Chapter 43: A Strange Juxtaposition

7 September 1940

Hermione found her way into the Chamber of Secrets readily enough. It had taken her several tries to pronounce the password correctly, but she had managed it, and made the steep descent into the Chamber Passage. Harry had told her that it was a great stone slide, but instead there was a long, twisting flight of stairs, with passages leading off to the sides at odd angles from tiny landings, to various plumbing fixtures, she supposed.

The passage was damp, and smelled of mold and decay, probably from leaks in the plumbing, which had apparently been rather hastily modified when the entryway was moved to the second-floor loo. As she made her way down the tunnel, the smell of decay faded and was replaced by an overwhelming smell of snake, like walking into the reptile house at a zoo, dry and musty. She eventually reached a pair of massive stone pillars, flanking a door which had been built on a grand scale, like the entry to an ancient temple of some sort. The pillars were carved with incredibly realistic serpent reliefs, each snake with a pair of winking emerald eyes. The first reflected glint from her wand-light made her jump, until she realized that they weren't actually alive or moving. It was terribly impressive.

Once again, it took several tries to pronounce the password, though more from intimidation and her fear of what might lie on the other side than her incompetence with the language.

The main entryway of the Chamber of Secrets was a continuation of the temple theme, lined with pillars, a great statue of Salazar Slytherin dominating the space from the far end, like Athena in her temple on the Acropolis, though not gilded. Hermione wondered if he had made it himself, or if it was an addition by one of his Heirs. It was lit by a series of magical lamps, glowing softly like torches along the walls, the light subtly changing every few seconds to give the impression that the snake-reliefs, carved into these pillars as well, were moving. The acoustics were awful, she thought, hearing her soft footsteps echo throughout the space.

"Tom, where are you?"

"In the library, behind the statue! Hold on, we'll come out." This was followed by a series of rapid hissing noises, and the sounds of something massive moving over the stones. She squeezed her eyes closed and tried not to remember the last time she had come into contact with this particular creature.

She had a sense that the great serpent had stopped in front of her, a huge, solid mass raising itself up between herself and the light of the torches, perhaps, or, a shift in the subtle movement of air in the Chamber. She didn't know. She was far too on edge for this. She heard a quick series of hisses, and Tom laughed.

"You can open your eyes, Hermione. She's closed hers."

Hermione did so, still careful not to look directly at the basilisk's eyes, regardless of whether they were closed, frozen in place by waves of cold fear. It was, she thought, strangely like talking to Dumbledore, with the added knowledge that she could be killed at any moment. All she remembered from the first time she had encountered the great serpent was glowing yellow eyes in a darkened corridor. The snake before her was massive, its blunt-nosed head nearly two feet across, and perhaps fifty feet long. Harry had described her as a poisonous green color, but Hermione thought that perhaps she had just shed her skin, when Harry saw her, because the snake in front of her was a much darker green – almost black. The basilisk flicked her tongue out in Hermione's direction and hissed something at Tom.

"She says to tell you that it is an honor that you are so impressed by her proper form, but she hopes you are not too afraid to greet her," he translated. "Where's your Gryffindor courage, Cia?" he added teasingly.

"Excuse me, Mr. I Can Talk to Snakes, but the last time I ran into a basilisk, I was petrified for a month!" Hermione snapped without thinking, then froze again.

"Reeeeally?" He drew the word out. "When did you meet a basilisk? Why didn't you tell me before? What are you hiding from me, Hermione?" His tone was curious, but there was an edge of anger there as well.

"I really shouldn't tell you."

"Is it something to do with me, in the future? My future?"

"It's something that, if I explain it now, will possibly completely derail the future in a way that makes things even worse than my old timeline, and you know I'm trying to avoid that. Just, please, Tom, trust me on this. I can't tell you, yet. Someday, I think I will be able to, but certain things have to happen first, and they haven't yet."

Tom made a face at her, but let it go. "Fine."

Hermione smiled in relief and turned her attention to the basilisk as he continued grumbling, something about how this must be what it's like to live with a gods-cursed Seer. She carefully pronounced the words of greeting she had rehearsed with Tom: "*\'Ssh, rth'sss," and bowed low to the enormous snake, thinking that it was probably worth it to show her respect even if the snake's eyes were closed. For all she knew, Tom was still maintaining the Parsel mind-meld thing, and the basilisk could see Hermione through Tom's eyes. The serpent hissed and coughed softly, this time something with chirps and trills.

"She says you speak well, for a human who does not have the gift, and returns the greeting, with respect."

"Please tell her that it is an honor to meet her, and I am sorry for my haste, but that we must return to the Castle, lest our absence at the evening meal be noted."

"Do you know you're overly formal when you're nervous?"

"Shut up, Tom." He passed along the message, and exchanged an extended series of hisses and with the basilisk, who then raised her head to butt it against Tom's, much like she had in mental construct form, and flicked her tongue at Hermione.

"She says farewell, and that she hopes to speak with you soon. I returned the sentiment for you, already." The two teenagers turned to leave with little ceremony, and Tom kept up a steady stream of excited chatter as they made their way back to the second floor. "She likes you, you know. You needn't be afraid of her. She was so excited at the idea of having people to talk to, it was almost overwhelming at first. Well, at first she was really sleepy, just coming out of hibernation, but once she realized I was the latest heir, very excited. And I don't think you could tell, when we were in my head, but she was just as excited at the thought of having you to talk to as well. I don't know if she thinks she can manage to get into your head from mine, or if she thinks the notes for the Parsel Curse are somewhere in the library and wants us to just go all the way and use that on you.

"It's huge, the library. You'll love it. All kinds of stuff on Parsel, Dark Arts, Wardcrafting, magical engineering and construction. I found the original sketches for the Castle and its wards. I think it might be self-repairing and kind of… sentient might be too strong a word. But at least a bit aware. I think I know how the Slytherin dorms work, at least. I might be able to get us that potions lab this weekend, after all. It's not organized, though, the library, and I couldn't find any sort of inventory or anything. You'll have to help me catalogue everything. I know you want to, I saw you perk up when I started talking about books. And it's not all from Slytherin's time, either. His heirs must have kept it up over the centuries. This is going to be brilliant, Cia!"

He stopped talking as they made the steep ascent to the girls' loo, apparently out of breath, and sent Hermione out first to make sure the coast was clear.

His last comment, before they reached the Great Hall and other people, was that the next thing he would do would be to move the damn entrance. There was no call for having eleven flights of stairs (seven up and four down) between the Chamber and the Common Room, or for hiding the entrance in a girls' restroom, of all places.

Most students, unsurprisingly, were already eating when they arrived to dinner. John and Dumbledore looked up as they entered the hall, as did the other fourth-year Slytherins and Bellatrix, but no one else seemed to notice or care about their late entrance.

The latecomers fell into what Hermione was quickly coming to think of as their usual seats, and listened to the other boys talk. They had spent the morning at the Quidditch try-outs. Hermione had not clearly understood before, but was somehow not surprised to learn, that the different house teams had different try-out requirements. The Slytherin team made all players except the Captain re-apply for their positions each year (as they wanted the best players possible), but the boys thought it unlikely that any of the previous year's players would be replaced – the only real opening was for a single Chaser position, whose previous occupant had graduated. All three had made an attempt, though Leo and Edmond freely admitted that neither of them actually stood a chance of getting it.

Scorpius, on the other hand, had made it through the morning rounds, where the captains from all four Houses had weeded out everyone who wasn't suitable for any position, and had been called back for the afternoon trials, where they would see how well he worked with the rest of the team. Only two others had been called back: a fifth-year, Claude Prince, and second-year Gwaine Yaxley.

The main topic of dinner conversation, therefore, was whether Scorpius stood a chance of actually making the team. Yaxley, they admitted, had been a good flier, but didn't have the upper body strength for the position. Leo thought he might make a good seeker, but the others pointed out that he would never take the position from Aradia Prewett, who was, in Edmond's words, a cut-throat bitch as well as the best Seeker Hogwarts had seen in twenty years.

Prince, on the other hand, was good friends with Chauncey and Reese David, the current brother-sister chaser duo, which would give him a leg up in the decision making-process, and on top of that he and Scorpius had been well-matched in their flying and scoring abilities. Word had it that Maris had just barely beaten Prince for the position two years previously, the last time a chaser position had been open. Scorpius was fairly sure that Reese, Chauncey, and the beaters, Carrow and Goyle, would be pulling for Prince.

Eventually, Hermione tired of listening to Scorpius whine (he sounded awfully like Draco when he whined. It was uncanny), and changed the subject. "Are you lot going to the Hufflepuff party?" she asked the other Slytherins.

Tom, who had been reading a thin leather-bound book and masterfully ignoring the sports-talk, looked up just long enough to raise an eyebrow at her. Stupid question, really.

Leo shrugged. "We might come for a bit," added Scorpius.

"It's open to everyone," Edmond explained, "But generally only the youngest Slytherins go, and the prefects."

"Why?"

The boys exchanged an uncomfortable look before Scorpius spoke. "Alright, I like you, so here's the truth: Most of the upperclassmen are alright, but the Gryffindors tend to be right prats, especially once they've had a few drinks. Pope, Yaxley, and Weasley have apparently got it in their heads that any Snake's a target after ten. They send the firsties back to the dorms at curfew, so that's not a problem, but our second year things devolved into a melee by eleven, and that bitch Sprout decided we must have started it. Everyone who was here for that except the prefects boycotted last year entirely."

"So the firsties and second-years are planning on going because they don't know any better, along with the prefects, and me?"

"Like Scorp said," Leo chimed in, "we were discussing whether we should make an appearance. As far as I know, we're not officially boycotting it. But we'll probably not stay too late. Did the girls invite you to their sleepover thing?"

"No, what sleepover thing?"

"Well, since there's only eight of them, they get together fairly often. They take it in turns having sleepovers in different common rooms. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Just leave before it gets too late and you'll be fine."

"And none of you thought to warn the second-years?" Hermione's tone was very disapproving. Tom rather thought he heard a note of disappointment behind her insistence on staying on-subject.

Leo looked rather helplessly at his two mates. "No. It's not like they'd listen to us anyway, the little monsters."

"What happened to Slytherins presenting a united front?"

"That," Malfoy drawled, "mostly refers to hexing one another in corridors. If, however, Leonard Carmichael, for example, has been a twat to me in private, I am most certainly within my rights to not warn the little shits that the Terrors might, in fact, be shitheads when they're drunk, and allow them to walk right into trouble."

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at him for a moment, before Tom added, "Katherine Aspic is a second year as well, you know."

"Oh, fine," she huffed. She still thought they should warn the second-years, but it wasn't as though any of them would listen to her – they'd been here longer than she had, after all. "I'm off to find the girls, then."

Tom nodded absently, still reading his book.

The other three gave her a chorus of farewells.

As she walked away from the table, she heard Malfoy say again, "So Prince…"

Hermione spotted the fourth-year girls relatively quickly, sitting at one end of the Hufflepuff table. They appeared to be animatedly discussing their wardrobe choices for the party, which Hermione hadn't even considered. She elected not to mention the issue of her exclusion from the sleepover. As much as it hurt not to have been invited, it wasn't as though any of the girls had deliberately snubbed her with that information. She wouldn't even have known if Leo hadn't mentioned it.

As soon as she dropped onto the bench, she was greeted with an, "Ooooh! What are you wearing, tonight, Hermione?" from Aggie.

It transpired that, contrary to Hermione's expectations, one simply could not show up to the Back to School Bash in school robes, or even casual clothes. It wasn't, apparently, overly formal, but it was one of the five major events of the year (the others being the Halloween, the Midwinter Ball, Beltane, and the End of School Blowout), and it was the only one where it was expected that one would show off one's skills transfiguring, charming, or otherwise modifying normal clothing into something fantastic. (Halloween, apparently, was ceremonial, whatever that meant, Midwinter was formal, the End of School Blowout was casual, and, as Lina told her through a fit of giggles, the point of Beltane was to wear nothing at all.)

Back to School was supposed to be about fun, being back with your friends and away from your oppressive parents, so the clothing was fantastic, revealing, and just a bit scandalous. In a teasing way, specified Aggie, not a whorish way.

Most of the older girls, the fourth-years explained, took muggle fashions and made them much more revealing. The illusions Tammie and Thea conjured looked somewhat like someone had taken a Victorian gown and strategically removed half the fabric. It was still less revealing than most of the muggle clothes Hermione had owned in the 1990s. Slytherins tended to be more old-fashioned (but no less scandalously revealing) than the other houses, they told her, insisting on gloves and hats and other odd bits which none of the other houses deemed terribly important (courtesy of the fact that most of their families did maintain a rather Victorian aesthetic at home, and they knew better than most what they were starting with), and Hufflepuff, which had the most muggle-born students, tended to start with the most up-to-date muggle fashions (in this case, Hermione saw, something like a 1920s flapper dress). Gryffindor tended to be a bit racier than the other houses, though seventh-years Nat Grousovich from Ravenclaw and Lettie Fortescue from Slytherin were notoriously the most daring of all. Amy said this was because they were foreign, though Thea thought they were just teasing the boys. Tammie said with a knowing look in her eye, that it wasn't about the boys at all – they were actually teasing each other, and the whole group cracked up. Most of the other illusions the girls cycled through seemed to be variations on Edwardian gowns, no bustles, long lines, and the corsets were apparently optional.

Hermione thought it over carefully before conjuring her own illusion: a sleeveless corseted top, mostly green, with touches of black and silver, and long, very full black trousers with green and silver embroidery around the hem. These belled out at mid-calf, which gave the appearance of Edwardian lines, but would allow her more freedom of movement than an actual dress or robes, and she had a feeling that a girl wearing trousers of any sort would be "scandalous" in this time period. She added her knee-high black leather boots (raising their heel an inch or two), elbow-length gloves that matched the trousers, and a tiny black and silver hat, as an accent. Finally, she added a black duster with silver embroidery, which reached the back of illusion-Hermione's knees, and fastened below the bust, highlighting her chest to good effect and leaving her arms bare from elbow to shoulder.

Amy said it looked like a really fancy dueling outfit, but overall other girls were very impressed with the idea, and suggested several small changes to the details. Anamaria, who was openly acknowledged as the best student in their year with beauty spells, charmed Hermione's hair into submission, and they sent her off to change and meet them at the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room in an hour.

She did as she was told, showing off her outfit to Tom before she left her room (he was apparently using it this evening while he worked on re-arranging the foundations of the school – a project she diligently avoided thinking about). He said she looked lovely, but didn't quite match, and added a glamour to color her hair black and her eyes bright-green before she left.

She peeked at his handiwork on her way out of her hall, and almost started crying: she could have been Harry's older sister. She dashed the tears away before making her way up to the Hufflepuff Commons – tonight was not meant for angst and sorrow, or blood magic or torture! She was going to have fun if her life depended on it, and not think, for once, about the great (and mostly terrible) adventure that her life had become.