AN: I apologize for taking so long, but RL tossed another illness at me that I didn't forsee. It just goes to show that you should never get pneumonia, because it'll mess up your immune system. But, I managed to get this done, albeit slowly. Very slowly. It will take another week or so for the next chapter to get written. I seem to have hit a decent writing stride with this story.
Thanks to everyone that has reviewed!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 7
Harry crept into the girl's bathroom on the second floor, looking for a place to take a breather. Right after the debacle of the Dueling Club, Hermione had dragged Harry and Ron here to talk. They couldn't exactly talk in the common room with most of the Gryffindors looking at Harry as if they were targets.
"What are you doing here?" a whining voice asked above him.
"Hello, Myrtle," Harry said as he looked up at the ghost hovering near the ceiling. Moaning Myrtle had tried to run them out at first, but she'd learned to stay away after Ron kept saying things that set her off. Now she would only try to find out why Gyrffindors were invading her bathroom.
"Are you here to make fun of me again? Where's your friends? Or have you lost them?"
Harry shook his head. "No, Myrtle. I just needed a quiet place to think."
Myrtle made a 'humph' sound and drifted off, leaving Harry sitting next to the farthest sink from the door. He sat there for a long time, going over everything that had happened in the last week. Ever since his talk with his father, everything had snowballed.
Flashback
Lucius Malfoy strolled into Hogwarts, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, at his side. The blond man casually twirled his cane around in his hands as he walked into the Great Hall as if he owned it, looking upon all in it as if they were his servants. Draco Malfoy and his idiot bodyguards were laughing it up at the Slytherin table.
Harry knew this was trouble, because Malfoy was usually the first one to leave the Slytherin table at any meal, and here they were, three of the last few left. After all, both his fathers had taught Harry to be aware of all dangers at all times, and Malfoy was a danger. A small one, but definitely one all the same.
Still, it didn't look good as Malfoy stopped at the teachers' table in front of Dumbledore while Fudge stood off to one side. Regardless of the few students left, Malfoy cradled his cane and opened his mouth.
"Dumbledore, I am here on behalf of the Governors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to demand you step down from your post as Headmaster. You have failed to protect students given into your care, and have done so by allowing Rubeus Hagrid to unleash, yet again, the terror he set upon the school fifty years ago, and was expelled for."
Fudge stepped forward as gasps arose from both the head table and the other students, except the Slytherins. Of the others, only Harry didn't gasp, his attention focused on the snake's head on the top of Malfoy's cane. The snake seemed to come to life the more Malfoy spoke, its eyes glinting in the candlelight in the Great Hall.
"I'm here to take Hagrid into Ministry custody for questioning," Fudge reluctantly said, looking nervously at the student in the hall. The last of the Hufflepuff students were sneaking out quietly, and Harry recognized their seeker, Cedric Diggory, with a worried look on his face, as one of them.
Fudge continued. "I would rather have done this later, where the students couldn't see - "
Harry saw his father mutter something under his breath, and just knew that it was about Fudge wanting no witnesses to the entire mess.
" - But Mister Malfoy insisted we finish this business as soon as possible."
Harry watched as Dumbledore calmly stood up and asked for proof. "And how am I to have helped Rubeus' falsely accused crime? I have consulted with the Governors on this issue several times " His blue eyes were cold, even from where Harry was sitting. "I do have to ask why they would wish a man, taken off his seat on the Board for his conviction on bribery charges, to ask that I leave. Rubeus was expelled because of Headmaster Dippett's words, and his case was never presented to the Governors."
The snake caught Harry's attention once more, its tongue flickering at Malfoy. Harry knew that wasn't right, as Malfoy didn't have his wand out. That meant his wand was concealed in his cane, which was most certainly illegal in Great Britain (brought to his attention by Hermione earlier in the year when she scolded him and Ron talking about such a thing). At least it was very illegal without a special permit, which were not granted to convicts - former or otherwise.
He stood up, ready to tell the entire hall about it, but Dumbledore shook his head in Harry's direction. The blue eyes twinkled at him for a brief moment, halting Harry's movements enough to let Harry think it would be better told privately, out of Malfoy's earshot so that he couldn't cover himself.
Malfoy followed the headmaster's gaze and sneered at Harry, before motioning to Dumbledore it was time to leave. "The Governors want you out tonight, Dumbledore, and will discuss the matter with you at their next meeting in a month," Malfoy said, a small smirk on his thin face.
Dumbledore elegantly nodded to the teachers seated around him. "I trust you to keep the school well, Professor McGonagall," he said as he turned away from the table and went out the teachers' private entrance. Malfoy, Fudge, and Hagrid - who was wearing a frightened face with tear freely flowing down his cheeks - followed him.
"Harry!" Ron tugged on Harry's sleeve, trying to get him to sit down.
He eventually did so, but only because Patri motioned at him.
End of Flashback
From that point on, Draco Malfoy had been insufferable to Harry, but he hadn't retaliated. McGonagall had restricted the students from doing anything other than going to class and meals. Harry hadn't been able to talk to Patri since then. He had slipped out with his invisibility cloak to make it to the teacher's wing, but hadn't been able to get there, because Lockhart had been trying to impress the other professors with his escapades. Harry had snorted at his boasting and made the trek here to Myrtle's bathroom.
Myrtle started singing, making Harry think she had forgotten he was here.
"Myrtle?"
"What do you want?" she came exploding out of the stall across from Harry, which he knew was her 'favorite' from previous visits.
"How did you die?" he asked, curious about it without Ron's seemingly vast ability to make Myrtle sulk about being dead.
"Ooo!" Myrtle was positively gleeful as she told Harry about seeing the yellow eyes just before she died and about the strange language the boy in the bathroom had used.
Harry knew that she was talking about parseltongue. There was no way it couldn't be anything BUT that. Due to Hugh's current obsession with lizards and spiders, Harry knew that only reptiles and amphibians had yellow eyes. Humans bitten by werewolves, like Moony, or had were ancestry like Madam Hooch (which Harry only knew due to some eavesdropping and wouldn't tell a soul) had dark amber eyes.
He sat up straight and thought about snakes. "Was it like this?" he asked, deliberately thinking about talking to a snake.
Myrtle froze, and then shuddered. "You... that's what that boy sounded like!"
Harry sighed. He was right, then, about this. But what should he do? He could go to Patri, but it might get him into trouble with his parents. If he went to McGonagall, he would get into trouble for being out of bed, and she wouldn't listen to him.
"Weasley!"
Severus saw the youngest Weasley boy freeze at the sound of his voice. A pale face turned to look at him.
"Have you seen Harry this morning?"
Weasley's face paled further, if that was even possible, and shook his head. "I was thinking he was... he would be eating breakfast, but I can't find him, and now Ginny is missing!"
Severus frowned. "Did he go to bed last night?"
Weasley nodded. "He wasn't there this morning. But I didn't think anything of it because Dean and Seamus were gone, too."
He knew that, having seen his son's roommates having breakfast.
"Would he have gone somewhere?"
Weasley nodded. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
Severus straightened his hands from the clenched fists they'd become. "Weasley, go alert Professor McGonagall about Harry being missing. Let her know that your sister has not yet appeared. I will go look for Harry myself."
He sent Weasley off and strode quickly up to the supposedly abandoned bathroom. Harry was definitely going to catch trouble when Severus found him. Then he was grounded until he and James could foist the boy off whomever Harry married.
He arrived at the bathroom to find it flooded and the ghost of the girl He had killed, crying.
"Myrtle!" he sharply called out. "What has gone on in here?"
The ghost came floating out of her stall. "Oh, are you Harry's father?" Her cheeks flushed violet. "He was going to talk to you, but then she came in and knocked him out! I didn't know they taught that spell to first years!"
Severus stood still. "Where did they go?"
Myrtle pointed to the wall with the sinks. He hadn't looked in that direction before, so he finally noticed the man-sized hole in the wall where a sink would be.
He turned back to Myrtle. "Myrtle, I need for you to go and find Professor McGonagall and tell her to come here."
"Wasn't she Minerva McTavish?" Myrtle asked. "She was a year ahead of me, but I'm not sure."
"Myrtle!" Severus did not have time for this. "Do it now!" Having said that, he crawled into the pipe, sitting at the top and using his wand to clean out any obstacles. He pushed off. When he landed, he looked around to find tonnes of rat skeletons. There was a small path cleared that led into the darkness beyond his lit wand, about the width of a body being dragged.
Severus cautiously followed the path, knowing he would have to be careful if it was who they thought it was behind all of this. At the end was a door ajar, carved with snakes. Making sure that there was nothing on the other side, he opened it further.
And he came up against the largest snake he'd ever seen. A basilisk.
Severus saw a large row of teeth and a snout covered in blood. He shot a curse directly into its mouth, avoiding looking at its eyes, sending it reeling back enough to reveal Harry and a boy, aged about sixteen, fighting. It was long enough for him to be hit against the wall with the basilisk's tail, and everything went black.
"Patri?" It was a teary voice that he first noticed. "Patri!"
Severus then became aware of phoenix song. What was Fawkes doing in his bedroom?
"Patri? I can't get Ginny to wake up," Harry was saying, his voice tired sounding.
He finally was able to open his eyes, revealing Harry's exhausted face, two tear tracks down dirty, blood smeared cheeks. "Harry?" he reached up and touched a spot of blood on his son's chin. "Are you all right?"
Harry nodded. "Thanks to Fawkes."
Severus looked at the phoenix, which was watching the two lumps on the floor near the front of the room. He struggled to set up, wincing at the strong pounding rolling through his skull, to get a better look. Once he was up, Severus could see that one lump was indeed an unmoving Ginny Weasley. But the other....
Severus sucked in a deep breath when he recognized the other lump. Harry had been up against him? And where was the basilisk he had come upon? He turned to look at his son for an explanation.
"Tom laughed when you hit the wall," Harry breathlessly began. "And then that giant snake was right there. I ran into a little tunnel, but then Fawkes came through with the Sorting Hat. Tom laughed that it was pathetic that Dumbledore's champion only had a bird and a stupid hat to help. The snake came chasing after me again and the Hat was right there, so I put it on and I thought that I needed something to help. And then, 'kerthunk,' out came this sword." He held up a long sword, with a ruby encrusted hilt and the name Godric Gryffindor forged across the blade.
"So I used the sword on the snake and I put it through its mouth and one of its fangs went into my arm - "
Severus grabbed the proffered arm and scanned it. Other than some drying blood, there was no sign of a wound.
" - Tom laughed at me and then Fawkes came over and started crying. Tom said 'look how pathetic. Dumbledore's bird is crying 'cause he knows you're going to die.' And then the wound closed up. Tom said 'No!' and I said 'you're not going anywhere' and then he said something bad about you and I got angry.
"The next think I know is he's out on the floor and Fawkes was over here, singing."
Harry was quiet. "Patri?"
Severus grabbed Harry and pulled his son into arms. He'd come so close to losing him, considering his son's failure to exaggerate the events. He buried his face in the messy hair, trying to compose himself and figure out what to do next.
"Patri?" Harry groaned. "You're squeezing me!" Severus hugged him once more after settling into the headmaster's office. Fawkes had started nudging Severus' arm, making both of them look at the phoenix. Severus had eventually figured out what the fire bird had wanted, and together with Harry, they had each grabbed a passenger, Severus pocketed a certain diary lying next to Ginny Weasley, and they traveled up through the pipes courtesy of Fawkes.
At the entrance to the Chamber, they had met up with McGonagall, Ron Weasley, and a smiling Albus Dumbledore. Severus had been very tempted to hex the smile off the man's face, but as his arms were full at the moment, he would have to wait for the perfect moment.
Dumbledore had led them up to his office, indicating for Severus and Harry to sit, having sent McGonagall with the two still-unconscious passengers to the infirmary, a confused Weasley walking behind them. Every so often, until they reached the corner, Weasley would look back at Harry, who was tiredly leaning against Severus. Weasley gave a shaky smile to Harry and followed his Head of House and sister.
Severus released his arms the tiniest bit and looked at his son. "How did you get down here in the first place?" he asked sternly.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. One minute I'm talking to Myrtle - and she was flirting with me! - the next I know is I'm in the Chamber, Ginny's on the floor, and Tom's coming out of the diary."
"Why were you out of bed so late, then?"
Harry gave a sheepish smile. "I was coming to see you, but then Lockhart was there, so I went to the bathroom. I was going to come and talk to you, but then all this happened."
Severus opened his mouth to talk, but Lucius Malfoy burst through the door. The blond man walked right up to Dumbledore, who was smiling in that way he had. Beside Malfoy was the house elf that had been dogging Harry. Father and son exchanged looks.
Malfoy tried to rile up the headmaster in a voice too low for Severus to hear, but left in a huff, Dobby the house elf trailing behind him.
Harry got up and picked up a jewel. "This is from Malfoy's snake, isn't it?"
Severus nodded, recognizing the tiny green sapphire from numerous boasting sessions in school on how 'blessed' he was to own such a rare gemstone.
The green-eyed boy grew a most Slytherinesque smirk. Harry pulled off his shoe and sock, stuffed his foot back into his shoe, and took off after Malfoy.
"He is certainly your son, Severus," Dumbledore chuckled.
Severus smirked himself. "I know that, Albus." He then changed the subject. "What is the verdict on Miss Weasley's health?"
The headmaster sighed. "There is no way to keep Him here without further damaging Miss Weasley's health. Whatever Harry managed to do stopped the transfer at the moment, but there's no way we can get rid of Mister Riddle without destroying the book. Minister Fudge refuses to get involved, other than to pardon Hagrid from his 'deeds.'
Severus swore under his breath. He had known that Fudge was an imbecile because of all the trouble he and James had had after Harry had 'defeated' Voldemort. Now Severus had proof he was a coward who feared the loss of his job more than doing that job.
"Then we will have to destroy the book," Severus finally said.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Now, I would suggest you go get some rest and get in contact with your husband. I'm afraid Minerva, in her panic, wrote a letter to James. It should have made it to your house by now."
Severus shot off his seat and glowered at Dumbledore. "Send Harry to the infirmary if he comes back. I will meet up with him after James comes here in a panic."
Albus' laughter followed Severus out the door and down the stairs.
James had been ready to smother Harry when he had arrived home for the summer. Then Severus had told him the entire story, and James had agreed, about ready to ground the boy until someone took him off their hands.
Instead, he had punished Harry in the way he had done a year earlier - for sneaking out of the dorms when he wasn't supposed to - with chores. Harry then spent the first half of the summer either helping Severus prepare potions ingredients or with James in the garden.
Now it was the afternoon of September first, and James had just said goodbye to Severus for a month. The only other person in the house was Hugh, who had shut himself up with his prized comic books, after James had scolded him for sulking and pouting about not being able to join his brother and sister going to Hogwarts.
Severus would floo after the feast with which house Helena was sorted into, but until then James had no idea what to do with himself. He could try working on the next book, but he knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate.
He had just settled down to playing solitaire - a fantastic game Lily had taught him in the middle of their fourth year - when an owl flew through the window. He didn't recognize it, but James saw that it was carrying a large piece of parchment. Only The Daily Prophet was shaped like that, but he had already read this morning's edition. What was so big they needed to send out a special edition?
Severus was not happy with school this term. First some idiot in Fudge's entourage had thought the rat in Pettigrew's supposedly anti-transformation cell was dead and so tossed him out. While he hadn't exactly been happy with the news, Severus knew that their was no way Pettigrew had enough courage to come after any of his former friends and their families.
Then Lockhart had arrived back for the teacher's meeting and when the news that he had falsely published his books - courtesy of Lupin, who had met up with a victim in Italy - and the seven time winner of Witch Weekly's Best Smile Award tried a mass obliviate on the teachers. Severus had been pleased when it backfired, of course, because the idiot either forgot or never bothered to learn that one wizard can't obliviate twenty wizards' minds without consequences. That had left them short a Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor for the feast and first week.
Which brought him to point three: Dumbledore had decided to hire Andromeda Tonks. The oldest of the three Black sisters, cousins to Sirius Black, she was the wisest of the three. She was married to a Muggle, and their daughter had clumsily made his potions classes a terror for seven years. Andromeda had decided to adopt Helena as soon as that first Defense class, after telling Severus that a girl needed some feminine influence. Ha, as if he needed her to do that.
And that led him to the final nail in Severus' unhappy coffin. Fudge had decided to send Dementors to guard the school to catch Pettigrew, believing he would take revenge on Harry. It was NOT a possibility in Severus' eyes. Pettigrew would probably rather find his old Master than face Harry.
The first Hogsmeade weekend, Harry had been ready to go with Weasley and Granger to the village. The three had gotten into a carriage and begun the trek to the tiny all-wizarding village. As they approached the gates, Harry was overwhelmed, he said, by the image of green light and a woman pleading to spare Harry's life.
Severus had not been happy at all about that. He had cajoled Tonks to teach Harry how to protect himself against the Dementors. Severus was already hip deep in a battle among his Slytherins; otherwise he would take Harry under his wing for such an important lesson. Helena had found out and wanted to learn about it. Severus had always been unable to say no to his only daughter when she wanted to learn something, and such was the case now. So the two of them were off learning how to do the Patronus charm and would start the true practical. Tonks had yet to find a boggart to use - as Harry's biggest fear was the fear itself.
It was a good thing, too. The Dementors had gotten restless - and hungry - and so had tried to approach the Quidditch pitch in the middle of the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match. Severus had whipped his wand out at the first sign of Harry weaving on his broom, just in time to slow down his fall, Dumbledore standing beside him, shooting his phoenix patronus towards the horde of Dementors.
Severus had gathered up Helena and gone to visit Harry in the infirmary, where his eldest child was nursing a bumped head and a bruised pride, his Nimbus 2000 a pile of splinters on his lap. Harry hadn't minded losing the match, since Cedric Diggory caught the snitch before he noticed Harry's fall, but he had minded losing his broom.
Well, that was something Severus needed to discuss with James when they got home for the holidays. And Severus couldn't wait for when Hugh was in school. Then James would come to school, and he could keep an eye on his young snakes. By that time, Malfoy would be prefect - Malfoy money, even if he didn't want to appoint the boy to the position - and the other Slytherins wouldn't hold him back. Right now, Severus could trust his prefects to keep charge of the few students who stayed over the holidays, but that was definitely changing with the atmosphere in his House.
Many of the first years, this year, were the product of the elation of Harry's defeat of Voldemort. What was causing the problem was that two of them were from mixed blood homes, which many of the older Slytherins were having trouble with. Severus couldn't do much for the first years themselves, but kept a careful eye on them. If he did, it would cause greater harm in the future. For now, all of the first years had banded together, regardless of their family backgrounds, and traveled together as a pack.
Severus had also been forced to put Malfoy as seeker this fall, because the boy had bullied the others into not wanting it. He had tried to force Terrence Higgs to abandon his place on the Quidditch team last year, but the seventh year had literally sat on the boy, regardless of how many hexes Malfoy threw at him. It was part of his house's traits to bully people out of it, as much as Severus hated to admit it, even if he had wanted the Zabini boy to be seeker, since he was a much better flyer than the Malfoy boy would ever be.
Eh, being married to a Gryffindor had obviously made him soft.
Now Severus was waiting for his errant children to meet him in the entrance hall to catch a carriage that would take them into Hogsmeade. There they would floo home and would then portkey to Paris for a conference James had been invited to attend. Their portkey was scheduled for one o'clock, which they would miss if they took the train.
He was proud of James. His husband had been invited to speak at the annual Transfiguration International Association Conference about writing textbooks. Minerva was also going and they would meet her at the hotel. She was there for James' presentation, since she used two of James' textbooks - the books for OWL and NEWT level transfiguration.
"Patri!" Helena hurried down the stairs from the Ravenclaw dormitories. "I'm sorry it took so long! Luna couldn't find the hat she made for her dad." She slid to a stop in front of Severus, her hair already flying out of its customary braid, and smiled at him. "We found it in the common room stuffed in the suit of armor."
Severus smiled at that, frightening two fourth year Gryffindors and a second year Ravenclaw. Helena had attached herself firmly to Luna, and had earned herself an honorary berth among Severus' first year Slytherins for defending herself against Marcus Flint. And winning that contest.
Harry came running. "Sorry I'm late! There was a spider near Ron's bed."
Helena giggled and Severus held back a grin. Weasley's arachnophobia had been announced loud and clear to the entire Great Hall the night of the Welcome Feast, in the middle of the Sorting, no less. Harry had ended up punching Malfoy for his cursing Weasley with 'arachnarepere,' a condition that left the victim feeling spiders crawling on their skin. When Severus had heard this from Minerva - who had caught the entire incident - he had been tempted to floo James with the news that Harry was finally getting into trouble that didn't involve dark lords or insane teachers.
"I trust you are ready?" Severus asked his children.
Both of them nodded and he herded them out to the carriage. As they grew closer to the gate, Harry grew agitated. Severus got out a piece of chocolate he had thought to bring, as Helena drew out her wand.
"We can use our wands until the gates, right, Patri?"
Severus nodded.
"Well then," Helena said in her grown-up way. "Harry, we can practice our patronus charms!"
The potions master smiled at his children as Harry pulled his wand out. Then they were at the gates and he saw the effects of the Dementors on Harry first hand. The Dementors drew close to the carriage to inspect it, and Harry was affected by their cold much more than Severus and Helena. Harry gripped his wand harder and was obviously trying to do the patronus charm.
Severus scowled through the open door. "He is not in here," he said, sending out his own patronus: a raven. It flew at the Dementors, scattering them, and the carriage moved forward. Severus handed the piece of chocolate to a very woozy Harry.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Helena asked as they rolled into the village of Hogsmeade.
Harry nodded, licking the tiniest bit of chocolate off his fingers. He perked up as they climbed out of the carriage. "Patri? Can we stop at Honeydukes?"
Severus eyed Harry. Even if it was just a thirteen year old's wish, he was still pale enough to warrant some more chocolate. "Very well," he began.
Harry began to whoop in joy, but stopped as Severus looked sternly at him.
"Have you finished all your gift shopping?"
Harry nodded, but Helena piped up. "I want to get something for Dad, Patri. I made a present, but...."
Severus nodded. "After Honeydukes, we well go to any story you choose, as long as you do not take too long. We still have to get ready for our trip."
"Thanks, Patri!" came the chorused response.
Severus resigned himself to a long day, if this was only the start of it.