Chapter 32

The moment the statue's mouth opened Harry saw something big was emerging from the darkness, knowing it's the basilisk he quickly averted his eyes and looked down. His eyes caught a glimpse of dark green scales as he looked away, he heard the scales of the basilisk scrape against the statue's mouth before landing on the ground. Harry slowly looked up enough that he was able to see part of its body, he wished he hadn't. The page said the largest recorded basilisk was twenty feet long, however that basilisk paled in comparison to this one. He heard the basilisk speak, "~Master, is this the one you want me to eliminate?~"

Harry tried to speak to the basilisk, "~Wait, we don't need to fight, you don't need to listen to him!~" He hoped he could reason with it.

The basilisk hissed in anger, "~You are no master of mine!~"

Tom laughed and said "It's no use Potter, the basilisk is loyal to the heir of Slytherin!" He turned to the basilisk and gave an order, "~devour him!~"

As soon as Harry heard that he quickly turned and started running, he heard the basilisk let out a hiss showing it was getting closer, Harry mentally cursed, "Damn it, what am I going to do, how am I going to face a bloody basilisk!?" He thought back to what the page said about the basilisk, he didn't know how to transfigure a rooster so that wasn't an option. He remembered the eyes and the inside of its mouth are vulnerable, but how is he going to face it without looking at it? At that thought Harry had an idea come to his mind, "Wait, it's eyes! They may be able to kill with a gaze but they're still eyes that can be blinded!"

Harry could hear the basilisk getting closer, he decided to take the risk, with his wand still in his hand he aimed back at the basilisk and cast, "Lumos Maxima!"

He made the light as bright as possible to try to blind the basilisk, his spell instantly lit up the chamber brighter than the torches and he heard the basilisk hiss. He heard the basilisk stop moving so he canceled the spell and stopped running, hoping his spell worked he took the risk and looked back at the monster. Harry got a full view of the basilisk; he estimated it to be around sixty feet. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the basilisk was shaking its head and had its eyes closed, his spell must have caught it off guard.

Harry quickly raised his wand; he didn't know how long it would keep its eyes closed so he needed to attack it while he had the chance. Harry cast, "Bombarda, diffindo, incendio!"

Harry knew the hide was magically resistant so he aimed for its head hoping to hit the inside of its mouth. The basilisk seemed to know what he was trying to do and closed its mouth, the blast hit it but did no damage, his cutting charm couldn't even scratch it, and it acted like it didn't even notice his flames. Harry cursed at this; with its eyes and mouth closed he can't hurt it.

"Reducto!"

Harry heard the incantation and noticed the blue spell heading towards him, he dodged it and turned his attention to Tom. The older student had a smile on his face as he said "Don't forget I'm still here, Potter. I will make sure your death is as painful as possible."

Harry grit his teeth at seeing he needed to fight a younger Voldemort, he quickly raised his wand and cast, "Expelliarmus, Diffindo, reducto, bombarda, Flipendo!"

He watched as Tom simply waved his wand and deflected every spell sent his way, Harry continued to cast spell after spell but nothing was working. Tom slashed his wand and sent a spell at him, Harry quickly dodged it but Tom didn't stop there, he continued to cast so Harry quickly raised a shield. His shield blocked the spells but he could feel his shield wouldn't hold up for long. Harry's attention turned to the basilisk, he noticed it wasn't shaking its head anymore, it was going to open its eyes.

Harry cast a bombarda at Tom to distract him before turning around and running, Tom deflected the spell before casting at Harry. His shield held up long enough for Harry to take cover behind one of the pillars, Tom clicked his tongue but still smiled knowing Harry can't do anything, he walked closer towards Harry so he could cast at him the moment he saw him, he ignored Ginny and the diary for now and left them behind.


On the other side of the door the Professors were scanning and examining every inch of the door in an attempt to find a way into the chamber, it wasn't looking good. Babbling examined the symbols carved into the door and wall believing they're runes, she let out a sigh and said "No good, I can't understand them. If Slytherin made this chamber then he must have used parseltongue magic, I can't understand any of it."

Snape lowered his wand and said "Not even my best solution will be able to break through this door, I can't understand what Slytherin did to reinforce it."

They could feel the chamber was warded so McGonagall and Flitwick examined the ward hoping that bringing it down would help them get in. McGonagall's eyes widened as she said "I believe Slytherin connected these wards to the ward stone protecting Hogwarts."

Flitwick lowered his wand and said "It's possible there might even be a second ward stone in the chamber, even if the wards around Hogwarts were brought down the wards here would remain."

Somewhere in the back of their minds they were impressed seeing that one of the founders had created something like this, but right now they were more concerned with the lives of the two students trapped inside.

Neville was trying to help Ron, he was shaken from seeing Ginny laying on the ground appearing lifeless, his mind was full of thoughts, "Were we too late? She wasn't moving, is… is she…"

"Ron!"

Neville managed to get his attention; he knew why Ron was acting this way. He saw Ginny laying on the ground and became worried for his friend. He told Ron "There's still a chance she's ok, Harry is with her and he said he would save her!"

Ron remembered the promise Harry had made, he held onto that bit of hope since he didn't want to believe he lost his sister. He wiped at his eyes before saying "You're right."

They needed to find a way into the chamber, they tried to come up with an idea and Ron said "What if we try hissing the same way Harry did, it opened up the sinks so maybe it can work here too."

Neville thought it might work, he asked, "How did it go again?"

They thought back to how it sounded when Harry hissed at the sinks, they tried their best to imitate it and hissed. It caught the attention of the professors and McGonagall said "I'm afraid that won't work. Parseltongue isn't something that can be copied. It's a magical language that someone has to be born with, even if you knew how to translate it, you can't use it since you aren't born with its magic."

The two boys cursed under their breaths at hearing that, Neville suggested, "What if we conjure a snake like the one Malfoy conjured, it spoke to Harry so maybe we can get it to open the door."

The Professors thought about it, they weren't sure if the idea would work or not. They decided to give it a try, McGonagall told Sprout to send a patronus to the aurors letting them know where they are. Flitwick looked towards the door and thought "Harry, hold on as long as you can, we'll be there soon."

Snape stepped away from the door, they couldn't even hear anything that might be going on inside, he thought "It would take a miracle for Potter to survive this."


Inside the chamber Harry managed to hide behind a pillar in time, his shield broke but he managed to dodge Tom's spells. He cursed under his breath, "Damn it, it's bad enough that I need to face the basilisk but I also need to fight Voldemort again."

At that thought Harry thought back to when he faced Voldemort last year, he managed to trick him but Voldemort still nearly killed him, he only survived because of the protection. Harry had a realization at that, even though he's younger this is still Voldemort. If he can get close enough then all it'll take is one touch to destroy him. Harry knew since this was a younger Voldemort then it meant he wasn't as experienced; he was able to recognize the spells he cast as ones he'd learn in later years. Unfortunately, he was still a skilled dueler so he knew he didn't stand a chance if he tried dueling him, he needed to distract him and get close enough to touch him.

Harry could hear the basilisk let out another hiss, he needed to distract it again so he can try to get closer to Voldemort. Harry closed his eyes and pointed his wand around the pillar, he cast, "Lumos Maxima!"

He made the light as bright as he could and it instantly lit up the chamber, he heard the basilisk hiss like last time and believed he managed to blind it again. Harry canceled the spell before deciding to look around the pillar, he needed to see where the basilisk was to avoid it. He placed his hand on the pillar before turning to his left to take a quick look, Harry instantly froze up when he saw the basilisk was right in front of him, despite its size the basilisk was able to get close without being heard.

Tom started laughing when he saw this, his smile grew as he waited for the moment Harry would fall over dead.

As Harry stared into the basilisk's yellow eyes it felt like everything slowed down. The basilisk was intelligent enough to realize what he tried to do, it pretended to be blinded to make him let his guard down. He had one thought run through his mind, "I'm dead. I'm going to die. I wonder if Myrtle was serious about sharing her toilet?"

Just as with the petrified students the body would freeze up and turn cold and stiff like a statue, having looked directly into the eyes the body would shut down as life faded away and everything turned dark. Harry felt none of this as he stared into the basilisk's eyes, then he blinked, then he blinked again, then the basilisk blinked and the two became confused.

Harry could see the basilisk was even more confused than him, one look into its eyes should have caused instant death. Harry noticed the basilisk had dropped its guard; this was his chance to take out one of its eyes. He couldn't raise his wand up or it would realize he's about to cast and either attack or move back, however his hand was still resting on the pillar and it was lined up with its eyes.

Harry cast, 'Diffindo', Without warning, incantation, or wand movement the spell quickly moved across and struck. The basilisk moved back and hissed in pain as its right eye was damaged, Harry could see he managed to take out one of its eyes.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry saw the green curse speeding towards him and quickly dove out of the way, He saw Tom now looked enraged. He continued to cast the killing curse so Harry quickly moved, he raised his wand and cast, "Protego!"

Harry felt his shield shatter the second the curse hit it; the curse was off so it didn't hit him but he was stunned by what he felt. He poured his magic into the shield but it did nothing. He felt the spell through his shield and knew no shield could block it. Harry quickly ran before aiming his wand and casting, "Bombarda!"

This time Harry didn't aim directly at Tom but instead his surroundings, multiple spells were cast and the explosions caught Tom off guard but for some reason they didn't hurt him. Harry managed to put the basilisk between them so Tom couldn't keep casting. He kept running to take cover behind another pillar but he heard Tom yell, "How is this possible! The Potters share no connection to Slytherin! How did you survive!"

It sounded like he was shouting out of anger instead of actually asking, Harry took cover behind a pillar and tried to catch his breath, he could feel his heart was racing. He can't believe he survived that, the basilisk's eyes didn't work on him, maybe its because he's a parselmouth. His thoughts were cut off when there was a sudden blast, Harry looked and saw Tom had destroyed one of the statues. Another blast destroyed a pillar and Harry realized what Tom was doing, he was destroying the only cover he had. Harry ran out as Tom destroyed more of the statues and pillars, the basilisk turned to him and glared with its remaining eye.

Tom didn't stop destroying the pillars and statues, he wanted to make sure Harry wouldn't have anywhere to hide. Harry tried to cast at the basilisk, he hoped one of its spells would hit its remaining eye or the inside of its mouth, unfortunately the basilisk knew what he was trying to do. It moved its head to keep the spells from hitting its eye, it kept its mouth shut until it was within striking distance.

Harry started to panic, Tom destroyed most of the statues and pillars leaving him with fewer options, he looked towards the door and remembered some of the professors were there, maybe he can let them in and they can help him. Tom seemed to notice where he was looking and decided to give an order, "~Basilisk!~" The basilisk stopped and looked back towards Tom, Harry got a bad feeling when he saw the look on his face. "~The moment that door opens you are to head into the school, kill anyone you come across! Eliminate the enemies of the heir, this is an order from your master!~"

Harry's eyes widened at that, the basilisk hissed, "~Yes master.~"

Tom calmed his anger before a smirk returned to his face, he said to Harry, "No one is coming to save you, Potter! If you try to get help then you'll release the basilisk upon the school!"

Harry lowered his wand at hearing that, what was he supposed to do, he couldn't face the basilisk or fight Tom alone. He looked at Ginny and could see she was getting worse, he needed to do something quick or she would die. Harry cursed under his breath and said "I need help."

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he heard a majestic screech that almost sounded like a song. Tom lost his smile when he heard that sound, Harry turned around and saw something appeared in the chamber. His eyes widened when he saw Fawkes was flying towards him, he noticed Fawkes had something clutched in his talons. Fawkes wasn't alone though, flying next to him was… "Harry!"

"Hedwig!" He was stunned to see Hedwig was here too.

Tom's grip on his wand tightened when he saw the phoenix, he growled out the word "Dumbledore."

Fawkes moved towards the basilisk and managed to get its attention, Hedwig flew towards Harry, he held his arm out so she could land, he asked "What are you doing here?"

"I asked Fawkes to bring me, I wasn't going to leave you alone."

Harry couldn't believe she was here; he noticed the basilisk was trying to attack Fawkes but he was too quick for the basilisk to catch. Tom raised his wand and aimed at Fawkes so Harry quickly aimed and cast at Tom, Tom deflected the spell and turned his attention towards Harry. Harry told Hedwig through their bond to fly off but keep an eye on Tom, once she took off Tom started to chuckle before saying "This is the best Dumbledore could send his favorite student, instead of coming here himself he decided to send two bloody birds in his place!"

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself, he couldn't face Tom and the basilisk together so he needed to take out Tom first while the basilisk was distracted. All he needed was one touch, if he can disarm Tom then he can grab him and the protection will destroy him like last time.

Harry knew his best chance of beating Tom was to rely on wandless and silent casting, the two wizards faced each other as they waited for who would make the first move. Harry cast first, "Expelliarmus!"

Tom knocked the spell away but Harry didn't stop, he started casting different spells silently and Tom looked surprised by this, he hadn't expected to see Harry knew silent casting. No matter what spell he cast Harry saw Tom continued to deflect each spell, he was toying with him since Tom wasn't casting any spell back at him. Harry glanced at a pile of rubble that used to be a statue and aimed his hand at one of the rocks. He cast incendio with his wand and Tom held out his wand to block the flames, the moment he saw this Harry wandlessly cast, 'locomotor rock!'

He sent the rock flying towards Tom; Tom saw it at the last second and tried to move. Harry thought he saw the rock hit him but instead it went past him, did he miss?

Tom turned towards him and grit his teeth, "You… You can cast wandless magic!"

He quickly aimed his wand and cast a curse, the moment he saw him move Harry quickly waved his wand and cast a shield, he didn't stay still and started moving. Tom seemed to be taking this fight more seriously as he continued to cast several spells, Harry felt his shield blocked the spells but it was getting close to breaking. Harry started casting from his wand and hand, seeing the multiple spells being cast at him made Tom have to defend himself.

Tom saw Harry was a better dueler than he thought and knew he couldn't underestimate him, he raised his wand and cast, "Crucio!"

Harry dodged the spell and felt it shatter his shield, he cast incendio with his wand and hand and it made Tom have to put up a shield. Harry switched to casting bombarda in order to break his shield, he tried to think of an idea for getting closer to Tom, he needed to disarm him or he can't move any closer.

Hedwig watched as the two wizards fought, she hadn't spoken through their bond in case she distracts Harry. She tried to think of an idea that could help him, the moment she saw Tom aim his wand at Harry an idea came to her.

Harry heard Hedwig through their bond and she quickly told him her idea, Harry needed to make sure Tom was completely focused on him so it can give Hedwig the chance to swoop down and snatch Ginny's wand away from him. Harry worried he might be putting Hedwig in danger but she told him to do it, they weren't sure how long Fawkes would keep the basilisk distracted. Harry decided to go for it, he quickly cast a shield that blocked Tom's hexes before casting with his wand and hand, "Fumos!"

He cast thick dark clouds of smoke to distract Tom, he aimed his hand down while aiming his wand at him. The smoke caught Tom off guard and made it harder for him to see Harry, with Hedwig watching she was able to tell Harry when he was about to cast. Harry moved through the smoke and with his left hand he cast a shower of sparks at Tom. Tom mistook them for spells and tried to block them only to see they were just sparks, with so many he couldn't tell where Harry was standing. Harry raised his wand and cast two disarming charms at him.

Tom managed to notice the two spells and blocked them; he tried casting at where they came from but the sparks stopped and he didn't hear his spell hit anything. Harry would cast fumos with his left hand to create more smoke before switching back to creating showers of sparks, seeing the several colors made him stay on guard in case it was a spell.

Harry needed to make sure Tom's full attention was on him, the moment he saw him through the smoke he knew he would cast a curse at him, he needed to make sure Tom was distracted. At the right moment they heard the basilisk hiss in pain, Hedwig and Tom saw that Fawkes stopped flying around the basilisk and finally attacked, he went straight for its remaining eye and managed to claw at it.

Hedwig told Harry to go now, Harry took the chance and ran towards where she said Tom was standing. Tom heard him and looked towards the smoke and saw Harry was running at him, he raised his wand and aimed right at him. A curse was on the tip of his tongue but with his focus entirely on Harry he didn't notice the owl. Hedwig swooped down and surprised Tom, she snatched the wand out of his hand and quickly flew away, however when she grabbed the wand, she noticed something was off.

Harry saw this and knew this was his chance, Tom couldn't defend himself. As soon as he got close Harry tackled Tom and held his hand out to grab onto his face, "Harry don't!"

To his shock Harry saw his hand pass through Tom's face, he passed through him and fell to the floor. Harry quickly got up and turned towards Tom, he was shocked to see he couldn't touch him. Seeing the shocked look on his face made Tom smile and chuckle before saying "Did you already forget what I said Potter, I am just a shade of myself, I haven't regained my body yet."

Harry broke out in a cold sweat at hearing that, he forgot about what Tom said about his diary. He turned towards Ginny and saw she was still holding the book; he was so focused on Tom's shade that he forgot he was draining Ginny's life to regain his body. He heard Hedwig through their bond, she tried to attack Tom's hand with her talons to get the wand but she felt nothing was there.

Tom noticed Harry was looking at the owl and assumed he was wondering about how he held the wand, he explained, "Since Ginny is connected to her wand then that meant I could use her wand, other than that I can't physically touch anything yet until I have a body again. You should know Potter, the moment I regain a physical body means Ginny is dead, it won't be long now."

Harry cursed under his breath and called himself an idiot, right now his protection can't do anything to Tom, he should have gone for the diary. Tom wore a pleased expression at seeing Harry was upset that his plan failed, he then spoke, "~I don't need the wand, Potter. Instead I shall enjoy watching you as you die to the basilisk, she has been starving for so long and I'm sure she's eager to eat.~"

The moment the basilisk heard his voice it stopped focusing on Fawkes, it flicked its tongue and found the scent it was looking for. Harry saw his smoke worked against him; the basilisk moved silently as it rushed towards him. The only reason he knew it was coming was because Hedwig saw it and yelled out a warning through their bond. Harry watched in horror as the basilisk appeared through the smoke and passed through Tom, it had its mouth wide open and was ready to strike.

Harry couldn't move out of the way in time, the basilisk was close enough that he could see rows of its sharp teeth and fangs, it was going to devour him in one bite. Hedwig cried out for Harry seeing he was about to be devoured, Harry thought he was about to die when suddenly he felt something grab him. The next moment all he could see was fire as he felt the ground vanish from underneath him, before he could fully process what happened the fire vanished and the ground reappeared underneath him. He nearly fell over but managed to stay standing, he felt something behind him let go before landing in front of him, he saw it was Fawkes.

"Fawkes, was that you?"

Fawkes let out a trill as if to say yes, he remembered seeing Fawkes appear in Dumbledore's office and realized Fawkes had his own way of traveling. Now that he thought about it that made a lot more sense for how he got here. Harry looked ahead and saw they were now on the other side of the chamber and the basilisk was where he had just been.

Hedwig was relieved to see Harry survived, she thought of flying over to him but she remembered what Tom had said, instead she turned her attention towards Ginny.

Harry noticed Fawkes was holding something in his talons, now that he got a closer look at it he was confused to see the sorting hat.

The sorting hat moved and said "Potter, quickly, put me on!"

"W-Wha?"

"Put me on, quickly!"

By now Tom and the basilisk realized where Harry went, Tom wanted Harry dead so he ordered the basilisk to go after him. Harry had no idea what the hat was planning but he decided to listen, he picked up the hat and put it on. The moment he put it on he heard the hat's voice in his head, "Potter… please… stop her."

He felt something hard hit his head, he reached up into the hat and was shocked to pull out a sword. He stared at the sword in his hand with disbelief, it looked to be made of pure silver and the hilt was decorated with rubies, he remembered when Hermione told him about the founders and he realized he was holding the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

He heard the hat in his head again, "Potter, the moment the basilisk strikes that's your best chance to kill her, you need to thrust the sword into her open mouth!"

"Are you crazy?!" He mentally argued.

"You don't have another option! You can't damage its hide and you're running out of time!"

At that Harry glanced towards Ginny and knew the hat was right, the hat told him to listen and wait for the right moment. He stood still as the basilisk rushed towards him, a part of him wanted to run but he was able to steel his nerves. The moment the basilisk moved to strike Harry gripped the sword before thrusting it upward into the basilisk's open mouth. The sword stabbed deep into the roof of the basilisk's mouth; Harry let out a scream as he felt a fang stab into his arm. The fang got stuck on Harry's wand holster and remained in his arm as the basilisk moved back. The basilisk thrashed as it hissed in pain, soon its body came crashing down onto the ground as it had finally died.

Tom was stunned to see the basilisk was dead but soon a wicked smile appeared on his face when he saw the fang in Harry's arm. He wanted to watch Harry suffer so he approached him.

Harry gripped the fang and let out a cry of pain as he yanked the fang out of his arm. The pain only got worse as Harry felt the basilisk venom spread through his arm, it felt like it was burning him as the venom began to quickly spread to the rest of his body. Harry felt himself become light headed before collapsing to the floor, the pain in his arm was quickly becoming unbearable, he cried out in pain as it felt like the venom was destroying his body from the inside.

He managed to stop screaming as he heard Tom started to chuckle, the young Voldemort looked towards Harry and said "Amazing, isn't it, Potter. How quickly the basilisk venom can kill its victims. In less than a minute you'll be dead and the venom will make sure its as painful as possible."

Harry did his best to hold in his screams, he felt his vision was becoming blurry as he gripped the fang he still held in his hand. Tom continued, "I have seen many suffer from the venom, I would release the basilisk into the forest and command it to bite many creatures. I have seen unicorns, centaurs, trolls, many creatures writhe around in pain from the venom as it destroys them from the inside. Their cries of pain would entertain me before they would lose all their strength and die soon after."

It hurt, it hurt worse than anything he ever felt. Harry was willing to do anything just to make the pain stop. Tom looked at his own hands and said "It won't be long now, Potter. My body will be fully restored and Ginny will be dead. It's almost poetic when you think about it, as the Boy-Who-Lived breathed his last breath it marked the return of the dark lord he banished, as soon as I reunite with my older self then everyone will witness the return of Lord Voldemort!"

Tom laughed before saying "However, that's not enough! I want to hear you scream, Potter! I want to hear how you suffered in your final moments! How you suffered the consequences of defying me! Let me hear you scream!"

Harry struggled, he felt his strength was vanishing, despite that he managed to slowly push himself up. He spoke through the bond; he told Hedwig not to worry about him and focus on her task. Tom watched as Harry managed to push himself up, he smiled at the desperate last attempt to defy him. His smile dropped when something dropped between them and landed in front of Harry, his eyes widened when he saw it was his diary.

Tom saw Harry managed to raise the fang in his hand above his head, "Wait, what are you-"

Harry felt his body was screaming, the venom was spreading quickly and it hurt even more just to move. Tom looked worried when he saw the look in Harry's eyes, Harry thought "You wanted to hear me scream Tom, then fine!"

Harry let out a loud scream as he plunged the fang down into the diary.

"NO DON'T!"

The fang stabbed into the diary; Harry felt the diary try to resist but the venom from the fang allowed the fang to stab into page after page. Tom let out a soul tearing scream when the fang pierced the diary. When the fang pierced through to the other end of the diary Tom let out one last scream before he exploded into a dark cloud. The scream echoed throughout the chamber and some of the people on the other side of the door thought they felt something.

Harry lost his grip on the fang as he fully collapsed to the floor. He used up the last of his strength, he didn't even have enough strength to scream anymore. The pain was too much, it hurt to move, it hurt to breathe.

"Is this it, is this how I'm going to die?"

The pain was too much that he couldn't even hear Hedwig's frantic cries through their bond, he wasn't aware of his surroundings.

"Did I do it, is he gone, did I save Ginny?" Harry didn't even have the strength to open his eyes anymore, he knew it was over for him. "I'm going to die; the venom is going to kill me." He thought about Ron and Neville on the other side of the door, wondering if they can even get into the chamber. He thought about all the petrified victims, hoping they could be healed one day. Lastly, he thought about Hermione. He thought about when they watched the fireworks together, he thought about the smile she wore when he read to her, he thought about how he would never see her again.

Harry began to feel the pain in his arm vanish, he wondered if he had died, if the pain slowly goes away as you die. He felt a cooling sensation spread through his body, it was spreading faster than the venom had, it felt soothing. The burning feeling in his body was quickly vanishing as the pain was quickly fading away, he managed to hear Hedwig's frantic cries of his name. He felt something drip onto his arm, was it water? Harry was able to slowly open his eyes, everything was a bit blurry but it was quickly coming back into focus. He managed to turn his head and saw in front of him was Fawkes, he appeared to be crying and his tears were falling onto the wound he got from the fang.

Harry could feel his arm again, the pain was gone and the rest of the pain in his body was quickly vanishing. He didn't know what was going on, however he remembered something that was said on the page. It was believed there are some counters to the venom, he realized phoenix tears are one of them. He managed to smile as he said "Fawkes."

He heard Hedwig cry out his name before moving towards him, he could feel her fear of losing him was quickly replaced with relief at seeing he was alive. Harry managed to move his left hand and gently stroke Hedwig, he said "Hey girl, don't worry about me, I'm still alive."

Hedwig was practically crying tears of joy at seeing he survived. Harry managed to pull up his sleeve to reveal the hole in his wand holster. He pulled off his wand holster and Fawkes cried a few more tears into the wound, once Harry felt all the pain in his body vanish, he saw the wound close up. It left behind a scar but Harry didn't care, he managed to survive. Harry still felt exhausted from the pain but he managed to sit up, he gently stroked Fawkes before saying, "Thank you, Fawkes. You saved my life."

The phoenix let out a happy trill, Harry still felt his body was weak and tired but he was able to stand up. His attention immediately turned towards Ginny and he saw she was still laying on the ground, he felt worried and moved towards her as he called out "Ginny!"

He got to her and felt relief at seeing she was still breathing; she was still alive. Harry tried shaking her as he said "Ginny, Ginny, can you hear me?"

"She'll be alright, she just needs to recover her strength first."

Harry turned and saw the sorting hat was the one that spoke.

"Mr. Potter, can you please pick me up and put me on?"

"Y-Yeah."

Harry walked back towards the hat and put it on, as soon as he did, he heard it speak, "Mr. Potter, can you bring me to the basilisk?"

Harry was a bit confused by the request but he listened, he approached the basilisk and saw it had fallen on its back and the sword was stuck to the roof of its mouth. Harry noticed he felt something from the hat, he could feel that the hat was feeling pain and sorrow when it looked at the basilisk. He heard the hat speak, "Corra… I'm so sorry… this wasn't supposed to happen."

Confused, Harry asked "What do you mean?"

The hat explained, "This was never meant to happen. Salazar didn't want her to hurt the students, he wanted her to protect the school and keep the students safe."

That confused Harry even more, he asked "Wait, what do you mean she was meant to protect the school, how do you know that?"

"Mr. Potter, when the founders created me, they made sure I knew everything they knew. When they infused their magic into me, they made sure a part of them was with me, in a way I am the closest thing to the founders still being alive. I can say for certain that Salazar never wanted any of this, he never meant for any of this to happen."

This information stunned Harry; this was different from what he heard about Slytherin. He asked "But didn't he believe in the pure blood ideology and wanted just pure bloods to attend Hogwarts?"

"Mr. Potter, let me ask you something, do you consider Draco Malfoy your best friend?"

"Of Course not!" He sounded outraged at the thought.

"Exactly, if Salazar believed in the pure blood ideology, then he would have never been friends with the other founders. They would have been against him from the start if he believed in any of that."

"Then why did he want just pure bloods to attend Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Think about everything that was going on at the time, how many witch burnings do you think Salazar must have witnessed?" Harry felt his eyes widen at that, "Imagine how many muggleborns never got to attend Hogwarts or how many never came back. Salazar welcomed new magical blood into the magical world but they also came with a risk, many muggleborns were used to reveal where other magical families were. Salazar wanted to figure out a safe way to bring muggleborns into the magical world, that way they don't put others in danger, but the founders disagreed."

That led to Harry asking his next question, "But then why did he have a huge fight with Gryffindor because of it?"

"That's how Godric and Salazar settled all their arguments, they would duel any time they disagreed! They once even dueled over which dessert was better, as friends they agreed to settle everything with a duel!"

Harry sweat dropped at hearing that; he hadn't known that about the founders.

The hat continued, "Salazar worried one day the muggles would attack Hogwarts so that's why he created the basilisk. She loved the school and cared about the children, she wanted to protect them. Since a basilisk is born from a chicken egg it means they are born small and weak, she would need years to grow into a proper size to protect the school, unfortunately Salazar wouldn't be around long enough to protect her, none of the founders would be. Salazar created the chamber for two purposes, the first was so Corra could safely grow in here until she was strong enough to protect herself. The second was so all the students could be evacuated here in case the school was ever attacked, the chamber is bigger than the great hall so it could house all the students, Salazar used all his knowledge to make sure the chamber could keep all the students safe."

At that Harry looked around the chamber seeing that it was true, it could easily hold all the current students and if the school was full then it could still hold all of them. He then asked, "Then why did everyone think Slytherin believed in the pure blood ideology?"

The hat sighed and said "It's because that's what his descendants believed. Salazar told his children about the chamber because they were meant to look after the basilisk and keep the school safe, unfortunately they decided to use the basilisk for something different. They twisted everything about Salazar to make it look like he believed in the pure blood ideology, they stopped seeing the basilisk as a guardian of the school and instead saw her as a weapon to get rid of muggleborns. The chamber doesn't look like how Salazar originally had it, he would have never created a statue of his head to keep the basilisk in.

Corra was meant to remain in the chamber for forty years so she could grow to a proper size, after that she would have lived in the forest and guarded the school, but they never let her out. They made sure that only they can open the chamber so she couldn't leave when she wanted to. Her only communication was with Salazar's descendants and they twisted her mind, they made her believe that their beliefs were Salazar's beliefs. She was kept in the chamber longer than she was meant to be, year after year, decade after decade, century after century. She was left in complete isolation and her only communication was with those who twisted her mind.

When Fawkes brought me here, I tried to speak to her, to get her to stop listening to Tom, to remind her that this isn't what she and Salazar wanted. Her mind was too broken and twisted for her to listen, she had to be stopped before she could hurt the very students she swore to protect."

Harry could feel the pain the hat was feeling after explaining everything, it explained why he heard him say those words before giving him the sword. Harry felt bad for the basilisk, she was meant to protect the school but she was turned into a monster by the people she trusted. Harry approached the basilisk and placed his hand on her, he now knew her name so he said "~Corra, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, you were never a monster.~"

The hat felt some relief when he heard that, at least now the basilisk wouldn't have to suffer anymore. The hat decided to say "Mr. Potter, when you get out of here, I want you to contact the goblins and hire them to take apart the basilisk."

"Wait, why do you want them to take her apart?" He was confused thinking doing that to the basilisk sounded horrible.

The hat heard Harry's thoughts and said, "It would be better than leaving her down here to rot away in the place that had been her prison. Basilisk parts are extremely rare and valuable, since you're the one that killed her, it means you can claim her. The money you make from selling them can be used to help others, at least this way she can serve some kind of purpose after her death. The goblins can use her hide to make battle robes for you and your friends, that way all of you can be safe whenever you need to fight. This is the second time you've had to face Voldemort since coming to Hogwarts, maybe the next time you face him her hide can protect you."

Harry realized that was true, his friends had promised to stand by him so maybe having basilisk hide robes can help keep them all safe. He thought about it and agreed, "Alright, I'll contact Gringotts and speak to my account manager."

"Ask Professor Flitwick to take you to Gringotts, it'll be better if you speak to the goblins in person. Make it known that you killed the basilisk so you can claim the carcass as yours, that way no one can try to steal it from you."

Harry still felt a bit uneasy about this but he knew it was for the best, at least the basilisk hide will be used to make robes that can keep him and his friends safe. The hat heard his thoughts and smiled knowing that at least in some way the basilisk would be protecting the students

This has been split into two chapters, I wanted to get this chapter out today since it's my birthday. I hope you all enjoyed reading it and hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon.

I have talked with my beta and we have thought about possibly giving Harry a snake (magical or not) in later chapters, I would like to hear from the readers about what they think. Should Harry be given a snake and if so what kind of snake should he be given, please leave a review or send a PM.

Please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.