Chapter 34

Harry's Point of View

Waking up in our bed in the Slytherin dorms felt like a dream. The candles flickered gently, freshly lit by the house-elves. The green matt that covered the stone floor was warm beneath our bare feet, and the chill of the dungeon was a shock to our system after the warm blankets that had kept us warm all night.

An eye peered in the window, and I grinned at the sight of our old friend. 'Good morning.'

'And a good morning to you as well, young Lords.' The Giant Squid greeted us. He disappeared shortly after, giving us some privacy to get changed. After spending most of the summer wearing jeans and a t-shirt it was nice to be back in our school robes. They were more restrictive, certainly, but they were also more comfortable somehow.

One thing that we certainly didn't miss, however, was having to wait for Draco, Blaise and Theo to finish their daily morning routine so we could head up for breakfast. Eventually (a.k.a half an hour before breakfast finished) we did make it to the Great Hall. Percy had taken over, and was doing a fine imitation of a happy morning person (despite the rest of our dorm-mates and I knowing better), and generally just irritating everyone else at the Slytherin table near us.

Across the Hall, we caught sight of Charles grinning at us, laughing with Ron as Percy succeeded with his mission to create mayhem on our first morning back. Severus gave us a look through narrowed eyes as he handed out our timetables.

"Nice to see that you four are ready to start this New Year with a bang." Our head of year commented dryly. "And you better hope your homework is up to standard when I see you next."

Theo groaned after our professor had moved on. "Professor Snape's going to kill me! I only mentioned three uses of pegasi feathers…"

"Quick, get it out. Let me look over it." Percy offered. We peered at our friend's neat handwriting, quickly reading though the page. He was right. Theo had failed to reach the five uses requirement, however he had explained the three uses he had in plenty of detail, and reached the three feet mark that Severus had asked for… "You might get away with it. You never know, it's well written. Professor may let you off."

Theo flashed us a thankful grin as Percy passed him back his work. We stood up to leave and head back down into the dungeons when a familiar blond Ravenclaw appeared in front of us. Draco sneered at her, while Theo and Blaise simply looked down at her with a small degree of interest in their eyes. After all, it wasn't often that a Ravenclaw would approach Slytherin. Especially not Slytherin's that were older than them.

"Luna." Percy smiled, recognising that it was, in fact, Luna in control at the moment.

"Percy…" Luna frowned. "Why are you dressed as a Lion in a nest of Snakes? You told u… me that you were a Slytherin."

Draco laughed. "Percy's a Gryffindor, so their robes turn red when he's in control. Harry though, he's Slytherin through and through – enough to keep Percy straight at least."

Luna tilted her head at Draco. "Bad faith… Do you really like your surname?"

"Yes." Draco lifted his chin, though I noticed with a frown that he stiffened slightly. "It isn't about what it means. My name is my name and it's a good name to have, especially in the Wizarding world, so there!"

"Are you alright, Luna?" Percy asked in concern. "Do you need help getting to lesson?"

"Hm? Oh, I expect the nargles can guide me…" Luna winked. "Besides. Our prefects are taking us anyway."

We nodded. "Right…"

'Is she alright this morning?' I asked Percy. 'Luna seems even more out of it than usual.'

'She does doesn't she?' Percy agreed. 'Maybe it's all the magic in Hogwarts. They haven't been in a magical building before…'

'True…'

"Have you spoken with Annabeth recently?" Percy randomly asked Luna.

Luna nodded. "Why?"

"Just interested." Percy frowned. "Is she ok?"

"Well," Luna looked down. "She has been very quiet…"

Before we could continue on this train of thought, the Ravenclaw prefect turned up, giving us dirty looks as he moved to stand protectively behind Luna.

"Luna! There you are. You should keep away from these Slytherin's you know. They'll just end us getting you hurt."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "What about me. I'm technically a Gryffindor and Luna's an old friend."

Luna waved us off with a smile before saying her farewells and heading off to class. We quickly raced down to the Dungeons, arriving mere seconds before Severus let us in.

Potions was pretty much the same as last year. Severus picking on the Gryffindors and scorning our attempts at his essays. Then we got onto the actually potion brewing, and we was paired up with Draco as per usual. We were reviewing the Boils Potion that we had learnt last year, so that Severus could gage how much revision he needed to do on our practical skills. In terms of the Gryffindors, a lot of work was required. Three of their cauldrons blew up. Though, to be fair, that could have been because of the random ingredients Blaise and Draco were throwing at them…

What came after Potions, however, was decisively worst. But really – how could any lesson being taught by Gilderoy Lockhart actually go well? First, he welcomed us in and introduced himself – who actually cares if he's the fifth time winner of Witches Most Charming Smile award? You can't protect yourself from dark magic and creatures by simply smiling at people! Merlin's underwear and Hephaestus' hand-grenades, a muggleborn five-year old would be more qualified to teach!

The final straw however, was when he started handing out test papers.

"Now, just a little quiz to see how many of you have actually read the books I got you to buy." Lockhart grinned, flashing his white teeth at us.

'You know Percy, I think I want to be sick just looking at him.' I commented to my brother.

Percy gagged back. 'I'm with you there, Harry. Even Apollo's kids don't have teeth quite that white.'

A sheet of parchment landed in front of us. We scowled up at Lockhart. He smiled down at us, then frowned at our tie started shifting between green and red and our badge alternated from snake to lion and I fought Percy to stop him from punching our teacher.

'Percy, really… there's no need to hit him.' I begged between gritted teeth. Percy growled.

'Question1: What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour? Really. I'd rather punch him and have anybody else have to step in while he lies comatose in hospital.'

I glanced down at the sheet, quickly skimming the page.

"Your… are you aware you're robes seem to be unaware of what House you're in, Mr…"

"Potter." Percy snarled, then I added. "Surely you've heard of us?"

Lockhart paled. "Perseus and Harry, yes?"

We nodded, holding up the sheet. "Care to explain what this is?"

"A quiz on my books –"

"No." Percy interrupted. "Last I checked, this class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, not Gilderoy Lockhart's life story. So, how is knowing your favourite colour or your greatest ambition going to help us pass our end of year exams, not to mention our OWLs or NEWTs?"

"Detention, Mr Potters." Lockhart stuttered uncertainly. "It isn't up to you to decide how I'm supposed to teach my lessons. Now. Either answer the questions or get out. I won't stand for this level of disrespect in my classroom!"

Draco exchanged a look with us and we burst out laughing. From behind us, Blaise asked. "But sir, he does have a point – how is this relevant to the subject we are learning?"

Lockhart looked around desperately, as if searching for an answer to our question. Finally, however, Hermione spoke up.

"It's obvious isn't it? The answers to these questions are in his books, so if we've read them well enough then we should know the answers and therefore the content of his books." Hermione gave Lockhart a pair of love-sick eyes. "It's brilliant really."

Lockhart nodded, a look of pure relief on his face. Percy glowered at both Hermione and Lockhart. I could sense he was about to do something incredibly reckless, and so quickly pulled him back. I picked up our quill and very quickly answered the questions. The ability to memorise entire books was, after all, a very useful quality. I waved the parchment in the air.

"Your answers, sir." I said in an emotionless voice. Lockhart glanced briefly at the Snake crest adorning our robes and scowled, taking the paper. His eyes widened as he recognised all thirty answers to be correct.

"Y-yes, very well done." He mumbled.

Lockhart wondered off, leaving us sitting there bored for the remainder of the lesson. We amused ourselves by casting random charms at different things in the room. We charmed Lockhart's chair to start singing if he sat on it, and a triggered happy charm should anyone touch the life-sized painting he had at the front of the room.

Still bored we started looking for the changes in the classroom with our new 'teacher'. A skeleton of a small winged creature hung from the ceiling, and the paintings of various creatures – vampires, werewolves, redcaps, veela, pixies and many more – were hung round the walls. The desks were in columns rather than rows, so that the occupants of the desks could only talk to the person sitting next to them. I was, all in all, extremely dull.

When we were dismissed, Percy all but ran for the door. Draco laughed, following at a much more respectable pace. More than ready for lunch, we decided to grab food and head down to the lake, to enjoy the some of the last sunny days before the cold set in.

Others had obviously had the same idea, and also carried food down to the water's edge. I almost smiled when I spotted the obliterated beach from Charles' and our fight shortly after Christmas last year. Percy scowled seeing it.

'I hate that spot.' He declared. 'And I hate stunning spells as well. They completely block our bond.'

I chuckled as Percy pouted. 'But at least we know that now. You wouldn't stop forcing your way into my mind for weeks after that, checking that I was, in fact, still there.'

'But I thought I'd lost you…' Percy sent me a look of his wide green puppy eyes and I relented with a small grin. It wasn't really possible to be mad at Percy. He was just far too loveable.

It was nice, I surmised, to act our age every now and again, as we chased Draco, Blaise and Theo in a game of tag after finishing our lunch. Which was probably one of the reasons we enjoyed Camp Half-Blood too. Admittedly, the skills and games they taught would no doubt save our lives many times, but they were taught in a similar way to any other summer camp – using fun and high spirits to keep us entertained and ensure we were enjoying ourselves.

As Percy paused for a moment in our pursuit to catch our friends I caught Flint from the Quidditch team watching us with a faint smile on our face. Slytherin's watch out for each other, I remembered. No doubt that also included making sure we got a healthy dose of fun every now and again.

That night we found it impossible to sleep. No matter how comfortable our bed was, or how right it felt to be in our bed in the dorms, Hypnos refused to let us slip into his realm. Agitated and unusually energised, we decided to go for a walk to try and tire ourselves out for a bit.

We kept to the shadows and secret passages, and used a wordless 'lumos' to light our way. We did this wandlessly however, and limited the magic we put into our spell so that the silver markings on our hands only glowed faintly – just enough to prevent us from falling over things, but not so bright that it might attract us unwanted attention. The very castle itself seemed to be on edge as we walked its passages. Occasionally we'd leave a passage and end up exactly where we had entered it, as it the castle was shifting around us. I couldn't help but notice that the castle seemed to keep near to its outer walls, as if it didn't want us near its centre.

We'd read a book on sentient buildings, and it was rumoured that Hogwarts was one, but this was the first proof we had of it possibly being true. I put a hand to a stone wall, feeling the cold stone suck at the warmth in me. Percy poked me questioningly and I let out a sigh, before letting him guide our feet onwards.

It was midnight before we returned to bed, finally exhausted enough to slip into sleep. We dreamt that night as well.

It was hard to make out, but we appeared to be in some sort of chamber or cave. Perhaps both. The floor was wet a slippery, made out of smooth marble. The walls too were made of marble as well to a certain extent, before reaching a point where it merged with the rough limestone roof. Water dripped of stalactites which hung from the roof. Cautiously, we edged further into the gloom.

Statues of snakes edged the pathway, glaring down at us with their mouths open, poised to pounce. The water dripping from their fangs had an eerie resemblance to poison, and I drew back slightly, not wanting to get too close.

In that typical way that dreams do, the shadows seemed to creep up the walls to loom over us, making this cavern in our dream seem creepier then it really was. Still, we edged our way slowly down the long corridor, mindful of the snakes and deeper in.

At the end of the corridor we found a large statue of a face, one we recognised from our history books to be Salazar Slytherin, founder of my House. Contorted, sibilant words filled the air, too mutilated to full comprehend their meaning, and Salazar's mouth opened wide. Our feet treacherously carried us inside. The passage way within was rounded and large and slimy.

As if being pulled by a magnet, we were drawn to one inner chamber, ignoring the passageways that led off elsewhere. Inside, a dormant slippery presence reached our mind, hissing as it turned in its sleep.

$Soon… Yes, soon the Heir will return… Soon Salazar's noble quest shall be, after long years of waiting, completed!$

The hissing tones of Parseltongue slithering around in our mind, jerking us out of the Chamber. We woke for a moment, our breathing heavy and heart pumping before falling back into more dreams.

This time we were back at Camp Half-Blood with Luna and Annabeth, chasing our female friends round in the forest. Around us, war cries and the clash of steel could be heard ringing through the trees. A flock of birds flapped noisily into the air as they fled from us. From what we could deduce, this must be a Friday's game of capture the flag.

Up ahead in a small clearing a flag was waving. Instead of being one of the usual flags, depicting a cabin's parent, it was the emerald green and shining silver of Slytherin, and the symbolic snake decorating the cloth. We drew to an abrupt halt, our eyes wide as we turned to ask Annabeth and Luna what was going on.

But when we turned back to our friends we were faced by a cloaked masked stranger. A death eater! The battle cries still hung in the air but, instead of the ring of steel meeting still hanging in the air with them, it was the explosions of spells and incantations that accompanied the shouts.

Then, all of a sudden, silence reigned. We turned around, sensing someone behind us. We caught a flash of white before our vision focused and we caught sight of our Unicorn friend watching us with dark eyes as her horn shone in the moonlight.

I blinked. I could have sworn it was day-time a second ago…

Then I noticed that the trees were different. They were more wild and overgrown. We were in the forbidden forest… The sense of something stalking us crept over Percy and I and we began to run, sprinting through the trees as fast as possible in the direction of what I thought was the castle. We ran and ran, but the presence never seemed to fade. It just go closer and closer the faster we ran.

Then a voice, a name cut through to us.

"Harry! Percy! Potter!"

The forest abruptly disappeared, and we sat straight up in bed, clashing heads with Draco, who had been leaning over us. He fell back with a cry, landing on the floor.

"Hey! I was just trying to wake you!"

Percy ignored him, glancing round the room, already on the alert. I was still dazed from our dream. Then I realised that we could still feel that strange presence stalking us. A few seconds later a large orange fur ball sprang at us, landing on our chest.

Alarmed, Percy hit it, sending it flying straight into Blaise's waiting arms. The dark haired boy smiled, petting the large cat fondly.

"Percy, Harry, meet Felix, my new familiar."

The little fluff ball bared its teeth at us and snarled lightly. Percy scowled, and we hissed right back at it. Something told me that that little 'cat' really hated us for some reason. Which was odd, considering that most animals seemed to like us normally. It also must have been the presence in our dream, I realised, and the reason why we couldn't run away from it…

Sighing, we stretched and rolled out of bed, heading for the showers, hoping that a shock of cold water might drive the nightmare from our head. Unfortunately, it didn't work…