Salazar's now no longer quite so secret halls soon stretch out before us in their greenish glowing splendor.
Hagrid and Rouvenia were obviously here before us and are lingering foolishly close to Echidna in front of Slytherin's statue head – while the Queen of Snakes, as so often, goes into a blood frenzy when faced with fresh, living food.
"Tom, finally," Rouvenia calls out as Harper and I approach the two of them. "We thought we couldn't get past the iron gate without you. I remember the sounds for the sink, but the gate … It took ages to open it, I think Hagrid and I were whispering too much at the beginning. How do you say it again?"
"Hésha cassynhe chassáh sehshé," I repeat, almost a little amused at the thought of the two of them – petite Rouvenia, huge Hagrid – cursing between stalactites.
She puts her hands on her hips, puffs out her cheeks and then slowly lets the air out again. "Hagrid? You'll remember that, right?"
"Yes, I … I'll try …"
"I'm wearing a crown now, son of Slytherin," I hear Echidna hiss.
Harper flinches at her mere whisper, but I soon circle Echidna's huge head out of bizarre interest. For a moment there, she even lets go of her dead sheep …
"A crown." What a strange sight. Next to the basilisk's massive body, Rouvenia and Hagrid look like the most unlikely duo under the sun, but the two of them proudly point at Echidna's head. "What the hell," I eventually grumble as I inspect the unusual tiara they've put on. Beads and necklaces, very oversized blinders …
"This way Echidna doesn't have to keep closing her eyes," Hagrid eagerly explains.
"And we don't have to fear for our lives every time she moves because we accidentally look at each other," Rouvenia adds.
"Couldn't that look any more tacky?" I frown, stepping back to take in the whole picture to finally shake my head. "Harper, look at that …"
"I'm almost ready," she claims, her breathing unsteady now that I notice it. "I just have to get over it …"
"Come on, she won't hurt you," I say, waving Harper over to me until she finally starts moving.
Swallowing, she looks up and meekly shrugs. "I think it's gorgeous!"
"Gorgeous?" I roll my eyes and sigh. "And you all call me crazy …"
"Is it worthy of me?" Echidna asks. "The crown?"
I let my hand slide over her cold head and then assure her, "What could ever be worthy of you, Echidna – but it's … close …"
"Don't act like it's not brilliant," Rouvenia demands. "Practical and beautiful, too."
"Beautiful, yes," I retort, refraining from saying anything more.
"The end justifies the means, don't you always claim that yourself?" she asks, patting Echidna on the head.
"I just have to get used to it, I guess …"
Rouvenia all but nods, still visibly proud of this solution.
The basilisk squirms to suddenly release the dead sheep in her midst as she's sliding underneath my hand to whisper, "Did you bring the mudblood to me, son of Slytherin?"
"Harper?" I look back to her and reach out my hand. When she grabs it ever so reluctantly, I pull her into my arms to then guide her hand over Echidna's cool body.
"Two mudbloods?" Echidna promptly hisses in confusion. "I don't smell a difference from the other one and the half-giant."
"What does she say?" Harper asks, still visibly anxious.
"Everything's fine," I assure her. "Echidna, the other one is a pureblood, the boy a half-blood."
"Their blood smells just like that of the mudblood … Only you and Nagini are different. How can that be?"
"You can only tell Nagini and me apart from the others?" I ask.
"Yes …"
"Interesting." I raise a brow. "So blood really doesn't matter."
"What are you talking about?" Harper keeps asking, Rouvenia and Hagrid also look at me with quite some expectation.
"She can't tell a difference in any of your blood's smells," I inform them. Winking at Harper I add, "She assumed you'd smell differently …"
She pouts at once. "Because I'm mud?"
"Slytherin raised her, it's not her fault …"
"Well, Nagini and you did a pretty good job, too," Rouvenia finds. "She was really cooperative. I was a bit worried earlier, but she did exactly what you told her to do."
"She grabbed the sheep and didn't even threaten us when we put the crown on her head," Hagrid adds as though it were just another really exciting class of Care of Magical Creatures.
The fact that Harper's blood doesn't smell any different, however, seems to puzzle Echidna still, and while she's beginning to digest it, Rouvenia nods to Hagrid, clapping her hands.
"Our work is done here, Ruby, up we go!"
"Why would you leave me alone with them?" Harper immediately asks, but Rouvenia just giggles while passing us with Hagrid.
"There are more hungry creatures in the castle – we still have to feed an Acromantula – so excuse us."
When the two are out of earshot, I look at Harper in mock-reproach. "You don't want to be alone with us?" I shake my head dismissively. "I'm hurt."
"Nothing personal," she claims, forcing herself to smile as she points to Echidna, completely coiled up by now. "But she doesn't seem too keen on having me around … You said it yourself – she was raised to eat witches like me …"
I can't help but notice Harper's goosebumps as Echidna breaks a few more bones of her sheep with but a jerk.
"I'm here," I let Harper know, as if it were a promise. She's hesitant, but as I embrace her, her muscles become less tense in no time.
"She's not eating you, see?"
Harper chuckles before pointing to Slytherin's head behind us. "Have you ever climbed up there?"
"Climbed up?" I let my hand dissolve into black smoke. "Why would we climb?"
With a grin, she becomes smoke, too. Green, as the catacombs shimmer, soon intertwined in my black, as we roam through the secret halls at far too much speed. Harper's laughter in my ears is my heaven before her hand falls into mine when we finally come to a stop on Slytherin in stone form.
"It all looks even more symmetrical from up here," Harper realizes right before sitting down.
I do the same, well amused when she flinches because Echidna starts whispering below us.
"You once said in your half-sleep that she could sing. Was that true?"
"You want to hear her voice?" I ask and immediately look at Harper. "You have to sing."
Her face is priceless. "I … No. What?"
"Sing. She wants to hear you sing … Rowena used to sing to her when she was down here as well."
Harper's eyes widen in disbelief. "Rowena? Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"Apparently." I nod. "According to Echidna, Salazar brought her with him occasionally."
"You mean Slytherin and Ravenclaw, a thousand years ago, down here? With Echidna, like the two of us right now?"
"Ancient gossip," I hum. "Can't get rid of it, obviously …"
Harper's in awe, and slightly overwhelmed. "That is completely insane …"
"Anyway, Rowena sang. And that's exactly what Echidna has been missing for centuries. So if you'd be so kind, Harper May – show us that you're not part of the choir for nothing."
"But what should I sing?"
"Whatever you want." I pull a book out of my cloak, leaning against the rock wall behind us. "Be a little creative," I urge her as I start reading.
"Is that occult magic again?" Harper scolds me when she looks at the book title. "Tom, we haven't even –"
"Perhaps Nagini's curse can be broken somehow," I stop her. "I'm just reading up on it."
"She doesn't sing!" Echidna hardly ever fails at making her presence known.
I promptly inform Harper, "Your audience is getting a tad impatient …"
"This is so odd," she sighs, lying down on her back to stare up into the darkness of the caves. "Well then."
She clears her throat, then she begins to singOh! You Crazy Moonby Bea Wain – and the acoustics of the catacombs have probably never been more appropriate …
"It was just a night like this when it happened,
I was such an unsuspecting soul.
And I couldn't quite believe when it happened,
'Til it got beyond control…"
Even on the statue, we feel the ground vibrating as Echidna moves to come closer, seemingly interested now.
"When they met, the way they smiled,
I saw that I was through,
Oh, you crazy moon, what did you do?"
I put my book down for a moment and look in front of the pool directly below Slytherin – where Echidna has curled up and is resting her head on her body.
"Then when they kissed,
They tried to say that it was all in fun,
Oh, you crazy moon, look what you've done …"
"Adorable, Sully," I tease Harper after her last note fades away. I point to the motionless Echidna. "You hypnotized my basilisk …"
"Your basilisk?" Harper laughs out loud. "Didn't we say we were working on the megalomania?"
"I never actively agreed to that," I claim, seemingly disinterested, but when she turns to me and shakes her head in amusement, I can no longer suppress a grin.
She doesn't see how Echidna suddenly, and quietly, rears up to stare at us behind her.
"Don't be scared now," I whisper to Harper and laugh as soon as she freezes.
"What? Is that her … breath on my neck?"
I smirk, and nod.
"Oh, my goodness, Echidna!" she whimpers, clutching her heart. "Why are you doing this?"
It's a strange sound as huge scales slide along Slytherin's head, but finally Echidna lays her head down right in front of us, hissing, "The mudblood may sing more often …"
"You'll be booked again," I translate for Harper. "At least your voice."
"Oh, good." Harper beams and then bites her lip before carefully standing up to swallow her fear. She inches closer to Echidna and takes a seat right in front of her head again, soon patting her somewhat awkwardly.
"Maybe we'll be friends after all," she mumbles.
"She likes you," I tell Echidna. "You two snakes are quite a match …"
"I can literally tell from your face that that was something mean," Harper chuckles while I saintly wave it off.
"Oh, Echidna," Harper sighs, almost exhausted, "the last few centuries must have been terrible for you … Hunger, loneliness … But Tom is looking after you now, with Rouvenia and Hagrid. And I'll come and visit you, too, if you don't feel like cleansing the school of me …"
"I won't translate that," I decide. "Too melodramatic …"
Echidna seems to sense what's going through Harper's head anyway – they remain like that in silent agreement for a few more moments, but then Slytherin's alleged monster ducks away and completely submerges in the long moat on the left.
"How deep is it on the side?" Harper asks.
"Deep enough," I say laconically while reading on.
"And how deep is the pool directly below us? Here in the middle, between the two trenches? Are they connected?"
"Huh?" I look up at her wearily and put my book down for good. "The one in front of Slytherin's head? It's quite deep, too. Salazar's rest of the body is below the waterline, according to Echidna … The trenches are all connected below the platform, with underground entrances to tunnel systems on each cave wall."
"Incredible," she whispers. "And how poisonous is it?"
My skepticism gives way to horror. "Harper, you don't consider touching the water, do you?"
"I've already been in the water," she reminds me. "When I couldn't believe that you were tainting my diary with dark magic –"
"Tainting? I wanted to put a part of my soul into the book you gave me, that was –"
"Am I supposed to find that romantic?" She shakes her head impatiently. "Forget it, Romeo, that was –" She pauses, straining to read my face. "Goodness, you're not even lying … You actually thought it was a good idea!"
"Anyway," I move back to her plans, "we're not jumping into that water."
"Why not?"
"What? No! Absolutely not."
"Tell me," she insists. "How poisonous is it?"
"Not at all," I admit, shaking my head, nonetheless, "no more poisonous than the Black Lake, at least because the chamber is constantly fed from it, but –"
"Half-rotten prey probably swims in it?"
"No, she never leaves dead things in the water," I hear myself say.
Harper's face is so treacherous as she stands up and pulls me along. "Then what are we waiting for? Look how clear it is! How dark it is down there!"
I actually take a step forward with her to look into the depths, but I can think of so much better things to do than get wet now.
"Yes, how very nice – over my dead body," I grumble. "Don't let me stop you, though, yet I –"
But she's already jumping.
And I am jumping with her because she has my hand in hers, and as so often, she won't let go.
Before I can be surprised or outraged even, ice-cold, crystal-clear water is surrounding us.
The height we jumped from makes us dive in much deeper than expected, with nothing but dark green and a myriad of rising air bubbles around us – until Harper pulls out her wand, illuminating the underworld with a silent Lumos Maxima.
The bright ray of light sways with her hand movements, dancing up and down along the ancient rocks of the catacombs.
Nothing but profound darkness beneath us, we can't see the ground –we float through the water like foreign bodies in black space of the universe.
Slytherin's long robe and even his medallion, skillfully carved in stone, are directly behind us, the platform adjacent to the pool directly above and tunnel openings become visible on all sides, protected by the water.
Harper shines her light on both of us for a moment there, probably so she can make sure that I'm as fascinated by that sight as her. And I admit – the underwater area of the chamber, hidden until now, is unexpectedly impressive.
A sight to behold, reserved to scarcely a soul since centuries …
In the distance I notice a movement, so I point to the other end of the flooded halls for Harper. She lets her wand, and thus the light, wander through the water to where we soon see Echidna's mighty body gliding into one of the tunnels from afar.
Then Harper looks at me again, pointing upwards with the light.
We need air – indeed.
"Unbelievable," she calls out in awe as soon as we reach the glittering surface. "Come on, let's dive deeper down!"
Before I know it, she does just that, eagerly swimming towards the bottom of the chamber – and I along with her.
The pressure on our bodies, however, prevents us from going too much deeper than before. The temperature drops noticeably the further into the darkness we go, and her wand soon illuminates the outlines of skeletons and skulls in the distance. She probably hoped to find a treasure – but above all, death reigns down here. In shocked amusement she backs away, taking my hand to swim up again – gasping as we reach the surface.
"A little grotesque, isn't it?" she finds, short of breath.
"Enchanting aesthetics would not fit the infamous Chamber of Secrets."
"Isn't it insane," she proceeds as we swim in place just to float, "that Slytherin's locket is carved into stone on his statue down there and yet right now, at this very moment in time, it's hanging around your neck?"
She glides towards me to once again examine the very artifact.
"You know what?" It crosses my mind a little too late. "We probably just destroyed an ancient note. Slytherin kept the incantation and details on the ritual in the locket. Until now …"
Her eyes widen. "You didn't have the information from … you know who?"
"Only some details, but it wouldn't have been enough," I confirm. "Dumbledore can blame it all on Gellert, though, he doesn't need to know anything about connections to Slytherin and the Gaunts."
"But the prophecy," she reminds me. "Dumbledore is highly intelligent. If back in the days the whole world believed the child who'd one day bring down Gellert was a descendant of Slytherin, he will have an idea of who and what you are."
"We'll see, I guess." I grin. "Especially since I'm going to show up with venom of a basilisk …"
"And to hell with that ancient note," she sighs, clinging to me with a smile. "You almost went crazy because of it …"
"Almost?" I repeat. "Perhaps I very much am, more so than you realize."
"But at least with all of your heart and soul," she chuckles, looking straight at me, right into me. "And I'm glad about that because I love you with all of my soul …"
Although we haven't been underwater for a moment, I can hardly catch my breath – her euphoria is infectious. Her sincerity, that transparency …
The bright light from her wand still reflects the shimmering water that now, because of us, fluctuates into every corner of the deserted catacombs, all around us gleaming like dancing stars.
"Look how beautiful the reflection is," Harper hums as soon as she's glancing around.
"Like you," I hear myself say – and I do not look around. What I wish to see is right in front of me.
Her wet lips curve into a smile before she pulls me along until we reach the oval edge underneath Salazar Slytherin's head. The basin is gradually becoming less steep, running up to the platform. There are no stairs in the catacombs – only gradients …
"When I found you up on the astronomy tower," Harper whispers to me as we pause, still well covered by water. The stone beneath us feels cold, just like the chilling air on our backs. I lean all over her and nod for her to go on. "I would've loved to stay there with you, Tom, but you weren't yourself. Not like now …"
"Also it was true – someone could've seen us," I repeat her concerns.
"As in the dungeons, unlike here." With blushing cheeks and both her hands, she gently shoves my wet hair back away from my face. As her glance lowers to my mouth, she draws me closer in most innocent intuition.
Her soft lips on mine align my universe. I can't help but kiss her, intoxicated with the sudden certainty that I'm no longer alone nor lost.
The stone floor beneath her skin must be much too cold, I turn to shift her up onto my lap. Her fingertips soon wander over my collarbone, and after surviving my own personal hell, it feels so different, so much better again.
Finally I feel the serenity she conjures up within me again, competing with the fact that she's all I want right now.
I feel her warm breath on my skin, every touch, her every movement – and blissful peace spreading through me.
I'm precisely where I want to be.
Right where I went through hell, might there also be a piece of heaven?
"How could you not want to feel that anymore," she asks, breathless and pouting, before she lets me lean into another kiss.
"In immediate retrospect," I admit, my voice coarse already as I bury my hands in her dripping hair, "it doesn't make that much sense."
I feel her heartbeat like my own, committed to our rhythm when I let my hands hover over the wet white fabric on her skin until she tries to catch her breath – hardly unbearable.
"Riddle, I'm glad you didn't die during the new moon ritual."
I soon help her to undo the top buttons of her blouse.
"I'm flattered," I claim as she grabs my medallion to put it down on the edge of the pool behind us, the sound of metal clacking on the floor echoing in our ears.
"Some things are probably truly worth living for," I admit, inclining my head with an expression of feigned gravity.
"With all your senses?" she whispers, already sliding her arms around my neck.
With my hands on her waist, I clutch tightly. "All of them."