Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
It'd been a few weeks since Mrs. Norris had been petrified and strangely the so called 'Heir' had yet to do anything more, making some believe it to all be someone's idea of a cruel prank. Unfortunately for Harry, Hermione wasn't one of those people.
"I'm just saying maybe we should take a closer look" Hermione argued, as they sat around the Room of Requirement. "This Dobby elf certainly thinks something's happening."
"She does have a point" said Neville. "This elf was desperate enough to charm a bludger to go after you."
"Guys I'm telling you the elf was clearly insane" said Harry. "Besides Filch's cat's the only victim and she's only been petrified not killed. I just don't think we have anything to worry about."
"Yet" Hermione challenged. "You're still thinking this could be one of Dumbledore's tricks."
"Well can you blame me? It wouldn't be the first time the old man's decided to play with people's lives." Seeing that Hermione was prepared to argue further Harry decided to close the issue. "Look Hermione, Dumbledore wants me in the castle. The fact that Dobby wanting me to leave is in complete contrast with his master's wishes does seem to point to the headmaster."
"Ok fine" Hermione sighed, she could see Harry wasn't about to change his mind easily. Giving his goodbyes the young ninja teleported away for the weekend leaving the others to their own devices.
"You're still worried about the 'Heir' aren't you?" Luna questioned.
"Yes" Hermione admitted. "But Harry's being so stubborn about this."
"Well he does have other things to worry about" said Neville.
"Yeah like collecting mutagen and fighting The Kraang" Ginny added.
"I just can't shake the feeling that this isn't one of Dumbledore's tricks" said Hermione.
"Well then why don't you try looking up the Chamber?" Ron suggested, much to everyone's surprise. "What she usually finds the answer in some book anyway."
"He's right" Neville said in agreement. Hermione actually looked embarrassed as everyone looked to her for the answer and sighed as she was forced to admit that she had already secretly searched the library and couldn't find any trace of the Chamber of Secrets our it's heir.
"Have you tried Hogwarts: A History?" asked Luna.
"Um, I didn't have room for it" Hermione admitted embarrassingly. "The Lockhart books took up too much room."
The others groaned as they were reminded of their bookish friend's previous disgraceful admiration for the idiot DADA professor.
"Well maybe we should try asking Prof. McGonagall" Ginny suggested. "Dumbledore doesn't know she's on our side. If he's really behind this then maybe she's heard something."
Deciding to go along with Ginny's idea the group found the Gryffindor head working in her office.
"Well this is certainly a surprise" said Minerva, her mood suddenly became deadly serious as she assumed the worst. "Has something happened with Harry and his family?"
"No he hasn't said anything about the Nargles" said Luna. Shooting a questioning glance to the others, prompting Neville to mouth "The Kraang."
"Luna's afraid they might be listening" Hermione explained.
"I see" while part of her wanted to dismiss the first year Ravenclaw's fears, after witnessing just what the aliens were capable of Minerva wasn't sure if she could. "Well then what brings you here?"
"We were wondering if you knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets" said Ron. "Like if this is another trick to try and control Harry."
"Well Mr. Weasley to my knowledge the headmaster doesn't have anything to do with the Chamber. In fact this isn't the first time it's been opened."
"What?" the students gasped in shock, Harry's theory was certainly starting to fall apart.
"Yes it happened before my own time as a student at Hogwarts. You see the Chamber of Secrets is an old Hogwarts legend. It's said that one of the founders Salazar Slytherin believing that muggle-borns shouldn't be admitted into the school. The other founders didn't agree and ultimately he and Godric Gryffindor battled ending with him leaving the school forever in defeat. But before he abandoned the school, Slytherin is rumored to have created a hidden chamber said to contain a monster that only his chosen heir could command to purge the school of those he considered to be unworthy of magic."
"I'm guessing no one ever found it" said Ginny.
"You'd guess right, Miss. Weasley" said McGonagall. "Now as I was saying the Chamber of Secrets is said to have been opened once before. While Dumbledore is the only member of staff who was present at the time, the previous headmaster did award a Tom Riddle for finding the one responsible"
"So it's probably not the same person" said Neville.
"But it doesn't necessarily eliminate Dumbledore as a suspect" said Hermione.
"Dumbledore is the only one we can confirm was present during both incidents." Luna said in agreement.
"Maybe we should try and get the answers from Dumbledore" said Ron.
"Absolutely not!" Minerva snapped. "Given that Mr. Potter isn't here I'm assuming he's chosen not to get too deeply involved."
"Yeah he thinks this is one of Dumbledore's tricks" said Neville.
"Hmm, I'll keep an eye on the headmaster. You all do your best not to give Dumbledore more reason to focus his attention on your group."
Turns out they wouldn't have time to get into trouble as school found something new to focus on as the ninjas in training found a small group of people gathered in front of the bulletin board in the main hall, reading a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up.
"Hey looks like Harry's missing out" Seamus said, turning to look at them with an eager grin. "They're starting a Dueling Club! First meeting tonight!"
"Well that's interesting" said Luna, as they watched Seamus run off to prepare.
"Think we should check it out?" Ginny questioned.
"It's sounds wicked" said Ron, smiling at the idea as he studied the parchment with interest.
"It would be a good way to switch things up" said Neville.
"I guess this means we're going" Hermione concluded.
That evening the group entered the great hall and were surprised to find that the traditional long tables had vanished, replaced by a golden stage along one wall light by thousands of candles floating overhead.
"It's too bad Harry's missing this" said Ginny, by now they all knew how much Harry loved a good training session.
"He'll be so jealous of all the dueling spells we'll learn" Ron grinned.
"Who do you think is teaching us" Hermione asked, watching as a crowd of formed around the stage. "Someone told me Prof. Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young; he seems the most likely candidate."
"I'll be happy as long as it's not-oh no…" Neville's good mood took a nosedive as Lockhart walked onto the stage, followed by Snape wearing his usual sneer. This would be the first time this year that their little group had seen Snape outside of potions class and even then it seemed he'd been doing his best to stay away from Harry. When they'd asked him about it Harry had chosen to stay silent, saying he wasn't going to be as petty as the potions master.
Lockhart was another teacher that had been behaving strangely, though his change wasn't anywhere near as notable as Snape's. The flamboyant professor wasn't present at the last Quidditch match and since then hasn't been seen much out of the classroom. Though as Lockhart stood before the crowd it was clear it was just a temporary reprieve.
"Now" Lockhart said, once he had everyone's attention. "Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I have done on countless occasions-for full details, see my published works."
"I can't believe you actually fell for this guy" Ginny groaned.
"Can we just forget about that" Hermione complained, embarrassed by her earlier behavior.
The group was considering just walking away, not wanting to have to sit through another round of Lockhart's self-promotion. But things became more interesting when he introduced Snape of all people as his assistant for the night.
"If we're lucky they'll finish each other off" Ron muttered, a thought shared by his friends.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. Though Snape merely jerked his head irritably in contrast to the flamboyant defense professor's overly elaborate gesture complete with twirling his hands. They all watched as Lockhart and Snape raised their wands each of them taking a stance.
Having spent the last few months training under Harry, Neville and the others were able to tell that Lockhart's stance was very poor and weren't surprised to see Snape easily blast the man across the room into the far wall behind him, slumping to the ground.
"Do you think he's alright?" Hermione questioned.
"Who cares?" Neville, Ron, and Ginny said together.
"I'm afraid not. He's still horribly infected by wrack spurts" Luna said solemnly.
"Well, there you have it!" said Lockhart, walking back to the stage. "That was a Disarming Charm. As you can see, I've lost my wand-ah, thank you, Miss Brown-, yes, and excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying it was very obvious what you were about to do; I simply felt that it'd be more instructive to let them see it rather than stop you.
"The sad thing is I think he actually believes that" Ginny commented.
"Now, enough demonstrating!" Lockhart continued. "I'm going to come amongst you and put you all into pairs. Prof. Snape, if you'd like to help me."
Snape and Lockhart moved through the crowd, matching everyone up. Lockhart was pairing up random people, but the vindictive potions professor moved straight towards Neville, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna.
"Hmm such a shame Potter isn't here" said Snape smiling coldly, clearing thinking he could get some petty revenge by causing trouble for Harry's friends. "Time to split up the dream team, I think." Snape then split up the friends pairing them up against random students. But the real show was Neville vs Draco as the two second years were moved to the center stage.
"Now remember boys the incantation is Expelliarmus" said Lockhart, actually saying something helpful for the first time this year.
"It really is a shame that Potter isn't here" Draco sneered. "I'd love to be able to put him in his place."
"Sorry but Harry doesn't have time to kick your butt again Malfoy" Neville smirked confidently. "Guess you'll just have to make due with me."
"Please like you'll be a challenge. Potter just got lucky and caught me off guard but this a real duel and you're practically a Squib. I don't care what they say about last year, you're nothing but one of Potter's little charity cases. It's bad enough with you, the two weasels, and the mud-blood, but then he went and added the loon to your band of losers."
It was no secret that Luna was considered odd by many of the Hogwarts students, especially by her own housemates but with her known friendship with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione; the group that saved the Philosopher's Stone, no one has been stupid enough to cause her any real trouble or even bad mouth her around her friends. That is no one except the arrogant Malfoy heir and Neville was going to make him pay for it.
"Why don't you come here and say that" Neville growled, his grip tightening on his wand.
"Oh did I hit a sore spot Longbottom?" Draco taunted. "Well I guess it'd make sense you'd want to spend time with a mental case."
"That's enough trash talk boys" said Lockhart, apparently oblivious to the growing tension. "Now when I can't to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents. Only disarm them, we don't want any accidents. 1…2…3."
Malfoy barely waited for Lockhart to finish before firing a spell only for Neville to easily sidestep the attempt at a sneak attack.
"Expelliarmus!" Neville countered quickly with the disarming charm, smirking as he easily caught Draco's wand, enjoying the humiliated look on the Malfoy heir's face. "Guess I'm not such a loser after all" he remarked, tossing the wand back to its owner. Thank you Harry.
Taking a minute to look around the room, Neville was pleased to see he wasn't the only one to make use of their training as all his friends had successfully disarmed their opponents; Harry's lessons on footwork and improving their reaction time really paid off.
"Excellent work, Mr. Longbottom" Lockhart praised. "I'm sure it won't be long before you're as capable as me."
"Oh, I'm sure that'll never happen" Luna said loudly, distracting the defense professor from Neville, to which the Longbottom heir gave a grateful smile.
Hours later after goodnight to Ginny and Luna; Ron, Neville, and Hermione were on their way back to the Room of Requirement when they found something that made their blood run cold. Laying frozen on the stairs was little Colin Creevey, his hands gripping his ever present camera.
"Oh god, Colin" Hermione gasped, running over to check on the first year Gryffindor. But despite her best efforts there was nothing that could be done. The Heir of Slytherin had claimed his first student as little Colin was now in the same petrified state as Mrs. Norris.
"Guess we're going to have to investigate after all" said Neville, as Ron moved to comfort the now crying Hermione.
Thanks for reading.