Warnings: All chapters start with a flashback:3 Major OOC-ness on Granger and Weasleys, but they didn't grew up around Harry so I think i'm justified!
Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley
Harry couldn't eat or sleep for two weeks after he cast the Unforgivable. While Scrimgeour was ecstatic that a mere twelve year old could use a curse that some grown men couldn't even cast, Harry was reaping the mental backlash. And it wasn't just nightmares. No, he was haunted all day and all night by the image of Quirrell's lifeless body. He did that. HE did. He took a man's life.
Harry's small form shook.
"Harry?" Tracey's large sapphire blue eyes looked up at him. "Harry, what's wrong?"
But Harry couldn't answer. He stared blankly past her concerned gaze and saw Quirrell's glazed eyes as they stared unseeing into the night. Those eyes would never see anything ever again.
Never.
"Dammit Rufus, this is no time to be celebrating! Yes, the boy cast an Unforgivable but he's severely traumatized now!" Moody roared at cheerful auror.
When Moody woke up in the middle of the small town Voldemort had surprised him in, he was quiet surprised that he was alive. But there was no Voldemort. Only small Harry staring down at the unmoving form of Quirrell. When Moody asked Harry who killed him, he replied in a hollow voice, "I did."
Moody felt sick.
"Oh calm down Alastor. He'll be fine. Everyone is a little traumatized by their first kill. It's natural." He waved off Moody's concern.
"Natural? Harry is only twelve years old!"
"I know, it's brilliant." Scrimgeour's smile was full of cold greed.
"Harry, hey Harry! My Gran sent you some chocolate Frogs. She keeps going on and on about how brave you are and how lucky I should be to be around you." Neville plopped down next to his silent friend with a box of chocolate.
Harry wordlessly took the chocolate that Neville offered him.
"Mandy cries every night now. She thinks you hate her because you don't talk to her anymore. Silly girls. Always blubbering about something." Neville continued on as if it didn't matter his friend wouldn't answer. "Hey look! You got a Circe card! Wicked! You should taunt Roger with it, he still thinks that his code name should be Odysseus. But I keep telling him: Odysseus was smart, not a dork. Roger is such a dork. He's reading Mandy's muggle books now. He's always sprouting some muggle term to confuse everybody. Stupid prat."
"Neville?" Harry's quiet voice cut in.
Neville immediately turned to face his friend. "Yeah?"
"I don't want to kill anybody." Harry spoke so quiet that Neville barely heard him.
"I...I don't either. But we have to." Neville sighed and took Harry's hand.
"I don't like it."
"I know."
"It hurts."
"...I'm sorry."
oOo
"...Okay, does someone want to tell me what in the nine circles of Hell the Chamber of Secrets is?" Harry frowned. He walked towards the wall and ran his hand over the message and picked up a few drops on blood on his fingers.
"No clue." Neville shrugged.
Harry brought his fingers to his lips and gave a small lick. He stared thoughtfully at the blood. "Well, it's not human blood. Probably chicken."
Neville sighed in relief and ran a hand through his brown hair, mussing it a bit. "Well that's a relief. I hope it's not the cat's."
"We have to take care of this before a couple hundred kids come down this corridor after dinner." Tracey turned to Harry. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she thought about what to do.
Harry nodded. "Neville and I will hold them off, you run and get Mandy, Roger and Black... and Dumbledore and whoever he needs to bring along." Harry ordered. Tracey nodded and then took off running down the hall towards the Great Hall. Neville and Harry could faintly hear people beginning to approach.
"Okay Nev, you take this end, I'll take that end, don't let a single person past you." Harry gestured. Neville nodded and jogged down the corridor a dozen meters. Harry did the same in the opposite direction. Soon dozens of kids were ambling their ways towards Harry. As soon as the students caught site of his imposing figure they slowed down and started whispering.
Harry shook his head at their antics. He was really starting to get tired of this. "Attention students. I'm sorry to inconvenience you but this section of the hall is off limits for tonight. Please find an alternate route." He used his best authoritative voice. Most of the kids just stared at him in admiration.
Hermione Granger was instantly by his side. "You heard Mr. Potter, now move along!" She ordered the curious students before turning to him. "Is the anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" She asked earnestly. Her cheeks were flushed a bright hair and her hair seemed a little tamer today.
Harry smiled at her eagerness to please. "Miss Granger, please call me Harry. Mr. Potter makes me sound like an old man. We're the same age."
Hermione blushed. "Okay. But only if you call me Hermione."
"Thanks Hermione. Could you please make sure no student will come down here? Then you can join us, I think we'll be needing help with this." Harry smiled. Hermione nodded eagerly. "Thanks."
Harry jogged back down the corridor where Neville stood with the other Myrmidons and Dumbledore with Black, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Snape. Sirius looked eager to be doing something, he was never the teaching type. Harry was pretty sure that he accepted the position because it would give him a chance to be closer to him. Snape, on the other hand, was glowering at everyone, especially Sirius. And the glare only intensified as Harry stopped and stood next to his Godfather.
"Any ideas about when this happened?" Dumbledore asked Harry.
"Moments before we got to the scene. We just patrolled this floor twenty minutes before we came back. We were on our way to the kitchens to grab a bite to eat when we found this." Harry gestured to the crime. He easily omitted the fact he heard parseltongue. "What is the Chamber of Secrets?"
Dumbledore sighed. "There isn't any proof that it exists. Several full scale searches have been made of the castle throughout the years and no hint of where the chamber could be has ever come up."
"Okay, but what IS the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked again.
"It's supposedly a Chamber set up by Salazar Slytherin back in the day with a monster inside of that will hunt down the students who, in his opinion, aren't good enough to attend school." Sirius informed them bluntly.
Snape snorted. "But there's no proof. I think this is probably a harsh prank against Filch. Probably by a Slytherin, hence the message to frighten a Squib."
Harry shook his head. "There is no way a student did this. How would they petrify a cat? Petrificus totalis? That could be cured by a simple finite encantatem. Which this is not." Harry stopped as he watched Hermione and Draco walk up to them. He took a brief second to look over Draco's enticing form before continuing. "Besides, the magical signature is that of a creature." He finished.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger. I don't think that this is appropriate for you two to be seeing." McGonagall stepped in front of the Head Boy and Girl.
"Professor, Harry has requested our presence." Hermione replied politely.
"Oh?" McGonagall turned a hard eye on the tan teen.
Harry nodded. "We are unfamiliar with the castle. I figured they could help us out in locating this Chamber."
"Endangering student lives now?" Snape sneered.
"As if we would let two untrained civilians do field work. I just wanted to talk to them." Harry growled. What the Hell was his problem?
"Back off of him Snape." Sirius glowered. Snape scowled fiercely at him in return. Harry made a mental note to ask Sirius and see if he knew what the greasy potion master's problem was.
"Harry, while your idea was good, they cannot help locate the Chamber. I am afraid that noone can help locate the Chamber. Not unless they asked Salazar Slytherin himself." Dumbledore sighed. Harry made another mental note to have a talk with Draco's door. In parseltongue.
"All right, then for now we'll just settle on what attacked the cat. It might be the creature inside the Chamber." Harry turned to face his four friends. "Time to earn our bread. Now, tell me what are all the types of magical creatures that can petrify others?" Potter asked in a commanding voice. Dumbledore watched in curiosity with the others as the Myrmidons began their work. Draco shivered in desire at Harry's powerful tone and stance.
"Well there are gorgons. I've always wanted to meet one." Neville started.
"You've always wanted to meet a woman with snakes for hair and could turn you into stone if you ever looked at her? You're weird." Mandy shook her head.
"Cocktrices and behemoths haven been known to petrify occasionally." Tracey continued on as if Mandy had never spoken.
Roger snorted. "It's no wonder I'm the brains of the group. Honestly. Mandy says that Harry heard something or someone speaking parselmouth, the Chamber of Secrets was created by Salazar Slytherin, a parselmouth, and the cat has been petrified. It was obviously a basilisk."
"Basilisk? They kill unless the prey see's it's reflection." Mandy pointed out.
"There's water on the floor. The cat probably did see the reflection of the basilisk's eyes." Roger gestured to the floor.
"Okay, a basilisk. So somewhere in this school is a basilisk. And we were worried about Voldemort this year?" Harry grinned in sarcastic humor before turning to face the professors. "Professor Black, could you start teaching all years basic defense against a giant snake that kills you if you look at it?" Harry asked humorously.
Sirius grinned, his blue eyes shined. "Magical creature defense. An auror basic."
"Do any of your greenhouses have Mandrakes?" Harry turned to face the plump herbology professor.
Sprout nodded. "I have a teenage crop right now. In a month they'll be ready to harvest."
"Good. A potion will need to be brewed to cure the cat, and any future victims. Let's pray there aren't any more." Harry ordered.
" Thank you Harry. It doesn't look like much else can be done tonight. I suggest everyone retire for the evening." Dumbledore ordered. Roger mentioning Harry hearing Parseltongue didn't slip past the Headmaster. He frowned as he looked the teen up and down.
"Sir." Harry nodded. He then turned to Hermione and Draco. "From now on, make sure all the prefects patrol in pairs. It's safer." They nodded. "Good night then." Harry's eyes lingered on Draco for a brief moment before he turned away. Draco's heart sped up at the intense gaze before he slowly followed Tracey and him back to the dungeons.
oOo
"Hey Nev." Harry greeted his friend as they left breakfast the next morning. Harry had cast a silencing charm on both Crabbe and Goyle's beds before he went to sleep the previous night. He slept much better.
"Hey Harry, since we both have a free period right now, do you want to hang out with the guys and I? They have a free period too." Neville asked cheerfully. The Myrmidons decided that since there were five classes a day, and five of them, each person would take one class a day and rotate. Harry claimed Defense Against the Dark Arts for today while Neville grabbed Herbology, Mandy took Muggle Studies (eager to see how wrong it was) and Tracey wanted Astronomy. Roger was on his way to Arithmancy, as it was the first NEWT level class of the day.
Harry rose an eyebrow at the friendly 'guys' that Neville was referring too. "Sure." He agreed.
"Wicked. My name is Ron. Ron Weasley." The tall grinning, flaming red head introduced himself. He looked tough, but friendly.
"And I'm Dean Thomas." He wasn't as dark as Shacklebolt, but he was very tall and well muscled. Mandy would call him beefy.
"'Ey. And I'm Seamus Finnigan." The Irish boy with sandy hair grinned broadly. "Nice ta meetcha."
"It's nice to meet you too." Harry grinned.
"Are you up to play some football? It's this crazy muggle game-"
"Eh, Ron, we know what football is. Harry's a Manchester United man." Neville stopped Ron from embarrassing himself.
"Manchester? Man you're killing me! It's all about West Ham."
"West Ham? Are you a true Brit or not? Everyone loves Manchester!"
"Speaking of being a true Brit, I've noticed you talk with out an accent." Ron brought up a curious point.
Harry shrugged. "Well, we've been to so many different countries, and we've spent a lot of time in America. I guess it's not as strong as it could be."
"Wicked! Other countries? What's your favorite country?" Dean asked.
"Spain. Ever been to southern Spain? Andalucia? Fucking beautiful." Harry smiled as he thought about the beautiful, white architecture. "What's yours Nev?"
"Japan. Their culture was so mad compared to ours. I'd go again in a heartbeat." Neville grinned.
"Are you sure it's not for the pretty Japanese school girls?" Harry teased. The other three boys laughed and joked as they continued outside.
The rest of the morning was spent kicking around a football and general wrestling around. By the time lunch rolled around the five teenage boys were hot, sweaty, a tad smelly, and starving.
Draco and Blaise were walking towards the Great Hall when Harry and the others jostled through the front doors. Draco stopped dead as Harry, shirt half buttoned and untucked, laughed heartily. His black hair was sweaty and sexily hanging in his bright green eyes. Darkly tanned skin was exposed to his collar bone and his sleeves were rolled up his powerful arms. Draco wanted nothing more than to charge across the hall and pounce on the gorgeous god.
"Holy Morgana! Draco, since you're refusing to sleep with Potter, do you mind if I do?" Blaise asked hungrily. He also could not tear his eyes off the delectable spectacle Harry made.
"What?" Draco screeched. "Hell yes I mind! I'm trying to teach him a lesson." Draco glared at his best friend.
"What? You can't claim him like this, it's not fair. You said no to him so he's probably on the look out for fresh meat. You can't stop him." Blaise argued. His dark Italian eyes followed every movement Harry made.
Draco frowned in thought. Blaise, unfortunately, was right. He turned down Harry Potter. He probably had moved on and found someone else by now. It hurt Draco to think that it was over forever. It was too late to go to Harry now, and he'd only look like a fool and Harry would probably laugh at him. "You're right. Do what you want." Draco mumbled to his friend. He didn't feel hungry anymore as a heavy knot formed in his stomach and he turned to head to the dungeons.
"Shit Draco, I'm sorry." Blaise apologized. "I didn't mean to sound so harsh."
Draco shrugged. "It's fine, and you're probably right. I'll see you after lunch." Draco waved his friend on. He just wanted to go to his room and pout in private.
oOo
Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last class of the day, so after lunch found Harry wandering to the library to do a bit of research on Salazar Slytherin. He heard people talk in the ministry all the time about how great the library of Hogwarts was. And it was magnificent. Aisles upon shelves upon stacks of books greeted Harry. As so did the sight of Hermione Granger surrounded by a half circle of books at one of the side tables. Harry grinned to himself and approached the likable girl.
"'Lo Hermione. Mind if I join you?" Harry asked casually.
Hermione was jolted out of her reading and looked up in shock. Not many people talked to her unless it was about class or prefect duties. Occasionally Draco would playfully insult her study habits before going to do his own work, but nobody ever 'joined' her before. "Yes!" She squeaked.
Harry sat beside her and surveyed the books. He winced when he saw three books on befuddlement potions. "Sorry about that in Potions. Snape is an arse and I have no idea why."
Hermione shrugged. "I don't mind. It's no bother for me. And Snape hates everybody, but he did seem especially vicious towards you."
Harry 'hmm'-ed in agreement. He picked up a book about the four founders. "Researching the chamber as well?" He asked casually.
Hermione blushed again. "Well, I thought I'd try to help you out, after all I'm sure you're busy all the time and don't have time to spend researching so I thought I'd help out as much as I could-"
"It's okay Hermione, I appreciate the help. We actually have a lot of free time here at Hogwarts. You'll probably hate me for it, but we don't have to do any of the assignments. What's the point? We've already gotten our NEWTs." Harry interrupted her babbling.
"Lucky." Hermione smiled.
"I give up. No one has ever heard of a Myrmidon in this school. This Ravenclaw kid says he loves Greek Mythology but he didn't know who the Myrmidons were. And he thought that Patroclus was Achille's cousin. Fucktard." Mandy plopped down on the other side of Harry and ranted. "Just great. I lost five galleons to Roger."
But before Harry could scold her for not researching the Chamber of Secrets and the silly bet instead Hermione spoke up:
"Myrmidons literally means 'ant-people', Zeus turned a nearby ant hill into people to repopulate King Aiacos' island. When Aiacos' son, Peleus, fled the island after he killed his half-brother, Phocos, the Myrmidons came with him. They settled in Thessaly, and were to be the soldiers of Peleus' son, Achilles. And of course they were Achilles' warriors during the Trojan War, according to Homer he had fifty ships with fifty Myrmidons each, which is likely to be an exaggeration... what?" Hermione blushed bright red when she noticed Harry and Mandy gaping at her.
"Circe, you're like an encyclopedia. Brilliant." Harry grinned at the frizzy haired girl.
"Would you marry Roger? You're perfect for him." Mandy stated bluntly.
Hermione stammered and tugged at her hair. "Most people don't really like me and call me a 'know-it-all'."
"I'd take it as a complement. Next time say, 'Damn straight I know-it-all'. Besides, they're just jealous." Harry advised.
"Now if they were smart, they'd take advantage of your fragile psyche, pretend to befriend you, and then just use you for your notes and to cheat off of... good thing you aren't in Slytherin." Mandy winked.
"What about that Weasley kid? He seems nice enough."
"Ronald Weasley nice? He's been ring-leading the boys of Gryffindor against me for years." Hermione huffed. "In first year I was nearly killed by a troll in the girl's bathroom. I was only there because he teased me about knowing the correct pronunciation of a spell that he couldn't get. And to this day he still hasn't apologized. No, instead he's teased me more! Now he's the high and mighty Quidditch captain, it's gone straight to his head."
Harry frowned. Suddenly he didn't like this Ron fellow anymore. Teasing someone because they were smarter? Even at his age? How juvenile. "That git. He seemed nice today too. He's decent, for a wizard, at football."
Mandy frowned too. "I'll beat him to a pulp if you want."
Hermione gaped. "You can't do that! Besides, it's just teasing."
"Just teasing? We've fought wizards that went dark because of the teasing they received in their adolescence." Mandy informed her. "Don't worry, we'll make sure it doesn't happen again. I have a plan." Mandy grinned, but it seemed a little demonic.
"Uh-oh." Harry muttered in amusement.
"A plan?" Hermione asked in curiosity.
"Yes. I'm going to turn you into a babe magnet so you can make Ron jealous. But of course you're going to reject him. And Harry will pretend to be your boyfriend for awhile." Mandy declared.
"I am?" Harry asked dryly. He sat back and glared at his long time friend.
Hermione just sputtered. "But-what-why-how-what?" Was all that came out.
Mandy stood with a stubborn look. "C'mon. We'll start now." She grabbed Hermione's wrist and tugged her up. "I've got some mousse that I use when I'm too lazy to straighten my hair. And I ..." Mandy's voice became too distant to hear as she hauled the Head Girl off. Harry shook his head in amusement and picked up the book on the Four Founders of Hogwarts again.
oOo
A week went by and the Myrmidons couldn't find a single hint as to where the Chamber of Secrets might be. Harry knew more than he ever wanted to know about the four founders. He even knew Helga Hufflepuff's favorite type of Elf Wine. But the chamber was mentioned briefly a few times but no clue to where it was.
Harry never got the chance to talk with Salazar's portrait either. The common room was always bustling with students and it seemed Draco had an indicator to when someone stood outside his door. Every time Harry tried to talk to Salazar Draco would open the door and Harry would duck behind the nearest piece of furniture. It was frustrating. But on the bright side no one else had been attacked either. And Harry wasn't hearing parseltongue in the corridors.
No one was worried in the castle. Mandy was true to her word and gave Hermione a make over. She didn't do anything drastic, just mousse to tame her frizz into soft curls, some eyeliner to bring out her bright eyes, and some pink gloss to give a kissable look. But everyone noticed. Especially Ron Weasley and Roger Davies.
Harry, on the other hand, could not be distracted from his task at hand. He was determined to find the Chamber of Secrets, and even more so determined to find out who was behind it. He spent every waking moment looking up more information or scooping the population of students. The only thing that could distract Harry was when Draco was around. He was aware of every little thing the other did. When he tittered with Pansy. When he bossed around Crabbe or Goyle. When he studied with Greengrass. And when he discussed Quidditch with Nott. But the more he studied Draco and his friends, the more convinced he was that it was not a Slytherin student responsible for opening the chamber. None of them did a thing without Harry or Tracey knowing.
Two and a half weeks into the school year, a lazy Wednesday, found Harry and Mandy walking through the corridors during a passing period. Mandy was gossiping, as she usually did, and Harry was only half listening, as he usually did.
"I'm so proud of Hermione right now. You'd never know half of the school population used to ignore her now that Quidditch hotshot Ron Weasley and powerful Mrymidon Roger Davies fancy her. I'm so proud of how she keeps both of them aloft."
Harry 'hmm'-ed in agreement. He yawned and rubbed one of his eyes.
It was then when it hit him. His scar burned like acid and his stomach clinched with unease. "Fuck." He breathed harshly.
"What? What? More parseltongue?" Mandy whispered quietly as she let Harry lean on her for a moment. They were still surrounded by hurrying students that were oblivious to their hero's pain.
"No. I can feel him. He's here, right under our noses."
"Who?" Mandy asked anxiously. She had an inkling she knew but she didn't want to be right.
"Voldemort."
oOo
To Be Contiuned!
Attention all! I need a beta, i don't have one, and it would be nice to have one... so, if anyone is interested let me know:D Thanks!
As usual, thanks to all my readers, especially: soldmysoul (Bah, thanks for the advice, i'll start beta hunting now CoS wasn't my favorite either, but i'm incorportating bits of all the books into one year. anywho, THANKS!), arc, Dark Angel Of Fire Ice, Priestess of Silvanus, dablksaiyangurl (Woot! for history!), Morsus (was there anymore detail? i tried, i swear! and i guess it's poetry form... i just like the way it looks centered -sweatdrop-), Tora88 (Woot! thanks for your great review!), scarblade, DracoDormiens7, Lady Slone (soon... maybe ;D), LetMeLoveYou, Isis-mystic, fifespice (WOOT! thanks for all your reviews!) Amy Jo (glad you read my AU then:D thanks! And, i've never really liked Dumbledore that much, but after HBP, i feel a little more inclined to like the poor guy. he'll be a bit better in the story soon), zoomaphonethepirate (-has mental image of Ginny slaughtering chickens- -giggles- how you worded that amused me), Selene182, Fallen Angel's desire, huwaw, DemonRogue, Wolflady, CompleteGeek, RavenMistress (aw! you just gave me an idea!), and fudgebaby.
Okay all, 47 people have this story on their favorites list, and 76 people have this story on alert, but i only got 20ish reviews for the previous chapter. it's frustrating to know that so many people like the story but don't say anything! -pouts- Please! tell me what you think! I beg of you!
Review!