7

Chamber of secrets…

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They walked down the corridors towards the stairs section. Harry was under his invisibility cloak, walking beside Daphne. They'd realized it was simpler to explain if people saw her, instead of Harry, enter the unused girls' lavatory. Luckily there weren't any students on the second floor and so the two walked into the lavatory before Daphne looked around to make sure no one else was in there. The place was often used by the girls as a gossip room.

Once making sure that they were the only people in there, Harry removed his cloak. The place looked dry so he wondered where Myrtle was. He was glad though that she wasn't there otherwise she wouldn't be happy to see him there with another girl. He knew enough that she felt infatuated with him so convincing her to not tell anyone that he was there with a girl and especially Daphne would be a difficult thing to do.

Harry locked the door to ensure that no one would walk in on them and find the chamber's entrance open before he walked up to the central pillar which was of hexagonal shape and had the six basins around it. Daphne realized that this might be the entrance but she was still confused but also curious.

"This part might be a bit uncomfortable for you because I am going to speak in parseltongue," Harry said looking at her. "I thought maybe it was better to warn you." Daphne nodded slowly before he looked at the pillar and raised his right arm halfway. "{Open!}," he said.

Daphne felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard him speak the forbidden language. However, she was soon distracted when the place filled with a low rumbling sound and she saw the basins around the central pillar started to shake as if there was an earthquake happening. She took out her wand for just in case when suddenly the pillar parted into six parts and started separating, revealing a sewer as wide as a ten-foot well underneath it. The front section of the pillar which Harry was facing slid under the floor and revealed a set of narrow stairs that lead deep underground into the unknown abyss of darkness. Harry stepped aside, looked at her shock-filled face and smiled.

"I had never thought I would see you like that," he said.

She looked from the giant hole in the floor to him. "This…leads to the secret chamber?" she asked. She was clearly shocked and it showed in her nervous tone. Harry nodded before walking up to her. "I haven't been down there since second year but please stay behind me," he said taking out his wand.

Daphne nodded before she let Harry take the lead and together they headed down the hole. It was clearly a sewer pipeline but it looked remarkably clean and dry. Their wands lit the path as they climbed down in utter silence. After ten minutes, Daphne started noticing dampness in the surrounding walls. Harry told her that they were now beneath the black lake's surface. Few minutes later they were standing in the channel-section of the sewers and beneath their feet were countless skeletons of small vertebrates. It definitely freaked Daphne but she tried her best not to show it. It looked like a maze from here. There were six passages, all going in different directions but Harry told her that they all eventually lead to the secret chamber so it didn't matter which one they took. She knew nothing about this place so she had to take his word for it. She didn't even know if Harry was lying to her about the secret chamber but revealing this place had convinced her enough that he was probably telling the truth. Even if they don't end up going to the secret chamber, finding out that Hogwarts had an underground maze was a great discovery on its own.

She followed him into one of the sewer pipelines until they came out into a cave-like opening. It had a very low ceiling with sharp deposits of stalactites hanging from them that had been formed over hundreds of years. The two carefully walked through the place until they reached a much taller section of the caves. It was then that she saw it and her legs froze. Harry must've anticipated it as he stopped beside her.

"What is that?" she asked. There was a break in her voice which told him how nervous she was. However, she was still trying to sound brave which impressed him. It was no wonder why everyone called her the Ice Princess. She was a strong person. He knew he would be scared like anything if he hadn't been driven by the fact that he had to save Ginny back when he had first come to this place. Also, Ron was giving him company to most of the way so that also helped.

"It's the basilisk's skin," he said walking close to it. Daphne looked at him as if he was crazy but then slowly walked up to it since Harry had. "You can touch it if you want," he said.

She hesitated before slowly bringing her hand forward. She carefully put her hand on the translucent skin. It felt crusty and crumbly but when she tried to see if it would crumble she realized it was very hard. Basilisks were very rare and they had been categorized as an endangered species because of their excessive hunting. Their organs and more importantly, their venom served as a very precious ingredient in a lot of high-valued potions. Some potions' master even claimed that one could make the elixir of life using the venom. However, it was also very volatile and evaporated quickly so it was quite a challenge to store it. Even a dead skin like the one she was looking at right now would be sold for hundreds of thousands of galleons simply because of how huge it was. She could only guess the size of the snake just by looking at its dead skin. Was this really the monster that had terrorized everyone two years ago, she thought when Harry had her attention.

"We are almost there," he said, pointing to a round door a few meters ahead of them. Daphne saw the weird lock on it. It consisted of seven snakes as Harry walked up to it and once again told her that he was going to use parseltongue. This time she was prepared knowing how it felt so when he spoke she didn't feel as weird as she had the first time. The snakes on the door curled themselves one-by-one before the door opened with a loud metallic click that reverberated in the cave-like space.

Harry was the first to walk up to the door as Daphne saw him turn around and carefully walk down the ladder. She saw it was a huge cave-like opening and she couldn't see the ceiling of it. However, she didn't miss the giant head statue of Salazar Slytherin but what scared her more than anything in her life was the monstrous thing lying beside the stone figure.

"Be careful." Harry's voice distracted her as she realized he had already reached to the bottom. She pocketed her wand before carefully climbing down. The floor was slightly flooded and slippery as she tried to ignore the fact that she was literally standing in sewer water. She looked at the carcass that was about a hundred or so meters away from them. Harry looked at her and smirked. "I give you…the chamber of secrets," he said extending both his arms.

Daphne slowly walked behind him as they arrived by the statue. She was tightly gripping her wand and had her eyes partially closed when Harry told her that it was safe to look at the basilisk as its eyes were gouged out. She saw that he was right. It was definitely a lot bigger than the dead skin that she had seen a few minutes ago. She could only guess how long it was. Its head was taller than her and she could easily fit inside its mouth. Walking close to it she could smell the corrosiveness of the venom so she covered her nose. She looked from the monster to Harry who was looking around the place completely unfazed by the fact that there was such a monstrous carcass right there. There was no way a twelve year old boy could've killed it, she thought.

"How did you do it?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I wouldn't be lying if I said I had help," he said before he went ahead and told her how Fawks – Dumbledore's phoenix – had gauged the basilisk's eyes so it wouldn't be able to use its death stare and also how the sorting hat provided him with the sword of Gryffindor which Harry had then luckily managed to impale the basilisk's head with. It all sounded too fascinating and impossible to be true but after seeing the secret chamber and the dead basilisk Daphne was willing to believe whatever Harry said.

She wondered what else he had experienced. Were the rumors about him facing over a hundred dementors also true, or the fact that he had faced Voldemort during their first year? All of this was too much for her to take in as she looked at him. No way could someone remain normal after experiencing such things in their life but here he was acting like this was all nothing. Of course, he had mentioned that he had help when he faced this monster but even with that, even if he had Dumbledore personally came down to help him there was no way Harry would've not been traumatized from all of this.

"This place is actually huge," he said as he looked around. "At first when we talked about needing a secret place to work on my tasks, I had thought of using this place but then I realized that it would be too much of a hassle. Unlike the room of requirement, accessing this place is impossible for someone who doesn't speak parseltongue. Also, coming down here takes a lot of time and I thought that this place might be intimidating to you considering there is a seventy foot dead basilisk here."

"I can't believe that this place is real," Daphne said. "So this is where Salazar spent most of his time when he was at Hogwarts."

"He was quite self-centered though, it seems," Harry said looking at the statue. "I mean, who else would have their own statue made? He sounds like a dictator or the kings from old times. Also, what is the point of this statue if no one else could come here?"

"His descendants could," Daphne said. "From what you said, you-know-who had also discovered this place. Seeing that only parseltongue speakers can access it, are you sure you are not related to Salazar's bloodline?" He looked at her with a raised brow. "Sorry," she said apologizing. "It's just that…"

"Don't worry," Harry said cutting her off. "I get it. Anyone would think that I am related to Slytherin because I can speak in parseltongue. I honestly don't know to be sure. If somehow it is true then I guess I'll consider myself lucky. Even though he's hated by most people because of his close-minded personality, he was a great and powerful wizard nonetheless. Some even say he was the most powerful amongst all four founders. Maybe that is why Voldemort wants to kill me so badly."

"It could be," Daphne said trying to join the dots. "Maybe you are his descendent and you-know-who doesn't want anyone other than himself to find whatever Salazar had left behind. Maybe that is why he's after you."

Harry realized that it could be true but in all honesty he didn't like to think that he may be related to Salazar Slytherin, even though there were a lot of signs that said otherwise. During the sorting ceremony the hat had told him that he would achieve great successes as a Slytherin. Then there was the fact that he could speak parseltongue – something only Slytherin and his descendants could do…like Voldemort. Harry didn't know how he felt about it.

"You said that the basilisk came out of the statue's mouth?" she asked looking at the giant statue. He nodded. "It means there is living space on the inside. Can you open the door?"

"I haven't tried it before," Harry said.

"Well, you can now," Daphne said. "If Salazar spent his time down here then he wouldn't be staying in the open, surrounded by sewer water. Either he had a temporary office or something – which no longer exists – or he lived inside the statue which is why he built it this big, to house both him and the basilisk."

Harry shrugged before commanding the door to open. To his surprise it did as Harry walked up to it before the two looked inside. It was dark but they definitely spotted a small staircase going to the upper section of the statue. They lit their wands so they could have some light before taking the stairs which took them to a room. It was definitely expanded from the inside using magic as the place looked much bigger than the statue's floor area from the outside.

"I can't believe that the expansion magic hasn't run out yet," Daphne said sounding impressed. "It could be that Salazar tied this place's magic to the castle's wards. He could've also used runes to power this place."

Harry couldn't believe how elegant and clean the place was. It had wooden flooring which looked as new as the day the place had probably been made. There were rune stones on the walls providing enough light to see everything clearly. There was a small bed in the left corner as well as some really old furniture and the rest of the place was filled with books lined cleanly and preserved so well that they all still looked new. As he stood there Daphne had already begun to look around the shelves. She looked like she had found a hidden treasure. Well, for her it was nothing short of one. Harry knew that if Hermione were here then she would completely lose it. At least Daphne had herself in control.

"Most of these are written by Slytherin," she said sounding amazed. There was a weird glow on her face which made Harry smile when he looked at her. It felt somewhat nice to see an uptight girl like Daphne to act like that. "They are all original which means there's probably no copies of them made. There are books on potions, spells, charms…everything! They are written from his point of view as if they are the records of his research and studies. This is amazing!"

"You can take them if you want," Harry said causing her to look at him in surprise. "What?" he asked.

"Wouldn't it be wrong to do so?" she asked. "I mean, it would be like stealing from Slytherin's personal collection."

"It's not like he's here," Harry said. "Besides, it makes me wonder, if Voldemort had come here before would he had taken some of the books for himself."

"It looks to me like he didn't take any of them with him," Daphne said. "I mean, look at this place. These books are so nicely organized, it doesn't seem like any of them are missing. Despite his wrongdoings you-know-who is a very knowledgeable and skilled wizard. So if he did come to this place, inside the statue, why would he not take these books with him?"

"Beats me," Harry said when he thought of something. "Maybe we can find the answer to our dragon problems here?" he suggested.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "We just discovered a private collection that belongs to one of the greatest wizards of all time and the first thing you can think of is how it's going to benefit you?" she said. "Real mature, Potter."

"Well, why else would Slytherin leave them here," Harry said. "Besides, if I really am his descendant then they technically belong to me and with that logic I am only using what's mine."

She said nothing and continued to look at the books. "Well, then start looking for the books that you think will help you," she said as she grabbed a book on potions. Harry sighed before walking up to the shelves.

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"Have you seen Daphne?" Astoria asked as she sat beside Tracey in the great hall.

"Nope," Tracey said simply.

"I've been trying to find her for over an hour and no one has seen her or know where she is," Astoria said.

"Did you check the library?" Tracey asked. She knew Daphne would be with Harry. She just didn't want to tell Astoria because Daphne didn't want to tell anyone about it, not even her sister.

"That's the first place I looked…there she is," Astoria said as she and Tracey saw Daphne enter the great hall. "Where were you?" she asked.

"In the library," Daphne replied flatly, as usual.

"Don't lie," Astoria said. "I was there five minutes ago looking for you."

"But I was," Daphne said. "I was sitting at my usual place. Perhaps you didn't notice me because you can't stop thinking about that Creevey boy."

Astoria blushed before making a face as if she'd been caught doing something wrong. "No I wasn't," she said nervously.

"You know the house rules, Tory," Daphne said. "Loyalty to the Slytherins comes first. Now move I'm hungry."

Astoria looked annoyed as she moved aside and Daphne sat beside Tracey. "By the way, why were you looking for her?" Tracey asked Astoria.

"Oh, Theo was looking for her," Astoria said.

Daphne stopped before she could take the first bite as she looked at her sister. "Really?" she asked. "What did he want?"

"He didn't tell me," Astoria said. "But it looked kind of important."

"Hmm," Daphne said exchanging a look with Tracey before she looked towards Malfoy's group. Theodore Nott was sitting with them and was laughing over something Draco had said when their eyes met and he winked at her. Daphne tried to ignore that disgusting look before focusing on her dinner.

Unbeknownst to her Harry had noticed it and at that moment he felt an extreme anger towards Theo. He didn't know why he felt that but he wanted to go up to the Slytherin table and land a solid punch on the guy's face. However, he controlled himself as he wondered why he suddenly felt so protective of Daphne.

"Harry?" He came out of his train of thoughts before looking at Neville.

"Sorry," he said. "I spaced out for a second there. What were you saying?" he asked.

"Read this," Neville said showing him the line he had found in Slytherin's book. Harry had brought it back from the secret chamber. It consisted of the research data which Slytherin had collected on dragons. Harry hadn't told Neville what book it was and even Neville hadn't asked him that. He read the line which Neville had pointed out. It contained a conclusion by Salazar where he said that a lot of dragons could understand parseltongue and some could even talk back in the same language. The conclusion was drawn based on the simple fact that snakes and dragons came from the same family of crawlers. 'Crawlers' was the collective term that the magicals used for reptiles instead of calling them…well, reptiles unlike the muggles did but it made sense – Slytherin's conclusion that is. Coming from the same family of reptiles or rather crawlers, snakes could possibly share their trait of understanding parseltongue with dragons. It made Harry wonder whether he could try this theory.

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Thanks for reading…