AN:
Many thanks to House-of-Marcella (id: 6399331) who proofread the chapter and was able to correct some of my grammatical errors and strange German sentence constructions! Any errors that may remain belong to me alone!
A few major time jumps in the second half of the chapter. For reasons, please see my comments at the end.
Chapter 11 – Alienation
Icy winds hit Harry in the face as he raced across the platform in Hogsmeade, his heart painful in his chest. He was deaf to the roaring background noise of the Hogwarts students getting off the train. And blind to the many irritated and still frightened glances that he attracted from his presence alone. For all his thoughts revolved around Daphne. Where was she? Was she okay?
These were the questions that bothered him at that moment, but the same questions that had been on his mind for over two weeks now. Specifically, since Daphne had left Hogwarts to spend Christmas with her family. All for her plan, as she had meant. He should have tried to stop her more vigorously, Harry thought, as he had so often lately, because after Christmas Eve he had not heard anything from her. He had not felt anything from her either. They were completely separated. Even in his dreams. Even when he was focused and put out all his mental feelers, he could only vaguely feel that Daphne was still alive. Only that, however, had prevented him from storming off to send Daphne's so-called parents to kingdom come. Nevertheless, he had felt more miserable by the day. He had slept very little, because every time he had closed his eyes, he had been haunted by terrible nightmares. They had always ended with a bright green flash before he had woken up sweaty and trembling all over his body.
His only hope was that he would see Daphne in a moment, that he could put her in his arms and that everything would be fine again. He did not know what he would do otherwise…
Suddenly, he saw her emerge from the crowd in front of him, even if she kept her head down. Daphne! His heart skipped a beat when he immediately ran to his partner, overwhelmed with joy and relief.
Daphne looked up, and for a brief moment it seemed to Harry that there was an overwhelming sadness in her blue eyes. But before he could make sure of it, she had already put on her stoic, emotionless expression, which she so often showed in public.
Harry had now reached his friend and hugged her tightly. She was finally back! He was so relieved and happy at that moment that he only marginally noticed that Daphne was unusually tense and cramped. And that she made no move to return his hug.
"Daphne," Harry said agitatedly, "are you okay? Did it all work? I've been so worried -"
Daphne abruptly broke free from his embrace, interrupting his outburst of joy. "It's all good," she said brusquely and just walked past Harry towards the carriages.
Harry followed in confusion. He tried to take her hand, but she evaded his movement. He tried to make eye contact with Daphne, but she turned her head away. What was going on with her?
"Are you all right, Daph?" Harry expressed his confusion.
"Yes," was Daphne's terse answer.
Did she not want to talk to him when there were so many other people around? But why did she act so repulsing overall?
They reached the carriages, and to Harry's great surprise, Daphne moved to a carriage where some older students were already sitting. Normally he would have thought that they would look for an empty carriage. Harry became more and more confused as he followed Daphne into the carriage and sat across from her. The other passengers backed away from Harry in fear and would have loved to get out again if the carriage had not suddenly started moving. So they had no choice but to move as far away as possible and eye him with a mixture of fear and suspicion.
Harry did not notice any of this, because he concentrated exclusively on Daphne, who sat opposite him and avoided his eyes by looking out of the window of the rolling carriage.
When they finally reached Hogwarts, Daphne headed straight for the Great Hall, where the welcome feast for the returning students would soon begin. Throughout the feast, Harry had no way to talk openly to Daphne.
And after the feast, he had wanted to suggest that they meet later in their usual hiding place in the Room of Requirement, but Daphne had simply said goodbye with a short "good night" and had gone to bed. Which is why Harry found himself confused, lonely and sad lying in his own bed. He had imagined the day in a very different way beforehand. Somehow nicer. Maybe tomorrow would bring clarity, and Daphne could finally tell him whatever was on her mind. At least, she was alive and back at Hogwarts! Then he suddenly remembered that they hadn't even talked about going for a walk tomorrow morning as usual. With strange feelings and thoughts in his head, Harry closed his eyes exhausted, knowing that terrible nightmares would probably be waiting for him again.
When Harry entered the common room the next morning, it was empty. Usually Daphne was waiting for him, often sitting on the windowsill, looking at the greenish water of the lake splashing against the windows. This time there was no sign of her anywhere. Harry waited for almost an hour, but when the other students got up and went to breakfast and Daphne still hadn't shown up, Harry made his way to the great hall as well.
There he saw Daphne, who was sitting at the very end of the Slytherin table and apparently had just finished breakfast. Harry sat down next to her, whereupon Daphne glanced at him. Her eyes were red, she had dark circles and she looked completely exhausted overall.
"Daphne, why didn't you wait for me? Have you been out alone today? And did you sleep at all? You look terrible -" Harry had questions upon questions, but Daphne interrupted him in a cool voice.
"I'm fine," she said, unemotionally.
"But you don't look like it." Who was she trying to fool? But why was she lying to him, Harry wondered.
"I'm fine. Leave me alone."
With that, Daphne rose from the table and left the hall with quick steps and bowed head, leaving an even more confused Harry. What was wrong with her?
After breakfast, they had their first Transfiguration lesson of the new year. Daphne had already sat down in the last row when Harry entered the classroom. He sat down next to her and tried to make eye contact again, but Daphne turned away once more. He was thinking about how to try to speak to her when Professor McGonagall started the class.
When the lesson ended, however, Daphne quickly packed her things and stormed out without waiting for Harry or even glancing at him. But Harry was running out of patience. He quickly grabbed his bag too and ran after her. Finally, he reached her a few meters behind the classroom door and took her arm to force her to stop.
"What's wrong with you?" he hissed irately at her. He was so agitated and indeed angry that he didn't even realize that he had said this in Parseltongue. Fortunately, the other students stood a little away and had not noticed anything.
Harry turned Daphne so that he could now look into her face. Daphne looked at him with wide eyes, and he knew his friend well enough to recognize the feelings in her eyes: Pain. Sadness. Fear.
The world around him seemed to stand still as he lost himself in Daphne's eyes, those reflections of her emotions. What was going on with her? What was she so concerned about? And what was she so afraid of?
"Daphne, please talk to me," Harry said imploringly and as tenderly as he could. He also tried to put all his almost overwhelming feelings into his words and his gaze.
The pain in Daphne's eyes intensified. It seemed to him that her face was taking a pleading expression. "Harry ..." she said with such despair in her voice that Harry felt like his heart was breaking.
He looked into her deep ice-blue eyes, wiping away a tear that slid down her cheek from her eye. She could tell him everything! He would always be there for her!
But before either of them could say another word, Daphne suddenly cried out loud and was carried away from him. What Harry saw next was Daphne lying on the floor in front of him. And half beside her, half over her, was their classmate Hermione Granger.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I haven't seen you! Please –" Granger tried to apologize eagerly. She must have run into Daphne and knocked her over.
"Get off me, you bitch!" Daphne cried out in anger as she tried to push Granger away, who seemed somehow caught in Daphne's hair. Shortly thereafter, Daphne had drawn her wand. And with a loud bang, Granger suddenly flew through the air and was thrown against the opposite wall.
Harry tried to help Daphne get up, but she slapped his hands away. She got up on her own, looking really awful. Granger seemed to have torn out a handful of her hair during her spontaneous flight through the air, and the rest of her hair was completely disheveled. There was a wild look in her eyes and Harry would have been afraid to face her in the dueling ring in this condition.
Daphne was still clutching her wand, looking at Granger, who was writhing and groaning on the floor, with a mixture of hatred and anger. Harry was afraid she was going to do something very stupid.
Professor McGonagall's authoritative voice cut through the silence that had come after this confrontation. "What's going on here?" Within a moment she seemed to have grasped the situation, hurrying to Granger, who was still groaning in pain.
"Greengrass did that," Granger said with tears in her eyes.
McGonagall instructed two students to take Granger to the hospital wing, before turning to Daphne, who was still panting wildly and clutching her wand. McGonagall looked at her, visibly disappointed.
"Detention, Miss Greengrass. Every evening for the next two weeks, beginning from this evening," McGonagall said firmly. "And 50 points from Slytherin. Come with me to my office. Now!"
Her words did not allow objections. With that, Daphne followed McGonagall silently and with her head bowed, without giving Harry another look. He cursed inside. Daphne had been so close to telling him what was bothering her! Fate really seemed to despise him...
Since Harry knew nothing better to do with his time, he went to the library to do his Transfiguration homework, his head a mess of confusing thoughts.
Harry did not see Daphne again for the rest of the day. She never came to the library, the common room, or the Room of Requirement. By the time it was evening and Daphne would definitely not be back in a timely manner, since she now was in detention with McGonagall, Harry decided to visit Hagrid once again.
It had been really good to talk to Hagrid, laugh together, and have fun. His baking skills were still in need of improvement, but for a while Harry had almost forgotten his worries.
When he made his way back to the castle two hours later, his thoughts immediately revolved around Daphne again. Maybe he could wait for her outside McGonagall's office? Then they could finally talk...
Harry was only a few feet from the castle entrance when a figure he knew all too well came out. Daphne!
"Daph, what are you doing here?" he called to her in surprise, because it was undoubtedly a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. "Don't you have detention with McGonagall?"
Daphne smiled faintly at him, before saying hesitantly, "She ... um ... she let me go earlier. H-Harry, we need to talk about something. You know ... about the chamber..."
What chamber? What did she mean? Then Harry realized! The Chamber of Secrets, of course! But why did she want to talk to him about it now?
Harry stepped up to her, taking her hands. For a brief moment, Daphne flinched and grimaced, but then put on her smile again.
"What do you mean, Daph -"
Harry noticed that there was something unusual about Daphne. Not her strange behavior, because she had been acting strange since yesterday. No, it was something else. But what? He pondered, while Daphne seemed to squirm nervously under his eyes, her hands trembling in his. Something was wrong with her. And then Harry realized! It did not feel the way it usually did. That was not Daphne! She looked like Daphne, sounded like Daphne, and smelled like Daphne too, but she wasn't Daphne. She did not feel like his friend. Harry had never noticed this feeling before, but now that it was missing, the absence of it made it all the more obvious to him.
"Ha-Harry, is everything all right?" the girl asked him shakily, who must have noticed how his expression had darkened.
In a split second, Harry had pulled out his wand and petrified the girl. She fell over and now lay motionless on the floor, but he saw panic in her eyes.
Harry felt a wave of burning anger almost overwhelming him. That wasn't Daphne! That wasn't Daphne! But who would dare to pretend to be her? He clenched his wand.
He forced himself to breathe in and out several times. He had to find out who this person was and what it was all about, he finally came to a decision. With another swipe of his wand, he cast a disillusionment charm on the motionless figure and let it float through the air. With great care and concentration, he went back to Hagrid's hut.
Once there, he hurriedly knocked on the door. Shortly afterwards it was torn open, and a surprised Hagrid looked at him.
"Harry, what's on? Did you forget something?" He then recognized the figure hovering next to Harry. "Is that Daphne? What -"
"That's not Daphne! Let me in."
Hagrid actually cleared the way and Harry entered the hut with his prisoner in tow. There he let her sink to the ground, fixing her with several conjured ropes. Fang sniffed the tied figure before beginning to growl threateningly. Good boy, Harry thought. At least he saw through this masquerade.
"Harry, what's going on?" asked Hagrid again, visibly confused.
"As I said, this is not Daphne," replied Harry, who still had to hold back noticeably to quell his anger. "Whoever's pretending to be her is a completely different question..." Harry turned his hateful gaze away from the figure lying on the floor and still staring at him fearfully. He looked at Hagrid instead, who then flinched. "Hagrid, get Daphne here. She should be in detention with McGonagall right now. Just bring her here, don't say anything else. To anybody!" Harry himself was amazed at how bossy and severe his voice was.
Hagrid also seemed to be surprised, because for a few moments he just looked at him in shock and said nothing. "But Harry," he said finally, "shouldn't we contact -"
"No!" Harry interrupted. "Just do what I told you." After realizing how hard he sounded, he added in a friendlier and calmer way, "Please! I'm not doing anything to the ... person here..."
Hagrid seemed to realize how important it was to Harry. Perhaps he was also convinced by Fang's reaction, who was still eyeing the figure lying on the floor, growling, because finally, Hagrid nodded and ran up the path to the castle. So Harry was now alone with his prisoner...
Even though Harry was more than tempted, he kept his promise and did nothing to her. She still looked like Daphne...
Instead, he paced up and down in the hut, glancing at the girl to make sure that she was still there, but he could not bear to look into those false eyes, these beautiful eyes of deception.
The door suddenly opened, and a panting Daphne ran inside. The right Daphne, Harry noticed immediately, now that he knew what to look for. He just felt that it was really Daphne in front of him.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Daphne shouted. "Hagrid -" But then she caught sight of the girl lying on the ground. "What..." She was visibly confused at what all of that meant. In the meantime, Hagrid returned as well, looking at the three children - two standing, one tied to the ground - in astonishment.
Harry nodded gratefully to Hagrid, before answering in an ice-cold voice, "That, Daph, is someone who wanted to pretend to be you."
"But ... what..." Daphne apparently was still unable to put her feelings into words. She looked at him stunned, and when he saw her real, true eyes, he felt a warm glow rise inside him, but he also still felt the heat of his anger at this deceiver.
"She was pretending to be you, Daph. Apparently wanted to talk to me about the Chamber of Secrets ... But I think we should soon know who she actually is. If I'm right, her transformation should only last an hour at most."
There was understanding on Daphne's face. "You mean ... Polyjuice Potion?"
"Exactly," Harry confirmed. "That's my guess."
And just then the girl actually started to change back. The honey blonde hair turned brown and became much bushier. The front teeth grew significantly. Finally, her eyes changed color again and Harry no longer had to bear the way Daphne's false, but still deceptively real looking eyes looked at him fearfully. Now they were just bog-standard brown eyes that did not trigger any emotion in Harry. They finally realized who this girl really was.
"Granger?!" Harry asked bewilderedly.
Hagrid gasped in surprise. "Hermione? What are you doing here?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Daphne start to tremble. He put his hand reassuringly on her back, but Daphne just looked at Hermione Granger in front of them. Eventually, she leaned forward and pointed her wand at her. "Harry, lift your spell so this bitch can speak," she said in a hateful voice.
"Harry," Hagrid started again. "I know Hermione ... There must be a good reason..."
"Hagrid, please keep out of this," Harry said gruffly, then followed Daphne's words and lifted his spell, but he did not loosen her bonds.
"Please ..." Granger said pleadingly and with tears in her eyes when she was able to speak again.
Daphne was now pointing her wand directly at Granger's throat, her hand trembling with rage and upset. "Please what?" she spat. "Why are you pretending to be me? What did you want from Harry?" She pressed the tip of her wand so hard against Granger's throat that she whimpered in pain.
"Daphne!" Hagrid called, shaken.
But Harry had had enough of his half-giant friend now. "Hagrid, please just wait outside," he said in the same bossy and severe tone as before when he had sent Hagrid to the castle.
"But Harry…"
"Hagrid! Please do what I say and wait outside. We're not going to hurt Granger." Perhaps, he added in his thoughts. "Please Hagrid, wait outside."
Hagrid looked back and forth between him and the tied Granger. It was obvious that he did not know what to do.
"Hagrid, please," Harry repeated. Granger, who had been watching the exchange all along, was probably too intimidated by Daphne's wand pressed against her throat to give more than a whimper.
"Harry ..." Hagrid stammered again.
"GET OUT, HAGRID!"
And in fact, Hagrid finally obliged and left the hut, but not without giving Harry one last worried look. "I'm outside when -"
"All right," Harry interrupted him. And then Hagrid was finally gone.
He turned his gaze back to Daphne and Granger. Daphne had looked daggers at Granger the whole time. Harry was sure that if looks could kill, Granger would have crumbled to dust long ago.
"Now we're finally alone," hissed Daphne to the scared Granger. "So: Answer my questions!"
Harry was now pointing his wand at the girl again. "Better do what she says," he growled angrily.
Granger started to sob loudly. "I-I wanted..."
"What did you want?" Daphne shouted.
"Interrogate Potter! I-I wanted … wanted to know what he has to do with Chamber of Secrets! Whether ... whether he is behind the attacks..."
Daphne started laughing like crazy. But it wasn't a laugh of joy. Rather, Daphne sounded as if she had lost her mind. Harry started to worry about his friend.
"Oh, that's HILARIOUS. These IDIOTS!" Daphne called when her laugh had subsided somewhat. "How stupid can you be?"
Harry also smiled slightly when he understood what Daphne found so funny. He already knew that people thought he was Slytherin's heir. They had not expected that one of them would start brewing Polyjuice Potion, pretending to be his best friend, and trying to question him though. How stupid could you be, indeed.
"Well, if you're interested," he said to Granger amused, "I have nothing to do with the chamber. It seems to me that you have wasted your time. But what should we do with you now, Granger?"
Granger's eyes widened in fear. "But you promised that you would not harm me. Hagrid –"
"Can't help you now," Daphne interrupted her. "And I didn't promise anything to anyone." Daphne seemed to ponder. She lifted her wand a little and pressed it directly against Granger's forehead, who was shaking nervously. Harry was eager to see what his friend had come up with.
Daphne started muttering words that Harry could not understand. Meanwhile, the tip of her wand glowed bluishly. Suddenly, Granger began screaming in pain ... and then Harry saw the reason for it. Small reddish blisters formed on her face and seemed to pulsate painfully. More and more of these blisters formed until it looked as if her entire face was covered with a bad rash. Harry noticed that the bubbles were not randomly arranged but formed letters together. The word that these letters formed could now be read very clearly: Imposter!
The whole process continued for several minutes, and Granger whimpered in pain all the time. Eventually, Daphne got up, looking at her work with a smug smile.
She then spoke again in an ice-cold voice, "I hope you appreciate my efforts. Getting to certain parts of your body was not that easy ... Take that as my last warning, Granger. Next time I'll kill you."
With that, Daphne turned away from her victim. Harry understood her sign and with a wave of his wand, Granger's bonds fell off.
"Now get out of here," he said angrily.
Granger got up in a hurry and ran out, crying, with her face in her hands.
"And tell that to your friends Weasley and Longbottom as well," Daphne called after her.
Harry now looked at Daphne with a raised eyebrow, whereupon she only rolled her eyes, amused. Suddenly, her eyes darkened and she looked away from Harry.
At that very moment, Hagrid stepped back into his hut and looked at them both with a sad look. "Harry ... Daphne ... was that really –"
"Yes," both children interrupted him at the same time, causing them to laugh briefly. Harry was happy to hear Daphne laugh.
Hagrid, however, did not seem to want to join in, for he was still giving them a scowl. Therefore, Harry thought it best not to overstay his welcome. So Harry and Daphne hurriedly said goodbye to Hagrid - but not without petting and ruffling Fang once more - and made their way back to the castle.
Neither of them said a word during that time. They both seemed to be busy with their own thoughts, which was not unusual. It was not until they reached the now-abandoned Slytherin common room that Harry could not stand it anymore.
"Daphne -" he tried but was promptly interrupted by her.
"I've been thinking," said Daphne as she turned her back on him. Harry waited with bated breath to hear what his friend had to say. She continued in a cool voice, "We don't match. All of that was a mistake. Our partnership is over." With that she ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory without even looking at Harry once.
"Daphne! Wait!" Harry called after her, but she was already gone. His heart was pounding, and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. What had just happened? She couldn't be serious!
He felt an icy feeling spread throughout his entire body. He started to tremble uncontrollably. He felt as if he lost the ground under his feet. Daphne's last words circled in his head. They didn't match? It was a mistake? Their partnership ... was over?
Harry felt numb when he eventually dragged himself up the stairs to his own dormitory. Only when he was lying in his own bed - protected by all the spells that he had put around so that nobody could hear him - did he dare to weep freely.
Harry kept trying to speak to Daphne over the next few days. They had to be able to sort this out somehow, he was sure! She couldn't be serious! But every time she ran away from him quickly. She only came to class shortly before the beginning and then sat down at the other end of the classroom. If he wanted to talk to her after class, she also ran away immediately. And she didn't seem to come to eat in the Great Hall anymore. When he searched the castle for her between classes, there was no sign of her anywhere.
After three days, he finally found his invisibility cloak, which he had lent to Daphne before Christmas, lying on his bed one evening. And a short note that broke Harry's heart: Don't try to talk to me anymore. It's over. Please leave me alone.
Sometime Professor McGonagall came to Harry to inform him that Daphne no longer wanted to come to the private lessons with herself and Flitwick. She then asked him if he was still interested, but Harry declined, causing McGonagall to give him a pitying look. McGonagall's words had given him another painful stab in the heart. Without Daphne, these lessons would simply not be the same...
He complied with Daphne's "wish" and stopped trying to talk to her. And he despised himself for this cowardice and lack of strength to fight for his own love. Did he love Daphne? But what was love? Had he ever experienced love? And even if he loved her, shouldn't he then do what she wanted? Even if that meant never being able to speak to her again. Never being able to laugh with her again. Never feeling her in his arms and her lips on his again. Never again being able to share his life, his future with her ... He was alone ... completely alone ... again...
It was not just Harry's mood that was depressed. An overwhelming dejection seemed to have spread throughout the castle. Everyone was afraid and worried. Which is why Lockhart, in his pompous manner, announced one day that he wanted to lift the mood in Hogwarts a little. What Lockhart saw as a mood lifter, the students finally learned on February 14th.
When Harry stepped into the Great Hall in the morning, he almost had to throw up. All the walls in the great hall were decorated with pink flowers. Heart-shaped confetti was falling from the artificial sky.
Finally, Lockhart, who was dressed in a pink heart-shaped robe to match the decoration, explained to the entire school that for today's Valentine's Day his numerous cupids would roam the school and deliver valentines. And indeed, dwarves dressed as angels (they were the cupids!) kept barging into classes all day long and delivered valentines to students. Much to the annoyance of the teachers and the vast majority of the other Hogwarts students, by the way.
Harry was only relieved that he had been spared. Who should send him such a valentine anyway, now that Daphne ... Harry shook his head and refused to think it through to the end. The pain would go away at some point, even if he could not imagine it at the moment...
He was crossing the entrance hall on the way back to the dungeons when a particularly grim-looking dwarf called for him, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.
"Oy, you! 'Arry Potter!"
Harry immediately tried to escape. That was really the last thing he needed to deal with now, especially in front of so many curious pairs of eyes. This was also the only reason why Harry did not simply hex the dwarf to escape his predicament. But there were just too many eyewitnesses! That would be stupid, as he had to admonish himself.
Before Harry had escaped through the crowd, however, the dwarf had already caught up with him.
"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person," said the dwarf, plucking his harp to finally break Harry's nerves.
"I'm warning you," Harry growled.
"Don't be like that, boy," replied the dwarf. "It's a nice song." With that he began to pluck his harp and sang in a scratchy voice:
"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."
Harry would have loved to curl up and die at that moment. Unfortunately, he simply could not maledict the entire present student body.
Good for Harry that he did not notice that Daphne was also standing on the edge of the crowd and had watched the whole thing. Otherwise, the shame would have been even more unbearable.
So Harry also did not see the murderous look which Daphne gave a certain red-haired Gryffindor first-year…
After that, nothing out of the ordinary happened at Hogwarts for a few months and the school went almost back to normal again. After all, the discovery of the last victims of the alleged monster of Slytherin was now several months ago.
Then, however, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were found petrified near the library. This pleased Malfoy in particular, who in the past had described the two as mud-blood and the greatest blood traitor of all, respectively.
At Hogwarts, however, this led to utter panic. From now on, all students were only allowed to walk through the corridors accompanied by a teacher. Most of his classmates did not even dare to look in Harry's direction, let alone walk with him in a group. As a result, Harry moved around the school either alone with a teacher or under his Invisibility Cloak. More than once, the invisible Harry took the opportunity to fire a curse on one of his most hated classmates. They did not deserve it any other way.
And no matter how hard Harry tried, he just could not resist the temptation to watch Daphne, at least now and then, secretly, hidden under his Invisibility Cloak, but she spent the whole day alone. He wondered if she slept at all. The rings under her eyes were even darker than his. And every color had gone from her once honey-blonde hair and her beautiful eyes had lost all of their shine. It hurt Harry so much to see her like this. What the hell had happened? How could it come to this? Daphne often sat in the library until late at night, hunched over some books. Or she stood trembling for hours in the icy cold by the lake, gazing into the distance. In those moments Harry would have loved to come up to her, hug her, and warm her.
He felt his heart bleed to death. Soon there would be nothing left of him that was worth preserving ...
At some point Dumbledore was suspended by the school governors because they apparently no longer trusted Dumbledore and his abilities to deal with this crisis. At the same time, Hagrid was arrested and once again served as a scapegoat. Harry was incredibly sorry for Hagrid, who was now innocent in a cell in Azkaban, presumably. Since nobody else seemed to care, Harry took care of Fang from then on and visited him daily in Hagrid's old hut. After all, he had at least some company that way, because otherwise Harry felt like the loneliest person in the world...
Dumbledore's expulsion had finally caused any laughter within Hogwarts to go away. No matter which face you looked into, whether student or teacher, everyone looked worried and tense.
Harry almost wished to go back to the Dursleys. What did his life at Hogwarts have to offer him now that all the students despised him and were terrified of being attacked by him next? And especially now that he had lost Daphne, too...
One day, as the school year was slowly coming to an end, Harry was just on the way back from the Room of Requirement, in which he had been able to vent his ever-increasing frustration, at least in part, on the dummies there. An Invisibility Cloak was indeed useful to break curfews.
Suddenly, Professor McGonagall's magically magnified voice echoed through the hallways.
"All students return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."
Harry knew immediately that something very bad must have happened. However, he could not have said why he knew this. It was as if he had suddenly been plunged into an icy lake. A strange, cold feeling inside had been his constant companion for the past few months, but this was different, much more intense and stronger! Something had happened to Daphne, he realized! That could be the only reason!
Harry ran in panic to the staff room.
There he saw Professor Sprout entering the room. He scurried in behind her before the door closed again squeakily. The room was already full of teachers and apparently, they were now fully assembled, even if Harry did not see Lockhart's pompous figure anywhere.
Professor McGonagall stepped in front of the silent crowd. "It has happened," she said in a husky voice. "Two students have been taken by the monster. Right into the chamber itself."
Several of the teachers let out screams. Others became ashen. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin left another message," McGonagall said, also pale in the face. "Right underneath the first: Their skeletons will lie in the chamber forever."
Professor Flitwick then burst into tears. Many more suppressed sobs.
"Who is it?" asked Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak kneed, into a chair.
"Ginny Weasley and Daphne Greengrass," said McGonagall, who also had tears in her eyes now.
Everything went black around Harry. Powerlessly, he crumpled on the ground. Daphne! Daphne had been taken by the monster! Her skeleton would ... He could not complete the thought. Everything around him started to spin. His heart was pounding like crazy and he no longer noticed what was happening around him. So he did not notice the turmoil when Lockhart entered the room belatedly. Or how the teachers left the room to tell the students that they would be sent home tomorrow morning.
At some point Harry looked up, panting and trembling all over. No one else was in the staff room anymore except him.
What should he do now? What could he do now? Daphne was in mortal danger! He had to save her, that's what he had to do now!
Harry had a sudden inspiration. Who was the only victim of Slytherin's monster who could still provide information? The ghost of Moaning Myrtle of course! This time he would make her talk whether she wanted to or not!
Harry ran through the school corridors at a blistering pace. He had taken off the Invisibility Cloak by now. With the noises he made, he would have been noticed immediately anyway, but he did not meet a human soul until he reached the second floor.
With a swivel of his wand, the door to the girl's toilet was ripped out of its hinges. The bang was probably heard throughout the castle. Without stopping, Harry ran inside.
There the Moaning Myrtle sat on a toilet bowl and looked at him with wide eyes. "What do you want?"
"Tell me how you died!" Harry yelled at Myrtle, who then backed away, startled.
"A-And why should I do that?" Myrtle replied nervously. "I don't like you, you know, you -"
"I swear to you, if you don't tell me right away, I'm going to inflict so terrible pain on you that you wish you had actually died." Harry's voice dripped with venom when he said this. And unnoticed by him, the tip of his wand in his hand began to glow reddish. But Myrtle noticed and for the first time in her life as a ghost she felt panicked.
"O-Okay, I'll tell you," she said fearfully. "I-It happened right here ... Here in this stall ... I-I heard somebody come in. Then something funny was said. It must have been a different language..."
"Continue!"
"I-I opened the door ... and then I died."
"How?" Harry had now reached the end of his patience. With every second he wasted here, the likelihood that Daphne ... No, he could not even think about it!
"I-I don't know," sobbed Myrtle. "I just remember ... that I saw a pair of great, big, yellow eyes ... my … my whole body sort of seized up ... and I was dead...
"Where exactly did you see those eyes?" Harry's heart was beating like crazy in his chest.
"S-Somewhere there." Myrtle pointed to the sink in front of the toilet.
Harry immediately hurried over to it and started examining the entire sink. Every inch, including the pipes underneath. Harry wanted to smash the entire bathroom, but he had to pull himself together! Finally, he found something: a tiny snake was engraved on the side of one of the copper taps!
Harry felt like he was magically attracted to this snake. He instinctively knew what to do. He stared at the tiny engraving and imagined it was a real living snake. The snake began to wriggle and hiss in his mind's eye.
"Open up," said Harry in Parseltongue, and immediately the tap started to glow brightly and began to spin. The sink moved and sank completely into the wall. Now the opening of a large pipe was exposed, wide enough for a person to slide into.
Without hesitation, Harry climbed into the pipe and let himself slide down. As long as there was even the slightest glimmer of hope that Daphne was still alive, he would never stop fighting!
It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. Again and again Harry saw other pipes branching off in other directions, but none of the pipes was as wide as the one in which he was falling down deeper and deeper. At depths far below school, which were probably much older than Hogwarts itself.
The pipe ended, and Harry landed painfully on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel high enough to stand in.
He let his wand glow brightly so that he could see something in the darkness of the tunnel. It was silent as if he were in a grave. Cautiously, Harry strode forward, hearing a loud crunch under his shoes. When he looked down, he saw that he had stepped on a rat's skull. He looked around further, realizing that the entire floor was littered with animal bones and skulls. This wasn't just a grave, it was a cemetery. Tensely, Harry continued along the path.
Eventually, the tunnel widened, and Harry entered a cave. In the light of his wand he could see the outline of something huge and curved that lay in the middle of this cave, but it did not seem to move. His heart was beating so fast that it hurt.
Carefully, taking each step individually, Harry moved forward. Then he could finally see what it was. It was a gigantic snakeskin of vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the stone floor. So it had to be a snake, as Daphne and he had already suspected. And the only snake creature that grew so big that it could cast this skin was indeed a basilisk, even if they had ruled it out before! Harry instantly narrowed his eyes. He mustn't look into the eyes of the basilisk!
He walked slowly past the gigantic snakeskin, listening for any sound. Nothing moved, however, and there was nothing to hear except his own steps and the pounding of his heart. Harry noticed how he had held his breath and forced himself to take a slow breath.
As he crept around another bend, he finally saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined snakes were carved. The eyes of the stone snakes were large, sparkling emeralds. Harry knew immediately what to do, again.
Harry came closer, his throat dry. This time he didn't even have to imagine that the snakes were alive because their eyes shimmered with magical vitality. He took a deep breath and said one more time, "Open!"
The two snakes then parted, and a crack appeared in the wall. The two halves of the wall slid to the side. Shivering from head to foot, but also with absolute determination, Harry walked inside. He would save Daphne! Whatever the cost! And if it were his own life!
Next Chapter: The Heir of Slytherin
Preview:
He took her hands and looked intently into her beautiful blue eyes, wide with fear, as the devouring heat became almost unbearable. All the masks had fallen, here at the likely end of their journey together.
"Daphne ... I miss you ... I know that something has deeply bothered you over the past few months ... and I wish you could have told me ... But ... no matter whether we now die here or not ... I love you, Daphne, I love you!"
AN:
To be honest, this chapter was difficult for me. Harry and Daphne weren't what I wanted them to be here. I like them together much better than separated. Nonetheless, I found it necessary to describe the developments in the alienation between them described in this chapter, which may be better understood after the next chapter. But most of you have probably understood that it was caused by what Daphne has learned at the end of the previous chapter.
Nevertheless, I think that the chapter is neither one of my favorites nor one of my best chapters. Hence perhaps the relatively large time jumps in the second half of the chapter. Sometimes you just don't want to describe some things so intensely. And there also wasn't much happening there that was different from canon. We were able to gain some insights in Harry's emotional world during these months and I think we can at least imagine what bothered Daphne…
If Harry and Daphne had continued to work together, I'm sure they would have found out relatively quickly what the Chamber of Secrets was all about. At Christmas, they already knew much more than in canon…
I'm really looking forward to the next chapter (Chapter 12 – The Heir of Slytherin)! Harry and Daphne will get back together, I promise! But before that, they have to deal with a not so minor problem...
And (as always) I look forward to your thoughts, opinions and ideas on what might happen next!
