Chapter 16
Harry was sitting in the snow with his second daughter in the garden. He loved to watch Emma play in the snow, he loved to see her smile, he loved everything about her. Harry couldn't help compare her to his first daughter. Alicia and Emma looked a lot alike. They had the same pale face and the same smile. But, unlike her sister, Emma had dark hair. And Harry noticed another difference: Emma was a much more cheerful girl. She laughed nearly all the time.
"Papa, look!" Emma cried proudly showing her father the ball of snow she had created.
"That's nice," Harry said kindly. Emma giggled and threw the ball of snow in his face.
Harry let out a cry of surprise. He grabbed his daughter and started tickling her when he heard someone laugh behind him.
The neighbour from next door, a young muggle, was smiling at them.
"Good morning." The muggle said pleasantly.
"Oh, hello, Mitch." Harry said.
He stood up, still holding Emma in his arms. Mitch looked at Emma and grinned even more.
"She looks a lot like Alicia." He said quietly.
Harry knew Mitch had been friends with Alicia and he wondered what had happened between the two of them.
"Yeah, I know. But believe me: they are as different as night and day." Harry said.
Mitch smirked. The two men were staring at each other when suddenly an owl flew towards them and gently posed itself in front of Harry.
Without thinking Harry bent down and picked up the letter attached to the owl's leg. It was only then that he realised that a muggle was watching him. Muggles didn't use owls to post letters.
There was an awkward silence. Harry looked up at Mitch expecting to see him confused, even shocked. But the muggle seemed perfectly calm. He was gazing at the owl fondly, and for a second Harry thought he saw sadness in his eyes.
"Is that a letter from Alicia?" Mitch asked simply.
"I don't know." Harry said bewildered. How come the muggle wasn't freaking out?
Harry forgot the muggle for a moment and turned his attention back on the letter.
Dear Mr Potter,
I am truly sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing but you have to come to the school immediately. As you surely know Hogwarts has many problems this year. The attacks are getting more frequent. I think someone found the way to open the chamber of secrets and is using it. I know you killed that basilisk, but whoever is attacking the students has created another monster. We need your help, Harry. Hogwarts is counting on you.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress from Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry stuffed the letter into his jean's pocket and looked back at where Mitch was standing. But the muggle had disappeared.
"Papa, what's wrong?" Emma asked Harry.
"Nothing is wrong, my dear. Papa will just go and visit your sister."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elisabeth was dozing in the dorm when Alicia rushed in. For a moment she looked like the little girl she used to be. Her face had a lovely blush of joy: it suited her.
"Listen to this, Elisabeth!" Alicia cried shaking her friend to make sure she was awake.
Elisabeth groaned. She was not in a mood to listen to Alicia talk. It was always hard to keep up with what she said.
"What now?" Elisabeth cried covering her head with her pillow. Alicia took the pillow and threw it on the floor.
"Just listen to me. Okay, so you remember when we talked about Voldemort's weakness?"
"Yes, but that was really a long time ago. I thought you had given up on him!" Elisabeth said.
"Well, no, I didn't. I just stopped talking about him to you. But now I need your help, Elisa dear!" Alicia smiled her special angel smile.
"Oh, no!" Elisabeth groaned even more. It was never good when Alicia called her 'Elisa dear'.
"Oh yes, you will help me. Elisabeth, we need to find you a boyfriend."
This was too much. Elisabeth felt her head ache as she tried to make sense of what Alicia was saying.
"What?" Elisabeth shouted at last.
"Yes, that way you can tell what it's like to be in love! Isn't that a good idea?" Alicia said happily. She looked very proud of herself.
A thousand words came in Elisabeth's mind to describe Alicia's idea: crazy, strange, impossible, silly …
"That's stupid." Elisabeth said finally.
Alicia looked as if she had just been slapped in the face. Her smile faded away and was replaced by a frown.
"What do you mean 'stupid'? Do you have a better one?" She snapped.
Elisabeth grinned. Sometimes she felt as if she was Alicia's big sister. Alicia always came to her for an advice. Elisabeth knew she was the only one in the school that really meant something for Alicia.
"Well, wouldn't it be easier if you were the one who found a boyfriend? They all say love can't be explained."
Alicia laughed.
"Oh god, Elisa, that's silly. I'm not the kind of girl who falls in love."
"Weren't you in love with that muggle guy?" Elisabeth asked confused.
"What muggle guy?"
"You know what muggle guy: the one who kept writing to you in our first year."
Alicia was quiet for a moment and Elisabeth wondered if she had crossed the line. There was a long silence. Elisabeth sighed and went back to her bed. And suddenly, as if she just woke up from a trance, Alicia began to talk again.
"I wasn't in love with him. He was just my muggle neighbour." Alicia said smiling again.
"Oh, okay." Elisabeth said and closed her eyes again.
"But you're right about one thing. Maybe I should be the one looking for a boyfriend." Alicia said and left the room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After all these years Harry Potter found himself once again in the headmaster's office. Only it wasn't Dumbledore's office anymore, it was McGonagall's. Harry felt an old pain in his heart as he thought of the wise old man who had guided him in his teens.
Harry felt like the teenager he used to be as he looked up at McGonagall. She was sitting at her desk and Harry was sitting in front of her. It was then that Harry noticed how old McGonagall looked. She still had the same stern look but her face was tired and wrinkled. Harry could suddenly feel the years that had passed. He was only thirty six yet he felt old.
"Mr Potter, are you all right?" McGonagall said loudly.
"Yes, sorry, I was thinking about something else." Harry mumbled.
"I can see that. Now, as I was saying, I need your help to catch the student who is attacking the students. I have done everything I could to stop the attacks but I'm afraid I have failed. I may be wrong but I think the attacker has found a way to open the chamber of secrets."
Harry chuckled.
"Look, Minerva, there's only one way to open the chamber of secrets: you have to know how to speak Parseltongue. And I don't think anyone in this school can do that. I am the last Parselmouth in the world."
McGonagall sniffed and didn't look convinced.
"Very well, I admit I may be wrong. But I want to be sure about that. Do you think you will be able to open the chamber of secrets again?"
Harry nodded.
"I think so. But, Minerva, don't get your hopes up." Harry said and stood up.
"So you will do this for me?" McGonagall asked also standing up.
"Yes, I will."
"Very well. But first I have to go to a meeting with the Ministry of Magic. Will you be able to wait?"
"Certainly."
They shook hands and Harry left the room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry was walking peacefully in the snow outside when he bumped into a Slytherin girl with vivid red hair.
"Ali!" Harry cried and hugged his daughter.
"Hey, Dad, what are you doing here?" Alicia asked.
"Well, I had a little chat with the headmistress." Harry said. A few students stopped playing with the snow and stared at him. It was just like the old days.
"What about?" Alicia frowned. She had a bad feeling about this. Harry never came to the castle to bring good news.
"Well, McGonagall thinks whoever is attacking the students may be using the chamber of secrets."
"That's crazy!" Alicia cried in a high pitched voice.
"Yes, of course! But it will reassure her when she sees the chamber of secrets is empty. I suspect the attacker doesn't have a monster at all, only a few dark spells." Harry smiled at his daughter. He didn't notice anything strange.
Alicia nodded and tried to hide her fear.
"Why aren't you checking right now?" she asked casually.
"McGonagall is in a meeting. It should be over soon." Harry said glancing at his watch. When he looked back at Alicia, she was biting her nails nervously and her face was slightly paler than it usually was.
"Do you think you will be able to open the chamber?" Alicia asked. She was biting her nails so deeply Harry wasn't surprised when she started to bleed.
"Yes, of course I will. But, Ali, are you all right?" Harry was concerned. Alicia was not the kind of girl to act like this.
"Of course I'm all right. But I just remembered I have a class to go to." Alicia said and ran away.
Harry watched his daughter disappear into the castle and wondered why she had rushed away like that. He quickly pushed this thought away. Instead he decided to enjoy the few minutes of peace he had. Harry closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of Hogwarts. He smiled.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elisabeth, David, Peter and Ramona were playing cards in the common-room when Alicia rushed inside. She stumbled and fell right in front of them.
"Quick! Where's Frank? Where's Andrea?" Alicia gasped for breath as she looked at her friends.
"They went for a walk outside. We think they will go out together." David said, apparently blind to the fact that Alicia was panicking.
Alicia didn't care. She grabbed Peter's hand and stood up with a great effort. She was breathless.
"We'll have to do it without them. But we'll need your help, Elisa. McGonagall is going to check the chamber of secrets. Come on, let's go."
The five Slytherins run faster than they had ever run in their whole life. It was very useful to have Peter with them: at least nobody blocked their way.
Alicia had only one name in her mind as she rushed trough the corridors.
Morla.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry looked around at girl's bathroom. It seemed so familiar to him. He could almost see Hermione sitting on the toilets of the corner, preparing the potion that would turn them into Slytherins. He could also see Ron, shouting at Hermione that it was a mad idea.
"Well, can you open it?" McGonagall said impatiently.
Harry stepped in front of the sink with the tiny snake scratched on it and murmured:
"Open up!"
Nothing happened.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alicia could hear voices from up the tunnel. Her heart was beating faster than it had ever had.
"Alicia! They're here!" Elisabeth hissed. Her eyes were wide open in fear.
"Oh my god, this is it!" Ramona whispered. "We're screwed."
"No, we're not." Alicia snapped although she was as terrified as her friends. "If we all concentrate at the same we can do it. Trust me."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Open up!" Harry repeated. Still nothing moved. Harry repeated the same word all over again.
"I thought you were supposed to speak Parselmouth to open it." McGonagall said.
Harry realised he had been speaking English all the time. He sighed and concentrated on the tiny snake. He licked his lips and blinked rapidly so that the tiny snake before him was blurred. It looked as if it moved.
"Open up!" Harry said and at the same time he heard a hiss come out of is mouth.
The sink sank and revealed a large pipe.
"If you don't mind I will go first to check if it's safe." Harry said and slid into the large pipe.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"They're coming!" Peter tugged at Alicia's arm.
He was right. They all stopped for a second to listen to the sound of someone sliding and whizzing down the large pipe.
"Do not stop until I say so!" Alicia ordered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry shot out of the end of the large pipe, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel, large enough to stand in. Everything was dark. Harry got out of the way as he heard McGonagall rush down the tunnel herself. For an old woman she was surprisingly agile as she picked herself up. Harry offered to help her but she only pushed him aside impatiently.
"Let's get on with this." She snapped.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They were not going to get away in time. Alicia knew it. She heard McGonagall's and Harry's footsteps coming closer and closer.
Alicia looked back at her friends. They were sweating from the effort and the fear of getting caught.
For the first time Alicia felt something like warmth for them. She was the one who had dragged them into this mess, yet they did not let her down. They stuck to her side, knowing exactly what the risk was.
It was a shame they were all going to have to get expelled.
"Because of me." Alicia thought sadly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minerva stopped in her tracks. She thought she heard noises coming from the shadows. They could not see very far, but McGonagall was sure they were close to something.
She fastened her footsteps, determined to prove to Harry that they were not alone in the chamber of secrets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alicia was just about to put away her wand, to give it all up when she saw Elisabeth glare at her. For a moment Alicia forgot to be frightened and frowned in surprise.
Elisabeth had never approved of Alicia's action. She had shouted, pleaded, cried, hissed, yelled, whispered … she had tried absolutely everything to stop Alicia.
But Elisabeth had never glared. And as Alicia stared back at her best friend she saw something else. She had never noticed it, but under Elisabeth's anger there was something like hate.
Alicia knew at that moment that she couldn't let her friends down. She redoubled her efforts and her energy even though she had not a single hope to get out of that one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"They're here." Minerva was so impatient she felt like running. Unfortunately she could see nothing in the dark and she had to keep her arms out in front of her in case she hit something. Running was out of the question.
"They? How do you know there are more of them?" Harry asked.
"I have a feeling the attacker is not acting alone. And I always trust my feelings."
Harry smirked. It was a good thing they could see nothing in the dark. McGonagall would not take Harry's smile the good way.
"Have your feelings ever betrayed you, Minerva?" Harry said. He realised this was a very personal question. But he was no longer a student and McGonagall was no longer his teacher.
"Once. The day Albus died my feelings told me he would come back. And he never did. " Minerva sniffed.
Harry almost immediately regretted asking a question like that. Thinking of Dumbledore woke up something in him that he couldn't describe. It was more than pain. Dumbledore had been like a father to Harry, exactly the same way Sirius had been.
The sound of whispers made Harry come back to his senses.
"Did you hear that?" Harry said as quietly as he could to McGonagall. Even under the feeble light of his wand, Harry could see Minerva's face turn white.
"Yes." She said.
"We're nearly there, Minerva."
"Lumos!" McGonagall cried. A light appeared on the end of her wand as well.
Slowly they pointed their wand in front of them.
Author's note : sorry for the short chapter but I had to stop here. Please review, it always puts me in a good mood!