Chapter 11 – Attacks and the Dueling Club
"If he takes my photograph one more time, I'll chop his hands off and string him upside down in the great hall naked," Harry said fuming.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will."
"Or I'll feed him to the giant squid," he ranted.
"I told you its vegetarian."
"I shove that bloody camera up his nose."
"It's too big."
"I'll transfigure him into a camera, that'll make him happy."
"You'll be expelled."
Harry stopped and glared at his friend, "Whose side are you on! Mine or his?" he demanded.
"I look for peaceful solutions to such matters," he said, in a saint like voice.
Harry looked at him incredulously, "You, Blaise Zabini, of the ruthless but neutral Zabini family would look for peaceful solutions!"
"Hmm, I guess not, but he's your headache not mine."
"Some friend you are," Harry muttered, his eyes checking his surroundings constantly so that if he spotted Lockhart or Creevey he could run in the opposite direction.
"At least he's not as bad as Lockhart," Blaise said, sounding sympathetic.
"Please don't remind me!" groaned Harry. "Honestly I don't know which is worse, to have a kid taking my photograph every time he spots me or a fool of a teacher who's made up his mind to embarrass me every time he gets the chance."
"You know, I'm surprised you haven't cursed them yet. If I try to wake you a little before seven or do anything to piss you off you'd transfigure me into a pile of dung," said Blaise frowning.
"I'm surprised too, but if I did, Dumbledore would probably expel me like you said and I'd bring the wrath of the Gryffindor's down upon me and I don't fancy cursing the crap out of them and end up getting expelled as well."
"True, true," Blaise said seriously, as they reached the entrance to their common room.
"Mudblood," Harry said and the wall slid open. "Which moronic fool would put such a password?"
"It was Flint," Blaise grunted.
"Bloody troll faced bastard," Harry growled.
Blaise looked at him surprised, "I never seen you lose your temper like this before, usually you're all calm and composed," mocked Blaise.
"Why, you got a problem!" snarled Harry.
"Hey, hey, don't need to let your frustrations out on me," said Blaise defensively.
Harry glared at Blaise who ignored him and sat in one of the chairs. Harry sighed and collapsed on the couch.
"Sorry," Harry said looking apologetically at Blaise, "With Creevey, Lockhart and the rest of the Gryffindor's acting like freaking morons my temper has been on the edge."
"It's alright," Blaise said sighing, "If I were in your place I would have blown up long ago."
It had been more than a month since they had returned to Hogwarts and Harry's temper was running high almost every single day. With Colin Creevey running behind him every second of the day with his accursed camera, Weasley accusing him of turning his sister dark, Lockhart giving him tips on how to handle being a celebrity and with the amount of homework the teachers were giving them, anybody would be on the edge of loosing their temper.
"Hey Potter, Zabini," Malfoy drawled walking into the common room with his Crabbe and Goyle lumbering behind him.
"Hey, Malfoy," Harry grunted while Blaise just nodded "What's up?"
"Nothing just came to inform you guys that Quidditch tryouts are taking place next Sunday," he said sitting in one of the arm chairs while Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him.
"Really?" said Harry, his attention shifting towards Malfoy.
"Yeah," he drawled "I'm trying out for seeker, there's a spot open for chaser and seeker."
"Hmmm, I'd love to try out but I don't have a broom," Harry mused.
"So order one or use the school brooms."
"I'd rather buy my own broom than use those pathetic school brooms," Harry muttered "How much does a decent broom cost?" he asked turning towards Malfoy and Blaise.
"The new nimbus 2001 comes for around 200 to 250 galleons," Malfoy said "But if you could always go for a Cleansweep if you want a cheaper one."
"Naw I'd rather buy the best."
"Malfoy grinned at him, "Knew you had it in you Potter."
"Had what in me?"
"What it takes to be a true pureblood unlike those blood traitors."
"Thanks, I think," Harry said rolling his eyes, not in the mood to hear Draco rant about mudblood's and blood traitors again.
"I can't believe the Weasley girl is actually in Slytherin….. honestly, we should just kick her out of the common room and send her packing to the Gryffindor tower," Malfoy said sneering.
"She's in this house because she must have had the qualities of a Slytherin Malfoy," said Harry sighing. "And why do you care? Its not like she's doing any harm to you is she?"
"Well no but look at her!" he said looking disgusted, "All she does is cry all day and write in that silly diary of hers," he said pointing towards the corner of the common room and indeed there she was, looking miserable and writing in her diary.
"Well let her sort out her own matters, she just needs time to adjust. Does she have any friends?" Harry asked him.
"None, I heard from Pansy that Daphne and Tracey actually tried talking to her and few of the first years also tried but she just ignored them and went about her daily routine or whatever it is she does. I even saw her brothers yelling at her when she met them about a week back," he said looking rather pleased.
"Really! Her brothers yelled at her for being in Slytherin?" asked Harry, surprised. He hadn't expected the Weasley's to actually turn their backs on one of their own just because she was in a different house.
"Yeah, cool isn't it," Draco said happily.
"Yeah, really cool," Harry murmured looking at the youngest Weasley sympathetically. He knew what it was like to be belittled and ignored and insulted. After all that's how he had grown up.
"Well got to go," Draco said loudly, "Have to find some puffs to bully," he said and left the common room with his two body guards trailing behind him.
"What you thinking Harry?" Blaise asked Harry, who was staring at Ginny and seemed to be deep in thought.
"Nothing, nothing," he muttered distracted "Come on lets go for dinner," he said shortly and walked out of the common room.
It was almost midnight, the common room was empty and Harry was busy completing his potions and history assignments. He yawned as he put the finishing touches to his essays and re-read them once again to make sure there weren't any mistakes.
At half past twelve when he was finally ready to go to bed, he heard someone coming down the stairs. He stiffened and was surprised when he saw Ginny Weasley head towards the common room exit not even glancing at him.
"Ginevra," he called out, surprising himself at calling her by her first name.
She froze and slowly turned around not saying a word.
"Where do you think you're going at this hour?" Harry asked curiously.
She just stared at him unblinking, holding her diary close to her.
"Err… are you alright?" he asked her uncertainly, it was extremely creepy the way she was scrutinizing him.
"I'm fine," she said finally "Just felt like going out for a walk."
"Don't you think it's a little too late for that?" Harry stated dryly.
"No I don't and it's none of you business so go back to your books," she said coldly.
Harry was taken aback by her cold tone, "Alright, you go where ever it is you're going and I'll pretend I never saw you," he said slowly, extremely un-nerved by the girls behavior.
She nodded and left the common room without giving him a second glance.
"What the hell was that?" Harry wondered, as he went up to his room.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Seekers to my left and chasers to my right," shouted Marcus Flint, the current Slytherin team Quidditch captain.
Harry, Draco and loads of other students varying from third to seventh year has assembled to try out for the Quidditch team. Harry after much debate and argument with Blaise had agreed to try out for seeker as his body and size was perfect for a seeker and not to mention the spectacular dives he had pulled the first time he got on a broom.
"Alright, your job is simple enough. I'll be releasing the snitch and the one who gets it the fastest will get a chance to be on the team. I'll be releasing it three times and if anyone manages to catch it at least two times if not all three, will automatically be on the team," Flint barked.
He opened the Quidditch set and released the snitch. Two minutes later be blew his whistle and every one soared into the air.
Harry felt the wind blowing through his hair and he felt free, like he had no worries at all. He flew high above the ground and began searching for the snitch while most of the other students opted to fly around randomly. A few others like Harry had opted to fly high above the ground including Draco.
Fifteen minutes later there was still no sign of the snitch. Harry flew around slowly, his eyes darting back and forth trying to look for a tiny speck of gold.
"You think you're going to beat me Potter?" sneered Draco as he flew past Harry.
Harry rolled his eyes, "I don't think - I know I'm going to get the position Malfoy."
Malfoy just sneered at him and shot off in the opposite direction.
Harry looked back at him and froze, he had just seen the snitch and it was hovering at the ground near the goal posts and nobody had spotted it yet.
Harry immediately pointed his Nimbus 2001 downwards and shot like a bullet towards the ground. The others having spotted the snitch too changed their direction and headed straight for the snitch.
"Come on," he urged his broom now almost vertically above the snitch. He could see Malfoy zooming towards the snitch from the other end of the ground from the corner of his eyes.
Seconds later he pulled out of his dive a few feet above the ground with the snitch firmly in his fist. The others hadn't stood a chance.
Grinning ear to ear, he landed next to Flint and handed him the snitch.
Flint just stared at him, his mouth open.
"Err… Captain Flint," Harry said uncertainly "I just caught the snitch."
Harry looked around and saw almost everybody was staring at him with unconcealed shock and awe.
"That… that was bloody unbelievable Potter!" Flint exclaimed "Since when have you been flying like that!"
"This was my second time on a broom, sir," he said.
"Second time…. SECOND TIME! And you pull one of the best dives I have ever seen!" he yelled looking delighted "Bloody hell…..." he said looking amazed. "That's it welcome to the team Potter, you're our new seeker."
Harry was stunned, "Wow, thanks… I mean wow," he said unable to speak coherently.
"That's not fair Flint," whined Malfoy, "It's supposed to be best out of three. I'm sure I'll be the one catching the snitch this time!"
"Shut it Malfoy," growled Flint, "If I want your opinion I'll ask for it."
"You want my dad's opinion," said Malfoy casually.
Flint paled drastically, "err… alright, catch the snitch again and you're on the team Potter," he said nervously. "Alright all seekers back in the air," he yelled after releasing the snitch.
But Harry caught the snitch again without much effort at all. It was like he was born to be a seeker.
"Well done Potter," Flint said grinning, "He won fair and square Malfoy, if you want I can give you a go for the chaser spot," he said. Malfoy just spat on the ground and stalked off to the place where the chaser try outs were to take place. "Well Potter, I'll be expecting you for practice tomorrow morning at six. Don't be late."
"Y-yes sir," Harry stammered and headed back to the common room in daze. He knew he was good, but he didn't know he was that good.
If he had turned around, he would have seen the jealous stares he was getting by the others who had tried out and the hate filled stare of Draco Malfoy.
After the shock of getting chosen as seeker sunk in, Harry happily strolled back to the common room to give Blaise the good news. Blaise wasn't interested in trying out. According to him, it was a waste of time and more than once involved a major accident.
Harry entered the common room, his eyes seeking out Blaise. He spotted him near the fire place lazily lying on the couch reading some stupid magazine.
Harry quietly sneaked up behind him and pushed him off the couch. He shrieked and fell to the ground with a thump.
"What the hell!" he yelled and jumped to his feet ready to pound the person who dropped him. All he saw was Harry sitting comfortably on his couch with his wand in one hand and broom in the other.
"You," he said narrowing his eyes, "What are you doing back here so early and why did you push me out of that lovely couch."
"You shriek like a little girl," Harry said trying hard not to burst out laughing.
"Go back to your tryouts you git," Blaise snapped.
"Well," Harry drawled "I would but what's the point if I'm already the new seeker of the Slytherin team."
All his anger at Harry vanished instantaneously "You got seeker! That's awesome!"
"I know," Harry replied grinning "I caught the snitch on both times without much difficulty. Flint gave me the position after the first try but Malfoy started whining so he grudgingly made us go one more time and I caught it again and since I caught it twice in succession, the position was automatically mine."
"Wow….. That's just awesome...! What about Malfoy? He must have been hopping mad."
"Don't know, don't care, but I'm sure he was," Harry replied shrugging "Anyway I'm going for a shower, I'll see you in the great hall."
-x-x-x-x-x-
For the next few weeks Harry had to split his time between Quidditch practice, homework, avoiding Lockhart and Creevey and experimenting with his ability in secret.
Before he knew it Halloween had arrived and just like last year he wanted to avoid the feast but Blaise somehow convinced him to come. So rather than waiting for the feast to get over, Harry ate a little food and left the great hall under his invisibility cloak not wanting to draw any attention. Everybody was so intent on eating anything they could grab that nobody, including the teachers noticed a student suddenly disappear in the shadows except for Blaise.
After exiting the great hall, Harry sighed in relief and wandered around aimlessly. "Honestly, why am I acting so depressed," he wondered. "I have the best wand in the world, I am the new Slytherin seeker, I have a great friend, then why the hell am I acting like a sissy," he said smacking himself on the head.
"I should be enjoying myself at the feast right now, not moping about parents whom I didn't even know," he said trying to get the image of his parents out of his head. "And where the hell am I?" he said looking around. It was the third floor.
He sighed and decided to go back to his common room. The feast would be over in another half hour or less anyway.
And then Harry heard it.
Rip…..kill…tear…..
Harry froze.
Hungry…..so hungry!
"What the hell?" whispered Harry pressing his ear against the wall trying to find the source of the voice. It was coming from the floor below. Harry ran down the stairs but as luck had it, the stairs switched and connected to 1st floor.
He cursed and ran down determined to find another staircase which lead to the second floor.
I smell FOOD! He heard it say in a cold inhuman murderous voice.
"Shit, it's going to eat or kill someone," he thought and ran faster, abandoning all sense of caution.
He found the other stairs leading to the second floor and rushed up not noticing three startled Gryffindor's staring at him.
"Who was that?" said Hermione, staring up the stairs where Harry had vanished.
"Donno, reckon we should follow him?" Ron asked uncertainly.
"Yeah, let's go," Lillian said hesitantly and all three Gryffindor's followed him slowly not making a sound.
Meanwhile Harry had reached on top and was frozen in his spot staring at wall in front of him.
Written in huge letters on the wall between two flaming torches was:
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED
ENEMY'S OF THE HEIR BEWARE
And hanging below on an empty torch bracket was a cat as stiff as a board, its small yellow eyes wide and staring ahead unblinking. There was water all over the floor coming out of the bathroom next to the wall.
Harry slowly and hesitantly took a step towards the cat and realized it was Mrs. Norris. He stared in shock at the cat not knowing what to do. But before he could pull himself together and think of something he heard someone stumble on the stairs. Panicking and not wanting to be found in such a position he quickly pulled out his invisibility cloak and covered himself and hurried down the passage way towards the great hall. He turned back and saw Ron, Hermione and Lillian come up the stairs just as he headed into a different corridor leading straight to the great hall.
He knew if those Gryffindor's were found there Weasley would blame him or any Slytherin in an instant and he was sure they had seen him. If he was in the great hall before the feast ended, he could always say that he had never left the feast. Now he knew what Flint had meant when he had explained the rules of Slytherin to them.
If he had been caught there, the whole blame would fall on him just because he was a Slytherin.
He slipped into the great hall, and removed his cloak in one corner of the hall and made his way carefully towards Blaise, who seemed to be forcing some cake down his throat. Nobody even noticed him.
Harry took his seat next to him and whispered, "Hey."
"Hey!" said Blaise with his mouth full. Harry grimaced a specks of cream fell on his hand. "Hadn't you gone back to the common room?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later. For now if anyone asks I never left the hall and was with you the entire time," he said and wiped his hand on his robes.
Blaise nodded and didn't ask anymore questions sensing the seriousness in Harry's voice.
"Hey Draco, pass the chocolate cake will you," Harry said in a false cheerful tone.
"Here you go Potter, and try the custard too, it's the best I've ever had!"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Where did he go?" whispered Hermione.
"I donno, he must have gone upstairs or down the corridor or must have heard you and fled," whispered back Lillian.
"What's that," Ron said pointing towards the big words in the dim light.
"The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemy's of the heir beware," Lillian read "What's that supposed to mean?"
"What- what's that hanging underneath?" Ron said with a slight quiver in his voice.
They edged closer and Ron almost slipped in the puddle of water but Hermione caught him before he fell. They squinted through the darkness; all three realized at once what it was and leapt back with a splash.
For a few seconds they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Let's get out of here."
"Shouldn't we help her or…" began Lillian awkwardly.
"No, trust me, we don't want to be found here," Ron whispered harshly.
But it was too late. A rumble, somewhat like distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended.
From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well fed people. The next moment, students were crowding into the passage from both sides. Unlike Harry, the Gryffindor's didn't have an invisibility cloak to hide in and were frozen in their places.
The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat and the three Gryffindor second years standing there alone, in the middle of the grisly sight.
Harry's heart sank as they reached the passage where the cat hung. He sincerely hoped that those Gryffindor's had gotten away in time but it wasn't so. Suddenly Draco pushed past him and went in front and shouted through the quiet.
"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, mudblood's!" his cold eyes alive, his usually pale face flushed, as he grinned at the hanging immobile cat.
"What's going on here? What's going on?" shouted Argus Filch, shoving his way through the crowd. He saw Mrs. Norris and his face fell, "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
His wild eyes fell on Lillian, "You!" he howled "You killed her! You've killed my cat! You… you… I'll kill you! I'll…"
"Argus."
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene followed by a number of other teachers.
"She killed my cat Headmaster! She killed her!" he screamed.
"No, I didn't!" Lillian said her heart beating painfully against her chest.
"Yes, she did! I saw her kicking my cat just yesterday!" he howled glaring hatefully at Lillian who stared intently at her shoes determined not to meet the eyes of the headmaster.
"Silence," Dumbledore said sharply and moved past the distraught caretaker and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me Argus, You too, Mr. Weasley, Miss Austin and Miss Granger."
"We didn't do anything, we saw Potter running up here and when we came up we saw the cat," Ron said fearfully, under the impression that they were going to be expelled.
All the Slytherin's standing there burst out muttering angrily at the accusation against one of their own who according to them hadn't even left the feast until now.
Dumbledore stopped in his tracks and turned and faced Ron who flinched when his eyes locked with Dumbledore's. "And why would you accuse Mr. Potter of such a thing Mr. Weasley?"
Hermione stamped his foot hard before he could dig himself into a deeper hole, "Actually professor, we just saw someone running up the stairs but we didn't recognize the person and Ronald here just assumed it was Potter," she said hurriedly.
Dumbledore looked at her piercingly for a moment then nodded. "Right follow me now."
"Please use my office headmaster," Lockhart said eagerly "It's just upstairs."
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
The crowd parted silently to let them pass. Lockhart looking excited and important hurried behind Dumbledore; so did McGonagall and Snape.
"Alright everybody back to their respective common rooms," professor Sprout said, her voice shaking a bit.
Slowly everybody started moving and headed to their common rooms muttering to each other under their breath.
"Can you believe that weasel," hissed Malfoy.
"Yeah, I know, accusing me for no reason at all," Harry said agreeing with Malfoy but his mind was elsewhere. First of someone had attacked the cat and the thing was it didn't sound human at all. How that cat had died was weird, he thought, thinking of all the spells he knew that could kill.
Before he knew it, they were in the common room and Blaise had dragged him up before anybody would question him as to why Weasley had accused him.
As soon as they were in their room, Blaise locked the door and turned sharply towards Harry, "Please tell me you didn't do that to the cat."
"What, NO!" Harry said indignantly "Of course I didn't."
"Ok good," Blaise said letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "So you going to tell me what happened?" he said sitting on his bed.
Harry took a deep breath, "Well you know I left the hall early under my invisibility cloak right?"
"Yeah"
"Well I went roaming around the school and suddenly I heard this voice."
"You heard a voice?"
"Yeah, it was talking about killing someone, so I tried to find the person since all the teachers were in the great hall and I wasn't thinking straight. So I followed the voice and it lead me to that place where the cat was. Then I heard someone coming up behind me so I threw the cloak over me and ran back to the great hall and luckily nobody realized I had gone and then you know the rest."
Blaise didn't say anything but was frowning and seemed to be deep in thought.
"What is it?" Harry asked him.
"The chamber of secrets, I heard about it somewhere."
"Of course you have, it's supposed to be a legendary secret chamber in the castle built by Slytherin himself," Harry said rolling his eyes.
Blaise looked startled, "What! How do you know that?"
"I read Blaise; it's mentioned in Hogwarts a history. I remember reading about it. Though there has never been proof of the chamber actually existing."
"So who are the enemies of the heir?" asked Blaise curiously, with a tinge of fear in his voice.
"Muggleborn's," Harry said shortly.
"Oh," he said sounding somewhat relieved.
There was a short moment of silence. Both lost in their own respective thoughts.
"You know Harry."
"What?"
"I've been meaning to ask you, where do you disappear during the nights at times?"
Harry looked shocked, "What are you talking about Blaise?" he said carefully.
"Don't act innocent with me Harry, sometimes I get up during the night and you're never there in your bed and once or twice I've seen you sneak out of the room too."
"Outside," he said evasively.
"Come on Harry! Can't you trust me?"
Harry looked at Blaise carefully, thinking whether he should trust him with this bit of information.
"Practicing somewhere," he said finally.
"Practicing what and where?"
"First you have to promise me you won't tell anybody, not your parents, not your girlfriend if you have any that is, not even a bug or an animal," Harry said firmly.
"I promise," he said solemnly.
Harry took a deep breath and pointed one finger at Blaise.
"You've been practicing to point fingers at people," he joked. Here he thought Harry was about to share some incredible secret with him and instead he points a finger at him.
Suddenly he was hit by a jet of water which hit with such force that he was pushed over and toppled over from the other side of his bed.
Coughing and shivering, he slowly got up and looked at Harry who was sitting on his bed grinning at him.
"W-w-what just h-ha-happened?"
Harry didn't reply and instead pointed his finger at him again. This time water slowly came out of his finger and slithered towards Blaise like a snake and crawled up his leg and warped itself around his neck and began to cover his face slowly.
Blaise was too shocked and scared to move or talk. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He stared at Harry fearfully wondering what the hell was going on.
Harry realizing his friend was getting freaked out immediately broke his connection with the water resulting in the water to fall down with a splash and spread on the floor. He then leveled his hand at the water on the floor. Immediately the water flew towards him and formed a big ball of swirling water on his palm. He raised his hand towards the window and the ball of water was thrown out of the window.
Harry turned to Blaise who still had a stupefied expression on his face.
"Blaise… Blaise… BLAISE!" Harry yelled, trying to get his attention.
Blaise was jerked out of his trance like state and he slowly looked Harry in the eye. "Harry mate, please tell me what just happened," he tried to say calmly, but his voice betrayed his fear and confusion.
"My dear Blaise, you just saw me control water and blast you with a jet of water which came out of my finger," Harry said smirking.
"Holy crap," whispered Blaise, his demeanor changing the instant Harry said that, as if something just clicked in his head.
"What?"
"You're a freakin' elemental," he said staring at Harry in awe.
"I'm a what?"
"An elemental, one with the power to control one of nature's elements."
"Care to repeat that!" Harry said incredulously.
"You. Are. A. Water. Elemental," he said slowly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"What's that supposed to mean!" Blaise cried "Harry, elementals haven't been seen for centuries. And to be one is extremely rare well forget rare, it's unheard of and here my bloody room mate is an elemental who can control water….! Do you have any idea what that means!"
Harry just raised an eyebrow, he had never heard of elementals.
"It means you are shit arse powerful and can do whatever you want with water!"
They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. Harry thoughtfully and Blaise in awe.
"How do you know all this," Harry asked finally.
"It's common knowledge among purebloods. We are taught fencing, all about wizarding history and its customs and all sorts of things. It's a sort of tradition among ancient families like the Malfoy's, Nott's, Montague's and a few more," Blaise said shrugging.
Harry frowned, "I've read many books on wizarding history and I've never heard of an elemental."
"You won't find a book mentioning elementals so easily. In the entire wizarding history there must have been like 5 to 6 elementals till date and you can add yourself to the list."
Harry gaped at Blaise, "That's it! Just 5 to 6!"
"Yep, that's why it's amazing you're one. Nobody even knows the name of an elemental till date. They have been just spotted a few times using their powers and stories about them are passed down from father to son or daughter. They're like bed time stories nowadays."
"And just because I can shoot water from my fingers I'm a water elemental?"
"Obviously…., have you ever heard of any other wizard shooting water, fire, wind or earth from their fingers?" Blaise asked him sarcastically.
Harry's mind flashed back to Lillian walking through fire. "No, I guess not."
"There you have it. My room mate is a bloody water elemental," he said, his face breaking out into a grin.
"You know you can't tell anyone right?" said Harry narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah I know, don't worry about it, I won't be opening my mouth."
Harry sighed, "Well I'm going to bed now. It's been a hectic day. Finding out I'm an elemental, Mrs. Norris being killed, running away from two Harry Potter freaks. All in all a wonderful day," he said rolling his eyes. "Anyway good night."
"Good night to you too Mr. Elemental."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The day after Mrs. Norris had been attacked Dumbledore had announced at breakfast that the cat was very much alive and was just petrified. Harry was extremely surprised at this revelation. The cat had practically become stone. It wasn't breathing or functioning at all yet it was alive, he decided to research spells that could actually do such a thing. His wand was no help either. It hadn't spoken a word to him since last summer which annoyed Harry to no end.
For the next few days all students walked in groups in fear of being attacked, Slytherin Gryffindor relations were strained to breaking point and they were hexing each other on sight. Filch was handing out detentions like toilet paper. Weasley was spreading rumors about Harry being the attacker as usual and every time Harry walked in a corridor or entered the great hall, everybody would run away from him and avoid him at all costs. Harry was rather pleased by this, since nobody kept gaping and whispering when ever they saw him. If he had known all he had to do was scare them, he would have done it ages ago.
For once Harry was glad Weasley was spreading such rumors and hadn't met the Gryffindor trio since the attack so that he could thank them in person. Right now Harry had his broom swung over his shoulder and was on his way to the Quidditch pitch for his first ever Quidditch match with Malfoy, who had managed to get the chaser position by buying the rest of the team brand new nimbus 2001's. He had tried to get the seekers position, but Flint was adamant that Harry remain seeker and had offered Draco the chaser position.
When Harry and Draco entered the changing rooms the entire team was already there, ready to fly out and kick Gryffindor ass.
"Alright team, we have been practicing like crazy everyday for the past week. Today I don't want any mistakes or else you'll suffer. You know the strategy, knock as many players as possible out of the sky and the game is as good as ours," he growled. "Alright let's go and kick some Gryffindork arse!" he shouted.
The whole team roared enthusiastically and walked out of the changing room. They were greeted by loud cheers and boo's. The boo's and hisses coming from the rest of the school apart from the Slytherin's.
"And the Slytherin team walks out with two new additions to their team, Potter and Malfoy! One would think twice before picking such scrawny git's like them!" a loud voice was heard saying, a Gryffindor named Lee Jordon was the commentator for the match.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team! Wood, Johnson, Bell, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley and Weasley! The Gryffindor's have a new talent in their team who goes by the name of Roonnaaalllll Weasleyyyyyyyy!" and the Gryffindor's screamed wildly.
Harry looked at the Gryffindor team in surprise, he knew the Weasley twins were on the team and were pretty good but Ron! He had seen the git fly during flying practice and he was nothing but a pile of dung on a broom. "New talent they say," he said shaking his head in amusement.
Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than necessary.
"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three ... two ... one. . ."
With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch.
Harry could vaguely hear the commentator sing praises about the Gryffindor team and their new seeker Ronald Weasley. He glanced towards Ron and saw him looking around nervously for the snitch.
Harry grinned and decided to play with the youngest male Weasley. He shot towards him and shoved him almost making him fall off his broom. Grinning he glanced back and sure enough, Weasley was red in the face and looked furious.
Suddenly Harry shouted, "Oh look, the snitch," and shot towards the ground but made sure Ron was close to him.
"And it looks like Potter's spotted the snitch and is shooting towards the ground with Weasley hot on his trail! Come on Ron!"
A few feet above the ground Harry pulled up suddenly and heard a loud crunch and grinned victoriously ignoring the outraged yells coming from the stands and Jordon screaming about slimy Slytherin's and cheaters.
Madam hooch blew her whistle causing play to stop.
"Nice one Potter," said Flint, flying up to him and thumping him on the back, "All you need to do is catch the snitch and the game is ours. They don't stand a chance against our brooms," he said and flew away to give quick instructions to the rest of the team. He spotted Malfoy looking at him resentfully but with a little respect too. Obviously he had acknowledged Harry as the better flyer even if he wouldn't say it out loud.
A few minutes later Ron got back on his broom shakily and took off into the air.
He resumed his job of looking for the snitch but didn't have any luck so far. Suddenly he heard a whistling noise behind him and spotted a bludger heading straight for his head.
He quickly performed a barrel roll and avoided it. But it immediately turned back sharply and headed straight for him. The next five minutes were spent dodging and performing weird tricks on his broom to avoid being pulverized, but then he saw the snitch.
It was hovering near the Gryffindor middle goal.
He heard the bludger coming behind him and dived with a sudden burst of speed zooming towards the snitch. He saw Weasley heading towards the snitch too but overtook his pathetic broom without any effort. Within seconds the snitch was in his hand and the Slytherin stands exploded into cheers.
Grinning from ear to ear he headed back to the ground and celebrated with the rest of his team mates. They had won 220 – 20 and Harry felt like bursting with happiness when all of a sudden he heard someone scream. Distracted he turned around only too feel something hard smash into his face and knock him to the ground.
Dazed he tried to see who hit him, but spotted a bludger heading towards him again. His eyes widened in horror and he tried to move away but it was too late. It slammed into his ribs hard and flew back into sky for another attack. Harry moaned in pain, he could feel something dripping from the side of his head and his chest felt like someone had just stabbed him multiple times.
He saw the bludger head for him again and the first thought that crossed his mind was to be the first player to be killed in their first game by a bludger. Just before it hit him again it exploded into a million pieces and he blacked out.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Hours later Harry woke up suddenly in the pitch blackness with in a dull throb in his chest and head. For a moment where was he and then memories of the Quidditch incident came crashing down to him.
He wondered if he had woken because of the pain but then with a thrill of horror, he felt someone press a wet sponge to his forehead.
"Get off!" he said loudly and then, "Dobby!"
The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.
Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why did Harry Potter come to school when Dobby warned him?"
Harry heaved himself up on his pillows and pushed Dobby's sponge away. "What're you doing here?" he said. "I told you I was coming back didn't I? So why are you here now? Why can't you warn the headmaster instead of me?"
Dobby mopped his bulging eyes ignoring him and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make -"
"Your Bludger?" said Harry, his anger rising. "What'd you mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?"
"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"
"Oh, is that all?" said Harry angrily. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?"
"Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!" Dobby groaned, tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. "If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elves were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir," he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase.
"But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end, sit... And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more," Dobby froze, horrorstruck, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. A second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross-eyed, muttering, "Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby. . ."
"So there is a Chamber of Secrets?" Harry whispered. "And did you say it's been opened before? Tell me, Dobby!" He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the water jug. "But I'm not Muggle-born - how can I be in danger from the Chamber?"
"Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby," stammered the elf, his eyes huge in the dark. "Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen - go home, Harry Potter, go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, 'tis too dangerous -"
"Who is it, Dobby?" Harry said, keeping a firm hold on Dobby's wrist to stop him from hitting himself with the water jug again. "Who's opened it? Who opened it last time?"
"Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!" squealed the elf. "Go home, Harry Potter, go home!"
"NO!" Harry said sharply, his anger rising causing the room temperature to drop suddenly. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who's opening the chamber of secrets and so that we can end your attempts to save me! So tell me. Who. Is. It!"
"Please don't, sir!" moaned Dobby "You must not-"
Dobby froze, his bat like ears quivering. Harry heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.
"Dobby must go," breathed the elf, terrified and vanished with a whip like crack.
Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.
"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight. Harry lay quite still, pretending to be asleep. He heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall.
"We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."
Harry's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Desperately hoping it wasn't Blaise, he carefully raised himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera. Harry couldn't help but feel relieved that it wasn't Blaise, though he couldn't imagine why on earth, Creevey would want to visit him when he had been nothing but cold towards the boy.
"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think ... If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows what might have -"
The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.
"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.
Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.
"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.
A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Harry, two beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.
"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."
"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."
Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.
"But, Albus ... surely ... who?"
"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin.
"The question is, how . . . ."
And from what Harry could see of Professor McGonagall's shadowy face, she didn't understand this any better than he did.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The next few days passed by without any major incident. Teachers escorted students in the corridors and no one was allowed out of their dorms after dark. Almost the whole Slytherin house were rejoicing the fact that someone was attacking Muggleborns and Draco Malfoy in particular paraded the school like he owned it and never missed an opportunity to bully the first years and Muggleborns of his or less than his size.
One such incident took place in the defense against dark arts class when Draco began insulting Austin and Granger and the rest of the Gryffindor's flew into rage especially Weasley. It almost blew out into a full out duel between Austin, Weasley against Malfoy when Harry quickly froze the said Gryffindor's in their place and pulled Malfoy to the back of the class before everyone ended up in the hospital wing.
All this time Lockhart just kept pleading them, to stop fighting. He tried freezing them with his wand but ended up blasting himself back and nobody noticed except for Granger, she shrieked and went to help him, not before casting an accusing glare at Harry, as if it was his fault Lockhart was a moron.
Ever since that day the Gryffindor's had been trying to hex him for attacking one of their own but so far were unsuccessful.
Harry was walking with Blaise to the great hall when a crowd of students gathered around the notice board caught their attention.
"What's going on?" he asked Theodore Nott, who was standing there looking excited, which was really weird from Harry point of view, since he hardly spoke to him and he was always in a foul mood.
"They're starting a dueling club, first meetings tonight. I really wouldn't mind dueling lessons- they might come handy one of these days. Better go and inform Draco," he said and hurried away.
"What do you reckon, what to go?" Blaise asked Harry, looking somewhat amused.
"Sure, as long as Lockhart's not teaching," Harry said indifferently. "Anyway let's have an early dinner then."
At eight o' clock that evening, they hurried back to the great hall. 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.
"Who do you thinks going to teach," Blaise asked Harry.
"I told you I don't care as long as its not….. Oh no!" he moaned.
Gilderoy Lockhart was 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 start this little dueling club, 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.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, 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!"
"Did smiling too much make him crazy or was he just born insane," Harry said under his breath earning a stifled chuckle from Blaise.
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.
"One - two - three -"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
Malfoy and some of the other Slytherin's cheered. Granger and a few other students looked horrified. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.
Harry shook his head in silent amusement at the incompetence of their defense against the dark arts teacher who could even block a simple disarming charm.
Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.
"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."
Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"
Harry automatically turned towards Blaise but Snape came towards them without any expression on his face as usual.
"Zabini with Finnigan, Malfoy can partner Weasley and Potter…," he said turning towards Harry.
Harry was surprised when he saw the amount of hate in professor Snape's eyes when he looked at Harry but it was gone in an instant.
"Potter can partner with Austin," he said smirking at the Gryffindor girl, who looked outraged. "Let's see what Potter can make out of the arrogant brat," he said sneering at Lillian.
Harry smirked at her knowing she was no match for him. In fact no one in the hall was probably a match for him except for Professor Snape who obviously had more experience in dueling.
She glared back at him with determination shinning in her eyes.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Harry and Lillian barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one ... two ... three -"
Immediately Lillian shouted "Rictumsempra."
Harry barely moved and batted the silvery curse away as if it were merely a bug bothering him. She growled and fired two more hexes at him in rapid succession, but he just moved aside and let them pass by him.
"Come on Austin, if that's all you got, then I won't even need to use my hidden talents!" he said tutting.
"Caecus!" she yelled, firing the blinding hex at him.
His eyes widened and he quickly ducked and muttered, "Expelliarmus." Three seconds later her wand was in his hand and she was glaring angrily at him.
Grinning Harry strutted over to her and handed her wand back.
"Your aims horrible and you never moved when I fired the disarming hex at you, instead you looked scared and just waved your wand around unlike the last time you dueled me if you remember. If you were in an actual duel right now, you'd be dead within seconds," he said casually, twirling his wand in his hand.
"Well it's not my fault you got the most powerful….," she hissed, but was cut short when he covered her mouth.
"Don't talk about those things here! What did Ollivander tell you," he hissed back and removed his hand. She was about to retort when they heard Lockhart screaming.
"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge.
"Finite Incantatum!" he shouted.
A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was on the ground panting while Malfoy stood over him smirking, Blaise was pulling up Finnigan after whatever damage he had down to him. But Granger and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving; Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry saw Lillian yell and run and kick Bulstrode hard in the ribs making her let Hermione go and crumble to the floor in pain.
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan ... Careful there, Miss Fawcett... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot. "I think Id better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you -"
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Austin and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.
"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Austin into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. Both Harry and Lillian were glaring at the potions professor for pairing them together again. "Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Ms. Austin points his wand at you, you do this."
He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops -my wand is a little overexcited -"
Harry rolled his eyes at Lockhart and locked eyes with Lillian.
Harry and Lillian bowed to each other. "You're going to see a few of my new tricks Potter," she muttered, before stepping a few steps back.
Harry smirked… intrigued as to what new tricks she might have learnt that could give her such confidence.
"Three two one go!" Lockhart shouted.
"Expelliarmus," Harry shouted, intending to end the duel as quick as possible.
But she dodged and sent a stinging hex back at him. Lockhart was shouting at them to disarm not harm, but nobody paid any attention to him and paid more attention to the duel.
Harry blocked the hex and sent two stinging hexes back at her and a blinding hex in quick succession.
She dodged the first hex and the blinding hex but one of the stinging hexes caught her in her wand arm making her yelp in pain and drop her wand.
Harry smirked at the easy victory and bowed to the Slytherin's who were cheering. He turned back to Austin to congratulate her on her loss who was looking at him furiously, his grin faded when he saw something pulse in her eyes. Harry felt like everything had slowed down. He saw Lillian straightening herself and then pointing both her hands at him. And then massive jets of fire came hurtling towards him.
Harry's eyes widened in horror as the fire came hurtling towards him. He raised his hands instinctively and water came gushing out which countered the fire. Fire began to spread all over the hall and Harry was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the force of the fire. It was unfortunate but the fire was too strong and kept coming closer and closer to him no matter how much effort he put into the speed and intensity of the water.
He barely heard the screams and the roar of the fire as it continued to grow in size and burn anything it touched. He couldn't see Snape trying to put the flames out nor could he see Lockhart and the entire crowd panicking and running out of the hall. All he thought of was how to prevent getting fried at the moment.
"I need the water to be colder then maybe it will push back the fire," he thought desperately, turning his face away from the flames that had almost reached him. He was tiring fast and he knew he couldn't hold the flames back. If anybody had looked at the two more closely instead of hiding, they would have seen Lillian practically pouring fire out of her body and Harry barely holding back the flames which was hardly a feet away from him.
Just as he said the water needed to be colder, the water starting changing into a mixture of ice and water to Harry's amazement. He grunted and thrust his hands out and his water and ice mixture seemed to be pushing the fire back!
On the other side Lillian seemed to be in a trance. All see saw was an enemy, an enemy who needed to be destroyed. That was the only thought that dominated her mind at the moment. Her pupils were surrounded by a ring of fire and the fire wasn't just coming out from her hands but her entire arm had become fire.
She noticed the fire being pushed back slowly and snarled in anger putting even more force into her flames.
Harry on the other hand was concentrating on converting the water to ice and was successfully pushing the flames back. Slowly the fire was pushed back halfway and seconds later it reached Lillian who yelled in anger at the retreat of her flames. Harry cried out at the sudden increase in pressure of the fire and with a burst of will power he pushed harder and the fire suddenly went out and Lillian was blasted back by the force of the water.
She hit the floor hard and fell unconscious.
Harry was panting hard, completely exhausted after his battle and fell to his knees. He looked around surveying the damage. Half the hall was covered in soot and steam and there were ice shards and water puddles everywhere. The teachers table and the Gryffindor table were completely burnt to crisp.
Slowly the people who had rushed out and the few who had hidden safely came back into the hall hesitantly, as if expecting to be burnt any second. It was odd that even with that thought in their mind, they chose to come back and see what had happened.
"Everyone back to their common rooms now!" barked Snape as he rushed in, "Potter stay," he added and went over to check Lillian for injuries. "I said back to the common rooms now!" he snarled, and all of them quickly exited the great hall muttering to each other and coming up with explanations for what had just occurred in the great hall.
Harry saw Blaise going and gave him a smile, indicating he was not hurt at all. He was sure Blaise had figured out what had happened. And then he himself realized what had just happened with a shock. Austin was a bloody fire elemental and she had most likely lost control of her ability and would have destroyed everything in her path if it weren't for him.
He looked at her and saw that her robes were burnt in a few places but otherwise she was unhurt.
Snape got up and moved towards Harry. "Are you alright Potter?"
"Yes, sir."
"Come with me," he commanded and conjured a stretcher for Lillian and placed her in it. He took them to the hospital wing, had a quiet talk with madam Pomfrey and left.
Madam Pomfrey came over to him after checking Lillian, looking irritated. She cast several diagnostic spells over him and looked at him disapprovingly. "Not even a week you after you leave from here and you're back already."
Harry grinned, "Not my fault Lockhart's a useless teacher madam Pomfrey."
She glared at him and poked him with her wand, hard, checking for various injuries. "Well as far as I can see you're absolutely fine, just exhausted that's all."
"Good, then can I leave?"
"No you cannot, professor Snape has gone to bring the headmaster and he would like to talk to you both."
"She's knocked out," Harry pointed out. "How's he going to talk to both of us?"
"She's sleeping," Pomfrey snapped "And completely exhausted too, one simple ennervate and she'll be up and about causing trouble like she always does."
"She causes trouble?" Harry asked curiously "What kind of trouble?"
"Lie down and rest until the headmaster gets here Potter," she said and went to her office in a huff, muttering about crazy students and irresponsible teachers.
Harry sighed and kicked his shoes off and lay on the bed. He glanced at Lillian who was sleeping innocently in her bed, not even mildly aware of the amount of power she could wield.
"Fire verses Ice eh?" he said loudly and then started grinning. "Looks like I won."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Ten minutes later, the headmaster entered the hospital wing with Snape and McGonagall in tow. All three headed to Harry's bed first.
"Good evening Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said kindly with the familiar twinkle present in his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine, sir," he replied.
"Can you tell me what happened when you dueled Ms. Austin tonight?"
Harry sighed, "It started of fine sir, I cast the disarming charm which she dodged and sent a stinging hex towards me. Then I sent three hexes at her, two stinging and one blinding. One of the stinging hexes caught her on her wand hand and she dropped her wand. Assuming I won I bowed to the crowd but when I looked back at Austin, she looked like she was on fire and the next second all I could see was fire heading straight for me.
I panicked at him and cast an aguamenti charm which somewhat stopped the flames. Then after a few minutes, the water from my wand managed to push back the flames and knock Austin out," he finished.
"You're trying to tell me, Potter, that a simple aguamenti charm stopped a fire of that magnitude when the charms I cast did nothing to stop them?" Snape said sarcastically.
"Maybe," Harry said with a shrug, "I was scared and maybe there was a bit of accidental magic involved as well."
"Hmmm… perhaps," Dumbledore said looking thoughtful. "I think we should hear what happened to Ms. Austin that made her conjure such flames," he said, clearly not believing Harry's story but left it as it was for now.
"Surely you don't believe the boy, Albus," cried McGonagall "One of my students has been harmed!"
"Are you implying that I lied and you think Potter here has hurt Ms. Austin intentionally?" said Snape coldly.
McGonagall glared at Snape and Snape glared right back.
"Enough, Severus, Minerva, it was a dueling club and accidents do happen," Dumbledore said sharply, before a full blown argument broke out.
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. McGonagall was putting the blame on him, just because her student was hurt! He scowled angrily and realized that McGonagall wasn't as fair as he thought she was. If it came down to a fight between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, she'd support her own house even if they were at fault.
"Rennervate," Dumbledore said softly, pointing his wand at Lillian.
Her eyes flickered open and she slowly woke up, blinking rapidly. "Professor Dumbledore? What are you doing in the girl's dorm?"
Harry snorted earning a glare from McGonagall. He just smiled sweetly at her.
Dumbledore chuckled softly, "My child, you are in the hospital wing."
"Hospital wing? What am I doing here?" she said, confused.
"What is the last thing you remember?" Dumbledore said gently.
She scrunched her eyes, "Hmm - last thing I remember, oh! The dueling club!" she exclaimed. "I was dueling Potter and he beat me…." she said frowning. "I remember getting angry and losing to him again and then I started feeling really nice and then…. nothing. I think I passed out after that."
"Do you remember anything else Ms. Austin, anything at all?"
"Err… no sir. Why did something happen?" she asked nervously.
"After you dropped your wand, you shot fire out of your hands Lillian," Dumbledore said heavily.
"I shot fire out of my hands! What are you talking about professor?" she said incredulously.
"What the headmaster is saying Ms. Austin is that after you lost to Potter, you shot fire of such intensity at him, that it burnt almost half of the great hall," Snape said with a sneer. "All my efforts to put the fire out didn't work but Potter somehow managed to put them out, knocking you out in the process. Now would you be kind enough to explain how did you manage to shoot fire from your hands and we can then rest in peace."
"I-I don't know, professor," she said in a small voice, clearly stunned and confused. "I don't remember doing anything like that," she whispered.
"Severus, don't scare her like that!" snapped McGonagall. "It's alright child, we'll talk tomorrow. But now get some sleep," she said gently.
"Alright, I think its time for us to leave," Dumbledore said finally "Minerva, Severus, please accompany me to my office," he said and all three professors left.
After they left there was silence in the room. Lillian was trying to figure out what had happened in the great hall and Harry was hoping she wouldn't ask him which was highly unlikely.
"Potter," she began hesitantly.
"Damn," Harry muttered under his breath and pretended to be asleep.
"Potter," she tried again, this time a bit louder but Harry didn't bother replying.
Quietly Lillian slipped out of her bed and snuck over next to Harry and shook him hard, trying to wake him up though she didn't know he wasn't sleeping at all. "Harry!" she whispered in his ear.
Harry groaned in annoyance and got up irritably, glaring at Lillian. "What do you want freckles?" he said, trying to annoy her in hope that she would leave him alone.
But she didn't respond to his jibe. He looked at her closely and to his surprise, she looked desperate. Sighing, he said in a much calmer and softer tone, "What do you want?"
"After you hit me with that hex, I was angry, angry at myself for loosing to you and angry at you for acting like I was mere dirt in front of you," she began, looking lost and confused.
Harry wanted to say that's because you are, but held his tongue knowing that this was not the moment to do so.
"I was so angry that I just wanted to beat you and prove that you aren't as great as you think you are just because you can do magic without a wand and have the most powerful wand ever made. Then something erupted in me…. something desperately trying to break free and it… it somehow… I don't know what happened but it took control of me. I remember those flames coming out of my hands as if they were a part of me… I remember seeing the water come out of your hands and try to push back the fire. I remember wanting to destroy you the moment I saw the water come out of your hands. But somehow… somehow you managed to push the fire back and knock me out…. I…. I know you know what happened to me at that moment…. I know you do because you always know and somehow I know you can explain to me what happened to me in the great hall…. So please tell me, why did that happen to me and how were you able to stop it when even Snape couldn't do anything to stop it…. Please…."
Harry was silent. He heard everything she had just said and was thinking what he should tell her. She was obviously extremely confused and needed some answers desperately.
"Why didn't you tell all this to the headmaster? Why ask me, a kid who is the same age as you instead of a hundred and fifty year old man who is supposedly the most powerful wizard of all time?" he asked her curiously.
"Because…. because…. I don't know! All I know is I just wanted answers from someone whom I thought would give them to me and I thought of you first, not Dumbledore, not anyone else," she cried. "Will you please tell me what happened to me?"
Harry stared at her intently. He couldn't help but wonder why on earth she would choose to ask a guy like him instead of the famous headmaster to question…, even if he did have the answers to her questions.
"You remember you telling me that you can touch fire and not get burnt," he said finally.
"Yeah?"
"If you can touch fire why can't you conjure fire from your hands?"
"I don't understand?" she said confused.
Harry sighed, "Gryffindork's," he muttered. "You are a fire elemental Freckles, - that means you have the power to throw fire, control fire, touch fire and bend it to your will. In simple terms, you are fire."
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"Oh"