Harry Wayne
The next morning, after his encounter with Voldemort and Firenze, Harry had decided to have his meeting with Professor Dumbledore this afternoon, and his father had his talk with the Professor about the almost tragic duel he had with Marcus Flint that same morning.
After the PTA meeting Bruce pulled his son to the side and asked him how he was.
"I'm fine dad, it was just so sudden and I can't believe someone had tried to actually kill me" Harry said
"Well sadly I have to go, but if you need to talk or you want me to come for you I'll come in a Flash" He joked knowing that his son loved that joke.
"Yes dad, thank you" Harry quickly hugged his father.
"And we'll have the talk once you go home for the holidays" He said with a serious tone
"The talk?" Harry asked
"Tim told me that you have three girlfriends, I don't know if I should be worried or proud, I'll have a month to think what to say ok?" Bruce said to his son
"Alright dad, this is new to me as well but I think I'll manage" Harry said hugging his father once again.
After the talk with his father Harry approached the Slytherin table where Hermione, Pansy and Millie made a space for him, he took a moment but finally noticed that Blaise was talking with a brunette Gryffindor girl, they were so engrossed on their talk that they failed to notice the group arriving in front of them.
"Good morning guys" Pansy said with a smirk at the pair, both Blaise and the girl blushed at that statement.
"Hey guys, let me introduce you to Fay Dunbar from Gryffindor" Blaise stammered trying to introduce his friend.
"Hi, I'm Harry Wayne" He decided to introduce himself by kissing the girl's knuckles, but when he gently grabbed her hand to his the girl quickly retreated when their hands touched.
"Ouch!" Fay said as she touched her hand, something that confused everyone.
"Are you ok Fay?" Blaise asked
"Yes, it, it was nothing, just a scratch" She replied hiding her hand.
"Man, you really need to clip your nails" Blaise said to Harry who was just as confused, he hadn't scratch the girl, his nails didn't even touched her, he only had his hidden Potter ring "Which is made of silver" He thought to himself as he began to analyze the girl, something about her made her feel familiar, like if he had noticed her mannerisms in some other place, the way her eyes were denoted something hidden inside of them, he shouldn't stare too much or else they would think he was trying to take the girl away from his friend, which he was most definitely not doing. Had she touched the hidden ring and felt a pang of pain?
Harry went to his "mental palace", he closed his eyes and crossed his fingers in front of his mouth as he thought of what that could mean and began to analyze every little clue he had seen as he had enter this school, he was on said task when Terrence Higgs approached the group looking somber and serious which brought Harry back from his train of thought.
"Hey guys did you hear the sad news?" Terrence said and the kids were confused but shook their heads in response. "Apparently Sam Flint killed himself last night" Terrence said which made the kids' eyes grew wide open at the shocking news.
"What happened?" Harry was the first to ask.
"Well apparently yesterday he received some news from his father, the man wasn't happy that Marcus got arrested and that Sam didn't tried to do anything about it, so he was cast out from his family" Terrence explained.
"That's awful!" Pansy replied completely shocked and horrified of that
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Hermione asked, the Ravenclaw girl had never read about someone being cast out
"It means that you no longer are part of the family name, you can't use your own last name and every family magic you had learned you lose it, and if you were magically bound to your house you'll lose that magic too" Millie explained
"That's not that bad, is it?" Hermione said at the punishment sounded harsh but not that severe.
"For a half-blood or muggleborn it's not that bad" Terrence began saying to the kids "But for a pureblood like the Flints, it's practically a dead sentence, his father turned Sam into a squib, the third years told me that they saw him distraught and like if he wasn't really paying attention, he didn't even made his snarky remarks at Professor Quirrell, and during the night he went to the astronomy tower and jumped from there" Terrence explained.
"That's so sad" Fay replied
"Who found him?" Blaise asked
"Mr. Filch as he made his morning rounds" Terrence said "Though I don't accept what he and his brother did to you, I believe that his punishment was too severe, anyway the Slytherin house just lost a member and we wanted to held a small memorial today at seven before the feast, I know you had history with him so no one is going to hold it against you if you miss it" He said.
"Thanks Terrence, we appreciate the invitation" Harry finally said, all this time he had remained quiet to know how to feel about the death of someone who had tried to make his life a living hell only to fail miserably to the point in which his own parents cast him out, Harry just couldn't believe that a parent would be that cruel towards one's son, he just couldn't picture it nor believe it.
--
During the rest of the day many Housemates, especially those in third year, wore a black band on their left arm or a black ribbon on the left side of their clothes, some of the other Slytherin's gazed at Harry but none of them actually blamed the boy for defending himself on Marcus' attack, just like Terrence said.
The rest of the school was eerie silent they just couldn't believe that someone had killed himself, of course the matters were more severe when Kingsley Shacklebolt and a red robed Auror arrived to interview Mr. Filch and to dispose of the body, Harry noticed that they did just like any other police officer would do, cordon off the area, inspect the body and note everything down, Shacklebolt informed Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall that there was no trace of an unforgivable curse nor spell that had thrown the boy out of the tower.
"Has their parents been informed?" Shacklebolt asked
"Yes, I sent a letter just as Argus informed me of the tragedy" Professor Dumbledore said with a sadness in his voice, it was always sad when a student died, but one killing himself was simply to astonishing for Albus' mind to register and believe it.
"Very well, we'll take the body to the morgue and then their parents can identify the body" Shackebolt said as he and the auror took the body involved in a white blanket and used a Hogwarts house-elf to pop away.
--
After today's class were over Harry went to Professor Dumbledore's office, he said the password "Lemon Drop" and walked the stairs to the professor's office.
"I'm telling you Albus, ten years and I have found nothing about the boy!" A gruff voice could be heard from the inside of the office.
"Alastor, there must be somewhere you haven't checked, he was supposed to be in Hogwarts this year and we have seen not a hint of his whereabouts" Harry recognized the gentle voice of Professor Dumbledore telling the other man.
"I don't care, I give up on this mission, I'm too old for this kind of shit and also someone is eavesdropping this conversation" The gruff voice said and Harry was shocked as the door suddenly opened letting the blue and green eyed boy see the inside of the office.
"Forgive me professor Dumbledore, it wasn't my intention to eavesdrop, it's just that I needed to talk to you about something, it can wait" Harry said as he approached the Headmaster's desk and he was able to take a good look at the intimidating man with the magic eye ball, the missing leg and the heavy scarred face.
"Nonsense Mr. Wayne, Alastor was already leaving, he is one my most oldest friends" Professor Dumbledore said
"Nice to meet you sir, I'm Harry Wayne" Harry said stretching his hand that the man suspiciously shook. Both of them analyzed each other as they were shaking hands.
"Alastor Moody, Auror, hunter of dark wizards" The man said "I'll take my leave Albus" And with that the man limped away from the office, once outside he looked back and thought "He is identical to Riddle"
Inside the office Harry had taken a seat and gave the professor a bar of dark chocolate.
"Try it, it's pretty good" Harry said which the man did and moan in pleasure of the delicacy of the muggle candy.
"Yes it is pretty good, so tell me Mr. Wayne, what did you wanted to talk about?" Dumbledore asked
"Well, I'll be honest, last night I sneaked away from the castle and went to the Forbidden Forest where I saw Voldemort drinking unicorn's blood, I was terrified but luckily a centaur found me and then Hagrid took me back to the castle, please don't punish Hagrid for keeping this from you" Harry said to the headmaster
"Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked
"Yes, the centaur thinks that he is trying to get the philosopher's stone that is hidden inside the castle" Harry said
"Well bollocks, I didn't knew that Voldemort would try to do something as foolish as to attempt to enter the castle to steal the stone" Dumbledore said
"Excuse me professor but wouldn't the stone be safer somewhere else? Like Gringotts or I don't know with its original owner?" Harry asked
"It could be, but sadly Gringotts isn't that safe, after all a few months ago there was a break in into the vault where the stone was contained, that's when I decided to guarded here, no one would find it in a school" Dumbledore said to the boy.
"Well someone must have told Voldemort that you had hidden it here and he is decided to get it at all costs" Harry said to the professor.
"You're right Mr. Wayne, I will increase its security just in case" Dumbledore said
"Thank you professor" Harry said to the man
"By the way Mr. Wayne, ten points from Slytherin for sneaking past the curfew." The professor said with a twinkle in his eye, Harry rolled his eyes in an amusing manner but smiled nonetheless.
"Ok, I accept the punishment" Harry said
"But five points to Slytherin for showcasing a real care for the school and its students" Dumbledore said which earn him a happy grin from the boy.
"That's good, also professor I wanted to ask you if you have ever seen a movie?" Harry said to the man who looked at him in confusion.
"What is that?" The man asked
"It's no-maj magic, I was thinking of making a movie night for the entire school, I think it would cheer everyone up after today's sad news" Harry grinned with happiness
--
During the dinner feast Professor Dumbledore decided to address the whole school.
"Before all of you begin to have your respective supper I wanted to address everyone about the sad loss the Slytherin House suffered this morning" Professor Dumbledore began saying "Today Samuel Flint passed away, he had decided to take his own life due to some personal troubles he had within his family, it was a shame and a great sorrow to lose a student in our school, and while I may not be a mind healer I request to you all that if you ever feel the need to talk with someone about a problem you have don't forget that my door is always open and that I am here to listen to you and protect you, magic can heal many things but having people that care for you that is truly magical" The headmaster finished his speech, while no one applauded the old headmaster could feel that many had taken his words to heart.
The rest of the feast went in almost complete silence with a small group of Slytherins being the most affected by Sam's suicide. Harry, simply for loyalty to his housemates, had eaten his dinner on the Slytherin house, with Pansy and Millie never leaving his side something he appreciated, but it gave him a nagging feeling that Daphne continued to being distant to all of them.
--
That night it was almost midnight and Harry was reading his mother's journal getting to know that she had initially only had Professor Snape as a friend and that she hated his biological father because he was a brat, her words.
"Then what changed?" He thought to himself as he read many of her daily life stories and how she was just as smart as Hermione, as strong headed as Pansy but at the same time as sweet as Millie and she was in Gryffindor. "I wished I had known her" He thought in a wishful thinking, so he took his gliding cape and utility belt and once again went out of the Slytherin common room in the middle of the night, he simply wanted to clear his head out of everything that had happened today and perhaps find the object Fate and Snape are looking for, so once again he used the darkness as his ally to hide from Mr. Filch, but this time as he was about to pass through one of the corners of the aisles he saw a spat between Professors Snape and Quirrell, Snape pushed Quirrell into the wall and grabbed him by the collar of his robe.
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell" Snape began saying to the turban wearing man whose stuttering worsen by being intimidated, Harry watched in silence being protected by the darkness, and he wondered what did Professor Quirrell did to anger Professor Snape that he had to threaten the man.
"W-W-What do you mean?" The stuttering professor asked.
"You're perfectly aware of what I mean" Snape said to the other man. Then as if he felt like they were being watched Snape turned around exactly to the place where Harry was hidden but due to the darkness of the castle the man couldn't see nothing, he turned to face Quirrell once again and said "We'll have another chat soon, you decide where your loyalties are" Snape said as he left the other man, as he passed through the hall in which Harry was hidden he turned to illuminate the spot with a lumos spell only to find that there was no one there. If only professor Snape had tilted his head up he would have noticed the eleven year old boy hiding in one of the corners of the roof.
Harry waited a few moments before he rappelled down with his grappling hook, he let out a sigh of relieve before continuing his task of going to the Slytherin's chamber, he had opened the entrance, but then he decided to skip that mission of disturbing Basil, he thought that if there is someone who knows about secret chambers and how to enter them that would be a ghost.
"And I only know one ghost" Harry said as he closed the lavatory entrance and checked his surroundings with his night vision goggles to see if Myrtle was around. After a brief inspection in the bathroom he found her looking at the almost full moon with a serene expression on her face.
He had met the ghost girl on one of his many excursions to the chamber and though a little reluctant she had accepted his friendship.
"Good evening Myrtle" Harry gently said to the girl, he knew she was a sensitive person
"Harry, good evening to you too" She said as she floated down from her window to where the boy was. "What do you want?" She smiled at him with a gentle smile, according to her she was fifteen when she passed so she had been reduced to a mess of emotions and hormones due to her puberty years and even as a ghost she hated those changes, it made her look like a bipolar person when she was simply a teenager.
"I wanted to ask you if you know of the secret chambers in this school" Harry asked
"Well I don't phase through many places, I prefer to stay in the bathroom because hardly anyone bothers me here" Myrtle said looking down.
"So you haven't explored this castle? I mean, you could phase through a lot of places and see a lot of things" Harry said trying to convince the girl to do what he needed.
"Where is this going Harry?" She asked raising an eyebrow
Harry let out a sigh and decided to be honest with her "I'm looking for the secret chamber of Rowena Ravenclaw, according to a friend she had made a secret chamber on the seventh floor, and as you were a Ravenclaw I thought you might have known something about it." He said to the ghost girl.
"Well in my fifty years as a ghost I've heard about a lot of things, and I heard rumors about a place called the Room of Requirement but no one has been able to find it" She replied to the boy
"That's ok, you gave me at least a lead on what I must find, thank you Myrtle, you're the best" Harry said to the girl and he saw that the girl was blushing, or at least he thought it was her way of blushing since she had no blood that rushed to her cheeks.
"You're the sweetest" She said
"Hey Myrtle, do you want to see the moon with me?" Harry asked
"What?" She said shocked
"Yes, I was thinking of going to the east tower and see the moon, do you want to come?" He asked her.
"Y-yes" She said.
"Then let's go" He said as they "walked" together.
He liked this small talks with Myrtle but it was the first time they had talked outside the girls' bathroom, she talked about how her Hogwarts' years were and the kind of friends she had, though she admitted that she had next to none, and the people on her year weren't that kind to her.
"When I started Minerva McGonagall was in her second year and she was a true Gryffindor, though we didn't interacted a lot she protected me from my bullies, who else was here, oh there was this boy called Tom Riddle, he was in my year, but he was a Slytherin just like you, he was just so charming, so handsome but honestly he was a loner and mysterious young man, which is why every girl in my year was so enamored by him" Myrtle confessed blushing again.
"Tom Riddle, what would have happen to him, according to the Slytherin's family tree he is still alive, another mystery to resolve" Harry said to himself as Myrtle talked about her classes and professors, he didn't understood why someone would bully a good girl like her, but still bullies were the most vile kind of person.
They finally reached the East Tower, the moon was so close and so bright that Myrtle looked at it completely fascinated.
"It's gorgeous" She said as her eyes grew large at the sight of the moon and how it illuminated the forest and the castle. "Thank you Harry for taking me here" She said without adverting her gaze to the moon.
"I'm glad you came too Myrtle" Harry said as he looked as well to the moon. After a few minutes of moon gazing he put his cape on and walked over the railing.
"Harry, are you sure about this?" Myrtle asked with some doubts.
"Yes, I've done it countless times" Harry said extending his arms and holding onto the cape, he could feel the night breeze, the moon on the night sky, for one moment he thought about Sam Flint and how he had done this same thing a day ago, how he decided to take his life and end everything, but Harry's thoughts brought him to Hermione, Millie and Pansy and even Daphne, his family, his friends, he knew that even if he were in the same position as Sam he would never had done something that foolish and drastic like ending his life, he had many things to live for and he would live to the best, be the best and be there for everyone who needed him. With that in mind, he made the jump.