Chapter 45

Harry's Point of View

Having Percy back really sped up our recovery. His presence was like a balm, soothing and healing the raw hole his absence had caused. Normally we'd end up shield most of our thought from each other, if just to grant the other a small amount of peace and quiet, but the past four days – since Percy came back – we'd been leaving pretty much everything open to each other. We both had a few secrets, but the main thing was that we could feel that each other was there. You're probably thinking it's really sappy, but hey. It made us feel better, so there!

The school was still in turmoil after the attack Creevey fell victim to when we were released from the Hospital wing, a full two weeks after it had occurred. Rumours were flying thick and fast. Maybe Draco had lashed out after his friend got hurt, maybe Charles had had enough of Creevey and his flashing camera. Perhaps Flint was paying back Gryffindor for injuring his seeker (no idea how that rumour started). Our favourite, we think, however, was that while we were unconscious the monster slipped out of our control and attacked. I mean, seriously? Theoretically, if we had opened the chamber to set the Basilisk on the school because she was a mindless beast, we would at least shut the chamber when we weren't in it to protect ourselves, if nobody else!

Entering the Great Hall for the first time in two weeks, we found the Weasley twins had performed another prank, spelling the Great Hall upside down, so that you would walk onto the cloudy-spelled ceiling, bobbing and weaving around the beams to your table to eat. Glancing out the window was really disorientating. Have you ever considered how odd the world would look if you saw it upside down without twisting your body and that horrible feeling of blood draining into you head while you saw it? I tell you. It is strange.

Since the ceiling was spelled to reflect the weather outside as well, utter chaos started when the storm outside starting boiling up around us as well. The rain wasn't real, but watching the allusion float upwards was strange. And the tingling zaps of lightning and rumbling thunder echoed around us as well. We laughed, sitting down at the Slytherin table, and glancing round the hall in awe.

"We must say, this is a pretty cool prank!" We grinned, sitting next to Draco. Most of our housemates grunted neutrally. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Most of that thought that as well at first. But after two days, it does start to get a bit dull and repetitive. Especially since none of the teachers – not even Flitwick – can work out how to revert it back to normal. And before you suggest it – that have tried the basic reversal charms. We have tried them too." Draco cut us off as we opened our mouth with a smirk.

We laughed again. "Considered asking the twins?"

"There's no proof that they did it, so why would the teacher's ask them?" Draco sighed.

"Well, other than them, the only other prankers in the school that we have come across as yet is our brother. Considering that Charles doesn't know this kind of advanced spell work that leaves the twins to be the culprits. Furthermore, I happen to know that Uncle Sirius gave them an advanced prank book for their birthdays this year, so no doubt it's something from in there." I reasoned, grinning slightly when we felt a double presence at our back.

"Very good, Potters. Strange. Apart from you, Charles was the only other person to work that out. Do you two just think weirdly, or do you think the teachers are scared of asking?" The twins chorused over our shoulder. Draco turned to glare at them.

"Can you please stop boasting and reverse this? Boring and annoying doesn't even begin to describe this by now."

Severus walked over to us slowing, his normal stride lost as he fought his way over the uneven roof. The twins smirked, winking at us as if they'd somehow gained a massive victory by summoning his attention. We laughed and simply grinned up at our godfather, who nodded at us in reply.

"So. Rumour travels down this table that my godsons believe asking you two would solve our little problem here." Snape bit out. "Care to explain, or should I just dock points now?"

The twins shrugged, not particularly bothered by the threat. Fred spoke first.

"Well, with Creevey in the hospital, we decided to cheer people us with a few pranks, that's all."

"We did get a bit curious, however, after the first day when you couldn't get the hall back to normal, and so decided to see how long it would take someone to figure it out."

"It would appear," Fred grinned, "that a lot longer than two day's would've been used up without the Potter twins. Honestly Professor Snape, we had no idea you trusted their theories so well that you'd come running at the first word of their idea."

Severus scowled, ushering the grinning twins up to the head table to talk to the headmaster. We ducked our head and giggled, glancing at our friends, who were trying not to smile.

Needless to say, when our Monday morning of potions with the Gryffindor's began our godfather was certainly not in a good mood. I think he beat his record, docking a total of one hundred points from Gryffindor in one lesson. And none of us Snakes had done anything to sabotage our rival house's potions either. Admittedly it was probably because we were concentrating so hard on not messing up, but still. Skele-gro was a hard potion to brew, and we had a sneaky suspicion that it most certainly wasn't on our syllabus this year…

Neville has somehow manage to make his explosive, earning him a week detention with one irate Professor Snape – any Gryffindor's worst nightmare. Somehow we managed to brew something that looked very similar to how the book described the potion to be with Draco. While we both had to brew our own potions, we shared the labour, cutting up double the amount needed of every other ingredient to provide half to our partner. It worked best that way too, because we weighted out the ingredients after they had been cut up, providing the most accurate amounts.

Both of us hung around at the end of the lesson, providing our godfather with a hug as soon as everyone was out the classroom. The dark haired man smiled at us wearily.

"It's been a long weekend." He sighed. "I don't care if they're trying to lighten the situation, those Weasley twins are really driving me up the wall."

I felt a slight flicker of annoyance from Percy at the mention of the twins, and frowned, making a metal note to ask him in a little bit. I did send him a burst of concern however.

'I'll tell you later.' Percy promised, a slight darkness to his thoughts that I hadn't noticed, but had definitely been there this morning as well. It was almost as if he had a slight grudge against them… which was odd, considering that Percy couldn't hold a grudge for anything, much less against someone who we were relatively good friends with.

Severus shook his head. "You two should go. And Percy – keep revenge to a minimum, if possible. I don't really want to have to tidy up after you as well."

Percy nodded. I mentally shook my head confused as Percy and Draco walked out of the dungeons and up towards transfiguration.

For the rest of the term I transfiguration, we had been set projects to do. Our task was to transfigure the materials to make something. I could be anything, really, but we had to create something. To make sure we had enough time, Professor McGonagall had put us in pairs. As this year the class was made up of Gryffindor and Slytherin, Professor McGonagall had decided to pair us up across houses, to try and save arguments and vandalism from happening. After all, nobody was going to risk angering their own classmate just to get at the other house. We all wanted to at least pass, after all.

Our partner, was Hermione. We both had mixed feelings about this because, on one hand, she was a very good witch, and definitely one of the brightest in the year. On the other hand, she didn't like us too much, after thinking that we had messed with their potion. Of course, she had probably realised that we hadn't soon after, and so her grudge was mainly to keep up appearance in an attempt to save face, but that really didn't make us like it any more.

Hermione had decided that we were going to make a miniature model of Hogwarts while we were in the hospital wing. Well… maybe miniature wasn't the best word to use. After all, Hogwarts was a large building complete. It helped, of course, that we had managed to owl James to ask if he had the famous Marauders Map that constantly came up in his stories. Turned out that Filch had confiscated it in their seventh year. We asked the caretaker, but it turned out somebody had nicked it last year. Realising only a Gryffindor would have the courage to steal from Filch, of all people, we asked Charles, who asked the twins to ask around. As it was, the Twins were in possession of the map, and luckily for us, were willing to lend it to us.

A quick word with Annabeth and Luna had provide us with a stack of parchment Annabeth had compiled on the architecture of the building, and we were pretty much set to go.

We decided to first construct the different floors out of wood, then transfigure it to stone. Naturally, the choice of spells to use brought a bit of an argument.

"No, no, no!" Hermione snapped, stealing Percy's wand. We glared at her, snatching it back. Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're doing it all wrong! Your wand movements are supposed to flow, not look like an idiot trying to swing a sword."

We scowled. "For your information, we know how to swing a sword! Besides, I think we know how to cast a spell!"

To prove our point, Percy cast the spell, flawlessly recreating the stone that made up Hogwarts. We'd never admit it, but he did smoothen out his movements a bit. Hermione simply sniffed, turning back to her floor of the building.

In theory, if we could just have transfigured the castle out of one solid block of wood, but it looked better when you added a bit of life to it. Our end masterpiece was going to be amazing. We'd debated transfiguring and animating some dolls to act as students and teachers, and maybe ghosts. Hermione might think it was a bit over the top, but I'm sure Leo or Annabeth and Luna would agree that it was all about the details in the design, even if it took longer to create.

Draco groaned as he approached our desk. Somehow he'd been partnered with Neville. Unfortunately, their project wasn't going so well. Draco refused to tell us what it was, probably so we wouldn't laugh at him for it looking quite so… unusual. At the moment it appeared to be a misshaped wooden centaur with feathers. That was certainly quite interesting to look at.

"Harry, Percy! Save me from Longbottom. I swear, he could get a spell wrong if someone had cast an imperius curse on him to force him to do it correctly!" Draco moaned.

We chuckled. "Aw, it can't be that bad. I mean, you could be partnered to our brother. I bet you'd both be working on different projects after the first half-minute."

Hermione huffed. "If you don't mind. Harry and Percy and I have work to do. So please return to your own project."

"Lay off it, Granger!" Percy snapped. "We swear to Hades, if you don't stop trying to take control and forcing us to work every single free minute on this project we will bail and explain to Professor McGonagall that we simply cannot work with you breathing down our neck every other second!"

Hermione recoiled, as if stung. "Fine! I'd work better by myself anyway!"

Draco winced, tactfully retreating. I sighed, and got back to work. Percy silently fumed as I worked on transfiguring the dungeons. It was slowly taking shape. We had the dusty empty rooms all sorted, it was just some of the secret corridors, Slytherin common room and dorms to sort out now, then we could get to work on the ground floor. We'd decide it might work best if I worked from the dungeons up (as I knew that territory the best) and Hermione worked on the towers down. The Great Hall was going to be fun. We were half considering putting the tables on the ceiling.

'Alright.' I sighed. 'Talk. What happened with the twins?'

'Well, you know Fred hit the bludger that knocked you out?' Percy mumbled.

I nodded. 'Duh! But that wasn't his fault exactly. I'm pretty sure he wasn't aiming for our head, and besides, Fred is a Gryffindor beater.'

'Yeah, but the bludger came back and hit us fully on the back of our head, knocking me out as well. I think that was partly why my consciousness went walk-about.' Percy admitted. 'I know it wasn't his fault really, it's just so annoying!'

I chuckled. 'Be fair, both Fred and George have been very nice to us since we woke up last week. I presume that was to make up for it. I mean, they let us borrow the Marauder's Map. Admitting to having that when it rightfully belongs to James, Sirius and Remus is pretty brave.'

'Yeah, but…' Percy grumbled.

"Harry! Percy! POTTER!"

We snapped back to the present to see Hermione staring at us in exasperation.

"Watch what you're doing, idiots!"

We pouted, feigning hurt at her winged words. Glancing back down at our work, we realised we'd possibly gotten a little carried away. Our dungeons was completely finished now – it even had torches with little flames flickering in them. It was awash with magic and had responded to every single memory we had of the typically Slytherin part of the castle, complete with finely woven little tapestries uneven flag stones and potion stains on the desks. However, we'd accidentally also started transfiguring the desk to stone.

"Ops!" We blushed slightly. Our palms glowed a faint silver as we both waved our wands over the table, transfiguring it back. Hermione rolled her eyes, inspecting our work. She grinned and looked at us in a slight awe as she took in the fine details.

"You know it well, I'll give you that." She offered, before passing us another block of wood, and the floor plan for the ground floor. "I suggest you get started on the next floor, we've got a way to go yet!"

The rest of the lesson passed in blissful peace, and we both managed to finish our second floors, melding them together to produce as base and top of the building. Now we just had the six floors in between to complete!

The day passed in a similar way, full of classes and teachers and small spats with the other houses. After dinner we slipped away to visit Myrtle and our basilisk friend down in the chamber.

Myrtle was delighted to see us after our two weeks in the hospital wing. She spent a few minutes fussing, then filled us in on the annoying Gryffindor who kept expelling her from her own bathroom by flushing her into the lake.

"It's unacceptable!" Myrtle moaned. "Gryffindor have no respect for the dead these days. None at all!"

"Do you know what they look like?" I asked.

Myrtle looked even more annoyed and depressed. "No. All I see is a flash of their Gryffindor shield and then it whoosh down the plumbing! Really though, I'd love to show whoever it is how nasty it is to be flushed down a toilet. See how they like it."

After spending a good twenty minutes assuring our dead friend that we would find out who it was, we ventured down into the Chamber. The basilisk we coiled up in the pool water outside of the statue of Slytherin, hissing in complaint of the cold. Percy smiled, casting a warming charm of the water. The basilisk hissed, first in warning, then in contentment and thanks when she noticed it was us.

$How are you today, our good friend?$ We asked, coming to sit beside her.

$I am well.$ She hissed slowly. $Today, at least.$

We winced. $Two weeks back, shortly after we first visited…$

She nodded. $The fiery haired girl came, commanding me to seek out the first mud-blood I came across and look it in the eye…$

A slow hissing chuckle passed her lips. $I may have been unable to disobey, I she didn't specify direct eye contact. The poor hatchling had a strange device he looked through. It weakened by gaze, much like a reflection.$

We grinned. $Would you be able to continue such work?$

$Yes.$ She hissed victoriously. $I will not harm the hatchlings! But…$ Her voice turned pleading. $Could you open the back entrance – it leads into the forest so I might feed.$

$Of course!$ Percy was shocked she hadn't asked before. $Show us.$

Our friend nudged us to sit behind her large head, and wove her way through several pipes to a solid stone wall. I knocked on it, and laughed when it echoed back. Hollow!

$Open!$ I commanded, watching with satisfaction as the wall retracted down. The basilisk nudged us off, hissing a thank you as she turned to go. A sudden thought hit Percy before she could leave however. $Wait! We failed to ask your name!$

She hissed in amusement. $The Great Master, Lord Slytherin, called me Alyssa once, though each new master over the centuries have brought me a new name. Sophia. Cephira. Kiyoshi. Vipera. Few thought to ask me for my name.$

$Alyssa it is then.$ Percy and I declared happily.

We followed Alyssa out into the Forest, and she was all too happy to give us a ride to near the edge. We were careful to sneak out, and spent about five minutes sitting, enjoying the scenery on the root of a tree at the treeline of the forest. Hagrid shortly found us, however, and after passing a slightly distrustful look over us, sent us on up the castle, warning us to stay away from the forest.

Hagrid may be a family friend, and envious of our friendship with the beings of the lake and forest, but after years of pranks being played on him by our House, he was instantly wary round Slytherins, so we didn't blame him for distrusting us.

Luna and Annabeth were waiting for us at the castle doors. The girls embraced us, smiling. We swapped quick greetings before they dragged us up to our Transfiguration room, begging to see our project. Smiling, we indulged them.

Annabeth cooed over the parts we'd done. "You included the secret passages! How did you know where they are?"

"We have our sources." Percy boasted, before laughing. "Our father was part of the infamous Marauder's group. They mapped out the entire castle, and discovered pretty much every secret passageway there is to find."

"Amazing…" Annabeth grinned, and I could see a hint of a happy Luna in their eyes too. Checking the time, we noticed we still had an hour before curfew.

"What do you say for a little while canoeing on the lake?" Percy asked. Annabeth tilted her head thoughtfully, moving away from our model.

"Like we used to with Leo?" She asked. "Where do you know nearby that can get us canoes though? Hogwarts certainly don't have any."

"In the summer we're sometimes allowed to borrow the boats used to carry the first years on their first night." Percy said thoughtfully. "But I was thinking more along the lines of transfiguring some."

"It'll be cold though." Luna frowned.

"That's what warming charms are for! Come one, it'll be fun." We begged.

They sighed. "Tomorrow. You can hold us to it if you like. We need to get our homework done…"

A snigger caught our attention from the entrance of the classroom. Strangely both Charles and Draco stood there, laughing at us as we pleaded to go canoeing with our friend on the lake. Annabeth and Luna gave them scathing looks.

"Real mature, both of you. I though purebloods had better decorum then that."

Draco blushed. Charles looked insulted.

"My dear Ravenclaw, I am a half-blood, not a pureblood. My, the very thought insults me…"

"Charles. James is a pureblood." We pointed out with a grin.

Draco snorted "And look how that turned out. Not only is he a muggle lover, but Father says he spent more time messing around then on his studies. How he gained the OWLs and NEWTs to get a job is incredible."

"Draco." We shook our head. "We are his son. Kind of. Half his son?"

Annabeth and Luna burst out laughing, and Charles joined in. Draco smirked and shook his head.

"You might want to work on that and sounding slightly more convincing than that." He jested. "Maybe it's your half-blood genes I should pull fun at."

"Hey!" We complained, even as Annabeth ruffled our hair fondly, claiming we were a "right seaweed brain."

Laughing, we all headed down to the library to find a table to work at. It was a good evening really, once the horrors that plagued the school in the form of a fiery haired girl were forgotten for a while.