It was only at the beginning of December, when Sophie darted into a girls' bathroom as they walked by and when, after she emerged, she commented that it was fortunate it was no longer being flooded constantly by a crazy ghost, that Harry remembered Moaning Myrtle and that he'd wanted to ask Alduin about her.

The reply that came back shocked him.

„Myrtle is the girl who was killed when the Chamber was last opened," he explained to his friends in an urgent whisper. „If we go and talk to her, we could find out what was the monster inside!"

It was Sunday, and he was supposed to have training with Maurice, but the older boy had cancelled on him for the second time in a row. He had done it a few times before, too – in fact, Harry only had about seven classes with him since school began. Now he had some unexpected free time on his hands, and just the right idea what to do with it.

Sophie, however, groaned at his suggestion. „Parvati being a bitch to me for the last month doesn't mean I suddenly got a liking for the treatment and want to get it from others too," she said.

Harry grimaced in sympathy. „I'm sorry Alduin didn't let me tell her," he said. „I'll try again."

„No, I get his reasons, it's just really irritating. Especially since she made up with Lavender and is now dead sure it was me who took her diary."

„You don't have to go with us if you don't want to," Dean said, „but I absolutely want to find out."

„Are you kidding?" Sophie asked. „Of course I want to go!"

She led them to the right bathroom, and entered it carefully.

„Myrtle?" She called. „Are you here?"

„Yes," a wailing voice said from one of the cubicles. „What do you want?"

„To ask how you died," Sophie replied.

Myrtle emerged from the stall, and to everyone's surprise, she was grinning. "Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then — I died."

"How?" Ron asked impatiently.

"No idea," was the answer. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away… And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry asked curiously.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing toward the sink in front of her.

The Gryffindors gathered there to examined it. It looked like a plain sink.

"So," Harry said as they walked back, "we know the monster has a pair of big, great, yellow eyes, and," he hesitated, "you know, given the Slytherin emblem is a snake, I think it could be something snake-like as well. Anyone has any ideas for big, murdering snake-monsters?"

"How about a basilisk?" Neville asked. "Gran taught me about them, and they're huge snakes and their looks kill..."

"Their looks kill?" Dean asked. "How insane is the magical world? And something like that is here in the school?"

"Some say it's to protect it..." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, well, didn't protect Myrtle, did it," Seamus muttered.

"Well, if Riddle was controlling it – that must have been the boy – then no surprise...I don't think Riddle ever wanted to protect anyone in his life." Harry grinned. "But how cool is this? We've worked out the mystery of the Chamber monster!"

"We think we did, anyway," Ron amended.

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Alduin emerged from Riddle's memory and exhaled, giving the diary a tired look. It had been more of the same. A talk with Abraxas Malfoy, some vague planning, and then the other sympathisers joining them and the planning becoming even more vague as the two men made sure no details leaked. Riddle was guarding his secrets closely even after death, and didn't let them in on too many details. Still, they did manage to coax something out of him.

"I think we're done here," he said, turning to the others. "We've got nothing new of substance for over a week now."

"That's not to say there won't anything forthcoming in future," Mrs. Gerard pointed out. "I think we should keep trying."

Muhammad shook his head. "I agree with Alduin," he said. "You're neglecting the fact that the longer we do this, the bigger the risk of one of us being...seduced."

It was true. Riddle's people skills were exceptional, and they'd had to talk one or another of them out of some stupid idea along the lines of telling Riddle the truth several times now. And there was also, of course, the danger of outright possession. They did their best to avoid it, taking turns in writing to the diary and never being honest in any way. If you didn't bare your soul, it would be harder for Riddle to take hold, they knew that even without Valerius Prince's help. But still, little things could sometimes slip through the cracks – again, Riddle was excellent with people – and the more of these little things he collected, the more danger there was he could get one of them. Not next week, not next month, but in time? Yes. And the mere thought disturbed Alduin's sleep.

"And there's always the chance of something unexpected happening," Sarabeth added. "Someone getting their hands on it before we destroy it, something along these lines. The longer we wait, the bigger that risk, too. I agree with Alduin, better destroy it soon."

Mrs. Gerard reluctantly conceded they were probably right, and Alduin exhaled in relief. Extracting the memories had been slow and tenuous work, but they had what they'd needed the most: instruction to get to the chamber and instruction to control the basilisk. The most interesting part, however, had happened when Mrs. Gerard was in charge of the conversation, Alduin only looking over her shoulder as she wrote.

So I just wake the basilisk and he starts going for the Mudbloods? She had asked.

Not quite as easy as that, Riddle had replied. I'd show you, but you wouldn't understand the parseltongue, so you'll just have to rely on what I tell you for now...you have to explain the danger Hogwarts is in.

The danger? Mrs. Gerard had asked.

From the Mudbloods. The basilisk is a noble creature, but it is still only a beast. It doesn't understand that by nature, our world is always in danger from the Mudbloods. It will be ready to listen to you, though, if you speak the Tongue, and if you swear to him that it is, it will hesitate no more.

At that point, Alduin and Mrs. Gerard had exchanged significant looks, and wanting clarification, she asked: Wait, so...if someone got in the Chamber and told the basilisk that Hogwarts is in danger from the purebloods, would it kill purebloods too?

There was a short pause this time before Riddle answered. I believe not, he said. The basilisk still remembers Slytherin and something of what he taught it, and would likely not believe an outrageous lie like that. But even if so, it does not matter. No one but a true Slytherin will ever be able to find the chamber, and no true Slytherin would ever tell our beast something like that.

That had been enough for them. Riddle might be right in his speculation or he might not. The important part was that the original purpose of the creature had truly been protection. That was an important historical discovery, and even though it would never be possible to publish it, Alduin had no doubt that the information would spread in the historian circles once he told Alexandra.

The transcendentals also found out many interesting things about Abraxas Malfoy and the young Tom Riddle on the side, and the inner workings of his early supporters' group. It tied in very well with what they knew about the Death Eaters.

But now there had been nothing new for a long time, and it was time to do away with this thing.

"So, should I go get the basilisk venom I got just for the occasion?"

Sarabeth looked at him. "You really didn't have to."

"You had some spare at home? A pity, I should have asked."

"No, I mean...it can be destroyed by Fiendfyre, can't it?"

"Yeah..." He blinked. "You can control Fiendfyre?"

"Sure."

They all looked at their friend and colleague with new admiration. She grinned a little self-consciously. "Um," she said, "so, should I get down to it?"

"Yeah, by all means. I'm sure the venom will come in handy at some later time, I'll just save it."

They put the diary on the floor of the laboratory and stood back, admiring as Sarabeth made short work of Riddle's legacy.

"So that's done, then," Mrs. Gerard said. "What next?"

"There is a chance that it was really the last one," Alduin replied. "Abdullah and Isobel say that the best number in this case would be three or seven, and given the risk continual splitting of soul involves, three is the better choice. Counting the bit of soul that remained in Riddle's body, we know about three now, so...unless proven otherwise, I suggest we concentrate on coming up with ways to get the horcrux out of Harry." He paused. "Beside the obvious one, of course."

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"So...what do you actually think about the Chamber?" Harry asked Neville on one of the rare occasions when they were sitting alone together in the common room. Sophie was talking to Ginny, and Ron was playing chess with Seamus, with Dean trying to give his friend advice.

Neville shrugged. "What's there to think? The basilisk idea seems pretty solid to me, given what we know. Slytherin just put one in there to eat all the Muggle-born."

Harry frowned. "Seems like a stupid thing to do. I mean, why didn't he just kill them all personally, if you think he hated them so much?"

"Well, the other founders wouldn't have let him."

"But, I mean, this is such an idiotic plan. Look..." Harry lowered his voice. "Alduin told me some things. To open the chamber, you apparently have to be parselmouth and know exactly where to look. That's what they found out from the diary. Let's say Slytherin would have instructed his children how to go about it, but from what Alexandra wrote, we don't have any records of the Chamber being opened in the first years of Hogwarts. And sure, the records are sketchy from that time, but still. And ever since a hundred years or so after Hogwarts was founded, the records are pretty good – or, again, so Alexandra says – and there's no mention of mysterious death of Muggle-Born students. I mean, if they were all murdered every generation or so, the school would have hardly stayed open, would it? Actually the first case when it was whispered the Chamber had been opened was in early 18th century. It was like twice during that time, and then maybe twice during the nineteenth? And each of these times, it was stopped soon enough afterwards, and the culprit had been apprehended and expelled – and three out of four cases, it had been a Gaunt – you know, Riddle's ancestor. If this was Slytherin's plan to eliminate the Muggle-Borns from the school, it was the worst plan in history."

Neville frowned. "So, what? You actually believe he put a basilisk there with the best possible intention?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, do I? Alexandra suggested that maybe he wanted to gain back control of Hogwarts from the other founders, and that was why he put it in. With no records, she said, we can only speculate. But I just don't think it had been intended as a universal murder weapon." He sighed. "I'd really like to go in, you know, to see it. Obviously I can't, with the basilisk there and all, I hardly want to let it out, but...I'm honestly curious. Plus it sounds like a super cool secret place to meet up."

Neville gave him a strange look, and Harry decided to change the topic. "Any special plans for Christmas?" He asked.

"Nah," Neville said, "just the usual. You know, everyone comes to Longbottom Hall on Christmas Day, we visit my parents in hospital, and for New Year's we go to Scotland."

Harry sniggered. "Will you be seeing McGonnagal?"

Neville rolled his yes. "Yeah, probably. But honestly, once Gran is there, it doesn't much matter. She's the one I'm most scared of anyway – well, except for Snape."

Harry sighed. Snape still sometimes relapsed, and there'd been a particularly bad Potions class this week. There was a short silence, then he said hesitatingly: "You know, I once promised you I'd accompany you to St. Mungo's..."

Neville quickly shook his head. "Later," he said. "Gran wouldn't let me go there without her, and well..." He didn't need to add that with her, it had no point. "But I hope I'll at least convince her to let me see Potions and Plant Poisoning this year. She seemed less adverse to it than before last Christmas, so..."

Harry nodded. One had to take comfort where one could, he supposed.

It was then that the mirror in his pocket burned, and he took it out to see Alduin's face. "Hello, Harry," he said. "Are you alone?"

"Um, Neville's with me. And we're in the common room, but no one sitting too close to us or anything."

"That's fine. I just wanted to let you know that the diary was destroyed."

Harry exhaled. "Great," he said. "Did you learn anything from it?"

"Much. I'll tell you more once you come home for the holidays, but it was very useful."

"Did you learn what was in the Chamber?" Harry asked in a whisper. "We've been speculating about it..."

"Do you have a guess?" Alduin asked curiously.

"Yeah...we think it's a basilisk."

"And you're absolutely right." Harry and Neville exchanged triumphant looks. "But maybe don't let everyone know I know that? At any rate, it seems it really was put it as some kind of protection. At least, Riddle says that the important part when getting it to attack is to tell it that the school is in acute danger, so..."

"Slytherin still put a monster inside the school," Neville muttered.

"There's no arguing with that," Alduin agreed. "His way of doing things was strange in the least. Alexandra says she'd give her right hand to know what exactly happened between the founders, because she thinks that to lead to such measures, it must have been something extreme."

"Or Slytherin was just extremely daft?" Harry suggested.

Alduin rolled his eyes. "The other founders were willing to work with him," he said. "The man couldn't have been entirely insane."