Sorry for the delay. Had a lot of work issues recently. Hope everyone enjoys the latest chapter!
February 14th, 1993
"How far have you gotten?" Harry asked.
"Far, I believe. At this point, many of the texts I have been reading have started to blend into accepted and even some believed purposes. That being said, I still think we should test it first on an animal." Daphne answered.
She, Harry, and Tracey were walking from the Potions classroom. Harry had agreed to meet outside of the room for them so they could go to the clubroom together. Neville and Ron were in the same class but they wanted to grab something to eat before they joined them in the clubroom.
"Of course. We'll do whatever we can to make the necessary danger as small as possible." Harry mumbled quietly back to make sure no one else heard them.
"Greengrass!"
"Oh, joy…" Daphne muttered as the three of them turned around. He watched Draco, his two bodyguards, and Pansy Parkinson all approaching them.
"What do you think you're doing?" Draco demanded with his arms crossed looking at her with something between anger and annoyance.
"Walking." Daphne answered coldly back.
"With Potter? You're with him now?" Draco pushed looking at them suspiciously.
"He's my club leader and we are discussing club activities. It would be strange if he wasn't here for a discussion involving said activities." Daphne shot back. Draco looked floored at that response for a moment but recovered and a look of indignation reappeared on his face.
"So, you admit to consorting with the enemy?" Draco questioned. Harry looked over at Tracey and mouthed 'The Enemy?' to her. She rolled her eyes.
"Apparently, it means anyone who is not in Slytherin to Malfoy." Tracey whispered back.
"Doesn't make sense. I've seen other members of Slytherin interacting with other houses cordially and even in a friendly manner." Harry murmured as he looked back at the platinum blonde to who Daphne was still speaking.
"...Not tell me who I can and cannot interact with. Try it again, and I might freeze off the only chance the Malfoy line has to continue. Do not test me!" Daphne finished in her signature demeaning tone. Harry watched the boy looking rather pale and he even took a step backward. Crabbe and Goyle were both covering their privates and wincing from Daphne's threat. With that, Daphne spun and continued to walk away from them. Harry moved to follow as he fell in step with her while Tracey did the same but on the other side of her.
"Draco is a strange boy. He seems to have something against me yet he has always been the antagonizer in all of our meetings." Harry pondered out loud as they continued to walk.
"He's just a puppet for his father. I doubt he's had an original thought in years. That being said, his father IS influential with many houses that have children in Slytherin so he's allowed to say and do what he wants for the most part." Daphne explained.
"Problem is, Daphne here is quite an influence herself so she can tell him to go bugger himself." Tracey snickered.
"Because, of your higher rank?"
"Because her father is the unofficial leader of the moderate faction in the Wizengamot." Tracey replied. Harry felt his eyebrows raise in slight surprise at that.
"I didn't know that. Your father must be quite wise if he is viewed so highly by his fellow members."
"Well, as you can imagine, my father likes to be as thorough as possible and many trust him to know what he's talking about on any topic he weighs in on." Daphne answered. Harry could hear what was perhaps a hint of pride in Daphne's voice as she spoke of her father.
"I can imagine… Anyway, back to what we were speaking of. Going on to your side of things, how is the progression?"
"On pace so far. I have the basic design of the ritual. The problem is that I need to figure out certain parts to include for the purging portion of the ritual." Harry revealed.
"Do you have any ideas so far?"
"Yes, but… None will be a simple solution. As this is not the first attempt at such a ritual, I do know certain parts that people in the past have tried and failed with. Though, some have had more success than others. I may work backward from that. Unfortunately, the best chance requires the liver of a Thunderbird, the heart of a Chinese Fireball, and the horn fragments of a Unicorn."
"Hmm. The Thunderbird liver will likely be the hardest of those three to obtain with the Unicorn horn being more expensive than anything else. Fireball parts are rather common at least."
"True. Then I will have to make a potion to mix them together…"
"Will that be alright? Are you good at making potions?"
"For my age, yes. Though, potions involved with Rituals are usually somewhat simple. You just use them to diffuse the essence of items into a liquid form where they mix and combine. Then you just stir until ready." Harry explained. That was something he had found out when he had done his research into rituals and confirmed with Perenelle.
"Convenient."
"About the only thing in rituals that is. Everything else requires lots of long planning and figuring out." Harry countered. Daphne nodded in agreement at that.
"So how did you decide on those parts in particular?"
"Unicorn parts in general are a good basis for most things requiring purification. I'm hoping that even if the first attempt doesn't go perfectly, the inclusion of the part will allow at least some success. The Fireball heart is used in potions when chopped and minced up to act as an enhancer. That's somewhat common knowledge."
"And the Thunderbird liver?"
"Thunderbirds are pretty rare and most of their parts are useless unless you're trying to create something related to electricity although there has been some speculation that it would also be helpful in doing something related to the weather, possibly in rituals. Not something I care to test though. That being said, one thing that is known about them is that when consuming certain magical items, they can strip the magical properties from said items to then strengthen or change their magic, at least, temporarily." Harry explained. Daphne looked somewhat confused by his explanation and Tracey appeared as if she was just trying to keep up with the conversation.
"How does that help?"
"I'm not a hundred percent sure it will, but I believe that the induction of it will allow us to use the potion after the ritual if it is not initially successful. As you know, once a potion is completed adding other ingredients is foolhardy at best and insanely dangerous at worse. The liver, I'm hoping will allow us to add things to strengthen the potion without destabilizing it."
"But you don't know for sure it'll work."
"I do not, though that is the case for a lot of things I deal with. I sometimes have to do my best to speculate. Besides, worse comes to worst, we can just do the potion again without it." Harry added.
"Is this not starting to get a little expensive?" Tracey asked.
"No. I have a lot of money." Harry answered blandly.
"But should you be spending it so frivolously?"
"It's fine. It's not like I use too much. Dumbledore helps with financing a lot of my experiments as well, usually paying for most of whatever I want since I don't yet have access to most of my gold. At least not for another several months."
"Does that mean you're planning to take up the Potter headship when you reach thirteen?" Daphne asked. Harry nodded.
"I am if only to have more access to a wider variety of resources from my family vault." Harry replied.
"Of course…" Tracey drawled at his words.
With that, they went back to their conversation on the Ritual. After Daphne finished speaking to him about her parts of the Ritual research, Harry began to update her on what he had been doing. In some ways, he was doing the harder part. Not that Daphne was complaining. He had been helping her get some more experience and knowledge in Rituals and how they worked but she was still a ways off from reaching his level in the art.
After a while, they finally reached the clubroom. Despite that, Harry still wasn't finished catching Daphne up on what he had been doing so they would likely need to continue before they got back into their work in the clubroom. Hopefully, Hermione would be joining them soon since she had been eating already when Harry had left her.
"Excuse me."
Harry paused his conversation and noticed Albus was approaching them from down the corridor with his normal grandfatherly smile on his face. He imagined it would be comforting to most but Harry had been around the man long enough to notice a certain tightness in his face to show he was not as at ease as he looked.
"Headmaster. Can we help you?" Daphne asked looking at the man with a blank look suddenly coming over her once more. Harry bit the inside of his cheek lightly to stop himself from commenting on it.
"Hello, Ms. Greengrass and Ms. Davis. I hope you both are doing well this day. I was wondering if Mr. Potter would accompany me for a bit. I have a certain task I would like his help with." Albus said. Harry immediately tensed at that. A task that Dumbledore was not comfortable with but still asking for his help? That couldn't be anything but good.
"Of course, I'd be glad to help." Harry answered easily before looking back at the two girls, "Would you two mind telling the others I'll be there as soon as I finish up with this?"
"Very well. Try not to be gone too long." Daphne said back seriously but nodded anyway before going into the room while physically pulling Tracey who looked like she wanted to ask more questions. They waited a moment for the two girls to close the door before Albus looked at him and dropped his smile.
"Shall we?"
"You lead, I follow." Harry answered back. Albus nodded as he started walking back in the direction Harry had just come from.
"Understand Harry, I would never normally get you involved in something like this if I did not have too." Albus started.
"I understand. Would you like to inform me what is happening?" Harry asked.
"Your idea has paid off. Due to the wards that were placed, we believe we found where the entrance is to the Chamber of Secrets." Albus revealed. Harry recoiled in shock at that before shaking off the feeling and began to think fast.
"Where?"
"We noticed some strange activity in the bathroom on this very floor a few too many times late at night and even some during the day."
"The bathroom on this floor? Which one, the girls or the boys?"
"The girls."
"Is there not a ghost in that bathroom?"
"Indeed. Her name is Myrtle. She was once a student in this school and was also the one who died the last time the chamber was opened. I was foolish not to consider that she may have been near the entrance the whole time. I and Professor McGonagall questioned her about her original experience as well as if she has seen any students coming and going into the restroom."
"And?"
"She spoke of one coming and going, often talking to herself. A young girl with red hair. She had a book with her that she threw into Myrtle's stall before retrieving it a few minutes later. The girl apparently did that two days ago and has not been back since."
"… A female with red hair, and one of the younger students… I only know two who fit said description. What about you?"
"I can only think of the same two. I also believe I know which of the girls she spoke of after reviewing some of my recent memories in my Pensieve and have narrowed it down…"
"… It's Ginny, isn't it? That's why you're so hesitant to say it." Harry asked. Albus nodded slowly in confirmation.
"I do believe it to be Ms. Ginerva. I already have Professor McGonagall going to hopefully retrieve the book from her."
"You believe the book is the cause?"
"I do but I am still not certain. Either way, it would be better to err on the safe side."
"Hmm. Very well. And where does the part where you need me to come in?"
"Ah, well, that has to do with your particular ability when it comes to snakes. We believe the entrance can only be unlocked with said ability, which is likely why we have not been able to find it until now." Albus revealed. Harry's eyes widened as he heard that but after a moment, he nodded in agreement That would make sense, though he wasn't exactly siked to hear he would have to be involved in another dangerous venture. He said nothing as they finally reached the door to the bathroom.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
"Because, Professor McGonagall will not be joining us, I had to enlist the help of another ally on short notice. I hope for the time you can put aside your dislike and allow this."
Harry froze at that. He didn't need more than half a second to figure out exactly who the headmaster meant. He immediately winced internally before glaring at his guardian.
"You must be joking."
"I am not. I have told him that he WILL behave as well. Though, I do believe he has mellowed out and no longer has any hostility he feels towards you."
"I'm so glad he got over the unwarranted hostility he felt towards a child. I'm comfortable now." Harry retorted sarcastically. Albus sagged at those words.
"Harry, I will not force you, but I am asking you… Will you put aside your personal feelings this one time to get this done?" Albus asked. Harry grit his teeth before calming down and thinking it over. He would allow it. It's not like he was afraid of the man necessarily or anything, he just didn't like him.
"Fine, but if he tries anything, I'm putting him in the mind prison." Harry told the man. That threat in particular was rather empty since such required quite a bit of time to cast still and he doubted the man would sit there letting him cast mind magic on him. Either way, Albus smiled and nodded appreciatively at Harry.
With that, the man opened the door and held it open until they both were through it. Harry looked around and immediately was faced with the transparent face of a girl with glasses looking at him curiously.
"You're Harry Potter!"
"Er, yes, I am. Hello, you must be Myrtle. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." He answered back politely dipping his head a bit. The girl immediately reacted by floating away from him quickly and holding her cheeks in her hands as if she were embarrassed.
"Oh my… You're such a charmer. And so handsome too!" The girl said to herself.
"I'm sorry to cut this short but we were actually about to continue our investigation, Myrtle." Albus spoke softly, and apologetically. The girl looked somewhat sad.
"You're going to stop whoever keeps opening the chamber? Do you plan to kill the monster?"
"That is the plan, yes." Albus confirmed. Myrtle suddenly grew almost uncharacteristically serious for a moment.
"I hope you succeed Headmaster." She told him seriously.
"As do I… As do I." Albus muttered. With that, the ghost girl floated away back to a stall which she disappeared straight into. Harry eyed it for a moment before looking over to the far side of the restroom where the sinks were. Harry frowned as he saw a man with shoulder-length black hair as well as all black robes standing and looking at the sinks seriously. Albus and Harry approached together.
"Severus." Albus greeted. The man turned and looked at the man before turning his gaze toward Harry. It struck him that he and the girls had just come from his class which meant that he must've left right after the class himself to get here.
"Headmaster… Potter." He greeted. His eyes lingered on Harry. He stared back at the man almost daring him to try and strike at his shields again. He didn't, of course, and a moment later he looked away. He noticed in the brief moment, though, that he no longer saw the fire in the man's eyes that he had once seen when he was looked at. In fact, they almost looked dead to Harry. He let it go. It's not like he cared about the man or his feelings.
"Severus. I assume you have not seen anything further?"
"No. I have done some tests on the marking but I could not get any response from it. I suspect you were correct when you suggested only a parselmouth would get some response from it."
"Hmm, well, we expected that. Still, thank you for trying." Albus told him politely as he eyed the large sink space. Harry rose an eyebrow at the circular, several, sink structure. Was this the location of the entrance?
"Not what you expected?" Albus asked him.
"No. I suppose, in retrospect, it would be a perfect place to hide the chamber. I assume Salazar didn't originally hide it in the girl's bathroom and one of his descendants did during one of the updates to Hogwarts?" Harry asked as he walked over and trailed his finger over the ceramic.
"I hadn't thought about it but I would not be surprised if that were the case. Hiding in plain sight, as it were… Moving on, the spot we have identified is right here. If you look along the piping, you will see a small snake engraved onto the pipes. We believe this is where the entrance is." Albus told him as he leaned down and pointed out the spot he was speaking of to Harry. Harry leaned in next to the man and did indeed see the snake engraving.
"You're probably right… So, what exactly am I supposed to do? I can speak parseltongue but if there is some spell required then… we might have a problem. Perhaps we should wait for Ginny."
"If possible, I would like to not involve Ms. Weasley but if we absolutely need to, we will. I would appreciate it if you simply tried a few things. Maybe some passphrases and seeing if that would work." Albus revealed. Harry looked skeptically at the man but nodded anyway.
"Alright, I guess I could try a few things…" Harry told him as he looked back down at the pipework. He hadn't practiced much with parseltongue but he could at least use it on command at this point.
He thought for a moment about what he should say to try and get the place to reveal the true entrance of the Chamber. He had no idea who Salazar Slytherin was as a person and couldn't even begin to think about what he might use to hide one of his greatest secrets for hundreds of years. How did his descendants figure it out? Was it some sort of magic that instinctively came to them or did they too have to figure out the phrase for themselves? So difficult to even think about. He supposed that he should just go with the process of elimination and just try everything he could think of.
§Open up§ He hissed at the sink. He jumped back in surprise as immediately the sink began to rumble and seemingly move outwards and come apart. It continued for a few seconds until there was suddenly a large hole in the floor leading downward. Harry stared at the appeared hole in the floor with wonder before it quickly faded to annoyance and then finally apathy as he deadpanned at the hole.
"Amazing… What did you tell it?" Albus asked as he came to stand next to Harry.
"… Open up." Harry answered. He vowed he would never be impressed by the man known as Salazar Slytherin again.
"Ah… Well, I suppose he thought the ability to speak to snakes was the important part."
"… Do not defend him and his either complete lack of creativity or laziness." Harry scolded lightly as he walked slowly over and peeked down into the hole.
"Well, with this, Severus and I can take it from here." Albus said as he joined Harry and looked down into the hole. The older man had a frown on his face though.
"… I really hate to say it, and Ciri will likely hate me for saying it more but… What are the odds that this is the only parseltongue-protected measure that Slytherin placed in his secret chamber?" Harry asked. Silence met his question.
"We can always return for him if we need him further." Snape suggested still standing behind them both.
"Assuming there are no traps that prevent you from returning. What kind of measures do you think Slytherin would place beside the entrance to prevent others from entering?" Harry pushed lightly.
"I'm hoping nothing but now that you mention it…"
"No offense meant to Potter, Headmaster, but I am not sure how responsible it is to take a 12-year-old into such a potentially dangerous situation." Snape pointed out neutrally. Albus frowned in thought at that.
"I agree but still…" Harry shrugged
"Very well, young Harry will escort us temporarily until we find or approach Slytherin's beast. Once we do, Fawkes will take young Harry out of the Chamber." Albus explained. As soon as he said his familiar's name, the legendary bird appeared on the man's shoulder and listened patiently for the man to finish. Once he did, he easily flapped over to Harry's shoulder where he landed, and gently rubbed his head against the side of Harry's in greeting.
"Hello, Fawkes. Thank you for coming. I hope you will look out for me." Harry told the firebird politely. The phoenix trilled causing a warm feeling to spread within Harry's body.
"Very well… Now how shall we get down?" Snape asked.
"Perhaps we are supposed to jump?" Albus speculated.
"Seems dangerous given how dark it is. How would Tom have gotten down when he was still a student? He wouldn't have likely jumped, would he? Slowing his momentum while falling would have been difficult would it not?"
"Hmmm… There are markings along the wall of the hole."
"You're right… Perhaps, stairs that come out of the walls? It would explain how he got down." Harry suggested as he strained his eyes to look at what Albus had noticed.
"Let me guess how you summon them…" Snape muttered. Harry understood what he was suggesting.
§Stairs§ Harry commanded. Immediately, steps started coming out of the walls in a downward circular pattern. Harry sighed as he saw them so easily appear but said nothing further. Albus silently moved his way over to the first step and began his calm descent down into the dark. Harry went next and Snape held the rear.
Nearly half the way down, Albus pulled out his wand and cast a lighting charm to light their way forward. Harry eyed the walls and saw how smooth the walls were. They were in quite a good condition for being man-made and for their age. That being said, it probably didn't have much use compared to the rest of Hogwarts.
"Unless she was carrying it, I doubt Ginny would have been able to carry the beast up this hole." Harry pointed out.
"You are likely correct. That must mean there are other entrances or exits within this system." Albus answered.
"We spoke that the creature might be using the plumbing system in the castle to get around and given how deep we are going, I'm betting that is the case." Harry continued as they seemed to finally get to the bottom and stepped onto a gravel floor. He looked around and noticed there were only really two ways to go.
"That should be the correct way." Snape gestured as he arrived. Harry frowned.
"How can you tell?"
"The ground is disturbed in that direction and there seem to be large trails either coming or going in that direction." Snape pointed out. Now that he was shown, he could easily see what the man was talking about.
"Let us continue in that direction then." Albus suggested and they immediately began moving in said direction. They didn't continue for much longer though as Albus began to slow until he came to a stop. The reason was obvious, of course. In the middle of the cavern, they were in, there was a giant skin of what was most likely a snake laying on the floor in front of them.
"…How big is that?"
"I can only estimate… But perhaps a little bigger than sixty feet?"
"Which would mean we are dealing with a dangerous ancient snake that's probably at least seventy feet long. Did I miss anything?" Harry asked.
"The features of the snake based on this skin match that of a snake we researched."
"Ah yes, how could I forget? So, we are dealing with a giant, dangerous, ancient snake, AND that snake just happens to be a BASILISK."
"I have never heard of one reaching anywhere close to this size…" Snape pointed out sounding somewhat in awe.
"It has been speculated that Basilisk continue to grow with age without stopping. The largest recorded was believed to be three hundred years old and was close to thirty feet long I believe. Their thickness is closer to that of other reptiles than snakes though. They have even been called legless drakes before." Harry recited, remembering some of the stories he had read about said creatures.
"Fantastic… You mentioned it could be a mutated species. It has been petrifying not killing, correct?"
"That is true…" Albus muttered in agreement. Harry hesitated before deciding to chime in.
"I have been thinking about that. There is a possibility that it not killing is a coincidence." Harry chimed in.
"What do you mean?" Albus asked for elaboration.
"We know the beast killed Myrtle and did so with its stare likely. But it hasn't recently. However, I've been thinking about how we've found the two most recent victims… If you remember, Mrs. Norris was found paralyzed next to a puddle and Ms. Clearwater was found while holding her hand mirror."
"… Ah, you think it is possible if one catches the gaze of the Basilisk indirectly, instead of killing it only petrifies… That would make some sense." Albus nodded in thought.
"But it's problematic. If it is a true Basilisk, that means that no one dying so far has just been lucky. It makes it even more imperative that we deal with said creature. It also means that fighting it shall be… difficult." Snape pointed out.
"True. Making sure not to stare into its eyes will be somewhat tricky."
"It truly is a shame I am not stronger to fight it. I am likely the best suited to do so." Harry muttered thinking about his ability to sense magic. He hadn't been able to feel much from the Basilisk through the heavily dense magical walls of Hogwarts. Down here though… As soon as it got close, it shouldn't be a problem. He also briefly wondered whether or not his illusions would work on such a creature or would its magical vision allow it to see straight through.
"Perhaps in another ten years… I suppose there is nothing to do but continue forward." Albus suggested to which both Snape and Harry nodded, though he was feeling a lot less confident now that he saw an actual physical representation of the creature.
"Make sure to stay behind us, Harry." Albus reminded.
"Well, I'm certainly not about to try and lead from the front." Harry snipped back as they reached what appeared to be a large pipe with a hole in the side. There was liquid slowly flowing on the floor of it.
"This is one of the plumbing pipes then. I guess we'll be going the opposite way of the flow, correct?"
"Indeed, that would probably be best."
They went deeper as they now traveled through the pipes deeper into the plumbing system. Harry idly noticed he could see some worn scrape marks on the pipe showing that something large was either dragged or had dragged itself quite a bit through these pipes. He idly wondered if Salazar was the one who created the original plumbing system which is why he decided to then put his chamber hidden amongst it. It was almost funny to think of the man as the person in charge of plumbing.
They briefly reach a juncture but as they travel, the markings on the pipes became more pronounced clearly showing which pipes the Basilisk traveled the most through. With that, it was rather easy to track it back to its main lair.
After nearly ten minutes of walking, they finally reached what was an exit out of the pipe and into some sort of hallway or, more accurately, some sort of chamber. The scrape marks also led in that direction which made it obvious that was where they needed to go.
"This looks… ominous."
"Clearly Slytherin wasn't lacking in confidence." Snape muttered as they looked at the far end of a walkway that had a giant stone face carved into it surrounded by snakes.
"At least we can say with almost a hundred percent certainty that we have found the Chamber." Harry shot back as he looked at the head.
"Let us look around to see if there is more. So far, while impressive, the room seems to be empty." Albus pointed out. Harry nodded as he began to slowly walk around the room as the two other men did the same. Fawkes chirped some more which did raise his spirits a little. He tried to keep his gaze down just in case he did run into the snake. Wouldn't want to die.
'Harry, what are you doing?' Harry heard the question echo in his head. He blinked before cursing at his carelessness for forgetting to control his emotions to not draw attention from the girl trapped in his head. He rolled the words over in his mind for a moment as he tried to decide how to answer.
'Just inspecting our school's plumbing system. Why? What are you doing?' He asked back trying to distract her away from his activities. He had to make sure to continue looking around the room as he spoke in his head.
'Was that the best you could do? You really expect me to believe you're feeling this nervous from looking at a plumbing system?' Ciri shot back at him showing his attempts to distract her had immediately died a quick death.
'To be fair, it's a scary-looking plumbing system." Harry responded as he walked casually over to the large stone face to get a closer look at it.
'Harry… WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?' Ciri growled at him over their connection. He winced at the volume of her voice in his head. He sighed as he caved into her demands.
'We are currently investigating the Chamber of Secrets. We believe we have found it and are looking for the hideout of the beast so Albus can dispose of it.' Harry finally explained.
'Gods Damnit Harry… And why the hell are YOU there for that?'
'I'm, unfortunately, the only one who can access the place because you need to be able to speak snake to do so. We believe such an ability may still be needed. We do have measures to make sure I get out of here as soon as danger arrives though, we're not completely off the rails.'
"Oh, and what have you done to keep you out of danger?'
'It's quite genius really, Albus has lent me...'
"Avada Kedavara."
With a cry, Fawkes exploded into flames and disappeared off his shoulder. Harry spun around, already terrified at hearing those dreaded words.
Across the room from him, in the direction they had originally come from, was none other than Ginny Weasley. At least, the person looked like her at first glance. Yet, Harry doubted anyone would confuse the youngest Weasley for the person he was currently staring at. While visually they were the same, everything was off about her. Ginny stood straighter for one and she had a walk that was almost lazy yet predatory. She had a smirk on her face that hinted towards amusement though he could almost see some annoyance in her expression as well. Of course, the final tip-off was the eyes. They were a scarlet red.
"Such a shame. I was aiming for you, Mr. Potter."
"I figured that…" Harry muttered as he looked at the approaching figure.
"Tom…" Albus called as he walked over from the place on the other side of the room where he had been searching. Ginny turned and looked at the headmaster who already had his wand raised towards the girl. Ginny's face smirked.
"Now, now, Headmaster. Don't do anything rash. You wouldn't want to harm poor little Ginerva…" Ginny's voice said towards the headmaster who did hesitate at the words. Harry, for his part, was already beginning to shape and twist his magic to try and get a defense ready. He wasn't sure what if anything would work on this… Dark Lord possessed a girl, but he was willing to try anything.
"It's over Tom. We won't allow you to make another attack. Release the girl." Albus commanded.
Harry often wondered why such speeches were made in these situations by the good guy in stories. The bad guy never gave up on hearing it. However, standing in the actual room, Harry could feel the pressure that Albus released showcasing his power as well as his readiness to use it at a moment's notice. He could feel his body stiffen in response and his heart rate started pounding just being in the same room as the man. In this case, he understood at least why the speech had been made. Had it been him, he would've likely surrendered.
"I'm afraid I can't make it that easy, not after all the work I put in. Still, I'm both impressed and annoyed you caught on so fast to me this time around. Tell me, how did you gain access to the Chamber, something to do with Potter perhaps?" Ginny pushed with a small glance to Harry. Harry said nothing already beginning to cast some illusions around the room. So far just static ones but he was not yet altering them so they would, hopefully, not be noticed.
"You slipped up Tom, that's all there is to it. You led us right to it; we just followed the trail. Why did you choose Ginerva?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say I chose her, more like she chose me. She was so lonely you see. Needed a kind ear to listen to her. Of course, we also had a pretty big shared interest. We both wanted to know more about Harry over here."
"Ginny doesn't know much besides general knowledge about me, so I imagine you were disappointed." Harry interrupted. Ginny, or Tom as she was right now, turned and looked at him making sure to keep Dumbledore in his sight line. Harry idly noticed; he could not see Snape though he could still sense the man nearby. He hoped he was getting into a position to launch some form of sneak attack.
"Oh, but that alone was already quite informative. The mere fact you seem to run a secretive club with such exclusivity that is dedicated towards the advancement of magic… I was impressed to hear that you came up with it on your own and seemingly before even your first year. You're someone who knows what they wish to do with their life."
"Doesn't seem like a lot to me."
"But it is. You don't seem to understand how lots of small details can add to big ones. Though, you are correct. I am still curious to learn more about you. For example, what have you been doing while standing there?" Tom asked him, his voice gaining a sinister tone and edge at the end of his question. Harry felt a chill go down his spine.
"What do mean?"
"Please, I can sense you shaping the magic around us, which is impressive since I don't see you moving your wand. Shaping it for what is my question?"
Harry eyed the girl/man and said nothing. So, he too had a higher sensitivity to magic like Harry did, though since he didn't have any idea what Harry was doing, did that mean he was lower than Harry's own sensitivity? Harry could usually feel the differences in magic as he got more use to the sixth sense. There's a feeling he got from each type of magic that always hinted to him at the origin.
"If you can sense it, then can't you already tell?" Harry challenged. Tom looked like he needed to bite back a snarl at the question before schooling his features.
"Of course not, I can simply feel the magic moving. Someone like you wouldn't understand what it means to be so in touch with magic." Tom slapped back at him. Harry didn't respond to that; he just tilted his head at the words.
"Enough of this Tom. Surrender." Albus interrupted.
"I refuse." Tom smiled.
The headmaster didn't waste a second more before casting a red spell from the tip of his wand which raced towards the girl/man. Tom dodged out of the way though looked a little clumsy while doing so. It was clear he wasn't used to the body he was currently possessing.
Harry, on his part, immediately began to move and decided to take cover in one of the nooks off the main platform. Once there, he peaked from behind the wall and watched the battle. Tom had begun to trade spells with the headmaster. The man was good. That being said, after watching the battle he had when he had possessed Quirrell's body… He couldn't help but feel the man was lacking some of the sharpness and fluidity he once had last year. There was also the way he spoke. It seemed different from the way he spoke to Harry in their last meeting. He couldn't put his finger on it but the way he spoke and the questions he had…
Paying back attention to the battle in front of him, the Headmaster was clearly in command and was wearing down the Dark Lord much quicker than he had last year. In fact, he could see the man, seemingly starting to panic as he lost more and more ground.
"You're slower and weaker than our last crossing of wands, Tom." Albus pointed out calmly as he launched a murder of crows out of his wand and towards the girl/man.
"This girl is weak you mean. Though, perhaps you're right. In this condition, I suppose I am still unable to defeat you, Professor. So, why don't we even the playing field a bit? §Speak to me Slytherin! Greatest of the Hogwarts Four§" Tom yelled. Harry's eyes widened at the words before spinning his head at a loud grinding noise that filled the room. His eyes locked onto the stone head at the end of the room which had its mouth slowly opening until it stopped to reveal a wide passageway hidden within it. It only took a few moments until Harry could see movement within. It was only at the last second, he had his eyes jump to the floor in remembrance of what they originally came to the Chamber to find.
"Albus, it's here!" Harry yelled out. With that, he immediately activated the illusions he had planted all around the room. Immediately, dense smoke began to surround Tom preventing his vision from extending more than a foot in front of him.
"What is this?" Tom yelled. Albus, however, took immediate advantage of the illusion and cast a stunning spell right in the middle of the illusionary smoke. Harry heard a gasp and something fall over, he immediately had the smoke disappear showing Tom had been stunned and knocked out.
"Severus. It is safe to come out now, the Basilisk has appeared, please come and assist me." Albus called out. Harry didn't have time to process that as the Basilisk hissed in anger before quickly advancing toward Albus.
Albus held firm in his position and launched a powerful torrent of lightning at the gargantuan snake causing it to rear back in either pain or anger. Before it could counter its attack, a purple spell collided with the side of its head causing it to flinch as gashes appeared near its left eye. The cuts were honestly superficial but given the Basilisk's resistance to magic and defense against most damage, the spell must have been powerful. He looked in the direction he saw it come from and saw Snape had reappeared.
While the battle with Tom in the body of a first-year school girl had been somewhat lacking, the battle with the Basilisk was a test of attrition. They certainly had the beast on the back foot by launching powerful spells at it almost continuously, giving it no room to breathe and counterattack. That being said, it wasn't seeming to take much damage despite the power of the spells it was getting hit with.
Harry idly remembered reading how dragons usually required entire teams of wizards to stun and be put to sleep so they could be moved. That, or they had to tranquilize it with a specialized potion by putting it in their food. Shame they hadn't considered that before coming down.
Harry just continued watching while making sure to not have his gaze drift to the creatures' eyes. He debated on what kind of illusion he could make to aid his guardian. Assuming illusions worked on this creature, an illusion would probably only allow a momentary distraction which wouldn't matter much since the main problem seemed to be that the creature could simply tank damage. He wasn't exactly sure how much that would help.
Instead, he watched the creature and how it continued to react to being attacked. He watched as the creature was finally pushing through the onslaught of spells toward the closest assailant which was Snape. The man, to his credit, was not waiting for the giant snake to get close and was already on the move getting away from it. Dumbledore was using a mixture of an elemental onslaught and conjuration to both distract the beast and pelt it with different objects.
The beast had been hit with spells, giant stones, and even giant spears yet nothing had seemed to cause more than minor damage, though, it did certainly look to be irritating the beast. It looked like Albus and Snape were on the same page and trying to target the beast's eyes. They had even gotten close a few times but the snake had noticed and made sure attacks that were aimed at its eyes were avoided.
Its eyes were a small target though, and Harry didn't think it was a good idea to continue to try and neutralize them based on their danger factor. It seemed as long as you didn't meet the Basilisk's gaze, it couldn't affect you, which meant that the Basilisk had to specifically be looking back at you in particular for the gaze to work. The true goal should be to get the creature to die, then you could neutralize its eyes. Harry watched it for a little longer before a plan formed in his head.
Harry turned to the wall and cast a small exploding charm at it. It was an underpowered version of the more common exploding hex as it wasn't meant to cause much damage. Even against a human, it would feel closer to a strong punch. It couldn't do too much damage unless it hit a person in the head. It was perfect to get some debris built up in this situation though.
He cast the spell several more times until he had a nice pile of shards from the rock wall. He immediately began to start transfiguring the shards and honing them until the shards started to resemble large arrowheads with barbs on them. With that, he used the remaining debris to create a standing stone structure around his height with various little slots in it from top to bottom. He then placed the makeshift arrowheads into the slots until the structure had all of them inside placed pointing outwards in all directions.
The next step was a bit of an experimental one since he had never done something similar before. That being said, he had toyed with the idea occasionally and knew he, theoretically, should be able to accomplish it.
He cast a spell on the structure but ground the magic of the spell to almost a halt to prevent the spell from activating. With that, he left the magic somewhat attached to his own so the spell would wait until he wanted to activate the spell before it activated. Just in case it didn't work though, he had conjured a shield in front of him.
Luck was on his side, however, and it seemed that the spell settled onto the stone creation without an issue. The magic on it seemed almost frozen in anticipation. In reality, Harry had made a makeshift delaying reaction on the spell which is something that could be done by those with more experience in charms to spells that were cast on the fly but Harry wasn't there yet so he had to do it himself in what was, most likely, a less efficient way.
With that completed, he began the next portion by beginning to cast a static illusion on the stone creation, and within less than ten seconds, an identical Harry to him was staring back at him. The, now, doppelganger stared back at him with dead eyes. If he were going for accuracy, he'd probably make some more minor details to sell it but he was hoping it wouldn't be necessary. With the illusion, complete the last part of his plan that needed to be put in place.
He cast a levitating charm on the stone creation so it was floating close to an inch over the ground though the illusion covered it. With that, the doppelganger appeared to begin to walk out of Harry's little nook that he had been hiding in and walked boldly towards the ongoing battle which still looked just as fierce as when he had last been paying attention. Both Snape and Albus had yet to be caught by the gaze of the snake which was good. As he looked, he watched Snape almost get swallowed whole as the Basilisk made a sudden lunge at him that he wasn't ready for. He just managed to dodge out of the way but was now sprawled on the floor.
The Basilisk turned its massive head and looked at the now downed man who was trying to scamper backward while also keeping his head pointed firmly downwards away from the beast's gaze. Harry groaned as he quickly looked at the floor near his feet before finding a sizeable stone that was on the ground. He quickly picked it up and turned back to the giant snake bearing down on the school's resident potions master. The beast began to open its mouth as if ready to swallow the man whole. Harry wasted no more time as he tossed the stone as hard as he could across the room. He watched the rock sail through the air before colliding with the beast's head. It immediately whipped its head in Harry's direction.
Harry ducked back behind the wall he was hiding in but hopefully, the Basilisk had now noticed the doppelganger approaching it. He heard a hiss which was a good sign and sudden movement.
He peaked and saw the Basilisk bearing down appearing to be looking straight at the doppelganger which was now less than thirty feet away and closing. Albus had paused his assault on the creature and had glanced at Harry in his little nook curiously and Harry gave him a hand signal to just wait for a moment. Albus pulled back and Harry could see Snape quietly get up and move away but stayed prepared to continue his attack at a moment's notice.
The Basilisk finally reach his doppelganger and hissed a warning at it. Harry's doppelganger kept its head down and simply stopped moving. The Basilisk looked at it for a moment almost seeming to be unsure about something.
For a moment, Harry felt his breath catch in his throat. Could the snake see through his illusions or perhaps it just sensed something amiss with the situation? The whole plan required the creature to attack and try and put the creation in its mouth.
As soon as the feeling entered his body, though, the Basilisk reared back before snapping forward and putting the whole doppelganger in its mouth. Harry sighed in relief before finally releasing the magic he held onto the creation. The illusion dropped and the spell he had cast but delayed, finally activated.
The Basilisk looked almost confused for a moment before it recoiled as if in pain before hissing out and writhing around in pain violently. Because of the size of its body, you could feel the whole chamber begin to shake showcasing how big the beast truly was. It continued like that for close to a minute before finally falling to the floor and groaning before going silent. Harry cautiously stepped outside of the nook he was in and back to the main platform.
He walked over towards Albus slowly while keeping his eyes on the snake. Albus met him halfway and looked him over.
"Are you alright, my boy?"
"Yes, I was out of harm's way almost the whole time… I'm glad we managed to put it down without any injuries." Harry answered.
"That YOU managed to put it down. Most impressive use of illusions to get it to consume whatever it was you created."
"A stone structure that I filled with large barbed arrowheads. Then I put a banishing spell but prevented it from activating until I watched the creature try and eat the creation. After it was inside, though, the spell went off and all the arrowheads were launched in all directions inside of it. I tried to overpower the spell a bit as well to give it some extra force." Harry explained his plan.
"Most remarkable. I had a somewhat similar idea on transfiguring a living creature but doing so while also implanting the magic inside of it to go off when swallowed to cause internal damage would have taken too long."
"I could see that. It was only the combination of your as well as Professor Snape's continuous attacks that prevented it from going on the attack and even then, it was close at the end." Harry mentioned as Snape came to stand with him. Albus nodded in agreement before looking over toward his fellow professor.
"How are you, Severus? It did not get you, did it?" Albus asked. Snape shook his head.
"No, though, it was close… At least the beast has been dealt with. What should we do with it?" Snape said getting right to the point.
"I suppose you could sell its corpse. It would probably fetch a nice price to aid with Hogwarts's financing."
"Technically, as you are the one who killed it, the corpse is yours by the legal rite of conquest." Albus revealed to him. Harry rose an eyebrow.
"Even though the corpse was on school property?"
"Well, if you were not legally allowed on the premise or had not had permission to be here, an argument could be made for the owner of said property to try and take the corpse. However, you are obviously allowed in Hogwarts and even if we decided to try and make the claim, the chances of a court finding in Hogwart's favor would be low, seeing it more as an attempt to take what is rightfully yours." Albus explained. Harry thought about that. He didn't NEED the money. Of course, he could always use it to help fund his projects.
"Well, why don't we put a pin in it for now? I want to find a compromise in that so Hogwarts gets some profit as well but I think we have more important things to figure out. We still need to deal with Tom. And is Fawkes going to be alright?" Harry asked. Albus nodded in agreement.
"You're right, of course. Fawkes should be fine, though he will have to regrow earlier than he expected. He wasn't due for a burning day for quite some time still."
"As long as he's okay…" Harry muttered still a little worried about the red bird of legend. With that, they moved over toward the downed redhead. Even while sleeping, Ginny's face was set into a scowl. Harry reached out and into his sixth magical sense. Ginny was still covered in darkness that he assumed must be Tom's influence on her since it wasn't there the last time he spoke with the girl. Had he not spent almost all of his time in his club room, he probably would have been able to notice it much earlier in the year.
Harry leaned down and looked her over more closely. Under her robes, she was wearing a skirt and shirt with a jacket over it. Somewhat unexpected considering it was still technically Winter. He gently reached forward and shifted her jack upward so he could see the inside of it. Sure, enough he found a dark leather-bound book tucked away in an inside pocket. He reached out and withdrew it carefully.
The book almost made him want to vomit just from touching it. Whatever magic was in it was more than just disgusting, it was WRONG. It almost felt like it was giving him nausea just being around him.
"The book is here with her. It's…"
"You do not have to say it. Even with my limited sense, I can feel it. I can only begin to imagine what it feels like for you…"
"Being in such close proximity to it almost makes me want to throw up, literally. Whatever it is, Magic itself deems it wrong, even I can see that. It almost feels like it's been made a beacon, a living warning to others on what will happen should they try something similar… I don't understand everything, but I can be sure of this, whatever benefits Voldemort got from making this, the cost will have been much, MUCH higher." Harry was almost whispering as he continued to hold the cursed item. Harry felt something lying on his shoulder and looked over to see Albus looking down at him with his hand on his shoulder.
"Allow me to have the book please." Albus asked gently. Harry nodded and moved up to hand it to his guardian before stopping an inch away from the man's open hand.
"Wait… It's still attached to her. There's some sort of connection between her and the book… It's likely how he was able to possess her." Harry said as he felt out the connection.
"Can you do something about it?"
"Possibly. The connection is crude but does have power in it. Let me see if I can break it by force." Harry suggested. Shifting raw magic out of his body was always a little more difficult since, as a wizard, he was almost conditioned to shape magic while using it and until you tried to NOT do that, you never would guess how difficult it was. Almost like going against instinct.
After a moment, Harry wrapped the tendril he made around the dark connection between the book and Ginny and began squeezing. To his immediate surprise, his tendril almost seemed to grow even more powerful before snapping the connection apart like it was nothing. He blinked for a moment before thinking about why that might have happened.
"Were you able to do it?"
"Yes, it was almost too easy… I think magic understood my intention and helped out a bit there. I'll have to keep that in mind for later." Harry muttered the last part to himself. He said nothing more as he handed the cursed book to his Headmaster, perhaps a little more eagerly than he normally would have. The headmaster took it wearily and looked down at the book with a somewhat dark expression. Without another word, he slipped the book into his sleeve before sighing in relief.
"Well, I think that's enough of an adventure for one day… Let us get Miss Weasley to the medical wing, shall we?"
"I couldn't agree more. I hope Minerva is okay…" Harry said thinking of his grandmother figure with some worry for the first time since they entered the chamber.
"I am sure she is fine. Tom was not skilled enough to cause her much trouble had they fought. He seemed remarkably… weaker than our last meeting."
"I noticed that too… Maybe something about this method of possession?" Harry suggested as they started walking back toward where they had entered the chamber.
"Perhaps. I will have to look into it at a later date." Albus answered easily as he floated the redheaded rescue next to them as they left.
Later that Night
"If you'll just allow me to expl- WOAH. Ciri come on!" Harry said as he dodged a sword strike toward his head. Unfortunately for him, the sword was not one of his illusions. With time and experience, Ciri had begun to show an ability to conjure things within their mindscape for herself. She was still extremely limited and the knowledge she needed on any item to form it was great otherwise it would destabilize and disappear. Unfortunately for Harry, her sword was one of the few things she didn't have much trouble conjuring. And it HURT.
"Stop moving." Ciri commanded in a scarily calm tone. In truth, it scared Harry more than if she had yelled at him.
"I said I was sorry! I told you, we planned to not have me involved at all, it was just bad luck that we were ambushed and the ambusher temporarily killed-… Ciri! That one was really close!" Harry said as he was forced to make a dive and rolled away from his assailant.
"If I recall correctly, even though your bird died, the spell that killed it was actually aimed at you." Ciri said back in her same calm but cold tone. Harry could almost feel a bead of sweat go down his head at that. He hadn't told her that part, which meant she had looked at his memory of the event. Bad. Very bad.
"Some things are unavoidable; I did my best to be cautious but not everything goes to plan. You know that. Come on, it's not like I go looking for trouble."
"Yet, these situations seem to keep finding you."
"Oh, come on. You of all people cannot talk about dangerous situations finding them, how many mini heart attacks do you give me on a yearly basis because of all the random dangerous situations you get into." Harry shot back with some annoyance. Ciri did pause at that and after a moment, her expression broke into one of slight guilt. Harry deemed it safe when the sword she was holding disappeared. Her head dropped a bit after that.
"I'm sorry…" she mumbled. Harry cautiously came over and when she didn't attack him when he got at arm's length, he got closer. He then wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a tight hug. She took a moment but after a few seconds, she returned it. Since they were near the same height at the moment, they had to rest their heads on each other's shoulders.
"It's alright. I get it, more than anyone. Any time you get in ANY danger… I just feel so useless. I always want to just rush to your side and help you any way I can but I can't and it tears me up inside. I know you're not necessarily upset with me, but rather just the situation itself. I'm sorry about that, I did try and avoid it and, in the future, I will continue to do my best to try and avoid it. I promise." Harry told her.
"I know you will. And you're right it's just… when I saw the memory, and I saw the monster… I could feel your fear and anxiety. You looked like you didn't even register it but the entire time I watched; I could feel that you considered the possibility that at any second you could die… I know you did your best to stay away from the actual danger but…"
"…"
"I just… I couldn't stand it if I lost you. You know that right?"
"Of course, I know it. I'm in the same situation after all. You're everything to me, you know that." Harry replied, and he meant it. Outside of Ciri, he had quite a group of people he now surrounded himself with. He wouldn't call himself lonely by any stretch. He was close with all his friends and guardians but they weren't Ciri. They weren't part of his very essence like she was. Without Ciri, Harry had no idea who he was.
"Can we stay like this for a bit?"
"For as long as you want."