The Snake-who-lived

"Well, at least now, he won't be in the way."

Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets, page 310

(one of her best moments, in my opinion ^_-)

Chapter 22: The Chamber of Secrets (part III)

"This is crazy."

The three words seemed to have become Draco Malfoy's mantra as he stared in terror at the gaping dark hole before them, previously concealed behind a dirty, dusty and disused porcelain sink. Harry privately shared his opinion, but he pushed his self-preservation instincts down; lives were at stake, and the last thing he wanted was the school, his second home besides the Zabini's house, to close.

Ron didn't look all that afraid, although his brotherly protective urges for his sister could have had a heavy hand in his sudden bravery, as he peered down the opening.

"I can't see a bottom. It's just too dark in there."

"This is crazy." Draco repeated.

"Throw something down," Harry suggested.

Ron did, picking up the nearest thing he could find, an empty pot of ink in his bag – "Are you sure your family can afford to lose that, Weasley?" – and dropping it down the hole, ignoring Draco's barb.

There was an impact sound, followed by many others, until the sounds faded in the depths of the pipe.

"A slide." Harry concluded.

 "Who goes first?" Ron asked.

"This is crazy," Draco reminded them.

The two boys glared at him, then looked at each other and, on a common agreement, decided with a nod and a smirk.

Few seconds later, a struggling Draco found himself being stuffed down the pipe.

"I'll kill you both for theeeeeeeessss!!!" He screamed in protest, his voice fading away as he disappeared in the darkness.

***

"Why are we takin' the long way?"

Mrs Zabini sighed. For a 'man of the woods', Hagrid sure seemed to complain a lot. Ok, so maybe he was used to keeping the trails while she had them wander about in thorny bushes... and perhaps the passages she went through were a bit of a tight fit for the large man, but she didn't find any good reason for him to protest this much...

...hmm... ok, so maybe they had been doing that for the last ten minutes. And perhaps it was twice as long as going to Hogwarts would have taken if she had taken the right way.

"I told you before, we want to avoid any Aurors in the way, Hagrid. As much fun as it is bouncing them around the place, they're only here to do their job. And what if one of them is actually competent, or a war veteran?"

"Fine, fine." Hagrid said, along with nearly inaudible grumbling.

As for her, she figured it was a plenty good excuse to deny that she had tried to take them through a shortcut that-was-not-so-short-after-all.

'Maybe I should have risked myself with the Aurors...' She mused as she pushed another thorny rose-like bush out of the way, only to have it whip against the man's large leg.

She was starting to think that walking in plain sight would have been stealthier than sneaking around with Hagrid's protests.

***

"Sure got a vocabulary, does he?"

Harry nodded absentmindedly at Ron's very accurate description of Draco's irritated – and colorful – appreciation of his (ex-)friends, while looking at their surroundings. They were now in a cold, damp and dark cave; only the pale lights of their lit up wands allowed them to see anything but inky blackness.

The walls were bare stone, without even the tiniest bit of moss; sunlight must have never reached this cave in the last millennium. The ground they had landed on was muddy and squishy – another reason for Draco's complaints – though by no means a comfortable way to land from a slide down twisty and bumpy pipes for at least three hundred feet. The air was chilling cold and smelled strongly of stagnation, although it was perfectly breathable; Harry suspected a charm was at work here.

The cave had only two openings: one of them behind, the metal pipe through which they had stumbled into, and, in front of them, a large, gaping opening to a long, low-roofed and intimidating dark tunnel their wands could not illuminate the end of.

"Come on," Harry cut in Draco's description of their imminent suffering, involving handcuffs, a fifty ton boulder tied to their feet and a lengthy chain tied to their wrists and to fifteen flying, enraged dragons. "Let's go."

Ron nodded. Draco let out a dejected sigh.

"For the record, I think you're both totally bonkers."

"Thank you."

***

"FINALLY!!"

Elmira nearly shrieked in surprise at her companion's loud shout of relief. Yes, so they had stumbled back onto the path leading up to Hogwarts – and it had only taken them too long to do so – without being found by Aurors – not that she could see any. In her book, it did not give him a reason to feel so relieved...

Although, perhaps the facts that his pant legs were now riddled with holes and tears and that he still had some piece of some incredibly grabby ivy – that reminded her of a certain someone she used to know – stuck in his beard excused his explosion.

"'lmira, next time yeh decide teh find a shor'cut, coun' me out!" Hagrid growled.

"Well, look on the bright side," Mrs Zabini said, blushing in embarrassment, "there's only a short way to go!"

Sure enough, the castle gates were now plainly visible. Hagrid nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but look behind."

The three Aurors hanging from a tree and the small wisps of smoke seeping through the small chimney of Hagrid's shack were plainly visible, not two hundred feet behind them. Their 'shortcut' had barely led them any further ahead.

Elmira's face took on an interesting shade of red, and her feet suddenly seemed extremely interesting.

"C'mon, le's go... on the real path, this time 'round."

Soon, they stood before the tall, oak doors guarding the entrance of the castle. The imposing building was silent, almost eerily so; normally, voices could be heard seeping through the thin cracks in the old wood. However, even the owls seemed to have gone silent. Elmira felt chills go up her spine.

Hagrid battered his bowling ball-sized fist against the door. However, they did not move.

"Aw, ruddy—it's locked!" Hagrid growled. "Who the hell was stupid 'nough to lock it?!"

Elmira shrugged and took out her wand. It was time for the good old 'burst the door open'.

***

Gilderoy Lockhart panted in exhaustion; behind him, tied on the same long piece of old, nearly unraveled rope trailed a dozen colorful trunks, filled with everything he had brought to the school, most of them being painting paintings of himself and books - his own, of course.

The halls were empty. Good. The last thing he wanted was to answer awkward questions, or to be asked to search for the chamber himself. No. He doubted his amnesia charms could do anything against something that petrifies people. He might not be the brightest candle around, but he wasn't stupid.

No, really!

He didn't see anyone, living or not, anywhere on his way to the entry hall, where he immediately let go of the rope and tried to pry the doors open. In his panic, he didn't notice the door was locked until a few seconds had passed. After a few seconds of impotent fumbling with the bar blocking the door – it was quite a bit heavier than it looked, and that was saying something – he finally heard voices from the other side… and one of them said something about an… expulsion?

BANG

The door violently opened, tearing the locking bar apart and knocking him back against one of his trunks, which opened and showered him in fancy, colorful cloaks and robes.

"Well, well." A female voice drawled. "Look what we have here."

Lockhart looked up and immediately, though indirectly, recognized the woman. The shape of her face, the color of her hair, that infuriating smirk… he had seen it all year long on that little devil Zabini's face. That lady was obviously her mother. Although he had a feeling he had seen her somewhere before…

And behind her was the unmistakable bulk of Hagrid, who glared down at him in anger.

"Leavin', Lockhar'?" Hagrid growled.

Lockhart noticed his fists clenching. At that moment, he could easily imagine his head being in one of those hands. Yes, it would be a snug fit, and probably very uncomfortable should he close it.

Oh, now he remembered that woman … She was that loose cannon who had shot at Mr Malfoy during his autograph session back in Flourish and Blotts…

…she had her wand drawn and didn't look happy…

 "Meep…" he squeaked.

***

"Did I mention that you're both bonkers?"

Ron and Harry barely held back a sigh of exasperation. It was bad enough that the ground they were walking on was rough and uneven, causing them to trip up more than once, and that they only had the pale lights of their wands to light up their way. Even worse was the way the shadows brought by the flickering glows seemed to flicker and wave with life, as if they were surrounded by a hundred unseen shapes. More than once, the two boys shivered, although whether it was from fright or from the damp numbing-cold stagnant air, neither knew.

Draco's voice, echoing in the dark as it did, did not help soothe their frazzled nerves.

"Yes you did, more than once, Malfoy." Ron snapped, his voice amplified to thunderous levels by the echo and ghostly silence of the cave.

"Oh, just thought you'd like to know I think this is crazy." The last few words were stressed, which was an interesting effect in a lazily terrified drawl.

Harry sighed, while Ron clenched his fists and jaws, apparently resisting the urge to deck the smaller boy.

While he behaved wonderfully whenever his life wasn't in danger, Harry knew Draco easily became terrorized by any mortal dangers – Quidditch notwithstanding; very few people died playing it, after all. Harry figured the Malfoy heir loved himself too much to voluntarily walk into danger without being forced, and even then it was reluctantly.

It wasn't quite cowardice – a coward would have turned tail and ran off by now – but it was close. Harry wasn't going to say that in his face, though.

He hoped Ron wouldn't get to the same conclusion; the taller boy would have no qualms at telling Draco, and would gladly do so quite loudly for the entire castle to hear.

"Hey, I see something," Ron's voice broke his musings and brought him back to the depths of the cave they were trudging in. "Over there!"

The taller boy upped the pace, followed by Harry. Draco let out a whimpering mutter and followed along, though at a slower pace.

The cave bent and twisted ahead and its roof rose to reasonable heights, allowing the three boys to stand to their full heights. And in that area, they found something.

"What the hell is that?!" Draco gasped in horror.

Lying before them was a twisted mass of faded, sickly grey… something. Harry thought it looked familiar and then thought back of Nemesis, who had shed his skin a few weeks ago. Sure enough, if he looked closely, he could faintly see the outline of scales; the skin was in a pitiful condition.

"A shed snake skin." Harry said, taking a step forward to check closer – more out of morbid curiosity than anything else – and stopped when he felt and heard something crack under his foot. Curious, Harry bent on one knee.

Littering the floor were hundreds of rat skeletons. Remains of the Basilisk's meals, probably.

"Whew," Ron whistled, inspecting the skin, "That is one hell of a long snake. I'd say something like… thirty or forty feet long…"

Harry had to nod in agreement. The page had warned them that the basilisk could reach "Gigantic sizes", but until this moment, he hadn't really realized exactly how absolutely huge that would be. This discovery only made him realize in exactly how much trouble they were in, and what a fearsome beast they would perhaps end up facing against – not literally, though.

Perhaps. Read: Hopefully not.

A cracking attracted his attention toward Draco, who had taken a step back directly into some unfortunate rat's skull. If the boy had looked scared before, he was now terrorized, staring at the skin in horror.

"Draco? Are you ok?" Harry asked.

The boy let out an undecipherable mumble and took another step backward, tripping on a fold of the skin and landing on the rocky ground on his bum.

Harry gave a look at the large, empty skin's "head". It looked large enough to easily swallow someone whole, and Harry had seen Nemesis dislocate his jaw to eat a particularly large piece of meat. Add to that arsenal the Basilisk's deadly eyes, and all it would take was one instant of hesitation… One mistake and…

…he was starting to agree with Draco. This was crazy.

Right. Draco was right. He and Ron had been stupid from step one. They had to warn a teacher, someone older, someone more experienced…

"Come on, let's tell someone," Harry said, shaking his head and getting up back, dusting his robes. "This is out of our-"

"No."

Ron's forceful interruption startled both boys into looking at him. His fists were clenched, his jaw set and his ears reddening in boiling-hot fury.

"No," he repeated, glaring at them. "What about Ginny? If we go back and get a teacher, it'll be too la—"

"It might already be too late!" Draco snapped. "For all we know, she's already snake-food!"

As he said this, he gave a sharp kick at a rat skull, which skipped twice on the ground to land by Ron's shoe.

"And she might still be alive!" Ron snapped, kicking the skull back directly on the blonde's shin before turning around to head deeper in the cave. "Just because you're a heartless bastard doesn't mean I'll give up."

 "Ron, stop!"

"Make me," He snapped, glaring at Harry, angry tears in his eyes. "I thought at least YOU'D care."

"I do care. I owe your family." He replied hotly.

"And she's my family."

"What a fine time to admit it." Draco mumbled sarcastically.

Harry stopped. It just wouldn't do anything for him to make Ron mad. Besides, he had a point. There might be a chance Ginny was still alive, and that, perhaps, they'd be able to save her, Basilisk or not.

He did owe them. And he didn't want to be indebted to the Weasleys for too long…

…who was he trying to kid. It had nothing to do with the debt.

"She's my friend." Harry replied to Ron. "And my friends are my family."

The red-head did not reply.

Behind them, Draco sighed.

"So I take it you're still going, eh?"

Harry gave him a look. "'course I am."

Ron smiled at him gratefully.

Draco sighed dejectedly. "I'll say it again, you're both certifiable."

Both taller boys snorted. The tension suddenly seemed to have grown a ton lighter.

"If you don't want to go on, go warn a teacher." Harry reminded them. "At least if we fail, they'll know where the chamber is, and they'll be able to do something"

Draco nodded before giving Harry a funny look.

"Are you sure you shouldn't be a Gryffindor?"

"I'll let that appalling insult slide because there's no time for proper payback." Harry replied flatly, grinning. "Come on, off you go!"

The platinum-haired boy nodded, turned around and went back the path they had taken in the first place. But before laving, he turned back to Harry.

"You do realize that Blaise will kill you if you don't come back."

Harry nodded with a grin and shrugged. "If I don't, at least tell her I've tried."

"Tell her yourself. Oh, and Weasley?"

"Yeah?" 

"I am certainly not a bastard."

And he was gone.

Ron and Harry spent few seconds blankly staring disbelievingly at the spot he had been standing at.

"He… didn't deny being heartless." Ron noted slowly.

"That's Draco for you," Harry replied with a shrug and a snort. "Come on, let's go."

***

The teacher's lounge looked much like it did every day at 12:32, during a day off. The fire was barely lit, the sun was streaming in brightly through the thin sky blue silk curtains set in front of the windows, Binns was, as usual, lounging and sleeping peacefully in his chair – the very same one he had died in years ago – where he would be until exactly 4:27 PM when he would wake up to flawlessly review his lessons by memory, and the other teachers were arguing about something.

No, that was not unusual. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, for once. It's true, I swear! Er... Sorry, off subject.

No, it was not unusual for the teachers to argue like this; most of the time, though, only Professors Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape were involved, the subject tended to hover around house points, and only one of the sides was actively raising her tone, the other much preferring the dark and sarcastic undertones of a low voice.

What was unusual today was that people were arguing in the room, that the head of Slytherin was not yet present, and that McGonagall was silent, sitting in her usual, tartan couch and rubbing her temples in irritation.

The reason for the argument?

"I mean, who could it be? The heir really has gone too far this time..."

As Professor Sinistra had just so nicely resumed, it was the latest 'act of terror' of the heir of Slytherin.

"And you say the young Weasley is missing, Professor?" Professor Flitwick asked McGonagall for the thousandth time.

The first thing the teachers had done, upon finding the message had been to send all the students to their common rooms – well, except in Flitwick's case, seeing as he burst out crying – and make the list of them. To the consternation of everyone, Ronald Weasley, of a family already attacked by the heir, had turned out missing.

This was the reason Professor Snape was still missing; the Slytherin common room was a good distance away from the teacher's lounge, and his students tended to spread out a lot more than the other houses'.

"Yes he is." McGonagall acknowledged for the thousandth time. She felt a headache growing steadfastly and, at that moment, would have given anything to have the headmaster in the room. If he was there, she would have trusted herself to make the right decisions, since he would have corrected her in case of a mistake. He was, after all, always right.

OK... almost always. Close enough.

"But the message said 'her'," the ever-logical professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy, reminded them, "So the newest victim cannot be him. Was there anyone missing in your houses, Filius, Pompona?"

"No," Flitwick said with a vigorous shake of his head. "Everyone was safe and accounted for."

"Same with mine." Sprout agreed.

"Then the other only possibility is that the victim is, once again, a Slytherin." Vector finished calmly.

"Keen on attacking his own house, isn't he?" Sinistra muttered darkly.

Just then, Professor Snape strode in through the door, cape billowing as usual. In his hand was a piece of paper that held the names of every Slytherin currently at Hogwarts.

"Three of my students are missing," Snape said. "Two of them, I should not have been surprised, but the third, I have to admit, startled me."

"Cut the dramatics, Snape," McGonagall snapped, "And get to the point."

"Who are they?" Flitwick asked.

"Misters Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter," Snape said, with a roll of his eyes, "and miss Ginny Weasley."

"And once again, it's Potter to the rescue." McGonagall muttered.

"The only girl who is missing is miss Weasley." Vector said. "Logically, she is the one the heir is talking about. Only three students are missing except for them, including young mister Potter, who is, as we all know, a Parselmouth—"

"Mr Potter is not the heir." Snape snapped.

"I do not think so either," Vector continued, on the same, calm tone of voice, "but logically…"

"Lockhart isn't here, either." Sprout commented. "It could be him."

There was a sudden explosion of disbelieving snorts.

"Right, never mind." Sprout sighed.

"Anyhow," McGonagall loudly said, "where could our 'three musketeers' be? If young Weasley knows already, I have no doubt that he is somehow searching for the chamber, most like with Mister Potter and, if somehow his sister's safety counterbalances the intense family hatred, mister Malfoy."

"And with young Potter's luck, they've found it already." Snape growled.

"They'd go for a teacher if they did, right?" Sinistra asked.

The door suddenly burst open to reveal Draco Malfoy, sweaty, out of breath, his normally flawless hair a mess, one arm on his side, the other holding his less-than-imposing weight against the doorsill.

"Found… chamber… Harry… Weasley…" He panted.

Snape groaned a mumbled something about déjà vu, while the other teachers stared and processed the information.

The race was on.

Author's notes:

This chapter I like moderately.

…except maybe for the shed skin scene. I can't seem to put it to life correctly.

Ok, here's a little question I'm going to bust up right here: How did Draco get there so fast?!

I never said the events I said happen exactly at the same time. There is some delay in-between the two scenes, so our lovable Draco manages to get to the teacher's lounge.

The original chapter went all the way to the middle of the chamber scene… but it made the next chapter about five pages long, so I moved a few scenes over.

The main reason for the wait is this: I spent some time reviewing my timelines to check something out, and I noticed an interesting detail involving the elder Weasleys. And I used that time to note things better and solidify details left hanging in my plans. I won't say anything, except that the lovely –when she wants to, that is– Nimphadora Tonks is there, somewhere… ^_-

ANSWERS TO THE BLONDE EGOCENTRIC HERMAPHRODITES RUNNING AWAY FROM THE ARMY OF AXE-TOTING MIDGETS JUST OUTISDE THE REVIEWERS' BATHROOM WINDOW:

Athenakitty: *twitch*

VMorticia: Right. The chapter you read a while ago on FF.net does not exist on FF.net. If you think the answer is illogical, tough and gna-gna. Hmm… *Looks at politics news, with the new minister taking newly united towns – united for the small cost of 10 millions – trying to un-unite them – again, for the small cost of 15 million* Yup, definitely right.

Flummox: Woo, 'nother long one… You, m'dear, are insane. You say the Aurors sounded pathetic? It's for a reason… but that's a you-know-what-already-by-now. The Patil twins and Lavender barely get screen time in fanfiction… dunno why, but they were just perfect for that scene. Yes, Ginny is taller; blame their respective genes :P. Yes, Lockhart is back… just in time to be tortured, lol ^_^

Natara: Gah, another long one, lol. I must admit that whoever taught Dark magic to Voldemort (in cannon) has to feel pretty humiliated. *twitch* I did not want to see Dracos in pink leather speedos, thankyouverymuch. I am interested in the Lilies, though… They'll fit nicely with the other clones I've made of my original fics…

"Wo-hoo, company!!" a voice said through a cupboard.

*cough* ignore her. I loved writing the massa… er… due… no, let's say things as they are, bloody unfair and completely illegally cruel slaughter. ^_-

RaistlinofMetallica: with all the time I took planning it, it should come together perfectly, lol! Gyeek, I don't wanna know your mom, then ^_-

Strategimini: Yup, last few. Things are ending, if you haven't noticed… *cough*

ZeonReborn: Heh… you'll see. ^_-

Serpent of light: *blush* Er, thanks… *goes through the door, head barely passes…*

BenJonBroad: Thanks, I do my best ^_^ *Goes through the door, scalp bonks against the top…*

Fawkes31: No, sorry, I just couldn't fit that in… gah, praise overload… *goes through the door, chin hits the top* ^_-

Dragonsprincess: *pats ur back* I know how bad computer problems can be… I tried to have Lockhart forget everything, but it just wouldn't fit anywhere – the characterizations were wrong for that. Instead… well, I think I've put up the next best thing… mwahaha. You'll probably know just how badly things are going to be in the last chapter of book 2.

BF110C4: Some people seem to forget I write three chapters ahead… the speed I release chapters is the speed I write the one far, far ahead. I intend to go as far as my patience takes me… which can be pretty far – I'm stubborn, and I've stubbornly decided to NOT lay off until I reach book 7 (Here's hoping that JK publishes 6 and 7 before I get there, always good to have base materials...). Problem is, the universe I've made is extensive enough to fit into past-Hogwarts fanfics (which I suddenly seem to want to write, too) and alternate universes… *groan* if only there was three of me or something…

Dilligas762: *sigh* and again, no couples unless I suddenly gain an unexpected leap of talent. Gah. *Glares at the Yule ball, muttering: "damn thing's forcing my hand…"*

Jedi Buttercup: *whistle* long one, *grin* allright, let's go. *deep breath*: I do my best. "Transfiguring water" is something I borrowed from Ranma, it belongs to Rumiko Takahashi-sama… but the way I brought it in the school, though… *evil grin* I agree about Harry: Good-but-confused-with-a-foot-in-the-dark!Harry is more interesting that just plain Psychotic-evil-bastard!Harry. Well, you see, what I'm going to do about book 3……is a secret :P. And Remus… will be… interesting. Why? Ehhp, secret, no telling, tsk, tsk ^_-

LadySnapeIV: Thank you, thank you, I take the blame for making you waste some of your time reading my humble ideas… ^_-

SlytherinAngel: And again, NO! No pairings with Harry, I suck at romance. Maybe my plans will change, but unless they do, well… poor Harry will jump in the real Nyannichuan and join the nuns :P. Just joking, don't scream 'n run yet.

Blackheart Syaoran: I'm writing the action bits; it's faster and easier than deep introspection and stuff.

Szelij: Hehehe… Wrong guess. I'm not telling which one, though ^_-

Simply Myself: Really? An Elmira look-alike, eh? And I DID put a "meep" there, so be happy ^_-

Sarah: *Shrug* just hints I gave that you're about the only person to seem to have caught on…