In a hallway of Hogwarts, a boy stood silent, with the moonlit form of a human standing by his side and that of a serpent before him.

"Hello, my Heir. You have ssaid that you would sseek my Chamber. You may have expected ssome great trialss, ssome tasskss I will sset of you to prove your worth before I grant you my ssecretss."

"I am not sso foolissh ass that. When I look back on my own younger yearss, I ssee nothing in them that could passss any real tesst I might lay now. The purposse of the Chamber iss not to judge my desscendantss; they may judge each other ass they pleasse. The riddle of the Patronuss wass not intended ass a tesst upon you, ssimply ass a ssafeguard againsst otherss who might sseek my ssecretss for themsselvess, or sseek to bury them and hide them forever from my true Heirss."

Well, even if that made Harry feel a bit stupid, it was encouraging from the point of view of Salazar's intelligence that what he had planned as a simple safeguard had tricked Harry for nearly a year.

"The purposse of my Chamber iss ssimply to grant power to my desscendantss, that they may write the future in their image, and thuss in mine. I ssupposse thiss iss sselfissh of me, but you may think what you will. There iss, however, one thing that will be required of you, before you are taken to the Chamber. If you have found the chance to make usse of Parsseltongue, you may have noticed a peculiarity of it."

Harry thought he knew where this was going, and his heart was racing.

"When sspeaking in Parsseltongue, it iss not possssible to lie. Ever. There iss a reasson I choosse the ssnake ass my ssigil. For all that humanss desspisse them, the sspirit of ssnakess iss a sspirit of abssolute honessty - among themsselvess, at leasst."

The voice sounded drier here, somehow more amused, and frighteningly close to that of Professor Quirrell.

"To otherss you may sspeak ass you will, but know that the cursse I have bound you with iss one of complete honessty within the bloodline of Sslytherin. The finesst Occlumenss born cannot tell the sslightesst falssehood in thiss sspeech. And before thiss emisssary leadss you to my Chamber, it will require a ssimple asssurance from you, that you intend no harm to any of my ssecretss, that my Chamber and my Monsster sshall remain untouched by your hand."

Harry had to resist the urge to punch the air.

"I asssure you that I intend..."

The silver serpent cut him off.

"Repeat exactly the wordss of my emisssary. They have been chossen carefully to allow no trickss of wording, and I advise you follow this example in any future dealings in this tongue."

The ssnake sspoke, and Harry echoed.

"I currently intend no actionss towardss the Chamber of Ssecretss or towardss anything I might find there that could in any way harm the ability of the Chamber to convey its ssecretss to ssubssequent Heirss of Sslytherin, and I do not anticipate my intentionss changing at any point in the future."

"Place your hand upon me and do not let go," hissed the silvery form of Draco's Patronus, and Harry complied. Then the snake hissed, raised its head, flickered its tongue as if tasting the air, and then turned as a Patronus about to depart.

And, as it did, Harry followed.

The Chamber of Secrets, disappointingly enough, didn't look like anything special - it simply looked like an empty classroom. There was even a door, which Harry had peered out of - it seemed to lead to a disused hallway.

"There are two final thingss I am to ssay to you. Firsst, you may come and go to thiss Chamber in future. To depart, ssimply leave by that door." The snake flicked its head towards the door. "You will not be able to find the door again in future; if you wissh to come again, you musst call me again and again sswear that you intend no harm. No otherss may be brought to thiss Chamber - they cannot find this door from within Hogwartss, even if you help them, and I will not bear them. Sslytherin'ss Monsster will arrive sshortly to begin your training, young Heir. Everything in this Chamber worth your attention or use liess with it; there is nothing elsse you need do while waiting, take the time to resst."

The serpent turned again, and vanished, but Harry remained, staring into one corner of the room, with a chill running down his spine.

In the corner of the Chamber, surrounded by the dust of years, lay a Penseive. And before it there lay a note.

Harry stared down at the note, but he knew, somehow, what he would see, even before he saw the signature at the bottom.

Yours,

T. M. Riddle.

Hello, fellow Heir.

In the spirit of our founder, Salazar Slytherin, I have left you a gift too. Mine, alas, is rather less useful than his, but we do what we can.

I leave you this empty, useless Chamber, whose Monster has been slain and whose treasures have been taken. If you are interested in how it was done, I suggest you consult the Penseive next to this note.

I should not be leaving this note at all, of course, much less the Penseive - it violates my Rules Twelve, Fifteen, Twenty-Four, and even Rule One - but I find myself simply unable to resist. In any case, should you plan to take vengeance on me for depriving you of your inheritance, I strongly urge you to first consult the Penseive and then consider the likely outcome of such an attempt.

While I will understand if you do not trust me given the circumstances, I give you my oath that the Penseive is safe to consult, and most certainly safer to consult than not.

Yours,

T. M. Riddle