SECOND YEAR
SLYTHERIN DUNGEONS, HOGWARTS
Draco was laying in bed, awake at an ungodly hour, hissing nonsensically to himself and imagining how people would treat him if he were actually Slytherin's Heir. His housemates would treat him like a god! There was a slim possibility that if he practiced the hissing often enough he might become good enough at it to convince other people he was a parselmouth. They'd be hard pressed to prove he wasn't one, wouldn't they? Unless they tried to make him talk to a real snake, of course. Draco frowned at this thought then cast it aside. He could easily pretend that whatever the snake did, it was because of his words. He was confident. If someone as dumb as Lockhart could become a celebrity then Draco was going to be a king.
Draco let out an undignified squawk when Harry materialized out of thin air directly beside him. He clutched his chest and blurted, "Gods, Harry, you nearly killed me! What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?"
Draco's eyes narrowed suspiciously - was that an invisibility cloak Harry was holding?
Harry's expression was serious and he didn't react at all to Draco's shock and mortification. Draco prayed that meant that Harry hadn't realized what Draco was doing.
"I need you to get a message to your father for me, Draco."
Draco sobered up in an instant, forgetting all about invisibility cloaks and his own embarrassing fantasies, "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
He couldn't let anything happen to Harry - this was his father's future mate after all. Harry ignored the question and replied, "You must tell him that a student has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets and may soon be dead. If that happens, Voldemort will rise again."
Draco's eyes went wide with immediate panic and he demanded shrilly, "Buggering hell, why aren't you telling Dumbledore?! I'm twelve, I can't deal with this!"
Harry grabbed Draco's shoulders and gave him a hard shake, "He is not here, Draco, and none of the other teachers can be relied upon. Maybe they would succeed if they made a combined effort, but by the time I convince them what is happening and they manage to organize themselves, it would be far too late. Do you understand?"
"Gods have mercy," Draco muttered faintly, hopelessness taking hold quickly. The Dark Lord was going to rise again and everyone Draco cared about would suffer.
Harry shook Draco again, "Listen to me, I am going to deal with the monster, but in the event I should fail, the Auror Corps will need to be dispatched immediately to the school. At the same time, the Board of Governors will need to evacuate the students and close the school to prevent further casualties."
"Wait, deal with the monster?" Draco latched onto these words and sudden anger cut through his overwhelming fear. "The hell you are! It's a basilisk, Harry! Why must you always insist upon playing the bloody hero? You're going to get yourself killed and then my father is going to kill me."
Harry appeared impatient, "I don't have time to argue with you, Draco. I need you to relay my message. Can you do that or can you not?"
Draco hesitated then spat out, "Just, wait one second, I'm coming with you."
Harry frowned and replied severely, "You most assuredly are not."
Harry sounded so much like Draco's father in that moment that Draco was almost cowed, but then Draco pulled himself together, "You can either incapacitate me, in which case my father will never get your message, or you can swear to take me with you."
"Fine."
Draco hadn't expected Harry to agree so quickly and he couldn't help but be suspicious, "We have a deal? You swear it on your family's name and honor?"
"We do and I do," Harry insisted. "Send the message!"
Draco smirked and bit his thumb hard before pressing the bloodied appendage to the ornate ring on his right index finger and intoning sardonically, "Harry has asked you to contact the Board of Governors, evacuate the students and close the school. Dumbledore is out of the picture for now. We need the Auror Corps too. Harry plans to subdue the monster himself and he says that if he fails the Dark Lord will rise. Not sure how. I suggest you come as quickly as you possibly can, father, before Harry gets the both of us killed."
Draco removed his thumb, still smirking at Harry. Harry did not react, instead turning and heading off at a run, not bothering to wait for Draco or put on his invisibility cloak - if that is what it actually was. Draco cursed, grabbed his wand, and chased after Harry in his pajamas. Once they were out of the Slytherin dorms he whisper-shouted, "What exactly is your grand plan?"
Harry's head turned back for a second and green eyes flashed at him in the dark, "I'm going to find the big snake and kill it."
Draco was only barely able to keep himself from tackling and strangling the black-haired boy, "I can't believe you're making jokes right now!"
"I never professed to having a clever plan, only a goal," Harry replied dryly.
"How can you be so calm?" Draco demanded. "You're 12 years old, just like me. No 12-year-old should be calm about running off to kill a bloody basilisk. You act as if you do this every day. Where are we even going?"
Harry stopped and Draco found himself standing in front of a girls lavatory. Before he could ask, Harry stepped through the door. Draco groaned and followed him, "Potter, I really hate to ask, but you do know this room is exclusively for women, don't you?"
The bathroom was dimly lit and eerily quiet. Harry turned and said, "It is also the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
Draco stared at Harry in disbelief, "Oh great, you're completely insane, aren't you?"
"Draco, I don't want you to follow me," Harry replied. "You know where the Chamber is now, and you can tell your father and Dumbledore. If you follow me it will be more dangerous for you than you're imagining and I cannot promise I'll be able to protect you. There will be a basilisk down there, as you know, and there will also be a Horcrux - a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul. If I am right, then that splinter of soul is currently feeding upon Lavender Brown in an attempt to gain a corporeal form. I must kill the serpent so that I can get to the Horcrux and destroy it before it's too late. A student's life is in jeopardy and we'll all be in danger if the Dark Lord returns. Make your decision and make it wisely but I will not delay even a single moment longer."
A loud, terrifying hiss exploded from Harry's mouth and Draco just stared at him, beyond words. The hiss echoed ominously... and then the room began to move and a gaping black hole was revealed.
Harry strode forward without hesitation and jumped down into that ominous pit.
