Chapter thirteen - Why Did the Weasley Hiss?

Harry sat in the library on the first Saturday back at Hogwarts, trying to do homework which he had put off for some reason or another, one which he wasn't quite sure what it was. Well, when I say trying, I do not mean that Harry couldn't do the work. I mean he was trying to do it, but was being watched closely by someone constantly and it was annoying him so much he couldn't concentrate. Finally annoyed enough, Harry looked up and saw a blond haired Hufflepuff staring straight at him.

"Yes?" Harry asked. The boy was obviously a first year. No Hufflepuff older than that would talk to a Slytherin out of fear for their lives.

"All right Harry? I'm - I'm Colin Creevey." Yes, there was the stutter. "I'm in Hufflepuff. D-you you think - would it be all right if - can I have a picture?"

"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly, and Creepy - ah, I mean Creevey, held up what looked like an ordinary muggle camera.

"So I can prove I've met you," said Creevey eagerly, edging further forwards. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You Know Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got the lightning scar on your forehead" (Creevey's eyes racked Harry's forehead, which was thankfully covered by his fringe), "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move." Creevey drew a shuddering breath here, and Harry was pretty sure that when he had been a first year he hadn't been as excitable as Creevey. "It's brilliant here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My Dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you. And then could you sign it?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, knowing that there was no doubt why this kid wasn't a Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor always volunteered too much information on first meetings. It did nothing to help them get ahead. The kid had already said he was a mudblood, basically. His father wasn't magical, after all. Of course the boy hadn't mentioned his mother, so she might not be alive, but that did not matter. It was unlikely she was magical.

"No," Harry said, enjoying the look on the kid's face as it went from hopeful to shock. "I don't do signed photos, nor do I do photos whenever possible. And I definitely do not associate with Hufflepuffs or mudbloods."

Creevey's eyes widened and he stared in fear at Harry, then ran off, possibly to cry. Harry smirked at his retreating back. He hadn't done something that felt so much fun in ages.

September flew by for Harry after he caused that Hufflepuff first year to run off, terrified and crying, as did all of October, up until the thirty-first. That was when things started to go downhill in second year for Harry, but I suppose you should read to see for yourself.

After making Creevey cry time flew by for Harry, and before he knew it it was Halloween. Of course, Harry wouldn't be going to it. He had far better things to do with his time, which was why the night of All Hallows Eve found Harry in a deserted bathroom, a girl's bathroom no less. Well, one of the stalls, but it was still a girl's bathroom.

Now, you may ask why Harry was in a deserted girl's bathroom stall, and how he knew it would be deserted. Well, the answer to the second part is simple. He had been searching around the school for some weeks now for somewhere that no one would be in, and he had found it in the form of a girl's bathroom that was the girls avoided because of the ghost that resided there. Fortunately, the ghost, Myrtle, was out that night.

But what Harry was doing in the bathroom was not something that the more sickminded of you would imagine. No, he was not with any boy or girl in that bathroom, so you can putthose images out of your head's right this instant. What Harry was doing in the bathroom was brewing a potion.

A potion was not something you would expect someone to be making alone in a bathroom though. You would expect people to make them in dungeons. But Harry couldn't very well use one of the dungeons, as who knew who would walk in as he was making an illegal potion.

Yes, that's right. Harry Potter was making an illegal potion in a girl's bathroom stall. The potion he was making though, had only just been made illegal, so he didn't really care. Anyway, the potion Harry was brewing was supposed to indicate the bloodlines whom the brewer was descended from, and wouldn't be completed until Christmas Day. But that's not what you need to know about yet.

What you need to know about is that just as Harry finished preparing the one of the ingredients he would need for the potion when he heard someone enter. Harry froze, praying that it wasn't someone looking for him. If it was it wouldn't look good for him. But before Harry could think any further with the consequences than 'Shit! I'm so screwed!' he realised that they almost certainly weren't looking for him. In fact, they probably did not know he was there.

Whoever it was didn't notice as he looked outside the stall and saw what was going on. Ginevra Weasley was holding a book open by the sinks, and seemingly speaking, though all that was coming out of her mouth was a series of strange hisses. Shocked, Harry saw that the sinks glowed a brilliant bright white, and Harry saw that they moved apart, leaving a pipe large enough for a man to slide down. Ginevra (or Weasleyette as Draco called her on occasion) jumped in.

It took several minutes for this to process in Harry's, and by the time it did he decided to do something completely reckless and stupid, something that a Gryffindor would do without so much as a second thought. Had Harry been thinking clearly, rather than his thoughts being numbed by the discovery of the entrance to (if he was right in thinking) the Chamber of Secrets, he would not have done it, but as it was he did. Harry jumped down the pipe.

Sliding down the pipe felt as if it was an endless, slimy, dark slide. There were more, smalled pipes branching off in other directions. The one Harry was one sloped steeply downwards, and twisted and turned in all directions, and Harry knew he was probably deeper than the final chamber from last year.

Finally, as Harry's mind was beginning to work again, and he realised he had no way of stopping when he came to the ground, the pipe leveled out and he shot out of the end with a wet thud on something that dug into his back. Harry reached behind him and brought it into his line of vision. It was a rats skull. Okay, it was a really bad idea to go down that pipe. Especially now that he realised he also had no way of getting back up. Just wonderful.

Well, seeing that he had nothing else to do, Harry decided that he might as well explore, and what better way to explore than to go straight ahead. Heh, who knows, he might even run into the monster of Slytherin.

After what seemed like hours of walking later, though in reality Harry realised it could not have been more than five, maybe ten, minutes, Harry came across a solid wall ahead of him on which two entwined serpents were carved to look like S's, their eyes set with emeralds that matched Harry's eyes.

Harry tensed at the sight of the snakes. The last time he had been in close proximity of a snake, something had happened, which even today he wasn't too certain about even though he knew about magic, and it had caused him nothing but trouble. Oddly, though, Harry felt slightly compelled to speak, as to why he could not guess.

"Um..." Harry said in a low, faint hiss. Before he could say anymore to serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight and Harry stared into what he was almost certain was the Chamber of Secrets itself.

A/N: Does this chapter seem unbelievably short to you all? It does to me. It's exactly 1,450 words according to my word count, but it seems so much less. Weird.

And you know what? Two things occured to my whilst writing this chapter, and both of those were about Colin. First is that his mother is never mentioned in book two, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't in any of the others, so rather than Colin being muggleborn, it's possible he may be half-blood. The other thing I noticed about Colin? His Dad is a milkman. So what I hear you cry! Well, do you realise how many jokes there are going on about people having affairs with milkmen? Okay, neither of those things had anything to do with anything really, but I thought I would share my observations with everyone.

Lap: I let Lockhart obliviate Harry for one very good reason: When Harry finds out what happened... let's just say Lockhart with be no longer with us. Your saying my mind is sly? You positive? Because I'm not sure it's Sly. ::blushes:: You're getting a bit carried away. I'm pretty sure you don't love me. As for how I'll make it blow over, the way I see it I have two options: mass obliviate or... well, there is another one, but I'm just not just what it is. But I do know the basilisk will live and no one will realise for a while. Riddle will get his body back, but I know for certain he will not be spending the summer with Harry at the Dursleys. Pity though. It would have been a wonderful start to a slash fic.

Talons: Yep, cheese taste good. The hair care products answer was right though! Just slightly - uh - edited!

Virginia Riddle-Malfoy: Well, authors make their characters like themselves alot, and I like cheese a lot. Plus it seemed like a funny thing to see in the Mirror. Harry does find out about his memories being wiped by Lockhart. Just not until slightly later on in the year.

Shadowface: Ah, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Harry will not be kicking any butt when he gets his memories back. He will be getting others to do it for him.

Aowyn: Well, since you asked in such a nice way instead of demanded, and I've already got the first chapter and part of the second of Azkaban Child written, I'll post it. I think I should be able to keep up with posting both, or I hope I will.

HarrySlytherinson: This soon enough?

raistlin master of present and: Well, there's a simple enough answer to that: it's a power issue for Voldemort. He just wants more power.