The Quidditch season was getting closer. The house teams spent Saturdays practising. Harry unpacked his Nimbus 2000. He missed flying for fun and wanted his gang to practice their flying. There were sometimes lengthy gaps between the regular practice sessions for the official teams, and casual flyers took advantage of this to try out scoring goals. The Escort and the Alliance unpacked their own or borrowed brooms from the school collection for flying practice. Madam Hooch was happy to let the students fly the Cleansweep Six brooms around the castle grounds if they had passed the basic competency test in their first year.
The Gryffindor team finished their practice when they noticed something odd. Harry was flying on his own over the Quidditch pitch. He wasn’t flying in safe circles like the other practising flyers.
Harry’s broom was flying in huge loops. The first loop started at nearly ground level. The broom was nearly skimming the grass. The broom was pulled up in a vertical loop until Harry was upside down. The broom then curved down until it was pointing straight down. Harry then pulled the nose of the broom up until the path the broom followed flattened out. Harry’s broom began an opposite loop with Harry’s hat pointing out instead of in. He did this five times in a row. The loops formed spectacles much like the shape of Harry’s dark glasses.
Harry then changed the loops into a vertical shape like the figure of eight. He did not roll at any time and was pointed in and then out during each successive loop.
The Escort and the Alliance were circling the pitch, trying to race each other, but they were distracted by Harry’s aerobatics. They landed and came together at the base of the Slytherin stand.
The Weasley twins and Olver Wood watched until Oliver turned to Fred and George. “That guy is crazy! He can’t see properly. He’s risking hitting the ground at the bottom of those loops. How does he do it?”
Fred shrugged, “Neville Longbottom talks to him a lot. Neville says that Harry senses where he is by magic. He doesn’t have a better explanation.”
The Gryffindors were distracted as Harry took off again. This time, he flew to the middle of the pitch and climbed in a tight corkscrew climb. Harry stopped and let himself slide backwards. Harry stayed with his broom as he fell. Then, a pattern seemed to appear in his out-of-control descent. The broom tumbled over. The rush of wind caught the broom’s tail and flipped Harry over. The nose of the broom came down, and with the rush of air, as he fell, Harry flipped back the other way. His fall looked like a falling leaf, flipping and tumbling from one side to the other. Then Harry pushed the nose of the broom down and accelerated into another loop after skimming the ground with the tail of his broom.
Oliver turned back to Fred and George. “Ask him how he does that. Get Neville to ask him. We need to find out how he controls the broom like that.”
The Slytherin Quidditch team also observed the aerobatic display. Draco Malfoy was silent as the rest of the team gathered together to finish their plans for that day’s practice session. They didn’t mention what they were thinking. They all knew that Potter should be the Slytherin seeker, not Malfoy.
After the Slytherin practice had finished, Marcus Flint and Professor Snape approached Harry.
Flint faced Harry, “Potter! If I asked, would you try out for the seeker position?”
Harry hummed and looked around. Malfoy was not in sight.
“If I started playing seeker, I would be accused of cheating.”
Snape growled but didn’t say anything.
“What do you mean?” Flint asked.
“I watch games all the time. When the snitch is released, I can see it in my magic. I never lose sight of it. I can fly to the snitch and catch it in a minute every time.”
Professor Snape huffed. “Such monotonous success would quickly become suspicious.”
Harry nodded, “I am having enough difficulty with the headmaster without adding Slytherin beating Gryffindor to the list of things he doesn’t like about me.”
Flint gave a crooked smile, which was unusual. Flint rarely smiled.
Professor Snape said, “Very well, Potter. No one will force you to do it. Remember that the offer still stands.”
Harry walked back to the castle with the others. They were asking Harry about his crazy flying. Harry didn’t answer them other than to shrug and smile. Harry didn’t want to tell them he flew like that because he loved it. The wind tearing at his face and the ground rushing to meet him did something for Harry. What was happening was that Harry could forget about the rest of his life when he was flying.
He was trapped in someone else’s plan for his life, and he hated it. Whoever sent prophecies for flaky individuals like Sybil Trelawney to deliver had no concern for the misery that prophecy would inflict on Harry. Dumbledore reacted after hearing the prophecy by concocting a plan that was a mess and didn’t work. If Harry didn’t remove Dumbledore’s two major players in this plan, they would continue plotting and scheming until one of them won.
Voldemort and Dumbledore had to go. That was all that Harry knew. Harry didn’t have a plan for himself after that. He was still a kid. He had just turned twelve.
-ooOOoo-
October came with cooler weather and news from the south. Hermione passed a letter from her father to Harry. The Gaunt Shack project was ready to start.
“I wish you could tell me what this is about. It is most annoying to be aware of some mysterious thing happening and not be allowed to know what it is.”
Harry smiled at Hermione and kept walking. The morning walks around the castle were taken inside if the rain outside was too heavy.
“Harry! Has anything happened about that awful thing in The Daily Prophet?”
“No, Hermione, nothing has happened. Aunt Amelia sent official statements to The Daily Prophet, pointing to the factual inadequacy of their reporting. They didn’t reply, and there haven’t been any more articles written.”
Hermione wasn’t happy. “Can’t anything be done to force them to print the truth?”
“Not while Fudge is the Minister for Magic. Aunt Amelia has to work hard every day to protect the DMLE. Fudge wants to gut the department and reduce the aurors again.” Harry replied.
“Draco Malfoy is getting bolder with his insults. The Gryffindors are getting sick of him. Isn’t there something that can be done to shut him up?” Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. “His father’s reputation still protects him. I think that Professor Snape is sick of him as well. We don’t hear that, though. It’s only a feeling. The professors are all careful about upsetting Lucius Malfoy. He is on the Board of Governors and isn’t afraid of threatening people.”
Hermione was not happy. “Can’t you do anything?”
Harry laughed. “There is a lot that I can do, which will end up with me adding to my evil reputation and getting me sent back to Azkaban. Dumbledore has already threatened me with that. We have to wait for Lucius to make a wrong move. Things will change if Draco’s daddy runs out of money to bribe Fudge and control The Daily Prophet. Until then, we must be patient.”
Harry stopped walking. Hermione turned to him. The Escort and the Alliance gathered around. “There is something that I want to show you. Some of you might know this already. I suspect some stories about me might suddenly appear in The Daily Prophet. One of them is this.”
Harry held up his right hand, and the Slytherin heir’s ring appeared on his ring finger.
“Take a close look at this.”
Daphne looked angry but didn’t say anything.
Blaise worked out what it was first.
“That’s the Slytherin heir’s ring! You’re the Heir of Slytherin! How?”
Harry nodded. “I’m the Heir of Slytherin. I won’t tell you how that happened. If someone in the Ministry looks up the official list of magical houses and their heirs, they will find my name on the list. I am officially the Heir of Slytherin.
That list is maintained by magic and is always correct. That will prove that I am the Heir of Slytherin, so it will come out eventually.”
“What does that mean for you?” Hermione asked.
“In practical terms, it doesn’t mean a lot. There is no property or money in a vault in Gringotts. However, it means something here in Hogwarts. I am heir to one of the Founders. There is a story about Slytherin, which has been treated as a myth but is true. Slytherin built a thing called The Chamber of Secrets under Hogwarts. It was never found after Slytherin left the castle. It is still there, down at the bottom level of the drains under the castle. As Slytherin’s heir, I have access to the Chamber and control of what he left there.”
Blaise laughed, “Do you mean the monster? You’re saying that there is a monster living down there. How do you know?”
Harry waved his hands down. There were no portraits nearby, but many other ears could be listening.
“How do I know? I have visited The Chamber, and I have met the inhabitants. Matilda would be amused and slightly insulted to be called a monster.”
“MATILDA!” was shouted in unison.
“Yes, Matilda is a rather large snake. She is a basilisk. You can look it up in the library if you don’t know what that is. She is the reason Slytherin chose the snake as his emblem.”
Daphne looked around the group. “Harry, you are overloading us with these revelations. Please let us go to breakfast. You can write what we need to know in our journals.”
Harry sighed. “OK, I will write it out for you. The attitude that I’m getting from Draco seems to be a warning. Mister Malfoy and Draco will renew their attacks on me before too long, and I want you to know what they will say before they say it. They want to be like hunting hounds unleashed on unsuspecting prey.”
Harry pointed to himself. “This time, however, the prey already knows about them."
Luna gave Harry a steady look. She knew that the first warning came from the fae through her. Harry smiled at Luna and nodded.
-ooOOoo-
Building site barriers appeared in laneways near Little Hangleton. They were placed along a rarely used laneway from the main road near the old Riddle house to some empty fields and woods. The fence circled an area of woodland and bog that had been avoided by every Little Hangleton resident. Signs on the fence warned people to keep out. There was no need to put the signs up. As soon as anyone got close to the fence, they felt compelled to leave. That was odd, but the memory of that feeling soon disappeared.
The government department that put up the fence was given directions by an advisor to the department. That advisor got his information from a group of ’ old friends ‘.
The ‘ old friends ‘ had worked for weeks to figure out the fenced area’s shape. They walked around the lane and woods and mapped every tree and object they remembered. They then plotted all the items on a large-scale map. The map had a distinct blank patch in the middle of it. The memory of what was in that patch did not survive for more than a minute.
That was the area to be fenced. Magic was not all-powerful. Work and cunning can circumvent the Notice-Me-Not and Muggle-Repelling charms.
Mister Granger wrote a record of what happened and sent a report to Lord Greengrass and Harry in a letter. The sealed letter was delivered by Hedwig to Hermione Granger, who then sent the original to Lord Greengrass and gave Harry his copy. Hermione’s curiosity was now giving her severe discomfort.
From: Richard Granger
To: Cyrus Greengrass, Marquis of Cr écy,
Greengrass Manor
Copied To: Harry Potter
Sunday, October 18, 1992
Cyrus
We completed the mapping and fencing of the Gaunt Shack exclusion zone. The Hangleton Town Council was persuaded to set up fences and warning signs. The ‘ old friends ‘ have many valuable contacts.
The Li family curse-breaker squad arrived before dawn on the next day. They passed through the barriers and started on their list of tasks. It took hours to dismantle the magical protections even though they had plans for how they were constructed. The radiation monitors were set up and carefully watched. Nothing was detected until the door to the shack was removed.
The interior of the shack was contaminated. It wasn’t lethal, but it was enough to make any unprotected intruder sick. That is sick enough to kill them, eventually. The reason for the contamination became obvious once the floor was removed and the strong box and lead ingots were uncovered.
The solution contained in the hollowed-out ingots was not neutral. It was slightly acidic and, over the years, had eaten away the metal that sealed the lead ingots. Most of the solution had leaked out. The box containing the Gaunt ring had also been eaten away, and the ring itself had slipped between the stacked ingots and was now sitting in a pool of radioactive chemicals.
The ring was solid gold, which preserved it from the acid.
The chief curse-breaker determined that the magical artefact was contained in the large stone set in the ring. The stone and its ring were recovered.
The ring was removed from the shack, and a decontamination team went to work to clean off the curse-breaker and his team. The radioactive contamination was not as severe as it could have been. The stone and the ring were decontaminated and declared safe to remove from the site.
The Li family team left the Gaunt Shack site. They took the ring, which I presume they sent to you.
Our ‘ old friends ‘ initiated an investigation by the British Government authorities.
It was quickly determined that the ingots were used to transport and hide the missing plutonium.
The reason why the Manhattan Project rejected the plutonium solution in the first place became evident. The metal in the solution was not pure plutonium.
The solution had a barely detectable trace of plutonium. It was contaminated by dozens of other dangerous radioactive heavy metals. The individuals who had tried to get Tom Riddle Senior to sell the stuff had failed to satisfy the Manhattan Project requirements. They claimed that they processed more plutonium than they did.
Then, they swindled Tom Riddle Senior when their plutonium extraction plan was rejected.
Anyone handling the solution without protective suits would still be in deadly danger. The radioactive isotopes in the solution were much more dangerous than pure plutonium. Suppose they were wizards who knew nothing of radiation. In that case, they may continue to handle whatever they find and wear the contaminated clothing without knowing how sick it would make them.
The remains of the Gaunt shack were demolished. The ground under and around it was dug up. Everything was taken to a contaminated materials storage facility.
Our ‘ old friends ‘ are relieved that the stolen plutonium emergency was not as severe as they first believed. However, the radioactive contamination from the leaking ingots could have caused illness and death.
There may be some sort of recognition for the help you have given our ‘ old friends ‘.
Sincerely
Richard Granger
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Harry finished reading the letter. Cyrus had sent a letter as well. The stone was being cleaned by the goblins. Soon, it would join the already cleaned artefacts in Eric Davis’s vault.
-ooOOoo-
“That leaves one Horcrux left. We might have to risk Dumbledore catching up with us. Maybe we should just go to The Room of Requirement and take it. Your house elf can go with you and pop away with it as soon as we have it.”
“That might be the only way, Tom. I don’t think Dumbledore can get any more hostile.”
-ooOOoo-
Susan and Hannah opened the Hufflepuff practice room. They were early for the regular practice sessions for the Alliance and the Escort. Luna and Ginny arrived and greeted the Hufflepuffs.
“Thanks for coming early, Susan and Hannah. We need to have a talk and get some advice from you.” Luna said.
Susan smiled and directed the Ravenclaws to a group of chairs around the fireplace.
Ginny looked around, “Is this place private? I don’t want any professors hearing this.”
Hannah answered, “It’s as private as anywhere else in the castle. We haven’t noticed any listening charms. Harry searches for them regularly.”
“OK!” Ginny was nervous.
“It’s about the diary. Something was happening which I didn’t tell Madam Pomphrey or the Headmaster.” Ginny paused.
Susan nodded, “Please go ahead and tell us. Harry has warned us against telling the headmaster anything.”
“Tell them, Ginny, don’t be afraid,” Luna said.
“OK! That morning, I sat at my desk to start my diary page for the day. I opened the diary to a new page and felt something strange. It was like a pressure in my head. That is what I told Madam Pomphrey and the Headmaster. I didn’t tell them the next bit.
Some words appeared at the top of the page.
The words were ‘Hello Ginny.’
I didn’t like that at all. I tried to shut the diary but could only hold on to the desk. The pressure in my head grew. I felt that I was being compelled to write an answer.”
Ginny shook her head.
“I fought against it until someone closed the diary and took it away. Then I collapsed and woke up in the Infirmary.”
Ginny looked at Susan, “Did I do the right thing? I mean, not telling the headmaster.”
Susan looked at Hannah and said. “The headmaster probably guessed or knows by some other way that you didn’t tell him. We have been warned that he uses passive legilimency on students. Did he look into your eyes for a long time?”
“Yes, he did!”
Susan frowned, “Passive legilimency! He took that picture from your thoughts without you telling him.”
“So, he knows, and he knows that I didn’t tell him. He knows that I tried to hide it from him.”
Susan shrugged, “That means you are now a part of the Harry Potter conspiracy. Harry didn’t intend to come to Hogwarts and make Dumbledore his enemy. Dumbledore, however, seems to only accept meek obedience from his chosen heroes. You are now on the naughty list along with us.”
“Where is the diary now? Is it safe? I never want to see it again. Can it be destroyed?”
Susan smiled. “It was sent to Lord Greengrass as soon as it was taken from your desk. Lord Greengrass took it to Gringotts. The goblins have a ritual to destroy things like the diary. It has been cleaned and is now held in a private vault.”
Ginny relaxed. “Thank you! What was it, anyway. I have no idea what it was.”
Susan answered. “This is most secret. You should know because you were almost its victim and fought it until help came.”
Ginny shivered; Susan spoke again. “It was part of Lord Voldemort’s soul. He trapped the soul shard in the diary and imprisoned it to make it a soul anchor. Lord Voldemort can never die and be sent to his ultimate reward while one of these anchors exists.”
Ginny reacted with shock. “WHAT! That thing was part of You-know-who! You also mean that Voldemort is still alive somewhere. Is that right?”
Susan nodded. “Harry has been telling us some of Voldemort’s secrets. He tried to keep this secret, but the diary showing up has forced him to tell us. Harry heard many things he wasn’t supposed to hear when he was locked up for all those years with the Death Eaters. Voldemort didn’t tell them about his secrets, but Augustus Rookwood was an Unspeakable. He worked out what Voldemort did.”
Susan looked around and continued quietly. “Harry does know some of those secrets. The diary is a thing called a Horcrux. There are others that he made. Augustus Rookwood deduced what Voldemort did from how Voldemort boasted about living forever. Rookwood told Harry. Harry had to know about them so that he could defeat Voldemort. Rookwood and the other Azkaban Death Eaters want Voldemort to die properly. If Voldemort gets a new life, they will be forced to obey him.”
Ginny frowned, “They’re Death Eaters!”
Susan gave a ‘calm down’ gesture. “Don’t get me wrong here. People like the Lestranges are criminals and will not object to killing if it serves them. But they don’t want to die just because their crazy lord is willing to sacrifice them. Voldemort cares nothing for them. Harry is doing everything he can to make Voldemort really die. Horcruces are some of the darkest magic there is. As long as one of them exists, Voldemort will live on in this world, even if he is only a wraith.”
Hannah looked around. “We have to hurry. The others will be here soon.”
Susan took Ginny’s hand. “Only a few of us know this. We don’t hear everything. Harry has to keep some things secret. He will ask you to take a ring from him. It will help to stop your mind from being read. The Headmaster and Professor Snape are both expert legilimens. You know that the headmaster has already taken something from you. Please take his ring and never take it off.”
Ginny nodded. She suddenly realised she was involved in something bigger than she was. Ginny had started at Hogwarts as a kid with a silly crush on a mythical boy, Harry Potter, ‘The Boy Who Lived’. Now, she was a minor player in a much bigger drama where lives could be ruined.
Ginny started to think the situation through.
“I didn’t sign up for this. I didn’t volunteer. Too late! I am in it up to my neck.”
Ginny said, “There is no other choice. I will take Harry’s ring and follow him.”
Harry and the Escort came into the training room. Susan beckoned Harry over.
Susan spoke, “Ginny has agreed to take your ring.”
Harry took a ring from a pocket inside his robe and gave it to Ginny. “Please put this on your right-hand ring finger, Ginny. If the ring accepts you, you will be a member of one of my houses. You can resign your membership at any time if you want to. Until then, I will do whatever I can to protect you. The ring will also assist you in keeping unwelcome mind magic out. My protection might not add up to much until I am an adult, but I will do what I can.”
Ginny put the ring on. It gave off a faint blue light and shrank to fit her finger. Ginny felt much happier. She felt happier until she looked at the insignia on the ring.
“A snake! This is a Slytherin ring!”
“Of course! That is my house.” Harry smiled at Ginny. “You can disillusion it so it will not be so noticeable.”
“It’s true! You are evil, Potter!”
The assembled Escort and Alliance laughed.
Fred and George bowed to Ginny. “Welcome to the Harry Potter circus.” “O fair lady of Slytherin!”
Ginny slapped them both, “Shut up! Shut up about this! I’m warning you!”
-ooOOoo-
The girl’s dormitory had settled for the night. Susan lay back and reviewed her day. Ginny Weasley had been a concern. She was nearly trapped by an evil thing left behind by Voldemort. Ginny’s natural magical strength and determination had saved her, but it was nearly a disaster. Now, Harry had included Miss Weasley in their group. Ginny was obviously a ‘Boy-Who-Lived’ fangirl. However, Harry couldn’t ignore the fact that the headmaster knew too much about the situation. Ginny had to have the protection of a house ring.
How did Susan feel about Harry now? Susan was a romance lover, but her feelings for Harry were one-sided. Harry was kind, polite and distant. The complications around him were increasing all the time. Susan may always have a soft spot for the odd boy, but Harry’s house was getting crowded. Susan had to admit to herself that her crush on Harry had weakened.
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