Chapter 041
"We don't see why Hogwarts can't just order mature mandrakes via owl post.
Hermione helped Neville make the list of all the suppliers in Britain who have
mature mandrakes currently." Neville handed the list to Dumbledore while the
other teachers present just stared at the trio with varying shades of shock flickering
over their features. "We sorted it by price and delivery time. Going the middle of
the road option, would have both Colin and Mrs. Norris up and about by the end of
the week. Two tops if you choose one of the slower delivery venues."
"This is…" McGonagall seemed almost speechless as she leaned over to look at the
list Neville had provided.
"An excellent idea, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger!" Flitwick exclaimed.
"50 points to Gryffindor for each of you!"
"I agree," Professor Sprout said peering at the list as well. "I think some of these
top options are a bit too much for our current budget but these others should be
perfectly within reason."
"Excellent mundane solution, Harry," Shiva said flashing them a thumbs up.
Snape just sneered but at least he didn't say anything against it.
"This was an ingenious idea, my boy," Dumbledore said peering at Harry. He got a
slight headache as he met the man's gaze but resisted reaching up to scratch at his
forehead. "I will bring this up with the board as soon as possible."
"Okay, everybody got their doses?" Hermione asked for the third time. She
received rolled eyes and nodded heads from Harry and Neville as both held up
their potion vials along with Hermione. "Excellent. Now remember, we only have
an hour after we drink this. Harry you found the Slytherin Common Room already
right?" Another nod. "And you know the password?"
"Like I said before, Hermione, it's Balderdash. Can we please just do this already?"
Harry said in exasperation. Her attention to detail was generally welcome but after
going over the same information for the fourth time it got frustrating.
"Yes. Yes, I think we're ready. Bottoms up everyone." Hermione chugged back her
potion vial as the boys did the same with theirs. A few nauseating moments later,
Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were staring back at each
other in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with varying degrees of cringing and
fascination.
"Hugh, I feel dirty," Crabbe-Neville rumbled. "Polyjuice tastes disgusting!"
"Well," Pansy-Hermione replied, "it's supposed to change taste and color based on
the target. Perhaps it's just these three that are…"
"Gross and sickening?" Goyle-Harry ventured slipping his glasses into his pocket.
"Come on guys. Let's not waste any time."
Venturing down into the dungeons Goyle-Harry led his friends into the section of
corridor housing the Slytherin dormitory. He couldn't help a slight nod of approval
as they let themselves in. The people might leave something to be desired for the
most part but the rooms themselves seemed nice enough. They tapestries were
nice and the sunken pit in the middle gave it a bit more character than the
Gryffindor Common Room. The trio plopped down on a couch near Malfoy with
Goyle-Harry grunting at him.
"Ah there you three are!" Malfoy said rolling his eyes at Goyle-Harry and
Crabbe-Neville. "You sure took your time getting back. Pansy, why are you sitting
way over there?"
"Uh, I um…" Pansy-Hermione stuttered. She shot a quick glance and Goyle-Harry
before shifting closer to Malfoy. Goyle-Harry barely managed to stop his snarl as
Malfoy draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side.
Pansy-Hermione stiffened but gave no other sign of discomfort.
Sitting at one of the desks against the opposite wall, Daphne narrowed her eyes at
the newcomers and nudged Tracey. Her friend didn't look up from her paperwork
or her little book until Daphne elbowed her again and subtly nodded towards the
couches.
"So, where were you?" Malfoy asked not even bothering to look at his bodyguards.
"We heard something new about Potter being the Heir of Slytherin,"
Crabbe-Neville said.
"I can't believe people actually believe that tripe," Malfoy snorted. "I mean really,
that idiot as the Heir of a Founder?"
Pansy-Hermione's lips curled up in a snarl but Malfoy didn't notice before she
schooled her features again. Daphne and Tracey however raised their eyebrows at
the girl. Goyle-Harry leaned forward and stared at Malfoy. "You really don't know
anything about who it actually is? You aren't holding out on us are you?"
"My father had mentioned something about it ages ago but he's never elaborated.
I wish I could find out who is doing this though. Then I could send them after the
best targets!" Malfoy's face seemed to light up as the trio of infiltrators' darkened.
"I mean really, Creevy was annoying and all but they could've gone after Potter's
posse with Granger first. Or those foreigners the Patil twins. Or even the Li girl. She
may be pretty but she's never going to be worth anything beyond a mistress."
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Chapter 042
Pansy-Hermione's eyes had been squeezed closed and both Goyle-Harry and
Crabbe-Neville's hands were clenched so tight, their knuckles were white. "Still,
Draco, you've got to have heard whispers," Pansy-Hermione let out, her voice
strained.
"I've told you time and again I don't know," Malfoy laughed and stood to stretch
before shaking his head at the girl. "Honestly Pansy you're supposed to be smarter
than these two. I'm going to turn in. See you three in the morning."
The trio looked at each other. Goyle-Harry checked his watch and then nodded
towards the door. All three calmly got up, made an excuse about going to check on
something with Snape and stalked out of the Dungeons. They turned into an
unused classroom a few corridors down and waited a minute for the polyjuice to
wear off. Once the transformation was finished all three pulled off their Slytherin
uniforms and swapped back into the Gryffindor ones.
"I never want to do that again," Neville said shuddering. "I wanted to floor him so
bad!"
"You and me both, Nev," Harry muttered darkly.
"At least now we know for sure that Malfoy is just a blustering fool," Hermione
said though her frown spoke of badly she wanted to use far stronger language.
"Come on guys." Harry moved to the door but as he opened it he was greeted by
two smiling faces.
"Hello, gentlemen. Lady," Daphne said as she swept past Harry followed by Tracey.
Tracey casually pushed the door closed and leaned against it while Daphne looked
at the Gryffindors.
"Greengrass," Neville said nodding to her warily.
"Mind if I put a few privacy spells up?" The Gryffindors turned to one another at
this question before Harry hesitantly nodded his okay. Daphne's smile widened
before flicking her wand and throwing up several different silencing and
anti-listening spells.
"Where did you learn those?" Hermione asked, her curiosity winning out.
"It's standard for my family to be taught disarming, stunning and
anti-eavesdropping spells before we attend school. Better to be safe than sorry
after all," Daphne said with a shrug. "Now to business."
"Business?" Harry asked as he stepped in front of the Hermione and Neville.
"Yes. Business. Well, I suppose that might be too strong a word as I don't really
expect money to change hands. It's not like we're blackmailing you or anything."
"Blackmail?" Harry's eyebrows rose.
"Well you did just illegally obtain or brew polyjuice potion and use it to infiltrate a
rival dorm after all. I could blackmail you if I wanted to." Harry started to reach for
his wand before Daphne waved him away and Tracey quietly laughed. "I said I'm
not going to do that. Really, Potter, listen better. Actually I'm rather impressed. I
wouldn't have thought any of you had it in you. Almost downright Slytherin of you
actually!"
Harry snorted at the irony inherent in that statement but relaxed. These girls
weren't part of Malfoy's group, they had already spoken with them a few times
throughout the year after the library comment about Lockhart…and Tracey was not
looking very well anyway. She hid it well with makeup and laughs but he'd seen the
signs of lack of sleep in the mirror enough to recognize how exhausted the girl was.
"So you three were looking for information on whoever is performing these
attacks?" Daphne asked.
Harry nodded wondering idly when the two had become the spokesmen for either
side in this…arrangement? "Yeah. We had kinda hoped it would end up being
Malfoy but didn't really expect it. He's too arrogant to not be boasting about it."
"Agreed." Daphne sighed. "I don't suppose there are any candidates in
Gryffindor?"
"Not that we've noticed." Harry shook his head. "I'd almost be tempted to say Ron
Weasley, but since no Slytherins have been hit…"
"Yes, we really would be his first target wouldn't we. Well do you have any contacts
in Hufflepuff?"
"Yes, actually, I do. They haven't heard anything and most of them are pretty well
convinced it's me."
"Yes, well I never really expected it from the Puffs anyway. They aren't exactly
known for their deviousness. I don't have anyone in Ravenclaw yet myself, and I
doubt you do either."
"No," Harry shook his head. "But I don't think it's them."
"Neither do I," Daphne shrugged. "I don't suppose you think any of the staff could
be at fault?"
"I'd believe Snape personally but I'm not exactly unbiased there." Harry's face
darkened thinking of the hateful man.
"True, you really aren't. I doubt Snape is doing this. He'd have done something
sooner. And he'd likely have a target to take the fall. Since there isn't any clear
perpetrator it's unlikely to be him. My current guess," Daphne said shrugging her
shoulders, "is someone in the upper years in my own House. I'd be willing to share
any information Tracey and I discover if you would be willing to do the same?"
Harry considered for a minute. He glanced back at his friends who just shrugged
and nodded back to him. "Sure. I'd be okay with that."
"Excellent." Daphne held out her hand. "A deal then?"
"Deal," Harry said, shaking her hand.
Tracey stepped away from the door. "Great. Now that we're all partners I think it's
time to head back. Some of us need to get some beauty sleep." Her voice was
nonchalant, but Daphne narrowed her eyes at her friend and a brief flash of
concern crossed her features.
"Yes. We probably should return. Potter, Longbottom, Granger. It's been a
pleasure." Nodding to the trio, Daphne took down her spells and grabbed Tracey's
hand to take her back to the Slytherin dorms.
"That was…unexpected," Hermione said frowning after the girls.
"Yeah, but I actually trust them. Go figure." Harry shrugged.
Neville stared back with wide eyes. "Seriously? You?"
"I know." Harry shrugged. "Search me as to why. Maybe it's because the Ice Queen
actually talks to us almost normally? Or that she seems to hate Malfoy as much as I
do?"
"Well, Tracey is a half-blood…" Neville shrugged. "She probably doesn't get star
treatment in that House and those two are practically inseparable."
Harry smiled at his friends. "A lot like the three of us then, eh? Come on guys. Let's
get back before curfew."
Shiva leaned back into her chair and rubbed her eyes. It had been a long few weeks.
It had been a long few months for that matter. Considering how many offices shut
down completely during the holiday season in the Wizarding World she had been
pleasantly surprised that her Muggle solicitor kept going strong. A knock on her
door had Shiva groaning but yelling out for whoever it was to come in.
"Hey, Shiva. Merry Christmas."
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Chapter 043
"Oh, hey, Harry," Shiva said with a small smile at the student plopping down on the
chair across from her. "How's your break been?"
"Not as…productive as I'd hoped. But I think I made new allies. Maybe not…friends
exactly, but allies at least." Harry frowned but ended up shrugging.
"Wow, way to be cryptic there kid," Shiva said chuckling.
"Says the woman who won't tell me where she disappears to every few weeks,"
Harry replied with a raised eyebrow.
Shiva's good mood dried up. She leaned forward and clasped her hands. "Harry,
I've been avoiding telling you because I swore I would do everything I could not to
hurt you. I didn't want to get your hopes up if it turned out to be nothing." He
nodded. "But…I finally got some of the information I've been looking for." His eyes
widened and he leaned forward as well. "Did you know that according to official
Muggle records you barely exist?"
"What?" Harry squinted at her.
"You have a birth certificate. Your parents have a death certificate. You are
registered as attending primary school. That's it."
"So…what does that mean?"
"That means, Harry," Shiva said slowly. "That my solicitor can proceed as I asked
him to. Harry," she reached out a hesitant hand and clasped the preteen's own,
"what would you say if I asked if you wanted to live with me?"
She watched a flurry of emotions play across the boy's face before it settled into a
hopeful but confused expression. "I thought that wasn't possible?"
"Technically it's difficult. Not impossible. We don't have any blood relation and I
can't really explain the majority of our mentoring thing to Muggles but the solicitor
I'm working with is a Squib who's done this sort of thing before. We don't have a
plethora of evidence that is useful against your relatives unfortunately, but the
simple fact that they never bothered to officially file any guardianship or adoption
papers for you and that you have next to no legal footprint is damning enough as it
is. There's also the fact that I doubt they'd bother trying to fight for custody." Shiva
frowned at the thought of people not bothering to fight for this kid before shaking
her head and giving Harry a slight smile. "I still have a lot of paperwork and court
stuff to go through if we do this. But I need to know, do you want me to do this,
Harry?"
"You won't get in trouble with the Headmaster?" Harry asked furrowing his brow.
"Leave it to you to be worried about someone else before yourself," Shiva said
smiling. "I'm doing this completely without magic and completely in the Muggle
world. That's a large part of the reason it's taking so long. This isn't a snap process
and there's a lot of just waiting for things to move though the system on the
administrative side. The upside to that is that Albus Dumbledore, and Purebloods
in general, have next to no knowledge of anything that goes on on the other side of
the curtain. As long as no one brings this up to him before it's all complete there's
nothing he can do after the fact. I'm making sure it's going to be ironclad and that it
would be a criminal offense to remove you at any point before you turn 17 for any
reason beyond your parents miraculously returning from the dead – and even then
it'd still be unlikely."
Harry leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. After a few minutes
he asked her another question. "Would I still be able to keep my last name? I don't
want that link to my parents to just…die off."
"It's really up to you, Harry. I could ask my solicitor to move forward with either an
adoption or a legal guardian status. Legally speaking, they'd be the same thing. An
adoption would have you taking my name or at least hyphenating it in. A legal
guardian would basically still have you as a member of my family but more as a
ward than a son." Shiva gave his hand a squeeze before continuing, "You don't
have to answer right now, Harry. Take some time to – "
"Legal guardian," he said cutting her off.
"Sorry?"
"I want you to be my legal guardian. Then I can keep the Potter line going but still
get away from the Dursleys. And I trust you. That's…I don't like adults. I like you. I'd
like you to be my legal guardian, Shiva," Harry finished in a rush.
Shiva pulled the boy into a hug and for the first time she could remember, he
hugged her back. "You sure, kid?"
"Yes," he whispered into her shoulder.
"Okay." She lifted a hand to quickly wipe away a sheen from her eyes. "My solicitor
warned me that this might take a few months. But worst case scenario it shouldn't
be any longer than a week or two into the summer before everything is finalized,
tops. And even if it takes that long I want you to – "
"No." Harry pulled back and shook his head. Shiva frowned at him but before she
could ask he already answered. "If it takes until a few weeks into the summer than
I'll stay with them until it's done."
"But – "
"I am not about to risk being stuck there for another five years simply because I
couldn't handle two weeks. I'll stay until it's done and no one can do anything
about it."
Shiva regarded him carefully before sighing. "You are very stubborn you know
that?"
"Professor McGonagall says I get it from my Father. Professor Flitwick says I get it
from my mother," he smiled at her. "The way I see it, I'm cursed to be twice as
stubborn as either."
Shiva had just sent off her owl to her solicitor with instructions and was headed
back to her office when she saw a figure moving to block her path forward. A figure
whose teeth caught the glint of the full moon. Sighing internally and steeling up
her features Shiva nodded to the idiot in front of her. "Evening Gilderoy." God how
she wished she could use his last name instead but she honestly didn't trust herself
not to call him Flophart like Harry and his friends liked to.
"Ah, Babs, fancy running into you on this most beautiful of evenings!" His smile
widened while her teeth clenched at the horrible nickname. "Why the night is
almost as beautiful as you, my dear!"
"I've asked you not to call me that, Gilderoy," Shiva said, quietly counting to ten
internally.
"Ah but Bathsheda is such a horridly mismatched name for a nymph such as
yourself." Lockhart walked a little closer. It was close enough for her to smell his
aftershave. Which was a shame because the scent itself was actually rather nice. It
was just that it wrapped such a disgusting package.
"I'm not like your little fangirls prancing around the upper classes, Gilderoy. I've
had a long day. Good night." She tried to push past him only to find him stepping
back in front of her. Shiva hissed in frustration. Would this idiot ever stop? How
many times did she have to shoot him down before he gave up the chase?
"You've said that for months now, Babs. Just one evening. You will never regret it, I
promise. There are many who can testify to that." He winked at her. He actually
winked at her. Shiva had to fight down the urge to vomit. "Oh, look mistletoe! You
know what they say about traditions!"
A horrible idea came to Shiva but she couldn't stop the manic grin from spreading
across her face at its potential. "Oh, that it is. You want a kiss, Gilderoy?" The idiot
smiled and moved in, closing his eyes.
"Ah see that's the spirit my – arrrggghhhh!" Lockhart collapsed to the stone floor
hands clutched between his legs and knees clenched tight.
"Have a pleasant evening, Gilderoy!" Shiva waved over her shoulder walking away.
The grin stayed plastered to her face and she whistled happily all the way back to
her office.
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Chapter 044
March was upon Hogwarts and an additional three students had been petrified.
Harry was feared and hated by about half the school since the idiots still believed
him to be the Heir of Slytherin. He had taken to walking around with the Concussor
and Ninja stones on his belt in case either was needed. Thankfully he hadn't had to
defend against any actual attacks beyond the typical tripping jinxes and fearful
gazes.
The bigger surprise was the other half the school. Harry actually had allies.
Hermione and Neville along with the Weasley twins and their sister were almost
assured. A blond, first year friend of Ginny's – apparently named Luna – had also
pledged her support. Though Harry hadn't been entirely certain whether the girl
was agreeing that he was not the Heir or if she was pledging her support to help
him take over the school and purge the wrackspurts…
Lavender Brown, Parvati and Padma Patil, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch
team rallied behind him. The Hufflepuff support really only came down to Susan
Bones and Hannah Abbott. Besides Padma and Luna, the Ravenclaws were also
mostly avoiding him – with the notable exception of Su Li and Cho Chang who had
both stated unequivocally that they believed Harry had nothing to do with
whatever was going on. The real surprise had been Slytherin. Most of the upper
years had apparently been annoyed that Harry was rumored to be the Heir and
ignored it on principle. In their own year, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis had
reported that Millicent Bulstrode had taken to threatening anyone who claimed
Harry had anything to do with the attacks and Blaise Zabini had also begun to
support him from the sidelines.
Now if only Harry could figure out exactly who the Heir was …
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom?" McGonagall asked from the open door to the
Charms classroom. "I must speak with you for a moment. I'm sorry Fillius but I
need to remove your students a little early."
"Of course. Of course," Flitwick responded with a worried look. McGonagall just
gave a slight shake of her head. "Don't forget to practice for your homework,
gentlemen."
Harry and Neville frowned at each other. An expression which only deepened after
they had grabbed the bags and noticed that McGonagall was exceedingly drawn
and tired. The stern Head of House had never looked so withdrawn in front of her
students before and Harry felt the first fluttering of dread settle in his stomach.
"Professor? What's happened?" Harry asked pushing down his worry as simply
overreacting. She was probably just coming to tell them what was taking so long
with purchasing the mandrakes. He had been asking her every day after all. 'Then
where is Hermione. How come she never showed up for class after running off at
lunch? When does Hermione ever miss class?'
"There has been another attack, Mr. Potter." McGonagall's voice was soft. Too soft.
Too controlled to be remotely natural.
'Where is Hermione?!' Harry's brain screamed. "So are we being questioned by
Professor Dumbledore again? Does Snape want to accuse me of the attacks yet
again?"
"We are going to the hospital wing, Mr. Potter. The student – the student was
found in the hallway outside the library…"
Harry barely heard anymore of his professor's sentence. He was too busy fighting
down panic. 'Hermione was going to the library after lunch. She had had an idea.
She had gone to research her idea. WHERE WAS HERMIONE!?'
"I assure you both that we will find the cause of this and…"
"Where – " Harry's mouth ran dry and had to start again. He did his best to ignore
the gibbering fool screaming for bloody murder in a corner of his mind. "Where is
Hermione, Professor McGonagall."
The three came to stop outside the doors to the infirmary and McGonagall turned
shimmering eyes onto Harry. "Miss Granger is inside, Harry. She was petrified just
like the other victims."
Harry's control strained against its bonds but he managed to keep hold long
enough to open the doors to the wing. He nearly sprinted to his friend's side,
Neville right behind him. Hermione was lying in a bed near Colin Creevy and the
others, her hand was extended with a small mirror clutched in it and a look of
surprise frozen on her features. Her other hand was curled into a ball and held to
her breast. Harry collapsed on top of her and – for the first time in six years – he
cried.
"My boy, I am sorry," Dumbledore's voice droned out somewhere behind Harry. He
couldn't be bothered to care. "Please take all the time you need here. I am sure
Miss Granger would not want you to neglect your classes on her account however."
Harry's hands clenched and he started to reign himself back in. It wouldn't due to
hex the Headmaster. Hermione would never let him hear the end of it when she
woke up.
"I don't see what the fuss is all about," Snape drawled near Dumbledore, "the girl
is just the same as the others." Harry's blood ran cold and his tears stopped
immediately. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Where are the mandrakes, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Harry said still clutching
Hermione's side.
"Sorry?"
"The mandrakes," Harry repeated. He lifted his head and gazed at them. If looks
could kill than Snape would be a smoldering pile of rags while Dumbledore would
likely be twitching in pain. "The mature mandrakes that Neville, Hermione and I
advised you to buy weeks ago. The mandrakes that are now out of season for the
large majority of Britain, and so have a diminishing stock every day. The mandrakes
that we had compiled a list of. The mandrakes to restore our classmates and
friends."
"Our mandrakes will be ready in mere weeks," Snape said. Neville growled right
back at the Professor while Harry never took his gaze from Dumbledore.
"Where are the mandrakes? Sir." Nobody took much notice of the breeze picking
up or the curtains beginning to flap near the windows. Despite the windows not
being open.
Dumbledore sighed. "The Board of Governors – at the urging of Lucius Malfoy – has
determined that there are insufficient funds in the Hogwarts budget to justify the
purchase of mature mandrakes while a crop is already growing on the grounds."
Neville's growl increased to a full snarl. He started to take a step towards the
teachers but Harry stood up and all eyes turned to him. Harry's face was seething
in rage, his lips curled into a primal sneer. The hair on his head whipped about as
the breeze in the room became a small maelstrom centered on Harry. Harry stalked
towards the assembled staff amidst complete silence from everyone else present.
"You. You bigoted, racist arseholes!" Harry yelled. "BUDGET CONCERNS!?
BUDGETS!? YOU BASTARDS! WOULD THERE BE BUDGET CONCERNS IF ANY OF
THESE PEOPLE WERE PUREBLOODS? IF THEIR PARENTS COULD BE HERE YELLING
ABOUT THE LACK OF TREATMENT? IF THEY HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO DONATE TO
THE RIGHT CAUSES OR THE RIGHT POCKETS? WOULD THERE BE BUDGET CONCERNS
THEN PROFESSOR?! WOULD THERE BE BUDGET CONCERNS IF ANYONE CARED THAT
THEY WERE LOSING MONTHS OF THEIR EDUCATION DUE TO THESE ATTACKS? WELL,
SIR?! WOULD THERE BE BUDGET CONCERNS THEN?!" His eyes almost seemed to
glow and the air near them had several small sparks flaring off every few seconds.
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Chapter 045
"My boy, I assure you – "
"I AM NOT YOUR BOY! MY PARENTS ARE DEAD! AND THE SAME PHILOSOPHY THAT
CAUSED THEIR MURDERS IS LEAVING MY FRIENDS LYING HERE! BUDGET CONCERNS!
YOU CAN TAKE YOUR BUDGET CONCERNS AND SHOVE IT WHERE THE SUN DON'T
SHINE! SIR!" Harry snarled and swept past the adults.
"Mr. Potter…where are you going?" McGonagall asked softly. She started to reach a
hand out to him but seemed to think better of it and stopped halfway letting her
arm fall back to her side.
"To the library, Professor," Harry scowled not bothering to look back. "If none of
you can figure out what the bloody hell is going on than I'll do it myself. Neville!"
"Harry?" Neville nodded to him and hurried to catch up.
"Send off the forms. We'll buy the damn mandrakes ourselves. If the stores are out
of stock send it off to the ones we found out of country. I'll figure out what
Hermione was searching for and if it has anything to do with why she was
attacked."
"On it." Neville reached the doors a second before Harry and took off down the
corridor while Harry turned towards the library.
The staff was left gaping behind the two. "What just happened?" Pomfrey asked
quietly.
"We were told very firmly how our world seems to work these days by two twelve
year olds," McGonagall said. She turned her gaze on Dumbledore with barely
contained disgust. "And they were absolutely correct."
"Potter? He had no right to speak to us like – " Snape tried to spit out glaring after
Harry. He was cut off mid-rant by McGonagall slapping him across the cheek. Three
sets of eyes turned to McGonagall in shock who simply lowered her hand.
"As I said, Harry and Neville were absolutely correct. You, Albus, could have
overrode the Board in the matter of safety of the students. You, Severus, could
have immediately searched out low cost, fast alternatives to waiting months for
our crop to mature. And I, I could have taken a far more targeted interest in healing
my students than allowing this farce to continue. You all know as well as I do that if
Draco Malfoy was lying in one of these beds not even a week would pass before he
was walking around the castle again. And yet, Mr. Creevy has been lying there since
before the turn of the New Year in his first year! We should all be ashamed of
ourselves." McGonagall scowled at all of the them and turned to stalk out of the
hospital wing. "I for one am going to attempt to catch Mr. Longbottom before he
sends that owl in order to add my own gold to their purchase efforts."
The wind trailing Harry had finally calmed by the time he stalked into the library.
He was still riled up, but he had regained enough sense to speak with Madame
Pince in a somewhat even tone. She had shown him the book that Hermione had
been using prior to running off. Dangerous Magical Creatures. And it was missing a
page from near the beginning. Harry stared down at the missing section with wide
eyes and a gaping mouth. Hermione vandalized a book. The thought of such an
event almost had Harry doubling over in laughter and shock.
At least he had somewhere to start now. Hagrid would be the next stop.
Harry had just walked out of the library and almost ran into Neville and
McGonagall when he froze again. A soft beeping sounded from his left shirt sleeve
and a red mark glowed faintly before dying down.
"Harry?" Neville asked cocking his head at the fading rune mark on Harry's robe.
"What was that?"
"Someone's trying to get into my trunk," Harry said confused. His features twisted
in rage a second later and he repeated, "Someone's trying to get into my trunk!" He
took off down sprinting down the corridor. Neville and McGonagall shook off their
surprise and ran after him a few moments later.
They had just managed to open the Fat Lady's portrait door when Harry whipped
out his Ninja stone, activated it and flew up the stairs to his dormitory. As he threw
open the door, he saw Ron Weasley sitting on the floor near Harry's open trunk
with the Invisibility Cloak in his hands. Harry's world turned red and he lashed out.
A kick to the redhead's hands saw the Cloak fly out and flutter to a heap on the
floor. Harry didn't even notice the door to the dorm bang open again as he threw a
punch into Ron's ribs. The boy cried out but Harry sent another punch into Ron,
silencing him with a wheeze. He lost his hold on the Ninja stone and melted back
into view but he didn't care. Harry grabbed Ron and tossed him to the wall. He
tried to throw another punch into the whimpering boy but found his arms
restrained as ropes wrapped around him. Neville caught him so he didn't fall and
Fred and George ran into the room as well.
"You little git!" Harry yelled. The twins looked from Harry to Ron and back.
"Mr. Potter, would you care to explain?" McGonagall said lowering her wand.
"I saw the look he gave my Invisibility Cloak last year, Professor!" Harry spat out.
"Fred and George were there! They saw it too. Ask them how Ron looked at it!"
McGonagall glanced at the two older boys who looked guiltily at each other before
turning back to her and slowly nodding. "It was the first time I ever got anything! I
got worried he might try something so I warded my trunk. There's three layers. One
in case someone tries to open it that sends an alert to the entwined rune on my
robes and sounds a warning here as well. The second activates if they try again and
it marks their head. See!" Harry jerked his chin towards Ron who had the word
THIEF across his forehead as if written with a green Magic Marker. One of the twins
snorted and nodded approvingly. McGonagall's eyes just narrowed. "The third
layer knocks them back and gives a mild electric shock. You have to deliberately
want to take something to keep going through all three!"
Harry spat at the redhead who had finally managed to stumble to his feet. "What?
Got tired how thinking how the Heir of Slytherin had such nice things? You wanted
to take some for yourself?"
"I heard Hermione was attacked!" Ron yelled back, his face darkening. "I wanted to
follow you and get proof that you're the one hurting people! That Cloak's the best
way to do it!"
"That's the only thing I have of my father you arse! You want to take the pictures of
my parents as well?! How about my mother's notebooks?! Or maybe you're more
interested in the rune case Shiva gave me? Or the etching set from Hermione?
Well!? What else do you want you – "
"That's enough, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said forcefully. Unlike in the hospital wing
earlier, Harry calmed down enough to simply glare at Ron. "Mr. Weasley. 25 points
from Gryffindor and a week of detention served between myself and Mr. Filch. I am
ashamed that you resort to petty theft of a family heirloom! Rest assured this will
be brought up to your parents. Mr.'s Fred and George Weasley, please escort your
brother to the hospital wing to ensure that any injuries he has are treated." Both
twins nodded and moved to grab Ron's shoulders. Fred patted Harry on the back as
they passed muttered a quiet, "sorry mate," to him. "Mr. Potter. I understand the
stress you are currently under but this is not the way to deal with the situation. 15
points deducted for physical altercation. 5 points gained for a creative warding
scheme." McGonagall sighed. "Miss Granger will be fine, Harry. She was petrified
yes, but she is otherwise uninjured. You need to calm down so that you remain
that way yourself. Mr. Longbottom, please ensure to take care of him in the
meantime."
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---------------------------
Chapter 046
"So why are we going to Hagrid again?" Neville asked following Harry. It had been
nearly a day until Harry was calm enough to go out and talk to the large man. Shiva
had tried to speak with Harry a few times since then but he had simply stayed
silent, standing vigil over Hermione.
"Hermione was looking up something about dangerous magical creatures. Who do
we know who is the best source to get more information on that particular topic?"
Harry said with raised eyebrows.
Neville chuckled. "Yeah. Good point." He stopped and squinted towards their
friend's hut. "Hey, that's the Minister. And Aurors…what are they doing at
Hagrid's?"
Harry's insides went cold. "Neville, activate your Ninja and listen at the window."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Harry grabbed his own rune stone and pushed the activator etching.
Feeling the now familiar shiver of the camouflage and silencing wards wrapping
around him, Harry hurried to kneel down by the window to Hagrid's hut. He saw a
small shimmer in the air next to him and knew that Neville had arrived as well.
"Really, Minister, this is unnecessary." Dumbledore's voice drifted out to them from
somewhere inside.
"Now, now, Albus, the attacks have yet to stop. The Ministry must be seen to be
doing something!" Harry's eyes narrowed at the implications of that statement. He
shifted so that he could watch the man in the lime green bowler hat. The Minister
was standing behind a trio of Aurors talking with Dumbledore while Hagrid sobbed
into a large handkerchief at his table.
"Hagrid does not even have a wand. And the last time he was accused, the creature
he was found with was an acromantula. Acromantulas cannot petrify victims in any
way, Cornelius."
One of the Aurors shifted her weight from foot to foot. Harry started as he
recognized Tonks. Her hair wasn't pink anymore but instead was brown and mousy.
He could barely recognize her without the wild hair or carefree expression. "He's
right Minister Fudge. I looked it up. Acromantulas can kill no problem and they're
smart as hell but…they couldn't be related to what's happening right now."
"Be that as it may I am the Minister, Auror, and I say what is and is not possible!"
Harry snarled. This man was even worse than Ron. At least the idiot Weasley used
some form of logic. "Now arrest him and bring him to Azkaban until this mess is all
solved!"
"But what about a trial, Sir?" Tonks tried again. Dumbledore just sighed and shook
his head. The old man – the Chief Warlock – didn't seem to be willing to do
anything and Harry felt the wind picking up around him again.
"Rook," one of the other Aurors said to Tonks, "let it go. If you want to graduate
just shut up and do what you're told."
"That doesn't seem – "
"It's al'righ'," Hagrid said with a final wheeze into his hanky. "I'll go, Tonksie. Jus'
promise me you'll find who's doin' this and help those kids."
"We'll figure it out, Hagrid," Tonks said wilting even further. How dare they do that
Tonks! To Hagrid! Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back to the dim
outline of Neville. His eyes widened as he noticed that he himself was visible again.
With a start, Harry saw the small tornado that was whipping up by him and the
sparks flying from the Ninja clutched in his hands. Harry hurriedly damped down
on whatever wild magic he was sending off and the Ninja stopped sparking, the
illusions and silencing wards snapping back into place around him. Breathing a sigh
of relief and nodding thanks at Neville's outline, Harry turned back to the window.
"Enough of this. Arrest him. I have other meetings to get to," Fudge said with a
twist of his hat. The small group stepped out with Hagrid in some sort of cuffs
between them and Tonks trailing dejectedly behind. If being an Auror did that to
her, he hoped she didn't end up graduating. Tonks should be fun and cheery not
looking like Dudley had been jumping on her back. Within a minute everyone had
left Hagrid's hut and Neville and Harry dropped the Ninja stones back into their
belt holsters.
"What the hell is going on, Harry?" Neville stared where the group had
disappeared to in the distance.
"I don't know. But now we really have to figure it out. The government obviously
doesn't seem to want to solve anything." Harry's glare increased. Yet another strike
against people with authority.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Harry said holding his friend's hand. He and Neville had
stopped in to talk with her after classes had let out. "We can't get the mandrakes
for you just yet. Apparently," Harry spit the word like a curse, "Lucius Malfoy has
managed to get a new law passed that regulates the import of dangerous magical
substances and requires a holding period to ensure they are properly stored and
inspected. By the time we could get them here, the ones growing would already be
mature. I'm going to get that man. I don't know how, but I'm going to get back at
him somehow!"
Neville smirked from her other side. "We did find the book you were looking at
though. I know Harry thinks you tore out that page but I still say he's mental. I
mean really, Hermione Granger defacing a book? That's more insane that teaching
Trevor to do the tango!" He chuckled. "We did order a new copy though just in case
you really did do it. That way we can check the page and try to figure out what you
already knew."
"Yeah, maybe next time tell us what you're running off to check so that we don't
have to guess, eh?" Harry said squeezing her hand. He frowned. She was holding
something in the hand clutched to her chest. "What the…Neville look at this!"
"What?" Neville leaned over Hermione and peered at the hand. "Is that paper?"
"Hang on." Harry grabbed one of the tweezer-like instruments on a side table near
him and carefully worked the paper out of her hand. He unfolded it and held it up
in triumph to Neville. "Told you she tore the page!"
"Yeah, yeah, bully for you. What's it say?"
Harry squinted at the little piece of paper. " 'No snakes are more feared than the
King of Serpents. The basilisk. A basilisk is born by hatching a chicken egg warmed
from under a toad. They continue to grow as long as they live and specimens have
been known to survive millennia. A basilisk's gaze will immediately kill nearly
anything that looks into its eyes and in addition, the snake's venom is the most
potent poison known to our world only able to be healed through the tears of a
phoenix. Basilisk hide is nearly immune to spell fire – even more so than a dragon.
The only known weakness of a basilisk is the crow of a rooster which is nearly
instantly fatal to the creature.' Neville," Harry stared down at the paper with wide
eyes, "weren't all the roosters killed on Halloween?"
"Yeah…" Neville swallowed nervously. "But that can't be the monster can it? The
book says its gaze kills not petrifies."
Harry slowly shook his head staring at the mirror still stuck in Hermione's fingers
and the camera Colin was clutching. "But what if someone didn't see it directly,
Nev? What if someone saw it say through a mirror? Or a camera? Or a puddle of
water? Or a reflection in a suit of armor? Or through a ghost? And Salazar Slytherin
was supposedly a parseltongue like me right? It would make sense for his monster
to be something only he could control."
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---------------------------
Chapter 047
"And it would explain why you could hear it and we couldn't…We need to find
Babbling and the other professors and let them know immediately!"
"Wait! Nev, give me a minute!" Harry tore into his bag, pulled out his etching tool
and whipped off his glasses.
"Harry, this isn't the time for a new invention! We have to tell them there's a
monster snake on the loose that can kill you by looking at you! Bloody hell, it's a
miracle no one's died yet!"
"I know! This should just take a minute!"
"What are you doing, Harry?" Neville was practically jumping from one foot to
another.
"It's a Reflection rune twined with a Magic rune. Maybe it'll bounce the gaze back
at the thing if we stumble across it?" Harry finished his work and the glass of his
lenses flashed briefly before the lines faded back to barely visible patterns. Harry
put them back on his face and grabbed a shiny tray from the table handing it off to
Neville.
"What I don't get a reflection thing?"
"Can you transfigure glasses?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow. Neville wilted and
shook his head. "That's what I thought. Besides there's probably a 50/50 shot that
this does nothing anyway and the basilisk just kills me. This way at least one of us
will probably survive if we get unlucky…"
Harry and Neville practically flew down the corridors slowing only at intersections
where Neville would carefully hold his shiny tray to peer around the corner and
Harry would pray his Reflector Lenses held up. They had just tore around the
corner to Shiva's office and raised their fists to slam on the door when it was pulled
open from the inside. A white faced Shiva stared back out at them, jerking back
slightly in surprise before regaining her composure.
"Harry, Neville. This really isn't a good time. I have to get to the Teacher's
conference room immediately and – "
"Shiva, we know what's been attacking everyone! It's a – " Harry explained
hurriedly. Before he could get the nature of the beast out though Daphne
Greengrass barreled into the corridor at a flat run. She saw Harry, Neville and Shiva
and angled for them. Before anyone could say anything, Daphne had grabbed
Harry's robes in both hands and was pleading with him.
"Potter, please tell me you've seen her! She ran and I can't find her! I should've
realized something was wrong but I didn't see it until it was too late! Please, I need
to find her!" Harry had never seen Daphne with so much as a hair out of place
before but now…now she looked like Dudley had been chasing her for miles. Her
face was splotchy, her hair wild, there were tear tracks down her face and her voice
was just short of complete panic.
"Daphne, what are you talking about?" Harry asked trying to ignore the hands still
clenched in his robes and focus on the girl in front of him.
"Tracey! I touched that stupid diary and she completely freaked out! She ran out of
the room and I lost her and she's gone! She's gone! Potter, I need to find her! I
don't know what's going on but something is horribly wrong!"
"Tracey Davis?" Shiva said in a whisper behind the three students. Her face had lost
what little color it had left.
"Yes. Have you seen her, Professor? Please, I need to find her! She's my – she's my
friend," Daphne said with a hitch.
"Miss Greengrass I – "
All students return to your dormitories. All students return to your dormitories.
Remain in your Common Rooms. Instructions will follow. Dumbledore's voice
reverberated through the castle sounding almost as if it was coming from the very
walls themselves.
Harry's blood ran cold as he turned between the frantic Daphne and the
despondent Shiva. "Shiva? Where is Tracey?"
"The three of you inside. Now," Shiva said as she wiped a hand down her face and
pushed her door open further. The students dutifully filed into the office. "I am
sorry to have to tell you this but…another message was discovered on the walls a
few minutes ago. It appears that Miss Davis was taken."
"Taken?" Neville asked as his eyes narrowed. "Taken where? How?" Harry's mind
started turning. How did this fit? Why take Tracey?
"Into the Chamber. We don't know how. I'm sorry Miss Greengrass."
"But – that's – no!" Daphne yelled not letting go of Harry's arm. Her eyes widened
and she took a shuddering breath before sitting up straight and her features visibly
freezing into a mask of calm and disinterest. "What did the message say,
Professor?"
"It said," Shiva said, "that 'Davis' skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. Her death
will feed the rebirth.' " She gave a dark chuckle. "We have so utterly failed this
school…"
"What the hell would a basilisk need Tracey for?" Neville asked collapsing back
against the wall.
"A basilisk?" Shiva and Daphne both stared at the boy in utter confusion.
"It's the Heir, Nev. The basilisk is just the weapon but someone needs to be
controlling it. Someone who's done it before. Or at least someone who's figured it
out and is using this as the perfect opportunity. What if it's Lockhart? Maybe it's
him and he needed Tracey to complete some ritual or something…"
"Flophart? There's no way that that idiot is the Heir!" Neville shot back.
"It would be a good cover…" Harry muttered.
"What the hell are you two talking about with a basilisk?" Shiva asked turning a
hard stare on Harry. "Harry, I need to get to this staff meeting but if you know what
is going on I need to know. Now."
"Hermione figured it out before she was attacked, Shiva," Harry explained. "The
monster is a basilisk. It's vulnerable to roosters. All the roosters were killed on
Halloween before the first attack. It's gaze kills but nobody has seen the direct gaze.
Everybody's been really, really lucky and only caught a reflection or a distorted
view and so they've just been petrified. It's supposed to be Salazar Slytherin's
monster and he was a parseltongue. It all fits. The monster is a basilisk."
Shiva cursed and Daphne's eyes widened turning between the two boys present.
"But if Lockhart has a basilisk under his control why go after Tracey?"
"Search me." Harry shrugged.
"Let's go ask him," Shiva growled before sweeping to her feet.
"Wait, Shiva! Can you transfigure glasses? Or at least something reflective?" Harry
asked grabbing her arm before they could leave the room.
"What? Why?"
Harry pointed to his glasses. "The eyes, Shiva! A basilisk kills if you meet its eyes. I
etched these into Reflector Lenses which might bounce its gaze back at it, but
neither Nev nor I can transfigure glasses so he had to make do with that tray."
Neville helpfully held up his medical tray.
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Chapter 048
Shiva peered at his lenses noticing the faint rune lines stenciled into the glass. She
stood back up shaking her head. "I suck with transfiguration. Good catch though."
Flicking her wand two small mirrors flew out of the inner room and into her hand.
She handed one to Daphne and took the other herself. "These will have to do for
now. Come on everyone."
The foursome hurried down the corridors of the castle. With any luck Lockhart
would be at the staff meeting and they'd have backup. Shiva was directing them
towards his office first though since it was on the way. She didn't even stop to say
anything as they pulled up outside. Shiva just slashed her wand down with a
muttered banishing hex and the door slammed open.
As the four stepped into the office Lockhart looked up from in front of his desk
pushing his trunk closed. "Oh, hello, everyone." Lockhart's smile was strained and
his face pale. "I'm afraid I just received a call from my editor and I must be off
immediately."
"You're not going anywhere, Gilderoy," Shiva said glaring at the man.
"Where's, Tracey, you bastard?!" Daphne snarled. Her wand started to come up but
Harry held her arm down shaking his head and nodding towards Shiva, letting his
mentor take the lead.
"Come on, Gilderoy. We're going to the rest of the staff and you're going to explain
some things about what's been going on around here since you showed up."
"I really have no idea what you're talking about. I must be going," Lockhart shifted
slightly so that his side was facing the group with one arm hidden. He started to
bend to seemingly pick up his trunk but spun with his wand out. Before an
incantation could leave his lips four disarming spells slammed into the man.
Lockhart was thrown back into his desk while his wand flew out his hand and
smashed into the ceiling with a crack. The wand dropped back to the tiles, almost
broken into two but held together by a sliver of wood and unicorn hair.
"Real smart, Gilderoy," Shiva said with a snort before picking up the wand and
pocketing it. "Now where's the girl?"
"What?" Lockhart wheezed holding his head and shakily getting to his feet. "The
Davis girl? How should I know?"
"Because you're the one who took her, arsehole!" Daphne yelled. She threw off
Harry's arm and pointed her wand at the teacher with the tip glowing. "I lost her
near Myrtle's bathroom! Where did you take her!"
Harry froze. Myrtle's bathroom. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Moaning Myrtle.
Moany. 'Bloody hell…'
"The entrance is in the bathroom," Harry said gaping.
"What?" Neville and Shiva said giving him a quick glance before returning their
attention to Lockhart.
"Dobby said that the last time the Chamber was opened 'Moany' died," Harry
explained feeling numb. They had been sitting right outside the bloody thing for
nearly a month and never once noticed it! "The only 'Moany' I can think of is
Moaning Myrtle. Moaning Myrtle who haunts the place she died. Daphne, you lost
Tracey outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The Chamber's entrance is in Moaning
Myrtle's bathroom! I can't believe I didn't see this before! I am such an idiot!"
Neville's mouth dropped open as he processed what Harry was saying. Daphne's
glare just hardened though her wand tip stopped glowing. Shiva's eyes narrowed in
thought before giving a short head nod of agreement.
"Good enough for me." She flicked her wand towards the entrance. "Move it,
Gilderoy. To the bathroom. Harry, take Daphne and Neville and go get some
backup."
"No," Harry said with a firm shake of his head.
"Harry this is not a debate."
"If you think I am leaving you alone with him and a basilisk you are insane!" Harry
snarled at her losing his grip on the rage that seethed up. "You are the closest thing
to a bloody loved one I've ever had and I'll be damned before I let you go into the
Chamber alone! I'm coming with you!"
"As am I," Daphne said stepping beside Harry. "If Tracey is down there, there is no
way you are leaving me behind."
Neville moved to stand with the other two students. "And I'm not backing down
from this either. I'd never be able to look at my mum and dad again if I let you
three go alone."
Shiva growled and muttered, "Merlin-be-damned teenagers. Fine! But you all listen
to me and do exactly what I tell you yeah?" Three answering nods later Shiva
continued, "Good. Okay, fine. Tilly?"
A small house elf popped into view near Shiva startling the three students and
Lockhart. This one looked far better off than Dobby though she was still clad in
little more than a fancy tea towel. "How can Tilly be helping Mistress Shedy?"
"Tilly, go to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape and Dumbledore. Tell them I
believe the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is inside Moaning Myrtle's
bathroom and I am en route with the assumed perpetrator – "
"What?!" Lockhart squawked.
Shiva ignored him and kept going. "Tell them I believe the instrument of attack to
be a basilisk and require immediate assistance. Got that?"
"Yes, Mistress Shedy," Tilly said bobbing her head. "Tilly will be telling the
Professors immediately." She popped out of the room with a snap. Shiva nodded
and turned to the others gesturing towards the door out.
Lockhart tried protesting again but found himself tossed out the door by a flip of a
wand. The three others followed along behind him as the stumbling staff members
started walking towards the ghost's bathroom and the entrance to the Chamber of
Secrets.
As they got to the bathroom, Harry grabbed Shiva's arm. "Shiva, I should go first."
"Like hell, kid. Not happening," she said snorting.
"I'm the only one with glasses. I'm the one who talks to snakes. If I go first and it's
there I have a far better chance of surviving than anyone else here," he said staring
at her. "You know I'm right, Shiva."
She worked her mouth for a few moments before scowling. "Sometimes I really
hate that you can use logic, you know that? You open the door and take a quick
peek. That's it. Nothing else. You see anything besides Myrtle and you slam that
door closed, got it?" Harry nodded and Shiva let out an explosive sigh. "Fine,
everyone step back. Lockhart, stay where I can see you." She motioned to Harry
and made sure she could cover both the door and Lockhart.
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Chapter 049
Harry took a deep breath and cracked the door to Myrtle's haunt. He opened it just
a sliver, enough to take a short scan of the room beyond. It was empty. Letting out
his breath Harry pushed the door open completely and waved the others forward.
As they trooped into the room, Myrtle floated out of her stall. "Hello, Harry. Hello,
Neville. Come to visit with me?"
"Actually, Myrtle we need to ask you a question," Harry said taking the lead.
Daphne looked ready to jump down the ghost's throat but Neville gave her a slight
shake of his head and she backed down.
"Really? Me? How can I help you?"
"Well…please don't freak out Myrtle because this is really important," the ghost
nodded at Harry's plea, "we need to know if you remember how you died."
Myrtle just shrugged. "It wasn't exciting. I was crying because Olive had said
something mean. There was a noise – a boy had come in and started talking and
hissing. I got angry at him because this is a girl's room so I opened the door to yell
at him. Next thing I know I'm staring into these giant yellow eyes and then I'm dead.
Nothing fun like Nick."
"Merlin," Shiva breathed out, "it really is a bloody basilisk."
"Do you remember where the eyes you saw were, Myrtle?" Harry asked.
Myrtle shrugged again and pointed towards the sinks. "Over there. Are you going
looking for whatever killed me?" Harry and the others nodded. Lockhart squeaked.
"If you die, you can share my bathroom, Harry. You too, Neville," Myrtle said
bashfully. Harry and Neville both tried to ignore the fact that a ghost apparently
had a crush on them.
Harry walked over to the sinks and started looking on, under and around them
with Daphne coming over to help. Shiva stayed watching Lockhart.
"You know I really don't know why I'm here…" Lockhart started. "I mean, sure I
may have lied a bit on some of my books but kidnapping and attempted murder?
Me? Really?"
"Yup," Shiva replied simply.
"I'm really only good at one spell you know. I'm a genius with memory charms. I'm
not very good at anything else. I simply don't have the necessary skill set to kill
someone even if I ever had the motivation. What would be the point, Babs?" He
held his arms out to his side. "Why would I bother trying to kill anyone? All I want
is fame and fortune. I have both. I have witches lining up to sleep with me. Why
would I risk any of that to try and kill some students?"
"Search me." Shiva glared at him. "And are you really going to keep using that
horrible name that I hate while I am half convinced you're a wannabe murderer
and have a wand trained on you?" Lockhart paled again as the implications sank in.
"Potter!" Daphne exclaimed. She pointed towards a section of one of the sinks.
"Look, a snake motif. This must be it!"
Harry shifted around to look at the spot she was pointing at to see a tiny snake
etched onto the side of the faucet. "Worth a shot. Everyone ready?" Three
answering nods later Harry turned back to the sink. "Open." He said to the snake
motif. Nothing happened.
"That was English, Harry," Neville said. "Try parseltongue."
"It's not exactly easy to do on command you know," Harry grumbled irritably.
"Well you don't exactly practice it," Neville rolled his eyes. "Try imagining it's real
before you say anything again."
Harry sighed and turned back to the little imprint. He tried to imagine the thing
waving its head at him and shifting its body. After a moment Harry felt something
click in his head and he whispered, ~Open.~ This time the snake responded. It
coiled into a circle around the faucet and the entire sink structure sunk into the
floor exposing a dark tunnel leading underground.
"Well…" Shiva said dumbfounded. "That's new."
"Let's go. Tracey's down there," Daphne looked ready to jump down before Harry
grabbed her and pulled her back from the edge.
"One second, Daphne." Harry pulled over his pack before popping the top and
grabbing the rune case Shiva had gotten him last Christmas. "Neville, Daphne, here.
Sorry, Shiva I only have two extras," he said with a shrug. "These are Concussors,
Reductors, and Blastors. They work basically just like the spells they're named after
but you just have to channel a bit of magic into it to activate it instead of going
through a wand motion. The rune pattern directs the spell so make sure it's facing
away from you and your fingers aren't covering it. That hurts. A lot."
Daphne frowned at him. "I can fire a reducto with my wand, Potter."
"Yeah, I can too but this is faster and you can use it in your off-hand while using a
wand in your main hand if you want. As long as you don't use it continuously for
five minutes or so it shouldn't disintegrate or crumble on you."
"Should we wait for the reinforcements?" Neville asked.
Both Shiva and Daphne shook their heads. "If Davis is down there already every
second we wait could be worse for her. There's nothing I can say to make any of
you stay up here?" Lockhart raised his hand before she snorted at him and he
closed his mouth. The rest just shook their heads. Shiva sighed but nodded. "Very
well. Lockhart, you first. I'll follow. Then Harry, Neville and Daphne you bring up
the rear."
"I really don't think this is a good – " Lockhart said before Shiva flicked her wand
and he soared into the tunnel shrieking like a teenage girl.
"You know I'm starting to think maybe he really isn't the controller," Shiva said
with a sigh. "Be careful everyone. If he isn't, Merlin knows just who is actually
down there controlling the bloody snake. Keep on your toes, keep your mirrors out,
and be ready to shut your eyes if you see scales." She stepped up to the edge and
muttered, "Merlin help me and Goddess watch over these kids and their idiot of a
Professor." She stepped over the side and slid into the tunnel.
Harry quickly jumped in after her. He heard Neville and Daphne follow him down
and then there was a grinding noise reverberating down the tunnel along with
what little light filtered through disappearing. Harry flew out the end of the tunnel
skidding along on the dirt and mud before stopping near a small pile of bones
against the wall. The lower section was lit up by Shiva's wand and he rolled out of
the way as Neville and Daphne flew out on his heels.
"Tunnel closed as I jumped in," Daphne said getting to her feet and brushing her
robes off. "Looks like the reinforcements aren't going to make it." Shiva swore and
Neville turned a bit green before squaring his shoulders.
Harry just shrugged. "Well, I fought Voldemort alone last year. I'm already doing
better so far."
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Chapter 050
"That," Neville said his eyes wide, "is a very large piece of skin." He was pointing at
a discarded molt which had presumably been left by the basilisk. It looked to be
about 30-40 feet long.
Harry shrugged. "This thing was Salazar Slytherin's pet. It's over a thousand years
old. Of course it's going to be big, Nev."
Daphne stared at Harry and shook her head. "How the bloody hell are you so calm
about this?"
"Well, when you've fought a man with a face poking out of the back of his skull a
big snake isn't quite as bad." Harry paused and sighed. "Also, I'm not calm – I'm
terrified. I've just had a lot of practice with hiding some of my emotions." His eyes
narrowed and a small storm of fury played over his features. "And this thing hurt
Hermione. I'm going to kill it."
"Right...Remind me not to piss you off," Daphne muttered edging away from him
slightly.
The small group walked a little further down the tunnel before Harry stopped and
turned to Shiva. "Shiva? Can you transfigure a rooster? It would make this a lot less
dangerous…"
Shiva rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Seriously? I can't transfigure glasses why
would you think I can transfigure a rooster?"
"You could at least try," Daphne snarked. "You are a teacher."
"A Runes teacher," Shiva muttered. "Fine, it can't hurt to attempt it I suppose. You
know even if I get manage to get a rooster it's not very likely to do much of
anything beyond scare the thing? Transfigured animals aren't actual animals. A
transfigured rooster won't have whatever properties allow real roosters to hurt the
basilisk."
"It's a thousand year old snake," Harry replied dryly. "Any advantage is a good
advantage."
Shiva crouched down aimed at a large rock in the tunnel about the size of a chicken
and started muttering enchantments and flicked her wand at it. After a few
seconds the rock, with a bit of a pop turned into a craggy rooster-like shape that
gave a croak before flopping over onto the ground and not moving.
"I told you I suck at transfiguration," Shiva grumbled.
As she started to stand, Lockhart suddenly rushed her. Neville yelled attempting to
fire a stunner at him but the shot went wild. Harry and Daphne drew their wands
towards the man but he twisted back away from Shiva with his broken wand in
hand before they could do anything. "Such a shame that you all were killed by the
basilisk. This will make a perfect end to my newest book," Lockhart said with a
manic grin. He started to slash his wand down.
Shiva yelled out, "Protego!"
At the same time as a luminous shield sprang into existence in front of the group,
Lockhart screamed out, "Obliviate!" His spell shot out from both ends of his wand.
One beam struck Lockhart sending him into the wall of tunnel. The second beam
hit Shiva's shield and rebounded into the ceiling. A spreading crack was all the
warning the group had before a large section of ceiling shattered and gigantic
pieces of rock crashed into the corridor. Harry dove, knocking Daphne out of the
way of the debris, both students holding their hands over their heads as the dust
settled and the rumbling stopped.
Picking himself up, Harry turned back to the newly formed blockage. Daphne was
the only other one he could see. "Shiva! Neville!" Harry yelled frantically throwing
some of the smaller rocks back. 'Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay.
Please let them be okay.' He didn't know who he was praying to, but prayed
anyway.
"Harry!" a muffled voice yelled back. "Harry! Are you okay? Is Daphne alright?"
Harry breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Shiva's voice. He looked over at Daphne
who coughed and gave him a thumbs up.
"Yeah, we're fine, Shiva! Are you okay? Is Neville alright?"
"I'm fine, Harry!" Neville's reply was just as muffled as Shiva's. "Looks like Lockhart
brought down the ceiling. One rock hit him in the crotch as it fell. Serves the bugger
right." Now that Neville mentioned it...Harry could dimly make out a sort of
muffled groan.
"Harry, stay there, I'm going to try to shift some of these rocks," Shiva said. A few
moments later there was a soft crash as some of the boulders moved and the
ceiling groaned. Harry could hear soft cursing coming from the other side of the
barrier. "Bloody freaking hell! Okay guys, I'm going to have to shore up the ceiling
as I shift this stuff. I'll add some runes into the supports to make sure it holds but
it's still going to take close to hour to get through this shite."
Daphne snarled and grabbed Harry's arm. "We can't wait that long! Tracey could be
dying!"
Harry looked between his…friend…and the cave-in. Eventually he sighed and
nodded at her. "Shiva, Daphne and I will keep going. You guys catch up when you
can."
"What the bloody hell!? Don't you bloody dare you git! You two stay right – "
"Shiva!" Harry yelled back cutting her off. "We came down here without waiting for
the others because Tracey's in danger! We'll be careful but we can't afford to just
sit here and wait!"
"I don't give a rat's arse about that you little shite! I have not been looking out for
you for the past two years or fighting to get custody for the last year just for you to
run off and get yourself killed and eaten by a BLOODY BASILISK! YOU HEAR ME
HARRY! YOU STAY RIGHT THERE UNTIL I GET THROUGH THIS!"
"But Tracey could be - " Harry tried.
"I don't know Tracey! I know you! I care about you! It's bad enough I let you
convince me to bring you down here! You can't run off on me like this, Harry! Not
now! Not ever!"
Having someone yell at Harry because they cared about him was an entirely new
experience to the boy. Even Hermione hadn't ever really raised her voice to him
quite like this. He cringed a huge feeling of guilt settling onto his shoulders.