Ginny woke up slowly as she felt a pinch on her wrists, which were held above her. There was another tug and she felt herself slide across the ground on her back being dragged forward by her wrists. She opened her eyes and blinked blearily at the ceiling of the unfamiliar passageway. It was made of dark stone like none she had ever seen at Hogwarts. Where was she, what had Tom made her do this time…
There was another tug on Ginny’s wrists and suddenly the ceiling changed into something more familiar. The change jolted Ginny’s foggy mind and she realized that someone was dragging somewhere! She had to escape! She thrashed but despite her best efforts all she could do was flop weakly. Her attempts at a scream only came out as a low moan. The person tugged her forward again and then let her go, placing her weak arms on the ground above her. There was the sound of grinding stone near her feet but Ginny was too weak to even lift her head to look.
An unfamiliar boy’s voice sounded from above her form. It was the person who had been dragging her. His voice was strangely flat given what must be a stressful situation for him.
“Don’t move too much, I’m going to go get help,” he said.
The boy’s footsteps left the room and Ginny tried to flop weakly again. Like she was going anywhere. Loud voices came, only the calm boy’s voice cutting through it all in Ginny’s mind. It was almost soothing in a way… The last thing Ginny remembered before falling asleep is being lifted off the ground by a spell, and the boy’s calm voice explaining something to the far more emotional Auror.
— — —
Harry was running alongside the Auror as they floated Ginny Weasley’s unconscious body to the hospital wing. The pair that Harry had approached hadn’t questioned Harry yet, but both were shooting him questioning glances as they went. Finally, they reached the hospital wing and burst inside much to the surprise of Madame Pomfrey.
Some quick explanations led to Ginny being placed in a bed and quickly being given a series of potions after Harry explained that she had been possessed by a cursed artifact. That caused more tension from the Aurors but Harry didn’t want to risk Ginny getting hurt just because he didn’t want to reveal details about the Chamber. Madame Pomfrey had woken her back up with a spell so the girl could drink the potions weakly. Harry stood back and watched as Madame Pomfrey continued to fuss over the girl for a few more seconds before suddenly she froze. Her eyes went blank and she straightened up as her hands fell to her sides.
Harry turned around and saw James Kensit standing in the doorway, all the other people in the room frozen and unaware of their surroundings.
“Harry! Oh, Harry,” The man said, “You are just a ball of excitement. I haven’t been this busy for centuries! I hardly imagined you would do something else intriguing as soon as you returned to this old place.”
Harry glanced at Ginny in the bed who was frozen as well.
“Can you stop?” Harry asked, “What if you are hurting Ginny? She’s already been through a lot.”
Kensit glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, “Ohhhh, and what’s this? A soul possession? I haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
He walked over until he was standing over Ginny, looking at her intently. He glanced back at Harry briefly.
“Now, that’s my mistake Harry. Good catch, the hidden aftereffects aren’t something these savages would be able to treat. Why, her magic growth may have been severely stunted if I wasn’t here to help and remove these blockages! Oh, but I’ve just realized I’ve come in and ruined your big moment. Rushing in to save the girl from the beast… The founders of this school would be proud of you. They were always the heroic types, even Salazar. At least Salazar was intelligent about it though…”
He took out his wand and cast a series of spells on Ginny for a few seconds before turning back to Harry.
“There, I’ve fixed her up. A little apology for my bad timing. But while we’re here, why don’t you tell me about your adventures? Heir of Slytherin, that was unexpected. I’m intrigued to hear how that happened.”
Kensit summoned two chairs and sat in one, looking relaxed. Harry fiddled with his locket and glanced at the frozen Ginny, “She’ll really be alright?” he asked, “Even after the possession?”
Kensit nodded and gestured to the chair opposite him casually, which Harry sat in.
“Of course,” Kensit said, “I’m quite good at healing spells. I couldn’t build you without having extensive knowledge of the soul, and souls can get damaged too although only in rare cases. One of the rare cases found in that girl. Since you appeared to destroy the soul that was possessing her, it was no trouble to fix the lingering damage from the hooks it had in her soul.”
Kensit took a deep breath growing more serious for a moment, “So, I can see you are still wary of me. I assure you, I still mean you no harm. None at all. If it makes you feel better, then I will still answer another one of your questions after you tell me your story in full. View this as a trade of information if it makes you feel better about things. I realize I have not earned your trust yet, especially given my clear power advantage. But trust will come in time as you develop farther, I am patient and will not rush things needlessly.”
Harry hesitated for a moment. But what else could he do? If the man said so then all Harry could do was hope he was telling the truth, because there was nothing Harry could do if the man wanted to hurt him.
Harry nodded and decided to not leave anything out in his story. Who knew how the man would react if he noticed Harry not telling the truth? “So, I began growing emotional when I saw my petrified friend Hermione,” Harry started with a quick gesture where Hermione still lay frozen, “...my arms began feeling cold and I began to change…”
— — —
James Kensit’s face had shifted into a smile as Harry told him of his transformation and entering the chamber. He outright laughed at how Harry had accidentally opened the tunnel in the girls bathroom.
Harry finished with him dragging Ginny through the passage out of the chamber here. Harry stopped speaking as Kensit looked down and rapidly muttered to himself for a few seconds. He looked up, and he was smiling widely. His eyes gleamed with interest as he inspected Harry again.
“Excellent! Better than I had dreamed of,” Kensit said, “Make good use of that Chamber, Harry. Salazar has given you quite the favor in using that potion and ritual on you. Even I don’t have a potion like that, I never had the interest in making such a thing when I could learn all the languages myself. But it is uniquely suited to your situation. And don’t discount the other benefits of the Chamber, not many wizards can order around a Basilisk like that...”
He leaned back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head wearing an easy smile on his face. He almost looked like he had just finished a large meal as he drank up the story that Harry had told him.
“So, now for payment,” Kensit said, “What is your question this time? I did think you would have more time to process my last revelation, but it is your fault for being so active ever since you entered the wizarding world.”
Harry thought long and hard. He had told James Kensit a lot of important things about himself this time, and he wanted to make sure he got the most out of his question. Eventually he decided.
“What am I? Why did I transform?” Harry asked.
“Hmmmm,” Kensit hummed, “I suppose your story is worth two answers. The truth is, I don’t fully know. I’m sorry to say it, but I was in quite the manic state while creating you, and my notes were not the best. I have forgotten much of the inspiration that let me construct you. Even now many of the actions I took baffle me, acts of inspiration rather than strict logic. But I can guess. Much like a werewolf, it is your magic that is causing the change once it reaches a tipping point to trigger this second form of yours. A sort of transfiguration of the body, but far more complicated in your case. Threat of death or heightened emotions seems to have triggered it so far as I’m sure you can tell. But unlike werewolves, you must have a fine control of your soul to speak Ascendant without any repercussions so it should be possible to activate or deactivate the transformation at will if you can determine what exactly in your soul is triggering the change. I find it likely that it is the carnivorous nature of your soul that shaped the features of that form. It resembles but doesn’t exactly match the characteristics of many of the undead, several of which have been known to sustain themselves on the souls of others.”
James Kensit stood and Harry rose as well as the man vanished the two chairs they had been sitting on. He went to leave, but stopped,
“Ah, an extra word of advice,” he said, “The undead’s natural resistance to dark curses would explain your resistance to the horcrux’s defenses. But I would research and make sure you do not share their weaknesses as well when you are transformed…”
Kensit flicked his wand and suddenly he looked like an unfamiliar Auror in blue robes. “Good talk, Harry. Goodbye for now,” he said before walking out the doors of the hospital wing. As the doors swung shut behind him, Harry saw his wand flick again and everyone around Harry unfroze.
“How’d you get over there?” One of the Aurors asked as Madame Pomfrey continued to fuss over Ginny, who now looked much healthier and more alert than before.
Harry glanced at the man who was giving confused looks between Harry’s current position and where he had been standing a few minutes ago.
“Magic,” Harry said.
The Auror sniffed and shook his head, “Very funny, boy. Very funny. Guess I’m more tired than I thought. Don’t be so uppity when Madame Bones gets here or she will be very displeased with you.”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
— — —
Ron opened his eyes to see Neville standing over him with a lit wand in his hand. Ron was still frozen in place by Lockharts petrificus Totalus charm. Neville looked worried and glanced around nervously as he cast the counter charm on Ron, letting him move. Ron sighed in relief as his arms fell to the floor no longer fixed in position. Ron heard something crunch as he shifted his back. There was something in his hand. Ron lifted it into the light of Neville’s wand and his eyes widened as he saw a bleached animal skull. He scrambled to his feet and started breathing hard as he was the scattered bones littering this place.
Ron raised his wand and scanned the area frantically. Was the monster here?
Neville shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Ron calmed slightly, right. They didn’t want the monster to hear them and come back to this place. It's feeding ground if all these bones were an indication of anything. Ron sent another glance at the bones littering the floor and shuddered.
He looked around and saw that there were five massive pipes leading out of this room. The monster and Ginny could have gone through any of them.
Ron cast a lumos charm variation with the ball of light construct. He waited a few seconds until it reached the size of a baseball before cutting it off and letting the cool ball of light fall into his hand. Ron wondered how they had survived the fall considering the pipe they had come in exited from near the ceiling of this central room more than fifteen meters above them.
But Ron felt fine, he could wonder about it after they found Ginny. Lockhart was a real rat bastard, so they would just have to save her themselves. Hopefully they could get her out without fighting that tall gray skinned creature…
Ron had never heard of something like that before, no wonder no one had been sure what exactly the beast was when they spoke about the chamber...
Ron hefted his conjured ball of light and pointed to the passage directly across from where they had come in and Neville nodded.
He threw it as far as he could down the passage and left his wand at the ready as it flew into the dark tunnel. There were several smaller side passages, and nothing leapt out to grab it as the ball of light rolled farther inwards. It was more of the same and after a minute or so the light winked out again.
Neville leaned down and inspected the edge of the pipe and Ron edged forward to see as well.
“Do you see it? The scratches?” Neville whispered quietly, “They are only on this pipe, all the others are smooth.”
Neville waved his wand to the side and Ron noticed that Neville was right. There were scratches and divots at the bottom of the pipe he had thrown the ball of light into, while the others were perfectly smooth.
“Should we go there? You think Ginny’s that way?” Ron asked.
Neville hesitated, “Probably. But the monster will be there too. Maybe we should stay here, we don’t want to get lost. Ambush it when it comes back.”
Ron shook his head, “No way,” he hissed quietly, “Who knows what it's doing right now, we can’t wait around while Ginny’s in danger! I say we go that way.”
Neville hesitated again, looking afraid, but after gulping he nodded jerkily and held his wand out defensively to the pipe. He still appeared hesitant to move into the darkness.
“Alright, I’ll go first,” Ron said, “Try to use the balls of light for the maximum duration. That way we can cast freely without worrying about losing our light.”
He followed his own advice and cast another baseball sized globe of light that should last about ten minutes and held it in his off hand. Ron panted slightly when he was finished, but recovered quickly. The magical power required increased significantly depending on how long you extended the ball’s duration or intensity.
Neville followed Ron’s example and the two of them went into the pipe, their wands held at the ready. Nothing jumped out at them, only the sound of dripping water breaking the silence. They had to stop a few times to find the trail of scratches on the floor. Luckily they almost always followed the largest pipe possible at the intersections.
After five minutes, they reached a circular door covered with decorations of snakes that swung wide open.
They carefully made their way inside to a massive room filled with snake statues. They moved forward cautiously despite the room appearing to be empty. They stepped inside and Ron saw Neville inspecting something on the interior side of the door. Ron backed up and glanced behind him to see Neville poke what appeared to be a shiny metal plate with his wand. The circular door began rumbling and before either of them could react it slammed shut and sealed with the clunk of several heavy locks. Neville tapped the metal plate again and nothing happened.
“Great going, Neville,” Ron hissed, “Now we’re trapped in here.”
“Sorry,” Neville said, “Hopefully the monster was outside when the door closed?”
“Fine, let’s look for Ginny,” Ron said, “I’m sure she will be in here. This looks like an important room. She has to be in here.”
Ginny was not there. They spent fifteen minutes searching the whole place, and it was empty. The holes in the walls for the pipes wouldn’t let them get out, because after a few feet inwards they shot upwards to be completely vertical. The only spot of interest in the whole place was a little pool of black ink on the floor next to the lake on the far side of the chamber.
It took another fifteen minutes for them to finally realize that they were trapped, and that Ginny wasn’t here.
“Where’s Ginny, Neville! She’s probably out with the creature,” Ron shouted, “If you hadn’t trapped us in here we still could have saved her! You’re such an idiot!”
“I-I’m Sorry, Ron. I didn’t mean too…” Neville stammered.
“Tell that to my sister,” Ron said, turning away to stare at the wall and casting an angry curse at it as he felt himself tear up in frustration at how he was trapped here when his sister was in danger. It landed and carved out a little divot in the wall.
The statue of a man’s head across from the pool rumbled and the mouth began to lower, revealing a dark tunnel beyond. Ron and Neville’s eyes widened as a massive snake emerged and began slithering into the lake. Ron’s wand trembled as the snake's head rose out of the lake and towered above them. Its yellow eyes peered down at the two of them, freezing them in place with its gaze alone. There was something on top of its eye like a clear lens or a barrier as it stared them down. Its tongue flickered out for a moment and it loudly hissed at them. It was a basilisk, the beast that everyone had guessed was the creature in the chamber. Were there two monsters in here?
*CRAWWWW*
In a burst of fire, Dumbledore’s phoenix Fawkes appeared between them and the snake and dropped something from its claws in front of them. The old brown and tattered sorting hat. Without truly knowing what he was doing, Ron bent down and snatched up the hat before following Neville to run to the far end of the chamber as the bird and snake stared each other down for a moment.
*CRAAAAAAAWWWWWWW*
The phoenix darted forward in a burst of flame and struck the right side of the snake’s face, slicing at one of its eyes, leaving a bleeding pit behind.
Ron and Neville reached the door they came in through and desperately tapped at the metal plate with no response.
“What do we do?!” Neville shouted as he felt at the edges of the metal plate desperately as if to tear it out from the wall. Ron glanced back to the battle between the Basilisk and the phoenix. The snake had lost an eye, and the Phoenix was exploiting that advantage to absolutely savage that side of its face with its sharp claws. The snake occasionally snapped its jaws out to strike the phoenix, but the bird managed to teleport away in a burst of flame each time, leaving the Basilisk only superficial burns for its efforts. But the Basilisk wasn’t out of the running yet, and had managed to protect its remaining eye. Ron saw a few scratches and missing feathers missing from Fawkes. He wasn’t sure which of the beasts would win the fight, but if the Basilisk survived then it would finish the two of them off in seconds.
Neville was still frantically scrabbling at the metal plate to no use and Ron felt a wave of certainty wash over him.
“We have to fight the Basilisk, Neville. Otherwise it will kill us after Fawkes,” Ron said, taking a step toward the massive battle in front of them, raising his wand.
“What, no Ron! We can still get out, I’m sure there’s a way,” Neville said hopelessly despite knowing what he was saying was a lie.
Ron felt the old hat in his hands get heavier and he looked down in surprise. Inside was a gleaming sword. Ron reached inside and drew it out after quickly slipping his wand back into his robes. The sword had a silver handle with a bright red gem glowing at its base and a shining blade and he felt empowered with massive strength like he could lift a thousand pounds as he let the hat fall to the floor and raised the sword to grip it with his other hand as well.
A familiar voice spoke from the side, “Nice sword, Ron. Let’s scare off that phoenix together.”
Ron and Neville looked to the side in shock to see Harry standing at the entrance of a tunnel that had not been there before a few seconds ago, wearing green Slytherin robes to Ron’s shock. Harry gripped a silver locket around his neck and stepped into the room as the tunnel behind him vanished.
Harry raised his wand. “AGUAMENTI!” He shouted and a massive jet of water shot out of his wand and struck Fawkes from behind. Neville gasped behind him and Ron’s eyes widened. What in the world was Harry doing?! The phoenix’s flames dimmed slightly and it let out a cry of betrayal as it was stunned and fell slightly as it missed a beat of its wings. The Basilisk didn’t waste the opportunity and darted forward, mouth wide and bit the Phoenix's wing as it was distracted.
*CREEEEEEEEE*
A hotter burst of flames blasted and the phoenix teleported in a burst of flame behind the Basilisk and dived downwards for the base of its skull, claws extended outwards.
Ron could only stand in place hesitant as Harry sent another blast of water to smash into Fawkes, giving the Basilisk enough time to twist around and bite the phoenix again in the other wing.
Fawkes teleported in a burst of flame again to the other side of the room, looking worse for wear having lost many of its feathers and blood dripping from its tattered wings.
Ron jumped and tightened his grip on his sword as Harry suddenly let out a loud bird’s cry matching the phoenix’s. Then Harry hissed at the Basilisk like a snake. The two creatures paused, blood from the phoenix’s wings and the fluid from the Basilisk’s punctured eye hitting the floor.
Fawkes let out another cry, and Ron could tell this one was more inquisitive before it looked at Ron standing there with the sword and Neville behind him with his wand out. Then it turned back to Harry and with a final cry signaling finality burst into hot flames again and disappeared.
Ron shifted foot to foot gripping the sword as it was just the three of them and the injured Basilisk now. Harry walked forward fearlessly and hissed something at the massive snake, which lowered its head until it was resting on the floor, looking docile as its forked tongue flicked out of its mouth. Harry and the snake hissed at each other a few more times as Harry inspected the damaged side of the Basilisks head and its destroyed eye. Ron gradually loosened his grip on the sword. Somehow Harry was friends with the snake? He could talk to it somehow?
The Basilisk closed its remaining eye and Harry turned back to them. Seeing their expressions, Harry seemed to realize something.
“Don’t worry, guys. Nidhogg here is a friend now. Oh, and Ron, I already brought Ginny back up to the castle a few hours ago. They are treating her now, she’ll be fine.”
Ron almost collapsed as a wave of relief washed over him and he sagged. The sword point fell down until it sank into the floor slightly, creating a divot. Ginny was safe.
Ron jumped as the Basilisk, Nidhogg, hissed abruptly.
“Try not to damage this place,” Harry said, “Nidhogg is very protective of it even for superficial damage from what I’ve seen. But I’ve told him you are friends so he won’t attack you.”
Ron hurriedly raised the sword again off the floor.
Harry glanced between them and the Basilisk, “Look, I have to go see if I can do something to help heal Nidhogg. You guys just… stay here and I’ll be back soon. Please don’t attack the big snake with fangs as long as my forearm.”
“Nope!” Neville squeaked, “Definitely won’t do that, Harry.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back,” Harry replied before running off and climbing into the open mouth of the statue and disappearing into the dark tunnel behind it.
The Basilisk closed its eyes and ignored the two boys. They stood in silence staring warily at the Basilisk waiting nervously for Harry to return.