Chapter 10

It's slow going at first, because she wants to know how it's made, and it wants to know about her. It is cagey and witty, dodging her direct and indirect quandaries. Eventually, she starts writing in it about her home life with the Dursleys, even about the cupboard under the stairs being her room till her Hogwarts letter came. She writes about her discovering the wizarding world, and the discovery that she was famous for something she didn't even remember.

It was quite intrigued by that, and asked her for more information, not that she had any to share. She didn't know how she did it, being a baby and all, but she didn't glorify in it the way others did. Even the title they gave her was a reminder of what she would never have. The-Girl-Who-Lived was only a jab that her parents had not, that somehow it was her fault. She writes in it what she knows of Voldemort, how he had hidden within Quirrell for the whole school year with Dumbledore none the wiser.

Surprisingly, it reacts to her tears as well as it does to ink, asking what's wrong one day before she can even write in it. She tells it that she is being ostracized by the entire school, how they all think she is the Heir to Slytherin for being able to speak to snakes. She didn't see why they were making such a fuss. So she could talk to snakes. Personally, she thought it was brilliant. The diary expressed an interest in this gift of hers, and suggested she go to the girls bathroom on the second floor to speak to the snake on the sink.

...

"Hera?" Myrtle calls, seeing the girl walk into the bathroom a bit distracted. "Come in here to have a cry?"

Hera looks up from the book she'd been reading, eyes brimming with tears, and gives a small smile. "It is a good place for that, isn't it?"

"Just don't go near that sink." Myrtle agreed with a giggle. "I think what killed me came out of there."

"Actually…I think I'm supposed to go over there." Hera admitted. "The book says something about a secret passage."

There was a bit of hissing from Hera, and the sink opened up!

"Our little secret?" Hera asks, her eyes seeming to plead for her. "They're not talking to me, because I can speak to snakes, but that's what found this secret passage, and I don't think they deserve to know about it."

"They'll not hear of it from me." Myrtle promised. "Just remember whatever lives down there might have been what killed me. If you die, you're more than welcome to share my toilet."

"Thanks, Myrtle. That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day." Hera chuckled, before sliding down the tunnel the sink had become.

...

There were skulls and bones everywhere, and the biggest shed snake's skin she'd ever seen. Grime was literally all over the place. This was going to take so many cleaning charms, and in the meantime she could think about what kind of snake even got that big. That snake skin was bloody huge! Pretty soon though she'd gotten focused on the cleaning part more than anything else, thankful that she'd learned those charms early.

She'd made great work of the hallway before the rather large door with four snakes on it. Deciding to focus on that, she began casting cleaning charm after cleaning charm. Though she hadn't noticed, she'd switched to speaking parseltongue as she cast the spells, which somehow cleaned even better because of it. So focused was she on her cleaning that she didn't notice the shadow that slowly crept up and covered her workspace. She only noticed it when the space was completely covered, and she froze, unable to think of what to do.

~You are cleaning my Salazar's Chamber?~

She hesitated, but slowly turned around, and had to look up. Somehow, instinctively she supposed, she knew what this was. This was a basilisk!…Oh…Oh shite…She should say something.

"You're beautiful."

Indeed, with shining silver like scales, the basilisk shone even in the darkness of the Chamber. One look at the eyes made Hera realize that Basilisks must also have a secondary set of eyelids, otherwise she would be dead or petrified by now. Hera knows that she should be afraid, that she should be running or something, but instead she slowly reaches out to touch the basilisk's scales. The basilisk closed its eyes as it basked in the warmth of voluntary touch the basilisk probably hadn't had in quite some time. Eventually, the basilisk's attention turned to the book Hera had dropped onto the floor.

~The book is attempting to drain you of life and magic, though you appear to be quite resilient to it. Will you allow me to rid you of it, Little Speaker?~

"I thought I was just a little tired. The book is draining me?…Yes, please." Hera replied. Best to be polite with the thing that can eat you. The basilisk started laughing, an odd hissing sound. "Oh dear, I said that last part out loud."

~That you did, Little Speaker, but it is sound advice all the same. Too bad the last person to speak with me did not take that advice. Instead they used me, took control of me, made me kill when they could have just asked~

Venom dripped onto the book, causing a small fire and an odd sputtering of ink as it gurgles from the pages. A pop, and Dobby appeared, looking torn between screaming in fear and elation.

"You has gotten rid of the plot, Harry Potter!" Dobby cried reverently.

~Do you want me to eat him?~

"No, it's okay. He means well." Hera replied, rubbing at the basilisk's scales. "So the book was part of the plot on my life?"

Dobby grimaced.

"You're Malfoy's house elf, aren't you?" She realized. "But then why are you wearing that pillow case? Malfoy senior seems like the vain sort."

"Tis the mark of enslavement, Harry Potter." Dobby replied, not denying her guess, but cringing like he wanted to say more.

"And you…You want to be free?" She guess again. He didn't look very happy.

"Oh, more than anything, but Dobby must be given clothes by his master. Giving clothes to a house elf is what is freeing them." Dobby explained, trying not to nervously stare at the basilisk.

"And does he periodically have you check on the book?" She guessed again. He froze, and started hitting himself in the head. "Dobby!"

She had to forcibly stop him.

"Why would you do that?!"

"House elves must punish themselves when disobeying or betraying their masters, Harry Potter." Dobby explained.

"Dobby, I have an idea. Would you like to work for me? If you were free, I mean. I could give you pay, and lodging, and days off…Maybe a uniform, if you want." Hera suggested. It was a good thing she still had a hold of him, because though his eyes beheld her with wonder, he began to try to hit himself again. "Dobby, you're simply doing your duty, checking on the book. You haven't disobeyed orders."

He slumped, and she let him go. Before he could grab the book though, she snatched it away. Doing a kind of odd jig, she managed to pull a sock off of one of her feet, and jammed it in between the pages of the book. Drain her magic indeed! Eat sock! Dobby had an odd look on his face when she handed the book back to him.

"You tell him you found the book like this. You won't even be lying." Hera proposed. "He throws that book at you or something, that's as good as giving you clothes, because there's a sock in it, right? If that works, you're free. You could do anything then, travel the world, work for yourself…anything. If you want, I'll hire you on. We'll even have the goblins go over a contract with us, if you want. The only thing I ask is that you come and find me, tell me how it went, so I don't worry."

"Harry Potter would worry about Dobby?" Dobby asked, close to tears.

"Of course, I would worry about you." Hera chided lightly. "You're one of my friends."

Before she knew it, she was being hugged fiercely, before he backed away and disappeared with a pop.

"Sorry about that. My name is Hera Potter." Hera said, introducing herself, looking back to the Basilisk.

~You are an odd one, Hera Potter. My name is Jör. I think I shall keep you, Little Speaker~

Hera had the distinct impression that Jör was laughing at her again.

Every day, she continued her self appointed task of cleaning up the Chamber of Secrets. It helps her find the other entrances, and Salazar's private study. Jör is fun to talk to, and likes that Hera asks after his health. He likes this little human who visits him, he says, much better than the last one. Hera can only assume he means Riddle, and wonders if Riddle had been possessed by Voldemort like Quirrell had been, or if he had been Voldemort himself. It's not like she can ask the book now.

As the days became weeks, Hera had forgotten her vigil against Lockhart, regulating him to useless fop in her mind. Perhaps she shouldn't have underestimated him. He seemed to watch her with a keen gaze, as if noting her every move. She's not sure what the hungry look is for, the predatory gaze she'd noticed at the beginning of the year is back, like he was mad with the hunger for power. It is only towards the end of the year that it gets worse, when she realizes just how much he has watched her, when he follows her straight into the girls bathroom.

"This is a girls loo, Professor. I would suggest leaving." Hera stated, on edge. There was something to his eyes that reminded her of Quirrell, not of possession but of madness, and she backs away slowly.

"I really must insist, Harry." Lockhart replied, taking a step further in, the door closing behind him. A quick locking spell follows after it, and she frowns as she wonders when he got good at spell work. "We could be great together, you know. The things we could achieve. Think of the fame it would bring us!"

"It's Hera, actually." Hera countered, taking a few more steps back. "I'm not sure what you're implying, but I think I'll pass, Professor."

"I know you know where the Chamber of Secrets is." Lockhart revealed, keeping the gap between them the same by taking steps forward when she would take one back, but she freezes at his revelation. "I was right, wasn't I! I heard the Slytherins talking about you being the Heir after you outed yourself as a parselmouth, and your friends talking about how you disappear so often."

"And that lead you to think I know where the Chamber of Secrets is?" Hera stalled. She'd come to visit with Myrtle, but was thankful that she wasn't there to see this right now. She tended not to use the pipe entrance if she could help it. "I hadn't even heard about it until they started talking all that Heir business."

He had his wand pointed at her throat before she could blink.

"You will take me to the Chamber of Secrets. Once there, you will be bound, and after you have been missing for a suitable amount of time, I will find you. In the meantime, anything could happen, and you won't even remember it. I'm a dab hand at the obliviation charm, you see." Lockhart explained, though his temperament was more manic than clinical. By this point, she'd backed up all the way to the sink that didn't work.

"You want to know where the Chamber of Secrets is?" Hera asked, hissing for it to open up behind her. She was poised to launch herself into it, foot on the edge. Quick as lightning, she reached out to grab Lockhart's robes before he could pull away. "So be it."

And with a hard push against the lid of the entrance with her foot, she pulled him stumbling in after her.

They landed with a hard thud, one of the reasons she'd made sure to find other entrances as soon as possible, but he didn't need to know there were any others. As soon as they'd landed he was up on his feet, but she was faster still, blocking a spell no doubt meant to rob her of her memory. He plays ineptitude well, but there's none of that here. He's actually a pretty good duelist when he's desperate and bloodthirsty, because it doesn't take long for him to disarm her. It's only when the man is about to cast his obliviate that she hears the rumbling of small overturning rocks.

~Speaker!~ Jör shouts worriedly. Lockhart doesn't even have time to scream.

"You know, I should be traumatized by the amount of times I've been the cause of someone's death. I'm up to three now; only one of which I've actually orchestrated." Hera remarks dryly, as she dusts herself off. "Thank you for saving me."

~You mean that wasn't my gift for Yule?~ Jör asked, somehow managing to look innocent; as well as any basilisk could look innocent, she supposed. ~Come, I have something to show you!~

Hera followed after him, after gathering up her wand once more, and was lead to a door by one of Jör's favorite sleeping spots. Jör nodded for her to open it when Hera looked at him with a questioning gaze. In the room was what she'd seen in that mirror last year, at least in how it was decorated. Everything was a sort of champagne gold, with emerald green accents all over the place. It also had the most comfortable looking bed she'd ever seen.

~I asked Hogwarts to make it for you.~ Jör explained, as Hera wandered about the room. There was even a fake window to show the weather outside. ~I know you can not always stay with me, but you should be able to sleep safely in your nest.~

Too touched for words, Hera just leaned against Jör's snout and put her hand against the stones of Hogwarts. She had a feeling, from the pleasant warmth flowing into her hand, they understood.

Hera Potter was not sleeping in Gryffindor Tower; that much, Hermione knew. She hadn't seen much of her friend this year, not since the disaster that was the Dueling Club. The actual duel had been something to behold; the way Hera's spells left frozen patches where they were deflected, to the way she'd fearlessly held a king cobra as it struck out at Malfoy. Hermione had celebrated that her friend had a gift to talk to snakes, back when she realized Hera could talk to dragons, until she'd done her reading. No one else had thought the gift amazing, and Hermione watched in silence as her friend was ostracized for her magic, as she herself did the same simply by not standing with her friend when she should have.

Everything she read, everyone she talked to, told her that Parseltongue was a Dark gift. Hermione had yet to see any true evidence that Dark meant Evil, but everyone she talked to told her it was. So if Dark was evil, then it was to be frowned upon, right? No wonder everyone had acted that way! But Hermione thought back on the year and a half that they had been friends, and couldn't find anything dark or truly evil about Hera; signs of neglect and abuse, certainly, but not evil.

It wasn't until she got a gift from Hera, that she realized half the year had actually gone by, and she'd barely spoken to her friend. She'd ostracized one of her first friends. What kind of person did that make her? Resolving to be better in the future, she rushed to her Head of House in the hopes that she could help her out. Professor McGonagall was a bit exasperated with her for coming around so early in the morning, but the approval about why radiated from her as she helped Hermione sort out what to do for a gift for Hera.

Those at the Head Table that had been watching the drama unfold over the term breathed a heavy sigh of relief upon seeing the Golden Trio, as they had come to call them, talking to one another once more. It had been awful dealing with the Chamber of Secrets fallout, but when nothing had come of it, most of the students had awkwardly tried to go back to normal without resolving anything. The only problem with that was that Hera didn't seem to realize that, and kept on as she had been. Wherever it was the girl had holed herself up, it was good to see her with her friends once more, and several of the other students of various Houses that had had to stay for the holidays all came over to wish her well. It was strange to note that Gilderoy was not at the Head Table, though Minerva was guiltily thankful for the reprieve. They would later come to find that the man in question had disappeared. It seemed that the curse of the DADA position had struck early.