Link of Hogwarts

Twenty-Four

Link ran around, regardless of the orders to stay put, to question all the portraits that tried their best to hide away. He hunts down the hiding ghosts and his friends could only wonder how he knows where to look. But all clues (mostly "I don't know, leave me alone!") sent the trio to the place of the first incident; Myrtle's Loo.

The ghost was absent but Link had gathered much from Nick's Deathday Party on Halloween that she died in the bathroom and her life ended fifty years ago. Link has long accepted that there's only fate where he's concerned and coincidences are nothing more than building blocks leading to that moment.

Neville looked around, "What are we looking for?"

Ron opened the loo's door one by one, finally declaring, "She's not here. Must have gone hiding too,"

Link looked around, "Slytherin's House reveres snakes and serpents...look for anything that has any connection to it,"

The boys set to work, looking and rubbing every surface that they could reach. Neville was looking round the sinks when he noticed that one particular sink lacks any sign of use. He decided to investigate closer, rubbing his hand on the spout when he felt a strange indentation. He called out, "Link, Ron! I think I found it!"

The boys rushed to him and Neville pointed, "Here, I feel something like a squiggle here,"

He let Link takeover and sure enough, under all the grime and dust was the unmistakable motif of a snake etched on the side of the spout's metal surface. Frown wrinkling his forehead, Link pondered on how to open it. He opened his mouth as if to question the snake;

","

Ron and Neville blinked. Neville asked, "Link? Did you say something?"

Link looked behind him and found the two staring at him, "What?"

Ron sighed out in relief, "Oh good, he's back to speaking English,"

At Link's confused look, Neville explained, "Well...you were staring at that snake and then you started saying something except-,"

Ron cut him off, "Except its not English! And I'm sure I would know if it's Parseltongue!"

Link blinked, "A what tongue?"

"It's something that Slytherin was known for, it's why the House of Slytherin's all about snakes and serpents. People who can speak to snake are called Parselmouth and the language they used to speak to snake is Parseltongue," Neville helpfully explained before it dawned on him, "Of course!"

Ron frowned, "Of course what?"

Link caught on, "Makes sense. If Slytherin can communicate with snakes, he could easily control something as deadly as a Basilisk,"

Ron scratched his head furiously, "But what does this all have to do with the snake taking Ginny?!" He huffed, "I'm pretty sure I would know if my family is descended from Slytherin. I mean, it's not impossible. A thousand years is a long time and magical families tended to marry each other. I am sure that we are related to Malfoy somewhere in the family tree but...who cares about that?! None of my family members can speak Parseltongue,"

Neville nodded, "You-Know-Who speaks Parseltongue. It was his hallmark,"

Ron looked at Link, "So we all agree Link didn't just talked snake so...what was that?" They stared at Link who shrugged, "I was asking how to open the entrance,"

Neville scratched his chin, "Maybe we could try hissing at it and see if any of that translate to snake speak for open?"

Not knowing what else to do, the three did just that, taking turn hissing variations of hisses ("Ron, that's a cat hiss, not a snake hiss," "How should I know?") and just as they all grew collectively frustrated from the lack of progress, Gaepora flew it with a loud screech. Before anyone could react to the giant owl's sudden appearance, Gaepora dropped a snake into the sink that they grouped around. He sat on the stone frame of the mirror and hissed at the snake.

The snake, which looked suspiciously familiar to Link, looked at the small engraving of snake on the spout's surface before hissing. Suddenly, everything around the spout began to move and Link quickly took the snake, now recognizing it as the poor fella that almost got itself beheaded in the failed Dueling Club. Link had rescued it and taken it to the edge of Hagrid's garden plot to release it to the wild.

Link thanked the snake and Ron gawked at it, "Can't believe a literal snake will help us,"

Neville shrugged, "At this point, I'd take any help,"

Gaepora hooted at them and their focus turned back to the entrance, more like a hole, that's revealed to them. Link came forward, looking over the edge into the darkness below. Ron started, "Well, we found the opening to the Chamber of Secret so now let's get some teachers to help-,"

His suggestion was cut short by the utterly and inanely simple reason; Link had jumped over the edge into the hole like jumping into a shallow rain puddle.

""LINK!""

Ron grumbled before looking at Neville, "You go get someone, preferably not Lockhart!"

Watching Ron grimace and gag before whispering a short prayer to Merlin only to jump after Link, Neville was torn between jumping after and taking Ron's (surprisingly) sensible suggestion of informing a teacher. Grumbling to himself and his still cowardly personality, he ran off for McGonagall before finding himself being lifted off by Gaepora.

The two flew through the hall and almost slam into Snape who was cautiously patrolling the hallways. Snape looked up at the surprising and ridiculous sight of Longbottom being carried by Potter's ridiculously large owl, "Mr. Longbottom! Get down here this instance!"

With Gaepora not stopping, Neville cried out, "Sorry Prof Snape sir! I can't!"

Snape cursed under his breath and started chasing, "Pray tell why not!"

"We found the entrance to the Chamber of Secret in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!!"

"WHAT?!!"

"Link and Ron already jumped in to save Ginny!"

"Get down here and explain properly!"