Chapter 21
Professor Snape arrived back at the Slytherin Common Room an hour later.
Everyone in the Second Year Boys dorm room was still awake, still exhilarated from what had happened. So when the seventh year boys came into their dorm telling them a Snake Conclave was on, the boys hurried up and followed them to the secret room. Snape was standing stiffly at the front, as usual, with his back to the comfy couches and his hands bunched tightly together behind him.
When everyone settled downed, he paced slowly around the front and cleared his throat. “I have had a very… interesting conversation with Dumbledore and the other professors concerning the…wall.”
Harry was on the edge of his seat just waiting for his Head of House to get to the chase.
“Mrs Norris is alive but she has been petrified. No one is sure…how, but she can be easily fixed with Professor Sprouts Mandrakes…of course, the main focus goes towards what was written on the wall.”
Daphne shot her hand up. “Professor, what is the Chamber of Secrets?”
“No questions until the end, Miss Greengrass.” Snape snapped.
He cleared his throat again and continued. “We haven’t an idea of whom could have done this and Dumbledore is yet to research on the suspect students backgrounds. If none of you have read up on the Chamber of Secrets then I am here to tell you only the true Heir of Slytherin is capable of opening the chamber. So…” He took a deep breath. “The true heir has come to Hogwarts and done just that.”
This caused great chaos. Everyone turned to one another and started making guesses on you it could be because the Heir of Slytherin could only be in Slytherin, right?
“It must be a first year.” Someone said.
“But all the first years are wimps, have you met any of them?”
“Quiet down.” Snape bellowed. “The chamber is only a myth, it always has been and always will be. I’ll take my bet that this is a prank done by a student using powerful dark magic. Dumbledore attempted to un-petrify the mangy cat and failed.” This made some students laugh. “The blame has been placed on my house,” Snape deadpanned, “so if one of you are playing a prank I bid you stop before the school is closed down.”
“Closed down!” Draco cried out.
“Although the chamber is only a legend, the legend speaks of a deadly creature and dangerous powers given to the heir of Slytherin. The powers to rid the school of Mudblood scum and the rather, and since a large student population is of muggleborn heritage, we cannot risk anyone being in harms way.”
“Hypocrites.” Harry whispered to Blaise who snorted a laugh.
Snape let the students talk among themselves before shooing everyone out of the conclave room and to bed. He told them not to worry and to leave it with the professors. As if that’s a comfort to anyone.
Begrudgingly, the second years returned to their dorm and Harry shuffled around the room reeling with guilt.
“D’you think I should have told him that I heard a voice?”
“No,” Blaise said immediately. “Hearing voices no one else can hear is never a good sign.”
Something about how his friends were acting and the way Blaise spoke made Harry ask:
“You do believe me, don’t you?”
“I believe you, absolutely.” Draco said, sounding very sure. “Remember last year when we asked you if you’d heard of the Chamber of Secrets?”
“Yes.” Harry remembered, going back to when he defeated Quirrell/Voldermort. “You explained what Snape just told us.”
“The myth goes that Salazar Slytherin created it when he and Gryffindor had a fight about who to let into the school. Godric Gryffindor and the other founders wanted to allow all students at Hogwarts but Slytherin only wanted pureblood’s. ”
“Merlin above.” Harry whispered.
“But… mother said it was only a legend, and now Snape is saying it may be true.” Blaise gasped.
“And you know what was also thought to be hidden down in the Chamber?” Goyle added. “A Basilisk.”
“That’s a giant snake, right?” asked Crabbe. Everyone nodded.
“A snake that can kill you by looking you in the eyes.” Goyle included.
“Enemies of the heir beware.” Blaise quoted, looking scared.
“The only way it can be entered is if the heir speaks Parseltongue, the language of snakes.” Draco whispered, sounding very excited. “The heir uses it to control the Basilisk and is the only one who can control it.”
“There’s so many students, how can we tell which one opened the Chamber?” Harry asked.
“Only a few are in Slytherin though, and if the heir of Slytherin is in any house, it would be this one.” Draco smirked.
“So… it’s a first year?” Goyle said. “I mean, if it isn’t, then the chamber should’ve opened ages ago.”
“Not entirely.” said Blaise. “The heir has to go to the chamber too open it and maybe they only just found it, if Dumbledore and many before him haven’t found it yet then it must be very well hidden.”
“Maybe only the Heir of Slytherin can find it.” Crabbe muttered.
Everyone was silent and thoughtful. Harry could barely breathe, he heard the voice and only he heard it, that must mean something. And the moment he followed it, Mrs Norris was found dead and as stiff as a board.
“Then how come I’m hearing voices? Has that got to do with the Chamber opening?”
“I think so.” Draco shrugged.
“How can you be so calm about this?” Harry strangled out. “What if I opened the Chamber?”
Blaise rolled his eyes. “You haven’t gone to the Chamber, how could you open it from up here?”
“I could hear the Basilisk, Blaise, I heard it yearn for blood and then kill Mrs Norris.”
The four other boys looked at one another then back at Harry. It was Draco who spoke.
“You might be the heir, or you might not, there’s no way of knowing right now.”
Harry definitely didn’t sleep well that night.
——
For the first time in six weeks, Collin didn’t say hi to him. He was about too, when he squeaked, as if stopping himself, then ran away.
In fact, the moment Harry and his friends walked into the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, people actually jumped when he passed them. It was odd and weird but Harry smiled at everyone anyway.
When they sat down he asked Blaise why people were looking scared.
“Because they think you’re the heir of Slytherin, I suppose.” He answered casually.
“Why would they think that?” Harry sputtered.
“I know, it’s ridiculous.” Draco spat. “If anything, I should be more of a suspect than you.”
Pansy leaned forward to whisper. “I heard somewhere that it was why you were sorted into Slytherin. To do You-Know-Who’s bidding.”
“What in the name of Merlin.” Harry sputtered again. “That man tried to kill me!”
“I think this is all rather cool.” Daphne said happily from Pansy’s left. “The famous Harry Potter is suspected of being the Heir to Slytherin, doesn’t anyone else find it cool?”
“Not really, no.” Harry slumped.
Draco patted his back soothingly. “I’ll have to tell my father about this. He’s been looking for another reason to boot Dumbledore out as Headmaster.”
“Safest place on earth, my ass.” Goyle grumbled.
“Gregory, language!” Tracey scolded as she and Millicent sat down.
“I think we’re all suspects.” A third year muttered. Harry looked behind him and a group of prying students were looking at their table with murderous eyes. Hermione smiled tightly when she found Harrys gaze but looked away when Ron elbowed her in the ribs.
“I’ve been at this school for only two years and I get no peace.” Harry sighed sadly.
“S’better than having too much peace,” Blaise noted, “that shit can ruin your mind.”
Harry sighed again and decided to write to his mother and father after classes. Not that his classes were any better than breakfast. There had always been an obvious divider in classrooms where one House sat in one row and the other House sat in the other, but today, Harry walked into his History classroom to see a two meter gap between the Gryffindors side and the Slytherins side. His friends found this more funny than anything and laughed loudly when they all first came in.
Not only was the whole school against him, his first quidditch game was that weekend and all through the week, people were sneering at them saying how they hoped Gryffindor beat the shit out of them. This made Marcus Flint want to win even more and Harry caught onto his desire.
The day before the game, Remus Lupin called Harry to his classroom after lunch.
“Don’t worry, I’ll write to your teacher.” He reassured.
Harry always felt so comfortable in Remus’s office, or even just Remus’s presence. His godfather smelt like chocolate and thrifted sweaters and home and the minute he walked into his office, Harry burst into tears.
He always seemed to cry in Remus’s office too.
“Oh Harry.” Remus said sadly, pulling the boy into his chest. “James informed me of the letter you sent him, and I knew you were getting a hard time with all this heir stuff, but I didn’t know it was effecting you this much.”
“I just don’t know what to do.” Harry cried. “I have all this pressure on me and I’ve already let mum and dad down once and this is the most Slytherin thing to happen to me and I’m the suspect and my friends think it’s hilarious but all I need is-“
“Calm down, Hazz, you’re using up all your energy.”
Harry looked up with big doe eyes and rested his chin on Remus’s chest. “What should I do, Moony?”
Remus chuckled softly and caressed his hair a little longer. “You know you’re not the Heir to Slytherin so you should focus on yourself. Don’t listen to everyone around you, they don’t know fuck all-“ Harry giggled at the language “and are probably just gossiping about what they’ve heard some other wanker say.”
Harry pulled away sheepishly, wondering if he should tell Remus about the voices he’s been hearing and if it has anything to do what has been happening. But Blaise said it was never a good sign to hear voices no one else can hear and that he shouldn’t tell Snape. But this was Remus, Moony, his Godfather, a man best friends with his parents since their own Hogwarts days, who taught Harry how to say his first word (moomy (yes with the ‘m’)- much to everyones dismay). Harry trusted him indefinitely.
So with a shaky breath and a slight breakdown, Harry told Remus about the voice. How he heard it through the walls and when he tried to follow it on Halloween it lead to the petrification of Mrs Norris.
“And my friends told me not to tell any teachers because this so weird but I’m so scared and I don’t know what to do.” Harry cried miserably, falling into Remus’s arms again.
Remus only hugged him back and kissed his unruly hair soothingly. Harry waited for him to say something but it was only silent.
“Should I have told someone?” Harry whispered.
“No.” Remus whispered back, sounding very distracted. “Let’s keep this between us, yeah? Thank you for telling me.”
“Is it bad?” He whispered again.
Remus looked down and clicked his tongue. “Well it certainly isn’t normal but if our family is one thing, it isn’t normal.”
Harry snorted at that and hugged his godfather tighter. “Thank you, Moony.”
“Anything for you, Harry. We love you unconditionally, remember that.”
Harry would believe that more if his dad didn’t act like he didn’t exist for the first half of first year but they try not to bring that up.
“Love you too.”
——
It was the day of the game and Harry woke up feeling anything but refreshed. His talk with Remus solved none of his problems but did make him feel better about himself. Unfortunately, this didn't make him feel better for playing in front of the whole school and his family. The fear of messing up was getting to his head.
No pressure. He reminded himself all morning.
Draco was on the reserves and had to get into his quidditch attire as well, his father bought him his own Nimbus Two Thousand and One when he got on the team so he wasn’t the odd one out and Harry had to remind him not to bring it to breakfast.
“I’m just so excited, I can hardly breathe!” Draco gushed.
“That makes two of us.” Harry muttered, this only made Draco laugh.
Flint saw them coming in and gestured them over with the rest of the team who had taken refuge at the end of the table. The Gryffindors seemed to have caught on and were doing the same thing.
“We ready men?” Flint grinned.
Everyone roared.
“Just remember what we’ve been practicing, we’ve got a chance at this like last year but this time we’ve got some new teammates who might make or break us-“ Harry and Draco shared a scared look “-we’re relying on you, Potter and Malfoy.”
“Noted.” Draco croaked out.
Breakfast was quick and Dumbledore made an announcement to remind everyone that it was Gryffindor vs Slytherin today on the quidditch fields, which was painfully obvious and if anyone missed the players wearing their gear and fans with numbers painted on their faces then they were blinder than Harry.
Before they headed off, Pansy sat next to Harry and took off his glasses. Everything was foggy and Harry couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. “Pansy, what-“
“Shh, Potter,” she patronised, “I’m doing a trick I learned.” She tapped his temples and whispered a complicated spell and suddenly Harry could see perfectly.
“When did you learn this?” He asked, looking around in wonder.
Pansy shrugged, looking pleased with herself. “You look mightier more handsome without these round excuses of glasses, why haven’t you gotten your eyes permanently fixed?”
“Why should I when my dad has lived a perfectly fine life with glasses.”
“Dray, look.” She jabbed Draco in the arm and made him face Harry. Draco’s eyes widened and he looked appalled.
“What happened to you?”
“I’ve fixed him.” Pansy squealed. “Doesn’t he look much more bangable like this?”
Harry groaned. "Please never call me that word again."
Draco had no words and continued to look at Harry with a slight blush on his cheeks.
“This is all very nice Pansy but we’ve got some Gryffindors to beat so…” Harry rushed out, feeling uncomfortable with all the staring. He grabbed Draco’s elbow and lifted the statue like boy from his seat.
“I’ll have those back, thank you.” Harry grabbed back his glasses, not trusting his friends spell to last the whole match, and placed them back on.
“Wish us luck guys!”
A series of “good luck”s and “you’ll kick their butts” were given and they went to the field.
…everything was a blur up to the part where he caught the snitch, or he thought he did, because after that there was nothing at all.
A blank page in book.
Harry blinked open his eyes to see a white ceiling, was this death? Blinking again he realised he hadn’t died and was surrounded by his teammates and friends, all looking very worried. Flint was saying something to Miles Bletchley, the Keeper, when Draco smiled widely down at Harry and got everyone’s attention.
“Harry’s awake!”
“Goodness, Potter, you sure gave us a scare.” Flint joked.
“What happened? Where am I?” Harry asked throatily.
“The infirmary, mate.” Adrian Pucey sympathised.
“You got hit by a rogue Bludger right as you caught the snitch, hit you smack bang in the nose.”
As the beater said it, Harry felt a spike of pain come from his nose. He groaned and grabbed at it only to realise it was covered in a bandage, with a frown he felt around the rest of his head and felt a bandage covering his forehead and around to the back of his head.
“We won right?”
Blaise, who was standing next to Draco scoffed. “That’s what you’re wondering right now-“
“Fuck yeah we did, Potter, you won the game for us. It was bloody brilliant!” Montague said. Everyone celebrated at that and Flint ruffled Harrys hair fondly.
“Okay, everyone out!” A strict voice ordered. Madam Pomfrey shoved the kids away and looked over Harry. She undid some of the bandage on his nose before pulling a face and putting it back on.
“Gross.” Draco gagged.
“Then I encourage you leave, Mr Malfoy.” Pomfrey ordered. Tracey silently waved goodbye and took Draco’s hand to force him out of the infirmary. That was when Harry remembered his family.
“My parents-“
“Your parents are still here, don’t worry.” She soothed. “James was the one who actually carried you up here and I had to kick out Mr Black for touching your face whilst I was bandaging it.” She chuckled nostalgically and Harry smiled a little.
“You’ll be staying for the night and should be well by morning if everything works how it should.”
“Thank you.” Harry breathed.
The nurse nodded and wrapped the hospital curtains around his bed. Harry leaned back with a soft sigh and a bruising headache when the curtains around his bed were ripped open.
“Fucking hell, you’re awake.” Remus chuckled.
“I was certain you were dead.” Sirius cried out dramatically and jumped onto the bed.
“Get off, Padfoot, you’re hurting him!” Peter tried.
“I thought our little baby Prongslet was dead, what do you expect me to do?”
Then James and Lily Potter came into view and Harry fully relaxed. His mums eyes were rimmed red and his dad looked liked he had been running his hands through his hair from the stress all day.
“Harry.” She chuckled breathlessly, touching his bandaged head lightly and kissing his nose. “You caught the snitch then all of a sudden you were falling from the sky.“
“We were all so proud of you for that, my son caught the snitch in his first game-“
“James.” Lily scolded harshly.
His dad grin turned grim and he sat at Harrys feet. “Although you were brilliant on the field, that bludger nearly knocked your brains out and I-“ he took a shaky breath “just can’t imagine what I- what any of us would do if the consequences were worse.”
Harry sniffled. “Who saved me?”
“Remus went full godfather and saved your ass, Harry.” Sirius chuckled all watery.
Remus just shrugged and said “it was the least I could do for my favourite student.”
“I just don’t understand how a bludger can go rogue and only follow one student.” Peter said, holding Harrys other hand.
His family frowned and Harry started thinking the same. It was strange enough he couldn’t get through the barrier at Kings Cross back in September, and he was starting to hear voices, and now he got hit in the nose by a rogue bludger. It just wasn’t making sense. Could it be that little bastard elf again?
“Oi! Get out of my infirmary!” Madam Pomfrey confronted, looking crosser than ever.
Sirius perked up at seeing her and jumped up from Harrys bed. “Poppy, long time no see!”
“It still hasn’t been long enough, Mr Black.” She grumbled.
“I think we’re allowed to check on out child.” His dad said sternly.
“You’re allowed to check up on your child if your child doesn’t need silence and a good nights rest.”
“Of course, Madam Pomfrey, thank you.” Remus smiled kindly. “Come on, Prongs, you can see Harry again tomorrow.”
“Bye, son.” His dad muttered, kissing the crown of his head. The others followed, saying their goodbyes and kissing some part of Harry’s face before following Remus out the door.
“Good riddance, those boys haven’t changed a bit.” Pomfrey grinned before shutting the curtains around his bed again.