Lily's Journal 7

1/18/16 - 1/20/16, 10/11/18: Chapter 7

Year 2, part 2 (Chapter not Complete, notes at end)

Harry's horrible Halloween luck struck again that year, and he began to wonder if that was his fate suffering every year on the very day his life suffered the most in losing his parents. Harry had decided to avoid the Halloween Feast this year and instead spent the early evening holed up in the Library, enjoying the quiet peace of nobody else around. Then, on his way back to his dorm with a good book selected, instead of encountering a mountain troll as had shown up the previous year, he heard an unmistakable hissing voice in the very walls of the school that sent chills down his spine.

"Rip ...tear ...kill," came the hissing voice as it seemingly moved upwards and away from him through the stone walls of the school causing his eyes to widen and a feeling of foreboding to settle into his bones.

"That can't be good," he muttered to himself, before quickly trying to track the moving voice and ending up near the second floor bathroom that was famously haunted by the ghost aptly named, Moaning Myrtle where it disappeared.

While the voice disappeared there, Harry quickly became aware that something else had obviously happened in the hallway before the bathroom as the floor was flooded with water, there was an unmoving Mrs. Norris hanging by her tail on a nearby sconce, and on the wall next to the cat and bathroom entrance were large words written in blood. Almost as soon as he registered everything around him, he heard the sounds of hundreds of feet converging on his location and had only a brief moment to realize that he would be caught at the scene of the crime and it would not look good for him. There was nothing for it though as those feet were instantly pouring into the hallway from the Halloween Feast that must have just let out, and Harry was caught in front of the frozen cat and words in blood by several dozen witnesses with varying looks of shock, glee, and spite.

"Enemies of the Heir, Beware ...The Chamber of Secrets has been opened," read Draco Malfoy in his usual pretentious drawl over the low noise of mumbling that began as people poured into the hall and encountered Harry amongst the damning evidence. "You'll be next, you filthy Mudbloods!" continued the nasty blonde haired bigot, causing several shouts and renewed grumbling from the masses around them.

Of course, into this scene came the Caretaker, Argus Filch who only seconds after arriving, located his cat and screamed bloody murder and several accusations at Harry as the one standing closest. Somewhat luckily, several other teachers soon arrived on the scene and quickly took everything in before things got too out of hand. The Headmaster dismissed the students, minus Harry and had the teachers accompany them to the nearest classroom which unfortunately belonged to another blonde ponce, namely Gilderoy Lockhart.

What followed was a grueling half an hour of accusations against him, namely from Filch and even a few from Professor Snape, while the Headmaster determined the cat was petrified and despite Harry's prodigious skill was beyond even his capabilities in magic. There were also the mandatory questions from the teachers about the Chamber of Secrets, but Dumbledore deflected and talked in enough circles that nobody left with an actual straight answer on pretty much anything. Harry was chastised for missing the Halloween Feast, despite his valid reasoning and mild glares at everyone who questioned or dismissed them, and despite being absolved of harming the cat was still treated with a great deal of suspicion by most of the members of staff that were present, minus only really his Head of House.

Professor Flitwick, while walking/escorting Harry back to the dorms, offered an apology for his fellow teachers, as the whole incident brought back many bad memories for the senior staff who had been at the school for some time now. As the last time the supposed Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, Myrtle Appleby a third year Ravenclaw was found dead in the bathroom she now haunts and that they just left. Professors McGonagall, Kettleburn, Babbling, and Dumbledore along with himself were all at the school at that time as well, though McGonagall was a seventh year student and not a teacher at the time.

"That must have been very difficult to lose a student like that, I'm sorry professor," he apologized to the usually very easy going and happy professor who seemed to still be haunted by the memory he shared. "Was nobody caught after her death was investigated?"

"Yes," sighed the tiny old professor still a bit melancholy, "someone was caught and punished rather severely, though no actual evidence was ever collected on him."

"What happened to him?" asked Harry respectfully, trying to get answers but also mindful of how difficult the topic may be for his Head of House to answer.

"He was expelled ...his wand snapped ...banned from learning or practicing magic ...and probably would have spent his life in prison or on the streets had Professor Dumbledore not come to his aid," replied the tiny professor slowly, his mind still seemingly in remembrance of the time.

"You mean Hagrid?" responded Harry thoughtfully after putting the clues together and remembering the friendly giant's response to Harry's questions about magic and schooling when they first met and shopped at Diagon Alley.

"Yes Mr. Potter, though I am surprised you would put that together so quickly ...though I guess I shouldn't be if all the rumors of your intelligence and skills are indeed true," finished the Charms Master with a small smile at his young student. "Even Severus has little bad to say about you privately ...and coming from him ...let me tell you, that is something special indeed."

"Because he loved my mother, and hated my father," stated Harry so matter of factly, that it floored the tiny Charms Master, who almost tripped over himself as he stared open mouthed at his young student in shock, causing Harry to smile and give a small chuckle at his teacher's face. "I have my mother's journal ...it starts her first year at Hogwarts and goes through graduation and until just before I was born. I would like to think of myself as smart, but I realize a lot of that comes from her preparing me and setting me on the proper course from the beginning."

"Oh my!" exclaimed a still shocked Professor Flitwick, who along with several others who knew of Harry's circumstances growing up were surprised by his level of education and knowledge of their world from the get go, and now he had the answer of why.

"It was her bemoaning the fact that her fellow Gryffindor's didn't take their studying seriously, that convinced me that I wanted to be a Raven," he added with a small smirk to the professor's still astounded face that had him giggling a second later as the small professor was practically open mouthed gaping at him before he registered his students laughter and composed himself.

"Well, I must say I am shocked ...I always knew Lily would have made a great Raven, but never thought she would share those thoughts. She was very much a brave lioness, fearless in the face of ridicule or danger, passionate defender of everyone, and if I may say, had a bit of viciousness not often found in young ladies," replied Professor Flitwick with an easy smile as he remembered one of his favorite students. "It also doesn't really surprise me that she would have recorded her time and memories of Hogwarts, she was a truly gifted student and deep thinker who would have succeeded at anything she put her mind to ...much like you Mr. Potter."

"Thank you sir," responded Harry somewhat bashfully, but also extremely pleased to be compared to the woman he admired so much after reading and learning about her life. "She's the reason I push myself so hard in my studies and learning ...her drive and passion is easy to read in the pages of her journal, and I like to think it brings us closer together."

"She would be very proud of you Mr. Potter," continued the tiny professor with an easy smile back on his face. "Now why don't you go inside, and see those friends of yours ...and if you ever need anyone to talk to, you come to me okay?"

"Yes sir, thanks again sir," replied Harry with a final wave before entering the Ravenclaw Common Room to a storm of questions and speculation from friends and housemates alike.

Over the next few days, all anyone seemed to talk about was the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, and what exactly it was. The run on Hogwarts: A History and several other older history books about the Founders and school were all quickly gobbled up by the older Ravenclaws mostly, who knew best the whereabouts in the library that stuff was. Harry shared the information Professor Flitwick gave him with his small group of friends, and Hermione regaled everyone with the story she got from Professor Binns about the speculation of Slytherin's Secret Chamber being built and the monster inside that was hidden from the other founders, and left only for his heir.

With Blaise and Daphne among the group, they were able to quickly deduce that the monster inside the Chamber (if there was one), would have to be a serpent as it was well known that Slytherin and his descendants were all parcelmouths. Their Common Room alone had over a thousand snake statues, portraits, or motifs on practically everything, and the magical ability to speak the language of the snakes was only ever found in the Slytherin bloodline, so it made the perfect vehicle to hide the Chamber and control the monster inside. It was at this point, that Harry came clean with all his friends that he too could speak Parceltongue, and that he speculated it was due to the Horcrux from his scar somehow imprinting that ability on his brain or his mother wasn't truly a muggleborn.

Even though he no longer had the Horcrux in his faded scar, the language could have been imprinted on his brain somehow, as he could still speak to snakes like he was conversing in his own language. Surprisingly, his friends were much more freaked out to learn first what a Horcrux was, and then that he had one embedded in his scar than they were to learn he could speak the magical language of serpents. It was another testament that he had done very well in surrounding himself with an intelligent, open minded, and supportive group of friends that didn't turn on him or run away screaming at the news.

Harry also told his friends about the teachers' concerns and investigation they were going to launch that he learned about during his interrogation by Filch, and about the death of Moaning Myrtle the last time the Chamber was opened fifty years previously. It was then decided that they would discreetly do their own investigating into the hidden Chamber of Secrets, thinking they had an advantage over others with the ability to speak the language of Slytherin. They knew they would have to investigate the second floor bathroom thoroughly as well as interview Hagrid to try and learn a few more details about the last time it was opened.

One additional thing that was brought up by their youngest member Luna, was the strange behavior of her formerly best friend from her childhood, one Ginny Weasley. She said that for the first two months of the school year, that her once bubbly, loud, and outgoing friend was seemingly shutting herself off from friends and family and acting very out of character. It had gotten even worse over the last week leading up to Halloween and she was worried for her childhood friend. They all agreed, that it could be that she was simply adjusting to new circumstances and living environment, but promised the young blonde haired girl that they would devote some time to keeping an eye on the first year Lion and have Neville, Hermione, and if possible get her older twin brothers to do some of the spying themselves.

During the next few days, the group investigated the haunted bathroom, and interviewed Myrtle and Hagrid, and learned that the entrance to the famed Chamber of Secrets was indeed in the bathroom and that Hagrid really had no involvement with the whole thing. He was caught and set up by a Slytherin Prefect named Tom Riddle, for raising an Acromantula inside the castle that had since escaped to the Forbidden Forest and started an enormous colony of the feared arachnids there. Padma, Daphne and Tracy all remarked on how much of a gold mine acromantula silk cost, and the group thought up ways to try and get their hands on some of it if the opportunity arose.

Myrtle confirmed that a boy had opened the Chamber in her bathroom and that was what caused her to confront him and eventually die after seeing a pair of large yellow eyes near the circle of sinks in the bathroom. With those clues, and finding a sink that never worked but had small snake motifs carved into the spout they knew they had found the entrance but were cautious about simply going in after something that sounded so dangerous. It was after learning all these facts, that they researched snakes and found the reference to the King of Serpents known as the Basilisk, whose venom and stare was lethal.

They surmised that Mrs. Norris must have only seen the reflection of the Basilisk's eyes in the flooded water on the ground, and that is why she was only petrified. They also learned that spiders were terrified of the Basilisk, and were able to confirm that when they saw a mass exodus of the arachnids from the castle one day before class as they waited by a window near the Charms classroom. They also figured that the snake was using the existing plumbing and pipes to travel around the school undetected as the creatures could grow to truly enormous sizes that would be very difficult to hide and also explained Harry hearing the voice move through the walls.

They also learned that a Rooster's crow was fatal to the Basilisk, but found that the school's Roosters had all been killed the night before Halloween so couldn't use that method to fight the King of Serpents. Knowing that a Basilisk's hide is damn near impregnable and stronger even than dragonhide, they didn't have much luck in coming up with a way to fight the beast without serious risk to themselves. Harry had everyone practicing their transfiguration to create solid shields and spears, hoping if they did encounter the Basilisk the shield would provide a barrier of protection between them, and maybe a spear would get in a lucky shot with banishing them at the beast.

Their first real breakthrough came when Neville noticed Ginny Weasley writing frantically in an old diary late one night in the Gryffindor Common Room, that had a faded name in gilded letters on the back spelling T.M. Riddle. After researching the Prefect that set up Hagrid, they learned he was a model student with flawless grades that everyone seemed to think was destined for great things. Though after Hogwarts, nothing about the man Tom Riddle was ever mentioned again, he seemingly disappeared completely. Several of the group thought this was highly suspicious for a well known Slytherin to not capitalize on his ambition, when he was well liked and a known genius he would have had opportunities available to him.

That clue also confirmed that Ginny was somehow involved in all this mess, but the over-stressed and ultra-reclusive girl was getting hard to corner or pin down as she usually ran from anyone approaching her these days. They realized that they had to enlist the help of her brothers, and the only two any of them could even tolerate where the twin trouble makers. Harry was left the task of approaching the pair and getting them to help confront and eventually help them in rescuing their sister as they knew the little girl was not capable of this level of evil on her own. He was pleasantly surprised how caring the twins were once they realized the seriousness of the situation and the danger their only sister was in, as they promised to help in any way they could.

Their help turned out to be enormous too, when it came to locating a single student hiding in a large castle as they produced something that Harry recognized immediately from his mum's journal. That the twins had somehow located and activated the Marauder's Map of his father and his friends was eye opening and somewhat shocking to Harry. After reading several of his mother's stories during her seventh year when her and his Father had finally got together, he had learned about the rune activated interactive map of Hogwarts created by the combined efforts of four genius pranksters.

After several shared stories of his father and his friends, and what his mum learned about the map's functions and creation, the twins were even more eager to help the son of their heroes and the group was always able to find the reclusive little first year. That she hid away primarily in the unknown parts of the dungeons was somewhat shocking to most of them, as few knew those passages well enough to navigate without getting lost. For a first year student with no knowledge of the castle, it was practically unheard of for her to navigate those parts of the school as successfully as she did.

It only led to more speculation and confirmation that something wasn't right, and the biggest culprit for now was the diary of one Tom Riddle, which they decided they needed to get away from the young girl if they were to discover its secrets and solve this mystery. It was just passing into December when the group finally had accumulated all of this knowledge, and were ready to implement their plans to get the diary from Ginny. The twins had tried to ask her about the diary and where it came from, but they never got a straight answer and noticed that their sister was uncommonly possessive of the book and got very defensive and closed off the more they asked about it.

They decided to wait until the weekend to put their diary confiscation plan in motion, but those thoughts were dashed when the twins came running up to Harry during the end of dinner on Friday evening with terrified wide eyes.

"Ginny just went into that second floor bathroom and disappeared from the Map!" exclaimed George in a near panic, as his brother was frantically searching the map as inconspicuous as possible in the middle of the Great Hall.

Luckily most of the other Ravenclaws had already left the table and only their friends were in the immediate vicinity for the announcement, but their frantic scrambling didn't go completely unnoticed by everyone. As a group they all quickly finished with whatever they were eating, or reading in Anthony's case, and quickly gathered their things and high tailed it out of the Great Hall. They went to a nearby empty classroom to all examine the Map more closely and ensure they hadn't just missed her appearing somewhere else, and when no sign of her appeared they all shared a grave look.

"We need to go rescue her!" exclaimed Fred, as George and he were both understandingly the most frantic of them as it was their sister.

"We need to tell a teacher!" responded Padma quickly, with pointed glances to Neville and Hermione who both sheepishly blushed, "we aren't all rash Gryffindor's rushing into danger. We learned that lesson last year the hard way ...right Harry?"

The glare she directed at Harry at that moment was very intense, and had the Ravenclaw second year ducking his head and mumbling "mmhmm" as everyone turned to him and were reminded of last year's trip down the Third Floor Corridor after the Sorcerer's Stone. The twins tried to argue, but everyone else was adamant that they had to get a teacher's help, a Basilisk was not something within the realm of their expertise. It was a XXXXX ranked dangerous creature, the highest rating given to only the most ferocious and dangerous of magical creatures.

"We'll take this to Professor Flitwick, he will at least hear us out," reasoned Harry after a few moments thought, as he started preparing all the details and information they had gathered, without implicating themselves or his Father's very illegal Marauder's Map currently in the Twins' possession.

Professor Flitwick was just getting to his office after dinner when the group of five second year Ravenclaws and one first year, Three second year Slytherins, two second year Gryffindors, and two fourth year Gryffindors all rushed up to him frantically, and he knew instantly that something very serious was wrong. Over the next few minutes, Harry Potter took over explaining several facts and details they had gathered and investigated surrounding the Chamber of Secrets, the beast within, and who and almost how it was being opened. The students ended with seeing Ginny disappear from the second floor bathroom completely, and knew she was somehow the one going into the Chamber.

The small Charms Master was shocked and appalled at times when he was told details of their investigation and discovery into this issue, and because of the urgency and seriousness of all those before him, knew that this was the truth as they knew it. He looked at them all very seriously, and told them he had to contact Professor Dumbledore immediately and include him on any discussion going forward regardless of their objections of slowing the rescue of Ginny down even further. The rational members (ie: the Non-Gryffindor's) all understood this reasoning and were mostly thankful that the diminutive professor took them seriously.

A short Floo call later and Professor Dumbledore was stepping out of the fireplace in Professor Flitwick's office, looking very powerful and serious as he took in the many students crowded around. Another couple of minutes explaining all their discoveries, investigations, and conclusions regarding the Chamber had the old Headmaster very impressed with the young students, but also very serious about the matter at hand. Harry also, didn't fail to notice the slight widening of the Headmaster's eyes when the talk mentioned Tom Riddle, and knew instantly that Dumbledore knew even more about the story, and filed it away for later.

Within a few more minutes, Dumbledore was contacting professors McGonagall and Snape to join them, and quickly had them filled in on what was happening and had been discovered. They too both reacted to Riddle's name, while Snape even flinched and grabbed his forearm in a nervous looking gesture that instantly threw up several red flags from the normally unflappable and dour Potion Master. Once Professor McGonagall though realized one of her first year cubs was somehow involved and possibly under Riddle's spell, she was adamant that something be done immediately showing her true colors as the Gryffindor Head of House.

It didn't take long for McGonagall at that point to demand an expedition into the unknown Chamber of Secrets, to rescue Ginny Weasley from whatever hold Tom Riddle had on her. The professors then started quickly escorting the students out of the office so the adults could handle everything, before Harry stopped them all with one question.

"And how do you plan to get through the Parceltongue passwords?" he asked just before Snape could roughly manhandle him and steer him clear out of Flitwick's office, causing all motion inside to immediately grind to a stop.

It was at this point that Harry explained to the teachers and Headmaster that he too was a Parcelmouth, and would open all the pathways to the Chamber IF he was allowed to accompany the expedition. After a bit of shock on the teachers side at his admitting to being a Parcelmouth, and adamant stances that he was a child that shouldn't be involved in anything so dangerous it was eventually left to Dumbledore to make the call. Harry reminded him of the end of the last semester and his encounter with Quirrellmort, which had the old Headmaster laughing at the nickname and conceding that Harry was mature enough to handle this as well.

Part of Dumbledore's thinking though had to do with how much Harry had already learned and knew about Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort as Dumbledore knew him to be, and also to again further test his young prophesized hope of the Wizarding world and get the somewhat reclusive young wizard more intrinsically attached to the Light. He saw the similarities between the young Potter and the former Head Boy Tom Riddle, in their intense study and learning of all kinds of magic, their prodigious skill with their magic, and the drive to constantly improve and test the boundaries of understood magic and wasn't completely comfortable about it. Harry wasn't the rash Gryffindor he had originally envisioned when preparing for the Potter Heir to come to Hogwarts and be molded in his image, and he wanted to ensure that the very reclusive Harry had plenty of ties to the wizarding world and thought this a great opportunity to include the young wizard and ingratiate himself into his circle of trust.

Once it became clear that Harry would be accompanying the Professors on their treck down into the Chamber of Secrets, the twins especially were loudly arguing for their own inclusion into the hunting party, as older wizards and brothers to the missing student. Their arguments however did not sway anyone, and they were all required to stay with Professor Flitwick who would be protecting and watching the second floor bathroom for their return. Only Professors Snape and McGonagall would be accompanying Harry and Dumbledore down into the Chamber to hopefully rescue Ginny Weasley and take care of the Basilisk, Harry and the others suspected was the monster of the Chamber.

Practically everyone jumped or squeaked in fear the moment Harry began hissing at the snake motif on the sink in the second floor girls bathroom, and jumped again at the rough stone grinding sound that followed as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was opened deep into the earth below the school. Despite the creepiness factor and fear associated with facing off against the unknown or in this case a Basilisk, several of the students and professors had a calculating gleam in their eyes at getting to witness and be a part of something so historically significant as entering a hidden Chamber of one of the Founders of the school that had been unsuccessfully found for over the last millenium.

Harry didn't believe for a minute that Slytherin, or anyone else, would want to slide down the long pipe that had been opened at the entrance, but couldn't figure a way to get stairs to appear despite trying several different word combinations and resigned himself to getting filthy. Professor Dumbledore insisted on going into the tunnel first, followed by McGonagall, Harry, and then Snape while Flitwick and the rest of the kids would watch the entrance for their return. With Dumbledore conjuring small almost fairy looking lights that hovered at random intervals down the long drain pipe fit for a man Hagrid's size, the descent underground was rather exciting and much like what Harry thought a waterslide would be.

Landing in a large carved out stone room filled almost to knee height with thousands of animal bones of varying sizes from small mice all the way up to large beasts that were probably once hippogriffs, was a reality check that was needed to stress the danger and importance of what lied ahead. Up the only tunnel that they could go, they were able to spot even from the very beginning of their walk an enormously large shedded snake skin almost blocking the way forward that when they approached gave them all pause at the true enormity of it. A snake skin this size was unheard of, and Harry hoped he and the others were truly ready for what they were going to encounter.

"Harry ...you will stay in the back with Professor McGonagall watching our backs as we go forward. If you see any movement at all, you are to immediately look down at your shoes or close your eyes," spoke Dumbledore more seriously than Harry had ever seen him, and he quickly agreed after picking up a large bone and transfiguring it into a sturdy and relatively large full body shield that he would be hiding behind in case of any actual danger.

"A very good idea Harry," remarked Professor Dumbledore to his large shield, "and I must say ...some very fine transfiguration work."

"Thanks!" replied Harry sheepishly as both Dumbledore and McGonagall, two Transfiguration Masters looked approvingly over his work before copying him and creating their own physical shields. "I practised my shield and spear transfiguring the moment we learned it was a Basilisk down here ...it was the only way I could think of fighting the magically resistant creature."

"Very clever indeed," agreed Professor McGonagall who then asked the Headmaster how they were planning to fight the Basilisk.

In answer, the old Headmaster retrieved another bone fragment and expertly transfigured it into a living Rooster that he then silenced until we were all in position. At that point, we had come upon another elaborately locked door that truly marked the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, as it was easily a hole five meters around with a heavy iron door that looked more like an oversized manhole cover with several snakes bracing or locking the door. Everyone shared a solemn look as they all took a fortifying breath knowing they were about to enter the Chamber proper, and then Harry hissed another open command and watched as the elaborately carved snake rode around the outside of the circular door and unlocked every snake blocking its path until it completed the circuit and the door swung open inward.

Professors Dumbledore and Snape both peered into the dark Chamber, and both sent small spells into the abyss to lighten up the room and ensure nothing was on the immediate other side of the heavy door. Once all four of the group had navigated their way through the opening they encountered an enormously long room larger than the Great Hall and lined with dozens of very large serpent statues along both side of the Chamber. Most of their attention however was on the movement at the very farthest end of the Chamber, where they could just see a small redhead waving her wand in an elaborate and very purposeful way towards the ridiculously large and ugly monkey looking statue at the end of the Chamber. Even from the distance, they could hear the faint hissing of the words in Parceltongue as the young girl was oblivious and continued with her spell or chant as the four newcomers shared a look of skepticism.

They weren't however, given any further time to learn or understand what was happening as almost instantly after going inside, they heard and saw the movement of the statue's mouth opening to reveal a large hole and the unmistakable sounds of a large animal approaching quickly. Harry got a single moment to glimpse at the largest animal he had ever seen emerge from the hole at the far end of the Chamber before it was off like a rocket right at them. Professor Dumbledore was barely able to set down the Rooster and hit it with a compulsion charm, forcing it to let out a large cock-a-doodle-doo that had the recently arrived Basilisk screeching and spasming around like a flailing fish on land.

Unfortunately for the four newest arrivals, the Basilisk had already managed to approach their position by the time the Rooster starts crowing, and it was flailing around among them, causing them all to scatter away from a whipping tail and head and be separated. All of them except Dumbledore also lost their transfigured shields or abandoned them to the thrashing Basilisk in their frantic escape. The other problem, was that the transfigured Rooster with the compulsion charm wasn't fatal to the largest serpent any of them had ever seen, and they didn't know if that was because he wasn't a real Rooster or the Basilisk had built up a resistance to the sound although it was still apparently very damaging to the creature's hearing and was luckily keeping its head thrashing so violently that the creature couldn't use it's fatal gaze on any one of them in the confusion.

Harry was about to panic when things went to shit so quickly, but a scream of pain from Professor Snape had him force himself to calm down and continue with his original and only plan for dealing with a creature this big. He began transfiguring the many pieces and chunks of stone knocked loose from the floor and walls by the Basilisk's thrashing into meter long spears that he then began repelling them straight at the Basilisk. Most harmlessly bounced off the heavily resistant hide, but several momentarily pierced the beast along its body causing it to struggle further against the combined assault and others just bombarded it. Dumbledore was still compelling the Rooster to crow and disorient the Basilisk while transfiguring the stones around him into golems that he sent to protect the three people he brought with him.

Harry caught a glimpse of Professor Snape on the ground behind a large stone golem with a severely broken leg sticking out at an unnatural angle probably having been hit by the thrashing creature, but still throwing out powerful purple ribbon like spells that splashed along the Basilisk's body leaving hundreds of small gashes behind but seemingly doing no permanent damage. McGonagall wasn't in Harry's line of sight any more, but he could see other spears, longer and better looking than his own he noticed briefly, being repelled at the Basilisk from the other side that he assumed where from her. Just as a large spear of his scored a direct hit into the left eye of the Basilisk, causing it to rear back in obvious pain and the loudest screech any of them had heard to that point, another spell came from the far end of the Chamber and crashed into his side shattering several of his ribs and taking a good chunk of skin and blood from his side and knocking him to the ground in a heap of pain.

His cry of pain alerted the other three of the continued threat of whatever had a hold of Ginny, as her bludgeoning curse hit with power unrivaled by anything Harry had seen to date and caused them all to lose focus on the large pissed off serpent in their midst. When the three professors all turned and fired shots down the Chamber hoping to incapacitate the young first year without killing her, they failed to realize that Harry was left completely open to the enraged Basilisk who used the distraction to lunge at Harry with his mouth open wide planning to swallow him whole. It was only his desperate action that had him repeat his previous spell at the last possible moment and buried a large transfigured spear right into the roof of the Basilisk's open mouth and directly into it's brain killing him instantly. But not before the open mouth collapsed onto Harry's huddled and pain filled form, stabbing him with two teeth, one into his hip just below the now torn up side, and the other into the back shoulder blade of his right arm that he was protecting his injured side with.

It was instantly quiet as the Professors all realized they had successfully taken down the small first year, before turning back to the Basilisk and seeing it's corpse collapsed on the spot they last knew Harry to be in. Now frantic with worry over the last Potter's possible demise, Dumbledore banished the Basilisk with an anger fueled spell that left an angry and heavy ozone feeling of power in its wake to reveal the crumpled form of their boy hero. The growing pool of blood underneath the talented second year had the Headmaster scrambling to help his prophesized savior, and he instantly called for his trusted companion Fawkes, the phoenix to come to his aid.

Approaching the downed second year, Albus Dumbledore could only wince in pain as he stared in shock at the two almost foot long Basilisk fangs stuck in the Potter Heir's body like a pin cushion, and didn't know if his Phoenix friend would be able to save the talented young Harry. He knew time was of vital importance, and quickly grabbed the closest tooth emerging from Harry's bloody back shoulder and yanked it free from the boy before his Phoenix instantly hopped up on the boy's back and began crying into the now sizzling wound. This caused Harry to instantly come out of his stunned shock, and let out a grunting wail of pain that swept through his entire body as he finally realized he was still alive despite almost being crushed and eaten by an enormous Basilisk.

Being alive for the moment though, didn't fill Harry with much confidence as he quickly saw the remaining Basilisk tooth sticking out of his hip just above a completely torn up side and ribs that hurt so much he was somewhat delirious and somewhat unconnected from the pain and he wondered if that wasn't actually death approaching him as his body felt heavier by the moment. The arrival of Professors McGonagall and Snape, one magically supporting Ginny Weasley's unconscious form and the other hobbling over on a transfigured crutch with his still broken leg splinted heavily and carrying an old black diary with a very distasteful expression on his pained face. Throwing the offending item on the ground at his feet, since the magic leaching off the black diary felt all kinds of wrong even to the man who most closely resembled a dark wizard within the school, it landed between the entire group without a thought as the two professors rushed forward to try and help their Headmaster save the life of a very important and promising young wizard.

Fawkes was just finishing crying into the larger Basilisk wound after getting it to close, but not yet actually healed due to the young wizard's other injuries, when he was startled off the boy in question when Harry abruptly yanked the remaining tooth out of his hip and plunged it down into the innocent looking black diary nearby. Instantly the Chamber echoed with one of the most piercing screams any of them had ever heard as a noxious green mist seemingly dissipated out of the diary in the form of Voldemort as black ink like blood bleed freely out of the hole made by the corrosive Basilisk venom filled tooth. The green mist, which had at this point grown to include some mist coming from Ginny Weasley's unconscious body, quickly dissolved as the scream ended but continued echoing off the cavernous walls of the Chamber, leaving absolute ringing silence in its wake that startled the three older magicals out of their skin.

It was only the pained grunt of Harry as he rolled onto his back in agony after expending the last of his body's energy to remove the vile stain of magic he so acutely felt next to him the moment that diary was in his presence, that the others remembered why they were all crowded around a young bleeding and now unconscious second year. Fawkes, now with access to the poison filled hole on Harry's hip instantly got back to work crying over the boy's injury with renewed purpose after witnessing the selfless act of the young wizard to expel that horrible magic. Both Snape and Dumbledore were pale as a sheet after witnessing the destruction of Voldemort's diary, and both knew they had stumbled upon something vitally important to the Dark Lord and hoped they would get to learn more of what had just happened and still frantic with worry over the young Potter.

Fawkes had at this point moved on to the bloody and open wound on Harry's side, but couldn't do too much there outside of healing some skin and promoting Harry's own magic to continue to heal the young wizard, as his tears didn't set or regrow bones. The Phoenix though, was aware of how low the young wizard's magic was at this point, and knew that his healing would come extremely slow, and maybe even life threateningly slow and decided to do something extra for the young selfless wizard that had shone so brightly to his senses. So, taking his beak and ripping open a wounds on his own foot, he allowed a single drop of Phoenix blood into all three of the still somewhat open but slowly healing wounds of the boy before sealing each of the three injured spots with a final tear.

Dumbledore, while his brain was still trying to process and understand everything that had already happened here tonight, was left wide eyed and somewhat flat footed as he witnessed what his Phoenix had just done and knew instantly that it was a very significant thing. Snape at this point was being fussed over by McGonagall, so they both missed the freely given blood of the Phoenix and Albus realized it was probably for the best. Seeing the wounds finally come to a close on the young Potter, and his breathing to slow and even out, his color to slowly return to his cheeks, left Albus with an almost incredulous smile on his face and twinkle in his eyes as he realized they had gotten past the very worst of it.

"Severus," spoke Albus to get the other man's attention, "once you have both sucessfully recovered, you and Mr. Potter can come down here again to harvest the Basilisk and clean out this Chamber of anything before we get the Ministry involved."

"Yes sir," mumbled a stunned Severus Snape, who just then glanced over Dumbledore's shoulder to the side of the Chamber where the enormous carcas of the dead Basilisk lay, causing his eyes to widen in excitement and a small smile to actually appear on his usually dour face.

"Then let us gather together, and maybe Fawkes here can transport us to the Hospital Wing before I go and collect Filius and the others who are waiting," Dumbledore responded happily, glad that this Chamber of the Secrets business was done and that everyone appeared to be fine.

It was to Padma yelling at someone that woke Harry up some time after arriving at the Hospital Wing, and saw all his friends gathered around his bed while the short dark skinned witch tore into Professor Dumbledore for endangering her friend for the second year in a row. Dumbledore, for his part was at least sitting there and taking it, while another look around the wing revealed Professor Snape lying in a bed across the room while Madam Pompfrey bustled around him while he glared irritatedly at her and Padma for making so much noise. The rest of his friends were all watching wide eyed at the little second year yelling at the most powerful wizard in their world like a chastized child.

"You tell him, Padma," Harry laughed a moment later when the girl seemed to be winding down, and was instantly the center of everyone's attention, including Madam Pompfrey who quickly came over after seeing him awake.

"And don't think for one moment that YOU have ANY right to speak, Mr. 'I'll be careful' and 'I'll be fine, that's what the teachers are for'. You are never allowed on another adventure without Su and I by your side to keep you from your own stupidity, is that clear Potter?" the small girl practically growled as she turned and continued her rant at her now awake best friend as she got right in his face glaring at him to accept her new terms, while Su smiled behind her and ducked her head a bit in embarassment.

"Yes Padma," responded Harry somewhat dejected looking, but mostly in jest, as it really did mean a lot to him that she was so adamant about sticking by him and caring about his well being enough to worry about him so, and he realized that he meant it to.

Once everyone was assured that Harry would be okay, and make a full recovery in a few days, the students were ushered out of the Hospital Wing and told to return to their dorms for bed as it was nearing midnight at this point. With the kids out of the way, Madam Pompfrey was able to approach and run her many diagnosis scans to get a better feel for Harry's natural healing, and what else would need to be fixed. She had already reset the broken ribs and shoulder blade that both suffered significant damage while he was still asleep, but now that he was awake she could treat his concussion, and provide the potions he needed to help strengthen and mend his bones further, blood replenishing potions, as well as several to repair the internal damage the three injured areas caused.

Before she could administer those potions though, she left him alone with Professor Dumbledore for the two to have a private chat while everything was still fresh in their minds about what happened down in the Chamber. Harry told what he remembered about the fight with the Basilisk, and how it ended, including the destruction of he guessed was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes causing the older Headmaster to choke in shock. Harry then continued with what he was told when he had his OWN horcrux removed from the scar on his head right before he started at Hogwarts.

With the soul fragment the Goblins' removed being so unbalanced and incomplete, they speculated that Voldemort's soul was already so badly damaged most likely from the creation of multiple horcruxes by the time he attacked Harry, that his unstable soul simply latched on to the only living thing it could despite not going through the rather elaborate horcrux ritual. They had discovered this through multiple processes, and having dealt with several soul fragments in the past, their knowledge on them was second to none and more than simply speculation.

Dumbledore was completely floored to learn about this after the fact, having no concrete evidence that Harry's scar was in fact a horcrux even if he secretly thought it might be something like that, he was amazed that the Goblins had learned so much and been able to remove it from Harry without killing him. He realized then that Harry had now destroyed two of the Dark Lord's soul anchors, and he was again left speculating and thinking about the conversation he had with Horace Slughorn years ago about his introduction of horcruxes to the young Tom Riddle, and how many he was planning to make. It was now at least three in his mind, but possible seven as it WAS the most significant magical number and his summer homework to learn more about them just became a lot more important in his mind.

Harry could see the shock and revulsion in Dumbledore's face after learning about the horcruxes, and knew that even if the old Headmaster did suspect something like that, he had in no way known for sure and been genuinely shocked that Harry had stumbled upon the truth. His determined gaze after their short conversation, also had Harry raise his opinion of the older man, and he could see the powerful wizard Dumbledore had become shine through the elderly grandfatherly persona he usually hid his intelligence and determination behind. He also realized that Dumbledore was the leader of the Light in the previous Blood Wars of the seventies ending with his temporary defeat of Voldemort. Harry still remembers the haunting visage of Voldemort on the back of Quirrell's head, and the words he spoke about remaining as less than a spirit, and knew then that the war with Voldemort still wasn't over and the man in front of him had the most knowledge of anybody on how to fight it.

Making sure at that point to not alienate the older Headmaster, instead Harry asked more about who Tom Riddle was even if he suspected the truth, he wanted Dumbledore to confirm it and elaborate on the type of student and man he was and eventually became. Their conversation wasn't terribly long, but did cover several points of Tom's history, and also laid the foundation of dialogue between the two that would be built upon in the future. By the time Madam Pompfrey returned demanding to treat her patient, the two had reached a nice give and take, and promised to continue the history-slash-magic lessons periodically throughout the second half of the year.

Harry is then forced by the formidable Matron to remain a guest of the hospital wing for the entire weekend, and luckily only survives the boredom by his friends stopping by several times and bringing him books to read so he could keep up with his homework and many side projects.

He was also told by Professor Snape, that the pair of them would be going back down to the Chamber every night that first week, so the Basilisk could be rendered down to potion ingredients and to be prepared to work. That was followed by said Professor dropping off a dusty old tome detailing the rendering of a magical creature carcass down to ingredients that had Harry excitedly flipping through in fascination and a bit of disgust too.

By Sunday evening, Harry was practically bouncing off the walls trying to get released form the Hospital Wing before dinner so he could join his friends, and escape the clutches of Madam Pompfrey. While he was grateful for the healing work she did, Harry was glad to be rid of the Hospital Matron who raged whenever he tried to get up and use the bathroom, and gave him absolutely no privacy thinking him an invalid. For someone who had been on his own looking out for himself by himself for so long, it was a real pain and put a crimp into his study plans as he couldn't touch anything that let him work out his magic for the entire time in the wing, outside of Occlumency.

When he was finally released, he rushed to return to his dorm to get a bag together for after dinner, so he could study on his own and work out some of the rust and soreness in his healed shoulder and hip. When he did finally get to stretch out his magic though, he encountered a serious change in his relationship with his original wand. He had always felt a strong connection to the brother wand of Voldemort, more so than either of his spare wands, and now that connection seemed to have tripled in intensity. He had to physically pull back on his magic performed through his wand for fear of overwhelming or overpowering everything to an almost dangerous level. His first stunner blew a hole right through the training dummy, and his trip jinx practically ripped the legs off the poor wooden magical construct.

Dumbledore had filled him in somewhat on what took place at the end of the encounter with the Basilisk after he had been bitten and almost died, and mentioned Fawkes healing him with his tears and wondered if there was some new connection there that could account for that greater affinity with his wand. Either way, it didn't really matter the why, as long as he was able to get comfortable again using his wand everything would work out. It actually helped him perform some of the more difficult spells he had been struggling with, and felt overall that the power boost would only turn out to be a positive thing.

Since the first semester was coming to an end before the Christmas or Winter Break, he didn't get too much opportunity to really test out the limits of the new powerful wand connection, as most of his free time was spent reviewing and studying for exams. He had again signed up to stay at Hogwarts for the Winter break, despite having offers to visit friends' houses, he told them all how he wanted to use this time to study and practice magic to his heart's content free from the restrictions of parents and school. They all understood for the most part, though none of them really comprehended what it meant to not be comfortable around other families or be accustomed to being alone for so much of their lives. Neville was probably the closest to truly comprehending his friend, as he too spent a lot of time growing up alone with his plants, and very little interaction with others outside of meals with his Grandmother.

The two boys had not talked much about it, though they both knew the other was aware of their similarities in this regard though they were too polite and liked each other too much to drag up any possibly painful memories or go too far into their family lives and dynamic. The others had a harder time understanding how different their upbringings were when they were surrounded by parents, siblings, and other relatives almost all the time, and had difficulty reasoning how these two young boys persevered through the loneliness of being orphans (or close to it in Neville's case). Harry's intensity and motivation to constantly push himself to get better, was even harder for most of them to comprehend, as they wondered who he was trying to impress and how he stayed so motivated when he didn't have parents and other family members constantly comparing them to their ancestors and measuring themselves against them.

Anthony and Terry both had a lot of family pressure to do well in school, and Transfiguration for Anthony and Charms for Terry were stressed in almost every letter they received from home and every conversation they would share over the holiday break. Likewise, the Slytherins were also encouraged by their families to constantly show their growth in several areas of magic their families valued, but none of them had the same drive and will to improve that Harry, and to a lesser extent Neville had in spades. Hermione's attempts to prove how smart and strong a muggleborn could be, was still rooted in her families' desire for her to become a doctor and to be the smartest and most hard working student they instilled in her at a young age.

They had all noticed something different about how Harry went about learning, performing, and eventually mastering his magic and every spell he encountered to a level far beyond what any of them thought was needed. Harry wasn't satisfied, just knowing about spells, he had to know everything about them, had to work them until they became second nature and could perform the magic in his sleep, and only then would he consider something learned. It was both humbling to the others and also incredibly frustrating to be outperformed in everything you did, even if it was originally your specialty. Neville's Herbology skills, was about the only magical thing in the entire group where everyone agreed that Harry hadn't learned to do it better than them and it stung their pride a little in certain things.

At first, Anthony and Terry had both kind of resented Harry for seemingly taking their favorite subjects and within months of even learning about magic, something they had known about their whole lives, he was already performing better then them in almost every way. Blaise and Daphne felt the same way about Potions, where in just a year Harry had caught and passed them in skill and knowledge and had never looked back. The only thing that saved their relationships with the determined genius, and none of his friends thought he wasn't a prodigy for a moment, was his humble nature and lack of ever trying to throw his knowledge in others' faces and his total willingness to explain and work with any of them on anything they were having trouble with, with absolutely no judgement or making them feel inferior in any way.

AN: This is where I ended in 2014, and I don;t really expect to pick this story back up, so if anyone is interested ...it's yours as long as you tell me where to find your new version. I included the remaining notes I had below for continuing in case it ever got picked back up.

Thanks!

Kassien

Harry's magic responds better to Fawkes' wand due to shared blood

Miles Bletchley & Adrian Pucey (Slytherin 4th years - 2 years older than Harry) Teach dueling & some Pureblood customs and etiquette

-Monday & Wednesday night 7-9pm

Order messenger bags from Travel shop for friends Christmas gifts (except Daphne)

Correspondence with Flamel about Stone (experiments)

Start new school year (same schedule as first year, cycles through all 7 years)

*Ravenclaw Second Years Schedule:

Monday 9-10:30 Herbology (R&S), 10:30-12 History of Magic (R&H), 1-4 Charms (double R&S)

Tuesday 9-10:30 DADA (R&G), 10:30-12 Potions (R&H), 1-2:30 Transfiguration (R&S), 9-12 Astronomy (All 2nd Years)

Wednesday 9-12 FREE (martial arts practice), 1-4 Herbology (double R&S)

Thursday 9-10:30 History of Magic (R&H), 10:30-12 Charms (R&S), 1-4 Potions (double R&H)

Friday 9-12 Transfiguration (double R&S), 1-4 DADA (double R&G)

Saturday & Sunday martial arts morning, spell practice afternoon