Author's Note: I am sorry about the long time it took to update. I was busy with other things in my life, and for November, was occupied with participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month).
The last week of school before the start of the Christmas holidays turned out to be something of a nightmare for the AA. Professor Dumbledore had explained that he had found the Chamber of Secrets and that Salazar Slytherin had left a basilisk there (which was what had caused Mrs. Norris and Colin's Petrifications) and with the aid of some roosters, had killed the basilisk. To avoid anyone getting ideas about trying to open the Chamber, he had added, "The Chamber can only be opened with Parseltongue, so don't go thinking that you can go down there and look around." Then, to avoid having people think that Harry had been behind it all, Dumbledore continued, "Also, I have discovered that Voldemort was the one that opened the Chamber this year and was behind the attacks, via an item that he had enchanted prior to his downfall. Rest assured that said item is now destroyed, and I am investigating as to how it ended up at Hogwarts in the first place."
While this explained what had happened and assured everyone the matter was dealt with, it didn't stop all sorts of rumors from cropping up. There was speculation as to what the item was and how it was enchanted that would result in the Chamber being opened. Then there were rumors that Harry had somehow gotten his hands on the item, which explained why he had spoken Parseltongue at the first and only meeting of the Dueling Club, and had been controlled into opening the Chamber. That was better than having the rest of the school know that the Gryffinclaws had been the ones being possessed, so Harry would have put up with it if it weren't for the ones that followed.
Speculation had quickly followed on how Harry had gotten hold of the enchanted item. Most of the rumors suggested that it had been hidden somewhere in the school and he had somehow found it. However, a few didn't, saying instead that a fellow Slytherin (one who had a parent that was a Death Eater and had escaped being imprisoned for it) had managed to slip the item in among Harry's belongings, under the theory that Voldemort had given it to one of his followers. This actually wasn't all that far from the truth, but that wasn't what was the most worrying bit. The theory managed to spread to the whole school, which led it to overtake the previous rumors of Harry possibly finding the item. Speculation ran rampant as to which Slytherins had parents that escaped being imprisoned for being Death Eaters.
Unfortunately, the first name that sprang into the rumor-mongers' and gossipers' heads was that of Mr. Nott. He had been one of those that had been accused of being a Death Eater but had been cleared of all charges, and at his trial for charges of child abuse, there was the testimony of how he had planned to force his son into becoming a Death Eater if Voldemort ever returned to power. This led to speculation that Theodore being part of the AA was all an act on his part so that he could get close to Harry and set him up. After all, the fact that they were dormmates and supposed friends made it easy for Theodore to slip something into Harry's belongings without arousing suspicion. A few slightly more sensible students speculated that initially it wasn't an act and that Theodore meant to be a genuine friend, but after what his father had put him through, he had either been scared or Imperiused into planting the item on Harry.
The likes of Zacharias Smith, Draco Malfoy, and similar-minded students fanned the first set of rumors about Theo into prominence, causing the majority of the school to completely disregard the prefects and those few others that were trying to be more sensible about things. No matter how much the AA and the Gryffinclaws tried to defend Theodore and put an end to those nasty rumors, at least three quarters of the school either were openly accusing him of being a traitor or evil or did so behind his back (though they didn't trouble to keep their voices down whenever he was in earshot). Malfoy and a number of like-minded Slytherins didn't accuse Theo of being evil, but they had no problem rubbing in the fact that most of the rest of school thought so. Fred and George, in an attempt to help, started mocking, very publicly, the idea of Theodore being secretly evil, which made the AA feel slightly better, but Malfoy and Smith immediately countered with assertions that he had hoodwinked the twins as well. Fred and George had retaliated with hexes, which resulted in Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff losing thirty points each and all four of them in detention.
The teachers tried to put a stop to these rumors and have everyone leave Theodore alone, but it didn't help. Professor Snape even appeared in the Slytherin common room and had given a lecture about how Theodore Nott (and Harry Potter) had nothing to do with the Chamber being opened and to leave him alone. All this did was cause Malfoy and his cronies to only pester him whenever there were no teachers or prefects present.
Somehow Theo kept from breaking from the immense pressure he was under. He didn't show any emotion in public, steadfastly ignoring all the comments and insinuations that were thrown at him. In private, however, he did allow his mask to fall and would either rant to his friends or have a good cry, depending on whether he was angry or upset. None of them were eating in the Great Hall at mealtimes so that he wouldn't have to deal with the strain. Instead, the Hufflepuffs in the AA would get a couple hampers of food from the house elves in the kitchens and bring them to the Room of Requirement. In fact, other than attending class and going to their respective dormitories at night for bed, the AA was spending all of their time in the Room.
"Maybe once the Christmas holidays come, things will have settled," Hermione said, somewhat doubtfully, on Wednesday, when they'd met after the end of the day's classes.
"Or the holidays will give time for those horrid rumors to become further ingrained in their minds!" snapped Parvati. "They could even come up with even worse rumors!"
"Malfoy and his cronies definitely would," Tracey said darkly, one arm around Theo, who was upset and therefore crying silently into her shoulder.
"Why can't people just leave Theo alone?" demanded Justin angrily. "It should be obvious that we trust him! We've made it perfectly clear that he isn't pretending to be our friend or forced into setting Harry up! If they had to accuse someone of slipping the diary in Harry's things, why didn't they accuse Malfoy? It makes more sense."
"From the way they're behaving, do you really think they'd be sensible?" Anthony asked. "Besides, I bet Malfoy started the rumor to prevent people from accusing him, or his two goons. I think Crabbe's and Goyle's fathers also escaped being sentenced for being Death Eaters."
Susan sighed. "I just wish there was something more that we could do! Those idiots won't listen to us whenever we try to defend Theo, we can't go around hexing everyone that is mean to him, and the teachers and prefects already know what's going on, but they can't put everyone in detention."
Theo lifted his head. "J-Just leave it," he said tiredly, wiping his eyes. "You can't force people to change, and I'll just have to put up with it."
"Put up with it?" Padma asked incredulously. "When it's obvious that the taunts are getting to you, so that you end up breaking down at least once a day? Theo, you shouldn't have to put up with any of this! As your friends, we are going to help you and try to put a stop to it!"
"And you're not eating at all, except when we force you to, because you're either too angry or too upset to do so," Ron added, though none of the AA had much appetite recently and were only eating to stay alive. "That's not healthy at all."
Harry, who was deep in thought, raised a hand. "I think I have a way to put a stop to some of the rumors. I'll get my hands on a snake, one that's harmless like a garden snake, and talk to it in Parseltongue in front of as much of the school as I can manage. That should convince the other students that I my ability as a Parselmouth isn't due to some enchanted object of Riddle's, which therefore means that Theo couldn't have planted it on me."
"I suppose that could work," said Terry thoughtfully. "Do the rest of you see any flaw to this plan?"
The others shook their heads, except for Theo, who protested that it would cause more trouble for Harry. "I don't care, Theo," responded Harry. "So long as it gets people to stop thinking that you're only pretending to be my friend and planted something one me, I'll be okay. I'll go ask Hagrid if he can get me a harmless snake."
Before Harry could follow through with this, the Gryffinclaws marched through the door. "Theo, you won't be bothered anymore," Luna announced. "We took care of it."
"How did you guys manage that miracle?" Neville asked incredulously.
"We got fed up with everything that's happened, so we announced at the start of dinner that we were the ones that had fallen prey to the enchanted object that possessed us into opening the Chamber," Colin replied.
"I made up a story about how I had found a diary hidden in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, one that was enchanted to write back," Ginny elaborated. "Naturally, I shared it with my friends, and we began writing in it, not realizing how evil it was. We ended the story with explaining how we realized that there were periods of time missing from our memories, and how Luna caught me being possessed into opening the Chamber, at which point she managed to snap me out of it before I could summon the basilisk and immediately took me to Professor Dumbledore. We also made it very clear that the AA had no involvement in the opening of the Chamber at all."
"The headmaster backed our story up," said Liam. "He also explained that he had wanted us to keep our involvement a secret, but since most of the school was idiotically insisting that Theo had planted the enchanted object on Harry, he didn't blame us for speaking out in order to set the record straight."
"But what about the trouble that this will cause for you guys?" Theo asked.
"It doesn't matter," Colin said dismissively. "People are already looking at us sideways because they find Luna weird and the rest of us weird as well for being her friends."
"And maybe now that we've quashed the rumors about Theo, people will actually see sense and listen to the prefects," Liam added. "In any case, we just couldn't let an innocent person be accused of things he's not guilty of. We really should have said something as soon as the rumors cropped up, instead of obeying Professor Dumbledore's order to stay silent."
"Anyway, once we explained the main truth of matter, we left the Great Hall and came up here to tell you all what we did," finished Luna.
The next day, a few people approached Theo and apologized for their accusations. He accepted the apologizes, but his friends had no qualms at glaring at the students in question and telling them off for being idiotic enough to listen to the likes of Zacharias Smith and Draco Malfoy rather than the teachers and prefects.
All the teachers made it very clear that better witches and wizards than a quartet of first-years had been hoodwinked by Voldemort, so the Gryffinclaws didn't face much blame for what happened. Certainly Malfoy tried to stir up blame, but Cedric Diggory asked, "Hey, Malfoy, wasn't your father one of those that said he'd been bewitched by You-Know-Who into doing his bidding? If you think four first-years ought to be able to resist being bewitched by You-Know-Who, then shouldn't your father, an adult wizard who I'm sure is quite competent, have been able to resist as well? Unless, of course, he wasn't bewitched at all and willingly did You-Know-Who's bidding."
That effectively shut Malfoy up. Still, it was a relief when Saturday came and the school term ended for the Christmas holidays.