Chapter 49: Secret Chamber

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 30th, 1992, 9:51 AM - Monday

He then stored the mokeskin pouch in an inside pocket of his robes.

Erik then did the same with the cup and the locket, storing them inside his mokeskin pouch and putting it inside an internal pocket inside his blazer.

"So, Mr. Croaker, what do you want to do about the disembodied soul of Tom Riddle?"

Erik asked Croaker.

"The detector that we crafted showed that it was outside the British Isles, so I will have to take that offer that you made to us to help hunt for it."

Croaker said to Erik.

"No problem. Selena will love to hunt it down."

Erik said to Croaker, letting a big grin appear on his face just imagining what Selena will do to the soul of Tom Riddle.

"And when can you help us hunt it down?"

Croaker asked Erik.

"How about this Wednesday? December 2nd?"

Erik asks Croaker, giving him a date.

"That's good for us. What time?"

Croaker replied and asked Erik.

"Two o'clock in the afternoon. Meet us here in the castle."

Erik said to Croaker.

"Good."

Croaker replied, nodding his head in agreement with the chosen time. Erik nodded his head too.

"Anything else that you wanna talk about with me?"

Erik asked Croaker, who shook his head.

"Not at the moment, Lord Ravenclaw."

Croaker said to Erick and stood up from his seat. Erik stood too from his seat.

"Then it is a goodbye. Have a nice day, Mr. Croaker. You two can use the floo if you want."

Erik said to the Unspeakable and gestured to the fireplace in the office.

"You too, Lord Ravenclaw. And we will accept your offer."

Croaker said to Erik, accepting his offer to use the office's floo. He then walked to the fireplace followed by the other Unspeakable, and, after throwing a pinch of floo powder inside the fire and calling for 'Ministry Atrium', the two Unspeakables disappeared in the middle of tall green flames.

Looking back at his wrist watch, Erik went back to the sofa and sat on it, continuing to read the application letters.

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 30th, 1992, 10:00 PM - Monday

Erik was inside a corridor in the castle accompanied by his three wives, Selena, Joan, and Leona. They were looking at a closed door that had a plaque that read 'CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS'. Yes, the group was outside the female bathroom, on the second floor, that was haunted by the ghost of Myrtle Warren. Their objective for the night: investigate the Slytherin's secret chambers.

"Are you girls ready?"

Erik asked them a last time. The girls nodded with their heads to Erik, confirming that they were ready. They had prepared for this during the last days. Leona had crafted some special goggles to give them an extra layer of protection, and Joan even had a 'mirror' shield strapped to her back. That two extras aside, everyone in the group was wearing some kind of armor.

"Then put on your goggles."

Erik said and put his own goggles on. The special goggles prepared by Leona were the type used by aircraft pilots of airplanes that had an open cockpit. They were big and completely sealed the person's eyes, and were attached to the head by a thick rubber-like band. After putting the goggles on, his vision was not impared at all, in fact, it was like he was not using any goggles at all. Erik waited for the girls to put on their goggles and after receiving visual confirmation from them, he waved his hand and unsealed the bathroom's door.

The door then opened without making a sound and Erik was the first to enter the bathroom. Not surprisingly, it was just like he had left it a week ago. Myrtle's ghost was floating above the toilet's cubicles and was looking at the armored group that entered her bathroom.

"Oh! Visitors!"

Said the ghost in her forever teenager voice.

"Good evening, Ms. Warren. We came to get rid of the beast that killed you."

Said Erik to the ghost.

"Good luck then. If you die down there I can share the bathroom with you, you know."

Myrtle said to Erik, who chuckled hearing her invitation. The girls behind him, rolled their eyes at the ghost's words.

"I appreciate your invitation, Ms. Warren, but I don't intend to die any day soon."

Erik said to Myrtle, who shrugged.

"Good luck then, I will be waiting here."

Myrtle said to the group and assumed a 'sitting in the air' position, still floating above the toilet's cubicles.

"Thank you."

Erik replied and turned to the sink where he had seen the snake engraving last time.

"Selena, can you do the honors? The entrance is behind this sink that has a snake engraving on it."

Erik asked Selena, without turning to her, just pointing to the sink with his hand. Selena nodded her head and went to Erik's side. She then extended her right arm and with a grabbing motion of her hand, she summoned Slytherin's sword. Selena then pointed the blade of the sword to the snake engraving on the sink and ordered out loud while pumping some of her magic inside the sword.

"OPEN."

A second passed and the group heard the sound of stone grinding against each other. The sink started to slide back into the wall while taking with it a good part of the floor, revealing a wide pipe. The group looked at it and the girls wrinkled their noses. The internal walls of the pipe were filthy. They then traded looks between them, and looked at their husband, the only male of the group. Without a word said, Erik understood everything, letting out a chuckle.

His body then shone for a moment with a layer of blue light and he started to float a few centimeters above the ground. With a quick motion of his left arm and hand, Erik summoned Gryffindor's sword and floated over the entrance of the pipe. He took a deep breath and started to float down the pipe, casting overpowered cleaning charms on the pipe's internal walls as he passed by them. Seeing that their husband was going ahead and sanitizing the pipe, the girls cast their own floating spells and floated down the now clean pipe after Erik.

Two minutes of slow descent and after a lot of turns, Erik reached the end of the pipe. He exited the pipe in a wide dark room that had the ground covered in bones of small mammals. Erik waved his hand and dozens of small orbs of white light floated out of him and were thrown in all directions. Each time that an orb of white light reached a wall, floor, or ceiling, it would be stuck in place. When Selena, Joan and Leona arrived in the room, they saw a now very well illuminated room that still had the floor covered with bones of small mammals.

"What a lovely place."

Leona commented, full of sarcasm. Erick, Selena and Joan chuckled at Leona's antics.

"Come, this way."

Erik said to his girls while pointing at a large corridor with Gryffindor's sword. He had seen the way to what appeared to other doors with his senses. The group started to walk with 'cracks' sounds at each step from the bones on the ground. Erik continued to 'launch' orbs of white light around him, illuminating the place very well. He then stopped and pointed with his sword to the ground. The girls stopped and looked at what Erik was pointing at. It was shedding skin. A lot of shedding skin.

"Damn! That's a big snake!"

Leona commented.

"Yes. Hilda must be the oldest basilisk to have ever lived."

Selena said.

"Hilda? The basilisk's name is Hilda?"

Joan asked. Selena and Erik chuckled at her reaction.

"Yes, it is. Hilda was uncle Salazar's pet. He hatched her from an egg and raised her until his death. Before that, he put her in an enchanted sleep, to only wake up when necessary and only in defense of the castle."

Selena replied to Joan. She had met Hilda during some hunts that her uncle, Salazar, had allowed her to participate in.

"If she could only wake up in defense of the castle, what happened then?"

This time it was Leona who asked.

"My hypothesis is that Riddle found a way to mess with the enchanted sleep and managed to influence Hilda in some way."

Selena replied to Leona.

"That, or Hilda went crazy with age. Basilisks are a human creation. They were not supposed to live for so long."

Erik said, adding to Selena's explanation.

The group continued to walk for a minute more and stopped again. In front of them was a big round door preventing their passage. The door resembled the one that was found in a lot of bank vaults today, and the locks on it had the format of snakes with brilliant emeralds as its eyes. Selena didn't need to be asked again. She walked to Erik's side and pointed Slytherin's sword to the door, and again, after pumping some of her magic she ordered out loud.

"OPEN."

Half a second later, the group heard the grinding of stones and the snakes from the locks on the door came alive and retracted. With a loud 'thump', the big round door opened slowly.

Erik was the first one to pass by the door and enter the new room. As he stepped inside the new room, torches with green fire started to lit up on the walls, giving the place a gloom look to it. Erik stopped as he walked about ten steps from the door, and with a gesture of his hand did the same thing that he had done when he came out of the pipe: Dozens of white balls of light appeared around his body and were launched in all directions inside the room. It was then that the group saw the sheer size of the chamber that they were. The roof was about ten meters high with towering stone pillars entwined with carved serpents around it. At the other side where they were, there was a very big stone bust of an old man with no definite features carved on it. Around the stone bust 'feet', there was a pool of black stagnant water that seemed to blend with the dark floor.

"Yep… This is definitely Salazar's secret chamber…"

Erik said while looking around, just to receive a playful punch from Selena. Joan and Leona let out some giggles at their playfulness.

"What? You know I'm telling the truth. If the chamber would be a little less gloomy I would say that we were in Slytherin's Common Room."

Erik said again, just to receive another playful punch from Selena. He turned to Selena with a smirk on his face just to see a look of 'mock anger' on hers face.

"Ok, let's get to work. Knowing your uncle, he would have done something with the statue, but just to be sure, let us all check the entire chamber first."

Erik said and started to expand his senses at the max that he could. The girls, behind him, started to do the same. With the release of four powerful senses, the atmosphere inside the chambers started to shift. The air started to move like there was wind inside the chamber and ondulations could be seen in the pool of stagnant black water. A minute later, the atmosphere went back to normal with the end or their 'scans'. Erik was the first to report.

"How many doors have you girls found? I got three."

Erik asked his wives, reporting to them his finds.

"I got three too."

Selena answered while looking around the chamber.

"Three."

Joan said.

"I found five."

Leona said smugly. The group stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

She asked her husband and sister-wives.

"How did you find five hidden doors?"

Selena asked Leona. It was the same question that the others were thinking too.

"You three problably just looked for magically hidden doors. Two of the hidden doors have no magic at all, they are purely mechanical. I had a hobby of designing hidden mechanisms, I know what to look for."

Leona said as a matter of fact.

"Makes sense… No wizard would think of another wizard hiding something without magic."

Erik said and Selena and Joan seemed to agree with him.

"Let's start with the main door."

Erik said and turned to the statue.

"Joan and Leona, take your places a little away from us. Selena… If you could?"

Erik said again. Selena, hearing her name, took Erik's side and prepared herself for opening the door in the stone bust.

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