Here We Go

Remus and Sirius were having tea in Sirius' quarters when Harry burst into the room. Remus joggled his cup, spilling a bit of the hot liquid on his hands. While it actually caused Sirius to smile for the first time that day, the look on Harry's face immediately got the two Marauders' attention.

"Harry?" asked Sirius as he quickly stood.

"Someone has the diary and the basilisk is out of the Chamber. I heard it through the walls."

"Shit," said Sirius.

Remus closed his eyes for a moment and wiped his hand off on his robe.

"Come on," said Harry, motioning the two of them to follow.

Harry conjured three mirrors and with wands out, the three wizards cautiously made their way through the castle towards the great hall, peering around corners with their mirrors. They saw no one between Sirius' quarters and the great hall, and Harry informed them that he couldn't hear the anything to indicate that the basilisk was nearby. Still wary, they didn't let their guard down until they could hear the murmur of the hundreds of witches and wizards inside the great hall.

Harry stopped them before they could enter. "Listen, Sirius, I need you to go find the Weasley twins. They have the Marauder's map. We can figure out if anyone is hanging around Myrtle's bathroom and if there are any students still outside the great hall. Okay?"

Sirius with a purpose had a different look from the man who had tried to drink himself into oblivion earlier that morning.

"Right," he said with determination and walked into the great hall.

"Remus, Bill and Rock are on the way. Can you meet them at the gate?"

"Sure. What about Kingsley and Tonks?"

"They should be here soon, too."

"Are we going to raid Malfoy Manor?" asked Remus.

"Don't know yet," answered Harry. "Obviously Malfoy is in contact with Voldemort. I can't think of any other reason why the diary is already here."

"Okay," Remus seemed to withdraw into himself for a moment before regaining control. "Okay, be careful, Harry."

"Will do. Now go!" said Harry. "They'll be here soon."

Remus nodded and hurried out the main entrance. Harry turned and steadied himself, readying for the pandemonium he knew the next few minutes would bring.

As Harry entered the great hall, Sirius had just reached Fred and George.

"Hey guys, I need to talk to you about the Marauder's Map. Do you have it with you?"

The twins shared an unreadable look before responding.

"What's that, Professor Black?" said one. Sirius couldn't be bothered trying to tell them apart at the moment.

"For now you can call me Padfoot, boys. It's extremely important that we know the location of everyone in the castle. Do you have the map on you right now?"

Both redheads had frozen at hearing the name of one of their heros. One of them twitched at the realization that Padfoot was not only the assistant Transfiguration professor that they had been learning from for the past two months but also the man who had spent more than a little time in their own house over the last year.

"You're Padfoot?" asked the twin who had twitched.

"I am," answered Sirius, unable to keep a smug grin off his face. "And if you don't believe me, you can ask Professor Lupin. Or Moony, if you prefer?"

The stunned, open mouthed stares he was receiving almost made Sirius forget about the immediate danger of a sixty foot basilisk rampaging through the school. He forced the smile from his face and repeated his request for the map.

The twin who had twitched began to rifle through his robes before pulling out a slightly discolored parchment and handing it over. Sirius thanked them and hurried to the staff table and sitting next to Minerva, whose lips were tight enough to resemble a lizard more than her cat animagus form.

"Is everyone here?" Sirius asked her.

She nodded, taking her eyes off of Albus, who was informing the other three heads of house of the basilisk threat. "All of the students are accounted for now that Harry is here," she said, nodding in Harry's direction as he took his seat next to Ron and across from Hermione and Neville.

"What about staff?"

"Remus is not present," she started but was interrupted by Sirius.

"He's gone to meet Bill and Rock, and then Kingsley and Tonks at the gate."

Minerva nodded in acknowledgment and continued. "Professor Vector, Filch and Hagrid have not arrived yet. Sybil is in her tower, as usual. The house ghosts have checked in to confirm that there is no one left in any of the common rooms. Poppy says that there are no students in the infirmary." She paused for a moment, doing her best to control the fear. "Why is this happening now? In Harry's past..."

Sirius shook his head in bewilderment. "I don't know, Minerva. Something isn't right. Harry thinks Voldemort went to Malfoy after Quirrel died, so maybe things are starting to change. We knew they would. No one ever said Voldemort was stupid."

She sighed. "I know, but if anyone gets hurt because of this. We knew. We knew and we didn't do anything to stop it."

"We did everything we could," argued Sirius. "Malfoy Manor is too well protected for us to have just gone in there, wands in hand."

"Sirius, if one of the students gets hurt-"

She didn't have a chance to verbalize the rest of her worries as Albus finished his conversation with Severus, Filius and Pomona and stood to address the students.

"It would please me more than anything to welcome you to yet another Halloween feast at Hogwarts," began Albus. "But unfortunately we have a crisis at Hogwarts this evening. I ask that all of you remain calm and do you best to stay silent until I have finished explaining to you what we will be occurring tonight and what we shall require of you all."

Quiet whispering and muttered conversation followed this introduction and Albus allowed it to continue for several moments before he continued.

"Many of you know or have heard the legend of Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Almost fifty years ago, a monster was set loose within this school, resulting in the death of a student some of you know as 'Moaning Myrtle', the ghost who now inhabits the toilet on the third floor. This monster is in fact one of the few known basilisks in the world."

The great hall erupted in screams and noisy conversations. Harry thought he heard a few people begin to cry. After a few moments, with the noise level continuing to rise, loud bangs erupted from the wands of Sirius, Minerva and Severus simultaneously. Harry couldn't help but smile at the expression on Snape's face as he realized he had had the same idea as the Transfiguration professors.

As silence descended, Albus continued. "Yes, it is quite frightening, but you must remain calm. There is very little danger as long as we remain here together. The Ministry is sending some of its best witches and wizards to assist your extremely capable professors. If any of you have any information related to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, please do not hesitate to speak with any of the professors, prefects or the head boy or head girl.

"Prefects, please see your head of house immediately following the feast. Ah, I see that Professor Lupin has found two of the Ministry workers that have been assigned to assist us in locating and neutralizing the basilisk."

As one, every head in the great hall spun towards the entrance to see Remus, Tonks and Kingsley. The three of them wore faces carved in stone and nodded towards the staff table.

"Now," continued Albus. "I believe you have all waited long enough for the delicious dinner that has been prepared for us." He raised his arms and the four house tables groaned as enough food to easily feed five times as many people appeared. "Please, enjoy. And do your best not to trouble yourselves, too much. This school is one of the safest locations in all of the British Isles. You will all be sleeping here in the great hall for the night after the feast." Albus' face relaxed momentarily. "Oh, and classes are canceled until further notice."

With that final statement, which brought muted cheers from the now more composed students, Albus and Sirius stepped down from the staff table. They exchanged a few quiet words and then Albus headed for a side door and exited the great hall. Sirius strode directly towards Harry and knelt down next to his godson, giving the appearance that he was only comforting a frightened first year who happened to be his godson.

"Harry," he whispered. "Do you have your cloak?"

"You know I always do."

"Right," he continued in a whisper. "Well, I need you to wait until the feast is over and then come meet us in Albus' office. We're probably going to need to go down into the Chamber tonight, alright?"

Harry nodded and tried to avoid Hermione's knowing gaze and Ron and Neville's questioning looks. Sirius patted him on the back, ruffled his hair and walked towards the entrance, leaving with Remus, Tonks and Kingsley.

Seeing that Hermione was about to explode with unasked questions, he turned to his muggle-born friend. "Later, Hermione," he whispered.

She forcibly calmed herself and nodded. Ron looked between the two of them and a look of hurt appeared on his face.

"What the bloody hell is going on, you two? What'd Professor Black say, Harry?"

"Nothing," lied Harry. "He just said he wanted to talk to me after the feast." He could see that answer placated Ron, but Neville seemed somewhat suspicious and Hermione's eyes bulged out so comically that Harry couldn't stop the laugh from escaping his mouth.

The four of them were quickly distracted by the food and Ron's method of eating it, which while improved from Harry's previous universe, was still a sight to see.


Bill and Rock stood above the body of the basilisk's victim in silence. Rock, having been a curse breaker for almost fifty years, had seen his share of witches, wizards and goblins lose their lives. Bill was not quite as experienced, but he had seen some terrible things in the few short years he had been working for Gringotts. Neither of them had been prepared for what greeted them just a few feet from one of the castle's many side entrances. Blood was still flooding from three separate punctures, likely helped along by the anti-coagulation agents in basilisk venom. A suit of armor lay scattered in pieces throughout the corridor. Scorch marks marred the ancient walls. What was left of a pink umbrella stood, inexplicably upright, against the wall next to the body. Some sort of organic matter was dripping from the tip.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight," Bill finally said. Rock merely grunted in agreement while scanning their surroundings with his eyes.

"Harry is going to be devastated," he said to himself. Rock didn't bother responding. Bill sent a patronus messenger to Dumbledore, feeling guilty at how glad he was that he wouldn't have to tell Harry, and sighed with resignation as he waited for someone to come help recover the body.


When Harry entered the headmaster's office and removed his invisibility cloak the looks he received immediately put him on guard. He looked at Sirius first and flinched as his godfather was unable to meet his eye. His stomach tightened up and he shifted his look to Remus, whose own eyes were dangerously shiny. Something inside his stomach seemed to compact itself into an iron snitch that was dragging the rest of him down to the floor. Tonks seemed like she was holding herself back from running to him and attempting to crush him with a hug. Ignoring that, he focused his eyes on Albus who met his look sadly, but with a resolution that only a man with terrible, but ample experience giving bad news could express.

"Who?" asked Harry.

"Rubeus was attacked by the basilisk on his way to the great hall from his hut. I am afraid he did not survive."

The iron snitch in his stomach began to flutter its wings. Apparently it was trying to escape by flying out through his mouth. "He's not petrified?" asked Harry with the last bit of hope he had remaining.

Albus shook his head as Sirius slowly approached Harry and guided him to a chair. "He knew enough about basilisks to not look into its eyes," answered Albus. "I believe he fought back using his umbrella as much as he could before succumbing to three different perforations from the basilisk's fangs. He did, however, succeed in removing one of its eyes."

Harry sat in the chair unmoving as the iron snitch continued its desperate escape attempt. He vaguely sensed that someone was trying to convince him to breath, but they were interrupted as Harry's portion of the Halloween feast splashed onto the floor of the office. He didn't remember beginning to cry, or Kingsley vanishing his vomit. He didn't notice Tonks crying almost as hard as he was, or the few lonely tears dripping into Albus' beard.

Harry was broken from his hysteria by a hard slap to the face from Sirius.

"What?" he snarled at his godfather, who was holding Harry's arms at his sides. He didn't remember taking his wand out, either, but apparently he was angry now.

"Have you got ahold of yourself?" asked Remus, who was standing next to Sirius.

"Yeah, I've got it," responded Harry, wiping tears from his face as Sirius let go of his arms. He conjured himself a handkerchief and then after a moment of thought, sent one to Tonks as well.

"You're still coming with us, right?" confirmed Remus, who looked like he was searching Harry's face for something.

"Yeah," Harry repeated. "When do we do this?"

Albus answered and the five of them gave him their attention. "William and Rock are with Reubus' remains. As soon as we've moved him to the infirmary and the great hall is secured, Minerva and Severus will join us and we shall make our way to the entrance of the Chamber. I believe it would be in all of our best interests if you informed Severus of your unique circumstances before we enter it."

Harry nodded. "Fine. But if he's not going to be able to handle working with me and Sirius, we're going to have to deal with him."

Albus inclined his head in agreement. "I concur. I believe he will be able to put aside his issues, at least for tonight."

"Okay," said Harry. "Tell him to bring some pepper-up potion and any medical potions we might need. It's going to be a rough night."

A brief silence was broken by Sirius.

"We're going to get this bastard, Harry," he said with such ferocity that Harry's lips thinned and quirked upward in a predatory manner matching his godfather's tone. "We'll destroy the diary tonight, and then we're going to go get that cup and end this."

The instant nods of agreement from everyone in the room caused the iron snitch in his stomach to relax into something closer to wood. "Damn right, Sirius. Let's end this. No one else deserves to die because of that bastard. I'm ready."


Author's Note: Wow! Two updates in two days! I definitely deserve some reviews, huh? Sorry about Hagrid, but like I've always said...things are going to be very different because of the changes that have been made. The events in the Chamber are obviously going to be different since there will be more than just Harry fighting the basilisk.

Please review. And please go check out my other story, 'Magical Mars'. I'll be updating that one relatively soon, as well.