//------------------------------//
// A Ghost Of A Chance 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"History of Magic," I said to Addera, "Is the best place to sleep. Others say Binns' voice puts them to sleep, but I think it might actually be some kind of magic. While he describes the impossibly important effects that someone did somewhen, your desk will feel like the softest pillow, and sleep will be impossible to resist."

"It's worse than that." Ron was walking on my other side. Every step he took with his right leg made his robe twitch a little—revealing that he was still carrying the beater bat under it. Preparedness was a vitally important thing to a wizard, and I couldn't fault him for carrying it. "I didn't even make it through roll call once. Weasley means I'm always last called."

"Well, I take perfect notes!" Hermione made it sound like she was perfect, but being her friends meant that Ron and I knew better. When we both cleared our throats, she sighed. "His class is the reason I learned that note taking charm."

Addera looked between us all. "I like history. I am history. This should be an easy class for me. Patience? I have waited hundreds of years just to hear someone speak." 

We turned the corner into the final hallway leading to Binns' classroom, and I watched Hermione pull out one of her ballpoint pens.

"Aes-theta Loh-koh-mot-tor!" The thrill of magic passing through Hermione's horn called to my own. I wanted to send a torrent of magic her way, but had no idea how to do it. When she was done, the pen hovered beside her. "There." The pen moved of its own accord, trying to write the word on a piece of paper that wasn't there.

Ron jumped and slid over to where Hermione was attempting to maintain her air of accomplishment and said, "Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?"

The pen went mad. Squirming and dancing about, trying in desperation to write the nonsense Ron had said. This was a game we'd played before. 

"Roberta ran rings around the Roman ruins," I said.

"I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish!"

Just as Ron finished, Hermione grabbed her crazed pen out of the air. "You two are terrible."

When we turned the corner and entered the room, I could see it was about half full of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students, but Binns could not be seen anywhere. For any other class, Hermione would want to be at the front, but with her enchanted pen she would want to be as far in the back as possible. 

Hermione took the lead, her clopping hooves echoing through the room. Everyone seemed to be watching us—well, her. She clutched her pen so tightly I thought she was going to snap it.

We took our seats and waited for professor Binns. And waited. And waited. 

"Isn't there meant to be a teacher here?" Addera asked.

I nodded as, for the first time since I'd been taking the class, we didn't fall asleep during a History of Magic class. "Something's wrong. Binns might sleep through his own death, but he wouldn't sleep through the start of period."

"What're we meant to do?" Ron asked.

"Not sure about you," I said, "But I intend to take advantage of his class to sleep anyway. No point wasting the afternoon."

"I met someone earlier who was very curious of me." Addera, it seemed, was completely ignoring my desire to attain an extra hour's sleep. "Professor Kettleburn wanted to examine me."

"We'd have still been there if I hadn't told him we had to go to lunch. He kept wanting Addera to take her glasses off," Ron said. "You should have, you know. Would have gotten us out of there quicker."

"You can't hypnotize the teachers!" Hermione said in her most stern voice. When she realized everyone in the room had turned to look at her, she shrank back a little.

"You are correct, Hermione Granger. I have thought about what this power means, and I do not think it should be used lightly or without great care. Salazar Slytherin used such power to control me and bind me—I would not wish that upon any creature." Addera nodded her cute little snout at the deep statement she'd just made.

My chances of getting sleep were dwindling. Without Binns to keep order in the class, everyone was talking. It was horrible. 

"That's the kind of thing my mum'd say. You should 'ave heard her when someone mistakenly sent us an invitation to meet with all the other pure-blood families. I thought she was going to shout all night about it." Ron leaned across to where Hermione had let her pen go. "If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I'm perfectly practiced and practically perfect."

"Ron!" Hermione struggled to grab her pen where it was writing all over the empty desk top. 

"Do you know if Binns is coming, Harry?" Dean asked from two rows forward. As a result, everyone in the class turned to me.

"No idea." Well, there was nothing else for it. "I'm going to the staff room to find out." I jumped down from my chair and started to trot for the door only to have Addera slither up and move at my side. "I can go on my own, Addera."

Addera seemed unwilling to stop, and once we were in the hall she said, "There is nothing for me to do here without a teacher. I will protect you always, Harry Potter." 

"Okay, well, let's head there as fast as—" Words failed me as I saw Draco Malfoy and Gemma Farley walking toward us. My anger wanted to come back, but lacking any antagonism from the pair I could keep it in check.

"Look who it is, Draco, the serpent that got away." Gemma's tone dripped with sweetness. "What a shame we don't have a parselmouth to call her back to heel."

"Harry Potter"—Addera's voice had never sounded so cold, not even when we were in the Chamber of Secrets—"close your eyes right now."

I didn't wait for her to finish. The little voice in my head that called her eyes beautiful was drowned out by the curiosity and panic as I realized what she was about to do. "Addera, you shouldn't—"

"I owe a debt to you, Harry Potter, but you do not command me. Now—" I heard two gasps and realized what had just happened. "You are both slithering a terrible path. Neither of you know the horror of what your actions and words will lead to, so I will explain it in a way any creature with a shred of emotion could understand.

"You both belong to me. You are my property to do with as I please. You will not speak unless I grant you leave and you will not move unless I ask it. Do you understand my words?"

There was the slightest pause before Gemma and Draco said together, "Yes."

"Perfect. This is what Salazar Slytherin wishes. The strong to rule the weak. Power unrestrained." Addera's tone carried a lot of Hermione's voice in it still, but it had started to gain its own inflections. "He owned me as I own you both for a thousand years. He ordered me to follow another—gave me to them. Draco Malfoy, you will do whatever Harry Potter desires, do you understand me?"

"Y-Y-Yes." Draco's voice sounded delighted, though there was an undercurrent of something ugly in his tone.

"This is what the leader of your house does. Power is absolute, and I have more than either of you, so I own you. Do you understand this state of things?" Addera asked.

"Yes," Gemma and Draco said together.

"Your minds are your own, your voices and thoughts are clear of my will, and you command yourself once again." The tone of Addera's voice was almost reverent. "Now you understand the freedom your machinations steals from people. You are toying with people's lives for your own enjoyment. You can open your eyes, Harry Potter."

I did so, and what I saw was the two Slytherin students staring in shock. Neither seemed capable of moving, and I wondered if Addera's whammy was still working.

"Now, call me master and you may leave." She waited, but after nearly a minute of Gemma and Draco staring at her in stunned silence, Addera smiled. "Good. Do not play games with those I protect again. You have the free will to ignore my demand, of course, where I didn't. Come along, Harry Potter." As she slithered past the two, Addera leaned up and whispered something to Draco that—try as I might—I couldn't hear.

Looking between the two stunned Slytherin students and Addera, I made my choice and walked off with the latter. "I thought you said you weren't going to use your whammy anymore?"

"I did not use it lightly or without care. You'll notice I was careful to undo everything, Harry Potter. What I did was gave them both a taste of power misused. I hope this is not a lesson I need to give more often." 

"I don't understand what you mean. What were they doing that—"

"Harry Potter, in this you might be either too pure or too young, but I assure you that you are not lacking the intelligence to understand this." Addera reached down and picked me up completely without asking. "What they were trying to do was isolate you, cutting off your friendships and leaving you vulnerable. I could not perceive any reason for this other than amusement."

It didn't really make sense to me. I couldn't see why Gemma was doing what she was doing. "I still don't get it."

Addera's kiss on my cheek surprised me. When I turned to look up, she was smiling like she'd just eaten a whole bunch of pork sausages. "I'm proud of that, Harry Potter."

In that one moment the thousand year old basilisk showed me more affection that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had in twelve years. I wasn't even sure why I'd made her proud, but it made me smile that I had. 

I hadn't realized how comfortable I'd gotten until Addera set me down on my hooves a few feet from the hallway that led to the staff room. "Thanks, Addera." 

Slithering at my side, Addera said, "You are most welcome, Harry Potter."

Just as we reached the doorway, Sprout stepped through and froze. "My word, Harry Potter. What they said about you was true. This must be our new student, Addera. Why are you both out of class?"

I straightened myself and looked up. "Professor Binns didn't arrive to teach our history class. We waited twenty minutes in case he was sleeping." 

"That would be turn-about—" Professor Sprout quickly snapped her mouth closed, though she was smiling. "Well, I don't have a class for this period, so let us see where the old specter is."

Sprout led us down. Down, down, down. The staff room was on the ground floor already, but she took us to the basement and then to the dungeon. I realized what we should be seeing—and weren't.

"Where's all the ghosts?" I asked.

"You destroyed them!" Moaning Myrtle said after gliding through the door of one of the crypts. "When everything moved, all the magic stopped. Now they're all fading away!"

"Miss Myrtle, could you show me where they are?" Sprout asked.

"They're all around you!" Her voice raising to a screech, Myrtle pointed around the empty hallway of the dungeon. Then she seemed to look shocked. "You can't see them?"

A new shape floated through the door of the crypt—Nearly Headless Nick. "Miss Myrtle, allow me." He looked like what horror movies would want a ghost to look. His normally vibrant silver glow was barely defined, and he was almost completely transparent. Compared to Myrtle he looked terrible. "It would seem like whatever magic was here that kept us all going, as it were, is gone."

"Gone?" Sprout looked confused and sounded as much.

"Quite so! It's the darnedest thing, though. Young Miss Myrtle here seems completely untouched by it. Out of the lot of us only the Bloody Baron, the Grey Lady, and the Fat Friar—Oh! The house ghosts. Peeves is still around somewhere, but the poor chap can barely rattle a chain."

"I'm fine!" Myrtle said. "Not that anyone cares. No one has asked poor Myrtle how she's still so ghostly." Turning, Myrtle examined the door as closely as she could.

I looked at Addera. Addera looked at Sprout. Sprout looked at Nick. Nick looked at Myrtle and must have realized he was last in line. Looking more defeated than I'd ever seen him, Nearly Headless Nick cleared his now expansive throat. "Excuse me, Miss Myrtle?"

"What?!"

"How is it you're still so ghostly?"

"I don't know!" With that, Myrtle fled through the wall and up. 

"Oh dear," Nick said. "She'll be off to her lavatory now. A shame that girl—such a bright future."

Sprout cleared her throat. "I think I need to get Albus Dumbledore."

"What should we do about our class?" I asked, hoping against hope that she'd tell us we had a free period.

"Professor Binns keeps all his class notes in his desk. Head back to class and ask—oh, I don't know—that Granger girl. She's in your class, and she always knows what we're teaching anyway—at least the book side of things." Sprout turned toward the stairs leading back up. "Run along now, go on."

"Hold on a moment." Nick floated closer to us, though it seemed like Sprout didn't hear him. "You look familiar. Sorry, miss, but could you let me see your eyes?"

Addera jerked as if she'd been hit. Pulling back and coiling her tail in on itself, she shook her head from side to side. "Y-You can't."

"Nick," I said, "You know how I was trying to get to the Chamber of Secrets before anyone else to stop what was happening?"

Turning, showing me how wispy he was at close range, Nick nodded his head. "I remember that, though it's hard to—given it was before I got petrified!"

"I did it, Nick. That's why I'm—"

"You know, young Harry, I did think to myself that you seemed a little horse." 

I couldn't keep back my groan, and upon hearing it, Nick seemed to become a little more corporeal for a moment. "Nick, I did it. I got into the Chamber of Secrets and fought the basilisk that Salazar Slytherin had imprisoned and bound to the will of his followers."

Nick lifted his hand high, looking almost completely restored.. "A basilisk! That's what it was! Oh, nasty things sometimes, terrible. I do remember someone mentioning their love for raw beef."

"Pork. Pork sausages," Addera said.

Turning to look at Addera, Nick froze almost as perfectly as he had when she'd looked at him the first time. "You!"

Addera flinched again. "Me. I'm sorry for what—"

"Oh! That? It's water under the bridge. Quite relaxing, actually. A little bit of downtime. I'd quite like another go once we get all this vanishing business sorted out." Nick stuck out his hand to shake.

Reaching up, surprise registering on her face, Addera held out her hoof and it passed right through Nick's hand. "Ahhh!"

"Oh! That's what a good bit of relaxation will do to you. Forgot I was even dead, then." Pulling his hand back, Nick peered at Addera a little more closely. "I say, you look a lot more… horsey these days."

"It's an improvement, trust me," Addera said. "For a start I don't risk killing people just by looking at them."

"So you can still petrify?" Nick sounded so hopeful it almost hurt.

Addera shook her head. "Part of trading away the kill people with a look bit is that I can't petrify either. All I do now is hypnotize."

Nick tapped his chin in contemplation, which caused his neck to wobble alarmingly. "I wonder what that does to a ghost?" 

"We should get going before Sprout finds us down here again," I said.

"Oh, don't let me keep you from class. Good day, young Harry, Miss Addera." Nick bowed low in what I took for a courtly manner, only at the last minute his head came off almost completely. "Whoops."

Picking me up, Addera turned and moved fast. She slithered quickly up several flights of stairs, then down some, then back up another. My heart beat fast as the blurry castle around me was even more blurry than usual. 

When we entered the hallway near class, Gemma and Draco were gone. Addera wasted no time and put me down just outside the classroom, so we could enter together. 

Everyone was still waiting, and the room went quiet when we entered.

"Well?" someone asked.

I walked along toward the back of class, looking forward to being able to sleep through Hermione's talking. "I talked to Professor Sprout. She said Binns keeps his notes in his desk—probably some kind of ghost notes or something. Anyway, she said Hermione might as well read them to us since she knows the stuff anyway." 

A collective groan went up from the class. 

We walked (well, I walked—Addera slithered) to the back and passed Hermione going the other way. My eyesight meant I couldn't see her, and better yet I was more tired now. The moment she started speaking I nodded off.





Beautiful. So very beautiful. Draco stared off into space with the memory of Addera's eyes floating in her head. Nothing else would fit with those eyes taking up all her thoughts. Time passed—time that she didn't notice—as she focused almost entirely on remembering beautiful amber eyes.

The world was peaceful, calm. Slowly the memory of Addera's beautiful eyes faded from it's thought-consuming peak, and Draco gasped in shock. Almost hyperventilating, thoughts of what had just happened flooded into her brain.

Addera triggered the big bad predator part of Draco's mind, and though she wanted to run and run and leave the lamia far behind, she could see that Gemma was still entranced. "Follow me. Come on!"

With a command to drive her again, Gemma smiled. Her mind was flooded with beautiful amber eyes and four words—follow me and come on. It was easier than breathing to follow the one thought that existed in her head.

Draco ran blindly. Down hallways, up stairs, past classes big and small. Their petty little game of toying with Harry Potter now seemed completely insane—she needed somewhere safe. 

To Draco's surprise a doorway formed in the stone beside her. A sense of safety seemed to emanate from the door, and without a better idea Draco pulled Gemma inside.

The room was a cozy sitting room. Draco looked around the interior and thought it would be right at home in his parents' home. Two big recliner chairs sat before a fireplace, and without another thought Draco rushed over and dropped into one.

"W-What was that?" Gemma asked as the amber eyes of beauty allowed her own thoughts to return to her head. "What did that—" As her thoughts turned to Addera, Gemma's memory brought amber eyes to the fore again. With her new favorite memory to comfort her, Gemma relaxed into the chair and stared into the fire—it looked amber.

"I don't know and I don't care. Nothing's worth that." Never in Draco's life had something been out of reach. Never had she found a single thing her father wouldn't buy or arrange for her. Harry Potter's wellbeing had never meant a thing—until now. 

Struggling with the implications of what Addera had done, Draco slowly remembered everything she'd said. It took some time to remember all of it—every time Draco thought on Addera herself too much, her every thought would turn to beautiful amber eyes.

The commands had seemed right to Draco. They were easy to follow, and with nothing else in her head but beautiful amber eyes and those commands, she was compelled to do them. That another wizard would have this power over her was abhorrent to her, that it was a creature was worse. "Not even a mudblood, but her eyes were so beautiful…"

"They were amazing…" Gemma, reminded of Addera's eyes, felt her thoughts get chased from her head again.

Both students sat, relaxed and at peace.

Draco managed to pull herself from the mental trance first yet again. "Why can't I stop thinking about her eyes?" This time the words weren't quite enough to drown her mind in amber beauty. "Gemma?"

"Yes?" Gemma turned a little to look at Draco. Her mind slowly cleared to the point where she could consciously force her thoughts back into motion. "How do we stop something like that? All she had to do was look at us."

"We can't. Not unless we get the teachers involved, and then what? She'd just take off her glasses and tell them everything's fine."

"You're right. So we can't fight her, and we can't—we don't dare try to work around her." Swallowing hard, Gemma put every ounce of her mental fortitude into holding the beautiful amber eyes at bay. "We do what she said."

"Leave Harry Potter alone? But he—" Draco bit her own tongue. "You're right. For now you're right. What about the other stuff?"

"I don't want to gaze into her beautiful eyes again…" Gemma wasn't even sure how long she took to recover this time, but she shivered when her thoughts returned. "So I'll do what she said."

Draco turned to look at Gemma like the other girl had just grown a second head. "What?"

"She was right. What she did—what she said was done to her—was horrible. We don't even know if she did extra things to our heads while we were—" Stopping before she described Addera's eyes again, Gemma clenched her hands into fists. "I don't want to feel that weak ever again."

The words rang so honest in Draco's heart that she nodded before replying. "Me either."

Staring into the flames, both felt a sense of resolution with the agreement, and relaxed as beautiful amber eyes filled their heads. When reality started to impose itself again, it was only because of the needs of their bodies. 

Draco jumped to her feet, legs crossed, and looked around the small study. There was the door they'd come in by and one other. She rushed over and pushed the second door open to see a palatial bathroom. 

Gemma was only a moment behind Draco in finding the facilities. When both were done, and washing their hands, she finally thought about where they were. "What is this place?"

"I don't know. I was in a bit of a panic and ran in a few circles. The door opened and I just—It's exactly what we needed." Draco looked around the huge bathroom. It was bigger than her own personal en suite, and probably bigger than that in her parents' suite at home.

"Which is suspicious in and of itself. We need to find out what this place is so we can take full advantage of it."

"What if it literally is what we needed?"

"I don't think I was in any state to need anything when you dragged me in here, but we need information before we can continue. A second hidden room in Hogwarts. This is turning out to be the strangest semester ever." Gemma finished washing her hands and looked at her makeup. Reaching into her robe, she pulled out her wand and froze. "What if she'd made us cast spells?"

"What do you mean?" Draco was likewise finished with her hand washing, but didn't want to be all alone with her thoughts right now. She waited for Gemma.

"Addera. What if she'd just commanded us to cast spells? We'd never be able to claim it was anything other than our own hands doing it."

"Or she could have implanted suggestions to make us do it later. How would we know?" Draco couldn't stop shivering.

"Come on. Let's sit in front of the fire some more." Gemma offered her hand to Draco and walked with her back into the warm room.