The Heir of Slytherin

Oleandra slipped and slid down the pipe. It would be impossible to climb back out this way, there was no way to get a grip with all this slime! Unless, of course, one was riding a giant snake…

After what seemed like an eternity, Oleandra was spat out at the other end.

Oleandra's brow furrowed as she lit up her wand. Of course, the Chamber of Secrets just had to be underground, where her runic magic didn't work well. Just great.

"Look out!" shouted a voice from the pipe.

Oleandra stepped aside and out came Potter, Weasley and Daphne in a jumbled mess. 

"Get off of me, Weasley," warned Daphne.

The four of them resumed their journey. With four wands lighting up the darkness, Oleandra could better see her surroundings. They were in a tunnel, and there wasn't much to see apart from the stone walls. There wasn't much to hear either, except the crunch of small animal bones underfoot and the squelching of shoes against wet pavement.

As they went around a bend in the tunnel, Weasley suddenly froze.

"There! The Basilisk! There's something huge over there!" he hissed under his breath.

Oleandra took out her mirror and used it to look behind the bend. At the very least, she wouldn't die instantly if she looked into the Basilisk's eyes this way. 

Looking at it through the mirror, the huge, coiled up creature didn't even seem alive. Rather…

"It's only the Basilisk's shed skin," said Oleandra, sounding relieved. "Should be useful, don't you think?"

"We can come back for it later," said Potter. "Let's keep moving."

Oleandra discreetly let a marked acorn fall out of her hand. With this, she should be able to return later.

After seeing the gigantic snake skin, reality was beginning to set in for the group. It must have been twenty feet long at the very least, which meant the creature might have grown even larger by now!

They walked past the skin and continued down the winding tunnel, until finally they came upon an iris door, upon which two entwined serpents had been carved. They were inlaid with enormous emeralds, which represented their eyes.

Potter took a deep breath and hissed at the door. The serpents separated and slithered into place, each one forming a semicircle around the round iris door. A sort of two-snake ouroboros, if you will. The mechanism still worked after all these years, and the door opened, leaving a circular opening big enough to let a twenty-foot snake through.

The four crossed through the opening and into the Chamber of Secrets. It was an enormous room; a long path led to a gigantic, full-body statue of Salazar Slytherin. Oleandra recognized the design; the statue's face was identical to the one in the Scriptorium! On both sides of the path were a row of columns, each pillar decorated with a stone snake coiled around it. There was a strange greenish glow to the place.

At the foot of the statue were two bodies; those of Percy Weasley and Iris Greengrass. The wet floor made it impossible to hide their footsteps, so the four simply hurried forwards to check on them.

Daphne held up a mirror to her mother's mouth, while Ronald Weasley checked his brother's pulse. Their breathing was weak, and their heartbeats irregular, but they were still alive.

"Harry, give me a hand with Percy. He's heavier than he looks," said Weasley, relieved. "Nothing good'll come from staying here too long."

Meanwhile, Oleandra was trying to look around, while also trying not to look at any of the statues in the eye, just in case one of them was the real Basilisk. Naudhiz was going crazy, warning her to leave immediately. Where was that damned snake?

"Come on, Sister," said Daphne. "Weasley's right. Best not overstay our welcome."

Suddenly, Oleandra found herself bound with tight ropes. Unable to stay upright, she fell over on her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other three also fall. 

"Uh-oh," said Weasley. Ron, finding himself with his arms bound behind his back, dropped his brother face first onto the hard stone floor. The older Weasley's head made a sickening crack as it hit the ground.

"Who's there?" yelled Daphne. "Show yourself, you coward!"

"I'm going to need my magic to fight," thought Oleandra to herself. "But I can't wait five minutes every time I need to fire off a spell. I'll have to risk it!"

"Ansuz, Laukaz, Uruz!" shouted Oleandra. "The Aesir, the Lake, the Gateway between Worlds! Show me the path to the lake of power, open the gate to the source of magic! ALU!"

Naturally, nothing happened. Oleandra hoped she'd still be alive five minutes later when the magic of the stars finally reached her then.

"Can't use your powers with your hands and fingers bound, can you?" said a familiar voice mockingly. 

Oleandra recognized that voice. It belonged to —

"Mafalda, you're the Heir of Slytherin?" said Daphne, completely astonished. "But you're a Muggle-Born."

"For the last time," hissed Mafalda Prewett. "My father is a Squib. Squibs count as Wizards when it comes to lineage. That means I'm Half-Blood, when will you get it through your thick heads?"

"Wait, Prewett?" said Weasley. "Are you mum's second cousin's daughter?"

"Yes," said Mafalda. "Now shush. I have no interest in speaking with idiots. Before I kill you all, there are some things I'd like to know, especially about this strange magic of yours, Greengrass. But first—"

Oleandra tried her best to look terrified instead of relieved. Thank goodness Mafalda was going to monologue. Now she just had to keep her speaking until the magic made its way back to her!

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Mafalda. "I finally have a chance to speak to you face to face."

"Are you daft?" exclaimed Potter. "That's why you attacked all those people? To ask me questions? You could have come up to me at any time!"

Mafalda simply smiled thinly in response. She waved her wand, and all four of their wands flew into her grasp. Oleandra's eyes narrowed. That was a nonverbal spell; she was good! That also confirmed why she hadn't heard Mafalda speak the Incarcerous Spell earlier, which had caught them all by surprise.