Chapter 12: Yay Snape! and Boo Snake.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is not one of my more popular fics, but one of my more well-loved ones. Meaning the ones that do follow it love it. At least I think you do.

I dictated this one too. I think I'm getting better at combining dictation and editing. It's a tricky process. It is certainly faster.

Let me know if you see any mistakes so I can correct them. I do go over it five times, but I don't catch everything, and I have a bad habit of adding on as I go.

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Not much happened for a very long time. The kids went about their business. No voices were heard within the walls. Harry started hoping that the voice had disappeared. He went about his business of quidditch practice, going to classes, and just generally having fun. Phil and Amy kept a close eye on the children, but nothing seemed to be happening.

In the middle of December, Lockhart decided he was going to have a dueling club. Everybody thought this was a great idea. Except Harry and his group.

"Do we really have to go to this?" Harry asked as he stretched to get ready for his morning exercise.

"No, you really don't. But, you might have too. Besides, it might be fun," Phil said, doing his own stretches and getting ready for his own exercises. He was actually looking forward to the dueling club. Not that he was looking forward to Lockhart, but he wanted to see who else was there. That person had to make the whole thing entertaining.

"We might actually learn something," Hermione said, she was standing and waiting for them to finish their warmup. She had already finished hers. She wanted to go to the dueling club because she wanted to learn. She wanted to see what the bumbling idiot thought a dueling club looked like.

"Do you really think we'll learn something from Lockhart?" Neville asked, trying to mimic what Harry was doing. He was new to this exercise group.

"No, not really. But somebody is going to be with him, and we might learn something from them," Hermione said, unknowingly voicing Phil's thoughts.

"There is that," Phil said, nodding in agreement.

"I really don't want to go to this," Harry said, turning to Phil with pleading eyes.

"Then don't go," Hermione said as if it were that simple.

"You mean it's not mandatory?" Harry said, a note of hopefulness in his tone.

"How can they make a dueling club mandatory? I mean, it's a club," Hermione said, confusion lacing her voice.

"You'd be surprised what adults think they can get away with," Phil said, his tone a bit firm.

"Do you mean it is mandatory?" Harry asked with horror. He really did not want to go.

"No, it's not mandatory, but they really do expect you to be there," Phil said. He put a consolatory hand on his friend's shoulder. He knew Harry didn't wanna go. His interactions with Lockhart have been comedic at best, horrific at worst.

"Does that mean I have to show?" Harry asked, slumping his shoulders in defeat.

"Don't worry, I'll be right there with you," Phil said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"We're standing in the back," Harry said, nodding his head.

"Sounds good to me," Phil said, nodding his head in agreement.

They parted and started doing their morning exercises. The Dueling Club was set to meet that evening. They just wait to see how it turned out. Since Lockhart was going to be leading it, it should be a hoot. They couldn't wait to see who was doing it with him. They really hoped it was Flitwick.

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The dueling club was just as bad as they thought it was going to be. Lockhart didn't know one end of his wand from the other. Snape was his co-teacher, and he handed the blowhard his arse without a problem. It only took one spell to do it too. The whole audience crowed at the feat. Gilderoy simply got up and played it off like he meant to do it that way.

They moved on to student participation. When Lockhart called on Harry, Phil decided it was time to step in. He had promised that Harry wouldn't have to make a spectacle of himself.

"Here now, quit picking on the second years," Phil said, pushing Harry behind him and stepping forward to stand in front of the stage.

"Are you presuming to tell me what to do, Mr. Blake?" Snape said, his sneer firmly attached to his face. He stood there with his arms folded over his chest, glaring down at the sixth-year boy. He cut quite the intimidating figure. There was a reason more than half the school was terrified of the man.

"I believe I am, Professor Snape," Phil said, though he was shaking in his shoes. Snape was not somebody you messed with lightly. There were ohs and ahs coming from the people behind, and around, him. "I believe I'm a better dueler than Harry Potter. Or Draco Malfoy. I know I'm a better dueler than Lockhart. Come on Cedric, let's show this lot how it's done."

The fifth year Hufflepuff looked at him and shrugged and stepped forward. He had no problem showing off to the masses.

"I believe I'm in charge of this dueling club," Lockhart said, flipping his hair over his shoulder, and flourishing his elaborate cloak, "And I do believe this young man is correct. Mr. Blake, you can come up and show everybody how it's done. You can even take on me, the famous Gilderoy Lockhart." He smiled at everybody with his award-winning smile and waved at the crowd.

The girls all ate it up and some even cooed or screamed a fangirl scream. The boys on the other hand were cheering on Phil.

Phil stepped on to the stage.

Cedric stepped back and cheered on Phil with the rest of the boys.

Harry was yelling the loudest. He was just glad it wasn't him up there.

"I would be more than happy to take on you, Professor Lockhart," Phil said, grinning like a fool because he knew he was going to take this fop down. If there was one thing from reading this man's books and being in his class, he knew that he was a fraud. He couldn't do a single spell. It was surprising that he graduated from Hogwarts at all.

With that, the two began to duel, and it was no contest. Even though Phil was only sixth year and Professor Lockhart was an adult. Phil handed him his arse with ease. Everybody laughed uproariously.

And Snape looked sour, as if he couldn't believe that this man was even on staff.

"I do believe it is time to call this dueling club to an end," the dour man said, over the crowd of students' heads. They had been there hoping to learn something all evening. They all had disappointed looks on their faces. Not that he cared. He was here under duress.

"But we didn't learn anything," called a voice from the middle of the crowd. Brave boy.

"And I do not believe you will from this upstart," came the silky voice of Snape, making more than one of the lighthearted student shiver. There is one thing that can be said about Snape, he was very, very menacing.

"Well, why can't you teach us anything?" came another voice from the gathering. Another brave student.

"I am not here to teach you dueling," Severus said, glaring out over the crowd. Many of them turned their eyes down. He had a way of making them feel guilty, even if they did nothing wrong.

"But I heard you were a great DADA teacher," said one of the sixth year Slytherins. He was sucking up; did that count as bravery?

That caused Snape to pause. "Very well, I will teach you something," he said. And with that, he began to teach them some shielding, and some hexing. He paired them up by year and walked amongst them and taught them as per their year level.

Lockhart was pushed to the side, and the dueling club went on without him. Every time he tried to interfere; he was shunned. Soon enough, he swanned away claiming it was time for his beauty treatment. No one missed his exit, and they were glad to see him leave.

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"That was a pretty good time," Harry said as they made their way out of the club going to their dorms. He was impressed with the whole affair after Lockhart left.

"And you didn't think you'd learn anything," Phil said, clapping the boy on the back in a friendly manner.

"Yeah, but that's when I thought only Lockhart was teaching. Snape is actually a pretty good teacher. For DADA that is," Harry said, bouncing up and down at the excitement of everything Snape had taught them. He had learned more in that one club than Lockhart had taught them the entire year.

"Yeah, he's actually really good. I'm surprised he's not our DADA teacher," Hermione said, frustrated that she had not had any notes. But who brought quill and ink to a dueling club?

"He certainly didn't scare me as much in that club as he does in Potions, that's for sure," Neville said, a confused but brilliant smile on his lips. He had actually had a really good time and learned a lot in that club. Well, he didn't learn anything from Lockhart, but he learned a lot from Snape.

Though the man did make comment on his wand and said that he should have it replaced. He was of two minds about that. For one, this one was his dad's, but for two it was rather old. He'd have to talk to his gran about it.

"That's good to hear," Phil said, this time clapping Neville on the back.

"Oh, maybe we should start a petition to get him as our DADA professor," Dean said, turning around and walking backwards so he could face everybody as he talked. To him, this was a brilliant idea. Anything was better than the last two professors that they had.

"That's actually a really good idea," Amy said. She was in complete agreement. She has been here for five years and had not had a good DADA teacher in all that time. If it wasn't for the study groups, she'd be hard-pressed to pass her OWLs.

"Let's do that," Hermione said, itching to write it all down right this very instant. Unfortunately, she did not have her quill and ink on her.

And with that, everybody started talking rapidly about starting up a petition about having Snape as a DADA teacher. It started spreading like wildfire through the entire student body. Soon everybody was talking about it. Whether it comes to fruit or not was another story, but it was spreading to everyone. Even the teachers were hearing about it and thinking it was a good idea. Well, Lockhart didn't think it was a good idea, but no one cared what he thought.

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It was after dinner the next day when Harry was walking with Neville, that they were joined by a contingency of Hufflepuffs. They were all talking about having Snape as the DADA professor and how much different he was when he was teaching defense, when Harry heard the voice from the wall. It was talking about killing again.

"Did you lot hear that?" he asked, spinning around as if to see where it was coming from.

"I heard a bunch of hissing," one of the girls said. She too was looking around, but fear was in her eyes.

"Yes, and I heard something slithering in the walls," Neville said, his wand was in his hand.

"You didn't hear a voice?" Harry asked, confusion laced his voice. He was sure he heard a voice. It said it wanted to kill. They had to have heard it.

"No, just a bunch of hissing," the first girl said, clutching to his arm like he would save her from whatever it was.

"Oh," Harry said, extremely puzzled.

"We should tell somebody," Susan said, knowing her aunt said to report strange things right away.

So they all started running down the hall away from the sounds. And they came upon Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick. The two are frozen… petrified in the middle of the entrance hall. Justin was lying on the floor next to a floating Nick. They looked like they had been trying to get away from whatever froze them.

"Oh, my goodness, what happened?" Susan asked, going straight to Justin. He was a Housemate, and she was worried about him.

"I don't know," Harry said, looking at the weird state Nearly Headless Nick was in. "It looks like what happened to Colin." He had visited the boy in the Hospital Wing, just to see what had happened to him.

"Do you think it has anything to do with what we heard in the walls?" one of the girls asked, clinging to Neville.

"Gosh, I hope not," Neville said, thinking what was in the walls sounded big. "But we'd better tell Dumbledore."

"Why should we tell Dumbledore?" Susan asked. "He's got too much to do. According to my aunt you start at the bottom and then work your way up. I think we should go and tell Professor Sprout."

"Perhaps you're right," Neville said, rubbing the back of his head.

"You lot go tell Professor Sprout. I need to go find Phil," Harry said, moving to do just that.

"Why do you need to go tell Phil?" Susan asked, getting up and dusting off her robes.

"He's my mentor of sorts," Harry said, still moving away from them.

"Oh," she said, directing her group towards Professor Sprout's office.

So Harry took off to go find Phil. He found him in the Great Hall. "Phil," he said, coming up to the older boy and putting a hand on his shoulder, "there is a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Phil asked, gathering up his things and then getting up. He followed Harry out of the Great Hall and followed the kid towards the head office.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick have been petrified," Harry said as they hurried along. "And I heard the voice from the wall again," he whispered so he couldn't be heard.

"We need to go tell Dumbledore," Phil said. And with that they walked faster. "Were you alone this time?" he asked, hoping the boy had witnesses so that no one thought he was crazy. Maybe if other kids heard the voices, then Harry would not be accused this time.

"No, I was with the group of people. But all they heard was a bunch of hissing. They didn't hear any voices," Harry said, his brows scrunched up in confusion. It was just too strange to him. Why was he hearing voices when they weren't?

"Hisses, you say?" Phil asked and his face turned white. "Harry, have you ever talked to snakes?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. He didn't want his friend to freak out if it was nothing.

"Yeah, can't everybody?" Harry asked. He shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big thing.

"Harry. Don't ever tell anybody you could talk to snakes," Phil warned, keeping his voice soft but urgent. He pulled him into an alcove and got down to his eyeline. "I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. Other than the headmaster, I don't want you to let anybody know that you could talk to snakes, not even your best friend. People in this country think that talking to snakes is evil. So, unless it's to save somebody else's life, don't ever, ever let anybody know. Do you understand me?"

"Okay, Phil," Harry said, his eyes were wide with fear. He had never seen Phil look so concerned about anything. Did they really think something as simple as talking to snakes was evil? That seems so ridiculous to him. It was just a language.

With that, they hurried off to the headmaster's office. Once they got there, they used the password Everlasting Gobstopper to move the gargoyles. They went up the moving stairs, and entered the door when they heard somebody say "Enter."

"Ah, Mr. Blake and Mr. Potter, what can I do for you today?" the headmaster asked, placing his folded hands over his beard. He took note of the fearful look on their faces and wondered what was going on.

"Harry heard voices in the wall again, and we're almost convinced that it's a snake," Phil said, his voice was shaky, as he really didn't want it to be true that his little buddy could talk to snakes.

"And what has led you to believe that this is a snake?" Albus asked. He peered over his half-moon glasses at Harry with a bit of sadness in his eyes. It was as if he knew the reason why they knew it was the snake and he was sad about it.

"Um, well, you see, sir, um… I can talk to snakes," Harry said, looking everywhere but Dumbledore's eyes. He looked at the fiery bird sitting on the perch, and it trilled at him. That song made him feel much better.

"And you heard voices in the walls that nobody else can hear, I see," the old man said, running a hand down his beard.

"Well, I was with a group of people, and they were hearing hissing. And I was, um, hearing voices," Harry said, still not looking the old man in the eyes.

"Oh dear."

Just that moment Minerva McGonagall came in. "Albus, there's been another petrifying," she said as she came bustling in. She stopped short when she noticed the two students.

"Minerva, as you can see, I'm busy right now. I will come and see what I can do as soon as I am done here," Albus said, giving her a twinkling look.

"Very well, Albus. I will see what I can do to make them comfortable until you can get there," she said with a sniff. She did not like to be dismissed so. And with that, she left.

"Sir, am I in trouble?" Harry asked, looking in the man's eyes for the first time.

"I do not see why you would be. Hearing voices does not constitute you being in trouble," Dumbledore stated, winking at the young boy in a grandfatherly fashion.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, very much relieved.

"It does give me a clue as to what is going on though, and I very much appreciate you bringing this news to me, gentlemen. Now run along and be on your way. And let me in the adults take care of it," the headmaster said, getting up to get ready to handle the latest crisis.

"Thank you, sir," both Phil and Harry said, turning and exiting the room.

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"Now remember, Harry, tell no one," Phil said to Harry as they were far away from anyone who could hear them. they had stepped into an abandoned classroom.

"You don't think I'm evil do you, Phil?" Harry asked, very concerned. Phil was a good friend, and he didn't want to lose him.

"Of course not, Harry. I think you're a perfect little boy," the older boy said, rubbing the younger boy's upper arms in camaraderie.

"Do you think I should tell Millie? Do you think she'll think I'm evil?" Harry asked, even more worried over that. Millie was his world. If she thought he was evil, he didn't know what he'd do.

"I think Millie is the only other person you should be able to tell. And I think she'll love you no matter what," Phil said, ruffling his hair and grinning down on him. "However, I think you should tell her in person. Don't put it in the letter. Never ever, ever write it down."

"Okay, Phil," Harry said, thinking of ways to get ahold of Millie. Maybe she could visit or something.

And with that, they parted ways. Phil went to the Hufflepuff common room and Harry went to the Gryffindor common room. Harry met up with all the second-year friends. And they all asked him where he'd been, and he told him he went to the headmaster to let him know that Justin had been petrified. When Neville asked how come, he said the headmaster had asked him too.

Harry asked everybody who was staying over for the Yule break. And found out that only the Weasleys were going to be staying, so it was just going to be him and them this Christmas. He did not know if Phil and Amy were going to be staying, but that would be OK. He would be fine with just himself and the Weasleys.

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Dear Millie.

I'm writing to let you know that there have been more petrifications at the school. The headmaster knows and he says that it's not my fault. Even though I hear the voice in the wall. This time other people heard it too. So, it can't be my fault.

I miss you very much, and this Christmas is going to be very lonely without you. I wish you were here. You still haven't told me what your new job is. Can you tell me now? Are you happy with it? Do you get paid well? Where is it at?

There are times I turn around to ask you a question and you're not there and it just kind of breaks my heart.

Phil's all right. He's been there for me, and he really has been like a big brother. I'm really happy he sticks up for me with Snape and Dumbledore. And you'd be very proud of him for that. But it's just not you.

Amy has been very good with Hermione. She stopped her from brewing the Polyjuice Potion. Which is a good thing. Because we could have gotten in really big trouble for that. And now the teachers are on the lookout to find out what's happening with the petrification, we don't have to. I really hope they do their job on this. I don't want to be caught in the middle.

Anyway, I hope to see you soon.

Love, Harry.