Summary of the previous chapter:

Severus and Sky finish the Choranaptyxis potion, and Scilla doesn't need much persuasion to actually take it. The plan is to let her loose in the Forbidden Forest, but in order to do that, they have to come up with some other explanation for the students and the governors. Severus picks up the elf-theory Harry and his friends had come up with and feeds it to Lucius. It's clear that he knows it's not true, but he can't contradict them without giving himself away. Hagrid is sent to Scamander until the summer so he can't accidentally tell anybody about Scilla, and Dumbledore offers retiring Professor Kettleburn's position to Sky.

Back to School

The students returned April 18th. The welcome-back-dinner in the Great Hall was not quite as opulent as the Welcome Feast at the beginning of each school year, but it had the same feel to it. Dumbledore rose before the beginning of the meal to make his announcement and to put the students at ease.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts everybody!" he greeted them merrily. "You will doubtlessly be pleased to hear that all restrictions and safety measures have been lifted. The mysterious attacker has been identified and dealt with. It was someone who was deceived, misled and made to attack against their will and better judgement, which is why we will not reveal their identity."

"What?" said Draco, who sat next to Harry at the Slytherin table. "How can he not tell us who it was? And what does he mean 'against their will and better judgement'?"

"Sh-sh!" said his classmates, who looked equally puzzled but didn't want to miss the rest of Dumbledore's announcement.

"You may all rest assured that Hogwarts is safe once more and that there will be no more petrifications. Also, Professor Sprout has informed me that the mandrakes have started moving into each others' pots, which means that it won't be much longer before they are mature and the restoration draught can be brewed."

Someone at the Hufflepuff table started clapping, and one after the other, students joined in. The applause was notably less enthusiastic at the Slytherin table. Quite obviously, a few of Harry's housemates had welcomed the attacks on the Muggleborns.

"And they wonder why all the other houses don't like them much," commented Tom. "Also, can they make their position any more obvious?"

When everyone had quieted down again, Dumbledore continued his announcements: "You may also be pleased to hear that we have found a substitute teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts: Our very own Potions Master will take over classes until the end of the school year."

Surprised looks were exchanged among students: pleased expressions in Slytherin, but dread-filled faces at all other tables. Harry was looking forward to having a competent teacher in DADA for a change – there was no doubt in his mind that his Head of House could be anything but competent – but he wondered who would teach Potions in his stead. There weren't enough hours in the day for Professor Snape to cover both subjects.

"For Potions," declared the headmaster, answering his silent question, "please welcome back to staff a very esteemed former Hogwarts professor, who has taught the subject for many years and has agreed to come out of retirement to help us out: Horace Slughorn."

A somewhat corpulent, balding man with a good-natured smile briefly got up and graciously accepted another polite round of applause.

"Slughorn?" Tom echoed in Harry's mind, surprised. "That was Riddle's old Potions Professor! Just how old is he?"

Harry frowned. "I think he has to be way over seventy to have taught here as a Potions Master fifty years ago. He doesn't look that old."

"Well, if he's a Potion Master, he probably knows what elixirs to brew and to drink to keep a youthful appearance."

Youthful didn't quite describe it. The professor was seriously overweight and balding. But Harry would have guessed him to be in his sixties.

"Well, if he taught Professor Snape, it's at least an indication that he knows his subject."

Dumbledore concluded his speech with a reminder for all second years to please hand in the forms with their chosen electives for the next school year. Harry moaned. "With all the excitement, I totally forgotten about that! We were supposed to think about them during the Easter holidays."

"What's there to think about?" asked Tom, sounding puzzled. "Given that you were raised with Muggles, there's no need to take Muggle Studies. From what the twins told us, the course is rubbish anyway. And Care of Magical Creatures is out. So that leaves us with Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Easy."

"Why is Care of Magical Creatures out?"

Tom seemed surprised at the question. "Have you seen Professor Kettleburn?" he asked incredulously.

"Sure I have. What's his look got to do with it?"

"Harry! The man has lost a leg and a half, one arm and one eye while working as Professor for Care of Magical Creatures! It's quite obviously a very dangerous subject! While I acknowledge that your limbs are primarily yours to with as you please, I'd still like for you to keep them! Besides, what use could you possibly have for the subject? Unless you want his job or plan on becoming a Magizoologist, it's pretty useless. Arithmancy however is a useful skill to have in spell creation and in Potions."

"How so?"

"Calculating the magical values of ingredients, for instance, allows you to make viable predictions about the way they will react with each other. Adding up and comparing the values of letters and syllables will also help you find a good incantation for newly developed spells. It generally seems to be a means of calculating the probabilities of certain events based on the factors involved."

"Then what about divination? You didn't even mention that."

"Are you kidding me?" Tom sounded scandalized.

"No …"

Tom's voice broke to a whine. "Harry! Be sensible! How should anyone see the future in tea leaf crumbles left in a cup? Or find your fate written in the palm of your hand? Seriously – if divination was a thing and the teacher capable, nothing bad should ever have happened at Hogwarts. Yet the woman who's teaching it never warned Dumbledore about Quirrell, didn't foresee the petrifications or that the monster was a basilisk. She obviously knows nothing of value."

Harry had to admit that Tom had a point. And he had already thought about taking Ancient Runes as well. Runes were often used in longterm warding and for permanently binding charms in items like his trunk. That seemed to open up a field of possibilities and was certainly useful.

"Okay, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy it is. I wonder what Neville and Hermione have chosen. We totally forgot to discuss it."

When Harry later asked his friends about their electives, Hermione was vague and told him that she was still in discussions with Professor Flitwick. She wanted to take all subjects and had begged her Head of House to please come up with a solution.

"Why do you want to take Muggle Studies?" wondered Neville. "You live with Muggles."

Hermione said she thought it might be interesting to study them from the perspective of wizards. While Tom generally agreed, he made Harry point out to her that taking an entire class for a couple of years was hardly a sensible use of her time when she could simply take a look at the course books or ask for the notes of those who actually took it. She didn't need instructions, just a general idea of what was taught. Unless, of course, she took it for an effortless Outstanding.

Hermione rejected the latter thought as outrageous, but agreed to talk to Professor Burbage and the twins. When Harry brought up his (or rather Tom's) very valid doubts about divination and listed the arguments Tom had raised, Hermione had to begrudgingly agree as well.

"Seriously, Hermione – if you somehow managed to take all classes, which I believe is impossible since they're taught at the same time – you'd hardly have any time left for extracurricular studies. You wanted to research wizarding laws and house-elves, and who knows what other interesting stuff comes up in the next term that captures your interest."

"Right," nodded Neville. "Not to forget that you have friends! When will you have time play board games or simply hang out with us?"

Harry asked him what he had chosen. "Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," he admitted a bit sheepishly. "I figured that I can learn about Muggles from the two of you, since you know all about it. And everybody I've spoken to said that Divination was an easy subject. You can't possibly do anything wrong - if you don't see anything, the advice is to just make something up. No one can disprove a prediction if it's vague enough or far enough ahead in the future."

"Care of Magical Creatures might not be safe," Tom pointed out again, making Harry repeat his concerns.

Neville shrugged them off. "Magical animals don't scare me much. You have to know how to handle them or how to avoid them, and that's what we're being taught."

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Potion class under Professor Slughorn proved to be very different from classes with Professor Snape. He was way more relaxed and less demanding. Neville breathed much easier now, as did most students. Harry noted however that Professor Slughorn's standards were much lower than those of Professor Snape, too, and he and Tom weren't sure what to think about it. Or rather, Harry wasn't – it was nice to have an easy class, but Tom lamented that they would never make it to the end of the book at this speed.

Unbeknownst to him, the twins agreed with him and complained that the more complicated and dangerous potions no longer featured in their new professor's class schedule. Sure, the work was easier, but they didn't get to brew the really interesting stuff, which in their opinion really made up for Professor Snape's nastiness.

Professor Slughorn was a bit more like Professor Lockhart and believed in having a friendly and personal relationship with his students, at least with those he found interesting or considered promising. Not three weeks into the third trimester, he had formed a sort of out-of-hours dining and social club, to which he invited selected students. The eligibility criteria were somewhat foggy. From his year, Harry had been invited, as well as Draco, Hermione and Blaise. To Draco's great amusement, the first question Slughorn asked Hermione during dinner was: "Are you, by any chance, related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, the founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

Hermione, thoroughly fed up with that nonsense, testily replied that her parents were Muggle dentists and that no relationship to the wizard named Granger existed. Which spurred Draco into presenting his theory that some Muggles, especially those who were parents of Muggleborns, might in fact be Squibs or descendants of Squibs, without even knowing it, just to spite her. Slughorn looked surprised, then nodded thoughtfully. "A very interesting and thoughtful idea, Mr. Malfoy! One that definitely merits further research!" Draco looked smug, while Hermione rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.

Unlike Potions under Professor Slughorn, DADA under Professor Snape was finally a subject Harry really enjoyed. The workload was immense, but they really had to make up for almost two years being taught by semi-competent or plain incompetent teachers. Professor Snape firmly believed in practical lessons and had them duel in almost every lesson. Given that Harry had fast reflexes (and thanks to Tom a much wider focus than most people) he did pretty well. While he had been upper average in Potions, he was definitely at the top of the class in DADA, together with Draco. Professor Snape often paired them during the practicals, and though Draco had a tendency to be sneaky and not always rule-abiding, Harry enjoyed pitting himself against his frenemy. It was almost as good as Quidditch.

Harry was happy that the training and the matches had resumed. Just a week after the extended Easter break, the previously cancelled match against Ravenclaw was rescheduled, and – as most people had expected – Slytherin won. With their new brooms it would have been hard to beat them in any case, but Harry as a seeker was definitely an asset, too. Draco, for all that he had bribed himself into the team, didn't cut a bad figure as chaser, either, so Marcus was deservedly ecstatic after their victory.

Harry's social schedule, too, was very full in the second term. He kept up regular visits with Scilla and Marvolo, who had taken up residence in the forest chamber. Dumbledore had created an access to the Forbidden Forest for them, also making use of the walls, as the forest chamber was technically on the second floor and thus way above ground level. He made sure, however, that the newly created exit allowed no access to the wall space anywhere else in the castle. As Scilla had no wish to go back to the Chamber of Secrets anyway, she couldn't mind less.

"I don't think she'd listen to the heir if he somehow found her here or in the forest, which is highly unlikely anyway," Tom remarked. "She seems pretty pleased with the change in her life."

"So do you agree with me now that it was a good idea not to simply try to set me up as a rival to her master and hope she likes me better?"

"Grudgingly."

Harry grinned. It was hard to ever get such an admission out of his friend, who generally believed himself to always be right about everything.

The only one who wasn't entirely happy about Scilla's release into the forest was Myrtle - understandably so. The trio had dropped by her bathroom and told her that the monster responsible for her death had been caught. Myrtle wasn't happy that it hadn't been killed. She wasn't inclined to be forgiving, no matter if the basilisk had been misled or not.

"They'll surely punish the one who commanded the basilisk when they catch him," Neville tried to mollify her. "If they catch him, that is."

"I bet the heir is wondering by now where his pet snake has vanished to," mused Hermione. "Maybe he thinks she died somewhere in the walls during his absence?"

"Speaking of absence," said Myrtle, "the crying girl has been back to the bathroom just a few days ago. As I was floating beneath the ceiling at the time, I saw her before she cast the banishment charm on me again."

"Was she crying again?" inquired Hermione.

"No. She came in, scanned the room and cast the charm. And mighty powerful it was! It sent me as far as the Astronomy tower, where I landed right on top of a kissing couple!" Myrtle grinned. "You should have heard them scream!"

"Do you know who she is? What does she look like?"

Myrtle shrugged. "Smallish, young, first or second year I would guess. Long hair."

"What colour? Was she wearing her school tie? What house is she in?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you. I haven't been able to see any colours since I died, just black, white and grey, like on TV. I've almost forgotten what colours look like. Your ties are all the same to me. But I'd say her hair is lighter than yours, Harry. More like Hermione's, but straight."

"That's not much to go on," lamented Hermione.

"Well, it's more than we had before," objected Neville, who worried that Hermione's careless comments might upset Myrtle again. The ghost was rather sensitive. "We can rule out Cho, the Patil twins, Lavender, and basically every girl from Slytherin, Alice, Hannah, Sue, Lily, Meghan and Mandy."

"But we have to take into consideration many girls from first year who we don't even know. And smallish doesn't necessarily mean young. If she cast such advanced spells, she might be a shorter upper year. Would you recognize her, Myrtle?"

"I surely would."

"Could you please alert one of us if you see her again?" asked Harry. "Preferably me, as I have an invisibility cloak and could come immediately, no matter the time."

"Any time?" Myrtle asked, giving him a coy smile and twisting one of her pigtails around her finger. "What if you're in the shower or in bed?"

Harry cringed. The idea of a female ghost spying on them in the shower wasn't a pleasant one. "Well, then wait until I'm out! I don't mind if you wake me, though."

"Consider it done!

"Awesome! You're the only one who can get all over the castle quickly and our only chance at finding her." Harry hoped that making Myrtle realize her own importance in this would make her more invested. Besides, it'd be good for her to have a task and feel useful.

"Why do we want to find her?" asked Neville, frowning. "We're looking for an heir, not an heiress."

"Do we even know that?" asked Tom, wondering why they hadn't asked themselves the question before.

"Right, we do know that because the writing on the wall said 'Slytherin's heir' not 'heiress'," said Harry aloud, causing Neville and Hermione to give him a confused look. "And there was only ever talk of an 'heir' fifty years ago. Also, Scilla called the person commanding her master, not mistress."

"Scilla can't really tell one human from the other, except by their 'essence', whatever that is," argued Tom. "Should we automatically assume the 'essence' of a person to be female or male? What if the original heir who opened the Chamber in 1943 was a male, and whoever followed in his footsteps is a girl? She might just call herself 'master' and 'heir' to confuse people and add to the mystery of the 'heir' being back!"

"I know," said Neville in response to Harry's comment. Sometimes, it was really confusing to be the only one who heard the fourth person (or in this case the fifth) participating in their conversation. "I just don't know then why we are interested in finding out who the girl is."

"Because she might be the one who threw the diary into the toilet," replied Hermione. "And that's also a mystery I'd like to solve, even if she can't possibly be the heir."

"Just why does everyone think they're harmless just because they're small?" complained Tom. "Ask Voldemort – he was defeated by a baby!"

"Exactly," said Harry, more in agreement with Hermione than with Tom on this. "I'd like to know how she got her hands on it and why she threw it into the loo. It's from 1943. Surely, that can't be a coincidence."

"You think the diary contained information about the whereabouts of the chamber after all?" wondered Neville. "But you said Riddle didn't know it himself."

"He might have lied," Tom answered stubbornly and totally ineffectually, as Neville couldn't hear him and Harry ignored him. "I'd lie if I thought it was important!"

"She might have an idea who the heir is," Harry argued in his stead. "It's just a hunch, but I can't help feeling that her coming to the bathroom where Myrtle was killed all the time and the incidents are connected somehow. But we won't know until we find her. So when you see her or get banned again from your bathroom, please come and get me, Myrtle."

"No worries, Harry," his ghostly friend promised. "I will!"

A/N: The names are from: The Original 40 . I'm not sure whether we should consider it canon or not, but if we accept that there are on average forty students per year (10 per house), there would be about 40x7=280 students altogether in Hogwarts. If the Hogwarts express has 6 cars with 8-9 compartments each, and each compartment seats 6 pupils max, that also suggest that there are about 280 students altogether, as not all compartments were full. I never thought that Hogwarts has many more students than that, especially considering how small the wizarding populations seems to be.