A/N: This is my first published piece on the site. While this is Unbeta'd, I hope there aren't too many mistakes and that people have a positive response my first real attempt at fan fiction.

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling and various publishers. I make no claim to ownership. Any similarities with other fan fiction are an unfortunate consequence of me having read countless other stories by various authors. I hope that as my plot develops, I can put my own spin on the melting pot of ideas that form the basis of most stories on this site. I hope this isn't too similar to canon or fanon, but there will undoubtedly be parallels.

The sun set gracefully over a quaint neighborhood in Southeast England. A young boy sat quietly by the window in his room, staring at the circular scar on his arm. His name was Harry Potter and he had just come home from his second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been a traumatizing year, what with a millennium old basilisk running rampant around the school. He had never felt more helpless in his life, staring at his best friend Hermione petrified in the hospital and seeing his other best friend Ron's little sister sprawled out on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets.

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Harry remembered going down and explore the chamber in the weeks following the Chamber incident. Not only was there the carcass of the great serpent, which looked as if it had only just been killed, but there was a whole set of room in one of the tunnels. There was a kitchen, a potions lab, a common room, and a bedroom. They were of course decorated in Slytherin colors, but the most important find was the library. Using an expression he'd heard the upper years using, Hermione would have creamed at the sight of it.

In it he's found the original journals of Salazar Slytherin among other interesting books, a he'd been surprised that Voldemort hadn't cleaned out the place, until he tried to walking out with a book about an interesting topic: Occlumency. As soon as he's stepped over the threshold of the library with his nose buried in the book, it had disappeared in a flash of light and returned to its shelf. Surprised he had fallen over and frantically looked around thinking someone had tried to curse him and had hit the book instead.

After he calmed down, Harry returned and finished the first few chapters of the book before returning to the surface and going to sit by his favorite tree by the lake. As he sat there contemplating what had happed over the year, h e remembered that he would soon be trapped at his aunt's house and grew depressed. He had finally started filling out from eating properly after his years at the Dursley's. Standing up, he went into the school and headed towards the kitchens he'd found from reading the journals. Entering, he was mobbed by an energetic group of house elves.

He asked if there was a way he they could prepare something that would allow him to have meals for the summer. Knobby, wearing a frilly pillowcase with the Hogwarts crest, said they could prepare a never-ending picnic basket for him that would be ready in a week. Harry thanked them profusely, to which they broke out into happy tears, then left and returned to Gryffindor tower. As he stepped through the portrait hole, a bushy-haired missile impacted his chest.

"Harry. Where have you been, I've been looking everywhere for you," the now Identified Hermione rambled. "You've been disappearing lately, and you haven't even been back to the dorms all weekend!"

"He he. Calm down Hermione, I've been around…" Harry replied uneasily, rubbing a hand through his messy hair. "I was just walking around, since there are no more basilisks slithering around."

"Nice try Harry, but you're not evading me that easily," Hermione replied bossily, her hands on her hips. "You have bags under your eyes. Have you been having nightmares, or something?"

The conversation continued until Harry eventually sat down with Hermione by the fire. He told her about his fear, how hopeless he felt when he saw her and Ginny like that. He confessed that he would have felt lost without her the rest of his time at Hogwarts. Finally he talked about how much he dreaded going back to the Dursley's and what he had asked the house elves to prepare for him. Then he regaled her with stories about what he found in the chamber and as soon as he mentioned the library, she stood up and dragged him out of Gryffindor, to the amusement of those in the common room, especially the girls who began giggling. As he was being man-handled through the corridors, Harry glanced out the window and realized it was drawing close to noon.

"Hermione, why don't we have lunch first, before you drown yourself in books, they ain't going anywhere."

"Fine," she huffed impatiently, "but we're going right after. Understand!"

"Yes mistress. As you wish," Harry jested and he bowed exaggeratedly.

Hermione playfully smacked his arm, her lip twitching in amusement. After a filling meal, they headed off towards Myrtle's bathroom and only then did he notice that Ron was missing. "Mione, where's Ron?"

"Oh! He's in the Ravenclaw common room. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff hold a chess tournament at the end of the year for second years and up. He was ecstatic."

"Well good for him then. I know he was getting bored with trouncing me and the rest of the guys, Neville especially," Harry replied with a smirk; there was someone who was actually worse at wizarding chess than he was.

"Not to completely change the subject and all, but what exactly did you find in the Chamber, and since when have you been exploring it?"

"The day after I rescued Ginny and Lockhart was sent to St. Mungo's, I was feeling a little alone since Ron went back to the Burrow with his brothers, since Madame Pomfrey sent Ginny home to recover. You were still petrified, and I remembered seeing a door as I was running from the basilisk in the Chamber tunnels. When I got there and opened the door, air rushed into the door like when people open doors in those space movies. The first thing I saw was a common room, kind of like how the Slytherin's looked that time me and Ron polyjuiced as Crabbe and Goyle, but it looked more comfortable. It was a bit cold so I lit the fire then went to explore where the other doors lead to. The bathroom was behind the first door; well I think it was a bathroom? There were showers and all but the bathtub had like a hundred taps around it and it was the size of a swimming pool! When I tried some of the taps, different colored bath water came out. Some of them smelled like fruits and stuff, and there was even one that had rainbow colored bubbles!"

"Really," Hermione interrupted, "that's like how Angelina described the Prefect's bathroom."

"Yea, I'd heard. There was also a potions room, Snape would have actually smiled! It had all sorts of weird stuff in jars, and there were different benches and drawers. It looked kind of like the chemistry lab at my primary school. The third door opened into a corridor, and there were three doors on each side that each had their own bedroom and there was a double door at the end of the corridor that led to the Master. It was huge, surprisingly; it was decorated in Ravenclaw colors. Through another door there was just an empty room, it was half the size of the Great Hall. The last room was really special. It was two floors high, and the ceiling is just like the one in the Great Hall. All over the walls and on shelves covering the ground floor were books. Lots and lots of books, with all different subjects; there were books on everyth… wooooaaahhhh, Hermione!!" Harry didn't even get to finish because Hermione dragged him the rest of the way to Myrtle's toilet.

"Harry! No time, open it!" was all an out of breath Hermione could say as they finally reached the sinks.

"Open!" He hissed and the sink rearranged itself until the Entrance to the Chamber was visible. "We just have to slide down."

Hermione peered down the shadowed hole then turned to Harry and terrifyingly said, "Harry? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Harry. What are you doing? Harry? HARRY JAMES POTTER!! Unhand me right this instant! HAARRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…!!!!!!!!!!"

She could only yell as Harry grabbed onto her arm and pulled her with him as he leapt into the hole. "Come on Mione. It's like a roller coaster! He replied with a smile.

"I hate roller coasters! When this is over I'm going to kill you!"

His only reply was, " Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

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Harry had shown Hermione the set of rooms and they were now in the library, Hermione with a smile on her face and a tall stack of books on the table in front of her. Harry had returned to reading the book on Occlumency and was now trying the first exercise. Imagining a fire blazing in a dark void he tried 'burning' the thoughts floating around in his head. He was met with little success. Every time he believed he had burned all his stray thoughts, more would pop up. He kept trying, what he just had for lunch went up in smoke. The fact that when Hermione smiled he felt weird, like butterflies were going crazy in stomach crackled in the fire. That the basilisk hadn't started decomposing slowly succumbed to the flames. Eventually, all there was the sizzling of the dying embers and a feeling of serenity. Harry was just basking in the feeling of calm when he felt someone shaking him. He open his eyes to se Hermione worriedly staring at him from right before his face.

"GAH!" Harry yelled as he leapt of his chair in fright.

"Harry, what happened? I've been trying to get your attention for a while, it's time for dinner."

Looking at his watch, Harry was startled to see they had spent almost seven hours in the Chamber, and only then did his stomach grumble in protest. He replied, "I was trying the first exercise in this Occlumency book. When I'm done, the book says I'll be calmer and no one will be able to read my mind."

"People can do that!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise. Maybe that's how the Headmaster always knows when we break the rules! Or why Professor Snape always blames you for things without any evidence."

"Bloody hel…"

"Language Harry!" Hermione snapped.

"Um. Anyways, that would explain everything. Do you want to read the book too. It will help you remember things for tests and stuff."

"Yeah, we'll come back after diner. We don't want anyone to be suspicious. Maybe Ron will come with us?"

"Hermione, this is Ron we're talking about. He wouldn't do anything that involved reading that isn't school work. Especially if you told him we've found more books. He'd start blabbering about Quidditch."

"I thought you loved Quidditch. I love flying and playing the sport, but I don't want to play chess and talk about the Chudley Cannons nonexistent chances at winning the League."

"I guess you're right. How do we get back up the pipe?"

Harry could only smirk as they walked towards the entrance. He turned to her and said one sentence that caused all color to drain from Hermione's face.

"I brought my Nimbus..."

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As the sun finished setting over Privet Drive, Harry smiled as he remembered the… interesting end to his second year at Hogwarts. As the street lights began to turn on, he remembered the other interesting thing that happened on the train ride to King's Cross. Meeting and becoming friends with a special girl by the name of Luna Lovegood…