Hey guys! SORRY it took long to post this. Too much to do since the holidays are coming. Here it is, chapter 21!

Thanks for all the reviews. They mean a lot. And Lauran, about thinking if you want to join I say go ahead. Its amazing to write and be read.

To all the reviewers, much love. To everyone, Merry Christmas!

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE CHAMBER REVISITED

It was only four days before Christmas and Harry found himself standing within the Girl's Bathroom, facing a group of sinks and faucets, one of which had snake engravings on the tap. He was standing with Hermione and Ron, mustering their strengths to venture into the unknown.

They were of course, moments away from entering the Chamber of Secrets. Harry knew that this day would come, as he just barely made it out of the Infer attack two days ago. Those two days were spent in full concentration in preparing for this very moment: The morning after the Inferi attack was a blur full of hammering and magic spells cast her and there to try and restore the Burrow toward its former glory. Wooden planks were magically reattached, chips of hollow blocks levitated and placed one atop the other, and the reinstallation of the magic chandelier that lit the living room. Harry knew then that it was no use repairing the house since it was likely that another attack will happen. Nothing in his life was worth restoring at that point because Voldemort will attack it once again. The one solution for his dilemma was to destroy Voldemort once and for all.

With this in mind, Harry, Hermione, and Ron spent time preparing. Bottles of potions full of odd liquids only Hermione understood were packed in a brown bag. Wizidium potions were bought from Hogsmeade. A lot of safety precautions were done in attempts to safely traverse through the Chamber once again. They did not know what was inside. Was another monster looming within? What are the enchantments protecting the Horcrux prevent anyone from procuring it? It was time to find out as Harry stood there, just before the tap and sink that marked the entrance to the Chamber, with a brown bag slung on his shoulder.

"Ready?" asked Harry as he touched the bag, hearing the clinking of potion bottles inside it.

"I guess," said Ron weakly.

The next moment, Harry closed his eyes and searched his mind for the Parselmouth within him. He opened his eyes and glared at the snake engravings on the faucet. He opened his mouth, visualizing that the snake he was looking at was indeed, a real one, and started to produce sounds.

Hissing emitted from his throat as Ron cringed as if doused with a bucket full of ice cold water. Hermione, however, stood unwavering as the sinks and taps were starting to pulse and vibrate.

Soon, the sinks were starting to part from each other, forming a great circular space from where they once stood. Then, as the sinks moved further, a hole was made visible: a cold, dark hole.

Harry then looked back at his two friends: Hermione looked back, her face determined and her wand at the ready, and Ron, who was trying to appear courageous though cowardly inside.

With a final look, Harry slipped his legs towards the hole and pushed his body, which went zooming down through it. The next thing he saw was darkness as he felt his way through the pipe that he was now sliding in. His hands felt the surface of the pipe he was zooming through, feeling the mildew and the moisture that has collected there for so long. Soon, a faint scream and a tiny yelp were heard, signaling that Hermione and Ron finally were sliding behind Harry.

The sliding seemed to continue forever as the three continued to zoom deeper into the heart of the castle, where the Chamber lied waiting. Soon though, Harry reached the end of the slide and was thrown towards soft, mushy, lichen infested ground.

Darkness was still surrounding him as he raised his wand. "Lumos Maxima!" A wide ray of light blazed off from Harry's wand tip as Ron and Hermione finally reached the end of the slide, together again.

Ron and Hermione both lit their wands, too, as they stood up. They huddled together, checking the area surrounding them. It was Hermione's first time in this part of the castle and so, Harry stayed closer to her.

The chamber has not changed at all as Harry led the way through a collection of pipes which all led to the main chamber. They clambered through silently, with slight sighs and yelps which meant that they stumbled a bit.

Soon, they finally reached the main chamber which was lit with an eerie green glow. It was not possible to pin point where the glow originated but the fact that the light was green did not soothe their nerves. Green: the color of Slytherin. The color of the light emanating form the Killing Curse Avada Kedavra.

The main chamber was still composed of a main center path which, by its side, were lined with snake statue heads, all facing the center. The snakes were made of stone formed almost a thousand years previous but still reeked of an evil. The ground was moldy as Harry and the rest headed through the center path. Hermione and Ron were gaping as they both looked stunned by the vile beauty the place exhibited. Harry had seen all this though, and was not glad to set his eyes on them again.

Once they had reached the end of the path, a gigantic statue of a bearded man stood there. Mighty and intimidating, this statue was so big that its head reached the ceiling of the vast chamber. Ron and Hermione stood transfixed at the face of Salazar Slytherin's statue as though caught in a trance.

Everything was the same as Harry recalled it except for one thing. A big boulder stood by the far left of the statue: a pale green boulder that seemed out of place. Harry ignored this. "What can a piece of rock do anyway" he told himself.

"Guys, stop staring at the damn statue and lets go," said Harry finally.

Hermione and Ron then shook their heads, as though shaking off the trance that the statue had caused. "Sorry" they both said.

"Where could the Horcrux be anyway?" asked Harry who was scanning the whole vastness of the perimeter. "Where could it be hidden?"

"Well, when you came here, was there any secret hole or nook that could be of importance?" replied Hermione.

"Umm" Harry flipped through his memory as he looked at his environment. When he was twelve, he remembered how he saw Ginny lying on the ground, how Tom Riddle stood over her, how this boy belittled the late Dumbledore. He recalled the hissing sounds of Tom, summoning the basilisk to attack. And then, he saw in his mind, as if watching a film, how the basilisk slithered its way out of a hole in the statue of Salazar.

"Well?" said Ron blankly.

"Its in the statue," said Harry. "Back in second year, the basilisk came out of a hole in the statue of Slytherin. From the mouth. Its in the mouth."

Harry hurriedly walked up to the statue, facing the stone toes that carried the massive weight of the stone monument. He lifted his hands as he grabbed the stone ruffles of Salazar's robes and pulled himself up. He the placed his feet on the ruffles as well, gaining support. Hermione and Ron soon clambered on, too.

"This is hard! I'm no good a climber," complained Ron. "Is there like an easier way?"

"Like what?" said Harry, apparently having difficulty in the ascent. He was just about in the knee area of the statue, far from the mouth.

"Like some spell or a broom or something?"

"That's it!" yelped Harry.

"What's it?" said Hermione, sweating profusely as he pulled herself up once more.

"A broom!" said Harry confidently. He then clambered just above Slytherin's knee, which was wide enough to rest upon, and took out his wand. He closed his eyes, pictured his Firebolt tucked in his trunk, and then, with all his mind into complete concentration, said "Accio Firebolt!"

Harry waited then. Ron and Hermione finally reached where Harry was resting: Salazar's knee.

"Do you suppose that worked?" said Hermione, slightly panting as she wiggled her hands to relax them.

"We'll see, won't we," said Harry, praying that his summoning charm worked. He needed the broom now, more than in the Triwizard Tournament when he did the same Summoning Spell.

Five minutes passed by and the broomstick did now show up. Harry lost hope as he looked at his friends' faces. He then stood up to continue climbing and just as he was about to put his right hand upon the stone to climb up, they heard a sound.

It was a song so haunting yet so beautiful. It was such a brilliant tune that Harry's arm hairs were standing on end. Chills were sliding up and down his spine. It was a very familiar song: the Phoenix song. Harry and the rest remained puzzled. Fawkes was no more. He left when Dumbledore died. How can he be singing?

The song nevertheless filled Harry, Hermione, and Ron's bodies with hope and courage, making them fuller of zeal. Harry felt he could do anything. Soon, another sound was introduced. It was a zooming, whooshing sound. From the chamber distance, the Firebolt was bolting towards them, flying through the lines of snakehead statues and halting in front of Harry.

"It worked!" said Hermione gladly.

"Well, climb aboard!" said Harry as he mounted the front end of the broom. Hermione then mounted behind Harry and Ron behind Hermione. With a soft kick, they went zooming in the air through the green glow of the vast chamber. They ascended higher, passing the statue's waist, torso, and now arriving near the face.

As Harry said, a hole was open by the mouth of the statue and so, they dismounted by the open lips. Leaving the broom resting, the three Gryffindors started to penetrate the mouth, once again leading them to a sliding and twisting passage of pipes. The green glow was gone now as they slid and zoomed through the lichen growth within the pipes. Soon, they ended up on a small room lit by torches emitting green flames.

They stood up and walked around, looking at the room they were in now. Harry was also stunned since he has not found this room before. It was a square, windowless room with the walls full of illustrations and carvings. Pictures of winged serpents, sea snakes, and the basilisk filled the barriers that surrounded them. The center of the room was a small pond full of green light in the depths. Over it was a metal bridge where in the center stood a pedestal. The pedestal was engraved with figures and numbers unknown to the three of them. Upon this pedestal floated a small square box.

Harry alone walked towards it, crossing the metal bridge above the pond, and arrived at the pedestal. The box, upon closer inspection, was black and was bound by a small snake.

It was not living though but magically charmed. As he stared at it, he took out his hand and then, without thinking, grabbed the box.

"I got it!" said Harry. "The Horcrux!"

"It can't be this easy," said Hermione worriedly.

"Don't complain. It's good that it was simple and not that dangerous. Good thing that basilisk is dead," muttered Ron.

"Let's get out of here," said Harry as he walked away from the pedestal, over the bridge, and towards a secret door that magically appeared by the far end of the wall. "I guess that's the exit. We can't go back the way we got in."

They walked through the door and found themselves again in at the foot of the statue at its right side. They then walked out, going by the statue and towards the main path that was lined with snakehead stone carvings.

One thing was odd. The round boulder that stood by the statue was now gone. Harry only saw shattered stones and cracks in its place. Suddenly, the ground shook and then a cry was heard.

It was a piercing cry, a familiar one to Harry. It was a sound that he dreaded. Ron and Hermione noticed it, too. Harry then remembered. It was the sound of a monster. The sound of the basilisk. It must have come from the boulder. Wait. That was no boulder. That was a basilisk egg. Harry obtaining the Horcrux must have triggered the egg to hatch.

"Guys, close your eyes!" yelled Harry.

"What? Why!" asked Hermione and Ron.

"It's the basilisk! The boulder on the statue was an egg. A basilisk egg!"

"Remember when I said that getting the Horcrux was too easy? I take that back. The egg must be the one guarding the Horcrux!" said Hermione, shutting her eyes as fear coursed through her veins.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE