Chapter 19
Harry entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and took a seat near the back, in between Rigel and Daphne. There were no surprsies to who was sitting at the front- Granger of course, and it looked she'd nagged his brother and Weasley into sitting with her as well.
Sure enough, Lockhart gave a dramatic entrance and pointed to the various portraits of him and said "Me. Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class; Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League; five-time winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile Award. Ah, I see you've bought my complete set of books. Well done. Let's start with a quiz. You have thirty minutes. Start-NOW!"
Harry looked at the questions with eyebrows raised. He smirked slightly and started writing.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
Gold, the colour of the galleons he gets by making poor children spend an exorbitant amount of money by forcing them to buy his books for school.
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
To make lots of money by fooling not only the British Wizarding public but people all over the world as well by selling his worthless books.
3. What, in your opinion, is Gildoroy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
He successfully fooled the public to believe that he actually achieved all those feats he has written in his books; making them believe fiction to be fact is a good answer too.
54. What would Gilderoy Lockhart's ideal birthday gift be?
A Niffler. That way he wouldn't have to make people spend tons of gold to buy his books; he can just dig them from the ground or find them in a toilet where he and his books belong. Although a mirror for him to admire his reflection would be a good choice as well.
Harry smirked and cast the Geminio charm on his answer sheet and duplicated it into several copies and passed them around the class with a few flicks of his wand. A few minutes later, snickers could be heard throughout the classroom. Terry Boot actually fell off his seat after laughing so hard. Lockhart seemed to not notice as he was looking at a mirror at the other end of class.
After a few minutes, Lockhart collected them and rifled through them in front of the class. "Tut, tut - hardly any of you is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to -" he stopped midway, his face red.
"Detention Mr Potter. You will spend one evening with me every two weeks till the winter holidays. And ten points from Slytherin" he snapped.
Harry maintained a cool expression. He really didn't care if the peacock gave him a detention. The man was an idiot, an inconvenience, nothing more. He wasn't even worth plotting to kill. He had to find some other way to get rid of Lockhart.
The man lifted a cloth covered cage and placed it on his desk. "Now-be warned. I'm here to train you against the foulest, most deadly creatures known to wizardkind! I must ask you not to scream. Stay calm, as you are about to witness freshly caught Cornish pixies!" he said dramatically.
Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, and many others followed suit. Lockhart looked annoyed and asked, "What's funny?"
Draco Malfoy looked at him and said "Well, it's funny because they're pixies! They're not all that dangerous."
"I have to agree with Draco over there. The way you were going about it, I thought you were going to introduce us to a Nundu!" said Harry.
"Really? Let's see what you can make of them then!" said Lockhart as he let the whole swarm out of their cage.
It was a pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets, destroying the classroom. Harry sat calmly and went back to his book. When a pixie would annoy him, he would just stun the pest and not do more. Lockhart rolled up his sleeves and said "Peskipiksi Pesternomi". Harry snorted as it didn't even sound like a spell. Sure enough, nothing happened and a pixie took his wand and threw it out of the window.
"Harry, do something!" exclaimed Daphne.
Harry sighed and shouted, "Everyone drop to the ground NOW". He then slashed his wand in the air and a jet of red light flew across the room in all directions and the pixies dropped to the floor unconscious. He had just cast a wide area stunner. It wasn't used frequently because you needed more power to cast it than the conventional stunner and it wasn't very effective during a fight as a simple shield charm could counter it. He then moved his wand in a gentle, sweeping gesture and the pixies on the floor floated back to their cage. He pointed his wand at the cage and it locked itself with a Colloportus charm.
"And here's a lesson for the day" said Harry. "Pixies are not dangerous, but a whole bunch of them can be bothersome. The best way to deal with them is to stun them. The incantation for the Stunning spell is Stupefy and the wand movement is just a point cast. Practice it on your own time. Class dismissed" he said and walked right out of the classroom leaving a spluttering Lockhart behind.
"You know Professor" said Thomas. " you've got to admit, he's got style."
Harry walked into Lockhart's office unhappily, there to refuse his detention. Apparently the fact that he had better things to do than waste time acting for Lockhart was enough to land him here. "Come in you scally wag!" said Lockhart merrily opening his office door.
"Professor," greeted Harry stiffly, his mind already racing on how to get back at Lockhart.
"You can address the envelopes!" Lockhart told Harry, as though this was a huge treat.
"Professor," said Harry quickly, "How about I write personalised messages from you to your adoring fans? I'm sure you have far better things to do than write letters for so long. I mean, that good hair surely doesn't take care of itself," he suggested.
"Hmmm," thought Lockhart. "You are right, but you'll have to address the letters yourself."
"Will do Professor," said Harry eagerly steering Lockhart into a private chamber the man had designed for himself. "Will do," he added closing the door quickly. Harry dropped into Lockhart's chair, taking a moment to admire the fine plush, before he pulled out a quill, ink pot and took the several bunches of parchment sitting on Lockhart's desk. He charmed a glove to sign the addresses of the letters and fold them, and he got to writing.
"Dear Gladys Gudgeon," Harry hummed writing as he did so, "You are a pig. A pig with nothing more to do than stuff your mouth with food and send creepy fan mail to me. With regards, Gilderoy Lockhart." Harry threw the newly written letter to the charmed glove which began to quickly sign off the letter and fold it neatly. "1 down, 999 to go," Harry said looking at the pile of new letters. Boy was Lockhart going to have some angry Howlers. Time to get creative with the insults.
Harry had been writing for a couple of hours now and despite the fun insults he had gotten to write, his hand had begun to ache. He only had half an hour to go before he could go, and he dipped the quill into the ink pot once again. And then he heard something — something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and . It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.
"...sooo hungry...need food...mussst kill."
Harry froze and applied so much pressure to the quill that the tip promptly snapped and dropped into ink pot but Harry didn't care. It had been for so long that he had heard a voice like that, so very long. He grabbed his things and rushed out the room, spilling ink onto Lockhart's stack of letters in the process and followed the voice for as long as he could.
He came to a wall with 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE' written in blood, and beneath it stood Thomas, Ron and Hermione. "Shit," said Harry slowly and the three turned around to face him. As they did so, Harry caught sight of a petrified Mrs Norris hung by her tail on the wall. Other students began arriving and saw Harry faced off against the other 3, whose front were covered in blood. It didn't take long for them to make assumptions.
"Mr Potters, come with me," said Dumbledore once he'd arrived. "Argus, you too," Dumbledore added and lead them to Lockhart's office as he'd volunteered.
"Professor-" began Thomas to be cut off.
"I do not believe it was either of you," Dumbledore said and for once he wasn't lying. He couldn't detect any wisps of dark magic from either of them, so it was someone else. "And what has happened to Mrs Norris is reversible."
"That right," chimed in Lockhart. "I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in just a jiffy."
"I believe I'm the potions master," snarled Snape looking at Lockhart murderously.
"Yes, of course," squeaked Lockhart.
"Professor," said Harry, "Not to doubt your potion making skills, but won't it be faster to purchase the draughts from an apothecary? That way we won't have to wait for Professor Sprout's mandrakes to grow."
"He has a point Albus," said Snape. "I'll get the draughts from an apothecary."
Harry and his friends found themselves in the great hall where the tables had been cleared away and a platform had been raised up for the Dueling Club. In the wake of the attack, a dueling club had been set up and Harry had been excited to go.
"I hope it's Flitwick or Snape," whispered Harry. "Snape looks like the kinda guy who knows some mad stuff and Flitwick was a dueling champion."
"I'm fine with both as long as it's not Lock-" Daphne stopped, deflating when she saw who had jumped up on the table. "Me and my big mouth," she cursed.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works. Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile.
"Snape looks pissed," said Harry pointing to his head of house who wore a scowl that would have made dementors cower.
"He's always pissed," replied Draco.
"Yes, but he looks like he wants to kill Lockhart," Rigel said.
"Understandable," said Harry. "I would too."
"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Ok now he's definitely pissed," said Tracey.
Lockhart and Snape lined up in the center of the tables, a few metres away from each other. They bowed to each other and pulled out thier wands, and stood in their prefered stances. "On 1-2-" That was as far as Lockhart got before Snape decided to fire a spell.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape shouted and a jet of light came out of his wand and struck Lockhart in the chest. The so called 'Legendary Lockhart' went flying across the table as most people, expect from Lockhart's fan girls, laughed. Snape let out a victorious smirk for half a second that only a few saw.
"Well done Professor Snape," said Lockhart as he got tp his feet. "Good idea to show them a disarming spell to start with, though it was fairly obvious what you were going to do. I of course could have stopped you if I wanted to."
"Perhaps it would be prudent to show them how to block unfriendly spells," snarled Snape not bothering to hide his contempt.
"Yes of course," said Lockhart hiding his surprise. "Why not a volunteer pair?" How about Slytherin Potter and Weasley?"
"Let's not," said Snape. "Weasley's spellwork is so horrible that I doubt he'd be able to send even the most basic of spells towards Mr Potter. We wouldn't to make this too easy," he said and Ron flushed red. "How about both Potters?" he asked. "I'll of course help the one from my house and you can help the pathetic one."
Harry sighed and got onto the stage, and stood in front Thomas. "I trust you know what to do," said Snape and Harry nodded confidently. Thomas on the other hand wasn't so sure, especially after the fact that Lockhart dropped his own hand whilst demonstarting.
"And bow," said Lockhart.
"Scared snake?" asked Thomas.
"Of course not,kitty" replied Harry. "Your aim is so pathetic that I'd be less surprised if you hit yourself," retorted Harry and many people in the crowd began sniggering. Both of them copied what Snape and Lockhart had done and stood in their respective stances.
"On my count," said Lockhart. "1-2-"
Thomas suddenly yelled, "Expelliarmus!" and the jet of light shot from his wand towards Harry.
Everyone watched Harry curious what he would do, and were quite disappointed when he simply side-stepped the spell. "Is that all you've got?" he asked fake-yawning.
"Expelliarmus!" yelled Thomas again and this time Harry raised a shield. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled once again and Harry ducked under the spell this time.
"I guess it's my turn now," said Harry. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled and Thomas's wand flew out of his hand and into Harry's. "Limus Incarcerous!" Harry yelled and suddenly Thomas was restrained in strings of bright orange slime. "Levicorpus," thought Harry flicking his wand and Thomas was suddenly hoisted up by his ankle. Everyone was shocked at his silent casting and some (his friends) began clapping.
"Well done Mr Potter," said Snape flicking his wand so Thomas tumbled to a heap on the ground, "Take 20 points for silent spellwork and excellent dueling." He turned to Thomas who was getting up uneasily. "And you, 15 points from Gryffindor for attacking early." Harry thought it extremely hypocritical of Snape to say that when he had done the same thing to Lockhart but he wasn't going to complain.
"Now, let's partner up and practise what we've seen today," said Lockhart. Everyone got into pairs- Harry was with Rigel, Draco with Blaise and Daphne with Tracey. Harry and Rigel decided to have several prank duels, only using prank spells since they didn't want to hurt each other, and the end result was Rigel covered in goo and feathers and Harry hoisted through a wedgie a few feet in the air. Both of them cancelled the spells on each and watched the sheer madness that was going on in the hall.
When everyone had stopped dueling, mainly due to the screams that came, Thomas and the seeker that had replaced him were wrestling on the floor, Ron and Dean were trying to stop Crabbe and Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode had Hermione in a headlock. "How the hell did this happen?" asked Rigel.
"I'm not sure, but just enjoy the chaos," replied Harry. "Popcorn?" he asked showing a bag of popcorn he now had in his hands.
Harry walked into the Slytherin Common Room, his mind mulling over the latest theories about the fact that Thomas was the heir of Slytherin. He was Heir after all and Thomas didn't even know he is related to Salazar Slytherin
"Daphne, Draco, Tracey, I know what Slytherin's monster is," said Harry excitedly once he'd spotted them, slumping down onto the sofa where his friends were sitting.
"How come?" asked Tracey.
"Think about it," said Harry, "The victims have all been petrified, and the only thing that can do that is a basilisk, which is basically a giant snake. And what is Slytherin famous for? Snakes!"
"Yes but cockatrices can turn people to stone," said Daphne. "There's something you aren't telling us," she said right as Crabbe and Goyle walked in and sat down near them.
"There is," said Harry slowly looking at Crabbe and Goyle weirdly- there was something off about them. "But promise not to judge," he said turning back to his friends and they nodded. "I-I-"
"Just spit it out already," said Draco.
"I'm a parselmouth," he admitted and Crabbe and Goyle's eyes bulged. They suddenly exited the common room but no one paid any attention to them.
"Oh, is that it?" asked Tracey. "We've known for several years now," she said casually.
"Wait what! How?"
"We saw you talking to a snake in your garden when you were 6. It didn't take much to piece two and two together," said Daphne.
"Oh," said Harry, "Anyway, I've been hearing a snake through the walls and every time I follow the noises, it leads me to a victim. Now we just need to figure out where the basilisk is hiding," he said closing his eyes and laying back. Suddenly, they snapped open and he stood up and rushed out of the common room.
'Crabbe' and 'Goyle' made their way back to the girls bathroom where they had stored the Polyjuice potion, just in time as the potion began wearing off and they turned back into their normal selves.
"This proves it," said Thomas. "Harry's the heir of Slytherin and he's the one attacking the muggleborns. He's a parselmouth as well!"
"Yeah!" said Ron. "Of course it's him as well- he's a slimy snake in the first place. Anyway, Hermione, where are you?" he asked.
"Just go away!" came a call from one of the bathroom stalls.
"Hermione, are you okay?" asked Thomas opening the stall door she was in. Instead of Hermione, they found a cross between Hermione and a cat- Hermione now had cat ears, fur and a tail.
"It was cat hair from Bulstrode," she wailed. "Look at my face- I'm hideous!"
"Trust me, it's an improvement," said a voice from behind them. Thomas and Ron turned to see Harry, pointing his wand towards their stall.
Thomas mouth dropped open. "Fuuuuuu..." began Thomas once he saw Harry and that was all he got out before Harry rushed towards him and Ron and he was slammed against the wall. Harry moved onto Ron next, and he kicked Ron's legs out from under him and kicked him to the side. Ron fell to the floor and shakily got back up but Harry had move onto Thomas once again.
Thomas pulled out his wand and aimed it at Harry and the disarming spell was on his tongue, but Harry grabbed his hand and redirected it towards Hermione. It hit her square in the chest and she flew backwards into the bathroom stall she'd just come out of, landing right into the toilet bowl. Harry pulled out his own hand and fired a stunner at Ron, sending him flying and knocking him unconscious before he pulled flipped Thomas onto the floor and fired a stunner at Hermione as well.
"Incarcerous," said Harry and ropes tied up Thomas. "Efficio sella," he said and a chair popped out of thin air. Harry took a seat and looked down at Thomas spookily.
"What was that?" was the first question out of Thomas's mouth instead of something like, what are you doing.
"Judo," Harry said simply. "I've been taking classes since I was 7. Why am I even telling you this anyway?" Harry asked Thomas. "It's not like you care, and anyway it doesn't matter. You'll get expelled anyway."
"What! Expelled! Why?"
"Oh I don't know. Maybe because you BROKE INTO THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM!" Harry shouted this last part and Thomas paled and his eyes suddenly turned wide with fear.
"H-how do you know?" he asked.
"You may want to get rid of the evidence next time," Harry said pointing to the cups and the excess potion. "Polyjuice potion, is it not? Quite amazed Granger managed to make it without turning herself into sludge, but she is the smartest out of you three. Not that that's saying much."
"Y-you can't tell anyone," cried Thomas. "We'll get expelled!"
"You see, I don't really care. What I want to know is why you sneaked in in the first place?"
"We were trying to prove that Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin!"
"Are you really that thick or do you just look it? Me? I'm your brother, so that also makes you the heir?" Harry laughed. "Anyway, even if one of us was the heir, you don't have any evidence?" he said smiling.
"I know you're a parselmouth," said Thomas smugly surprised when Harry continued smiling.
"But here's the thing, you got that information illegaly and whilst I can get away with it since I'm in Slytherin and my family has alliances with the Blacks, Greengrasses, Malfoys and more, you can't. Tell me, how would it look if the golden boy of Gryffindor was found out to have illegally brewed a potion, stolen potion ingredients, drugged and knocked out the heirs to 2 pureblood houses and had sneaked his way into a another house's common room? And mind you I will not even tell grandfather to help you even he will not support you in this and you think James and Lilly will support this " Harry smiled innocently. "It wouldn't look good, would it?"
"H-Harry, please don't tell I did all that?" Thomas begged.
"Know what, I won't tell Snape that you broke into our common room and in exhange you won't tell anyone that I'm a parselmouth."
"Fine, I won't," said Thomas happily.
"Not so fast," Harry stopped him with a raised finger. "I want an unbreakable vow from you, Weasley and Granger, once they wake up of course," he said pointing to the unconscious bodies of Ron and Hermione.
The next day Harry had barely sat down for breakfast before Snape had come charging up to Thomas and Ron, his face red and spittle flying from his mouth. Hermione was in the hospital getting treated for the accidental cat hair mixup so she didn't have to bear this. "POTTER, WEASLEY!" he barked viciously, "300 points from Gryffindor and 3 months of detention! This applies to Granger as well!" Everyone turned around to look at the scene, and most of them were very amused.
"What!" cried Thomas, "Why?"
"For stealing my personal ingredients and breaking into the Slytherin Common Room you dolts! Be thankful that the Headmaster saved your sorry arses and saved you from getting expelled!"
"Is this true Mr Potter?" asked McGonagall when she'd walked up to them. When Thomas didn't respond, she knew. "I am greatly disappointed in you two, along with Miss Granger. You two are banned from Quidditch for the next 2 years it can be changed by change in your behaviour and tell Miss Granger she has no chance of becoming a prefect unless there is a drastic improvement in her behaviour."
"B-" protested Thomas.
"No nothing!" snapped McGonagall. "My word is final!"
Thomas looked at Harry like he'd been betrayed, and Harry simply put a finger to his lips. "I thought you made an unbreakable vow not to tell Snape they broke into the common room?" asked Daphne.
"I did, but I never said I wouldn't tell Snape the fact that they'd stolen ingredients and show him their remaining Polyjuice potion," Harry admitted slyly.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," said Draco. "You're evil."
Harry found himself walking along a random Hogwarts corridor when he heard the snake again. "...ssso hungry...need blood...must kill..."
Harry's eyes hardened- he wasn't about to let the basilisk get away this time. He chased the voice through the wall and after a while, he came to the petrified body of Colin Creevey. In the corridor ahead of him, he saw a scaly, green tail slithering away. "Oh no," swore Harry, "You're not getting away from me this time," and he followed the tail through the corridor.
He turned the corner and in front of him was a giant snake, with green scales and it was slithering away from him. On top of the snake sat a first-year girl with flaming red hair, but Harry couldn't be too sure. He had some suspicions though. He donned the invisibility cloak he'd stolen from Thomas last year and followed the snake feeling a safe distance from it. Eventually, the snake entered the same bathroom where Myrtle dwelled and where Harry had busted the Golden Trio.
He waited for a minute or two and then followed the snake into the bathroom. However, it was not there. "Where did it go?" Harry asked himself.
"I know where it went," said Myrtle walking through the bathroom stall in which she normally dwelled. "I can tell you, of course, but for a price," she teased.
"What do you want Myrtle?" asked Harry exasperatedly.
"Simple. I want revenge." She tilted her head smiling evilly. "Revenge on all those that constantly mocked me, insulted me, called me Moaning Myrtle."
"Yes, yes, I'll help you get revenge," promised Harry crossing his fingers behind his back. "But how do I go after the snake?"
"It's simple really. You simply go through there," said Myrtle pointing to a certain sink.
"Are you mad? I'm not gonna fit through the drain," said Harry pacing. "Can you actually be serious for once?"
"I'm not lying." Myrtle floated over to the sink and pointed to a pipe where there was an engraving of a snake. "The girl whispered something to the sink in a weird language, like a snake and then the sink opened wide. She led the snake down there after that. And even Thomas Potter did the same"
Harry finally understood. Of course Slytherin would have made the entrance so that only his descendant could get through. Harry knew even Thomas may have gotten the ability to talk to snakes from their Mother. Harry knelt down to the sink, where the engraved snake was and whispered, "open," in parseltongue. The sink opened wide, wide enough so that even the basilisk that Harry had seen could fit into it comfortably. "Wish me luck," he said to Myrtle and then he jumped into the slide.