Inerviews

Harry looked at the face of the grizzled Auror sitting opposite him. Auror Lambert was in charge of interviewing the Slytherins.

"Name, Harry James Potter," The man said, writing it in.

"House, Slytherin. You're a second year right?" He said, rubbing his long grey hair.

"Yes, sir".

"Great" he finished scribbling down whatever he was writing and looked up at Harry, jet black eyes focused.

"Now, I've got a few questions to ask you, same ones I've been asking everyone. Then one or two more, and you're free to go. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir"

Lambert gave him a toothy grin that pulled against a scar on his cheek.

"OK then. Now, where were you on the nights of the attacks?"

"Uh. The first one, Halloween night, I was at the feast"

"Yeah. Thirty years later and I still miss those feasts. Anyone who can vouch for you?"

"I was sitting next to Draco, and I think Theo was opposite me"

"That would be Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott?"

"Yes sir"

The quill scratched as this information was noted down.

"And the night of the next attack?"

"In our common room. There was a party, we won a Quidditch match that day. I'm on the team"

"Oh? What position?"

"Chaser"

"I was a beater myself. Those common room parties" The man clucked his tongue, giving a rueful smile.

"Anyone at the party who can vouch for you?"

"Uhhh. I remember speaking to Quentin for a while, Quentin McGuire, and to Daphne Greengrass. And then Professor Snape came"

"Ok. Do you have any idea who would be doing such a thing?"

"No sir"

"Fine. I have a few more questions for you, Harry. I understand that some of the students believe you are behind this?"

Harry nodded, mutely.

"Don't worry. Your Head of House and Headmaster both vouched for you. Besides, the idea that a second year is doing this is simply preposterous. Would you mind telling me why they believe it's you?"

Harry took a deep breath. He really didn't like thinking about this. About how he was feared. Snape's words echoed in his mind. ' They

are like flies'

"Well. It probably really started when I first came to Hogwarts. I had a bit of an argument with one of the other first years, I mean we were first years then, on the train. He got put in Gryffindor, and we've been- not enemies, but rivals since then"

"And who is this Gryffindor?"

"Ron Weasely"

"Go on, please"

"Towards the end of last year, it came out that I'm a Parselmouth. I didn't even know, I mean, I'd never just bumped into a snake before. But I spoke to a portrait of snakes, and people were watching, and it

was only afterwards that Draco told me I was speaking Parseltongue. I had thought it was English"

If the Auror was at all surprised by this news, he didn't show it.

"And everyone found out? I know how news spreads in Hogwarts, it must have gone around quickly"

"Yeah. And people, at least people outside of Slytherin, weren't too happy about it. I heard a few people talking about it, they weren't exactly impressed"

Lambert gave a dry chuckle. "I'm not surprised"

Harry continued, moving on to the year at hand.

"And then, before Halloween, we, the Quidditch team that is, had an argument with the Gryffindor team. Stupid thing, about who had the pitch for training. In the end, we kept it, but when we finished and went back to the castle, the Weasley twins were waiting for us"

"And what did they do?"

"They threw balloons full of liquid Dungbombs on us. It was-terrible. And then we ran into Filch"

"The caretaker?"

"Yeah. So the rest of the team got away, but he caught me. And he gave me detention, blamed me for it"

"Snape couldn't get you out of it?" He asked, surprised.

Harry felt a blush coming. "The detention was more because I vomited on him"

"Oh. So you had the detention, and then the caretaker's cat got attacked?"

"Yeah. And then, George Weasley got attacked. So everyone just decided it must have been me"

"You'll find that when people are afraid they don't apply much critical thinking"

"No"

"Harry," Lambert said, leaning forward, face deadly serious. "We're worried that someone is attempting to frame you. Trying to make you look to be behind the attacks, in order to get you in trouble. Do you have any idea who would do that? Anyone who has a real grudge against you?"

Biting his lip slightly, Harry said, "Not really. The only person in this school who has a problem with me is Ron Weasley, and I can't see him doing this"

"No-one else?"

"Well. Last year I was attacked. Someone stunned me. But we never found out who did it!"

The Auror leaned back in his chair. "How are you treated by the other Slytherins?"

"Good? I mean, I've got friends, I'm on the Quidditch team"

"If you can think of anyone, anyone at all, let me know, ok?"

"Yes, sir"

"Also, Snape says you're aware of what the creature is, and that you've been trying to get the snake portraits to speak about it?"

"Yeah. But they're too afraid. They say they're scared of the king"

Lambert looked thoughtful. "Have you tried conjuring a snake, and asking it what it can sense? Even if it just tells you what it smells that could help"

Internally, Harry sighed. Every time he had conjured a snake he had asked it about the basilisk. And he had been practicing a lot, he could now conjure two snakes at a time if he wanted.

"Yes, sir. But I'll try again if you want to know exactly what it says?"

"That would be good. Do you want me to do the conjuration?"

"No thanks. They're more-subservient when I make them"

Harry pulled out his wand and pictured the snake he wanted. ' Nonvenomous '

He couldn't yet differentiate between species', but he could choose whether it would be venomous or not.

"Serpensortia" He called, and along with a plume of purple smoke, a large snake appeared before him on the floor.

It reared up, turning its head this way and that while hissing. It seemed to be giving off threats.

" $Hello$," Harry said, causing the snake to spin around to him suddenly.

" $Hello to you. Why did you bring me here?$"

"He wants to know why I brought him here," Harry told the startled Lambert, who began writing furiously.

"Ask it if it can give you any information about the basilisk here. If it can smell it, or hear it or whatever"

" $We've got a problem here. We wanted to know if you could maybe help us?$"

" $Possibly$" The snake sniffed, flicking its tongue out and in, " $What is your problem?$"

"$There is a basilisk in this castle. We can't find it. We wanted to know if you can tell us anything about it if you can smell it maybe?$"

" $I can smell it. Its smell emanates from the walls of this place. But I will say no more. If the king has not revealed itself to you, speaker, then I shall not give away his secrets$"

"He says the smell emanates from the walls, but he won't say anything else"

" $Please? Can't you say-$" But the snake was angrily shaking its head.

" $No! I will not speak of it! I will not!$"

Harry vanished the agitated serpent and turned back to Lambert.

"Thank you, Harry. This may prove to be of serious help" He said, looking at his parchment. "If you think of anything else, or hear anything else, please come to me"

"I will, sir."

"Good. Will you send in Richard Poulson? Fifth year I believe"

With the Aurors there, people calmed down a bit. There still seemed to be a feeling that Harry was responsible, but the general atmosphere was far less fearful, and more upbeat. It certainly made it easier on the teachers, not having to ferry the students from class to class. This alone was a cause of celebration because it meant that they had to spend less time with Lockhart.

The man seemed to think that the month and a half without an attack was all due to him being around.

"This so-called Heir obviously realized I was on his trail, and fled. Mark my words, the Aurors are wasting their time" He had loudly complained at the end of their latest lesson with him. Theo had gotten detention for asking how the Heir got away with the first attacks if Lockhart was so great. It was a sign of how low his reputation had fallen among the students that not even Pansy had rebuked Theo. In fact, she had laughed along with everyone else.

The Aurors being around also led to more than a few couples being caught sneaking around together. This stopped after Steven Riker and his girlfriend, Mary something or other, both fifth-year Hufflepuffs were suspended after they apparently found naked together in an empty classroom.

"I mean seriously, if you were going to fuck your girl, surely you could find somewhere better than an empty classroom? And when the whole school is on high alert!"

"Theo, I don't think you have to worry about that" Tracey had replied, batting her eyelashes at him, "You'd need a girl willing to join you

first"

This, of course, led to a conversation about where the best place in Hogwarts would be for some secret shagging.

' That's the thing about Tracey. I don't feel weird talking about this type of thing in front of her. Pansy would make it way too awkward'

"I hear that when Dawlish found them, he asked to join"

"No way," Harry said.

"That's what I heard" Theo continued, "and he only turned them in when they didn't let".

If it had been any of the other Aurors, it wouldn't even be possible to believe it. But with Dawlish, Harry could kind of imagine it happening. There was something way too weird about that man.

All the Aurors had some quirk or another, whether it was the way they were always looking everywhere, or how they kept twitching their hands to their wands. Or even how if you surprised one of them you would have a wand in your face quicker than you would think possible. Dawlish however, stared too much. Way, way too much.

Harry and Draco had asked Snape if they could resume their practice sessions. Their idea was to use an empty classroom and ask one of the Aurors to be around while they did so.

"The Aurors have better things to do with their time than babysit"

Snape had snapped at them, quite uncharacteristically. He usually treated Slytherins far better. So they decided to use their bedroom to practice. It wasn't quite as good as a classroom, being cluttered with beds and bedside tables, and having the issue of people coming in and disturbing them every few minutes, but it was good enough for the moment. By now they were moving off of the Protego charm, which they had both got the grip of, and were trying to get the hang of the stunning spell, which was still eluding them. Practicing in their room actually was more convenient for this. They had cushions and blankets to spread around the floor for when one of them would actually be able to successfully cast it. Harry carried on working on his serpensortia. He could conjure 3 snakes at a time and felt that he was making some serious progress towards 4. He would only be really happy when he could choose the species though. He fantasized about waving his wand and sending 4 Black Mambas at an enemy. Weasley usually played the part of the enemy in his mind, although after a particularly frustrating Defence lesson, he spent a happy ten minutes imagining sending Boa Constrictors at Lockhart and strangling the tosser. It was strange, how easily things seemed to go back to normal. Snape reduced Longbottom to tears in potions, Harry and Granger were back to competing for the top spot in their classes, and people weren't looking over their shoulders as much. Flint forced the team to bring notebooks to the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match and keep track of their strategies. They would be facing Ravenclaw soon enough, and he wanted the team to be as prepared as they could.

Soon enough, they were all making plans for the Easter holidays. It was still almost a month away, but spring had begun and everyone's thoughts were on the next holiday. It had been nice enough at Hogwarts, but Harry was looking forward to being at the Malfoys again. Lucius wasn't so busy anymore, the Aurors being at Hogwarts having made his job a bit easier.

The weather was good enough that they all started spending more time outside than just during Quidditch practice. It made it really weird, to be relaxing by the lake with a group of friends while a dangerous looking Auror stood to watch just within earshot.

It was about two weeks before the break would begin, that Snape kept Harry back after class.

' He's been very uptight lately. I hope I'm not in trouble'

"Potter, the headmaster wants to speak with you," He said curtly.

"Sir?" Harry asked confused. He couldn't think of any reason for Dumbledore to call him in. He hadn't done anything wrong had he?

"He will explain everything. Come, we must not be late"

Harry followed Snape through the potions dungeon, past the still smoking cauldrons, and up towards the Headmaster's office.

They arrived at the gargoyles guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Fudge flies" Snape hissed, and the door opened.

Harry looked around interestedly. Last time he had been in Dumbledore's office he hadn't been in much of a state to take notice of the décor.

There were shelves and shelves of interesting looking silver and copper instruments. Harry had no idea what they did but would love to find out. Some of them seemed to be letting off smoke and whirring around. Next to one wall, stood on wooden perch on which Dumbledore's phoenix slept, head covered by one spectacular wing.

The wall behind the rich mahogany desk was covered in portraits. They each had a small plaque at the bottom. Craning his neck, Harry managed to make out the names of some of them. They all seemed to be former Headmasters and Headmistress'. Some of them were sleeping, with one snoring quite loudly, while the others were engaged in soft conversation with their neighbors, or watching the three people sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk. One portrait, a wizard with an extremely thick mustache was unabashedly picking his nose and examining the contents.

"Gentleman. Thank you for coming" Dumbledore began.

Harry looked at the man sitting to his right. Auror Robards was the leader of the twenty or so Aurors stationed at Hogwarts. He looked the part. Even just sitting, relaxed, he gave the impression of being aware of and prepared for anything.

"I have called you here together because even though this conversation will primarily be with Harry, Severus, and Gawain already being aware of the information I will share, I believe you may have input"

Auror Robards, Gawain apparently, nodded. Snape didn't move. Dumbledore focused on Harry and went on.

"Based on information we have received, and the results of some testing, we believe we have found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets"

' Ok? And why am I here?'

"However, it would seem that it can only be opened with the use of Parseltongue"

' Oh. Oh shit'

"Harry, no-one can possibly fault you for saying no. It will be an extremely dangerous expedition. But I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't ask. Harry, will you join us in venturing into the Chamber of Secrets to kill the basilisk?"

' What the fuck. What am I meant to say? I can't say no. I'd basically be killing everyone else!'

"Do I have to come in? Can't I just open it from the outside?" Harry said, hating the pleading tone in his voice.

Dumbledore looked pained as he answered. "You don't have to do anything. It would be extremely helpful for us to have a Parselmouth within the Chamber as well. We don't know what will be waiting inside. Your skill could help with that. I will not force you to do this, Harry. No one will. It is entirely up to you?"

Harry's mouth felt far too dry. "Is there no other Parselmouth you can get?"

Dumbledore sighed. "If only. The only other Parselmouth I am aware of lives in the Himalayan Mountains. I have not been able to contact him. He is an extremely private wizard."

' I can't say no'

"Then I'll do it"

Dumbledore and Robards both had relieved looks. Snape still seemed totally bored and unaffected.

"Excellent. We will be going in on Saturday. We will be meeting tomorrow evening at eight to discuss strategy. Severus will bring you to the meeting"