47

Chapter 47

"There is no reason to be worried," Elaina consoled Harry as they arrived on the second floor of the castle, "The rooster cry is going to work.  If it doesn't we have enough backup plans and contingencies to make it out of this.  Don't worry."

Raising an eyebrow at the girl as he turned his head to face her she blushed slightly, "Right."

Taking a breath Harry sighed, "Elaina, you don't have to come with me.  You're right the rooster will kill the basilisk, and I can still take you down into the chamber later."

Shaking her head immediately she protested, "If it doesn't work and you get hurt, that's on me.  I don't know how I would explain it to anyone, much less your parents."

"If something did happen to me you could always play dumb." Harry chuckled darkly.

"That's not funny." Elaina scolded, "Nothing is going to happen to you, because I will be right there beside you."

Squeezing the girl's hand in gratitude Harry guided her into the girl's restroom after ensuring the corridors were devoid of any living or dead occupants.  With his family's invisibility cloak it hardly mattered, but Harry would rather not have chanced it either way.  The castle was silent following the hours of midnight.  Few living things had moved throughout the vast grounds of Hogwarts at this hour.

Elaina had done a lot of research on their enemy over the last week.  She was right they had come up with a dozen backup plans to take down Slytherin's monster in case their first plan failed, which Harry thought was about a fifty-fifty chance.  Regardless of that, he knew the Chamber.  He knew where the beast would come from.  These were things he had not shared with Elaina, but he made sure to propose scenarios that could prepare her for what they would actually face.

Sweeping the cloak off of them, Elaina looked around curiously, "I was always told to stay out of this bathroom due to the ghost that haunts it.  This is my first time here, and I am having a hard time believing that Salazar Slytherin hid his infamous chamber underneath a girls' lavatory."

"Go look at the faucets." Harry instructed simply as he looked around for signs of Moaning Myrtle.  On this visit, it will only have been a little over thirty years since her death, but something told him she would be as difficult as she had been in his own time.

Elaina ran her finger along the sink faucet that had a snake engraving on it with wonder, "How do we open it?"

His eyes continued to search for what he was looking for as he ignored the girl beside him momentarily.  It wasn't long before he caught the silver outline of a familiar ghost peering at him from behind a stall, "Hello, Myrtle."

Elaina whirled around with her wand shooting to her hand, but Harry stepped in between the ghost and his partner before saying, "My friend and I won't hurt you, Ms. Warren, you can come out."

The teen ghost floated from where she was hiding behind a stall out into the open.  She eyed Elaina's wand nervously as if she could be hurt by the girl, before saying, "It's late, what are you two doing here?"

"We are here to avenge you, Myrtle." Harry answered honestly.

Harry could only see Elaina in his peripheral vision, but he could tell she had stiffened.  The ghost seemed surprised by his answer, "Why would you do that, for me?"

"Everyone deserves justice Myrtle.  I know you were bullied while you were in school." Harry said in what he hoped was a consoling voice.

"By Olive Hornby and his friends!" The girl wailed.

Glancing back at Elaina who appeared more confused than ever he raised his hands up, "I know they were bastards to you, but they weren't the ones that killed you."

"They may as well have." The girl sniffled.

"It was a creature wasn't it?  With big yellow eyes?" Harry recalled in the exact words she had said to him in his time.

"How did you know that?" She asked, mystified, her big eyes seemingly larger than her glasses.

"Everyone knows about you, Myrtle." Harry said evenly, "The shame follows the students everywhere.  It's why no one comes to your bathroom.  They can't live without seeing your face."

The ghostly form of the girl's jaw dropped, "I never thought about it like that.  I thought they just didn't like me."

The words were said quietly, but Harry latched onto them, knowing his words were working, "Once your killer is brought to justice you can move on.  Everyone will rest easier knowing the death of a student didn't go unanswered."

The girl suddenly seemed to look through Harry as she stared off, "Moving on never seemed like a real option to me."

"It could be if you let go." Harry encouraged, "My friend and I are going to kill the creature with yellow eyes, and you can rest."

"I'M NOT READY TO GO!" The girl wailed as she turned and flew into a stall disappearing from sight.

A long pause filled the room before Elaina merely shook her head, "I always knew you were ambitious, Harry, but I just got a fresh look at why you belong in Slytherin."

Harry offered her a forced smile as he turned to face her, "I really just needed her to leave us.  I figured she would report what happens next to the headmaster."

"How did you know about her?  I have never heard of how she died." Elaina said with a suspicious look on her face.

"I am going to tell you once we enter the chamber.  There will be no chance of being overheard down there." Harry promised.

Grumbling, the girl finally acquiesced to his words and Harry turned to face the large circular sink whispering his command in Parseltongue, "Open."

History repeated itself as the sink began to split apart leaving a large hole in the center of the room.  Elaina's jaw dropped as the sink magically disassembled to the point they would be able to delve further into the school than many ever would.  Turning to face the girl Harry offered his hand, "I will go first.  Think of it like a slide.  When we hit the bottom it's going to release us onto a stone floor.  It won't be super comfortable, but you shouldn't get hurt either."

"I trust you." She said, but the look in her eyes was full of doubt and not a little fear.

Taking a deep breath Harry braced himself as he sat with his feet dangling over the edge.  With a slight glance behind him wondering if everything would go according to plan he pushed himself over the edge and plunged his way into the tunnels.

When he arrived at the bottom he managed to catch himself in a stumble to prevent himself from falling face first.  He quickly lit the room with a blue bell flame charm and caught the falling Elaina with a levitation charm to prevent her from hitting the stone.  Sitting her down with ease she gave him a brief look of gratitude before scanning the area for threats.

There were much fewer animal bones and snake skins than when he had been down here last time.  He supposed the first time Tom had awoken Slytherin's Monster it hadn't been awake as long as the basilisk had been in his time.  In his day the Chamber had been opened for nearly eight months, while he was uncertain how long it wandered the pipes the first time the chamber had been opened by Tom Riddle.

As Elaina eyed the skin she took Harry's hand tightly, "This thing must be nearly twenty meters long."

"Which means it will give us enough venom to destroy whatever is necessary." Harry tried to assure the girl.

As they trudged their way through the chamber Harry had flashes of what it had been like the last time he had been down here.  A pocket of nerves appeared in his stomach, and he began speaking, "This Chamber has only been opened one time in the last several hundred years.  When Voldemort was in school thirty years ago he opened it and released the basilisk.  When it killed someone they threatened to close down the school so he found a scapegoat.  He was an orphan just like me, and didn't want to go back any sooner than absolutely necessary."

"How did he just create a scapegoat to blame for the death of a student?  Who would've believed it?" She asked disbelievingly.

"Tom Riddle was a resourceful student.  All the teachers liked him.  Respected him.  When he pointed the finger at a student who was raising a baby acromantula in the dungeons they believed him.  It didn't help that the student was half-giant and you know how our society feels about half-breeds." Harry said the word half-breed with clear disgust in his voice and she shook her head.

Harry turned to face her at this point, "Why do you think Hagrid, the gameskeeper, doesn't have a wand?  When he was expelled they snapped it."

Elaina's jaw dropped, "But Myrtle said they were big yellow eyes?  How could they possibly have pinned that on an acromantula?  Wouldn't there be venom or something in her blood?"

"The death of a Muggleborn girl at Hogwarts towards the end of the Great-War probably didn't even make the papers.  Other than Dumbledore I doubt there was much of an investigation." Harry said evenly.

Scoffing, Elaina scowled, "That's horrible."

In agreement Harry barely nodded as they reached the end of the tunnel and he whispered the Command in Parseltongue making the door open with ease.  Her next statement was not surprising, "You've been here before."

"I have." He admitted as the door creaked open.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked with no anger, but genuine curiosity in her voice.

"I honestly didn't know how.  It's been years since I've been down here." Harry admitted.

She stopped at his words as he took his first steps into the Chamber of Secrets.  She looked at him from within the tunnels as if he were a million miles away, "Years ago?"

Nodding gravely he sighed, "Yes, and I have come face to face with the monster we are about to fight.  I prepared you the best I could, giving you scenarios that we will face down here.  I was only twelve when I had my encounter with the monster.  I was not nearly as well trained as I am now either, so there was no hope of summoning a rooster, or gouging the basilisk eyes out."

Her eyes searched for him as if she were looking for a lie or deception.  Instead she sighed, "Will you show me the memory this Summer?"

Offering his hand back to the girl he offered her a smile, "Of course I will.  I intend to keep my promises, no more secrets."

Taking his hand and stepping into the chamber she observed the massive statues without further comment on his first adventure down here.  The two began to walk down the tile area where the face of Salazar Slytherin stood at the end of the path carved into a massive wall.

Elaina's jaw had seemed to fall as she progressed through the Chamber and Harry squeezed her hand, "Congratulations.  You might be the first non-parselmouth in history to ever enter these chambers."

"Generations of Slytherins have searched for this Chamber.  Generations of students, professors, historians, ghosts, yet here we are." Elaina whispered softly.

"Here we are.  Trying to find a way to eliminate the tools that made Voldemort invincible.  It shouldn't be understated that he could also have called this creature into battle.  From there untold death and destruction could occur." Harry stated solemnly.

"We will have to kill it." She stated with resolve, "We can't let innocent people get hurt.  If you at twelve years old could face this monster then we can finish the job together."

For the first time all night she didn't look scared.  She looked prepared.  Beautiful.  Harry released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her into him as he placed a kiss on her lips.  She seemed surprised by the move, but didn't fight it in the slightest.  She melted into him, and when they separated he put his forehead on hers, "I won't let anything happen to you.  Stick to the plans we made.  Rooster, and then the eyes.  Hopefully that will do all the work for us."

Nodding her head he stepped away from her slowly before turning to face the massive bust of the founder of Hogwarts.  Clearing his throat he hissed out, "Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts founding four."

The mouth of the bust opened and nothing happened as the two stared at the opening.  Movement deep from within seemed to indicate the arrival of their enemy and Harry cried out, "Now!"

With a flick of her wrist Elaina conjured a rooster and hit it with a stinging spell in quick succession causing the crow of the animal.  The basilisk immediately began screeching in pain, but it surged forward in an attempt to escape the chambers it rested it in.  With no hesitation Harry and Elaina both began flinging the conjunctivitis curse repeatedly making the massive snake writhe in pain as it slithered out of its hole.

In panic Harry and Elaina separated to divide the attention of the monster.  Its head swung around as if searching for its intended target and both spell casters stopped to observe the beast.  It was bleeding from its eyes indicating their success in blinding the beast.  The rooster seemed to have done no damage, which made a swell of panic settle in Harry's stomach.  He was uncertain if he had the spells strong enough to bring the beast down, and he was certain that Fawkes nor the sword of Godric Gryffindor would be coming to help him this time.

Deciding to draw the beast's attention away from Elaina he struck with his most powerful gouging spell at the creature's head.  The spell seemed to have a similar effect to a bee stinging a bear however as the basilisk became angry lunging in his direction.  Diving to the side Harry watched as Slytherin's Monster ran head first into the wall and with the assistance of Elaina the two began raining spells down upon the brute.

After over a minute of harrowing dodges, Harry called out a retreat as they began running back the way they had originally come into the chamber. Passing the massive snake statues Harry waved his wand bringing the first to life, and Elaina followed suit as they turned the stone snakes into animated beasts.  The first two lunged at the basilisk with impunity, and the creature seemed to panic, not understanding where the mammoth-sized brutes had come from.  The screeches of fear from the basilisk gave Harry hope as he continued to animate the other 8 statues to life with the help of Elaina.

The basilisk was unable to land a direct hit on any of the golems that had been brought to life and Harry realized the rooster had not been completely worthless.  He shouted to his companion with hope laced in his voice, "The basilisk can't hear.  It was deafened by the roosters' cry!"

Elaina stopped for a moment to try and process his words and watched as the basilisk was attacked over and over again by the stone statues.  The creature was something from her nightmares, but somehow they were beginning to turn the tides.  It appeared that the basilisk was backing its way into a corner, and their opportunity to deliver a fatal blow was coming.

"I have an idea, but it's mad!" She called out to him as she began advancing towards the retreating monster.

Following behind the determined dark-haired girl he listened as she rattled off instructions, "I am going to take down our animations.  From there I need you to immerse the basilisk in the water.  I will do the rest."

The great snake had already taken down half of their animations, but not without injury.  Regardless, the amount of water it would take to submerge a creature of this size would be impossibly difficult, "Elaina, it's over 20 meters long, how am I supposed to do that?"

Stopping, she looked him in the eye with a slight grin tugging at her countenance.  Her hairline was damp with sweat from the exertion of the battle, and her cheeks were pink from being out of breath, "I trust you can figure it out.  Do your part, and I will handle the rest."

The girl didn't wait to see if he would hold up his side of the bargain as she blasted one of the snake statues into pieces and transfigured the rubble into metal poles that she slammed into the beast causing it to thrash around.

Harry for his part swirled his wand around his head like a lasso and pulled the water from the moat leading up to the statue.  As he swirled his wand the water began to circle the basilisk as Elaina dismantled the last two statues and viciously attacked Slytherin's monster with more metal poles.  The creature seemed to be in throes of pain and misery as Harry felt himself push the bounds of his magical abilities by summoning more and more water from the depths of the chamber.

The behemoth seemed to sense the danger it was in as its tail struck the water barrier that had surrounded it.  In desperation it flailed into the wall and part of the debris came flying in the direction of the attackers, but Elaina protected them with a swift swipe of her wand.

The distraction however caused the wall of water to implode, but with massive swirls of his wand Harry managed to take control of the water and envelop the majority of the snake in the water.  With savagery and panic the basilisk attempted to escape causing Harry to strain to the point that he dropped to one knee, "Elaina, now or never!"

The girl didn't need further prompting as she thrusted her wand forward and a blast that resembled lightning erupted from her wand and electrified the water resorting in an explosion sending Harry tumbling backwards roughly.

Harry hardly recognized the short lived screeches of the basilisk.  Instead he lay on his back in immense pain.  The chamber now eerily quiet.  In moments he felt his head being lifted onto the soft flesh of Elaina's legs as she began waving her wand up and down his torso.  He felt the pain leave him, but the ringing in his ears was still immense.  He had seen her use a spell similar to this before, but nothing of the magnitude he just witnessed.

As the ringing subsided her voice seemed to echo in his mind as if it were far away, "Talk to me Harry, I need to know you are okay!"

Groaning, the boy felt the numbing charms begin to work their magic, and the basic healing spells she placed over him began to settle in, "I feel like I got hit with the spell."

"Just the backlash, but it worked." She said with a huge smile.  Her features looked heavy and the exhaustion was apparent, but with her smile, she seemed more alive than he could ever remember seeing her.

Sitting up Harry turned to see what his friend saw.  The scales of the basilisk face were charred from the impact of the blast.  The metal rods were a stroke of genius.  Besides the blunt force impact and the damage they were doing to the skin of the creature the entire thing was a massive lightning rod.

"You're brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant." He said in whispered disbelief.

Laying back on her own back now she took a deep breath, "Had we not deafened and blinded it in the beginning we would both be dead.  It almost killed us without more than half its abilities.  I would not be anxious to come across another one."

"At least we know the rooster works.  They need to update Fantastic Beasts." Harry said with a tint of annoyance.

"Write to Newt Scamander.  He would probably be really fascinated by our story." Elaina said jokingly.

"If I do that they will call you, Elaina Essex, beast slayer!" Harry chuckled playfully as he struggled to get to his feet.

Looking at the downed class five magical beast he could hardly believe they had done it.  Offering his hand to the girl on the ground he helped her to her feet and the two walked slowly towards the charred reptile.  With their hesitance one might think the creature could still live, but both knew it was impossible.  With the exhaustion that coursed through their bones they would be dead if somehow it had survived the blast of lightning.

Thinking about the last time Harry had downed this creature his arm throbbed with the phantom pain of the basilisk embedding one of its fangs into his arm.  Now however he approached it carefully and bent down to where its maw was. A few fangs were visible and with his wand he cast several precise cutting charms to remove the deadly items from its host.

"So we have a weapon that can now destroy these items that make Voldemort invincible.  How do we find them?" Elaina asked curiously as Harry put the fangs in a pouch he pulled from his pocket.

"I have a few ideas.  I told you I think one could be in the castle.  What I didn't say was that I think it is in the room we trained the others in." Harry admitted remembering the Diadem of Ravenclaw and the damage it had caused to the room when Crabbe destroyed it the first time.

Elaina's jaw dropped as she followed the teen who was walking away from the titanic-sized creature as if they had slayed an average dugbog. Moving to keep up with him she gasped, "You mean the room we have been training in could have an item with, as you said, holding the darkest of magic known to our kind?"

"I have only shown you the smallest fraction of the capabilities the room has to offer.  I have no idea the extent of its potential.  What I do know is while I know it as the Room of Requirement, some knew it was the Room of Hidden Things.  That's where I think that bastard hid the object." Harry admitted.

"Okay so we know where to start looking." she said, sounding optimistic, "Do we have any idea what it could be?"

"An item related to the founders I think.  If I had to guess it would be something he discovered here.  According to legend the room was built by Ravenclaw herself though.  It would not be difficult to believe that he defiled one of her artifacts and left it in her room." Harry theorized, but internally knowing that was exactly what had been done.

"We should go tonight." Elaina said with confidence radiating in her voice.

"We should rest for a few days." Harry advised, "We have no idea what kind of defenses the item could have, or what means Voldemort would've left to defend it."

"We should explore the chamber some more.  It could have artifacts belonging directly to Salazar Slytherin!  There could be secret passageways as well.  I know we could fly out, but surely that isn't how Slytherin came and went?" Elaina questioned with doubt in her voice.

This stopped him.  How did Tom and Salazar get in and out?  He had never really considered this.  Tom could fly though.  Was that why he learned?  Regardless, Harry had never really explored the Chamber, and was never tempted to do so before now.

"If we don't leave soon and resurface by dawn people will talk." Harry warned.

"Who cares?" She asked as she offered him another smile, "We are standing in a piece of history.  Let's explore it.  Something tells me there is more to this place than it seems."

Not wanting to rain on the girls parade he followed her back into the main chamber.  From there they walked through many caverns and tunnels that each led to dead ends or extended pipe areas that likely led into the Black Lake.  When they circled back into the main room her eyes scanned the ceiling before locking eyes on the massive bust the snake had originated from.  With a few waves of her wand she managed to lower the jaw even further creating what appeared to be a pathway to within.

Building a small bridge over the moat with debris from around the room the two delved towards the mouth of Slytherin.  The darkness in the next room was total.  With a flick of her wand, Elaina took a light and cast it to the highest point of the room to cover the area.  The depth of the room was seemingly never ending with another moat that seemed to lead to more pipes that would take you back into the chamber.  Whistling Elaina looked impressed, "Well I suppose Slytherin didn't want his pet to be uncomfortable."

Harry for his part just observed the room.  He couldn't believe he never thought to check back behind the statue.  Before his eyes could really take in the room Elaina shook her head, "I think we destroyed the legacy of the Chamber of Secrets.  It would take the best transfiguration masters in the world to restore the damage we did to take down the basilisk."

"Slytherin was just a bigot whose legacy taints this school." Harry said disapprovingly, "We did the right thing."

Taking a final look at the massive room Elaina nodded before turning around and heading out of the room, "You're right.  Let's go get some sleep.  Think we can skip training in the morning?"

.o.

In the high mountains of Austria a lone man sat in the cell of a castile peering out the singular small window.  For years he had been dreaming of a young girl with his eyes, and all the potential she had.  For the longest time he had seen her bright light snuffed out at a young age, making him disinterested in delving into the girl's path.  Now however he was getting glimpses of a prodigy in the magical arts, guided by the scion of his old enemy.  On this night he laughed gleefully as he watched his descendant instinctually use a spell of his own creation.

The question of how his granddaughter would know the spell was unfathomable.  He knew Albus would not have taught it to her.  Scratching his scruffy facial hair Gellert considered the many rituals he had conducted in his life to pass on his magic to possible descendants and he was delighted to see the success of the obscure magic paying off in ways he had not imagined.

Coughing hard the man wheezed as the brisk air breached his room.  He wondered how much longer he had in this world, and for how long he would last in this insufferable cell.  The girl was only just beginning to learn who she was, perhaps in time she would come to visit him.  Perhaps in time he could convince her to help him escape.  There was much he could teach his descendants.

The Potter Boy could be a problem, however.  His family heavily opposed him in the Great War.  Gellert Grindelwald scratched at his facial hair gently with yellow fingernails.  Malnutrition had long since taken its toll on him, but for the first time in three decades, he felt hope.

The girl had taken down a basilisk!  His chest swelled with pride in the young woman and could not wait to hear an update from his old friend when he came to visit him.  Albus had always been cautious of the girl's power, but with the right influences maybe the old man would finally relent.

His mind drifted back into the vision he had the night before once again.  In his mind's eye, he watched as the girl displayed true power by unleashing the power of the heavens on the class five magical creatures.  As Grindelwald observed the creature in its death throes he laughed maniacally planning for every possible outcome that could fall at his doorstep.