...I was gonna make some witty author's note, but I'm rewatching the new Beauty and the Beast. No, we're not paid for this promotion. Just... If you guys haven't seen it, you have to. It's so gorgeous.
"The pipes?" Hermione frowned, looking to Blaise from where the two were doing their usual Saturday studying in the library. "What do the pipes have to do with anything?"
"We think the creature is using the pipes to travel," Draco said quietly.
"The pipes?" Blaise sat up in his seat, looking to Draco. "How can it be using the pipes to travel? Hogwarts is old, the castle isn't that connected."
"Unless Salazar Slytherin built the connections himself," Draco pointed out. "In an empty hall, I heard the pipes hissing. Probably steam. And then I heard the same voice Harry did. Just in smaller snippets."
"Wait, you both heard it?" Ah, that was a familiar expression. Hermione had on her 'I'm-going-to-solve-this-first' expression showing. "That can't be possible... You didn't hear anything the first time he heard it, on the night of that first attack."
"No, but Harry heard more than I did, this time. I heard small words, he heard entire phrases. Didn't you," Draco said, turning to Harry for support. Shuffling, Harry finally nodded, trying to avoid looking at the others.
"I've been hearing all of this since the first attack, but it's been happening a lot more often. It keeps going on about how it's hungry, and wants to kill. There was one time something about centuries of sleep, I think?"
"Then that tells us this is possibly the same from Salazar Slytherin. Something that lives for centuries... Uses pipes... Only Harry and I can hear it..." That had to narrow it down to something. What kind of creature could this be...
"That could still be a lot of things," Blaise pointed out, arms crossed. "There's a lot of 'immortal' creatures that could travel through Hogwarts pipes. I mean, they're pretty huge, aren't they? Doesn't narrow it down much."
"Maybe it's not immortal... But something that can petrify people."
"It has to be a creature," Harry shook his head. "Some kind of..." The child went still, eyes wide as he slowly looked to Draco. "Out of everyone in the castle, who knows the most about dangerous creatures?"
Draco's eyes widened and he beamed. "Harry, that's brilliant!"
"Wait- You think Hagrid will know?" Ron finally looked up from the Quidditch magazine he was reading. "You really think he'll know about something not even Dumbledore knows?"
"Why not? He was here for the first attacks!" Harry turned on his heel, heading for the door. "We need to go talk to him, right now."
"Why didn't we think of it before? Hagrid should know the creature!"
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go."
They near tumbled down to the hut, crying out. "Hagrid!" Draco had vaguely heard the others trying to get them to stop, but this was important. They could catch up and explain later but Hagrid had been there fifty years ago when the monster attacked. He had to have some idea what it was. Any!
"Oi, what are you two rushin' about for?" Hagrid had his eyebrows raised high, startled as he caught Harry from near falling. "Careful there. Shouldn't be out when it's gettin' this late, ya know."
"The creature. We think you might be able to help us figure it out!" That certainly caught Hagrid's attention, the man staring at them with wide eyes. Draco took a deep breath. "We've managed to figure a few things out, and you know the most about any magical creature."
"I wouldn't say I know the most- Hold on, just what did you two figure out?" Hagrid looked between them, finally shaking his head with a groan. "Blacks and Potters. Not a worse combination in the world there is."
Draco frowned at that. "I'm not a Black. You're thinking of my mother. And we figured out plenty, except for what it is."
"Aye, that'd be because no one ever knew what it was." Oh, that was just ridiculous. Someone besides Riddle had to have at least had a clue - Dumbledore, if nothing else! "I told you two, the matter was hushed up."
"Hagrid, someone has to know something. You're the master of beasts! Surely you'll know, if we give you as much information as possible!" The complimenting seemed to work at least a little, Hagrid's beard twitching just enough to let them know he was smiling.
"Kind as the words are, even I don't know everythin', Draco. Trust me, I tried findin' out just what this thing was. Not even Aragog would ever say." Aragog- Oh, right. The acromantula.
"It uses the pipes to travel, it petrifies and kills students, it's been alive for centuries, Harry can understand it, and I can understand a couple words here and there."
"Acromantulas seem right terrified of it, too," Hagrid mumbled, walking over to his hut and heavily sitting on the stairs, petting Fang absentmindedly as the dog approached. "Never even said it's name. All the roosters were strangled right before Christmas, too, I remember tellin' you two that." Hagrid suddenly paused before fiercely shaking his head. "Nah, couldn't be."
Draco frowned. "What? What is it?" Draco was willing to believe the fantastical at this point, especially after six - now seven and a half - years of schooling with Harry Potter.
"Harry, you can talk to snakes, right?" Startled for a moment, Harry nodded anyways. "Aye, I was hopin' that rumor wasn't true... It sounds as if what's causin' problems is a basilisk, but it's impossible."
"Honestly, I am willing to believe anything, seeing as a diary has been possessing me for the better half of the year." Oh, right. He hadn't told Hagrid that yet. Welp, no time like the present.
"Wha- Possessin' ya?!"
"A basilisk... How can something that big- The pipes in the school can't possibly be that big." Big, yes, but not big enough to contain serpents the size of basilisks- Ah, that would be how Harry understood it. But why could Draco?
"Draco, what do you mean you were possessed?" Hagrid was up now, looking rather concerned and worried. Sweet, but not helpful.
"Unimportant," Draco said with a shake of his head. "Maybe..." Draco looked up to Harry. "All magic leaves a mark." The child flinched, hand twitching towards his forehead before he was forcible flattening his hand to his side.
"I... Yes?"
"He's been using magic on me, speaking Parseltongue. What if that's the mark?"
"That you can speak Parseltongue- Oh- Oh!" Harry's eyes widened, grin growing on his face. "That's why only you and I can hear it. The hissing in the pipes, Draco, the hissing. The hissing I couldn't hear."
"How didn't we realize, sooner?!" Draco's smile grew to a wide grin. "Harry! Tom made it so I can understand Parseltongue."
"What?!" Hagrid looked between the two of them, face near sheet white with how quickly he had paled. "Tom- Draco, what do you mean- You've seen him?!"
"No- Well- You see, it's all very complicated."
"Simplify. Now."
"Harry?"
"Right. Yes. Draco's been possessed by a diary that someone named Tom Riddle made about fifty or so years ago? The, uh, well. He tried to make us think you were the one behind the attacks, but we knew it wasn't you, so we didn't believe him. When his loyalty thing didn't work out he tried driving us crazy, then he took over Draco and made him think he was going even crazier, and then we burned the diary after we figured it all out." Oh, Harry. Draco sighed heavily.
"Yes, that's about the long and the short of it, but it's fine. We burned the diary." Looking back to Hagrid, the man seemed faint and rather unsteady, sitting back down on the front steps with a thump. Maybe they had explained a bit too much. "Ah, right... Sorry about the roosters, then." The man now had his head buried in his hands, Harry giggling beside Draco. A bit hysterically, but, well. It was still laughter?
"Just... Just promise me you'll go straight to Dumbledore and Poppy if you get possessed again. Because if that book's burned and this still happens... Tom Riddle knew Dark magic, Draco. Darker than even you're aware of."
Draco glanced to Harry, his fingers crossed behind his back. "On Merlin's grave."
"Thank you," Hagrid sighed, slumping in his seat. "A basilisk... A basilisk. I'll need ta let Dumbledore know. Find a way to flush it out of the school. Course, would need proof. If we could only find that bloody Chamber."
"I've no idea where it might be." Every time he had been taken over it was just a blank spot in his memory. He couldn't remember where the Chamber was if he tried.
"At least you two are alright," Hagrid sighed, looking between them. "Be careful, alright? Last thing I need is you two gettin' hurt."
Draco nodded at that. "We'll be careful." He turned around and took Harry's hand. Looking up towards the castle, he blinked as he saw their friends making their way down towards them.
"How fast do you two run," Blaise panted, bent over to catch his breath. "And why did you just break Hagrid? How did you break Hagrid?"
Draco shook his head. "It's not important, Blaise, Hermione, I need as much information about basilisks as you two can scrounge up." The two shared a look, seeming to communicate silently for a moment before Hermione rolled her eyes and Blaise smirked.
"Fine," Hermione turned and started heading back to the castle. "On the condition that I don't want to know why you need the information. I'd like to pretend to have a normal school career, unlike you lot."
"What, we can't be genuinely curious students? You wound me."
As they walked back up to the dorm, Draco near tripped, as Ron had stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Why, exactly?" Looking around the child, he saw a moving line of spiders that were crawling out the window.
"Don't see that everyday," Harry mused, raising an eyebrow as Ron shuddered violently and took a few steps back. "Ron? You alright?"
"That... Huh." Draco walked forward and stepped over the line. "Well, I'm not being attacked by spiders." Still, this was strange behavior... Hagrid had mentioned Aragog and his kind hadn't liked the basilisk. Maybe it was all types of spiders that feared it.
"Good enough for me," Pansy skipped over the line, the others hesitantly following. It required Harry dragging Ron by his robes to get him over the line of moving spiders.
"Certainly don't see that very often, do you?"
"Means this isn't over yet," Harry muttered, eyeing the line of spiders as he lowered his voice. "The diary might be gone, but we still have this basilisk to deal with."
"Got our best people on it," Draco said with a smile. He touched his forehead to Harry's temple. It got a small laugh from Harry, the smile looking much better than the worried look he'd been wearing lately.
"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, just because you were possessed by a book doesn't mean you get to skip out on helping me with potions."
::
"Hey, Draco." Harry sat down on Draco's bed with a sweet smile, half the dorm already asleep and the others quietly working on homework or reading. "So, remember how you promised me I could draw you in a pose of my choosing if I wore my green robes to the Quidditch match?"
"Yes, Harry, I remember. What do you want? Me across a fainting couch? A leg in the air? Do your worst." Because, really, it had been worth it to see Harry in his colors for the day. Even if that meant some stupid pose that involved him...sitting on the windowsill.
"Right, sit here, lean back against the wall." Harry pushed and nudged until he had one foot braced on the ground, a leg tucked up to his chest, and a book resting open in his lap. Draco couldn't help a quiet laugh.
"Am I allowed to turn the page?" The only response was an absent nod, Harry already sitting on the end of his own bed and flipping through his sketchbook.
About a half hour later, Draco was standing. "Well, that was rather boring," he proclaimed. Only... It wasn't him. Draco had been more than content to sit there. So then why...
"I'm not done yet," Harry frowned, looking uncertain for a moment. "Although, if you want to finish tomorrow, we can. It probably is boring just sitting there like that."
"Oh, please. I've been bored this entire time. I've been trying to find the best way to let you down gently." What - No. No, this wasn't right, this wasn't him. What was going on?
"Oh." Harry blinked, Draco seeing the hurt in his eyes for a split second before smiling. "Sorry for boring you so much. Thanks for staying as long as you did, though."
"Feh. I'm honestly surprised I've stayed around you this long." No no no this wasn't him! Harry it's not him!
"Ye... Yeah." Harry slipped of his bed, gaze now on the ground as he shuffled around and tried to make himself seem busy. "I'm not really all that much, when you get down to it, but..." A flash and Harry had his wand trained on him, eyes sharp and swirling with anger. "Neither are you, Riddle."
"Impressive, for a second year. Unless you're a time traveler, as well." Harry opened his mouth and Riddle held up a finger. "Ah ah ah. You hurt me, you hurt him."
"Yeah, I would end up hurting him, wouldn't I." Harry's voice didn't fault once, green eyes blazing as if he was made of magic. "Here's the thing, though. A Gryffindor would never hurt their friend like this. But... I'm not exactly a Gryffindor. You miscalculated, Riddle. Petrificus Totalus!" Draco felt the swirling anger, like a storm quickly coming in, but Draco could only cheer. Harry knew. Harry knew it wasn't him.
For now.
"Here's the thing, Riddle. Either you let him go right now, or I go scream bloody murder and wake up every teacher in this castle. Dumbledore included. Draco mentioned that you were surprised to learn he was still here. Bad memories?" A moment, Harry flicking his wand and muttering something under his breath.
"So. This is the great Harry Potter. Certainly living up to the legend, aren't you? The Chosen One. The Boy Who Lived." Had... Had Draco told him all that? He didn't remember...
"A legend you don't need to know about. We're after your time, and you're nothing but the lingering pages from a book we burned. Care to try having the rest of you burned?"
"That's what you think. There's so much more to this story than you can even attempt to comprehend." The second Riddle forced his body to move, there were sparks of magic coming from Harry's wand. Not the normal sparks that were so common, but as if a powerful spell was about to be unleashed.
"I am giving you one last chance, Riddle. Do not test me when it comes to my friends."
"Hm. This certainly won't be the last time you see me. Potter." It was almost like the laughter Draco heard from Riddle was inside his head. He didn't have long to think about it, his body suddenly under his own control again and Merlin. Harry's magic was certainly getting stronger, wasn't it? Draco sighed. "It's alright. I'm me."
"Draco, look at me." Draco looked up into Harry's eyes, trying to keep his own fear away as best he could. He was only looking for a moment before Harry dropped his wand and launched himself at Draco in a hug, sending them both back down to the floor. "God, Draco."
Draco hugged him back tightly. "I'm here. It's me." Merlin, that... That had been too close. If Harry hadn't recognized it wasn't him, Riddle could have ended up causing another attack. "How did you know? I mean, I was aware for it all-"
"I've known you for almost two years. Riddle might know everything, but not even he knows just how you act when around me." Harry sat back on his heels, hands cupping Draco's cheek as he studied him. "Plus you always love being my model, you peacock."
Draco gave an offended scoff, shrugging Harry's hands off. "I am no peacock! And plus, I hate being your model. For your information, it gives me excruciating back pain."
"So dramatic," Harry laughed, relaxing back against Draco. "We... We need to tell Dumbledore, Draco. We burned the book and you still-"
"No!" Draco held Harry's arms tightly. "Harry, we can't tell Dumbledore! There isn't even any evidence!"
"Considering what happened last year, I think he'd at least be willing to hear us out," Harry flinched at the hold, curling in on himself as he grew quiet. "We promised Hagrid."
"I had my fingers crossed!"
"Draco!" Draco sighed and looked down at his lap.
"Harry. We can't tell Dumbledore. I couldn't bear it. And like I said. We don't have any evidence. I highly doubt he'd take me over in Dumbledore's office to help prove our point."
"Maybe not, but Dumbledore is one of the most powerful wizards to ever live. Surely he'd be able to tell Riddle is somehow possessing you... Right?" Harry tugged on Draco's arm, getting his attention. "It's getting dangerous."
Draco automatically flinched at the pull on his left arm. "I know... I'm just scared." As you rightfully should be. Draco shook his head firmly. "Shut up," he muttered.
"No one is gonna make fun of you for being scared," Harry sighed, letting his hand trail down Draco's arm to instead tangle their fingers together. "You... You said you remembered. You knew he took you over?"
"I was aware the entire damn time."
"Could be he's weaker now that we destroyed the diary."
Draco scoffed, shaking his head. "Somehow, I doubt that's it."
"Draco..."
"What?" Draco looked up at Harry, squeezing his hand.
"Just..." Harry took Draco's other hand, holding them both as he looked him in the eye. "Promise me we'll tell someone if it starts to overwhelm you. We'll look for evidence, but if it gets bad..."
Draco slowly nodded his head. "Harry, you'll have to tell someone." If Riddle could take him over whenever he pleased, now... Oo, clever clever... "Shut up," Draco repeated with another shake of his head.
"I just... I'm just worried..."
"No- Harry, I know you are. But you'll have to tell someone, if it gets bad. I won't be able to." You can try. Wouldn't that be interesting? Draco gave a quiet huff, shaking his head more vigorously. He stopped with Harry's hands cupping his cheeks again, the child looking more worried than before. Draco let his own hands rest over top of Harry's. He gave Harry a look that he hoped conveyed everything he wanted to say.
"Let's... Let's get to bed, yeah? We have classes tomorrow, and even though spring break is coming up we still have a bunch of homework we need to be focusing on." Draco sighed, his hands falling.
"Yeah. Yeah, alright." He turned away and climbed into bed. "Good night."
"Good night, Draco."
Sleep tight.
