Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. Also, if you see something that you did in one of your stories, it was not intentionally copied.
Thank you to my Beta, Teufel1987.
Twin Trios
Chapter Twelve
Harry and Ron just hung around for the rest of the holiday. They spent a bit of time in the library attempting to read ahead in the course work and they also enjoyed a few more snowball fights before all the students came back. Although… course work wasn't the only thing they had researched.
Harry had manipulated Professor Lockhart into giving him his signature for the restricted section of the library. In the end, it proved that enduring his egotistic comments wasn't worth it.
"Here it is," Harry said. "Moste Potente Potions." Ron leaned over from where he had been reading some of the history during the Wizarding War with Grindelwald to see the page that Harry had opened up into.
"The Polyjuice Potion is an extremely complex potion that may be used to turn into someone else. It takes a month to make, due to the different ingredients that must be harvested at the different times," he read out loud. "The Polyjuice Potion is not designed for transformations into animals, but trans-sexual transformations are allowed." He looked up at Ron. "So it probably was Percy, Ray and Gabriel who attempted to sneak in…" He trailed off in thought.
After a large moment of silence, Ron spoke up.
"They probably were looking for information on the heir of Slytherin," he suggested. "If everyone's pointing the finger at Percy, then they would probably be desperate to find out something that would allow them to deny it." Harry was silent before continuing.
"None of them are that great at potions. Of course, Gabriel's around average but none of them would be able to make a potion this difficult. They would need outside help Ron," Harry stated. "But who would help them?"
"It could've been Dumbledore," suggested Ron. "He always seems to have a special interest in our twins and what they're up to, so he probably knew what they were attempting to do."
"But he normally likes to watch from the background and have other people do his dirty work, sort of like what he did to 'test' Percy with the Philosopher's Stone." Harry pointed out. "I seriously doubt that he would help Percy, Ray and Gabriel personally. He probably got someone else to help. Someone that is known to be good at potions…" He trailed off.
"Professor Snape?' Ron guessed at what he was hinting at. "You think that our head of house, the very same one that hates anything with the name Potter on it, would help the so called 'Gryffindor trios?'"
"I never said he would want to," Harry argued. "But it seems like he's loyal to the headmaster, so if the Dumbledore ordered him to make sure that they were making the potion correctly, then he would probably do it."
Ron thought about it but conceding the point to Harry. They went back to their respective books that they were reading and read in silence.
After a while, Harry glanced at his watch.
"It's almost time for the feast Ron," he said. "We should get going." Ron slowly nodded his head while reaching to put away his book. By the time he had finished reading the paragraph he had been trying to read Harry had his bag ready to go. Ron scrambled to prepare his too. When he was done they left the library.
Having talked about much of the things they could in the library, they walked in comfortable silence all the way to the great hall. When they arrived they saw that the Gryffindor trio was already at the table with almost the rest of the students that had stayed for the break. Harry and Ron sat down and waited for Hermione and Ginny to arrive.
They weren't kept waiting long. Due to their time in the library they had actually cut it pretty close. Less than five minutes after Harry and Ron sat down, they were able to hear the students coming up the steps. Soon after, the students flooded the hall.
Some students hugged their friends that had either gone home or stayed at Hogwarts. Harry's eyes found who he was pretty sure was the real Draco Malfoy, along with his two goons. As they passed the seats where Harry and Ron sat Harry spoke.
"Hey Malfoy," he called out. "How were your holidays?" Malfoy turned his head and once he saw who was talking narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He thought about it for a moment, but after not being able to find any hidden questions within the question, answered slowly.
"They were fine."
Harry smiled as politely as he could and gave a nod of the head. Malfoy turned and walked quickly away from Harry and Ron.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"Just confirming the fact that it wasn't actually him during the holidays," Harry answered. Before Ron could ask another question, though, Harry spotted the same red hair that held him captive during their runs.
"Hermione! Ginny! Over here!" Harry called out over the noisy crowd. They were standing together scanning the table. Ginny's head snapped up at the mention of her name but it appeared that Hermione hadn't heard. Harry and Ginny made eye contact, and then Ginny proceeded to nudge Hermione and point in their direction. When she saw them, she too smiled and they started to walk towards the boys.
"Hey Harry. Hi Ron," Hermione said as soon as she got into hearing range. "How were your holidays?"
"They were fun," Ron answered for them both. "We did a bit of reading, had some snowball fights and got into another fight with Percy, Ray and Gabriel!" Harry personally thought that he said the last one a bit too cheerfully.
"That sounds like- you got into a fight with our twins?" She asked in a high voice. "Why did you do that?"
"It's not like it was our fault, Hermione," Harry interjected. "They were annoying us!"
"They were annoying you, so you guys got into a fight," Hermione stated, clearly not impressed with Harry's reasons.
"They did start it," Ron told her with wide eyes. "But we finished. That's why I've got a detention this Saturday with Filch. Harry already served his with Snape." Hermione winced at that news. Everyone knew, even in the Slytherin house that Snape was not a fun experience.
"Hey," Harry said while attempting to appear to shrug it off as though he hadn't been interrogated by his head of house. "It wasn't that bad. How was your holiday?" Hermione's eyes lit up while Ginny's face darkened.
"They were amazing, Harry!" Hermione started to gush. "We went skiing every day, and my parents and I got up early on Christmas morning to open presents – thanks for the book on defensive magic – and we also stayed up later, playing card games! It was so amazing to have them all to myself without Gabriel there. I haven't had that in forever!" Harry and Ron listened, glad that their friend had had so much fun over the Christmas break.
Harry turned to Ginny. "How was your break?" He regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth, because the previously smiling Ginny started to narrow her eyes.
"The nerve of those ones I call my parents!" She started to rant. "I came home for the holidays and at first, it seemed like everything was fine. My parents were nice to me and everything, so I was relieved that they weren't holding a grudge against me for being in Slytherin. Dad and I even went shopping that one day for shoes." She nodded at Harry, and then continued.
"But then we went to Romania. Charlie asked what house I was in, so I told him Slytherin. He asked me why was I with the snakes, and I told him because they aren't that bad. During this time mum and dad managed to slip away. Afterwards, I realized that their plan must have been to guilt trip me into being a good little Gryffindor. Long story short, Charlie and I got into a fight, which made the rest of the holidays really awkward." Ginny paused once again to take a breath. She then proceeded to add "Thanks for the gift."
Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, and it appeared that Ron and Hermione didn't know what to make of it either.
!#$%^&*
The rest of the term passed by quickly for Harry as January slipped into February and that gave way to March. There were a few more attacks, the most noticeable one being Hermione's twin and a Ravenclaw prefect. Both were found near the library window. After that attack, Hagrid had been arrested and sent to prison, and not too long after that the headmaster had been sacked. Professor McGonagall was filling in for the rest of the term, but no one knew if she would be there next year-if there was a next year.
The teachers now had to take the students from class to class. At the final bell, they would escort each of the students to their common rooms. Students were not allowed out of the common room for any other reason but class and meals. Something that Harry often heard the fifth and seventh year students complain about. Something about the lack of study time.
Harry and Daphne had even stopped their meetings for duelling, though they weren't very easy to get to with all the measurements being taken. Daphne had started to not show up at their appointed time, and the few times that she did show up she had bags under her eyes and wasn't able to focus. Harry beat her easily every time. She wasn't quite as bad in lessons, but she still looked sick if you looked closely.
Harry and Ginny had also agreed to stop their morning runs in the Room of Requirement. By now both of them were able to run for a good distance before needing to stop. Harry was pretty sure that he had more than enough endurance for a fight, even though he hadn't dared to go back into the chamber in fear of being followed.
The future looked bleak for Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
!#$%^&*
One weekend in May, Harry was done all of his homework, but Hermione and Ron weren't. He was absolutely bored now that they weren't allowed out of their common room and had read almost every book that he had in his possession. Except one.
The book that his mother had given him for Christmas was one that he hadn't dared to touch. Part of him was nervous about reading something that his mother had written so long ago, while another part of him wanted to discover all the things in the Chamber himself. However, his mother's point about wasting his time was valid.
With this thought in his head, he got the book out of his trunk and laid it on his bed. He then got onto it himself and shut the curtains.
The Chamber of Secrets has a place to duel in it. It is where I learned to fight, and would recommend that you try it out sometime. There are many different settings that you can fight in. Different types of environments, along with dummies that will fight you either by sword or wand. I have no clue how my ancestor managed to create this, but it is something that many people would probably die to be able to train with. Let me explain it to you.
The first set of switches control the environment of the room. You can have it raining down on you while duelling, or even snowing. The other options are cold, hot, windy and sandy. You can only combine certain switches. For instance, you can put the settings on hot, windy and sandy to have all three things. However, you cannot make it hot and snowing at the same time. When you try to do that, the switch that you put down first automatically goes back up. I recommend that you practice in all the different environments. After all, you don't often get to choose where you fight.
The second set of switches control the difficulty level. That pretty much speaks for itself. But just in case you're an idiot and can't figure them out, "Easy" is the easiest one and "hard" is the most difficult setting. When you turn this switch on, the dummies will start coming out of the floor, ready to start the duel as they were enchanted to do according to the difficulty settings. With the final set of switches, one can choose the weapon to be used in the duel. You can either fight with your wand, which is the more common practice in this age, or you can fight using a sword. If you want to fight with a sword, you will need to bring a weapon of your own with you; the Chamber does not supply one. Here, the dummies will come out one at a time until you get to hard. Then they will come out multiple at a time.
Harry turned the page.
In the Chamber, there is the personal library of Salazar Slytherin containing a myriad of books. There is even a complete set of books written in Slytherin's own hand. Journals mainly, chronicling his life. –They give quite an insight into the real life of Salazar Slytherin, which is markedly different from the tripe historians made up to make him look bad and Gryffindor like a saint. That's all I'm going to say about them here. It would be much better if you just went and read them yourself.
However, there are also many books on different types of magic there. Some of them are probably the only copy left in existence.
!#$%^&*
Professor McGonagall found the two students she was looking for in the Gryffindor common room.
"You two, come with me," She ordered. Percy and Ray looked up from their game of chess. They both knew that they should be studying, but quite frankly didn't feel like it.
"We didn't do it," Ray immediately said. Professor McGonagall just raised one of her eyebrows, but didn't respond. Instead she turned around and headed out of the common room. The two boys stayed where they were though, and didn't move until she had turned around again at looked at them.
After getting her wand out for protection, professor McGonagall started to lead them upstairs, though it was unclear to where they were going. After walking a few moments in silence, Percy broke the silence.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"Professor," finished the Gryffindor head of house. She then waited for the second year student to re-ask his question.
"Where are we going, Professor," he asked after a few moments.
"We are going to the hospital wing, Mr. Potter," she answered. Percy and Ray exchanged a look, but asked no more questions. The tone in their teacher's voice didn't leave any room for inquiry. They walked more in silence until they reached the hospital wing.
Professor McGonagall knocked rapidly three times, before waiting a second and knocking another five times. After the fifth knock, the door was opened and Madam Pomfrey appeared with her wand out. After regarding the two students and the headmistress, she stepped back to let them in. Once they got through she quickly locked the door.
"I see that you retrieved them. Good. Now we may proceed… though I don't know why Professor Dumbledore wants these two to know and not the rest of the school… doesn't he know that…" the witch kept mumbling while she led them to a place where the curtains where closed. She opened them up and the three people walked in.
There was already a person inside. Upon seeing one of the Potter twins enter, he sneered immediately, but refrained from making a snide comment. The former headmaster had already warned him against doing it in the presence of other people at this moment.
Then Percy noticed another person who was there. It was Gabriel, still looking as lifeless as a plastic doll with amazing realism.
Madam Pomfrey closed the curtain and hurried in after them. Everybody was silent for a bit, before the man broke the silence.
"Do you know why you are here, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley?" the potions master asked slowly. The two Gryffindor boys shook their heads to signal no. "You are here because Professor Dumbledore has requested that you be here." Professor Snape took a vial from the night table and showed it to them.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked them. Again, both of them shook their heads. "Of course you don't," he sneered. "This is the potion that will revive your petrified classmates. Just five drops of it will make them mobile again."
"Are you going to give it to Gabriel?" Ray asked. Professor Snape sneered once again.
"Against my better wishes, yes I will be." He told them. "However, the rest of the school doesn't think that the potion is ready to be given yet, so she will not be able to go to classes. You will be allowed to visit her, however. She will be allowed to give you advice on your school work. I suggest you do ask her questions, because the headmaster will be very displeased if you failed you potions class…" Professor Snape turned around and uncorked the vial. He then carefully poured five drops into the petrified girl's mouth.
"It is done," he said as he turned back around to face the group. It will take her around half an hour to come to normal, but after that she will be fully functioning. Thus there is no more reason for me to stay here. I have better and more important things to deal with. So if you will excuse me..."
With that, he left the enclosed area, sneering all the way. The Hogwarts matron shortly followed him. Percy and Ray stared at Gabriel for a moment longer before they looked at Professor McGonagall again. She started to walk out of the area. After making sure the two boys where following her, she got out her wand and unlocked the door to the corridor. Once they were through, she turned to them once again.
"Just in case you two need to get into the Hospital Wing desperately, you must simply hold your wand up to the handle and say 'For Hogwarts.' I trust that you two won't abuse this privileged that has been given to you by Professor Dumbledore, even if I don't agree with it." She gave them a stern look, and they couldn't help but nod, signalling that they agreed to the conditions.
The rest of the trip back to the tower was made in silence.
!#$%^&*
Harry was currently bored in Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Lockhart was currently doing another one of his acting classes, using Percy as a puppet. Not for the first time, Harry was glad that the public thought that Percy was the Boy-Who-Lived. With that thought, he looked over at his friends.
He wasn't surprised at what he saw. Hermione was sitting up at attention, hanging on to the professor's rambling, while Ron looked like he was half asleep. He looked even further and saw that Daphne actually was asleep. After looking at her for another few seconds, he looked back towards the front.
"And after that," Lockhart was saying. "I said 'You will never harm another person,' and destroyed him like this," he made an elaborate gesture with his wand that Harry doubted was even a spell. Just then, the bell rang. Everybody got up and headed towards the back of the class. Lockhart quickly released Percy and flattened his robes before patting his hair. After that he went to the door and opened it.
Everybody flooded out. They knew by past experiences that Professor Lockhart wasn't picky about leading the students to their next class. In fact, he would probably be rather at the back then at the front. Harry saw Percy and Ray whispering quietly to each other. His curiosity spiked, he led Ron and Hermione over to a position where they could hear a bit of it.
"I think we should go now!" Percy whispered to Ray. "There probably won't be a better time until next Defence class, which will be in a week."
"You sure we could get all the way to the hospital wing without being caught?" Ray whispered back. "It's not getting away that I think the problem is. What if someone catches us?"
Percy made a shrugging motion and waited a moment before answering.
"Who do you think you are? Gabriel? The way that you're talking about getting caught, why do we even need to sneak into to visit her? You can just replace her!" Hearing enough and not wanting to get caught, Harry slowed down, almost colliding with a black Gryffindor boy. After the boy and Harry exchanged dirty glares, he turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Did you hear that like I did?" he asked them. Hermione nodded.
"It sounded like they were talking about sneaking off to visit my twin in the hospital wing. But she's petrified… why would they talk about her like she isn't?" Ron nodded, signalling that that's what he had heard and thought too.
"I'll convince Lockhart that I'm sick and need to go to the hospital wing, okay? I'll tell you what I learn after."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Ron asked him. "What if you run into… you know?" Harry dropped his voice even lower.
"I'll be fine. You know I can… you know." He didn't say exactly what he could do because he was certain that it was Draco Malfoy he had seen lurking out of the corner of his eye. He turned and looked at the Malfoy heir and gave him a smile. Malfoy quickly turned around and pretended he hadn't been eavesdropping.
Without waiting for his friends to approve his plan any further, he went over to the professor.
"Professor Lockhart, I don't feel well," he told him while trying to put on a sick face. He wasn't sure if his performance would be enough to convince the gullible professor, but it appeared to be enough.
"Off to the hospital wing you go, then," he instructed. "I don't want you to throw up on me." Trying to conceal his smile, Harry put his head down and started to leave the group. He hoped that Percy and Ray had already left, so he wouldn't be in the hospital wing when they came in.
He got to the hospital wing in good time, and then tried to open the door. Unfortunately for him, it was locked. After trying a few of the unlocking charms that he knew, the door still wouldn't yield. Not knowing what to do, Harry just stood there, trying to think of what to do.
Then he heard two boys, that Harry could guess were his brother and Ray. Honestly, they were so loud that if Slytherin's Heir actually wanted to attack them, it would be fairly easy. Harry ran up the corridor and quickly slipped into an unlocked empty classroom, shutting the door, leaving just a small crack open. He watched his twin and his friend go by and up to the hospital wing door. He heard his brother's voice say, 'For Hogwarts,' with his back to Harry and blocking the door. A soft click was heard as the door unlocked.
"Don't forget to shut the door," he heard Ray remind Percy. Percy didn't say anything, but Harry could almost picture the look that he was giving his friend. Harry heard another click, as they closed the door behind them.
Harry waited again for a few minutes before coming out of his hiding spot. He went up to the door and repeated what he had heard Percy say. Nothing happened.
Harry was starting to get frustrated. He took out his wand and was tempted to try and blast the door off its hinges, but quickly dismissed the thought. Doing that would demolish any attempts of stealth that he could make.
He decided to try and do the password again.
"For Hogwarts," he whispered. He almost yelled with joy when the door clicked open. It was then when he noticed that his wand was near the handle. 'That must've been the second requirement,' he thought. Harry cautiously walked in.
He was greeted by an empty room. The beds were neatly lined up; along with the section right next to Madam Pomfrey's quarters that was marked off, containing the petrified forms of the unfortunate yet still very lucky victims of the attacks perpetrated by the person masquerading as the Heir of Slytherin. Harry couldn't see Percy or Ray. Thinking they were in one of the blocked off sections, he stealthily walked forward.
Harry was right. Once he got close enough, he could hear voices: Two male and one female. He stood next to the curtain and listened.
"And that's why you've been cured," he heard Percy saying. There was nothing for a moment, then he heard Gabriel's voice (at least, that's who he thought it was).
"So basically Professor Dumbledore didn't think that you would be able to solve the mystery without me, so he revived me earlier than the rest without telling anyone?"
"He doesn't think that we couldn't solve it without you! He just thought that… it might be quicker with you." Ray protested. "But other than that, you're pretty much right."
Silence descended on the trio. It wasn't a comfortable silence, for there was a sort of tension in the air. You could just tell that there was a certain question that they wanted to ask but were too afraid of the answer. It ended up being Percy who broke it.
"So… what was the last thing that you saw, before being, you know… petrified?" he asked. Gabriel answered him after a few moments.
"I was looking out of the library window at the grounds when it happened. At least, that's the last place I remember. The last actual thing that I remember happening was looking into the reflection of a big pair of yellow eyes."
"So what creature is so powerful that its mere reflection can petrify people?" Ray asked in wonder. But Gabriel had an answer for that too.
"That's the reason that I was in the library in the first place. You said you've been able to hear voices in the walls right before attacks, right Percy?" Harry figured that Percy must've nodded his head because Hermione's twin continued talking.
"Well, since you can talk to snakes, I have a feeling that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets just has to be a snake. So I went to look up dangerous snakes. Have you two ever heard of a basilisk?"
They both answered at the same time.
"No."
"Well, the basilisk is a powerful snake. Its hide is pretty much impossible to penetrate using magic. Just one look into its eyes will kill you, and they basically never stop growing."
Before they could say anymore, however, McGonagall's voice came over the school.
"All classes have been cancelled. All students are to head to their common rooms immediately pending an announcement and teachers, report to the second floor corridor in ten minutes. I repeat, classes have been cancelled for the day, students are to be in their common rooms and all teachers are to report to the second floor in ten minutes."
Just then, Harry heard a hustling outside the door of the hospital wing. Desperately looking for a place to hide, Harry dove under the first bed he found. He had just settled down under the bed when the door opened and in came Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. He noted that Percy, Ray and Gabriel had fallen silent as well.
Harry then watched in horror as he saw who had been petrified. The fascinating hair of Ginny Weasley was lifeless, along with the rest of her frozen body. In the mean time, Madam Pomfrey had hurried out of her office.
"Put her right on that bed! Yes, right there," she instructed. She then crouched over Ginny again, as though she was trying to figure out if there was a way she could fix her. After a few moments though, she straightened up and announced that Ginny was petrified like the rest of them.
Harry's mind raced with the revelation. He had seen Ginny's hair in the Chamber when he had been down there… so why would she attack herself? Unless Ginny wasn't actually the heir and someone had managed to frame her? But why would the real heir do that?
Meanwhile the professors continued to talk.
"She was found outside the girl's bathroom on the second floor," Professor McGonagall continued. "And even worse, there was a message." The transfiguration teacher was trembling, with anger or fear, Harry wasn't sure of. He could almost picture how white her face was. Her Scottish accent was getting so thick it was getting harder and harder to actually understand what she was saying.
"What was the message?" inquired Madam Pomfrey urgently.
"'Her skeleton shall lie in the Chamber forever,'" whispered Professor McGonagall.
"Who's been taken down there?" the Hogwarts patron asked. Professor Snape, who had been quiet through the entire endeavour, stepped up to answer the question.
"It's one of my Slytherins," he answered. Although it was barely detectable, Harry could detect a small amount of anger in Snape's voice. Or maybe he just imagined it. "A second year girl by the name of Daphne Greengrass."
And there's the end of Chapter Twelve! I know that it was a bit short, but it's really just a setup chapter for the Chamber. On the side, the poll for the pairing will be closing at the end of the second year. Currently Ginny is still winning, but Daphne has made a huge comeback to make it really close. That said, even if Daphne just wins on the poll, a number of reviewers have said Ginny.
Don't forget to review!