Close To Truth

“Okay, go on,” Harry murmured to Pansy after checking the Marauder’s Map to make sure no one would overheard them.

Pansy turned to the blank stone wall which hid the entrance to the Slytherin common room. She licked her lips, took a deep breath and said “Serpent-tongue.”

Nothing happened. “You’re sure that was the last password?” Harry asked.

“Of course I’m sure,” Pansy shot back irritably. “That password worked up until the day we left Hogwarts after Dumbledore’s funeral.”

“Well, try some other recent ones anyway.”

Rolling her eyes, Pansy recited several of the last passwords from the previous year, all with no success. “Satisfied?” she asked. “Now unless you know the password of legend, can we go meet with Patil and Brown and get out of here?”

“Password of legend?” Harry asked, wrinkling his brow. “What’s that?”

“Oh, for the love of Merlin…” Pansy muttered, holding her head in her hands. She gave Harry a look that made it clear she felt long-suffering. “There’s a legend that Slytherin left a secret password to the Slytherin dorms that would always work,” she explained. “It’s rubbish, of course; every single Slytherin to pass through Hogwarts hears the legend, and every single one tried it at some point and it’s never been found. Don’t even think of trying to figure it out, Potter,” she added. “Now let’s go,” she said, heading back to the stairs.

Harry’s arm shot out and stopped Pansy, but his eyes never left the bare wall. “Slytherin himself left a secret password that would always work,” he repeated vaguely. Then, to Pansy’s shock, Harry hissed out two words in Parseltongue: “Open Up.”

The wall remained solid and unmoving. “That was deeply unsettling,” Pansy said baldly. “What did you say? Never mind, it was worth a try but no such—”

“Wait,” Harry ordered, and Pansy fell silent.

Harry racked his brain to recall the phrase; then he spoke again, and Pansy’s jaw dropped as the stones leapt aside, revealing the entrance and the Slytherin common room beyond. “You lucky bastard!” Pansy gasped.

“Not luck,” Harry said, stepping forward into the doorway. “I heard Voldemort use the same phrase to call forth the Basilisk that was killing people our second year.”

“What phrase?”

“Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. It just makes sense. After all, Slytherin wouldn’t want just anyone to be able to use his secret password, and only a handful of Parseltongues could have passed through Hogwarts.”

Pansy nodded, as if the conceit in the password was expected. “I wonder if it works in English.”

“Doubt it,” Harry said as they emerged into the Slytherin common room. Harry looked around with distaste. The room was low-ceilinged and dark, even with the lamps lit, and the dark green colors made everything look sickly. Harry felt mildly claustrophobic just standing in the middle of the room. He pulled out the map Pansy had sketched of the dormitory layout and studied it. “So the boys’ rooms are over there?” he asked, pointing. Pansy nodded. “Right. I’m going to go take a look. You go look in the girls’ dorms. But stay under the cloak, except your head.”

“What exactly am I looking for?” Pansy asked sardonically.

“Anything that shouldn’t be there,” Harry said. Pansy rolled her eyes and opened the door to the girls’ dormitories. She pulled it closed behind her, pulling up the hood of her Invisibility Cloak as she did.

Harry entered the boys’ dormitories, and shut the door behind him. Then he whispered an Alarm Charm so he’d know immediately when anyone tried to follow him. “Nothing personal, Pansy,” he said to himself.

Beyond the door from the common room there was a large circular foyer with seven doors evenly spaced around it. There were Roman numerals on each door, signifying the year of the students in that room. Not being certain where to start, Harry turned to the door marked ‘I’ and quickly cast a few Charms to make sure there were no nasty surprises defending it. When he was satisfied, Harry opened the door and went inside.

He was mildly surprised to see that the Slytherin dorm rooms were identical to the Gryffindor ones in every way; the size, the shape, the layout…the only difference was that the color scheme was, of course, green and silver instead of red and gold. And Harry noticed after a minute that on the other side of the enchanted windows was the darkness of the bottom of the lake, rather than the skies and the school grounds he and his fellow Gryffindors got to see. There was also a bit more in the way of ornamentation carved into the stone walls of Slytherin—Harry noticed that each bed had a three-foot statue of Salazar Slytherin looming over it. I’d never be able to sleep with one of those things above my bed, he thought with amusement.

After a quick search, Harry concluded that there was nothing of use in the room. There weren’t any traces of the students who’d lived there—the house-elves had made certain of that. Harry stepped out and shut the door, and moved on to the door marked ‘II’, which turned out to be exactly the same.

Harry continued through the rooms, each one being the same, until he reached the room marked ‘VI’. The moment he walked in Harry knew there was something different about it; This is it, he thought to himself. This was Tom Riddle’s room.

What made him so sure, Harry didn’t know. He performed a search like in the other rooms, but again found nothing, so he walked slowly around the room, looking for anything at all different; the placement of the lamps, the make of the beds…but nothing leapt out at him. He walked back into the room marked ‘V’ to see if it would bring the difference to light, but it was like looking in a mirror; the rooms were the same.

Harry walked back into the room marked ‘VI’, and let his mind un-focus. Maybe the difference isn’t from room to room, but from bed to bed? he thought, and so he studied the details of each student’s area carefully, noting every little thing he could. Then he went on to the next area, looking for anything different. But still, he got to the last one and hadn’t noticed anything. “There’s something,” he muttered, but was beginning to feel a bit foolish. Every single thing was the same, right down to the ugly old statue of—

Harry stared. There was the difference, and it was so insignificant that it was easy to overlook; the statues of Slytherin that were suspended above each bed were all the same, with Slytherin standing in a pose with both arms outstretched, holding his wand—all except the fourth bed from the left in that room. That Slytherin was in the same pose, but had a book open in his hands.

Harry got up on the bed so his head was about even with the statue’s chest. Okay, I’ve found it, he thought. This was Tom Riddle’s room. This was his bed. So what does this book mean? The Sorting Hat said Riddle slightly favored Ravenclaw because it’s the House that most values learning, so a book would represent that well. But why would Riddle go to the trouble of altering this statue?

Voldemort’s interested in symbols, representations, Harry pondered. That’s why he made Slytherin’s locket a Horcrux, and Dumbledore thought he’d try to make one out of something that had belonged to each Founder. But I can’t imagine that this would matter to him—a symbol that no one can see? What would be the point?

Harry got up a bit closer and studied the expression of Slytherin in the statue. He looked quite smug, but when Harry checked the other statues they bore the same expression, so the observation didn’t help. Harry returned to the statue with the book and considered it some more. Huh, the book looks a bit different from the rest of the statue, he thought, reaching out to test the surface. Like it was carved separately and attached…

The instant Harry’s finger touched the book a fire exploded in his head, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees. He fought to keep from retching, and it was several long moments before he was able to take a deep breath, then another, and regain his composure. When he finally managed he raised his head and stared up in disbelief at the statue. “It can’t be,” he muttered, his excitement building. “The statue—”

No, that wasn’t right. As he’d noticed before, the statue and the book seemed to be cast differently. Just the book then, he decided, scrambling off the bed and drawing his wand. All right then… “Bombarda!”

The left arm of the statue shattered from the hex, and the right, unable to hold the weight alone, cracked and gave. When the stone book hit the bed it hit hard, not even bouncing a bit on the mattress, jus sinking in. That looked like it was really heavy, Harry thought almost manically. Heavier than if it was just stone...

Then Harry noticed something else. When the book had fallen its edge had connected with the wooden frame of the bed; a chunk of the stone had broken off, and there was clearly something made of silvery metal underneath. Harry frantically thought through the spells he knew and picked one; “Breken Solidus!”

The Charm was mild enough that it only created a few small cracks in the stone book, so Harry used it several more times, carefully aiming so it would create cracks everywhere. After seven or eight castings, parts of the stone began to slide away, proving that the stone had only been a shell. Harry finally had all the stone cleared away, revealing what was inside.

It was a metal tablet, only about eight inches high and a foot wide. Only the edge was made of silver; the center appeared to be polished copper. There were ancient words etched into the copper that Harry had no chance of deciphering on his own, but the significance of the tablet was clear. I’d better be certain, Harry thought, and before he had time to think about it touched the surface of the tablet with the tip of his finger.

The pain was even more intense, almost like he was on fire from within. Of course it is, you idiot, Harry chastised himself as he retched. Now there’s no stone between me and the…the Horcrux!

There was no doubt in Harry’s mind—this tablet was another of Voldemort’s Horcruxes! Judging by what it was and the manner in which it had been hidden, the tablet had most likely belonged to, or maybe even been created by, Rowena Ravenclaw. He hid it in plain sight! Harry thought, grinning like a fool. The fourth Horcrux! I can’t believe my luck!

Then a thought struck Harry that stopped him cold: What if Riddle had cast a charm on the statue so he’d know if the Horcrux was discovered? It would have been fairly simple—Voldemort could be on his way to the castle right now! Suddenly panicky, Harry Levitated the tablet onto the next bed over. He wrapped it in the blanket and then Shrunk it so it could go in his pocket. The pain returned when he picked it up, although the blanket did help muffle it, so Harry ignored the discomfort. Instead he cast Reparo to fix the stone book, and then Levitated the book back into place. He held it in place—not an easy feat, since the stone was quite heavy—while he again cast Reparo to reattach the arms of the Slytherin statue. He made sure everything was as close as possible to how he’d found it (nothing was to be done about the missing blanket), threw his Invisibility Cloak back on and ran out of the room.

He flew into the common room and raced to the entrance to the girls’ dormitories, where he stopped—if Gryffindor made the girls’ staircase turn into a slide when a boy tried to go up them, who knew what Slytherin would think was appropriate. “Pansy!” he shouted, and lowered his hood so he wouldn’t be so muffled. “PANSY!”

After a few seconds Pansy appeared. Oddly, her eyes were a bit red, although otherwise she looked completely normal. “I didn’t find anything,” she said shortly. “The house-elves made it just as sterile as ever—”

“Never mind, we have to go now,” Harry interrupted. “What’s the fastest way to the Room of Requirement?”

“The what?”

“On the seventh floor, opposite the big tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and the troll ballet,” Harry said quickly, pulling out the Marauder’s Map.

“Oh, the breeding ground for your little club. Up the stairs to the second floor, across to the fourth moving staircase; it’ll take you straight to the seventh floor, and then counter-clockwise one quarter around and you’re there.”

“Right,” Harry said, looking carefully over the Map. “That route is clear. Put on your Cloak and go there: don’t reveal yourself, don’t say anything or make a single sound until you get there, understand? When we’re both there I’ll open the Room of Requirement—Merlin, I hope Parvati and Lavender are there, they’re not with Trelawney any more—and we’re getting out of here.”

“What’s lit the fire under your arse, Potter?” Pansy asked as Harry grabbed her arm and steered her to the exit. “Did you find something after all?”

“You could say that,” Harry said with grim satisfaction. “Now come on, move!”

Pansy seemed to recognize the seriousness of Harry’s orders, and didn’t comment further; instead she donned her Cloak, disappearing, and the two of them crept out of the Slytherin dormitories.

Pansy was very adept at moving silently, and Harry had no idea where she was, but had no doubt she would reach the Room of Requirement before him. He went as fast as he could, twitching at every tiny sound. He can’t just walk in, he kept reminding himself. Voldemort won’t be able to enter the castle easily. We’ll have some warning if he comes—

Another thought chilled Harry even worse, and made him quicken his pace. Wormtail will have told Voldemort about the secret passages onto the grounds. The Shrieking Shack will have been sealed, but the passage through Honeydukes isn’t! Bloody hell, it’s going to have to be sealed up or Hogwarts is completely vulnerable! And we can’t exit the castle that way in case someone’s coming the other direction!

Harry practically ran the rest of the way, and reached the Room of Requirement fairly quickly. “Pansy?” he whispered.

“Here,” she whispered back, and a slight flutter told Harry she’d doffed her hood just enough so he could catch a glimpse and know where she was.

“Don’t move,” Harry whispered, and began jogging back and forth in front of the entrance to the Room of Requirement. We need to find Lavender and Parvati, he thought a bit desperately. We need to hide where they’re hiding. The door appeared quickly, and Harry opened it; “Go on,” he whispered, and felt a slight breeze as Pansy went past him. He slipped in behind her and pulled the door shut.

“Hello?” Lavender said quietly when the door opened and shut. She and Parvati brandished their wands nervously and remained under their Cloaks. “Hello?”

Harry pulled his Cloak off completely. “Come on, we have to ask each other questions to prove who we are and then get out of here!”

The three girls all removed their Cloaks as well. “What did you suggest to Ron to make Hermione’s parents less upset about her engagement?” Parvati asked Harry.

“Telling them that Ron had money to provide for Hermione,” Harry answered, and Parvati nodded. He turned to Lavender. “What did you say about Ginny in the practice room right before Hermione’s parents showed up?” he asked her.

“That she was a good teacher, and that I hadn’t understood the theory until she’d explained it and taught me,” Lavender said. She looked at Pansy. “Um…what did you do to Dean when he protested Hermione taking the geas off you?”

Before Pansy could answer, Harry cut her off: “That’s no good, Ernie was there that night. Pick another day.”

Lavender looked shocked, but nodded. She thought for a moment, and her face darkened. “What did you mutter to me just before I left the D.A.?” she asked sharply.

Harry and Parvati both raised their eyebrows at Pansy, who looked mildly embarrassed. “I believe my exact words were ‘At least I’m a Slytherin, and supposed to act like this; you’re just a coward’,” she admitted. Lavender nodded curtly. Pansy shrugged at Harry and Parvati’s glares. “So, Patil,” she said blithely to Parvati, “when you danced past Draco and me at the Yule Ball with that Durmstrang buck, I muttered something to you that made you miss a step and almost fall. What was it?”

Parvati flushed. “You…you said I made a good choice in ditching Harry, because he couldn’t be hung as well,” she murmured.

Harry turned to Lavender while the girls steadfastly avoided looking at each other. “Did you get it?” he asked.

Lavender nodded. “Yes. It’s safe for now.”

“Good work,” Harry said, ignoring Pansy’s curious look, and pulled out the Marauder’s Map again “Okay,” he said finally. “We have two options; risk the secret passage out of here, or risk the front gate. There just isn’t any other way off the grounds.”

“What’s wrong with the passageway?” Parvati asked.

“It’s cramped, with no room to maneuver. I don’t want to meet someone coming the other way,” Harry explained.

“The other end is in the basement of Honeydukes, Potter…I think they might notice the Dark Lord slipping behind the counter,” Pansy said wryly.

“And you think Voldemort wouldn’t just Stun everyone, or Obliviate them, if he thought it was necessary?” Harry shot back, and Pansy fell silent. “The front door is a problem because it’s sealed,” Harry continued. “Filch didn’t exactly open it wide for you two, did he?”

“No, just a crack so we could squeeze through,” Lavender confirmed.

Harry grimaced. “Not exactly easy for Pansy and I to slip through, even under our Cloaks.”

“We can’t go that way anyhow, Potter,” Pansy said. “I’m willing to bet there are Charms and Spells at the front gates?” Lavender and Parvati nodded. “I think they might notice if someone’s going out that didn’t go in,” she pointed out.

“Merlin, you’re right,” Harry spat. His head was beginning to throb from the pain the Horcrux was causing. “Damn. I wish we could just Portkey, but those don’t work at Hogwarts any longer either.” He chewed his lip a moment, and then abruptly closed up the Map and stowed it. “Right. Parvati, Lavender, put on your cloaks and go to the bathroom right outside the Great Hall; then take them off and pretend as if you just nipped in before leaving. You’re going out through the main gates. Pansy and I will meet you outside—once you’re out of the gates, walk out about ten meters and say ‘meeting place’ and I’ll answer ‘Room of Requirement’. Then the two of you will walk back to the Portkey station; we’ll follow under our Cloaks and once you’re gone we’ll Apparate back. The second you’re back in Diagon Alley, Apparate to the back room of Fred and George’s shop and go back to the House—we may beat you there, but if we don’t, don’t wait for us; go find Ginny, Hermione and Ron straight away.”

“But—how are you two going to get out there?” Parvati asked.

“We will, don’t worry,” Harry said, smiling reassuringly. “Pansy, come on, we have to hurry. Meet me outside the Headmaster’s office; I’ll say ‘Parselmouth’ and you answer ‘Serpent-tongue’, got it?” Pansy nodded. “Parvati, Lavender, we’ll see you shortly, okay?”

“O-okay,” Lavender stammered, and Harry and Pansy put their Cloaks back on and slipped out again.

Harry got to the Headmaster’s office fairly quickly, but Pansy was already waiting. Harry gave the password again and they headed up the stairs. Harry checked the Map one final time to make certain no one was in the Headmaster’s office before pushing the door open.

“What in Merlin’s name are we doing here, Potter?” Pansy hissed once the door was closed. “If you’re so anxious to get out of here—”

“You’ll see,” Harry interrupted, pulling back his hood, and ran over to the wall of portraits, which were still covered by curtains. He went straight to one particular portrait and pushed the curtain aside; “Hello, Professor,” he said a bit loudly.

Dumbledore stirred and blinked up at Harry. “Ah, Harry, good day. I trust things are well?”

“Reasonably,” Harry said quickly. “Professor, I don’t have time to talk, we have to get out of here quickly.”

“We?” Dumbledore asked, glancing around.

“Come on out,” Harry said, and Pansy reluctantly pulled off her hood. Dumbledore looked quite surprised. “Professor, I need to know how to transport Pansy and me both with this,” he asked quickly, pulling out the phoenix feather that Dumbledore had given him on his previous visit; it had transported Harry directly to the House of Black.

“Oh, it’s quite simple,” the portrait said. “Both of you hold it; one of you clears your mind, while the other thinks about where you’re going and touches the feather with your wand.”

Clear your mind! That’s the key! Harry thought. “Thank you, Professor,” Harry said, gesturing to Pansy to come closer.

“Harry, has Fawkes reappeared since my funeral, to your knowledge?” Dumbledore’s portrait asked out of the blue.

“What? Er, no, not that I know of,” Harry answered. “Is that bad?”

“Oh no,” Dumbledore said. “Fawkes will choose another person to bond with, but only in his time. I was simply curious.”

“Oh, Right.” Harry remembered something. “Professor, there’s something that McGon- er, Minerva needs to know. Behind the statue of the humpbacked witch on the third floor is a secret passageway that leads to the basement of Honeydukes. You tap the statue with your wand and say ‘Dissendium’ to get in. It’s how I’ve been getting into the castle unseen; Pettigrew knows… knew about it, so Voldemort does too. I—recent events give me reason to think that Voldemort or some of his followers might try anything to get into Hogwarts now; Minerva needs to seal off the passageway.”

Dumbledore looked quite startled. “Thank you, Harry,” he replied. “It’s good of you to tell me this; I will inform Minerva directly. And you may use that feather to enter Hogwarts at any time—there is no Charm that can prevent its holder from reaching their destination.”

Harry filed that very useful information away. “Thank you, Sir,” he said. “We really have to go now. Please don’t tell anyone we were here, all right?” The portrait nodded. Harry turned to Pansy, who was already re-donning the Cloak. “Clear your mind,” he said to her as she touched the feather. Pansy closed her eyes to concentrate. Harry made certain he was as covered by his Cloak as possible; then he reached out his wand and tapped the feather; Outside the gates of Hogwarts! He thought.

They were there in an instant. Harry definitely liked this method of travel better than Apparating or Portkeys. “Pansy, hide your arm!” he muttered.

Pansy opened her eyes and quickly drew her arm back into the cloak. “I hadn’t even realized we’d moved,” she said in shock.

“Look, go to the South side of the path,” Harry whispered. “I’ll go to the North, and we’ll wait until Parvati and Lavender get here.”

“Right,” Pansy murmured back, and they moved to their positions.

Harry’s tension grew the longer they waited, and the pain in his head from the Horcrux wasn’t helping. He knew the chances of Voldemort showing up were fairly slim, but he was still incredibly relieved when he saw Parvati and Lavender approaching the gates, even though they’d only been there a few minutes.

The Identity Spells looked fairly unpleasant to Harry’s eye, and took longer than he liked. Finally the girls were through; they drew almost even with Harry before slowing their pace; Lavender whispered “Meeting place?”

“Room of Requirement,” Harry whispered back, and he saw Parvati let out a breath of relief. “Okay, head to the Portkey station; we’ll be right here. But don’t try to talk to us,” he said. Lavender and Pansy each nodded slightly and continued on their way, chatting as if they hadn’t a care in the world. “Pansy?” Harry whispered once the two girls were a bit past.

“Yeah?”

“Stay on Lavender and Parvati’s right side, and watch for trouble; I’ll be on the left. Once they’ve gone into the Portkey station and they’ve gone; slip into an alley and Apparate to the shop.”

There was a pause, and then Pansy said “Right.” The tone of her voice made it clear that she thought they were being overly-cautious; but of course, she didn’t know about the memory—or the Horcrux.

Harry grew more nervous the closer they got to Hogsmeade, and by the time the girls started past the first shops he was jumping at every movement. But despite he fears, the girls reached the Portkey station without a mishap; they walked inside and Harry breathed a bit easier.

Still, he stood where he could see through a window and watched as Lavender and Parvati turned in their vouchers for their return trip, and the man handed them the same brick they’d used before. He watched the clerk’s face for of either mischievousness or any signs of an Imperius Curse, but he simply looked honestly bored; Parvati and Lavender were his only customers. Finally, the girls were both holding the brick in the appointed spot, and the man, still looking bored, tapped the brick and said “Portus.” The girls disappeared; knowing there was nothing more he could do, Harry took a deep breath, and Apparated.