congrats, Potter. You didn't scream either" added Wayne, smug.

"With how pale you are, i doubt it was for lack of fear" said Megan, cheerfully.

Hannah and Susan were behind her – Hannah was smiling, but Susan's face was dark.

"So, what was your monster?" asked Justin, curious. "Don't say it Potter. It should obviously remain a secret" added Zacharias.

"A... dementor. Mine was a dementor" said Harry, to the puzzled looks of most of the other kids. He took a big bite out of his key, enjoing the taste of chocolate spreading into his mouth, and feeling immediately better. "I'll admit, i thought it would be a cakewalk. Lockhart really got me."

"I screamed like crazy, true! My throat still hurts a little" said Hannah, giggling – her happy smile hardly matching the scary makeup on her face.

"Anyway, we are all here. Let's go" said Megan, nodding towards the end of the hallway.

"Oh, right. There is going to be a big party in our common room, i am sure" said Ernie, starting to walk. Everyone followed, chatting happily about their own experience inside Lockhart's "Dungeon". Harry was trailing behind, still shook from his experience.

'Damn Lockhart' he thought: sure, most students probably saw only random monsters and "scary" situations that they could make fun of later, but there were always those that would see much more disturbing nightmares. In fact, was Harry really the only one among the Hufflepuffs to be on the bitter end of Lockhart's dungeon? A quick look in front of him, where Susan was walking by herself behind their cheering classmates, was an obvious answer.

"I guess you didn't have much fun either, eh?" asked Harry to the girl. Susan looked at him and then shook her head, sadly.

"The idea wasn't bad" he continued, shrugging his shoulders "Maybe we were just unlucky."

"I don't want to talk about it, Harry" said Susan, not looking at him.

"Sure. Sorry" he said, and then he silently offered what was left of his key, the handle, to Susan. With a small nod she accepted it.

Eventually, the whole group reached Hufflepuff's common room where students of all ages had gathered already, and decorations and other magical lights were floating into the air. The rest of the night was entertaining, in a way, with lots of scary stories being told in fake whispers, food and drinks, and small horror-oriented games. On his corner of the table where their year had gathered Harry simply took advantage of a bottle of firewhiskey "kindly" shared by older students to get himself, if not wasted, at least somehow drunk.

When, hours later, they all went to bed Harry simply wanted to forget the day. And yet, somewhere in his mind, he had a feeling he had already forgotten something important.

Author's note: sorry for the delay... but i really wanted to publish this chapter during this weekend. Happy Halloween 2021, everyone.