Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Serpent's Gaze, Book Two: Slytherin's Secrets	By : DictionaryWrites Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 1582 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter and the characters therein belong to JK Rowling; I'm playing in the sandbox, as it were, whilst claiming no ownership and making no money.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Harry hurries out from his place under Slytherin's mouth, making his way as fast as he can to the corner of the room without turning his back on Lockhart, but it doesn't matter. Harry sees the first bare shimmer of scales in the dim, green night at the same time Lockhart does, and Lockhart lets out a loud scream as he flees the Chamber of Secrets as fast as he can.
The snake that slides forth from Slytherin's mouth is huge, carefully manoeuvring itself down to the ground, and Harry squeezes his eyes tightly shut as it keeps on coming, not daring to open them. Of all the deaths he'd want to stare in the face, this isn't one of them.
"Keep your eyes closed, little heir," comes a loud, rasping voice that seems to reverberate through Harry's chest, and he can hear the difference now - he can hear the whispering at the edges of the words, simultaneously hear the hiss and the language he understands. "My gaze will kill. You have woken me from my sleep." Harry can't see it, but he can feel the amount of space the snake must take up in the room: it's huge, ridiculously huge, and Harry has to concentrate to keep himself from shaking in his place.
"I didn't mean to!" Harry hisses out, keeping his eyes as tightly shut as he possibly can. "Can't you go back to sleep?"
"My sleep was assisted by the magic of the heir some years ago - I cannot sleep so deeply without the charms of a Parselmouth's magic." Harry can hear the huge thing's scales shifting and splashing softly in the puddles on the chamber's ground, and he just wants to get to safety, needs to get the two historians out of the way and into safety.
"Er, well---" What do snakes like? "There are rats. In the pipes."
"RATS?" the monster serpent repeats with loud delight, and Harry sags with relief - rats are, fortunately, a universal love amongst snakes, or so it seems like. Harry listens to the snake as it moves off, and he counts to two hundred before he opens his eyes: he just sees the tip of the gigantic monster's tail slip into a darkened passageway he hadn't noticed before, too close to the corridor for him to have escaped into it.
Harry runs to Celia and Lindon, but both of them are alive: trying to drag them towards the pipes is utterly useless, as it takes too long and he'd only have to leave them at the base of the pipe, so he runs straight to the bathroom, yelling as loudly as he can down the corridors for someone to come, to come now, to help now.
---
Harry breathes heavily as he stares down at the two historians. Madam Pomfrey had said they were just Stunned, and they'd be quite fine, but Harry doesn't want to leave the infirmary until he's absolutely certain of the fact.
"Professor Lockhart has been detained," Dumbledore says very quietly from Harry's side, and Harry doesn't even look at him, keeping his gaze concentrated on Celia, whose breaths are beginning to speed up a little. She'll be awake soon, Madam Pomfrey had told him. "We have him locked quite safely out of the way."
"He said he was going to wipe my memories," Harry says distractedly, tapping his fingers onto his knees. "Said he was going to wipe all of our memories." There's a sick sort of anger burning in his chest, a quiet fury that seethes through him, just under his skin. He doesn't want Dumbledore near him right now - he doesn't want anyone near him right now.
"How did you force him to flee, Harry?" Dumbledore speaks quietly in the same, grandfatherly tone he seems oh-so-fond of using, but Harry doesn't want to hear it right now. He doesn't want Dumbledore's kindly air - if anything, he'd rather Snape's biting, sharp tones right about now.
"I'd prefer Mr Potter, if you don't mind, Professor," Harry says through gritted teeth, because it's Dumbledore's fault Lockhart is here in the first place, and after an extended silence, Dumbledore tries again, repeating the same question.
"How did you force him to flee?"
"There was a snake," Harry says quietly, "A big one, gigantic. It told me not to look at it, else I'd die." He tears his gaze away from the two historians to look at Dumbledore, and he breathes in, slowly. He'd forgotten about the snake for a few minutes, so focused was he on Lockhart and the two historians, but now he forces himself to think about what's wandering the pipes of Hogwarts right now. "What sort of snake is that?"
"It would meet the description of a basilisk," Dumbledore murmurs, his blue gaze boring into Harry's own. "A fiercely venomous snake that can kill those who look at it with a single look, but it will be killed by the cry of a cockerel. I'll have Hagrid-"
"You can't kill it," Harry breaks in, surprised by his own intense feeling on the subject, "It's not the snake's fault. It's been in that Chamber for hundreds of years - you can't just kill it. It could tell us so much, about Slytherin, about his heirs, about the castle, and it doesn't deserve to die just for what it is." Dumbledore is watching him with a quiet, focused gaze, and Harry turns his head away. Dumbledore seems somehow pleased at Harry's want to keep the snake alive, and Harry doesn't know what that says about Dumbledore, or what it says about himself.
"And what would you suggest we do instead, Mr Potter?"
---
Harry slides down the pipe from Myrtle's bathroom again, making his way slowly into the Chamber of Secrets once again. He commands for the ladder to reappear behind him, so that he can easily flee if he needs to, and he stops short for a few moments. Dumbledore is waiting at the entrance in the bathroom upstairs, ready to pull Harry out if need be, but he'd agreed that the snake would react better to Harry talking to it himself. Harry begins to walk forwards, making his way back to the broader part of the chamber.
He's stopped short, though, by a loud pop from behind him, and he turns, staring. "Harry Potter must not!" Dobby begs, his huge, watery eyes shining with desperate tears: Harry hasn't seen him since the summer, but of course he recognizes the house elf's dirty pillowcase and his wrinkly little face.
"What the Hell, Dobby? Have you been following me this whole time?"
"Dobby thought the danger was over, Harry Potter, sir, and left Harry Potter's side before Christmas," Dobby says anxiously, jumping from one foot to the other and wringing part of his pillowcase between his fingers, "But Dobby had heard, sir, that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and Harry Potter must be safe - Harry Potter must not face the monster." His ears are flapping wildly, and Harry scrambles away from him, making his way into the little hall.
"Please, Dobby, just leave me alone!" he snaps, and he closes his eyes tightly again, touching the sides of the narrow passageway to keep himself on the right track. He stops when he puts out his hand and meets free air, lingering in the little hallway. "Hello?"
"The little heir has returned," the basilisk says, and Harry shocks backwards with a gasp: the snake's head must be close to him, because he feels its exhalation on his skin, and despite himself he acts on instinct, retreating back into the hallway a bit. He wonders if the small corridor would be too small for the snake to get into, but he doubts he'd be so lucky for that to be the case.
"Yes," Harry says, "What's your name?"
"We do not have names," the basilisk responds in a disparaging tone, "No serpent needs a name, the King of Serpents even less so."
"Right," Harry says awkwardly, "Well, look. I don't want to put you back to sleep in the Chamber of Secrets."
"Finally!" the basilisk proclaims in horrible, hissing joy, "Am I finally to fulfil my ancient purpose, little heir? Am I to purge the school of its scum?" There's a sick feeling in Harry's belly, and he shakes his head without opening his eyes.
"No," Harry says hurriedly, "No, nothing like that, but I want to get you somewhere better, somewhere with rats and all kinds of stuff to eat."
"Somewhere... Better?"
"Yeah."
"Somewhere... Else?"
"Well, yeah," Harry says, sensing something off about the basilisk's tone, "Why live in the bowels of the castle like this, right? You could be free!" The snake lets out a loud hiss that sounds like a cry in Parseltongue.
"Are you truly the heir of my master, my creator, Salazar Slytherin?" it demands loudly, and Harry's heart begins to beat hard in his chest.
"Er-"
"You are not!" the basilisk roars, its fury making the walls of the chamber rattle. "You traitor, you liar, you cad!"
Harry feels the sudden displacement of air as the basilisk rears back, ready to bite him, but then he hears the warcry of, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" The basilisk lets out another loud scream, and Harry opens his eyes in pure surprise as hot wetness spatters across his chest and little across his face. It's blood, he realizes, basilisk blood: Dobby has taken out the snake's eyes.
"Come on, Dobby!" Harry yells, gesturing for the house elf to follow him down the hall and back towards the entrance. The house elf doesn't move, keeping his little hand outstretched as the basilisk screams, and Harry yells again, "Dobby! Come on, we've got to go, we've got to get out-" His voice echoes loudly down the little corridor, but just as Dobby turns to follow Harry, the basilisk lunges.
The wet crunch of the little house elf's body under its teeth echoes nauseatingly throughout the chamber, and Harry's stomach gives a sick lurch as he drags himself up the ladder and up into the bathroom.
- 16
- 17
- 18
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Serpent's Gaze, Book Two: Slytherin's Secrets