Millie woke up on a Tuesday morning an hour early than she often woke up, she groggily stood from her bed, shook her head awake and began to change from her sleepwear to the mandatory sports robes the school demanded. She finished changing and simply made a simple braid on her hair. She ran the hall towards the Slytherin common room in which Harry was already waiting on one of the couches wearing his tight black sports suit.
"Good morning Millie, ready to exercise?" Harry said jumping from the couch and walking towards the girl who was beginning to turn some shades of red at the sight of the boy in the tight clothes.
"Y-yes" She said
"Great! Let's beginning with some warm up, it's very important to always warm up before and after doing any exercise or else you can get a cramp" Harry explained as he stepped back "First let's do some circles with the arms, shoulders should move and begin to warm up, first to the front then backwards" Harry showed Millie how to do it. "Ready?"
"Yes" She replied
"Great, fifteen" Harry began counting while doing the warm up exercise "Fourteen… thirteen… twelve… eleven… ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one, now backwards" Harry said as he change the direction of his arms with Millie following his instructions. After five or so minutes of doing warm ups the Slytherin students began their morning jogging towards the black lake.
Harry was used to run every morning but jogging alongside Millie was a welcomed change, he could actually enjoy the scenery and focus on other things instead of simply run, they also took breaks every few minutes so that Millie could get her air back, Harry didn't wanted to push her too much on the first day so the rest of the hike was walking towards the lake instead of the jog they had been doing.
"Let's do some push-ups" Harry said as he began to demonstrate the exercise to Millie "You have to extend your legs and fold your arms like this" Harry said beginning to do some push-ups
Millie with some uncomfortable look proceed to imitate what Harry was doing, unlike him she didn't had strength on her arms, her arms shook with tiredness
"It's alright Millie, we'll do it slowly" Harry explained as both kids began to lower their bodies and lift it up. "That's right, you'll do it fine" Harry explained but after five push-ups Millie simply quit, completely tired.
"I'm sorry Harry, it's too difficult" She said in a whimper.
"Hey it's alright Millie, the most difficult step is to begin" Harry explained "Let's shake our arms and do five more, please" Harry said smiling at Millie who smiled him back
The pair begin to do another set of push-ups, then rested and Harry convinced Millie of doing two more sets. They laid on the ground for a couple of minutes, long enough for Millie to get her breath back when Harry said.
"Now it's time to do abs exercises" Harry said.
"H-how is that done?" Millie asked blushing thinking of any time of exercise he could put her
"It's easy, you just lay on the ground" Harry began to say
"I like the sound of that" Millie joked still laying on the ground
"And you have to stand up, but only the upper part of your body" Harry explained as best as he could to the pureblood girl.
"A-alright" She said
"Hold my legs onto the ground so that they don't move and I can make the exercise better" Harry explained and Millie did as he told her. She pinned his feet onto the ground and he began to do the exercise. "One… Two… Three" Harry began counting and Millie began to feel that her cheeks started to turn red as the boy did his exercise and every time he flexed his body his face approached to her own, the twelve year old girl was red as a tomato when Harry reached the number fifty.
"Done, now it's your turn" Harry says has he stands up, Millie could tell that even though his body was sweating he wasn't out of breath. She nodded and laid on the ground once again, she felt Harry holding her feet onto the ground.
"Ready when you are, start slowly" Harry said and Millie nodded again.
"One…" She said as she pulled herself up "This is much more difficult than it looks" Millie thought to herself feeling her chubby stomach contract while her back began to made the effort of pulling herself up, she rested when she went down and she pulled herself up "Two…" Millie counted as her face touched her knees and she could see Harry's face and lips too close to her just as she had seen before. "Three…" Millie counted "I can't keep doing this" She thought to herself.
"Come on Millie, just two more" Harry said as if he had read her mind and knew the internal struggle she had.
"F-fine" She said with too much effort. Millie didn't know from where she had found the strength to do the final two repetitions but she collapsed on the ground completely exhausted, Harry gave her a metal bottle with water and a weird cereal bar that he said it was called an energy bar.
"Ready to do five more?" Harry asked her, his energy didn't diminished but hers was on the floor, she felt exhausted but still nodded.
They did end up doing another set of push-ups and abs and she felt completely tired, she wanted to shower and rest, so Harry ended the exercises and the pair slowly walked back to the castle.
Millie felt completely exhausted but she knew this was for the best to quiet those mockeries she had received most of her life.
They finally arrived at the castle for what felt like hours and for once Millie was grateful that their common room was in the dungeons, she wouldn't have bared to climb all those stairs if she were on Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.
"T-thank you Harry for doing this" Millie thanked him
"No problemo Millie" Harry said as the pair separate to their respective dorm rooms to grab their shower stuff.
Millie was on her trunk picking up a pair of clean underwear and a white blouse so to not being almost nude underneath her bath robe when she returned to the dorm room, she was lost on her thoughts remembering how close Harry and hers faces were too close when she heard a rustling sound and saw the blond Ice Queen of Slytherin waking up.
"Good morning Millie" Daphne said
"Good morning Daphne, how did you sleep?" Millie asked, she knew the Ice Queen was, for other people outside their circle of friends, too snobby but she was like a teddy bear once you knew her well.
"I was sleeping fine, I was curious, why did you woke up early? I seem to recall these past days you wake up after almost everyone left, did you went to exercise with Harry?" Daphne asked already having deducing the girl's morning activities given yesterday's conversation.
"Y-yes" Millie said
"Did something happened?" Daphne asked
"W-what do you mean by that?" Millie nervously asked
"Well it's no secret that you seem to have a crush on that boy, I don't blame you though, he's cute and well-mannered unlike many of the older years, so… either you pushed yourself too much or something happen?" Daphne asked, she wasn't the gossiping type but she still cared for her friends.
"N-nothing happened" Millie said, her blush returning but Daphne only arched her brow "I-its true, w-we just exercised" Millie replied.
"Alright, I won't push it" Daphne said as she began to grab her shower stuff.
--
Monday was pretty bland, during breakfast Millie took his advices to heart and was following his strict diet.
Padma was a great potioner which Harry was glad to have as his potion partner, professor Snape was strict as always but during one potion accident, a cauldron made a small explosion startling everyone, luckily no one was critically injured.
Lunch was great but a nagging feeling crept on Harry's head, he looked at his invisible Potter ring but felt nothing, the ring didn't warned him about a danger on his food or his beverage. So he tried to clear his mind and begun to feel the energies around him.
"There's definitely a dark presence around here, but I can't know for sure" Harry thought to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a familiar voice
"What has you so focused Hars?" Nymphy said as she sat next to her younger cousin.
"Nothing, I was just, lost in thought" Harry responded
"You? The Sherlock wannabee?" She teased
"It's just I feel something evil, I don't know, I might be wrong" Harry said
"This castle is old, too old, I don't doubt there's evil in this walls" She commented.
"True" Harry said continue to eating.
--
Tuesday was Transfiguration classes was over, they had learned how to make a haystack into a needle and vice versa, Harry partnered up with Susan during the class so he got the opportunity to talk and see his cousin in action, it was a pretty basic action so both cousins aced the transfiguration quite quickly.
After class and just as every Slytherin and Gryffindor student exited the classroom Harry went to Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Wayne, what can I do to help you?" The professor asked with a smug look, both knew that they had to be teacher-student in the school ours but Harry wanted to call her Grandma Minnie and hug her.
"I was wondering professor, is it possible to transform an inanimate object into their living version?" He asked
"Is this for a weird experiment of yours? Or is it purely theoretical?" She asked, Harry wanted to laugh since he remembered a few years ago in which he tried to slide from the tallest tower of the Wayne Manor to the grass by making an ice slide just like Iceman did on the X-Men comic books only for him to slip off and fall hard on the ground breaking his ankle, if it weren't for Grandma Minnie he would have spent three weeks on a cast.
"I'll be honest, it's for an experiment" Harry said truthfully
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes "You never stop right?" She asked on her stern voice
"Nope, I'm always trying to push things forward, no matter how many injuries I can take" He responded
"You're making my hair even grayer, fine, what do you want to do?" She asked
"I just want to turn Lego animals into real animals" Harry explained.
"What are you trying to feed Harry?" She asked
"It's for Copper and Hedwig, they like mice but they haven't being able to hunt any of that, especially since they could confuse a pet rat of some student with dinner" Harry explained.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips but then nodded "Fine, it's a simple two part spell, first you have to use engorgio on the desire object to transform it into the real form, then you have to use mutare formamtu while waving the wand from North to South then West to East, it's very important the wand waving or else it won't work" She explained.
"Thanks Grandma Minnie, sorry Professor McGonagall" Harry said as he walked towards his backpack.
"Harry, wait, I wanted to ask you how are you handling the school and your classes?" –She asked
"It's pretty good actually, I was impressed of getting magical and no-maj classes, I didn't know it was possible for that to be thought at Hogwarts" Harry responded
"Well the Wizarding world can often surprise is, just like the Muggle world" She smiled at him
"That is true professor" Harry responded.
"And your house? Are the Slytherins threating you well?" She asked
"Yeah, I mean my year mates are pretty good and the older years are simply too indifferent towards me so I haven't been bullied after the Flint incident" Harry explained
"Yes those boys have always been trouble, I told the Headmaster to push for their expulsion but he said it was too drastic" She replied angry
"It's ok Grandma Minnie, I'm fine" Harry said as he embrace his grandmother and professor
"I know my boy but still I was worried about you" She said
"I know Grandma, I know" He said while still hugging her.
That same evening Harry went to the Slytherin Chamber with his familiars Copper and Hedwig and a small bag of the Lego minifigs he brought to the school. He saw that the two animals and the giant snake looked at him with curiosity.
"Alright, I only have five rat figs and three pig ones, so this should be last for this week at least, I'll order more using my own money, alright?" Harry said to his companions "I think the Potters would've never guess the trust fund they set would go into Lego figures to feed a basilisk" Harry mused to himself at that idea.
"Alright, just like grandma Minnie said" Harry said placing two rat figures on the onyx floor. "Engorgio" Harry pointed his wand to the figures and these ones grew in size to at least ten inches. "So far so good" He thought, he pointed his wand once again and said "Mutare formamtu" At this the brown plastic Lego figure slowly began to transform into a living version of their form, once it was finished the rats weren't conscious of the place they had been transmutated into as Hedwig and Copper quickly snatched them from the floor and proceed to eat them.
"That was quick, did you at least enjoyed it?" Harry looked at their familiars with incredulity, Hedwig hooted at him in happiness and Copper only nodded as her mouth was still swallowing the rat.
"Alright, Basil, are you ready for your meal?" Harry asked
"Yesss massster Harry, I'm ready for a meal that doesssn't involve ratsss" Basil said
"Very well" Harry placed two of the pigs figures on the ground and repeated the enchantment, and just like the rats the transfigured pigs were swallowed whole by the very hungry basilisk.
"Sssorry massster, it had been too long since I've eaten anything other than a rat" Basil said as he finished his meal.
"That's alright, I wanted to treat you right, to treat you like Salazar treated you" Harry said patting the basilisk's head.
Harry spent other twenty minutes with his pets on the Chamber before he went to the dungeons to sleep.
--
The rest of the week flew by very quickly with Harry continuing his training with Millie, he meditated on the Chamber as he fed his pets, he spent some time with his cousins and ate with his friends in other houses, then Sunday came after and Harry walked with Daphne, Blaise and Millie towards the Quidditch field where the Football tryouts were going to be held.
"Are you sure this is a proper exercise Harry?" Millie asked
"Yes Millie, football is a great team sport, it requires stamina and concentration as well as team effort, I'm pretty sure you'll be on the team besides it's not as dangerous as Quidditch" Harry joked
"Alright" Millie said
"You better cheer for us Wayne" Daphne said
"Of course I will" Harry said, he still remembered how in the party last Sunday he was congratulated by making into the team.
"Alright Slytherins, we only have five positions for the Slytherin Football team, if you're first year and your skills are good you might get a position in the main team, if not but you still have talent you'll be on the reserve team, it doesn't matter what position you play all of you will assist to the trainings, I want my team to be as sharp as it can be, did you understood?" The captain said, a tall dark skinned fifth year that Harry recognized as Rufilda Hopkirk, one of Terrence many friends, or was she one of his many girlfriends? It didn't matter to Harry as he went to the benches near on the sides of the field.
He mused himself as he saw the enormous Quidditch field had white chalk lines drawn in the grass, he saw that the size of the field was smaller than the professional Football ones the stadiums had.
"Maybe that's why it's a smaller team" Harry concluded.
Rufilda began the drillings tossing the ball to everyone, the exercises were simple, it was simple shooting to the goal, passing the ball to the teammate with the foot or with the head, Harry smiled as his friends seemed to get a handle on the exercises pretty great.
After almost an hour Rufilda gather all the sweating Slytherins in a circle. "Alright listen up! Zabini, you'll be on the main team, Greengrass, you'll be on the reserve, Bulstrode, main team…" Rufilda continued naming the other members but Harry only cared for his friends.
He rushed to them and hugged Millie and Blaise, he had to grab Daphne for her to join the hug.
"Come on, I really need a shower" Blaise said
"Me too, all this sweat is improper for a nobleman's daughter" Daphne tried to use her blood status as to deem the sport as beneath her but Harry knew that she enjoyed it.
The group was leaving the field when a small group of Ravenclaws walked to them, Harry saw Rachel and Hermione, and the latter giving him a small smile making him stop. He simply looked at the bushy brunette and realized that he had forgotten about talking to her, especially since her birthday was coming up
"Harry come on!" Blaise yelled and Harry only managed to wave Hermione before rushing out for his friends, he didn't noticed that she let out a small sigh.
--
Monday afternoon saw Harry looking for Hermione all through the castle, he finally found her on the only place she felt safe, the library.
"I know we haven't spent too much time together and I wanted to apologize" Harry said as he sat in front of her.
"Harry it's fine, I knew we wouldn't be too close when we were sorted into different houses it's fine" Hermione said but her body language was completely distraught, he knew why, he had declared his friendship to her and besides the meals or the classes they shared they hadn't been able to spent time alone and Harry felt like that was a mistake. He had to mend the situation with Rachel as well now that he thought about it.
"No, it's not fine, you're my friend and it's almost you birthday so I wanted to show you something cool, something no one in the school, no one in the world has" Harry said smiling at his friend.
"Harry it's truly fine, you don't have to compensate anything but I have to be honest that knowledge proposal sounds tempting" Hermione peaked with interest at the mention of new knowledge. Harry laughed as he knew that she would want to see his secret knowledge.
The pair walked off together towards the deserted girls' bathroom.
"Harry why are you taking me here?" She asked
"Before we enter I need you to completely trust in me, what I'm about to show you must remain a secret that no one, and I truly mean NO ONE, must know about alright, no student nor professor must know of my secret alright?" Harry said to his friend who looked at him with worry, she had always knew of trusting authority but perhaps what Harry wanted to show her was too private to divulge to everyone, so she nodded
"Alright, I swear I won't reveal whatever secret you have hiding" She replied
"Excellent" Harry said imitating Mr. Burns' hand gestures and voice.
The pair entered the bathroom and Hermione was assaulted with the musky smell of a dirty bathroom that hadn't been used or cleaned in a long time.
"I know, it smells terrible but Myrtle hasn't let me clean it properly" Harry responded laughing at the time in which the ghost girl yelled at him for ten minutes straight for trying to use a peppermint scented soap to wash the floors of the bathroom.
"You have spoken with her? I've heard stories from the elder Ravenclaws but I've never met her" Hermione said
"She's nice, though a little shy and bipolar, I'm not surprised at all given the way she was killed" Harry responded.
"You know she was killed? What happened?" Hermione asked
"A bad person used a good soul to do his bidding" Harry said as he hissed at the faucet. Hermione saw that the marble stoned lavatory began to move and one of the walls lifted up and an entrance to a dark tunnel was revealed.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked him
"To the Chamber of Secrets" Harry replied.