An: I'm going to go ahead and apologize for this chapter. I don't think it's very good, and the pacing is atrocious, but there is a lot that this chapter needed to accomplish. Hopefully next week's will be better.
Harry returned to Hogwarts late the night of the tournament, sad that due to the timing of the matches, he was unable to watch any of Fleur's matches. She agreed that it was unfortunate that their competitions were overlapping, but appreciated his support. They agreed to write over the summer, and keep in touch. Harry was ecstatic about making a new friend, especially one that enjoyed dueling like he did, since none of the other Sphinx Club members shared his passion for the sport.
Breakfast in the Great Hall came with a surprising announcement from Dumbledore: "Dear students, it pleases me to inform you that one of our own recently performed quite well at a dueling tournament. Harry Potter of Ravenclaw came in a very close second in the Dublin Duel Day competition, which is the largest dueling competition in the Eastern part of Europe. Please give him a round of applause for his exceptional performance."
A polite round of applause came from around the room, and Harry shrunk into the bench as to become as invisible as possible. He didn't even win, so he wondered why they even bothered mentioning it. Hermione and Padma were having none of that though, so they pulled him up in his seat, keeping him from hiding under the table.
"You did great Harry, you need to let people congratulate you." Padma said, Hermione nodding alongside her.
"She's right. You did phenomenally from what Professor Flitwick told us. He even promised to let the Sphinx Club view his memories of the event. We'll be doing that this afternoon." Hermione said, squeezing the hand she was holding.
"Besides, you need to be more confident about your placement. It's harder for us as your girlfriends to reward you for doing a good job if you shy away anytime we mention it." Padma said before leaning in and kissing his cheek. Hermione got the message and kissed his other cheek as well, causing Harry to turn a very bright shade of Gryffindor red.
Classes continued mostly as normal for the day, although Padma and Parvati did have to occasionally push Harry in front of people wanting to congratulate him on his tournament results, a few even asking when he started learning to duel.
That afternoon, once classes ended, all eleven members of the Sphinx Club filed into the club room, where Professor Flitwick was waiting with an unfamiliar object.
"Hello Sphinx Club members! We're going to view my memories of watching Harry's duels, so you can all see how he did. Harry, please get a quill and parchment and take notes on your performance, think about how you can improve, we'll speak about it after the viewing." Flitwick said, dancing around the object excitedly. Small vials Harry recognized as being full of memories sat atop the object.
"Professor, what is that?" Harry asked, as Flitwick paused momentarily.
"Oh yes, I forget not everyone has seen one of these. This is a pensieve, a magical device used for allowing others to view memories, there are two types of pensieves, private-viewing and public-viewing. Private-viewing pensieves have you stock your face in a bowl, and you view the memories inside there. Public-viewing pensieves display memories above and around them, allowing for multiple people to view the memory at once. As such, this pensieve is a public-viewing pensieve." Flitwick said. Hermione wrote down a few quick notes, and underlined the phrase 'learn more about pensieves' under them.
The viewing began with Harry's first match against Thomas from Austria. Harry paid close attention to his reactions to Thomas' attacks, and jotted down a few notes about his form and counterattack options. At the end of the viewing, Flitwick turned to him. "Mr. Potter, do you see what you did wrong in this match?"
"I was too afraid of my opponent, and went on the defensive despite his numerous openings because of his overextended wand motions." Harry said, looking at what he had written down. While the duel was only a minute of actual casting, Harry could have ended it much sooner by simply being more aggressive. Thomas was simply too flashy to handle any kind of pressure.
"Very good, your confidence in general was lacking throughout the tournament. I believe that you may have defeated your final opponent if you had more confidence in your abilities. I take partial responsibility for that, as I have not had the time to properly prepare your mind for the duelist arena." Flitwick said, swapping out the vials. "Here is your match with the Irish boy."
This match was much higher paced, and longer by nearly half a minute. Harry jotted down more notes about his performance before the match ended. "I elected to go offensive here, hoping that it would counteract his high-speed spell slinging that he had done in the prior match. I don't believe I was choosing particularly good spells for the offense though." Harry said.
"I understand where you are coming from, and agree that going on the offensive against him was likely the best option. Your spell choice is adequate, but more immobilizing and debilitating spells would certainly help more. We discussed Petrificus Totalus last year during your training, I believe it would have been an exceptional spell to use against him. Your confidence here was also lacking, leading you to not take as many shots as you could. If you intend to go on the offensive, you need to commit to it, and fire off as many shots as you can. Especially when attempting to disrupt an opponent like this. Here is your final match." Flitwick said, swapping out the vials for the final time.
Harry was nervous about reliving his match with Ivan. While the boy from Ireland technically was more aggressive with his spell usage, in that he simply through more spells than anyone else by a wide margin, Ivan's spells were both more direct and more powerful. Harry watched as he once more tried to go on the offensive, but was thwarted at every step by Ivan's overwhelming skill, only managing to slip him up with his two blinding spells. Harry watched his final gambit play once more, and did find some joy in watching Ivans face flex with the impact of his shoe.
"Beyond issues in confidence, I don't think there is much I can tell you about how to improve in this match. Ivan was a superior opponent, having both more experience and a broader repertoire of spells. Had I known that there would be competitors capable of casting stunners at this tournament I would have found the time to teach you that spell as well, but as it was I believed that your arsenal was acceptable. This is a failing on my part as a coach. Next year you and Ivan both will be competing in the Hippogriff cup. You will also be facing duelists with even more experience, due to the age bracket being a year older than you. We will need to train harder to prepare." Flitwick said, closing down the pensieve.
"You did really well Harry." Hermione said, squeezing his hand.
"Yeah! You did great! That shoe bit was funny, especially seeing Ivan's face after it hit." Daphne said, wrapping him in a hug from behind.
"Yes, I too found banishing the shoe into Mr. Krum's face to be rather amusing, as well as a brilliant bit of ingenuity. Your quick thinking will serve you very well in future tournaments Mr. Potter. For now though, please enjoy a rest. I will need to prepare a list of spells for you to practice with in order to improve for the next year." Flitwick said, as he shrunk the pensieve to fit in his pocket.
"Thanks professor. I will keep doing my best." Harry said, giving a determined look to his head of house.
"Of that I have no doubt Mr. Potter. Now if you will excuse me, I must be off. I have assignments to grade." Flitwick said, as he left through the door of the Sphinx Club room.
For a few days, the girls had made sure Harry was riding high off of his performance in the tournament, working to build up his confidence, not only in himself, but also in his abilities. With that dying down however, life began to return to somewhat normal. The Sphinx Club hadn't made much headway on how to effectively counter a Basilisk since they lacked access to roosters, and even then Harry and Luna hadn't heard anything from the creature for quite a while, it seemed like they were stuck.
In Herbology, the class was trimming some Spiky Prickly Plant, a task they had performed previously, but were required to do so again because they had grown too wild. Harry, Padma, Hermione, Daphne, and Tracey had just finished trimming their plants when they overheard Malfoy speaking with Crabbe and Goyle.
"Yes, father found out from some old Daily Prophet articles that the reason that oaf Hagrid doesn't have his wand was because he was responsible for some creature that killed a girl during the forties. Since these attacks are happening, Father pointed out the he was a likely culprit. They're coming to take him in today. I hope that oaf rots in Azkaban, serves him right for being friends with Potter." Malfoy said boastfully.
Harry saw red for a brief moment before calming down. Hagrid had told him last year about the incident that got him expelled, but that had been taken care of. What right did Malfoy have to bring it up again? Harry turned to look at Hermione, who simply nodded to him.
"We'll go see him as soon as classes are done for the day. Hagrid's got strange choices in pets for sure, but even he couldn't handle a Basilisk."
For Harry, classes couldn't go by fast enough, but once they were over, he grabbed Hermione and Padma, and the trio dashed off towards Hagrid's hut.
The giant of a man was outside currently, nervously rooting through his pumpkin patch. He turned when he heard them coming. "'Ello 'Arry, 'Ermione, Padma, what brings ya round 'ere?" He asked, his usual chipper tone dulled slightly.
"We overheard Malfoy say his father is getting you sent to prison for these attacks, you aren't responsible Hagrid we know that." Harry said, wrapping the man's leg in a hug. Hagrid had been Harry's first friend in this world, the first person who was happy to see him and enjoy being around him. He didn't want anything to happen to him.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence lad. It'll be alright. I know I didn't do it, this time or last time. It'll all come out. Aragog didn't kill Myrtle, and 'e certainly didn't petrify any of the other students." Hagrid said, putting on a brave face.
"Aragog? Myrtle?" Hermione asked, her desperate need for information momentarily overwriting her desire to comfort Hagrid in this time.
"Oh, Aragog was an acromantula I raised, real intelligent. He's a spoider about as big as me now, but back then he was jus' a lil' fella. Ministry don' like people keepin 'em as pets, says they're too dangerous. Myrtle was Myrtle Warren, a Ravenclaw girl in my year. I was a touch sweet on 'er, but something got her. Now she haunts the bathroom on the second floor. Poor thing, been tryin'a talk to 'er fer years, never could build up the nerve." Hagrid said, as he lazily kicked a rock from the garden.
"Do you know anything else about what happened that time?" Hermione asked, gears turning in her head.
"Nah really no. That slytherin boy Tom Riddle kept telling everyone tha' it was Aragog that killed her, got that award for 'Special Services to the School' thas in the trophy case. Myrtle's folks were devastated, and then I got expelled. Ya know the res' af'er tha'." Hagrid said. "I reckon' you lot best be on now, they'll be comin' fer me soon. We'll get it sor'ed ou', don' worry. Prolly won' even know I'm gone. McGonagall'l be feeding Fang fer me. If ya feel like it, come and play with him won' ya? He'll love tha'." Hagrid said, before waving them off. Fang came out of the hut and stood with Hagrid, as the trio walked back towards the castle.
The following morning, Harry's fears were realized when Dumbledore announced that Hagrid was temporarily in ministry detention for suspected involvement in the attacks on students, Dumbledore assured everyone that the incident was soon to be well in hand, and not to worry. This of course made Harry worry more.
"We need to find a way to deal with this Basilisk, we can't let them lock Hagrid in prison for something he didn't do." Harry said, resolving himself. "Hermione, what do we know about Basilisks?"
"Not much I'm afraid, their scales are resistant to most spells, their venom is among the most dangerous substances in the world, and they can kill if you make eye contact, or petrify if you see a reflection apparently." Hermione rattled off.
"We'd need something that was capable of piercing its scales then, any ideas?" Harry said, looking between the girls.
"Father always said that goblin-made weapons were capable of piercing anything, although that might be an exaggeration. Even beyond that, Goblins haven't created weapons for the other races in centuries. Too many goblin wars is what Parvati says." Padma said.
"So we're stuck." Harry said, looking angrily at his breakfast.
"You're not seriously thinking about fighting a Basilisk are you Harry?" Hermione asked, looking worriedly towards her boyfriend.
"Someone has to, I just might be the only one stupid enough to do it." Harry said.
"You're a lot of things Harry, but you're not stupid. You're in the house of the clever after all, you're just more Red and Gold than Blue and Bronze at the moment." Luna said from her place across the table. "Before you go and just start screaming out 'Marco, Polo' in Parseltongue, why not try and fight out how it's moving through the castle? Basilisks are supposed to be rather large, but no one has managed to catch any glimpse of it before it is too late."
"That's a good point Luna. Harry, I'll get to work on that, if you really feel like trying to take on a Basilisk, how about you and Padma try and figure out what spells work best on their hide, if you can't find anything on Basilisks, try Dragons, they'll be better documented and at the very worst comparable. I'm not going to let you take this on without preparation." Hermione said, kissing his cheek. "I'm heading to the library. You two should talk to the Care of Magical Creatures professor whenever you get the chance."
"I'll come with you Hermione, I haven't had the chance to help on these adventures yet." Luna said, as she chased after Hermione.
The research the Ravenclaws did over the next was coming up mostly empty. While Harry and Padma had come up with a number of spells that seemed to be effective against dragons, most notably the Stupefy spell, which Harry had been practicing repeatedly, any information about the resistance levels of basilisk skin was unable to be found in any resource they had available to them. Luna and Hermione had little luck as well, with floor plans of Hogwarts not showing any passages that were large enough for a Basilisk to squeeze through without being spotted.
"I just can't believe we can't find anything, people KNOW Basilisks are real, but there's next to no information on them. I could find more information in the Muggle World on Bigfoot than this." Harry said, frustratedly throwing his head into his hands. Harry, Padma, Susan and Hannah were sitting in the Sphinx Club room, waiting for their friends to finish up their classes for the day. Hermione and Luna were currently taking their turn in the library's stacks.
"I still feel so bad that I'm responsible for all of this. Oh I wish I never wrote in that diary in the first place." Susan said, slouching down into her seat as Hannah patted her on the back.
"You aren't at fault Susan, it's whoever's diary that was that enchanted it." Harry said, also patting her on the back.
"Tom always seemed so nice though, but then… the tiredness, the feathers in my shoes, the stains on my sheets. I thought I was just clumsy." Susan said,
"Wait, Tom?" Harry asked, looking to Susan.
"Yeah, Tom Riddle was the name in the diary. Anytime I wrote he spoke to me." Susan said.
"That's the guy who Hagrid said blamed his Acromantula for the attacks the last time they happened." Padma said.
"This can't be a coincidence… was he the heir of Slytherin?" Harry asked.
"He was in Slytherin, and given what we know… it makes sense." Padma said.
"Okay, so there's our heir of Slytherin, he opened the chamber before, and let out the monster that killed Myrtle. He then framed Hagrid for it, got his award for services to the school. I guess the question is why?" Harry asked.
"Well, maybe there was something IN the chamber he wanted, and the Basilisk getting out was just a side effect?" Hannah suggested.
"Then why open it this time? Especially since it's just with his diary." Harry asked, racking his brain.
"It's not like we can ask him, I threw the diary in the lake." Susan said.
"Which is probably for the best, but still leads us stumped." Harry said.
At that moment, Professor Flitwick entered the Sphinx Club room at a quick pace. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Patil, I'm afraid I have very bad news for you. Ms. Granger, Ms. Lovegood, and Ms. Clearwater are all in the hospital wing. They have been petrified."
Harry cried out, rushing from the room.