10 Chapter - 10 : Accomplishment Part - 3

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Harry's first act on leaving the Headmaster's office had been to turn back the Time Turner twelve hours, to that morning, slip on his father's invisibility cloak, and go down to the Chamber of Secrets, thanking that bumbling over-eager dealer at the Safari Shop that had loaded him down with the equipment to render large animals down into their component parts.

Necessary for trophy hunting, but also for collecting rare ingredients, of which just about every part of a basilisk was one. Pity the eyes had been destroyed, as they were a focus of so much of the creature's magic they were immensely valuable, and could be put to a number of rare uses.

However, the creature's flesh was so poisonous that it had not decayed much in only two short months. A lack of scavengers down there helped a great deal in preserving the corpse, of course. So Harry had busied himself with rendering that giant serpent for magical parts while he'd thought over his situation and what to do about it.

The work had kept him calm and given him opportunity to ponder, just like working in Aunt Petunia's garden had once given him time to think. There was really so much Harry had to do it was stifling, and worse, the Headmaster had him under effectual house arrest, whether at school or at home. There were things he'd have to do, if he were going to defeat Voldemort, that just couldn't happen while he was trapped at Hogwarts.

Also, he got the strong impression he did not have very much time.

A day of thought had helped him settle out his priorities, however. And a good night's rest had helped also. There was still a great deal he could do while trapped at Hogwarts. The amount of things he wanted and needed to do were falling all over each other in a cascading flurry, everything wanting to be dealt with first. So he guessed that it didn't matter that he couldn't get to the outside stuff just yet, as he had more than enough on his plate at the moment of immediate needs to be seen to now.

Speaking of plates, he got up early and hurried down to breakfast so he didn't have to watch Ron's table manners.

When Ron did come down he was fuming, and plopped himself down to an angry seat beside Harry. "Your cat tried to eat my rat, I'll have you know."

'Ah! An opportunity! I was wondering when I'd get to bring that up,' Harry thought, before reaching into his belt pouch and producing four coins left over from his spending spree at the Alley that summer. "I'll tell you what, Ron. I'd rather not argue all year over this, so why don't you sell Scabbers to me? I'll pay you four galleons for him, and his cage."

Ron's jaw dropped. His anger evaporated, and he was off like a shot toward the common room to get his rat and make the trade before Harry wised up and changed his mind.

"Hello, Hermione, how are you?" Harry asked his best female friend as she appeared. Her answer was to go right to up him and give him a hug, which he surprised her by returning, holding it for long moments that reassured them both and left them feeling very happy.

"I'm a bit eager to get to classes, actually," Hermione brushed hair out of her face with a negligent gesture as she sat down beside him.

"Me too," he smiled, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Dumbledore gave me the same schedule as you."

The girl fidgeted. "Harry... how could he? I mean... oh!" Her eyes widened as he let her catch a glimpse of the chain he had around his neck. Then she broke into a big grin and gave another hug. "Oh! We're going to have so much fun together! Do you have the books on Muggle Studies?"

"No, in fact I don't," Harry began, only to get interrupted by Ron returning with Scabbers in a rat cage.

"You aren't going to welsh, are you?" Ron put the cage before Harry, with a look of concern, sure that his friend had wised up while he wasn't there to watch him.

"No, here you are. Four galleons, and now I own Scabbers the rat," Harry put the coins in his best male friend's hand.

"Harry, you know you can only bring one pet to Hogwarts, don't you?" Hermione looked askance at this exchange.

"Yes," Harry nodded. "But I really wasn't planning to keep Scabbers at Hogwarts. Excuse me for a moment."

Harry picked up the rat's cage and left the Great Hall, only to return in a moment without it, and he was smiling as he resumed his place at breakfast.

"What did you do with Scabbers?" Ron asked.

Harry enjoyed his shrug. "Oh, I sent him someplace where I could keep him without breaking the 'one pet per wizard' rule at Hogwarts. That's all."

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