Disclaimer: I don't own anything that JK does. Though I would love to. We all love you, Rowling!
Also please note, this story was started before the 6th book came out, and I'll stay to my own plotline, thank ya very much.
HARRY POTTER AND THE PURE BLOOD PRINCESSWritten by K0t0k0.
CHAPTER 3: Confusion Runs Amass
Harry rolled around in his cot, the wool material of a thin blanket scratching him irritably. How long had they been holed down in this foul place? Of course, over time the Chamber had become a pleasant scene with people living in it and trying to make the best out of everything. A little over 30 students had been stuck down here in the beginning, and as the Order and Dumbledore worked to find a way to transport from their habitat to the outside world without coming across the Death Eaters crawling over Hogwarts, there were only the basics left.
There was Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry that were probably the only true students left. There was the rest of the Weasley family, though, not including Percy. He was still at an overrun ministry of magic, and it had been utter chaos what he had been living in right now. Still – he had some sort of religious belief that politics would solve anything and everything. The Order had established their headquarters here as well, and the Chamber served a rather nice place to have a little over forty or so people living in it.
Each tunnel became a room for someone, and many tunnels had dead ends and were quite short, and each branched out into the main tunnel, which led to the place where Harry Potter himself had slain the Basilisk. The Order had their meetings in a different tunnel each time, so none of the younger members (Harry and his friends all considered them members now) could overhear anything random. The Marauder's map became quite useful, pinned up against one of the tunnel walls, so they could watch where all the Death Eaters were and if Voldemort showed up anywhere in Hogwarts.
The Chamber of Secrets and the leading girl's washroom were under a fidelius charm, and Dumbledore was it's very own secret keeper. They could not operate at Grimmauld Place anymore, since Harry refused to return there for personal reasons, and the earthquake had shaken up many things in England.
A candle that never seemed to run out of wax hovered in one corner of his little tunnel, and a red curtain was draped over the circular entrance to give Harry privacy. Everyone's tunnels looked like this. Candle in the corner, drapes, futon on the ground with one or two blankets (it wasn't very cold down in the Chamber, surprisingly enough), and a trunk leaning against the futon, containing clothes, books etc.
Pushing the blanket to the end of the cot he lay on, and standing up straight, he stretched. Covering a hand over his mouth to stop a yawn from making too much noise, Harry straightened his glasses (he now always slept with his glasses on, and the clothing he planned to wear the following day incase of emergency). Grasping his wand from underneath his pillow and sticking it in his front pant pocket, Harry Potter walked out of his tunnel room and walked down the main tunnel. Dragging his sneakers along the tunnel floor, he followed the bright light of the main area where the occupants 'hung out' most of the time.
About a dozen endless candles hovered in the air where Harry had been many years before, and the stone structure over the water over in the corner had been fixed up to looks not quite menacing but homely. The water now served as an open bath to everyone, as long as you wore a bathing suit. Nearby, a very long table with many chairs along the sides was stacked with pancakes, bacon, and other breakfast foods.
One of the reasons the Chamber was unbelievable warm was because Dumbledore had magical put in a fireplace. Wood burned constantly, never running out just like the candles. And its use was transportation. The floo powder was kept with only Lupin, Moody, Arthur and Dumbledore though – so it wouldn't fall accidentally into someone's irresponsible hands. And the floo network had not been connected to the Chamber – Dumbledore had charmed it only to let in a few specific people and let out the same people.
None of the Order was out eating breakfast, and Harry thought he had slept in late because only one plate was left on the table for him. Hearing splashing from the other side of the stone that protruded in the corner, he investigated by walking over and catching Hermione and Ron swimming together. They seemed to be having a water fight of some sorts and were laughing their heads off.
Nothing was new today or different, besides the Order members all probably inside their tunnel rooms talking about something secretive. Ginny wasn't seen though, and Harry guessed she was sleeping in as he had. Sitting down at the table, he began a lonely breakfast, scooping up a pancake and some bacon. It was a measly breakfast, but he wasn't very hungry. The house elves would be around soon to clean up, Harry thought to himself, and chewed on a piece of crisp bacon, lost in thought.
That was until the crackling of the fire became quite loud, which was a wary warning someone or some people were coming through by floo. Harry glanced up, lazily raising his wand arm with wand in hand. This was a required act by all occupants of the Chamber, just in case someone had managed to manipulate the fireplace and make it in. You could hear an angry growl and shriek from somewhere inside the fire, and a girl was shoved out and sprawled on the floor. On first glance, he had thought it was Cho, but concentrating closer, he noticed it was an unknown girl he did not know. So standing up, he trained his wand on her as he approached.
Ginny burst out of the fire next, immediately racing towards the Japanese girl who lay on the ground, voluntarily not moving. "Hana, are you ok?" A soft whimper came from the girl that Harry didn't know, and confusion creased his face and green eyes were echoing it as well. Ron and Hermione, wrapped in respective bathrobes, ran over when they had heard the noise – wands out and ready.
"Put those goddamn wands away, stupid! You're scaring her." Ginny snarled to the trio, helping the shuddering girl up to her feet. With an apologetic glance, the redhead composed herself and spoke to them daintily just as two other unknown teenagers stumbled through the fire. More like one of them stumbling, the other being dragged slightly due to being unconscious.
"She's not quite ready to believe she's a wizard, a bit shell-shocked if you ask me. Dumbledore thought I'd make a good first female friend to her and be able to get her through the floo. Excuse us, I'm going to get her acquainted with Mum and her room needs to be readied." Ginny was breathless as she had started out boasting, and then sped up as Hana began wavering on her feet, absolutely frightened of whatever had just came out of the fire (Dumbledore to be exact). Walking off quickly, almost dragging the Japanese girl behind her, Ginny disappeared into the branch of tunnels, calling for her mother.
Hermione and Ron were now at Harry's side, sheepishly poking their wands back into their pockets from Ginny's rash reprimanding. The redhead packed a punch with her spiteful words, and was getting quite good at it since she was left alone with the trio for most hours of the day.
It was then they just noticed the blonde-haired boy, pale and struggling to keep a hold of an unconscious Chinese boy of the same age. Hermione hurried forward and offered to help carry him to one of the table's chairs, and the boy graciously thanked her and hurriedly carried him to one of the chairs. Once that was over with, he spoke.
"Thanks for helping me, I'm Andrew. Andrew Antic." His voice was a new one, Harry noting he had only heard such an accent on the television muggles watched – and on one of the Order members when they had come in to report something to Dumbledore. Hermione smiled at him, taking a seat in a nearby chair as well. "Anytime, Andrew. I'm Hermione Granger."
Dumbledore walked by, and stopped before he entered the main tunnel. "Ginny and Mrs. Weasley will be back to get Mr. Antic and his friend and help them become at home." And then the five of them were left in silence, Andrew, Ron and Harry awkwardly standing around, Kevin still conked out on the chair, and Hermione staring at one of the candles hovering near her head a few feet up.
"So. What the bloody hell just happened here?" Ron spoke, trying to break the silence that had drifted in like a fog, and Andrew grimaced. "Well, it's quite a long story. Care to introduce yourselves before I start?" The blonde boy sat in one of the chairs, bringing it around to form a half circle with Hermione's and Kevin's, motioning for Ron and Harry to complete it. "Ron." "Harry." Each of them grunted out, still confused.
"This is Kevin, by the way. Him and Hana, the girl you saw earlier, are my childhood friends. When I was sent to Pinebridge Academy" – Hermione cut him off with the explaining of it being another magical school located in British Columbia, Canada, "Hana stopped being our friend. I visited Kevin every summer, and I eventually let him in on all my magical secrets. My father is a very influential figure over in Canada, you see" – Hermione cut him off once more explaining to Harry and Ron that Gerald Antic was the closest advisor to Canada's Minister of Magic.
"Yes, well, okay. Kevin and I were at the mall, Hana got pissed off by one of her friends and turned her hair green and some other crazy stuff happened. Dumbledore stepped in and told her she was a pure blood, and I'm not obliged to tell the rest because it's her own private business. Anyway, Hana's always been quite religious about her family and roots and Japanese stuff, so I guess the shock drove her into a panic. It was heart wrenching to watch her, though, it was worse than what you were just seeing a couple minutes ago. Kevin was put into a slumber, he should come out of it soon…" Andrew stopped there, and around the same time the Chinese boy gave a snore and shook awake suddenly.
Andrew laughed suddenly at this, but stopped suddenly as Ginny ran in, her face was stricken with some inconceivable emotion, and motioned for Andrew to come over. "Hana won't stop muttering about seeing you, she's absolutely freaking out mad – none of the spells work…" she whispered in his ear urgently, and he immediately ran off, Ginny following to show him where the girl was.
Kevin blinked once, looking around at Ron, Harry and Hermione.
GINNY'S TUNNEL ROOMHana lay on Ginny's low cot, writhing around, muttering something in Japanese (swearing, no less). Her brown eyes were wide and frightening, darting around. Yet her black hair seemed to stay perfect – no stray hair or static bothered it. As Andrew walked in to stand at the cot's side, she immediately stopped and lay still.
"Baka." Was the only thing she spoke, and it slid out of her mouth quite scratching. Her throat had obviously been damaged from all the screaming she had been doing earlier. Hana was quite hostile at the moment, and not even Ginny (who she had become quite good friends with in the past hour or so) could calm her down.
"Hana, I swear I never knew. I found out the same time as you. Being a wizard isn't all that bad, trust me." Andrew's blue eyes were full of some ignored emotion, as Hana's face faltered, but immediately became angry and her own brown eyes were infuriated.
"YOU NEVER VISITED. YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE IN TOWN. YOU NEVER…" Her voice died off, as she was feeling the effects of her sore throat. So, instead of displaying her anger in words, Hana stood sharply on the cot, and literally jumped on the boy. Ginny let out a surprised cry as Andrew was knocked to the ground and only lay there as Hana tried to hit her fists against her chest. She had begun crying once again, and once the redhead had managed to pull her back and try and comfort her on the cot, Hana became silent.
The Japanese girl lay on the cot voluntarily, curled up and closed her eyes. And most probably tried to go to sleep.
Andrew gave a little grunt, pushing himself back up to stand at the end of the cot, now warily watching the sleeping girl. Ginny merely sat at the side of it, watching her. "She's so unique, you know. Totally different than any of the girls I knew at Hogwarts." The blonde didn't know if Ginny was speaking to him or to someone else, and merely gave a soft hum in response.
And as he lifted the drapes and walked out into the main tunnel, he could hear Hana whisper coldly, "Wear those bruises, cheater." And Andrew visibly tightened all his muscles, wondering where this was all coming from. The girl used to be so kind when they were younger – and this is how society changed her? Where did this cheater insult come from anyway? He would have to ask her when she was right in the head later on. Giving a sigh, he continued walking into the large room where Hermione and Ron were now fully clothed, and Kevin was animatedly talking to Harry about computer games while the other two listened having nothing to say.