Harry did notice a benefit from all of his studying to try and uncover what was the cause for the students in Hogwarts petrification over the last few months. He was learning faster than before, by using his time in Lockhart's class to read more books that he'd gotten from the library instead of paying attention to the other wizard's dramatic retelling of his adventures. He'd started learning spells that he was sure the teachers weren't going to get to for the next couple of years.
"Depulso, Accio," Harry said as he was practicing the banishment and summoning charms in his room. He had already fallen in love with having a room this large to himself since it allowed him to practice and so long as he kept things quiet he didn't have to worry about disturbing Gindrey who was right below him.
He'd been at this for so long simply to get the spell down to the point he could fire them off repeatedly that he'd worked up a considerable amount of sweat that he just knew that he needed a shower before he went out to meet up with Luna, they weren't going to do more research, instead Harry wanted to introduce her to Hagrid.
Stepping out of the boys dorms with a towel and change of clothes Harry was making his way through when he bumped into someone. "Oh sorry, hey Hermione how are things?" Harry asked because the girl had been giving him the cold shoulder lately, and she just seemed to be getting more and more irritated with everything. He was hopeful that he could get her to come around and if he managed that then surely it could accomplish that with the rest of the school.
Hermione just looked at him before going red in the face and turning on the spot to leave the common room.
Letting out a sigh, Harry just didn't know what to do about this problem.
After cleaning up Harry met with the blonde girl on the lawn to go to Hagrids, but while it was a nice conversation where the witch was asking the half-giant about Thestrals the door opened and three people walked in. One Harry knew as the headmaster, he was pretty impossible to forget, the other was the witch he was pretty sure had been Dracaena's mother and the last he'd never encountered before.
"Ah children," Albus said as he hadn't expected that Hagrid would be entertaining any guests this evening. In any other case he would assume it to be unfortunate timing but it seemed that at every turn of this investigation everything kept coming back to Harry Potter.
"Headmaster," Harry nodded his head before looking at the second witch that came with the professor. "I'm sorry ma'am I haven't met you before, so I don't know your name."
"Ah, quite alright mesir. I am Cordelia Fudge, the Minister of Magic," the woman introduced while giving the customary kiss on the knuckles to the young wizard.
"Harry Potter, and this is Luna Lovegood," Harry motioned to himself and his nervous companion. She shakily nodded her head before moving to stand behind Harry, it was quite intimidating to be suddenly confronted with this many adults of high prestige. "Might I ask the reason for this visit? We were just in the middle of a discussion with Hagrid about some magical creatures before you arrived."
Albus slowly nodded his head. "It's alright my dear boy, but unfortunately this is not a friendly house call, Ruby… another student has been attacked, I'm sorry but the Ministry has issued a warrant. I hope that you understand that it will be easier to come quietly."
"Wait someone was attacked? Who?" Harry questioned just when this went down. If it was just moments ago then Hagrid had an alibi
"An hour ago, a young girl by the name of Hermione Granger was found in a hallway petrified," Albus informed the child as this wasn't exactly privileged information as the Hogwarts rumor mill was certain to be spreading that the moment someone inevitably went to the Hospital Wing for a routine check up.
"But we were with Hagrid this whole time," Harry said in defense of the silent half-giant. "She couldn't have gone and done it."
Albus wanted to tell Harry that given the circumstances that just being with someone was not proof against them being the culprit but it was Lucinda who spoke up first. "Given this… woman's prior history, I could say that we are thankful that this hasn't resulted in any deaths unlike Ms. Warren. But I don't recall the beast that was used ever being found after all these years."
Harry was left in shock, this had happened before and it was apparently Hagrid that had done it. Albus ushered the children out of the hut so that Ruby could be arrested though he assured the woman he'd have a strong legal defense ready for her. "Oh don't think that you are simply immune to this Headmaster, the board of governors had convened and we are suspending you for the time being. You've been protecting her from the consequences of her actions long enough that they want a top down review of if the castle is being run the best that it can."
Looking down his nose at the witch Albus knew that this had been her plan to get him out of Hogwarts so that he could not prevent whatever was about to happen. "I understand, the children's safety must come first," Albus responded to the veiled threat.
Watching them all walk away Harry was left with more questions than answers but he was given clues.
Turning to Luna, Harry looked at her with a small grin, "Did you know that someone had died in the past?"
The blonde shook her head because this wasn't anything she had come across and she had checked the history books related to the school to find out if there was a clue that Salazar may have left for someone to find.
"Well that explains why we haven't been able to find a spell that's done all this, a creature did, and who is Ms. Warren?" Harry wondered because now they had narrowed the search but at the cost of time.
Of course once word got around that Hermione Granger had been petrified then most of the castle didn't really know what to make of that, but it was the witches in Gryffindor that understood the threat. Hermione had been quite nasty to Harry Potter recently and now she was in the hospital wing.
Harry slumped into his chair in the library, it had been three weeks since that event and he wasn't getting any closer. His look through the books on magical creatures that could petrify someone had brought him down to two culprits, a gorgon and a catoblepas. Considering he doubted that no one would notice a giant bull roaming the castle breathing noxious fumes that turned everything to stone and that there would be no reason for a cursed witch who lived over a thousand years ago to be hanging around a Scottish castle for nearly a year, he concluded that this was a dead end.
"I found something," Luna excitedly said as she came over with her own book. "Well I didn't find something, that's how I know I found it."
Raising an eyebrow before taking the text Harry noticed that the page she was on. "Boomslang?… wait," pausing as he noticed that a page was torn out of the book, flipping back he could tell that this was listed alphabetically but someone had taken a page out of the book on some creature. "What came before this?"
"I don't know but it's the only book I found recently that was damaged like this," Luna stated because this was the first sign of abnormality and could be done by the culprit covering their tracks.
"That's good though," Harry said as he started flipping through the pages and that was when he noticed a pattern, turning to the cover he read the title. "Most Macabre Monstrosities."
Harry sat and pondered for a few moments before coming up with a way to get more information. "Luna, I'm going to try that spell Dracaena used in the dueling club, the one that summoned a snake. I promise that I'm only going to talk to it and you will not be in any danger."
Nodding her head with a smile. "It's okay Harry, I trust you."
Pulling out his wand Harry aimed it at the table. "Serpensortia."
A diamondback rattlesnake landed on the table and began to vibrate its tail angrily. "Excuse me," Harry spoke to the summoned creature. "I'd like to ask you a few questions, I was hoping that you'd be willing to talk."
The snake turned towards the speaker. "I was wondering what you might know about magical snakes."
"Speaker wants to know, I know not, I am now here."
Humming because this didn't tell him all that much in case snakes just inherently knew what he wanted, but as he used the snake vanishing charm that he looked up after the dueling club because it was something taught in the fourth year. Harry just shrugged. "Please tell me you could hear the snake?"
Luna sadly shook her head. "I could only hear you hissing, I'm sorry."
"Well at least now we know it's some kind of snake I was hearing," running his hand through his hair as to why he heard voices just before the attacks happened.
But that didn't tell him what snake it was that could turn people to stone.
"Should we go look at the victims, maybe there was a clue, if it bit them we could maybe figure out what snake it is by the size of the bites right?" Luna suggested as she turned to a page on runespoors. "If it was this snake then they would have more than two bite marks."
"That's brilliant Luna," Harry smiled as he and the girl went off to the hospital wing.
Standing around the bodies Harry was just saddened by how long they've been turned to stone, "Colleen is only in her first year, how is she going to make up all that work," Harry stated as he moved over to the latest victim, Hermione.
So far nothing was standing out to him, she was frozen looking at something and probably saw the attacker coming before she was petrified.
Looking into her eyes in the hopes that he could see some evidence of life still in them he noticed that Hermione wasn't looking forward. Kneeling down Harry moved his head next to Hermione's and tried to approximate where she had her gaze and it looked instead like she was staring at her hand. "Why would she be doing that?"
Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw something clutched in Hermione's hand. Taking a look around to see that Madam Pomfrey had gone off to check on something, Harry quickly stuck a finger into Hermione's clenched fist, with a bit of effort he pushed out what she was holding onto.
"This… would be the missing page," Harry said as he unwrinkled it to read what it said.
"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."
"But they've been turned to stone, not killed," Harry said as he reread the passage until Luna tapped the back of it.
"Pipes?" reading the scrawled word on it. "What does that… wait, pipes, it's not in the walls, it's in the pipes behind those walls, that's how it's been getting around," Harry surmised that it was using these to traverse the school.
"That doesn't explain how no one has died yet though?" Luna questioned before Harry looked to see that a mirror was sitting on the table next to Hermione. Moving around the wizard picked it up and found that it fit perfectly into Hermione's hand that she was stuck looking at.
"A reflection," Harry realized. "Yes, Colleen would have seen it through her camera, Justine saw it through Nearly-Headless Nick, but Nick got it full blast, but he's already dead so it didn't do anything more than stun him. Penelope was looking at her compact when it came up behind her."
"What about Mrs. Norris?" Luna inquired because that seemed to be a pattern but if it truly was a Class XXXXX creature roaming the school she wanted to be certain.
"The hallway she was found in, I slipped on some water in that hallway before the feast," Harry answered. "I thought it was because Peeves played a prank but what if, what if all that water was because it was coming out of a pipe."
"Well there is a bathroom on that hallway, the second floor bathroom is called Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom," Luna explained since that was something other girls had talked about.
"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" Harry asked, because he never heard of this student.
"She's… oh she's someone who died a few decades ago and her ghost has been haunting that bathroom since then," Luna clapped because it seemed so obvious in hindsight.
"I'm going to guess that she's Ms. Warren then," Harry hummed because he suspected there weren't too many students who died in the castle. "If she's a ghost maybe she'll be willing to tell us what she knows."
As the pair left the hospital wing, they heard voices as they came down a hallway. "Oh this is dreadful," the voice of Professor McGonagall said.
"Are we certain that he's not simply hiding," the sound of Professor Flitwick's voice carried over to them.
"No, Mr. Weasley is nowhere to be seen, all the other wizards in the castle are accounted for. We will have to close the school, the ministry will have our heads that a wizard has been taken," Minerva spoke sadly before Harry heard the sound of footsteps heading away from them.
Poking his head around the corner to see what the professors were discussing and Harry saw new writing on the wall. "His body will lie in the chamber forever," Harry read before connecting that when Professor McGonagal said Mr. Weasley they were talking about Gindrey, whoever was doing this had taken him to the Chamber of Secrets.
Luna was shivering because she was fine with helping an investigation but she thought they were at the end of it now? "Come on, we need to go to Moaning Myrtle right away Luna," Harry said confidently as the little witch followed behind nervously.
Entering into the bathroom Harry was looking around the room before he found a head sticking out of a toilet. "Hello, my name is Harry Potter," Harry introduced himself to the witch who was staring at him curiously. "Are you Myrtle Warren?"
"I am?" the ghost answered as she floated up out of the pipe, it was not often that someone was brave enough to use her bathroom, let alone a wizard.
"That's great, Ms. Warren, the school is in trouble and so is a student, and you might be the only one who can help us save them both," Harry pointed to Luna down the way who meekly waved at the specter.
"Really? Is this some sort of prank?" Moaning Myrtle frowned because wizards wouldn't be nice to a ghost, especially one of a witch like her.
"No," Harry quickly shook his head. "I swear, we've been investigating the Chamber of Secrets and we think we figured out almost everything. But Dumbledore isn't in the castle anymore and a student was taken into the chamber so we don't have time."
"Do you mean it?" Myrtle hummed.
"It was a basilisk, you saw a basilisk, it came out of a pipe and that's what killed you. It wasn't Hagrid," Harry stated confidently.
Myrtle nodded her head because she hadn't told anyone what she saw, and it was looking at something that would kill her and a basilisk did fit the bill. "That's true, I was crying in the stall because of Olive Hornby, she was being so mean to me and then I heard someone come in. Just like a few hours ago actually, both times."
Myrtle floated forward past the two living magicals and came to the sinks, "boys were by this sink before I'd hear a hiss and then they'd be gone a minute later."
Harry ran over to the sinks and then brushed his hand on a brass emblem of a snake. "A button or… hissing," Harry realized as he looked at the symbol before hissing open at it and slowly the floor split open.
"Come on Luna," Harry waved and turned to see the blonde witch just staring petrified in fear at the dark hole in the floor.
"I- I can't," Luna squeaked because she didn't want to go in the hole with the monster. What if it got her, what would happen to Mama Xeno is someone from the school had to come and tell her she died, her mama barely survived losing Papa Par and Mama Pan. She couldn't leave her mama all alone.
Harry sighed and slowly came over. "I understand Luna, you don't have to go in, I won't make you. You have been an amazing help and a wonderful friend this year and I could not have made it this far without you."
Reaching up to rest a palm on her cheek, she leaned into the touch. "But you don't have to go in either Harry?" Luna reached up and tried to think of a way to get Harry to just let the adults handle this.
"I do, Gindrey is down there. He's alone and scared," Pulling the girl into a hug for a few seconds before pushing her back towards the door out of the bathroom. "I promise I'll do everything I can to bring him back."
Luna whimpered as she watched Harry jump down the hole as the sinks moved back into place. Tears stinging at her eyes because the most amazing person in the world that she knew might just be going to his death and she was too afraid to do anything but let him go. She was a coward, she felt horrible because her one and only friend in the castle might not be alive tomorrow.
She felt stinging in her eyes as the tears flowed. "I can't let him die, I love him," Luna said as she couldn't imagine surviving Hogwarts now without Harry Potter. Sprinting out of the room she quickly started to think of a plan. She wasn't brave enough to help Harry but this Tonks woman, a witch who graduated and was becoming an auror, she was brave. She was confident, she had become Harry Potter's one and only, his High Priestess, she would know what to do.
Rushing past a group of prefects who shouted at her for being out after curfew, Luna made it out of the castle and saw her destination, the Owlry.
Plodding up the stairs, Luna fell to the floor gasping for air. "Hedwig," she called out because everyone recognized Harry Potter's gorgeous snowy owl. "Hedwig please, you have to get Tonks, Harry is in danger. Please understand me, get Tonks and bring her here."
Luna watched as the owl stared down at her for a few moments before with a loud shriek she winged out of the tower into the distance.
The little witch just hoped Tonks would get to the school in time.
Nymphadora was sitting in the bullpen late at night while Mad-Eye was in Madam Bones office, they were nearing the end of the training program and while she had a few stumbles along the way she thought at the very least her tenacity would be enough to make up for those mistakes. But Mad-Eye was a task master at the best of times, and maybe he really wasn't impressed with her and was giving his report that this was a lost cause.
Her hands trembled in anticipation about what the result would be when she heard flapping before a white ball of feathers slammed into her desk. "Hedwig?" Tonks questioned as she looked at the bird to see if Harry had sent her with another gift or letter but the owl had nothing she was just hopping around the desk frantically while squawking angrily.
"Is something wrong?" Tonks asked because Hedwig hadn't ever acted like this before.
The owl bobbed her head in response.
"Is it Harry, is it at Hogwarts?" Tonks gulped because last year was them stopping You-Know-Who from coming back to life. And with the information blackout Mad-Eye strictly kept her under since that test in Siberia she had no news about what was going on in the castle.
Hedwig shrieked loudly and grabbed onto her sleeve and started to pull. "Okay, okay let me… let me get help," Tonks said as she hurried to the bosses door and found it was locked. "Oh I am so getting kicked out for this."
Tonks cringed as she stepped back before charging through the door and slamming it open.
"Miss Tonks," Madam Bones stood up furiously at the intrusion.
"We don't have time, you can yell at me later, we have to go to Hogwarts now!" Tonks shouted as she took a few breathes before running out of the office and towards a floo. "Three Broomsticks."
Mad-Eye and Amelia shared a look because despite the extreme conditions that Alastor had been subjecting this trainee to, she had done damn good. But now she was acting like a lunatic. Which told them something might actually be up, Amelia had word from the minister that Albus was removed from the school and Hagrid had been arrested because some students had been attacked. Cordelia had said she had it under control with the help of Lucinda Malfoy but she had a feeling it wasn't quite over.
"Well let's treat this as her final test, a proper field test," Alastor decided as he clomped after the girl who was putting her future as an auror on the line.
Alastor was trudging along as they approached the gates of Hogwarts. With his enchanted eye he could see his trainee stymied by the wards. "Move aside," Alastor said as he lifted his cane and smacked it against the barrier.
There was a noticeable gonging sound from this strike and a few moments later the gates started to part. "Albus told me the trick to opening the wards in case the castle ever fell under the control of someone else," Alastor said with a grin as they all entered and began to make their way up the path to the castle.
They came upon a scene of a little blonde girl arguing with the professors. "Ahem," Amelia cleared her throat to draw attention to her party. "Minerva, Filius, what seems to be the problem?"
"I don't recall requesting the presence of aurors," Minerva questioned although she was not opposed to the help, a student was confirmed missing and after a head count Mister Potter was no accounted for either.
Luna broke off from the group and ran up to them. "Are you Tonks?" Luna asked the pretty witch with the pink hair.
Giving a nod, Tonks noticed how relieved that seemed to make this girl she hadn't met. "You have to come with me, Harry's going to die if he doesn't get help," Luna said as she grabbed onto Tonks and started to pull.
"WHAT!?" Tonks shouted and then followed closely as the rest of the adults were on their heels.
"We did it, we found the Chamber of Secrets," Luna said as she was leading them through the castle. "Harry and I figured it all out, where it was, how students were being petrified and what was doing it."
"What is it?" Minerva questioned, because they were still gathering information themselves.
"A basilisk," Luna said as they came up to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "It's what killed Myrtle Warren, a wizard back then was controlling it, and I think he's back and is using Gindrey Weasley somehow, but Harry went in to save Gindrey."
"And," Luna said before she started to sob. "I let him go in alone, I was too scared to follow him and all I could do was go get help."
"Shh," Tonks said as she gently rubbed the girl's back. "How'd he get in?"
Luna pointed at the exact sink. "He hissed at it in parseltongue, he probably said open and the sinks moved. The basilisk was using the pipes and people were only seeing the reflection so no one died, but I don't think Harry has a mirror and if he's petrified down there won't it just eat him."
"That's quite a tale," Alastor stated as he looked at the sinks. "Unfortunately we don't have a parselmouth to get us in there."
"Oh um, Harry summoned a snake and talked to it, maybe you could get it to open it if you could talk to it," Luna pointed out that might work because she'd been trying to think of a plan to get into the chamber now that Harry wasn't there to open it for her.
"That could work," Amelia nodded and summoned an adder before putting it under the imperious and ordering it to speak at the sink.
"Merlin's beard, it worked," Filius said in awe that all these years the fabled room was here this whole time.
"Alright," Tonks said as she smiled at the clever girl. "You did a great job getting us this far. You go right to Madam Pomfrey and tell her to get the Hospital Wing ready, we got a doozy this time."
"But what about Harry?" Luna gulped as the adults were already heading down the hole.
"I promise I'll get him back, I can't let anything happen to my warlock after all," Tonks ruffled the little girl's hair before jumping into the slide.
Coming to the end of the slide, Tonks rolled on the filthy ground. "Oh gross," she gagged at seeing all the carcasses of bugs and vermin strewn about.
"Suck it up," Alastor snapped. "Remember the training you went through in April, this is nothing."
"Right," Tonks nodded as she lit her wand and moved with the group as they ventured into the underground cave system.
"Mister Potter came down here alone?" Filius commented because it was dark and claustrophobic and he was raised a goblin, and the knowledge that a basilisk was down there with them meant that he was constantly on the lookout for signs of the snake.
"Oh bugger," Minerva suddenly swore as they came upon the shed skin of the beast. "It has got to be sixty feet, no larger than that."
"We gotta move," Tonks said as she walked ahead of the group, she needed to get to Harry now, get him out of here and let a trained team handle the situation. It would take twenty, maybe thirty people to put this beast down, not one courageous twelve year old.
"I don't think he got this far, the door is shut?" Filius ran his hand over the massive metal door. He was hopeful that Harry just got lost in the cavern and hadn't continued on past this point.
"If he didn't then why didn't we find him?" Amelia said more realistically. Harry Potter had already beaten them to the punch on going down here so why wouldn't he already be in further danger.
"We're not going to find out standing out here," Tonks said as she got herself ready. "Alright it's a basilisk, reptile, so susceptible to cold, but it's huge so it's dangerous just getting close to you, then there's the stare, have to blind it first, and don't let it bite you. It has pits in the face to sense heat so it can find you that way."
"Not bad analysis, except you overlooked one thing, the basilisk has a unique weakness: it can be killed by the crowing of a rooster," Alastor pointed out.
"Right," Tonks hung her head sadly that she didn't think of that first.
Minerva transfigured some dead rats into roosters. "Filius once that door opens we'll send in the birds, you cast the sunlight charm to make them crow and then we'll go in after them."
Filius agreed that this was probably the safest route and Amelia conjured another snake while Alastor put it under the imperious to open the door. The birds rushed in and started screeching but as it opened all the way, they could see on the other end of the chamber the beast was already dead, a pool of blood on the floor around its head.
"Harry?!" Tonks screamed as she watched Harry trudging over to a body on the floor with some wizard standing over him taunting. The unknown wizard looked at the group before smirking.
"It can't be," Minerva gasped because she remembered that face from so many years ago.
Suddenly the light burst out of the wizard's chest and he screamed. Hurrying over, to see what was going on they watched Harry repeatedly stab a black leather book that began to bleed ink. With a groan Harry looked up with unfocused eyes. "Nym," Harry weakly said before he flopped onto the floor.
Tonks knelt to his body and could see the blackened veins. "He was bit," Tonks looked up horrified at the implication, the venom had no cure.
Minerva covered her mouth because it was a terrible outcome that a student sacrificed themselves to save another, but everyone looked up at hearing the cawing above them as Fawkes gently landed on Harry's chest.
The phoenix leaned over and blinked a few tears into the wound. "The Tears of Life," Amelia said in amazement that they were witness to another incredibly rare aspect of magic. Phoenix Tears were said to be able to cure all poisons, heal any injury and rumored to even bring back those who had recently died but that a phoenix only would cry for those who were pure of heart.
Harry sucked in a breath as the magic worked through his body. "How," Harry gulped before sitting up. "Nym, you really are here?" Harry said as he reached up to caress her cheek.
"Yeah," Nymphadora wiped a few tears that had started to build up in his eyes.
"That's good," Harry slowly started to close his eyes. "At least if you weren't then it would mean my last thought was about how beautiful you are."
Nymphadora sniffled before pecking Harry on the lips. "Get some rest Harry, let me take care of the rest."
"Isn't he twelve?" Amelia questioned the scene in front of her.
"Mister Potter is Miss Tonks' warlock, has been confirmed since Christmas in his first year," Minerva informed the witch so she didn't think there was anything inappropriate going on.
"So young?" Amelia said in surprise.
"We were caught off guard of course but Mister Potter was quite relentless in his pursuit of Miss Tonks," Filius chuckled because it had been amusing to watch them interact and very cute as well.
"Huh, wish I had a wizard who showed as much interest in me when I was a student," Amelia commented.
"Don't we all," Minerva agreed with that statement, Miss Tonks was quite lucky in that regard, but in her mind it wasn't hard to see why Mister Potter would covet her, she was quite an exceptional witch.
"Alright, enough gawking," Alastor said as he moved around. "Tonks get the boys up the Hospital Wing, we'll handle the crime scene."
Nymphadora nodded as she slowly stood Harry up before levitating the Weasley boy and leading them out of the chamber while the others started examining the book, the basilisk and the chamber.