A/N : Sorry for the delay, readers. Real life got so hectic that I am having lesser time to write these days. This is a story on how Harry meets the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. This is sort of an Interlude but decided to publish this as a separate story. Don't forget to favourite and review. Also I don't own Harry Potter or any characters which appear here.
Speak : Parseltongue
Speak : Basilisk
The night of Christmas, Harry and Ron had spent time searching for any information about Nicholas Flamel under the cloak, but were met with failure and were nearly caught by Filch. If not for the Invisibility cloak, they would be serving detention after losing a thousand points from Gryffindor for sneaking into the Restricted section. Calling it a night, both had retired to their beds.
The next day Harry had told Ron that he wants to enjoy this day and Ron complied. After both of them had their breakfast, Harry had separated from Ron and roamed the castle aimlessly, observing the surroundings of Hogwarts which was coated in pristine white snow. Then he remembered that he wanted to go and check out the other founders' rooms as well.
Firstly, he went back to the lounge to locate the rooms. Ravenclaw's room was on the seventh floor. Seems that the house elves have named it the Come-and-Go Room unofficially. Slytherin's room is the Chamber of Secrets and still had the Basilisk guarding it while Hufflepuff's room is underneath the Herbology classroom and is still habitable because of the presence of a stasis charm. This stasis charm is quite similar to the charm on the potion ingredients he had given as a gift to Snape.
All the rooms were accessible to Harry except Gryffindor's because that is at the location of the Headmaster's office. The room is not in the office itself but the main entrance is. If he were to create a pathway from the lounge to the room, the doorway will activate and become visible and Harry may have to lose priceless artifacts to Dumbledore and similar meddlers. So, he put off exploring Gryffindor's room for the time being.
Firstly he decided to explore Slytherin's room and then go check the other rooms. If he was lucky, he can ensure all the artifacts of the founders are safe and sound excepting the ones Voldemort had turned to Horcruxes.
Falling in thoughts and planning on what to do next, he had absent mindedly walked over to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. After he was sure that Myrtle was not present in the bathroom, he had used parseltongue to open the entrance of the chamber of secrets.
After he had slid down the pipe, he had walked for some time, examining the condition of the walls and had chanced upon a door which is shaped like a vault with snake carvings on it. It is a door which will lead him straight to the Basilisk.
"Open!" Harry spoke out in parseltongue again.
The snakes moved and the door to the basilisk's den had opened. Climbing down, he was bemused by the situation of the room. It had even worse maintenance than sewers. Water was dripping from the ceiling and the floor was covered with a lot of mud and Slytherin's statue itself lacked the grandeur that it should have been showing. In short, the room looked like it was washed, re-washed and dry-cleaned with sewer water and it's residue.
Casting several impervious charms on the ceiling, Harry set out to work. He cleaned out the muck on the floor by casting Scorgify several times and reparoed the pipes connecting to the basilisk's resting area. He couldn't do much about anything else and called out the Basilisk.
"Speak to me Salazar, Greatest of the Hogwarts four." spoke Harry in parseltongue getting the knowledge from Voldemort's and Slytherin's memories when the statue's mouth started to open. From the opened mouth, a large snake started to slither out. It was about 50 feet tall and is having black scales.
"Who calls me out ?" spoke the Basilisk laying eyes on Harry who stared back. Salazar, while teaching Harry, urged him to always maintain eye contact with his Basilisk as he viewed it to be establishing his position.
According to Slytherin, he cast an enchantment on the snake which will not let him kill anyone with direct eye contact until a legitimate heir or the founder himself wills it to. Harry didn't die from seeing the Basilisk eyes as Salazar's enchantment stood strong and the Basilisk couldn't kill him with direct eye contact.
Harry hearing the Basilisk speak started to introduce himself.
"Oh mighty king of the serpents, my name is Harry Potter. I am the heir of the founders and have come here to visit you and find out if you will bond to me ?"
"And why should I ? The one who summoned me before you also had proclaimed that he is an heir as well. But he hadn't followed the rules established by Slytherin himself. That person proclaimed that he will cleanse the school by wiping out the muggleborns and half-bloods while he himself was one and Slytherin's agenda was to educate them and then integrate them into the magical society." spoke the Basilisk angrily, a combination of hunger, being cranky and also the betrayal of Salazar's ideals by the former person who woke him and proclaimed himself to be a 'heir'.
Not letting Harry speak, the Basilisk still continued "I had unwillingly helped him since he is an heir but it resulted in death of an innocent person. So he had forced me to go to sleep again while he turned more evil. I had lost my trust placed on him because I was naive and thought that he might be the savior of the world. Of all the people, I only trusted only 2 persons. One of then is Salazar Slytherin who ensured my birth and had took care of me until his death. He had delved into the Dark Arts but even then, he was one of the kindest persons I will ever meet."
"While the other is Tom Riddle, the one who had killed a student and had delved into the dark arts as well. But he was dark even from his childhood. The introduction of himself into the dark arts and knowledge of him being an heir of Slytherin was the final straw to happen to push him beyond."
"When he arrived here, he had only stated that he ensure that Salazar's legacy be fulfilled and I let him command me as he wishes. When he left me to rot down here after he had made me kill the girl, even if accidentally, he had framed another to escape his misdeed. From then, I had vowed to myself that I would not be fooled and only follow the orders of an heir who follows Salazar's and the other founders' true ideology and if any heir apparents turn out like Riddle, I will kill them myself and ensure that they have no body to carry out their last rites."
"Now tell me Harry Potter. Why should I help you ? Speak wisely for they might be the last words you may utter." spoke the Basilisk seriously, now apparently free of his sleepy nature but still angry about Riddle.
Harry was truthfully, scared and may have been tempted to run away screaming. But he stood firm and had recalled his ideology which helped him get this far. Straightening himself, he started to speak
"Mighty Basilisk, forgive me for trying to intrude. You are correct. I have no authority on you and I had recklessly tried to command you. Forgive me for being an idiot." spoke Harry softly while the Basilisk had a stony expression etched on it's face.
"I know how you feel. The present headmaster of Hogwarts had left me with my muggle relatives. They are apathetic of magic and hence even if I done it accidentally, they would punish me. Even my cousin and his friends had bullied me while my aunt and uncle spread rumours about me that I was not good and always trouble-causing. I had no support from adults who believed my 'relatives'. I was alone for most of my life and if my mother hadn't cast a charm to ensure my safety, I would have died or worse turned into a darker version of Riddle."
"I know about Tom. He had created horcruxes to ensure his immortality and spread his darkness too much. He tried to kill me after hearing a prophecy about me and himself stating about his death. But my mother's charm protected me from his killing curse but since his soul was too unstable from creating too many Horcruxes, it splintered off and one small part latched onto me."
"I had accidentally found my mother's letter and activated the founder charm completely. In my mind, all of the founders had explained me and my mother many things and we had learnt a lot from them. The blood wards were never meant to be used for the charm's functioning. It will kill the inhabitants present in my mind while twisting my personality and strengthening the soul shard of Riddle but the Headmaster, in his 'infinite wisdom' had done it. I had gone to Gringotts and had removed the shard of Tom at the start of the year from myself and this is leading to the blood wards degrading."
All of this was spoken by Harry who broke down in tears after completing his explanation. The Basilisk also felt sympathizing with him. No 11 year old, heck, no person alive had suffered this bad from his infancy as far as he knew.
"But I will not give up! The founders wanted everyone to have a fair and equal life when they attend and leave Hogwarts as well. But corruption and out dated tradition are so deep rooted in this society that this should be destroyed completely to rebuild a new one. Where everyone can live their lives peacefully, not in a state of constant strife like it had been in my life." Harry said in the midst of his sadness, mustering all of his conviction.
And so, after hearing Harry's explanation and resolve, the Basilisk finally let go all of his suspicions against The-Boy-Who-Lived.
"Listen then, Harry." The Basilisk started to speak when Harry finally dried his tears. "I will support you and your endeavor to help this world. But remember. If, by any chance, you deviate from your present ideals, falling prey to the darker side of life, I will not hesitate to end you." spoke the Basilisk seriously.
"Got it Mr. -er snake." spoke Harry regaining most of his cheerful behaviour he displayed before.
He heard short and sharp hisses and saw the Basilisk shaking it's head vigorously which Harry identified as laughing.
"Call me Sesha, boy. We are partners, for now, after all. I will call you Harry to ease any distance in our 'relationship'." said the now named Basilisk in obvious amusement at Harry's failure of giving him a proper suffix. "Now, stretch out your arm."
Harry did as the snake has ordered. Immediately, the Basilisk sunk it's fangs into Harry's arm. Harry felt a stinging sensation in his arm while his whole body felt as if it was lit on fire. After a few moments, the burning sensation subsided and the Basilisk withdrew it's fangs from Harry's arm, which now sported a white snake, coiled around his bicep. Harry had an inquisitive look on his face, seeing which the proclaimed king of snakes started hissing again.
"What I did was a type of familiar bonding with you. My venom now flows within you, acting as a conduit to our bond and also neutralizing any poisons you may ingest or might have ingested. It will also give you limited access to my memories and powers without any drawbacks and will also ward any harm from other serpents and snakes. We may even contact telepathically though that feature might turn up a little late."
"Whoa! Thank you, Sesha. I will try to respect your gift as much as possible." said Harry to which the Basilisk puffed his chest (body?) in a exaggeratedly arrogant manner.
"I forgot my main reason for which I have come here." said Harry worriedly when the Basilisk wondered what could be more important to Harry other than him.
"Salazar told me about a secret room located in here from where I should take out anything of importance to the lounge. He said that his photo is located there as well so he can guide me on what to take me. Can you guide me to that room? He said that you know of it's location so could you please take me there?" asked Harry
Sesha was already starting to like Harry and was also secretly impressed. Not only following Salazar's and the others' ideals, he also has a real idea on what the Chamber of Secrets stands for. Nudging him slowly with his tail, he already started slithering in a direction to take him to Slytherin's personal room.
After he was guided to Salazar's room, Harry started working. Having a tearful reunion with Salazar in the portrait who explained him that he knew bits and pieces from his mindscape self but still sufficient to identify him, Harry started to sort and clean the room to restore it as much as possible to it's former state. After toiling for a few hours, both physically and magically exhausted, he opened a pathway to the lounge and took some items which he deemed important, including a duplicate of Salazar's own portrait.
After he dumped the lot in the lounge, Harry trudged to his room, intent on having a good night's sleep but not before going on a detour to the kitchens where he consumed a plateful of treacle tart and a generous amount of pumpkin juice. When his head touched his pillow, he was out like a light dreaming about Sesha and and what happened the present day.