Facing the Basilisk

Harry quietly shifted his weight under the Invisibility Cloak as he departed from his shared dormitory. With him was his wand and the Marauder's Map, both of which were held carefully in his hands. He made it through the common room ignoring the two sixth years who were snogging half naked on the couch and quickly towards the portrait hole.

It wasn't the first time those two had been at it on that particular couch. One of the down sides of the Marauder's Map was that it showed where everyone was by tracking their footprints. It wasn't all too hard to figure out what it meant when a pair of footprints were around another pair. Harry had been avoiding that couch for nearly half a year now.

He pushed past the portrait hole quietly so that the two sixth years wouldn't notice, shutting it with equal silence behind him. The Fat Lady looked around in confusion, but Harry was long gone, and still under his cloak.

Harry silently made his way down the stairs and towards the second floor girl's toilet. He was slightly curious (and equally concerned) as to why Salazar Slytherin would have the entrance of his fabled chamber in a girl's bathroom, although Harry doubted something such as plumbing even existed back then. He was more suspicious of how Voldemort had found it. Moaning Myrtle had not haunted the bathroom at the time young Tom Riddle had found it, it would have still been used by other students.

Harry preferred not to think about that.

He eventually made it to the bathroom after nearly running into both Peeves and Filch. Harry was thankful the Auror guard had not yet arrived; although he would be damn near impossible to find under the Peverell Cloak, he wouldn't be if he accidentally walked into someone. Besides, Dumbledore had managed to find Harry under it, although Harry had a feeling he knew how. Invisible though he might be, he was still just as easy to hear as any other.

As he entered the bathroom, Harry subconsciously pulled the cloak off, walking toward the bathroom sinks.

"I was wondering when you'd come back to visit." said a voice from his left side.

Harry turned to find the ghostly body of one Moaning Myrtle floating towards him. She looked just as she had a little more than a year ago, when Harry had last seen her. Her eyes, however, showed Harry just how upset the ghost had been with Harry's lack of visitations. It surprised him a great deal, to the point where he genuinely felt guilty.

"Sorry, Myrtle, but it is rather hard you know, sneaking into a girl's bathroom, even if it is out of order . . ."

She nodded dejectedly, before turning to look at the entrance to the chamber.

"I suppose you're trying to go back there, aren't you?" she asked.

"I am."

The ghost beamed happily at him.

"You saved me from the Basilisk. It was a rather good thing you did, you know. I'd love to have a visitor who isn't as horrible as the others."

For a moment Harry contemplated reminding Myrtle that she was already dead, but quickly decided against it.

Instead, Harry walked to the snake-marked tap, and said, "Open."

"It doesn't work in English, you know." Myrtle said helpfully from the side of the bathroom.

"Yeah, I figured that much out on my own." said Harry in an annoyed tone.

It took three more attempts to get the chamber to finally open; Harry would be making sure to practice his Parseltongue. He watched as the sinks split apart, floating in a peculiar fashion similar to the way Myrtle moved around. Harry turned back to the ghost, a question forming on his lips.

"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret." said the ghost happily, "It's much more interesting this way. And if you die, you're still welcome to share my toilet with me."

Harry chuckled quietly, before turning back to the newly formed hole in the ground. He couldn't imagine that Voldemort would have ever jumped down the hole, or anything of similar boldness.

"Stairs." hissed Harry in Parseltongue. He was delighted to see stairs shooting from the stone hole, forming a staircase similar to one someone might find in a tower of some sort.

After quickly thanking Myrtle, Harry made his way down the staircase. Every few stairs had a stone serpent's head on the wall above it. As Harry passed, the eyes of the effigies caught fire, providing a source of light. The fire was of a colour very similar to Harry's eyes, adding greatly to the 'Slytherin' feel the place had.

That's to be expected, of course. It's not like it was made by someone other than Slytherin.

After around a minute, Harry reached the bottom of the staircase. He was in a small hall of some sort, different from the caved in room he and Ron had been in more than a year prior. It was most likely a magic of some sort, although it did not comfort Harry to not know where he was, especially in a place such as this.

After further inspection, Harry realized that the hall was identical to the caved in one he had been in, though in much better condition. Harry made his way to the end of the hall, and whispered a quick, "Open." to the snake effigy that was curled around the circular door.

The door opened to reveal the Chamber of Secrets. There was a giant rectangular platform leading to the giant bust of Salazar Slytherin. To either side of the platform was water, with stone serpent effigies similar to the ones on the stairwell adorning the walls behind the pools (although these heads were much larger). The ceiling must have been a sixty feet tall, as Harry could just barely see it with the gloom of the chamber.

The ginormous corpse of the basilisk lay across the stone floor, it's mouth wide open.

The entrance he had come out of was directly opposite the bust of Slytherin, as opposed to the one one he had used prior, which was adjacent.

Slowly but surely, Harry made his way towards the bust. As Harry expected, the eyes of each effigy caught on fire as Harry passed it, basking the room in a green glow. He walked much more cautiously as he passed the basilisk, afraid that it might suddenly come back to life. Harry couldn't help but wonder how he had somehow managed to defeat such a thing. The creature was huge; perhaps eighty feet long, and wider than Harry was tall.

Quite like Dudley. If you take away the 80 feet long part, anyway.

When Harry finally reached the bust of Slytherin, he paused. He remembered hearing that basilisks were born from chicken eggs being hatched under a toad. It was highly unlikely that someone would attempt to replicate that in the chamber where a basilisk lived, as a chicken's cry was fatal to the king of serpents.

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