Follow me!* whispered the great sna

Follow me!* whispered the great snake inside the walls. Harry could sense the serpent stirring behind the ancient stone, and he looked doubtfully at the wall. Did the snake mean for Harry to come through the wall of the corridor to meet him? He'd better keep his handkerchief ready for that inevitable nosebleed, then, since these walls were made from very thick rock that would be rather excruciating to walk through. What was behind the stone walls of Hogwarts, anyway? When Harry focused very hard, he could make out some sort of gurgling wet sound that sounded like plumbing. Harry wrinkled his nose a little. The inside of the school's plumbing was really not the nicest place to meet a new friend, but if that was where the snake lived, he supposed he would just have to brace himself, hold his breath, and use a little scrubbing magic afterwards.

But fortunately, the snake did not expect Harry to crawl into the Hogwarts plumbing. Instead, the serpentine voice shifted rapidly along the ancient corridors until Harry found himself at the entrance to a bathroom on the second floor.

*In here! Follow me in here!* came the serpent's voice. His voice was rather lovely, like a great wind rushing through dry leaves.

Comingcoming, whispered Shard excitedly. Harry pushed open the door to the bathroom, trying to ignore the diary, which was poking him rather sharply in the hip by now. What was going on with Tom today? He seemed terribly restless.

Harry glanced curiously around the large bathroom. He could see at once why the snake loved this room, since the frost-white marble and the gleaming silver taps were quite beautiful to look at. And some of the heavy old taps were even shaped like gleaming serpents! But where was his new friend?

Something stirred in the corner, and for a moment, Harry thought it was the serpent.

"Who are you?" whispered a small voice, and the misty outline of a girl fluttered toward Harry. She was as transparent as the Bloody Baron, and Harry realized that she must be a ghost. "Have you come to visit me?"

"Hello," said Harry and smiled at the ghost-girl. "I'm Harry. I'm just trying to find a big snake. Have you seen one around?"

The girl was apparently not very fond of snakes, for she began sobbing as if her heart would break. Harry rushed over to her and tried to give her a hug, but she was nothing but a chilly cloud in his arms. "There, there," said Harry soothingly. He tried to give her some of his cheering magic, and it appeared to work a little, for the girl's insubstantial form immediately turned a little more glittery and lost some of its grey glumness.

Poor Shard appeared to be afraid of ghosts, for he was hiding in the back of Harry's mind, very still, as if he were afraid that the girl would notice him and be... angry at him? Harry frowned. Shard really was funny sometimes.

*Down here!* came the serpent's voice from somewhere under Harry's feet. *Come into my secret chamber, child...*

"He wants me to come down there?" Harry glanced down.

"Don't!" wailed the mist-girl. "Oh, no, you mustn't go down there! That great rustling noise is the voice of death!"

Harry let go of the girl and patted her gently on her insubstantial arm. "The voice of death? Oh, no, that's just a snake. Don't worry - I'll be back in a little bit."

*Open?* breathed Shard in Snake inside Harry's mind. *Open?*

Harry looked down at the polished white floor and sighed. Marble. That was almost as hard as granite, wasn't it? This wasn't going to be pleasant. But if that was where the poor lonely snake was... Well, all right then! Harry pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and held it firmly against his nose. "Hang on tight, Tom! We are going through!" Harry focused all his magic downwards and stepped firmly through the floor.

It was pretty bad. The marble was frightfully dense, and Harry was gasping for breath as he emerged on the other side. To his surprise, he found himself inside a lovely torch-lit corridor that opened up into a vast underground chamber. This must be where the serpent lived! Harry wiped the blood quickly from his nose and glanced around.

There! Something vast and dark was stirring in the shadows, and a serpent of massive proportions slid into view. Its silver-green scales glittered beautifully in the torchlight.

*Snake!* Shard sounded very happy.

But Tom didn't seem nearly as pleased as Shard at the prospect of Harry meeting a new friend; he was making a terrible fuss in the pocket of Harry's robe, squirming and making the diary poke Harry hard.

*Hi!* called Harry in Snake, trying to ignore Tom's sulking. *I'm Harry, the one you spoke to in the corridors upstairs.*

The snake whipped around at the sound of his voice, and the massive head turned towards Harry.

*Over here!* Harry waved.

But at that moment, the diary in Harry's pocket did something very odd: It shook violently, tore itself out of his pocket, and fell to the floor with a thud. To Harry's amazement, a voice suddenly spoke in his ear: "Close your eyes, Harry! Close your eyes!" And a warm hand, a human hand, placed itself over Harry's eyes and shielded the snake from his view.

*Look at me!* The snake sounded a little offended. *Why are you not looking at me, child?*

But the unfamiliar human voice whispered in Harry's ear: "Don't look at the basilisk, Harry! For if you do, it will turn you to stone with a glance!" Harry had no idea who was speaking, and he squirmed away from the hand and turned his head around so he could see who his unexpected companion was.

He caught a brief glimpse of dark curls and a black robe, and something about the stranger seemed oddly familiar. "Excuse me, but who..." Harry's words were cut short by a great slithering noise that filled the chamber and echoed among the ancient walls.

Harry's unknown companion swore. "The basilisk is coming for us!" He shouted quickly in Snake: *Stay back from him, Serpent!*

*No. If you have brought him to me, I get to eat him.* The snake sounded rather moody.

*No! You can't hurt him!* The stranger's voice was shaking a little.

*You speak Snake, too?* Harry asked his new friend, breathlessly. He turned at looked more closely at the interesting stranger. But that was... that was Tom! It had to be; Harry recognized the beautiful shadowy form from the diary, although the boy by his side was real.

"Tom! I can actually see you!" Harry was so excited about this that he wanted to hug Tom right away, but Tom seemed rather preoccupied with the snake.

*The basilisk is not obeying me.* Tom's voice sounded frightened. *We need a weapon of some sort if you are going to get out of here alive. The basilisk is hungry, and its gaze is deadly. Don't look directly at it, Harry!*

Harry peeked quickly in the direction of the snake through lowered eyelashes, taking care not to look straight into its eyes. The vast body was slithering over the rough stone floor, coming closer...

Poor thing! It must be so tiresome to have such a sharp gaze that all beings turned to stone before you! Harry felt very bad for the poor snake. He had heard of certain races of mountain trolls who had a similar problem with their gaze, and they usually ended up petrifying each other, leaving nothing but vast circles of curiously shaped standing stones behind.

Harry cast some quick Night and Mist magic in the direction of the serpent's head, and a weird hiss echoed through the chamber.

*What happened? I can't see!* The snake's voice turned into a horrible shriek.

Harry stepped forward and spoke gently to his new friend. *Don't worry, Mr. Basilisk. I didn't hurt you, even if your eyes feel a little funny right now. You will find that everything is actually much better this way. You will be able to see again in a moment, when your eyes adjust, but I have dimmed your vision a bit, so it won't turn anyone to stone.*

The serpent's head moved wildly to and fro, its enormous golden eyes - which Harry could now admire without being accidentally petrified - searching frantically for something. *I will eat you up! I will eat... I will rip.. Tear...*

*Oh, are you hungry, then?* Harry reached out and petted the hard greenish scales gently. *That's not surprising, actually. It's got to be hard to find enough food when you are this size...*

*I will eat you!* insisted the serpent.

Harry had to laugh. *Oh, no, Mr. Basilisk, I'm not food. And neither is Tom, of course. But if you hang on a minute, I'll find you some sausages or something - the Slytherin boys always sneak some up to the common room with them after lunch. Ron always seems to get hungry in the late afternoon, and Crabbe and Goyle as well. Oh, but I do have an apple in my pocket.* Harry produced the apple and handed it to the poor snake. The apple looked ridiculously tiny compared to the vast green serpent. *It's not a lot for you to eat when you are this size, of course, but if we just shrink you down a little...There!*

The next moment, the huge shape looming above them was gone, and in its stead, a pretty footlong snake stared up at Harry with golden eyes. *What... How did you get so big?*

Harry laughed and picked up the snake. *I didn't get bigger; you just got a little smaller, Mr. Basilisk. Here, try the apple - it should be a lot more filling now.*

The serpent hesitated for a moment, then gulped down the apple and looked hungrily at Harry's arm. It was a good thing Harry had dimmed the Basilisk's vision, or he might have had a little stony patch on his forearm right now! Or maybe the petrifying gaze only worked if you looked back with your eyes?

Harry turned to Tom with a smile. "Come on, Tom! Let's go get him some sausages. He still seems hungry."

But Tom just stood there for a long moment, staring at Harry with his wide silver-grey eyes. How curious that Tom, who was usually made of nothing but words, now suddenly seemed to be at a loss for them!

Finally, Tom breathed: "Look at you, Harry. Just look at you... You are standing there, you e