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Chapter 13: The Lesser Water Snake
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Summary: What if Harry wasn't taken in by Petunia? What if, instead, he was taken in by another wizard who moved into number four after Petunia forced her family to move to avoid taking in the freak? Neutral!Harry
Beta: Cauchy! Big thanks to her for being my beta! This means less confusing words and spelling errors and brains flying around.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own character. Including the several lines I did take from the book.
A/N: I've tried to make my chapter titles meaningful. I don't think I've been very successful though, sorry.
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Christmas passed in a rather cheerfully, despite the attacks that had happened. Cygnus had sent Helios to Harry with a note that said 'Leaving for Christmas. Enclosed is your present. Please stay in Hogwarts and I will see you for New Year.'
Harry had not written to Cygnus about the attacks, afraid that if he told Cygnus, Cygnus would pull Harry out of Hogwarts. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing, but he truly wanted to learn at Hogwarts.
On the other hand, he had written to Cygnus about Lockhart's incompetence in class and the dueling club disaster. Cygnus had simply written back 'You reap what you sow, Harry. You need to learn how to solve these problems by yourself. There really isn't anything I can do about this.'
It was cruel, but it was also the truth. Harry understood that, but it didn't stop him from being angry and cutting off communication with Cygnus for a week.
By the time Harry arrived home for New Years, he had completely forgotten to be angry at Cygnus and had run to him for a hug. Cygnus returned it calmly.
"Thanks for the book on dragons," Harry murmured into Cygnus' navy shirt.
"You're welcome," Cygnus said, nodding. "So, tell me about school."
"Lockhart's been acting all the books he wrote out," Harry said. Cygnus had set up New Year's brunch and they dug in over the conversation. To Harry's delight, Cygnus called Lockhart "an incompetent loser." They shared stories about things that had happened during the year, though Harry refrained from telling Cygnus about the heir or the attacks.
"Lockhart is a poor Professor," Cygnus said calmly, "But you mustn't forget that he is also an adult. To become that famous, he must have at least one talent."
"Yeah, flirting," Harry snorted.
"Yes. And you can, at least, learn that from him," Cygnus said with a smile. "Granted, don't overdo it like he does, but to know how to flatter others is one technique that will help you get far in life."
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A splash of water startled Harry on the second floor of Hogwarts. Harry gave Draco a wary look, which Draco returned.
"Should we investigate?" Harry asked, frowning at Draco.
"It depends, do you feel like dying?" Draco asked. "Because I'm definitely not going to be risking my life. What if it's the heir of Slytherin?"
"Then she's female and is taking a dump?" Harry suggested, pointing to the girl's bathroom when they had rounded the corner.
"Isn't that Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?" Draco asked. "Isn't this also where the squib's cat was petrified?" He glanced around, as if afraid that Filch would pop up and give them detention for standing in front of the wrong bathroom.
Harry wavered outside the bathroom and Draco suddenly shoved him into it, pulling him behind the door and covering his mouth.
"Filthy brats trailing mud into the castle!" Filch was muttering. "Just you wait! I'll tell Dumbledore!"
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered frantically.
"Patrolling, it looks like. We're stuck here unless you want detention," Draco sighed. He looked around the dank and dirty bathroom, the stones slightly slick. "What's that noise?"
Indeed, there was a sniffling noise coming from one of the stalls. Harry blinked and slowly knocked on the door.
"Excuse me, are you alright?" he asked, tentative.
"No I'm not alright!" A girl's voice replied. To Harry's shock, she stuck her head through the stall door and gave him a glare. She was pearly white, transparent to some degree like all ghosts, and quite young in appearance.
"Here I was, minding my own business, when someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me!" she cried. Then she squinted her eyes and looked closely at Harry and Draco. "You're not girls. This is the girl's bathroom."
"Errr," Harry started, but Draco was the one who responded.
"We heard someone crying and were concerned," Draco said with a flirtatious smile. Harry whipped around, staring at the new side of Draco that he had never seen before. "Where is the book that they threw at you, Miss?"
Two silvery patches appeared on the girl's cheeks. "Oh… um… there…" She pointed to the book on the wet ground. Then she dove into the toilet bowl, splashing water everywhere with an embarrassed giggle.
"So when did you miraculously learn manners?" Harry asked. "Smooth talker."
"I am a pureblood from an aristocratic family," Draco said, picking up the book. "Charming guests and relatives is a must at every party. I usually don't bother with classmates or anyone in school because I won't gain anything by being friends with them. I was just polite to her because I wanted to know what had happened and I heard she was prone to making a racket. I don't really want Filch coming in here." He flipped through the book and frowned. "It's empty. That's boring."
"Why would someone want to throw away an empty book?" Harry asked, reaching for it. Draco passed it over and Harry glanced at the letters on the side: Tom M. Riddle.
"Don't know. People these days are crazy," Draco said, shrugging.
"You picked it up from the water, right?" Harry asked, examining the smooth, pages of the book. "And it definitely splashed, right?"
"Yeah, so?" Draco asked, frowning.
"Why isn't the book wet?"
Draco had no answer to that, so he remained silent. He slowly took the book back to examine it. True enough, the book was completely dry, as if it had been sitting in the sun rather than in a flooded bathroom.
"That's not right," Draco said, shaking his head. "Harry, I don't think this is a normal book. I think we should leave it."
"But… free paper!" Harry protested. "Besides, aren't you the least bit curious at who threw it away?"
"Harry, you're not poor enough where you need to conserve every single parchment," Draco said flatly. "Leave it. It creeps me out."
"It's a book, Draco," Harry said snatching the book back and waving it in front of Draco's face. "What's creepy about it?"
"I don't know. But it's creepy," Draco said, looking at the book carefully. "Well, if you want it, you can keep it, I guess. I wonder who Riddle is. They might be looking for that book."
"Well, I'll give it back if that happens," Harry said. "These pages look kind of old. But it's still usable. I can write my History of Magic notes inside."
"You write notes for that class?" Draco snorted. "I sleep in that class."
"Mostly stick drawings about goblin wars," Harry said, nodding. "It's how I passed that class last year. I try to keep my hands busy to stay awake. Most of the time, it works, but sometimes, even I fall asleep." He smiled, putting the book into his cloak pocket. "I like to save when I can."
"Whatever," Draco said, shrugging. "I'll check if Filch is gone." He strode over to the door and peeked his head out, looking into the corridor. "He's gone. Let's go."
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Harry pulled out his new book during History of Magic. Draco kept shooting him weird looks all through the morning but Harry couldn't see why Draco was so disapproving of Harry using the book. It was a completely empty book that had been discarded. It wasn't like it had someone's notes in it already or anything.
He turned to the first page and smoothed out the spine, picking up his quill and dipping it in some ink. Binns sat down at the desk and started droning on some kind of Convention that happened in 1289, Harry had a sudden inspiration.
He stuck his hand into the air and waved it a couple times. Binns looked up, utterly amazed, as no one had ever tried to interrupt his class before.
"Mr… er…"
"Rowan, Professor," Harry said evenly, putting his hand down. "I wonder if you could tell us anything about Salazar Slytherin and his Chamber of Secrets."
Draco jerked awake, alarmed. Most of the class held their breath, waiting on Binns' answer.
"Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?" Binns repeated.
"Well, Salazar Slytherin did exist, didn't he? Did he actually build a chamber?" Harry asked, careful to keep his voice even. Draco, on the other hand, was doing very poorly at concealing his excitement.
"Yes… Salazar Slytherin was a pureblood wizard and one of the Founders of Hogwarts. Legend has it that he built the Chamber of Secrets," Binns said, looking at the class. The class, for the first time, seemed to be completely enthralled in his lecture. "Slytherin wished to be more selective about his students and thus, it caused a rift between him and the other Founders. Supposedly, he had built the Chamber without the other Founder's knowledge and sealed it until his true heir returned to Hogwarts. Thus, the heir would be able to unleash the horror within and purge the school of all those unworthy to study magic."
The entire room was silent. Harry scribbled down "Chamber of Secrets", "heir", and "horror within" on the notebook without looking down and Binns scoffed.
"The whole thing is nonsense, of course. The school had been searched countless times and no such chamber has been found," Binns continued. Draco stuck up his hand.
"Sir, what do you mean by the horror within the chamber?" Draco asked.
"It is believed that there is a monster inside the Chamber of Secrets in which the heir of Slytherin alone can control," Binns sniffed. "As said, this is a legend. There are no facts to support this. None at all." Then he went back to his lecture in his monotone voice, making Draco's eyes droop.
Harry scribbled down "monster that heir can control" and closed his notebook without looking at it. Then he pulled out a sheet of parchment. Within five minutes, most of the class had gone back to their slumber.
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"I've decided to use the book as a Chamber of Secrets speculation book," Harry told Draco over dinner. "It's much easier keeping track of my thoughts in a book of bound paper than loose parchment."
"Well, at least it's being used for something," Draco said, shrugging. "What do you think about the Chamber of Secrets? The monster?"
"If Binns was right…" Harry said slowly, stabbing a piece of chicken, "Then Slytherin's heir is here and the monster is set free on orders." He took a bite and waved his fork at Draco, "If he alone can control it, then it's not by spells or magic. It must be a special skill."
"I was thinking 'Imperio' but I suppose anyone could perform that," Draco said nodding. "So, what kind of special skill did Slytherin have?"
"Didn't you tell me one?" Harry asked, poking his corn. "Parseltongue?"
"So the monster is a snake?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow. "And the heir has been biting things? Are you serious? People are petrified, not poisoned."
"Plus, regular snakes don't live that long," Nott added, leaning over the table to join their conversation. "It'd have to be some kind of magical snake. I'll look into the library for it. Maybe they have books on snakes and serpents."
Harry smiled. "Thanks, Nott. Let us know if you find anything, okay?"
"But… if Slytherin's family had been large, it would take forever to find out who the heir is," Malfoy sighed.
"Well, if we can narrow down what the monster is," Harry said thoughtfully, "Then I'm sure we can find out where the monster has been hiding. After all, there isn't that many places to hide a snake where it won't accidentally be found by teachers or by other students. If I remember correctly, snakes like the heat of the sun because they are reptiles and cold-blooded, so it has to come out eventually. Plus, the Chamber has to have an entrance somewhere."
"The only Parselmouth we know is you," Draco said, looking at Harry. "So that means there is probably another Parselmouth in Hogwarts who just hasn't revealed their ability yet. Maybe we should fling snakes at people to try to figure out who it is."
"I think there is more than one thing wrong with that plan of yours," Nott said, shaking his head.
After dinner, Harry walked up to his rooms, pulling open the diary and taking his quill to write down "Monster-Snake?" He flipped to the first page and was startled to see the diary completely empty.
Harry flipped a few pages, trying to find where he had written his notes from that morning. The pages were devoid of any ink at all, as if he had just picked it up from the ground in Myrtle's bathroom. He flipped to the back of the book, wondering if he had somehow mistaken the front for the back. Nothing.
Slowly, Harry set the quill down and shook the diary a little, wondering if there were any loose pages inside that had fallen out. The pages remained firmly attached to the spine.
Picking up his quill, Harry wrote down "Monster-Snake?" and stared at the writing. It sunk into the paper. Harry's eyes widened and he flipped several pages to see if the ink had bleed through by accident or something. There was no sign of ink, water, or his writing. He turned back to the first page, a frown on his face until writing appeared on the paper.
Harry didn't recognize the handwriting.
'Hello there! Are you doing research on the Chamber of Secrets? I saw your notes this morning.'
Harry yelped and tossed the book in the air. Someone had seen him writing? The book was writing back to him? Perhaps Draco had been right in that he should have left it alone.
He picked up the book again, watching the words vanish into the paper again and more words reappear.
'Hello? Are you still there?'
Harry tapped his quill over the paper, wondering if he should reply. Eventually, he wrote down a 'Yes. I'm here. Who are you and why can you write back?'
The ink shone brightly but then faded into the paper. Then words appeared.
'My name is Tom Riddle. Who might you be?'
Harry looked at the words and contemplated his next move. Riddle, if that was truly who was writing back, avoided his question quite well. Perhaps it would be wise to persist.
'Harry Rowan,' Harry scribbled in the diary. 'So, how is it you can write back?'
The words vanished, but Riddle took a little longer to reply.
'I have stored memories in here. Memories about the Chamber of Secrets and when it was first opened in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Of course, there are some people who wanted to cover it up because it would make them look back, but luckily I have saved my memories in something more lasting than ink. I caught the person who was opening the Chamber last time and got a special award out of it. But the monster remained and the person who released it was not imprisoned. The monster even killed a girl.'
If this was a trap, it was a very well laid out one. Harry tapped his chin.
Riddle was trying to bait him with information. Harry knew that and didn't really want to run headfirst into something he might not be able to get himself out of, wards or not. Perhaps it would be best to test Riddle.
Harry dipped his quill in ink and scribbled 'Am I right in saying the heir of Slytherin controlled some kind of snake to purge the school?'
Riddle's reply was short this time.
'I can show you, if you would like.'
Harry shook his head, smiling a little. 'No thanks. I just wanted to know how much you actually knew about the heir.'
'Well, it wasn't a snake,' Riddle replied. 'It was an Acromantula. A giant, carnivorous spider.'
Brow furrowing, Harry leaned back and watched the words disappear. An Acromantula? In the Chamber of Secrets? That was a little farfetched. How would the heir control a giant spider? Why would the heir alone be able to control it?
'That can't be right,' Harry wrote, 'Binns said that the heir of Slytherin alone would be able to control it. How the heck did he manage to control something like an Acromantula?'
'He raised it since it was young,' Riddle replied.
Something about Riddle's explanation didn't run true. Harry highly doubted that a giant spider was the monster. Did Acromantula live for a thousand years?
'Where would the Chamber of Secrets be then?' Harry said, 'It has to be big enough to fit a giant spider if Salazar Slytherin put them there a thousand years ago.'
'It was in the Dungeons but it escaped into the forest.'
Harry shut the diary after Riddle's reply. He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
Did Riddle truly catch the heir of Slytherin? Was the monster really an Acromantula? Harry needed more information from the library. He also needed to see if the person named 'Tom Riddle' really did exist and, if he did, where he was now.
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"Draco, can you tell me anything about Acromantula?"
Harry had decided not to tell Draco about the talking diary and Riddle. They were already looking into books for the name 'Riddle' with no success. Draco was positive that the name 'Riddle' wasn't a pureblood family, so they had tried to hunt down books about genealogy in the library. The only problem was, there weren't that many and the ones that were there were outdated.
Harry left the diary sitting on the table, so as to not make Draco suspicious, but didn't write in it. He hasn't written in it since it spoke to him in the dorms.
"Acromantula?" Draco repeated. "Giant spiders that eat humans and have hundreds of babies?"
"Yeah, those!" Harry said, nodding, as he flipped through a book entitled Wizard Families of the 1500s. "I figured you'd know more about them than me. So how long do they live, are they poisonous, and can they be controlled?"
Draco stared at him. "Are you implying that the monster within the Chamber is an Acromantula? What about the snake? I personally think snake is a better guess since Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth."
"No, I think so too. It's just… I heard a rumor that the monster was an Acromantula and was curious about them," Harry said. Draco eyed him suspiciously before shaking his head.
"Well, they don't live a thousand years. And if it was a spider, they'd have millions of babies by now," Draco said. "And I don't know how the heir could control them. Acromantulas are poisonous, but they only kill by bite. They don't petrify people, as far as I know. Rumor has it they are used to guard things like treasure."
"And what about control?" Harry asked, leaning forwards, his brow furrowed.
"I would assume that you could imperio an Acromantula, but they might see humans as food and it'd be hard to curse them when they're going after your face," Draco answered. "So not bloody likely. They can talk, but unless they're baited, they won't do anything for you."
"I figured Actomantula was a stupid rumor," Harry nodded. "So, back to the snake idea? What kind of snake do you think it is?"
Draco paused, tapping his chin. "I honestly don't know. Nothing really comes to mind when you say that they petrify. And none of the people were severely bitten either. I suppose a bite would be too obvious that it was a snake since their fang marks are distinctive…"
Nott had been researching right with them when there was uproar outside of the library. Draco looked towards the door, startled. Harry dropped the book he was holding on the table with a bang, but then winced at the noise.
"What's going on?!" Irma Pince demanded. She had been dusting the books in the back shelf, but had come out due to the noise outside. As Harry had learned how to minimize damage to books from Cygnus, he quickly became one of her favorite students. She would often allow him to bring his friends over and talk quietly in the library, despite the fact that she loathed any other students chatting. Harry was thankful that she didn't seem to notice he had dropped the book, knowing that it would have resulted in a long lecture.
Pince strode out the doors and let out a loud gasp of horror. Students were putting down their books, Draco and Harry included, to follow and see what had happened.
Harry reached the doorway and peeked around Pince's shoulder before letting out a loud gasp himself.
Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hermione Granger were stiff as boards, petrified on the ground. Next to them was Nearly Headless Nick, black and smoky, his head hanging off to one side. All three had their eyes wide open in shock and the two humans had their mouths open, ready to scream.
"What in the—" Draco gasped out, lost for words. Nott's eyes were as wide as the petrified, looking absolutely horrified at the find.
"Out of the way! Coming through!" Lockhart declared loudly, leading a group of Flitwick and Sprout towards the trio. Dumbledore came from the opposite direction with McGonagall and Snape, a very serious look on his face.
"Professors!" Pince said shrilly. "What is… What is this?!"
"Harry? Please come with me," Dumbledore said calmly, turning, leaving the other teachers to deal with the petrified.
"Professor! He's been in the library with us," Draco said quickly. "He didn't do anything!"
"Sure has," Pince sniffed. "Been studying on something or another for a while now."
"He's not in any trouble, I assure you," Dumbledore assured, nodding to the two. "I just wish to speak to him. I will wait for him to collect his things. But please, be quick."
Harry, still running off the shock that he received of seeing a triple petrification, moved on auto-pilot, sliding everything in his bag silently and followed Dumbledore up to his office.
Dumbledore's office was covered in knick-knacks and trinkets. Gold objects, floating balls, and even a little top that was lying on its side. Harry sat down slowly, dropping his bag on the ground.
"Now then, Harry," Dumbledore said calmly. "Is there anything you wanted to tell me? Anything at all?"
Harry thought about the attacks, Tom Riddle's diary, and his own ability as a Parselmouth. Slowly, his hands folded and unfolded his school cloak before he looked up.
"My dad said that you knew my family. My birth family," Harry said calmly, trying to work out the courage to ask. "You knew Lily and James Potter."
"I did," Dumbledore agreed, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. He folded his long fingers and placed them on the table, waiting for Harry to ask his question.
"Did Lily or James have the ability to speak to snakes too?" Harry asked quietly. "Was anyone in my family a Parselmouth?"
Dumbledore remained quiet, studying Harry carefully. Harry met his gaze firmly, needing to know the answer. Sure, during the last few attacks, Harry had been in the company of others, but it didn't rule out every magical explanation. He wanted certain proof that he was not the heir of Slytherin; proof that no one could refute.
"No, Harry," Dumbledore said finally. "None of the family members in your family that I have met, which would be three generations of Potters, had the ability to speak to snakes as you do. Parselmouths are very rare, as you must know by now."
"Then did you know anyone who could?" Harry asked quietly.
Dumbledore seemed to contemplate the question for several minutes. When he finally answered, his voice was solemn, "Yes, Harry. I knew another Parselmouth. Just one other."
"What was his name?" Harry asked, not talking his eyes off Dumbledore's. Nothing could have prepared him for the answer.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle. But today, he is known as Voldemort."
Harry's silence told Dumbledore more than words ever could have.
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Dumbledore sank back into his chair when Harry left. He had revealed a bit of information to the child—information that Dumbledore, personally, believed that Harry was too young for. Telling Harry of Voldemort's birth name was enough to confirm his suspicions that Harry knew something that he was not telling him.
His first reaction had been to say 'You're too young' but he had stopped himself short. It was true that Harry was young, but as Cygnus had said, it was not Dumbledore's place to conceal information from Harry. Dumbledore believed that Cygnus would have told Harry, if he had known, which is why he had chosen to reveal it.
Regardless, Harry would have found out Dumbledore had done what Cygnus would have in that situation.
Dumbledore could tell that something had entered the castle. He could tell that Voldemort was making a move through a student, but he didn't have many suspects. It was impossible to search for Voldemort among hundreds of students. Possession wasn't something easily done but Voldemort was versed in the Dark Arts. Hiding his presence would be a simple task for him. Dumbledore wasn't even sure where to start looking.
Harry, though, seemed to recognize the name. Which meant, quite possibly, that Harry had seen it somewhere though it very well could have been that he had seen the trophy in the Trophy Room. Dumbledore wasn't sure and had been reluctant to search Harry's mind for the answer.
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"Are you sure Riddle isn't a pureblood name?" Harry asked Draco.
Draco gave an exasperated huff and snapped, "This is the tenth time you've asked me over dinner. Yes! I'm sure!"
"How are you so sure? I mean, what if you missed one or—" Harry started, but Draco cut him off.
"Harry, listen up," Draco said sternly, speaking like Snape would to a particularly dim student. "Purebloods have this directory called the Sacred Twenty-Eight. On it, lists twenty eight families who are pure, or at least, who were pure when it was written around 1930. Since people can only be taken off the list if they have muggle blood in their lineage, there are very few families who remain pure. People can't be put on, as it would require generations and generations of blood purity for us to even consider them to be pure. Since I was a kid, I've had to memorize the list. Malfoy is on the list but never have I ever seen Riddle."
"Am I on the list?" Harry asked, frowning.
"No. Potters weren't completely pure, although I was told they were close," Draco said, shaking his head. "Nott is though."
"But that doesn't mean he's not a pureblood. Perhaps Riddle wasn't a British wizard," Nott added, having listened to the conversation. "I believe the list only extends to Britain. So if he was from Spain or Italy, we wouldn't know if he was pure."
"Why the sudden interest in his blood purity?" Draco asked, stabbing his meat pie, "I thought we were just researching him because of the name on the diary and you wanted to return it."
"Yeah, but," Harry hesitated in telling his friends his newfound information. "But I was thinking… it would be easier to track him down if he was pure."
Draco scoffed. "Sure would. But nothing can be that easy, can it?"
"Sure can," a new voice piped in.
Harry glanced further down the table to see Blaise Zabini lean towards Draco. Draco paused in his pie and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Riddle's name is on a trophy in the Trophy Room. Something about Special Services to the School," Zabini said calmly, getting some beans. "It's on the third floor, the door is always unlocked. You can go see it yourself."
Draco, Nott, and Harry looked stunned at the revelation. The three exchanged a look and shot out of their seats to hurry to the third floor. Zabini stared after them, then shrugged, digging into his roast turkey and beans.