Potter47 ~ Part Two ~
Closer to Where I Started "A retentive memory is a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness."
~ E. Hubbard ~ Chapter Six ~
Out of the Frying-Pan, Into the Fire
"What?" asked Ginny confusedly, having no idea whatsoever what 'Kansas' was. They did not teach wizard children American Muggle Geography. It just wasn't done.
"Oh," said Harry, realising his Muggle upbringing was showing. "It's from 'The Wizard of Oz.' The main character, Dorothy, she's transported to the land of Oz, and she says that to her dog. She's from Kansas," he explained.
She looked at him blankly. Her wizard upbringing was showing.
"Which is in America," he said.
"Oh."
"You really need to see that sometime," he said.
"Yeah," said Ginny wryly. "Sometime."
Which brought them back to their current dilemma. They were stuck in the Chamber of Secrets, in some unknown year, and had no way to get out. There was no phoenix handy this time.
"We could...climb," said Harry, as he looked doubtfully up the long slide entrance to the Chamber.
"Somehow, I doubt it," said Ginny.
"Er..." Harry really had no clue what they were supposed to do.
"There must be a way," said Ginny. "This was built so the Heir of Slytherin, and Slytherin himself, could get in and out."
"Maybe the Basilisk could give us a ride," Harry joked.
"Don't even say that." She turned around and sat on the Chamber's repulsive floor. "It's probably so obvious, and we just can't think of it..." Her chin rested itself upon a fist.
Harry stared at the slide. Ginny was right, it had to be something obvious. Obvious. For some strange reason that word made him think of Ron. Why? He did not know. But he had nothing better to do. He let his mind wander.
Ron. Was Ron all right? Were any of the rest hurt? What was the last thing Ron had said? Or, what would be the last thing Ron would say?
They had just tried to open that door. Sirius' knife had melted. Ron had said something then.
But what if that's the one?
But no, that didn't seem to be the last time Harry had heard his best friends voice... It seemed like he had just heard it. Maybe right after Ginny had been kidnapped. But that was absurd...Ron wouldn't be born for decades...
"English," he said.
That was it! Harry had heard Ron's voice. In that vision-thingy. Harry had no idea why it felt so important to him to remember that.
Wait a minute...
"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."
Duh!
"I am stupid!" Harry exclaimed, startling Ginny, who seemed to have been deep in thought, her gaze unfocused.
"Aren't we all..."
"No, Gin," said Harry hurriedly. "I'm really stupid."
"Why?"
"I'm a Parselmouth for crying out loud!" he said. "What'd I do to open the Chamber? Spoke Parseltongue. What'd I do to open this slide? Spoke Parseltongue! How thick can you get?" He faced the slide confidently.
"Well, I don't know, Harry... I have six brothers, not to mention quite a few friends, and some of them are pretty thick. Take Michael for instance..."
"Tell me later, Gin." For reasons he could not fathom, the thought of Michael Corner made him feel sick.
She looked mock-hurt. "Fine! I'll hold you to that, Harry James Potter!"
He looked as far up the slide as he could. If he turned his head, and squinted slightly, he could almost picture a snake coming down it. Bit of a stretch, yes, but he needed something, and he always had had quite an imagination. How else would he not have failed Divination?
What do I say?
"Well?" said Ginny, impatiently.
"Er..." he turned back to her. "What do I say?"
She looked at him oddly. "How about, 'Let us out!'" she suggested.
"Right."
He looked back once again.
"Let us out!"
Thankfully, Harry's Divination grade was indeed up to par, for the sounds that escaped his mouth were decidedly snakelike.
The slide seemed to spin. It was barely noticeable at first, but got faster and faster. As each subsequent section of stone turned past the centre of the slide, it slowly became rigid. Eventually, the ridges built themselves up, and the slide, or stairway as it now was, stopped spinning.
"Yeah," said Harry, "that worked."
Luna Lovegood was not thought by many to be an ordinary girl. In fact, she doubted there was anyone who thought her an ordinary girl. She certainly didn't struggle to achieve normalcy.
But today, after the...unusual...episode that she had gone through the previous night, with the five Gryffindors, she did not struggle to be noticed either.
It was lunchtime now, and she had said barely ten words all day. She just didn't feel...like herself. Ginny Weasley was one of her very best friends, one of the only people who did not treat her like a freak. Did not steal her things. Was not mean to her.
And one of the others was Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. He had escaped You-Know-Who numerous times. He was the star of the Quibbler's record breaking issue. The best seeker Hogwarts had seen in a century. There were a million great things about him...
...not too far down on her list, was the fact that he was Ronald Weasley's best friend...
Both of them, Harry and Ginny. Both of them disappeared last night, or this morning, or whenever it was when the bell jar had fallen upon them. She could only imagine where they had gone. Or when as Hermione said. Hermione was definitely not Luna's favourite Gryffindor. Always insisting on a reasonable explanation. Evidence. When you live in a magical world, those things aren't always available...
...and Luna was pretty sure she fancied Ronald Weasley...
Yes, everything led back to Ronald.
Including Luna's very feet, as it seemed. For here she was, walking toward the Gryffindor table, once again. She was not sure what she was planning on saying. She was sure that Ronald was just fine, with the comfort of his friends, Hermione and Neville. He had people who he could relate to. She didn't.
So, as she could not think of a very good thing to say to Ronald, she decided to question Hermione on something that she had wondered about since their return. Something that she had a shrewd idea (or maybe it was more of a hope) as to what the answer was.
"Hello." She had thought in her head, of greeting, Hello, Ronald, but as she was not speaking to him, it did not seem appropriate.
"Oh, hello Luna," said Hermione, an odd tone in her voice. It wasn't odd to Luna, though. It was grief. Something the young Ravenclaw knew quite well, though most weren't aware of the fact.
"I was wondering something, Hermione," Luna said slowly.
The Gryffindor recognised the unusually usual voice in Luna's statement, and raised an eyebrow.
"You know that door in the Department of Mysteries?" asked Luna. "The one that wouldn't open at first?"
The three Gryffindors, Hermione, Ronald, and Neville nodded.
"Do you have any idea why it opened for Ronald and me?"
"Yeah," said Ron. "I was wondering, too." He looked, as usual, to Hermione for the answer.
Luna felt an odd feeling in her stomach. Odd as it was, it was entirely common. She closed her eyes for a moment, and it was gone.
"I was thinking about that last night, actually," said Hermione. Luna assumed she meant this morning, and not the actual moment when they were in the Ministry.
"It must be something about the two of you," she said matter-of-factly. "What, I don't know. Could be like the Thestrals, and you both witnessed something. Maybe it only opens to people who grew up in the same city. Or maybe it just needed two people to open. Could be as simple as that."
"They grew up in the same city?" asked Neville, a perplexed look on his face.
"I assume so," said Hermione, looking from one to the other. "Amos Diggory said a couple years ago that the Lovegoods had been at the Quidditch World Cup for a week already. I don't believe it's a very common name."
"Yeah, we've lived in Ottery St. Catchpole for all my life. My mother lived there when she was little, too."
"Your mother?" asked Ron. "I don't think I've ever met her."
"Oh, you did. You were five, I think. Your parents took you and Ginny over once to play." Luna laughed at the memory. "You wanted to play chess. Didn't have a clue what that was..."
"At five?" asked Hermione in disbelief. "That's unheard of! If you were a Muggle, they'd probably of put you on TV."
Ron's ears were rather red, either at Hermione complement or the memory of when he was little. "It's not like I was any good or anything," he said. "Percy could still beat me."
"Yeah, but he was nine."
"Stop being modest, Ronald," said Luna, smiling at the scarlet ears.
"Yeah, well," Ron seemed to be trying to think of something that could lessen his embarrassment. Luna couldn't see why he was so uncomfortable. "You were loads better than me at that thing we ended up playing."
Luna's grin widened. "Oh, so you do remember?" She quirked a blond eyebrow.
"Well, now that you mention it and all..."
"What did you play?" asked Neville curiously.
Ron's eyes widened. "No, don't-"
"I don't know if you know it Neville, but Hermione probably would..." Luna was having a pretty good time, considering.
"Please, Luna!" Ron begged.
"What?" asked Hermione, biting her lip. "It couldn't be that bad, could it?"
"Oh yes it could!" said Ron desperately. He wrapped his arms around his head.
"Well, alright." Luna decided if she was going to tell the story, she might as well sit down, so she sat in the empty space across from the three. It would not usually have been there, as Neville usually sat on the opposite side, along with Hermione, with Harry and Ginny at the table also, but today...
"Okay, first of all, my father's Muggle-born, so I learned the game from him. I thought that everyone knew it, so I was ever so surprised when Ronald and Ginny had no idea what I meant. Apparently wizards just don't play it."
"Could you just cast a Silencing Charm around my head please?" said Ron, lifting an arm to expose an eye.
"Shh."
"What game was it?" asked Hermione smiling, for a moment forgetting about the missing students.
"It's a quite fun game called, 'house...'" said Luna.
"Oh," said Hermione. "Well that's not that bad." She looked at Ron, and her eyes widened. "Unless..."
"Ronald just insisted on being the wife..."
"You're joking!"
"Why couldn't this have been poison?" Ron held up his half-drunken goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Because you're not that lucky," said Neville, who was having a hard time keeping a straight face while watching the two witches hoot with laughter.
"Next issue of The Quibbler," said Hermione, once she had calmed down a bit. "Weasley Once Wished to be Wife!" She burst out laughing again. "Do you have pictures?"
"THIS IS A GIRLS' BATHROOM!"
"Damn," muttered Harry as he and Ginny exited the sink. "Forgot she might be here..."
"Get out of here, Potter!" screamed Moaning Myrtle.
"What?" asked Ginny. "How do you know his name?"
Not again...
"I-I...well." A silvery blush dominated the ghost's face. "I may have peeped in on him once or twice...Not that it's any business of yours, Evans."
"Evans?" Ginny looked to Harry. His eyes were wide, his mouth agape.
"Lily Evans?" asked Harry, a bit of a tremor in his voice.
"Of course, Lily Evans," said the ghost, looking disdainfully down upon the redhead. "She's a Muggle-born like me. There are no other Evans's at Hogwarts."
"Gin," whispered Harry. "We should probably go..."
"Right."
The two tried to make their way out of the bathroom, but the ghost floated in front of them.
"Gin?" she said. "Gin who?"
"Er...I call her Gin." It wasn't a lie, really. He had been calling her 'Gin' through this whole adventure.
"Oh..." said Myrtle, a gleam in her eye. "A pet name. For your little girlfriend. She actually went out with you? Never thought that would happen..." A tear started to roll down her cheek.
She didn't...like...my father, did she? thought Harry. Because she doesn't seem to be taking the news of a girlfriend all that well...
"Er..." said Harry. "Better be off..."
"Go ahead...leave Myrtle alone again. No one cares about me."
Her tears turned into crying. Her crying turned into wailing. Soon the room would be flooded once again.
The two living beings left the bathroom without another word, not looking forward to witnessing another of Myrtle's crying affairs.
Once in the corridor, Ginny rounded on Harry. "Evans?" she asked. "Your mother?"
Harry nodded, his eyes closed as he leaned against the corridor wall.
"What is it with men in your family and redheads?" she asked. His eyes snapped open and his cheeks turned crimson. She didn't seem to be looking at him anymore however. Thankfully.
His thoughts of Ginny had indeed changed quite a bit over the past...what was it? Two days? He had begun to notice how -
"Potter! Mudblood!" called a voice from the end of the corridor. "What do you think you're doing down here?"
Harry turned to the voice, and was met with the sight of a tall, greasy-haired Slytherin. A particular Slytherin that Harry had no trouble recognising whatsoever.
"Snape," he muttered to Ginny. Harry noticed the badge on his robes, and also said, "Tell him you're a prefect, too. And that you have every right to be here." Harry could only hope that this wasn't seventh year, because he highly doubted that his mother would just forget about being Head Girl.
She told Snape what Harry had said, and Snape looked at her oddly. "Of course you're a prefect. Everyone knows that. You're Head Girl for crying out loud." Damn. "But he has no right patrolling with you." Snape's glare went over Harry.
"What's wrong with you two?" he asked. "You seem...shorter."
Indeed, Snape towered over the two of them, as he was a seventh year.
Harry said the first thing that came to mind. "Don't know what you're talking about, Snivellus." He winced as soon as he said it, and hoped it wasn't too noticeable.
"All right, Snivellus?" said James loudly.
Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack: Dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes, and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Harry would have rather not remembered that. He had seen it in Snape's penseive, and it was definitely not an enjoyable memory.
Snape looked at Ginny as though expecting her to say something. Harry tried to tell her with his eyes not to insult Snape, since Lily had been the one to defend him. It seemed a good idea to maintain the impression that they were Harry's parents as long as possible, or at least until they found Dumbledore. Miraculously, she seemed to have got the message. "Don't call him that," she said quietly.
"You've gone soft, Evans," Snape muttered dangerously, before he walked away.
Harry had an idea.
"SNAPE!" he called, running after him, leaving a bewildered Ginny staring.
"What is it, Potter?"
"Do you," Harry asked, out of breath, once he reached him, "do you know Dumbledore's password? I really need to speak with him."
"About what?" Snape asked venomously.
"None of your business."
"Doesn't Evans know it?"
Harry shook his head.
"Fine, Potter, the password is 'Everlasting Gobstopper.' Don't know where he came up with that."
"Thanks a million." Harry ran back to Ginny, leaving a bewildered Snape staring.
"Gryffindors." Snape shook his head, and continued on his merry way.
Recollection "O call back yesterday, bid time return."
~ Shakespeare ~ Coming Soon ~
