A/N: Thanks so much for all of you who read the first chapter! I was really quite surprised at the amount of people who viewed it!

Now, this chapter takes a bit of a turn for the weird. You have been warned. ;) Also, part of this is all under the assumption that the Hogwarts students get some kind of a holiday around Easter time. Not sure why I felt the need to add that little complication, but it seemed to fit, so...

Enjoy!

PART TWO: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Harry:

It's another average Saturday at Hogwarts, and we still don't have anything to do. Normally, I'd never ask for more homework right before a holiday, but then, at least, we'd have something to occupy our time. Right now, Hermione and I are walking down an empty hallway, having just finished our breakfast.

Hermione opens her mouth, probably to suggest doing something boring for the rest of the day, but we hear someone running down the hall behind us. We both turn to see Ron sprinting up the hall towards us with a letter clutched in his hands.

"Hey, have you guys seen Ginny?" he asks, slightly out of breath.

"I don't think so," Hermione replies. "At least, she wasn't at breakfast with us. She's probably out on the grounds with everyone else."

"Oh," Ron says. He holds up the letter. "Mum just wrote and said that we have to come home for the holiday because Charlie's going to be home from Romania. I just need to make sure Ginny knows so that she can be packed by Monday."

"I'm sure we'll find her later today, and you can tell her then," Hermione says

Ron nods. "Where are you guys headed?" he asks, stuffing the letter into his pocket.

Suddenly, an idea occurs to me. I remember back to that other boring Saturday that we had a couple months ago, and it reminds me that I haven't visited Basilisky lately. It's probably been a couple weeks.

"We should go to the Chamber of Secrets to visit Basilisky," I say. "She's probably starving for attention."

"Or our souls," Ron says under his breath to Hermione, but I can still hear him. I pretend that I didn't, though, for Basilisky's sake.

Hermione sighs and rolls her eyes at Ron. "I suppose that would be nice, Harry," she says. "As long as you promise we won't get killed."

"Basilisky is a good girl. She won't look at you at all, I promise."

"Alright," Ron relents. "Bloody hell, I don't fancy dying two days before the holiday…"

"Ron, just be quiet."

Thankfully, when we reach Moaning Myrtle's bathroom this time, the hallway isn't flooded. It just looks like a normal, fully-functioning bathroom. I lead the way to the door and hold it open for my companions.

They take two steps into the room, and then they both stop short at the same time. A faint gasp escapes Hermione's lips, and I fear the worst.

"What is it?" I ask, pushing past them.

That's when I come face to face with a repeated nightmare. I have horrid flashbacks to last year when Tom Riddle set Basilisky loose on the castle to try to kill all the Muggleborns. And it would appear that it's happening again.

Written in blood on the mirrors above the sinks is another cryptic message: HER BONES SHALL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER… THIS TIME

"This can't be happening again!" is the first thing that burst from my mouth.

"Whose bones?" Hermione asks in a high voice.

I think that answer pops into all of our heads, but none of us are brave enough to say it out loud.

Ginny.

I don't even stop to think at all before I sprint to the last sink and open the Chamber of Secrets with hurried Parseltongue. I glance once over my shoulder to see if Ron and Hermione and following me, and, sure enough, they're both hovering by my shoulder. I jump down into the Chamber without hesitance.

Getting in the Chamber itself is second nature from all the times that I've come down here to visit Basilisky, but the journey has a new, terrified tone to it. For some unsettling reason, it feels different down here. Much more imposing than it ever has before.

I lead the way into the inner sanctum, which means I'm the first to see Ginny. My mind is once again filled with images from last year. Ginny looks almost exactly as she did when I last found her lying down here in the Chamber. Her skin is white as snow, her eyes are closed as though dead, and she's crumpled in a heap.

"No, Ginny!" Ron shouts desperately, and it echoes around the Chamber.

I sprint straight over to her, shouting for Basilisky as I run. "Basilisky, you have to come help us! Basilisky, where are you?!"

I drop down on my knees at Ginny's side, and she looks even more dead than she did from across the room. Frantically, I drop my wand onto the stone ground and feel for a pulse. Luckily, her heart still beats, and I can see her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

"Ginny?" I ask, shaking her shoulders. She doesn't stir even a bit. Desperately, I shout for Basilisky again, but she still doesn't come. Is she mad at me for not coming to visit her more frequently?

I am about to desperately look over my shoulder to see if Ron and Hermione have any ideas, but their collective shout of "HARRY!" draws my attention further back in the Chamber.

Two unfamiliar Basilisks are curling around them like boa constrictors, pinning them in place. They both seem to be struggling to get out of the snake coils, but I know that the Basilisks are strong.

"Oh my god!" I shout as something terrible occurs to me. "There are more Basilisks than just Basilisky?!"

As if in response, another Basilisk slithers out from a hole in the stone wall down by Ron and Hermione. Hermione lets out a loud shriek, and they both shut their eyes tight to avoid getting killed or Petrified. The third Basilisk stops itself between me and my two friends as if trying to create another barrier.

In a panic, I whip around to grab my wand, but it's no longer lying on the ground next to Ginny's crumpled body— a pair of feet has replaced it. My heart nearly stops beating right then and there as another figment of my nightmares revisits.

Tom Marvolo Riddle stands above me, smiling with his normal casual elegance, and his fingers stroke my own wand. "Harry Potter, we meet again," he says.

"I thought I killed you already," I blurt, jumping to my feet. I manage to stumble backwards a couple steps before Riddle responds.

An evil smile crosses his face. "You thought you did."

From down at the end of the Chamber, Hermione lets out a strangled shriek. I glance back at her for a second to see that the Basilisk's tail now covers her mouth to keep her silent… or to strangle her.

Tom Riddle walks around Ginny's body and comes towards me creepily. "Did you really think that I would have left one, single diary to preserve my memory? Did you really think that I hadn't made other provisions in case idiotic, meddlesome people like you came along?"

I stutter, but no words come out.

"If you did, you'd be wrong," Riddle says slowly. He strokes my wand again. "Your dear Ginny Weasley happened upon another mysterious diary while in the library last night."

"No," I breathe. I can't believe she would start writing in another odd diary after what happened last time…

"Except, this time I didn't want to wait around for her to trust me," he says. "As she started to flip through the pages of this second diary, it exploded silently in her face, and I was able to get your dear Basilisk to bring her down here into the Chamber of Secrets."

I let out a gasp without meaning to. Basilisky helped Tom Riddle? A wave of betrayal comes over me in an instant, and Riddle takes notice. It must make him feel more powerful.

"Little did you know, as you continued to be friends with said Basilisk, I was working on a little project down here, raising more Basilisks," Riddle says.

"Oh no…" I whisper.

"Oh, yes," Riddle says, smiling creepily. "Now, with dear Ginny as my life source and all these Basilisks under my control, I'm afraid you have no chance this time, Potter."

My heart starts to pound harder, and my eyes dart around for possible escapes, but Riddle basically has me cornered.

"Attack," Riddle says, smiling at my nearing death.

All of the sudden, a Basilisk slithers around Tom Riddle's side and comes towards me. I hit the corner of the Chamber, and there are no holes for me to possibly escape through. I'm completely trapped.

The Basilisk gets within ten feet of me, and it's all I can do to look away before I get killed instantly. I swallow back all my fear, not wanting to die a coward's death, and pray for a chance to survive. The Basilisk's head gets within five inches of mine, and I can feel its imposing presence closing in on me.

I expect death in an instant, but, instead, I hear something. Just a quite whisper.

"I won't hurt you… I won't let him kill you."

I would recognize that Paseltongue anywhere. The Basilisk that Tom sent to kill me is none other than my dear Basilisky. In a small part of myself, I'm furious with her for siding with Riddle, even if it was for only a short time, but there's always a chance that she didn't do anything willingly.

"Kill him!" Riddle yells from the other side of the Basilisky.

In a flash of a second, Basilisky's head strikes down, and her fangs catch on my robes. She rears up and snaps her head back, effectively chucking me straight over her body to Tom Riddle's feet. I feel betrayed and angry and irate as I fly through the air.

I can't believe that Basilisky would turn on me like this.

That's my last thought before my head smashes into the ground.

My consciousness returns after what only seems like moments, but my head hurts far too much to open my eyes. Around me, the Chamber appears to be in complete silence.

I attempt to move my arm to make sure that my head injury hasn't caused too much damage to myself, and, thankfully, my hand moves like normal. My fingers brush over the fabric of my robes and then hit something solid and smooth. At first, I think it's just the stone ground that I'm lying on, but then I realize what it is.

A Basilisk fang.

Suddenly, Basilisky's actions make sense. She threw me back towards Riddle because she knew that if she got one of the fangs stuck in my robes, I would be given the only possible weapon that can be used to destroy this figment of Tom Riddle.

Through squinted, barely opened eyes, I look above me. Sure enough, Riddle is crouched by my head, smiling down at me with evil conviction.

"Finally, I've won!" he says loudly. "Lord Voldemort could never be defeated by a small, ignorant boy such as Harry Potter. He will fall, at long last, at the feet of his superior!"

My hand closes imperceptibly around the Basilisk fang caught in my robes.

"Prepare to die, Harry Potter," Riddle says.

I have no idea how he intends to kill me, but I drive the Basilisk fang backwards over my head blindly, and it connects with a solid form.

Tom Riddle lets out a loud, agonized scream, but I don't look back. I jump to my feet and start sprinting in some random direction. My head injury has obviously done something to my vision because everything seems dark around the edges.

My balance seems off, too. It's hard for me to run straight, and I find myself weaving erratically. Objects and people and Basilisks around me come in and out of focus. I see Basilisky. Ginny. Another Basilisk.

Then, a stone snake tail protruding from the wall of the Chamber appears out of nowhere at eyelevel, and my face smashes into it.

I black out once again.

Hermione:

As soon as both Harry and Tom Riddle are down for the count, the Basilisk's lose their allegiance, and they just let me and Ron down like nothing happened. We both hand hard on our knees, gasping for breath, both from panic and the near-strangulation.

"Hermione, bloody hell, what are we supposed to do now?" Ron asks in a breathy voice.

All the Basilisks except Harry's pet slither off into holes in the walls, leaving us completely alone. Since I know we're safe on that account, I take a moment to look around. At the far end of the Chamber, Tom Riddle's memory is lying dead with a Basilisk fang sticking out of his face. A little bit away from him, Ginny's also lying unconscious, but she has a bit more color now than when we first saw her.

Then there's Harry, lying in a crumpled heap by the wall. His pet Basilisk is nudging him with her head, trying to rouse him, but it isn't working.

"We need to get Ginny and Harry to the hospital wing, for one thing," I say.

"But how?" Ron asks. "The last time Harry and I were down here, Fawkes the phoenix had to fly us out."

I struggle to my feet. "Well, how has Harry been getting out of here all those times that he's visited his pet?"

"I don't know," Ron says roughly.

I pause. "Do you think that Basilisky could take us up?" I ask. "Maybe she can slither up walls… It wouldn't surprise me."

Ron looks a little uneasy. "If you want to ask the giant, deadly snake for help, then by all means, ask it to take us out of the Chamber."

"Oh, shut up, Ronald!" I bark, even though the idea of approaching a Basilisk for assistance does make me shiver a little. "You saw how careful she was when she was going at Harry. She shut her eyes, even."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron says. "Let's just go see if Ginny and Harry are okay."

We both start jogging down the Chamber towards our two unconscious friends. Ron veers off towards Ginny, so I decide I may as well ask the Basilisk for help. I walk up towards her side, trying to see as passive and unthreatening as possible.

"Excuse me?" I say awkwardly. What am I thinking? Basilisks don't speak English… but they can hear very well.

I pick up a stray stone by my feet and drop it.

The Basilisk immediately turns its head towards me. I drop my gaze to the floor in a panic, but the giant snake doesn't make any move to attack me.

"Can you take us back up to the castle?" I ask loudly, using motions to show Basilisky what I mean. I point at Harry. I point at her back. I point up.

And, I swear to you, the Basilisk nods when I'm finished.

Ron wanders over to my side, levitating Ginny's body and looking concernedly at the ground. "Ginny's still got a pulse, and I went ahead and got Harry's wand back." He holds out the spare wand and then pockets it.

"Good thinking, Ron," I say. "And I'm pretty sure the Basilisk just agreed to take us up to the castle."

"Oh, bloody hell."

Somehow, I'm not sure how exactly, we get Ginny and Harry out of the Chamber of Secrets and into the hospital wing within the hour. The rest of the day is spent in a mass panic as Professor Dumbledore and all the other teachers try to figure what happened. Ron and I do our best to describe the event, but it sounds incredibly strange coming out of our mouths.

Mostly, the teachers are astounded that a Basilisk would help save Harry.

Except Hagrid. He's very excited that Harry has found a pet.

Harry:

My eyes flicker open, and I'm no longer in the Chamber of Secrets. That scares me at first, but I decide that it must be a good thing… As long as this isn't heaven.

The light pouring into my eyes is blinding for a couple seconds, and I start to get concerned that it's the light of God, but then Hermione's face comes into focus, and I recognize the rest of the room as the hospital wing.

"Harry!" Hermione says excitedly. "Oh thank god, you're alright!"

"What happened?" I ask groggily.

Hermione's eyes grow concerned. "You ran into a stone snake tail coming out of the wall."

I sigh. "I know that. I meant, what happened after that?"

"Oh, after the Basilisks saw that you and Tom Riddle were both down, they sort of just let me and Ron go. Somehow, we got Basilisky to agree to carry us out of the Chamber. We got you and Ginny up here to the hospital wing immediately."

"How is Ginny?" I ask hurriedly.

"Oh, she's alright now," I say. "She and Ron left for the Burrow yesterday for their holiday. I'm sure Ginny's still a little freaked out since this all happened again…"

"Yeah," I reply. I totally understand. "I guess none of us will ever pick up any mysterious books ever again."

Hermione cracks a little smile. "I guess not," she chuckles.

Madame Pompfrey lets me go after she does a final check on me, and Hermione and I wander down to the Great Hall to get something to eat, since I haven't eaten anything in the couple days I've been unconscious.

"You know, Harry, I'm sorry for how I treated Basilisky at first," Hermione says to me as we walk. "She really does care about you, and she pretty much saved the day."

I smile. It feels good to know that finally someone cares for Basilisky besides me. Everyone's so prejudiced against Basilisks, but they're actually really loyal and protective. I'm glad Hermione can see that now.

"Maybe after you eat we should go down to the Chamber and thank her properly," Hermione suggests.

"That sounds awesome," I reply.

A/N: So, what did you think of this chapter?