Chapter Twelve – The Opening of the Chamber
The silence that hung in the air after Severus informed Harry that Remus was a Lycan was thick with awkwardness and fear. Harry stared through Severus as the words he had read over the years floated in and out of his mind, reminding him of the fact that wolves and dogs shared a common ancestor. That wolves were cousins to dogs. His breath increased and his heart raced as fear overcame him while images of Aunt Marge's dog Ripper gnawing on him, chasing him up a tree, or barking at him through the cupboard door as he hid flashed through his mind. Each image caused his breathing to increase until he was hyperventilating, and his vision was blocked by every memory of Ripper. In the back of his mind, he could swear that he heard Severus calling out to him with soothing words. Words that tried very hard to pierce the wall of memories but couldn't.
Calm yourself.
A familiar voice whispered, easily cutting through the wall of memories, and sailed over to where he was mentally cowering. It took Harry's frazzled mind to remember where he had heard that voice before. The images changed from Ripper to every time he had been possessed last year. That snapped him out of his panic attack, and he came face to face with the worried face of Severus.
"I-I'm…I'm fine." Harry wheezed out as he forced his breathing to slow down. He slipped off the desk and would have fallen when his legs gave out had he not caught the edge of the desk.
"Are you sure?" Severus asked, scared, and very concerned.
"Yeah." Harry said while nodding as he pushed off the desk and stood once he was sure his legs would hold him. Severus sighed and leaned back in his chair while running his hands down his face.
"We don't have to rush into meeting Remus, there is going to be plenty of time to meet him. He'll understand." Severus told him and Harry looked at him in fear. Had he done something wrong? Did Severus not want him to meet Remus? Did Severus not want him as a son anymore? Harry sniffed as tears began to fall from his eyes, shocking Severus.
"I'm sorry!" Harry cried throwing himself at the man. "Please let me meet Remus!"
"Harry, I'm not going to force you to do something that you're terrified of doing." Severus told him confusing Harry.
"Terrified?" Harry asked. Severus thought he was terrified of meeting Remus? "I'm not terrified!" Severus gave him a look letting Harry know that the man didn't believe him. "Honestly!" Harry told him truthfully.
"Harry, it was obviously clear when you had a panic attack after hearing that Remus was a Lycan that you are terrified of Lycans." Harry quickly opened his mouth to correct Severus, however, the man held up his hand. "And that's fine, I don't blame you. There are many people that are terrified of Lycans. Hell, when I was younger, I was terrified of Lycans." Severus went to say more, however Harry interrupted him.
"I'm really not terrified of Lycans! I'm scared of dogs." Harry told him, shocking Severus.
"You're scared of dogs?" Severus repeated and Harry nodded.
"My uncle's sister, Aunt Marge has a bulldog named Ripper that likes to attack and chase me." Harry explained quickly causing Severus to sigh in anger.
"The more I hear about your relatives, the more I wish to do unspeakable things to them." Severus told him darkly, before sighing and shaking his head. "That is a discussion for another time." He said before gently taking Harry's hands in his. "But you're sure that you're not terrified of Lycans? That you truly want to meet Remus?"
"I'm a little nervous to meet Remus, but not because he's a Lycan." Harry said looking sheepish. "You said he's excited to meet me, what if I'm not what he's expecting. What if I can't meet his expectations?" Harry's rant was cut off before it could truly begin when Severus pulled him into a tight hug.
"You don't have to worry. Remus just wants to meet you. He doesn't care if you're a perfect angel or a mischievous imp in human form." Severus whispered to him before he pulled Harry into his lap. "Remus was one of your parents' best friends, someone they would trust with not only their lives but yours and your brother's lives. He was there when the two of you were born, when you surprised everyone." Severus chuckled at Harry's confused look. "No one knew that Lily was expecting twins, so it was quite a shock when she continued to be in labor after Haiden was born. You were their little surprise bundle of joy." Harry smiled at that, this was the first time he had heard anything about the day him and his brother was born.
"Were you there as well?" Harry asked and Severus looked away, a dark and shamed look in his eyes.
"No, I was not allowed to be there. There was a… conflict of schedules, I guess you could say. I was in a meeting." Severus said and Harry could tell that he deeply regretted whatever had happened that night. "However, I did get to visit and even hold you and your brother a few times before your parents were forced into hiding."
"Why were they forced into hiding?" Harry asked.
"It was a dark time; Voldemort was at full power. No one knew who to trust, no one knew who was safe, no one knew who was going to be the next one attacked. And after you and your brother had been born it came to light that Voldemort was planning to attack your family and Dumbledore convinced your parents to go into hiding, to try and protect all of you." Severus explained.
"But he found us eventually and killed my mum and dad and attempted to kill my brother and me." Harry finished and Severus nodded. The bell rang and Harry knew that the feast would be held shortly, and he slipped off Severus's lap. "Thank you." Harry said, not exactly sure why he was thanking the man (was it for listening to him? Was it for trying so hard to not only remove him from the abuse of his relatives but also trying to adopt him?)
"There's no need to thank me, Harry." Severus told him and Harry nodded.
"Well," He started suddenly feeling very nervous, "it's almost time for the feast, and there are some people I need to apologize to." Harry said before spinning awkwardly on the balls of his feet and making his way to the door. He paused in opening the door. "And about Remus, I know that you wouldn't purposefully put me in danger. If you believe that Remus is in control enough that you want me to meet him, then I know I'll be safe with the man." With that said a blushing Harry bolted out of the room.
-Keep Me in Your Memories-
Harry, still embarrassed (though he wasn't sure why he was embarrassed), ran down the corridor as if trying to outrun his embarrassment. He slid around the corner and ran into Hermione, nearly knocking her into Ron and Haiden. "Oh!" She cried out in shock.
"Oh, sorry." Harry said backing up a few steps to give Hermione some room to stand. Still in the mist of his embarrassment and restlessness, Harry began to shift and mess with his robe.
"Is everything all right, Harry?" Hermione asked, having clearly taken notice of his shifting.
"Oh, um yes." Harry said shaking his hands trying to shake the embarrassment and restlessness from his hands. "Just, uh, coming from a meeting with Professor Snape."
"You sure? You're looking quite…" Hermione started in concern, stopping as her mind raced trying to find a polite way of saying he looked like shite.
"You look like death warmed over." Haiden told him causing Hermione hissing his name in anger while earning a snicker from Ron.
"That's not something you say to someone!" Hermione hissed at Haiden.
"It's fine, Hermione." Harry told her with a smile. "I'm sure that I look a lot worse." He added with a small chuckle.
"Are you still not sleeping well?" Haiden asked awkwardly.
"No." Harry told him with a sigh, remembering everything that had come to light in Filch's office.
"Is that what your meeting with Professor Snape was about?" Hermione asked.
"I'd rather not talk about that." Harry told her earning an eyeroll from Ron and an understanding nod from Hermione. "Anyway, I'm in a hurry, so I'll see you at the feast."
"Actually," Hermione said as Harry started to walk by them, causing him to pause, "We're going to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party."
"Deathday Party?" Harry asked and Hermione nodded, looking excited.
"Yes, I had never heard of it before either." Hermione said bouncing on the balls of her feet. It was clear that she was excited to learn what one did at a Deathday party, and Harry was intrigued as well, however, he knew that he had to apologize to his friends before he did anything else. "You should come with us. I'm sure Nearly Headless Nick wouldn't mind if you joined us. In fact, I'm positive that he'd be happy if you joined us." Harry smiled at her.
"Thanks, but there's something I need to do." Harry said before continuing around them and down the corridor. Shaking his head as he heard Hermione lecturing Haiden about how he spoke to Harry as he walked away from them. Once Hermione's voice faded away, Harry allowed his mind to wander as he walked, thinking about everything that had happened. He didn't know how long he wandered but he was soon snapped out of his thoughts.
"…Rip…Tear…Kill…" The same cold, murderous voice that he had heard months before, the same voice that had brought the nightmare to him. Harry paused as fear filled him and his body began to shake. Was the owner of this voice finally coming to kill him? "So hungry…For so long…" Harry, panicking, spun around as he looked around trying to find the owner of the voice. "…Kill…" The voice was getting closer. "…Time to kill…" The voice sounded as if it were right behind Harry, and he froze too scared to look behind him. He didn't know if it was his imagination or if it actually happened, but Harry swore he felt someone breathing on the back of his neck. "I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!" He ran.
Harry slid around a corner and came to a stop. Ginny was in front of him writing on the wall in what looked to be red paint, however she seemed to be moving awkwardly almost like a puppet being controlled by someone who wasn't used to being in control of someone else. Harry watched her use her fingers to dip her hand in the paint and write 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware.' Once she had finished writing, Ginny picked up the bucket of paint and ran. Reading the words that she had painted on the wall caused the images of his nightmare to bombard his mind.
By the time Harry found the energy to push the images to the back of his mind, he found himself curled up on the ground. He groaned as he slowly stood up, he took a deep breath before looking at the words. He heard a small group of people walk up behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see Hermione, Haiden, and Ron come around the corner.
"Harry?" Hermione asked before her eyes looked past him, she gasped and covered her mouth.
"What did you do?" Haiden asked. "Why would you–?"
"I didn't!" Harry told him, hurt filled him. How could his brother even think that he would do this? "It was Ginny." Ron sneered at him.
"Stop lying. Ginny would never–"
"I'm not lying! I watched her paint those words using her fingers!" Harry told him, before looking to his brother then Hermione trying to beg them with his eyes to believe him. Hermione looked between the words and Harry looking conflicted.
"As you asked us last year: Where is your proof?" Ron asked.
"My proof? I saw her. I watched her paint the words! I'm sorry I wasn't able to snap a picture! I'm not Collin! I don't carry around a camera!" Harry cried.
"Okay, you 'saw her', right. If you saw her, then where is she?" Ron asked.
"I-I don't know! I didn't ask where she was going as she ran off! I was still in shock at the fact that she was writing on the wall!" Harry told him.
"Oh, so she ran off. That's quite convenient." Ron said rolling his eyes.
"Just tell us the truth Harry, we'll help you clean it up. I'm sure you were just not thinking straight." Haiden told him. Harry's eyes teared up.
"I am telling you the truth. I really saw Ginny, or someone who looked like Ginny writing on the wall!" Harry looked at Hermione. "You believe me, right?"
"I-I… w-well.." Hermione stuttered, her eyes flying between him and Haiden before focusing back on the words. "What's that thing – hanging underneath?" She asked, her voice quivering. Confused, Harry turned to look back at the words, it took a few seconds to find what she had seen. But there, hanging on the torch beside the words was something hairy. Harry's eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at and leapt backwards in shock and fear, and almost slipped in a large puddle of water on the floor. Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was still as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
"Is that-?" Hermione whispered.
"What did you do?" Haiden asked.
"We have to get out of here."
"Shouldn't we try and help–?" Haiden started
"Trust me, we don't want to be found here." Ron told them as Harry heard the many voices of the students of Hogwarts heading towards them. The feast had ended! Harry frantically looked around (taking note that Hermione, Ron, and Haiden were now gone, or just hiding around the corner) as his mind raced to figure out what to do. He knew how this looked. However, before he could escape, students were crashing into the passage from both ends, with Ron, Haiden, and Hermione blending into them.
The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted Harry, the words, and the hanging cat. Harry found himself standing right smack in the middle of the corridor, alone. It was at this moment that Harry wished that he could go back to the days that he was easily forgotten about, the days he could hide in the shadows and vanish. Whispers began to spread amongst the students, some pointing at either him or the words.
"'Enemies of the Heir, Beware!' You'll be next, Mudblood!" Draco's voice called out loudly as he pushed his way to the front. He paled as his eyes locked onto Harry's terrified eyes. Harry watched as Draco moved towards him only to be quickly grabbed and pulled back into the crowd. Harry, body shaking, slowly looked at everyone. What would happen to him now? What rumors would be spread? Would this affect Severus's chances of adopting him? Would Severus even still want to adopt him?