Miss Holmes, A Harry Potter Fan fiction

Part 34: Chamber of Secrets

For a few moments we simply stood keeping eye contact, neither of us willing to make the first move. I made care to relax my posture, despite the fact that every instinct I'd ever gained screaming at me to be on guard. 

The situation was difficult. He clearly knew at least something about me, considering he went to all this effort to draw me to the chamber. The question was, did he have the memories of his adult self or was this version of him held in stasis when created? 

At least this time I was prepared for being caught off guard, managing to hold my occlumency shields firmly in place.

My grandfather took a few steps forward, the sound was softened by the water on the tiles, yet in still echoed on the high ceilings. Managing to hide such a huge chamber under the school really was an impressive piece of magic.

He looked completely at ease with himself, commanding the space around him. His perfectly poised attitude worked in tandem with his heavy magic that seemed to fill the entire room and I couldn't help but be impressed.It was hard to see him as the same person as the spectre barely holding onto the world trapped on the back of Quirrell's head.

"You remind me a lot of myself," he finally spoke. His words were as measured as his posture and he continued to give nothing away. He was clearly a master at this game.

"When Ginny mentioned meeting you on the train, I admit I was intrigued, so I had her follow you around for a few weeks. I wasn't expecting to see much, just a model student loved by her peers and teachers alike, so imagine my surprise hearing you can speak parseltounge and had found Salazar's room."

Bingo. 

He knew less about me than I thought, so if I played my cards right I would have the upper hand in this situation. I only hoped I didn't end up messing the situation up as badly as last time. 

"Yes, they are quite an interesting set of books. I think the ministry might have a collective heart attack if they knew about them- especially them being in a school."

"Quite," he said with a bemused smile.

I made a quick glance at Ginny. Her state didn't seem to be declining as much anymore, but she definitely was in need of medical attention. The diary she still had clutched in her hands was obviously the cause of her current condition, but how to get it away from her....

I didn't want to give anything away but he clearly wasn't going to say too much more unprompted.

"So how is it you are once again in the body of your younger self? It's certainly different from last time we spoke."

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, though he quickly schooled his expression back to his previous, neutral one.

"So we've met before, Ginny didn't seem to think so. You did well to hide any rumours about it, especially considering Dumbledore seems to be keeping as close an eye on you as he used to me." His voice twisted from interest to disdain as he spoke about Dumbledore.

"Yes, he seems to have drawn the same conclusion you have- that I'm just like you." I tried to come across as empathetic towards his suffering by Dumbledore, something that wasn't too difficult. I could appreciate his sentiment.

"Except," I added, "the only reason he's suspicious of me is that I behave similarly to the way you use to. What did you do to catch his attention?"