Saturday, May 8, 1993

With the loss of their bushy-headed friend, Hadrian was forced to speak to Draco and Severus about the situation. He had not thought that she would be interested enough in something that wasn't actively involved with her studies, and never anticipated the issue with Zelena resulting in an actual basilisk petrification.

Possible idea in mind, Hadrian carefully slipped Draco a note when passing him a book in the regular library time Friday afternoon after Charms. He got a nearly imperceptible nod from the blonde once he had read it, and knew he would be in Sev's office the next day. Arming himself with his school bag, potions text, and draft essay, so he could say he had tutoring if anybody asked, he made his way to the potion master's office in broad daylight at 9 am on Saturday. Sev didn't have office hours until the afternoon on Saturdays, so he and Draco would be undisturbed while they discussed the situation with him.

Draco was already waiting at the door to the man's private quarters and as soon as he saw Hadrian, whispered their personal password to the portrait, and both boys made their way into the room. Severus had not been expecting them, but was propped on the couch with a stack of essays in front of him. He laid them to the side when he saw the serious expressions on the two boys' faces.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this unannounced visit?" he asked, subtly reminding them that they were to inform him when they were coming whenever possible.

"I apologize for the lack of communication, Sev," Hadrian began, starting to wring his hands, "But Hermione's been petrified by the basilisk and I need to help to decide on the final part of the plan.

"FINALLY!" Draco burst out. "I've been helping her try to figure out what the 'monster in the chamber' was, and you weren't talking to any of us as much. I didn't know if it was something you couldn't mention because of their occlumency, but why couldn't you tell me?" he finished, whining a bit.

Hadrian rushed over to hug his sad and worried friend, "I'm sorry, Draco," he whispered to the blonde. "I've been studying parselmagic with the Slytherins in the chamber, and between that and our group practices, and the plan for the year...I just...got too busy," he finished lamely.

Severus watched the boys' reconciliation with a faint smirk. He had been run ragged by the Headmaster before Lucius managed to get the barmy old goat suspended, was working to try and keep the students calm, and helping Minerva, which did not leave much time to focus on his godson or Hadrian. He knew something was up with the boy, but was disconcerted to see how much time had passed since their last private meeting, or any discussion of the events in the school.

"I was going to write mother and father today, but you slipped me that note, so I thought I'd wait to see what you had to say for yourself, brother," the boy crossed his arms haughtily.

"Oh, Merlin," Hadrian groaned, "I'm sorry Dray, but I'm really glad you didn't mention anything to your parents. Cissa would kill me!"

Severus choked on a laugh at that statement and raised his eyebrow at the raven. "And what makes you think she will not find out after this conversation?"

"Oh, I know she will," replied the emerald-eyed boy, "But at least I will have explained myself to you guys, and we'll have a plan in place before she gets a hold of me," he said self-deprecatingly.

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Ok, keeping this brief so we can get on to the real situation, rather than my poor communication skills," Hadrian said, sitting on the end of the couch. "You two knew about the plan regarding the diary I planted on Ginevra, and we discussed the updated plan once I spoke to the Slytherins the first time."

The two listening nodded. Severus waved his wand and the tea service floated in, settling on the coffee table in front of them. Hadrian paused to prepare his cup, and then sat back to continue.

"Well, since then, things have gotten a bit crazy. Our group started working with the Slytherin family in the Room of Requirement, and then Salazar had me working on Parselmagic in the chamber every other night, and between our extra studies, keeping up with the House and Family studies from Mr. Morgan, and my schoolwork, I got a little...distracted, I guess."

"We noticed," Draco deadpanned.

"I'm so sorry, Draco!" Hadrian continued. "I didn't mean to push you guys to the side." A rather miserable look was adorning the small boy's face.

Draco stood and hugged his little brother before returning to his seat, "At least you're telling us now." He sighed.

A small smile worked its way onto Hadrian's lips, but he took a sip of tea and continued, knowing they had to get all the information quickly so they could finalize their plan.

"So in addition to all that work, I was also working on the diary plan," Hadrian continued. "It wasn't difficult, per se, to imperius Ginevra to do what was needed, but setting up the supposed petrifications was a bit of a strain. I couldn't pull you, Sev, because of your workload, and Draco, you're almost as busy as me. I didn't want to put anything extra on anybody else's plate," he said a bit shamefaced. "I didn't want to be a burden…" he finally whispered.

Severus was out of his chair and pulling the slight twelve-year-old onto his lap for a bone-crushing hug. "You are not, and never will be a burden, Hadrian James Potter-Black, and I don't want to catch you saying that you are!" He punctuated his order with another squeeze, and then settled the boy more comfortably in his lap and began stroking his hair. "We love you, Hadrian, and want to help you with anything you might need. Please don't forget you can always come to any of us."

Hadrian sniffed a bit. He had made great strides in his confidence since being removed from the Dursley's but sometimes, he just couldn't keep the negative thoughts away. While Severus had been speaking, Draco also came and burrowed into his brother and godfather's side. The boy grabbed his brother's hand while the potion master continued to rub soothing circles on the child's back.

Finding his calm, he gulped in a big breath and continued laying out the situation. "Anyway, in all that, Zelena was roaming the school using a set of secret passages that kept her out of sight of the people in the castle, but allowed her some freedom, and, added bonus, got the spiders out of the castle. Unfortunately, it seems a perfect storm of circumstances arose which neither I, nor anybody else I think, could have foreseen."

"Hermione figured out what the creature was," Draco mumbled, still pressed to the other two.

"Exactly." Hadrian said quietly. "She did what all good Gryffindor's do, and tried to help the first person she saw once she figured it out. She and my prefect, Penelope Clearwater, were found with a mirror right behind a corner between the library and Zelena's main entrance to the chamber. Normally, Zelena keeps her eyes lidded with an extra set of eyelids to prevent anyone from dying when they look at her. She actually has three sets - one to convert the deathly stare to petrification, one to nullify both, and her regular set. Unfortunately, she apparently miss-timed her exit from one of the passages to her main route down to the chamber, and expecting that it was after curfew and very little chance of anyone being around, was not shielding as she made her way into the second floor girls' lavatory where her slide is."

Severus and Draco were listening to the tale in rapt fascination, not having known some of the more intricate details of the basilisk's make-up, not many survived encounters with them to write their knowledge down.

"It's lucky my theory that someone had to look at the basilisk's eyes directly in order to die was accurate. I think even Salazar was unaware that an indirect look would merely petrify, rather than kill. Hermione had clearly asked if Penelope had a mirror, which they then used to peek around the corner just at the moment Zelena appeared. No protection on earth should have saved them, but apparently, as I had theorized, and used to my advantage in the previous set ups, not seeing the eyes directly has a lessened effect."

"I see," Severus finally responded when the silence stretched.

"But I can't keep this up," Hadrian whispered. "I'm tired, I'm pushing my friends and family away, and I need this to be done so I can make it through the rest of the year." He thought about mentioning the map, but the odd feeling he had finally noticed after weeks of using the thing led to him keeping it quiet for now. "I know we were planning on waiting for Ginevra to collapse on her own, but I don't think I can afford to wait."

"I agree," Severus stated. "There have already been numerous discussions in the staff room that if the attacks continue the school will be closed. This is not an ideal solution for anyone, so we need to resolve things quickly."

"Too bad we can't get Zelena to petrify that idiot Lockhart. Merlin, his classes are terrible and we haven't learned anything useful," Draco said rather petulantly. "But I don't want Hogwarts to close because of it."

"No, that's certainly-" Hadrian broke off suddenly, staring into space. Severus and Draco just waited, recognizing the look, knowing his brain was processing something, and he would likely astound them with some brilliant observation or convoluted plan that would solve everything.

"It's perfect!" Hadrian said, pushing away from the two who were still cuddled around him to pace in front of the fire as he plotted. "I'll send Ginevra down into the chamber! She'll paint another message, go down there, and doom and gloom in the school. I can run to Lockhart, Defense Teacher Extraordinaire," he said sarcastically before continuing on to mimic the man, "Order of Merlin, Third Class; Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League; and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award."

Draco laughed at the impression, and even Sev smirked.

"I'll force him down there, get Zelena to petrify him, which, with any luck will bring his house of cards tumbling right down due to incompetence, and I can rescue both of them from the Chamber. I'll stage a fight with Zelena, destroy the diary, and present it, myself, and the two victims, to Dumbledore, none-the-wiser that I have just destroyed a piece of Voldemort's soul, and reinforcing my heroic image."

"That's…" Severus started, "actually quite a good idea."

"It gets better," Hadrian said with a manic look in his eye, previously only seen when performing death defying stunts on his broom at the manor. "We continue with the original plan, framing Lucius for placing the diary, but not enough proof to actually do anything to him. I'll ask if I can give the diary back to him when he arrives to remove Dumbledore, and we can have a little word-play, possible fake attack which I can deflect or avoid for Dumbledore to overhear, thus cementing my status with the Light."

Draco and Severus were both nodding at this latest and possibly greatest idea from the youngest.

"I'll talk to Lucius," the dark man said.

"Thanks, Sev," Hadrian said, wrapping his arms around the waist of the man.

Severus patted his back and addressed both boys, "You'd better get out of here before someone misses you, brats."

"We love you too, Severus," Draco said and both sprinted from the room as Severus rolled his eyes at their antics.

The following Thursday afternoon during their double potions class, Severus slipped Hadrian a note that Lucius was on board and ready to move whenever Hadrian needed. Hadrian slid it over to Draco, who also nodded and they continued working.

Saturday, May 15, 1993

Just after curfew, but before any of the prefects or teachers began their patrols, Ginevra Weasley slipped out of Gryffindor tower. She made her way out of the school and down to the groundskeeper's hut, and killed all of his new roosters, taking their blood. She was unseen by Hagrid, who had been taken away earlier in the year. An hour later, she made her way back up to the school.

Her pale complexion was a beacon in the darkness, and Hadrian had no trouble watching her progress across the grounds. Once she was back in the shadow of the entrance hall, he opened the map to follow her progress since the teachers and prefects had begun their patrols while she was busy outside. The small red dot labeled as the chit made its way to the second floor, somehow managing to miss the ever-present ears of Argus Filch, the caretaker who had taken to patrolling the second floor corridor where Mrs. Norris had been petrified whenever he wasn't busy elsewhere. Hadrian heaved a sigh of relief when Ginevra arrived to the girls loo with no one the wiser, and knew based on the usual patrolling paths, that the next patrol that would reach the second floor wouldn't be until sometime around 2 am, when the headmaster would be unable to wake everyone other than the teachers to deal with it.

Part of the plan had included stationing Zils in the bathroom to open the entrance. Seeing Ginevra's dot move from where she had been stationary in front of the wall next to the second floor girls' bathroom, and make her way inside before disappearing off the map completely, was a relief. He didn't relish having to sneak down to the second floor right now. Pleased it had worked, he wiped the map, folded it, and secured it in his trunk, while waiting for Zils to return so they could cuddle up to sleep.

Sunday, May 16, 1993

The next morning a flickering tongue against his cheek woke him from his slumber.

§Master Hadrian§ Zils hissed at the sleepy boy §There have been whispers while you were sleeping.§

§I expect there were, Zils§ Hadrian replied sleepily.

§You must wake up for breakfast, lest anyone suspect§ Zils hissed more insistently. §They are already discussing closing the school!§

That finally broke through the haze surrounding the boy, who jumped from his bed, and summoned Dobby to get his things together. He quickly completed his morning ablutions, and dressed in the clothes Dobby provided. Making his way out of his trunk and down to the common room, he watched everyone he passed surreptitiously. No one seemed particularly worried, but just when he thought things were fine, a voice boomed throughout what he thought must be the entire school.

"ALL STUDENTS WILL RETURN TO THEIR DORMITORIES IMMEDIATELY. ALL STUDENTS WILL REMAIN IN THEIR DORMITORIES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. TEACHERS WILL REPORT TO THE SECOND FLOOR MAIN CORRIDOR AS SOON AS ALL STUDENTS HAVE BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR."

When the voice died away, diminutive Professor Flitwick spoke into the sudden silence, and began calling names alphabetically. Once he was done, and had left the room, warning the students that the door would be locked and food would be arriving for them shortly, Hadrian made his way back up to his room. Now was the time to put his last plan into action. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and made his way down the stairs. He stopped midway down, between the third and fourth year rooms, and knocked on a portrait after ensuring that no one was there to see him. As far as he could tell, everyone had retreated to the common room to discuss the announcement and gossip as to the cause.

Once the painting opened, he slipped inside, pulling it shut behind him, and began heading down the winding staircase which would lead, eventually, to the Chamber. Some 500 or more steps later he emerged into the antechamber, and made his way to another passage which he knew would let out on the second floor, but away from Zelena's entrance.

He pulled his cloak on as he exited the passage, stepping as close as he dared to the group of teachers huddled around the message painted on the wall. "Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever," it read. That was quite a good choice if he did say so himself. It certainly appeared to have them all worked up. As he snuck closer, the teachers' conversation could be heard more clearly.

"It has happened," Professor McGonagall said when all the teachers were present. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth.

The potion master gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"

The temporary headmistress, Professor McGonagall, waved a hand toward the message and lifted her shoulders in a shrug as if to say, the message says so. Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" asked Madam Hooch who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall. "We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow. This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said…"

"Now, Minerva, surely it isn't that dire," Severus drawled. "After all, we have just the man," he turned slowly to look at Gilderoy Lockhart, "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart," he said guilelessly, "taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I-well, I-" sputtered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.

"D-d-did I? I don't recall-" the man stuttered.

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Prince. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues. "I-I really never-you may have misunderstood-" he tried to divert.

"We'll leave it to you then, Gilderoy," Said Professor McGonagall. "Today will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked rather weak-chinned and feeble.

"V-very well," he said. "I'll-I'll be in my office, getting-getting ready." And he left the corridor.

Hadrian had to decide very quickly if he wanted to follow Lockhart or continue listening to the other teachers. He must've shifted a bit too loudly, or not focused enough on his silencing charm because Severus looked up and gazed directly at where Hadrian was hidden, his piercing gaze looking directly at him and twitched his head just slightly to the side in the direction Lockhart had disappeared. Hadrian took that to mean that Severus would alert him if anything he needed to know occurred, and he carefully left his spot and made his way through the empty halls toward the Defense office.

Chapter 31 Notes

§Parseltongue§

I borrowed the teachers' conversation there at the end from the staff room conversation at the end of Chamber of Secrets from JKR. Still not making any money.