Title – Harry Potter: Return to the Chamber

Author – Grace the Amazing Cracker

Rating – PG13

Genre – Romance

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or his world. God knows I'd like to, but if I did, everything would revolve around Dream Street and – just leave me alone and read the stupid chapter!


Summary – It's Ron and Hermione's wedding day. The day they've been waiting for all their lives. Yet, something is missing…

***

Hermione and Ron sat on the couch, silently watching their now-three-week-old daughter, April, play with a toy wand on the living room floor. They still hadn't come up with a way to get into the Chamber of Secrets without getting caught, and they had been spending the last few weeks watching their daughter and pondering ways to get into the Chamber.

"She's so beautiful," Ron murmured. Hermione laughed a little. There was another pause, then –

"Ron! I'm brilliant!" Hermione cried, jumping up.

"Well, we already knew that," Ron said. "Why now?"

"I know how we could get into the Chamber of Secrets!" She got up and ran into the bedroom to grab her wand, a roll of parchment and a quill. "Grab April, we're going to Hogwarts!"

Ron, still sort of unclear of what was going on, got up off the couch, picked up his daughter and Apparated with his wife to their old school.

"Still looks the same," Hermione mused, glancing around at the familiar stone walls. Ron nodded in agreement and shifted April to his other hip.

"So, what is your brilliant plan?" Ron asked.

"Watch and see."

They wove through the corridors, finding that they still knew their way surprisingly well.

Eventually, they found the girls bathroom, where Ron and Harry had dragged Lockhart in and Harry had faced Tom Riddle – Lord Voldemort's alias – to save Ron's sister, Ginny. (A/N: Yes, April's middle name is Virginia after Ron's sister.)

As they expected, there was a Ministry official guarding the bathroom.

"Act like you own the place," Hermione whispered to Ron.

"Halt," commanded the guard as Ron and Hermione walked up. " I have orders not to let anyone in here."

"I'm for the Daily Prophet," Hermione said, holding up her roll of parchment and her quill. "I'm doing a story on the Chamber, and I was thinking a little hands-on experience might spice it up a little." It wasn't really lying – she did work for the Ministry, after all.

The guard shook his head.

"No. It's too dangerous."

Ron sighed.

"Look, pal, do you know who I am?" he said, stepping up to the guard. He was about three or four inches taller than the guard, so Ron towered over him intimidatingly. (A/N: Cool, I made a new word!) "Not only am I Ronald Weasley, the Chudley Cannons Beater, but-" He paused and added on sudden inspiration, "-I also happen to be very good friends with the Minister of Magic!"

"Y-yes, sir, Mr. Weasley, sir, go on ahead, sir, sorry about all that, didn't realize who you were." He stepped aside to let them advance.

"Okay, so we're in," Hermione said. She set the parchment and quill down on the ground. "Let's go!"

"Hermione, there's just one problem," Ron pointed out. He jabbed one finger at the tiny snake carving on the faucet of the sink. "Neither of us speak Parseltongue."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but paused. She frowned, studying the tiny engraving.

"Good point."

"So what are we-"

"But luckily," Hermione interrupted. "I know this certain…" She paused, fingering her wand as she decided how to best phrase what she was going to say next. "A certain spell that can… enable you to open the Chamber."

"Without Parseltongue?"

"I never said that." Ron looked confused, so Hermione gently explained what the spell did. "What this spell does, is it takes you back to the last time you saw a certain person, and you take one of their talents." Ron nodded. "But the thing is," she continued, "you would have to go back to the night Harry died."