A/N: and here i am again with another chapter, just two more to chapter 50. Thanks to you all for motivating me by reading so far, and especially to HowInMadeHowie to work with me on this story. Have fun and stay safe
In Malfoy Manor two days later, Lucius Malfoy was reading the letter from his son, where he whined about how he had lost to Potter in a duel and had to give him 10 Galleons because he issued the challenge that it was interpreted to be an official duel. Lucius was getting tired of his son incompetence, but there was a part in this letter that had him intrigued. "So, Harry Potter is a parselmouth? That is interesting news, as I am sure that I can pressure the board of governors to tell Dumbledore that this needs to be investigated and if necessary, Potter should be expelled from the school. And as this ability must be passed down the bloodline and neither James Potter nor his wife could speak with snakes that would mean that someone else in his ancestry could do it, even when his parents did not show any signs for this ability. That would mean that there was something hidden in the family tree of Harry Potter, and I will find out what" Lucius grabbed his cloak and threw some Floo powder in the fireplace in his office and told it to connect with the Ministry of Magic. When he arrived, Lucius ignored the beautiful sight that a newcomer would gaze at, like the golden statue in the middle of the atrium or the sparkling floor and walls and walked straight to the security desk, something he could do without to be honest. But to non-politicians it was now allowed to Floo directly to his intended target, so he had to deal with the wizard who took his wand to register it for safety reasons. After the paperwork was done, he walked to the elevators and waited until one would be arriving.
He didn't have to wait long, as he walked into the compartment like he owned the place, and the people already inside knew him and gave him the space, as all could think where he wanted to go by this time of the day. So, they even let him choose the floor he wanted to go first, just to get him out again.
Somewhere else in the halls of the Ministry, Amelia Bones was reading a letter from her niece that arrived just a few minutes ago thanks to the owl which was now sitting on its perch and resting after the long flight it had taken. In it, Susan was telling her what happened in the dueling club the day before as Harry Potter had shown that he could speak with snakes. Now, this information would normally lead to someone panicking, just as some students seemed to have. But thanks to Padma Patil from Ravenclaw, whose parents came from India, according to her niece, some people calmed down enough to distract the rest with another duel. According to Ms. Patil, in India, it was almost commonplace that people could speak parseltongue and she also explained that it was not a dark skill, instead it was the magical who could use it that would make it dark if he wanted to. And as Harry is still just a 12-year-old boy, they could be sure that he had not something like that in mind and as some spells need evil intend to work as they were design to do, she could not believe that the boy she saw in Hogwarts could even muster such feelings to anyone who is not a mortal enemy. She somehow got a feeling that Harry hid something, call it her sixth sense if you will.
Susan had also written about the duel she had with Harry Potter, and that he used a close quarter combat technique to take her wand from her without any magic. Amelia was intrigued about this, as some of her new Aurors that came into the force also used something similar. She asked them where they learned this and they told her that they had learned it from Chief Wulf, the PE instructor in Hogwarts. It seemed that Harry was already a master at this, as Susan was not hurt in any way according to the letter, and that would mean that Harry had trained a lot sooner than the rest of his classmates.
Amelia was distracted from a memo that flew into her little office and landed in front of her. She opened the small paper airplane that was used to send memos in the Ministry between departments and read that Lucius Malfoy had entered the Ministry with the intention to visit the Minister himself. She growled at that, as this meant that Malfoy was planning something, and she could do nothing about it for now. Even the anonymous tip that Malfoy was using illegal potions on his wife were not enough to justify a search warrant in his manor without the Minister getting on her case and chew her out for bothering such a *upstanding* citizen. She still needed more evidence, she even tried to contact this anonymous person to ask him if he could send her a sample, but she had no luck until now.
And even when she would finally have something to nail Lucius Malfoy down, she still had the Lockhart business to get over with as his lawyer was also getting on her nerves because, according to him, the arrest of his client was illegal, and he had to be let out of the holding cell in the ministry immediately if she wanted to keep her job. She was telling him every time that all the paperwork was filed beforehand out correctly and that Lockhart had accepted the condition to a duel that would allow her to hold him until he testifies.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as another memo came to her desk with the official seal from the Minister, telling her to come up to his office immediately. She sighted as this could only mean two things: either she would be yelled at for not doing her job of Malfoy had put another stupid idea in the head of the minister and she would have to fulfill his request right then as good as she could.
In his office, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge placed some Galleons in his pocket that were just on his desk, as Lucius Malfoy *accidently* misplaced it there and forgot that he had placed them there. Cornelius had to do something for that of course, but after he had heard that Harry Potter was a parselmouth, he agreed that this needed to be investigated by the Department of Mysteries and for this to happen they needed Amelia to take him in. They would have to tell her why, but he was sure that he could word it as such that Harry needed to be in the Department of Mysteries rooms to be as efficient as possible. And he agreed with Malfoy on this point too, it needed to be done as soon as possible so they could make sure that there was no danger to the school coming from Harry Potter.
Both wizards heard a knocking at the door from the office, as the personal secretary from the minister opened the door and asked if she could let Amelia Bones in, as they had told her that this meeting was private and that they did not want to be disturbed. But as Amelia had the memo from Cornelius that would have summoned her to his office, the secretary was confident that she could ask now if they were finished.
Cornelius told her to let Amelia Bones in, and then close the door again. "And dear, until one of us leaves this room, we would like to not be disturbed again." Cornelius smiled at the young woman, as she blushed a bit out of embarrassment and placed a strand of her blond hair behind an ear again, which came loose. But thanks to this hand movement, the two men inside did not notice how she pressed a small button on her glasses, taking another photograph from the office for her real employer. She was sure that ONI would appreciate all this information that she and her *husband* gathered while she let Madam Bones into the office.
"Thank you, Mrs. Smith. I hope he does not overstress you too much. Have a nice day." Amelia took a deep breath after the nice lady closed the door behind her and steeled herself, so she could hold herself back to hex Lucius Malfoy into next week as soon as he opened his mouth. Somehow, he really thought that she had to listen to anything that he had to say.
"Minister Fudge, you asked for me?" Amelia stood before the desk, with her arms behind her back in a relaxed position. She noticed Malfoy standing behind the Minister slightly to his right with an evil grin on his face. That showed her that whatever the minister was about to tell her, it was originally Malfoy's idea, even if she could not prove it.
"Yes Amelia, glad you came this quickly. It came to my attention that there were two incidents in Hogwarts, not including what happened with Mr. Lockhart. Speaking of which, I was also pestered by his lawyer to let you release Mr. Lockhart at once. And as I was assured by Mr. Malfoy here, Mr. Lockhart did enough good deeds that would allow this notion. But this is something we will discuss later. To my aforementioned incidents, there were two attacks inside Hogwarts, resulting in a cat and a young boy now petrified. And as I was informed about the students there, it seems that Harry Potter is a parselmouth and with this, the prime suspect as we all know that those who can speak with snakes have the potential to be evil, even if it is the Boy-Who-Lived." Fudge was looking sternly at the head of the DMLE, who asked him if he wanted her to apprehend him for nothing else than the suspicion that because he could speak parsel, he had to be a dark wizard.
"Excuse my blatant choice of words Minister Fudge, but this is absolute bullshit. I also received a report from my niece about what happened in the dueling club two days ago. And if you would listen to the department for international magical cooperation and ask them about India; you would have known that in that country parseltongue is common enough that some people even use it in their spellwork. And it would be news to me that you would consider a whole country to be evil just for this fact. But I was scheduled either way to visit Hogwarts again, as the other Professors still needed to give me their testimony about Mr. Lockhart, and as long as we did not check if everything he told us was now the truth, he will remain in his cell. Even if he was already sentenced to pay a fine, this was for the fraud, not the illegal casting of the memory charm on other people. I will then ask Mr. Potter on what had really happened in that duel, as Mr. Malfoy surely spoke as a worried father, as his son is in a school where those two attacks happened after all." Amelia turned around and left this office as she had no business to be longer in there then necessary.
When she closed the door behind her, she let out a deep sight and pinched her nose, feeling the frustration that she just could not nail Malfoy for something that she had curse proof evidence from a reputable source to bring in front of the Wizengamoth. She then heard Mrs. Smith asking her if she needed any help. Amelia declined it but thanked her regardless and wished her a good day.
"Oh, before you go Madam Bones, I have a letter for you that was delivered while you were with the Minister. It has no sender on it, so I do not know who sent it." Mrs. Smith handed Amelia an envelope with her name on it, but nothing else. Amelia thanked her and was now going back to her own office, hoping that this letter would help her find the final nail on the coffin for Lucius Malfoy and other potentially hidden Death Eaters.
Back inside the Minister's office Fudge was drafting another summons memo to the head for the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Bartemius Crouch, to confirm Madam Bones report about India. Behind Fudge Lucius was frowning at being thwarted in his attempt to get rid of the Potter brat. 'Why do I get the feeling Draco has neglected to mention this in his letter if Bones' niece reported it to her aunt?' If that's the case I think I'll have to keep him inside Hogwarts for the Christmas break as a suitable punishment' Lucius shook his head, he detested being made a fool of, especially in front of the Minister no less. "I assume you are summoning Crouch to confirm Bones' report?"
Fudge nodded and tapped his wand on the Ministry memo which then folded into a paper airplane and flew out the hidden slot over the door. "Yes, I admit I had no idea about this. Can you imagine how bad it would look if I attempted to arrest half the Indian magical population on grounds of being parselmouths? The ICW would vilify me! Best to get confirmation before we can move forward." Fudge pulled his handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his brow, he dodged a hex there, he knew that for certain.
Short time later Bartemius Crouch knocked on the Minister's door and was granted entrance. "You wished to see me, Minister?"
Fudge nodded and waved Crouch into his office. "Ah, yes Barty. I wonder if you can confirm something for me. I was just told something rather astonishing! Did you know, in India, being a parselmouth was a rather common thing? Is that true?" Fudge looked up at Crouch wide eyed in disbelief.
Crouch nodded his head to affirm Fudge's statement. "Indeed you'll be surprised how many types of snakes actually make India their home. And by type I mean non magical snakes alone make up about 300 different species. So you can imagine the necessity for having so many parselmouths. In fact I was in Delhi last summer on the invitation of an old friend and was introduced to their premier snake handler."
Both Fudge and Malfoy looked on in shock. That many types of snakes? In one country? Fudge shook his head in wide eyed wonder, "But I thought being able to speak parseltongue was a sign of being dark! Surely they would monitor all those parselmouths?"
Crouch shook his head. "No, that was a belief that started in Europe not in Asia. It's the intent that makes the ability dark, but in India it is a way of life, a way to make money. Mind you the Indian Ministry monitors parselmouths so they don't expose magic. If you had read my report I sent last summer, you would have been aware of this already."
Fudge laughed nervously, "Ah well, you know how much paperwork that goes through my desk, Barty! Surely it must've slipped my mind that I saw it already. Thank you for taking the time to confirm this though." Crouch nodded his head and bid the minister a good day. . Turning back to his guest behind him Fudge shrugged. "Unless there is another attack in Hogwarts I don't think I can do anything more at the moment." Fudge smiled apologetically.
Lucius nodded slowly. "Indeed, in any case thank you for your time. We can only hope there are no more attacks. I will, of course, send an owl to my son to alleviate his concerns." 'And tell him he is not coming home for holiday break. Lucius silently added."Good day Minister."'
Back in Hogwarts, the rumor mill about Harry was still going strong, as few students suspected that Harry was the attacker on Mrs. Norris and Collin and the only reason they had needed, was that he could speak with snakes, which made him a dark wizard who could turn people to stone just by thinking about it. Zacharia Smith was one of the loudest who told everyone who was on his side that Harry was evil and should be expelled from the school, but as a Hufflepuff he had serious opposition in his own house as Cedric Diggory, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, all told him that they did not believe any of it. And as Cedric was a prefect and well liked in the whole school, except some students of course, to which he was just a good-looking fool. But he did not care about that, as he was happy this way.
Harry was in the library with Hermione and Daphne, as Cedric walked over to them to sit next to them. He had noticed that they were looking at a book about some monsters and where they would live. "Are you trying to tame a bigger snake Harry? I would suggest that you try a boa constrictor before you search for a horned serpent or, Merlin beware, a Basilisk." Cedric chuckled when Harry turned towards him with a tired look in his eyes.
"You know, I thought it would be easy to understand why everyone is afraid of someone who could speak with snakes, but even a basilisk can become tame enough that it would not even hurt a fly as long as its master would not order it. A basilisk can even put an eyelid over its eyes to make sure that its gaze would not kill someone by mistake. That is at least what is written in this extremely old book. I cannot decipher the author, but he was very knowledgeable about any kind of snake. Welp, as long as I know what I should write on my Christmas list, I will not complain. By the way, do you know where I can get a chicken egg and a frog?" Harry looked up to the older student, who for all intents and purposes did behave like an older brother to Harry, for whatever reason that was.
Cedric was laughing nervously, not knowing if this really was a joke. He knew of course how a basilisk was bred, but that would go a bit too far to be a practical joke like the Weasley twins liked to perform when they were accused of something where there was no proof that they really had done it. But he was more than once on the receiving end of one of those pranks where they did just what they were accused of and then showed that they did it much better than the other culprit. Cedric just hoped that Harry would not walk around with a giant snake when those rumors about him being the heir of Slytherin would continue, just for the benefit of shrugging his shoulders and pointing out that they were right, he could control big snakes after all.
Harry just grinned at the nervous look the older boy gave him, resulting in Cedric getting even more nervous about something until Harry let out a loud laugh, which caused Madam Pince to appear and tell him to keep it quiet. After an apology to the librarian, Harry asked Cedric what he was looking for.
Cedric began to tell Harry that his father was the head of the department for magical creatures, and as such he could remember telling him once about a wizard who had a small egg in his possession that turned out to be a Basilisk egg. He talked with a professor about his suspicion of what attacked Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey, but they just told him to not think about it and study for his next test. "And after I heard you speaking parseltounge, I also remembered how my dad told me that they were lucky the egg did not hatch when they had found it, or else they would have to go to Azkaban and look for someone who could speak with snakes, as those were the only ones immune against its gaze. Now I do not imply that you are responsible for those two attacks Harry, but as a prefect I could ask you to patrol the corridors at night in my presence. This way, if it really is a basilisk, you could hold it steady until I got my father into school to kill it with a rooster. What do you say?" Cedric was now looking hopeful at Harry, which in turn looked at him in wonder.
"Instead of your father, you should get a professor first when it really appears, as I do not think that I could hold off a wild basilisk for long, even when I would talk to it. But I wonder how you get the suspicion that it is a basilisk down in the Chamber and why did you not confide in another student?" Harry told Callie to report this information towards John and Triss, as Cedric was more observant than they would give him credit for his age. Granted, Harry was younger than he was, but in contrast to the Hufflepuff prefect, he did train since he was seven years old in all kinds of survival, so Harry had to be observant. He looked at the older student with curious eyes as Cedric began to laugh a little when Hermione and Daphne returned with more books in their arms, in hopes that they contained more information about the monster down in the chamber.
Cedric looked over the books the two girls had brought with them and saw that almost all of them had to do something with dangerous beasts, so Harry was already preparing himself it seemed. Cedric was a bit saddened that this young boy thought that he alone should fight whatever was in the Chamber of Secrets and waited to be released again. In his mind, their Minister should have hired Geralt of Rivia to find and kill the monster, but even Cedric had to admit that a basilisk would be too dangerous even for a Witcher.
Harry was still thinking about patrolling the corridors with the older student, but as they still had some classes before the holidays and the vacation accompany it and had also to study for the mid years test Harry told Cedric that until another attack would happen, he would not patrol with him as this meant that the chamber was closed for now. Luckily, Harry knew that there would not be another attack, as the book was safely with Dumbledore and Ginny was now looking more alive than she had before. She even made more friends beside Luna Lovegood, as another student from Hufflepuff was sitting with them during their studies in the library.
Some time later as winter was fast approaching, the game Hufflepuff against Slytherin was also coming closer. Harry was excited to see another match from the stands, as he climbed up the stairs towards a place to sit with his team. As Wood would say, they had to investigate the opponent for their next match, as Hufflepuff was waiting for them after the Christmas holidays. Harry sat down next to Hermione and Ron, while Daphne and Tracey were sitting on the opposite site of the stadium to cheer for their school-house team. They would have rather supported Hufflepuff though, as Daphne had told Harry, but for appearance sake they would play like they were good fans for their own team. It could lead to something bad happening otherwise, and it was not guaranteed that John or another Teacher would appear in time if it really came to it.
As the game started, Harry saw how collected the Hufflepuff were flying with a confidence that somehow was surprising, as the Slytherin had the faster brooms and were now getting used to it and flew now with a speed that was hard to track. The Gryffindor team was lucky that they had the first match with the team in green, but Harry saw that the Slytherin team still needed more training with their brooms, as the seeker from Hufflepuff, Harry recognized Cedric Diggory on his broom, dove down towards the snitch that was just floating half a meter above the ground. Harry looked around for Malfoy, when he saw that his rival was looking the other way, even as the spectators were cheering the other seeker on to catch the snitch. Harry grinned, he thought that the others just wanted to go back into the warmer castle, while he pulled out a small bottle and placed a small flame in it to warm himself up. He looked to his side, seeing that Hermione had noticed that and was now looking at him with a frown on her face, as if asking him why he did not make one for her too. Harry handed his bottle to her to warm up as he made another one for himself. She grabbed it with gusto and hugged it tightly as the game was finished with the Hufflepuff-seeker catching the snitch and winning the game for his team. They returned afterwards to the school, as Harry got a notice from Professor Dumbledore to come to his office.
Harry stood in front of the gargoyle to Dumbledore's office as it stepped aside, opening the way to the staircase that Harry had to climb towards his appointment. Inside the office, Harry walked up to the desk where the Headmaster was reading something on his desk. After the headmaster looked up, he thanked Harry for his speedy arrival. "Now Harry, I am sure that you are wondering why we still did nothing about the basilisk down in the chamber. I hope you understand my reason after I have explained it to you. The first reason is that we are still looking for the entrance, as the video feed they had only showed us that Ms. Weasley came out of a bathroom, but that was no proof that the entrance was really in there. The second reason is that I am still looking for alternatives as to sending you, but this looks inevitable, and as such I want you to prepare yourself as well as you can. That, of course, includes that you have to get some kind of armor, as well as a sword. For the latter, I have a suggestion." Dumbledore grabbed the sorting hat and asked Harry to place it on his head once more.
With the hat on his head, he felt a bit strange as the voice he heard in his first year talked to him once again. "Hello Mr. Potter, Ms. Callie, I hope you are well? Either way, I wanted to check on you and see if you have accepted your role as the Heir of Gryffindor Mr. Potter." The hat spoke to his mind, as Harry told him that he would be ready if he needed to be. Harry could feel the hat grinning as something hit his head. Pulling the hat down from his head, Harry glared at it as he saw something that looked like a handle sticking out from the opening. Grabbing it, he felt the familiar sense of holding a sword in his hand as he pulled it out of the hat. Looking over the blade, he saw that it was made out of silver and of an outstanding quality, but for his taste he could do without the rubies in the handguard.
Dumbledore then explained to Harry that this was the Sword of Gryffindor and that it was made by the Goblins. "And according to legends, the true heir of Gryffindor can even utilize the magic of the sword to his prevered form, as Goddric Gryffindor could doo that too. In short, the sword can reshape itself into any bladed weapon based on your will. Now, I think you need to get used to this sword and its ability to reshape itself for the fight ahead, luckily you have the next break to use for that." Dumbledore then dismissed Harry after telling him to hide his new sword, to which Harry thought that it should be smaller for that. Next thing he knew, he held a small switchblade in his hand, with the blade itself folded in. Inside his head, he heard Callie asking him if he could change it back with his thoughts and as soon Harry wanted a normal sword, the blade extended again, but this time without the rubies in the handguard. Satisfied, Harry changed the sword again into the switchblade and put it inside his robes, afterwards he said his goodbye to the headmaster and left the office.
Before he knew, they were all traveling back to London in the Hogwarts Express, somehow fitting all into one compartment. Harry received a letter last week about the trip Yen and Geralt wanted to make, but as Geralt had still not returned from his contract in Rumania, his honorary mother had to postpone this to next year as the spot they wanted to go was nicer during the winter. Harry did not really care about that, as he was just glad to return once more to Kear Mohen and seeing them after this semester.
After they had arrived in King's Cross, Harry helped Hermione getting her trunk out of the train, as she once again carried more books than necessary to read at home. He tried to convince her to take it easy over the vacation, but she would not listen to him and just placed the next book in her trunk. So, while he carried the trunk for his friend, Harry saw that Daphne had only a small bag over her shoulder while she climbed out of the train with some other Slytherins. Thankfully, Harry would not have to look at Malfoy, as he had stayed back in Hogwarts during the Christmas break just like the Weasley family did. So they had a nice quiet train ride back in the train without him disturbing them.
Daphne was looking for her parents, as this year they would celebrate with Tracey's family in their vacation home in southern France and would have to get them for it. She then saw Harry lifting Hermione's trunk like it was almost weightless to him. Luckily the charm they had placed on the trunk last summer was paying off now, even if it only reduces the weight to normal levels. Thinking about Harry, she just hoped that he would like her present this Christmas, as she got something really special for him.
Harry placed the trunk next to Hermione's parents and wished them a good trip back home when he saw that Triss was coming towards them with Luna right behind her. Thanks to Callie he knew that Luna would visit them over the break and that her father would also come just before Christmas to talk about something. Also the UNSC was warned and removed themselves and every trace that they were there in numbers. If Luna then would find them, that would be the proof that she was a real seer. He just hoped that it would not lead to anything dangerous for her.