Professor Snape was sitting in his office trying to figure out what to do. The damned diary lay in front of him open wide, the faded parchment pages beckoning him to write on them. It was only because of his skill in shielding his mind that he was able to resist the temptation. "Must be a compulsion charm," he mused aloud. As he pondered on what to do he leaned back in his chair slightly and closed his eyes remembering the events of the morning.
It was about 6:30 a.m. and he was wide awake working on brewing some more potions for Madam Pomfrey. That woman was always running out of supplies. "Although if those Gryffindor idiots weren't so clumsy and rash she probably wouldn't need half of the amount I make." he thought. Scowling to himself Professor Snape kept working; thinking about Gryffindors always soured his mood. He couldn't help but be reminded of his time at Hogwarts and the pompous idiot that was James Potter.
That's why it took all of his restraint not to curse the young Potter in Slytherin when he burst through the potion's classroom door with a wild frantic look in his eyes. He was about to tell off his student for barging in and being generally obnoxious but was cut off when the boy spoke.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you Professor, but it's urgent. You still have the diary right?" The boy had such a look of panic Snape knew something was wrong. Without saying a word he walked briskly into a door in the back of the room leading to his quarters. He opened the chest in which he had stored the diary, and to his relief it was right where he had left it. Remerging from the room he confronted his student.
"Yes Mr. Potter it is right where I left it last night, why the concern boy? What has happened?"
While Potter looked slightly relieved there was still obvious tension in his body "There was an attack. Mrs. Norris is dead, I think, she is hanging from a lamp in the hallway. On the wall behind her it says in blood THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPEN, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE."
"Take me to the spot now," was all he said. The boy nodded and he followed him out and up to the fourth floor. Sure enough when he got there the scene was just as Potter had described. "Stay here Potter; I am going to get Dumbledore and the rest of the staff." He quickly hurried off. It was still early and most of the students weren't awake so he hoped to be able to get this cleaned up before a large crowd gathered. That's when he realized he had no idea why Potter was up this early, let alone on the fourth floor. That was a conversation for their next meeting, though, he decided as he reached the gargoyle which lead to the headmaster's office.
When he had told the Headmaster about what had happened the man appeared to age 50 years on spot. He wasted no time though and immediately sent his phoenix Fawkes to get the rest of the staff. Snape had then led him back to the spot where Potter was standing; unfortunately it appeared Longbottom had decided to show up.
When he got closer he overheard part of the conversation between the two boys.
"You know Longbottom hearing voices in your head isn't good even in the magical world." Potter remarked with the trademark Slytherin smirk on his face.
"It was NOT in my head! I actually heard it and I know it was real!" It appeared Potter had been riling up the boy who lived. Severus was saved from having to deal with the two boys when Dumbledore spoke up.
"Neville, Mr. Potter good morning to you both. I am sure you were having an important conversation, but now I need you to tell me what you know of the situation involving poor Mrs. Norris and this message." As he spoke the twinkling in the old man's eyes just seemed to compel you to want to talk to him. Severus had noted it long ago and since then he always made sure to avoid eye contact. Silently he applauded when he noticed Potter divert his gaze away.
Not surprisingly Longbottom spoke first "I was following a voice I heard! It kept saying something about ripping and killing over and over Headmaster! It stopped and then I turned the corner and found Mrs. Norris dead. I went to find Professor McGonagall. When I couldn't I rushed back down here to see if anyone else had showed up." Snape watched impassively as Dumbledore looked deep into the boy's eyes probably scanning through his thoughts to determine if what he said was the truth. The old man then turned his attention to Potter.
Without being prompted he spoke, "I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to go for a walk when I found this. I got Professor Snape and now here we all are." As he finished the other Professors came around the corner and stopped short at the sight of the cat hanging from the wall. Most visibly paled and Professor Sprout looked like she might even be sick.
"Albus what has happened here?" McGonagall got right to the point.
"I will explain everything in our staff meeting, if you two young men would go to the Great Hall I'm sure breakfast is already waiting. Please do not mention this event to anyone else though. I will make an announcement at breakfast." Albus addressed the two boys. They both nodded and walked off with no protest surprisingly. Snape adjusted his face to an uncaring mask as he followed the rest of his fellow Professors to their meeting room. This promised to be a frustrating day already.
As he came back out of his thoughts he couldn't describe how right he had been. Not only had the meeting been useless, but all day long in his classes after the announcement at breakfast it seemed like the only thing students cared about was what the monster in the chamber was. Five exploding cauldrons in less than three hours. That was a new record! Sighing he pulled out a flask of headache potion, also known as fire whiskey. After taking a gulp he put the flask back and picked up a quill. It was time to get to work, and he began to write in the diary.
Before the Attack
Harry Potter was currently walking around the castle exploring the floors for no apparent reason. To any casual observer he just appeared to be a curious student off looking for secret passages. The truth was, he did have a goal to accomplish. He needed to find a place to enact revenge against Marcus Flint. As Slytherins they couldn't fight openly. Not when half of the school already disliked them. So revenge needed to be done quietly, stealthily, but most importantly it had to be vicious. If their punishment wasn't vicious enough what would stop the other person from retaliating with something worse. Harry refused to allow Flint to belittle him and go unharmed. The boy would learn to never mess him again as soon as he figured out an area to execute his plan.
Harry knew that prefects were to patrol the floors after curfew to make sure students weren't out and wandering around. This is when he planned on capturing Flint. The only problem with his plan was that he didn't have a clue where Flint would be. So that is why he was currently going from floor to floor picking spots he could corner his target.
He had made it to the fourth floor when the he heard the same voice from the night before "rip, tear, kill" Stopping in his tracks he did a quick three sixty and his wand was in his hand up and ready for action. But there was no one around. "Strange" thought Harry aloud. He started walking again, but then he heard it. A loud hissing was coming from around the corner; cautiously he approached and looked around. That's when he saw Mrs. Norris hanging dead in the hallway. But it wasn't just that. Fingers dripping blood Hermione Granger stood painting words onto the wall. Having never put his wand away he came around the corner fully and confronted the girl.
"Funny Granger, I didn't picture you for the Satanist type sacrificing animals and writing in blood." But his joking manner quickly left when the girl turned around and she spoke.
"Hello Harry, surprised to see me still here? I know it was you that took the diary. But as you can see I don't really need it now. She had poured so much of herself into me that I still can maintain control of her. Granted it won't be for long, I can already feel my hold on her slipping, but I'll have just enough time to carry out a few attacks." Harry couldn't believe it. Tom was still inside of her. Thankfully he had admitted without the diary his control would cease, but who knew how much damage could take place before that happened.
Tom continued to speak "Don't worry Harry I'm sure we'll meet again someday there is no need for you to be sad at my leaving." This was said with a sickly sweet smile that Harry wished he could curse off of Tom. Just then loud footsteps were heard coming down the hallway. Harry turned to look behind him but when he turned around Tom was gone. Thinking quickly Harry disillusioned himself and pressed against the wall. It would do no good to be found at the scene of a crime like this. To his surprise none other than the boy who lived came rushing around the corner only to come to a dead halt upon taking in what was before him. After standing there for a few moments he ran back the way he came. Harry gave him a minute to make sure he wouldn't come back and then walked at a brisk pace down the dungeons to find his head of house.
After the Attack
They had just been dismissed by Dumbledore, and neither had seen any point in arguing knowing it would only end up with them being sent away and losing house points. So together Harry and Longbottom walked down to the Great Hall. When they passed the second floor bathroom, where Harry knew the entrance to the chamber was, he suddenly was struck with a realization. If Tom killed students then Hogwarts might have to close. While he didn't doubt his ability to learn on his own, the library here had resources that could not be found anywhere else in the world. He would have to find a way to keep Tom from killing students, without letting him know he (Harry) had interfered lest he become a target. To accomplish this he would need to venture into the chamber either tonight or the next and seek out the monster. Maybe once he determined what the beast actually was he could figure out a way to protect people from it.
To Longbottom's credit he still hadn't said much to Harry since their run in on the grounds. Maybe just maybe the boy had taken what he told him to heart. That thought was broken when Longbottom decided to open his mouth. "You only beat me because you caught me off guard." It was stated so matter-o-factly that Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He really thought he stood a chance in a fight. Not feeling in the mood for a fight Harry just agreed with the boy.
By now they had reached the entrance to the Great Hall and walked in. Without saying anything to each other they walked to their separate tables and sat down. Malfoy was already at the table as were a few other older Slytherins. Malfoy noticed who he had walked in with and immediately made a comment.
"Walking with the golden boy now Potter?"
"No Malfoy, I'll explain what happened later if you want, but right now I just want to enjoy my breakfast." Malfoy seemed to accept this and distracted himself with reading through the copy of the Daily Prophet his owl had dropped off for him.
Harry filled his plate with a modest amount of food and began to eat while he waited for Blaise and Daphne to show up. He took this time to observe the few other people around the room. First was the older Slytherins at his table. He recognized Marcus Flint right away and got an evil gleam in his eye when he thought of his revenge. Sitting further down the table was a boy by the name of Adrian Pucey. Pucey was currently in his fourth year at Hogwarts and was very popular with the girls. He had become a chaser for the Slytherin team in his second year and was probably the only one who had never committed an outright foul against a team. Harry didn't know too much about his family, although by the way the boy dressed he suspected his family had at least a fair amount of money. Harry didn't have any problem with him as they really hadn't spoken ever.
Next to Pucey sat a boy by the name of Terence Higgs. Higgs was the seeker for the Quidditch team, but he was a seventh year so this would be his last season. Unlike Pucey, Higgs had racked up a long list of fouls over his years of playing. No one dared challenge him though, as it was known that not only was he good on a broom, having only missed the snitch once. He was also one of the most talented in the school with a wand. He was well respected throughout Slytherin and feared throughout the rest of the school.
There were a few more sixth and fifth years sitting at the table that Harry wasn't that familiar with so he let his gaze go to the other house tables. Looking at Ravenclaw he spotted one familiar face right away. Terry Boot, the boy he had sat with one the train first year, was currently engrossed in a book of some sorts. He must have felt Harry's eyes on him for he looked up and gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, to which Harry returned.
The only other person he recognized was Luna Lovegood. The first year that he had thought was quite mad. She just had this dreamy look on her face as she read a magazine upside down. She to noticed Harry staring, but instead of nodding or just ignoring him she got up and started to walk over.
When she reached the table without even asking she took a seat across from him. "You know it's rude to stare at someone. One might think they have nargles in their hair if you stare at them."
Harry was completely lost, "Umm, I'm sorry for staring, but what is a nargle?" And he honestly had no idea; it wasn't even something he had heard of before. She just shook her head and then spoke again.
"You're Harry Potter." As she spoke Harry just got more and more confused. And to his annoyance it seemed like Malfoy was just content to keep quiet and enjoy the girl confusing the hell out of him.
"Yes, yes I am. And you're Luna Lovegood." It was the only thing he could think of to say back.
She extended her hand which Harry took, "Pleasure to meet you, now that we've been introduced you can stare without me worrying about nargles." With that said she got up and walked back to her table. Harry had no idea what happened and gave up even trying to understand it after thirty seconds.
Malfoy took this opportunity to pipe up, "You should have seen your face Potter, it was priceless. I don't think I've ever seen you look that lost. It was really a good show to see.."
"Shut up Malfoy."
Blaise and Daphne walked into the Great Hall about five minutes after the strange encounter with the crazy blonde girl. Once they had greeted him and sat down, he told his friends about what had happened. They too had the same reaction that Malfoy had. It was about fifteen minutes later that the rest of the school seemed to pile into the Hall all at once. Just as the staff members started to come in Harry decided to make his leave. To his surprise Malfoy asked him to wait up.
He waited outside the Great Hall for the blonde boy. He came out about a minute later and approached Harry. "Thank you for waiting, I need to talk to you."
Harry for his part was slightly confused but let the boy continue. "You see as you suggested I told Professor Snape about what had happened in Defense with that idiot teaching. He said he would speak with Dumbledore to see what could be done. I also wrote to my father because he is on the Board of Governors. Since it was your idea I wanted to make sure to keep you up to date."
"Thank you Malfoy I appreciate it. And hopefully we won't have to deal with that idiot all year. I was actually looking forward to learning something useful." He said. "Oh and I have a proposition for you. Originally Blaise was going to help me but since he's with Daphne I don't think he will." Harry then explained how they planned to mess with the Weasley girl to Draco.
"Doing something that will piss those Weasleys off? You can count me in. How should we go about this?"
"I was thinking we should make a secret admirer for her. Then once we've got her interest and she starts writing back we agree to meet her somewhere. Once she gets there we prank her, like change her hair color or something and then tell her it was all lies. No doubt this will set off that idiot Ronald, and he'll try and attack us."
"I like it," Malfoy commented, "but we don't even need to tell her it was a lie. I'll be the admirer if you help write the letters, just the fact that I, a Malfoy, would dare look at his beloved to head back to the common room and begin working on the first letter.
Back in the Great Hall
The Boy-Who-Lived had been very quiet throughout the entire breakfast and his friends were concerned. He always had something to say and for him to not speak and barely touch his food something was wrong. While he didn't notice the two Slytherins leaving right before the announcement that would shock the school, Tom did.
"Oh this is too perfect. I was wondering who I could pin this on, but with them leaving right before the suspicion will already be there." He thought.
Trying to draw the brooding boy out of his mood Hermione spoke up, "Hey did you notice that Potter and Malfoy just left?"
Even though he hadn't Longbottom gave a little nod, but Ron Weasley decided to voice his opinion, "Probably off to bully some first years, slimy gits all of them."
Dumbledore stood up and his magically enhanced voice made the entire hall go silent. "Students please quiet down. I have some grave news to tell all of you." By now no one was making a sound, "Mrs. Norris was found dead this morning. " A few in the audience made silent cheering motions until he continued, "there was a message next to her body that read the chamber of secrets is open, enemies of the heir beware."
No one made any sound until one of the older students in Hufflepuff called out "But headmaster isn't the Chamber of Secrets only a legend?" A couple of people made noises of agreement.
"Unfortunately not my dear boy, this is the second time the chamber has been opened in recent history. I must press upon all of you the need to take precautions. Do not be out after curfew; travel in groups at all times." With that message the Headmaster sat back down.
By this point most of the first years were panicking. The muggleborns mostly had no idea what was being referred to and had to ask some of their friends to fill them in. The only table that didn't look worried was Slytherin. After all why should they be, the legend stated the monster was there to kill Mudbloods, not purebloods from their noble house.
Eventually people started to calm down enough that they could leave the Great Hall without fear of being attacked. The Gryffindor Trio had left together, and finally Ron had enough of his bestmate's sour attitude.
"Alright mate, what's been bothering you?" For once showing that he could indeed show some sensitivity.
"Ron I was there! I saw Mrs. Norris; I found her and the message. It was written in blood!" Ron went pale in the face while Hermione pretended to be shocked and gave a little gasp.
"Oh that's horrible! I'm so sorry Neville!" Hermione enveloped him in a hug.
"Yeah well, the other thing is it wasn't just me…when I came back after looking for a teacher to tell Potter was standing there. But he didn't seem effected at all. He was just looking at the scene like it was nothing to him, not even worth his time."
"Why that no good slimy snake! He's probably the Heir! Came back to admire his handiwork, and then had to make up a lie to get out of it no doubt. That's probably where he and Malfoy went to! To plan their next attack." Hermione couldn't believe her luck bless his heart that bigoted red head had just made the accusations so loud anyone within thirty feet would have heard. Sure enough the whispers started almost instantly.
Hermione was smirking on the inside; before the day was done the whole school would know that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin.
Harry and Draco entered their classroom that day with smirks that would make any Slytherin jealous. However, when they entered almost everyone in the class room stopped what they were doing to turn and look at them. It was transfiguration with the Gryffindors so the hate filled looks weren't surprising, but the ones filled with fear were. Neither had to say anything because the Weasel jumped up before they could even get a word out.
"You bastards! Who did you attack now? Some innocent Hufflepuff?"
Harry knew what he was talking about but wisely ignored it, obviously the boy just wanted to make them look like they were denying what it was he was accusing them of. Unfortunately Draco had no idea what the red head was talking about and let him know it.
"What are you on about you blood traitor? What do you mean attack, as if I would waste my time with a pathetic Hufflepuff," it seemed Draco couldn't resist one last shot either, "but your sister might be worth spending some time with." In a second Weasley was out of his chair and trying to get at Mafloy's throat.
Harry reacted quickly though, his wand was out in a second and the disarming spell caught Weasley in the gut knocking him backwards. This also had the adverse effect of disarming the boy, although judging by the fact that his wand was wrapped in some sort of white tape Harry couldn't seem to even process it as a threat.
"Really Weasley, how dense are you? Did you not just accuse Malfoy and me of being the ones responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets? Then like a common muggle you throw yourself at us with bare hands instead of using your wand. Pathetic." Harry really just couldn't understand how the boy had even made it into Hogwarts.
Just as Harry finished up his berating, Professor McGonagall walked in. She was already having a hard day with the attacks, but to walk in and before she can even start lessons someone is laying on the ground disarmed threw her over board.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy you will be serving detention with Hagrid this evening." She cut off their protests as well as the rest of their class mates, "No if's or but's and I did not stutter, now take your seats and open your books we will be learning how to turn a mouse into a pin cushion today. This will be the building blocks for harder animal to object and object to animal transfigurations you will do in your later years here."
For a while the class went on normally they had to read over the theory and answer questions about the wand movements. Just as they started to get into the practical part of it though leave it to Granger to derail the whole class.
"Professor, what can you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"
Perhaps because it was Granger asking, or maybe it was just the fact that Harry knew Tom was already aware of everything about the chamber. Whatever the reason he just got very annoyed, try as he could to hide it sometimes emotions are impossible to stop.
Blaise noticed first, "Harry mate you look like you're going to kill someone," he whispered. Daphne nodded her head in agreement from her seat next to Blaise. The other Slytherins turned their heads after hearing the comment. And they too, he could see, were agreeing. He just shrugged and lowered his head not caring to hear the legend of the Chamber. As it turned out no work was actually done that period because McGonagall had to stop every few seconds to answer someone's question about the chamber or attack.
When the class finally finished it was about the middle of the afternoon and time for lunch. Since Harry had that unfairly given detention to attend to tonight, he decided to make his trip into the chamber while everyone else was eating. His friends tried to hang back and talk to him about his mood in class, but he wouldn't say anything except he needed some time alone. They took the hint after five or so times of asking and went on ahead with everyone else.
As he walked along Harry did his best to ignore everyone whispering and point at him. It seemed that Weasley's rumor spread fast. In a way it was nice to be thought of as the Heir. Now only a true fool would challenge him, but also it was going to bring a lot of unwanted attention. He had always preferred to slip into the background and make his moves from there. It would be much harder to do now. Even the portraits seemed to follow him as he walked their eyes constantly on him. It was unnerving really, had the Headmaster told them to keep an eye on him? Did he suspect Harry of actually being the Heir?
The walk to the Second Floor Girl's bathroom seemed to take forever. The only positive was that no one was around to question why he would be going in there in the first place. It was a much similar place to the boy's bathrooms. He took a minute to look around and make sure no one was inside to see what he was about to do. Then he walked over to the sink that Riddle had pointed out earlier in the year and found the carving of a serpent on the underside of the faucet. Just as he closed his eyes and began to visualize a snake so that he could speak Parseltonuge a voice rang out and made him jump.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE? THIS IS A GIRL'S BATHROOM!" Spinning on spot Harry turned to face the source of the high pitched shriek. There floating in front of him was a ghost. She was slightly pudgy with glasses. Dressed in what appeared to be old Ravenclaw robes. He guessed she couldn't have been any older than a fifth year when she had died. Judging by the spot she was in it didn't take a whole lot to guess how she had met her fate.
"I'm sorry I won't be long I just need to see to something." He explained. His guess on how she had died was proved right when she looked at where his hand was placed.
"You're here to open that Chamber! You're going to let that beast out and kill the school? Help! HELP! Somebody stop him!" The ghost began to shriek and kept getting progressively louder. Harry spoke quickly hoping to avoid having someone run in here and catching him.
"Wait wait! I'm not here to set it free. I'm trying to make sure it doesn't kill anyone. Someone else has been letting it out. Have you seen the girl with bushy brown hair come in here before?" He questioned. The ghost seemed to think about this for a minute before responding.
"Yes once or twice, but I never stayed long. She never wanted to talk to me, poor lonely Myrtle. No one ever wants to talk to fat, ugly Moaning Myrtle." And now the ghostly girl was crying. Harry didn't even think ghosts could cry, but here she was balling her eyes out. Sighing he decided to entertain her for a few minutes if it meant she wouldn't tell anyone he was here.
"Well I have some time so why don't you talk to me Myrtle? If it's not too touchy of a subject, how did you die?" He knew it must have been Slytherin's monster but wanted to know the specifics just in case he came across the beast outside of where Tom said it would be.
"Oh really! You want to hear how I died! I just love telling the story. It's so dark and tragic." Here the ghost let out a few giggles and then continued, "well some boys had been picking on me in the hallway. Pushing me around, and calling me fat. So I ran into here crying and didn't want to come out for the rest of the day. After a few hours I heard someone come in, but then I heard a boy's voice right by that sink you're touching. He was hissing and I made to tell him to go away, but when I opened the stall all I saw was a pair of huge, bright yellow eyes. Then it was all over, just like that. And I've been here ever since." She had brightened up considerably after having gotten to tell someone how she died. Harry didn't understand it but now at least she had stopped yelling.
"That is very fascinating, so this monster kills with its eyes. I'll have to be extra careful while I'm down there then. Thank you for telling me your story Myrtle. I need to do what I came here to do now though." The ghost didn't say anything instead she just blew a kiss and floated away/
Shaking his head at some of the weird situations he wound up in Harry turned back to the sink. He once again focused him mind on the image of a snake so he would be able to speak in Parseltongue.
"Open." He hissed.
As the sink began to drop into the floor Harry idly wondered about the location of the entrance. Either Slytherin had been a true genius thinking no one would ever look for the entrance here, or he was partially mad. The sink had all but vanished now leaving a massive hole in the floor. He was not about to jump down some hole not knowing how far of a fall or what waited at the bottom.
"Stairsssss" He hissed.
To his amazement it worked, stairs slid out of the side of the tunnel and he began to descend them, with a silent lumos his wand tip lit up. He stopped and looked up; it wouldn't do good to leave the entrance open. Just in case some other person came wandering in.
"Closssse"
The hole shut and he continued to descend the stairs. As he got further down he caught wind of a putrid smell. It was a mix of mold and rotting something. Small traces of fear were creeping into his mind and he wasn't so sure this was a good idea. What if Riddle was down here right now? He would never stand a chance in a fair fight and could be killed. Or what about the monster, it killed with its eyes according to Myrtle. Using his occlumency he pushed those thoughts back behind his barriers. He couldn't turn back now fear was an emotion he would have to concur. It was the very embodiment of weakness and he was NOT weak.
After what seemed like hours he reached the bottom. He was definitely glad he hadn't jumped. Piled about 6 feet high at the bottom of the hole were dead bodies of creatures and even some that look like humans. All skeletons now, but just the thought of landing in something like that made him feel dirty. He no longer needed his wand as torches lit the way down the hall. He walked along and admired the impressive stonework that had a green tint to it. He wondered if it was mold or had been spelled that way by Slytherin.
"Oh shit." In front of him was a snake skin. But this was no ordinary snake skin; it was about 60 feet long, and looked about 4 to 5 feet wide. It was then that Harry realized exactly what he was dealing with. It had been mentioned briefly in one of the books he had read. There was a basilisk in Hogwarts.
"How am I going to stop a basilisk?" he wondered aloud. At this point he had continued moving forward, but was seriously doubting his plan now. He came to what looked like an ornately carved vault door. Two snakes made up the outer ring while Slytherin's crest was carved in the middle of it. Doing what he had before he hissed at the door to open. The snakes on the outside sprung to life and slid into two holes in the middle of the carving. A faint click was heard and the door split down the middle and the pieces slid to the side. Through the door he could see the inner chamber, and the statue that Tom had told him contained the beast. This was it, his last chance to walk away and live. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and walked through the opening.
The first thing that struck him was the sudden increase in temperature; it was much warmer in this chamber than it had been in the other. Most likely because of the basilisk, they were cold blooded and if it spent too much time in a cold place it would probably die. The second thing was the aura the room gave off. A sense of dread seemed to set on him as he slowly walked across the circular room. Torches lined the wall giving off enough light to see, but not enough to fully illuminate the dark crevices and corners. He stopped twenty feet in front of the statue of Slytherin's head and began to speak "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
For a few moments nothing happened and he began to wonder if he had been tricked. Perhaps this was an elaborate trap. Then the mouth slowly started to fall open on the statue. Inside he could hear the basilisk moving. The scales rubbing against the inside of the statue causing a grating sound, the low hiss coming from its throat as it emerged. Preparing himself Harry lowered his head and closed his eyes.
He could feel it there, probably looking directly at him wondering how fast it could kill him. He needed to act before it did just that. Nervously he spoke "Hello king of the sssserpentsss."
"Young sssspeaker you need not fear my gaze, it will not harm thossse with the talent."
Feeling he could trust the massive snake as it hadn't killed him yet Harry raised his head and opened his eyes. "I wasss not sssure if I would be effected."
"You are fine young one, but you are not the sssspeaker who wasss lassst here."
"No I am not; I am here to inform you that you have been deccceived. The sssspeaker who wassss here lassst is not of pureblood. They are a Mudblood!" It was the only thing he could think of that might make the monster turn on Tom.
"Whatsss how isss that possssible? I will kill the Mudblood if it isss to ssshow itssself here again." The basilisk seemed so offended it had been tricked.
"Thisss isss not your fault, the Mudblood is being possssesssed by another. He couldn't find a ssssuitable hossst. I have come to sssseeek your help. This other ssspeaker looksss to usse you to kill, but I can't have that for the ssschool will closse. You are able to petrify correct?" The basilisk just nodded its massive head in agreement. "Good you will only petrify from now on, do not let on to the other that you know of hisss deceit."
"I will do as you asssk, but do not be fooled into believing you can control me ssspeaker. I am the King of Ssserpents, posssibly the last of my kind. None can match my power."
Harry bowed to the serpent "I would never dream of controlling you, it isss sssimply impossssible. Now I big you a good day and happy hunting, I must return to the ssscchool."
The snake turned and slithered back into the statue from where it had come. The mouth sealed and Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Somehow he had just convinced a thousand year old basilisk to help him stop Tom. Not wanting to wait around for Tom to actually show up though he quickly began his trek back to the school. All he had to do now was make it through his detention tonight and almost all of his problems would be solved.
Slytherin Common Room
Blaise and Daphne were sitting comfortable on one of the sofas together with Malfoy in an armchair across from them. Theo Nott and Pansy Parkinson were sitting with their backs against the arm of the chair. Currently they were all discussing the recently odd behavior of their fellow year mate, Harry Potter.
"He hasn't been right lately, like today he was moody and just got angry for no reason." Blaise said. Daphne piped in next "Yeah and he's been making excuses just to get away from all of us recently."
Draco decided to put his two cents in next, "How did Potter know about the attacks today? I just realized he mentioned them, but wasn't there when the announcement was made. I know about them now because you all filled me in. But that doesn't explain him." They all thought about it for a minute, and then Nott voiced what everyone was thinking.
"Potter couldn't be the Heir could he? I mean Weasley accused him of it, but it's not true right?" No one had an answer, secretly they hoped it wasn't true, but couldn't shake the doubt from their mind. Nott kept going "Does anyone know where he is right now?"
Again no one had an answer. "The last I saw of him was right after Transfiguration; he said he wanted time alone to work out his frustration." Blaise was really about his friend.
From a sofa away a girl by the name of Tracey Davis spoke up, "Why don't you just confront him about it when he gets back? If he really was the Heir of Slytherin it would be something to be proud about inside our common room and hide outside of it."
Parkinson replied snidely to her "Oh yeah we'll just walk up to him and be like Potter are you the heir who's opening the chamber of secrets. Good idea Davis." Any further response was stopped by Draco though.
"No she's right. Kinda, I mean. If he was the heir he could speak parseltongue right? What if we conjured a snake right before he came in the common room? If it went after him he might slip up and speak right?" Nott and Parkinson agreed, but Daphne and Blaise were nervous.
"What if he figures out what we were doing, he might get mad…I've already been on the receiving end of Harry's spells after he woke up from a nightmare and it isn't fun." Blaise cringed a little at the memory and Daphne rubbed his back comfortingly.
"I'll do it." Tracey Davis volunteered to the shock of the others," what? I've never talked to him before really, what do I care if he's mad at me?" The common room door opened and sure enough Harry started walking in. Tracey raised her wand and cast "serpensortia". A small green snake about 3 feet long shot out of her wand and slithered right at Harry.
Harry heard the spell and saw the snake he didn't see who cast it but didn't care at the moment. All he knew was he wasn't in the mood to be bitten. "Ssstopp" he hissed out before he realized what he was doing. The gasps throughout the common room alerted him to his mistake, the snake had stopped and with a quick "incendio" it was gone.
Harry scanned the room with his eyes looking for whoever had just forced him to reveal one of his secrets. His eyes stopped on Tracey, she was standing up twirling her wand between her fingers with a smug smile gracing her lips. "What right do you have to attack me Davis?" he screamed at her. By now he had the attention of everyone in the room.
"Oh get over it Potter I just wanted to know if you were actually the heir. Now we all know it, don't worry we won't tell anyone else. Good job offing that squib's cat though." He looked around and saw nods of confirmation, but how could he be sure. This was Slytherin, secrets were like money. The more you had the better off you were and one of his biggest ones had just been lost.
"This isn't over Davisss, if any of youss thinksss about telling my s-ssecret I'll end your pitiful life. Isss that understood" He was so angry part of his speech came out in parseltongue hisses.
Normally such a threat from a second year would be laughed at and then end up with the second year being cursed. Take into account that the second year was the heir of Slytherin and had an unknown monster that could kill people and it becomes infinitely more intimidating. No one said anything so Harry took it as a silent confirmation. He wanted to get his Transfiguration homework done before his detention but first walked right up to Davis. He leaned in and whispered so only she could hear, "I don't know what you're deal is or why you think I was a good target, but watch your back. I am not someone to cross." With his threat delivered he walked off to his dorm room. He didn't notice that Tracey kept following him because he was so lost in his thoughts. It wasn't until he closed his door and it opened a second later that he even realized someone was behind him. Thinking it was Blaise he ignored it, which turned out to be a mistake as he got hit in the back with a tickling curse. He pulled his wand and went to counter it, but because he was on the floor Tracey was easily able to kick it away.
"Don't you ever threaten me again Potter. I'm not afraid of you, heir or not. Everyone else may be scared as hell of you now, but not me!"
That was it; Harry had enough of this girl. He hadn't ever spoken to before today, "I'm not even the bloody heir! I just said that so everyone would leave me alone. I don't know why I can speak parseltongue but I can."
She stopped herself from whatever she was going to say next and then went and sat down. On his bed!
"You're not the heir? Then who is Potter? Surely you must know. And do you know where the Chamber is?"
"Lord Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin, the last one remaining. And even if I did know where the chamber was, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you!" The nerve of this girl to attack him from behind and then just start questioning him expecting honest answers.
To his great annoyance she seemed satisfied with the answers he gave. They were meant to infuriate her not make her happy. "Davis look, I don't know what you want, but could you leave I have Transfiguration homework to do before my detention tonight." He really just wanted the girl to leave him alone forever.
She got a wicked smile on her face though and opened up her school bag, "That's fine but I'll stay and work on mine to, we can help each other. Or really you can help me since I know you're very good at the subject."
Harry wanted to just let out a scream but used his Occlumency to calm himself. "Fine," he ground out," but you're not just copying mine. I'll help if you need it though." For some reason Harry felt this was going to be the start of a very dysfunctional friendship with Davis.
Later that Night
Detention hadn't been nearly as bad as Harry thought it might be. Hagrid had complained to them how something had killed his roosters a few nights ago, so he wanted to make sure the rest of his creatures were safe. In order to this he had Draco and Harry levitate boulders and logs to make large walls. It didn't take long at all and the half-giant let them leave as soon they had finished. Overall it took about an hour, the two friends had said goodnight at the door to Harry's room and now Harry was laying bed with a new book.
The book covered all sorts of spells to make you portray an aura of power about you. Like his Head of House who had the billowing cloak behind him. Harry envied that and was currently reading over a spell that would give him a similar effect when he walked. He had been in bed for about an hour when he heard it. "Rip, tearrr, kill" It seemed Tom was having a busy night. Which meant with Slytherin thinking he was the heir tomorrow was going to be either enjoyable or horrible. Deciding he would need his energy he extinguished his light and went to bed.
Gryffindor Boy's Room
Neville sat bolt upright in bed and looked around. He knew he heard it! This wasn't in his head. "rip, tearrr, kill" There it was again! He threw his covers off and sprinted from the room trying to chase down the source of the voice. He needed to stop the Heir before someone else got hurt or worse. This is what he had been training for, he wanted to protect people. He didn't know he was already too late, and that a certain obnoxious Gryffindor first year with a camera now lay on the floor unmoving like a statue. That's why when he jumped out of the common room entrance he tripped and nearly fell down the stairs. Turning to see what he tripped over his mind stopped working. "No, please don't be dead. Please don't be dead!" He needed to get Professor Dumbledore. So he hurried off to the man's office hoping he would make it safely.