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Act II - The Warlock of Hogwarts
Chapter 17 - Daphne's Little Adventure
When Harry Potter had shared his memories of his time in the Chamber of Secrets, he had dropped right into the final chamber, with him walking to the giant statue, with Ginny Weasley's unmoving form lying on the wet floor. That had led to his encounter with Tom Riddle, his survival against the basilisk and his eventual victory over Riddle's shade by stabbing the basilisk fang into the diary. Daphne's imagination had filled up the rest, adding in a myriad of ideas about where the Chamber was located. She, like other purebloods, had read tales about hidden vaults inside Hogwarts, sealed pathways that would open to the rightful heirs of the Four Founders, revealing magics and items most dangerous and extraordinary.
She had not expectedโฆ this.
"This is a girl's lavatory."
Harry nodded. "It's also the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
"If you're messing with meโฆ" she began.
"I'm not," said Harry. "The Chamber was supposedly built in Slytherin's time, so that's a thousand year period since then. It might have been a different room back then, and got converted into a girl's lavatory without people knowing any better? Makes as much sense as anything else in this crazy school."
"Maybe there are other entrances?" Daphne trailed off.
"Could be," Harry shrugged. "We weren't exactly treating it as an adventure back then. The monster had supposedly taken Ginny to the Chamber and our only clue was Myrtleโ"
"Moaning Myrtle?"
"Ehโฆ you might not want to say that aloud," Harry began. "She might beโ"
The rest of his words drowned in a cacophony of rushing toilet water before a scowling and translucent face poked its head through one of the stall doors. Daphne didn't want to sound judgemental but the ghost really had the glummest face she had ever seen, half-hidden behind lank hair and thick, pearly spectacles.
"What are you doing in my bathroom?" Myrtle raged. "Come to pick on poor Myrtle, have you? It's not enough you call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"
"โaround, listening." He finished lamely.
"Errโฆ I didn't want to upset you," Daphne tried.
"OF COURSE NOT!" The ghost snapped. "No one wants to upset me! That's a good one! My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining myโ Oh, it's you. Harry."
And she blushed silver. "Did you finally decide to come share my toilet, Harry? I thought you had forgotten me!"
A wave of irritation flashed through Daphne as she regarded Harry, waiting for an explanation.
"Erโฆ Hi, Myrtle!" Her fiance tried. "It's been long, hasn't it?"
"Two years, three months and fourteen days," Myrtle replied, blushing again. "Not that I'm counting or anything."
Daphne's left eye twitched.
Harry had raised both arms in surrender. Even though they were directed at Myrtle, Daphne knew he was raising them for more than that. The boy had marvellous instincts.
"Right, erm, Myrtle, I'd like your help with something," he said conversationally, as if he wasn't pulling the entire thing out of his arse. Not that Myrtle noticed, given the blazing look on her face.
Just what I needed, Daphne thought dourly, a dopey ghost fangirl.
"What help?"
Harry nodded earnestly and then a conspiratorial look crossed his face, and he made a point of taking out his wand and casting a silencing spell at the entrance door of the bathroom, and a repelling charm just to be safe. He even made an extravagant show of checking the other stalls, as if to make sure there was no one listening in, though it was quite obvious no one ever came here. Once he was satisfied, he turned back to Myrtle.
"You know how Slytherin's monster came out from this sink?"
Myrtle bobbed, looking intrigued.
"Well, I'm gonna go inโ" Daphne poked him from behind, "I mean, we are gonna go in, and see if it's still completely safe. And also, check if there are any other monsters down there. And Iโ we were hoping you'd let us know if someone else comes to try to use it again. After all, this is your bathroom."
Daphne wondered why he was being so acquiescent about the entire thing. Most girls avoided the second floor's lavatory on sheer principle, given how dirty it was. The sounds of the pitiful ghost flooding the floors didn't help either.
"Oh, you're so very brave, Harry!" Myrtle gushed.
Harry gave her a lopsided grin.
Daphne poked him again. Harry turned towards her and gave her a pleading look. Deciding to humour him, she turned to Myrtle. "Hello, Myrtle. I'm Daphne. Daphne Greengrass. I'm sorry we got off the wrong foot, but I see how wrong I was. Especially when you are so helpful to Harry."
She gave him a cold stare as she said that.
Myrtle preened under the attention.
"So I was wondering," said Daphne, "has anyone ever come to this bathroom since Harry saved Weasley and killed the monster?"
Myrtle shook her head. "No one."
"Are you sure?"
"It's my bathroom," Myrtle said challengingly. "I'd know if anyone came in or went down there. You've got to speak to snakes to do that." She turned to Harry eagerly. "Show her, Harry."
Annoyed, she turned to him and clasped her palms over her chest with the air of an awestruck fangirl, said, "Yes! Show me, Harry."
Harry coughed loudly, and then quickly turned around, searching for anything to change the topic. Then his eyes caught something around the taps and hissedโ
Every single hair on her neck rose and stood on end, all the way down to her heels. Gooseflesh erupted over her entire body all at once, and a primal, primaeval wave of utter terror flickered through her brain, dislodging every rational thought from her head.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded.
Harry turned towards her, his face scrunched. "That? Oh, I just said Open in parseltongue."
Daphne watched with surreal fascination, as the sinks moved outward, revealing a large hole in the middle. She couldn't resist moving forward tentatively and peering downward, seeing nothing in the darkness. She waited for a long moment, but when nothing happened, she turned around and looked at him in appraisal.
"Youโ errโ you don't expect me to go down through this, do you?"
Harry shrugged, looking confused. "This is how we went down in the first place."
Daphne crossed her arms. "Harry James Potter. This is Salazar Slytherin's fabled Chamber of Secrets. His hideout for the hundreds of mysteries he had performed in his lifetime. I refuse to believe that Salazar Slytherin would slide down a slimy hole like this every time he had to get in. Like a Muggle."
"Well I definitely don't know of any other routes," said Harry, crossing his arms.
Daphne bit her lip. There was no point irking him over something like this. "Fine," she said, "How good is your repelling charm?"
"I can manage," he said. "Want me to cast one on you?"
"If you would."
She had no qualms casting it on herself. But if he was going to make her slide through a greasy tunnel to Merlin-knew-where, he'd have to do the honours.
Harry shrugged, and whipped his wand at her. Daphne marvelled at how his wand held a rich, caramel hue, almost like liquid fire. It wasn't his original wand, which had supposedly died in the events of the Third Task, but it was nearly the same length, except thicker in girth with a slightly tapered tip.
"Impervius"
Daphne had the same hair-raising feel as earlier, but this time it wasn't because of Parseltongue, but because of the coldness that exuded out of the wand. She didn't want to call it nasty, but it was definitely not comforting. She was no stranger to the charm, since it was part of every witch's necessary spell kit. A deviation of the standard Protego, the repelling charm required a lot less magic to maintain, since it only needed to shrug off rain and dirt. She hoped it'd be enough to keep the slime off her robes.
So colour her surprised when instead of the thin layer of magic surrounding her body, a thick layer of something formed around her from all sides. Daphne didn't know if it was magic, or just pure repulsion, but she felt like she was being pressed from all sides.
Again, nothing bad, but definitely not comforting. Also, cold.
"Well then, brave Gryffindor," she said, after he was done casting it on himself, "lead the way."
โฆ
โฆ
โฆ
She was wrong. The tunnel wasn't just dirty. It was a giant bag of diseases just waiting to explode. Daphne had been shrieking like a banshee at all the grime and pus and Merlin-knew-what that she slid through in that winding pipe. Luckily for her, he had the presence of mind to cast an impediment hex before she slid out of the tunnel into the mountain of bones below.
The adventure just kept on giving. At least her robes weren't torn or stained or rumpled.
She picked herself up and cast a lightning charm. The entire place looked like a giant natural cavern if not for the overarching archway above them. A major portion of it had collapsed and lay crumbled upon the ground. There was no need to tell Harry that between the broken archway and the heap of bones, the setting reminded her of the manticore's lair in Harry Potter and Erkstag Manticore, one of her favourite books as a kid.
Or maybe she'd tell him. A little ego boost would definitely be good for her fiance.
"Do you think there are any other monsters in this place?" She asked, as the two of them navigated through the desolate terrain. "I mean, you never checked the Chamber properly."
"This may sound a little weird," said Harry, "but I'm actually hoping that there is something here. It'll give Hecate company."
"Hecate?" Daphne asked. "Who's that?"
"Oh," said her fiance, giving her a strange grin. "I forgot you haven't seen her yet."
"I swear Potter if there's another ghost fangirl lurking aroundโฆ" she began, only to stop as she met his eyes. Normally she would have just given him a piece of her mind, but the amusement in his eyes made her pause, even though he didn't show it on his face.
"What?"
"Oh nothing," he said. "By the way, thanks for playing along earlier. Myrtle can be a real handful."
"She seems enamoured with you." Daphne said, hoping the words didn't sound as bitter as they did inside her head.
Harry laughed. "That's one way of putting it, I guess. Myrtle's just lonely. The rest of Hogwarts ghosts are old, like really old fellas, and Myrtle always had a complex over her looks and glasses. Doesn't help that Peeves is always making fun of her."
"You sound like you know the ghosts a bit too well."
He scratched the back of his neck. "Erm, I was kind of invited to Nick's deathday party back in second year."
"Nick?"
"Sir Nicholas de-Mimsy Porpington."
"Nearly-headed Nick,"Daphne concluded. "And he invited you?"
He shrugged. "He kind of saved me from Filch back in second year, and I owed him one. He wanted me to talk to the ghost of Sir Patrick Podmore and help him secure a place in the Headless Hunt. Not that it helped, I mean, what with him being nearly-headless and all."
Daphne arched an eyebrow.
"..Right," said Harry, winding up his absurd tale. "So yeah, me, Ron and Hermione met Myrtle back then. She was this mopey little thing, but turns out, you talk to her nicely and she's eager to please, and we needed to keep it a secret that Hermione was preparing ..."
And then he clammed up.
"Oh no," she hissed. "You're not shutting up now. What was Granger preparing?"
He looked sheepish. "Polyjuice potion."
"POLYJโ" She all but yelled, before composing herself. "Polyjuice. Of course. Trust Granger to try making a NEWT-level potion in Second year. What were you lot thinking? Pretending to be someone else and catch theโฆ."
Daphne stilled, as it hit her. She began massaging her temples. "So that's how you got into the Slytherin Common Room. This is unbelievable."
"It was for a reasonโ" Harry began.
"You thought a Slytherin was behind the entire thingโฆ" She began, and then cupped her chin. "Knowing you, you probably thought it was Malfoy."
She grinned. "Tell me, who did you impersonate? Crabbe, Goyle?" She paused again. "You, Weasley and Granger were joined at the hip. I wonder who Granger turned into." She smirked at him. "How's that for an explanation?"
"... spot on?" He mumbled, taken by surprise at her succinct and probably accurate explanation. "And I was Goyle. Ron was Crabbe."
"And Granger?"
"Er, the plan was to impersonate Bulstrode, but she fumbled it up. Turns out the hair Hermione got belonged to Bulstrode's cat."
Daphne grinned deviously. She wondered if she should tell him that it was her who had gifted Milly that cat for her birthday. "So that's why Granger was in the Hospital Wing. I wondered."
He shrugged.
Daphne cocked her head and observed him with a smile. Ever since their arrangement, she had found her mind blown by his increasingly ludicrous adventures. Seriously, it was like both of them attended two different Hogwarts. And if she felt like this after stalking him for the last four years, how absurd would it sound to someone who didn't even know him at all?
They silently traversed through the entire place, with Daphne cringing every time she broke bones beneath her feet. She might have shrieked when her feet hit something thick and leathery and serpentine, but that had turned out to be a shed skin.
A vivid, poisonous green basilisk skin that she knew was about seventy feet in length. She looked at Harry, trying to picture him as the tiny bespectacled runt he used to be, running around somewhere in this cavern, with that monstrosity on his heels. She shivered again.
"Something wrong?" he asked, oblivious to her inner struggle.
"Just wondering how stupidly lucky someone could get." She crouched and studied the snake skin. She was no expert, but her father had been a bit too giddy about harvesting such a priceless creature, and had purchased several books on the subject. Given the length and age, the shed skin alone was worth over thirty thousand galleons, and that was pricing it lightly.
"Do you think we could take this with us when we leave? I'd like to show it to Dad."
Harry shrugged. "Sure thing. Now come on, the Chamber's on the other side."
She followed him to a black, circular door. Harry hissed again, giving her that hair-raising experience all over again. If that was how Parseltongue felt to others, no wonder everyone was so afraid of the Dark Lord. How were you supposed to fight someone when just hearing them speak was enough to make you curl up in terror?
In hindsight, it explained why the students were so quick to pin the Heir of Slytherin tag on Harry back then. It was only human nature to be suspicious of things they feared. And Salazar Slytherin himself was a Parselmouth.
The animated door opened, with the snake slithering around the outside of the locks, and revealed a world of pitch darkness. Harry stepped inside it, and she followed suit. Torches flared to life the moment they crossed the threshold. Daphne swallowed, taking in the visage of the massive chamber, trying to look at everything all at once. Towering stone pillars entwined with carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the greenish hue filling the entire place. She had seen it in his memory before, but the real thing was just something else. That she was standing in a place where the great Slytherin himself once stood, in his private workshop, made her shiver. It was like she had travelled through time and was witnessing history itself.
And then she noticed it.
It was a massive stone edifice of a wizard. The upper portion of the head was almost lost in the darkness of the ceiling, but she could see the long, thin beard falling all the way down, almost to the bottom of his sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stood on the stone floor. And at the bottom wasโฆ
"Morgana's tits! That's huge!"
Daphne swallowed. Loudly. She knew it was massive from the memory but seeing it before her very eyes made it a lot more real. She glanced at Harry, and then at the massive corpse, and then back at him. No matter how many times she repeated that action, her mind failed to come to terms that the wizard next to her โ no, the twelve-year-old runt version of him had slayed this massive beast.
"Huh," she heard him mutter, looking around with a frown. "just like I left it. Hasn't decayed at all." He went closer to inspect the corpse. "It looks a lot bigger than I thought it would. Good thing I had the sword. None of my spells would've passed through."
"Obโobviously," said Daphne, slowly coming to terms. "Basilisks are immune to almost all spells, especially as they age. And something that has been alive for a millennia.." she ran her eyes all over the humongous carcass in amazement. "Harry, this thing isโฆ it's priceless. Do you know how much potion ingredients can be harvested from this? And the skin? And the bones and theโฆ" she trailed off, before giving him a sheepish look. "Sorry. I got a bit excited."
"Yeah," he gave her a lopsided grin. "I kinda got the idea."
"Do you think we can explore this place?"
He gave her an odd look. "I don't know why we can't. But first, there's something I need to do." He pulled the gold chain he was wearing off his neck, and placed it on the floor, tapping on it. With a pop, one of the beads expanded to reveal a large expandable trunk. Daphne watched with surreal fascination as he placed his palm on the second lock, and muttered something under his breath. A hissing noise followed, as Harry stuck his right arm into the compartment and โ
"HOLY MOTHER OF MERLIN!" Daphne screamed, several steps back.
A runespoor, a Merlin-be-damned runespoor, arose out of the compartment, the three heads hissing furiously as it slithered over Harry's arm and then his body all the way to the floor. It was easily three feet long, and with its hood spread, it looked larger than it was. It took one look at him, then at Daphne and then at the massive basilisk carcass and began hissing furiously at Harry who hissed back.
"Harry!" Daphne hissed, "that'sโ that's a freaking runespoor!"
"Yes!" The bastard drawled, "I noticed."
"That โ that's a runespoor. A XXXX dark creature. Why wouldโ" she paused, as realisation struck her like a bolt of lightning. "Don't tell meโ"
"Yep," said her fiance, grinning like a loon. "Daphne, meet Hecate, my familiar."
Hecate hissed.
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