His Guardian Angel

Chapter 2

Harry and Dumbledore had made good progress over the summer with his wandless magical abilities. He had made Harry promise that every spell he learned during the school year he'd practice at the end of the day on his own wandlessly. The two would get together on Sundays for Harry to learn more; Dumbledore had started teaching him how to cast nonverbally as well. He just couldn't get the nonverbal spells to work with his wand, but without his wand it was easier for him to cast his magic without speaking. He had an easier time trying to guide his magic with his intent than with his words, but something about his wand seemed to be holding him back.

He'd gotten extremely frustrated by this one Sunday in October, making a loud groan that bordered on shouting after the umpteenth time trying to cast a lumos through his wand without saying the spell.

"I don't get it, shouldn't it be harder to do it wandlessly without talking?"

"Not necessarily. You see, casting wandlessly already has an element of intent to it. You're guiding your magic to do what you want it to. You're essentially moulding it to take the form you want it to take; but wands aren't meant to operate the same way. They channel magic, allowing your spell to tell the wand what you want the magic to do. The wand moulds the magic for you based on the spell you decide to use. A lot of wizards and witches have a hard time with nonverbal spells, especially at first. But time with your wand, letting it learn how to read you and learning how to communicate with it about what you want to happen takes time and experience. I'm not surprised it's harder with your wand; you have to learn how to tell it what you want it to do without speaking directly." The two call it a day after that and Harry goes to join his friends in the common room for a little while before heading to dinner.

Things were calm until the message on the wall informing the castle that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Harry didn't hesitate the first time he thought he heard a voice when no one else heard it and Dumbledore had told him to simply write down what he hears and when he hears it and to send those reports back to him after classes. Harry, happy at being taken seriously, did exactly that. All the times he heard a quiet whisper of anything that no one else heard he wrote down what it had said, where he was when it happened and what direction it was coming from.

It wasn't until Mrs. Norris was petrified that Dumbledore said anything further about it to Harry. He told him of the legends of the Chamber of Secrets and told him that he was certain he'd figured out where the entrance was but that he didn't have a way to get in. He strongly suspected only a parselmouth would be able to get it to open and Harry offered his help. If half the school was going to believe that he was the heir of Slytherin then he may as well try to stop whatever was happening.

Dumbledore, after a long pause for consideration, told him he'd allow Harry to help if Harry agreed to let Professor Snape come to protect him. Dumbledore told him that the creature he believes is a basilisk, a very dangerous creature and wouldn't be able to protect Harry and take the monster down on his own. Reluctantly, Harry concedes. Professor Snape may hate him, but Dumbledore trusted him.

The trio met after dinner that weekend at Dumbledore's office. Snape and Harry were led to a girl's toilet, much to their surprise, and Dumbledore simply shrugged at their expressions before leading them in.

"What better way to keep prying eyes from snooping than by utilizing a girl's bathroom?"

"Hiding in plain sight...a clever idea." Snape managed to sound impressed, something Harry never thought he'd ever live to see.

"Harry, come over. This tap, I believe, holds the key. Do you think you could speak to it in parseltongue?" Sure enough, a silver snake was what made the design of the faucet, the body creating an elegant curve and the mouth wide open to allow water to pass through should someone try to turn it on.