Chapter 7: The Warning of the Merpeople

     Word of what had happened to Crabbe and Goyle spread like wildfire through the school.  The two of them were ridiculed everywhere they went.  It was difficult for Harry to feel sorry for them, probably because he couldn’t shake seeing their fathers in the circle of Death Eaters the night Voldermort returned.  He’d also received the package back from Dumbledore who confirmed that Penelope had sent the package.  He opened it and found a small chest of old family pictures.  Harry found that his resemblance to some of the people was startling.  He secured the chest in his trunk along with his parents’ pictures and wedding album.

     Before they knew it, Halloween was upon them.  The Halloween ball fell on a Friday and just under a month later they would be playing in the first Quidditch match of the season.  Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, Harry felt this would be a true test of Malfoy’s intentions.  Captain Katie Bell called for a practice the morning before Halloween ball and she wanted everyone out on the pitch at six in the morning to do a bit of high speed practising.  She seemed quite nervous although everyone thought she was handling the position well.  She kept saying she would rather have Ron be team captain.  Harry was sure it wouldn’t be long before she made that happen.  She was preparing for N.E.W.T.’s and was going a bit bonkers like all the other seventh years. 

     Later after Harry had shower from the practice and spent the entire afternoon meditating with the cylinder, he met Ginny in the common room where they agreed to charm each other with angel wings and halos.  The idea was Ginny’s she conjured a paper crossbow for Harry to carry.  Harry knew it was a little corny but he didn’t mind since it made Ginny so happy.  They went down to the Great Hall and met up with Ron and Hermione who looked at them and laughed merrily.  There was a group of Slytherins standing by the entrance, they moved out of the way and bowed as Harry and Ginny walked through the door. 

“Harry, I still think they’re up to something.  We need to be careful tonight.” She suggested worriedly. 

“I’m already two steps ahead of you.  The ritual Karlovan and I did have yet to produce any results yet, but I do know a few good antidotes.  I also told Snape and McGonagall to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. 

     Ron led Ginny onto the floor, which left Harry and Hermione standing there awkwardly. “Harry, you’ve grown so much in such a short time.  You and Ginny look great together.  Ron has been really great too.  What happened to you over the summer?” She asked him as she looped her arm into his. 

“Well, it’s just that I don’t plan on letting Sirius’ death be in vain.  I just feel really determined to prepare myself for this battle with Voldermort.” 

“What are you talking about?  What battle?” Hermione asked him. 

“Well, the thing is, there have been some things that I haven’t told all of you.  We can talk about it some other time.  I don’t want to spoil your night.” 

“What do you mean spoil our night?  You’re going to tell us, it’s not fair that you keep important things from us.  You know how it feels to have someone do that to you.  It just isn’t fair Harry!”

     By now, people were starting to look in their direction.  Hermione was standing with her hands clenched looking livid. 

“Hermione, please calm down, why are you getting so upset?  It’s not that big of a deal.” 

“Harry, I’ve known for some time now that there was something you weren’t telling us.  I even have an idea of what it might be.  You have to tell us, we need to be prepared.  I mean, blimey it’s like you’re training for an all out WAR.” She finished dramatically. 

“Well, I am training for a war.  Like I said, I will tell you guys at a better time.”  Hermione gazed at him for a moment, turned on her heel and stormed toward Ron and Ginny.

     Harry could see her talking to them in hushed voices; Ginny looked over at him with a fearful expression on her face.  Ron’s mouth slowly dropped open.  All three of them started towards Harry, faces set and fists clenched. 

“You know, I knew there was something in that locked desk in your head.  You told me it was private thoughts and I knew that you were hiding something.” Ginny hissed furiously. 

“What’s she on about mate?” asked Ron.  “What are you hiding?” 

Harry just starred at the three of them. 

“What I’m on about is this fabulous file room that Harry has set up in his mind.  There are wide file cabinets and a locked desk where he stores all his memories and information.  It’s a very efficient way for him to keep Voldermort from finding out useful information.” Ginny informed them.  “Although, I can attest that the fact that Harry has shown me nearly everything in the room, there is a drawer in the desk that he kept locked.  I thought it was quite dodgy indeed.” She said putting her hands on her hips and looking at him in a menacing sort of way.

     Harry continued to gaze at them resigned not to tell them anything.  But then he caught Ginny’s eye and felt the need to tell them all everything.  He read her mind and found out the she thought he didn’t trust them. 

“I do trust you guys.” He said mostly to Ginny.  “Alright, if you must know now, follow me.  He led them through the first floor corridor to his office.  He ushered them inside and Ginny conjured three seats on the opposite side of Harry’s desk.  Harry closed the door behind them, placed a soundproofing spell on the room and went over to sit behind his desk.  Ron reached out and accioed a few chocolate frogs from their jar.  Ginny and Hermione glared at him. 

“What?  I’m missing quite a bit of food at the feast aren’t I?”  They didn’t answer him; instead, Ginny reached out to grab Harry’s hand. 

     “Go on Harry, tell us.” She said soothingly.  She really had a way of softening Harry’s heart that he didn’t understand.  He thought briefly about the singing Valentine that she’d sent him what seemed like many, many years ago.  He sighed, and began to tell them about the prophecy.  By the time he was finished Ron was gazing at him quiet and white faced, Ginny was sobbing silently, and Hermione was looking thoughtful. 

“Harry, what you’re saying is that you will either be murdered or become a murderer.  But that is no reason for you to have these overwhelming emotions about it.” She said.  Harry starred at her in disbelief and said, “Hermione, this is serious.  Taking a life is serious.  I’m not looking forward to either outcome.”

She tutted, “Harry, Voldermort is basically the walking dead.  If a person kills any remnant of their former self and then is destroyed only to come back and take from the life, spirit and body of another, they aren’t at all a living human being anymore.” She finished knowledgeably. 

     Harry knew she was right.  He got up and went around the desk to stand beside Ginny.  She looped her arm in Harry’s and they leaned in close to each other.  She stood on tiptoe as Harry was really growing tall, and gave him a kiss.  Then Ron made the comment that they were going to be there for him in any way they could. 

“There is nothing that would keep us from helping in this war, not even you.” He said firmly.  The three of them went to walk around the lake.  As they approached it, a thought occurred to Harry. 

“You know, the Chamber of Secrets is miles below the ground.  Voldermort is definitely not still down there, but he had to get out somehow.” Harry said. 

“Maybe, he apparated out after you two duelled.” Ron gave. 

“RON!  Are you ever…”

“…going to read Hogwarts A History” Harry and Hermione shouted in unison.  “No, I think that you may have been right in our second year Ron.  Remember you said that the Chamber was probably under the lake.  There were all kinds of pipes under there.  Voldermort would only have had to come out of the right one and have a steady way in and out of the castle from under it. 

     Harry thought hard.  “There’s only one thing left to do.  I’m gonna have to get a couple of wads of gilly weed and go into the lake to investigate.  I would do the bubble head charm.  The problem with that is that the gilly weed will make things go much faster.”  Ginny looked absolutely mortified. 

“Wha-What do you mean you’re going to have to go into the lake.  I was horrified during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament; please don’t put me through that again.” She said, crestfallen.  “Ginny, remember, I did make it to the hostages first, and I was able to bring back Ron as well as Fleur’s sister.  I think it would be even easier to just peek around and see what I can find.  I have an idea of where the entrance might be and all I would need you to do is one person wait out here by the lake for me and one person wait in Myrtle’s bathroom.  We’ll need to ask Karlovan to help us because whichever place I come from, we’ll need someone to tell the others that the mission is complete.” 

     Hermione folder her arms and thought about it.  Ron stood a little detached from the group looking like he was resolved to help Harry however he could.  “The girls are just being ‘Women’, they’ll come around.  I’ll go up and find Karlovan to ask him about it now, I’m sure he’s at the feast.  I thought I saw him when we came in.” Ron said as he walked away back to the Great Hall.  The two girls looked at Harry worriedly.  Ginny came over to him and looped her arms around his neck. 

“Harry, we can’t loose you.  I think we should brush up on our telepathy skills.  We’re going to need it.  Since I have to study for O.W.L.’s and I’d like to become prepared, do you think they would let me come with you to Grimmauld Place?”  She asked hopefully. 

“I don’t know, I mean, I’d love for you to be there.  It would make me feel more comfortable if you could learn how to defend yourself.” 

“Well I personally think it’s a great idea.  If you two end up married, you’ll be prepared for all of the stuff that comes along with marrying a guy who is the defender of the wizarding world.” Hermione said sarcastically.  Harry and Ginny looked at her like she had gone mad.  She quickly whispered,

“Sorry, I’ll just go back to the Halloween party and find Ron and Karlovan now” and made her way back towards the Great Hall. 

     They both chose to ignore what had just happened with Hermione.  It was if there was a silent vow made between them.  They both knew they should talk about something but chose to avoid it.

“I know how to defend myself, just not like you.  Harry, do you think you could teach me anything from the cylinder?  You know you can trust me.  I wouldn’t tell a soul.”  Ginny said smirking and batting her eyelashes. 

“You know, I’d like to, but it’s against the codes of the cylinder, telling anyone any of the information from it will put you in grave danger.  I’m sorry.” He replied genuinely.  She looked disappointed but she understood and said nothing. 

*~*~*~*

     After Quidditch practice the morning after the dance and the Hermione incident, Harry went to the kitchens to ask Dobby if he could get a little more gilly weed for him, WITHOUT stealing it from Snape.  When he arrived, Dobby seemed quite dazed.  He said it was because he had a cold and he was missing Winky, but Harry wasn’t sure if that were entirely true.  However, Dobby agreed to help him and said that he would try to obtain the gilly weed.  Harry went up to his dormitory to spend a bit of time studying the cylinder.  He found that it was always best to study in the dorms, as most of his dorm mates were gone during the day.  Harry went over to his trunk to retrieve the spun glass cylinder.  As he pushed his things aside, his eyes fell on the tooth of the basilisk that he’d defeated in his second year.  This made him stop and think about what Riddle (Voldermort) has said about his memories.  After Harry had written that he’d found that diary after someone tried to flush it, Voldermort said that he was glad that he had been wise enough to store his memories in places other than the diary.  The prospect of there being other dark objects holding Voldermort’s memory was disturbing, but Harry knew that he couldn’t really do anything about it until he had more to go on. 

     So, with that in mind he found the cylinder and climbed onto his four poster bed drawing the curtains.  He’d found out from experience that he needed to do this as he’d been caught by Ron a couple of times levitating about a foot from his bed as his subconscious soared with his eagle guide.  Harry held up the cylinder and glanced at it.  He asked that he be guided to a vision of who was trying to poison him and show him how to reject poisons of all types.  He’d learned that by asking for what he wanted to learn before he started proved to be the way to go directly to what was needed.  They cylinder seemed to have learned him and it let him use it like a book and an advisor all in one. 

     He entered the land of Egypt while he was there.  Sometimes he would just walk in the sun and watch the lessons in the skies above; practising them as things came along.  Other times, he would sit in the oasis for lessons or inside the pyramids themselves.  He’d been able to give a body to the mystical voice.  Now the voice that spoke to him took the form of a woman who looked similar to Penelope, Harry didn’t understand why this was. This trip, he sat in front of the Sphinx tomb waiting for his instructor.  He saw her in the distance flying in on a magic carpet.  He told her that he was there for more lessons on physical displacement and potion rejection.  She sat in front of him with a worried look on her face. 

“Harry, I think that you are more in need of the potion dispelling charm.  If you are unfortunate enough to ingest poison, you will need to do a dispelling charm to get the foreign substance out of your body.”  She breathed. 

     Harry agreed with her, she was right about the fact that keeping the poison in his body left him susceptible to rejecting the anecdote instead of the poison itself.  They went through a few exercises.  Before he left her, she handed him a vile of poison and told him that if he was sure, he could test out his ability.  He wasn’t afraid at all; he’d had to do other dangerous things to make sure he could perform the new magic that he learned there in the cylinder.  He gulped down the poison and began to feel the numb, burning sensation throughout his body.  He let it affect him for a second then he said the spell, “Corporeal Evanesco”.  He opened his mouth and expelled a thick green mist until it stopped.  When it was done, he felt as if he’d never taken the poison.  He thanked his instructor and brought his consciousness back to the present.  Harry left the dormitory feeling confident that he would be prepared for what lie ahead. 

     Later that afternoon Harry met with Dobby who, usually came through for him with what he needed.  Harry was surprise though; Dobby hadn’t run to him hugging him tightly around the middle.  He had actually stuffed the sack of gilly weed into his hand with a glazed sort of look in his eyes and walked away.  Harry thought he might still be sick.  Even when he called after Dobby, the house elf kept right on walking like he hadn’t heard him.  Harry told Karlovan, Hermione, Ron and Ginny about this when they came into the common room.  “I’m a little worried about Dobby, he brought me the gilly weed but he didn’t hug me or even say two words to me”, Harry said exasperatedly. 

Hermione just shook her head and sighed.  “I noticed that too when I went down to the kitchens to nick food for my Runes club meeting.  He was acting very strange.” She murmured frowning slightly.  Harry looked at the gilly weed in his hand feeling a little apprehensive about taking it.  But, he felt that Dobby would never hurt him, so he shrugged and motioned for the Ginny and Karlovan to follow him towards the lake as Ron and Hermione went to Myrtle’s bathroom.

     Once they were on the banks of the lake, Karlovan pulled him aside. 

“Harry, something just doesn’t feel quite right about this whole thing.  I think maybe we should do another ritual to see who’s trying to poison you before we go through with this.” He whispered. 

Harry looked into his eyes and saw his fear.  He then turned to look at Ginny who had just looked up and into his eyes; she started towards him looking concerned. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” she asked. 

“Nothing, it’s nothing.  I just, I, Karlovan thinks we should wait, but the longer we wait, the longer it will take to find out how Voldermort is getting in the castle.” He urged. 

“Well Harry, maybe he has a point.” She said. 

“Well, maybe he does, but, I’m not waiting.” He spat stubbornly and trudged towards the lake.  Ginny and Karlovan looked at each other warily and followed.  Harry discarded his robes and trainers then walked into the water until it reached his knees.  He took the wads of gilly weed and stuffed them into his mouth chewing the slimy, rubbery knots.  Instantly, he felt the water getting warmer and the unmistakable pain of gills growing from the sides of his neck.  Ginny gasped, clapping her hands to her mouth.  He held his hands in front of his face and watched as they webbed together.  Harry turned and said with the last that breath he could muster,

“See ya!” then he flipped into the lakes icy depths. 

     Once under the water, Harry half swallowed, allowing the water to move easily through his gills.  His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the water and he looked around to make sure that he didn’t see any grindylows.  It was quite dark the farther he went so he took out his wand and thought, ‘Lumos Maxima’ and light shone brightly from its tip.  He held it out in front of him as he kicked his legs and swam deeper.  He saw a glimmer of light a few yards away on the floor of the lake and swam towards it, looking around as he went for grindylows and the giant squid.  He picked up the partially shiny metal and saw that is was a prefect’s badge.  He pocketed it in his jeans and swam on.  He came to a grate that leads to what looked like a sewer, as he reached out to grab it, he started, and someone had grabbed his shoulder.  He quickly turned to find a merwoman, motioning for Harry to follow her.  He shook his head and pointed to the grate trying to let her know that he was busy with it.  She nodded, and swam around it pointing to it, then up to the castle.  Then she motioned again for him to follow her.  Harry found this behaviour rather peculiar as she couldn’t have known what he was there for, but it looked as if she were pointing to the grate, then up towards the castle.  Curiosity got the best of him and he followed her as she moved gracefully through the water checking behind her every so often to make sure he was still behind her.  Suddenly, she stopped in the centre of the village that Harry had visited to save Ron during the tournament, pointing to the statue that the victims had been tied to.  She smiled, showing a row of sharp, grimy teeth.  She swam in circles around him and stroked his chest.  She looked like she was flirting.

     Harry thought she was quite mad, and he was just about to swim away back to the grate when the King of the Merpeople swam up to him.  He held what looked like the egg that Harry had to decipher during the tournament.  He pointed to the egg and swam in the direction of the grate.  Harry quickly followed.  The King bent down and pulled the grate free and swam into it.  Harry followed him and found that the water seemed to be receding.  This was odd to Harry because a sewer under water was still a sewer under water.  He wondered why the water would suddenly begin to disappear.  The King stopped suddenly and handed Harry the egg.  He pointed ahead and Harry realised that he was telling him that the way out was straight ahead.  Harry nodded his thanks smiling at the king and swam on with the egg tucked safely under his arm.  The moment he got out of the water, the effects of the gilly weed began to wear off.  He slowly walked ahead and noticed at once that he was in the chamber of secrets. 

     “I knew it”, Harry surmised.  He walked around to the entrance; he knew where it was by memory now.  He opened the seal using Parseltounge and walked to the tunnels that lead to moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.  He yelled up the tunnel, hoping Ron and Hermione weren’t snogging and not paying attention to the task at hand.  He heard Hermione say the words to open in Parseltounge the way he’d taught her and the then saw light shine down the tunnel as the entrance opened.  Ron shot ropes from his wand down the hole and they pulled Harry up. 

     When he finally reached the top Hermione sighed, “Well, you were right, there was a way in after all.”

“Blimey Harry, what are gonna do now?” Ron asked.  Hermione notice the egg straight away. 

“Harry, where did you find that?” she inquired pointing at it. 

“I ran into the king of the Merpeople.  He gave me this and led me to through the passageways that lead to the chamber.  We need to hurry and let Ginny and Karlovan know that I’m alright.”  He told them.  They started out of the toilets and down the hall.  All of a sudden, Harry felt light-headed and his stomach cramped horribly.  He dropped the egg; fell to the floor and writhing and shrieking in pain.  It was excruciating.  Ron and Hermione doubled back and crouched beside him.  Ron looked horrified.  Hermione was trying to console him and ask what was wrong.  Harry instantly took his mind off of the pain and thought about his lesson.  He tried with all of his strength to raise himself up.  The pain was insurmountable.  He gasped and reached for Hermione to help him sit upright.  After breaking into a sweat and watching Hermione wipe blood from his mouth with a handkerchief, he was finally able to manage uttering the incantation,

“Corporeal - pant, pant - Evanesco”, suddenly a thick greenish yellow mass of vapours escaped his mouth.  Hermione moved backward, Ron sputter,

“Bloody Hell!” and Harry, after expelling the last of the vapour collapsed onto the cold stone floor.

Back                                                    Home                                                         Forward