Seeking Guidance and Secret Preparations
Chapter 37: Seeking Guidance and Secret Preparations
The morning sun had barely risen over the Hogwarts grounds as Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They had agreed to arrive early, hoping to catch Professor Lupin before the day's lessons began.
"Are you sure about this, Harry?" Ron whispered, his brow furrowed with concern. "We're taking a big risk trusting an adult with this."
Harry nodded, his jaw set with determination. "Lupin's different. He's a friend of my mother's and father's. If anyone will understand, it's him."
As they approached the classroom door, they heard the soft shuffling of papers from within. Harry took a deep breath and knocked.
"Come in," called Lupin's tired but warm voice.
They entered to find their professor hunched over his desk, quill in hand, surrounded by stacks of parchment. He looked up, surprise flickering across his prematurely lined face.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione," he greeted them, setting down his quill. "This is certainly an early visit. Is everything alright?"
Harry glanced at his friends, receiving small nods of encouragement. "Professor," he began, choosing his words carefully, "we were hoping to talk to you about... extra defence training."
Lupin's eyebrows rose slightly. "Extra training? I wasn't aware you were struggling with the class material."
"It's not that, sir," Hermione chimed in. "It's just, with everything that's been happening—Sirius Black, the Dementors—we feel like we need to be better prepared."
Lupin leaned back in his chair, his eyes sharp as he studied the trio. "I see," he said slowly. "And what kind of 'extra training' did you have in mind?"
Harry stepped forward. "Well, sir, Patronus Charm! We thought maybe you could teach Ron, Hermione, and others too. And perhaps... other advanced defensive spells?"
For a long moment, Lupin was silent, his gaze moving between the three students. Harry held his breath, fighting the urge to fidget under the scrutiny.
Finally, Lupin spoke. "You know, you three remind me very much of some students I once knew. Always eager to learn, to push themselves beyond the curriculum." A small, sad smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Particularly when they felt there was danger afoot."
He stood up, moving around the desk to face them directly. "I'll help you," he said, his voice low and serious. "But I need you to promise me something. Whatever you're planning—and I suspect there's more to this than you're letting on—you'll come to me if you're in over your heads. Understood?"
The trio nodded vigorously, relief and excitement coursing through them.
"Excellent," Lupin said, clapping his hands together. "Now, let's talk about setting up some extra sessions, shall we?"
---
Later that evening, under the cover of darkness, five figures huddled in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, their eyes fixed on an old piece of parchment.
"Coast is clear," Fred whispered, tracing a finger along the Marauder's Map. "Filch is on the third floor, and Mrs. Norris is in the dungeons."
George nodded. "Peeves is bothering the portraits in the East Wing. We should be good to go."
Harry took a deep breath, stepping toward the sink with its tiny snake etched into the copper tap. He focused, imagining the serpent was real, alive.
"_Open_," he hissed in Parseltongue.
The sink began to move, revealing the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. One by one, they slid down the pipe, landing in the damp, musty tunnel below.
"Blimey," Ron muttered, lighting his wand. "Never thought I'd be back here voluntarily."
As they made their way through the tunnel, the air grew fresher, the oppressive darkness giving way to a soft, warm glow. They emerged into the main chamber and collectively gasped.
The Chamber of Secrets had been transformed. The floor, once wet and slippery with age-old grime, was now clean and dry, the stone walls scrubbed to reveal intricate carvings of snakes and ancient runes. Torches burned in brackets along the walls, casting a flickering but welcoming light.
For most of them, it was their first time entering this infamous place, and the weight of its history loomed heavily in the air. Hermione, always fascinated by ancient magical spaces, gasped at the detailed serpent carvings that twisted up the columns.
“This place is… huge!” Fred exclaimed, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "Wicked cool."
"The place gives me the creeps," George muttered, though his wide eyes told another story. He couldn’t hide his curiosity as he peered around at the ancient design and the unsettling, gargantuan statue of Salazar Slytherin at the far end.
But Harry’s attention was on something else entirely. In the centre of it all, bouncing on his toes with an infectious grin, was Dobby. The small house-elf seemed to almost glow with pride.
"Dobby has done as Harry Potter asked!" Dobby squeaked, his ears twitching with excitement. "The Chamber is clean and safe for Harry Potter and his friends!"
“This is incredible, Dobby," Harry said, kneeling down to meet the elf’s eyes. "Thank you. You’ve outdone yourself."
The others wandered around, their footsteps hesitant as they explored the chamber. Hermione was particularly entranced by the massive skeleton of the basilisk still lying against the far wall. "Look at the size of it," she murmured, almost to herself. "Do you think we could use some of these parts for potions or other spells?"
“I bet Snape could,” Ron muttered, earning a sharp look from Hermione.
Harry leaned in closer to Dobby, lowering his voice. "Dobby, there's one more thing. I need you to clean up any evidence of... experiments I might conduct down here. It’s very important that no one else knows. Can you do that?"
Dobby’s large eyes widened even more, but he nodded solemnly. "Dobby will keep Harry Potter's secrets! No one will ever know, sir."
Harry smiled and gave the elf a grateful pat on the shoulder before rejoining the others. Fred and George were standing near the far wall, where something seemed to shimmer slightly in the flickering torchlight.
"Oi, you lot! Come check this out!" Fred called.
As the others approached, George reached out and pressed a carved snake that had gone unnoticed before. With a low grinding noise, a hidden door swung open, revealing a dark passage beyond.
"Wicked," Ron breathed, peering into the darkness.
"_Lumos Maxima_," Hermione whispered, sending a glowing ball of light floating into the space beyond. The light revealed shelves lined with dusty, ancient scrolls, and stacks of books that looked as though they hadn't been touched for centuries.
"This must have been Salazar Slytherin's private study," Hermione whispered, her eyes wide with academic excitement. She stepped into the room cautiously, already mentally cataloguing every detail.
As they explored the hidden study, Harry couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of unease. The chamber was still haunted by its dark past, and the secrets held within these texts were likely as dangerous as they were powerful. For a brief moment, Harry wondered whether they should tell Dumbledore about this discovery—but something held him back.
Hermione carefully picked up one of the scrolls, brushing off a layer of dust. "Think of all we could learn," she said in awe. "The knowledge here could be incredible."
Harry shook his head, his voice steady. "Not yet. We need to be careful. We don't know what kind of magic is in these texts. Let’s focus on our training for now. We can explore this room more later."
With a sense of reluctance, they left the hidden study and returned to the main chamber. As they gathered together once more, Harry pulled a small pouch from his robe pocket.
"Before we start with the Patronus Charm," Harry said, "there's something I want to show you." He upended the pouch, and several silver needles tumbled into his hand.
"_Wingardium Leviosa_," the enchanted softly. The needles lifted into the air, suspended in front of him, before beginning to twist and spin in intricate patterns.
The others stared, wide-eyed, as Harry deftly manipulated the needles into forming a rotating silver sphere.
“Blimey, Harry,” Ron breathed. “When did you learn to do that?”
"I’ve been practising," Harry replied, his focus unwavering. "I was thinking... What if we could use this offensively? Imagine controlling dozens of small objects in a duel or battle."
Fred and George exchanged impressed glances. "Brilliant," George said. "Though, it’s also a bit scary, mate. Those needles could do some real damage."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, though her brow furrowed slightly. "We'd have to be extremely careful with something like that. There are... ethical considerations."
As they began to discuss the potential applications of this newfound technique, Harry felt a surge of hope. They were making progress—real progress—toward preparing themselves for the dangers ahead.
Yet, as his eyes drifted back to the sealed entrance of Slytherin’s hidden study, a small, unsettling thought lingered in the back of his mind. They had only scratched the surface of the secrets hidden within the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry couldn’t help but wonder just how far those secrets went.
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