Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter
Writer's Notes: thanks to my beta HGranger89 and thanks to FlowerChild23, lia a karas, leonix2009, Smithback, gisela19wwe, Smootsmokey and FrancineHibiscus for your wonderful feedback.
The Headmaster was trying to keep the situation calm, not wanting to risk frightening the students. All of the professors, except Severus, followed suit, so the young Potions Master silently cursed and berated the marionettes. In his mind, if there was even a 1% possibility that the Heir of Slytherin could be a genuine threat, then all of the staff should be on high alert.
Severus implemented strict new rules within his own house, regardless of Minerva, Pomona or Filius' inaction. Until further notice, no Slytherin would be permitted to travel without a peer, prefect or professor; curfews were observed immediately after dinner; Hogsmeade visits were suspended. While his entire house protested, saying the Heir was only after Mudbloods, Professor Snape made it abundantly clear that whomever or whatever resided in the Chamber would be a mild threat compared to himself if they dared disobey him or speak that horrible slur again in his presence.
There was a clear, blue sky the Saturday of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The rivalry was vicious, and usually, two or three students were seriously injured. This year, the hatred between the two houses was heightened thanks to the loathing between the teams' Seekers: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.
Snape had given his team ample time to practice, booking up much of the timeslots on the pitch, which caused a few arguments with the other Heads of House, especially McGonagall. Of course, the feline had to escalate things to Dumbledore, and the Headmaster sided with Gryffindor, forcing Severus to give up some of his house's practice time.
"You'll never catch me, Potter!" Draco hollered from his broomstick as he soared around. His broom was the newest model, but both teams had excellent fliers.
"Go Draco go," Narcissa cheered from the Slytherin stands, a smile of joy on her face. She was sitting next to her husband Lucius, who smirked with pride at seeing his boy fly for Slytherin.
"Another goal for Slytherin…" Lee Jordan announced over the stadium. The Slytherins were waving flags of green and silver, cheering and thrilled they were leading the game. While the Head of Slytherin most definitely wanted his own house to win, he wasn't sure who he wanted to catch the snitch. Both Draco and Potter were arrogant little shites and losing would teach them a valuable lesson in humility. The two Seekers eyes swept over the stadium in search of the Golden Snitch, while also trying to knock each other off their brooms violently.
Hermione Granger was dragged to the game against her will by Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Her nose deep in a book, she never cared about sports, and every once in a while, Lavender would elbow her to get her attention. She would briefly look up at her match, but her eyes would soon go back to her book.
As the matched carried on, Severus spotted a rogue bludger pursuing the Gryffindor Seeker. He groaned to himself, cursing all the Gods. 'Why can't Potter just play Quidditch without incident?'
The bludger violently smashed the boy's forearm causing him to lose balance and crash into the Quidditch grounds giving Malfoy time to catch the snitch. While Slytherin was celebrating, Severus jumped to his feet and rushed towards the field, along with several other teachers.
The bushy haired Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, was the first on the scene and quickly blasted the Bludger into tiny little pieces before it made another blow at the boy.
Lockhart approached next, the young wizard's gaudy robes blowing in the wind as he ran to the boy. He had his wand out and aimed at Potter, who was in a great deal of pain, his arm twisted at a painful and ugly angle. Despite the pain, Harry was yelling "no, anyone but you," and tried crawling away from the moron.
Severus tried to run faster to stop the inept dunderhead from causing any more pain to the boy, but the horde of students milling about delayed him from escaping the stands. When he finally arrived at the scene, he pushed Creevey and his blasted camera out of the way.
"Get away, you idiot!" Severus snapped at the poncy lout, who was making some excuse to yet another failure. To Snape's disbelief, Lockhart had somehow managed to remove every bone in the Potter's arm, causing him to faint from shock.
"Hagrid," Minerva tilting her head in the half giant's direction, "take Potter to the Hospital Wing immediately." Hagrid scooped up the boy in his arms and dashed up to the castle, and Severus rushed to his potions lab to brew a fresh batch of Skele-Gro and Pain-Relief potion for Poppy to administer to the boy. As he began chopping ingredients, he scoffed to himself, knowing the ungrateful little brat wouldn't dare take the potion if he knew who brewed them.
The following evening Severus was in his office, Frederic Chopin playing on his record player as he poured over many tomes in an attempt to research the legend of the Chamber of Secret in between marking a stack of assignments.
The risk to the students' safety had ratcheted up in the last 24 hours after Colin Creevey had been found petrified outside of the hospital wing, his camera slung around his neck as he tried to snap photos of Potter like some muggle paparazzi. While Lockhart was crowing in the staff room that he would find and slay the beast, Severus opted to silently research as much as he could in his spare time, and patrol the hallways after curfew to ensure the students' safety.
Suddenly, a knock-on Severus' office door disrupted his study.
"Enter," he called, his voice cold and emotionless. Severus looked up from the dusty volume and was caught off guard as Harry Potter slowly opened the door and nervously approached his Potions Professor.
"What is it, Potter?" Severus sneered, Potter had better have a very good reason to pester at this hour, he had enough of dealing with the likes of him during class.
He watched as Potter perched in front of his desk; the chair was charmed to be completely and utterly uncomfortable to any student unfortunate enough to warrant a trip to his office. "Potter, either tell me why you are here or you'll have detention for a month."
The boy was nervously rubbing his wrist; he knew coming here was a waste of time. Maybe he should have just waited until Professor Dumbledore was available instead of going to the greasy git. For all, he knew Snape could be the Heir of Slytherin, "Sna... Professor Snape, I heard the voice again, last night in the Hospital Wing, just before Colin was attacked."
Severus face twitched in shock, surprised that Potter had come to him, instead of Albus with the information. He schooled his face again and inquired calmly, "What did the voice say, Mr. Potter?"
"The same thing as last time: It wanted to kill, it did sound more dark and cold than before. Then moments later Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were bringing in Colin," Harry explained, deciding to keep what happened with Dobby the house elf a secret.
"Anything else, Potter?" Severus asked, the young second year just shook his head. "Very well Potter, I will report this to the Headmaster. Now I suggest you make your way back to Gryffindor Tower before curfew."
Potter jumped up from the chair and scurried to the door when he heard his professor call out, "Potter with the recent events it would be essential that you be extra cautious. Muggleborns may not be the only students at risk. No more late night walks under your cloak."
The boy's eyes widened at Snape's knowledge of his cloak. He nodded his head, even though they both knew the boy wasn't going to listen to a word the dungeon bat said.
Hermione Granger was absolutely frantic after the attack on Colin. While most of the students assumed Halloween night had just been someone trying to scare Muggleborns, Hermione could tell that whatever was happening was serious. All of the teachers seemed worried, even Professor Snape and Mr. Filch. Only Professor Lockhart appeared to think the threat was harmless.
The young witch entered the library the following morning to meet with the study group she had set up with her classmates. She hoped studying would calm her nerves.
"Hermione!" Neville waved his hand from a table, calling attention to himself.
Madam Pince glared at the chubby Gryffindor boy as Hermione skipped to meet her friend. Along with Neville, his dorm mates Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, as well as an exhausted Ginny Weasley and a Ravenclaw first-year with a dreamy expression on her face, Luna Lovegood, occupied her usual table. Hermione had never met Luna, but had heard the rumors of the odd girl, but decided not to judge her until she got to know the Ravenclaw herself.
"Hello everyone, thank you for coming," Hermione smiled. She hadn't expected so many people to turn up to study, but hope bloomed that she might be able to make friends with them this year, she already knew Ginny and Neville was sweet.