The Mystic Eyes of Harry Potter

Delving Deeper

November 11th

My headache returned, and I kept hearing voices around me even though I was the only one in the room. Chalking it off due to my broken mind, since I knew myself well, I ignored those impulses in me and kept myself busy to avoid the fact that I was losing my sanity. The last thing I wanted was to end up dead due to me scooping out my brains by using my dagger.

Despite all the worry, school proceeded as normal; lessons were halted for that first day, but since then resumed. Although Gryffindor and Slytherin were placed together often in joint classes, I rarely got any teasing, and there was a distinct lack of Malfoy's cutting remarks or curses. Even Neville, who everyone knew was often bullied by him, said that so far he was fine.

That in itself was suspicious.

There was a small part of me that relished the opportunity to clash heads with him and beat him down using spells, threats and wit. I'll admit, I missed those chances, not to show I was superior, but to have some sort of enemy to fight, other than my own mind.

If I could focus on someone else, the killing intent inside me would be satisfied for a short time, and it wouldn't keep building up inside me by making me hear things, and wanting to incessantly slash away at the walls to let out my frustration.

So, that leads me to now, when we had just finished our last lesson for the day. I sought out Malfoy amongst the group of his and when they were heading back to their dungeon, I moved in.

Grabbing the back of his robes, I dragged him into the empty classroom, covering his mouth so he wouldn't scream. His goons didn't even notice he was gone and walked on.

When it grew quiet, I released him with a light push, but made sure I was between him and the door so he couldn't escape.

"Potter, what a surprise for you to attack me in broad daylight." His hand was reaching for his wand.

"Don't even think about it, Malfoy..." My wand was already out and aiming for him, "Besides, it's not an attack, more a kidnapping."

"Oh...?" He smirked, but I could see his face grow a tiny bit paler, and his legs tensing up, "Where do you plan on taking me then?"

Giving up, I sighed loudly, lowering my wand.

"Come on, Draco," Calling him by his first name felt weird to me, "I just want to talk normally for once. No point in beating around the bush and standing up to each other." I even holstered it just to show him how much I meant it.

Pulling out a bench from under a table, I sat down and indicated he should sit on the other bench so we faced each other.

"Talk about what?" Malfoy's brow was crinkled, and his hand was wavering.

"Stuff, nothing important." I waved him off, sensing that he wasn't really interested, but also my inner adrenaline from my urges had subsided, "You can go if you want, forget about it..."

The creaking of the bench made me look up to see him sitting there, arms folded and his eyes glaring at me.

"Whatever you have to say, say it now. I don't have time to waste on chitchat."

Malfoy was willing to listen to me? This was new...

"Okay, well, first of all, I noticed you're not bothering me, Hermione, and pretty much everyone else in Gryffindor. Any reason for that?"

He huffed, "None of your business, Potter. If you wish though, I can start again."

"No thanks," I smiled honestly, and even my eyes felt a bit of joy, "It's just nice to have a place where me and my friends know we're not hated by everyone."

"Anything else?"

"Yes." This time my gaze was on his face, ready for any twitches or giveaway tells, "The Chamber of Secrets, do you know anything about it? If so, are we in danger?"

"I don't know anything about it, Potter." He turned away quickly, but after a few seconds angled his head back, "Why are you so interested?"

I scratched my head, feeling a sting from my scar, "Nothing, it's just I think that whatever is happening isn't over yet, and Mrs Norris was only the beginning."

"So, you think that there'll be more attacks?"

"Yeah, but I can't give any reason why, it's more or less my gut feeling."

What else could I say? It was the truth. I had no proof to say otherwise, but something was niggling behind my head that it wasn't finished.

"Listen here, Potter, and listen well." Malfoy was closer now, and I could see his eyes were filled with some form of emotion, one I could not decipher, "My 'reliable sources', shall we say, told me a bit more about what happened." He swallowed once before speaking on, "No one knows where the Chamber is, but it does exist on the school grounds somewhere. The last time it was opened, around fifty years ago, a person was killed in the blink of an eye. It was a scandal at the school, and quickly hushed up."

"But, no petrification?" I asked.

He paused, "There were injuries, not sure about petrification though. The death led to the expulsion of a student, the person who was said to have caused it all."

"Do you know who it was?"

Malfoy grit his teeth, "I'm warning you in advance, don't get upset at me, I'm only telling you what I was told." He took in a deep breath before finishing, "My sources said that it was Hagrid, the groundskeeper."

"Hagrid? He couldn't hurt a fly!" Now I was totally confused, "He killed the student?"

"Not directly, and it wasn't with a spell, but some sort of creature he hatched and looked after. It got loose and killed the student. No one knows what it was since he released it into the Forest back then."

"I've got to think about this..."

It was hard to believe that the gentle giant would do something so horrible, but maybe in his naive way he didn't think he was doing anything wrong until it was too late.

Then again, who's to say that Draco isn't just lying to me?

"I know, you doubt my words just because I know you like the man." His sharp gaze pierced me, "I want to protect Slytherin too. Even though it talks about the heir, no one in Slytherin knows what that's about." He paused, "Not a word about any of this to anybody else, but I suppose you can advise your two followers." He leant back, the serious look in his face mellowing somewhat.

Having watched him, Malfoy's movements were very controlled, and I saw that even though his arms were folded, his upper hand was shaking slightly.

He was shivering, and now I understood what his eyes expressed.

Fear, hopelessness, imprisonment.

The same feeling that I created in Hermione when talking about the Black Keys.

"Why tell me all this, Draco?" That was my main question now, "I thought you hated me, Ron and Hermione. Wouldn't it be best if we were killed because of the Chamber?"

He slammed his hands on the table, "How can you talk about killing so easily?!"

The crack echoed throughout the room; once settled I spoke quietly, "I've been through a fair bit in my life, so dying or killing isn't something I'm unfamiliar with."

"I... I see..." His hands clenched into fists, "I suppose that's a big difference between you and me, especially... back then..." He coughed, "I don't hate you, Potter. I may not like you personally, nor the company you keep, but I don't want to see any of you die."

"You just liked starting fights up, right?" My smirk slipped out.

Malfoy didn't take it so lightly, "I did not start any fights, Potter." His face contorted and reddened, "If you say otherwise, I'll -"

There was no interruption, I didn't stop him, Malfoy simply didn't continue his sentence.

"I'll... do nothing..." His head lowered, "Potter, I don't know if we can stop the Chamber. There could be more deaths. Even though Slytherin house should be safe, I can tell the mood is gloomy there. After what happened to us in the Forest, I don't know what's real any more, if any of us are safe. If the groundskeeper is behind this..."

"I'll find out what's going on, Draco." He got up, "Let me know if you hear of anything odd, I have my own sources too." My smile was enhanced with the tapping on my glasses.

"Very well... Harry."

Just before Malfoy reached the door, I questioned him one last time, "By the way, are you okay from last summer?" His face shuddered for a second, "You weren't hit by any spells were you?"

I was of course referring to his near-catatonic state.

"No lasting effects, thanks for asking."

Leaving the room, he presumably went straight to the Slytherin dungeons where their Common Room lay.

Getting out of the room after a minute, to give him time to seem as if we hadn't met at all, I started on the way back to the tower.

"What are you doing out so late after class, Mr Potter?"

Snapping my head to attention, I saw Snape skulk out from behind a pillar as if he was moving from inside a shadow.

"I was packing up my stuff and thinking about what I had just learnt."

"Oh really?" Snape looked over my shoulder to the empty room, "This classroom hasn't been used for a few years now. Pray tell why you were thinking in this room in particular?"

Being questioned like this was starting to infuriate me, and I could feel my blood pressure rising, "No reason really, I just wanted somewhere quiet. The Common Room is a little noisy at this time."

"Yes, I can just imagine how rowdy Gryffindors are when left to their own devices." He moved closer and stared at me, "I'd recommend you return to your dorm, although it is not yet curfew it is recommended due to the incident with Mrs Norris."

I saw his eyes narrow at me, "You don't think I had something to do with that, do you?"

"Why? Should I suspect you, Mr Potter?"

"When you look at me like that, I can tell in your mind that you think I was involved."

Perhaps he sensed my irritation, or maybe he had to leave, but he backed down, "I'm always suspicious, Mr Potter, of everyone, not just you. If there's a risk to the students, then I will track it down and eliminate it." He turned sharply, his cape nearly hitting me, "Follow me, I'll escort you to the Fat Lady."

"Is there any need for this?" Falling into step behind him, he didn't bother looking back when he answered.

"No, but it helps to be cautious."

Within minutes, we arrived at the entrance to the tower. The staircases seemed to recognise a teacher was arriving and manoeuvred into place to make it faster than ever.

"Don't leave the Gryffindor quarters until morning." His eyes returned to their passive state, "Do we have an understanding, Mr Potter?"

"Yes sir, Professor Snape."

"Good."

With a turn, he walked off down the corridor, never looking back.

Speaking the password to enter, though my entry was seen by all, no one really minded I arrived late, since other students did the same occasionally. An official curfew wasn't given by the prefects as yet, thus it was easy to return without anyone prompting me.

Moving to the back of the room, I spied Ron sitting with Hermione, who was buried behind a mountain of books.

"We need to talk..."

Getting up, we went to the room Ron and I shared. After making sure we were alone, I repeated what Malfoy told me.

"Fifty years ago?" Ron scratched his head, "Maybe mum and dad weren't old enough to be here as students..."

"Do we know who died?" Hermione asked, "A death in a school should be reported somewhere."

"No names, but I'm sure there's a way to find out."

"Hmm..." She held her chin, "In Muggle libraries, I could just cycle through old newspapers and search for the headlines... There must be something similar for wizards."

Ron shook his head, "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but we do keep the old copies somewhere. You would need to check with the publishers, I don't know if they store it at a library or in a vault."

"I know about the Daily Prophet, is there any other magical newspaper?" I couldn't only recall hearing about that one during my first year.

"There are others, but a lot less reputable and reliable, the Quibbler is one catered for the more eccentric readers." Ron's face twisted as she said the name, "Their articles are known to have lots of false information, and some stories are just made up."

"Still, it would be good to have a wider viewpoint." Hermione pointed out, "We can't rely on one company to give all the facts."

Ron stood up, "I'll ask around downstairs to see if anyone knows someone in either newspaper, maybe then we can find out what the hell is going on."

The next day
9am

The first period was free, so we had a chance now.

"Hi..."

Ginny was one to approach the blonde girl, along with me, Ron and Hermione.

"Hello again, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione." She stared at each of us for a second when stating our names,

"Sorry to bother you like this, but H-Harry has a question to ask you..." Ginny turned to me.

Clearing my throat, feeling it to get suddenly dry, I coughed, "I was wondering, do you know if you have any old copies of the Quibbler we could borrow, say around fifty years ago?"

Luna just gazed directly into my eyes and smiled.

"Sure thing, Harry, any specific date you have in mind?" She turned her attention to a floating cobweb on the window frame, "Daddy should have the old copies in the basement somewhere."

"No... It's hard to be precise..." I didn't know the date to be honest, "But it involved the death of a pupil here at Hogwarts."

"Ah, probably about the Chamber of Secrets then?" She continued when she saw how wide our eyes had become, "The whole school knows about it now and is trying to find out as much as they can. I assume you're the same."

"Aren't you interested in it yourself then?" Hermione asked.

"Not really," She shrugged, "It hasn't affected me yet."

Ginny stepped forwards, "But, if something does happen, then you'll turn to stone, or worse!"

Luna tapped her chin for a few seconds, "Well, then I won't feel any pain, will I?" Her closed eyes shocked the three with me, Ron even stood there with his mouth gaped open.

Her smile was unerringly frank; she then opened her eyes to look at mine.

Blissful, yet jaded; wise, yet cynical; accepting, yet defeated.

That gaze reminded me of myself.

"But, you'll be dead!" Ron half shouted, "Why wouldn't you do something to protect yourself?"

Luna sighed, "Too much trouble... Besides, death isn't the end of the world, just for me."

Inside, I agreed, but even so, I would prefer to fight a little bit more before my life left me.

"True, but I don't know enough defensive spells to counter any attacks."

Again, she replied to me without my ever asking a question.

"I need to speak to you, Luna." I glanced at the others, "Alone."

"Certainly Harry, let us retire to the dorm."

"I'll catch up with you later." I said to my friends as they stared back at me curiously.

Heh, funny, never thought I would call someone a friend.

Instead of going to the Gryffindor Tower, Luna took me away from the group to where Ravenclaw had their Common Room in another Tower of the school.

The bronze door knocker, in the shape of a eagle, then spoke to her, "What is the music of life?"

"Silence."

"Welcome, friend."

I wasn't even sure I was allowed to be here as we entered. Almost everyone saw it was me and were about to question my being there, only for their eyes to stare at Luna, and then shook their heads dismissively.

"Up here Harry."

Luna walked ahead of me to where presumably her shared room was, and sure enough I was allowed in easily enough, once she spoke to another statue to let me in.

There were two other girls I didn't recognise inside there already, two new first years.

"Would it be okay if I could talk to Harry alone?"

They looked at me quickly, and then reddened up fast. Must be a cold going round... They left soon after.

Once the door was closed, Luna went to her bed and pulled off the quilt after kicking off her shoes.

"Please join me." She patted the other side of the bed.

I think she may have gotten the wrong end of the stick...

"Hang on, there's been a misunderstanding..."

"No mistakes here, Harry." Her eyes hadn't changed, and she certainly didn't seem like she was flirting or anything of the sort.

Succumbing to her peculiar mannerisms, I sat on the other side of the bed. Even though these beds would only be for one person, they weren't normal single beds, but more like a single and a half, so we wouldn't be squashed together. Taking off my shoes, I laid down beside her.

Expecting a hug, or more, I tensed up but instead just felt the lingering heat from her proximity. She didn't get any closer than when she beckoned me here.

"What did you want to talk about, Harry?"

Her quiet voice was like thunder in my ears.

"Are you human, Luna?"

"Yes I am, silly." Her smile leaked out in her words, "Why do you ask such a question?"

"You... I don't know how, but you -"

"- Know things I shouldn't?" Her face was turned towards me now as she ended my sentence. Speechless, I just nodded. "It's... a bit difficult to talk about now."

Now, this was a new expression on her brow, could it be sadness?

"That's fine; you don't need to tell me..." I knew that whatever it was, she was hurting.

"Let's just say, my mother helped me in ways I never wanted her to." She tapped her head, "Too much knowledge is in here, and I can't really contain it all that well."

"I see." Well, I didn't really, but at least I knew that something happened to her to make her this intuitive.

"Hmm..." She peered closer at me, "You have the same opinion of life and death like me." She stated, "Whatever you've been through, I'm sure it's going to pale in comparison to me." Her hand reached out and stroked my cheek, "Look after yourself, Harry. There's something in the school out to kill us all, and none of us can stop it."

"You can't tell what or where it is?"

She shook her head whilst removing her hand, "No, I need to see it to figure what is going on, but by then it'll be probably be too late, since I'd be Petrified. That's why I'm doing nothing to find it myself; I'd just be in the way. I'll probably end up as another casualty."

"I won't accept that." I moved over and placed my hand over hers, "Try to keep in groups." This was good advice, even in the worst case, if the creature caught them, maybe a survivor could tell us what it was, "And don't go down dark corridors when not in class."

"People have been talking about Slytherin House being involved in this."

This time I shook my head, "No, I have it on good authority that they don't know what it is, and that even they are worried."

"That's good to hear." Luna turned and faced up at the ceiling, "I'll ask daddy about the back-issues of the Quibbler, I'm sure he'll turn something up."

"Thanks Luna, it'll mean the world to me if I can find this out."

"I'll find you when we know more." She got up from the bed and adjusted her skirt, before popping her shoes on.

Taking her lead, I followed her out of the room back into the Common Room, ignoring the burning stares aimed in my direction, and left through the exit, Luna waving bye from within.

Taking no chances, I went straight back to the Tower and spoke to Ron and Hermione about her looking for the old Quibbler editions.

I didn't mention anything about the rest of the conversation.

A part of me felt that even though she didn't tell me everything there is to know about her, she wasn't my enemy. In fact, she may know more about me than I think she does. Whatever her ability, it is going to be useful for the future, I could sense it.

None of us wanted to confront Hagrid about what happened all those years ago, not yet at least, until we had some proof. We were going to rely on Luna for the research.

Speaking of which... There was another task I had to do.

"Hermione, do you want to come with me to see Ciel?" Her hair bristled, but she nodded slowly, "Good, it'll be best talk about this now, before anything else happens."

Ron looked at the two of us, "I'll keep owling my dad for more information. Should I ask him if he knows someone at the Prophet?"

"It couldn't hurt to get a second opinion, but don't push him." Hermione agreed with me, "We don't want to arouse any suspicions that we're looking into it a little more than the other students."

"Good point," Ron scratched his chin, "I'll think of something."

"Okay... We'll see you later." Hermione and I started to walk to the door, before I remembered to run back to my room to bring out the Black Key box, "I don't think we'll need to show her, but it's better than just telling her you're good at it."

The portrait swung open, and we left the room, it was still early, so there were a few students milling about, but not like with the peak times during lessons.

"Keep your wand handy... If something happens, I want us to be able to fight back or call for help."

"Already done." Her wand was gripped tight.

Thankfully, there were no interruptions along the way, and we made it to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom promptly.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked hard.

"Enter!"

The door opened on its own, and Ciel was sat at her desk writing. Without missing a beat, she spoke.

"Mr Potter, Ms Granger, how can I help?"

As we walked in, the door closed, and Ciel frowned, looking up at us, staring at the box.

"What's the meaning of this, Harry?" She stood up, "You shouldn't be carrying it around like that..."

"I know..." I was beginning to shake from her presence, "Just, look at this for a minute."

Opening the box, I handed the Black Key to Hermione, who held it and activated it in a second.

"Professor Ciel." Hermione spoke, "I want you to train me. I know about how hard Harry trains with you. I'm not at his level, but I want to be able to defend myself. Wands don't work against creatures like trolls, but I'm sure this will." The Black Key hummed, "Can you help me? With the Chamber of Secrets supposedly open, I don't want to be a victim."

Ciel sat on her desk lightly, before pulling out another three Keys from her sleeves.

"Here..." She hand them to Hermione, "See if you can activate all of these."

Hermione first deactivated the original key, and then with two Keys in either hand, hilts poking through the gap in her clenched fingers, she closed her eyes.

The first Key activated almost immediately, followed by the second one in the same hand. The two Keys in left hand also materialised their blades, but after five seconds.

"Hmm..." Ciel pulled out one of her own and using her blade, tapped Hermione's Keys, the blades from the left hand shattered with a single tap, but the right hand Keys remained strong, only for them to naturally dissipate, "It looks like we need to improve the ambidextrous usage of the Keys. Your magical circuits are well-suited to your preferred limb, so strengthening them in the left arm should help. This way, they'll be more quicker and sturdier. With all four on though, the duration suffers and even your dominant hand powers down."

"Does that mean...?" Hermione gasped, feeling beads of sweat drip from her forehead, she hadn't realised how much effort she put into focusing her energy.

"I'll handle your training from now on." Ciel looked at me, "You may not be suited to the Black Keys, Harry. Not everyone is, but it's rare for someone to produce four Keys at once, so Hermione is a natural." She looked at the tired girl, "I'll make it so you can handle six at one time, and to throw them accurately at enemies."

"Th-Thank you Professor Ciel!" She handed back the Keys, only for Ciel to take back the newer three.

"Call me Ciel. I want you, in privacy, to test out Harry's Key in your left hand, to try to bring it out faster. The blade was brittle too. Try tapping it against the wall once, and if it breaks, keep going until the first tap doesn't shatter it." Ciel smiled, "I'll contact you for private lessons in a week or so."

"Thanks Ciel." I took the Key from Hermione and returned it to the box, "I'll give it to her when we're back in the Tower."

"Off you go now, before it gets late."

As the door opened, we left the room and lightly jogged back to the Common Room, avoiding Peeves throwing toilet paper down the stairs to the ground floor. Apparently he cared not about the heightened level of danger in the school.

"Hold onto it for tonight, Harry," She whispered as we entered the loud room, "I'll need to make some space to hide it for tomorrow."

"Good idea..." I started for my room, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Hermione remained near the fireplace, and started to chat to Ginny.

Entering my shared dorm room, Dean was played a card game with Neville. Strangely, the cards would shoot flames, ice, lightning and other kinds of elements at each other, then the player of the card. Neville seemed to bear the brunt of it, his face mostly dusty from fake burns.

Ron was lying on the bed, and beside him was a chess board with moving pieces. He moved a knight and then waited. I watched as I saw a bishop from the white team move next to the knight, checking his king. Hiding away my box in the compartment behind my bed, I sat opposite Ron.

"Who's winning?"

"Me." His grin re-appeared as he took the bishop with his queen, and managed to checkmate the opponent. Their king toppled over.

"Who were you playing with?"

"I'm not sure, but it was someone in Ravenclaw." He toppled his own king, meaning he didn't want to play any more, and leant fully onto the bed, "How did it go?"

"Ciel will train Hermione." I spoke quietly, though the thunder and squeals from Neville would have rendered it mute anyway, "They're both happy with the arrangement."

"Good to hear." Ron's grin was still bright, "It's great that my two friends are super talented..." His smile lessened, "I wonder if I'll be good at anything..."

"Don't worry Ron, there's a place for everyone. I'm sure you'll get your time in the spotlight too."

"Hmm... Maybe I get some cool spell no one else has access to... Who knows...?"

Ron didn't seem too disheartened to be honest, I think the surprise of all this was much larger than he expected. It's like Miss said, strange powers attract strange powers. Hermione proved to be a much more capable person in terms of handling her magical circuits, Luna is an oddball with a keen mind for what I could only term as precognition. Ron would naturally have to be some other aspect too, perhaps even Ginny, though I haven't spent much time with her lately, so I'm not sure if she's being affected by the close proximity to my Eyes.

Regardless, I need to ensure that my head doesn't control me with all the impulse I get at random points urging me to kill. I need to turn those desires to the creature that attacked Mrs Norris.

All I needed was time.

Author's Notes

There are plans for Ron, but much later in the story, and he is going to very surprised. For now, we need to keep our eyes on Harry and the gang and the problems facing their current predicament.

J