Author's Note: Just a heads up, the story does diverge from canon at this point.

Also, let me know if the chapters are still refusing to come up properly, at the moment it looks as if it has been fixed but you never know…

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 3: A Chance encounter

Severus sighed to himself as he walked into the hospital wing, hoping Poppy would be able to give him the list of required potions he would have to make over the summer. After months of extra brewing and unsuccessful experimentation with alternative antidotes for the petrified basilisk victims, all who had been petrified had been revived via mandrake restorative draught and had finally been released for their final days of school. Both Poppy and Severus were extremely relieved that the mandrakes had been ready in time for use before the school year had ended because keeping that many students over the holidays would have proven tricky.

Raising his hand, Severus pushed the door open and slowly made his way towards Poppy's office. She had been inundated with all sorts of official St Mungo's paperwork regarding Lockhart's accident and therefore had not come down to the dungeons to give him the list as usual.

I do feel a little bit sorry for her, but the fact that that imbecile is finally leaving Hogwarts is a relief.

The entire year had proved somewhat stressful for Severus, with dealing with Lockhart and his stupidity, to Potter and Weasley flying a magical car to school, to the petrification of students, as well as the suspicion about who the elusive heir of Slytherin was. There had been many high and low points throughout the year and where Slytherin's heir was concerned, Some had even gone as far as blaming fellow students, including Harry Potter.

Honestly, he is the quintessential Gryffindor, absolutely incapable of the subtlety required to be Slytherin's heir. How on earth could the students ever believe that he was capable of murdering innocents?

However, thinking back there was one rather incriminating incident that could lead anyone to believe that Potter had been capable of being Slytherin's heir - the events of the duelling club. Severus had been shocked that Potter had been able to speak parseltongue, - just like himself,- as only those related to Slytherin could do so.

Merlin, how is he able to speak parseltongue? How are the potters related to Slytherin closely enough that he inherited the gift? No one else in the family could.

He pondered the day of the duelling incident when the boy had dropped that surprise on everyone.

—Flashback—

"Serpensortia!"

Severus watched as large black mamba shot out of Draco's wand, landing only metres away from Potter.

Instead of backing away from the snake-like any other sane person, Severus nearly groaned aloud when he watched him start to move towards it instead.

What is Potter doing? That kind of snake is extremely poisonous!

Severus watched as it started to slither towards Flint-Fletchley hissing all sorts of expletives, while the Hufflepuff slowly backed away from the side of the duelling platform. Just as he was about to step forward to banish it back to wherever it came from, a low sibilant hissing started issuing from Potter's mouth, which Severus could hear translated to-

"Leave him alone!"

The snake quickly backed down, and Severus was shocked.

Did…did he just speak parseltongue?

Severus barely heard as Flint-Fletchley shouted something at Potter before storming away, the rest of the students looking at the boy in fear. Potter glanced nervously around at the people gathered around the platform, before spotting Ron and Hermione, hastily making his way down off the platform towards his friends.

—End flashback—

Severus continued pondering how he had been able to stop and communicate with the snake. Even though it had happened months ago, it still bothered him. He must be distantly related in some way, but how?

His musings were interrupted when Poppy intercepted him on her way out of her office.

"Oh! Severus! I want expecting you to be here, I was just going to come down and give this to you."

She rummaged around in her pockets for a moment, before she removed a folded piece of parchment.

"These are all the potions that we need from this year. Unfortunately, a lot more were used this year, so the list is quite a bit longer."

Severus took the paper from her hands, unfolding it and glancing down the list she had written.

"There may even be some that I've missed, but everything was just so hectic this year that I couldn't catalogue everything that was used."

She was right, while usually there were just simple potions such as pepper-up, Skele-grow, blood-replenisher and calming draught, there were also some other less-well-known ones that had been used on the students who had been petrified.

"I'll just let you get back to it then, I have to finish writing up the transfer for Lockhart to go to St Mungo's-" She sighed exasperatedly. "-You would think admitting someone is easy, but these forms I'm filling out are making me think otherwise."

With that she turned and briskly walked back into the office, leaving Severus standing in the middle of the wing, still contemplating the list of potions on the parchment

There are almost twice as many potions that have been used this year, from quidditch accidents, spell damage, potions mishaps and also the entire basilisk-related incident.

Eying the list one last time, Severus sighed to himself before tucking the list into one of his many robe pockets striding towards the entrance, he swiftly exited the large double doors before turning the corner to head towards the dungeons.

He barely registered the gasp of surprise before something rammed into his waist, knocking him sideways and almost sending him into the wall. Quickly stepping forward, he trod on something soft and heard the sound of material sliding and landing on the floor. Turning, Severus saw Potter's horrified form half emerge from underneath the invisibility cloak.

What on earth is Potter doing up here? All the students should have already been down at Hogsmeade, if not already boarding!

He almost groaned to himself in exasperation as he growled out Potter's name, fixing him with a hard stare.

Severus went to grab his arm, hoping to steer him into the hospital wing and continue his questioning, but Potter jumped out of the way and continued to hover just outside of Severus' reach. He figured that if the boy would not come with him, then he would have to stay out here.

"-Care to explain the need to go gallivanting around underneath that infernal invisibility cloak instead of boarding the train with the rest of your peers like you should be?"

Severus watched as he paled, his eyed darting around as if looking for a possible escape.

"I- Errr-" he started, and Severus stood waiting for whatever excuse Potter could come up with.

Suddenly, the boy ducked down, scooped the invisibility cloak off of the floor, turned around and sprinted past him and down the hallway. Knowing it was unlikely to get him to stop, Severus still shouted after him to come back, but he disappeared around the corner.

"POTTER!"

Why is he running away in the opposite direction? He's supposed to be down on the train!

Intrigued by Potter's uncharacteristically tense behaviour, he started to run after him. Reaching the corner, he saw Potter still running down the passageway, and he continued to chase after him.

This child is going to be the death of me, he grumbled. What on earth is he doing?

Harry continued to run down the corridor, still listening for Snape's footsteps behind him

If he catches me, he's going to drag me back to Dumbledore! Then I'll be in detention for the next three years!

Wracking his brain for ideas, Harry continued to try and duck down as many different corridors as possible, in the intent to lose him.

At this rate, I more likely to get lost trying to shake him off than actually successfully run away. I'm an idiot! Why did I have to run into him of all people?

Harry only grew more worried as he started to venture into the more of the disused corridors in the castle. It became increasingly obvious that it hadn't been used in at least seventy years, and Harry noticed that a thin layer of dust covered everything, including the floor.

Listening as he continued to run, he swore that Snape's footsteps were getting further away.

It won't be for long though, he'll be able to see my footsteps in the dust and follow me through that.

Wracking his brains for a way to throw Snape off the trail, what Dobby had said earlier echoed through his mind.

Dobby's be able to get into the girl's bathroom sir, but beyond that, I is not able to get in…

Could Dobby apparate him out? Only one way to find out…

Finding the nearest classroom, he called out for Dobby as he hastily threw the door open, before slamming it shut and leaning heavily against it.

Dobby appeared with a Pop, and just before he opened his mouth to start off his greeting again, Harry quickly shushed him.

"Please be quiet Dobby, Snape is going to find me! Would you please be able to take me to the Chamber Entrance right now?"

Dobby, sensing Harry's distress, nodded quickly.

"I be's taking you's quickly then."

He held his small hand out towards Harry, who grabbed it, and the house-elf apparated them both away.

Severus had eventually backed off following Potter so closely, recognising that he wouldn't slow down if he could still hear him following. Eventually, he noticed that Potter had veered into one of the older, more dated wings of the castle that hadn't even been used during his school years. Everything was covered in dust which proved to be quite useful, as he could see the path of Potter's footprints into a nearby classroom. Hearing movement and the sound of voices Severus slowed down to a brisk walk before stopping in front of the door. Pushing it open slowly, he expected to find the boy half stashed in one of the cupboards, but-

Nothing.

The classroom was empty.

Stepping over the threshold, he noticed that the footprints ended in the middle of the room.

How does one suddenly disappear in the middle of a classroom? He can't disapparate and there aren't any other doors into here.

Studying the patch where it ended, he saw another pair of footprints, but these were much smaller. The only magical being he knew who could disapparate within the castle and where that small were the house-elves.

How could he call one of the Hogwarts elves? Surely, they would report to the headmaster if there was a wayward student in the castle.

Severus couldn't think of any other house-elves that Potter would be able to use, so he left the classroom thoroughly stumped.

To whom does this house-elf belong?

Harry felt as if his insides were being pushed through a tube, before suddenly materialising in the bathroom. He fell to his knees in the water, trying not to vomit. After a couple of minutes, his stomach no longer felt like it was in his throat, and he stood up and looked at Dobby.

"Here's we are Master Harry sir, the ghostie bathroom."

looking around, Harry saw that it was mostly the same as it had been when he had last been in here, except moaning myrtle had not flooded the bathroom today. Harry noticed that the tiled floor was decidedly drier than when he and Ron had been there last. Walking towards the sink, he motioned for Dobby to come over and stand behind him. Staring down at the snake engraved on the tap, Harry once again imagined that it was alive, and softly hissed,

~Open.~

He then took a step back as the sink spun out of existence, giving way to the exposed pipe entrance in the middle of the bathroom floor. Noting that it looked as if he would have to jump down the pipe again, Harry started to feel around the edge of the pipe to see if there was a button, or an engraving, or something like that.

If this was the entrance that Slytherin took, there must be a more dignified way to get down than jumping down a slimy pipe.

Looking down and around the edge, Harry finally spotted a small engraving. It looked like some sort of squiggly picture, but when Harry looked at it closely, he noticed that it changed to the word 'stairs'.

It must be in parseltongue, that's why it looked different when I initially saw it.

Still looking at the small engraving, he attempted to press it, but it did not give.

Perhaps I need to say it aloud?

~Stairs.~

A loud groaning sound emerged from the inside of the pipe, and a spiral staircase descended around the edges of the pipe. Turning to Dobby, he checked that the small elf was ready to go down.

"Here we are Dobby. Do you have everything that you need?"

"Yes Master Harry Sir. Dobby has the box for you's to use."

He held out the shrunken box, which Harry then pocketed.

"Thanks Dobby, now let's get going."

With that, Harry stepped on the first step down, with Dobby following behind him.

Coming out at the end of the bottom of the stairs, Harry stepped down and winced at the crunch that immediately resonated around the room.

Ugh. This is going to take ages to get rid of.

"Hey Dobby, would you be able to clean up some of the animal bones down here?"

Dobby stepped out from behind him, surveying the mess across the floor.

"I be's able to do it, Master Harry Sir!" He stepped in front of Harry before snapping his fingers, and the small animal skeletons vanished from the floor.

Further down he also spotted the large Basilisk skin, still mostly intact from when it had been discarded by the basilisk. Harry went over and surveyed the massive skin still lying on its side. Lighting the end of his wand with a Lumos, he noticed that the scales were still quite shiny, and actually looked brand new. However, the size was much smaller than the basilisk had been when he had killed it, so it must have been at least thirty years old.

"Hey Dobby, do you know why the skin still looks as if it has just been shed?" he noticed that the walls also still looked relatively new, despite having quite a few layers of grime covering them.

There be's wizard's magic preventing it from going's bad sir, it has preserved everything's inside the chamber."

"So everything is preserved how it was last left?"

"That would be's right Master Harry."

Looking back at the skin, he thought about what it could be used for.

Hang on, wasn't it mentioned in one of my potions books that basilisk skin is one of the rarest potion ingredients in the world? I could give it to someone instead of just vanishing it.

Turning to Dobby he asked, "Is there a way that I could possibly store the skin for later?"

"Of course, I will just be's shrinking it down for you's then." Snapping his fingers once again, the basilisk skin shrunk down, and was placed into a small potions storage container also conjured by the elf.

"Here's you go Master Harry!" he said, handing the shrunken package over to the boy.

"Oh… wow… alright, Thanks Dobby, that's good." He carefully placed the skin in the pocket of one of his outer robes, before turning away and walking further down the tunnel. Harry soon noticed that there were large torches mounted equal distance apart from one another.

Would a simple fire spell work on these?

Walking over to the nearest one, he pulled his wand out of his robes and started casting at the torches.

"Incendio!" only a small flame appeared on the torch, barely lighting up a metre away from the torch itself. Harry sighed to himself. It looked like he would need a higher-powered spell to get the proper amount of light in the massive entrance passageway.

What was the incantation for the higher-powered version? Oh yeah!

"Incendio Tria!"

The torch burst into flame, cracking merrily and lighting up much brighter than the original spell. Harry continued to go around and light each individual torch and motioned for Dobby to do the same. Soon they had lit the entire corridor, Dobby having done his side much faster than Harry. There was now less of an eerie feel to the place, as the torches were bright enough so that nearly all of the shadows had been lit up. However, he could also now see the large layer of grime covering the walls from the floor to the ceiling.

Oh well, I can find a spell to fix that later, I need to finish getting to the chamber first.

Continuing into the chamber, the pair soon arrived at the scene of Lockhart's magical mishap. The small hole that he had crawled through was still in the rubble, but that would not be very practical if he wanted to continue to come in and out of the chamber.

"Are you able to fix the roof Dobby?" Harry questioned, as it was a massive pile of stone, and it looked rather heavy.

"Yes, it can be fixed Master Harry, sir! I can do's I quickly. It should also stay's for the longest of times, as a house elf's magic be's very strong."

"Thanks Dobby, that's really helpful."

Dobby grinned before turning away and started levitating the rubble back into place before magically sealing the cracks shut. Altogether Harry could see that this would be a relatively lengthy process.

I think this is going to take longer than I thought…

TBC….

Please leave a review if you like it.

Thanks for reading!

- Cay ;)