Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
loginanout, raw666, Hanzo of the Salamander 2.0, Aura Knight-Lyrin, Impstar, Penny is wise, jafr86, thank you for your reviews, folks!
obsessivegirl73, Highvalour, Still Not Dead Yet, I'm not sure which one would be correct, but more sources point to 'Medusa' being the name of the species. I might be mistaken, but bear with me.
Goldrune09, no, it's THE basilisk.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter was not beta-read. Yet.

Also, I'm terribly sorry, but my 'Naruto' inspiration decided to take a vacation, so there will be no updates there for now. Hopefully, not for long.

chapter 22: The Secret of the Chamber

During the next two months, thanks to a great load of homework – which did its purpose of keeping students in the common room – and the lack of any know activity of the 'heir' Harry did no real progress in uncovering the mystery that surrounded the attacks. Daphne and Draconica weren't any more lucky either... The only thing that the trio was sure about – the attack on Hermione and Neville was to silence them: apparently, the bushy-haired witch had (almost) uncovered what and how was attacking the students.

As there were no attack for about two months, the Hogwarts population started relaxing a bit, even though in the past the 'heir' too had taken a 'holiday'... So, maybe, because almost everyone was losing their vigilance, thinking that there will be no attacks now, they started happening again.

On Wednesday, April 21, a fourth year half-blood Hufflepuff Jack Longbow was found petrified on the second floor, just a dozen meters away from where the first attack – the one on Filch's cat – had happened. And like that time, there was a lot of water on the floor. Since this had happened before dinner, by the time the meal had ended, everyone in the school knew about the 'return' of Slytherin's heir.

The security measures were upped once again, but this didn't seem to be doing much as the next morning an enforced prefect patrol – two sixth years, Scott Thomson and Jessica McKinley, the later being a politically neutral pureplood Slytherin, and Astronomy professor Aurora Sinistra – were found on the fourth floor next to an armor suit with a well-polished metal shield.

The news about entire patrol being successfully attacked threw Hogwarts into a panic, and the fact that Dumbledore was put on probation for being unable to resolve the situation wasn't helping any as the headmaster was limited in his powers, while there was no one to assist him there yet. In other words, the school defenses were only crippled... The only thing to brighten up the day was professor Sprout announcing that mandrakes were almost ready and would be harvested in a week.

With Astronomy canceled due to the professor being petrified, Harry had some extra time to think about the whole situation with the attacks and he came to a conclusion that he found a piece of the puzzle he and Draconica and Daphne missed two months ago. But he was not about to act without consulting with the Slytherin witches, just in case he was mistaken about the whole thing.

"You do look quite enthusiastic today, Potter." Daphne said, once the trio was a little bit away from the rest of the second year Gryffindors and Slytherins. "Did you find out what the monster of the Chamber is?"

"Actually no." The green-eyed wizard replied. "But I got an idea that might lead us to that." The witches both raised their eyebrows.

"And what that would be?" Draconica asked, as she was looking at him intently.

"Well... I was thinking about the circumstances of the attack and noticed this: Filch's cat and now Mr. Longbow were found next to puddles of water. Colin Creevy was looking through his camera – which is specular by the way. Thomas White was next to the window during the night. Justing saw whatever attacked him through Nearly Headless Nick. Padma and Amanda Greendale had reflective metal plates scattered at their feet while Hermione and Neville had a mirror and the patrol that was found yesterday morning was next to the polished armor suit..." The scion of the house Potter said.

"Hm... Now that you put it like that... Tracey and John Freeman were like they were looking at his pocket clock... Are you trying to say that none of the victims saw the attacker directly?" The blond witch asked.

"Yes." Harry replied. "That is exactly what I wanted to say: we missed the real monster during our research because we were looking for something that could petrify directly. In our case, it appears, petrifications happened because the attacks weren't at full power thanks to the reflections, or, in Justin's case, ghost's semi-transparent body." The witches nodded, seeing the logic in his theory. "And if I'm correct, the beast from the Chamber is a basilisk. It can be derived from two facts. One: there were no visible damage on either of the victims of the petrification, thus the attacks are either spell based or were in the form of a gaze, and, two, basilisk can kill with their gaze, so it's more than likely that the reflection of it would petrify." The girls nodded again.

"Good God, Potter!" Daphne exclaimed, showing more emotions that usual. "Are you sure you aren't a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw?" She asked. Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Actually, the hat wanted to place me into your house, but found me to be too impatient to be a Slytherin, that's why I'm a Gryffindor." The girls looked at each other not sure what to make out of this revelation.

"I see..." Was Daphne's reply. At this moment Lockhart let the previous group of students to leave his classroom and the second year Gryffindors and Slytherins started filling in... Since the class was reduced in their numbers, Harry chose a now empty seat next to Daphne instead of his usual one: after all they did have a business to discuss, and seeing that their time outside of the common rooms was very limited, they should be using every opportunity now that they had had a clue about what was going on with the attacks...

"OK, so, suppose we are right, and it's a basilisk attacking. It's true that they can live for a very long time, but that also means that they grow really large. For one, I find it doubtful that a giant snake can move through the castle unnoticed." Draconica said.

"Well, I don't know how to answer this question, but I'm sure we can come with some ideas in this hour." The scion of the house Potter replied. "Actually, I might have a clue for that. After Susan's lecture at DS, when I was returning to the tower, I heard a voice in parseltongue. At that moment I thought that it was a mere hallucination, but now I know it was not... The point is, the voice was coming through the wall. Or I think it was."

"But the walls... Aren't they solid?" Daphne asked. Harry shook his head.

"Dunno... I think that a detailed map of Hogwarts would help us greatly, but the only one I know is in possession of the Weasley twins, and I don't see them giving it to us." He said.

"And how the map would help us in solving the mystery of the hisses from inside the walls?" Daphne asked.

"I won't." Was the reply of the green-eyed wizard. "Well, not directly. But with the map, we can see where exactly the attacks had happened, so we might be able to find something in common about them. And that might give us a clue about how the basilisk is moving around." The girls nodded. 'I think I should also tell McGonnagal about the basilisk. While we aren't completely about that, all clues we have are pointing towards that.' The young Potter thought. 'Professors are the ones that are ought to deal with it anyway, so they must know this.'

Later, just after the lesson finished, Harry was confronted by an angry Weasley boy. It looked like Ron was very much against the idea of him working with Slytherin witches...

"You traitorous bastard! How can you talk to those slimy Slytherins!" The redhead yelled. "How... How can you... Betray Gryffindor like that? Betray by associating with those... Those back-stabbing snakes!" This earned him a fist to his stomach... While Harry wasn't particularly strong, Ron didn't have any physical training at all (not even from chores he might be doing at home), so the impact was more then enough to stop him.

"Never badmouth my friends." The scion of the house Potter hissed. "And I do not have to answer you questions about why I am talking to Daphne and Draconica... But I will: they want their revenge on the 'heir' since he had hurt their friend. We have the common goal, and uniting our resources was the optimal solution, given the situation." He made a pause. "I do not wish to talk anymore about this." And he walked away, catching up to the rest of the Gryffindor second years. Not wanting to be left behind in the corridor alone, Ron had to hobble after his classmates as fast as he could...

~/ *** \~

Later that evening, just as she returned from yet another staff meeting, professor McGonnagal found a note on her table. A couple of white owl feathers were a clear indication of who had sent this note, though. Curious, she picked the note up and read it:

Good evening, professor,
I know that you were investigating into what is attacking the Hogwarts population, and I also know that you weren't able to find the answer to that question. While we too aren't completely sure about this, we do believe that the beast is a basilisk.
The gaze of a basilisk is fatal, but it appears that no one had looked into beast's eyes directly: it was either a reflection or through a ghost (which can't die for the second time), thus the cases of petrification... Unfortunately we were unable to find a plausible explanation of how the thousand years old, and, without a question, huge, basilisk is moving undetected. We also don't have any idea of who the heir is, or where the Chamber of Secrets is, but we still believe that our findings will be helpful.

The Scott woman shook her head. Kids these days... Though Harry was right, their findings will be helpful: the staff came to a similar conclusions about the beast from the Chamber, but this was the final proof that they were indeed facing an ancient and very powerful basilisk. And while the note wasn't signed, professor McGonnagal new who exactly wrote it, and who was working on uncovering the secrets of the Chamber.

"Thirty points to Gryffindor for assistance in protecting Hogwarts from the 'heir'. Twenty points to Slytherin..." While the transfiguration professor didn't like Slytherins much – she was a hardcore Gryffindor after all – she was also very fair, and she knew that ms. Malfoy and ms. Greengrass were working with the 'golden trio' to uncover the mysteries that surrounded the attacks. "...for assistance in protecting Hogwarts from the 'heir'." Satisfied with this, she folded the note and headed to the headmaster's office: the staff needed to know that there was indeed a basilisk on the loose in the castle...

~/ *** \~

Meanwhile Harry was having a conversation with the infamous Weasley twins – he knew they had some kind of a map of Hogwarts in their possession. The twins, of course, tried to deny that at first, but then gave in and started asking why he needed the map. The green-eyed Potter truthfully told them that he needed it – well, second, third and fourth floors parts at least – to try to uncover some more mysteries of the infamous Chamber of Secrets.

While the twins didn't want to give the map itself to anyone, they too wanted the situation with the 'heir' resolved in a way that wouldn't have Hogwarts closed. So they agreed to make a partial copy of their map for Harry. Unfortunately, copying even three floors worth of the map will take some time, as the castle wasn't small and the map itself was protected from any copying charms a Hogwarts student might know...

~/ *** \~

On Monday, Harry once again chose to sit with Daphne and Draconica during the DADA lessons. Thankfully, the Weasley twins were able to finish the copy of Hogwarts map for him yesterday evening, so the scion of the house Potter and his ...partners could continue trying to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets...

"I see, you got a map, Potter." The dark-haired witch said. "By I still hardly can see how it will help us understand how the basilisk is moving 'round the castle unnoticed." The green-eyed wizard shook his head.

"Like I said, it won't help us answer that question directly, but..." He pulled a handful of knuts out of his pocket, placing them on the table next to the map. "These will show us where the attacks had happened." He illustrated, while placing the small bronze coins onto the map... And they formed more or less three defined groups, which was a clear indication that there was a pattern there. "What can we say about these places?" He asked as he pointed to the map.

"One group of the attacks happened next to the girls' toilet no one uses because of the ghost haunting it. Another happened near the rarely used boy's toilet. The third group is next to the corridor leading to the currently abandoned part of the castle." Draconica said as she studied the map.

"In other words, none of these three places is commonly visited by teachers or students." Harry concluded. "But there might be another thing in common: I'm not sure, but I don't think there are any portraits at these locations, meaning no one can see the 'heir' and the basilisk." The girls nodded. "And now that you mentioned a ghost... Isn't that so-called moaning Myrtle?"

"Yeah. She's the ghost that haunts girls' toilet on the second floor." The blond witch replied, causing the young Potter to smile a bit.

"And she's the only ghost in the castle that is young enough to be a student at the moment of her death." The girls looked at him, not exactly following his train of thoughts. "If you remember, the Chamber was opened once about fifty years ago. There were several cases of petrification and a single death." Harry picked a sickle and placed it over the 'Myrtle's' bathroom. "I believe that she was that one student that died when the Chamber was opened last time."

"Oh." Both Daphne and Draconica breathed out. Harry's theory seemed to be very plausible. Daphne continued then: "But this still doesn't answer the question about how the basilisk is moving around unnoticed." Harry nodded towards the map.

"Notice that two of the the three locations near which the attacks happened are toilets." He said. He had already deduced this a couple of minutes ago, but he wanted to see whether the girls would come to the similar conclusion or not.

"Pipes." The dark-haired witch said. "There is a huge system of pipes in the castle. Some of those should be big enough to fit a huge snake." She made a small pause. "And the biggest pipes are connected to the toilets... And, of course, these pipes are hidden in the walls or something like that as we can't see them."

"Yes. I think, that's why I was hearing the basilisk hissing coming from the wall." Harry said. "The serpent was moving through the pipe that was in the wall."

"OK... So we know what the monster from the Chamber of Secrets is, and how it petrifies the victims, and how it moves without being noticed. But what about the location of the chamber?" Draconica asked.

"Well... These toilets seem to be the entrances." The green-eyed wizard said, as he was looking at the map in front of them. "I'm not sure which one is used in the abandoned part of the castle, but that seemed to be of little importance as 'Myrtle's' bathroom is the main one."

"Why do you think so?" Daphne asked.

"Remember the writing on the wall?" The young Potter replied. "I takes some time to make it, especially with how resistant to any and all attempts of removal it was. The 'heir' just wouldn't have enough time to come there from another location – the attack and the writing were made during the dinner, remember."

"So that toilet is the 'main' entrance of the Chamber? We should tell professors about that." Draconica said. "The sooner the situation is resolved, the sooner Hogwarts will be back to normal."

"Agreed." Harry nodded. "But there is one small problem: I doubt that Slytherin would let just anyone enter his secret Chamber. There ought to be some protections, and they must be either blood-based or parseltongue-based. We really should hope that it is the later one." The two witches nodded: if the protections of the Chamber were blood-based, there was no way it for them (professors) to enter it and kill the basilisk.

"So you'll have to risk yourself to protect the school?" The blond witch asked – like him, she too didn't want Hogwarts to be closed. He shook his head.

"Nah, unless there will be an ambush, no. I'll just open the doors and let the professors do their job there... And, of course, as I will ask them all to swear the oath of non-disclosure, my status of a parselmouth will remain a 'secret'."

"Good." Ms. Malfoy replied, making Harry raise his eyebrow.

"Are you worried about me, milady? I'm flattered." He said, causing Daphne to let out a giggle, while Draconica's cheeks turned pink

"Don't dream of it, Potter!"

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