Thank you all for the reviews. This next chapter is short, and was actually a lot longer, a little too long, so I broke it up so I could save the second part for next week's update. So, there's a promise to a second update soon and today's update. Enjoy!
"You have those potions with you, right?" Ron asked as he followed the bushy haired girl down a dark hall.
"For the hundredth time, yes!" Hermione hissed to him, her free hand covering over the small mouse that tried to jump away from her. She adjusted the necklace around the mouse's neck again then continued down the hall, keeping an eye out for any professors or Filch.
"I was just asking to be safe," Ron said. "You can never double check enough times, you know. Still can't believe you just walked into the infirmary and talked Madam Pomfrey into giving those to you."
"Guys, hush down," Harry said, "It's in the middle of the night."
"Sorry," Ron said.
Harry sighed and glanced ahead, watching as the strange blue fog trailed further down the hall and descended a flight of stairs. The trio tiptoed down the stairs slowly, watching for any adults as they turned the corner. A dark figure waiting at the bottom step made all three kids jump and freeze.
"Took you guys long enough," Draco's voice commented as he stepped out of the shadowy corridor. "I've been waiting where you said to meet for hours."
"Well," Hermione defended, resting her free hand on her hip, "it's not easy slipping out of Gryffindor Tower. McGonagall has some of the prefects on lookout at this hour."
"That's why I never went back to my house," Draco said. "Uncle Sev is like a round the clock watch dog. He doesn't need prefects to do his work."
"Haha," Harry made a face at Draco. "We have to keep going if we want to be back in our common rooms before sunrise."
"We just follow the strangely colored fog?" Draco asked as he joined the group. "Why not? Everyone naturally follows eerie fog and sounds."
"You hear it, too?" Ron asked. "I thought I was going crazy."
Harry nodded, agreeing with the others. The walls were making a lot of noises that sounded like clangs and rumbles. Almost within the pipes. And occasionally, he would hear hissing.
"Do you think those noises are hints to what awaits us?" Draco asked.
"Could be," Hermione nodded, catching the mouse as it scurried up her arm. She stroked its head soothingly. "It could be clues as to the answer of what Dobby thought was dangerous or maybe even . . ."
Hermione frowned in thought.
"What?" Harry pushed.
"Maybe the price we'll have to pay," Hermione said, her face paling. "Those hisses remind me of –"
"Snakes," Ron answered, shuddering. "Great."
"Either way, I have the antivenoms. If this backfires, we each will have a potion then we go straight to Madam Pomfrey."
"And tell her what?" Draco sneered. "We all thought it would be brilliant to play with venomous snakes, especially considering Harry has already been bitten by them once? That Harry developed some sick fascination with poisonous animals after his experience?"
"We could just tell her the truth."
"And be expelled!" Ron exclaimed. "I really like your thinking, Hermione."
"Shh!" everyone shushed Ron.
"Who's there?" a loud voice spoke.
The four kids froze.
A gleeful meow caught there attention and everyone ran to hide behind one of the many knights in the hallway, huddling close and shushing each other aggressively before falling silent as footsteps neared. The fog remained, and the kids wondered if anyone else could see or even hear what they could. Filch walked down the hall, Mrs. Norris leading the way, her scrawny tail flicking back and forth like a loyal dog leading its proud owner.
"Well, Mrs. Norris?" Filch smiled maliciously, seemingly unaware of the fog settled around him, "scout them out."
Mrs. Norris purred as she took a few steps towards the shiny armor.
The four kids held their breaths, Hermione covering the mouse to keep it from seeing its natural enemy come its way. Mrs. Norris sniffed at the base of a knight a few knights away from the one the kids were behind.
More footsteps attracted everyone's attention, including the cat, who sat down and looked in the direction of noise.
Severus walked down the steps with Sam at his side, the fox's tails aflame to light the way. Several portraits on the wall complained of the bright light, causing Sam to extinguish two of his tails in annoyance.
"Ah, Snape," Filch's smile grew. "It seems we have some late-night wanderers. Mrs. Norris is sure she has found some students to expel."
"Or give detention to," Severus said, "preferable, really. Then you can watch them suffer from a close perspective."
: Do you live to see how many students you can torture in your lifetime? Sam asked, looking up at Severus. That's a bit twisted.
"Why don't you be of some use and help the cat sniff out these supposed students," Severus said, glaring down at Sam.
: Help the scruffy cat? I'd rather eat it.
Mrs. Norris hissed and swatted in Sam's direction.
: Then again, I might catch something.
Hermione sucked in a breath as the tooth in her hand glowed an even brighter blue, sending a strange tingling sensation down her arm. She quickly pressed the tooth against her cloak, trying her best to hide the light. Harry covered her hand with his, trying to help as he saw Sam's fur visibly bristle, remembering that the tooth was indeed bonded to Sam.
: Wait a second, the fox stood, sniffing the air. I sense . . .
Sam made a beeline for the knight the four kids were hiding behind, sniffing. His ears flattened as he came closer, tails twitching, even the still flaming one, and Hermione struggled to keep the squirming mouse calm as another natural predator came even closer. Mrs. Norris also walked towards the knight now. As Sam sniffed the base and seemed ready to walk around the knight, Draco flicked his wand and whispered as quietly as he could, "Serpensortia."
Sam jumped back when a large snake flew past him and slithered down the hall some, stopping to hiss loudly at Filch. Mrs. Norris leaped in front of the man and hissed in return, arching her back.
"Vipera Evanesca," Severus said lazily, flicking his wand. The snake disappeared in a puff of black smoke. He smirked at Sam, then at Filch, who picked up the cat. "It seems to me that your cat sensed a very unruly snake. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to expel him before he could cause any more trouble."
Harry would have found the situation funny if not for the close call of being found out. He breathed a sigh as Sam trotted back to Severus, giving one last curious glance in their direction. He nudged Draco's shoulder and nodded to him in appreciation for the save, Draco nodding back.
"Mrs. Norris did hear students," Filch defended. "They must have gotten away. We shall continue to keep an eye out for them."
Filch walked past Severus and Sam.
: Something feels off, Sam said, twitching his tails, his ears pivoted in opposite ways.
"I swear, Sam, you are lost without that necklace," Severus said.
: Am not. I'd just hate to see it in the wrong hands. You know what that thing can do.
"Come," Severus encouraged, continuing down the hall, "I need to finish my patrol shift and then I'm retiring for the night. Don't worry, it'll turn up when you are not adamantly looking for it."
: One can hope, Sam said, following the man.
"I forget Uncle Sev was on night patrol today," Draco commented.
"That," Ron glared at Draco, "would have been really good to know."
"I forgot!"
"Shh!" Hermione stroked the mouse and waited until it was calm. "Hush down. We are right behind Professor Snape and Sam, now. We will wait a few minutes to let them get ahead and then we will continue on. I don't think anyone noticed the fog or noises we've been hearing."
"Sam noticed," Draco said, crossing his arms.
"He felt something," Harry argued, "but he didn't know what. We need to hurry and finish this, so we can give this back to Sam as soon as possible."
"Let's go," Hermione said.
Everyone continued on, following Hermione. The fog led them down an empty hall, the noises in the walls growing louder, almost as if the pipes were breaking. The fog made a sharp turn into the girls' bathroom. Hermione pushed open the door and stepped inside, Harry and Ron at her heels. Draco paused outside.
"Um, are you two aware this is a girl's bathroom?" he asked, only for Harry to reach out and yank Draco inside. He closed the door, in case any professors – or his father – walked by.
"This is wrong," Draco said, folding his arms. "We shouldn't be in a girls' bathroom. Hermione should just finish the task alone. I feel so out of place. Awkward even."
"Be quiet," Hermione said, "there's no other girls in here, so it's fine."
"Except me!" A voice shrieked, scaring the skins off everyone, the mouse squeaking in alarm. "But who would ever notice poor, invisible ME!"
A young ghost girl appeared out of a toilet, her pouty face staring down at the four.
"See!" Draco held out a hand in her direction.
"Can't you boys read? This is a girl's bathroom. Though, I'd let Harry stay." The girl smiled and waved at Harry, who raised an eyebrow at her. A ghost girl flirting with him – definitely the strangest event of the night so far.
"Do you mind, Moaning Myrtle?" Hermione interrupted. "We're trying to do something."
"Oh, don't let me get in the way!" Moaning Myrtle cried. "As it's all I'm ever good for – being in the way of the cooler, prettier students! AHHHHH!" the girl dover into her toilet with a splash.
"You couldn't have let her off in a nicer manner?" Ron asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"It wouldn't have mattered," Hermione said, "she is known for her dramatics. Look!"
Hermione pointed at a sink where the fog was settling heavy around. An engraved snake on the tab lifted its head and glared at the four before hissing at them. The mouse quivered in Hermione's hands. The sink seemed to shake and the ground rumbled slightly under their feet. Hermione looked closer at the snake on the tab, lowering her head, unafraid when the porcelain snake lunged out at her, its jaws snapping shut inches from her nose.
"Hermione," Draco cautioned, stepped forward.
"Ah!" Hermione yelped and dropped the tooth she had been keeping over the mouse's neck, her palm red. "It burned me!"
The tooth rolled to a stop and vibrated against the floor, the ground shaking even more, the brilliant blue glow the tooth emitted deepening.
"Whatever it's doing, it's using up a lot of magic!" Ron said, grabbing another sink to steady himself. Draco and Hermione leaned against the wall, while Harry used the door of a bathroom stall to hold himself up.
The sink sank out of sight, exposing a large pipe wide enough for a man to slide into. Ron stumbled and fell backward to avoid being taken with it, grunting as he hit the ground. The tooth rolled toward the pipe and Harry dove for it, grabbing it just as it rolled over the edge, his eyes seeing how dark and deep the pipe was.
"I got you!" Ron grabbed Harry's emerald cloak and dragged him away from the edge of the pipe.
"Thanks," Harry said, standing up with Ron.
Draco and Hermione joined the two as they looked down the pipe, admiring how large it was. The blue fog circled the pipe's opening and the tooth had a fainter glow. The mouse squeaked in Hermione's hand as it attempted to leap away, but she caught it before it could.
"Shall we?" Hermione asked, holding out her hand for the tooth.
Harry gulped, staring into the pitch blackness for a second longer before he handed the necklace to Hermione, who adjusted it around the mouse to continue following the fog and keep the price off of them. However, when she did so, the blue glow of the tooth flickered, the fog dissipating, and then the entire bathroom floor softened underneath them and turned yellow, baffling the kids.
"What . . .?" Draco started.
"Is this . . .?" Harry reached down to touch the changed floor. "Cheese?"
Hermione yelped as the mouse bit her finger and she dropped the little creature, removing the necklace that maintained a soft blue glow. The mouse immediately began nibbling the floor, starting at the edge of the pipe entrance for better biting grasp.
"Did the mouse actually wish for the floor to turn into cheese?" Draco frowned. "How is that even possible?"
"I think the castle's magic helps strengthen the tooth's own magic," Hermione said. "Just a guess, though. And the mouse must have been hungry. It probably just wanted lots of cheese."
As the mouse moved along the edge of the opening, nibbling at the swiss flavored floor, blue fog swirled near it, and a large viper head struck out from the pipe, snatched the shrieking mouse, and disappeared back down the hole. Draco, Ron, and Harry had jumped back while Hermione had screamed and covered her mouth in shock.
"Well," Ron said, stepping closer to look over the opening, "eat or be eaten. I think your hairpin just paid its price for wanting a floor made of cheese."
"Sadly, I don't have another hairpin with me. Anyone have something small and easily transfigurable?"
The boys checked their pockets, then shook their heads.
"I guess this is as far as we go for tonight," Hermione said. "At least we know where to come tomorrow. Maybe we could do the rest without the tooth's lead. It might be safer after all if we don't have a price hanging over our heads."
"But we keep the antivenoms to be safe," Draco said.
"Of course."
"I wonder where this pipe leads," Harry thought aloud. "Or what's down there that had that house elf in a fit."
"Do you guys," Ron asked, "really think that a floor made of cheese can really support the weight of – "
Before Ron could finish his question, a large chunk of cheese crumbled under their weight, causing the four kids to fall and slip down into the pipe, sliding down the long tunnel with loud screams. It was a long, straight drop. The four hit the bottom hard, falling on top of each other. "Sorrys" were uttered as they awkwardly untangled themselves. Once everyone was standing, they looked around their surroundings.
They were in a large, dark corridor surrounded by pipes and support structures of the castle. With a nod to each other, they slowly moved down the corridor, keeping close to avoid losing each other in the dark. The tooth began to glow once more, a blue fog settling around them again and leading the way to a large door at the end of the corridor. It was a heavy steel hatchway door with seven snake-shaped locks on the front.
When the four paused in front of it, Harry felt the tooth heat up in his hand and quickly wrapped his cloak around it to avoid feeling the heat. The fog around them thickened, and the ground rumbled once more. After a minute, the four watched in awe as an eighth snake slithered around the doors edge, the seven snake-shaped locks slithering backwards. Then, the door opened.
No one moved.
"Who first?" Hermione finally broke the silence.
"Not it," the three boys all said at once.
Hermione huffed. Bravely stepped forward, she turned in order to step down the ladder and into the large chamber, Harry, Ron, and then Draco following her in. Within the chamber were towering stone pillars entwined with more serpents that cast long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.
"The Chamber of Secrets," Draco said, a smile growing on his face. "It does exist."
"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" Hermione asked, moving further inside with the boys following.
"Salazar Slytherin himself created it," Draco explained eagerly before pausing, considering his words and said, "it's a complicated story. Maybe for another time. Look, the fog is still leading the way."
And the fog did lead the way, past a massive creature lying on the ground just feet from the four children. Gasping, everyone ran to a pillar and hid behind it. Harry peeked out from behind his.
It was a giant, green snake with no eyes. It laid in an S-form on the ground, a visible, necrotic puncture wound on the roof of its mouth. The animals smelled like a rotting skunk corpse, and its skin sagged around its lifeless body.
Hermione peered from around her pillar on the other side of the chamber. Draco stepped out from behind his, peering at the snake. Ron relaxed away from his pillar. Hermione inched closer to it and tapped its head with a slipper before backpedaling several feet.
"It's . . ." she stepped closer again and tapped its head again, "it's dead."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and came out to the center of the Chamber.
"It's a basilisk," Draco said. "Slytherin's monster. It was killed during a confrontation between James Potter and Voldemort during the end of Potter's second year in 1973."
The blue fog grew thicker, capturing the kids' attentions once more. It trailed over to a rocky ledge behind a pillar, hovering over something shiny. The four ran over to it, Harry picking up the object from a makeshift nest of dead grass, leaves, and fabric pieces. It was about the size of a grapefruit, but golden with blue dapples in color. It had a good weight to it, and Harry had to use caution that he did not drop the object.
"All of this for that?" Ron frowned. "What is it, anyway? Doesn't look so dangerous to me."
"It's an egg," Hermione said in a matter of fact tone. She cast a wary glance in he basilisk's direction. "Do you think . . .?"
"No," Draco answered with a shake of his head. "A basilisk egg has special requirements. It needs a chicken egg and a toad to sit on that egg for a long time. This is not a basilisk egg. I'm not sure what kind it is but it's not that."
"Well, that's a relief," Harry said, "but then what could it be?"
"Whatever it is," Ron said, "it's dangerous enough for that elf, Dobby, to go all crazy over. We should smash it right here and be done with it."
"No!" Hermione said. "We can't just kill it without at least knowing what it is. Besides, if it's not a basilisk egg, then we need to know what beast laid this. Maybe it plans to come back."
"I doubt it," Draco said. "there can't possibly be that many exits to this place. Whatever did this is probably dead by now, maybe even eaten by that thing. It looks like it tried to keep it warm with this nest material. The egg is probably dead too, it's freezing down here."
Hermione took the egg and cradled it while giving it a sad look. "It still feels warm. Maybe it still has some life. We can take care of it, see what hatches from it, then release it I its natural habitat."
"I still don't get how something got down here and laid an egg," Ron said. "I mean, eggs don't stay eggs forever. This had to have happened recently. But why would anything even lay an egg in a gloomy cave anyway. Something just doesn't seem right."
"Maybe there's a poacher in the school," Draco said, "or someone working with the Black Market. I hear there are some exotic creatures you can buy as familiars in Knockturn Ally."
"How would they have gotten the egg into here though?" Harry asked. "We never would have gotten this far without Sam's tooth. Unless there are secret compartments or something. Like Sam's hideout I knew nothing about. If we search hard enough, maybe there is another exit out of here."
Unbeknownst to the four, the tooth began to glow bright once more, and the blue fog travelled over to the massive carcass in the middle of the chamber, engulfing its form.
"We have to take the egg back with us," Hermione said. "We can't leave it here where it could freeze or be subjected to poaching."
"I agree," Harry said, feeling bad for whatever the baby inside was. Unless it was something that wanted to kill him when it hatched, of course.
"I don't know," Draco frowned, "if someone put it down here, they know its down here and taking it would put us in trouble of getting involved with whatever this someone is up to."
"We could take it to a professor," Ron suggested. "Or Hagrid. Bet he'd love another dangerous pet to care for."
"We can't risk this person getting the egg again," Hermione said. "We could keep it with us. We'll find a way to keep it warm and safe and . . ."
"Attend classes and do homework and keep the professors from finding out," Draco crossed his arms. "Let's see how long that lasts. We can make bets. I say Sam will be the first to find out by tomorrow. Ron, what do you think?"
"I think we should leave it here. It's been fine so far. I don't see how this is really a danger to anyone in the school or to Harry. It's just an egg and whatever hatches will be just a baby. Maybe Dobby was overreacting."
"Maybe," Harry agreed, accepting the egg back from Hermione.
"Will you quit breathing down my back!" Draco snapped at Ron.
"What do you mean – I'm not!" Ron snapped back. "I'm not even close enough to you for you to feel my breath."
A low rumbling noise made everyone freeze.
"Hermione," Harry said, not moving an inch.
"What?" Hermione responded.
"I thought you said the basilisk was dead."
Everyone slowly turned around to see the eyeless monster sniffing down at them, the puncture wound still visible. The monster's teeth revealed themselves so slightly as the beast flicked its tongue out to taste the air.
"It was," Hermione said, her jaws slack as she stared up at the snake.
Hope you are enjoying their adventure so far. More to come soon! Let me know if its moving too fast, too slow. A lot is planned to happen.