Author's Note
This is my first work of fan fiction, though not my first written work. I do hope that you enjoy it, as my desire is to entertain readers just as much as it is to get this story out of my head.
I despise typos, continuity errors, and formatting mistakes. Do not hesitate to point them out so I may set them on fire, though I would prefer you DM me so my shame does not live eternal in the reviews. Unless it relates to apostrophes, which I have learned I have no control over.
Please. Review. I cannot stress this enough. Your feedback, both positive and negative, motivates me and helps me to become a better writer.
Do. Not. Post. Spoilers. In. Your. Review.
Disclaimer: I am not the immensely talented and inspiring woman known as J. K. Rowling, and therefore hold no claim to the fantastical world she allows our imaginations to frolic in.
Chapter 11: Safe Passage
"I don't like the look of this." Harry said nervously.
It was the next morning and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting in the Entrance Hall for their new Hufflepuff friends. The only problem was that they weren't the only ones who had decided to meet here.
Around fifty other students were loitering around the hall as if waiting for something. Most of them were in small groups of friends, holding private conversations that Harry couldn't overhear due to the buzzing of the room. But every minute or so eyes would dart in his direction, and he thought he had a pretty good idea why there were so many people in the normally abandoned hall so early in the morning.
"You were right Hermione, people were listening. They want to know where the Chamber is." Harry whispered to her carefully.
Hermione huffed, blowing some of her bushy hair out of her face. "Well we'll just have to do this another time. It's too dangerous to let the entire school know where you will be coming and going from. At least while the tournament is going on."
"We could use the cloak." Ron suggested. "At least if there were just the three of us. Maybe someone could come back for Cedric or the others?"
Harry nodded. He would rather start training straight away, and the sooner everyone got to take a look at the Chamber the sooner he could focus on the tasks ahead.
"We'll see what they say when they get here." Harry said, looking at the nodding Hermione for confirmation.
"Hey, look at that!" came a shout from just outside the main doors. A younger Hufflepuff student was bouncing on his feet and pointing off into the distance towards the lake.
One of his friends rushed across the hall and looked where he was pointing. "I can't believe that!" he shouted, just as excitedly.
The large gathering of students suddenly made a crush towards the doorway with many of the Gryffindor's, Harry noticed, trying to push their way to the front. Ron was a step ahead of Harry as they went for the door, but suddenly a pair of hands had grabbed them each by the robes.
"The real show is the other way isn't it?" Albert said, as he pulled them back and nodded towards the door to the dungeons.
"But something's going on outside." Ron protested, though he hurried along behind Hermione as she slipped through the passage.
Albert closed the door behind the three quickly and nudged them down the stairs. "Nothing to see, I promise my little lions. Just a couple of badgers making a ruckus to take prying eyes off of the doorway. Though we still need to be quick, that type of thing doesn't work on everyone. It only takes one Ravenclaw . . ."
The four of them turned the corner and were met with a waiting Cedric and Max standing in the hallway. Cedric had his trademark smile, while Max simply nodded approvingly.
"Let's hurry then. I've secured us safe passage through the lower dungeons, so we won't have to worry about being followed once we make it there." Max said before turning swiftly.
" 'Secured us safe passage?' " Hermione repeated in a questioning tone. "Why would we need that?"
Cedric and Albert both laughed, while Max simply grunted.
"Must be nice." Cedric commented. "Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, living in your ivory towers. Down here it's all about territory."
Cedric held his arms wide and spun around.
"THIS." He proclaimed loudly. "Is the basement."
"Mate, sorry to break it to you but it's just the dungeons." Ron said, in a slightly amused tone.
But Cedric and Albert shot him a dark look that caught the trio by surprise.
"No. It's the basement." Albert insisted firmly.
Cedric coughed and forced his usual smile back onto his face.
"You see, there are three lower levels to Hogwarts that are under the ground floor. The basement has our common room, the kitchens, the equipment rooms, laundry rooms, etc. It is firmly Hufflepuff territory."
The group turned and went down a winding staircase. As they went Harry noticed the light becoming dimmer and that there was a slight chill in the air.
"This here is the Upper Dungeon" Albert continued. "It has the classrooms, potions store room, and the offices of some of the professors. It's neutral ground. No matter what any of the serpents tell you."
A quick turn again, this time down a straight and narrow staircase Harry had used just yesterday. The light faded even faster, as the temperature drastically dropped.
Max held up a hand to slow their pace. "We are entering the Lower Dungeon now. It's a green zone, completely controlled by the Slytherins. We let them pass through the basement, as long as they don't hang around. People need to get through there, plus we'd never deny anyone a late night snack. But as far as we know the only thing down here is the Slytherin common room, so Hufflepuff's don't come down here. Being caught down here alone is . . inadvisable."
The group of six reached the bottom of the stairs and saw a long dark corridor that Harry had first seen with Ron when they were in their second year. He knew they were just around the corner from the Slytherin common room.
Just as Harry finished that thought a large shadow emerged from a side passageway.
"You're early." Came a surprisingly feminine voice.
As Harry's eyes adjusted to the darkness the shadowy figure became more apparent, and he found himself almost wishing he hadn't come. There was only one girl in Slytherin whose size came close to Max's, and though he had never spoken with her directly he could easily pick Millicent Bulstrode out in a crowded room.
Her arms were folded across her black and green robes, and her hair was very uncharacteristically tied into pigtails. She wasn't actually ugly, as many people liked to joke, but she wasn't traditionally beautiful either. Her face had a hardness in the way ancient roman sculptures seemed to show, which wasn't helped by her larger than average physique.
"We got away easier than expected." Max replied as she fished a small pouch out of her robes and tossing it towards the other girl.
The Slytherin opened up the bag and peered inside, grinning wickedly.
"Right then. You're safe to go on through, but I wouldn't wander. If anyone other than a prefect tries to bother you tell them to take it up with me. You should still get wherever you are going fast." She gave the group a stiff nod, and jerked her thumb down the hall.
Max returned her nod and walked swiftly past, glancing back to make sure the rest of the group followed her. Once they were well out of sight and had taken two different turns it was Ron that finally broke the silence.
"Bloody hell, the snakes can't just act like they own the place!"
"They do own the place Weasley." Albert said while looking around nervously. "Literally the only thing down here is the Slytherin common room. They own it as much as you own your fancy tower."
Harry frowned at this. "We don't walk around like we own the place though."
The three Hufflepuff's all laughed.
Cedric turned to Harry with a bit of a sad smile. "I was a third year the last time I tried to walk around Gryffindor tower freely. Sometimes I still jump when I bump into something. I'll never forget those stinging hexes." He rubbed his behind somewhat dramatically before giving a small chuckle.
"And what" Hermione, who had been silent up until now, suddenly interjected forcefully "was in that bag you handed over? I'm not exactly alright with the idea of . . of . . paying someone off."
Max turned her head slightly to give Hermione an appraising look up and down.
"Granger, you're a muggle-born right?"
Both Harry and Ron tensed, with Ron moving in front of Hermione slightly.
"Hermione's the brightest witch in our year." Harry stated firmly.
Max just laughed. "Merlin, you'd think I was insulting her."
Harry just stared back at her in confusion as Ron gave her an angry, if equally confused, glare.
" . . . the three of you need to get out more." Albert sighed as he gave Harry a gentle pat on the back.
"Catch, Granger."
Max turned and tossed something small and dark towards Hermione, who yelped softly and caught it just barely between her hands. As she looked down and opened her hands Harry saw her eyes go wide, and her mouth open slightly.
Harry didn't need to ask her what it was, he caught a flash of it as it landed in her hands. There was only one thing he knew that was that small, that shape, and with those colors on it.
He turned to Max with an extreme look of disbelief. ". . . . really? Really? Snickers?"
The tall girl just grinned back with a maniacal gleam in her eye. "My mum's a muggle. She sends me snacks every other week to share with my friends. You'd be surprised how many wizard raised don't have a clue about how to get these types of things. I've managed to create a bit of a black market during my time here."
She gave Hermione a pat on the shoulder before turning back to the path ahead. Hermione moved, but was still staring down at the object in her hands.
". . . but why Snickers?" she whispered to no one in particular.
Finally after what seemed like an hour, even though Harry knew it had barely been five minutes, they reached a short hallway with a dead end. There was a single torch barely offering any light, and the walls were damp and dark.
This would have been an extremely unremarkable location if it weren't for the rather large painting on the wall to the left. The frame was old and cracked with a layer of dust, and the paint seemed to be fading in the background. The frame's occupant, however, was still clearly visible.
A massive serpent with vibrant purple scales, and a shimmering streak of white down its belly that looked practically silver flanked by stripes of yellow. Its eyes were a bright green, and even as the group watched, it continued to coil and uncoil inside its painting. As the seconds ticked by more and more of the creature appeared and disappeared, and it was clear they were only seeing a small portion of it. A pair of feathery wings dipped in and out of the image at different times, catching their attention easily as they seemed to be made of pure gold. But the creature's head, with its bright green eyes, never left the center of the image, and continued to look out as if it were watching them.
"Oh, she's gorgeous!" Hermione exclaimed, approaching it quickly.
Ron sighed quietly so only Harry could hear. "We really do need to sort out her priorities."
"That's not the basilisk right? I mean it is looking at us." Albert queried nervously with a small laugh that trickled away.
Harry shook his head "No, it's quite a bite smaller . . " Albert paled slightly "And it definitely didn't have any feathers. Hermione?"
"It's a quetzalcoatl." She said automatically, still examining the portrait. "A magical creature native to the America's, mostly South America actually. It's practically extinct, but Griffith Scamander wrote an excellent biography of one. They can turn themselves nearly invisible, and are the fastest flying creature in the world. He rode one from London to Beijing in ten minutes! They are extremely fascinating!"
Albert approached the wall and ran his fingers along the edges of the frame.
"Permanent sticking charm. And this frame is only holding together because someone enchanted it. This is easily the oldest painting I've ever seen."
"Dumbledore thinks Slytherin must have put it here himself." Cedric said smiling. "Especially when you consider it was probably his main entrance to the Chamber. We didn't know what it was though, Dumbledore didn't have time to tell us, so thanks Hermione."
Hermione's cheeks flushed lightly at the compliment, but she turned to continue examining the picture.
Harry, who was still looking at the coiling serpent, remembered when they first emerged into this hallway the day before. Considering the effort it had taken to get down here today it has been extremely lucky for them that lunch had already started at the time.
Still, he'd take this over a girl's bathroom any day.
"So alright, I'll open it up. No one is afraid of snakes, right?" Harry asked, while taking a few steps closer to the painting.
"I mean, it's not a bloody spider but I still don't want to give it a hug. Why are you asking?" Ron said looking nervously.
Harry quickly shot his friend an apologetic look before locking eyes with the quetzalcoatl.
~Open~ the dark haired boy hissed loudly.
The sound reverberated throughout the hallway with a slight echo. Both Albert and Max, who had never heard parseltongue before, shivered lightly.
The snake continued to look down intensely at Harry. One, two, three seconds passed without anyone moving. Finally it gave him a slow nod and began to inch forward. Rather than hitting against the painting's barrier, like most portraits did, its head grew, and grew, and grew as if it were approaching a camera lens. They could still see its writhing body in the background, and that it wasn't growing in size, just that its head was getting much closer to their view point.
Eventually its head filled the entire frame, appearing so close that it would be easy to count every scale. Slowly its mouth opened revealing, not long sharp fangs like the basilisk had, but rows of short saw like teeth that Harry was sure could rip through a person's arm with little effort. And still the creature moved closer, as if it were about to swallow the group of students, until there was only blackness filling the entire frame.
Harry looked at his friends. Hermione, though initially the closest, had moved back and was clinging to Ron's arm. Ron was slightly ahead of her now, and though his face was full of worry his body was standing firmly between the painting and Hermione. Max's fists were clenched, and Harry could see the veins on her exposed arms clearly as she tensed, apparently ready to fight if necessary.
Albert had turned to face the opposite wall.
Only Cedric, who had seen this already with Harry, looked unconcerned with his usual smile on his face. Harry sighed to himself and walked over to the portrait, placing one foot against the frame.
"Well . . come on then." He remarked before stepping into the painting.
"MATE!" Ron shouted from the corridor.
Harry turned and looked at him. From Ron's perspective Harry was sure that he looked like he had just become part of the painting. From his perspective though there was darkness in every direction, except for a clear rectangle of space that looked out at his friends standing in the stone corridor.
"I guess Slytherin thought anyone who did discover this entrance would be too afraid to use it. It's just a tunnel now Ron, come on." Harry finished with a wave of his hand before turning and walking away from them.
One by one, led by Cedric, the others slowly entered the painting. Ron would later swear he heard a hissing laugh as he stepped inside, but no one else seemed to have noticed. Max took up the rear and kept an eye on their backs as she stepped in. The moment she had fully entered the frame however darkness enveloped the entrance just like the rest of the passage they seemed to be in.
But Hermione barely had time to give a surprised yelp before another rectangle of light appeared at the opposite side of the darkness.
"That's the way." Harry said. "Just follow the light."
He started walking slowly, listening to his friend's footsteps to make sure they were keeping up with him. As the rectangle became larger his eyes adjusted and he was able to see the group following him, though moving a bit slower than he was.
After less than a minute of walking he stepped out of the passage and stood off to the side to allow the others through. Unsurprisingly it was Hermione that rushed out first, though she stopped immediately.
"This is amazing Harry!"
The foreboding Chamber of Salazar Slytherin was long forgotten now. The warm light that now diffused throughout the room was inviting, and the brightly colored drapes on the walls easily made you forget there was cold hard stone behind them.
But for Harry the largest improvement had been the new way in and out of the Chamber. Gone was the massive head of one of the school's founders, which once held the basilisk. When he had called for an exit the previous day, at the Headmasters urging, he hadn't expected there to be such a massive change.
The entire head of Slytherin had turned slowly, with a great grinding sound of stone on stone, until its entire face vanished into the wall behind it. In its place, on the back of its head, was a short staircase leading to an ornate marble archway with two massive pillars. The pillars each had a carving of a snake coiled tightly around it, and between them was a black filled picture frame, much like the one they had just entered..
Harry looked around the room again with a small smile. "It's completely different than the first time I was down here. For multiple reasons. I think it will be great for training."
"Training?" Ron said as he took his first steps into the room. "Bloody hell, forget training, this place looks more comfortable that the common room."
He quickly jogged over to the sitting area and threw himself into one of the over-sized plush armchairs.
"Are those target dummies?" Max said eagerly as they stepped into the room before even taking in the rest of the Chamber.
"Yeah, Dumbledore made them." Harry responded while looking towards that side of the room.
"Dumbledore?" Max said with an uncharacteristic grin. "They must be practically indestructible then. Might need to test that out."
She quickly drew her wand and started heading over to the other side of the chamber with as much speed as Ron had made towards the armchair.
Harry almost followed them, but Hermione called out to him suddenly.
"Oh Harry, these books are amazing. Where did you get them?"
Harry walked over past the sitting area to the small "library" space Dumbledore had created the previous day, where he found Hermione cradling three large books in her arms while seemingly looking for a fourth.
"Um, I don't know. They weren't here yesterday." He said puzzled.
"What?" She said, stopping to look at him. "But I thought the three of you did all of this yesterday?"
At this point Cedric and Albert had come over as well, though Albert simply laid across the empty sofa as Cedric continued on to join Harry and Hermione.
"Dumbledore made the bookcases." The older boy said, running his finger along a shelf. "But there weren't any books here. And you haven't been down here since we left yesterday I assume Harry?"
Harry shook his head while looking at the books.
"I don't own this many books anyway, and I doubt they are from the library. Madam Pince wouldn't let this many books out of her sight at once."
Hermione looked down at her armful of books thoughtfully.
"These are old books, all on offensive and defensive spells. It's like they were hand-picked to help with your training."
Cedric nodded thoughtfully for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin. He picked up the nearest book and set it on top of Hermione's pile, which almost unbalanced her for a moment.
"Must be a happy accident, best not to dwell on it." He said giving him a significant look.
"But . . "
"BOMBARDA!"
All heads turned to the other side of the room where Max's spell sent a training dummy flying hard against the wall with a loud crash. The group quickly headed over, Hermione stopping only to set her books on the table, to see what had happened.
There was a black mark on the stone wall, and the dummy was laying on its side with large splinters of wood around it. Max was breathing heavily with a feral smile that showed their teeth.
"Barely dented the thing! And the wall doesn't look damaged at all. Ced, you're going to have to take me to your training room next, I want to see if it has the same enchantments."
Cedric looked from her to the dummy nervously. "You know, maybe give me a few days, or weeks, to check things out first. I'm not sure if it will have thousand year old walls or objects crafted by the greatest wizard to ever live.
Ron and Albert had gone over and lifted up the dummy, placing it back into its original position.
"It's still in great shape, mate." Ron said while looking it over. "Definitely made to take a beating. I doubt we'll be able to destroy them."
"Well, not with only your little fourth year spells." Albert teased joyfully. "You aren't big scary fifth years like me or Max." He pointed proudly towards his chest with his thumb.
"Speaking of which." Cedric hummed thoughtfully before turning to Harry. "Serious question Harry, how are you going to be training?"
Harry stared at Cedric wide eyed. He had been so focused on finding a place to train he hadn't thought much on how he would be doing it.
"Well . . " He began, rubbing the back of his head and looking around. "Professor Dumbledore said it would be important to rely on my friends."
Both Hermione and Ron stood next to him, smiling brightly.
"And he also said he might be able to acquire me some tutors, but that it would take some time to get set up."
Cedric rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a few seconds while looking at him.
"That's certainly good but, and this is no offense, but your friends are mostly in your year I take it?"
Harry simply nodded. In fact, until making friends with the three Hufflepuff's the only older students he really knew were the ones from the Gryffindor quidditch team. And they mostly talked about quidditch, not schoolwork or learning new spells.
"Before your tutors are arranged, you really do need to get caught up. I'm two years above you, and while that doesn't seem like much, when it comes to your wizarding education it means everything."
Albert came up and slapped Cedric on the back.
"Cedric here could probably take both me and Max on without getting a scratch. That's the difference a year makes here, especially when you compare students who have already taken their O.W.L's."
"I've had to learn more in the last few weeks than probably my first two years." Max said somewhat sadly. "O.W.L.'s year is a nightmare."
Cedric hummed again, looking up at the ceiling absently.
"Not only that, you have to consider the other two champions. Fleur, I have found out, isn't that much older than I am. But she's still an entire year ahead in school. And Krum, he's older than all of us. Practically speaking has almost another full year older than any of us."
Ron spoke with his arms crossed while looking towards the floor, seemingly deep in thought. "And don't forget, their schools have different specialties than Hogwarts. It's not like we can rely on their skills based on what we are taught here. Beauxbatons teaches more everyday spells, but offers a lot more elective courses than we do, including dueling. Durmstrang is almost all battle magic, and they teach more dark spells than any other school. Hogwarts is the middle school teaching a little bit of everything, which means we don't have a particular strong subject."
Everyone in the room simply stared at the red head for a full minute until Hermione broke the silence.
"Ron. How do you know all of that?"
The tips of his ears reddened at he suddenly looked up at the group staring in his direction.
"I asked around yesterday evening, alright?" He admitted. "I knew we were meeting up today, and I figured information would be the best way to form a strategy . . ."
The lanky boy suddenly turned and headed for the sitting area, not looking anyone in the eye. The group as a whole followed him.
Harry grinned. Ron rarely made an effort on anything that wasn't related to quidditch. Seeing him actively trying to help Harry, without being asked mind you, really impressed him. He threw himself into the large armchair opposite the one Ron had decided to sit in, while the others spread out along the sofa.
"Ron, if what you are saying is right though then that means that we, both Harry and I, have a big problem." Cedric pointed out while leaning forward from his seat. "Hogwarts doesn't have a strong subject, but it definitely has a weak one. And unfortunately it's the most important one needed for a tournament like this."
There was a collective groan from each of the students.
"You're the oldest of us here Cedric, didn't we ever have a good Defense professor?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Cedric sighed. "Let me put it this way, Professor Quirrell felt like an improvement."
The others groaned even louder than before.
"In fact" he continued "I heard that the last good Defense teacher we had, before Professor Lupin I mean, had a nasty temper. Rumor was she even snapped a student's wand."
Both Ron and Albert shuttered slightly. Harry had had nightmares during his first year that his wand would be snapped, and he would end up living in the cupboard under the stairs again. The thought of anything happening to it was something he didn't think he could stand.
"But that just means there will need to be a lot of training in Defense, right?" Max said with a toothy grin, bouncing their knees excited. "Dueling, dodging, maybe even some physical attacks?"
"Max's mom punches people for a living." Albert drawled lazily towards the Gryffindors as he slumped deeper into the cushions.
"I'll punch you if you keep telling people that!" Max said, halfway getting to her feet before Cedric pulled her back down.
"No fighting in front of Prefects." He said in a slightly serious tone. "And remember what Professor Sprout says: 'Fight with your words, or not at all.' "
"Didn't she also say 'It's not a fight if you finish it in one hit.'?" Max replied as they sat up cross-legged on the sofa.
"She did not!" Hermione said, looking shock.
"Have you never been in her office?" Cedric said, watching as the three Gryffindors shook their heads. "She keeps an old cracked beaters bat on the wall behind her desk from when she was a student, but the grip is brand new. I heard she re-wraps it every year 'just in case'."
"I don't even know what that means!" Albert exclaimed, having laid on his side. "She'd never hurt a student, never. What does she think will happen?"
"Troll in our first year." Ron said immediately.
"The basilisk . . " Cedric said, looking towards the center of the Chamber nervously.
"Dementor's last year." Hermione said in a disappointed tone.
"And whoever wants me dead this year . . " Harry finished in an offhanded way.
Max's fidgeting stopped completely, and Albert sat up properly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He said incredulously.
"Oh, well, it's nothing I mean . . " Harry said quickly, not used to having friends he couldn't share everything with.
"Dumbledore thinks someone entered him into the tournament to kill him." Ron said angrily, clenching his fists against his knees.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled, jumping to her feet "That's not something we should say! The Headmaster told us that in secret."
"No." The red head argued, his voice rising "He told us in private, that doesn't mean we can't tell people. Don't you think it's better people knew the truth rather than calling Harry a cheater?"
"We never . . " But Max went unnoticed by Hermione as she continued to argue.
"Well isn't that Harry's decision then? Not yours?" She retorted, looking quickly in the lightning scarred boy's direction.
Harry didn't particularly care if people knew or didn't know. He knew most people wouldn't believe him no matter what he said, and he was fully expecting for it to be second year all over again.
"It's fine." He said, giving Hermione a small smile to make sure she knew he meant it. "Really Hermione."
The bushy haired girl just huffed a bit and sat back down quickly. Max and Albert were looking at each other skeptically. Harry wasn't sure if they believed what Ron had said. Cedric, however, was deep in thought.
"If that's the case." The older boy finally said. "Then that makes your training even more important. I'll ask again Harry, how are you going to be training? Not later when you have tutors, I mean what are you going to be doing to catch up to us right now, today?"
Harry looked at the older boy in a panic. He had convinced himself that everything would be fine once he had a place to train, but the truth was he had no idea how he was going to gain the skills he needed. He wasn't very good at self-study, and he wasn't wizard raised so he didn't even really know what magic was capable of. Sometimes he would still stare wide eyed when someone floated a book across the room. His throat dried up and he gave a small cough as he looked up at the other boy.
Thankfully before he could force himself to speak, Hermione stepped forward while fidgeting with her book bag.
"Actually . . I've been thinking about that. And, Harry, I think I have an idea if you are willing to listen?" She asked somewhat timidly.
"Of course Hermione!" He said with relief, a small smile returning to his face. "You know how much I value your opinion."
She smiled at him, but only briefly.
"Then I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but . . I don't think they should be here for it." She said while giving Cedric an apologetic smile.
Harry was surprised by the sudden change in her attitude "Hermione, I thought we had talked about this? I trust Cedric, and I trust his friends too."
"Thank you Harry." Cedric said, turning to him. "But Hermione is right."
"What?!" Both Ron and Albert said together.
"Harry we're both competing against each other in this thing. I wish I could help you, I really do, but I need to focus on my own training. And the other schools already think that Hogwarts cheated somehow, what will happen if we started working together?"
Harry deflated significantly, never having thought of that. "They'd never believe I didn't enter the tournament on purpose. In fact they'd probably suspect the Headmaster was in on it."
Cedric simply nodded as he stood up.
"That doesn't mean we have to stay away from each other." He said brightly. "Or that if you are really stuck you can't come to me for advice. But in general we really need to work things out for ourselves. I appreciate you letting me show my friends the Chamber, maybe we can all get together down here again when the tournament isn't going on?"
Harry nodded and was halfway out of his chair before Cedric raised his hand to stop him.
"We can see ourselves out, er with your permission of course? But you need to focus on your training. Not after lunch, not tomorrow or next week, you need to start now if you are going to catch up Harry."
Harry nodded towards Cedric, and was caught off guard by the serious look the Hufflepuff Champion was giving him. He was deadly serious about what he was saying, and he wanted Harry to be sure of that.
But a second later the bright smile was back on his face, and he was dragging Albert off of the sofa. Max brought up the rear and gave each of the Gryffindor's a nod as they passed.
After a brief moment, just like that, the original trio were on their own once more.
Author's Thoughts
I legitimately don't know where this chapter came from.
I have had this story in my head for years, back ever since I first started reading fan fiction. Therefore I spend all of my writing time trying to get from point A to point B, knowing exactly where I'm going, just not always the words to get there. That can be frustrating.
There are a lot of things I want to get to RIGHT. NOW. I can tell you already, the second task is going to be a lot of fun. And I've also been working on a sort of signature spell for Harry (that definitely isn't expelliarmus). There's even a cool power move Harry is going to make in Book 4 that I probably think of more than any other part of this story.
Sometimes I will be thinking so much of a scene I go ahead and write it ahead of time. For example, I already have a good third of a chapter written for when Harry first meets his tutors. And I maaaaaaybe have written a few paragraphs for when we finally meet the love of my life, er I mean, a very special young Ravenclaw.
This chapter though? It was literally supposed to just get them into the Chamber and start Harry's training. It was supposed to be a paragraph or two, not an entire chapter. Not until I started writing did I realize the only place the Chamber would reasonably exit would be deep in the dungeons, so I wrote that entire part on the fly. Turns out I fell in love with the idea of each house having their own territories and rules though, I'll definitely revisit that later.
Also even I, the ultimate Hufflepuff, didn't plan to spend so much time with them upfront. This is still Harry's story, and I'm not a fan of having too many OC's hanging around. In fact I hated OC's until I started writing this. Do you know why people add so many? Because Harry Potter knows like MAYBE ten people at school, and they don't really have a diverse set of skills or thought processes.
I'm still planning to try and stay away from them in general, there are a lot of fun in canon students we haven't had the chance to get into yet, but I suspect I'll need at least a few in each house for the older or younger years.