Post by Christina E Lupin on Jul 14, 2009 13:13:11 GMT -5
Chapter Fourteen: First Lesson
Angelina Johnson proved to be much harder than Oliver Wood had been as Quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team. She worked them harder and longer, especially their newest member, Ron. Since he was the newest team member, he wasn’t as used to the jeers and nasty comments as the rest of the team. Angelina was especially concerned about how he reacted to the comments, thinking back to the one practice they had earlier.
So she decided to do a special exercise for Ron for each practice. She had everyone else but her and the new Keeper in the stands and had them make bad comments about Ron. Then Angelina would try to score goals as Ron tried to block them.
“Don’t listen to them, Ron,” she said when she continued to score most of the goals. “The main concern you have is to prevent the Quaffle from getting into one of the three goals. We will continue this until you get better at blocking both the Quaffle and the comments.”
Ron complained to Harry about how unfair the exercise was, how no one else had to do it before. He didn’t listen when Harry tried to explain that it was merely for his (Ron’s) benefit. The other team members were more used to the comments and weren’t as hotheaded either.
In between Quidditch practices, classes, homework, and studying, Harry tried to find places where he could hold the DA meetings without being found. He consulted the Marauder’s map and even called up his fathers in his mirror.
“What about the Shrieking Shack?” Sirius asked.
Remus let out a sigh. “Padfoot, that’s too small. Besides, anyone who passes by will be able to hear what is going on. The Forbidden Forest is out of the question as well, considering you could be attacked by the creatures that make the forest their home,” he added when his Brother opened his mouth to speak.
Sirius’ jaw shut with an audible click. He then sighed as well. “I don’t know what to tell you then, Harry. Unless you know of a place where you could hold about 40 students without being…”
Harry tuned out his dark-haired father as he got an idea. How could he have not thought about it this entire time? It was so simple and easy!
“Cub?” Remus’ voice broke his train of thought.
“I know of a place where no one could enter without me knowing about it,” he said excitedly.
“And where is that?” Sirius asked curiously.
Harry grinned. “The Chamber of Secrets.”
Both Remus and Sirius stared at their son with bewildered looks. They remembered the last time that Harry went in there and it made them shiver.
“It makes perfect sense,” Remus said slowly, “but are you sure, cub? I mean, I don’t think that the basilisk is gone by now…”
“That’s why I am going down there to clean it up a bit, maybe bring a few House-elves with to help.” He saw their skeptical looks and sighed. “Don’t worry, Dad, Papa, I will be fine. It’s not like I will be down there alone. Voldemort is miles away from the school and I doubt he would use the Chamber of Secrets now.”
His fathers didn’t seem comforted by that thought but agreed that the Chamber of Secrets would be the ideal place to hold the DA meetings, considering that only he, Harry, could open the place. The two men bade him good day and vanished from the mirror.
“Now I just need to convince some of the house-elves to come down with me to clean the place,” Harry muttered, placing the mirror inside his robes.
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Harry stared in shock as most of the house-elves agreed to help him clean out the Chamber of Secrets as he visited them in the kitchens, including Dobby, who now worked at Hogwarts.
“You sure?” he asked uncertainly, looking at the eager faces staring back at him.
“We are sure, Master Harry sir,” Dobby said, beaming. “We’s doing anything Master Harry sir wants.”
The rest of the house-elves agreed with him. Harry let a grin slid across his face and he led the eager creatures to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. He was surprised when he didn’t see her around, but he still opened the chamber by speaking in Parseltongue to the snake embedded on one of the taps. The house-elves squeaked as they watched the sinks slide apart until there was a hole in the ground. Harry grinned at them and dropped down first.
Once they all slid down into the chamber, Harry glanced around at the entrance. There were still animal bones, mostly rats, on the ground and he figured that that wouldn’t do for an entrance.
“Why don’t you banish those animal bones and transfigure the stone floor into carpet, or something softer for when the students arrive?” Harry began. He jumped when he felt the bones disappear underneath him and plush emerald green carpet appeared.
“Is it to your liking, Master Harry sir?” one of the house-elves asked.
“Yes, it is.” He turned toward them. “If you don’t mind, I would like to split you up so we can get this done faster. I want the floor, except for the main chamber, to be the same thing as this. Banish the basilisk skin and the basilisk into another part of this Chamber. I would like to harvest whatever is left of the creature for the Potions professor to use.”
“We’s do that as well, Master,” another house-elf responded, smiling.
“Good. Please do that and send them up to Professor Snape for me. Also, if you can, try to add more of the other House colors as well. I don’t want the students to think that it should not be used for our meetings. For the main chamber, I would like to change some of those snake statues to the other House mascots too and I would like to have dueling mannequins to be set up as well as several bookshelves of spells and Dark Arts. The floor can remain stone and please drain the water.”
After Harry got the ringing in his ears to stop, he found himself alone in the entrance with a couple house-elves, who charmed the walls to have vertical stripes going around with red, green, blue, and yellow colors.
“That’s perfect!” Harry said, smiling. “But do you think you could add the mascots as well?”
All in all, when the Chamber of Secrets was finished, it looked a whole lot more comfortable than it had before. There was no sign of the basilisk at all and the main room looked amazing. It still had the stone floor but the walls were the same as the rest of the chamber and the walls were littered with several bookshelves on one side and the other had dueling mannequins lined up. All the snake statues, except a few, were now transfigured to represent the other House mascots as well and a large curtain covered up the statue of Salazar Slytherin, much to Harry’s relief.
“You all did an excellent job,” Harry praised the house-elves. “The DA will love it. If I need your help once again, I’ll call for you, alright?” They nodded and vanished, except for Dobby. “Dobby, can you help me transfigure that slide so that when students want to exit, the slide transfigures into a set of stairs? I don’t think I want to keep calling Fawkes down here to transport the whole group.”
“Certainly, Master Harry sir,” Dobby said.
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“You what?” Hermione exclaimed, looking pale.
“You heard me,” Harry said the next morning, the day of the Quidditch match when Gryffindor would go against Slytherin. “I transformed the Chamber of Secrets into a place for us to use for our meetings.”
Ginny shivered, remembering her own adventures inside the Chamber of Secrets. “Are you sure it is safe now? I mean, the basilisk is still down there….”
“Didn’t you listen to me before? I had the house-elves harvest the basilisk and sent all the ingredients they saved to Professor Snape. That is why he looks so awed earlier.” Harry wrapped an arm around the younger girl. “Besides, it looks nothing like it did before.”
“I think we should see it before we use it, though,” Hermione said. Then she turned to Ron, who wasn’t eating anything. “Why don’t you eat something, Ron? You’ll need your strength.”
“I’m not hungry,” Ron grumbled, pushing the food around on his plate.
“At least drink something,” Harry said. “I know how you feel, but you do need to have something in your stomach.”
Ron, however, didn’t listen to either of his friends and he continued to push food around. Hermione sent Harry a defeated look and turned back to her own plate. Harry sighed and took a bite of his eggs.
After what felt like hours later, Angelina summoned the team into the changing rooms. Ron seemed to be on autopilot as he pulled on his robes while Angelina said that she was very lucky that she managed to get permission to reform the team and told the team to not give Umbridge a reason revoke her permission. After she finished the pep-talk, she led her team out onto the pitch.
The Slytherin team was already on the field and Harry tried to hide his snickers when he noticed that Crabbe and Goyle had been recruited as Slytherin Beaters. He also noticed that Montague was the captain and looked like he could have been built from a mold of Dudley.
Madame Hooch was perched in between both teams, dressed in her usual black and white robes, a silver whistle hanging from her neck. “Captains, shake hands,” she barked. Montague and Angelina met in the middle and shook hands. The Slytherin seemed to want to break Angelina’s hand but she seemed to show that it didn’t hurt her. The two students went back to their positions as Hooch ordered the team members to mount their brooms. Harry’s eyes caught sight of a crown-shaped badge on Malfoy’s robes that said “Weasley is Our King,” and Harry only hoped that Angelina’s exercises taught Ron to not take offense to anything the Slytherins said.
The whistle blew and all fourteen team members pushed off the ground. Ron streaked off toward the goal posts, looking extremely nervous. Harry flashed his friend a thumbs up before he rose above the other players, wanting to stay out of the way. He ignored Malfoy, who seemed to have the same idea as he did.
“Alright, Scarhead?” Malfoy taunted.
“…Montague catches the Quaffle and he streaks up the field… and drops it, courtesy from George Weasley… Katie Bell takes possession of the Quaffle and passes it to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet heads toward the goal posts….”
Harry found that some of the commentary was muted by the sound of singing. He glanced over at the Slytherin bleachers and noticed that they were the ones singing. Frowning, the Boy-Who-Lived maneuvered his broom so he was closer and could understand what they were singing.
“Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That’s why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.”
They sang another verse but Harry ignored it. He was more worried about Ron and his green eyes swung over to look at his friend. Ron looked pale but he had a determined look on his face. Good Ron, Harry thought, tune them out. They don’t matter.
“Alicia passes to Angelina!” Lee Jordan shouted and Harry turned his attention downward to see Angelina streaking toward the Slytherin goal posts. “She’s getting closer… c’mon, Angelina, c’mon…. she SHOOTS… SHE… aaah! No! Bletchley blocks and passes it to Warrington.”
“You like our new song, Potter?” Malfoy asked, flying closer to the younger boy. “I think Weasley likes it, don’t you?”
“Buzz off, Malfoy,” Harry said through clenched teeth and he darted away, keeping his eyes out for the Snitch. He couldn’t concentrate with Malfoy’s jeers.
“…now’s the test for Gryffindor’s new Keeper, Ron Weasley, brother to Fred and George Weasley and the famous Charlie Weasley…” Lee continued, holding the magical microphone in his hand, “…Warrington is getting ready to shoot… get ready, Ron!”
Suddenly, the singing from the Slytherin bleachers swelled, echoing around the stadium. Harry was getting quite annoyed by it and hoped that Ron would ignore it – but it seemed that Ron wasn’t ignoring it.
“RON! IGNORE IT!” Angelina screamed as she neared the goal posts with Katie at her heels.
Warrington got frighteningly close and, as Ron tried to block the Quaffle, scored easily. The stands groaned as the Slytherins screamed in victory.
“That’s ten-nothing to Slytherin… next time, Ron, don’t get down,” Lee said. “So, Katie Bell takes possession of the Quaffle…”
“Harry, find that Snitch fast,” Angelina said as she neared to where Harry was. “I have a feeling that Ron’s confidence is going to crash. I just wish we knew of a way to get him to perform better…”
“Me too,” Harry said and the Gryffindor captain flew off to catch up to Katie and Alicia. He returned to looking for the Snitch and found no sight of it. He did, however, notice that he saw Remus seated in the visitor’s section. Harry grinned and lowered himself so he could wave to Remus, who waved back. At his side Sirius stood in his dog form and he barked, tail wagging happily. Then, when Harry looked closer, there seemed to be a gray rat seated on top of the dog’s head and Harry wondered how much both his other fathers were holding back to not hex the younger man.
Feeling much better, the Gryffindor Seeker rose himself up into the air, dodging a Bludger as he did so.
“Watch it, Harry!” George called as he swung his bat and sent the black ball towards the Slytherins. “Seems the gorillas aren’t bad Beaters as they look.”
“Thanks,” Harry said and he rose a little higher, scanning around for any sign of gold. When he saw nothing, he turned his attention back to the game, noticing that Pucey, one of the other Slytherin Chasers, had the Quaffle and was now headed back to Ron. “C’mon, Ron,” he said under his breath. “Block it.”
Ron didn’t and he even let two more goals in before Angelina managed to score the first goal for Gryffindor. So it was forty-ten and the game seemed to get worse. More times than he could count, the captain came over and made sure that the young Seeker was searching for the Snitch.
“I am so going to work on Ron during the next practices,” he could hear the seventh-year grumble. “If he acts the same way against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw…”
Harry circled the stadium and when he glanced toward the Slytherin goal posts, he noticed the Snitch. Heart racing, he dived and Malfoy did too. Harry’s Firebolt was thankfully faster than Malfoy’s Nimbus-Two-Thousand-And-One and he found himself a little farther ahead. When he was within inches of the Snitch, he reached out a hand and stretched. Malfoy seemed to get angry and he pushed his broom faster so that he was neck and neck with the Gryffindor. Gritting his teeth, Harry stretched just a little further and grasped the Snitch in his hand.
Once he got a good grip, he held up the struggling Snitch in his hand amongst the cheers and screams from the crowd. Then…
WHAM!
Harry gasped and nearly fell off his broom as a Bludger slammed into his side. He grasped his broom in one hand, the Snitch in the other, and he attempted to breath. Angelina flew to his side, asking him if was alright.
“M’fine,” he answered, still struggling to catch his breath.
“You should still go see Madam Pomfrey afterward, Potter,” Madam Hooch said, eyeing his side. “Just to make sure.”
Then, after she left, Angelina pulled the younger boy into a hug, mindful of his injury. “But we won! We won, Harry! All thanks to you!”
“It was Crabbe,” Alicia spat, swinging off of her broom next to the others. “He swung it at you the moment you caught the Snitch. I swear, the Slytherins get worse and worse every year.”
“No kidding,” Harry said, then he turned to look at Ron. “How are you?”
Ron looked severely pale, his hair and Quidditch robes standing out vividly against his skin. “I should be the one asking you that, mate,” he said shakily, looking at where Harry was clutching at his side. “You were the one who got hit, after all.”
It was then that the seven Gryffindors noticed Malfoy approaching with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. He held a smirk on his face.
“You saved Weasley’s neck, you know,” Malfoy taunted, crossing his arms and facing the group. “If it weren’t for you, we would have so many points that it would have been hard for you to catch up…”
“Go to Hell, Malfoy,” Fred hissed.
“Did you like the lyrics, though?” the Slytherin called as the Gryffindors gathered around Harry and lead him to the changing rooms. “We wanted to add more, but we couldn’t rhyme some of the words… like we wanted to add some comments about his mother, see…”
“Ron…” Angelina growled as Ron looked ready to turn around and whack Malfoy. “Ignore him. Let’s get into the changing room and get Harry in the hospital wing for a check-up.”
“But you like the Weasleys’, don’t you Potter?” Malfoy continued. “I bet you spend every summer break there. Don’t know how you can stand the smell, but then again, you do reek as well, don’t you? I mean, having a Mudblood for a mother…”
That seemed to be the last straw. Though Harry hadn’t leapt at Malfoy, as the girls were holding him back, Fred and George did. They let out a roar and punched Malfoy, sending him to the ground.
“FRED! GEORGE! NO!” Angelina shrieked and the other two Chasers clung onto Harry, whispering things into his ear. Harry found himself calming down but he still glared at Malfoy.
“IMPEDIMENTA!” Madam Hooch’s voice shouted and the Weasley twins froze. “Never have I…. ever… how dare you attack an unarmed student…”
“He was insulting both my mother and Harry’s, Madam,” Ron said, still looking pale.
“That was still no excuse to beat up on another student,” the Flying Instructor said. She released the twins. “Now, both of you, go see your Head of House. I will be taking Malfoy to the Infirmary.” She used a Levitation Charm on the moaning student and floated him back toward the castle.
“Let’s go get changed then,” Angelina said lowly and ushered the rest of her team into the changing rooms.
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Harry was checked by Madam Pomfrey and he seemed to only have a couple bruised ribs. She healed the bruises quickly and sent him off, heading to attend to Malfoy, who was still moaning on a bed.
He was on his way to the Gryffindor common room when he was grabbed into a shadowy hallway. He cried out and tried to squirm when a familiar voice said, “Harry! It’s just us.”
The Gryffindor relaxed and sent a playful glare at the three Marauders. “You could have warned me, you know.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Sirius asked, grinning. However, his grin faded as he eyed Harry’s side. “How bad was it?”
He shrugged. “Just a couple of bruised ribs. Madam Pomfrey healed them pretty fast. It’s Malfoy she has to heal.”
“What happened to make Fred and George go at him like that?” Remus asked, looking curious.
The young Gryffindor teen relayed the entire story to the three men and noted that the three of them looked quite angry when they heard the comment about Harry’s mother.
“I’m shocked you even held back if Malfoy did say that,” Wormtail replied. “I know that we would’ve.”
“I wanted to, I really did, but I didn’t want to get myself into any more trouble with Umbridge than I already did.”
“But that wasn’t your fault,” Sirius said, his eyes flashing. “She is going too far, she is.”
“Padfoot, there’s nothing we can do,” Remus replied, trying to reason with the angry dog Animagus. He turned to Harry. “Are you sure she’s just making you do lines for detention?” Harry nodded. “She’s not doing anything illegal by making you do lines, right?”
“No, Papa, I swear,” Harry said. He wasn’t necessarily telling a lie, just omitting a few facts. He knew that if his fathers heard that he used a Blood Quill, they would hit the roof. “She just sits there grading papers while we do lines.”
Sirius was about to open his mouth when he heard a noise that sounded like the clearing of a throat. The four turned to see Dumbledore there, his eyes twinkling.
“If you gentlemen don’t mind, I think Harry needs to head back to his common room. He’s missing an excellent party there.”
The three men looked ready to tell the older wizard off when Harry said that he would go anyway. Sirius, Remus, and Peter hugged him before watching him leave, their faces worried.
“Now, pray tell, what are you doing here?” Dumbledore asked, looking curious.
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Harry heard from Angelina that the twins had been banned from Quidditch and also that Harry himself was put on probation. When he asked why, the older girl told him, quite bitterly, that Umbridge suspected that he Confunded the Weasley twins into attacking young Malfoy.
“I know that that wasn’t the truth,” she stressed as soon as the younger Gryffindor opened his mouth, “but there’s nothing we can do. According to Fred and George, she has another decree out, giving her the right to assign detention and all that rubbish.”
Angelina left him eventually, shaking her head and muttering about finding new Beaters. Harry returned to his plate at the Gryffindor table, wishing he could let his fathers know the truth so they could kill her. The woman was unfair.
“Harry,” Hermione said, taking a seat, “how are you?”
“I’m fine, actually.” He glanced down and noticed that she was holding a Galleon in her hand. “What is that?”
“This?” she asked, holding up the coin. “I made this up so we could alert everyone about what is going on. Once we are finished inspecting the Chamber of Secrets, I will tell the others to meet us up at Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom so we can get to work.” She leaned forward. “How about this weekend we go check it out? That way we can let the others know by the beginning of the week.”
Harry agreed and returned to his breakfast before he noticed that Ron wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Have you seen Ron?”
Hermione looked uncomfortable. “He’s still not getting over the fact that he let four goals in.”
“I think he’s pressuring himself too much,” Harry said. “He’s trying to make himself out to be like Wood.”
“But that’s ridiculous! He would need to have lots of practice to even do great! Ronald has to realize that you can’t save every single goal!” The bushy-haired girl stood up and stomped out of the Hall, looking angry.
A tap on his shoulder made Harry turn around and face a familiar blonde Ravenclaw girl. He had vaguely remembered being introduced to Luna Lovegood at the beginning of the year but he managed to stay away from her.
“Hello Harry Potter,” she said dreamily. “Nice save yesterday. It’s too bad that your friend was being attacked by the Gnargles. I was really rooting him on. Tell him I said hello.” She then skipped off, her radish earrings bouncing along with her.
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Just as Harry agreed, the small group (the twins, Ginny, and the trio) stood inside Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Ginny, though she put on a brave face, looked ready to faint any second. She even whimpered when she saw Harry hiss to the snake on the tap. The twins and Hermione watched in fascination as the sinks slid apart to reveal the large hole.
“That is so wicked,” the twins chorused, grinning.
“No one will be able to find us at all!” Fred said eagerly.
“You can’t even find us on the Marauder’s map either!” George added.
Harry went first to make sure everyone came out alright. Ginny followed and she gave a squeak when she noticed that she didn’t land on bones but soft carpet. She glanced around and whistled.
“Nice,” she said, getting up. “It’s a nice blend of all four Houses, so as to not show prejudice.” The red-head stepped aside as the pipe spat out Ron, who flailed his limbs as he shot out.
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After walking through the entire chamber, Hermione came to an agreement that they could use the space, especially after seeing the enormous main chamber. Harry nearly rolled his eyes at his friend as she scanned the titles of the books. Ron and the twins were rather interested in the dueling mannequins while Ginny stayed by Harry’s side.
“I still remember, you know?” Ginny said, her eyes glancing around. “No matter how much you changed it, I still can remember the exact details of that night. I was so naïve and young when I wrote in that diary. If I had had any brains I would have…”
“Don’t say that, Ginny,” Harry interrupted. “You didn’t know that the diary was evil. Don’t go saying that you would have done everything different. It is in the past and it happened. You lived, I lived, no one was killed that time, so stop dwelling on it.”
The younger girl smiled tearfully at Harry and reached out to squeeze his hand. “Thanks Harry.”
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Angelina Johnson proved to be much harder than Oliver Wood had been as Quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team. She worked them harder and longer, especially their newest member, Ron. Since he was the newest team member, he wasn’t as used to the jeers and nasty comments as the rest of the team. Angelina was especially concerned about how he reacted to the comments, thinking back to the one practice they had earlier.
So she decided to do a special exercise for Ron for each practice. She had everyone else but her and the new Keeper in the stands and had them make bad comments about Ron. Then Angelina would try to score goals as Ron tried to block them.
“Don’t listen to them, Ron,” she said when she continued to score most of the goals. “The main concern you have is to prevent the Quaffle from getting into one of the three goals. We will continue this until you get better at blocking both the Quaffle and the comments.”
Ron complained to Harry about how unfair the exercise was, how no one else had to do it before. He didn’t listen when Harry tried to explain that it was merely for his (Ron’s) benefit. The other team members were more used to the comments and weren’t as hotheaded either.
In between Quidditch practices, classes, homework, and studying, Harry tried to find places where he could hold the DA meetings without being found. He consulted the Marauder’s map and even called up his fathers in his mirror.
“What about the Shrieking Shack?” Sirius asked.
Remus let out a sigh. “Padfoot, that’s too small. Besides, anyone who passes by will be able to hear what is going on. The Forbidden Forest is out of the question as well, considering you could be attacked by the creatures that make the forest their home,” he added when his Brother opened his mouth to speak.
Sirius’ jaw shut with an audible click. He then sighed as well. “I don’t know what to tell you then, Harry. Unless you know of a place where you could hold about 40 students without being…”
Harry tuned out his dark-haired father as he got an idea. How could he have not thought about it this entire time? It was so simple and easy!
“Cub?” Remus’ voice broke his train of thought.
“I know of a place where no one could enter without me knowing about it,” he said excitedly.
“And where is that?” Sirius asked curiously.
Harry grinned. “The Chamber of Secrets.”
Both Remus and Sirius stared at their son with bewildered looks. They remembered the last time that Harry went in there and it made them shiver.
“It makes perfect sense,” Remus said slowly, “but are you sure, cub? I mean, I don’t think that the basilisk is gone by now…”
“That’s why I am going down there to clean it up a bit, maybe bring a few House-elves with to help.” He saw their skeptical looks and sighed. “Don’t worry, Dad, Papa, I will be fine. It’s not like I will be down there alone. Voldemort is miles away from the school and I doubt he would use the Chamber of Secrets now.”
His fathers didn’t seem comforted by that thought but agreed that the Chamber of Secrets would be the ideal place to hold the DA meetings, considering that only he, Harry, could open the place. The two men bade him good day and vanished from the mirror.
“Now I just need to convince some of the house-elves to come down with me to clean the place,” Harry muttered, placing the mirror inside his robes.
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Harry stared in shock as most of the house-elves agreed to help him clean out the Chamber of Secrets as he visited them in the kitchens, including Dobby, who now worked at Hogwarts.
“You sure?” he asked uncertainly, looking at the eager faces staring back at him.
“We are sure, Master Harry sir,” Dobby said, beaming. “We’s doing anything Master Harry sir wants.”
The rest of the house-elves agreed with him. Harry let a grin slid across his face and he led the eager creatures to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. He was surprised when he didn’t see her around, but he still opened the chamber by speaking in Parseltongue to the snake embedded on one of the taps. The house-elves squeaked as they watched the sinks slide apart until there was a hole in the ground. Harry grinned at them and dropped down first.
Once they all slid down into the chamber, Harry glanced around at the entrance. There were still animal bones, mostly rats, on the ground and he figured that that wouldn’t do for an entrance.
“Why don’t you banish those animal bones and transfigure the stone floor into carpet, or something softer for when the students arrive?” Harry began. He jumped when he felt the bones disappear underneath him and plush emerald green carpet appeared.
“Is it to your liking, Master Harry sir?” one of the house-elves asked.
“Yes, it is.” He turned toward them. “If you don’t mind, I would like to split you up so we can get this done faster. I want the floor, except for the main chamber, to be the same thing as this. Banish the basilisk skin and the basilisk into another part of this Chamber. I would like to harvest whatever is left of the creature for the Potions professor to use.”
“We’s do that as well, Master,” another house-elf responded, smiling.
“Good. Please do that and send them up to Professor Snape for me. Also, if you can, try to add more of the other House colors as well. I don’t want the students to think that it should not be used for our meetings. For the main chamber, I would like to change some of those snake statues to the other House mascots too and I would like to have dueling mannequins to be set up as well as several bookshelves of spells and Dark Arts. The floor can remain stone and please drain the water.”
After Harry got the ringing in his ears to stop, he found himself alone in the entrance with a couple house-elves, who charmed the walls to have vertical stripes going around with red, green, blue, and yellow colors.
“That’s perfect!” Harry said, smiling. “But do you think you could add the mascots as well?”
All in all, when the Chamber of Secrets was finished, it looked a whole lot more comfortable than it had before. There was no sign of the basilisk at all and the main room looked amazing. It still had the stone floor but the walls were the same as the rest of the chamber and the walls were littered with several bookshelves on one side and the other had dueling mannequins lined up. All the snake statues, except a few, were now transfigured to represent the other House mascots as well and a large curtain covered up the statue of Salazar Slytherin, much to Harry’s relief.
“You all did an excellent job,” Harry praised the house-elves. “The DA will love it. If I need your help once again, I’ll call for you, alright?” They nodded and vanished, except for Dobby. “Dobby, can you help me transfigure that slide so that when students want to exit, the slide transfigures into a set of stairs? I don’t think I want to keep calling Fawkes down here to transport the whole group.”
“Certainly, Master Harry sir,” Dobby said.
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“You what?” Hermione exclaimed, looking pale.
“You heard me,” Harry said the next morning, the day of the Quidditch match when Gryffindor would go against Slytherin. “I transformed the Chamber of Secrets into a place for us to use for our meetings.”
Ginny shivered, remembering her own adventures inside the Chamber of Secrets. “Are you sure it is safe now? I mean, the basilisk is still down there….”
“Didn’t you listen to me before? I had the house-elves harvest the basilisk and sent all the ingredients they saved to Professor Snape. That is why he looks so awed earlier.” Harry wrapped an arm around the younger girl. “Besides, it looks nothing like it did before.”
“I think we should see it before we use it, though,” Hermione said. Then she turned to Ron, who wasn’t eating anything. “Why don’t you eat something, Ron? You’ll need your strength.”
“I’m not hungry,” Ron grumbled, pushing the food around on his plate.
“At least drink something,” Harry said. “I know how you feel, but you do need to have something in your stomach.”
Ron, however, didn’t listen to either of his friends and he continued to push food around. Hermione sent Harry a defeated look and turned back to her own plate. Harry sighed and took a bite of his eggs.
After what felt like hours later, Angelina summoned the team into the changing rooms. Ron seemed to be on autopilot as he pulled on his robes while Angelina said that she was very lucky that she managed to get permission to reform the team and told the team to not give Umbridge a reason revoke her permission. After she finished the pep-talk, she led her team out onto the pitch.
The Slytherin team was already on the field and Harry tried to hide his snickers when he noticed that Crabbe and Goyle had been recruited as Slytherin Beaters. He also noticed that Montague was the captain and looked like he could have been built from a mold of Dudley.
Madame Hooch was perched in between both teams, dressed in her usual black and white robes, a silver whistle hanging from her neck. “Captains, shake hands,” she barked. Montague and Angelina met in the middle and shook hands. The Slytherin seemed to want to break Angelina’s hand but she seemed to show that it didn’t hurt her. The two students went back to their positions as Hooch ordered the team members to mount their brooms. Harry’s eyes caught sight of a crown-shaped badge on Malfoy’s robes that said “Weasley is Our King,” and Harry only hoped that Angelina’s exercises taught Ron to not take offense to anything the Slytherins said.
The whistle blew and all fourteen team members pushed off the ground. Ron streaked off toward the goal posts, looking extremely nervous. Harry flashed his friend a thumbs up before he rose above the other players, wanting to stay out of the way. He ignored Malfoy, who seemed to have the same idea as he did.
“Alright, Scarhead?” Malfoy taunted.
“…Montague catches the Quaffle and he streaks up the field… and drops it, courtesy from George Weasley… Katie Bell takes possession of the Quaffle and passes it to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet heads toward the goal posts….”
Harry found that some of the commentary was muted by the sound of singing. He glanced over at the Slytherin bleachers and noticed that they were the ones singing. Frowning, the Boy-Who-Lived maneuvered his broom so he was closer and could understand what they were singing.
“Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That’s why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.”
They sang another verse but Harry ignored it. He was more worried about Ron and his green eyes swung over to look at his friend. Ron looked pale but he had a determined look on his face. Good Ron, Harry thought, tune them out. They don’t matter.
“Alicia passes to Angelina!” Lee Jordan shouted and Harry turned his attention downward to see Angelina streaking toward the Slytherin goal posts. “She’s getting closer… c’mon, Angelina, c’mon…. she SHOOTS… SHE… aaah! No! Bletchley blocks and passes it to Warrington.”
“You like our new song, Potter?” Malfoy asked, flying closer to the younger boy. “I think Weasley likes it, don’t you?”
“Buzz off, Malfoy,” Harry said through clenched teeth and he darted away, keeping his eyes out for the Snitch. He couldn’t concentrate with Malfoy’s jeers.
“…now’s the test for Gryffindor’s new Keeper, Ron Weasley, brother to Fred and George Weasley and the famous Charlie Weasley…” Lee continued, holding the magical microphone in his hand, “…Warrington is getting ready to shoot… get ready, Ron!”
Suddenly, the singing from the Slytherin bleachers swelled, echoing around the stadium. Harry was getting quite annoyed by it and hoped that Ron would ignore it – but it seemed that Ron wasn’t ignoring it.
“RON! IGNORE IT!” Angelina screamed as she neared the goal posts with Katie at her heels.
Warrington got frighteningly close and, as Ron tried to block the Quaffle, scored easily. The stands groaned as the Slytherins screamed in victory.
“That’s ten-nothing to Slytherin… next time, Ron, don’t get down,” Lee said. “So, Katie Bell takes possession of the Quaffle…”
“Harry, find that Snitch fast,” Angelina said as she neared to where Harry was. “I have a feeling that Ron’s confidence is going to crash. I just wish we knew of a way to get him to perform better…”
“Me too,” Harry said and the Gryffindor captain flew off to catch up to Katie and Alicia. He returned to looking for the Snitch and found no sight of it. He did, however, notice that he saw Remus seated in the visitor’s section. Harry grinned and lowered himself so he could wave to Remus, who waved back. At his side Sirius stood in his dog form and he barked, tail wagging happily. Then, when Harry looked closer, there seemed to be a gray rat seated on top of the dog’s head and Harry wondered how much both his other fathers were holding back to not hex the younger man.
Feeling much better, the Gryffindor Seeker rose himself up into the air, dodging a Bludger as he did so.
“Watch it, Harry!” George called as he swung his bat and sent the black ball towards the Slytherins. “Seems the gorillas aren’t bad Beaters as they look.”
“Thanks,” Harry said and he rose a little higher, scanning around for any sign of gold. When he saw nothing, he turned his attention back to the game, noticing that Pucey, one of the other Slytherin Chasers, had the Quaffle and was now headed back to Ron. “C’mon, Ron,” he said under his breath. “Block it.”
Ron didn’t and he even let two more goals in before Angelina managed to score the first goal for Gryffindor. So it was forty-ten and the game seemed to get worse. More times than he could count, the captain came over and made sure that the young Seeker was searching for the Snitch.
“I am so going to work on Ron during the next practices,” he could hear the seventh-year grumble. “If he acts the same way against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw…”
Harry circled the stadium and when he glanced toward the Slytherin goal posts, he noticed the Snitch. Heart racing, he dived and Malfoy did too. Harry’s Firebolt was thankfully faster than Malfoy’s Nimbus-Two-Thousand-And-One and he found himself a little farther ahead. When he was within inches of the Snitch, he reached out a hand and stretched. Malfoy seemed to get angry and he pushed his broom faster so that he was neck and neck with the Gryffindor. Gritting his teeth, Harry stretched just a little further and grasped the Snitch in his hand.
Once he got a good grip, he held up the struggling Snitch in his hand amongst the cheers and screams from the crowd. Then…
WHAM!
Harry gasped and nearly fell off his broom as a Bludger slammed into his side. He grasped his broom in one hand, the Snitch in the other, and he attempted to breath. Angelina flew to his side, asking him if was alright.
“M’fine,” he answered, still struggling to catch his breath.
“You should still go see Madam Pomfrey afterward, Potter,” Madam Hooch said, eyeing his side. “Just to make sure.”
Then, after she left, Angelina pulled the younger boy into a hug, mindful of his injury. “But we won! We won, Harry! All thanks to you!”
“It was Crabbe,” Alicia spat, swinging off of her broom next to the others. “He swung it at you the moment you caught the Snitch. I swear, the Slytherins get worse and worse every year.”
“No kidding,” Harry said, then he turned to look at Ron. “How are you?”
Ron looked severely pale, his hair and Quidditch robes standing out vividly against his skin. “I should be the one asking you that, mate,” he said shakily, looking at where Harry was clutching at his side. “You were the one who got hit, after all.”
It was then that the seven Gryffindors noticed Malfoy approaching with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. He held a smirk on his face.
“You saved Weasley’s neck, you know,” Malfoy taunted, crossing his arms and facing the group. “If it weren’t for you, we would have so many points that it would have been hard for you to catch up…”
“Go to Hell, Malfoy,” Fred hissed.
“Did you like the lyrics, though?” the Slytherin called as the Gryffindors gathered around Harry and lead him to the changing rooms. “We wanted to add more, but we couldn’t rhyme some of the words… like we wanted to add some comments about his mother, see…”
“Ron…” Angelina growled as Ron looked ready to turn around and whack Malfoy. “Ignore him. Let’s get into the changing room and get Harry in the hospital wing for a check-up.”
“But you like the Weasleys’, don’t you Potter?” Malfoy continued. “I bet you spend every summer break there. Don’t know how you can stand the smell, but then again, you do reek as well, don’t you? I mean, having a Mudblood for a mother…”
That seemed to be the last straw. Though Harry hadn’t leapt at Malfoy, as the girls were holding him back, Fred and George did. They let out a roar and punched Malfoy, sending him to the ground.
“FRED! GEORGE! NO!” Angelina shrieked and the other two Chasers clung onto Harry, whispering things into his ear. Harry found himself calming down but he still glared at Malfoy.
“IMPEDIMENTA!” Madam Hooch’s voice shouted and the Weasley twins froze. “Never have I…. ever… how dare you attack an unarmed student…”
“He was insulting both my mother and Harry’s, Madam,” Ron said, still looking pale.
“That was still no excuse to beat up on another student,” the Flying Instructor said. She released the twins. “Now, both of you, go see your Head of House. I will be taking Malfoy to the Infirmary.” She used a Levitation Charm on the moaning student and floated him back toward the castle.
“Let’s go get changed then,” Angelina said lowly and ushered the rest of her team into the changing rooms.
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Harry was checked by Madam Pomfrey and he seemed to only have a couple bruised ribs. She healed the bruises quickly and sent him off, heading to attend to Malfoy, who was still moaning on a bed.
He was on his way to the Gryffindor common room when he was grabbed into a shadowy hallway. He cried out and tried to squirm when a familiar voice said, “Harry! It’s just us.”
The Gryffindor relaxed and sent a playful glare at the three Marauders. “You could have warned me, you know.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Sirius asked, grinning. However, his grin faded as he eyed Harry’s side. “How bad was it?”
He shrugged. “Just a couple of bruised ribs. Madam Pomfrey healed them pretty fast. It’s Malfoy she has to heal.”
“What happened to make Fred and George go at him like that?” Remus asked, looking curious.
The young Gryffindor teen relayed the entire story to the three men and noted that the three of them looked quite angry when they heard the comment about Harry’s mother.
“I’m shocked you even held back if Malfoy did say that,” Wormtail replied. “I know that we would’ve.”
“I wanted to, I really did, but I didn’t want to get myself into any more trouble with Umbridge than I already did.”
“But that wasn’t your fault,” Sirius said, his eyes flashing. “She is going too far, she is.”
“Padfoot, there’s nothing we can do,” Remus replied, trying to reason with the angry dog Animagus. He turned to Harry. “Are you sure she’s just making you do lines for detention?” Harry nodded. “She’s not doing anything illegal by making you do lines, right?”
“No, Papa, I swear,” Harry said. He wasn’t necessarily telling a lie, just omitting a few facts. He knew that if his fathers heard that he used a Blood Quill, they would hit the roof. “She just sits there grading papers while we do lines.”
Sirius was about to open his mouth when he heard a noise that sounded like the clearing of a throat. The four turned to see Dumbledore there, his eyes twinkling.
“If you gentlemen don’t mind, I think Harry needs to head back to his common room. He’s missing an excellent party there.”
The three men looked ready to tell the older wizard off when Harry said that he would go anyway. Sirius, Remus, and Peter hugged him before watching him leave, their faces worried.
“Now, pray tell, what are you doing here?” Dumbledore asked, looking curious.
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Harry heard from Angelina that the twins had been banned from Quidditch and also that Harry himself was put on probation. When he asked why, the older girl told him, quite bitterly, that Umbridge suspected that he Confunded the Weasley twins into attacking young Malfoy.
“I know that that wasn’t the truth,” she stressed as soon as the younger Gryffindor opened his mouth, “but there’s nothing we can do. According to Fred and George, she has another decree out, giving her the right to assign detention and all that rubbish.”
Angelina left him eventually, shaking her head and muttering about finding new Beaters. Harry returned to his plate at the Gryffindor table, wishing he could let his fathers know the truth so they could kill her. The woman was unfair.
“Harry,” Hermione said, taking a seat, “how are you?”
“I’m fine, actually.” He glanced down and noticed that she was holding a Galleon in her hand. “What is that?”
“This?” she asked, holding up the coin. “I made this up so we could alert everyone about what is going on. Once we are finished inspecting the Chamber of Secrets, I will tell the others to meet us up at Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom so we can get to work.” She leaned forward. “How about this weekend we go check it out? That way we can let the others know by the beginning of the week.”
Harry agreed and returned to his breakfast before he noticed that Ron wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Have you seen Ron?”
Hermione looked uncomfortable. “He’s still not getting over the fact that he let four goals in.”
“I think he’s pressuring himself too much,” Harry said. “He’s trying to make himself out to be like Wood.”
“But that’s ridiculous! He would need to have lots of practice to even do great! Ronald has to realize that you can’t save every single goal!” The bushy-haired girl stood up and stomped out of the Hall, looking angry.
A tap on his shoulder made Harry turn around and face a familiar blonde Ravenclaw girl. He had vaguely remembered being introduced to Luna Lovegood at the beginning of the year but he managed to stay away from her.
“Hello Harry Potter,” she said dreamily. “Nice save yesterday. It’s too bad that your friend was being attacked by the Gnargles. I was really rooting him on. Tell him I said hello.” She then skipped off, her radish earrings bouncing along with her.
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Just as Harry agreed, the small group (the twins, Ginny, and the trio) stood inside Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Ginny, though she put on a brave face, looked ready to faint any second. She even whimpered when she saw Harry hiss to the snake on the tap. The twins and Hermione watched in fascination as the sinks slid apart to reveal the large hole.
“That is so wicked,” the twins chorused, grinning.
“No one will be able to find us at all!” Fred said eagerly.
“You can’t even find us on the Marauder’s map either!” George added.
Harry went first to make sure everyone came out alright. Ginny followed and she gave a squeak when she noticed that she didn’t land on bones but soft carpet. She glanced around and whistled.
“Nice,” she said, getting up. “It’s a nice blend of all four Houses, so as to not show prejudice.” The red-head stepped aside as the pipe spat out Ron, who flailed his limbs as he shot out.
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After walking through the entire chamber, Hermione came to an agreement that they could use the space, especially after seeing the enormous main chamber. Harry nearly rolled his eyes at his friend as she scanned the titles of the books. Ron and the twins were rather interested in the dueling mannequins while Ginny stayed by Harry’s side.
“I still remember, you know?” Ginny said, her eyes glancing around. “No matter how much you changed it, I still can remember the exact details of that night. I was so naïve and young when I wrote in that diary. If I had had any brains I would have…”
“Don’t say that, Ginny,” Harry interrupted. “You didn’t know that the diary was evil. Don’t go saying that you would have done everything different. It is in the past and it happened. You lived, I lived, no one was killed that time, so stop dwelling on it.”
The younger girl smiled tearfully at Harry and reached out to squeeze his hand. “Thanks Harry.”
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