It was Halloween, and the uproar over his 'discovery' had only now started to die down. The complaints of the snake house had finally dropped to a mere trickle upon receiving the portrait of their founder...and he was not impressed at the least when he heard the ramblings of their so-called blood purity.
Jamie hated lying, but he could live with half-truths.
He had found Salazar's portrait, but he didn't need to say how.
Jamie pinched his arm to remind himself that they had a show to put on, and he was to be the star this time around.
No one else could bend around like Jack had in the movie, except for the gymnastics club (sadly one of the least popular ones, though Jamie thought more should join it). So he had landed the role...well that and everyone thought he suited Jack for some reason.
He adjusted his tie, made sure Salazar (who had expressed enough of an interest that one of the Otaku club Slytherins had brought the portrait to the great hall for him to watch) had a good view, before he signaled the members to start the music.
Neville, who was in the play as the scientist who created Sally and later the skeletal reindeer, nodded and hit play on the magically-run stereo.
Once the rather creepy music began to play, the Otaku club started to hum before breaking into the song.
"Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
(At this point the twins activated a spell that made the pumpkins give off an unearthly scream, making several jump.)
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween
I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red
I am the one hiding under your stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll...
Scream! This is Halloween
Red 'n' black, slimy green
Aren't you scared?
Well, that's just fine
(Several of the girls rode in on brooms and looking like the muggle version of a witch, green skin included.)
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night
Everybody scream, everybody scream
In our town of Halloween!
I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace
I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!
Tender lumplings everywhere
Life's no fun without a good scare
That's our job, but we're not mean
In our town of Halloween
In this town
Don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
This is Halloween, everybody scream
Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy
Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin patch
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!
(Quite a few people cried out in alarm as Jamie lit himself up with harmless blue bell flames. He had cast a flame-freezing spell on all his clothes just in case anyway.)
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
La la la la-la-la la-la-la,WHEEEEEE!"
Once the shock was over, everyone cheered, including Salazar. Since they didn't really have time to do the entire movie, they had opted to just do the opening song instead.
Re-enacting the opening sequence to Nightmare Before Christmas was a total hit with the school, as it set the tone for the holiday quite nicely.
Judging by the way the school reacted, they could probably get a free day declared so they could do the entire movie. And they could easily rope the Drama club into it, because he knew they would love to help out with the sets like last year.
He could see Remus clapping the hardest up at the staffing table.
Jamie went to see their current DADA teacher, Remus Lupin. He had tea with the werewolf at least once a month, though he took care to avoid doing so near or shortly after full moon.
"That was a splendid show you put on for Halloween."
"It helps that this is the quietest year I've had so far. No weird mysteries to deal with, and Hermione has been suitably distracted by taking too many courses to bother me about studying."
"You know about her time-turner, don't you?" Remus said dryly.
"Kind of hard not to, since I'm friends with Luna and she is quite nosy when she wants to be."
"Wait, what do you mean the quietest year?" said Remus.
"Year one, there was some obscure warning to avoid the third corridor and it was made in front of a bunch of rebellious and overly curious children. Turned out that Dumbledore laid a trap for the possessed DADA teacher for something called the Philosopher's Stone. Year two, the basilisk inside the chamber is set loose and I had to call in back-up from the base to get rid of it. This year, nothing, aside from dealing with the snakes because we got the Chamber for our club activities before they could strip it of anything of worth," said Jamie.
And Salazar had not been pleased by that attitude one bit.
Remus drank his tea. That wasn't a good thing, to be honest. If this pattern kept up, Jamie would be in for a rough four years. He was barely keeping up with his three electives as it was.
COMC, Runes and advanced Transfiguration were very time consuming, homework wise. According to Jamie, he picked those because Nicholas had suggested it for when he finally took up alchemy after graduating. Apparently after a thorough test by Flamel, he felt Jamie was already at a high enough level using numbers to skip Arithimancy.
The two enjoyed their quiet cup of tea, as it was one of the few things Jamie did that didn't involve movement of any kind, aside from lifting the tea glass.
Jamie was on guard again, and another group came up.
"Passcode?"
The boy, who was in Jessie's outfit started it off. The girl was in James, as it was a well known fact the two did cross-play a lot and the only way to do that properly was with both genders there.
"Prepare for trouble!" said Luna.
"And make it double!" said Neville.
"To protect the world from devastation," said Luna.
"To unite all people within our nation," said Neville grinning.
"To defend the evils of truth and love," said Luna.
"To extend our reach to the stars above!" said Neville.
"Luna!"
"Neville!"
"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!" said Luna.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" they said in unison.
Jamie was grinning outright.
"Go on in!"
"We really need another passcode," said Neville.
"I was thinking Sailor Moon's speech for next year," admitted Jamie.
Yagyu stared at the bunch of Otakus, most of which had proper kendo gear and wooden swords. They were about the right size for sword play, but not for harming anyone.
Flitwick was off to the side, observing the lessons and keeping an eye on the spell research Neville was doing.
If he could trust Pomona he would have brought her in to this particular meeting personally, as today Neville was testing out his new 'rose whip'. Finding the right spell combination to turn an ordinary rose into a thorn whip had been quite the challenge. No doubt she would want in on such a discovery.
Jubei barked orders, and as one, the Otaku club took their stances and fought using only the five moves he had shown them. He had to iron out their moves before they could really learn how to fight, and swordsmanship was best learned in years, not months. And these children showed considerable more enthusiasm than the others who asked for help. They rarely complained about having to sit on their legs for an hour to get in the proper state of mind.
"Potter! Adjust your left foot more! Having that far up will decrease the power of your blow!" barked Jubei.
"Sir!"
Jamie slid his foot back some. To be fair their was a bit of a leak problem in the cavern, and his foot slipped a little in the wet floor.
They were still trying to water proof the ceiling.
The old samurai floated between pairs, correcting mistakes with a critical eye. Considering how hard it was to even find a decent teacher in England, they didn't complain.
While they worked, they chatted quietly.
One of the rules of the club was to keep the sound at a reasonable level, as the chamber proved to have quite the acoustic range. Anything higher than a low shout carried almost to the entrance. When asked, Salazar admitted it was a way to insure that they wouldn't have to come all the way into the Chamber to kill the basilisk. It was designed so that the rooster could be halfway down the tunnel near the lake and still kill the snake. Or, if they were feeling particularly vindictive to the bird they could toss it down the bathroom entrance and let it crow itself while it fell to it's death. Either way the snake would be dead and the party would have been perfectly safe.
Learning that, Flitwick added a few one-way sound dampening charms, so that they could hear the outside, but the inside couldn't hear them as well.
According to Salazar, he was just repairing the original charms...the founder of Slytherin didn't want any unexpected visitors.
When asked by a baffled Slytherin house why he allowed them to use his famous Chamber, they got a very surprising answer in return.
"They are the only club in this entire school that ignores this whole house rivalry nonsense, and is the only place where I don't hear a single word about 'blood purity' or the Ministry's idiot rulings on spells. Frankly I find it a breath of fresh air, if you'll excuse the poor terms, from listening to you lot talk about your families and how you'll manipulate the Ministry through gold once you graduate," said Salazar flatly when asked.
The fact that the Otaku club was considered one of the most exclusive ones in the school and still managed to keep the Headmaster in the dark about what it was really about was considered a feat in itself.
Which was why so many Slytherins kept trying to infiltrate it, if only to see real ambition and cunning in action.
A few even succeeded, once they found a way to actually pass the Otaku test. Those were mostly half-bloods though. No one like Draco had managed to get in, no matter how hard he tried.
"So where are you going to hit at Hogsmeade this weekend?" asked Neville.
"Bookstore, probably. When they learned how much they could make by selling manga to the Otaku club, especially the lesser known series like Necromancer and Silver Diamond, they couldn't order fast enough. Combined with our productions, the Otaku club has been having a boom in membership. Plus there's our friends the drama club and the store that will hopefully open next month that sells cosplay costumes and copies of the ones we use in our productions. I'm surprised the headmaster hasn't picked up on their true activities just yet."
"Huh?"
Jamie smirked.
"Let me put it this way. There's a reason why the Drama club and the Otaku club get along so well. They were founded by the same person."
"Who?"
"A Ravenclaw witch named Mariah. She found a way to hide training for the inevitable wars that would happen by putting them in plain sight. The Otaku club is the spell researchers/fighters, and most of us go into the Unspeakables and lend a helping wand in our projects. Drama club is for our spies and informers. They use some of our members to learn how to act in all situations to get information back to the group. Combined with my military contacts, and we have a force that will wipe out any opposition once our cover is partially removed."
"So all that spell practice down in the Chamber?"
"Practice for when Voldie comes back. We aren't stupid, and that locket I found by accident in Sirius' house is a good indicator to how he survived when he killed my parents."
And Flitwick had been beyond pissed, to say nothing of how Salazar reacted to the news. Flitwick knew of horcruxes from his goblin parent, as it was common knowledge among the goblins about the cursed items.
They came across them from time to time, mostly in Egypt. And every one they came across was destroyed ASAP. Learning Voldemort had made more than one had the goblins going through the London vaults, those that had been open during his time as the Dark Lord, just to be sure there weren't any inside.
So far they had found Hufflepuff's Cup, and had removed the dark taint from it with a vengeance. The Hogwarts Founder's Society, a place where the Founder's Artifacts were preserved and restored to peak condition, would be getting a few surprises from the goblin clans soon.
(Salazar had identified the necklace Jamie found by mistake as one that he had given his daughter. Needless to say if he were alive Tom Marvolo Riddle AKA Voldemort would be disowned so fast it would make his head spin for daring to use that as his horcrux.)
Neville blinked.
"The Drama club was made by the same person who made the Otaku club?" he said incredulous.
"Actually it was made by her older sister Rachel. Also a Ravenclaw, though from what I heard she had better grades and was also in the musical group."
"So are there any other clubs masqurading in plain sight?"
"Art club, a small portion of the music club, flying club and some of the chess club," said Jamie.
"Seriously?"
"You do realize I'm only telling you this because as a pureblood with lots of good connections we might need them in the future, right?"
"I knew that going in. Having the prospective heir to an ancient family means you have a decent defense against Dumbledore should he catch wind of what your club really does. I mostly joined because I knew that the Otaku wouldn't mock my love of plants," said Neville.
Which was true, as they had put him to work on plant-based weaponry from various anime. So far they had managed to come up with a workable Rose Whip, and were currently trying to replicate the tree thing from Law of Ueki, or at the very least the Mokuton from Naruto. So far, no luck had come of it, though they were making great progress thanks to Neville's input and Jamie's willingness to help buy plants.
Plants that were given to Neville to keep, as he had the best green thumb outside Professor Sprout.
Jamie grinned at him as they headed to the bookstore.