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The attack on Colin Creevey had a huge impact not only on the rest of the students, but also on the board of trustees. There's talk of Hagrid's detention - what's he got to do with it? - and Dumbledore's resignation. The day after everyone learned that Colin Creevey was as numb as Mrs Norris, a committee came to the school and checked every corner of the school and took away the giant's fish. Harry, on the other hand, got into a heated argument with every student who claimed that the Headmaster of Hogwarts wasn't doing enough to catch the Chamber of Secrets monster. Almost all of these students were Slytherin seniors, but that didn't stop Harry, and a couple of times the argument ended in a heated duel, from which Potter almost always came out the loser. Still, the seniors knew far more spells than even the most gifted of the sophomores.
After Albus Dumbledore had announced that there was a huge basilisk crawling around the school, students began to count the days until the winter holidays began. And many of those who had planned to leave in a fortnight had no intention of returning. New security measures had been introduced at Hogwarts, with Headmaster Dumbledore and Deputy McGonagall natransfiguring a multitude of roosters, which they spread evenly across the school grounds. The students had raised a laugh at such security measures. Potter didn't understand what this was all about at first either, and it wasn't until Dumbledore explained that a rooster's scream was deadly to a basilisk that he realised the point of these actions.
Meanwhile, Harry had made progress in learning the Serpensortia spell. Not immediately, of course. Having learnt from books that success in this spell was directly related to success in Transfiguration, Harry had tried to seek help from the professor of that discipline, Minerva McGonagall. He was a little afraid to approach the strict Dean of Gryffindor, especially considering their previous, not the most friendly, relationship. But, remembering Cedric's recommendations and the fact that he had passed his final transfiguration exam with a "P", Potter decided to do so. However, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts confidently refused:
- 'We're already the whole school looking for a snake, we don't need new ones, it would be better if you, Mr Potter, showed such zeal in my lessons.
Hearing this, Harry was very offended. He felt insulted and unappreciated, because if it wasn't for him, no one would have known that the monster of the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk. After that Potter turned to Cedric, he had helped him with transfiguration in his first year, so maybe he could help him now. Diggory also refused to help, explaining that he was short on time, he was preparing for his PSA and was only distracted by Quidditch practice.
As usual, Potter had to rely solely on books from the Room-by-Wish. Still, he soon learnt the spell and could summon a snake at will. The first time he did so was in the same magic room. Immediately after the snake appeared, Harry suddenly realised that it might just lunge at him, and he would be unprepared for it and would have no way to defend himself. However, the Evanesco spell, which Potter had recently been able to master perfectly, worked perfectly against summoned living creatures. It was so perfect that he could get a job teaching potions instead of Professor Snape: it was just a matter of walking around, insulting everyone, and putting Evanesco on the potions of students he didn't like.
After the fifth successful attempt to summon a snake, Harry realised that the cobras he was creating had their own consciousness, thoughts and even some emotions. Potter stopped casting disappearance spells on them, because it turned out to be a kind of murder, he started giving them names: mostly "Snake One" and "Snake Two". He had no imagination. He even made a little house for them all in the same Room-at-Will. But to his utter surprise, the snakes refused to honour his requests. Immediately after being summoned, they had something of their own to do, which they were not going to put off because of the "silly requests of talking people".
The real shocker for Potter, however, was the number nine snake's response to his little request to get into bed with Malfoy.
- 'Fuck you, human. You want to get in, you get in.
That phrase took a very long time to sink into Harry's mind. Then he used Evanesco on the offending girl, thought hard about the habits of summoned cobras, and sat down to read a book. Did snakes really use the same swear words as humans? An old book on transfiguration of living creatures gave him the answer to that question. It turns out that they don't. Simply, when summoning a living creature that did not exist originally, the creature takes on some of the habits and memory of the person who did the summoning. In the case of creatures that can speak to humans, such as snakes, parrots, and monkeys, the habits extend to speech and verbal jargons.
Soon Harry and the snakes were seated at the negotiating table. Potter promised to let the hissing creatures loose in exchange for their promise to honour his requests. The deal suited both parties. The snakes were enjoying themselves on the Hogwarts lawn, where no snow had fallen yet, and Harry, at the expense of remembering the agreement, was now summoning his loyal hissing companions.
The cobras told him a lot of things. For one thing, they had no connection to the basilisk at all and could tell him nothing about him. If they did share a common ancestry, it was incredibly ancient. Basilisks have many things that snakes don't, and the only similarity is the common snake language. Secondly, they won't get into Malfoy's bed, as it's impossible for them to get into the Slytherin drawing room for a very simple reason - they don't know the password, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to tell. Thirdly, they can only do what Potter himself could do, while having an idea of exactly how he would do it. When ordering, it was the thoughts that mattered, well, or one could in words... Or rather, in hisses, try to explain what he wanted.
Harry decided to use his advantage very carefully - if anyone else found out that he could speak snake language, it wouldn't be a secret anymore, and in case some snake did something weird, everyone would know it was Potter's fault. It's like with the invisibility cloak - if everyone knows, then every sound out of nowhere will lead to him. Basically, no one can know about this newfound ability.
* * *
A few days later, a notice appeared on the notice board in the Great Hall announcing the formation of a dueling club. Harry decided it was a great opportunity to test his powers. He'd lost to the seventh year students in a magical duel, the second year students had been successfully defeated, time to test his strength against the fourth and fifth year students.
As it turned out, almost the whole school had decided to come to the first meeting of the dueling club - there were so many people in the Great Hall that it was crowded. Justin had gone with Potter, Ernie and Zachariah had had a fight and were going to duel, and Hermione, according to Finch-Fletchley, who had never found a friend, was going to show everyone how much she had learnt. Why another hundred people had come, Harry didn't know.
- Come closer! More! Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me? Excellent! Professor Dumbledore has approved my proposal to establish a Dueling Club at the school. By attending the club, you'll learn to defend yourself if the occasion calls for it. And in my experience, such circumstances are not uncommon. Read about it in my books," Lockhart said with a toothy smile.
When Harry saw the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he was incredibly excited. In his head, he was imagining a potential list of people he would like to see as a dueling club coach, and he settled on three individuals: Lockhart, Flitwick, and Dumbledore. The worst option was Snape, but he was only a Potions teacher and his subject had nothing to do with dueling, so....
- I'll be assisted by Professor Snape. He knows a bit about duelling, as he says, and has kindly agreed to help me. We will now demonstrate how duelists fight with wands. Oh, don't worry, my young friends, I will return the potions professor to you safe and sound.
"Shit!"
- Now that would be nice if they finished each other off!
Harry looked round and noticed Ron Weasley behind him, the latter noticed him too, blushed and stepped back to the other end of the Great Hall.
There was a deep meaning in his words. To be fair, Potter was willing to sacrifice Lockhart to get rid of the hated Snape. And Harry, by the way, never understood why Dumbledore had called Lockhart's appointment a serious mistake. Maybe, in the headmaster's opinion, he was a bad teacher? It's hard to be brilliant at everything.
- Notice how the wands are held in this position," Gilderoy explained to the hushed students. - On the count of three, spells are cast. There will be no killing, of course.
- One... Two...
- Galleon to Lockhart, - whispered quietly Justin, who came up from behind.
- Three!
The wands surged, and Snape exclaimed:
- Expelliarmus!
A blindingly bright bolt of lightning flashed, Lockhart was thrown against the wall, slid down it, and sprawled on the scaffolding.
- How many? - Harry asked in a whisper.
Somehow he was sure that Snape would win this confrontation; it had seemed to him from the start that the Potions Master at Hogwarts was far from the last in terms of parts of magical duels. What was surprising, however, was such a quick and unconditional victory. Lockharts didn't even seem to be trying to fight back.
- Never mind, you didn't have time to argue," Justin replied.
Lockhart's explanation that he'd lost on purpose to show everyone the effects of the spell satisfied Harry. Finch-Fletchley, on the other hand, didn't like them:
- When I couldn't play chess properly and lost almost every game, I used to tell everyone that I lost on purpose so that they could see how well my opponent was playing.
- What are you implying? - Harry asked.
He can't possibly think that....
- Never mind, Lockhart said, we can sort ourselves into pairs... Are you going to challenge Snape to a duel?- Come on, he'd wipe me out," Harry realistically assessed his chances.
- Suit yourself," Justin shrugged. - Dibs on Malfoy.
- My Crabbe, then. I'll look for older opponents first.
- I wish Creevey was here, he'd take on Goyle. He'd probably bring a bat, too.
Professor Snape, however, didn't let Harry and Justin's plans come to fruition.
- It's a good time to break up the inseparable pair," he approached stealthily. - Finch-Fletchley is fighting Finnigan. Potter...
Justin and Harry glared at Snape with equally hateful looks.
- Mr Malfoy," Severus said calmly, as if he didn't notice the students' outright hatred. - We'll see how you do.
Draco grinned arrogantly at Potter and began twirling his wand in his fingers.
- Wands at the ready! On the count of three, attempt to disarm your opponent. Disarm only, no violence. One... Two... Three... - Lockharts commanded.
Draco decided to cheat by attempting to start using spells on the count of two. However, Potter was so angry at Snape's presence that he started attacking on the count of one.
He started, as Gilderoy Lockhart had asked, with a disarming one; his wand flew out of Malfoy's hands when Gilderoy Lockhart hadn't even said three yet.
- Hey, that's not fair! - Malfoy shouted.
Potter, however, didn't care deeply about Draco's words. Snape wanted to watch his duel with Malfoy - he would watch it. Following the disarming flew Tarantallegra, Furunculus, Rictumsempra... Harry was not allowed to cast any further spells, Snape intervened.
- Finite! Offence, Potter! I know that, like your father, you prefer to attack from behind, but this is a dueling club, and no one is interested in your preferences!
"Like your father?"
Harry froze for a moment. Snape had been what... Was his father attacked? He missed all of Snape and Lockhart's next words and only woke up when he heard his friend's last name.
- Calling for two volunteers. Finnigan, Finch-Fletchley, would you like to give it a try?
Justin stared at Lockhart in surprise. He had finished his fight even faster than Harry. Why him, exactly?
- Not a good idea, Professor Lockhart. I would have suggested Malfoy and Potter," Snape grinned.
This time it was Potter's turn to be surprised. Did Snape not see what had just happened to Malfoy just now? What was the logic in that?
- That's great! - Lockhart invited Draco and Harry to the centre of the hall with a wave of his hand. The crowd parted.
Potter and an incredibly angry Malfoy stood opposite each other. At the same time, a wicked grin froze on Draco's face. He seemed to be up to something bad. Probably going to attack this time before Lockhart even starts counting down.
- Three... two... one!
Malfoy and Potter instantly swung their wands and shouted:
- Serpensortia!
- Protego!
A huge snake flew out of Malfoy's wand and flopped to the floor.
"Is he, what, suicidal?"- Harry wondered.
He was about to tell the snake to attack Draco when he suddenly realised that if he did, everyone would realise that he could talk to snakes, which was a secret.
- Hold still, Potter," Snape said with feigned good-naturedness. - I'll put her away now.
Relying on Snape? Yeah, now!
- Evanesco! - Harry exclaimed, and the snake that was about to leave the Arena disappeared as if it had never been there. - Stupefy!
The stun spell went straight into the chest of Malfoy, who was clearly hoping for the snake and didn't even think to defend himself. Snape looked at Potter in amazement; he was clearly surprised that Harry had been able to successfully use Evanesco on the snake Malfoy had summoned.
- I win," Harry walked out of the centre of the hall and towards Finch-Fletchley.
- Good for you! You rubbed Snape and Malfoy's nose in it at the same time," Finch-Fletchley whispered.
- Thanks, Justin," Potter thanked him and headed for the exit. - I'm going to go, I guess if Snape's running this dueling club, I won't be coming here anymore.
* * *
The next day Potter decided to skip Potions again. He'd been absent from Professor Snape's classes more often than he'd been present lately. Harry mentally berated himself, but he couldn't help it; as soon as he remembered the satisfaction on Severus's face, he wanted to smash something. Harry spent an hour and a half of dual potions in the Hufflepuff sitting room, pondering where the Chamber of Secrets might be located.
Potter had several hypotheses: one, it simply didn't exist. The second was that only the Heir of Slytherin could see the room. The third was that the Chamber of Secrets was one of the many guises of a wishing room. Fourth - No one has found the Chamber of Secrets in so many years, only because it's hidden in such an original way that they didn't even think to look for it in this place. There aren't many places like that: the Great Hall, the Headmaster's office or one of the girls' toilets. And the fifth: The secret room was found long ago and it's not really a secret room, but a normal room, just no one realised it.
After thinking about each hypothesis separately, Potter decided that searching the girls' toilets was the best option and fell asleep. He was woken up by Justin coming in from Potions.
- Hey, Harry. So, how was Potions? Which class did you like, the first or the second?
- Pottery was fine," Potter said, putting on his glasses. - I liked both classes because I slept through them.... And I didn't have that unprofessor around.
- Harry, I know what you mean, I wish I could see that greasy-haired head less often, but you're not going to pass your exams with that kind of attendance. Plus you've missed a lot while you've been on holiday. There's been another attack. Unusual.
- Let me guess, if it's unusual, there's probably a ghost in a daze," Potter suggested. - And maybe someone else got hit.
- You're a lousy guesser," Justin pulled a suitcase out from under the bed and started throwing things in it. - We got a dead body. A sophomore, I don't remember her name. The school's closed until January, everyone's going on holiday today. People from the ministry are coming here, there's going to be a showdown, so hurry up and pack.