Hours later, Harry winced as he woke up around pitch blackness, his head still throbbing. For a moment, he wondered why he had woken up when he realised that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark. With a yelp, he cast a wandless banishing charm at whomever or whatever was next to him.
" Lumos ! "
A ball of light illuminated in his palm, bathing his surroundings with brightness. "What the hell - Dobby !"
"Harry Potter came back to school," whispered the elf miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby?"
"I need more proof that something is wrong before I quit school, Dobby," said Harry, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did your master put you up to this? Why does Lucius Malfoy want me out of the school?"
Dobby gasped when Harry mentioned his master's name, but shook his head in desperation. "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his bludger would be enough -"
" Your bludger?" snarled Harry angrily. "What the hell is wrong with you? That blasted bludger cracked my skull! You better clear off soon, Dobby or I might strangle you!"
"Dobby is used to death threats, sir," said the elf weakly. "Dobby gets them five times a day at home. You must go leave, Harry Potter! Dark deeds are planned at Hogwarts this year. Great danger looms the castle and Harry Potter must not stay here! Not now, when history is to repeat itself, with the Chamber of Secrets open once more."
Dobby's eyes widened as he picked up a newspaper and started hitting himself with it. But Harry vanished the newspaper with a wave of his hand and summoned the elf closer. "You mean to say the Chamber is real?" he asked quietly. "That there really is a monster in the Chamber of Secrets? But why would it target me? I'm not a Muggle-born. I'm the direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor himself!"
"Ask no more of poor Dobby," sobbed the elf. "Harry Potter must go home!"
"When was the Chamber opened the last time?" Harry pushed impatiently. "Who did it then? How is Lucius Malfoy responsible for it this time?"
Suddenly, there were footsteps outside the Hospital Wing. Dobby squeaked in fear and disappeared with a near-silent pop . Harry extinguished the light and pretended to go back to sleep when he heard people enter.
"Find Poppy, quickly," urged Dumbledore to his deputy as he levitated the boy to one of the beds. When Madam Pomfrey came to check on her newest patient, the aged headmaster explained what had happened.
"There has been another attack," he told her gravely. "He's been petrified."
Harry turned slightly and opened his eyes minutely, only to see the still, unconscious body of Colin Creevey. He swallowed when he could smell the burnt plastic of the Muggle camera all the way to his bed.
"What could this mean, Albus?" whispered McGonagall in fear.
"It means the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened again," declared Dumbledore gravely. His tone was soft, but his eyes burning with rage.
"But Albus… surely… who ?"
"The question is not only who," muttered Dumbledore, his eyes falling on the sleeping form of Harry Potter. "The question we must also be asking ourselves is how… and why…"
Albus Dumbledore could not begin to describe his anger at the attack on the students of Hogwarts. The last time it had happened, he had not been able to do anything, letting the situation get out of hand. He had suspected that Tom Riddle was behind it, but he didn't have proof. Being a Parselmouth was not a crime, and there was no evidence at all to support his theory, so the sixteen-year-old boy had gotten away with it, culminating with the death of that Ravenclaw student and Hagrid being expelled for crimes he didn't commit.
That was when Albus had realised the extent of Tom's cruelty and lack of empathy for anyone but himself. If this had happened last year, he would have immediately suspected Voldemort to be behind it, because the very much weakened Dark Lord had been inside the castle, even if he was on Albus' leash. But this year, he had not detected anything. He had been hoping for a peaceful year as he tried his best to repair the damaged relationship between him and Harry by maybe teaching the young wizard Alchemy, but that had not happened.
He knew Harry hated Muggles but was it possible that he hated Muggle-borns as well? The boy was the only Parselmouth in the school - the only one in the country - so there couldn't be anyone else who might have done it. He knew that it wasn't Voldemort who was behind these attacks since his sources said that the Dark Lord was currently far away, deep in the Albanian forests, so that meant someone else was responsible. But how had Harry found the Chamber so quickly? It had taken Tom years to find it. But wait… was the boy a Parselmouth at all? Was he jumping to conclusions because of the Horcrux in Harry's scar?
He would have to confirm his theory and maybe look out for any other sources that might have enabled the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Albus didn't want to jump to conclusions. He still felt guilty for causing Harry's pain, even if he felt it was necessary at the time, so he wouldn't suspect the boy until he had proof.
Now, how would he find out if Harry really was a Parselmouth?
...
"Nothing," sighed Daphne as she plopped herself on the couch beside Harry in the Room of Requirement. "There is absolutely no information about the opening of the Chamber of Secrets in the library."
Harry's eye twitched in annoyance.
"What sort of creature is capable of petrifying its victims, anyway?" she asked curiously.
"The only thing I can think of that causes petrification such as this is the gaze of a Gorgon, but they are very limited in number and don't exist in Britain. Besides, I'm sure that wards would have picked it up and Dumbledore would've surely noticed it. No, this is probably the work of a wizard. There is absolutely no proof that a magical creature was involved in any way."
The two spent the next couple of hours together in animated conversation while they finished their homework. Finally, after dinner, Harry exhaled heavily. "I have detention with Lockhart tonight, Daphne. I'll see you tomorrow."
"What did you do this time?" asked Daphne in surprise.
Harry smirked faintly. "Fred, George and I decided to play a little prank on him in class. When he asked us to imitate werewolves, Fred and George cast glamour charms while I used a Confundus. Needless to say, for just a couple of seconds it worked and he pissed himself in fear. Naturally, we got detention. According to Sirius, the detention is more than worth pranking that idiot. I swear, I wonder if he's a wizard at all! I haven't seen him perform magic except to beautify himself!"
"It's just for tonight, isn't it?"
"No," he replied, sounding annoyed. "It's a total of seven days. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Daphne."
After Harry left the Room of Requirement and was heading towards the Defence classroom, he heard a voice; a voice so chilling that he nearly tripped.
"Come… come to me… let me rip you… let me tear you… let me kill you… so hungry… must kill this time…"
Harry's heart was beating furiously. What the hell was that? Pressing his ear to the wall, he began following the voice, his strides long and quick.
"I smell blood… KILL!"
....
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