Chapter Warning: Referenced magical creature abuse, Cannon typical violence. Age-appropriate cursing (JK. Let Ron Weasley use actual swear words).

As Ginny Weasley made her way down to the Chamber of Secrets in a trance, she and the spirit attaching itself to her never once noticed the familiar following along behind the first year.

Glinda didn't so much as think twice before jumping down the sink hole after the small human she had chosen to follow.

She had clearly been living with Percy for far too long. She was picking up her wizard's bad habits.

They hadn't been expecting to find all the answers they needed literally in Hermione's hands, but it was a welcome surprise.

They had rushed out to the Professors' break room to share their findings. What they found instead was the Professors sending Lockhart off to defeat the monster on his own as the rest of them planned to get the de-petrification potions prepared for the students afflicted.

Harry couldn't say he blamed any of the other staff for trying to get rid of Lockhart and his overly arrogant self-aggrandizement. It wasn't often that they heard their head of House be quite so scathing to another professor. Lockhart definitely deserved it though.

The two of them still had Hermione's notes and figured the DADA Professor could use all the help he could get since in their experience he wasn't so much quick on the uptake as he was more likely to just toot his own horn without actually knowing anything. Or useless, as Ron suggested.

Alas, handing off the responsibility of the situation off to a professor who would presumably be more capable and qualified to undertake such a feat would have to wait yet another year, as instead the unpetrified members of the Golden Trio ended up dragging Lockhart with them to a certain abandoned girl's bathroom to find the Chamber of Secrets and save Ginny Weasley.

They just barely managed to escape the destruction wrecked by Ron's broken wand as the memory spell Lockhart tried to cast on them rebounded on the caster. They had each offered to stay behind and clear the rubble while the other went on ahead but having no way of knowing what Professor Lockhart might be doing on the other side convinced them both to continue on.

Down to one functioning wand they crept down the dank passageway cringing whenever they accidently crushed one of the small bones that littered the floor.

"Ginny!"

Ron rushed to his sister's side while Harry lagged just behind a bit and remained standing a few steps away from the siblings as he stared in confusion at the other figure in the room.

"Tom?"

Ron frowned looking up at Harry and the other oddly transparent boy in confusion.

"Harry, you know this guy?"

Harry shrugged.

Honestly, Harry was getting tired of the answer always being the Dark Lord when something went horribly wrong. And want was with the secretly Voldemort thing too? First Quirrell with Voldemort on the back of his head, now Tom Riddle is really Voldemort.

"If only Mr. Black had picked up my Diary as well. Just imagine! My own personal seer, writing down his dreams and prophesy into my pages." Voldemort seemed almost giddy at the idea.

Harry felt a certain numbness even as horror and anger warred within him. At least Ron seemed to feel much the same if the face he was making was any indication.

"I wish that stupid snake was here to hex you himself!"

Riddle rolled his eyes as he continued twirling Ginny's wand through his fingers.

"Oh, you needn't worry about Black or any of my other plans for the future. Afterall, none of you will be around to witness them."

"Shut Up!"

"You aren't even all here right now!"

"Yeah! Your just scared we'll find a way to stop you!"

Riddle scoffed.

"Please, I'm the greatest sorcerer in the world! What could two pathetic wet-behind-the-ears second years possibly hope to accomplish against my power!"

"But you're not."

"Not what?" Riddle scowled.

"The greatest sorcerer. That title belongs to Albus Dumbledore!"

They continued to argue about who the title of greatest sorcerer should go to for a few minutes until Riddle finally lost it.

Tom-Voldemort, or whatever he wanted to go by now, raised Ginny's wand and aimed at them with a cruel twist to his lips.

Before the first syllables could leave his lips there was a thundering croak that echoed against the high ceiling of the chamber.

Very suddenly there was a long pink tongue wrapped about Ginny's wand, which was quickly removed from his hand.

Glinda looked very proud of herself. As she should be, Harry thought. It's not everyday you get one over on the dark lord.

Riddle looked absolutely disgusted and angry. He turned to the statue of Salazar Slytherin that sat at the head of the hall. "Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four!" He spoke in the language of snakes and directed what could only be the basilisk to attack them.

Harry watched as the mouth of the statue opened and a shadow shifted in the darkness.

"Ron! Close your eyes!"

"Sh*t!"

Harry thought about all that had been written on the Hermione's paper and his conversations with snakes previously versus the Basilisk. The giant serpent was hungry. Horribly and desperately hungry. He had had plenty of perfectly pleasant conversations with snakes like the one back at the zoo that he had accidently set on his cousin. You would think that a magical creature as old, powerful, and raised by one of the founders would be capable of carrying on more intelligent conversation. The notes had said that the Basilisk had been left in the school by Salazar Slytherin as a last defense mechanism against muggles if they ever discovered and attacked the school. So Harry took a risk.

"Stop! Before you hurt another student!"

The Basilisk paused.

"Student. Attack. Blood. No. Student. No."

"Yes! Students!" Harry kept his eyes tightly shut, "He's been sending you out to attack students! You've killed one already!"

"NOOO!" The creature gave a wailing hiss. Harry felt a small gust of air from the serpent's movement.

"Bad Snake. Bad Snake. Disappointed He Would Be. Bad Snake…"

The distressed hissing continued even as Riddle shouted at it, attempting to regain control of the creature and the situation as the massive snake started to thrash wildly and coil in on itself until it resembled a quivering knot when Harry very carefully peaked an eye open.

A call sounded from above.

Ron stared up at where a phoenix was circling overhead until his vision was obscured by a raggedy clump of brown cloth. He recognized it as the sorting hat after swatting it out of his face and trying not to choke on the musty smell that had permeated his air ways when the hat had covered his mouth and nose.

He didn't know what he had been expecting when they had all heard the call from up above, but the sorting hat was definitely not it.

"What the f**k are we supposed to do with a hat?!"

Teenage Voldemort seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he laughed at them even as he was clearly still pissed about the state of Basilisk.

The basilisk was still thrashing and twisting about itself in apparent distress, and only made a half-hearted attempt to snap at the phoenix.

Ron almost felt sorry for it, but it was also responsible for Hermione and all the others laid out in the hospital wing. Ginny was still mostly unresponsive, though he'd noticed some movement beneath her eyelids. Glinda sat proudly next to the sorting hat with Ginny's wand in her mouth still after having confiscated it from Riddle.

The Journal still sat open next to Ginny. Harry was a little ways off trying to avoid being smacked by the basilisk's tail all while continuing to hiss some litany about how it wasn't fulfilling its duty as a protector of Hogwarts, like he had mentioned earlier after reading Hermione's note page.

He mentally shrugged and put the sorting hat on. "Anything useful to say?"

"You're very rude."

"I said useful. We're up against a crazy old murder snake and the f**king dark lord here! Some help would be nice-!"

Ron train of thought was cut off as something heavy and metal hit him right in the head. He winced as he took off the hat and the metal thing fell out. The sword looked wicked cool. Studded with rubies it gleamed with power in the dark chamber.

"Nice…"

Ginny would have had something to say about it to if she had been conscious.

Ron glared down at the diary before looking at the sword in consideration. The dumb book had clearly caused this whole mess. He had told Ginny she didn't need some dumb journal, they got enough written assignments as it was why she'd want to write even more eluded him.

The diary was a bit out of his reach with Ginny clutched close with one arm and the sword held in the other and Glinda clearly not being of anymore help as she was making herself comfortable on top of the fallen sorting hat.

Reached out with the sword and using it as a sort of club knocked the book so that it slid into Harry's feet.

Riddle shouted in outrage as Harry picked up the book in brief confusion before nodding his understanding and tossed the book into the Basilisks open maw. It caught on one of many very sharp teeth and was soon nothing much but paper mache.

Where Riddle was standing, he slowly disappeared, no longer a threat to their safety. But there was still the issue of the basilisk, which had gotten uncomfortably closer to their position.

Ron attempted to move to a safer location, but his legs had gone numb while sitting on the floor and he didn't make it very far. Harry seems to be trying to find the best way around the writhing serpent and wasn't making a lot of progress.

Ginny was starting to turn a more healthy color and frowned as she started to become more aware.

The Basilisk flopped far too close to him, and Ron squeezed his eyes shut and looked away for good measure as he stuck the hand holding the sword all the way out in the general direction of the danger.

There was a sickening *squelch* as the blade met resistance.

A second later, his eyes were still closed, and it was disturbingly quiet now. He couldn't hear any hissing or movement from the serpent's thrashing about.

Ron hesitantly opened his eyes and let go of the sword.

The Basilisk was still next to him. The phoenix that had appeared earlier was perched on the serpent's head and appeared to have taken immense pleasure in absolutely mutilating the basilisk's eyes. Except for part of the eye closest to him which had the sword sticking out of it.

Ron took a deep breath and looked back at Harry who was slowly approaching.

"I'm not touching that again." Ron pointed at the sword stuck in the basilisk's eye.

Harry felt himself smile beyond reason, though the adrenaline was draining out of him now.

Ginny was waking up to.

Everything was going to be okay.

"Who's a good toad?! Yes, you are!" Ron cooed at Glinda as she hopped ahead of them still carrying Ginny's wand.

"Honestly Harry, I can't think of a better pet. She certainly beats out Scabbers!"

Ginny managed a small faint grin from where she was being supported between them at her brother's attempts to lighten the mood.

When they stumbled into the Professors' break room with the addition of the very confused and childlike Lockhart (Ron had spared a moment to stare mournfully at the tattered remains of his first wand and had reluctantly tugged their professor behind them) they were met with a mixture of relief and horror.

The Weasley parents had been called and were in the room when the students and lackluster professor entered.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny especially were collected into one big hug by the worried Mrs. Weasley and were not let out of the adults' sight until long after they had explained the whole sordid tale to the functioning adults.

Ginny eventually got her wand back from Glinda, who Snape seemed to be doing his best to avoid. After being relieved of the wand the bullfrog wandered off to the bemusement of the students.

After being checked over and chewed off multiple times they were finally bundled up and placed on beds in the hospital wing where they were told in no uncertain terms to get some rest.

Percy was only somewhat confused to wake up in a bed as Madame Pomfrey and his head of house made rounds to the other beds with potions.

He could have sworn he'd seen an old book spewing ink and the scar on Harry's head, but even stranger were his other waking dreams. A full moon and several different animals chasing each other around in a seemingly never-ending game.

He didn't get to reflect on his dreams much as Professor Snape noticed he was awake, and Madame Pomfrey hurried over to give him a practiced talk on side effects and what he could and couldn't do for the next week and a half.

Percy and the other revived students spent the rest of their confinement to bedrest chatting and playing catch with the odds and ends they had around until almost every non-clothing article they'd been carried in with had been confiscated.

By the time they were allowed to head down to the Great Hall for the feast Percy was going stir-crazy.

Which was maybe why he hadn't expected to be nearly bulldozed when he walked into the hall after Hermione alongside the Ravenclaw prefect.

He was unceremoniously crushed between first Fred and George and then his friends from his own house and some of their other year mates after the Slytherins pried him from the twins' overdramatic claws.

"Guys? Guys?! Some air would be nice right about now!" Percy wheezed as someone tightened their hold around his ribs.

"Black, if you ever scare me like that again I'll kill you."

"Aww, were you worried?"

"… shut your face."

Percy laughed and realized that Draco had been hovering just outside the small crowd of people that had gathered at the entrance to welcome all the newly revived students. He managed to maneuver himself out of the most clingy of the crowd to reunite with his little cousin.

"Draco!" Percy wasted no time pulling the Malfoy heir into a hug which was returned only a little hesitantly as the blonde glared at everyone else who might possibly think to intercede.

Everyone was happy, relieved, and in a celebratory mood.

This only got kicked up a notch when it was announced finals would be cancelled for the end of term.

The cheers were almost as loud as Hermione Granger's squawk of indignation.

Percy had been making his way to meet up with Malfoy Senior while he visited the school when he wandered across a bizarre scene.

One of the Malfoy's house elves (well, former elf now apparently) was holding an old journal and a sock as Lucious scowled and Harry Potter grinned.

Lucious, ever one to be dramatic, huffed spun away from the other two and striding down the hallway until he was out of sight.

Percy heard Harry asking the elf, Dobby, something about not trying to save him. That was interesting.

After Harry said good-bye to Dobby and started walking away, the elf was about to snap his fingers and disapparate away when Percy stepped around the corner and got his attention beckoning him to the side passage.

"How would you like a new well-paying job, Dobby?"

Extra Bonus scene:

Percy takes Dobby to Gringotts to set up an account for the house elf. The first house elf account with the bank.

"Alright Dobby, here's your vault key. Be sure not to lose it. They can be a pain to replace."

The little elf nodded seriously, his big eyes wide as he accepted the small golden key to his very first Gringotts' vault.

The goblin behind the desk might have rolled his eyes, though it was hard to tell behind the sharp-toothed grin. They were in the small side room they had been brought to at the request to open a new vault in Dobby's name.

"Are you ready to sign the contract… sirs?"

Percy picked up the quill provided.

Dobby hesitated.

"You don't have to work for me or Hogwarts if you don't want to Dobby."

Dobby shook his head.

"Dobby will protect Harry Potter."

Percy smiled as the house elf signed their work agreement.

"I know you will, Dobby."

The contract detailed Dobby's new role working for Percy and by extension the Black family to watch over Harry Potter, for which the elf would be properly compensated with hazard pay included given the high risk nature of the job. He was also being given back pay for his efforts during the previous school year to protect Harry, a sum of 250 galleons. That Dobby would in this capacity start work at Hogwarts among the rest of the school's house elf staff was also noted and agreed upon by the two and Percy looked forward to hearing about the young house elf negotiating his wages with the Headmaster.

"Well, Dobby, I think there's still time to wander the shops for a bit. How about you go buy yourself some new clothes?

Dobby lit up in delight cheerfully zipped out of the room.

Percy never gave a complete prophecy about the Chamber of Secrets, partially because he's still coming into his powers and partially because he missed the end, and his own future was impacted by the event.

The poor basilisk, its last meal was a freaking horcrux and it was probably starving for centuries without anyone to regularly feed it… God, I'm turning into Hagrid.

Also, the Basilisk is an ancient and magical creature, it should at least have the same amount of intelligence as the other snakes Harry talks within the books instead of being entirely bestial and motivated by its baser instincts. Which is pretty much why the direction I went was: no one has been regularly feeding the giant magic snake since the last time Slytherin's blood line attended the school, presumably shortly before the founders had their falling out, and you just know Tom didn't bother since he was only using the basilisk as a tool and probably didn't stop to think about getting it food with all the small animal bones littering the secret passages. But that's really not enough food for a giant serpent even considering that most reptiles can go without food for longer than humans.

Up next time: Sirius Problems...