F&L: Chapter 62

The next month and one week of classes proceeded more or less without incident, even in spite of my fears about Lockhart putting the mind whammy on people in the background. I trained with Magnus Gamp, went to class, participated in club activities, and basically did everything I normally did when at Hogwarts. In fact, I was starting to suspect shenanigans as September continued with no opening of the Chamber of Secrets or hidden attack from mind-controlled friends. Instead, I decided to stop worrying and focus on my studies and routine. After all, if something happened, it would happen. I already told Magnus Gamp to keep an eye on Lockhart, and with Dumbledore in the School as well, that was as good as you could get for pre-emptive precautions. Short of just straight-up murdering Lockhart, I suppose, but then how would I explain that?

Tutoring Sessions with Magnus Gamp were, largely, about speedrunning my way through the third-year curriculum, and I got the sense that this would continue to be the case into the month of December, when he would begin to change things up again, similar to what he'd done last year. Ironically, he focused almost entirely on Third Year Defense this month. Learning about Redcaps, Hinkypunks, Skeletal Undead, Vampires, and Werewolves, along with Practical Spellwork for the Disruption Charm, which would smash skeletal undead, though it was less effective against non-skeletal undead and completely ineffective against Incorporeal Undead, along with the Electric Arc Spell, which was dangerous to many things, but which could also be used for welding and metalworking, and the Gouging Spell, which would gouge materials out of earth and stone effectively being a magical pickaxe and shovel.

The Electric Arc Spell had the wand movement of a sideways zig-zag and the incantation of Fulgur Arcus. It created a spark of electricity at the tip of your wand, which could be fired from the tip up to six times before requiring recasting by flicking your wand at the target, however it could also be used to weld metal or otherwise perform metalworking you would normally use a blowtorch for by simply pressing the sparking tip of your wand to the location you wished to weld or solder. Supposedly, it had been invented by a Muggleborn Wizard named Heinrich Braun from Hamburg in the last decade of the nineteenth century, by witnessing Muggle Shipbuilders in Hamburg Port and seeing their usage of blowtorches to help create cargo steamer hulls. He'd invented it as a wizarding version of that, though he had been derided at the time for using Muggle Technology as a base for spell creation. Magnus Gamp insisted it was still a very good spell, and I believed him. So did the Hogwarts Board of Governors, at least for a while, anyway, as it had been part of the curriculum from the nineteen twenties to the late fifties.

The Gouging Spell had the wand movement of two vertical lines connected by a horizontal line, and the incantation of Defodio. It had been invented in the eighteenth century by the Wizard Erasmus Black, who had a longstanding rivalry with a Jewish Wizard, Matthias Farber. Apparently, Matthias would generally manage to get the upper hand in their battles by creating stone golems to aid him, until Erasmus Black innovated this spell and utilized it to destroy Matthias' golems. Of course, then Erasmus had shown he was not any different than the majority of the Black Family by ruining Matthias' business and purchasing it from his destitute rival for knuts on the galleon, which had to be at least a little anti-semetic, but it was still a good spell. Apparently, it was still in use by mining wizards in Britain up until the fifties, when a shift in the markets turned the economy more in favor of purchasing minerals from abroad rather than mining them here in Britain. The spell was still in use overseas, though.

Finally, the Disruption Charm, it turned out, was much older, by many centuries, in fact. It had a circular wand movement, followed by a point at the undead you wished to disrupt, and the incantation Reditus Mortem. It effectively turned Skeletal Undead into a pile of loose, inert bones and would wound non-skeletal undead, such as the undead form of Zombies, Vampires, or Wights. Unfortunately, it could do nothing against incorporeal undead, such as Wraiths. Likewise, Inferi, due to the nature of their creation as Infernal Spirits bound to a corpse, were also more resistant to the spell. It had been innovated by Francois Peignoir, a Wizarding Monk of the Peignoir pureblood family, sometime in the twelfth century, after garbled reports of undead being encountered during the First Crusade.

"Necromancy is a very rare skill among the wizarding population of the World. It used to be a lot more common, but even back then, it wasn't exactly popular. Necromancy has dark connotations, though the Abjuration Branch of Necromancy that the Disruption Spell was adapted from is all about how to destroy undead, rather than how to create undead. After all, no self-respecting Necromancer wants to make an abomination they couldn't put down themselves if they had to." Informed Magnus Gamp.

"What about the Necromancer's War? I thought there was a whole thing about that?" I questioned.

"There was, and it poisoned the well for generations. You'll not meet many wizards alive today who have a solid grasp of necromancy, and even fewer whose grasp is complete. In Britain, even the ones who learned the branch of Abjuration Necromancy I'll be teaching you from can be counted on both hands with fingers left over. Of course, that doesn't hold true everywhere, Lad, and if you travel the world, you'll inevitably find places where Necromancy is still somewhat more common." Explained Magnus Gamp.

"You're talking about Houngans?" I queried.

"Yes, but not just Houngans, who tend to learn in a less formalized, apprenticeship way. Among the more formal magic schools, Uagadou also teaches Necromancy as an elective, as does Castelbruxo, and there are still a handful of smaller regional schools in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean that teach such things too." Informed Magnus Gamp.

"I see. So you'll be teaching me Abjuration Necromancy to be able to deal with that sort of thing?" I asked.

"I will, though not just yet. This was just a taste. It was adapted from an older form of Abjuration Necromancy, like I said, and is technically considered a Charm for the purposes of Schooling. You'll not learn the real deal till at least after Christmas." Confirmed Magnus Gamp.

Aside from those spells and creatures, the rest of what I did with Magnus Gamp in September and the first week of October was sparring. He kicked my arse up and down the Hogwarts Training ground every session, though I was inching closer to parity, slowly. I felt that it was possible I could even claw my way back to parity at some point near the end of the School Year, though it was likely that Magnus Gamp would once again ratchet the intensity back up at the start of next year again. For now, however, I had to sweat and grind my way back to that point, inch by inch. I knew I would get there, though, eventually anyway. I didn't mind, of course. Every bruise or bucket of sweat in training meant less blood shed when the real deal finally occurred, so for that, I was grateful. Besides, I was still the best duelist in our year, even if that gap was narrowing at times. All in all, I felt like that was reason enough to put in the work, not that Magnus Gamp would have let me slack off.

Something told me I would prefer this level of work to whatever he would make me do if I tried that, and I didn't even need the Sight to confirm that fact. . .

XXXX

Of course, training with Magnus Gamp was far from the only thing I did over the course of the month and a week I could devote exclusively to my normal school life. I also had Herbology, Astronomy, Transfiguration, and History of Magic classes with the rest of my year, though naturally, I would sleep through the last one. Professor Binns wasn't exactly the most riveting of teachers, after all. Kind of the opposite, actually. I wasn't sure what function of Ghostly Power he used to actually put people to sleep with his lectures, but I figured it behooved me to nap voluntarily in his classes. Of course, my other classes, aside from History of Magic, were a lot more eventful.

In herbology, I once again partnered with Susan, who was my more or less regular partner for Herbology Classes these days. Here we learned about Illyrian Raskovnik, which was a plant that could be used to make Oil of Opening, which was a potion that could open any lock, even ones closed with some of the more common basic locking charms. We also learned about Fluxweed, which was an ingredient in various transfiguration oils and also in the Polyjuice Potion. We also did revision on Spiky Bushes, as well as a unit on Moondew, which was an essential component of certain sweetening potions along with the Wiggenweld Potion and Draught of Living Death, though for different reasons. Lastly, we did a unit on Mallowsweet, which could be used in sweetening potions and was claimed to be able to enhance divination powers by the Centaurs, who burned it as incense when reading the signs in the stars.

"Centaurs? Please, everyone knows all their talk of mysticism covers for their natural gifts at divination, not that it helped them avoid the rightful expansion of Wizardkind." Sneered Malfoy.

"Is that what you believe, Mister Malfoy?" Questioned Professor Sprout.

"Of course. There's nothing a Centaur can do with their beastly gifts that a Wizard couldn't do better with a modicum of work. That's why Wizardkind was destined to push the Centaurs out of all the good lands. They're lazy, like the horses they resemble. That's why they never leave their forests to do anything." Smirked Malfoy.

"I see. Can anyone tell me exactly why Mister Malfoy is wrong here?" Questioned Professor Sprout.

"Because the Centaurs were the ones to teach Wizards about Astrology and Astronomy back in Ancient Times, Professor. We had to learn from them at first." I spoke up.

"That is correct, Dearie. Had you let one of my Puffs answer, I likely would have taken points away from Slytherin for Mister Malfoy's attitude. I'm glad to see that at least some of your house isn't fond of dismissing people for perceived deficiencies of character or ability." Nodded Professor Sprout.

"Happy to help, Professor." I affirmed.

"Ach, Malfoy looks like he wants to hoy you in the Black Lake to droon." Frowned Susan, once we were back in our seats.

"He can't do anything to any of us. Not with the results of our duel and the stakes we agreed to." I pointed out.

"Aye, you might want to Giveower with that, though. Malfoy already wants you deed, it seems. No need to keep poking him like that." Hedged Susan.

"Malfoy wouldn't be the first person to want me dead. Or the scariest, come to that." I scoffed.

"Aye? You know, Blaise, you're a Bonny lad and a Canny Friend, but sometimes you say shite like that and it scares me." Pointed out Susan.

"Sorry. My life is complicated, that's all." I apologized.

"Apparently." Agreed Susan.

"I'll try not to worry you like that much anymore." I offered.

"Aye? Maybe Daphne has the right of it with her revenge plan. Maybe then you won't do shite that scares your Mates." Mused Susan.

"Please. No. Anything but that." I deadpanned.

"Hadaway and Shite!" Giggled Susan.

From there, the rest of the class proceeded more or less as normal, with me even picking five points up for Slytherin for helping five other kids pot and plant their Mallowsweet without the flowers wilting at all. That in turn seemed to earn me silver points in the Slytherin House Rankings, for digging Slytherin out of the hole Malfoy had almost put us into, and even building the point total back up on top of that. Of course, I didn't really care about the House Cup, but the silver points were nice to have, as they would let me do more than I could without them. I still had ritual chambers to book out multiple times and all this year, after all. That was to say nothing about any other potential things that were on the board for Silver Point Redemption, like a Hogsmeade Weekend, even though normally, you couldn't do those until Third Year.

Regardless, Herbology wasn't the only class I had. For Transfiguration, we were taught the theory behind animal-to-object transfiguration. For three weeks, that was what we learned, and it was interesting learning about how, for instance, animals could not be transfigured in such a way that the resulting object expanded their mass to more than twice the animal's native size without killing the animal. Apparently, the charms and potions that did that sort of thing, such as the Engorgement Charm, used different, non-transfiguration-based principles, along with the Transfiguration, allowing a partial bypass of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. The fourth week, we learned the Lapifors Spell, which was a spell to turn objects into rabbits, and thus the counterspell to what we learned in week five, which was to turn Rabbits into Slippers.

In the end, I was the fourth person to get the Rabbits Into Slippers Transfiguration down, after Tracey, Parvati Patil, and Daphne. I chalked that down to the nature of turning something living into an inanimate object. I still found time to help Neville and Ron out, both of whom were having trouble. Neville got things down right away with my help, but Ron was having more trouble even than Neville. It was impatience that was doing him in, it seemed. The more times he failed, the more impatient to succeed he became. It was a vicious cycle, and it would result in a miscast sooner or later if nothing was done.

"Bloody Hell!" Swore Ron after the fifth failure.

"Ron, Mate, you need to calm down. You're getting impatient is causing you to fail more often." I tried.

"You try doing this with my brain and see how you like it!" Insisted Ron.

"Believe me, Mate, I get it. I do." I remarked.

"How could you get it? You're good at everything!" Accused Ron.

"Not everything. Would it surprise you to learn that I suck at caring for magical creatures?" I questioned.

"I thought that was just 'cause Hedwig's a bit cranky sometimes? That's a thing for you?" Queried Ron.

"Daphne's Owl divebombs me every time I'm in the room, and you didn't see it, but one of the carriage thestrals bit a chunk out of my hand before we got to the castle. Yeah, mate, it's a thing with me." I nodded.

"Huh." Mused Ron.

"It sucks, I actually rather like animals, if I'm being honest." I shrugged.

"You know, that does make me feel a bit better." Opined Ron.

"Try it again now, then." I insisted.

"Yeah? Think it'll work?" Asked Ron.

"It couldn't hurt." I confirmed.

This time, Ron managed to get the Rabbits to turn into slippers. They were a tad fuzzier than the ones that Professor McGonagal showed us, and brown instead of white, but they were still Rabbit Slippers. Ron beamed as he seemed to get the hang of the Transfiguration, casting the Lepifors and trying again, this time with picture-perfect results. A third time resulted in the same, white, uniformly fuzzy, rabbit slippers, much to Ron's delight. With that, he seemed to have gotten the Rabbits to Slippers Transfiguration down with eight minutes to spare until the end of class.

"Wicked! Thanks, Mate. I owe you one!" Grinned Ron.

"You've had my back a bunch, Mate. You're good." I chuckled.

For that, I received another ten points to Slytherin, which translated to another five Silver Points back in the House Rankings, likely for being successful in the leadership role that being a teacher sort of was. That was good because I was going to need them, given how many rituals we were being taught in Astronomy. It was a lot of them, four in the first five weeks of Astronomy Class for the year alone, alongside learning about the various craters and geography on the moon. These four rituals were the Ritual of Prometheus' Gaze, the Ritual of Sucellus' Craft, the Ritual of Airmed's Sickle, and the Ritual of Mimir's Backwards Glance.

Of these, the Ritual of Prometheus' Gaze had to be performed on the night of the new moon, under an open sky, with the altar oriented toward the caucusus. It required the sacrifice of an eagle's heart burned on a pyre made of fennel stalks on top of the altar, so that the smoke from the sacrifice could carry to the Caucasus, where Prometheus was chained. In return, the supplicant would gain enhanced foresight for a year and a day, in keeping with Prometheus' role as the Titan of Foresight. In those who didn't have the Sight, this would manifest as gut feelings and hunches, but for seers like me, it granted greater control over visions shown by the Sight.

Next, the Ritual of Sucellus' Craft required a sacrifice under the light of the Noonday Sun on an altar made out of a barrel. Wolf's Blood, Honey, and Wine needed to be mixed together, poured into a ceramic jar, and sacrificed into the barrel, which then had to be hammered shut using wooden pegs and a long-handled wooden hammer. In return, all attempts at brewing would turn out successful, with extremely high-quality results, for the next year and a day, in keeping with Sucellus' role as a God of Brewing.

Then, the Ritual of Airmed's Sickle required the sacrifice of a bundle of three nettle blossoms, six yarrow stalks, and nine rosemary branches, along with eighteen drops of blood and three pinches of gravedirt, and a vial of shed tears into a brazier with the north star in the sky. In return, the supplicant's attempts at Herbology will all be boosted for the next year and a day, in keeping with Airmed's role as a Goddess of Herbalism. That meant that when this ritual was combined with the Ritual of Sucellus' Craft, meant that any potions made in that time were likely to be of the best quality available.

Lastly, the Ritual of Mimir's Backwards Glance required the sacrifice of Augurey Feathers, Mead, and three drops of blood with the full moon high in the sky. You would burn the Augurey feathers, and mix the blood into the mead in the smoke of the feathers, with the light of the full moon shining down on the bottle as you mixed it. Then you had to drink the smoky, blood mead. In return, you would gain perfect recall for a year and a day for anything you learned during that period of time, in keeping with Mimir's role as a God of Knowledge and Memory.

I was going to need every silver point I could muster to get all of these, though currently, I already had enough to undergo one of them. I was thinking of doing the Ritual of Prometheus' Foresight by myself, as when I asked my friends, they all denied that they wanted to do anything with it.

"Nah, Mate. I'm good. You're the Seer, after all." Insisted Harry.

"Aye, nowt we do uses the Sight. Not like Yersel'." Agreed Susan.

"She said it in that Geordie way of hers, but Susan's right. We can't really use this like you can." Nodded Hannah.

"Indeed. Don't hold back on something like this on our account. I wouldn't in your place." Huffed Daphne.

"Yeah, Mate. 'Sides, it's not like we can't use the other rituals, right?" Questioned Ron.

"Right. I'd much rather use that Airmed's Sickle ritual, if I'm being honest." Affirmed Neville.

"But you're already so good at Herbology? Why that one?" Queried Parvati.

"Just because he's already good at something doesn't mean he should rest on his laurels, you know." Sniffed Hermione.

"Besides, it isn't as if he needs to pick and choose." Pointed out Tracey.

"I dunno. Blaise made it seem like he might not have enough Silver Points for so many uses of the Ritual Chamber." Mused Terry.

"I didn't say that. It's just that if this keeps up, I might need some help to get us all in." I frowned.

"Why didn't you just say that? I can chip in some of my Silver Points too, you know?" Asked Millie.

"Yeah, Daphne and I will do that as well." Nodded Tracey.

"Of course. Though I expect you to be properly grateful." Sniffed Daphne.

"Don't worry, we will be." Insisted Terry.

"Honestly, Blaise. I don't know why you can't just ask for help when you need to." Scoffed Hermione.

"'Cause he's a bit of a Doylem when it comes to that." Smirked Susan.

"I'm not that bad." I defended.

"You really are." Added Hannah.

"Harry? Ron? Back me up here, please." I tried.

"Sorry, Mate. You're on your own on this one." Refused Ron.

"Besides, they have a point." Pressed Harry.

"Neville? A little help?" I pleaded.

"Sorry, Blaise, but I don't want to get caught up in the middle of this." Frowned Neville.

"Don't look at me, Susan's right." Offered Parvati as I turned toward her.

"Face it, Blaise. You've got flaws like the rest of us." Giggled Millie.

"Traitors, all of you. I hope you know my vengeance will be both swift and terrible." I deadpanned.

That caused us all to break down into a fit of laughter. By the time class ended, we had a plan for helping our friend group out with the Silver Point Costs of booking out the Slytherin Ritual Chamber for so many rituals. Of course, Classes and Training weren't the only things that I did over those five weeks. I also had clubs. Unfortunately, one of the clubs would be temporarily put on hiatus for the time being. Dueling Club would be temporarily shut down, pending review of another club.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't find this out until the time came to actually go to the first Duelling Club Meeting I could make in the five-week period. . .

XXXX

I stared at a notice plastered on the door to the Hogwarts Dueling Club. There was an identical one on the section of wall where the hidden passage into the Hogwarts Dueling Club Dueling Pit was. The Hogwarts Dueling Club was on hiatus pending the approval of a New Duelling Club. Apparently, Gemma had pulled out of her position as co-head of the Hogwarts Duelling Club and had thrown her weight behind the creation of a new Dueling Club that was being formed and run by Lockhart, which would begin doing sessions in the Old Duelling Club's Duelling Pit just as soon as Headmaster Dumbledore, or more likely Professor McGonagall as Deputy Headmistress, approved the formation of the New Club.

That wasn't good. In fact, it made me think that Lockhart had gotten to Gemma somehow. I wasn't sure how that could be possible, given how close of an eye people would be keeping on him, but then, Magnus Gamp and Headmaster Dumbledore couldn't be everywhere at all times, now could they? Even despite how reasonable the faculty, with the exception of Trelawney, who had still contrived a few weekends of detention for me thus far, had been compared to canon. In fact, it was more Trelawney Detentions, though thankfully, nothing as dangerous as the Forbidden Forest Excursion from last year, that had made it so I missed the majority of club meetings and could just now start making them again.

That was neither here nor there, though. What this meant for me was that I wouldn't be making any Dueling Club meetings this year. After all, I would be damned if I spent more time under the supervision of Gilderoy Lockhart than I absolutely had to. Thus far, I was the only one of the students who knew what he was up to and what he was capable of. He wouldn't miss a chance to arrange some sort of accident if he knew that I knew what I did about him, and then who would protect everyone? I would be gone and with it, my knowledge of his nefarious potential doings. Maybe it was time to fix that.

At the next few cross-house study group meetings, of which I was able to make three over the course of the next five weeks, I kept slipping in the fact that I didn't trust Lockhart into various lessons. Most of my close friends seemed to listen, as did Luna and Gwenllian Jones. Some of the others just brushed me off, though, including Hermione, Ron, Charlie Bilmes, and both of the Weasley Twins. Apparently, Hermione couldn't see past his reputation, as if the Order of Merlin, Third-Class, was some kind of shield against being a total wanker. Meanwhile, the others couldn't see past the mask of clownish incompetence he put on. Everyone else seemed to absorb my words well enough, however. I would have to keep an eye on Hermione, Ron, Charlie Bilmes, and the Twins, though, just in case Lockhart got to any of them.

Regardless, I wound up picking up the Reductor Curse, with the incantation Reducto and a sideways V wand motion, the Water-Making Spell, with the Incantation Aguamenti and the wand motion of a sideways Letter-S, and the recipes for both Quick-Drying and Invisible Ink, with three ingredients each, with Pearl Dust being the active ingredient in Invisible Ink and Newt Spleens being the active ingredient in Quick-Drying Ink, both mixed last with Flobberowm Mucus and Charcoal Dust, stirred three times clockwise after each ingredient was added. Mostly, however, I spent the time teaching various things, getting the new people up to snuff on Occlumency, and generally warning folks about the Danger that Lockhart posed. All told, however, it was fairly productive.

Meanwhile, I only made two meetings of Potions Club, both of which were for fairly easy potions to brew. Star Grass Salve was the first one, which could heal most wounds coated in it, provided they weren't dismembering, fatal, or cursed in some fashion. It was made by adding pulped star grass to flobberworm mucus, stirring three times counterclockwise, and then adding chopped dittany and stirring three more times counterclockwise. Next, you were supposed to add shredded wiggentree bark, stirring counterclockwise three times, before finally adding crushed bezoars and stirring counterclockwise three times. You let the mixture steep for an hour afterward, and if successful, you should have a salve that will detoxify, disinfect, and heal any non-dismembering, non-fatal, non-cursed wounds.

The next week, we had the recipe for Fog of Nyx. A sort of smoke bomb, but one that was difficult to clear with standard wind charms, as it would just push the darkness around. Of course, there were some light spells which would dispel them, which was why most Aurors, if they had to blind opponents, went for Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder these days, but that wasn't brewable without the express permission of the Rodrigo Torres Potions Company out of the Cuarto de las Brujas of Cuzco in Magical Peru-Bolivia. This required only three active ingredients, one of which, Gnome Spit, was different from the usual base of Flobberworm Mucus usually used, and the other two were Crushed Glubumble Stings and Volcano Ash, each stirred four times clockwise and set to steep for an hour.

XXXX

Lastly, of course, there was self-training. In this, I focused almost exclusively on the Mind Arts, pushing my Occlumency mostly, while also trying to push my Leglimency to the next level into true telepathy without needing an active scan or eye contact, instead of simple Empathy, which was the limit I could do now without an active scan or eye contact. I was more successful with the former than with the Latter, though Zorian's Notes simply seemed to indicate was just a matter of time before I got to that point. After that, it seemed as if the real challenge would be learning to filter out everyone's surface thoughts, as once you no longer needed to actively engage your Leglimency to read people's thoughts, the trick was learning to filter it all out so you could do it on command. Once that level was obtained, I should apparently be able to begin communicating with people telpathically.

By the time the five-week period was up, I felt I had made the most of my time. My Occlumency Shields were stronger than ever, I was creeping closer to the sort of unconscious Leglimency that meant I had mastered the basics, and I had even managed to set aside time for the Ritual of Prometheus' Foresight. Once I had done that, I headed back to my room for the evening, assured of my ability to trigger a vision of what the next catastrophe would be that would strike the school. As I showered and dressed for bed, I was resolved to try and trigger that as a prophetic dream. Once I was done with that, I drank my Bluemoon Grass Elixir, with only a month and a half left of that to go before I could start learning actual techniques from the Azarinth Healer's Treatise, and hit the hay.

Almost immediately, I was drawn into a vision of Ginny Weasley Opening the Chamber of Secrets, slaying the Hogwarts Roosters, and setting the Basalisk Free. It was massive, not the sort of giant snake you saw in the movies at all, but closer to what I would consider to be folklore from back in my Old Life on Earth. Two legs tipped with birdlike claws propelled the serpentine body forward, allowing it to tunnel, similar to the Lindwyrms of Scandinavia, though this was not a Dragon, but instead a hybrid serpent and bird-like thing. Similar to a bird, it had a beak-like snout, though the snout had jagged fangs that dripped a deadly venom, sizzling into the stonework and causing hissing puffs of deadly venom to rise where they landed before evaporating. It was the eyes that were the most striking, piercing things of red and yellow that could petrify a grown Wizard with a glance and even kill if you stared into them long enough.

Ginny, in a voice that was very clearly not her own, hissed out to the Basilisk, speaking in Parseltongue to it. I had to use a bit of Bardic Magic to figure out what she was saying, Pob Laith granting me the temporary ability to speak Parseltongue. I wasn't surprised to find out what the words she was saying meant, especially given who was likely in the driver's seat of her body at the moment.

"Go! Hunt those whose blood is not fully magical! Slay them and feast on their bones!" Hissed Tom Riddle in Ginny's Body.

The Basilisk reared up on its twin legs and then darted forward, heading out for the unsuspecting corridors of the School. I tried to figure out when exactly this was happening, but I only managed to get a sense of extremely impending doom before I was awoken by my alarm clock pulling me out of my dreams and thus, out of my vision. It seemed I would need to get a lot more practice with my enhanced Sight before I could really get going with that.

Unfortunately, extremely impending doom would turn out to be correct. . .

XXXX

By the time I had fully woken from my slumber and managed to shower and get dressed to head to breakfast, a crowd had gathered near the Great Hall to head up to the second-floor corridor, as the chatter I had overheard said. I frowned, following the crowd of confused students with a sinking feeling in my gut. As I did so, Luna Lovegood joined the group. I turned to look at her, a question on my lips that died when I saw the troubled frown on her face.

"Luna?" I questioned.

"You know what this is, don't you?" Queried Luna.

"I think I do. Do you?" I asked in response.

"I had a vision last night. It wasn't a very happy one. At first I thought it might just be Nargles giving me bad dreams, but if you had it too. . ." Trailed off Luna.

"I know." I nodded.

Before we could say anything else, however, we had arrived at the Second Floor Corridor, where, outside Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, a warning was painted in Rooster's Blood. Argus Filch's Cat, Mrs Norris, lay stiff as a board on the floor near the wall. I didn't even need to look up and read the warning to know what it said. Luna still read it out anyway as we stood there in the Corridor.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware." Read Luna out loud.

"Fantastic." I grumbled.

It seemed the Plot of Chamber of Secrets had finally kicked off, with Ginny finally succumbing to temporary possession by Tom Riddle's Soul Fragment from the Diary. I could only groan at the whole situation. I had actually hoped for a bit that Ginny might be able to hold off the Diary Fragment's influence, given how things hadn't advanced on that front until now, when it was already the middle of October. I should have known better. After all, since when was my life simple enough that I would only need to worry about one thing? No, Lockhart and his potential Grooming Club masquerading as a Duelling Club would have to be solved alongside the Canon Plotline.

And I would have to clear both off my plate if I wanted to consider this to be a successful Second Year for me. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, super-timeskippy chapter, but now we're actually getting into the plot of Chamber of Secrets. The Canon Plot, anyway. The Lockhart Stuff I came up with has been going on in the background already. One big thing you might have noticed is how I'm going for a more Folklore-Accurate Style of Basilisk. Unlike what Rowling seems to think, Basilisks are supposed to have birdlike traits. They're not just a big snake. Expect certain bits of the Basilisk to conform more to folkloric depictions in this fic accordingly.

At any rate, the next chapter will continue the canon plotline of Chamber of Secrets, as people react to the Message and the like. I'll also have a few images out before then as well, including one of the more folkloric version of the Basilisk.

Stay tuned. . .