Twisted Fascination

As soon as the curfew lifted, I was in the library, scanning through Hogwarts: A History. I quickly found a story about the Chamber of Secrets.

The Chamber was something Salazar Slytherin had left behind after abandoning the school due to a fight with the other three founders, or so the story went. Inside that Chamber, the Heir of Slytherin would find Salazar's Monster and cleanse the school of mudbloods.

I put the book back after reading what I needed and headed down to the Great Hall. I sat down in my usual spot, served myself breakfast, and waited for the Daily Prophet.

Malfoy, up way before usual, smirked as he practically swaggered into the Great Hall.

I ignored him until he sat down right next to me. I paused before looking at him carefully. "May I help you?"

"You left early today," the boy pointed out. "Scared to be with the other Slytherins?"

"Don't be daft," I said as I buttered my toast, "I wanted to know more about the Chamber, so I went to the library. I have nothing to be afraid of, especially considering I am a half-blood."

Malfoy immediately looked disappointed. "You aren't worried about that mudblood, Granger?"

"If you think for a second that I consider Granger anything more than my brother's acquaintance, then you're sorely mistaken," I answered honestly.

Malfoy huffed in annoyance. "You actually just hate everyone, don't you?"

"I don't hate everyone," I answered right away, "I just find people to be rather two-faced, which I don't like."

"You're in the wrong House if you think that," Malfoy said as he finally began to serve himself some food.

"I expect Slytherins to have ulterior motives," I corrected, "They're known for being cunning and ambitious. Ravenclaws would gladly do anything to pass you in grades, Gryffindors simply want to be the best at everything, and Hufflepuffs act kind, but they'd turn against you in a heartbeat if you showed even a hint of wanting to better their House in a more Slytherin manner. All of the Houses are two-faced, but I am much more comfortable in Slytherin, where I know that everything costs something."

Malfoy pondered my words for a moment before asking, "Hufflepuffs turn against each other?"

"Hufflepuffs are the most afraid of Dark magic," I answered before taking a quick bite of my eggs. "They would rather stab you in the back than go forward with practicing the Dark Arts. That's just how those pathetic fools are."

Malfoy remained silent for longer that time, mulling over his next statement. Finally, he asked without any consideration to my mental well-being, "Who do you think the Heir of Slytherin is?"

"I do not know," I lied, "I was in the library when the attack on Mrs. Norris happened, and therefore I have no real clues."

"Some idiots were saying that your brother is the Heir of Slytherin," Malfoy grumbled in annoyance.

"Why?" I asked, confused as to why people would consider my brother some deadly enemy.

"He was there first," Malfoy said, causing me to hum softly.

"Well, as long as Harry keeps it up, the real Heir of Slytherin will get away with their crimes," I said honestly, causing Malfoy to look at me with a startled expression. "If Harry keeps arriving first, he will be seen as the guilty part in the minds of the students and some of the staff. He'll basically allow the Heir to go free of suspicion."

Malfoy immediately grinned, obviously eager to get Harry into more trouble.

I finished my breakfast, and my mail finally arrived. I caught my paper and opened it to check over the stocks. I then nodded in approval before closing up my papers and standing up. "I'm heading to class."

Malfoy waved me off dismissively as he eyed my brother from across the hall.

I headed out to class, watching my brother carefully as he nervously glanced around the Great Hall.

For the next few days, people talked of nothing besides the attack on Filch's cat. They all whispered theories about what happened, none of them even close to the real thing.

Of course, Filch didn't help any by pacing the area where his cat was attacked. He acted as if the attacker would turn up out of the blue to attack again. He had also tried to scrub off the bloody message on the wall with a magical all-purpose cleaner, but it didn't work. When he wasn't at the scene of the crime, Filch would skulk around the corridors, trying to hand out detentions to unsuspecting students for ridiculous reasons such as 'breathing too loud.'

Ginny Weasley was quite pale as she wandered around the school. It was as if being possessed was taking quite a bit out of her.

I made a mental note to look up more about possession by an object, but did nothing more to help the girl. As the days passed, I continued with my school work, my pet project, and looking into possessions by artifacts.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened until Harry ended up breaking his arm after a rogue bludger attacked him mercilessly. Of course, he was even more unfortunate to have Lockhart try to mend the bones. That's how Harry lost all the bones in his arm and ended up in the hospital wing.

Malfoy, of course, was agitated that he lost to Harry. He was being harassed by other members of the Quidditch Team because he failed to notice the golden snitch right by his head.

That night, something even more interesting happened. A Gryffindor boy by the name of Colin Creevey was petrified, likely by the serpent.

Ginny was paler than ever the next day.

I ignored it for the time-being, knowing I couldn't make a move until winter break. I, in the meantime, continued my research, only to find nothing of importance in dealing with Tom.

The first-years, save for Slytherins, of course, moved around the castle in tight-knit groups. They were all seemingly worried about being attacked should they have been alone for even a second.

In the second week of December, McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would stay at school during the break.

I refused to sign, having my own plans to stay at the Leaky Cauldron. I noticed, however, that my brother, Granger, the Weasley children, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were staying at Hogwarts. I cocked my head to the side a bit before dismissing it as unimportant.

The Thursday of our Double Potions lesson with the Gryffindors proved to be a minor annoyance, as Harry had thrown a firecracker into Goyle's Cauldron, causing the brewing Swelling Solution to explode everywhere.

I ducked under my table, paying no mind to half of the class getting sprayed with the substance. I waited until everything seemed to finish spraying before getting out from under my desk. I made sure my position was still good before continuing on with my brew.

"Silence!" Snape yelled loudly as Granger slipped into his private stores, "SILENCE! Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draught - when I find out who did this-"

I barely held in a snicker as Malfoy hurried over to Snape, his nose, which was now the size of a small melon, causing his head to droop down in the process.

Half the class lumbered up to Snape's desk. Some had arms weighted down like clubs while others had giant puffed up lips.

During that, Granger returned to her usual spot, the front of her robes bulging slightly in a rather suspicious manner. She had obviously just stolen from Snape's private stores, but it wasn't my place to correct the child.

When everyone had taken the antidote and the various swellings subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron. He pulled out the twisted, black remains of the firecracker, causing a sudden hush to fall across the class. "If I ever find out who threw this," Snape said in a soft, yet threatening tone, "I shall make sure that person is expelled." He glared at my brother as if it was his fault, which it was, before disposing of the offending garbage.

I continued on brewing my Swelling Solution and turned it in at the end of class, which arrived ten minutes after the firecracker was discovered.

A week later, I was sitting in the common room, working on my homework, when Snape suddenly put up a small piece of paper onto the notice board. I got up and immediately read it over, only to dismiss it once I saw it was for the new Dueling Club.

"Not interested in dueling this year, Potter?" Flint asked with a smirk as I returned to my homework.

"It's probably going to be taught by that farce, Lockhart," I replied as I continued to work on my essay for History of Magic. "After all, why only start now and not have it available last year or the years before?"

Flint's nose scrunched up, but he couldn't argue with the reasoning behind my words. "You should still go. Someone could teach you something useful."

I looked over at him as he smirked while jerking his head toward Snape, who was leaving the common room behind. I quickly returned to my essay, saying, "I'll think about it."

Flint shrugged as if I were some kind of lost cause.

I didn't like that at all, but I also figured Snape would prove to be a good teacher in dueling. I decided that I'd abandon my homework, but only for one night.

At eight o'clock, just about every student in the school was in the Great Hall, all carrying wants while looking excited. The long dining tables had vanished, and a golden stage had appeared along one wall. Thousands of candles floated overhead, lighting up the Great Hall. The ceiling was velvety black once more, giving the room a certain atmosphere.

Of course, Lockhart walked onto stage, his robes resembling the colors of deep plums. He was joined by Snape, who wore his usual black robes. The neanderthal waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can you all see me?! Can you all hear me?! Excellent!"

I rolled my eyes at the man, finding this to be a complete waste of time.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling 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." Lockhart gave a charming grin, clearly pleased with himself for that shameless self-promotion. "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart flashed us a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny bit about dueling 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 your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

By the way Snape's upper lip curled, I had severe doubts that Lockhart would be okay.

Lockhart and Snape turned to each other and bowed. Lockhart did so with much twirling of his hands whereas Snape jerked his head in an irritable motion. They raised their wands in front of themselves like swords.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the acceptable combative positions," 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."

Because such is illegal, or because you don't wish to die? I thought as I raised an eyebrow.

"One - two - three-"

Both of them waved their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent.

Snape cried out, "Expelliarmus!"

A dazzling flash of scarlet light came from the top of his wand, hit Lockhart, and sent the buffoon smashing into the wall past the end of the stage.

Lockhart slid down to the ground, looking shocked for a moment before quickly putting a smiling mask on his face.

Malfoy and several other Slytherins cheered loudly for Snape, who allowed his lip to curl up once more in a facsimile of a smile.

Lockhart got to his feet in an unsteady fashion, his hat missing and his hair a mess. "Well, there you have it!" He said loudly, tottering to the platform like a drunkard. "That was the 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 me 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 have been instructive to let them see…"

Snape looked ready to cast the Killing Curse, or maybe even strangle Lockhart with his bare hands.

It is quite possible Lockhart had noticed, and he quickly turned and 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-"

The two moved through the crowd, splitting up the various students into pairs. Lockhart paired up a few Slytherins against each other, and Snape paired me against some boy named Ernie Macmillan.

The boy looked incredibly nervous as he stared at me.

Once back on stage, Lockhart called out, "Face your partners!"

Macmillan and I faced each other properly.

"And bow!" Lockhart yelled.

I bowed properly, but Macmillan merely jerked his head. I felt a bit agitated, but didn't say anything about his rude behavior. I quickly got into a proper dueling position, and I was a bit surprised to see Macmillan get into a proper dueling pose as well.

"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted, "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one… two…"

Macmillan didn't wait until three to throw a spell at me.

I quickly made a small barrier by muttering, "Protego." Once the spell hit my shield, it disappeared. I then jabbed my wand toward Macmillan, disarming him without another second's pause. I caught his wand and smirked at the Hufflepuff. "Can't follow directions, huh? That's a real shame…"

"You - you casted a shield spell!" The boy stuttered in surprise. "That's a fourth-year spell!"

"That's never stopped me before," I said as I continued to twirl his wand around in my hand.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart suddenly shouted in alarm.

"Give me back my wand!" Macmillan demanded.

"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart yelled frantically.

I felt glee as I replied, "Very well." I then tossed it, causing the boy to flail to catch it. Then, just to prove my superiority, I hit him with a "Petrificus Totalus!"

Macmillan fell over at once.

Snape, at that moment, shouted, "Finite Incantatem!"

Most students stopped moving as a haze of greenish smoke rose above the crowd.

Harry and Malfoy had been crippled by dancing and laughing respectively. Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley were both lying on the ground, panting. Weasley was holding an ashen-face Finnegan, apologizing for what his broken wand had done. Bulstrode had Granger in a headlock, causing the mudblood to whimper in pain.

I rolled my eyes at all that commotion created because those cretins couldn't follow instructions.

"Dear, dear," Lockhart said as he skittered through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan… Careful there, Miss Fawcett… Pinch it hard, it'll stop the bleeding in a second, Boot-" Lockhart stood in the middle of the crowd, flushing deeply. "I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells." He glanced at Snape, who had black eyes glittering with a bit of malice, and immediately looked away. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you-"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape said as he glided over to Lockhart with a malevolent look in his eyes, "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.

Longbottom's round, pink face went even pinker in embarrassment.

With a twisted smile, Snape suggested, "How about Malfoy and Potter?"

Lockhart immediately beamed. "Excellent idea!" He gestured for my brother and Malfoy to stand in the middle of the hall, causing the crowd to part ways for the two second-years. "Now, Harry, when Draco points his wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggle action, and dropped it.

I closed my eyes as I breathed in through my nose before sighing heavily. I really couldn't believe the man didn't know a simple Shield Charm.

Lockhart quickly picked up his wand, saying, "Whoops - my wand is a little overexcited."

Snape moved closer, bent down, and whispered something in his ear.

Malfoy smirked in reply, clearly getting an idea to put Harry in his place.

Harry nervously looked at Lockhart and asked, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"

"Scared?" Malfoy muttered just soft enough that Lockhart couldn't hear.

"You wish," Harry retorted from the corner of his mouth.

Lockhart cuffed my brother merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?" Harry asked incredulously.

Lockhart, not one to listen once he's put his mind to something, straightened up. "Three - two - one - go!"

Malfoy quickly raised his wand and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded, and from the smoke appeared a long, black snake. The snake in question fell heavily to the ground between both boys and raised itself, ready to strike.

Screams filled the air as the crowd backed away.

I wasn't one of the crowd that cleared the floor, merely gazing down at the snake carefully.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape instructed lazily, "I'll get rid of it."

"Allow me!" Lockhart exclaimed before brandishing his wand at the snake. With a loud bang, Lockhart send the snake ten feet into the air, causing it to land on the floor right next to me with a loud smack.

The snake raised up a loud hiss as it exposed its fangs, its eyes set for me as it slithered forward quickly.

I directed my wand at it, only to pause as my brother hissed at the thing in Parseltongue.

As my brother told the snake to leave me alone in a language the other students didn't understand, the crowd fell silent in fear.

I frowned a bit before snapping my wand at the snake, vanishing it.

Harry looked up at me, smiling, only for his smile to die upon seeing my critical expression.

"Harry," I began cautiously, only to be cut off by some first-year Slytherin.

"What do you think you're playing at?" The girl, someone named Astoria Greengrass, yelled with a hint of fear in her voice.

I glanced over at the young fool, only to see her glaring at Harry like he was some monster. Before I could say anything more on the subject, my arm was grabbed by Flint. 

The Slytherin Quidditch Team Captain pulled me from the Great Hall, all while shooting my brother a venomous expression.

Many Slytherins followed after Flint and I, giving Harry a disgusted look.

I remained silent as we made it down to the common room, where I was sat down in front of the fireplace and made to look at Flint.

"Did Harry Potter threaten you?" The sixth-year questioned seriously.

"Threaten me?" I reiterated in surprise, nor knowing where he got that idea from.

"In Parseltongue," he said as if that clarified everything.

Before I could answer, Snape entered the common room. He immediately came over and asked, "What did your brother say to that snake?"

"Why would you think that Harry would threaten me?" I asked, not seeing their logic.

"I am simply being cautious," Snape said as if he actually cared about my well-being.

I barely bit back a sarcastic hum before saying, "Even if he did tell it to attack me, which he didn't, I can defend myself."

"Well, what did he say to the snake?" Malfoy interjected.

"He just told the snake to leave me alone," I waved off dismissively.

"That's it?" Snape asked cautiously.

"That's it," I confirmed as I looked the man dead in the eyes.

The black-eyed man immediately nodded once. "Very well." He made a passing glance at the other students in the common room before taking his leave. "I must have a talk with the headmaster," he said before the wall to our little sanctity area closed behind him.

I began to stand up, only to be forced to sit again by Flint.

The boy looked rather stern as he said, "If he does threaten you, tell someone right away."

I blinked owlishly. "You think Harry actually has the balls to threaten me?"

Wellington snorted from where he sat next to Farley. "We're just taking precaution."

 The sixth-year female nodded. "You can never trust a Gryffindor."

"The day my brother turns his back on me is the day I kill his little acquaintances. I doubt he'd go against me otherwise," I waved off dismissively.

"Your brother favors you that much?" Nott asked incredulously.

"It's not that he favors me, but rather that he doesn't want to be alone. I'm the closest living relative he has, especially considering we are forced to live with our muggle relatives," I explained, "Up until Hogwarts, he didn't even have a friend to watch his back."

"You didn't watch your brother's back?" Greengrass asked with a furrowed brow.

I scoffed at her. "Of course I did. Those muggles we were surrounded by made it evident it was us against them, and they didn't even know we were magical." I paused before saying, "Well, our muggle relatives knew. Perhaps that is why everyone seemed to abhor us. They could tell based on the actions of our muggle relatives that we were considered outcasts, so they treated us the same." I began to consider it for a moment before waving it off. "In any case, if my cousin or even my brother slipped up, you could be sure that Harry and I would both be held accountable. It was actually quite irking."

"How could you be held accountable if you didn't do something wrong?" Davis asked.

I pondered how to answer for a moment before saying slowly, "Say you were with an acquaintance as a young child, and that acquaintance did something they weren't supposed to. Say that acquaintance didn't want to get in trouble, so they blamed you. Furthermore, let's say that acquaintance was favored by their parents, and their parents didn't actually like you. The acquaintance would be free of accusation, and the parents would look at you like you were guilty. The parents wouldn't even attempt to find out the truth because they already hold someone else in favor. You get punished for breaking a rule, and your acquaintance would understand, at least subconsciously, that they could get out of trouble if they simply shift the blame onto you. This acquaintance would then test the limits of this and eventually manipulate their parents into believing every single lie they told about you. The parents would despise you deep down, but they couldn't get rid of you because they are bound by things like social ethics and criminal laws." I remained silent for a moment before sitting up straighter. "Now, I want you to take that already annoying situation, and add muggle relatives that hate even the slightest hint of so-called abnormality."

"Do you mean your muggle relatives hate magic, and because of their hatred for magic, they don't like you by extension?" Zabini questioned.

I almost snorted. "Oh, please. They don't just hate magic - they despise it. Our muggle relatives, if they weren't bound by the fear of getting in trouble, would have gladly dumped my brother and I in a river when we were babies."

Nott had an odd look in his eyes as he asked, "How are you so sure?"

"Beyond the fact they regularly said such things?" I questioned before shrugging, "Well, that's for Harry and I to know."

"Muggles really are disgusting," Malfoy commented, looking as though he had smelled something rancid.

"Humans are disgusting," I corrected, "Even magical people do things that are questionable at best. Nepotism and cruelty runs around rampid in all manners of society. Such is the way of humans."

Silence filled the air for a moment before Flint suddenly narrowed his eyes. "You were abused by those muggles, weren't you?"

I scoffed loudly as I looked at the sixth-year. "Abused? Really? You think so little of me?"

"Yeah, Flint," Farley piped up, "If he was abused by muggles, Harry would have also been abused. If that was the case, why did the Potter twins end up so different?"

Wellington rolled his eyes. "Farley, you don't have a sibling to compare the situation with. My stupid little brother and I are about as different as night and day, even if we had the same upbringing. That's why that little pest is in Ravenclaw and not Slytherin."

"Yeah, but you're not twins," Farley argued.

"It doesn't matter," Greengrass spoke up while glancing toward her younger sister. "Even if they were raised in the same household, things can divide children early. That one thing could lead children on different paths in life, though I don't know what could possibly happen to make a sibling be in Gryffindor of all places."

"It's simple," I said as I sat back in my seat by the fire. "Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived, the boy who is supposedly better than me because he vanquished the Dark Lord. Our muggle relatives knew that fact. Even if they didn't understand, they figured I was the extra. My brother was treated slightly better than me by them, and the Wizarding World is no better in that regard. No, they're much worse. Imagine living in the shadow of your younger twin brother, all because of something he accidentally did as a mere infant. Hagrid of all people came to whisk my brother away to the magical world, and that oaf made it evident to both him and myself that everyone would see Harry as a hero that could do no evil."

"What made you get into Slytherin, then?" Nott asked.

I gave a chuckle. "You should be asking why didn't Harry get into Slytherin?"

His brow furrowed deeply.

"You see, Weasley got to Harry first," I spelled out, "Had my impressionable fool of a brother merely met a less intense Slytherin first, he would have ended up in our House."

"Seriously?" Parkinson asked hesitantly.

"Seriously," I confirmed, "The hat wanted to put him in Slytherin first, but Harry didn't want to join because Malfoy had been a little git toward him and Weasley."

Everyone threw glances at Malfoy, who flushed deeply and scowled.

"It cannot be changed now, so don't fret," I waved off dismissively, "My brother made his choice, just like how I have made mine."

Zabini contemplated those words for less than a second before saying, "You're ambitious, plenty cunning, and quite determined when it comes to your work. Your brother acts self-less, courageous, and rather foolhardy."

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was saying those things. "Your point?"

"There are two sides to every coin," he said as his dark eyes narrowed at me.

"There are three sides to every coin," I corrected, "People often forget the small, flat edge between the two bigger sides, but it exists whether most people recognize it or not."

Zabini's lips tugged into a smirk. "Where do you two bleed together then?"

"That's something for me to know," I said, waving off his curiosity. "Unless, of course, you wish to owe me a favor in the future."

"I'll owe you a favor," he said right away.

I hummed softly as I sat back before nodding once. "I'll tell you the answer to that question later, then."

His eyes sparked with an intensity longing for the information I had.

"Now," I said as I stood up, "This has been an interesting chat, but I have an essay to do."

Davis groaned loudly. "You and your essays."

"I would rather not do my homework over break, thank you very much," I said as I straightened up my robes.

The girl rolled her eyes at me, as did a few others when they thought I wasn't looking.

I ignored them and headed to my shared bedroom to get my bag and homework.