Chapter 29

All legal copyrights of recognizable characters belong to
J. K. Rowling

(And some others who have lots of highly paid solicitors on staff)

Inspiration provided by the Prague Symphonic Orchestra during keyboarding.
Harry Potter, movies one, two, three and four.
My computer is so old it can play CD's.

Approx. 5,600 words

/*

Harry figured with Dumblydoor working hard, most people would forget about it in another week.

Unfortunately for both of them, it was a week later when a Hufflepuff came running into the Great Hall like the Hounds of Hell were after him. It took a minute for the gasping, about to pass out, First-Year to make sense. All he would say was that the "Shadow's" were after him and they had killed his friends in the dungeons.

The early dinner crowd immediately started screaming, jumped up, and started running for the doors in panic.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore stood with his wand in his hand. "Prefects gather your house and escort them to your common rooms."

His voice and presence damped most of the panic. The Gryff's all stood to start for their tower, including a shocked Harry Potter whose brain was operating on Auto-Point-Me.

At that point, Professor Sprout snatched out her wand and after applying a Sonorous, she yelled "Stop! All students stop! All houses will stay here! No students are going anywhere until the dungeons have been checked."

She turned and said quietly to the headmaster, but in the Hall's silence, everyone heard her say that not only was the House entrance for her Badgers near the dungeons, but just like the troll last year, whatever had been in the dungeons might not be there now.

It then took a few more minutes for the senior staff to sort things out, get some directions from the traumatized Hufflepuff, and leave through the main doors leaving Hagrid, and Professors Sinistra, Vector, Babbling and Burbage as monitors.

It was almost funny as many eyes swiveled towards Harry. He raised his hands as though in surrender. "I'm not going anywhere. Last year that troll on second-floor was supposed to be in the dungeons. I'll believe it's safe when the professors return with whatever they find hoisted on a transfigured pike."

It was the released from the infirmary Malfoy led the group that glared or scowled at Harry. He realized that if someone started a rumour that the Heir of Slytherin stuff was Harry's fault, his year could become as bad as the first time around.

Many of those who turned away seemed disappointed. Harry looked puzzled and looked at the others for an explanation. Neville leaned over and quietly said, "Ron bragged to everyone last year how he, with you following, charged off to find and battle the troll because that's what brave Gryffindors do."

Harry goggled at his dorm mate. "He wha . . .?"

"Ohh, yes, Harry," came Hermione's voice. "According to Ron's tale, you were quite the side-kick during that adventure. You were there only because you tagged along. Sadly, since he was technically, the one to overcome the troll by dropping its club on its head, I couldn't call him out as an underhanded liar."

"Yeah, but you were the one who told him what to do," Harry complained in exasperation.

"Oooh! Is this one of those tales that are whispered about by the older Gryff's in the common room?" came the airy voice of Luna from behind them.

The three of them jumped.

"Merlin's Balls, did she sneak up on us again?" he thought. "She's like those ninja characters in those anime comics Dudley would read. Just minus the skintight suits or really, really short skirts."

Hermione recovered first. "Yes, Luna. It's whispered about in the common room, but what they know is like most of the gossip around here. It's not accurate."

"Oh, pooh. I was hoping we could sneak off and find out what happened," the small blonde said with a fake pout of disappointment. "We could sneak out of that side door there that no one is paying attention to. You know, the one the professors use when they arrive here late for a meal?

Harry was starting to edge towards the door before Luna stopped talking. A quick look and head twitch had Neville shuffling closer. Harry desperately wanted to find out what had happened. Had someone managed to wake and control the basilisk? Was the attack because he had not gone down to the Chamber of Secrets and killed that damn snake?

A soft squeal followed by a whispered, "Adventure awaits!" came from Luna's direction.

"Harry James Potter," hissed Hermione. "If you think I'm going to let you go haring off on another dangerous adventure, you've got another think coming!"

Harry turned and looked at her. She looked very determined and her hand had brushed her robe aside so her hand was on her Six-Hex holstered wand. He suddenly wondered if she would leave him paralyzed on the floor like Neville last spring.

He stepped in closer to her. "The Malfoys are trying, or going to try something this year at the school. I'll have to explain later," he whispered into her ear.

She glared and hissed a promise that if he was lying to her just because he was feeling reckless, she would turn his year of living dangerously into a year of Potter Purgatory.

And with that warning echoing in his ear, he started sidling slowly, unobtrusively towards the professor's private entry door. The others, after a quick glance at each other, tried to surreptitiously follow his casual drifting.

Tried, but still they looked guilty of something. Except for Luna. She never seemed to look guilty of anything. Fortunately, the professors most likely to see chicanery at the slightest hint had all gone with Dumbledore.

As the group got to the door, a quick look around showed no one paying any attention to them. Except Harry suddenly saw Greengrass eyeing them over without seeming to. She quirked an eyebrow briefly, then made a show of turning her attention to Davis beside her.

Harry opened the door just enough for everyone to squeeze out, then gently shut the door. Harry realized they were now in the Staff Break Room. He tried to unobtrusively hustle the group towards what Harry thought he remembered was the rooms' main entrance off the main corridor. (1)

That door was carefully eased open. Harry realized where they were, and cautiously looked around. When no one was seen, flesh or stone, with Harry in the lead, the four turned left which led them vaguely towards the potions classroom and the Slytherin dungeons. Hermione hissed at them to be quieter but eager second years in a hurry were somewhat noisy when walking fast.

Trying to imitate the telly heroes when they were out to rescue someone in trouble, Harry would stop, put his back to the wall, and then carefully peer around every corner. The others exchanged looks, but nobody called him on his odd behavior.

The further they went, the more steps leading down they found. Harry soon found himself in hallways he had never seen before. He was starting to worry about becoming lost.

He conjured a piece of grey chalk in his hand and started marking turns and directions on the walls at intersections. At a whispered question from Hermione, he explained the grey was harder to see and they knew where to look but others probably would not even see them.

With very few dull flickering torches, the chilling cold that soaked through their robes, and the atmosphere started feeling heavier, and the corridors and passageways were becoming spookier and scarier by the moment.

Harry was somewhat surprised to find him following directions from Luna whenever they came to an intersection and no clear direction in which to turn. She did it subtly, sometimes leading by a step, and everyone else merely following someone who they thought knew what they were doing. Or saying to the group quietly that this way seemed to lead deeper into the dungeons.

They had seemingly left the castle proper and now the passages looked as though they had been hewn out of the rock the castle sat upon rather than having been built out of stone blocks and timbers. They reminded Harry of the Chamber of Secrets area. Even the doors looked heavy and foreboding. The groups earlier noisy walking had become much more cautious and quieter as the exciting part of the adventure was disappearing rapidly.

Suddenly, Harry stuck his arm sideways and hissed, "Stop." Further down the ill-lit passageway he could hear noises. Keeping to the darker wall, he edged forward.

As they crept up to peek around a bend in the corridor, and there, only about sixty feet away, they all could see the senior staff grouped together.

Dumbledore, Snape and Flitwick were casting what Harry thought looked like detection spells around the area. McGonagall and Sprout were standing obvious guard with lit wands and intense peering into the surrounding darkness. The immediate area was flooded with light as someone had created some floating light globes.

There were two more figures in the bright light of the grouping's tableau. Hermione apparently had the best view or the best eyesight. "Looks as though there's a student frozen trying to get up from the floor and the other figure seems like he was trying to help the first one up when they were paralyzed," she murmured very quietly, afraid the hissing of whispering would echo down the passage.

Neville hissed a question.

"Dead people lay collapsed. Those two were trying to get up when they were paralyzed, frozen, or something," was the girl's barely audible reply.

As they watched, Snape turned as the headmaster said in a voice that just carried to Harry's group, "There has been some type of magic done here, but I do not recognize it. It does not have any dark residue. And I do not know of any magic that can petrify a wizard that is not some type of dark creature magic. It is quite the conundrum."

The young students were almost caught out because at the word 'Petrify'. Harry started so badly he would have knocked Hermione over, and that would have put the kneazle's in with the pigeons. Discovery and retribution would have been swift and terrible. Luckily, Luna had managed to grab him before he played skittles with his friends.

Luna released her hold on Harry as his mind returned to their present place just in time to hear Snape confused finish.

The puzzlement in the aged headmaster's voice matched Snape's as he reported that he had found nothing dark, the students had no potion residue, and that odd section of wall radiated no magic other than the castle's usual ambient magic. Flitwick said nothing, merely shaking his head.

It was with an apparently heavy heart Dumbledore ordered the two youngsters to be taken to the infirmary.

That set off a scramble as the students turned back up the corridors to escape from the advancing staff. Harry had to occasionally flash a weak Lumos to double-check for his chalk marks at some intersections. They had to sprint down the wide main hallway to duck into the Staff Break Room before the professors popped out of the last intersection on their route to the infirmary.

Slowly easing the door into the Great Hall open just enough for the still small second-years to slip through. Wanting to be seen, Harry deliberately led them across the back of the staff dining table.

"Mister Potter, what are you doing up there?" came the voice of Professor Sinistra who had caught the movement where there should not be any out of the corner of her eye.

Harry went with the 'acting guilty of something', "Sorry, Professor. Just wanted to see what the view looked like from up here."

"Well, get back to your regular viewing place lower down," she commanded.

"Yes Ma'am," was the strong reply from Harry with much quieter mutters of assent from the others.

The four sat down at the Gryffindor table but near the staff dais.

The other three started whispering to each other about what they had seen. Harry was not paying attention to anything outside of his mind now that the excitation of their curiosity-fueled adventure was wearing off.

He was desperately casting through his mind of how could the basilisk have been released when he had the diary locked up at his manor. Then, he examined his memory of the dank dungeon corridor, and realized there had been no water on the floor to change the deadly gaze of the predator. Yet, Dumbledore had specifically said the two were 'petrified'. Not paralyzed, not dead, petrified. Same as Colin, Finch-Fletchly, Clearwater, and of course Hermione, from the reflected gaze of the basilisk the last time around.

Harry returned to the world around him just as Hermione declared that as soon as they were let out of the Great Hall, she was headed for the library to start researching creatures that could petrify wizards. And to find out if there were counter-spells to petrification.

Neville said that the mandrakes they had worked with in Herbology back in September were the main ingredient in a potion that could cure petrified people, but he thought the plants had to be mature before use. He would look through his herbology books and talk to Professor Sprout to get some information.

When Luna added her thoughts, she wondered why the three students had been that deep in the dungeons?

Harry had a sudden thought that his other-time Hermione had never told him if she had heard him during the long days and nights he had recited his class notes, or read books, or just talked about random things to her while she had been petrified in the infirmary?

He leaned in, which got the attention of the other three. "I think we should talk to some 'Puffs about their petrified friends. Does anyone know if their brains and ears still work?"

After everyone else had looked at one another, Hermione said, "Yes, after we can say we found out from some source other than our spying what happened to those students." She was still disgruntled that Harry had gone off, and they had followed, on an 'adventure' that they did not have to go on. They will find out soon what happened. "We need someone to tell us what happened to them ."

Harry could see Hermione was still a bit unhappy with him for their dungeon dive. But he had been terrified that the basilisk was somehow loose. Now he could see that some of the sketchy evidence showed the attack was not by the giant snake from the Chamber.

Harry was however starting to stress out. He wanted desperately to rush to Potter Manor and check on the condition of the diary. He knew that it should be where he left it in that archaic safe in the in the hidden Potter treasure room, but . . . .

When his thoughts whirled away from the diary, he figured he now had to quit delaying hunting and killing the basilisk. He needed the venom. Either on the sword or from a fang, something that would puncture a horcruxes.

It was only about fifteen minutes later when Dumbledore, Snape, and Flitwick re-entered the Great Hall and announced that the students were alive and in the infirmary under Madame Pomfrey's care. The staff was now going to leave to search the school, and the Head Boy and Head Girl, along with the prefects would be in charge.

The rest of the night was practically a repeat of two years ago complete with big, squashy, purple sleeping bags for everyone to sleep in the Hall in.

Nobody seemed to find it odd that all the younger Lions ended up grouped around THEIR trio of only slightly older mentors. It was illogical, but the feeling of being safe when the three were around was palpable.

The last three weeks until Christmas holidays flew by. Harry could see the repeat of his other second year as now all students had to travel in House groups to their classes and then return to their common rooms. Group trips to the library were escorted by prefects and some NEWT students much to Hermione's disgust as the minders usually did not want to stay in the library until just before curfew and chivvied their younkers back to the common room early.

The class travel restrictions were even cramping Harry's new potions tutoring. Webster Albright was a recent Hogwarts graduate halfblood working on a potions mastery that McGonagall had managed to get sprung from his work to come for three hours a week to teach Harry the subtle science of brewing. He had only three lessons so far, but thought he had learned more about potion ingredients and their interactions than in four years of suffering under the Hairy Grease Ball. Hermione was highly distressed that McGonagall would not let her be with Harry during his tutoring. The Assistant Headmaster pointed out she was not a Lord, nor were her grades suffering in any way from being taught by Professor Snape. Harry had argued that he would pay for Mr. Albright's time to instruct another student, but his Head of House refused to bend or compromise. Lord privileges were for Harry only.

Harry and Hermione were now having to sneak out under his Cloak of Invisibility and up to the Room of Requirement when she wanted more research time as she was now accessing the restricted section through the Room's find any book function.

Harry would forever remember the strength and duration of the hug she had given him as she realized the gift he had given her. He honestly thought he was going to pass out from lack of air before she released him.

And then he almost fainted again as she whispered in his ear, "You bought yourself another week or two. However, you will eventually tell me how you know all these things. I'm learning to be patient, but I can see the stress of keeping your secrets is killing you. You will break soon. Perhaps around Christmas."

Harry was happy to go along with her 'everything is alright now' fiction, as it gave him more quiet study time and when that was done, he could relieve some of that stress by blowing up some dueling dummies that the room would provide. Sometimes when her frustration over not finding the answers she wanted boiled over, he could get Hermione to whip her wand out and carve up a few dummies herself.

Some questioning and discrete eavesdropping of the Hufflepuff table at meals had provided the information that the two petrified students were a first-year 'Puff and a third-year Slytherin. The young Hufflepuff who had escaped was a friend of the petrified 'Puff, who was the younger brother of the Snake.

It seemed the brothers wanted to have a visit without the other Slytherin's knowing. Daphne had passed along that the third-year was being disparaged in her house because he had been meeting with someone from another house. To the most rabid Snakes, it did not matter if it was with family, Slytherins did not associate with lower beings. But what kind of standards could one expect from a halfblood?

Early on Harry had apologized to Lord Greengrass for being under-prepared for their meeting at the November Wizengamot, but the attack on the students at Hogwarts had even the 'Mot in a tizzy so little actual work was being done there.

Daphne had gotten word out to her father before Dumbledore had a chance to tighten his information noose around the school again. The petrified boys were the sons of a political ally, and so, Lord Greengrass was leading the charge against the old man in the Wizengamot. Other concerned parents and the Dark Faction was piling on. At the same time, he was scouring the world for mature mandrakes needed to make the potion that would break the petrification.

He was not having any luck. Mandrakes were difficult to raise to maturity, and had little use except in a few unusual potions. He did not expect to be able to purchase any until weeks after Yule.

Daphne had kept them informed about the several groups of older students who were spending time checking the House entrances, the main entrance, and the doorways at the base of and the top of the owlery. Evidence of recent heavy magic usage had been found at the last three. And she reported that close examination of the Raven's Nest and the Slytherin entrances resulted in confunded student investigators.

The letters from Sirius were getting less weepy and Harry could actually see how Sirius was trying hard to become the responsible, but still fun uncle that he thought Harry needed. He was looking forward to Christmas and becoming re-acquainted with his favorite adult in the magical world.

After all, Harry had little idea how the original Sirius had spent Harry's fourth year before returning to Britain to help Harry with the Tri-Wiz Tournament.

Remus had come up with a plan to keep Harry informed about the status of his estates and properties. To keep the Dumplydoor from trying to intercept any mail addressed to him, he had purchased a very nondescript barn owl. Then he began sending all sensitive correspondence to Hermione. She in turn merely never explained the new owl delivering mail to her. Everyone just assumed it was one her parents had bought so they could send letters to her when they wanted.

The werewolf had admitted he was using a non-confrontational approach when doing his Facilitator duties face-to-face with Harry's tenants. He was letting Tongueripper be his goblin menace lurking in the backround for those who were irritating gits and/or blustering fools.

Those complainers that had not paid their rents due, often used the lack of maintenance to the properties since the death of James Potter as an excuse. Lupin assured Harry that property maintenance was now up to snuff and no more excuses were allowed. Most of his properties were having their rents caught up and gold was starting to flow into the Potter accounts which was making Tongueripper less grouchy than usual.

And the whole petrified student's secrecy thing made Hermione feel as though she was part of a group in rebellion to the established ministry order. Harry knew why he was in rebellion against the ministry and Dumbles, but how had his rule-following, adults-are-always-right, listen to the wisdom-of-your-elders best friend, become such a man-the-barricades type?

/*

Friday, December 18, 1992

Harry's mind would not stop reflecting on the past four months as he sat with Hermione, Luna, and Neville as the Express thundered south towards Kings Cross station. However, it was a jittery reflection that the others had picked up on.

He could not shake the nerves from the last month. Dumbledore had been much too busy defending himself at the Wizengamot and other angry parents to return to bothering Harry at every turn. But with no more attacks and with parents seeing their children unharmed for three weeks he reckoned the old man's blatant interference in Harry's life would return

Hermione had worried that Harry was going to be alone during the Christmas season. Just two days ago, Hedwig had finally brought her a letter from her parents that said they would be happy to exchange visits with the Potter "Family," such as it was.

She had immediately, and nervously, invited him over to her house for Christmas. Her best bet was to use the excuse that it was a return favor since the Grangers had been invited by Harry over to his manor to see how Yule was celebrated by magical folk.

It was a very nervous Neville that, two hours into the trip, had invited Harry, Lord Potter, to the Longbottom annual New Year's Eve party. He had been botching the invite badly when Harry stopped him from talking and merely asked him why his grandmother had made him do the inviting, instead of an invitation by owl.

Neville explained that it had become common knowledge that Lord Potter was very politely turning down all invitations to Yule balls no matter how prestigious the inviters were. And his grandma was trying for a social coup. As the shy boy explained it, most of the grand, absolutely-anyone-who-was-anybody-had-to-attend Yule holiday balls were held by politically darker or darkish-neutral families.

While most of Lord Potter's proxied votes seemed to indicate he was of the Light Wizengamot faction, he had not given any firm indications of which political faction he was going to support. Therefore, attendance at the New Year's Eve ball at Longbottom Longhouse would raise the Longbottom family stature among the Light Faction and at the same time indicate his political leanings at a time when the Light faction was slowly losing influence in the Ministry.

Seeing the narrowing eyes and occlumency-type mask settling onto Harry's face, he decided that honesty was the best option. The Longbottom heir further explained that, yes, his Gran was trying to use Harry to give her political stature a boost. If she couldn't spread gold around the Ministry like a Malfoy, she would try using any good will from an indirect endorsement from The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry didn't know if he should be bothered by her attitude or not. As long as she didn't try to manipulate him into a declaration of support for her, he figured if she was fighting the good fight against the Dark, he would let her use him a bit. He told Neville he would attend, perhaps with his godfather.

Surprising Harry and Hermione, Neville turned to her and said, "I'm sorry for not inviting you to the celebration also. Gran said I could, but she pointed out that many people coming will be the worst type of blood snobs. They will take great pains to be exquisitely polite while cutting you dead, and using very thinly veiled insults about your blood status, and therefore general fitness, to be there."

"She rather unsubtly told me you would probably have a miserable time, and if I was your friend, I shouldn't ask you to spend an evening being insulted and snubbed."

Hermione's face was rapidly becoming an upset pissed-off red. Harry quickly figured that an explanation might calm her down.

"I think if you tell Hermione why your grandmother hosts a party where she invites people into her house who would very much like to do to you and her what they did to your parents, she won't hex you into a tentacled pile of gorp," he said earnestly.

At the same time, he was holding on to her hands in what he hoped she thought was a comforting measure. Also, he didn't want her hexing Neville, who was clearly under orders, into that pile of gorp.

"Politics!" the young PureBlood spat venomously. "In the oh-so-civilized Wizengamot, there is great stock in pretending that since the Death Eaters wore masks, nobody knows who they were. We all know who most of them were, but the rigid manners of polite society means the subject is not talked about openly."

"Therefore, under PureBlood societal rules, everyone pretends that everyone is either innocent of any crimes, or was compelled by spells to be one of the Death Eaters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

He sighed and continued, "Before you publicly start lambasting everyone in sight, most of the really powerful, deadly Death Eaters, are also heads of some of the wealthiest, and therefore powerful, Houses. They can afford to spend lots of gold to buy influence for themselves, their friends and to have 'uppity' Mudbloods taken care of."

Neville again paused as he made sure to make direct eye contact with Hermione. "And by 'taken care of,' I mean anything from making sure that certain people will never be offered any job in magical Britainnia to having people vanish, with nobody wanting to become the next vanishee by being nosey."

By this point, Hermione's face and body language had cycled through disbelief, confusion, raging anger and then back to disbelief, this time with some fear added.

"They wouldn't, would they?" she whispered in a disbelieving tone.

Harry gathered both of her hands in his to get her full attention. "Hermione, Voldemort came to my house and killed my parents just so he could kill me. His followers are no better. Their favorite targets were Mundaneborn and Halfbloods they claimed were not worthy of magic. That's one of the reasons that the classes around our year are so small. The kids never became old enough to get their Hogwarts letter. And the parents were killed so they could never have any more . . . pollutants to magical blood."

There were no tears from Luna, but she leaned in and lightly hugged Neville.

Hermione threw herself into Harry's arms and buried her face in his chest. She remained there for the rest of the trip, occasionally leaking tears onto his jumper.

It was a subdued four students that stepped off the carriage onto Platform nine and three-quarters. Luna left first to find her father. After saying goodbye to Neville, the remaining pair sought out her parents. Lupin and Sirius found them just as they saw Hector and Helen. After introducing Sirius, it was a solemn reunion as her parents immediately picked up that something was bothering their daughter.

After promises all around to finalize their Yule and Christmas gathering plans, the two groups started to head for their respective homes. The Grangers would be going by car, the Potters by floo.

Hermione followed her parents after one last hug with Harry and a whisper in his ear. "Remember you said in the Great Hall you would later tell me about the Malfoy's plot or whatever? I've been patient for nearly a month. All your laters are is coming this week."

At Potter Manor they were met by a serious, yet distracted, Ypres who announced supper would be immediately. Harry thought that was a good idea as the Trolley Lady's wares were a poor substitute for a real lunch. The three gathered around a smallish three-person table and talked during supper as they became reacquainted, especially Sirius and Harry.

Spending time with Sirius, Harry found his Godfather to be a handful to understand. His emotions swung wildly from manic with forced happy stories, to depressive if he dwelled on those who had died before, or even after, his illegal incarceration.

Harry could now better understand why St. Mungo's only wanted to grant the old Marauder visitation to the manor for only a few days at a time. Remus quietly told him the Mind Healers working with him were confident they were making progress, but wanted interruptions to his treatment to be short.

The saddest tale was of him finding out about two of the closest friends to his father and him. Frank and Alice Longbottom, ("Neville's parents? Yes.") were virtual husks of the friendly, lively pair he had known before. They were in the Long-Term Spell Damage Ward at St. Mungo's and had no comprehension of the world around them.

As much as Harry wanted to keep the reunion going, the long day finally caught up with him and he begged off head for bed. As he reached the corridor of the Master Suite. Ypres popped next to him.

Harry was surprised. Ypres was acting scared and nervous. The elf had never been anything except calm and dignified. "Master Harry, come quick, there is a big problem."

With that declaration, Ypres touched Harry and they elf apparated to the basement. To the armoury in fact.

Ypre laid his hand on the wall behind which the super-secret safe holding the diary was hidden, and vanished the wall.

Harry dropped to his knees as beyond excruciating pain exploded from the scar on his forehead.

A/N:

Two chapters in a row with action! Amazing.

Cruel of me to leave on a cliffhanger when next Chapter won't be published until mid-December, but it would add several thousand words to the chapter, and I'm tired of fighting with it. It won. I need a fresh arena.

One: PoA does not have gargoyle guardians at the Staff Room door. Some games do.