The Girl In The Chamber // Draco Malfoy

Chapter 4 - The Portrait Beneath The Lake

Revelling in her victory, her face imitated the small smirk she noticed similarly on the Malfoy boy. 

She sense a strange power surrounding the central window of the common room holding back the Black Lake. Fixating on this she waited for the next few hours as the other Slytherin's slowly trickled up to bed. The instant she readied herself to move towards the central window, she heard the familiar stone 'scraping'  of the common room entrance being opened. She turned to see who it was, to her surprise it was the one platinum haired boy, who goes by the name of Draco Malfoy. Giving her a suspicious look, he inquired "what you still doing up?" she scoffed "could ask you the same." Looking stunned Draco walked off, as he got the his dormitory he said "As a matter of fact, I was with my father - he's a school governor, if you already didn't know." Leaving the boy wide eyed, she responded "No, I didn't." Giving him a fake smile and walking away.

As she finally had the common room to her self, after a lengthy wait she got to work. Moving towards the window she placed her hand on the cold thick glass. Knowing what she needed to do, she uttered "reveal your secrets" in parseltongue. Upon the last word leaving her lips, large sheets of sand gathered themselves and formed into a tunnel - shielding her eyes from the sudden blast of heat, looking back in amazement Serpensi stared upon the newly formed glass tunnel  with the steam still pouring of it, it split the Black Lake in two - similarly to the action of Moses splitting the red sea in legend many thousand of years before. With a genuine smile on her face she said the words to the basilisk "I love magic."

She sauntered into the tunnel that would lead her to where she would eventually find the portrait beneath the lake. She walked for what felt like many minutes until she saw a dim green light in the distance, with excitement overtaking her, her cautious walk turned into a run. On reaching the end of the tunnel, she entered small chamber crammed with artefacts and relics that belonged to her family. Her first thought was to call her father to the portrait, as soon as she made eye contact with a blank canvas, the painting of her father appeared. Her first question was the same as the first "Where is the real you?" In an almost sarcastic tone, the portrait replied "My dear girl, have you not pieced it together by now? I am long dead, only you and two others remain of my legacy."  Masking her great distress at this news with a look of seriousness, she replied with only three words "Good to know." Locking eyes with the image of her father, with a determined voice she asked "So, whats next?" "As I just told you, two others remain - one for the time being is out of our reach, and the other is within our grasp." The portrait directed Serpensi towards the tapestry on the wall of her family tree. Indicating her to the newest section, she could see a cluster of three names 'Marvolo Gaunt', 'Morfin Gaunt' and 'Merope Gaunt'. Salazar said seriously "One still remains alive, he is imprisoned within Azkaban - it is your task to free him my child" "But father how? I am just one."  "You'll find the assistance you need at Borgin and Burkes" "Your wish is my command father." As he exited the painting Salazar instructed Serpensi in a serious matter "You have no time to waste girl - you depart in the morning" No sooner had some form of her father appeared he had gone, leaving Serpensi alone. Looking at the last name at the very bottom of the tapestry she read the name 'Tom Riddle Jnr' Just as she thought to herself "I know that name." The basilisk hissed "Ssssehhhssss." "What do you mean 'that's you'?" She replied in parseltongue. Tracing her finger backwards from the name, it once again landed on 'Merope Gaunt' upon hearing this, the basilisk screeched in parseltongue "Mother!" Upon hearing the word 'mother' she looked at her own mother and father on the tapestry, having suppressed her feelings for so long this was Serpensi's breaking point. Turning away from the tapestry she fled back down the glass tunnel, tears already pouring from her eyes. A minute or so into her disorientated run her mind cleared for a second as she realised she could simply aparate the rest of the way - in one crack she was gone.

The second crack, she found herself atop the green velvet sofa in the now dark Slytherin common room. Serpensi could hear nothing but her own heavy breathing and sobbing, for how long, she did not know. However, the next thing she remembered hearing was a distinct pitter patter of bare feet on the cold stone floor. Not looking up she silenced herself only for the silence to be met by the somewhat comforting words "You alright down there, trains in a few hours. Not that I care, just don't want a fellow Slytherin missing the train." The boy said, clearly wanting to say something else. Quickly drying her eyes out of sight of the boy, she quickly responded "yes, I am aware." tripping on her words "Just keeping warm by the fire." "The dormitories are warm enough." "Well that oaf Parkinson forgot to stoke the fire, so it's ice cold." Raising an eyebrow Draco whispered "Between you and me, not that biggest fan of that Parkinson girl. Ever since she fell into that fountain, it was like a spell had lifted - just noticed she was a bit off." Upon hearing this, she didn't know why but she had a small grin appear on her face.