Chapter 35: A Chamber of Darkness

Disclaimer: You know it, I know it, we all know it. I don't own anything; I just dabble with the magic that is there

Winter Holidays were over, students were back, and the atmosphere was a lot lighter. There was still the concern of the Chamber, the writing still on the wall opposite the bathroom. Unable to be removed due to the magic that had been used engraving it into the stone. Thankfully, it was not a corridor that people absolutely had to go down to get to their next location so many were avoiding it as much as possible.

The talk of the Malfoy Winter Ball had spread including who had danced with who, the gossips of the school were running with Harry and Susan dancing. The group had laughed about it and pretty much moved on. They had also received updates regarding Sirius, he had been removed from Azkaban shortly after the truth had been revealed but now, they were awaiting his day in court. Peter Pettigrew was being held in a safe location just in case the person who scared him returned.

It was a Friday, Harry as was his usual routine was in Elizabeth's quarters, along with a few other of the Ravenclaws in their group, it had almost become the impromptu hang out for them when they didn't want to loiter in the Common Room. What had surprised them was the Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater had started joining them, when asked about it she had said it was largely because the Common Room was becoming noisier and Elizabeth's study room that they had hijacked was peaceful. That and Elizabeth had asked for her help in learning some of the later stuff so the two would be working on one side while Harry, Lisa and usually Anthony would be on the other side working on their own projects.

A few from other houses would turn up depending on what lessons they had but it was always a small group, mainly due to the lack of room overall. Harry was sat on the floor, his head leant back against the couch, book resting over his face, his brain was fried from the work that they had been doing, Homework set by Lockhart that had them going over one of his books and just the pain of reading it was enough for him to want burn the book. He still, even after all this time did not know what to make of the man and he had said as much to Elizabeth and to others. At times Lockhart was clueless, a fool that was tripping over his own magic. Other times he showed true intelligence, he could cast magic, but it was so detached from what Harry would expect a man who had faced werewolves and yeti's and hags to perform it. He heard the sound of the Portrait Door opening and he did not even move as it closed again, "I see you're all working hard." The voice of Dumbledore spoke lightly, and Harry's head snapped up, the book falling into his lap as he looked towards Dumbledore.

"Just taking a bit of a break," Harry replied calmly, picking up the book and closing it. "After a while, the text just blurs together." He said as he closed the book and put it down. On the other side of the room Penelope and Elizabeth stopped what they were doing the items that they had pretty much been juggling between themselves with the levitation charm and catching the items afterwards, each time they did this, normally as a warm up, they added an extra item into the mix. currently there were five items that they were juggling between them.

"Can I help you Headmaster?" Elizabeth asked and Dumbledore looked at both her and Harry.

"I came here for young Mr Potter, but I do believe you could potentially have a unique perspective on this as well, so I wanted to ask you both to come to my office." Dumbledore said getting nods from the two of them.

"Bit surprised you didn't send a house elf or a prefect." Harry said quietly as Dumbledore looked over at him and smiled.

"Because I was already in the area, dealing with a few other things to free up my time." Dumbledore responded as calmly as if he was talking about the weather and Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Penelope can you just get everyone back to the dorm?" Elizabeth asked and the Prefect nodded her head. "Well Headmaster, shall we go? Elizabeth questioned as the group started getting their stuff together. The three left Penelope overlooking the other two before making their way out of the room and into the corridor. He led them down the corridor in silence but when the turn that would lead to the Headmasters office, he turned in a different direction leading the two further away from it. Confusion crossed both their faces as he took them on a different trip down towards the corridor of the attack. Dumbledore stopped in front of the door for a moment before pushing it open for the two to enter.

"Forgive my deception, I find the School Rumour Mill does not need help to get the word around." He said and paused as they took in the sight ahead of them. All four heads of houses stood some impatient, some nervous, along with them was another familiar face Amelia Bones stood with three what could only be assumed to be Aurors and another man with a dark look on his face.

"Dumbledore, we've humoured you enough, you said there was something dangerous in the school and now you make us wait here?" Amelia snapped, annoyance as to being left in the dark evident on her face. "And to also learn that a student has been petrified? When were you going to report this to my office?"

"You didn't let them know this had happened?" Elizabeth muttered to Dumbledore who ignored her comment.

"I see you brought who I requested." Dumbledore commented though there was the briefest flicker of a frown when he glanced at the last figure.

"With the vague hint of a dangerous creature, the Minister insisted that MacNair joined us." Amelia explained though her own tone carried her dislike at the man being brought along. "With me are three available hit wizards Taylor, Jenkins and Montague." She said with a small gesture at each of them. "Now, what are we dealing with."

"We are dealing with a potential Five X rated creature." Dumbledore started as he walked over to the bathroom stalls. "A basilisk." He said, turning back to look at them. "possibly one of the oldest in existence." Dumbledore explained as he gestured for Harry to come forwards. "Which as much as I would not like for it to happen will require the aid of Mr Potter here." He said and the teen felt himself under the eyes of all the people in the room.

"And what Pray tell do we need Mr Potter for?" Amelia asked sharply, the thought of dealing with a Five X creature, bringing along a twelve-year-old as well was something that she could not even begin to believe was necessary.

"Mr Potter is vital because I believe he is the only other person in the country who is able to open the doors to get to it." Dumbledore replied calmly, "because the creature is held in the Chamber of Secrets and I believe that only a Parseltongue is capable of opening the doors." Harry winced at the looks of suspicion that were thrown his way, the whole situation screamed that Harry was responsible, a creature in a chamber that was accessible only by Salazar Slytherin, through the ability to speak Parseltongue, something that he was apparently one of very few people were able to do.

"And this would be the reason we're in a Girl's Bathroom?" Jenkins questioned and Dumbledore nodded his head.

"My investigations have led me to believe it is here," Dumbledore explained and then pointed something out to Harry. "I think this is where we open it Mr Potter."

"A snake?" Harry asked looking at a carving on the tap. "What do you want me to do?"

"With how limited the ability to speak the language is, I do not believe that Slytherin would have created a strict password for fear the door would become permanently sealed over time. Perhaps asking it to open will be enough?" Dumbledore said and Harry turned back to the snake, looking at it. The carving was quite detailed, it almost seemed alive when he looked at it.

"Open." He said, looking at it for a moment as nothing happened.

"That was English." Dumbledore said and gave Harry a reassuring smile, "try again Mr Potter, this time focus on it and picture a real snake, imagine every aspect you know about snakes and that you're talking to a living breathing creature." He said and Harry closed his eyes taking a deep breath as he brought the mental image to the front of his mind.

"Open" He said again and instantly he knew it had worked, the Hit Wizards gasped in surprise, MacNair looked surprised but quickly schooled his features and the Professors barely reacted, some having already witnessed it and the others having heard the rumour mill and confirmed it for themselves. They stood still, wands drawn as the sinks started to pull apart, a large pipe revealing itself, descending into the darkness below. When no threat seemed evident, they lowered their wands and Harry and Dumbledore stood examining it. "I guess we jump?" Harry questioned drawing a small chuckle from the others.

"Somehow, I don't believe Salazar Slytherin would slide down the pipe like a school child." Snape mocked though it lacked a bit of his usual bitterness, the shock of finding it still the overall feeling among the group. Closing his eyes to bring a mental image of a snake to his mind he spoke a simple word.

"Stairs." He hissed out, and again the sound of stone grating against stone cut through the silence of the room.

"Thank you, Mr Potter, you return to your common room now, while we deal with this." Amelia ordered and Harry turned to look at her.

"And if there's more doors down there? I can't leave just yet."

"And although I would like nothing more than to agree with you Amelia, Harry is right, there may be more Parseltongue doors there to unlock." Dumbledore said, agreeing with Harry. Amelia looked ready to argue but had to concede the point.

"Tch," she ground out before pointing at Taylor. "Take point, Montague, you're covering the rear. Potter, you're to stay in the middle." She stopped and looked at Elizabeth. "You have one job." She said looking at Elizabeth who felt herself standing a bit straighter under the intense look of the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. "When the conflict starts, you get Mr Potter out of there." She ordered and Elizabeth nodded, biting back the comment that she wanted to say. Her priority was his safety so even if she had wanted Harry to stick around, the moment the basilisk appeared, she was grabbing him and running. "Don't mention this to anyone when you leave, as far as anyone is concerned, you spoke to Dumbledore and then returned." She said and again Elizabeth nodded her head.

"You don't have to worry; I'll make sure he's safe." She voiced the silent statement she had made, and the group started to make their way down into the chamber, lighting their wands as they moved further into the darkness.

"Keep talking to a minimum, we have no idea where it is and although it will have the advantage, we don't want to give it any more help." Amelia ordered quietly, getting confirmations from the rest. They continued down in silence, Two minutes of walking that felt like an eternity and they had arrived at the bottom, a large cavern opening out before them covered in what at first appeared to be white stone but as the light hit and it crunched underneath their feet, they quickly realised that it was the corpses of various pests and creatures that the Basilisk had killed over the years.

Each step was loud and echoed through the chamber. Dumbledore stopped everyone, his wand flicking out and the skeletons started to lift and separate forming a pathway for them to walk through. the cavern continued into darkness and with the light of the wands illuminating their way they walked slowly, stopping to create more of a pathway as they moved. The cavern veered to the left and as they turned the corner, Taylor made a quick motion for them to stop as he extinguished the light of his wand, the others quickly following suit as he pressed himself against the wall.

"There's something ahead, large, looks like a snake." He quickly whispered, "Jenkins, get ready, we'll throw some light spells, hopefully disorientate it, it's skin is going to be resistant to spells but if we can disorientate it and force it to keep its eyes closed we should have more of a chance of fighting it." Jenkins moved up, standing next to Taylor as Elizabeth grabbed Harry by the shoulder, pulling him back gently. "Three..."

"Two..." Jenkins whispered continuing the count down.

"One!" Taylor finished the two firing spells that bathed the corridor in a bright almost blinding light. They moved to fire more spells but when it did not even flinch, they both held off their attacks. "It's not the snake... it's just a shed skin."

"Just a shed skin?" Jenkins responded in disbelief, "That things about forty feet!" Jenkins said as the group moved around the corner towards the shed skin. "And that's old... how big do you think it's going to be?" Jenkins questioned quickly.

"Severus?" Dumbledore asked the Potions Master, Basilisk skin had the potential to be used in potions ingredients, it was one of the reasons that they were not on a complete extermination order.

"This skin is old, still of use though not for potions." Snape explained as he examined it. "No doubt the Aurors could make use of it." He said with a slight glance at MacNair who stared at him for several moments, a silent conversation passing between the two.

"It can wait for now." Amelia said and gestured for the hit wizards to keep moving. "There's a door up ahead," Amelia said gesturing a bit further down the corridor where a large door covered in stone carvings of snakes. The group, seeing the route was clear, moved up to the doorway.

"Harry, you're up." Elizabeth said as they stopped. the youngest of the group walked forwards, looking at the door. "Not much for variety in design, is he?" She mused quietly to Harry.

"Open." He hissed and again the similar sound of stone grinding against stone cut through the otherwise quiet chamber, a stone snake moving along the edge of the door, as it did, loud thuds echoed as the snakes on the door curled away from the edge.

"Considering this would be sealed for anyone not of his bloodline, he's gone for quite a dramatic door." Flitwick commented. "perhaps we should replace cunning with a flair for the dramatics." Flitwick lightly joked to Snape who glared at him. "Although if we did, we'd have to resort every teenager in the school." He added drawing more than a few amused looks.

"Focus." Amelia snapped, though there was a shadow of a smile on her face. The door rolled to the side, sliding into the wall. "At least we don't have to go much further." They entered what could only be the final chamber, a walkway surrounded by pillars that led to a large opening, water from drains flooded in around it. As they walked forward, torches that hung on the pillars ignited, illuminating the room in an eerie glow. At the end, watching them with a piercing stony gaze. A giant head carved into the cavern was the most dominant item in the room. "Careful now, it could come from anywhere." She said as they made their way along, slight splashes of their footsteps as they made their way down to the end. "The end of the line... I expected more." She said as she looked around.

"One thousand years of neglect, combined with ancestors taking what they please, I don't expect to find much in here outside of the serpent."

"Then where is it Dumbledore?" MacNair sneered, covering up his nerves as best as he could.

"Having just walked into the room, I could only hazard a guess without a proper examination." Dumbledore replied serenely, casually dismissing the man. "It could be down one of those pipes, it could be anywhere. The reason we're down here is to find it after all."

Elizabeth and Harry who had moved to the back of the group as the others spread out stood quietly, looking around the room, their attention mainly focused on the face. "You can see it too?" She asked and he nodded his head. "So many times, this statue gets opened, it's there, in its own chamber." She muttered and Harry nodded again.

"I don't know the words to open it, I can see it, but I can't hear it. So many people opening it." He muttered before he spoke louder. "It's behind the statue," He said drawing surprised looks from the group. "there's marks around the mouth, you can see where it's brushed against it every time it's come out." Harry explained, the group looking at the statue agreed that it was the most likely place.

"Do we know how to open it?"

"I can try the same thing I've said for the last two doors?" Harry offered giving the group a moment to prepare themselves before looking at it. Almost immediately he brought up the mental image of a snake, picturing it as he spoke. "Open." He hissed out and they stood with bated breath as they waited but the statue did not budge. "Nothing... it could be behind an actual password," Harry said and looked over at the others. "Any ideas?"

"Too many to count, not to mention we are not sure if it will even be in Parseltongue or if it will be something that only he could possibly know." Dumbledore responded and the Hit Wizards who were getting antsy at the situation looked ready to strike out at the statue. "I believe the only way we're going to get to it is to force the creature to come to us, either with ample bait... or by removing the door itself." He said and the Hit Wizards took that as their cue and started firing blasting spells at the statue, the spells hit and the damage was initially minimal, the room under protective spells but they were aged and weakened over the passage of time. More spells fired off joined by several of the professors a large crack forming down the centre of the face. "Stop." Dumbledore called and the group finished firing spells, looking at the damage as the jaw of the mouth started to lower. "It's coming." He said as it finished opening, a large black scaled snake dropping out of it and into the water.

It just kept sliding out, they watched, shocked as it did so, the size almost unthinkable to them. "Watch out for the eyes, don't look towards the head." MacNair spoke up, surprising the group as he had been silent to this point, but now with where they were, he had to be involved.

"Elizabeth, get Harry and get out of here." Dumbledore ordered as the two youngest started to make their way back towards the exit. The ground rumbled slightly, the wizards and witches moving into a circle as the water around the platform started to shift rapidly. "Fawkes, I have need of you." Dumbledore called out and a ball of flames erupted in the air above the Headmaster, the phoenix appearing above him with a trill that left everyone rallied and ready for the fight.

It burst out of the water, but not near the statue, with its size and speed it had moved in the water and burst out part way down the corridor in front of Harry and Elizabeth, it's heavy scaled skin slamming into a pillar knocking it down, stone rubble scattering in front of them forcing them back. It took will to fight the instinct and not look up at the snake as it hissed down at them. Fawkes let out a cry diving at the Basilisk and it hissed in anger swinging at it in an attempt to hit the Phoenix, but it was too fast. It swooped around its head distracting it as everyone else moved into position, firing spells at the snake.

It hissed loudly as the spells connected, some of them washing off of it with little to no effect but some also gouging into it, scales tearing off. It dove back into the water. "Go! Now." Amelia shouted at the two as they quickly moved between the knocked down pillar and to the door, taking one last moment to look back at the group before walking away as quickly as possible.

"I don't like leaving them there like that." Harry said as they moved further away the sound of the snake echoing through the chamber as it burst through.

"It's not one for us to fight Harry." She said quickly, "they will be able to handle it." She added, "we'd be more likely to get in the way if we tried to keep what we can do secret from the others."

"Elizabeth... you're bleeding." He said as he looked at her and she frowned, not even noticing the slight trickle of blood running down the side of her head.

"Must have been from the stone..." She trailed off, "Madam Pomfrey can heal it easily enough though." She replied dabbing at the cut, now let's get out of..." She was cut off as a pained cry cut through the chamber and the corridor. Both of them spun around but were unable to see what happened. "Go Harry... go!" She ordered quickly.

Back in the chamber things were not going smoothly, the Basilisk burst out of the water, its speed greater than many anticipated for a creature of its size, it burst out of the water, his jaw already open, the Hit Wizards managed to get out of the way of the attack, Sprout managed to avoid the jaws but a shift in its body knocked her flying, Dumbledore barely catching her with a spell before she hit a pillar.

MacNair was not so lucky, the snake, having burst out of the water next to him grabbed him, his teeth sinking into his flesh as he cried out in pain. The Basilisk raised up, and practically threw him against the room, his body hitting the wall and dropping into the water. It looked down at the group as they scatter protectively behind pillars. Fawkes dived in, his talons digging into one of the eyes. The basilisk roared in pain as it cut deeply. It thrashed its body, knocking stone flying as it moved.

"Fawkes has damaged its eye." Dumbledore called out as he shot a piercing hex aiming at its mouth. The Basilisk moved out of the way, more out of instinct, it's tail lashing into another pillar, the stones exploding out, slamming into the group. Taylor dropped, a sizeable stone cracking against his skull and he dropped without a word, his wand flying out of his hand and rattling across the floor.

"Jenkins, blind it!" Montague shouted firing off a bright light near it's face. Jenkins followed suit and the creature roared out, its head snapping back as the bright light erupted. Amelia fired off a piercing spell and a fang flew out of its mouth, a chunk of its jaw tearing away.

Dumbledore and McGonagall acted as support, transfiguring the stone into animals that flew up harassing the basilisk, Flitwick enchanted rubble, flinging it at the Snake with dangerous precision, combined with spells designed to debilitate and injure and the Snake was forced back. Snape fired a dark curse, cuts spreading along its body, blood seeping from the semi superficial cuts that formed on its body. The snake lunged forwards, diving at Snape, the Potions master barely getting out of the way, hitting the floor as he dived to the side. it tried moving into the water Dumbledore quickly cast a water freezing spell, the top layer icing over, the snake turning back to look at him as it did, Dumbledore conjured a wall in front of him, blocking the sight from the good eye as Fawkes dove in, his talons digging into the eye, damaging it irreparably. The snake let out another cry, it lashed out blindly, it uses its entire body as a weapon as it lashed out. The group scattered further apart, Dumbledore, the closest to the creature quickly brought up a wall but the plan backfired, the sheer strength of the basilisk enough to knock him down. He groaned in pain as he landed and Fawkes landed on him quickly, flames erupting around the two as he took Dumbledore to the edge of the room, a safe distance to give him time to recover, next to the other incapacitated wizards and witches.

The snake turned around, blinded by the phoenix, it was now relying on its other senses and it was still dangerous, injured as it was. Montague and Jenkins fired blasting curses at its head, the snake, hearing the shouts and knowing the connection moved, the spells hitting the ceiling, blasting chunks of it away, the rock dropping down to the ground and shattering more. The snake hissed loudly, before lunging at the closest voice. Amelia quickly summoning McGonagall out of the way, pulling the Transfiguration professor clear of the dive.

"Thank you." She muttered quickly before she started transfiguring the stone, drawing it together and forming thick heavy-duty chains. She glanced over to See Dumbledore stepping up, having recovered from his dive and returned to the fight started to work in conjunction with her, the two old friends, both Masters, nearly unrivalled of Transfiguration one having taught the other and work colleagues for so long that they could work together on larger projects with speed and efficiency that some Auror teams wished they could muster.

The chains lashed out wrapping around the snake, pulling it down to the ground, the other end of the chains embedding into the floor, tiles splintering as they did. The Snake struggled against it, fighting with all its strength as Dumbledore and McGonagall poured more energy into trying to keep it trapped. Brute strength against magical power and the Basilisk as resistant as it was, was slowly pulling itself free.

"Finish it now!" Dumbledore called, straining with McGonagall to hold the snake in place. It thrashed as much as it could but unable to budge, the two conscious hit wizards and Amelia stepped forwards, high powered blasting curses slamming into its head. The snake roared out as much as a snake could, it's mouth opening as it tried to go after the Hit wizards in front of it, though with the training they had received they reacted to the opening of a weak spot and fired, the blasting spells catching the Basilisk in the roof of the mouth.

The top of its head exploded, blood, flesh and brain matter spraying out around them, the group quickly ducking for cover to prevent any injuries from the fangs flying free. The body dropped to the floor lifelessly, and the group stopped, panting to catch their breath from the conflict. "Good work everyone." Amelia spoke up after several moments. She looked towards Professor Snape who was handing a small vial to Dumbledore. "Professor Snape." She spoke and the Potions professor turned to face her. "Will you be able to harvest any ingredients from the snake?" She asked and he nodded slowly. "Good, a little trade if you will as this was done by all of us, you can keep the potions ingredients but the skin we're claiming, it'll make some much needed armour for the Aurors." She said and looked at Dumbledore, daring him to disagree with her.

"I think we can all come to a suitable arrangement on it." Dumbledore agreed cordially, "but first, as unlikely as it is, we should examine this place, in case there are more threats or perhaps even items left behind by Slytherin himself.

HPCVHPCVHPCV

They left the bathroom, Harry and Elizabeth checking the coast was clear as they left, last thing they wanted was to see them coming out of a bathroom, not only could that lead to more people discovering the entrance but with the way accusations and rumours started, no one wanted anything like that to start. Elizabeth turned back to the door putting a simple locking spell on it. Enough to deter any potential student but not enough to prevent the others from leaving. With a simple thought she pulled through an out of order sign, hanging it on the handle. "A simple deception, but an effective one." She said as they started walking back towards the Ravenclaw dorm. "They'll be fine." She said again to Harry, reassuring him on their departure. Though to be honest, it was also to reassure herself as well. She was not sure if she had made the right decision to leave.

She could have intervened with limited to no risk to the others.

Motorised Patriots.

Big Daddies.

These new Big Sisters that she had run into had potential as well, the powers combined with their athleticism... How useful could they be against a Basilisk.

But that would require revealing the secret. Too many people already knew and they couldn't let that happen much more without painting a target onto her back outside of the one that was already there thanks to Voldemort (to a minor extent) and the Malfoys knowing of her abilities. Adding more just complicated it especially unknowns like the Hit Wizards. She reached up, touching the wound on her forehead, the blood still trickling out of the scratch. She could not help but be amused by the location, just above her eye, right where the wrench had hit all that time ago.

And then everything went dark.

To the side, Harry who had been walking silently with her stopped in surprise as she slumped forwards, he tried to catch her as she fell but stumbled as well, stopping her from slamming into the floor but she still went down. He turned, looking around quickly to see what had caused it and looked surprised for a split second as a red light came right at him.

And then he too knew no more.

TBC

Holy Cliff Hanger!

Yes I know I'm evil and yes there are questions to be asked.

But as for second year, there's two maybe three more chapters left before summer. I hope you enjoyed and I hope to see you in the future chapters.

Also mandatory "holy crap you've updated more than once in 6 months? has the world ended!? who knows? But thanks for sticking around long time fans.