'What did you make me do?' It was too easy to realize. Harry would have been curious- Harry Potter was always curious. He must have thrown it under his bed until he could look at it and find out what was wrong.
'I took care of a problem for you. Shouldn't you be thankful? Now you don't have to deal with that child's brutish ways.'
'No, I'm not bloody thankful!' Draco took a deep breath to calm himself. 'It doesn't matter. I'm taking care of this problem.' With that, Draco closed the Diary and tossed it out the window. It could rot beneath the earth for all he cared, but he was never letting that diary near him again... Merlin, he couldn't believe- He needed to see Harry. By now Flint had been moved to the infirmary- Flint. It hadn't been Flint, before. It hadn't been a single Slytherin. How much was Draco changing?
Draco's feet knew the path to the infirmary, even if he was lost in his thoughts. He soon enough found himself at Harry's bedside. It was past curfew by the time he arrived, and Harry seemed to be dozing in his bed, face scrunched up in pain. He must have felt Draco staring at him, since his eyes were fluttering open. "Pomfrey is just gonna kick you out."
"Harry, I... It happened, again." At that, Harry was frowning and shifting, pushing himself up after a hiss and a bit of a struggle.
"What happened?" Scooting over, he patted the bed with his good hand. "You look terrible."
Draco stared down as he sat beside Harry. "I was pacing in the dorm last night, and when I blinked, I was out at the lake." It was easy to hear the child's breath hitch, although Draco hadn't quite expected for his hand to be tightly grabbed.
"The journal?"
"That's just it. I wasn't writing in it. I didn't even know where you put it. It was just one moment to another."
"What'd you do with it? I'm sorry, Draco, I should have gotten rid of it the second you gave it to me- Is this why Flint turned up in here a few hours ago? Is the journal causing all of this? Will it stop now that it's gone-"
"I don't know! Merlin, I don't know anything! This is all guesswork! I only know the ending!" There was a tense moment where Draco heard noise from Pomfrey's office, but it seemed as if she had dismissed whatever noise Draco's yelling had caused. Looking back to Harry, he noticed the child had gone silent and was looking at the bedspread, good arm now curled around himself.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked so many questions."
"Harry, I'm scared." Logically, Draco was nineteen, he'd faced far worse than this, but he was twelve years old being controlled by a talking journal. He felt well within his rights to be scared. "I think I petrified Flint."
"That stupid book may have made you do something, but I don't think it could make you use magic you don't know how to do." There was a moment before there was a tug to Draco's shirt, Harry now lifting up the covers. "Stay with me a while?" Draco nodded, crawling under to covers and wrapping his arms around Harry.
"I threw it out the window. To answer your question." Nodding, Harry slumped in Draco's hold, flinching as he seemed to jostle his arm again. "Be more careful, Harry. Bloody hell, you're regrowing bones."
"'S not much worse than a broken arm," Harry shrugged, burrowing against Draco's side and yawning. "'Sides, my arm was broken before."
"Still." Draco was silent for a moment. "Who broke it," he asked calmly. It was a few moments before Harry sighed, any possible fight draining out of him.
"Dudley and his friends. It was about a year before I got my letter... Jeez, I think it was on my tenth birthday, if I'm remembering right."
"Bloody wonderful present." Draco combed his fingers through Harry's hair, letting himself relax. He tossed the journal. No need to worry about it. Right now he just had to focus on what he was going to do to get back at Lockhart.
"Wasn't it?" Harry shook his head, yawning again and sounding like he was starting to drop off to sleep. "At least the mandrakes are doing well. That means Flint is gonna be fine."
"Yes, it does." That took a large weight off of Draco's conscience, really.
"It'll be fine. If that journal was the reason for all this, then it's taken care of. Now shut up and go to sleep. I'm hurt and need my rest."
"I'm not keeping you." Draco smirked, letting his eyes close. Everything was going to be fine. This year's mystery was all wrapped up and just in case, Blaise and Hermione were still looking into the pureblood families. So... There was no need to worry.
So why did it feel like it was only starting?
::
"Oi, did you two hear?" Fred was waving the two over, George speaking to Ginny who looked a bit upset about the matter. The matter was probably the most recent petrification. "About Flint?"
Draco rose an unamused eyebrow. "Seeing as he was taken to the hospital wing, yes, we heard." Beside him, Harry made a beeline for their usual armchair, collapsing into it.
"Bloody awful, isn't it? I mean, we all hate Flint, don't get me wrong, but that just... That's harsh. I mean, if this really is some Heir of Slytherin, why'd they go after one of their own?"
Draco followed quickly after Harry. "Who knows," he said as a response. Luckily, they were still small enough that they both fit in the chair, and Harry didn't even bother putting up the effort of complaining.
"I think it's just horrible," Ginny shook her head with a frown. "I mean, I heard his parents are real torn up about it. Sending howlers to Dumbledore and everything."
"We all hate him."
"Everyone does."
"But no one's that cruel."
"Wonder if he's still aware."
Draco rose suddenly, grabbing his things. "I'm going upstairs," he announced. He didn't bother to wait for any responses, only hurrying up the stairs to the dorm and near slamming the door shut behind him. The sound of it opening had him startling back and bumping into his nightstand with a curse.
"Want to talk about it, or help me with Potions? Because I think Severus has it out for me again."
"There's nothing to talk about- You did it again." Draco frowned, his head snapped up to look at Harry.
"Wha- I did what again?" Harry paused from where he was getting his bag, looking startled.
"You called him 'Severus,'" Draco said.
"Oh... I guess I picked it up from you?" Shrugging, Harry bypassed his Potions homework and instead grappled for some spare parchment and pens. "I mean, sounds better than Snape, yeah?"
Draco paused before smiling and nodding. "I always thought so." It was nice, having a friend like Harry.
::
It seemed Flint's petrification had swept the whole school, all four houses scared and cautious. It wasn't unusual to see protection charms cropping up and younger years traveling together in large groups. Draco and Harry both still got odd looks, but it seemed no one was certain anymore on just the 'Heir' really was. "Are you going back to the Manor for the holidays?"
Draco nodded swiftly. "Anything for some time away from here. You're invited along, you know." That had Harry stumbling in his steps for a few moments before quickly catching up, trying to hide how pleased he looked.
"I guess I do kind of owe you after not going last year. Your parents won't mind?"
"Actually, Mother wrote me recently about how she hoped you would come."
"Then I guess I'm going." Good. Harry needed to spend some time in a proper home, instead of hiding away in the castle throughout the entire year. "Oh, yeah. Hermione said she wanted us to meet her in the library. Her and Blaise might have found something, I think?" Draco frowned, grabbing their things.
"And you waited until now to mention anything?" There was a scoff behind him, but Draco decided to be nice and pretended to ignore it.
"She said it didn't really matter when we met them. She mentioned it this morning at breakfast."
"Harry, it could be important! When a woman says it doesn't matter, more likely than not, it very much does matter!" That was a lesson both his mother and Pansy had drilled into him. It was one he wasn't going to be forgetting anytime soon.
"Alright, alright. It's a Saturday so we have all day, at least." Harry was quick to catch up, snatching Draco's hand and twining it with his own. "Slow down a little, yeah?"
"Or maybe you should hurry up. Think of it as extra Quidditch practice," Draco said with a laugh. Laughing himself, Harry sped up a bit more to keep pace.
"Wood's certainly let up on us. He seemed really beat up about Flint. Fred and George said he's blaming himself because of all the bad things he said after the match was over."
Draco gave a weak grin. "Someone should tell him otherwise."
"Katie and Angelina went up to the task. We'll be back on our crazy training schedules in no time." Harry let go of his hand before darting ahead. "Bet I can get there first!"
"Oh no you don't!" Draco laughed, running along after him.
By the time they tumbled into the library, Blaise and Hermione had taken over two tables and was looking to have created an entire system around the mass of books they had collected. "Children, honestly," Blaise tsked as the two headed over.
"As are you, Blaise. In fact, I'm older than you," Draco laughed, tugging Harry over. "Any progress?"
"You'll be happy to know, or maybe not happen, to know that we've ruled out all of the Sacred 28, and a few other well-known pure-blood families besides. We managed to trace far back enough that we could look up Salazar's known descendents and work from there."
"Well, not all of the Sacred 28," Hermione butted in, frowning. "We found a family named Gaunt, but none of the students here are related to them. At least, none that we know of."
"Gaunt?" Draco frowned. "I've heard the name once or twice, but only from father, and never with kind words." They had been some of the strongest believers in pure blood. According to Lucius, it wasn't unheard of for close cousins to marry and have children.
"No, you wouldn't. They were well known, but not in a good way," Hermione shook her head, pushing a book over. "The last known Gaunts attended Hogwarts sometime in the early 1900s. After that, nothing."
Draco frowned, looking over their work. "Well that can't be right..." How could a family just disappear?
"Never any children to carry on the name," Blaise explained. "Plus two of them ended up in Azkaban and the other vanished."
"Where'd the other go," he asked, leaning over their shoulders.
"That's where it gets spotty," Hermione sighed. "The last Gaunt to attend Hogwarts was Merope and she was never heard from after her dad and brother went to Azkaban."
"What's Azkaban?" Harry frowned, leaning over to look at the books himself.
Draco waved. "Wizard prison. Trust me, you don't want to be sent there." He looked over them again. "And there's no Gaunts in the school?"
"Not a trace," Hermione confirmed. "We're going to start working our way through the other seventh years. See if we can't find anything more concrete. It has to be a student- Perhaps we ought to check all the teachers?"
"I don't think it's the teachers," Draco said with a sharp shake of his head. "Why would there be a fifty year gap between then and now? Why wouldn't it keep going?"
"That's what we really need to focus on," Harry spoke up, arms crossed as he leaned back. "Why now. Why this year, out of nowhere, is this all coming back?"
"What's different about this year..." Draco glanced to Harry, worrying at his lip. The only thing he could think of was...the journal.
"Dunno. Must be something, though." Was it really the journal that was the cause of it? If so, that meant the attacks would all stop now that it was gone.
Good. That meant less to worry about.
::
"Duelling club? Like, actual dueling with our wands and everything?" Harry was up on the tips of his toes, trying to see the notice board where others were crowded around it.
"Actual dueling," Draco confirmed with a widening grin. "With our wands and everything." While Lockhart would be bloody useless, Draco might be able to bully Severus into teaching them some actual dueling. But first...there was something he had to make sure happened. Maybe he should prepare Harry, first? As far as he knew, the boy had no idea what he could do. Draco bit at his lip before tugging Harry aside, away from the crowd. "This may sound out of nowhere, but what do you feel about...snakes?"
"Snakes?" Harry gave him an odd look, as if he couldn't quite believe Draco asking the question out of nowhere. "I like them well enough. They're not too bad of company, really."
"Good conversationalists, yeah?" Just like that, Harry was lighting up and darting forward to take Draco's hands before anything else could be done.
"So that's a wizard thing, right! Talking to snakes? I mean, I always thought I was crazy where I was able to understand them but no one else could, you know?"
Draco blinked, giving a small grin. "Ah... Yeah. Kind of a wizard thing. Pretty rare, actually. Wish I could do it."
"Rare? You mean understanding snakes?" Harry tilted his head, frowning. "I mean, I can't do it with other animals. Just snakes."
"Still a rare talent. Not many wizards can do it." Draco continued to grin, tilting his head, as well. "When did you figure it out?"
"Oh, um... I used to take care of Aunt Petunia's garden and there were always a few snakes in there from time to time. There was also the time I set a snake on my cousin at the zoo, but that was mostly by accident. He'd never been to Brazil."
"You set a snake-" Draco laughed, shaking his head. "You've got to tell me all about the conversations you have with snakes- Hang on. There's somewhere I think you'll like."
"Really? Where?" There wasn't even a bit of a fight put up as Draco started dragging him away, Harry only calling out and absent goodbye to Blaise and Hermione. Draco tugged him along.
"You'll see." It wasn't a far walk, not when Draco had near memorized the path to get there years ago- Or, well. Years in the future? Ah, time travel was so confusing.
"Draco, um... Why are we outside the girl's lavatory?"
"No one uses this one. And look," Draco said, gesturing around the room. "Snakes."
"I mean, there's a lot of snake designs." It was a moment before the boy started looking around a bit more, tilting his head this way and that at the engraved snakes that were everywhere. "How come no one uses this bathroom?"
"Only because Myrtle frequents this bathroom," Draco said with a shrug. Oh, lovely. Myrtle was here today. Usually she was skulking around the upper bathrooms. The boys', too.
"Myrtle? Who's Myrtle?"
"She's one of the Hogwarts ghosts. Glasses? Pigtails? A year or two older than us?"
"That'd be me." Myrtle's sudden appearance had Harry scrambling to hide behind Draco, eyes wide and oh, alright. Harry startled easily, apparently. "I don't often see boys in my bathroom."
"I was just showing Harry what a lovely bathroom it is. He's fond of snakes," Draco said with a warm smile, trying to stay in her good side. It seemed to work well enough, Myrtle relaxing and flying around them a bit curiously.
"My bathroom is one of the best. It's not often people show up who don't want to make fun of me."
"What?" That ahd Harry frowning, stepping forward. "Why would they make fun of you? You seem like a nice, er, person."
"Myrtle, I'm Draco Malfoy, this is Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you." Draco even gave a little bow. It was a moment before Myrtle was giving a hesitant curtsey back, and ah, yes. Myrtle had been a muggleborn who had died the last time the Chamber opened.
"Pleasure. I've heard about you, you know." Myrtle was looking at Harry, eyes wide and curious. "You're the one who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Well, he certainly had help, last year," Draco said with a smirk.
"Ooh, I heard about that, too!" Myrtle settled down to sit on one of the sinks, looking... Looking happy for once. She had looked much the same when Draco had spent time with her in his sixth and seventh year. "Tell me the story. No one ever talks to me around here."
Draco smiled, glancing to Harry. "I think we can spare just a few moments." Harry stared between them for a moment before giving a small smile and pulling himself up on the sink next to Myrtle.
"Well, you see, it all started because of this newspaper article."
::
"Professor! Can I go up against Harry?" It was their first day at the dueling club after the disaster that was Lockhart and Severus 'dueling.'
"If you wish." Severus definitely knew he was up to something, but the good thing was that he didn't know what. That would be in Draco's favor, this time around. Draco climbed up in the stage, looking to Harry expectantly abs beaming.
"Come on." Shaking his head, it was a moment before Harry scrambled up after him.
"Hope you know what you're doing, because I don't."
"Of course I do." Draco readied himself, smirking at Harry. "Ready?"
"I feel like you have an unfair advantage here," Harry complained, reading himself anyways and grinning back. "Ready." Draco cast the spell, summoning a snake with little fanfare. Now he just had to hope things went the same way... "Well if you wanted everyone to know you were a Slytherin, that's certainly a way to do it." Harry was definitely nervous, trying not to move as the snake slithered forward. Due the crowd around them, just like last time, the snake went towards the Hufflepuff. Finch-Fletchley was his name, if Draco wasn't mistaken.
Severus walked forward, looking ready to wave his wand at the snake before Lockhart was stepping forward instead, "Don't worry, don't worry. I'll take care of it." Oh, Severus definitely did not look pleased.
"Sir- Sir, that's not a good-" Too late. The snake was throw into the air by the incompetent spell, and this time when it landed on the ground, the snake looked angry. It seemed to be ready to lash out at the closest person - Justin of course - when everyone in the hall heard hissing syllables. They weren't coming from the snake. Draco stared at Harry, a grin starting to form.
The snake was slowly backing down before laying on the ground, looking quite harmless. Harry seemed surprised, looking up to Draco and Severus with confusion. It was only after Severus banished the snake that Finch-Fletchley spoke. "Just what are you playing at, Potter!"
"Shut up, Huffpuff! You should give him a little more respect! He just saved your life!"
"More like tried to end it!" With that, the child was quickly making his way through the crowd, and oh, no. The whispers and mutters were already starting, and there were more than a few who were looking at Harry in fear.
Draco frowned, shaking his head. "Idiots."
"Draco." Severus nodded towards Harry. "Get him out of here. I'll handle the rest of the class." With that, Severus was raising his voice even as Ron and Hermione clambered onto the stage, each one trying to gently nudge Harry down. "Well? Did we tell you to stop dueling?" Draco nodded and grabbed at Harry's arm, tugging him out of the room.
"Wha- Hey! What's going on?" Harry tried to tug his arm back halfheartedly, Draco only pulling him out of the Great Hall. It was Ron who spoke voice.
"You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us you were a Parselmouth!"
Draco looked Harry over. "You're alright?" He checked Harry over, ruffling his hair.
"I'm- I'm fine. What's a Parselmouth? What's everyone freaking out about- And what was Justin talking about. If I hadn't told that snake not to attack him-"
"Parselmouth is a name for wizards who can speak to snakes." Draco shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Everyone thinks it's a 'dark power.'"
"That's because Salazar Slytherin was known to be one," Ron muttered, quickly backtracking at Harry's look. "Not that that means anything, mate. I mean, could just be some family thing passed down to you, right? Besides, you're not exactly a dark wizard, far as I know."
"No, he's not- What was it you said, exactly? Don't...something him?" Draco tilted his head at Harry curiously.
"I told the snake 'don't hurt him'. How are you not sure, you were there. You heard what I was saying, everyone heard what I was saying!" Did... Did Harry not realize he had been hissing.
Draco frowned at that, not realizing Ron wa staring with wide eyes. "How'd you know what he was saying?"
Draco shrugged. "Maybe I'm learning Parseltongue." He didn't even know how he knew. It just... It felt right.
"You can't learn Parseltongue," Ron shook his head. "It's a magical language. You either know it or you don't, simple as that."
"I was speaking English, what's it matter?" Harry was looking between the three of them, looking more and more unnerved. "I... I was just speaking like I am now... Right?"
"You weren't," Draco said with a shake of his head. "You were hissing. And Weasley, I am obviously learning it, seeing as I understood some words, but not all of them."
"I was hissing?" The waver in Harry's voice had them all looking over, Harry looking... He looked as unsure as when Draco had first seen him at his relatives house, over the summer. "I wasn't... How could I be doing that without knowing I was doing that."
"Just like you breathe without knowing you're doing that," Draco said with a shrug. "Really, it's not as bad as they're making it out to be. It's just rare."
"Really rare," Ron muttered, throwing an arm around Harry after a moment. "Don't worry about it, mate. Justin's an idiot if he couldn't see you were trying to help. This will all die down by tomorrow."
"Really," Draco sighed. "Let's go back to the dorm." This was going to be fine. It hadn't been too bad last time, right?
