Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Puppet of Time
Chapter 6
Harry stared at the thing in the middle of the village square with his mouth hanging open. "They… They build a statue?"
The brown-haired man at his side that was in truth Abraxas Malfoy nodded. "I'm afraid so, Harry. It isn't that bad as statues go."
The boy still stared at the stone monument that had replaced the war memorial when they got closer to it. Instead of an obelisk covered in names there was a statue of three people: a man with untidy hair and glasses, a woman with long hair and a kind, pretty face, and a baby boy sitting in his mother's arms. Thankfully the artist had refrained from adding Harry's famous scar. After he had looked his fill the pair continued towards the church, one of the two original goals of their visit to Godric's Hollow.
Draco had said goodbye yesterday; on the evening of the day after tomorrow Harry would return to the Dursleys. Originally he had planned to spend the day with Aunt Cassie and Uncle Abraxas (as he had come to call the old man) at the cottage, but there had been a change of plans. It had come as a complete surprise when Uncle Abraxas had asked him if he wanted to visit his parents' graves.
Harry had never even thought about that. At some level he had been aware of the fact that his parents had to be buried somewhere, but visiting their graves had never entered his mind. He had been greatly embarrassed when Abraxas pointed out to him that it was only another symptom of his habit not to ask questions and not to think about things too deeply.
There were quite a few people on the streets, but thanks to the glamour Abraxas had applied Harry was practically unrecognizable. No one spared them more than a passing glance when they entered the graveyard behind the church through a kissing gate. Row upon row of tombstones protruded from the ground.
"I don't know exactly where the grave is located; we will have to search." Uncle Abraxas said.
Harry simply nodded and began scrutinizing the tombstones. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the words Kendra Dumbledore and her daughter Ariana.
"Dumbledore? Does the Headmaster live here?" Harry asked when they moved on.
Abraxas shook his head. "Not anymore, no. His family lived here once, but he sold the cottage a long time ago and now stays at Hogwarts permanently. There are quite a few wizarding families still living in this village. Not as many as before the war, but still a relatively large number. The unusual thing is that they live mostly spread out through the village. It's far more common for a village to have a magical neighborhood that is inaccessible to the muggles and that the wizards rarely leave. Most wizards and witches have barely any contact with muggles despite living almost door-to-door with them."
There were quite a lot of surnames he recognized from Hogwarts written on the gravestones, but judging from the dates they had either died out or moved away from Godric's Hollow. In the end they found the headstone of his parents only two rows behind Kendra's and Ariana's. It was made of white marble and a few flowers had been planted. Their names along with their dates of birth and death were written on it. Both his parents had been born early in 1960. They had died in the year 1981 on the 31th October.
"They were both barely out of Hogwarts." Harry whispered.
Then he noticed an additional line under their names: The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"It is just one of these sayings people like to put on gravestones to make feel themselves better. I believe it refers to a life after death. It was probably Dumbledore who chose the inscription; it certainly sounds like him. He occasionally talks about death as 'the next great adventure'."
"Is there such a thing?"
Abraxas shrugged. "Who can say? There are certain ways to call back the shades of the dead, but as the name says they are shades, not a living person. None of them can be compelled to talk about the other side anyway. I would counsel against trying such a thing. That way lays only disappointment and grief. It is better to let the dead rest."
Harry nodded and put down the flowers they had bought earlier. The empty words on the grave could not disguise the fact that his parents were gone forever. He had seen them in the Mirror of Erised, but it had only been an image; a dream. They would never be able to praise him when he did something right, chide him when he did something wrong or hold him when he was sad. He couldn't share his successes and worries with them. It was here that Harry truly realized that his parents were gone forever and would never come back. Tears began to spill from his eyes before he could stop them. Pressing his lips hard together, he let them fall, looking down at the grass, flowers and earth that hid their remains.
"Let it out, Harry." Uncle Abraxas' voice sounded. The old man stepped closely behind him, putting his hands on Harry's shoulders, supporting him. Even with his parents dead he had still family and people who cared about him.
The boy didn't know how long he stood crying at the grave, but after a time the tears subsided and he felt better. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry I never visited you before. No one told me where you were buried. I don't think I'll be able to visit again anytime soon. There are so many things going on I don't understand. I wish you were still here."
Harry's voice broke and he lapsed into silence again. Abraxas' grip on his shoulders gently tightened after a few minutes, signaling him that it was time to leave. With one arm still on his shoulder the old man walked him out of the graveyard. Harry didn't really pay attention where they were going until they came to a stop. Looking up, Harry saw the ivy-covered remains of a cottage surrounded by rubble and waist-high grass. Most of it was still standing, but the right side of the top floor had been blown apart.
"Is this…?"
"Yes Harry, this is the place where your parents were hiding until the night they were murdered." Abraxas announced and touched the gate amidst an overgrown hedge.
A sign rose from the ground in front of them. In golden letters it told of his parents' death, him surviving the killing curse and that the house had been left in its ruined state to serve as a monument. All around the neatly lettered words untold scribbles had been added by other witches and wizards who had come to see the place.
"The Ministry converted it into a memorial after things had settled down. I believe you have been reimbursed at the standard rate, which isn't much. If I'm not mistaken the personal effects of your family are in secure storage somewhere in the Ministry until you claim them. Unfortunately we can't enter the house. The structure is unsafe and we would trip wards that keep trespassers away." the old man explained.
They stood a few minutes in silence just looking at the destroyed house. 'If things had gone differently I would have grown up here.' Then he realized something and shook his head. 'No, that probably wouldn't have happened anyway. Voldemort wouldn't have been defeated and we would have switched our hiding place sooner or later.'
Breathing deeply, Harry shook himself out of his reverie. "I've seen enough; or is there anything else here?"
"No, that is all. It is time for us to leave anyway if we want to join Cassie for tea." Abraxas said.
Looking carefully around, Abraxas led Harry along a small side path on the outside of the village. As soon as they were out of sight of any possible observers the old man took Harry's hand and apparated them away. Harry stumbled slightly when they appeared back at Dew Cottage. Side-along apparition felt rather uncomfortable, but during the more than two months he had been here he had slowly grown used to it.
"Thank you for taking me there." Harry said to Abraxas when they were seated in Cassie's drawing room half an hour later.
Abraxas smiled at him. "It wasn't any trouble, Harry. You had a right to see it. In fact, someone should have taken you there long ago."
"That shows how much all these people at Hogwarts truly value their friendship to your parents, Harry. Not one of them could spare an afternoon to talk with you about them. They don't have even a shred of decency." Cassiopeia's sharp voice interjected.
As much as he wished to Harry couldn't refute the point. Despite spending one year at Hogwarts none of the teachers had truly talked about James and Lily. Nor had any other friends of his parents send any letters. Without Uncle Abraxas and especially Aunt Cassie he still wouldn't know anything about his family. Granted, Hagrid had given him the photo album, but even he hadn't told him much about his parents. Was it too much to ask that at least one of his parents' so-called friends took a few hours to talk with him?
"You didn't receive any letters from a Remus Lupin, did you? The man knows when you were scheduled to attend Hogwarts." Cassie inquired.
Harry shook his head. Susan, Hannah and Justin and a few others had sent him several letters (which Dobby the house elf delivered faithfully to him), but no one else did. Lupin was the only remaining of the three closest friends of his father. Peter was dead and Sirius in prison, but Lupin was free to contact him if he wanted.
'And wasn't that a nice surprise? Another thing no one bothered to tell me about before. I didn't even know the right questions to ask to discover that I have an imprisoned godfather and a free sort-of-uncle.'
"You are thinking of Sirius again, aren't you?" Abraxas asked in a gentle voice.
"Yes. You told me public opinion is that he was the one who betrayed my parents, but there are so many doubts and strange things surrounding him. I'm still not sure what to feel about him." Harry replied helplessly.
"We don't believe him to be guilty, but suspicions are all we have. The possibility of Sirius being a traitor to your parents is remote in my mind; they were far more of a family to him than his own parents and brother. Unfortunately here's nothing you can do about him, Harry. We and the other Blacks vainly tried for years to learn more."
After that the conversation turned to lighter subjects. It was hard to believe that in two days he would forget everything and return to Privet Drive for a night before Justin's parents were scheduled to pick him up. In short, this had been the best summer of his life. For the first time he could remember he had had a proper birthday party, even if only Draco, Aunt Cassie and Uncle Abraxas attended. The only thing he missed was Hedwig, but she had to stay away for security reasons.
The day of his departure came far sooner than he wanted.
Harry hugged Cassiopeia tightly for a last time, not ashamed of the tears he shed. "Goodbye Aunt Cassie. I'll never forget you."
Unshed tears brimmed in Cassie's eyes when she ruffled his hair. "I'm glad I lived long enough to get to know you, Harry. You would have made James, Lily and all your other family proud."
They continued the embrace until Abraxas cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, but time grows short. It will take me several hours to seal your memories properly and replace them with those of the simulacrum."
Reluctantly Harry ended the hug and followed Abraxas to the bedroom he had occupied during his stay. He really didn't like it, but he was resigned to his fate by now and understood the necessity. If Dumbledore was really as bad as Abraxas and Cassie claimed he couldn't be allowed to learn about Harry's real summer. It was made worse by the fact that Dumbledore was an accomplished mind reader. Harry was terrified of losing his memories, but he hadn't been able to come up with an alternative.
"It is better you lie down, Harry. I'll stun you first before I modify your memories." Abraxas commanded. "I'll break the spell next summer when we get you away from the Dursleys permanently. As a failsafe I'll leave instructions for Draco. Otherwise the seal will break in six years at the latest; possibly a bit earlier. Now, are you ready?"
Harry nodded hesitantly. "Thank you for everything, Uncle Abraxas."
"Don't mention it, Harry. Stupefy!"
The last thing he saw was a red light approaching him.
Harry blinked. He must have fallen asleep. Sitting up, he stretched his sore muscles. The evening sun was shining through the window. Tomorrow he would finally leave Privet Drive. The day couldn't come soon enough. He had his fill of chores and the Durleys' attitude.
'Well, it could have been worse.'
Despite its dismal beginning the summer hadn't been too bad. When nothing 'unnatural' happened the Dursleys had relaxed their regime. Luckily both Susan and Hannah sent their letters to Justin who forwarded them with the muggle post. Harry had sent Hedwig to stay with him; if he kept her here she would have stayed in the cage the entire time. After his fat uncle had managed to make a quite profitable business deal with a Mr. Mason without anything going wrong Harry had even be allowed to do his summer assignments for Hogwarts.
A small smirk appeared on Harry's lips. 'I wonder what Uncle Vernon will make of Justin's parents. Justin did say they wanted to take out their new BMW for a ride.'
Aquila carefully considered her collection of weapons and hunting equipment.
"I wish I had the space to fit it all." she mumbled.
Her trunk was mostly packed, but she still had the secret compartment to fill. It wasn't overly large; certainly not large enough to fit everything. On the other hand everything stored there would be completely hidden from most detection methods. If other people wanted to get at the contents without her consent they would have to completely dismantle the entire trunk. Technically speaking such a thing was illegal, but as Grandpa had explained it was a family tradition.
After a bit of thought she packed her favorite crossbow along with an assortment of enchanted bolts. With a little bit of luck she would be able to venture into the Forbidden Forest to do a bit of hunting. From what she had heard there lived all sorts of interesting beasties there. Some other necessities joined the weapon. The last piece of equipment she was able to fit were the pair of enchanted goggles Draco had gotten her for her eleventh birthday. She couldn't actually see through them, but they allowed her to perceive the surroundings even in complete darkness. They would come in useful if she made any nightly excursions, either into the forest or deep into the castle's bowels. Any form of lighting could give her away and cause her prey to flee or attack, after all.
"Finally finished. I wonder how Ginny is doing."
Ginny let out an exasperated sigh. Her trunk was long packed and she was ready to go, but the rest of her family seemed determined to delay everything until the last minute. It was maddening. All of them had been up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Her mum dashed around in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people kept colliding on the stairs while half-dressed and bits of breakfast in their hands. Dad had nearly broken his neck when he tripped over a stray chicken as he carried her trunk to the car. Even the normally well-organized Percy seemed incapable of being ready in time. Ginny herself had made a conscious effort to prepare everything beforehand.
After what seemed like hours they were finally seated in her dad's car. Ginny and her mum were sitting on the front seat. Her brothers were all quite comfortably situated on the back seat.
"Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" Molly remarked. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"
The red-haired girl had to suppress a snort. 'No mum, the space expansion charms Dad has used have absolutely nothing to do with it. It's perfectly normal that a muggle car is bigger on the inside than on the outside.'
By now the car was probably more magical than the average flying broomstick. Heck, it could even fly. George, Fred and Ron had taken it out for a fly during the summer; only for their mum to discover it and give them (and Dad) a fierce tongue-lashing. It was only (barely) legal because of a deliberate loophole her dad had written into the law about enchanting muggle artifacts.
'And then he turns around and blames others for doing the same thing with other laws. Sometimes he can be quite hypocritical.'
Arthur started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Ginny turning back for a last look at the house. She barely had time to wonder when she'd see it again when they were back. George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ron shrieked that he'd left Scabbers behind. By the time they were really underway they were running very late and tempers were running high.
Dad glanced at his watch and then at Mom. "Molly, do you think we could…"
"No Arthur." her mum replied resolutely, her expression darkening further.
"But no one would see; I installed an invisibility booster. As soon as I get us into the air we could fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser." her dad continued in a hopeful voice.
"I said no, Arthur. You won't fly this contraption in broad daylight. If someone discovers us your career would be over."
'We still could have used the floo or Mom and Dad could have apparated us to the platform, but no, Dad has to show off his pet project.' It wasn't as if Ginny begrudged her father his hobbies. What got on her nerves was the unnecessary loss of comfort. On the urging of their Dad her family had taken to travelling to and from King's cross the muggle way instead of using the quick and simple floo. She would have understood if they had done some sightseeing, but no, they traveled directly to the station and then directly back to the Burrow. Well, this time she wouldn't be travelling back with her parents.
They had barely five minutes left when they arrived at King's cross. The traffic was immense and once again Ginny wondered why they didn't simply floo directly to the platform. Or how the muggleborn managed; the location might be a traffic hub, but it was very uncomfortable to reach. It wasn't as if all muggleborn lived in the vicinity.
When Ron jumped on the train it was already moving; they had made it in time. Percy breathed deeply and fixed his prefect badge on his clothing. "I have to go to the prefect meeting. George, Frederic, can you make sure Ginevra gets into a… compartment…?"
Wondering about Percy's speech petering out, she turned around only to see an empty passageway. Her three brothers had already left. After letting out a sigh Ginny turned back to Percy and smiled. "Don't worry; I'll manage."
Percy looked at her skeptically before he shrugged. "If you think so, Ginevra."
After he had left Ginny began exploring the train, dragging her trunk behind her. Most compartments she looked into were occupied by older students. The few with students her age were already full, meaning she had to continue her search.
Suddenly she noticed a familiar blond boy walking towards her. Ginny felt herself blushing; the memory of their kiss was just too embarrassing. As soon as he saw her his eyes lit in recognition. "Hi Ginny. How are you? We missed you on the platform."
"Hello Draco. It took us longer to get here than expected; the traffic was worse than last year." she explained. There was no way she would admit to the true reason; namely her family being so unorganized that it caused endless delays.
"I understand. Aquila asked me to bring you to her. I believe she wanted to keep a seat free for you. Is that agreeable or do you have other plans?"
"That would be great; I haven't been able to find a free compartment until now." Ginny replied.
"The compartments at the front of the train are usually emptier. Here, let me help you with your trunk." Draco said. A flick of his wand along with a muttered incantation caused her trunk to start hovering weightlessly, making it far easier to pull it behind her.
"Thanks Draco."
The blond boy turned around, making his way back to from where he had come. Ginny followed closely behind, stealing glances into the compartments as often as she could. She spotted Ron talking with his Gryffindor friends and the twins joking with Lee Jordan and a few girls.
'They are probably the chasers from the Gryffindor Quidditch team.'
Suddenly Draco came to a stop, causing Ginny to almost walk into him. A female redhead had just left the compartment with a boy at her side. The boy had messy black hair and vibrant green eyes. Just then his hair shifted for a moment and a scar became visible.
'Oh Merlin; this is Harry Potter.' Ginny did her utmost to avoid a happy squeal, but wasn't able to prevent the blood from rushing to her face. For years she had hoped to meet Harry Potter. Unfortunately now that it had come to pass she didn't know what to say and tried to keep Draco between them.
"Hullo Draco. Good to see you." the boy said, paying no attention to Ginny's reaction.
Draco nodded in response. "Hello Harry, Susan. I hope you had a good summer."
The older girl smiled. "I can't complain. Aunt Amelia was busy as always and I spent most of the time with Hannah. We had a lot of fun."
"Good to hear." Then he took a step to the side, revealing Ginny. "This is Ginny Weasley. She's a friend of my sister, but please keep that to yourself. Our families don't approve and all that stuff. Ginny, the lovely lady before you is Susan Bones. The dashing young man is no other than Harry Potter."
Ginny stuttered a short greeting. Harry nodded in reply. Susan said hello before she rolled her eyes at Draco. "Aren't you a charmer? Really Draco, sometimes you overdo it with the sweet talk."
Draco shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just a natural. Anyway, I'll be around later. For now I have to deliver Ginny to my sister. She won't give me a minute's rest until she gets what she wants."
Susan laughed lightly. "The perils of having a younger sibling. Please say hello to Morag for me. I still have three of the books she loaned me. See you later."
It took Ginny a few seconds to regain her voice after the unexpected encounter with Harry Potter. "Are you friends with Harry?"
"Well, we occasionally hang out, but I wouldn't call us close friends." The blond boy let out a long-suffering sigh. "You wouldn't believe how many people approach me about him. A word of advice: Harry really, really dislikes his fame, being called the Boy-who-lived and showing his scar. None of the story books about him are true. If you want to stay on good terms with him just treat him as a normal person."
Ginny didn't get the opportunity to think about that for Draco stopped walking again and knocked at a compartment door. A moment later he slid the door open and motioned Ginny to follow him.
"Hi Aquila; I found your missing friend."
When Ginny entered she could see four girls, her friend Aquila among them.
"It's about time. What took you so long?" the blond girl asked with a sniff.
Draco bowed and scraped. "Your Ladyship, I'm deeply sorry my services were found lacking. Your humble servant begs your pardon." he said in a mocking voice while the girls giggled at the display. "As an apology I will share all your juicy secrets with the entire train. Oh, I can already hear the awestruck reactions when I show them the pictures of your sixth birthday. Why, I never knew one could do that with sweets."
"Don't you dare, Draco!" Aquila shouted. She continued to glare at the smirking Draco before she sighed. "I guess I deserved that. Thanks for your efforts."
"It wasn't a problem, Aquila. See you later." he replied before he left the compartment with a nod to the other girls.
Aquila turned towards her. "Hello Ginny. Let's get you settled."
A minute later her trunk was safely stashed away and introductions to the other occupants finished. The brown-haired Flora and Hestia Carrow were twins and seemed to know Aquila from their childhood. They seemed a bit hesitant to talk with her at first, but after the Malfoy girl treated Ginny as a friend they soon warmed up. Tamsin Applebee was the name of the last girl. Apparently she had just picked a compartment at random. All of them were from wizarding families.
The remaining train ride seemed to take no time at all. Occasionally other people would poke their heads into the compartment to exchange a few words, Aquila's brother among them. It seemed a lot of people knew Aquila. When the trolley lady came around Aquila bought them a round of everything, but Ginny wisely refrained from the Every Flavor Beans. The faces the other girls made were funny, though.
A wonderful rush was everything she remembered of the boat ride after they disembarked from the train. They didn't have to wait long before they were ushered into the Great Hall to be sorted. Tamsin joined Hufflepuff while the Carrow twins were sorted into Slytherin. Ginny didn't know what to think. They had been nice, but no one in her family ever said anything good about Slytherin House.
Aquila seemed to pick up on that and whispered quietly a few words to her. "Don't worry. Even if we are sorted into different houses we will stay friends."
Then it was the blond girl's turn. The hat barely touched her head before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!".
Ginny could only stare when her best friend gracefully walked to the Slytherin table.
When the hat was placed on her head a small voice began speaking into her ear. "What have we here? Another Weasley? Oh my, you are a feisty one. Not content with your situation in life you try to better yourself in spite what everyone expects of you. Slytherin will fit you well. The house will help you realize your ambitions."
"NO. Anything but Slytherin." Ginny whispered. Her family would never understand.
It seemed to her as if the hat harrumphed. "What is it with you Weasleys and Slytherin? Several of your brothers would have done fine there. While you study a lot of things you have no love of knowledge in and of itself. It is just a means to an end for you. You keep secrets from your family and are friends with people they would consider Dark. While I commend you on your friendship it isn't really a defining trait for you. You aren't a coward, but you prefer to avoid direct confrontations to get what you want. So where shall I put you?" the hat asked.
"I don't want to be in Slytherin."
The hat sighed. "You don't leave me a lot of options, you know. Very well; I hope you find what you seek in GRYFFINDOR!"
Ginny took off the hat and walked over to the Gryffindor table, her heart pounding rapidly. She didn't really pay attention to the applause and congratulations of her brothers. Her mind was still fully occupied with what just happened. The hat had wanted to put her into Slytherin of all things. Was she going dark?
'No, that can't be right. Even Slytherins can be perfectly nice people.'
Shoving these thoughts to the side Ginny turned towards her neighbors and started chatting. She would write things down in her new diary and think about it later.
With a grunt of effort Draco finally managed to wrestle the last mandrake into its new pot. The nasty little plant promptly tried to escape, but Draco simply hit it over the head with his shovel. That dazed it long enough for him to cover it with compost. Sighing in relief he leant back and looked around. Stephen was just finishing his last plant while Kevin had still two to go. The most interesting sight was Morag. The girl had removed all remaining four of the mandrakes that were her responsibility from the too small pots and was now having a staring contest with them. The first one had put up a spectacular fight, leaving the book-loving girl frazzled, sweaty and covered in splotches of earth.
Suddenly Morag removed her wand from her wrist holder and muttered something. A small flame appeared at the tip of her wand. Then she said something to the mandrakes Draco couldn't hear, but his best guess was something like "Get into the new pot or burn. Your choice."
The mandrakes looked at Morag, the flame on the tip of her wand and the new pot. Then their tiny shoulders slumped and they shuffled over to the larger pots, offering no resistance when Morag buried them beneath a layer of compost.
"I don't think Professor Sprout would appreciate you threatening her plants." Kevin remarked casually when they were all allowed to take off their earmuffs.
Morag shrugged. "She was at the other end of the greenhouse and everyone else was busy. It's bad enough I have to get my hands dirty. I will not wrestle with some plants suffering from delusions of grandeur." Then she pulled a book out of her bag and went back to reading.
"What we've got next?" Stephen asked.
"Defense against the Dark Arts." Draco replied.
"Oh joy. I hope we fare better than the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs."
Draco had to agree with that sentiment. Everyone had heard of Lockhart's first lesson that involved filling out a silly trivia quiz before he let a horde of Cornish pixies rampage through the classroom.
"His books are entertaining and well-written." Morag voiced her opinion.
Kevin snorted in derision. "Maybe, but it doesn't seem like the man can teach."
On their way to the Defense classroom Draco spotted one of the new Gryffindor fist years, the one he had labeled 'creepy stalker dude' in his mind. His real name was Colin Creevey and he was obsessed with Harry, taking pictures of him at every opportunity. He seemed to be searching for a good spot to intercept Harry later.
Draco pitied Harry on occasion. On their first day back at Hogwarts Colin had badgered Harry into signing a photo and Lockhart had observed the event. Then he had taken it on himself 'to tutor Harry in being a celebrity'. Draco doubted very much that Harry enjoyed it, especially because Lockhart had given Harry detention to secure time for it.
It wasn't long until they arrived at the Defense classroom; after a year at Hogwarts they knew the castle well enough to learn of the different shortcuts and avoid getting lost. Lockhart was already there, but he didn't look up from what he was doing. Draco could hear faint mutters of "Why do they blame ME for the pixies getting loose in the castle?"
Several minutes later the whole class was seated. Lockhart loudly cleared his throat and the formerly chatting students fell silent. He reached forward, picked up a copy of Travels with Trolls lying on his desk, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.
He pointed at it and winked as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
Only a few students laughed weakly, but Lockhart wasn't deterred in the slightest. "Today we start with a little quiz. Nothing to really worry about – I just want to know how well you read my books."
When Lockhart had finished handing out the test papers he retreated back to the front of the class. "Starting now, you have thirty minutes. Good luck."
Draco stared balefully at the paper. These questions were more a what-do-you-know-about-Gilderoy-Lockhart than what-do-you-know-about-defense-against-the-dark-arts test. It seemed as if a letter to his grandfather was in order; not that Draco believed that the board of governors would be very interested in the matter. They had let all the things from last year go without an investigation. If Binns was able to stay as a teacher there was no chance that they would take action against Lockhart.
Sighing, he started to fill in answers. There was no sense in attracting attention. He really didn't want to have detention with the man. Lockhart's books at least were easy to read even if they were filled with a lot of self-adulation. Draco's memory was good enough to answer most questions.
After he collected their tests Lockhart began rambling about his past deeds and his life as a celebrity. Draco tuned him mostly out. He was busy with creating a study schedule for himself. It didn't look like he would learn anything useful from Lockhart.
'Great, another class I have to learn in self-study; as if History and Potions weren't enough. Hopefully nothing else of importance will happen this year.'
Lucius Malfoy was quite pleased with himself and the world. The idiot Fudge slowly began listening to him and he had suborned several other people in the Ministry. It would take quite a while longer to strengthen his influence enough to get them to take specific actions, but it was a start. Draco and Aquila were away at Hogwarts and his little present should show results soon. It was past time that the ancient halls of the school were cleansed from the filth that infested it.
His other project was coming along nicely, too. It had been tricky to mix the first of his newly acquired substances into the food without anyone noticing. If he had tried to specifically tamper with his father's food it would have never worked. Lucius had been forced to sneak past the house elves and add it directly into the pot.
On its own the substance was completely harmless, meaning that detection charms geared to prevent poisoning weren't able to find it. It would stay in a body for about a year before dispersing harmlessly on its own. That gave him enough time to subtly purge himself and his wife of all traces before he added the second substance. Like the first one it was completely harmless on its own. Even combined the two substances did nothing, but when you added alcohol into the mix… well, someone would suffer a fatal heart attack in the foreseeable future. Sad, wasn't it?
He would be able to truthfully say that he didn't kill his father if someone tried to question him; after all it wasn't his fault that the old man liked his drinks. Even under veritaserum it would give him enough leeway. The old man had kept him waiting for far too long.
'Soon, father, soon.'
Ginny blinked. Why was she standing in a bathroom? The last thing she remembered was leaving the Great Hall after dinner. Perhaps she had been unwell and came here to recover; she had felt a bit under the weather. It was probably the excitement of finally being at Hogwarts getting to her. It had barely been a week since she arrived at the castle.
'I hope I don't fall ill.' she thought when she made her way back to the dormitory.
"He did what?" Draco asked in an incredulous tone.
Aquila rolled her eyes. "Are you going deaf in your old age? Professor Snape overrode the normal schedule and gave the Quidditch field to the Slytherin team. The Gryffindors were pissed, I tell you."
"I can't blame them; they wanted to hold tryouts this morning. Is Snape trying to fan the dislike for Slytherin? There's absolutely no reason to do such a thing."
"Oh, it gets better. The two teams were squabbling and some spectators came over to see what happened. Then the insults started flying. Within a minute it was just about to escalate to spells and fists. Snape came swooping in just when the Gryffindors threw the first punch. He gave them all detention and took fifty points." Aquila explained.
Draco could only shake his head. In the past year he had seen a lot of Snape's blatantly biased actions that deliberately antagonized the whole school. He was a major contributing factor for the rift between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Luckily the other two houses were only involved to a lesser degree. Most Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws hated only Snape personally, not Slytherin House as a whole.
"I now understand why Grandfather dislikes the man so strongly. There isn't any subtlety to him. Do you think McGonagall will do anything?" his sister asked.
The blond boy snorted with contempt. "You can wait until kingdom come for that. She never stands up for anyone, especially not for her house. Oh, maybe she will run to the headmaster, but for some reason the old codger always backs Snape. Ultimately she will back down; she always does."
Aquila cocked her head thoughtfully. "Curious. I was in his class only a few times but I can already tell he isn't a good teacher. Do you have any idea why Dumbledore keeps him on staff?"
"I can only guess. Maybe Snape has dirt on him. It's the only way I can explain why he hasn't been sacked. I mean I have seen him take points for 'breathing too loudly', for crying out loud. Although he usually tries to keep his actions defendable he relies far too much on Dumbledore's support." Draco shrugged. "He has been here for around ten years and it doesn't seem likely that he'll leave anytime soon. Since he doesn't seem to have anything against us it's better for us to just keep our heads down. Anyway, how are you settling in?"
"I'm still learning my way around the castle. The family name helps for establishing my position in Slytherin. By the way, thanks for asking Daphne to help me. She's been invaluable." Aquila's expression changed to a scowl. "That cow Pansy expected me to bow down to her. I don't think I can challenge her position anytime soon, but I will be able to make my own group. Flora and Hestia are on my side already. The upper years mostly leave us alone. None of them are from families in our league. Otherwise I'm doing fine."
Draco smiled. "Glad to hear it."
"By the way, your girlfriend seems to have a few problems."
"Ginny isn't my girlfriend." he said in an exasperated voice.
Aquila patted him on the head before Draco could dodge her hand. "You keep telling yourself that, brother. Anyway, she still isn't over that silly crush on Harry Potter. It isn't as bad as it could be, but I don't have many opportunities to talk with her. If someone sees us together there will be problems. Not so much for me; I can always say I use her to spy on the other Gryffindors. I doubt her house would appreciate our friendship, though. Or her brothers for that matter."
"There's not much I can do. Most of the Gryffindors don't like me. Remember, I'm the big bad Malfoy that is so cunning to hide his scales. It's only a matter of time until I reveal my true nature and sink my teeth into the innocent Ravens, Badgers and Lions." he replied.
His sister laughed loudly. "They call you that? Really?"
Draco nodded. "I think Lee Jordan came up with that. The walnut-brained Weasel mostly calls me a slimy snake, but I usually avoid talking with him. Neville Longbottom, Granger and the other Gryffindor girls from my year are mostly okay, but there is a lot of resentment in the upper years. Family of Death Eater victims who don't believe Father's Imperius claim, mostly. It's slowly petering out since I don't do anything to antagonize them."
"Clever. They won't know what hit them when you finally take over the school."
He looked at her innocently. "Who says I plan to take over the school?"
"You're my brother and a Malfoy, that's enough." She looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Ohhh, please befriend me. I'm helpful and perfectly harmless. There aren't any deep, dark plans to take over the world."
Aquila's act was just too funny; Draco couldn't help himself and burst out in laughter. Even funnier for him was how close Aquila came to the truth without realizing it. His sister joined him in his laughter after a few moments.
"Merlin, that was funny. You should take up acting." Draco said when he stopped laughing.
The girl smirked. "I can't help but notice that you aren't disputing my claim."
"I can neither confirm nor deny any schemes for world domination on my part. It's standard procedure for prospective evil overlords. You should know that, oh sister mine."
They continued talking for a while, but all the interesting topics were finished. Soon enough it was time for them to part. Draco looked over the empty room they had used for their meeting. There existed many such rooms and deserted hallways. In truth the castle was far too big for the number of students enrolled at Hogwarts.
On his way to the library Draco stopped at the school notice-board to look if something interesting had come up. Several clubs were looking for new members. For a while Draco had toyed with the idea of founding his own club, but he shied away from the necessary time investment. A club founded by a second year would take too long to get off the ground. He had started a little informal football group, but the meetings and participating members were irregular at best. As it was he planned to join the History club. Despite Binns' best efforts he still found the subject genuinely interesting and looked forward to discuss it with likeminded people.
'I wish I could share what the other Draco learned about the past. Oh well, perhaps I will find the opportunity in the future.'
Days and weeks passed by and Draco settled back into his Hogwarts routine. Spending time with his friends, doing schoolwork, expanding his net of acquaintances and especially research in the library to improve his skills filled his days. The Hogwarts Library was a veritable treasure trove of information, but it required a lot of effort. Most books only contained a few nuggets of valuable knowledge amidst a sea of useless drivel. It was really a shame that most students didn't use the opportunity while they were enrolled at Hogwarts. Later on it would be very difficult and costly to access such a well-stocked library. The restricted section was still closed to him, but he wasn't in a hurry. If he was still here after this year he would find a way to acquire the necessary permission. For now he was content with perusing the generally accessible stuff.
September turned into a chilly October, causing a spate of colds amongst students and staff alike. Thanks to the Pepperup potions Madam Pomfrey used to cure it a large part of the Hogwarts population could be mistaken for smokers because of all the steam erupting from the patients' ears for hours after imbibing the potion.
During an especially rainy day Draco was relaxing in the warm Ravenclaw common room. He had a book in his hands but wasn't really reading. Instead he watched the Quidditch pitch through one of the large windows. Ravenclaw tower really offered one of the best views of the surrounding school grounds. Raindrops the size of bullets thundered against the glass, drenching the practicing Quidditch team to the bones.
'Poor fools. I'm really glad I didn't take up Quidditch even after Father offered to buy new brooms for the complete team if I joined them.'
Now that he was allowed to bring his own broom he flew whenever he felt the need and the weather was good enough. Occasionally Harry or some of his other friends joined him. It had led to a number of offers to try out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, but Draco always declined politely. He didn't like the sport and it would take too much of his time. Dodging iron balls while being high in the air wasn't his idea of fun.
More days passed and absolutely nothing of note happened. Lockhart continued in his inept attempts at teaching, Binns was boring as ever, McGonagall was stern and so forth. Draco didn't notice any suspicious actions on Dumbledore's part or anything that required his full attention. His sister had no real problems and enjoyed her stay. The only hard part was acting as if his visits with Harry last summer didn't happen. It seemed the lack of memories of second year his other self had sent was completely justified by nothing happening.
Finally the day of the Halloween Feast arrived. The Great Hall had been decorated with the usual live bats. Pumpkins that were large enough for three men to sit in had been carved into lanterns. As usual the food was delicious. Midway through the feast Draco noticed that Harry and his three friends were missing, but he didn't think anything of it. Students were coming and going the entire time; they probably had just stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.
"This feast was much better than the last one. No panicked teachers and no troll." Kevin remarked when they made their way back to the dormitories after the feast ended.
Draco was about to agree when a commotion in front of them attracted his attention. A crowd of people was standing around in silence. With liberal use of his elbows Draco managed to push to the front of the crowd. What he saw made him stop in his tracks.
Harry, Justin, Hannah and Susan were standing in a large puddle of water, looking scared. Mrs. Norris, the cat of the caretaker Mr. Filch, was hanging from a torch bracket as stiff as a board. The worst part though was the words written on the wall in what looked like blood.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE
He didn't recognize who it was, but some began shouting in a gleeful voice. "Enemies of the heir, beware. You'll be next, Mudbloods."
Draco didn't pay any attention to the approaching footsteps. His thoughts were whirling chaotically.
'We have a problem. I have no memories of this happening. That wasn't in the plan.'
Author's notes: My thanks to my reviewers.
I always found it pretty sad that Harry only visited the graves of his parents during the Horcrux Hunt. Even then it was more an incidental thing. Well, I took the opportunity for a bonding experience between Harry and Abraxas.
Another issue is that none of the adults ever took the time to speak with him about Lily and James. Disregarding possible influence by a hypothetical evil mastermind it doesn't paint a pretty picture. At least McGonagall should have talked with Harry about things. James and Lily were her favorite pupils and she had reason to suspect that Harry's upbringing had been less than stellar. Did she ever ask questions or look into Harry's home situation? It sure doesn't seem so.
It doesn't help that Harry never really asks questions himself. Part of it can be attributed to the fact that he doesn't know what questions to ask, but I would be satisfied if he had invested as much effort as he does for the regular plot of the year (which isn't very much). Harry is just so damned passive.
So long.