Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

AN:

Lol about the Hetalia comments. I've heard about it but I've never watched it, but if you guys say it's bad then I won't ;)

Answering some questions, yes, everything portrayed in the last chapters is true. I always like to make my fics as realistic as possible, and especially this one, when Tom and Harry are living during one of the harshest times of modern history.

It all happened: the sirens placed all around big cities, all the places that were turned into air raid shelters, the Blackout, the rationing of food, the identity cards and gas masks given, the paintings of London's National Gallery being taken away and the like from museums, and the evacuation of children and others from major cities, the first one being on August 31st 1939, the one Harry and Tom experienced.

From what I know, evacuees that were taken to the countryside lived through very rough conditions. And by the end of the war, 3.5 million people in England, mainly children, had experienced evacuation.

On another note, for those who have asked, Part 2 of this fic will not come until Part 1 is done. I don't know yet if I'll be writing and posting some Part 2 chapters mingled with those future ones of Part 1, to give us a glimpse of what will come. Anyway, the full extended Part 2 will come later.

But everything that happens in Part 1 is deeply linked to what will happen in Part 2, so I wouldn't recommend skipping chapters until Part 2 appears, because if not you will not understand a thing.

In Part 2, I will not waste time rehashing the past, I'll assume you've read Part 1 because if not it would be like writing the whole fic again in backflashes. And I'm not going to do that, sorry.

Oh, and thanks to the reviewer who pointed out my mistakes when using 'Tom and he/him'. I always had doubts which one was the correct form. 'Tom and he' has always sounded strange to me for some reason, but you're right that it should be 'Tom and he' when the boys are the subject of the sentence, and 'Tom and him' when they are the object. Though I'll be using 'he and Tom' in the first case, because it just sounds better to me than 'Tom and he' when in the middle of a sentence. And the I/me trick helped too – thanks ^_^

If this mistake is something that has bothered many readers, then let me know and I'll fix it in all past chapters!

Part I: Chapter 35

Harry caught sight of Tom precisely where he had expected his brother to be: ensconced in one shadowy corner of Hogwarts' library, at a table filled with neatly stacked up books.

He dashed towards him, and when he reached Tom, he glanced around, making sure there was no one close by, before he leaned forward and whispered quietly, "I want you to find a way to disable our Traces, at least for a couple of hours if not entirely, without the Ministry finding out."

Tom quirked an eyebrow at him, as he drawled arrogantly, "I'm already looking into that, little brother."

And he pointedly gestured at all the books orderly set on his table, half of them probably having come from the Restricted Section.

"Good," said Harry, straightening up as he curtly nodded at him.

Though he knew his brother wasn't working on the issue for the same reasons he had.

During the second week of school, Tom had found books under his pillow once more: Grindelwald's Durmstrang textbooks on the Dark Arts, levels 3 and 4.

Tom had been giddy with excitement, while Harry had groused out, "We aren't even done with Level Two from last year. How are we supposed to be done with all of them this year when we can't even go to the Dueling Arena? The older Slytherins are keeping a close eye on the younger years, even more than before!"

"We have to find someplace else in which we can practice dark curses," Tom had said, with a frown on his face. "Perhaps somewhere on the grounds of Hogwarts-"

"No," had interjected Harry firmly. "The new wards of the school extend over the whole grounds and even the Forbidden Forest. And they have similar Ancient Runes as the older wards of Hogwarts – so it's clear that they can also detect the use of illegal dark curses."

Tom had stared at him with a smidgen of surprise. "You can see the new wards?"

"Yes," Harry had said calmly, no longer feeling miffed about it. "Apparently, my ability is getting stronger. I'm beginning to see every bit of magic that is powerful."

Especially the new wards, that glowed like burning fires to his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Tom at present, piercing him with narrowed eyes, a glint of curiosity in them.

"I'm taking a leaf out of your book," retorted Harry coolly. "I'm teaching myself useful things. Ancient Runes – and Healing."

And with that, he left for another part of the library, not sticking around to hear his brother's opinion on the latter matter.

After what he had lived through during the holidays – the distress and constant fear and panic in London and of the people he cared about in the orphanage, and specially the brutal carnage of the destruction of Leisure Alley– he had made a firm decision that night when they had returned from Diagon, which involved many things.

The evacuation he had experienced and returning to Hogwarts had only solidified his determination, as if a blind had been ripped from his eyes.

The students had had their Daily Prophets in the Hogwarts Express, with the news of what had happened to Leisure Alley. Thus, during the Sorting of the new first years, most had barely paid attention to it.

Not even Harry, because he was occupied with the understanding that dawned on him.

Students were horrified and scared by the news, as expected, but swiftly, Gryffindors started glaring at Slytherins from across the Great Hall, and harsh whispers began, as Slytherins sneered and other Houses bristled.

And the rivalry between Houses that had seemed to him so serious last year, suddenly became stupid to his eyes.

So what if dark purebloods usually ended up in Slytherin House, and historically, they had supported Dark Lords? His housemates were the children of Grindelwald's supporters in England, if anything, not the enemy themselves. Yet students acted as if Hogwarts was the whole world, given the renewed surge of quarrels that seemed so petty to him now.

They had read the Daily Prophet and seen the pictures of what was left of Leisure Alley, but it didn't seem as if they actually understood.

They hadn't experienced the panic in London, the frenzied stress and fear permeating all around when the sirens blared alerting a possible air raid, they hadn't seen people dying in the debris of Leisure Alley, and the pandemonium of the evacuation of children from London and the wretchedness it had caused.

Harry had.

It didn't make him feel more experienced, knowledgeable, hardened or superior, just very wary and aware, as if he had harshly woken up from a fantasy, from the sense of seclusion and protection that Hogwarts gave, and seen reality in all its gritty ugliness.

He didn't know whether to pity the other students or himself, at that. He didn't dwell much on the matter, either way.

Harry considered himself to be in the midst of war, and he took it seriously and was never again going to feel so unprepared as that day in Leisure Alley.

Furthermore, all the things that had happened during the first term of their second year reinforced his decision.

Two days after the beginning of class, they had received Daily Prophets that reported Grindelwald's newest attack. The Dark Lord had conquered Poland, employing the same methods as in Czechoslovakia.

The only difference was that no one had gone to the Poles' aid.

After the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic had lost their Head Auror, Mr. Valko Krum, along with their entire Corps of Aurors when they had flooed into the Czechoslovakian Ministry to help them out, all the other Ministries of Magic were too scared to do the same for Poland.

The front page of the Daily Prophet had been filled with pictures of the attack, like last time. And there had only been a tiny article at one margin, written as if it was an afterthought, reporting that after the 'Nazy' occupation of Poland, Muggle Britain and France had declared war on Germany.

The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, had formed a War Cabinet, naming 'a funny-looking muggle by the name of Winston Church' –the Daily Prophet hadn't even spelled the man's surname right– as First Lord of the Admiralty, which 'for some unknown reason seems to make English muggles very happy'.

Days later, it reported that the Muggle Royal Air Force had begun raiding German ships and that their British Expeditionary Force had crossed to France. And apparently, wanting to seek help, Neville Chamberlain had asked the portrait in his office if he could see the Minister of Magic.

Harry had sadly shaken his head when he had read that. No one had answered Chamberlain's request or paid him a visit. There was turmoil, havoc, and mayhem in Ministry of Magic, after what had happened to Leisure Alley.

The Wizengamot had cast a vote of no-confidence against Charlemagne McLaggen, the wizard being discharged from his post, fully stripped away from any privileges.

Harry had expected to see the wizard's grandson, the pompous Ravenclaw prat of his year, Tiberius McLaggen, shamed and with shoulders slumped.

Instead, he had seen the boy boasting to Olive Hornby and her entourage of girl friends.

"He is not a McLaggen anymore," Tiberius had blustered, puffing out his chest. "He has dishonored the family and Father has disowned him from our name, our vaults, and estates."

It had been the Prewett twins who had further clarified matters to him and informed him about Charlemagne's fate.

"Well, I've never liked him much," said Felicity in a soft voice, cringing, "but to be betrayed by his own family…"

"When he saw how the winds were blowing," piped in Felix, lowering his voice to a secretive murmur, his mismatched eyes gleaming with the excitement of revealing to Harry the nasty events, "the poor sod passed onto his son the title of Head of the McLaggen Clan. Thought it would be best, to spare his family." He winked at Harry and snickered. "But I bet he wasn't expecting that the first thing Tiberius' dad would do was to disown him!"

"Oh, it's terrible! Don't laugh!" snapped Felicity at her twin, scowling. She shot Harry an anxious glance, as she added quietly, "It's really the worst thing that can be done to a pureblood wizard. He's been left with nothing!"

Felix carelessly waved a hand. "He got what he deserved, in my view." He leaned towards Harry, and added animatedly, "Father says that Charlemagne has left the country. He's probably fled to America, scared of being lynched by the angry mobs of wizards here!"

Felicity glared at him for that, but then piped in cheerfully, "Things are going to get better, though, now that he's gone. The Wizengamot has declared a State of Emergency to put some order, and given that, they now have the power to choose an Interim Minister of Magic until there's peace and elections can be held."

And so they had done, choosing one of their own: Gravius Marchbanks.

The wizard's picture was splattered all across the Daily Prophet during a whole month. He was an old man but not shrunken and small. Instead he seemed brimming with energy, strength, and stern determination, tall and burly, with white hair strictly cropped and blue eyes that looked both wise and fierce.

"This is awful," Alphard had bemoaned, his face pale. "He's vicious, Harry! He was the Head of Law Enforcement for decades before the Wizengamot made him an Elder, supposedly because he was brilliant and very efficient. Efficient my behind!" He shot Harry a fretful, despairing look, as he gestured wildly with his hands. "I've heard that half the dark wizards in Azkaban are there because of him. He hates my kind, he detests the Dark Arts - he's utterly unfairly prejudiced!"

That day, when Harry had met the Prewett twins in their usual empty classroom, to spend sometime together, unsuspected, he had seen that his ginger-haired friends had an entirely different view on the matter.

"This is fantastic!" Felicity had cried out, cheerful and triumphant. "He's an old friend of Dumbledore and he was one of the few Elders who believed him from the start. The first thing he's done is to make Dumbledore the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot." Her beautiful mismatched eyes had glowed, as she added fiercely, "Grindelwald doesn't stand a chance now that Dumbledore finally has political power!"

Harry hadn't been too sure about that, but at least he had seen that things had improved.

One of Gravius Marchbanks' first acts as Minister was to follow Dumbledore's advice and put his Unspeakables to work in creating new wards.

For that purpose, the Ministry had even hired American wizards, 'Specialists in Muggle Weaponry', allegedly, to help English Unspeakables with their task.

It seemed that in the Union of Wands and Staffs of the Americas, wizards lived closed together, intermingled with muggles, happily so, and knew all about them.

Three months later, on a Sunday, the Heads of House had gathered their students in the Great Hall, and they had all seen, through the magnificent, high-arched windows, an army of Unspeakables and five Americans going around the Castle, with concentrated and serious expressions on their faces, waving their wands.

It took them a whole day, during which everyone was forced to remain in the Great Hall so they wouldn't get in the way.

Harry had seen the new wards forming before his eyes. They glowed as if alive and dancing: a net of coils of flames, they looked like.

Furthermore, the Daily Prophet had said that the Unspeakables and Americans would be paying a visit to every wizarding town and community, to cast the new type of wards that would protect them from bombs and supposedly any other type of muggle weapons.

The wizarding commercial area had been protected likewise - what was left of it, that was, because the rubbles of Leisure Alley had been cleared, the gap it had left behind had been sealed off, and only Knockturn and Diagon Alley remained.

Apparently, the Ministry of Magic had no funds to spare to reconstruct Leisure Alley, and out of respect to the dead, wouldn't do so, regardless.

Moreover, the Ministry had taken further measures to protect themselves. They had changed locations.

They had bought the building of a muggle department store that had recently gone out of business because there weren't any muggles left in London with the disposition of going shopping, and they had hired an army of wizarding architects.

The new Ministry's headquarters were going to be completely underground.

"Seven levels, it has," Felix disclosed to him. "And they're putting in those muggle inventions – those cages that go up and down."

"Elevators, you mean?" Harry supplied helpfully, staring at the boy in amusement.

"Yes, that," said Felix, flipping a hand dismissively. "And everything's going to be black - black tiles everywhere." The boy shook his head, looking bamboozled. "One would think that if they're under the earth, they would want to make it a bit more cheery, right? It sounds very ghastly and depressing to me-"

"Rubbish!" snapped Felicity, lifting her chin up. "It's going to be very elegant and dignified." She clamped her hands together, as she breathed out ecstatically, "And Father has said that there's going to be a fountain made of gold – it's already finished, he has seen it. It was Minister Marchbanks' idea. It shows the unity of the magical races against the Forces of-"

Felix loudly snorted. "Right. There's a Goblin gazing at the figure of a wizard with adoration." He rolled his eyes. "As if a Goblin would ever do that!"

"It's a representation!" bit out Felicity bristling, scowling at her twin. "Of our unity against the Forces of Evil!"

"Well, it's a stupid one!" yelled Felix back. "The Goblins are laughing their arses off - don't care two figs about Grindelwald and his 'Forces of Evil', do they?"

Thus, given everything, Harry had put his decision into action.

Firstly, he had decided that no matter how grim and horrible libraries seemed to him, he was going to suck it up and learn subjects that would be useful.

He could have done so much if he knew about Healing, when he had been trying to help those people in Leisure Alley. Even if he couldn't cast magic, knowing how to detect if a bone was broken, a spine snapped or an organ pierced, would have helped much.

Harry didn't understand why the subject wasn't a course in Hogwarts' curriculum, in fact; specially given the times they were living in. But he wasn't going to wait around for the teachers or the Headmaster to realize the folly of its lack, if they ever did.

And of course, he had realized his brother was right. He couldn't wait until third year to know about Ancient Runes. Wards were all around and it could be useful, someday, to know how to cast them or bring them down.

Secondly, he resolved that playtime was at an end. He had too many things to do and no time to waste, not only for teaching himself new things, but also for doing the tasks Santi had appointed to him.

Granted, he still didn't understand half the things Santi had told him, but if the strange man believed that doing the tasks was in Harry's best interest, then he would fulfill them and hope that what he learned from doing it would prove to be useful in the future.

For that purpose, he had begun researching as much as he could about portraits.

The plan had formed in his mind by the end of last school year, but the time and effort he was putting into hashing the details of his plot were infused with renewed focus and determination.

And for the first task Santi had given him, Harry had started searching the Castle again for the Grey Lady, now with tenacity and perseverance instead of reluctantly like in his previous weak attempts.

Hence, given his resolutions, the day that the announcement appeared in Slytherin's common room that Quidditch trials were starting, he had marched up to Dorea Black and told her that he wouldn't be participating.

"You mean to tell me that I spent all those Sundays last year, training you," she hissed out furiously, "and even giving you that book so that you could correct your atrocious eyesight, and now you've suddenly decided you're not interested in Quidditch? I could've been preparing someone else, Riddle! How dare you lay all my efforts to waste!"

"I'll play next year," Harry interjected coolly. "If things are better-"

But the girl left in an infuriated huff before she could hear him. Harry shrugged at that. It wasn't Dorea's reaction that concerned him.

His best friend hadn't taken it well.

"But – but," choked out Alphard, his grey eyes wide, looking extremely hurt, "I was looking forward to playing with you! I even bought a new broom so that you could keep my Comet 180. I even practiced during the whole summer so that I could be as good a Chaser as Dorea says you are!"

"You don't need me, Al," said Harry softly, as he patted him on the back comfortingly and reassuringly. "I'm sure you're going to be chosen for the Team."

"That's not the point," said Alphard in a small voice. "I wanted to play with you. I wanted to have fun and beat the Gryffindors, together."

The boy looked so crushed, devastated, and hurt, that Harry decided right then to put into action his other plan. His friend deserved nothing but complete honesty from him, and to understand the why of his decision.

Thus, right there, in the kitchen amidst the house-elves that were too busy preparing lunch for the Great Hall to pay them any attention, he had cast a Muffling Charm around them, and for full measure lowered his voice to a mere whisper, "There was something I didn't tell you last year, Al…"

And he told the boy about Grindelwald's letter and books.

By the end of it, Alphard was gawking at him with big grey eyes and hanging jaw, as Harry concluded, "So we don't know how he found out that we're Slytherin's descendants and Parselmouths, but apparently he's interested in-" he grimaced "- well, in being our 'mentor' of sorts, from afar."

He shook his head and bit out gruffly, "Tom is over the moon about it, but I don't like it." He shot his friend a puzzled, apprehensive look. "I mean, what does he want from us, eh? Why is he interested in us in the first place?"

" 'Why'?" echoed Alphard, blinking at him. Then he straightened up with a jerk, as if someone had pinched him out of his stupefaction, and declared vehemently, "He's interested because you're Parselmouths, obviously!"

Frowning and thoroughly unconvinced, Harry said slowly, "Only because we're Parselmouths?"

" 'Only because'?" repeated Alphard disbelievingly. "Of course it's due to that!" The boy shook his head before he intently pierced him with his eyes. "Harry, I don't think you realize what a big deal it is to purebloods!"

Oh, Harry had a fairly good idea about that, especially after he had introduced Nagini to Alphard.

When he had taken her from the orphanage, he had believed that Tom would help to take care of her. On the Hogwarts' Express his brother had crushed those hopes, though, and hadn't changed his mind.

Thus, Harry, although it pained and saddened him, had to resort to keeping Nagini inside his trunk. He wanted her to be in Hogwarts, away from possible bombings of London, but he didn't want to get expelled if someone caught sight of her, not with everything he had to do in the school.

So, he was only able to sneak her food from the kitchens, as often as possible. Nagini hadn't been a happy little snake, but her temper had smoothened a bit when Harry had started to let her out at nights.

He waited about an hour after all his roommates had fallen asleep, and then took her out of the trunk and into the corridors of the dungeons, allowing her to slither around and get some air and exercise while he occupied himself by reading a book on Healing or Ancient Runes.

One night, however, Harry had been so immersed in his reading that he had lost sight of her. He had looked for Nagini, frantic with worry, in every nook and cranny of the dungeon's corridors.

When he thought the worst had happened -that perhaps the snake hadn't paid attention to his warnings and had gone up to the other floors of the school and had been found by a teacher- he saw her slithering towards him very fast, looking panicked.

"I want to leave!" she hissed, sounding utterly terrified, as she tried to climb up Harry's legs so frenziedly that she failed.

Harry picked her up in his arms, frowning. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere-"

"I don't want to be here!" Nagini hissed, as she tightly coiled herself around his arm, her thin body trembling. "Take me away!"

"Away where?" hissed Harry, his frown deepening with both puzzlement and concern. "What's the matter?"

Nagini snapped her head up, piercing him with her yellow eyes, as she shivered and rushed out in agitation, "It scares me! I was only looking for someplace nice and comfortable –" she managed to somehow shoot him a look that seemed angered and accusing "- because I didn't want to return to that nasty, smelly trunk!" Her head lowered as she added in a tremulous, quiet hiss, "I kept going down and down, I smelled food, and then I saw bones - and then I saw It!"

At the terrified look she gave him, Harry stared at her, his heart starting to pump loudly in his chest, as he intoned very slowly, "What did you see?"

"It looks like me but very big!" she said in a gasped out hiss. "It was sleeping, but It scared me, It felt wrong…" She hesitated, as if trying to find one of the words Tom had so long ago taught her in order to better express herself. "It felt very dangerous. My… instincts… yes, my instincts made me feel I shouldn't be around It. That It would kill me!"

Harry's breath hitched with excitement and he quickly urged, "Show me! Show me where you went!"

"No! I want to leave this place," hissed Nagini furiously. "I don't like it here. I don't want to be where It is!"

"If you show me," said Harry cajolingly, "I'll find some other place for you, alright?"

Nagini shot him a mistrustful glance. "Promise?"

"Yes!" Harry hissed with exasperation.

The little snake skewered him with her yellow gaze before she coiled her tail to spring herself out of Harry's arms. In a dash, Harry followed her as she quickly slithered down the corridor.

He stared, befuddled, when Nagini halted in a shadowy cranny of a wall.

"I went in there," she hissed quietly, flicking her tail at something.

"Lumos!" whispered Harry, to then crouch as he held up his lit wand.

There was a very small opening at the base of the wall, and when he brought the light closer to it he saw that it was actually a pipe.

Harry sighed, rubbing his face with weariness as disappointment encompassed him. There was no way he could fit in there; it was apt for just mice, at best.

Regardless, what Nagini had revealed to him was discovery enough.

Since the beginning of term, he and Alphard, along with little Ulysses, had resumed their search for the Chamber of Secrets, beginning on the sixth floor since they had finished with the seventh before the holidays.

After finding the huge pipe hidden behind the Mirror of Desires – the name they had anointed it with, given what it showed and the backward phrase inscribed on its upper frame- they had narrowed down the type of monster to either a Leviathan or a Basilisk.

That meant that they still went around with bat dung smeared on their faces to fend off a Leviathan.

Now, there wouldn't be any need for that anymore.

Thus, Harry jumped to his feet as he instructed quickly, "Wait for me here!"

He was gone before Nagini could complain.

Careful of not making any noise, Harry finally reached his dormitory and didn't waste any time in waking Alphard up.

"Wha-"

Harry instantly covered his friend's mouth with a hand, as he whispered hastily and with much excitement, "Don't speak, just follow me. I have something to show you."

The boy stared at him groggily, looking sleepy, startled, but then intrigued.

When Alphard nodded, Harry grabbed him by the hand and swiftly pulled him along, so fast that the poor boy tripped several times on the hem of his long, nightgown tunic.

Once they reached the cranny of the corridor, Harry picked up Nagini and made prompt introductions, "Al, this is Nagini, a snake Tom found in our orphanage years ago."

Alphard stared at the little snake with a thoroughly gobsmacked look on his face, as he croaked, "Wha-"

But Harry didn't give him a chance to speak, so enthused he was, as he shot Nagini a look, and hissed, "This boy is Alphard Black-" his look became stern when he saw the gleam in her eyes as she gazed at Alphard "-he's a friend, Nagini! So don't even think of biting him, understood?"

"Yes, Master," hissed Nagini reluctantly, looking thoroughly disappointed.

Harry snapped his head up to glance at Alphard. "Al, she's told me that…"

He trailed off and blinked. The boy was frozen in place, staring at him with huge grey eyes, looking astonished, dazed, and awed.

"What's wrong?" said Harry worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"You hissed," breathed out Alphard, staring at him with eyes as wide as platters, "and she hissed back… it sounded like gibberish… but you were both trading hisses…"

"So?" Harry frowned at him, and then said with exasperation, "You already know I'm a Parselmouth."

"Yes," said Alphard slowly, still looking dumbfounded and bedazzled, "but knowing is very different than actually seeing it, hearing it…"

"What do you mean?" demanded Harry hotly, feeling quite indignant. "You've heard me speaking Parseltongue many times before, Al! Or did you think that I was making it up, that I lied when I told you that I was a-"

"No, I believed you, of course," interjected Alphard quickly, before he huffed and said matter-of-factly, "But last year you were hissing at walls, furniture, and ornaments! It's not the same. Hearing you carrying a conversation with a snake-" the boy intoned the word with reverence, as if snakes, by association to Parselmouths, had suddenly become glorious mythical creatures of great renown and godly-like subjects deserving worship "-is very different. That is in truth actually speaking Parseltongue, in my opinion."

Then Alphard went back to stare at him again with big grey eyes, looking breathless and entranced.

Harry merely rolled his eyes. That was when he learned that the whole fascination with Parselmouths definitely had to be a pureblood thing.

"Right," muttered Harry under his breath, before he pointed a finger at the small pipe Nagini had discovered. "Never mind that, Al. What I wanted to tell you is that…"

And he proceeded to quickly explain what the snake had found, and for full measure, he even asked, "It didn't have seven heads, did it?"

"No, just one, very big," hissed Nagini, giving a shiver, before she pierced him with her gaze and added sharply, "and very ugly," as if she wanted to make sure Harry knew he would never be conferred the honor of beholding a creature as dazzlingly beautiful as her, lack of impressive size regardless.

Harry shot her an amused look at that, before he said excitedly to Alphard, "It's confirmed. The monster is not a Leviathan – it's a Basilisk!"

That seemed to snap Alphard out of his trance, and the boy shifted nervously on his feet, shooting a wary glance at the small pipe at the base of the wall before them.

"The Chamber of Secrets must be underneath the dungeons or even deeper - in the foundations of the Castle, because Nagini said she went down," murmured Harry quietly as he crouched on the floor, staring at the pipe. He released a heavy sigh and carded his fingers through his hair. "So we know it's there, through here, but unless there's some spell that I haven't heard about that can miraculously turn us into a mouse, or something, I don't see how we can-"

"There is!" gasped out Alphard, his expression bright and enlivened, making Harry glance up at him, disconcerted. "If we're lucky, it could help us with this. I've always wanted to learn how to do it." The boy puffed his chest out proudly. "Us, Blacks, are usually capable of mastering it, you know? It's a trait, in our line."

"What on earth are you talking about?" said Harry, utterly puzzled, before his eyes shone with hope. "Do you mean that there's actually a spell that changes people into mice?"

"No, it isn't a simple spell," said Alphard enthusiastically, "it's a type of Human Transfiguration. Very advanced, of course. And not everyone can do it. It takes years to learn!"

Harry gave him an utterly confused look. "It takes years to learn how to change into a mouse?"

"Not into a mouse," replied Alphard vehemently, before he gave a hesitant pause. "Well, it could happen of course, no one knows beforehand what animal they can turn into, if at all." He shot Harry a beaming grin. "A wizard's animagus form will be that of an animal that is akin to him – that's what it's called, Animagus Transformation, and you have to register in the Ministry and everything, because if not it's illegal!"

Thoroughly taken aback, Harry murmured slowly, "You mean to tell me that some wizards can turn into animals? What - permanently?"

"Oh no, you can shift back and forth into your animagus form," said Alphard knowledgably, before he scrunched his nose. "No wizard would remain in his animagus form forever. From what I've heard, it's not a good idea, it makes you have the characteristics of your animal when you're back to being a wizard. And some have even gotten stuck in their animagus form without being able to shift back!"

As it dawned on him what Alphard was saying, Harry jumped to his feet, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "So you think that we should learn how to do this, er… animagus thing, because then we could fit in there-" he gestured at the pipe "-and finally find the Chamber of Secrets!"

Smiling widely, Alphard nodded, as he piped in, "Hopefully, we'll both succeed, and if we're lucky, either you or I will have an animagus form that is small and useful."

"Fantastic!" said Harry joyfully, before his shoulders suddenly slumped, dejected. "But it takes years, right?"

"Yes, but it's the only thing I can think of," retorted Alphard adamantly. "From what I know, there are Human Transfiguration spells that can turn parts of your body into that of an animal, but not your whole body – and that's what we need." He shot him a large grin, as he added, animatedly gesturing with his hands, "If we start learning how to do the Animagus Transformation right away, then by the time we're in fifth year we could be doing it! And we'll still keep looking for another entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in the meanwhile."

Perking up, Harry beamed at him. "Sounds like a good plan."

Alphard happily nodded, as he intoned, "I'll ask Mother to send me books about Animagus Transformation-"

"Maybe you shouldn't," interrupted Harry uneasily. "We should first see if the library has books on that."

Two days after the beginning of their second year, Alphard had received a Howler.

Hearing the voice of the boy's mother shrieking, left Harry with no doubts from whom Walburga had inherited her screechy voice.

Alphard's parents hadn't been at all happy when they had discovered two books missing from their library. Though the Howler hadn't mentioned anything about the matter, just told Alphard very loudly and furiously that he was going to pay for his misdeed when he returned home for Christmas, and that he shouldn't be expecting any gifts for the foreseeable future, not until he got his first grey hairs.

His friend had gone pale, yet had tried to give Harry an unconcerned shrug of the shoulders and a weak smile.

However, Alphard hadn't dared to further risk his parent's wrath and had lent Harry the books on Occlumency and Legilimency for just three days before returning them by owl.

When Harry passed them on to his brother, along with the time constraint, Tom hadn't been pleased.

And three days proved to be too few, because it seemed that the Black books were protected with all sorts of magic that made it impossible to make copies of them with the use of spells.

Tom had apparently foreseen the problem, but hadn't found a way around it in three days, thus had to resort to taking some notes by hand about the subjects covered by the books.

It had left Tom completely dissatisfied and the boy was currently trying to find a way to buy tomes by owl from a bookshop in Knockturn Alley, without anyone finding out about it, of course, since the subjects, at least Legilimency, were considered Dark.

"Oh no, don't you see?" said Alphard, waving a hand dismissively. "My mother will be very proud of me when I tell her I want to start studying the Animagus Transformation. She will gladly send me all the books I want, for that. It's a Black thing." He then shot Harry a wicked grin. "And it will make her forget about the other books I took from the Black library without permission."

"If you're sure," said Harry, beginning to nod.

He yelped in the next second, staring disbelievingly at Nagini. The little snake was coiled around his ankle, with sharp fangs pressed against his flesh. She hadn't sunk them in fully, but had pierced through his skin slightly.

Alarmed, Harry instantly clutched his ankle, his eyes wide with panic. "You're venomous, Nagini, you know that!"

They had had ample proof of it throughout the years, when Nagini managed to instantly kill the mice in the orphanage by just biting them once.

"I didn't let my poison flow, Master," hissed the snake calmly, before her tone turned sharp and angered, "You were talking to the stupid boy and ignoring me. You promised you would take me away from here! I demand you do it now!"

Harry let out a deep exhalation of sheer relief, before he glowered at her, hissing hotly, "Yeah, yeah, you call me 'Master' because I'm the one who's taking care of you, but you wouldn't dare do to Tom what you just did to me. He would have snapped your neck for that!"

Nagini flipped her tail dismissively, undaunted and unrepentant. "But you're a nice Master. I'm not worried."

"Unbelievable," grumbled Harry darkly under his breath as he picked her up. "You have no shame. You've become worse than Tom."

Nagini flicked her forked tongue out to kiss the skin of his hand, as she preened and hissed smugly and contently, "I know."

"That wasn't a compliment!" snapped Harry, scowling, as he began marching down the corridor.

"Where are you going?" whispered Alphard nonplussed, quickly catching up to him.

"I have to take her out of the castle," said Harry with a sigh. "She fears the Basilisk and refuses to stay here." He frowned pensively as he kept walking, and cast his friend a quizzical glance. "Do you think I should take her to the Forbidden Forest?"

Alphard's eyebrows shot upwards, before he paled a mite and said nervously, "Well, I suppose it's a good place for a snake, but…" He lowered his voice, as he continued apprehensively, "But there are Centaurs in the Forest and all sorts of other dangerous creatures."

Harry snorted at that. "I would worry more about them than Nagini. She can be a very vicious little snake, let me tell you."

"Here," he then said as he passed Nagini to Alphard and took out his map from a pocket.

Apparently, being told that Nagini could be vicious hadn't put Alphard at ease when having to handle her, since the boy had instantly pulled her far away from himself, leaving half her body dangling in the air, as he stared at her with a white face and a scared, fixed gaze, as if ready to jump backwards at any given moment that Nagini could fancy making a lunge at him.

Harry merely shook his head as he unfolded his piece of parchment, tapping it with his wand. "All for one and one for all!"

With the model of Hogwarts Castle in his hands, indicating their precise location as they trudged forwards, the boys swiftly slipped outside the Castle without being detected.

Alphard was kind enough to cast Warming Charms on them -since by late October the grounds had already become covered with snow and the nights were very cold- while Harry took Nagini again as they neared the Forbidden Forest, explaining as much as he could.

"A forest," she hissed sounding puzzled, before her yellow eyes brightened with fascination and excitement. "That's a place with many trees, yes?"

Harry shot her a glance, feeling a bit guilty. The snake had hardly seen many trees or greenery in her life, since she had always been in London, stuck in the orphanage. She had certainly had a very restricted life, especially for one of her kind.

"Yes, and I'm sure you'll love it," hissed Harry softly, his tone then turning firm and stern, "but did you listen to what I said about Centaurs?"

Nagini bobbed her flat head up and down. "Yes, they are horses."

"No," groaned Harry, "they are part horse, part human." He shook his head disparagingly. "And from what I know they are very intelligent and consider themselves superior to humans, so don't go around calling them nags or something of the sort-" He blinked, and then shrugged. "Well, call them whatever you want, they won't understand you, anyway."

"I will," hissed Nagini, looking thoroughly pleased. Her eyes suddenly gleamed, as she asked avidly, "Are they tasty?"

Extremely alarmed, Harry hissed sharply, "Don't you even try! They are big and you're too little – they'll trample all over you with their hooves, Nagini!"

"I'm not little!" she stated in a bristling hiss. "I'll grow to be a very big snake. I know it."

"Sure you will," said Harry with a roll of his eyes, "but until that happens, I don't want you go biting more than you can chew, understand? You couldn't even gobble down one of their hands, right now, as much as you tried."

Nagini let out a harrumphing hiss, but seemed to forget about the matter altogether when they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, her giddiness at the sight evident by the way she started squirming in Harry's arms.

He gently placed her on the grass, as he hissed sternly, "I'll meet you right here every Saturday." He gestured at the distant Castle. "You'll know it's a Saturday because people will be out and about. And you must remember to be here after the sun has set, over the lake." He pointed a finger in its direction. "When it starts to get dark. Alright? This is important because I won't be going into the forest looking for you, Nagini."

"I understand, Master," she hissed quickly, shooting desirous glances into the Forbidden Forest. She halted to shoot him an inquiring look. "Are there kinds like me in there?"

"Snakes? Yes, I reckon there has to be some."

Nagini let out a long, vibrant, gleeful hiss. "I'm going to find a mate, then!"

And after that declaration, the little snake dashed into the darkness.

Mind boggled, Harry was left utterly speechless and discombobulated, his eyes popping out, before he roared, "WHAT? You come back here!"

"What did she say? What did she say?" pressed Alphard, bouncing on the heels of his shoes with curiosity.

Harry told him, carding his fingers through his hair so forcefully that he didn't realize he was tearing some off, as he added angrily, "I don't know where she got that from! I never said a word to her about 'mating'. Where on earth did she get that idea?"

Alphard started guffawing and laughing so hard that the boy bent over, clutching his midriff, as he choked out in between chortles, "You sound like a father worried about his daughter's virtue!"

"I don't," snapped Harry, scowling. "It's just that she really is too young and little, Al!" He threw his hands up into the air. "And what am I supposed to do if she has babies? She's become too much for me to handle, already!"

His friend didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, though, since the boy kept chuckling and snickering.

"Oh shut up!" bit out Harry, thoroughly miffed.

It only made Alphard laugh harder and Harry left with a huff, dismayed by the possibilities of what he might one day encounter when visiting Nagini.

Nevertheless, after he had told Alphard about Grindelwald's connection to him and Tom, his friend had understood his reason for not wanting to be in the Slytherin Quidditch Team.

Harry let him believe it was just because he wanted to use every single second of spare time to study Dark Arts from Grindelwald's books, to be prepared. He didn't tell him about all the other things he was doing as well.

Alphard felt so anxious and concerned for him, and the boy had taken the matter so seriously, that he didn't question where Harry was all the time, when they didn't have class.

When Alphard was chosen as a Chaser for the Slytherin Team, as Harry had known would happen, it also meant that they didn't have much time to spend together, and their search for another entrance to the Chamber of Secrets inevitably dwindled.

Harry wasn't concerned about it: it wasn't a priority for him anymore.

He didn't tell his brother that, of course, but really, they already knew they were Slytherin's descendants and Tom only wanted to find the Chamber so that he could take Malfoy there, as a witness to the evidence that Tom and Harry were Parselmouths and Salazar Slytherin's heirs. All because Tom had his sights on becoming the leader of Slytherin House.

Harry didn't see the point. That wouldn't help them in the war.

And he was occupied in far too many other things: in the tasks Santi had given him, in learning Ancient Runes and Healing, in continuing studying German, and the Dark Arts from Grindelwald's books, in finding somewhere he and Tom could go practice dark curses without being detected by wards, and then he would also have on his plate learning Occlumency and Legilimency with Tom, and the Animagus Transformation with Alphard, when the boys got around getting their respective books on the subjects.

Finally, though, all his efforts began to pay off. The very first occasion happening on the day Harry had been dreading: the Yule Ball Celebration.

It would place another duty on his shoulders, a very awkward, bizarre one, but it would also solve several problems in one stroke.