Halloween the next year didn't go as planned. They were just setting up the party when Fawkes flashed in with a note and gave it to James. Everyone was on pins and needles watching as he read. A sigh of relief didn't relieve the others though.
"What is it?" Lily was still wringing her hands.
"The Chamber of secrets has been opened. He wants Sirius, Remus and I to come help him look for it." James said thoughtfully, "No one was hurt just a message on the wall."
"Has it really opened?" Remus asked.
"He isn't sure but he's not willing to take any chances." James ran a hand through his hair roughly, "Says it happen once fifty years ago and someone died that time."
"Can I come with you and help?" Harry asked.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Lily started, "There are still a lot of kids whose parents were death eaters."
"I know. But I can go as Stripes." Harry argued, "None of them know about him and I can protect myself pretty well in that form, even from wizards."
"Why go as your animagus form?" Ted asked.
"Maybe I can smell something. They shouldn't use their forms since no one knows they have them, but I could be a pet. Not even Albus can see through the animagus transformation." Harry pointed out.
"I don't see why you can't go as Stripes." James gave in, he hated not letting Harry go places and do things, "Under no circumstances should you ever leave that form though."
Lily began to argue but Harry's shout for joy made her stop, "You be careful and listen to your dad and Remus."
"He can listen to me too I want him to stay safe as much as anyone." Sirius huffed.
"Alright, you can listen to Sirius as long as he doesn't suggest something stupid or dangerous." Lily conceded.
"I'll be very careful and never leave my animagus form unless one of the three of them tells me to." Harry agreed readily.
"If you see any death eater don't go near them." Lily instructed.
"There shouldn't be any out and about." James pointed out, "Remember, when they caught Peter they gave him veritiserum. He admitted to kidnapping Harry and giving him to Voldemort who in turn gave him to Bellatrix. His forces are all on the run or in Azkaban. He's a bit low in powerful followers right now. All the kids in Hogwarts that are children of hiding or arrested death eaters aren't allowed to go home."
"They can't see their parents?" Harry asked horrified.
"They and their unmarked parent can stay in a safe house during holidays. The ministry says it is doing it for their protection. I don't think that's all though. I think their doing it in hopes that the fugitive will try to visit them and can be caught." James explained, "It is keeping them out of Voldemorts hands though. Some of the older ones would be drafted in their parents place if they could leave."
"They are still doing raids though." Harry shuddered, "Hiding doesn't stop those."
"No but there have been less of them." James grinned.
James made the portkey and the three men and one tiger were whisked away. They landed not far from the shrieking shack but still outside Hogwarts wards. They hadn't wanted to transport a tiger into the village and cause mass hysteria. Walking in would be ok but just appearing wouldn't have been good no matter how much Sirius wanted to do it. They still decided to skirt the village and go right to the gates of Hogwarts where they met Albus Dumbledore.
"May I ask why you have a tiger with you?" he asked before opening the gates.
"He is here to help." James shrugged, "He's Harry's pet, completely tame."
"The children are all in their common rooms. We sent them there after the sighting." Albus sighed looking older than he had for some time.
They began to walk toward the castle until the Tiger stopped and nearly pulled Sirius off his feet, "Oof, Stripes what's the matter?"
The tiger shivered for a moment before James understood, "Oh, he's cold. I'll just put a warming charm on you then."
One warming charm later and the tiger was purring as they walked towards the school. While they walked they began to discuss the problem.
"Argus entered the hall during dinner calling for punishment for whoever killed his cat. I looked her over and she's not dead merely petrified. I asked him to show me where he found her. It's on the second floor outside the girl's bathroom. There was a lot of water on the floor and the words on the wall." Albus explained, "It is still on the wall so you can read it, we thought it would be better not to touched the scene."
"Good, it is best to have all the evidence intact." James stated, "You said it had been opened before and a girl died. Who was she?"
"Myrtle Pendleton." Albus would never forget her name, she had been his student.
"Any family left?" James asked.
"No she was muggleborn." Albus frowned.
James and Sirius studied the area when they arrived. Water covered the floor and the hateful words were painted on the wall. Remus sniffed for a moment, "That's not paint."
Stripes was growling as well when Sirius asked, "Human or animal?"
"Animal." Remus sniffed, "There is something else too but I'm not sure what it is."
"Look at these spiders." James called from by the wall, "Have you ever seen spiders act this way?"
Sirius tried to go look but only took two steps before the leash on Harry pulled him back. The others were gathered by the window watching spiders leave through a crack in the wall. A steady line of the insects were leaving the castle at a rather quick pace.
"Stripes what are you doing?" Sirius asked as he was pulled towards the girl's bathroom, "Don't go in there."
James looked up in time to see Harry pull Sirius into the girl's loo, "What are you two doing?"
"I'm being pulled here." Sirius yelled back.
The three left followed through the door to see Stripes sniffing at the sink. More water on the floor meant that they couldn't see any tracks on the floor if this is where the perpetrator went. Sirius suddenly pulled up when he heard a giggle.
"Oh no." he whispered, "Myrtle's toilet."
"She always did have a crush on you." Remus snickered. The tiger stopped sniffing and looked at Remus with an odd expression so he explained, "Moaning Myrtle is a ghost who haunts the bathrooms. She likes to spy on the boys and she developed a crush on Sirius while we were here."
"Hush she'll hear you." Sirius tried to hide behind Remus, "She always comes if she hears my name."
"Hello Sirius." Came a giggle from the toilet on the right.
"Hello Myrtle." Sirius sighed in defeat.
"Long time no see." She giggled again.
"Well, I've been out of Hogwarts now for a few years." He replied, "How are you doing?"
"Simply horrible." She snickered as she floated from the toilet, "No one wants to come to my toilet any longer."
"Gee I wonder why." Sirius grumbled.
"I don't know." She said perplexed, "They used to come by and throw things at me for points. Anymore though I only get to visit with my friend Hermione."
Stripes tilted his nose up to the ghost and then looked at Sirius. Sirius looked confused so he asked, "James what is Stripes wanting? Surely he knows he can't smell a ghost."
James looked up and saw Harry looking pointedly at the ghost and then at him. Shrugging he walked over, "Myrtle, have you seen anything odd tonight?"
"Well I heard a scary noise over by the sink earlier. I wanted to chase off whoever it was so I flooded my toilet." She stated.
"What kind of noise?" he asked.
"Grinding like stone on stone and then hissing. It sounds so much like the night I died that it scared me." She shivered.
"Albus, this isn't Myrtle Pendleton is it?" Remus asked.
"Yes it is." He nodded not understanding where this was leading.
"How did you die?" Sirius asked.
When she finished explaining Remus sat thoughtful for a moment before gasping, "It's a basilisk."
"What?" James turned to him horrified.
"It has big yellow eyes that kill and it hisses. Mrs. Norris got petrified because she likely only saw the reflection in the water." Remus explained, "Spiders flee before it and the crow of a cockerel will kill it. Where the school roosters killed last time?"
"They were." Albus nodded in shock, wondering why he hadn't figured this out, "The Chamber is said to hold Slytherin's monster so that would fit."
"But it would have to be a thousand years old." Sirius gaped at the rest of them.
"It's very possible." Remus shrugged, "They can live that long."
"So where is the Chamber then?" Sirius asked.
"The sink." James answered moving to look it over.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"That would work." Remus moved with him, "If we pull the whole thing out of the way we should be able to follow its path."
"So you think the chamber is under the school?" Albus asked.
"Slytherin common rooms are in the dungeon so it could be true." Remus answered.
"It makes good sense." James agreed still examining the sink, "Where else could you hide a huge snake."
"How huge are we talking here?" Sirius asked.
"With a thousand year old basilisk we could be talking around fifty feet long and as big around as a tree." Remus was the magical creature expert in the group. Actually he was the expert on anything unusual he loved to study the uncommon.
"Will the spell to mimic a cockerel work or do we need the animal?" James asked.
"We need a real one." Remus rubbed his chin, "Do you have any live ones Albus?"
"Better get that lined up first then." James sighed, "Now all we need to figure out is who opened it and how they did it. Anyone you know to be the heir of Slytherin?"
"The only one I know is Voldemort." Albus answered, "But he can't have gotten into the school. He would have let the snake run loose."
"What would set the heir of Slytherin apart from anyone else?" Sirius asked.
"A fan of freaking huge snakes?" James asked.
"Well." Albus looked thoughtful, "Slytherin could speak to snakes."
"What are we going to do? Should we try to blast the sink?" Sirius asked after they had stood in thought for several minutes.
"No I don't think that will be necessary." James said, "I think we could simply put a ward around it that would keep the snake in the bathroom and not allow it out into the school. We could keep it and the culprit contained and then bring the cockerel back and shove it in the room first."
"We can put the rune trap close to the door. Then when the snake crosses over the trap it fires up the ward and we got us a snake." Sirius stated, "Anyone until the snake will be able to cross with no trouble."
"I'll need to keep one of the cockerels out of the pens." Albus sighed, "Otherwise whenever we need one it will be dead."
"Right we'll start on this part, Remus and Stripes can accompany you to the chickens." James said as Sirius handed the leash over to Remus.
A few hours later they were in the Headmasters office discussing what to do next. Sirius was adamant, "We need to be here on hand."
"A portkey back would only take a few moments." James argued.
"But that's to Hogsmeade. We still need to make our way to the school. Who know what can happen in that amount of time. The wards won't last very long if it is bigger than we think it is." Sirius pointed out as he paced in front of the fire, "Just think if any students get caught in there with them."
"Good point." James conceded, "I'll just take Stripes home and bring Lily and Harry back. I don't want to be away from them for months."
"Why don't we just run in shifts?" Remus suggested, "If we add the others we can come by for a few hours each day and we won't be stuck here hiding in a room."
"That would be a lot of portkey activity." James shook his head, "How about groups of two come for a few days and then switch out."
"Kingsley and Moody could probably help too." Albus offered.
"Remus and I will start." Sirius instructed them, "You go ahead and take Stripes home before Lily has a fit."
"Good idea." James agreed and stood, "I'll return in a few days with Lily.
James and Harry left the tower and headed back out of the school. In no time at all they were back on the island and discussing the issue with the rest of the group.
"I don't think you could do anything else." Ted agreed, "But I think your guess of it's size is on the small side."
"How big are you thinking?" Lily asked.
"Well I don't know what kind of a tree that Remus was talking about but when I think of a tree I think maybe a meter in diameter. But this thing is going to be more like two meters." Ted explained, "Fifty to seventy five feet long is my guess."
"That would still fit through that opening." Harry offered, "If it takes up the whole area under the sink and it was between two to three meters.
"I'll go with you next time to look over the space." Ted volunteered.
Indeed it was Ted, James, Lily and Harry who returned to the school a few days later. Albus had another idea to help speed up the transition from the island to the school. James made a portkey that took them to Grimmauld place and then they took the floo to the Headmaster's office. The three of them had gathered with Sirius and Remus in their quarters and were catching up when the alarm when off. Remus grabbed the caged cockerel and followed the others to the bathroom.
When they reached the bathroom Sirius levitated the cockerel to the doorway and Remus performed a lumos spell. The cock crowed followed by a wail of some sort from the bathroom. Much hissing a flailing followed and Sirius volunteered to peek into the room with a mirror when it got quiet. Before he could take two steps a person stumbled to the doorway and collapsed on the floor. Wands at the ready the six of the approached the body and noted it was still breathing. A young red headed girl rolled over and groaned as they approached.
By this time Albus had arrived and was approaching from the other side, "That is Ms. Weasley, a first year Gryffindor."
"She shouldn't be capable of anything like this." Sirius stated.
Remus left the group and used the mirror to look into the bathroom, "It's dead. Ted you were right on its size."
Sirius waved his wand and dispelled the wards. Albus and Lily crouched by the girl as they woke her up. James, Ted and Harry stayed back with Sirius and kept watch with their wands ready.
Ginny opened her eyes to see Albus and they helped her sit up, "Professor?"
"What have you got there?" Albus asked reaching for a black book she had in her hands.
"Its my diary." She held it close to her chest.
"May I see it?" he asked.
"No." Ginny turned her back on the professor protecting the book with her body.
"I need to see it I think it has some dark magic on it." Albus stated, "I can feel it from here."
"No its mine and I won't give it up." She shuffled away from the adults and closer to the huge dead snake.
Harry finally moved forward and shooed the adults back. He sat just at the edge of the doorway and spoke, "Hi, my name is Harry, what's yours?"
She turned slightly and glanced at him and then the adults which were farther away. Uncurling she turned more towards the boy, "Ginny."
"Why don't you want anyone to see your diary?" he asked.
"I wrote things in it. Tom promised never to tell but I'm not sure he won't." she glanced back at the adults.
"Who is Tom?" he prodded.
"He's my friend." She smiled slightly and held up the book, "I write my problems and he gives me advice. It's always been very good advice."
"Can you show me how it works?" he was genuinely curious.
She grinned at him and grabbed her backpack that was just off the side of the door. Opening the book and putting the quill to the paper she said, "I'll just write something simple ok?"
"Ok." He agreed and moved to sit beside her so he could see.
She wrote, "Hi Tom it's me Ginny."
It replied, "Hi Ginny, how are you today?"
"Ok." She said, "But I've only got a minute to talk. I want to introduce you to my friend Harry."
"Hello Harry." It wrote.
"Wow." Harry looked up at his father, "Dad this is weird. She writes and the ink disappears and then other words appear in reply and then that ink disappears. This isn't like your parchment."
"What's his parchment like?" Ginny asked.
"If you know the password it will tell you a secret. If you don't know it, it insults you." Harry explained, "It is fun, but this is different. He looked down at the book, "Look it's writing again. It's asking if she's ok."
"See Tom is really nice." She grinned, "He isn't mean like your parchment."
"The parchment is only made to do one thing." He explained, "It can only show the one secret. If you ask for other things it can't answer because there is no awareness to it. This book either has a duplicate and someone is at the other end writing back to you or its extremely dark magic."
"The other end?" she asked.
"Like the floo." He stated, "You talk in here and someone at the other end can talk back. The problem with that is you don't know who else is listening or reading in this case. If you let the Headmaster look it over he'll be able to tell you which case it is."
She shut the book and tried to hand it off to Harry but stopped, "I want to give it to you but at the same time I don't want to."
"That sounds like a compulsion charm." He nodded, "That charm makes you think you want to or don't want to do something."
"So how do I combat that?" she asked, "I really want to know what spell is on it."
Harry reached forward quickly and snatched it out of her hands and tossed it to his dad, "Like that."
"I know you did the right thing but I really want to hit you right now." She grimaced.
"Just remember I did that to help you." He leaned away, "I don't want you hurt so I gave it to him to check. He'll give it back if there isn't anything wrong with it."
"Hurry." She frowned, "I really want that back."
Harry pulled her into a hug and began chatting softly trying to distract her. It worked until Sirius raced past them and into the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Ginny yelled trying to pull away from Harry but he wouldn't let go, "Stop it."
Sirius moved to the head of the snake and found its mouth gaping. He brought the book down onto one of the fangs and shoved it right through the book. Ginny fainted in Harry's arms.
"What was that?" Harry asked.
Sirius answered before anyone could stop him, "Horcrux."
"Sirius!" Lily yelled trying to stop him from telling Harry about them.
"Soul anchor and basilisk venom is one of the few ways to destroy it." Harry nodded, "Bellatrix taught me about those when I was eleven. It was one of the last lessons before I ran away. All the lessons from my birthday until I ran away were about dark rituals. Performing some of them was going to start after September first."
"But not that one." Lily was just making sure.
"No not that one, I was supposed to die trying to kill Professor Dumbledore." He answered, "I doubt she knows Voldemort has done that one. I doubt any of them know."
"Do you think she'd leave the death eaters if she knew?" James asked.
"No." he scoffed, "Anything he decides to do is brilliant and innovative."
"You all better go." Albus said picking up Ginny from Harry, "I'm going to have Severus dismantle the basilisk."
"Are you keeping some of the venom?" Harry asked.
"I wasn't planning on it." Albus glanced down at the boy.
"What if he made more than one?" Harry asked, "I mean if I had a soul anchor I wouldn't risk it by putting it in your school. I would keep it hidden and safe from harm."
"But no one has ever made more than one." Sirius argued, "Is it even possible?"
"We always have said he was the worst dark wizard ever." Ted shrugged, "Maybe he's more evil because he's less human."
"That makes horrible sense." James shuddered, "Keep some venom."
"I will." Albus agreed, "I hope to see you soon. I'll investigate this possibility."
"No you worry about your school." Sirius shook his head, "Let us worry about investigations. We are the professionals."
"Horace Slughorn was his head of house and his first job was at Borgan and Burkes." Albus informed them as he turned to go to the hospital. He was sure they wouldn't find any more.