Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 36: Materials and a Note
"E-excuse me then." Not liking being stared at by everyone in the hall, Harry stored the parcel in his robes and rushed out of the room.
"Wait, mate!" Ron exclaimed. "He didn't even touch his dinner." He turned to his other friends. "Can you believe that guy?"
"I wonder what he could possibly want to buy right now. There are only three days left before going back home," Neville said.
"It must have been important then," Ginny said.
"I really want to know what it was," Hermione added. "What is he hiding from us?"
"Hermione… is best if you leave it." Ginny glanced at her. "I think it's obvious that Harry didn't want to talk about it."
"But… we never kept secrets among us," Hermione muttered.
"Then he will tell you when he is ready." Ginny shrugged. "Besides, everyone deserves to have a few secrets."
"Yeah, Mione, you know how Harry is," Ron told her. "If something is bothering him, he will come to us sooner or later."
"Hmmm…" Hermione sat back down and crossed her arms, not feeling very satisfied with this. "Something weird has been going on with Harry since we went to the Ministry of Magic. He has been acting very strange, and then there is also that hat he is always wearing… don't you guys want to know what it's all about? Because I do."
Hermione turned to Ron. "And don't call me Mione."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Of course you do. You always want to know everything."
<><><><><><><><><>
At the professors' table, McGonagall was having very similar thoughts to those of Hermione.
She turned her head to Snape. "Severus, do you know what this is about?"
Minerva knew that the Headmaster was hiding something important from her, and it was something related to Harry Potter, so she hoped that Snape would be able to shed some light.
The expression on the potions professor's face showed his displeasure. "I do not. But if Potter is plotting something else before the year is over, I will make sure that his detentions carry over to next year."
McGonagall frowned. Usually, she would tell Snape that he was exaggerating with his suspicions regarding Harry Potter, but not this time. "That crow delivery was certainly odd. Are there any shops that still use those beasts?"
"Not in Diagon Alley," Hagrid joined the conversation.
"Crows are smart and certainly able to do the job of carriers. But the Ministry made it a law for everyone to use owls instead. No legit business would dare to break that law," Snape clarified.
"So this must have been a personal delivery." McGonagall felt that it was the only logical conclusion, but she was left wondering who could be sending things to Harry during the school year.
Other than Sirius, she could not think of anyone.
"I will need to speak with the Headmaster about this." McGonagall stood up and excused herself before leaving the hall.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ignoring all the discussions that the arrival of his parcel had started, Harry made his way into an empty classroom.
"Are you going to do this now?" his hat asked. "You only have a couple of hours before having to be in bed. Don't forget that you are supposed to be a student again."
"Are you worried about me getting detention or something?" Harry asked.
"How can I not? If you get detention, I have to accompany you!" V exclaimed.
Harry chuckled. "I hadn't thought about that. But don't worry about detention. There are only three days left."
He moved his wand in a circular motion and created a portal in the middle of the empty classroom.
"This won't take long." Harry crossed the portal and appeared inside the Chamber of Secrets.
He covered his nose before casting another air-cleaning charm.
"Still bad?" V commented.
"A bit less bad than before." Harry did his best to clean the spoiled remains from the basilisk and added an air-cleansing charm in the area, but even magic such as this took a bit of time to properly work. "It should be fine in a couple of days."
When that was done, he could also proceed to make use of the basilisk leather to create something out of it. However, he hadn't had time to work on any design for that.
"Now, let's get to it." Harry conjured a large table in front of him and placed the parcel he received from Lady Rose's shop.
Inside it was one long black box made of wood with several golden runes carved on its surface.
But he also found a note resting on top of the box.
"What is this?" Harry picked it up and proceeded to read it.
It was a short message, telling him that she hoped that the items were up to his standard, but it was what she wrote at the end that surprised him.
"By the way, the goblins at the bank are very upset, but don't worry, they don't suspect a thing from you, Mister Potter. And your secret is safe with me." Harry read it out loud.
"How does she know it was you?" V asked.
"That is what I was about to ask you," Harry said. "Could the money I gave her be marked somehow?"
"That is a strong possibility," V said. "Oh well, it's a bit too late to worry about that now."
"Will she cause me trouble?." Harry wondered.
"How should I know?. I told you I barely knew the woman. But I dont think you have to worry about her going to the authorities. She is not fond of the law, that is for sure."
"Well, that is a relief." Said Harry.
"She may still try to blackmail you or something," V added.
Harry sighed. "Forget it. Let's get down to business."
He proceeded to open the box, and he found two beautiful-looking phoenix feathers resting on top of a velvet cushion.
They were still brimming with power and were exuding enough heat to keep one warm during a winter.
"Ohh, those look very nice. Freshly plucked as well. Otherwise, they would have lost the heat by this point."
Harry had no complaints either. This was already more than he had been expecting, even with the high price he paid for them. "Not bad. I can make a good magical focus with this. Then I will no longer need this stupid wand."
He took another container from his robes and placed it on the table before opening it.
These were the rest of the materials he was going to need, and just like the feathers, they were also of the highest quality.
Finally, Harry conjured a chair to sit down and took out a set of engraving tools and a small cauldron from his container bag before getting started.
The first thing he needed to do was to create the ink for the runes.
He tossed the two feathers into the cauldron and lit the fire.
"Okay, here we go." He had done this hundreds of times before, so he was very used to the process.
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