Chapter 14
The Chamber Of Secrets.
07:45 am 25th January, Gryffindor Common room, Hogwarts.
Neville found himself being woken up by his bushy haired best friend, apparently he had slept on the common room floor last night, the last thing he remembered was thinking about all the events that had happened as of late, and then nothing.
Now while he was going through his morning ablution, something at the back of his mind was nagging him, nagging that he was forgetting something really important, but for the life of him he couldn't remember, shrugging it off for later contemplation he got ready to go and meet others in the great hall.
And they also had to visit Tracey, a reminder that snuffed out all his enthusiasm for the day, it had been quite depressing to see the snarky and bubbly girl lie unmoving like that.
Mentally making a note to check on the mandrakes again he got out of the bathroom, got dressed and proceeded to the Great Hall.
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08:47 am 12th February, The Great Hall,Hogwarts.
Through the girl he could see those around him, though just glimpses at a time, but he didn't need to completely take over the silly girl to become aware of his surroundings.
He would have dealt with the pest that was the boy who lived the other day when he was sitting in the common room unguarded, the only problem was that it would have set Dumbledore in action, and that was something that he couldn't afford, soon though he would be able to perform the necessary rituals, just another month, and then the world will once again tremble under the wrath of Lord Voldemort.
On another frustrating point, he had been unable to get much on the enigmatic Potter, from what he had heard the boy was - as much as it pained him to say - better than he was at that age, he wanted to see if the boy could be recruited to follow him, if all goes as planned, eventually he would make for a good student, but if not, he would be wiped out as soon as possible.
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02:29 pm 09th March, Headmaster's office, Hogwarts.
In a particularly noteworthy event, there were three people present in the Headmaster's office, one the holder of the said office; Albus Dumbledore stood behind his desk with a calm that was utterly escaping the only woman in the office, his deputy Minerva Mcgonagall, looking at the blonde man in front of him said, "If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside, however, you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me…Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
Mcgonagall straightened with pride filling her at his words, being encouraged by her teacher's words even in this bleak situation, while Malfoy who had been smugly smiling till now formed a sneer on his face as he looked at the only wizard that was a match for his master, utterly loathing the fact that he hadn't even been able to catch the old man off guard.
Then all of a sudden the blonde slammed a piece of parchment on Dumbledore's table and drawled, "Pack your things and leave by tonight, we, the Governors, will find someone who can and will deal with the …. Muggleborn situation." turning on the spot he left slamming the door in a display of impotent rage.
Both the teachers in the room knew that when Malfoy said deal with the situation he wasn't talking about helping the students.
It was only after Malfoy left that Minerva spoke for the first time since this farce began, "Albus, once you leave you know as well as I do that the situation will only get worse, and who ever will be puppeteered in your stead will ignore the situation, if not outright condone it!" by the end of the statement her voice had started to rise quite a lot of octaves, a bit more and she could have broken glass, thankfully Dumbledore had not only set silencing spells around his office, hence preventing anyone from hearing her, also managed to get her rising volume to come to a halt, without any spell work.
"Minerva we must do what we can, i understand that the situation appears to be quite dire, and I happen to agree with your predictions about what might happen soon, yet there is a silver lining in all of this, now that I am not bound to the castle for however long that may be, I can stretch my proverbial and literal legs and reach some of my more obscure and stubborn contacts to help us out, so for now I'll start packing what needs to be packed while i ask of you to inform the rest of the staff that we shall meet today for an emergency meeting as soon as possible."
While she yet again demonstrated her displeasure at the prospect of Dumbledore's dismissal when her lips thinned, she gave him a curt nod and went about way to do the needful.
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00:54 am 11th March, Southern Peak, Himalayan Range.
On a small platform there were two people, one an old man who was wearing robes that looked like they had seen better days, he was bald and had some facial hair, and his eyes were closed, and if it wasn't for the slow yet rhythmic inflation and deflation of his chest, one would presume he was dead. The other person was presumably a young man, wearing a black skin tight combat suit with a hood which had an active obscurus charm hiding his face.
To understand what was happening we would have to begin at the beginning.
The young man had come searching for answers he hadn't been able to find, he had heard that the monks who dwelled on these hills were enlightened in the matters of spirits hence why he had come here, seeking guidance from those who were better learned than him.
He had entered the hills from the Western side where he met the first monk of his journey as soon as he had approached the holy man, he was told, "हे पथिक तुम मुझसे जो उत्तर चाहोगे, वह तुम्हें नहीं मिलेगा, तुम सही रास्ते पर हो, तुम्हें सिर्फ सही मार्गदर्शक खोजने की जरूरत है, आगे बढ़ाओ!" (Oh wanderer you will not find from me the answer you seek from us, you are on the right path, you just need to find the right guide, carry on!) the monk hadn't event opened his eyes to look at him yet somehow gave him an answer to an unasked question, had he been someone else he would have hesitated, but given he was not, he carried forward his journey, and slowly trekked towards North, and then progressively towards East, and at last he was South bound, till now he had met 16 more monks who had given him the same answer as the first, at the end of the range he found another monk, and as soon as he arrived close to him he was told, "हे पथिक! आप जो खोजते हैं वह आपके घर के अंदर, आपके घर के पास और आपके घर के कारण मिलेगा।" (Oh wanderer! what you search for will be found inside your home, near your home, and due to your home.)
He went back to his sanctuary in Hogwarts, and began pondering upon the words given to him by the monk.
'Now what exactly would qualify as my home? Hogwarts where I spend most of my time or the Law's household where i have been assigned? Or even Godric's hollow where i was born,' he started thinking while stirring a concoction in a golden cauldron which was about the size of 3.14 .
The said concoction was amber red in color and was quite thick, not unlike the life giving liquid, had anyone come near it they would have felt its magic regardless of being magical or not, it possessed a sheen that gave it a fey appearance, unlike other concoctions created in this lab this one was neither frothing or bubbling, it just went at a steady pace, and as he was stirring it he had an epiphany, 'maybe I am going at this the wrong way, certainly I have not found any success as of recent but maybe that is because I have stagnated due to some form of preconception, and it can only be solved by help from someone, the problem is that there is no one sufficiently knowledgeable who could help.' He knew what he was doing wouldn't be accepted by anyone whom he could recruit for help, like Dumbledore or the Flamels, and others who could possibly help him were dangerous people who could cause more destruction than help and put his objective at risk.
Then all of a sudden the one stirring the concoction jerked his head towards the side as he was alerted to a certain girl being in distress.
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03:56 pm 11th March, Hogwarts Clock Tower Courtyard.
'Yes! All the pieces fit! It goes according to the legends and would explain how the monster was able to escape notice for so long, it was after all in plain sight! Now that we have proof we'll be able to do something, and the professors will….' was what Hermione was thinking as she rushed through the halls of the castle with her companion at the moment, both carrying a conjured mirror in their hand, her thought train came to a screeching halt as she saw a yellow eye in the mirror she was carrying.
She fell to the ground, limp and lifeless, at least for a given value of both, her mouth open in a silent scream, unfortunately her companion experienced the same fate, as such neither was able to help the other, and consecutively they also didn't notice the long shadow that descended on their prone forms,
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11:17 am 11th March, ?.
In what looked liked a highly posch room sat two people, one a diminutive man with sharp features borderlining Human and Goblin stared at the man in front of him with black beady eyes, dressed in an immaculate black suit with silver trimmings, and if one looked close enough the the cufflinks he wore had some sort of coat of arms which bore the signs of being forcefully erased, a banishment perhaps.
The other was an old tall Man, with a long silvery beard, with a half moon glasses sitting snugly on his crooked nose, he was dressed in a flaming red robe, and had a small black hat on top of his hat, sipping on the tea served to him by his host.
"Albus, if you weren't the most dangerous man i know i would have killed you long ago for being half as annoying and insufferable as you are." began the diminutive man.
Dumbledore simply chuckled and replied, "Of course Rasende, though I believe you would have to fight off quite a huge horde of people if you want to get the first short off me."
And the now named Rasende's eye started to twitch in annoyance, but regardless he ploughed on, with a wave of his hand a small rectangle box shot out of a nearby drawer and landed on the table beside them, and he pushed it towards his clearly unappreciated guest.
The said guest took that as an invitation to look inside the box, and he raised his eyebrows as he removed the contents, a pair of glasses which had a rough frame made out of iron, and the lens were golden colored, the metallic frame as if it was meant to be worn by someone who needed it to protect their eyes quite delicately, not unlike the glasses used by muggles post cataract surgery.
"You said you were going to fight a Freyja be damned Basilisk, and this pair of glasses can help you neutralize the death stare of it, but beware the testing of the item is limited to a young gorgon and nothing more, there is no guarantee that it will work as you hope." was the reply to the unasked question.
With a small smile on his face Dumbledore nodded and then began, "Of course it will work Rasende, and yes i consider myself warned, so should any tragedy befall me, it is due to my own shortcomings, now this has been a pleasant but i believe i must leave as i have some other appointments to attend, once again thank you very much for everything Rasende."
As he reached the door to exit, his host called out to him "pass my regards to that foolish son of mine will you?"
Without turning Dumbledore answered, "Of course, I am sure Filius will be quite pleased to hear from you."
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04:42 pm 11th March, Hogwarts Entrance Chamber.
Unprecedented panic had engulfed hogwarts, as the situation had gone from bad to worse, an emergency evacuation for all students and teachers alike was about to begin, while here, Filius Flitwick waited for Dumbledore to arrive with the backup he was going to arrive with.
The youngest weasley child had disappeared and the appearance of a message on the walls stating "Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever", had been the trigger for this chaos enmasse.
As if it wasn't bad enough that they had found miss Granger petrified in the corridors despite all of their precautions especially given that she had been… whatever Filius was thinking had been interrupted by a bright light, signifying a portkey, and from it emerged Dumbledore along with four other people, two were people Filius knew, the magizoologist Newt Scamander and his wife, Tina Goldstein, while the other two were unknown, the first a young woman dressed in a simple black saree who was scanning her surroundings warily, the other a tall and muscular bald man who was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and a blue faded out jeans, and he was carrying a huge scroll on his back.
As soon as the emergency had begun Filius had sent an SOS to the wizened headmaster, hoping that his friend and mentor could do something, as they were at the end of their rope.
As soon as Dumbledore's eyes landed on the charms professor, he began, "I believe that while introductions are in order we can do them on our way, as we have little time, and must begin our mission post haste."
And as one they rushed inside the castle, their destination, The Chambers of Secrets.
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03:57 pm 11th March, Hogwarts Clock Tower Courtyard.
Harry had arrived in the courtyard after being contacted by Hogwarts, it was different this time, everytime the ancient school had contacted him it had been quite loud and clear, this time it was muffled garbled and muffled, as if it were being bound from contacting anyone, so just like last time he went where he was asked to go.
He had heard about the Petrifications taking place in the school, but they fell out of his Jurisdiction, and he had not been contacted by anyone for assistance, so he had not done anything to deal with the situation.
But he had been entirely unprepared for the sight that greeted him, in front of him were the prone forms of Hermione Granger his Housemate, and Professor Minerva Mcgonagall his Head of the House, but what he had been even more unprepared for was the cryokinetic feeling that spread throughout his body, which also made his snap out of his stupor as he began scanning his surroundings for any danger finding none; as he believed the earlier cryokinetic feeling to be some form of an attack on him, post haste he grabbed both women and disappeared.
A/n : Hello people, I thoroughly apologize for being so late, but like i mentioned my computer broke down and I was able to buy a new one just this week so I'm back for now.
To anyone who would be reading this, thank you very much for your support and patience with me.
