Chapter 9 – Into the Serpent's Den
James could think of nothing else after Greta had told him about the rumours concerning the wand he had found in his trunk. He had spent most of the day in a trance, unable to concentrate in any of his lessons. Did it really once belong to Voldemort? It would certainly explain why Professor McGonagall had been reluctant to tell him her suspicions. But how had someone within Hogwarts come to be in possession of it?
After his classes had finished for the day he skipped dinner and instead headed outside, frustrated with the constant questioning from his friends who could sense something was wrong and kept asking if he was OK and the taunts from Greta and other Slytherins about him 'fainting' last night.
He decided to go visit Hagrid, hoping that he hadn't heard about what had happened to him so they could talk about something else and help him take his mind off it. However when he got to Hagrid's hut he wasn't in. James was about to head back up to the castle when he heard a whistling and went to investigate, hoping it was Hagrid. He walked past Hagrid's hut and followed the path and could see a big vegetable patch in the distance and a large figure working in it with a second figure seemingly stood motionless watching on. But as he got closer he realised neither was Hagrid. Though the man working was tall he was nowhere near as tall as Hagrid was. And he had long red hair and a big, bushy, red beard. And the second figure he had spotted was in fact a rather menacing looking scarecrow, with an old stuffed sack for a head, a stitched mouth and two large black glass eyes.
The man stopped working briefly and looked up and spotted James.
"Hello there," the man called out in an Irish accent.
"Er hello," James replied back. "Sorry I was looking for Hagrid."
"I haven't seen him. I'm Burns, the groundskeeper."
So this was the new groundskeeper that Hagrid was annoyed at for taking over many of his duties James thought to himself. He could see Burns was currently seeing to some small pumpkins, no doubt that would be used in the school's Halloween celebrations next month once they had grown to a much larger size.
"I'm James. Nice to meet you," James called back. "And nice pumpkins."
"Thank you. I think they're going to be the biggest ones this school has ever seen if I do say so myself. They'll look amazing once they're carved and the pies that the house-elves will make with the insides will be super sweet."
James heard barking in the distance and saw Hagrid arriving back at his hut with Fang in tow.
"Well I'd better go. I look forward to tasting those pies," James said and couldn't see why Hagrid didn't like Burns as he seemed friendly enough.
James walked back up to Hagrid's cabin and could see Hagrid watching him.
"What yeh been doin' down there with 'im?" Hagrid asked, sounding annoyed.
"I was looking for you."
"I bet he was showin' off about his pumpkins again weren' he? Hagrid moaned. "Thinks they're goin' to be the biggest the school has ever seen. Codswallop."
"I mean they don't look very big at the minute but who knows how much more they'll grow," James replied.
"I do. They goin' I ruin 'alloween. They should 'ave just let me grow 'em this year. In fact I've been growin' a few in me patch just in case," Hagrid fumed as he looked over at Burns working away.
Hagrid invited James in for some supper and made him a ham sandwich. But the slice of ham Hagrid had cut was about an inch thick and the bread was rather stale so James had a hard time chewing it. In the end he fed most of it to Fang under the table. But fortunately Hagrid didn't seem to have heard about the incident with the wand so at least James didn't have to talk about that. But he did have to listen to Hagrid moaning about Burns for nearly an hour.
"He claims 'is pumpkins are all grown naturally," Hagrid said in a mocking tone. "Says he don' use no magic. That's 'ogwash. I know a naturally grown pumpkin when I see one an' they ain' it."
Hagrid really wasn't in his usual good mood as he continued to fume and James had wished he hadn't bothered to visit. Hagrid didn't seem to be able to concentrate on anything else and appeared a little bit absent minded as he went about his hut in a mood.
"Now where did I put that crate of Doxy eggs for Professor Slughorn, I'm sure I put them around 'ere somewhere."
James looked around the untidy hut and was surprised Hagrid could find anything in there and didn't even bother to offer to look.
Eventually James couldn't take any more talk about Burns and headed back up to the castle as the sun was just starting to set.
"Where have you been?" Noah asked as James stepped back into the Gryffindor common room and James headed over to where Noah was playing a game of wizard chess with Zander.
"I just needed to get away from constant stupid questions about last night," James said as he flopped into an empty armchair.
"Want to play the winner?" Noah asked.
"Sure," James said as he watched Noah's Knight violently hack down one of Zander's pawns.
And it wasn't long before Noah's Queen had Zander's King cornered and it was checkmate.
Zander departed to finish a Transfiguration assignment and left Noah and James to start their game. And though James had played many times against his father, he was no match for Noah who in just a few minutes had taken five of his pawns, both his rooks and a bishop and all James had managed to take was two pawns.
"You seem a bit distracted tonight," Noah said as he took yet another of James' pieces.
"Have you heard the rumour about that wand?" James asked as he contemplated his next move.
"No, what rumour?" Noah replied, sounding disingenuous.
"Come on Noah. You're maybe a good chess player but you're rubbish at lying."
"Ok so maybe I have but it's just a rumour," Noah replied. "It's probably just someone playing a plank and got a wand similar to his. I mean how would someone have got hold of it?"
"I bet it was Greta. She said she'd get me for knocking her off her broom."
"Yeah but you literally found the wand right after our Flying lesson. She wouldn't have had time to put it in your trunk after that," Noah pointed out as he took James' second bishop out.
"Yeah I suppose. But maybe she put it in there before that. She's had it in for me right from the start of term. The Fat Lady said someone snuck in last Friday night. I bet it was her," James said as he moved his King out of danger.
"You don't know that. Where's your proof? Checkmate."
But James wasn't paying attention. He was too busy thinking how he could get proof that it was Greta who had planted the wand in his trunk.
"You want to sneak into the Slytherin common room?!" Noah said in shock the next morning as James explained his idea. "Are you crazy?"
"If it was Greta then she's probably got the cloak she was wearing somewhere with her things. If I can find it I can prove it was her who snuck into the Gryffindor common room and then she'll be in trouble."
"You'll be in trouble if you're caught in the Slytherin common room. Plus you need a password to get in anyway."
"Alright I haven't quite worked everything out yet," James said and thought to himself he wished he had his father's invisibility cloak, which he had heard so much about but his father had never let him use, then he would have had no trouble getting in undetected.
"Maybe you should just forget it. You'll never find out the password. I'm sure the Slytherins are too cunning to let anyone overhear them saying it."
"That's it. An extendable ear!" James cried out as the idea hit him.
"A what?" a puzzled Noah asked.
"An extendable ear. My uncle gave me one last Christmas. I brought it with me as I thought it could come in handy. It's in my trunk somewhere."
James walked over to his trunk and hesitantly opened it, thinking about what he had found in there last time he was looking for something. This time he was extra careful as he looked through, taking things out one item at a time till he found what he was looking for.
"Here it is. One extendable ear," James said, holding up the rather squashed box which had what looked like a human ear inside it. "My uncles invented them."
"And how will that help you?" Noah said, not looking convinced.
"It means I can listen at the entrance to the Slytherin common room without being near enough to be seen. Then I can over hear the password and get in."
"Yeah but once you're inside you'll be spotted."
"Not if I go in during dinner when everyone will be in the Great Hall," James said having thought it through in his head.
"Sounds pretty risky to me. What happens if someone comes back early?" Noah noted, feeling this plan was very dangerous.
"That's why you're going to be my look out."
"I am? I don't think so James," Noah cried out.
"Come on Noah I need your help. All you have to do in wait in the corridor. If anyone spots you, you can just say you'd left something in the Potions classroom. Please."
"Fine but I want half of any sweets packages your parents send for the rest of the year. Deal?"
"Deal," James confirmed and they sealed it with a handshake and he felt a step closer to finding out the truth.
The next day James put the first part of his plan into action. During his free period he had headed down to the dungeons with his extendable ear. In had taken him over an hour of sitting, huddled in a cold, damp corner of the dungeons, out of sight of anyone before someone came along and used the Slytherin password. But now he had it and he could move on to the next, more risky part of his plan – actually getting inside.
"You know I'm missing dinner for this. I'm going to be starving," Noah moaned as they made sure no one was about before they descended the steps down to the dungeon the following evening.
"Don't worry I told Anwar we had to go to the library to finish an assignment. I asked him to bring us something back to the common room."
Despite the flaming torches that lined the dungeon walls it still felt dark and cold and the pair quietly moved along, listening intently for any signs that someone might be about.
"There's bound to be someone who hasn't gone to dinner," Noah mentioned as they neared the spot in the wall where the entrance to the Slytherin common room was located. "Someone might have not been hungry or catching up on school work."
"Relax. You just have to wait outside and remember the signal if anyone does show up," James replied, not feeling buoyed by Noah's lack of faith in his idea.
James stopped beside the stone wall. It was completely bare and there was no indication of where the entrance might be. James brushed his hands over the wall seeing if he could feel any joins and part of the stones that felt different.
"What are you doing?" Noah asked. "Just say the password so you can get in and get out and we can get away from here. This place gives me the creeps."
James stepped back and spoke. "Callidus Serpens."
A patch of wall just to the right of where James and Noah stood suddenly disappeared revealing a narrow passage. James peered in apprehensively and listened. Other than a slight crackling noise he could not hear anything else from within. And he certainly couldn't hear any voices.
"Wish me luck," James said as he stepped in and the passageway disappeared behind him leaving Noah looking at a solid stone wall again.
The Slytherin common room with lit by greenish lamps that hung from chains and cast an odd tinge on the rough stone walls. Several large, ornately carved chairs were dotted around the room and there was a roaring fire, above which hung a large portrait of a sullen looking man with a large, hooked nose and shoulder length black hair. James did not feel this place was inviting one bit and couldn't see how people lived and spent their time here.
As he looked around he began to realise he had no idea where Greta's dormitory was. Presumably it was laid out similar to his own house common room with separate dormitories for both boys and girls from each year group. But that mean there was fourteen dormitories for him to look through to find the right one. This was going to take a lot longer than he had thought.
At the back of the room he spotted two passageways which seemed to have stairs leading down. He picked the right passage, hoping that this led to the girls dorms. After quietly descending the stairs he was confronted with a corridor with seven doors leading off of it. He tried the first door on his left and instantly knew it was a girls room from the amount of make-up and hair brushes that covered the bedside tables. He started to look around the room and instantly felt guilty. Though he was trying to prove that Greta had planted the wand in his trunk he was going through other people's private rooms who had nothing to do with the wand business. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. There was no way to know which was Greta's room of which even was her trunk. He was about to give up when he heard a rumble of thunder nearby. Noah had cast the Tonitruum charm, the signal that someone was coming. Instantly James left the room and headed back up the stairs to the common room but he was too late. Someone was already back. And not just anyone, but Greta and her two friends, Nancy and Edward, who never seemed to leave her side. James stepped back and hid in the shadows.
"Did you hear that thunder in the corridor? This place is weird," Edward said as they stepped through the passage way.
"Never mind that, did you notice that snivelling Potter wasn't at dinner? I bet he's hiding. Too embarrassed about fainting to show his face," Greta gloated as she walked over to the fire and put her hands out to warm them.
"Do you really think that wand belonged to… Voldemort?" Edward asked sheepishly.
"I don't know but apparently Professor McGonagall thought so," Greta replied as she looked into the fire. "It would have been great to have been at Hogwarts at the same time as him. I could have befriended him and been by his side. Helped him achieve his goals. That was his problem. He chose allies that were too weak. Wasn't your grandmother at school with him?" she said as she turned to Nancy."
Nancy nodded her head timidly like she was too scared to admit the family connection to Voldemort.
"Does she ever talk about him?" What was he like?" Greta asked, her face lit up with delight like a child at Christmas.
"I don't think she really knew him… she's never mentioned him," Nancy said, her voice almost sounding fearful.
"Shame. If it was his wand I wonder where it is now? Would be great to get my hands on it," Greta said as she looked longingly into the flames of the fire as she thought of the prospect.
James was still stood in the shadows of the stairway, listening to every word and worrying about how he was going to get out of there. Soon more students would be returning and he'd never be able to get out unseen. He needed a distraction quick.
James carefully peered back into the common room and was glad to see the trio were too busy talking amongst themselves to look over where he was. He then pulled his wand from the pocket of his robes and stretched his arm out and round the corner and pointed it into the second passage way that led to the boys dormitories.
"Vermillious," James muttered under his breath trying to be as quiet as possible.
Red sparks flew from his wand and lit up the passage as James quickly retreated back into the other passage, wishing that Professor Flitwick had been there to witness him finally cast the spell right.
"What was that?" a startled Edward called out as all three Slytherins turned to see the passageway lit up red.
"Someone must be casting spells up there," Greta replied, looking intrigued.
"But I thought everyone else was still in the hall at dinner?" Edward commented as he looked at each of the girls in turn.
"Let's go check it out," Greta suggested and immediately jumped up from her chair and headed over to the passage.
Edward got up to and followed her but Nancy looked a little less keen to go investigate.
"Come on," Edward called back to Nancy and Greta was already flying up the stairs.
Nancy reluctantly joined her friends and as soon as they were out of sight James sprinted across the common room and ran down the passage that led to the exit. The doorway magically opened again and soon James was back in the dungeon corridor, out of breath. But he didn't have time to catch it as he heard voices and realised more students were returning from dinner. Noah was nowhere to be seen, most likely having fled when Greta and her friends returned. James knew he couldn't take the main staircase out of the dungeon without being seen and raising too many questions why he was down there so he turned off down another corridor, hoping there was another way back up.
Soon James was far enough away that he couldn't hear the voices from the Slytherin students any more but he had turned down a couple more corridors and wasn't quite sure where he was anymore and there didn't seem to be very many torches lighting the way. He debated turning back but knew he would be spotted. His best bet was to wait there till everyone had returned from dinner and then try and sneak out of the dungeons.
He cast Lumos to provide himself with some extra light and was starting to feel cold, so much so that he started to shiver. His plan hadn't exactly gone as expected. All he had found out was that it probably wasn't Greta who had planted to wand as she didn't seem to have any idea where it had come from. He was still no closer to finding out the truth.
Just as he was wondering if the coast was clear to return upstairs he heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone speaking only it wasn't in any language James recognised.
"Hello is someone there?" James called out and though he could still hear the voice it didn't seem to be replying to him.
Cautiously James slowly walked towards where the voice seemed to be coming from. He turned down another corridor with his lit wand held out in front of him but still he could see no one and the voice suddenly stopped. He cast his wand around to see if anyone was hiding in a recess or a doorway but the corridor was empty. It was then that James noticed what looked like a small pool of red paint on the floor beside the wall. He moved his wand over to it and followed the liquid up the wall where James realised big red words were written on the wall – 'THE HEIR RISES'.
James took a step back in slight horror, not sure if it was in fact red paint or something more macabre. Suddenly he heard the strange voice again and spun round but still he could see no one. Not wanting to spend a second longer in that grim corridor with no idea what was going on James fled and didn't look back.