1,725Well, so much for updating quickly, hey? Unfortunately, after the last chapter went up, I had quite a few problems with the surgery being scheduled and cancelled several times. My emotions were haywire for awhile and then for quite a few weeks after the surgery I wasn't really able to write or type. Morphine and humor don't really mix. This chapter is the absolute longest any chapter has taken me. That said, despite the fact that its stupidly late, I hope you all enjoy it:)
That said, Harry Potter does not and will never belong to me.
Please, enjoy the penultimate chapter of Reactions to the Legend!
Dedicated to Empathicallychosen, Sociopathic Anti-Christ, and Nosi, who sent me PM's :) Thank you heaps, I really appreciate it.
-Previously on Reactions-
He was about to take another deep breath when he registered just what Dumbledore had said. His eyes snapped open.
"Harry James Potter, just what did Dumbledore mean when he said that three of his students were brewing Polyjuice Potion!"
Harry looked to the ground – how was he going to explain this to them without getting grounded for the next twenty years?
-Second Years Explosive Finale-
"Yeah… about that…," Harry said, with a deer caught in the headlights look.
"I know that look Harry James," Remus said sternly, "No trying to get around it. Why in the world would you, Ron, and Hermione be brewing Polyjuice Potion? Sirius, stop pacing and sit down."
"Fine," Sirius grumbled and sat down next to Harry on the couch.
"Well, you know, Professor Dumbledore didn't say it was me, Ron, and Hermione," Harry pointed out, futilely trying to avoid the question.
"Answer the question, Harry," Sirius said, looking tense as he tried to prepare himself for another absolutely insane dangerous stunt done by Harry and his friends.
"Fine," Harry said, sounding slightly sulky. "We thought that maybe Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin, and the one opening the chamber."
Before he could continue, Remus interrupted him, "Harry, I asked why you were making Polyjuice Potion, not about the Chamber."
"Wait a second, I'm getting there," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
"Watch the tone, Harry," Sirius said. "And I can understand why you think Malfoy would want to get rid of the muggle-born's, but I doubt he's the Heir of Slytherin."
"Yeah, well, we thought he might have been, but, of course, we needed proof," Harry explained. "So, Hermione came up with the idea of the Polyjuice to sneak into the Slytherin common room and finding out."
"I suppose that isn't a horrible idea, but really Harry, you were in second year. Polyjuice is an incredibly complex potion," Remus said. He sighed and then asked, "What happened?"
"Oh, come on," Harry said indignantly. "We're not idiots. And both of you said yourselves that Hermione is the smartest witch of our generation. The potion was perfect. But it took ages to make."
Sirius raised an eyebrow dubiously and exchanged glances with Remus. "Alright, Harry," Sirius said slowly, finding it doubtful that three second years, though undoubtedly smart second years, managed to make such an immensely difficult potion without mistakes. He paused for a moment before realizing, "Hang on, how did you get the ingredients?"
"Ah, about that," Harry said, wincing. "See, we kinda maybe sorta… stoleitfromSnape," he said quickly.
"Really?" Sirius asked, turning his head to look at Harry.
"Yes," Harry said cautiously, surprised that he wasn't going to get in trouble.
"Harry," Remus sighed, closing his eyes, wonder whether there was any point in scolding the boy, especially since Sirius didn't look anything other then happy at the fact that the trio had used ingredients from Snape's private stores. "You really shouldn't steal from your teachers."
He didn't bother to continue, wanting to get the story over and done with. He could always lecture him if it ever happened again and it would have a greater impact – he hoped. "So, what happened while the potion was brewing?"
Harry laughed bitterly and said, "Quite a lot, unfortunately."
Sirius sighed heavily and put a hand to his head, as though trying to ward off a headache. "Alright, what happened?"
"Just so I can prepare myself… what is this going to contain?" Remus asked hesitantly, obviously dreading the answer.
"It's not that bad," Harry insisted, looking at Remus with wide eyes. "I swear, it wasn't really dangerous…"
"Right," Remus murmured, recognizing the look on Harry's face that the boy was stretching the truth. "Hang on one moment, Harry, will you?"
"Sure," Harry said, looking thrilled that he had managed to get some extra time before he had to reveal everything. Sirius was glaring at Remus. It changed to a confused stare when he saw Remus opening the liquor cabinet.
Remus walked in sedately, feeling calmer now that he had downed some fire-whiskey. He left the cabinet open, guessing that Sirius may need some, especially since they were already out of calming potions in the house and Harry was barely halfway through his second year story. If it got any worse, Remus would calmly lock himself in Dumbledore's office on the full moon and not feel a shred of remorse. The nerve of that man - letting his cub get into so much danger!
Sirius smirked as Remus walked back in and sat down in the same sofa as before. And Remus lectured him. At least he never drank in front of Harry.
Ignoring his best friend, Remus simply turned to Harry and said, "Alright, cub, please do continue."
"…Alright," Harry said, looking slightly uncertain as he looked from one guardian to the other, utterly confused as to what had just happened.
"Don't worry about it, Harry," Sirius said, wiping the smirk off his face and storing away this information for later use, or, to be more accurate, blackmail. "Just continue."
"Do I -" Harry started but was interrupted quickly.
"Yes," both of his guardians said in unison, knowing very well what was about to come from their charges mouth. It certainly didn't do anything to calm them down.
"Fine," Harry said sulkily. "It was stupid Lockhart. He decided that with the attacks – Colin had been attacked after the Quidditch Match – he was going to start a dueling club."
"Well, that hardly seems like a stupid idea," Remus said, brow furrowing. "Actually it seems like a very good idea. You have no idea how hard Sirius, James and I tried to get a dueling club when we were in school. Professor Dumbledore ended up conceding to us in our seventh year because of the war and everything, but as far as I can remember they didn't really do one after that. Professor Dumbledore doesn't really like to encourage dueling."
"Remus, this is Lockhart," Harry explained patiently, rolling his eyes. "If he can turn the Defense class into a bloody theatre about him then what do you think he did to a Dueling club?"
"A theatre?" Remus asked, eyebrows raised, "Well, that does explain why so many people were behind in Defense Against the Dark Art when I was teaching."
"Pompous git," Sirius snarled, conveniently forgetting that he had never actually met the man. "I mean, really, did he not realize that my Pronglet – and everyone else of course, would need to protect themselves?"
"Apparently not," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the Dueling Club… it was a disaster. He got Snape to help out – actually, Ron and I were hoping that they'd finish each other off," Harry added, with a wistful smile. It really would have been far better if they had.
"Snape and Lockhart?" Sirius said, "Ruddy hell, I would have just turned right back around."
"Probably would have been a better idea," Harry agreed. "But no, we braved it. Lockhart and Snape had a duel where Snape made a fool out of the peacock."
"Only time I will ever say that Snape did a good thing," Sirius said dryly. Although, I do like the peacock idea… he mused inwardly, tuning Harry out, sure that nothing else interesting would happen. However, he was brought back into reality when the word 'Malfoy' permeated his thoughts.
"Wait, what about Malfoy?" he asked, interrupting Harry in the middle of a sentence.
"Snape partnered me and him together," Harry said, sounding uncharacteristically bitter.
"Him and me, or Malfoy and I," Remus corrected absently, making Harry roll his eyes. That was the worst thing about having a former professor as a teacher… Remus seemed to constantly correct his grammar.
"Do I want to know what happened?" Sirius asked wryly, shaking his head with a sigh. He was almost glad he didn't actually live through this when it happened… he would have ended up with grey hairs. He had actually found some a few weeks ago, right after the third task. He had not been pleased, to say the least. Remus had been about ready to hex him after nearly four hours of complaining and saying that he really wasn't that old.
"No, you don't," Harry said without hesitation. "In fact, let's just forget this and go out for a fly…"
"Nice try, Harry," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "But we're still going to listen to the rest of this story, and if I recall correctly you're still grounded."
"Just continue, Harry," Remus said, before Harry could retort Sirius' statement. He wanted this over and done with so that he could breathe again and be sure no… troll or something had gone near his cub.
"Malfoy and I were called up for a demonstration duel," Harry started reluctantly. He didn't want to have to tell them that he was a parselmouth. He did not want to see their reactions.
Sirius growled, sounding rather reminiscent of his animagus form, just knowing that it had something to do with Snape. That man would end up replacing Dumbledore as number one on that list if he wasn't careful.
"What happened? Did that git do anything to you?" Sirius asked, softening his glare as he turned to look at Harry.
"Malfoy conjured a snake – using a spell that Snape told him," Harry added, wanting to add in that extra tidbit. He really had been mad at Malfoy and Snape at that time, knowing it was their fault that he was considered to be the heir of Slytherin. He really wouldn't mind if Snape finally got some sort of comeuppance.
Sirius didn't say anything to that, but he certainly looked murderous. But, that look quickly changed to a concerned one when he realized that a snake had been set on his little, defenseless godson. "Wait, were you okay? Did it hurt you?" he said frantically, grabbing Harry and examining, ignoring the fact that it really had been over two years ago.
"I'm fine Sirius," Harry said exasperatedly, "I wasn't in any danger from it. Lockhart cast a spell at it which made it angrier but it went towards a Hufflepuff student – Justin."
"Poor kid," Sirius said, immediately relaxing now that he knew Harry had been in no danger from the snake. He was however, still slightly tense and one look at the werewolf showed he was the same, and for most likely the same reason – that idiot Lockhart. If the snake had directed its anger towards Harry… well, Lockhart would certainly never win the 'Most Charming Smile Award' again.
Forcing himself to sound calm, Sirius asked, "So what happened?"
Here Harry hesitated, trying to work out exactly what to say.
"Harry? What is it? What happened?" Sirius asked, sitting up again, worry escalating at Harry's hesitation. What if the snake really had attacked him?
"I told the snake to get away from Justin," Harry mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
"You told the snake?" Sirius asked, sounding confused.
"You spoke Parseltongue," Remus said, sounding sympathetic. He understood that Harry must have been very upset that his secret had been revealed to the entire school. At least that had never happened to him.
"How did you know?" Harry asked, sounding surprised as he blinked owlishly up at him.
"I heard it mentioned at Hogwarts," Remus said dismissively. "I also heard that it made people persecute you and call you the Heir of Slytherin."
"Yeah, and it didn't really help that I was the first one on the scene at the next attack," Harry added bitterly.
"Wait, what?" Sirius exclaimed. "They thought that my little baby was the Heir of Slytherin? How could they?"
"Hang on, you don't hate me for having an evil ability?" Harry interrupted, eyes wide.
"Hate you? Harry, how could you think that?" Sirius exclaimed. He turned around and enveloped Harry into a bear hug, squeezing the boy tightly. How his godson could ever think that Sirius was capable of hating him he'd never know. It was probably those stupid Dursleys ruining his godsons self esteem. He wondered if Moony would mind if they went to Surrey on the next full moon.
"Alright, so what happened next?" Remus gently prodded. Harry noticed that Remus had moved forward slightly and was holding Harry's small hand and rubbing his thumb over it.
"Right, the Polyjuice Potion," Harry sighed.
"And before you ask, yes you have to," Sirius said, looking at his godson fondly as he relaxed back against the sofa. Only his eyes betrayed that he was furious about the injustices against his godson.
"Well, it was finished on Christmas Day so we decided to go ahead with the plan then as all of us, and Malfoy also, had stayed over the holidays," Harry explained, looking a good deal calmer now that the Parselmouth conversation was over. But then again, that also meant the Basilisk conversation was beginning to near.
"I can't believe that you actually went through with that plan," Sirius said, shaking his head.
"Oh, like you wouldn't have done it at school," Harry retorted.
"…That's neither here nor there," Sirius said after a pause.
"Just continue, Harry," Remus said in a laughing tone, earning himself a glare from his best friend.
"So, we got the hairs for the Polyjuice Potion," Harry started, glad that he shouldn't really get in trouble over this. "And we managed to get Crabbe and Goyle – they were the ones Ron and I were turning into – to eat some enchanted cupcakes to make them fall asleep so they wouldn't interrupt us. And then we took the potion."
"Where?" Remus asked curiously. "I mean, it had to be somewhere where no one would accidentally run into it."
Harry blushed, making Sirius perk up with interest. He mumbled something that even Remus' enhanced hearing couldn't pick up. At their looks Harry groaned and spoke up, "The second floor girl's bathroom, alright?"
"The one haunted by Moaning Myrtle, right?" Sirius clarified, lips twitching as he exchanged a glance with Remus.
"Yes," Harry muttered, glaring at them both.
"Alright, never mind Moaning Myrtle, Harry," Remus said, taking pity on the boy. "So, did you manage to get into the Slytherin Common Room?"
"Yeah, we did. But after all of that hard work, we didn't get any information!" Harry exclaimed, now sounding annoyed. "Well, I suppose that's not quite true," he amended, "we found out that Malfoy wasn't opening the chamber and that the last person who had had done so fifty years ago and had been expelled. Oh, and we found out that Malfoy Manor has a hidden chamber where Lucius Malfoy hides all his Dark Arts objects. Ron was thrilled and wrote to his Dad straight away."
"Well, that doesn't seem too bad of a waste of time," Sirius said, smiling. "And I have to say, kiddo, that I really am impressed that you guys pulled it off."
Remus, on the other hand was frowning. "Hang on one second, Harry, why didn't you mention Hermione at all? I'm sure she also wanted to go and interrogate Mr. Malfoy."
"Yeah, well, see, Hermione kinda put the wrong hair in her potion… and she might have grown a tail, and furry ears that didn't wear off," Harry admitted, smiling sheepishly.
"Sounds like I spoke too soon," Sirius said after a moments of silence. "Poor Hermione. Was she alright?"
"Yeah, she was fine after a few weeks in the Hospital Wing. And, of course, a get well card from Lockhart," he added, rolling his eyes.
"Git," Sirius said absently. "Well, so long as you lot were alright. You were alright weren't you? No little secret that you decided to keep hidden?" he added suspiciously.
"No," Harry said, "I swear. That's all that happened then."
Sirius searched Harry for a moment and then nodded. "Alright then. So what happened after the Polyjuice? Did you conceded defeat and give up?" Sirius asked, the last part in a hopeful tone.
"Sorry, but no," Harry winced.
"Damned curiosity streak," Sirius muttered shaking his head with a sigh. "Putting my poor baby in danger."
"So, Harry, what did you try next in your little investigation?" Remus asked, wanting to cut off Padfoot before he got into a full blown rant about his 'poor little baby.'
"Well, Ron and I found a diary that was from the time when the Chamber was opened the first time around," Harry explained.
"Where did you find it?" Remus asked curiously.
"In Moaning Myrtles bathroom," Harry answered easily. "But, it was empty, nobody had written in it, except for a name. Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry was unable to keep the hatred out of his voice as he said the name, but it seemed as though his guardians did not hear it.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Remus mused, looking off into space, "that sounds familiar…"
"Yeah, it does," Sirius agreed, brow furrowing as he thought about it. "I feel like I've seen that name written somewhere before…"
"Ron thought the same thing," Harry said. "He worked out that Riddle had received a Special Awards for Services to the School… fifty years ago."
"And you made the connection that Riddle had perhaps caught the person that opened the chamber," Remus said, nodding his head. But he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he'd heard the name somewhere else.
"That explains why I recognized it, then," Sirius said, relaxing once more. "I had so many detentions in that trophy room."
"Yeah, well, a little bit later I accidentally spilt my ink on the diary and it just absorbed right in," Harry said, neatly skipping over the part with Ginny's valentine to him. "I tried writing to it, you know like 'hello' and stuff and it, or should I say 'Tom' wrote back."
"That's strange," Remus said, "I can't really think of any spell that could cause that to happen…"
"And that means danger," Sirius added, "Harry James, please tell me that you went to Dumbledore, or something just not write back to an object that was clearly dangerous."
"It's clearly dangerous now, now that I have more knowledge of the wizarding world," Harry pointed out tersely, glaring at his godfather. The effect was rather ruined by the small pout on his face. "But, I was twelve then and had only been in the magical world for little over a year. For all I knew, there was a perfectly normal spell to trap memories into a diary."
"Point taken," Sirius conceded, tweaking at Harry's nose to stop him from glaring. It worked, and Harry went cross eyed for a moment before continuing on from where he had left off.
"So, Riddle and I talked a little bit and then he offered to show me his capture of the person who had supposedly opened the chamber," Harry explained.
"Alright, there is definitely no spell to make that possible," Remus declared.
"You did it, didn't you," Sirius said, sounding defeated.
"Yeah," Harry said, nodding slowly. "I hesitated… but yeah, in the end I did it."
"And, what did you find out," Remus prompted, staunchly ignoring the little voice in his head that said Harry might have gotten hurt.
"I ended up in a memory at Hogwarts, fifty years back. I saw the Headmaster, Dippet, and a heaps younger Dumbledore," Harry started, "I also found out that Riddle was an orphan. A half-blood orphan. His mother was a witch and his father a muggle."
"As interesting as that is, I would rather hear about who was caught opening the chamber," Sirius said.
"Oh, trust me, you will find his parentage very interesting later on," Harry laughed. "Anyway, I followed Riddle down to the dungeons and we waited for what seemed like hours. And then I heard a voice, and it was telling something to go away, to get out of the castle…"
"The Heir," Remus said, exchanging a glance with Sirius.
"That's what I thought," Harry said, "But then I noticed it was Hagrid."
"Hagrid," Sirius asked incredulous. "But… you're joking. There's no way it was Hagrid… I mean, I know he loves dangerous creatures but there's no way Hagrid would set them on muggleborns."
"I always did wonder why Hagrid was expelled," Remus said, "But I sincerely doubt that Hagrid was actually guilty… perhaps he may have found a way to open the chamber and get to the 'monster within' but he would not set them on other students. I sincerely doubt he could even find a way to open the chamber."
"Ron, Hermione, I were kind of conflicted about that as well," Harry said, rolling his neck from side to side in order to get rid of the stiffness in his neck. "In the end, we decided we'd ask him about it only if another attack occurred."
"And?" Sirius asked, eyebrow raised.
"Nothing happened for a month or two," Harry said, eyes clouding over slightly at the next memory. "Until our next Quidditch match."
"What did that house-elf bewitch the Bludgers again?" Sirius asked. "If he did, I'll hex the little bugger, hurting my baby."
"No, Dobby didn't hex the Bludgers," Harry interrupted rolling his eyes. "As a matter of fact, we didn't even get up into the air. McGonagall came down just as we were about to go onto the Quidditch Pitch and told us that the match was cancelled."
"What? How can she cancel Quidditch?" Sirius ranted immediately, sounding strangely similar to Oliver Wood, "I mean it's Quidditch. The essence of life!"
"Why, what happened?" Remus' quiet voice interrupted Sirius' rant on Quidditch. Harry was being strangely quiet, he would have expected him to also be ranting about the unfairness of it all.
"There was another attack," Harry told them, slightly hoarsely, "A Ravenclaw Prefect… and Hermione."
"Oh, Harry," Sirius breathed in, wrapping an arm around Harry and pulling him close in a one-armed hug.
"Things got worse after that, security tightening and everything," Harry said, leaning against his godfather's chest, nestled into the crook of his arm. "Although, at least people stopped believing I was Slytherins heir," he added positively.
"How they could ever suspect my baby is beyond me," Sirius muttered.
"Ron and I decided to visit Hagrid, see if he knew anything," Harry continued to explain. "So we snuck out using my Dad's old cloak."
"Following in the footsteps of the Marauders," Sirius chuckled. "Although, I really would prefer it if you did so when there isn't some sort of monster attacking people," Sirius added, slightly scolding.
Harry nodded dutifully.
"Did Hagrid have anything interesting to say?" Remus asked, warily, thinking that it seemed as though they had gone slightly too long without something ridiculously dangerous happening.
"He didn't really get a chance to tell us anything," Harry told him. "Only a few minutes after Ron and I, the Minister and Professor Dumbledore came down. Fudge had orders to get Hagrid to Azkaban."
Sirius sucked in a breath sharply, "He what? That incompetent buffoon!"
"Poor Hagrid," Remus said, wincing sympathetically. He could never imagine having to go to Azkaban. He had no idea how Sirius could have survived so many years of it.
"Yeah, and that's not all," Harry said grimly, "Lucius Malfoy showed up and said that the school governors had 'decided' that Dumbledore should be suspended."
"That's…" Sirius struggled to find the words. "Completely idiotic. As much of a stupid old goat Dumbledore is, there is still the fact that he was most likely the reason that more muggleborns hadn't been attacked." Sirius voice seemed to have a grudging tone behind it.
"Bribery, I'm sure," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, well, I'll show Lucius what he can do with his bribery," Sirius said sharply, shaking his head, thinking of some of the better plans in his head.
"So, I suppose you really weren't able to get any information from Hagrid then," Remus said to Harry, ignoring his revenge seeking best friend.
"We got one little bit," Harry said, "Follow the Spiders."
"Follow the spiders," Sirius repeated flatly. "And, you of course ignored this information as you knew that Hagrid has a fondness for large and dangerous creatures."
"Um…" Harry said, stalling as he steeled himself for this next part. "Well, actually we did follow the spiders… to the… F… Forbidden Forest," he let out the last part quickly, though not quite quickly enough judging the pallor or his guardians skin.
Yep, thought Remus weakly, A bit too long without something stupidly dangerous. He could have really used some more of that potion right then, he thought as he kept a close count on his breathing to prevent himself from hyperventilating again.
"Harry James Potter, what in the world were you thinking? It is called the Forbidden Forest for a reason!" Sirius exclaimed. "All of those dangerous creatures just waiting to attack my baby!"
"Hypocrite," Harry muttered under his breath, recalling all of Sirius' tales of adventures in the forest under the moonlight.
"What," Harry said at Sirius' stern look. "It's true! You went around the forest every month!"
"That is completely besides the point," Sirius said stiffly.
"Why," Harry asked.
"Because you're my baby, and you are far too little and innocent to go gallivanting about the forest," Sirius told him firmly.
"Can we please just finish this story before I have a heart attack imagining all the things that could have happened?" Remus asked, holding a hand to his head and inwardly counting to try and keep himself calm. …89, 90, 91, 92…
"Good idea," Sirius said approvingly, "But Harry, you can add an extra week to your grounding."
Harry pouted and Sirius had to look away so that he didn't just retract his punishment right then and there.
"Alright, we followed the spiders. They led us into this hollow thing in the forbidden forest where the spiders are absolutely huge. Ron was terrified. They could talk and everything as well. We found out later that they were called 'Acromantula'."
"There are Acromantula in Britain?" Remus asked, sounding surprised. "Wait, you were near an Acromantula? What in the world was Hagrid thinking… those things are dangerous… does he have any idea what could have happened to my cub?"
Harry sighed, he should have known that Remus would also start rambling about his little baby/cub as well.
In an effort to interrupt it, he continued on, dreading the next topic and already trying to find another way around mentioning it. "We talked to Aragog – the Head Acromantula – a bit, and he did tell us some decent information… and then they tried to eat us."
"What!" came Sirius' panicked exclamation. Remus was watching him with wide eyes.
"Don't worry, we were fine," Harry said hastily, "the car helped us out, it became feral in the forest apparently and it drove us both out of there."
"Don't worry," Sirius said incredulously, pulling Harry into a tight hug. "Nearly get yourself killed, and tell us not to worry."
Remus was holding Harry's hand tightly, and was giving Harry a look that, had he been in school, he would have interpreted it as a 'you're about to get detention' look. He didn't know if he wanted to know what it could mean now.
After a few moments of silence where they could get their bearing and Remus caught his breath and calmed his heart down, Sirius asked Harry what information Aragog had given them.
"He told us that the last time the Chamber was opened, someone had died… in a bathroom," Harry said simply.
"Moaning Myrtle haunts a bathroom," Remus said slowly, eyes narrowed as he made the connection.
"We thought the exact same thing," Harry said.
"Oh for goodness' sakes," Sirius groaned quietly, under his breath.
"Yeah, Ron and I kept up the investigation," Harry admitted with a sheepish smile.
"But after that…" Harry trailed off, remembering the utter terror of that day. "Well, we tried to sneak off to see Myrtle – "
"How in the world did you keep on sneaking off, with doubled security and everything," Sirius exclaimed, interrupting Harry's sentence.
"Lockhart," Harry said plainly.
"Of course, stupid git, doesn't try to keep my baby safe," Sirius muttered vindictively under his breath. Now though, it seemed as though Remus was muttering something similar under his breath.
"But we got caught by McGonagall," Harry said, interrupting the two of them.
"Good!" Sirius exclaimed, surprising himself. "What did she do?"
"Nothing," Harry answered. "I told her that we wanted to sneak off to see Hermione and she bought it. Gave us permission to be outside of class."
After a moments pause, Sirius said, "Kiddo, I don't know whether to be impressed or annoyed."
"Well, it turned out to be a good thing," Harry said. "Since it turned out that before she got attacked, Hermione managed to figure out what the monster was."
"And she wrote it down somewhere," Remus completed the thought.
"So, don't keep us in suspense, what was it?" Sirius asked, dreading the answer.
Harry hesitated a moment before answering… "It was a… snake."
"A snake," Remus asked flatly with an eyebrow raised.
"A snake that petrified the students," Sirius asked doubtfully. "Are you positive, Harry?"
"Of course I am," Harry said, looking at Sirius with his puppy dog eyes, congratulating himself on managing to work out such a good way for this part of his story without actually having to lie.
"Well, it would have to be quite a dangerous snake to be able to kill a student," Remus said, still sounding doubtful. Sirius had, of course, melted the moment Harry turned his green eyes on him.
"A bit, yeah," Harry agreed before quickly changing the subject, lest Remus work it out. "We were going to tell the teacher what we found out but then something else happened."
Sirius, who had beamed when Harry mentioned going to the teachers, immediately frowned. Remus also had an abrupt change of emotions; his heart lifting and sinking incredibly fast.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, his heart heavy, somehow knowing this would end with his godson against the snake.
"Ginny Weasley was taken into the chamber," Harry said simply.
Remus drew in a sharp breath, "Oh no… poor Arthur and Molly…"
Harry nodded quietly, "They were talking about closing the school. Ron and I decided to try and save Ginny."
Sirius opened his mouth but closed it again quickly. As mad as he was that his baby had been in danger, he couldn't scold Harry for helping a friend. Besides, the monster was only a snake, right?
"We ran into Lockhart," Harry continued, without prompting for once, "And he was planning on running away. We took his wand and forced him to go with us. When we got down to the bathroom, we talked to Moaning Myrtle and she told us about how she died. Ron noticed a carving of a snake on the sink and I opened it, using Parseltongue."
"You managed to open the Chamber of Secrets," Remus breathed in, closing his eyes and willing his heart to keep beating.
"We pushed Lockhart down first."
"Good boy," Sirius said, ruffling Harry's hair.
Harry gave a small smile. "But then, after we had walked a bit in the tunnel we had appeared in, there was a small scuffle and Lockhart managed to get Ron's wand. He was going to Obliviate us, but the spell backfired and hit and the wall collapsed."
"That stupid git," Sirius hissed, "That… that… I have no words," Sirius finally said, eyes narrowed in a glare and he promised retribution upon Lockhart when he found him.
Remus had collapsed back onto the chair and had his eyes closed as he waved for Harry to continue.
"I was stuck on the other side the wall," Harry explained. "So I told Ron to try and get rid of the rubble while I kept going to find Ginny."
"You found her," Sirius stated.
"Yeah – with Riddle," Harry answered.
"Wait a moment, Riddle?" Remus asked, sounding incredulous.
"Yes, he managed to get out of the diary by stealing Ginny's life force," Harry said sounding bitter and angry as he recounted this part.
"He had been possessing Ginny into opening the chamber and setting the ba – monster on the students."
"So he framed Hagrid all of those years ago," Remus realized. "But why?"
"And then he told me, or rather showed me, that he left behind the name Tom Marvolo Riddle and replaced it with the name Lord Voldemort," Harry said, unknowingly using a dramatic voice.
"Voldemort?" Remus whispered incredulously. "Oh, Merlin…" He had to thump his chest a few times to get his heart going… his poor cub!
"Voldemort's a half-blood," Sirius realized. "Damn, that's ironic. But, Harry, please tell me that you ran the hell out of there."
"I didn't really have a chance," Harry said. "Riddle called the snake, and Fawkes came to me with the Sorting Hat."
"Alright, Fawkes I can see being a help, but the Sorting Hat? Why on earth would you need that?" Remus asked disbelievingly. His cub was in mortal danger and he got a hat?
"What did you do," Sirius asked, not able to keep his fear and worry out of his voice.
"Fawkes blinded the ba – snake, and I put on the hat and asked for help. It answered by giving me Gryffindors Sword," Harry said.
"Oh, thank Merlin," Remus said, conceding that maybe the hat wasn't too bad.
"And I stabbed the snake and the diary," Harry added.
"And you didn't get hurt at all?" Sirius asked, looking at Harry carefully.
"Well, I might have gotten a small scratch," Harry admitted.
But before Sirius could say anything, their floo flared up and Hermione's head appeared in the fire.
"Hello Harry, Sirius, Professor Lupin," she said politely before turning to Harry to ask, "Harry, is everything alright? I talked to Ron and he seemed horribly worried about. He said that you were talking about your school years with Sirius and Remus…?"
"Yes, we were," Remus confirmed, who was still counting in an effort to stay calm.
Looking at the looks on their faces, she asked, "Alright, but are you sure everything is alright? I haven't seen you this unsettled since you got that Valentine in second year."
Sirius turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow that clearly conveyed, 'Valentine?'
He turned to Hermione and said, "It really is fine, Hermione, Harry just finished telling us about his second year."
"Oh, the basilisk?" she asked, wincing. "Then I'm not surprised you look so odd, that really was horrible. I mean, if Fawkes hadn't have been there then Harry would definitely have died. That was absolutely horrible, I still get shivery when I think about it!"
Remus and Sirius appeared to be have frozen.
Harry groaned and buried his face in a nearby pillow. What did he do to deserve such friends?
Hermione, showing the intellect that she was famous for, obviously realized that she had something and decided to leave and write a letter to Harry later demanding details. And an answer as to why on earth he was tucked into a blanket in the middle of summer.
Sirius immediately turned to Harry with a stern look. Remus was starting to hyperventilate again.
"Alright, so maybe it was a basilisk… and it might have been more of a bite then a scratch," Harry admitted, wincing. "But it really was fine! I mean, Fawkes healed me and everything!"
Sirius and Remus stared at him.
There was silence for a good five minutes after Harry finished speaking. Sirius was just staring into space dumbly, his grip on Harry unrelenting as he tried to digest the story.
Remus appeared to be in shock. Harry was looking from one guardian to the other tentatively, trying to gauge their reactions and whether he was going to get grounded. If he was, he was so going to get his revenge on Ron and Hermione. They just had to floo today. They would have believed the story about the snake otherwise. He would have said the Headmaster also, but he guessed that Sirius would get his revenge for him.
After another few minutes of silence, Remus stood up calmly. "Harry, I've left a plate in the refrigerator. I expect to see all of it eaten by the time I get back," he said, walking over to the fireplace.
"Moony?" Sirius asked, curiosity in his voice. He was wondering why on earth Remus was going somewhere when they should be lecturing Harry about not doing stupid, dangerous stunts. And on not lying to them also.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked, looking surprised.
Remus didn't answer. He simply grabbed a handful of floo powder and, after throwing it in the fireplace, said, "St Mungo's Cardiology Ward."
Does this chapter seem… disjointed to anyone? Not flowing properly? Thank you all for bearing with me. There is still one more chapter to go, the one I think everyone is looking forward to… Revenge! It will most likely be up soon… Hopefully! I know that Malfoy and Dobby weren't mentioned, but this was just the best place to end it. Maybe I'll find a way to incorporate it next chapter.
Now, my birthday is on Good Friday (if you live in Australia, donate to the Royal Childrens Hospital!) so leave me a birthday present and review!
As always, thanks to my wonderful beta Zeropolis79.