Harry woke up in a soft bed, confused for a mere moment and sore all over.
It was the beginning of the summer term, he knew, but he couldn't return to the upper world yet, staying in the dungeons under Nidhogg's stern watch. Harry had made the strange discovery that the basilisk was mothering of all things.
But it wasn't like he was just staying in some dark and gloomy chamber, the dungeon had many interesting and rather helpful rooms, Harry had found out after exploring when he had regained his strength after collapsing when he originally collapsed in the main chamber (Nidhogg had explained it was because he was magically exhausted from accepting the gaze of the basilisk, although it had been made worse by the fact he was suffering from the after effects of a dark curse), these included: a library filled with countless books, some in Parseltongue and a rare few in Draconian; several bedchambers of different colours and sizes, each with an en-suite bathroom; a kitchen and dining room; a dungeon with many cells, some with bodies and skeletons still rotting inside them, one with a false wall leading to what Harry supposed was a torture chamber; a ballroom; treasuries filled with all sorts of wonderous items of glittering gold, shimmering silver, and a rare few made of glorious gems; a potions lab filled with ingredients and potions long lost to time; and last, but most definitely not least, a training room equipped for the darkest of Dark Arts.
Harry had spent his time in the hidden chamber exploring and befriending his new familiar. He had spent an entire day in the torture chamber, examining the contents, determining their use, origins, and worth to him, then helped himself to the ones of most worth that were portable. He had spent two days, five hours, twenty-seven minutes, and thirty-three seconds precisely (time tracked by a spell he had found) in the library, reading as many books as he could before he fell asleep on one of the comfy chairs within the library in a secluded study area. He had spent the rest of his time in the numerous rooms, looking for any secrets. He was in the Chamber of Secrets, after all.
He stretched out on his bed, trying to rid himself of the sore feeling from overexertion from exploring the day before, then stood, pulling a silken black dressing robe over his pyjamas and walking towards the main chamber to speak with Nidhogg. It was late evening, after the feast, Harry determined as he walked, realising he must have slept through the day. Damn.
He winced as he heard a grating, high-pitched voice on the other side of the door that leads to the main chamber.
"Basilisk? I'm back. Your master commands you to attack again, to kill somebody this time, the headmaster is getting suspicious. Your target is Hermione Granger-Black." The annoying, but almost familiar voice said in English. He bristled at this. Why was somebody trying to get Nidhogg to kill? Why? His poor snake was a pacifist for the sake of the gods!
"You stupid little girl. My allegiance has changed, for the better. I will kill you." Nidhogg hissed. Harry sighed, bursting through the door, determined not to have his precious new friend be a murderer who would be tracked down and killed.
"You will do no such thing, Nidhogg." Harry hissed in Parseltongue. "Return to your bedchamber, my friend, I will handle her." He said gently, walking to the basilisk, ignoring the girl for the moment. With a grateful bow, Nidhogg slithered off to rest. "As for you..."
He turned to see the girl, eyes widening. Lavender Brown was shaking with fear as she watched him.
Harry scowled at the fellow first year. She was the one who insulted Hermione near-constantly, who now was trying to kill her.
"You filthy scum! Disgusting blood traitor!" He yelled, "How dare you demand anything of my familiar, let alone murder, that of my own sister no less! You will burn!"
Lavender was cowering and shaking, staring at Harry in horror. The air around her, around the entire chamber, was practically buzzing with magical energy, all coming from Harry. He would later note that the temperature had increased several degrees due to the sheer amount of magic seeping off him because of his anger, and would even go on to write a rather revolutionary paper discussing the effects of magic on the world around a wizard when said wizard is feeling certain emotions, which made Great-Aunt Cassie suitably proud, enough so to add it to her own collection of works on magical theory.
Lavender drew her wand and shakily pointed it at Harry, who snarled in response, bringing his hand up, his own wand flying to his hand from the wand holster on the inside of the dressing robe (Slytherin, it seemed, was rather paranoid and had come up with imaginative, if rather dangerous and unsanitary, ways to keep his wand on him but concealed from his enemies) his glare holding a dare for Brown to cast a spell at him.
"Incendio." She squeaked. Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"Aguamenti!" He growled, putting the fire that was spiralling towards him out in an instant. "Expelliarmus."
Brown's wand shot out of her hand and arched gracefully through the air, only to snap when it hit one of the serpentine statues lining the chamber. It fell it several splintered pieces, the dragon heartstring core falling amongst the pieces, now useless.
Brown started, then spun and fled towards the door.
"Oh no, you don't," Harry growled. "Immobulus. Incarcerous." He snapped, immobilising and tying up the stupid girl. Grabbing her by one of the ropes, he dragged her towards the entrance, ascended with a quick spell and stalked towards the headmaster's office, angered.
Hermione and Draco were grieving. It had been twelve days since Harry had gone missing from the Hogwarts infirmary and had been declared dead only two days prior. The funeral had been that very day and the two had missed the feast because of it. It had been a solemn occasion.
Now, each in their own dormitory, their peers were trying to comfort them, well most of them were, anyway.
Fred and George Weasley were sat in the first year boys' dorm with Draco, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom, the latter three also trying to comfort the distraught Black heir. Since Harry was dead and Draco was the only male descendant of house Black, he was now heir, and the title, he thought, would always haunt him and remind him of his deceased brother.
Parvati Patil and the two other Gryffindor first year girls were trying to comfort Hermione, who was determined to go find Harry and had had to be warded to be unable to leave the room for her own safety (and that of anybody who may have gotten in her way, namely Filch). Draco rather suddenly stood up and grabbed his messenger bag, filled with books on soul rituals to find people and heal them, and headed down to the common room. He then climbed up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, then cursed when it turned into a slide. With a grin, he began to treck up the slide like Hermione and Harry had shown him after Aunt Cassie started using the same spell to keep them away from her room, which was on the top floor of Grimmauld Place.
Reaching the top, he sighed in relief, then turned to smirk at the Weasley twins who were staring at him in shock and awe, while the younger Weasley, Ronald, glared at him in disgust. A few years prior, the Corsairs had fallen out with the youngest two Weasleys after Harry had spoken to a snake in front of them. Both Ronald and Ginevra had proclaimed them evil.
Draco practically skipped to Hermione's room, flung the door open, despite the girls' protest, and over to Hermione. Hermione didn't say anything, merely glared up at him.
"Let's go find Harry." He whispered with a sly grin. Hermione simply nodded and stood up, taking her cousin's hand and letting him lead her to the staircase and down it, after proclaiming loudly that they were going to greive together somewhere private. The Gryffindor's had bought it without question, throwing sympathetic looks at the first years as they left the common room, only to collide with somebody on their way to Headmaster Dumbledore's office...
Finally, my muse returns, and with it a cliffhanger! Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and please review!
