Reading HP - 2

by lorixjake

With the first book out of the way, the readers wonder what secrets will be revealed in the second? How far will Dumbledore fall in the estimation of the others?

12. Chapter 12

The Duelling Club

"This should be…interesting," Remus mused.

"Normally such a thing would be the remit of the Defence teacher, so worrying is the word I would use," Amelia pointed out.

"There used to be a student run duelling club, a long time ago. Crossed Wands, I think," Sirius put in. "Supposed to be a secret one but was basically an open secret when Phineas Nigellus was headmaster. I'm surprised he didn't put a stop to it, considering he temporarily banned Quidditch because a pureblood got injured."

"He what?" Several Quidditch lovers gasped at once.

"He wasn't a popular headmaster," Sirius grinned. "In fact, he is known as the least popular headmaster ever."

"For good reason, apparently," Charlie muttered.

"Well, with Slytherin's heir on the loose, duelling might not be a bad idea. Might not help against a snake, but there is still someone controlling it," Tonks mused. Ginny flinched.

Harry woke up to find the hospital wing blazing with winter sunlight and his arm reboned, though very stiff. Sitting up, he looked over at Colin's bed, only to find it had been blocked from view by high curtains similar to the ones Harry had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began bending and stretching his arm and fingers. She declared that all was in order and that he could leave after breakfast, which he clumsily fed himself left-handed.

"Wow. Regrew all your bones in one arm and she let you go first thing in the morning," Charlie whistled.

"On a weekend too," Tonks added, looking equally surprised.

Harry dressed as quickly as he could and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower, wanting to tell Ron and Hermione about the previous evening, but they weren't there.

"Really? Ron's out of bed that early on a Sunday and they aren't visiting you?" Fred frowned.

"It was important," Ron shrugged.

"So, starting the Polyjuice then," George guessed. "That's the only thing I can see you guys' ditching Harry for."

Harry left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren't interested in whether he had his bones back or not.

"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said guiltily.

"We knew your bones would be back," Ron told him. "Madam Pomfrey knows what she is doing."

"Yeah, but growing up with muggles, I was still concerned about it," Harry said. "They certainly wouldn't be growing back bones."

"True, but muggles wouldn't be vanishing them either," Fred grinned.

"Most wizards wouldn't be stupid enough to vanish his bones," Draco pointed out dryly. "Especially while trying to heal them instead."

As Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.

"Well, you're not coming out of a girl's bathroom where someone was attacked this time," Percy pointed out.

"Good point though. They are probably in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Neville realized. Percy sighed.

He greeted Harry and complimented him on his flying the previous day. Harry asked him if he'd seen the other two and Percy said he hadn't, but that he hoped Ron wasn't in another girl's bathroom.

"Thanks, Percy. You did help me find them," Harry grinned. Percy sighed again.

Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He wasn't sure why they would be there, but once inside, he heard their voices. He called out that it was him and heard a splash and a gasp from within.

"I sincerely hope you are not actually brewing a potion as complex as Polyjuice in a girl's toilet stall." Severus said in disbelief. It had come up in the last chapter, but he hadn't thought they were so foolish. Well, not Miss Granger at least.

"There was nowhere else to brew in privacy," Ron pointed out.

"Do you realize the number of things that could have gone wrong, not even including the actual potion brewing itself?" Andromeda asked in exasperation. All three of them shrugged. "You are brewing a highly volatile potion in a bathroom haunted by an equally volatile ghost. What if she knocked over the cauldron in a fit? What if she flooded the room again and splash water got into the cauldron? Along with bits a debris?"

"I did have a protection charm up around the cauldron," Hermione said, a little defensively.

"And you were absolutely sure it was strong enough to hold all of the time when you were not present?" Andromeda asked, sternly. Hermione flushed slightly.

"But it turned out fine. None of those things happened," Harry put in.

"This time. The purpose of these books is to learn from mistakes. And you cannot learn if you do not know why it was a mistake," Arthur pointed out gently. "None of those things crossed your minds, and they should have."

"What should have crossed their minds is not brewing such a dangerous potion without supervision," Severus muttered to himself. He understood why they believed they had to resort to such measures, ridiculous though they were, but that didn't mean he was happy about it.

"To be fair, it did cross both boy's minds not to do it," Filius said quietly.

"You know, I'm curious as to what your plan was with this potion," Ted mused. "So, you transform into Draco's friends and get a confession out of him. What exactly did you plan to do about it? There is absolutely no way he would have confessed to you three, and I highly doubt you wished to explain to a professor how you brewed Polyjuice Potion alone in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, right near where an attack happened, let alone explaining how you got the ingredients. That's without even considering Harry's aversion to talking to the professors given their inability to listen to him. How did you plan to turn him in?" The trio exchanged awkward looks.

"We hadn't really thought about it," Harry admitted. "We figured we could work that out once we knew for certain if it was Draco or not."

"Always have a plan," Moody grunted. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"We get it, it was stupid," Ron muttered grumpily.

"As long as you understand that so you can plan better next time," Sirius smiled.

"There had better not BE a next time," Molly said sternly.

He saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole. She told him he had given them a fright and asked about his arm. Harry squeezed into the stall which had a cauldron perched on the toilet and a portable, waterproof fire underneath that was a Hermione speciality.

"Most things are a speciality of Hermione's," George said as he winked at her. He was delighted to see her blush slightly.

Ron explained they would have come to meet him, but they heard McGonagall telling Flitwick about Colin and wanted to get a start on the potion.

"Oh, that's why the sudden hurry," Charlie nodded.

Ron thought that Malfoy had been in a foul mood after the match and took it out on Colin.

"Yeah, I can see why that would be suspicious when you already thought it was him," Fred noted. "Seems a bit coincidental."

"The same way the people who thought it was Harry would think it made him more suspicious considering Colin was annoying Harry by taking photos of him when he was injured," Remus sighed.

Harry then told them about Dobby as Hermione threw in bundles of torn knotgrass. Hermione repeated that the Chamber had been opened before and Ron thought that Lucius must have opened the Chamber and told Draco how to do it.

"It definitely was not Lucius," Sirius sighed. "He was four years ahead of us and it certainly wasn't opened while we were at school. And if it had been opened in the years before we got there, there would certainly still be rumours about it."

"Yeah, we know," Harry told him.

Then he wished Dobby had told Harry what monster was in there and how come nobody had noticed it sneaking around the school.

"That is a good question, although if everyone was at dinner for the first attack and asleep for the second, I guess it's a case of good fortune?" Tonks mused.

"But Harry heard it. He heard it in Lockhart's office and again just before they found Mrs Norris," Emmeline pointed out.

"He heard it moving upwards," Kingsley agreed with a frown. "But they didn't see anything."

"Maybe whoever is controlling it disillusioned the snake," Tonks suggested.

"That's possible," Charlie agreed.

Hermione suggested that it could make itself invisible.

"Not by itself, but Tonks had a good idea with the person controlling them doing it," Moody grunted.

Then she suggested that it could disguise itself as she had read about Chameleon Ghouls.

"Chameleon Ghouls don't petrify," Charlie pointed out.

"I know, but absolutely none of the options made sense," Hermione sighed.

Ron told her she read too much as he put dead lacewings on top of the leeches in the cauldron.

"I take it back," Ron muttered quietly. "We'd all have been dead if you hadn't read what you did." Hermione smiled at him.

Then he looked at Harry and stated that if Dobby didn't stop trying to save his life, he would kill him.

"The next time he tried to help, he did actually help," Harry stated. And saved him from Lucius Malfoy, but he wasn't going to mention that just yet. Especially considering he wouldn't have needed saving from Malfoy Senior if he hadn't freed Dobby. Not that he regretted it, quite the opposite, but he wasn't sure Sirius would be thrilled that he'd put himself in danger for the house-elf that had gotten him into so much trouble over the year. Not long after he was almost killed by the basilisk too. Harry inwardly winced.

The news about Colin spread through the entire school by Monday morning. Rumours and suspicion were everywhere while the first years travelled in tight knit groups, afraid to travel alone.

"I don't blame them," Charlie muttered.

"Probably safer that way anyway," Bill said. "More chance someone will get away and be able to tell someone what attacked them."

"Not to mention, whoever it is will hopefully be reluctant to attack groups of people because of that," Tonks agreed.

Ginny was distraught, but Harry felt Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They took turns covering themselves in fur or boils and jumped out at her from behind statues.

"Fred! George! Why would you try to scare your sister by pretending to be a monster when there is a real one on the loose?" Molly yelled.

"Not to mention how many other first years you scared," Percy put in, frowning at the twins.

"It's the sort of thing that's cheered her up before," Fred defended himself and his twin.

"And we didn't mean to scare the other first years, we did keep it to when she was mostly on her own," George added.

"It was fine," Ginny said quietly.

"We are sorry, Gin. We didn't mean to make it worse," George said softly.

"It's not your fault," she told them. "Nothing would have cheered me up."

They only stopped when a very angry Percy threatened to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her Ginny was having nightmares.

"Which weren't caused by the twins," Ginny frowned. Percy looked at her.

"I know you're trying to show concern, but maybe you need to stop threatening to write to mum about everything," Bill told Percy quietly. "It will make them respect you less, not more. Detentions are one thing, we both know the twins will deserve those at one point or another, but don't bring mum into it unless it's truly serious. If Ginny was having nightmares, going to Madam Pomfrey for some dreamless sleep would have been better, mum wouldn't be able to do anything except worry." Percy nodded.

A roaring trade of talismans, amulets and other protective devices was sweeping through the school. Neville brought a large, evil smelling onion, a purple crystal and a rotting newt tail before the other Gryffindor boys pointed out that he was in no danger as he was a pureblood.

"Oh, Neville," Emmeline sighed. "Even if you were in danger, those things would do absolutely nothing to help or protect you."

"It wasn't as hidden as the students liked to believe. Several people spent rather a long time in detention for selling those things," Filius said with a slight smile.

"And I ended up with my money back anyway," Neville stated, a slightly confused look on his face. "The things disappeared a couple of days later and were replaced with my money."

Harry and Ron exchanged smirks and the twins stared at them with matching grins.

"So, that's why you wanted us to trade the stuff back. We thought they had tricked our ickle Harrikins into buying it," Fred chuckled.

"You got the twins to get my money back?" Neville turned to Harry; eyes wide.

"Ron and me, yeah. It was Ron's idea to ask the twins for help."

"That was very good of you boys. All four of you," Arthur smiled proudly at the quartet.

"Thank you," Neville murmured.

"No problem, Nev," Harry replied while Ron offered a smile, though he looked mildly embarrassed to have been caught out.

Neville pointed out that they went for Filch first and it was well known he was almost a squib.

"That's not true. Either you are a squib or not. And you're not," Remus told him firmly.

"You just need some confidence and a wand that suits you," Emmeline agreed. Neville smiled at them both.

In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came around to collect the names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione signed her list; they had heard that Malfoy was staying, which struck them as very suspicious.

"Yeah, why didn't you go home?" Harry asked curiously.

"My parents went to France for their wedding anniversary."

Narcissa frowned. It had been unusual for Lucius to suggest they celebrate their anniversary in such a fashion. She wondered if he had been trying to distract her from finding out what was going on at the school. If she had known about the petrification going on, she would have insisted Draco come home as the holidays would be a perfect time for an attack. Even if he should have been safe as a pureblood, she would never risk her son.

The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him.

"But nothing weird happened that holiday?" Draco frowned. Ron and Harry smirked at each other.

"Except Miss Granger winding up in the hospital wing as half a cat," Severus drawled.

"So, it went wrong?" Andromeda wondered anxiously. Polyjuice could have several nasty side effects, not just incorrect transformations.

"Neither of the boys were in the hospital wing," Minerva said, thinking back.

"Read and you'll find out," Harry grinned, glancing over at Draco who had narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

Unfortunately, the potion was only half finished. They still needed the Bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, and the only place to get them was from Snape's private stores.

Severus glared at the trio who all shrank in their seats.

"You actually planned to steal from Snape?" Charlie whistled. "That's…"

"Suicidal?" Suggested Bill. Charlie nodded.

"At best."

Harry privately felt he'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than let Snape catch him robbing his office.

Severus fought to hide a smirk at that.

"Even knowing what the monster is, I still agree with that," Harry muttered to Ron.

Hermione said they needed a diversion so one of them could sneak into his office and take what they needed. The boys looked nervous as she stated that she had better do the actual stealing as the boys would get expelled if they get into more trouble.

"If you were caught stealing from a teacher let alone to brew a potion like Polyjuice, as second years, without supervision, even a clean record wouldn't stop you get one hefty punishment," Filius told her sternly.

"But it is unlikely she would be expelled," Kingsley said.

"And this is Hermione 'get us killed, or worse expelled' Granger," Remus chuckled. Hermione blushed.

"It's Harry Potter, he wouldn't be expelled even if he was caught stealing from Snape," Emmeline scoffed.

All they need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so.

"That really isn't much safer, deliberately causing trouble in his class," Fred pointed out.

Harry felt that deliberately causing trouble in Snape's class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon. I suspect poking one in the eye isn't much better," Luna said with a dreamy smile.

"I suspect it's rather a lot worse," Charlie laughed.

The trio attended Thursday's potions lesson, which started perfectly normally. Snape prowled about making waspish remarks about the Gryffindor potions while the Slytherins sniggered. Draco kept flicking pufferfish eyes at Ron and Harry who knew that they would get detention if they retaliated.

"That is a dreadful waste of expensive ingredients, Draco," Severus said, glaring at his godson. "And I know I taught you appropriate behaviour around potions, including adding additional ingredients."

"Sorry," Draco muttered. He didn't mention that he'd found it particularly funny because he had known Harry's potion was too runny due to needing additional juice from the pufferfish eyes.

Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he had his mind on more important things. He hardly listened as Snape paused to sneer at his watery potion. When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.

Everyone held their breath, wondering how Harry planned to cause that much mayhem and get away with it.

Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a quick prod with his wand.

"Harry Potter!" Minerva and Molly scolded at the same time.

"That's what you wanted the firework for?" Fred gaped. "Brilliant!"

"Not brilliant!" Molly snapped, glowering at her son.

"You didn't?" Andromeda gasped. "Please tell me you did not throw that into a cauldron?"

"Er…"

"Do you realise all of the things that could have gone wrong?" She snapped. "Even with Severus having an antidote on hand, assuming the potion you exploded was correct at all, it can be incredibly dangerous with so many people getting splashed at once. Getting some on a person's throat or tongue could cause them to suffocate." Harry flinched at that. "And that's if the potion is correct, if someone has done something wrong, who knows what could have happened?"

"The potion was correct," Harry said quietly.

"And did you know that when you threw it in?" Remus asked shrewdly. Harry grimaced.

"I believe your next potions lesson will consist of a very long lecture about the dangers of pulling stunts like this," Severus declared, voice soft and deadly. "Although, I believe Draco also needs to sit in on that particular lecture." Draco scowled. Harry said nothing, he was getting off pretty lightly after all. He hadn't even considered the issues with his plan and the idea that he could have permanently injured one of his classmates didn't sit well with him at all.

Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it straight into Goyle's cauldron.

"You actually aimed for Mr. Goyle's potion?" Severus asked in astonishment. He'd assumed that Potter (or whoever it was but obviously Potter) had just gotten lucky that the Swelling Solution was one of the few potions Goyle had done correctly with no issues.

"You do know Crabbe and Goyle are pretty bad at potions?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, why didn't you aim for Malfoy's. He's probably the most likely to have had the correct potion, other than Hermione of course," Ron said, looking a little bitter about praising Draco.

"Because Draco had been keeping a really close eye on us while throwing the pufferfish eyes. If he saw it coming and looked up at the wrong second, he'd have been able to tell Snape it was definitely us."

Goyle's potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Malfoy got a faceful and his nose began to swell like a balloon.

Draco grimaced while Narcissa and Severus glared furiously at Harry, who winced. Ron coughed, trying to hide his sniggers.

Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plates.

Andromeda took a deep breath to steady herself. There was no use continuing to yell at Harry for the same thing. She could only hope that her comments coupled with a lecture from Snape would get through to him just how dangerous this had been. The boy was lucky not to have permanent damage to his eyes from that, even after an antidote.

Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Harry saw Hermione slip quietly into Snape's office.

Severus' face twitched while Moody snorted in both disgust at how easy it was to break into a teacher's office and amusement that it was Snape.

He yelled for silence. Then told anyone who had been splashed to come forwards. Harry tried not to laugh as he watched Malfoy hurry forward, his head drooping with the weight of a nose like a small melon.

All of the adults pursed their lips but said nothing. Harry had been informed of the dangers and, frankly, they knew full well that if it had been the other way around, Draco would have been doing far more than simply trying not to laugh at Harry's predicament.

As half the class lumbered up to Snape's desk, with all sorts of swollen body parts, Harry saw Hermione slide back into the dungeon, the front of her robes bulging.

"Subtle," George snorted.

"I put the stuff into my bag when I saw everyone was still distracted," Hermione told him.

When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush. Snape threatened to make sure whoever had done it was expelled.

"Maybe not expelled, but you should certainly have served rather a lot of detentions for that," Arthur stated.

Harry arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled expression. Snape was looking right at him, and the bell that rang ten minutes later could not have been more welcome.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't start accusing Potter even with no proof. I doubt it would be the first time you put him in detention for something without a real reason," Moody grunted. Severus said nothing.

As they entered the bathroom, Harry stated that Snape knew it was him.

"He might have suspected, but if he knew for certain you wouldn't be getting away scot free," Tonks shook her head.

"Or he's just biased. In this case, yeah, he was right to suspect Harry but how many other times has he gotten it wrong?" Charlie pointed out fairly.

Hermione threw the new ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir feverishly. She noted it would be ready in two weeks. Ron told Harry Snape couldn't prove it was him and asked what he could do. Harry guessed something foul.

Severus nodded. He already had plans for the lecture that would make sure neither boy ever added extra ingredients, or fireworks, to other people potions ever again.

A week later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking across the entrance hall when they saw people gathered around the notice board. Seamus and Dean beckoned them over and Seamus explained a Duelling Club was being started. The first meeting was that night.

"Well, I can certainly see why people would be excited given the circumstances around the school at the moment," Amelia stated. "Although, as far as I was aware, it wasn't overly successful."

"There was a grand total of one meeting," Minerva told her.

"It was a complete fiasco," Harry grumbled, glaring at Snape who had given Draco the idea to conjure the snake.

Ron asked if they thought Slytherin's monster can duel, though he looked interested.

"No, but Slytherin's heir will probably be able to," Kingsley said.

He said it could be useful and asked if they should go. They agreed and so the trio hurried to the Great Hall at eight that evening. In place of the tables was one single, long golden stage along one wall. Most of the school were there, carrying their wands and looking excited. Hermione wondered who would be teaching then, mentioning a rumour that Flitwick was a duelling champion.

"Is that true?" Harry asked with interest.

"It is indeed. I still occasionally take part in competitions over holidays," Filius replied cheerfully.

"It would have been so much better if you had been the one to do it," Ron sighed.

Harry was in the middle of saying 'as long as it's not' when Lockhart walked onto the stage.

"This isn't going to go well at all," Emmeline said with a grimace.

"Well, there will need to be another member of staff to help him demonstrate duelling," Bill pointed out.

He is accompanied by Snape.

"Well, that's not going to help," Charlie sighed.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence, then asking if everyone can see and hear him. He told them that Dumbledore had given him permission to start the duelling club in case they need to defend themselves as he has done on countless occasions.

"Why? Why would you give him permission to teach people to duel?" Kingsley asked in astonishment.

"He can't cope with pixies, how do you expect him to manage a hall full of children casting spells at each other?" Tonks pointed out.

"I had rather hoped Severus would keep everything under control," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Really? You thought Snape would improve the situation?" Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Severus is perfectly capable."

"Of many things, yes, he is. But being fair isn't one of them. And I'm not sure allowing the Slytherins to hex other students under the supervision of Severus and an idiot is a good idea," Remus stated.

He introduced Snape as his assistant.

"Assistant?" Charlie chuckled. "I bet the professor wasn't fond of that."

"Because I'm sure he was thrilled with this whole venture to begin with," Tonks grinned.

Lockhart continued that Snape had told him he knew a tiny bit about duelling himself.

Sirius snorted derisively.

He continued that Snape had sportingly agreed to help with a demonstration.

"Like I had a choice," Severus muttered under his breath.

"Don't pretend you weren't itching for the chance to hex him," Minerva said. "We all would have put up with him for an evening if we were freely allowed to hex him."

"Which is why you weren't allowed to assist," Filius chuckled.

He promised they would still have a potions master when Lockhart was through with him.

Several people snorted at that statement while Severus pulled a disgusted face.

"I don't think a single person thought they wouldn't have a potions master once you were done," Kingsley said, shaking his head.

Ron muttered that it would be good if they finished each other off.

"Like Lockhart could do anything to Severus," Emmeline scoffed.

"I knew that really, I just didn't like either of them," Ron said with a shrug. "It would have been nice."

"Better than what did happen," Harry muttered.

"Well, that's not hard," Ron pointed out.

Snape's upper lip was curling, and Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling. If Snape looked at him like that, he'd have been running away.

Severus smirked at that.

"Rubbish," Hermione said. "He's looked at you far more nastily than that and you didn't run away."

"Fair point," Harry agreed.

"Even cursed him," Sirius put in with a proud expression on his face. Severus' smug expression faded into irritation at that reminder. Harry grimaced.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. Well, Lockhart bowed theatrically while Snape jerked his head irritably.

A few people laughed.

They raised their wands. Lockhart addressed the crowd, saying they were holding their wands in accepted combative positions and would cast their spells on the count of three. He added that neither of them would be aiming to kill.

"Wouldn't count on that," Fred muttered.

"Don't be ridiculous. Snape wouldn't kill him with that many witnesses," Tonks laughed.

Harry said he wouldn't bet on that as he looked at Snape.

Fred air high-fived Harry with a grin.

Lockhart counted to three. Both of them swung their wands and Snape used the disarming charm which blasted Lockhart off his feet. He flew backwards of the stage, smashed into the wall and sprawled on the floor.

Several of the Weasleys cheered.

"A little overpowered there, Severus," Minerva said with a very slight, pleased upturn of her lips.

"Purely accidental," Severus drawled in a manner that absolutely nobody bought. Many people in the room grinned.

Some of the Slytherins cheered.

"Honestly, if it hadn't been Snape, we would have done too," Harry admitted. Draco grinned.

"Well, not Hermione," Ron grinned. She glared at him.

Hermione was dancing on tiptoes. She asked if the boys thought he was alright, and they both replied 'who cares'?

There was another round of sniggering.

Lockhart got unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

Everyone smirked.

"If only someone had brought a mirror so he could have seen himself," George chuckled.

"His face would have been priceless," Ron agreed.

Lockhart told them that was the disarming charm and he had lost his wand, which was given back to him by Lavender Brown. He commented it was an excellent idea of Snape's to show them that but that it was obvious what he was about to do, and Lockhart could obviously have stopped him.

Harry snorted, thinking of Lockhart's attempt to show him how to block spells. "I highly doubt that."

However, he deemed it instructive to let them see, then he trailed off seeing Snape's murderous expression and decided to pair the students up to practice.

"Shame. I'd rather hear about him getting knocked on his ar…backside again," Sirius said, correcting his language under glares from Molly and Minerva.

"He's letting them duel already? They've only seen one spell and I guarantee they aren't all going to stick to disarming each other," Amelia frowned. "He should at least have shown them how to shield themselves."

"Assuming he knows how," Pomona muttered.

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Ron first.

"Of course he did," Remus sighed.

"I wonder who he is going to partner Harry with," Tonks said sarcastically.

"This will be his revenge for the potions lesson. He knows Malfoy will likely be a better dueller than Harry," Kingsley sighed.

"Hey, I held my own," Harry frowned. Admittedly, they had only thrown about three spells.

Snape partnered Ron with Seamus and Harry moved towards Hermione.

"That's not going to happen," Fred scoffed.

He was partnered with Draco.

"Saw that coming," Charlie muttered.

"I'm surprised he let Ron off with facing Seamus," Bill noted.

"Ron should absolutely not be taking part! His wand doesn't work!" Kingsley stated unhappily.

"Oh yeah," Remus realised. "That's not good."

"Poor Seamus," Sirius winced.

"It didn't really occur to me until we'd already started," Ron admitted with a grimace.

Hermione is paired with Millicent Bulstrode, a girl that Harry describes as reminding him of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. Hermione offered her a weak smile that wasn't returned.

"This isn't going to go well, is it?" Bill asked with a sigh.

"Not at all," Charlie agreed.

Lockhart called for them to face their partners and bow. Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.

Moody nodded.

Lockhart tells them to only disarm and then begins to count to three. Malfoy acts on two and casts his spell which made Harry feel like he'd been hit over the head with a saucepan.

Sirius snarled.

"I hate that you actually know what that feels like," Remus scowled angrily. Harry could only shrug helplessly. It's not exactly something he could change.

"What spell were you trying to cast?" Tonks wondered.

"Confundus charm," Draco muttered. Several adults shot him angry looks.

"No wonder it didn't work properly. That's quite advanced magic, Mr. Malfoy," Filius said disapprovingly. "Certainly not something you should be trying as a second year."

Harry recovered and retaliated with Rictusempra.

"Nice going," Sirius said with a grin.

"Tickling jinx. Not bad, as long as you follow it up while he's distracted," Moody grunted.

"They are only supposed to be disarming each other," Minerva pointed out.

"Malfoy started it," Sirius reminded her immediately.

"All the more reason for Harry to disarm him quickly. He knows more hexes than Harry does," Tonks stated.

Malfoy doubled up, wheezing.

"You failed to dodge the spell?" Narcissa asked in disapproval.

"I didn't expect him to recover so quickly," Draco told him mother.

"Never underestimate an opponent," Moody barked. "Good way to get killed. Constant Vigilance!"

Lockhart shouted that he had instructed them only to disarm. Malfoy sank to his knees and could barely move he was laughing so hard. Harry had a vague feeling it would be unsporting to hex him while he was on the floor.

"HARRY!"

"POTTER!"

"Seriously?"

"Like he would have the same courtesy," Ron snorted.

"Even if you think the enemy is disabled, you always disarm them," Moody snarled at Harry who winced. He suspected that lesson would be drilled into his head later. Along with having his wand out in appropriate situations.

Snape was staring at Harry, gritting his teeth as it was shoved in his face, yet again, just how wrong he had been about the younger Potter. James wouldn't have hesitated to hex any fellow student while they were incapacitated in a similar situation, let alone a rival.

Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry's knees, managing to choke out a spell that caused Harry's legs to jerk around out of his control in a kind of quickstep.

"That's pretty impressive, being able to cast a spell properly and accurately while under the tickling jinx," Tonks said fairly. Draco couldn't stop a small smile forming on his face at the praise from an Auror.

"I'm surprised that's all he hit you with considering he tried a confundus charm the first time," Sirius muttered darkly.

Lockhart screamed for them to stop. In the end Snape took charge, casting a general countercurse. Harry's legs stopped dancing and Draco stopped laughing.

Several people rolled their eyes.

"Thank goodness at least one adult present is capable," Pomona muttered grumpily.

"Wait for it," Harry said with a grimace. He suspected it had been Snape's idea for Draco to conjure the snake, likely to scare him as a punishment for the potions lesson. It just wasn't Draco's style at all. Although he wondered how Draco had managed it, conjuring something from nothing was advanced magic.

A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor while Ron was holding up an ashen faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done.

Ron winced.

"It was seriously dangerous of you to attempt a duel with a wand in that condition. Your lessons so far must have clued you in it wasn't working," Bill frowned at his younger brother. He understood why Ron hadn't written home for another one, he didn't like it, but he understood, that didn't mean he shouldn't be responsible while using the wand.

"Well, there wasn't really time to protest when Lockhart paired us up, and he wouldn't have listened anyway. And everything that had gone wrong so far was mostly just spells not working at all, or backfiring on me," Ron said with a shrug. "I didn't expect it to do whatever it did to Seamus. He got checked out by Madam Pomfrey later the next day and she said he was fine."

"At least he got looked at," Charlie sighed.

Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving as Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain. Their wands lay forgotten on the floor.

"What? A Slytherin fighting like a muggle?" Fred gasped in fake shock.

"I bet she knew she'd never beat Hermione in a duel. Ironic, the Slytherin couldn't win in a magical fight against a muggleborn so resorted to using muggle fighting. Almost as if purebloods really aren't any better at magic in the first place," Harry smirked at Draco. Narcissa stopped herself from wrinkling her nose at that proclamation. Draco just scowled.

Harry leapt forward and pulled Millicent off. It was rather difficult as she was a lot bigger than he was.

"Did you actually manage?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Yes."

"Harry's stronger than he looks," Fred stated.

"Not that it's difficult. He doesn't look very strong," George teased. Harry glared at him, and he just winked.

Lockhart wandered through the crowd, offering pointless commentary, telling Boot to pinch it hard and it would stop bleeding in a second.

"At least he didn't try and heal anyone himself," Harry muttered.

"Must have learnt his lesson," Remus said with a scowl at the reminder of Harry having his bones removed.

"I did make sure to tell Severus he had my full permission to stop Lockhart however he wished if he tried to 'heal' any one of my lions during the session," Minerva said with a smirk. "He must have overheard."

"That would do it," Sirius laughed.

"Thank you!" All of the Gryffindors who had been there said to their head of house who smiled at them.

Lockhart said he should teach them to block unfriendly spells.

"Maybe you should have done that before allowing students to duel each other?" Amelia suggested dryly, shaking her head at the incompetence.

"It wouldn't have helped," Harry told her darkly.

He glanced at Snape and then looked for a volunteer pair, suggesting Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Snape said this was a bad idea, as he came over, looking like a large and malevolent bat.

Several people snickered at the description.

Snape stated that Longbottom caused devastation with the simplest spells.

"And how would you know that?" Minerva demanded, angry at his constant putting down of both Harry and Neville. "Your subject does not require any spellcasting and they haven't had any competent Defence teachers so you can't judge him with that either."

"You should not say things like that about your students, especially not right in front of them," Pomona put in, also looking upset at his dig towards one of her favourite students.

"It's not like he hasn't said worse," Neville shrugged.

"Frequently," Harry added.

He added that they would be sending what was left of Justin to the Hospital Wing in a matchbox.

"They have already had a mini duel and Justin seems to be just fine, Yes, they both ended up on the floor but that could have been either of their faults, and there was no lasting harm either way," Emmeline put in.

"It's alright," Neville mumbled.

"No. It's not. A member of staff should not speak about you like that," Remus told him. "Nor should anyone else, but especially not your teacher."

Neville blushed and then Snape suggested Draco and Harry.

"Of course you would suggest them," Tonks rolled her eyes.

"I bet he's up to no good," Sirius said with a glare.

"Well, Harry held his own in their first duel. He would have won if he hadn't been too nice," Fred pointed out. Draco scowled.

Lockhart easily agreed and gestured the pair to the middle of the hall. Everyone backed away to give them space. Lockhart went to Harry and told him to do what he did when Draco pointed his wand at him. Then he raised his own wand and attempted a strange wiggling action before dropping it.

"He what?" Amelia exclaimed in disgust.

"What was that even supposed to be?" Kingsley wanted to know.

"He didn't even tell Harry the incantation for the shield charm," Tonks pointed out. "And no second year is going to be doing non-verbal spells."

"I'd bet on a second year doing non-verbal before I believe Lockhart capable of them," Sirius scoffed.

"True, but not the point. This is who is teacher our younger generation to defend themselves?" Emmeline scoffed. She couldn't believe she had actually fallen for the rubbish in his books. Or that she had defended the man. He was truly incompetent at best and a danger to the students at worst.

Snape smirked at Lockhart picked up his wand, saying it was a little overexcited.

"What?" Bill deadpanned.

"Gross," Charlie muttered causing Tonks to snigger.

"Wands shouldn't get overexcited. Especially not over something as simple as demonstrating a shield charm," Kingsley said.

"This is just…" Remus trailed off, shaking his head.

"I think I'm definitely going to take a look at this curse on the Defence job. There has to be some way around it," Bill said to himself.

Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear. Malfoy smirked, too.

"What are you doing now, Severus?" Emmeline asked warily. Severus said nothing.

"Nothing good," Sirius snarled. Harry grimaced. He knew there was no way Snape had known what was about to happen, but he still blamed him for the reveal of his parseltongue abilities.

Harry nervously asked Lockhart to show him the blocking thing again.

"Really?" George asked.

"I really didn't like the fact that Snape told Draco something that made him smirk like that. It wouldn't be anything good for me," Harry pointed out.

"Fair enough but I'd have gone for just dodging whatever he sent at you," Bill advised.

Malfoy asked if he was scared, making sure Lockhart wouldn't hear.

"What? Lockhart was right next to Harry. How was Malfoy close enough to make sure he couldn't hear when he should have been at the other end of the area ready to duel?" Percy wondered.

"Maybe he knew Lockhart's prattling would cover whatever he said to Harry?" Fred suggested with a snort.

Harry replied that he wished.

"Yeah. Harry had the upper hand the last time. Why would he be scared now?" Ron scoffed, despite knowing what happened.

"Because Snape was instructing him this time," Harry pointed out.

"A good reason to be concerned," George agreed.

Lockhart clapped him on the shoulder and said to do what he had done. Harry asked if this meant he should drop his wand.

"I really hope you were being sarcastic," Sirius muttered.

"Of course I was," Harry huffed. "I didn't really think dropping my wand would be a good idea."

Lockhart wasn't listening.

"Of course not," Kingsley huffed.

"Probably for the best," Minerva told him. "I doubt a second demonstration would have been any more helpful than the first."

"Good point."

He counted down from three and Malfoy used Serpensortia.

"You encouraged him to conjure a snake?" Sirius snarled furiously at Severus.

"That spell doesn't conjure a snake, it summons one. It's less advanced than conjuring a living being from nothing," Minerva pointed out. "So, I suspect Severus had planned this out."

"How could I possibly have planned this?" Severus demanded.

"It would hardly be difficult to assume that Harry and his friends would attend a duelling club. You paired him with Draco and then you suggested they be the pair to demonstrate. I assume you encouraged him to use that specific spell, knowing there was a snake near enough he would be able to summon it," Tonks stated logically. "And if Harry didn't attend, then nobody would be any the wiser and you could get rid of the snake, or use it for potions ingredients."

"This was your revenge for the potions lesson," Remus guessed. "You couldn't prove it was Harry so you took advantage of the opportunity that was presented to you."

"Severus!" Minerva glared at the head of Slytherin.

"This is pure speculation," Severus defended himself.

"It's speculation based on knowledge of you and your actions towards Mr. Potter, along with knowing how that specific spell works and the fact that Mr. Potter saw you whispering to Mr. Malfoy moments before this happened," Kingsley pointed out.

"It's a logical assumption and really quite pathetically petty," Andromeda stated, rolling her eyes. Honestly, did no Slytherins these days have an ounce of subtlety? Severus only glowered.

The end of his wand exploded. Harry could only watch as a long black snake shot out of it and fell heavily onto the floor between them before raising itself, ready to strike. Several people screamed and the crowd backed away. Snape told Harry not to move, clearly enjoying the fact that he was eye to eye with an angry snake.

"Of course he enjoyed it. He gets off on bullying students that are supposed to be under his care," Sirius sneered. "He likes to pretend he's so much better than we Marauders were and yet he's turned out worse."

"He only gets worse. This last year was the worst," Harry pointed out. Several people sighed in exasperation.

He said he would get rid of it. Lockhart interrupted, saying to allow him before he brandished his wand and caused the snake to fly ten feet into the air and then fall back to the ground with a loud bang. This only served to enrage the snake.

"Brilliant," Remus groaned.

"Why would he do that?" Charlie demanded angrily.

"Because he's an idiot," Bill stated. "That probably wasn't even what he intended to do."

It slithered straight toward Justin and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Harry wasn't aware of deciding his next action, but his legs carried him forwards and he shouted at the snake for it to leave Justin alone.

"Oh no!" Tonks groaned.

"That's going to be in parseltongue," Remus sighed. "And now the whole school are going to be even more convinced you are the Heir of Slytherin."

"Potter luck," Ron said grimly.

"Nobody with any brains thought it was Harry," Fred scoffed. "His mum and one of his best friends are both muggleborn."

"Most of the school thought it was me," Harry reminded him.

"Like I said, nobody with any brains thought it was you," Fred grinned, winking at him. Harry chuckled.

The snake slumped to the floor, perfectly docile, its eyes now on Harry. Harry felt the fear drain out of him. He knew the snake wouldn't attack anyone now, though he wasn't sure how he knew.

"Well that's certainly useful," Tonks said cheerfully.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Pomona said. She suspected that everyone would have gotten caught up in the fact that Harry was a parselmouth and forgotten that he had just saved Justin from being bitten. She also glared at Snape for his ill-advised pathetic plan to get some sort of revenge on Harry and getting other students caught up in the mess.

He looked up at Justin expecting to see Justin looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful. However, he was looking angry and scared.

"You didn't realise you had spoken in parseltongue? Or I assume you did as the snake most likely wouldn't have listened to you otherwise," Filius wondered.

"It sounded like English to me," Harry confirmed.

"How strange," Moody grunted. "You should work on telling the difference so something like this doesn't happen again."

"I didn't know it could happen in the first place when this happened," Harry pointed out.

Justin asked what he was playing at before storming out of the hall.

"Even if Harry spoke in parseltongue, it sounded like the snake immediately backed off. Surely it would be clear that he was helping not doing any harm?" Emmeline frowned.

"But they already thought he might be the Heir of Slytherin. I assume that in Justin's mind, Mr. Potter speaking parseltongue cemented this idea, causing him to lash out regardless of logic," Kingsley said.

Snape stepped forwards and vanished the snake, though he looked at Harry in a shrewd and calculating manner.

"Don't tell me you thought it was him? I know you like to accuse Harry of just about anything, but this is ridiculous," Sirius snarled.

"I didn't think Potter was behind the attacks, but it was still highly unexpected that he would be able to speak parseltongue when the only other known parselmouth since Salazar Slytherin himself was the Dark Lord," Severus pointed out grimly.

"I don't even want to think of the amount of trouble this is going to cause Harry just because you wanted some petty revenge for something you didn't even have proof of," Tonks muttered.

"Mr. Potter was indeed the one who threw the firework into Mr. Goyle's cauldron," Severus reminded her.

"A fact you had no proof of. In the future, I don't want you involving Draco in your attempts to get Mr. Potter back," Narcissa stated primly. Severus should know better than to use Draco like that. She knew her son would have been only too eager to try and humiliate or scare Potter in front of an audience, a fact Severus had no doubt preyed on.

Ron ushered him out of the hall.

"Probably for the best. Well done, Ron," Bill smiled at his younger brother.

Hermione was with them as they left the hall with people drawing away like they might catch something.

Sirius growled under his breath. This was like first year with the points loss all over again. Except worse. Now the school thought his godson capable of harming muggleborns for fun. How could anyone think that of Harry? His sweet-natured godson more capable of forgiveness than anyone had a right to be. A fact he was grateful for, but also worried about. It would be easy for people to take advantage of Harry's good nature.

Harry didn't have a clue what was going on, and neither Ron nor Hermione explained anything until they had dragged him all the way up to the empty Gryffindor common room.

"Sorry, mate," Ron said with a wince. "I just didn't think it was a conversation for the middle of the hallways."

"No, you were right," Harry assured him. "I was just really worried."

"Well, we didn't know about your incredible ability to stew over the worst possible option at that point," Hermione sighed. "We won't let it happen in the future." Ron nodded.

Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and asked why Harry hadn't told them he was a parselmouth.

"Because I didn't know," Harry frowned.

"I know that now," Ron told him.

Harry was confused and Ron repeated that he was a parselmouth, saying he could talk to snakes. Harry confirmed this, saying it was only the second time he had done so, having set a boa on Dudley.

"You hardly set it on him," Fred scoffed.

"Yeah, you vanished the glass. That's it," George agreed.

"Any of the snake's actions after that can hardly be blamed on you. Besides, the snake didn't do anything more than playfully pretend to snap at them if I recall," Tonks added. "No damage was done."

He continued that it was a long story and the snake had been telling him it had never seen Brazil and then Harry had set it free without meaning to.

"You were missing the part where your cousin hit you and acted like a complete prat," Ron stated grimly.

Ron repeated his statement about the boa never having seen Brazil, and Harry assumed that lots of people at Hogwarts could do it.

"Nope," Fred grinned.

"Lucky me. I get the ability that everyone associates with Voldemort and dark wizards in general, meaning most of the school thought I was capable of petrifying my fellow students," Harry scowled.

"You thought I was capable of it," Draco reminded him.

"Yeah, well, you gave off those vibes," Harry told him with a forced grin. He wasn't about to tell everyone he had personally heard Draco wish Hermione dead just yet. Honestly, he was hoping Draco would summon up the guts to admit it and apologise to Hermione before they read about it, but given that Draco apparently hadn't even realised it was them at the time, it was unlikely. It was a shame, because the Draco he'd gotten to know in here was actually alright. He could be funny when his sarcastic insults were aimed at other people and Harry knew he was joking.

Ron told him it wasn't a common gift and was bad.

"It's bad because of the situation. Outside of that, I think it's a very useful gift," Andromeda stated. "Many snake venoms are used in antidotes and other potions. Harry could speak to the snakes and ask them to give some venom peacefully." Harry looked at her in surprise. He hadn't thought about any of the good sides to being able to talk to snakes.

Harry began to feel angry as he asked what was bad. Then he pointed out that he had told the snake not to attack Justin.

"Without knowing about the stigma, I can see why you would be frustrated," Charlie said.

Ron was surprised by what he had said to it. Harry pointed out that he was there and had heard him. Ron corrected that he heard parseltongue and Harry could have been saying anything.

"Except the snake backed down after he spoke to it. He was hardly going to be egging it on or anything," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah. I wasn't really thinking logically," Ron admitted.

Ron continued that it sounded like he had been egging the snake on and it had been creepy.

"Honestly, Ron," Charlie groaned.

"You could have made that sound less like you thought he was encouraging the snake to attack Finch-Fletchley," Bill agreed.

"I know. Sorry, Harry," Ron said, looking at his best friend apologetically. Harry waved this away. He'd long since understood and forgiven Ron's reaction.

Harry gaped at him and said he hadn't realised he was speaking another language. Then he asked how he could speak a language without knowing he could speak it.

"Well, if it's an inherited ability, then it makes sense you wouldn't know about it," Tonks pointed out. "Other than the zoo, it's not like you met many snakes to try it out on. Although it is strange it sounds like regular English to you."

"If it's inherent, then it does sort of make sense that he wouldn't realise he's speaking another language. Nobody expects to speak a language they've never learnt," Emmeline said fairly.

Ron shook his head. Both he and Hermione were looking as though someone had died. Harry couldn't see what was so terrible. He asked what was so wrong with him stopping the snake taking Justin's head off and Hermione informed him that being able to speak parseltongue was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for.

"To be fair, he is famous for a lot more than just that," Andromeda pointed out.

Harry's mouth fell open and Ron stated that the whole school were going to believe Harry was related to Salazar Slytherin. Harry protested that he wasn't.

"Purebloods are pretty interrelated. There is a good chance you are related to him in some fashion," Sirius told him. "But no more so than at least half the school."

"If only someone had told the school that," Harry muttered bitterly.

Hermione pointed out he would find that hard to prove as Salazar Slytherin had lived so long ago that Harry could be related to him.

"Not helpful Hermione. While true, it was hardly the time to point that out," Remus told her.

Harry lay awake for hours that night. Through a gap in the curtains around his four-poster he watched snow starting to drift past. He wondered if he could be a descendant of Slytherin and realised he knew nothing about his father's family.

"Whether you're related or not, you know that you aren't the one attacking people," Remus pointed out.

He tried to speak parseltongue but the words wouldn't come. He thought he had to be face to face with a snake to do so.

"That doesn't make sense though. If you can speak a language then you can speak it, regardless," Ted frowned.

"It's not as if parseltongue has been studied much. Maybe it appears that way until Harry was time to practise," Andromeda speculated.

Harry thought that the hat wouldn't have put him in Gryffindor if he had Slytherin blood.

"The relation is so distant that having Slytherin's blood wouldn't mean you can't have the characteristics of other houses," Remus told him.

"And the hat wanted to put you in Slytherin anyway," Draco reminded him.

He reminded himself the hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin. Harry turned over and comforted himself that he would see Justin in Herbology the next day and would put the record straight.

"That's not going to work. Not with your luck," Charlie sighed. Harry grimaced.

"Stupid Potter luck," he grumbled.

"Well, it is pretty easy to simply avoid someone in class, particularly something like Herbology," Sirius pointed out.

Unfortunately, by next morning the snow that had begun in the night had turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of the term was cancelled as Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes, which she refused to entrust to anyone besides herself.

"The last thing we needed was someone getting it wrong and causing the mandrakes to die," Pomona stated.

"I know Mandrakes aren't all that common, but some could have been ordered specially. And then Colin and Mrs Norris could have been revived much sooner," Amelia said, glaring at Dumbledore.

Harry fretted about this in the common room, while Ron and Hermione used their time off to play a game of wizard chess. Hermione told him to go and find Justin if it was so important to him.

"No. No. You should no wander around the castle with a petrifying monster on the loose. Especially when Justin is likely in his common room, the same as you," Sirius told Harry frantically. Harry winced, knowing exactly what happened to Justin that day.

"That's a good point. The chances of him being in the Hufflepuff common room are quite high. You might as well wait until you had another lesson with him," Tonks agreed.

"I couldn't focus thinking about how a classmate thought I wanted to attack them," Harry said grimly.

Harry left, wondering where Justin might be. He walked past the Transfiguration classroom where Professor McGonagall was yelling at someone for turning their friend into a badger.

"Wicked," Fred laughed.

"It wasn't one of you two, was it?" Molly asked suspiciously.

"No," George denied flatly.

"Shame really, sounds like it would have been fun," Fred put in, trying to sound light-hearted.

Harry resisted the urge to take a look.

"Probably for the best," Remus chuckled.

"Although I would pay to see the look on Minnie's face if Harry just stuck his head around the door to see what was going on," Sirius grinned.

"Not worth my life," Harry assured them.

Harry decided to check the library.

"Not a bad guess," Charlie said. "If he isn't in the common room then it's the most likely place he'd be I think."

A group of second-year Hufflepuffs were in the library but not studying. Harry couldn't see Justin and was walking towards them when he heard his name. He hid and listened as one of the boys said he'd told Justin to hide in their dormitory as he should keep a low profile if Harry had marked him as his next victim. Justin had been waiting for something like this to happen since he let slip to Harry that he was muggleborn.

"What? Didn't Justin tell him that in like, the first lesson. On the first day. No attacks had happened then, why on earth would he expect to be attacked?" Tonks scoffed. Pomona pursed her lips at the actions of her Puffs.

"I guess he meant he'd been worried since the attacks started at Harry already knew he was a muggleborn," Charlie guessed.

"Still, if it were Harry, surely he would have started attacking people last year. Why wait until his second year to do anything?" Sirius demanded.

"Maybe it took him that long to find the Chamber?" Bill offered. "We all know it isn't Harry and the kids are scared. Plus, there is nothing we can do about it now." Sirius was still scowling but subsided enough for them to continue reading.

The boy continued that being muggleborn wasn't something to bandy about with Slytherin's Heir on the loose.

"Except nothing was on the loose when Justin said that. Well, I can guess this kid wasn't even considered for Ravenclaw," Sirius said scathingly.

Pomona frowned at him reproachfully even as she wondered which of her Puffs it was. She had a suspicion of which second year it would be and hoped he had learnt his lesson from all of this.

A girl with blonde pigtails asked the boy, Ernie, if he though it definitely was Potter.

"That's Hannah," Neville said with a disappointed frown. He didn't like to think she was part of the group thinking Harry was responsible for attacking people.

Ernie stated that Harry is a parselmouth and that everyone knows that is a mark of a dark wizard.

"No. It's the mark of having a heredity ability. You don't choose your family, and nobody is born inherently evil," Sirius said firmly.

"What about Voldemort?" Harry wondered.

"Nobody is born inherently evil. Whatever the reasons he did what he did, he definitely had them, as twisted and ridiculous as they most likely are," Sirius told him quietly. Even his family. They were the result of centuries of brainwashing and inbreeding.

He asked if she had ever met a decent wizard who could talk to snakes.

"Well, considering the stigma around parselmouths, it's unlikely that any who do live in Britain would admit to it," Kingsley pointed out.

"It's fairly common in India," Remus told him. "And other countries in that part of the world."

Ernie pointed out the writing on the wall had said for enemies of the Heir to beware. Then he reminded them that Harry had a run in with Filch and then Mrs Norris was petrified. Colin had been taking photos of Harry when injured and then had also been petrified.

"When you put it like that it sounds just as suspicious as Malfoy," Remus mused.

"Except Harry hasn't got a history of hating muggleborns like Malfoy has," Ron pointed out hotly.

"I want to know how he knew about Harry having a run-in with Filch. The only people who were there for the mud incident were Harry, Filch and Nick. That's the only run-in I can think of," Sirius frowned.

"Well Filch was blaming Harry pretty loudly in the corridor when they found Mrs Norris, maybe they guessed from his behaviour," Kingsley suggested.

Hannah uncertainly said that Harry had always seemed so nice.

Neville smiled slightly. At least Hannah was still giving Harry the benefit of the doubt.

She added that he was the one who made You-Know-Who disappear so couldn't be all bad. Ernie lowered his voice causing the Hufflepuffs and Harry to all lean in closer. He pointed out that nobody knew how Harry survived the attack and as a baby should have been blasted to smithereens.

"Oh sure, ignore the fact that the killing curse doesn't leave a single mark, let alone blast someone to pieces," Tonks scoffed angrily.

"Well, nobody knows what truly happened that night, but the house was nearly destroyed. Maybe the boy assumed he used a different spell," Kingsley offered.

"Pretty much every version of events suggests he used the killing curse," Hermione pointed out.

Sirius pulled Harry to him tightly, not wanting to think about his godson being killed in any manner, let alone having the event discussed so freely by the others. Harry didn't look overly impressed either and Hermione must have caught the expression on his face because she didn't say anything further.

Ernie continued that only a powerful Dark wizard could survive a curse like that.

"Not even a Dark wizard can survive the killing curse," Narcissa sniffed disdainfully.

"Harry was saved by his mother's love. He was in fact saved by the complete opposite of dark magic," Dumbledore said.

He added that it was probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place, he didn't want the competition. Then he wondered what other powers Harry was hiding.

"Merlin's beard this kid is thick," Fred snorted angrily. "No baby could be considered a dark wizard.

Harry was unable to stand it any longer. He cleared his throat and stepped into view.

"You probably gave them all heart attacks," Tonks grinned.

"They deserved it," Charlie muttered.

If Harry hadn't been feeling so angry, he would have found the sight that greeted him funny. Every one of the Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been Petrified by the sight of him, and the colour drained out of Ernie's face.

Several people smirked, or even outright laughed.

"Serves them right for discussing it in the middle of the library where anyone could overhear," Moody grunted.

"Now they probably think Harry is going to attack them," Bill pointed out.

"A bit of fear will do them good," George said.

"Yeah, teach them to keep their mouths shut and not talk about their fellow students like that," Fred agreed scornfully.

Harry told them he was looking for Justin.

"Harry!" Hermione cried in exasperation.

"That's not going to help your case," Remus sighed.

The Hufflepuffs looked like their worst fears had been confirmed. They all looked fearfully at Ernie who asked what Harry wanted with him in a quavering voice.

"Not so brave now Harry can hear you, are you?" Fred sneered.

Harry stated he wanted to explain what had really happened at the club. Ernie bit his lip and then replied they were all there and saw what happened.

"Clearly not or you would have seen the snake back off," Charlie said.

"Not even Ron seemed to notice that," Bill pointed out fairly. "He thought Harry was egging the snake on too and he's his best friend."

"Ron is a bit oblivious though," Fred muttered.

"Hey!" Ron protested, going red.

Harry pointed out that after he spoke the snake backed off. Ernie didn't back down, retorting that he saw Harry speaking parseltongue and chasing the snake towards Justin.

"Chasing the snake?" Hermione scoffed.

"Idiot," Draco sneered, rolling his eyes. Even he had been able to tell that Harry wasn't chasing the snake towards anybody. He sort of felt bad about what his actions had caused. It had been his godfather's idea and neither of them could possibly have predicted the consequences, but he still felt awkward about having caused Harry so much trouble with the rest of the school. At the time he'd thought it was hilarious how the school treated the golden boy, but since the truce and hearing about Harry's homelife, he'd been forced to reevaluate a lot of things.

Angrily, Harry pointed out that he didn't chase it at him, and it hadn't touched Justin. Ernie replied that it was a near miss.

"No it wasn't," Ron scoffed.

Then Ernie quickly added that in case Harry was getting ideas he could trace his family back through nine generations of witches and wizards.

"Honestly, if Harry had truly been the Heir, I think he might have made an exception to attacking muggleborns after being spoken to like that," George said.

"Yeah, I really wouldn't antagonise anyone who I believe is capable of petrifying people," Percy agreed. "Pureblood or not."

Harry told him he didn't care what blood he's got. Then asked why he would attack muggleborns. Ernie pointed out he had heard Harry didn't like the muggles he lived with.

"You have no right to comment on Harry's relatives!" Fred snarled.

"And frankly, nobody in their right mind would like those muggles," George added.

"I'm gonna smack this kid," Sirius muttered.

"No, you're not," Remus told him patiently. "He's just a child scared for his friend. His accusation is misguided, but you can't go around hitting children." Sirius pouted petulantly.

Harry retorted that it wasn't possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them. He said he'd like to see Ernie try it.

Most of the room nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't really. He was a git but he doesn't deserve the Dursleys," Harry sighed.

Then he turned on his heel and stormed out, earning himself a glare from Madam Pince.

"I might have gone with reminding them your best friend and your mother are muggleborn," Emmeline said.

"I just didn't really want to argue with them anymore."

Harry blundered up the corridor, barely noticing where he was going, he was in such a fury. As a result, he walked into something very large and solid, which knocked him backward onto the floor. He greeted Hagrid who was wearing a snow-covered balaclava and had a dead rooster in his hand.

Ginny flinched.

Hagrid asked why he wasn't in class and Harry told him it was cancelled before asking why he was there. Hagrid held up the limp rooster, saying it was the second one killed that term.

"Two dead roosters. Spiders acting oddly. Probably a snake. Oh, that's so not good," Charlie muttered to himself.

"What?" Bill demanded.

"But it can't be…" Charlie continued, ignoring Bill's question. "That kills, it doesn't petrify. Plus, it would be pretty hard to get that around the school, even disillusioned."

"Charles Septimus Weasley, what do you know?" Bill growled at his brother. Charlie finally looked up and winced. Most of the room were looking at the pair of them now.

"Basilisk," he whispered.

"No!" Remus gasped, going pale. He wasn't the only one.

"There simply cannot have been a basilisk roaming around Hogwarts," Amelia stated, though she didn't look convinced. "Whatever is doing this has been there since the start of term at least. A basilisk would have killed someone by now, not petrified one student and a cat."

"Not to mention, their eyes kill, and the poison is deadly. They don't petrify," Remus said faintly.

"Colin's camera," Kingsley realised. "He saw it through the camera lens. The gaze destroyed the film but only petrified Colin rather than killing him."

"But what about Mrs Norris?" Amelia wondered. Everyone frowned, stumped momentarily.

"The water. Harry mentioned Myrtle had flooded the place. Maybe she only saw a reflection," Tonks recalled. Moody grunted his approval. This was why he had taken Tonks under his wing to teach her to become an Auror. He didn't take on just anyone. The girl might be as clumsy as they came, but she had a good mind.

"Still doesn't explain how it's been getting around without being noticed," Ted frowned.

"Well, everybody was at the feast on Halloween, and it was the middle of the night when Creevey was attacked. The Heir has been careful when they let the monster out," Andromeda reminded him.

"There's a bloody basilisk in Hogwarts!" Sirius yelled.

"The school should have been evacuated immediately!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Alas, we still did not know what was causing the petrification," Dumbledore told her calmly. "And the monster is no more."

Almost every set of eyes in the room turned to Harry.

"You had better not have had anything to do with getting rid of a basilisk!" Sirius yelped. Harry winced.

"Er…I…you'll see?" He offered weakly.

"Godric's Heart," Remus moaned. "I'm not sure my heart can handle hearing about all of this."

Narcissa was staring at her son, horror in her eyes. How on earth had her husband managed to get his hands on something that would release a basilisk? No matter what precautions were taken there was no guarantee Draco wouldn't be killed by sheer accident. She was going to kill him herself for allowing a basilisk to be released at the same school their son attended.

Hagrid thought it was either foxes or a Blood Sucking Bugbear. He wanted Dumbledore's permission to put a charm around the hen coop.

"I hope he don't mean permission to put the charm up himself. The headmaster has no right or ability to grant that permission. His wand was snapped, and he is not allowed to practise magic," Amelia pointed out.

"I put the charm up," Minerva assured her.

He peered more closely at Harry from under his thick eyebrows and asked if he was alright. Harry didn't want to mention his encounter with Ernie so said it was nothing and that he had to get going to pick up his books.

"Smooth," Fred laughed.

Ernie's words rang in his mind as he stamped up the stairs. He walked down a particularly dark corridor where the torches had been extinguished by a strong draft blowing through a loose windowpane. Halfway down, he tripped over something. Squinting, he looked down and saw Justin lying on the floor, petrified.

"What?" Everyone who didn't know what happened gasped at the same time. Amelia frowned deeply. Justin was a second year Hufflepuff, the same as her Susan. Why had she not heard about this? Why had Susan not informed her that one of her house mates had been petrified? She would have demanded a full investigation if she had known.

"Ok, someone has to be trying to frame Harry. That's just way too much of a coincidence," Kingsley said, shaking his head.

"I thought Ernie had said Justin was in the dormitory," Ted frowned.

"He would have had a lesson to go to as well," Andromeda reminded her husband.

"Yes, but you'd think if they were all so worried about him, someone would have escorted Justin to his lessons. Why let him wander about on his own if you're convinced that he's going to be the next victim?" Tonks wondered. "Puffs stick together."

"Well, it sounds like most of his year group were in the library gossiping about Harry," Sirius said bitterly.

"It still seems like too much of a coincidence for my liking," Moody grunted.

Floating next to Justin was Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression of shock identical to Justin's.

"Merlin," Amelia breathed.

"Justin must have seen the basilisk through Nick. For all of the horrible luck going around, there is sure a large amount of good luck thrown in. What are the chances that the only two people in the corridor would be the one person people think was Harry's next target and one of the only things in the castle that could have saved his life?" Emmeline said in astonishment.

"Not to mention the chances of Harry being the one to find them," Bill added.

"With Harry's luck that was pretty much a given," Hermione sighed.

"This whole thing has been completely insane," Kingsley stated. "It is a miracle nobody has died so far. And the fact that the monster doing this is powerful enough to do that to a ghost is a good reason to evacuate the school, knowing it's a basilisk or not."

Everybody glared at Dumbledore, deeply unhappy he had allowed the school to remain open and not called the Ministry in to deal with the problem to ensure everyone's safety. Two students would have already been dead if not for sheer dumb luck.

Harry got to his feet, his breathing fast and shallow, heart pounding. He looked wildly up and down the deserted corridor and saw a line of spiders scuttling as fast as they could away from the bodies.

Ron grimaced.

Charlie just nodded his head, more evidence it was a basilisk.

The only sounds were the muffled voices of teachers from the classes on either side. He thought about running so no one would ever know he had been there. But he couldn't just leave them lying here.

"Yes, you can. If you get caught there, it's going to look awful," Sirius told him. Harry pulled a face.

"Class should be ending soon, and you just said you could hear lessons taking place. He'll be found shortly. You need to get out of there," Remus encouraged.

He had to get help but wasn't sure if anyone would believe he hadn't had anything to do with this.

"Of course, we didn't think you would have done this," Minerva told him.

"Well, it might have been nice if you'd told the school that," Harry frowned. "Hell, or even just told me. Only Dumbledore bothered to actually say he didn't think I'd done it."

"I am terribly sorry Mr. Potter. I never thought for a moment that you had anything to do with what was going on and I cannot apologise enough if I gave you the impression otherwise. Or for not taking a second to reassure you of that fact," Minerva said with a sigh. She hated giving up her job as head of house, but it was constantly being thrown in her face how much she had failed her lions. They deserved someone who could devote their full attention to the house.

As he stood there, panicking, a door right next to him opened with a bang. Peeves the Poltergeist came shooting out.

"You and that damn Potter luck!" Sirius groaned.

He started to ask why Harry was lurking, but then Peeves stopped, halfway through a midair somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Harry could stop him, screamed that there had been an attack and that no mortal or ghost was safe.

"Brilliant," Tonks groaned.

"It's going to be chaos when people hear that. Use it and leave," Sirius suggested.

"It's never that simple for Harry," Hermione sighed.

Door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nearly Headless Nick.

Everyone shuddered at the mention of standing in the ghost.

Harry found himself pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet. Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class. She used her wand to set off a loud bang restoring silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene. He pointed a finger at Harry and yelled that he had been caught in the act.

"Oh shut UP!" Sirius yelled.

The twins exchanged looks, and began scribbling down ideas to prank Ernie in retaliation.

"He literally just arrived and has no idea what is going on," Tonks said, shaking her head at her fellow Hufflepuff.

McGonagall told him that would do.

"Personally, I'd have gone for telling him not to be ridiculous. That Harry hadn't done anything. You know, something to show your support for your student," Sirius said in a faux casual voice. He had adored Professor McGonagall when he was at Hogwarts. She'd always looked out for him being the first Gryffindor Black, comforted him when he received howler after howler for his house placement, and always seemed to be approachable. But now, listening to all the ways she was failing the current Gryffindors, particularly his godson, it made his blood boil. Why did Harry keep paying the price for the adult's failings. Particularly his own. He had allowed Hagrid to take Harry and gone after Pettigrew. His mistake had not only allowed Harry to be placed with the filthy Dursleys, but it had apparently also robbed him of an adult in her corner.

All of the teachers last year had been guilty, to some extent, of seeing him as James and treated him accordingly. If he'd raised Harry and heard about all of this, he would have raised absolute hell at the school, firstly for not closing Hogwarts temporarily, but also for allowing the students to think Harry was the Heir of Slytherin. Yes, rumours were going to always be a thing in a school full of teenagers, but allowing the students to believe Harry was responsible for attacking other students was just wrong. Especially as Dumbledore himself had only made things worse by singling out Harry, Ron and Hermione at Halloween. It burned that all he could do was hug Harry to him and offer silent comfort.

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song, saying Harry was killing of students thinking it was good fun.

"I'm going to wring that Poltergeist's neck," Sirius grumbled.

McGonagall told him off and he left, sticking his tongue out at Harry. Justin was taken to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra. McGonagall conjured a large fan and told Ernie to waft Nick to the hospital wing. Finally, it was just Harry and McGonagall. She told him to follow her. Harry tried to protest his innocence, but she curtly told him it was out of her hands.

Minerva put her head in her hands momentarily. "My apologises once more, Mr…Harry. I should have taken a moment to speak with you but I wanted you out of the corridors before anything got worse and I assumed Albus would assure you we didn't think it was you."

They marched in silence around a corner, and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle. She gave the password and the gargoyle moved out of the way as the wall split in two, revealing a spiral staircase that moved upwards.

"Almost Christmas in second year before you got sent to the Headmaster," Sirius groaned. "We were there before the end of first."

"Us too!" Fred grinned.

"That's not something to be proud of!" Molly screeched. George just winked at Harry who grinned.

As he and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Harry saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. He realised this must be where Dumbledore lived.

"Done. Whew, that was a long one," Tonks muttered.

"Let's make this next chapter the last one before dinner," Dumbledore suggested. "It has been rather a long day."

"Well, I guess it's me to read then," Fred stated. Tonks handed him the book, happy to be done with her reading.