The Legacy of Salazar

The Chamber of Secrets

The crunch of bones underfoot echoed in the cavernous Chamber of Secrets. Ginny stayed near him, wand tip aglow, her complexion growing paler by the minute. But soon the sound faded and the skeletons of tiny animals gave way to subterranean stone and the damp musky scent of waterlogged grime and moss. Merlin kept his eyes narrowed, ready to shut at the first sign of movement, but each step resounded through empty tunnels.

Then—carved stone gave way to hewn rock. The air tasted stagnant here. How deep under the castle were they now? Under the lake, perhaps? Merlin grew more cautious as they walked, squinting around corners and keeping Ginny behind him. So, when he glanced around a bend of stone and saw a patch of scaly green skin enter his peripheral vision, he shut his eyes immediately and pulled Ginny back against the wall.

"What?" she breathed into his ear.

Merlin shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. He couldn't sense anything. Surely the Basilisk would be even more potent than the Troll? Taking a deep breath, he glanced around the corner again and relaxed. "It's just the skin," he said, walking forward. The snake had shed here, a large thick-banded patch of skin that was faded green. In any case, the Basilisk was enormous—sixty feet long at least, large enough to swallow a human with ease.

Ginny went paler still. "This—Merlin, what—?"

"It's a Basilisk," Merlin said. He glanced at her bloodless face. "Are you sure you don't want to go back?"

"We don't know where it is—it could be somewhere in the castle," Ginny said, taking a step closer to him instead. "What if I ran into it?"

Merlin hated it but she was right. And he didn't have time to walk her back through the passage in any case. He sighed, "Well, it looks like we're moving on," and they started off again. Merlin carefully stepped over the skin, and down another long tunnel until the rock smoothed out and narrowed to a point, and a stone door. With one look, Merlin could tell that even if he attempted to blast it open—a terrible idea considering the sheer size and the rock encompassing them—the ancient enchantments would hold strong. Engraved into the stone was a long snake, curling in a circle the height of the space, with emeralds for eyes. They glittered as he neared.

It wasn't hard to guess what he needed to do. "Open," Merlin hissed and the snake shuddered into movement, and the door slid open. "Last chance," Merlin said, hoping a little that she would decide to wait there for him. But, instead, she lifted her head and resolutely strode inside.

Damn Gryffindors.

The soft light of Ginny's Lumos cast the next room into shadowed relief. The ceiling rose, suspended by stout columns four across and lining the way into the dark. Merlin took a tentative step forward, shoes knocking against the sculpted stone and vibrating into space.

There was nothing for it.

They ventured forth, Merlin wishing he could send an orb of light to shine the path above them, were it not for the questions that would no doubt arise. Then, the Lumos illuminated the end of the chamber and touched a giant statue standing the full height of the room. A Salazar Slytherin he no longer remembered, with a flowing beard that disappeared into a sheet of water at the giant's feet – a mirror reflecting dead eyes. Something about the statue tickled his magic—wait, no—something within the statue.

Merlin took a deep breath, closed his eyes and concentrated his magic, like a bat shouting into the dark he considered the enchantments, the echoes left behind. The statue was heavily warded, protected from outside and within. It prevented him from delving inside, but he could hazard a guess what might be inside. The question was—how long would it stay there?