Violet Potter and the Basilisk Plague (Year Two)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Heir of Slytherin

TRIAL BY SLYTHERIN: The Slaying Of The Basilisk

Everyone else looked at Violet as if worried she had lost all of her senses.

"Violet, don't be stupid. It's not even your battle, it's mine! Look, almost
everyone around Hogwarts believes I'm responsible for this mess, so I'm the one who has to put things right---" Harry tried to explain. But Devon said, "That is actually not entirely true. You haven't been to Ravenclaw Tower obviously, or you would have heard several Ravenclaws speaking up for you and Violet instead of against you. My cousin Luna for one, has always believed in you two---"

"Oh, cool. Loony Lovegood is a first year Potter fan. That helps us loads---" Ron began to say, his voice dripping with sarcasm. But Tori said to him sharply, "Do not call her that Ron. At least Luna is nicer than you sometimes, not to mention tactful. You could actually learn something from her."

Devon continued on.

"There's also my mates from Ravenclaw. Edward Frost and Terry Boot, they also have been in strong support of what you have been doing most of our second year. Of you Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with the Polyjuice Potion disguises to interrogate Malfoy, even if it didn't all go perfectly to plan, and you Violet, and you Tori, with all the extra help you've both given Professor Sprout and Professor Snape with the Mandrake Draft. Even some of the most notable Ravenclaws, Cho Chang and Roger Davies, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil, all of them have been impressed. We all have the same theory: The true Heir of Slytherin is none other than Lord Voldemort, and please save it Ron, someone has got to say the name sometimes. I'm not going anywhere, you're all stuck with me now until the very end." Devon explained.

Then, he spoke to Violet. "I might not like the idea of you going along with Harry to face the Heir of Slytherin and the monster he has hidden somewhere deep in this chamber. But, I sort of understand why you would choose to face them, by your brother's side. There are many who have also wrongfully accused you this year, and now Hermione is petrified, Ginny could be in even greater peril for all we know, and Hogwarts itself is under threat. After all, it was already meant to happen this way. So, I'll wait here with Ron and Tori, and make sure Lockhart doesn't try anything else underhanded when he comes to...though with that broken wand backfire, he may need St. Mungo's rather more than a fight."

"All right Violet? It's time to go." Harry then said to his sister. And Violet followed her brother toward the round door to the inner Chamber.

"Remember to be careful not to look into the monster's eyes!" Devon called out to both Potter twins as they left them.

***

There was a massive, round entrance that was meant to open into the deeper Chamber of Secrets, where the great monster, as the legend went, was normally kept hidden, until now, when a certain someone had been letting it loose, as in the first time fifty years ago, when Hogwarts had Armando Dippet, Professor Dumbledore's considerably less tolerant predecessor, as Headmaster. The Heir of Slytherin was also likely to be waiting for them...and Ginny.

No one had been able to save Myrtle back then. Violet only hoped that she and Harry were not too late to save Ginny.

The entrance to the deeper chamber was currently sealed. It was decorated with seven emerald green snakes stretched out around it. "It looks like it's my time to shine again." Harry said before standing directly in front of the door and he made yet another hair-raising, hissing whisper in Parseltongue. And one by one, the snakes shifted back with several steely, echoing clicks. And with a long, metallic creak, the entrance opened slowly to them both.

The heart of the Chamber of Secrets was every bit as dark and intimidating as the ancient legends described it. Cold, stony, and cavernous. The only source of light came from magical flames of a very evil green that continuously burned eerily, dancingly, along every wall of the inner chamber. There was also a wizard-built underground lake, and what those deep black waters might have contained, neither Harry or Violet were sure that they would ever want to find out.