Author's Note:

Some big changes are coming your way soon.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (though I did tweak this lovely section a bit to fit my storyline) it does belong to the amazing JKR.

I know there's been some repetition, but this is the end of it — things are changing my lovelies, things are changing.

Reviews and Comments: To E-Dett: Yes, the rat has been captured! Thank you! He will be going to Azkaban but as to him escaping in third year instead of Sirius, we will have to see. To alix33: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed all of the food references lol. To trickstersink: Thank you for saying this was absolutely incredible. I did say things were changing, I just needed a few things to stay the same to get me on my way lol. Thank you so much for saying you immediately have to read this when you get a notification. I love giving Tonks more character and personality than we got to see in canon and you're right, the longer Remus waits the more it becomes a betrayal of trust. He will tell her soon. No, please, keep gushing, I don't mind! Thank you so much!

To Sleepyhawk502: Thank you! To coloredwords: Thank you! I love that it was a surprise twist for everyone! You think Tonks already knows that Remus is a werewolf and just waiting for him to come clean? Interesting. Yes, Sirius and Remus have to tell Harry before he reads it about it in the paper. Thank you for your kind words. To Cantodeembalar: Thank you for telling me you love my story and my characters. The teachers and Sirius are worried about the chamber, but it's what they don't know that makes it difficult. To Guest: Yes, Pettigrew! Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN:

The One Where Sirius Tells Zee About Azkaban

After Remus and Tonks left, Sirius sat on the sofa in Zee's living room smiling when she came to sit next to him, a cup of hot cocoa in her hands for him. He accepted it with a smile, draping an arm over her shoulders as she leaned back against his chest.

"You were incredible today," he said, kissing the top of her head.

Zee sipped her own hot cocoa. "I hardly did anything."

"No, you did everything. I don't know if I would have gotten through the day without you," he told her, honestly.

Zee turned to smile at him, her hand resting against his chest. "I feel like after today I really know you; the real you. You never… you never talk about that night, about going to prison as an innocent man. I know nightmares plague you sometimes…"

Sirius snuggled her back against him as he sighed. "I don't know what to say about it. I went to prison. It's over and done with."

"It's not that cut and dried, Sirius," she said softly. "I can't imagine what it was like to spend years there for a crime that you never even committed. To feel the Dementors sweeping in around you…"

"It wasn't great," he said, quietly. "Some days I thought about trying to kill myself, but then I'd re-think it. I thought that no one would ever know that Peter was the real betrayer if I killed myself. I tried to get the attention of anyone I could. I screamed. I beat the walls bloody. I cried. I sobbed until my eyes and my throat hurt. It didn't matter. No one was listening. And when the Dementors got too close… that guilt, that knowing realization that if I hadn't convinced them to change secret keepers, that my best friend and his family would still be alive… it still fucking haunts me every day. Is that what you want to know?"

Zee leaned forward to place her cocoa on the table, leaning back and tugging his arm closer around her. She turned her body to snuggle into him. "Sirius, I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. I don't want you to keep it all locked up inside. Those nightmares… you've woken me a few times in the middle of the night and you are drenched in icy sweat or crying in your sleep…" she said, twining her fingers with his. "I want to be there for you. I want you to know that I'm here for you whenever you want me to be or need me to be."

He sighed, a small smile on his face. "I know."

"Good," she said, turning her head to kiss the crook of his neck.

"Zee…" he said softly as her eyes moved up to his. "I'm so glad that you know about Pete and the whole thing. I feel… relieved."

She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I told you months ago that this thing between us, Sirius… this undefined thing that we've both been ignoring labelling, it's more than the start of something. I want to be here for you."

"You are," he told her, kissing her neck. "You have been."

Sirius turned her around, tugging her up onto his lap and kissing her lips. His tongue meeting hers in a way that left him aching. Her palms lay flat against his chest as he deepened the kiss, nipping and stroking his lips and tongue along hers.

She pulled away with a smile and stood up, holding her hand out to him. "Come to my bed."

Sirius smiled at her. "Go on up. I'll put these in the sink. I want to talk to Harry first."

Zee nodded, leaning down to kiss him softly. "Take your time. I'll be in the bath."

Sirius watched her go, his eyes following the sway of her hips and his heart lurched. He was more than just falling for her, he realized and he had no idea what that meant.

~ ASC ~

Harry was in the Gryffindor common room, yawning hugely as he attempted to finish his Charms essay. He still needed another five centimetres and his brain had pretty much shut down for the night. He blinked owlishly around the common room, trying to find something to keep him awake, but almost everyone had wandered up to bed.

The vibration in his pocket made him start in alarm before he remembered the mirror. He fumbled trying to pull it out and yawned hugely as he looked at Sirius.

"Hi, Uncle Sirius," he said sleepily.

Sirius' eyebrow rose. "Did I wake you? Shit, I didn't think that it's almost midnight."

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm trying to finish my Charms essay, but I think my brain is done for the night. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. How's the arm?"

"It's all good. All healed up."

"Good, good."

"What's up, Uncle Siri?" Harry asked, stifling another yawn.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair. ''Something happened today that you need to know." When Harry only blinked at him, Sirius let out a slow breath. "Peter Pettigrew was arrested today."

Harry stared at him. "Why do I know that… wait, Pettigrew as in…?"

"Yes," Sirius replied. "As in the bloke who betrayed your parents, Harry. He's the reason that I went to prison. He's the reason that Voldemort found you, James, and Lily all those years ago."

Harry's mouth dropped open as he pictured the small boy with watery blue eyes from the photos. "The bloke from the photos."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah."

"He's in Azkaban?"

"Not yet. He's being detained at the Ministry by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Kingsley Shacklebolt is going to let me know when his trial will be. Prongslet, I thought that you should know that he was arrested. I'll fill you in on everything when you come home for Christmas, okay? Remus and I want to go to the trial."

Harry stared at the mirror. "Can I go, too?"

Sirius sighed. "We'll talk about it. I don't know what the plans are yet for the trial so when I know, we'll discuss it. It won't be for a while yet, definitely not until after the holidays."

Harry nodded, his eyes wide. "Okay."

"How are you doing otherwise, Prongslet? Anything new on the chamber since we last spoke?"

Harry shook his head as he scratched his nose. "No, but a notice went up this morning for a duelling club. I think that we're going to check it out."

"A duelling club? That sounds brilliant! Not to mention a great place for you to learn some new spells. Is Flitwick teaching it? He was a champion dueller, you know?"

Harry shrugged, grinning. "Not sure. We're hoping so, but it didn't say."

"Well, have fun. Learn some new spells and you can show me what you've learnt over Christmas."

Harry grinned at him. "Deal."

"Night, Prongslet."

"Goodnight, Uncle Padfoot."

When his godfather disappeared from the mirror, Harry stared down at it for a long moment.

Peter Pettigrew had been caught by the Ministry of Magic.

He would be going to prison.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that if he was honest.

He knew of the man, of course he did. He was the smaller boy with the thick head of hair, smiling with his father and his uncles. He was the boy who symbolized the rat on the Marauder tattoos that both Sirius and Remus possessed. He was the man who had sold his friends out to Voldemort. Harry knew how much Sirius had come to hate the man that he had once called a friend, called a brother.

But why had he been caught now after over ten years on the run?

Harry found that to be just as curious.

He stifled another yawn and decided to head up to bed. He would think about Pettigrew another day, when he wasn't so tired.

~ ASC ~

The duelling club came at the end of the week. Harry found himself quite excited at the prospect, especially with the idea of someone as amazing as Flitwick to be teaching it. A former champion dueller had to have some pretty great advice not to mention some great spells to learn.

Harry had been spending some of his spare time pouring through the book that Remus had given him, teaching himself some of the cool defensive spells and charms offered. He had mastered three new ones, making Hermione quite jealous until he'd promised to show her. He'd learned: The Jelly-Brain Jinx, the Leg-Locker Curse, and a Trip Jinx. He was pretty sure that he could pull off the Jelly-Fingers Curse and the Jelly-Legs Jinx as well since they were so similar. And just that morning he'd taught himself Langlock, a particular favourite of Remus', he remembered. His father had told him that he'd often performed it on Peeves when he'd been a student here when the poltergeist was getting particularly annoying.

Harry was hoping to try it out soon; maybe even on the annoying poltergeist.

But the thought of going to an actual duelling club and learning some new hexes and curses strictly for duelling was a thrilling concept — until they arrived, and let out a collective groan at the sight of Lockhart up at the front in bright blue robes, smiling widely.

"Gather round, gather round," he instructed, showing off every one of his pearly white teeth.

"Might as well leave now," Dean muttered under his breath making Harry laugh.

Ron nodded, a look of disgust on his face. "What's he going to teach us? How to lose his wand to more pixies?"

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed in annoyance. "I'm sure that he'll have lots of great things to share. He's done some pretty impressive things!" Harry and Ron both just stared at her and she flushed. "Well, he has! Just look at his books!"

Lockhart was trying to gain the attention of the crowd, many of which were adoring female admirers. The Great Hall had been turned into a duelling stage where Lockhart was standing above everyone with a beaming smile.

"Welcome, welcome! Professor Dumbledore has kindly agreed to let me start this little duelling club to help you all learn to keep yourselves safe. Now, remember, this is a chance to learn some great defensive spells, not to be used in the corridors or on your classmates. Duelling is after all, against school rules," he said, clapping his hands together. "Now, let me get my trusty assistant up here, Professor Snape, who has kindly agreed to be my partner in this teaching demonstration! Professor Snape, if you please?"

Harry grinned at Ron as his friend spoke.

"Maybe Snape will just get rid of him now."

"Maybe they'll get rid of each other," Harry shot back.

Harry watched as Snape moved towards Lockhart and thought that if he was Lockhart, he would be running away. Snape looked anything but happy to be there. In fact, if possible, he looked even more livid than usual. He looked dangerous and annoyed, which Harry was pretty sure was the worst combination for Snape to be in.

"Pay attention," Lockhart said with a bright smile. "Professor Snape and I will give a demonstration of a proper wizarding duel. First we bow, it shows respect to our partner." They both bent their heads, Snape somewhat quickly and in annoyance at the etiquette. "And now, we duel!"

Snape's wand moved so fast that Lockhart hadn't even raised his own yet. "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 on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered.

Hermione was dancing on her tiptoes. "Do you think that he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

"Who cares?" Harry and Ron said together.

Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. He looked flustered for a moment before he shook his head with a bright smile. "Excellent, Professor Snape! Excellent! A disarming charm, how clever, and might I add, that it was quite obvious what you were going to do there. If I had wanted to stop you it only would have been too easy, however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"

Snape looked murderous and Lockhart obviously noticed because he cleared his throat.

"So, let's set you up into pairs and see what kind of mischief we can get into," Lockhart exclaimed, slapping his hands together in anticipation.

Snape rolled his eyes and made no effort to hide the sarcasm from his voice. "Shouldn't we first demonstrate how to perform the disarming spell before allowing the students to attempt it?"

"Er, yes, once they are paired up, of course," Lockhart said.

Harry grinned at Ron and they snickered.

"So, pair up, then! Go on!"

Harry immediately paired himself up with Ron, Neville chose Hermione, and Seamus chose Dean. Once everyone was situated around the room with their partners, they waited for instruction.

"So," Lockhart lectured, "the charm to the disarming spell is 'Expelliarmus!' Give it a go!"

Harry's eyebrow rose. "What is the wand movement, Sir?"

Lockhart beamed at him. "Excellent question, Harry! Excellent, indeed!"

Harry tried not to roll his eyes in response. It really wasn't an excellent question, it was a simple question. He watched as Lockhart demonstrated the movement with gusto. Harry remembered that Snape had made it look much simpler. The man was a git, but a hell of a lot smarter than the grinning moron before him, he thought. He thought back to how Snape had done it, waited for Lockhart's words and turned his wand on Ron, disarming his friend on the first try.

He was the only one to be successful.

Some of his classmates had nosebleeds, some were fighting off tickling charms and jelly-legs, and some were still standing around staring at each other bewildered.

Lockhart cleared his throat loudly. "I said to disarm only! Let's have another demonstration. Mr Potter, you disarmed Mr Weasley quite easily, come up to the front with Mr Weasley!"

"No," Snape said, moving towards Lockhart. "Weasley's wand can barely perform the simplest spells, how about Potter and perhaps someone from my own house… Malfoy?"

"Er, yes," Lockhart said, obviously still trying to look like he was in control of the situation.

Harry and Draco both climbed up onto the stage to face each other. Draco strutted over, a sly smirk on his pointed face.

"Face your partners," Lockhart called out. "And bow!"

Harry didn't take his eyes off of Draco's as they bowed, barely inclining their heads.

"Wands at the ready," Lockhart called out.

Harry swung his wand high as Lockhart counted to three, but Draco had started at two. His spell hit Harry so hard that he felt like he'd been hit with a heavy pot. He stumbled, but caught himself, shooting his wand towards Draco and muttered, "Rictusempra!"

The silver light hit Draco in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing and laughing from the tickling charm. He was going to hit him again, but thought it was kind of uncalled for to jinx him while he was down.

Harry regretted this action immediately when Draco yelled "Tarantallegra" and the next second Harry's legs began to do a king of quickstep.

"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart yelled out.

Snape strode forward. "Finite Incantatem!"

The spells were lifted and Harry managed to control his dancing legs.

Lockhart moved over to Harry with a beaming smile. "Harry, let's go over a simple spell here. When Draco points his wand at you, you do this!"

He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action and dropped it on the ground before quickly picking it up and saying, "Whoops — my wand is a little overexcited!"

Snape meanwhile had moved closer to Draco and was whispering in his ear. For the first time that Harry could remember, he actually wished it was Snape giving him advice as he watched Draco smirk in acknowledgment of whatever Snape had told him.

Harry looked up at Lockhart again. "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"

"Scared, Potter?" Draco muttered from the corner of his mouth so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.

"You wish."

Lockhart slapped Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?" he asked, incredulously.

Draco raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily, as if watching Harry stare at a snake who could attack him at any moment was nothing to concern himself with. "I'll get rid of it…"

"Allow me!" Lockhart shouted.

He brandished his 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, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward a Hufflepuff named Justin and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that he was running towards the snake and he cried out, "Leave him alone!"

The snake listened, dropping to the ground and not moving.

Harry felt the fear drain out of him. He knew that the snake wouldn't attack anyone now, though how he knew it, he couldn't have explained. He just knew that the snake had listened to him and accepted that it wasn't a good idea to attack.

He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see Justin looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful, but instead the Hufflepuff was starting at him in horror and fear.

"What do you think you're playing at?" he shouted, and before Harry could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall.

Snape stepped forward and waved his wand and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke, watching Harry warily as if he suspected or knew something that Harry himself did not. It made him feel uneasy.

He was also dimly aware of an ominous muttering all around the walls. Then he felt a tugging on the back of his robes.

"Come on," Ron's voice said in his ear. "Move — come on —"

Ron steered him out of the hall, Hermione hurrying alongside them. As they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away from as if he had some contagious disease that they were afraid of getting. Harry didn't have a clue what was going on, and neither Ron nor Hermione 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?" Harry asked, his eyebrows rising in confusion. He couldn't recall ever hearing that term before.

"A Parselmouth!" Ron repeated. "You can talk to snakes!"

"Er, I guess so. I mean, once I found a gardening snake in the garden and I asked it to go away and it told me that it was going, preferably to the English Channel. It slithered off and that was that. When I told Uncle Sirius he laughed and said that I had a creative mind."

"A snake told you that it was going off to the English Channel?"

"So?" Harry said, staring at his friends in confusion. "I bet loads of people here have spoken to snakes."

"Oh, no, they haven't," Ron said. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is really bad."

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

"Oh, that's what you said to it?"

"What do you mean? You were there! You heard me!"

"I heard you speaking Parseltongue," Ron interrupted. "Snake language. You could have been saying anything! No wonder Justin panicked… it was creepy, you know —"

Harry gaped at him. "But — I didn't realize — how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?" The scared looks on his friends' faces made his stomach clench nervously. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting off Justin's head? What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"

"It matters," Hermione said, speaking at last in a hushed voice, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."

Harry's mouth fell open.

"Exactly," Ron said. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great grandson or something!"

"But I'm not," Harry said, with a panic he couldn't quite explain.

"You'll find that hard to prove," Hermione said. "He lived over a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."

When Harry went to bed that night, he couldn't stop thinking about his friends' words. It was impossible for him to be related to Slytherin, Sirius would have told him if he had such a thing in him. Wouldn't he have? His father had been a proud Gryffindor, he couldn't possibly have any Slytherin blood in him or the Sorting Hat would have placed him in Slytherin.

Quietly, he tried to say something in Parseltongue, but only English came out. Maybe he had to be looking at a snake to do it, he thought.

But I'm in Gryffindor… the Sorting Hat wouldn't have put me in here if I had Slytherin blood…

Ah, said a nasty little voice in his brain, but the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin, don't you remember?

Harry turned over and punched his pillow. Now the whole school was going to think he was the heir of Slytherin; that he was the one had attacked Mrs Norris and Colin Creevey.

And he wasn't.

He would just talk to Justin in Herbology tomorrow and let him know what had happened.

But Herbology was cancelled the next morning. Professor Sprout had to fit socks on the Mandrakes, a tricky process and she only entrusted Neville, a third year Ravenclaw named Will, and a seventh year Hufflepuff named Brandon to help her as they needed the Mandrakes to brew the potion to revive Mrs Norris and Colin.

Harry fretted about it all morning. If Justin was afraid of him than other people were too and the last thing that he wanted was for people to think that he was attacking other students. He would never do that. It was bad enough that people had accused him of hurting Filch's cat, and that Colin was attacked on his way to visit him in the hospital wing. Having Justin think he'd set a snake on him wasn't exactly the good news that he was hoping for.

Hermione finally snapped at him for his erratic pacing in the common room. She was losing very badly at chess to Ron, something that infuriated her as she hated to be rubbish at things. She told him to just find Justin if it bothered him so much and explain.

Harry agreed, grabbing his book bag and letting them know that he would meet them in Transfiguration. He made his way towards the library, thinking maybe his classmates were studying there.

A group of the Hufflepuffs who should have been in Herbology were indeed sitting at the back of the library, but they didn't seem to be working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, Harry could see that their heads were close together and they were having what looked like an absorbing conversation. He couldn't see whether Justin was among them. He was walking toward them when something of what they were saying met his ears, and he paused to listen, hidden in the Invisibility section.

"So anyway," a stout boy that Harry recognized as Ernie Macmillan 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."

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?"

"Hannah," Ernie said, 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, Flich'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," Hannah said uncertainly, "and, well, he's the one who made You Know Who disappear. He can't be all bad, can he? Not to mention that he's really cute."

The brunette next to her nodded. "Really cute. He has the most gorgeous green eyes!"

Hannah grinned at the brunette. "Definitely!"

Ernie rolled his eyes, lowering his voice. "His eye colour hardly matters, girls. And no one knows how he survived that attack by 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 until it was barely more than a whisper, and said, "That's probably why You Know Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want another Dark Lord competing with him. He lives with a Black as well and we all know how dark that family is known to be. I bet his guardian has taught him all sorts of dark magic. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding?"

Harry couldn't take it anymore. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped out from behind the bookshelves. If he hadn't been feeling so angry, he would have found the sight that greeted him funny. Every one of the Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been Petrified by the sight of him, and the colour was draining out of Ernie's face.

"Hello," Harry said. "I'm looking for Justin."

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

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

"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the Duelling Club," Harry said in annoyance.

How dare they all just sit here and talk about him? They had no idea what his life was like. They had no idea who the real heir was and blaming it all on him wasn't fair.

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

"You mean how I spoke to the snake and it stopped trying to attack?"

Hannah bit her lip, looking from Harry to Ernie for an explanation.

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

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

"It was a very near miss," Ernie insisted stubbornly. "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 —"

" — I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" Harry said fiercely. "Why would I want to attack Muggleborns? My own mother was a Muggleborn!"

Ernie didn't have a response to that.

"Harry, you do have to admit, it does look suspicious," Hannah added, trying to give him a small smile. She elbowed the brunette next to her, who Harry thought was named Megan, but he wasn't sure.

The brunette smiled at him. "You keep knowing or finding those who are attacked. You can speak to snakes. Who else can do that?"

Harry glared at them. "I don't know, but I swear I mean no harm against Justin or anyone else! And I'm in Gryffindor, not Slytherin!"

Ernie scoffed at this and the boy next to him, Kevin, Harry thought, gave him a hard look.

Harry turned on his heel and stormed out of the library, earning himself a reproving glare from Madam Pince, who was polishing the gilded cover of a large spell book. Harry blundered up the corridor, barely noticing where he was going, he was in such a fury.

How could they sit there and talk about him like he was some kind of monster? He had been going to school with them for over a year! Didn't they know that he would never hurt anyone like that? Hermione was a Muggleborn. His own mother had been a Muggleborn. Not to mention what they had said about Sirius! His father was nothing like the family that he had come from and of course he hadn't taught Harry any dark magic!

He kept walking, his anger only increasing and he wasn't watching where he was going. The result was that he walked into something very large and solid, which knocked him backward onto the floor.

"Oh, hullo, 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', 'Arry?" he said, pulling up the balaclava so that he could speak. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"Cancelled," Harry said, getting up. "What are you doing in here?"

Hagrid held up the limp rooster. "Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a Blood Suckin' Bugbear, an' I need th' Headmaster's permission ter put a charm 'round th' 'en coop." He peered more closely at Harry from under his thick, snow flecked eyebrows. "Yeh sure yeh're all righ'? 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. But the sight of Hagrid made him feel better and before he could question his decision, he moved into the large man and hugged him fiercely.

If Hagrid was surprised, he didn't say anything by it. He simply pat a large hand on Harry's back, patting gently.

"It's nothing," Harry murmured. "It's… been a long week." He pulled back and offered a small grin for Hagrid. "Thanks for that. I'd better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration next."

"'Arry, yeh sure yeh're all righ'?"

"I'm fine," he said, forcing a smile at his friend.

He walked off, his mind still full of what Ernie had said about him. Harry stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark. The torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane. He was halfway down the passage when he tripped headlong over something lying on the floor. He turned to squint at what he'd fallen over and felt as though his stomach had dissolved.

Justin was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. But that wasn't what scared him. It was the black and smoky figure of Nearly Headless Nick floating two metres off the floor and he had the same identical look of shock on his face as Justin did.

Harry got to his feet, his breathing fast and shallow, his heart doing a kind of drum roll against his ribs. He looked wildly up and down the deserted corridor and saw a line of spiders scuttling as fast as they could away from the bodies. The only sounds were the muffled voices of teachers from the classes on either side.

He could run, and no one would ever know that he had been there. But he couldn't just leave them lying here. But this… him finding the new victims, everyone was going to think it was him…

This was only confirming the suspicions of his Hufflepuff classmates.

His heart raced as he tried to think about what he should do, but he couldn't decide on whether to make a run for it or to find help, but his choice was taken from him when Peeves bounced past him.

"What's Potter up to? Why's Potter lurking —" Peeves stopped, halfway through a midair somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Harry could stop him, screamed, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

"Langlock!" Harry said, pointing his wand at the poltergeist and smirking when his tongue tied into a knot, sticking to the roof of the poltergeist's mouth and preventing him from screaming any further.

Peeves gave him a dirty look and zoomed off, but it was too late. The sounds of doors flying open, followed by a rush of footsteps echoed along the corridor and Harry found himself surrounded by students who were all staring at Justin and Nick in horror.

Harry pinned himself back against the wall to prevent himself from being trampled.

Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom still had black and white striped hair. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie arrived, panting, on the scene.

"Caught in the act!" Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Harry.

"That will do, Macmillan!" Professor McGonagall said, sharply.

Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. Ernie was fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This left Harry and Professor McGonagall alone together.

She stared at him for a moment. "Come along, Harry."

Harry shook his head. "Auntie-Professor, I swear, I didn't!"

"This is out of my hands, Harry. I'm sorry."

He bowed his head in defeat and he followed her to a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.

"Lemon drop," McGonagall instructed and the gargoyle sprang suddenly 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. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As he 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 saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.

He knew now where he was being taken.