Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
Chapter Twenty One, Year Two: Voldemort Redux
The next day found Salazar, Draco and Tom sitting in the Slytherin common room. They were the only ones there, the rest out on the Quidditch pitch. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were meeting with the Headmaster, and then going home.
Draco looked at Salazar and Tom. "Does the Chamber of Secrets really exist?"
Tom looked over at Salazar with a slightly guilty expression on his face. Salazar sighed. "Yes, the Chamber is real. I originally built it as a safe haven for the school in case Muggles ever invaded or something like that."
Draco bit his lip. "So, it wasn't to purify the school or anything like that?"
Salazar looked at Draco, horrified. "Good heavens, no! Who said that?"
"Hogwarts, A History," Tom and Draco said simultaneously.
Salazar groaned and covered his eyes with a hand.
"So," Draco continued eagerly, "if it was just to keep the students safe, wouldn't it be in out best interests to find it?"
Tom coughed lightly into his hand. Draco looked at him, suspicious.
"You don't want to go there," Tom said slowly. "The book says that there is a monster in there. The book happens to be right."
Draco looked absolutely incredulous. He leaned forward in his chair and tried to reason with them. "Tom is the Heir of Slytherin; Harry is the reincarnation of Salazar Slytherin. Personally, I think that we're over qualified to handle the beast."
Tom looked over at Salazar with a twitchy expression on his face. Salazar had his face completely covered with both hands like he was trying to block out the situation. Draco was looking at both of them with impatience.
"Look," Draco began, but was cut off by Salazar.
"No, you look here," Salazar snapped. "You may think that it's all well and good to be going around opening forbidden chambers like they're cans of sardines, but I for one don't." He took both hands off his face to glare at Draco. "There's too much bad history and too much blood spilt because of that thing. Tom killed people with the basilisk in the Chamber, and opening it would just bring the past rushing back."
"But I think it's still a good idea to make sure that the place is still defensible. Death Eater activity is increasing. We need to have a secret fortress!"
"Do you want me to get Kissed? I know I don't, but opening that Chamber will get my soul sucked out of me," Tom stated matter-of-factly with a glare.
"But that's all in the past," Draco argued. "Dumbledore's forgiven you, I'm sure that he'd…"
"What makes you think Dumbledore's forgiven him?" Salazar asked quietly.
Draco looked at Salazar oddly. "Well, he did invite him into the school."
"Ever heard the maxim, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'?" Tom asked dryly.
Draco scowled. "Of course I have, but I still maintain…"
"Since Tom knows about the Chamber, what makes you think that Voldemort wouldn't?" Salazar asked.
Draco fell silent.
Salazar nodded in satisfaction. "I thought so. And before you ask, the Chamber is very well warded. I made sure of that before I died. Now, let's get some lunch, I'm starving"
……..
To the surprise of the majority of the arriving students, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and the entirety of the Weasley children were already there. Most assumed that Dumbledore was being a bit cautious about the increase in Death Eater activity, and that Draco was there to insinuate himself into the good graces of the Golden Trio and then use that position to spy for the Death Eaters.
Needless to say, Salazar felt a bit put off by all the stares. He quite envied Tom right now; he was in that chamber just off the Great Hall.
The Sorting proceeded quite normally. Salazar was interested. He hadn't seen a Sorting in over 1000 years besides his own, and then he'd been preoccupied.
It was with a great amount of whispering that Dumbledore introduced a new student, Marvolo Potter, a distant relative of Harry Potter's who would be joining Hogwarts for his Sixth year because his parents were worried about the increased Death Eater attacks, and also because they wanted their son to experience school life. Dumbledore said that he had been Sorted into Gryffindor when he had arrived yesterday.
Tom's face looked like a thundercloud.
And then, Dumbledore made another announcement, and it was with a horrifying, sinking feeling that Salazar knew that Lockhart hadn't been bluffing when he said that he was going to teach Defense at Hogwarts. Up until that point, Salazar had been hoping against hope that Lockhart wouldn't really be teaching them. Hope can be evil.
…….
In a foggy graveyard, at night, three figures could be seen. Two were tied to headstones. Another was kneeling in front of a caldron, holding his stump of an arm. The caldron was bubbling red, and suddenly a tall snake-like and skeletal man appeared.
"My robe, Wormtail," it drawled.
Wormtail whimpered and handed the newly reborn Dark Lord his robe and wand. Soon, other figures in black robes and masks made their appearance.
By the end of the night, Alice and Frank Longbottom were dead.
High in a tower at Hogwarts, two boys woke with a start.
…..
Early in the morning, at around 3AM, two black haired boys raced toward Dumbledore's office. Before they could reach the gargoyle, they ran straight into Severus' back, bowling him over.
The two jumped to their feet, and began to apologize profusely, until they realized that Severus was still lying on the floor, and he was twitching uncontrollably.
Salazar cursed, and Tom transfigured his robe into a stretcher. Salazar levitated Severus onto the stretcher, and the two hurried to the Infirmary. The door was, surprisingly, unlocked.
Tom levitated Severus onto one of the beds, while Salazar went to fetch Madam Pomfrey. When he knocked on her office door several times, there was no answer.
He went back to the main chamber of the hospital wing, and found that Tom had already left. With another curse, he swore that he would kill Tom if he wasn't getting the nurse, and then turned to look at the problem he was ill equipped to deal with.
Tom had, in fact, gone down to the Severus' quarters, figuring that a Potions Master and Death Eater spy would definitely have a potion to help with the after effects of prolonged exposure to Cruciatus. He wasn't surprised that Salazar didn't seem to recognize what caused the twitching. The curse was invented after his time, and Tom supposed that Salazar was going to learn about it, after he learned about everything else that he had been dead for.
Tom muttered 'open up' in parseltongue, thankful that all of the rooms had a parseltongue override command, and quickly found the potion behind a vial of Veritaserum. He raced back to the Infirmary, threw open the door, and almost ran headlong into Professor Dumbledore. He quickly handed the potion to the stressed-looking mediwitch, and stepped back.
The results were almost instantaneous. The twitching stopped, and before Severus could utter a word to anyone, Madame Pomfrey poured a sleeping potion down Severus' throat.
Dumbledore ushered them out of the hospital wing, and lead them back to his office. Once they were seated, he gave both of them very serious looks over the top of his glasses. "I'm afraid that Lord Voldemort has returned to life again."
A/N: Yea! Quick update. I think I may be rushing things. Or maybe I'm not. There are an awful lot of things that are going to happen, I think. It's not going to be as long as the book, but the chapters are going to alternate between rather more exciting ones like this one, and boring ones to set the stage for something.
Personally, I think this is one of my better chapters.
Also, I just noticed that it's Hogwarts, A History not Hogwarts: A History. Sorry.
And I made Tom be Harry's distant relative because they do look a like and also because I appreciate irony. Dumbledore doesn't know how closely related they are.
Oh, and Draco is OOC, but bear with it and chalk it up to a bit of naivety. After all, good guys aren't supposed to think like Slytherins. Dry humor really doesn't translate well onto paper...
