Harry Potter and the Founders Vault

Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own anything.

Year 2: The Hufflepuff Key

It was after their classes in the early evening when Harry, Hermione, Harper, and Neville were in Myrtle's bathroom; Harry had his invisibility cloak with him, having used it to get them all there, figuring he would need to use it to get them all back to their common rooms after Neville was done. They didn't know how long it would take, after all.

Neville was holding the magically locked Hufflepuff box containing the key, having brought it with him as Hermione mixed together the three potions they had previously made.

"Okay, it's ready. You need to drink it now," Hermione said, having poured it into one vial until it became a light blue color, handing it to Neville.

"Well… here goes nothing," Neville said, a little nervously, bringing the potion slowly to his lips and then drank the entire thing in one. Everyone waited with bated breath for a fraction of a second before Neville's eyes rolled back into their sockets and he fell backward, Harry jumping forward catching him before he hit his head the floor, putting him down slowly so he didn't get hurt.

"Mione?" Harper asked, concerned now for their friend.

"I did all three potions as instructed, this has to be the final result," Hermione stated, a little worried.

"I hope he's okay," Harry muttered, looking down at Neville in worry.

"You know, your task was a lot more interesting to watch," Harper commented to Harry, who had to chuckle at that.

"Hide!" It was Rowan and Myrtle, speeding into the bathroom through the wall. "Someone is coming!"

They could hear footsteps outside, and Harry threw the invisibility cloak over Neville so no one would see him as all three ran into stalls before the person entered the bathroom. Hermione and Harry heard hissing while Harper heard the word 'open', then there were sounds of something opening, a scraping of concrete on tile, and the group waited for a moment before they heard the same thing and silence falling.

"It's safe," Rowan spoke, and the three exited their cubicles.

"What just happened?" Harry asked.

"Did you two see?" Harper asked; they couldn't see what had just happened, but the ghost surely could have. They just needed to turn invisible and watch.

"No, she always puts a glamour up," Rowan said, sadly.

"She?" All three asked.

"Bill and Charlie's little sister. Ginny, I believe is her name," Rowan explained.

Harper groaned, somehow knowing the two meant Ginny as her eyes went to the round sinks, walking over to them again as she looked at it, almost back in that same trance she'd been in last year; she needed to do something, she knew it. There was a feeling… something telling her to do something. Anything.

"A glamour? She's a first year," Hermione however was saying, and Harry nodded. A glamour that could fool ghosts was way too advanced for Ginny Weasley, and First Years in general. "And the hissing?"

"Open," Harper said, "she said open…" Harper looked back at her friends.

"It can't be," Harry said, his mind running a mile a minute now as he noticed Harper staring at the sinks. "Harper…?"

"I never noticed this before," Harper added. "There's a snake… engraved on the tap."

"I thought that was vandalism by a student," Mrytle spoke up. "It looks like an S, like someone's initial or something…"

"No… it's definitely a snake," Harper muttered, looking closely at the engraving on the tap.

"Open," Harper said in Parselmouth, easily able to imagine the engraving was a real snake, and they were shocked as the sink began to move; in fact, it sunk right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for an adult to slide into.

"But this is a second-floor bathroom!" Hermione cried out. "How is it possible there's a large tunnel in the middle of the room that clearly goes under the castle? What's under this bathroom?"

"To be fair we jumped down a trapdoor from the third-floor last year and ended up under the castle," Harper voiced; Hermione opened her mouth about to respond, but then paused. She didn't have a response.

"Do you two really want to talk about this school's geography?" Harry asked, looking down the pipe. "Newt said a girl died in the bathroom last time..." Harry paused as the words that escaped his mouth actually reached his brain, forcing him to turn around to see where Myrtle was. "Hey, how exactly did you die Myrtle?"

"Ooh, it was just dreadful," Myrtle spoke with sudden relish, answering Harry's question on how she'd died. "It happened right here. In this very bathroom. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying in a cubicle and then I heard someone come in. They said something funny – a different language, what you just spoke, Harper; and I realized it was a boy. So, I unlocked the door, to tell him to go away and use his own toilet and then –" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died!"

"But… how?" Hermione was the one to ask this now.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great yellow eyes. My body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…" she looked dreamily beyond the three as she spoke. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haut Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she ever laughed at my glasses!"

"And no one ever thought to ask you about this before?" Harper asked. It seemed so obvious to ask the ghost of the victim of the Chamber what had happened.

"I didn't remember back then," Mrytle shrugged.

"How?" Hermione asked this, confused.

-Harry Potter-

The second Neville had finished drinking the potion, he was no longer in the girl's bathroom; in fact, he was in his favorite place on Earth, a place he barely remembered and yet knew was home. His parents' home.

Somehow, he was also being given everything he had ever wanted; his parents were out of the hospital, well and sane, with his mother giving him gifts far greater than used gum wrappers as his father taught him all his dueling spells he knew while his grandmother watched on, proud of him. For a moment Neville thought this was all possible.

"This can all be yours," a voice spoke to him, "all you need to do is deceive them."

Suddenly the image of perfection changed, and he saw Harry, Hermione, and Harper standing before him. "Give up the task. You don't need the key. All you need is this life…" the voice continued.

Seeing it all laid out, Neville was ready to walk away. He wanted this perfect life, his parents and confidence, but then he paused. To get what he wanted he had to betray his friends? His best friends? They'd asked him to be a part of this quest, to be by their side. He could almost hear their voices:

"We'd be worst off without you," Harry was saying, and Hermione and Harper agreed.

"Is he officially a part of your group?" Neville heard Fred ask and he remembered Harper putting an arm around him and saying he was. Neville had to smile at Fred and George officially dubbing them the 'Fab Four' when they got to the school. He pretended to hate the name with the others, but really, he loved it.

He remembered hours of Hermione helping him with homework, Harry teaching him dueling spells just because they were friends and even Harper standing up for him as he remembered almost dueling Ernie to defend her.

"If I had the perfect life, I wouldn't have them," Neville said, coming to this realization. "They're my friends," Neville said more firmly. "No… I want the key. Not for me, but for them."

As he said this, he was in a void and standing before him was a woman with long blonde hair in a long old white robe and wearing a jeweled circlet on her head. Her hair covered her ears, but Neville thought there was something strange about them he couldn't place.

"Well, hello young Longbottom," she said. She was smiling.

-Harry Potter-

"Ghosts don't remember how they die," Rowan was the one to explain this for Harry, Harper, and Hermione. "Not for a while anyway. It's a traumatic memory for all of us. Only after some time does it come back to us and by then, for Mrytle at least, it was too late to say anything…"

"You could have –" Harry began, but before he could say anything more, Professor McGonagall's voice echoed throughout the room; having had clearly cast a spell so her voice would echo throughout the school.

"All students to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately, please."

"That's right outside," Hermione stated of Professor McGonagall's message to the faculty, pointing at the door.

Harry moved and grabbed the Invisibility cloak off the still-unconscious Neville and put it on. "Stay here," he whispered as he managed to sneak out of the bathroom; Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Sprout were already there as Harry could hear the rumbling of many students moving throughout the castle heading back to their house dormitories as other teachers began to appear; Harry recognized Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher along with Madam Hooch the flying instructor and even Madam Pomfrey too arriving.

"Minerva?" Madam Pince, the Librarian asked, also having appeared, being faculty.

"It has happened," Professor McGonagall spoke when all, but one staff member was present. She was very white. "As you can see… the heir of Slytherin has left another message," she was pointing to the wall, but Harry could not see the message from where he was. "Our worst fears have been realized. A student has been taken by the basilisk, right into the Chamber itself."

"Are we sure it's a basilisk?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Indeed. As highlighted by Ms. Evans and Granger and then having contacted Newt Scamander himself, it all adds up to being as basilisk," Professor McGonagall nodded somberly.

"Imagine being taken into the Chamber by such a beast…" Professor Sprout shivered at this thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry," it was Lockhart coming up, appearing cheery despite the situation. "I was getting my plans for Valentine day settled. What's going on?"

"Oh, just the man," Professor Snape looked to Lockhart. "Your moment has come, Gildroy."

"My moment?" Lockhart asked, faltering.

"A student has been taken into the Chamber. Weren't you just saying that you knew where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was?" Professor Snape asked. "And that you could face a basilisk head on?"

"I… I did?" Lockhart asked, and Harry had to stop himself from groaning. The look on Lockhart's face was one of sudden pure terror and he had a feeling Professor Snape was just testing Lockhart.

"Well, that settles it. We let you deal with the basilisk, Gildroy, your skills are, after all, legendary," Professor McGonagall said defiantly.

"Yes, yes. Well, I'll just prepare… in my office," Lockhart stated, excusing himself and retreating from the scene; Harry wondered how fast he was going to run and where he was going to run to. There was a moment of tension relief around the staff, everyone obviously glad to see Lockhart leave, but then it returned when Madam Hooch spoke.

"Who is it that's been taken?" Madam Hooch asked. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," Professor McGonagall said; Harry already knowing this as he snuck around the teachers to see the fresh writing on the wall, below the previous message:

'Her body will lie in the chamber forever'. Harry moaned to himself, retreating quickly back to the bathroom and his waiting friends.

-Harry Potter-

"Are you Helga Hufflepuff?" Neville asked the blonde woman before him.

"Not exactly," the woman replied. "This is her likeness. I am a reprehensive to lead you through the task."

"Oh. What exactly was that…?" Neville asked. "I saw my family whole and my life…"

"It was test of a true Hufflepuff: a test of loyalty," the Helga facsimile explained. "All throughout the year you've been passing tasks designed for the best Hufflepuff: Patience, hard work, justice and loyalty."

"I have?" Neville couldn't quite believe this.

"Yes, young Longbottom. How do you think you gained the box containing the key?" the woman asked.

"I answered questions the knight gave me in front of the Great Hall," Neville explained, a little dumbfounded by this.

"Questions other students wouldn't have had the patience to ask or respond to, but you answered them anyway, and for that patience, you were rewarded. You were on the way to representing the best of Hufflepuff in those moments," the woman explained.

"The questions were long-winded," Neville mused, realizing this.

"And yet you answered them," Helga smiled.

"So, what was Merlin's portrait all about?" Neville wanted to know now; this may be his only chance to find out what he'd done right and report back to his friends.

"Hard work," Helga smiled. "Merlin was always one to make people work for what they needed, and you did that – you did what needed to be done and the result was the second potion."

"Ah, but I like Merlin," Neville pointed out, "he was nice to me."

"As he should be," Helga chuckled.

"So, Sir Cadogan?" Neville asked.

"Ah, well that one was for justice, it's what Pail is all about, after all," Helga explained.

"Pail?" Neville was lost at this one.

"Cadogan's first name," Helga stated. "It's the Iris Gaelic take on the name Paul. Don't let him know I told you that," she gave Neville a wink, who had to laugh at this. He was liking Helga.

"Which means the griffin statues outside the teachers' lounge was…?" Neville asked now; that being the last task before this one, after all. The first of the three potions which he had forgotten for a moment.

"A test of loyalty – the key in being a true Hufflepuff," Helga explained. "Which leaves this task, fore even Hufflepuffs must show bravery and you showed the best type of bravery by not only trusting the potion you took, but also facing what could have been and rejecting it in favor of what is, of what you have."

"I couldn't betray Harry, Hermione or Harper," Neville stated, a little sadly at this. "After Susan Bones, they're my closest friends."

"Ah, Susan. She will show the greatness of the Hufflepuffs too, in the end," Helga stated, to a raised eyebrow from Neville. "But our time is almost up. The potion is already wearing off. The box will open, and the key is yours. It has been an honor in meeting you, Neville Longbottom."

-Harry Potter-

"Ginny's been taken down to the Chamber," Harry told his friends, back in the bathroom. "Fakehart's gone to prepare to find her, but we all know he's going to bolt, and the teachers don't know what to do."

"Well, Fakehart's not going to do anything," Harper decided, and Hermione nodded her agreement; since the dueling club, Hermione had been disenchanted by Gildroy Lockhart and had started to see him for what he really was – she'd even thrown away his books and was complaining about not learning anything in defense class.

"We need to get the teachers. We have the Chamber right here," Hermione said pointing at the still-open entrance.

"No," Harper said, looking down the pipe again. She had barely taken her eyes off of it since she opened it. She wanted to go down there, she needed to go down there. "They will never let me go down. If a Parselmouth was needed to open the Chamber, we might need me inside."

"I hate to admit it, but Harper's right. Ginny's best chance is if Harper goes down," Harry said. "But not alone." Harry held out his right hand and his sword appeared in it.

"We never found these other heirs to Salazar," Hermione voiced, worriedly. Harry and Harper had told her all about Harry's dreams since Hermione had found out about Excalibur.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Harry said. "Harper and I will go down, get Ginny, and get out. Hermione, you stay up here to guard Neville and figure out a way for us to get out. If we don't show up in an hour, Rowan, Myrtle you two go get the teachers."

"Okay," Rowan said with a nod.

"I don't like it, but you're right," Hermione said with a nod.

"Harry…" Myrtle called out, Harry pausing to look to the ghost. "You know, if you die down there you two can share my toilet," Myrtle said.

"Um… thanks?" Harry said and gave Harper a chuckle at this before drawing in her breath, more than ready for this adventure. Without another word, Harper jumped down the pipe first; Harry noticing she had not taken her eyes off the entrance to the Chamber since it had been opened.

"I wonder…" Harry mumbled as he sat on the edge, then slid down behind his sister.

It was like rushing down and endless, slimy, dark slide. Harry could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downwards, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

And then, just as he had began to worry about what would happen when he it the ground, the pipe levelled out and he shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel, large enough to stand in. Harper was getting to her feet a little way away, covered in slime and Harry wondered how mucky he must be already.

"We must be miles under the school," Harry said, his voice echoing in the black tunnel. His sword had fallen from his hand and landed next to him, but it jumped right back into his hand when he called to it.

"We're under the lake," Harper stated, as if she knew this for a fact. Both turned to look into the darkness ahead.

"Lumos!" Harry muttered to his wand as it lit. "I guess we go that way," Harry said, pointing his sword and wand together.

"Harry… if we die down here, let's agree to move on. I'm not spending eternity in a girl's bathroom," Harper voiced at this.

"Yeah, deal. That is not the plan," Harry chuckled, a little nervously as they started to move.

-Harry Potter-

Neville suddenly sat bolt upright in the bathroom, the box he had on his lap falling to the side and opening, the key within sliding a few centimeters away.

"Neville!" Hermione moved over to him as he took in his bearings, grabbing the key which was yellow and shaped like a badger. He smiled at it as he put it around his neck, the golden chain completing it.

"Hey guys…." Neville paused as he took in the bathroom; the sinks were separated with a giant hole in the middle, while Harry and Harper were nowhere to be seen. Myrtle and Rowan floated over to Neville; glad he was fine.

"What's going on?" Neville asked as Hermione moved away from him.

"I'll fill you in. Help me create this rope ladder," Hermione asked; she was transfiguring toilet paper and other bathroom items into rope and using spells to combine them together. Neville blinked as he went to help Hermione.

"What was the task?" Hermione asked, knowing of Harry's battle with the knight last year.

"A test of loyalty, bravery, and everything Hufflepuff," Neville explained, not sure he wanted to tell her about the possibility of betraying her and the others yet. "What's going on here?"

"Ginny's been taken into the Chamber of Secrets; we realized that we were sitting on top of it the whole time! The entrance was one of the sinks in the bathroom. Harper and Harry have gone down into the Chamber to save Ginny. Fakehart's ran away," Hermione summarized.

"Just a day in the life for Harry Potter and his friends then," Neville chuckled. The two ghosts laughed at this, too.

"That includes you," Hermione stated, throwing him a roll of toilet paper to transfigure.

"How long has it been?" Neville asked.

"Not an hour yet," Hermione said.

"Maybe I should…?" Neville didn't finish the sentence, offering to go down to help the two when the sinks suddenly moved back together, the one that had sunk into the floor coming back up. "That… that wasn't supposed to happen, right?"

"No," Hermione moaned as she went to the sinks and took out her wand, quickly casting every spell she knew to try and get it open.

"How did you open it before?" Neville asked, worried.

"Harper said something in Parseltongue," Hermione bemoaned.

"I think it's time I got the teachers," Rowan voiced, and Hermione nodded her agreement, fear in the pit of her stomach. As far as she knew, her friends were trapped down there now.

-Harry Potter-

Harry and Harper progressed in the tunnel, which was as quiet as the grave. The first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Harper stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Trying hard not to imagine what Ginny Weasley might look like if they found her, Harry and Harper continued forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.

"There's something up there…" Harry said, pausing as they could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"I've got this," Harper stated, hoping she could control the basilisk if needed as she too, taking the lead, and lighting up her own wand now. But the light instead slid over a gigantic snakeskin of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor.

"Wow…" Harper breathed now.

"This thing has to be huge," Harry said as he poked the skin with his sword. "Harper, if we run across it you need to talk to it. Stop it from killing us with its stare…"

"I'll try," Harper said.

"Come on, the Chamber has to be close by," Harry decided, the pair beginning to move away from the snakeskin.

"I wonder how this place has held up all this time?" Harper voiced. "It looks like it could cave in at any time…"

"Well, let's not start blasting away down here, then – or we'll have the entire lake to deal with too," Harry mused as the tunnel turned again.

And then, at last, they saw a solid wall ahead, on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

"I guess this is it," Harry stated as Harper moved forward, again that magical pull was on her as she knew exactly what to do.

"Open," Harper said in a low, faint, hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight and Harper moved forward, followed by Harry, both entering the Chamber of Secrets.

Note: And now we've got into the Chamber! I was going to end this a little later, with them finding Ginny, but this actually worked well as the end of this chapter – it was in the book too. I hope you liked, and that Neville got enough focus. It's funny how the climax of the books are happening at the same time our protagonists get their keys, isn't it? Hehe.

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