The Duelling Club
Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the infirmary blazing with winter sunlight and his arm reboned, but very stiff. He sat up quickly and looked over at Colin's bed, but it had been blocked from view by the high curtains Harry had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began bending and stretching his arm and fingers.
"All in order," she said as he fed himself porridge left-handed. "When you've finished eating, you may leave."
Harry dressed as quickly as he could and hurried off to Ravenclaw Tower, hoping to tell the girls about Colin and Dobby, but they weren't there. He left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they hadn't visited him. Draco had done so, but then again, it was in the earliest hour possible to visit, which wasn't very long ago, so he couldn't really say much.
As Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.
"Oh, hello, Harry," he said. "Excellent flying yesterday, really excellent. Shame about your arm."
"You haven't seen any of my friends, have you?" said Harry.
"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet...."
Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He couldn't see why they would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, he opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.
"It's me," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within the stall and he saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole.
"Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright, come in-- how's your arm? Are you doing better?"
"Just fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, water-proof fire was a specialty Padma and Hermione shared, it seemed. Speaking of Padma, she had been perched up on Lisa's shoulders, presumably to save space.
"We would've came to get you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again.
"We've decided this is the safest place to hide it," said Lisa.
Harry started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted.
"We already know about Colin– we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get started--"
"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled Ron. "We're gonna question anyone else we can while we've got the potion going too."
"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tear up bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night."
They all looked up at him, waiting for an explanation. Harry told them everything Dobby had told him, and what Dobby hadn't told him. They listened quite intently. "So the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before..." Hermione said.
"That makes it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told his son how to do it. It's obvious. Wish Dobby had told you what kind of monster's in there, though. He's real loyal. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school."
"Maybe it can make itself invisible," suggested Lisa.
"Maybe it can disguise itself, you know, pretend to be a suit of armor or something?" Padma questioned.
"I've read about Chameleon Ghosts," said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron.
"Of course you've read about something. You and Harry read too much," said Ron, pouring dead lacewings on top of the leeches. He crumpled up the empty lacewing bag and looked at Harry.
"So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm...." He shook his head, as Lisa spoke. "If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to end up killing you."
"Where is Luna? I couldn't find her anywhere," Harry asked, and Lisa suddenly gritted her teeth.
"Er... I met with Luna this morning-- she refused to say a thing to me, but then we ended up talking anyway. She's, um, angry with us. Thinks we've said something kind of rude, right, and I tried to apologise, but she wasn't hearing it. Got all harsh with me and said people were just fine and then walked off. She's gone and made friends with your sister, Ron. I saw them walking the hall together."
Ron groaned, and the three girls all shared an uneasy glance.
"This is ridiculous, Ron, you, most of all, need to apologize." Hermione said.
"Why me? I didn't--"
"You did. You said the way purebloods are raised is rubbish, and then you--" she pointed to Lisa. "-- agreed! No wonder Luna's not listening to you! Now, I don't know why she won't listen to an apology, but we all need to anyway."
"But we have!"
"Apologise again!"
The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumors and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured anywhere alone.
Ginny, who had apparently gotten along with Colin quite well, was horribly distraught, but Harry felt that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues in hopes she'd laugh. They only stopped when Percy told them he was going to write to Mrs Weasley and tell her Ginny was having nightmares.
Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, there was a roaring trade in talismans, amulets, and other protective trinkets that undoubtedly didn't work. Many, including Draco, were convinced that they were in no danger; Hermione had even said that Samantha Puckle, a Muggle-born, pink-haired girl in Gryffindor she was friends with, had bought a magenta amulet and was wearing it day in and day out, no matter how many times she'd been told it was rubbish.
In the second week of December the Professors came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry and his friends signed the list-- except for Luna, who said to Harry that she would be going out of the country with her father; Hermione had 'heard' that Draco was staying(otherwise by means of Harry accidentally blurting it out), which struck Ron as very suspicious. The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him, he insisted.
Unfortunately, the potion was only half finished. They still needed the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, and the only place they were going to get them was from Snape's private stores. Harry felt he'd rather face the legendary monster in the Chamber than let Snape catch him robbing his office.
"What we need," said Padma quietly as Thursday afternoon's double Potions lesson-- which was, luckily, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw-- loomed nearer, "Is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need."
The rest of them looked at her nervously. "He'll catch me in the matter of a second, you know how he feels about me," Harry said, before Lisa spoke up.
"I'll do the stealing part. He doesn't even pay attention to me, and you four have got more detentions under your belts than times he's even looked at me, I might get away with getting caught-- which I won't. I, do not get caught."
"All we have to do is keep Snape busy long enough for you to get in and get out of there. A potions mishap aught to have him scolding us for a good few minutes." Ron said. Harry smiled feebly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.
Potions lessons took place in one of the large dungeons. Thursday afternoon's lesson proceeded in the usual way. Twenty cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work. He didn't pay attention to any of the Ravenclaw's potions-- not counting Harry.
Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he had his mind on more important things to fix it. He was waiting for Hermione's signal, and he hardly listened as Snape paused to sneer at his watery potion. When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.
Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a slight poke with his wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had mere seconds, he straightened up and lobbed it straight into the air; It landed right into the potion of Sue Li, who was second-closest to him.
Sue's potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Samantha had been screaming and crying, for her hands had grown to the size of plates, and Ron's ears had grown to the size of tennis balls, then across from him, Stephen's nose grew so large it wobbled on his chest. Michael was trying- and failing- to get his now very large head off the ground. Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Harry saw Lisa slip quietly into Snape's office.
"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draught-- when I find out who did this--"
Atleast half the class lumbered up to the desk. Many were weighed down by swollen arms dragging behind them, or some nearly unable to take the antidote, for their lips were swollen.
After everyone who needed it managed to get a good swig for their limbs to return to their normal size, Snape swept over to Sue's cauldron and pulled out the remains of a burnt firework. it was suddenly very silent. "If I find out who threw this I will make sure they are expelled," Snape said, and Harry screwed up his face the best he could to looked confused and pretended to have been looking at Morag MacDougal. Snape, however, was watching Harry for the rest of the class. When the bell finally rung, Padma pulled Harry out of the classroom before he had gotten to close his bag. Lisa followed in close pursuit.
"He suspected it was me. I just know it! He knew the entire time I bet," Harry said when the arrived back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Hermione dropped in the new ingredients and began to stir. As she read over her personal notes, she didn't notice that she was stirring clockwise instead of counter-clockwise.
"Hermione you're stirring the wrong way." Harry corrected.
"Oh, I was! Thank you Harry.... Right, so, it should be ready in two weeks." Hermione said happily, switching out her hands.
"Snape can't prove it was you and he may not like you but 'being Harry Potter' isn't a good reason to bring up expulsion." said Lisa.
"Yeah, he hasn't got any overall proof that you did it. He wasn't facing you, and there are more people that would throw a firework without a second thought and there is the probability of you even having a firework," Ron added.
Around a week later, Harry, Lisa, Hermione, Padma and Ron were walking through the entrance hall when they saw a crowd of people around the notice board. Harry caught sight of Anthony and Michael motioning them over.
"They're starting a Duelling Club! The first meeting is tonight!" Anthony said cheerfully.
"What, d'you think the monster in the Chamber of Secrets can duel?" Ron asked confusedly.
"'Course not!" Michael said. "It'd be nice knowing how to duel! Just because I'm a Muggle-born doesn't mean I'm going to have to face that thing!"
"That's not what-- bloody- nevermind."
But they were certain that they were all for the Duelling Club; So that night after dinner, they made their way back to the Great Hall-- the long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione as they edged into the chattering crowd.
"Heard Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was younger-- it's got to be him." Padma said cheerfully.
"As long as it's not--" Harry began, but he ended on a groan; Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black. Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions-- for full details, see my published works.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," Lockhart said, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry-- you'll still have you Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in Harry's ear. Lisa giggled quietly under her breath, but Hermione looked at him disapprovingly.
Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; If Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been sick to the stomach. Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape barring his teeth.
"One-- two-- three--"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried; "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
Draco and some of the other Slytherins cheered, and Harry couldn't help but clap. Hermione was dancing on her tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right? Ooh, I hope he's okay,"
"Who cares if he is?" said Harry, Ron, and Lisa together.
Padma nodded. "Right. I hope he's, er, not okay." she muttered unconvincingly.
Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.
"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm; As you see, I've lost my wand-- ah, thank you, Miss Brown-- yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy-- however, I felt it would be better to let them see..."
Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me--"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with a Hufflepuff boy, but Snape reached Harry and his friends.
"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter--"
Harry moved toward Hermione and Padma. They probably wouldn't grievously hurt him on accident.
"I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly. "Mister Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. Miss Patil, you can partner Miss Parkinson. And you, Miss Granger, you can partner with Miss Bulstrode. Turpin, go face Miss Senox."
Draco walked over, behind him walked the two Slytherin girls, and hesitantly, a Hufflepuff girl followed, staring at Lisa-- the Slytherin girls reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. Millicent Bulstrode was large and square, and her heavy jaw clicked aggressively. Parkinson was as poutily sharp faced as ever, with a nasty smile on her face. It was just as aggressive as Bulstrode's, though Harry found Bulstrode's more threatening. And then there was Draco standing before them, with the blankest of looks on his face, but Harry could tell that, very slightly, his eyes were narrowed and he was looking at Harry with some weird sort of look.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Harry and Draco bowed.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents-- only to disarm them, we don't want any accidents-- one... two... three--"
Harry saw Draco start off early when Lockhart said two, and decided that he would too; Just to make sure it was fair. And only maybe he'd considered it anyway, but he hadn't acted on it. Two red flashes hit eachother before Lockhart even told them to begin. Their wands flew out of their hands, but Harry was quicker to catch his.
"Rictusempra!" He shouted, and a silver jet shot Draco before he had the chance to pull himself together. He doubled down, wheezing. Harry felt like he had gained a sense of pride, still remembering how the 'Midnight Duel', as he and his friends remembered it, went last year.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted over the crowds of duelling children.
Harry mumbled the counter-spell quickly, feeling bad, seeing Draco had sunken to his knees in laughter. Though he learned a moment later why he shouldn't have been as merciful as he had been; Draco pointed his wand at Harry's knees and said, "Tarantallegra!"
The next second, Harry's legs began to jerk around out of control in a kind of quickstep.
"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge.
"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted; Harry's feet stopped dancing, and he fell painfully.
A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Finnigan, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done, but Hermione and Bulstrode were still moving; They were rolling around in circles, hitting eachother much like they were really fighting, both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry leapt forward and pulled Hermione away from Bulstrode just as she had gotten a good punch in Bulstrode's eye. It was difficult. She was incredibly furious, and not to mention red in the face, and Bulstrode was much bigger than he; Apparently they'd caught the wrong side of eachothers tempers. Lisa was shot backwards by Senox and had landed hard on the floor with a shriek, albeit, Senox had been scrambling to get her wand. Harry, Padma, Ron, and Hermione ran over to Lisa and saw that several snakes were binding her hands and feet together tightly.
"Get them off of me, get them off of me! Ew, ew, ew!" Lisa screamed, as Hermione tapped the snakes with her wand. They disappeared with a poof.
"I never knew you hated snakes, Lisa," said Ron.
"Why wouldn't I hate snakes?!" She replied, pulling herself to her feet quickly; she was shaking all over and wiping off where the snakes had been. "Er-- no offence to Hydrus, Harry. You're really good at keeping him in check. It just-- ooh, snakes are so creepy! They've got fangs, they're poisonous-- not all of them, I know, but still!"
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart nearby, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, MacMillan.... Careful there, Miss Fawcett.... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot... Miss Bulstrode, see if you can find anything for that eye...
"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair-– Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you--"
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker and his ears fell to his shoulders. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile. Harry must've been staring at him like a madman.
"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Draco into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.
"Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this."
He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops-- my wand is a little overexcited--"
Snape moved closer to Draco, bent down, and whispered something in his ear. Draco smirked, too. Harry looked up at Lockhart, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
"Scared I'll beat you again, Floppy?" whispered Draco teasingly, quiet enough so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.
"You wish I was, Snowflake," said Harry out of the corner of his mouth, and he found himself fighting back a smile.
Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"
He was no longer smiling, but frowning deeply. "What? Drop my wand like an idiot? Are you mental?" he questioned, but Lockhart wasn't listening.
Three-- two- one- go!" he shouted.
"This is really unfair!" Harry said loudly, as Draco shouted, "Serpensortia!"
The end of his wand looked as though it had exploded. A long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing still, shocked, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it--"
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; The snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Flinch-Fletchley. It hissed threateningly, and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.
Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him forward as though he was on borrowed time and that he had shouted at the snake, "Stop it! " The snake turned to stare at him, and seemed to look a bit weaker the longer Harry spent staring it in the eyes. It turned away from him and back to Justin, suddenly very confident again.
"I said stop!"
With a hesitant demeanor, the snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose. He didn't even have to stare at it now, because it was busy staring at him with what he almost thought was fear or something. He'd seen the look on Hydrus once, when Dudley was trying to step on him, and he didn't think he'd ever forget that. He knew the snake wouldn't attack anyone now.
"Back away from the edge of the table." He said, gesturing lightly, and the snake did as he said.
He looked over at Justin, atleast expecting some kind of gratitude, but instead, Justin was looking at him crazily.
"What do you think you're playing at!?" he shouted, and before Harry could say a word, he turned on his heel and ran from the hall. Rude-- Harry could've just let the snake attack him. The voices took advantage or the great silence in both inside and outside Harry's head and insisted he send the snake after him-- if he wanted to be rude, then Harry could be rude. For a moment, he almost considered it, really, but he didn't get the chance: Snape stepped forward and waved his wand and it vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way; It was a shrewd and calculating look, and Harry didn't like it. He didn't like any look Snape sent at him. He was also fully aware of an ominous muttering all around the walls. Then he felt a tugging on the back of his robes.
"Come on," said Ron's voice in his ear. "Come on Harry, we'd better go."
He steered Harry out of the hall, the girls hurrying alongside them. As they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away as though they were frightened of catching some sort of sickness. Harry didn't have a clue what was going on, and not a single person had explained anything until they had dragged him all the way up to an empty classroom on the fourth floor. Then Ron pushed Harry into an desk and said, "You're a Parselmouth! Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm what? I don't even know what that is, how would I tell you?" asked Harry.
"A Parselmouth!" said Ron. "You can talk to snakes!"
"I know that I can talk to snakes, Ron," said Harry. "How else do you think I speak with Hydrus? And I got him before I even knew I was a wizard, and--"
"You've been speaking to Hydrus? Since-- before you got to Hogwarts?" Padma repeated, looking faint.
"So what?" said Harry. "So I can talk to snakes, not like I can even help it most of the time."
"Well other people don't know that," said Padma. "It's not a very common gift. This can't be good..."
"I already know it isn't common for people to be able to speak with Snakes, Padma, Hydrus has told me. And what's so bad about me being able to speak with snakes? That doesn't make me any more qualified to be Slytherin's stupid heir."
"Other people don't think that, Harry! We know you're not Slytherin's Heir, but other people don't!" Hermione said.
"Everyone heard you speak Parseltongue," said Lisa. She'd looked the most frightened, and Harry suspected her shaking now was for a different reason than before. "You could have been saying anything, no wonder everyone freaked out, you could've sounded like you were egging the snake on or something-- it was real creepy, you know, you started hissing and, like, spitting and stuff, and it sounded like you were speaking another language, except backwards, and I swear, it's like the room got cold and stuff as you spoke-- even the snake got scared! How do you make a snake scared!?"
Harry gaped at her as she ranted.
"I started hissing? I didn't even realise..."
Ron shook his head slowly. Padma, Hermione, and Lisa were looking as though someone had died. Harry couldn't see what was so terrible. He spoke with Hydrus nearly everyday.
"D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting off someone's head? You're telling me that not a single person is atleast grateful Justin isn't in the hospital wing right now?" he said. "What does it matter how I did it as long as nobody has to join the Headless Hunt?"
It must've been about a minute before anyone said a thing.
"It matters, Harry," said Hermione, in a hushed voice, "Being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."
Harry looked at her, suddenly unable to find words.
"Exactly," said Padma. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something--"
"But-- I- I'm not, nobody can prove that," said Harry quickly, with a panic he couldn't quite explain. He wasn't... he couldn't have been, could he? "It- I- Parseltongue can't be... that uncommon. It doesn't mean I'm..."
"Of course it's not," said Padma, sounding more hopeful than she looked. "It's just-- well--"
"You'll find that hard to prove," said Hermione, putting her hands on his shoulders. "That you're not related to him. He lived about a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could be, even if by just a drop..."
Her words faded to a near obscurity and Harry could've sworn that the world had gone silent. He laid awake that night. He didn't think he'd ever fall asleep with all the thoughts racking his brain. The curtains to his bed were pulled closed, but he didn't need to be able to see out of them to know that nobody in his dorm, the dorm downstairs, or the one after that, would even look his way without feeling fear.
Was he a descendant of Salazar Slytherin? There was.... A lot he didn't know about his family in general. And with his parents-- one of them a pureblood, whatever that even meant anymore... and he could've sworn that he had three parents, somehow... but did it really matter, if even two of them were- 'pure?' And he knew that they were all some kind of related anyway... he didn't know if there was any way to know for sure... Harry hissed out something in what he now knew was called Parseltongue. He never knew it was called that. Maybe Hydrus had told him once, and he'd forgotten... but Harry didn't think...
'The Sorting Hat almost put you in Slytherin, remember?' said the voices. He stared at the bottom of the bunk above him aimlessly. He probably shouldn't have spoken to the snake-- though he wasn't really trying to-- but what was he going to do? Let the snake attack Justin because Snape was too slow or Lockhart too stupid? Harry didn't have to help... but he did... he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt if he could do something about it-- and he could. But because of that, he had gotten in 'trouble.' It was stupid, he decided, but there was nothing he could do about it.
By the next morning, the snow that began falling in the night had became a blizzard, and majority of the final classes for term were cancelled because of cold weather.
Harry sat quietly infront of the fire of the Ravenclaw common room, Lisa and Hermione on either side of him while Padma tried her luck at playing Ron in Wizards Chess.
"And then-- then, tell her what I said Harry!" Lisa said, laughing; She had been telling Hermione a story of something that happened once-- Harry hadn't really been listening and didn't know what she was talking about. She sighed. "We could go and find Justin, if you're really that worried."
"I don't know why anyone would think you would do something so cruel-- you're too nice for that!" said Hermione, "So, you're sarcastic. You're nice deep down. And you can't even see most of the time, who's going to say you can command a beast to attack students?"
"Wow," muttered Harry. "Ta, Mione."
"Ugh, come on, we'll go and find Justin with you. If we're lucky, we won't have to corner him," Lisa said. They both helped him up to his feet and made their way out the door. The castle was darker and colder than it usually was in the daytime because of the thick, swirling grey snow at every window. Shivering, they walked past classrooms where very few lessons were taking place, catching snatches of what was happening within. Professor McGonagall was shouting at someone who, by the sound of it, had turned his friend into a badger.
"A badger? I've got to see this!" Lisa whispered excitedly, but Hermione pulled her back, saying, "We'd better search the Library first. They're probably studying since Herbology got cancelled."
And luckily, a group of Hufflepuffs were sitting at the back of the Library; But they weren't doing work. Justin wasn't among them either, but Harry insisted that they listen in... he could've sworn he'd heard his name.
"Right? So anyway, I told Justin to hide himself up in the dorm. It ain't no secret that he's a Muggle-born, and if Potter's got him down as the next victim, he'd better keep a low profile." said a somewhat stout boy.
"You think Potter's the Heir, Ernie?" asked a girl with blonde pigtails.
"'Course I do! He's a Parselmouth, Hannah, everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard! Have you ever heard of a single person who could speak to snakes that didn't go bad? The founder of Slytherin was a serpent-tongue himself and we know what he did to Hogwarts! And my mum told me that You-Know-Who could do it too!"
There was an increase of silent chatter before Ernie spoke again, scoffing at a fair-skinned boy; "Tch- that doesn't matter here, Wayne. And what do you know, your parents are Half-blood. You wouldn't really get it. Just- what I'm saying- look, remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the heir, beware? Potter had a bad run in with Filch a couple days just before Mrs Norris got attacked. That first year, Colin Creevey, annoys Potter day in 'n out by taking pictures of him all the time. Next thing we know, he's been attacked."
"But... he's always seemed so nice, and he's so quiet..." said a black-haired girl beside Hannah, who was nodding, "A- And he's the one that made You-Know-Who disappear, why would he..."
Atleast there were people who weren't his friends believing he wasn't the heir. It didn't really feel like it.
Ernie suddenly lowered his voice, and the Hufflepuffs had to lean in to hear; Harry, Hermione, and Lisa pressed themselves against the bookcase.
"Nobody knows how he survived You-Know-Who's attack, 'eh. If he was a baby, he would've been blown to smithereens, just dead if he was lucky enough-- but he wasn't. Only a really dark and powerful wizard could survive an attack like that, not even the Dumbledore could've done it. I've got a theory-- that's why You-Know-Who wanted him out of the picture in the first place. Didn't want no competition, or another Dark Lord gathering more followers than him and taking up his place, because he knew somethin' was up with that Potter, even when he 'sa baby. Makes you wonder what else Potter's got up his sleeve..."
Harry, furious and unable to listen to anymore blabbering, stood up and walked out from behind the shelf. If he wasn't feeling so angry, he would've found the sight very funny-- every Hufflepuff looked horrified, and Ernie's face went a ghostly pale.
"Real nice of you to think I'd want to take his place. Mind you, I don't know a single dark spell and haven't got any interest in the dark arts. But you know, perfect candidate for the Heir of Slytherin because he can talk to snakes. Yeah." Harry said. Hermione and Lisa popped up behind him.
"We're not telling you where Justin is, if that's what you're trying to get us to tell you!" said one boy.
"I don't even care anymore! I just wanted him to know what was really happening, because for starters, I don't even know him, and secondly, if I wanted to find him, you would be the last person I even think of going to find, because he would already be gone! I've probably had a million chances to take him out, and I haven't done that, have I? You-- you know what? You can go and--"
"Harry! What he means is, he wants to tell Justin what really happened." Hermione said, cutting Harry off.
Ernie bit his lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, "We were all there. We saw what happened."
"And you saw that after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?" said Harry sharply.
"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin."
"If you paid even a little bit of attention, which may be easier if you tried to, you would've seen that the snake went away from your stupid little friend--"
"-- doubtful! It was a very near miss, and in case any of you get any ideas--" Ernie said, pointing at Harry, Hermione, and Lisa pathetically, "I'll tell you that you can trace my family back nine generations of witches and wizards, and my blood's as pure as anyone's--"
"Do I even look like I care about you or your dumb blood status? I don't go 'round screaming, 'Hey I've got a missing Muggle-born mum and a dead Pureblood da', look at me!' Why would I attack Muggle-borns when I couldn't give a half a damn for any stupid blood!"
"I've heard that you hate them Muggles you live with," Ernie said quickly, and Harry must've looked more aggravated than he felt at that, for the Hufflepuffs backed away. "I'd like to see you spend an entire summer with them, let alone, say, ten to eleven entire years!"
"Harry, calm down!" Lisa said, and Harry rounded on her-- "I am perfectly calm!"
Before he could say anything else, he turned on his heels and stomped out the Library.
"Now look at what you've done!" Lisa shouted, as Hermione ran after Harry.
He, however, hadn't been paying attention to where he was going and knocked right into something large and solid, knocking him back onto the floor.
"Oh," he gasped, suddenly aware of just how much oxygen it took to be angry, and looked up. "Hi, Hagrid."
Hagrid’s face was entirely hidden by a woolly, snow-covered balaclava, but it couldn’t possibly be anyone else, as he filled most of the corridor in his moleskin overcoat. A dead rooster was hanging from one of his massive, gloved hands.
"'Lo-- eh, all righ’, Harry?" he said, pulling up the balaclava so he could speak. "Why aren’t yeh in class?"
"Got cancelled," he said, and Hermione ran into Harry's back.
"Oh, hi, Hagrid!" she said immediately. "What're you doing in the school?"
Hagrid held up a limp rooster, and the sight made Hermione recoil. "You haven't, er, gotten another dragon, have you?" she asked warily.
Hagrid shook his head, sending snow everywhere. "Nope. Summat keeps killin' the roosters. Second one dead this term. Either foxes or a Blood-sucking Bugbear, but ei'er way, I need the headmaster's permission ter put a spell 'round the hen coop."
"How terrible," Harry panted, and it seemed that made Hagrid notice something, because he peered at Harry more closely from underneath his thick, snow-flecked eyebrows.
"Sure yeh're alrigh', Harry? Yeh look all hot and bothered--"
Hermione started to answer, but then Lisa knocked into her. "Sorry! Sorry! Oh, hi, Hagrid!" she smiled at him for just a second before she gasped-- "Why do you have a dead rooster? Is it dead? It looks dead, tell me that thing's not dead!"
"Dead, alrigh',"
"Oh, well, we'll see you later then, Hagrid!" said Lisa quickly, grabbing Harry and Hermione's wrists and pulling them back down the corridor. "We've got, um, a class, soon, and we wouldn't want to be late!"
The moment they were out of ear-shot, Lisa let go of them and shivered. "A dead rooster-- why did he have a dead rooster? Okay, wait, why did he have a rooster, and why was it dead?"
"Something's been killing them," Hermione said. "Hagrid needs permission from the Headmaster to set up a spell around the hen house to protect the other ones."
"So the school has chickens now?" Lisa questioned.
"I suppose the school always had them," said Hermione, sighing. "We saw that Norbert was eating plenty of them last year, and they couldn't have been brought up this year and immediately began dying, so the school must've always had them. And there are normally eggs at breakfast, er, sometimes, and eggs don't come out of nowhere. I doubt whoever's working in the kitchens gets them fresh every day-- they probably get them from Hagrid every other day."
Harry hadn't been listening, entirely. He'd caught most of what she said, but he was too busy thinking to really listen. Ernie's words were still ringing in his mind like a bell; He's a Parselmouth, Hannah, everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard! Have you ever heard of a single person who could speak to snakes that didn't go bad?
He was just fine. He wasn't-- he wasn't... he was weird maybe, just weirder than even Wizarding world's version of weird, but he wasn't... bad.
'Are you sure?' asked the voices, but he ignored them. They were just trying to get a rise out of him.
"Are we going back to the common room?" Lisa asked him.
"I-- what?" he asked. "Oh. Uh, you can go. I'll be there in a bit."
"Well, what are you doing?" said Hermione. "You look upset, we're not going to just leave you here."
"I'm-- I'm gonna walk around, I guess. If I get cold enough, I'll get too cold to think about what happened."
"That is a terrible idea," Lisa told him, looking exasperated. "You'll get frostbite. Like, probably bad frostbite."
He shrugged. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore."
"That is terrible too. You're going to the common room with us."
He gave in and walked off towards the common room. They'd only gone up a staircase and halfway down a corridor before Hermione suddenly said, "Harry! Look out--!"
But he had already tripped over whatever she was warning him about. He turned around to look back at her, but the thing between them caught his eye first.
It was Justin Flinch-Fletchley. Rigid, cold, and petrified. But even more horrifying-- Nearly Headless Nick had been beside him, no longer looking pearly and translucent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontally, just maybe six inches off the floor. Harry's hands clasped over his mouth to stop him from screaming. He was probably shaking too, as Hermione had scuttled around Justin's stone form and tried pulling him to his feet.
Justin and Nick? That couldn't be-- Nick was already dead-- he couldn't get Petrified, could he? But... why'd he look like that?
Harry pushed himself backwards, dragging Hermione along, just as Lisa popped up in the corridor. She noticed Justin at once, and ran around to Harry and Hermione. "What are you two doing? We have to go- go get a teacher, or something!"
But just as, a door right next to them opened with a bang. Peeves the Poltergeist came shooting out.
"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" cackled Peeves, knocking Harry's glasses askew and Hermione's hair flew up into the air as he bounced past them- Lisa lunged out the way before he did. Apparently he did not care for Hermione or Lisa, for he said, "What's Parseltongue Potter uuuup to? Why's Parseltongue Potter luuurking--"
Peeves stopped, halfway through a midair somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Lisa could stop him, screamed, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"
Crash; Crash; Crash-- door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nearly Headless Nick. Harry, Hermione, and Lisa found themselves pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet. Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom still had black-and-white striped hair. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene.
"Caught in the act, Potter!" Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Harry.
"That will do, Macmillan!" said Professor McGonagall sharply.
Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song;
"Oh, Parseltongue Potter, you rotter,
Oh, what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fuuun--"
"That is enough, Peeves!" barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backward, with his tongue out at Harry.
Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This, Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft. This left Harry, Hermione, and Lisa with Professor McGonagall together.
"This way, Potter, Granger, Turpin," she said.
"Professor," said Hermione quickly, shaking her head madly, "We didn't--"
"This is out of my hands, Granger," said Professor McGonagall curtly.
They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.
"Lemon drop!" she said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Harry couldn't fail to be amazed, and Hermione and Lisa looked to be on the verge of clapping. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As he, Lisa, and Hermione followed Professor McGonagall onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Harry saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.
He knew now where he and his friends were being taken.