“Harry! Where have you been, we’ve been looking for you for ages!” Ron called out as Harry rounded the corner. The trio of Harry’s friends stood there. He had fled down the chamber as soon as he could after class so he could put off this confrontation specifically. He had thought he would have some more time.

“Fine,” Harry said, “Just down in the, you know,” he lifted his Slytherin locket out of his robes to show them.

Ron opened his mouth but Hermione jumped in before he could speak again, “Sorry, Harry. We were just worried about you. Did you get in trouble for casting that spell?”

“No,” Harry replied, “Not too much. Just a few days' detention with Lupin to help him repair the damage.”

“That’s not too bad,” Neville said, “I’m sure Lupin won’t be too harsh on you.”

They started walking with each other until they all found themselves outside on the Hogwarts lawn.

“Harry, where did you see that creature? Did you see it in the chamber?” Ron said after they were relatively isolated from the other students.

“What?” Harry said blinking before remembering that Ron and Neville had seen his soul eater form last year, “No, I haven’t,” Harry answered.

“Well,” Ron said, “Neville and I were wondering if there were any hidden entrances to the pipes in between the bathroom entrance and the chamber itself. That’s the only way it could have escaped Hogwarts without getting caught by the Aurors.”

“I can go ask Nidhogg,” Harry said, “but he never mentioned anything like that to me. I would think he would go out to occasionally hunt if that was an option for him.”

“Ha-Harry,” Neville stuttered, “I- you don’t have to worry about that creature eating us. We won’t let that happen.”

“Yeah, if that thing shows its face, I’ll blast it with a lumos maxima! I’ve heard that that drives off all the darkest creatures,” Ron said.

“Sure,” Harry said, slumping slightly.

“Can you guys stop?” Hermione reprimanded Neville and Ron, “Can’t you see that you are upsetting Harry? Why don’t we talk about something else?”

There was a brief silence where Ron and Neville looked at Harry and then apologized to him. The conversation then moved to a lighter topic, but Harry didn’t forget his friend's words. If they knew what he was they might attack him on sight.

— — —

“...Stop!” Salazar called and Harry stopped his spell in an instant. The black vines lined with barbed thorns shooting from the tip of his wand withered away into nothing. Harry took a deep breath and cleared his mind of his anger.

“Excellent progress for today,” Salazar said, “Don’t forget to practice calming yourself in your daily life as well. You’ve done well since we started. How long has it been again?”

“It’s the middle of December. Almost Christmas break,” Harry answered.

“Yes, right. Remember to not practice dark magic while you are gone!”

Harry shrugged, “It is illegal to cast spells outside of Hogwarts if you're a minor, remember?” He said, “I won’t be casting anything over the holidays.”

“Ugh, I had almost forgotten. Why did you have to remind me of the Ministry’s stupidity once again?” Salazar said, “First they go after dark magic, then no spells at all for the youth… this country is really going downhill.”

“Didn’t Tom Riddle tell you all of this?” Harry asked curiously, “Surely you know much of this from him and the past Heirs?”

Salazar shook his head, “Tom was a rather transactional fellow,” he said, “Wouldn’t tell me a word unless he got something in exchange. Right little brat he was, I gave him nothing but the bare minimum. Before him I haven’t had an heir in hundreds of years, so my knowledge of the world is a little out of date.”

“He did seem like a rather unpleasant person,” Harry agreed.

“Well, happy Christmas with your new family, Harry,” Salazar said.

“See you in a week Salazar,” Harry replied.

— — —

Spending Christmas back with Harry’s family was relaxing as Harry felt some of the tension that had built up over the course of the year drain away. It had been stressful debating whether or not he should tell his friends his big secret. His friends noticed but they thought it was still because of the Boggart. Their assurances that they were learning all sorts of spells to defend themselves from dark creatures only made Harry feel worse, which they seemed to sense. So they had moved on from the topic and talked about other things which Harry appreciated.

Luckily things were smooth after the uproar around the boggart incident calmed down among the other students. The only oddity was that Lupin had been sick and missed several days of class four or five times in the beginning of the year. It seems that Hagrid had not been kidding when he said that Lupin had a serious health condition.

Harry didn’t even think that wizards could get sick, but a little reading quickly destroyed that notion. It was just that the diseases left that could still affect wizards were all rather virulent and deadly. Luckily wizards in general had such a small population and were so spread out that such diseases could usually be stamped out before they started reaching a critical mass of infections. But the few who did manage it were quite nasty and resistant to healing spells.

“You alright, Harry?” Neville asked as Harry stared blankly at their game of chess as he thought.

“Sorry, Neville,” Harry said as he woke from his trance, “Just thinking about wizarding diseases.”

He reached forward and moved one of his pawns a space forward. Neville immediately moved and took one of Harry’s rooks unopposed from across the board with one of his bishops. Harry looked at the board again. He was rather bad at this wasn’t he? There were just so many options on where he could move the pieces…

— — —

It was mid February now and lessons were going well. Harry was considering asking Hagrid to take him into the forbidden forest soon after the weather turned a little warmer. He hadn’t wanted to ask immediately when he met him because of how much he seemed to be close to Dumbledore before. But after spending so long with him, Harry thought he seemed genuine in how he hadn’t known what Dumbledore had been up to. He had already apologized several times even if he had nothing to do with it.

Harry put a hand on his locket and created the tunnel out of the chamber. Salazar told Harry that he was doing much better with his emotional control now that he had been able to recharge over break. Harry was near mastering the vine spell, and Salazar they would start working on a new one soon if Harry continued to improve. That would be exciting.

Harry walked through the tunnel for a bit before emerging into an empty classroom. Or not so empty, on the other side were Fred and George leaning over a massive unfolded piece of parchment. They both stared at Harry in shock as he stepped forward and the tunnel shut behind him.

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“Harry, what was that?” Fred asked in shock. Harry looked down and saw there were little dots moving all over its surface. It appeared to be a map of Hogwarts.

“What is the map?” Harry asked in return.

Fred froze, but George stepped in, “Secret for secret, ey? We can do that.”

Fred glared at George, but George just shrugged, “He can make bloody holes in the walls, Fred. You don’t think that’s more useful than the old map being secret?”

“I guess,” Fred said reluctantly.

They both turned to Harry at once, “So how about it, Harry?” George said.

“You already know I can make the tunnels, shouldn’t you at least tell me what the map does first?” Harry asked. He was alright with telling them the locket let him travel around. He could quickly go down to the chamber then reset the exit to somewhere else in Hogwarts and get there much quicker. But he definitely wouldn’t tell them about Salazar or that he was actually entering the Chamber of Secrets to do it.

“Alright fair enough,” Fred said after a moment and gestured at the map. Harry walked over and saw that the moving dots were people and little black feet that moved around as people walked around the castle.

“This is the key to our success, Harry,” Fred said proudly, “This beauty tracks where everyone is for every minute-”

“-of every hour,” George added

“-of every day,” Fred finished.

“We can see everyone and avoid the teachers perfectly when setting up our pranks,” George said in excitement.

“Where’s Ron, Neville, and Hermione right now?” Harry asked curiously, scanning the map.

“Let’s see, let's check the common room…” Fred said, “Nope, not in your room just Peter in there as usual, next…”

“What? Peter, who’s that?” Harry asked.

“Peter? Your roommate Peter, Harry?” George said with a little laugh, “The boy’s in your guys’ room so often that we don’t think we’ve even seen him yet. Don’t try to play dumb like Ron and Neville, we can see him right there on the map.”

George pointed at Harry’s room and sure enough there was a pair of feet with the name ‘Peter… Pettigrew’ scrawled beneath it. Harry’s eyes widened in shock.

“Pe-Peter Pettigrew?” Harry said in shock. The man that Sirius Black had killed? What?

Harry turned to the twins, “How long has he been in there?” he asked urgently.

“What?” Fred asked, “Even you, Harry? Don’t try to trick us too. He’s been in there ever since we got the map years ago from Filch’s office. Don’t try to deny it when the evidence is right there.”

Harry turned to the two of them and put an obvious frown on his face so they would understand, “Fred. George. We have never had a roommate named Peter. There isn’t even a Peter in Gryffindor in our year. The only Peter Pettigrew I know was supposedly murdered ten years ago by the man who betrayed my parents.”

The twins blanched and looked down at the map. “What?” Fred said, “You’re serious? But then how would you not notice a grown bloody man in your room all the time?”

Harry thought about it. Who was in the room? It was only the three of them and their pets Trevor the toad and Scabbers… the rat. Scabbers, who had been unusually intelligent in leading Harry to Ron and Neville last year after Harry had asked him a question.

Scabbers, who Harry now realized had a massive soul in comparison to the pathetic soul he had observed from the squirrel he ate in front of the two Dementors. He had seen it after he first transformed into his soul eater form, but there was too much on his mind at the time to think about it. Harry had just assumed Scabbers was just a very intelligent rat. But that soul looked as big as a wizards would be.

Harry thought about what Salazar had told him about Animagi and how they could transform into animals at will. Could one turn into a… rat maybe?

Harry stood up as he remembered the final detail. Scabbers… was missing toe on his front paw. And the only thing recovered of Peter Pettigrew… was a single finger. The man had faked his death and for some reason started living as Ron’s pet.

“Thanks for the information, guys,” Harry said, “I have to go deal with something. Talk to you later.”

Harry held his locket and the tunnel opened in the wall again. He stepped through and closed the entrance behind him as Fred and George started yelling at him to stop and come back. Harry quickly made his way back into the chamber.

“Back so soon?” Salazar said in surprise when Harry entered the library, “I thought you had to meet with your friends?”

“I discovered something very important after getting some new information…”

— — —

“...So do you know any way to capture an animagus rat?” Harry said, “I don’t want to tip him off and let him run away.”

Harry had researched the ritual for becoming an animagus himself, but Salazar had said it wasn't worth the risk. It was unknown how the animal transformation would interact with his altered body, and it was already dangerous enough to perform even if things went perfectly even without that complication. There was a reason why more magical people didn't become animagi despite its uses as demonstrated by the hiding rat.

“There is a spell to revert them to their human form of course,” Salazar said answering Harry's question, “But that is the exact opposite of what you want. He is likely a fully trained modern wizard and somewhat talented if he was able to become an animagus. Even as good as you are you still could not take on a wizard that has graduated from this school while only using your magic in a straight battle. You want to trap him in an enchanted cage so he can not transform back into a human.”

“I don’t know any spells like that,” Harry said, “Should I just go to the Headmistress and have her deal with it?”

“No,” Salazar said, “The bumbling Ministry will mess it up somehow like they have for everything else in this country, I’m sure. It’s part of every growing wizard's journey to foster a sense of independence and self-reliance. You should capture the rogue Animagus yourself. I’m only telling you this much because it is all something you would easily think of given a few minutes to sit down and consider your options.”

“Is there a spell to reinforce objects in your library?” Harry asked.

“There are several, but they all are complicated. Nothing awful but they still would take you some time to learn. You would do better to just buy one that's already been made.”

“I can’t,” Harry answered, “They inspect our mail for dark artifacts when it comes in. How would I explain buying a reinforced cage when they ask questions?”

“Well,” Salazar said, “Learning the spell yourself is better anyway. Here is the text with the simplest version you will want to learn.”

Salazar waved his hand within the painting and a book appeared out of thin air and dropped on his desk. Harry picked it up and started reading.

— — —

“Hey, guys. I’m going to go sleep in the chamber for a while. I’ve been missing that comfortable bed down there too much recently,” Harry said to Ron and Neville pointedly not looking at Scabbers who was currently hiding in the corner. Harry couldn’t keep up the facade for long, so he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Er, sure mate,” Ron said, “Have at it. Surprised you don’t do it more often considering how nice you describe it is down there.”

Harry shrugged, not sure what to say to that. Excuse made in front of Peter Pettigrew, Harry walked away and eventually went back down into the chamber. He had to practice his charm until he had it perfectly. He had already ordered the normal cage to arrive soon, using a slightly confused Hermione to send the order by owl without telling her what was in it.

It was only the enchantments themselves that would be suspicious, Harry thought. Everyone had pets so it wouldn’t be so strange to get a normal cage. Even the shop at Diagon Alley that sold the pets to students hadn’t had an enchanted cage since the animals weren’t very strong. Harry sat down and put down the random stick he had found outside on to the Hogwarts lawn. Time to practice…

— — —

Harry looked down at the cage proudly as he finished the spell and fully enchanted the cage. He picked it up and smashed it against the floor as a test and the cage didn’t even shift a little.

“I would appreciate you to not damage the floors here,” Salazar said dryly, “Considering they are well over a thousand years old by now.”

“Ah, Sorry Salazar,” Harry said as he inspected the cage to see it was totally unhurt. Peering down, it appeared luckily for Harry that the floor was undamaged as well.

Harry held up the cage and stared at it for a moment.

“I’ll do it tonight,” He said, “Capture and get some answers from him. I can talk to him even while he’s still a rat. I’ll go to the shrieking shack when I have him.”

“The shrieking shack? What is that?” Salazar asked.

“An old run down building between here and Hogsmeade. People say there’s a ghost in there that howls at night sometimes. But the teachers told me it had been cleared of any ghosts years ago when I asked them about it. It will give me some privacy, and its not in Hogwarts so Fred and George can't use their map to find me again if they get suspicious. It has been hard enough to dodge them recently with their map constantly tracking me.”

“A decent enough plan considering you cannot use the Sanctum,” Salazar mused, “The wards would just kill the animagus immediately if he dared step foot in here... Just make sure to be careful, my Heir. Don’t let him get the drop on you even while you have him in the cage. You never know what tricks someone might have…”

“Alright, Salazar,” Harry said, “I won’t. I’ll be back in a few hours, then I can finally get some answers on what happened all those years ago…”