(Enchanting Melodies) Chapter 119: The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 119: The Chamber of Secrets

16 March 1993, Hogwarts

Honestly, it took far too long to reach the end of the tunnel. It wasn’t as scary as it looked; it was more like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. Harry could see more tunnels branching off in all directions in a giant Labyrinth of tunnels, but none as large as the one he was sliding down in, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, for what felt like miles.

When he finally saw a small light at the end of the tunnel, Harry raised his wand and cast, “Molliare!” towards the ground.

As expected, Harry landed softly on the cushioned floor and bounced up immediately after. Longbottom didn’t get so lucky since he bounced off the floor and fell on his backside.

He got up, slowly, while holding his arse, “You could have warned me…”

Harry didn’t answer him and just shrugged, deciding to look around. They arrived in some kind of small room with a tunnel going forwards. Longbottom whistled, “We must be miles under the school, maybe even under the lake itself.”

“I wouldn’t really say so, since it’s a pocket dimension. We’re technically not in Hogwarts anymore, just the entrance to the chamber is there. I think is this some kind of playground for the Basilisk to move around with. Maybe the heir could map the tunnels of this place to the school’s pipe system. It would explain how a large Basilisk would go in and out without being noticed.”

“I did hear the voices from the inside the walls,” Longbottom admitted.

“From now on, Longbottom, I want you to be very careful. We’re in the heir’s territory now, which means that anything here could be a weapon or a trick. From now on, I want you to listen to me and do everything I say. This isn’t schoolyard antics anymore, this is serious.”

The boy who lived nodded, “Enough with the last name stuff. If we’re going to fight a monster together, we might as well call each other by our first names, huh, Harry?”

The Potter scion rolled his eyes, “Fine, Longbottom, just follow me.”

The tunnel was extremely dark, so he conjured a ball of light that would follow them. Their journey was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Longbottom, no Neville, stepped on what turned out to be a rat’s skill.

When the boy looked down, he yelped as he realized that the floor was littered with small animal bones, “Why are there bones everywhere?”

“Basilisks are known for their long hibernation cycle, but they tend to be famished when they wake up. I’m guessing the heir had to collect a large amount of food discreetly to feed it so that it would start attacking again, rats were probably easy targets. He probably used some kind of modified summoning enchantment or maybe a pheromone charm targeted to rats. What you’re seeing here is the remains.”

“You have an answer for everything…”

Harry shrugged, “I don’t leap into anything without planning.”

“But aren’t you leaping here without a plan?”

“I have several plans. Just because you just jumped into the mysterious tunnel without thinking doesn’t mean that I have.”

The Longbottom scion snorted, “You’re an arrogant ass, Potter.”

“Maybe I am, but how would you know?”

“It’s been nice,” Neville said, “being able to talk to you like that. I know you kinda forced me to come at wand point, but I always thought that we would be close when my grandmother told me about us being godbrothers. I was really looking forwards to meeting you.”

“Must have been such a disappointment, right?” Harry answered with a smirk.

“You have no idea,” the boy commiserated, “the first time I saw you was when you were sorted into Slytherin of all places.”

“I didn’t really choose it. I just asked the hat to put me where it thought I would do best.”

“I don’t want to admit it, but Slytherin suits you,” Neville said.

“And Gryffindor suits you.”

They stayed silent for a few minutes, just walking forwards, and the boy who lived asked, “Do you think we ever had a chance at being close?”

“Not really. We’re too different, from two different backgrounds. I think we would have stepped on each other’s feet a lot.”

The boy hummed but before he could respond, he gasped. When Harry followed his sight, he saw the outline of something huge. Harry moved the ball of light towards it and marvelled at the sight. It was a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

“Blimey,” said Neville weakly.

“I know, it’s quite big. The actual Basilisk must be a little bigger since it had to shed the skin,” Harry commented.

“How can you be calm? Did you see the size of this thing?”

“Trust me, its size isn’t a big deal, its glare, on the other hand, is very dangerous. Big things are less agile. Slowing it down even more so should ease things a bit.”

The Longbottom scion looked hesitant for a bit before asking, “How well do your goggles work?”

“Not sure,” Harry answered.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?”

“Well, I don’t have a Basilisk to test them on, do I? Look, the worst that can happen is you getting petrified. See the rubies at the back of the goggles, when these get hotter, it means that it’s going to fail soon and to not look it in the eye. Try not to look it in the eye in general, but a few glimpses aren’t a big deal. This is so you don’t move around blind like an idiot.”

The boy didn’t seem convinced, but Harry continued for him, “Look, I’ll be frank here. Our chances aren’t that great, but as I said, the Basilisk is big, and that means that it’s not as agile. It has two main weak points, the eyes and the mouth since the hide is as strong if not stronger than that of a dragon, that comes with the magic resistance and everything. Snakes are also cold-blooded, so any ice spell would slow it down. I’m giving you these in case you’re in trouble.”

Harry took off his fedora and took a small back inside it. The boy who lived opened the sack and took out a black sphere that was the size of a golf ball. His brows furrowed in confusion, looked, “What are these?”

“These little bombs suck the heat out of a twenty feet radius. You can later use them as normal bombs as they release the heat, so you could technically use them twice. I’m also giving you these as well…”

Harry gave him another two sacks and continued, “Same premise, the bombs in the white sack release a flashbang that would blind the Basilisk temporarily. Its eyes are pretty sensitive. And another is filled with a sonic pulse that should theoretically disorient the basilisk’s senses.”

Neville looked awed at what he had witnessed, “How in Merlin’s name did you get all of this?”

“I made them. I told you I was prepared for this…”

“You made them?”

The boy honestly looked flabbergasted for some reason. Harry didn’t really understand why. These weren’t really all that difficult to make. Well, the goggles were, and Harry was proud of those. The rest were just single use items filled with magic that were just released. Sucking out heat was kinda tricky, but overall, Harry made them in a lazy afternoon after he decided to include Daphne. They were ways for her to fight.

Harry suppressed the wave of sadness he felt when he thought of his friend and went back to talking to Neville, who looked like his whole world was flipped upside down.

“Don’t get distracted. You’re the one who asked to come, and this place is very dangerous.”

“I know. How am I supposed to fight something as big as this,” he gestured to the giant snake skin, “It’s massive.”

“I told you, blind it, disorient it, then try to hit the back of its mouth or its eyes. Oh, and if you’re trouble, try think of your loyalty to Dumbledore.”

It was kind of a long shot. But Dumbledore wouldn’t really leave the castle without someone keeping an eye at his little prophecy child. Fawkes was probably making sure the boy wouldn’t kill himself or something and that meant that the mythical creature was observing them.

“Dumbledore? What does he have to do with this. He’s been suspended…”

“Yeah, he did. But someone like him doesn’t really go away as long as people loyal to him remain in the castle. Do you honestly think he would hang you out to dry?”

The boy looked conflicted but nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something but then the floor started to shake.

As the ground trembled beneath them, Harry could see Neville's eyes widen with apprehension. The distant rumbling grew louder and more intense, causing the torches on the chamber walls to flicker and sway. It was as if the very earth itself was responding to some unseen force, sending shockwaves through the air. Harry and Neville exchanged a worried glance before focusing their attention back on each other.

“Remember, Neville. Follow the plan. If it doesn’t work, Dumbledore is your best bet.”

Before he could continue, the ground gave another violent shake, causing them to stumble. A deafening roar echoed through the chamber, reverberating off the stone walls. The source of the sound became apparent as an enormous figure slithered into view for a fraction of a second, before disappearing quickly into a tunnel that Harry could swear wasn’t there before.

Yeah, it was a lot bigger than the empty skin they had seen previously. The Basilisk didn’t seem to want to attack them directly but probably wanted to hunt them down. Harry remembered seeing glimpses of a yellow glow that made his glasses heat up slightly. At least the goggles seemed to be working fine. However, the king of serpents did not reveal its face to them immediately.

Was this how the Basilisk hunted? Did it use its body to throw people around, crush them to death, while sneaking around trying to find glimpses of eye contact it could use to kill or petrify people?

It was far smarter than Harry thought it would be. Still, they were still in tunnels, even if it was somewhat of a maze, the environment was in their favor. Harry closed his eyes, focused on his Arcane Hearing. He could feel it, the Basilisk. It was a mix between a feral song, a predator that was ready to ambush its prey.

It was getting closer, and Harry grinned slightly before throwing a flashbang and sonic attack at the tunnel that was opening next to him. The creature screeched in pain and the ground started to shake once more.

Harry felt himself falling towards a wall which literally turned into another tunnel that he fell through. When he got up with a start, he couldn’t feel the location of the Basilisk, he closed his eyes to focus, only to be interrupted by some slow clapping.

Tom Riddle stood in front of him, next to what seemed to be a small table, “Well done. You found the Undercroft and thus, the legendary Chamber of Secrets.”

“It wasn’t that hard, to be honest,” the younger wizard replied dryly.

“Because I made sure it wasn’t…”

“I see you’ve brought a pet of your own. I’m afraid I don’t think it will last much against mine.”

Harry shrugged, “Who knows? Worse odds have been overcome before, why not now. After all, Neville Longbottom has a history of achieving the impossible.”

The smile of Riddle’s face somehow grew, “Perhaps. I don’t know what you hoped to achieve, bringing him of all people. He’s not nearly as impressive as he sounds. Trust me, I should know.”

He looked to his right and Harry followed his gaze, only to freeze at the sight on an unconscious familiar girl, “Hermione Granger. So that’s who your second host was.”

“Yes, she was a delight, that one, nowhere near Luna, of course, but it could have been worse. Not a bad mind, but not tempered with a single shred of wisdom. I guess I expected more, but she was just so ordinary. I have to say that I had no idea you two knew each other. I guess it made everything all that sweeter. She was especially heartbroken after you unmasked her in the middle of the common room. She never guessed it, of course, but I could see your fingerprint all over it, especially with your little speech before. If we weren’t enemies, I would shake your hand at the trouble you caused Dumbledore.”

“Trouble that you finished off. Your choices of petrifications were very telling. But you shouldn’t have gone after Daphne. You made it personal.”

The older boy snorted, “Harry, this was personal the moment you separated me from Luna. An eye for an eye. I believe that’s the saying.”

The Potter scion gave him a blank look, and the heir of Slytherin motioned towards the table. Harry noticed that there was a chess set on it and a clock, “Do you mind joining me for a game? I have to say that I am interested to see how it concludes, even if your chances are dim.”

Harry sat down, giving him an intense stare, “A five-minute game?”

“If you think you can manage it…”

“Pawn to E4…”

This was going to be interesting indeed.

AN:
Let me know what you think of this chapter. I'm not really sure about it, to be honest, but it should set things up for the next one. As usual, your suggestions are welcome as well.