Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling

Chapter 3: Chamber of Secrets

"speech"

(thoughts)

"parseltongue"

This year Luna and Ginny were starting at Hogwarts. To get ready, they went to get their school supplies together. Harry was very surprised when Luna walked into the Burrow.

"Luna! You're a witch?" gasped Harry.

"I told you that you were a wizard when we were eight" replied Luna.

At Diagon Alley, shopping was uneventful until they reached the bookstore. First Harry was made a spectacle of by their new DADA teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, then, they had a confrontation with Lucius Malfoy. When he grabbed Ginny's transfiguration book and made disparaging remarks about its secondhand nature, Luna put her own book into Ginny's cauldron saying: "Here Ginny, you can have mine. I don't mind secondhand books"

She then ripped the transfiguration book from Lucius' hands, taking care to take the Riddle diary with it.

(Got it!) thought old Luna.

When Luna sat on the stool and the sorting hat was placed on her head it said:

"Interesting – Most interesting – It's pretty crowded in there - I see plans within plans, schemes within schemes"

(Just put me in Ravenclaw. You know I belong there,) thought Selena.

(No! Wait! Put me in Gryffindor. I can help Harry better from there,) thought old Luna.

"I'm afraid there is only one place for you, and that is SLYTHERIN!"

"WHAT!" Screeched Luna

"Looks like I managed to catch the seer by surprise," chuckled the hat.

(Well, it's only natural,) thought the sword.

With resignation, Luna shuffled over to the Slytherin table and sat between two first years.

"Hi, I'm Stan Benford and this is Amanda Addams," said the boy next to her. "Looks like we're in the snake house now."

After Professor McGonagall punished Ron and Harry for crashing into the whomping willow, Ron was sent to Gryffindor Tower while Harry was sent straight to Dumbledore's office.

"Come in Harry," said Dumbledore as Harry approached the door. "Have a seat. Lemon Sherbet?"

"No thank you," said Harry. "Look, Professor, I'm sorry about the whomping willow!"

"It's not the manner of your arrival that has caused me to call you here but rather this," said Dumbledore as he picked up a small glass sphere from off his desk.

Within the sphere was a young woman who recited:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power that the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.."

"This was a prophecy that was made about you and Voldemort," said Dumbledore. "I had hoped to wait until you were older so that you would have time to enjoy your childhood. But unfortunately, another seer has forced my hand. I believe you know Miss Lovegood?"

Harry nodded numbly. It was a lot to take in.

In the first week of school there was a hazing incident in which Luna broke the nose, leg and dislocated the ankle of a seventh year student, Roy Ragnor.

Also during that week, Dumbledore came back to his office to discover that someone had somehow slipped into his office and left the smoldering ruins of Tom Riddle's diary on his desk with a note.

This was one of the seven horcruxes of Tom Riddle.

After it was revealed the Harry was a parselmouth, Luna went to the headmaster and revealed that she knew how to enter the Chamber of Secrets, but that they would need a parselmouth to gain entrance and subdue the basilisk inside. This was how Luna and Harry found themselves being escorted by three adults to the girls' bathroom. Amongst them were the Care of Magical Creatures instructor, Hagrid the gamekeeper and a Miss Grubblyplank.

"In order to open it, Harry needs to say "Open" in parselspeech," said Luna.

"Open!" hissed Harry.

The lavatory slid away revealing a large hole in the floor.

"Some stairs would be nice, Harry," said Luna.

"Stairs?" hissed Harry.

A spiral staircase appeared in the shaft allowing them easier access. They descended the stairs and came to an ornate door covered with serpentine carvings.

"Open?" said Harry.

The inner door to the Chamber of Secrets unlocked and opened allowing them entrance.

"Okay Harry, I need you to yell out: close your eyes, keep them closed and come to me," said Hagrid.

"Close your eyes, keep them closed and come to me" hissed Harry.

All five of them were careful to keep their own eyes shut as they had been told when they heard the sound of the basilisk's approach. Hagrid stepped forward holding aloft a shield, which had been previously enchanted as a portkey.

"Now tell him to touch his nose to the shield," said Hagrid.

"Touch your nose to the shield," hissed Harry

As soon as the serpent touched the shield, he vanished and he was transported to a basilisk preserve in the South Pacific.

"Harry, could you do me a favor?" asked Luna.

"Sure Luna, what's up?" said Harry.

"Some of my fellow first years and I are concerned about Defense class," said Luna. "We're afraid that we'll fall behind while that idiot Lockhart is teaching us."

"I never thought of it that way before," said Harry. "I could fall behind too."

"Exactly. This is why we are forming a Defense Association to teach ourselves Defense Against the Dark Arts. We were hoping that you and some of the other second year students would help us?" said Luna.

"Sure Luna, sounds like a good idea," said Harry. "But where will we practice?"

"How about the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Luna. "Now that the basilisk is gone it should be perfectly safe."

"Brilliant! We'll meet in the girls' lavatory tomorrow night," exclaimed Harry.

The initial members of the Defense Association were Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Stan Benford, Luna Lovegood, and Amanda Addams. It was not long after they began practicing in the Chamber of Secrets that they found Salazar Slytherin's hidden library. It was filled with Parseltongue books. Although only Harry could read them, he shared the knowledge he gained with the others and their knowledge grew by leaps and bounds as they gained special insights into magical theory, occlumency, defense and the dark arts. There were also special parseltongue spells that only Harry could cast.

Authors note: For more on Slytherin hazing practices see my other fic: Dursley: the Next Generation.