As Hadrian was returning to the Slytherin dorms, after accepting Luna as his loyal, second pet, he heard a creepy voice traveling through the walls.
"Hiss~ Kill~"
'A snake's slithering voice... Interesting...' Thinking so, he followed the voice. The decision to follow the voice was more than just a whim... it was instinctual, he was drawn to it...
What he found when the voice finally stopped was a message written on a wall, with dark crimson blood.
[The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the Heir... beware.]
Along with the Filch's cat who was petrified and hanging by her tail from a torch post, he noticed a trail of spiders running away.
Not long after he arrived, hundreds of students came after the Feast from both ends of the passage, finding Hadrian staring at something on the wall.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the Heir... beware." Draco Malfoy muttered, his eyes falling on Hadrian who was staring at the message with a tilted head without minding the crowd.
Filch arrived soon, "My Cat! My Cat! Who did this!!" He shrieked.
His popping eyes met Hadrian's cold and unempathetic eyes.
"You!" He screeched, "You! You murdered my cat! You killed her! I'll kill you!" He charged at Hadrian who pulled out his wand and aimed it towards him in response.
Filch stopped in his tracks, "You bloody murderer! You dare point your wand at me!" He shouted.
"Argus! Hadrian!" Dumbledore arrived at the scene, stopping both of them from doing anything rash, but after seeing the letters on the wall, he paused for a bit and then asked all students except Hadrian to return to their dormitories.
Snape who was one among the many professors who arrived with Dumbledore came forward, "Potter, do you know the meaning of pointing wands at the Caretaker?" His voice was filled with a mixture of amusement and disgust.
Hadrian lowered his wand and with calmness, he replied, "The so-called 'caretaker' threatened to kill me, Professor Snape. I had to raise it for self-defense."
Just as Hadrian lowered his wand, Evelyn who was among the crowd, lowered her wand that was secretly aimed at Filch too. After taking a last look at Hadrian, she joined the Slytherins returning to the dormitories as well.
Dumbledore nodded, "I understand. Filch, it's not right to threaten the students whatever your emotional state may be."
"But he killed my cat!" Filch cried.
After a moment of observation, the headmaster replied, "Your cat is not dead; it's petrified."
He then asked Hadrian and Filch to accompany him, with Lockhart, Snape, and McGonagall following closely behind.
After a series of inquiries from the headmaster and some subtly accusing remarks from Snape, Hadrian was allowed to return to the Slytherin dormitory.
'The Chamber of Secrets and the return of the heir, huh...'
Hadrian now knew what Luna had warned him about. It must be the so-called Heir who targets her. It was good that the attack on Evelyn wouldn't be anything personal or related to him. The Heir would be merely targeting a random muggle...
Hadrian knew every corner of Hogwarts. While in his dream manipulation no door, no chamber wouldn't dare not open for him. The Chamber of Secrets was no exception.
However, Hadrian had yet to visit the Chamber of Secrets in real life. Perhaps it was time to observe the basilisk's lair firsthand. He had never seen the creature himself since living beings couldn't be replicated in the dream world, but the clues pointed to the monster being a basilisk.
But before visiting the chamber, he had to find this infamous Heir.
The Heir of Slytherin was a title that accelerated Voldemort's rise to power. Hadrian wished for that title for himself, he was going to find a way to transfer the Heirship if possible.
A few days later, in the library, he couldn't find the book he had read the night before in the dream world on the shelf...
Evelyn found it in the hands of the Gryffindor muggle witch, the same one she had saved in the Troll incident in last year's Halloween.
Evelyn told Hadrian that and he told her to go back to the dorms, he had to talk to the Gryffindor alone.
Evelyn nodded and obeyed his command.
"Ah, here it is. Miss Granger, would you be reading the book for long?" Hadrian asked the girl.
Hermione looked up, surprised by the courteous tone.
The people here aren't really kind to her, ever since the beginning, and it only worsened after the troll incident.
She was blamed for losing points to Gryffindor and aiding Slytherins in gaining them.
At first, Hermione tried to endure it, but when her housemates saw her growing friendship with Evelyn, who had saved her from the troll, they accused her of being a traitor.
It was illogical, she knew. But bullying is never logical and in Gryffindor, even though it was rare, it terrified her. So, she mostly isolated herself in the library. The only reason she was mostly left in peace was because she'd study and help others pass exams.
However, sometimes they'd even come into the library to taunt her or snatch her books. So, yes, she was a bit surprised when she heard a polite voice calling out to her after so many months.
"Um, yeah... oh, I mean you can take it if you want." The bushy-haired girl closed the book and slid it over to him, though Hadrian could see reluctance in her actions. She didn't want to part with the book.
"I have no trouble reading it after you, Miss Granger. But can I ask if you found anything intriguing in your investigation of the Heir?" He asked gesturing her to scoot over so he could sit beside her.
Hermione's heart was beating faster than usual, he was so close... and... Hadrian was a well-known Slytherin. And right now... her number one suspect of being the 'Heir'.
"How did you know that I was investigating about the Heir?" She asked with a bit of wariness.
Hadrian chuckled, "Well, I was halfway through the book finding 7 mentions of Salazar Slytherin's Heir, more than any other books you can find in the library. I was investigating the Heir as well, so I guessed if you're reading this book then you might have the same goal as me."
Hermione, at first, was a bit hesitant to talk with Hadrian for fear of offending her housemates but decided to speak with him anyway.
It had been so long since she had a proper conversation with anyone at school. She found it refreshing to converse with someone without making them feel as if she was boasting about her knowledge.
Finding a common topic they chatted for a couple of hours and then returned to their respective dorms.
The busy-haired girl was happy, her initial impression of Hadrian changed completely after just exchanging a few words and she found talking with Hadrian to be extremely relaxing as well as thrilling.
He treated her kindly, almost like a princess. It felt nice... Finally, she felt like an ordinary girl... But she couldn't let the other Gryffindors discover this, or the same thing would happen that happened when she tried to befriend Evelyn Stark.
In the following days, Hermione found herself looking forward to their brief encounters in the library. Their friendship was a secret and it was growing daily.
===================
Thanks for reading!
Next chapter tonight 10pm IST
Read 15 chapters ahead on patre- on. Oh, the chapter in patrea on aren't splitted into parts meaning looong 15 chapters ( avg 2000 words/chap )!
https://www.pat reon.com/marveller