Harry stumbled into the shower after a gruelling afternoon Quidditch practice. Angelina might have a nicer arse and legs than Oliver but it seemed his former captain had somehow infected his replacement with his fanaticism. The match with Slytherin was a week away and she was in frenzy. It was the first official match since Harry's Third year so there was a lot of attention being paid by both the students and outside to the run up. Two hours in the air wasn't too bad but Angelina kept them in the air through a torrential downpour with a strong, cold wind. Harry stripped off the Quidditch gear and stepped under the strong, hot stream of water.
It was Heaven.
Harry was so wrapped up in rediscovering feeling in his extremities that he missed it at first. But then he heard it again but this time the sounds registered on his brain as speech; not normal speech but a hiss. And worse it was a hiss he understood and recognized.
" Speaker, you must come to see me, youngling. Come to the Master's Chamber tonight," the voice hissed. It seemed to come from underneath Harry's feet. It was the voice of Sasha, the Basilisk. Harry glanced around but no one else was there to hear the hissing.
" There is danger, Defender of Hogwarts. The true Master's dream can't be allowed to fade. Come to me, youngling ."
Harry looked down at his drain and hissed quietly, " Tonight ."
" That will do," the Basilisk hissed back. Then Harry somehow knew she was gone.
Harry leaned back into the shower stream and against the wall. He felt tense and ready to collapse at the same time. Why had the basilisk come up to find him after over two years? Harry had never ventured back down to the Chamber and had no desire to do so. But Harry could hear the concern in the creature's voice. Something had a 1,000 year-old basilisk scared. What the hell could scare a creature longer than two of the Hogwart's Express car put together and at least six feet wide? Harry felt a shiver go down his spine.
He had a horrible feeling he was going to find out.
....
Questions of what had disturbed Sasha occupied Harry as he dressed and made his way down to dinner. He was still distracted when he sat down next to Padma with an absent hello to his girlfriend and their friends.
"Earth to Harry," Ernie said as he waved his hand in front of Harry's face.
"Stop that," Harry grunted and swatted at the hand.
"Well, maybe if you responded to us for the last five minutes he wouldn't have done that," Padma said with an exasperated tone. "And here I thought nothing could distract you from me ." Harry had to grin at the teasing tone of Padma's last comment.
"Sorry. I've had a bit of a shock and am still trying to wrap my head around it," Harry replied.
"Well, what was it?" Hermione huffed.
"Not here. After dinner." Harry could see Hermione was about to insist he tell them now. "This isn't the time or place. After dinner."
"Does it have anything to do with the excitement earlier?" Ron asked after he swallowed his food. ('Thank Merlin for Daphne,' Harry thought.)
"What happened?" Harry asked. "What did I miss?" The group looked at Harry in disbelief.
"Harry, one of the Third year Ravenclaw witches, Melissa Turnings, is missing," Padma answered. "She is a sweet, quiet girl but today walking into the Great Hall the thing that appeared to be her… melted right in front of Professor Flitwick and the rest of her Charms class. It was a magical construct that looked and acted just like Melissa. They called in the Aurors and Professor Crowling to investigate it."
Hermione jumped in. "I heard Professor Crowling tell Professor Flitwick that there was no way of telling how long the replacement had been made. If maintained a construct can last for years. I went to the library and found out that constructs need a potion and a short ritual every five days."
"So, either she was taken five days ago or someone here was keeping it fresh until five days ago," Harry concluded with a nod.
"Exactly," Hermione agreed with a pleased smile.
Harry kept the concern from his face but wondered if this had something to do with why Sasha had approached him. It was bad enough that a reborn Voldemort was out there starting the war again, but did they have to have something here too? Would a quiet year at school be too much to ask?
....
Harry slipped into the Murtle's bathroom under his invisibility cloak. The school was under a complete lockdown and an extra squad of Aurors were patrolling the halls. Since most of them were former Hogwarts students, it meant they knew the school rather well. Fortunately, Harry knew it better and was adept at ghosting through the school. The cloak and a silencing spell sealed the deal.
Stepping up to the sink Harry hissed, ' Open '.
The sink slid back with a grinding that seemed loud in the quiet of the school. Harry pulled out his broom, dropped down the hole quickly, and hissed the command to close. He didn't want the DMLE stumbling on the unexpected opening and he was also afraid his friends would follow him down.
When Harry told them about Sasha's summons, they had all insisted he either not go or take them with him as backup. Harry argued he didn't think Sasha would react well to the uninvited guests and none of them had a parselmouth's protection from her gaze. They argued with him up until curfew with Padma promising all kinds of dire girlfriend punishments if he went without support. When they returned to the Gryffindor dorms, Ron and Hermione stationed themselves near the entrance to prevent Harry sneaking out. Harry realized it would be harder to escape his friends than his enemies - his enemies he could curse.
In the end, Harry used an illusion on his bed to make him appear to be safely asleep and snoring away. A Sleeping Charm on his roommates would prevent them from hearing him leave or return. As the school wards would immediately detect anyone flying around the school, he exited a window as the Beast and climbed down the tower. Re-entering the school via the window of an unused classroom on the second floor, Harry found it easy to make the last hundred metres undetected.
From under his cloak, Harry pulled out his shrunken broom stick and mounted it. A hissed word opened the sink portal and he carefully directed the broom to lower slowly into the revealed tube. Then with another hiss, he closed the portal.
Harry felt a sense of relief when the portal closed without Padma or one of the others appearing. He didn't expect the illusion to fool Hermione for long and figured there was a good chance Padma or Ernie would be making their way to the bathroom to intercept Harry. He knew this was possibly stupidly dangerous if Sasha was baiting a trap. However, he also didn't want to take the chance of angering the very large 1,000 year-old king (or queen) of all snakes, especially if she had information on what happened to Melissa Turnings.
The tunnels leading to the Chamber were unchanged for the most part. Harry could see signs of Sasha's recent passage and that had shifted some things around. The huge golden double door stood wide open and the animated snake motifs on each hissed their welcome. Harry walked though into the Chamber itself.
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/InfinityWeaver
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon