One Day They'll Know Your Name

I didnt get your name

Author note: Trigger warning! There is an allusion to slight pedophilia. Nothing happens, and nothing ever will happen, but it's alluded to, and everyone gets uncomfortable.

"You guys really can't hear it? It's a voice, coming from the walls," Harry said.

"The only sound coming from the walls is the hissing of... the, pipes..." Draco trailed off at the end.

Ron spun to look at Draco. "No way." He spun back to Harry. "You think it's a snake?"

"If it's a snake, it's a violent one. They want to rip something. Also eat. I think they're hungry. I wonder if I could find them. Maybe they'll like some rats or whatever they eat."

"Harry. We do not feed violent snakes if they want to rip something apart," Draco hissed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I never said I would deliver anything in person. Maybe I'll just flush some mice down the toilets or something."

"Harry!" This time it was Ron.

Harry grinned. Draco groaned softly. "If you die trying to feed a murderous snake, I'm learning necromancy specifically to bring you back to life so I can kill you again."

Harry just laughed. "Come on, Dray. We should do some homework with the rest of the day. Ron, you should probably take a nap or something, so you'll be awake for Astronomy. I promise I won't try to feed any snakes. Maybe I should ask Sulu what she knows."

The three split ways. When Harry and Draco got to the Common Room, they were relieved to see Flint on an couch with his books around him.

"Hey, Flint, can I borrow Sulu for a couple minutes? I have a couple questions for her," Harry asked when the older student wasn't writing. Harry knew how annoying it was to be startled while writing.

"Sure, Rain. Give me just a second to find a good place to stop." A moment later, Flint wrote something down, then disappeared into his dorm. He reappeared a moment later with Sulu wrapped around his arm.

Once Harry had her safely, he went to sit in front of the fire so she could stay warm. #Hello Sssulu. How wasss your sssummer?#

#Ssspeaker! My long-day-ssseassson wasss good.#

#Have you been hearing the sssnake in the wallsss?#

#Yesss Ssspeaker. Ssshe isss conssstantly ssspeaking and will not ssshut up.#

Harry snorted. #Do you know why ssshe wantsss to kill everyone?#

#Ssshe doesss not sssay Ssspeaker. I do not know why ssshe isss ssso violent.#

#Thanksss Sssulu. Would you like me to tell Marcusss anything for you?#

From there the conversation devolved into general chatter. Draco came to sit nearby, bringing their homework for them to finish.

The next day they had Herbology in the morning, but once they arrived, Harry and Draco saw Lockhart talking with Professor Sprout.

"Of course, Professor, if you ever need help repotting that Venomous Tentacula, I invented a very handy trick, so let me know!" Professor Sprouts face was the perfect picture of hidden fury, and Harry tried valiantly to hide his snicker. Unfortunately, Lockhart heard it and turned around.

"Ah Harry! It's wonderful to see you!" Lockhart threw his arm over Harry's shoulder and turned back to Professor Sprout. "You don't mind if I borrow Harry for a few moments, do you? Wonderful!" Without even giving Professor Sprout a chance to answer, Lockhart dragged Harry a few feet away.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Lockhart said. "I graded your quiz, and honestly it could stand to use a little improvement! If you like, I can offer you some extra credit after classes today. I don't want to see you fail such an important class after all! I'm sure it won't be a problem for your Head of House, do you?"

Harry tried fruitlessly to get out of the man's grip, but when he heard the offering for extra credit, he froze. "What would I do to get extra credit?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, just little things like helping me autograph photographs or something like that, nothing big!" Harry relaxed a little and resumed his attempts to free himself.

"Professor, I promise I'll do better in your classes, but right now you're making me late to another class. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it tonight as I have a prior engagement, but I will definitely do better in your class in the future. Will you let me go to my class now?"

"Oh of course, of course! And make sure you do indeed do better in class now!" With that, Lockhart finally released him and Harry practically ran to the greenhouse. He sat next to Draco and tried to listen intently to the professor, but Lockhart had just reminded him of his uncle before he stopped needing excuses to beat him. Draco picked up on his mood and made sure he didn't get too distracted. After classes, Draco took Harry to the Common Room and sat him down.

"Harry? What's wrong? What did Lockhart want to talk about?"

Harry took a shaky breath and told Draco about the one-sided conversation. Draco inhaled sharply when he heard about the extra credit opportunity, but relaxed when he heard about what the extra credit would have been, supposedly. He relaxed even more when Harry managed to get out of being alone with the man.

"Harry, I want you to try to avoid being alone with him if at all possible. Something's not right, and I don't trust him."

"Yeah, of course, Dray. I wasn't planning on being alone with him if I could avoid it. If I have to, I'll get detentions with Professor Snape."

"That will work. Now, we have Transfiguration homework, so let's get to it. I think we should have a Les Amis meeting after supper."

Harry agreed, and they quickly finished their assignment. At supper, Harry and Draco both activated their rings when they finished eating. They then went to what the group had dubbed "their" classroom and waited. Hermione arrived first, unsurprisingly, quickly followed by Neville and Ron.

Harry started. "I'm hearing a snake in the walls. She's violent and doesn't seem to have any issues with killing people, so don't go anywhere alone if you can help it."

Hermione gasped. "What kind of snake would be able and willing to kill people that easily?" she asked.

"Does it particularly matter at the moment? Just make sure you don't go anywhere alone. We can try to figure out what kind of snake she is, but for now, just, be careful," Harry said.

"Also, don't trust Lockhart. Don't be alone with him if you can help it. He might be harmless, but he also might not be. He offered Harry 'extra credit' today because he didn't do well on the test he gave," Draco said.

"The ponce wouldn't know if someone did well on a test if the test bit him in the butt," Neville wondered.

"Oh, Mandrake's getting more deadly! What happened to make you not like him?" Ron asked.

"His test was a joke! I mean seriously, 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?' What kind of question for a DADA class is that?"

"What'd you put?" Draco asked, sounding excited.

"To go absolutely feral and live in a bog."

"Nice!" The comment came from all three boys. Hermione huffed.

"He is still a professor. Yes, I agree that we should be careful around him after his conversation with Harry, but honestly. He grades those tests. At least try on them."

"Aw, come on, Hermione!" Ron whined. "He's a useless professor, and if anything from this year is on any test after this year, I'll eat my favorite hat."

The boys laughed, and even Hermione snorted before looking at the time. "It's almost curfew. We better go. Have a good night, guys."

"Good night!"