Hey everybody, did you miss me? So grateful to all of you who are following along on this journey into the unknown with me. This next chapter is here and I honestly hope you are still enjoying reading.

As always Rated M for many, many reasons and if you like that sort of thing then come on in. If not, I won't be offended if you have to scroll away. For those who remain then please, do please, enjoy and Review.

Chapter Six

Tomorrow we were heading home, tonight was the last night in the Castle and I was going to spend it sneaking into the Chamber of Secrets with Draco Malfoy. I had been waiting for him for ten minutes and when he showed up he was like a little first year practically bouncing on the spot.

"Alright Granger, lets go." I shook my head at his enthusiasm and just turned to the sink and whispered out my command. Surprisingly it opened up without an issue, the tunnel was like a big black hole and I just jumped in knowing it would be ok at the bottom.

"Granger, what the hell?" Hearing him yell after me made me smile and laugh slightly as I slid down into the cavern below. I could hear him coming behind me and as he landed at the bottom I was leaning against the wall.

"Couldn't you have asked for stairs, this is vintage." He waved his wand and cleaned his coat as I rolled my eyes at him slightly and made my way through the tunnel and down toward the Chamber. I noticed there was no skin of the Basilisk left that Harry had told me about.

"This is amazing, the entire place had been kept a secret all these years." I nodded my head at him as we rounded the final corner and met a large iron door with snakes all around it.

"Hashathashe..." I could see him from the corner of my eye looking impressed at me before a loud clanking echoed across the cavern and a large iron snake slithered around the door and it popped open.

"Cool." I just shook my head at him before pulling it open fully before heading into the room. Upon seeing the now skeletal remains of the Basilisk I couldn't help but think back to how small and tiny a little second year Harry was.

"Holy Shit! Look at the size of that thing..."Walking closer and closer just reiterated the sheer size of it, once I got closer to it I noticed it hadn't decomposed by itself, someone had picked it clean.

"The corpse has been rendered, looks like Uncle Severus has been here, he is the only Potions Master I know who could do it so cleanly. He really is an artist." I didn't say anything to him but knew Draco loved Potions, he was also quite talented at it too.

"This place is incredible, Blaise would kill to see it. " I walked up to the mouth and whipped out my dragonhide gloves. I figured I would take as many as I could, I had Transfigured large mason jars from small Potions vials and made them unbreakable.

Setting all ten up in a row I carefully extracted twenty fangs and kept two in a jar. If Draco was curious as to what I wasdoing he didn't voice it and instead took to looking around the chamber.

I was only five minutes into it before I heard a loud click and a piece of the stone floor at the bottom of that ghastly statue popped open. Draco looked immediately guilty before holding his hands up in front of him in a defensive strategy.

"What did you do?" He just shook his head at me and I stood to walk closer to the opening,there was a large chest sitting in the crevice.

"Well go on then lift it out." He looked at me and cocked his head to the side I rolled my eyes at him.

"Considering he hated muggleborns and I can feel my skin crawl just being in here I think you should touch it first oh pure one." He laughed at me slightly and it still felt off to be able to sit and joke with him now, considering how much we hated each other before.

His chest puffed up in that moment and I rolled my eyes as he popped open the top of the chest, it was large enough, about half the size of a school trunk. Inside there was books, gold, jewels all manner of things.

On top of it lay a parchment which was very heavily magically preserved.

To whomever has found this chest, I know my time in Hogwarts is coming to an end. Godric grows fouler everyday. He does not understand why we need to keep the magic of Hogwarts sacred. Already there are rumours of witches and wizards being hung, burned and our new students being cast aside or drowned by their families for being witches.

We are opening our school up to the non magical and as such exposing our magics to the non magical world. I am going to have to leave, Godric has became paranoid and sullen at my views and somehow I am being branded a bigot.

I do not hate the non magical world, I do have a healthy amount of fear of it. As the non magicals get stronger and adapt throughout the years we will be exposed and I can guarantee the magical world will not adapt as fast nor as well.

This chest contains all of my own creations to strengthen the magical world, Godric would not listen. Perhaps a different generation of Gryffindor and Slytherins canchangethings but for now I must say goodbye to my home and my family.

Keep it safe and do better than we did. Also please look after Sashetha and her eggs, when they hatch the spells to render their vision safe in in the green bindings.

All my love Salazar.

I'm not sure who was more in awe right now, this had all belonged to Salazar Fucking Slytherin. Knowledge of his which had been hidden for over a thousand years. It was incredible, so many books, parchments and tomes which had been lost thoroughout history and magically preserved.

"Who in the name of bloody Merlin is Sashetha?" I looked back toward the Basilisk and it dawned on him before he looked down silently into the cravice and a large smile echoed in his festures.

"Granger, do you want a new pet?" I followed his line of sight and there in front of me was two eggs, they were smaller than dragon eggs but were glittering green and red in colour.

"Slytherin and Gryffindor colours, I always wanted an exotic pet." I shook my head at him and he looked oh so serious in that moment.

"Draco, no. We cannot raise Basilisks." He lifted out the notebook Salazar told us about and opened the page with the information on it.

"They will be perfectly safe, they won't hurt anyone. Come on Granger imagine riding into battle on your very own Basilisk." I shook my head in amusement at him before realising we had more important things to do right this very second.

"Grab them and place them in here, we will figure it out later. Ideally we would turn them over to the authorities but considering we know who is going to be in charge soon I dont think that would be a good idea. Lets go." I handed him my schoolbag and he placed the eggs into the chest wrapped up and then managed to fit it as gently as he could and swung it over his shoulder.

With one last look around the Chamber we made our way out of the room and back up towards the entrance again. I created a large staircase for us to climb up and I could tell Draco was grateful this time around.

It took us a good five minutes but we made it to the top again and once I had the sinks closed he was holding onto that bag for dear life.

"I owe you Granger, thank you for taking me down there. It was incredible and I am forever in your debt." I waved off and held my hand out for the bag he had in his hand.

"When you see your mother tomorrow don't tell her it's me your meeting? Just tell her you have a friend that you want her to meet. Make up some pompous pureblooded shit and if we tell her together she will take it better." He rolled his eyes at me before handing me my schoolbag and hugged me.

"Thank you Granger! For everything. We can do this you know, this won't turn out the same this time. We will have a future. I promise, I'm just glad I am not alone." I nodded my head at him and hugged him back.

"I won't let him do it to you Draco, your mother won't suffer the same fate, I promise." He nodded his head and took a, step back from me and smiled, for once it was genuine.

"Of all people I saved that day Granger, I am glad it was you. I'm so sorry for all that I said and did to you." I nodded and held onto his arm before he left the bathroom and went left and I walked out and turned right. Again if I had paid enough attention to my surroundings I would have noticed an invisable presence but my own idiocy didn't think to check.

I spent the rest of the night packing up my trunk taking extra care with the extras I picked up from the Room of Requirement and the Chamber. There was no one in my dorm so I was left to my own devices to pack and it was so much easier that way.

I was also grateful for the quiet because I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that I would see my parents again. I would have to lose them again also, I knew in my heart of hearts it was the right thing but it didn't make things any easier.

I had finished packing relatively early and decided to crawl into bed for a early night, it was still odd to me being back here again as a student. It would be even stranger next year, I know the more I change things the less future knowledge I will have but the results if I didn't would be catastrophic.

Tomorrow would be when the real time begins, I only had one Summer to try and find all of the horcruxes and I only had an idea or where half of them were and I needed to convince one of my old enemies to help me. All in a days work I suppose.

-/-/-/-/-/-

SS

What the hell did I just witness? When I heard the screeches of that bloody ghost of how the sinks had opened up I had thought Potter was up to no good but the boy was in the Great Hall talking to Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley when I left.

Deciding to sit and wait to see exactly whom was rule breaking and even who was the one to find out about this place. Someone else was a secret Parseltongue in the school, according to Albus it was the only way to get into the Chamber was via parseltongue.

Of all people to witness coming up from that hole, Hermione Granger. I was, ready to tear her to stripes when Draco Malfoy appeared behind her and I honestly think I had a mini stroke. It was the only way I could account for why I couldn't move.

A, what the fuck does Granger think she was doing? B, why is Draco with her? C, what in the, under fuck did she do to the boy to make him hug her? Hearing the muggleborn command the sink closed I think shook me most of all.

Two students in this school who could not be more different, could not hate each other less and would suffer the most if it was anyone else who saw them together. Draco had always bat for the other team, after catching him and Blaise Zabini in a liplock and witnessingg the extreme tension the blonde boy had with Potter I know for a fact he wasn't shagging the girl.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they were together. I caught myself on eventually after they left and ran out after my godson, I think it is time we had a chat. I had managed to catch up to him just before he had walked into the Slytherin Common room.

"Mr Malfoy, a word please." He seemed surprised to see me and yet didn't say anything. He just nodded at me and followed me through the Potions classroom to reach my private quarters. As soon as the door closed I turned around to him and tried to penetrate his mind.

Narcissa had no doubt instilled some good Occlumency Shields inside of him but I tore down his barrier and I could only catch snippits of things. Him hugging Granger, seeing the dead skeleton in the Chamber, talking in the library and even the two of them in what looked like a fight. A beam of light came running at him and he pushed her down onto the ground just as the beam hit her.

I was pushed out so quickly and I met the blazing pissed off eyes of my godson. He started pacing and running his hands through his hair in a way I wasn't entirely prepared for, I hadn't seen him so unhinged.

"What the fuck Uncle? Why did you do that?" I shook my head and held my wand in my hand to which he eyed warily for a second.

"Why would you be sneaking into the Chamber of Secrets with Hermione fucking Granger? Do you have any idea the position you are in right now, do you have any idea how forfeit your life would be if it was found out." I could see the boy looked panicked for a split second before his usual arrogant mask slipped straight back onto his festures the same way I had seen Narcissa do.

"That is none of your business Uncle? Are we done?" He went to walk away and I held tightly onto his arm to keep him in place but not enough to hurt him.

"Draco, you are lucky I don't go to the Headmaster with this. What are you thinking? Ever since your father's arrest people are looking to you, especially in Slytherin. If you are caught cavorting with that girl I won't be able to protect you." He smiled up at me and held onto my arm, there was only two people whom were permitted to touch me in this way. His mother and Minerva but seeing him do it right now was rather unnerving.

" I know you have my best interests at heart, can you just trust that I know what I am doing? I have a mission to do and the less you know the better. A storm is coming Uncle and we better be ready for it. Come to dinner on Saturday, mother would love to see you." I didn't say anything but I reluctantly let him go and he walked away without a backward glance.

It was like there was pieces of the puzzle missing and I couldn't complete it, Draco spending time with her would get them both killed but perhaps there is something I wasn't aware of, some reason why he was spending time with the girl.

Had the Dark Lord given him a mission already or had Bellatrix been in touch with her Nephew to keep an eye on the muggleborn witch. Was she in danger? It wouldn't do for harm to befall her. Or, was there an even more far fetched reason... Draco Malfoy wasn't gay as I had previously thought and was actually sleeping with the girl.

Then there was her, speaking parselmouth the diction wasn't perfect and she was hesitant but she spoke it, how? Never before had I been so confused about a student before. Why was she meeting with Narcissa? I had so many more questions than before and I just wanted to dive into her head and figure her out.

I couldn't stop the crackle of my magic as it seeped from my core, the anger, confusion and worries pouring from inside of me was threatening to erupt. I hated not knowing something and these two supposed, enemies were buddying up and hatching some form of scheme that was more than likely to get them killed.

Yet I couldn't bring myself to tell Albus what was going on, there was a large part of me that didn't trust what the man was going to do with the information once he had it. He wasn't a man that was, entirely forthcoming with people.

Slamming up my Occlumency Shields and taking a few calming breaths helped immensely. I took a glass of Firewhiskey and took off my outer robes, I hated the end of the year at any other time but knowimg what kind of summer I had ahead of me was filling me with even more dread. Only time would tell what way things were going to go.

-/-/-/-/-/-

HG

Arriving back at the Platform felt bittersweet, I had been trying to work my brain up to seeing my mum and dad again. When I had erased their memories before it was with the knowledge I might never see them again. Now to only have them for a short period of time and then have to say goodbye to them again is heartbreaking.

Ron was excited about getting home, Harry not so much. As much as I tried to keep my demeanour jolly, with everything looming this Summer it would be very busy and not altogether pleasant.

As I gathered my things and made my way from the train, bid a quick farewell to the Weasleys before Harry came with me to the other side of the portal to where my family were standing.

"Write to me this Summer Hermione, you are coming to Sirius's trial next week aren't you?" I nodded my head at him and he gave me a hug before going off to his own less enthusiastic relatives. I couldn't stop myself and ran to hug my mum and dad.

"Alright Sweetie! We missed you." I was filled with so much comfort from my mother's arms around me. It took every ounce of self control not to cry into her shoulder.

They ushered me to the car and we spent the whole car ride home talking about school, boys much to my dads embarrassment and how my exams went.

I really did have the best parents, they were so supportive when Professor McGonagall came to tell me I was a witch. They encouraged knowledge and before I left for my first year I told them both I was going to be the best in my year and make them proud.

Every year I could tell they didn't have a clue what I was talking about half the time but when I told them all about it they took it in their stride and never once treated me any different. I would always be grateful to them both.

I hadn't realised how difficult this was going to be so at ten pm that night I removed myself their memories and at six am all of their belongings were packed away, their new identities were ready and waiting and they left for the airport believing I was the new tenant of their home.

It was so much more difficult the second time around but thankfully they were safe and everything was sorted to keep them that way.

Two days into my summer holidays and I had recieved word from Amelia Bones having tested my magic I wasn't surprised to see the trace was broken on my wand. Casting a few glamours was my best bet and so instead of the Usual brown mass of curls and brown eyes I was a carbon copy of Draco Malfoy.

Sharper cheekbones, icy blue eyes that made me look like a child of Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy. Deciding to meet in the Muggle world was actually her idea so at 1pm I stood outside a cafe in the middle of London.

She was bang on time and as she walked toward me in a business suit I could see how formidable she was. Upon seeing me she stopped dead in her tracks and was shocked for a, second before coming to stand in front of me.

"During our correspondence you never told me your name." I nodded at her and just held my hand out for her to shake. It had caught her by surprise but she was polite and shook my own back.

"I know, I guess I didn't want to reveal too much until I knew I could trust you. Until I knew you were the right woman for the job." We walked onto the cafe and took our seats before ordering.

"You said you had proof of Sirius Blacks innocence and that my life was in danger." I nodded and handed her two vials of memories aswell as a piece of parchment of godfathers. She would have to do her own digging but from what I can see it was clear he couldn't have hurt the Potters thst night.

"Voldemorts followers deem you a threat now that Fudge has been sent packing. Rumour has it you are next in line to be the new Minsiter of Magic." Our coffees arrived and as she added her sugar she, looked me uo and down in mistrust.

"You are a, stranger, how, can I trust you aren't working for him?" I pushed my sleeves up my arms and let her see my unblemished skin.

"I'm a muggleborn witch, you have no reason to fear me." She, seemed satisfied for now and I honestly was glad she hadn't cursed me and threw me into a holding cell at the Ministry.

"Look, what kind of wards do you have on your home? Do you have another property perhaps, maybe add another layer of wards to it. The Fidelius and make someone only you trust the secret keeper, reach out to Nymphadora Tonks and I can guarantee you Alastor Moody will have a few tricks up his sleeve. " She shook her head at me in amazement before nodding her head at me in thanks.

"There is going to be a war Madam Bones, we are going to need every wand available to kill him, once and for all." She didnt say anything else to me but nodded her head in understanding.

"Will you tell me your name now?" I shook my head at her and took another swig of my coffee, she, seemed disappointed but understood why I didn't tell her who I was.

"Think of me as a friend. This is for you, its a Portkey, one for you and one for Susan. Keep them on you at all times and at any signs of trouble it will bring you somewhere safe." It was a gamble giving her them keyed to my home but it means if the shit hits the fan she would be safe.

"All Portkeys must go through the Ministry, they have to be sanctioned." Again I smiled at her and realised this woman was going to have to learn to break the rules slightly.

"There is going to be a war, the Minsitry is corrupted at such a deep level, I could guarantee I could throw a stone and hit ten Death Eaters with it. Soon your going to have to pick a side, I only hope you chose the right one." I stood up and bid her farewell, I warned her, the ball was in her court.

That is that, next chapter should be up soonish, I know better than go promise anything. Please Review and tell your friends.