Chapter 1

Harry gasped for breath as he pushed his short skinny legs to run faster, his feet pounding on the stone floor and splashing through the water giving away his position to the large snake that was following him. He had no idea how he was going to get away from it long enough to come up with a plan on how to beat it, nor how he would even beat it before it had a chance to eat him.

Harry yelped as he was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged into a small alcove that he hadn't noticed before, but the sound was cut off as a hand pressed firmly against his mouth.

"Shh," someone whispered in his ear and Harry froze; he had no idea that anyone other than Ginny, Riddle and the Basilisk was down there with him. His mind was working a mile a minute, trying to figure out who it was behind him, but he had no idea, unless Ron had managed to get out and get help. Harry's thoughts came to a halt when he heard the snake close by, and he pressed back more firmly against the person behind him as the large creature slithered by.

Tense moments passed and finally the hand was lowered from his mouth. "You okay?" someone asked and Harry turned to face his rescuer. His eyes widened and a hand was pressed over his mouth again. "Don't scream," the 'person' said quickly. "I know I surprised you, but screaming is not in our best interest at the moment,"

Harry lifted his hands up and gently pulled down the three fingered hand away from his mouth. "...what ARE you?" he asked in a soft whisper.

"I thought that would be pretty obvious; I'm a turtle, my name is Donatello," the large olive green turtle said, keeping his voice just as soft. "We can talk more later, but right now I need you to stay here and stay quiet while me and my brothers go and deal with our large friend out there," Donatello said, waiting for Harry to nod his head slowly. However, as the turtle moved to hurry away, Harry grabbed him by the belt, stopping him.

"Wait, what about Ginny?" Harry asked.

"We'll help her once this snake is dead," Donatello reassured him and Harry bit his lip but let the turtle go. He wasn't too happy with just sitting there and waiting while some strange, talking creature fought his battle, but there wasn't much else he could do, at least not while the Basilisk was still out there.

Harry leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor keeping as quiet as he could so he could possibly hear anything that was going on.

To his credit he sat there for nearly fifteen minutes until the feeling of being useless overwhelmed him and he found himself standing and slowly slipping out of the small alcove that the talking turtle, Donatello, had put him in. Making sure it was all clear, Harry slowly made his way back down through the tunnel, heading back in the direction that he had come from. As he got closer to the main room he could hear the sounds of fighting, and people shouting. He didn't recognise any of them, except perhaps Tom Riddle.

"You disgusting freaks! You truly think you can take down my pet?" Tom said, laughing loudly.

Harry inched himself closer to the entrance and looked into the room, his eyes going wide when he saw the Basilisk, and not one, but four of those giant turtles. Each of them had a weapon of some kind and they were attacking the giant snake as though they had done things like this before.

"This isn't workin'!" one of the turtles shouted as he had tried to hit the snake, only to have his weapons bounce off without leaving a single mark on the large creature.

Harry frowned as he watched them, his eyes leaving the fight for a moment to drift over to where Ginny was lying on the ground, looking more pale than she had been before. Harry felt sick as he stared at her lifeless body, his best friend's little sister. He thought of Ron stuck back in the tunnel with the unconscious and even-more-useless-than-before Lockheart, and he pictured the look on the red-head's face if he had to go back and tell him that Ginny was dead. Harry had dealt with a lot of hard things in his life, but that was one thing he never wanted to do.

A new determination burned inside him and he was moving forward before he even stopped to think, rushing out into the large room. The Basilisk must have heard him because in the next moment it was ignoring the turtles and diving straight for him instead, making Harry very glad that Fawkes had already blinded the creature.

"What the shell, kid!" one of the turtles yelled as Harry dove out of the way, grabbing the sorting hat that still lay on the ground, the sword of Gryffindor falling out into his hand as he rolled out of the way of the large snake trying to attack him. The four turtles were there then, one of them lifting Harry up carrying him out of harm's way, while the other three shouted and started attacking the snake again.

"Put me down!" Harry demanded. He wasn't expecting to be practically dropped.

"Stay out of the way, kid," the turtle said and was rushing back to the other three. Harry just sat there and stared after him, his hand still gripping the sword of Gryffindor. Deciding that the four turtles had the Basilisk in hand for now, Harry turned his attention instead toward Tom Riddle, who was watching him closely.

"The Boy Who Lived, returning to watch his friend die," Tom said as he smirked at him.

"Not quite, Tom," Harry said, standing back to his feet and holding the sword out in front of him.

"Do you think a silly little weapon like that can hurt me, child?" Tom laughed.

Harry gripped the sword tighter but made no move to attack; Tom might be real enough, but he still wasn't alive either, his very existence came from the diary. Harry's eyes widened for a moment, his attention darting toward the diary that lay next to Ginny. He had no idea if this was actually going to work or not, but it was the only option he had at the moment to save Ginny. Darting forward as quickly as he could, Harry heard Tom's laughter stop suddenly when he seemed to realise what it was that Harry was trying to do.

"No!" Tom shouted, but Harry was faster and he managed to reach the diary and grab it just as Tom made a dive toward him. Harry cried out as he was tackled to the ground, the sword and the book flying out of his hands and sliding a few feet away. Cold hand wrapped around his neck and Harry was now struggling to get Tom off of him as his air was cut off.

"Booyakasha!" The weight was suddenly off of Harry's body. Not stopping to see what had happened exactly, Harry scurried to his feet, grabbing the sword and plunging it into the diary hoping that his hunch was right. The sword sank into the diary and the next moment the whole chamber was filled with an inhuman scream that seemed to be coming from both Tom and the diary at the same time. Pulling the sword out, Harry plunged it in again, another scream filled the chamber as ink started spilling out of the diary onto the floor. (1)

Harry turned his attention toward Tom, seeing holes starting to appear in the other boy's appearance before Tom vanished completely.

"Dude! Did you just kill a ghost?" the turtle that had saved him asked, looking truly amazed by the very idea. Harry turned his attention toward this one, blinking slowly as he realised that this turtle wasn't the one that had helped him get away from the Basilisk earlier, that one had been wearing a purple mask, while this one had on an orange one, and his skin was more of a light green.

"I... don't think it was a ghost," Harry said, looking down at the diary that was still slowly leaking ink onto the floor. A loud thud drew Harry's attention toward where the other three turtles were now standing around a very dead Basilisk.

"Totally awesome, dudes!" the orange-banded turtle said, hurrying over to where the other three were standing, only to be smacked upside the head by the one in a red mask. Harry stood by watching the four of them interact.

"Way ta abandon us, Mikey!" the turtle in red snapped.

"Sorry, bro! But the little dude was in trouble!" Mikey said, pointing in the direction of Harry.

Harry thought it was a little unfair that this turtle was calling him short, as they both seemed to be about the same size, but his attention turned to the red-banded turtle who had turned his glare toward him.

"Then maybe he should have stayed where Donnie had told him to!"

"Enough, Raph," the blue masked turtle said as he stepped forward. Harry blinked as this turtle approached him. "Are you okay?" the blue-banded turtle asked.

Harry nodded slowly. "I am," he said before his eyes widened and his attention quickly turned toward the still unconscious redhead. "Ginny!" Harry ran over to her, kneeling next to her. "Ginny?" he asked, reaching out to touch her hand, letting out a small sigh of relief when it felt warmer than it had when he first found her. Harry looked up when he saw someone kneel on the opposite side of Ginny.

Donatello didn't look at Harry right away, his focus on the unconscious girl in front of him. He gently shifted her so she was lying flat on her back, in this position it was easier for Donatello to examine her vitals. Harry watched with silent curiosity as the olive-green turtle worked.

"She's going to be fine," Donatello said after a few moments. "Her color is coming back, and her pulse is strong," he said, looking at Harry, who visibly relaxed, giving Donatello a grateful smile.

"Now that that is out of the way, what the shell were you thinking, brat?" the red-banded turtle demanded and Harry blinked up at him in confusion, not quite understanding why this turtle was so angry at him. Raph made a noise of frustration. "I mean runnin' out here like ya did! You could'a been killed!"

"I couldn't just let Ginny die!" Harry snapped back, standing up so that he would be closer to eye level with this creature, though Harry was sill a couple inches shorter than the emerald green turtle, he didn't let the slight height difference bother him, standing his ground.

"Leave him alone, Raph," the forest green turtle with the blue mask ordered.

Raph growled in annoyance at his brother. "But, Leo…"

"I said leave him alone," Leo said, cutting him off. "This is obviously someone important to him, asking him to sit by and wait while she was in danger was clearly something he couldn't live with," Leo said before looking back down at Harry, who watched as Raph did as he was told, much to Harry's surprise. Harry was very curious about these creatures, and where they had come from. And before he knew it he had opened his mouth and asked the first question that came to mind.

"Who ARE you?" Harry asked looking up at Leo, noticing that this emerald green turtle seemed to be about the same height as Raph.

"I believe I have already introduced myself," Donatello said, smiling at Harry, who nodded his head.

"Don... Dona... erm..." Harry blushed a bit at not remembering the turtle's name.

"Donatello; you can just call me Donnie, or Don if you like," the purple masked turtle smiled and then pointed to each of the other turtles. "This here is Leonardo, or Leo if you rather; then the angry one there is Raphael-"

"You can just call him hot headed jerk!" the smallest turtle interrupted laughing as he ducked out of the way from Raph who had taken a swing at the hyper active turtle.

"And that is Michelangelo, though we call him Mikey," Donnie said and Harry could only nod his head slowly.

"Four talking turtles..." Harry said.

"Naw dude, four talking NINJA turtles," Mikey corrected him happily.

"Ninja?" Harry tilted his head curiously.

"We have been taught the art of Ninjutsu since we were little," Leo informed him.

"Okay... so what are... um... Ninja Turtles, doing in Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"That is a rather long story, I think would be best saved for another time. Right now we should work on getting you and your friend out of here," Leo said as he gently lifted up the still unconscious Ginny.

"Um, my friend got stuck back there in a cave in, I don't know any other way out of here than through there," Harry admitted, pointing back toward the tunnel that he had come through before.

"Alright, we'll have to split up then, Donnie and I can take your friend back up to the main part of the castle, we know a couple ways out from here; Raph and Mikey can take you back to the cave in and help dig your friend out. Or if he has his own way back up to the castle, tell him to take it and then Raph will show you another way up," Leo said.

"Why do I get stuck babysitting?" Raph complained.

"It ain't that bad, bro!" Mikey said putting an arm around Raph's shoulder. "Think of this as another magical adventure!"

"I'm getting sick and tired of all these 'adventures' of yours," Raph said as he removed Mikey's arm from around his shoulder and looked toward Harry. "You know where your friend is, so lead the way," he ordered.

Harry sighed, looking over toward Leo, who was still holding Ginny. He wasn't sure if he could trust these turtles or not, but they had helped take down the Basilisk, and were offering to help not only him and Ginny, but they were also willing to back track to the cave in to let Ron know that things were alright and he could go back up to the castle. The only thing that Harry knew for sure what this was by far the weirdest thing he had ever seen in Hogwarts.

"Alright, little dude! Lead the way!" Mikey said, grinning at Harry. The small twelve-year-old blinked up at him before nodding; Harry picked up the diary and shoved it in his pocket, retrieving his wand from where it had landed on the floor, sword still held tightly in his hand, Harry lead the way back through the tunnels

"Maybe ya should let me hold that sword, kid," Raphael said and Harry paused, looking over his shoulder at the turtle with the red mask.

"I've got it," Harry said, holding the sword a little tighter, half expecting one of them to try and take it from him.

"You even know how ta use that thing?" Raph asked and Harry shrugged his shoulder.

"I don't plan on using it, but it doesn't belong down here, and it was entrusted to me, so I just think I should be the one to carry it back," Harry said.

"I saw you pull that sword out of that weird cloth hat, dude, you know any other magic tricks?" Mikey asked before Raph could say anything else.

"Uh... I know some magic; I don't know if any of it could be counted tricks though..." Harry admitted softly.

"What, you some kind of magician now, kid?" Raph snorted in amusement.

"A wizard actually," Harry said, frowning when he heard a snort of laughter come from the red-banded turtle. "Yeah, because magic, wizards and witches is so much harder to believe than four walking talking turtles," Harry said.

"He's got you there, dude!" Mike laughed, wrapping an arm around Raph's neck, grinning even as the other turtle let out an angry growl.

Harry continued leading them through the tunnel until he reached the cave in again. It seemed as though Ron had made some decent progress and there was now a small opening at the top. "Ron!" Harry called out, scrambling up the rocks so he could look through the hole.

"Harry? That you?" Ron asked and Harry saw a few more rocks being shifted away from the opening, before Ron's face appeared in his line of site. "Did you get Ginny?" Ron asked quickly.

"She's safe," Harry assured him.

Ron let out a small sigh, obviously relieved that his sister was safe. "What about the snake?"

"It's dead," Harry said.

"Come on, kid, I ain't got all day!" Raph snapped, gaining Harry's attention again. Harry glanced behind him while Ron shifted, trying to see through the hole better.

"Who's that with you?" Ron asked.

"Long story," Harry said turning back to look at Ron. "Look, you and Lockheart head back up to the castle, I've got another way out," Harry said, and before Ron could protest, or ask any more questions, Harry turned and climbed back down to where Raph and Mikey were still waiting.

"Follow me, bro, I remember the way!" Mikey said, grinning widely as he took off back through the tunnel.

"Slow down, shell for brains!" Raph yelled after him, but Mikey was already gone. "Let's go, and try ta keep up," Raph ordered, glancing at Harry. Raph took off as well, and Harry was forced to jog in order to keep up with him. Though Raph kept slowing down making sure he never actually lost Harry in the maze of tunnels. Neither of them said anything until they came to what looked like a dead end.

"How good are ya at climbing?" Raph asked as Harry came to stand next to him. Frowning, Harry looked up and saw a steep slope that looked similar to the one he and Ron had jumped down earlier.

"I'm pretty good I suppose," Harry said.

"I can carry ya if you don't think that you can make it," Raph said, turning to fully face Harry.

Harry looked at the slope again before nodding. "I can make it, as long as there's something for me to grab onto," Harry said and Raph nodded his head.

"You go up first then." Raph gestured for Harry to start climbing. Harry sighed, pulling his robe off so that it wouldn't snag on anything while he climbed, taking the fabric and wrapping it around the sword of Gryffindor. "Might be easier if you let me carry that thing up," Raph said. "Climbing with a sword that big ain't gonna be easy." Raph watched as Harry considered this for a moment before handing it over to the red-banded turtle.

"Alright, kid, get up there," Raph said.

"I've got a name you know," Harry said as he started climbing up the slope.

"Well, ain't like you told any of us what it is yet," Raph pointed out, waiting until Harry was a little way up before he too started climbing, making sure to stay right behind Harry just in case he lost his footing.

"It's Harry," he replied.

"I think I'll just keep calling ya kid," Raph said, his mouth pulling into half a grin.

"I would rather you didn't" Harry said flatly, and Raph picked up on the bitterness in the tone of voice Harry had used, but now wasn't the time or place to question him about it, not that it was even any of Raph's business to begin with.

It took a good fifteen minutes before Harry reached the top, and before he could pull himself up and out of the hole, a green three fingered hand grabbed him and pulled him up the rest of the way.

"Took you long enough, bro," Mikey said with a cheeky grin as he helped Harry up and made sure he was steady on his feet before looking down to see Raph pulling himself out of the hole.

"It's because you ran off and left us back there, idiot," Raph snapped as he stood up and brushed off his knee pads before turning a glare toward the smaller turtle. Mikey let out a small squeak before ducking behind Harry to hide, which would have been effective if Mikey hadn't been a turtle, and therefore wider than Harry was.

Harry blinked back at Mikey, who smiled at him. Harry found it a little strange; he had never met anyone before that was just so… happy, it was a little strange to him. "Um...what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Human shield, bro," Mikey said innocently. Harry blinked before looking back at Raph almost nervously. "Don't worry, Raphie wouldn't hit you, you're too small," Mike said and Harry wondered if that was supposed to be reassuring or not.

"He's obviously okay with trying to hit you, and you're the same height as me!" Harry pointed out looking back at Mikey, who blinked and stood up straight as if just realising that he and Harry were actually the same height.

"Nope, you're still shorter than I am!" Mikey said putting his hand on top of Harry's head flattening down the wild black hair. Harry really didn't see any height difference between the two of them, and opened his mouth to argue back but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Just give it up, kid, you ain't gonna win this argument," Raph said, sounding as if he was speaking from experience.

"Can we just go now? I want to make sure Ginny really is okay, and we still have to catch up with Ron, and find the teachers and let them know what happened," Harry said.

"Hold up a minute, kid," Raph said ignoring the glare that Harry was giving him. "Mikey and I ain't going with you from here, just go down that tunnel there and you should be back in the castle proper. Somewhere in the dungeons, I think," Raph said.

"Do you even know how much of a maze the dungeons are?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Course we do, dude," Mikey said. "We've been here since mid-August," the orange-banded turtle told him. "We know our way around the dungeons easily; they're nowhere near being the maze that the New York sewers are."

"Look, just show me the way out of the dungeons, and then you can go back to... whatever you were doing," Harry said.

"Sure thing!" Mikey said, taking Harry's hand and started pulling him along. Raph was forced to follow or be left behind. "I know a shortcut, though master Splinter may be upset if we actually go all the way up into the main part of the castle; I can show you to the rooms we've been staying in though, that might be where Leo and Donnie took your girlfriend," Mikey said as he continued leading Harry along.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry said quickly. "She's my best friend's little sister," he explained.

"Whatever you say, dude," Mikey said and continued pulling Harry along with him making their way through the maze of halls that lead through the dungeons, and Harry was fairly sure that they were most likely lost, until Mikey came to an abrupt halt outside a door that could have been easily missed if you didn't know it was there. Pushing open the door, Mikey lead Harry inside; Raph followed, closing the door behind them.

Harry looked around the dimly lit room, frowning when he saw a figure sitting on the floor, a couple candles lined up in front of him, but even that little bit of light didn't really allow Harry to see the face of the person sat there, if it was a person at all.

"Welcome back, my sons," the figure spoke. "I take it this is the young boy that Leonardo mentioned?"

"Hai Sensei," Mikey replied. "This is Harry," Mike said, turning to look at Harry, who was still looking at the shadowed figure as it stood. A moment later the room seemed to be filled with light, and Harry could see now who had been speaking. The large rat smiled gently at him, and Harry could only stare.

"Hello, Harry. I am Hamato Yoshi, though you may call me Splinter," the rat greeted.

"Uh... hi," Harry said, back looking toward Mikey when the orange-banded turtle snickered.

"What?" Harry asked frowning, unsure of what was amusing.

"Nothing, dude, you just ain't reacting to this like a normal person," Mikey pointed out.

"How should I be reacting?" Harry questioned. "I think you guys are probably the most normal thing I've met this year, when compared to the giant spider that tried to eat me, the snake you killed, or the ghost from a diary," Harry pointed out and smiled when Mikey laughed again.

"Hear that, Raphie! He said I'm normal!" Mikey grinned at the slightly taller turtle.

"Yeah, compared to a spider and a snake," Raph said, smirking when Mikey's grin turned into a pout.

"I believe what Michelangelo is implying," Splinter said, interrupting his sons before a real fight could be started between them, "is that someone in your situation would usually have questions," Splinter said, looking at Harry as the small twelve-year-old stood there.

Harry bit his lower lip; he really did have a lot of questions but there was only one that he wanted the answer to at the moment. "Where is Ginny?" Harry asked, looking up at the tall rat, whoblinked down at him in slight surprise before smiling.

"Your friend is through there," Splinter said, motioning toward one of the doors. "Donatello is seeing to her at the moment, and Leonardo has gone to fetch one of your teachers," Splinter informed him.

"Can I see her?" Harry asked looking toward the door that Splinter had pointed to.

"Of course," Splinter motioned for Harry to follow him and lead him toward the room, knocking on the door lightly before he opened it and allowed Harry to step inside. "You can wait in here with your friend, until Leonardo returns with a teacher," Splinter said and Harry nodded his thanks looking up at the tall rat.

"Um... my friend Ron went down there with me as well, I told him to go back up to the castle after we got Ginny…"

"I will send Raphael to see if your friend has made it back up to the Castle safely," Splinter reassured him and Harry smiled before heading further into the room so he could sit next to Ginny's bed and wait for whatever teacher that Leo managed to bring back.

TBC

Okay! So here is chapter one of a story that was never really supposed to be a thing! But now it's a thing, and I have a fairly good idea of where I'm actually going to go with it!

(1) Okay, and for those of you who I know are going to probably be annoyed by this little part here with the sword killing the horcrux without killing the basilisk, my whole reason for that is that when writing that scene out, I legit just forgot that it was the venom that made the sword able to kill the horcrux (as it was to my understanding that the sword of Gryffindor could have done it regardless) SO! My choices were to re-write the WHOLE thing again and make Harry fight the Basilisk, or leave it as it is and say that the sword was probably able to kill the Basilisk anyway because it belonged to Gryffendor, and who's to say he didn't kill a Basilisk or two with it? (he was best friends with Slytherin after all!)