Here's the next Chapter. Let me know what you think. Please read and review.
Before they knew it May was upon them, the students that had been injured were completely healed and although the students of Hogwarts were more cautious then usual, life at the castle was slowly returning to normal.
Professor Snape had awoken a week after the attack and had been furious when he had heard about the Daily Prophet article. He clamed down some on Harry's next visit and had agreed to remain in the Chamber as long as was needed. It wasn't as if he could have gotten out anyways but Harry hadn't mentioned that seeing no need to anger the man furthur. Dobby went down everyday with food and such, Harry tried to visit with the others as often as was possible. Dobby had told Harry after his second visit that Snape was going stir crazy being locked up down there. But there was nothing they could do until the time came to allow him back out again.
Ginny, Ron and Hermione had a rough time after the attack. Harry figured it was just now starting to sink in with them; the whole war situation. The attack at the Ministry a few months ago had shaken the three a little but the one in Hogsmead had terrified them. So much, in fact, Ron had asked if Harry and Jessica could help him with his magic and maybe even teach him the hand to hand combat he had seen them using. The Knights agreed and even agreed to teach Ginny and Hermione too when they had voiced their desire to learn as well.
Hogsmeade had been restored to the way it had been before and Jessica had been pleased to find out that Christine had found her mom and Aunt Rosie alive and well. Rosmerta's pub, however, had been completely destroyed and it had taken two weeks to get it fixed and up and running again.
But best of all was that several Death Eaters had been captured and Voldemort's plan had failed miserably.
Harry and Jessica may have underestimated Voldemort, but they weren't alone. It would appear Voldemort had underestimated the Mystic Knights as well, and he had paid for it in the form of his captured followers.
The night of the attack all the remaining Dearth Eaters were called to a meeting. Draco hadn't returned until the next morning in a grave mood.
It would seem that after they had all been punished (Lucius Malfoy bearing the brunt of it) Draco's father had dragged him back to Malfoy manor in a rage. Being as angry as he was Lucius had made the biggest mistake of his life.
(FLASHBACK)
"I don't bloody believe it!" Lucius roared as he tossed his son into their manor and slammed the door shut. Anyone could tell by the way he moved and the look on his face the platinum blonde haired man was in great pain. "They beat us! A couple of school children in those stupid masks stopped us."
Draco limped quietly behind his father as they made there way out of the entrance hall and into the den.
"Rufus!" Lucius yelled pacing around the large room despite the pain he was in.
A loud crack announced the arrival of the Malfoy's new house elf. "Y-Yes sir. How can Rufus be of assistance, sir" the trembling house elf questioned partially hiding behind a chair in fear of the angry man.
"Bring some pain reliving potions from the potion cupboard, NOW!"
Draco nearly winced in sympathy as the scared elf stumbled backwards whimpering slightly before squeaking a 'yes sir' and disappearing with another loud crack.
Lucius and Draco waited in silence for Rufus to return and when he had they took their potion and Lucius dismissed the elf before continuing his rant.
"It wasn't my fault Dumbledore showed up when he had. If that bloody man hadn't come, we would have had those two right where we wanted them. Then the dark Lord could have done what he had wanted with them and his Rebirth would have gone smoothly and I would have been handsomely rewarded." in his rage at the injustice of the situation Lucius had revealed exactly what Draco had hoped he would.
Thanking Merlin silently Draco questioned, "Rebirth, what's that?"
Growling angrily Lucius dropped into a chair after pouring himself a large glass of fire whisky. "The Rebirth is when you-know-who will become immortal." He snapped impatiently finishing his first glass and pouring himself another before downing it quickly.
His excitement growing to near overwhelming proportions Draco carefully schooled his face and questioned almost indifferently, "How's he going to do that?"
Properly inebriated now, Lucius found himself telling his son about the Rebirth and the tasks involved to prove worthiness to Am-Hem god of the underworld and become indestructible. Unfortunately Lucius didn't know the exact tasks or when they would take place.
Draco tried to hide his fear but he was sure he was failing. If his father hadn't been so intoxicated Draco was sure he would have picked up on it right away.
Dismissing himself Draco quickly sped to his room and shut the door. Disrobing he climbed into bed and lay there for many hours worrying about the future and what it had in store for him and the others.
(End flashback)
Draco had told Harry and Jessica all about it the next morning and since then Harry, Jessica, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Draco had spent countless hours in the library researching everything that they thought could help them with the difficult task ahead. And that's where the six of them were now.
Hidden at the back of the library, tucked away into a shadowed corner where no one would wander the six sat flipping through books.
"This is useless." Ron moaned flipping another page. "We're not even sure what to look for."
"Honestly Ron," Hermione snapped looking up from the large tome in front of her. "We're looking for more information about the Rebirth that going to be happening in a few weeks."
"But Malfoy's already told us what's going to happen!" Ron exclaimed in annoyance.
"All we know," Jessica pointed out from across the table, "is that Voldemort has tasks to be completed. We don't know what they are or when they are supposed to happen. In order to stop him from achieving his goal we have to make sure he fails the tasks set before him." Jessica explained patiently not looking up from her book.
Sighing in defeat Ron grumbled a little more before returning to his own book.
After another hour Harry sighed and closed his book. "I'm gonna go and check on Snape. Draco why don't you come with me, there's something I need to tell both you and Snape."
Harry and Jessica had discussed this many times and decided that after everything Draco had done from them he deserved to know the truth about them and their other identities. Exchanging knowing looks with Jessica, Harry led a curious Draco out of the library and towards the second floor girl's bathroom.
Draco watched Harry hiss at the sink in Myrtle's bathroom with a passiveness that could only come after countless times of seeing it before. The first time he saw this he thought Harry had gone mad, but when the tunnel had opened he stared in awe at what he then realized was the infamous Chamber of Secrets. Now as he waited patiently for the tunnel to open he let his curiosity get the better of him and questioned, "What's going on, Harry?"
Harry grinned and leapt down into the hole sliding along the recently cleaned tunnel wall and stumbling slightly when he hit the bottom. The first time Harry had come back into the chamber it was as it had been three years ago. The tunnel walls were covered with a thick slime and the ground littered with small animal bones. Deciding this was too unsanitary to be the group's secret headquarters, a couple of simple yet powerful cleaning charms had restored the chamber to its former glory. Underneath the slime had been beautiful marble walls and Harry added a finish to the stone floor to make it shine. 'Much better' he had thought looking up and down the long tunnel before headed to the Chamber itself to clean that up as well. It had taken Harry the better part of two days to completely restore the large chamber and dispose of the rotting body of the long deceased Basilisk, but once he had Harry couldn't have imagined it looking any better then it did.
Strolling silently down the long tunnel that led to Salazar's chamber Harry chose to remain silent, a wide grin on his face; leaving the Slytherin to become more curious and impatient.
Around the next bend Harry and Draco saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with large emeralds. Hissing a command in Parseltongue he watched patiently as the wall opened and the two halves slipped out of sight.
Stepping into the long Chamber Harry paused a moment to admire the room. Stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents supported a high ceiling which, due to the shadows, Harry was not able to see. Shadows danced along the walls from the numerous lanterns and candles placed in the chamber, and straight ahead stood the large statue of Salazar Slytherin.
At the statues feet sat a small house that Snape and Dobby had built for the professor to live in while he was to remain in the Chamber. It was comfortable one bedroom house with a working kitchen and full bathroom as well as a moderately sized lounge for entertaining guests. The amazing part was that the house looked more like a small garden shed on the outside. It reminded Harry of the tent he and the Weasley's shared at the Quidditch world cup the year before. It looked small on the outside but on the inside it was the size of a decent apartment.
"Evening' Professor, how are you?" Harry asked politely as he and Draco sopped in front of the house where the man had been sitting at a small table reading a book.
"Potter," the irate man practically growled with a curt nod of his head.
Harry knew the Professor was going crazy locked down here on his own so he ignored the attitude that the potions masters' voice held. Instead he seated himself across from the man and gestured for Draco to take the last chair.
Once situated Harry calmly looked between the two before taking a deep breath. "There's something I need to tell you two," he started, glancing at them each in turn. Another deep breath, "Ok, here goes nothing…"
Harry sighed in relief as he and Draco stepped out of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. All things considered the conversation had gone pretty well.
Draco had just stared at Harry in silence, looking slightly stunned, but also as if he had suspected it at the same time.
Snape on the other hand had turned a couple of different shades of red and had yelled at Harry for what seemed like hours denying everything Harry had told him. After several demonstrations of his abilities, Snape had finally, although begrudgingly, accepted what Harry was telling him. And after several more minutes of 'Potter bashing', as his friends had so lovingly dubbed it, Snape retreated back to his house to think things through, leaving Harry and Draco with an opportunity to get out of there.
Silently the two fifth years made it to the entrance hall and bade each other a good night before turning to retreat to their dorms.
"Hey Harry," Draco called the raven haired boy before he disappeared up the stairs. "Thanks for giving me a chance. You had no reason to trust me back on the train but you did. And I…well… thanks." He stated before quickly turning and walking away.
Harry grinned and stared after the platinum haired boy for a moment before heading up to Gryffindor tower.
"Hiya Harry," Colin Creevy called running up the staircase behind him. "Where have you been all night? And what were you doing with Draco Malfoy; I thought you guys hated each other? Can you…"
Holding up a hand to forestall and more questions Harry chuckled, "I went to the kitchens for a late night snack, Colin. And your right Malfoy and I don't get along, but he just happened to be going the same place and I was too hungry to turn back so…." Harry knew the whole school still thought Draco and he hated each other and they had decided it was better that way. After all a Slytherin couldn't be friends with Harry Potter, I mean, what would Voldemort say? So the past few months they had carried on as normal, throwing snide remarks back and forth and openly fighting in front of the other students. The only difference this time is that both boys knew they were only acting, and didn't mean what they were saying.
Colin nodded and smiled brightly at the fifth year and silently followed the raven haired boy up to Gryffindor tower and past the fat lady's portrait.
"You know I never thought you were crazy, right? When Fudge was saying all that stuff about you and Dumbledore I never believed it. I just wanted you to know that." Colin whispered seriously before flashing Harry a smile and scurrying up to his dorm.
Harry blinked in surprise and stood in the empty common room staring after the younger boy. After the attack at the Ministry at Christmas Harry had heard no more snide comments in the hallway about his 'supposedly' made up stories involving the return of the Dark Lord, and the Daily Prophet had even printed a retraction of their previous statement regarding his mental health. No one had spoke of it since, and Harry was ok with letting it go, even though for those few months he believed the whole school had once again assumed the worst of him. But knowing that at least one person had never believed Fudge's 'crazy' story made him feel a little better about the whole fiasco.
Smiling to himself he plopped himself on the couch in front of the fire and dropping his head onto the back he closed his eyes: content to sit in silence.
After a few minutes he felt the couch depress next to him and Jessica's familiar scent filled his nose. To Harry he thought she always smelled like freshly fallen rain.
Sitting in companionable silence for a few moments Harry decided to break the silence. "How did researching go?"
"We still haven't found anything," Jessica admitted glancing at her friend, whose head was still resting on the couch and his eyes still closed. "I ordered a book I heard about from Greg he thinks we might be able to find something in there, it should arrive in a week or two. What about you? How did Snape and Draco take the news?"
Opening his eyes Harry rolled his head to the side to look at her, "Draco wasn't all that surprised, he said he had suspected as much. Snape on the other hand was completely livid. Didn't believe a word I was saying and even after all the demonstrations I did I don't think he's completely convinced."
Jessica laughs, "So it went well then," she teased nudging her friend lightly. "He'll get used to the idea sooner or later; try not to worry about it, Harry."
Again silence descended on the pair and it was another few minutes before Jessica stood and stretched.
"I'm off to bed, you should think about going soon too. Tomorrow's Saturday so we have a full day of studying ahead of us. Goodnight Harry," she whispered ruffling his hair affectionately. Stopping suddenly she turned back, "Hey Harry?"
"Yeah," he questioned turning around to face her, seeing the worry on her face.
"The day of the attack, when we were in that alley…" she hesitated, with all the other stuff going on Jessica hadn't brought up that day, not wanting to heap anymore stress on her friends shoulders. But now her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her and she couldn't help but wonder what he had been about to say before the Death Eaters had arrived. Breathing deeply she finished the sentence, "what were you going to tell me?"
Harry sighed in relief, after that day he hadn't known how to bring up the conversation again and was glad that Jessica had. Once again he readied himself for telling her the truth, taking a deep breath he decided just to get it over with quickly. 'Like pulling off a band- aid' he thought to himself.
Opening his mouth he was interrupted when a sleepy Ron Weasley came stumbling down the stairs, "Oy, there you are. It's really late what are you still doing up? Come on, if 'mione finds out you were up this late she'll have your head." the red head said nodding his head towards the boys dorm he waited till Harry joined him before starting up the stairs.
Another attempt thwarted Harry quickly lost his nerve and mumbled an apologetic goodnight to Jessica before following the red head.
Staring after the boys in bemusement Jessica sighed, shook her head, and headed up to bed herself.
Poor Harry, will he ever be able to tell Jessica his true feelings? Will Voldemort be stopped In time? Will Snape FINALLY wash his hair? Tune in next week! LOL. Cheers!