Chapter 2: Chapter 2
''Is the great Harry Potter sure he will be fine here?" Dobby asked once more with one last look around the chamber, doing his besst not to look at the basilisk.
"I am fine Dobby." Harry replied. "Wait there, I might need you." Harry said before he walked to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. He looked towards the mouth, he remembered that that was where the basilik came out of. He looked at it for several moments, wondering if it could be opened from the outside. "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four!". Harry said in parsletounge, rembering that that was how Tom Riddle AKA Lord Voldemort summouned the basilisk. "Well that didn't work." Harry said after several moments of it not opening.
"Is something wrong great Harry Potter sir?" Dobby asked nervously.
"Dobby, do you know what oxygen is?" Harry asked.
"Yes great Harry Potter sir." Dobby nodded.
"Well in that case save some and just call me Harry or Mr Potter."
"Oh! The great Harry Potter gived Dobby permission to..." At this point Harry had decided to just tune out Dobby and focus on the statue.
He did not understand why it would not oppened, was it voice controlled so a specific voice had to be used? No, that doesn't make sense unless Tom Riddle had the exact same voice as Salazar Slytherin. Maybe it was possible that all Tom Riddle did was call the basilisk and maybe the basilisk opened it from the inside. Animals in the magical world were smarter than those in the muggle world so it seemed possible. Perhaps there was a button or something on the other side that could open it.
"Open." Harry said, hoping that going simple would work, fortuantly this worked and the statue opend. "In I go then." Harry said before he walked in.
Harry cast a bright light from his wand which allowed him to see, he barely noticed Dobby following in after him. Upon entering Harry found himself in a tunnel, much like the pipes that the basilisk had traveled through. After a minute of caustiously walking up the tunnel Harry was annoyed to see it still go but was happy when he finally found a door on the side of the tunnel. Harry told it to open in parsletounge but it did not, Harry decided to go simple again and simply cast an unlocking spell.
"Bloody hell," Harry said when the door opened. "I suppose it make sense, Salazar was probably the only person who could get here at this point." Harry said before he walked in to find a rather impressive room.
He looked around the large room and saw green furniture, an entire wall made of bookshelves that were filled with books. There were torches on the walls that appeared to light up on their own when Harry entered. There also happened to be a portrait of Salazar Slytherin above a fireplace, but from the lack of movement Harry realised that it was not a magical one. The room was covered in various snake designs and looked a lot like the Slytherin common, room, in fact it was roughly the same size as the damn thing.
Considering the fact that an entire wall was made up of books Harry wondered if he had more books than the library. Harry also noticed that there was another door, he cautiously walked towards it and opened it. Inside was a bedroom with a king-sized bed, a desk, torches, another fireplace and surprisingly a window. There was sunlight coming out of the window and it showed Hogwarts like it was looking directly at it. If Harry had to guess he would say it was an enchantment as he thought there was now way for it to show that seeing as it was currently under the school.
"This'll do." Harry nodded to himself. "Dobby." Harry called.
"Yes Great Harry Potter sir?" Dobby spoke, Harry was tempted to just demand that the elf call him something shorter but decided that was something for another time.
"You work for Hogwarts at the moment, right?" Harry asked.
"Yes great..."
"In that case," Harry cut him off. "I'm going to make you an offer. I may need help living here and I'll need an elf."
"Need an elf?" Dobby repeated, Harry looked at him and ignored the urge to call him out on how crazy he looked.
"Yes but I don't want to pay you," Harry replied. "if you don't want to work for me for free then I will just find an elf who is willing and..."
"Oh no!" Dobby quickly shook his head. "Dobby will do it! Dobby will do it!" No way in hell was he going to pass up this chance.
"Good, I'll give you some orders tomorrow but for now clean my bedroom and make me breakfast tomorrow morning."
"Oh yes, Dobby do this, Dobby knows what the great master Harry Potter eats for breakfast, Dobby is elf who makes great master Harry Potter's breakfast."
"Sometimes I wonder if I have to worry more about you or Malfoy stalking me." Harry said under his breath.
"Ah Potter," Snape said the next day when Harry arrived in his class. "our celebrity champion." He said in a mocking way, many Slytherin's openly laughed. They didn't fear retaliation in this class, in fact in this one they didn't even bother hiding the 'Potter stinks' feature of the buttons.
"Good morning to you professor," Harry smiled. "is that jealousy I detect or are you just happy to see me? I can never quite tell with you." He said, the days of taking shit from Snape were over.
"Quiet Potter!" Snape snapped. "That's ten points from Gryffindor! Sit down!"
"You know sir, people respond to you as long as they can hear you. There's no need to be so loud." Harry replied while tutting his teeth and giving Snape a disapproving shake of the head before he looked around. Usually he'd sit with Granger or Ron but that was clearly not a good idea, thankfully today was one of the days where he could work on his own so he sat at the first free desk he could find.
"That's ten more points Potter!" Snape said before he turned around and waved his wand, instructions appeared on the board before he turned back to the class. "Begin!" He ordered.
Harry rolled his eyes at the dramatic man and got to work, partway through the potion he felt Snape's presence behind him and felt the man's disgusting breath on his neck, he could easily imagine the man sneering behind him.
"Sir...I hate to break it to you...but I'm straight." Harry confessed as he looked back to Snape, who was indeed sneering.
"What?!" Snape demanded.
"Honestly sir," Harry tutted. "first you're rude, then you get ridiculously close to me then you act confused. What is up with these mixed signals?" He asked in a fake confused voice, the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's around him looked at him with disbelief, not entirely sure they were actually seeing someone talk to Snape like this.
"What...did...you...say Potter?" Snape demanded in a low voice.
"It's alright sir, we all have different ways of handling rejection." Harry smiled at him, rather enjoying himself.
"Excuse me," A voice interrupted before Snape could say anything, everyone turned to see third year Gryffindor Colin Creevey standing in the doorway. "Harry Potter needs to come with me. He's needed for the tri-wizard tournament."
"Well that's my cue," Harry said under his breath as he quickly packed up his things, glad for any excuse to get away from Snape. Seriously what was Dumbledore drinking when he hired this man to teach kids. "bye Professor, may we never meet again." Harry said before rushing out the classroom and closing the door. "Creevey I never thought I'd say this but I am glad to see you." Harry said as he followed the boy.
"Uh...thanks!" Colin beamed, just glad for the compliment.
"Now what the hell do you need me for?" Harry asked.
"There's an interview that you have to go to for the tournament." Colin explained. "I bet this is really exciting for you, being in this tournament and..."
"Colin," Harry interrupted. "I really need quiet right now so I'm not really in the mood to hear you talk." He said bluntly.
"Oh...okay." Colin shrugged. Harry was tempted to question the boy on how quickly he accepted that but decided against it. "It's in there." Colin pointed when they arrived at the room.
"Alrighty then." Harry said before he entered the room and slammed the door shut before Colin could respond. Once he was inside he found other school headmasters were there, along with Dumbledore, Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch, one fairly attractive woman with curly blonde hair and a little bit too much make up, a camera man and Olivander.
"Ah Harry! Glad you could make it!" Ludo Bagman said in a cheerful voice.
"Well it's not like I had much of a choice," Harry rolled his eyes. "so what is this anyway?"
"You don't know?" Ludo asked.
"I don't even know how I'm in the bloody tournament, forget whatever this is." Harry said as he gestured around the room.
"Mr Potter, this is the weighing of the wands ceremony." Dumbledore explained while also giving him a disapproving look due to his language. "Your wand will be checked to make sure it's adequate for the tournament."
"Yes," Ludo Bagman nodded just as the woman with the curly hair walked up to him. "oh this is Rita Skeeter, a reporter from the daily prophet. She's here to do a small piece on the tournament."
"Now Ludo, I don't think it'll be a small piece," She gently corrected before looking at Harry with a calculating look. "Mr Potter, how about a quick interview?"
"How about an offer?" Harry countered.
"An offer?" Rita asked, her eyes lit up curiously.
"I want to wait and see what you write about this tournament, make your first article good and I'll give you an interview with me." Harry answered. "I've never given an interview before so if I am going to do my first interview I'd like it to be with someone competent. Prove to me how good you are and I'll give you the first ever interview with the boy-who-lived. How does that sound?" Harry asked with a small grin, his fame while annoying had its perks. He could see the cogs turning in her head.
"Very well, but be prepared to give that interview." She replied.
"Gladly Miss Skeeter, I look forward to it." Harry grinned. "Shall we begin?" Harry asked the others, Dumbledore gave him an odd look before they actually started.
"Mademoiselle Delacour," Olivander said "could we have you first please?" He asked, gesturing for her to hand her wand to him. Fleur removed her wand and handed it to the old wandmaker who began studying it. "Ah, nine and a half inches...inflexible...rose wood...and the core...it's..."
"Veela hair," Fleur said proudly "it belonged to my grandmother." Olivander nodded and tested the wand, once he was satisfied he handed it back. He then tested Cedric's twelve and a quarter inch unicorn hair wand and found it to be satisfactory, after that he moved onto Krum.
"Ah, a Gregorvitch creation, isn't it?" Olivander asked as he examined the wand "Yes, I believe it is...hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" He asked Krum who nodded. "It's a bit thicker than one usually sees and it's quite rigid...hmm...ten and a quarter inch as well". He proceeded to test the wand, which was also good enough to be used. "Now Mr Potter" He said to Harry and gestured for his wand. Harry let out a small sigh before he took his and out and handed it to Olivander.
"Here you go." Harry said.
"Ah, this is one of mine," Olivander smiled momentarily before taking the wand. "holly, eleven inches with a phoenix core..." Olivander waved it and a trio of birds flew out of the wand before he vanished them. "...yes, the wand is in perfect condition." He said before handing it back to Harry.
"Well that is the ceremony done." Dumbledore said since Harry was the last one.
"Great," Harry said before he walked up to Barty Crouch. "do you happen to have a tri-wizard rulebook or something?"
"Yes, did you not get one?" Barty Crouch frowned.
"I don't know, perhaps the fact that I am asking for one may clue you in." Harry replied, he had to admit that he was rather enjoying himself.
"Well, have this one." Barty Crouch said as he handed Harry a book though he glared at Harry off his comment.
"Right then, that's me done so I'm off." Harry said before he turned and walked towards the exit, he was about to leave when Ludo Bagman grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Hold up...we need to take pictures." He said, protesting against Harry disappearing so soon.
"Is this part of the tri-wizard contract?" Harry asked.
"No but..."
"In that case I do not need to take pictures. You all can do it if you want. Now excuse me." Harry said before walking off and out of the door.
The next day the teachers noticed something strange, Harry Potter did not attend a single class, nor did he appear at breakfast, lunch or dinner nor was he seen in the common room. Something that ended up causing a lot of rumors appearing throughout the school, including some that said he had left the school and ran away. However most of the rumors were gone when he appeared the next day for breakfast.
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table on his own when suddenly three people sat opposite him. It was the Gryffindor chasers Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson.
"Harry," Katie said in a concerned voice. "are you alright?"
"Well...still alive." Harry shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
"Well you've apparently been gone the last day and the night before and you weren't seen in the common room either." Alicia answered. "Plus apparently all of your stuff is gone."
"I've got to be honest," Harry sighed. "I've had enough."
"What are you on about?" Angelina frowned.
"I've...had enough." Harry repeated. "Do you know what I've been doing since I came to Hogwarts?"
"Magic? Quidditch? Saving the school?" Katie guessed.
"All of the above," Harry nodded. "but I was also pretending to be someone I'm not. Everyone wanted the polite boy-who-lived and I spent four years trying to be that person. I mean I helped people even if I didn't care, I resisted the urge to snap at people who looked at me like a zoo animal nearly every day, I've done my best to give everyone what they wanted. And what do I get for it? The whole school turning on me twice."
"Well...what about your friends?" Angelina asked, hoping to make him see the positives.
"You mean other than you lot?" Harry snorted. "Ginny was the only other one who told me they believed me. Hermione and Ron were actually against me and having both of my 'best friends' not supporting me did not help my situation in more way than one."
"If they didn't support you more people would think that you actually did it." Alicia realised.
"Exactly, I spent years putting up with the two and now they chose to abandon me."
"Putting with them?" Alicia asked.
"They are incredibly annoying," Harry replied as if it was obvious and he couldn't believe how she didn't know. "between the bossy overachiever and the idiotic underachiever I was ready to rip my hair out by the first year. But I put up with them because that was what I was supposed to do, I was Harry Potter and I was supposed to put other people's wants above my own. And this goblet of fire is the last straw for me, I am tired of doing what other people want. Now I'm being me for me."
"And who exactly are 'you'?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who is the new Harry Potter?"
"I guess you'll see eventually." Harry shrugged. "What about you guys? How are you all doing?"
"Fine...for the most part." Angelina replied. "We're not happy with most of the other Gryffindor's, we can't believe how they treated you."
"Yeah, imagine them trying this with Oliver here." Alicia said, thinking about the Gryffindor quidditch captain who left last year.
"He wouldn't do anything," Harry said. "he didn't in the chamber of secrets incident and quite frankly he didn't really care about much beyond my ability to play seeker."
"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Angelina frowned.
"Alright how many conversations did I have with him outside of quidditch or had nothing to do with quidditch?" Harry asked, waiting for her answer. Her frown increased before she slumped her shoulders and sighed.
"Okay, fair point." Angelina replied. "But still, they should have believed you when you said no. Plus the twins are not in our good books at the moment."
"Yeah," Katie nodded. "a joke and all is good but this is really not the time for them to be joking around. I mean you're in a tournament for seventh years, hated by most of the school, in potential danger and all they're doing is laughing at it."
"Never send a baby to do a grown man's job and never expect people to be anything less than they are." Harry responded. "The twins are jokers, they joke and that's pretty much all they do besides playing beaters. I've spent years trying to see the best in people, like I said before, I am tired of it."
"Mr Potter," A voice said, the four turned to see Professor McGonagall walking up to them, her thin lips in a frown as she gave Harry a disapproving look. "here you are." She said as she stopped in front of him.
"Here I am," Harry smiled. "how are you professor?" He said innocently, knowing exactly why she was upset with him.
"You were not seen in school all day yesterday. Where were you?"
"Earth, somewhere around Scotland." Harry answered with a thoughtful face, causing the chasers to smirk.
"Mr Potter, I am not in the mood for jokes." McGonagall said, glaring at him.
"I can see that, your face make it rather clear Professor, tell me do you practise that look or does it just come natural?" Harry grinned.
"Mr Potter that is ten points from Gryffindor and..."
"Only ten?" Harry interrupted with a disbelieving expression. "You total lightweight? Come on we can do better than ten, bring it, I can take it." Harry said enthusiastically.
"Mr Potter, that will be detention!"
"Hmm, no it won't." Harry shook his head.
"What did you say?!" She demanded, furious that he dared talk to her like that. "Mr Potter I am not accustomed to such disrespect!"
"You'd better get used to it then bitch," Harry said as he stood up, he was tempted to laugh at the gasps that came from everyone, he turned to her and looked at her with a straight face. "you see I've checked the rules. Tri-wizard champions do not have to attend detentions and they don't have to attend lessons either, so for this year at least I am free to do whatever the fuck I want. You want to take points, go ahead, it's your house that loses. I'm finding it hard to care if Gryffindor wins the house cup or not, so take as many points as your heart desires, it doesn't matter to me."
"Mr Potter! How dare you speak to me like this?! Even your father, for all of the trouble he caused, would never dare speak to me with such disrespect. I do not care what you think but you shall..."
"Excuse me," Harry said as he cut her off, he took her hat off her head. "just need to borrow this for a sec."
"Mr Potter! Enough of this! You will stop this horrible behaviour now!" She ordered.
"Just a sec," Harry said before he turned the hat upside down, he grabbed his goblet and poured all the juice in it, ignoring the gasp of surprise and disbelieving faces around him. "here ya go." Harry said before he placed the hat back on McGonagall's head, the juice poured out of her hat and down her hair, face and neck. "no I don't think I will stop my behaviour professor, it's rather enjoyable. In fact, it's only getting better from here on out." He grinned before turning to the open jawed chasers. "For your information, this is the 'new Harry Potter'." Harry said before he walked out the hall, his grin never leaving his face.
When Harry arrived back in the chamber he found Dobby sitting on the floor and reading a book like his life depended on it.
"Dobby," Harry called, causing the elf to realise he was here and jump to his feet. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"N...nothing Master Harry Potter." Dobby said before he tried to hide the book behind his back, this didn't really work as Harry had already seen the book and it was still visible due to being wider than the elf.
"Dobby, give us the book now." Harry ordered, he held his hand out and Dobby reluctantly opened it. "What the hell is this about anyway?" He said as he looked at the book which had a picture of a basilisk on the cover.
"Dobby doesn't know," Dobby admitted. "Dobby tried to read it but he could not understand it."
"Must be in parsletounge." Harry guessed before he opened it. "I can understand it just fine, it's information about basilisks, written by Salazar Slytherin himself. Nice, let's see," Harry said as he began flipping through pages. "it shows how long they can grow...I don't fucking need to be told that. Talks about their venom... I don't need to be told about that either. Their eyes, oh shit." Harry said as he caught one particularly interesting line.
"Master?" Dobby asked, a little worried about his master.
"I have actually learnt something, in normal schools that's probably not as exciting. But here it says that Basilisks have an eye lid to block their gaze, so you can have a basilisk and not worry twenty-four/seven about it killing you. Plus it says they don't even develop their death stare till they're a year old. Nice, makes me sort of wish I had a baby basilisk."
"Ah..." Dobby wringed his hands.
"Dobby," Harry frowned as he looked at him. "Why were you trying to read this?" Harry gestured to a book.
"Dobby...found...something." Dobby admitted, pulling on his ears.
"Show me." Harry ordered. Dobby looked reluctant but obeyed and guided Harry into his bedroom where Harry found a nest made of pillows on his bed with an egg in the middle.
"Dobby found this when cleaning Mr Potter's room." Dobby said, looking ready to punish himself. Harry was too busy to even think about that as he was more focused on the fact that the egg was cracked.
"Dobby, did you happen to drop it?" He asked.
"No master." Dobby shook his head as more cracks appeared on the egg.
"Dobby, get behind me." Harry said as he stepped forward, a few more cracks appeared and a few moments later something came out.
It was indeed a basilisk, a baby one but still a basilisk. It had the yellow eyes like the one Harry had fought before and Harry was glad to see that the book was right and that he was not dead from it's gaze. It was a dark green, it's teeth were more like toothpicks than the swords of it's bigger version. It pushed itself out of the shell, Dobby had immediately hid behind Harry's leg. The basilisk slithered out, it looked up at Harry.
Harry walked closer and stopped in front of it, he slowly and gingerly extended his hand out. The basilisk slithered towards his hand, Harry resisted the urge to snap his hand back and keep his distance. The basilisk looked hesitant, but eventually it climbed up his hand, it slithered up his arm before it's head reached Harry's shoulder. At it's current size it was the same length between Harry's shoulder and elbow. It stopped on his shoulder before it nudged his face with it's head.
Harry slowly brought his other hand up and close towards it, he carefully touched the head of the basilisk and petted it. The basilisk leaned into his touch.
"Sweet Merlin," Harry couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "oh god this is brilliant."
Weekly Power Status
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