Chapter 21: The Slytherin Chambers
Everyone ran to where Becca was shouting from. She sounded excited and awed at the same time. When they approached the doorway, they cautiously entered the double doors that were carved with all kinds of snakes slithering one on top of the over. The snakes that were carved into the wooden oak doors appeared to be moving slightly, but not enough to be sure that is what you were really seeing. The room was at least eight meters high and was floor to ceiling bookshelves on three sides of the room. There was a fireplace on the other wall, but larger than any fireplace they had ever seen. It was almost four meters long and two meters high. Severus looked at it and decided it must be designed to accommodate the large snake so that she could get her massive body warm in front of the fire when it was cold. The room itself was huge, not just the height but the floor space had to be ten or twelve meters square. All in all it looked like you could almost fit all of Gryffindor tower in the massive room.
The books were of every shape, size and language. Some of the languages long forgotten and their secrets probably would never be released again. When they went into the next room, there was a large bed and upon the bed was another snake. This one was about half the size of the mother they were dissecting in the other chamber and it was draped off the bed and part of it was lying on the floor. Severus quickly pulled Harry away from the room and told the others to stay away. They did not know if the snake was alive or dead given the preservation charms in this area but Severus was taking no chances with his mate. Even though he was alive and well, Harry had almost died and it would take Severus a little more time to fully adjust to the realization that the young man was going to be alright.
Harry then spoke to First Born to see if he knew who the other snake was. First Born replied. "This must be our Father. He was about five hundred years younger than our mother. He was an egg that hatched after Slytherin had left for many years. The evil student killed him to gain control of mother the second time he was here. Together they could fight him using their combined magic, but after he died Mother couldn't continue and the bad student gained control. There have never been any other great snakes in these chambers. He would have been preserved with the rest of this area. If you can, you should cut his flesh into useful parts just as you did mother. They were both devoted to her original master that would have wanted some of his potion research to continue. It would have honored them to know they helped the magic world even in death."
Harry explained to the others that didn't understand parsletongue what First Born had said. They were sorry that the younglings had suffered so much in what was essentially the same war that had taken the lives of many of their own families. They decided to leave the snake where it was for now and continue to look around the other rooms to see what else was there. Doc and one of the other healers walked into a room that had two leather couches and two matching chairs in front of two rows of six mirrors each. Doc shouted out to the others to come and see this as it seemed strange that the furniture would have been placed in front of a bunch of mirrors so you could look at yourself.
All of the other adults came into the room and were standing in front of the dozen mirrors wondering why they were there. Each mirror was three meters tall and a half meter wide and all were hung one right after the other coming into the corner so six were on one wall and six on the other making a corner of the room. The furniture was facing the corner and far enough back to give you a view of all the mirrors at one time. Harry was talking to Severus under his breath. "Wow, looks like your house founder was a little vain, huh Sev? How could anyone like looking at himself that much? I wonder what he thought the first mirror would show him that the second one wouldn't."
Severus who had been wondering the same thing suddenly looked like he had a revelation and turned back at Harry after contemplating the mirrors in front of him for a few minutes. "Harry, tell the mirrors to reveal, maybe they are charmed to see something but only with a password."
Harry looked at the mirrors and said in his sibilant language "reveal" but when nothing happened he tried again, "show me." That did it, suddenly as if someone hit a remote control to a muggle television they came to life and the occupants of the room were looking at different places in the castle. The Great Hall, each of the common rooms, the headmaster's office, the headmaster's living quarters and what everyone presumed to be the other founder's living quarters that were currently empty, there was also the room where the basilisk they had been dissecting lay and the astronomy tower. As they were watching the various different rooms of the castle, they saw the headmaster come into his office slamming doors and stomping around like he was in a towering rage. Harry wished he could hear what was going on then got another idea, "sound." He hissed to the mirror of the headmaster's office. Suddenly the sound in the room was clear and they could hear the old man mumbling to himself. He went over to Fawkes' cage and shouted at him.
"Well you are probably happy at least. I can't find Harry or Severus, we have been thrown out of Grimmauld place and everyone has gone to visit their families or have gone on vacation somewhere. All of my plans are now ruined and I don't know how to get them back. On top of that, the brat of a kid locked me out of his vaults. I can't even get to any money and I have to pay the Weasleys their last installment for Harry sitting this year and get their summer plans in order. They want to go to Egypt again this holiday and I told them Harry would pay for the trip again. Things could not be worse. If only I knew where Severus has gone, he doesn't usually take a vacation. Perhaps Voldemort called him; he sometimes did before the first time he attacked the brat and lost his body. When school would end he needed Severus to brew potions for the death eaters." The headmaster stomped around the room a few times before more of his vitriol came forth.
"I bet you are just loving this aren't you Fawkes? You feel that justice is served, that I should not have done that to Harry, to use his money to stop the war? You would like to be free wouldn't you Fawkes? I can't risk you finding a way to tell Harry or some of the other order members about what I do. The chains that keep you here will not release until I let them or I die. You have too much information to be let loose. Perhaps I should find a way to get rid of you altogether, and then I wouldn't have to worry about it." The trouble was that Fawkes was a phoenix and if they died they came back so the magnificent bird was trapped by chains. The man continued to rant in the same vein of context.
It was during this tirade that Harry suddenly understood why Becca had said something about two Dark Lords or Evil Lords. He also understood that there was a huge difference between dark, light and evil. The intent of the person was everything. A hate for what the old man had done to so many in this war came crashing down in his heart and he let out an anguished cry not even remembering there were other people in the room that had heard the headmaster say those things too.
Harry could not stop the tears from falling, his heart broken for all the people that Dumbledore had manipulated in his life. Poor Fawkes, he saved the young savior's life in second year and Harry had a special place in his heart for the phoenix, and being in the chamber had reminded him of what he owed the bird. Severus hearing the distressed young man crossed the three or four meters to reach his side and speak to his mate but when he arrived he saw the silent tears streaming down Harry's face. Ignoring the dirt and grime that covered them both, he pulled his lover into his arms and held him to help ease some of his pain.
Harry stayed there until his tears subsided and then turned to Severus stuttering badly, "Ss severus, we c ccan't leave Fawkes there. H he s ssaved my life in s second year. We h h have to s sa save him." Harry held onto the older man even tighter as he spoke. He was so torn up inside at the plight of the magnificent bird. He was shaking so much; Severus thought his lover was going into shock. Possibly this excursion to the chambers was much too soon given his condition yesterday. He knew they were under some time constraints. Even time travel had to have an open window and it didn't stay open very long. He hoped Harry was going to be alright. He would have to watch him closely and make sure his young lover didn't over exert himself.
"Harry, I don't know how we would do that. If there are magical chains on the bird, we would have to research how to remove them. It may take more time than we actually have. I don't understand all there is to know about time travel and I certainly have not come across some of the magics that Becca knows about. Let's get the rest of the things packed here and talk to her. We need to break soon for dinner and I know she probably has not eaten and she needs to take better care of herself.
"Don't worry about Becca, she was snacking on something as we were going around the tunnels to find the skins, and she was sure to have the elves pack the skins too, she didn't lift anything." Harry assured his mate. "What are we going to do with the other Basilisk carcass?"
"I don't know." Severus answered. "I think we need to see what else we need to accomplish and what we want to accomplish. We may not be able to do everything we want to do."
As Severus and Harry spoke softly together in a secluded corner the others were still listening to the soliloquy of the enraged Headmaster Dumbledore.
"All my plans ruined!" Dumbledore was shouting to no one in particular. "All the training in Voodoo rituals and body and mind transference. All the waiting, fifty years of it waiting for the right person. Waiting for the right student to come. All these years as headmaster wasted looking for the one student I could control and then keep a virgin until his seventeenth birthday; one that had money and prestige." Albus started muttering unintelligibly and then started shouting again.
"I even had those kids try to detain Harry so we could feed him the love potion to fall for Ginny. Even the potion would not have let him have sex; my spells should have prevented that. I don't understand why they didn't. When I figured out Harry was gay, I couldn't have that. When I would finally be able to take over his body, I was going to have the pleasure of teaching the little Weasley chit how to really please a master. Appearances must be kept and the public would expect Harry to marry and have children. I wanted to see her as she screamed in pain and I would have had a couple of male lovers to entertain me as well after she conceived. The family is known for having many children and I would have controlled one of the largest families in the wizarding world. I would have had control of the whole Weasley family as long as I just let her play Lady Potter in society. I could have done anything I wanted. The Potter brat has property, money and fame and I would have been a king in the wizarding world."
The others watched in fascinated horror as the old manipulative coot stomped in his office, continuing to rant. "I could have ruled the Ministry with the youth I wanted and still have found a way to quickly work my current titles into the mix. When my old body died with Harry's mind and soul in it I could have willed my power to the body of the Potter brat and been supreme. People would have worshiped me and made me Minister of Magic." His ranting started to slow down and he looked at Fawkes with an evil glint in his eye. "All may not be lost yet; all I need to do is find the brat and detain him in the dungeons. Severus wouldn't mind, he has hated the boy for years."
Upon hearing this Becca looked at her two favorite men quietly speaking in the corner, she was sure they had not heard the rest of the rant after Harry broke down about Fawkes. She motioned for the others to keep this scene to themselves and not say anything about it. Of course, she would have to tell them sooner or later, but Harry had been through enough without hearing about this and the information was not crucial to their mission.
It was decided that they could actually spend the night there in the chambers. Dumbledore had never had access to these chambers and after Harry and Becca went through the tunnels closing off access, so no one could leave or enter without parsletongue passwords. They found three other bedrooms not including the one the snake was in. There was another sitting room as well as the library they walked into first and the room of mirrors. The house elves brought food for dinner and anything else they needed. Originally the elves could not gain access to this section of the castle, but it seemed that once it was opened and there were other people that could call on them, they had no trouble popping in and out from the kitchens or anywhere else in the castle.
Each bedroom had a bathroom and there was a full bathroom off the library as well. This let them take showers and get clean so all they had to do was change into the clean clothes Severus had told them to pack. Their evening was spent in the library looking at the various tomes on the shelves and the vast amount of lost information sitting in there. It was like a treasure hunt that paid off. The other healers even found sections of tomes that were written in their other creature language and were able to understand some of the titles to the books there.
The house elves brought down enough extra beds and bedding so everyone would be comfortable. Some of the healers had to double up in the bedrooms but Severus and Harry had their own bedroom and were snuggled down falling asleep after their hot shower and supper; completely exhausted from the activities of the day.
It was very early in the morning and Harry was surrounded by heat. Wonderful and glorious heat, with comfort and love infused into that heat. It encircled his entire being and he snuggled into it until the heat under his cheek moved. The movement was alive and the beat was the beat of a heart calling to him to be strong, to live and survive, and to love it back. As he little by little came out of his slumber, he realized he was practically on top of Severus with both of the older man's arms around him, holding him close. It was a wonderful way to wake up and he hoped he could wake up like this for the remainder of his life. He settled down again and went back to sleep.
"Sleep for now, my Harry." Severus whispered to the young man. "Today will bring even more adventures." The older man promised as he watched First Born curl up on the headboard of the bed and hiss, then dropped his head as if in sleep also.
*A/N Today, most dictionaries define "moot" as either "debatable" or "irrelevant." In the United States, the predominant meaning is "irrelevant." In Britain , it's "debatable." Since I am from the United States I am using this word as irrelevant..com/blog/2006/10/moot
One meter = 3.2808399 feet