A/N) Thank you for the comments so far! I'm glad people are enjoying this story.

Twisting Time

Chapter Seventeen

Monday 2nd June 1986

"You seem distracted, Lily."

Lily glanced up from her cauldron though continued to stir the mixture. "Just a lot has gone on lately… And there is still so much more work to do."

"You shouldn't be getting yourself involved."

Lily scowled. "Severus, we've been through this. Sirius is my friend. Whatever you think of him, he needs as much help as he can get. He did save us." Her childhood friend didn't know everything but he knew Lily was aiding Sirius in something to do with Voldemort which he wasn't happy with.

Snape rolled his eyes. Even after all these years he still despised Sirius Black though his feelings on James Potter had lessened, at least he told himself that. He could hardly insult James Potter if he wanted to maintain his friendship with Lily. He had learned that a long time ago. "Black was lucky," he snarled. "Any other idiot would have died. He just had to survive."

Lily sighed. She hated Severus insulting Sirius. She put up with it because she knew forcing him to like Sirius was never going to happen. But there were times when she wished Snape would realise Sirius wasn't one hundred percent at fault for what had happened all those years ago. Snape blamed Sirius for nearly causing his death when Snape had provoked Sirius anyway. Sirius wasn't completely blameless but still Lily wished her friend could see how he had escalated the hatred between the two of them.

"I've let your comments about Sirius slide because I know you blame him for the Whomping Willow incident. But I've had enough." She fixed him with a piercing glare she usually reserved for Harry when he had done something naughty, which thankfully was very rare.

Snape flinched.

"But you, Severus Snape, provoked him. You knew at the time of the incident Sirius was going through a very tough time. Yet you still continued to provoke him. Still made him snap. I'm not defending him but you have to realise and understand Sirius is not the only one at fault here. You didn't have to listen to him but you did. You could have gone to Dumbledore instead, yet you didn't," explained Lily. "If Sirius hadn't told James what had happened between you, James would never have come after you."

"Your husband was lucky. He was saving Black's skin."

Lily shook her head sadly. "You're blighted by a hatred you cannot let go of."

"Black should have been expelled, sentenced to Azkaban for attempted murder," snarled Snape. "Instead he got off lightly."

"I don't think earning detention for the next six months, banned from Quidditch and Hogsmeade visits as getting off lightly," retorted Lily. "Sirius made a mistake and he has regretted it and paid for it ever since." She had to remind herself that their Sirius had already lived an extra fourteen years, had already spent time in Azkaban for a crime he had not committed. "Sev… James showed me his memory of Sirius telling him about your argument. Sirius didn't even realise you might try to get into the Whomping Willow. When Sirius found out you had attempted it, he was devastated."

Snape rolled his eyes. "He was likely devastated because I hadn't been killed before Potter could get there."

Lily's eyes narrowed. She knew Snape was bitter but not like this. "You know what? I can't work with someone who cannot see his own faults. Until you can admit that you are partially to blame for that incident as Sirius was, I won't be talking to you," said Lily.

"We're meant to be working together on potion projects. How can we not talk to one another?"

But Lily didn't answer.

Thursday 31st July 1986

Sirius had spoken to his grandfather about accessing Bellatrix Lestrange's vault however he had been informed Arcturus could not give him access whilst Pollux lived. If Pollux died before Arcturus, all the remaining family vaults would automatically pass to the head of the family as there was not a direct male heir from Pollux to inherit. It would be only then Sirius would have the chance to search his cousin's vault on the off-chance she may have been entrusted with a Horcrux. He hated to wait but whilst Voldemort was hiding out in spirit-form, Sirius could afford to.

Harry's sixth birthday dawned on a bright sunny day. For the past week Sirius, James and Lily had been planning a big surprise party for the boy and it went off well.

Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley and their respective families were invited. Different Wizarding games were played and a miniature Quidditch pitch with brooms floating three metres off the ground had been constructed in the Potter's garden. What excited the Weasley children the most was the presence of Sirius Black. They had never really met him before and were surprised when he arrived at the party with Remus. Naturally the children who didn't know Sirius were in awe of him.

Sirius, naturally, very quickly dived into the children games alongside James, and acting very much not like the hero the children had perceived him to be. He'd rather be considered normal than special. The spotlight should have been on Harry after all.

Though Neville was born a day before Harry, his parents had chosen to celebrate his sixth birthday the week before just to give a bit of distance between the two celebrations.

The day was quite successful and afterwards Sirius decided to stay the night, sitting up with James and Lily, under the stars, in the back garden of their home.

"So… When were you going to tell me you were pregnant, Lily?" grinned Sirius, sipping from his glass.

Lily's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"You've been sticking to water all day. And Prongs has been overprotective of you when he hasn't been acting like a child himself."

James scowled. "We weren't going to tell anyone yet…"

"Harry doesn't know," explained Lily. "We were waiting for the first check-up. I'm not that far along Sirius."

"I figured," he smiled.

"Lily's about eight weeks pregnant," said James, his eyes twinkling. His hand landed on her stomach. "We'll tell Harry when she gets to three months and we have the first scan." He turned a wicked grin on Sirius. "When are you going to make little Blacks?"

Sirius scoffed. "Not for a very, very long time." His shoulders sagged. "I know I'm the Wizarding World's most eligible bachelor but I do not think it would be wise for me to get involved with anyone whilst Voldemort is still around. I wouldn't want to put anyone I love in danger."

"Sirius…" sighed James. He'd had this conversation with him tons of times. "It took us years to accept we should have another baby. We can understand your position but why shouldn't you be happy?"

"Because Voldemort will target them if he knew," stated Sirius. "Like he did before."

Lily's smile stilled. "What do you mean?"

"I was the most important thing to my Harry. Voldemort knew how important I was to him and he used me against Harry. I died because of it. I wouldn't want people I love getting killed because I dared to stand up to him," explained Sirius sadly. He had met someone he liked but had kept it quiet from his friends. They weren't in a relationship but could be if Sirius took the first step. She was certainly interested.

"But you are not Harry," replied Lily. "You are Sirius Black. If anyone can protect their loved ones it is you."

Sirius sighed. "I don't know. I couldn't protect anyone originally."

James shook his head. "That's not true."

"You and Lily died Prongs," stated Sirius. "How could I protect Harry whilst I was in Azkaban? I failed spectacularly. I can't let it happen again." He got to his feet and turned to look up at the stars. "I know you think I should be happy… the truth is I can't bring myself to be. If I'm meant to be happy I will be once Voldemort has been destroyed." He glanced back at his two friends. "Just enjoy this life… You've been given this chance… don't waste it."

"You shouldn't either," replied James quietly.

Tuesday 5th August 1986

Today was the day they were going to enter the Chamber of Secrets. Or so Sirius hoped.

James had taken leave from work and Remus wasn't needed to work in the summer holidays. James and Lily had left Harry with Neville and his grandmother whilst both sets of parents were unable to care for them. Harry hadn't been told what his parents were up to though he did know he would be staying with Neville for a few days. Sirius expected them to take a few days. They lacked the Parseltongue required to get into the Chamber of Secrets and so therefore needed to use a wide range of spells just to get into the main chamber where the Basilisk resided.

They arrived at Hogwarts in the early morning and immediately headed for the second floor where they stopped outside the girl's bathroom.

"Anyone else find it a bit creepy Salazar Slytherin built the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets here?" asked Lily.

"I certainly wouldn't think to look in the girl's bathroom," said James.

"It is unexpected which makes it brilliant," said Remus. "Though this is where the girl died so it should have been obvious."

Sirius frowned. "I wonder why no one ever bothered to ask her about it."

"Would you really ask a ghost how they died?" asked Lily. "A teenage girl?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well… when my Harry asked her, she was quite happy to talk about it. But I suppose maybe the teachers thought she wouldn't know anything so didn't question her about it."

"I do have one query before we begin," said Lily. "I've done a bit of research on Basilisks. They can hibernate and its likely Slytherin himself put it into hibernation and then it was woken when Tom Riddle took control of it fifty years ago and then put it back to sleep. If the Basilisk can only be controlled by the line of Slytherin, how do we wake it up?"

"We really have to wake it up?" grimaced James. "Despite how dangerous it is?"

Sirius nodded. "Harry told me it was hidden inside the statue of Slytherin's face which is erected in the Chamber. I think we are going to have to wake it up to entice it out so we have a chance of killing it however we will try to avoid waking it up if we can. But if we can't get to it through the statue we may have to…" He didn't like the idea of waking a Basilisk. He had researched on Basilisks and they did go into hibernation which was why they survived for so long though the lifespan of them was genuinely nine hundred years however Slytherin's Basilisk was older but it was likely the amount of hibernation it had done in its lifetime was the reason why it had lived for so long. Waking it up wasn't something Sirius really wanted to do… That was if they could wake it up without needing Slytherin's heir. Sirius knew his Harry hadn't been able to control it despite being a Parseltongue but the last thing Sirius wanted was the piece of Voldemort inside the diary gaining control. Fortunately the few books which Sirius had read had told him Basilisks were capable of waking up on their own from hibernation if disturbed too much but he really did want to avoid that.

"There are so many ways this could go wrong," groaned James. "If we do wake the Basilisk up, either accidently or intentionally, how are we supposed to avoid looking at its eyes?"

"By closing them?" muttered Remus.

"We need our eyes to see," responded James, folding his arms over his chest.

"We do but we may have to run blind." Sirius reached up and tugged at the bandana he had over his head, which the others were wearing as well. "This is why I insisted on these. We won't be able to see the Basilisk fully with this covering our eyes but it won't protect us from being killed. We will, however, be able to see where we are going through the small holes. It should give us a fighting chance."

"It's a good idea," said Lily, "but still risky."

"This whole plan is risky," stated James. "I'm more concerned I can't talk Lily out of coming along. You are pregnant after all."

Remus' eyebrows rose in surprise. He hadn't been told yet. "When were you going to tell me?"

Lily scowled at James. "After the first scan. Sirius guessed last week. The reason I'm coming along, James, is because I am good at charms. I'll stay hidden, by the entrance, and try to get the roosters to crow."

They had brought along a cage of five roosters. Unfortunately, despite extensive research, neither of them had been able to find a spell to make roosters crow. It had been decided they would bring one rooster in at a time into the chamber once they had located the Basilisk. If the Basilisk was set loose they could only hope the rooster would crow and kill the Basilisk. Unfortunately for Sirius, he had been surprised to learn the Sword of Gryffindor was not in Dumbledore's possession. No one knew where it was.

Remus had theorised the sword would only appear to worthy Gryffindor's which explained why Harry had managed to summon it originally. The sword had been useful to Harry because it had helped him to kill the Basilisk. The only thing they had were roosters.

Sirius pushed the door to the bathroom open and stepped inside. He couldn't hear anything which meant Moaning Myrtle was not currently around. He moved over to the sinks, with his friends behind him. He bent down and examined each of the sinks. "Ah, here, we are."

"Genius. Snake symbols on the taps," said James. "Not easily noticed and easy to overlook."

Sirius leaned against the sink. "Prongs, how do you feel about destroying this sink?"

James smirked. "I think I can manage it without making too much mess."

They had researched a lot of spells and had at one point intended to destroy the sink however James was confident he would be able to remove the sink entirely without damaging it. He raised his wand and muttered: "Diffindo!"

The severing charm was a simple but an effective charm taught during second year. They had learned it could cut through anything unless it was magically protected. Fortunately, having tested this at Grimmauld Place, James had realised he could cut through the floor and remove the sink. It was slow progress as James directed the spell continuously into making cuts around the base of the sink.

Finally Sirius and Remus grabbed the sink James was cutting round and pulled, yanking it free from its place on the floor. They moved the sink to the side, resting it against the wall and then returned to look through the hole that had been partially revealed. It was just large enough to let one person fall through one at a time.

"Do we want me to make more room?" asked James. The plan called for them to assess the opening before decided whether to remove another sink or to proceed.

"No," said Sirius, shaking his head. "Proceed in. We can fit everything down there though we will have to levitate the roosters down carefully. I'll go first." He sat down on the edge, dangling his legs over the side.

"Be careful, Padfoot," grimaced James.

"If I'm right the Basilisk won't be in the first part of the Chamber," said Sirius and pushed himself off. He slid down the pipe, going round and round before it dipped suddenly and he landed in a dark, filthy corridor with bones scattered all over the floor. He moved back to the pipe he had slid down. "I'm fine! Come on down! If you can, bring the cage down with you!" It would be easier to transport the roosters down if the others could hold them.

James came next and as he slid down, Sirius cast a slowing down charm on his friend so he wouldn't have to let go of the cage as he went flying off the slide. James landed on his bottom and the cage on the top of his legs. He grimaced and stared up at Sirius, moving the cage off of his legs and clambering to his feet. "That would have been fun if I hadn't had a cage of roosters on my legs."

"It was better to bring them down this way instead of levitating them," advised Sirius.

James shook his head. "We could have just dropped them down and put a cushioning charm on the cage."

Sirius frowned. He hadn't thought of that. "Oh."

"But I suppose it was better do it this way," replied James. He patted his friend on the shoulder.

Lily came next and James caught her in his arms. Sirius grinned as his friend checked his wife over, asking if the baby was all right. Lily shook her head and slapped her husband playfully on the arm.

Finally Remus joined them in the dank chamber and crinkled his nose up. He had an excellent sense of smell and hearing and it was pretty disgusting in the chamber corridor. "I hope we don't have to stay down here too long."

"I don't think any of us want to be here too long," said Sirius. He clucked his teeth together and glanced around him. Though there was dim light coming from somewhere, Sirius still raised his wand and cast 'lumos', lighting the chamber further. "Come on. Let's get moving."

They travelled along the corridor, their feet crunching on small bones and the reek of death coiled up their noses as they walked. James threaded his right hand through Lily's left whilst Remus levitated the cage of roosters. The air became mustier as they continued further in, until finally they stopped in front of a large shed of skin.

"Is that…" swallowed James, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

Sirius nodded. "Basilisks shed their skin. This one looks newish…"

"Is it awake then?" queried Lily.

"I don't know…" Sirius stepped around the large shed of skin and headed towards a door at the far end of the chamber. It was big enough to let a Basilisk through. "Like the sink you need to speak Parseltongue… but…"

"Boom," grinned James.

To bypass the security of using Parselmouth on the door into the inner chamber itself they had decided to use a a more powerful variant of the Bombarda curse.

They stood side-by-side, wand arms raised and a deadly focus echoing over them all. Sirius counted down.

"On zero."

"Three. Two."

Lily twitched.

"One."

"ZERO!"

Four spells shot out simultaneously as the four of them yelled: "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"

The door flew open, bashing open and – surprisingly – not flying off of its hinges. Sturdy magic kept it in place however the security of needing Parselmouth to open it had been bypassed.

"I want you to stay just inside this door, Lily," said James. "Look after yourself and the baby."

"I will."

"When I give the signal set the Roosters loose. We've got to hope they will crow," said Sirius. This was dangerous, perhaps too dangerous, but it had to be done.

"What's the signal?" asked James.

"When I yell Lily's name," he replied.

Glancing around the Chamber they found they were flanked by towering pillars entwined with carved wood, and at the far end was a tall statue of Salazar Slytherin's face. It seemed to have been embedded within the wall but to the left and right and scatted around the large Chamber were large openings which led to pipes and the plumbing of Hogwarts. The floor of the Chamber had flooded with water and Sirius and the others waded through, stopping in front of the large, looming statue.

"I can smell something evil," muttered Remus. "It's here. The Basilisk."

"Inside?"

Remus nodded. He pointed to the mouth of the statue. "Inside Salazar Slytherin's mouth."

Sirius swallowed. "Right."

"It's not fully asleep," said Remus.

James bit his lip. "Isn't it supposed to be hibernating?"

"Depends if Voldemort put it back into hibernation after he last used it," explained Sirius. "But if he intended for his diary to be used perhaps he left it partially asleep so anyone who isn't a direct descendent of Slytherin can use it… And if anyone ever found the Chamber of Secrets it could defend itself without being put in danger…" He was getting a very bad feeling building in his stomach.

"Padfoot…" Remus stated wearily. "I think we already disturbed it by blowing the door open."

"Shit."

And then a loud, screeching, hissing noise echoed all around them.

Lily turned her back as she saw movement coming from the statue. She pulled the bandana down over her eyes and stubbornly looked down, kneeling into the water, with one hand on the cage and the other clutching her wand.

"RUN!" she heard Sirius yell.

She could hear the sound of terrified yells, spells being thrown and the screams of the Basilisk and then –

"LILY!"

She released the roosters but as she did so her husband's shout echoed reverberantly through her ears.

"NO! PADFOOT!"

And she turned to look at what was happening behind her.

And she saw Sirius face down, motionless in the water with the Basilisk looming over him.

They all turned at the same time, turning their backs on the Basilisk as it slid out of the mouth of the statue. They hadn't expected this but blowing up the Chamber entrance hadn't been their smartest idea. But it had been the only way in. Voldemort had considered all the points and he wasn't taking any chances. They knew Basilisks hibernated but they had hoped this one would be as well yet it seemed the Dark Lord had thought otherwise.

The Basilisk screeched and slithered, making a huge splash which coated them all in dirty water as they ran back.

"RUN!" Sirius shouted, pulling the bandana over his eyes. It wouldn't protect him from death but he would be able to see. He pointed his wand over his shoulder and shouted a spell but he didn't know if it had hit the Basilisk or not.

The snake slithered through the water, screaming and screeching. He heard James yelp and Remus trip. Sirius dived sideways as his hearing told him the Basilisk was looming up on him. The Basilisk's head snapped where he had been moments before.

He screwed his eyes shut, scrambled round on his hands and knees and ran again.

This had become way too dangerous. What had he been thinking that they could take down a Basilisk? He was going to get James, Lily and Remus killed and leaving Harry an orphan once again! Why did he always have to make things difficult for himself? Why hadn't he just asked Dumbledore to destroy the Horcruxes himself ?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"MOONY! DON'T LOOK BACK!" He heard James scream. He saw his friend duck into one of the pipes and Sirius turned his attention to another pipe but something hit him in the back and he went sprawling.

He landed with a splash in the dirty, slimy water, coughing up what had slipped into his mouth as he had fallen.

Sirius scrambled to his knees, his hands wet and his trousers soaking from the water. He crawled forward only to stop when he heard hissing from behind him. He swallowed.

Don't turn around. Don't turn around.

But he didn't close his eyes. Instead he yelled out the word he needed to: "LILY!"

A shadow fell over him as a loud screeching noise echoed around the chamber. Sirius covered his ears with his hands, pulling them away once he was sure the noise had stopped. He started to move forward again, getting to his feet, but then he saw them: the glowing yellow eyes through the fabric of the bandana across his face.

The Basilisk's cold stare locked with his own eyes.

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

Please don't kill me!

Several things: I imagine Snape, for Lily's sake, would be civil about James but not about Sirius. Considering who Sirius is, Lily is very protective of him and Snape wouldn't know everything Sirius has been through. I think Lily would have forgiven Snape for calling her a 'Mudblood' but only after learning about what he did in the war… But their friendship is always going to be difficult, especially since Snape is very good at holding a grudge.

Yes, Lily and James are expecting another little Potter. Happened quick but sometimes that happens!

Part two of the Chamber of Secrets will be continued in the next chapter… I had to do quite a bit of research on this and some of my facts may be wrong, however I think, even if the Basilisk can only be controlled by the Heir of Slytherin, it is still a creature with a mind of its own so it is possible it could wake up on its own if disturbed in hibernation and act of its own accord. It can't leave the Chamber of Secrets itself because the entrance isn't opened in the girl's bathroom so it was never a threat to anyone if it was travelling through the pipe network prior to Harry's second year. So I have taken a bit of liberty here with this part of history…

And the Sword of Gryffindor… I believe it wasn't in Dumbledore's office prior to Harry's second year… I think it just appeared to Harry because of the circumstances. So which is why they don't have the sword at hand. (And I went back and read relevant parts of Chamber of Secrets to check too…)

Chapter 18 will be posted next Tuesday!

Until then,

the-writer1988