He felt embarrassed that he forgot

He felt embarrassed that he forgot to ask the serpent about its' name, not to mention he didn't even know if it was male or female. The snake on the other hand seemed rather amused, which Harry hoped was a good sign.

$I am Ssavanna, young one. It is undersstandable that you forgot your mannerss in the middle of a battle, sso I shall forgive you thiss once.$ - the snake tried for the haughty expression, but since it was a snake and Harry was friends with Draco, it didn't really affect him much… other than make him want to laugh that is, but he was quite sure the enormous serpent beside him would not appreciate that. Thus he focused on what the snake was saying.

$It iss quite ssimple really.$ - hissed the basilisk now known as Savanna - $All that need to be done is me biting you, you cassting the 'Astrictus una'[1] sspell, which will bind uss together, and then the phoenix healing you sso that you'll be both immune to poissonss that have anything in common with ssnake venom and your tearss will have the ssame propertiess as those of a phoenix. It will also establish a link between us, so that we'll be able to communicate mentally no matter where we are.$

Harry stared at the serpent. He was a bit apprehensive about the basilisk biting him, but was quite sure Fawkes would heal him. As far he understood it, the spell was an easy one and the good points were quite appealing, so he just decided to dig up the remains of his Gryffindor courage and just go with it.


As Harry woke up, he noted several things. One, his head hurt like he was hit with a bludger. Two, Savanna was nowhere in sight. Three, there was a quiet presence in his mind that was most likely the already mentioned basilisk. Four, a frantic Ginny Weasley was shaking him awake. He groaned lowly and opened his eyes:

"Ginny, you can stop shaking me now. I'm alright."

The girl let out a very relieved sigh that was more like a sob:

"Oh, Merlin, Harry I'm so sorry!" – she hurriedly spoke – "I swear I didn't mean to do it. It's all Tom. Ever since I began writing in the diary… It was me… I was attacking the students… I'm so sorry…" – by this point the girl was a sobbing mess. Even though Harry had his doubts about the girl, considering what her mother was like, but the display was just too pitiful. He carefully patted her on the back until she calmed down a bit and then they slowly got on their feet.

"Come on, Ginny, the twins are waiting just outside."


1)from Latin: bind together.


Author's Note: Hey, people. I hope you're not too disappointed I didn't do the ritual scene. I promise it'll come up at one point. You'll just have to be patient. Anyway, the main event of the 'Chamber of Secrets' is over, so I'll probably get to the 'Prisoner of Azkaban' soon enough. =)
P.S.: Thank you so much your wonderful reviews. As you all well know: reviews = inspiration = quicker updates =)