5. CHARMING THE SNAKES
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER.
Daphne Greengrass was not a happy witch. And the main reason for her unhappiness was a supposedly dead boy, Harry Potter. She knew he was back in full health and from what she knew about him, and she knew him very well, he would be attending this school year. So, when Harry didn't enter her compartment even when Hogwarts Express started, she decided to search for him herself and to her surprise, he wasn't on the train.
She was brought back from her train of thought by a hand on her thigh. She turned towards her left and glared at the offender, Adrian Pucey, a sixth year Slytherin and her 'boyfriend'. He quickly pulled his hand back and muttered an apology, though his eyes showed her that he wasn't in the least bit sorry. Life in Slytherin was tough, and a girl as beautiful as Daphne had to find different ways to protect herself. She had approached Adrian in the middle of the fourth year and made a deal with him, at the time Adrian was trying to gain as much support as he could to run for Slytherin leadership in his sixth year. The deal she made was she would act as his girlfriend minus physical stuff. In return, he would give her protection inside Slytherin house. With the news of Daphne being his girlfriend, when she had so painfully rejected everyone's advances, he had managed to acquire the support of some of the neutral Slytherins to become the next leader of Slytherin House.
The reason Daphne desperately wanted Harry to come back was because the deal she had made wouldn't matter anymore after tonight's election, and Adrian knew that fact too. That was the main reason he dared to lay a hand on her. While she could take care of herself very well, even she couldn't challenge the whole of the Slytherin Hierarchy alone.
She turned towards the Head table and saw James and Lily potter sitting close to each other while clapping at Dumbledore's announcement of the return of the Triwizard tournament. Her parents had already told her all about it, so she didn't bother to listen; instead, she focused her attention on the Potters. They had been appointed this year as assistant teachers for Flying and Charms. Dumbledore wanted to support Eric as much as he could, and bringing his parents here as teachers showed how much favoritism he showed towards 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'.
Daphne shook her head to once again clear thoughts from her mind and started to think about her back up plan, which she would have to put in place if Harry didn't show up. The thought of Harry not returning brought a painful ache to her heart, so she put her hands in the pocket of her skirt and took out the flower that Harry had given her, it had become larger as time passed and from what she had read about flowers of this type, it showed the health and power of its creator. The reason she was so certain that Harry was alive was because the flower's size had increased almost three times after almost melting at the end of the third year. She just wished he would let her in on whatever plan he'd cooked up; after all, she still wanted him to fulfill the oath he had taken in his second year.
The Slytherins were holding their first house meeting of the year, headed by Severus Snape. This was a tradition in Slytherin House, dating back to the founder's age. Every year an election was held and the most influential Slytherin got selected as the de-facto leader of the house, the head of the house being present ensures that no cheating is done. Every member of Slytherin house, from the first year to seventh, was seated in the common room while Snape conjured a table and a comfortable chair for himself.
Snape stood up from his seat to address the Slytherins gathered there but was interrupted by a clicking sound from the left wall, a hush fell on the Slytherins as they looked towards the offending bricks. Snape and a few Slytherins drew their wands and pointed it towards the wall, in case a hostile creature of some kind emerged through the cement. The clicking sound continued for a few seconds, before a small part of the wall opened like a door. Now, almost every Slytherin was pointing their wands at the slight opening.
Suddenly, the air thickened with magic and a weight settled on everyone's shoulders. Snape's body tensed, preparing for the upcoming fight and to protect as many children as he could. Two people entered through the door, wearing hooded cloaks that hid their faces, but the bodies clearly showed that one was male while the other female. The male was undoubtedly the one who was suffocating everyone with magic, though the female beside him was unaffected, his golden aura with hues of white and black shining fiercely.
Snape hadn't felt such a powerful aura from anyone other than Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore themselves. He shakily pointed his wand at the intruders, who had somehow managed to enter directly into the Slytherin common room, without anyone knowing, and said, "Stop! Move one more step and I will end your life." Even with him practically suffocating from the aura, his voice remained calm and collected, not even an ounce of fear that he had been feeling slipped into it.
The intruders didn't even stop for a second, male's magical aura bristling - seemingly preparing for a fight. They ignored Snape's presence and moved towards the fireplace. Snape, seeing them not taking any hostile action and not wanting to initiate a fight, relaxed his tight grip on his wand a fraction, and could immediately feel the blood flow returning to his hand. The male stopped in front of the fireplace and placed his hand on the wall above like he was searching for something before a ring materialized on his finger and he placed it on the mouth of a small snake statue, that Snape could have sworn wasn't there before. The eyes of the serpent started to glow and a pulse of magic shot out from it in a haze of emerald light.
Almost everyone was thrown backward by the flash. In the panic, Draco Malfoy cast a stunning spell at the intruder, but it was slapped aside by the female. The head of house cringed at Malfoy's stupidity and waited for the retaliation that he was certain would come. That's why surprise clouded his face for a brief second when they didn't lash out, instead kept doing what they were prior to the attack. The male took out a familiar wand, though Snape couldn't remember where he had seen it before. He drew a large M on the wall using the wand, the letter vanishing almost as soon as it was finished. Another pulse of magic shot out of the wall and Snape could feel its tendrils coiling around his Occlumency shields, he immediately recognized it as some type of memory-related ward.
A loud gasp came from the far side of the room, students turned around to find Daphne Greengrass looking at the male's wand with recognition and anger burning in her eyes. With her eyes brimming with tears, she gasped out, "Harry?"
As soon as the name was uttered the magical aura disappeared, students started taking deep breaths all around him, like they were breathing for the first time. Snape discretely wiped the sweat from his forehead and whirled around to face the intruder, who had removed his hood and gave a soft smile, "Hello, Daphne."
Suddenly, the magnitude of the intruder's identity hit Snape; somehow Harry Potter was alive and a lot stronger than before, when the Potters and Dumbledore were so sure that he'd died inside the Chamber of Secrets, due to Basilisk poisoning. Dumbledore hadn't told him everything that went down in the Chamber but he did tell him that Harry Potter was sacrificed for the 'Greater Good'. Yet, somehow Harry Potter survived being bitten by a thousand-year-old Basilisk and appeared to have somehow grown stronger from it. He could only imagine Dumbledore's reaction to seeing him alive.
Daphne ran towards Harry and engulfed him in a bone-crushing hug, which was immediately returned by Harry. Daphne kept hugging him for few seconds before pulling back and looking at him. To her surprise Harry's face had changed a lot, all the baby fat had disappeared without a trace, his skin tone was slightly paler, most likely from not receiving any sunlight, his eyes had an inner glow to them. His height had also increased spectacularly, last time she had seen him, he had been about 5'3" but now he looked to be about 6 feet tall. Reading the unasked question, Harry whispered, "Later.".
Daphne nodded and stepped back, her Ice Queen persona back in place. Almost all the students had gathered their wits about them and were shocked to see him alive, while those who didn't recognize him were being told by people in the upper years. Before he could address them, he was interrupted by Snape, "Potter! What in the name of Merlin were you doing?"
Harry tried to look confused and replied, "I was hugging Daphne, Professor." A few students who heard it started to snicker but quickly got silent once Snape glared at them.
"You know what I'm talking about Potter, so don't try to play smart with me."
Harry was tempted to push Snape a bit more but decided to just get it over with and start his plan and replied, "I activated a memory containment ward invented by my ancestor around the common room."
There were shouts of outrage from the Slytherins but Harry ignored them in favor of observing Snape's reaction and from the height of the professor's eyebrows, he guessed that he had caught on to what Harry was implying. Snape looked at Harry in disbelief and hissed, "Don't lie to me Potter, there has never been a Potter in Slytherin before you and the ward you activated was already placed here. So how did you manage to place a ward here in the common room? And how the hell are you still alive? Eric Potter," He spat the name like it was a disgusting poison, "informed us that you had died in the Chamber of Secrets, from Basilisk poison."
Harry just smirked, conjured a throne without so much as a thought, and sat on it. The throne was of silver and green color with several snake motifs on it. Elena sat on his right side on the armrest. He looked at the other occupants and could see some of them looking at him with an angry scowl. He guessed that his show of power, in the beginning, had made them wary of attacking him and were waiting for him to slip up. Harry looked at Snape and was unsurprised to see him looking at him with an impassive face, showing no emotion. But his eyes betrayed the anger and fury he was feeling at being disrespected in front of so many of his students.
Harry decided that now was the time to drop the bomb and keep them unbalanced, by saying, "I was going to tell you about how I am still alive before you interrupted me, but first your question will be answered. I never said that a Potter had placed theward matrix here, did I? And you should know professor that no matter what you do, you couldn't placea ward, even in inactive state, for more than a year inside Hogwarts, unless it is placed by the headmaster or a Founder's heir. They need to be repaired and recharged at regular intervals." a lot of eyes widened after hearing this but Harry continued before he could be interrupted he continued, "Theward I activated had been placed there by Salazar Slytherin himself for his heirs to use and, like some of you would have guessed, I am the heir of Slytherin, as Dumbledore said at the end of my third year." Harry tried to say it as nonchalantly as possible. Before anyone could accuse him of lying, He showed his right hand to everyone and two rings materialized on his fingers, the Potter heir ring was on his ring finger, while the Slytherin ring was on his middle finger.
There was a collective gasp from everyone gathered around, and Harry would have laughed at their faces if the situation were not so important. He nearly broke down in a laughing fit when he saw Snape's face and had to use all of his occlumency training to stop. Snape, even with his own advanced occlumency skills, was gaping like a fish out of the water and his eyes were wide with disbelieve. Harry decided that he was going to show this memory to Salazar and his grandfather as soon as possible.
Harry leaned back in his chair and watched as the commotion unfolded. He knew what was coming next, some morons would accuse him of lying and he knew the perfect way to deal with them. So he was not surprised when there was a loud shout of him being a 'liar'and several others voicing their agreement. Harry glared at them, before releasing his magic once again, and it cowed them quickly.
Once all of them were silent, he hissed, "Never accuse me of lying. The heir ring on my finger proves it that I am the heir of Salazar Slytherin and if you think that the ring is fake you are free to try it on yourself," when a few students looked like they were going to agree that the ring was fake, He increased his magical aura, and stopped them, "All of you were chosen to be in this house for a reason, think about this situation then decide whether I am lying or not, don't let yourself be guided by emotions like foolish Gryffindors."
Harry knew that by comparing them with Gryffindors while not letting them protest would make them think in the right direction. He could already see the smarter Slytherins had come to the right conclusion and were looking at him with awe. He slowly reined his aura and let them think properly; after all, it won't be advantageous to his plan if someone snapped under pressure.
Snape wiped the sweat gathered on his forehead and looked at Harry calculatingly and asked a question that had been bothering him since the Heir's ring was shown, "What about the Dark Lord? It is a well-known fact he claimed to be 'The Heir of Slytherin' after all he was a parseltongue too."
Every student went quiet at the question and looked at Harry for the answer, this was the main reason they were disbelieving of Harry's claim, how could he be an heir of Slytherin when Dark Lord had already claimed to be 'The Heir of Slytherin'. Harry knew this question was going to be asked and had discussed with Salazar and Elena, about how much he should tell others about it. He remained silent for few seconds before answering in a calm voice like he was talking about the weather, "To answer your question, Professor, I will have to tell you about his background, as the smarter ones among you would have guessed, Voldemort was not his real name. Lord Voldemort was an anagram of his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, son of a squib from the Gaunt line and a muggle."
There was a huge uproar from the students, some of them even drew their wands and let loose few curses. Harry didn't even bat an eyelash when a golden colored shield appeared between him and the curses. All of the curses struck the shield but not even a single crack appeared on its surface. All of the eyes turned towards the caster of the Shield charm and were stunned at her sight. In the process of casting the shield charm her hood had fallen, showing her face to others. Her red hair presented a mesmerizing sight and her face, even with an angry scowl plastered on it, was as beautiful as ever. Her blue eyes showed her anger at the thought of Harry being harmed. Using the surprise of the Slytherins to her own advantage, she quickly cast a wide area disarming charm and the wands of all those who attacked Harry sailed towards her hand, but instead of catching them she let them hit the wall behind her. The wide area disarming charm was a variation of 'Expelliarmus', used to disarm multiple people. Although could be easily resisted if the holder of the wand targeted is aware that the spell is coming and channels magic in his or her wand. It's used commonly by Hit Wizards to control a riot.
Harry, who was expecting this type of violent reaction from his shocked audience, just smirked at their dumbfounded looks while Elena gave them her most piercing glare. Sensing that Elena may retaliate, he put his hand on her thigh to stop her from retaliating; after all, it won't be good for what he had planned for tomorrow if half of the Slytherin house were in hospital beds. As soon as she felt his soothing hand on her thigh, Elena blushed and relaxed. She realized that her hood had fallen and the jealousy filled glares and lustful gazes from boys and girls respectively almost made her pull the hood up but realized that it would make others think of her as shy and insecure. Even with Tom's memories, she was uncomfortable in front of crowds.
Sensing her discomfort, Harry pulled her into his lap and gently rubbed his thumb on her covered belly. Elena immediately relaxed in his lap but had to use all of her occlumency training to not resemble a tomato. Shows of affection were still a new thing for her.
Daphne, who was sitting on the war side of the common room, ignoring the whole ordeal, narrowed her eyes at the sight of Elena in Harry's lap. She could clearly see the love Harry had for Elena in his eyes. She felt her heart ache at that thought but ignored it and decided to talk with Harry before jumping to conclusions. Though, a treacherous part of her mind told her that Harry had moved on, unlike herself, who had still been waiting for Harry to show himself.
Harry, who was basking in the jealous stares, caught Daphne's eyes and his good mood immediately disappeared. He could plainly see the hurt and anger in her eyes even though she was trying to hide it. Not wanting to let her jump on wrong conclusions and for his own health, he decided to end this quickly.
He realized that everyone must have been having trouble gathering their wits after the many new revelations because no one had even asked for Elena's identity - though he could see Snape looking at Elena with narrowed eyes. Deciding to continue, Harry said, "While I realize that it must have been a shock to know that the champion of purebloods was a half-blood himself, please control your reaction. Now where was I before the outburst? Ah yes, the Gaunts. Gaunts were responsible for the near extinction of the Slytherin line; after marrying a daughter from Slytherin's line, they hired some of the best assassins of the time to kill the unprepared and defenseless Slytherins. This is why my ancestor, the Head of Slytherin at the time, disowned his daughter and cursed the Gaunts with madness. He even managed to get one of his sons to a hideout, rendering the whole plan of the Gaunts' useless. I inherited the Slytherin line from my mother's side and before you could scream about her being a muggleborn, while she had Slytherin blood in her, it was diluted and weak. The Potter blood in me unlocked its full potential, making me an eligible heir. At least, that's what happened according to Salazar."
He intentionally let slip Salazar's name to make it more believable and start the next phase of his plan. And by the widening of everyone's eyes, he knew he was making progress. One of the seventh year Slytherins, Baron Crux, if Harry remembered correctly, came forward and asked, "What do you mean by that, Potter?"
Harry looked at him with a confused face, before his eyes widened in realization like he just realized what the question was about, "Ah! There is an enchanted portrait of Salazar Slytherin inside the Chamber of Secrets. How do you think I know about what happened between the Gaunts and Slytherins? He was all too pleased to tell me all about it."
Harry decided to go for the heart of the problem and stood up from his seat, "I know a lot of you don't believe what I have said so far, and I would have been very disappointed if you did. So, to remove any doubts that you have in your mind, 'I Harry James Potter, swear on my life and magic that what I have said so far is truth as far as I know; so I swear, so mote it be.'"
There was a flash of light signifying that the oath was taken and when Harry didn't fall dead like some of them thought he would, the reality hit them like a bludger. Loud mutterings broke the silence that prevailed after the oath. Some of the Slytherins from the dark Pureblood families just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that the wizard whose feet their parents kissed had even lower blood status than a half-blood, while those belonging to neutral faction were stunned that the House of Slytherin was not extinct like everybody thought. They could only imagine the political impact of this revelation.
Severus Snape on the other hand, just couldn't wait for this to go public, while the lineage of Dark lord was already known to him, though he had no idea how the mysterious Potter, now Potter-Slytherin knew it, other things were news to him. After going through everything that had happened during the house meeting, he realized that Harry was creating his own support base before the inevitable meeting with Dumbledore, which if he guessed right will be at tomorrow's breakfast. He knew as soon as Harry revealed himself Dumbledore will be scrambling to save his well thought out plans. He mentally chuckled, thinking about the drama that was going to unfold tomorrow.
He turned his eyes towards the girl sitting on Harry's lap; he had never seen anyone with such an exotic hair color, and the way she cast spell showed mastery of magic very few achieved at her age. She was an unknown in the whole equation and the only thing he was sure of was that she was loyal to Harry, and was important enough for Potter to let her accompany him to the meeting. And to think that there was an enchanted portrait of Salazar Slytherin inside the Chamber of Secrets, while the location was not surprising its existence was. He knew that purebloods would be willing to spend a fortune just for a chance to meet the founder's portrait.
Tracy Davis, a fourth year, came forward and asked, "Could we meet Salazar's Portrait?" pulling the words right from Snape's mind.
Harry, not even bothering to pretend that he was thinking about whether to agree or refuse, answered, "No."
Everyone was stunned at the clipped answer and started to shout about letting them see their House's founder's portrait. Harry didn't bother to make them silent and just leaned back on his throne, brushing Elena's hair with his fingers. After a minute's continuous shouting, the Slytherins got silent and just glared at Harry for ignoring them. Harry, upon seeing that they'd become silent, asked, "Are you done shouting like idiots? This is the main reason I didn't bring his portrait with me and agree to let you meet him. Slytherin House is nothing but a shadow of its former self. The students of this house were praised for their cunning and ambition, but now..." Harry shook his head and looked at them disappointment in his eyes, "all I see are bigoted idiots guided by emotions instead of the brain, and who lack the ambition required for being an ideal Slytherin. How do you think Salazar will feel, even if it's just his Portrait when he sees that the house he loved and cherished is nothing more than a place for defective Gryffindors in Slytherin clothing?"
Harry knew that even the thought of disappointing the founder of their House, a man who was even revered as a god in dark pureblood households, would make them cringe. Add in the way he worded it, and bam! Harry knew that Slytherin house would be having some major changes. It also cemented his image as an ideal Slytherin and the person who knew the most about being Slytherin; after all, he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin himself.
He was surprised that no one voiced their disagreement at his thinking and observed their expressions. While a lot of them were looking genuinely thoughtful, he could see a few of them glaring at him murderously. 'I guess they aren't doing anything because of my earlier show of power, but I'm willing to bet a thousand galleons that at least one of them will challenge me tomorrow,' thought Harry while looking at Malfoy glaring at him with murderous intentions.
After a few minutes, Harry decided that he had given them enough time to think about what he said, and removed his hand from Elena's waist. Elena, who was observing everyone closely, got the signal and stood up. Harry also rose from his throne, the elegant throne vanishing as soon as he was on his feet. A loud clap resonated from his hands, the sheer force of the action getting everyone's attention, "Now, a lot of you must be wondering about the events of my third year and how I am still alive. When according to Dumbledore, I should have died from basilisk poison."
There were nods from almost everyone. Even Snape who was now back in his chair leaned forward slightly for the answer. Suddenly the temperature of the room dropped several degrees, and a chill settled over the whole common room. "I won't go into much detail about what happened during the whole 'Chamber of Secrets Ordeal', so long story short, I was used as a scapegoat by the Potters' and Dumbledore, so that the culprit , who was actually being possessed by a dark artifact, could get scot free. While it was true that I was bitten by the basilisk," Harry showed the scar on his palm where the basilisk had pierced his skin. Some of the Slytherins gasped at the sight, it was a small black mark in the middle of his palm. Even though the wound was healed, the color of his skin never returned. "I didn't die because of it like Dumbledore thought. I barely managed to survive even with the help of some family magic, and was in a magically-induced coma for nine months."
Some of the students looked like they wanted to ask what magic was used, but were held back by the smarter ones - who understood that he didn't want anyone to know about the magic that was used by him, by naming it 'family magic'. It was anonymously decided by Elena, Salazar and himself that the Philosopher's stone should be kept a secret at all costs.
"When I was bitten, Dumbledore's phoenix was there and could have healed me with its tears, but to my immense surprise, it refused to heal me. It was then that it dawned on me that Dumbledore wanted me dead. Foolishly, I thought I still had my family. Fortunately for me, my brother destroyed that thought too, when he was sure that I was not going to survive and kicking me, he revealed that it was all a well thought out plan by Dumbledore and the Potters to make sure that I didn't live to see another day."
Harry didn't need to look at the crowd to know that they were outraged and angry that someone did this to one of their own. "They wanted me dead so that Eric would become the heir of the 'Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter' because they knew grandfather would never choose him as the heir as long as I was alive. My death would have also given them the perfect scapegoat for the Chamber of Secrets incident; after all who wouldn't believe that a Slytherin and a Parseltongue was the culprit for unleashing a basilisk on the muggleborns."
Harry, from the corner of his eye, could see Daphne clenching and unclenching her hands in anger; he decided that he needed to wrap his speech up quickly and have a talk with her. He looked back to the Slytherins and continued, "But unfortunately for them, my desperation to live proved enough for my family magic to react with my Potter magic and save my life. I was in coma for nine months and once I was awake and healthy enough to move, I visited the goblins and they revealed my heritage to me. Once I wore the heirs' ring they also informed me of another living relative," Harry turned towards Elena and put his hand around her waist, "Elena Slytherin. Elena is the last living survivor of Slytherin line that branched some time ago from the main line. They were aware of their heritage and were in hiding so that no one found out about them. I contacted her through goblins and told her to meet me. After the meeting, she decided to live with me and help me to achieve my goals."
Elena was once again uncomfortable at being the center of attention but presented a strong front for others to see. Harry, sensing her nervousness leaking through the bond, came to her rescue and asked, "Do you have any questions?"
Ophelia Warbeck, a seventh year, came forward, on receiving a 'go on' motion from Harry asked, "Who was responsible for attacks on muggleborns?"
Harry smirked at her question and answered, "Which family other than the Potters, do you think Dumbledore will go as far as getting me killed?"A lot of eyes widened at hearing this, and Harry continued with a sad smirk, "As some of you have already guessed, the Weasleys. Ginevra Weasley was responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets, the result of being possessed by an enchanted diary of Tom Riddle."
Ophelia nodded, "So, he decided to sacrifice you to save the Boy-Who-Lived's girlfriend." This time, it was Harry's turn to be surprised. He didn't know that Eric and Ginny were in a relationship. Ophelia, upon recognizing the surprised expression on his face, explained, "Eric and Ginny made their relationship public at the beginning of the last school year, though it was more like Eric leading Ginny everywhere while she looked at him like he was the next coming of Merlin."
Harry decided to not bother himself with this little brother's love life and just nodded, "Any more questions?"
A small boy with blonde hair and brown eyes, possibly a first or second year, raised his hand; Harry nodded at him to ask the question, "What happened to the basilisk?"
"The basilisk met an untimely demise by Elena's hand when it tried to eat me, and before you get your panties in a twist for killing Salazar Slytherin's basilisk, you should know that Salazar was not even sad at the basilisk's death. In his own words, 'a living heir is a hundred times better than a half-mad basilisk.'"
"What do you mean by half-mad?"Someone asked from the backside.
"The basilisk ignored whatever was being said to it in Parseltongue and you should know a sane snake could never ignore a command given in Parseltongue."
Casting a quick 'tempus,' showed Harry that it was ten past eleven; he decided that it was getting late. "I think that's enough information for a single night." Harry turned towards Snape and continued, "I am so sorry for interrupting the annual house meeting and taking up your valuable time. If it isn't much of a bother then could we keep the meeting again tomorrow morning?"
Snape just nodded at the request as the meeting was going to be held tomorrow anyway. The rest of the Slytherins, seeing that the meeting was over, went back to their dorms to think about what they had discovered that evening.
Harry's eyes searched out Daphne in the crowd and found her standing near the staircase to the boy's dorms, probably waiting for him. He gestured for Elena to follow him and went towards Daphne. When he reached her, Daphne noticed him but kept silent and just motioned him with a hand to move ahead towards the boy's dorms.
Harry, mimicking her gesture, shook his head and pointed towards the wall where he had entered the Common Room and started to walk towards seeing him go towards the wall huffed and followed him. Harry could feel the eyes of almost all the students left in the Common Room following their every move but ignored them. When Harry reached the wall, he pressed his Slytherin Ring onto it and watched as it melted onto itself, revealing a door. Harry entered the room, being closely followed by Elena and Daphne.
Dumbledore sat on his royal golden chair, observing the students gathered in the Great Hall with a grandfatherly smile on his face, the customary twinkle missing from his eyes. His eyes kept flicking back to the empty Slytherin table. The other three houses had also noticed their absence, and Dumbledore could hear the rumors (ranging from genocide to an unannounced house trip to Hogsmeade) flowing in the Great Hall. While on the outside he looked calm and collected, on the inside his brilliant mind was going through all of the possible scenarios.
Usually, the absence of Slytherins wouldn't have been much of a worry, but last night he had found that somehow the wards around the Dungeons had been separated from the main ward matrix. When he had gone to investigate, fearing the worst (that someone had managed to destroy the wards), he found that the wards were at full strength and were just separated from rest of them wards. The most worrisome thing about the whole scenario was that his connection had been cut from the separated wards.
Severus Snape was another thing in his growing list of worries. Severus hadn't reported back to him last night like he had been doing since he began his teaching career in 1982. He turned towards the empty chair on the head table, where Severus usually sat and frowned. Loss of the connection to wards had also crippled his spy network inside Hogwarts, the portraits in the dungeons had stopped reporting to him and he hadn't been able to get any information on any of the Slytherins last night. It was purely by luck that a portrait just outside the limit of separated wards had seen Severus returning back to his room while whistling a merry tune and giggling. That fact alone had started ringing a warning bell is Albus' mind, but he had decided to ask Severus when he next saw him.
He had a bad feeling about the situation and knew that he wasn't going to like the reason for this whole debacle. The feeling only intensified as the doors of Great Hall opened and he saw all of the Slytherins entering the Great Hall in a line, showing a grace that he had never thought he would see in his students, other than at the Ministry Ball. The rest of the school was watching in surprise and fascination as every single one of the Slytherins sat on their seats elegantly and looked towards the gate in unison as if expecting something to happen. Dumbledore used his occlumency skills to force down his nervousness and looked at the closed oak doors of the Great Hall and waited for something to happen.
The door opened with a bang and Dumbledore resisted the urge to jump up from his seat and attack whoever came through it. He discretely wiped the sweat from his face when Snape entered the Hall with his infamous sneer firmly in place. This whole situation was making him nervous, a thing he hadn't truly felt since the last war.
Snape's sneer grew even more pronounced when he saw that everyone was looking at him. "What? Is there something on my face?" Everyone quickly looked away not wanting to gain Snape's ire. "And fifty points from Gryffindor for trying to make a professor uncomfortable and failing spectacularly at it." He smirked at the shouts of outrage from Gryffindor table and took his seat at the head table. Dumbledore was the only one, being a master of Occlumency and legilimency himself, who was able to see the amusement and anticipation in Snape's eyes. He had no idea what Snape was anticipating but he doubted he was going to like it.
His feelings returned tenfold when the door opened once again. Even with his more than impressive hold on his emotions, he couldn't stop the words, "Well, shit!" from escaping his mouth, with a look of horror and surprise etched on his face at seeing an alive and healthy Harry Potter standing in the doorway, looking at him with an amused smirk etched onto his face. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Lily Potter fainting in James' arms.
This wasn't going to end well for him.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter. This chapter didn't come half as good as I had planned and I blame it on my distracted state while typing. Hopefully, I will do better in next chapters. If you find any mistakes or have any suggestions write it in reviews or PM me.
This fiction crossed 1k mark in follows and I still can't believe it. I never thought that this fiction will cross 1k mark in follows in its 4th chapter.Thank you, everyone, who liked my story enough to follow it.
If you have any questions feel free to PM me. And don't forget to drop a review. Reviews are the only thing that I request from my readers in return, So please review.