Year 2 – The Chamber of Secrets
Chapter 14 – Into the Serpent's Lair
Chapter Summary: The last pieces of the puzzle come together and Harry must face a frightening foe, and this time someone's life hangs in the balance. Is he ready? Will he make it in time?
Author: Khodexus
Rated T: For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere, mild language, and some violence. No adult situations.
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.
The next week didn't change anything in regards to their schedule. They still had no regular Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, nor had they seen or heard anything regarding 'Mad Eye' Moody. Seamus Finnigan, having finally regained his nerve, was heard loudly commenting that whoever had said they'd seen 'Mad Eye' must just be an attention whore. Harry kept his tongue, but he was angry that even Seamus would call him a liar, and in such harsh terms. Besides which, answering him would just advertise that Harry had been the one who first talked about the auror coming to the school. He didn't really want to admit openly to that until he could prove that the famous auror was in fact in the castle.
To make matters worse, the sandy-haired Irish boy had also been bragging that he had a lead that was going to unmask Harry once and for all as the Heir of Slytherin. Harry didn't know precisely what to make of that second assertion.
"You know, we could always just go check Lockhart's office." Draco suggested on Wednesday after lunch, as they were heading out to the quidditch pitch to get in a little practice with their friends.
"Are you serious?! What happens if we do find Moody there? We're just going to ask him to show his face so people will stop thinking we made it up?"
"Yeah, you're right, that does sound pretty mental."
Harry still had no new ideas by the time Friday arrived. He entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that morning and was shocked to find Dumbledore himself waiting calmly behind the desk as if he was accustomed to sitting there every day. He only realized he'd stopped in his tracks and was gaping when the headmaster raised one silver eyebrow and smiled at him. Fortunately he wasn't the only student to find the wizard's presence startling, so he couldn't be singled out and further embarrassed for his reaction.
"Come on in. Take your seats. Don't dawdle, Mister Goyle." The headmaster waved them each inside in turn. "We have much to learn, and very little time in which to learn it." Once the entire class was seated in silence – no one dared discuss this new development in front of the headmaster, even in a whisper – Dumbledore gestured to the chalkboard with his wand. The chalk rose up and began writing out their new teacher's name in flowery script.
"While probably unnecessary, I'll start off the class in the traditional manner, and introduce myself. My name is Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and I'll be taking over most of your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes for the remainder of the year, or until such time as a suitable replacement for Professor Lockhart can be found. Before we begin, are there any questions?"
Dumbledore paused and scanned the room before calling on the first person to raise a hand, "Mister Malfoy?"
"Professor. I was wondering, can you tell us why Mad Eye Moody is at the school if not to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and why has no one, but Harry, seen him?"
Harry shot Draco a look. This wasn't a subject he wanted brought up out of the blue, but it was too late to stop him now.
"An excellent question, and even pertinent to the class at hand, in a sense. Alastor Moody," He emphasized the ex-auror's first name, "Is here to put his experiences as an auror to work on behalf of the whole school. His goals and methods are not mine to reveal, however, I can say this. He has ever been one to conduct his business with caution, and discretion. The reason you have not seen him, is that he has not wished to be seen. Any other questions?"
That answer didn't seem to entirely satisfy Draco, but Harry was glad to see he didn't raise his hand once more. It was Blaise' hand, however, that Dumbledore called on next. "Mister Zabini, then?"
"How do we know he's really here if we never see him?" Blaise asked.
"Another interesting question. If you have evidence to support the assertion that Moody is not at the school, then it would be reasonable to assume that he is not here. Otherwise, I would say, you trust the word of your headmaster, unless he is known to have a history of deceptions. Any more questions…? No…? Then let us begin."
Harry had to smile when he realized that with this explanation Seamus couldn't continue calling him a liar unless he also wanted to slander their headmaster in the process.
Dumbledore began with a brief lecture on how to identify different dark spells or creatures by what evidence they left in their wake, even without witnessing the spell or creature directly. Then he allowed them to ask questions and discuss not just the lesson he was giving, but also anything they'd learned or hoped to learn up to that point.
Harry got the feeling, after his third evasion away from the subject of Moody or the Chamber of Secrets, that Dumbledore was trying to get them to think about things other than the troubles plaguing the school. And it seemed to be working, at least for the rest of the class. Harry himself was feeling that same grim foreboding that usually preceded something horrible happening to him or those around him.
That unease stayed with him through the weekend, and it distracted him during his occlumency lesson with Snape that Sunday.
…It was a bright warm day, and Harry was flying, enjoying the sunlight on his face and the wind in his hair… Harry sat at the Slytherin table where his new housemates were being most welcoming, when he looked up to meet the gaze of a certain black-haired professor, at the same moment a twinge of pain lanced across his scar… Harry was in the library, and suddenly Dobby had appeared…
With a wrench, Harry pulled away from that memory, as he really didn't want to get Dobby in trouble, and latched onto something safe, something more recent.
…Harry was briefly alone in the library, and had just spotting words forming on the pages of Riddle's diary, he was excited and wanted to show Draco, but neither he nor Pansy were in earshot…
"What was that, Potter?!" Snape's voice was uncharacteristically sharp, and held a hint of something Harry couldn't quite place.
"Sir?" They'd come out of the memories very suddenly, and Harry still felt a little disoriented. It had only happened like that once or twice before.
"At the end, did you invent that memory?" Snape's cool gaze bore into Harry's, making him shift nervously, his voice having returned to his normal snide tones.
"Well uh… I'm sorry, I didn't want to get Dobby in trouble, I know I should have told someone that he'd been here at…"
"Not that." Snape seemed irritated now, and Harry's nervousness only grew. "Just after that, there was a book."
"Oh. Yeah. That's just an old diary I found, from a student who used to attend Hogwarts."
"Where is it now?" The Potions Professor was now looming over him, and Harry looked wildly around for an escape route.
"I… I lost it. In the library. Why? I don't understand?! It's just a book."
"This lesson is over." He said in a flat dismissive tone. "Return to your dormitory."
"What did I do wrong?" Harry asked feeling very frustrated by Snape's general indifference, and his sudden ill temper and dismissal.
"Go now!" Snape snapped, already turning away, back to the stone basin on the desk.
Harry wanted to say more, but didn't have the nerve to talk back when Snape used that tone, and so the next moment he was in the hall, heading towards the Slytherin common room on his own. Why on earth had Snape seemed so concerned with Harry's lost diary?
When he got back, it took him a while to find Draco and pull him aside. He didn't think he wanted anyone else overhearing what he was about to discuss with his best friend. In hushed tones, he explained what had happened with Snape, and Draco was suddenly very cautious. "Well, we assured you that it was more or less harmless… unless very powerful magic had been used to create it. But… maybe it was more powerful than we'd guessed? That could mean it's more dangerous than we suspected as well." Draco looked a little sheepish as he admitted that possibility.
"Well, it's not like any of us could have known, right?" Harry was actually relieved. It was a plausible explanation, and much better than no explanation at all. Besides, even if it was highly dangerous, Harry no longer had it, so the danger was past. Then again, someone must have picked it up in the library. That was the only explanation for how it had so suddenly disappeared.
Harry just hoped that whoever had it would not come to harm by it.
Dumbledore continued to teach their Defense Against the Dark Arts class over the following week. By Thursday evening, Harry still hadn't heard anything more on the subject of the diary or why Snape had so abruptly ended their previous lesson. When he arrived for his occlumency lesson, Snape made no mention of the matter either, so Harry didn't bring it up. Instead things progressed the same as any other lesson, except that Harry was able to keep Snape from viewing even a single real memory, mostly just memories with subtle deliberate alterations to make them more innocuous.
"You've been practicing clearing your mind." Snape observed once they were done.
"Of course." Harry felt weak and flimsy, but also elated at how well things had gone.
"Then I have a few questions for you, if you will permit."
"Sir?" What sort of questions did he have to permit the professor to ask, Harry wondered, but didn't say. "Alright."
"The last time we were here, I saw a memory of yours and it prompted me to cut our session short. Do you remember?"
"Of course. It was that old diary I found. But I don't understand, how…?"
"I'll ask the questions, Potter." Snape interrupted. "This may be important, so I'd like you to tell me the circumstances under which you came into possession of that particular diary."
Harry hesitated only a little, recalling the details of the day, near the beginning of the second term, and realizing there was nothing incriminating in those specific events, and there was no reason he saw to tell Snape about the uncomfortable conversation he'd been having with Pansy just before the incident.
"It was in January, term had started, and I was walking with Draco and Pansy through the halls when I found water running down the stairs. When we got up to the top, the girl's lavatory was flooded, and Filch was mopping up. The diary was up against the wall, soaked in water."
"Now please describe when and under what circumstances the diary left your possession."
Harry thought back once more, that part he remembered quite vividly. "That was more than a month later. It was a week after Valentine's day, I was in the library, and had been writing in the diary. Actually, it was about the lessons I was going to start with you. I thought the diary's previous owner, Tom, might know something about occlumency, but he didn't seem to want to tell me anything about it. I got up to look for a book on occlumency, and when I got back to my table, the diary was gone.
"Professor, may I ask something?"
"You may ask. Though I do not guarantee an answer." Snape replied simply.
"Draco assured me that a magical object like the diary might contain memories, and might seem intelligent, using some sort of thought reflection charm, but that it didn't actually learn and grow, the same way paintings don't learn new things. Was he wrong?"
"He was not wrong." Snape responded immediately. "An object like the diary usually is not intelligent. But it is possible to make such an object with more precise properties."
"So do you think the diary was dangerous?" Harry had to ask.
"It's possible." Harry gulped. "But as you are no longer in possession of the diary, there is little cause for concern. However, if you should happen upon it again, you should inform me at once. Is that understood?"
"Yes professor." Harry nodded. "Professor?"
"Yes, Potter?"
"Who is Tom Riddle? He said he was a student here at Hogwarts."
Snape was not quick to reply this time, but regarded Harry in silence for a long moment, "He was." Snape said at last. "He was such a student that would have been capable of making a diary that was more dangerous than you initially expected. You should not write in it again without giving me a chance to examine it first."
"Oh?" Harry was curious; he wanted to know more about Tom.
"Yes. Now your lesson is complete, you should be getting back to your dormitory."
"Sir?" Harry blinked. He wanted Snape to tell him more about the boy who'd made the diary, but it was obvious Snape wasn't going to elaborate further. "I have another question." He added when the silence began to stretch.
"Make it quick."
"I was wondering, Professor, if maybe you or one of the other teachers might start up the dueling club again? I thought you were brilliant dueling against Lockhart, but if you can't, do you think it would be a good idea for me to ask Professor Flitwick?"
Snape frowned, regarding Harry with his inscrutable stare before answering, "I'll take it into consideration, and discuss it with the rest of the staff."
"Thank you, sir."
"You are dismissed." Snape said coolly, turning away to face the stone basin.
Harry sighed, but departed with his bag, thinking about what he'd learned, and what he hadn't learned. He wondered why Snape wouldn't tell him about Tom. Maybe T. M. Riddle wasn't the model student he'd said he was. Harry wondered why it hadn't occurred to him before then, that Tom may not always have been truthful with him.
But at least the diary was gone now. So it wouldn't be troubling him any further.
The next day they had Professor Vector again for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she assured them that Dumbledore would most likely be back for their lesson on Monday.
On Saturday, Harry and a small group of his dorm mates – that included Draco and Blaise – were out in the courtyard working on their Transfiguration homework, when the Weasley twins approached. Blaise gave them a guarded look, but didn't say anything. It seemed to Harry that his Slytherin friends were getting a bit more used to his Gryffindor friends.
"Hey, Harry. We have something for you." "We cooked this up yesterday in Artificery, and we immediately thought of you." "We thought you should be the first to try it out."
One of them handed Harry a small box that held four different kinds of sugary confections. "Candy?" Harry's eyebrow rose.
"Prank candy." They said in hushed tones. "They're labeled. I'm sure you can find someone to give them a try on. Let us know how it turns out." "And remember, we want details." They grinned and turned to head off, but then stopped short.
"Oh wait, another thing, Harry." One of the twins added, "Don't you have a little black diary?" Harry's heart immediately leapt into his throat.
"Yeah, I did, why do you ask?" Harry's eyes narrowed.
"Well, Seamus has been going on for a month or so now that he's found some way to expose you as the Heir of Slytherin." "But today he threw a fit, said something about 'Potter's ruddy diary', and then tossed a book into the fire in the common room." "It was an old black book, with no title or anything."
"Yeah, that sounds like Tom's diary." Harry said with mixed excitement and trepidation.
"Tom's diary?" They blinked at him.
"It was made by a boy named Tom who used to go to Hogwarts, like fifty years ago." Harry explained. "But I lost it a while back, maybe Seamus saw it in the library and took it, thinking it was my diary, not just a diary I'd found?"
"Just like Seamus to steal the wrong diary." One of the twins offered him a smile.
"Um, if there's anything left of it, can you get it out of the fireplace and bring it to me?" Harry asked.
"Sure thing!"
Harry smiled back. Things were looking up. He could have Snape examine the remnants of the diary and tell him if it had been dangerous or not, then he'd no longer have to worry about it hurting someone or revealing any of his secrets.
But all thoughts of Tom Riddle and the diary were pushed out of his mind on the way back to the Slytherin wing, when he heard the voice again. For the first time in over five months.
"I hunger… let me eat these ones!"
"No!" Harry shouted. Draco and Pansy didn't jump, just turned curiously towards him.
"What was that?" Draco asked; a puzzled expression on his face.
"The voice! It's back!" Harry said, rushing towards the stairs. He went up one flight, didn't see anything, and then went up another level. Again there was nothing. "Where are you?"
Harry thought he heard a sound, like a squeak, not too far away, but he couldn't tell which direction it had come from. Draco and Pansy caught up to Harry and looked at him oddly.
"Let me kill him, Master."
"This way." Harry rushed down the hall after the voice, and stopped in front of a tapestry. "In here." Behind the Tapestry was a narrow stairwell that led up two floors, with a trick step halfway up. Harry and his friends leapt the gap and continued up to the fourth floor.
There, Harry paused again, to get his bearings. "I'll find you!" He panted.
"Harry." Pansy complained, breathing hard as well. "We can't understand half of what you're saying, what's going on?"
"I can't let it get away. Not again." But Harry realized he may have already lost the voice. "It was around here somewhere, I'm sure of it. There was no where else it could have gone but up that staircase."
"What happens if we find it?" Draco frowned. "We're not exactly equipped to battle whatever the creature is."
"I dunno, but I can't just…" Harry didn't have a real answer, but they didn't press the issue either.
After catching their breath Harry started down the hall, towards the library with his friends still close behind, but before Harry could think of a better answer he skidded to a halt just after rounding the last corner before the library itself. He'd almost run straight into Hermione Granger. She was standing with her head down, as if she were reading a book, but in her hand was a small circular mirror. "Hermione, did you…?" He stopped again. Hermione wasn't moving, or reacting, to anything. She was standing there frozen in place, her skin as grey as stone.
She'd been petrified.
Standing beside her was another of the Gryffindor girls, also with a hand mirror, and also petrified. It took Harry a moment to recognize her as Lavender Brown, the same girl who'd been spreading the news about Harry being a parselmouth.
Pansy shrieked, and Draco just gaped. Harry felt a knot in his stomach, and a combined sense of dread, panic – and strangely, relief. Dumbledore had said he'd know for sure he wasn't the Heir if he kept close to Draco and Pansy, and now he knew that he couldn't have possibly petrified Hermione. But it was still horrible.
It wasn't long before Pansy's scream brought a few students from the nearby library, to find Harry and his friends in front of two petrified Gryffindors. "I knew it! Caught ya red handed!" Seamus shouted with a mixture of elation and fear.
"Shove off, you ignorant snot!" Draco snarled.
Surprisingly, Seamus backed off, perhaps fearing he'd be next, or perhaps just now realizing how outnumbered he was.
Harry blocked most everything out after that, slipping into his quidditch trance while teachers showed up, starting with Professor Flitwick, but eventually a crowd formed including the headmaster, and all heads of house. Harry snapped back to attention when Moody made his presence known. "Sorry, Albus, I was in another part of the castle." He said in his gruff voice, and judging by the gasps of surprise from the onlooking students, Harry wasn't the only one who'd only just noticed him there.
"We need ta clear this hall." The auror added.
"Argus, please escort the Slytherin students back to their dormitories." Dumbledore's soft but stern voice carried over the din, "Miss Clearwater, if you could conduct the students in your house back to your common room. Filius, take those Gryffindors back to their tower please. You three stay here."
Harry had been about to leave with Argus Filch and the other Slytherins, but stopped when Dumbledore asked him to stay. "Why us?" Draco asked.
"Because you were the first on the scene."
Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout took Hermione to the hospital wing, and the rest of them – Harry, Draco, Pansy, Dumbledore, Moody, Snape and McGonagall – moved to the room that had been Lockhart's office, now stripped of all the paintings and books. Lockhart's things had been replaced with just a few curious items whose purpose Harry could not discern, but they must have belonged to the elusive Alastor Moody.
"Now, Mister Potter," Dumbledore turned his attention on Harry, "I'd like you to explain how you found Miss Granger and Miss Brown in that condition."
"Anything you remember leading up to it could help." Alastor Moody added.
"I heard the voice again, that's all. I was actually a couple floors down, and I tried to find out where it was coming from. I followed the voice up the shortcut stairs with the trick step, but then I found Hermione and Lavender. They were already petrified, and there was no sign of the creature, or the heir."
"We were both with him the whole time and neither of us saw anything." Pansy added all in a rush.
"A pity." said Snape.
"A pity?!" McGonagall turned on him. "They might have been hurt, or petrified, if they'd arrived much sooner."
"Much as I hate to say it," Moody cut in. "I agree with Snape. It's obvious those girls were prepared. An' with Dumbledore's charm on the castle, an' Harry here a parselmouth, there's every chance he could have come out of at least one encounter unscathed, though the same might not be said for you two."
"Why us? What does being a parselmouth have to do with it?" Draco protested.
"What charm?" Pansy asked.
"That's enough, Alastor. The charm doesn't work if they know. It's a miracle Miss Granger and Miss Brown were not killed as it is."
"What don't we know?" Harry growled. "Professor, if you know something about the chamber, or the creature, or the heir, don't you think we deserve to know too? How are we supposed to defend ourselves if we don't know what we're up against?" Harry felt betrayed.
"Calm yourselves." Dumbledore turned his kind gaze on the three of them. "You deserve to know, yes. But unfortunately, we do not always get what we deserve. However, I will give you a breif explanation."
Harry frowned, but nodded.
"You may not be aware of this, but the chamber of secrets was opened once before, and a muggleborn witch was killed. The culprit was never caught, and since that time, I have searched for ways to guard against his return. One of those ways was the creation of a charm that would bend luck around the school, preventing any witches or wizards from being killed in the event the creature was released again. This is why all the attacks this year have resulted in petrification, instead of death. However, the charm only works if you are relying on luck to survive. The more you know about the creature, and how it kills, the less easily the spell will help you. Do you understand now, why I have not divulged more information to the students?"
Harry was mollified, and both Draco and Pansy seemed to be as well.
"Well, if that's that, perhaps Harry should be going, so we can decide what is to be done, now that the heir has made himself known once more." Mad Eye suggested.
Harry and his friends allowed themselves to be seen out, and made their way towards their original destination, the Slytherin wing.
"I just thought of something." Pansy said as they reached the bottom of the stairs in the dungeons.
"What's that?" Harry and Draco both turned towards her.
"Moody said Granger and Brown had come prepared. And Dumbledore said it was a miracle they weren't killed."
"Yeah?" Harry frowned, wondering what she was getting at.
"Don't you see?" Pansy smiled. "They figured out what the creature was. I'll bet you anything, those mirrors were what saved them both."
Harry blinked. "How so?"
"I get it!" Draco beamed, "It must be a gaze magic, only instead of protecting you from the gaze, seeing the reflection means you get petrified instead of killed."
"That's still protection. The anti-petrification potion has been around for a few hundred years, I think." Pansy agreed.
"More than a few hundred." Draco corrected. "It was invented in the ninth century."
"So how does that help us?" Harry wondered.
"Don't you see, Harry?" Pansy's grin grew broader. "We've got all the puzzle pieces. It speaks parseltongue, it can kill people with a gaze, or petrify them in a mirror…"
"Hang on. What about Lee, Dean, or Missus Norris? None of them had mirrors."
"They still had reflections." Pansy reminded him. "There was water on the ground outside the bathroom where Missus Norris was killed. And you said Dean was practically face down in a slick puddle of ice. Those would have worked the same as a mirror."
"We don't know exactly how Lee Jordan was found." Draco cut in.
Harry nodded. "So it's a snake that can petrify people with a gaze through a mirror, and move through walls?"
"Maybe not." Pansy surprised Harry once more, and seemed still more elated at being able to show off for her friends something she'd figured out first. "I've been thinking, based on all the places you've heard the voice. Almost all of them have been near the bathrooms, or places where you can hear water running through pipes. It doesn't have to be able to move through walls to be in the walls, not when Hogwarts has some of the largest plumbing pipes in the world."
"It moves through the pipes!" Harry gasped. "Well that explains everything. So what is it?"
Pansy blushed. "Well, I'm not sure, but with those clues I bet we can figure it out. We'll just have to visit the library."
"And better sooner than later." Harry agreed. "Hermione was just in there. Maybe they haven't put her books away yet."
The three of them changed course, and half ran back up the stairs to the fourth floor, and the library. Once they arrived, they slowed to a walk, and moved quietly through the tables and shelves, looking for a table with books still stacked on it. It wasn't too hard to find Hermione's table. It was the one with twice as many books as anyone else had, and mostly on one side of the table.
They quickly scanned over the books Hermione had been looking through, until Draco found 'Most Macabre Monstrosities'.
"This is probably it." He said, in an excited whisper as he began flipping through the pages.
They sat in silence watching him, until he paused. "There's a page missing." He observed.
"What page?" Pansy asked, getting to her feet.
"It looks like seven twenty four, and seven twenty five."
"But… that can't be right. Aren't odd pages usually on the right?" Harry asked.
"No idea." Draco admitted.
Immediately, Pansy rushed off into the stacks, while Harry and Draco both stared after her. A few minutes passed then she returned bearing another copy of the same book.
She quickly flipped through it, until finding the missing page from Draco's book.
"There it is!" She crowed, forgetting to be quiet, as she brandished the open page.
"A basilisk!" Harry and Draco observed together.
" 'Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.' " Pansy read aloud.
They found out at supper, that even more stringent security measures were to be taken. Students had to be escorted between each class in a group of their class-mates, by a teacher or other staff member, and curfew was being turned back again. Unless students had classes after 6pm, they were to remain in their house wings until supper, and then had to go straight back until breakfast, which also wasn't starting until an hour later at 7 am.
Harry had only just arrived in the Slytherin common room after dinner when he heard the voice again. Only this time, it said his name.
"Potter boy. Master has her in the chamber. Come alone."
The voice sounded just on the other side of the wall, as if the basilisk was pressed up as close as it could be to the common room. "I'm assuming neither of you heard that?" Harry whispered to Draco and Pansy.
They both shook their heads.
Harry relayed what the voice had said in quiet tones, as they didn't want to be overheard, and both Draco and Pansy tried to talk him out of going. "It's going to be a trap. You know that." Draco pointed out.
"I know. But what choice do I have?"
"You don't even know who 'her' is." Pansy pointed out. "There's no one missing from our wing."
"Exactly my point. It's not a Slytherin, which means whoever it is, is in danger. If I don't go, he might kill her."
"You can't go alone, and we might need more than just the Weasley twins with us." Draco observed.
"You'll both come with me, right?"
"We should tell Professor Snape." Pansy insisted.
"That's a good idea." Draco observed. "Only, the voice said to come alone."
"We still need a plan. And the twins won't forgive us if we leave them out of at least that part." Harry stood, but was stopped when Pansy grabbed his sleeve.
"Where are you going? We can't go now. It's past curfew, remember?"
"I'm going to get my cloak." He whispered, and she released his sleeve, nodding. "Draco, you come with me. Pansy, you should find a place to wait where we can find you before we sneak out."
"I'll just come with you." She stood up and started walking towards the boys dormitories.
"Can you?" Harry wondered aloud. "I thought girls weren't allowed in the boys dorms?"
"It's the other way around." She shook her head, causing her short hair to bob back and forth.
Draco just shrugged, and soon they'd retrieved Harry's cloak and were starting back down the hall to the common room.
"Where are you three sneaking off to?" A soft but dangerous voice asked them, as Annalise emerged from the shadows of a side corridor.
"We're just going back to the common room, Anna." Harry assured her.
"Don't lie to me, you're sneaking off again, you're going to get yourselves in trouble, or someone else in trouble, like you did Professor Lockhart, and I'm not going to stand for it. Not everyone thinks you're so great, not even in Slytherin, and I'll tell on you if you try to get out the door and…"
"We don't have time for this." Pansy murmured.
"Langlock!" Draco had whipped his wand out, and silenced Annalise handily with Snape's tongue-locking curse.
"Didn't know you knew that one." Harry smiled, as Anna made odd noises attempting to speak.
"I asked Snape to teach it to me after the dueling club." Draco turned back to the frustrated first year now glaring murder at the three of them.
"Behave, while we're gone, and I'll remove the curse. But if you try to stop us again, I'll do something even nastier." Draco warned. "Do you promise to behave?"
"Llly lloollsh Ly?" Anna tried to force out, but Harry couldn't make sense of it.
"Do you promise?" Draco repeated, and after looking sullen for a few moments longer, she finally nodded.
"Finite." Draco freed her, and Harry half expected her to start up again. Instead, she just frowned, then turned and retreated towards the girl's dormitories.
They had to wait for a few students to leave the common room so they could get to the door unnoticed. But the door itself was set in an alcove and no one spotted it opening as they slipped out into the hall.
"Draco, you should take the cloak, go find the twins, and tell them what's happened. Pansy and I will go to Snape's office."
"Where will we find you?" Draco whispered back.
"How about, Myrtle's bathroom?"
"What?!" Pansy and Draco squeaked at the same moment.
"I've heard it most around there. If it's using the plumbing, the creature must go through there at the very least. Besides, I have a suspicion that Moaning Myrtle was the student it killed last time, and she haunts the place where she died. I figure that's our best place to start looking for the entrance to the chamber of secrets, and we can question Myrtle while we're there."
"Oh." Pansy blushed, and Draco looked sheepish. "I guess that makes sense."
"I'll see you there." Harry added, handing Draco the cloak, and taking Pansy's hand as he turned and rushed for Professor Snape's office, which was just down the hall and around the corner, past the potions classroom.
Pansy hesitated, but Harry just knocked on the door. He wasn't loud, but he had confidence the Potions Master would hear him.
After a minute, Harry began fidgeting. Maybe Snape hadn't heard him.
He was just about to knock again when they both jumped from the sound of their Professor's voice right behind them. "Just what do you think you're doing out of bed this time of night?" Snape sounded irritated, and perhaps a touch concerned, but Harry wasn't worried about getting in trouble just then.
"I heard the voice again." He replied in a harsh hiss. "It wants me to come to the chamber… alone."
Snape was momentarily taken aback, but recovering quickly, he ushered them into his office so Harry could relay the whole story. He spoke quickly, describing the events of the evening leading up to them seeking out Snape. "So you see; we have to tell Dumbledore then figure out how to get into the chamber. And then figure out a way to confront the heir without him killing his hostage," Harry finished.
"I think our concerns are more immediate than that." Snape countered. "There is no time to delay, nor, I think, is it wise to involve any more people than necessary."
"I promised the twins I'd let them in on whatever I 'got up to' this year."
"So break your promise." Snape retorted.
"I can't do that!" Harry protested.
"Yes, you can. Your integrity does you credit. But even you must realize that a promise that would harm someone you value is not necessarily worth keeping. There are times, when it is more honorable to break one's word, than to keep it."
"Well, I told them to meet us in Myrtle's bathroom anyways. So it's too late now."
"You may come to regret that." Snape stood smoothly, and led them towards the door. "But that is neither here nor there. We must make haste."
"Where are we going then?" Pansy asked. "To Dumbledore's office?"
"To the lavatory on the second floor." Snape replied.
"But what about Dumbledore?"
"He will be told, but time is of the essence. Your classmate's fate, perhaps her very life may depend on how quickly you arrive. Or do you wish to tempt fate, Mister Potter?" He raised one sardonic eyebrow.
"No, we'll do it your way." Harry begrudgingly agreed.
They climbed the stairs, up to the second floor, and Harry followed Snape's unhesitating gait into the bathroom. "Where do we start?" Harry asked.
"I was going to ask you that." Snape replied.
"Oh, I…" Harry looked all around the room, turning in a small circle. He had no idea where to begin, except. "It's using the plumbing, we think."
"A basilisk its size could use some of the plumbing." Snape agreed. "But the question remains, how is it getting in and out of the pipes?"
"You know how big it is?" Harry blinked.
"We know how old it is." Snape replied, "Basilisks continue to grow as they age, and no one has ever recorded a basilisk as old as this one."
"Then there must be a secret passage. The… 'door' to the chamber of secrets."
"I agree." Snape looked around. "It's probably marked, however subtly. Salazar Slytherin was nothing if not dramatic."
"There!" Pansy pointed at the sinks in the middle of the room. Harry and Snape both moved to observe what she'd found. There was an etching of a snake on the side of one of the faucets. "This one doesn't work. Has never worked."
"A good find." Snape agreed.
Harry tried to turn the knob, but Snape chided him, "If opening the door were as simple as turning the handle, the chamber would have been discovered by every girl who'd ever used this lavatory."
"Then why did the heir think I could get into… because I'm a parselmouth!" Harry gasped.
"A commendable theory." Snape smiled at him. Actually smiled.
Harry focused on the image of the snake, thinking it would help him slip into parseltongue, and tried to think of what kind of snake-language password might be used to open a secret door. Well, there was the obvious, "Open." He hissed out, and to his surprise, it worked.
The sink began to descend down into the floor, and the other sinks drew away from the large hole that had now been exposed, leading right into the largest pipe Harry had ever seen.
"Stupefus Maxima!" Harry turned in horror to see a red beam shoot from their teacher's wand and hit Pansy squarely in her surprised face. The next moment, she slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"What are you doing?!" Harry started to draw his wand on Snape, but the potions master leveled his own on Harry before he could get it unsheathed.
"What is necessary, Potter. I said before, the fewer people involved, the better. She will be safer here, than down in the chamber. And your friends will be along shortly to make certain she remains safe."
"But… you didn't have to stun her!" Harry insisted.
"Yes, I did. And I must also erase her memory of the last hour to further protect her." Harry didn't know what he could do to stop Snape as he quickly cast the very memory charm he'd saved Harry from earlier in the year, "Now, there is much to be done. I will explain as we descend."
"I won't leave her here alone."
"You will. You should not have involved her in the first place. The heir said to come alone, and you shall present yourself alone."
"You're not coming with me?" Harry's voice quavered.
"Do not jump to conclusions, Mister Potter." Snape raised his wand over his head, and chanted,"Covrir." And in the next instant, vanished.
"Professor?" Harry looked around in some confusion.
"A disillusionment charm." He explained, "Now, let us go down, and I will tell you how this will play out."
Harry wanted to argue, but knew it would do no good. So he turned with a frustrated sigh, and lowered himself into the pipe as far as his arms would reach, then let go. He slid down into the blackness, the slimy pipe acting like an extended waterslide. He could barely make out smaller pipes branching off, and he thought he could hear Snape sliding down somewhere behind him.
He lost all sense of direction, but knew they were far below even the lowest dungeon in the castle when the pipe finally leveled out, and he shot out of the end onto a damp dirt floor, in some sort of cavern, deep beneath the earth.
Harry stood quickly and got out of the way before Snape could land on him. And as soon as he heard his head of house emerge somewhere in the dark chamber, he growled grumpily into the gloom, "Now what?"
"Now, Potter, we find out why Tom Riddle has asked for you to come here alone, instead of simply killing his hostage, whoever she may be."
"Tom?" Harry gasped, but was quick to catch on to what Snape had said. "Tom is the Heir of Slytherin? That's why you wanted to know about the diary? But you said the culprit was never caught, so how do you know…?"
"Because of whom he became later." Snape's disembodied voice told him. " 'Tom Marvolo Riddle', is an anagram for 'I am Lord Voldemort'. Dumbledore is one of the few people who knew him before he became the greatest sorcerer of all time, and one of the few who linked the Dark Lord with the boy, Tom, who'd attended Hogwarts years before. He's entrusted this knowledge only to a select few. And now I am entrusting you with the knowledge as well. However, you probably should not let on to Tom how much you know, or suspect."
"The diary!" Harry gasped out loud as another piece of the puzzle slammed into place. "That's what he's been using to possess people. That's how he possessed me! I had it with me that night. But then the attacks stopped… because Seamus stole the diary, thinking it was mine."
"When did you learn he had it?" Snape asked, his voice moving further ahead. Harry trotted to catch up.
"Just today. Fred and George told me this morning. And, he has been going on for weeks about having some method of unmasking me as the heir. But, he threw the diary into the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Could the diary still be possessing people after it was burned?"
"I rather doubt an ordinary fire could so easily damage such an insidious object."
"Oh, I hadn't thought about that." Harry admitted. "So… it can't be burned?"
"We are discussing an object capable of concealing a portion of the Dark Lord's personality within it. That presence is potent enough to possess someone. It is no doubt potent enough to protect itself from most means of attack. But that is of secondary concern as to what awaits us in the chamber. We must overcome Tom and his pet before we can rid the world of his diary."
"I suppose so." Harry sighed. "So what do we do now? How are we supposed to fight something that can kill you by looking at you?"
"Strategy, Mister Potter." Snape sounded pleased. "And surprise. Tom does not know I will be with you, nor does he realize how much you know, or how capable you've become. But be on your guard. Tom would not have summoned you here if he simply wanted you dead. He wants something from you, and you may be able to use that to your advantage."
And with that, Snape began to explain, in low tones, what they must do if they were to succeed. He also enumerated on several contingency plans that they might need if parts of their main strategy went awry. Harry paid rapt attention, knowing their lives were on the line, along with the life of a girl who'd been taken as bait.
After entering yet another door using the password 'Open' in parseltongue, Harry found himself walking along a large hall. It was a dimly lit room whose ceiling was hidden in the darkness. Snake motifs were everywhere, as he crept between rows of columns. His own footsteps echoed loudly, but he did not hear Snape's at all. He trusted Snape, to a point, but it was still nerve wracking that all of his senses told him he was alone.
At the end of the hall was a towering statue, probably of Salazar Slytherin himself, and Harry's gaze followed it up into the blackness, and then back down to spy a still form on the floor at the statue's feet. She was wearing Hogwarts robes, and had bright red hair.
He took a quick look around once more, but spotted no sign of the basilisk, or its master.
He moved forward quickly, but cautiously, and knelt down next to the body. "Ginny?!" He gasped, recognizing the youngest Weasley at close range. She was cold to the touch, and much too pale, her freckles standing in sharp relief against her clammy skin. But her eyes were closed, which meant she hadn't been petrified. Then Harry spotted Tom Riddle's diary a short distance away, and he moved to pick it up.
"Not so fast." Came a soft pleasant voice, not at all what Harry was expecting. Tom was standing next to a pillar, with the diary in between him and Harry. In his hand was Ginny's wand, pointed straight at Harry's chest.
Harry slowly got to his feet while examining this younger version of Voldemort. He was indistinct, with the edges of his frame blurred as if he wasn't fully formed. But Harry could see that he was tall for a sixteen year old, with straight black hair that framed his blue eyes. His features were overall handsome, with a deceptively friendly smile, and eyes that seemed to invite confidence and trust. Harry could see why so many had been seduced by his charm. He wore Hogwarts robes with the Slytherin crest, but the cut of the robes was a little different than what Harry was used to seeing, a bit old fashioned, perhaps.
"Why did you summon me here, Tom?" Harry asked in as level a voice as he could muster. "I've come as you asked; you should let her go now." He gestured to Ginny lying next to his feet.
"I don't think so. But I must admit I am surprised that you came alone. I expected you would bring your lackey Malfoy at the very least."
"I thought about it." Harry admitted, wishing more than anything that he could just level his wand at Tom and be done with it. But Snape had warned him against trying to fight Tom directly.
"As to why I summoned you, there are so many questions I have for you. For starters, how long have you known I was the Heir of Slytherin?"
Harry pretended nonchalance, "I've always known, since I first found your diary."
"Hmm, you're lying, but I can forgive you that lie." Harry mentally cursed himself. He'd forgotten that Voldemort was supposed to be an accomplished legilimens, though if he were honest he hadn't expected this younger version of Tom to possess the same skill. "I can't decide which is more surprising to me. The fact that you, as an infant, were able to defeat the most powerful sorcerer in the world, or that like me, you are a parselmouth, capable of finding and opening the Chamber of Secrets, and even testing my control over Salazar's pet. I wonder if we might not be related?"
"It's possible." This time Harry tried hard to focus, and shield his mind as Snape had taught him. He remembered at the last second not to close his eyes, but it was trickier to act as if nothing was happening inside his head with his eyes open. He concentrated on the feel of the wind in his face, of the sunlight above the quidditch field; there were no sounds to distract him, nothing but him, and the snitch. It appeared to be working, as Tom didn't seem to perceive any deception from him when he continued. "I don't really know how it happened. All I know is that my mother died protecting me."
"A willing sacrifice? I suppose that might do the trick, though hardly an uncommon trick." Tom sneered, and the look was extremely out of place on his handsome face. "Why don't we see just how alike you and I really are?" He added, gesturing to the still form of Ginny Weasley lying beside Harry. "I brought her here to test you. I see much of myself in you, and you've presented a unique mystery and challenge for me, just as I have presented to you. But all I need to know is this…
"She is a blood traitor, and a whining boor. Kill her, and the two of us can finish what I started half a century ago."
"One thing I still don't understand," Harry said quickly, to buy himself a little time. "Is how you managed it all." He shifted, hoping to draw and ready his wand hidden by the folds of his robe, focusing all his will on concealing his intentions, "It was really clever, concealing part of yourself in that Diary. Last time you opened the chamber, you killed a muggleborn, and I get that you have possessed people – like you tried to possess me – to make them open the chamber for you, and write your message on the wall. But, how did you get your diary to the school? And how did you find out about me? You acted like you didn't know me when I first wrote in your diary, but you did, didn't you? And how come you didn't try to possess Seamus? It must have taken some very careful planning, and powerful magic. I doubt many people but Lord Voldemort could have pulled it all off."
Tom had seemed mildly annoyed at first, but when Harry mentioned his older self's name, he grinned widely, and laughed, a high echoing laugh. "You're cleverer than even I gave you credit for." He said at last. "You've figured out who I truly am. Do you know why I made myself a new name?" Harry shook his head. "Riddle, was the name of my filthy muggle father. I, the Heir of Slytherin, couldn't be expected to keep a muggle name, now could I? As to how I did it, this sniveling girl here was simply the first to open my diary, and write in it. She was such a bore, writing all her eleven year old dreams and angst. But I was patient. I wrote back. And I charmed her, just as I do everyone else I ever need to use. After a month or so, I was able to take control of her, and attack that squib's annoying cat. After that, things got easier. But Ginny began to suspect what was happening, and she tried to get rid of me by flushing me down the toilet in the girl's lavatory. But then, you picked me up. The very person I was most eager to meet."
"Me?" Harry's brow furrowed, and he tightened his grip on his wand, glancing around, wondering why Snape hadn't made his move yet.
"Isn't it obvious? You figured out who I am, and I was curious about you. I wanted to meet the person who would defeat my future self. Ginny told me all about you, how she admired you, and wondered if you would ever even notice her. And the more I learned about you, the 'curioser' I became. You are not some champion as Ginny seemed to believe, but a cunning Slytherin prodigy, just like me. We even share a similar parentage, as we both have a muggle born parent tainting our blood. We're probably the only two parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Salazar himself. You intrigue me, Harry.
"But you've presented an obstacle to me as well. I never expected you to be able to match wills with me the way you did. I wanted to study you more then, but when your teachers decided you were to learn occlumency, I knew I needed to move on. I lured that Irish dullard to steal me, and then, I waited. When the time was right, I abandoned him too, and it was Ginny who once again picked me up, afraid of who might learn her secrets if she didn't. But my hold over her was already complete. It was a simple matter to take her and bring her here. But I no longer need her. I have grown strong enough to sustain myself.
"Which brings us back to the present. Prove you are a true Slytherin, and kill her."
Harry glanced down at Ginny one more time, holding the image of the fluttering snitch in his mind's eye. He raised his wand, his hand surprisingly steady, but then he spun and leveled it at Tom.
"Expelli…" But Harry never finished his spell. Tom gestured with his borrowed wand, and Harry's was thrown from his hand.
"You disappoint me, Potter." Harry clutched his hand where it had been stung by Riddle's wordless spell.
"You would have made an invaluable ally. But no matter. This time, there's no one to save you." He raised Ginny's wand over his head, and began to chant, "Avada…"
But a red light streaked out from the middle of the air and struck Tom's hand, disarming him as neatly as he'd disarmed Harry.
"So you brought a friend afterall!" Tom said as he ducked behind the pillar out of sight, and his next words were spoken in a sibilant hiss, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
Harry heard stone grinding high above him, and looked upwards to see the mouth of the great statue opening, and something uncoiling from within its depths. Harry had no time to go retrieve his wand. Instead, he concentrated on the snake, as it began to lower itself towards the ground, "In the name of Slytherin, return to your slumber!" he shouted in parseltongue.
The basilisk paused, its tongue tasting the air as it glanced first at Tom's hiding place, then towards Harry. Harry quickly averted his gaze, as Tom shouted, "Kill him, and the spare."
Harry dashed towards his fallen wand, hearing the huge serpent slither after him. A sudden blast of heated air hit him in the back, and a booming explosion echoed above Harry's head. The basilisk screeched, rearing back in pain, and Harry almost missed his wand as he half fell to his knees, then spun around, careful not to look up and meet it's gaze. "Retreat! Or you will be punished." He shouted, repeating a few of the lines he and Snape had rehearsed on the way down.
Once more, the creature hesitated, and Harry used that moment to get to his feet and dash back across the room towards the pillar where Tom had taken cover.
"Stop him! He attacks your master!" The serpent started to give chase again, and Harry was forced to dodge behind another pillar. Deadly fangs snapped a few feet away from his sleeve as he moved just out of reach. Then the dim illumination erupted into an orange inferno. Fire streaked through the air, and the basilisk backed quickly away from this new threat, the scent of charred scales hit Harry's nose and almost made him gag.
"Fiend fire?!" Tom gasped. "No twelve year old could summon fiend fire, no matter how pure their blood! You brought a teacher with you, Harry?! How droll. But I will defeat you both."
Harry looked up, seeing the fire raging through the air. It seemed to him that it tried to move one way, then was pushed back the other. He glanced towards Tom to see him using Ginny's wand to struggle for control of Snape's spell.
But Harry had a new plan. He just hoped thinking on his feet wouldn't disrupt the coordination between himself and the Potions Master. He dashed back across the hall, this time aiming for the body of Ginny Weasley. Only at the last second did he turn aside to grab up the diary, next to the statue's giant toes, instead.
"Stop!" Tom's voice was eerily muffled next to the roaring of the fiend fire.
Harry turned once more and drew his arm back, ready to hurl the diary into the flames Snape had conjured, but he stopped short as he found himself looking into the eyes of Ginny Weasley, who now stood in front of him, barring his path.
"I'll kill her." She said, her voice sounding distant, her expression dazed. "Give me the diary, or I'll kill this blood traitor right in front of you. I'll throw her into the fire. Her death will be on your hands."
"It would be on yours!" Harry spat, but he still didn't move, just held onto the diary, frozen with indecision.
A burst of green sparks appeared in the fiend fire overhead. It was a signal. Snape wanted Harry to act now, to destroy the diary.
Harry was torn, but he didn't allow himself to remain paralyzed with his hesitation. He held the diary out towards Ginny. But when she grabbed hold of it and began tugging, Harry tugged right back, pulling her slight body away from the hungry flames and wrapping his arms tightly around her.
The red-haired girl struggled; kicking Harry's shin, and tried to twist around to get a hold of the diary. When that didn't work, she bit Harry's forearm hard, and – crying out – he finally dropped the book, along with his wand.
Harry shoved Ginny towards his wand, and, triumphant, she fumbled it into her hands, scraping her knees, and then turned just as Harry kicked the diary from the ground up into the hungry flames.
Ginny's scream was painful to the ears, as she threw her head back and wailed. She fell to one side and began to thrash her limbs against the floor like she was having a fit. Harry grabbed hold of her again, this time trying to protect her from hurting herself, and earned an elbow in the face, and a few other bruises for his efforts. After a short eternity, her struggles grew weaker, and a dark silver mist rose from her open mouth, spiraled towards the ceiling, and gradually faded into nothing. Then Ginny collapsed, limp in Harry's arms.
Author's Comments: Well there it is, the final confrontation. This chapter was at once very enjoyable to write, and also very trying. I made so many revisions that parts of it are unrecognizable from my original draft. But, I think all the work and strain was worth it, in the end, as I think this last scene flowed very well. It may be my best scene yet, in many ways, but I'll let you, my readers, be the judge.
I had only one guest review that I could not reply to directly since my last chapter, and it kind of confuses me. It reads: "I dont think youre portraying slytherin correctly anyways. theyre supposed to be cunning and ambitious. harry is none of that in your fic. you play him just a bit smarter and a little sappier. there is no shrewdness that a slytherin should have. so on that note, you fail. still, not a bad fic."
I honestly don't know if I can address this very well.
The one thing I can say, and I hope this answers the issue, is explain why I've written Harry the way I have: First off, everyone is changed by their experiences and their environment. Just look at the people Harry associated with when he was in Gryffindor. Do you honestly think Hermione would have been anything but a book worm/teacher's pet/straight arrow if she hadn't become friends with Harry? Or how about Ron? He rebelled against becoming any of his older brothers. He didn't want to be Perfect Percy, nor did he want to be the Mischeivous Twins, so he ended up becoming a kind of lazy boy who didn't want to stand out much at all if he couldn't stand out in his own unique way. Harry provided the catalyst for him to become his own person. I've tried to do the same thing with Harry in Slytherin. A core concept for my story is the idea that Harry is the same person, but that events have altered the course of his fate, putting him in a different environment which in turn changes him over time. Harry was always cunning and ambitious, that's why the hat told him in the original book that he would do well in Slytherin. I've tried to have those traits become more and more prominent, but the story also takes its cues from Harry's perspective, and the other Slytherins are portrayed from that same perspective. So not only are they being changed by Harry being one of them, but they are also seen in a different light by Harry, and by extension, the readers. They, hopefully, are still shown as being cunning, and ambitious, and prejudiced, but not as nasty seeing as Harry lacks the Gryffindor bias towards them, and thus, sees them in a better light.
Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing, and hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just one more chapter till the end of Harry's second year now.
Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.