Merry Christmas, belatedly, to you all. Many thanks to whomever reviewed thusfar on either this or the original edition of ANP! Enjoy the newest installment! ~F

Chapter Five

Parseltongue and Petrification

A roar of noise greeted them as they walked out onto the pitch. A great torrent of cheers, coming from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students eager to see a Slytherin defeat, and of course their Gryffindor housemates. Yet on the opposite side of the field, the Slytherins and their supporters were making their noise heard, matching the scarlet and gold half in both intensity and volume.

Madame Hooch, who was refereeing the match, asked the two captains of the Quidditch teams to shake hands. Flint and Wood stepped out of their lines and shook hands slightly harder than necessary, giving each other dirty looks in the process.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three ... two ... one. . .

With a renewed blast of cheers from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Draco flew higher than any of them but Harry, and both Seekers scanned the skies for the Snitch, their eyes squinted almost comically to be able to see better.

"All right there, Harry?" yelled Draco as he shot underneath him to get a better view of the opposite side of the pitch. Harry had no time to reply, because that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting toward him; he narrowly avoided receiving it in the head.

"Close one, Harry!" said one of the Weasley twins, streaking past him with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin player. Draco saw the twin give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the heavy iron ball changed direction in midair and shot back, headed straight for Harry again. Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and Fred-or-George managed to hit it hard toward Draco. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and carved a path through the air back towards the Gryffindor Seeker.

Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the pitch, the Bludger hot on his tail. 'What is going on?' Draco thought as he watched in confusion. Bludgers never concentrated on one player like this; it was their job to try and unseat as many people as possible... The other Weasley twin was waiting for the Bludger at the other end of the pitch as Harry pelted toward him. He ducked as Weasley swung at the Bludger with all his might and knocked it off course.

The three Gryffindor players finally got the attention of their captain to get a timeout. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Harry and the twin Weasleys dived for the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger. They huddled on the side of the field, probably talking about the rogue ball. Draco was worried, but he had to keep an icy uncaring demeanor now that he was around Flint, who his father had set to watch out for him, or more accurately to spy on him.

Moments later Madam Hooch resumed the game, just as the rain started falling heavily. On her whistle, Draco kicked hard into the air and heard the telltale whoosh of the rogue Bludger going after Harry once more. Higher and higher the Seekers climbed. Draco watched Harry loop and swoop, spiral, zigzag, roll, and do all sorts of crazy maneuvers to avoid the Bludger. He could hear laughter from the crowd at his antics and a few worried yells, but the rogue Bludger was heavy and couldn't change direction as quickly as Harry could. The Gryffindor began a kind of roller-coaster ride around the edges of the stadium keeping ahead of the speeding ball.

Draco sped after him, "Sure you don't need any help, Harry?" he yelled as his friend was forced to do a stupid kind of twirl in midair to dodge the Bludger, and flee, the black ball trailing a few feet behind him, and then, staring back at Draco in panic, Harry was frozen for an agonizing moment when…

WHAM.

Harry had stayed still a second too long. The Bludger had hit him at last. It had smashed into his elbow, and Draco saw Harry's arm break. Harry swerved out of the way as the Bludger came round for a second attack. Through a haze of rain he dived right at Draco.

"What the…?" he gasped, careening out of Harry's way just in time to avoid the Bludger-turned-missile.

Harry had taken his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch; falling straight onto the ground at the same time. With a splattering thud he hit the mud and rolled off his broom. His arm was hanging at a very strange angle. Draco could see the Snitch clutched in his other hand. Gryffindor had, quite unsurprisingly, won again.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry came around, rain falling on his face, still lying on the field, with someone leaning over him. He saw a the telltale glitter of white teeth.

"Oh, no, not you," he moaned.

"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks..."

He tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible. He heard a familiar clicking noise nearby, steadily drowning out the angry yells somewhere further away, but growing nearer.

"I don't want a photo of this, Colin," Harry said loudly, straining to hear what was being shouted in the background.

"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times…"

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" asked Harry through clenched teeth.

"Stand back," said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade green sleeves.

"No, don't…" said Harry weakly, but Lockhart was twirling his wand and a second later had directed it straight at Harry's arm. A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Harry's shoulder and spread all the way down to his fingertips. It felt as though his arm was being deflated. He didn't dare look at what was happening. He had shut his eyes, his face turned away from his arm, but his worst fears were realized as the people above him gasped and Colin Creevey began clicking away madly. His arm didn't hurt anymore, nor did it feel remotely like an arm.

"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is...the bones are no longer broken." He gave a little nervous laugh while the students surrounding him exclaimed in shock at the state of Harry's arm. "That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing, ah, Mr. Undol, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him? Madam Pomfrey will be able to, err… tidy you up a bit."

As Harry got to his feet, he felt strangely lopsided. Taking a deep breath he looked down at his right side. What he saw nearly made him pass out again. Poking out of the end of his robes was what looked like a thick, flesh colored rubber glove. He tried to move his fingers, but nothing happened.

Lockhart hadn't mended Harry's bones.

He had removed them.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Draco caught up to Faykan just as he was leaving the Hospital Wing. "How's Harry doing?" he asked tentatively. Faykan explained how Professor Lockhart had accidentally vanished all the bones in Harry's arm and that he needed to stay overnight while Madam Pomfrey regrew them. The sound of the bewildering Professor's name caused Faykan to give him a look that sent chills down Draco's spine, especially as some of the loose stone started to flake off the nearby walls and the loose window panes rattled.

After a short time Faykan eventually calmed down, and they discussed some other things, such as the Slytherin's teams disappointment at losing the match, and how they blamed Draco for the loss, but Draco didn't particularly care, as it was next to impossible for them to just throw him off the team after his father had bought his position. At the mention of other Slyherins, Faykan took a look to see if any teachers were around, before leaning in close and whispered to Draco "I have some more to ask of you, about Nott…"

Draco was confused. "What about him?"

Taking another secretive look around, Faykan led Draco to an empty classroom. When he had shut the door and made sure that nobody was listening outside, he finally spoke again. "Ron, Hermione and Harry have a suspicion that Nott might be the Heir of Slytherin, I want to ask you if he's been bragging about anything or being extraordinarily sneaky lately?"

Draco shook his head. "No, he's not been acting out of the ordinary that I've seen, but I don't really hang around him and his group very often anymore."

Faykan nodded slowly, "That's what Ron thought when I suggested we have you spy on them for us, which leads to my next question… Draco what are you going to be doing over the Christmas holiday?"

Draco raised an eyebrow, "I was going to stay here at Hogwarts actually. Why?"

Faykan's smile widened, and he began to explain Hermione's scheme with the Polyjuice Potion and how it wouldn't be ready for a month. "So we need the hair of four different Slytherins. Harry and Ron will probably go for Crabbe and Goyle, Hermione would need a girl's, and I was hoping if I could get you to willingly give over some of your hair along with a set of your robes and shoes, We'll get the specific day and time for you later, but for the hour that we're questioning Nott, you need to make sure that you are not anywhere near the Slytherin common room. Oh and well need its password and location," he added, thinking of that at the last second.

"That's quite a devious and highly dangerous plan you Gryffindors have cooked up." Draco said thoughtfully. After considering it for a few seconds, he said, "Alright, I'm in. But if you lot get caught I was stunned and locked in a broom cupboard. Got it?"

"How very Slytherin of you, my dear Draco," Faykan laughed.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry's stay in the hospital wing was, to put it lightly, highly eventful. He was woken in the middle of the night by a strange creature by the name of Dobby, and after some talking, the tiny 'house elf' had admitted to both closing the barrier back before school started and to causing the Bludger to relentlessly pursue Harry during the Quidditch match. The poor thing had said over and over again that he had done both to protect 'Mister Harry Potter', because "very terrible things are happening at Hogwarts!" No matter how much he prodded, Harry could not get the pitiful creature to reveal what kind of things. Every time Dobby got close to hinting at what was to come, he would start to punish himself by trying to beat himself senseless with anything within arm's reach. Finally, the house elf vanished when both Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall brought in the petrified body of Colin Creevey.

Harry was finally released from the Hospital Wing Sunday morning and wandered the castle, looking for Ron, Hermione and Faykan. He finally found them in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Faykan and, to Harry's surprise, Draco were guarding the door, while Ron and Hermione had started work on the potion.

"It's Harry," Faykan explained, closing the door after Harry was allowed in. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within one of the stalls and he saw Hermione peering around the open door.

"Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright! Come in, how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall after her. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a specialty of Hermione's.

"We'd have gone to visit you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

"You mean you decided," called Faykan from the door, but Hermione and Ron ignored him.

Harry recounted the events of the previous night to his friends. Draco and Faykan exchanged a look at the mention of Dobby the house elf.

"The sooner we get a confession out of Nott, the better," snarled Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match that he took it out on Colin."

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione asked, trying to ignore Ron's accusations.

"This settles it," continued Ron in a triumphant voice. "Nott's father must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear Theo how to do it. It's obvious. I kinda wish this Dobby had told you what kind of monster's in there though. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school."

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself, pretend to be a suit of armor or something. I've read about Chameleon Ghouls…"

"You read too much, Hermione," interrupted Ron, pouring dead lacewings on top of the leeches. He crumpled up the empty bag that had contained the lacewings and looked at Harry.

"So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm." He shook his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to 'save your life' he's going to kill you."

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Three weeks into December, Severus Snape found himself hoodwinked into 'assisting' Lockhart with a dueling club. It had not been a good month for Severus, as only last week someone, he believed it was either Potter or Undol, had thrown a Filibuster's Firework into a cauldron of Swelling Solution, causing the whole lot to explode over the entire classroom. And now he was being forced to work right alongside this fraud. Severus was furious to say the least.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" He clapped his hands together, and began in earnest. "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."

There was a general muttering from the surrounding students. Severus noted that Potter and his gang were in attendance, as far from Lockhart as possible.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," continued Lockhart, flashing a wide smile in Severus' direction. "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. 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!"

The Potion Master's upper lip curled as he glared at Lockhart, who simply continued to smile mindlessly at the crowd of students.

Lockhart and Severus turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Severus simply jerked his head irritably. They then raised their wands in front of them, almost like swords.

"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

Severus bared his teeth, wishing he could 'accidentally' send an Unforgivable or two towards the over-showy professor.

"One... Two… Three!"

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent. Severus cried, "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl unceremoniously into a heap on the floor.

Severus could hear Nott and some of the other Slytherins cheering. Curiously, as he glanced over the crowd, he could see Potter, Weasley and Undol grinning widely. Apparently their mistrust for him was far exceeded by their dislike of Lockhart's idiocy.

Lockhart was unsteadily getting to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

"Well, there you have it!" he said cheerfully, tottering back onto the platform. "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."

Severus glared at him again. Possibly Lockhart finally noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! Let's have a volunteer pair. Uh, Undol, Weasley…"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Severus interjected. "Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Undol up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about pairing Mr. Nott with Mr. Undol?" Severus added with a twisted smile.

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Nott and Undol into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. "Now, Mr. Undol," said Lockhart. "When Theodore points his wand at you, you do this."

He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Severus smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops… it appears my wand is a little overexcited." Severus moved closer to Nott, bent down, and whispered in his ear, "Undol is a strong caster. Give him your most powerful spells—just nothing illegal." Nott smirked, glaring across at his opponent. Undol grinned back at them, completely ignoring whatever Lockhart was trying to teach him. Severus was looking forward to seeing what Undol could pull off. Nott was probably going to be in a lot of pain very soon, but it wouldn't matter to him, as long as he had an inkling of what sort of magician he had on his hands.

"Scared?" muttered Nott to Undol, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him, but Severus had no problems overhearing the two boys.

"Terrified," said Undol sarcastically out of the corner of his mouth.

"Three… Two… One… Go!" Lockhart shouted just then. "Diffindo," Nott yelled, slashing his wand towards Undol's chest. He followed up with a pair of stinging hexes, but Undol dodged and deflected each spell without effort. He then retaliated with a bright orange blast from his wand that hit Nott in the stomach, making him double over in pain. Nott recovered quickly, and retaliated with a Blasting Hex, which caught Undol in the shin, but the boy did not go down.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the two battling students, and Severus actually grinned when Undol threw a spell behind him to disarm the foolish Professor once again.

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart as he scrambled for his fallen wand, but neither boy listened as they continued to throw spells and curses at each other. The air became thick with smoke and fumes as spells went wild, colliding with each other and bouncing around the room. It was a truly remarkable display, and most of the students were wide eyed with awe at the two dueling boys.

Severus could now believe whole heartedly that Undol had fought and beaten the fool of a Professor Quirrell the previous year, as while Severus' impression of the man had been lacking, the babbling, stuttering fiend hadn't been inept with a wand. But this display, with the level of power and control, was completely unexpected from a second year student.

Nott didn't stand a chance if Undol was actually trying to beat him, which Severus could tell with a critical eye was not the case. If anything the boy was just enjoying the back and forth of magic, as well as 'letting' a few spells backfire and hit Lockhart further down the platform from him.

Nott finally raised his wand quickly and angrily bellowed, "Serpensortia!" The end of his wand exploded in a burst of color and smoke. Severus watched as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between the two boys, and raised its head, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"Don't move, Undol," said Severus lazily, enjoying the sight of the boy standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it..."

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He flourished his newly re-reacquired wand at the snake and there was a loud bang. The snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged and now hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Potter and raised itself again, fangs exposed, and poised to strike.

Severus wasn't sure if he could stop the snake before it bit Potter. Just as he brandished his wand and prepared to get rid of the serpent, Potter opened his mouth as if to speak, but only an odd hissing and sputtering emerged. It seemed to catch the snake off guard, and it turned to a Hufflepuff boy next to Potter. But Potter kept speaking and the snake started to lie down, pacified.

"What do you think you're playing at?" the Hufflepuff shouted at Potter, and the boy turned and stormed out of the hall. Severus stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. He too, was looking at Potter in an amazed way. It seemed there was more in common between Potter and the Dark Lord than anyone had guessed.

Undol and Weasley tugged on Potter's robes and dragged him from the hall amidst mutterings from the other students present. Severus had hoped to expose some of Undol's powers, which he did, to an extent. The boy's dueling skills were more than exceptional and all of his spells had been silent, but apparently Potter was hiding some secret abilities as well. 'Albus will probably want to know about this,' Severus thought.

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Harry didn't have a clue about what was going on, and nobody explained anything until they had dragged him all the way up to the empty Gryffindor common room. Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and said, "You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" asked Harry.

Faykan paled, and turning to Ron, he said slowly, "He doesn't know… I completely forgot to tell him." He turned back to Harry as he explained. "That day, at the zoo when you spoke to the boa constrictor, I was going to tell you but Dudley shoved us to the ground. You can speak to snakes Harry, it's an incredibly rare ability."

"This is bad," Ron said faintly.

"What's bad?" asked Harry, starting to feel quite angry. "What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin…"

Ron explained that no one could understand what Harry had said, as it had all sounded like a snake's hissing. Hermione added that it was bad for Harry because Salazar Slytherin was famous for being a Parselmouth. When Hermione commented that it might even be possible for Harry to be a descendant of Slytherin, Harry saw Faykan turn to stare into space, a frown etched on his face.

Harry decided to speak to Justin the next day at Herbology and explain everything, but the class was cancelled due to the snowstorm that arrived in the night. Harry fretted about this next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, while Ron and Hermione used their time off to play a game of wizard chess and Faykan read through a Herbology book he had borrowed from Neville earlier.

"For heaven's sake, Harry," said Hermione, exasperated, as one of Ron's bishops wrestled her knight off his horse and dragged him off the board. "Go and find Justin if it's so important to you. Just stop fidgeting like that."

Faykan snapped the book shut as Harry stood, and raced after him, catching up to his friend as he exited through the portrait hole. "I'll help you look for him if you'd like," he offered cheerfully. "Perhaps the library would be a good start?"

Justin was not in the library. When Faykan and Harry entered, they saw several Hufflepuffs sitting at the back talking to each other in hushed voices, leaning close together conspiratorially. The two Gryffindors snuck closer, hiding behind a bookshelf in the Invisibility section to listen in.

"So anyway," a stout boy was saying, "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggleborn. Justin actually told him he'd been down for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose, is it?"

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" said a girl with blonde pigtails anxiously.

"Hannah," said the stout boy solemnly, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself 'Serpent Tongue'." There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on, "Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir, Beware. Potter had some sort of run in with Filch. Next thing we know, Filch's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of him while he was lying in the mud. Next thing we know, Creevey's been attacked."

"He always seems so nice, though," said Hannah uncertainly, "and, well, he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be all bad, can he?"

Ernie lowered his voice mysteriously, and the Hufflepuffs bent closer, and Harry edged nearer so that he could catch Ernie's words. "No one knows how he survived that attack from You-Know-Who. I mean to say, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful Dark wizard could have survived a curse like that." He dropped his voice more until it was barely more than a whisper, and added, "That's probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. He didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding…"

Harry couldn't take any more. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped out from behind the bookshelves with Faykan right behind him, wand in hand. If Harry hadn't been feeling so angry, he would have found the sight that greeted him quite funny: Every one of the Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been petrified by the sight of him, and the color was draining out of Ernie's face.

"Hello," Faykan said after glancing at Harry, "we're looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley."

The Hufflepuffs' worst fears had clearly been confirmed. They all looked fearfully at Ernie.

"What do you want with him?" asked Ernie in a quavering voice, watching Harry.

"We wanted to talk to him about the events of the Dueling Club," said Faykan.

Ernie bit his pale bloodless lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, "We were all there. We saw what happened."

"Then you noticed that after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?" said Harry, fighting to restrain his anger.

"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, though he was trembling as he spoke, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin."

"Harry didn't chase it at him!" Faykan said, his voice shaking with anger. "It didn't even touch him!"

"It was a very near miss," said Ernie. "And in case you're getting ideas," he added hastily, "I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's, so…"

"I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" said Harry fiercely. "Why would I want to attack Muggleborns?"

"I've heard you hate those Muggles you live with," said Ernie swiftly.

"It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them," said Harry. "I'd like to see you try it."

He turned on his heel and stormed out of the library, dragging Faykan by the wrist as the boy looked ready to hex Ernie into next month.

Striding blindly through the corridors, Harry almost ran into Hagrid. He only managed to stop in time because Faykan pulled him up short.

"Oh, hello, Hagrid," Harry said, looking up.

Hagrid's face was entirely hidden by a woolly, snow covered balaclava, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else, as he filled most of the corridor in his moleskin overcoat. A dead rooster was hanging from one of his massive, gloved hands.

"All righ', Harry, Faykan?" he asked, pulling up the balaclava so he could speak. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"It was canceled." Faykan said, then, glancing at the dead rooster, asked, "What's that for?"

Hagrid looked at the limp rooster, as if barely remembering that he was holding it.

"Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's must be foxes, I've been seeing this big black one hangin' round the castle, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop."

Faykan looked away nervously while Hagrid peered more closely at Harry from under his thick, snow flecked eyebrows.

"Yeh sure yeh're all righ' Harry? Yeh look all hot an' bothered…"

Harry couldn't bring himself to repeat what Ernie and the rest of the Hufflepuffs had been saying about him, so he simply said that he was fine.

"We'd better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration next and we got to pick up our books."

With that the two boys walked off, leaving Hagrid and his dead rooster in the corridor. Harry's mind was still full of what Ernie had said about him as he and Faykan climbed up the stairs and turned down another particularly dark corridor, made so by the extinguished torches. They were halfway down the hallway when Harry tripped headlong over something lying on the floor.

"Harry, are you…" Faykan said as he turned to help Harry up, stopping as he noticed what his friend had tripped over.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was laying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. And that wasn't all. Next to him was another figure, the strangest sight Harry had ever seen.

It was Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression of shock identical to Justin's.

Faykan pulled Harry to his feet, their breathing very fast and shallow, while Harry's heart was doing a kind of drum roll inside his ribcage. As Harry looked up and down the hall for any signs of what had petrified Justin and Nick, he saw Faykan kneel next to Justin's motionless body and wave his wand over the frozen boy, muttering, "elea amin mani templa sina edan umartempla yassen." Faykan's eyes seemed to gloss over, and he remained there frozen in a trancelike state for several moments. Harry was ready to start panicking when he heard a familiar wheezing voice behind him.

"Caught in the act Potter," Harry spun to see Filch stepping out of the shadows. The caretaker smiled a yellow toothy grin, "I'll have you out this time boy, mark my words…" With that he disappeared down the corridor as Harry called out that it wasn't what it looked like.

Harry was about to chase after Filch when he heard Faykan gasp in shock and jerk back, falling to the floor. He stared wildly around, wide eyed until he spotted Harry, just as Professor McGonagall rounded the corner. She took one look at Harry, and turned to Faykan kneeling on the floor with his wand out.

"This way Potter, Undol," she said slowly.

"Professor," Harry said abruptly, "I swear we didn't…"

"This is out of my hands Potter," she replied curtly.

They marched behind her in silence and Professor McGonagall stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.

"Lemon drop!" she said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle suddenly sprang to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Harry couldn't fail to be amazed. A glance at Faykan, however, showed that his friend was completely unimpressed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As he, Faykan and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it; Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Harry spotted a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. Harry realized that he was being led to Dumbledore's office.

elea amin mani templa sina edan umartempla yassen: show me what magic this man is cursed with

Potential Spoilers Ahead, you have been warned!

So, naturally this chapter contains quite a bit of the continuation of what had been taken from the original, and canon beyond that, but rather than leaving the explanation at that, I will go further into depth on why Faykan seems to be simply allowing this to occur, despite what connections he has to the past, as an Istari or someone close to them I will not say for certain, but someone of increased power and wisdom, he still would have had to known beforehand the exact specifics of what was going on a the school to be able to counter it from canonical events. Let's face it, Dumbledore is supposed to come across as a brilliant wizard, in both this and canon, and even HE wasn't aware that the monster was a Basilisk, due to petrification not being a primary mode of what the beast did, but a side effect from the interaction between its deathly stare and a reflective surface, which normally would be considered quite out of the ordinary. secondly, he suspected that it had something to do with Voldemort the first time the chamber was opened while he was at the school, but without a direct means of knowing how or where Voldemort was accessing the school to open the chamber, which we as the reader know is via the horcrux diary, he had nothing to suspect, on top of the fact that his suspicion of the Horcruxes did come until after he saw the diary at the end of CoS. While I will saw that Faykan's knowledge of magic rivals, if not supersedes Albus, these two facts would still throw off whatever investigation he may or may not be doing on the side, off camera as it were, and therefore would have not had much effect on what the other characters had seen.

Nevertheless, even in the process of writing this very explanation, I have been struck with new possible scenes or add-ins to make this more clear in the text of the story itself, rather than consuming effectively an AN to do so. You are all so wonderful to be supportive of this marvelous exercise of mine, which has allowed me to analyze my own writing style with a more critical eye and thusly improve, I dare say leaps and bounds from when I first commenced writing, and so I thank you immensely for the opportunity! More to come in due time! ~F