Isolation and Questions

That night, I slept restless. Colin would be attacked tonight, but I had come to understand there was nothing I could do. Well, not nothing. I could try to fight the beast or catch Ginny, but both were risky. I didn't want to catch a glimpse of the reflection of Basilisk and wake up somewhere near the end of the second year or, worse, just die. 

Ginny was the weak point, but the Horcrux was a powerful artifact, and I had no training in occlumency to resist Voldemort's influence. So, I was riddled with guilt and shame. On Sunday morning, I begged off plans my friends had and went to the fourth floor. In the portrait that Johan once occupied was a witch. She had burgundy robes and grey hair tied into a bun, a hawk nose, and thin eyebrows. She had a haughty look.

"Password," she said with annoyance. 

"Johan the Great," I said to the witch. She nodded and opened the chamber. I arrived at the second portrait, which was now just an empty tavern. Pulling out Starlight, I played the melody to open the chamber. 

Entering the chamber of echoes, I walked to the Harmonia Magicae. I opened the tome and started to search for a spell. Something, anything that I could use against the basilisk. Flipping through the pages, I found more healing and controlling the weather and beast. But then I stumbled across the combat spells.

A version of Stupefy, called Sonorus Stupefy, uses strong sound waves to disorientate and stun enemies. It had pros and cons: it was strong, and because it was a sound wave, it could target multiple people or be focused on a single opponent.

But it took the instrument to be tuned to a certain frequency, unlike Cantus Vivific, which was dependent on the environment; this was a set frequency the pitch is almost beyond the range of human hearing.

Then, I had to focus on the intended target or targets. What made me smile, however, was the melody; it was just a single chord. Once the guitar is tuned, it can be used over and over, but it takes time to tune it to that frequency, so it can be used in combat if it is prepared beforehand. But let's hope you had a friend to protect you if you weren't prepared. 

I practised turning Starlight, sitting in my isolation; I tuned the guitar and then un-tuned it. Over and over again, following the mantra of the Special Operations soldiers. "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast", I whispered as I repeated the process over and over.

After a while, I had a thought. I pulled out the Bewitching Strings book and looked at the tuning charm Harmonia Perfectum. I read the wand movements and the incantation over and thought about how to translate the spell to Starlight. I mean, I couldn't wave the guitar around like a wand, so I thought I'd do some testing. First, I strummed all the strings and said the incantation. <Harmonia Perfectum> The tuning knobs spun, but it wasn't in the tune I wanted. Actually, it was completely out of tune. 

After a while, I was getting closer, and I figured I should act as if I was tuning it and casting the spell. I was plucking the strings one at a time and saying the incantation, but I had to focus on the exact tune I needed. So, I went back to tuning it by hand and using the tuning spell to de-tune it. To focus the pitch into my head. 

I skipped lunch, so by dinner, I was very hungry. I sat with my friends and had a big feed.

"you hear about Colin?" asked Grant. I nodded, a bit of guilt entering my mood. 

"This is the second attack in two weeks", grant whispered. "Tim is getting a bit worried." 

I looked over at him, who was eating a shepherd's pie slowly. "you okay, buddy?" I said to him.

"yeah, just worried", he whispered. "I mean, a lot of us are", he continued, then put more pie in his mouth.

"us?" I asked.

"muggle-borns", Grant supplied. "There's a lot of rumours running", Grant leaned in to whisper to me. "Right now, it's between you and Harry, but others think Malfoy." he sighed. "It doesn't help when you disappear all day and don't tell anyone where you're going." 

"Right," I nodded and thought. "Right, you're totally correct. I'm sorry, I'm just working on some new spells, and it might be dangerous for anyone to be around." 

"Hey, I know, just people talk", Grant said, leaning back. "So, what were you working on?"

"Another Minstrel spell, Sonrous Stupefy, Basicly Stupefy with sounds", I explained. 

"why?" Tim asked, "I mean, you have Stupefy. Why do you need another?" 

"Because if I'm going to use Starlight as my instrument, I'm going to need to be able to defend myself with it," I explained. I dug into my second stake. 

The juicy meat was delicious, and the chips for a side were great as well.

"Eddie", I looked over at who was talking to me. It was Harry.

"what's up, Harry? How's the arm?" I asked.

"It's fine now, thanks for the spell. It let me sleep for a bit", he said. "I have to ask." he took a breath. "Where were you today?" 

I looked at him with a hard look; I trusted my friends, but if Harry was questioning me, it meant I was on his radar as a possible heir and that he trusted me enough to ask.

"I can't tell you that Harry is a secret, but I will tell you I have nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets." I said to him, "And Harry, use your head. If Dumbledore suspected anyone, wouldn't they be brought in for questioning?"

He nodded and thought about it for a second "So you don't think it was Draco?" he asked. 

"Draco was seen in the great hall for all Halloween night unless you think he could release the monster and then go eat with the rest of Hogwarts, then sneak out to paint the walls," I said my peace. 

"yeah, unless he got someone else to do it," Harry said. 

"Harry, remember what happened last year?" I said to him. "You thought it was Snape all year, and then who was it?"

"Professor Quirrell", Harry mumbled, "so don't get tunnel vision, like you said last year."

"bingo!" I smiled.