It's My Life
Ever since that day Harry informed his parents he was gay and dating Draco, there had been peace. Voldemort was unusually quiet, but Harry didn't care so much about that because he knew it was close to the end for him. Harry only needed to find the necklace and hidden unknown soul container to finish things. Yes, there was still whatever object Bellatrix had and Nagini herself, but that would be easy enough when Harry planned to storm Malfoy Manor and run them out to search the place for the object. Nagini would be destroyed in the fight. It was not that time just yet, Harry put the horcrux searching on hold when the holiday ended and he returned to Hogwarts to pick up teaching.
Needless to say, it came off as quite the shock to Lily, James, and Sirius above the rest, that Harry was considered an adult at sixteen, but actually closer to seventeen now, and a teacher. Double that Harry had earned two masteries. It was brought up later that Harry, despite having been resorted to Slytherin in his fifth year, took over being Gryffindor's head of house among becoming a teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Severus had explained why everything happened the way it did, that Minerva picked Harry to teach because she was sure he was strong enough to be immune to Voldemort's curse on the position.
Harry didn't have any trouble with anyone at school, and he had his student's respect. Harry didn't struggle with grading, or having time to do everything. Life was actually perfect and Harry never considered using that term because he knew it could always change, as if the world didn't want that for him. Harry had made sure anyone who knew about the people who came back to life remained silent on the matter, it wasn't time for that to come out yet. Word to Voldemort would indeed be bad, but that's why all those who came back were safely hidden inside Potter Manor.
Harry still enjoyed his nights with Draco, whether the boy stayed with him until morning, or Harry made sure he got back to his common room. Currently, it was Saturday, February 15th and the chosen day of Harry going down into the Chamber of Secrets. Rather, the night because it would cause just too much attraction during the day. Just about everyone came along for that, meaning Severus, Minerva, Filius, Pamona, Lucius, Narcissa, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Students who came were Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Vincent, Pansy, Theodore, Gregory, Blaise, and of course, Draco.
Well, Harry and his boyfriend and friends were waiting in his classroom; he told them to be there at 10:00 pm and they had permission to be out past curfew by Minerva, just for this adventure. Ginny did not come, not good memories for her and Harry understood that. Ron chose to come because he never saw the inside of the chamber due to the cave-in separating him and Harry. Harry had the teachers with him while the rest coming from Potter Manor had shown up at Hogsmeade, then walked through the Hogwarts gates where Harry was awaiting them.
"It's so strange to be walking through the gates again…" Lily chuckled. "So long ago we did this as first years."
"How's it feel for you, Uncle Siri?" Harry asked with a smile. "Didn't you say three years ago that you wanted to walk through these gates again as a free man?"
"Feels like I might cry." Sirius admitted. "It'll be even better when I don't have to be hidden away. I know you told me Amelia erased the charges, but I'm still hiding for my own safety."
"Soon." Harry promised. "When Voldemort is gone and his followers are either following him into death or prison…It'll be safe again. Now, let's move along. I have to grab the students from my classroom."
The group walked with him silently through the halls until they got to the third floor and Harry opened the door to find them all standing around, so they joined up and Harry led them down to the second floor girl's bathroom.
"Hullo Harry," Myrtle said sweetly.
"Hi, Myrtle." Harry greeted.
"Harry…Why are we in the girl's bathroom?" Neville asked.
"Entrance to the chamber is here." Harry told his friend.
"You know what, I'm not even going to ask how you figured that out four years ago." Theodore remarked.
"Wasn't that hard." Ron shrugged. "Hermione is the one who started us hiding out here to brew Polyjuice Potion so we could sneak into the Slytherin common room to find out who the heir of Slytherin was. Worked for Harry and I, but not Hermione."
"Talk about it and I'll kill you, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione snapped defensively. Harry had to snicker.
"Hermione ended up with cat hair, but Ron and I were fine as Crabbe and Goyle." Harry informed.
"Harry!" Hermione whined.
"You did what?" Severus looked at his son.
"Wait a minute…" Draco paused. "Oh my god, that was you and Weasley?"
"Yep." Harry nodded.
"I should have recognized those damn glasses!" Draco muttered.
Harry kissed the teen's cheek before walking over to the sinks and finding the one with the snake on it. "Hehshaassaa…" Harry hissed as there was rumbling and the top part of the sinks lifted upward and then the sinks themselves shifted apart slightly, but the one Harry had been standing in front of slid downward into the floor and the grate covered it.
"Oh, memories…" Ron and Harry said together.
"I would hope there's a ladder?" Minerva asked.
"Nope. Jump, you'll side down." Harry informed. "You could float too, I suppose. But Ron, Lockhart and I jumped."
"You mean we shoved Lockhart down at wand point." Ron smiled.
"He was being a wuss." Harry informed. "Moving on," He walked to the edge with Draco's hand in his and jumped, dragging his boyfriend with him. "Watch for the bones at the bottom!" The teenager called as he disappeared from sight.
The others looked at one another, but Ron stepped up next and saw a nervous Hermione, so he grabbed her hand and they jumped together. Not having much choice, the others all jumped solo or with a partner. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco were awaiting them at the bottom. Harry had been kind enough to cushion the fall onto the bones at the end of the slide.
Everyone stood up and brushed themselves off before Harry used a spell to light up the way with several little orbs of light to follow them along. Soon, they came to the snakeskin, which Severus all but silently begged son to let him take. The man loved his potions and apparently Basilisk parts were rare and extremely expensive.
"Right, what are we doing about the cave-in that Lockhart caused, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Simple fix, Ron," Harry waved across the rock wall with a silent reparo charm and everything reset fine. "This way, snake door is just through here." He informed. After a little more walking, they came to the small circle door covered in snakes. Harry repeated the phrase to open it in Parseltongue, then the one snake slid around the edge while the others inched in. Finally, the door swung open as Harry went ahead first, and turned to climb down the ladder.
"Wow…" A few gasped.
Harry had to chuckle a bit as he waited for everyone to come down and then step ahead with his arms opened. "Welcome to Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."
"It's real…" Lucius whispered. "Years of searching and it was right under the school?"
"We're actually miles under and away from the school," Ron corrected. "Because of that cave in, when Fawkes flew us out, it was through some tunnel of rocks and out into the night. But we were not under the school."
"But the entrance inside the school was the girl's bathroom sinks…How extraordinary." Minerva gasped.
"I know we saw it in your memories, Harry, but you really fought and beat this thing at twelve?" Blaise asked, motioning to the Basilisk.
"Mmhm," Harry nodded. "I'm actually surprised it's still preserved from four years ago."
"That means everything is intact!" Severus got excited. "Blood, venom, skin, fangs…!"
"Well, just made his entire life happy," Lucius chuckled at Severus's reaction.
"It's so unreal." Draco looked around.
"Oh, look…Here's the fang I used to destroy the diary." Harry bent down to pick it up. "Still covered in blood. Lovely."
"So, this is it? There's nothing else down all these tunnels?" Hermione inquired.
"I don't know, Hermione…I didn't exactly come down here to explore four years ago. I was a bit preoccupied dealing with Tom Riddle's soul, the Basilisk, and saving Ginny…" Harry told her. "I know these tunnels all lead back here or around the school. It's how the Basilisk was moving around to petrify people."
"But we saw the snake come out of this statue's mouth…So I wondered if perhaps there was anything in there?" Hermione suggested.
"Guess we could find out, if everyone else is up for it?" Harry shrugged, looking at the group.
"Go for it." Sirius told Harry.
"Alright, how did Voldy open this again…" Harry thought back. "Ah, right…" He held up his hand to the statue. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Harry said as the mouth began to open.
"What did you say?" Remus asked.
"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." Harry recited.
"You really think you'll find anything in there?" Draco asked.
"Who knows, but it's a Chamber of Secrets. Surely it wasn't built for the sole purpose of housing the Basilisk. Plus, Aragog said the Basilisk was born in the castle itself." Harry stated.
"Aragog?" Severus inquired.
"Oh, um…Acromantula. Hagrid was keeping it as a pet in the school and Tom Riddle blamed Aragog for the attacks to frame Hagrid when Myrtle was killed. I believe he's still out in the Forbidden Forest." Harry informed.
"If I ever see that thing again, I'll kill it myself!" Ron remarked.
"Come off it, Ron. It was four years ago…" Harry told his friend with a smile.
"It tried to kill us, Harry!" Ron protested. "Follow the spiders…Speaking of that, I still need a word with Hagrid about following the bloody spiders!"
Harry laughed a little and hugged his friend. "He was helping us…And it paid off, didn't it?"
"Helping us?! Harry, he sent two twelve year olds into a place they weren't supposed to be to talk to a giant spider that gave us information and then sent its sons and daughters after us as…What was the term? Fresh meat!?" Ron argued.
"Hey, we survived." Harry reminded.
"If it weren't for dad's flying car, we wouldn't have!" Ron said.
"I'm confused…" Pansy blinked.
"Don't worry about it. Let's just say that I got the idea to talk to Hagrid, and Dumbledore showed up with Fudge to arrest Hagrid. Then Lucius came with Dumbledore's suspension notice…One of the last things Hagrid told us was that if anyone was looking for information, to follow the spiders…" Harry mentioned.
"So after they were gone, Ron and I followed the trail of spiders into the forest to find Aragog, which had been the accused monster down in the Chamber. It was through a memory that Tom Riddle showed me when I wrote in his diary." The teen continued. "He told me he could show me what happened, and I got pulled into the diary itself, seeing something from fifty years before when Myrtle had been killed, and Tom framed Hagrid, who said that Aragog wouldn't hurt anyone."
"In the forest, Aragog told us that the monster was born in the castle and spiders feared it. So on that later after the chat…Aragog said that they'd never harm Hagrid, but couldn't resist fresh meat when it wandered into their midst so willingly…Then we got overrun by spiders. It was my father's flying car that rescued us…" Ron informed.
"This is the same flying car that you two flew to school that year?" Severus asked.
"Yeah, about that…It wasn't our fault. Dobby was trying to protect me, make sure we couldn't come to the school because he said it wasn't safe for me to return. So he blocked the barrier to the platform and you know two twelve year olds panicked and took the car…" Harry explained.
"Harry, I love you, son…But you really do always end up in some kind of trouble…" Severus sighed.
"It finds me! I don't willingly try to attract it." Harry protested. "And to be fair, Dumbledore admitted to using compulsion charms on me…It wasn't always my Gryffindor bravado that made me just decide Hey, this seems bad…Let me find out what's going on and stop it. The bravado just got me through the main event…Which was always Voldemort." He mumbled.
"Well, the mouth is open…After you, Lord Slytherin…" Draco chuckled.
Harry held his boyfriend's hand and directed the light into the area before walking in. "Doesn't seem like anything…" Harry began. "Oh, wait…There's a picture over here…" Harry wandered over, finding it to be a portrait of Salazar Slytherin.
"You bear my ring, my successor has returned…" The portrait said. "Who are you, child?"
"Harry James Potter, blood adopted as Snape-Prince and Black." Harry replied.
"Potter…Potter," Salazar spoke. "You descend from a secondary line, from Cadmus's brother, Ignotus Peverell. How do you have my ring?"
"Lordship was won in conquest over the previous heir." Harry informed. "Your heir directly is Tom Marvolo Riddle, but his mother was Merope Gaunt."
"I see. I've heard much around the school of Tom Riddle's actions. He is no heir of mine." Salazar said. "You are my heir, though you have the lord title. You may enter my chambers. All I leave behind is yours," The portrait informed before it swung open to reveal a glorious room filled with books, a potions lab off to the side with tons of ingredients. Of course, there was also a desk, small table, bathroom, and bed.
"Woah…" Harry gasped and then he looked over to his father, Severus, who looked like he was in heaven. In fact, even Lucius seemed impressed. "Thank you, Mr. Slytherin," Harry stated.
"You may call me Sal, child." Salazar chuckled. "You seem like you're quite versed in what I work in. I hope my collection will aid you in whatever you desire in life."
"You must get lonely down here, Salazar," Minerva stated.
"Oh, I wander frequently, Minerva." Salazar stated. "In fact, I've been watching Mr. Potter-Snape-Black here for many years since I saw him defeat my Basilisk. One of my friends guards his quarters."
"Sir Hiss is your friend?" Harry questioned.
"Sir Hiss is what you named him?" Salazar asked.
"It fit, and to be fair…I might have ended up having a full conversation with him while I was a little drunk." Harry said.
"When was that?" Draco wondered.
"Sometime around Halloween." Harry shrugged. "You alright, Dad?"
"So many ingredients…" Severus was in awe.
"Take whatever you like, Severus. I appreciate another potions master and you can carve my Basilisk too." Salazar stated lightly.
"Harry is potions master too," Lily mentioned.
"I'm aware. As I said, I've been around since the chamber was reopened four years ago." Salazar remarked. "Harry, take whatever you want. It doesn't need to be hidden away down here. Just keep it safe,"
"Thank you, Sal," Harry bowed his head. "May I ask you something?"
"Proceed, child? And I know you are considered an adult, but to my age…" The man stated.
"That necklace you're wearing in your painting…What is it?" Harry questioned.
"This? Just a locket I created and left behind as an antique for the school. The other founders have something too. Godric left behind a sword…Helga, I think it was a cup of some sort. Then Rowena…I believe had a diadem." Salazar informed. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I have that locket in a box of things former Headmaster Dumbledore left me and I suppose I wanted to know if it meant anything. Clearly not, maybe he just thought it was supposed to be passed down to a descendant of Slytherin…You, rather." Harry replied. "But I did learn it's a locket, so there's that I guess. I have the sword too…But a cup and diadem, no idea."
"What exactly are you trying to figure out?" Salazar questioned.
"Tom Riddle split his soul and made horcruxes, we know that a necklace is one…But there are two we don't know of. And Tom's snake, Nagini, is another…" Harry informed. "We were on a good run with figuring things out to destroy the pieces because it's the only way to get rid of him. I suppose I thought maybe Dumbledore left me the locket because it might be another item. Dumbledore left me the diary I got rid of in second year, and then a ring that belonged to Tom's mother. The ring doubled to hold the Resurrection Stone, and I was left with the Elder Wand. I already had the Invisibility Cloak." He said.
"Ah, the Deathly Hallows." Salazar nodded calmly. "Well, I don't have much to offer on your search but this…My locket, Rowena's diadem, and Helga's cup have been gone since before Riddle's time. The last mention of the diadem was from Rowena's daughter, Helena. She spoke to Riddle some time before he left the school, or perhaps when he came to apply for a job here." The man stated.
"The diadem has been lost for years. There isn't anyone alive who has seen it since Rowena's time." Hermione said.
"That's not actually true," Luna interjected. "Rowena's daughter often talks about how her mother's diadem was ruined by evil, we could talk to her."
"Luna, even if that's true…Rowena's daughter wouldn't exist in this time with us. We're generations after her." Pansy informed.
"Didn't you hear what Hermione said?" Luna started. "There isn't anyone alive who has seen it, we have to talk to someone who is dead," She added. "Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter is Helena, the Grey Lady. Ghost of Ravenclaw tower. I talk to her all the time. I can take you to her, Harry…She might tell you if she's seen the diadem."
"What the hell is a diadem?" Ron asked.
"It's like a tiara." Draco stated. "Harry, this could be a chance to find another one…If Voldemort turned the items into horcruxes, Helena Ravenclaw might know where the diadem ended up, and that means the cup could very well be the object that Bellatrix has."
"But that doesn't explain the locket…There's nothing dark about that, never even been touched by evil. There's nothing magical about it." Harry remarked.
"Either way, we now have two possible horcruxes…It's worth a shot to get rid of Voldemort." Draco urged his boyfriend. "Talk to her."
"Fine. Sal, I'm gonna take everything out of here and probably won't be back. I'd be honored if you'd grace my office wall?" Harry asked.
"The honor is all mine," Salazar bowed his head.
"Alright then. Dad, gimme a hand wrapping everything up?" Harry looked at Severus.
"What about the Basilisk?" Lucius inquired.
"I'll shrink it down to transport until we find a place to keep it for dissection." Harry stated as he used his wand to pull the snake up on the level floor of the outside chamber where'd they'd been before and cast a shrinking charm for it to be the size of his hand. Harry pulled out a box from his side bag and lightly placed the creature inside, then away in his bag again. "Alright, ready, Dad?" Harry looked to the potions master.
"I got the lab." Severus nodded.
"I got the rest." Harry replied.
"Once you two are done, I'll show you the passageway out into the dungeons so you don't have to trek back to the opening in the bathroom." Salazar said.
"Thanks, Sal," Harry responded as he and Severus got to work getting everything they could from the chamber, obviously shrinking it down and putting it somewhere on them to transport back up to the main level.
Harry's next goal tonight was talking to Helena Ravenclaw about her mother's diadem. It was time to end this war once and for all, and he was just too close to not take every chance he got to find these Horcruxes. Draco was right, they only had three left to find and it was sounding like the diadem might be one. Harry didn't care if he didn't sleep tonight, but he wanted this over. Harry wanted peace and he was going to make it happen one way or another.