Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 136: Explanation

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue" 

'Thoughts' 

-Author notes-

Chapter 136: Explanation

"How was your first impression of Hogwarts? Did you like it?" Lily asked Lyra during dinner.

"It was fun, I mean... for the most part." She kept stealing glances at Harry.

'How subtle…' Harry thought.

"Yes, that business with the tremors was quite awful. It was lucky that no one got seriously hurt," said Lily.

"Dumbledore told us the matter has been resolved," said James.

"A planetary alignment was interfering with the wards... apparently," Lily said with a doubtful expression.

"Is that what truly happened?" James looked at Harry and Lyra.

"Well... I mean... the Headmaster said, and... I didn't see much..." Lyra stammered the words. She was told to say nothing about the matter.

"No, that's not what truly happened, just a simple explanation the Headmaster gave to the masses to calm them down," Harry decided to assist his sister since he knew his parents would want a better explanation.

"Harry?" Lyra looked at him with confusion, thinking her brother wanted to keep everything secret like the Headmaster.

"Oh? And what was the cause for all that trouble?" asked James.

"Just some big scary creature that was bumping around near the castle foundations and making it shake," Harry explained.

Lyra raised an eyebrow at the simplified explanation. Describing the monster they saw as a 'big scary creature' was not exactly inaccurate, but it felt like downplaying it a bit too much.

"There's a big scary creature in Hogwarts?! Holly doesn't wanna go there again!" The little girl cried.

Harry gently patted her head. "It's okay, the scary creature is gone now. Your brother chased it away."

"Really?" Holly asked.

"Really," Harry reassured her.

She then seemed to recall something important. "Oh! Like Neville Longbottom in the cursed castle?!"

That made Harry chuckle. He was being compared to the fictional version of the alternative 'Boy who Lived.'

"Something like that," he ended up saying.

"Lyra, can you take Holly out for a bit? We need to speak with Harry alone for a moment," Lily said with a serious expression.

"But I haven't finished eating yet!" Lyra complained.

"It will only take ten minutes, please," James said.

"I want dessert!" Holly proclaimed.

"Go with your sister, Holly, and when you come back, you can have as much dessert as you want. Mipsy has prepared some delicious tarts," Lily told her.

"Yes, let's go!" Holly dragged Lyra out of the kitchen.

Lyra seemed like she wanted to complain but kept her mouth shut. Instead, she gave Harry and her parents a suspicious look, wondering how much they knew about Harry's abilities and how much they weren't telling her.

"So..." Lily started once they were alone. "About this 'scary monster' you mentioned…can you tell us the truth?"

"Yes, I confess... it's actually dead. I just told Holly that I chased it away because she's six," said Harry.

"This is serious, Harry," James said sternly. "We haven't forgotten about the things you told us about your past."

"Yes, and there was one particular creature you mentioned fighting during your original second year. A basilisk," Lily said.

"Is that the beast you mentioned now? Did you go to the Chamber of Secrets again?" James asked.

"Yes, I did," Harry admitted.

"You fought that basilisk alone, again?" Lily exclaimed.

"I did, but this time it was easier," he answered nonchalantly.

"Why didn't you call for help? You already knew what was down there," James asked angrily.

"Help from who? I was the most qualified to fight a giant basilisk. No one else had experience with something like that, but I did," Harry reasoned.

They had no argument against that.

"Fine... but what about 'him'? Was he also involved in this?" James asked, referring to Voldemort.

Of course, Harry knew he was talking about Voldemort. He told them about the cursed diary and how it was used to possess 'a student' he didn't identify to open the Chamber.

"No... this time, things were very different in that regard. That man had nothing to do with this."

"But then, who opened the Chamber to awaken the basilisk?" asked Lily.

"That's the thing, it awoke by itself and started to cause trouble. So I opened the Chamber and went inside to deal with it. This time there was no diary or possessed student writing on the walls."

"It awoke by itself? How?" James knew there was something else to this story.

"I... I still don't know for sure." 

It was true... he didn't understand it completely. What happened in that chamber still remains mostly a mystery to him. He had hoped to find some answers in the book that Dumbledore gave him, but he has only managed to read a small part of it so far.

The book is actually a compilation of different people's work, all put together in one tome.

There were chapters written during completely different eras, by people living in different places. It's an absolute mess as every part is written using a different language.

He understood the parts in Latin and somewhat understood the parts in Old Gaelic, but the Sumerian and ancient hieroglyphics would give him a lot of trouble to translate.

And that was the easy part. There were languages that he couldn't even identify.

It was going to take him a while to translate everything and then study its contents.

"I'm looking into it." He finaly said.

His parents remained silent for a minute.

"There is something you are not telling us," said Lily.

"There are many things I'm not telling you. But you will have to trust that I have the best intentions to do so. Giving you random information that even I am not sure is correct will benefit no one," Harry told them.

"Hmm... very well. I can accept that," Lily nodded.

On the other side of the kitchen door, unbeknownst to them, someone was listening to their entire conversation. 

'Original second year?... Harry had already fought that basilisk before?... who is that 'man'? What diary are they talking about?' Lyra heard most of what they said, but nothing made much sense to her right now.

However, this confirmed her suspicions that something major had happened to her brother to make him change so much, and it wasn't just hitting his head very hard.

 'And Mom and Dad know about it!'