He returned as steady as the Mountain Wind

Chapter 10: "Nothing Out There"

Chapter Text

They had snuck out after dinner. It was technically a rule break, with the new and earlier curfew, but the teachers would not start patrolling until the sun had set. Spring was slowly bleeding into summer, the sun set later, so when they arrived at the Great Hall it was painted golden with evening light. Somehow the stillness of the room made it eerie. Like this atmosphere of peace and quiet was as fleeting as the safety of a hallway. It had been there once, but destroyed by the nameless terror haunting the castle.

All Harry saw however, was another reason to find the cursed Chamber already. To bring an end to this. It had been two weeks since they had started actively searching for it, four since Hermione and Draco had been attacked. So far, they had not the tiniest lead on where the Chamber might be hidden. Therefore, it came as both a blessing and a curse when the twins remembered the secret passage out of the Great Hall. A blessing, because there was finally a hint. A curse because Harry couldn't squash the flicker of hope he felt. It would fit for the passageway solely for the Slytherin heir to lead towards the Chamber of Secrets. After all, the passage was designed as an escape route for emergencies. And the Chamber could only be opened by Slytherin's heir, it would make a perfect safe room.

He waited underneath the cloak, waiting for the twins. They had split up while Blaise and Regulus checked on how far the Golden Trio where in their own solving of the mystery. Last year could have ended in a disaster, had it not been for Godric's and Salazar's swift intervention. This year, they couldn't hope for adults to save them. That is, if they went in at all. Wherever the Chamber was, inside was a full grown Basilisk. Read: Not something any Hogwarts student should be confronted with.

Still, it would do them good to find the entrance and then maybe leave it to the faculty or inform the aurors. Whatever seemed the most sensible. When he had brought it up to his friends, they had been more than agreeable, much to his surprise. But general consensus inside that group was: "What can we do against a Basilisk? Nothing! So we remain calm and let the grown-ups handle it for once."

The twins' greeting was them pulling at his invisibility cloak, before following the sound of his steps to the portrait. Once they were inside, Harry activated the gate stepped out into the second floor corridor.

Just like the year before, he wondered why it was so close to the lady's restroom. Then a thought struck him. A student had died in a bathroom the last time the Chamber had been opened. A muggleborn girl to be specific. What if she never actually left the place of her death?

"Moaning Myrtle"

By John Williams

(from "The Chamber of Secrets")

The bathroom was flooded again. But Myrtle wasn't in sight. So they used some drying spells and waited. A minute turned into five, turned into twenty, turned into an hour. An hour became two and soon night had fallen. Harry remained vigilant while Fred and George took the first turn sleeping. He looked towards the ceiling wondering if his parents got any sleep. But when he saw the silver full moon shining through the window, Harry decided it was probably for the best that he wasn't sleeping. Merlin knows what dreams he might be tortured with. Full moon nights were tricky like that. You could get prophetic dreams. But sometimes you wouldn't get prophetic dreams. It was the dreamer's job to figure out which was which. And Harry had not mastered that particular skill yet. Salazar did however. He just preferred to not know the future, as it usually made things more complicated than they needed to be.

It was shortly before sunrise, when Myrtle finally appeared. "What are you doing here?" she screeched. Harry took a deep breath. Next to him the twins stirred. "I came to ask you how you died," he answered the ghost's question.

Myrtle's face turned a misty silver. As if she was doing the ghost version of blushing. For a moment Harry thought he might have offended her, when she replied dreamily: "Oooooooh, it was dreadful," she sighed and then went on to relay the story of how she had hidden in the toilet stall (what was it with girls and hiding in toilet stalls?) and how she had heard a male voice mutter something weird and when she came out to tell the guy off, she had only seen a pair of yellow eyes and dead she was. When Harry asked where exactly she had seen the eyes, Myrtle pointed towards one of the sinks. After Harry thanked her, Myrtle vanished with a loud wail by diving headfirst into a loo, splashing water everywhere. That woke up Fred and George.

Harry – having been awake all night –split up with them, making his way towards the common room. The only lessons he would be missing were DADA and history, so no big loss at all. Before he left a note for Blaise, saying to let him sleep.

At the same time Harry's head hit the pillow, Salazar's eyes opened. He had dreamt of weird shapes. Of red and of a message, smeared across a wall... He looked at Godric who was leaning over him. "Ric...I fear something terrible is about to happen. We have to win this trial. Today."

"The Chamber of Secrets"

By John Williams

(from the movie of the same title)

"Harry!" a voice yelled, Harry blinked his eyes open, one hand already reaching for his glasses. A helpful but impatient hand pushed them onto his nose. The dorm room came into focus. Regulus was leaning over him. What could make his friend so impatient that he couldn't wait for Harry to wake up by himself?

The question answered itself after Regulus had dragged him up the stairs to the place where they had attacked Mrs. Norris. He saw the twins, but could not quite acknowledge them. Not when above their heads (had they fallen to their knees?) the writing on the wall boldly declared:

Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.

"Who?"

"Ginny"