A/N: I'm sorry. I was in a writing funk…or something. For whatever reasons, this chapter took a really long time for me to write. Well, actually, I wrote it pretty fast. Writers block really is annoying isn't it? It's like pick-up sticks. (Who's laughing?! Don't make fun of pick-up sticks! They could save your life one day, you know…but not really.) At the beginning it's easy to write, but at a certain point your easy ideas run out and it gets really hard. But once you get one idea (pick-up stick) it can make a whole bunch of others flow smoothly. Anyway, I hope I'll be getting them out a lot faster now. I'm still working on finishing this one chapter! I can't believe how long it's getting to be! Enjoy! Please read and review!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling. Salazar the snake belongs to me, but I'm not sure anyone else would want him. He doesn't give very good advice, after all.

14

Chapter 5: Twelve (cont)

By: Amadeus

Harry was sure that he would never have any friends again, and was currently trying to convince himself that this was a good thing. It wasn't working. Ron was all he could think about right now. He had betrayed his best friend, and, naturally, felt absolutely awful. What scared him was that he hadn't been able to stop himself, or, even more, that he hadn't really wanted to. He had nearly killed his best friend. The sorting hat had said that he had several Slytherin qualities within him. Perhaps, he thought, there was a bit of evil locked within him somewhere as well.

Harry's hindsight was amazing. The stupidity of his plan to alienate his friends hit him full force as he leaned back against the skeleton of the basilisk. The gloomy atmosphere of the Chamber of Secrets mirrored Harry's own feelings.

"How could I have been so stupid?!" He asked no one in particular.

Harry could almost hear Voldemort laughing at his idiocy. Even if Voldemort had been stupid enough to believe Harry's act, which Harry now knew he wasn't, he wouldn't have stopped. Voldemort was known for following up on anything he set out to do, especially when it had to do with killing people. Harry knew this all too well.

In short, Harry had turned the whole school, with the possible exception of a few Slytherins, against himself, for no reason whatsoever. He remembered the other option he had conceived to stop Voldemort's reign of terror on Harry's friends. Mad and disappointed in himself as he was, he was very glad he hadn't done anything so rash as pointlessly killing himself…although at least then he wouldn't have made an enemy of Ron.

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The entire school was full of wild whispered rumors and other talk about what had happened in the Great Hall. All anyone knew for certain was that Harry Potter had beaten up his own best friend and left the Great Hall without anyone daring to follow. And now he was missing. Some said he had already been expelled, that his wand was snapped. Some said that he had been kidnapped by Voldemort. Others said that he had joined the Dark Lord. That was by far the favored one, given his recent actions, but there was another less spoken rumor that said he had gone off to become a Dark Lord himself.

Though all these rumors existed in each of the four houses, each house, having been separated from the others, formed its own relatively collective opinion.

Several of the Slytherin girls had become very attracted to Harry all of a sudden.

"Did you seem him fight?" exclaimed Pansy Parkinson dreamily, "It was like he was in ten places at once!"

"He told that mudblood Granger off too," added Millicent Bulstrode, "That know-it-all's had it coming for a long time."

"Father will enjoy hearing about this! I wish I could see the look on Arthur Weasley's face when he finds out that his idiot son got beat up by scrappy little Potter. Father will most definitely enjoy this!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed loudly to his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. And then added quietly, as his cronies laughed stupidly, "And so will the Dark Lord."

Ravenclaw was scandalized. Harry Potter beating up Ron Weasley! It was almost too much for their brilliant minds to comprehend. Almost. The general Ravenclaw position was that Potter had gone too far and should be expelled immediately. It was only logical.

The Hufflepuffs, being fair and loyal as they were, thought that Harry should have a chance to explain…and then be expelled. He was still a Parselmouth after all. And several of them had noticed him carrying around a snake on his wrist, talking to it. Some of them even began to reconsider exactly who it was that had killed their champion, Cedric Diggory.

The Gryffindors, well, the Gryffindors just wanted to know what had happened to the Harry Potter they knew and loved, the boy who lived, the hero and savior of light, and Ron Weasley's best friend. They wanted to know where in hell, or where from hell, this evil little scrap had come from. Some began to question Harry's intentions all along. Had he just been acting for four years? Had You-Know-Who Done something to him? Or had he changed by himself, and if so, why? The thought that someone they all thought they knew, someone they had all thought of as their hero, could change into something so evil so quickly, frightened them more than anything. At this moment, they feared Harry Potter as much or more than they feared the Dark Lord himself. And thus the Gryffindors, known for their outstanding bravery, cowered in fear as the portrait hole swung open to reveal none other than Harry Potter. No one attempted to speak to him or approach him. They had all seen what happened last time anyone had tried. They simply waited in fear and dreaded anticipation as the boy who lived stepped into the common room. What would he do this time, and more importantly, to whom would he do it?

A/N:I considered leaving it there. I really did. But I've left you all hanging for so long that I couldn't bear the guilt.

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Harry had made up his mind to apologize as best he could to his friends, if they would listen. But he had made that decision hours ago. He was not quite sure what time it was (The watch Sirius gave him was in the fifth year dorm.) or how long he had been down in the Chamber of Secrets when Salazar slithered up to him, wrapping around his wrist. He was not surprised this time. He had discovered that there were other snakes at Hogwarts, and had spent his time either talking to them or deciding how he should apologize to Ron and Hermione… and the rest of Gryffindor.

Now that Harry thought about it, he should have known there were more snakes in the Chamber. They had never really been accepted at Hogwarts because of their dark associations, but that had never stopped the occasional student from smuggling them in. Harry also remembered noticing back in his second year that there were many bones of small animals scattered throughout the chamber. The creatures whose bones lay strewn about were far to small for any basilisk to bother with, especially the giant one that Harry had fought.

The climate was perfect for snakes as well, as the Chamber was designed by the great Salazar Slytherin himself to accommodate snakes in general and one snake in particular. And the warm air tended to draw their prey to them, so that in the winters they would not have to hunt for food in the chilly British air and snow.

He had met over a dozen by the time Salazar arrived, and several had stayed to chat with him. He was, after all, the first human able to speak Parseltongue at Hogwarts since Tom Riddle, and the Slytherin had ignored nearly all the smaller snakes in favor of the one very large one. This was told to him by Sam, by far the oldest of the snakes having been in the Chamber nearly one hundred years, quite more than was expected for the somewhat small snake. He mentioned on a sidenote that there had been one other that the young Voldemort had favored, but did not elaborate. Harry had discovered by the time Salazar arrived that two had been brought to Hogwarts by the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan, and no less than five had escaped from Hagrid, who was far to "clingy" for them. Harry had never thought of Hagrid as a snake person, but should have known better. After all, snakes met all the qualifications. Sharp fangs, hissing, and about as un"cuddly" as a creature could get. Add the fact that most of the wizard world hated them and they were sure to be a true love for Hagrid. Harry correctly imagined that the snakes, however, did not like Hagrid's so-called "cuddling".

Harry had almost forgotten about his worries as he talked with his new friends, until Salazar came anyway. As the snake curled around his wrist, the others backed away, seeming almost afraid. All but one left, quickly hissing goodbyes to Harry. Sam stayed behind for a moment, seemingly glaring at Salazar. He then joined the others in leaving, hissing quietly as he left, "Be careful young friend, ssssshe is not what sssshe ssseemsss."

Somehow Harry knew he was referring to Salazar. "She?" He asked Salazar.

If snakes had shoulders, Harry was sure Salazar would have shrugged. "I told you the boy who named me and his friends were idiotssss." He…er….she replied, "I assssumed you knew."

"Er…" Harry felt his cheeks grow hot. He was blushing. He had simply assumed the snake's gender by his...her name. If Parseltongue did have tones of voice, he had not spoke it enough to be able to distinguish between male and female. He would have a hard time from now on thinking of Salazar as female, as he couldn't possibly just change her name. Sam was right. She had definitely not been as she seemed. On a side note, Harry wondered whether Sam was short for Samantha or Samuel…

He felt reassured by his time in the Chamber of Secrets. "Marvolo" brought him back up to Myrtle's bathroom (she had just been flushed down to the lake by an unsuspecting hufflepuff first year), and he headed for the Gryffindor common rooms with great hopes for his reunion with Ron and Hermione. But as he got closer to the portrait of the fat lady, he began to question if they would accept him, and even if they did, he was sure it would never be quite the same. And what about Ginny? She had been one of the few people to try and speak with him while he was being "evil", and he had come very close to slapping her. What would she say when he tried to apologize?

When he had left the Chamber a short while ago, he had been smiling, sure that he could patch things up with his friends. Now that he stood in front of the fat lady's portrait, his mouth formed a thin line full of doubt. He spoke the password to the fat lady (Harry noticed that she looked much uglier with a scowl on her face), and as he faced a common room full of Gryffindors, he frowned. They were shrinking away from him. They feared him. This was going to be much harder than he had thought.

A/N: Oh, why don't we leave it there. No? You don't want me to stop there? That would be evil, you say? Well, no one ever said I was a nice person, but if you insist…

If Harry was going to convince the whole of Gryffindor, and Hogwarts, that he had been acting and that he wasn't really evil, he was going to need a few advocates. And he knew there was no one better to have on your side than your friends. He started by looking for Ron, but his best friend must still have been in the Hospital Wing. (Harry's guilt piled on as the degree to which had injured Ron had apparently been great enough that Madam Pompfrey was taking this long to heal him) The Gryffindors seemed to know who he was looking for. And, they knew his next "target" after Ron. Hermione. He walked in her direction, the Gryffindors, despite their bravery, allowing a wide path to her. Hermione seemed too frightened to move out of his way, and let him approach her as the rest of Gryffindor backed away. Of all the Gryffindors, Ginny Weasley was standing by her and stayed standing by her as the rest of Gryffindor recoiled.

Harry came to a halt only a few feet in front of them. His throat was dry and his voice was hoarse as he looked at Hermione, who had turned her head away. "Come with me please, Hermione," and he turned to look into the eyes of Virginia Weasley, "you too, Ginny." And he grasped for each of their hands and began to lead them up to his dormitory. Hermione pulled away, but Ginny, who had seen the look in Harry's eyes, had not, and followed him without resisting. Hermione followed soon after so as not to leave Ginny alone with the monster that had become of her best friend. When they had started to ascend the stairs, Harry heard rustling behind him.

"Where are you taking Ginny?" Fred had worked up his courage.

"We won't let you take her out of our sight!" George joined in, determined.

"Very well," responded Harry, "I suppose the two of you can come along as well."

"Well, er…" George began.

"That's not exactly what we had in mind," stated George quietly, but the twins were forced to follow as Harry and Ginny had already started to climb the stairs again, with Hermione in tow. When all were in the fifth boys dorm room, Harry magically locked the door and put a soundproof spell on the room. Hermione looked almost impressed.

"I want to start out by saying I'm extremely sorry for the past couple days. It was extremely stupid, what I was doing. I just thought that, if Voldemort saw you weren't my friends any more, maybe he wouldn't bother with killing you." He noticed that Ginny was the only one of the four who did not cringe at the dark lord's name. Harry almost smiled at her. He continued explaining his plan, the hate potion, and all of his stupid decisions since then, leaving out any part involving the chamber of secrets. The last thing he needed was to remind everyone of the bond he shared with the evil dark lord.

As he continued, they slowly began to realize that he had been doing all this for them rather than to them. Ginny and Hermione had tears in their eyes as he described how awful it had felt to do the things he did. Fred and George looked at him with disbelief. By the end, they all believed him.

"Could you ever forgive me?" Harry asked after a moment when he was done. There was silence. Harry began to worry. Suddenly Harry saw a light in George's eyes. He didn't care for it.

"Harry," he said as solemnly as he could, "Do you mind if we have a moment alone to discuss it?" He nodded to the door.

Harry nodded. "Sure." And he left them alone, waiting just outside, suddenly cursing his ability to perform soundproofing charms.

He waited for a while, growing more nervous by the minute. He was beginning to believe they were making him wait on purpose when George opened the door. "Harry?"

"Yes?" Harry asked anxiously.

"You can come back in now. We've made our decision."

Harry reentered the room. There was silence for a whole minute before his nervousness forced him into asking, "Well?" His anxiousness and fear showing on his face. "Am I forgiven?"

Hermione slowly walked up to him, and kicked him in the shin. Ginny slapped him in the face, Fred jabbed him in the stomach, and George punched him in the nose. Harry fell to the floor, stunned.

"Forgiven!" They chorused together. Fred and George were laughing hysterically. Hermione was trying to hold in her own laughter, but she was failing and the results were some rather unceremonious snorts. Ginny was giggling. After a few seconds, Harry joined in, having been helped up by the twins, laughing just as happily as the others, if a bit more painfully. He just hoped that being forgiven by Ron and the rest of the school didn't entail the same process. He'd be in the hospital wing for a month.

A/N: Well, that was fun wasn't it? No more evil Harry…for a little while anyway. I'm back in writing mode now, after a very long off time. What really inspired me to start writing again was when I went back and read the reviews, and saw that there were 200 of them. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and please continue to do so! If anyone wants to read my comedy "Harry Potter Romance from A to Z" please let me know and I'll email it to you (this requires your email address, naturally). Apparently the ff.net people don't like it. I don't know why. But it had over 40 reviews both times I put it up before the administration took it off. It's really funny. Summary: This comedy was inspired by the ridiculously large number of H/? pairings throughout ff.net, and pairs poor Harry with everyone from Hermione and Ginny to Malfoy and Fluffy! Join the fun! Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible!