Chapter 3

The Boy-who-lived was feeling pretty good about having two hours to himself. Most of that was going to be spent walking laps of the castle but Harry found, with all that had happened in the last year, he had a new appreciation for free time. He made the trip to the headmaster's tower and the office therein. The password hadn't changed overnight (licorice wand) and Harry was allowed entry. He knocked firmly, there was no answer and after a moment he let himself in.

His reason he was there sat on a stand to the side of Dumbledore's chair, glowing eyes fixed intently on the intruding boy. Fawkes was an imposing image, a blood red bird nearly the size of a swan, radiating a light that made Harry think of a gently burning fireplace.

The Phoenix stared at Harry for a moment before the intensity of his gaze seemed to diminish and he tucked his head away and started grooming himself.

"Hello, Fawkes." The great beast looked at the boy out of the corner of its eye. "If Dumbledore doesn't need you right now i could do with your help."
Fawkes just watched, unmoving. "You helped me before with the basilisk, you protected me, and I'm wondering if you could do that again? If i could ask for you to come with me? Just for a little while." The phoenix continued to look his way with a steely expression. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

"I'm going back into the chamber to get a basilisk fang, and I'm worried about the poison. Before that I'm going to the seventh floor to get a Cursed object that might be dangerous to handle. Do you think you could take care of me again?"

Fawkes seemed to consider the proposition, tilting its head to one side before, with a beat of its wings, it let out a screeching cry.

"I don't speak Phoenix. If that was a yes then I'll meet you on the seventh floor?" and as if in reply the creature burst into flame and was gone. For a moment Harry started to panic before he noticed there was no ash left behind and no young bird. "Uh, right then. I'll take that as a yes."


It was a few minutes later when Harry made it across the castle and up to the seventh floor, owing largely to the castle's attempts to waylay him; corridors had moved and the changing staircase had been particularly uncooperative.

Making his way down the Seventh floor corridor he found Fawkes perched on a windowsill, grooming himself quite contently. He eyed Harry as he passed, but then returned to his business.

Harry walked along the small corridor, flanked as it was on either sides by huge pillars that took up most of the space. What wall space there was was taken up by Painting, statues, suits of armour and one very large mural of a group of trolls in tutus learning to dance.

Standing in front of the only blank space of wall in the corridor Harry closed His eyes.
I need a place to hide something. I need a place to hide something. I need a place to...
Opening His eyes He saw a door that wasn't there before. Simple, brown, unassuming. Exactly the kind of place you'd want to hide something in.

Opening the door he looked in and saw the chaotic mess that was the inside of this particular version of the room of requirement. "Fawkes?" He called behind him and the great bird answered with a caw! before taking wing, flying down the corridor, through the door and out into the large, high ceilinged room that was the room of requirement's hiding room.

The room was filled with towering piles of discarded and mostly broken objects, ranging from old clothes and books to furniture and paintings. There was a unfathomably large number of destroyed cauldrons here, multiple piles of them littered the room.

Harry walked through the room, taking a look at the items that had been discarded through the years. The room of requirement wasn't far from the gryffindor dorms and assuming the dorms don't move, which they might given everything else in Hogwarts seemed to, most of the items were probably left here by gryffindors from years past.

Upon reaching the furthest end of the impossibly large room Harry stood before a mounded pile of carelessly discarded rubbish. Atop the pile sat a white, faceless stone bust and near that, a small silver crown, almost a tiara. In a previous visit he'd moved the statuette and placed the diadem atop it as a marker for where he left a potions book.

"Accio Diadem" It didn't move, not even a wobble.
"Alright then. Fine." He looked up at the pile. If he couldn't call it down to him he'd have to go up and get it. He placed his foot on a broken door towards the bottom of the pile (how and why is there a door here? who needs to hide a door?!) and the whole tower wobbled precariously.

Drawing his wand he chanted "Adepto Adhesit!" placing the sticking charm on everything he could see, from the bottom to the top of the pile. He placed his foot on the door again and nothing moved. He jumped on it, stamping his feet on it and the stack held steady.

He climbed to the top and reached out to take the diadem. "Fawkes? You've got your eye on me, yeah?" He couldn't see the bird but a echoing screech answered the question. Alright, here goes nothing.

He climbed up the stack a little, reached up and grabbed the crown, picking it up in a single motion. He waited a moment. Nothing happened. No voices, no shadowy images.

Well, finally some good news for once.

He made his way back to the entrance of the room, held the door open to allow Fawkes to make His exit and then followed him out into the corridor, diadem in hand. "Alright, Fawkes. Chamber of secrets next. You remember where that is?"

The giant, red bird gave him an glare that both told him Yes, I know where it is and also I think You're an idiot for asking before once again bursting into flame and disappearing.


Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was a miserable place; damp, damaged and unclean. It apparently hadn't been maintained in something like 60 years although with Myrtle spending most of Her time here it was hardly a wonder. No one really liked dealing with her, as sad as that was, and the idea of renovating this room with her wailing away didn't strike Harry as particularly fun. Mercifully, Myrtle was absent. Perhaps stalking the prefect's bathroom again?

Harry had made his way across the school without incident, stashing the crown in his robes. Along the way he took a look at the time- He'd used up nearly half the time he had already and he still had to get in and out of here yet, and probably make a trip to the gryffindor tower to stash the fangs he was here to collect.

The marble pillar that housed the sinks for the bathroom sat at one end, and on one of the taps a small snake had been carved. Harry looked at it and tried to imagine it was real before speaking to it "open". The word came out, instead of english, as a quiet hiss and the snake leapt to life, the marble moved and gave way. The sinks slipped across each other, the marble shifting and moving until it all dropped away into the floor leaving only a tunnel in the floor.

Still picturing the snake harry hissed "Can i have stairs this time?". If the chamber heard his request, there was no sign. "Fine then." he said to himself before jumping down the pipe.

Coming down the pipe the second time was much more fun than the first. For one, Harry knew it was safe and two, there was no one's life in immediate danger and so He let himself enjoy the experience. Landing in a dusty mess at the bottom he straightened himself out before taking a look at the floor. Oh, right, the bones. Great. Bones, mostly human, littered the floor and cracked under heel as Harry stood. And i hope Fawkes doesn't mind carrying me again. I'm not getting back up there.

A short walk and harry came back to the large snake door. "Open" he commanded, and it did, the entwined snakes that made up the facade shifting to allow the door to open. Behind it, a raised platform and a ladder down to the chamber proper. Harry climbed down the ladder as Fawkes flew in overhead, the two of them making their way down to flooded platform that made up the battlefield from Harry's previous visit here.

The chamber was a dark place, almost entirely flooded, and with a strange green hue to light that seemed to emanate from nowhere in particular. Massive snake headed statues lined the chamber down both sides, flanking the main platform that ran its length, the only part that now sat above the apparently rising water level.

At the end of the platform was the basilisk, lying where it had died, perfectly preserved even in the dirty, wet environment. Harry walked over to it and took a good look. He hadn't really had time to appreciate what it was he was looking at before but now he was here it was amazing. From a distance the beast looked like any other snake but as He got closer he saw that instead of scales it had a thick, almost stoney skin, blackened and rough. Its fangs weren't normal either- it had a full set of teeth that reached to the back of its mouth.

If it wasn't a legendary, 100ft long, monstrous killing machine it would almost be beautiful.

Now, he needed to pull out a couple teeth and put them in something. He didn't want these hyper lethal weapons just bouncing around his bag so he'd need to at least wrap them up thoroughly. It was something he hadn't considered before reaching the chamber and he hadn't brought anything. Well, he technically knew how to do a summoning charm, although his firebolt had flown to him rather than instantly appearing at his side. Harry drew his wand and focused for a moment. With a flick, he summoned some of his old hand me down clothes from his trunk in gryffindor tower. A bundle of clothes appeared in mid air before him and dropped limply to the ground. Harry quietly revelled in his success before bending down and laying them open on the floor.

Standing, he took one deep breath before reaching in to the creatures maw and reaching into the creature's maw. All of the teeth Harry could see were tipped in a mix of purple and greenish fluids. Carefully, he grabbed the nearest one with his strongest grip before giving it a pull. It came away from the flesh easier than he would have expected, and after extracting his hand, knelt down to wrap the tooth first in a shirt. The shirt immediately started changing colour on contact with the poison so he added another, before wrapping the bundle in an ancient pair of jeans.

He watched the bundle for a moment and when it didn't start smoking or melting he stashed the fang at the bottom of his bag, under his books. Hopefully the fang wouldnt turn everything it touched into a toxic mess.

Right, now the diadem. Looking at it, it didn't seem particularly special. It was a lovely band of silver, etched around the back were the words "Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure" and it was at least as valuable as anything Harry had ever touched in his life, but it lacked the ornamentation of the other Founder's relics.

Gryffindor's sword had Rubies in the hilt and was forged in gold. Hufflepuffs cup was pure gold, painstakingly etched with almost microscopic script and Slytherin's locket was cast gold and silver, lined with tiny jewels. The crown however was just silver, a dulled almost grey band. In comparison is seemed so underwhelming although in practise probably much more valuable, prior to Voldemort's interfering with it.

Harry stood with it in it hand and looked back to the basilisk. He reached out, gave another tooth a sharp pull and then checked the chamber for Fawkes. Last time around cursed fire had consumed the crown and so Harry had escaped any backlash from its destruction. Now, it would have to be destroyed like the rest, and the horcruxes each had special ways to voice their displeasure.

He threw one last look in Fawkes' direction which was met with the phoenix's intense stare before holding the fang above the diadem and stabbing down. He stopped. Something caught his eye.

At the far end of the chamber, carved into the wall, was a round stone face, covered in snakes. Depending on how you looked it was either in roaring triumph or screaming terror. The mouth was wide and round and had been the place the basilisk has crawled from. Through it harry could see a glint of gold far inside.

This is probably going to be the last time I'm down here and might be the last time anyone comes down here before it floods. He knew he was procrastinating on the task at hand, but he had time, right?

Harry made his way around the basilisk corpse and through the chamber to the bottom of the stone face. The face was raised off the ground, sitting atop a rough pile of stone, and stairs had been carved each side up to it. They were slimy with the damp and Harry took his time climbing them.

Looking into the mouth he could see a metal ring around the inside edge and a large space on one side that looked vaguely like a coin slot. Close Harry hissed at it and a hidden door obliged, a large round metal disk sliding into view to seal the entrance, a coiled snake eating its tail embossed on the surface.

Open and once again the door obeyed, retreating back into the stone. A tunnel stretched off behind it, smooth either by design or by use Harry couldn't tell, and it was almost pitch black for quite a distance, maybe fifty metres, but at the far end a green light could be seen and, even from here, Harry could see it was flickering.

Moving both the crown and the diadem into one hand, which having been so distracted had just realised he was still carrying, He pulled his wand with his free hand and lit the tunnel with lumos then did his best to increase the intensity of the light. Even though the tunnel was damp and seemingly shined with a polished surface it refused Harry's attempts to brighten it; the dark seemed stained into the stone.

Harry moved on anyway, cancelling the spell but keeping his wand at the ready. A screech behind him made him jump before he turned and saw Fawkes had followed him to the tunnel's mouth. The tunnel wasn't large enough for fawkes' wingspan and so he hopped along instead, occasionally making irritated chirping noises. The two companions eventually reached the end of the tunnel, coming out into a large, circular, high ceilinged room.

The walls were rough stone, permeated by the same gloom as the rest of the chamber, and infront of harry lay a huge, round stone pit. It was deep enough that if Harry fell in he would need Fawkes help to get back out and the bottom was filled with the crushed leftovers of past snake malts and along the far end lay a skeleton that was of a familiar shape.

It was about half the length of the basilisk outside, and less than half the width and height, but the fangs and shape were unmistakable. Another basilisk had once lived here and it was clear it had been dead long enough to completely decompose. The basilisk outside had been dead for more than a year and didn't even smell yet so how long ago this one had died Harry could only guess.

Harry took a step towards the pit for a better look before a terror like he had never known gripped his chest. A image suddenly jumped to mind of being a prey animal staring a predator in the eyes. Harry took a step back automatically and felt better immediately. Some instinctual part of him must know that pit was beyond lethal and to touch it was to die. Maybe not even Fawkes could protect against the hundreds of years of built up venom and filth.

The pit was ringed by a platform wide enough to safely walk around, and on the far side the path opened into a square platform, in the middle of which sat what could only be described as a throne, a huge chair carved out of the stone below it. Flanked either side by bookcases, the books on which had rotted in the wet, and behind the bookcases were the sources of the lights.

Carefully picking his way around the basilisk pit, he walked around the bookcases to be confronted with a number of cauldrons. The green lights he had seen earlier were enchanted flames, flickering below the pots, although only two of the four were lit. The centre two had no flames and atop a course, yellow sand sat large, thick pieces of broken shell.

The eggs that the shells had once been were black, rough and stonelike in texture, from what Harry could see. Another egg, still intact, sat in another cauldron, buried almost to the tip. Like the others, it was roughly the size of a watermelon. Two broken eggs and two basilisk corpses; the last black egg was obviously another basilisk.
In the fourth cauldron sat something else. Only buried half way up, the sand much finer and bright white, lay a bright green egg, smaller than the others by quite some amount. It shimmered slightly in the light and reflected and sparkled like fine jewels.

Looking back to the throne Harry saw that a book sat in it, glowing slightly with a protective charm, seemingly the only book out of more than a hundred that had survived the damp. Harry unshouldered his bag and placed it at the bottom of the throne, put the diadem and fang next to it and, after calling Fawkes into the chamber which the phoenix refused with an echoing screech, Harry picked up the book and looked at it.

It was a small book, only an inch think, slightly larger than his hand, and bound in red leather. It was full of notes, old pieces of parchment tucked inside particular pages. The first line of text on the front cover was written in gold but the rest was just inked on.

Several languages were in appearance on just the cover, one an old, old english, another that looked arabic or something similar, a couple others that Harry wasn't even going to attempt to place, but the last stood out. The long fine, winding script moved and waved as he looked at it and after a moment moved into words he could understand, although definitely not in an alphabet he recognized.

"In My blood runs power, pride and ambition. It will be my progeny that purifies the earth and their vengeance will be terrible. Enemies of the Heirs beware."

Harry read it in wonder and then, after a moment, snorted. Slytherin may have been a powerful wizard but he was a terrible fortune teller. There was no purification, two basilisks are dead, the chamber of secrets is gonna flood entirely soon and the last legitimate heir would probably never father children even if he lived forever.

The book shook slightly before opening on its own in Harry's hand. It flicked through page after page before stopping somewhere near the middle. In the centre of the right hand page was that same flowing script. He watched as it waved again before settling in a way he could read.

"Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure" she says. In her foolishness she has left her wit in her crown but i keep power clenched in my fist. Wit is a treasure, but strength is beyond value."

Harry stared at the book for a moment before looking down at the diadem at his feet. If it was slytherin who wrote this then he was a lunatic. No wonder voldemort is so messed up if this is the guy he worships as a hero.

Harry bent over and put the leather bound book in his bag, wedging it between two larger textbooks so it wouldn't open and spill the notes it contained, before straightening and looking back down at the diadem for a while. As he did he could hear something, like he had what seemed like a lifetime earlier. Two voices. One that same crying, wailing horrific noise that all of the horcruxes made if you gave them too much attention.

There was a second voice too. Not wailing in pain and horror but singing with a high pitched, clarion clarity. She was crying too, the song was not a happy one. Harry reached down and picked up the crown and held it for a moment before taking a seat on the throne.

A stupid, ridiculous, near suicidal idea jumped to Harry's head and he knew as soon as he thought of it he was going to do it. He looked over at Fawkes again, who was still sitting in the tunnel mouth watching him intently, and He said "Fawkes, take care of me, yeah?" Fawkes gave a long, slow blink and the hint of a nod in reply.

Slowly, Harry raised the crown and put it on his head. For a moment his scar flared in that old, familiar pain but then faded room went quiet, the sounds of dripping water becoming distant. The smell of the rot and damp faded and the image of burning, red eyes swam into vision. They were red and snake-like and glared at him with a predatory gleam.

"Hello, Tom"

"Lord Voldemort, to you"


Thank you for reading. Any comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.
I'm currently looking for a beta reader, so if anyone is interested message me. A special thank you goes out to Ybe.