'Thoughts!'
§ 'Parseltongue!' §
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Serpent's Lair - Part 8!
(The Duelling Club.)
22nd of September:
It had been about two weeks since Harry started his second year at Hogwarts, and things were going well so far. Like the first three classes he had, the rest of his classes were the same; they would recap what they learned the year before, then begin covering the new stuff. Most of the professors must have followed McGonagall's lead; if they failed to perform during the review, they would need come back at the end of the day to take catch-up lessons.
Harry discovered that the recap classes didn't start up until about twenty-odd years ago, at the suggestion of some Mystics who came to Hogwarts. They had problems with learning - occasionally forgetting entire lectures - and thought that recap classes would be helpful. Surprisingly, most of the professors agreed with the idea, seeing its usefulness for all students.
In Charms, they were learning some household charms to help make life easier. Aside from a few who needed the recap classes, things were going smoothly; everyone was doing well under Flitwick's eager teaching style. As for History of Magic, they went on to talk about a few werewolf wars, along with other skirmishes with some of the so-called dark creatures.
Potions, on the other hand, was still a nightmare. Snape was breathing down every Gryffindor's neck - mainly Harry's - and allowed the Slytherins to ruin Gryffindor potions by throwing things into their cauldrons. At least with Snape as the teacher, no one had the recap class. Not because nobody needed it, but because the so-called professor refused to deal with dunderheads outside of his normal teaching hours.
In Herbology, they were still working on Mandrakes, but had branched out to learn about other plants while the Mandrakes matured a little more. Transfigurations was going slower as they had only finished turning a beetle into a button yesterday, the reason being given that a few people - Ron, Tony, and Neville, naming three - were still having problems and had only managed to reliably cast the spell this past class period.
After the incident with the Cornish Pixies in Defence Against the Dark Arts, all they did was act out Lockhart's "adventures." Harry sadly found himself to be the subject of playing whatever role Lockhart supposedly defeated - not something Harry was happy about, but there was nothing he could do about it, as Lockhart refused to have anyone else play the role.
Another problem Harry had was avoiding Colin Creevey, who seemed to have memorized Harry's schedule. Ever since the photo incident, nothing seemed to give Colin a bigger thrill than to say, "All right, Harry?" six or seven times a day and hear, "Hello, Colin," back, however exasperated Harry sounded when he said it.
Sadly the last two weeks had been busy for Harry, Hermione, and Melody, and so they didn't have time to pick up where they left off in the summer. Not that they could have, otherwise; they had yet to find a place where they could practice without anyone bothering them too much. Harry and Hermione just barely had the time to give Melody a tour of Hogwarts, showing her some shortcuts and hidden passageways, but Melody was happy to spend time with her sister. The daunting amount of work the teachers handed out prevented her from being able to fraternize with anyone except those she shared classes with. Despite all the demands on their time, the trio vowed to resume their training as soon as they found a room to use and enough free time to work with.
It was now a wonderful Saturday afternoon, and Harry was spending some alone time with Aneira to strengthen their bond. The pair was walking around the grounds when Harry was intercepted by Katie Bell.
"Hey Katie," Harry greeted the third year.
"Harry," she replied with a smile, "just the person I'm looking for."
"Oh?" Harry asked, curious to find out why she would seek him out.
"Yeah," Katie admitted with a smile, "have you heard the open secret of the poker game that happens here?"
"Yeah, but no one knows who's in the game," he admitted, "Why do you ask?"
"Well I'm a member, along with a few others on the Gryffindor team," explained Katie, "In fact, there are a few people from all houses attending. The rules are simple: you need to have money, and/or someone who'll back you to join the club, someone has to invite you, and you have to leave all your beliefs and feelings at the door. You make trouble at the game, you have your memories altered, and you're kicked out."
"Hmm, interesting. But what has it got to do with me?" Harry asked thoughtfully.
"Well I've been asked to see if you want to join," Katie admitted to her friend, "You're both the Boy-Who-Lived and you're the heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter; you have more money than most here at Hogwarts. My guess is they want you to join them so they could try and win some off you."
Harry thought this sounded like a lot of fun. It reminded him of The Abyss, and thanks to the club, he knew how to play poker and what tells to look out for. As he thought about it more, he was interested in the idea, but two things were bothering him.
"Not saying no, but two things: first, what if I decide not to join this? Would you alter memory of this meeting? And second, what is stopping others from talking about me being in this club of yours?"
Katie could understand her friend's fears. He would want to know the full details before he decide what to do. With a smile, she said, "Well if you decide not to join, nothing will happen, as you know nothing other than I'm in the poker game. And I'm hoping that you won't say anything."
"Don't worry, I won't say a thing," Harry reassured his friend.
"As for people telling people what they learn at the poker game, there are wards around the place to stop such things from happening," Katie explained to Harry.
"So where and when does the game start?" he asked.
"Right now if you want," Katie informed him, "And, I have been told that I need to take you."
After a few moments of thought, Harry said, "Sure, I haven't got anything else planned for the afternoon."
And with that, Katie and Harry returned to the castle, where Katie showed Harry where she and the others met. The place that Katie showed Harry was on the first floor of Hogwarts, within one of the empty classrooms. Once in the classroom, Harry found it strange and asked, "Why are we here?"
"You'll see." Was all Katie said with a smirk, as she pushed a few bricks, before pulling a torch, it was like the wall in Diagon Alley, where it started as a small hole and increasingly got larger until it formed an archway. But instead of revealing a room that he was suspecting to see, Harry saw stairs going down. And so they went down the stairs. And as they did, the wall behind them closed.
As they got to the bottom, Harry was shocked to find himself in a small chamber that reminded him of a smaller version of The Abyss's casino, it wasn't just poker that was played here.
"This is not what I was suspecting." Harry said thoughtfully mainly to himself.
"Then what were you suspecting, Potter?" A voice said behind them.
As Harry turned round, he saw a seventh year black Slytherin, with black short hair and blue eyes, and said, "You are?"
"I'm Perseus Darkstar," Darkstar told Harry, who found the name to be familiar somehow, "I'm the host of this little club for this year and the next. So, what were you suspecting?"
"To be honest, not much. A few tables with people playing poker," Harry explained honestly, "Not something like this, some kind of casino."
"And how would the Boy-Who-Lived know what a casino would look like?" Darkstar asked suspiciously.
Harry could kick himself for letting him know that he knew what a casino was, what twelve year old would know such a thing. Then thinking about it, giving the Slytherin a little white lie could come in handy, so that should he slip up about things he shouldn't about casinos, he could say he knew it that way. So with that he said, "Well I know two teenagers who work at underground club that has a casino, but much bigger."
"Oh what is this club called and these friend's names?" asked the Slytherin.
"The club is called the Abyss." Harry said as he hid a smirk at seeing shock face of Darkstar, it would seem the teen knew about the place. "And my friend's names are Madam Gaia, the Madam of the brothel there, and Blink, what I think you could call the receptionist of the club."
Darkstar laughed at this, "Oh please, do you honestly want be to believe that you're friends with the only two people that Maverick, the Boss of Abyss, really trusts, pull the other one."
Then suddenly, Harry remembered where he heard the name Darkstar, from the Abyss, Perseus's father, Henry Darkstar goes to his club. Not only that, Henry owes him a lot of money too, and so he said with a smirk, "Now I remember where I heard Darkstar, Madam Gaia and Blink talked to me once over the summer about your father Henry Darkstar. He goes to the Abyss, and not only that but he owes Maverick quite a bit of money from his debts. From what Madam Gaia tells me, it is over two thousand Galleons, and he is behind in his payments, so much that if your father doesn't sort something out with Maverick, Maverick is planning to show people that he isn't all talk."
"S-So you re-really do know Madam Gaia and Blink," the older Slytherin groped at this, "what do you mean that Maverick is planning to show people that he isn't all talk?"
"Well if your father doesn't pay his debt, or make some kind of arrangement, Maverick is going to use any females in your family and use them to pay off your father's debt." Harry explained to Darkstar, "And if there's no females to be used, he would use your father instead, from what Madam Gaia told me, there's a few men who would like to use men to relieve their stress."
The older Slytherin groped once again at this, he suddenly had the need to write to his father at once, and so called out in shock and fear to another Slytherin, "Hey Alan, you're in charge for a bit."
"What's wrong Perseus?" asked Alan.
"Nothing, I just need to write home about something that I just remembered I needed," lied Darkstar, "while I'm away make sure Potter is given the highest of respect."
And before Alan or anyone could ask what was going on, Darkstar left in a hurry and as the other Slytherin came up to Harry and Katie, he asked, "Do you know what that was about?"
"No, he just got frightened about something and needed to write home about something." Harry told the Slytherin, and Katie nodded in agreement, as she didn't know if she could trust her mouth at that moment.
"Well that is strange," Alan said in confusion, before shaking it off before going on to say, "so do you want me to show you around, or do you want Katie to do so?"
"No thanks, I'll let Katie show me around if you don't mind?" Harry told Alan.
"No I don't mind, in fact it is ideal," the older Slytherin admitted, "with Perseus going off like that, I'll be busy keeping an eye on everybody."
"Thanks," Harry told the boy, before thinking of something, "should I be worried about cheating here?"
"Sort of," Alan told the Boy-Who-Lived, "the simple rule is that there's no cheating unless you get caught cheating. So unless you get caught, you got nothing to worry about, but if you do get caught, you lose everything that you earnt that day and you get kicked out for a few weeks."
"That's good to hear," Harry smirked at this, "I'll see you about."
And with that Harry and Katie left the Slytherin alone, as Katie showed Harry around. During this time she asked Harry if he really knew the girls, and if he did, did he know Maverick, as she only heard rumours of the Abyss. Harry said he never really met the man known as Maverick. Which was true. So, unless he had a Time Turner, how could he meet himself? He thought with a hidden smirk. But he did admit that he did see the club a few times whilst Maverick wasn't there, which was part true, since Harry was Harry at the time and not Maverick.
After that, Harry played a few games, with the card games though, he allowed himself to lose to a fold, the main reason is that he wanted to learn the tells of the players and that would take a while to do. For now, he would try and win with the other games, cheating where he can, as Alan said, it wasn't cheating if you didn't get caught and thanks to him running his old club, the Underground Asylum.
The last game of the afternoon was with Katie, it was just the two of them and the deal was that the loser would agree to one favour of the winner. As long as it wasn't sexual, the favour could be anything. The game was of poker, the winner was the one who won three games out of five.
Sadly though Harry lost, and he couldn't tell how the hell that happened, he thought he had Katie's tells, but by the looks of it, she was faking them, as she won three game to his one. Harry could swore she cheated somehow, but somehow she won her games. And her favour, it was to make it so that he would try out for the Seeker for their House Team, and the try outs was the next day.
It was no secret that Harry was able to spot the Snitch well before either of the Seekers in almost every game in his first year, but he had no plans to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, as it was too boring for him - as the Seeker was only to find the Snitch and nothing else. But thanks to this damn bet, he had to try out and what was worse, the way the favour was done, he had to do his best and not lose on purpose.
o0OoO0o
29th of September:
It had been a week since the poker game, other than the class, not much happened during the week. Susan's training to make her stronger so she could avenge her parent's death restarted, and Harry's lessons with Tonks had started again. Whilst he thought he knew what he was doing, Tonks seemed to surprise him once or twice. But informed Harry that in a few months, he wouldn't need these lessons anymore.
Harry still wanted to learn how to become a girl. Partly because he was a pervert, but the main reason, at least this is what he told everyone, was that no one would suspect him to be a female. But Tonks kept on saying that she would think about it, Harry had decided that he would give her a few more weeks. If, however, she still hadn't decided in a few weeks, he would inform her what he saw on the train and unless she wanted others to learn about it, she would help him.
As in the Wizarding World, unless it was the husband who decided to see his wife with another woman, and he was joining them, female dating another female was frowned upon and so they did so in secret. Would he use this fact to get more? Harry had to admit, he wasn't sure. He liked the idea, but the risk of it backfiring was something he had to consider.
As for joining the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, which was today, his friends were surprised, as they knew that Harry didn't like Quidditch much, as he found it boring. When they asked why he was doing so, Harry explained that he and Katie was playing a game of cards where the loser would do one favour from the winner which was Katie who wanted him to try out for the House Quidditch Team and do his best at it. And so here he was, on the Quidditch Team. He told them that he suspected that although he couldn't prove it, he suspected she cheated somehow. Other than Wood, the others laughed at this, as they said that she most likely did as when they played cards with her, she didn't seem to lose all that often.
Another pain that joining the House Quidditch Team caused, was the fact that Ron got jealous of the fact. Over the last few weeks, the rebuilding the friendship between him, Hermione and Ron had been rough. This new event just made it harder on what was a rough friendship at the start, and if things continued like this, it might end. Not that Harry was bothered by this fact, in fact he would be happy about it. He didn't need friends who would get jealous so easy.
Now that today was Saturday and it was meant to be his first day of training as the new Seeker, which Harry thought would be around noon time, and so he thought he would have a lay in - but he was wrong. Harry was shaken awake several hours earlier than he would have liked by Oliver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.
"Whassamatter?" said Harry groggily.
"Quidditch practice!" said Wood. "Come on!"
Harry squinted at the window. There was a thin mist hanging across the pink-and-gold sky. Now that he was awake, he couldn't understand how he could have slept through the racket the birds were making. "Oliver," Harry croaked. "It's the crack of dawn. Go back to bed and lets do training at a normal hour of the day."
"Exactly," said Wood, deciding not to hear the last part to what Harry said. He was a tall and burly sixth year and, at the moment, his eyes were gleaming with a crazed enthusiasm. "It's part of the new training program I have for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Come on, grab your broom, and let's go," said Wood heartily. "None of the other teams have started training yet; we're going to be first off the mark this year -"
Yawning and shivering slightly, Harry climbed out of bed and tried to find his Quidditch robes. Deciding it was better to do this, the other option was to kill the fool, and that would mean trying to find a place to hide the body quickly. And he didn't want his first human kill, to be this fool, that right belonged to Dan Granger. Which Harry was still planning, he had the basic idea, but he needed a way out of Hogwarts, until he could find a way out, he couldn't do much right now. Although, he could ask a few question at the casinos, they seemed to be full of food, so they might know a way out of Hogwarts without being seen.
"Good man," said Wood. "Meet you on the field in fifteen minutes."
When he'd found his scarlet team robes and pulled on his cloak for warmth, Harry scribbled a note to Ron explaining where he'd gone, and ask him to inform the others where he went, before he went down the spiral staircase to the common room. He had just reached the portrait hole when there was a clatter behind him and Colin Creevey came dashing down the spiral staircase, his camera swinging madly around his neck and something clutched in his hand.
"I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Harry! Look what I've got here! I've had it developed, I wanted to show you -"
Harry looked bemusedly at the photograph Colin was brandishing under his nose.
A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm Harry recognized as his own. He was pleased to see that his photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be dragged into view. As Harry watched, Lockhart gave up and slumped, Panting, against the white edge of the picture.
"Will you sign it?" said Colin eagerly.
"No," Harry snapped at the young boy, glancing around to check that the room was really deserted. "Sorry Colin, I was rudely awaken this morning when I was hoping to have a lay in. Now I'm in a hurry - Quidditch practice -"
Harry hurried and climbed through the portrait hole, hoping to get rid of the young annoying boy. But his luck wasn't with him, as Colin scrambled through the hole after him and said, "Oh, wow! Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game before!"
"It'll be really boring," Harry said quickly and honestly, but Colin ignored him, his face shining with excitement. Harry didn't know how to get rid of him. It was like having an extremely talkative shadow.
"I don't really understand Quidditch," said Colin breathlessly. "Is it true there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?"
"Yes," said Harry heavily, resigned to explaining the complicated rules of Quidditch. "They're called Bludgers. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their side. Fred and George Weasley are the Gryffindor Beaters."
"And what are the other balls for?" Colin asked, tripping down a couple of steps because he was gazing open-mouthed at Harry.
"Well, the Quaffle - that's the biggish red one - is the one that scores goals. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch - they're the three long poles with hoops on the end."
"And the fourth ball -"
"- is the Golden Snitch," said Harry, "and it's very small, very fast, and difficult to catch. But that's what the Seeker's got to do, because a game of Quidditch doesn't end until the Snitch has been caught. And whichever team's Seeker gets the Snitch earns his team an extra hundred and fifty points. A bit unfair truth to be told."
"And you're the Gryffindor Seeker, aren't you?" said Colin in awe.
"Unfortunately, yes." Harry told the young boy sadly, still upset about being on the team, as they left the castle and started across the dew-drenched grass. "And there's the Keeper, too. He guards the goal posts. That's it, really."
But Colin didn't stop questioning Harry until they were all the way down by the sloping lawns to the Quidditch field, and Harry only shook him off when he reached the changing rooms; Colin called after him in a piping voice, "I'll go and get a good seat, Harry!" and hurried off to the stands.
The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room. Wood was the only person who looked truly awake. Fred and George Weasley were sitting, puffy-eyed and tousle haired, next to fourth year Alicia Spinnet, who seemed to be nodding off against the wall behind her. Her fellow Chasers, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson, were yawning side by side opposite them.
"There you are, Harry, what kept you?" said Wood briskly, "Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference…"
Wood was holding up a large diagram of a Quidditch field, on which were drawn many lines, arrows, and crosses in different coloured inks. He took out his wand, tapped the board, and the arrows began to wiggle over the diagram like caterpillars. As Wood launched into a speech about his new tactics, Fred Weasley's head drooped right onto Alicia's shoulder and he began to snore.
The first board took nearly twenty minutes to explain, but there was another board under that, and a third under that one. Harry sank into a stupor as Wood droned on and on.
"So," said Wood, at long last, jerking Harry from a wistful fantasy about what he could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up at the castle, before finding somewhere to fuck Melody. "Is that clear? Any questions?"
"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a start, before Harry could say something, "why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?"
Wood wasn't pleased.
"Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them all, "I have only two years before I leave here, and before that time I want to win at least one game before I finish Hogwarts."
"So this year, we train harder than ever before… Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stiff-legged and still yawning, his team followed.
They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Harry walked onto the field, he saw Ron, Ember, Melody and Hermione were sitting in the stands.
"Aren't you finished yet?" called Melody incredulously.
"Haven't even started." said Harry, looking jealously at the toast and marmalade Ron and the others had brought out of the Great Hall. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."
He mounted one of the school broomsticks, the one he ordered hadn't arrived yet, and kicked off the ground, soaring up into the air. The cool morning air whipped his face, waking him far more effectively than Wood's long talk. Whilst it wasn't the same as flying broom free, the feeling of the air felt wonderful on his face. He soared right around the stadium at full speed, racing Fred and George.
"What's that funny clicking noise?" called Fred as they hurtled around the corner.
Harry looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats, his camera raised, taking picture after picture, the sound strangely magnified in the deserted stadium.
"Look this way, Harry! This way!" he cried shrilly.
'Damn it…' Harry thought to himself.
"Who's that?" said Fred.
"What's going on?" said Wood, frowning, as he skimmed through the air toward them. "Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program."
"Sadly no," Harry told his new captain, "he is Colin Creevey a first year Gryffindor."
"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," said George.
"What makes you say that?" said Wood testily.
"Because they're here in person," said George, pointing.
Several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks in their hands.
"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I booked the field for until noon! We'll see about this!"
Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Harry, Fred, and George followed.
"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now! Come back after lunch!"
Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."
Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too. There were no girls on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the Gryffindors, leering to a man.
"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"
"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker'.."
"You've got a new Seeker too?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"
And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy.
"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred, looking at Malfoy with dislike.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."
All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus 2001 gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun.
"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips the old 2000 series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps-" he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives "-sweeps the board with them."
None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a moment. Malfoy was smirking so broadly his cold eyes were reduced to slits. Than if he could, his smirk widened, as he said, "Is that the broom you're using Potter? An old school broom, looks like we got nothing to worry about, it is a win."
"No, I'm just using it until the broom that I ordered for the game to arrive," Harry told the brat, before smirking himself as he said, "in fact it too is a Nimbus 2001."
Malfoy's face drained of colour a bit if possible for the torn of skin he had, but a bit of colour came back as he said, "Still one Nimbus 2001 against seven means nothing, we'll still beat you."
"Oh, look," said Flint, before any of them could say anything, "a field invasion."
Hermione and and the others were crossing the grass to see what was going on.
"What's happening?" Ron asked Harry. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?"
He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.
"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Malfoy, smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms that my father bought our team."
Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him.
"Good, aren't they?" said Malfoy smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."
The Slytherin team howled with laughter.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply, "they got in on pure talent."
The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." he spat in her face.
Upon Malfoy calling Hermione Mudblood, Melody, who didn't know what it meant yet, was in an uproar at his words. Flint had to dive in front of Malfoy to stop Fred and George jumping on him, Alicia shrieked, "How dare you!" Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Malfoy's face.
But before Ron could do anything with his broken wand, Harry exploded at what Malfoy said, "You fucking ass, how dare you call my friend that!"
Everyone had to step back from Harry, flames were coming off him, and the heat was almost unbearable to be near to. "Harry calm down," Hermione called out to her crash, "you don't want to get into trouble because of this fool."
Taking a few deep calming breaths, Harry nodded his thanks to his friend, before turning to Wood he said, "Wood, allow them the peach for the morning, we can do it this afternoon. I'm not in the right mood to train, and could end up turning my boom to ash should I try and fly it. I need time to calm down fully before doing anything else."
Looking over his new Seeker, whilst the flames was slowly going away, it would be best to allow Potter time to calm down. So he said, "That's fine Harry, be here after lunch and we'll continue then."
"See you later Wood," Harry told his Captain, and turning to his friends he said, "I'll talk to the rest of you soon, just need to be myself." And with that the group bid Harry goodbye, and Harry went to the room that the Headmaster set up for him to calm down. A room, until now, he didn't need to use.
As Harry left the area, he left a group of Gryffindors and Slytherins in his wake, shocked at what they saw. Those who didn't see him last year when he used his powers on the teacher who tried to kill Potter, some say the teacher was processed by the Dark Lord, heard rumours that he was a Fire Elementalist, but many didn't believe it - until now that was. Now though, seeing the flames and feeling the heat, it was hard not to believe he wasn't a Fire Elementalist. Most of them by right were now weary of the Boy-Who-Lived, but there were a few foolish ones who thought they would be okay to keep on teasing and bullying Harry. They would soon find out that wouldn't be the best of ideas.
o0OoO0o
As Harry entered the castle to head off to the room the Headmaster set up, he found that the entire castle was abuzz with the news of a new Duelling Club. The news of the new Duelling Club appeared a few days ago, when a glitter covered notice appeared on the noticeboard within their Common Room.
The notice informed the reader that there would be a Duelling Club starting the following Saturday. There were many rumours about who would be running the club. Most people thought it would be Professor Flitwick, seeing as he was a duelling champion when he was younger. Harry could not care less at the moment, provided the instructor was someone other than Lockhart or Snape. He would give any other instructor an honest try. At this moment, all he wanted was to get to his room and let off some steam.
As he was walking he couldn't help but to smile at the fact that things were getting better, he was looking for a place where he, Hermione and Melody could restart their training. They even talked about getting some of their friends to join them. Thankfully, the transition period for Melody was ending and right now she was having fun with being shown around by Harry and Hermione. Melody might have still needed more time to transition to the demands of Hogwarts and subsequently have more free time to spend with her Master and older sister as well as make new friends in her year, but for the moment, she cherished the break in the work.
As Harry got to the third floor corridor, the same place where the Philosopher's Stone was once hidden, and where Harry's room to cool off was, Harry came across a scene of interest between two Ravenclaw girls. The first was an attractive girl, she looked like she was of Chinese descent, with long, shining dark hair and eyes, and light freckles on her nose - she looked a bit older, like she was in her third year. The other girl looked like she was a first year, she had waist-length, straggly, dirty blonde hair, protuberant grey eyes that seemed to be dreamily distracted, and faint eyebrows.
"Do you really believe in half the crap that comes from you mouth? You must be loony! Hey, that's a good name for you, Loony Lovegood." The black haired girl said, grinning meanly.
"Well of course I do! My mother told me my father researched them for a living, so they must be real." 'Loony' Lovegood replied cheerfully.
"A third year bullying a first year, pathetic." Harry cut in coldly, "And from the House of the smart too."
"What concern is it of yours, Potter?" The older Ravenclaw sputtered, looking embarrassed, probably at being caught. "I'm sick of her raving about imaginary creatures nobody can see or hear. She's crazy, and a distraction we don't need. Honestly, if I hear the words Nargle and Wrackspurt again I'm going to snap! She doesn't belong in Ravenclaw." She raved, clearly agitated by the younger 'Claws beliefs.
Harry looked at the older girl strangely, so what if the Lovegood girl believed in things most did not think existed? Just because the public at large had never seen them or knew of them did not disprove their existence. They could easily be very low in number, or hidden by some inborn ability like a chameleon.
Harry may have known about magic for a while now, but with the beings like the Mystics, who could do almost anything that they set their mind to, like he could. He could easily see there being a kind of ocular ability that allowed the user to see through stealth magic, maybe the blonde girl had this gift and just didn't know it? With all this in Harry's reaction was obvious. With a scoff Harry shook his head slowly, "I didn't know 'proper' Ravenclaws were so close minded. Who's to say your Housemate isn't gifted, and can see the unseeable?"
The oriental girl got defensive as he called her intelligence into question. "You don't know anything about magic, Potter."
"Oh? And you do?" Harry challenged, trying to keep his calm, "What if I say I can teleport behind you?"
The girl looked at him oddly, but answered, "Oh please, we all know that you can't Apparate or Teleport in or out of Hogwarts."
Harry just smirked as he 'Jumped' behind the girls and said 'boo' which that caused both Ravenclaws to jump forward and gasp in shock.
"H-How did you?" asked the oriental girl.
"Wow, that's really cool!" admitted the first year.
Harry grinned, "I'm a Mystic, and as you might know, we all can do all sorts of powers, like me being able to use flames, and able to teleport like I just did. So who's to say Ms. Lovegood can't see things that don't want to be seen?"
"It's Luna." Luna clarified.
"Cho Chang." Cho answered distantly. Her distant eyes focused briefly and she said, "I'll just being going." Not giving a word of apology.
Only after Cho left did Harry realize how stupid it was to show off his ability to teleport so brazenly like that. Still, looking at how happy and excited Luna seemed to look he considered it a worthy exchange. "If she starts bothering you again you can come talk to me, if you want?" He offered awkwardly. He'd never had the motivation to save anyone from bullies back in public school, he was a little lost.
Luna shook her head. "Oh, no, Cho was just frustrated, she didn't really mean to take it out on me. I think she's under a lot of pressure from her family. She's been getting a lot of mail lately." She explained sympathetically. "I can tell because she didn't steal any of my things like the others."
"Well that's goo-" Harry paused mid-word as her statement sunk in, "Wait, others?"
He looked up, only to see Luna skipping down the corridor. She spun around, never slowing pace as she skipped backwards. "Bye Harry! I'm going to be late."
Seeing her about to turn a corner Harry called hurriedly, "Come join our group sometime in the library!"
He shook his head as the quirky girl's voice echoed, "Okay!" from wherever she was by that point. Whilst he lost some of his anger, Harry still had some there, and so with the girls gone, he went to the third floor where his room was, where he spent the next few hours letting off steam. And after lunch, he went to the Quidditch Pitch for training.
o0OoO0o
6th of October:
It had been a week since Harry's first Quidditch practice, and his first time using the classroom that Dumbledore set up to blow off some steam. Since then not much happened. Ember seemed to be spending more time with Ginny, nothing really strange about that as she spent the summer at the Weasleys and made friends with the young female Weasley. Although she seemed to be acting a bit strange, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But didn't worry about, he put it down to the fact that she was going through puberty and was embarrassed about it. He knew the feeling, he was going through changes that he didn't want to talk about, and for a girl he suspected it was worse. But Harry knew if it was bad, she would come to him for help.
During the week, Harry was able to find a room where he, Hermione, Melody, and Ember if she wanted to join, could train. In fact, the room was in the same corridor as his room that Dumbledore gave him. No one used the corridor, so they could use it for practice as much as they wanted, and the chamber beneath could be useful for fighting practice, as no one would hear them and get hurt if they got in the way. So all in all, a good place to train. Harry felt a bit foolish for not thinking about it beforehand. He would have to set a few things up first. But soon, he and the others could begin what they started over the summer, with Ember joining if she wanted to.
And so with a basic normal week, nothing to bother them other than school work, and in Harry's case sending his first letter to his Godmother, it was once again Saturday, the day that most of the students were waiting for; the start of the Duelling Club. From what Harry found in Hogwarts: A History, the last time the Duelling Club was up and running was about fifty years ago. It stopped because no teacher wanted to take it up again. So Harry had to wonder why was it being set up again after so many years…
Anyway, at noon that day Harry, Ember, Ginny, Hermione and Melody, went to the Great Hall where the Club was being held. As they got there they saw that the Hall was heavily rearranged. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
As Harry looked round the Great Hall, he spotted Holly Halliwell. Thankfully, she hadn't been too much of a problem so far, as she kept to herself much to Harry's surprise. The only thing she did was ask his friends in Hufflepuff about him and what he was like, which Harry was happy to find out that they hadn't told her much, just what everyone else knew about him. But Harry would keep an eye on her, as one thing he knew, she was there for him. And not knowing why, bothered him.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" Hermione wondered as they edged into the chattering crowd. They stopped next to their friends. "Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him?"
"As long as it's not Lockhart, I don't mind. He can't teach to save his own life." Harry grumbled to his friends agreement. Seconds later the group groaned as they saw Gilderoy Lockhart walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to restart this Duelling Club, which was cancelled fifty years ago when no other teacher wanted to teach it again. However, I thought that it would be good to bring it back, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."
'So that's his plan,' Harry thought darkly, 'trying to sell more of his rubbish work onto us. A pointless gesture, we were already forced to buy everything he's published.'
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart announced, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Harry heard Ron mutter to Tony and Neville behind him. And Harry agreed, if, how highly unlikely it would, they could finish each other off, it would remove two pests from Hogwarts.
But Harry saw Snape's upper lip was curling, and he wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been, at the very least, on guard. Lockhart looked completely carefree.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't bet on that." Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.
Not noticing this, Lockhart said with a smile, "Now on the count of three, One - two - three -"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" But at the same time there was flash of bright coloured light.
When they could see again, they saw Snape looking shocked as he saw Lockhart standing with a smile on his face, with Snape's wand in his hand. "Well, there you have it, the Disarming Charm. If I didn't cast the Fulgor Charm Professor Snape's own Disarming Charm would have hit me and I would have most likely been knocked on the floor and lost my own wand."
All the girls cheered at this, even Harry began to feel some respect for the fool. He may not be a great teacher, but by the looks of it, he knew what he was doing when it came to duelling. "I want to stress to you all that Duelling skill does not equate to how many spells you know or how powerful you are, but how well you've mastered what you feel comfortable casting quickly and efficiently." Lockhart explained, "However, the Disarming Charm is a good spell to know, so let me put you all into pairs and you can learn this handy spell. Here you go Professor Snape, your wand." Lockhart added as he gave Snape his wand back.
But backed off as he saw Snape looking murderous, he clearly didn't like being shown up by the blond man. Slightly more weary, the man continued. "Now if you would like to pair up with your friends one on one. Me and Professor Snape will teach you how to cast the Disarming Charm as well as the Stunning and Shield Charms, three important skills for beginners at duelling. Knowing these three will help immensely should you find yourself in a duel."
So with that the class paired up with each other, Harry and Hermione were together whilst Ember was working with Ginny, and Melody was with the girl that they helped a few days ago, Luna. Over the next hour the class learnt how to cast the Disarming, Stunning and Shield Charms. Harry was shocked to find out that while Lockhart was completely terrible at teaching Defence, he was very good at teaching duelling. Harry wondered briefly why Lockhart hadn't just been hired to teach duelling, or at least oversee the club for the year, since he seemed more suited for it.
After half an hour Lockhart called out, "That's enough… now we've got about half an hour left, who would like to do a mock duel?" There were many cheers of agreement to this, causing the man to smile widely. "Okay then, I'm going to go around and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me?"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Hermione first.
"Time to split up the dream team, I think." He sneered. "Granger, you can partner up with Miss Bulstrode. Potter-"
Harry moved automatically toward Ember, as Hermione moved towards a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione gave her a weak smile that she did not return.
"I don't think so." Snape said oily, smiling coldly, and seeing he was moving to Melody, he said, "And not young Miss Granger either, I think Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, young Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Greengrass." Snape pointed towards a very attractive blonde girl, who instantly started walking over.
Melody smiled again at her new opponent, and was shocked to find that Daphne returned her tiny smile with one of her own, clearly far more friendly than Millicent.
"Professor Lockhart, would it be okay if I picked the partners for the first duel?" Snape asked with a smirk.
"I see no problems with this Professor Snape." Lockhart said with a smile.
"In that case, Malfoy, Potter, up front, now." Snape said as the two boys climbed up onto duelling platform.
"Okay then boys," Lockhart began with a smile, "The rules for this duel are simple, you may only use the three spells you learned tonight, you cannot use any other spells. This is to show if you can fight with these three. That out of the way, face your partners and bow."
"Scared Potter?" Malfoy mocked, as he and Harry barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.
"Oh please, of you?" Harry replied with a scoff, "After what I went through at the end of last year? And what I have seen over the years, you're not even worth taking seriously." He smirked, knowing the entire act would rile the bleach blonde up.
"Now boys, wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted, causing both boys to make the same movement as Lockhart and Snape did earlier. "When I count to three, cast your charms, the first to disarm or knock out your partner wins. Remember, only the spells you learnt tonight, we don't want any accidents do we? Now, on three. One - two -"
The Malfoy Scion jumped the gun, hurling his spell at Harry before Lockhart had even finished pronouncing 'two'. This was not an unexpected move, and Harry smoothly dodged the spell by sidestepping it. "Is that the best you've got Malfoy, how pathetic." Harry scoffed at the Malfoy Heir, and then went on to bite him, "I thought you would be better at this, it seems I was right, you're nothing but talk."
Draco, now well and enraged, broke the rules and threw out several Cutting Curses, thin strips of red light that would have given Harry some pretty serious gashes if they'd landed, but Harry kept dodging and sidestepping the spells. Before long he shouted at Harry, "Are you so powerless and stupid that all you can do is dance around my spells?!"
Harry only smirked as he ducked under another widely cast Cutting Curse, "Oh no, I'm just showing everyone that you don't need spells to defend yourself, you have other ways to do so, dodging being one of them. Here's another one." Before Malfoy could say anything, he saw a blur coming at him. A flutter of robes and stars in his vision were all he managed to wrap his mind around before he was thrown to the floor.
"Potter!" Snape snarled, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for using Muggle Duelling."
"And what about Malfoy?" Harry demanded, "That punch aside, until then I followed the rules, in fact that punch wasn't specifically breaking any rule. Malfoy was the one throwing around potentially lethal magic."
"Mr. Potter is right Professor Snape," said Lockhart, "I told them to use the three Charms they were taught tonight, but Mr. Malfoy didn't, he used spells that he shouldn't. In fact, Mr. Potter using physical force wasn't against the rules, I never said they couldn't do such a thing, it was just assumed it wasn't allowed, so twenty points to Gryffindor for Harry's ingenuity and forty points from Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy's flagrant breaking of my rules."
Lockhart turned to the audience and began speaking, the students paying attention even more closely because he was using his Professor voice. "Mr. Potter was right, when duelling, you should know how to dodge and sidestep spells. There will be times when Shield Charms won't be enough, and you will need to resort to physically dodging the offensive magic. We'll leave that for a later lesson, shall we?" He went on to say as he looked at Harry and Malfoy, "I want you two to try one more time at this. For the record, other than dodging I am now banning Muggle fist fighting. If either of you goes beyond the limits I've set you'll earn yourself a solid week of detention. Duelling isn't a game, people can get hurt if they don't pay attention. Now take a few moments and we'll begin…"
Snape moved towards Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear with a smirk. Whatever it was made Malfoy smirk too. Harry had a sudden feeling of dread, but before could think about it Lockhart was once more speaking, "Okay boys, get in place and bow to your partner." Both Harry and Malfoy did so, "Now once again on the count of three, only the charms we learned tonight and nothing else. Now, one - two - three - go!" Lockhart shouted.
Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it…"
Snape's spell wasn't verbalized, but it didn't matter as the bright yellow bolt of light missed anyway. It sizzled right passed the snake's eyes, irritating the creature enough to start mindlessly hissing at everything around it. Justin was, unfortunately, frozen stiff right next to the duelling platform and the snake decided he was to blame for it's hurting eyes and moved to attack.
Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him forward as though he was on auto-pilot and that he had shouted stupidly at the snake, § 'Ssstay away from him!' § And miraculously - inexplicably - the snake stopped moving towards Justin, however its eyes were darting back and forth from Justin to Harry and back to Justin a few times. Harry wasn't sure if the snake would attack Justin or not by the looks the snake was leaning towards yes, so once again Harry called out to the snake § 'I sssaid ssstay away from him, come to me and I'll sssee if I can sssend you back where you come from or take you sssomewhere sssafe.' § Harry didn't know much about the spell that brought the snake here, but if it was summoned from somewhere else, as opposed to being summoned from nothing, he would return it to it's home.
§ 'Ok Ssspeaker, I would like to go home,' § The snake hissed. Revealing to Harry that the snake was brought here from somewhere else, something Harry put back in his mind for later use. It could be useful spell to have, but it would potentially be limited if you could only summon a snake from so far away. He would need to research the spell and see what it could do and its limits.
He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see the other boy looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful - but certainly not angry and scared.
"What do you think you're playing at?!" He shouted, and before Harry could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall. Harry had no idea what the hell he meant; the snake was angry and if he hadn't calmed it down the snake would have attacked Justin. As he looked around, he saw shocked and fearful looks coming from a large number of people, mostly magical raised, so he must have done something that set off one of their many fears of the unknown.
He did notice the twins were looking at him in awe, but that knowledge wasn't exceptionally unique among the mass of students reacting negatively.
As Harry was looking around Snape stepped forward and waved his wand, causing the snake to vanish in a small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way; It was a shrewd and calculating look, one Harry didn't like at all.
Lockhart broke the silence as his furious voice echoed off the halls. "Hundred points from Slytherin for use of a lethal spell after I very specifically banned it's use and detention for three months! Furthermore, you are henceforth banned from the Duelling Club for the rest of the year."
The students in the hall looked at Lockhart in shock, no one had ever seen the jovial man angry before. Draco's smug expression was wiped away instantly with indignant outrage, already muttering about his father hearing of this.
"Mr. Potter, you may wish to leave. I will be dismissing the club shortly." Lockhart said discreetly to Harry, perfectly aware that his performance had taken the spotlight off the raven haired boy, at least for the moment.
Harry didn't waste time and quickly and quietly left the hall. Hermione met him halfway and latched onto him, staring him out of the hall with Ember, Ginny, Melody and his other friends hurrying alongside them. True to his word, Lockhart made a few announcements about when the next club meeting would be before dismissing his charges.
Ron made his opinion known rather bluntly as he spat, "I should have known." Before splitting from the group, with Tony and Neville, Neville looked shocked and ill.
The group was silent as Hermione lead Harry, and thus everyone else, into an abandoned classroom. Before they entered the room though Su spoke up, revealing her own opinion, which matched everyone else's in regards to Ron's behaviour. "Expected."
As they all sat down at the slightly dusty desks, before Harry could ask what was going on, Fred's awed voice cut him off. "How come you never mentioned…"
"…You were a Parselmouth?" George finished, equally awed.
"I'm a what?" Harry asked, confused.
"A Parselmouth!" Hermione exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. "You can talk to snakes!"
"I know." Harry answered simply. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once - long story - but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to - that was before I knew I was a wizard-"
"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Melody parroted in confusion.
"What did you expect? 'Let me out of this glass cage you filthy hairless monkey so that I may wring the life from you!'?" Harry deadpanned. "I bet loads of people here can do it." He played it off.
"Oh no, it's actually quite a rare talent." Susan cut in worriedly. "This could be bad for you Harry."
"Why would it be bad for me? What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"
"Oh, that's what you said to it?" Hannah asked.
"What do you mean? You were all there - you heard me -"
"We heard you speaking Parseltongue," Cedric explained. "Snake language. None of us understood what you said, to everyone there you could have been saying anything - no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something - it was cool yes, but at the same time creepy, you know. Now we know what you said, I'll try and calm him down."
Harry gaped at him. "I spoke a different language? But - I didn't realize - how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it? It just sounds like English with exaggerated S's to me."
Hermione and the others shook their head, they looked a bit worried at what happened. Harry couldn't see why they looked so worked up.
"Does someone want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake from biting off Justin's head?" Harry demanded, growing annoyed at being out of the loop. Melody and Ember were the only other two there who looked puzzled, but that wasn't shocking considering they weren't from the Wizarding World. "What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"
"It matters because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent." Hermione lectured.
Harry's eyes widened and he made a small, "Oh." sound and he finally connected the pieces.
Susan laid things out further, "And now the whole school's going to think you're his descendent."
"All things considered it's possible I could be. It's not like I've looked up my family tree recently, or ever." Harry admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"Anyway, you should keep your head down for a while." Katie cautioned after several moments of silent thought. "People might start thinking of you as an up and coming Dark Wizard; Parseltongue is considered Dark Magic and anyone who speaks it is a Dark Wizard."
"Human nature." Su cut in, sounding vaguely disgusted. "Be careful." The petite girl said seriously. Considering she was speaking more than one word Harry practically memorized the occasion on the spot.
"Su's right, watch your back." Angelina supported. "We know better, but others won't take this so well. Keep your head down and do nothing to draw attention towards yourself. It should blow over eventually, but until that happens the rumours are going to get real nasty. You all know how sadistic the gossip around here can get."
They all winced, having heard some truly vicious rumours about people that really didn't deserve them. Even Melody had heard her share. Melody decided to lighten the mood, or at least try to. "There no point in huddling ourselves away. If we just stay in here for the rest of the day they'll have won."
The gathered children agreed with her declaration wholeheartedly and steadily trickled out of the room. The Hufflepuffs left first, making sure to tell Harry again they would do their best to spread the truth to their House. The twins were next, rapidly exchanging half sentences as they planned out what pranks they would be able to commit if they had the ability to talk to snakes. Hermione followed behind, announcing that she wanted to know more about this Parseltongue business and beating a hasty retreat to the Library, with Melody who wanted to learn more on the subject too. The Crimson Vixens gave Harry a reassuring hug before taking their turn, promising Harry they would stick by him no matter what. Su gave Harry a nod and a look, assuring him that her loyalty was just as strong as theirs. Ember and Ginny left together, saying they were going to explore the castle.
Harry was left alone, and whilst he was happy his true friends didn't mind that he had such an ability, he was angry that the others were. More so that they were condemning him for something he had no control over, and thinking he wanted to kill Justin. He found himself in need to go to his time out room, as he jokingly called it, and blow off some steam.
o0OoO0o
It was a few hours later and Harry found himself thinking about his sex life, or the lack off at the moment. After overhearing the older boys bragging about what their accomplishments with their respective girlfriends, combined with Melody's not-so-subtle attempts to have sex again, topped off with his increasingly common wet dreams about finally taking several of his friends in erotic scenarios. Wasn't being helpful to his mood at the moment, if they were having sex or some other sort of sexual acts, Harry suspected his mood would be better.
Melody was not the only one to wanting sex, Lucy was also demanding for Harry to go further and have sex too. Harry's reluctance to be with Lucy was incredibly short lived. Harry had tried to argue that they were still brother and sister, but Lucy just stared at him with a dry, annoyed look before a car appeared in her hands, which she then threw at him, just to bring home how ludicrous the situation they were already in was. Whilst Lucy got what she wanted and Harry got to experience of sex, albeit probably not as pleasurable as real sex since his body, thus his brain, was unaware as to how to simulate it in his dreams. But it helped a bit, not much, but a bit.
As Harry was walking back to the Gryffindor Tower, he was pulled into an empty classroom where he found himself embraced in a hug by Melody. "Master are you alright?"
"A bit better Mel, not much, but a bit." Harry admitted to his Apprentice.
"It's going to be really difficult for you soon Master. Remember, your Apprentice is always here to help you vent your pent up anger." Melody whispered hotly in his ears.
Harry, having grown used to the girl's habits, merely grinned as he made a move of his own. Twirling the younger girl around he pushed her forward onto the nearest desk, one hand pulling her back by the hair and the other hiking up her skirt as he bent over her, returning her sexy promises with one of his own. "Of that, I have no doubt. An offer I plan to take you up on frequently once I find a room where people won't disturb us, we would be visiting it often."
Melody ground her panty clad crotch into the bulge she felt in his slacks, moaning excitedly at the order. "Fuck me, please!" She gasped, still terribly aroused by Harry's earlier humiliation of Draco.
"No." Harry said bluntly, freeing his erection from his pants and grinding it into the hollow between her thighs.
"Why? I'm begging for it, please!" Melody whined, shifting into her monster form, as a reflex to Harry pumping his length between her thighs. If she wasn't already busy she would be annoyed, or possibly aroused, that her monster form was only ever used for carnal pleasure these days. Aside from when she'd first showed him she hadn't used it more than a handful of times that didn't involve using her soft fur to get her Master off.
"Are you questioning me?" Harry hissed, pulling her head back further.
Melody hesitated, biting her lip as he stopped thrusting and held her in place. "Y… Yes." She finally answered.
"Good." He replied, casually pumping his hips again, his free hand gripping her tail. "I don't want a mindless, unquestioning toy. You're my Apprentice, given that position because you can think, never assume that I will be angry at you for questioning my actions, as long as it's in the right place." He explained. "As for why I haven't taken you again… well I haven't found a room where we won't get caught, and I don't want to get into trouble and I won't want others to find out about us. I could fuck you right now, I could move your panties to the side and bury myself to the hilt in your pussy in less time than it would take to repeat this sentence, but anyone could come looking for us and what then."
Melody's growing insecurities about his lack of forwardness being her fault were soothed by his words, her face growing warm as she was given evidence of just how much he cared for her. "I'll wait as long as you need, Master." she declared warmly, smiling back at him. "But know this, I don't care if we get caught or not I'm here for whenever you need a good fuck or need some sexual relief like I do." To make her point she pulled Harry's robes apart, to show he was not wearing anything, and asked with a smirk, "Going commando Master."
"Well what can I say, I don't like underwear, but…" but before Harry could say anymore, Melody was on her knees and sucking him off.
Feeling Melody's mouth around his cock, all his resistance about waiting to find a room crumbled, and as he put his hand around Melody's head, "Ahh fuck it! Forget the room." And with that, the two spent the next half an hour in the room, having a great time. By the time they finished, Harry felt so much better, much better than when he let of steam within the room that Dumbledore set up for him. It was then that unless Melody was unavailable, he would use the room, but otherwise, he would fuck his Apprentice whenever he could.
To be Continued!
Author's Note: Here ends the eighth part of The Serpent's Lair Saga, I would like to thank you once again for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and take a few moments to review. I also hope you read all of this note, as I would like your feedback on some things to help me out in the story.
This chapter is Beta Read, and the main reason for this is it is Christmas time, and so my Beta Readers are busy and so won't able to work on it. But as soon as they are done, I'll repost the chapter. Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year. I hope you have a good one, and please review, as not only does it help me to get things better, but gives me the mood to write.
There has been a few who said that Harry was getting his way too often, sadly you are right, but so far I wasn't able to write in a way for him not to get his way. Most of the things he got his way with so far, was because it was within his rights, and so there was no other way but to get his way - or at least from what I could tell. You might think differently. But in this chapter, other than being Lockhart's forced to be his assistant, you see that he didn't get his way and was forced to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's Seeker - where he won and joined. It is small yes, but it was something if Harry had any other option, he would do, as whilst he liked flying, he didn't like using brooms and so try and not to use them when he could.
(I would like to ask that if you got any other ideas for Harry not getting his way, please let me know. So you know, soon something big will happen, something that'll knock Harry for two, and knock down almost everything he built outside of Hogwarts and have him lose a few important people to him. But I still would like a few ideas for Harry not getting his way within Hogwarts.)
If you are a sci-fi fan, I need your help, I'm a sucker for detail, and I'm writing a few sci-fi stories, but them stuck in some details, namely names of components used in armour and computers, got a few like Shock Absorber, HUDs and Exoskeleton, but I need so much more. So if you could give me a list, or a link to a site I could use, I would be really thankful if you could send me anything of use.
A few question I would like your thoughts on:
Should I have the basilisk killed at the end of the saga or not? I say it is more useful to kill it for the money, but I would like to hear your thoughts about it. I'll go with the most outspoken thoughts. (Poll is up so you can vote on my profile and in reviews. I'll leave the poll up for about two/three chapters before I post the results.)
What pranks should Harry and the twins pull this year? I'm looking for ideas for both magical and non-magical ones. Right now, I'm looking for a prank that the Weasley Twins could pull on Harry to start a prank war between the three of them. Any ideas would be appreciated.
It might be early, but I would like to ask for a title for the third year saga, it needs to be eighteen characters or less, including spaces. I hope that you can help me. It'll be the year that not only does Sirius escape Azkaban, but Lucy is 'born' and Harry goes to the Overlord's Tower.
Just as a reminder, flame reviews from guests will be removed. If they point out a problem that needs to be fixed, or ideas that I could use to make the story better, I'll keep them, but keep it constructive. Please consider this when reviewing, as I don't want you to waste your time (or mine) on unhelpful flame reviews.
I would like to announce (for those that don't have alerts for my new stories) that I have posted a new story. This one is a Fairy Tail/Overlord story where Natsu is the Overlord. I won't say much, as I want you to read it for yourself, but it is an Evil/Harem/Powerful/Natsu. I'll be working on it's latest chapter next as I wait for ideas.
That said, I would like to thank you once again for reading, and I hope you spare a few minutes to leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter. Feel free to offer up any ideas you might have for future chapters, and any powers you would like to see used in the story.
These are the titles that you lot give me so far, and the top titles that I like will be voted on after the next chapter, you have until I post the next chapter to give me more titles if you're able to think of better ones for the third year. DO NOT VOTE YET!
Top Titles:
Breaking Free
New Moon's Rise
Return of The Grim
Titles Not being voted on:
Overlord Ascending
The Breakouts
The Two Prisoners
Dark Awakening
Evil Finds A Way
Reborn and Rebirth
The Black Heart
The Birth of Black
Call of Fear
The Face of Fear
Towers and Prisons
The rise Commences
The Overlord's Lair
Life, Death and Power
Next on Rise of Overlord Vulcan: Two Time skips! We see the aftermath of people learning about Harry being a Parselmouth, and Daphne and her group joins Harry and his group. The next time skip we see the first Quidditch of the year.
Omake By Cody Everett
SAND-FORTRESS OF DOOM
"And that is how you make a sandcastle!" Hermione's cheery voice said from where she sat in the sand, a basic looking sandcastle in front of her.
It was a few days after his second encounter with Gabrielle and Harry was hanging out with Hermione and Melody on the beach. With nothing better to do, the siblings had decided to teach Harry how to build a sandcastle. Hermione's sandcastle was just a couple walls, with circular towers. Melody had decided on more of a moral support role from her position a few feet away, buried in the sand. (And shaped like a very curvaceous mermaid)
Giving the castle a curious look, Harry 'hmmed' as he said, "I think I get it. You just pack the sand together into shapes and then sculpt it into what you want, right?"
Hermione nodded her head. "Right."
'Hmmm-ing' once again, Harry looked to a clear space in front of him as Hermione went back to her castle. If she'd stayed facing Harry for a few more moments she would have seen the maniacal glint in Harry's eye.
- - A Couple Hours Later - -
Putting the finishing touches on her now elaborate castle, Hermione turned to see how Harry was doing with his. She wasn't expecting much, as it was his first time making one, so she was understandably surprised when she turned around. Her jaw dropped as she took in the looming form, unable to make words. From where she was still laying, Melody turned her head and had much the same expression.
Where once there had been nothing but sand, there was now an intimidating fortress, as big as a house. The large gates were decorated with beasts and from the walls jutted wooden sticks decorated with seashells sculpted to look like skulls. At the top of the walls were sand-constructed, honest to God, cannons.
And in front of this ominous looking construction stood a grinning Harry, leaning on a sign that read: HARRY'S SAND-FORTRESS OF DOOM. BEWARE!
Still grinning, Harry said, "Well, now you have a castle, and I have a castle. You should know what happens next." As he finished saying that, one of the wall mounted cannons seemed to move, fixing itself on Hermione's small, feeble, and utterly defenceless castle.
Hermione promptly decided it was best to get out of the way…
Beta's Note:
"Yawning and shivering slightly, Harry climbed out of bed and tried to find his Quidditch robes. Deciding it was better to do this, the other option was to kill the fool, and that would mean trying to find a place to hide the body quickly. And he didn't want his first human kill, to be this fool, that right belonged to Dan Granger. Which Harry was still planning, he had the basic idea, but he needed a way out of Hogwarts, until he could find a way out, he couldn't do much right now. Although, he could ask a few question at the casinos, they seemed to be full of food, so they might know a way out of Hogwarts without being seen."
If you don't Understand that little bit, let me clarify… He means that since the Casinos have food in there, they must have a way to get it in and out… so he wants to ask around in the casinos about that.