Disclaimer: if I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be writing this for free, hell I wouldn't be doing FanFiction.
I say this In my next chapter but I'm changing the name of my story to Harry Potter and The Secrets Of Salazar's chamber (this chapter was written before I made the change. I'm on chapter 5 now where I explain the change)
Oh and sorry Draco fans but my Draco is going to be evil and that's that.
And one last thing while I normally do acknowledgements at the end of the chapter and my amazing beta-reader will get a mention there, I wanted to dedicate this chapter to a reader that has read and commented on the first 3 chapters of my fic:
scrappy8 on , while I've seen them comment on many other fics and they do it for practically everyone (what a great person!) It means a lot to any author to even get a 'great chapter' from someone and I can't thank them enough for the support!
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Harry Potter and the Secrets of Salazar's Chamber
Chapter 4: Hogwarts Bound!
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14th August 1993
Harry had spent the last two days since meeting Ginny looking up spells that would work for him. His first goal was to find a way to conceal his scar so he looked in the index for the stealth/glamour section of Magical Combat and its Practical Applications by Ernest Peverell.
It was only in a very small section of the book because it mainly went over different disillusionment charms and their effectiveness; however the author had something to say on concealment charms and or glamour charms.
However there may come a time where you may need to be someone other than yourself hence glamour or concealment charms.
The concealment charm occultatio is aimed at concealing scars, jewellery or even wands in some special cases. There is no wand movement and one should only need to tap it to what you wish to conceal and speak the incantation.
Now we will go over the glamour charm; "Mutare Speciem." It essentially changes your appearance. One should add what part of your appearance you want to change to the incantation like Mutare Speciem capillus and imagine the changes in your head.
Harry thought those two could be quite useful so he jotted them down in his notebook for later.
He'd also spent a lot of time learning, but just as much time exploring Diagon Alley.
It was 3 days since he'd met Ginny before he saw her again.
Harry had decided to try out a new café that had opened in Diagon Alley that day. There weren't many restaurants in the magical world for some reason, but then again he was still baffled by many things that magical people still do. For example, marriage contracts! It's degrading, selling people off to richer people for the sake of money. It's vile in every sense of the word and more. Harry realised he was getting off topic again so he carefully shifted his thoughts back to what he wanted for breakfast from the café.
Harry was just about to enter the café when a flash of long red hair caught his eye. He swivelled on the spot and scanned the crowd.
There she was, Ginny, his first friend? If they were friends anyway.
She seemed to be arguing with her mother about something. Harry slowly walked over carefully to make sure no one saw him or more specifically his scar.
The argument looked like it was coming to an end, and no later than 10 seconds later,Ginny stormed off in a huff.
The direction she had stormed off was roughly the same as where Harry was.
"Hey Ginny," Harry said as he raised his right hand to wave at her.
Her head darted to the source of the sound and found Harry waving at her, and she smiled before approaching him.
"Hey, Harry!" Ginny said cheerfully.
"So what was that about?" Harry asked, referring to her fight with her mother.
"Nothing," Ginny answered dismissively, but she seemed to tense up.
"Okay then, I know this new café in Diagon Alley that opens today, so do you wanna come?" Harry asked, trying to take her mind off of whatever that was.
"Uh yeah sure, I don't see why not." Ginny replied, something was still bothering her.
Harry didn't want to broach the topic and was at a loss at how to continue so he let his instincts take over.
"And well since I'm taking time out of your day- erm maybe I could pay for both of us?" Harry asked
Oh merlin what the hell was I thinking doing that Ginny isn't going to take charity Harry thought
But to Harry's surprise he was wrong Ginny nodded her confirmation and Harry suspected she was so deep in thought she hadn't realised what she'd promised to.
Ginny joined him and they chatted about anything and everything.
Harry ordered a Bacon, Sausage and Egg sandwich while Ginny ordered a full English breakfast.
While they waited for their food to come, Harry decided to play a game, essentially guessing what people do for a living or why they were in the Alley. He'd done this game many times while out eating in the past.
Harry scoured the crowd for someone interesting, and he noticed a guy with a muggle hat on that covered most of his face and was wearing a long, dark grey trench coat that seemed several sizes too big for him.
"Hey Ginny, you see that guy in the trench coat over there, I imagine him as some kind of terrorist for…let's say…hmm" Harry said before trailing off.
"Condoning dark arts?" Ginny suggested as the plates of food arrived.
Harry took a bite of his sandwich and chewed silently deep in thought.
Maybe he could be a Pureblood supremacist, nah that's too cliché. Muggle rights? Nah. Perhaps a victim of a death eater attack? That could work.
"A relative of a victim of a Death Eater attack?" Harry voiced aloud.
"That would be interesting," Ginny said before she scooped a mouthful of eggs into her mouth.
"I guess……" Harry said trailing off.
"My turn!" Ginny exclaimed after she had finished her mouthful. Harry nodded in acknowledgment while he chewed.
"So I bet that one's an Auror here on a secret mission to…" Ginny said excitedly.
The next few days passed by in a blur between his odd need to read, exploring the Alley and trying new magical food, going to Quidditch games, reading up on his favourite team the Holyhead Harpies who were by far destroying the competition at the moment and finally hanging out with Ginny, often meeting up with Ginny for breakfast at the same place as they did the first time.
He'd gotten to know Ginny better and she was a great friend, mainly because she never questioned why he was living in the Leaky Cauldron and she just made him feel so normal it was astonishing.
Another odd thing was that the trench coat guy kept on coming every day, same time, same place.
Harry found it odd but just shrugged it off not really caring much.
21st August 1993
Harry awoke after another night of dreams filled with green lights and screams, and sweat streamed down his face and his clothes stuck to his body.
Harry reluctantly crawled out of bed and showered, brushed his teeth and washed his face.
Harry had both hands on the sink and he looked up into the mirror. His messy black hair was as messy as ever, his green eyes were somehow duller than he remembered, he looked a lot less skinny than he remembered.
What was that dream about? Harry thought desperately.
Harry did try to get back to sleep but the mystery of the dream/nightmare that had visited him in his sleep more often since coming to the Wizarding World kept him up.
Ginny Weasley knew something was up with Harry, she didn't know what and didn't intend to push him because that would probably make things worse. She knew that sometimes people just wanted to be left alone.
Harry had spent a lot of time with Ginny in the past week and he could tell she was worried about him but she somehow instinctively knew pushing wasn't the way to go, that was what he liked about Ginny so much she just knew.
So that's why Harry decided to open up to her, to…trust her. Merlin, it took him forever to admit that to himself but he did and he was proud of it.
So that's how we got to where we are now, Harry and Ginny were sat in Harry's room at the Leaky Cauldron.
Ginny sat on the chair provided for the desk in the room while Harry sat on his bed in awkward silence.
Ginny broke the silence
"Erm-Harry, why are we in here and not out there having fun?" Asked Ginny cautiously.
"So you know how something's been bothering me? Yeah well, I don't know how to say it but…" Harry trailed off awkwardly
Harry had no idea how to broach this subject so he went for blunt, straight up bluntness.
"Uh I think I see Voldemort killing my parents in my dreams," Harry blurted out. okay he'd meant blunt but not that blunt. Whatever.
"Huh." Ginny said without even realising it.
Harry just sat in silence waiting for her to respond. Images of dark green light and the screams of a woman filled his vision, it was as if everything was on loop. Green light, screams, green light, screams, a flash of, was that red…?
Ginny looked at Harry and asked "Really?" Once Harry nodded she began to examine the situation and for once she couldn't tell what he needed to feel better, so she did what her mum did.
When in doubt, smother everything in hugs and food.
Ginny leapt at Harry and engulfed him in a massive hug.
Harry sat awkwardly, he had no idea what to do, Ginny sounded like she was about to start crying and if she cried he'd cry.
In the end Harry hugged her back and ended up sobbing into her hair.
After about a minute they both quietly separated…
"Uh thanks, didn't know I needed that but I did, so uhh thanks again." Harry said
Ginny just looked at him for a moment before wiping her eyes and nodding she then replied with a "You're welcome"
Harry was absently rubbing his arm uncomfortably, desperate to find a less heavy topic to discuss, Harry decided he wanted to explore the Alley once again
"So wanna go explore the Alley some more?" Harry asked
"Yeah!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Brill" Said Harry
As they were leaving the room Ginny grinned before saying; "Oh and Harry, thanks for changing the subject but there are far more subtle approaches to try."
"Hey, at least I tried," Harry retorted, crossing his arms with a pout on his face.
"Is that supposed to be a pout?" Ginny asked through laughter.
"See I can be subtle, I got you to laugh!" Harry replied, grinning.
The grin was wiped off of Ginny's face and shock swiftly replaced it.
"I'll get you for that Potter!" Ginny exclaimed, chasing a laughing Harry out of room number seven.
September 1st
Harry had read through most of his textbooks; he still had a bit left of the Herbology text but he would finish that once he got to school. He was looking forward to actually learning magic and he was sure Ginny would agree, mainly because the last three days Harry and Ginny had been discussing this topic in depth.
While Harry was excited for Transfiguration and Potions (because it sounded like cooking and he was certainly good at cooking) Ginny was more interested in learning Charms and Defence (for some reason she refused to believe that Lockhart was a fraud.)
But anyway Harry had sent Hedwig his snowy white owl to Ginny with a note asking what time she was planning on getting to the station, her reply had been something along the lines of "Last minute-business as usual" Harry had broken out into a fit of laughter because of it.
The Weasley's as Harry had learned were an entertaining bunch and if you wanted to have a good laugh and forget your troubles then they were your people.
They made you truly feel at home.
Harry knew he was getting off track again and decided that if he had time to wonder he had time to wait at the station for Ginny.
He had paid for his room and made sure he had everything including Hedwig who had been rather annoyed when her sleep had been disrupted.
He had arrived at the station and got onto the platform an hour early and five minutes later he had dozed off.
Draco Malfoy was furious, his father had the gall to say he wasn't smart enough to keep a smuggled broom hidden at school. He'd show him!
His father was selling many dark artefacts on the 10th September, 9 days away from today.
One artefact in particular interested Draco though, it was the Dark Lord's, apparently this diary would manipulate the student writing in it into opening the fabled chamber of secrets and purge the school of mudbloods.
Yes this diary could help him prove to father that he could be cunning and be a credit to his family at the same time. Long live house Malfoy!
And so he carefully wrapped up the diary and placed it in his trunk before he heard the shout of "Draco!, where are you?" From his father.
"In my room!" Draco shot back, annoyed at his fathers tone.
"Well hurry up then, we don't have all day!" His fathers voice bellowed from somewhere in their large manor.
"Coming father!" Draco yelled as he threw on his robes and snatched up his trunk before hurrying to the fireplace in his father's study.
Harry was shook violently awake, his eyes opened instantly, hyper aware, before he'd even realised he'd reacted his wand was pointed at the the neck of whoever had woken him.
He was met by the startled look of a short but muscular redhead, one of Ginny's brothers, a twin.
Harry, still as on edge as before, scanned the group in front of him.
Ginny was red in the face, like really, really red in the face, Mrs Weasley looked a mix between scandalised and worried, Mr. Weasley looked quite pale and the other twin looked almost as pale as Mr. Weasley.
Harry lowered his wand quickly and stashed it in his holster before turning to smile at the Weasley's.
"Um I'm sorry about that, I really didn't mean to scare you." Harry said his voice quiet as his face reddened in embarrassment.
Weasley twin 1, the one in front of him, nodded once in acceptance.
"I, Gred Weasley, also apologise for waking up ickle Ginny's boyfriend." One Weasley twin said.
Ginny's face turned redder.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Ginny shouted.
"Sure he isn't Gin-Gin" Said the other Weasley twin.
"Ugh you two!" Ginny exclaimed.
Harry smiled at the exchange between family.
"Alright everyone you need to be boarding the train now!" Said Mr. Weasley cheerfully as he guided his children onto the train.
Harry and Ginny found an empty compartment near the back end of the train and entered. Harry lifted his trunk up onto the rack above his head and out of the corner of his eye he saw Ginny struggling with her own trunk, hers looked a lot more beaten and worn than his and for some reason that gave Harry a warm feeling inside.
He pondered this feeling for a moment and wondered what it could be, it didn't take long for him to realise it was appreciation, he felt guilty for feeling it because he always felt he should help others were he could but the fact that Ginny hadn't once asked him to use his money for her despite her own money problems or his vast wealth meant a lot to him.
"Here, let me get that." Harry offered with a warm smile that took Ginny aback Harry never smiled that happily.
Suddenly Harry felt his smile slip into a frown rapidly and he felt anger bubbling within him.
He finished putting the trunk up on the rack and then quickly said "Sorry, I need to go to the loo" before leaving abruptly.
He slammed the compartment door shut by accident, he kept his head down as he walked up and down the train in search of a toilet he's occasionally bump into someone looking for a compartment and that exchange would usually start with a ('hey watch where you're going') and him apologising profusely.
He found the closest toilet as the train began moving and entered locking the door and after making sure it was locked he turned to the sink and the mirror above it.
He felt the blood drain from his face before he knew why.
His eyes were red, not green, red…
A deep dark red.
"What the fuck!" Harry exclaimed as he let out a breath.
Harry closed his eyes tightly, he felt the anger drain away and when he let his eyes open once more he saw himself.
A pale face filled with fear…
And dark green eyes.
Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding.
What in Merlin's name was that!
Did he imagine it? He didn't know and for once he doubted reading would help him find out.
Soon after he unlocked the door and made his way back to his compartment, he was one compartment away when he turned his head and saw an open compartment door and a pale blonde boy lifting up his trunk to put onto the rack, however what interested him was not the boy, nor the trunk but the brown paper wrappings on the seat next to him.
It looked to be in a book-like shape, rage once more filled him and his head began throbbing in extreme pain. He clutched his forehead as he staggered.
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and he felt the rage wash away. He didn't even bother to look at the paper wrappings again as he quickly sprinted for the next compartment where Ginny was hopefully still sitting.
Turns out she was still sitting but by the look on her face she knew he hadn't simply been to the loo, but she was Ginny once again just knew he wasn't going to talk about it.
Harry sat down on the side with Ginny's trunk above. Of course that earned him an odd look from Ginny but she got up and moved forward to sit opposite him.
They chatted endlessly about everything and nothing, Harry did somehow get through the last few pages of his Herbology book, almost put him to sleep in the process but he'd read it all anyway.
It was as they exited a tunnel and it seemed like they'd made it to the Scottish highlands that Harry looked outside the window, he saw hills come and go and it was here that he finally was able to take his mind off of the many things plaguing his mind.
The paper wrapping, the dreams where Voldemort killed his parents, guilt over hitting the Dursleys house with lightning and finally his excitement over getting to learn magic.
If any one thing in the future was certain it was that Harry's future was looking brighter than ever!
Hogwarts Bound!
END
Dear Reader,
How was the chapter? Did you like it, hate it or something in between?
I would once again like to stress that while I'll never hold a chapter hostage for a review or comment or whatever it's called I love to see even a 'great chapter' from my readers and it means a lot to get a comment.
Bye
That_One_Hinny_Potterhead.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank u/HeartMassive7182 my amazing beta-reader once again for all the brilliant work they do helping me find and correct errors in my fic.