AN: Hey guys! Welcome back for another week. I had some messages last time asking what my plan for the harem was, so I figure I'll lay it out clear. As of now the harem includes: Hermione, Padma, Daphne, Susan, Luna, and Fleur. While it is possible that Parvati MAY be added, I am unsure at this time. Otherwise I don't expect it to get any larger. Hope you guys continue to enjoy though!
Harry sat himself down roughly on one of the couches that sat inside the Sphinx Club room, thoroughly exhausted from both the days exercises and his entire first week back at Hogwarts. Padma and Hermione sat on one of the other couches, doing a quick review of the Charms homework that was due on Monday.
"Need me to grab your potions Harry?" Daphne asked from her place near the small box that contained some drinks and snacks the Sphinx Club kept. Harry's nourishment potions were also stored there, and helped rejuvenate him after his long workout sessions.
"If you'd be so kind." Harry said, before collapsing and looking around the room. The club hadn't made any major changes to the club room this year so far, aside from adding in an extra couch and table. The club had agreed to allow Luna, Ginny, and Astoria to join if they wanted, of which Luna was thrilled about, Astoria was neutral but happy, and Ginny was still undecided. With this, they had needed some more sitting space if all of them were going to occupy the space at the same time. Susan brought Harry his nourishment potion, this one a bright orange color, and Harry drank it down greedily.
"So, I heard Lockhart's class with you guys was quite the mess." Daphne said, taking a seat on the couch immediately closest to Harry.
"Tell me about it, he starts the class with a test on stuff about him, and then unleashes some Cornish Pixies. They run rampant, and he just hides in his office. Padma, Hermione and I had to freeze them out before someone got hurt. They'd almost hung Michael up by his shirt collar." Harry said, recounting his nightmarish first class with the new Defense professor.
"Speaking of that, he kept you after class for something today, what was it?" Hermione asked, looking over at her best friend.
"He wanted to talk to me about 'living with fame' and 'how to handle the media'. The way he was talking about it though seemed like he loved every second of it, as opposed to me, who avoids it every chance he can." Harry said, a mild look of disgust on his face.
"You certainly do hate that Mr. Potter." Lavender said, entering the club room with Parvati and Neville. "Mom's still upset at everyone for not letting her get an article out of your birthday party."
"And I once more thank you and everyone for stopping her. I really don't know how to handle this kind of stuff." Harry said, sinking even deeper into his couch.
"As long as I'm around, I can handle it for you. So don't worry! Just make sure to pay me back!" Lavender said, giving Harry a wink that would have sent the boy red if he wasn't already from the exercise.
"Any updates on Ginny wanting to join the club?" Harry asked, looking to the Gryffindor trio.
"As far as we can tell, she's really nervous about it because you're here. Between what Luna and the twins have told us, it seems she's dreamed about meeting you all her life. Now that she can, she's not sure what to do with herself." Parvati said, taking a seat next to her sister.
"Well, hopefully she can get over that. I'd like to make a new friend, not a fan girl." Harry said, finally feeling comfortable on the couch.
"But Harry, we're all fan girls here. You killed that Troll for Hermione after all, we're lovestruck." Lavender said jokingly, batting her eyes at the green-eyed boy.
"Please no." Harry said simply, grabbing a throw pillow and pulling it into his face.
"Harry what are you going to do next year when girls start begging you to take them to Hogsmeade on dates?" Parvati asked, her tone sounding genuine.
"Is hope you girls run them off an answer?" Harry asked hopefully from behind his pillow.
"Not if we're the ones who want it." Parvati said.
"Then probably run and hide." Harry said.
"That'd be Harry. Fight a troll? No problem. A girl wants to go on a date? That's terrifying." Neville said, laughing at his friend's misfortune.
"What about you then Neville? You're probably in the same general boat as Harry." Parvati asked. Harry peaked out from behind his pillow and looked to see what Neville's answer would be.
"Thank them, but say I've already got a date." Neville said nervously. "If they ask who, I'll just say Hannah. She'll cover for me… I hope." Neville was still mostly unaware of Hannah's feelings for him, and the other members of the Sphinx Club were content to see how long it would take for Hannah to tell him.
"And if she asked?" Hermione asked, adding in her two knuts. Hermione was the most frustrated with Neville's lack of awareness about the situation, having originally resolved to simply tell Neville to get the situation over with.
"Go with her. We'd have a good time. Don't know why she would though, we'd probably hang out together at Hogsmeade anyway." Neville said, his normal oblivious nature coming through. Harry was glad that he wasn't as blind to girls' feelings as his friend is. None of the girls in the Sphinx Club felt for him in that way anyway, they just like to tease because it makes him turn red.
A noise caught Harry's ears, something low and barely audible, making noises like steam escaping a teapot. As soon as it started though, it ended. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated for a bit, trying to see if he could catch the sound again, but failed to do so.
"Something wrong Harry?" Daphne asked, seeing the look on Harry's face.
"Thought I heard something. Might just be my imagination." Harry said, waving the occurrence off. There were literal ghosts that wandered the halls, random noises where probably par for the course.
"If you say so." Daphne said, giving Harry a strange look, before returning to her studies.
"Back to Professor Lockhart though, I really don't think he's an effective Defense teacher." Harry said, trying to move passed the weird noise. "I spoke with Professor Flitwick over what was meant to be covered in the Year 2 Defense syllabus, and he's not really covering most of it."
"Really? What's lacking?" Padma asked.
"Lockhart's syllabus doesn't actually cover any spells, just creatures, and even then they are only the creatures from his books. Zombies were last year, and while Vampires and Ghouls are on the recommended list, Trolls, Yetis, and Werewolves are higher year curriculum." Harry said, looking over some notes he had taken. "You know me, I don't mind moving ahead, but we're missing a couple creatures that other years aren't expected to cover."
"Maybe it's just because he's meant to be an expert on them?" Hermione chimed in. She hadn't been very happy with Harry's thoughts of Lockhart being inept as a teacher. He had several published books, and surely if they were false someone would have brought it up by now. Plus Dumbledore had hired him, surely he couldn't be that bad if Dumbledore gave the okay.
"Maybe, but something still feels fishy about it. Just can't put my finger on it." Harry said, burrowing down into the couch in thought.
Little else happened in the Sphinx Club for the months of September and October. The group had a celebration for Hermione's birthday, which was unfortunately less exciting than they would have liked due to difficulties in getting supplies. Hermione had sworn that it was the best birthday she had had yet though, since she got to spend it with all of the friends she had made since her last one.
Halloween however had started bizarrely, he had a strange feeling in his stomach that something was going wrong, but couldn't place his finger on it. Not letting it get to him though, he got up and made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Hey Harry." Neville called out as Harry entered, and started waving him over.
"Hey Neville, what's up?" Harry asked.
"You know Nearly-Headless Nick? Gryffindor's house ghost?" Neville asked. "Apprently today is his 500th Deathday, and he wanted Lavender, Parvati, and I to show up. He said you guys could come too if you wanted."
"Huh, well that sounds exciting. I'll see if Hermione and Padma are interested. Have you checked with Susan, Hannah, Tracey, and Daphne?" Harry asked.
"Susan's been acting a bit weird, so Hannah's got her on bedrest. Daphne and Tracey can't come because Snape won't let them out of the feast.
"That's sad for them. We'll have to make sure to have a good time for them. I guess we'll see you then. Where is it anyway?" Harry asked.
"Meet us at the bottom of the staircases and we'll all walk down. Nick showed me the way last night." Neville said. "Now go before Padma and Hermione get mad at me for keeping you from them for too long."
Harry laughed at that and made his way to the Ravenclaw table, where Padma and Hermione were already sitting, leaving the space in between them open for him like always. "Do you guys just not like sitting next to each other? You don't have to leave me this space you know."
"It just… doesn't feel right without you there to take it up." Padma said. "I guess we just got so used to it, not having you there makes it weird."
"Padma is correct. I don't believe I'd feel very comfortable just sitting here without you." Hermione added. "What did Neville want anyway? I saw him call you over."
"The Gryffindor house ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick? Apparently tonight is his 500th Death Day party, whatever that is. He invited us to go. I figure it'll be more exciting than the Halloween Feast at the very least." Harry said, looking between the girls for their reactions.
"I'll admit, I am very curious as to what a Death Day party entails, especially a 500th one." Hermione said, looking to Padma.
"I owe Nick a favor anyway, he helped me find my classes during the first week last year, I'd be happy to go." Padma said, flashing a smile.
"Then it's settled. We meet Neville at the bottom of the staircases tonight before the feast." Harry said, before grabbing a plate and some food.
"Ooh, I wonder if I should tag along. I do like Nicholas, he's rather funny." Luna said from the other side of the table.
"Ah! Luna, when did you get there?" Harry asked, shocked by her sudden appearance.
"I've been here the whole time, although I was under the table when you first arrived. I seem to have lost a shoe." Luna said, glancing around some more. "I'll admit I find it rather impressive that it managed to run off without any feet of its own, but I suppose it must be very experienced."
Luna had proven herself to be relatively forgetful, often being unable to locate small items like Quills or socks. Hermione and Padma always managed to keep a few spares for her, but helping her search for them never came up with anything.
"That's no good Luna. You need your shoes. When did you last see it?" Padma asked, looking under the table with the girl.
"I'm fairly certain I had it when I sat down, while I do like wearing shoes of different heights sometimes, doing it on the stairs seems dangerous." Luna said also looking around.
"I'll go ask Penelope if she can summon it, if it's here in the Great Hall it should come right to her. Padma, that's a fourth-year spell right? Think we can get Professor Flitwick to teach it to us early?" Harry asked, getting up from his seat.
"Probably, I might not have the reserves to do a long distance summon quite yet, but you probably can no problem. We'll ask him after Charms class on Monday." Padma said, and Hermione noted it down in her planner.
Penelope was happy to assist, and with a quick wave of her wand Luna's shoe made its way to the prefect's hand. "You were sitting with Harry right? Wonder what it was doing with those third-year girls." Penelope said, handing Luna her shoe.
"I'm unsure. Maybe a gnome took it." Luna said, pulling the shoe onto her foot and lacing it up neatly.
"Haven't heard of gnomes getting in the great hall before, but I suppose I hadn't heard of a Troll in the girl's bathroom either." Penelope said. "Try to be more careful Luna, if your shoe isn't fitting properly, we can talk to Professor McGongall and see if she can transfigure it to be the right size."
"Thank you Penelope. You're very helpful." Luna said, offering a small smile and a mock salute, before walking off.
"You said that her shoe was with the third year girls?" Harry asked, looking to Penelope once Luna was out of earshot.
"Yes actually. They normally sit quite a bit down from you, does Luna spend any time with them?" Penelope asked, looking at Harry confused.
"I hate to ask, but when everyone's in the Great Hall for the feast tonight, could you head to their room and try to summon Luna's socks? She's had quite a few small items like that go missing. I thought she was just forgetful, but I worry that they may be being taken." Harry said, a grave look on his face.
"I'd be happy to try, but what makes you think they're taking them?" Penelope asked.
"Luna's just 'losing' too many things. She's nervous and maybe a bit spacey sometimes, but she's very observant. I left one of my textbooks in the Sphinx Club room last week and when I mentioned it she told me exactly what table I had left it on. Someone like that might lose a quill or a sock every once in a while, but she's only been here a couple months and has lost 6 socks and 5 quills. Among a few other small items." Harry said.
"I'll do it then, and then let you know. If they are taking her things I'll need to talk about it to Flitwick. Can't let one of our own get bullied if we can help it." Penelope said.
"Thanks, Luna's a good friend, I'd hate if people were mean to her." Harry said, before nodding at Penelope and walking off back to where Hermione, Padma, and Luna were sat.
"What were you talking with Penelope about?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, just asking if she could remember what textbook they used for Defense during her second year. I'm still not thrilled about Lockhart's books." Harry half-lied. He had asked Penelope that before, and she hadn't been able to remember. Hermione seemed to catch the message he relayed though, and didn't ask any more questions.
The four Ravenclaws moved to the Sphinx Club room after finishing their breakfast, where Harry began his normal workout routine.
"Luna, would you be a dear and get Harry's nourishment potion from the box over there? He's going to collapse on the couch when he's done and he'll want it." Padma said, as she looked over an essay Luna had written for Professor McGonagall's transfiguration class.
"Oh, certainly. Why does he need these potions though? I see him drink them regularly." Luna asked, lightly stepping her way over to the box of refreshments.
"Harry will have to say if we can tell you or not." Padma said, looking at Harry as he finished his push-ups on the floor.
"I suppose there's no harm in it now. I'm just dealing with the after results." Harry said, sighing before transitioning into sprints.
"Harry's former guardians were abusive, and left him malnourished and underdeveloped. He's on a potion regiment to catch up to where he's meant to be physically. These also act as recovery potions for his workouts, the kind of things high performance athletes use." Padma said, as Luna sat down next to her.
"I'm very sorry that something like that happened to you Harry. It's hard to believe that someone could do that to another person." Luna said, looking sympathetically at Harry.
"It's in the past now. My new family loves me as if I was one of their own, and I'm slowly recovering. This time last year I was about 5 inches shorter and only skin and bones. Now I'm more or less normal, although people who knew my parents mention that if I take after my dad I should be a bit taller. I'm not sure if my mom's family is meant to be short though." Harry said, panting as he took a short break from his sprints.
"I'm glad you're happy with your new family, Harry." Luna said, smiling widely at him.
"I am too." Harry said, as he got back to his running.
Several hours later, the four Ravenclaws had finished all of their assignments, and were now making their way down Hogwarts's many staircases for Nick's Death Day party. At the bottom of the stairs were Neville, Lavender, and Parvati.
"Hey, glad you made it. Nick apparently renovated one of the rooms in the Dungeon for this. I think we're going to be the only living guests though." Neville said, as he began leading everyone down the staircases that led to the dungeons. "Nick's a great guy, helped keep me on track and ready during my first year here. Said he saw potential in me, didn't really believe him until you guys got me going though."
"Well yeah, you're going to be great Neville, and you don't need to be a centuries old decapitated ghost to see that." Hermione said, following behind Neville.
"Well, we're here. Apparently it's going to be pretty packed in here. Also, if what the Fat Friar told me is true, you might not want to try the food. It's rotten so that there's a higher chance for the ghosts to taste SOMETHING. Just be polite and try and talk to some of the ghosts. We'll leave when they attempt to start their feast." Neville said, as he opened the door and entered.
Inside was the largest crowd of ghosts that Harry had ever seen, nearly 50 were all in the room, chatting amicably despite their various apparent injuries. Nick noticed them immediately and floated over. "Hello Neville, Lavender, Parvati it's good to see you again, glad you could make it. Also a pleasure to met you, Harry, Hermione, and Padma. The Grey Lady speaks very highly of you, you're a blessing to her house. I'm afraid I don't know you though, little lady."
"I'm Luna Lovegood Mr. Nick. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Happy Deathday, or would it be unhappy?" Luna said, before getting a questioning look on her face.
"Oh, I'm long since over my Deathday being an unhappy occasion. You get bored of sulking about your death after about a century or so, now I celebrate being able to enjoy my long afterlife among friends alive and dead." Nick said, gesturing over the gathered crowd. "A shame the last students I was close to graduated two years ago, but no matter. I will make new friends as I have for the past few centuries."
"Thats fascinating Mr. Nick, tell me more please." Luna said, as she walked with the mostly headless ghost.
The entire party was quite the experience for Harry, who was absolutely shocked at how effortlessly Luna could guide herself through conversations with all kinds of people. From the sophisticated looking Shakespearean actors to the more outdoorsy woodsman types from the Wild Hunt? Luna managed to make herself comfortable in any group. Just as Harry was finishing his newest friend, Nick called for the feast to begin, and recommended that those who still counted themselves among the living depart, for their benefit, as a ghost feat was both gross and terrifying. With that, the seven gathered Sphinx Club members took their leave.
Walking down one of the many hallways that were in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle, Harry and Luna suddenly stopped as they heard something.
"Kill" A nearly silent whispery voice let out.
"Did you guys hear that?" Harry asked, looking at his friends.
"Hear what?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry.
"Who's Kyle?" Luna asked.
"What?" Padma asked looking at Luna.
"It said kill…" Harry said, also looking at his younger friend.
"I can't understand it very well." Luna said. "But if it said kill, maybe we should stop it."
Realization came to Harry's eyes, as flashes of the Mountain Troll last year flooded his head. "This way, let's go!" Harry said, dashing off, Luna hot on his heels. The others followed quickly.
The group eventually stopped at a hallway, that had several large puddles of water on the ground. "This is the last place I heard it, check around for a minute." Harry said, focusing on his hearing.
"Ugh, Harry mate. I think we're too late." Neville said, reaching up his hand to point. There, hanging from a wall sconce, was Ms. Norris, the groundskeeper Argus Filch's pet cat.
"And look there!" Lavender shouted out. Opposite Ms. Norris, was a message, written in what appeared to be blood.
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware.