A few days before the Yule holidays, Harry asked the Slytherin Court to meet him in his office after the curfew.
"So, what's wrong?" Astoria asked.
They were all sitting in his living room, the children looking concerned and a bit cautious.
"Nothing's wrong, Astoria. I've called you all because I have a task for you." He said, looking at them seriously.
They all looked at each other but kept silent.
"First, I want to know whether you're all going to be at Hogwarts during the Yule holidays?" He asked.
"No, I guess." Theo said, looking at his friends. Barty and Evan nodded along with him.
"Not decided." Daphne said and the rest of them repeated or agreed with her words.
"Yes. It depends on our parents, I mean." Rodolphus said.
"Can you tell them that you're not going?" Harry asked, looking at Theo, Evan and Orion.
"Yes, maybe." The students replied.
"Hmm. Try to convince them that you're not going home." He said.
"Alright, we can do that. But why?" Tracey asked.
"I'm getting to it. I have a task for you all, and it will take almost a week. The upcoming holidays will be the perfect time to do it."
Once again, they all looked at each other, before silently nodding, this time with resolution.
"Good. I want you all to block the fireplaces in the common rooms. I'll do the ones inside the teachers quarters. And if possible, if you think that some student has any means of communication outside the castle, steal it."
They all looked surprised at that.
"Do we have any time limit for it, sir?" Barty asked.
"Yes, Barty. A week. That's all you have. Most of you are Slytherins, do it together after the curfew, and it will take hardly two hours. As for the rest of the Houses, split in three groups. It will take four-five hours to lay that ward, so do it at night. At the end of the week, I'll personally check the wards and tie them to myself. Make sure that they're strong and stable." He commanded.
"Yes, sir." The students replied.
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After putting the wards around the fireplace in the Slytherin Common Room, they all slumped into the couches.
"Merlin, this is so hard!" Evan complained.
"I know, Evan, that's why I did not take Warding as a subject when the tutors asked me." Orion said.
"Ahh! And we have three more floos to do!" Blaise said.
"I know, but we need to do this. Astoria, Evan, Rabastan, you'll all do the Hufflepuff a day after tomorrow. Next day, Barty, Tracey, Daphne, you'll do the Ravenclaw one. Those two will be the easiest ones to get into. Gryffindor, getting the password will be a problem. We will all work on getting it. Once we do, Rodolphus, Blaise and I will do that one. Get it?" Theo said.
"Yes, Heir Nott." The Lestrange twins said with a bow, as the rest of them laughed at the twins and clapped at Theo.
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Graham and Adrian were sitting in a Muggle bar club with Hadrian and two red headed, identical men.
The Dark Lord had told them that they had some task to do, so they were waiting for him to talk further as they had their drinks.
"You two will put these devices," Hadrian said, sliding a slim box towards them, "in front of the statue inside the Ministry. Do it at night, when there are a few Ministry workers inside the building. Before you do that, send me a message with this." He then gave Adrian a galleon, "I'll tell you how to use it after this. Once you send me a letter, these two will be there. They'll help you put it up. Your main job is to make sure that the area is empty. Use wards, spells, potions, whatever you need. Just keep the place clear."
"Yes, Hadrian." They said.
"Hmm. As for how to use this....." He then proceeded to tell them how to use the enchanted galleon. Hermione had made them during their fifth year, taking inspiration from the Dark Mark. It was really old, and they had developed better devices, much like the non-magical smartphones. But still, Harry wasn't sure whether the two purebloods would understand how to use the phone in just an hour, so he stuck to the coins.
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After that, he went to the meeting with his Knights and Reapers.
"Remus, make sure that the werewolves are trained properly. Increase their training if needed. Same thing with the vampires, Cedric. Hermione, you'll be aiding Cedric and Ron, you'll help Remus."
"Yes, my Lord." They said.
"Luna, Draco you two, learn the map of Hogwarts. You'll help Tom take down the wards from within."
"Gabrielle, Ginny and Neville, you three will train the rest of the Reapers." The mentioned group paled at that. Why did they end up with those three?
"Sirius, Fred, George, you'll make sure that all our weapons and devices are working properly."
"Aye, aye, captain." The three yelled.
The Reapers felt a bit scared at that. How did the three manage to joke in their Lord's presence, especially when the man was so serious, and looked ready to make their lives hell even at the slightest mistake.
Their Lord then started to tell them about his plans, which made most of them ripple with excitement.
Finally, they were going to fight in a real battle!
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Tom was getting a massive headache from reading the book written by Salazar Slytherin in parselscript. Reading it made him want to punch the man! Why couldn't he write in straight, simple words!
The man could've simply written where the Chamber of Secrets was. But no! The man decided to write clues about it in five different books which when merged together, gave the location of the chamber. And each book was more than five centimeters thick! On the top of the that, the f*cking dead man wrote the sentences in riddles! Wasn't that supposed to be Ravenclaw's thing?
He had been reading the books for nearly two two weeks and was still halfway through the third book!
As he was sulking over the fact that the old man was already dead, so Tom couldn't kill him himself, the fireplace lit up and Harry stepped out of it.
The man looked tired and ready to sleep at any second.
"Hey, my love." Harry said and moved towards him.
He then kissed him on his forehead and slumped on the seat beside him.
"Hello, Harry." Tom said and smiled at him, kissing him on the side of his neck. He put the book he was holding on the table and stretched his arms.
"Darling, you've been reading those books for 15 hours straight. You need to rest." Harry said and pulled Tom towards him.
"Says the man who has been running around for the entire day." Tom pointed out and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.
"What did you get from those books?" Harry asked and sneaked his arm around Tom's waist.
"That Salazar Slytherin deserves a punch on his face." Tom complained.
Harry snorted at that and asked, "Yes he does. And you're having your revenge by dallying with me, a Gryffindor. But seriously, is there anything important in those books?"
"Yeah, you're right. The old man must be rolling in his grave." That uplifted his mood a lot. "And yes. The Chamber does exist. And one of it's entrances is somewhere on the second floor."
"Hmm....Do the wards around Hogwarts affect it?"
"No. It also had an entrance outside the wards surrounding Hogwarts. Somewhere in the Forbidden Forest."
"That's great."
They sat in a comfortable silence for some minutes after that.
When Tom tried to move away from his place towards his books, Harry tugged him closer and tutted, "No more books for you tonight, Mr. Riddle. You need to sleep."
"Oh come on, Harry! There's a lot work to do." Tom said, waving at the pile of books on the table in front of them.
"Nah. You can do that tomorrow, sweet. Right now, you need sleep." He then proceeded to pick up Tom in his arms, as the books and parchments on the table stacked themselves.
"And you're sleeping beside me."
Tom huffed, knowing there was no use of protesting. Also, he was a bit tired. He let himself be carried by the man, enjoying the warmth of his body.