Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Harry Potter, that is J. K. Rowling. I am just playing a little with her toys :)

Story keys:

"Regular speech"

"Mind speech"

Thoughts, Spells

§Parseltounge§

Titles (Books etc.)

A/N: Sooo, you are hereby treated to the continuation of I've Had Enough! a chapter that ended up a lot longer than I had planned. My Beta is once again forcing me to publish (It's almost a wonder that I manage to write without her at all :P ) and so I am forced, in turn, to thank her for the continued evolution of my story. So thank you - Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face, woman! - MysteriaMalfoy for dissecting my story for me :*

Chapter 2: The Secret of the Chamber

Last time:

§...and sometimes I really just want to take that thrice damned Gryffindor Courage of theirs and sh-§ Harry abruptly cut himself off as he heard the unmistakable sound of stone against stone grating throughout the Chamber.

His wand was out and he was on full alert before he even realized that he needed to be, already the years of having to watch his back both at Hogwarts and at the Dursleys were starting to affect his sense of paranoia.

What he saw caused his mouth to drop open in shock. All around the Chamber the pillars and sculptures of vicious and aggressive snakes were re-forming into something that gave off a likeness to an old Greek temple. The groved pillars supporting the domed ceiling were of a whitish stone and decorated with snakes, the sculptures had turned from vicious monsters of childrens' nightmares into detailed works of art depicting life sized snakes from all around the world, colors and all. There was every kind; from the small and vibrantly black, red and yellow coral snake on a pedestal to the gigantic anaconda curled up on the floor next to the pathway. There were fire-colored bush-vipers in trees and runespoors on rocks, next to a sand-colored rattlesnake was an Indian cobra with its hood proudly displayed.

As Harry stood there, too shocked to move, the rest of the Chamber finished reforming in front of his eyes. The walkway went from a dark, depressing gray to a bright and inviting silvery gray marble laced with white veins. The shallow pool closest to Slytherin's statue suddenly grew a low wall-like edge, making it look like a fountain pool... without the fountain.

And then there was the statue itself. Where there had previously been a statue of a man that looked as ancient as Hogwarts herself, with a monkey-like face and and a beard that even Dumbledore would be proud of, now stood a depiction of a man clearly in his prime, arms crossed over his chest, hair tied back and with a well-trimmed beard. Eyes that even in their stony state seemed to give off a sense of determination, consideration and underlying amusement rested in a face that Harry could not have described in any way other than as good-looking. Harry couldn't help but notice that this man would have demanded attention and respect while he was alive. The way he held himself and the hints left by the cut of the elegant-looking robes made Harry acutely aware of his own bad posture and deteriorating physique. He unconciously straightened up and met the stony gaze as he came to the startling realization that he had just been admiring Salazar Slytherin. For there was no doubt at all as to who the man was.

Shaking his head to get his focus back, Harry turned and took another look around. The grating sound had now stopped and it was almost eerily silent in the Chamber, the only sound was the merry crackling provided by white flames in silver dishes floating among the statues and pillars, bathing the Chamber in a dancing glimmer of white light.

As he stood there and took in the magnificent sight in front of him, Harry spoke out loud in the Chamber, jumping a little as the echoes of his own voice carried through the air.

§You know, while everyone always goes on and on about how sneaky and cunning you were, Slytherin, I seriously doubt anyone thought you were this sneaky and secretive.§

Once again there was a grating sound and Harry looked to the statue to see a slim walkway emerging from the waters in the pool leading to the statue's right leg, where a door shaped silhouette could now be seen.

This must be the same tunnel that opened for Riddle two years ago. Harry thought as he slowly crossed to the door and carefully opened it, well aware of the fact that the last time it had opened it had released a gigantic monster that tried to eat him whole.

The only difference is that this time it's low enough to the ground for a person to enter. Wonder what could be so important that Slytherin had to make a hidden tunnel within the hidden Chamber?

Harry entered the comfortably sized tunnel and a row of silver dish torches like the ones out in the Chamber burst to life close to the cieling, revealing walls of the same light gray marble as the one Slytherin's statue was made of, and a floor covered in years' worth of dust.

As he moved further in, only preceded by regular scourgifys to get rid of the dust, Harry relaxed more and more, there was something about this place, the calm crackling of the torches, the soft sound of his shoes against the floor, and the completely non-treathening atmosphere of a place where he knew that no one could get to him that made him relax completely for the first time in a really long time.

And so it was that Harry arrived at the first forking of the tunnel with a soft smile on his lips. The tunnel split in two, the right hand branch was declining slightly and turning to the right while the left kept on going for a few yards and then ended by a spiral staircase leading up.

Doing a mental coin flip Harry decided that he would start by going right. This tunnel was rounder than the left, and with wider spacing between the torches, making it quite a bit dimmer. After slowly turning right for about 10 yards the tunnel made a sudden turn to the left and opened up to a huge cavern-like room. And one would have to call this a room and not a cave as could have been expected. The room was roughly spherical, and the walls and cieling were smoothed down and polished to a dark grey shimmer. In the middle of the room there was a big bowl like shape lowered into the floor, and next to it stood a large comfy-looking wing-back armchair that looked to be out of style by at least a couple of centuries.

Huh, who knew, a bedroom for a basilisk, wow. Because that was the only explanation Harry could come up with, the big bowl was for the basilisk to sleep in and the chair was for Slytherin whenever they felt like having a chat. Sniggering at the mental picture Harry took another look around. Up by the cieling and slightly to the left he saw something that looked like a balcony overlooking the big snake-bed, it was hard to tell exactly what it looked like because it was dark up there and the few torches by the ground weren't really bright enough to light it up. Looking around Harry couldn't find any way to get up there so he decided to go back to the other tunnel and see if that was where the stairs led.

As he ascended the stairs to curiously diminishing amounts of dust Harry thought that this had to be his most exciting and comfortable adventure within Hogwarts' walls yet. There was no one trying to erase his memories, no one trying to suck his soul out, no gigantic monster trying to molest him och otherwise harm him and there was only him and his thoughts. It is rather comfortable, he thought, not having to mediate between Ron and Hermione and their constant bickering. There is no one staring at me, no one pointing, and no one even knows that I am down here. And he found that he had missed this, being alone with his thoughts. It was almost all he knew before he was thrown back into the wizaring world on his eleventh birthday; the Dursleys always wanted him to be quiet while doing his chores and when they didn't see him they didn't want to hear him either so that meant keeping quiet in his cupboard or his room too. At pre-school he didn't have any friends to talk to and if he didn't keep his head down and his mouth shut then Dudley would come with his gang and beat him up, so he learned quickly to be quiet there, as well. But ever since that day in the hut on the rock in the sea everywhere he went there had been people either staring at him and telling him he was dangerous or a crowd of people just trying to get a look at him. Even at the Burrow there was no rest to be had what with the entire Weasley clan in the house. And well, sharing a dorm with four other teenage boys wasn't really expected to provide much peace and quiet, now was it?

So, savouring the calm in the stone tunnels miles below the hectic school Harry stepped onto the landing above the stairs and into a room that was quickly lit up by a fire in the fireplace and candles and oil lamps around the room.

Harry just stood there for a few moments, looking around. For what he had happened upon by mere chance was something that historians around the world would have happily paid their wand for. These are Slytherin's personal chambers! Harry slowly stepped over the treshold into the large study, eyes wide open with awe at the stylishly decorated room.

The dark mahogany floor streched from the balcony doors on the right hand wall to the enormous fireplace on the left wall. The balcony doors were made of glass and Harry could see now that two torches had come to life out on the balcony and were providing light for any person who would come to sit down in the large armchair out there. By the wall directly to the right of the door there stood a finely crafted mahogany cocktail cabinet with silver handles and hinges. The top doors were open and on the glass shelving inside Harry could see a number of differently shaped crystal liqour bottles filled with liquids ranging from the deep red of burgundy to the light brown of amber and any color in between, there was also something that Harry assumed was an ice bucket and a number of funnily shaped glasses of different sizes. In front of the balcony doors there stood a small, square table set up with a heavy-looking chess set halfway through what looked like a very even game. In the far right corner, facing the room, was the biggest mahogany desk Harry had ever seen (he even wondered for a moment wheather it would have fit through professor Dumbledore's office door), the desk was inlaid with silver snakes on the front and sides and behind it stood a stately leather office chair in a dark brown. On top of the desk there were a number of runny off-white wax candles, a silver inkwell, some really, really nice quills made from eagle, pheasant and hawk feathers and a number of books spread out amongst scrolls and pieces of parchment. Straight ahead from where Harry stood in the doorway there where two more doors separated by a heavy bookcase filled with leatherbound journals and books so old and dusty he was slightly amazed that they were still in one piece.

Harry slowly crossed to the bookcase and looked the titles over. Practical Potions, Indigestive Ingredients, Enchanting Enchantments and Goblin Etiquette were mixed in with books that seemed so old that Harry could barely understand what he was reading.

Peeking into the right of the two doors revealed an old library that smelled of parchment and mothballs while the left held a dark stone corridor and another sprial staircase going up.

In the corner beside the door there was a dark wooden cabinet that looked a bit like the one that held Snape's finished potions down in the dungeons (Or should that be up in the dungeons?). It was a bit similar to the cocktail cabinet on the other end of the room as it had the same divided doors, the upper pair of these cabinet doors however were made of glass, giving an unobstructed view of rows of neatly labeled potions phials that gave way to lumps of metal, strange devices and a few ornate little boxes and chests.

Taking up most of the remaining space on the wall was the enormous, rectangular fireplace made from large slabs of a whitish-beige sandstone. Then again, it probably gets pretty chilly down here in winter, Harry mused as he took in the wrought iron grate and candle holders in front of the fire and on the mantle. Next to the candles was an ornamental snake made from copper. They were sharing the space with a framed photograph of four people in front of what had to be a newly constructed Hogwarts, a wand on a stand and a small velvet jewelery box. Above the mantle hung a simple heraldic shield of a dark green bordered with silver, picturing a large serpent. The floor in front of the fireplace was covered in dark grey slates and there stood a set of fire tools and a large black couldron full of firewood beside it. Harry figured that they were either there merely for decoration – for there was no way one would actually have to tend to the fire when there was magic around – or Slytherin liked poking around in the fire when he was alone with his thoughts down here.

Grouped together in front of the fire was a comfortable looking three-seat sofa and two armchairs in the same green as the shield. They were grouped around a small round glass-top coffee table.

Harry sat down on the sofa and looked around. The stone walls were relatively bare, there was only one painting of the Hogwarts' landscape behind the desk, a couple of oil lamps hanging on hooks by the doorways and a tapestry of a forest landscape by the door leading out to the dark corridor, but that was it. The floor was covered in a number of large soft rugs in different shades of green and gray and Harry found that he rather liked the more muted decorations of Slytherin's rooms in comparison to the bright reds and gold of the Gryffindor common room and dormitories. After three years he had taken to spending more time away from the common room when doing his homework and during free periods merely to avoid a headache brought on from the combination of bright reds and gold and a terribly incorrect ocular prescription.

§Well, while this is cozy and everything, I don't think we've been introduced?§

Harry flew out of the sofa and spun, wand first, towards the corner where the voice had come from. There, to the left of the fireplace, stood a portrait. It was life sized and the only thing that comfirmed that it was indeed a portrait was the heavy framework around it. In the painting, sitting on a leather armchair in what looked like a mirror image of the room where Harry was standing, stroking the head of what looked like a much, much younger basilisk, was Salazar Slytherin.

TBC...

A/N: Hehe, I almost feel evil :P

As always I am most interested in what you have to say, mistakes, ideas, questions - bring it! :)

'Til next time, people! :D

Updated: 18 March 2014