Author's Note:

I think that the Chamber of Secrets has a lot of potential. An entire hidden cavern under the castle that Voldemort was completely aware of — for sure he explored it and tried to learn its secrets. And I think that it is so important for both Harry and Ginny to return there: To help them deal with what happened AND that they would both naturally want and deserve a full support system in doing so.

Reviews and Comments: To Paola1991: Glad I managed to surprise you with Dumbledore's reveal! I think having all of these people involved means he is more open to everything. If they succeed in removing it from Harry, it would change things for sure! Harry does deserve to know and they are going to fill him in, as soon as they return to the Chamber of Secrets! To Steelcode: Yes, poor Sirius and his baby boy! He and Remus are just so horrified of what they've learned and of how they're going to tell Harry! Thank you! To getjusticed1: Yes, I'm sure JKR does know the exact details of creating one, but as I said in the last author's notes, that was all she revealed and I wanted to make up much more detailed details on how to do so. To alix33: Thank you! Yes, Kreacher makes them amazing soup!

To .puentes: Thank you for reading! I love that you spent a week catching up and yes, Sirius is a great father. Remus and Tonks definitely do have a lot of sex, but little Teddy still won't be arriving any time soon. Thank you! To Donna Rae Diamond: Thank you for saying I am filling in holes from the original and still going in a different direction, I appreciate that! To Claire Fraser: Thank you! I like the idea of Dumbledore having a group of people who he can trust and Sirius leading it makes him realize how important it is to be honest with them. Sirius and Remus definitely want to put Harry in a bubble lol. Thank you! I'm glad you're excited about returning to the chamber! To Guest: Thank you! Yes, they are finally going to tell Harry (after the chamber). To MMMARGEAU: Haha, I love that everyone thinks you're working away on emails, but are really just reading ASC — thank you! To septemberbells: Thanks for loving this ASC family! To zxreen: Thank you very much! I update frequently because I am so far ahead! Thank you for reading!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN:

The One Where They Return to the Chamber of Secrets

Harry smiled at Hedwig when she brought him the letter the next morning on a cold November morning. He recognized his father's neat writing and furrowed his brow when he read the letter.

Harry,

Uncle Sirius and I have decided that it's time to go back down into the Chamber of Secrets. Will you and Ginny meet us in my office after dinner tonight? Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall will both be joining us as well, along with Tonks and Zee. Even if you both decide that you are not ready to go back, please come and see me anyway.

We need to talk to you, Harry.

Love,

Uncle Remus

Harry let out a slow breath as he folded the letter back up. In all honesty, he had pushed the thought of returning to the Chamber of Secrets out of his mind. Sirius hadn't mentioned it again since before he had left for school, but he knew that his godfather was still reeling from the idea of the Dementors being in the school and from the escape of Pettigrew and Lestrange, of which there had been no news.

"Who's the letter from?" Ron asked as he helped himself to two more strips of crispy bacon.

Harry smiled at his friend. "Uncle Rem."

He quickly explained to Ron, Hermione, and Neville about returning to the Chamber of Secrets that night.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear. "Are you sure that that's something that you want to do, Harry?"

He shrugged. When Sirius had originally brought the idea up, he had been very sure that it was most definitely something that he didn't want to do, but now he wasn't so sure.

"I want to say no, but I think that Uncle Rem's right, I think it will be good for me to go back down there and to just… put it all to rest, you know?"

Neville nodded. "Maybe stop some of the dreams?"

"Exactly," Harry said. He knew how often he still had bad dreams and he knew that he often woke his roommates up from them. He was grateful that his friends were so understanding. "I haven't mentioned it to Ginny yet."

Ron looked down the table where Ginny was laughing with Colin. "She's going to want to go." He turned back to his friend. "Do you want us to come with you tonight?"

Harry gave Ron a grateful look and he nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do. That would be great, actually. Thanks." He stared down at his plate, his appetite pretty much gone. "I'm going to go talk to Ginny. Meet you guys in Charms."

He hurried down to where Ginny was with Colin and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, you have a minute?"

Ginny smiled at him and nodded, finishing her orange juice. She grabbed her book bag and followed him out of the Great Hall. Harry pulled her into an empty classroom, closing the door behind them.

"What's going on, Harry?"

Harry gave her a small smile and shoved his hands into his pockets. "After dinner tonight, I'm going to Uncle Rem's office to meet with Uncle Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall. We're going back down into the Chamber of Secrets."

Ginny's chocolate brown eyes widened and her hands clutched the desk behind her so tightly that her knuckles whitened. "W-w-what?"

He moved over to her and took her hands in his. "They think that it will be good for me to go back there and to see that everything is truly over and done with. You should come too, Ginny. We're going to go down there and get rid of the body of the Basilisk and Professor Dumbledore wants to make sure that the wards are safe and to see about making the Chamber accessible to the rest of the school so that no one can ever use it for nefarious purposes again. Will you come with me, Ginny? We can put it both behind us. Together."

Her brown eyes were full of horror, but she bit her bottom lip and nodded.

Harry squeezed her hands in his. "I'll be with you the whole time. Ron, Hermione, and Neville are going to come with me, and anyone else you want. I'm sure that Dumbledore can get Bill here if you need him or Charlie or your parents. Do you want me to see?"

Ginny let out a slow breath. "Yes, please… and I want… Na'eemah too."

"Your Mind Healer?"

She nodded. "Professor Dumbledore has been allowing her to come to Hogwarts once a week so I can speak with her. I think… I want her there too, Harry. I'm scared to go back."

"Me too," he admitted. "But I think that if I don't go back, I'll regret it — and I think that you will too."

Ginny nodded and she squeezed his hand in reassurance. "Just Bill and Charlie… Mum would… she'd freak out down there, Harry. I told her and Dad some of it before I came back and… I know her — it would be too much for her to see it all, too much for her to handle."

Harry smiled and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. "Are you sure? She'd want to be there for you."

Ginny nodded. "I'm sure. Just Bill, Charlie, and Na'eemah. Thanks, Harry."

She grabbed her book bag and hurried off and he watched her go, nerves in his stomach. He was more nervous than he wanted to let on.

He checked his watch, surprised to see that breakfast was still happening and made his way back into the Great Hall and over to the Head Table. There were two seventh year students talking to McGonagall and a few fifth year students talking to Vector. He made his way over to Dumbledore.

"Er, morning Professor," he said.

Dumbledore smiled at him, his tea cup in his hand. "Good morning, Harry."

Harry smiled. "I need to make a request for tonight."

Dumbledore nodded and leaned forward a bit. "And what would that be?"

"Ginny needs Bill, Charlie, and Na'eemah Hickey there. She won't go back without them — and I agree with her."

He nodded, his blue eyes alight in understanding. "Then she will have them."

"Thank you, Sir." He nodded at Dumbledore before he made his way over to where Remus was. "Hi, Professor."

Remus smiled and tapped his fingers on the table. "Hi, Harry. Did you talk to Ginny?"

"I did and I think that we're both ready. Well, as ready as we can be."

Remus smiled warmly at him. "Remember, you can change your mind at any time, little Prongs. I'll see you in class this afternoon."

"Uncle Moo-Professor Lupin?" he asked, quickly correcting his slip up. "Can we talk about the Dementors again, and why they affect me like that?"

"Yes, we will, I promise. We have quite a few things to talk about after this."

Harry nodded, wondering what else his fathers could want to discuss with him and he hurried back to his friends as the first bell went off.

~ ASC ~

By the time dinner finished that night, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny were all feeling rather anxious as they made their way to Lupin's office. Ron had his arm around Ginny and she was staring in determination as they walked.

Harry was relieved to see not only Remus and Sirius waiting for them, but Dumbledore, McGonagall, Tonks, and Zee. He smiled when Sirius tugged him to his side for a quick hug.

The office door opened and Bill and Charlie stepped through it with a pretty woman who Harry assumed must be the Mind Healer.

"Bill! Charlie!" Ginny exclaimed, rushing towards them and grinning when they both hugged her tight.

"Hey, Jitterbug! Bill told me that you needed us," he kissed the top of her head with a smile. "Sorry that we're a bit late, the international portkey was a bit behind."

"Not late at all," Sirius said with a smile.

"Thank you for coming, Na'eemah."

Na'eemah smiled warmly. "Of course. I think that this is a great idea to help you heal. I wouldn't miss it."

"Well, this gathering is much larger than I anticipated," Dumbledore said with a smile. "But, I believe everyone we need is here, correct?" At everyone's nod, he gestured forward. "Harry, why don't you lead the way."

Harry swallowed, looking over at Sirius when he squeezed his shoulder in reassurance. He headed out of the office and slowly made his way down the hall to the corridor with the infamous girl's bathroom. Everyone followed close behind him as they all crowded into the large bathroom, Remus closing the bathroom door behind them and putting up an out of order sign as well as a protection ward to stop anyone from interrupting them.

Harry made his way over to the sink, pointing to the little symbol of the carved snake. "See, Slytherin marked it right here," he said.

McGonagall looked at it, nodding. "Very well done. It blends in with the architecture of the room."

Sirius squeezed Harry's shoulder. "We're right here, Prongslet. Whenever you're ready."

Harry looked back at Ginny. Both of her arms were hooked between Bill and Charlie and she nodded at him as if telling him that she was ready. He turned back to the sink and stared at the snake, letting out a slow breath before he concentrated, willing the snake to move. When he asked the door to open, a snake-like hiss came out of his mouth. He stepped back as the sink began to dip into the floor, the other sinks moving to accommodate for the large tunnel.

Sirius whistled as he looked down. "No bottom in sight." He glanced at Harry. "You and Ron just jumped down here?"

Neville nodded. "They threw a pipe down there first, but yeah — they just jumped."

Sirius held his hand on his son's shoulder. "Slytherin can't have decided that jumping down here was the way to get inside? Not everyone is as stupid brave as you and Ron."

McGonagall inspected the one sink at the back that hadn't gone below the ground. "I agree," she pulled the plug that dangled beneath the sink and there was a loud lurching sound as stone steps appeared spirally around the tunnel leading downwards. "Shall we?"

Dumbledore lit his wand and urged everyone else to do the same before he led the way down the spiral stairs and into the dark tunnel below. It took much longer to take the stairs and with every step Harry felt more trepidation about what was below. At least when he and Ron had taken the leap — it had been quick, leaving them with no chance to consider changing their minds. He was almost out of breath when they reached the bottom.

Dumbledore was inspecting the bones down there. "Fascinating."

Zee bent down to inspect the bones herself. "It must have fed on whatever it could scrounge up. Basilisks can live almost a thousand years."

Harry turned back to look at Ginny. She was pale and Charlie was rubbing a hand on her back and whispering something to her. Harry took a step forward.

"Ron and I went this way," Harry told them, pointing to the tunnel on the right.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed like the right direction at the time."

Tonks was standing in the direction to the left tunnel. "There are three different entrances, so they all need to be examined thoroughly. Remus, you come with me this way. Bill, why don't you and Zee take the centre one. Everyone else can follow Harry through the right. We need to make sure that all of the dangers here have been removed."

Bill nodded and bent to kiss his sister's cheek. "Be brave, Firecracker. I'll see you on the other side."

Ron immediately moved away from Harry and took Bill's spot next to his sister. "Need an arm, Din?"

Ginny smiled at him gratefully and accepted his arm as they followed Harry through the tunnel. It was another fifteen minutes of walking before they reached the cave in.

"I made a small hole up here," Ron said, moving away from his sister to show them. "The rocks collapsed when the door opened."

McGonagall pushed up her sleeves and flourished her wand and the rocks immediately began to build an archway, leaving a clear path through to the next doorway. "This will do better I think, Mr Weasley."

Ron smiled at her and moved back to Ginny who was staring at the door in horror.

"I remember this," Ginny said, softly.

Harry turned to look at her. "This door in particular?"

She nodded. "I first came here in October of last year and… when I opened the door, something chimed inside of me and… I remember standing precisely there and not knowing how I had gotten down here, nor how to get back out."

Na'eemah smiled warmly at her. "Coming here today was a very brave decision, Ginny. For you and for Harry both."

Ginny moved away from Ron and Charlie and stepped up next to Harry, her eyes on the large circular door carved with serpents. "Open it, Harry."

Harry nodded and turned to once again speak in Parseltongue. Ginny's small hands clutched his wrist as the door began to open, the serpents slithering across the stone and the large door swinging open. Dumbledore tapped the door, muttering something and a soft yellow light rose from the door.

"I'm removing the Parselmouth Charm," he explained. "I don't want any of this be sealed by Parseltongue any longer."

Harry nodded at Dumbledore, waiting until he was finished with the wards before he led the way through the door, stopping when he got to the landing.

"This is… I heard Ginny scream through the door and by the time I got here… they were just… echoes."

Charlie moved over to them and bent down to put his arm around his sister's shoulders as Sirius did the same with Harry. "You two are doing great. Show us where you went next, Harry."

Harry nodded, relieved to have Sirius' arm around him as he walked. The eerie glow of the chamber, the damp walls and the smell of the swamp that seemed to fill his nostrils, reminded him more and more of what he had encountered here — of who he had encountered. They walked along the path, statues of serpents all around them and different tunnels in their path, until they arrived in what Harry had deemed to be Slytherin's throne room.

And there ahead, lying beneath the massive statue of Salazar Slytherin himself was the giant rotting corpse of the Basilisk.

Harry took one look at it and vomited.

~ ASC ~

"This place gives me the creeps," Tonks admitted.

Her hand tightly clasped in Remus', wands out and lit ahead of them, as they moved through the circular and damp tunnel.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked her, smiling. "You don't like the smell of swamp and fecal sewage with the knowledge that a giant snake once resided here? What's not to love?"

Tonks snorted. "We hope that it's the only thing that resided here."

He smiled at her, tugging her over to the wall to inspect it. "There are markings here, symbols."

"Runes," Tonks told him, holding her wand closer to illuminate the script. "I think it's telling a story of some kind."

Remus traced the runes with his fingertips. "I agree… Merlin, it's been a while since I've looked at runes, I think this one says, 'monster' and this word here is definitely 'blood'… wait… wait, it's coming back to me now… 'the monster feeds on the… blood of the impure'… no, 'the unworthy.'"

"This says, 'Slytherin' and this… 'one monster will suffice, but I have made preparations in case of failure.'" Tonks turned to look at Remus in horror. "Preparations? What kind of preparations?"

Remus linked his fingers with hers. "Be on your guard, Dora."

He waved his wand over the runes to capture the message, slipping the spell into the phial he brought to be viewed again later before they moved on. The tunnel twisted and the curved floor was uneven, as they stepped over rocks and broken bones. Tonks' breath hitched when they found a human skull cracked in the centre, a rat's tail dangling from the eye.

Remus only pulled her closer to him and they kept walking. The sound of running water could be heard up ahead as they followed the tunnel forward and Tonks put her arm out to stop Remus before he stepped forward.

Nestled in the rock was a giant toad that seemed to be under an enchanted sleep. Three large chicken eggs were lying next to it. Tonks froze them with her wand, her eyes on Remus.

"He was breeding more of them."

Remus nodded, his eyes on the eggs. "Enchanted sleep. I bet that he had the Basilisk under the same enchantment. It was asleep all these years and that's why there were no attacks, no signs of it anywhere in the castle before Ginny."

"It makes sense," she agreed. "Ginny must have woken it when she came down under Riddle's thrall, brought it out of its enchanted sleep, and set it loose. Do you think that she knew that this toad was here as well?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted. He carefully picked up the nest, putting a protective bubble charm around it and floated it before them. "We need to take this with us."

Tonks nodded and stepped out into the opening where they could hear the running water. There was a waterfall ahead, clear water pouring from a large stone pipe high in the stone. They followed the rocky path downwards and stepped into a huge room where a massive statue stood of Salazar Slytherin and Tonks gasped.

"Merlin's beard!"

Remus, his wand still trained on the nest, grabbed her hand. "It's at least twenty fucking metres long!"

"How did he do it?" she breathed, turning to look at him. "How did he kill that thing?"

Remus simply stared at the corpse of the giant snake, his face pale. The image of his son, almost thirteen, sword in hand, stabbing the Basilisk through the head flashed through his mind and he swallowed painfully.

"I have no bloody idea."

~ ASC ~

Zee led the way through the centre tunnel. Her wand lit ahead of her as Bill moved behind her. It was cold and damp and the sound of running water and scurrying creatures made her shiver. She loved all creatures, but she preferred to see them, rather than simply hear them. She turned to smile at Bill, attempting to make the situation a little less dire.

"So, you're a curse breaker?"

Bill nodded, his own wand out as he followed her through the tunnel. "I am. I work for Gringotts in Egypt."

"That sounds exciting. Is it everything that you hoped it would be?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Bill said with a smile. "Adventure and puzzles, riddles and curses, jinxes and history and runes… yeah, I'd say it is pretty great."

Zee smiled at him. "That's how I feel about working with magical creatures. There's just something majestic about these animals and people need to realize that even the ones that are deemed dangerous do need to be protected."

"Even giant Basilisks?"

She chuckled. "Well, maybe they are the exception. Besides, I don't count a magical hybrid as a majestic creature, but I do understand their value."

"Is that why you came down here today? For the value of the Basilisk?"

Zee turned to look over at him. "No. I'm here for my boys, first and foremost. But as a Magizoologist, my expertise is also warranted. And I admit, I was insanely curious."

"It's nice that you're here for Harry as much as Sirius."

Zee smiled. "He's a remarkable boy. I have this urge to keep him safe and protected that I can't quite fathom. It's nice that you came here today for your sister."

Bill shrugged, his eyes travelling the ground and the ceiling cautiously as they moved forward. "She means the world to me. She's the baby of the family, the only Weasley girl in our whole family, even the cousins, and the one person that I trust most in the world. She's fiercely loyal and once she loves you, you are more important to her than anyone in the world. She's strong, which is why she's down here today. Charlie and I are here as much for ourselves as for her. We're here to support her, to be here if she needs us and she wants us here, but we both know that if we weren't here for her today, she would still be just fine. She's a fighter."

"She sounds like it," she said warmly. "I can't imagine what she went through last year. Just knowing what happened with Harry was shocking enough, but to know that she suffered through this mostly on her own, basically living with that thing feeding on her soul for months and months and to still be as strong and resilient as she is, she's a hero."

Bill smiled. "Don't I know it." He stopped, turning to look at the wall. "There's something ahead here."

Zee turned, her wand lighting up the stone where Bill was investigating. "It looks like something is hidden in the wall."

Bill nodded, using his hand to carefully tug the stone away and pulling out the long thin wooden case. "What do you think it is?"

She shook her head, her wand moving to the hole where Bill had pulled the box. "I'm not sure. But I don't think that we should open it here."

Bill snorted. "Zacarias, I've spent the last four and a half years working as a curse breaker in South America, Central America, and Egypt — trust me, I know better than to open mysterious boxes without probable cause."

She chuckled. "Then I'll trust you to keep it safe." She led the way back through the tunnel towards the sound of rushing water. Her wand light seemed to illuminate a force field at the entrance. "There's a warding up ahead."

Bill nodded, his wand moving over the warding carefully. "Interesting. I've seen this kind of thing before — it keeps out reptiles. I guess whatever is hidden in this box is something that Slytherin didn't want his pet monster having access to." He looked closer at the warding. "I think that this is the main room through here, I can see Dumbledore down below."

"Can you get through the wards?"

Bill handed her the box. "I can." He waved his wand a few times and the shimmer of the ward disappeared.

Zee handed Bill back the box before she followed him out of the tunnel and they carefully climbed down the rocks below. Bill reached up to lift Zee down from the tunnel and let out a slow breath as they came face to face with the large rotting corpse of the Basilisk that lay at the base of a massive statue of Salazar Slytherin himself.

"Godric's arse," he said, eyes wide. "Harry killed that thing? By himself?"

Zee placed a hand on his arm. "And he saved your sister while doing it." She looked up as Remus and Tonks came up next to them, her eyes widening when she saw what Remus was floating before him. "More Basilisk eggs?"

"Definitely a nest," Remus said his eyes on the rotting corpse.

Zee took control of the eggs, removing the bubble charm and placing a privacy protective charm on it before putting them inside of a mystical cage she pulled from her satchel that prevented anything from getting in or out.

"I'll take this back to the DRCMC with me."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Tonks asked.

"Right now, they should just be chicken eggs, but we need to make sure. Either way, they need to be properly destroyed," Zee told them as they made their way around the rotting corpse of the Basilisk and came out to meet everyone else. "The best place to do that is in the safety of the DRCMC."

Sirius had his arms wrapped around Harry's shoulders, his chin resting on the top of the boy's head. Harry was holding his godfather's arms as they stared at the giant snake. Dumbledore had moved closer to the corpse to investigate.

Bill moved around Zee and back towards his sister, his eyes on the dried blood on the stone floor. Ginny's eyes were on the large blood covered bone next to the bloody Basilisk fang.

Harry pointed to the blood covered ground. "The fang I used is there… next to where… Ginny… she was lying… just there."

Ginny was breathing heavily, her eyes fixed on the bone.

Ron put an arm over her shoulders. "You're doing great, Din, just great. It's okay, breathe."

Ginny turned into him, letting Ron put his arms around her, but her eyes stayed on the blood covered bone.

Na'eemah placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder in reassurance. "You survived this, Ginny. It's over. Don't forget that."

Ginny nodded, her eyes moving away from the stained stones. "I know."

Charlie's eyes were on the bloodied bone now and they were flashing dangerously. His eyes met Bill's and Bill only nodded as he and Charlie simultaneously pointed their wands at the bone and blew it to smithereens making everyone jump.

Ginny moved towards her two eldest brothers, letting them hug her close, tugging their faces down and kissing both of their cheeks. "I'm okay, I'm okay," she soothed.

Charlie sighed into her hair. "You're braver than me, Jitterburg. A real warrior princess."

She kissed his cheek. "I'm okay."

Harry had only blinked when Bill had destroyed the bone. He watched as Zee put dragonhide gloves on to pick up the bloody fang, sealing it in a protective bag. Dumbledore was still investigating the snake, nodding as he did so. Remus and Tonks were holding a wooden box and a nest of eggs that were in a protective cage. McGonagall had moved over to the statue of Slytherin to investigate.

Hermione turned to look at Harry, her eyes worried. "I can't believe that you killed that thing, Harry."

He smiled sheepishly at her. "In my defence, it was trying to kill me first."

Neville snorted, turning to look at his friend in awe. "Yeah, but… you put a sword through its skull and not just any sword, the Sword of Godric Gryffindor himself!"

Ron moved over to them, his hands in his pockets. "If I had moved faster at sorting those damn rocks, I would have been here with you."

Sirius reached out to squeeze Ron's shoulder. "You were safer back there, Ron. It's bad enough that Harry and Ginny had to face that thing." He kissed the top of Harry's head. "You okay, Prongslet?"

Harry nodded. Seeing the snake had given him a turn at first, but now as he stared at it, the reassuring feeling that it was indeed dead made him feel much better.

McGonagall had moved up the statue now and Harry had an image of the snake trying to strike him there and he shuddered as Sirius gripped him tighter.

"Sirius? Can you come over here for a moment?" McGonagall called out. She was peering into the nostrils of the statue carefully.

Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head again. "I'll be right back, Harry."

Harry nodded, smiling when Hermione moved forward to grip his arm and his friends encircled him. "I'm really all right," he told them with a smile, feeling oddly touched in the way they moved around him, as if protecting him. "It's over now."

Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Maybe we need reassurance after seeing that thing."

Ron grinned and nodded. "True." He looked over to where Ginny was still standing between Bill and Charlie talking to Na'eemah. "I'm glad Ginny asked Na'eemah to come. I think talking to her has been really good for her."

"She said as much," Harry told him. "She said that she's been coming to Hogwarts once a week to continue their sessions."

Ron nodded. "Bill and Charlie have both been paying for her sessions. Mum and Dad couldn't afford for her — I mean, they wanted to make sure Ginny had her as long as she needed her."

Neville smiled at Ron. "It's nice how good you all are with your sister. I always wanted a brother or sister."

"Me too," Harry admitted. "Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus are great, but it would have been nice to have a brother or sister around."

"I agree," Hermione said with a smile. "Being an only child can get kind of lonely sometimes."

Ron only stared at them. "And the fact that you three are only children explains itself in your statements." At Neville's grin, Ron shrugged. "Most of the time having siblings is just a big pain in the arse," he admitted, his eyes on his siblings. "But yeah, over all, I wouldn't change it for the world."

~ ASC ~

Sirius watched Harry with his friends from where he stood next to McGonagall. "I hate to admit it, but this was a good idea for Harry to come down here."

McGonagall touched Sirius' arm with a smile. "Yes, it was. He's going to cope much better with all of this and I think that you will too." At his nod, she smiled. "Now, look closely in here, Sirius, what do you see?"

Sirius looked into the giant nostril. "A warding of some kind, do you think there's something in here?"

"Harry did say that the Basilisk came from the mouth of the statue, I think that its nest must be inside."

Sirius nodded, jumping down and reaching up to lift McGonagall off the statue. "Shall we?"

Dumbledore came up behind them. "Miss Zacarias is removing the fangs for our use. As for the corpse of the Basilisk, we are freezing and shrinking it down to size, to be removed from the chamber. What did you two find?"

"A warding of some kind," Sirius told him. "Minnie and I believe the nest is inside. Care to join us?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said, his wand out. "Who wants to go first?"

Sirius grimaced, but he led the way inside, putting his hand out to stop his former professors when he heard the sound. "I think that we might need Harry in here after all."

He backed out slowly and called Harry forward. Harry left his friends and moved through the water to the mouth of the statue.

"What is it?"

"Snakes," Sirius said with a grimace. "A lot of snakes. Can you, I don't know, tell them not to move or to hurt us? I don't know if any of them or all of them are venomous, but better to be safe so we can remove them safely."

Harry nodded and moved into the mouth of the cave, his wand lit. His eyes widened when he saw what was before him. Hundreds of snakes filled the cavern. Big ones, little ones, long ones, short ones, different colours and breeds, and all of them interwoven around each other on the floor, on the walls, and hanging from the ceiling. He swallowed before he spoke in Parseltongue.

"I, the speaker of your tongue, demand that you not move, nor attack anyone who comes into this room. You will do as a I say and allow my friends to remove you from this room without harming or striking out." The snakes hissed their acceptance and Harry nodded at Dumbledore. "They are complacent."

Sirius urged Harry out and called for Zee. The three of them caged all of the snakes carefully for removal, storing them outside of the statue head. It took almost an hour and Ginny's eyes were wide with horror at the massive amount of snakes that were now sitting in glass cages on the stone.

Hermione put her arm around the girl. "This makes me like snakes even less than I already did."

Ginny nodded, smiling gratefully at her. "You can say that again."

Once the room was clear, they realized that it was a common room. There were two large armchairs, well worn in front of a fireplace and sitting in front of the fireplace in the centre of the room, Sirius found the large trunk. Bill did a quick check to make sure that it was clear before they opened it. The jaws of the large python that dove toward Sirius's face had him throwing himself onto Zee. Dumbledore froze the snake in the air as McGonagall quickly subdued it into a cage.

Zee swore as she pushed Sirius off of her. "Damn it! Could he have any more fucking snakes hidden in here?"

"He loved serpents," Dumbledore said simply. "There was a reason why he was known for it."

Sirius moved back to the chest. It was full of gold and some rolls of parchment. He recognized the family tree on one of the rolls and smiled at Dumbledore. "I think Slytherin kept diaries."

McGonagall bent down to unroll one of the papers, her eyes wide. "Merlin's beard, these will be incredibly valuable to the historical community."

Sirius nodded as he examined another roll. "And some of them might be best hidden from that community entirely," he eyed Dumbledore. "There is some serious dark magic recorded here. This looks like a manifesto of some kind; it describes his views on magical society."

Dumbledore examined the manifesto curiously. "Riddle's?"

"No, Slytherin."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, slightly awed at the find. "We will bring all of this up to my office to examine in more detail."

"As for the gold, Albus?"

"Normally, I would insist it go to the family, but there is no one of Slytherin's line left, outside of the obvious."

McGonagall nodded. "Maybe to Miss Weasley and Mr Potter then?"

Sirius looked at her in surprise. "You think that we should give it to Ginny and Harry?"

"I think it should be divided between Ginny and Harry for what happened down here. Maybe given to the victims of those who were petrified."

"I couldn't agree more," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Minerva, you and I can work out the details of it once we see exactly how much is in this chest."

Sirius nodded as Dumbledore put the parchment back inside and they closed and locked the chest. Dumbledore put a featherlight charm on it, followed by a shrinking charm to make it easier to carry and Sirius lifted it up into his arms.

Dumbledore had moved towards the fireplace, his blue eyes twinkling. "He had a little office down here, do you really think that he only had access from the girl's bathroom?"

Sirius shrugged, but he watched in fascination as Dumbledore moved along the fireplace and the wall, tapping his wand. A minute later, the wall opened, revealing a spiral staircase. "Where do you think that leads?"

Dumbledore looked at him, excitement in his eyes. "Well, this has turned out to be rather thrilling, has it not? Shall we?"

Sirius chuckled. "Let's get everyone else out of here first, Albus."

They came out of the throne room to inform the others, Harry and Ginny were watching in fascination as Zee finished shrinking the corpse down to a manageable size and then they began to make their way back out of the Chamber, the corpse floating in front of them.

McGonagall agreed to lead everyone back through the tunnels and to meet in the girl's bathroom while Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and Dumbledore took the spiral staircase. Once they were all on the stairs, it began to move, twirling in a slow circle like a music box and rising above the ground.

"It's a lift," Sirius asked in surprise, grinning at Harry. "Slytherin was known to be quite resourceful."

Ginny grabbed Harry's wrist and he smiled at her.

It took almost five minutes before the lift stopped and they stepped across onto the platform where a large oval door with similar stone snakes surrounding it stood. Harry immediately stepped forward, speaking in Parseltongue for the door to open as Ginny still held his wrist and Sirius a hand on his shoulder. The door opened slowly, making a loud creaking noise and dust filled the air as it clicked against the wall.

Dumbledore led the way through and he smiled, stopping suddenly and surprising his party behind him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself. But look, we've arrived."

Harry peered around Dumbledore's tall form and was surprised to see the dungeons where he had Potions. The door closed behind them, a stone wall looking completely like a normal wall and giving nothing away to the secret behind it.

"How do you get through the wall?" Ginny asked, placing her hands on the cool stone.

Sirius grinned and tugged on the candle holder next to the wall, causing the door to slide open immediately and without hesitation. "Sometimes, Ginny, things are classics for a reason."

Harry laughed and Dumbledore eagerly led them back up the stairs to the girl's bathroom.

Dumbledore sealed the entrance with a spell as the others came out of the tunnel. "Thank you all for your efforts today. Harry, thank you especially for leading the charge below."

Zee, Tonks, Bill, and Charlie took off with the corpse, the snakes, and the nest of eggs to transport them to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic. Sirius agreed with Dumbledore, that they would sell the corpse of the Basilisk to the apothecaries (minus the few fangs that they'd kept for themselves) and put the money into Hogwarts. Remus, McGonagall, and Dumbledore took the chest and the wooden box up to Dumbledore's office to be examined more closely. Na'eemah said goodbye, promising to talk to Ginny the following week and Ron, Hermione, and Neville left with Ginny to head back to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry turned to Sirius as they stepped out of the girl's bathroom. "I'm glad that I went back."

Sirius pulled him close and kissed his forehead. "Seeing the size of that thing… Merlin, Harry, I don't know how you managed to slay that beast, but you truly were a hero and I could not possibly be more proud of you."

Harry blushed and hugged Sirius tight. "Thanks for coming with me today."

"Always," Sirius told him. "I wouldn't have been anywhere else."

"Well, well, isn't this touching?" A familiar oily voice sneered.

Sirius kept his arm around Harry as he turned to glare at Snape. "What do you want, Snivellus?"

"Potter's out of bed after hours," he said.

Sirius merely raised an eyebrow. "Is he? But he's with me, his parent, so he's allowed to be. But thank you for worrying about his well being, Snape."

"You have no right to be on school property in the middle of the night!"

"It's barely eleven and I have permission from the Headmaster to be here," Sirius told him, his eyes flashing. "So, run along and do something useful for once."

Harry grinned at that as Snape glared at him before turning away, shooting an angry look at Sirius before he left.

"Git," Sirius muttered, turning back to Harry. "At least he's not giving you grief in class anymore." The look on Harry's face must have given something away because Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Harry, tell me that he's not still being a git in class?"

"I can't tell you that."

Sirius swore. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew that you'd get upset," Harry said quickly. "And it's just Snape, it's how he is! I ignore him, mostly, and he knows better than to let it affect my marks and that's all that really matters."

Sirius let out a frustrated breath. "Is he still picking on Neville as well?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but I'm doing my best to help Neville through it. You know when we did Bogarts in class, Nev's fear was actually Snape, but then Uncle Moony had Snape wearing Mrs Longbottom's clothes — and that was hilarious!"

Sirius' lips twitched at that. "That is amusing, but the fact that a thirteen-year-old-boy's biggest fear is a professor is a serious problem. I'm going to deal with this once and for all, Prongslet."

"Uncle Sirius, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you what a git Snape has been, but please, don't make it any worse. He's my teacher and I have to see him all the time! Don't make him hate me any more than he already does, please?"

Sirius sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. "I'll let it slide — for now. I don't want him picking on you and treating you or Neville like you are inferior in some way. You are both bright students who deserve the opportunity to learn. I don't care if the next thing he does is so minuscule that you feel it's nonexistent, I want to know about it anyway. I want to know every time he takes away points and what they were for. I want to know what he says or what he implies and I want to know how he is treating the work you turn in. You're quite talented at Potions, Harry, and I think that you should be getting better grades so, either you're not applying yourself the way that you should be or that slimy greasy-haired git is denying you the marks that you deserve because of an old school boy grudge. I want you to tell me every single thing he says to you and to Neville from now on so that I know what's going on here, Harry. Promise me?"

Harry nodded. "I promise."

Sirius hugged him again, kissing his forehead. "All right, you better head on up to bed. You were very brave today."

"You said that you and Uncle Rem needed to talk to me about something important?"

Sirius nodded. "We do. But you're exhausted. Get some sleep and tomorrow when you wake up, go down to Uncle Moony's rooms. We'll talk then, all right?"

Harry nodded and hugged Sirius. "Okay. Goodnight, Uncle Sirius."

Sirius watched him head down the hall to the staircase and he sighed. After the day he had just had, Snape had better watch it — because he was not going to let that snivelling dickwad treat Harry and Neville badly.

No, he wasn't going to stand for it at all.