Harry stared at the sink in the Myrtle's bathroom. Severus stood beside him armed with a bag of containers suitable for gleaning parts of the dead basilisk. A moment later, Harry hissed at the sink and it opened to reveal the passage to the Chamber.
"Are you certain you can handle this?" Severus asked as he brushed a hand through Harry's hair.
"It's fine... I'm just a little worried about what will actually be down there and what will be in the others. And how are we going to find the people who can get into Rowena's tower and Godric's place out in the lake." Harry rubbed his eyes before smiling at his lover. "And I'm worried about the house and everything... I guess it's all just hitting me how much is happening right now. It could also have something to do with not getting much sleep last night."
"Then tonight you'll have to sleep in your own room." Severus said as they stepped to the edge of the drop into the Chamber.
Harry turned and glared at him. "I can sleep in your room just as easily as I can in my own... And I'd sleep easier with you there anyway, so that you can chase away any of the nightmares that might come."
Severus was about to argue, but Harry stepped off the edge and disappeared down into the darkness. Growling under his breath Severus stepped off and followed.
They made their way to the door of snakes where Harry hissed at them and then they walked into the Chamber itself. Severus could feel his heart beating hard as he and Harry walked up to the basilisk carcass. It was still in good condition, event though it had been there for more than four years. Severus immediately cast a quick spell to banish the smell and after pulling on a pair of dragon's hide gloves he went to work stripping all of the usable parts off.
Harry walked around and looked at the large sculptured face of Salizar. "I just feel like I'm missing something..." Harry murmured as he turned in a slow circle and glared while thinking. Drawing his wand, he cast a quick lumos. Putting enough power behind it, the light was bright enough to alight the entire Chamber. Harry began walking around trying to figure out what seemed out of place. As he splashed at the shallow water on the floor for a moment before leaning down and dipping his hand in. Lifting it up he sniffed before turning he looked to Severus. "What's in this water?"
Severus looked up from where he was still working with the carcass. Setting his stuff aside he walked over to where Harry was leaning down to stare at the pool of water in front of the statue of Slytherin. Dipping his own hand in he sniffed before nodding. "It has some flammable properties... We shouldn't set off any sparks that might send it all up in flames. It's flammable enough that it would all go up in a matter of moments."
Harry nodded, but then an idea struck. "Severus, have you got all you want from the basilisk?" He asked as Severus was putting away the last of the bones he'd taken. There wasn't much left, but Harry wanted to make certain before he did what he planned.
"I have it all... Harry what are you planning?" Severus packed up the rest of his things and shrunk all of the basilisk parts to put them into a dragon's hide bag.
Harry grinned as he threw up a shield around them before he stuck his wand's tip just outside of the barrier and cast a powerful and short burning fire spell.
The entire puddle of water went up in a matter of moments. Severus was glaring as he stuck his own wand out and performed a quick cleansing spell on the air. "You could have warned me."
"You would have stopped me if I had told you." Harry said after he dropped the shield and went to the edge of the pool. There were steps leading off to a door under the open mouth of the statue.
"You're correct. Now let us see what you've uncovered... I'll go first." Severus said as he started to go down the steps first.
Harry stopped him. "I'm the one who's the parselmouth... it'll probably be safer for me to go first with you watching my back."
Severus nodded before allowing Harry to go in front of him. They each had their wands out, in case of any built in curses. Getting to the door Harry stopped to stare at the large snake etching it. "Hello." He spoke to the etching as it turned his head towards him.
"Greetings, child of SSS-salazar... It has been sss-so long sss-since I sss-spoke to sss-someone." the snake said as it turned to get a better look at them.
"Hello... I am glad to sss-speak with you. What exactly is thisss place?" Harry asked gesturing to the door.
"This is my master'sss laboratory. As you sss-speak our language you are the one who has the right to enter here." the snake bowed his head before the door opened.
Harry and Severus entered cautiously and stared at the large potion's laboratory they were in. "Oh... this is cool." Harry said as he walked in and stared.
A soft chuckle had them turning with their wands drawn. "Thank you... At least if that was the compliment I believe it to be."
The two stared at the tall dark haired ghost. In his life he would have been a tall man with a long dark braid with a pair of glasses resting on the end of a slim nose.
"Who are you?" Harry demanded as he and Severus looked at the ghost with interest.
"It is a sad day when ever a member of my own house does no recognize me... and an even sadder one when a decedent doesn't know me. I am Salazar Silven Slytherin." the man crossed his arms with a gentle smile at the two obviously now stunned duo.
Neville grinned at Blaise as he ran from him, through Helga's garden. Giggling, he slid around a tree and looked back at his lover. "You're not going to get me!"
Blaise, dressed in a pair of loose pants and an unbuttoned shirt, came running up. "Oh... yes I am."
Neville dashed off only to stop and turn to taunt him again. "Oh, no you're not!"
As Neville ran off again, Blaise continued after him. They had woke up that morning and Neville had suggested something odd for him.
/Flashback/
"Why don't we play hooky today? We only have Herbology, DADA, and Divinations." Neville asked as he held up his robes and kind of rolled his nose a little.
Blaise looked back at him with a shocked expression. "You play hooky? I would never have guessed you to be one to do such a thing... Not that I'm complaining." Blaise threw his robes to one side.
Neville smiled and shook his head with a laugh as he reached into his trunk and pulled out a large leather bag. While putting a few smaller bags into his large leather bag he spoke. "It won't really be playing hooky... We'll have to do one thing."
Blaise quickly changed into a more relaxed set of clothes. "What's that?"
"You'll see." Neville grinned as he stood and took Blaise's hand.
Running upstairs, Neville lead them through the Great Hall ignoring that cat calls they got fro them still holding hands. He went right up to the teacher's table and stopped directly in front of Pro. Sprout. "Madam Sprout, may Blaise and I have an excuse slip to go and gather plants from the edge of the Forest? I promise I'll also check on your little patch of herbs also."
Professor Sprout looked over the boys and smiles. "Of course, boys... on the condition that you rather a few certain things for Professor Snape." Rummaging around she came up with a scroll and handed it to Neville.
Neville nodded with the list in hand before walking swiftly out of the Great Hall with Blaise right beside him.
/End Flashback/
They had gone straight to Helga's Garden. There Neville had tugged lightly on a lock of Blaise's hair before taking a few running steps. Understanding his lover's desire to play Blaise ran lightly after him.
Now Blaise was starting to tire of their game and actually began to put honest effort into catching up with him. At the same time Neville put more speed into his steps and stayed ahead of him
In one last effort Blaise launched himself to tackle his lover around the waist.
Neville was panting as Blaise turned him over and crawled up his body to settled between his legs.
"I told you I would catch you." Blaise laughed slightly out of breath as he laid his head on Neville's shoulder.
"As entertaining as this display is... perhaps it would be wiser to not do such acts in front of a n elder." A kindly female voice had them looking up to where a rather plump ghost smiled down on them.
Rising they quickly bowed in deference to the sturdy ghost in front of them.
"Now that's better... Please tell me how you got into this garden." she smiled pleasantly at them.
Neville shyly stepped forward. "That would be my doing, madam. I am a loreist so I heard the lack of sounds from the plants, so we came to check it out."
The ghost's eyes widened with obvious joy. "To have found this place you have to be a very powerful loreist. What level are you?"
"I haven't been tests yet, but there are some who think I will test out about a 98 or above." Neville explained as he studied the ghost, wondering why she seemed familiar.
"Really? I could test you if you like." the ghost said as she studied carefully.
"I didn't think that ghost's had that much power."
"Oh... I'm not your average ghost." she said with a wink. Reaching in her robes, she drew out a ghostly wand. With a wave of her wand and a few words, a set of silvery words and numbers appeared about Neville's head.
"Oh my... now I'm certain you're my heir. Little one, you're testing out about a 99 ½. The most powerful since I was alive."
Both Neville and Blaise paled at this information. "Umm... madam, I have to be rude but could we know your name?" Blaise asked shaking slightly on the inside.
"Oh... dear me... It's been so long since I spoke with someone that I've forgotten my manners. I'm Helga... Helga Hufflepuff."
THE END (for now)
A.N.: We now know that only the heirs of the Founders can get into their private places... Harry's the heir of Slytherin and Neville is the heir of Hufflepuff... so who are the heirs of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw? And how will this play into the final fall of Voldemort?
A.N.: I'm also interested as to who you think the other two heirs are. Please leave a review and tell me who you think they could be.
!ATTENTION!
There is a sequel to this fic! Go to my author's page and look for Learning and Teaching 3. But please take a moment to drop me a line about what your think about this part!