The right path

Twenty four

Harry and Tom were exhausted. They had been dueling for over two hours, and things had gotten pretty intense. They were sitting in a couch in the RoR, panting heavily, with their eyes closed. Any minute now, one of them would recover enough to talk, and so, the other would stubbornly force himself to respond.

Nirali was watching them amused. They were very strange humans, but they were her humans. She had taken a liking to the both of them and their weird interactions. Even when it exasperated her their lack of mating. It was clear they were meant to mate, she could taste it in the air, and feel their magical cores longing for the other. Why couldn't they see it? It was obvious for her, as a skilled sensorial creature, it came naturally. But those humans, they were pretty receptive too, and still didn't notice. Or didn't care, she wasn't sure. She would not ask that yet, their bond still wasn't that strong.

Whatever their reason was, she knew they would act on it in due time. So, until then, she would get to know them both, protect them, and maybe push them together afterwards. After all, their hatchlings would be her masters too. And then she would make it her job to protect them as well.

"Master, curfew has already passed. You asked of me to stay here until curfew, can I go to hunt now?".

That snapped both boys out of their recovery time. They had been waiting for curfew to arrive in order to go test their first anti-trace prototype. Tom didn't know how they were going to achieve it, but Harry had suggested to leave the Hogwarts grounds to test the previously enchanted rocks.

"Yes, Nirali, you may go. Remember to stay in the shadows and come back to the dorm before midnight."

"Of course master."

When Nirali was out of sight, Harry couldn't help but remember how the basilisk in the chamber of secrets used the pipes to move around. Would Tom open the chamber this time around? And, if he did, would he still want to dispatch all of the muggleborn students? Harry really hoped not, he had bowed to prevent Myrtle's death this time around, and he would hate to lose Tom's friendship because of those stupid pureblood ideas. Magical blood was sacred, no matter its origins. Muggleborns were powerful, too, Hermione being one of the prime examples he could think of, so there was literally nothing, apart from those pureblood stereotypes, to think less of them.

But Harry still had some time to convince the others about that. For now, they had business to do. So, Harry stood up, still a little bit shaken after that intense duel, and took out his copy of the map, activating it with a simple parsel command.

"Let's go, Riddle. We still have a long way to go."

With that being said, he exited the room and started guiding Tom Riddle to the statue of a one-eyed witch, near the DADA classroom. James had told him about this passageway some days before, knowing that the boys would need to leave the castle wards in order to test their pendant. What would they do if they were caught outside of school, they didn't know, but they were confident in their abilities to avoid detection. And faith in the possibility of their success, too.

When they arrived, they made sure there was no one near. They couldn't afford to waste time obliviating eavesdroppers. Once the area was secured, Harry whispered the password.

"Dissendium"

With that, the witch's hump opened to reveal a small descending passageway, barely wide enough to let a person pass through. Harry entered first, conjuring a nonverbal lumos to light their way.

"When did you find this place, Potter? You have been in the castle for less than a year, and yet, you never seem to get lost. What's more, you know some interesting passages no one is aware of. Suspicious, isn't it?"