Search:

SIYE Time:5:12 on 29th March 2024
SIYE Login: no


Harry Potter and the Secrets of the Chamber
By Gin110881

- Text Size +

Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Albus Dumbledore, Harry/Ginny, Minerva McGonagall, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Sirius Black
Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: G
Reviews: 73
Summary: Raised by his godfather Sirius Black in seclusion, Harry Potter finds new friends after the return of the Dark Lord, and together they seek ways to overcome the rising darkness.
Hitcount: Story Total: 21606; Chapter Total: 1276
Awards: View Trophy Room






ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


"Harry?" Sirius' voice came from the stairwell. "Harry, are you ready? We have to go."

Pulling his sweater over his head, Harry glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It was eight-thirty. In half an hour, his lesson with Professor Dumbledore was about to start. He'd really enjoyed the lessons so far. Okay, if he was honest, Occlumency would never become his favourite class, for sure. But he loved Defence Against the Dark Arts as Dumbledore knew so many spells and tricks to do those spells more efficiently.

After a quick glance in the mirror to make sure his hair covered the scar on his forehead, Harry hurried down to the kitchen where his godfather was waiting for him.

"You're aware that I could go to Hogwarts on my own?" Harry said as he stepped through the kitchen door, shooting Sirius an expectant look. When his godfather raised his eyebrow, Harry added, "I passed the Apparition licence two weeks ago. If it's really as important as you always said, I should go on my own, don't you think so?"

Sirius raised his hand. "Okay, okay. Of course, you're right."

When Harry let slip a euphoric "Yay," Sirius added, "But I'll come with you. Just to make sure everything is alright."

"What if everything is alright?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Then you can go alone next week," Sirius replied.

"Deal," said Harry with a big grin. "Hurry up, old man, or I'm already up in Dumbledore's office by the time you arrive down at the gate," he exclaimed and turned to run to the Apparition point behind the house.

**


Upon arriving at the Shrieking Shack, Harry looked around, relieved. There were a few clouds in the sky, but the sun ensured that it was warm enough for the end of April.

When his godfather arrived next to him with a soft pop, they took the path up to the castle. "The weather is better than the rain the past two weekends," Harry said with a grin. "Maybe I'll get the chance to take a look around the castle."

Sirius threw him a quick look. "Be careful to not get lost. You turn into the wrong hidden passage once, and you'll end up at the other end of the castle and won't find your way back."

"If the oh-so-clever Marauders hadn't been so clumsy, their famous map you're always talking about would be mine now." Harry teased his godfather. "Maybe I should sneak into the caretaker's office to get the map back."

"Stay away from Filch," Sirius replied hotly, wagging his index finger at Harry. "He's as vile as a rat. If he catches you, he'll drag you loudly screaming all over Hogwarts, and we don't want that kind of attention."

"Where's your Marauder spirit?" asked Harry, chuckling.

"Remus probably still has the notebook with the spells needed to create the map. He wrote it together with your dad," said Sirius as he opened the gate to the Hogwarts grounds. "All you have to do is ask him if he would help you to create another map."

Harry looked at Sirius in surprise. "That would be fantastic. Why did you never tell me about it?"

"Until just now, I wasn't aware that you would need a map like this," answered Sirius.

"No. But now, such a map would be pretty useful," said Harry, frowning.

"That's why I told you about it now," said Sirius with a grin. "What's the problem?"

"Ha-ha," muttered Harry, pouting. "Can't laugh about your jokes."

As they walked the path up to the castle, Harry pondered the possibilities such a map would offer as he would probably go to Hogwarts regularly now. "Do you think I could help Remus with the map?" Harry asked and halted. Giving Sirius a curious look, he asked, "Do you think we can also make maps of other buildings?"
"It depends," Sirius replied. "The charm used to produce the map only draws places the person who performs the charm already has been."

"Oh, does this mean that Remus really has been in every damn room at Hogwarts?" Harry gaped at his godfather in amazement. "... and every secret passage?"

Sirius snorted, shaking his head. "No. Your dad and Remus figured out how to create the map, but we all four performed the charm - to make the map as whole as possible."

"That's brilliant," exclaimed Harry, enthusiastic.

While Harry imagined how he would explore the castle with this map, they approached a side door leading on the shortest way up to Dumbledore's office. Harry held the door open and waited for Sirius to step through. They followed a narrow corridor whose walls were covered with landscape paintings, passed the door that, according to Sirius, led to the entrance hall. They stopped in front of a painting showing a riverbank with a bored fisherman who was sitting on a bench, staring at his fishing rod. Knowing the fisherman from his previous visits, Harry said the password "woollen socks" without being asked. Startled, the fisherman looked up and gave the two visitors a brief glance. "Oh, you again," he muttered to himself, and the painting flipped open to reveal a staircase lit by some torches.

After a few steps, the stairs ended in front of a door opposite the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Those short-cuts are a bit scary, aren't they?" asked Harry.

"You'll get used to them pretty quickly as they are also pretty useful," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Is this short-cut also on the map? It looks more like a private route for the headmaster if he wants to leave the school unnoticed."

"No, unfortunately, this route wasn't on the map," Sirius admitted. "Dumbledore told me about this secret stairway when we were discussing your lessons, and I insisted that you use this route to his office to avoid the Great Hall."

"How can it be inconspicuous to enter a public corridor through a door that no one can see?" Harry asked, shaking his head.
"Because hardly anyone walks this floor, it's more inconspicuous than walking through the Great Hall," Sirius replied and muttered the password for Dumbledore's office, "Lemon Drops."

When they reached the top of the elevator, they found the door to Dumbledore's office ajar. "Come in," called the headmaster's voice from inside.

"Good morning, Headmaster," Harry greeted when he entered the room after Sirius.

"Good morning, Harry. Good morning Sirius. As always, on time to the minute. Have a seat, you two," Dumbledore said, indicating the chairs in front of his massive desk.

"If there's nothing important to discuss, I don't want to keep you guys any longer and leave right away, Albus," Sirius said. "I have some errands to run, and I want to be home when Harry returns. Speaking of Harry's return. Harry insists on coming here alone from now on because he'd passed the Apparition test. In the end, I gave in to his begging," Sirius said, giving Harry a teasing look.

"I didn't beg. I said I'll go alone," Harry clarified.

Looking at Harry, Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. He didn't seem to like the idea but smiled and nodded to Harry, "I assume you'll be careful."

"Of course," Harry replied. "I got the Apparition license ahead of time to get away in case of an emergency. Why should I not practice this on my own? I've been kidnapped once and experienced first-hand what can happen if I'm careless."

Satisfied with the explanation, Dumbledore nodded and turned to Sirius. "If it's alright for you that Harry is travelling alone, I won't stop him."

"Even if I don't like the idea, I think it's for the best," Sirius said with a stern look at Harry. "He's going to be sixteen soon and should make his own choices."

Pointing to the door, Dumbledore got up. "Now that this topic is settled, we should head to the classroom and start the lesson."

Waving Sirius goodbye, Harry followed Dumbledore to the unused alchemy classroom on the sixth floor they'd used for their lessons for the past few weeks.

**


"Let's take a break, Harry," said Dumbledore, eyeing Harry critically. "You can't really concentrate anymore."

"Sounds like a good idea," Harry said with a relieved sigh, running a hand through his hair. From the very first lesson, he'd known that Occlumency wouldn't be his favourite subject. The mild headache these exercises caused him made it impossible to concentrate properly for longer than an hour.

Obviously, Dumbledore had noticed that Harry was struggling as he gave him an encouraging smile and patted his shoulder. "We'll continue in an hour. Do you have any special wishes for lunch?"

"No, thanks. Nothing special, please. Maybe a sandwich and some pumpkin juice?" Harry replied reluctantly. The past weekends, the house-elves had served him so large meals that he became a bit sluggish afterwards.

"That's a wise choice," said Dumbledore, having a chuckle to himself, and strolled out of the classroom.

Following the headmaster out of the door, Harry hurried down the corridor to visit the loo. After finishing his business, he slowly walked back to the alchemy classroom. Since he wasn't hungry yet, Harry decided to explore the other end of the hallway, where he'd earlier discovered armours guarding an alcove. The armours stood to the right and left of a tapestry showing a beautiful red-haired mermaid sitting lonely on the edge of the Black Lake, gazing over at Hogwarts. As Harry approached, the mermaid looked up, gave him a startled look, and jumped into the water.

Remembering that Sirius had once told him such tapestries often were the entry to secret passages, Harry pulled the curtain aside and, to his astonishment, discovered a door. Carefully, he opened the door a crack and peered through, discovering a balcony with a railing made out of stone pillars on the other side. Harry stepped cautiously outside and looked around. The place was quite spacious; a bench and table made out of stone invited to linger. The beautiful view over the Black Lake and the mountains beyond confused Harry a bit because it didn't match the view from the classroom. Apparently, the balcony was on the opposite side of the castle. He would ask Professor Dumbledore about it. As headmaster, he should know the mysteries of his school. If the balcony was on Sirius' map, Harry wondered.

Spontaneously, Harry decided to enjoy his lunch in the fresh air and hurried back into the classroom to see if his lunch had already been served. He grabbed a couple of sandwiches and a carafe of pumpkin juice and headed back to the balcony. Pulling back the tapestry, he stepped out onto the balcony to sit on the bench when...
"Oh."

Harry paused in amazement.

On the bench sat a girl his age ... or maybe a bit younger. She had long red hair braided to fall over her shoulder to her waist, and she wore a green blouse with faded jeans. Startled, she turned and looked at him with her brown eyes. Obviously, she hadn't expected to meet someone here.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Harry stuttered. "I didn't know that…"

"What?" the girl asked with a mischievous smile, obviously amused by Harry's embarrassment.

"I was just surprised to meet someone here," Harry muttered. "I've never seen anyone here ..."

"Are you often here?" asked the girl.

"No, it's the first time ..." Harry replied, groaning about his own answer.

"I've never met anyone here either," the girl replied.

"Are you often here?" Harry asked, immediately feeling a bit stupid when he realized he'd repeated her question.

"Yes. Quite often," replied the girl. "Whenever I need time to think."

"Oh, I…"

"No, no," the girl said quickly, jumping up from the bench. "That's not what I meant. You are welcome to sit here with me. After all, this place is not mine."

Not sure what to do, Harry eyed the girl for a moment. She was a bit shorter than him. Her hair shone silky in the sun and contrasted nicely with the green of her blouse, which had been patched at the collar. Her eyes were looking at him expectantly. Somehow Harry liked the girl even though he didn't even know her. Why shouldn't he take the opportunity to talk to someone his age? With a wry smile, he took a deep breath and said, "Okay. There's enough room here for the both of us." He put the carafe of pumpkin juice on the table and placed the sandwiches next to it.

"Are you hungry?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl chuckled. "Yes. Actually yes. I skipped lunch to come here to think. But the sandwiches look delicious."

"Help yourself! I can get more." Harry said, conjuring up two glasses for the juice.

"How did you find this balcony?" asked the girl while she sat down at the table again, pouring the juice for both of them.

"Oh, I was ..." Harry shrugged. "I went to the toilet, and on the way back, I saw this tapestry. I've heard that sometimes secret passages are hidden behind such tapestries, so I decided to take a look ... and how did you find this spot?"

"Oh ..." began the girl, the smile suddenly disappearing from her face, "...someone showed me this place."

A bit surprised at the change in mood, Harry decided to drop this topic. Instead, he sat down with her and pointed to the sandwiches. "Help yourself."

With a shy smile, the girl took a tuna sandwich. "Thank you."

Returning her smile, Harry took a sandwich too. "It's beautiful here, and we are lucky the sun is even shining today. It had been raining cats and dogs the last weekends."

The girl shrugged. "I was at home over the Easter break. We had nice weather."

"Where do you come from?" asked Harry.

"Ottery St. Catchpole. It's in Devon. And where are you from?"

"I ..." Harry began, pausing, wondering if he could tell her where he lived. Since he'd never made friends before, he never had to think about such a question.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me," said the girl, studying Harry closely. "And if you tell me, I will hardly tell it someone else. I'm not such a gossip like some others."

Harry had to laugh. "No, it's not that." He sighed. "Or maybe it is. We recently moved to Cornwall, but we used to live in Keswick, in the Lake District."

"I've heard the Lake District is beautiful," said the girl. "One of the girls in my room was there on holiday last summer. Ever since then, she doesn't stop swooning over landscape there." Grinning, the girl rolled her eyes.

Harry laughed, not sure if it was about her roommate or the girl's antics. Probably the latter, he guessed, enjoying the feeling of finally chatting with someone his age.

"Why did you move?" asked the girl.

"Oh, that ..." Harry's smile faded from his face. "It was no longer safe there. Death Eaters had found our house."

"Death Eaters?" The girl looked at Harry in amazement. "I always thought they're gone ever since You-Know-Who died." Suddenly she looked thoughtful. "But I've heard rumours that he wasn't dead after all and is back now. At least, that's what my father told my mother when I was home over Easter, and they thought I was already in bed."

Looking into the girl's chocolate brown eyes, Harry gave her a sad smile and nodded. "He's back. I saw him."

Shocked, the girl put her hand to her mouth and gasped in horror. "Was it You-Know-Who himself who was at your home?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "But let's talk about something else. That's not my favourite topic."

The girl washed down the last of her sandwich with a few sips of the pumpkin juice and looked at him searchingly. "Who are you actually? I've never seen you here before. Which house do you belong to?"
"I ..." Harry hesitated. "I don't belong to any house."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "The sorting hat must have sorted you somewhere. Me, he'd sent to Gryffindor."

"Oh, I ... I was never sorted," Harry admitted with a wry smile.

Raising her brows, the girl looked at him in amazement. "You don't belong to any house? Then how come you're here at Hogwarts?"

"Oh, my godfather ..." Harry began, hesitating, wondering what he could tell her about himself without worrying Sirius. The girl was nice and surely no threat to him. Shrugging, he looked at her with a crooked grin. "I'm taking lessons with Dumbledore."

"Private lessons with Dumbledore?" The girl looked at him in disbelief, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth, obviously wondering what to make of this revelation. "You must be someone important," she finally said with an admiring nod.

Harry snorted, shaking his head. "No. I'm not important, believe me." Shrugging, he added, "I'm just Harry. I have no friends. Why should I matter?"

"What a coincidence," said the girl, chuckling. "I'm just Ginny, and I don't have friends either." After a moment, she added, "Well, that's not entirely true. Last year, I joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and made some friends on the team."

"That's a few more than I have," Harry laughed, leaning against the back of the bench. "I even have to play Quidditch all by myself."

"Aw, that's sad," Ginny replied. "I play a chaser. You can't play a chaser without having teammates."

"I'm a chaser, too," Harry replied with a grin. "I chase the snitch. If I could play on a team, I would probably become the seeker."

"Since we couldn't find a halfway decent seeker for our team, I had to play this position this year. But I like playing chaser better." said Ginny and asked, "What's your favourite team?"

"Sometimes, my godfather takes me to a match of the Pride of Portree. I like the team and would like to visit their matches more often. But usually, I only listen to the wireless. What about you?"

"The Holyhead Harpies," Ginny said with shining eyes.

"Ah, who else?" Laughed Harry.

"I've always been a fan of the Harpies," said Ginny. "Last year, my oldest brother gave me a ticket to a home match for my birthday. It was the best present ever."

"How many siblings do you have?" asked Harry.

"Six older brothers," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, that's...oh," Harry replied, chuckling.

"Exactly," Ginny laughed out loud.

"I always wanted siblings, but six older brothers?" Harry shook his head and laughed. "It's the first time I'm happy to be an only child."

Ginny joined his laughter. "My brother Ron is a Cannons fan. He's in a bad mood after each game because they lost."

Relaxed, they both leaned back on the bench to enjoy the sun. With a content smile on his face, Harry watched Ginny out of the corner of his eye. She was really nice. He always wanted a friend like her. But would they ever meet again, Harry wondered.

Glancing at his watch, Harry sat up. "Damn it, I better go back. Can't keep Dumbledore waiting, can I?"

"The great Dumbledore?" Ginny smirked at him. "Nope. You can't."

"Well then. See you, Ginny," Harry said and paused. "That is if you want. I'm supposed to be around here every Saturday. At least, that's the plan."

"I'd love it", answered Ginny, smiling.

"It was nice to meet you," Harry said. "I hope I didn't hinder you too much from pondering important things."

"No, you didn't." With a pensive look, she paused for a moment and then looked up, smiling. "Actually, you helped me find the right answer."

"Bye," waved Harry.

"Bye, Harry. Save me another sandwich next Saturday."

"That, I'll do," Harry called and hurried through the door.
Reviews 73
ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter




../back
‘! Go To Top ‘!

Sink Into Your Eyes is hosted by Grey Media Internet Services. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related characters are trademarks of Warner Bros. TM & © 2001-2006. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions on this site are those made by the owners. All stories(fanfiction) are owned by the author and are subject to copyright law under transformative use. Authors on this site take no compensation for their works. This site © 2003-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Special thanks to: Aredhel, Kaz, Michelle, and Jeco for all the hard work on SIYE 1.0 and to Marta for the wonderful artwork.
Featured Artwork © 2003-2006 by Yethro.
Design and code © 2006 by SteveD3(AdminQ)
Additional coding © 2008 by melkior and Bear