When Theo and Hadrian entered the kitchens every house elf present stopped to stare at them. Hadrian and Theo stared right back.

Privately Hadrian thought it was a bit creepy; how they all held perfectly still and unblinking just looking at them. After a few seconds of staring a ripple seemed to pass through the crowd of elves, as they all turned to whisper to one another.

Hadrian smiled when an elf wearing a large stack of hats that Hermione had knitted last year popped up in front of them.

"Dobby," he said, "it's so good to see you."

Dobby gazed up at them and tilted his head in thought. "Mr. Harry Potter sir," he squeaked, "is Master Hoggywarts now?"

Hadrian grinned "I am, but my name is actually Hadrian."

Dobby narrowed his eyes, "Master Hoggywarts is Master Hoggywarts."

Hadrian sighed as Theo snorted in laughter behind him. "Yes, but in public could you please call me Hadrian or at least Master Potter?"

Dobby seemed to think for a moment, "Dobby can do. What can Dobby bes doing for Master Hoggywarts?"

Hadrian put his arm around Theo, "first I would like to introduce you to my husband, Theo."

"Two Master Hoggywartes," squeaked Dobby, congrtylations Mr. Hadrian Potter sir."

"Thanks Dobby, do you think we could have our lunch here?" asked Hadrian.

"Master Hoggywartses always bes welcome in the kitchens." With that Dobby turned to the rest of the elves, "Master Hoggywarts has returned!" he announced.

At the announcement the elves immediately began bustling around the kitchen preparing lunch. Dobby led them over to a table and snapped his fingers. With his snap a generous lunch of roast chicken, vegetables, and sandwiches filled the table along with tea and pumpkin juice.

"Thank you, Dobby," Hadrian said as he and Theo took their seats.

"Master Hoggywarts is most welcome," exclaimed Dobby. "Dobby must bes going back to work now. Masters Hoggywartses bes calling Dobby if they bes needing anything."

After Dobby popped away Theo asked "wasn't that one of the Malfoy elves?"

Hadrian nodded "he was, but I tricked Lord Malfoy into freeing him at the end of second year."

Theo burst out laughing, "I remember that, Draco and his father spent almost all summer pouting about being tricked."

Hadrian grinned, "oh they did, did they?"

"Yeah," giggled Theo, "you should call Dobby in front of Draco at some point. Can you imagine the look on his face?"

Hadrian laughed at the thought. They spent the rest of lunch giggling at imagining Draco and Lord Malfoys over dramatic antics at finding out Dobby was now loyal to Hadrian.

After lunch Hadrian and Theo left the kitchens.

"Ready to see the Chamber of Secrets?" Hadrian asked.

Theo was practically bouncing on his feet, "yes," he exclaimed.

Hadrian put his arm around Theo as he led him up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

When they reached the second floor Theo asked, "why are we going up? I thought that the Chamber of Secrets was below the dungeons."

"It is, but the entrance is actually up in the second floor girls bathroom,"explained Hadrian.

As they entered the bathroom they heard a watery voice shriek "boys in my bathroom… oh it's you. Hello Harry."

"Hello Myrtle," smiled Hadrian. "My name is Hadrian now, and have you met my husband Theo?"

Myrtle peered down at Theo "ohh it's so nice to meet you Theo. Have you boys come to visit me?"

"ah er… no actually we're here to go to the Chamber of Secrets," said Hadrian.

"Oh so I'm not worth visiting am I," wailed Myrtle. As the ghost continued her wailing and crying the toilets began to overflow and flood the bathroom.

Eyeing the water that had begun to form a puddle on the floor Theo cleared his throat "Miss Myrtle, we apologize that we are not here for a visit. We do however have some pressing business in the Chamber. If you could please calm yourself, we promise that we will visit at a later date."

At Theo's promise to visit Myrtle immediately stopped her moaning and Theo suddenly found himself with a face full of a very enthusiastic ghost. "Really," Myrtle implored, "you really will visit me later, you promise."

Hadrian sighed as he pulled Theo away from Myrtle. "Yes, Myrtle, we promise that we will visit you later."

"Oh goody," shrieked Myrtle as she flew off into her toilet.

"Well about time," Hadrian muttered as he walked over to the sink.

When he reached the sink Aurum poked his head out of his hair. "What isss that? Sssmellsss like a big sssnake."

Hadrian blinked at Aurum's question. "You can sssmell that? The Basilisk?" Hadrian asked.

"I don't know. I certainly sssmell sssomething," hissed Aurum.

"What is Aurum saying?" asked Theo.

"That he smells something snaky, but doesn't know what," answered Hadrian.

"Well let's find out, shall we," said Theo.

Hadrian gave a determined nod before hissing "open."

With that the sink opened up to reveal that pipe that led down to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Hadrian sat on the floor at the top of the pipe then turned and offered his hand to Theo. Theo grabbed Hadrian's hand and climbed into his lap.

Once Theo was properly seated Hadrian pushed off. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH," they screamed as they went flying down the pipe. When they reached the end of the pipe Hadrian tucked himself around Theo and rolled.

As they came to a stop Hadrian panted "Are you alright?"

Theo took a moment to catch his breath. "I'm fine, but I sure hope that we don't have to do that again."

Hadrian laughed "me too. Come on, I'll take you to where I killed the basilisk."

Theo followed Hadrian through the tunnels, occasionally using their wands to remove rubble or strengthen the walls and ceiling. When they reached the main chamber Hadrian and Theo stopped in surprise, the basilisk was still there. It didn't appear to have rotted at all.

"Wow," said Hadrian "I thought for sure that it would be at least a little rotten by now."

"Isss thisss what you sssmell?" Hadrian asked Aurum.

Aurum poked his head out and flicked his tongue, "yesss, big sssnake."

Theo stared in disbelief at the shear size of the snake. "Shite, that's big," he muttered."Oh…maybe there are preservation charms. Maybe they keep away rot in the chamber, after all it is pretty damp here, but I don't see any sign of mold or mildew."

Hadrian nodded "Maybe, what should we do with it?"

Theo grinned "basilisk parts are expensive, mostly because they are so rare. And that means that any potions made with those parts are also rare and expensive. This one should be worth millions."

Hadrian stared dumbly at the large snake, "Oh I didn't know it was worth that much, how do we harvest and sell the parts?"

Theo sighed "I don't know, but Professor Snape would."

"Of course, well that blows, I guess we'll have to ask Snape for help. Do you think he'll do it?" Hadrian huffed.

Theo grinned "for something like this, definitely."

"Alright, I guess we'll be bringing Snape down here tomorrow. For now let's split up and look for clues to what else might be down here. The basilisk can't be the only reason we were sent down here."

The two boys split up and began exploring the chamber.

After searching for about an hour Theo called "Hadrian over here, there's a little snake on the wall."

Hadrian made his way over to Theo and examined the small snake carving. "Open," he hissed.

There was a deep rumbling as a door slid open to reveal a sitting room in deep greens and silver. Oddly everything seemed to be clean, as if the room saw regular dusting.

"Wow, I really wasn't expecting that," whispered Theo.

The room contained a few tables and chairs, a very comfortable looking dark green couch and a fireplace. Above the fireplace was an inactive portrait of Salazar Slytherin.

On closer expectation Hadrian found floo powder on the mantle.

"Do you think the floo works?" asked Theo.

"No idea," Hadrian answered, "it would be nice if it did though."

"We could activate the portrait and ask," suggested Theo.

"Do you think he would know?" wondered Hadrian.

Theo shrugged, "maybe, he would know how strong the spells in here are anyway, so maybe he could make an educated guess."

Hadrian pursed his lips in thought before nodding, "Ok, we'll activate the portrait and ask about the floo tomorrow, for now we'll explore the rest of these rooms."

Theo nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

They discovered that the layout was very similar to their own rooms. On the left side of the room was a bathroom that had frankly seen better days, with a cracked bath and a toilet that seemed to have flooding issues. The door next to the bathroom seemed to be locked and no amount of spells they tried would open it. On the left of the fireplace was a guest bedroom. On the right side of the room was a library, which immediately excited Theo until he realized that most of them were written in parseltongue.

"Don't worry," Hadrian whispered in his ear, "I'll read any books that you can't to you."

Theo turned and kissed Hadrian at his promise, "thank you. You are the best husband."

Next to the library was a study. This seemed to be where Salazar kept meticulous records of class grade averages and schedules.

Going through some of the papers Hadrian frowned, "why are there so many classes that aren't even offered anymore?"

Theo came over and took the papers going through them. "I have know idea, look here's a class on warding, we barely touch on that in ancient runes, I'd love to take an actual class on it."

Hadrian groaned "I guess that's something else we'll need to look into."

Theo put the papers down and went over to the desk. "Hadrian, look at this" Theo said as he held up an envelope.

Hadrian took the envelope and opened it. He pulled out a letter and an ornate key with a snake wrapped around the handle. Unfolding the letter Hadrian read:

Lord Slytherin

Welcome to your chamber. So sorry about the bathroom, water degrades the spells you see. We hope you are able to make use of the library and study. I'm sure you'll find some very interesting books and documents stored there. The key may be used to enter and exit your chamber through the locked door.

Hogwarts

P.S. Lord Gryffindor may want to find his Den.

Hadrian and Theo looked at each other "so," said Theo "another letter from Hogwarts."

"Yeah," nodded Hadrian "at this point I don't think we should be surprised."

"You're probably right. I'm starting to get pretty hungry. What do you say about using this key and heading up to dinner?" asked Theo.

Hadrian grinned, "That sounds perfect."

The young couple used the key to unlock the door and reveal a hidden passage. They followed the passage out of the chamber and up several floors to another door. They pushed the second door open and found themselves in the back of their closet in their rooms.

"Oh we're back in our rooms, do you just want to eat here?" asked Theo.

"Sure, shall I call Dobby for our meal?" answered Hadrian.

At Theo's nod of conformation Hadrian called out "Dobby."