章 1084: 2
Allright, folks. After this chapter some people have complained about how my Hermione is annoying, bossy and insufferable and Harry is a wimp for not standing up to her. I think I need to explain this.
I have not made it secret that I plan to make character development a major part of this story. I've got some major plans for Ron and I told you this. The fact that Harry will be slowly changing as time passes by is kind of obvious. But Hermione... I wanted to make changes in her view of world and behaviour even more drastic in the end compared to how she is now. So I made her slightly more overbearing. Bossiness is the key trait of her personality - not the book obsession, as some would think, and not the respect for authority. As such, it will be the trait that will be subject to change as she grows up. So bear with me, she will gradually tone it down.
As for Harry's seeming passiveness, the reason for this is his relative maturity. He doesn't strike me as a childish person. So he doesn't argue with Hermione when he knows she's right. He may grumble before doing as she asks, but rest assured, if he truly doesn't want to do something, almost nothing will change his mind. Maturity aside, he is one stubborn bastard.
On with the show.
Chapter updated: 30.09.14
"When will I be able to do that, Teacher?" Harry stared at the magnificent creature in front of him with amasement, barely remembering to close his mouth. The elderly green-cloaked man chuckled and shook his head.
"You have not yet even begun your training, and I have been an Archdruid for almost twelve years. To you, I'll say the same thing that I tell nearly every other initiate: keep moving forward, never losing the sight of your goal. Even if the goal is as... mundane as being able to do some flashy tree magic."
"I have been moving forward ever since I left home. I have no other direction," the boy looked at the druid with a wry grin. "On the bright side, it makes it easier for me to learn."
Chapter 1: The Awakening
Two days after the Chamber Incident, the Hospital Wing
Usually Harry woke up in an instant, being asleep one moment and awake the next. This time, however, he came to the waking world slowly, unwilling to let go of the sensation of being slowly rocked, as if he was sleeping on a ship. Harry felt extremely good, but tired. Mentally tired, as if he had been sitting with Hermione again and trying to understand the concepts that usually were not touched until the next year. But also he felt complete. It was a feeling that was completely new to him.
When he finally opened his eyes, he immediately shut them again. Light. Too much light. Not risking a peek, Harry checked his other senses. From the softness of the bed and the slight odour of potions in the air he deduced that he was currently in the domain of the resident healer.
Why would I be here? What happened?
His memories were reluctant to return to him. He slowly coaxed them, remembering the last day he could recall. Thoughts were moving around in his head as sluggishly as flies in the autumn. It took him a good five minutes to understand what exactly led him to being stranded in care of madam Pomfrey. He slowly rose from the bed and looked around. There were none of the others. Even the corner that was previously occupied by the petrified was empty. That meant he was asleep for more than a day.
Harry was not left gawking at the beds around him for long – Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, laden with potions, and bustled over to his bed. I swear that woman has monitoring charms on top of monitoring charms all over the wing so that none of her victims escape her grasp. Not for a lack of trying from the students' side, heh.
"Finally awake, Mr. Potter?" she asked, waving her wand over him, muttering to herself as she did. The boy didn't bother to watch, only moving and breathing deeply when she ordered.
"Evidently," he answered. "For how long…?"
"A bit more than two days. Now don't blink."
Immediately he felt an inexplicable urge to blink.
"How are the others? Ron, Ginny?"
"Both are fine. Miss Weasley left with her family yesterday."
He nodded, relived. And blinked.
"Mr. Potter!"
"Sorry, sorry. What kind of test needs me to stop blinking, anyway?" Harry grumbled. She harrumphed.
"The ones that will show if you will be allowed to leave here faster than in a month."
He barely managed to resist rolling his eyes.
"Fred and George will bust me out," he declared, smiling slightly in the remembrance of the Operation "Grand Theft Harry" they pulled the previous summer.
"They will do no such thing if they want me to fix them the next time some pranked girl hexes their privates off. You can blink."
He winced.Ouch. Poor blokes. What did they do that warranted that? And who the hell is the girl that I will avoid at any cost for all my remaining schooling?
"Well, everything seems to be in order so far, but you can never be too sure."
Harry groaned.
Nearly an hour later madam Pomfrey, seemingly satisfied with the number of tests she'd done, released him from her iron grip. She told Harry that the dinner will start soon, so he should go down to the Main Hall. The boy exited the Hospital Wing and leaned on the wall. Suddenly, the enormicy of what he'd done hit him like a heap of snow from the tree branch above.
Well, give me a horse and call me Saint George: I've done it. I've actually done it! I encountered and killed the basilisk. With. A. Sword.
Also, the Nearly-Bodiless-Tom. Which really was a memory of Voldemort sealed in his school diary.
That thought brought an amused smile to his lips. An evil megalomaniac with a diary? What was Voldemort doing during his Dark Lord 101 seminars?
Doesn't matter. The question is: what happens now?
Harry was then distracted from his thoughts by a truly monstrous grumble in his stomach. He chuckled and set off to the Great Hall with the clear intent to pig out worse than Ron who for some unfathomable reason skipped a meal. Unfortunately, he was stopped about halfway there by professor Dumbledore.
"Harry! Hello, my boy, it's good to see you in good health," the Headmaster said jovially.
"Thank you, sir," Harry answered with a smile.
"I would like to talk to you about the details of your latest adventure, if you have a minute," Albus asked, receiving a shrug in reply.
"Fine with me, sir."
"Excellent. Now, if you would follow me," he turned around and went in the opposite direction from the Great Hall. The boy looked down the stairs mournfully, able to hear the sounds of the beginning dinner, not to mention the smell that caused his stomach to state loud and clear that it was not very happy with him. Sighing, he went to follow the Headmaster.
After a few minutes they found themselves in a familiar study. Just as the last time, Fawkes sat at his perch in his KFC form. Professor Dumbledore sat behind the table and gestured for Harry to sit on the opposite chair, which he did. Fawkes trilled softly, and the youth somehow got the impression that the bird wants him to pet him, which Harry to the phoenix's obvious delight did.
"Lemon drop?" The Headmaster asked, his eyes twinkling as he held out the bowl, and after a slight hesitation he took the offered sweet. The Headmaster looked at him in astonishment.
"In all my time here, only five people took one."
Harry popped the sweet in his mouth and shrugged. He needed a sweet to somewhat sate his hunger, as his gut told him that this was going to be a lo-o-ong talk. And the lemon drops weren't that bad – true, the boy's mouth couldn't decide if the object inside of it was too sour or too sweet, but it wasn't really unpleasant. He briefly wondered if one could get a sugar high from a couple of these drops, then thought what it pertained for the Headmaster, who consumed them in vast numbers. The mental picture of Albus Dumbledore under a sugar high caused Harry to immediately press an emergency stop button on that train of thought.
"So, Harry, after listening to the tales that mister and miss Weasley shared with me and looking at the Chamber of Secrets, I'd like to hear your side of this story."
Harry collected himself quickly and slowly began to speak. He told him about the beginning of the investigation that he, Ron and Hermione started and about their daring infiltration of Slytherin common room (which certainly amused Albus, though he didn't show it aside from the pronounced twinkling in his eyes). Harry told him about his and Hermione's deductions and his own lucky guess about the location of the entrance.
After Harry started retelling the events that transpired in the Chamber, Fawkes, still in his lap, returned the favour and when he was overwhelmed with the memories and struggled to speak, the bird softly trilled, lifting his spirits.
In the end, when the story was finally completed, Dumbledore grew silent. For a minute nobody made a sound (trills from Fawkes notwithstanding). Then the Headmaster spoke:
"Harry, down in the Chamber you has shown incredible bravery and loyalty, the simple fact that Fawkes came to you proves that. And in doing so, you saved an innocent life, not to mention foiling a plot against Hogwarts – and me. Once again, you have proven to be incredibly resourseful when it is needed. Well done, my boy. Well done."
For the youth in question to hear the sincere praise from the only mentor figure in Harry's life was very touching. He lowered his head and blushed, starting to blink.Damn those bugs. After a couple of seconds, though, he lifted his head, trying to understand the headmaster's statement.
"A plot against you, sir?" he inquired. Headmaster sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Unfortunately, Harry, I have reasons to believe that the one of the main reasons of the strange occurrences of this year is my banishment from Hogwarts."
The boy stared at him for a couple of seconds before he understood.
"Malfoy?"
"I cannot prove that, but several memories that were provided to me, along with some precious common sense, tell me that Lucius Malfoy was the instigator of the plot," Professor Dumbledore replied heavily. It was with a titanic effort that Harry held himself from growling.
"So there is nothing we can do, sir?" he grounded. Albus shook his head.
"Alas, nothing overt can be done at this point. I've managed to get Mr. Malfoy off the Board of Governors, but otherwise he got off clean."
"Very well. Can I go, sir? Maybe I'll be able to eat at least some dessert before the dinner's end," this statement was accompanied by another grumble of Harry's stomach, which made Dumbledore chuckle.
"Of course; oh, and I just might have extended today's dinner."
"Really?" he perked up. Dumbledore chuckled again and nodded. Smiling, Harry bid both him and Fawkes good evening and left to look for Ron or the Main Hall – whichever he stumbled upon first.
Food now, pondering on the question of the Universe, Life and Otherworldly Crap later.
Harry was in luck – as it was a meal time, both were found together. When he entered the Hall, the boy immediately started to look for Ron and Hermione. His search didn't take long: they were both rising from the Gryffindor table to run towards him. He felt his mouth stretch in a wide smile as he walked to meet them. Hermione went at him like an avalanche goes at an old shack, tackling him and babbling something happily about his success in the Chamber of Secrets.
Honestly, she wanted to punch them for not going to the teachers and deciding to face the basilisk by themselves. But despite her anger at them for being boys she just couldn't bring herself to it. So hugs it was.
Afterwards, when they sat down at the table, Hermione was visibly bouncing with the urge to shake the story out of him, which frankly made him a bit warm inside – it's unbelievable how much he had missed her. Still, he couldn't help but gulp at her x-ray-like stare. Madam Pomfrey was very vague in her description of the events that transpired in the Chamber when telling Hermione what happened, and the holes in the story she's been told were glaringly obvious to her. Even Ron's story was unfortunately incomplete. But it was not the time – most of the students in the Great Hall were staring at Harry and nearly everybody at the Gryffindor table were obviously either waiting for him – or anyone else for that matter – to clear the situation out or doing so themselves in the most famous ritual of Hogwarts: gossiping. Harry, to Hermione's greatest surprise, didn't seem perturbed by it in the slightest. He didn't pay the whispers and stares any mind and currently was inhaling his pancakes with jam.
Immediately after the quick dinner Hermione dragged Harry and Ron to an empty classroom. She closed the door and performed a standard silencing spell that she had read about in the tome "Practical spells for the practical wizards". Then she turned back to the bemused-looking Harry and said in a flat voice:
"Tell me everything."
For a second Harry definitely wanted to crack a joke but after looking at her he grew serious, sighed and sat on the nearest table. And tell he did.
Periodically Hermione had to stop him and ask for details – he obviously wanted to spare her them, but though the sentiment was certainly appreciated, she wanted none of it. In the end, when he finally stopped, they sat in silence for a while – she digested the things she's been told while Ron and Harry waited for her judgement. And after a minute of silent contemplation, she finally voiced her thoughts:
"I love you guys. I do, but you are this close..." she held up her thumb and index finger, less than an inch apart. "…to getting strangled! Harry, Ron, what have you been thinking?!"
Both of them recoiled when Hermione directed her best Death Glare in their direction. When she was assured they were sufficiently cowed, she sighed and shook my head.
"I leave you alone for a month and immediately you go to face a basilisk. A BASILISK! Well…" She looked at them and allowed herself a small smile. "I'll just have to stick with you all the time from now on, won't I?"
For a second they just stared at each other. Then all at the same time they burst into a heartfelt laughter and all was right with the world once again.
The remaining time before the summer holidays was… strangely anti-climatic. The exams were cancelled, to Hermione's sincere disappointment - something which Harry and Ron teased her about mercilessly, though they stopped when it became glaringly obvious (literally, that girl probably could win a glare-off with Snape) that they were in danger of crossing the line. When the time came to choose the additional subjects, she dragged both boys to her usual table in the library and patiently talked to them on their choice subjects. After a heated and long discussion Harry tiredly leaned back on his chair and proposed to ask the older students, who had already completed their OWLs and could give some realistic advice. Frankly, Hermione was surprised that he had thought of that (and she gave herself a mental kick for not thinking about it herself and only consulting the books). After a while, when she found a couple of sixth-year Ravenclaw girls and interviewed them, she had her answers. So when Hermione met up with Harry and Ron (who were arguing whether they could trust the information they got from Fred and George), she told them in a voice that allowed no room for counter arguments:
"We will take Arithmancy, Care for the Magical Creatures and Study of the Ancient Runes."
They stopped their discussion and sat down. Harry motioned for her to do the same and give him her notes on the different subjects. After she obliged, he read aloud, inserting his comments on the way:
"'Ancient Runes: must have' – underlined twice. 'Runes are needed for an obscene amount of jobs – from enchanting toys to curse-breaking'... 'Subject is said to be difficult, though very logical – to truly exceed in it you need language skills or a lot of work'. I wonder if knowing Parseltongue qualifies as 'language skills'?" He glanced up at Ron who smothered a snicker. "Nah."
They both rolled their eyes and continued:
"'Arithmancy: it studies the magical properties of numbers, but more importantly, it is the basis of spell-crafting'. Wait, you mean we will be able to create our own spells? That's awesome! Oh, wait." He raised his eyebrows at the post script. "'The most difficult subject in Hogwarts'… 'Primary requirement: to be good at maths'. Well, I was rather good in the primary – that is, until my Uncle got wind that I was doing better than his precious Dudders and beat me up. After that I never repeated that mistake. Oh, well."
Hermione stared at him in abject horror.He was beaten for doing well in class? That's… that's… blasphemy!
Pointedly refusing to look at both Hermione and Ron, who stared at him with the same wide-eyed expression he got when he faced something extremely unsettling, Harry coughed and went on:
"'Care of Magical Creatures: exactly what it says on the tin. It's a study of various beasts with magical origins, from pixie to dragons. From what students say, the course is relatively easy and mostly practical'. Now that gets me really interested."
Ron perked up while Hermione rolled her eyes. Trust the boys to choose the easiest subjects.
"'Divination: extremely easy, though completely illogical subject'. Hermione, we are wizards – 'illogical' is up there in the job description. Or requirements, I guess. We daily tell the laws of Physics to sit down and shut up, for Merlin's sake! Nevertheless… 'The teacher is most likely a fraud and during each lesson predicts a violent death of a currently present student. Why she does it is unclear'. Well, it sure sounds like a crappy course."
"And a creepy one." Ron grumbled while scratching his knee.
"Are you sure that your information is correct?" Harry asked, smiling slightly at Ron's mutter.
She nodded. He hummed and continued to read.
"'Muggle Studies: supposedly, the course dedicated to learning the culture and technical advances of the Muggle world. In reality, the course is vastly outdated and taught by a pure-blood who wouldn't know what a TV is if it was dropped on his head'. Whoa, touched a nerve, didn't it?"
She silently sent him a glare. Harry shrugged and looked back at the paper.
"So… Muggle Studies and divination are definitely out – I already know enough about muggles, and though knowing the future sure would be awesome, I'd be better off learning it on my own. Care sounds interesting, I'm in. I think Hagrid will be glad to give us a few pointers. Now, about Arithmancy and Runes I'm not so sure…" he trailed off and looked at Hermione, who intensified her glare. He leaned back slightly and nodded:
"Care, Arithmancy and Runes. No objections here."
She moved her glare at Ron. He also gulped and agreed.
It's good to be heard. - Hermione thought smugly.
In the evening of the same day Hagrid returned to Hogwarts, to the joy of the Gryffindors and the staff. As soon as Harry saw the smoke that was coming from the hut near the forest, the trio of friends immediately went over for a visit. After the first heartfelt greetings they were ushered inside and presented with the traditional three huge tankards of tea and a plate with rock cakes. While Ron and Hermione were telling Hagrid the whole story behind the Chamber of Secrets, Harry was looking at the Keeper of Grounds and Keys with widened eyes.
Hagrid looked like shit.
An enormous pile of shit, granted, but that only added to the effect.
His beard was not as bushy as it had been before, his eyes lacked that characteristic cheer of his, he seemed a lot thinner than before – heck, compared to the Hagrid Harry met two years before, this version looked positively gaunt!
"Hagrid," Harry breathed, interrupting Hermione's rant about his recklessness, "What did they do to you?"
There was silence.
"Azkaban," was the quiet, foreboding answer, "Is the hell on earth. The guards," Hagrid shuddered, "Dementors – they are horrid creatures. Their presence causes you to relive your worst memories. They say a dementor feeds on happiness and joy."
The giant of a man shook his head.
"Those who are imprisoned in Azkaban go mad within a year or two. I heard them screaming sometimes."
The trio was at a loss for words. In the silence Hagrid suddenly sighed and smiled at them tiredly.
"But enough of that. I heard you don't have exams this year?" Rolling their eyes at the obvious attempt to change the topic, the three friends nevertheless started to talk about the lack of exams, the boys mostly keeping themselves from making smart comments.
The last few days before Harry's departure to Durzkaban, as he started to call it, were promising to be extremely boring for all three of them. Well, it was more like two weeks of absolutely nothing to do. The exams were cancelled, flying was out, playing chess with Ron was not as exciting as it once was (when it came to the chess, Ron was a bloody genius, while both Harry and Hermione sucked big time. Playing and losing was only interesting to a certain point). So the last five days of the school year found the inseparable three in the library.
After a short research session conducted by Hermione they have found a rather easy charm that was laconically and clearly named "Oculus Magi". Yep, magical vision. Its function was to show to you different wards and enchanted objects together with an approximation of what the enchantment was. What completely sold it to Harry was the simple fact that the sustained, long-term version was used on monocles or glasses!
After Hermione learned both the sustained and non-sustained versions (the latter was cast on the eyes), she helped the boys to learn it. Immediately after that Harry cast the spell on his spectacles and looked around, mystified. He blinked attempting to get used to the change. Some objects in the surrounding area seemed to be surrounded by pastel-coloured bubbles. Around Hermione and Ron he saw a slightly pulsating aura-like glow. A little exploration showed that some of the books were encased in bubbles, which, according to the magical atlas, signified preserving enchantments of some sort. Harry immediately remembered the screaming book in the Restricted section. This memory brought forth an idea that made him to want to cackle. If he wasn't afraid that Madam Pince would throw him out of her library for the noise, he would have. That lady was scary. He immediately told Hermione and Ron about his idea and after their reluctant approval was gleefully rubbing his hands together.
That evening, the first Restricted Section Raid was conducted.
Well, you know how it always goes – you have that absolutely brilliant idea that has a potential to bring you profit if executed right, and the first test-drive, so to speak, ends up being craptacular.
"SHITE!"
Harry ran out of the library faster than Snape who saw a bottle of shampoo. The wailing and swearing of the books that sounded at his back just spurred him on to run faster. It appeared that all the books in the Restricted Section were specifically enchanted so that the action of opening the book outside the confinement of the shelves triggered the alarm and summoned madam Pince and/or Filch. Oh, well.
The next day Harry, Ron and Hermione developed a new strategy, which the former implemented with great success in the same night. The plan was simple and brilliant – if the book doesn't wish to be read on the table and wants to stay on the shelf, then transfigure the shelf into something resembling a table!
The second Restricted Section Raid was a success. Harry was able to read the book by opening it within the confines of the shelf. The other books were levitated from it and placed on the floor - they couldn't make a racket if they were not opened. As the boy wanted to read something that would clue him in about what Voldemort did to him last year (he wasn't oblivious to the fact that one day he woke up and started thinking a bit differently, you know), Harry looked around for some books on magical neurology or psychiatry or something like that, but, unfortunately, the only book he was able to find on the topic was "The Magicked Mind". Inside of it he found references to the different ways the mind could be influenced by different kinds of magic – nearly all of them were previously unknown to him. The Legilimency and Occlumency (both of which he resolved to learn sometime later), compulsion charms, different mind-influencing wards, a short topic on the Unforgivable curses, a long chapter on the side-effects of self-transfiguration (especially Animagism), and rather more dark branches of magic such as Necromancy (which sometimes made its practitioners nearly emotionless) and blood magic. The latter drew his interest – according to the chapter 'Blood transformations', psychological effects of blood rituals that involved the blood of other species tended to have unusual side-effects. As an example, author wrote down the story of an anonymous fifteenth century duellist who wished to have the magical resistance of a troll. So he learned a bit of blood magic and in a ritual absorbed the blood of a mountain troll. He succeeded, in a way – from that moment on, he could shrug off minor hexes and stunners, but judging by the book, he absorbed more than that. He died – amusingly – by running head first into an ancient oak.
Harry closed the book with a disgruntled sigh. Unfortunately, it seemed that when it came to understanding the stuff involving the contents of his lightning-scarred, messy-haired, spectacle-eyed head he was on his own.
Leaving feast
"Harry, stop moping. It doesn't suit you," Hermione said in a slightly irritated tone. The boy in question grimaced.
"Easy for you to say. You don't have to spend the whole bloody summer with the Dursleys..."
"Language, Harry. And you will have to spend only a month – the Weasleys return after that and you already have the permission to stay with them. So chin up and eat, you didn't touch your food and the train leaves in an hour. You don't want to be hungry for the whole trip."
He smiled at her and exchanged fond looks with Ron.I can't believe how much I missed her all the time she was petrified; you truly do begin to value what you had only after you have already lost it. Now where did that thought come from?
Harry's musings were interrupted as professor Dumbledore, who stood up with the obvious intention to make a speech. When the students grew silent, he smiled and said:
"Another year at Hogwarts has come to an end! I congratulate everyone on passing their tests and say goodbye to those who are dining the last time at this hall as students. I sincerely wish you all well in your future endeavours and remind you that even after leaving Hogwarts, those who ask for help here will always receive it. Now, I say to those who will return here after the summer: try to empty your head in these two short months so that you can stuff it with knowledge once again in the next year! Thank you."
Many cheered, even some of the Slytherins, who usually were much more reserved than that. Ron shook his head.
"Well, I certainly plan to empty my head. From what Bill has told me, Egypt is great for relaxation when you need it. The wizarding part of the country is, at least."
Harry nodded absently. Yesterday, an owl from Mrs. Weasley has delivered the letter about their lottery winning. The whole family decided to go to Egypt to visit their brother, Bill. Harry was glad for his best friend, but it would be a long summer until he could escape the Dursleys again. He sighed dejectedly and shook his head, but his lips were quirked ever-so-slightly.
I've been through so much already. Really, what could go wrong?
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