'Thoughts!'
§ 'Parseltongue!' §
Chapter 8
1st of October:
It was no secret that Harry was able to spot the Snitch well before either of the Seekers in almost every game in his first year, so when time for tryouts rolled around Harry's Quidditch playing friends urged and begged him to at least try for a spot on the team. Harry reluctantly agreed, but only put forth a half-hearted performance at best; the game did not particularly interest him but neither did he want to allow Slytherin House to win. To his shock, he was on the team within fifteen minutes.
Harry also found himself having… complications with what could pass for his sex life. After overhearing the older boys bragging about what their accomplishments with their respective girlfriends, combined with Melody's not-so-subtle attempts to go further, topped off with his increasingly common wet dreams about finally taking several of his friends in erotic scenarios…
It may not have been stressful, Melody making sure he never felt pent up in the least certainly helped, but it was definitely something he needed to deal with.
Melody was not the only one to want more, Lucy was also demanding for Harry to go further. Harry's reluctance to be with Lucy was incredibly short lived. Harry had tried to argue that they were still brother and sister, but Lucy just stared at him with a dry, annoyed look before a car appeared in her hands, which she then threw at him, just to bring home how ludicrous the situation they were already in was. And so Lucy got what she wanted and Harry got to experience sex for the first time, albeit probably not as pleasurable as real sex since his body, thus his brain, was unaware as to how to simulate it in his dreams.
He might not have been ready for sex in real life, but the idea was growing on him and his indecision would be short lived.
As for classes, the group was steadily making their way through the assigned work. In Herbology they were still working on Mandrakes, but had branched out to learn about other plants while the Mandrakes matured a little more. Transfigurations was going slower as they had only finished turning a beetle into a button just yesterday with the reason for this being that a few people - Ron and Neville - were still having problems and had only mastered the spell the other day. Charms was going smoothly, everyone was doing well under Flitwick's eager teaching style. Potions was still a nightmare with Snape was breathing down everyone's necks in Gryffindor - mainly Harry's - and allowed the Slytherins ruin Gryffindor potions by throwing things into their cauldrons. The upside of this being Harry was getting a lot of practice in for his upcoming position of Seeker in Gryffindor's first game. Defense Against the Dark Arts was still a joke; Lockhart's skills as a teacher were mediocre at best and all they did was act out his 'adventures'.
The entire castle was abuzz with the news. As a glitter covered notice informed the reader, there would be a Duelling Club starting in a few days time. There were many rumours about who could be running the club. Most people thought it could be Professor Flitwick, seeing as he was a duelling champion when he was younger. Harry could not care less, provided the instructor was someone other than Lockhart or Snape. He would give any other instructor an honest try.
However, that was set aside for the future as, at the moment, Harry's group had more important things to do. It was quite a while before the Gryffindor trio had any time to relax for a worthwhile period of time again, but, once they all had enough free time, Harry and Hermione got together and gave Melody a tour of Hogwarts showing her some shortcuts and hidden passageways they lacked the time to beforehand. Melody was happy to spend time with her sister; the daunting amount of work the teachers handed out prevented her from being able to fraternize with anyone except those her own age that she shared classes with. Anyone can criticize the dropping standards of public education and the increasingly lazy attitudes of students, but the transition from a relaxing vacation in France to an incredibly intense academic atmosphere in an entirely new world would be jarring for any child. Thankfully, the transition period for Melody was ending and right now she was having fun with being shown around by Harry and Hermione. Melody might have still needed more time to transition to the demands of Hogwarts and subsequently have more free time to spend with her Master and older sister as well as make new friends in her year, but for the moment, she cherished the break in the work.
As the three were coming back from the lake they came across a scene of interest between two Ravenclaw girls. The first was an attractive girl, she looked like she was of Chinese descent, with long, shining dark hair and eyes, and light freckles on her nose - she looked a bit older, like she was in her third year. The other girl looked like she was a first year, she had waist-length, straggly, dirty blonde hair, protuberant grey eyes that seemed to be dreamily distracted, and faint eyebrows.
"Do you really believe in half the crap that comes from you mouth? You must be loony! Hey, that's a good name for you, Loony Lovegood." The black haired girl said, grinning meanly.
"Well of course I do! My mother told me my father researched them for a living, so they must be real." 'Loony' Lovegood replied cheerfully.
"A third year bullying a first year, pathetic." Harry cut in coldly, "And from the House of the smart too."
"What concern is it of yours, Potter?" The older Ravenclaw sputtered, looking embarrassed, probably at being caught. "I'm sick of her raving about imaginary creatures nobody can see or hear. She's crazy, and a distraction we don't need. Honestly, if I hear the words Nargle and Wrackspurt again I'm going to snap! She doesn't belong in Ravenclaw." She raved, clearly agitated by the younger 'Claws beliefs.
Harry looked at the older girl strangely, so what if the Lovegood girl believed in things most did not think existed? Just because the public at large had never seen them or knew of them did not disprove their existence. They could easily be very low in number, or hidden by some inborn ability like a chameleon.
Harry may have been quite new to magic, but he could easily see there being a kind of ocular ability that allowed the user to see through stealth magic, maybe the blonde girl had this gift and just didn't know it? With all this in my Harry's reaction was obvious. With a scoff Harry shook his head slowly, "I didn't know 'proper' Ravenclaws were so closed minded. Who's to say your Housemate isn't gifted, and can see the unseeable?"
The oriental girl got defensive as he called her intelligence into question. "You don't know anything about magic, Potter."
"Oh?" Harry challenged. "If I were to snap my fingers right now, what would happen? What are the possibilities of that action?"
The girl looked at him oddly, but answered. "You would either snap your fingers or just rub them together, if you can't snap, I guess."
Harry snapped his fingers, and what happened caused both Ravenclaws to jump and gasp; a crackle of flames dances around his fingers for a few seconds before fading away.
"H-How did you?"
"Wow, that's really cool!" The two girls responded.
Harry grinned, "If I can do that, who's to say Ms. Lovegood can't see things that don't want to be seen?"
"It's Luna." Luna clarified.
"Cho Chang." Cho answered distantly. Her distant eyes focused briefly and she said, "I'll just being going." Not giving a word of apology.
Only after Cho left did Harry realize how stupid it was to show off his abilities so brazenly like that. Still, looking at how happy and excited Luna seemed to look he considered it a worthy exchange. "If she starts bothering you again you can come talk to me, if you want?" He offered awkwardly. He'd never had the motivation to save anyone from bullies back in public school, he was a little lost.
Luna shook her head. "Oh, no, Cho was just frustrated, she didn't really mean to take it out on me. I think she's under a lot of pressure from her family. She's been getting a lot of mail lately." She explained sympathetically. "I can tell because she didn't steal any of my things like the others."
"Well that's goo-" Harry paused mid-word as her statement sunk in, "Wait, others?"
He looked up, only to see Luna skipping down the corridor. She spun around, never slowing pace as she skipped backwards. "Bye Harry! I'm going to be late for class."
Seeing her about to turn a corner Harry called hurriedly, "Come join our group some time in the library!"
He shook his head as the quirky girls voice echoed, "Okay!" from wherever she was by that point.
o0OoO0o
3rd of October:
It was Saturday, the day that most of the students were waiting for; the start of the Duelling Club. From what Harry found in Hogwarts: A History, the last time the Duelling Club was up and running was about fifty years ago. It stopped because no teacher wanted to take it up again. So Harry had to wonder why was it being set up again after so many years…
Anyway at noon that day Harry, Hermione and Melody went to the Great Hall where the Club was being held. As they got there they saw that the Hall was heavily rearranged. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" Hermione wondered as they edged into the chattering crowd, they stopped next to their friends. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him?"
"As long as it's not Lockhart, I don't mind. He can't teach to save his life." Harry grumbled, to his friends agreement. Seconds later the group groaned as they saw Gilderoy Lockhart walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to restart this Duelling Club, which was canceled fifty years when no other teacher wanted to teach it again. However, I thought that it would be good to bring it back, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."
'So that's his plan,' Harry thought darkly, 'trying to sale more of his rubbish work onto us. A pointless gesture, we were already forced to buy everything he's published.'
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart announced, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Harry heard Ron mutter behind him. And Harry agreed, if, how highly unlikely it would, they could finish each other off, it would remove two pests from Hogwarts.
But Harry saw Snape's upper lip was curling, and he wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been, at the very least, on guard. Lockhart looked completely carefree.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't bet on that." Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.
Not noticing this, Lockhart said with a smile, "Now on the count of three, One - two - three -"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" But at the same time there was flash of bright coloured light.
When they could see again, they saw Snape looking shocked as he saw Lockhart standing with a smile on his face, with Snape's wand in his hand. "Well, there you have it, the Disarming Charm. If I didn't cast the Fulgor Charm Professor Snape's own Disarming Charm would have hit me and I would have most likely been knocked on the floor and lost my own wand."
All the girls cheered at this, even Harry began to feel some respect for the fool. He may not be a great teacher, but by the looks of it, he knew what he was doing when it came to duelling. "I want to stress to you all that Duelling skill does not equate to how many spells you know or how powerful you are, but how well you've mastered what you feel comfortable casting quickly and efficiently." Lockhart explained, "However, the Disarming Charm is a good spell to know, so let me put you all into pairs and you can learn this handy spell. Here you go Professor Snape, your wand," Lockhart added as he give Snape's wand back. But backed off as he saw Snape looking murderous, he clearly didn't like being shown up by the blond man. Slightly more weary, the man continued. "Now if you would like to pair up with your friends one on one, and me and Professor Snape teach you how to cast the Disarming Charm as well as the Stunning and Shield Charms, three important skills for beginners at duelling. Knowing these three will help immensely should you find yourself in a duel."
So with that the class paired up with each other, Harry and Hermione were together whilst Melody was with the girl that they helped a few days ago Luna. Over the next hour the class learnt how to cast the Disarming, Stunning and Shield Charms. Harry was shocked to find out that while Lockhart was completely terrible at teaching Defence, he was very good at teaching duelling. Harry wondered briefly why Lockhart hadn't just been hired to teach duelling, or at least oversee the club for the year, since he seemed more suited for it.
After the half an hour Lockhart called out, "That's enough… now we've got about half an hour left, who would like to do a mock duel?" There were many cheers of agreement to this, causing the man to smile widely. "Okay then, I'm going to go around and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me?"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Hermione first.
"Time to split up the dream team, I think." He sneered. "Granger, you can partner up with Miss Bulstrode. Potter-"
Harry moved automatically toward Melody, as Hermione moved towards a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione gave her a weak smile that she did not return.
"I don't think so." Snape said oily, smiling coldly. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, young Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Greengrass." Snape pointed towards a very attractive blonde girl, who instantly started walking over.
Melody smiled again at her new opponent, and was shocked to find that Daphne returned her tiny smile with one of her own, clearly far more friendly than Millicent.
"Professor Lockhart would it be okay if I picked the partners for the first duel?" Snape asked with a smirk.
"I see no problems with this Professor Snape." Lockhart said with a smile.
"In that case, Malfoy, Potter, up front now." Snape said as the two boys climbed up onto duelling platform.
"Okay then boys," Lockhart began with a smile, "The rules for this duel are simple, you may only use the three spells you learned tonight, you cannot use any other spells. This is to show if you can fight with these three. That out of the way, face your partners and bow."
"Scared Potter?" Malfoy mocked, as he and Harry barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.
"Of you?" Harry replied with a scoff, "After what I went through at the end of last year? You're not even worth taking seriously." He smirked, knowing the entire act would rile the bleach blonde up.
"Now boys, wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted, causing both boys to make the same movement as Lockhart and Snape did earlier. "When I count to three, cast your charms, the first to disarm or knock out your partner wins. Remember, only the spells you learn tonight, we don't want any accidents do we? Now, on three. One - two -"
The Malfoy Scion jumped the gun, hurling his spell at Harry before Lockhart had even finished pronouncing 'two'. This was not an unexpected move, and Harry smoothly dodged the spell by sidestepping it. "Is that the best you've got Malfoy, how pathetic." scoffed Harry, and then went on to bite him, "I thought you would be better at this, it seems I was right, you're nothing but talk."
Draco, now well and enraged, broke the rules and threw out several Cutting Curses, thin strips of red light that would have given Harry some pretty serious gashes if they'd landed, but Harry kept dodging and sidestepping the spells. Before long he shouted at Harry, "Are you so powerless and stupid that all you can do is dance around my spells?!"
Harry only smirked as he ducked under another widely cast Cutting Curse, "Oh no, I'm just showing everyone that you don't need spells to defend yourself, you have other ways to do so, dodging being one of them. Here's another one." Before Malfoy could say anything, he saw a blur coming at him. A flutter of robes and stars in his vision were all he managed to wrap his mind around before he was thrown to the floor.
"Potter!" Snape snarled, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for using Muggle Duelling."
"And what about Malfoy?" Harry demanded, "That punch aside I followed the rules, and even the punch wasn't specifically breaking any rule. Malfoy was the one throwing around potentially lethal magic."
"Mr. Potter is right Professor Snape," said Lockhart, "I told them to use the three Charms they were taught tonight, but Mr. Malfoy didn't, he used spells that he shouldn't. In fact, Mr. Potter using physical force wasn't against the rules, I never said they couldn't do such a thing, it was just assumed it wasn't allowed, so twenty points to Gryffindor for Harry's ingenuity and forty points from Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy's flagrant breaking of my rules."
Lockhart turned to the audience and began speaking, the students paying attention even more closely because he was using his Professor voice. "Mr. Potter was right, when duelling, you should know how to dodge and sidestep spells. There will be times when Shield Charms won't be enough, and you will need to resort to physically dodging the offensive magic. We'll leave that for a later lesson, shall we?" He went on to say as he looked at Harry and Malfoy, "I want you two to try one more time at this. For the record, I am now banning Muggle fistfighting. If either of you goes beyond the limits i've set you'll earn yourself a solid week of detention. Duelling isn't a game, people can get hurt if they don't pay attention. Now take a few moments and we'll begin…"
Snape moved towards Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear with a smirk. Whatever it was made Malfoy smirk too. Harry had a sudden feeling of dread, but before could think about it Lockhart was once more speaking, "Okay boys, get in place and bow to your partner." Both Harry and Malfoy did so, "Now once again on the count of three, only the charms we learned tonight and nothing else. Now, one - two - three - go!" Lockhart shouted.
Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it…"
Snape's spell wasn't verbalized, but it didn't matter as the bright yellow bolt of light missed anyway. It sizzled right passed the snake's eyes, irritating the creature enough to start mindlessly hissing at everything around it. Justin was, unfortunately, frozen stiff right next to the duelling platform and the snake decided he was to blame for it's hurting eyes and moved to attack.
Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him forward as though he was on auto-pilot and that he had shouted stupidly at the snake, § 'Ssstry away form him!' § And miraculously - inexplicably - the snake stopped moving towards Justin, however its eyes were darting back and forth from Justin to Harry and back to Justin a few times. Harry wasn't sure if the snake would attack Justin or not by the looks the snake was leaning towards yes, so once again Harry called out to the snake § 'I sssaid ssstay away from him, come to me and I'll sssee if I can sssend you back where you come from or take you sssomewhere sssafe.' § Harry didn't know much about the spell that brought the snake here, but if it was summoned from somewhere else, as opposed to being summoned from nothing, he would return it to it's home.
§ 'Ok Ssspeaker, I would like to go home,' § The snake hissed. Revealing to Harry that the snake was brought here from somewhere else, something Harry put back in his mind for later use. It could be useful spell to have, but it would potentially be limited if you could only summon a snake from so far away. He would need to research the spell and see what it could do and its limits.
He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see the other boy looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful - but certainly not angry and scared.
"What do you think you're playing at?!" He shouted, and before Harry could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall. Harry had no idea what the hell he meant; the snake was angry and if he hadn't calmed it down the snake would have attacked Justin. As he looked around, he saw shocked and fearful looks coming from a large number of people, mostly magical raised, so he must have done something that set off one of their many fears of the unknown.
He did notice the twins were looking at him in awe, but that knowledge wasn't exceptionally unique among the mass of students reacting negatively.
As Harry was looking around Snape stepped forward and waved his wand, causing the snake to vanish in a small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way; It was a shrewd and calculating look, one Harry didn't like it.
Lockhart broke the silence as his furious voice echoed off the halls. "Two hundred points from Slytherin for use of a lethal spell after I very specifically banned it's use and detention for three months! Furthermore, you are henceforth banned from the Duelling Club for the rest of the year."
The students in the hall looked at Lockhart in shock, no one had ever seen the jovial man angry before. Draco's smug expression was wiped away instantly with indignant outrage, already muttering about his father hearing of this.
"Mr. Potter, you may wish to leave. I will be dismissing the club shortly." Lockhart said discreetly to Harry, perfectly aware that his performance had taken the spotlight off the raven haired boy, at least for the moment.
Harry didn't waste time and quickly and quietly left the hall. Hermione met him halfway and latched onto him, staring him out of the hall with Melody and his friends hurrying alongside them. True to his word, Lockhart made a few announcements about when the next club meeting would be before dismissing his charges.
Ron made his opinion known rather bluntly as he spat, "I should have known." Before splitting from the group.
The group was silent as Hermione lead Harry, and thus everyone else, into an abandoned classroom. Before they entered the room though Su spoke up, revealing her own opinion, which matched everyone else's in regards to Ron's behaviour. "Expected."
As they all sat down at the slightly dusty desks, before Harry could ask what was going on, Fred's awed voice cut him off. "How come you never mentioned…"
"…You were a Parselmouth?" George finished, equally awed.
"I'm a what?" Harry asked, confused.
"A Parselmouth!" Hermione exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. "You can talk to snakes!"
"I know." Harry answered simply. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once - long story - but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to - that was before I knew I was a wizard-"
"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Melody parroted in confusion.
"What did you expect? 'Let me out of this glass cage you filthy hairless monkey so that I may wring the life from you!'?" Harry deadpanned. "I bet loads of people here can do it." He played it off.
"Oh no, it's actually quite a rare talent." Susan cut in worriedly. "This could be bad for you Harry."
"Why would it be bad for me? What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-"
"Oh, that's what you said to it?" Hannah asked.
"What do you mean? You were all there - you heard me -"
"We heard you speaking Parseltongue," Cedric explained. "Snake language. None of us understood what you said, to everyone there you could have been saying anything - no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something - it was cool yes, but at the same time creepy, you know. Now we know what you said, I'll try and calm him down."
Harry gaped at him. "I spoke a different language? But - I didn't realize - how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it? It just sounds like english with exaggerated S's to me."
Hermione and the others shook their head, they looked a bit worried at what happened. Harry couldn't see why they looked so worked up.
"Does someone want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake from biting off Justin's head?" Harry demanded, growing annoyed at being out of the loop. Melody was the only other person here who looked puzzled, but that wasn't shocking considering she was the newest. "What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"
"It matters because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent." Hermione lectured.
Harry's eyes widened and he made a small, "Oh." sound and he finally connected the pieces.
Susan laid things out further, "And now the whole school's going to think you're his descendent."
"All things considered it's possible I could be. It's not like I've looked up my family tree recently, or ever." Harry admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"Anyway, you should keep your head down for a while." Katie cautioned after several moments of silent thought. "People might start thinking of you as an up and coming Dark Wizard; Parseltongue is considered Dark Magic and anyone who speaks it is a Dark Wizard."
"Human nature." Su cut in, sounding vaguely disgusted. "Be careful." The petite girl said seriously. Considering she was speaking more than one word Harry practically memorized the occasion on the spot.
"Su's right, watch your back." Angelina supported. "We know better, but others won't take this so well. Keep your head down and do nothing to drew attention towards yourself. It should blow over eventually, but until that happens the rumours are going to get really nasty. You all know how sadistic the gossip around her can get."
They all winced, having heard some truly vicious rumours about people that really didn't deserve them. Even Melody had heard her share. Melody decided to lighten the mood, or at least try to. "There no point in huddling ourselves away. If we just stay in her for the rest of the day they'll have won."
The gathered children agreed with her declaration wholeheartedly and steadily trickled out of the room. The Hufflepuffs left first, making sure to tell Harry again they would do their best to spread the truth to their House. The twins were next, rapidly exchanging half sentences as they planned out what pranks they would be able to commit if they had the ability to talk to snakes. Hermione followed behind, announcing that she wanted to know more about this Parseltongue business and beating a hasty retreat to the Library. The Crimson Vixens gave Harry a reassuring hug before taking their turn, promising Harry they would stick by him no matter what. Su gave Harry a nod and a look, assuring him that her loyalty was just as strong as theirs.
When it was all said and done Harry and Melody were left alone. As always, Melody jumped on the opportunity. Wrapping her arms around him she whispered hotly, "It's going to be really difficult for you soon Master. Remember, your Apprentice is always here to help you vent your pent up anger."
Harry, having grown used to the girl's habits, merely grinned as he made a move of his own. Twirling the younger girl around he pushed her forward onto the nearest desk, one hand pulling her back by the hair and the other hiking up her skirt as he bent over her, returning her sexy promises with one of his own. "Of that, I have no doubt. An offer I plan to take you up on frequently. In fact, I expect you in my bed, every night that you're able until I tell you otherwise."
Melody ground her panty clad crotch into the bulge she felt in his slacks, moaning excitedly at the order. "Fuck me, please!" She gasped, terribly aroused by Harry's earlier humiliation of Draco.
"No." Harry said bluntly, freeing his erection from his pants and grinding it into the hollow between her thighs.
"Why? I'm begging for it, please!" Melody whined, her form shifting as a reflex to Harry pumping his length between her thighs. If she wasn't already busy she would be annoyed, or possibly aroused, that her monster form was only ever used for carnal pleasure these days. Aside from when she'd first showed him she hadn't used it more than a handful of times that didn't involve using her soft fur to get her Master off.
"Are you questioning me?" Harry hissed, pulling her head back further.
Melody hesitated, biting her lip as he stopped thrusting and held her in place. "Y… Yes." She finally answered.
"Good." He replied, casually pumping his hips again, his free hand gripping her tail. "I don't want a mindless, unquestioning toy. You're my Apprentice, given that position because you can think, never assume that I will be angry at you for questioning my actions, as long as it's in the right place." He explained. "As for why I haven't taken you… well I don't have a real reason, I just don't feel I'm ready. I could fuck you right now, I could move your panties to the side and bury myself to the hilt in your pussy in less time than it would take to repeat this sentence, but my heart wouldn't be in it. You deserve better than for me to half-ass it."
Melody's growing insecurities about his lack of forwardness being her fault were soothed by his words, her face growing warm as she was given evidence of just how much he cared for her. "I'll wait as long as you need, Master." she declared warmly, smiling back at him. "But know this, I don't care if you half-ass it, I'm here for whenever you need a good fuck."
"Thank you." He replied, smiling genuinely as he let go of her. "Now get on your knees, we don't have a lot of time and I can imagine you want to start sucking on me for as long as possible."
Melody's smile was far from innocent, unlike her tone, "You know me so well, Master."
o0OoO0o
7th of October:
A few days later, as expected, there were rumours already spreading about him being the next Dark Lord. It was the reason why You-Know-Who went after him as a child, to stop him before he took You-Know-Who's place as Dark Lord. Sadly, an unforeseen exodus happened in Harry's Study Group were slowly backing out of it. On the Hufflepuff front, Cedric was able to convince half of them that Harry was trying to help, but the other half - and Justin himself - were stubborn and wouldn't listen, hanging onto the belief that Harry was goading the snake.
As for Ron, Harry honestly thought that he was rebuilding his friendship with his first friend. At times it was… trying, as Ron tended to whine about their study habits, and Harrys insistence on allowing the other Houses to join (something that earned him quite a few indignant glares). But Harry still hoped that Ron would be able to work through it and he would have his first friend back. Their friendship was currently hanging on by a thread though, so that seemed unlikely.
Harry and his close friends who weren't afraid of him being about to speak to snakes were in the back of the library keeping a low profile and doing their homework. The only people that weren't there were Cedric, the Crimson Vixens and Melody.
It was about fifteen minutes into doing their homework when Melody entered the library, and to the shock to the others she wasn't alone. She was with Luna Lovegood. The two were happily conversing about, once they got close enough to be heard, magic and how people viewed it. Melody was happily sharing her beliefs about how it was a shame that more people didn't dig deeper while Luna nodded happily along with her.
"Hi Mel, I see you brought a guest with you," Harry said with a smile, "Hey Luna, I hope you're fine."
"Yeah Luna and I have been friends since we helped her a week ago." Melody revealed with a smile of her own, "and I thought to bring her to our Group since she doesn't seem to care about the snake business."
Luna shook her head, cheerfully stating, "Oh no, I don't get what all the fuss is about. It's not like snakes talk about taking over the world." She looked suspiciously around before she leaned in and whispered, "That's what Owl's do!"
Harry laughed, finding the mental image of Supreme Commander Hedwig with a swagger stick in her mouth furiously barking out commands and slapping the stack against the map she'd set up with the attack plan on it, directing her troops to take over the US for their plentiful livestock. So many pigs, so much bacon…
"Happy to have you on board, please, take a seat." He gestured towards where Melody normally sat, where two convenient seats were free for the two.
It was about an hour later, and by this time the rest of Harry close friends joined them. It was about this time when Harry looked up and saw Cho walked into the library and walk towards them. As she got to their table, Harry asked coldly, "What do you want, Chang." He didn't forgive how she treated Luna.
"I came to apologize to Lovegood." Cho said immediately. "I know I shouldn't have taken it out on her but I was frustrated. I just hit the age when my family thinks I'm old enough to deal with my own marriage offers."
"But you're only what thirteen," A confused Hermione interrupted, "you're not old enough to marry!"
"In the Muggle World you would be right, Hermione Granger was it?" Cho asked, to which Hermione nodded, "In the Magical World the practice never died out because people want to preserve their lines. While I'm not the most popular of choices due to my 'filthy foreigner blood' I can still trace my family line back longer than most of the English Pureblood families combined." Cho joked, a vindictive smirk on her attractive face.
"That's… that's wrong though!" Hermione insisted.
Before she could build up any steam Harry suddenly cut her off. "Hermione, we've talked about this. We're in the Magical World, not the Muggle one, things are different here."
The bushy haired girl deflated, sighing in exasperation as she caught what she was about to do. "Right. It's irritating, but at least it's a logical practice, at least from their perspective." She admitted with a clearer head.
"Thanks Harry, I'm just lucky my father delights in watching me deny them. Unfortunately that means I'm forced to write the denial letter, which he insists upon reading. My family doesn't have any pre existing contracts so I wasn't forced to accept any of them. I really love that my parents want me to marry for love, instead of forcing me into one to further their own interests, but the downside to that is the wording needs to be ironclad or someone could claim that I accepted their proposal because I wasn't clear enough. I know it wasn't acceptable for me to bully Lovegood, but with my class load from Runes, Arithmancy and Care on top of the constant letters… I chose the worst possible outlet for my stress."
Harry looked somewhat doubtful about that, but that only lasted until Angelina put her thoughts forward, "I know where she's coming from, I had to start doing that a few years back. Remember how I was back then, Alicia, Katie?" She asked her fellow Chasers.
"Oh yeah, she was a real bitch for a few months." Alicia revealed impishly.
Katie smirked and made her own addition. "She was snapping at everyone. I'm a half-blood, and my father's a Pureblood by only a few generations with comparatively little money, power, business investment or anything of interest to other Purebloods. So I didn't have any of those problems." Katie explained with a grateful expression.
"Same for me, my family didn't have any already active, so I got to choose." Alicia explained. "I only had a few, so it was never much of an issue for me."
"Lucky Bitch." Angelina muttered, "My dad works in the Ministry, so there were quite a few people who wanted to marry me so they could ask favours from my dad. I still had loads of them to wade through and when Cho means you need exact wording she isn't kidding, they were a bitch to do."
Harry felt sorry for the girls, but at least it was just a hassle and not a life ruining event. Hearing about this did make him wonder about his other magically raised female friends. "So what about you four?" asked Harry, as he looked at Susan, Hannah, Su and Luna.
Hannah was the first to speak, "I'm in the same boat as Katie." She said with a proud smile, "My father has a good business going, but it isn't as good as others out there. No active contracts, so I shouldn't have any problems like the others."
Su was next. The entire group turned their attention to her, since this was a question she couldn't hope to answer in a short reply. "Father is a highly respected official. He deals with the contracts from home, while I deal with the English contracts. One existing contract activated upon my birth, but it has been dealt with."
"Dealt with?" Harry asked curiously.
Su's calm expression showed a hint of something; irritation with a tinge of smug satisfaction. "Yes. My suitor decided I was weak, vulnerable, due to my physical stature and tried to lay his hands upon me. I decided he didn't deserve to keep them."
Harry was surprised more Su's vindictive little smirk then he was by the groups female members applauding, which was promptly shushed by the Madame Pince.
Luna spoke next, her normally cheerful attitude still present despite the situation. "I don't get very many, though the Lovegood family is quite old. My mother prefers to deal with them because she enjoys throwing them into the fireplace and claiming they never arrived. And unless they can prove we got them, we don't have to do anything and they can't do anything to us."
"I like that method." Harry blurted.
Hermione patted him on the back, sending him a sly smile. "Of course you would."
"What?" Harry asked innocently, only prompting the group to laugh harder.
Susan spoke next after the noise had settled down, "My aunt is still dealing with them, but with her job already being busy, she's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," She clarified for those who didn't know. "So I expect they'll be shunted off to me sooner rather than later to save her some work. My aunt suspects that there's at least one active contract for me to fulfil. If it exists, I'll be able to look at it when I turn thirteen next year. If it's inescapable I'll be married before I turn seventeen."
The group was silent, the mood now slightly depressed at their friends possible fate. "Well at least there's a chance it doesn't exist, so it's not set in stone or anything."
Su added her own thoughts, slipping back into her normal speech patterns. "Fight."
Susan smiled brightly at them, her mood lightened a good deal. "Thanks you two. I'm not sure if we have a law in place to do such a thing in Magical Britain, Su, but I think I'll be sending a letter to my aunt to ask very soon."
Before any of them could say more a beautiful blonde in Slytherin robes came up to them and asked, "Excuse me, but may I talk to Potter alone please."
"And you are?" Harry inquired.
"Forgive me, I'm Heiress Daphne Greengrass." Daphne answered. She could have almost hit herself for forgetting her manners, she was raised to be a proper Pureblood, and here she was not following decorum. "And I would like to talk to you, Heir Potter, about something private." Those who had Pureblood parents, or an aunt in Susan's case , gasped or reacted in some manner of shock. Daphne's use to titles was a very good indicator she wanted to talk about something serious.
"Not to be rude, but what would a Slytherin want to talk to me about?" asked Harry, then realizing where he heard the name before, "And the infamous Ice Princess at that?" He questioned further as he finally placed her name.
"Harry!" The Pureblood raised children hissed at him.
"His reaction is understandable, I understand his reasoning." Daphne waved it off. "The louder factions of Slytherin have made the entire school distrustful of all of us. I was going to suggest we move a few tables down; out of casual hearing distance, but close enough that you all can see I'm not doing anything untoward. Is this acceptable, Heir Potter?"
Harry's interest was peaked, judging by his friends' reaction this was apparently sort of a big deal, so he nodded and stood up, "Alright Greengrass, we'll talk. I hope some part of this chat will involve you telling me why you're calling me Heir Potter."
Daphne smiled to herself, this was easier than she thought it would be. Potter didn't hate Slytherins on principle at least, something she wouldn't have blamed him for but would have made her job difficult. "Thank you Heir Potter."She said simply.
With that Daphne and Harry moved down a few table while Harry's friends were left whispering to each other about what was going on.
o0OoO0o
"Explain." Harry said simply, he might be interested in what the 'Ice Princess' had to say, but that didn't mean he had all day to do so, he had other things he could be doing, Melody, for instance, was one of the things he could be doing.
Seeing that Harry wasn't going to humor her if she tried to beat around the bush, Daphne started, "Since I can safely assume you don't know about your status as the Potter Heir I think it would be best to start there. First off, tell me, do you know anything about your Heritage?"
Since she didn't phrase or say it condescendingly, Harry had no reason to get snarky. "No, probably not in the context you're alluding to." He answered easily. "All I know is that I've got a Family Vault I can look in on when I become seventeen, and have a few seats on the Wizengamot, which I don't know much about." An annoyed look crossed his face as he muttered, more to himself, "I really do need to research the Wizengamot, I keep meaning to but it slips my mind."
"Simplistic, but not a wrong answer per se." She answered. "The truth is the Potter family is exceptionally old and had quite a bit of political power. Your family has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and having the guts to do what they need to do. It's earned a lot of enemies, but it's also earned more gold and even Wizengamot seats than any other single family. You're a very powerful person, not just magically, but politically as well."
"And you wish to use this power how…?" Harry guessed.
She didn't bat an eye at his assumption, considering his assumption was correct she moved on to confirmation. "Protection."
"Huh?" He blurted at the sudden answer.
"The Slytherin House is becoming dangerous for me and my friends." Daphne explained to Harry honestly. She knew if she lied to him she wouldn't get his protection and a few other things she wanted from Harry. "You see, the Malfoys are an old family, and have accumulated quite a bit of political power. Without someone to stop them, namely you and the Longbottoms, the next oldest family still around, they have free run over England. The Longbottoms have Dame Longbottom holding the seat and votes, but unless it affects her directly she usually abstains.
"The point is, Draco's family has a lot of power, most of the older Slytherins do as he says because they fear what his father would do to them. Not nearly as many as he would like, but that's what he gets for being so whiny, blustering on about getting you in trouble all the time. Frankly most have just stopped caring and ignore him. However, he is swaying the impressionable younger years, with his preaching of the 'Purebloods are best' dogma and appealing to their juvenile delusions." She explained. "He's getting older and more arrogant, wanting to prove he's in control. Predictably, he's putting pressure on the neutral factions, of which my friends and I are a part of; this is where you come in. Being seen with you will give us a measure of protection. Draco may be a moron, but the rest of our House know it's a bad idea to earn the ire of the Potters."
Harry was silent for a few moments as he worked the pros and cons over in his mind; so far they were equal. "You get protection and whatever else comes from being friends with me, benefits I will admit I'm mostly ignorant of, But if you get all this, what do I get?" Harry confronted her, "I'm a Parseltongue, and people already think I'm a Dark Wizard or soon will be at any rate. It wouldn't look good if I suddenly become friends with a few Slytherins; makes it far easier than i'm comfortable with for the idiots that fill the larger portion of the beds in this school to jump to conclusions. My plan is to keep my head down until they all move onto the next big gossip bait, said plan is shot if I take you and your friends in."
Daphne smiled; it seemed that there was more to Harry then meet the eye, it may have just been mostly based around survival, but Harry had a Slytherin side. She really had her work cut out for her in one of her goals then. "Aside from teaching you all about the Wizengamot, I know of a mental discipline called Occlumency. I can teach it to to you and your group. This would grant them a number of abilities; better memory recall, easier memorization, the ability to guard their minds from those who can use Legilimency, a skill that allows the user to gain access to their victims mind. In fact, I know the basics of Legilimency, so I could teach you, and only you, what I know." She trailed off, her lips quirking a miniscule degree as she relished in the feeling of getting her way.
Harry froze at the existence of such an ability. He utterly despised the thought of anyone getting into his head, an opinion he was sure he wasn't alone in. He quickly promised himself to learn to protect himself mentally as he began calculating the new deal.
"I would also be more than happy to teach you about how to wield that political power I was talking about before, not just about the who's who of the Wizengamot." She added.
That pretty much sealed it for Harry. Come what may, Daphne's offer was just too good to let the school's increased ire make him refuse. "Alright, welcome to the Study Group. Well, those of us who aren't afraid of the fact that I can hiss better than most." He joked as he extended a hand.
Daphne inwardly smirk, she got a small part of what she wanted and now she would need to work on Harry to get the rest. But for now…"Well put, but don't think we'll be turned away by it, Blaise may even find it attractive…" She said with her first show of solid emotion as she smiled mischievously.
Aside from a brief confused look - which disappeared he met Blaize and became aware of his preference in partners - the rest of the evening was spent doing homework and getting to know their newest additions.
o0OoO0o
31st of October:
A month later Harry was quite pleased with how the Slytherin and Ravenclaws had integrated into the group. Cedric, in true Hufflepuff fashion, had been the first to welcome the Slytherins in with just Harry's word to back them up. Blaize found a fast friend in the older Hufflepuff, while Tracey seemed to drift from person to person, testing the waters with them all, but never quite finding the correct person for her to bond with in a close friendship. Daphne herself stuck by his side, a position Harry was happy to encourage due to her lessons in mental defense - and private lessons in offense, which were going comparatively slowly.
Blaize being openly gay was a bit of a change, and Harry was at first a bit uncomfortable when Blaize started hitting on him. He had backed off quickly and assured Harry it was all in good fun, it was just the way he was around people he trusted. Being sheltered in the Slytherin House, had lead him t o being rather repressed. So after a while Harry just got used to it; it made Blaize happy so he didn't mind so much.
Harry was interested to find that, while Blaize's tastes were generally discouraged in the Magical World - though the older families like the Malfoys who followed the old ways greatly discouraged it. Being gay meant that they couldn't continue their family line, and so any men that felt they were attracted to other men didn't admit it publicly, lest they be disowned. There were a few that would beat the people that were found out to be gay, sometimes to their death. Luckily the number of people with this belief were dying out, the families with children that still believe in the old way in Hogwarts were all in Slytherin, hence why Blaize was having problems.
Blaize wasn't obligated to continue the Zabini name because he had an older sister. Blaise had confided in them that he sometimes wondered if his infamous older sister even existed though, because she was constantly hidden away, possibly hiding from their mother, whose husbands were known to have… accidents.
Female/female relationships were also equally discouraged, unless the two women were married to the same man - in which case it was encouraged. Harry chuckled at the double standards, but really wasn't all that surprised.
Occlumency was a slow skill to learn, especially at first, but they were getting a solid grasp on the basics and were already seeing some minor improvement in their mental prowess. As it turned out, Susan, Blaize and Tracey already knew Occlumency, but had neglected to mention it - as it never really came up. However, Susan had learned it when she was very little and hadn't kept very up to date with it. So with four instructors, after a refresher lesson for Susan, they started making some steady progress. Harry, Hermione and Melody already knew how to meditate, from their own training, so they could start on the basics right away.
Harry, Hermione and Melody could all feel when Daphne was using Legilimency on them - Daphne had to make a vow not to tell anyone what she found in their minds, and not use it against them before she could use Legilimency on them. So it was decided that the four of them learn the more advanced Occlumency; making mindscapes to hold their memories and base their defenses.
Melody hadn't yet decided what she wanted her mindscapes to look like, but wanted it to be something space related. She'd already build a generic space station and a vast expanse of nothing but twinkling stars, but had hit a bit of a block on what to do next.
Hermione decided on a grand library with thousands of books and secret rooms, and it's own restricted section. She had already built the layout of the library, now she had to work on the books and their shelves. The plan was to store her memories in the books, but keep her important memories within the restricted section. Her darkest dreams and secrets would be stored in one of the secret rooms, opened via pulling certain book out in a certain order. As for the defensive part of her library, the building itself being incredibly hard to break into, and the thousands of booby trapped books she'd been creating every session certainly didn't hurt.
Harry was pleasantly surprised to find that he already had one. At first Daphne was shocked how hard it was for her to enter Harry's mind, it seemed that he had natural shields, and it took over fifteen minutes and all of her effort just to break in. Once she slipped inside she was instantly drenched in sweat as she appeared in the centre of a cavern that looked something straight out of the christian version of hell. Fire, brimstone, and lava were everywhere, and in the centre, there was a small island surrounded by lava. There was only one thing on the island, that being a throne that looks like it was made out of charred bone, red silk cushions and some kind of red leather for accents. Despite the unbearable heat Daphne pushed on and began exploring the tunnels, only to find the entire place was built like a maze with strange red vines creeping around that lunged forward to try and impale her whenever she got close with bulbs that fired some kind of thorn at her dripping with a venom that ate right through the cave floor. She swore she saw a black haired, green eyed girl in one of the caves, but when she did a double take the girl wasn't there - so she didn't say anything.
Since Harry already had a solid mindscape, all he had to do was to sort out his memories. Daphne guessed it would only take a few months, at the most. She also suggested he build more traps, but the vines, plants and insane heat of the place would exhaust most attackers that even made it passed his shields, so it wasn't a top priority.
As for the Ravenclaws; Cho, after dealing the the denial letters that she had to send out, had become much more friendly. She helped to make sure Luna was fine and no more bullies popped up to bother her. She dropped by occasionally, but never really bonded with anybody in the group. Harry was just glad she seemed to be smarter than the rest of the school.
Harry found Luna a bit strange, yes, but she was lonely and it was readily apparent with a little searching that all she wanted was a friend, and once he, Hermione and Melody earned that place in her life her cheerful demeanor became a lot more genuine. While this was a refreshing change, and helped combat the rest of the school's expected increased animosity towards them, many still found it hard to take the girl seriously when she occasionally went off on tangents about creatures none of them had ever heard of. Harry and Melody both expressed interest in learning about the various species - even if they weren't real they were still interesting to hear about - but everyone else politely declined whenever Luna asked if they wanted to know more about what she was talking about.
The increased camaraderie between Harry and Luna allowed him to ask more personal questions, or rather, Luna felt more comfortable opening up around him. It wasn't long before Harry found out why she acted the way she did; she saw her father die. Her mother was a spell crafter, and shortly after Luna turned nine she was sitting in on one of her mother's experiments - testing a new spell when it backfired somehow. As spells tended to do most often when they went wrong, it exploded. Part of their house had collapsed, trapping both Luna and Selene inside. Xeno, Luna's father, had been in his study in the section of the house that remained standing and rushed to go help them. The man had managed to exceed his limits and haul the debris out of the way to get them both free, but at the last second had been forced to shove his wife out of the way when a section of the roof had given out, getting crushed beneath the slab in the process. Upon seeing her father's death Luna wasn't able to deal with it and acted up a bit. Thanks to her mother, Luna wasn't as bad as she could have been, like if her father had lived instead. Xeno was a kind and caring person, but he was a bit crazy already, couldn't handle a large amount of responsibility and had never taken grief well.
To no one's surprise, after Luna had offhandedly mentioned being bullied again the incidents came to a sharp and sudden stop within a few days. Her would be bullies would go missing for a few hours, only to reappear completely pale and very respectful to the blond waif; giving her stolen items back right away. It was never mentioned around the blond that these people would not look Harry in the eye.
Some had - while Luna wasn't around - voiced concerns about his methods being too harsh, but Harry pointed out that, as useless as the staff was about disciplining those that deserved it, the bullies would only have points taken from them and possibly, if the infraction was bad enough and there was solid evidence, they would get thrown into a detention or two. Neither of these two punishments meant they would stop their bullying, it just meant they would be more sneaky about it. Harry's way guaranteed they knew there would be consequences to their actions.
He refrained from admitting there had been a few slow learners among the House of the Wise and he had needed to actually carry out his threats. You wouldn't think an old sock and a bar of soap would be enough to cause five teenage boys to burst into tears, but that was the end result.
Harry found himself thinking of the future benefits of being such close friends with a girl who had voiced her desire to follow in her very successful mother's footsteps in spell creation, despite the accident. It would be awhile before this desire bore any real fruit, but he found himself with an abundance of time and made it clear that if she ever needed anything for experiments she should just ask.
Ron had spent the majority of the month flip flopping between hating them all and begrudgingly joining them. Hs study habits, or at least his behaviour while in the group, was also very inconsistent. One day he'd be eager to learn and get along with everyone fairly well, and then other times he would snap at the Slytherins any time they talked, and refuse to even open his books because nobody was willing to all but do his homework for him. It was all very abrupt and sudden, unnatural even, but Ron's behaviour had always been pretty hypocritical.
It was now Halloween, and Harry and his close friends were coming back from Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Deathday Party. A few days ago, Harry was walking back from Gryffindor training sessions for their first Quidditch Game; it was hell and made him wonder once again why he decided to get on the team in the first place. Captain Oliver Wood was a mad man, no matter the weather, he would train the team as hard as possible. The first day of training seemed to set the mood quite well; it was pouring out, any sensible person would be inside where it was dry and warm, but Oliver wanted to train, so they trained.
They also secretly planned to smother him with a pillow. Though that may have just been Harry.
When they finished Harry was heading back to the tower to get a wash when he was 'caught' by Mrs. Norris, the skeletal gray cat who was used by the caretaker, Argus Filch, as a sort of deputy in his endless battle against students. Despite not breaking any rules at all Harry was hauled back to the man's office.
He wasn't sure what the bitter man was going to do, but before he could open his mouth Harry heard a huge bang above them and the next thing he knew Filch was roaring about Peeves, the school poltergeist. The man stormed out of his office, his cat hot on his heels.
Harry waited a moments to make sure he was safe, looking at his surroundings as he did so. There was an envelope that stood out on the man's desk. Harry knew he shouldn't have looked at it, but his curiosity got the better of him. Contained within was basically the magical version of a self help book, or maybe just a scam. It was a series of pamphlets about people without magic, Squibs, learning how to use magic via magical foci the pamphlets were selling for exorbitant prices. Harry could easily make the connection, Filch was a Squib, which explained his bitter outlook on life. Harry wondered why Dumbledore would hire such a man like him, but quickly decided the man had some kind of grudge against children or something, because he hired Snape too.
Filch returned, but was too exhausted and covered in some kind of barf green slime to deal with Harry, so he dismissed the Gryffindor without any kind of punishment.
On his way back Harry bumped into Nick. The Nearly-Headless Ghost informed Harry that he was the one that sent Peeves to make the commotion. The two talked for a bit and after a while Harry agreed to go to Nick's Deathday party in gratitude for helping him out. Harry was also just interested in the idea, it sounded like something worth checking out on a day he would have rather avoided anything having to do with his parents. After requesting additional invitations for his friends, which a delighted Nick happily provided, they parted ways.
Harry found himself embraced by a giddy Luna when he pitched the idea at next study session. Apparently she was already going and had been hesitant about inviting the others. Her worries were unfounded, everyone seemed to find the party worth checking out and agreed to come. Luna did suggest they have something to eat first, since the only food there would be incredibly rotten and likely give them terrible tummy aches. The Weasley Twins came through for everyone when they revealed they knew how to get into the Hogwarts kitchen.
It was hard for Hermione to hold her tongue when she found the House Elves making food for upcoming feast, but she remembered what Harry told her the past summer and really looked at the Elves. They all seemed very happy with what they were doing, chatting with one another as they worked, not at all like the mistreated creatures she'd made them out to be in her head. After eating some food, the group went to the Death Party.
Turns out Luna's advice was a very good idea, because every bit of the food was rotten and smelt horrible. When they asked Nick why this was he revealed that Ghosts couldn't really taste the food, but the closer anything was to 'death' the more of an… echo, of what the food once tasted like they could feel. Nick apologized for the lackluster explanation, but there really wasn't the right words to explain it to a living being.
So, as long as they stayed well away from the food table, the party itself was very interesting. The ghosts were more than happy to regale the students with tales of their life, and hours passed in what could even be considered an unofficial Magical History lesson. Like all good things though, the party eventually came to an end. Luna pointed out that if they hurried they could probably catch the serving of dessert in the Great Hall, so they set off on their way after a final goodbye to Nick.
§ "… rip… tear… kill…" §
Harry froze, stumbling to a halt, looking around for the whispered voice.
"Harry, what're you-?" Hermione began as she noticed him stop.
§ "… sssoo hungry… for ssso long…" §
"I hear a really quiet voice, can anyone here it?" Harry asked.
§ "… kill … time to kill…" §
"I thought i heard something that sounded like running water, or maybe hissing." Luna mentioned, looking around too.
Harry didn't hear her, his ears were too busy tracking the whispers; they were moving, upwards. How could it be moving upward? Was it a phantom, or some other kind of being that could bypass solid objects?
"This way!" He exclaimed as he began to run up the stairs, into the Entrance Hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, his friends clattering behind him, wondering what was going on.
"Is it closer?" Melody asked.
Harry strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, he heard the voice: § "… I sssmell blood… I SSSMELL BLOOD!" §
Without a word Harry took off running again, flying up the next flight of stairs two at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps. He slid to a stop when he got to the top of the stairs and the voice quickly fled.
"Harry, what was that all about?" Susan panted, wiping sweat off her face. "I couldn't hear anything…"
But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor. "Look!" She exclaimed in shock.
Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the Heir, beware!
"What's that?" Su wondered.
A sudden splashing caused them to jump, only to relax when they looked down and found the area flooded. Ignoring the water they began inching close to the message again, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash; Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Daphne said, "Let's get out of here."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He agreed.
"Shouldn't we try and help the cat?" Hermione spoke up.
Daphne shook her head, "Trust me, we don't want to be found here."
Thanks to Daphne's warning, the group had enough warning to get away before the incoming flood of people leaving the Great Hall arrived. Draco's voice could be heard echoing off the walls as they quietly filed down the nearest staircase.
"You're next, Mudbloods!"
They saved their own theories on who had done whatever was wrong with Mrs. Norris until they were well out of earshot of everyone else. The idea that Draco was guilty was briefly considered, prompted by his bragging they heard, but it was quickly dismissed. Draco was far too young to know spells of that strength, even if he did have the guts to finally act instead of just strut and brag it certainly wouldn't be something so severe.
Then there was the voice that Harry could hear that no one else could. Luna pointed out it was possible it was a snake of some kind. Sadly, beyond that logical guess they had nothing to work with, so it was decided to split up and go back to their Common Rooms.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Authors Note: Here's the next chapter of Vulcan, I thank you for reading and I hope that you keep on reading and enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing this. Please let me know what you think of the story, as I would like to know what you think of it…
Now I know I shocked some/most of you by making Lockhart good at duelling, but my belief is that he would need have some skill in it. Not everyone he Obliviates would just let themselves be mind wiped. Not only was he an Obliviator, so would specialize in stealthy and quick fighting, but he also did travel around the world to get the stories from people. If the Magical World has taught us anything, it's that the Magical World is dangerous.
I would like to thank my Beta Reader for this part:
Harry laughed, finding the mental image of Supreme Commander Hedwig with a swagger stick in her mouth furiously barking out commands and slapping the stack against the map she'd set up with the attack plan on it, directing her troops to take over the US for their plentiful livestock. So many pigs, so much bacon…
As I found it really funny… and loved that part a lot, thanks Slice.
SAND-FORTRESS OF DOOM
By Cody Everett
"And that is how you make a sandcastle!" Hermione's cheery voice said from where she sat in the sand, a basic looking sandcastle in front of her.
It was a few days after his second encounter with Gabrielle and Harry was hanging out with Hermione and Melody on the beach. With nothing better to do, the siblings had decided to teach Harry how to build a sandcastle. Hermione's sandcastle was just a couple walls, with circular towers. Melody had decided on more of a moral support role from her position a few feet away, buried in the sand. (And shaped like a very curvaceous mermaid)
Giving the castle a curious look, Harry 'hmmed' as he said, "I think I get it. You just pack the sand together into shapes and then sculpt it into what you want, right?"
Hermione nodded her head. "Right."
'Hmmm-ing' once again, Harry looked to a clear space in front of him as Hermione went back to her castle. If she'd stayed facing Harry for a few more moments she would have seen the maniacal glint in Harry's eye.
- A Couple Hours Later -
Putting the finishing touches on her now elaborate castle, Hermione turned to see how Harry was doing with his. She wasn't expecting much, as it was his first time making one, so she was understandably surprised when she turned around. Her jaw dropped as she took in the looming form, unable to make words. From where was still laying, Melody turned her head and had much the same expression.
Where once there had been nothing but sand, there was now an intimidating fortress, as big as a house. The large gates were decorated with beasts and from the walls jutted wooden sticks decorated with seashells sculpted to look like skulls. At the top of the walls were sand-constructed, honest to God cannons.
And in front of this ominous looking construction stood a grinning Harry, leaning on a sign that read: HARRY'S SAND-FORTESS OF DOOM. BEWARE!
Still grinning, Harry said, "Well, now you have a castle, and I have a castle. You should know what happens next." As he finished saying that, one of the wall mounted cannons seemed to move, fixing itself on Hermione's small, feeble, and utterly defenseless castle.
Hermione promptly decided it was best to get out of the way…
Authors Note: If you have an Omake you'd like to write for this, or even just a good idea you can't or don't have the ability to write we can take a crack at it. Either way, please send it to it to is and Dragen will post it for you.
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