A/N: Hi, everybody! (Now say, 'Hi, Fullmetal Wetback!) In today's update, we follow young Harry into the depths of the school, where he and Morpheus will face off against Tom Riddle at sixteen and his pet basilisk. And that's...pretty much it.
Riotstarter1214: Thank you kindly!
Kyuubi-sama: I'm glad you lke it!
ceo55: Y'know, I almost feel bad for the poor blonde bastard…but then almost only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades. Lol.
Winchester Squishy: The twins are dope as fuck. 'Member in the last book in the beginning, when Snape blasts off George's ear, and he's all like, "I feel saint-like (holey). I swear to God, I was in my room, literally rolling on the floor laughing for at least five minutes straight. Freakin' the twins, man…freakin' the twins.
lego-king: The only reason I'm updating this so quickly is because I've gotten up until about next chapter already written out, and the rest is…well, the rest is not written out. But anyway, I haven't actually decided whether or not Harry will have a Horcrux in his brain, but you've given me something to think about. Thank you!
Amber-Says-Go-Die: If I had a penname like you, it'd probably be something like, Ricky-Says-Go-Fuck-Yourself, since that's pretty much the best comeback in my verbal arsenal… Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and here's the next chapter.
thepassat: Wow, I've never gotten a slow-clap done in my honor. It makes me feel…more adequate. Thanks. Here's a new update for ya.
Naginator: My Harry will be too much of an awesome dude for Fleur to be interested. If anything, he'll probably annoy the living hell out of her until she goes all avian on him and chucks a Gokakyu no Jutsu at him. Heh. Naruto references.
nobother: Thanks, thanks, and your wait's over.
blackroselover: Don't worry, Daph'll get her moment to shine in a few chapters. And I'm glad so many people enjoyed the Draco moment. What a prissy little bitch he is.
timber: That's actually really smart of you to not hold out any hope, 'cause I sure as hell ain't. And trust me when I say that I know what you mean. Flashbacks are sometimes necessary, especially when one has a broken leg. Heh. Hogwarts will basically be somewhat of a base of operations for Harry, and while he won't be a follower of Dumbledore, they will sorta collaborate on the war effort. Though they will butt heads a few times over strategy and stuff. And seriously dude, grow a freakin' funny bone. Really? You'd murder someone for pulling of an epic prank on you? I've had some pretty brutal ones pulled on me, and the only thing you can do is laugh it off and get them back with a prank of your own. Geez, and I thought Buzz Killington was a buzz kill. I can't see the twins as bullies, but I certainly sympathize with your view of the Marauders. I agree that they were most definitely asshole douchebags. Well, Sirius and James were. Peter's a bitch, and Remus…well, he's a werewolf, so no comment there.
Jrf Steel: Thanks again for the review. Harry will indeed be forced into the tournie, but it will be more like jbern's Triwizard in his dope-ass fic called The Lie I've Lived in the sense that it'll have more than three Tasks, and there will be six competitors; two from each school.
bleacher: Thank you kindly!
Dark Fox King: I'm glad I made you laugh, if only for a bit. We're all gonna miss the loveable Snuffles, but what are ya gonna do?
RogueNya: I was actually planning on having Dobby as Harry's elf, and you just solidified my resolve. So you have wished it…so it shall be.
HP-DG-SB: Thanks again for a great review! And thank you for a different reason as well. You sure know how to tell off flamers. Lol. That was an angry rant for the ages. But seriously, it doesn't really matter to me. I read something in a fanfiction author's note that went something like, 'Haters gonna hate, flamers gonna flame.' You can't change someone's mind just by telling them off, and I just figured, if you can't beat 'em, go cry in a lonely corner by yourself for a bit, then quit feeling sorry for yourself and man the fuck up. And, really, I don't give a flying, titty-fucking fuck about foul language, as you can see. Hah. But really, thanks for defending me, and check out this chapter. Have a blast with it.
And that's the end of that chapter…nah, just kidding, here it is.
Disclaimer: Fuck the rights to Harry Potter. Owning a house-hold name is overrated anyways. I don't need your damn billions of dollars.
Chapter 7: In the Shadows of Darkness, I Stand as the Light
20 October, 2003
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
"Hey, Dobby?" Harry said, juggling a few pears casually. He was sitting at a small table in the kitchens, a very serendipitous find he'd come across while wandering the castle with the Marauder's Map.
"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir?" The house-elf was by his side before he even finished the sentence. Since his emancipation from his former master those few weeks ago, Harry had bonded Dobby as his personal elf and hadn't regretted it once. Well, except for that time the little zealot had popped in on him and Susan Bones during a really, really good snogfest in one of the many broom closets the castle had to inform him that Padma Patil was asking for him. That sure wasn't an awkward conversation at all…
"You've been in the castle for nigh on three years now, right?" When Dobby nodded, Harry continued. "Well, in those three years, have you ever found anything that's not on the Marauder's Map?"
Harry had been thinking about revamping the Map since the twins had relinquished their posession of it to him. As of the moment, the map showed all current residents of the castle, the secret passages, and the various incantations and special circumstances to use said passages. It did not, however, depict the lake at all, other than a large, ugly-looking scribble with the words BLACK LAKEwritten in the middle, and he was sure there was a lot going on under that water.
Dobby had looked through the map a few days ago, so he knew what was and wasn't on there. The little elf tapped his chin in a surprisingly human gesture of deep thought, then said, "Well, sir. There is the Come and Go Room, known to wizards as the Room of Requirement."
"Oh, and where might that be?"
"Dobby can show you right now, if you wish, Master Harry Potter, sir," Dobby replied. "Take my hand."
Harry grabbed the long, agile fingers, expecting the cold pull of Apparition. Instead, when he heard the faint pop, he suddenly felt strangely disconnected from everything, including his body. It lasted only for the minutest depiction of time before his reality righted itself, and he recognized, from the painting of Barnabas the Barmy, that they were on the seventh floor of Hogwarts.
"Well, that was different," Harry muttered, flexing his fingers experimentally. He looked around, and when he saw no door or other entrance to a room, he looked at Dobby with a raised eyebrow. "So where is this Room of Requirement?"
"Just wait, Master Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said. Harry watched as the diminutive creature started pacing back and forth along the hallway, eyes shut in consternation. On the third go 'round, Dobby opened his eyes and pointed. "It is there, sir."
Harry looked on as a door seemed to materialize out of the wall across the hall from the portrait of a wizard being bludgeoned by trolls in tutus. Dobby had to jump to reach the handle and opened the door for his master.
Through the door was an almost exact replica of the Gryffindor Common Room, except for the fact that there were no windows. A roaring fire crackled merrily in the massive fireplace, and the lion-head clock ticked on.
"Wow, is this a failed attempt at the Gryffindor Common Room that the founders never bothered to fix?" Harry asked, going around and looking at all the furnishings.
"No, sir," Dobby explained. "The Come and Go Room is a highly magical place, sir. It is a shifting room that changes to fit the needs of the user. To activate its magic, all Master Harry Potter sir needs to do is walk past the portrait three times while thinking of what Master wants the room to be, and on the third pass, the door will appear with the required room within."
"Wow, that's pretty damn brilliant," Harry said. "So, if I really need to bleed the basilisk, this place'll turn into a big bathroom? Or if I'm knackered, it'll change to be a bedroom?"
"Exactly, Master Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said.
"You did great, Dobby, thanks," Harry said, patting the house-elf on the head. Dobby glowed from the praise and practically squealed in delight. "You got any other gems like this you've been hiding from me?"
Dobby opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it. Harry noticed and asked about it. In a halting voice, Dobby said, "Well, sir, there is another place in the castle that Dobby's other Master went many times."
"And you're sure it's not on the Map?"
"Sir," Dobby muttered, uncharacteristically grave. "Nobody but Bad Malfoy has been there in over fifty years. It wouldn't be on Master Harry Potter sir's father's Map."
Harry's mind raced. He'd read Hogwarts: A History a while ago, and he thought about it for a while before saying, "Dobby, you're not talking about the Chamber of Secrets, are you?"
Dobby nodded fervently, unable to tell anything further about his previous master. "Do you know where the entrance is?" Another round of nodding. "Can you take me there?" Once more, the elf's head bobbed up and down. "Well, let's go, then."
"Open up," Harry hissed, and the sink shuddered violently as the transfigurative magic changed it's configuration. The pipe widened, and Harry looked down, trying to see through the darkness that reigned supreme in the hole.
He thought for a while before commanding stairs to appear in Parseltongue. His guesswork paid off as steps of polished black marble started jutting out of the side of the hole, spiraling down into the abyss.
Dobby absolutely refused to go down into the tunnel, so Harry started traipsing down the staircase. After about fifteen minutes of walking with a glowing white orb of light preceding him, Harry gave up and Animated the stairs to move like a Common escalator.
In roughly five minutes, the step he was on reached the bottom of the pipe, where he pumped power into his arcane light. The solar magic grew in size and intensity and rose to about five feet above his head.
Harry found himself in an uneven, oblong antechamber with three tunnels leading away from it. The stonework looked like it was very old, and parts of the walls seemed to be rather hastily done. Each of the tunnels had a distinctive arch that spanned across its entrance, and runes chiseled expertly proclaimed where each tunnel led.
The tunnel on the far right had the most imposing sign above it, proclaiming that at its end lay 'The Basilisk's Chamber.' The center tunnel apparently opened into 'Private Chambers' of some sort, and the last led to the 'Training Grounds.'
He studied the runes above the tunnel to his right. So the monster contained within the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk. This gave Harry several ideas, the most prominent of which was that Morpheus would be a terror on the battlefield with a basilisk morph.
Harry called for Morpheus through their familiar bond, and the metadrake appeared in a flash of flames in his phoenix form.
What are you doing down here? Morpheus asked exasperatedly. The Chamber of bloody Secrets. Do you do this just to raise my blood pressure?
"No, I'm doing this so you can have a basilisk morph," Harry retorted. Morpheus pondered this for a moment, then told Harry to proceed. He stayed in the phoenix body because an immortal firebird was the best battle morph he had against a creature who could kill with its gaze.
The two of them traveled down the tunnel for about a quarter of a mile before reaching another door. Harry was about to command the doors to swing wide for him when his supernaturally enhanced hearing picked up a voice issuing from within.
"...finally, I am powerful enough to escape from the pages of the Horcrux," a clear male voice crowed in exultation. "I'm surprised that Lucius' spawn has such a potent magical core, though. Well, no matter. It's time that Slytherin's monster wreaks havoc in this school again!"
Harry didn't like the sound of that, so a long, drawn-out hiss escaped his lips and the doors burst open as he drew Punitor with one hand and palmed his wandgun in the other. Morpheus soared into the chamber, mirroring Harry far below.
Taking account of his surroundings, Harry found himself in a massive cavern that was held up by dozens of massive pillars with bas-reliefs of every kind of snake imaginable, each with trillion-cut emeralds for eyes. A single pillar in the center of the chamber was easily as thick around as five of the smaller ones, with a single, colossal snake carved around the thing, with runes etched onto the snake's body. At the back of the place was a massive statue of who Harry assumed was Salazar Slytherin, cut from black granite with veins of white stone throughout, but the sculpture was so huge, Harry couldn't make out the face where it hid in the shadows.
"Ah, I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, Potter." The boy from whom the voice came from was handsome, with dark, slightly wavy hair and surprisingly green eyes, though they were much darker than Harry's own emerald irises. He was taller, too, and possibly a few years older. He was wearing robes with the Slytherin crest emblazoned upon them, but Harry didn't recognize him at all, even though he'd acquainted himself with every student in the castle.
What had Harry worried was the pale, blonde-haired body lying prone next to an aged diary that was glowing with a faint, yet sinister reddish light. Malfoy looked worse for wear, and it didn't look like he was getting better, either. In fact, Harry could've sworn that the boy's pallor was getting paler and grayer with each passing second.
He didn't have time to linger on his cousin's poor condition, however. He turned to the other boy, who smiled evenly at him. "Who are you? What have you done to the arrogant ponce?"
The boy's smile widened as he twirled what Harry believed was Malfoy's wand idly. "Me? I am Tom Marvolo Riddle, and the boy's magic is supplementing this form. In fact-" But he had to stop in order to dive out of the way of a Bone-Snapping hex Harry directed at him.
Harry's face was tremulous with rage. "My, you're so volatile, Potter. Didn't your godfather teach you any manners?" laughed the teenager who would become Lord Voldemort. He raised a Mage Shield to stop the next salvo that erupted from Harry's wand. "Oh, and quite powerful, too. It's such a shame that I will have to kill you. You could've made a wonderful lieutenant."
"Fuck you, Moldyshorts," Harry snarled, pissed off that Voldemort's Mage Shield was eating his spells like they were Stunners. After seeing how ineffective his hexes and curses were, Harry changed tactics, Transfiguring some fallen stones into rocky wolves. He left the material as it was in order to preserve his strength. This was going to be a bloody long fight, and if he wasn't cautious, all of his training would have been for naught.
Riddle dispelled his shield and went on the offensive, destroying the wolves before throwing a multicolored barrage of spells at Harry, who could only identify a few, all of which were Darker than a moonless night.
After raising several solid shields, Harry made a run for the big pillar, and Voldemort started slinging heavy curses into it. The column, however, seemed to absorb the magic, and when Riddle stopped, a massive burst of pure magical energy erupted from the mouth of the carved basilisk.
The apparition of the young Voldemort had to dodge out of the way to avoid the huge energy beam, and even then, he still got a few leg burns for his troubles. Howling in frustration, Riddle spat out a quick phrase in Parselmouth.
"Monster of Slytherin, destroy this pathetic child!" Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught a bit of movement, and threw himself to the right. Not a second later, the humongous head of an even more titanic snake crashed into the pillar carved with its image.
The basilisk was easily a hundred yards long and it was thicker around than Harry was tall. It had a fluted crest at the back of its head, and its scales were a muddy greenish color. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he beheld the creature.
"Morpheus, if you want this morph, get it now," he called. He used a tricky little spell that made the lenses of his glasses mirrored, then looked up in time to see a phoenix dive-bomb the great snake. An ear-piercing shriek blasted from the basilisk's mouth as Morpheus gouged the creature's eyes out with its talons to get a good grip on the thing. Rolling his eyes, Harry dispelled the now-useless charm on his glasses.
Morpheus shifted back to metadrake form and attached his suction cups to the basilisk's head. Harry took the time to charge up a Bone-Exploding curse at the snake's midsection, but was disheartened when it merely opened a small, circular cut in its hide. If he was going to kill this thing, he'd have to use Punitor.
After replacing the wandgun, Harry unsheathed his godfather's sword, Ferocia. The weapon was a strange combination of an English broadsword's blade and the hilt and crossguard of a pirate's cutlass and perfectly suited to Sirius' personality; it was a perfect mix of elegance and rougishness. The pommel was a single, massive ruby, and the wire-wrapped handle felt good in his hand.
He was just about to start attacking the monster when his precognitive powers screamed at him to duck. Harry dropped to the ground just in time to avoid a sickly-orange curse that flew over his head, and he turned to Voldemort, whose face was a mask of anger.
"I will end you, boy!" he hissed. "I will end you and destroy any hope for the Light!" Bursts of light shot from Voldemort's borrowed wand faster than Harry could react, and a Bone-Shattering curse turned his femur into so much bony shrapnel the same time some foul curse he didn't recognize struck him in the side. The flesh there immediately screamed in protest as unknown magicks worked their will on his body.
Fighting through the pain, Harry swung both swords in tandem and created a massive, swirling burst of flames that flew at Riddle and struck him a glancing blow on his ribs. The robes there caught flame, and the exposed flesh was burnt and blistered.
So he wasn't immortal. With that thought in mind, Harry dug deep, trying to ignore his ruined leg with the help of a bit of Occlumency, and started casting long-range swordspells, driving the evil wizard back. Meanwhile, Morpheus had changed back to the phoenix and was harrying the basilisk, keeping it occupied.
Streamers of light and magic shot through the gloom of the chamber as Harry and Voldemort traded spells, ribbons of barbed wire and poisonous plague curses mixing with gusts of wind and shieldbreaking cutters and bludgeoners. Harry managed to open a wound on the Dark Tosser's right arm that was resistant to healing magic, then used that moment of hesitation to land a heavy bludgeoner that crushed the wind from Riddle's chest and hurled him into a pillar.
Pivoting on his good leg, Hary swung both swords, with a shouted, "Gatsuuga Tengetsu!" The spell, roughly translated to Heavenly Moon Twin Fang, was one of the most power-draining swordspells in Harry's arsenal. It basically just cut through any and everything that got in its way, including magic-resistant hide.
A silvery burst of light erupted from both blades, slicing through the air in twin scything blasts of energy. They struck the basilisk in tandem and ripped the gigantic snake asunder. The massive trunk slammed into the ground, spraying dark scarlet blood all over as Harry sank to his knees from the drain on his core.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry turned just in time to see a jet of green rushing toward him, faster than he could dodge or raise a solid shield. It can't end like this! he thought angrily. Not now! He crouched to try and leap away when his field of vision was filled with red plumage before it burst into flames.
"Morpheus!" Harry yelled, shocked. The metadrake had dove in front of the spell just inches from him and was now only so much ash on the floor. Bloody rage filled Harry to the brim as he whirled to face the man, then stopped when a thought struck him. He mentioned a Horcrux, so that means his body might not be permanent. He's still siphoning off energy from Malfoy.
As Voldemort restarted the duel with some heavy-hitters, Harry dive-rolled closer to Draco, whose chest was rising and falling less frequently now, and swiped Punitor against the ground in the direction of his foe.
The earth split in a straight line, heading directly at Riddle. The tremor traveled faster than Voldemort could react, and the elemental magic burst upward, pushing the Dark Lord back and sending him to the floor.
Harry grabbed the diary and grimaced. Immediately upon contact, a darkness began hammering on his Occlumency shields, trying to attack his mind. Gritting his teeth, he tossed the book up, raised his wandgun, and cast one of the most destructive spells he knew: Fiendfyre.
The Dark Flames curse was part elemental magic, part Animation, and part Transfiguration. In essence, it created an amorphous, sentient gout of flames that continued its existence until either the spell was canceled or the caster perished.
Harry felt a huge drain on his magic as a wolf made of angry red flames burst forth from his wand and struck the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle. Just as the lupine fire began changing shape, becoming something larger and with wings, Harry yanked away the thread of magic that connected the Fiendfyre with his magical core, and the fire dissipated, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the floor.
An unearthly wail filled the cavern as the Tom Riddle-wraith clutched his head and fell to his knees, rents appearing in his skin that glowed with the same light that the diary had exuded. He raised Draco's wand and opened his mouth, but then the shade burst apart into tiny beads of light that faded to nothing.
Panting, Harry assessed the damages, cutting open his trouser leg and grimacing at the hunk of raw, bloody flesh that had once been his thigh. After running a diagnostic charm on it, Harry decided that this was way beyond his abilities to heal, and Vanished all the bone fragments that poked out of the decimated body part before wrapping it in Conjured gauze and Immobilizing it.
Then, he lifted his robes and received a shock. The skin where Voldemort's spell had hit was black and painful, and the worst part was that the affected area was growing rapidly. So far, he had a dark blotchy mark the size of his hand on his side that ached and burned and stung like nobody's business whenever he made the slightest move.
Grunting, Harry started to crawl towards Malfoy, whose visage was becoming less sickly, but the pain became too great, and he cried out in a mix of anger, frustration, and agony. "Motherfucking cock-sucker!"
He lay on the cold stone floor, trying to muster up enough strength to push himself up again. The pestilence that Voldemort had stricken him with became more painful with each tick of his watch, and the shattered bone in his leg wasn't making things any easier.
You know, it would be easier with a bit of phoenix tears, a familiar voice said as something wet splashed onto the infected area of his torso. Instantly, the pain lessened considerably, and Harry raised his head to find the dark, intelligent eyes of an immortal firebird staring back.
"Morpheus! What-how?" Harry stammered, unable to comprehend for a few seconds as his brain dealt simultaneously with the pain and this pleasant surprise. "I saw you get hit by the Big Green. You died!"
And what happens to a phoenix when it dies? asked Morpheus, obviously sarcastic.
Harry frowned at his familiar's tone, but answered anyway. "They're reborn as a chick. And since you acquired Fawkes while he was in his adult form, you changed into your original form, then transformed again into a mature phoenix, and now you're here."
Correct, Mr. Potter, came the reply. After several more teardrops, it became clear that even their healing properties weren't enough to get rid of the pestilence on his side. After making a quick change into the blink dog, Morpheus offered one of his overly-large ears. What's say we blow this joint?
"My thoughts exactly," Harry said, looking over at Malfoy's unconscious form. "Think we should take him, too?"
Morpheus shrugged. I suppose so. Grab onto him so I can blink us into the infirmary. Morpheus moved them closer to Draco, and Harry looped his arm around his cousin's torso, grabbing up his fallen wand before his familiar teleported them ten stories up and into the hospital wing.
"One down, six to go," Harry told Dumbledore with a grin after he told the aging headmaster about his encounter with Voldemort's Horcrux.
"An admirable summation of today's events, I think," Albus replied with a twinkling of his eyes. The boy was doing far better than he could have hoped. The two had viewed the battle in the hospital wing in Dumbledore's pensieve after Pomfrey had fixed up Harry's wounds and put his leg in a thick cast he'd have to wear for a few days.
"Once again, I must admit to being thoroughly impressed by your abilities and the courage it must have taken to face the Dark Lord. Twice already you have thwarted him, and still you are only a teenager."
"One thing I wanted to point out, though," Harry said. "The Riddle-wraith knew about Sirius. How is that possible, when the Horcrux was probably made long before Padfoot was even a twinkle in someone's eye."
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I caught that as well. My only theory that could explain such a phenomenon is that the soul fragments, while separate, are connected by some twisted bond through which information passes. I don't doubt that Voldemort will know of the destruction of this Horcrux by now."
They lapsed into a contemplative silence during which each was lost in their own thoughts. Then, Harry said, "I want to explore the Chamber more thoroughly."
"I thought you might. From your memory, I saw that legend was correct in assuming that there was a fourth master runic array hidden within the castle."
"Yeah, the big pillar in the middle of the basilisk chamber," Harry agreed. "But I wanted to see what those private chambers are, as well as the training grounds. If they're suitable, I might be able to use the training grounds to play catch up with Voldemort."
His hand clenched around the bedsheet, and he frowned. "That Horcrux was only a fraction of his full power, and I was barely able to match him. Hell, if I hadn't thought to destroy the soul's container, I might not have survived." He looked up into Dumbledore's eyes. "We have to start preparing for the worst, Headmaster. For me, that means training like nobody's business, and I intend to do just that."
"Your determination is commendable, Harry," Dumbledore said, smiling. "If you need any assistance at all, you know where to find me. Now, if you will excuse me, I have things that need to be done. You have given me much to ponder, Harry. Heal swiftly, my boy."
After Dumbledore left, Harry begged a pain potion from Madam Pomfrey and then headed off to the third floor girl's bathroom, Levitating himself down the hallway, legs crossed and hands behind his head.
"That lazy, eh, Potter?" came a familiar voice. Harry grinned as he opened his eyes and saw Daphne Greengrass, who had become one of his best friends at the castle in the short time he'd been here.
"Gotta stay off my foot," Harry replied. "Healer's orders."
"What happened to you?" Daphne said, glancing at the cast. "Was it that trick step on the staircase off of the Great Hall?"
"No, it was a Bone-Shattering Hex in the Chamber of Secrets," Harry replied softly. Daphne started to laugh until she realized that he was serious.
"Are you off your rocker?" she asked. "Nobody's ever found the Chamber, let alone dueled in it." She looked at him suspiciously. "You're not on pain potions, are you?"
"That's not the point," Harry said, knowing that she'd catch him in the lie he would've told to anyone else. "If you'd like, I can take you down there. I was heading there anyway."
Looking skeptical, Daphne said, "I'd like to see for myself what you call the Chamber of Secrets. You sure it's not just an old broom closet?"
Harry laughed. Her wit was one of the things that he liked about Daphne. "Keep telling yourself that, oh ye of little faith."
So they made their way down to the third floor, Daphne walking and Harry floating. After Harry had started going between the House tables to befriend the Slytherins, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws, it was more common now to see students of different Houses walking down the halls now than it was before he'd come to Hogwarts.
When Harry stopped in front of the girl's loo, Daphne raised an eyebrow. "The Chamber of Secrets is in Moaning Myrtle's water closet, is it?" She snorted loudly. "Are you sure that you didn't just fall down the stairs and aren't trying to impress me with this whole Chamber of Secrets facade?"
"I'm completely serious," Harry said. "Watch." He went into the bathroom and up to the sink with the little snake carved into it. "Open." A smile appeared on his face as he watched the astonishment in Daphne's expression as the tunnel appeared. "Escalator." As the black steps appeared, Harry held out a hand to her and said, "Are you coming, or what?"
A/N: So there's the seventh chapter of this story. It's actually coming along a lot better than I thought it would be. So in the couple of weeks that Harry's been in the castle, he's gone on a rampage with the females in the student body. I didn't really want to go into it in depth, but it's good for a laugh or two later on in the story, and we'll leave it at that. Later days, all.