Chapter 13-  When secrets come to light

“Ouch! That really hurt”, he thought while hugging his arm close to his chest, “Where’s Aunt Poppy when you need her?”

“Blimey mate!” Fred beamed, “You caught the Snitch even with that crazy Bludger!”

He nodded but didn’t say anything. He was biting his lips and trying not to cry out in pain.

“I want an investigation,” bellowed Wood, “That Bludger has been tampered with in a clear attempt to undermine my Seeker!”

“Your Seeker?” George said raising his eyebrow.

“Our Seeker. Gryffindor’s, oh, you get me,” Wood finished frustrated.

“I think we best take Harry to Madam Pomfrey first,” Katie said.

“No need,” Alicia said smiling and straightening her hair, “Professor Black is on his way. He’ll do that.”

Puhlease! He was injured here! The last thing he needed was to see the girls fawning over his dad!

“Excuse me, lads. Excuse me,” a cheerful voice came, “Let me have a look at young Harry.

No! Help!

“Ah, yes. This is quite easy to fix,” Lockhart beamed and started to wave his wand.

“I’d rather Madam Pomf-“ Harry started to say but Lockhart was faster and suddenly the pain was gone. Actually he felt nothing from his previously broken arm which now resembled a rubber glove. Harry stared at it horrified.

“Oh well. That can happen,” Lockhart said, “The import-“

“What can happen?” came Sirius’s enraged voice. He took one look at Harry and growled, “What the bloody hell have you done to my son?”

“You see, he had a broken bone, now he doesn’t,” Lockhart said brightly.

“He doesn’t have any bones left in his arms you moron!”

“There’s no need to be rude-“

Smack!

Lockhart was suddenly holding a bleeding nose.

“I told you to stay away from my son! Now look what you’ve done! You’ve gone and disappeared his arm bones and hurt my hand with your nose,” Sirius cried shaking his hand.

Remus held back a laugh and quickly started ushering Harry towards the castle and away from the shocked students. They passed a smirking Severus who quickly schooled back his features into a scowl. Harry did notice that none of the teacher scolded Sirius, not even McGonagall.

XXXXXXX

Harry woke with a start at the sound of a loud crack. He saw Sirius was up and alert as well, pointing his wand at Dobby. Poor Dobby, always at wand point.

“Dobby!” Harry exclaimed.

“What do you want here?” Sirius said narrowing his eyes.

Dobby looked miserable, and wringing his ears with bandaged hands he said, “Harry Potter came back to school. Dobby warned and warned and Harry Potter still came. Ah, sir, why didn’t Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?”

“How do yo-“ Harry asked but Sirius cut him.

“You sealed the gateway? Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?”

Dobby nodded miserably, “Dobby punished himself for it but Dobby had to! Harry Potter is not safe at Hogwarts. Dobby watched Harry Potter but Harry Potter said he would just wait for Harry Potter’s father to go to school So Dobby is keeping the gateway closed, but Harry Potter came anyway!” he wailed.

Sirius sighed and guided the elf to a chair. He kneeled and tried to reason, “Wouldn’t it be better to just tell me what is supposed to happen? Does it have anything to do with what happened to Mrs. Norris?”

“Harry Potter must go home. Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make-“

“You tampered with that Bludger?” Harry cried, “You almost killed me!”

Sirius made a motion for Harry to be quiet and said calmly, “Dobby, I understand you want to keep Harry safe,” Dobby nodded fervently. “I want that too. But for Harry to be safe you need to tell me who is attacking in the name of Salazar Slytherin.”

Dobby shook his head, “Dobby can’t sir. Dobby is just wanting to keep Harry Potter safe. He means too much for us, to the lowly, to the enslaved. House-elves is being treated like vermin before Harry Potter conquered He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Of course Dobby is still treated like vermin. But for most of us it was a new dawn, a beacon of hope. And now, horrible things are happening. Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay now that the Chamber of Secrets is to be opened once more.”

“So it’s not just a legend. It’s been opened before?” Harry asked. Sirius cringed, “You knew dad?”

“Hum, yes. We may have discussed this,” Sirius said vaguely, “Do you know who is opening it Dobby?”

Dobby was about to hit himself when Sirius stopped him and said again, “Do you Dobby?”

“Dobby can’t. Dobby is so sorry,” and with a crack he vanished and Sirius stood there in the same position he had been while holding Dobby’s arms.

“Dad? What’s going on?”

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his face, “You know about the legend?” Harry nodded. “About fifty years ago it was rumored that the Chamber had been opened. There were attacks on Muggle-borns and one died. The school almost closed. But then someone was caught and expelled after that girl’s death and no one else was attacked. I personally don’t think they caught the right person. Nor does Dumbledore. I think the real culprit just stopped because it got too risky.”

“Who was expelled?”

“You can’t tell anyone this Harry,” he said very seriously. Harry nodded. Sirius took a big breath and said, “Hagrid.”

“What? Hagrid would never-“

“I know that. Dumbledore knows that too. That’s why he let Hagrid stay. But you know how things are. Hagrid is a half giant, and someone said it had been him. That’s all the Ministry needed to hear,” he said darkly as he sat on the bed he had been sleeping before Dobby showed up.

Harry bit his lips, “What if they think it’s him again. Or what if they accuse Uncle Moony dad?”

“You see why I want to solve this fast don’t you? Not just to stop the attacks. But if someone close-minded at the Ministry decides to take a closer look at the Hogwarts staff… I don’t even want to think about it. I’m just glad that only a very few trusted people know about Moony. Not even the whole staff knows it. Dumbledore had wanted them to know but I convinced him to keep it just to the ones that had been Moony’s teachers because they had known when he was a student. Teachers like Trewlaney or Sinistra, who started later, don’t know.”

Suddenly there was a noise, and as Sirius turned they saw Dumbledore backing into the ward carrying one end of what looked like a statue, with McGonagall carrying the other end. Sirius jumped up and joined them, helping them put it on one of the beds. McGonagall went to fetch Madam Pomfrey and Harry had a good view of the statue that was none other than Colin Creevey.

“Is he dead?” he asked in a small voice.

Dumbledore looked at him sadly, “No. I think he is Petrified too.”

“He has a camera. Maybe he took a picture of the assailant,” Sirius said prying the camera from the rigid fingers. As he opened it they saw the film was melted and fuming.

“What could have done this Albus?” he asked shocked.

At that moment Madam Pomfrey and McGonagall had arrived and the latter asked, “What does this mean?”

“This means the Chamber of Secrets has been opened,” Dumbledore said darkly.

“But who would do that?” Madam Pomfrey asked horrified as she examined Colin.

“The question is not who but how?” Dumbledore said. Sirius saw Harry standing there pale and walked to him, “Let’s get you back to bed Harry.”

“Why was he out at night?”

“We don’t know. Only he does,” Sirius said gently.

“There was a bunch of grapes next to him,” McGonagall said gently, “We think he was trying to sneak a visit to you.”

Harry got even paler and Sirius took his face in his hands and made him look at him, “This isn’t your fault Harry. You couldn’t have predicted what would happen or what Colin would do. Colin shouldn’t have been out at night and I want you to promise me you won’t be.”

Harry nodded, “I promise dad.”

“Good. Now go back to bed. Maybe Poppy can give you some Dreamless Sleep,” Sirius said looking expectantly at Madam Pomfrey who nodded and rapidly produced a vial of potion.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The mood in Gryffindor Tower was subdued. Harry told his friends all that happened except the part about Hagrid being expelled. They had even more reasons now to want to see what Malfoy knew and Neville, Ron and Hermione had already started brewing the potion and planning how to steal from Severus’ private store. Although Neville did reason that Malfoy’s dad couldn’t have opened the Chambers as Ron had suggested since he wasn’t old enough, but Harry thought that maybe it was his grandfather since the Malfoys had been dark for generations.

Neville had been even more worried than Hermione saying he’d be a target because he was almost a Squib.

“That’s not true Nev,” Harry argued, “You just lack confidence because your Gran is always comparing you to your dad. I know that can be tough. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never measure up to my parents because they were perfect. The only difference is I had Uncle Moony to teach me, and he has a lot of patience and knows how to encourage you.”

“Too bad he isn’t our teacher instead of Lockhart,” Ron muttered, “Then we might actually learn something.”

Hermione gave him a dirty look.

XXXXXXXXX

“I know it was them. I just can’t prove it or fathom why.”

Sirius smirked, “You must regret having taught Harry Occlumency now,” he chuckled.

“This isn’t funny Black!”

Remus cleared his throat and got the attention of the glaring Potions Masters, “What did they take?”

“Bicorn horn and Boomslang skin.”

“And what does that make?” Sirius asked.

“A variety of potions. None of which I see them having the need for.”

Remus frowned, “Well, since you can’t prove it was them there’s nothing you can do. No you can’t,” he said at Severus’ rebellious expression, “If you accuse Harry and it turns out he’s innocent he’ll never forgive you. You know that. Harry may not be a saint but he doesn’t take lightly to being wrongly accused, mostly because of what almost happened to Sirius. Before you do it you need proof. Besides, if it was him, he must have a very good reason to risk your wrath. Harry holds your opinion too highly to risk it for nothing. Let’s just give him a chance.”

Severus huffed but he had to agree.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

“Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape,” Lockhart said brightly, “Now don’t fret, you’ll have your Potions Master in one piece when I’m done.”

Harry smirked. He didn’t doubt that. Lockhart being in one piece when Uncle Sev was done with him was another thing all together. Harry had been excited at the prospect of a dueling club thinking maybe Professor Flitwick, Uncle Sev, Uncle Moony or his dad would be leading it. No need to say that when he found Lockhart there he was tremendously disappointed. He wasn’t really paying attention to Lockhart’s words but he couldn’t fathom why the idiot was smiling so much. If Uncle Sev had been looking with that gleeful sneer at him he would be running for his life. He decided to pay very close attention because he knew his dad and Uncle Moony would want details, which Harry strongly suspected would find their way to the other teachers as well.

Harry held his laugh at Lockhart’s bow. He knew from his dueling lessons that you never bowed like that. Even if you were in a formal duel, you were still dueling and you did not give your opponent such an opening.

“Expelliarmus,” was the cry he heard from his Uncle and Lockhart was flying backwards. Harry had to bite his hand to keep from laughing. Severus had been quite gentle for Severus and Lockhart had still looked like a fool.

Hermione was beside him, fretting about Lockhart’s health. He heard Ron’s cry of “Who cares” and Lockhart’s flimsy explanation of how he let Severus take him. Soon after that  they were paired up, Severus separating Hermione and Harry and pairing them with Slytherins. Harry knew his Uncle wasn’t just doing this to keep his façade, but was doing so because he thought Harry and Hermione could keep Draco Malfoy and Millicent Bulstrode in check. After all, he hadn’t separated Ron and Neville. Soon chaos ensued and Lockhart was yelling “I said disarm only!”

Honestly! What had he thought? That they would obey?

Lockhart finally decided to have a demonstration with the students, and suggested Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchey, but Severus suggested Malfoy and Harry. Harry had to wonder what Uncle Sev was up to. They stood on the platform and Harry saw Severus whisper something on Malfoy’s ear but wasn’t worried. Lockhart tried to give Harry tips but he ignored them. He would use what his family taught him.

They bowed, almost imperceptible, and before the shout of three had died on Lockhart’s lips Harry had a strong shield up that blocked the curse Malfoy threw at him. When Harry had time to look he saw that what had collided with the shield was a very piousness snake, and being flung on a shield didn’t agree with it at all. It was hissing back at Harry as it prepared to attack.

“Don’t move Potter,” Uncle Sev said as he walked towards him, “I’ll get rid of it.”

“Allow me,” Lockhart said swishing his wand but all he managed was to make it fly ten feet and land in front of Justin Finch-Fletchey, making it very irritated, fangs exposed, ready to strike. Harry didn’t even stop to think when he cried:

“Leave him!”

The snake turned to him and Harry said, “Don’t hurt anyone here.”

“Why?”

“Because I say so,” as he finished his sentence he saw the snake disappear. He looked up and saw his Uncle’s shocked face. He looked around and saw everyone in the same state until Justin yelled:

“What are you playing at?”

Harry didn’t think twice, he bolted from the room and kept running through the castle’s halls with no mind to where he was going.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Daddy,” five-year-old Harry tugged at Sirius sleeve, “Daddy, can we take that snake to Brazil? She’s never been there.”

Sirius smiled at Harry and said, “Oh, she hasn’t? And how would you know?”

“She told me,” he said simply and ran to the front of the glass tank that held an enormous python. To Sirius shook Harry started hissing at the snake and then turned back at him, “See, Daddy. She just said she was born here.”

When Sirius had decided to take Harry to the zoo for his fifth birthday, learning that his boy was a Parselmouth was not what he had in mind.

“Daddy, can we? Did you hear her?”

That got his attention and he knelt to be eye level with Harry. He sat the boy on his bended knee and tried to explain, “No, I didn’t. Only very special people can speak to snakes, Harry.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. But you can’t tell anyone about this.”

“Why?”

Sirius sighed. How to explain this?

“Remember what I told you about Uncle Moony’s furry little problem and why no one could know?”

Harry nodded, “Because people are stupid.”

Sirius cringed, “Yes, but best not tell Uncle Moony I said that. Or Aunt Minnie for that matter,” he added as an afterthought, “People are afraid of what they can’t understand, and most people can’t understand snake language. Only very few have had that ability and some used it to hurt other people.”

“That’s not nice,” Harry said very seriously crossing his little arms.

“No, but that’s why people are afraid of people that can talk to snakes. So we have to keep this a secret, okay?”

Harry nodded and kept his word. No one outside their little family ever knew. Until now.

“Remus found him,” Severus said as he approached him in the corridor, “Given the circumstances I think he is the best choice to deal with the issue.” Sirius nodded and Severus sighed, “I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen. That wasn’t the spell I told Malfoy to use. I don’t know how he knew how to conjure a snake, and never thought Lockhart would be so dumb as to aggravate it. I just wanted for Harry to kick Malfoy’s butt to see if it toned down the little twerp’s arrogance.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sirius waved his hand, “You had no way of predicting this outcome. Lucius probably taught Draco that spell. Now, all we can do is damage control.”

XXXXXXXXX

In the tallest tower of the castle two figures sat against the wall. The biggest had the smallest in an embrace and was rubbing circles on his back. They sat in a silence for a long time until the smallest figure broke it softly:

“Everyone is going to think I’m Slytherin’s heir now.”

“Probably,” Remus answered softly, “They will shun you and be scared. They will say unkind words but you have to remember that you know they are not true. That your family and friends know that too. And the friends that don’t weren’t good friends to start with.”

Harry nodded and cuddled closer to his Uncle quietly.

“M’sorry. I didn’t even think. I just saw the snake threatening Justin and yelled.”

Remus kissed Harry’s head and smiled, “I know. But I also know that had you had time to think you’d have done the same. And that’s what makes you special. Not being a Parselmouth.”

“Do you think I was a coward to run like that?” Harry asked in a small voice.

“Do you think I’m a coward?” Remus asked and Harry shook his head. “James and Sirius figured out my secret around Christmas of our first year. For months they kept giving me not very subtle hints that I thoroughly and stubbornly choose to ignore. You see, I figured that if I didn’t acknowledge that they knew it wouldn’t be true. Finally James got fed up and yelled at me that if I thought they’d desert me just because I had a “furry little problem” then I was too stupid and they should desert me for being such a poor friend that thought so badly of them.”

Harry looked at him dumbfounded and he continued, “Everyone is allowed to be afraid to face their problems once in a while. Even Gryffindors. But avoiding everyone forever isn’t the solution. Sooner or later you’ll have to face them, but you won’t be alone. Your true friends and family will be by your side. All you have to do is not pull a Moony.”

“Pull a Moony.”

“That’s what your dads called avoiding problems; ‘You’re pulling a Moony James. Just ask her to marry you. The worst that can happen is she says no.’ ‘But Padfoot, what if she does? I’ll kill myself.’”

Harry chuckled at the voices Remus was doing and Remus smiled, “My work here is done”. They stayed up there, Harry in Remus’ arms and Remus running a hand through Harry’s hair until Remus heard Harry’s breath deepen and he knew the boy had fallen asleep. He carried him back to the Marauders’ Quarters. Facing the public could wait until tomorrow. Remus just hoped Harry’s friends would be as good friends as Sirius and James had been.