'Thoughts!'

§ 'Parseltongue!' §

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Serpent's Lair - Part 9!

(Chamber of Secrets!)

10th of October:

It was late Wednesday afternoon, and Harry and his Study Group were in the school library doing their homework for the day. Over the last few days, as expected, there were rumours already spreading about him being the next Dark Lord. Some believe that it was the reason why You-Know-Who went after him as a child, to stop him before he took You-Know-Who's place as a more powerful Dark Lord. Those who weren't close to Harry within the Study Group were slowly leaving the group, not wanting to risk rumours of them being something like the Death Eaters.

Although they did try and counter the fact that Harry wasn't a Dark Lord in training: Cedric tried to convince the Hufflepuffs that Harry was a good person, and he was only trying to help Justin. Cedric was able to convince half of them that Harry was trying to help, but the other half - and Justin himself - were stubborn and wouldn't listen, hanging onto the belief that Harry was goading the snake.

Holly Halliwell though, whilst she believed that Harry was helping the boy, was still giving Harry dark looks for some reason that Harry couldn't explain. But not wanting there to be a problem that could raise questions if he didn't do something, asked why she was there and why was she giving him dark looks. All she said was that she knew that he didn't attack Justin, and the reason that she was there was none of his business, and whilst he didn't attack Justin, she didn't trust him. Something that Harry wasn't happy about, he had hoped to learn more, but whatever she was up to, she was keeping it to herself.

As for the 'Claws and the Snakes, other than Su Li, they had no one to back Harry up within the group, Su was somewhat an Outcast in her house as she didn't speak up much. As for the Slytherins, they didn't care much, in fact they were somewhat insulted that Harry was a Parselmouth. After all, he was the Boy-Who-Lived.

As for Ron, Harry, whilst there were a few rough spots, he thought that they were rebuilding their friendship, or at least that's what he wanted Dumbledore to think. As Harry wanted the old man to think they were rebuilding the friendship, as Harry suspected that the reason Ron came to apologize to him and Hermione, was because of the Headmaster.

The main problem was that Ron tended to whine about their study habits, something that earned him quite a few indignant glares. As unlike Ron, they knew that they had to study hard to get somewhere in the world. He just hoped that Ron wouldn't ruin it too much for them.

To cheer himself up, he played his first prank of the year, he had the House-Elves to put a potion in all the drinks that would change the person's hair and skin colour to their House Colour. Something that got a few laughs.

And today he got a letter from the people from those who were working on the Mystic Comic, sadly they had problems over the summer and they couldn't put the comics on sale when they wanted to. But today's letter stated that it would be on sale this weekend, which made Harry happy, as it was another source of money coming to him, a legit income of money.

It was about fifteen minutes into doing their homework when Melody entered the library. And to the shock to the others, she wasn't alone. She was with Luna Lovegood. The two were happily conversing about, once they got close enough to be heard, magic and how people viewed it. Melody was happily sharing her beliefs about how it was a shame that more people didn't dig deeper while Luna nodded happily along with her.

"Hi Mel, I see you brought a guest with you," Harry said with a smile, "Hey Luna, I hope you're fine."

"Yeah Luna and I have been friends for a week now, shortly after you rescued her." Melody revealed with a smile of her own, "and I thought to bring her to our Group since she doesn't seem to care about the snake business."

Luna shook her head, cheerfully stating, "Oh no, I don't get what all the fuss is about. It's not like snakes talk about taking over the world." She looked suspiciously around before she leaned in and whispered, "That's what Owl's do!"

Harry laughed, finding the mental image of Supreme Commander Hedwig with a swagger stick in her mouth furiously barking out commands and slapping the stick against the map she'd set up with the attack plan on it, directing her troops to take over the US for their plentiful livestock. So many pigs, so much bacon…

"Happy to have you on board, please, take a seat." He gestured towards where Melody normally sat, where two convenient seats were free for the two.

Seeing Ginny, Luna said, "Hey Ginevra, nice to see you again, been a while."

"Luna." Ginny greeted the girl with a smile and a sigh, no matter how many times she asked her not to, Luna would greet her by her birth name. Ginny was part of the group because of Ember, whilst she was part of the group, she still would blush and act shy around Harry. "Good to see you too, how is your mother."

"She is good, she would like to see you again." Luna told her old friend.

"I would like that, I'll try and see her over the summer holidays." Ginny told her with a smile. And without another word, the group begun to do with homework, helping each other out when they needed help.

It was about an hour later, and by this time the rest of Harry's close friends joined them. It was about this time when Harry looked up and saw Cho walking into the library and walk towards them. As she got to their table, Harry asked coldly, "What do you want, Chang." He didn't forgive how she treated Luna.

"I came to apologize to Lovegood." Cho said immediately. "I know I shouldn't have taken it out on her but I was frustrated. I just hit the age when my family thinks I'm old enough to deal with my own marriage offers."

"But you're only what, thirteen?" A confused Hermione interrupted, "you're not old enough to marry!"

"In the Muggle World you would be right, Hermione Granger was it?" Cho asked, to which Hermione nodded, "In the Magical World the practice never died out because people want to preserve their lines. While I'm not the most popular of choices due to my 'filthy foreigner blood' I can still trace my family line back longer than most of the English Pureblood families combined." Cho joked, a vindictive smirk on her attractive face.

"That's… that's wrong though!" Hermione insisted.

Before she could build up any steam Harry suddenly cut her off. "Hermione, we've talked about this. We're in the Magical World, not the Muggle one, things are different here."

The bushy haired girl deflated, sighing in exasperation as she caught what she was about to do. "Right. It's irritating, but at least it's a logical practice, at least from their perspective." She admitted with a clearer head.

"Thanks Harry, I'm just lucky my father delights in watching me deny them. Unfortunately that means I'm forced to write the denial letter, which he insists upon reading. My family doesn't have any pre existing contracts so I wasn't forced to accept any of them. I really love that my parents want me to marry for love, instead of forcing me into one to further their own interests, but the downside to that is the wording needs to be ironclad or someone could claim that I accepted their proposal because I wasn't clear enough. I know it wasn't acceptable for me to bully Lovegood, but with my extra class load with Healing, Symbology, Runes, Arithmancy and Care on top of the constant letters… I chose the worst possible outlet for my stress."

Harry looked somewhat doubtful about that, but that only lasted until Angelina put her thoughts forward, "I know where she's coming from, I had to start doing that two years back. Remember how I was back then, Alicia, Katie? It was Katie's first year." She asked her fellow Chasers.

"Oh yeah, she was a real bitch for a few months." Alicia revealed impishly.

Katie smirked and made her own addition. "Hell of a start for my first year, She was snapping at everyone. I'm a half-blood, and my father's a Pureblood by only a few generations with comparatively little money, power, business investment or anything of interest to other Purebloods. So I didn't have any of those problems." Katie explained with a grateful expression.

"Same for me, my family didn't have any already active, so I got to choose." Alicia explained. "I only had a few, so it was never much of an issue for me."

"Lucky Bitch." Angelina muttered, "My dad works in the Ministry, so there were quite a few people who wanted to marry me so they could ask favours from my dad. I still have loads of them to wade through and when Cho means you need exact wording she isn't kidding, they are a bitch to do."

Harry felt sorry for the girls, but at least it was just a hassle and not a life ruining event. Hearing about this did make him wonder about his other magically raised female friends. "So what about you five?" asked Harry, as he looked at Susan, Hannah, Su, Ginny and Luna.

Hannah was the first to speak, "I'm in the same boat as Katie." She said with a proud smile, "My father has a good business going, but it isn't as good as others out there. No active contracts, so I shouldn't have any problems like the others."

Su was next. The entire group turned their attention to her, since this was a question she couldn't hope to answer in a short reply. "Father is a highly respected official. He deals with the contracts from home, while I deal with the English contracts. One existing contract activated upon my birth, but it has been dealt with."

"Dealt with?" Harry asked curiously, he was shocked how much he liked her soft voice. He really thought she should talk more.

Su's calm expression showed a hint of something; irritation with a tinge of smug satisfaction. "Yes. My suitor decided I was weak and vulnerable, due to my physical stature and tried to lay his hands upon me. I decided he didn't deserve to keep them."

Harry was more surprised of Su's vindictive little smirk, then he was by the groups female members applauding, which was promptly shushed by Madame Pince.

"You really should talk more, Su," Harry told the young girl, "you got a sweet soft voice." At this there was some 'here, here,' from the group, and Su blushing a bit.

Luna spoke next, her normally cheerful attitude still present despite the situation. "I don't get very many, though the Lovegood family is quite old. My mother prefers to deal with them because she enjoys throwing them into the fireplace and claiming they never arrived. And unless they can prove we got them, we don't have to do anything and they can't do anything to us."

"I like that method." Harry blurted.

Hermione patted him on the back, sending him a sly smile. "Of course you would."

"What?" Harry asked innocently, only prompting the group to laugh harder.

Susan spoke next after the noise had settled down, "My aunt is still dealing with them, but with her job already being busy, she's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." She clarified for those who didn't know. "With her new arm and returning to work, I expect they'll be shunted off to me sooner rather than later to save her some work. My aunt suspects that there's at least one active contract for me to fulfil. If it exists, I'll be able to look at it when I turn thirteen next year. If it's inescapable I'll be married before I turn seventeen."

The group was silent, the mood now slightly depressed at their friends possible fate. "Well at least there's a chance it doesn't exist, so it's not set in stone or anything."

Su added her own thoughts, slipping back into her normal speech patterns, but still with a blush. "Fight."

Susan smiled brightly at them, her mood lightened a good deal. "Thank you. I'm not sure if we have a law in place to do such a thing in Magical Britain, Su, but I think I'll be sending a letter to my aunt to ask very soon."

Before any of them could say more a beautiful blonde in Slytherin robes came up to them and asked, "Excuse me, but may I talk to Potter alone please."

"And you are?" Harry inquired.

"Forgive me, I'm Heiress Daphne Greengrass." Daphne answered. She could have almost hit herself for forgetting her manners, she was raised to be a proper Pureblood, and here she was, not following decorum. "And I would like to talk to you, Heir Potter, about something private." Those who had Pureblood parents, or an aunt in Susan's case, gasped or reacted in some manner of shock. Daphne's use to titles was a very good indicator she wanted to talk about something serious.

"Not to be rude, but what would a Slytherin want to talk to me about?" asked Harry, then realizing where he heard the name before, "And the infamous Ice Princess at that?" He questioned further as he finally placed her name. Not only did he know the name because of her reparticion at Hogwarts, but because of her father.

As Maverick, Lord Cyrus Greengrass borrowed money from him, the money was for his business adventure, which was to breed, train and sell Hippogriffs. Cyrus saw work horses in the Muggle World when he was younger, and realized that they could use Hippogriffs to do some of the same jobs as the work horses, like in farming and pulling carriage, which some would be able to fly. And whilst like Mr. Darkstar, Lord Greengrass was behind in his debt, but unlike Darkstar, Greengrass was a Lord and wasn't as far behind in his debts like Darkstar. But giving a Lord a bit of lire way, would be useful in the future.

"Harry!" The Pureblood raised children hissed at him.

"His reaction is understandable, I understand his reasoning." Daphne waved it off. "The louder factions of Slytherin have made the entire school distrustful of all of us. I was going to suggest we move a few tables down; out of casual hearing distance, but close enough that you all can see I'm not doing anything untoward. Is this acceptable, Heir Potter?"

Harry's interest was peaked, judging by his friends' reaction this was apparently sort of a big deal, so he nodded and stood up, "Alright Greengrass, we'll talk. I hope some part of this chat will involve you telling me why you're calling me Heir Potter, although I might have a rough idea why you are."

Daphne smiled to herself, this was easier than she thought it would be. Potter didn't hate Slytherins on principle at least, something she wouldn't have blamed him for but would have made her job difficult. "Thank you Heir Potter."She said simply.

With that Daphne and Harry moved down a few tables while Harry's friends were left whispering to each other about what was going on.

o0OoO0o

"Explain." Harry said simply, he might be interested in what the 'Ice Princess' had to say, but that didn't mean he had all day to do so, he had other things he could be doing, Melody, for instance, was one of the things he could be doing.

Seeing that Harry wasn't going to humor her if she tried to beat around the bush, Daphne started, "Since I can safely assume you don't know about your status as the Potter Heir I think it would be best to start there. First off, tell me, do you know anything about your Heritage?"

Since she didn't phrase or say it condescendingly, Harry had no reason to get snarky. "No, probably not in the context you're alluding to. " He answered easily. "All I know is that I've got a Family Vault I can look in on when I become of age at seventeen, and have a few seats on the Wizengamot, which I don't know much about." An annoyed look crossed his face as he muttered, more to himself, "I really do need to research the Wizengamot and Pureblood Traditions, I keep meaning to but it slips my mind."

"Simplistic, but not a wrong answer per se." She answered. "The truth is the Potter family is an exceptionally old family and had quite a bit of power in the political world. Your family has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and having the guts to do what they need to do. It's earned a lot of enemies, but it's also earned more gold and even Wizengamot seats than any other single family. You're a very powerful person, not just magically, but politically as well."

"And so you wish to use this power somehow, how…?" Harry realized why the 'Ice Princess' of Slytherin wanting to talk to him.

She didn't bat an eye at his assumption, considering his assumption was correct she moved on to confirmation. "Protection."

"Huh?" He blurted at the sudden answer.

"Whilst being in Slytherin has it own risks, depending on who you are and who you know, it's slowly becoming more dangerous for me and my friends." Daphne explained to Harry honestly. She knew if she lied to him she wouldn't get his protection and a few other things she wanted from Harry. "You see, the Malfoys are an old family, and have accumulated quite a bit of political power. Without someone to stop them, namely you and the Longbottoms, the next oldest family still around, they have free run over England.

"The point is, Draco's family has a lot of power, most of the older Slytherins do as he says because they fear what his father would do to them and their family. Not nearly as many as he would like, but that's what he gets for being so whiny, blustering on about getting you in trouble all the time. Frankly most have just stopped caring and ignore him. However, he is swaying the impressionable younger years, with his preaching of the 'Purebloods are best' dogma and appealing to their juvenile delusions." She explained. "He's getting older and more arrogant, wanting to prove he's in control. Predictably, he's putting pressure on the neutral factions, of which my friends and I are a part of; this is where you come in. Being seen with you will give us a measure of protection. Draco may be a moron, but the rest of our House know it's a bad idea to earn the ire of the Potters."

Harry was silent for a few moments as he worked the pros and cons over in his mind; so far they were equal. But there was one thing that bothered him, and so he asked, "What about Anastasia Lestrange? Why not go to her? She is Draco's cousin after all, and not only is Draco afraid of her, from what I have learnt about her, everyone is afraid of her mother. So why don't you go to her for help?"

"You're right, many of those in Slytherin are terrified of the Lestranges, and so no one would dare to bother or mistreat Lestrange." Daphne explained to Harry, before she went on to say with a sigh, "But the thing is that she wants nothing to do with us, she says she has better things to do than helping us. Not surprising really, most Slytherins look out for their own, and do whatever best interest them. Which is why we came to you, whilst she has the fear down right, if someone really had the guts they could go after her through political ways. Which is why is why we came to you, as if you work it right, you can have more political power than the Malfoys."

"Say I do this, you get protection and whatever else comes from being friends with me, benefits I will admit I'm mostly ignorant of, but if you get all this, what do I get?" Harry confronted her, "I'm a Parselmouth, and a few people have already started thinking that I'm a Dark Wizard or soon will be at any rate. But should I agree to help you, it wouldn't look good if I suddenly become friends with a few Slytherins; makes it far easier than I'm comfortable with for the idiots that fill the larger portion of the beds in this school to jump to conclusions. My plan is to keep my head down until they all move onto the next big gossip bait, said plan is shot if I take you and your friends in. So once again I ask you this, what do I get out of this should I help you."

Daphne smiled; it seemed that there was more to Harry then met the eye, it may have just been mostly based around survival, but Harry had a Slytherin side. She really had her work cut out for her in one of her goals then. "Aside from teaching you all about the Wizengamot, I know of a mental discipline called Occlumency."

"So do I, otherwise there would be a few people who would be nothing but ash by now." Harry smirked at the Slytherin, who was shocked at this. "As not only does it grant me a number of abilities; better memory recall, easier memorization, the it also guards my mind from those who can use Legilimency, which is useful because of Snape and Dumbledore wanting to know what I'm up to. I was planning to teach my friends who don't know it this year."

Now Daphne knew that there was more to Harry Potter than meet the eye, to know about Occlumency, as there were only two ways in learning Occlumency, someone teaching you it or learning it in books. Seeing that such books were banned from Hogwarts and most shops, it was unlikely for Potter to learn Occlumency from books, which lead to someone teaching him. And who knows what else that person might have taught the Boy-Who-Lived. Daphne sighed, it would seem that it wasn't going to be easy to get the Potter Heir on her side. Then a thought occurred to her, and hoping for the best, she said, "I know the basics of Legilimency, so I could teach you, and only you, how to use it."

This caught Harry's interest, as it was something that Harry wanted to learn for a bit, but never got around into learning it. As it was an useful skill to have, as he could find information on others. As he was thinking about this, Daphne added, "I would also be more than happy to teach you about how to wield that political power I was talking about before, and teach you and your friends about the Pureblood Traditions not just about the who's who of the Wizengamot." (A/N: Don't normally do this, but I would like to ask for stories that has Pureblood Traditions in them, please leave them in the review.)

That pretty much sealed it for Harry, as he needed to know how the Wizengamot ran, and knowing about the Pureblood Traditions could help him greatly. As knowing these things would help him control the Purebloods, or at the very least get them on his side. Come what may, Daphne's offer was just too good to let the school's increased ire make him refuse. "Alright, welcome to the Study Group. Well, those of us who aren't afraid of the fact that I can hiss better than most." He joked as he extended a hand.

Daphne inwardly smirked, she got a small part of what she wanted and now she would need to work on Harry to get the rest. But for now…"Well put, but don't think we'll be turned away by it, Blaise may even find it attractive…" She said with her first show of solid emotion as she smiled mischievously.

Aside from a brief confused look - which disappeared when he met Blaize and became aware of his preference in partners - the rest of the evening was spent doing homework and getting to know their newest additions.

o0OoO0o

31st of October:

It was once again a late Wednesday afternoon, and people were relaxing before they headed down to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast, although he and the others had other plans. Harry and the rest of his Gryffindor friends were either like Melody and Hermione reading, or like Ember and Ginny playing a game of Exploding Snap or another game. As for Harry he was reading a few notes for his classes as he thought about the last three weeks.

It had been somewhat bothersome, he knew that when the Mystic Comics about him came out, he would have fans coming after him to get the comics signed by him. It would seem that there was more into the Boy-Who-Lived than he suspected, as he couldn't enter the Great Hall or walk down a corridor without having someone coming up to them and asking him to sign their comic. He had to take hidden shortcuts to get away from them.

Harry shook his head as he thought about it. Because he was a Parselmouth, many thought of him as a Dark Lord in training. But when the comics came out, apart for a few, he was the hero again and they wanted his signature. Harry was amused though, Lockhart seemed to be put out about it all, as at the moment Harry was getting more lime light than he was, be it good or bad. And he stopped using Harry for his re-enactment, something Harry was happy about. But Holly was giving him more intense dark looks, and there was nothing Harry could do about it.

When he wasn't being stalked by his fans, he was fucking Melody or training with his friends. Talking about training, at long last Melody, Hermione and he restarted their personal training, learning what they could about the powers they wanted to learn. The only one of their friends that they asked to join them was Ember, as she was a Mystic and knew how to learn something like what they were trying to do. She would sometimes come, but often enough decide spend time with Ginny. Harry found this strange, but Hermione put it down to her wanting to spend time with her new friend, and getting to know new people, which wasn't a bad thing. Harry wasn't sure about this, but for the better of him, he decided to let her be for now.

They didn't ask the others to join them yet, as they didn't know if they could do the same as them, as they heavily relied on their wands and weren't sure if they were able to do what Harry and others could. Harry and the girls decided until they knew what they were doing, they would not ask their friends to join them until they knew what they were doing themselves.

Not only that, but during the nights Harry and Lucy were making plans in killing Daniel Granger. They were able to find a way to get out of Hogwarts during the weekend, seeing that most of the time he spent training alone in the afternoons, so no one would find it strange for him to disappear for a few hours, as they would think he was training. The only thing they needed to come up with now was how to kill Dan, they had a few ideas, they just needed a few more days before deciding what to do. The plan was to make it look like an accident, so that his death wouldn't be looked into too much.

Harry also sent a letter to his Account Manger at Gringotts, about getting money to get some new brooms for Hogwarts. He did this not to get into the good books of the fools who thought him as a Dark Lord in training, but to piss off the Slytherin Quidditch Team. If they thought they would have an easy time at it, he was going to show them how wrong they were. Harry was glad to learn that thanks to the money coming from the comics, and some coming from his Trust Vault, he was able to buy some new brooms too.

Sure they weren't Nimbus 2001's, but from what he was told, for non-professional players, they were over the top brooms and the most dangerous brooms to use. So Gringotts sent some older model brooms that were considered to be safe, reliable and good brooms for the first years to learn on. And for the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Quidditch Teams, they were sent professional grade Quidditch Brooms, each engraved with the House and the position on the handle. The Seeker and the Chaser positions received Nimbus 2000's, for their superior acceleration and handling. The Beater positions received Cleansweep Sevens, which had close to the accelerations and handling of the Nimbus but were a more stable platform from which to strike the Bludger. The Keeper position received a Comet 260, which caused a bit of an uproar until two of the Quidditch Keepers noted that the Comet 260's were very stable brooms and, while they did not have the top speed of the Nimbus or the Cleansweep, Keepers did not need fast top speeds instead needed quick bursts of speed between the goals which the Comet did very well.

This upset the Slytherin Quidditch Team a lot, whilst they had the faster brooms, the other teams got the professional grade Quidditch Brooms. Now the games would be who was more skilled, and not on who was faster, so it meant the Slytherins would need to train even more if they wanted to win any of their Quidditch games.

As for the Slytherins that joined the group, things went as suspected. Those in Gryffindor, other than those close to him, looked at him weary, and there were whispers behind his back - but Harry was suspecting that from the fools. The Weasley Twins, Katie, Ember, Hermione, Melody and Ginny welcomed them warmly. Although Ginny was a bit weary of them, but Harry suspected it was because of the stories that Ron might give her along with how her parents might think of them. Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Katie's friends from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, seemed to treat them with respect, as long as they didn't do anything to hurt their friend. Su and Luna were more than happy to let them join their group. Cedric, in true Hufflepuff fashion, had been the first to welcome the Slytherins in with just Harry's word to back them up, Susan was the same, but Hannah was a bit unsure about them, but was willing to welcome them.

Blaize found a fast friend in the older Hufflepuff, while Tracey seemed to drift from person to person, testing the waters with them all, but never quite finding the correct person for her to bond with in a close friendship. Daphne herself stuck by his side, a position Harry was happy to encourage due to her lessons in Legilimency and teaching him about the Pureblood Traditions and about the Wizengamot.

Blaize being openly gay was a bit of a change, and Harry was at first a bit uncomfortable when Blaize started hitting on him. He had backed off quickly and assured Harry it was all in good fun, it was just the way he was around people he trusted. Being sheltered in the Slytherin House, had lead him to being rather repressed. So after a while Harry just got used to it; it made Blaize happy so he didn't mind so much.

Harry was interested to find that, while Blaize's tastes were generally discouraged in the Magical World - though the older families like the Malfoys who followed the old ways greatly discouraged it. Being gay meant that they couldn't continue their family line, and so any men that felt they were attracted to other men didn't admit it publicly, lest they be disowned. There were a few that would beat the people that were found out to be gay, sometimes to their death. Luckily the number of people with this belief were dying out, the families with children that still believe in the old way in Hogwarts were all in Slytherin, hence why Blaize was having problems.

Blaize wasn't obligated to continue the Zabini name because he had an older sister. Blaise had confided in them that he sometimes wondered if his infamous older sister even existed though, because she was constantly hidden away, possibly hiding from their mother, whose husbands were known to have… accidents.

Female/female relationships were also equally discouraged, unless the two women were married to the same man - in which case it was encouraged. Harry chuckled at the double standards, but really wasn't all that surprised.

As for learning about Pureblood Traditions, Harry learnt that the main reason people like the Weasleys were called Blood Traitors, wasn't only because of them siding with the Muggles and Muggleborns, but because they were Anti-Traditionalist, and wanted nothing to do with the Pureblood Traditions. Susan and rest of them were considered as Non-Traditionalist, whilst they don't agree with the Traditions, they won't against those who were traditionalist, unlike Anti-Traditionalist were

And the reason that Muggleborns were frowned upon, belittle their Traditions, and think they could do better. From Harry's point of few he could understand their feelings, for a long time they lived with Traditions, and for them to change, is something they find hard, as they find order with Tradition and without it, their lives could become chaos. They blamed Dumbledore, who was trying to make Muggleborns more welcomed in the Wizarding World.

What Harry couldn't understand was the fact that the Muggleborns were so against the Pureblood Traditions, as they seemed to accept other countries traditions and cultures as long as they didn't harm or kill a person - so why wouldn't they accept the Pureblood Traditions. Sure with the so called slavery with the House-Elves, they would be a bit off with the culture. But like Hermione, once they explained why House-Elves were bonded to a family and didn't get money, whilst they might not like it, it would be at least more accepting. Harry, not for the first time, wondered why this sort of thing wasn't taught at Hogwarts, as if they did, he suspected there would be less problems, and maybe a few might follow some of the Pureblood Traditions.

One of the things that Daphne taught Harry and the others so far was the basics, how great someone who was a Traditionalist, which was Merry Meet and as a goodbye, it was Merry Part. She also taught them how to bow, it was different to each person, friends, allies and sign of respect to those you don't like or know, and those who were higher standing than you. Daphne told them which people they should do this too. She also taught him how to write with a quill properly, whilst it wasn't too bad for a normal person, for someone who was from a Most Ancient and Noble House, it was a bit of an embarrassment.

Daphne told them that most of the Slytherins, were traditionalists, and so because of the standing that Malfoy had, they all had to bow to him. It was Hermione who asked, if there was anyone Malfoy had to bow to, and why no one in the Great Hall had done it before now? It would be something that Malfoy would want.

Daphne explained no one bowed out of self-preservation, as people like in Gryffindor would hate it, as most were Anti-Traditionalist, and so they don't bow so not to cause too much of a stir. And those who Malfoy would have to bow to, there was about twenty-three of them, the only one at Hogwarts who he would have to bow to, was Harry. Harry had fun with this, as one day when Draco decided to make his appearance to try and pick a fight, Harry shocked him by greeting him in the Pureblood way, and when Draco didn't reply back in such a way that a so called Pureblood should, Harry said that he was disappointed with him and if he didn't go away he would write to his father and tell him about it.

This made Draco go red in the face, as he didn't like being told how to act by a Half-Blood. But at the same time, with the Potter House being a Higher House than the Malfoys, the Malfoy Heir knew he couldn't do anything, at least with so many witness. So red faced and embarrassed Draco left the Great Hall. Since than Draco didn't go near Harry and his friends, not now that the Boy-Who-Lived seemed to know about the Pureblood Traditions.

Then when Harry shrugged one time, Daphne also informed them that he shouldn't shrug, in fact if they were going to spend time with him, they shouldn't either, as it was unbecoming. She also informed Harry that he should say he guessed, he needs to be decisive seeing he would be the new Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter.

Other than the Pureblood Traditions, he learnt a bit about the Wizengamot. Harry learnt that there was seventy-seven seats, the first ten seats were for the following: the Minister, Head of Auror-department, Office for Misuse of Magic, Head of the Unspeakables, Head of International Cooperation, Head Warden of Azkaban, Head-Auror, Head of St. Mungo, Senior Undersecretary. Then there was the ten seat for who got the Order of Merlin First Class, at the moment there were only three people who had these seats. Then if there was any, there's six seats for ambassadors, so far there was only one person with a seat was Ambassador Chang. The rest was because of the way England was run, it was hard to gain a seat because of the belief that most in Wizengamot had.

Then there were twenty-eight seats for the Noble Houses, those who were rich but been in Britain for less than a thousand years. Sadly there were a few that no longer had anyone to take over them, either because the House was extinct, or the Heir/Lord was defunct due to either being a Dark Creature, or was in Azkaban. Then there was the sixteen seats of the Ancient Houses, Houses who have been in Britain for more than a thousand years, but lost their riches. Lastly there was the last six seats, Ancient and Noble Houses, these were those who lived more than fifteen hundred years in Britain and who were extremely rich and possibly founders of the Wizengamot.

Daphne told them that the main jobs that the Wizengamot had were the following: trials for all people who committed crimes of a certain seriousness (Murder, Rape, Line-theft, etc.) International trading with other countries allowing or forbidding (Meaning if they allow the goods of certain countries to enter Britain; for instance the law against flying Carpets, or certain magical creatures like Dragons) They were also responsible for the creation and removal of Laws (both concerning Magical Creatures and Wizards.) Finally they are the Emergency War-Council in case of a Magical War like what Grindelwald did in World War Two.

Other than learning Traditions and Wizengamot, he and those who did know about Occlumency, started to teach those who didn't. Harry learnt with Daphne, the rest of the Slytherin group already knew Occlumency, along with the Hufflepuffs other than Hannah knew it too. Although Susan had learned it when she was very little and hadn't kept very up to date with it. Surprisingly, or maybe not if they thought about it, the Weasley Twins knew it, it would explain why they didn't get caught by Snape. The only other person who knew it was Su Li.

Daphne at the start wanted to check Harry's own shield, to see how good they were, and was shocked to see what she found.

It was a hellish like place, it started of within a huge cavern, with fire, brimstone, and lava everywhere, and in the centre of it was a small island, with a statue of Harry himself. In the centre of the island was a ten-foot pyramid with a flat top, placing it where the throne once was with the throne atop it - the throne was made of charred bone, red silk cushions and some kind of red leather for accents. Steps made up of fake memories were marked by more torches, leading the way up to the throne. Around it were thin, five-foot obsidian pillars placed at each corner, a warm glow emanating from the lava running through their cores.

Daphne saw bridges going into the entrances of the cavern, although the entrances were blocked by gates, which she suspected was where Harry hid his memories. Guarding the gates looked like what Daphne thought was magma, with arms and legs of fire. Harry informed Daphne later, that he added them just recently.

Daphne was impressed at his mindscape, although for a split second, she thought she saw a girl with black hair smirking at her. But in that mere second of seeing her, the girl was gone. She didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, it gave her the creeps. When she came out of the mindscape, she asked Harry that should someone get past the imps and the gates, what was protecting his memories.

But Potter would only smirk as he said that it was nearly impossible to get through the gates, as the switches to them were hidden so unless they could find them, no one could get to this memories. And by some chance someone was able to get past the guards and the gates, there were other things protecting his memories, like a maze and red vines, where should someone touch them, they would lunge forward to try and impale them. That was just two of the things protecting them, and it wasn't where his most important memories were, they were hidden somewhere else all together.

Daphne had to admit that she was really impressed, whoever taught him, taught Harry well, as he had impressive shields, and defenses, anyone who tried to enter his mind would have a few problems. Making it hellish was off putting at first, but that would be enough to push most people out of his mind before they knew what was going on. And should they try again, they would have to find a way past the imps and the gates and whatever else was on those caves. And then if they found out that the important memories weren't in the cave, they would have to find them and they could be anywhere.

Occlumency was a slow skill to learn, especially at first, but they were getting a solid grasp on the basics and already were seeing some minor improvement in their mental prowess. Although both Ginny and Ember stopped after a few lessons, saying they found it too hard as if something was blocking them. Daphne explained that it happens from time to time, the mind wasn't ready, as they had to face memories and/or feelings that they weren't ready to face for whatever reason and so they should give the two time to deal with whatever is stopping them from learning Occlumency themselves, and be there when they asked for help.

Hermione, Melody and the others could all feel when Daphne was using Legilimency on them, but the Ice Princess warned them that she only allowed herself to be felt, there are those who could enter a person's mind without them knowing. Melody was very worried about what Daphne would learn, and Harry was the same, as she could learn things about him that he didn't want her to know and use against him. But they didn't have to worry though, as Daphne made a vow not to tell anyone what she found in their minds, nor use it against them before she used Legilimency on them.

When Hermione and the others learnt about Harry's mindscape, they wanted to learn the same. But Daphne told them that it was advanced Occlumency, and would be some time before they could learn it. But she told them that once they knew the basics, and she knew they could handle it, she would teach them how to create a mindscape like Harry's.

What shocked Daphne when she entered Melody's mind, was what the Boy-Who-Lived was like, he was nothing he portrayed himself as. From Melody's memories, she saw that Potter was much more cunning and darker than anyone would take him as. He wanted to become some kind of super powerful Dark Lord known as the Overlord. And it seemed that he wasn't all talk either. He had power, power that he didn't show to the rest of the world and he was looking to gain more power too. And as a Mystic, he was learning it in ways others in the Wizarding World didn't think about.

It would seem that Harry Potter was going after the same goal as she, and from the young Granger's mind, she didn't think she had seen everything that her Master could do yet. From just seeing these memories, Potter had a better chance at taking over the world than she did. As she thought about it, having the Overlord's Wand, and his Gauntlet, if the Gauntlet was real, then Harry Potter could have much a better chance.

But what of her own plans, she questioned herself, should she give up seeing that there might be someone better for the job? No it wasn't the Slytherin way, she would need to find a way around this. But still, if the Boy-Who-Lived wanted to become the like the Overlord, and had two of his items, things just got interesting. The Greengrass Family knew a bit about the Overlords, in fact they tried to get anything related to the Overlord for themselves, in the hopes that one day one of their own would become the next. In fact they had a chest that could only be opened by the current Overlord.

With Potter having two items belonging to the Overlord, it is very likely that he could be the new Overlord and might not even know it. But at the same time it could be sheer luck that he had these items. Daphne knew she had to find out, one way or another, and knew she had to talk to her father soon.

As for Cho, after dealing with the denial letters that she had to send out, she had become more friendly. She helped to make sure Luna was fine and no more bullies popped up to bother her. She dropped by occasionally, but never really bonded with anybody in the group. Harry was just glad she seemed to be smarter than the rest of the school.

Harry found Luna a bit strange, yes, but she was lonely and it was readily apparent with a little searching that all she wanted was a friend, and once he, Hermione and Melody earned that place in her life her cheerful demeanor became a lot more genuine. While this was a refreshing change, and helped combat the rest of the school's expected increased animosity towards them, many still found it hard to take the girl seriously when she occasionally went off on tangents about creatures none of them had ever heard of. Harry and Melody both expressed interest in learning about the various species - even if they weren't real they were still interesting to hear about them - but everyone else politely declined whenever Luna asked if they wanted to know more about what she was talking about.

The increased camaraderie between Harry and Luna allowed him to ask more personal questions, or rather, Luna felt more comfortable opening up around him. It wasn't long before Harry found out why she acted the way she did; she saw her father die. Her mother was a spell crafter, and shortly after Luna turned nine she was sitting in on one of her mother's experiments - testing a new spell when it backfired somehow. As spells tended to do most often when they went wrong, it exploded. Part of their house had collapsed, trapping both Luna and Selene inside. Xeno, Luna's father, had been in his study in the section of the house that remained standing and rushed to go help them.

The man had managed to exceed his limits and haul the debris out of the way to get them both free, but at the last second had been forced to shove his wife out of the way when a section of the roof had given out, getting crushed beneath the slab in the process. Upon seeing her father's death Luna wasn't able to deal with it and acted up a bit. Thanks to her mother, Luna wasn't as bad as she could have been, like if her father had lived instead. Xeno was a kind and caring person, but he was a bit crazy already, couldn't handle a large amount of responsibility and had never taken grief well.

To no one's surprise, after Luna had offhandedly mentioned being bullied again the incidents came to a sharp and sudden stop within a few days. Her, would be, bullies would go missing for a few hours, only to reappear completely pale and very respectful to the blond girl; giving her stolen items back right away. It was never mentioned around the blond that these people would not look Harry in the eye.

Some had - while Luna wasn't around - voiced concerns about his methods being too harsh, but Harry pointed out that, as useless as the staff was about disciplining those that deserved it, the bullies would only have points taken from them and possibly, if the infraction was bad enough and there was solid evidence, they would get thrown into a detention or two. Neither of these two punishments meant they would stop their bullying, it just meant they would be more sneaky about it. Harry's way guaranteed that they knew there would be consequences to their actions.

He refrained from admitting there had been a few slow learners among the House of the Wise and he had needed to actually carry out his threats. You wouldn't think an old sock and a bar of soap would be enough to cause five teenage boys to burst into tears, but that was the end result.

Harry found himself thinking of the future benefits of being such close friends with a girl who had voiced her desire to follow in her very successful mother's footsteps in spell creation, despite the accident. It would be awhile before this desire bore any real fruit, but he found himself with an abundance of time and made it clear that if she ever needed anything for experiments she should just ask.

Ron was a strange case for Harry, he wouldn't mind spending time with them and eager to learn and get along with everyone fairly well. But than there would be times where he would spend time with Tony and Neville, wanting nothing to do with them, nor the school work. Other times he would snap at the Slytherins any time they talked, and refuse to even open his books because nobody was willing to do all of his homework for him. And would call Harry a Dark Lord in Training, for being around the evil slimy snakes. It was all very abrupt and sudden, unnatural even, but Ron's behaviour had always been pretty hypocritical. Harry had nearly had enough, and was pretty close to breaking off whatever he had with the red head, it wasn't worth it all.

As for Quidditch and Alice Longbottom, for Quidditch they were having training after school and in the morning at the weekends. Harry found it boring, as all he had to do was look out the the Snitch whilst looking out for the Bludgers. Because of the bet, he couldn't pull out, as he needed to play for a year, so unless he was kicked off, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. But that didn't mean that he didn't have plans for the first game.

And as for Alice, Harry had sent a few letters to his godmother, she tried to explain the reasons behind it, but he didn't care. He could understand wanting to protect their child, but he was her Godson, and had the same right for her protection too. They could train Neville and him together, hide each other in the same place, they would be together and protected. The only reason that he was writing to Alice, was because he wanted to get close to her and hope to fuck her and make her his and repay her for abandoning him for so long.

It was now Halloween, and Harry and his close friends were coming back from Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Deathday Party. A few days ago, Harry was walking back from Gryffindor's training sessions for their first Quidditch Game; it was hell and made him wonder why he accepted the damn bet. Captain Oliver Wood was a mad man, no matter the weather, he would train the team as hard as possible. The first day of training seemed to set the mood quite well; it was pouring out, any sensible person would be inside where it was dry and warm, but Oliver wanted to train, so they trained.

They also secretly planned to smother him with a pillow. Though that may have just been Harry.

When they finished Harry was heading back to the tower to get a wash when he was 'caught' by Mrs. Norris, the skeletal gray cat who was used by the caretaker, Argus Filch, as a sort of deputy in his endless battle against students. Despite not breaking any rules at all Harry was hauled back to the man's office.

He wasn't sure what the bitter man was going to do, but before he could open his mouth Harry heard a huge bang above them and the next thing he knew Filch was roaring about Peeves, the school poltergeist. The man stormed out of his office, his cat hot on his heels.

Harry waited a moments to make sure he was safe, looking at his surroundings as he did so. There was an envelope that stood out on the man's desk. Harry knew he shouldn't have looked at it, but his curiosity got the better of him. Contained within was basically the magical version of a self help book, or maybe just a scam. It was a series of pamphlets about people without magic, Squibs, learning how to use magic via magical foci the pamphlets were selling for exorbitant prices. Harry could easily make the connection, Filch was a Squib, which explained his bitter outlook on life. Harry wondered why Dumbledore would hire such a man like him, but quickly decided the man had some kind of grudge against children or something, because he hired Snape too.

Filch returned, but was too exhausted and covered in some kind of barf green slime to deal with Harry, so he dismissed the Gryffindor without any kind of punishment.

On his way back Harry bumped into Nick. The Nearly-Headless Ghost informed Harry that he was the one that sent Peeves to make the commotion. The two talked for a bit and after a while Harry agreed to go to Nick's Deathday party in gratitude for helping him out, and finally a way to thank him for finally having his head fully off from last year. Harry was also just interested in the idea, it sounded like something worth checking out on a day he would have rather avoided anything having to do with his parents. After requesting additional invitations for his friends, which a delighted Nick happily provided, they parted ways.

Harry found himself embraced by a giddy Luna when he pitched the idea at next study session. Apparently she was already going and had been hesitant about inviting the others. Her worries were unfounded, everyone seemed to find the party worth checking out and agreed to come. Luna did suggest they have something to eat first, since the only food there would be incredibly rotten and likely give them terrible tummy aches. The Weasley Twins came through for everyone when they revealed they knew how to get into the Hogwarts kitchen.

Harry thought's were interrupted when Hermione said, "Harry, it is time for us to get to the kitchens."

"Thank you, Hermione," Harry said with a smile, "I'll be with you in a few moments." And with that Harry finished what he was doing, and got ready to go to the kitchens.

When they got to the kitchens, it was hard for Hermione to hold her tongue when she found the House Elves making food for upcoming feast, but she remembered what Harry told her the past summer and really looked at the Elves. They all seemed very happy with what they were doing, chatting with one another as they worked, not at all like the mistreated creatures she'd made them out to be in her head. After eating some food, the group went to the Death Party.

Turns out Luna's advice was a very good idea, because every bit of the food was rotten and smelt horrible. When they asked Nick why this was he revealed that Ghosts couldn't really taste the food, but the closer anything was to 'death' the more of an… echo, of what the food once tasted like they could feel. Nick apologized for the lackluster explanation, but there really wasn't the right words to explain it to a living being.

So, as long as they stayed well away from the food table, the party itself was very interesting. The ghosts were more than happy to regale the students with tales of their life, and hours passed in what could even be considered an unofficial Magical History lesson. Like all good things though, the party eventually came to an end. Luna pointed out that if they hurried they could probably catch the serving of dessert in the Great Hall, so they set off on their way after a final goodbye to Nick.

Whilst the others weren't too happy about eating after seeing what they did at the party, Luna, Susan, Su, Melody, Hermione and Harry found the idea useful. Whilst what they saw in food wise was

§ "… rip… tear… kill…" §

Harry froze suddenly as they were making their , stumbling to a halt, looking around for the whispered voice.

"Harry, what're you-?" Hermione began as she noticed him stop.

§ "… sssoo hungry… for ssso long…" §

"I hear a really quiet voice, can anyone here it?" Harry asked.

§ "… kill … time to kill…" §

"I thought I heard something that sounded like running water, or maybe hissing." Luna mentioned, looking around too.

Harry didn't hear her, his ears were too busy tracking the whispers; they were moving, upwards. How could it be moving upward? Was it a phantom, or some other kind of being that could bypass solid objects?

"This way!" He exclaimed as he began to run up the stairs, into the Entrance Hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, his friends clattering behind him, wondering what was going on.

"Is it closer?" Melody asked.

Harry strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, he heard the voice: § "… I sssmell blood… I SSSMELL BLOOD!" §

Without a word Harry took off running again, flying up the next flight of stairs two at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps. He slid to a stop when he got to the top of the stairs and the voice quickly fled.

"Harry, what was that all about?" Susan panted, wiping sweat off her face. "I couldn't hear anything…"

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor. "Look!" She exclaimed in shock.

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

Enemies of the Heir, beware!

"What's that?" Su wondered.

A sudden splashing caused them to jump, only to relax when they looked down and found the area flooded. Ignoring the water they began inching close to the message again, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash; Peeves, the school's poltergeist. He was floating there, his body was arced backwards.

For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Daphne said, "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He agreed, not wanting to get the blame for whatever happened to the poltergeist.

"Shouldn't we try and help Peeves?" Hermione spoke up.

Daphne shook her head, "Trust me, we don't want to be found here. And how do you suggest we can help a poltergeist?"

Thanks to Daphne's warning, the group had enough warning to get away before the incoming flood of people leaving the Great Hall arrived. Draco's voice could be heard echoing off the walls as they quietly filed down the nearest staircase.

"You're next, Mudbloods!"

Whilst no one knew happened to the poltergeist, it didn't stop whispers starting up as to their strange own theories as to whatever to poltergeist. The idea that Draco was guilty was briefly considered, prompted by his bragging they heard, but it was quickly dismissed. One Draco was far too young to know spells of that strength to do anything to a poltergeist, even if he did have the guts to finally act instead of just strut and brag it certainly wouldn't be something so severe. And he didn't have the time to do anything, as many seen him in the Great Hall before hand.

o0OoO0o

"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore said with soft smile from behind his desk. "I'm sure you can understand why we are having this meeting."

"With respect, I'm not 'your boy,' Professor," Harry said firmly, the rage in his voice audible. He had sat down in the chair across from Dumbledore after being brought the office thanks to discovering Peeves. Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, was perched on Harry's shoulder softly crooning to the youth. He was a beautiful bird and was at least somewhat helping Harry's nerves to calm down a bit, even if there was some pain in the music too. Not surprising with the path he decided to go down in life. But yet there was something about the phoenix, Harry couldn't put his finger on it, but the bird seemed to want something from Harry, but he wasn't sure what.

"Why you little -" Snape sneered from behind Dumbledore's shoulder, interrupting Harry's thoughts.

"What are you even doing here, Sir?" said Harry, cutting the Potion Master off as he glared at the man.

"Harry, I trust Professor Snape, I assure you he -"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything, Headmaster." Harry turned his glare on Dumbledore. "If I'm going to be interrogated shouldn't my Head of House be here? In fact, why isn't she? You know that if we meet up, I want my Head of House needs to be here too."

"Why you, I can't believe the arrogance you display!" Snape snarled, as Harry felt the Potion Master trying to enter his mind, but he pushed him back with his shields, burning part of the burnt nose man's mind.

"Ahh…" Snape screamed in pain, as he held his head.

"And that's why I want Professor McGonagall here," Harry sneered at the man who dared to enter his mind, "you can't be trusted to be the Professor you are meant to be."

"Now I think I'll wait for you to call Professor McGonagall, before we go any further." And with that Harry sat down and waited, as he stroked the phoenix, and begun to wonder what the bird wanted from someone like him. Someone who was walking down a Dark Path.

As Harry seat there, Dumbledore sighed at this turn of events as he called a House-Elf to get Harry's Head of House, he suspected the young man would want his Head of House here, but he had hoped to forgo having her here this time so Snape or he could look in Harry's mind without her being there. But that idea was out of the window, he knew that Potter had strong Occlumency Shields, but he didn't think the young man could defend from someone like Snape, if he really wanted to get into a person's mind. He wouldn't dare to try now, but still, he needed to know what he and his friends knew and what they had been up to. He didn't dare to do so with Potter around, but the thing is he was never away from the two people who might know anything: the Granger girls.

Albus Dumbledore sighed once again, nothing he seemed to do would make any headway in getting close to the boy, and he needed to so he could make sure that the Boy-Who-Lived took the right path that he planned for the boy. Before he could think more of it, Professor McGonagall knocked on his door and he allowed her in.

"Now that Professor McGonagall is here, can you tell us what happened this evening Mr. Potter?" The Headmaster asked Harry.

"Well to start off with me and my friends were invited by Sir Nicholas to his 500th Deathday Party, as a way of saying 'thank you for helping find a way for removing his head last year.'" Harry explained to the professors, not telling them that Nick helped him to get out trouble not long ago.

"You have us believe that you went to a ghost's Death Party?" Snape asked with a sneer, "I don't think they serve food suitable for human consumption."

"You are right, they don't have food suitable for human consumption," Harry admitted to the greasy haired Professor, but then went on to say to knock the smirk off the man's face, "but we ate in the kitchens before going, you can ask the House-Elves, they'll back us up. Once we went to the Death Party, other than the bad food, we had a good night talking to the ghosts there, unlike Professor Binns, we learnt a night learning a few things about the castle and about their past."

"So how did you and your friends end up where we found Peeves?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"After the party, whilst most of the group didn't feel up for eating, a few of us decided to go the Great Hall in the hopes to get some dessert." Harry explained to his Head of House, "But on the way to the Great Hall, I heard a voice that sounded like it came from the walls. I ran after it and we found Peeves. The end. If you don't believe me, you can ask the others."

"They heard no such voice." Snape said with a look of supreme satisfaction.

"Doesn't change the fact that I did, one that was out to kill someone." Harry told them darkly, "Are you going to give me detention for hearing voices now? Or maybe you're going to take points for not being at the Feast?"

"I believe that is enough, Albus." The Gryffindor Head of House turned her withering stare onto first Snape and then Dumbledore. "Peeves was petrified with something very strong and likely very dark, for something to do that to a poltergeist. No second year could know how to do this. Harry and his friends have shown a remarkable proclivity to being in the wrong place at the right time. This is clearly yet another instance of his particular brand of luck manifesting. If you have no further questions, I will take my lion back to his dormitory."

"Of course, Minerva. Have a pleasant evening, Harry," Dumbledore nodded to Harry with that annoying ever present twinkle still present. Harry just scowled at him and Snape before following McGonagall out. But as he got to the office door, Harry stopped and turned round and said, "You should look for who petrified Peeves, before they find their real target."

"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" the Headmaster asked worriedly.

"From the voice I heard, it was after someone who was alive," Harry explained to Dumbledore, "Peeves is dead, and so most likely at the wrong place at the wrong time. As why would someone want to attack a poltergeist? So whoever the target was could still be in danger, unless they went to look for someone else."

This concerned all that was there, what the Boy-Who-Lived said, made sense. Something they didn't like to think about. But Professor McGonagall lead Harry out of the office as the other two Professors thought about what was just said.

"Thanks, Professor." Harry muttered as they walked away from the Gargoyle.

"No problems Mr. Potter, I'm just doing my job." McGonagall told her young Gryffindor, as they walked down the stairs.

The two fell into silence until they approached the portrait into the Gryffindor tower. "I hope the rest of your evening improves somewhat, Mr. Potter. Have a pleasant night."

To be Continued!

Author's Note: Here ends the ninth part of The Serpent's Lair Saga, I would like to thank you once again for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and take a few moments to review. I also hope you read all of this note, as I would like your feedback on some things to help me out in the story.

Whilst I have someone looking at most of the spelling and grammar, I'm now looking for a new Beta Reader to help with making sure that the sentence structure is done right, and add/alter things that I missed and someone who can remove what shouldn't be there. The one I have been using is looking for a place to live at the moment, and so don't have much time to work on this at the moment.

Now you might have noticed some ideas from Strings of Fate by Knife Hand and from the series, 'Harry Potter in the Claw of the Raven' by BakenandEggs, and a scene from Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path By: Temporal Knight, but I have their permission to do so. So please don't report me, I did ask beforehand.

A few question I would like your thoughts on:

What pranks should Harry and the twins pull this year? I'm looking for ideas for both magical and non-magical ones. Right now, I'm looking for a prank that the Weasley Twins could pull on Harry to start a prank war between the three of them. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I'm still after ideas of how Harry could turn his friends Dark and joining him, instead of using Confundus Charm. Any and all ideas are welcomed.

Just as a reminder, flame reviews from guests will be removed. If they point out a problem that needs to be fixed, or ideas that I could use to make the story better, I'll keep them, but keep it constructive. Please consider this when reviewing, as I don't want you to waste your time (or mine) on unhelpful flame reviews.

I would like to announce (for those that don't have alerts for my new stories) that I have posted yet another new story. This one is a Fallout/Harry Potter story. I won't say much, as I want you to read it for yourself, but it until Fallout 4 Saga, it'll be mainly be about the Fallout World but with what would happen should certain people found out about the Magical World. But once we get to Fallout 4, we'll see Harry Potter, and what he does once he awakes in the new world. The story is called Magical Fallout, I hope that you'll go and read it, as I would like to see what you think of it.

Just so you know though, this will be the last chapter of The Rise of Overlord Vulcan for a while, as I'm going to go and work on the side story for a bit. And for those who were wondering why I haven't put much about them in this story, that's because I want the main story to be all about Harry and not the Mystics, which is why I wrote the side story. So I can write about the Mystics, and not interrupt the main story. So if you want to learn more about the Mystics, and see more about them, go and read the side story now.

That said, I would like to thank you once again for reading, and I hope you spare a few minutes to leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter. Feel free to offer up any ideas you might have for future chapters, and any powers you would like to see used in the story.

Now as for the vote about keeping the basilisk alive or not, by a huge margin on the poll on fanfiction . net, the poll says kill the basilisk, but allow Harry to find a basilisk egg somehow. And so that's what is going to happen. I would like to thank you for the votes.

Yes kill it, but have a basilisk egg somewhere for Harry to find! 59

No don't kill it! 17

Yes kill it! 6

Now there is a new poll, this one is what should the third year title be: The top titles are the ones to be voted on, I hope you vote for the one you want, unless there's another poll, this one well stay up until the end of the second year. You can pick at least two of the ones you want to win, the winning one will be shown in the third year.

Top Titles:

Breaking Free

New Moon's Rise

Return of The Grim

Hearts of Darkness

Shadowed Hearts

(Hearts of Darkness and Shadowed Hearts are two of mine, and I came up with them because of the spell Harry'll get to turn people's alliance from light to dark.)

Titles Not being voted on:

Overlord Ascending

The Breakouts

The Two Prisoners

Dark Awakening

Evil Finds A Way

Reborn and Rebirth

The Black Heart

The Birth of Black

Call of Fear

The Face of Fear

Towers and Prisons

The rise Commences

The Overlord's Lair

Life, Death and Power

A Dementer's Kiss

The Silver Stag

Next on Rise of Overlord Vulcan: Another timeskip, this time we'll see Harry's first Quidditch match, and Harry becoming an outcast.

I have asked robst who wrote You're my Density if I could use the Quidditch match from their story, so unless they get back to me and say no, I'll be using the idea from it. So you know here is the review that I asked about it:

The Dark Dragen chapter 9 . Dec 6, 2016

I would like to ask if I could use parts of chapter 8, s/11033616/8/, for one of my stories, as it fit nicely to what I want to happen in my story. I hope you allow me to, the parts I want use is the game and kicking Harry out of Gryffindor.