Outside the Yule and Christmas celebrations which Hadrian had been dutifully smuggled out of Hogwarts and back in for, Hadrian spent most of his break in the chamber, learning Parselmagic from the Slytherin family. Hadrian was particularly adept at utilizing the language in creative ways to cast. Salazar had been impressed when Hadrian figured out that parselmagic required very specific wording, though as simple as possible to ensure the results aligned with the intent for the spell. For example, when cleaning, he was unable to get anything to work properly when he simply ordered a rag to clean in parseltongue, but was quickly successful when he ordered it to wipe counters or floors, or polish the table. Once he figured out the limitations, he realized he didn't have limitations at all and was quickly working magic all over the chamber to remove the old, stale pools of water, repair stonework, fix leaks, and generally make the entire front chamber much more comfortable and, while still not particularly welcoming, much nicer for anyone who would find it in the future. Pleased with his progress, Salazar allowed the newest heir a few days off private training when his friends returned to the castle.
Things had surprisingly calmed down over the break, which confused Hadrian since he anticipated the students would tell their parents about the petrifications, and perhaps some students wouldn't return. That didn't seem to be the case though, so Hadrian began thinking about plans for the next petrification. He was particularly annoyed by one muggleborn boy in Gryffindor who always carried a muggle camera around and was constantly badgering Hadrian for a picture. This had resulted in more than a few detentions with Lockhart, spent answering fan mail, and listening to the twat go on and on about fame and how to use it. Hadrian decided if the first year didn't knock it off this term he was going to be the next petrification victim. He couldn't stand any more detentions from the fraud of a DADA teacher.
His entire group was pleased to be working with the Slytherins, even if they were paintings because they weren't learning anything of use in Lockhart's class. They didn't exactly love the extra lessons, but were using the DADA class for homework, so it really was a pretty even trade. The twins' grades at midterm had been higher than ever before and their parents were expecting the trend to continue. They were just pleased that so much of what they were learning could be put to good use for their pranks. Everyone else had been working hard as well, and their grades were also high. So when they got a day off a week for their good progress, they were happy to have time to spend together not focusing on school work.
They often played games or talked about things they'd heard from home, or the twins' trips to Hogsmeade. Hadrian never contributed much to these talks, but now that all of them were working on occlumency, he hoped to be able to bring his friend into the small group of people who knew his actual situation soon.
Hermione had clearly been practicing as her shields were rather impressive. Hadrian and Draco were having a much more difficult time getting through, and they thought she should be able to start practicing with Sev soon. She looked a little concerned when Draco mentioned it, but when Hadrian just looked pleased, she assumed he knew what he was doing and agreed to the change without much fuss. Hearing that advanced occlumency would be with Professor Prince, Neville had blanched a bit, but even though the man was scary, he hadn't done anything horrid to the boy, so he resolved to continue working hard. Hadrian and Draco had never been able to get through Luna's mind, and sent her to their professor as soon as school was back in session, but he sent her right back saying she was perfectly well protected. They tried to get the reason for this out of the ethereal girl, but she merely looked enigmatic for a few moments, before her eyes reverted to their usual dreamy state.
Hadrian was still sneaking off from his friends to go to the chamber, though he had found a number of additional passageways so his routes couldn't be tracked as easily. The twins were particularly difficult to shake off, and he often saw them huddled around that odd, old parchment as he disappeared into yet another secret path. He still hadn't managed to get a look at it, but figured they'd talk to him about it eventually.
He was also spending more and more time following Ginevra Weasley around, monitoring her condition due to the diary. She was pale and not at all the bubbly, vivacious girl who had started the year. Her brothers were somewhat worried, but he only ever saw Percy drag her to the infirmary once, from which she had returned with smoke pouring out of her ears courtesy of Madam Pomfrey's Pepper-Up Potion. He also had a plan for Creevey's petrification, as the boy had still not left him alone, resulting in another two detentions with Lockhart, which Hadrian just could not stand.
Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, he imperiused Miss Weasley again, this time telling her to have Mr. Creevey take her picture and while he was, immobilise him and give him the potion. His plan worked flawlessly. Using his invisibility cloak, he observed the two moving around the castle as the boy...Colin, he heard Ginevra say, took pictures of the red-headed girl. They stopped in a rather unused corridor on the first floor, not too far from the infirmary, and he watched the whole thing play out.
The girl was posed in front of a blank wall, with no portraits anywhere in the vicinity. He saw her hand sink into her robe pocket and slowly pull out her wand. When Colin raised his camera, she flicked the wand and whispered 'Petrificus Totalus,' locking the boy in a complete body bind, camera still clutched to his face. She had thankfully caught him mid word as his mouth was open far enough to pour the potion in. When she was done, the confundus he worked into all his imperius spells kicked in and she wandered away from the scene, completely unsuspicious. When she was gone, Hadrian left his hiding spot and used a mild confundus charm, rather than the more powerful obliviate, so the boy would not remember the events that led to him being in that particular location.
One of the teachers had stumbled across him during the evening patrols, and he had been placed in the hospital wing with Mrs. Norris and Justin Finch-Fletchly. The next day, all the teachers were on edge, and Dumbledore announced that all students would be accompanied by a teacher to and from all lessons. Prefects were to escort students to and from the dormitories at specific times, and teachers were present along all routes to and from common rooms during those times. It was the most security Hadrian had ever seen at Hogwarts. It certainly hadn't been like that for the stone, or after the troll.
But it meant his plan was working, so he shrugged it off, and continued with his studies. He knew exactly what was going on, so he had no need to be concerned about it. The others of his group found his lack of interest in the topic odd, but waved it off as another oddity of Hadrian's. Then Salazar had picked up his Parselmagic training, so he was disappearing more and more often anyway.
March 1993Hadrian was becoming a bit lax in his secrecy when the teachers stepped back on the security as no further attacks occurred. Unfortunately, on his way to Parsel lessons, the twins managed to ambush him, just out of sight of Salana's portrait and shove him into a nearby unused classroom. Fred was carrying the odd parchment he had been interested in, and Geroge was gripping his arm firmly.
"You keep disappearing," started Fred
"Where do you go?" asked George.
Hadrian struggled to look confused under their questioning, knowing what they were talking about, but unsure why they thought he was disappearing.
"Don't try to-"
"Lie to us, Hadrikins,"
"We have proof," they finished together, Fred thrusting the parchment at the startled second year.
Hadrian looked down at the parchment, finally getting a good view of the thing. He was confounded by the intricacy of it, and it took him a few moments to determine what it actually was. George had pointed to a spot on the page, a spot which showed two red dots and a single blue, each labeled with one of their names. The further Hadrian looked around the page, the more he noticed, starting with the fact it was a map.
"Is this a map of Hogwarts?" he finally asked.
The twins nodded.
"It shows everyone?" he questioned further.
"Everyone," stated Fred.
"Where they are-"
"What they're doing-"
"Every minute-"
"Of every day," they finished together. Hadrian had gotten better at following the twinspeak, and ignoring it if necessary.
"Wicked," he replied.
His gaze raked over the parchment, taking in details. The names at the top, Messrs Moony, Wortail, Padfoot, and Prongs sparked something deep inside him, but he was much too distracted to pay attention to the odd feeling.
"You seem to be-"
"Disappearing quite a lot,"
"Hadrikins," the two continued.
"Are you pranking?" asked Fred.
"Are you sneaking?" asked George.
"Making mischief?" they queried together again.
Hadrian made a noncommittal noise, and said, "Something like that."
"Then your need-"
"Is greater than-"
"Our need," they chorused.
"Keep it!"
"Use it!"
"But don't forget to,"
"Wipe it when you're done,"
"Otherwise anyone can read it," they ordered ominously.
"Mischief Managed," Fred said, tapping the parchment with his wand. The map melted away.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," George said, tapping the parchment with his wand. The map came back as if someone were drawing it with a quill.
"Mischief Managed," they said together, both tapping it with their wands. It melted away again and they handed it over to Hadrian.
Fred and George shared a look, and then Fred spoke, singly this time, and in a rather serious tone. "We know you're up to something big, it's why we've all been studying occlumency. We don't know what it has to do with you following our sister around ," the usual spark of mischief was completely absent from both boy's faces even with the somewhat suggestive comment, "but we're with you, whatever it is. So we're giving you the map because we think it will benefit you more."
"We've memorized it anyway," George interjected.
"Just don't hurt our sister," Fred finished.
"I won't," Hadrian said. "I know what's happening with her and she will be fine by the end of the year," he offered to the worried older boys.
They searched his face for honesty, and nodded when they found what they were looking for.
"Thank you, Hadrian," they spoke seriously together before their usual manic expressions reappeared and the duo left the room, already planning another prank.
April 1993Hadrian's inattention to his friends since the third petrification wound up having some rather undesirable consequences. He had been so focused on his Parselmagic training with the Slytherins and the group training in the Room of Requirement, that he had failed to notice that Hermione was very concerned about the state of things in the school without the headmaster and had taken it upon herself to research. Normally this would not have been a problem as Hadrian would have been able to redirect her search, or assist depending on how he wanted events to progress, but this time, he was completely oblivious.
Draco knew some of the plans Hadrian, his father, and godfather had concocted, but was unable to tell the others that Hadrian had it well in hand due to their still-fledgling occlumency. Until everyone was up to par, he couldn't tell them anything more than Hadrian could. So he was roped into helping, and not knowing any better, since his brother had somewhat secluded himself from him as well, he had assisted. The second years were now spending exorbitant amounts of time outside of their schoolwork in the library, combing the books for creatures, stories of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets itself, and anything else they could find that might help.
Outside of the students' search, Draco tried to get further insight from Sev, but since Lucius had managed to remove Dumbledore from the school temporarily, and the man was completely stressed with the situation occurring, and because he wash helping McGonagall with the Headmaster's duties, the two had been unable to find a time to sit down and talk with Hadrian about it. Draco was getting worried, and had decided that if things hadn't been resolved by May, he was sending a letter to his parents. He wanted to trust his brother, but was feeling increasingly shut out.
All of that came to a head due to an event which never should have occurred. Late one evening, shortly before curfew, Zelena had made a quick trip through the secret passages, continuing to use her presence to scare the spiders out of the school, lending credence to the stories of the chamber, if anyone was intelligent enough to put the pieces together. Unfortunately, she had mis-timed her trip, and rather than making her way from the secret passage into the chamber with no one the wiser, Hermione and Ravenclaw Prefect Penelope Clearwater had been peeking around a corner with a mirror after Hermione discovered a creature listed in a book she thought might be the one in the chamber.
Seeing the clues she noted from the entire year - dead roosters, the bloody message, no spiders, and petrifications - she determined the creature could only be a basilisk, and had grabbed the prefect as she left the library, intent on trying to protect her. Now knowing that a basilisk's gaze could kill, and that the situations surrounding the attacks had resulted in only petrification, she had concluded that no one had directly looked the basilisk in the eyes. She was lucky that Hadrian's theory and her own proved correct as when she asked if the prefect had a mirror to check around corners, and the girl produced a makeup mirror from her bag, they were only petrified when Zelena looked their way without her eyes shielded, rather than dead.
Again, the teachers discovered the two students during their rounds, and an announcement sent all students back to their dorms. Hadrian had for once been studying in his trunk, rather than in the library, and so was unaware of what had occurred. The next morning at breakfast, the entire group was surprised that Hermione hadn't joined them. Draco looked to Hadrian, wondering if he knew anything, but the green-eyed boy just shook his head. Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Prince came up to the table and asked the group to accompany them to the infirmary.
Hadrian paled dramatically when he saw Hermione lying on a bed, petrified. What had happened? He hadn't done this! Did their charms on the diary work too well? Was Ginevra now under some further influence than they originally anticipated? He had to know. He sprinted from the infirmary directly after the teacher's explanation and questioning of the children as to if they knew anything about it. He ran for the chamber, sliding into the first available passage which would take him directly there. When he arrived, Zelena was a complete mess. Hadrian had never seen a snake cry, but that is exactly what was happening.
He immediately began questioning the portraits, not being able to understand anything the distraught snake was saying. Zils was unable to assist in translating the apparently sobbing snake, as he had been left in his trunk for the day since he had just eaten and wasn't feeling in the mood for being out in the castle. Nagini had remained at Malfoy Manor after the familiar bond during Hadrian's trip home for Yule, to be pampered by the Malfoys due to Hadrian's concern over the faint nature of their bonding mark, so Hadrian had no other snakes to help him in calming the huge beast. The Slytherin family explained what they could, but were unable to provide many details since the snake had a complete breakdown nearly as soon as she arrived the previous evening.
He finally managed to calm the queen, telling her over and over that the girls were only petrified, they were not dead. Once Zelena had been assured of this, she was able to calm down and provide further details. Hadrian was very displeased with the events, but understood that accidents happen. He did forbid the snake from leaving the chamber until he could come up with another plan, and Salazar reprimanded her most fiercely for not keeping her eyes shielded and thereby endangering the students, but after a few hours, all was well. Hadrian had missed a few classes, but hopefully his group would think it was due to his distress over his friend, and not look any deeper.