5-1992-1993 Hogwarts/New York

Disclaimer

We refer you to chapter 1 of this story. Reviews are welcome, flames are used to make cocktail wienies

A/N ~ refers to parseltongue

Hogwarts, September 1992

Dear Tom

He's not here. The boy that my mother told me I was meant for, my other half: the boy-who-lived, Harry Potter, is not here. He was supposed to be here for me.

But I am here for you. It is like I was trying to tell you. No one cares for you like I do.

Tom, what am I doing? I can't imagine what life would be like without Harry, my Harry.

Is there not a reward for the person who can find Harry Potter? Why not work with me to see what we can find together? If we can present Harry Potter to Dumbledore and the Minister, then even Harry would realize how special you are. After all, I am as interested in this Boy-Who-Lived as you are.

The excitement among the tunnel children was palpable. Diana and Mary, the two designated adults for this expedition to the NYC Zoo, were convinced that the excitement was something that could be bottled up and sold.

Still, even she was excited. This was Jacob's first formal trip above as part of a tunnel children's' tour. He was still a few months shy of his fourth birthday, but his intelligence and understanding was levels above those for a normal three year old. Diana wondered if he was somehow imbibing the contents of his father's library by IV lines: his vocabulary belonged to a child twice or three times his age.

She glanced back at Harry's distinctive black mop as he was bent over trying to restrain his younger brother. While Jacob's language and vocabulary might be in advance for his age, his energy level was very much all three to four years old.

She thanked her stars anew for the presence of the older boy. While Harry was blossoming under the love and attention of his new family and the surrounding community, the relationship between Harry and Jacob just seemed to grow ever deeper. It was as if the two boys, somehow aware that they were not ordinary children, had decided to help each other out with exploring their growing abilities.

That Harry was not normal; Diana and Vincent were now solidly convinced. There were too many unexplained events that occurred when Harry got involved. Toys suddenly appearing where before they were lost, the successful prediction of Joe and Jenny's young daughter's birth; the fact of his arrival in New York City from Britain; the arrival of Harry's missing school file: all pointed out to some unique abilities in their now twelve year old son. But neither she nor Vincent were concerned: Vincent had shared his opinion early that of all the places for young Harry to come, he had to come to the home of parents who were themselves empaths and in Vincent's case, something beyond human knowledge.

And it was now clear to both parents that Jacob, while outwardly human in appearance, shared many traits with his father: from his unusual blood and quick healing abilities to the bond that he and Vincent shared. Jacob as well was not 'normal' as humanity defined normal.

Marshaling all twenty tunnel children, the two woman led them towards the nearest sheltered exit to the world above. It was a familiar route for Diana and she couldn't help comparing her first foray into the tunnels to the ease by which she now. She couldn't help chuckling as she remembered her flashlight and chalk trying to mark her way back to the entry way to Catherine's basement.

All too soon, the small group had emerged into the protection of a shelter near Central Park's merry go round and now she and Mary's attention was focused on keeping everyone all together. From there to the Central Park Zoo took only a few minute's walk and then her charges were inside and were free to explore.

It was in the Tropic Zone where the reptiles were housed that Harry encountered voices. He had been walking with Jacob, pointing out the various birds and animals which would normally inhabit the tropics. Jacob had oohed at the parrots and aahhed at the frogs. But it was as they were approaching the reptile displays that Harry heard distinct voices.

~Another bunch of two legs running through.~ said a voice with almost an Indian accent.

~You would like nothing better than just being able to bite them.~ another voice said in what Harry thought was a Latino accent. ~Me, I just want them to come close and then allow me to encircle them. One good anchor, one long squeeze and lunch for the next two weeks.~

By now, Harry was in front of the snake displays and he swore he could associate the Indian accent with the snake labeled "King Cobra" while the Latino accent came from a snake labeled "Anaconda."

Jacob was initially interested in the snakes, but when they refused to perform for him, he saw his step mother Diana and walked off to greet her, thus leaving Harry alone with the two serpents. They were continuing to discuss the passersby and as Harry looked on, the cobra caught sight of him.

~That human looks like he understands me.~ it said. Looking directing at Harry and flicking his tongue at him, it began to rise in a rhythmic motion. ~Do you hear me, two-legs? Do you understand?~

Harry nodded. ~I never knew snakes could speak to people.~

The cobra flared to life and stood even taller. ~A speaker. This is something I have only heard about, but never thought I would see.~

Jacob had seen the movement of the cobra and had pulled his mother back with him to watch the display. Harry's attention was focused on the serpent and thus he was not aware of his new audience.

~How do you stand up like that?~ he asked.

A sense of regret could now be heard in the reptile's voice. ~I was once trained by a master snake charmer who used the most entrancing tunes to get me to dance for him: and the rewards were nice too. I don't dance as I used to because no one appreciates a cobra who has good moves.~

~I would love to see you dance, Mr. Cobra,~ Harry replied. ~Could you please for me?~

Diana was stunned at the display before her. Harry was hissing at the king cobra in front of him and the snake was hissing back. Then the cobra began to sway in a fluid motion back and forth as if it was going to strike, but which Diana recognized quickly as the movements a cobra would make under a snake charmer's flute.

This 'dance' continued for a few seconds and then Jacob began clapping his excitement at the moving snake. This startled Harry and he turned away to see Diana, Jacob and a few of his other friends from the tunnels watching the snake with avid interest.

"Harry, thank you for helping to arrange such a helpful display," Diana said more calmly than she felt. "Unfortunately, we have to visit the other parts of the zoo before we return below."

Harry glanced back at the cobra and said quietly. ~Thanks, Mr. Cobra, for the dance.~

~Finally, a human who appreciates me,~ the cobra replied. ~Come back and visit anytime.~

Diana waited until the group had returned to the tunnels before first speaking to Vincent about the strange events of the afternoon and then calling Harry to speak to them.

"Harry," she began. "Were you aware that you were hissing at that snake?"

"Hissing?" he looked confused. "It was speaking to me with an Indian accent."

"And how did you begin talking to the cobra?"

"I heard voices and when I got closer, it looked like the cobra and the anaconda across the hall were complaining about the people who were coming in. Then I saw it and it saw me looking at it and we just started talking from there.

"It said that it had missed dancing and moving with his snake charmer, so I just asked it to show me what it could do.

"Was that okay?" A note of worry now appeared in Harry's voice.

Diana again cursed whoever the Dursleys were. It was obvious that this was another one of Harry's strange gifts showing up, yet they could not explore it quickly because those Dursleys had attacked Harry for any manifestation of "not normal" behavior.

It was here that Vincent stepped in to save the day. "In the legends of some tribes, Harry, special gifted people could speak to snakes. In places like India where there are many snakes including ones that are poisonous to people, someone who could speak to snakes would be highly prized.

"We have less need here because of where we live and the fact that New York City does not have a large snake population."

"So I am not a freak for talking to snakes?" Harry looked at the both of them, his eyes moist.

"No, Harry, no more than I am a freak for how I look," Vincent replied as he embraced his oldest son.

"Well then, you might think I am a freak when I tell you that Diana is going to have a daughter and she will look a lot like her and Jacob," the twelve year old boy said from the shelter of Vincent's arms.

Vincent's eyes went immediately to his wife who colored red under his gaze. "That's two for two, Harry," Diana said. "I was going to tell you, Vincent, but I wanted Father to make sure."

Vincent's heart filled with the love he felt for this woman who had entered his life and heart only a few years ago. "You share great news, Harry," he said, ruffling his son's raven black mop. "Your mother and I will welcome this new ….sister and I hope that both you and Jacob can watch out for her and protect her."

He reached for his wife and drew her into their embrace. Even as Diana sank into her husband's strong arms and her oldest son's embrace, she welcomed anew Harry's arrival. He had found a way for her to share the news and if his prediction proved true, confirmed her unborn child's gender. With this news, Harry's snake encounter became just another strange event around their British child.

"You can't obliviate her again, Albus," Poppy Pomphrey, Hogwarts' medi-witch, said looking at the body of the young Granger girl laid out on the hospital bed. "Too many obliviations can destroy a young mind."

Dumbledore sadly nodded his head. He was not happy with the fact that Miss Granger had been placed in life threatening situations twice in two years and felt that when her parents heard the news on this happening they would probably pull their only daughter out of the school. But he had bigger concerns on his mind, chief of which was how to maintain his place at the school. With the petrifications and the warnings written on the school walls about the Heir of Slytherin and mudbloods needing to beware, the calls were mounting on the part of the Board of Governors to close the school until the issue of the Chamber of Secrets could be solved. And while he had some ideas, he was no closer to a solution than he had been the first time the Chamber had been opened.

It was as Poppy was moving the frozen body of Miss Granger that his eye caught a glimpse of paper in her hand. Miss Granger had obviously had something in her hand when she had been frozen on the way back from the library. And while she was no longer the pushy know-it-all she had been in her first year prior to the incident with the troll, she had still demonstrated raw intelligence and intellectual ability far in advance of almost every other student at the school.

Prying her hands open, Dumbledore gently pulled out a crumpled page of a library book which he immediately recognized from Scamander's book Fantastical Beasts. The page was underlined in Miss Granger's distinctive writing and beside the word basilisk, she had written pipes.

Of course, he thought to himself. It had to be a basilisk and the basilisk would probably gain access to various parts of the castle through the pipes. That suggested that the Chamber of Secrets was somewhere connected to the pipe system of the castle. Much as it pained him to admit it, he thought to himself, he would have to bring Amelia Bones and the DMLE in on this because a basilisk was more than what he himself could face alone.

Diana sat back in Peter Alcott's office. When she thought back to her career aspirations a few years ago, the highlight of her life would have been to continue exactly what she had been doing and having the freedom even more than before to pick and choose the cases she wanted. Now, here she was, having her pregnancy being checked by a doctor she had grown to know and love; discussing her eldest son's nutritional requirements and enjoying it.

Both Joe and Vincent had insisted that she restrict her caseload to cases she could work from a distance and a number that would allow her to ensure that her home life balanced out her tendency to become a hermit when she was in detective mode. She had initially objected: she knew that she was good at her job and every blow that she struck against evil was a blow for good.

But now she was enjoying a part time schedule and she was taking advantage of meetings with doctors and her sister to explore a more domestic side of life than she had ever considered before.

"Diana," Dr Peter Alcott gently reminded. "You need to return to earth now."

She shook her head at his gentle remonstrance. "Just thinking of how far I've come since meeting Vincent," she smiled. "So what about Harry?"

"I'm convinced that the healthy meals he's getting from William below had reversed all the malnutrition he has experienced in his life before," Peter began. "He will still be undersized somewhat, but he is growing normally and is putting on the right amount of weight."

"Vincent insists that he engage in lots of physical exercise. He has a finely developed sense of balance, but I suspect that he would never have been one of those muscular young men."

"I agree with you there. As for your young child, things are going well there too. I have the reports from the ultrasound. Would you like to know the gender?"

"Let me guess: a girl."

Peter looked startled. "Well….yes. She is a girl."

"We had an inside source," was Diana's iconic reply.

"Have you considered a name yet?"

Diana blushed at the question. She had chosen a name for her unborn daughter and only last night she had shared it with her husband. At the sound of that name, he had broken down in her arms and wept openly.

"Yes….Catherine."

It was Peter's turn to swallow a few times. "Fitting and one I believe will be very welcome to the tunnel community."

"She is the reason we came together in the first place." was Diana's reply.

"And how are the boys taking to the soon arrival of a new sister?"

"Harry is excited while Jacob says he can already hear 'her' voice. Something about their bond."

"Only you, Diana. Only you.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was coming to detest these end of year times of reflection. For the second year in a row, he had had to expend massive amounts of magical power to face down and overcome a manifestation of Voldemort. Last year Quirrell and this year the younger form of Tom Riddle, in a body he had not seen since the last time the Chamber of Secrets had opened.

Miss Granger's stroke of inspiration was the critical element of success here, he grudgingly nodded to himself. Once he knew that he was dealing with a basilisk and that the snake was using the pipes, he was able to put the events around the incident of 50 years ago with the events of this past year together and quickly focused on the second floor girls' lavatory as the point of entry. Monitoring charms led him to Ginevra Weasley and following her led him to the Chamber of Secrets in late April where a possessed Miss Weasely had battled him for control of the diary.

Then the basilisk had emerged and it had taken all of Albus' considerable power to bring the over 60 foot snake down.

The memory of Tom Riddle that had briefly appeared had taunted the old Headmaster with the knowledge that his champion, Harry Potter, had still not been found. Of course, once Dumbledore had held the diary in his hand, he knew what he had and he knew how Voldemort had survived.

Horcruxes: the darkest form of magic possible.

He had wanted to hang on to the horcrux and correspond with the soul fragment within: the chance to deepen his understanding of Tom was tempting as well as the chance to see if he was responsible for the creation of this dark wizard, but he had had to destroy the horcrux to free Miss Weasely from its influence and possession.

The fact of Tom's presence in Miss Weasely must never be discovered and he had ensured that both the obliviation of the young first year was very thorough and that traces of the diary's dark magic had been removed from her as well. It would not do for the young Weasely girl to be tainted with the knowledge of the possession: as the first Weasely girl in several generations and as the daughter of a proud pureblood family of the light, she would be a prime playing piece for Albus' plans for advancing the growth of magical power, yet ensuring that purebloods would continue to stay on top.

It was that wish that was also the only thing holding him back from forcing Miss Granger to stay in Hogwarts. That the girl was brilliant was without question and that she could bring a fresh source of magical blood to some pureblood family was also clear: however, it was evident from the reaction of her parents to both the personality change in their daughter from her first year and the news of her petrification in this year that Miss Granger would bring an activist personality to any relationship she would form in the magical world. Much like Lily Potter, he thought to himself, and two Lily Potters would not be a good thing for the traditional wizarding world. No, while he would regret losing Miss Granger's magical power and abilities, it would rock too many boats to see the young witch stay at Hogwarts. That plus the questions her parents were asking about the quality of Hogwarts' schooling could lead to unwanted scrutiny at the school just as he was overcoming the fallout from the ongoing failure to find Harry Potter.

Where, oh where, are you Harry, he asked himself.

This summer was not going to be a good one. Continued searching for Harry, now searching for Horcruxes and the ongoing search for a new DADA instructor.