Marcus' P.O.V

October, 31st

5:30 a.m.

Marcus paced back and forth in front of the minister, his usually carefully waxed mustache now bushy and unkempt. Fudge, for his part, was watching the French head of the DMLE with sagging eyes; clearly he wanted nothing more than to be at home asleep.

"All I am saying, minister, is that there is no record of a trial whatsoever, and yet Sirius Black is in Azkaban. I can only assume this is a breach of protocol of the highest order, and such a gross misconduct of judicial punishment was unlawfully carried out!"

The minister rubbed at his heavy lidded eyes," what do you want me to do, eh Marcus? Let the man go? What if he was behind the murder of Peter Pettigrew, and a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named? He would go after the Potter boy as soon as he was let loose!"

Marcus growled, he understood the ministers hesitance, but if the buffoon looked at even a shred of the evidence he had gathered he would see the whole picture. Dozens of witches and wizards thrown into Azkaban at the slightest mention of possibly being Death Eaters, completely rushed or nonexistent trials carried out on Barty Crouch Senior's orders, and the fact that not in a single instance had veritaserum been administered; even when it had been requested.

All of this would paint a single clear picture. Barty Crouch, and other ministry officials, were using the aftermath of the war with Voldemort to bolster their careers as quickly as possible.

"Of course I'm not saying you just set him free, but the man was never given a trial! If he is innocent then there could be a Death Eater running free right under our noses, and keeping an innocent man behind bars at the mercy of those things helps no one but the perpetrator." Marcus could see Fudge shrinking back, the backlash of something of that nature having happened under his watch could ruin his career. So, Marcus thought from Fudge's point of view," If justice isn't enough to sway you, then how about receiving better social standing?"

Fudge perked up at that.

"Think about it. If a man has been rotting away in Azkaban for twelve years under false charges, then wouldn't the one who finally secured his release be praised? Say we hold a trial, just a few wizengamot members, and ministry officials. You say it's because you found what you think is a clerical error, and the documents regarding Sirius Black's trial is gone. So, obviously you thought to remedy the situation and hedge your bets by holding another trial, so that everything would be in order. If we find out he is guilty that's no skin off your nose, you just say it was so you could have the documents properly filed."

Fudge leant forward in his chair," and if he's innocent?"

"Well then… you say you knew all along when you found the documents missing that something was amiss, so you held the trial just to be sure. With the first scenario you look like a diligent and fastidious minister, and with the second you look like a shrewd and detail oriented justiciar, willing to uphold the law with utmost care. Either way, you can't lose."

Fudge stared at Marcus, his nostrils flared in excitement, and his eyes darting back and forth as if he were assessing his options.

"Very well. We'll hold the trial the first of November."

Marcus smiled, that hadn't been so hard. It had only been securing this meeting with the minister that had taken him so long, but he was glad to see that his efforts had not been in vein. He would need to report to Dumbledore on the matter, and if the man saw it necessary; bring the news to Harry about his Godfather's hopeful release.

Fleur's P.O.V

6:45 a.m.

Students bustled in the Great Hall, chattering away excitedly about the Halloween feast that would be taking place later that day. Terry talked animatedly with Lisa Turpin from the other side of the table, and Luna Lovegood was humming to herself as she carefully sculpted some creature into a mound of mashed potatoes.

' Where are you? '

Harry had yet to make an appearance, and she was extremely worried about him. He hadn't been in the common room that morning, and now that she thought about it he hadn't been in the previous night either. Harry wasn't the type to disappear mysteriously, at least not without a good reason, so she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But if she didn't see him soon Fleur would take it upon herself to find him.

"Hey Fleur, have you seen Harry?"

Fleur wasn't very familiar with many of the other Ravenclaws, but she knew who that voice belonged to and she didn't like the girl one bit. She turned to look at the girl, Cho Chang.

"I 'ave not, would you like me to tell 'im something for you?"

Cho smiled, the gesture not quite reaching her eyes," no that's fine, I just wanted to talk to him about the Dueling Club, and get some help."

"I could always give you a few pointers," Fleur flippantly tossed her long platinum hair over her shoulder, a small smirk coming to her as the younger girl fidgeted uncomfortably.

"N-No, that's alright. I think I'd prefer Harry help me."

Cho meandered away, her slightly hunched shoulders made Fleur feel oddly satisfied, and then she realized what she had done, ' Why was I so nasty with her?'

Harry's P.O.V

6:39 p.m.

A warm, soft padded paw startled Harry awake. His back hurt, his face was cold, and his entire front was numb. As he sat up, Harry realized where he was, and what had happened.

' I couldn't leave the room after the ritual. I guess that makes sense, I basically put my entire muscular and skeletal systems through a meat grinder.'

He stood to his feet, and with a start, realized he felt extremely light. As he looked down at his body he was startled to realize his pants were about three inches to short, his school shirt was very tight, and his arms were less a pair of flimsy twigs and now more like a pair of well proportioned branches. They were by no means extremely large, but he at least looked like someone his own age should, and not like a skeleton anymore. Cobalt twined in between his legs as he observed how they now properly filled his school pants; even if they were a bit to long for them now.

His eyesight was still awful, upon further testing, as he removed his glasses. But that was to be expected, the ritual had been designed to improve his physicality, and at least put him on par with his peers; not to fix his eyes. That would come later.

Harry stooped down to snatch his wand from the ground in a fluid motion that almost seemed so natural it appeared as if he'd been graceful his whole life. Cobalt scampered up his arm and lay across his broader shoulders.

"Tempus," white numbers flowed from the end of his wand, and he was startled to find he'd been passed out almost the entire day.

' Crap, Fleur is going to skin me alive,' He grimaced at the thought of being under the irate girls simmering displeasure.

He quickly threw his boots, school robe, and belt on. Before he left he cast a few scourgify charms around the room, erasing any evidence of the ritual that had taken place. He made his way out of the unused classroom, and ran quickly down the hall; hoping Fleur would let him off with only a mildly severe tongue lashing.

Thoughts of the girl filled Harry, and he was excited to see the look on her face when she saw just how much he had grown in just a single night. But then he heard it, just as he stepped down onto the second floor.

"… rip… tear…kill…"

' Rina!' Harry turned his head to and fro, her terrible and deranged mutterings sending chills down his spine. He wasn't used to hearing the usually friendly voice of the basilisk, so filled with hate and insanity.

" Kill … time to kill …"

Her voice was growing faint. The echoing vitriol retreating down toward the first floor… right toward the Great Hall! Harry ran, his new muscles working hard, carrying him easily to follow Rina's voice.

" Blood! I smell blood! "

Harry pushed his newly muscled legs all the harder as he slid around a corner, nearly sending himself tumbling as he tried to catch her voice. The echoes of her maliciously excited hisses, made the flickering torch light in the halls warp ominously around him, but he pushed forward.

Finally, he threw himself around the last corner leading down the final corridor of the second floor that would take him to the first floor, but Rina's voice was gone and in its place something shined dimly against the right wall. Harry approached the dull glint, stalling only when he noticed the shimmer was cast by foot-high words daubed into the space between a pair of windows.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the true heir, beware.

Harry gulped. This was as good as a declaration of war as any he had ever seen, and the fact that the person had taken the time to add " true heir", meant that they knew someone had been in the chamber. This was not good, not at all, but the question Harry needed the answer to was nagging at him.

' Is Voldemort working with the person he's using this time? Or is he possessing them against their will?'

Thunderous footsteps startled Harry, and he jumped as he realized a throng of shouting voices were headed right his way. The feast must have ended, because all at once, students poured into the corridor from either end; blocking his path of escape. Students approached slowly, fingers pointed toward the obvious words, and the puddles of water Harry hadn't realized he was standing in.

Fleur pushed her way through the crowd, making her way to Harry's side as she scowled at him. With a start, Harry realized they were nearly eye to eye now, and he was only an inch or two shorter than the girl.

"Where 'ave you been?! You missed ze entire feast?! I was worried about you!"

Her fury was oddly comforting in the moment, as dozens of eyes watched the pair. They cycled between looking at Harry, the words on the wall, and something he hadn't seen hanging off a torch bracket just below the scrawl of letters. Harry strained his eyes to see the thing and stepped back a fraction when he realized what it was; all the blood drained from Harry's face in horror.

Draco Malfoy stepped forward, his usually pale corpse-like complexion flush with mirth," enemies of the true heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

The rhythmic patter of blood filled the now silent crowd of students with dread, and the ghoulish sight of what hung on the torch bracket behind Malfoy's sneering face made the air all the more stifling

The anguished cry of Mr. Filch as he came upon the sight made Harry cringe.

Hanging behind Malfoy, was the bisected upper half of Mrs. Norris. Her large, lamp-like eyes were dull and lifeless; blood trickled from her mouth into the puddle of water below.

A/N: it's a bit of a shorter chapter than I usually prefer but I think I'm going to make the next one a bit lengthier. So you can look forward to that, but that means it will probably take a bit longer to get out. Sorry this one took so long, but I published a few updates on some of my other stories so what can ya do?

I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!!!!