Unfortunately for Harry & co, Dumbl

Unfortunately for Harry & co, Dumbledore returned to the castle that very day and stayed at the castle up to the middle of May, thus they could not contact Arthur. All this time Poppy cared for Ronald in a private ward at the Hospital Wing, but it was becoming very clear that the boy had to be transferred to the hospital in the near future.

Harry, Neville and the twins were returning from their private Occlumency session with Snape when they heard voices coming from the second floor corridor. They crept forward and saw the three heads of houses minus Snape gathered in front of a wall that had writings on it. They were too far away to read them, but they didn't have to, instead they listened to the conversation between their professors.

"Her skeleton will lay in the Chamber forever!" – said Pomona Sprout, putting a hand over her mouth – "It's horrible."

"Do we know who was taken?" – asked Flitwick.

"It seems that it was Miss Weasley." – replied Minerva with a small sob – "There has to be something we can do to find her!"

The twins stiffened at that. Harry and Neville shared a concerned glance. As much as the youngest Weasley irritated them, they did not want to see her dead. Suddenly they saw a very peculiar thing – letters were appearing on the wall – by themselves. Neville freaked, while Harry was curious. He leant closer and read out:

"Myrtle's bathroom… Basilisk… it seems to me someone hints at where the chamber is…"

"B-but… it wrote itself…" – stuttered Neville. No matter how much of a pureblood heir he was, some things spooked even him.

"Does it matter?" – hissed Fred – "If this is an accurate tip, then we can save our sister's life!"

Harry grasped the ginger's hand and squeezed it:

"Fred, listen to me. We will do our best, but we need help. Adult help."

George stiffened:

"Do we actually know who we can trust except Madam Pomfrey and Snape?"

Harry bit his lip:

"Well… no… damn it! Let's do this!"


And so they waited until the professors went away and crept towards the Myrtle's bathroom. They met Draco and Pansy around the corner and of course the two Slytherins came along. Thus Neville got saddled with the job of telling Snape where they went after waiting for them for an hour, while the other four kids did the most Gryffindor thing they could think of – they went to the Chamber of Secrets.

The fact that the entrance was located in a girls' bathroom of all things made the team snicker, which was a good thing, because the seriousness of the situation really called for at least a small stress relief.

They stood around the huge opening and peered into the total darkness:

"Er…" – Draco cleared his throat – "Do we actually have to jump down there? We could break our necks… who knows how deep this thing is…"

Harry frowned, that was a very good point. He also doubted that Salazar Slytherin did not think about this, so he decided to try just in case:

$Sstairss!$ - he called out in Parseltongue, and watched as true to his command a spiral staircase formed.

"Well, this makes things easier…" – he grinned – "Though I think jumping would have been faster."

With a muttered 'Lumos' to light their wands, the friends made their way downstairs.

As they walked, Harry and the twins were feeling really anxious, while Pansy and Draco were more excited about being here in the first place.

As the children reached the bottom of the stairs, the nervousness set in. The idea of a huge snake that could kill with a glance was not something they could be calm about.

"Okay… at least there only seems to be one tunnel…" – said George, trying to make his twin and the youngsters feel calmer. He was already beginning to regret asking Harry to do something so dangerous for them.

"There is that." – chuckled Harry, but his voice shook slightly. However on the inside he had to admit that there was a small part of his mind that was curious. He fingered the invisible signet ring on his hand and wondered.

'Will my being the heir of Slytherin change anything? Will the monster obey?' – these questions fluttered around his anxious mind like butterflies. He hoped they could avoid a fight, but he feared that once again his so-called 'luck' would kick him where it hurt most. Finally Harry & co found themselves in front of a huge circle shaped door with ornate snakes all over it and no handle in sight.

"How are we supposed to open that?" – whispered Pansy, looking first at the twins and then at Harry and Draco, to see if one of them knew the answer.

Harry shrugged:

"Probably the same way we did it so far." – with that he faced the door and hissed at it:

$Open.$

They watched in awe, all thoughts of the snake and the missing Ginny forgotten, as the snakes shifted and the door swung open to reveal the legendary Chamber of Secrets.

"Wow…" – came the same entranced response from all five children, as they looked at the chamber that was revealed. They went to go in, but for some reason only Harry was actually able to enter the Chamber itself, the others seemed to be stuck.

"Guys what's up?" – asked Harry incredulously.

"Ehm… I think there are some wards around the chamber…" – said Draco – "It seems we can't get in…"

Beside the blond the two older boys cursed. Harry didn't like the idea either:

"You're telling me I'm on my own?" – he practically whined – "Just great! Fate – 3, Harry – 0… just my luck…"

George hit the invisible wall with a fist:

"Darn it! This is all my fault! If only I didn't ask you to do this…"

Harry shook his head:

"No, George, don't think like that. You and Fred are like brothers to me, of course I'll do my best to save Ginny."

"Just don't die…" – said Fred quietly, watching the brunette walk into the depth of the Chamber of Secrets.


Harry walked into the Chamber alone, as he went, he couldn't help but feel a bit of awe about actually being in here. Finally he saw the body of the small redhead, lying in front of the enormous statue of his ancestor. He noticed that she was very pale and was clutching a small notebook to her chest. Harry walked up to the girl and knelt beside her. He was of course nervous, but he knew he had to keep a level head, he cast the diagnostic charm madam Pomfrey usually on him when he got hurt. Harry wasn't sure it would work, but it was the only charm he knew of that he could try. He waved his wand, hoping he got the movement correctly and said the spell:

"Circumspectus Morbi![1]"

'I really hope this works…' – he thought, waiting for the pale light that he associated with the spell – 'So according to this… she's drained… something's living off her magic… but she can't be pregnant, she's freaking 11!' – his thinking process combusted from the very idea. Sure he found himself checking out random girls and even boys, heck he even thought Fred and George were hot, but that was just thinking, not actually doing anything – 'Okay, Potter, cool down… she doesn't look pregnant, it has to be something else… not that she could actually become pregnant at 11 come to think of it… or maybe it's different for magical people? No matter… something is draining her… but what?'

"Hello, Harry Potter." – came an unexpected voice from behind Harry.

The boy whirled around and fired a stunner at the intruder. To his shock it went through the young man in Slytherin robes.

"Who are you?" – Harry asked, his wand still trained at the intruder – "How did you get here?"

"Why, the same way you did, I imagine…" – the young man chuckled – "Though I am surprised the barrier let you through. I had to fight my way inside, unfortunately."

Harry narrowed his eyes. Something about the person in front of him was seriously not right, but at the same time he felt very familiar.

"Who are you?" – he repeated, narrowing his green eyes.

The young man smirked silently:

"You don't know? So you rushed in here to save the girl with no idea what was waiting here for you, Harry?"

Harry gulped, slightly scared:

"I know there is a basilisk here if that's what you mean…" – he paused and looked up at the strange Slytherin he's never seen before and noticed that the teen was in fact black and white with lots of greys, like an old muggle photo – "You're him, aren't you? You're the reason these attacks have been happening!"

"Ah, so you're slightly intelligent, Harry Potter… But tell me…" – here the weird person walked up to stand just in front of Harry, his eyes lit up with curiousity – "… how is it that a small infant was able to not only survive the Killing Curse, but also destroy the Dark Lord Voldemort?"

Harry bristled at the mention of Voldemort. He had no idea why, but he felt like the Slytherin was stalling him for some reason and then it hit him – the person in front of him, who didn't exactly look like a normal person was supposed to, was the most likely candidate for draining Ginny's magic:

"What did you do to Ginny?" – he asked, ignoring the question that was asked of him.

"Did no one ever tell it's impolite to answer questions with other questions?" – the person… ghost… whatever asked, though it was obvious that it was a rhetorical question – "How about this, you tell me what I want to know and in return I'll tell you what you want to know…"

Harry gulped. Agreeing was a dangerous thing to do, he knew that, however angering the person who was responsible for the attacks and thus could somehow control the basilisk was definitely worse. The boy took a deep breath and said firmly:

"I agree. But only if we ask questions in turns. And obviously I want some insurance that your answers will be truthful."

The Slytherin smirked:

"That sounds nice. Since you did ask first, I will give you my name. I am Tom Marvolo Riddle. And while I am ready to give you a vow that I will answer your questions truthfully, I will require a similar vow from you."

Harry grimaced at the obvious delay, but his self-preservation did not allow him t