Author's Note: Much as I like to work within the realm of canon, I've skewed a couple things in this chapter for the story elements to work.

Friday November 8th, 1991

"Of course it had to be on the last floor to check." Melissa grumbled. She looked up at the newly formed door with a pout and crossed arms.

"Well at least we were able to find it." Harry commented. "Come on. Let's see how it looks."

The two students walked up and entered through the hidden door. Inside, the room was well lit with many half-used candles throughout the space. It was absolutely enormous inside, and most of the room was covered with mountains of lost and broken things. Piles of books, cauldrons, furniture, and an assortment of other items absolutely littered the place.

"This is… amazing." Harry blinked at the surroundings. "Also a mess. How are you going to practice here?"

"I'll just ask the room to make it into a music room." The girl answered.

Harry walked to a nearby pile of items. He lifted up a rusted sword and turned it side to side. "Why didn't you just ask the room about that in the first place? It's not like you need all of this."

"True." Melissa walked a few paces the other direction. Finding what appeared to be large, reptilian eggshells, she catalogued some of the items in her mind while considering the potential of the room. "Then again, I was only half telling the truth."

"What do you mean?" The two of them looked at each other.

"That depends. Do you count this as a creepy setting?"

Harry tilted his head in puzzlement. He then looked about the room, weighing the space in his mind. "Not really. It's more messy than anything. Why?"

"Well… if I'm right, Voldemort hid something here a long time ago. A really dark artifact. I want to find it and get rid of it."

The boy's expression fell flat. "You're being serious?"

The girl shrugged. "Only location I know about is in this room."

Harry sighed, a hand going through his hair. "You're unbelievable, Melly."

"Hey, you didn't have to come look with me. You volunteered."

"I know." The boy grumbled. He looked about the room in a new light. "You're really going to look through all this?"

"Yep." Her lips popped as she surveyed the area. "I suppose I can just ask the room to show me the thing I'm looking for, but that probably won't work."

"That would be convenient." The boy released a breath. Of all the things she could have planned. "...Even if you find it. How will you get rid of it? Do you know any good vanishing spells?"

"Not really. Plus, that won't work. The only thing I know for sure will work is basilisk venom and… there's a fire spell. Fiendfyre? That sounds about right. Not sure how it works, though."

"So... your plan is to go through this entire room, find a dangerous artifact, and somehow contain it while also somehow getting rid of it with spells you don't know. Great."

"Well, to be fair, I could just get basilisk venom from the basilisk under the castle." She shrugged.

"What's a basilisk?"

"It's a giant snake that can kill you by looking at its eyes."

Somehow that ended up being the most outrageous comment out of everything else she has said today. "Let me get this straight. Not only do you have to find this thing, but you also want to kill it with a giant snake that kills people!"

"...Just about."

"Geez, Melly." Harry groaned. "What do you think is going to happen? You'll just walk up to it and ask nicely?"

"Hey, I never said it was foolproof." Melissa defended. "...Although…" A spark alighted in her eyes. "Technically, you really can just ask it nicely."

Their eyes met. Harry's body twisted with dawning horror. "You can't seriously be suggesting what I think you mean!"

A few hours later...

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Harry complained. Standing in the second-floor girl's loo, there was no one else to hear him but his older friend.

"Frankly, I'm surprised, myself." She replied quietly. "There. There's a sink tap that looks like a snake head. I think if you ask it in parseltongue it should open."

Harry sighed in defeat. "If we die, I'm haunting you for the rest of your life."

"Our afterlife, you mean." She joked. Harry didn't laugh back. Instead, he looked at the snake carving and spoke to it as if it were alive. True to the claim, the sink began to shift, sinking down to reveal a large, dark tunnel on the other side. "A long way down." Melissa commented as she peered into the darkness.

"It's a good thing we brought brooms." Harry reminded her, two heavy brooms from the Room of Requirement in his hands. He handed one to her, and checked through their supplies. "Are you ready?"

Melissa nodded, kicked off into the air. "Let's go."

Wands alighted with lumos, they slowly flew down through the pipe. The shaft became colder the further they travelled. 'We must be under the lake.' He considered as they drew closer to the chamber. The pipe curved, leading them out into a corridor. Hopping off their brooms, they made their way through the corridor.

"Who do you think made all this?" Harry asked.

"Considering the snake motif, I'm guessing Salazar Slytherin had it built."

"Makes sense." Harry nodded. "Two magical rooms in a day. I bet Fred and George will be jealous when they find out."

"If they find out." Melissa chuckled. "Don't know about you, but I like keeping secrets like this until it becomes convenient."

"I suppose. Having a place that only I can go into is pretty interesting."

"Huh. That's a good point." Melissa looked about the dreary corridor in consideration. "With the right amount of decorating, you can have your own secret clubhouse.

Harry laughed at the idea. "Not a bad idea. Maybe we can ask the house elves to help out with-" Harry stopped suddenly. "Do you hear that?"

The two of them paused. "No?" The hall was practically silent. They walked on, with a bit more caution this time. They soon came upon a stone wall decorated with snake carvings. "I think it takes the same trick." She suggested.

"Likely. We should get our blindfolds on, just in case." Tying their respective pieces of cloth over their eyes, Harry approached the stone wall and hissed a command at the wall. They heard a rumbling and scrapping of stone. When the noise ceased, they took each other's hands and stepped forward.

"Do you hear anything?"

"No. Should I say something?"

"Probably. But be loud and think only of snakes. Shouting in English will probably just annoy it."

Harry took a deep breath and hissed loudly. His voice echoed through the chamber, capturing in it an eerie quality. For a moment there was nothing, then, a sound of splashes. A wetness overcame their hearing, followed by a deep hiss near metres from them.

"Speaker! Why do you come to this place?"

Harry gulped. The snake really did sound huge. Still, he knew what he needed to do. "We wished to meet you, Great Serpent. To ask for your help."

The slithers appeared to surround them. "You meet me, yet you do not. You do not move. You are blind."

"Precaution." At least, that was the word he intended to use, the translation was difficult to grasp in snake-language. "We understand your power, Great Serpent, and made it so that we can speak without… mistake."

If possible, the snake seemed to laugh. "Clever hatchling. It is wise to fear my eyes, but unnecessary. I do not search your eyes. I can smell magic on each of you. You are not non-magic."

"...Does non-magic matter?"

"Non-magic humans are dangerous." It stated calmly. "I have promised my Master to eat only the non-magic humans. All others must be protected. That is my promise."

Harry shivered at the surety of that statement.

"What did it say?" Melissa whispered.

"She won't hurt us. Her master had her agree to only eat muggles instead of just anybody."

"Huh. That's… interesting."

"The female is not a Speaker."

"Yes, but she is from the nest of your Master. I trust her."

A tongue flicked at Melissa's throat. The girl yelped at the unexpected touch.

"The female is unnatural." The basilisk stated.

"I'm aware." Harry responded. He squeezed his friend's hand. "It's alright. She just wanted to get your scent."

"S-sure." The girl quivered. "Um, about the venom?"

"Right. Did your Master ever make use of your venom that was not on prey?"

"He did. The Eagle Woman was ever eager for the power I offered them. ...This is what you wish?"

Harry nodded. "It has great power." He agreed. "One that can remove a darkness hidden in the castle."

"My gift is dangerous, hatchling. You are not fit to use it."

"What did it say?"

"Her gift is too dangerous for us."

"A point." Then huffed a single, small laugh. "Then again, gifts are poison. In German."

Harry ignored the factoid, turning his head to follow the sound of the basilisk's breath. "What would make us fit to use it?"

"You are small. Unguarded. My Master required a strong container and powerful magic to receive my gift. You require the same. You are young and inexperienced, but a danger to the magic hatchlings must be eaten. Bring the darkness to me and I shall eat it. You will be safe from my gift, then."

Harry nodded in her assumed direction. "We will do this. Thank you, Great Serpent."

"You are welcome, hatchling. For your courage to defend the hatchlings, you have my respect. You may call me Caireen."

"Caireen." Harry bowed his head. "You honour me, Caireen. I am Harry. My friend is Melissa. We won't fail you in this task."

A strip of scales grazed against Harry's cheek. The gesture seemed caring, in a strange sense. "I believe you, Speaker. Go! Bring me the darkness to feast on."

Harry nodded. Wishing her a goodbye, he then gestured to Melissa to follow him out of the chamber. As soon as the stone wall scraped closed behind them, Harry and Melissa ripped off their blindfolds.

"Holy shit, I thought it was going to eat me!" Melissa gasped, slumping against the wall. A hand grazed her throat where the snake had touched her.

Harry looked back to the enchanted wall. "Good thing she doesn't eat wizards. We weren't in any danger."

"Could've fooled me!" Melissa gasped. "Not like I understood anything it said. So what did it say?"

"She said that her venom is too dangerous to handle, but if we bring the artifact to her she'll destroy it for us."

The teen blinked in amazement. "Just like that?"

"Just like that." He assured her.

Melissa expelled a breathy hoot of relief. "Well, that's something!" She stood up again, shaking out any leftover shivers in her body. "And she won't eat us after the fact, right?" The question was only half-joking.

"We'll be fine. I'm sure Caireen was being honest with us."

"Caireen?"

"That's her name. I introduced ourselves as well."

"Huh." The girl nodded, processing the information. "On a first-name basis with a basilisk in your first term. Who'd have thought?" Melissa half-turned towards the exit. "When this is over, you get full bragging rights on this one."

They turned fully and began their trek back up to the second-floor loo. Melissa occasionally shook out her shivers as they walked. Harry chuckled at a sporadic hoot. "I'm surprised you were that scared. Wasn't this whole trip your idea in the first place?"

"Shut up, Harry."