Chapter Nine: The Snake Charmer
There are several dialogue quotes taken from JK Rowling's Chamber of Secrets in this book. This is to convey the same story she wrote, but from another character's POV. The quotes taken directly from the book have three quotation marks (instead of two) around them to signify she wrote them and that I am citing them. Because I am transforming pieces of her work into something new this falls under the Fair Use Act. Additionally, JK Rowling has stated that she is okay with noncommercial fan fiction. All direct quotes, the Harry Potter storyline, and the characters all belong to JK Rowling.
The morning after the quidditch match, Draco was surrounded by all his friends at breakfast except for Pansy. "Where's Pansy?" Draco asked, as he buttered his toast.
"She's with Lockhart of course," Daphne answered, disapprovingly.
"Probably off washing his undergarments," Blaise interjected.
"Don't let her hear you say that," responded Daphne, completely unamused. "The more we push her, the more she seems to dig her heels into this Lockhart thing."
Millicent, a girl from their year and house, leaned over to interject. "You guys are really still on about Lockhart? Did you guys not hear about the mudblood boy?"
"We just got here," said Daphne. "What happened?"
"Completely petrified," answered Crabbe. "Just like that dumb cat."
"One mudblood down..." Goyle interjected confidently, but suddenly his face turned red. "uh I don't really know how many left to go, but you get my point."
"Shut up you two!" Daphne shouted, standing up suddenly and slamming down a book of hers on the table. "When people think of Slytherins the first thing that comes to their head is bigot, but we don't have to live up to that just because they expect it from us. Don't you guys think?" She asked, looking from Blaise to Draco.
To Daphne's dismay, Blaise nor Draco backed her up the way she had hoped. Draco looked the other direction, and Blaise simply said, "Sit down Daphne."
A few Slytherins nodded or said something in agreement with Daphne, and a few outwardly rolled their eyes or moaned. However, the majority stayed silent, and in the awkwardness of it all, Daphne sat back down red faced. "You guys could have backed me up," she whispered to Blaise and Draco.
"It's not that simple," Blaise responded. "Think about how Draco's dad would have reacted if he had heard about him pulling a stunt like you just did. The majority of Slytherins are smart enough not to say anything, not to publicly share their opinion or show all their cards, something you clearly can't learn from books." he said gesturing to her large stack of them.
"I'm not okay with sitting in silence Blaise," Daphne protested.
"You won't be doing anything if you wind up getting yourself killed," said Draco bluntly. "Just shut up, smile, and act the goddamn part of a Slytherin.
Daphne did indeed shut up, but she stared off distantly into her food. She seemed ill-contented, and Draco had the sick feeling that she wouldn't be dissuaded for long. However, things were already complicated enough without her causing more drama within Slytherin house.
Despite the fact Draco had convinced Daphne not to voice opinions about the attack on Creevey, Draco was completely sickened by the events. It really put in perspective how unimportant his quidditch loss was. Sitting there eating his toast, completely healthy, Draco felt slightly foolish for having brooded over the game all night long. However, Draco would have never admitted this to anyone.
Two weeks into December, Professor McGonogall came by asking who would be staying at Hogwarts for winter break. To his friends' disappointment, Draco impulsively decided to put his name on the list.
"Oh come on mate," Blaise protested. "You're going to miss my mother's wedding."
"To be fair mate," Draco answered. "I highly doubt this will be her last one."
"Well she's not the reason you would be going," said Blaise, clearly annoyed.
"You'll miss Christmas with your mother," Daphne chimed in. "The Christmas ball, spending time with me and Astoria while your father's away."
"It's done. I already put my name on the list," said Draco, bluntly.
"You could ask to take it off!" Protested Daphne. "Come on Pansy, help me here. I'm sure you of all people think Draco should come home for Christmas."
Pansy looked up from a stack of papers she was grading for Lockhart. "Actually I really don't care," she said. "I'm going to be going on tour with Lockhart over break, interning as his assistant, so I won't be home for Christmas either."
Everyone looked at her incredulously. "Your mom is okay with that?" Daphne asked suspiciously.
"Yes, very much so." Pansy answered. "She never believed be capable of having a career, so she was just planning on marrying me off to a wealthy pureblood after Hogwarts. She can't believe how well I'm succeeding in this, and if I continue to progress I won't have to marry whichever guy my mother deems the most worthy, the second I get out of school."
"Okay, we are eventually circling back to that disturbing piece of information," said Blaise. "However, right now I really want to focus on the fact I think you shouldn't be spending Christmas alone, Draco."
"Look I'm really sorry," Draco answered. "I do want to be there for you but- I can't… okay? I need to win my next quidditch match, I'm still second in our year, after that Granger girl... I just can't go home to my dad right now. He would... it just wouldn't go over well… Look I swear I won't be alone. I bullied Crabbe and Goyle into staying with me. It was quite easily actually, I just mentioned the endless food and family-less first years that would be at their constant disposal and they ate that right up"
"I guess I didn't think about your father," said Daphne, concerned. She looked to Blaise and said, "Maybe staying back is the right option for him, I could stay too..."
"No," Draco interjected. "Go and be with Blaise at his mother's wedding, enjoy Christmas with your family. Seriously you worry about me too much."
"So about Christmas break with Lockhart," said Blaise to Pansy, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, no time to argue with you about that because I have to go work on this upcoming project with Lockhart," said Pansy, grabbing her bag.
"What's the project?" asked Blaise.
"You'll see soon enough," Pansy answered, and then she walked off.
And precisely one week later they did. Hanging on the Slytherin message board was a flyer for a dueling club.
"Honestly, this is not what I expected from Pansy and Lockhart," said Blaise, as he read the details.
"Should we go, you think?" Asked Daphne.
"Please, there is not a chance in hell I'm going if Lockhart is the one teaching it." Draco scoffed.
"Yeah no, you'll be there," Pansy snapped, overhearing their conversation. "You guys will all be there because you're my friends and you support me. I'm not asking, I'm giving you a heads up. 8:00pm, don't be late," and she strutted out of the Slytherin common room.
At 7:45pm, the three Slytherins made their way to the Great Hall. "I can't believe Pansy snapping at you really got to you," Daphne teased.
"Ugh," Draco scoffed. "I didn't change my mind because she told me to come. I'm going because I decided this club might make it more obvious, who has been opening the Chamber of Secrets."
"Yeah nice try, but you looked pretty nervous hearing Pansy shout like that." Blaise teased.
"Oh yeah? Did I look as scared as you do right now?" Draco asked.
"What?" Blaise asked, and suddenly Draco gave Blaise a big push, and he tumbled down the stairs. However, in the commotion of it all, Blaise managed to grab ahold of Draco's arm and he took him down with him. The two of them rolled down the stairs, and ended up laughing as they fell. Pansy shook her head with an air of superiority and muttered, "boys" under her breath.
Finally after a minute or two, Blaise and Draco stopped their wrestling and made their way into the Great Hall with Daphne. The room no longer contained long dining tables, and instead held a simple yet elegant golden stage. The room was completely packed, but they spotted Pansy in the way back furiously scribbling on her clipboard. It seemed as if the event was a huge success, and Draco had a sneaking suspicion that Pansy had practically done all of the work.
Lockhart strutted out onto stage, dressed head to toe in deep purple. His robes were unnecessarily long and elegant, so that every time he turned they swooped out in a dramatic fashion. Draco wondered how Lockhart managed to walk in such robes without tripping, let alone duel. Professor Snape walked out after Lockhart, dressed completely normal and looking extremely annoyed by the extravagance.
Lockhart gestured to the crowd to settle down. "'Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!''' He shouted happily. With practically the entire school staring up at him, Lockhart seemed to be reveling in the attention. "'Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, 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. Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin.'"
Draco's eyes widened. He knew Professor Snape to be somewhat of a perfectionist, and if he said that he knew a "tiny bit about dueling" that really meant that Lockhart should be concerned with the level of skill Snape had.
"'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!'" Lockhart shouted, triumphantly. Several of the girls clapped with approval.
"He hasn't even done anything yet!" Blaise scoffed.
"Ten Galleons Snape wins," Draco whispered.
"You're on. Lockhart may be a goon, but surely as a defense against the dark arts professor, he will win against the potions professor," Blaise answered.
Lockhart turned to Snape and bowed deeply, adding dramatics and flourish by twirling his hands. In contrast, Snape bowed normally. It was clear that only one of the two of them got joy from trying to attract the attention of young girls.
The two of them raised their wands and Lockhart shouted, "'As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course. "One — two — three —'"
Before Lockhart had even managed to open his mouth, Snape had already shouted "'Expelliarmus,'' waving his wand in Lockhart's direction. Lockhart zoomed across the room, his robes rippling dramatically as he flew off the stage, and headed first into the wall. He fell to the ground in a purple puddle of robes.
Draco, along with most of the Slytherins cheered happily, and Blaise begrudgingly handed over the galleons. Pansy ran over to Lockhart, and helped him stand up. His hat was nowhere to be seen, and his hair was sticking up in all directions. Pansy handed him a comb, and tried to walk him back up onto the stage, but he pushed her away and teetered back up onto it by himself.
"'Well, there you have it!'" Said Lockhart, as he continued to struggle to find his balance. "'That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . .'"
Professor Snape glared back at Lockhart deathly silent, and it was quite clear that Lockhart didn't want another go when he quickly shouted, "'Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me —'"
Lockhart and Snape made their way through the crowd, pairing up the students. Daphne, Blaise, and Draco were hoping to fly under the radar with their group of three, when Draco heard Snape call for him. "'Mr. Malfoy,'" Snape called. "'Come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger — you can partner Miss Bulstrode.'"
Draco confidently made his way over to Harry and Snape. Draco had always been a natural when it came to dueling and he wasn't scared to take on Potter.
"'Face your partners!'" Announced Lockhart. "'And bow!'"
Draco bowed, but kept his head up, eyes locked on Harry the entire time.
"'Wands at the ready!'" shouted Lockhart. "'When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . . three —'"
The second Lockhart had muttered the word three, Draco muttered "Everte Statum." Which caused Harry to stumble and double over in pain for a moment.
Harry quickly got a hold of himself and struck back by shouting "'Rictusempra,'" the Tickling Charm. Draco could not contain his laughter. He fell to his knees, wheezing as if Harry had told a hilarious joke. In this moment of weakness, all Draco could think about was how he must look as though he was enjoying himself, considering he was doubled over in laughter.
Between wheezes, Draco managed to choke out "'Tarantallegra!'" This caused Harry's feet to jerk around, as if he was dancing. In that moment of him laughing, and Harry dancing, Draco thought to himself that maybe he really was having fun.
Draco vaguely heard Lockhart screaming for them to stop in the background, and then Snape stepped in as the voice of reason. "'Finite Incantatem!'" Snape spoke calmly. Draco stopped laughing, and Harry stopped jerking about.
When Draco looked up, it became clear that him and Harry were not the only ones who did not pay attention to the "disarm only" rule. A thick green fog circled the room, several students laid sprawled out on the floor. Daphne ran back and forth, handing bandages to students who were bleeding. An older Ravenclaw student managed to make his opponent sprout purple fur. Another student was speaking only in rhymes.
Lockhart stood there for a moment, completely in shock. Despite the number of monsters he had supposedly defeated throughout his lifetime, clearly Lockhart had never dealt with the monstrosity of adolescents. "'Dear, dear," Lockhart tutted, as he made his way through the crowd. "Up you go, Macmillan. . . . Careful there, Miss Fawcett. . . . Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot —'"
"'I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells,'" shouted Lockhart gleefully, as if he had come up with a revolutionary idea. "'Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you —'"
"'A bad idea, Professor Lockhart,'" Snape protested. "'Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox.'" Neville's face glowed bright red, but Snape was right, had he not stood up for Justin there would be no telling what would have become of him. "'How about Malfoy and Potter?'" Snape offered.
"'Excellent idea!'" Lockhart agreed, it was quite clear that Lockhart felt he was in no position to oppose professor Snape.
The other students took a few steps back to give Draco and Harry room to duel. Draco beamed excitedly. He wasn't into the frills and extravagance like Lockhart, but he did revel at the idea of publicly defeating Potter. If news of his victory made it back to his father, that would just be the icing on the cake.
"'Now, Harry,'" said Lockhart. "'When Draco points his wand at you, you do this.'" He attempted to show Harry what movement to use, but ended up dropping his wand. "'Whoops — my wand is a little overexcited —'" Draco rolled his eyes, this was baby stuff, and there was no need for him to show Harry how to do it. He was sure he already knew how.
Snape walked up behind Draco and whispered, if you manage without him blocking your spell, I'll tell your father that you bested the wizarding world's "savior." Draco could not hold back a smile.
Harry looked back at Lockhart and asked, "'Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?'"
Draco rolled his eyes, and muttered, "'Scared?'" He was certain that Harry already knew the move and was just stalling for time.
"'You wish,'" Harry muttered back in a low voice, but Draco could tell that he was nervous.
"'Just do what I did!'" Lockhart chuckled down to Harry.
"'What, drop my wand?'" Harry asked.
However, Lockhart had already begun to count. "'Three — two — one — go!'" he shouted.
Draco raised his wand and shouted, "'Serpensortia!'" A long black snake shot out of the tip of his wand and slithered to the floor. It raised its head and looked about lazily. It wasn't acting threatening, but the shock factor was enough to scare nearby students.
Harry was clearly scared, as he stood motionless at the sight of it. "'Don't move, Potter,'" said Snape. "'I'll get rid of it. . . .'"
"'Allow me!'" Shouted Lockhart, and he pointed his wand at the snake. However, Lockhart didn't get rid of it, instead he sent it at least ten feet up into the air. It fell back down onto the ground with bang. Now the once docile snake was enraged and ready to strike. Draco felt the color drain from his face at the sight of the angered creature.
The snake turned and started to slither towards Justin, fangs completely out. Draco panicked. "What the hell" he thought. "This snake is going to bite Justin, and it's going to be my fault, but how was I supposed to know Lockhart would anger it like that."
And suddenly, out of nowhere, Harry began to speak. However, he didn't speak in English, the words were long and slithery like a snake. He was speaking in parseltongue, the language of snakes.
Every eye in the room was on Harry. "'What do you think you're playing at?'" Justin shouted before leaving the hall as quickly as possible.
Before Harry had another chance to say anything more to the snake, Professor Snape stepped in and waved his wand, causing the snake to disappear in a cloud of black smoke.
Harry, Ron and Hermione, quickly darted for the exit, failing miserably at hiding from the prying eyes surrounding them. "Well then..." Lockhart spoke, clearing his throat. "I think it's best you lot get to bed now. I know it can be terrifying being so close to the action, but as I've always said, you are in no real danger whilst I am around to save the day."
Lockhart continued to drone on for a moment, but the students drowned him out with their incessant whispers about what had just transpired. That night Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and Daphne sat around the fire in the Slytherin common room.
Daphne was the first one to speak, "I'm sorry that I accused you of opening the Chamber of Secrets all that time ago, Draco."
"Hmm?" Draco asked, lazily drawing his eyes away from the fire.
"I mean I think it's pretty clear who it is now. The whole school is talking about it." Daphne answered.
"What?" Draco scoffed. "Please, that frumpy first year Weasley girl has a better chance of being the heir to Slytherin than Potter does."
"Well I don't know about that... but I do agree that it's not Potter," said Blaise. "I mean he's not a Slytherin, so I don't see how he could be his heir."
"But he can talk to snakes. Who does that remind you of? Not a very common gift is it." Daphne protested. "And come on. After all the shit the other houses give us about being dark or evil, wouldn't it be grand to see a Gryffindor be the one who caused all this trouble."
"Potter just demonstrated that he doesn't even know how to block incoming spells," spat Draco. "I think Salazar Slytherin would have chosen an heir with a brain inside their head."
"Yeah maybe you're right." Daphne conceded. "I mean if Harry were Slytherin's heir I doubt Justin would still be walking around completely fine."
The four Slytherins would find a sense of irony in those spoken words, not 24 hours later.