The Chamber of Secrets Opens
It was in the common room later the night of the "Mudblood Incident" that Draco had a thought occur to him.
"Was I really that important that they had to invent another me?" He asked his friends. Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Yes." She replied after several seconds of contemplation. Harry nodded in agreement.
"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found out about Fluffy. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten onto the Quidditch team. Without you, we would not have needed Polyjuice this year. Without you, we wouldn't have needed to save Buckbeak…" Harry listed.
"Ugh, that bird!" Draco moaned in remembrance.
"You were the reason the Death Eaters made it into Hogwarts and Dumbledore was killed. You were the reason that Professor Snape lost his life…" Hermione continued.
"Hey! Don't pin Uncle Sev's death on me!" Draco butted in defiantly. Hermione shrugged.
"It's the truth. Voldemort killed Professor Snape because he thought the Professor was the one to destroy Dumbledore. In reality, you were the true master of the Elder wand until Harry disarmed you." Hermione stated matter-of-factly. Draco sighed.
"Well, this time my life won't be on the line, so Professor Snape will have no reason to kill Dumbledore. Therefore, the Dark Lord should have no reason to think Uncle Sev was the master of the Elder wand." Draco reasoned.
"Exactly," Harry said. "That's why we came back in time." There was silence for a moment before Hermione switched gears.
"So, Harry, do we really have to go to Nearly-Headless Nick's death day party?" she wondered. Harry shook his head.
"I don't see why. We've seen what it was like, we know it's no fun, and we don't need to be out and about to find out about the Chamber." Harry listed reasonably.
"Besides, didn't the Potters die on Halloween?" Draco asked. "Maybe we should hold a Remembrance Day for them."
"I like that!" Harry stated excitedly. "We could send Remus a letter asking for stories about my mum and dad!" Draco nodded.
"Yeah, we could go to the feast to begin the celebration. Then, we could continue on to the common room and read stories about them! I'll ask Uncle Sev to write down a couple stories about your mum, as well!" Draco added.
It was finally the big day. Draco had pleaded with Severus to give him a few good stories of Lily, and the man had agreed. Armed with several parchments full of stories of Harry's mum before Hogwarts, Draco headed to the Come and Go room to get ready for the party. Hermione had nabbed several bottles of butterbeer and had decorated the Come and Go room in accordance with the occasion.
Harry had sent Remus a letter asking for a few stories about the Potters. Apparently, he could do one better and had told Harry he would be there. Harry was more than excited to know that one of his father's best friend would be there to celebrate his parents' lives with them.
"I can't wait! Only a few more hours!" Hermione cheered as she placed the finishing touches on the room. Draco rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure Harry feels the same. He only lost his parents on this day." Draco drawled as he placed the scrolls over to one side. Hermione had asked Remus for a picture of the Potters' living room circa 1980. He had delivered with a bunch of pictures of Harry, James, and Lily seated in the living room on several different occasions. She had then wished for the Potter living room, placing several pictures at the forefront of her mind as she passed by several times.
"Oh, yeah." Hermione remembered suddenly. "I guess you're right."
Right then, Harry walked in. "Hey, just wanted to remind you two that there is dinner this evening, starting right about now." Harry grinned as he teased them. They all walked away from what they were doing and went down to dinner.
At dinner, they had a lovely feast of duck, pumpkin juice, twice baked potatoes, sweet, buttered corn, green beans, fruit salad, and treacle tart. After that, the waited in the entrance hall for Remus to arrive so they could show him to the party. Neville was along for the ride, since his parents had been attacked the next day. Remus had mentioned he also had stories about the Longbottoms and Harry had encouraged him to share them.
Remus arrived shortly after six and they made their way to the Room of Requirement. Remus praised the décor to Hermione's delight, and Neville thanked Harry again for inviting him.
"We both lost parents, Nev. It wouldn't be right for me to think you don't grieve just because your parents still have a heartbeat." Harry shrugged as they all sat down on the very comfy couches.
"So, what story shall we tell first?" Remus asked rubbing his hands together. Draco offered him a scroll.
"How about this one?" Draco suggested. Remus looked at him in surprise, but began the tale.
"One day," Remus read, "I was at the park, escaping the house for a time. I thought I could possibly forget my family's existence and pretend for a moment that I had a normal family and that magic was not a problem. I was about to cut through some shrubbery when I heard a laugh and squeal coming from behind the hedge. I peeked through and my sights fell on the most beautiful scene I could ever imagine. A young girl, about my age, with shockingly red hair and emerald eyes, was being pushed on a swing by what I could only imagine was her sister. The girl kept pleading with her sister to push her higher, but her sister kept saying that their parents wouldn't want the girl to go too high and hurt herself. Finally, the girl jumped off and floated to the ground. The moment I saw her do that, I knew she had magic. I broke through the hedge and went over to her. 'You're a witch,' I told her, thinking I had done a good deed in informing her thusly. Instead, she slapped me." The whole room burst out laughing.
"Yep, that's good ole' mum." Harry joked. Draco smirked.
"That's good ole' Uncle Sev for you, too." He added. Remus perked up at that.
Remus continued to read through silently and suddenly grew very pale. "That explains a lot." He said, cringing. He continued to make weird faces as he continued on. "Oh, eww. Ugh…" Remus looked around. "Maybe we should read another one."
"Oh, come on! How bad can it be?" Hermione asked as she plucked the scroll out of Remus' hands. It took her a moment to realize what she had done. "Oops! Sorry, Pro….Mister Lupin." She continued reading. "Oh, ooh. Yikes…." She looked over at the other scrolls. "Maybe we should just have Mr. Lupin tell some stories now."
"What's wrong?" Draco asked as he grabbed the scroll. He read on.
"Come on, Drake. Read it to me." Harry asked pleadingly. Suddenly, Draco went pale. He started shaking his head.
"Nope…not getting in the middle of this…" Draco decided. Harry sighed and took the scroll. He read down quite a ways before cheering.
"Whoop! I knew he was good for something!" Harry exclaimed. Remus looked at his best friend's son with concern.
"Okay, then. Let's move on." Remus suggested. Neville raised his hand.
"But, what happened? I want to know." Neville implored.
"No you don't, Neville. No you don't." Hermione warned. Neville quickly let that one go.
"Remus why don't you tell us about the first time you met my dad?" Harry suggested. Remus sighed sadly.
"It was on the train ride to Hogwarts….." He began.
~flashback~
Remus got to the platform really early on that particular September 1st. He was overly excited because it was such an honor to go to Hogwarts. He bid goodbye to his parents, and went to find a carriage at the very back of the train. He sat down and promptly fell asleep. He had not gotten a wink of sleep the previous night, due to nerves. Suddenly he was awoken by a brunette, curly haired boy.
"Who the heck are you?" he asked. Remus sat there dumbfounded for a moment, not many people actually talked to him, let alone asked who he was. When he recovered from his momentary shock, Remus spoke up.
"Remus Lupin, and you are?" Remus asked pushing his luck.
"Sirius Black, this prat is apparently James Potter." Sirius said as he pointed to the messy raven haired boy with brown eyes hidden under glasses, "How did you fall asleep, we barely just got on." The boy, Sirius, questioned.
"Nice to meet you, Sirius, James." Remus answered curtly, nodding towards each boy. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I got here fairly early, I suppose. Are you the son of Orion and Walberga Black?" Remus inquired nervously. Orion and Walberga were the most openly bigoted purebloods of them all. There goes my hope in making friends, he thought. Sirius scowled and sat down across from James.
"Sadly, but trust me, I am nothing like my name would suggest. Anyway, what house do you want to be in, Remus?" Sirius probed. Remus, for the second time that day, was at a loss for words. When he recuperated, he looked between the two boys in front of him.
"You actually want to talk to me?" Remus asked quietly, looking confused.
James spoke up, "Why the heck not? You seem like a decent bloke. I want to be in Gryffindor like my dad, but Mum was in Ravenclaw, so you know, it could be interesting either way." James ranted.
The werewolf looked taken a back. "My dad was in Ravenclaw, but my Mum was a muggle, so I'll most likely be in Ravenclaw." He told the two dark haired boys.
"Ahh, so you're a bookworm, are you? Well I'm destined to be a Slytherin seeing as my entire family for generations has been. Even my favorite cousin whose nicer than a Hufflepuff." Sirius explained.
"AHH! SNAKE IN THE CARRIAGE! SNAKE IN THE CARRIAGE!" James joked and was decisively hit in the head with a nearby book.
"Shut up you Prat!" Sirius half-heartedly sneered.
Remus laughed at what seemed to be the beginning of a very exciting friendship.
~Flashback finite~
The rest of the evening was spent telling stories about James, Lily, and Alice Longbottom, who had been in their same year. Remus apologized for not having any stories about Frank, but the man had been in the year above them, so he did not know much of what happened in his time at Hogwarts. Neville was fine with this, saying he always heard stories of his dad from his grandmother. It was near eleven o'clock when they left the Room of Requirement.
When they got out into the school, everyone was in distress. Harry, Draco, and Hermione walked down to the second-floor girls' bathroom where they saw a crowd of people staring in awe at the wall covered in blood. So it began.