Their return to Hogwarts was entirely uneventful, but they were interested to find at dinner that night that their fellow first-years had yet to abandon whatever plans they may have had to curry Harry's favour and were still sitting as close to them as they dared.

Davis had smiled at the two of them when they had caught the girl's eye, and whilst Harry was polite enough to nod back and quickly return his attention to his meal, Daphne took the time to give the girl a suspicious look and a raised eyebrow and Davis quickly averted her gaze.

Classes resumed, and their teachers had all appeared to begin to give them more difficult work. Clearly, now that they had completed their first term at Hogwarts, the introductory period was over and the real work could begin. Harry was, obviously, entirely unconcerned, whereas Daphne was excited. She had benefitted greatly from not only working with Harry but the training she had also received from her parents over the Christmas holidays.

After Transfiguration on Monday morning, the two had remained behind to thank Professor McGonagall for her Christmas gifts to them and the rest of the Greengrass family.

"It was the least I could do, Miss Greengrass," The woman had told her with a slightly guilty look. "Please pass along my apologies to your parents for believing the rumours about them. They are good people." Daphne had nodded happily at the usually stern woman's request, delighted that her parent's honour was no longer in question to at least one person.

Potions class was interesting, to say the least, as Snape actually did come over to their cauldron and inspect their work once more. He had peered at their Dizziness Draught and nodded, declaring their work complete and made perfectly, though he had refused to look at either of them as he did so. The two had shared a pleased look with each other once the man had swept away to another desk, clearly, Marie's warning to the man had worked to some extent.

But it was Defence that they were both looking forward to the most if only to test their theory that Harry's headaches were being caused by a possible Legilimency attack from Professor Quirrel. Almost as soon as he had stepped into the classroom, Harry's scar had begun to burn lightly, and as he was now paying much more attention to it, he noticed that it actually got worse when Quirrell was facing away from him, rather than toward him.

"This doesn't make any sense." He muttered to Daphne, cradling his forehead in his hand.

"Go to Dumbledore?" Daphne suggested, which Harry just shrugged at.

"And tell him what? This proves he's not actually attacking me." Harry responded, closing his eyes.

"Well something's going on, this isn't normal, Harry," Daphne said, ducking down to continue writing when the Professor looked over at them.

In the end, Harry said nothing to Professor Dumbledore, not wanting to bother the man with what really wasn't much of a problem. It was obvious that Professor Quirrell wasn't using Legilimency on him, not unless he was so much of a master of the art that he could do it with the back of his head, which Harry somehow doubted, so there was really nothing to report. Nobody had ever survived the killing curse before him, so who knew what quirks his curse scar would have?

Their first week back at school passed them by quickly, though in Flying class that Thursday Harry had bemoaned having to leave his Nimbus at home, but hadn't wanted to risk bringing it with him when the rules forbade first-years from having their own brooms, knowing that Snape would have loved any excuse to confiscate his property. He was very much looking forward to next year when he could bring it with him and go flying whenever he wished.

Daphne was delighted when they were able to use her owl, Hedwig, to send a letter home for the first time. Daphne had tried dozens of names, like "Eira", "Crystal and "Guinevere", which she assured him all meant snow, but the owl was apparently unimpressed with her lack of imagination and refused to respond to any of them. Astoria had also tried, but her efforts were similarly ignored by the owl. It wasn't until Harry suggested "Hedwig", a name he'd read in A History of Magic, that the owl bobbed her head and hooted in agreement. Daphne had been outwardly annoyed with Harry but secretly was happy that her owl finally had a name.

On Friday afternoon, the two visited with Hagrid, and cheerfully thanked him for his gifts, which the large man begged off with a happy smile, grateful himself for the new dragon-hide boots from Harry and charmed crossbow bolts designed to always return to the firer after ten minutes from Daphne.

It was on Friday night that the two returned to the forbidden corridor and the Cerberus, but something very strange happened when they did.

"Harry, do you think you could sense what it is that he's guarding?" Daphne had asked over her shoulder, feeling Harry's hum of contemplation.

Harry had closed his eyes, and expanded the sphere of magic, quickly encompassing Daphne and the Cerberus in the room in front, but as he expanded it further away, it also went down and above him, and it was above him that he became aware of something very powerful, old, and above all, alive.

Harry looked up at the ceiling above them. "What on earth is that?" He said in an awed voice.

"What? What is it? What did you feel?" Daphne asked quickly, looking up herself.

"There's something up there, something alive-"

"The beast is still in my castle." A displeased voice sounded faintly above him, cutting Harry's words off as he heard it.

"Did you hear that?" Harry asked Daphne, eyes fixed on where the powerful presence was.

"No? I didn't hear anything." Daphne told him with a frown, but whatever was above them had begun to move away, back down the corridor and away from the Cerberus.

"Come on, whatever it is is moving," Harry said, beginning to pull Daphne back down the corridor.

"What did it say?" Daphne asked him as she was hurried along by Harry.

"It said 'The beast is still in my castle', I don't know how you didn't hear it," Harry told her, eyes still affixed to the ceiling and hoping Daphne would ensure they wouldn't walk into anything.

Daphne scrunched her nose as she thought about it. The only way she could think of that Harry had heard a voice and she hadn't was-

"Harry, do you think it was speaking Parseltongue?" She asked, and Harry came to a sudden stop.

"Maybe. Do you think I should try talking back to it?" He said, quickly getting them moving again as the presence, and possible snake, began moving toward the second floor.

"Yeah, try it, but not too loudly in case anyone's around." She told him, so Harry cleared his throat and began to hiss upwards.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He said, as loudly as he dared, but luckily whatever was above them had very good hearing, and stopped suddenly above their heads.

"A speaker? Is that you, Tom?" The voice responded, much louder than Harry had been.

"No, sorry, my name is Harry." He responded, though his mind immediately went to the only Tom he could think of - Tom Riddle.

"I see." The powerful snake responded, and Harry thought it almost sounded relieved. "My name is Serana, and I am the guardian of this school."

"Oh, thats...thank you for guarding our school." Harry said, nonplussed.

"What's it saying?" Daphne asked impatiently, a little upset that she couldn't be included in the conversation.

"It's a snake, its name is Serana, it thought I was someone called Tom, and it's apparently the guardian of the school." Harry responded quickly.

"I would very much like to meet you, Harry. Would you like to meet me?" The snake asked him, and Harry froze.

"She - is Serana a girl's name? - wants me to meet her," Harry said to Daphne, who hummed.

"It can't hurt, it's just a snake, but where though?" Daphne asked, and Harry shrugged and returned his attention upwards.

"Where would you like to meet me? How do I get to you?" He asked the snake.

"Follow me, Harry, and I will lead you to the entrance to my lair." The snake responded, beginning to move toward the second floor once more.

Harry and Daphne hurried along as quickly as the cloak allowed.

"Harry, where are we going?" Daphne asked him.

"She never said, it just said it would lead us to the entrance of its lair." Harry recited, focusing on the snake's presence.

"Lair? Oh, that makes me feel much better about all this." Daphne muttered to herself.

Eventually, they found themselves in a corridor which, if the way she suddenly froze and hissed in annoyance, Daphne clearly recognised. It wasn't until he had gotten them moving again and they got to the door the snake had stopped above that Harry also realised where they were.

They were outside Myrtle's bathroom.

"The entrance is in there, Harry."The snake told him from above.

"We, that is, my friend and I, have been in there before, and we saw no entrance to any lairs." Harry said, quickly muttering the translated conversation to Daphne.

Harry swore that the snake began to chuckle. "Of course not, my Master was a great wizard and he hid the entrance so those unworthy could not enter."

"Those unworthy?" Harry asked trepidatiously.

"Do not worry yourself, young Harry, you share the gift of my Master and thus are more than worthy to enter his chamber." The snake told him, sounding as reassuring as a hissing snake could.

"Parseltongue, Harry," Daphne whispered to him once he had translated, to which he nodded.

"And my friend? She can't speak to you like I can." Harry said, and the snake was silent for a long moment.

"Your friend will need to keep their eyes closed when they enter. I will await you in my master's chamber." The snake said, and Harry felt it begin to move away down the corridor.

They entered the bathroom to find Myrtle was mercifully absent, shrugged off Harry's cloak, and quickly looked around, finding nothing that they could discern to be the entrance to any chamber, or lair.

It was Daphne who, when remembering her last visit to the bathroom, remembered the strange snake engraving on one of the sinks and quickly led Harry over to it, who began to inspect it.

"Do you reckon this could be it? Like a secret passageway or something?" Harry asked, still bent down to inspect the engraving, and heard Daphne's sharp intake of air from behind him and turned quickly. "What? What's wrong?

"Harry, I just remembered what Myrtle said. She said that that sink is what killed her." Daphne breathed, eyes wide.

"A sink? How could she be killed by a sink?" Harry asked, frowning in confusion.

Daphne gave him a look. "The snake said I needed to keep my eyes closed." She said in a slow voice.

"I mean, that's a weird request but - oh." Harry realised, his own eyes widening.

"Yes, oh, Serana is a Basilisk." Daphne said flatly.

"But I thought there were no more Basilisks left? That they'd been hunted to extinction?" Harry said, feeling like the blood in his veins had turned to ice.

"Clearly, they missed one." She replied, her own breathing coming quickly.

"So, what now? Do we go and get the Headmaster?" Harry suggested, feeling way out of his depth.

Daphne stayed silent, thinking. "It - she, wanted to meet you."

"And? She might just be hungry." Harry said, crossing his arms.

"She said she was the guardian of the school, I doubt she's going around eating students or she'd have been found and killed long ago." Daphne replied, her breathing going back to normal.

Harry stared at her. "Explain Myrtle, then."

"An accident?" Daphne said with a shrug. "And she did warn us that I would need to close my eyes, she could have said nothing."

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "If this goes wrong, you get to tell your parents."

Daphne gave him a wry smile. "Harry, if this goes wrong, we never come back out of there."

Harry just turned back to the sink, feeling like he was making a terrible, terrible mistake, and bent down to look at the engraving again. "Let's see if this works, then. Open."

He had to jump back when the sinks all began to move, rotating around until, in the middle of the bathroom floor, was a large, wide, circular tunnel.

Together they stood on the precipice of the sheer drop, both staring down into the chasm in silence until Harry turned towards the girl next to him, face blank.

"Well, ladies first."

Harry, of course, didn't actually make Daphne go first, and, after going back and folding up his cloak and placing it in his pocket, prepared himself to jump down into the tunnel.

"Harry, wait," Daphne said right as he was about to jump, and he turned to her.

Daphne pulled him into a hug. "I'll be right behind you."

Harry nodded, releasing her and, before his courage could fail him, jumped into the hole.

The journey was swift, and surprisingly not uncomfortable as he slid down the pipe, but when the tunnel began to level out and he could see a light source fast approaching, Harry braced himself as he approached the exit, still traveling at a high speed.

He shot out of the end of the tunnel and landed on the stone ground, but to his astonishment felt no pain as he bounced a few times and came to a stop.

"Cushioning charms." He said to himself, beginning to push himself up from his hands and knees, but before he could fully rise-

"OOF!"

Something crashed into his back and landed on him.

"Hey, Harry."

"Hi, Daphne. Can you get off me now?"

She did so, clambering off his back and looking around at the chamber they found themselves in as Harry gingerly got to his feet and joined her in her inspection.

The space around them was dark, gloomy and ominous, especially with the hundreds of rat skeletons littering the outskirts of the area, and was lit only by a few torches hanging on the walls. There was only one way to proceed from here, and they began to do so, though Harry turned to look at Daphne as she walked next to him and had to shake his head.

"So, we're in the lair of the Basilisk." He said lightly.

"Yeah, should be fun, right?" She responded excitedly.

"Oh, definitely. There's just one small thing, though." He said, something strange in his voice.

"What's that?" Daphne answered, turning to look at him as they walked along.

"The Basilisk was kind enough to warn us that you should close your eyes, and yet here you are, walking alongside me, with your eyes wide open!" Harry hissed in annoyance, dragging her behind him and glaring into her exasperated eyes until she dutifully closed them.

"And you say Astoria is insane." He muttered to himself as she huffed behind him, hands on his shoulders as he led her forward. They continued along until they reached a wall with two stone, intertwined snakes adorning it.

"This is it," Harry said flatly.

"Is it? I couldn't tell, what with not being able to see." Daphne said sarcastically behind him.

Harry rolled his eyes as he focused on the wall once more. "Open."

The snakes began to move, each slithering along the wall until they covered all four sides of the wall, and, like the entrance to Diagon Alley, the wall dissolved and the chamber beyond was revealed.

As was the massive, yellow-eyed Basilisk lying in the centre of the chamber awaiting them.

Harry walked forward slowly, eyes transfixed on the Basilisk's own.

"How am I not dead?" He breathed out, coming to a stop twenty feet from the huge snake.

"You are a speaker, Harry. My gaze cannot harm you." The Basilisk, Serana, responded, making a strange noise as she finished that almost sounded like she was laughing at him.

"I didn't know that," Harry responded, chagrined.

"I would have been a rather poor companion for my Master if he could never look at me, do you not think?" Serana told him, her eyes darting behind him momentarily to take in Daphne, who was stood stock-still behind him, eyes shut tightly and her hands still on his shoulders.

"Is this the friend you mentioned? Or, perhaps, your mate?" Serana asked him, her huge tongue flickering in the air before her to sense Daphne better.

"This is Daphne Greengrass, my friend," Harry responded quickly.

Serana finished her inspection, her tongue returning to her mouth. "You are still young, there is time enough yet."

"What's she saying?" Daphne asked quietly from behind him.

"Err...she explained that her gaze can't kill me because I'm a Parselmouth, and then she asked who you were so I told her," Harry answered, heat rising into his cheeks.

"Oh, tell her I said it's nice to meet her," Daphne instructed him.

"Daphne says hello and it's nice to meet you." Harry dutifully translated.

"Likewise. Thank you for coming to see me, young speaker. It has been a long time since I had company." Serana told him, lowering her head as she lay before him to get more comfortable.

"Was that the person you thought I was at first? Tom?" Harry asked her as pulled his wand and summoned two rat skeletons that were dotting the chamber, transfiguring them into two wooden chairs and whispering to Daphne to sit down.

Serana made a displeased noise. "Yes, Tom was the last to discover my Master's chamber."

"Tom Riddle?" Harry asked her, wanting to see if his suspicion was correct.

"You know him?" Serana hissed in agitation.

"Not personally. He killed my parents, amongst many others. He became known as Voldemort." Harry told her with a scowl.

"Yes, he did like to tell me of his great plans for the future and the name he had chosen for himself. He was a cruel boy." Serana told him, shaking her large head as she remembered him.

Harry nodded but had another question he needed to ask. "My friend and I, we were worried about coming down here." He started, nervous about how the huge creature might react.

"Because of what I am?" The Basilisk responded, sounding upset.

"No, well, a little apprehensive about that I suppose, but you did warn us that Daphne had to close her eyes. No, it's about the girl who died in the bathroom, we met her ghost and...well, from the sounds of it, you killed her." Harry said, wincing at how blunt it sounded.

Serana looked away from him to stare at the chamber wall. "I am ashamed to admit that I did. I was entrusted by my Master to protect his school and all of his students, and I failed." She told him mournfully.

"How? Was it a mistake?" Harry asked, trying to sound understanding to the obviously upset Basilisk.

Serana was silent for a long moment until she spoke again. "My Master was a great wizard. He was the one to hatch me, but when he did he also used his blood to bind me to him, and his descendants." She explained. "He charged me with protecting this school from any who would threaten it and its children. My Master was distrustful of the ones without magic, and worried that they would one day attack. His use of his own blood ensured that his descendants could control me should they ever need me in defence of the school."

Harry nodded, mind racing as he thought about what she had said. "And Tom - Voldemort - is Salazar Slytherin's descendant?"

"He is. He took control of me, and he made me attack the innocent children I had been charged with defending. I fought against his control as much as I were able and was successful in merely petrifying the children and not killing them with my gaze. Tom realised what I was doing, and told me to wait in the tunnel you entered through and, when he knew that the girl was there, he opened the entrance and ordered me to exit the tunnel and kill her. The girl had little chance of avoiding my gaze, and I was unable to avert it. She died, and Tom ordered me back into the chamber to await further orders. He never returned." Serana told him her tale, finally turning back to look at him.

Harry swallowed, shaking his head at how awful her story was, and quickly whispered an abbreviated translation to Daphne, who gasped next to him.

"It wasn't her fault, but why is she not still under his control now and still waiting for orders?" Daphne said, gesturing with her hand to where she thought the Basilisk was for Harry to ask her.

"Serana? Why aren't you under his control anymore? How are you able to speak to me as you are?" He asked her gently.

"I waited in this chamber for many moons, leaving only to sate my hunger. Then, recently to me but perhaps not to you, one night Tom's control of me was broken, and my mind was my own once more. And, with it, my guilt." She explained.

Harry got to his feet, quickly telling Daphne to stay put and keep her eyes closed, and hesitantly approached Serana who watched him with her impassive gaze. When he got close, he reached out slowly and laid his hand on her snout in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

"It wasn't your fault, Serana, you had no choice. I think Tom's control over you was broken when he attacked me when I was a baby." He told her, rubbing his tiny hand on her large snout. "He tried to kill me, but he failed and I destroyed him somehow. Maybe that's what broke his control over you."

Serana hissed in satisfaction at the small hand's ministrations. "Then I owe you my gratitude, Harry. You saved me."

"He's not dead, Serana, at least my Headmaster doesn't believe so. But I've sworn that, if he does come back, I will kill him." Harry responded firmly, looking into the Basilisk's eyes.

"I hope you do, little one."

In the end, Harry and Daphne stayed down in the Chamber for many hours, conversing with Serana via Harry, where she told them about her Master, Salazar Slytherin, and what he had been like. Slytherin, true to the rumours about him, had despised muggles and their religions that branded witches and wizards as demons, and had been highly distrustful of muggle-borns. He had argued against admitting them to Hogwarts, but when the other three founders had disagreed and overruled him, he accepted it. When he had hatched Serana, he had not told her to attack muggle-born students, instead, they were to be protected as any other child of Hogwarts. It was Tom Riddle who decided to use Serana to kill muggle-borns against his ancestor's wishes.

Eventually, Daphne pointed out that it was probably almost morning and they needed to leave and Serana had shown them the tunnels she used to traverse the castle, pointing out the only one that two humans could safely use to exit the Chamber. They said their goodbyes and made their way through the tunnel together, with Daphne happy that she could open her eyes for the first time in hours. Coming to the end of the tunnel, they found another passageway guarded by stone snakes, and when Harry gave the password, they found themselves in the same cave they had arrived at by boat on their first night in Hogwarts.

"Never would have thought we'd end up back here again," Harry said, looking around at the familiar cave.

"And thank god that tunnel exists, or how else would we have got back to the bathroom?" Daphne said, looking down at her filthy robes from the accumulated grime they had picked up on the slide down.

They began to walk up the steps to the grounds and back to the castle, discovering that the sun was yet to appear in the sky, before Harry spoke again. "We're going to have to tell Dumbledore about Serana."

"Why?" Daphne asked, glancing at him.

"I think he needs to know that a huge Basilisk is roaming around, even if she isn't a treat to anyone." He said, chewing his lip.

"Do you think Dumbledore will be happy to leave her undisturbed?" Daphne pressed him, sounding very much like she believed he wouldn't.

"If we explain it to him, I think he will. She's been here nearly as long as the school itself, this is her home." Harry responded passionately, ready to argue with the Headmaster in defence of his new serpent friend.

"And how would we explain how we met her? If you don't recall, we were where we weren't supposed to be." Daphne pointed out as they opened the front doors to the castle and stepped inside the empty Entrance Hall.

Harry hummed. "I think he probably expects us to have found the Cerberus by now, especially with my cloak. Speaking of..." He said, removing it from his robes and throwing it over the two of them, pulling up the hood to make them invisible. They passed the large clock in the Entrance Hall, seeing that it was almost six o'clock in the morning.

"She killed Myrtle, Harry, even if it wasn't her fault," Daphne whispered as they made their way back to the common room. "He's probably duty-bound to remove her for that."

"I suppose you're right. I don't want Serana to be hurt." Harry decided. If Dumbledore would be forced to remove her for her part in Myrtle's death, then Harry would keep her a secret from the man.

"Good job you've been learning Occlumency then," Daphne said lightly as they arrived back at the common room.

"I doubt when your parents suggested it that they thought I'd use it to hide the existence of a thousand-year-old Basilisk."

Over the coming weeks, the two spent a lot of time visiting their new Basilisk friend, and Serana was excited to see them each time they found time to visit. Harry was undoubtedly her favourite, as poor Daphne was unable to speak or even look at the snake, having to rely on translations from Harry, but she had very interesting stories to tell of Salazar Slytherin and a time long past.

Harry had, after reading and studying up on Conjuration, managed to conjure a large bull for her to consume on one particularly memorable trip, and had been grateful as he watched the bovine disappear down Serana's gullet that she wasn't a mindless beast anymore as that quite easily could have been the fate of Daphne or himself.

The two had continued enjoying the Quidditch matches that took place periodically on Saturday afternoons, but after the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match in early February as the two were leaving the stadium they noticed the very odd sight of Snape dragging Professor Quirrell by the shoulder in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

"What do you think is going on there?" Harry asked as they both watched the strange occurrence.

"Maybe they hate each other and Snape's about to do away with him," Daphne suggested with a shrug.

"What a shame it would be," Harry started in a contemplative voice. "if we witnessed our Head of House murder another Professor?"

"Oh, a terrible shame indeed, we'd be forced to report it for sure, and he'd be sure to be fired and then imprisoned," Daphne responded, good citizen that she was.

"Cloak?"

"Cloak."

And so, after quickly wrapping themselves in Harry's trusty cloak, they followed along behind the Professor's who had by now entered the thick undergrowth of the forest. Making sure to keep in line with Snape's footprints and the harsh lines from where Quirrell had dug in his feet and been bodily dragged along, they caught up with the two men as Snape had Quirrell pinned up against a tree.

"D-Don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..." Quirrell stammered.

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," Snape said icily. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all."

"I-I d-don't know what y-you mean, Severus," Quirrell responded, eyes darting about.

Snape pulled him forward slightly before slamming him back into the tree. "Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

Harry tapped on Daphne's arm three times, and she nodded in front of him that she understood.

"B-b-but Severus, I-" Quirrell tried.

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," Snape said, taking a menacing step closer to the pinned man.

"I-I don't know what you-" Harry was beginning to wonder why the man even bothered to try to respond.

"You know perfectly well what I mean." Snape interrupted, his crooked teeth showing as he smiled mirthlessly at the man in his grasp. "You still have yet to contribute towards the protections with your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't-" Yet again, poor Quirrell was cut off.

"Very well. We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie." Snape finished, letting go of the lapels of Quirrel's robes and drawing his own cloak around himself, striding out of the clearing and leaving Quirrell to slump down the tree and clutch his chest, breathing heavily.

Harry and Daphne took the opportunity and began to creep slowly backward from the Defence Professor, leaving the clearing themselves and starting to head back to the castle.

"Well...not quite a murder attempt, but something is definitely going on," Daphne said in an interested voice.

"And it's something to do with the Philosopher's Stone," Harry stated with a nod. "That's what Nicolas Flamel created, right?"

Daphne nodded and began to lead them back to the castle. "Yes, it's what creates the Elixir of Life that he and his wife use to stay alive. They're over six-hundred years old by now."

"I remember reading about it, it's mentioned with Alchemy in a Potions book as an example of what could be achieved one day," Harry told her, remembering vaguely reading about it over the summer.

"To be honest there isn't much information about it, Flamel proved that he'd created eternal life with the stone, which can also turn anything it touches to gold, but no one but him and his wife knows quite how it works or what the recipe for the Elixir of Life might be," Daphne explained as they slowly ambled their way over the grounds.

"That's smart, if I made something like that I wouldn't even tell anyone," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Excuse me? You've just created eternal life and you wouldn't tell me?" Daphne said indignantly.

"Obviously I'd tell you, and your parents and Astoria, but nobody else. It'd be a long eternity without you," Harry told her sincerely.

Daphne's heart skipped a beat as responded with a smirk. "Oh, Harry, you say the sweetest things."

"Shut up. So, the Cerberus is Hagrid's beast, which shouldn't really be a surprise, it's there to guard the Philosopher's Stone, which must be the thing I sensed in Dumbledore's office that he couldn't show me, and some of the teachers are providing protections? But Quirrell hasn't yet, and Snape wants to know what they are so he can get past them and steal the stone." Harry summed up.

"And Snape is trying to get Quirrell to help him find out how to get past the dog." Daphne reminded him, herself thinking about the confrontation they'd just overheard.

"But Quirrell doesn't want to and is trying to stand up to him." Harry continued, but Daphne scoffed.

"10 Galleons says he cracks in a week."

There was little change in their lives after what they'd learned, though Daphne insisted on visiting the Cerberus more often at night.

"We need to check that he's still there guarding the stone." Daphne insisted as she dragged them up to the third-floor corridor for the fourth night running.

"You can lie to yourself as much as you like but I'm not falling for it, Daph. You just want to see the big doggy again. Because you're insane." Harry responded though he still dutifully followed along under the cloak.

"Your only friend other than me is the sixty-foot Basilisk so you're in no position to talk about sanity." She snarked as they walked up to the door that hid the Cerberus. "Now shut up and make with the magic." She told him with an imperious wave toward the door.

Harry did so, grumbling. "Hagrid counts...so does Astoria, actually."

"I refer you to my previous statement - you are in no position to talk about sanity. Now shush, he's sleeping," She ordered, settling down to watch the Cerberus sleep, cooing as it twitched in its dreams.

Luckily for Harry, he managed to swindle a visit to Serana the next night, who was still upset that the Cerberus was in "her castle" as she felt she could do a good enough job guarding it herself.

"But Serana, no one but me and Daphne even know you're here." Harry pointed out but the snake was undeterred.

"Exactly, I am so effective at guarding this school that I can do it undetected." She responded as snootily as a snake possibly could.

Harry rolled his eyes. "It isn't technically here to guard the school, it's here to guard a valuable stone."

"Then it is truly a shameful guardian if it is only entrusted with a single stone, Harry," Serana said, and Harry gave up arguing with her at that point.

The weeks passed and soon enough it was the Easter Holidays and the two of them were boarding the Hogwarts Express to once again return home. They found their usual compartment and settled in, chatting about nothing until a thought suddenly hit Harry.

"You owe me 10 Galleons," Harry said, baffling Daphne.

"What? Why?" She asked.

"You said Quirrell would crack in a week, it's been two months now. I reckon I'm owed interest at this point." Harry grinned.

She battered her eyelashes at him. "Harry, you wouldn't really make me pay, would you?" She asked in a soft voice and pouting adorably.

Harry stared at her and reached out with his hand, jabbing his index finger into his palm. "Pay up."

Daphne huffed and began to dig into her pockets. "This is cruel, Harry. Now I have no pocket money left for the trolley."

Harry was unsympathetic as she poured the owed coinage into his hand. "You told me to consult with you in the future on any business dealings in case I became a pauper, would you let someone off a 10 Galleon debt?"

Daphne continued to pout. "If it was you I would."

"You're a liar and, even worse, you're a bad one," Harry said, stuffing the Galleons into his pocket.

Daphne couldn't help but feel a little proud of him. But she was definitely making him buy her some chocolate from the trolley.

"Do you think we should tell your parents about everything that's happened? Harry asked a little while later.

Daphne just stared at him. "You mean about nighttime visits to a three-headed dog, overprotective Basilisk and our Head of House trying to steal a priceless artifact with the unwitting aid of our witless Defence Professor?"

"Yeah, all that," Harry responded with a wave.

Daphne threw her arms up in the air. "Are you insane? Do you have any idea how much trouble we'd be in? Honestly, Harry, it was kind of reckless to jump down a hole in a bathroom to see a Basilisk."

Harry gaped at her. "It was your idea."

The two stepped off the train and, like Christmas, found the Greengrass family waiting at the back of the platform. Once they had emerged from the crowd Astoria burst out from Daniel's grip and started running towards them.

Daphne, who was in front, opened her arms to receive her sister, only to blink as the ten-year-old raced passed her and glomped Harry.

"I missed you!" Astoria told him as she wrapped her arms around him, making sure her face was pointed at Daphne so she could see the evil smile on her face.

Daphne growled but soon found herself being hugged by her mother and father. Eventually, Harry managed to shake Astoria off and received a hug of his own from Marie, who held him at arm's length once she released him and looked him over with a critical eye whilst Daniel patted him on the shoulder.

"You've grown, and you've got more meat on your bones now." She told him happily.

"Daphne keeps making me eat second helpings," He smiled back at her as she led the family from the platform.

One short apparition later and they were home. Harry smiled at the thought, having never really looked forward to returning to where he lived before this. The family were soon back in the living room, the comfortable atmosphere just the same as it had been at Christmas.

Daniel leaned forward. "Now that you're both home, your mother and I have something to tell you."

Daphne gasped. "Astoria's adopted?"

Daniel shook his head.

Daphne gasped again. "She's being arrested?"

Another shake.

Another gasp. "You've found out that she's not really a witch, she's actually a rare breed of cabbage?"

Astoria burst in angrily. "Shut up! We're going on holiday in the summer, you dolt."

Daphne stared at her sister, then turned to stare at her mother, and then finally her father. "But we've never been on holiday before."

Marie smiled at her. "Well, it's about time we do, don't you think? We've spent too long cooped up in this house."

"Why have you never gone on holiday before?" Harry asked.

"Because Astoria would cause an international incident," Marie responded instantly.

"But what about going to the muggle world?"

"Because Astoria would cause an international incident and break the Statute of Secrecy."

"So are we leaving her here when we go?" Daphne asked gleefully.

Daniel shook his head. "Astoria has promised to be on her best behaviour, and if she does nothing to get us all thrown into Azkaban she will be allowed to keep her wand once she gets it."

"And you believed her?" Daphne said, shaking her head.

"I want to go on holiday as much as you do," Astoria responded primly.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, excited at the prospect of seeing somewhere new.

"France, probably, maybe Spain, we'll get a villa close to a beach," Marie said with a smile, happy herself at finally being able to go abroad for the first time since before the war. She continued to smile as she asked her children "How has your term been? Anything new?"

They shared a look.

"Not really."

"Same old, same old."

Luckily, their luck held and Harry's Occlumency had improved enough that he could keep all thoughts of visits to three-headed dogs and protective Basilisks out of his mind and, more importantly, out of hers.

The time spent with the Greengrass family was easy, fun and relaxing for Harry, his continued lessons from Daniel and Marie notwithstanding, and coming back to his own home with his own bedroom was the icing on the cake.

Easter came and with it, a mountain of chocolate for each of them. Harry was astounded to see how Astoria could eat more than her entire body weight in chocolate in one sitting and still be so skinny.

"How does she do it?" He asked, astonished as she ate her sixth easter egg of the last two hours.

"I think she has hollow legs," Daphne said, unconcerned, and tucking into the third egg of the day for herself.

Harry however still had a few eggs left which were packed into his trunk to return to Hogwarts with him.

The two weeks break had passed much too quickly for either of their liking, but they were both excited to go and see Serana again, as they had missed their reptilian friend.

As they exchanged hugs and goodbyes with their family, Marie said something that utterly terrified the pair of them.

"Have fun, you two, and make the most of it. This is your final term before Astoria comes with you."

They arrived back at Hogwarts but were suspicious at Dinner when they noticed Hagrid was absent, so when the return feast had concluded they snuck out of the castle to go and visit their large friend.

They found his cabin with all of the curtains drawn, and when they knocked on the door it took a very large time until Hagrid's face appeared as he opened the door a tiny amount, his small face sticking out of the crack.

"Oh's yeh two, come in quick," Hagrid said, opening the door wide enough for them to squeeze through.

Daphne immediately spotted why the man was being so secretive.

"Hagrid," She started sweetly. "Why do you have a dragon egg in your cooking pot?"

Well here's chapter 12, bit of a quick one as this chapter was really to advance the plot further so this school year can reach its conclusion and set up other plot threads. The end of the year should be either the next chapter or the one after it.

Yeah, the owl ended up being Hedwig I couldn't think of a different name.

Absolutely none of you guessed that their new friend would be the Basilisk which makes me very happy. There's a reason why the scene in Myrtle's bathroom happened and it was entirely to foreshadow this.

They both know now about the stone, and that Snape and Quirrell are involved somehow, but they aren't too worried about it as long as Quirrell appears to be holding up.

Gryffindor or Slytherin is the general consensus for Astoria - I already know which house she's going into, and it's been hinted at already in the story enough times, but it's still fun to read your guesses.

Thanks for all the reviews, and all the new people who have followed after the last chapter.

Enjoy!