"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Spells"
"Parseltongue"
Harry sighed as he messaged the bridge of his nose, he was hidden in the back of the library after hours finishing up homework. While he had a private room in Ravenclaw the first years had yet to understand Harry like his privacy, despite having been in school for a month now. Closing his Transfiguration book Harry packed up his things and threw on his invisible cloak. Reaching into his pocket Harry pulled out the Marauders Map. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." As the map came to life Harry began heading back to his room.
As Harry neared the stairs to the dorm he paused when he saw sitting in front of the raven statue. Frowning Harry wondered why the student was sitting there this late, the Prefects should have found her. "Mischief managed." Harry muttered before putting the map away and stowing his cloak. Walking up the stairs Harry spotted the first year sitting against the wall, her chin resting on her knees.
"Hello Harry Potter." Luna said. "What are you doing out so late?"
"I could ask you the same question." Harry replied.
"Oh it seems someone has accidently silenced the egale." Luna said as she pointed up to it. Harry looked up and noticed the birds mouth moving but no sound was coming out, making him frown.
"Why would someone do that?" Harry thought. "How long have you been out here?" He asked the blonde girl.
"Oh just a few hours." Luna replied but Harry was startled by the answer.
"And now one noticed you were sitting out here?" Harry asked, knowing someone must have seen her as it was only two hours past curfew.
Luna extended her feet out and Harry saw she didn't have any shoes. "It seems that my shows walked off without me, I mentioned I was going to look for them but the others must have forgotten to tell a Prefect."
Harry frowned again and looked at Luna, trying to figure out if she was playing with him or if she actually thought those things. The younger girl looked up at him in perfect innocence though and that upset Harry. Despite everything that had happened in his life he still remembered the days of his bullying. While he would admit he would threaten and use force against people to get his way he did not go out of his way to bully people because he could. Taking a deep breath Harry gave Luna a smile. "Well we should go wake Professor Flitwick, come on." He held his hand out and pulled Luna to her feet.
"But it's after hours." Luna said casually. "Won't we get in trouble?"
"Don't worry about that." Harry answered. "Were unable to get into our common room so we can't be blamed." Of course he was sure he could have fixed the problem but he wanted to bring this to Flitwick's attention. He was tempted to use the map to avoid and Prefects patrolling but he couldn't let Luna see it so he would take the risk.
Luckily the duo made it to Flitwick's office and Harry banged on the door a few times, knowing he would likely wake the man. The heard movement on the other side and soon the door swung open. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Lovegood may I ask why you are at my door at such an hour?" Flitwick was still in his robes so Harry guessed he had been up working on something.
"Well sir first I apologize if we woke you but as I made my way to the common room from the library, which I stayed in far too late, I found Luna sitting outside." Harry nodded to the girl.
"Ms. Lovegood why were you sitting outside the common room after hours?" Flitwick asked.
"I was out looking for my shoes and discovered someone had accidently silenced the egale so I couldn't hear the riddle." Luna answered which made Flitwick's eyebrows shot up.
"What do you mean silenced it?" He asked. "And why were your shoes not with you?"
"They walked off without me." Luna replied which only confused the Professor more.
"Walked off? Were you experimenting with spells on them?" Flitwick asked.
Luna shook her head. "I didn't even know they were gone until I looked for them, they must have had somewhere very important to be though to leave in such a hurry." Flitwick frowned and hummed for a second.
"Tell me Ms. Lovegood does this happen with anything else?" He asked and Harry cocked an eyebrow while turning to look at the girl.
"Occasionally my homework turns itself in when I'm done with it." Luna answered. "And some of my clothes seemed to not have liked it at Hogwarts and gone home."
"I see." Flitwick said. "Come let's deal with this." He moved past the students and headed for the Ravenclaw common room at a quick pace. Harry easily kept pace but noticed Luna seemed to be breathing a bit heavy when they got to the eagle, which after a flick of his wand could speak again.
"What-?"
"As head of house for Ravenclaw I seek immediate admittance." Flitwick cut in and the door immediately opened. Harry was surprised as he did not know heads of house could do things like that. Moving inside Flitwick turned to Luna. "Ms. Lovegood why don't you head off to bed, Mr. Potter and I shall find your missing shoes."
"Of course Professor." Luna said with a smile before walking up the stairs.
Flitwick waited until she disappeared and spun around to Harry. "Were you aware of this Mr. Potter?"
"No sir." Harry answered right away. "I've never really spoken to her until tonight and when I heard about her shoes I brought her to you instead of just fixing the eagle."
Flitwick nodded. "Thank you for that, I would award you points but since you were out after curfew I will instead ignore that." Harry chuckled but nodded. "Now then." Turning Flitwick waved his wand and several couch cushions rose into the air and towards him, another wave and they turned into bricks. Flitwick then turned and jabbed towards the dorm stairs and the bricks flew off. Waiting a few seconds Harry suddenly heard several loud thuds, all the while Flitwick held his wand out and moved it in slow precise patterns, making Harr wonder how many times he had done whatever it was he was doing.
It became apparent minutes later as the bricks came back followed by some angry students, all dressed in pajamas. Of course when they saw Flitwick standing in the common room they shut up and gathered around. "Uh is there a problem Professor?" A seventh year asked.
"Would anyone like to explain to me why the eagle guarding the common room was spelled silent?" Flitwick asked sternly, several students whispered and looked around confused but Harry spotted a few third year girls look panicked and at each other. "Well?" Everyone went silent. "No? Than perhaps we can discuss why another student's things have gone missing or walked off?"
"Does he mean Looney?" Harry heard someone ask and then get shushed quickly.
"What was that Ms. Harper?" Flitwick had locked on to the student the moment she spoke. The girl fidgeted as her year mates quickly moved to the side, leaving her the center of attention. "Speak up."
"Ummm well Loon- I mean Luna was saying she went looking for her shoes that walked off without her earlier." The young girl answered.
"And you didn't find that odd and think to tell anyone?" Flitwick asked.
The young girl shrugged. "She is always saying crazy things so we didn't think much of it."
Flitwick began to open his mouth then stopped and took a deep breath, he would admit Luna said some odd things when in and out of class. "Be that as it may things do not simply walk off." The young girl blushed. "Nor do clothes leave on their own or homework turn itself in." Flitwick said while looking around the room. "This is supposed to be a house of intellect not bullies." Students gulped and avoided eye contact. "The fact things of this nature have been going on for a month and not been brought to my attention makes me wonder if some changes shouldn't be made." The prefects went a bit pale at that. "If Ms. Lovegood's things are not returned by lunch tomorrow there will be sever punishments. And you all are on thin ice am I clear?" Everyone nodded. "I do not expect everyone to like each other or get along but I do expect you to respect each other's property." Frowning Flitwick slowly looked at everyone before turning on his heel and motioning for Harry to follow him. Harry followed the diminutive Professor to the door where he stopped. "Mr. Potter I would like to ask a favor of you, since I can obviously trust you would you mind looking after Ms. Lovegood for the next few weeks. I am not stupid and realize my actions could make a few students want to retaliate against her."
"Of course sir." Harry replied, he really didn't mind and once Dumbledore heard of this it would just make him look all the better in the man's eyes. "I will make sure no one bothers her and gets any help she might need."
Flitwick smiled. "Thank you Harry, I knew I could count on you." Patting Harry's arm Flitwick walked out the door.
"Harry." Harry turned as Michael and Terry walked over to him. "What was all that about?"
"As Flitwick said I found Luna sitting outside the common room and the raven spelled to be silent. When I was talking to her it became obvious that she was being bullied so I reported it to Flitwick." Harry replied.
"Wow." Terry said. "I guess Looney wasn't making things up about her stuff."
"Looney?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes, Terry and Michael flinched and Harry realized he had let out a bit of anger in his voice.
"That's what people call her." Padma said from their side as she and a few other girls walked over, all curious about what was going on. "Because she talks about weird creatures that don't exist."
"And how do you know they don't exist?" Harry asked.
Padma's brow furrowed. "Well because their ridiculous, I mean she says she can see them but no one else can."
"Yeah and my parents have never heard of them when I asked them." Lisa said.
Harry looked at all of them. "Raise your hand if you have ever seen a game of rugby?" The others exchanged looks.
"What's that?" Terry asked.
"A muggle game." Harry answered. "But by your logic since none of you have heard of it nor seen the game it therefore does not exist."
"That's different." Padma started to argue.
"Why?" Harry replied. "Because you don't think I would lie, maybe I am now, maybe I'm not." Harry shrugged. "The only true way to know is research, no one person has every answer, hell I bet I could talk about several things even Dumbledore has never heard of." He spun and started walking off. "If you're going to pick on people because they say things you don't think are true maybe you all are not as intelligent as I believed you were." He said that loud enough that several people could hear him and he knew it would sting them.
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Breakfast the next day was somber for the Ravenclaw house, which several people noticed as they walked in. Harry sat on the end of the table closet to the door, not where he normally sat, and anytime someone tried to sit across from him he glared at them and they quickly left. A few minutes before the meal began Luna came skipping in, her bag on her shoulder and Harry noticed her shoes we back on her feet. "Good Morning Harry Potter." Luna said as she dropped into the seat across from him, which surprised the students when he didn't glare at her.
"Good morning Luna, I see your shoes are back." Harry said, Luna nodded.
"Yes I found them and some of my things at my door this morning." Luna answered. "I guess they just missed me."
"I'm sure." Harry said with a chuckle. "Make sure to let me know if anything runs off again alright Luna?"
She stared at him for a second then smiled. "Okay."
Harry didn't miss the whispering first years near them and knew by the end of the day at least everyone in Ravenclaw would know that he was watching over Luna.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hogwarts, Halloween xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry sighed as he looked over paperwork the Goldtooth and forwarded to him, since the summer he had received several offers on the various lands owned by the Potters and the Blacks. Harry had the elves go to each location that had homes and clear them out of everything but he had found nothing of value. Most of the offers were from purebloods looking to by their children homes as wedding gifts and a few from families now with more money and looking to show it off.
He also was finishing up deals for his new sports pub, a location in Diagon Alley had opened up and it was fair enough away from other restaurants that he wouldn't be competing too much. It would require a lot of work but Harry was sure he could talk Remus, since Sirius was a teacher, into being his on sight man and possible manager. Sudden movement and loud knocking at his door made Harry pause and place all of his documents in a folder then locked it into his desk. "Harry you here?" He heard Sirius ask.
"Coming." Harry said and then heard sighs of relief, curious Harry opened the door to see all his male year mates and Sirius.
"Thank merlin." Sirius said.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"We were coming out of the feast when we heard a lot of commotion." Terry explained. "And when we got to the end of the hall we saw the words "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware." Were written in bloody on the wall."
"Yeah and Mrs. Norris was petrified near it." Michael cut in.
Harry looked at them confused. "Why would that involve me."
"Harry the Chamber of Secrets is the hidden chamber of Salazar Slytherin and the last heir was You-Know-Who." Sirius informed his godson. "We were worried someone might be after you or that the blood was.. well yours." The boys nodded next to Sirius.
Harry hummed in thought, he had not heard of the Chamber before so once he got rid of them he would see what Tom knew. "I see, well then I understand you worry but I have not left my rom since you all left for dinner."
Sirius let out another sigh of relief. "Good, just be careful when you're walking around. This may all just be a big prank but I don't believe that."
"Of course." Harry replied. "I'll keep my eyes open at all times."
"Good." Sirius said with a nod. "Now I best get back and see how I can help." Turning he headed back towards the door.
"Do you think it's true?" Anthony asked.
"No way." Terry said while shaking his head. "You-Know-Who was the last heir and he's dead." Harry held back a snort as it wasn't entirely true.
"Look it's late, why don't we all head to bed and we can look into it tomorrow." Harry said to end the discussion, the others nodded and headed off towards their rooms. Immediately Harry closed and locked the door, then he headed to his bed and laid down on it before taking a breath and going into the mind book to learn about the chamber.
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Harry's eyes shot open and he reached for his wand. "Tempus." The spell showed he had been in there for two hours but he had learned a lot. It seems Tom had discovered the Chamber when he was in school and even spent time down there, Harry also learned a giant basilisk was hidden down there. Tom had was a Parselmouth and could speak to snakes, which was something Slytherin was known for which gave him credit to being the heir of Slytherin.
"I have his knowledge maybe I have the ability as well?" Harry thought, he would need to get a snake and test that before heading to the Chamber. Of course he had no idea who could be doing this so he would need to use the map to figure it out. Doubting anyone would be out with the Professors on the prowl Harry decided to wait on that for tomorrow night. "Zeus." Harry said and wit a pop the elf appeared.
"Yes Master?" Zeus asked.
"I want you to tell Ra to find a snake while working in the garden and keep it in a cage for me." Harry ordered. "If he cannot find one then go into the forest and find one but do not get seen." Zeus nodded.
"Yes Master Zeus be sure he knows." Zeus replied before popping away.
Harry thought for a second before deciding that was all he could really do for now so he would go to bed and worry about everything tomorrow night.
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The entire day the only thing people talked about was the Chamber of Secrets, Harry could tell the Professors were getting annoyed as in every class someone asked about them. Harry himself was getting annoyed because he already knew everything about it and was ready to get moving on figuring out who was behind everything. Making up to his room he knew he had a few hours before dinner so he decided to look into the Parselmouth ability. "Zeus."
"Yes Master?" Zeus answered as he popped into the room.
"Was Ra able to find a snake?" Harry asked.
"Yes Master we has snake in bowl at manor." Zeus answered proudly.
"Please get it." Zeus quickly disappeared and came back holding a large fish bowl with netting sort of material on the top so the snake could not escape.
"Here you go Master." Zeus said as he held up the bowl, Harry observed a small snake probably around a foot and a half foot long with a tannish brown color and dark brown stripes.
"Thank you Zeus you may go." Harry said, Zeus nodded and placed the bowl on the ground before disappearing. Walking forward Harry knelt down next to the bowl, remembering the memories he knew he would automatically speak parseltongue if he was able. "Can you understand me?"
The snake's tongue flicked out as its head slowly rose to face Harry. "Yesssssss, why hasssss your creature captured me?"
Harry grinned when he understood the snake. "I wanted to see if I was able to talk to your kind, I will have them return you to where they found you." "Zeus."
"Yes Master?" Zeus asked as he appeared.
Harry pointed down to the bowl. "You may take him back and have Ra return him to where he found him."
"Yes Master." Zeus said as he scampered over and picked up the bowl before leaving.
"I'm lucky." Harry thought. "I'll be able to speak to the basilisk; it will just be a matter of not running into whoever is doing all of this." Harry hummed as he tried to think of a guaranteed way to not be bothered while he talked to the beast.