Hero or Heir
Harry made his way down to the dungeons he moved quickly and quietly, not stopping until he found himself standing in front of the snake portrait guarding Severus’ private quarters. He hissed the password softly without removing his cloak and the snake allowed him entry.
Severus had sourced the snake guardian at the beginning of the school year, since Harry was the only one who could speak the password in Parsletongue, he could gain entry even while under his cloak. Severus hoped that in future it might allow them more opportunities to spend time together; tonight it helped Harry to get out of sight quickly and into a safe space to read Hermione's book.
Settling himself on the rug in front of the fireplace Harry opened the notebook with some trepidation. Hermione was an intelligent witch, who liked to poke her nose in where it did not belong and he was a little worried about what she might have discovered. It was an awful thought but Harry could not help thinking that Hermione being petrified, might be the safest thing for her. On the first page of the journal was a list of questions the first of which jumped out at Harry
- Who is the heir of Slytherin?
- What is wrong with Ginny (Harry’s diary?)\
- Who killed the roosters?
- What is in the chamber?
All good questions and Harry only had answers for half of them.
On the second page it listed all Hermione’s concerns about Ginny, Harry read them in growing horror. It was clear to him what was going on just from reading Hermione's comprehensive list of concerns.
Ginny was losing time, sleepwalking and had once arrived back in the dorms covered in rooster feathers, another time in red paint. Harry had not known that Hagrid's roosters had been killed, he had not had a chance to go and visit the half-giant but clearly Hermione had found time.
It was clear that Tom was possessing Ginny, the thought invaded Harry’s mind and it was terrifying. He closed his eyes for a moment before reading on, he turned the page silently dreading what might come next.
On the next page, Hermione had made a list of creatures which might be in the Chamber. She had just brained stormed initially because her list included a dragon, an acromantula, a chimaera and a troll. However, she had eventually reached the same conclusion as Harry; that the creature was a basilisk.
Hermione had listed what she knew of the creature, it seemed she had been very busy, and she knew things Harry had not figured out.
- Hagrid's roosters killed
- Lines of siders fleeing the castle
- Myrtle died in her toilet - remembers yellow eyes
Basilisk???
Harry could not fault the girl's logic, but when this was over he was going to sit her down and explain how very dangerous this investigation was and implore her to not do such a thing again. He knew exactly how pointless it would be but it would make him feel better.
The next page caused Harry’s heart to momentarily stop beating -
Is Harry the Heir of Slytherin?
- Speaks parseltongue
- Is out after curfew - under an invisibility cloak/does Harry have an invisibility cloak?
- He is in Slytherin despite his parents being Gryffindor
- He is the boy who killed Voldemort - the last known Heir of Slytherin
- He was there the night the writing appeared on the wall watching.
Harry closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, Hermione had figured it out, he prayed she had not told anyone else. He was still sitting with eyes closed trying to figure out how to get Tom’s diary back from Ginny when Severus arrived.
Harry heard the portrait open and close and his eyes snapped open, he tracked the man’s movement into the room watching him closely.
Severus was not angry, at least he did not look angry; Harry was confused by that but before Severus could say anything about him stealing notebooks from petrified girls, Harry cut in. “She figured it out, Hermione knows about me and the basilisk and everything.”
He held the journal out to his Head of House who scanned the pages looking grim. Thankfully Severus skipped over anything he had to say about Harry’s misadventures that night and went straight to the point Harry had been focused on.
“If Miss Weasley has the diary, then we must assume she had been possessed by the soul fragment in the diary and that she is the one who opened the chamber,” the Potions Master said with a sigh.
“Yes,” Harry nodded slowly. “...and we need to get it back, Tom wants it at Christmas… but…if the soul fragment has possessed her, will taking the diary back make any difference? Won't he be in her head?” Harry asked.
Severus frowned and rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. I will have to do some research but I think the time has come to be upfront with your father, Harry. We may need the Dark Lord's help with this,” he said gently.
Harry nodded.
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Lucius Malfoy strode into the Ministry and headed for the Department of Law Enforcement. He did not have an appointment but he hoped Amelia would have time to see him.
The woman looked up at his knock and she smiled “Lucius, come in. I have news,” she said waving at the chair across from her. “We have officially opened an investigation into Harry’s treatment by his Muggle relatives and Vernon has been very forthcoming in his interviews,” she said looking satisfied.
“Oh,” Lucius said, closing the door behind him and sitting down in the indicated seat opposite the Head of the DMLE. “What does he have to say for himself?”
“Well, first, I must disclose that I asked Margarite to find both Vernon and Petunia a lawyer. I don’t want them unrepresented in this, we have to be careful and make sure this is done as fairly and as transparently as possible. Otherwise, we will have anti-muggle sentiment and allegations of pure blood nepotism on the rise again,” Amelia told him firmly.
Lucius nodded “I understand, continue.”
“Margarite found them a very good lawyer called Pieter Janssen. He is young but he’s smart and Vernon told us a very interesting story on his advice. Vernon says, that Harry was left on their doorstep sometime during the night between October thirty-first and November first 1981, Petunia found him on the doorstep at 6:00 am with the milk delivery. There was a note indicating that Harry’s parents had been killed and it asked them to care for Harry. No support was offered to help them raise a magical child and no one contacted them again until Hagrid turned up ten years later to give Harry his Hogwarts letter and take him shopping for his school supplies,” Amelia said with a grin.
“He said this on record?” Lucius asked.
“Yes, of course, Vernon went on to say that he has no idea who left Harry on the doorstep, they were sleeping when he was left and the note was unsigned.” Amelia sighed.
“Naturally the the old man would not make it that easy, do we have a copy of the note?” Lucius asked.
“Vernon said Petunia kept it. This is the good bit Vernon says Petunia was distraught about her sister and that she very much wanted to take care of Harry. They were happy to take him despite who he was and while he was a baby everything was fine. When he got older it became more difficult and that's when things went sour. Vernon has confessed to being terrified of Harry and he has given quite a lot of reasons for that - from him making things fly, to setting things on fire, even causing the car to stop suddenly on a dual carriageway because he wanted to look at some sheep in a field. Fortunately, the road wasn't busy at the time. ”
“I see and you believe this?” Lucius asked his professional mask in place.
“I am reserving judgment for now, but my gut feeling is that he's telling the truth. I have checked Lucius and no accidental magic reports, pertaining to Harry, were ever registered with the Auror office. Harry was levitating his cousin at the age of three, and we were never notified,” the levity in the Department Head’s tone would have been enough for Lucius to understand the gravity of the situation even if he had not been a lawyer.
“Three?” Lucius asked.
“Three,” Amelia confirmed.
“With his magic bound,” Lucius murmured.
“I beg your pardon?” Amelia asked in shock.
Lucius' eyes widened; he had not intended to give away that piece of information just yet, however, it was in Harry’s interest for him to be upfront with Amelia now. “Harry’s magic was bound when he was about 15 months old, just before he was placed with his relatives,” Lucius admitted carefully.
Amelia’s shock gave way to anger. “Do you have proof of this?” she demanded.
“It was revealed in his original inheritance test, we were advised to have the block removed and the ritual was performed in January. The goblins have all the information; St Mungo's will have a copy too, the ritual was overseen by two of their specialist healers,” the lawyer explained.
Amelia scribbled a quick note in her workbook.
Lucius sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Petunia told Severus that Harry ended up on the school roof one time and that he would regrow his hair overnight after a haircut, she also mentioned the levitation of the cousin though those were not her words,” he mused.
“No, Vernon’s actual words were a little more colourful too,” Amelia admitted, then she sighed. “What the Dursleys did to Harry was absolutely appalling but they should have had help. They are muggles and Harry, it seems, is very powerful. We will need to verify the statements with memories of course. It is suspicious that the magic didn't register with us; it should have been dealt with by us,” Amelia mused.
“Hummm and we have no way of knowing what wards were on the house?” Lucius asked.
“We know there was some kind of blood ward, which was allegedly there to protect Harry. However, it had grown weak and had broken before the goblins were employed to check the house. The remnants were so degraded they were unable to determine exactly what it was supposed to do. One theory is that it was a ‘safe home’ ward which broke when Harry no longer felt safe or he stopped thinking of the house as his home. It's also possible that, if it was designed to keep Death Eaters out, it might have broken when Petunia opened the door for Professor Snape, but we may never know. This is going to be a circus when the public finds out,” Amelia admitted reluctantly.
Lucius nodded in agreement “Indeed,” he sighed.
“Anyway, did you need something?” Amelia asked suddenly remembering that Lucius had come to her.
“Yes actually, I was hoping you could find some information about Sirius Black’s trial and conviction. I have looked and I can't find any record of a trial and there is nothing in his file, that would have convicted him had there been one,” Lucius said firmly.
“Sirius Black? The Death Eater who betrayed the Potters, that Sirius Black?” Amelia replied, her eyebrows rising in surprise.
Lucius put on his lawyer face. “Allegedly betrayed the Potters but yes, that’s the one. Severus believes he might be innocent and that Dumbledore arranged to have him locked up so that he could not take custody of Harry,” he told her.
“And you agree?” Amelia asked surprised.
“I can tell you with absolute certainty that Black was never a Death Eater, Regulus was but never Sirius. Severus insists that Black and Potter were like brothers, he does not believe Black would ever betray Potter and Narcissa agrees. I think that Dumbledore wanted Harry with those muggles for a reason and he did everything he could to make it happen,” Lucius said carefully.
“I see, alright I will look into it,” Amelia replied slowly, her mind reeling at the idea that Dumbledore might have enough pull to get a man put into Azkaban without a trial.
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News of Hermione being petrified spread quickly, and momentarily overshadowed the news that Harry would be playing seeker against Ravenclaw. The two things merged in school gossip soon enough as most people were convinced now that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin. The Gryffindors were particularly vocal about the attack on one of their Housemates.
Severus and Madam Hooch attempted to have the draw altered, proposing that they switch the Gryffindor v’s Hufflepuff match, with Ravenclaw v’s Slytherin match. However, the Headmaster vetoed their request saying Gryffindor would be at a disadvantage as they had not had time to prepare.
No mention was made of Hufflepuff, as Pomona was heard to complain.
Harry had been willing to step down and let Draco play seeker but he had been talked out of it by his teammates who implored him to play as he was closest to Higgs in skill. “Slytherins,” Marcus told him, “...do not back down from a fight. They do whatever they have to to win and to win we need you, Potter,” Harry sighed but accepted his captain's words.
Slytherin house as a whole was in defence mode, every single member of the House planned to attend the match with their wand concealed on their person.
Severus had spent most of the night before working on security for the game. The chance of Harry being targeted by a spectator was high. There would be two staff members in each stand to keep a watch on the students and wands were to be banned from the pitch. Lucius spoke to the board members who all agreed to attend as extra eyes on the pitch.
Harry was only slightly worried about the match. He trusted Severus and his father to have safety measures in place and he knew that all his housemates had his back. He also knew Dumbledore would be there watching, the Headmaster had pushed for this game to go ahead; it would not look good for him if anything went wrong.
Therefore, Harry put on his Slytherin mask and walked down to breakfast surrounded by his friends, behaving like the hero of the hour. The Gryffindor table scowled as he strutted across the room towards the Slytherin table. Dobby prepared Harry’s breakfast as he did every morning so Harry only ate the mountain of scrambled eggs and toast which appeared directly on his plate and only drank tea from the pot in front of him.
The display seemed to work, slowly people looked away from Slytherin’s reserve seeker and turned their attention to other things. By the time people were heading down to the pitch, excitement for the match had built up and people had almost forgotten the drama surrounding Harry.
Students and teachers began to make their way to the pitch soon after breakfast. The Slytherin team headed to the changing room at 10:00 am, Marcus was almost beside himself with nervous excitement. The Ravenclaw chasers were the best in the school and Marcus covered the chalkboard in gameplay plans as he instructed the beaters on how to stop the opposing chasers at all costs and keep the score down.
Harry changed slowly and tried to rein in his nerves, Marcus’ pre-game pep-talk washed over him, he knew what he had to do. His one job was to find and catch the snitch and he focused all his energy on that task.
In the Gryffindor stand, Severus watched the students filing in and finding their seats. He rolled his eyes and stifled a groan when he saw Lockhart appear and move into position diagonally opposite him. That was just what he needed, Professor Incompetence himself watching the Lions while Harry was playing. He took comfort in the knowledge that Albus could not afford for Harry to be injured in front of the Board members.
Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams walked onto the pitch Harry noticed all the opposing players giving him worried glances; he was not sure if they were worried for him or scared of him. The two team captains shook hands and the teams stood in formation ready to kickoff.
The match began on Madam Hooch's whistle, the balls were released and the players took to the sky. Harry tracked the small golden ball for a few seconds before it vanished and then he flew upwards to sit high above the game.
Ravenclaw were brilliant when they had the quaffle, and Slytherin struggled to slow them down, they quickly pulled ahead 80-30. It was a hard-fought match and the Ravenclaw chasers moved the quaffle fast and the Slytherin beaters could not get the bludgers in the right place to stop them. Harry bided his time watching and waiting, one eye on the scoreboard and the other scanning the pitch. He had a few false starts but then there was a flash of gold and the Cho Chang Ravenclaw seeker streaked past him Harry dropped below her and followed.
Finally, Lucian Bole connected his bat to bludger and Chang had to veer off course to avoid being hit and the snitch disappeared. Harry breathed again and the match went on as Ravenclaw pulled further ahead 140-60. Harry knew he needed to catch the snitch.
Meanwhile in the Gryffindor stands more eyes were on Professor Snape than were on the match; however, one pair of eyes was focused only on Harry. Cormac McLaggan had Harry in his sights and when Harry and Chang dived for the second time McLaggan cast an incendio.
Snape saw the wand and disarmed McLaggen, but he was too slow to shield Harry. He watched in horror as the spell tore through the air towards its mark, but before it hit, a shield sprang up surrounding both Harry and Cho the spell bounced off and flew back towards the Gryffindor stands hitting the banners hanging on the front and setting them on fire.
Lockhart sprang into action assuring everyone he had everything under control. He raised his wand to the sky and cast a rainstorm charm. The sky suddenly turned black, thunder clapped and rain poured down. The fire was put out quickly but visibility on the pitch was now zero. Rain on his glasses obscured Harry's vision, he cast a quick wandless impervious charm and continued his search for the snitch.
Then he saw it hovering right next to Chang’s ear, the Ravenclaw seeker had no idea it was there and Harry dived. He quickly built up speed but just as he got within grabbing distance of the winged ball, his broom bucked, Harry was caught by surprise and was tossed off his broom.
Time seemed to slow as he fell, but Harry kept his eyes on the snitch as he tried to remount the broom he was clinging to with one hand. When he got close to where Cho was hovering, he reached out his hand towards the snitch and closed his hand around it. Chang, realising what was happening, manoeuvred her broom so that Harry would fall past her, and tried to grab him to pull him onto her broom but he fell too fast. Harry let go of broom just before he hit ground elbow first, he heard his bones break just before his head hit the ground and the snitch rolled out of his hand.
Pandemonium broke out around him, Harry tried to sit up hoping some would find him and see that he had caught the snitch, he could not pick it up again as his arm and elbow were broken. It was extremely painful now the adrenaline was wearing off and looked around for help. The rain had finally eased up and Harry heard someone approach him from behind; he turned his head hoping to see Severus, his stomach dropped when he saw Professor Lockhart beaming at him leading the crowd headed towards him.
“Harry, such spectacular flying here let me see that arm,” he said at the top of his voice.
“No, no, not you! I will just keep it like this, thanks,” he whispered, trying desperately to imagine his arm fixing itself but for the first time his magic let him down and the arm stayed broken.
“Oh the poor boy is delirious, he doesn’t know what he's saying,” Lockhart blustered to the crowds of people who were gathering around. “Here we are, it's a simple charm, used it dozens of times,” the Professor went on.
“The man took hold of Harry’s arm and cast a spell and to Harry's great surprise the pain vanished but his arm felt very odd and Harry was afraid to look.
“Ahh, yes well that can sometimes happen,” the man said sounding uncertain.
Snape appeared at that moment with Lucius and Narcissa. Narcissa gasped when she saw Harry’s boneless arm and she knelt beside him to comfort him.
“You blithering idiot, you've removed all his bones.” Snape sneered at Lockhart.
“Well, yes, but the important thing is that the bones are no longer broken,” Lockhart said with a bright smile.
Severus nudged Lockhart aside none too gently and knelt next to Harry and Narcissa, muttering about brainless idiots. He conjured a stretcher and went to lift Harry onto it.
“Wait,” Harry said frantically. “The snitch, I caught it where is it?”
“It's here love,” Narcissa said picking it up from where it had fallen, its wings having retracted when it was caught.
Harry grinned “We won,” he breathed and lay down on the stretcher clutching his rubbery arm.
🐍🐍🐍
Madam Hooch used a spell to confirm that Harry had caught the snitch and declared Slytherin the winner, catching the snitch was enough to get them over the line 180 - 210.
Harry missed the celebration as he spent a painful night regrowing his bones, with Madam Pomfroy and his mother watching over him and muttering about incompetent teachers.
The next day his arm was feeling much better, if a bit stiff and he was allowed to leave the hospital wing just after breakfast. He was welcomed as a hero in the Slytherin common room as the Snakes told him all the news from the end of the match.
Cormac McLaggen had been given two months' worth of detention with Filch and he lost 100 points for Gryffindor. However, Severus awarded Fred Weasley 50 points for a well-timed arresto momentum charm which slowed Harry’s fall and undoubtedly saved his life. No one knew what had caused Harry's broom to buck him off but Dobby had been revealed as the source of the shielding charm.
The best news as far as Harry was concerned was that Terrance had been given a clean bill of health and would be available to take the pitch against Hufflepuff in January. He enjoyed quidditch but it lost a bit of its appeal when people were trying to kill him.
While the team rode the high of their win, Harry went back to his nighttime strolls. He could hear the Basilik clearly now. It was gaining strength quickly and Harry needed to get Tom’s diary back and find the entrance to the Chamber.
It was an hour before curfew, a week after the Quidditch match and Harry was under his cloak making his way along the corridor on the second floor. He was certain the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in this corridor. As he got closer to the place where the words about the Heir had been written, he heard the basilisk and it was on the move.“Rip, tear, kill,” it hissed and Harry’s blood ran cold. He did not know how the snake was moving through the walls but he knew he had to stop it.
He followed the voice down the corridor but it was moving faster than he could move under the cloak and it was not long before it was too far ahead for him to hear it. He kept walking hoping to catch it again. He had been wandering for over half an hour when he turned a corner and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley on the floor, which was bad enough, but the most terrifying thing about the scene was Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost floating unmoving and silent above Justin.
Harry knew Justin had been petrified but he had no idea what could have happened to Nick, he turned and ran to the dungeons in search of Severus. As he ran his cloak slipped and a group of Hufflepuffs searching for Justin saw him running from the scene, only half visible.