Power, Freedom and a French Flower » An orphan arrives at Hogwarts. He has been bullied his entire life, is the heir to his family's legacy and a Dark Lord is out to get him. Follow Harry as he learns about long forgotten magic, gains his power and becomes the Dark Lord's equal. Will a French Flower and her love, "the power he knows not", save the wizarding world from a third Dark Lord? Dark&powerful! HarryXFleurHarry Potter, M, English, Adventure & Romance, chapters: 102, words: 530k+, favs: 7k+, follows: 5k+, updated: Feb 4, 2022 published: Oct 13, 2021, [Fleur D., Harry P.] Voldemort, Albus D.
The man curiously raised his eyebrow.
"Pretty good reflexes, young man. But I assure you, there is no danger around. Why don't you put that wand away and introduce yourself? This is my beautiful wife, Perenelle Flamel, and my name is Nicolas."
Harry blushed in embarrassment. He took Mrs. Flamel's hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles in a swift kiss, just as his guide to pureblood etiquette taught him: "Mrs. Flamel, it is an honor to meet you."
"Mr. Flamel," he shook the man's hand. "Thank you very much for your invitation and welcoming me into your home."
"Great," Nicolas said. "Now that the formalities are done, let's get back inside. You must be hungry and we would love to get to know you better over dinner."
Nicolas and Perenelle led Harry to a white villa that stood between a decently sized hill and a serene lake of liquid silver. Harry spotted several house elves taking care of the grounds and greeting him with great amounts of enthusiasm.
Dinner was an interesting affair. The Flamels were very knowledgeable about current events in the Wizarding World. However, the main topic was Harry's adventures at Hogwarts. Harry told them about his fight with the troll.
Nicolas was impressed by his use of advanced and fundamental spells to bring down the troll, while Perenelle appreciated him helping out another student and using his surroundings, speed, and agility to his advantage.
Harry also told them about his encounter with the Mirror of Erised. Perenelle had tears in her eyes when Harry told her about seeing his family, while Nicolas seems to have the suspicion that Harry saw other things in addition to his family.
Finally, Harry decided to fully trust the older couple and tell them about the entire encounter with Quirrell, the aftermath with Dumbledore, and the Prophecy that is looming over his head.
Nicolas and his wife took a look at each other and nodded. This boy might be brilliant already, but he clearly needed their help and they would do anything in their power to support him.
"Okay Harry, this is what the next couple of weeks will be like. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays Perenelle and myself will teach you various fields of magic. Our goal is to give you a more natural understanding of magic itself. We will therefore go over some topics you might already be familiar with but approach them differently. What we want to teach you is called "Intent-Based Magic".
It means that any magic you produce is purely driven by your own desire and intention. The incantations and wand movements will still sometimes be necessary; however, they will only be supporting beams and not the main drivers of your spell work anymore.
This method is different from what is being taught at Hogwarts, however, it is crucial to develop a deeper understanding of the magic around you and to perform more powerful and exhausting spells in the future.
Next up, we will teach you about Ancients Magicks that have partly been forgotten or are not commonly practiced anymore. This includes for example, sensing magic around you and recognizing the magical signature of a person or even spell.
Every weekend you will also have a practice dueling lesson with me and a lesson focused on the mind arts with my wife.
Finally, every Tuesday and Thursday you will support me in my work as an alchemist. That means helping me research, prepare ingredients, or any other work I might have.
We would also like you to come up with a physical exercise routine that you will follow every other day. As you're starting puberty, it will be essential to train your magic and body. Besides, being in peak physical condition will always be helpful in dueling situations, for dodging and outlasting your opponents.
Is everything understood?"
Harry could only nod. This was even more than he had ever hoped for. This was exactly what he needed to become even greater. He promised the Flamels to take this opportunity very seriously.
After some more small talk and dessert, Harry was shown his quarters by an elves called Ricky and went to bed. Tomorrow was his first day of magical training. He would need all the energy he could gather since he wants to impress the Flamels and not disappoint them.
Harry pretty much jumped out of bed the next morning. Today would be his first day of training. He took a quick shower, changed into some casual robes, and made his way downstairs into the kitchen. Several elves were already preparing breakfast, while Nicolas and Perenelle were sitting in the dining room, reading the French version of the Daily Prophet.
"Good morning, Harry, how did you sleep?"
"Very well, Sir, thank you!" Harry replied politely.
"Now Harry, for the time you're here, I would like you to call me Nick. We don't have enough time to waste it with formalities."
"Well, said Nick. I completely agree. I am glad you slept well Harry; you may call me Penny while you're here." Perenelle smiled.
Harry thanked the couple and helped himself to some breakfast as he noticed some foreign French dishes he had never seen before.
"The croissants are quite good, Harry. We get them from the local bakery, down at the muggle village. Talking about French cuisine. I would like you to learn some languages while you're here. Great Britain, France, and Germany are the largest magical countries here in Europe and it would do you well to be able to correspond with them should you ever need to.
Harry agreed and they quickly added an hour of German and French lessons each day to his already compact schedule.
The first part of the day was going to be spent with Nick giving him an introduction to Intent-Based Magic.
After letting Harry read an introductory chapter on it, they started with their first exercise.
"Now Harry, the first spell we will practice is the Lumos spell!" Nick said excitedly.
Harry felt slightly disappointed. This was a spell he already performed before even arriving at Hogwarts. He was already capable of altering the brightness of his spell just by pouring different amounts of magic into it…
Apparently, his annoyance was visible, since Nick started chuckling.
"Don't worry, Harry. I know you already know how to perform that spell. However, what I would like you to try is the following:"
He took out his wand and without any incantation or wand movement it started lighting up at the tip.
"I don't understand Nick, if you wanted me to perform the spell silently, you could have told me so in the beginning." Harry said.
"Ah, but I didn't perform it silently, here watch me perform the spell while still holding a conversation with you."
Indeed, Nick was in the middle of his sentence, but his wand lighted up brightly. How could he hold a conversation with Harry while saying the spell silently?
"What I want you to try, Harry, is to focus your intention on what you want to achieve. Just like imagining changing a matchstick into a needle, imagine how the tip of your wand starts glowing… imagine the brightness of your spell, the warmth you feel from it, and the flow of magic through your body."
Harry shrugged, this surely couldn't be that difficult to do.
He flicked his wand into his hand, took a look at the tip, and started imagining a light forming.
Nothing happened. After several further tries and almost 15 minutes later Harry gave up.
"I just don't get it! Why doesn't it work? I have never not been able to perform such a simple spell the first time around!"
"Calm down, Harry, and take some deep breaths. Close your eyes and imagine your wand in front of you. Now try to feel your magic. Feel the warmth of your inner core. Focus on that warmth and try to direct it all the way from your torso… over your shoulder… down your arm… into the tip of your wand. And while you do so, focus on what you try to archive. Don't think about the Incantation or the wand movement. Just let your magic do the work."
Harry slowly followed Nick's steps. Several times he lost the grip on his magic on its way through his body. Finally, he managed to push his magic all the way through to the tip of the wand.
"Open your eyes, Harry"
Harry opened his eyes and saw the tip of his wand glow in a very faint low light. A wide grin spread across his face.: "I did it! I finally did it!"
"Indeed Harry, very well done, now rest for a couple of minutes and listen to me"
Harry was glad he could take a break. It might have only been a Lumos spell, but it was pretty much just as exhausting as holding his child charm for over 20 seconds. Nick's following lecture was very interesting and focused on the next steps, which contained slowly increasing the difficulty of the spells while trying to reduce the amount of time it took Harry to connect with his magic and push it through his body.
Within the blink of an eye, it was already time for lunch. Penny joined them and Harry was very excited to tell her about the progress he made. After lunch, he started his first lesson with Penny about Ancient Magicks.
The first couple of weeks would be all about recognizing magical traces and feeling magic around him. To recognize foreign magic, one first had to connect with his own. The first couple of exercises all dealt with meditation and finding your inner core. It was very similar to what he just practiced with Nick.
Towards the end of the lesson, Penny gave Harry a sneak peek into what she thought he might soon be able to archive. She took eight long feathers and asked Harry to change the color of all of them. Then she grabbed a blindfold and asked Harry to lay the different colored feathers in front of her on the table.
Harry was fascinated as he watched Penny hover her hand over each feather and correctly guess the colors of each and every one of them.
Afterward, they talked about the similarities to when Harry witnessed the creation of his wand and was asked to feel the different materials. Harry was very excited to continue his studies as soon as possible.
That afternoon before dinner, Harry wanted to complete his workout, which now consisted of jogging around the property for 20 minutes followed by swimming in the lake for another 10 minutes. The only problem with that was that he had no idea how to swim. So, the Flamels canceled dinner much to the elves' shock and ordered a large Pizza while grabbing their swimwear and heading down to the lake together to teach Harry how to swim.
After the Pizza, Harry and Penny retreated to the Flamels' library and started on his French classes. They agreed upon Harry learning French every odd day and German on every even day.
Chapter 8: Dueling and end of summer
July 31st, 1992
Harry woke up later than usual on his birthday. The Flamels allowed him to sleep in a bit since Harry literally got his ass kicked in last night's dueling practice. Sure, he had improved quite a lot within the last month at the Flamels', but it would still take a couple of years before Nick would even take him seriously. Nevertheless, Harry was grateful for the lessons.
His time with the Flamels has been the most enjoyable summer he had spent so far. Even better than spending summer on his own in Diagon Alley, as he did last year. Nick and Penny were incredibly kind-hearted people and loved to share their wisdom whenever Harry asked.
Harry quickly started treating them perhaps not as a fatherly or motherly figure, but definitely like a mix between aunt/grandma and uncle/grandpa. Today for his Birthday the couple had a surprise planned for him.
Harry took a shower put on some of his nicer robes and made his way downstairs. The Flamels and house-elves were already present in the kitchen and greeted Harry with a loud Happy-Birthday, followed up by a choir of the elves singing him a birthday song and some bone-breaking hugs from Nick and Penny. Those two were definitely stronger than they looked.
"What, what do you have planned as a surprise for me?" Harry asked while helping himself to some warm croissants.
"Today we will take you Paris, or specifically to the quarter-finals of the French Dueling Championship. We will be leaving in about 30 minutes, so you better eat quickly and get ready afterward."
Now that was a surprise… Ever since Harry let it slip, that he would love to see some professional dueling at some point, Nick and Penny had a smug look on their face, whenever Harry would talk about the topic again. This must have been the reason for it. Quickly finishing his breakfast and a piece of cake, he raced back upstairs to get ready for the day.
Penny apparated to the Dueling-Arena while Nick side-longed Harry. The feeling was even worse than using a Portkey, but Nick promised one would get used to it and it would be more enjoyable when apparating on your own.
The arena looked like a muggle football stadium. Four dueling pits sat next to one another. Currently, there was only some practice taking place. It was 10.30 and the event would start at 11:00 am. So, Harry followed Nick and Penny around as they talked to various famous people in the French wizarding society.
This was another lesson they had planned for Harry, and he thought that he did quite well given the circumstances. He politely greeted the men he was introduced to, by firmly shaking their hands and holding eye contact.
The women and girls he greeted by bracing their knuckles with a slight kiss, earning him some serious blushing from a couple of girls his age and slightly older.
Finally, they took their respective seats and waited for the first duel to start. After his month of intensive practice of the French language, Harry was able to pick up most of what's going on around him. Still, Nick and Penny had to help him out quite a lot.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 1982 French Dueling Championship!" The announcer roared, much to the appreciation of the crowd.
"We have seen some fiery dueling over the last week, however now each competitor will have to step up their game for the beginning of the quarter-finals!"
"From now on, we continue via straight K.O. That means if you lose you are out of the tournament! Please welcome our competitors for the first match!"
"On platform one, Gustave Auch will face Dominique Alarie!"
The crowd cheered significantly louder at the second name. Obviously, Alarie was their favorite. Harry knew neither of the opponents, but they seemed evenly matched. Both were quite young, maybe around 25, and looked agile and athletic.
"You know the rules, ladies and gentlemen… No Unforgivables! The duel ends as soon as one of the opponents is unable to continue or finds himself captivated. Please take your position. On my sign: BEGIN!"
Harry watched as both opponents took their stands. He recognized them from his book about dueling by Dolohov. Auch favors a more aggressive stance, ready to strike as soon as the signal was announced. Alarie currently stood a bit more defensively, moving the majority of his weight to his rear leg, knees slightly bent.
The duel began and Auch instantly opened with a disarming charm followed up by a stunner. Alarie flicked the disarming charm to his left while dodging the stunner and returned fire with his own spells.
He was fast, Harry noticed, much faster than him and also significantly faster than his opponent. Alarie chained his spells, meaning that he uses a certain pattern of spells that allowed him to continue the wand movement in the same direction as the previous spell.
So far, both opponents simply used spells and hexes, but Auch switched it up by conjuring some water and banishing it at Alarie. Alarie froze the water mid-air, transfigured it into ice spikes of the same size, and with a flick of his wrist they zoomed towards Auch, who quickly conjured a bright silver shield. The spikes shattered at Auch's shield, but a couple of the splinters connected with his legs, cutting through his trousers.
Drawing first blood, Alarie went on the offense, continuously blasting spell after spell against Auch's shields, which quickly became weaker and weaker. Auch got desperate and send a couple of bone breakers at Alarie's head and chest.
Alarie was forced to interrupt his spell chain and dodge the incoming lethal curses. He returned fire with a blood-boiling hex and a bone breaker of his own which caught Auch's wand arm as he cried out in pain.
Auch switched his wand to his weaker left hand and managed to dodge the first stunner coming his way. The "Leg locker" however caught him and he fell over after an additional "Petrificus Total".
"The winner after an intense two minutes and thirty seconds is Dominique Alarie!"
The crowds' cheering roared through the stadium. Alarie canceled his spells on Auch, as the healers quickly approached the beaten opponent. With a polite bow to all four sides of the stadium, Alarie descended the dueling platform and made his way to his team and sponsor.
"That was fantastic! Did you guys see how easily Alarie batted away the incoming spell! And the way he chained his own spell-work, it was so much faster than mine. How do I learn to duel like that?"
"After long years of practice, Harry!" Nick chuckled. "Come on, let's watch the second quarter-final."
Harry returned his focus to platform two, where Anastasie Besnard started dueling Jeanne Garnier. Both witches instantly went on the offense and started trading blows. The spell work was a lot more lethal, ranging from bone breakers and conjured knives to more powerful fire conjurations.
Suddenly Besnard stopped returning fire and instead dodged incoming spells. It was fascinating to watch, no matter what her opponent threw at her, Besnard simply dodged it. Dropping to the ground, jumping through the air, and rolling to the side. She was very acrobatic and obviously had a lot of practice.
"Why is she not returning fire?" Harry asked Nick.
"She is conserving energy, Harry. Watch as her opponent's spells lose power and became weaker. Besnard might be physically tired soon, but magically she is still fresh and will unleash her build-up energy."
It came just as Nick predicted. Garnier took a break from her continuous spell-casting, panting heavily and catching her breath. Besnard started conjuring a large bubble of water around her fusing them into a watery wall in front of her. With quick jabs of her wand against the wall. Section of it started forming into icey-frisbees, which then flew towards her opponent.
Garnier barely had enough energy to cast a shield for the first one. Her shield was so weak, that it crumbled after the frisbee connected and she was forced to dodge the second and third incoming ice conjuration. The third one painfully connected with her shoulder and she cried out.
It looked like her shoulder had popped out of its socket. The last frisbee caught her in the chest, knocking her back and making her almost fall from the platform. The referee interfered and Besnard was declared the winner, leaving the platform to thunderous applause.
The third and fourth duels were equally as exciting. Harry witnessed tactics and spell-work he had never seen before at Hogwarts. The fourth match for example ended after one of the competitors conjured a giant golem out of fire, animated it with some charms, and watched as his creation chased his opponent from the platform to the amusement of the entire stadium.
Harry took notes on all the matches and any spells that he was unfamiliar with and vowed to look them up later in the library of the Flamels. He couldn't wait to incorporate a couple of the spells he saw the duelers perform, in his own repertoire.
The Flamels and Harry walked to the apparition point to get back home surrounded by other visitors and excited fans. Just as Nick grabbed Harry's hand and they twisted away in a whirlwind of colors; Harry could have sworn he saw some very familiar, long, silvery blonde hair.
15th August 1992.
Two more weeks had passed since the Flamels took Harry to the dueling championship. Two weeks of studying, exercises, and practice, but Harry was happy. In fact, he was enjoying his stay with the Flamels so much that an inner conflict about his return to England and even Hogwarts started in his mind.
He was positive that he could learn so much more by staying with the older couple, however, Nick and Penny wouldn't hear any of it. Their goal had been to lay the foundation in a couple of subjects so that Harry had no problem continuing to study them on his own after he returned back to Hogwarts.
Harry had advanced in all of his studies. He was now almost able to replicate Penny's achievement of feeling the color-switching spell on feathers without looking. On his last attempt, he correctly identified six out of the eight different colors.
His mind shields were stronger than ever and he noticed the benefit of his Occlumency practices for other areas of life. First of all, he was able to remember his teachings much easier than before. It almost felt like the effects of a photographic memory, since he stored all the information in his mind palace which had grown from a small house to a manor, rivaling the villa of the Flamels. Second of all his organized mind needed way less sleep. Everyday he felt fully rested with six to seven hours of sleep.
His studies with Nick had also come along nicely. Harry was much more connected to his magical core and could now put quite a lot of power behind his spells. His Reducto penetrated a four-inch wooden block and sent splinters all over the training room in the basement.
He still had some difficulties with intent-based magic, but Nick assured him that this was very natural for someone so young, even a child as bright as Harry.
Harry had now also noticed the effects of his physical workouts during his dueling sessions with Nick. He didn't tire out as easily and managed to uphold the exchange of spells for almost five minutes, a huge achievement according to Nick.
Today, Nick and Penny would travel to the French Ministry for a meeting of international Alchemists. Harry decided to do some reading in the library. Remembering his own research about the Peverell family, Harry looked for a book on old pureblood families in magical Britain. Harry was sure that this was something Nick and Penny could have easily helped him with. However, he wanted to finish this project on his own. He was also slightly scared that the Flamels might get curious about his sudden interest in the Peverells. Maybe they already knew about the connection between the old family and the Hallows.
Harry did not want to risk anyone finding out about his cloak or his search for the hallows. In a shelf all the way in the back of the library he finally found an interesting title:
"Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy"
To his disappointment, he only found the families Parkinson, Potter, and Prewitt under the letter P in the glossary. However, he was still interested in his own family, so he started reading the section about the potters anyways.
"The wizarding family of Potters descends from the twelfth-century wizard Linfred of Stinchcombe, a locally well-beloved and eccentric man, whose nickname, 'the Potterer', became corrupted in time to 'Potter'."
That's pretty interesting, He knew his family was old. But he had no idea it was that old… He continued reading.
Hardwin Potter, Linfred's eldest son, married a beautiful young witch from the village of Godric's Hollow who went by the name of Iolanthe Peverell, the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell.
Harry almost spilled his pumpkin juice all over the old book. This was it. This was exactly what he was looking for and pretty much undeniable proof. He was a descendent of Ignotus Peverell, who must have been the third brother. This meant that his invisibility cloak was almost certain to be the third Hallow.
It also meant that the two other Hallows must have been real... but where are they now? Both could be quite useful to Harry. The stone could be used to finally get some closure and say goodbye to his parents. The wand, however, would be his best chance at beating Voldemort in the future.
It is not like he was unhappy with his own wand. It was perfectly fine, maybe even just as powerful as Ollivander claimed. Harry did not really have anything to compare it with. But the Elder Wand might just be a whole different level if one was to believe what Grogorovitch wrote about it all those decades ago.
Could the old wandmaker still have it? Did he succeed and managed to replicate the Elder Wand's features? Harry wondered if he should ask Ollivander about it when he met him in Diagon Alley next week. However, could he trust Ollivander not to betray him and go running to Dumbledore?
How would he explain that he even knew about the famous wand and the Hallows all together? What if Ollivander already knew about his connection to Ignotus Peverell and started asking Harry questions about the cloak.
Undoubtedly, this was how Dumbledore established the connection between his father's Cloak, the name Potter and the third Hallow in the first place… No, he had to be careful on his hunt for the Hallows and he wouldn't trust anyone with his finding yet.
He continued the chapter he started about the Potter family and went to bed afterward. He had a long week ahead of him. His last week with the Flamels as he sadly remembered.
Harry's last week was definitely the most exhausting one yet so far. The Flamels changed his routine and had him wake up at six am in the mornings to complete his physical workouts. That way Harry could continue his "Tradition" as they called it, at Hogwarts.
The content of his lessons with Nick and Penny also became immensely difficult for him. Especially Nick pushed him harder than ever, arguing that if he truly wanted to be the best, he'll have to work harder for it.
Harry reluctantly agreed and pushed himself to his physical and mental limits each day. His magical core became stronger. To fully exhaust himself, Nick had him perform his brightest Lumos spell for as long as possible, before he dropped the brightness a bit, and then continued that way until Harry's core was completely drained of magic.
At the beginning of summer, Harry held up for slightly over 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the total length of the exercise stretched over many variations in brightness and a total of just under 20 minutes. Nick explained that his results were comparable to a third/fourth-year regular student.
Harry woke up on his final day and desperately wanted to stay in bed, wake up another day, and just continue his routine with Nick and Penny. The elder couple had really grown on him and he genuinely liked them, not just because they were a walking encyclopedia.
Reluctantly he made his way out of bed and joined the Flamels at breakfast after a quick shower. They had all his favorite dishes as a sort of goodbye gift prepared for him. Harry tucked in and enjoyed the sweet pastries and fresh juices he got so used to over time.
"You will take the Portkey at 11:00 am. We will walk down the road in front of our Manor to the edge of our wards. Our wards are so strong, that even we ourselves as the owners cannot create Portkeys through it. The only thing that could breach these wards is a phoenix via flame travel and trust me, Albus has tried… However, the phoenix cannot bring a person with itself, it can only breach the wards alone."
"Dumbledore has a Phoenix?" Harry asked, completely astonished.
"Of course! It had bound to him sometime after his defeat of Grindelwald and he has kept it ever since. I think his name is Fawkes."
"Anyways" Penny interrupted the two: "The Portkey will take you back to Privet Drive and you can walk up to your house. You can use the last week to finish your preparations for school and do your back-to-school shopping. Make sure to get new robes! You've grown quite a lot.
Harry nodded, finished his breakfast, thanked the elves one last time, and went back to his room to continue his last bits of packing.
At 10 minutes to 11:00 am, he stood in the entrance hall and waited for the Flamels. They arrived carrying a heavy book.
"This is our final gift to you Harry, this book will act as your Portkey, but remain with you afterward. As soon as you arrive in Privet Drive it will be a book like any other. However, it should be a very interesting one if I may say so."
"You probably wondered why we did not teach you any wandless magic while you were here, even though you have a talent for it?"
Harry nodded: "Yes, I was surprised, but kind of glad after a while. I am not sure it would have fit into my schedule."
The Flamels chuckled: "Well, this book will guide you through some useful exercises to improve your control and show you other fields that wandless magic might be used for, like apparition for example. You should not try that before you're 14, however. I don't want you to splinch yourself."
Harry promised to be careful and together they made their way down to the edge of the wards. Harry noticed that he couldn't feel the wards when he first arrived almost two months ago.
Now, however, it almost felt like stepping through a cold waterfall and his skin tickled. Powerful wards indeed, Harry thought.
Harry hugged Penny as a tear appeared in her eyes and shook hands with Nick.
"Thank you so much, you two. I will never be able to repay you for everything I have learned from the both of you."
"Use the knowledge well Harry. There is a lot of hate and darkness within you… A leftover from the abuse you suffered at the hands of your relatives. Try your best to heal and put it in the past. Don't let it corrupt your future. Goodbye, young man!"
Harry waved a final goodbye as he touched the book and experienced the familiar pull at his naval. Seconds later he dropped behind some bushes in a park at Privet Drive and made his way back to Number Four.
He barely reached the door as it swung open.
"Where the hell have you been?" His uncle hissed. "This freak of a teacher from your school checked up on you several times and couldn't find you apparently! We had a deal young man. We leave you alone and in return, you keep your freakishness away from us! What do you think the neighbors thought about seeing an old man in bright purple robes at our doorstep asking for you?"
This was bad, Harry thought. Dumbledore noticed his absence and came looking for him. He would have to try to save his relationship with the Headmaster and explain his absence for over seven weeks. Uncle Vernon was not done yet, however.
"Well, we will have none of the freak stuff until you return to that crazy place in a week. Give me your stick and all the other stuff we will lock it away." Vernon says taking a step forward to grab Harry as soon as the child entered the house.
Instinctively Harry flicked his wand into his hand and pressed it against Vernon's Temple.
"If you make any attempt at taking what's mine. I will turn you and your entire family into pigs and feed you to the dragon I keep hidden in my trunk, do you understand me? Don't you ever dare to threaten me like that again! I have had enough of you lot. You have no idea of the powers I possess now. Don't make me give you a demonstration,because it won't end well for you!"
Vernon squeaked and retreated back into the living room as Harry went up into his room. Hedwig was already at the window accompanied by a Hogwarts owl that carried his yearly letter. He unshrunk his trunk, changed into some better robes and made his way to Diagon Alley by calling the Night Bus.
Harry gave Tom the barman a quick greeting while passing through the Cauldron and opened the brick wall to Diagon Alley. It was busy… way too busy for his liking. He quickly went to "Twilfitt and Tattings" for his new robes. The saleswoman had expected him ever since he was satisfied with her work last year. He updated his wardrobe and ordered his robes and uniforms to be adjusted to his growing body.
It was just as the Flamels had mentioned, he had grown quite a bit since last year. Last year when buying his robes, he stood about four feet and 9 inches, thanks to the nutrition potion that mitigated the effects of his physical abuse. He had grown over two inches last year, now almost scratching five feet.
After paying for his new robes, he made his way over to the pet shop to buy some treats for Hedwig and dutifully reported to his yearly visit with the snake he met last year.
Careful that no one was watching him, Harry approached the reptile in its cage.
"Ssspeaker… you have returned asss promised!"
"Indeed, I have!" Harry chuckled, "How has life been treating you?"
"Boring for the most part…yesterday some child thought about buying me, but I think I ssscared it away when hissing at him in greeting. I don't think I will ever be leaving this dreadful place."
Harry felt sorry for the snake, however, he couldn't expose himself as a Parselmouth yet, so taking her to Hogwarts was out of the question. He finished his conversation and promised to return next year before school starts again.
Last but not least he checked his Hogwarts letter for the new books he would need this year. He read a couple of the interesting second-year books in some of his classes like History of Magic last year already.
However, he didn't recognize any of the books on the list. Who the hell was Gilderoy Lockhart and what was up with the name of those books? They literally sounded like science fiction straight out of a muggle theater.
Break with a Banshee…. Gadding with Ghouls… Holiday with Hags… this had to be a joke, right?
It appeared to indeed be a joke as Harry realized when he tried to enter the bookstore. A large crowd was jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:
GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30P.M - 4:30P.M.
The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Penny's age.
A harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies… Don't push, there… mind the books, now…"
Harry squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. He grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and sneaked up the line only to find a bunch of redheads standing there.
"Great," Harry thought: "Of course, I have to run into the entire Weasley clan that seemed to have adopted the other members of the golden trio now."
Luckily, they hadn't noticed him yet.
The Weasleys were standing with a couple that by the looks of it had to be Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley as her son and his friends approached them. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair.
"We'll be able to see him in a minute…"
"This woman is ridiculous," Harry thought. "She was literally married, waiting here like some fangirl to meet the author of those fiction books."
Harry saw Gilderoy Lockhart seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.
He looked absolutely ridiculous, Harry thought.
A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.
"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron Weasley, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet —"
"Big deal," said Weasley, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it. Harry prayed it was painful.
Harry went to the counter to pay and stood in line as the shop got even more crowded when new fans entered the room. At some point, Lockhart, to Harry's annoyance, announced that he will be the new DADA teacher at Hogwarts this year, which only meant even more self-study for Harry.
He was about to pay when somehow a man that seemed to be Mr. Weasley, started a fistfight with another man showing a remarkable resemblance to Malfoy.
Harry just shook his head. They were wizards, why didn't they just duel and settle whatever problem they have that way. Mr. Malfoy and Weasley finally got separated by Hagrid, with Malfoy leaving after giving back some school books to the youngest Weasley, a girl surprisingly.
Was that the reason for their fight in the first place? Some school books? Harry didn't even care anymore. He finished his shopping and left the alley to get back home to Number Four.
He thought this was enough excitement for a day but was again proven wrong when he entered his room at Number four.
An elf sat on his bed. The elf didn't look anything like the ones at the Flamel's residence. This one was dressed in a dirty scrap of fabric. His eyes spoke of pain, but changed into a hopeful expression at his sight:
"Harry Potter, Sir!"
"Yes… and who might you be?"
"I is Dobby the House Elf, Harry Potter Sir!"
"Okay Dobby, what are you doing here if I may ask?"
Dobby almost broke out in tears: "Harry Potter Sir, is so polite, no wonder he is such a great wizard! But Dobby came to warn you, Sir. Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts this year!" The elf said, shaking his head.
"Well, Dobby, I am afraid your mission is set to fail then. I will definitely return to Hogwarts; I need to practice magic. Besides, I could not endure an entire year here at the Dursleys, they treat me horribly… you have no idea."
"Oh, Dobby can imagine pretty well, great Harry Potter Sir!"
Just, as the words left his lips, Dobby jumped off the bed and started slamming his head against the wall: "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Dobby stop!" Harry ordered and the elf came to a halt.
"Thank you, Harry Potter, Sir! But Dobby must punish himself, for he spoke badly about his family!"
"Does your family know you're here, Dobby?" The elf shook his head.
"Fine, can you tell me why I shouldn't return back to Hogwarts?"
"Harry Potter, Sir, terrible things will happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, Sir! Harry Potter is too great, too valuable to be involved in them. Dobby must protect you!"
"Okay Dobby, how about this…I return to Hogwarts, but as soon as something horrible or strange happens, we both have a talk and plan our further actions. What does that sound like?"
Dobby thought for almost a minute: "Very well, Harry Potter Sir! Dobby will find you as soon as the horrible things start! But the great Harry Potter, Sir, must promise not to get himself into trouble or dangerous situations. Dobby needs to protect you, Sir!"
"Fine Dobby, I give you that promise. I am not one who keeps looking for trouble anyway."
"Dobby hears differently, Sir! Apparently last year the great Harry Potter faced another Dark Wizard and emerged victoriously. But Harry Potter can't be involved this year, no no! Dobby won't let him!"
"Are you allowed to tell me what's about to happen, Dobby?"
"Dobby cannot Sir, his family forbid him from speaking about it or mentioning it to anyone!"
"Very well Dobby, let's keep in touch and together we will make sure that Hogwarts stays safe," Harry announced.
The elf agreed and with a pop, he vanished from the room. Harry was deep in thought. Whatever events were about to happen, they had the poor elf scared for his life. He would have to be extra cautious at Hogwarts this year.
Chambers of secrets
Chapter 9
September 1st, 1992
Harry sat in his compartment while the Hogwarts Express traveled through the wild Scottish scenery. In his mind, he was reviewing his summer and the amazing time he had spent with Flamels.
They promised to exchange letters and help Harry in case he needed support to continue his studies. So far, he had experienced no difficulties. He had spent the last week since his return from France at the Leaky Cauldron, which just like last year, allowed him to practice magic.
Since he already finished all of his schoolwork before leaving for France at the beginning of summer, he had enough time for his personal studies and to continue where he left off after leaving Nick and Penny.
This year, however, besides studying (and outperforming Granger), he needed to solve some of the other mysteries in his life.
Again, he looked at his list of To-Do-List
1. Research connection to Peverells – Any other family relations?
2. Elder wand and Stone of Resurrection
3. Find more about strange symbol (Reflection's ring, Chest Emblem)
4. Who was the blonde woman from the Mirror? Dummy for a future wife or an actual person? (France)
5. Progress with Parselmagic
6. Improve Dueling Skills
7. Get Map / Parchment from Twins
8. Learn more of Hogwarts' Secrets
9. Survive the year and Dobby's warning
It was admittedly, a very ambitious list; however, Harry was confident that he would at least be able to solve a couple of the mysteries. Not wanting to waste any time he opened up his Parseltongue book and continued reading. The content was still very difficult. Harry barely understood half of what Herpo the Foul was writing about.
It seemed that most of the magic described in the book was either Blood Magic, Soul Magic or very old, advanced runes and rituals. According to the author, Parseltongue was an ideal medium to combine different runes and create powerful wards. For example, certain wards required a password to enter. Choosing a Parseltongue password was an easy, yet very effective way to keep out any undesirable visitors.
Harry was also very interested in rituals. According to Herpo, a ritual was like a permanent enchantment to the caster's body. One had to sacrifice something of equal value for the desired effect to take place. There were rituals about strengthening the mind, body, and magic of an individual.
Those did however require very special ingredients and usually involved runes that were far too advanced for Harry's liking. However, he would continue looking for easier ones.
Blood and soul magic were very complicated and dangerous. They could go horribly wrong and more often than not permanently change the caster personally. Harry decided to learn more about them, but be very careful about the sort of magic he was dabbling in.
Finally, the train arrived at Hogsmeade station and Harry exited his compartment. Unlike last year he made his way over to the carriages with the other non-first-year students. He stood in line waiting for a carriage to take him up to the Castle when suddenly his eyes grew wide.
Large, black, skeleton-like horses were tethered to each carriage. They were slightly taller but thinner than normal horses with black leathery skin and wings above each hip. For some reason, all the other students seem to ignore the horses. The magical animals themselves seem to have noticed Harry. The one right in front of him lowered his head and nibbled at his right arm, right where his robe hid his wand holster.
Finally, Harry managed to make the connection. Of course, Harry thought, those horses must be Thestrals and they are so interested in me because of the hair that acts as a core for my wand. Harry then remembered why he could suddenly see them when he was unable to see the hair for his wand a year ago. Was it the death of the troll or the death of Quirrell that allowed him to see the majestic animals?
He realized that he was holding up the line of students and quickly made his way into the next carriage to get up to the Castle.
The sorting was nothing spectacular. The Hat switched up his song ever so slightly and the new students got sorted without any delay.
Dumbledore introduced Lockhart as the new DADA teacher and Harry could swear a couple of the older girls almost fainted at the chance to have him around for an entire year.
The food was excellent, and he was about to exit the hall to go to the Ravenclaw dormitories when Professor Flitwick caught up with him:
"Mr. Potter," the charms Professor said against the babbling of students.
"The Headmaster would like to see you in his office. The password is Lemon Drop."
Harry nodded to his Head of House and made his way to the seventh floor. The gargoyle jumped aside and allowed Harry to enter the stairs up to the Headmaster's office. He knocked and was allowed to enter the spacious room. As he crossed the doorstep, he noticed the familiar feeling of wards going up and his eyes slightly narrowed at the Headmaster.
Dumbledore sat behind his desk. Surrounded by small, interesting silver items that span around seemingly randomly and puffed smoke from time to time.
"Ah, Harry, thank you for joining me tonight!" I was hoping we could have a little chat before you undoubtedly prepare for tomorrow's classes." The old man says with a twinkle in his eyes
"Very well Headmaster, what would you like to talk about?"
"How about you tell me why you lied to me about the Stone? You could continue by telling me where you have spent all summer? People were quite worried about you Harry. It's not wise to disappear without telling anyone where you will be staying."
Harry snorted at that: "And pray tell me who might be worried about me, Sir? My relatives certainly were not. They most likely celebrated that I left them alone for another couple of weeks! Don't think you know anything about my relationship with them, Sir!"
"I know that it was not pleasant growing up with them, Harry, but I wasn't referring to your relatives when mentioning people might be worried. I was talking about myself."
Harry was surprised at the blunt honesty: "Why would you be worried about me, Sir? You have a school year to prepare for, not to mention like three other jobs in the political world. Why would you care about what any of your first-years get up to over summer?"
"Because I think we both know that you are not just any of my first years. Besides, I am your magical guardian and I have been ever since your parents unfortunate passing. But enough of that. Tell me, why did you lie to me about the Stone?"
"You did not manage to keep it safe the first two times. Why would I just hand it right back to you, Sir? It was almost stolen the day after my birthday from Gringotts and you let Quirrell get far too close at the end of the last school year. I didn't know if I could trust you a third time, Sir."
"And what did you decide to do with the stone Harry?" The grandfatherly smile was gone now.
"I gave it back to its owner, Sir," Harry grinned.
"You have met Nicholas and Perenelle?" Dumbledore seemed speechless.
"To me, they are Nick and Penny." Harry laughed at Dumbledore's dumbstruck expression. "But yes, you could say that I met them, Sir."
Dumbledore seemed at a loss for words: "Very well then, Harry. I am glad you chose to be responsible and hand back the stone. Trust me when I say that there are much more beautiful things to enjoy on this earth than chasing immortality."
"I am not interested in living forever, thank you, Headmaster. I do wonder though, how did you realize I lied to you about the Stone? I didn't feel you enter my mind?"
"Magic always leaves traces, Harry, as I am sure you noticed when entering my office. Don't worry, the wards are simply to notify me should someone step in front of my door..."
"Now where was I? Oh yes, the destruction of something as powerful as the Sorcerer's Stone would have left enormous amounts of residual magic down in that chamber. At first, I simply thought it was deluded due to the simultaneous destruction of the Mirror of Erised and the disgusting amounts of dark magic."
"However, after returning down there at the beginning of summer, I did not manage to feel any traces of the Stone's residual magic. The only logical explanation was that you had lied to me. An exceptional feat if I may say so. During all my time at Hogwarts, only one other student ever managed the same."
The Headmaster's expression darkened at that thought and Harry wondered what former student he might be thinking about?
"Well, I guess that is all for tonight, Harry. Off to bed you go and enjoy your new school year! Remember, if there is anything you want to talk about, I will always have an open ear."
Harry thanked the older man and made his way over to Ravenclaw Tower. The conversation went quite well. Luckily Dumbledore didn't try to pry any further into his activities over summer. He seemed to trust Nick and Penny enough to take good care of him. Thinking once again about his amazing summer, Harry went to bed. He wanted to be in excellent shape for his first day of school tomorrow after all.
Harry woke up the next day, jogged around the lake and made his way to the Great Hall for Breakfast. He noticed that something was going on. A lot of people were staring at him and started whispering to their friends.
Harry went to sit at the Ravenclaw table, when suddenly a group of upper-year Slytherins, including Markus Flint, the quidditch captain, blocked his path.
Harry narrowed his eyes and analyzed the group. Four students, all between third to sixth year by the looks of it. He could probably take them on individually, but as a group, it might be difficult. He noticed that Snape and Dumbledore were watching the interaction from the Head Table.
"How can I help you, gentlemen?" Harry asked innocently.
"You could tell us what the fuck really happened to Quirrell, Potter! I will sit my OWLs this year and could have gotten an easy Outstanding under Quirrell. Instead, you somehow offed him and now we have to deal with Lockhart!" Warrington, a fifth-year, replied angrily.
"What happened down there is none of your business, now move aside before I make you!"
The Slytherins roared in laughter: "And what is a tiny second-year gonna do to us if we refuse?"
"I am gonna beat your ass so bad that you won't have to worry about your OWLs anymore." Harry calmly replied, but his eyes brightened ever so slightly.
"Not here guys! Not in front of the professors!" Adrian Pucey interfered as Warrington pulled his wand on Harry.
"You're going to regret that, Potter. Dumbledore won't always be there to protect his golden boy." With that, the Slytherin retreated to their table.
Harry noticed a dumb founded expression on the majority of faces in the Great Hall. The other students obviously didn't expect him to handle the conversation the way he did. This would likely be not the only occurrence of that sort. Quirrell wasn't particularly popular, but he gave easy grades and did not assign much homework. He was well-liked among the upper-year classes, which used the additional time to study for exams, quidditch training, and house duties. Harry would have to be careful. His popularity certainly did not increase due to last year's events.
The rest of the week continued without any interference, though the Slytherins often gave him suspicious looks. They were planning something, and Harry made sure to always have an escape route ready in case they somehow cornered him. He kept his invisibility cloak on him at all times and used it twice already when a group of fifth-year Slytherins wandered the hallways together seemingly looking for something or someone.
He needed a plan of action; he couldn't continue things the way they were. It became too annoying to continue hiding from them and it was against his nature to avoid the confrontation.
Harry basically had three options.
Run to Dumbledore, snitch his heart out, and hope the old Headmaster would somehow interfere.
Provoke a confrontation in front of the teachers and enough witnesses to get the Slytherins in serious trouble.
Or, send a message to the Slytherins by showing that their actions will be met with equal force and hope to intimidate them
Harry chose option three. The best defense was a good offense. He waited for the particular group of fifth years after their charms class while Harry himself had a free period. He needed to isolate their leader and make an example of him, otherwise, the group would retaliate against him even stronger.
Under his invisibility cloak, he cast a quick Diffindo at Warrington's leather book bag. The bag ripped and his books, parchment, and bottles of ink fell to the ground.
"You guys go ahead. I'll just fix this really quick. Just tell Lockhart some bullshit lie, it's not like I'm going to miss anything important anyway." Warrington told his friends.
Perfect. Harry thought he would be alone and isolated in the corridor.
Warrington repaired his bag with a simple Reparo and started putting his schoolwork back inside. He was momentarily distracted and put his wand on the floor next to him.
"Expelliarmus" Harry shouted still under his cloak. Warrington's wand flew towards Harry's end of the corridor before his victim realized what just happened.
"Who is there? I warn you; I am a Prefect! Any move against me is a move against the entire house of Slytherin"
"I am not scared of some slimy snakes Warrington. I am here to teach you a lesson." Harry replies as he pulls down his invisibility cloak and steps from behind his corner
"You and your little friends have annoyed me quite a lot over the past week. I will put an end to that now. I will give you a choice: swear an oath that you and the rest of Slytherin will leave me in peace and I will let you walk away from here unharmed."
"You have no idea what you just got yourself into Potter. I will enjoy inflicting pain upon you. Now give me back my wand or I will report you to Snape."
Harry chuckled: "I don't think you've yet understood the position you're in Warrington, perhaps a demonstration…"
Harry cast an Impedimenta at Warrington, who dived below the spell just as Harry expected. His Incarcerous hit the fifth-year square in the chest and bound him in thick ropes.
"Now there are a couple of spells I really wanted to test. This seems to be the perfect opportunity."
Warrington screamed in pain as the first Bonebreaker hit his ring finger.
"No no no… We can't have you making so much noise now can we? What if your little friends found me? Silencio!"
The Slytherin's lips continued moving but no sound left his mouth. Harry decided to break more fingers on the other hand and one of Warrington's ribs before stunning the fifth-year and levitating him.
He walked over to a staircase that led into an unoccupied corridor before he dropped Warrington at the bottom of the staircase.
To add more credibility to the scene and make it look like an accident, he lubricated the top few stairs with a water spell and added some soap into the mix as well.
Anyone who would stumble upon the scene would most likely think that Warrington simply lost balance on the slippery steps and fell down the stairs. Satisfied with his work he undid the ropes that still held Warrington tight in place.
He placed Warrington's wand next to him on the floor and cast an Ennervate after hiding understood his cloak.
Warrington slowly gained consciousness. How much would he remember?
The Slytherin's eyes widened in fear as he found the position he was in and he winced in pain when moving his torso due to the broken rip.
Slowly he got up and made his way towards the Slytherin common room.
Harry followed him under his cloak. Halfway to the dungeons, they run into the Prefect's friends.
Perfect Harry thought. Let's see how this plays out.
"Cassius, where have you been? We just finished the class with Lockhart and you didn't show up at all? What happened to your hand, man?
"I don't know Adrian. I woke up at the bottom of the staircase at the end of the charm's corridor, but I don't even know how I got there. The stairs were slippery so I must have fallen down the stairs. For some weird reason, I remember a confrontation with Potter though…"
"Potter?" Markus Flint asked perplexed. "Second-year Potter did this to you?"
"We have to report him!" Pucey chimed in.
"No!" Warrington intervened. "He is a teacher's favorite and I don't want Slytherin house to know I was ambushed by a second-year student. We are Slytherins. Let it rest for now. We will have our revenge when the opportunity presents itself. We will have three more years with Potter here at school. Let's not rush things. Remember we are the house of the cunning!"
Perfect just what I was hoping for, Harry thought as he made his way back to the Great Hall for some lunch. The Slytherins would hopefully leave him alone and the other three houses including his own were not nearly as aggressive to openly attack him. He would deal with them too, if necessary. For now, he hoped to have gained some peace and quiet.
31st October 1992
The weeks since his confrontation with Warrington had passed without any further annoyance from the Slytherins. Harry was still cautious and never let his guard down. He continued practicing his spell work, getting his workout done in the morning, and putting up a brilliant performance in his classes.
As predicted Lockhart was a complete failure as a teacher. Harry refused to even give answers to the questions in his pop-quiz and instead spent some time reading his other schoolbooks. At the end of their first lesson, Lockhart released a couple of dozen Pixies in the class, lost his wand and fled from the room to let his students deal with the Pixies.
The majority of students just started screaming and running after Lockhart. Only a couple remained, including Susan Bones, her friend Hannah Abbot, Terry, Harry's roommate, and Harry himself. Harry taught the other children the Impedimenta jinx and together they used the escaped Pixies as target praxis. Testing a variety of spells.
Since he pretty much knew most of the second-year material McGonagall and Flitwick usually gave him some additional, more difficult, tasks after he finished the original goal of the lesson. He still remembered when Granger tried to snitch on him for "doing something he wasn't supposed to".
The entire class was trying to transfigure their beetles into buttons. Harry managed the task on his first try and instead animated his buttons to act like beetles and chase each other around his table.
When Granger complained that Harry was distracting the class and not following the instructions, McGonagall took five points from her and told her to mind her own business while giving 20 points to Ravenclaw for a brilliant combination of charms and transfigurations.
His outstanding performance in classes isolated Harry. The other well-performing students were jealous of him since there was basically no point in competing with him anymore in the core subjects.
The general student population was still scared of him after it had been announced that he killed the troll and a teacher at the end of last year. Harry did not much care about them. He enjoyed his peace and quiet and was able to concentrate on his studies.
He started a tentative friendship with the Weasley Twins after sneaking into the kitchen together and spiking the pumpkin juice for the Slytherin table with a hair color potion. The Twins were a lot smarter than they seem, but instead of using their brains for classes, they chose to invent prank items and have as much fun as possible.
Harry was glad to be in friendly standing with them. Having the Twins as an enemy would certainly make your stay at Hogwarts much less enjoyable.
Today was Halloween and just like last year, Harry didn't feel like joining the other students in the Great Hall for a feast.
Instead, he used the time to discover the last patches of the Castle Harry was still unfamiliar with. Right now, he was on the second floor, hiding underneath his invisibility cloak, looking for secret passageways and hidden rooms.
Out of seemingly nowhere he heard a voice.
"Come... Come to me... let me rip you... let me tear you..."
Harry shuddered. The voice or the way it sounded was somehow familiar. It seemed to come from the walls around him. How was that possible? Was this one of the ghosts or a prank from the Twins?
He tried to follow the voice. But seemingly lost it. He stumbled into an intersection with another hallway and noticed the amount of water on the floor. Right next to the water a cat hung from the wall. But not just any cat, it was Mrs. Norris, and she was unmoving. Harry stood on his toes and touched the cat. Her eyes were open, but she was unresponsive. Was she dead?
Harry looked around. Bright red letters were smeared on the wall. The air smelled like blood.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware."
What was the Chamber of Secrets? Suddenly the corridor filled with noises. The feast must have come to an end. Students drew closer from both sides and a couple of Hufflepuffs spotted Harry before he had time to hide under his cloak.
Then someone shouted through the quiet.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
And his popping eyes fell on Harry.
"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll —"
"Argus!"
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly: "My office is nearest, Headmaster, just upstairs, please feel free —"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore, cutting the man off.
Harry, the teachers, and Filch made their way to Lockhart's office and Dumbledore started analyzing the cat which he had placed on the table.
"She is not dead, merely petrified. But how, I cannot say."
Filch started shouting some bullshit about how Harry managed to petrify his cat. Luckily McGonagall and Flitwick immediately came to his defense and argued that a second year, even one as gifted as Harry, would hardly know how to perform such a spell.
Even Snape seems to reluctantly agree with their argument, though his black eyes bore into Harry's. Harry stared right back daring the man to penetrate his mind. He would tear him apart if the professor even made the smallest attempt at breaching his shields.
Snape pulled his eyes off Harry, and the boy switched his attention to the cat. His mind was racing with thoughts. A Chamber had been opened by an heir. According to Malfoy, the heir's enemies were anyone that is not a pureblood.
Inside the Chamber, some sort of weapon had been placed that was powerful enough to petrify a cat, maybe even other living beings.
He listened as the teachers proposed that Sprout's Mandrakes could be used to help the petrified cat.
"Why don't you simply buy some fully grown Mandrakes for a couple of galleons? Sure, it might be expensive, but having them ready for the next victim would be very helpful to identify the attacker…"
"And how do you know there will be a next victim?" Snape asked in an accusing tone.
"The writing on the wall talked about 'enemies of the heir'... I hardly think a cat is classed as anyone's enemy. She must have been collateral damage and I doubt she was the original target the Heir planned on attacking."
"A brilliant deduction as always, Harry," Dumbledore said. "I will reach out to some shop owners in Diagon Alley and the continent to see if we can find some Mandrakes to buy. Again, I ask you to please be careful when roaming the hallways on your own. Especially in times like these, it seems to be even more dangerous."
Harry left Lockhart's office and made his way to his dormitory. Inside he pulled out his copy of 'Hogwarts a History' and began reading up on any clues to this Chamber. After a couple of chapters, he was successful.
"Honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the Castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
That was very interesting indeed. According to the author, some kind of monster was within the chamber. That must have been the voice Harry had heard coming from the walls around him. But what monster could petrify something so easily? He didn't know of anything, but again his knowledge about magical beasts was somewhat limited. Maybe he could ask Hagrid about it?
Just as he was about to go to sleep, he heard a loud 'POP' and Dobby the elf sat on the edge of his bed.
"Harry Potter, Sir! It is just like poor Dobby expected. Terrible things will happen. Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts immediately!"
Harry chuckled: "Ah, Dobby! I should have expected you. Dobby, what do you actually know about these events? What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Please, Harry Potter, Sir! Don't make poor Dobby tell you. Dobby must already punish himself for warning Harry Potter. But Harry Potter, Sir, is too important to be at risk, now that the chamber has been reopened!"
Dobby stopped. His eyes went wide and he started hitting his head on Harry's bed: "bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"That's enough Dobby, stop!" Harry interfered. "I promised you to stay out of trouble and I will keep that promise. I am not at risk from the heir, Dobby. My mother was a muggle-born, but my father comes from one of the oldest pureblood lines in magical Britain. I will not be attacked by the monster in the chamber."
Harry could tell that Dobby didn't fully believe him, but after repeating his promise to Dobby and letting the elf know he will be cautious, Dobby departed and Harry could finally go to bed.
The next week was bad for Harry. Almost every single student knew he was involved in the opening of the Chamber. There was not much love for Filch or his cat, but people still assumed Harry was the one that petrified the pet. Of course, it didn't help that Granger and especially Weasley spread rumors that Harry delved into the dark arts and found forbidden spells to perform such magic. It seemed as if only the teachers and a very few select students, like the Weasley Twins, didn't believe in the rumors and treated him just as before.
Unfortunately, on November 8th a second victim of the heir was found. Colin Creevey, some annoying first-year Gryffindor, was found petrified after a Quidditch match. Since Harry did not care much for Quidditch and was one of the few people to not watch the games, the suspicion surrounding him only grew.
Especially the Gryffindors were now increasingly hostile towards him after one of their own had been attacked. For some reason, Draco Malfoy wasn't part of the slander against Harry. In fact, any time someone outright accused Harry of being the heir of Slytherin and being responsible for the attacks, Draco's eyebrows narrowed in anger and a hateful expression appeared on his face.
Harry didn't care much and welcomed Draco into the small club of people that still thought he was innocent. The better question was why the sour look?
Was it Draco himself and he didn't like Harry getting the recognition of it? Harry doubted that. Draco was an above-average student, but he was not smart enough for anything that big. The Malfoy family, as Harry found out, were a branch of some larger French pureblood family that migrated to England around 200 years ago. Draco being a direct descendant was therefore unlikely.
Harry wanted to get to the bottom of it. The mystery of the Chamber of Secrets would be added to his already ambitious list of tasks. He somehow had a hint that Parseltongue might be the clue to solve the riddle. Salazar Slytherin was arguably the greatest Parseltongue in Britain. Surely his heir had to be one as well? Maybe Harry was indeed one of the multiple heirs. How else could he speak the incredibly rare language? He would consult his book about 'The Tongue of the Serpent' for some more information. Who knew? Perhaps he would find a clue in it?