"Harry, WAKE UP! You've slept in. There's only 20 minutes left of breakfast."
Harry leapt out of bed and grabbed his wand. For one wild moment, Ron thought Harry was going to curse him. "Accio Clothes. Wait I don't need this." He put down his wand. "Accio Glasses, Accio Book bag. Let's see if this one works. Accio Wand." That could turn out very useful in battle if I get disarmed. Hey Ron, tell Hermione to keep wandless magic secret as an extra edge in battle.
Okay, sending now… She agrees and said good thinking. She said you might want to teach it to DA now, if their still in session. They ran out to the common room where Hermione was waiting.
"What took you guys so long?" Hermione asked as they started to run down to the Great Hall. It wouldn't do for Harry to miss three meals in a row.
"Harry was still asleep."
"Well, I had a long day yesterday and well… you know." Harry stopped talking and looked around.
Finding no one in the nearby vicinity he continued. "Let's try to get in some anamigas practice today. I want to be able to fully transform before the week is over. And I'm pretty close. I've learned some new stuff about my form. I'll show you the page today, if you want we can go my library."
"Your library?"
"Yeah, where I got these books. Oh, I forgot last night to tell you, it wasn't the room of requirements I went to. It was the Chamber of Secrets, and Salazar Slytherin turned up and gave me a library. That's where I got these books."
"Cool, your own library. You had a pretty good lie there, when we were tired. I'm glad I'm a telepath, because otherwise we probably wouldn't be friends anymore. That was a lot of ground to cover and you kind of had to be there. But we'd better come up with something else for Dumbledore. He probably checked out the room of requirement over the summer, and would have thought about asking for help like we did for the DA. There were no wandless magic books then."
"Yeah, by the way, who is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? You never did get around to telling me."
They both broke into happy grins. "Lupin. He told us that Dumbledore practically begged him to come back. Dumbledore finally convinced him by telling him that all the educational decrees weren't gone, and that if Dumbledore didn't get him, then the Ministry would reinstate Umbridge."
"After hearing over the summer what she did to you and her other 'teaching' styles, Lupin took the job right away."
Harry broke out laughing and they reached the Great Hall. "Remember, anything important, relay through Ron."
"No, please don't unless it is an emergency, my temples are still pounding."
"Okay, then don't say anything imp…" Just then a group of first years pushed their way through the doors and they stopped talking and walked inside.
As they entered the great hall they where dive-bombed by owls with letters. They took their seats and started wolfing down their breakfast, as their schedules said they had to be in their next class in 15 minutes, Advanced Charms 9:00.
The Great Hall was starting to clear out already, and Lupin was nowhere in sight. Dumbledore walked over to where they were sitting. "Hello, Ron, Hermione. Harry, could you come to my office after breakfast, please. Don't worry about your next class, I will tell Professor Flitwick." His eyes were twinkling, but not as strongly as normal.
"Yes, sir." Dumbledore walked away.
What do you think that was about? Ron sent.
Dumbledore obviously wants to know where I was for the last two meals. You guys didn't exactly do a perfect job of covering for me. Ron blushed relayed Harry's reply to Hermione who in turn blushed.
We didn't know
I know you didn't, sorry. I sometimes wish he would stop… whatever he does… so much. I know he's trying his best, but it's annoying. I guess I should try to find it funny. It might be better for my mental health.
After Ron relayed this to Hermione, he said, "You have a mental health that needs looking after? I never noticed." Then he and Hermione burst out laughing. After Harry glared at them they looked at the time again: 8:55. They bolted away
Bye!
But what do I say to Dumbledore?
You could say… and then Ron broke off as he got out of range of his telepathy. It was obviously only good for short distances, now.
I guess I will just tell him I fell asleep. He made his way to Dumbledore's office. Just as he got there the door to Dumbledore's office opened. He came in and walked up the stairs. Snape and Dumbledore were there.
"Oh, yes, Harry. Where did you go after you left my office yesterday?"
"To the Gryffindor dormitories to sleep. I was tired and figured I would wake up. But when I woke up it was after midnight, so I went back to sleep."
"A likely story. Albus, look at the bags under his eyes."
"Are you sure Harry, that you have nothing to tell me, or ask me?"
"Yes professor." Harry carefully avoided Dumbledore's eyes. He didn't know how much control he had over Occulmacy. He wished he had some older adult that he could trust with this kind of thing, but Sirius was not at school, and it would be very risky sending a letter to an escaped convict and about what Harry wanted to talk about. It would be good if he could have a little parental support. Right now his support was great, but the same age as himself, and with currently less experience.
Dumbledore gave a long, suffering sigh. He looked at Fawks, and she went over to Harry and landed on him. "Alright, you may go."
Harry exited the office, then leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. After a few seconds, he hurried off to Charms.
When he reached the correct corridor and entered the classroom he sent, Hey Ron, tell Hermione I'm here. "Hello Professor Flitwick. Dumbledore wanted to see me in his office. Here's the note."
"That's good. We are going to review your old spells this week, as a few people have forgotten them over the summer. Today we're working on the summoning charm, but you don't need to worry about that." Flitwick smiled at the memory of Harry's perfect summoning charm he used for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
"Could you give me next Monday's lesson plans, please? I'm not going to be here next week." Hopefully he will remember I just went to Dumbledore's office and account it to that, and not ask tricky questions.
"Okay. Go to page 50 of your book. Every wand has a memory, and with that charm you can access that memory. That way you can replicate some inanimate object if it isn't within summoning range and have stored it in your wand's memory. A wand's memory can hold as many things as it is inches long, rounded down. The incantation is Commoemoro and then the object to have your wand remember something, and Recordatio and then the object to conjure it back up. If you want to replace something in memory then you say Commoemoro Nec and then your object. If you need any help, I'll be here after school."
What did Dumbledore say?
He said the expected, and I didn't say much. Then I think he asked Fawks to test me, and then he let me go.
Well, at least he has a way of knowing you're still good if he finds out.
But I still don't want to tell him Hermione. It would get complicated.
Harry, you should find a different way for us to communicate telepathically. This relay stuff is starting to make my head hurt.
Ron, don't be silly. How could Harry possibly look through enough books to find that? He has a whole library full of them.
Well, I actually might be able to. I found this spell that can increase the speed in which you absorb material, and it's pretty simple if you know Parseltongue and have a basilisk scale for focus.
It took a while for Ron to relay this to Hermione, and then for Hermione to think of a reply, and then for Ron to relay the reply back to Harry. Wow, I… That would be excellent. Can you do it on other people?
Just as Harry was about to reply Ron yelled, "STOP! Opps." The entire class turned to look at them. "Sorry about that." When everyone had returned to their own thing, Ron said out loud in a hushed whisper to Harry and Hermione. "I have a pounding headache. Don't think anything. Just concentrate on the lesson. You can talk to each other after double advanced potions in you-know-where."
Harry and Hermione worked on the new work diligently. Ron said that he would prefer to learn it with the rest of the class, and so he was resting in his chair, massaging his temples.
"I think we over did it a bit."
"Yeah, Ron looks kind of tired." Once they had finished reading all the theory they tried it out. By the end of the class, Hermione had successfully memorized a piece of parchment and a table. Harry had the parchment, but was struggling with the desk.
"A desk that big can't fit into the little wand, it's just impossible." Hermione sighed, and then Flitwick dismissed the class, and they went down to lunch.
Lunch was a non-important affair. The trio really couldn't talk about anything important. Harry and Hermione might have asked Ron to relay more messages, but every time that either of them met eyes with Ron, he brought his hands to his temples and started rubbing. One time he forgot to wipe his hands off on his napkin first, so got his temples covered in the jelly he was smearing on his scones.
He didn't notice until Lavender told him, "Did you know you have jelly on your head?"
Ron quickly and self-consciously wiped it off and then said to Harry and Hermione, "What kind of friends are you? Not telling me I had jelly on my head. Hmph."
"Sorry, we were trying not to look at the great one."
"Yeah, for fear it would disrupt the transitions to the inner ear, and give the great one a larger headache." Lavender and Patel gave them a dirty look, and didn't talk to them for the rest of the meal.
"We have Snape in double potions next, right?"
"Yep. But I don't think I'm going to ask him for extra work. I'd have to be crazy. Hermione, don't even think about forgetting and asking Snape. Or, actually if you do, your on your own."
"Don't worry. I didn't intent to. I was going to let you handle that one. He might decide to give us a 20 scroll essay if we asked for extra work."
They finished lunch and walked over to potions. Outside some Slytherins and Gryffindor where waiting in the hallway. Malfoy and his two goons were also present.
"Look, it's Potty, Weasel and the Mudblood," Malfoy sneered. And then he turned around and walked away, as if what he said was unimportant, almost routine. Hermione noticed that his smirk, when he thought no one was looking, was missing.
Hermione held back Harry and Ron, long enough for the door to open and all the Slytherins to enter the potions classroom, and then they went inside.
"I do not know how some of you managed to pass the owls required to get into this class," he said looking pointedly at some of the Gryffindors. "But here you are. You shall be taking your NEWTs in two years, and it is my job to prepare you. If you feel like dropping out, go to Mrs. McGonagall, your head of house, and she will get you a new schedule. I expect the best of my students, and there will be no review for the slow.
"Today we are going to be working on Nightingale's Dream, can anyone tell me what that is?"
Hermione predictably raised her hand, but so did Malfoy. "Malfoy."
"Nightingale's Dream is a potion that convinces the skin tissues to repair themselves. It can be fatal when drunk, as it convinces your throat to close up. If you use it in too large of quantities on your skin, it will become a tumor, and you have to cut it off and try again."
"20 points to Slytherin. It is located on page 20 of your books, and it is written on the board. At the end of class, please fill a vial and put it on my desk." Then he sat at his desk and looked almost tiredly at the papers on his desk and then at the clock.
What do you think Snape is doing Ron? Do you thin…"NO!"
"Mr. Weasley, 5 points from Gryffindor," Snape said lazily.
Opps. I wonder if…Ron kicked him in the shin. "OWWWEEEE!!!!"
"Mr. Potter, 10 points from Gryffindor. The next person who speaks until class is over will be getting detention and 50 points from their house." Snape went back to his papers.
"ARRG." Crab had burned his hand on the caldron. Snape ignored him.
"OOOOOOWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Professor, I burned my hand on the cauldron, may I go to the hospital wing with Crab, who did the same thing as I a few minutes ago?" Goyle said. Snape nodded curtly and waved them out of the class.
Harry had been anticipating the loss of Slytherin points was so severely disappointed that he forgot to be quiet. "That's Not Fair!" Opps. He is so unfair that I could just…
"STOP THINKING!!!" Ron yelled.
"Weasley, Potter, You have just gotten two detentions and a hundred points lost from Gryffindor."
Ron opened his mouth, but Harry and Hermione kicked him. Harry and Ron gathered up their things. Harry led Ron silently down to the second floor. "Where are we going?"
"Shhhh. I'm going to look for a better method of communication, or at least a barrier. Keep your voice down in the halls, anyone could here you."
~Open Up~
They slid down the long slimy passageway, crawled through the cave-in, and walked by the basilisk skin.
~Open Up~ Harry said to the two snake door handles with green eyes. The doors opened, but then something unexpected happened, they started slithering and crawling towards Harry and Ron. Ron's eyes widened, as these were not exactly small snakes, but not large ones either. They were about 4 feet long and 4 inches around. Ron looked at Harry to see if it was okay and normal, as he had never been this far before. The look of growing astonishment on Harry's face was easily mistaken for fear and so his mouth dropped too.
~Yes Master~
~We will follow you now~
~We would have before, but you left before we could introduce ourselves. ~
"Don't worry Ron, I don't think they're going to harm you. I think they will obey me." Ron looked somewhat relieved, but more like he would believe it after they didn't eat him. ~Don't call me Master, just Harry will do. Why are you here? Who are you? ~
~Justharry, I am Zarsal and this is Thrinsyl, named after Salazar Slytherin and sent to guard his heir. We are Vicissitudo Snakes. We wake after he marks his heir, as we will do for your heir. ~
~Salazar made it so he wouldn't pass into the after life until he named his heir. While waiting he formed a conscious, and went to work correcting all the damage he did during his life. Now he can't believe he was willing to kill all the mudbloods just to purify the school. ~
~Don't call them mudbloods. Use muggleborns if you must generalize. And it's not Justharry. It is Harry. ~
~Why did not say so in the first place? ~ Harry just sighed. They crawled up him and took a natural seeming position around his arms. It was amazing they could, because they looked so large.
At his query, they replied, ~We can change sizes from 6 feet to 2 feet long, although in the middle is our most comfortable position when we are on our own. Here 2 ½ feet feels right~
Harry smiled, as he felt comfortable and safe, too. "Okay Ron. Let's get that basilisk scale so we can start studding."
"Okay. But what about them?"
"I think they are just planning to follow me around and protect me."
"And you are going to explain to large snakes with emerald eyes, just like yours actually, to everyone else at school, including Dumbledore?"
"Sigh. I guess I will just have to find an invisibility spell that works. Accio Basilisk scale." It zoomed towards him. He held it on top of his wand and pointed it at Ron. ~Cognosco Celeriter~
Ron screamed as a green light a couple shades lighter than the killing curse shot out of the wand and impacted on Ron's chest. "HARRY, WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!!!!!!!"
"Opps. I guess I should have told you what that was for first."
"Yeah, NOW TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!!!!!"
"I just made it so you could learn faster and you will remember this hour the rest of your life in perfect memory, including all the spells you read. Here, start with this one. "Accio Wandless Magic for Dummies. It should keep you busy for ten minutes."
"Your crazy mate." But he started to read the book anyways.
Now Harry could read the other stuff. He pointed the wand at himself. ~Cognosco Celeriter~ He finished all of the Wandless Magic books in one hour. Every once in a while he stopped to give Ron the next book. He renewed the spell on both of them, just as Moaning Myrtle zoomed down.
"Hermione told me to tell you she was waiting for you to open the entrance."
"How did she find out that we were here?"
"Well she was muttering something about certain stupid idiots using indiscrete spells and a secret book flying in a certain direction."
Ron burst into laughter. Harry was barely able to suppress his own. "Thank you Myrtle. You may go now." Myrtle left muttering about a certain pair of insensitive boy wizards, which made Ron burst up into fresh hysterics. "Accio Firebolt." After about 6 minutes, his Firebolt came. "I'm going to go get her now."
Ron had stopped laughing and continued reading his book with a vague acknowledgement of Harry talking. Harry flew up the pipes.
"Oh, Harry, thank goodness. I feel like I have been waiting here forever. I saw your book, and then your Firebolt go down, but the hole just closed up right after it."
"Hold on tight, and don't raise your head above mine or it might get accidentally cracked on the ceiling."
"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!. Harry there are snakes on your arms!!"
"Calm down Hermione. You don't want to attract any teacher's attention, do you? This is just Zarsal and Thrinsyl. Salazar gave them to me. Don't worry they won't bite, and get on before anyone comes.
"It's a little late for that." Said an older male voice.