He would have to get Ron to suggest to Neville the idea of asking the portraits at their first meeting back from Christmas, especially the snake ones. Of course, they were serving detention still, so that might take them a while to accomplish.
...
He enjoyed watching as the first of the carriages appeared in the distance, bringing back his precious students from their holidays. For now he would just work to ensure that no one died until Neville could find the chamber, or until the artefact and this heir were discovered. Hopefully, the additional Dark Artefacts detection wards he put in place over the break would pick up something useful, allowing him to narrow down his search and suspects.
After all, if the Chamber was found first, he would slay the beast. If the artefact was found first, there would be no need; he would still hold onto his position as the Headmaster.
No matter how much faith he had in his own abilities to slay the serpent if need be, he would rather avoid the risky action altogether. Not because he was a coward or doubted himself, but he was simply needed for the years to come, to continue guiding magical Britain into the distant future. Tom was still out there, and risking his life to slay a Basilisk would be terribly reckless, especially with the dark times on the horizon that only he could stop. And on a more personal note, he did not like the idea of the history books saying he had failed to stop the Dark wizard. Tom/Voldemort would end up being a stain on his historic reputation.
Allowing himself a small smile as the first carriages made their way across the frozen lake, he wondered what their thoughts were seeing the castle on such a fine winter's day. At least there had been one good development over Christmas; Sirius' donation of gold to the school finally allowed him to redevelop the greenhouses.
...
The first couple days back had been the same as they always were, nothing special as everyone settled back into their daily routines, ready for the first set of classes to begin. However, he was busy planning, refining his next raid, with the price being the Marauder's map. Naturally, he was being extremely careful, since the twins had had it, and had given it to Neville to use. Whether that was permanent or on loan, he didn't know or care. It was something he planned to retrieve one way or another; he just had to plan it out carefully.
Of course he already had several different plans mentally prepared; the main issue was getting past the Gryffindor door guardian, aka the Fat Lady. Another problem was that he didn't know who actually held the map. Hermione, may have unintentionally given him the names of the map's currently users, but not who or where it was being kept.
On the bright side, he was closer to finding out the map's location than he had been the previous school year. Now he had four names, rather than hundreds of possible suspects. "Scheming again, Harry?" Penny asked, clearly joking.
"Naturally. I must say you look particularly lovely tonight Penny," paying her an easy compliment, his eyes going up and down her form admiring her for a couple seconds in her school uniform, before saying seriously. "You know me, this mind is always thinking up something or other," tapping his head, "It helps pass the time. The lessons are hardly challenging to me."
Rolling her eyes at his remark, "Can we talk for a second?" Penny finally asked.
"Of course, lead the way," gesturing with his hand, before following her into one of the nearby empty classrooms, once again noticing the attractive qualities of his friend as she walked ahead of him. "So what is it you wanted to talk about?" She put up a series of charms on the door to stop them from being overheard by anyone walking by, this naturally catching his attention.
Leaning on one of the desks, she spoke, "An idea suddenly occurred to me over Christmas whilst watching a dark crime drama. We could map out the locations of the attacks to see if there is a pattern, or some type of geographical factor involved behind the attacks, like a hotspot we should avoid.
We should also start making a list of students and individuals that are missing at the time of the attacks, decreasing the number of overall suspects. Then the victims themselves should be investigated, to see if they upset anyone before they were attacked, and to see if there is a common choice in victim, beyond being a muggleborn, so that we can find a better motive."
He smiled more and more as he listened to her thoughts and arguments; this was why he so valued Penny's friendship and abilities and would defend her accordingly, "Sounds good, it's a shame we didn't think of this earlier," as he instantly thought over everything he knew of the attacks so far, the mind arts again proving themselves invaluable, "The second floor, all of them have happened on the second floor so far," he said, instantly seeing the pattern behind the attacks in his mind.
Smiling as she answered, "Yeah, I noticed that too, but nowhere near as fast as you did," she then reached into her pocket and pulling out some parchment, before unfolding it on the desk to reveal a crude map of Hogwarts. "I made this," showing him the map, which had red dots on it.
Examining the basic map, he saw that it was just an outline of halls, with a key, c for classroom, t, for toilets, d/c for dorms and common rooms... "You missed Myrtle's own murder," pointing out where a missing red dot should be, in the second floor girls' bathroom, which she quickly marked with a red marker pen, which lent credence to the conclusion that the second floor was the hot zone. He looked over at his friend, who was watching him examine her map, "At the next meeting, you should point this out to the others," he suggested, wanting to give Penny the credit, as well as raise her status within their little group.
"We can also take it to the Professors afterwards, and hope it helps them to refine their search. This will probably secure the Head Girl position for you next year, you know?" gesturing to the map, getting a minor blush in return.
"I didn't think of that," she admitted quietly. "I started to think about what the monster could be, so we can try to put some countermeasures into place. I'm thinking it must be some type of magical snake, due to the Slytherin angle. The man's symbol was of a snake, and he was a Parselmouth, even his surname sounds snake-like. It makes sense that he would want a creature that he could control effectively, and a snake would be best for one with his abilities."
Nodding at the sound logic, since he had been thinking a similar thing. "Been to the library?" already guessing that she had, since they had plenty of free time the last couple of days, but wanting to confirm.
"Yeah, but no books on magical snakes, or if there were any they have already been taken out by someone. I was wondering if you could get your godfather to send us any books he has on magical serpents," giving him a hopeful look.
"Sure, no reason why not," seeing no fault in the idea.
"Thanks," she said, as she folded up the map. "We should send the letter as soon as possible," slipping the map into her handbag, and slipping her arm into his and dragging him out of the room.
"Relax," he stated, as he was pulled along the corridors, pulling her back.
"Sorry," instantly slowing her pace to a more relaxed one. "It's just scary, knowing something is out there, lurking in the shadows waiting to strike. It gets to you, eats at your nerves," Penny offered in explanation.
"I know. I have Pettigrew after me, remember," while they climbed another set of stairs to reach Ravenclaw tower. "You'll be fine, just keep your head down and avoid attracting any unnecessary attention to yourself," he offered, as they reached the Ravenclaw common room door with a pair of aurors outside playing cards amongst themselves, looking like the very picture of professionalism. These were the fools that were supposed to be protecting him.
The enchanted door knocker spoke quickly, "What can you catch, but not throw away?" challenging them with a riddle.
"A cold," he answered automatically, already knowing the answer as he walked into the semi-packed common room, which had a number of students working on their remaining Christmas assignments.
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :
p atreon.com/loveran