Slytherin's Secrets

[rareb]

Summary:During their 3th year at Hogwarts, a group Slytherins is confronted with the events of the Chamber of Secrets. They'll start their own investigations to find the one responsible for the attacks. It's an attempt to characterize Slytherin House beyond the usual cliché of a hoard of evil.

A/N: This is the first story I’m writing in English. As it isn’t my native language, please excuse grammar and spelling mistakes. If you want to beta-read it, just contact me. Here is feedback

The story is a prequel to a RPG I’m playing on http://forum.herr-der-ringe-film.de

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters are and remain the property of J K Rowling, Bloomsbury or Scholastic Books. Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of Warner Brothers © 2000/2001. No infringement of copyright is intended by this fic.

Phoebe Rotherford was developed by Kasumi, Bryony Maycroft by Tulipa. Orion Yaxley however is my own creation.

Slytherin’s secret

The scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express was already heating up on Platform 9 ¾. The hall was buzzing with life – owls were hooting in their cages, parents tried to say goodbye to their children or were desperately looking for them to hand over some item their precious sons or daughters were about to forget. A blond girl was running after her cat that obviously escaped its basket, trying to catch it before the train left.

On the edge of the platform, a woman and a boy materialized out of thin air. 13-year old Orion Yaxley was clutching the arm of his mother and just started to relax. As an old and wealthy pure-blood family, the Yaxleys had the rare permission to bring their son to the platform by side-along-apparition. Even though the expression on his face didn’t show it just now – he thought he’ll never get used to this sickening sensation remarkably like being squeezed through a very tight rubber tube – he was extremely proud of it. It was one of the rare privileges his noble descend still provided.

Slowly, he straightened his shoulders and turned to his father who had just appeared beside them. Without speaking a word, he took the trunk from his father and made his way into the train. He would have appreciated a reserved compartment coming with the privilege. He looked around hoping to find one of his friends, but all he saw was unworthy scum. He didn’t want to know how many of them were more than half muggles.

And of course, they all wear those embarrassing muggle-things, he thought, one could even feel out of place in his School robes. His mood continued dropping as he moved along. This just wasn’t right. He should have earned respect of this vermin. But they seemed to prefer staring at him for some reason.

Finally, he had wriggled his way into the train and strut through the corridors. Almost all the compartments were already taken. Everywhere people were giggling, talking, exchanging presents or showing their new acquisitions over the summer. He could swear he saw one of those stupid 4th year Gryffindors with a tarantula. But he honestly didn’t want to know more about that. At last, when he started getting really annoyed, he saw a familiar face. A dark-haired girl, wearing her School robes sat in one of the last compartments of the train.

“Hi Phoebe”, Orion said, dragging his trunk in and stowing it on the luggage rack. “I’m so glad to finally see someone normal. Honestly, it’s getting worse every year, isn’t it?”

The girl looked up to him and smiled. “You bet. But what can you expect with a headmaster like that?”

Orion smirked. It felt good to be among decent people. Phoebe Rotherford was one of Orion’s best friends since his first day at Hogwarts three years ago. They had met on the train, sharing a compartment and their pride in wearing proper wizarding robes even outside school.

“Have you seen Bryony yet?” he asked her, but knew the answer before she said it.

“No – has she ever managed to arrive before the train started moving?” Phoebe replied and grinned.

“O.k. I’ll just go bid farewell to my parents. Care to accompany me outside?” he asked her and added: “Surely you don’t want to miss the spectacle afterwards.”

Phoebe got up, smiling. “You’re right. That’s always worth it.”

Phoebe and Orion left the train and Orion directed himself to his parents who were waiting a bit outside the main crowd. They had the air of people who were aware of their social status – they observed the crowd, looking rather stiff and possibly a bit disgusted. It was evident that they considered themselves as above this riff raff.

“Mother, father, I’ve come to take my leave.” Orion bowed slightly, shook his father’s hand then hugged his mother.

“Have a nice term, son. And don’t forget to write to us if you need anything,” said his father.

Mrs. Yaxley nodded, and added: “Don’t get you into trouble, my boy.”

Orion smiled: “I won’t, mother. You should know me. I never even lost a point to Slytherin.” It’s the art of not getting yourself caught.

“And you better keep it that way, son” answered his father.

Orion knew – his name, the status of his family hadn’t popped up just out of thin air. It was the fruit of centuries of efforts. Nothing but the finest manners and actions were expected of him.

“I won’t disappoint you, father.” With a last “Goodbye”, he left his parents. The Yaxleys weren’t famed for their overwhelming expression of emotion.

Phoebe, who had been waiting for him a bit apart, came back to him. While they boarded the train again they could watch “the spectacle” they had anticipated. Their friend Bryony Maycroft came running through the barrier out of Muggle-London. She was desperately clutching her trunk and the basket of her cat. Her school robes were flattering behind her. The train already started rolling when she caught the handle of a door and jumped in just before it closed definitively behind her.

Orion and Phoebe laughed and walked back to their compartment. Bryony would find them there eventually, after fighting her way through the entire train. When Orion opened the door to their compartment the smile froze on his face. It wasn’t empty anymore.

[rareb]

“McLaggen, pray, what are you doing in our compartment?” Phoebe asked, already slightly angry.

Orion just mustered the boy disparagingly. McLaggen was a Gryffindor, unfortunately in his year, and even more unfortunately well connected to the ministry and some other very important people.

“Your compartment, Rotherford? Have you bought it? I didn’t know you could afford it,” the idiot answered, smiling complacently.

Before Phoebe could explode, Orion held her back and took over the conversation. “You know, I could”, he said in a mocking voice. “So you’re head managed to get so thick that you failed to notice our luggage in here, I assume? Now, let me show you…”He entered and pointed at their trunks, a patronising look on his face.

“See? Well, perhaps you can’t read. In that case, you’re excused of course. Now that we’ve dealt with that – would you be so kind to leave?”

McLaggen smiled. He actually smiled! Orion couldn’t believe it. The nerve this idiot’s got. “Yaxley – tell me, your father still didn’t get promoted, I hear? Oh, overlooked again.” He shook his head in mock-sympathy.

Inside, Orion felt his temper rising. This self-satisfied git touched a weak spot. He was used to defend Phoebe’s Family against attacks. They were relatively poor, for all their pure blood. But unlike scum like those annoying, omnipresent Weasleys, the Rotherfords had kept their pride and dignity. But nobody had dared to say something against his family, yet. Despite his anger, he tried to stay calm on the outside. Keep your countenance in every situation, his father had taught him over and over again.

“Unlike your pathetic arriviste family, my father doesn’t need to work more than he sees fit. We are respected no matter what. Personally, I don’t see the point in getting promoted under those circumstances. But of course I didn’t expect a Gryffindor to understand the subtle art of keeping low profile and working background influence” he said, smirking.

At this moment, Bryony arrived, out of breath and nerves. “Phoebe, how nice of you to wait outside for me; you can’t imagine how much vermin you see in the corridor these days. Why aren’t we going in? I want to sit down.” She chattered between heavy breathings. Phoebe gave her a dark look and rolled her eyes. Just see for yourself, the expression on her face indicated.

“How very touching. Is that what he told you?” McLaggen sneered, looking at Orion.

The later wasn’t replying. He had turned to the door.

“Hi Bryony, I’m glad you made it on the train. As you can see, we have a guest. I can only assume that he thinks he’ll get niveau around such excellent people as ourselves”, Orion greeted her.

He took her trunk and helped her put it on the luggage rack. Phoebe finally entered, too and sat down in front of McLaggen glaring at him. Bryony let herself collapse into the seat beside the window, visibly exhausted. Orion noticed with glee that McLaggen seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable now; even though the discussion seemed to go his way. Subtle influence.

“So? Is this the reason you joined us?” asked Orion, while he took his seat. “Or don’t you have any friends who bear you, poor kid?” The Gryffindor didn’t answer right away. So I hit target, right? thought Orion, smiling.

“My friends are none of your concern, Yaxley. Tell me, how does it feel like, losing the House Cup to Gryffindor the last second?”

It was Phoebe who countered: “How do you feel losing the Quidditch-Cup to Slytherin for – what? Seven years in a row?”

“Well, if they’d let me play we’d have won for sure”, said McLaggen, defensively. This guy was so easily distorted, Orion thought gloatingly. The idiot even forgot that they hadn’t answered his question.

Orion snorted involuntarily: “What? You? Can you even stay on a broom for longer than 10 seconds?”

It didn’t need McLaggen 10 seconds to draw his wand and point it at Orion. Phoebe actually jumped to her feet, pulling out her own wand. Orion reacted instinctively.

“Be careful, you’ll poke it into someone’s eyes one of these days”, he said and tried to point it somewhere else.

McLaggen was too confused by this rather unorthodox reaction and forgot to cast a spell. Orion drew his own wand.

“Now, we don’t want to get ourselves in trouble, do we?”

“I don’t believe it, you are actually scared, Yaxley? I didn’t know you were a coward,” he returned, smirking.

“Scared of you, cockroach? In your dreams. See, this is the problem with you Gryffindors: You always act before thinking,” he made a dramatic pause. Even though he acted calmly he was tense. You could never know if this idiot was going to do something extremely stupid.

“We don’t want to attract attention to us on the train. I challenge you to a duel; officially. Tonight, after the feast; in Sir Cadogan’s corridor, chose someone as second, if you find one, that is.” He looked McLaggen straight into the eyes. It wasn’t easy to outstare Orion, but his opponent held out quite long.

“Challenge accepted,” replied McLaggen. Orion lowered his wand, but stayed alert. The cockroach mimicked him and turned around. Without a word he left the compartment, leaving the Slytherins quite speechless.

[rareb]

“What was that all about?” asked Bryony, breaking the silence.

“I have no idea. We had just left the train to say goodbye to my parents and when we returned he was sitting here. Seems like he did it on purpose, but you never know with Gryffindors, do you?” Orion replied. “So, how long will he last, what do you think?”

“This arrogant prat? Against you? – Not minute”, Bryony was confident. Orion smirked.

He took great pride in his abilities to duel. It was the result of hard training with his parents. They thought it to be the only appropriate way for a wizard to defend his honour, if legal means or a clever plan couldn’t do it, anyway.

Obviously, he shouldn’t have challenged the cockroach. He was stretching his father’s rule a lot, considering that duels were forbidden at Hogwarts. But Orion couldn’t help it. He just liked showing stupid, arrogant morons their place. And he had insulted his parents, after all. Still, he couldn’t ignore the little voice in his head that told him he was acting remarkably like a pathetic Gryffindor. It wasn’t the Slytherin way to risk his clean record over such a trifle. He should have wrought a careful plan, an intrigue, that the idiot wouldn’t have known what hit him until too late.

“Alright, which one of you is going to be my second?” he asked, and as an afterthought:

“Not that you’d have anything to do,” he beamed at them, but regretted it immediately. He could see in their faces that both girls were keen on joining him; but their education forbid them to put themselves forward.

What a dilemma. He knew he had to choose one. He knew the other would resent him. He didn’t know which one to take. This is stupid. It’s just a duel. It was evident that it was not “just” a duel.

Inside himself, he silently swore. Phoebe was the better duellist of the two. Plus, McLaggen had insulted her family, too. But Phoebe also tended to loose her temper. She could involuntarily land them in big trouble.

On the other hand, Bryony stayed calm, even when she was absolutely annoyed. This quality could serve him, as he didn’t expect that his second had anything to do but watch. And Bryony’s reactions were difficult to read. She could be plotting against someone and still pretend to be friendly with them.

You could almost cut the silence with a knife in the compartment when the door suddenly sprung open. The three Slytherins turned their heads automatically. “Hi guys, mind me joining you?” the boy standing there asked politely.

[rareb]

“Hi Pucey. No, not at all, take a seat”, Orion answered. “And incidentally, what kept you?” He grinned. This was his rescue.

Pucey entered and heaved his trunk on the rack. “Quidditch. Marcus wanted a team assembly.”

“This early? Honestly, you won the Cup last year, what did he want?” Bryony asked, obviously eager to talk about something different than the duel. Adrian turned to her and explained:

“Malfoy senior is buying us all brand new Nimbus 2001s.” Phoebe gasped, Bryony stayed calm as usual and Orion was annoyed, though he didn’t show it. He couldn’t stand the Malfoys. Of course they were one of the ancient pureblood families around. They were extremely rich and had an instinct to be present when important decisions were made. But their name was also associated with Dark Magic. Not surprisingly, they had wriggled themselves out of accusations like having supported he-who-must-not-be-named before his downfall. The Yaxleys (at least the branch Orion belonged to) had never belonged to the Death Eaters. They shared their ideals but hadn’t approved of their methods.

“Why would Malfoy do something like that? Surely there’s a condition?” it was Bryony who asked the question Orion was about to formulate. Pucey replied, matter-of-factly:

“Oh, his son, Draco, will be playing seeker on the team this season.” So, there we have it. Is there no subtle way of buying yourself in? Orion would have loved to start ranting about Malfoy. This arrogant little kid kept casting a negative image on the entire Slytherin house. But Orion didn’t know what Pucey thought about Draco.

“Is he any good?” Orion asked innocently. Pucey shrugged.

“No idea, I haven’t seen him flying, yet. But they’re purebloods; surely we can expect him to have a solid basis. We’ll start training early this year to be on the save side. Honestly, who’s going to stop us now we have such excellent brooms? It’s worth it”

Orion decided not to risk further comments on Malfoy. Obviously, Pucey had a rather pragmatic approach to the situation and didn’t want to share his opinion on the matter. Even though they had been friends since their first year, they had never talked about the Malfoys before. Why should they?

Pucey suddenly turned to Orion: “Now to you, Yaxley” He grinned. “Is it true what the Gryffindors are whispering? Have you already challenged the idiot McLaggen?”

For a moment, Orion was speechless. How fast could a rumour like this fly? Then however, a smile formed on his lips: “As a matter of fact I have. He practically asked for it.” Obviously, Orion felt so confident about his duelling skills that he considered it foolish to provoke him.

And just then, he knew how he could rid himself of the embarrassing dilemma about his choice of a second.

“Who do you think I should appoint as my second, Pucey? Phoebe or Bryony?” he asked, as innocent as he could.

“Why are you asking me?” Pucey replied, apparently surprised by the question. “I haven’t thought about it.”

“I value your opinion, Pucey. You are a fine duellist yourself”, Orion answered, smiling. He had never seen him duelling; frankly, he didn’t even know if he was good at it. All he knew was that Pucey had once won against one of the Weasley twins, but heaven knows what that meant.

Now, Adrian started looking a little uncomfortable. It seemed that he had recognized Orion’s dilemma: “Thank you, Yaxley. It is an honour to hear that out of your mouth. But aren’t you as the challenger obliged to choose on your own?”

So, Pucey starts talking formal. He must be really ****** of. “Of course I am, but as I said, I value your opinion.” – “I wouldn’t want to influence your due consideration.” - “I didn’t know you were so modest, Pucey…”

“You know, one could start to think that you cannot choose between us”, Phoebe threw in and Bryony nodded. They were both looking expectantly at the boys. Adrian was visibly uneasy; Orion still tried to stay calm but didn’t really succeed. He started to feel rather uncomfortable. At least I’m not alone anymore.

“Fine. If you want my advice: just draw lots”, suggested Adrian, obviously assuming that the problem would be solved with that.

“Draw lots? – No, that won’t do. You can’t decide such a delicate matter as the choice of a second like that”, Orion answered. He didn’t exactly know why he had said that. It had just slipped out, probably because his father had always insisted on tradition and honour.