Chapter Text
After Uncle Vernon had found out he couldn't do magic at home, he had gone back to treating Harry awfully, rather than fearfully. (He had only found out because, apparently, Hogwarts found it necessary to inform Muggle guardians of this particular rule.) Very quickly, it was back to huge lists of chores, practically non-existent meals, and awful punishments if he stepped even a toe out of line. Best not forget the new additions, of course-- bars on the window, locks on the door; even a cat flap on the door for them to dump scraps in every few days.
So here Harry was, lying on his bed, wishing he could muster up enough energy for his usual hatred of the Dursley’s. At the very least, he reasoned with himself, I’m out of my cupboard. (Which was about as much optimism as Harry could summon-- bloody, bruised, and exhausted as he was.)
Harry still wasn’t quite sure what he had done to anger his uncle, but he never usually needed a reason, so Harry figured it was something along the lines of “existing.” When Uncle Vernon had returned that day from work, he had laid into Harry about what a waste of space he was, how he and his family were saints for ever taking in a worthless little wretch like Harry, how he couldn’t believe that this was how the freak repaid him, etc. This was normal, and while he wasn’t completely unaffected by the words, he comforted himself with the knowledge that he had friends who wanted him, and parents who had died loving him. It was more than he’d ever had before.
But then, Uncle Vernon had done something different.
It’s not like Harry had any delusions of his uncle being a particularly kind, or nonviolent person. But when the buckle of his belt had bit into Harry’s back, and blood went flying, owowithurtsstopPLEASEstop--
Harry wished fervently to spell open the locks, wrench open the door to Hedwig’s cage, and send her to somebody- anybody- to come and save him. But Hedwig was locked in her cage, as she had been all summer long, and Harry was stuck in his bed-- his battered, starved body too tired to do much more than sit there and listen to the rattle of his own lungs. Harry wondered idly if this would be one of those weeks where they locked him in his room all week and “forgot” to feed him, so busy as they were pretending he didn't exist; or one of the weeks where they gave him an impossibly long list of chores to be finished, day after day, that always resulted in a night locked in the cupboard for his failure to complete them.
It turned out to be the former. Harry had never in his life been so thankful to himself for charming those rolls at the end of last year, to save for an emergency. If any situation counts as an emergency, it’s this one, thought Harry, as he tried to ignore the stiff, dried blood on his back.
Over the next few days, Harry celebrated his birthday quietly, and by himself, as he had so many years before this one. He thought fondly of the previous summer, when Hagrid had come and taken him into a world far away from the Dursleys. Harry spent the consequent days hoping someone would come for him again.
Then, Ron and the Twins had come for him. It was like an answer to his silent pleas! The twins and Ron hadn’t even seemed to think too much of his living situation, because not a single one of them had mentioned anything about it.
Solid meals and rest did wonders to help him heal quickly, and in Harry’s opinion, summer had taken a severe turn for the better. Harry spent the last two weeks of the break relaxing and playing quidditch-- it was the best two weeks of his life, which he happily told Mrs. Weasley. She smiled at Harry and patted his cheek, and he tried not to lean too hard into the touch.
(There had been a slight bump in the road with the confrontation between Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley, but secretly, Harry was impressed with Mr. Weasley. He would never say that in front of Mrs. Weasley, though, because despite what Hermione and Ron said, he did have some sense of self preservation.)
Then, it was off to Hogwarts for the lot of them, and Harry was happy to find a new friend on the train-- a pale girl named Luna, who would be in the same year as Ginny. Harry sat with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Luna in a compartment they had to themselves the whole trip. Harry made sure to look at each of his friend's smiling faces, and lock the image tight into his memory.
Really, Harry should have known things were going too well. His luck always struck at the worst of times, and things had been going well for too long. He liked his classes (Defense wasn't… too bad), he had figured out how to get Lockhart to leave him alone (tell him he had something in his teeth), and he had more friends than he had ever had before in his whole life.
Then, on October 10th, Ms. Norris was found hanging from her tail, tacked to the wall and stiff as a board. The floor of the hallway was covered in puddles, and the wall she was on was covered in what Harry could only hope was red paint, which read, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE, THE BEAST OF THE CHAMBER IS FREE!
Harry felt a chill when he heard the words.
Immediately after Ms. Norris was found, every student was gathered up and brought to their common rooms, where they were told to stay put, on pain of a month’s worth of detentions and loss of 50 house points. Nobody, in Gryffindor at least, was willing to risk it, and so they all sat in the common room, talking in hushed whispers.
They weren't there long when the portrait hole opened. Ginny climbed through, McGonagall behind her. Ginny immediately rushed over to them, wedging herself between Ron and Harry. She was pale, and when Harry grabbed her hand comfortingly, he noticed it was cold, and that she had a little bit of red at the very base of her cuticles.
Ron, who was in the process of wrapping his Gryffindor scarf around Ginny's neck, asked her the question that was likely on everyone's mind.
"You weren't caught out of the common room, were you?" Hermione elbowed him in the side, but Ginny was already shaking her head.
"No. I was lost. The… Charms corridor, I think, because Flitwick found me, and delivered me to McGonagall, who took me here. She wouldn't answer any of my questions, but I… don't know how I got to where I was…" Ginny trails off, and the three of them exchange worried glances over her head. Before they can ask what she means, McGonagall addresses them all.
"As some of you may have heard, Ms. Norris was found petrified and strung up, and the wall behind her was painted with a menacing message. We are not taking this lightly, as this may be a serious threat," a few people gasped at this. "That is no reason to be afraid. We will be enforcing rules to keep all of you safe, and they may seem harsh, but our priority, first and foremost, is to keep the lot of you safe. Anyone who does not follow these rules, will lose 75 house points, serve detentions for the remainder of the year, and be put on academic probation. Do not take these new rules lightly." McGonagall stared out at them, meeting their eyes.
Everyone was frozen, staring back. Even the Twins were still, standing like statues next to each other, behind their siblings on the couch in front of them, a hand on Harry and Hermione's shoulders. McGonagall waved her wand, and a rolled parchment popped into existence in front of her, then unfurled.
"Absolutely no one will go anywhere by themselves. Students will travel between classes by year, and a teacher rotation chart will be drawn up so that every group of students will travel between classes with a teacher. Free periods will be spent inside your house. Houses will travel to and from meals together, at 7:30 am. Students may go to the library, at 7:30 each night, where those who wish to go will be accompanied by a teacher. Weekends will have set times to go outside as a House. Quidditch matches are indefinitely postponed. Classes will be postponed tomorrow. Prefects, you will report to me tomorrow as a group, where you will be given a list of defensive spells that you should memorize." McGonagall looked over them as she finished, and her face softened.
"We will catch the perpetrator. There is no need for fear, but it is safer to take this threat seriously than allow it to go unnoticed. If anyone has any questions, concerns, or just needs to talk, my office is always open." With that, McGonagall stuck the parchment next to the portrait hole, and exited the common room. There was a moment of silence before the room burst into chatter.
"Wow," said Harry. "They're taking this really seriously. How do they know it's not just someones twisted idea of a prank?"
"Oh, little Harry-kins hasn't heard of the Heir!" George said from behind them.
"Quite right, dear brother, quite right." Said Fred, nodding.
"The Heir?" Asked Hermione, turning to look at the Twins. They both nodding vigorously, before walking around the couch to sit in front of the four of them.
"Now, this is all based off of rumors and speculation, but as we all know-"
"the Hogwarts Rumor Mill always has a kernel of truth to it. Rumor is, someone in the school is a direct descendant of-"
"Salazar Slytherin, and they have a lair hidden somewhere in the school, called the-"
"- Chamber of Secrets." They finished in unison.
"The Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked. " Hogwarts: A History never said anything about a chamber…"
"That's because no one has ever been able to access it, you have to speak a magical language-"
"Called Parseltongue, to be able to open it."
"Parseltongue?" Asked Harry. This time, it was Ron who answered.
"It's when you can speak to snakes."
Harry felt himself go pale.
"Oh." he managed.
"Harry?" Asked Ginny in concern.
"I… I think I might be a Parseltongue."
"But… I thought only Dark Wizards spoke Parseltongue!" Ron exclaimed, looking at Harry with wide eyes. Hermione elbowed Ron in the side again.
"Oh honestly, Ronald, how can a language be attributed to Dark Wizards? Don't be daft. Anyways, Harry, how do you know for sure that you can speak to snakes? Are you sure you weren't imagining it?"
Harry paused, before shrugging.
"Maybe. It's happened a few times over the years. I used to come across snakes when I was working in the garden, and when I whispered to them, I could swear they'd whisper back, before something scared them off. Then this one time, i was at the zoo, and I accidentally vanished the glass, and when the snake slid past me, I could've sworn he said "thanks amigo," but I could've imagined it." Hermione looked at him pensively.
"Well," said Fred, grinning.
"Only one way to find out." Finished George, also grinning. The two of them stood up, grabbed Harry's hands, and pulled him off the couch. They practically charged up the stairs to their dorm room, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron trailing after them. Once in the room. They watched as George dug around in his trunk, before pulling out a length of string about three inches long. Fred fished his wand out of his trousers, before turning to George.
" in colubrum, right?"
George nodded, and Fred raised his wand and performed that very spell. Before their very eyes, they watched as the string was transfigured into a small, white snake. When George held out his hands, Harry stepped forward, scooping the still slightly-cottony snake into his own hands. He gave the assembled group an unsure look, but they waved their hands at him as if to say, go on! He brought the snake up to eye level.
" Hello ," he whispered. " I'm Harry. Who are you ?"
Off to the side, Harry heard gasps, but ignored them. In his hands, the little white snake had risen up, looking him squarely in the eyes.
"Hello, speaker. I am Aziraphale. Do you have any rats?"
Harry looked at his friends, because he sure didn't have any rats. They all looked back at him with wide eyes, and he looked at them expectantly.
"Well?" He asked. "Do any of you guys?"
"Harry," Hermione said softly, "we can't understand it."
"Her," Harry corrected absently, "She, um...she wants a rat."
" Please." Hissed Aziraphale pleasantly.
"Please." Harry translated. Still staring at him, one of the twins dug through his pocket until he came up with a packet of candy, which he handed to Harry. Harry looked at the package. Ice Mice, it said, in sparkling letters. Harry held the package up to Aziraphale for inspection, and the snake's little pink tongue flicked out, tasting the air.
" Yes please." She said, and this time, Harry could hear the slight hiss in the words.
Harry turned his hand so Aziraphale could slide down his wrist and wrap herself around it, and with his now-free hand, opened the wrapper to the candy, and grabbed the wriggling figure by the tail. As he lifted it from the package, Aziraphale lifted her head off of Harry's wrist and opened her mouth wide, allowing Harry to drop the candy in whole. With one big gulp, the candy disappeared into Aziraphale's mouth, causing a bulge to appear just behind her head. Despite having very little face to express herself with, Aziraphale looked very pleased.
"Well," said Ginny into the ensuing quiet. "Guess that answers that."
_______________________
By the time dinner rolled around, Harry was itching to get out of the Common Room. He had never done well in confined spaces, and everyone else's agitation was stifling him. When McGonagall opened the portrait to lead them to dinner, Harry was first through, practically leaping through the hole in the wall.
Besides getting out of the room, Harry was excited to show Luna his new friend. He knew she loved animals, and he knew she would love Aziraphale. Aziraphale must have been able to scent his excitement, because she was happily hissing softly from her place across his shoulders, beneath his robes.
McGonagall led the way to the Great Hall, the stream of Gryffindors trailing behind her. Harry felt as if the corridors should feel different, knowing that a beast could be lurking right around the corner.
But Harry had faced monsters before-- lived with them, in fact. He felt much more confident in facing this danger with his friends at his back.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were already full when they entered the Great Hall, so Harry figured that Slytherin probably had the farthest dorms, after them. Harry made a beeline straight for Ravenclaw table, where Luna was sitting at the end, alone. Ginny, Hermione, and Ron followed after him. He sat down beside Luna as soon as he reached the table. She had sat with them at the Gryffindor table before, so Harry didn't think it was too big of a deal for them to sit with her.
"Luna!" He said excitedly. "I have someone amazing for you to meet, you're going to love her-"
"What are you doing sitting at the Ravenclaw table? And with Loony, of all people?" Asked an older girl a few seats down. Harry noticed for the first time that Luna wasn't just sitting by herself, everyone seemed to be avoiding sitting near her. A bolt of anger shot through him.
" Loony?" He said icily. Aziraphale tensed on his shoulder. The girl didn't seem to notice his tone, and gestured offhandedly at Luna beside him.
"I don't know why you'd break the rules for her of all people. She's so barmy she can't even keep track of her shoes." The girl snickered rudely, and the others around her watching the situation tittered. Harry's hand gripped the edge of the table so hard it felt as if it would splinter in his grip.
"Hermione." Harry says, in a voice of quiet danger. His friends all straightened up. "There aren't any rules against sitting at different house tables are there?"
"No."
"And even if there were, I wouldn't hesitate to sit here with Luna, so that she wouldn't be forced to share air with you lot. And if her things don't show up in her dorm tonight and stay there , you'll be missing a lot more than shoes."
The older girl had two spots of color high on her cheeks. The look in her eyes was afraid, but she had a stubborn set to her mouth.
"Yeah? What's a little firstie like you gonna do to me?"
Harry flashed her a sharp grin, and those around them recoiled. He placed his hands on the table and pushed himself into standing. He hissed quietly under his breath, and Aziraphale slid out from inside his robe, straightening up into the air. People turned to look as he stood, and gasped when they saw the snake rising on his shoulder.
The girl turned very pale, and stood from her seat, before darting to the opposite end of the table. Her friends followed after, and Harry stood from the table, moving to dust off his robes.
" Well," he said. " I think that went well, don't you?" His friends looked at him blankly, and before he could correct himself, Luna spoke.
"Oh! You're a Parselmouth?" Harry nodded, and began to open his mouth to tell Luna that that's why he wanted her to meet Aziraphale, when someone screamed. Harry whipped around to see a young Hufflepuff girl at the table behind him pointing dead at him.
"Potter's a Parselmouth!" She cried in fear. A ripple of murmurs went through the Great Hall, and Harry heard snippets of conversations.
"- couldn't be the heir, could he? I mean-"
"He'll set that snake on us next!"
"Who would've thought the Boy-Who-Lived would side with You-Know-Who?"
"Only Dark Wizards can speak Parseltongue!"
Harry watched in horror as hordes of students turned to look at him with fear and disgust.
"You're not welcome at this table!" Jeered someone from further down the Ravenclaw table. Harry backed away from the table as if in a daze, feeling like he’d been struck, and his friends follow after him.
He stumbled his way over to the Gryffindor table, his mind shutting down, back to small spaces, dark rooms, crushing blows, caved stomach, so so thirsty, please let me out…
He was knocked from his mind by someone at the end of the Gryffindor table, standing and crossing their arms. He wasn't sure of their name, but he was sure he'd seen them before, they were 5th year, weren't they? Harry's mind seemed to wander off without him for a moment, but when he came back, he noticed he was being sat at his house table, Percy behind him, gently pushing him onto the seat. Fred and George were on opposite sides of the table, shuffling people down the bench, and then placing themselves between Harry and his friends like protective bookends, despite the outcries of " house traitors!" coming from them.
The Slytherins chose that moment to enter the Great Hall, and before them on the tables dinner appeared. Harry vaguely registered Luna, to his left, speaking in quiet tones to Aziraphale. Hermione, on his other side, piling food onto his plate. Some small part of his brain must have registered food (-- don't let them take it from you eat what you can don't let them see so hungry please don't hurt me it hurts--) because he took bites of his food, chewed, swallowed, and didn't taste a thing. Across from him, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy all stared at him with identical expressions of concern that he'd seen on Mrs. Weasley's face so many times before. Harry choked on a hysterical laugh at the thought, and across from him all the Weasley's brows furrowed further.
Harry took a sip of his pumpkin juice in order to keep himself from laughing again and ended up choking on it. After a moment of coughing, he tilted his head back to try and get a clear breath of air, and Harry's eye caught on the ceiling above them. He'd always loved the sky, loved the shade on a beautiful summer day. He always thought to himself that if he had a room, he would paint his walls that very color. He didn't notice anyone trying to get his attention until Aziraphale nipped his ear lightly. He jerked his head downwards in surprise, and found Luna's hand on his arm, tapping a beat steadily onto his forearm.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Are you alright, Harry?"
Tap, tap, tap.
"Bloody hell mate, what are you doing?"
Tap, tap, tap.
"Don't listen to them, Harry, they're just believing in the prejudices they were raised on."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Will you tell Aziraphale something for me?"
Harry latched onto that, and struggled to turn his head and look at Luna. His head felt as if it would tip off his shoulder, it was so heavy; but at the same time, Harry felt as if he was only just barely keeping it from floating away.
Harry nodded, feeling as though his head was bouncing.
"Say… what?" He croaked out. Luna smiled brightly at him.
"Will you ask him if he would like a rattle? I rather think he would look loads more menacing if he had a rattle to shake at people." Harry blinked at her in confusion, trying to focus his sluggish tongue into movement.
"Menacing?"
"Well, if they're going to call you the heir, you might as well embrace it. Whenever they call me Loony, I make sure to bug out my eyes real big." She did so, and Harry giggled. Luna smiled, pleased with herself.
Across from him, the Weasley's shoulder’s dropped as a unit, united in their relief. Hermione pushed another roll onto his plate, thinking she was subtle, and Harry took a slow bite, savoring the sweet taste.
_______________________
Despite the curfews and rules in place, by mid-November there was another petrification. Nearly Headless Nick was found floating in the air, solid as glass, a message painted on the wall behind him. BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT .
If Harry had thought everyone was being hostile before, that was nothing compared to now. Despite the fact that he couldn’t seem to walk two steps without seeing a teacher, his things were never where he left him, and he found himself the subject of stinging hexes more than once.
His friends, luckily, stood solidly by his side. Ron and Hermione bickered like normal, helped him with homework, played chess with him, and overall just helped him not to focus so strongly on the hatred and fear radiating from everyone else in the common room. Luna would bring him different flowers and tinctures to rub on his throat, carry around, or leave under his pillow. She said that they would help ward off evil intent, and Harry was more than grateful for them.
Ginny, on the other hand, did a different kind of warding. Ginny could return a stinging hex with tenfold the pain originally delivered, and Harry would wager her glare was even more poisonous, despite her pale demeanor. Harry was grateful that despite whatever anxieties she had about the situation, she never stopped standing by him.
The teachers were grim-faced, and Harry wished fiercely that they would catch the culprit already. While he knew that even this grim, grey Hogwarts was better than the Dursleys, he couldn’t help but feel as if his idyllic, gold trimmed view of Hogwarts was slipping through his fingers. He couldn’t rest here, he always had to watch his back-- he wasn’t even safe in his own House! It was a feeling Harry was intimately familiar with, and hadn’t missed a bit.
_______________________
Two weeks later, Harry was really regretting ever thinking anything untowards about Hogwarts.
McGonagall stuck the notice on the wall, right next to the one of the rules for coming and going within Hogwarts. Harry watched in numb shock as she climbed out of the portrait hole. All around him, he could hear the surprised whispers.
“ I heard they were considering shutting down the school, but I didn’t think they’d actually do it!”
“Aw, damn, now my Mum is gonna bother me the whole break about my schoolwork.”
“A Basilisk! We’re lucky no one's been killed yet.”
“Bet Potter’s not surprised, probably all part of his master plan.”
“Well,” said Ron. “It’s only for break. At least they’ll have this whole mess sorted out by the time we come back.”
“I’m glad the teachers have figured it out, an hour a day in the library is simply barbaric.” Hermione replies. Harry tried to shake himself from his numb shock.
“I just… don’t understand why we have to go back to our own houses.” Harry finally managed.
“Probably so that even Muggle parents can get the news if they catch the Basilisk,” Hermione said. “And besides, they probably figure we all need some time away from each other. I mean, we’ve all been cooped up with each other for weeks. I’ll be glad to have a little time to myself.”
“Yeah,” Harry said quietly, thinking of the cupboard under the stairs, “time to myself.”