Daphne Greengrass slipped into an abandoned classroom and took a sheet of parchment out of her bookbag. It was written in her handwriting. She groaned softly to herself.
'Dolores Umbridge is torturing people including Harry Potter. She has a curse'd quill in her desk.'
Daphne sighed. Old Daphne been quite insistent that this in particular needed to change, and that Daphne had to do it. She'd given instructions: A spell to open the door, another one to open the drawer, and a withering curse on the quill, then leave.
Daphne read the instructions again. She had a trip to the Chamber of Secrets after dinner; and that would require her oldest robe and boots. The actual trip to apply the dark curse would need to wait till she could cast it.
She sat on the nearest desk, pulled her knees up, curled into a ball and cried. This was all horrible.
Daphne tidied herself up in the nearest girls loos before going to dinner, her stomach ached.
And there was no ice-cream with dessert either. So she had to eat Treacle Tart. Ugh. It stuck to her teeth. Her stomach still hurt. If only there had been ice-cream.
-==0==-
Harry Potter waited on second floor landing the in his worst clothes under a school robe, with Ron and Hermione, his broom concealed by wrapping the invisibility cloak over it. The weird Slytherin girl was late.
"They're late" said Harry.
Hermione sighed "Not everyone bolted dinner. How did you get an entire slice of Treacle tart down in two bites?"
"I like treacle tart" said Harry defensively. "And we had farther to go. This is a bad idea."
"Bit rich coming from you," muttered Ron.
"They're probably doing their hair" said Hermione.
Even later, Daphne Greengrass came up the stairs in a travelling cloak, followed by several Slytherin girls.
"What are they here for?" said Harry indigantly.
"They're my friends, and they wanted to see. This is proof firstly; that you're not just telling stories and secondly. That…"
"That she's not insane," said the brown haired girl behind her, swaddled in a winter cloak over something else. "I brought a broom. I'm Tracey. I'll be the one telling Madam Pomfrey she'd lost her mind."
Behind her, a tall dark haired girl crept into position carrying a broom. "Lilith" she said. "That's Perks."
Perks was a blonde with short curly hair and glasses. "Daphne said I could come." said Perks.
"Perks is the only muggle-born in our year in Syltherin" said Daphne "One thing I told myself from the future is to be nicer to her – so she's coming."
"Where is the entrance? There's no secret doors around here" said Lilith. "That's what granmama said."
"It's um… in the girls loos" said Harry awkwardly.
"What were you doing in the girls loos!" exclaimed Tracey.
"Um, talking to Mrytle the ghost girl. She's the last person the basilisk killed." said Harry, and he walked over to the door and opened it.
"Myrtle?" he asked.
"Do they wear girls clothes?" asked Tracey.
Hermione sighed, "Myrtle Warren was the last person killed by the beast of Slytherin – which was a basilisk , but don't worry- Harry killed it in second year."
"I did tell myself that" said Daphne.
Harry lunged into the girls bathroom and was quickly crowded in by girls, mostly.
"This is the one the prefects said not to use" said Daphne. Hermione nodded.
Harry went over to the second sink and stared at the tap. 'The scratches are a snake,' he thought to himself over and over, then said "open."
The tap spun faster and faster and started to glow, and the whole sink descended into the floor leaving a large dark hole in the wall.
Harry stood up and pointed to the hole "Entrance to the chamber of secrets" he said.
Someone screamed.
Hermione yelled out "Harry, stop Hissing!" Harry looked over and she'd gone quite pale.
Harry stared at Hermione, and she nodded, then shook her head. Why couldn't she make up her mind.
"Potter, can you not do that" croaked Daphne Greengrass.
"Harry?" said Ron nervously "I really hope you said something nice cos you're hissing like a snake and you're mouths gone all weird, and frankly I'm starting to think about going for a nice trip to follow the spiders."
Harry sighed "Look," he said "I just said, this is the entrance to the chamber of secrets." Hermione sighed in relief.
"Um, you were hissing" said Hermione.
"Surely he can tell if he's speaking another language" said Daphne Greengrass indignantly.
"No I bloody can't," said Harry crossly. "I just see a snake and talk to them, and they talk back. I thought they spoke English till the whole fiasco at Duelling club."
Perks squeaked out "I think it's really strange, but he looked like he was saying the same thing."
For some reason the other Slytherin girls looked at her sideways.
"Um" said Harry, and he took off his school robe, revealing a dreadful black and maroon hoodie and immense baggy, ripped jeans "I'm wearing clothes I don't mind ruining. I'll go first, Ron, you come with me and help me with the rocks."
"Sure. Hopefully the roof won't fall in again" said Ron, taking off his winter cloak and revealing too-short school robes with shiny patches on the thighs. Hermione took off her school robe and stood in jeans and a jumper.
Harry glanced over at Hermione's feet "Should have worn boots" he commented "Your runners are gonna get wet."
"Is it very wet?" asked Daphne Greengrass awkwardly.
"There's big puddles." said Harry.
The Slytherin girls took off their winter cloaks and were wearing clearly second-best robes ,except for Perks who was wearing buff corduroy trousers, a zip-up brown windbreaker, and grotty sneakers.
Harry checked the room "If Myrtle comes, just be nice. She died right here" he said, and jumped into the hole.
"So um the pipe is a bit slimy" said Ron "I'll um light my wand at the bottom." he paused "you might not want to see the whole way down." Then he turned, took a deep breath, got his wand out, and slid carefully down the pipe.
"That looks disgusting" said Daphne Greengrass.
"Gross" said Tracey.
"He did say it was awful," said Hermione.
"Well, who's going next?" said Lilith.
Nobody moved towards the pipe.
"As witches, it's up to us not to… look like complete cowards" said Hermione.
"You're a Gryffindor, you're supposed to be brave" said Tracey.
"Daphne, it's your adventure, maybe you should go next", said Hermione.
"Ugh" said Daphne and wincing she slid off down the pipe with a shriek.
"She is, in all honesty, a bit of a sissy." said Tracey, sliding down the pipe.
Perks was next, then Lilith, and finally Hermione stopped and hid all the cloaks in an empty stall then jumped in.
The tunnel ended in a rocky room with a floor covered in puddles and the bones of small animals.
A rockfall almost blocked the room off.
"This is not very grand" said Daphne Greengrass, wiping slime out of her hair with a grimace.
"This is just the um, room before the front door," said Harry, holding his lit wand up, while Ron levitated rocks out of the small hole in the rockfall.
"There's a rockfall cos that git Lockheart pinched my wand and tried to memory charm us." said Ron, dumping a massive rock in the far corner.
"Professor Lockheart?" asked Daphne Greengrass.
Harry bit his lower lip. Ron levitated another large rock out of the pile.
"Harry and I brought him with us, thinking for once we'd have a responsible adult. Then he turned out to be a total phoney, told us just before he cast the spell. He used to memory charm people and take credit for what they did" said Ron, "Course my wand was a bit broken, it misfired the charm and he doesn't know who HE is anymore. Serves him right."
"Quite," said Hermione, "Has the rockfall moved since you made a tunnel last time?"
"Well, we're all miles bigger than twelve-year-old me" said Harry "And Ginny was only eleven."
"Harry!" said Ron, dropping a rock "We weren't going to say."
"Yeah er. The um heir of Slytherin kidnapped a firstie, and me and Ron came to save her, Would have been miles easier if Lockheart hadn't collapsed the roof. Anyway, there's a tunnel other side of this then a locked door, then the chamber. There's um, a big snakeskin in the tunnel but don't worry, it's just a shed." said Harry, leaning his broom against the wall and he dived into the hole in the rockfall and started to wiggle through it.
"We thought given that um, girls and all we'd make the hole bigger." said Ron, lifting his wand, only to have Hermione grab his wrist.
"RON!" she said loudly, "You could collapse the passage in Harry. Wait till he's through first."
Ron lowered his arm, blushing slightly.
"I can fit in there no problem" said Perks, and she crawled into the hole in the rocks and squirmed through.
"This needs to be fixed properly. I don't think an adult me would crawl through a tiny hole" said Daphne.
"I've seen digging charms, but I don't know them" said Lilith.
Hermione eyed the hole in the rocks and sighed "Look, I know it's not the Slytherin way, but just crawl through the hole, we can learn better spells for this later, or perhaps even get a teacher – one who's not a complete fraud, to come help."
"Not until we have recovered the scrolls." said Daphne Greengrass, her nostrils flaring "I rented a space-expanded bag from one of the seventh years. We need to go now."
Hermione schooled her expression and crawled into the hole saying "Well, don't let the Gryffindor team hog all the glory," as her head disappeared into the rockpile.
"She's very annoying," said Daphne.
"We've known that since we were eleven." said Tracey.
Lilith put her broom next to Harry's, frowned at the Nimbus Two Thousand, and headed for the rock-pile.
The group reformed on the other side of the hole, dusty and dirty on top of the slime.
"This has been revoltingly dirty so far." said Daphne, holding her lit wand up.
"Well, there's nothing but the door now." said Harry, and he paused "I will be hissing to open it, so everyone just … relax."
Harry, lit wand up headed down the dark tunnel. Everyone followed chattering.
Harry had stopped by a round metal door in the tunnel wall, decorated with metal snakes.
He was staring at the door and not moving.
"Um Harry?" asked Ron.
Harry didn't say anything.
"Harry?" asked Hermione. Harry didn't move.
"Is he all right?" asked Tracey "He's not… petrified is he?"
Ron stepped closer to Harry and bent Harry's wand arm. "Nope…" he said.
Harry turned to Ron, "Sorry," he gasped, "Just… remembering." he whispered.
Ron nodded, "Like when we followed the spiders. In your own time, do the creepy snake hissing thing."
Harry turned to face the doors and hissed out a short sound. The metal snake decorations started to move, slithering around and with clonk after clonk, the door unlocked, then finally swung open.
A sickly sweet odour rolled out. Harry grimaced "Oh yuck" he said. "Dead basilisk reeks."
"Potter?" asked Daphne Greengrass "Is this the actual chamber of secrets?"
"Yes" said Harry, and he stopped in, wand lit. The wandlight glittered on scattered puddles and Harry frowned at the pillars. He jabbed his wand at them and said "Lumos!" and the pillar-tops lit up with greenish flames. The Chamber of secrets, now illuminated looked a little derelict, and the Dead Basilisk lay in an untidy pile. The Statue of Slytherin still looked, Harry realised, rather monkey-faced.
Behind him, Daphne Greengrass gasped, "Its Real!" she exclaimed.
Everyone crowded through the door and started heading into the chamber.
Harry shivered and started to run "Just Remembered something important!" he cried out.
Everyone turned from their eager exploration, and stared at Harry, in many versions of aghast.
"Don't touch the basilisk's mouth – there's venom, and it's rather deadly." said Harry.
"What about the eyes?" asked Lilith.
"Oh, Fawkes the headmaster's phoenix pecked them out." said Harry "I'd assume every bit of a basilisk is poison. Just in case."
"Potter?" said Daphne Greengrass loudly, from thirty feet away from the basilisk.
Harry walked over almost casually "Yeah?"
"You killed this bloody gigantic snake when you were twelve, saving all of us from possible death, and the school from being closed."
"Well I had to" said Harry.
"You… actually are a sodding hero, aren't you?" she asked.
"Only because I had to," said Harry.
"Right" said Daphne ,and she got a parchment out of her robe pocket and read it. "I wrote that the door's in the head. So, how does that open?"
"Oh" said Harry "That's a bit of an arse actually."
"A bit of an arse?" she asked, and put her hands on her hips.
Harry sighed, and hissed out a long phrase. The mouth of the statute ground open with a shuddering grating of stone on stone.
"That," said Daphne Greengrass, "Does not get less disturbing on repetition."
Harry walked over to the statue and started climbing up it.
"Harry?" asked Hermione "Is that safe?"
"Compared" said Harry, a bit out of breath from climbing "To fighting a basilisk, it's safe as houses."
"Is he always like this?" asked Tracey to Ron.
"Um, no, sometimes he's stubborn and reckless." said Ron. "This is definitely one of our best adventures ever."
"We're all filthy." said Tracey.
"Yeah, but nothing's trying to kill us." said Ron.
"You lot are mental." said Tracey.
Hermione eyed the mouth of the statue, and cast a spell 'Carpe Retractum!" and a white line of glowing magic shot up to the nostril of Salazar Slytherin, and Hermione rocketed upwards, landing on the tongue.
Harry, panting, climbed up onto the tongue. "How did you do that?" he gasped.
"Are you a wizard or what. The seize and pull charm" said Hermione.
Two minutes later, the mouth of Salazar was crowded with witches, and Harry and Ron.
"The Seize and pull charm is a lot more fun than I expected" said Lilith.
"Where's the secret door?" asked Harry.
Daphne Greengrass strode off down the tunnel, lighting her wand and holding it high "There is a room down here. The door is hidden on the wall. Blood locked – future Harry cut his hand to open it."
Harry and everyone else followed, and the circular room was soon well lit by several wands.
"So, where's the secret door exactly." asked Hermione.
Daphne huffed "All I said was there's a secret door, and Harry opens it by smearing blood on the wall."
"Um" said Hermione "Does anyone know a spell for detecting secret doors?" she asked.
"You mean you don't?" asked Lilith "You seem to know everything?"
Daphne eyed the room "This room is thirty feet across. There's over ninety feet of walls. An average door is three feet wide; that would be – "
"Thirty possible doors" said Hermione "Harry, could you – "
"Don't be daft," said Ron, "He can't just bleed on every bit of the wall, he'd die. Well, end up in the infirmary. And that always happens when we have an adventure. He can't do it this time. This time, Harry's coming out conscious!"
"Gee, thanks Ron," said Harry sarcastically.
"Well, one tiny drop of blood per three feet, thirty in total isn't that many." said Daphne.
"You can't use Harry like a paintbrush!" said Ron angrily.
"I think I sort-of know a spell," said Lilith uncertainly.
"Sort of?" asked Hermione.
"Well, I seen granpapere use it, but I've never learnt it properly." said Lilith.
And Lilith cast a spell in a language that wasn't Latin, but something flowing and deep, over and over, until her wand sparked purple and on one side of the room a purple rectangle, about door sized glowed.
"Wow" said Hermione "The possibilities for exploring Hogwarts!"
"You could find so many secret doors" said Ron enthusiastically.
"Lil's, was that… African?" asked Daphne.
"Think so" said Lilith, standing up straighter.
"It's brilliant" said Daphne. "Tomorrow night we're all learning it. I wish we could do magic over summer, we could search our house for secret doors and hidden compartments."
"Have you got like a big house then?" asked Harry.
"Our house has been in the family for nine hundred years" said Daphne proudly "Only it burnt down in the eighteen hundreds, and was rebuilt in the modern style, so it's not properly historic."
"It's nine bedrooms, but only two bathrooms" interjected Tracey.
"Yes, well someone's spoilt and has and en-suite" said Daphne. "I have to share with my sister!"
"Your dad's just stingy" said Tracey, and she caught Harry's eye "He's obsessed with the family business – makes Daph go visit the tenants, so he can spend more time doing sums."
"It's learning tenant management, it's an important skill." said Daphne.
Harry gave them both the side-eye, and Hermione started casting spells on the secret door.
"It won't open" said Hermione a little later. The purple glow had faded.
Ron flicked his wand and a splot of paint landed dead centre where the door had been.
"Ron!" you could have hit me!" complained Hermione.
"The day I can't hit a target with a colour change charm, I'm hanging up my wand," said Ron.
Harry looked down at his left hand, then up at the wall.
"Potter, just a tiny cut on your little finger." said Daphne. "Surely it won't need gallons."
Harry grimaced, and using his pen-knife cut his pinkie and dabbed the wall with bright red blood.
"Ow," said Harry, and the wall where he'd bled swung silently outwards, revealing another dark, shadowy room.