Harry Potter: Fire Lord Black

By the time Slytherin returned from lessons, Colin Creevey's petrification had become six different stories. In the least inventive version, he had been found with his camera beside him. In the worst, Harry had lured him into an empty corridor and ordered the Chamber's monster to attack.

Edward heard that last claim near the common room entrance.

"Stop," he said.

The third-year repeating it looked surprised. "Everyone knows Potter was there."

"He arrived after the professors. I saw him."

"But he speaks Parseltongue."

"That makes him relevant to the question. It does not move him backward through time."

The student went quiet.

Inside, the common room was crowded. Younger students had abandoned their usual corners and gathered close to the fire. Older Slytherins argued over whether the attacks proved the Chamber was real. Pansy was calming a first-year who wanted to sleep in her sister's dormitory. Theodore had drawn the day's permitted routes on a sheet of parchment.

Draco waited beside the fireplace, still irritated by the morning argument.

"You are going to tell them Potter is innocent now?"

"No. I am going to tell them we do not know who attacked anyone."

Edward set his books down and asked for attention. It took less effort than it once would have, which made him more careful about what he said next.

"Two victims have been petrified," he began. "Both survived. The staff are investigating. No student here has been told what caused the attacks, so do not present a guess as if a professor confirmed it."

Blaise raised a hand from the sofa. "What about the Basilisk? You mentioned one after Mrs. Norris."

"I mentioned it as a possibility. Reliable accounts say direct eye contact with a Basilisk is fatal. Mrs. Norris and Colin are alive. There may be a way to encounter its gaze indirectly, or the attacker may be something else. Until staff know more, assume any unknown creature is dangerous and do not search for it."

A younger boy swallowed. "How are we supposed to get to class?"

"In groups, using the routes the professors approved."

Edward held up Theodore's parchment. The map avoided isolated passages and included the locations where prefects or staff could usually be found between lessons. It was not secret knowledge. Snape had checked it before supper.

"If you hear something strange, do not follow it. If you find writing, blood, an abandoned object, or an injured person, call an adult and preserve the scene. Do not crowd around evidence. Do not try a new spell because you think it might protect you from a monster we have not identified."

That last rule drew several looks toward Edward.

He deserved them.

"Including me," he said.

This story has been stolen from NovelPhoenix. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Pansy folded her arms. "Especially you."

A few students laughed. The sound loosened the room without pretending the danger had vanished.

Edward continued. "No one travels alone after curfew. During the day, first- and second-years use pairs or groups between classes. Older students can volunteer to escort them, but the rota goes to Snape. We are not creating a private patrol."

Theodore nodded. "Arrival should be recorded, not just departure. Otherwise someone can leave a younger student halfway."

"Add it."

Daphne suggested that the escort list include alternatives for students who had conflicts with one another. Pansy added that nobody should be paired with someone who used the arrangement to threaten or mock them.

Draco frowned. "This is getting complicated."

"People are complicated," Pansy replied.

Edward let them argue through the practical details. His first instinct months earlier would have been to assign roles and expect compliance. The result now was slower but better. A first-year pointed out a staircase the older students had forgotten. Blaise noticed that the proposed library route passed an empty corridor after dinner. Theodore revised the map.

Then Draco returned to Harry.

"You still have not told them what to do if Potter starts hissing."

Several younger students looked alarmed.

Edward answered before the fear could settle into another rumor. "If Harry hears or says something unusual near an incident, tell a professor. Do not surround him, provoke him, or release a snake to test him. Parseltongue may make him a witness. It does not give any of us permission to treat him as a suspect without evidence."

"And if he is the Heir?" Draco asked.

"Then an investigation will need facts strong enough to survive more than your confidence."

Draco's face reddened. Theodore hid a smile behind his book.

After the meeting, Edward carried the revised rota to Snape's office. The professor read it without comment, crossed out one route that passed an unused classroom, and added a check-in at the Great Hall.

"No student patrols," Snape said.

"That is written at the top."

"Students have a talent for reading rules as challenges. I am repeating it."

Edward nodded.

Snape tapped the line about unknown noises. "You will obey this one as well."

"Yes, Professor."

"Your confidence is not reassuring."

"I can make it sound less confident."

"That would be even less reassuring."

Snape signed the rota.

The next morning, the escort routine was tested by something completely ordinary. A suit of armor fell over near the Charms corridor with a crash loud enough to send three first-years running. Instead of scattering, their escort stopped them, called Professor Flitwick, and waited at a distance. Peeves emerged from behind a tapestry laughing at everyone.

No one felt brave afterward. They felt embarrassed.

Edward considered that useful too. Most alarming sounds in a castle full of moving staircases, ghosts, and poltergeists would not be attacks. If every noise became proof of the Chamber, panic would exhaust them before the real danger appeared.

At lunch, Harry passed the Slytherin table on his way out. Several students watched him. No one confronted him.

Harry noticed Edward looking and slowed.

"Hermione said you told your house not to follow me."

"Snape told the whole house not to follow anyone. I repeated it with more words."

Harry almost smiled. "That sounds like you."

Edward accepted the insult.

"If you hear the voice again," he said quietly, "tell a professor before you chase it."

Harry's expression closed. "What voice?"

The reaction was too quick.

Edward did not press. "Whatever made you ask that question."

Ron called Harry from the doorway, and he left without answering.

Edward watched him go. That was evidence of discomfort, not proof of guilt. The difference had become almost tedious to repeat.

It was also becoming a habit.

Later, Hermione returned the shared creature reference to Madam Pince. Edward found a note tucked into the page on indirect magical effects. She had added a question: if Colin had seen the attacker through his camera, what had Mrs. Norris seen it through?

Edward copied the question onto his own parchment and added another beneath it: how could a large serpent move through Hogwarts without being seen?

Pipes crossed his mind, then tunnels, enchanted passages, and simple error. He did not circle any answer.

The common room rota worked through the week. Nobody disappeared. Nobody earned glory. Several students complained that walking in groups made them late.

Edward preferred complaints to funerals.

For the first time since the attacks began, Slytherin's fear had produced something more useful than a suspect: a routine that could be checked, corrected, and abandoned when it stopped helping.