Author's Note:
Yeah, so I didn't really mean to go on such a long hiatus? This chapter just went south from the get-go, and my life got like 100% more stressful. In the end this just got chucked on the backburner, while also guilting me for not finishing it. The number of rewrites I did trying to get everyone saying the right things was EXHAUSTING. Then realizing that the entire chapter had continuity errors was, uh, not great. I've written and rewritten this so many times I never want to see this chapter ever again, but I'm somewhat happy with it now. Ron's perspective decided to just come in out of nowhere when I was writing, and Harry's conversation with Slytherin was just not working for me.
Thank you to everyone who left reviews, I've greatly appreciated reading them, and it finally spurred me to get back into this story. Anyway, I've hopefully worked out all the major issues. But, without further ado, on with the story!
Minor PSA: A few swear words here and there.
Chapter 6: The search continues.
After helping sweep through the corridors twice more, Severus returned to the fourth floor where he had last seen the boy before he had suddenly disappeared. Gently pushing open the door to the classroom, he walked to the section where the footprints had suddenly stopped. He hadn't noticed before, but the dust seemed to have settled lighter in a circle around the footprints, as if there had been some disturbance where they stopped.
It could have just been from the speed that they were running.
He begrudgingly decided that the only way he was going to get any more information about the boy would be from the Weasleys. But it was nearing midnight, and while the Weasley's worry for Potter would ensure they were up late looking for him, they were likely to be asleep by now. Heading back down to the dungeons, he resolved to floo them first thing in the morning.
Arthur and Molly hadn't been awake for long when the sound of a floo call was heard from their living room. Leaving Molly in the kitchen, Arthur moved towards the fire and knelt next to the flames. He was surprised to see that the one calling this early in the morning was none other than the Hogwarts potions master.
"I'm sure Albus already informed you, I wish to discuss Potter's disappearance with you, and speak with his friends." Severus directed this towards Arthur, who nodded his assent and stepped back. There was a whoosh of flames and he stepped through. Molly emerged from the kitchen to join her husband, gesturing to the nearby couches.
"I've come concerning the boy's whereabouts on the last days of school,"
Dropping heavily onto one of the pillows, Molly started rambling.
"It's simply awful, Albus sent us a letter last night saying that Harry hadn't been on the train, and that his relatives hadn't picked him up, oh I hope the dear boy is alright!"
"And his friends, they didn't see anything wrong with him before he left?"
Molly studied him intently. Just as her staring was getting uncomfortable for Severus, she glanced at her husband before leaning forward, lowering her voice.
"That poor boy… Ron mentioned that Harry had said that his relatives didn't like magic much, but I wouldn't have thought that they hated him that much." Molly looked confused, as if despising a family member was beyond comprehension.
"But if he's disappeared, it could be much more serious than he said."
Severus frowned. Muggles? What muggles would possibly be looking after the boy? Surely dumbledore had placed him with one of the many families in the order, to ensure his ongoing safety as he grew up. Why would he be with muggles?
"Ron and Hermione, the poor dears, have been worried sick since they arrived, they told us what was happening once we arrived at the station, I think that they had already sent a letter to Hogwarts." Molly continued, wringing her hands.
"If I may, perhaps I could speak with them, dumbledore wishes to know if they noticed anything about the before he disappeared." Severus suggested, glancing between the two Weasley parents.
"Of course, they're upstairs in Ron's room. Top floor - you won't miss it." With that, Arthur waved an arm towards the stairs.
Severus gave a short nod in response, rising to his feet before making his way towards the centre of the house, and up the narrow staircase.
Harry's footsteps echoed down the narrow corridor, as he set about exploring the passages branching off from the main chamber. After his first night staying in the chamber and meeting Salazar in the library, he wanted to explore the chamber and all the other areas that the Slytherin hinted at. Dobby had left earlier, needing to go back to the kitchens, leaving Harry with a dead basilisk and an old painting to keep him company. He wondered whether anyone had noticed that he was missing yet, but quickly pushed it out of his mind. He knew if he thought about it for too long, he would feel guilty for worrying the Weasley family, as well and his friends.
Going back to the main chamber, Harry moved towards the door that had led to the library the night before, shoving it slightly as he pushed it open. Staring around at his surroundings, he wandered towards a window that was bordered by two bookshelves. He noted that much more of the library could be seen in the daylight, even thought it was just an enchanted window. The high frames let in light from a point that was enchanted to look over the quidditch pitch and Hogwarts grounds. The high bookcases had all manner of tomes, and while many were old as the founders (quite literally), there were small sections that had some that looked newer, and Harry figured that Riddle must have made some additions to the library during his time at the school.
Walking past the shelves, he noticed sections for herbology, transfiguration, alchemy, spell creation, duelling, and many others, including some he had never even seen in the Hogwarts library. He returned to the corner where he had found Salazar's painting the day before, a cosy little reading nook with comfy looking armchairs and a rug covering the stone floor. The wall scones cast a glow over the area, contrasting the daylight coming from the windows scattered between bookshelves.
Harry jogged up to the painting, who was dozing in his frame, before clearing his throat awkwardly. Slytherin jolted awake, before fixing his gaze on Harry's small frame.
"Managed to get into the rooms then, did you?"
Harry stared at him confusedly.
"Uhm yes, they were quite comfortable. It's surprising how long the preservation spells on the room managed to hold."
Slytherin nodded, and simply continued watching Harry. slightly freaked by the level of attention the founder was paying him, Harry continued haltingly.
"This library… there are a lot if interesting subjects… spell crafting, alchemy… did they used to be taught as subjects when Hogwarts was first created?"
Slytherin nodded. "Of course, Hogwarts was the forefront of magical education in its time, there were many areas of study offered for students once they were enrolled here."
Harry thought that if half as many classes that were offered during the founder's time were still being taught, Hogwarts would be a very different place.
"Of course, overtime classes have been phased in and out, subject to the whims of magical society and what they deem respectable for their children to learn." Slytherin continued.
He was confused, surely the only way Slytherin would know about changes throughout history would be going outside and talking to the other paintings in the hallways. With the number of paintings in Hogwarts, it wouldn't take very long to get caught up with everything.
But Harry had never seen another painting for Slytherin, and indeed, if one had been in Hogwarts, then the glaring inaccuracies of his character would have been quickly corrected by the man himself.
"Sooo… you have another portrait outside of the chamber then?"
Slytherin glared at him as if he were stupid, before giving a curt "Of course not! You think half the things that are being said about me and my house would be running rampant through the wizarding world now if I had a portrait somewhere else? No, I only had one, and it is this one right here."
"Well then- how did you-?"
Another was down here many years ago, searching for knowledge in the chamber. He found that the Hogwarts library was severely lacing in many subjects, a fact that he reminded me frequently of when he was down here."
"You mean… Tom Riddle?"
"Yes, that was his name, another of my descendants. He is the first one who bothered to come down here after all these years, and then that young red-haired child and now yourself."
"-red haired… wh- you mean Ginny Weasley?"
"Yes her, although I don't believe she is one- it's been years of course-"
"Sorry, one what-?"
Slytherin seemed to not hear him, simply continuing to muse to himself.
"But how else would she get through, there must be a link somewhere-"
Harry continued to stare blankly as Slytherin continued muttering to himself, before loudly interrupting.
"Professor, what on earth are you talking about?"
The portrait's gaze snapped back to Harry, fixing him with that unnerving stare again.
"Simply who has come and gone form the chamber since I had left it of course."
"What? why?"
"There are wards designed to protect the Chamber from those who would wish to steal the secrets within."
"And you don't think that the massive basilisk in the main chamber isn't a big enough deterrent?" Harry stated flatly, still miffed about the Chamber incident from a few weeks ago. "Personally, I don't think many would be willing to come down here with that great big think out there protecting the place."
"I amassed quite the collection of tomes and other items by the time I left Hogwarts, I didn't want just anyone coming down here to take my life's work."
"So what, only certain people can get into here?"
"That's somewhat an oversimplification, but essentially yes."
"So just the heir of Slytherin open the chamber?" harry thought that perhaps if he asked the right question, Slytherin would tell him more about the chamber than the legend that McGonagall had told her class.
"But Ginny isn't an heir of Slytherin, how could she get don here if only your descendants can open the Chamber?"
Harry was taken aback by the stern glint in the portrait's eye.
"And how would you know that?"
"Well… with all the stuff that happened with the Chamber this year, Professor McGonagall told us some stuff, and then Ginny being taken…"
Slytherin seemed to just stare uncomprehendingly at harry as he managed to mumble his way through an abridged version of the events of second year. Harry figured by the look on his face, that Slytherin hadn't heard much about the petrification incidents of the past several months. Harry decided to explain what had been happening at Hogwarts, because it seemed that the Professor hadn't left the chamber in a while.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Severus made his way towards the door, figuring that the only person who would have a bedroom door that shade of orange would be the youngest male Weasley. Hearing the low hum of voices inside, he knocked quickly before stepping back a half step.
"Who's there?"
Severus carefully pushed the door open and was assaulted with an explosion of orange. He took a quick glance around the second youngest Weasley's room, noting the abundance of Chudley Cannons memorabilia plastered across the walls and ceiling. The from what he could see the walls were also orange, as was the quilt cover on the bed. The youngest four Weasleys and Granger sitting together in the middle of the floor all whispering to one another.
As soon as the group realised who had come through the door, they immediately went silent. The Weasley siblings collectively stared him down, and Granger but apart from that, there was no immediate protest to the professor entering the room. Granger unsurprisingly, spoke first.
"Professor… what… why are you here?"
To say that Ron was confused would be an understatement.
First, Harry had been with them going to the train, and then had gone missing without a trace. Then, after he and Hermione had sent a letter to the Professor explaining their worry over his sudden disappearance, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had been at the Weasley home so often over the past few hours, Ron figured they may as well just stay overnight. And now SNAPE was HERE, in his ROOM, just standing there, as if waiting for them all to speak. It was beyond ridiculous. And then he asked about Harry and the last time that they had seen him of all things, like the last two years of animosity was NOTHING!
Ron was content with not saying anything, until Hermione started answering Snape's questions.
"He was with us for most of the morning professor. We were in the Entrance Hall and got split up in the chaos, and he told us he'd meet us on the train. We didn't worry much till we were on the train because we couldn't find him in any of the carriages. We went up and down the train twice, but he wasn't there."
Just as Ginny was about to speak to add to Hermione's explanation, Ron had had and enough of the sudden civility of the Potions Master.
"And why couldn't Dumbledore come and ask us this, huh? Seels a bit weird for you to -oomph" Ron doubled over in pain due to a swift elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Hermione.
"Hermione, what the bloody HELL-"
"Shut UP Ronald!" she hissed, "He's trying to help us find Harry!" looking pointedly at Snape and then back at Ron. He knew that he probably shouldn't antagonise the Slytherin, but why should he suddenly be amicable now that Snape wasn't spitting and snarling at everyone in the classroom?
By the look on Fred and George's faces, they seemed to be of the same mind. The only difference was that they were continuing to watch the building tension between Ron and the Professor, rather than saying anything.
As Ron continued to mumble insults under his breath, the twins turned to the professor.
"So… are you helping Professor Dumbledore by talking to us?" asked George.
"Yeah, because he was here talking to mum and dad about it earlier." Finished Fred.
Snape studied them shrewdly, before answering somewhat reluctantly. "Yes… most of the Hogwarts staff are helping with the search, over then next few days, before many of the leave the castle for the summer."
"Well, we didn't personally see him when the others did,"
"But of what we saw of him and Ron when they were packing yesterday, it didn't seem like there was anything amiss." They continued.
"Same goes for me." Ginny added, repeating that she had only seen him in the common room when everyone had been packing.
Snape nodded slightly, before moving to stand. Scanning over the group once more, it was a weird sort of staring contest between them, neither Snape nor his students quite knowing how to end the conversation.
He swiftly turned around, before striding out the door, closing it behind him.
"Well, that was weird." Commented George flippantly.
Leaving the youngest Weasley's room and heading back down the stairs, Severus pondered what the children had said. It seemed that the last they had seen of the boy was around the time everyone had been getting on the carriages to go down to the train, and before that, if what the twins and the female Weasley had said was anything to go by. Which meant that he had been the last one to see the boy before the note came from Weasley and Granger. Severus knew for a fact that the train had just been just leaving, if not already left when he had seen the boy in the upper part of the castle.
Striding back into the main living area. He nodded briefly to the Weasley parents, before briefly thanking them for their time and excusing himself to apparate back to the castle.
Striding through the gates and up the hill towards the castle, he turned over all the information in his mind, trying to figure out what exactly had happened with the boy. Coming up with nothing, once he reached the castle, he turned to walk down to his quarters in the dungeons.
Once the door had closed and Snape had left, Ron furiously span round to face Hermione.
"What on earth did you elbow me for!"
"Ronald, he's a PROFESSOR, you need to be respectful! And he's trying – however reluctantly – to help us find Harry! Would you prefer to make him so angry that he just up and leaves!?" She exclaimed. "I know how awful he is, and I don't really want to talk to him either, but his help as well as the other Professors gives us a greater chance of finding Harry! Honestly!" Hermione threw up her hands with exasperation.
Before Ron could get in with what would probably be an equally heated response, Fred interrupted rather seriously.
"Hermione's right, the more hands in helping find Harry means a greater chance of success." He glanced at his twin before continuing. "And we would rather be helpful, as uncomfortable as that would be, than hinder our chances. You don't know what's happened to Harry."
Ron's anger deflated rather abruptly in the face of Fred's logic.
"I just wish Harry had told us what he was doing." Ron said miserably. "He's my best mate, so why couldn't he?"
Worried looks were cast around the group before Hermione replied quietly.
"I don't know Ron."
An ominous silence seemed to envelop the room.
TBC…
Thanks for reading, please leave a review!
Cay ;)