The Snake Twins || Book Two: The Chamber of Secrets

XII

"Speaking"
"Basilisk"
*Parsletongue*

Archer's POV:

I made my way back down to the Great Hall to talk to mum, but I saw her walking towards me. "Mum!" I call out. "What is it, wee one?" Mum asks me, stopping in front of me. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened at dinner." I say, and her bright eyes seemed to glow with interest. "Come, we'll talk about this somewhere safer than the halls." She says, then leads me to an empty classroom. She closes the door, then sits on the teacher desk, motioning for me to start speaking.
"Well, Hermione gave Draco a letter, who gave it to me. It was talking about how people have seen Draco walking around with a bucket of the same stuff that the message was written in. You know, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemy of the Heir, beware.'" I explain. "Yes, I had walked past it before. . . And you said people are saying that Draco Malfoy was the one who wrote that?" Mum asked, I could almost see the gears in her head working. "Yes." I say.

I then hear the door open, so I turn around and was met with bright blue eyes. "Ssshhh. . ." The person said. They took my hand then led me out of the room. "Who are you? Where are you taking me?" I ask, only to be shushed again. The boy led me up to the second floor, and into the girls' loo. "I'm not supposed to walk about farther than here, but I had to find you. . . Ruby."
I just stared at the boy, his icy-blue eyes starinng into mine. "You're. . . You're the diary. . . Aren't you?" I ask, not breaking eye contact.
"Yes. My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. I can only be out of the diary and in the Chamber, and I risked a lot to find you," My jaw dropped; but only slightly. "You're. . . You're Tom Riddle. . . ?" I ask, my voice barely audible.

The boy—Tom, my father, but younger—turned around to look at the sinks. *Open.* He spoke. The sinks broke apart and separated, revealing a long tunnel that dropped straight down into darkness. Tom dropped down, but I stayed at the top. "Are you coming down or what?" He asked me, his voice echoing through the tunnel. I didn't respond. I couldn't. I just turned around and ran. I ran as if there was a monster chasing me, I felt an emotion that I haven't felt in a while; fear.
"I will tear! I will rip! I will feast on his flesh!" I heard the voice saying, but I didn't listen. I kept running. I wanted to get far away from whatever happened. I ran towards mum's classroom, tears streaming down my face. I didn't know why I was crying. I felt weak, and small. . . Like a child who had a nightmare. "Mum! Mummy!" I yell, bursting into the classroom. Mum ran up to me, and I held onto her for dear life. "What happened? Where did you go?" Mum asked me. I couldn't respond. I wanted to, but my mouth wouldn't move. I was terrified.

No-one's POV:

Eden held Archer as she cried. No-one spoke. No-one moved. Harry watched as his sister cried, he wanted to help, to comfort her, but he didn't move, he was scared that she would run off again if he touched her. Lilith walked up to Archer, rubbing soothing circles on her back, trying to calm her down. Hermione tried to speak, but couldn't find the words. Everyone was quiet, only the sobs that came from Archer filled the room. Finally, Eden broke the silence. "My darling, what happed?" She asked, crouching down. She wiped the tears from Archer's face, her bright red and blue eyes shone from the tears.
"I d-don't kn-know. . . I w-was led u-up to the seco-ond floor by a bo-oy. . . He took me to the Ch-Chamber. . . Th-then I r-ran. . . I w-was so-o sca-ared. . ." Archer said, then broke out in tears again. Draco came down the steps from the mini common room. He had never thought he would see the day his bad-ass friend would be crying because she was scared.

Eden picked up the crying twelve-year-old and walked up to the common room, sitting down on the couch. Nagini and Hydrath slithered up the couch to comfort Archer. *You're okay, Sssnakeling. You're sssafe now.* Nagini hissed, Hydrath nodding in agreement. The room fell quiet, the only sounds were from the blue flames of the fire, and the crickets outside. Archer's sobs soon came to a stop, and she fell asleep. Eden carried her into the children's room and set Archer down on her bed, covering her with the black and green comforter. Archer curled up into a ball and hugged her pillow tight.
Harry walked into the room with Lilith and laid next to his sister. Lilith sat at her desk, pulling out one of her decks. "Which deck is that?" Harry asked, whispering and playing with Archer's hair, holding her close. "How did you know I had more than one?" Lilith asked, looking over at the raven-headed boy.

"I saw you unpack when we got here. You took out more than one deck. Also, I've been reading up on Muggle magic." Harry explained. "Oh?" Lilith said, turning back to her deck. "Yep. So, which deck is that?" Harry asked again. "It's my Oracle deck. I'm going to pull another card. . ." Lilith said, drifting off. He watched as Lilith shuffled the deck then pulled out a card. "What does it say?" He asked. "Prepare." Lilith said simply. "What does it mean?" Harry asked. Lilith pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages, finally settling on one.
"'This card is a strong signal that it is time for you to develop a plan. Consider where in your life you may need to make some prearations and plans.'" She read, then closed the notebook. Harry was quiet as he thought.

"What do you think it wants you to do?" He finally asked. Lilith sighed, then flopped down onto her bed. "I don't know. . . But I think that it's talking about the Chamber. I feel like something is going to happen and it involves that." She said, voicing her thoughts. Harry yawned and took out his wand. "Tempus." He mumbled. A faint glow of numbers floated out of his wand to display the time. 10:00 PM. Harry yawned again and put his wand and glasses on the nightstande and curled up with Archer under the covers. Draco and Hermione walked into the room and saw the two raven-heads asleep on Archer's bed. Since the last time they were here, Eden had expanded the room, added another bed with deep red and gold colours and desks.
Draco walked over to his bed and flopped down. He looked over at Lilith, who was reading a book, her white hair framing her face. He glanced over at Hermione, who was sitting at her desk, doing her homework.

Draco yawned and left to the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom to change. When he came back out, Lilith was asleep, her silver hangings covering her face, but since all the hanging were see-through, he could still see her. Hermione sighed and walked into the bathroom, coming out a few moments later in her pajama's. She grabbed a book from one of the shelfs and sat on her bed, her blue covers over her legs. Draco layed down, letting sleep take him over. Hermione stayed up for another hour reading, then, she too, fell asleep.

Eden walked into the room to check on Archer and saw the twins asleep in Archer's bed. She smiled, it reminded her of when she had first met the twins after Dumbledore took them. Eden turned off the lights, letting the soft blue light of the fireplace fill the room. She closed the door, then went to bed.

A/N: I did this chapter in one night ;-; Oh well! I used another card from The Witching Hour Oracle; 20. Prepare. Just for those who were curious. Anyways,
Happy Reading! ^-^