"Kill this time…Let me rip and tear…Kill!"
Harry was startled at the sudden return of the voice he'd heard Halloween night and he explained as much to Ron and Hermione.
While Ron worried over it Hermione startled, "I think I've just figured out… I'll be back!" and she ran off.
"But Quidditch!" Ron yelled after her.
Harry grimaced, "I think I'm going to bail too." It was much easier when someone else was already bailing.
"But Quidditch!" Ron exclaimed again, "It's the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff match!"
Harry shrugged and left to go brew another transformation potion for the Animagus process. The next stage of the process was to take the potion about once a week and try to change small parts of your body into the matching part of the animal you were set to become.
The potion for this part of the process was, however, much more difficult than the other potion he'd been making. It was a seventh-year potion and he'd yet to get anywhere close. He at least hadn't blown anything up yet but he'd had to pay a seventh year to vanish the mess of the potion each time. The seventh years had stopped doing things for him out of goodwill and now required payments for everything. It was rather frustrating.
He was halfway through the potion when the door to the dormitory suddenly slammed open startling Harry and causing him to drop the Bubotuber Pus in two seconds too early which caused a great cloud of smoke to burst out of the cauldron, scalding his face. When the smoke cleared he stared at his ruined cauldron and felt anger burst through him, that had been the best iteration yet, "Ron!"
Ron had been gaping at the whole situation but shook himself, "Hermione is petrified!"
Harry's eyes widened comically and he stared at Ron before catapulting himself out of his chair and running for the Hospital Wing, Ron hot on his heels.
Sure enough, there was Hermione in a bed, still as a statue, her wrist held up in the air like she was holding a mirror to her face. On the bed beside her was Penelope Clearwater, Percy Weasley's not-so-secret girlfriend. Percy was already there crying over her.
"Do either of you gentlemen understand the significance of this?" Professor McGonagall asked, holding up a cracked handheld mirror. They both shook their heads.
After that things changed dramatically. There were Aurors and Hitwizards stationed there 24/7 patrolling the corridors and helping walk students to class when they weren't being escorted by teachers. Everyone was grim faced and it was only the Aurors and Hitwizards that were even in the Common Room that prevented anyone from retaliating against Harry whom they were still convinced had done this.
In the evenings, after everyone had gone to bed, Harry and Ron would sneak out of the Common Room under the Invisibility Cloak and visit Hermione in the Hospital Wing. Staring at her all stiff and pale the only comfort they had was that the Mandrakes were trying to get into each other's pots which meant they would be ready for harvest soon.
One morning Professor McGonagall announced that Hagrid had been arrested and the Headmaster had been relieved of his position.
It was everything Harry had wanted and more, and yet it came at a terrible time. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to mess with his life anymore, but he also wouldn't be able to protect the school anymore.
Things came to a head one day while Harry and Ron were visiting Hermione during one of the few sanctioned visits they got. Ron was reading the Transfiguration text to Hermione even though Madame Pomfrey had said that she couldn't hear him. He just needed to be doing something.
Harry muttered something that was vaguely, "What will we do without you," in Mandarin though it could also have been simple nonsense. He wasn't trying that hard at the moment.
He reached out and grabbed her hand, only to be surprised to find a piece of paper in it.
The page described the Basilisk, the king of snakes, a fearsome monster whose glare killed, but if people saw reflections of it they got petrified. In the top right corner she had written pipes.
As he walked over to the Hitwizard who was watching over them something else occurred to him. As he passed over the parchment he said, "Moaning Myrtle, the ghost who died in the second-floor girls' bathroom, died fifty years ago. Maybe she'll know where the entrance is."
The Hitwizard murmured that he would tell his bosses, then read the parchment he'd been passed and he paled. "Stay here," he gasped out before sprinting from the room.
After he left Harry explained what he'd found to Ron, Madam Pomfrey, and Percy, since they'd all been right there for the strange display.
Nearly an hour had passed when an Auror contingent, led by Madam Amelia Bones, entered the room. "Harry Potter?" she asked as she looked right at him.
"Uh yes?"
"Gilderoy Lockhart has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Thanks to you we believe we've found the entrance but the only way past is with Parseltongue, or so we believe. I'd like to ask you to come with us."
"He's a child!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed.
"We understand that," Madam Bones said back calmly, "but he's our only hope of getting him out alive."
"I'll do it," Harry agreed, not entirely sure why he was doing it, but knowing in his bones that it was the right thing to do.
The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in the very room they'd brewed Polyjuice Potion inside of, in one of the sinks. A very simple "Open" had the sink lower into the floor revealing a tunnel big enough for a man to slide down.
Several Aurors used a rope spell to attach the rope to the floor, then climbed down through the hole. Nearly two hours later a single one came up informing them that Harry would be needed to go further into the hole.
Since Madam Bones had taken direct responsibility for Harry's safety she went down with him.
At the bottom of the long winding tunnel was a massive stone tunnel filled with rat and other animal skeletons. It was filthy and had sitting water at the bottom of it.
They followed the path of the pipe for nearly twenty minutes, passing a massive green snake skin that was tall as a man and at least twenty feet long before they found another door, this one covered in snakes. Harry said another simple "Open," and they were through.
Harry watched from the sidelines as the Aurors, one at a time, fell to the Basilisk Voldemort had summoned. One tried to conjure a chicken only for the chicken and the Auror to be swallowed whole. He winced as he recalled the paper Hermione had found saying that only a rooster's cry at dawn or dusk could kill the Basilisk.
When all looked hopeless Dumbledore's phoenix arrived singing a beautiful song while carrying the sorting hat. Not sure what else to do but confident it had been delivered for a purpose Harry slammed that hat onto his head as the last Auror was turned to stone.
While he was putting the hat on Fawkes flew at the Basilisk and gouged out its eyes causing the Basilisk to let out an unearthly scream.
As Amelia Bones moved to drag him away something heavy landed on his head causing him to see stars. As he yanked the hat off his head a sword fell out of it.
Without thinking too hard he grabbed the sword and ran forward, yanking his arm out of her grasp. The basilisk surged forward to meet him. He dashed forward, sword in the air. He knew the basilisk was surging to swallow him when he heard Voldemort scream, "Nooo!"
The sword was slammed violently into the Basilisk's mouth from the Basilisk's momentum, straight up into its brain. As it slammed into the Basilisk Harry felt something tear into his arm. He yanked the sword out of the mouth, and with it his arm. Opening his eyes he found a tooth being yanked out of his arm as the Basilisk fell.
Amelia Bones ran up to him, "Harry!"
But the job wasn't done.
As pain coursed through him he shoved the sword into Amelia's arms.
"Lockhart- kill Lockhart. If you don't Voldemort will be back! Kill Lockhart!"
She nodded, face full of determination as Harry collapsed back against the stone. The last thing he recalled was Fawkes crying over him and a scream from Voldemort.
Author's Note: I have no excuse for this being late. Sorry anyways. Lots of love and thanks for reading!
Recommendation: If you like Lord of the Rings try the Gold Coin by AlexFlex on archiveofourown. It's rated Explicit for some s*x but it's really good.