The Gryffindor Dormatories were almost silent, punctuated by the occasional heavy breath or snore, and the steady scratching of a quill on parchment. Face half illuminated by a flickering candle, the clock struck twelve as Ronald Weasley pushed himself away from his desk, hard. Staggering, almost hitting the ground he let out a multitude of curse words and a thick sob, eyes never moving from the leather journel lying innocently of his table. Leaning forwards, in a sudden movement, he grabbed his lamp, holding it out in front of him, like a barrier, he lowered it to the books surface, with a trembling hand, he held the book to the flame. It was engulfed in a flickering orange glow and he watched in morbid fascination as the pages curled upon themselves, shrivelling away, before the flame flickered and died, and the book once again sat, pristine.
"Why wont you just die?" He muttered, hands raking through his hair, he glared at the book as though expecting a responce, but it just sat there. He reached into his pocket, planning on withdrawing his wand, cursing the book to oblivion, but he came up empty, his wand wasn't in his pocket. Glancing around the floor, he searched, before a sudden fear gripped him, he slowly looked up at his table, the book was still there. He felt himself relax, before he heard a faint laugh from behind him. He tried to turn, to scream, to do something, but before he could, a cold voice whispered a single word,
"Imperio." and his mind went blissfully blank.
All the while, not a single sound awoke his sleeping roomates.
"His Skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."
Harry stared at the words on the wall, next to him, Ginny was frozen. Ron had been announced missing, they were going to be sent home. Ginny turned to him with glittering eyes,
"We can save him Harry, can't we? You can use your superpower magic thing to help, you always now what to do, he'll be fine, wont he?" Ginny's nails dug into his arm and Harry looked away, he'd never before felt so helpless. She let go of him and walked away, school shoes clicking on the stone floor. Harry slid to the ground, back against the wall and buried his head in his arms. Thats when he heard it.
"Rip, Kill, Tear..." He was on his feet in an instant, a lifetime of playing with garden snakes and a fateful encounter with a Boa Constrictor had taught him to recognise the hiss of Parseltongue, "Almost time, so hungry." Eyes flickering from wall to wall, Harry began to head after the voice, it seemed to be coming from all around him, but at the same time, it was travelling downwards. Harry spead down the steps, two at a time. The voice was getting quieter, whatever kind of snake this was, it was fast, and big, judging by it's volume. Harry sprinted round the corner, and with a surprised yelp, toppled to the ground with a splash. He let out a swear word and clambered to his feet, but it was too late, the voice was gone. Harry felt his muscles begin to ache as he looked around, the ground beneath him was flooded, and still more water was coming from the open girl's bathroom door. With a jolt, he realised that this was where they had found Hermione. He was close, he coud feel it, there was something ahead, wand out he slowly walked through the door.
"Expelliarmus!" yelled a voice, Harry reacted on instinct, slashing up his wand,
"Protego." the attacking spell bounced harmlessly off a wall and faded, Harry looked around for his attacker an raised his eyebrows at the sight of Damian Potter, "What are you doing here?" the boy blinked at him and then narrowed his eyes,
"I should be asking you the same question, but I already know the answer, I should've known it would be you, everyone always said you were dark but I never thought you'd go this far, Ron was your friend, and your going to murder him in cold blood?" It was Harry's turn to blink, a blink that turned into a snort, that turned into a grin, that turned into a full scale laughing attack, the idiot thought he was the heir of Slytherin? He wasn't even in Slytherin. Damien stared at him, "You've gone mad, haven't you?" he took a step back, shaking his head and clasping his wand in a trembling hand.
"Put your wand away you idiot." Harry snapped, laughter gone as though it had never been there in the first place, "I'm not the goddamned Heir of Slytherin, I'm a halfblood, like you, I was raised by muggles, I like computer games and muggle music and my only pureblood friend is Neville Longbottom. I dont think I am exactly blood purist material, but I do want to know why you're here."
Damian clenchned his fists and shook his head, "None of your business." Harry peered at the boy, eyes curious.
"You heard a voice, didn't you?" Damian started, looking at him in surprise, with a touch of hope,
"You heard it too? I'm not going crazy?" Harry shook his head,
"You're not crazy, you can speak parseltongue." Damian gaped at him and Harry continued, "You heard the same thing I heard, I'm assuming, a voice that lead you here, and you've probably made the connection that whatever the creature is, it's what's behind the attacks. So we're looking for a serpent that has the power to petrify you. Now, I have no idea what kind of snake that would be or how it attacks, so any information would be amazing." Damien looked thoughful and Harry rolled his eyes, Damian might be decent enough with a wand but he wouldn't know anything about-
"It could be a basilisk." The boy said, and Harry internally ate his words as he asked,
"A what?" Damian began to smile excitedly,
"It is, it has to be, Merlin! How did I not think of this before, a basilisk is a snake that can grow to giant sizes, it can kill using it's gaze, if you look into it's eyes, you're done for, but if you see it's reflection..." Damian clapped to emphasise his point, "Petrification." Then he paled, "Oh my... We're going to be dealing with a Basilisk." Harry shook his head,
"Not unless we figure out how to get into the chamber we're not, we wont even be able to get to it." Damian's excitement evaporated,
"Maybe it's-"
"It's over there." Came a voice, both boys looked up as a round face, and handlebar bunches peered at them from an open cubicled toilet.
"Who is that?" Harry asked and Damian shrugged,
"I'm Myrtle, Moaning Myrtle, and this is my bathroom. Don't talk about me like I'm not there." She snapped.
"Sorry..." said Harry, and the girl smiled,
"As I was saying, there is something by the sinks, I dont know what, I don't know how, but when I died, that's where the big yellow eyes that killed me came from."
"You got killed by the basilisk before? The chamber has been opened more then once? When? By who?" Damien asked and the ghost rolled her eyes,
"Are you going to ask me about my death, or are you going to go save the ginger? It's your choice..." Harry turned and began to walk to the sinks, Damien following behind, examining the taps until he caught sight of a tap with a snake carved into it. He turned it, nothing happened, no water came out,
"Gotcha." Damian muttered, "Now, I'm assuming this requires some complex password or spell to open..."
"Open," hissed harry, the sinks parted to reveal a gaping black tunnel,
"Or that could work." said Damian, peering over the edge, he glanced at his twin, who, in another world, would probably be his best friend, "You ready?" The boy nodded, preparing to jump,
"Hey boys?" called Myrtle, twirling a shimmering lock of hair around her finger, "If either or both of you dies down there, feel free to share my toilet..." with a wink, she floated through the wall, a ghostly giggle (no pun intended) echoing behind her.
OH MY GOSH
It's been almost two years.
I'm sorry. I went for a period without internet and when I had it I only had my phone, when I got my internet set back up I had no idea what to write, I lost my whole plan for the story, I kept starting an update and getting lost before the end. I'm back for good now... I can't believe it's been almost two years since my last update, this story IS NOT ABANDONED. IT'S BACK AND IT'S STRONGER THEN EVER BEFORE...
Please review, any comments would be loved!