Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 94: Dueling Club
Harry removed the invisibility charm after making sure no one was around.
"What are you doing here?!"
None alive at least.
"Hello, Myrtle." He greeted the annoyed ghost.
"You know me?" She was taken aback. No one bothers to even ask her name anymore.
"Wait, but you can't be here. This is a girl's bathroom!."
"But no girls are using it right now," Harry remarked.
"Besides, I didn't come here to spy on anyone."
"Then…why did you come here?"
Harry walked towards the facets at the end of the bathroom.
"Have you seen this thing open? or anything suspicious happening in this bathroom?"
"Yes!" She exclaimed loudly.
"I saw something coming out from there. Something with creepy yellow eyes."
"When did this happen?" He already had a suspicion.
"I don't know… a long time ago, I think. This was before I became…like this."
"I see…I was looking for something more recent. What about since then?. Anything else happened?" He asked.
She seemed to consider it for a moment but then shook her head.
"It's all been very boring since that day…and no one ever visits me."
'This does not disprove that the chamber could be related to the recent issues.' He was convinced that other entrances leading to the chamber must exist. He could not imagine Voldemort entering through here...or one of Hogwart's founders for that matter. Then again, a thousand years ago, maybe this was not a girl's bathroom but something else instead.
He located the one faucet with the snake symbols on it.
"Open.."
Nothing happened.
"Open, now!"
"Why are you yelling at that thing?...what a weird boy." Myrtle looked confused.
'It is as I feared. I don't possess the parseltongue ability anymore.'
He had already tested it with some snakes he summoned but still wanted to test it in this place, just in case it did something, as unlikely as that was.
He was aware that the ability to speak with snakes was not something he inherited from his family bloodline but a 'gift' he acquired by chance due to his connection with Voldemort. At least, that's what Dumbledore always told him.
'Now that I don't have my scar, that connection is no more…does this mean that Neville possesses the ability now?'
That was something he would need to verify.
Using parseltongue was the easiest way to gain access to the chamber.
Trying to use brute force will definitely be extremely dangerous. The protections were created many centuries before the Ministry started to regulate the lethality of magical wards, and they were put in place by a man with dubious morals and a great deal of magical knowledge.
'No…that will be the last resource. ' He decided.
And there may be a chance to verify if Neville is a parselmouth very soon.
This same morning, Lockhart had been announcing the creation of a dueling club, led by him.
The first meeting will take place at the end of this week. He was sure that Neville would be dragged to attend and participate one way or another.
'Like they did to me, long ago…'
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"Why did I have to come?, I have no interest in dueling." Lavender huffed.
"Or the professor…like someone I know." Parvati glanced at Hermione.
"It will be fun!. And we will have the chance to finally see Professor Lockhart in action." Hermione looked very excited.
"I just want to kick some Slytherin ass!" Ron clenched his fists.
"Maybe I get to fight Malfoy."
"Why? he hasn't bothered us this year, so far at least…" Seamus commented.
"It doesn't matter. How long do you think that's going to last? Isn't that right, Nev?" Ron asked.
"Well…I'll be fine if he just leaves me be…" Neville looked around the place with a nervous look. There were over a hundred people in the room. All from different years.
Professor Lockhart did not put any age restriction in the club, so anyone who wanted to apply was welcome to do so.
"There are several students from the sixth and seventh years. " Parvati recognized the ones from the Gryffindor house at least.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me because I won't be dueling anyone. At most, I'll watch." Lavender crossed her arms.
"I think the actual dueling will be for the older students. Don't you think so too, Harry??" Hermione turned to him.
"I believe you are giving Lockhart too much credit for his planning." He replied.
'And there is no way that glory-seeking man will miss the chance to use Neville to increase his fame.'
He felt a bit bad for this, but he was counting on that to happen.
"Hey!" Lyra and Ginny approached their group.
"Hello, girls. So…you came here too, huh?. I hope Hermione didn't drag you into this too." Lavender said.
"No, we just wanted to see some actual magical duels! I mean, we haven't learned anything interesting yet…" Lyra muttered.
"Is just the beginning of your first year, what did you expect?" Harry told her.
Lyra glanced at him with interest.
"Are you going to be dueling, Neville?" Ginny collected the courage to address him.
"Duel?...me?." Neville looked startled by the question.
"I wouldn't know what to do…"
"What?, but…" Ginny became confused.
"What about you, Harry?. Well, we see you duel someone?" Lyra had an expectating look on her face.
"I have no interest in duels." His answer came out a bit more defensive than he intended. But the idea of using his skills as mere entertainment…sounded almost offensive to him.
"Really?...." Lyra titles her head.
He could understand her reaction. She probably assumed that the reason he was practicing so much was because he wanted to become a duelist or something like that.
He will have to tell her the truth one day…