CH 10

Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho

Mandatory Holiday Chapter

Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho

Harry and Ron have just finished being tested on the third year potions curriculum. Both had passed with flying colours and were graded with an O for their written and practical test. They had passed all three primary Hogwarts years with Os.

Professor Snape was impressed by the changes in the two and wondered what differences occurred regarding their study habits or their interest. As he promised he prepared a final exam that incorporated the first three years of Potions and he sent them each an Owl with the time and day that they were to show up.

To their surprise they were not going to be examined at the same time. Worse there would be no written portion to the exam because they were to have an oral examination instead, followed by a multiple potions practical. This meant that they'd be making more than one potion at the same time and they would be graded on how they prioritized their work and the ingredient preparation.

"I think that we should have expected this from him," Harry said. "Are you all right Ron?"

"Not quite," the red-head told him truthfully. "I don't know that I can do this."

"Sure you can," Harry said. "You've never had a problem standing up for whatever reason and think of this test as a preview of going before Magistrates in Court. You'll have to do that too, if you're going to go into Law."

"I never…" Ron looked at his friend, who had a mischievous grin. "Since when have I ever considered going into Law."

"Well, if you're still interested in being an Auror, you'd still have to stand up in court anyway in order to present your cases," Harry said. "You'd have to defend your reasons for arresting certain people, besides I've seen you looking over the internship contract from time to time. Come on we can practice in the Room of Requirement."

"How," Ron said gathering up his school belongings. "How can we possibly practice for something like this?"

Harry now had a positively evil grin on his face. "I might have been in touch with your brothers with an idea," he said. "I've gotten permission from Professor Snape to test them on the condition that no one will ever know about them."

Ron's eyes were wide and surprised. They went to the Room and called up a Potions lab completely set for first level potions only. "Harry what do you have in mind," his friend said. "What are you up to?"

"In the Muggle World there are tons of food items, not unlike your brothers' products, that sometime poke fun at people or creatures," Harry stared. "I remember a product called Count Chocula Cereal. Dudley wanted it all the time, but eventually the people who made them sort of stopped producing it when they wanted something else to go out on the market."

"So what did this cereal have that made it so special," Ron said.

"It had chocolate marshmallows and cereal bits in the shape of bats because the Muggles believe that bats are associated with vampires," Harry said. "It was play-on words that changed Count Dracula into Count Chocula."

"What does this have to do with the twins," Ron said.

"I presented them with an idea for a mini-chocolate bundle called 'Voldie Voles'," Harry said. "It turns your eyes red and snakelike and it makes you hiss like a snake complete with a forked tongue. They look like tiny pure milk chocolate voles."

"What does this have to do with having to taking an oral exam in potions," Ron said looking around the room only to come face to face with grinning Professor Snape, who put something to his face that let out a couple of bright flashes of light.

"Waahhh," he yelled. "Pp.. Prof…Professor Snape?"

Then Snape did something completely out of character, he laughed in the presence of a student. "Oh man," Professor Snape said. "You should see your face. It's priceless."

One excruciating minute of staring in shock at the laughing Professor, who periodically flashed a light in his face and continued laughing, was beginning to unnerve the Gryffindor. Suddenly the man's appearance wavered and soon there was Harry clutching his middle, just like the Professor had been doing.

"Completely priceless," Harry said. He pulled out the same device only this time he turned it to show Ron the digital pictures that he took with the item. "See," he said. "You've been captured on candid camera."

"Bloody hell Harry," Ron said turning red with embarrassment and slight frustrated anger. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"Snape Snacks," Harry said. He held out a bag to Ron and explained. "The twins wanted to do something similar to the Voles, but it didn't work. I told them the problems because they only wanted a person to get Snape's nose and a scowl on their faces. I did tell twins that I felt compelled to mention this to Professor Snape and they agreed to never put out that product. Making fun of someone, especially our Professor, it's just not cool you know."

"All right," Ron said. "But why do you still have those…"

"We can use these to practice," Harry explained. "Once these are gone that's it, there's no more and your brothers assured me that they destroyed the formula too. If we still need the practice, we could always use our left over Polyjuice Potion, but then we'd have to get some hairs or fingernails from Professor Snape to be able to use it and it would last an hour not like these. We wouldn't have Snape's voice either, if we used the Polyjuice."

"What leftover…" Ron looked at his friend and said, "You didn't."

"I did," Harry said. "I looked up how long it lasts and that stuff will last forever if properly placed in cold storage stasis." He shrugged and said, "Hermione was in no position to clean up the mess and so I went back to pack up the potion and clean up the place."

"How many snacks are left," Ron said.

"Quite a bit," Harry said. "It's cumulative too. One snack lasts one minutes, but taking two snacks last two minutes, four snacks…"

"Four minutes," Ron said. "So we can call out questions to each other looking and acting like Snape in order to help…"

"Yeah," Harry said. "In order to help reduce our nervousness around him in order to succeed at the oral examination, that why this place is set-up this way so that we can test in different two ways; one with questions being asked and answered or two when working on more than one potion and when he's likely to come up and ask questions while we're working on them. What do you think?"

"Brilliant," Ron said. "My turn," he popped several snacks in his mouth. "Mr. Potter," he said in Snape's voice. "Set up your and station and brew me a simple Bruise Balm, Healing Draft and Pepper-Up."

Harry giggled and then laughed harder when Ron frown at him from behind the mask of Professor Snape. He slowly collected himself and went to work. They had a difficult time keeping to business, but the non-marketable prank helped both of them to relax and prepare for their upcoming hellish exam.

HPHPHP

Harry had chosen not to return to his new home at the Olde Watermill for the Holidays. He felt that it would be safer to just remain at the school. Besides he felt that the tradition should be upheld and there was more room to learn and do magic if he stayed in school.

He wasn't alone either because Ron had written to his parents asking permission to stay. There was only going to be a few other students around too, with a minimal amount of Professor-type supervision. The Heads of House were all present including the Headmaster and Professor Sinistra who was in charge of Arithmancy.

Ron was miffed when he noticed that Draco Malfoy was staying behind too, but he didn't blame him. He'd read in the papers that Malfoy's father got let out on another technicality and was currently staying at home. He developed a pretty good idea of the bigger picture about some aspects of Malfoy's life. He just didn't like the way the blonde drew his attention. He couldn't figure out why it was happening either and it was starting to piss him off for some unknown reason.

"It's a good thing that Hermione is not staying behind this year," Harry stated. "She might get jealous of your new fixation."

"What are you talking about," Ron said slowly eating his meal and staring at the blonde Slytherin.

"Ron you've only been staring at him since he arrived in the Great Hall," Harry said with a chuckle, but without cruelty.

Ron turned to look at Harry and when Harry pointed at the Slytherin, Ron was right back to staring at him. "Oh," Ron said, quickly turning to look at his plate with a slight blush and slowly eat his meal, muttering, "It's not what you think."

"I don't think anything of it," Harry said. "Just letting you know that there's something different is all." He paused to look at the blonde and noticed that Draco was looking at Ron just as much as Ron had been looking back.

'This is positively grade school stuff,' Harry thought smiling to himself. 'It's too cute. Rivals who aren't rivals, but blood enemies and yet… I never asked what that blood feud was about. I wonder if Ron would tell me.'

Harry looked at Ron and then asked, "Do you think I should give gifts to the Professors this year?"

"What?"

"I was thinking of getting small gifts for the Professors this year," Harry said. "I figured that would at least be the polite thing to do, what do you think?"

"Why would you do that," Ron asked pushing away his plate of half finished dinner.

"A sign of maturity," Harry said with a grin.

"A sign of mentality," Ron replied with his own grin. "What were you planning?"

"I got a few weird books for each Professor," Harry said. "I found some strange things and a couple are rare. They were not something commonly available in the U.K. and they weren't expensive. I was just thinking of something supplemental."

"If you getting them books, why bother with anything else," Ron said.

"They're going to arrive within the next two days," Harry said. "I was just thinking of something additional and personal, like a singing stone for McGonagall that has old Scottish lullabies or love songs."

"I get it," Ron said. "What about Sprout?"

"She'd get muggle seeds," Harry said. "It's a seed of the month type thing from a muggle company. The Headmaster's getting the same from a candy company, candy of the month. Flitwick, well I figured a bottle of Brandywine, because that's what Madam Rosemerta told me is his favourite. Professor Sinistra, I'm getting her an Arithmancy weekly magazine that I know she does not subscribe to. What do you think?"

"They're all right, but what about Professor Snape," Ron said. "What about his extra gift?"

Harry looked at Ron in such a way that Ron just knew he was about to get dirty. "What," he said. "What is going on in that head of yours?"

"Snape's book arrived earlier than the others," Harry said. "In it are a few potions that require rare ingredients." He just looked at Ron and said, "Third floor, girl's loo."

"WHAT?" Ron said loudly. He swallowed when everyone looked at him. "Oh, no, you don't mean… you can't mean…" He leaned in and whispered, "You don't want to go back down there, do you?"

"Maybe," Harry said. "Look Ron you don't have to go with me, but I'd like you to be there. I'd have Dobby and Winky with me, but it is a ruddy great snake and I'm definitely going to need your help. You know that when harvesting potions ingredients we can't use magic."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron said with a shudder. "I know you can't use magic." He looked at his friend and then thought, 'What the hell? It's just another adventure with Harry.'

"All right, I'll go," Ron said. "You did after all come up with something that helped us to pass those potions exams."

"You do realize that with only fourth and fifth year potions left he might make us sit in with the O.W.L. students this year to take that exam again," Harry said.

Ron gaped in shock and said, "No bloody way will I take re-take any O.W.L.s."

Harry laughed and then stood up to leave. "Gotta go work on some of my essays," he said. "I don't want to be stuck doing all of my school-work last minute. You should re-take that O.W.L. to show that you've improved."

"Give me a bloody complex you do," Ron said. "See ya later. I guess I should do the same."

"Meet you in the Library," Harry said. "I've got to get my notes and books. Get us a side room where we can talk."

"Right then," Ron said, getting up to leave as well. "See you there."

The boys made their plans for the next day and since Charlie had given them a basic animal harvesting kit the year before they took that with them along with several containers of various types in order to collect the samples. The two Gryffindors reached the girl's toilette on the third floor and that's when the red-head noticed that his friend had picked up a straggler.

"Harry," Ron called out. "You pick up a stray snake?"

"Nah," Harry said as they arrived at the door. "I did promise him that if he behaved and didn't egg you on into a fight that he'd get to see something, not even his Head of House has seen yet."

He led them into the girl's toilette without even a care if some girl was in there doing her business. "Potter," Malfoy hissed. "You should have knocked at least and you never said we'd be going into the girl's loo."

"Don't worry," Harry said confidently. "This one's never used by the girl's going to school."

"Merlin's balls, why n..." Draco wanted to continue, but his answer floated up from one of the stalls.

"Hallo Harry," Moaning Myrtle said with a twittering giggle. "I see that you're still alive."

"Yes, still alive," Harry said with a friendly smile.

"You're going down there again, aren't you?" She asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "We shouldn't be too long."

"You know if you die down there, you'll be welcome to share my toilette," Myrtle said with a giggle. She giggled again and then flew up over their heads and dove down to rest in her regular spot in the U-bend.

"Merlin Potter," Malfoy observed. "You'll make friends with all sorts, won't you?"

"I hang out with you," Harry replied slyly. "So I guess I do." He focussed his attention on one particular sink and when he found the engraving he hissed, (...Open...).

Ron shuddered and turned to see the blonde's reaction to the Parseltongue language. The Slytherin's eyes were dilated and his mouth was open. It was strange, but Harry had once told him that the password was only the word 'Open'. That didn't explain the extra sounds that came out of his mouth when he said the word, but it was clearly having some kind of effect on the blonde that gave Ron something to think on.

'Later,' he thought. 'I'll think about that much later.'

Draco watched in awe as the sink moved out of the way and a tunnel heading down appeared. His reactions to the hissing of the snake-language were only natural to him and soothing to him, but there was something visceral about it too. Even if it came from a half-blood Wizard with too much power and not enough focus.

He leaned over to look and took a sniff of the air. "Doesn't look clean," he observed which cause his companions to laugh. "What?"

"No one's been down there since second year," Harry said and Ron nodded. "It's also underground, so when could it be cleaned? Time to go," he said jumping in and yelling laughter all the way down with war whoops at varying turns.

Ron shrugged, shaking his head at the Boy-Who-Lived's antic. "He once said that Muggles have theme parks where the parents take kids to go on rides that twist and turn, just like this tunnel. I think they're insane." He jumped in and yelled back up, "Welcome to insanity!"

"Bloody barmy gits," Draco muttered. He sent down a rolling magical ball that filled the tunnel and contained a cleaning spell. He then quickly followed them down to land on his feet with a crunch of small bones under them. "Urgh, this place is disgusting.

"There's more," Harry said. "Come on you two, we need to shore up the wall before we can get by."

He quickly used a spell that was mainly used by Cartographers and Explorers. It was a mapping spell that helped mark sections of where they were to where they've been. It was a pretty map, but it had nothing on his father's map of the school, however it would be useful for them if they were going to explore the tunnels that the Basilisk lived in after they obtained a few potions ingredients from the great snake.

Several spells later the rock slide was transfigured into a solid wall and was sturdier then the time that it fell in when Lockhart used Ron's old 'spell-o taped' wand in their second year. They soon arrived that the round door complete with a snake motif. Harry hissed the password again and they all watched, riveted to the hissing snakes and clicking sounds as each tumbler was released.

Through that entrance and into the main tunnels they walked. The corridor and side openings were warded by the boys in order to prevent any surprises from happening. Torches lit up with magic by their presence and soon they were in the cool cavern with the non-decaying Basilisk snake lay in rigor.

"Whoah," Ron said and then he looked at his friend remembering how small they all were during their second year. "Harry did you really?"

"Yep," Harry said casually. "Fawkes helped by taking out the eyes." He looked closer at the gruesome creature. "Too bad about that though."

"Why," Draco asked in shock. "Why's it too bad?"

"I'd have loved to sell off the ocular fluid. Still I'll extract the remains and give them to Professor Snape. I'm sure that he can do something useful with them," Harry stated normally as though he was talking about the weather. "Dobby, Winky," he called to his house-elves.

"Hello you two," he said in reply to the bubbly greetings. "We need the tables set up here and here in order to catalogue the harvesting of the Basilisk and to hold our containers. We're only going to pick a few choice things today and then we'll see about the rest of this ruddy great beast."

"How do you rate two house-elves Potter," Draco asked. "They're obviously personal ones and not normal house-hold ones."

"I asked and they said yes," Harry stated. "I knew that they were free, Dobby used to be your father's and Winky was released under bad circumstances."

Draco stood there for a while in shock about what he had learned from Potter. This was nothing compared to the D.A.D.A. lessons he'd been enduring with the Boy-Who-Lived. All right if he was honest with himself he liked the lessons, but they usually worked on lessons and didn't exchange all that much personal information.

He walked around the snake and noticed the huge stone face in behind it. He wondered if there was something in there as it was clear that the mouth was capable of opening.

Ron watched the blonde wondering he wasn't fighting with him or even bothering to reach for his wand. 'Bah,' he thought. 'He's been civil, as Hermione would say. I wonder how come Harry's so calm, although it's clear that something's up with those two.'

"Potter you ever go in there," Draco asked removing his outer robes to reveal a set of patched jeans and a comfortable sweater that had obviously been worn a few times. These were clothes he had been using for his D.A.D.A. lessons with Harry.

"Where," Harry said looking up from the notes to harvest one of the beast's venom sacks. The Slytherin pointed to the statue. "Nope, but that's where the snake came out of when Riddle called it."

"Riddle, the git," Ron said with a grin. "Hey are you going to do that thing you told me about?"

"Yep," Harry said. "It's all set for the day the students come back to Hogwarts. The information will be released over Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and every magical town or community, plus at every Wizarding travel station. It will be the biggest media revelation in the history of Wizards and Witches and it will contain the absolute truth."

Ron chuckled. He couldn't wait to see the shocked faces of the students. "I wonder what the Prophet will have to say about it."

"Don't know, don't care," Harry said. "Let's get this started. The sooner I have what I need the sooner that we can explore the mouth of the statue, come on Draco." He said calling back the Slytherin who was trying to figure out how to get the stone face to open up.

Harry's house-elves helped to gather and store the ingredients that the Gryffindor wanted to keep. He allowed Ron to take a few items to ship to his brothers for their pranks and kept a few that he wanted to use as extra credit research material for Potions.

Draco also was permitted to keep a few of the items that they had harvested. He was quite pleased to receive one of the beast's fangs and he planned to carve it into some kind of knife handle. Both Gryffindors thought about that and they too took a couple of fangs for that purpose.

"Winky please take everything here to my rooms," Harry said. "We'll see you at dinner time."

"Winky be making dinner for Master Harry and friends," she asked hopping from one foot to the next in hopes that that was what he was going to do.

Harry smiled and nodded, "All right. You can make us a meal. Please serve us wheel pasta with spiced steak and tomatoes, plus Caesar salad on the side. Surprise us with the dessert."

"Winkys be pleased," she said popping out with their things and leaving behind a Basilisk that looked like it had been bitten in the face. They hadn't taken much from the snake and it was clear that more could be harvested, but the boys were not sure how to do it or what to store things in.

"Well let's see what we can for the next couple of hours," Harry said walking up to the stone face that filled the far side of the wall. He stood at the same spot that Riddle had back in his second year. "Get your brooms ready and Dobby," he called out to the waiting house-elf. "Get ready to pop to my side. We might need some elf help in there depending on what we find."

"I bes waitin for Master Harry's call," Dobby said. "I harvest some more while waitins."

"Okay," Harry said. "Please don't overdo it though." The house-elf only nodded happily being of service.

The two Gryffindors and one Slytherin thought they were ready for whatever would happen when the mouth of the stone stature opened. They held their breath and two of the three waited to hear the magical phrase that would active the door.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Harry muttered before hissing loudly in Parseltongue. (...Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, oh greatest of the Hogwarts four...) (...i...)

"What's he saying," Draco whispered to Ron.

Ron just looked at the blonde and asked, "Can't you guess?"

"No," Draco replied. "It's just a string of hisses to me."

"He's saying, 'Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, oh greatest of the Hogwarts four'," Ron told him with a sour look on his expressive face.

"You mean to tell me that this," Draco point at the face. "This monkey-faced looking thing is supposed to represent Salazar Slytherin and that he would set up such a self-aggrandizing password?"

"Yep," Harry said as they watched the mouth open and they waited to see if something would come out of it before going in. "Although I'm quite sure that the password had been changed by Tom about sixty years ago. Slytherin kept things simple and his password for the Chamber and for the door back there was simply the word 'open'."

"Well that makes sense," Draco sniffed. "By the way who's Tom?"

Harry grinned mischievously and said, "You'll find out in the New Year. Are you two ready?"

"We'll need mirrors just in case," Ron said, conjuring up a hand held one. "We'll also need only one person to look around the corners at a time."

"Yeah and hope that Snape has some 'Anti-Petrification Potion' on hand," Harry said, conjuring up his own mirror.

Draco copied the boys and was about to ask why they needed them, but then his eyes fell onto the carcass of Basilisk. He nodded that he was ready.

The boys mounted their brooms and lifted off. They slowly made their way through the darkened tunnel, because that's exactly what it was. Slowly and cautiously they flew through the entrance section and noticed that there were more tunnels branching off. They flew down several branching tunnels to come up at dead ends filled with regurgitated bones and sloughed off snake skin.

Several of the tunnels ended in doors that Harry made notes about the doors on the map that they had been making since their descent. They were going down a last tunnel when the noticed that there was light drifting in. Curious, but cautious they made their way to the end only to find that the tunnel lead them out of doors and into the Forbidden Forest.

"Makes sense," Harry observed, immediately erecting a ward that prevented forest creatures from coming into the tunnel. It would have been foolish to allow the forest creatures to continue having access to the underground tunnels. He did make the ward one-way to allow those that may have found their way in, a way out.

A chittering sound nearby became louder and Ron was in the beginning stages of his fear. "Harry," he whispered hoarsely. "Ha...haa...Harry!"

"I know Ron," Harry said. The noise was behind them. The Slytherin was frozen in place by the fear he sensed in the red-head. "Don't either of you move," the Boy-Who-Lived told them. He held up his mirror to look behind him. He gulped loudly, but knew that the other two didn't want to see the creatures, especially Ron.

Harry rotated his mirror to look overhead. He gulped again and hissed in Parseltongue, hoping that he'd be understood. (...We mean no harm, please let us go. We've made arrangements so that none of you will ever get lost in these caves again...)

There was a deep chittering hiss that replied, (...You are a friend of Hagrid are you not?...)

(...Yes...) Harry replied honestly, refusing to move.

(...Despite your underlying delicious scent, you've done something to render yourselves unappetizing...) The creature hissed and clicked its reply. (...Tell your companions to move aside we will leave the three of you alone on this day...)

"Guys," Harry said getting a sidelong glance from the other two sixth-year Hogwarts students. "Move to one side and let them pass. We don't smell like food to them today."

Ron didn't care who he grabbed and pulled into his arms to lean against the wall and get as far from what he knew was coming. The chittering-chatter told him everything he knew. He had his wand out, but he buried his face into the hair of the person he was holding.

Draco was shocked to be man-handled by the tall red-head, but he knew and understood uncontrollable fear. He just didn't know what the creatures were. He kept his wand out and his back against the Gryffindor that was bending and hiding behind him. The Slytherin's eyes widened as six small, knee-high, spiders walked by. He looked up to see that the Boy-Who-Lived was pressed against the opposite wall with his wand out as well.

The blonde was further surprised by the eight mid-size spiders, thigh high, passing him only to nearly faint at the one coming from the rear. It was huge. "Close your eyes right now," Draco whispered to the shaking person holding him closer like he'd protect him from the nightmare. "Keep them closed."

"Thanks," Ron whispered back with a shuddering breath that heated the blonde's neck.

The last Acromantula to leave had brushed up, slightly against the boys, but continued on its way. It let out a parting chittering comment. (...My children got lost in their play. I trust that will never happen again...)

(...I will personally make sure of it...) Harry hissed back. (...These tunnels are now blocked by magic against all entry...)

As soon as the last spider was out of the tunnels, he cast a Parseltongue ward that would shield the entrance from any and all creatures of the forest. In fact he found and called forth stones and rocks from the forest to come and block the entrance so that it didn't look like an inviting cave.

The boys walked back down the tunnels and since they were near the forest, they did a few magical tests on the structure of the tunnel. "We could bring down this wall," Ron said in a shaky voice. "It would help to protect the tunnel from the forest creatures even more."

"First we'd have to make sure that we are not taking down any towers in the process," Harry said. "I was thinking that we'd explore the three rooms that we found down here first. Then we'd let the Professors and Headmaster know about that back entrance."

"Do we have to explore those rooms today," Ron asked in that tone of his that indicated that he was still feeling scared and shaken by the fact that Acromantulas were actually in the tunnels the same time that they had been exploring.

"Not at all," Harry said. "In fact I think we found some interesting information to work on an extra credit project for Professor Snape instead."

"What project," Draco said. "He never assigns projects for extra credit."

"I was thinking about doing research on an Acromantula Repellent," Harry said.

"WHAT?" Ron shouted, "ARE YOU INSANE?"

"No," Harry said. "Thankfully we never washed up after we gathered the Basilisk ingredients because that's what made us unappetizing to the spiders."

Ron's mouth opened and closed and then opened again with a question that he knew he didn't want the answer too. "They'd...they were gonna... they..."

"They would have," Harry nodded in agreement. "Only we didn't smell good, which I can only believe is because we'd been carving up the Basilisk a couple of hours ago."

"Bloody hell Potter," Draco said looking at Harry with something new in his eyes.

"I guess that we can fly out of here," Harry said. The others didn't object, as they were eager to get away from the far wall that they had built.

They met up with an excited Dobby that had continued to harvest ingredients from the Basilisk. The little elf was only concentrating on what he could reach, but he was also making similar notes on how he harvested what he did.

"You're brilliant Dobby," Harry said. "I want you to stop now, go wash up and rest for the remainder of the day. You've done enough."

"Nos," Dobby said. "This never be 'nough for great Master Harry Potter, sir."

"It is for today," Harry said. "Pack up everything you can. We'll need to get more containers of different sizes for the snake's skins that are in some of the other tunnels. I want you to find the proper containers for them and the other types of ingredients we'll get from it. I'll check with Griphook to see of the Goblins will be interested in the skins or some other parts of the snake."

"Yes Master Harry," Dobby popped away as soon as everything he had been working on was properly stored for his return.

"Let's go," Harry said hopping onto his broom and zooming back up the tunnels. He stopped to shut the doors and the entrance from the girls' loo. The other two were waiting for him, including Moaning Myrtle.

"Pity," she sighed. "I see that you're still alive."

Harry only nodded and they left the toilettes. "I'll see you guys in an hour," he said. "I figure that'll be long enough to get the smell of snake and spider webs out of our hair."

HPHPHP

Christmas morning was an interesting day for everyone that remained at the castle. The children all got up and opened the gifts they received. They met for breakfast and some bragged about the gifts they got, while others never mentioned what they did or didn't get.

There were not many like Harry who had never received a gift before his eleventh birthday and his first Christmas at the school. There were a few that received smaller things, but they were all pleased with the things that they did receive.

The Professors had been pleasantly surprised by the gifts that Harry had sent. It showed that he paid attention to some of their quirks and quite frankly it was kind of nice to be remembered in such a fashion once in a while.

Well, almost all of the Professors expressed thanks to the Boy-Who-Lived except one. "Mr. Potter," Professor Snape called out. "You will meet me in my office this morning at ten am sharp, understood."

"Yes sir," Harry said. He wasn't really surprised by it.

"What did you do Harry," Professor McGonagall asked.

"Nothing," Harry said. "He might want to discuss something else. I presented him with an idea for a project, so I'm hoping that's what he looking to talk about. I don't want to think that it could be anything else. Please excuse me I don't want to be late."

"You have plenty of time," Professor Flitwick observed.

"Not quite," Harry said. "I got a late start this morning and I need to freshen up before I go down there. Besides I'd never go down there without adding an extra layer of warmth." That earned him some good natured laughter in his direction and it allowed him the opportunity to leave without saying anything more.

He detoured to his rooms to show his Christmas gifts to his house-elves, since he had slept in Gryffindor Tower in order to keep Ron company. He presented them with gifts for them and received a couple in return. They were very thoughtful gifts and would be of use to him at their home at the Olde Watermill.

"These are great," Harry said about the magical plant starter pots and the magical garden seeds from Winky. The seeds contained the basic muggle herbs as well as some Wizarding varieties which made Harry curious about how to cook with them.

Dobby had given him a basic garden tool set to go with the seed kit, plus a book on raising owls for multiple purposes. "I can start them here and then when Spring comes I'll be able to send you to plant them and care for them until end of the school year. Thank you Winky."

"Master Harry's gifts are good too," Winky said eyeing the pots and pans that were necessary for the kitchen. Some of the pots were very different from what she was used to, but apparently you could cook a lot of stuff in one pot, meat and vegetables, and put it all in the oven at the same time. It was a Muggle World set known as, 'Le Creuset' which are basically coated cast iron cook pots in many bright colours. She received some pans in the shape of Woks and many sizes of regular shiny copper bottom pots that she was used to.

They had very minimal stuff at the Olde Watermill because they hadn't been living there for the whole summer and they had still been in the middle of renovations. The renovations were due to be finished during that coming Spring and Harry was looking forward to his summer before his seventh year of school began.

Dobby received any and all tools that he needed for his work around the watermill. He was working as a general maintenance man. He'd also work on projects like fencing that Harry had planned to build, but it was not only that, he was going to be responsible for the Owlery and in making sure that the young owls were trained before his Master chose to sell them. He was hoping that he could build a magical aviary on the property and Harry had said that they would have to see what they could get away with in their property plans.

After that, Harry quickly made his way down to the dungeons in order to meet up with his Potions Professor. He was curious about why the man would call him out that way in the Great Hall, but he figured it was just a better way to keep up appearances.

He was about to knock on the door to the office when one of the remaining Slytherins came up to him and said, "Lost Potter?"

"Not at all," Harry said. "Are you?"

"I live in the dungeons," Crabbe said. "That doesn't explain why you're here now?"

"Since when do I have to explain myself to you," Harry said to the other boy, eyeing him and making sure that there wasn't going to be a confrontation. "I was told to be here by ten. Since Professor Snape ordered that I come, well here I am." He looked at the other boy considering and then said in observation. "You know that I've never heard you speak in complete sentences before today."

Crabbe's face changed to one of slight fear and that's when Harry understood something was fundamentally different with this Slytherin, too. He held up his hand and said, "I don't think I'm quite awake yet, you know opening up presents and all, so I think that I will chalk all this up to a strange dream."

"Mr. Potter," Professor Snape said opening the door. "I believe that I told you not to be delayed. Be on your way, Mr. Crabbe."

"Yes sir," Crabbe said. He looked back at the Boy-Who-Lived who mouthed 'See Draco' and who then turned quickly to scuttle into the Potions Master's office. He was surprised about that, but then again he figured that it may time to speak to the Year Leader in his House to find out what is going on. He was smart enough to know not to do this with any other Slytherin present, though.

Harry just walked into the room and noticed that the containers with the gift of Basilisk ingredients were all lined up and he sighed. He had naïvely thought that they would just be accepted without question, but it was obvious that the man wanted to know where he got them or perhaps whether he was serious about the gift. He sat down in the chair that had been placed in front of the desk and waited for the man to ward his office, protecting it against snoops and spy-spells.

Severus looked, for all the world, ready to give the young man heck, but he only sat down and stared at the gifts in wonder. Finally he only said, "Thank you."

Harry smiled happily and said, "Happy Christmas, sir."

"Is it too much to ask just where you obtained such rare potions ingredients or even this novel little book of recipes?"

"Not at all," Harry said. "I obtained the ingredients from the Chamber of Secrets and the book from the Muggle Internet, respectively."

"The Chamber…," Snape looked stunned. "I beg your pardon, but I don't believe that you said the Chamber of Secrets."

"Yes, I did," Harry stated still smiling at the man. "I went down there four days ago with Ron and another student. We harvested some ingredients and I chose those ones to specifically give you, as they were in that little volume of '201 Obscure Ideas in Potions from the Years 842-1325'. I found the book on the Wizard-Net, but it was on a potions web site that sold rare or odd books."

Severus opened his mouth and then shut it again. He paused to think about something and then said, "Mr. Malfoy came to me three days into the school year to ask questions about the Greater Red Wood trees and their potential in potions," he observed the Gryffindor's small twitch of the mouth to hide a grin and concluded that they were getting along during Draco's remedial D.A.D.A. classes on Wednesday afternoons. "I suppose that his questions stemmed from the same source."

"Well," Harry hedged a bit and told him. "I did tell him that it had been in print in the International Potions Plus – Monthly Magazine. I gave him the year and month that it had been printed. He said that he was going to look it up in the periodicals of the Library before discussing it with you. Did he?"

"Yes," Severus said looking into the frank eyes that reminded him of his long ago best friend, Lily Evans. "He wondered why we never used such ingredients at the school. I informed him that many potions created and used in this part of the world are based on the availability of ingredients nearby and that many factors must be considered prior to attempting a potion that may need ingredients from an outside source."

Harry only nodded because that was the conclusion that he had come up with too. 'Plus there are some potions that will never be popular despite popular usage in a specific locale,' he thought. 'Who wants a Pepper-Up potion that causes you extreme flatulence in the process, because that's just gross, pee-eew.'

"Mr. Potter," Professor Snape said getting the boy's attention.

The Gryffindor grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, sir," he said. "You were saying?"

"I asked if you planned to return to the Chamber anytime this holiday," the Potions Master repeated. "I cannot believe that two foolish Gryffindors', but then again I can, would be so idiotic to go down there without adult supervision in case there was something else living in there. You didn't even come to me asking for advice on the matter."

He was a little put out about it, but since it was obvious to a blind man that the reason for going to the Chamber of Secrets was to get potions ingredients for a gift, he couldn't stay that angry, but still...

"We wanted to surprise you and we felt that since we'd been down there before we could handle whatever came up," Harry stated. He knew that the man wasn't that hurt not to have been consulted, but he did recognize that he could have invited one of the other Professors at the school to come and supervise the harvesting of the great snake.

"I am sorry, sir. It 'was' thoughtless to go down there without some adult to watch over us." He looked up through the fringe of his hair with the classic pleading eyes of a pup and asked in a small hesitant voice. "Would you like to accompany us when we go down again on December twenty-seven?"

Professor Snape had been fully aware of how much this young man's look had gotten others to 'help' him in his studies. It didn't prepare him for the power of the boy's pitiful looks nor did the looks hold him back from saying, "You get away with a lot from your Head of House when you do that, don't you?"

Harry gave up the look quickly and said, "Sometimes. Most times I don't, but it's useful for getting help from the girls in the school, especially smart ones, not that I need it these days."

Snape just snorted and then said, "I do hope you have a better plan when we go down to the Chamber in a couple of days."

"I mapped out most of the tunnels," Harry said pulling out the magical Cartographer Map that he was still working on. "These pipes in the main tunnel and the first door are linked to the expanded plumbing that was added several hundred years ago. I cross-checked the school's blueprints in the library with this map, yesterday. We only blocked those to prevent creatures from using them to get to us, but the water will still flow like it's supposed to. In the main Chamber contains only the torches on the wall and the Statue at the far end, plus the carcass of the Basilisk."

"What are these, then?" Snape pointed to the branching tunnels that originated at back of the Chamber and at the lines that dead-ended in a couple of places. There was one that was clearly marked 'Exit Forbidden Forest'.

"These tunnels can only be accessed by entering the mouth of the Statue, here," Harry explained and pointed the location of the door. "These are all dead-ends filled with animal bones and shed snake skin. Only these three," he pointed to the three tunnels that ended with a straight line across the tunnel and the small word 'door' next to the line. "Those three are doors that we encountered and warded, but did not enter. We were hoping that you'd know a spell to sort of see through the doors to know what the rooms contain before I opened them."

"Why you," Snape asked.

"They are guarded by snake figures and so I believe that they will open only to someone that can speak to snakes," Harry said. "We didn't try conventional opening spells on them though because of the unknown factor, but we can give them a go once we're down there before I talk to the guardians."

'It's too good to pass up,' Snape thought.

"Very well," he said. "I will accompany you and your friends on the twenty-seventh. I cannot in good conscience allow you boys to explore unknown rooms without some kind of adult protection."

"I understand, sir," Harry said smile and knowing full well that his Professor was looking to get first pick from the rooms should they contain some kind of useful treasure.

"None of that now Potter," his Professor said. "Now explain this request?" He pointed to the scrolled proposal that Harry had submitted to him at the end of the last potions class.

"As you can see from the map where the tunnel leads out to the Forbidden Forest," Harry began to explain by giving a bit of background to his 'Potions Project Proposal' that he had gotten inspiration from their mini-adventure. "We had explored to the end. Well Ron and I had been to this part of the forest before. It's where the Acromatulas have settled since the time that Hagrid was expelled from school. We immediately set up barrier wards to prevent the creatures from entering the tunnels, but there were some that happened to already be in the tunnels, which we didn't know about until they were returning to the forest while we were standing at the exit to the forest."

Professor Snape's eyes widened at the thought that the boys, foolish as they were, were not harmed. He thought, 'Perhaps there were only a few little ones, easily manageable with the right spells.'

Harry rubbed the back of his head, clearly his throat and said, "We were very lucky that we had chosen to harvest the Basilisk beforehand because we still smelled of the great snake, from our contact with it. The last one to leave the tunnels barely fit in there, but it was one of the ones that I could speak to. It actually understood Parseltongue. She stated that because we still smelled of the Basilisk that we were not appetizing and therefore she and her children chose to leave us alone. We called rocks and boulders from the forest area and blocked the entrance with them as best we could. We included wards to prevent the spiders from coming back into the tunnels."

Severus shuddered and closed his eyes, fully imagining the parade of spiders going by the students in the tunnel, each one bigger than the last. He shook his head at the foolishness of the Gryffindors, but then he realized that he didn't know who the other student or students were that had gone down there. "Who was with you," he asked. "How many students were with you?"

"Only two," Harry said. "Ron, of course, and one person from another House came with us."

"Who," Snape said.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry stated plainly. "We offered him an adventure and a visit to a place of legend that you hadn't even seen yet. I bribed him with a few bits from the Basilisk carcass to keep him and Ron from fighting."

The Potions Master sighed and said, "Continue explaining your proposal."

"During my conversation with the Acromantula matriarch," Harry said. "I got the idea for a spider repellent specifically geared against the giant spiders, so that we could actually go and harvest the spiders from their nest. Well, that is if Acromatulas and their parts are not common potions ingredients."

"They are not common due to the difficulty in breeding them and in controlling their numbers," Snape told him. "However since they are completely overrunning that area of the Forbidden Forest there have been various occasions where the Board of Governors and the Heads of House permitted the hunting of those spiders, but that has not taken place in the last twenty years."

"No wonder there's so many of them," Harry said. "I'm guessing it's because of the war with the Dark Lord."

"True and only adults were permitted to hunt because they have a larger arsenal of spells to cast. The regular spider repellents were not quite strong enough to knock out the larger of the species," the Potions Master commented on thoughtfully. "Your proposal is sound..." He looked over the scroll containing Harry's idea for a new or improved spider repellent. It wasn't like the Basilisk ingredients didn't exist on the market. It was just that they were expensive.

"Several tests would have to be made, but the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures would be the ones in charge of actually doing those, once a viable product is available," Snape told the young man whose eyebrows rose up in question. "The product could initially be tested by Hagrid or by some of the Professors first before you published anything."

"I wouldn't be publishing anything," Harry stated with a shake of his head. "I would keep the patent though, but I don't have enough knowledge in potions at this point in time to actually write anything like that. I was hoping that I could do a bit of theoretical research and then try out the variations from the research in order to come up with a stronger primary base that could be used for different types of repellents. I wasn't even thinking of 'inventing' something brand new."

"Your proposal is good," Severus told him. "It's different and unexpected, especially coming from you. You and Mr. Weasley have improved your Potions scores from the first three years, which has been permanently recorded to your files. This is your sixth year of studying at this school and I feel that now is the perfect time to introduce the two of you to independent research of a higher level. I fully expect that you both will, of course, continue in your private Remedial Studies to improve your other years in this subject."

Harry was looking at him in shock and with the expected horrified look of a student getting more work than they wanted. He watched his Professor nod his head in a decision and then heard the dreaded words, "You, Mr. Potter, along with you compatriot Mr. Weasley 'and' Mr. Malfoy will be assigned this project as a supplement to your existing Remedial Potions Self-Improvement exercise. I will be giving you a syllabus to follow for this kind of research process that you will do on your own time and the four of us will meet every week to review your discoveries beginning the second week of into the New Year. Before our first meeting, the three of you will provide me with a comparative essay on the two existing spider repellents that are successful in the market. You will make a thorough analysis of the ingredients with a complete break-down of their interactivity and alternate brewing methods available for those ingredients and you three will present it together to me and whoever I have with me at the time. This is your punishment for going down into the Chamber of Secrets without a qualified adult."

"Yes sir," Harry said with a gulp. 'They're going to kill me,' he thought about Ron and Draco's reactions. 'They are really going to kill me'.

"I will send out notices this evening and if any of you choose not to follow a syllabus of study for the improvement of such, then whoever refuses will have to choose another subject to supplement your proposal and it must contain the use of Basilisk parts as that is the whole purpose of this conversation," Severus told the Gryffindor. "This includes Mr. Malfoy, as he was present during your 'adventure'. You are now dismissed, Mr. Potter."

Harry almost ran out of the office, but he turned around when Professor Snape called out his name. "Happy Christmas Potter," Snape said with a grin. "I'll await your owl to let me know where to meet you on the twenty-seventh."

"Happy Christmas once again, Professor Snape," Harry said. He was not exactly cheerful anymore because of the additional work had just been given, but he was sincere in his wishes to earn better grades. This was just another way of doing that.

He walked out the office door with a sigh and thinking. 'I'm not going to get out of this without being pranked, I'm sure of it.'

HPHPHP

TBC...