POTTER RESURGENCE
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling.
7th Friday 1992
Hogwarts Library
Enchanting is a sub-unit of magic, one that largely depends on other major branches of magic. For the most part, enchanting falls under charms only one will be charming the object permanently.
Enchantments represent persistent magical effects, usually remaining in play indefinitely. Most have continuous or triggered abilities, but some have abilities that can be activated by their controllers...
Harry put down the book and scribbled some notes in his journal. He wasn't particularly interested in enchanting perse, not yet at least but with the level at which he was on wards, it didn't need him putting all his free time into their study.
He was still going to keep studying wards, the tomes in his trunk was evidence for that but he wasn't going to give them all his time like he had last year. He was far from gaining a mastery but at his stage, he was proficient enough to recognize most wards.
Along with his study of wards, Harry wanted to have a side project of sorts and had decided on enchanting. He wasn't going to concentrate much on it really, only wanting to get knowledge enough to recognize an enchanted or cursed object and how to handle one. Something any respectable wizard should know.
His occulmency was moving well, he knew in a year or two, he would be proficient enough to consider himself a master in the art. At least when it came to his mind.
His shields at this rate could detect and handle an active leglimency attack long enough to actually defend himself. If he kept his progress to the end of next year, he will be able to effortlessly resist veritasarum and even an over powered obliviate.
He knew that right now he could be affected by the spell but given some time, he can retrieve his memories. He wasn't sure about Hardwin though he knew his brother was good enough to detect a passive leglimency attack and even handle a mild direct attack.
"You took your time." Harry commented when Hermione finally sat down opposite him.
"Uhm, sorry I thought we weren't continuing this year."
"And what gave you that impression?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow and the girl blushed.
"Well, I thought you were only doing this because I have no friends but now that I don't have friends_"
"I'm no longer of useful to you?"
"No!" She shouted and winced when her voice rang around the library. Madam Pince glared at them and Harry gave her an apologetic smile. Hermione hissed at him. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"
"What did you mean then?"
"I...can we just forget about this?"
"No, Ms. Granger." Harry said sternly. "We cannot just forget about this. Now tell me what you meant earlier."
"I..." The girl slumped. "I thought you were only doing it so I don't feel alone because I didn't have any friends back then."
Harry was silent for a second and Hermione peered at him from her mane of hair.
"Look, Ms. Granger, let me be honest with you, I didn't do this for you." Harry started. "No one does anything for anyone just for their sake, not in the magical world at least. It may have had tremendous benefits for you but the initial plan was for my benefit, I approached you for my own selfish reasons."
"So you're using me?!"
"Is that what they call helping you learn to cast magic silently and without wand movements?" Harry asked curiously and the girl blushed. "Trust me Ms. Granger, there's a whole bunch of adult wizards who can't cast even a Lumos with the proficiency you do."
"But you said_"
"Just because I approached you for my reasons doesn't mean you don't benefit from our partnership, I would hardly call it using you." He continued with a smirk. "As a matter of fact you could say we are 'friends with benefits'."
The last statement registered and the girl squeaked with a fierce blush, her bright mind conjuring images she did NOT want to see.
"So, I know you can do all spells in the Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 silently and with the most minimum movement, correct?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded eagerly, glad for the change in topic. "What about wandlessly?"
"Wandlessly?" Harry hummed in confirmation and the girl shook her head. "That's impossible!"
Harry just kept looking at her.
"I mean, it's supposed to be impossible."
Harry waved his hand over the table and his journal closed itself and rose from the table and floated over to his bag. He opened it and the journal settled in gently with the rest of the books.
When he looked back at Hermione, he started regretting his joke about being friends with benefits as the thirteen-year-old looked to be moments away from snogging him.
"Something is wrong with Hermione." Hardwin said the moment he took his seat across Harry. "Every time she looks at me she starts blushing and goes all quiet."
Harry grinned at his brother. "Well, the poor girl probably has a crush on you."
"That's stupid, this is Hermione we are talking about." Hardwin shook his head. "She doesn't do those girly things."
"Well, you know her better than me." Harry said with an infuriating smile. "So, how was your first week?"
"Bloody Lockhart."
"I understand you had detention with him." Harry said. "By the way good work with Draco, he hasn't caused much trouble as I had expected."
Hardwin grinned. "It was worth the detention with Lockhart."
"You had detention with Lockhart?"
"The fraud had me answering his fan mail." He huffed. "By the time I left, I was so tired I thought I heard perseltongue from the castle walls."
Harry's eyes narrowed at that. The twins had found out that they were perselmouths some time around five but had kept that fact to themselves given the prejudice that went with the ability. They were so afraid tht hadn't even told Lily and then after time they didn't want to get in trouble with her for not telling her earlier.
"Perseltongue?"
"It can't have been it." Hardwin waved his hand dismissively. "By the way, did you know Malfoy is the new Slytherin seeker?"
"He is?"
"Yeah, we ran into them earlier today when they crashed our practice session to 'try out their new brooms'." Harry could almost hear the quotes in his statement. "Turns out Malfoy Sr bought all of them Nimbus 2001s so his son could be on the team."
"Oh, this should be interesting." Harry grinned, leaning back.
"Uh?"
"With him getting on the team, I imagine Draco will have collected enough bravery to confront me." Harry's smile made a shiver go down Hardwin's smile. "I imagine things are going to be very exciting tonight in the common room."
Later that night
Slytherin Common room
Blaise couldn't hide his excitement. He was practically vibrating as the minutes ticked by, his eyes trained on the entrance.
"Why is he taking so long?" Draco asked before he turned to him. "You didn't earn him, did you?"
Blaise rolled his eyes, if anyone deserved a warning, it was Draco. "With how smug you've been looking since the brooms arrived this morning, Potter would be a fool if he didn't know what you planned."
"Maybe he won't come." Pansy mused from Draco's side. "If he knows what you planned then he will probably hide out there until tomorrow."
"Potter isn't one to hide from his problems." Blaise said and Draco glared at him.
"Of, and you're now an expert in all things Potter?"
"Well, I'm his roommate, aren't I?"
Whatever Draco was going to say was never heard as Potter seemed to materialize at the entrance of the common room. He paused at the organization of the room, his gaze sweeping across the one side where almost all the couches had been put and a number of students in other years were seated.
The entire quidditch team was there as well as many others and they were all waiting for what was going to happen. Harry's emerald gaze swept towards the two couches stationed at the steps that led to the boys'dormitory where the other second years were seated blocking his way up.
He looked at every single second year as they lounged on the two sofas until his eyes landed on Draco who was seated in the middle.
"So." Potter started, his hands behind his back. "Finally got enough courage to act on your thoughts, Draco?"
"I only needed the entire house to realize my worth." Draco answered as he smiled at the other Slytherins. "They did and rightfully recognize me as head of the second years."
"Congratulations, I guess." Harry replied dryly. "Now, can you please move, I would like to go and get some sleep."
"Sure thing." Draco smirked. "But first, you have to show the entire house that you recognize me as head of the second years."
"I recognize you as head of the second years." Harry said without missing a bit and Draco gaped at him. "Now, may I pass?"
"No, that's not how it works." The blonde said, standing up and he was followed by Crabbe and Goyle. "You have to bow before me."
Blaise exchanged a glance with Greengrass as the entire common room became very still. It was obvious Draco was looking for a fight if he was trying to humiliate Potter. Bowing was not a requirement, not at this stage.
"No." Harry's time was cold and crisp. "A Potter never bows to anyone. Most definitely not to the likes of you."
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Draco demanded.
"You're nothing Draco without your parents." Potter stated calmly. "You're not particularly gifted at magic or any other department that matters. If it weren't for your father, you wouldn't be any worth to anyone."
Draco flushed in anger and embarrassment and looked seconds away from jumping at Harry and punching him like Hardwin had done. He then seemed to settle down and his face was marred by the cruel smirk.
"At least I don't have a mudblood for a parent."
That was a mistake and everyone in the common room new it the moment Draco finished speaking. In a blink of an eye, Harry had his wand in his hand. He flicked it in the direction of the couches the other second years were on and tht slid towards the rest of the couches leaving Draco standing alone with his bookends.
A shimmering shield materialized before Harry and blocked the three spells from Draco and the other two before Harry slashed his wand and the three were sent flying. Two stunners hit Crabbe and Goyle as soon as thry hit the ground while Draco's wand came flying towards Harry.
He caught the wand easily and started stalking his way towards the scared blonde only to stop suddenly and spin around, the same shimmering shield appearing once again to block three nasty looking spells from from older students, all on the quidditch team.
Two of them were fourth years while the third was a fifth year. Their spells splashed harmlessly on the shield even as they started casting again. Harry dropped the shield and dived to the ground as three more came at him and tht flew over his head.
He rolled to the side to dodge a follow-up spell from the fifth year student and raised his left hand, palm facing the three older students. An almost visible shockwave of magic erupted from the hand and lifted the three surprised students and slammed them into the wall opposite the fireplace.
They impacted very hard and there were sounds of bones breaking that echoed around the very silent common room. Harry got to his feet and stumbled slightly, he glared at the three unconscious older students and Blaise caught his eyes glowing eerily.
He turned and stalked his way towards the stairs where Draco was still lying, his mouth open in shock. When he caught sight of Harry, the blonde whimpered, his face losing all color and going by the stain spreading on the floor, he had pissed himself.
Harry reached him and effortlessly lifted him to his feet with one hand by the neck. The heavy presence in the common room increased as Draco was forced to his feet.
"Never, speak that word in my presence again. Ever!" Harry whispered back his voice was heard very clearly in the silent common room. "Is that clear?!"
Draco nodded rapidly and Harry let him go. He crumpled to the floor like a sank of potatoes and with one last glare at the rest of the house, Harry disappeared up the stairs and his magical presence also left the common room. A collective sigh of relief was released by almost everyone.
Harry Potter at twelve was capable of silent and wandless magic! Everyone had seen it with their eyes and they all knew one thing, the Potter heir was not someone to mess with.
-PRPRPRPR-
29th October 1992
Hogwarts Library
Harry closed the journal he had been reading. It belonged to the original Hardwin Potter who his brother had been named after. Hardwin Potter, Linfred's eldest son, married a beautiful young witch from the village of Godric's Hollow who went by the name of Lolanthe Peverell.
She was the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell and as the eldest of her generation in the absence of male heirs within the Peverell family, inherited her grandfather's Cloak of Invisibility. It was, as Lolanthe explained to Hardwin, a tradition in her family that the possession of this cloak remained a secret, and her new husband respected her wishes.
From this time on, the cloak was handed down to the eldest in each new generation untill at this point where it was in Harry's possession. No one outside of the family knew for certain that it was the original Cloak from Ignotous even though Harry knew that Dumbledore probably suspected.
What interested Harry about the original Hardwin however was the fact that when he died, he was almost close to being a squib in terms of magical power and yet was one of the most feared wizard of his time and not because he was a Dark Lord. Far from it actually, infact he was feared because of how he handled dark wizards and witches of the time.
He was ferocious in his fight against Dark magic and was revered as the symbol of the Light of his generation which was pretty ironic as James hadn't known that his son would become the boy-who-lived when he decided on the name.
In hindsight, it's probably the name that made the decision for Voldemort to cast the killing curse on one twin instead of the other. Harry honestly believed that either of them could have been marked as the child of the prophecy and it had all hinged on Voldemort's decision.
Harry had obviously researched both their names history. Harry was named after Henry Potter his great-grandfather, also known as 'Harry' to friends and family, Henry Potter had been a prominent member of the Wizengamot.
He was behind the majority of the laws that ran the magical world now and was famous for his presence. Wherever he was, he was felt. He didn't shy away from attention and did not take slight to house Potter lightly. He was feared and respected by almost everyone.
Henry 'Harry' Potter and Arcturus Black III were great friends and together practically ruled the magical world. When he finished his research, Harry found that he wasn't opposed to walking in his namesake's footsteps.
Hardwin on the other hand his history was almost lost, the fact that he had been a near-squib wasn't known to the world at large, only from the Potter archives had he found out. This had piqued Harry's interest and he had looked into the archives for his journal.
The journal he found out was among the warded texts, the very reason he had initially been interested in wards. Over the summer, he had carefully managed to dispell the wards momentarily and had gotten the journal.
"What do you think of Professor Lockhart?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl. Their class schedule hadn't changed much from last year and the Gryffindors and Slytherins still had a free period on Friday after lunch.
"What this brought on?"
"Hardwin and Neville think that he is a fraud!" She spat the word. "Personally I think they're being unreasonable. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him if he was a fraud."
"The same Dumbledore who hired Quirrell?" Harry asked and Hermione opened her mouth to retort. "Need I remind you that Quirrell was possessed by the Dark Lord and was in this castle for a full year?"
"I...so you think he is a fraud too?"
"I didn't say that." Harry said with a smile and continued at her confused look. "All I'm saying is that you shouldn't base Professor Lockhart's credibility on the headmaster's hiring skills."
"Oh, so you don't think he is a fraud?" The girl asked with bright eyes and Harry swiftly doused her excitement with water.
"I did not say that." Harry shook his head. "Honestly, how do you come to such conclusions from what I'm saying?"
Hermione sputtered for a few seconds, at a loss for words and huffed at Harry's twinkling eyes. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"
"Yep." Harry replied easily enough. "We are not here to discuss the staff, Ms. Granger. Wether we think they're capable or not is not important, I don't see the headmaster moving around asking students' opinions on the education they're getting."
He paused and pinned her with a hard stare. "What is important is your lack of progress in wandless magic in two months and what we will be doing about it."
-PRPRPRPR-
October 31st 1992
Hardwin stood next to Neville and Hermione as tht stared at the hanging cat and the words in horror. They had just come from the Death-day party and had run into the sight after Hermione had insisted that they get to the feast. And now here he was standing at a crime scene.
They were standing at a crime scene!
"We need to get out of here!" Hardwin said as he grabbed his friends and started pulling them down the corridor.
But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends.
The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Hardwin, Neville, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sigh.
Then someone shouted through the quiet.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mud_muggleborns!"
It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.
Hardwin caught the fact that the Malfoy heir had for some reason decided no to say mudblood at the last second. He looked around but he couldn't see Harry anywhere. He saw Filch hurrying towards them, Hardwin groaned to himself, of course Halloween had to just happen.
-PRPRPRPR-
The next weekend, Hardwin sank in the seat opposite Harry with a huff. He had tried to talk to his brother during the week but he had proved elusive. He suspected Harry was doing it on purpose in some half-assed attempt to punish him for being found at the crime scene.
"Long week?" He wasn't even bothering to hide his amusement.
"They are impossible!" Hardwin huffed. "How can anyone believe that I could be the heir of Slytherin?!"
"Well you're a perselmouth." Harry pointed out, his eyes twinkling.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?"
"Well, to be honest..." Harry started. "The fact that you the epitome of Gryffindor could be considered the heir of Slytherin, is quite hilarious."
"I can't believe I'm telling you this but can you take this seriously!" Hardwin glared at Harry who raised an eyebrow. "You know who the last person to consider himself Heir of Slytherin is, doesn't it bother you that someone is gallivanting around Hogwarts, speaking perseltongue in the hallways and petrifying things?!"
"Well and what do you propose we do?" Harry asked. "Go around checking everyone to see if they're being possessed? And what happens when we find them, have you already forgotten how our collective behinds were handed to us the last time we met the Dark Lord?"
"We can't just sit down and do nothing!"
"We most definitely can." Harry answered calmly. "If the Dark Lord is even in the school again, we are in no position to do anything. He underestimated us last time and I assure you he won't be doing that again."
"So what,we are to do nothing?"
" No, that would be stupid." Harry replied. "These meetings, we will be having them in the afternoon, we shall be meeting in the room that had fluffy last year and practice our dueling. It's not very frequented and I warded it so no one will disturb us."
Hardwin blinked at him, it was clear Harry had already put some thought into this and now he felt stupid that he had even considered that he didn't care, especially when Voldemort was likely involved.
"As for the Chamber of secrets..." Harry was still talking. "We will find out everything there is to know about. We will NOT be seeking out whoever this heir is, if he comes after us, we shall do everything in our power to survive but NO seeking him out, do I make myself clear?"
Hardwin nodded firmly, he hadn't planned on doing anything like that either.
-PRPRPRPR-
In the third Friday of November, Harry watched silently as Hermione, Neville and Hardwin took seats infront of him. The three were fidgeting while he just stared at them silently, waiting for an explanation.
"I...I'm sorry Harry but they insisted on coming." Hermione said Ina small voice and got no reaction from the Slytherin. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"Not even one bit." He replied before pinning the two boys with a stare. "What do you want?"
"Hermione suggested-"
"I did not!"
"-that you're the best source of information." Hardwin ignored the girl. "You said that we should get everything we can about the chamber and for us didn't we didn't have much success. We thought that maybe you may have been more successful."
"I told you to research the chamber and you came to me for the info?" Harry asked and Hardwin blushed but Harry just smirked at him. "How Slytherin of you, I approve."
Hardwin looked like he didn't know whether to he was insulted or complimented. Harry reached in his backpack and retrieved three bracelets and handed them to the three Gryffindors.
"What's with the bangles?" Neville asked as he looked the one before him over.
"They're crudely enchanted bracelets stuffed with reflective shields." Harry explained and Hermione's eyes lit up. "The shields activate when a spell is cast on your person and reflects the spell back to the sender with twice the speed and power."
"Wow!" Hermione breathed. "Where can I buy one of these?"
"Well, you're holding one Hermione." Hardwin pointed out and the girl glared at him.
"I meant for other people! Do you know how useful these could be?!" Hermione said. "These should be made mandatory to everyone!"
"Well, they're not for sell." Harry said before they could start arguing. "I made those for House Potter and you two only got one each because you're Hardwin's friends."
"Wait, you made them?!" Her eyes widened. "I didn't know you knew enchanting."
"I wasn't aware you knew everything about me." Harry said coldly and Hermione stopped short, flinching slightly at his glare.
"He is messing with you, Hermione." Hardwin said with a laugh while shooting Harry a pointed look. "Aren't you, Harry?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at him without saying anything. He stared right back, identical emerald eyes locked in a battle of wills while the other two Gryffindors glanced at each other warily.
"So...about the chamber?" Neville spoke up dissolving the tension between the two brothers.
"Is there anything else you can tell us other than what Binns said?" Hermione asked, jumping at the chance.
"The chamber of secrets was supposedly first opened in the 1942-1943 school year where_"
"Wait, it has been opened before?" Hardwin asked and Harry glared at him. "Sorry."
"There was a string of petrifications that year all of which were muggleborns and half-bloods. All of which were found in a similar state as Mrs. Norris." Harry continued, ignoring the way the others' faces paled at the revelation. "The attacks all came to a stop when a muggleborn student by the names Myrtle Warren in a second-floor girls' bathroom."
"Moaning Myrtle." Hermione breathed in realization. Harry didn't say anything, he just continued.
"The school was going to be closed and one of the students revealed to the staff that there was another student that was housing an acromantula in the castle." His audience blinked in confusion. "It was concluded that the student with the acromantula was the heir and he was expelled and sent to Azkaban."
"But...an acromantula does not petrify!" Hermione argued but Harry just shrugged.
"The ministry came to the same conclusion after some time and he was released from the prison but wasn't allowed to continue his education at Hogwarts." He said. "With the supposed'heir' expelled, there weren't any more attacks related to the chamber untill this year."
There was a moment of silence as the three absorbed the new information until Hardwin suddenly looked up. "Hagrid!" He exclaimed quietly. "The expelled boy was Hagrid, right?"
Harry just nodded in confirmation.
"What?!" Hermione exclaimed. "But that's stupid, Hagrid wouldn't hurt a fly!"
"But an acromantula could and the evidence was against him for they had to expell him." Harry replied. "At the very least as a scapegoat since the real heir was never found."
"As a matter of fact, from that day, nothing was heard about the Chamber of secrets untill this year." Harry continued. "Which means that either the original heir is somehow back at Hogwarts or his son is."
The other three gulped. None of the two options were appealing at all and all pointed to disaster. While the other two pondered what the implementations of that meant for them, Hardwin stared at his brother.
"Do you have an idea what the monster in the chamber is?"
Harry nodded. "All evidence I've collected so far points to one creature though something is missing."
"What creature?" He asked, dread pooling in his stomach.
Harry glanced at Neville and Hermione who still looked like they were in a world of their own before he hissed quietly in perseltongue.
~basilisk~
Hardwin's eyes widened at that. The fact that Harry had spoken in perseltongue reminded him of the voice he had been hearing in the hallways speaking perseltongue and of the creatures capable of petrification, only the basilisk was serpentine. What didn't make sense was how it had kept itself from sight.
Maybe the heir had been hiding it somehow?
"We have to tell Dumbledore!" He exclaimed and Harry sneered at him.
"Do you honestly think that by the time a second-year student manages to get that much information and draw the conclusions I have, the headmaster wouldn't have done the same a long time ago?" He asked. "Especially given the fact that he had been personally the first time?"
"What do we do then?"
"We stay out of his way." Harry calmly said. Hardwin stood up with a nod and his friends followed. He paused though.
"Fine." He said though his eyes hardened slightly. "Make no mistake however, if he comes after me or my friends, I'll do everything in my power to destroy him."
Without waiting for a reply, he spun around and followed after his friends. If he had stayed a little longer, he would have caught Harry's proud smile.
"I would expect nothing less from a Potter."
-PRPRPRPR-
November 30th 1992
Harry's lab.
Harry muttered the spell under his breath while holding his hand over the piece of parchment. His eyes were closed and his forehead had beads of sweat but he paid them no mind, even as lines appeared on said forehead due to his concentration.
He wrestled with his magic, directing it to his palm and slowly a cut appeared. Three drops of blood, glowing slightly from the magic he had imbued into them fell onto the parchment and just as the last drop left the wound, it healed up immediately. Harry stopped concentrating and opened his eyes to look at the blood stain.
The stain started slowly spreading untill it couldn't spread as one patch and lines started branching from the main point. As if they had a life of their own, the lines moved, like small snakes, they moved around the parchment, crisscrossing each other at different points.
About half a minute later, the last moving line came to a stop and Harry sighed. He lifted the parchment and looked at the most detailed map of Hogwarts he had ever seen, only it wasn't what he had been aiming for. He looked at the pile on the table which had over eleven maps that he had made, each becoming more detailed than the former one.
With the Marauder's map missing, he had opted to create another one and the one he was holding was the closest he had come to it. Places were marked, rooms that he hadn't even known existed in the castle were all there. There were curious places he could see.
For example on the seventh floor, there was a room that kept appearing and disappearing though there was no marked entrance. Another was a marked entrance that had no room behind it unlike other doors he had seen that had doors with walls behind them. This one was marked as an entrance to something.
Right in Myrtle's bathroom. Harry didn't need to be a genius to guess where it went, getting in was the problem though.
These were the ones that caught his eye but he could see many others that were very interesting as well, and he was going to explore all of them by the end of the year.
There was something missing though, the map wasn't the perfect copy of the Marauder's map, it was missing something that made the legendary map special and Harry knew exactly what to do.
He walked over to a wall and waved his wand, easily dispelling the ward he had placed there. The wall folded on itself, rearranging untill it formed into a shelf with a number of Ancient looking tomes that he had borrowed from the Potter library. They weren't exactly legal after all.
He reached on top of the shelf and retrieved the precious box, careful not to knock over the vials with his potions. He carried the box as well as a vail containing a crimson potion back to his work-table and after a few seconds of dispelling the wards on it, he retrieved his most important possession.
The blood-red stone was pulsing at the same place as his heart as if in anticipation for he was a out to do. Harry wasn't sure how the marauders had made their map but he was going to make one of his own with the resources he had.
In this case, a very powerful medium. He was going to use the powerful artifact to create a connection with the wards and transfer it to the parchment. Taking a deep breath, Harry started channeling magic into the stone, his intention clear.
The stone latched onto his magic and he felt the familiar pull, one he has grown used to thanks to his continuous making of gold. He directed his thoughts and the stone responded, he felt as if his consciousness was pulled into the stone and suddenly his was feeling the castle.
No, scratch that. He was the castle. He saw the students leave the quidditch pitch, saw a group of Gryffindors carrying his brother into the hospital wing, saw students in the Astronomy Tower, saw a red-headed girl lean over a sink in Myrtle's bathroom, saw Snape arguing with Lockhart in the empty pitch. Images flew into his mind so fast he almost lost himself in the sensation before his occulmency shields slammed down.
He was pulled back into his body but he could still feel the connection in his mind. With a bit of effort, Harry transferred it to the parchment and stumbled, his vision going back as his body suffered the effects of magical exhaustion. He struggled to remain concious, his free hand grabbing the vial on the table and he downed the crimson potion.
His vision cleared immediately and he felt his magic start refilling as his most successful attempt at the elixir of life worked on him. The headache disappeared and he felt free, the exhaustion of sitting in the room for hours disappeared an he felt like he had just woken up.
Looking at the parchment, Harry grinned to himself. Just like Sirius had explained about the Marauder's map, his showed every person in the castle and their location with their names. Harry himself wasn't on the map, neither was the room. He easily saw his brother in the hospital wing and decided to find out what he had gotten himself into this time.
Putting the stone back in the box, Harry put it back on the shelf and picking another vial of his weaker version of the elixir of life, Harry replaced the wards. He put the vial on the table and left the room, but not before replacing the wards again.
-PRPRPRPR-
Hardwin stared at the vial full of skele-grow potion. It wasn't the first time he was being forced to use the foul tasting potion. Far from it actually thanks to his love for quidditch. It had been some time though, and he wasn't looking forward to the pain.
Taking a deep breath, he held his breath in preparation and just as he was about to pour it in his mouth, the curtains around the bed were roughly pulled open and he groaned. He turned to glare at the person and stopped short at Harry's raised eyebrow.
"What are you doing here, Harry?"
"I think the question is what are you doing in here." Harry replied calmly before he spotted his rubber-like arm. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" He protested. "This was Lockhart's work. The fool tried to heal my hand and instead vanished all my bones."
"That's...not very smart." Harry was quite adept at understatements. "Why did your hand need healing in the first place?"
"I was attacked by a bludger." He sighed. "The bloody thing kept following me around for nearly the whole game. I tried to avoid it and even George and Fred tried hitting it but it just kept coming after me."
"That's unusual."
"I know." He nodded. "Anyway, after I caught the Snitch, I forgot about it and it came and smashed into my hand which I had used to block as it was headed for my head. It came for another round but Flitwick had arrived and he destroyed it."
Harry was silent as thought about his story. He then looked him right in the eyes and Hardwin understood what he wanted. With their bond, he didn't need leglimency to enter his mind and Hardwin just pushed the memory to the forefront of his mind. After a moment, Harry looked away.
"Someone was controlling it." He concluded.
"You mean like Quirrell with my broom last year?" Harry nodded and Hardwin sighed. "Do you think it was...the Heir?"
"I doubt it but just to be safe, I can't let you stay here."
Hardwin waved his rubbery arm around. "In case you haven't noticed, I have to regrow the bones in my arm and I doubt Madam Pomfrey will let me leave until I'm completely fine."
"Trippy!" Harry called and the elderly elf appeared with a soft pop. "Go to my lab and bring me the vial on the table."
"You can summon Trippy here?" Hardwin asked as the disappeared.
"Well, of course I can summon her." Harry grinned as the elf appeared and handed him a vial with a crimson potion. "Thank you Trippy, you can go now."
The elf raised her finger to snap before she paused and glared at a spot across them. Before she could do anything,there was another pop before Trippy disappeared as well. A second later,the elderly elf reappeared holding a non-responsive elf. The other elf was very different from Trippy, he was very thin, barely covered by a very dirty pillow case.
"This one was spying on you master!" Trippy declared and Harry's eyes narrowed.
"Can you tell who he belongs to?"
"I can't." Trippy said, her ears dropping in shame.
"Thank you Trippy, you have done enough." Harry said gently and the elf brightened. "You can go now, I'll deal with this one myself."
Glaring at the unconscious elf one last time, Trippy disappeared. Harry's face transformed into a blank mask and Hardwin could feel the air around them thickening with Harry's magic. And with a cold voice, Harry drew his wand and revived the elf.
"Let's see what we've got here. Enervate."
-PRPRPRPR-
