Chapter 24 – Adjusting to School
After a good laugh at Ginny's sentiment about Tom not being a Gryffindor, the four of them walked to the Great Hall for lunch, and decided to sit by Ron, who looked severely depressed.
"Hi, Ron," greeted Ginny, trying not to sound too happy.
Ron looked up for a second and muttered, "I'm doomed."
"Your day couldn't have been that hard, Ron. After all, you have been to those classes before."
"What classes did you have?" asked Harry.
"My first period was Divination, and my second class was Potions."
Hermione asked, "Who's teaching divination? Professor Dumbledore didn't announce a new teacher for that subject yesterday."
"That's because he just arrived," answered Ron. "His name is Professor Stewart. He got rid of the incense in that room. It's actually possible to stay conscious in there now. He's an okay bloke that doesn't act weird or anything.
"He says he doesn't have the gift of sight, but he has worked with genuine seers. He also said that if you don't have the gift, most methods used to attempt to cause a vision are futile. He also explained that the gift would manifest itself without any help from a class, and that if anyone felt they had manifested the gift, he'd be happy to give them private lessons.
"He told us we're going to be studying predictions that have been made that came true. He claims that the Ministry has a bunch of them somewhere at their headquarters, but no one but the people referred to in the prophecies can remove them. The ones we're going to study were made by some of the seers he knows. We're going to concentrate on interpreting prophecies. He claims that some people have heard a prophecy and then caused the event to happen by trying to stop it."
Harry and Hermione gave each other a significant look. "That sounds interesting," commented Hermione.
"So," asked Harry, "How did you like Sirius' class?"
"Well, it's a lot better than Snape's class, but it still seems confusing to me. I partnered up with this weird girl from Ravenclaw. She's nice enough, though. She claims she knows you three. Her name is Luna Lovegood."
"I've known her since my first year, and Harry and Hermione met her at the world cup. She's a very nice girl, so I hope you don't pick on her like the other kids."
"Of course not," responded Ron. She's my only friend in my year. I first tried to partner of up with Colin Creevey, but he won't speak to me for some reason."
"He knows you've had fights with his hero," explained Ginny. "You know that he's the biggest Harry Potter fan on the planet. He can't seem to think about anything else. He even makes sure he sits at the same desk Harry uses. It's pathetic!"
"Maybe I'm better off without him speaking to me," remarked Ron.
Before they could reply, Dumbledore made an announcement. "I'd like to introduce you all to our new Divination teacher, who arrived this morning, Professor Stewart." He then motioned toward a middle-aged black man as the students applauded.
-MITAB-
Later that day, when Ginny, Harry and Hermione went to Arithmancy class, Professor Vector seemed very pleased to see them.
"Welcome to your first official arithmancy class, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley," she said. "If you put forth the same effort this year that you put into the summer, you'll do splendidly."
The trio sat close to each other, and Harry and Hermione took out their laptops to prepare for class.
Professor Vector looked at the strange devices and walked up to the couple. "Er, what are those?"
Harry answered first, "They're computers, Professor."
"They're muggle devices that store information. We've put the contents of all our textbooks in them," Hermione explained. "Look."
She turned her laptop to face the fascinated professor, who saw the contents of the textbook clearly shown on the screen. Hermione quickly showed her how to scroll down and mentioned some advantages.
"How did you get them to work here?" asked the professor.
"We charmed them so that they're powered by magic instead of electricity," answered Hermione. "Professor Black has one as well."
"I must have him show me his computer when I have more time," she commented, and then began her class.
-MITAB-
Their next class was Charms, and Professor Flitwick was completely fascinated with the computers as well. When it was time for them to practice their new charms, Harry was about to perform wandless nonverbal magic when Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Harry," she whispered, "Remember you have to use your wand and say the spell. We don't want anyone to know about our new abilities."
"Oh yeah, sorry," he replied with a smile as he pulled his wand out of its holster. "It just seems so ridiculous to use it now."
"I know," agreed Hermione, but we've got to keep up appearances.
-MITAB-
Later that night, after training with the older Marauders, while Hermione was talking to her parents on her new phone, the twins started handing Harry muggle devices to charm. Since Hermione was busy and most of them needed the simple battery charm, he decided to start on them, making sure to record them all on his computer (to make sure Hermione didn't kill him when she got off the phone).
They both agreed that they needed to keep their own records, just to make sure they weren't being cheated. It's not that they didn't trust the twins; they just felt it was good business.) He charmed about a dozen Game Boys, five cd players, and a small portable dvd player. He now had just one device left – a radio-controlled model helicopter that actually flew. It even had a type of clamp on the bottom that could grip or release small objects. Harry thought it would probably be used to transport dungbombs. He charmed the batteries, and then waited for Hermione to handle the remote control. He didn't have any idea how to make that work, and hoped she did.
While he was looking at it, and considering buying one for himself, Hermione came up to him. She smiled at her boyfriend. "Hi, Hero, Mum and Dad said, 'hi,' and they'll be glad to pick you up a hot pink phone with red roses all over it."
"Very funny, Mine," replied Harry.
"Where'd you get all this stuff?" she asked, indicating the pile of devices he'd charmed.
"Fred and George dropped them off for us to charm."
"Okay," she responded, as she went to grab one of the Game Boys.
"I already charmed them," said Harry. "All but this helicopter. I don't have a clue how to get the remote to work."
"You shouldn't have done them all, Harry," Hermione protested. "I'm supposed to be the one earning the money."
Harry smiled at her. "I thought I'd do you a small favor. I hope that's all right."
She grinned back, "It is. Thanks. Let me take a look at the helicopter."
After reading out what frequency it transmitted at, she had no problem, so fifteen minutes later they were delivering the devices back to Fred and George.
Harry asked, "Who gave you the helicopter?"
"Actually," began Fred.
"That one's ours," added George.
"To deliver dungbombs," explained Fred.
"To Filch's office," clarified George.
"Among other things," they both finished together.
"We'll give you your money tomorrow," promised Fred.
"As soon as we get ours," finished George.
-MITAB-
The weeks passed quickly, and before they knew it, September was coming to a close. More and more students from all houses seemed to be acquiring Game Boys, cell phones, and many other muggle devices. It was fortunate for Harry and Hermione that charming most of them didn't take much time. They were steadily keeping a few weeks ahead in their class work while their earnings steadily grew.
All of their professors approved of the laptops, so they were saved from having to carry their books around, which they found made it easier to fit inside broom closets. The Slytherins didn't seem as bold as they used to once they learned that Sirius wouldn't let them get away with everything. Their attitude seemed to have been properly adjusted. Some of the younger ones seemed to be getting along with kids from other houses. To Harry, it really seemed like the school had changed for the better, and he was proud to have been a part of it.
On a particular Saturday afternoon, Harry and Hermione were in the room of requirement practicing defensive spell work with Sirius and Remus. The young couple now had perfected their wandless magic so much that they were fighting each other, while the professors were taking random shots at the both of them. The teens weren't allowed to do anything but block or dodge the professors' spells. Both teenagers found it difficult to concentrate on fighting the wandless opponent at the same time as the professors. These duels usually ended with one of them getting distracted and hit by a wandless spell.
This particular day, it was Harry who lost after an hour and a half – the longest duel they'd ever had. After Hermione helped him up, Sirius complimented, "You both did extremely well today, and I'd honestly be surprised if any Death Eaters could beat you with less than ten of them for each of you. While you're destroying the others wandlessly, one might get a shot at you."
Remus then added thoughtfully, "It might be a good idea to wear some kind of armor to protect you from something like that. I'll look into it."
"Anyway," announced Sirius with a broad smile on his face, "I thought I'd tell you that the Animagus potion is now ready!
Chapter 25 – Animals
"Really?!" exclaimed Harry, smiling.
"It's ready?" asked Hermione happily.
"Yes," answered Sirius, smiling broadly. "I brought it with me, knowing how eager you both are to be like me." He then pointed at a table in the corner with two glasses on it. "I had it protected so that if a stray spell hit it, it wouldn't get damaged."
At that moment, two recliners appeared next to the small table. Remus explained, "Once you drink it, you'll pass out for a few minutes. I figured you'd rather be sitting in a recliner when that happens than standing up."
"Good idea," agreed Harry eagerly as he started walking toward the table, holding Hermione's hand.
They grabbed their cups and sat in the chairs, reclining back. "Do you want to go first?" asked Harry.
"Let's drink them together," suggested Hermione.
Harry drank the vile potion as fast as he could, noting that he definitely needed to use mouthwash, brush his teeth, and then use mouthwash again once this was over. As he felt himself get light-headed, he glanced at Hermione, who was actually glancing back at him.
For a few moments, Harry found himself in complete darkness, which slowly faded away as though the sun were rising rapidly. He found himself standing on the sand in what appeared to be an endless desert. He looked ahead and saw a small puddle of water a few meters in front of him. It was the only thing he could see besides dry sand. He walked up to it and looked down.
Instead of seeing his reflection, he saw a bird in mid-flight. It was a large bird with broad wings (about a 78-inch wingspan) and a broad tail. It had a short, hooked beak. Its plumage was mostly dark brown, and its eyes were green and appeared to have some sort of thin circles around them that looked very much like Harry's glasses. He recognized the bird from his visit to the zoo as a golden eagle. He smiled to himself, thinking about the advantages of being able to fly. He was just wondering how soon he'd take his first flight when everything started getting dark again.
He opened his eyes and saw he was back on the recliner with two marauders standing over him. He could see them looking at him expectantly. He smiled broadly and announced, "I'm, I'm a golden eagle."
"I always knew you were a bird-brain," teased Sirius.
"I'll bet the ability to fly without a broom will come in handy!" remarked Lupin, smiling broadly.
At that moment they heard Hermione's voice call out, "I'm sure it will!" They all turned toward her and looked expectantly. She smiled and told them, "I'm an eagle owl."
-MITAB-
After the young couple had rested a few minutes and been instructed not to attempt a transformation for twenty-four hours, they left and took a short walk around the school. "I'm glad you're over your fear of heights, Mine," commented Harry. "It would be funny to see an owl walking on the ground afraid to flap her wings."
She soft-punched him in the shoulder and replied, "That's not funny, Hero!"
"Yes, it is," countered Harry, earning another not-so-soft punch. "Ow. That hurt."
"Good," responded Hermione. "The hero got beat up by his girlfriend."
Harry suddenly got a wicked grin on his face. "I'd say that qualifies as a fight," he remarked slyly. "Which means that it's time to…"
"…make up!" finished Hermione eagerly, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward a broom closet.
-MITAB-
Later that day, they found themselves sitting in the library reading books on types of protective clothing. They'd brought their laptops in case they found anything important. Harry was bored. He'd much rather revisit the broom closet. "Mine," he began sweetly, "Remus said he'd look into types of armor. We really don't have to…"
"I want to, Hero. We may find something he didn't think of." She flipped through her book for a few minutes and then smiled. She put something in that page and then flipped to another section. She whispered, "Perfect!"
Harry looked at her and asked, "What's perfect?"
"I've come up with a solution that I doubt Professor Lupin thinks is possible. This book says that dragon-hide is one of the most magically reflective substances in the world, and is therefore worn by many people such as aurors wishing to protect themselves."
"I'm sure Moony would have found that out if he doesn't already know it."
"The next line says that the only thing that can protect even better is basilisk-hide, but that it is extremely rare."
Harry looked interested. "I guess it is. But if you're thinking of the one in the chamber, I'm sure it's rotted away by now."
"No, it hasn't," Hermione announced proudly. "I looked it up. It said that although its insides decay normally, the skin of a basilisk won't even start to rot for at least ten years. It also said that only extremely powerful spells, as well as powerfully enchanted swords and knives can penetrate its skin. It can even block one avada kadavra every twenty-four hours! Once the skin is properly made into armor, it never rots. This book contains a spell to cast on a dead basilisk to take exactly the right amount of skin and create a complete set to cover an entire body. This includes boots, socks, pants, long sleeve shirt with a hood, and gloves. It says that a full grown basilisk can be used to make suits for up to four full grown people!"
"Wow!" exclaimed Harry. "That's great! Hold on. What about when we grow? I need new robes every year. I'll end up with great armor that I can't fit into."
"The book also says that it can be recycled with a spell, so every year or so we could increase the size. Don't worry! It's perfect."
Harry grinned at her. She was so smart. "All right. What do you say we visit the chamber tomorrow?"
"Visit the chamber?" came a female voice from behind them. They turned to see a nervous-looking redhead girl behind them. "You mean the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Er," replied Harry, showing his remarkable mastery of the English language. He tried to think up a lie, but knew it was useless. He glanced at Hermione, who nodded at him. "Yes, Ginny," he whispered, "We're going down there to get the basilisk skin to make armor out of it."
"You are," Ginny responded, obviously having a hard time with this topic. "Why?"
"Basilisk-hide is the most magically reflective substance that occurs naturally. It's even more powerful than dragon-hide," explained Hermione.
"And we figured that, since it's there, and I seem to always end up in danger, we might as well get it. Hermione found a spell to make the armor, so we don't have to cut up the snake ourselves."
Ginny looked down at the floor for a few seconds, and then surprised them both by saying, "Can I come too?"
"Er, um, well," asked Harry. "Why would you want to come?"
Ginny looked down again. "Er, I, I still sometimes have nightmares about that place. I think it might help if I, y'know face my fear. I've thought about asking Harry to take me down there before, but, well, I didn't know how he'd react."
After getting a nod from Harry, Hermione took the other girl's hand and squeezed it saying, "Of course you can come along."
"Thanks, guys," she replied, "I also think I deserve one of those outfits."
"No problem," said Harry, "According to the book, we can make four, and we can adjust them for when we grow so that it always fits."
"So, when are we going?" asked Ginny.
"Going where?" asked the voice of Neville, who had just arrived at the library.
After they quietly explained it to Neville, who also wanted to go with and get his own armor, Hermione copied that book into her computer so that it was ready for them to bring down to the chamber.
-MITAB-
The next morning after practice, which Harry now won when Hermione was stunned by Lupin an hour and forty minutes into the match, they started talking.
Hermione declared eagerly, "Professor Lupin, you don't have to worry about getting us armor now, we've come up with a solution – Basilisk-hide!"
Remus and Sirius both looked stunned. Remus spoke, "Basilisk? Where would you find…even if you could, how much money?"
"It won't cost anything," answered Harry, "and it's underneath this very school."
"You mean in the Chamber of Secrets," said Sirius. "I remember you guys telling me about it. Actually, as I recall, Hermione was talking while you were hiding your head."
"The Chamber of Secrets exists?" asked Lupin. "I heard rumors, but I thought…Harry, you really slew a basilisk?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I got lucky. The point is that its skin protects even better than dragon skin, and it's down there for the taking.
Hermione nodded, "We're going to get it later today with Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. We even found a spell that will do all the work for us, making each of us an outfit."
"They overheard us. Ginny wanted to go with, and we felt she's entitled to an outfit, and Neville wanted one too. I'm afraid we won't have enough left for the two of you," explained Harry.
Sirius and Lupin gave each other a quick glance.
"I do suggest that you get yourselves a dragon-hide outfit," added Hermione.
"All right," agreed Sirius. "Let's get started on Animagus practice before we stay here all day. You've obviously got plans for later. By the way, Tonks is going to come to Hogwarts next weekend."
Both teenagers' faces brightened at the news, "Really?" they both said together.
After about an hour, each of them had managed a beak, while Harry also grew a few feathers on his arms. They were only able to hold these forms for a few minutes. Remus and Lupin complimented them on a good first attempt before they left for the common room to meet up with Ginny and Neville.
They found the two of them having an obviously pleasant conversation, sitting closely together on a sofa. "Hi, guys," greeted Harry, startling them from behind. "Are you ready to go?"
"Oh, er, yeah," answered Ginny nervously.
"I'll go get my Firebolt so that we can get out of there," said Harry. "Who has a broom? It's a long walk through there, and it would be easier and faster to fly."
"Harry," replied Hermione, "You know I got myself a Cleansweep before school started, and we've practiced flying a few times since we got here."
"I know that. I meant the others. Ginny, Neville, do you have one?"
Neville spoke first, "You saw what happened the first time I tried to fly. I've never gotten on a broom since."
Ginny looked down, "Er, no. I asked my parents for one, but…"
"That's all right, Ginny. You can ride behind Hermione, and Neville can ride behind me."
-MITAB-
They got their brooms and Hermione's laptop in a carrying case strapped across her shoulders, and made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. When they entered, Myrtle asked, "Hello, Harry, why haven't you visited in so lon…who's that other boy? He's kind of cute."
Neville blushed slightly to everyone else's amusement. "Er, my name is Neville."
While Neville reluctantly chatted with Moaning Myrtle, Harry hissed at the appropriate sink and revealed the entrance to the chamber. "Okay," Harry announced, "I'll jump down first. Then Neville, Ginny, and Hermione."
"What do you mean, 'jump?'" asked Ginny. "You're supposed to say, 'stairs' in Parseltongue to make a staircase appear. Didn't you know that?" Harry shook his head, dumbfounded. "Well, I'd wondered why they weren't there when we left. I was too distraught to think about it at the time, and didn't want to bring up the subject later. Did you really think that Salazar Slytherin or Tom Riddle would jump down a hole when they couldn't see the bottom?"
"Er, I guess not," responded Harry, now looking at the carving of a snake on the faucet. He hissed, "Stairs," in snake language, and a circular stone staircase appeared. They then walked down the staircase. Once they were downstairs, Harry could see Ginny start to tremble before Neville put his arm around her. Harry suggested, "I think we should mount our brooms now," so they got on the brooms the way they'd agreed.
Harry and Hermione, who were at the front, held one hand on the broomstick with one hand pointing a lit wand forward like headlights. They quickly flew past the layers of rat skeletons that littered the floor, and in no time, they came across the remains of the snakeskin and the cave-in Professor Lockhart had caused.
There was just enough room for them to fly past the rocks on the ground that Ron had cleared out over a year earlier. Neville asked, "What caused the cave-in." After Harry explained what Lockhart had done, he yelled, "That fraud! That bloody coward! That evil git! I hope he never gets out of St. Mungo's!"
"St. Mungo's?" asked Harry, Hermione, and Ginny at the same time.
Neville looked nervous, "Er, yeah, that's where they sent him. I, er, was at the hospital visiting, er, someone and ran into him."
They soon reached the solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved. Harry hissed, "Open," in the language only he and Voldemort could speak. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and the quartet, still on broomsticks, flew inside.
The first thing they noticed was the stench. Instinctively, Harry wandlessly cleared the air. Fortunately, neither Neville nor Ginny noticed. They were too occupied with the horrid smell, and then too relieved by its departure to care how it went away.
They quickly flew past the pillars and came to the spot where Harry had found Ginny a year ago. They dismounted the brooms, and Ginny knelt on the floor, putting her hands where she had awoken the year before, and started trembling slightly. "This, this is the spot where Harry found me." Tears were now starting to fall from her eyes as Neville gently put his hands on her shoulders. "There're the remains of the basilisk," she added, pointing at a smelly, decomposing snake."
Harry and Hermione walked toward the snake. When they were close enough, Hermione took out her laptop and turned it on. Once she had the spell on the screen, she pointed her wand at Harry (they didn't want to let the others know about their wandless abilities, plus they weren't sure whether they could do this exact spell), and uttered a long Latin incantation. Harry's body glowed green for about five seconds, and then Hermione pointed her wand at the basilisk and uttered more Latin, until the basilisk glowed green.
Suddenly there was an incredibly bright flash of green coming from both the basilisk and Harry. When the flash was over, the basilisk was missing some skin, Harry was wearing his new outfit, and the clothes he had been wearing were folded neatly in a pile on the floor in front of him. His trainers were in front of the clothes. He looked at his form-fitting green basilisk outfit and remarked, "Not bad! It's actually pretty comfortable, too."
Ginny and Hermione both whistled at him (the flash had gotten Ginny and Neville's attention) while Neville nodded appreciatively. Hermione then performed the spell on Ginny, who received whistles from both Neville and Harry. Neville was next (He was glad he'd dieted that summer when he got whistles from the girls), and then Harry performed the spell on Hermione. Harry was so overwhelmed by her appearance that he couldn't even whistle, but Neville did. Harry exclaimed, "You look incredible!" when he was finally able to speak, causing Hermione to blush.
To change the subject, Hermione suggested, "Now we should put our old clothes on over this."
After a few minutes, they were redressed. They decided to keep wearing the boots, vowing to claim it was dragon hide if anybody asked. Hermione put her laptop back in its case, magically had the four sets of trainers follow them, and they all headed out of the chamber.
Chapter 26 – The Dark Lord Will Have Your Blood
Later that night, Harry and Hermione were sitting together in the common room after charming a bunch of muggle devices when Harry said, "Mine,"
Hermione smiled and replied, "Yes, Hero?"
"There's something that's been bugging me a bit since we left the Chamber."
She turned her head toward Harry and asked, "What's that, Love?"
"That book said that we could only make four outfits, but it looked like over half of the basilisk's skin was still there after we were done. I know we're not fully grown yet, but honestly, I think more could be made. Do you think the book could be wrong about that?"
"Hm," responded Hermione, "Maybe that basilisk is bigger than most. I'll check that out." Almost instantaneously her laptop came floating down to them from her dorm. After she caught it, she turned it on and it loaded up, she looked up the book that contained the spell and decided to read the book's description of a basilisk. "Oh my. I really should have read this before we went down there. It says that the only basilisk known to exist during the lifetime of the author was only thirty feet long, so he called that the average size. The one inside the chamber is at least sixty feet. If you average it out to four outfits for every thirty feet, it comes to each outfit taking seven and a half feet of skin. At that rate, the one in the chamber could handle eight outfits!"
"We should tell Lupin and Sirius tomorrow morning and get down there as soon as we can to make them outfits. By the way, is there any spell to just remove the skin so we don't have to keep going back down there again and again?"
"I'll find out." After a few minutes of scrolling down, Hermione answered, "I was too excited about finding the spell yesterday. I should have read the whole book. There is a spell that takes all the skin off the creature and folds it up neatly so it can be taken away. The same spell I used earlier can be used on that. I'm sorry I didn't read this before."
"Don't worry about it, Mine. There's no harm done. Besides, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't even know about the armor." He then kissed her deeply.
-MITAB-
The next day after training, which was after dinner since it was a Monday, Harry explained that there was in fact enough skin to make outfits for the two of them, along with two more outfits as well. They knew Harry would have to go down there with them because he's the only one who could speak snake-language (unless they found Voldemort and got him to help) and Hermione insisted that she join them too.
They decided to go down to the chamber immediately after dinner the next day. When they got back, they'd see how much time they had left to train. And so it wasn't long until they found themselves back inside the Chamber of Secrets. The Marauders had their own brooms (Sirius' firebolt and one of the cleansweeps Sirius had bought) and they were looking over the chamber very enthusiastically. It was difficult to get them to stay still long enough to have the spell performed on them.
When Hermione complained, Sirius argued, "But this is a legendary place! I know you two have been here before, but we haven't! This may very well be the only thing that's not in the Marauder's Map. We'll have to change that! This would make a great secret base! Only Voldemort himself could penetrate it! The fact that only Harry can open it would be an inconvenience, but I think we could live with it."
"Actually," suggested Hermione thoughtfully, "We could try recording Harry when he opens the door. Maybe playing it back would work."
Harry smiled, "That's a great idea! I'll call your parents tonight and have them pick up something for that."
"We'll have to be careful about making sure no one knows about the recording," insisted Lupin.
"That shouldn't be a problem," replied Hermione. "If anyone sees us with them, they'll just assume it's music."
"You know what!" Harry exclaimed, "My cell phone, and I'll bet Hermione's too, can record sound as a memo. We'll try using that! If that will work, then it'll be perfect! We'll just get you each a phone."
"Sounds great," responded Sirius. Hermione started performing another spell on the snake, while Sirius was looking closely at the open mouth of Slytherin's statue. "What's this hole for?" he asked.
"That's where the basilisk came from," answered Harry. "Why?"
"I was wondering where the passage leads to," explained Sirius.
"I don't know," answered Harry, shrugging. "I've never followed it."
"It might be a good idea to find out," suggested Lupin, who had just finished putting his robes over his armor. "You never know what secrets were kept in the Chamber of Secrets by Slytherin and Voldemort."
"All right," agreed Hermione, who had finished the spell that took all the skin off of the dead basilisk. "Let's go."
There was enough room so that they could all fit flying single file with Sirius in the lead with his wand lit, followed by Harry, Hermione, and Lupin. After about ten minutes, they came across an open doorway on the left. Sirius turned into it, followed by the others. They found it was a small room full of dust with a bookshelf full of books, a file cabinet, a desk, and a chair at the desk. On the desk were an old muggle spiral notebook and a cup full of muggle pens and pencils. Harry picked up the notebook and dusted it off. He opened it and read the first line written inside. It said, 'Tom Marvolo Riddle: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!" At that moment, Harry's scar started hurting worse that it ever had before. He covered it with his hand and collapsed onto the floor.
-MITAB-
He opened his eyes to find himself lying on a dusty concrete floor facing Sirius, Remus, and of course, Hermione. He looked around to see where he was. He recognized the room he'd collapsed in almost immediately. "How long was I out?" he asked.
"About a minute," answered Hermione. "Sirius revived you after you collapsed. You were holding onto your scar. Did it hurt when you read that notebook?"
"Yes! Voldemort wrote it. I think someone should read it, but it obviously can't be me."
"Lupin is checking it for curses. So far, he's removed four," explained Sirius.
"Make that five," added Lupin, who was sitting at the desk with his wand pointed at the offending notebook.
"I think this room contains a lot of useful information," commented Sirius, "but I think it's guarded by some serious curses. I don't want you two coming back here snooping around."
Harry smiled as his godfather helped him up, "I'm hardly in a position to disagree. But I'll bet Hermione will be hounding Lupin until she finds out how he's detecting those curses."
Hermione blushed. "Anyway," remarked Sirius. "I think it's late enough. Moony, do you think you can safely levitate that book to your office?"
"Yes. I'll float it ahead of us, so it doesn't touch anyone."
They left that room with the book. When they reached the main chamber, they didn't even stop as Hermione wandlessly floated the basilisk skin, along with her computer, behind them. The young couple went straight to Gryffindor Tower, forgoing their duel since Harry was still feeling a bit weak.
The next morning, Harry was fine and went through training normally. The rest of the week went by very quickly as they kept up with all their combat training, snogging, animagus training, snogging, muggle object charming, snogging, studying, and of course snogging. On Saturday morning, they were happy to see Tonks when they showed up for their training.
"Wotcher, Harry and Hermione! Have you spent more time training or inspecting broom closets since school started?"
They both blushed, but Hermione answered, "Training."
Harry added, "I only wish we could spend that much time…"
"Harry James Potter!" scolded Hermione.
"Er, sorry," replied Harry.
"Anyway," said Tonks, "Let's start exercising."
She worked them tirelessly for an hour, and then switched to dueling. She decided to have two separate duels. One would be Harry against Hermione, Tonks, Sirius, and Lupin. The other would be Hermione against Harry, Tonks, Sirius, and Lupin. The first duel ended after an hour when Tonks stunned Harry (they took off their armor for practice) while he was blocking a hex sent by Hermione. The second duel ended after fifty minutes, when Harry petrified Hermione while she was blocking a curse sent by
Tonks. After they were finished, Hermione made a basilisk armor suit for Tonks while the others put theirs back on. While Sirius and Harry were whistling at Tonks, Remus was stuttering and blushing. Harry left before the rest of them because he had to use the loo.
When he stepped out of the loo, he heard a vaguely familiar voice say something like, "Sectumsempra," and felt a hex hit his side, putting a hole in his clothes and stopping at his armor. He looked and for a second saw his former potions master with a shocked expression on his face holding an empty jar. He immediately turned around and started running, only to be wandlessly summoned back by Harry. Snape turned and fired another hex which Harry easily dodged, making his way toward the greasy git.
Snape pointed his wand at Harry again, only to find it fall out of his hand and roll across the floor. While he was watching that, he didn't notice Harry had gotten close enough to punch him square in the nose, breaking it. Snape, who had never been in a muggle fight, didn't know what to do as Harry punched each of his eyes in turn, making sure to leave a 'signature.' Harry then kicked Snape in the crotch, causing the partially blinded and dazed potions master to collapse to the floor in agony.
At that moment, just when Harry was gonna kick Snape in the face, Tonks called out, "That's enough, Harry!"
Harry slowly backed away, finally pulling out his wand for show and pointing it at Snape. "Look what you did!" he called out at Snape, "You got blood all over my robes!"
At that moment, Snape reached into his pocket, smirked, and vowed, "This isn't over, Potter! The Dark Lord will have your blood!" and disappeared as he apparently used a portkey.
Chapter 27 – Missions
The pathetic, hideous, tiny form that was Tom Marvolo Riddle was sitting in a chair in his room at Riddle Manor. His faithful servant had just finished milking Nagini and feeding his master. This Death Eater was now asleep. Voldemort heard the stairs of the manor creaking, indicating someone was approaching. He hoped that it was his other servant, the one that he didn't trust as much as the other. If he was back from his mission, then Voldemort would finally have a healthy body that doesn't need to be nursed. Whoever was on the other side of the door knocked. "Who dares disturb Lord Voldemort?"
"It is your servant, Severus Snape, master," came the voice from the other side of the door.
"Enter."
The door opened and Voldemort saw a man with two black eyes and a hastily-set nose. He bowed before Voldemort, not saying anything.
"Did you retrieve the boy's blood?" he asked coldly.
"No, my master, I…"
"Crucio," cast Voldemort, pointing his wand at the writhing figure in front of him. After about a minute, the Dark Lord released the spell. "Why?"
"I used Sectumsempra on him, but it didn't hurt him. Then I dropped my wand and he…"
"Crucio." While Snape was still writhing in agony, Voldemort yelled, "You clumsily dropped your wand, and then the boy beat you up like a common muggle! You, who call yourself the 'Half-Blood Prince?'"
"Y-Y-Yes M-M-My L-L-L-Lord," answered Snape, still under the curse.
He released Snape, who lay panting on the floor. "The boy has no talent, you said. It will be easy, you bragged. Obviously, you overestimated your pathetic abilities! You will try again, with a better plan, and will find allies to join you!"
"Yes, my lord," replied Snape, as he got up off the floor and turned to leave.
"By the way, Snape," said Voldemort, causing Snape to turn, "CRUCIO!"
-MITAB-
Harry woke up, clutching his slightly irritated scar. This was the first Voldemort dream that Harry almost enjoyed. He knew he should have strengthened his occlumency shields before bed, but he didn't. Part of him was actually hoping to see Voldemort's punishment of Snape for failing in his mission. He was as mad at Snape as Voldemort was, albeit for different reasons. At least Dumbledore finally admitted that he had been wrong about Snape rejecting Voldemort. He remembered the conversation they'd had about ten minutes after Snape had escaped.
-MITAB-
"I'm sure that Severus was simply trying to give us a message about Voldemort."
"He snuck up and sent a spell that sounded like 'sectumsempra' at me that cut through my robes. He was shocked when it didn't cut me!" shouted Harry. He, Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Hermione were in the headmaster's office.
Dumbledore's expression turned grave. "Do you mean sectumsempra?"
"Yeah, that's it!" answered Harry. "I'll bet it would've killed me if I weren't wearing my armor."
"Yes, Harry," admitted Dumbledore, "If it's not properly treated within a minute, the victim bleeds to death. There are very few people who know how to heal someone who's been attacked with that curse. You see, Severus Snape invented it. What exactly did he say when he was leaving?"
"The Dark Lord will have your blood," answered Tonks.
Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Your blood? He must know that your protection is in your blood! Probably because of your encounter with Professor Quirrel. There are many dark spells that require blood, and I'll bet that there is a spell for rejuvenating a body that involves blood, although I haven't studied many of those. I'll have to research that."
"Could I help you with your research?" asked Hermione.
"Certainly, Miss Granger, though I doubt that we'll be able to find a book at Hogwarts that contains the spell we are looking for."
"I wonder if one of Riddle's old books contains it," remarked Lupin. "I'll make studying them a top priority."
"I say that killing Snivelus should be our top priority!" barked Sirius.
"I am afraid that Severus Snape is indeed helping Voldemort," responded Dumbledore, "and must be stopped before he succeeds in acquiring Harry's blood. And now, onto other matters. Harry, you mentioned that you are wearing some type of armor that blocked sectumsempra."
"That's right, Professor," boasted Harry proudly, "Basilisk hide."
Dumbledore looked astonished. "Basilisk? You went back down to the chamber. Remus, is that where you found those books of Riddle's that you mentioned?"
"Yes, Professor Dumbledore."
"Auror Tonks, I understand that you have been helping to train Harry and Hermione in combat. How are they performing?"
"Well," replied Tonks, "There's not much more that I can teach them. I just try my best to keep them on their toes. They are performing better than most seasoned aurors. Of course, their wandless magic makes it hard to fight them. I can't tell when or what they're doing."
"Wandless magic?" repeated Dumbledore.
"Yes," answered Harry while causing Dumbledore's half-moon glasses to rise off of his nose and stay in the air until Albus grabbed them, smiling broadly.
"It is indeed a coincidence that Mr. Malfoy would become so clumsy as to trip or drop his books almost every time he is near one of you two," he commented with a twinkle in his eye to Harry and Hermione, whose ears turned pink. "It may be better to go easy on him. After all with his father in prison…"
"Lucius attacked Hermione!" shouted Harry, interrupting Dumbledore, "What should I have done?"
"What should you have done?" asked Dumbledore, "but according to the Daily Prophet, it was Auror Tonks who…I see. Wandless magic?"
"Yes," responded Hermione. "Although Malfoy's attack didn't get me, Harry petrified him on the spot. Tonks was nearby and took the credit to cover for us. Malfoy doesn't even know Harry did it."
"Very well. Now, if the rest of you excuse me, I'd like to bid you a good evening and speak privately with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger." Everyone else left, although Sirius waited for Harry to nod at him.
"Your training is proceeding far faster than I could've imagined. I believe you are both ready for my personal training. Unfortunately, with the Triwizard Tournament, I will not have the time to train you until the summer. Normally, the training I have in mind will take at least a year, but I suspect it will take much less time, especially if I let you read certain books over the course of this year. I believe that I can train you both by the end of the summer."
"Would we have to spend the summer in the castle?" asked Harry. "I'd really miss Potter Manor."
"Well, what I have to teach you must be taught where it cannot be detected. Hogwarts is one such place. I also believe that Potter Manor is another such place. Am I correct?"
"Yes, sir," agreed Harry.
"Then, if I may visit there daily during the summer, then I could conduct the training at Potter Manor."
"I suppose I could give you floo access this summer," admitted Harry.
"Then it's settled," declared Dumbledore. "I shall speak with you before the school year is out to arrange exact times. Meanwhile, I'll loan you a few books." He took two old thick dusty tomes off of his shelf. "Be very careful with them. They are ancient, and have been magically shielded with a spell that protects the books from certain curses, as well as from being magically repaired."
"Does that spell stop the text from being magically scanned?" asked Hermione.
"I'm not certain, Miss Granger. I've only attempted to copy the book as a whole, but it wouldn't work. Why?"
At that moment, Hermione's laptop flew into the room from the window, straight into Hermione's hands. "If I can scan the text, I can put the books on our computers, so we won't need to take them out of your office. Let's see." She opened up the computer and turned it on. When it was loaded up, she started wandlessly scanning the text into the computer and onto the network. She smiled. "It worked. Where are the rest of the books you want us to read?"
"Ingenious! All of the books on this shelf." He indicated the shelf he'd pulled the others off of, twenty in total. "You wandlessly summoned your computer from Gryffindor Tower while talking to me?"
"Yes, sir," she boasted, "and so can Harry." Then she turned to her boyfriend. "Harry," suggested Hermione, "I think you can go now. This will take a few minutes. You should have Madam Pomfrey take a look at you."
"Yes," agreed Harry sarcastically. "Snape's assault on my hands was merciless. The way he slammed into my right hand with his nose, and then his eyes. And then he attacked my foot with his crotch." He chuckled. "I know neither of you will approve, but it was fun beating that greasy git Death Eater up after I made him drop his wand."
-MITAB-
After he'd left, he started reading the first book off Potter network through his laptop. It was about medical curses. It was a way to affect the health of your opponent. Give them a sudden allergy attack or a bad case of the flu in the middle of a duel. The book had spells to do something as simple as making someone lose control of their bladder, to things far more serious, like causing a heart attack or stroke. He'd never thought about that before.
Although his wandless magic didn't work the same as his wand magic in that it didn't need magic words, he decided to memorize the spells in case he wanted to let someone know he'd been the one to perform the magic (take credit for the bad case of diarrhea that Malfoy was about to suffer the next time he called Hermione a mudblood). Harry decided that he'd first have to practice with Crabbe and Goyle, to make sure he got it right.
-MITAB-
He now lay in bed, knowing Snape had been properly punished, and looking forward to punishing Draco for everything he'd done. He smiled to himself, reinforced his occlumency shields, and went back to sleep. He was going to have fun in the morning.
-MITAB-
The next day, Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand into the Great Hall for breakfast. They sat down in their usual seats and began to eat. It wasn't long before Malfoy came strutting up toward their table (Crabbe and Goyle at his two sides) sneering. "I heard that you were attacked yesterday, Scar-Head, and that a female auror had to protect you! You're so…WHAT?!" At that moment, a yellowish liquid flowed out from the left leg of his pants, over his shoes, and down on the floor, leaving a puddle that everyone in the Great Hall could see. He turned bright red and ran out of there toward the Slytherin common room, presumably to change his pants. In the mean time, a terrible stench was coming from the direction of Crabbe and Goyle. They both clenched their backsides and ran out after Malfoy.
A moment later, Fred and George walked up on either side of the couple. "We couldn't help but notice," remarked Fred.
"That Malfoy and his stooges suffered their little problems," commented George.
"While they were insulting you," Fred pointed out.
"Okay guys," replied Harry. "It'll cost you ten Galleons." They each gave him five. "Here are the spells." He then wrote out the Latin words on a piece of parchment. "Just remember that I know a lot worse spells than them."
"Thanks ,Harry," responded Fred, "You should be the school champion."
"Too bad you're too young," complained George.
"Now, we'd like to speak to our brother Ron," commented Fred.
Harry chuckled at he imagined what they were gonna do to Ron. Although he'd warned the twins not to use those spells on him, he was glad he was wearing that armor, just in case they did it anyway. Once the laughter over Malfoy and company had died down, Harry noticed that the conversations around him had gone to the approaching tournament, but he realized that he didn't actually have any interest in it.
According to Tonks, both he and Hermione could take out any student in the castle, and many aurors at the ministry. Because of their training, both he and Hermione were probably much more qualified to enter than any seventh year. But the fact was that he didn't have the time to train for a tournament, and it would be stupid to risk his life for a trophy and money he didn't need. He had much more important things to do with his life. When Snape returned, it would be with more people and better planning. He had to be ready for them, not in the hospital wing because of some stupid competition. He had a mission.
Chapter 28 – Confidants and Champions
Later that night, Ron had a very embarrassing experience in the Gryffindor Common Room that was very similar to Malfoy's incident in the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Harry and Hermione were not there to witness the event. They were training in the Room of Requirement with Sirius and Remus.
When the duel of the night ended, Lupin remarked, "I'd like to talk to you for a minute about that notebook of Voldemort's. I have an idea of why your scar hurt from it."
"I've been wondering about that myself," replied Harry. "Even Riddle's diary didn't affect my scar. Why would his notebook?"
"That's a good question," admitted Hermione.
"I got a sample of the ink that he wrote his name with and gave it to our Potions Master," he gestured at Sirius, who bowed politely, "and he tested it. He found out that the ink used contained blood."
"Blood," asked Hermione, "Whose blood? Why?"
"As for who's blood, I should think you of all people would be able to figure that out," explained Lupin, smirking.
"It has to be V-Voldemort's blood to affect Harry's scar. But why?"
Lupin answered, "Let's just say that there are certain special curses that can be put on a book if you title it using ink that contains your own blood. Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I can counteract the curse. Unfortunately, it will still take about a week before we can read it."
"I hope whatever he wrote in there is worth the wait," remarked Harry.
"Considering how much trouble he put into protecting it," insisted Sirius, "I doubt it's a recipe for pumpkin juice."
"I guess not," agreed Harry.
"Oh," mentioned Sirius, "There was something else I wanted to talk to you about. Tonks thinks you should bring a few other students into our duels. She thinks they're getting too easy for you."
Hermione looked shocked. "But, if we do that, we'll have to tell them about our wandless magic."
"True," admitted Lupin. "Do you think you can trust anyone that much?"
"Well," replied Harry, "Even if we did trust someone enough, they would need to learn occlumency so that no one could extract the information from them."
"What about the two that you took into the chamber with you?" asked Sirius, "Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. They already know some of your secrets. Do you think you can trust them?"
"I trust them as much if not more than any other students," answered Harry. "I know Neville is loyal, and I can't imagine Ginny betraying me."
"She owes you a life debt," Lupin pointed out. "It might be a good idea to remind her of that while you're talking to her."
"All right," agreed Harry, looking at Hermione, who nodded, "We'll talk to them."
"We should probably bring them here to talk so we have privacy to demonstrate our skills," suggested Hermione. "It would be easier if one of you teachers would escort us. It is getting late, but I think we should talk to them tonight."
"All right," replied Lupin. "I'll go with you to Gryffindor tower. I doubt the head of Slytherin house is welcome there."
Harry chuckled, "You know, Sirius, I've never asked you how that's been going. Do you think you've been reaching any of the Slytherins?"
"Actually," replied Sirius with a grin, "It actually seems like most of them, with the exception of Malfoy and a handful of others, aren't really evil. They really acted like that because Snape and Malfoy would pressure them into it. With Snape gone and Draco being humiliated all the time…"
"…due to those mysterious accidents he has whenever he's near you," added Remus.
"…losing him influence in his house," concluded Hermione.
"…not to mention the fact that they no longer lose house points for being nice to people from other houses," added Harry.
"…and they actually get in trouble for doing wrong," said Sirius, "They actually, for the most part, are good kids with ambition. Now, they're learning to pursue their goals through ethical means."
"That's great, Sirius!" exclaimed Harry. "I have noticed that most of the Slytherins have mellowed out a bit."
"Well, anyway," suggested Sirius, "I think we'd better get going if we're gonna talk to Neville and Ginny tonight. I'll walk with you as far as the portrait of the Fat Lady. I doubt she'd let me in anyway after I slashed her portrait last year."
"Okay," replied Harry, "Let's go."
-MITAB-
A few minutes later, the portrait hole opened to reveal Remus, Harry and Hermione. Most of the room was empty, with the exception of a couple kissing on a couch. Harry did a double-take as he realized who it was. He then smiled from ear to ear as he whispered to Hermione, "I think Ginny is over her crush on me."
"I guess so," she whispered back.
The three of them quietly tiptoed to right in front of them. The new couple was so absorbed in their kissing that they didn't notice until Professor Lupin used his most authoritative voice to say, "Good evening, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Weasley. I'd like you to come with me."
They both practically fell off of opposite sides of the couch as they quickly broke apart. Both of their faces were completely red. Remus, Harry, and Hermione all burst out laughing.
"Don't worry, guys," assured Lupin, still chuckling, "You're not in trouble. We do want you to come with us, though." He indicated Harry and Hermione, who were practically crying from laughter.
"Er, okay," agreed Neville as Ginny nodded.
"By the way," asked Lupin, "Are you wearing your basilisk suits?"
"Yes," answered Neville, "all but the gloves."
"Me, too," added Ginny.
"Good," replied Lupin. "Let's go."
-MITAB-
As soon as they were outside, they met up with Black. Lupin, Harry, and Hermione told Sirius about how they'd greeted Neville and Ginny, much to Sirius' amusement and the couple's embarrassment. After that, Neville and Ginny told the story of how Fred caused Ron to leave a puddle on the floor of the common room. Of course, Ron has no idea how it happened, and five Galleons each from the twins assured the couple's silence. When they reached the Room of Requirement, Neville and Ginny both asked questions about the room.
After those inquiries had been answered, Lupin began, "And now for the reason that you're here. Harry and Hermione need to take two students into their strictest confidence, and they've chosen you. This is a matter of life and death. My question for you is this; can you be trusted that much?"
Both Neville and Ginny now looked very serious, but remained quiet. Harry spoke, "There have been threats on my life, as well as actual attempts at killing me. The most recent was just a few days ago. Voldemort is trying to return." Both Neville and Ginny flinched at the name. "If I weren't wearing my armor, I would have died. Hermione and I, with Professors Black and Lupin's help, have been training in advanced defense, and we need more partners.
"We don't want anyone to know how well prepared we are. We want them to underestimate us like was done last time. Neville, I believe that you are completely trustworthy. Ginny, I also trust you. I hate bringing this up, but you owe me a life debt, and I count keeping these secrets as part of that. We will be teaching you a branch of magic called occlumency, which will protect your mind from intrusion. Do you both promise not to reveal anything you learn about our training to anyone?"
"Yes," declared Neville, as Ginny was looking down.
Ginny looked up into Harry's eyes, "I promise."
Harry replied, "Good. The first thing you need to know is that Hermione and I have been becoming very adept at a branch of magic that most people think is impossible.
At that moment, both Neville and Ginny started floating in mid-air. "Who did that?" demanded Ginny, pulling out her wand. She looked around and added, "No one is holding a wand. What's going on?"
"Wandless magic," answered Hermione, as the two floated back down. "Harry levitated Neville while I levitated you."
"Are you going to teach us that?" asked Neville.
Harry looked serious. "We'll teach you nonverbal magic, which everyone can do if they concentrate. After that, we'll try teaching you wandless magic. If you can learn it, then that would be awesome."
"In the meantime, we need more opponents in duels," explained Hermione. "As it is, it takes nearly two hours of dueling one of us against everyone else before the outnumbered one finally gets hit. That's without wearing our armor or fighting back against the professors. Every now and then an auror comes in to help us, and even she can't beat us. We need more of a challenge. In exchange, we'll train you."
"Wait a minute," concluded Ginny with a smirk, "That's how Draco has been having all those 'accidents' lately." Everyone in the room laughed at that statement.
-MITAB-
Neville and Ginny starting practicing with the others, and a week later were beginning to grasp the basics of occlumency, but neither had been able to perform nonverbal magic yet. That Friday, Harry and Hermione got a letter from Dumbledore to meet him in his office after lunch. When they got there, they found the headmaster, along with Lupin, Black, and surprisingly Professor Brooks. She was sitting next to Sirius.
"Ah," announced Dumbledore, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin. Do sit down, both of you. Professor Lupin has now revealed what was written in Tom Riddle's notebook besides his name."
At this point, Dumbledore motioned toward Lupin, who continued, "This notebook talks about various experiments in dark magic that he performed, but the most important ones to this meeting are these. He found a spell for creating a new body. It requires the bones of the father, unknowingly given; flesh of the servant, willingly given; and," He paused for affect, "the blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."
"The Dark Lord will have your blood," quoted Hermione softly.
"Yes," agreed Dumbledore. "It appears that this is the reason Severus tried to obtain Harry's blood." There was silence for about ten seconds. "We know that Voldemort is still alive and actively seeking a new body. We can now also confirm something I have suspected for a long time."
Lupin continued. "The journal also talks about how he asked Professor Slughorn, who at that time was potions master and head of Slytherin, whether one could make multiple Horcruxes. Professor Slughorn wasn't sure, but thought that it would be theoretically possible."
"If he's done that," remarked Dumbledore, "then it would explain a great many things." Both teenagers, along with Sirius, stared at Dumbledore in confusion. "I see an explanation is in order. Simply put, if a wizard wants to ensure that he can't be killed, there is a spell that can be cast to place a portion of one's soul in another object. The caster must commit a murder, which creates a tear in the soul, just prior to casting the spell. The diary that you, Harry, destroyed in your second year was a Horcrux. The portion of Riddle's soul inside it nearly obtained a body of its own." Harry's eyes widened, but he said nothing. "No other wizard has ever created more than one Horcrux before Voldemort. Before he can truly die, we must find out how many he has made and where they are located."
"Seven," declared Professor Brooks, "The perfect magical number. My father would want his twisted soul split into seven pieces. One in himself, and the rest in other objects." At that moment, every eye except Dumbledore's went to Professor Brooks. "Yes," she admitted, "you all heard me right. Twenty-six years ago, Voldemort and some Death Eaters attacked a small muggle church where my mother, Brook O'Brian, sixteen at the time, was at. Most of the muggles, including my grandparents, were killed. However, my mother caught the filthy murderer's eye," she said with contempt, as tears filled up her eyes. Sirius put an arm around her shoulder.
"He captured her and kept her for a week. She doesn't know how many times he raped her." Tears were now falling freely from her eyes. "Damn. It's just been so long since I've talked about this. Anyway, when he was done, he apparated her to Diagon Alley and dumped her unconscious naked body in the middle of the street and apparated away. I think he believed she would die from lack of food and water, along with the abuse he gave her.
"Someone took pity on her and took her to St. Mungo's. They managed to help her, and nine months later I was born. She decided not to return to the muggle world, knowing I'd be magical. She posed as a squib and raised me, changing her name to Brianna Brooks, and naming me Adriana, just in case that creature knows her name. When I turned seventeen, my mother told me what happened, and since then I've made it my business to know everything about Voldemort.
"When I was first told, I had trouble dealing with that, and I decided to confide it with Professor Dumbledore. He invited me here to teach because he believed Voldemort was on the move again, and now we have proof."
Adriana Brooks, along with Albus Dumbledore, explained Riddle's obsession with trophies, starting with the lessons she'd given on Tom's childhood and going on from there. They agreed that Riddle would make Horcruxes out of trophies, not just any old thing. Both of them shared some of their memories in Dumbledore's pensieve.
Before the meeting, they'd put together all the relevant memories they could find in order. It started with a ministry employee visiting the Gaunt house over a muggle abuse case. It also included a memory of Dumbledore visiting Tom at his orphanage, as well as Brooks interviewing the lady that had spoken to Dumbledore, getting more details of Riddle's behavior. It showed Mr. Burke bragging about how he'd bought Slytherin's ring from Merope, and how Riddle had met his uncle.
It showed an interview with Borgin about Riddle working for him, and Riddle seeing Slytherin's ring, as well as Hufflepuff's cup. It also had an interview with one of Riddle's former classmates telling how he'd seen Riddle with an ornate gold harp that had a silver raven carved on it. He made sure Riddle didn't know he'd seen the harp. It ended with Riddle asking Dumbledore for a job.
"Well," instructed Dumbledore after they left the pensieve, "I'd like you all to think about where any of these objects may be. We'll talk about them more later, after I myself have a chance to investigate possible locations. I have quite a lot to do in preparation for the tournament, so I won't have the chance to go until after it begins. Of course, if any of you have any ideas, please bring them to my attention. Even if it seems silly, telling me will do no harm, but not telling me could do much harm. You're all dismissed if you have nothing to add at this time.
Harry and Hermione left first and started down the hall. They had just turned a corner when Harry heard something behind him and raised a shield while pushing himself and Hermione down. Harry turned and saw Malfoy pointing his wand at him. Trying to keep up appearances, both Harry and Hermione pulled out their wands to fight Malfoy. Harry shouted, "Expelliarmus!" at Malfoy, causing him to lose his wand.
Just as Draco was hit by the spell, a light shot out of his wand, missing Harry, instead hitting Hermione in the mouth. Her teeth immediately started growing. Just as Harry was turning to look at Hermione, he noticed Malfoy change form into a ferret and start bouncing up and down. Harry and Hermione, who was laughing through her ever-growing teeth, looked around to find the caster of the spell. Sirius Black was moving his wand up and down as the amazing ferret bounced from floor to ceiling, and Adriana Brooks was standing next to him, laughing hysterically.
Sirius yelled, "Fifty points from Slytherin for attacking a student! You'll turn back to your ugly self in ten minutes. I suggest you run to the Slytherin common room. You'll be reporting to Mr. Filch for detention at 7 o'clock tonight!" At that point, Sirius let Malfoy/ferret run away and turned to Hermione. Harry already had an arm around her, although she was laughing at Malfoy more than anything else. Her front teeth were now a foot long and growing. Sirius said, "Harry, I suggest you walk Hermione down to the hospital wing."
When they got there, Harry said nothing when Hermione had Madam Pomfrey shrink her teeth to look better than they did before. As they slowly made their way toward Gryffindor tower, stopping at ten different broom cupboards along the way to snog, testing how her 'new teeth' felt, they accidentally found Ginny and Neville occupying one. Upon seeing Ginny, Harry was reminded of the Horcruxes and his countenance changed, and he and Hermione looked down.
"What's wrong?" asked Ginny.
"Nothing," replied Harry quickly.
Ginny responded smirking, "I thought you trusted us."
He whispered, "We just found out something new about Riddle's diary, that's all. When we saw you, it reminded us."
Ginny went a bit pale. "What did you find out?"
Hermione whispered, "This isn't the right place to discuss it in detail. The bottom line is that it wasn't unique. Riddle has five other objects like that hidden somewhere."
Ginny now looked like a ghost, while Neville looked scared. Ginny asked, "F-Five?"
"Dumbledore thinks so," answered Harry, "He wants to locate them all and destroy them."
"Obviously!" exclaimed Ginny, "What do you think he'd do with them? Give them away as presents to the best students."
That statement eased the mood considerably.
-MITAB-
They fully explained the Horcruxes to Ginny and Neville during the next training session. At first, Lupin argued about telling them, but Harry countered that Ginny "had the right to know." They said nothing about Professor Brooks. By this time, both Harry and Hermione were able to transform their bodies from the waist up to look like giant versions of their Animagus forms, but it was very difficult for them to do, and they could only hold that form for ten minutes.
Time flew by quickly, and before they knew it, it was October 30th, and the representatives of the different wizarding schools had arrived for the Triwizard Tournament. Harry and Hermione politely clapped, but truthfully weren't interested. The only remarkable information they found out that night was that Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker, was still a student. Harry noticed him looking at Hermione during dinner, so he slipped his arm around her. Harry observed one of the girls from Beauxbatons asking Ron for something, but he appeared to be in a complete daze. The girl looked frustrated as she grabbed a plate from the table and left.
"Do you think that girl's pretty?" asked Hermione, obviously following his eyes.
"Not really," answered Harry honestly, "I just think Ron's reaction to her is funny."
"Oh," replied Hermione.
"Hold on," said Harry, realizing the reason for the question, "You don't think that I'd like one of those French girls instead of you, do you?"
"Er," responded Hermione, her ears turning pink.
"You're Mine, and honestly and truly I really do love you, so even in the unlikely event that I see a girl who's more beautiful than you, you'll still be the only one I'm in love with."
Hermione blushed and kissed Harry on the cheek. Harry noticed Viktor Krum glare at him for half a second. With a smile on his face, he whispered in Hermione's ear, "Mine, what do you think of Viktor Krum? He keeps looking at you. He glared at me a minute ago when you kissed my cheek."
"Really," asked Hermione brightly, "Let's see what he does if I snog you right here."
-MITAB-
Harry and Hermione barely listened when Dumbledore talked about the Goblet of Fire, although Harry admitted that it looked cool. As they were leaving the hall, Igor Karkaroff tried to stop Harry before his stomach started feeling a bit upset and he ran off in search of a bathroom. Hermione whispered to Harry, "I didn't like the way he was looking at you. I don't trust him."
At that point Sirius walked up behind them and whispered with a smile on his face, "Which one of you made that Death Eater sick?"
"Death Eater?" whispered Harry frantically.
"Why isn't he in Azkaban?" asked Hermione.
"Because he sold out enough other Death Eaters for his freedom. I'll bet delivering you to Voldemort would get him back in good graces, though. Be careful around him."
"I knew I didn't trust him," declared Hermione, "That's why I made him ill. How can someone like him become headmaster of a school? Why would parents send their children to learn from him?"
-MITAB-
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. When they finished their morning training sessions the next day, Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny found out that Ron had tried to cross Dumbledore's age line and grown a long white beard after being expelled out of the circle. Harry and Hermione spent most of the day studying for classes, and Harry was happy for the break when it was time for the Halloween feast.
When they were done eating, Dumbledore gave a small speech, and then the goblet sent the first name out. Albus caught it and announced, "The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum." Viktor shook Dumbledore's hand and left the room. When the next name came out, he said, "The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour." She then shook Albus' hand and left the room. Finally the third paper came out of the Goblet of Fire. "And the Hogwarts champion is…" He paused, looking worried before reading, "…Harry Potter."