Chapter 35

The great hall was slowly filling with more and more students as breakfast continued, Harry and Hermione quietly ate as they both still felt embarrassed. They had both fallen asleep on the sofa the night before while reading, when Harry began to wake up, he had accidentally woken up Hermione and the two looked at each other seeing they had fallen asleep together. Hermione had snuggled up to Harry in her sleep and held onto him, the two friends became embarrassed as their faces turned red. They separated and after an awkward few seconds Harry suggested they head down to breakfast, now they were both silent not knowing what to say to the other.

Hermione could immediately tell something was up with her two friends, Fay and Sally-Anne had already been in the great hall when they arrived, both girls wore wide smiles as they greeted her. They definitely saw them on the sofa together and Hermione knew she wasn't going to hear the end of it, luckily the awkward silence vanished as the rest of their friends arrived for breakfast.

The two friends finished their breakfast and got up to leave, any hope Harry had of a peaceful morning came to an end as soon as they got up. Susan and Hannah had walked up to the two and told them they needed to talk in the dueling room. Once the group of four arrived in the dueling room they saw Daphne and Tracey were there waiting for them.

Daphne was the first to speak, "Harry, could you explain to us what exactly happened? We were still searching for the name of the heir but then we were told you found the chamber and killed a basilisk and stopped the heir."

Now that Harry thought about it, he realized so much happened in the last few days, he found Tom's name and spoke to Hagrid then went into the forest then found the chamber, he hasn't gotten a chance to talk to the rest of his friends. Harry realized they deserve to know the truth, he looked at his friends and said, "I'll explain everything, but can we bring everyone here, I don't want to have to repeat this multiple times, they should know the truth too."

They could see Harry was serious, Tracey left to go find Blaise and Lilian. Hannah left to find Neville and Ron, Harry even told her to bring Fay and Sally-Anne too. Luckily breakfast had just ended so it wasn't too hard to find all of them, it wasn't long before they were all brought to the dueling room. Luna ended up following the group and joining them in the dueling room, when asked why she was here she said she wanted to hear what Harry would say.

Harry saw there were now four Slytherins, one Ravenclaw, two Hufflepuffs, and six Gryffindors counting himself. "That's everyone, so what did you need to tell us?" Daphne was the one to ask.

Harry explained from the beginning, "Early in the week I had found the name of the heir in Hogwarts: A History. He was a student that had received an award for special services to the school, I remember Malfoy admitted to us that the heir framed someone else for the attacks, the award was for capturing the person attacking students. The part that caught my attention the most was seeing his name; his full name was Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Susan immediately recognized the name, "Marvolo was one of the Gaunts."

Harry nodded, "The student he had framed was Hagrid." Those that didn't know looked surprised at that, "We spoke to Hagrid, he explained that Tom accused him because he had a pet acromantula. His acromantula is still living in the forbidden forest in a colony of acromantula. Neville and Ron joined me when we went to go speak to him at night."

Everyone was stunned at that before Blaise said, "Are you bloody insane Potter, don't you know how dangerous an acromantula is!?"

Before he could answer Susan practically screamed "There's a colony of acromantula in the forbidden forest!?"

Harry quickly explained, "Hagrid takes care of them, it's a colony made up of Aragog's children and he keeps them from leaving the nest and coming to the school."

"Just how many are there?" Hannah looked shaken at hearing there are acromantula so close to the school.

"He can answer that later," Daphne spoke up first, "I want to hear more about the heir, what happened when you spoke to the acromantula?"

As a Slytherin Daphne was focused on gathering information, Harry continued to explain, "Fang led us to Aragog and we asked him about Riddle, he still remembered the student that blinded him. Aragog explained that he could feel parseltongue magic around Riddle, when a speaker speaks parseltongue they activate the magic. Spiders are sensitive to this magic, he said Riddle had the serpent's tongue, that was when we knew Riddle was the heir. Aragog also knew the monster is a basilisk, but he refused to tell us, acromantula are terrified of basilisks and refuse to even speak its name since they say it's unnatural.

We escaped the acromantula and made it back to the castle, we were going to keep searching the library for information but then the basilisk attacked again. I didn't get the chance to speak to any of you. We were in the hospital wing when we heard there was another attack, Hermione then gave us the answer we were looking for."

Susan interrupted and asked "How, wasn't she petrified?"

Hermione decided to answer, "Just before we were petrified Fay and I talked about our dueling lessons, I talked about how reflecting a spell makes the spell weaker and it made me think about something. The basilisk can kill anyone who looks into its eyes, when I thought about reflections it made me wonder if looking at the reflection of a basilisk's eyes would weaken it enough to only petrify. We ran to the library and looked through the book that contained the basilisk, I remembered Mrs. Norris was found in a flooded corridor and nearby Justin was a shattered mirror, I believed they had seen its reflection and were petrified.

We found out from Malfoy that a student had been killed when the chamber was opened fifty years ago. I thought about how the first attack had happened outside of Myrtle's bathroom. Nearly headless Nick had mentioned before that Myrtle hadn't even been dead for a century, she looked young enough to have died as a student, that made me believe she was the one who died fifty years ago. I also thought about when Harry heard that voice, we believed it was parseltongue and he heard it through the walls, the corridor outside the bathroom was flooded and that's where the first attack happened, I realized then that it was traveling through the pipes.

I wrote this down on the page and ripped it out of the book, I went to go find Harry to tell him but that's when Fay and I were petrified. I held the page in my hand, no one had noticed it there until Harry found it and realized what the monster is and where he could find the chamber."

Everyone looked surprised by that, Fay nodded along remembering how they saw the basilisk reflected on Hermione's bracelet. Harry continued the explanation, "We heard that Ginny had been taken into the chamber, now that we knew where the entrance was, we rushed there to find her. Lockhart had overheard us and followed us, he intended to obliviate us and take the credit, but he ended up causing the tunnel to collapse. I decided to go and get Ginny while Neville and Ron moved the rubble while waiting for the professors. I found Ginny in the chamber but she wasn't alone, Tom Riddle was there."

"How is that possible?" Daphne asked, "Are you sure it was him?"

Harry nodded, "Ginny was possessed all year by a diary given to her by Lucius Malfoy, Tom Riddle said a part of himself was attached to the diary. He used the diary to make a shade of himself and he was going to use the diary to drain Ginny's life in order to recreate his body. Riddle intended to release the basilisk into the school once he regained a younger body, he explained a lot to me including who he really is. Riddle said his mother was Merope Gaunt, but he also went by a different name, he said his name was Voldemort."

Harry saw his friends flinch when he said the name, many of their eyes widened as they stared in shock at what they just heard, the only one who didn't flinch was Hermione since he already told her who Tom Riddle was. Daphne was the first to speak up, "Harry… are you saying that the heir of Slytherin is You-Know-Who, that you fought him again?"

Harry expected them to react like this, he nodded and said "Yeah, V-… Riddle showed me that rearranging his name spells out that name, he used a spell to write fiery letters in the air."

"Flagrate," Daphne said, "That sounds like the spell flagrate, it's not that difficult to cast."

"Can you show me how to cast it?" Harry asked.

Daphne showed Harry the wand movement and after a few tries he was able to cast the spell. Harry used the spell to write Tom's full name in front of everyone, he rearranged the letters and heard a few gasps when it spelled out, I am lord Voldemort. There was no denying it now, Voldemort had been at the school and he was trying to recreate a body so he could return. Harry explained the fight but left out any details about his wandless magic, he saw their shocked expressions when he mentioned the basilisk's eyes having no effect on him and surviving the basilisk venom.

Everyone was silent when Harry finished explaining everything, they were all stunned, many had looks of concern on their faces. The silence was broken when Blaise said "Bloody hell Potter, I can't believe it. You managed to kill a basilisk and fought You-Know-Who again, how the fuck are you still alive?"

Harry just shrugged, "A lot of dumb luck I guess, I thought I was going to die but I just got lucky and survived."

No one really found that response funny, they couldn't believe Harry had gone through so much in such a short amount of time. Once everyone had managed to calm down that's when the questions began, Harry explained to Susan that he explained a lot of this to her aunt, Susan nodded and thought about talking to her aunt. Harry made sure to explain everything the sorting hat told him about the basilisk, they were surprised to hear that Slytherin wanted her to protect the school.

Lilian ended up asking "What's going to happen to the basilisk's corpse?"

Harry explained "Flitwick is taking me to Gringotts tomorrow so I can speak to the goblins, I'm going to hire them to harvest the basilisk for me. Since I'm the one that killed it then it means I'm the one who can claim it."

Daphne looked surprised by that before Susan asked "Harry, Did Riddle say who his father is? I haven't heard of the family Riddle before." It was easier to call him Riddle now that they know his name.

"He said he was named after his father; he created his new name because he didn't want to be known by the name of his muggle father."

Susan looked surprised as she thought about the name, she repeated Riddle to herself until her eyes lit up in recognition, "Morfin was arrested for killing a family of muggles, I remember seeing they had the name Riddle." Susan looked like she was deep in thought as she asked herself "Did Morfin kill them because his sister ended up with a muggle?"

Harry shook his head and said, "Riddle said he killed his father's family, he had found Morfin and it led him to his father."

"So Morfin was innocent. My aunt had found a report about Morfin, he was always heard hissing but a few times he was heard muttering something about losing a ring and dirty blood." With everything they just learned it's clear he had been talking about Riddle.

Their thoughts were interrupted when Blaise suddenly burst out laughing, everyone turned to him as he continued to laugh. Blaise managed to stop laughing long enough to say "Wait, so you're telling me that the dark lord who everyone feared, the same one who gained a lot of pure blood followers, is actually the half blood son of a muggle!"

Blaise laughed again before managing to say "Potter, please, you have to let me tell my mother! I want to see the look on her face when she finds out she's been admiring and praising the son of a muggle all these years!"

"You can't," Daphne said before Harry could, "We can't let Riddle's supporters find out about this, it might end up hurting Riddle but a lot of his followers would use this to their advantage. People like Malfoy have talked about how dangerous it is to let those related to muggles enter the magical world, they would use this to make things harder for muggleborns and half-bloods."

Blaise managed to get his laughter under control before saying "Yeah, I know. As much as I wish I could see her reaction, I know it'll just cause more trouble."

By this point most of them had sat down after learning so much information, Daphne turned to Harry and said "Harry, thanks for telling us the truth, it's for the best we don't tell anyone else so it doesn't get out."

Harry nodded, "I haven't told anyone else; I told all of you the truth about Riddle last year so I thought I should tell you what happened this year."

Daphne nodded, "It's shocking to learn he tried to recreate his body, do you know what kind of dark artifact the diary was?"

Harry shook his head, "The aurors didn't know and the sorting hat wasn't sure what it could be, all I know is it possessed Ginny and nearly created a younger body for Voldemort. He mentioned something about his older self, but it was hard to understand him because of the venom."

Daphne sighed, "Alright, at least it's all over now. Next time let us know if anything is happening, I… we worried when we heard about you fighting the heir and the basilisk."

Harry gave a nervous smile and said, "Sorry about that, I'll make sure to inform all of you if something happens."

Blaise stood up and said "Alright, that was a lot of information to learn. We're glad to see you're doing alright, Potter, we'll see you around."

Blaise left the dueling room with Lilian following closely behind, soon everyone else started leaving. Harry sat down on the sofa and took a deep breath, at least he explained everything to his friends already, hopefully no one else will bombard him with questions.

Harry saw the last two people in the room with him were Hermione and Daphne, Daphne turned to Harry and said "Harry, I did need to talk to you about something, it's about Malfoy."

Harry sat up and asked, "What happened, did he do anything?"

Daphne shook her head, "That's not it, he confronted me after I helped you and I lied to him and said I'm using you for my own benefit. I got him and the rest of Slytherin to believe the only reason I'm friends with you is to get information that'll benefit me, it's not too uncommon for Slytherins to gain the trust of someone to get what they want then betray them afterwards."

The two Gryffindors looked surprised, Hermione asked "What do you plan to do?"

"Malfoy will likely demand I give him information about you, I told him to sod off but he's likely to get others involved. That could cause me some trouble in Slytherin so I'll need to give him some information." Daphne looked directly at Harry and said, "I won't tell Malfoy anything important, if he and some Slytherins demand information from me then I'll tell them things that seem important but aren't."

Daphne waited for Harry's reaction, he smiled and said "Sure, if you need anything to tell him then we can discuss what we can tell him so he'll leave you alone, thanks for letting me know."

Daphne was glad to see Harry wasn't upset with her, she smiled and said, "Thanks Harry, I'll make sure Malfoy doesn't learn anything important and I'll let you know if I learn anything."

Harry nodded, "Sure thing Daphne, I know I can trust you."

Daphne's cheeks pinkened slightly at his words, Hermione stiffened a bit when she noticed. "I did have one more question," Daphne decided to ask, "What are you going to do when the goblins harvest the basilisk?"

Harry remembered what the hat said and answered, "I'll save the hide so it can be made into battle robes later, the hat said the ingredients are rare and valuable, I'll ask my account manager to sell them for me."

Daphne thought about that and said, "I was hoping I could as you for a favor, it's a bit selfish but I was hoping you could ask the goblins to inform my father first about the ingredients they're selling."

"How come?"

"My father is always looking for rare and valuable ingredients, I know he'll want to buy ingredients from a basilisk so I'm hoping you could ask the goblins to let my father see the ingredients first."

Harry didn't think it was much of a selfish request, he said "Sure, I'll speak to my account manager tomorrow and let him know."

Daphne gave a bright smile at that and thanked Harry, she left to go write a letter to her father.

Harry and Hermione were finally alone in the dueling room, they were glad that their friends now knew the truth so they wouldn't need to keep explaining things. Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "Since we don't have classes today can you start teaching me wandless magic?"

Harry did promise to start teaching her so he said sure, the two got up and pulled out their wands, Harry started off by saying "We'll start off with you casting lumos since it's a simple spell. You'll need to practice casting the same spell many times before you can cast it wandlessly, the reason you need to practice it multiple times is because it allows your magic to become familiar with that spell. Once you feel the spell is easy to cast then that's when you work on silent casting, you'll need to stop saying the incantation and focus on making your magic cast the same spell, the wand movement makes it easier to cast but it'll still take some time. The hardest part will be when you need to stop using the wand movement, your magic will recognize the spell you're trying to cast, that's when you command your magic to cast it without the wand movement or incantation."

Hermione nodded looking interested, Hogwarts teaches students about silent casting in their later years but she'll be practicing it now. Harry told her "I want you to try casting the spell without your wand, this'll make it easier to understand why it's difficult."

Hermione nodded and raised her hand; she repeated the incantation and wand movement a few times but she wasn't able to cast the spell. Hermione turned to Harry and said "It's a lot more difficult to try to cast without a wand."

Harry nodded, "A wand creates a connection with your magic and makes it easier to cast a spell, this is why a lot of wizards feel it's easier to rely on their wand. By the time Hogwarts teaches students about silent casting we're already familiar with the spells we cast so it's not too difficult to learnt to cast silently. When you're able to cast silently and without the wand movement it means you formed a stronger connection with your magic, that's when you can begin to learn how to cast wandlessly."

Harry wandlessly cast lumos and controlled how bright he wanted the spell, Hermione looked amazed to see him cast wandlessly like that. Harry summoned the journal so Hermione could review Lily's notes in case he hadn't explained it properly, Hermione started practicing the spell and found it difficult to attempt to cast silently, she could see it would be some time before she succeeded.

Hermione began practicing and Harry decided to contact Hedwig through their bond, he realized he needs to inform his account manager that he would be visiting tomorrow. Harry grabbed a parchment and quill and wrote a quick letter to Barchoke, he explained he fought and killed a basilisk and gave his estimate of how big the basilisk appeared, he wrote that he wanted to speak to him about hiring the goblins to harvest the basilisk and asked for a meeting. He hoped Barchoke wouldn't be upset about the short notice, once he was finished and Hedwig arrived, he attached the letter to her leg and Hedwig took off.

Harry spent the rest of the day helping Hermione with silent casting, when they took a break from casting Hermione took the time to properly read the journal, she was fascinated by the information Lily wrote and wanted to learn from her.

The next day at breakfast Harry received a letter from Gringotts, thankfully his account manager agreed to the meeting and Harry could head there any time after breakfast. Harry knew it wasn't good to waste a goblin's time so as soon as he finished his breakfast he made his way to Flitwick's office, Hermione couldn't go with him so she made her way to the dueling room to continue to practice.

Harry arrived at Flitwick's office and greeted the short professor, "Good morning, Professor Flitwick."

Flitwick turned to face Harry and smiled, "Good morning, Mr. Potter."

Harry handed him the letter to read, Flitwick quickly scanned it and said "I have already gotten permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to escort you to Gringotts, are you ready to go?"

Harry nodded and the two approached the fireplace, Flitwick explained to Harry how the floo worked and told him to say the leaky cauldron before throwing down the floo powder, he told him to keep his eyes closed and try to walk forward after throwing down the powder. Harry hoped this would be easier than when he used a portkey, he did as Flitwick instructed and called out the leaky cauldron clearly before throwing down the floo powder. In an instant Harry felt as though he was being sucked down a drain, he hadn't closed his eyes and saw a whirlwind of green fire, other places flashed before his eyes as he was being spun before he finally came to a stop. Harry forgot to walk forward and let out a yell as he was thrown out of the fireplace and fell face first to the floor.

Harry decided then and there that he hated all forms of magical travel, traveling by broom was the only decent one. Harry heard voices and stood up to find he was in the Leaky Cauldron; he heard the fireplace roar behind him as Flitwick stepped through without any trouble. Flitwick cast a quick charm to clean them before they entered the alley, Harry saw the alley wasn't as crowded since there weren't a bunch of students shopping. The two made their way to the bank, they approached a teller and informed them about Harry's meeting with his account manager, Flitwick decided to wait in the lobby while Harry was led to his account manager.

Harry sat in front of his account manager and saw Barchoke had a serious expression, Barchoke started off by saying "Harry, according to your letter you said you had killed a basilisk and now you want to hire the goblins to harvest it, is that correct?"

Harry nodded, "I was told to hire the goblins to harvest it for me."

Barchoke nodded but still held a serious expression, he said "Harry, would you mind showing me the memory of your fight? You estimated the basilisk to be around sixty feet long, I would like to see how you killed it."

Harry felt a bit worried about that, if he showed Barchoke the fight then he would see him using wandless magic, "What if there are parts of the fight I don't want to show?" He asked.

"I will be the only one who will view the memory, no one outside of this office will see it and I will not inform others about it."

Harry decided to trust his account manager, Barchoke brought out a device covered in what he assumed were runes. He pulled the memory out and placed it into the device, soon it started projecting the memory for the two to see. Harry watched as he fought the basilisk and Tom, Barchoke hadn't said a word and just paid close attention to the memory. The only time Barchoke reacted was when Harry pulled out the sword of Gryffindor from the hat, the goblin gasped when he saw Harry use the sword to kill the basilisk. The memory ended when Harry destroyed the diary and Fawkes healed his injury.

Harry retrieved the memory and Barchoke turned to him, "Harry… I am surprised by what I saw. To have killed such a creature at your age, that is unthinkable. I am glad to see you are different from other wizards, very few ever learn wandless magic but you're already able to cast such spells at such a young age. You have impressed me, Harry."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that, he felt a bit awkward by the praise but still thanked his account manager. Barchoke decided to bring up another topic, "Do you still have the sword of Gryffindor?"

Harry knew the goblins had been looking for the sword, he explained, "I left it with the headmaster, I thought it would be better to leave the sword with the school."

Barchoke shook his head, "The goblins have been looking for that sword for a long time now. From what I saw in your memory it seems Godric had tied the sword to the hat so it can be summoned by the hat at any time, this can even be seen as Godric passing the sword onto you."

Harry knew the goblins always wanted the items they crafted back after the one they sold it to dies, he decided to make an offer, "Since the sword has been passed down to me then I can continue the deal Godric had made, upon my death I can have the sword returned to the goblins."

Barchoke was glad Harry decided to make the offer, he accepted and Harry signed a quick contract Barchoke had prepared. Now that they were done talking about the sword, Barchoke decided to return to talking about the basilisk, "What would you like to do with the ingredients once the basilisk is harvested?"

Harry explained, "I would like to save the hide of the basilisk and have it made into battle robes for me and my friends, I would like for the hide to be kept safe for the time being until I'll need the robes. I would like to sell the rest of the ingredients, my friends helped me search for information on the heir and the basilisk and many were petrified by the basilisk, I would like to compensate those people as well. Would you be able to tell me how much I could make from selling the basilisk?"

Barchoke leaned back in his chair and thought about it, he then said "It depends on what you would like to do. It's possible for you to sell everything to the goblins now and receive the money right away, we'll take out the amount needed to hire a team of goblins to harvest the basilisk and you'll receive the rest. However, what I recommend is that you have the goblins sell the basilisk for you, I'll handle selling the basilisk and make sure we can get every last knut out of each ingredient, a small percentage will be taken from each sale but this will earn you the most money, at minimum you'd make around eight hundred thousand galleons."

Harry was stunned by the amount of money he heard, he remembered the sorting hat said the money could really help him so he nodded, "If you're recommending it then I'll accept, I'll be trusting you on this."

Barchoke smiled and said "Very well, I'll gather a team of goblins and they can begin harvesting tomorrow at the earliest. It's good that you decided to hire the goblins to harvest the basilisk, it's been rumored that a few items tend to go missing when the ministry harvests a creature."

Harry nodded at what he said, he then said "If possible, I would like for the money to first go to compensating those who were victims of the attacks and those who helped me."

"How many people and how much would you like to give them?"

Harry thought about it and explained that his friends had helped him search for information, he'd like for each of them to be given a thousand galleons. He said the names of Lee, Sally-Anne, Susan, Hannah, Luna, Daphne, Tracey, Lilian, and Blaise.

For the victims, Harry thought about how Hermione said she was still conscious while she was petrified, he wanted them each to receive five thousand galleons. He told his account manager that their names are Penny, Justin, Fay, Hermione, Fred, George, Percy, and Ginny. He also decided to include Filch since his cat had been the first victim, he also mentioned Hagrid since Tom had gotten him expelled. Nick and Myrtle were included and he would ask the ghosts if they want the money to be used on Hogwarts or given to any surviving family they still had.

Lastly, Harry mentioned those that had gone down into the chamber to help him, he thought it was fair to give them each five thousand galleons. He mentioned Ron, Neville, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Sinistra, and the runes professor he believed was name Babbling. Harry was tempted to leave Snape out of it but he decided to be fair, he also mentioned Amelia and the three aurors that were there to help them, and since Fawkes had helped, he also included Dumbledore as well.

Barchoke had written down all the names and looked over the list, he asked "Harry, are you sure about compensating them this much?"

Harry nodded, he thought it sounded fair and he wanted to help out the victims. He thought about everything Percy and Ron told him about Ginny, he asked "Barchoke, do the goblins know any good mind healers that would be able to help the victims? They were still conscious while they were petrified and one of them was being possessed for months."

Barchoke nodded, "Gringotts knows some mind healers who specialize in possessions, we can look for mind healers that can help them."

Harry was glad to hear that, "I'd like for Gringotts to send the victims a list of mind healers that will be able to help them, I'd also like to pay for their sessions to help them recover."

Barchoke could see Harry was wanting to help the victims recover, he nodded and said "Very well, is there anything else?"

Harry didn't think there was anything else, he shook his head and said "That should be everything, I'd like for them to be compensated first then the rest can go into my family vault."

That last part made Barchoke think, he decided to say "Harry, I recommend you open a new vault and have the money from the basilisk put in there instead of your family vault."

"Why?"

"Your trust vault is meant to hold a certain amount of galleons, we can put the money in your family vault but you won't be able to access it until you turn seventeen. Opening a new vault for the money from the basilisk will mean you have full access to it."

Harry hadn't thought of that, he nodded and said "Alright, I'd like to open a new vault."

Barchoke nodded and had Harry sign a few papers to finish up everything. He informed Harry that a limit will be added to the vaults of those that are still underage, they'll be given full access to their vaults once they come of age but until then they can only withdraw twenty galleons a month, Harry thought that sounded fair and agreed.

Once they were finished up Harry remembered Daphne's request, he asked "Barchoke, would it be possible to allow Mr. Greengrass to see the ingredients first, he's the father of one of my friends and she said he'd want to know about any rare ingredients."

Barchoke didn't think it would be a problem, he agreed and Harry asked that they give Mr. Greengrass a good deal on the ingredients. Lastly, Harry thought about Malfoy and said he doesn't want any ingredients sold to anyone that was suspected of being a death eater in the past, Barchoke agreed and said it'll take some time but once they have the money, they'll send out the vault keys and letters to everyone.

The two shook hands and Harry thanked Barchoke for everything, the account manager said they'll show up at Hogwarts tomorrow at nine, they'll need him to open the chamber for them. Harry was escorted back to the lobby and found Flitwick waiting for him.

The two started to head back to the Leaky Cauldron but Harry suddenly remembered he needed to visit Ollivander, Ron's wand had been lost in the tunnels and was broken. Harry met the wand maker and explained what happened to Ron's wand, thankfully Ollivander was more than happy to visit Hogwarts again to deliver another wand. Harry thought of buying another wand holster to replace his damaged one, however Flitwick told him that wouldn't be necessary. The two left while Ollivander gathered a few wands, he told the two he would arrive at Hogwarts later.

Harry and Flitwick returned to Hogwarts, the floo travel was a bit easier this time but Harry still fell face first on the floor. He turned to his professor and said "Thank you for your help, professor."

Flitwick simply smiled and said "Think nothing of it, Mr. Potter. I will inform the headmaster of the goblins' arrival tomorrow, you should go and enjoy some much needed rest, we will continue our dueling lessons next week."

Harry thanked the professor and left to find his friends; Flitwick quickly made his way to the headmaster's office.

Harry arrived at the tower where he found Neville and Ron, he walked up to the two boys and Neville noticed him first. "Hey Harry, how did it go with your account manager?"

Harry sat with the two boys and explained, "The meeting went well and my account manager will handle the sale of the basilisk, a team of goblins will be arriving tomorrow after breakfast to head down into the chamber."

The two boys were surprised to hear that, Neville asked "So you'll be going back into the chamber that soon?"

Harry nodded, "The sorting hat said it would be a good idea to harvest the basilisk soon, that way everything is still fresh."

Ron simply shook his head and said "I wonder how long it'll take the goblins to harvest that thing, it was huge the last time I saw it and I can't even imagine how much it's worth."

Harry thought of telling them the share they'll receive but decided not to say a word, Barchoke said letters would be send out when they have the money ready so he wondered how his friends will react when they receive those letters. Their conversation was interrupted when Fred and George walked up to them, one of the twins spoke, "We couldn't help but overhear you, you're already planning on going back into the chamber?"

Harry looked at the twins and nodded, "The goblins want to harvest it while it's still fresh, they need me to open the chamber."

The twins looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation, they then turned to Harry and asked "Can we go with you to see the basilisk?"

That surprised the three boys, Harry asked "Why do you want to see it?"

"We were nearly killed by that thing, we'd be dead if it wasn't for Nick saving us, we want to see it just once to know what kind of monster was going around the school."

Harry thought it would probably be good closure for them since they were petrified by the basilisk, Harry thought about it before saying "Sure, you can join us tomorrow when they arrive to harvest the basilisk."

He wondered if maybe he should tell the professors first before inviting more people, he didn't think it'll cause too much trouble and it'll help the victims recover after seeing the basilisk is dead. The twins thanked him and left; Harry wondered if each of the petrified victims would want to see the basilisk dead before its harvested. He turned to Ron and Neville and asked "Would you guys want to go into the chamber to see the basilisk being harvested?"

Ron and Neville thought about it before both boys agreed to go, Harry decided to go speak to Percy and invite him too. Percy was surprised by what Harry told him but after a moment to think about it he decided to agree.

Harry didn't think the professors would be against him inviting others to see the basilisk, he decided to go find the other petrified victims and invite them to see the basilisk, he spotted Fay and Sally-Anne in the common room and made sure to invite them before leaving to find the other students.

Harry spotted a group of Hufflepuffs outside and noticed Justin was with the group, it was a bit awkward to approach them since Ernie and Wayne were with them, he did his best to ignore them and invited Justin to see the basilisk before it was harvested. Justin looked a bit surprised by the invite, he thought about it before deciding to agree. Ernie tried to speak to Harry but Harry's expression changed and he ignored the Hufflepuff and walked away.

Harry hadn't gotten far before he heard someone run up to him, he heard them call out "Harry!"

Harry stopped and turned to see it was Justin who ran up to him, the Hufflepuff boy seemed a bit nervous before taking a deep breath, "I wanted to say I'm sorry. I know my apology doesn't mean anything to you but I wanted to apologize for how I acted, I was a complete git for believing you were the heir. I didn't know a thing about you but I was quick to believe the worst of you, I know you probably hate me too but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I did."

Harry could see Justin was sincerely apologizing to him, his apology seemed different from the way everyone else kept apologizing. Harry took a deep breath and said "I forgive you."

Justin looked surprised by his words, he asked "What?"

"I understand that you were afraid since everyone said the monster was attacking muggleborns, at least you weren't one of the ones who kept trying to convince everyone I was the heir, I accept your apology and I forgive you."

Justin smiled at his words and said "Thanks Harry, I hope one day we can be friends."

The two went their separate ways and Harry went to go look for Penny, thankfully she was easily found in the library. She was with a few Ravenclaws and he recognized Luna as one of them, she was surrounded by several books and seemed to be taking plenty of notes. Harry walked up to the group and Luna was the first to spot him.

Harry greeted the Ravenclaws before asking what was going on, Luna explained, "Penny is trying to catch up on the months of studying she missed, she's going over everything she would have learnt and taking notes."

Harry looked surprised by that, he could see Ravenclaws took studying seriously. Harry got Penny's attention and said "Penny, I hired the goblins to come to Hogwarts to harvest the basilisk, since you were the first student petrified by it, I wanted to invite you to come down to the chamber to see it before they harvest it."

Hearing that stunned Penny, she asked "You'll be going down into the chamber?"

Harry nodded, "The goblins will arrive tomorrow after breakfast, I wanted to invite you so you could have some closure knowing the monster that petrified you is dead."

Penny thought it over for a moment before nodding, "Sure, thanks Harry."

Luna was quick to ask, "Can I go too, I really want to see the basilisk, can I join you?"

Harry was surprised by how excited Luna sounded, he didn't think there'd be a problem with her coming along so he agreed, "Sure, you can join us too."

Luna gave a bright smile and hugged Harry thanking him, some of the Ravenclaws around them started to ask if they could join too, Harry was quick to say no and said he couldn't invite more people.

Lastly Harry found Hermione in the dueling room, she was glad to see him and asked how it went with the goblins. Harry explained everything before asking Hermione if she wanted to see the basilisk in the chamber, Hermione agreed without hesitation, she's been curious about it ever since Harry explained everything that happened in the chamber.

The rest of the day passed without too much trouble, the twins had asked if they could bring Lee with them to see the chamber and he agreed. He was later approached by Susan and Hannah as well as Daphne and Tracey, the four girls heard that he was heading down into the chamber and they wanted to join. Harry didn't want to invite too many people, he agreed to let them join but decided not to invite anyone else, he didn't want the whole school wanting to head down into the chamber.

The rest of the day had been peaceful for Harry after that, the only other thing to happen was Ron was called to Flitwick's office after lunch, he later returned and excitedly showed his friends his new wand. Ron even joined them in the dueling room and practiced the spells they already knew, he said casting felt so much easier with his new wand, this sparked a conversation between him and Neville as they talked about their experiences with their new wands.

Harry remembered he intended to write a letter to Ginny, he reminded his friends and they all decided to work on their own letters to send to her. Harry called Hedwig to the dueling room before sitting down and grabbing some parchment and a quill, when he finished his letter, he gathered all the ones his friends wrote and had Hedwig deliver them.

Everything felt uneasy at the burrow ever since Arthur and Molly brought Ginny back home, the two parents were worried about their daughter and noticed how different she was acting. The night they brought her back they noticed how different Ginny was, she clung to her mum and almost seemed afraid to let go. They tried speaking to her but the possession had badly affected Ginny, she didn't want to talk about it and seemed to be afraid. Molly held her daughter close and tried her best to comfort her, it tore at the hearts of the two parents to see what their daughter was going through. They gave their daughter a dreamless sleep potion and stayed by her side until she fell asleep, the next day Ginny held one of her stuffed dolls and stayed close to her mum.

Arthur had gone back to Hogwarts to check on Percy and the twins, Molly did her best to try to help Ginny but noticed her daughter remained quiet and didn't smile. She noticed Ginny remained deep and thought and often stared at nothing, Molly hated how quiet the house was. Molly cooked all of Ginny's favorite meals in an attempt to help her daughter, however Ginny hardly ate anything and didn't have much of an appetite. Molly remained close to Ginny and had even taken her out to the orchard for some fresh air, she tried to talk to her daughter but Ginny mostly nodded or shook her head when she was listening, the few times she did speak she sounded so quiet.

That night Arthur and Molly couldn't give Ginny another dreamless sleep potion since it's dangerous to take one every night. They stayed by Ginny's side until she fell asleep, they hoped Ginny would be alright.

Ginny began to toss and turn as she heard Tom's voice, he told her he was her friend, that he understood her and wanted to help her. Ginny saw when she killed Hagrid's chickens before writing messages in blood on the wall, she saw herself opening the chamber and ordering the basilisk. She heard Tom's tone begin to change, he began taunting her and mocking her feelings, she saw when the basilisk attacked another student but she couldn't stop it. She tried to scream when Tom ordered the basilisk to kill her brothers, he turned to her with a cruel smile and blamed her for their deaths.

Ginny woke up screaming, Arthur and Molly rushed to her side and held her as she began to cry, they did their best to comfort her and told her she's safe now. Ginny let out shaky breaths as she cried in the arms of her parents, the two stayed by her side all night and tried to help their daughter.

Ginny kept to herself and often stayed in her room, Molly would check on her and take her out to the orchard to try to help her, she decided to stay in her daughter's room and hold her throughout the night to try to comfort her. Arthur asked for help at the ministry, he looked more into mind healers that could help but saw how expensive they would be. He sent a letter to his oldest son Bill, he worked as a curse breaker and had worked with some mind healers before, he hoped his son would have information that can help Ginny.

On Sunday morning Ginny stayed in her room and clung to one of her stuffed dolls, Molly checked on her before heading downstairs to start on breakfast. Ginny sat on her bed and stared at nothing as her mind raced, she felt that she could still hear Tom's words. He taunted her when she discovered what he was doing, she tried to reach out to others for help but Tom made her ignore her year mates and stay away from everyone. Tom knew her feelings, her thoughts, he used them against her so he could control her. She remembered when she first went after Penny, she tried calling out to her to warn her but couldn't reach her, she remembered when Tom went after Justin knowing everyone would blame Harry for the attack.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard tapping coming from the window, Ginny looked up and noticed there was a snowy white owl there with a few letters. She walked over to the window and let the owl in, the owl hooted at her as though she were greeting her. Ginny grabbed the letters and saw who they were from, she felt a bit of fear when she saw letters from Percy, Fred and George. The memory of leading them to the bathroom was still fresh in her mind, how Tom intended to kill her brothers and cause chaos. Tom laughed at her and talked about how she was going to kill her brothers, how their deaths will be her fault. She wondered if they blamed her, if they hated her.

She looked at the names on the other letters and saw one from Hermione, there was one from Fay, Ron had written to her, and even Neville had sent her a letter, however she looked surprised when she saw a letter from Harry. She remembered the words Harry said to her in the chamber, he was worried about her and came to save her, his words brought her some comfort when she needed it. Ginny decided to read his letter first, she opened up the envelope and read the letter.

Dear Ginny,

I hope you're doing well; I wanted to write to you to see how you're feeling. Ron told me everything Madam Pomfrey said and I heard from Percy that you aren't coming back for the rest of the year; I wanted to apologize again since I still feel like I should have helped you sooner. Feel free to write to me, I meant what I said about wanting to be your friend, I've heard a lot about you from Ron and the twins and I think we would be great friends.

I've heard from the twins that you like to play quidditch, that whenever all of you play together, you're a really great chaser. A few times during practice Oliver has us switch roles so we can understand what the other players need to do, if I wasn't a seeker then I think I would make a good chaser, we can practice together when you return to Hogwarts. Oliver has been helping Ron with being a keeper, I heard he's planning on looking for more back up players that can help us during practice next year, you'd make a great chaser and I can help you practice, it would be a lot of fun to be on the same team.

I'm sorry your first year at Hogwarts had been really bad, I wish I could have helped you sooner. Maybe next year will be a lot better, we can play quidditch together and you can join all of us in the dueling room, it's a great place to practice our magic. Everyone is worried about you, especially Ron, the twins and Percy. I hope this letter helped you and I hope we can keep writing to each other, a lot of us want to be your friend so I hope we hear from you soon. This letter is getting pretty long, I hope you're feeling better and I hope I get to see you again soon, take care of yourself Ginny.

From, Harry.

"Ginny dear, breakfast is almost ready, do you need-" Molly walked into the room but cut herself off at what she saw, she brought her hand up to her mouth when she saw Ginny was reading a letter and she wore a bright smile. Ginny's eyes were focused on the letter and the smile she wore was genuine, Molly felt happy to see her daughter smile again, she asked "Ginny dear, what's that you're reading?"

Ginny looked up with a bit of surprise, she hadn't heard her mum enter her room, she said "Oh, sorry mum, I just got a letter from Harry, he wanted to write to me and check on me."

Molly was surprised to hear that but smiled at hearing how Harry worried about Ginny, she was glad to hear he cared so much about her. She told her daughter, "That's wonderful dear, breakfast is ready so come down to eat then you can write to Harry about how you're feeling."

Ginny nodded, she got up from her bed and folded up the letter to keep with her and followed her mum downstairs. Molly was thankful to Harry for checking in on Ginny, she could see how happy he made her daughter, she imagined how perfect the two of them would be together.

Back at Hogwarts Harry had just finished eating breakfast with his friends, he looked at the time and knew the goblins would be arriving soon so he made his way outside the castle. Hermione joined him and the two used the remaining time to talk, luckily there was no one around so their conversation had been about Hermione's training with wandless magic. It wasn't long before they spotted Flitwick leaving the castle, Harry checked the time and realized the goblins would be arriving any minute now. A few minutes later Harry spotted Flitwick guiding a group of goblins to the castle, Harry noticed his account manager was with them and he was speaking to Flitwick.

Harry greeted the goblins and made sure to be respectful, he turned to his account manager and said "It's good to see you again, Barchoke."

Barchoke nodded, "Same to you, Harry. We'd like to get started right away so let's head to the chamber."

The group made their way to the girls' bathroom on the second floor, it didn't take long for word to spread around Hogwarts that a group of goblins were in the castle, Harry soon spotted many students watching them. When they arrived just outside the bathroom Harry saw the students he had invited. Harry noticed McGonagall was there and was telling some of the students watching to step back saying they weren't allowed in, surprisingly even Dumbledore was there.

Harry greeted the headmaster, "Good morning, headmaster, what are you doing here?"

Dumbledore smiled and said "Good morning, Harry, Professor Flitwick informed me of the goblins arriving today, I dare say I am curious to see the chamber myself and would like to accompany you into the chamber."

Harry didn't see a problem with that so he agreed, the group entered the bathroom and Harry noticed Myrtle wasn't around, he guessed she must be talking with some of the other ghosts. Harry approached the sinks and hissed out an order for them to open, some of the students jumped when the sinks moved. Harry gave another order for the entrance to remain open, once he made the stairs appear they started descending down into the tunnel.

In the tunnel the goblins inspected the shed basilisk skin, one of the goblins opened a trunk and they gathered all the shed skin since it was still valuable. Hermione took hold of Harry's hand when she saw the size of the shed skin, most of the students were shocked just by the size of the shed skin and wondered how big the basilisk really is.

They arrived at the entrance to the chamber and Harry hissed out an order for the door to open, they heard loud creaking as the door began to open. The fires in the chamber began burning as soon as the door opened, a few loud gasps and shrieks were heard when the basilisk was spotted. Hermione's hold on Harry's hand tightened as she stared in horror at the sight before them, now that she could see the size of the basilisk, she realized Harry had to fight that thing on his own.

Hermione wasn't the only one, some of the students had stepped behind the headmaster when they saw the carcass of the basilisk, many of them looked between Harry and the basilisk and were left speechless at realizing Harry was the one who killed it.

Harry felt Hermione's grip on his hand and turned to the girl, he held her hand with both of his and said "It's ok, Hermione, I'm alright now."

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down but didn't let go of his hand.

The goblins moved forward to inspect the basilisk, they had been told about the size of the basilisk but seeing it in person surprised them, many of them glanced back at Harry and now had a different opinion of the young wizard.

The rest of the students stayed close to Dumbledore and Flitwick as they entered the chamber, Dumbledore looked around the chamber with an amazed expression at seeing something one of the founders had built. The chamber was always believed to be a myth, there had been many attempts to find it in the past but nothing was ever discovered. Dumbledore saw that Hogwarts still had many mysteries waiting to be discovered.

The goblins opened the trunks they were carrying and gathered their tools; they began working on harvesting the basilisk. Harry managed to calm down Hermione and soon made his way to the basilisk, before the goblins could begin harvesting, he gave one more apology in parseltongue to Corra for everything she had to suffer through.

His attention was pulled away from the basilisk when he heard the sound of a camera flashing, he saw Luna was taking many pictures of the chamber, she walked up to Harry and asked "Harry, can I get a picture of you with the basilisk?"

Harry didn't think that was a good idea, however he saw the expression on Luna's face as she hoped he would agree, in the end he agreed to let her take one picture. Luna thanked him and asked Harry to stand closer to the basilisk, Hermione reluctantly let go of his hand and stepped away so Luna could get the picture she wanted. Luna took the picture and thanked Harry before continuing to take more pictures of the chamber.

The petrified victims stared at the basilisk and thought about the moment they were petrified; Justin and Penny hadn't heard it and were caught off guard. Hermione had thought of using her bracelet to look around the corner, the basilisk had been waiting for them and managed to petrify her and Fay.

One of the goblins walked up to Harry and introduced himself, "Greetings, heir Potter, my name is Bladveck. I am a curse breaker at Gringotts, Barchoke had informed me about you discovering the chamber of secrets and he hired me to inspect the chamber."

Harry greeted the goblin, "Greetings, curse breaker Bladveck. Thank you for taking the time to help."

Bladveck nodded, "I have some experience working with parseltongue magic thanks to a few curse breakers I've met who are parselmouths. I believe it'll be easier to search the chamber if I ask you for help in case I find anything that's protected by parseltongue magic."

Harry was surprised to hear there are curse breakers out there who are parselmouths, he nodded and agreed to help Bladveck. Harry remembered what Tom had done when he called for the basilisk, he turned to the statue of Slytherin's head. He told the curse breaker "The basilisk emerged from the mouth of the statue, I believe I should be able to open it."

Harry thought about what Tom said, he then hissed, "~Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts founders!~"

Everyone turned their attention to Harry when they heard him hiss, they then noticed the mouth of the statue open. Bladveck and a few goblins moved to inspect the mouth of the statue, after Bladveck confirmed there are no traps they searched behind the statue and found more shed snake skin. The goblins began to gather the skin before continuing to search the rest of the statue's mouth.

The goblins continued to work on harvesting the basilisk, the students seemed to calm down by now and just looked on as the goblins continued to harvest the carcass. Harry stood with the rest of the students but he kept thinking about his time in the chamber, he used occlumency to go over his memories and focused on what Tom had said, he still had questions about how a young Voldemort had appeared in the castle and what the diary was. Harry thought about what Tom had said while the venom was killing him, he then turned his attention to where the ground was marked with ink.

Harry walked over and saw the basilisk fang was still laying there on the ground, none of the goblins had picked it up yet. He picked up the fang and remembered something Voldemort had said, he talked about watching different creatures suffer and die from the basilisk venom, he mentioned centaurs as one of the creatures and he thought about the night in the forest when a centaur had saved their lives. Harry grabbed his damaged wand holster from the ground and placed the fang in it before putting it in his pocket.

Minutes had passed before some of the students made their way back to the castle, the entrance remained open so they would be able to leave if they wanted. Harry remained since he needed to make sure he wouldn't be needed for anything else, soon Bladveck came out of the mouth of the statue and said "Heir Potter, I have found something that will require your parseltongue magic."

This caught their attention and Harry made his way to the mouth of the statue, Dumbledore followed after with a few of the students joining them, the rest stayed behind with Flitwick. They climbed into the statue and Harry noticed the goblins created a few lights to illuminate the large room, Bladveck got his attention and led them over to a section of the wall. Bladveck explained, "I detected parseltongue magic around here and noticed there was something carved into the wall, I was hoping it could be opened with parseltongue magic before I would need to break through it."

Their attention turned to what was carved on the wall, none of them recognized the writing or understood what it meant. Harry tried hissing the word open but nothing had happened, however he noticed the writing began to change. Harry looked closely at the writing and was able to understand it, it now read the guardian of Hogwarts. This confused Harry as he wondered what it meant, he then remembered what the hat had told him. Salazar wanted the basilisk to protect Hogwarts, she was meant to be its guardian. Harry hissed out one word, "~Corra.~"
Harry jumped back when the wall began to open up, it reminded him of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Everyone was surprised to see a hidden room in the chamber, Bladveck performed a few scans of the entrance but hadn't noticed any sort of trap. Harry and Bladveck were the first to enter the room, Bladveck created a few lights to make it easier to see what was in the room. Dumbledore followed in after them along with the other students, the group saw it was Slytherin's private study, there was a desk with a few bookshelves and there was even a bed with a portrait hanging on the wall. The room was covered in a lot of dust, it seems no one had visited this place in centuries. Harry remembered that Slytherin's descendants had seen the basilisk as a weapon, they likely never bothered to learn her name so they wouldn't know her name opened this room.

Dumbledore looked amazed when he saw the room, he approached one of the bookshelves and examined the books. The books appeared to be in poor condition, he used his wand to examine one of the books and found traces of a preservation charm that had long since failed. He carefully levitated one of the books and placed it on the desk, he used magic to flip the pages without damaging them. The writing on the pages was faded and written in parseltongue, Dumbledore sighed and said "It's a shame this room hadn't been discovered sooner, there's so much incredible knowledge left behind by Salazar Slytherin but it's barely legible."

Harry even had trouble reading some of the texts, it mentioned something about a spell but he was having trouble understanding it, he wondered if maybe the sorting hat will be able to explain it. Bladveck turned to Harry and said "Heir Potter, at Gringotts we can have the books examined and recover as much of the knowledge as we can, we'll be able to place the knowledge in another book and deliver it to you."

Harry was surprised to hear that, he would receive a book full of knowledge from one of the founders, he turned to Dumbledore and asked "Headmaster, what do you think?"

Dumbledore smiled at him and said "I think it would be an excellent idea, I just hope you'll be willing to share the knowledge with me."

Harry agreed and asked Bladveck to have Gringotts recover the knowledge from the books, Bladveck called a group of goblins and told them to bring a chest for them to store all the books in. Harry was asked by three of the girls if he would share the book when he got one, Luna as a Ravenclaw was always interested in more knowledge, Daphne wanted to learn more about her house's founder, and Hermione was excited about getting to read a book containing knowledge from one of the founders. Harry agreed he'd share the knowledge with his friends, the three girls looked excited and couldn't wait. The goblins gathered the rest of the books and carefully stored them into a chest, the group then turned their attention to the portrait.

The portrait wasn't moving, either the enchantments on it have long since failed or it was a regular portrait, it wasn't in the best condition so they would need to be careful with it. Everyone saw the portrait was of the four founders, not many portraits of the founders existed, the few that were known were made by people who tried to capture their likeness. The sorting hat had said that the founders were close friends and the portrait showed them standing in front of Hogwarts, each of them had a smile on their faces as they stood close to each other. From left to right they could see Helga Hufflepuff with a warm smile, next to her was Godric Gryffindor who wore a bright open smile as though he were laughing. Godric appeared to be leaning against Salazar Slytherin and had an arm on his shoulder, Salazar had a simple smile on his face. Rowena Ravenclaw stood on the other side of the group and wore a kind smile on her face.

The group looked at the portrait of the founders and were amazed to find something like this down here, it must have been important to Slytherin if he kept it here. Harry stared at the portrait but noticed something that he wasn't sure the rest of the group had noticed yet, his attention was on Salazar Slytherin and as he stared at the founder, he noticed a pair of familiar emerald green eyes were staring back at him.

Harry had been told that the Potters aren't related to Slytherin and have never spoken parseltongue, he wondered if his mum might have come from a squib line that had been sent into the muggle world.

Harry was told he could claim the portrait since he was the one who was able to open the chamber, "What would you like to do with the portrait, heir Potter?"

Harry thought about it, it seemed to be a rather important portrait, maybe it belonged in the school. He turned to Dumbledore and said "Headmaster, I would like Hogwarts to keep the portrait."

Dumbledore's smile grew as though he expected Harry to make this decision, the headmaster said "That is very generous of you, Harry, thank you."

The headmaster carefully levitated the portrait before heading to his office, he already thought of the perfect place to hang the portrait of the founders.

When it was almost time for lunch most of the group had left already, they had thanked Harry for allowing them to see the basilisk and the chamber before heading back into the castle. Harry still remained in the chamber in case his parseltongue magic would be needed, the only one that still remained by his side was Hermione. The two kids saw the goblins had done a quick job of harvesting the basilisk, they should be done before the day is over.

Bladveck came up to Harry and informed him that he had finished his scan of the chamber, there didn't appear to be anything else hidden in the chamber so they just needed to finish harvesting the basilisk. Harry thanked the goblin since it meant he could head back up into the castle, he would return at the end of the day to close the chamber once they are done. Flitwick decided to remain in the chamber for a bit longer to talk to Bladveck, Harry and Hermione said their farewell to the short professor before heading back into the castle.

Thankfully there weren't any students crowding around the bathroom anymore, the two kids saw it was time for lunch and believed everyone was in the great hall. Harry felt his damaged wand holster in his pocket and realized he needed to do something; everyone was already in the great hall so it would be the best time. He turned to Hermione and said "Hermione, you should head to the great hall, I'll join you soon."

She turned to Harry and asked "Is everything ok?"

Harry nodded, "I realize there's something I need to do, right now would be the best time since everyone is in the great hall."

"Do you want me to come with you?" She asked.

Harry shook his head, "I'll be alright, I just need to go talk to someone first then I'll head to the great hall."

Hermione looked unsure but decided to head to the great hall, she would ask Harry about it later.

Harry made his way out the castle and called Hedwig through their bond, she came to him and Harry told her "I need your help finding one of the centaurs, can you fly over the woods and help me find one?"

Hedwig agreed and soon took off, Harry made sure he wouldn't be seen before heading into the forbidden forest. Surprisingly the search didn't take long, a few minutes after she started searching Hedwig spotted one of the centaurs. The centaur looked up at Hedwig and raised an arm up and got her attention, she flew down to the centaur and landed on the arm he held out for her. Harry felt where Hedwig was and made his way to her, he arrived to see the centaur was gently stroking Hedwig's feathers.

"She is doing very well from the last time I had seen her; I am glad to see your bond remains just as strong." The centaur said without looking at him.

Harry recognized his voice and thought the centaur looked familiar, he asked "Firenze?"

Firenze turned to Harry and gave a kind smile, "Greetings, Harry Potter, I am glad to see you are doing well."

Harry was glad to see the centaur that had saved him and Hermione last year from Quirrell, he bowed in respect and said "I'm glad to see you too, Firenze. How did you know I was here?"

Hedwig flew off Firenze's arm and landed on a nearby tree branch, the centaur answered, "This isn't the usual time I see your owl fly over the forest, I believed she was helping you search the forest so I called out to her, the bond you share is quite unique and strong, I knew you would be nearby."

Harry was surprised to hear that, he remembered last year Firenze made a comment about their bond. He confirmed what Firenze said, "Yes, she was helping me search the forest. I was wondering if you're aware about what's been going on in the school?"

Firenze nodded, "I have heard Hagrid talk about the chamber of secrets being opened again, the spiders have stopped hiding and fleeing recently and I heard Hagrid mention what you have done when he went to speak to Aragog."

Seeing how he mentioned Aragog, Harry asked "Were you the centaur that saved us from the acromantula a few days ago?"

Firenze nodded, "I spotted you and your friends heading into the forest, I kept watch over you to make sure you and your friends were safe."

Harry was grateful for that, "Thank you, you saved our lives that day."

Firenze approached him and said "It pleases me to know all of you are safe. Now, what did you need to speak about?"

Harry remembered the reason why he was out there, he cleared his throat and said "When I was in the chamber, I met the heir of Slytherin, he was a person named Tom Riddle. Tom was a parselmouth who had opened the chamber fifty years ago, he controlled the monster of Slytherin which was a basilisk. Tom told me that he had previously commanded the basilisk to inject her venom into others to watch them suffer before they die, he told me he had killed unicorns, trolls, and centaurs. I managed to kill the basilisk and Fawkes had saved me from the venom, I wanted to come speak to the centaurs about it."

Firenze stayed silent for several seconds, he seemed to be deep in thought before saying "That explains what we felt a few days ago. The magic around Hogwarts felt different after you killed the basilisk, as though something had been stopped and released from its suffering. It is true what you say, Harry Potter. Long ago the basilisk had roamed the forbidden forest and killed many, I believe it had killed over twenty centaurs."

Harry was shocked to hear that, hearing that the basilisk had killed that many surprised him. Since it killed so many centaurs Harry asked "Did the centaurs know that the monster of Slytherin was a basilisk?"

Firenze seemed to have a look of regret as he nodded, "Yes, we knew what the monster was."

"Why didn't the centaurs tell anyone?"

"We do not have a good relationship with wizards, we avoided wizards as much as we could, we would not even tell them what the monster was. Even now the centaurs still avoid interacting with wizards unless it is necessary, Hagrid is one of the few the centaurs will interact with. We do not hold any anger towards the basilisk, we felt that the basilisk was suffering, being controlled by another."

Harry could understand now, he remembered the other two centaurs that were mad Firenze had saved them. He decided to get to the reason why he was here, "I came here to see the centaurs because I had something for them, I hired the goblins to harvest the basilisk and I made sure to grab something when I went down into the chamber again."

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his damaged wand holster, he handed it to the centaur. Firenze saw what was in the wand holster, he pulled it out and his eyes widened slightly in surprise, "This… belonged to the basilisk?"

Harry nodded, "When I killed the basilisk, her fang got caught on my wand holster when it stabbed into my arm. I pulled it out of my arm and used that fang to destroy the diary that Tom Riddle was connected to. A dark artifact was controlling the basilisk, I wanted to gift the fang to the centaurs as a way to say the centaurs that all died because of the heir can rest in peace now."

Firenze stared at the fang in his hands, the two remained silent for a few moments before Firenze showed a soft smile, "Thank you, Harry Potter. Many centaurs had lost loved ones back then, myself included, knowing that you helped avenge their deaths and brought a gift like this will mean a lot to us. Thank you for what you have done."

Firenze bowed which surprised Harry, he smiled at seeing gifting them a basilisk fang meant this much to them, he said "I'm glad to hear that, it's the least I could do after you have saved me and my friends as well. Be careful with it though, the fang still contains some basilisk venom."

Firenze nodded and placed it back in the wand holster, he smiled at Harry and said "Thank you, Harry Potter, I believe this will prove to be useful one day. I am pleased to see that you are much like what was mentioned among the stars."

Hearing that surprised Harry, at the mention of the stars he remembered the first time they met Firenze, the centaur had said they were mentioned in the stars. He remembered what one of the centaurs had said, "You had interfered with what the stars had foretold, Harry Potter was supposed to die in the forest!"

Harry couldn't help but ask "Firenze, what do you mean when you say I was mentioned among the stars? Last year the centaur named Bane said the stars foretold I would die in the forest, what does that mean?"

Firenze had a more serious look at the questions, "The centaurs can read the stars as it mentions much that might happen and much that will happen. You should not worry about what Bane had said the year before, Bane is someone who holds a stronger hate for wizards, because of that he misinterprets what the stars have foretold. I have seen the stars differently than the other centaurs; they tell me much of what other centaurs cannot see."

"That sounds like a prophecy, is it just like the one my mum mentioned in the journal?" Harry mentally asked himself, he then decided to ask "Firenze, what do the stars tell you about me?"

Firenze stared up at the sky as he remained deep in thought, the centaur took a deep breath before speaking, "The stars tell of your journey, a child close to death. You will burn up your past as you will never return to it, you will build anew what was taken from you. A long journey filled with challenges and regrets stands before you, and alone you shall fall. The bonds you formed will be your strength when you need it the most, never forget these words, Harry Potter."

Harry was left speechless at what he had just heard, what did he mean by all of that, "What-"

Firenze held up his hand and stopped him, "I have said all I can say, I must return to the others. Thank you for all that you have done, Harry Potter, do not forget what I have said."

Without another word Firenze took off heading deeper into the forest, Harry stood there stuck to the same spot as he tried to process what he just heard. "What did he mean by a child close to death? I'll burn up my past? What did he mean by challenges and regrets?"

Harry felt like his head was spinning, even Hedwig was stunned by what she had just heard. Harry had so many questions but he felt like he wouldn't get an answer anytime soon, he even felt like he shouldn't have asked since it left him more confused than ever. Hedwig flew over and landed on Harry's shoulder, he could feel she was concerned through their bond. Harry now felt uneasy by what he had just heard, Firenze said to never forget what he was just told, maybe he should go write it down so he wouldn't forget it.

Hedwig flew over to him but he could feel through their bond that even she was worried by what they just heard, Harry started to gently stroke her feathers and said "It'll be ok, Hedwig, we'll be alright."

Harry made his way back to the castle but his mind kept thinking about what he had just been told. The journal mentioned a prophecy that said he had the power to kill Voldemort, he thought about what Firenze told him and kept wondering what it all meant. He would need to look more into it; he wondered if he should even tell his friends.

I believe there is maybe one or two chapters left of second year, I hope to have the next chapter completed soon. I have also decided to continue guardian owl as I have given the idea more thought, it'll be something I work on when I have trouble with my other two fanfics.

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