Remus felt his himself falling down a long cavernous hole for what seemed like forever, he couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally, the sensation ended and he opened his eyes. He was standing in a house he couldn't recognize. There was pictures hanging precariously off the hooks, the curtains were ripped and torn, with red stains on them, the entire room was almost destroyed, then he noticed, that it was the Dursleys. Suddenly he saw a door open, he reached for his wand, but it was gone. The door opened and he saw Harry slowly walking in.

"Harry! Where are we? What happened?" said Remus quickly But stared in horror as he got a closer look at Harry. The sight of the boy almost made Remus scream out loud.

"Why didn't you save me? Why did you let them keep me? Don't you know what happened to me when I got home? Look what he did to me, after what happened to Aunt Muriel." said Harry holding out his arms. Remus gazed transfixed in horror at the wounds on the poor boy's body.

"Harry…I…I didn't know…" said Remus weakly.

"I told you, I sent you dozens of letters to come and save me!" cried Harry tears and a trickle of blood falling down his face. "I told you everything!" he covered his face and cried, blood flowing from the crevices of his fingers. Remus staggered and rushed to Harry, but with every step he took, he gained no ground, but lost it.

Suddenly, a spectral figure that resembled Vernon appeared and in a whirl of gray, and red, Harry was dragged away screaming into the darkness.

"REMUS! PLEASE! DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME!" screamed Harry, his hands trying to claw at Remus frantically.

"HARRY!" yelled Remus, he tried running faster after the boy, but found his way blocked by a large wolf like form. It was the form he took every full moon.

"What makes you think we want to take care of some little brat? You can barely see to my needs. Of course, if you really want to take care of the little morsel, I wouldn't mind a snack for the next full moon." said the wolf eagerly.

"NO!" shouted Remus. The wolf grinned maliciously.

"No? But what is to stop me from getting him?" said the wolf pacing back and forth, the same evil grin on his face.

"I…Harry…" Remus fell to his knees. "You're right, it's too dangerous for me to take him…"

"That's right, now, let's get out of this dump. There's a full moon in two days and I'm dying to get out and shake the dust out of my fur." he said pushing another door open with his paw. Remus slowly stood up, as if in a trance.

"That's right, come on…you belong to me…" said the wolf licking his chops.

Suddenly a lightning bolt came crashing down right between werewolf and the distraught man. The bolt of lightning left behind a young man, the same young man that was dragged away into the darkness, the only difference was, was that he was a little older and the wounds were gone.

"Harry…?" said Remus weakly the fog in his brain quickly dissipating.

Harry was on all fours and gasping for breath. "Gotta hang on….gotta hang on…" gasped Harry. The werewolf pounced on the boy, but was sent flying back; a strange aura was connecting the two of them. Remus watched as the werewolf began to drain away slowly; the skin grew tight against his skin and the hair slowly fell from the werewolf's body. The werewolf tried once more to attack, this time, he lunged at Remus, but Harry took a hold of the aura and slammed him into the wall, but then, Harry collapsed from exhaustion.

Then, just miraculous as Harry arrived, someone else had arrived and Harry was taken away by a man that Remus had seen before, but he couldn't believe that it was actually him. Harry disappeared with the man, but then the man reappeared. The man then walked over and pulled Remus upward.

"He forgave you, so I guess, I must too." said the man with a smile. The light enveloped him, leaving the remains of the werewolf behind. "Watch yourself, for I will not be kind next time."

Remus sat up quickly and found himself back in the Great Hall.

"Easy mate." said a familiar voice. Remus looked up and saw Sirius smiling down at him. "You're still feeling warm, best let yourself rest a bit more. "

"Harry…where is Harry…" said Remus weakly.

"He's in your lap, so don't move about too much, he's still feeling a bit under the weather." said Sirius.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Remus quickly.

"He has a slight fever, and so do you so you take a rest. We're starting on the next chapter." said Dr. Clark.

"How did the game go?" asked Remus sinking back into the cushions and running fingers through Harry's hair.

"He won, but he broke his arm." said Fred with a frown on his face.

"Then Dazzle Gums magicked the bones out of Harry's arm." said George.

"When I feel better, I'm going to kill him." said Remus.

"Get in line, there's a long line." said Dr. Clark.

"Can we make Justin read?" asked Hermione with an innocent smile..

"Do you feel up to it?" asked Professor Sprout.

"Sure." said Justin taking the book, but then his face paled.

"The Dueling Club"

Ernie and several Hufflepuffs looked guiltily around.

"You get the feeling it's another bad one?" said Tonks helping Remus drink a cup of hot chocolate.

Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with winter sunlight and his arm re-boned but very stiff.

"That sort of sounds familiar." said Dr. Clark.

"It should, you had to take that particular potion at Headquarters." said Dr. Nicodemus, "Your hands were almost completely nonexistent."

Dr. Clark looked at his hands, his face twisted with horror.

"It's okay, you've got them back." said Sirius reassuringly.

He sat up quickly and looked over at Colin's bed, but it had been blocked from view by the high curtains Harry had changed behind yesterday.

"Well of course, I didn't need him upsetting himself, especially seeing how delicate he is." said Madam Pomfrey.

"He won't like you calling him delicate again." said Sirius with a laugh.

"I have to agree with her, the boy is very brittle. All the abuse he's been through saw to that." said Dr. Nicodemus.

Seeing that he was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began bending and stretching his arm and fingers.

"You sound about as cruel as a chiropractor." said Dr. Clark with a laugh.

"What is that?" asked Draco.

"A person you pay to hurt you and twist you into knots." said Dr. Clark.

Draco stared.

"All in order," she said, as he clumsily fed himself porridge left-handed.

"It was quite adorable." whispered Madam Pomfrey to Professor Sprout.

"When you've finished eating, you may leave."

Harry dressed as quickly as he could and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower, desperate to tell Ron and Hermione about Colin and Dobby, but they weren't there.

"Where the heck were you kids? Why weren't you guys at Harry's side?" said Bill with disappointment etched in his voice.

"We were doing something." said Hermione.

"Nice, real nice." said Fred.

"This something couldn't wait until after Harry got out of the hospital wing?" asked George.

"The guy gets up before seven o'clock every blessed morning! You guys would have had plenty of daylight left in the day." said Lee.

Ron and Hermione looked down shamefully.

Harry left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren't interested in whether he had his bones back or not.

"But we did!" said Hermione shrilly.

"You guys have a funny way of showing it." said Charlie.

As Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.

"What could make you happy?" asked Fred.

"None of your business." said Percy quickly, turning red.

"Girlfriend." said the twins together.

Percy turned an even brighter red.

"Oh, hello, Harry," he said. "Excellent flying yesterday, really excellent.

"He received bodily harm, and people are telling him that it was excellent flying? Idiots." said Charlie. "It would only have been excellent flying if he didn't get clobbered by the Bludger."

Gryffindor have just taken the lead for the House Cup - you earned fifty points!"

"You haven't seen Ron or Hermione, have you?" said Harry.

"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet ..."

"You catch him there once and now you label him for life?" said Bill angrily.

Percy bit his lip.

"Moron." said Bill shaking his head.

Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy out of sight and then headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"So I guess he didn't get our note after all." said Hermione,

"What note?" asked Ron.

"The note you were supposed to write!" said Hermione crossly.

"I thought you were going to write it!" said Ron defensively.

He couldn't see why Ron and Hermione would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any Prefects were around, he opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.

"You guys couldn't cast a charm so no one heard you?" asked Tonks.

"We didn't know one at the time." said Ron.

"It's me," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a splash and a gasp from within the cubicle and he saw Hermione's eyes peering through the keyhole.

"What the hell are you two doing in there?" asked Tonks looking over at the two with wide eyes.

"We were just working on the potion." said Ron turning as bright red as Hermione was.

Harry!" she said.

"You don't know the sound of his voice and footsteps by now?" asked Sirius. "I could tell if Remus was walking around by the first half of the first year."

"You gave us such a fright - come in - how's your arm?"

"Now you care." muttered George bitterly.

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the cubicle. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a specialty of Hermione's.

Hermione blushed.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained,

"Who came up with that priority list?" asked Alicia. Ron pointed to Hermione.

"Figures, she always was one for logic as opposed to other's feelings." said a seventh year Gryffindor.

Hermione buried her face in her hands, and then a hoarse whisper came from the bowl.

"Leaver her be!"

They looked over to the bowl and saw Harry trying vainly to sit up. "We needed to find out what was going on. It didn't bother me." said Harry clutching the blanket to his chest, his face deathly pale and his hands shaking.

"You should have gone to the adults." said Sirius soothingly, "now lay back."

"They're picking on Hermione." said Harry faintly, his whole body shivering.

"We'll protect Hermione," said Remus, standing up carefully. "You need to rest."

"You're sick too!" said Hermione.

"I know, but Harry might sleep better without someone else in there. I'll make myself a chair." said Remus conjuring up a large recliner.

Sirius helped him sit in the large chair and covered up his old friend. He went back to Harry and lightly pushed him back down into the cushions, then turned to Dr. Clark and handed him a cup of tea. "I'm getting worn out." he said with a laugh.

"I'll help." said Dumbledore standing up and standing beside Harry, Madam Pomfrey joined them and tended to Remus, Sirius frowned slightly at Dumbledore, who was making Harry comfortable.

"You two just relax." said Madam Pomfrey said to the other two men.

as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again.

"Why did he have difficulty locking it?" asked Bill, trying to leave Hermione alone. He didn't want to cause Harry any more stress, and he sensed that Hermione had learned her lesson.

"There were three of us in a bathroom stall. Little hard to do." said Ron.

"We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

"Good idea, no one would go into a haunted bathroom." said Kingsley.

Harry started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted, "We already know - we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning.

"Where were you when you heard us talking about it?" asked McGonagall stunned.

"Library. We were in the Muggle Histroy section. Hermione was telling me all about the War of 1913." said Ron.

"The War of 1812." corrected Hermione,.

That's why we decided we'd better get going -"

"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better," snarled Ron. "D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, he took it out on Colin."

"That is plausible, but obviously not the case." said Lionus looking at the still enrolled Draco.

"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night."

Ron and Hermione looked up, amazed. Harry told them everything Dobby had told him - or hadn't told him. Ron and Hermione listened with their mouths open.

"And here I thought he held something back." said Hermione looking down guiltily.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" said Hermione.

"That settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it.

"My father's old but not that old." said Draco with a smile.

"When was the Chamber last opened?" asked Dr. Clark.

"About fifty-three years ago." said Hermione adding the years up quickly.

"No, Lucius isn't that old." said Severus. "He's only about four years older than myself."

It's obvious. Wish Dobby'd told you what kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking round the school."

"Can it make itself invisible? Or perhaps change it's appearance to look like something else?" said Kingsley.

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself - pretend to be a suit of armor or something - I've read about Chameleon Ghouls -"

"Wow, Hermione thinks like you!" said Tonks excitedly.

"At least she doesn't sound like you." said Kingsley with a smile.

"You read too much, Hermione," said Ron, pouring dead lacewings on top of the leeches.

"You do!" said Ron holding up his hands. "When was that last thing you did that was fun, WITHOUT a book?"

Hermione had to stop and think.

"That's okay, take your time." said Fred with a smile.

He crumpled up the empty lacewing bag and looked round at Harry.

"So Dobby stopped us getting on the train and broke your arm ..." He shook his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."

"Does he stop trying to save him?" asked Sirius hopefully.

"He actually does save me in the end, not from the heir though." said Harry thickly,

"Sorry, Cub, didn't mean to wake you. You go back to sleep." said Sirius tucking Harry in. Harry yawned and buried his face in the pillows. Dumbledore lifted one of the covers and placed a very old, and much worn stuffed dragon, under Harry's arm.

"Isn't that…?" asked Sirius.

"You had him?" said Remus with a whisper.

"James forgot it the last time I babysat Harry." said Dumbledore smiling down at Harry. "I kept it safe."

"Would you look at that? Look how tight he's gripping Scorchie." said Sirius with a laugh.

"Still has some insecurities doesn't he?" said Zacharias with a sneer.

"Want to talk about your bedwetting?" said a fifth year Hufflepuff. Zacharias looked down and quickly blushed.

The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread round the entire school by Monday morning.

"Not that the teachers didn't try and quash those. Professor McGonagall even tried telling the first years that he had to go home, sick relative or something." said a fourth year Gryffindor.

The air was suddenly thick with rumor and suspicion.

"There was no telling the difference." said Percy.

"People avoided the Slytherins like the plague though." said George.

"And Harry." reminded Fred.

The first-years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured fourth alone.

"That only makes it easier to wipe out a larger amount of children." said Moody.

"We didn't need to hear that." said Bathilda crossly.

Ginny Weasley, who sat next to Colin in Charms, was distraught,

Colin smiled brightly over to her, but Fred tugged at the boy's collar.

"She's taken." said Fred. Ginny hadn't noticed, she was too busy looking over to Harry and wishing to move, but was being restrained by her father.

"Let him rest." he whispered in his small daughter's ear.

but Harry felt that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up.

"What did you two do now?" said Charlie tiredly.

"We only did what we normally did." said George cautiously.

They were taking it in turns to cover themselves with fur or boils and jump out at her from behind statues.

"That works when she's upset about not going somewhere, not when there's a monster somewhere lurking about." said Bill.

They only stopped when Percy, apoplectic with rage, told them he was going to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her that Ginny was having nightmares.

"It also didn't hurt to have Harry shout us out either." said Fred.

Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets and other protective devices was sweeping the school.

"Who started that trade?" said McGonagall angrily.

"Seventh years." said Hermione with disgust. "They bought stupid little trinkets, and foul smelling things and tried passing them off as protective stuff."

"Probably the same people I have to deal with nowadays," said Tonks. "They love frauding people, to get a few galleons."

Neville Longbottom bought a large, evil-smelling green onion, a pointed purple crystal and a rotting newt-tail

"I hope you don't still have those things." said Professor Sinistra.

"I woke up and all the stuff was gone and the money I paid for it was in my trunk." said Neville thoughtfully.

"How much do want to bet that Harry gave the seventh years back their stuff and he took Neville's money?" asked Lee quietly.

"Without them even knowing they were giving a refund." said Fred with a smirk.

before the other Gryffindor boys pointed out that he was in no danger: He was a pure-blood, and therefore unlikely to be attacked.

"That is a good point. Slytherin's heir would never attack a pureblood." said Sirius.

"They went for Filch first," Neville said, his round face fearful, "and everyone knows I'm almost a Squib."

"No you're not, you just have no confidence." said Professor McGonagall.

Neville smiled.

In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas.

"Wonder how many people would leave and come back?" said Bill.

"Plenty of people left, but only a handful of them stayed home." said Professor McGonagall.

Harry, Ron and Hermione signed her list;

"You both could have gone home and left it to others to take care of." said Sirius.

"But Harry didn't have anywhere to go. I didn't know if he could come and visit us for Christmas." said Ron.

they had heard that Malfoy was staying, which struck them as very suspicious.

"You gotta admit, it didn't put you into a good light." said Sirius.

The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him.

"Nice choice of words. Malfoy's always were siding with the more powerful and profitable side. They almost always flip-flopped sides." said Bill.

Unfortunately, the potion was only half-finished. They still needed the Bicorn horn and the Boomslang skin, and the only place they were going to get them was from Snape's private stores.

"It was nice knowing you." said Sirius trying to keep a straight face.

Harry privately felt he'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than have Snape catch him robbing his office.

"Really?" asked Snape amused.

"Out of all the people I've worked for, you were one of the ones that I would rather not mess with on that level." said Harry, his eyes still closed, and still holding the stuffed dragon.

"Shh…" said Dumbledore soothingly, rubbing the top of Harry's hair and placing a silencing spell around him.

"Best to let him rest." said Dumbledore. "Having him wake up constantly will not give him the chance to get any better."

"What we need," said Hermione briskly, as Thursday afternoon's double Potions lesson loomed nearer, "is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need."

Snape stared at Hermione hard, who shrunk and held onto Ron.

Harry and Ron looked at each other nervously.

"We didn't want to get expelled." said Ron.

"I think I'd better do the actual stealing," Hermione continued, in a matter-of-fact tone.

The teachers stared in shock.

"You two will be expelled if you get in any more trouble, and I've got a clean record.

"Wouldn't stop me from expelling you." said Snape nastily.

So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so."

"Causing mayhem in Snape's class can get you killed." said George.

Harry smiled feebly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

Snape smiled to himself; that was perhaps the nicest thing any student had ever said about him.

.

Potions lessons took place in one of the large dungeons. Thursday afternoon's lesson proceeded in the usual way. Twenty cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients.

"Aww…such a cheerful yuletide scene." said Fred clasping his hands together.

Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively.

"That was one good thing about Slughorn, he didn't give a damn what house you were in, if you did good work or were related to someone famous he praised your work." said Sirius.

Draco Malfoy, who was Snape's favorite student, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry, who knew that if they retaliated they would get detention faster than you could say 'unfair'.

Draco couldn't help but smile, but the smile was washed away by the glare sent by his godfather.

Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny,

"I thought he wanted to mess up on purpose." said a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, but he was aiming for it to be a little runny and purple, it turned really runny, but it was the right color." said Ron. "He wasn't paying close enough attention, for a pretty good reason."

but he had his mind on more important things. He was waiting for Hermione's signal, and he hardly listened as Snape paused to sneer at his watery potion.

"He never cares when you tell him his potions are bad." said Ron.

When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville,

"Perfect choice of words." said Remus remembering the year in which he taught Harry's year about Boggarts.

Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.

Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster Fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a quick prod with his wand.

Fred and George stared, shocked to the core.

"When he said he wanted one, we were happy to give it to him, thinking he'd prank someone good." said George faintly.

"I never thought he'd use it in Snape's classroom." said Fred turning white.

"I'm amazed he's still breathing." said Lee.

The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only seconds, Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Goyle's cauldron.

Snape stared in amazement. "He actually aimed for Goyle's potion?"

"Is there something significant about that particular one?" asked Firenze.

"Only that it was not completed fully, and it only had a tenth of the strength the other potions had." said Snape quietly. "I had thought that it was quite lucky that the potion landed in that one."

Ron and Hermione stared at each other, as well as several other people.

Goyle's potion exploded, showering the whole class.

Sirius could hardly contain his laughter.

"I'm so proud." said Sirius beaming brightly and wiping a tear from his eye.

People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Malfoy got a face full and his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of dinner plates –

"He got everyone but Crabbe, which might explain why he looked a little upset during all that ruckus." said Ron thoughtfully.

while Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Harry saw Hermione slip quietly out of the door.

"That was a pretty good plan." said Moody. "Not bad for a bookworm."

Hermione smiled.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed come here for a Deflating Draft - When I find out who did this - "

"And you're going to get caught." said Fred covering his eyes.

Harry tried not to laugh as he watched Malfoy hurry forward, his head drooping with the weight of his nose like a small melon. As half the class lumbered up to Snape's desk, some weighed down with arms like clubs, others unable to talk through gigantic puffed-up lips,

"Pansy had gotten some of it on her…fanny." said Parvati giggling like mad.

"I have that burned in my memory." said Lavender holding her sides.

Harry saw Hermione slide back into the dungeon, the front of her robes bulging.

When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided,

"That had to of been one of the funniest classes, EVER!" shouted Sirius laughing hard.

Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush.

"Here it comes, he's going to find out it's Harry's." said George. "His fingerprints or something." said

"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered, "I shall make sure that person is expelled."

"You didn't see anything? You always see something when we pull something." said Fred, slightly hurt.

"I tried finding something, something more concrete than just the evidence I would need to issue a detention." said Snape sourly.

Harry arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled expression.

"He succeeded in that endeavor, but I knew he did it, I just didn't have the means to prove it." said Snape angrily.

Snape was looking right at him and the bell which rang ten minutes later could not have been more welcome.

"He knew it was me," Harry told Ron and Hermione, as they hurried back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "I could tell."

"Wow, and I know that I didn't believe that he knew, that Snape knew that he did it." said Hermione.

"What?" asked Ron, completely lost.

Hermione threw the new ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir feverishly.

"It'll be ready in two weeks," she said happily.

"Snape can't prove it was you," said Ron reassuringly to Harry. "What can he do?"

"Make his life hell." said almost everyone in the Great Hall.

"Knowing Snape, something foul," said Harry, as the potion frothed and bubbled.

"And Harry was right." said Hermione in a whisper.

A week later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking across the Entrance Hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around the notice-board, reading a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas beckoned them over, looking excited.

"Oh, did someone start up the Trick Flying Club, again? That was always popular with the guys and the girls loved to go and watch." said Sirius.

"No, but we would have been a little safer with that." said Fred.

"They're starting a Dueling Club!" said Seamus. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days ..."

"I don't think they're going to let in third years and under." said Mr. Weasley. "Dueling is too advanced for smaller students."

"Harry seemed to do pretty well." said Fred with a smirk.

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" said Ron, but he too read the sign with interest.

"Wow, Ron can even be sarcastic!" said Charlie laughing loudly.

"Could be useful," he said to Harry and Hermione as they went into dinner. "Shall we go?"

"You wouldn't shut up about it, till we agreed to go with you." said Hermione.

Harry and Hermione were all for it,

"After a whole meal of badgering, yeah, we were all for it." said Hermione.

so at eight o'clock that evening, they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit but thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands looking excited.

"Most of the school? Who didn't show up?" said Bill.

"The ones who said that it would promote violence and further discord amongst the students." said Ron.

The Weasleys stared.

"Never heard you put anything quite like that before." said Mrs. Weasley.

"I didn't come up with it, they were handing out fliers for protesting against it." said Ron. "I kept one, makes me laugh every time."

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione, as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him."

"I wasn't told about it, I would have taught, if I had known." said Professor Flitwick.

"As long as it's not -" Harry began, but he ended on a groan: Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage,

"Too late." said several people together.

resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.

"I'm rooting for Severua." said Sirius excitedly.

"So are we." said Dr. Clark and Remus eagerly. Snape stared at both of the men baffled.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?

"Nope." said the twins.

Excellent!

"We thought so too." said the twins with large smiles.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club,

"He asked to start it up, but he assured that someone who was a qualified Duelist would be teaching them." said Dumbledore quickly in response to all the glares sent his way. "I had assumed that Professor Flitwick was the one who would be training the students."

"Why would you assume that, with him?" asked Professor Sprout.

"Because that is what Gilderoy had told me." said Dumbledore.

to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions -for full details, see my published works.

"Well, thank goodness that we don't have to sit here and hear him preen his own feathers." said Sirius sighing with relief.

"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile.

"Trust us, we know who he is." said Charlie.

"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself

"A tiny little bit, huh?" said Remus over to Professor Snape with a smile.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" said Dr. Clark trying to sit up, but Sirius pushed him back down.

"I'm feeling quite a bit better now." said Remus with a smile.

"We'll see about that." said Madam Pomfrey placing the tip of her wand to Remus' forehead. A thin piece of parchment came out and she read it. "Your temperature is back to normal!" she said shocked.

"Told you. Now we just need to worry about Harry and Sam." said Remus with a sad smile.

"I just fainted nothing major." said Dr. Clark with a smile.

and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Dazzle Gums couldn't duel his way out of a chicken coop." said Sirius.

"Remember in our third year when he boasted that he could beat anyone in a duel? He got his butt handed to him by Lily. She didn't even look at him, just waved her wand once and it was all over." said Remus with a bright smile. "The Disarming Spell is all it took."

Professor Snape fingered the locket and smiled.

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in Harry's ear.

"RONALD!" shouted Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry, Professor." said Ron quickly. "But I wished you had finished him off."

"As do I." said Professor Snape, sneering.

Snape's upper lip was curling.

Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

"And Harry's not afraid of anything." said Fred.

"If Harry's scared, everyone else has already run far, far away." said George.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably.

"You've got to admit, Lockhart tries to have style." said Kingsley with a smirk.

Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd.

"Well, they're starting out right." said Professor Flitwick, eagerly waiting for the fur to fly in the book. He remembered teaching dueling many years ago, and Lockhart would have never stood a chance against Severus Snape, and he doubt anything had changed since.

"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"Too bad." said Tonks.

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.

"Doesn't miss a tick, does he?" said Fred with an eager smile.

"One - two - three -"

Both of them swung their wands up and over their shoulders. Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!"

"You used Lily's spell? Nice touch." said Remus.

There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: he flew backwards off the stage, smashed into the wall and slid down to sprawl on the floor.

The students all cheered, even Gryffindor House.

"You're awesome!" said a first year Gryffindor. Snape stared at the youth.

"Now if only you would chill out with kids, you'd be one of the more popular teachers here." said Sirius with a laugh. Snape sat dumbfounded.

Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was dancing on tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

"Who cares?" asked Sirius, Remus and Dr. Clark together.

"Who cares?" said Harry and Ron together.

"Right on." said Remus smiling hugely.

Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

"Beautiful, absolutely beautiful." said Sirius tears coming down from laughing so hard.

"Well there you have it!" he said, tottering back on to the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand –

"He began feeling around the ground, like he lost his glasses." said Ron with a snort.

ah, thank you, Miss Brown.

"Should have thrown it away." said Fred looking disappointed at Lavender.

Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do.

"Liar." said the students and most of the adults.

If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see ..."

"There were practice dummies in the corner, they could have used them, if he was aiming for showing what happens with what spell." said Ernie.

Snape was looking murderous.

"Run Dazzle Gums, run away fast." said Sirius.

Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating!

"Good call." said Remus.

I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me - "

"I hope Professor Lockhart doesn't pair Harry with himself." said Remus warningly.

"Nope, he picks someone worse." said Ron.

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley,

"I couldn't believe it, I was the better dueler." said Neville with a small smile. "Not by much though."

but Snape reached Harry and Ron first.

"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered.

"It is a good idea for two reasons. One, it is good to know what other people have learned." said Remus. "Two, Ron's wand is still on the fritz."

"Weasley, you can partner Finnegan. Potter -"

Harry moved automatically towards Hermione.

"I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly.

"Jeez, there is no getting your way, is there?" said Dr. Clark looking over at the sleeping young man fondly.

Harry was still sleeping soundly, but was still running a temperature. Dumbledore continued wiping the boy's brow with a cool cloth. Harry gave a quiet moan.

"Poor thing." said Madam Pomfrey gently fluffing the pillow the boy's head rested on.

"Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode."

"It's a double header folks! We've got the Pampered Prince, and the Noble Knight going head to head in one ring." said Fred.

"And Beauty facing the Beast in the other!" said George. "Who will be victorious?" both pretending to hold invisible microphones.

Malfoy strutted over, smirking. Behind him walked a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione gave her a weak smile which she did not return.

"Take a guess who the 'Beast' is." said George.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform, "and bow!"

Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.

"Nice to know that Potter isn't too trusting." said Moody.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent - only to disarm them –

"Now, let's see how many people actually follow that little rule." said Tonks with a smile.

we don't want any accidents - one ... two ... three - "

"BANG! People lay injured all across the hall." said Fred dramtically.

"And the source of the blast came from the clash of power between the two rival's houses." said George in a hushed tone. Both talking into their microphones.

"Very funny, I thought there really was an explosion." said Mr. Weasley severely crossed and holding his chest.

Harry swung his wand over his shoulder, but Malfoy had already started on "two":

"What a dirty cheat!" said a Hufflepuff third year.

"Of course he'd start early, the only way to beat Potter's reflexes." said Moody.

His spell hit Harry so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the head with a saucepan.

Harry coughed loudly, moaned a little and buried himself deeper into the soft pillows.

"His fever isn't breaking, is it?" asked Hermione in a whisper.

"No, not yet." said Madam Pomfrey worriedly. "And I've placed several fever reducing spells on him."

He stumbled, but everything still seemed to be working, and wasting no more time, Harry pointed his wand straight at Malfoy and shouted, "Rictusempra!"

Moody and Lionus smiled, both couldn't wait to train him up even farther and see what he could become.

A jet of silver light hit Malfoy in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing.

"He said 'Disarm'!" shouted the Minister.

"Well the Malfoy boy didn't exactly follow the rules to start with." snapped Lionus. "Be silent!"

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd,

"If there were two different houses going at each other, there was no such thing as only disarming." said Angelina.

as Malfoy sank to his knees; Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing. Harry hung back, with a vague feeling that it would be unsporting to bewitch Malfoy while he was on the floor,

"Not the time to be a gentleman, boy." growled Moody.

But this was a mistake.

Gasping for breath, Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry's knees, choked; "Tarantallegra!" and next second Harry's legs had begun to jerk around out of his control in a kind of quickstep.

"It was sort of funny." said Ron. "I caught a bit of it, he said that, that was the only time he could actually dance."

"Bad is he?" said Sirius.

"In his own words, he's got the dance coordination of a fawn on ice. Climbing and leaping are one thing, The Foxtrot and all those other dances throw him completely."

"Shame, his father was a beautiful dancer." said Professor McGonagall.

"Lily was the best girl dancer in the school. Every guy wanted to do a few steps with her." said Remus fondly.

"Guess what Harry lacks in dance-floor coordination, he makes up with his vocal chords." said Sirius.

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge.

"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted; Harry's feet stopped dancing, Malfoy stopped laughing and they were able to look up.

"Lockhart is utterly useless." said McGonagall massage her temples.

A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done;

"What did his wand do?" asked Charlie.

"My eyebrows were singed off, for the second time in two years." said Seamus.

but Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving;

"Go Hermione!" shouted Fred and George.

Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain;

"Oh…dear…." said the twins in small voices.

both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry leapt forward and pulled Millicent off. It was difficult; she was a lot bigger than he was.

"But he managed to do it." said Ron. "He tripped her with his feet and for added measure, he pulled her hair."

"Never touch a woman's hair. Voice of experience, right here." said Sirius pointing to himself.

"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you get, Macmillan ...

"I got hit with a stray spell took me by surprise." said Cormac tragically.

"He didn't say McClaggan, he said Macmillian." said Blaise.

"He didn't talk to me, he was actually talking to McClaggan, he got the names wrong."

"But he did realize that I was it, he promised that he would find out who shot that stray spell and have a good talking to, to them." said Cormac, trying to appear dramatic again.

"You didn't get hit with a stray spell, I jinxed you." said a Hufflepuff girl. "You were just trying to show off flaunting your wand about."

careful there, Miss Fawcett ... pinch it hard, and it'll stop bleeding in a second,

"Aww…were you okay?" said her best friend.

"I was fine, I just got hit with someone's shoe." the Hufflepuff girl.

Boot -

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall.

"Gee, you think?" said Lee rolling his eyes.

He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away.

"He didn't want to be the one to try and block spells. OR the one to cast them, just in case they rebounded." said a seventh year Ravenclaw sniggering.

"Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you -"

"Would have been fun to be up on that stage." said Justin grudgingly.

"You weren't up there." said Malfoy with a snarl.

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat.

"Sirius, stop laughing." said Remus with a disappointed look.

"Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells.

"Only because you're nervous." said Ron.

We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a match-box."

"That doesn't do Neville's confidence any favors." said Remus looking over to Snape sharply.

"I'm here to teach, not boost their morale." drawled. Snape.

"I'm amazed none of the Slytherins have inferiority complexes." said Professor Sprout.

Neville's round pink face went pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.

"Oh, come on." said Dr. Clark. "You don't think Lockhart is that stupid to put the two students, who hate each other, free reign of a stage and go at each other do you?"

Professor Snape only sneered.

"I wouldn't be smiling, that just means you're stupid too, for suggesting it." said Nightstrike with a smirk.

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the Hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.

"You…have got…to be kidding me…" said Dr. Clark shaking his head.

"Now, Harry," said Lockhart, "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this."

He raised his wand, attempting a complicated sort of wiggling action and dropped it.

"Moron." said voices all over the Great Hall.

Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops - my wand is a little over-excited - "

"Over excited at what?" said Remus looking repulsed.

"I don't want to know." said Sirius covering his ears.

Snape moved closer to Malfoy bent down and whispered something in his ear. Malfoy smirked, too.

"Never a good sign to see a smirking snake." said Sirius wisely.

Harry looked nervously up at Lockhart and said, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"

"I don't blame him, if I was seeing Snape whispering, than one of his house smiling, I'd be a little nervous too." said Remus.

"Scared?" muttered Malfoy, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.

"You wish," said Harry out of the corner of his mouth.

"So cool." sighed a few younger girls.

Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?"

"Not a good idea. Don't listen to Dazzle Gums." said Sirius quickly.

But Lockhart wasn't listening.

"Three - two - one - go!" he shouted.

Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

"OI! THAT'S NOT A DISARMING SPELL EITHER!" shouted Sirius.

"We never said we would be blocking the Disarming Spell." sneered Snape.

The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it,

"He was shocked? How come? Surely he had heard of this spell." said Sirius.

Hermione turned and looked interested over to Ron.

"Harry didn't expect to have an animal sicced on him." said Ron.

fell heavily onto the floor between them and raised itself, ready to strike.

"Just back up slowly, keep looking at it, but back up real slow." said Dr. Clark.

There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it ..."

Dumbledore turned and sent a glare over to the Potions Master. Professor Snape released a breath of air and awaited the screaming match that would immediately commence.

Mrs. Weasley glowered fiercely at him, she was quickly becoming hoarse from all the shouting she had done the past weeks, and McGonagall shouted angry threats at him for endangering students and not being there to protect them. Sirius was promising him that he would be torn limb from limb while Dr. Clark stared in disbelief that a teacher would do such a thing.

"You owe, Mr. Potter a very large apology Severus." said Dumbledore, his voice so cold that the windows were becoming covered in frost.

Snape flinched from the coldness of the Headmaster's voice, and fingered the locket in his hand. He breathed deeply and stood up. When Sirius noticed he was heading straight for his Godson, Sirius stood up quickly and shielded him.

"Think again." said Sirius viciously.

Snape said nothing but held out the locket.

"He can have this back." said Snape quietly. "As an apology."

Sirius was taken aback, but took the small golden locket. He gave a curt nod, and placed the locket around the sleeping figure's neck.

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack.

"Big help this guy is." said Nightstrike rolling his eyes.

Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight towards Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Justin threw the book down.

"What's up with you?" asked Zacharias.

"This…this…" said Justin, turning pale.

"Oh for the love of…I'll read." said Lee hurrying over and taking the book off the floor.

Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him forward as though he was on castors and that he had shouted stupidly at the snake, "Leave him alone!"

"Of what use was that?" asked a third year Slytherin.

"You're forgetting what he is." said Blaise. "He's a Parseltmouth."

"So he did say that." said Ernie.

"Of course he did, you idiot." said Ron.

And miraculously - unexplainably - the snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry.

"Go Harry!" said Dr. Clark excitedly.

Harry felt the fear drain out of him. He knew that snake wouldn't attack now, though how he knew, he couldn't have explained.

"Cause you ordered it." said Lionus with a bright and excited smile.

He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see Justin looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful - but certainly not angry and scared.

Justin looked down shamefully. "How was I supposed to know that was what he was saying?"

"Let's think about this carefully." said Fred mockingly.

"Harry is a selfless, noble, kind, trustworthy, generous, gentle, brilliant, gentlemanly, and gallant." said George ticking off each one.

"If he saw someone about to be attacked by an angry snake, and he could only shout one thing at it. What would he say?" asked Fred pointedly.

"What do you think you're playing at?" he shouted, and before Harry could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the Hall.

"You're…an…idiot…" said the twins together.

Snape stepped forward, waved his wand and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way; It was a shrewd and calculating look, and Harry didn't like it.

"His being a Parselmouth was unexpected." said Snape solemnly.

He was also dimly aware of an ominous muttering all round the walls.

"He must have felt so devastated." said Luna calmly.

"What makes you say that, Luna?" said Ginny quickly.

"People were already saying he was the heir of Slytherin, now it seemed to have cemented itself." said Luna.

Then he felt a tugging on the back of his robes.

"Come on," said Ron's voice in his ear. "Move - come on - "

"Good Ron, get him out of there." said Charlie.

Ron steered him out of the Hall, Hermione hurrying alongside them. As they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away as though they were frightened of catching something.

"Harry was starting to freak out a little bit. He didn't know what was going on." said Hermione.

Harry didn't have a clue what was going on, and neither Ron nor Hermione explained anything until they had dragged him all the way up to the empty Gryffindor common room.

"Way to reassure him guys." said Sirius shaking his head.

Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and said, "You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" said Harry.

"Really? He didn't know? He never looked up his talent?" asked Parvati.

"He thought every wizard could do it." said Ron.

"A Parselmouth!" said Ron. "You can talk to snakes!"

"I know," said Harry. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once - long story - but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to - that was before I knew I was a wizard - "

"Boy, he said that all matter-of-factly didn't he?" said Rivers blinking.

"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly.

"So?" said Harry. "I bet loads of people here can do it."

"Nope, not at all." said Blaise, "it would be cool to have though."

"Oh no they can't," said Ron. "It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is bad."

"What's bad?" said Harry, starting to feel quite angry. "What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin -"

"At the time, no one heard that." said a sixth year Hufflepuff.

"Oh, that's what you said to it?"

"What d'you mean? You were there - you heard me - "

"He became really worried when I told him that." said Ron.

"I heard you speaking Parseltongue," said Ron, "snake language. You could have been saying anything - no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something - it was creepy, you know."

"Even you thought he was egging on the snake?" said Bill shaking his head.

"That's what I heard from other people in the Hall." said Ron quickly.

Harry gaped at him.

"I spoke another language? But - I didn't realize - how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?"

"That is a very good question." said Dumbledore with a slight smile.

Ron shook his head. Both he and Hermione were looking as though someone had died. Harry couldn't see what was so terrible.

"Are you kidding? At that point he couldn't put two and two together?" said Zacharias.

"Being accused of the heir didn't outweighed the bonus of being able to speak to snakes." said Ron. "And thank goodness he had the ability." he finished quietly.

"D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a dirty great snake biting Justin's head off?" he said.

Justin looked down shamefully as Sirius glared at him. "Yeah, what is wrong with that?" asked Sirius angrily.

"What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"

"Good blend." said George with a chortle.

"It matters," said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent."

Harry's mouth fell open.

"That was when he found the downside to being a Parselmouth." said Ron.

"Exactly," said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something - "

"Which he is not." said Dumbledore still cooling Harry's forehead.

"But I'm not," said Harry, with a panic he couldn't quite explain.

"Poor Harry." said Tonks.

"But he doesn't have to worry, he's not descended from Slytherin." said Sirius.

"You'll find that hard to prove," said Hermione.

"Are you kidding me? There are hundreds of books on family ancestry, for each Pureblood wizarding family. The Potter's book is in the Ancestry section, fourth unit in, sixth shelf, tenth book from the left." said Remus.

Hermione looked over to Remus quickly and ran from the room.

"Well, she won't be back till she can get her hands on that book." said Ron with a smile.

"That may be harder to get than she thinks." said McGonagall with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" asked Dean.

"Not just anyone can look at those books. You need to be related to people in the book to just look inside the book." said Sirius.

"Madam Pince will let her, she could just say…" said Ron.

"It's not Madam Pince who will stop her. It's the book, the cover is enchanted to let no one but a blood relative open it." said Remus.

"Yeah, James showed us, we couldn't open it for the life of us." said Sirius.

They waited for Hermione to appear, aimlessly speaking of different things, some people even came up with a great idea for a party.

"A sort of joined up Birthday Parties that he missed out on." said Fred.

"Yeah…should be a blast. Hermione's back, she's got the book, but nope, not opened." said George.

"Sorry we didn't warn you." said Sirius apologetically. "You're going to have to wait till Harry wakes up to read that book." he pointed to the book in Hermione's hands.

"He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."

Harry lay awake for hours that night.

"That boy does not need to be worrying so much that he cannot sleep." said McGonagall worriedly.

Through a gap in the hangings round his four-poster he watched the snow starting to drift past the tower window, and wondered...

Could he be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin?

"No." said Sirius and Remus.

He didn't know anything about his father's family, after all.

Remus and Sirius paled, and looked down in shame. They should have been there, to tell him all of this stuff? Would he still want to know?

The Dursleys had always forbidden questions about his wizarding relatives.

"Hell, they ban questions on anything." said Charlie.

Quietly, Harry tried to say something in Parseltongue. The words wouldn't come. It seemed he had to be face to face with a snake to do it.

"Well reasoned." said Dumbledore with a broad smile.

But I'm in Gryffindor, Harry thought. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have put me here if I had Slytherin blood ...

"That, I can't guarantee." said Sirius thinking of his biological family.

Ah, said a nasty little voice in his brain, But the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin, don't you remember?

"Hearing voices eh?" said Fudge nastily.

"Shut up. You're already in hot enough water." said Tempest.

Harry turned over. He'd see Justin next day in Herbology and he'd explain that he'd been calling the snake off, not egging it on, which (he thought angrily, pummeling his pillow) any fool should have realized.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, what else could he have said." said a sixth year Hufflepuff.

By next morning, however, the snow that had begun in the night had turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of term was cancelled:

"Lucky!" said Sirius with a smile.

"Not so lucky, Harry wanted to talk to Justin in that class." said Remus.

"Oh, right." said Sirius.

Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves onto the Mandrakes, a tricky operation she would entrust to no one else, now that it was so important for the Mandrakes to grow quickly and revive Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey.

"We couldn't afford screw ups." said Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey.

Harry fretted about this next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, while Ron and Hermione used their lesson off to play a game of wizard chess.

"For heaven's sake, Harry," said Hermione, exasperated, as one of Ron's bishops wrestled her knight off his horse and dragged him off the board. "Go and find Justin if it's so important to you."

"You did not just snap at him for worrying." said Fred.

Hermione looked down.

"And girls say boys don't have tact." said Lee shaking his head.

So Harry got up and left through the portrait hole, wondering where Justin might be.

"Should have went with him, Hermione could have been with him and that would have been proof enough for anyone that he isn't a Muggleborn hater." said Ron.

The castle was darker than it usually was in daytime, because of the thick, swirling grey snow at every window. Shivering,

"We need to get him a nice triple thick cloak for winter or something." said Sirius.

Harry walked past classrooms where lessons were taking place, catching snatches of what was happening within. Professor McGonagall was shouting at someone who, by the sound of it, had turned their friend into a badger.

"That would be me." said a seventh year Hufflepuff.

"I have to keep apologizing for that." said another Hufflepuff student.

Resisting the urge to take a look, Harry walked on, thinking that Justin might be using his free lesson to catch up on some work, and deciding to check the library first.

Ernie gulped loudly, what was everyone going to say about what he says? And what happens if a Scattered Shot shows what else had happened?

A group of Hufflepuffs who should have been in Herbology were indeed sitting at the back of the library, but they didn't seem to be working.

"Madam Pince won't like that. The library is not a social place." said Anthony.

Between the long lines of bookshelves, Harry could see that their heads were close together and they were having what looked like an absorbing conversation. He couldn't see whether Justin was among them. He was walking towards them when something of what they were saying met his ears, and he paused to listen, hidden in the Invisibility section.

"Wow, we didn't even see him." said Hannah.

"Or hear him. The Invisibility section was right next to us. You'd think we'd of heard his breathing." said Ernie.

Kingsley looked at Harry, deeply impressed.

"So anyway," a stout boy was saying, "I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as his next victim,

"WHAT?" shouted several adults as well as a few students younger than the fourth years.

"Harry wouldn't attack anyone you nit!" said a second year Gryffindor.

it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born.

"You're a bigger idiot than what I thought." said Ron.

Ernie looked at him.

"Harry didn't tell us this part." said Hermione.

"Nothing happened when Justin told us that he was a Muggleborn. Stupid idiot." said Ron glaring.

Justin actually told him he'd been down for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherin's heir on the loose, is it?"

"Can we beat him up now?" asked Fred scowling at Ernie.

"The Chamber wasn't opened at the time!" said George.

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" said a girl with blonde pigtails anxiously.

"Panic will turn children into mindless idiots." said Snape shaking his head.

"Hannah," said the boy solemnly, "he's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard.

"What a prat! I thought Percy was bad." said Charlie.

Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes?

"HARRY POTTER!" shouted the majority of the school at the fifth year Hufflepuff, who cringed in his seat with each passing word.

They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."

There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on, "Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir Beware. Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch.

"And what student hasn't had a run in with him." said McGonagall sternly.

Next thing we know, Filch's cat's attacked.

"The culprit could be anybody!" said Fred.

"Hell! We could have done it!" said George.

That first-year, Creevey, was annoying Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of him while he was lying in the mud.

"Wouldn't you be annoyed?" asked Mr. Weasley to the young man. Ernie swallowed and nodded.

Next thing we know, Creevey's been attacked."

"Harry was regrowing his bones in the Infirmary! Ask Pomfrey!" shouted Tonks. "I've never been so ashamed of my own house."

"He always seemed so nice, though," said Hannah uncertainly, "and, well, he's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be all bad, can he?"

"The only one there with a brain." said Blaise.

Ernie lowered his voice mysteriously, the Hufflepuffs bend closer, and Harry edged nearer so that he could catch Ernie's words. "No one knows how he survived that attack by You-Know-Who.

"So far the only true thing you've said so far." said Sirius crossly.

I mean to say, he was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens.

"I didn't want him to be blasted!" said Ernie quickly when he saw the look on the adult's faces.

Only a really powerful Dark Wizard could have survived a curse like that."

Dumbledore massaged his temple, while Professor Sprout told off the loud mouthed Hufflepuff.

He dropped his voice until it was barely more than a whisper, and said, "That's probably why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want another Dark Lord competingwith him.

"When you eventually grow up." said Tonks. "Don't become an Auror, we don't' want you."

Kingsley smirked. "No comment."

"I'm not like him!" said Tonks irritably.

"I'm referring to the 'grow up' part." said Kingsley.

"Shut up." she said throwing a cushion at the man.

I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding?"

"None that he's going to share with you now." said Ron.

Harry couldn't take any more. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped out from behind the bookshelves.

"Dun, dun, duunnn." said Lee jokingly.

If he hadn't been feeling so angry, he would have found the sight that greeted him funny:

"I can imagine." said Sirius forgetting to be angry for a moment.

every one of the Hufflepuffs looked as though they had been petrified by the sight of him, and the color was draining out of Ernie's face.

"And look, he doesn't attack you right off the bat, gee, what could be the reason?" said Ron.

"Because he didn't do anything to Colin or Mrs. Norris." said Hermione.

"Hello," said Harry. "I'm looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"That was absolutely the wrong thing to say." said Dr. Nicodemus.

"Harry wanted to tell them that he meant Justin no harm. He just wanted to talk." said Ron.

The Hufflepuffs' worst fears had clearly been confirmed. They all looked fearfully at Ernie.

"What do you want with him?" said Ernie, in a quavering voice.

"To tell him the truth and not have you lot over exaggerate it." said Lee.

"I wanted to tell him what really happened with that snake at the Dueling Club," said Harry.

Ernie bit his white lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, "We were all there. We saw what happened."

"Then you saw him make the snake back off." said Sirius.

"Then you noticed that, after I spoke to it, the snake backed off?" said Harry.

Sirius smiled and gave his godson's shoulder a small squeeze.

"All I saw," said Ernie stubbornly, though he was trembling as he spoke, "was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake towards Justin."

"You need thicker glasses than Harry has." said Dean.

"I didn't chase it at him!" Harry said, his voice shaking with anger. "It didn't even touch him!"

"It was a very near miss," said Ernie.

"Silly fool." said Professor Sprout.

Ernie didn't want the rest of the school knowing just how worse it gets later.

"And in case you're getting ideas," he added hastily, "I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's, so -"

"If he really was the heir of Slytherin, you annoying him like that won't help you in the slightest and he would have made a great exception in your favor." said Moody.

Ernie paled.

"That'll teach you to treat people better, you never know what they can do." said Kingsley.

"I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" said Harry fiercely. "Why would I want to attack Muggle-borns?"

"I've heard you hate those Muggles you live with," said Ernie swiftly.

"It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them," said Harry. "I'd like to see you try it."

"Should we let you live with the Dursleys for about a week, see if you like them or not?" said Dr. Clark.

Ernie shook his head quickly.

He turned on his heel and stormed out of the library, earning himself a reproving glare from Madam Pince, who was polishing the gilded cover of a large spell book.

Harry blundered up the corridor, barely noticing where he was going, he was in such a fury. The result was that he walked straight into something very large and solid, which knocked him backwards onto the floor.

Remus, Dr. Clark and Sirius looked up quickly.

"T'wasn't the monster." said Hagrid reassuringly.

"Oh, hello, Hagrid," Harry said, looking up.

Sirius smiled in relief.

Hagrid's face was entirely hidden by a wooly, snow-covered balaclava, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else, as he filled most of the corridor in his moleskin overcoat.

"It's so easy to pick you out of a crowd Hagrid." said Dr. Clark with a broad smile.

A dead rooster was hanging from one of his massive, gloved hands.

"What are you doing with a dead chicken in the castle?" asked Remus wonderingly.

"I needed Dumbledore's permission fer somethin'." said Hagrid.

"All righ', Harry?" he said, pulling up his balaclava so he could speak. "Why aren't yeh in class?"

"Cancelled," said Harry, getting up. "What're you doing in here?"

Hagrid held up the limp rooster.

"Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin' Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm round the hen coop."

"What the heck is a Blood-Sucking Bugbear?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Sort of like a leech, only about five times bigger." said Remus. "Nasty little bastards."

"He gets a few of them almost every time he transforms." said Sirius.

"I still can't believe that you're a werewolf." said Dr. Clark shaking his head.

He peered more closely at Harry from under his thick, snow-flecked eyebrows.

"Yeh sure yeh're all righ'? Yeh look all hot an' bothered - "

"Shouldn'ta put it that way." said Hagrid, the face under his beard turning a bright red.

Harry couldn't bring himself to repeat what Ernie and the rest of the Hufflepuffs had been saying about him.

"He shoulda told me, I'd a sort them kids out." said Hagrid.

"It's nothing," he said. "I'd better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration next and I've got to pick up my books." He walked off, his mind still full of what Ernie had said about him.

"Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Potter he was Muggle-born ..."

"So Harry's not as thick-skinned as he would like everyone to think." said Luna dreamily.

That statement shook several people.

Harry stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draught which was blowing through a loose window pane. He was halfway down the passage when he tripped head-long over something lying on the floor.

"Was Peeves making a nuisance of himself again?" asked Sirius.

"No, much worse." said McGonagall.

He turned to squint at what he'd fallen over, and felt as though his stomach had dissolved.

"Oh, no! Another attack!" said Remus.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor,

"Damn…..the timing could have been so much better." said Sirius shaking his head.

"What the hell made you leave the dormitory?" asked Hannah.

"I wanted to ask Ernie if it was safe enough for me to come out." said Justin.

"Well, you got your answer didn't you?" said Nightstrike.

rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. And that wasn't all. Next to him was another figure, the strangest sight Harry had ever seen.

"The monster?" asked Dr. Clark weakly.

"No, it wasn't that." said Hermione.

It was Nearly-Headless Nick, no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression of shock identical to Justin's.

"So…whatever it is, it can attack dead people?" said Tonks faintly.

"We're doomed." said a third year Gryffindor.

Harry got to his feet, his breathing fast and shallow, his heart doing a kind of drum-roll against his ribs. He looked wildly up and down the deserted corridor and saw a line of spiders scuttling as fast as they could away from the bodies.

"Spiders, again?" said Sirius rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

The only sounds were the muffled voices of teachers from the classes on either side.

He could run, and no one would ever know he had been there. But he couldn't just leave him lying here ... he had to get help...Would anyone believe he hadn't had anything to do with this?

"Harry really needs to learn to just run away." said Alicia.

As he stood there, panicking, a door right next to him opened with a bang. Peeves the poltergeist came shooting out.

"Not the ideal person to find Harry there." said Remus.

"Why, it's potty wee Potter!" cackled Peeves, knocking Harry's glasses askew as he bounced past him. "What's Potter up to? Why's Potter lurking -"

"Peeves actually really likes Harry." said Dr. Clark.

"What?" said Sirius.

"He just tries to make Harry laugh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." said Dr. Clark with a bright smile.

Peeves stopped, halfway through a mid-air somersault. Upside-down, he spotted Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Harry could stop him, screamed, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

"That is the only time he took his job as 'School ghost' seriously." said McGonagall.

Crash - crash - crash - door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out. For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed

"Can't say I'm very sorry to hear it." said Sirius. "After the headache you gave my cub."

and people kept standing in Nearly-Headless Nick.

"Bet they regretted that." said Fred with a smirk.

Harry found himself pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet.

"Who pinned him there?" asked Sirius.

"I did." said Professor Vector, "the students were about to pounce on him. I had to send a few students flying backwards."

The men that were once in the bowl paled.

Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom still had black and white striped hair. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene.

"Caught in the act!" Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Harry.

"I hope you did something about him." said Sirius.

"Not enough." said Ron quietly.

"That will do, Macmillan!" said Professor McGonagall sharply.

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nearly-Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song:

"Peeves' singing voice is awful. I sort of envy Justin." said Sirius shaking his head.

"Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done?You're killing off students, you think it's good fun -"

"I'm going to shove him in vacuum cleaner." said Sirius.

"That's enough Peeves!" barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backwards, with his tongue out at Harry.

Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department,

"They made you carry him?" said Sirius to Professor Flitwick. "Sinistra is pretty tall."

"It did take some doing to get to the Hospital Wing." said Professor Flitwick.

but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly-Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly-Headless Nick up the stairs.

This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft.

"I'll bet he didn't like that job one bit." said Remus.

"I, at the time, didn't care one bit what he did or did not like." said Professor McGonagall.

This left Harry and Professor McGonagall along together.

"At least it isn't Professor Snape." said a seventh year Gryffindor.

"Or Lockhart." said Remus, Sirius, and Dr. Clark.

"This way, Potter," she said.

"Professor," said Harry at once, "I swear I didn't -"

"This is out of my hands, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly.

"I should have told him that I don't believe it was him." said McGonagall distraughtly.

"I reassured him for you." said Dumbledore patting her arm.

They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.

"Wow, that was really close to the Headmaster's office." said Remus carefully.

"You don't think that the monster is after him? Do you?" asked Sirius quickly.

"Sounds like it. The Headmaster had two attacks near him so far." said Remus.

"Lemon Drop!" she said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life, and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Harry couldn't fail to be amazed.

"That is what Albus hopes for when all come into his office. They forget their fears, calm down and tell him what they need to tell him." said McGonagall.

Behind the wall was a spiral staircase which was moving smoothly upwards, like an escalator. As he and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upwards in circled, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy,

"That's what it was like for our first twenty times too." said Sirius.

Harry could see a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.

He knew where he was being taken.

"He didn't know where he was going?" said Fred.

"I didn't tell him, and he did seem a bit dazed." said McGonagall.

This must be where Dumbledore lived.

"Dumbledore will believe him." said Sirius with a smile.

Suddenly, the book began to shake and smoke poured out of it. "What's going on with it now?" asked Lee, holding the book out at arm's length.

"I'm…not…sure…" said Speckerton faintly.

The smoke etched it's way across the floor, and the moment it touched one person they couldn't move.

"What's going on?" said Fred trying to move his legs, but were cemented to the ground.

"Don't worry, the books wouldn't hurt anyone." said Speckerton.

"Tell that to Remus." said Sirius, trying to move, but was unsuccessful. The only person who went untouched by the smoke was Harry. It swirled around him and before the smoke captured the last person, it began to twist and turned into a smoky cyclone, protecting him.

Once the last person was captured, the smoke rose and they felt themselves falling into space.