Harry Potter and the Chamber of Seekers (Chamber of Secrets)

The tunnel suddenly split in two directions.

Hang on, Harry thought. The basilisk can't be down both tunnels. One of them must lead to the chamber and the other leads who-knows-where-else.

Harry picked the left tunnel to explore first. Oops.

He came to a door with two snakes carved on it. Well, they didn't look much like snakes, but Harry was determined to use his imagination to make the squiggly lines look like they were carved for a reason. The snakes seemed to be looking down at him, their cruel eyes glinting gold in the wandlight.

Gold? Harry was sure they should have been green. Green was the color of snakes and Slytherin house. That just made sense. Gold was the color of snitches and Gryffindor house. That really didn't make sense. But it didn't matter. He hissed something in Parseltongue and the door opened.

Harry stepped into the room beyond. Something flew at his head and he ducked reflexively, just in time for the bludger to pass over him. A bludger? In the Chamber of Secrets? Harry was perplexed. What happened to the basilisk?

"Sorry about that!" a voice on his left called. "There's no stopping those things!" Harry turned and saw a man wearing colorful robes and holding a bat. The man ran over to him, dodging as another bludger careened toward him. "You must be Harry Potter." Harry nodded. "I'm Josef Wronski. Welcome to the Chamber of Seekers."

"Seekers?" Harry looked around and saw that, indeed, everyone in the room was wearing Quidditch robes. Most of them were carrying bats to ward off the bludgers, and a large group at the far end was chasing a snitch. "But I'm looking for the Chamber of Secrets! I need to rescue Ginny from the basilisk!"

"Basilisk? There is no basilisk. Ginny's been down here with us."

"Then who's been Petrifying everyone?"

"That was us. You see, we have to get food from the kitchens. And when people see a troop of world-class Quidditch players wandering through the halls, especially when most of us are supposed to be dead, they tend to get over-excited and their brains short-circuit. They'll recover just fine if you convince them that they never saw any of us."

"Hermione passed out because she saw some Quidditch players? I don't believe it."

"Just wait until she meets Victor Krum. You won't believe that either."

"Who?"

"Another seeker. You can take Ginny back now. She's over there playing catch with the quaffle. And come visit us again sometime, Harry. You're a seeker for life, and seekers are always welcome in our chamber."

As he and Ginny left, Harry decided to make up a story about fighting a basilisk anyway. If he told the truth, Ron would kill him for not getting everyone's autograph.

Er, this one makes a bit more sense than the last one. Sorry! Randomness will return after these short messages from our sponsers!

buttered-onions, thanks for reviewing this! Randomness rules!