Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

That which we make for ourselves	By : magentasouth Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Tom Views: 38078 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from any part of the Harry Potter universe

Chapter List
- 1-That which we make for ourselves
- 2-Ch 2
- 3-Ch 3
- 4-Ch 4
- 5-Ch 5
- 6-Ch 6
- 7-Ch 7
- 8-Ch 8
- 9-Ch 9
- 10-Ch 10
- 11-Ch 11
- 12-Ch 12
- 13-Ch 13
- 14-Ch 14
- 15-Ch 15
- 16-Ch 16
- 17-Ch 17
- 18-Ch 18
- 19-Ch 19
- 20-Ch 20
- 21-Ch 21
- 22-Ch 22
- 23-Ch 23
- 24-Ch 24
- 25-ch 25 - provisional
- 26-Ch 26
- 27-Ch 27
- 21
- 22
- 23
Caed stood pressed up against the
wall in the green lit corridor breathing fast.�

He�d been asleep and when he�d woken he�d been disoriented and, for a moment,
terrified at the unfamiliar surrounds.��
The bed beneath him was huge and ornately carved in serpents and
runes.� Everything had had a greenish
tint.�

He�d remembered suddenly that he was in the chamber of
secrets and had sat bolt upright in bed staring in horror at the door where he
was certain the huge head of the
basilisk was going to emerge at any second.�
�

Its eyes would be lidded � it wouldn�t want to kill him with a glance � oh
no!� that would
be too easy.�

It was going to pour into the room, taking up all the space and blocking the
door and then it was going to rear
over him slowly and spread its mouth wide, gaping.. exposing all those huge teeth like sharpened horns and the
dark tunnel to an acid soaked grave.. and just when he
thought he would go mad with fear it would lash down like a whip and snap him
up, bite him in half and swallow the pieces..

He tried to tell himself that Tom would not have left him here unless it was
safe �but it didnt stop the absolute conviction he
felt as he sat, shaking.�

He�d dreamed of the basilisk.. breaking
his nails off climbing the stone head of Salazar Slytherin, fighting not to
drop the heavy unwieldly sword.� He�d dreamed of its vile breath blowing over
him like a foul wind as he stood..so small.. on the pate of the dead wizard and waited for the huge thick
muscle of it to strike.

He�d had to check.

He needed to know whether it was awake or asleep.� He needed to make sure it was sleeping.�

it could be hibernating or something.

He needed to know whether it was just waiting for him to let
his guard down before it came in and finished him.

And so he was here.� standing pressed against the stone wall with his wand in his
hand, feeling unarmed and suddenly very, very, young again.� He should be beyond this level of pure
childlike panic..Particularly about anything related
to snakes � he�d never feared snakes... but this was different.� He knew this great big bloody snake had
wanted nothing more than to kill him before.�
It had hissed its vile murderous promises as it chased him..

Standing here, he felt, irrationally, as if he had become twelve again.� As if he was hiding in the tunnels while the
blinded basilisk hunted him.

He was only three metres away from the doorway into the basilisk�s antechamber
and he could see the massive coils of the beast blocking most of the door,
glinting black in the green light.

He was afraid to move closer.

What if it wasn�t asleep.. or hibernating.� What
if it was staring at the door and the moment he looked around the corner he
would be struck dead!?

There was no way to know.

If the only reason he was safe now was that it was asleep and he actually tried to speak to it to make sure it wasn�t
looking his way � then it might suddenly decide that he�d make a good snack
after all.�

If he went away and it was only waiting, then he might be
standing in the library or the bedroom ...or the bathroom..

...standing emptying his bladder when the great thing
slithered in behind him and reared up, out of his view. �

He might only hear its hiss of anticipation in the moment it had positioned
itself over him to strike..

He really needed to use the bathroom.

Swallowing against his suddenly ash dry throat he croaked.

::Hello?::

There was a loud hiss and then the huge coils..thicker than two of him suddenly moved.� He ran down the corridor as if voldem-..as if-..� exactly as if a massive twenty foot basilisk was coming
after him � which it was!! ��

He ran for his life, hearing the
sound of gritty, slithery, enormous
movement behind him..�
From the corner of his eye he could see the head emerge from the
antechamber.

At the end of the corridor he turned the corner and found..nothing..
a dead end.�
There was a dog leg corner and a small stone room with nothing inside
it.�

He spun, hearing the horrifying echo of a vast body slithering through the corridor.�

Closing his eyes, he raised his wand, trying not to let his
hand shake.� He fumbled to think of a
spell strong enough to even dent basilisk skin.�
He didn�t know any.� That was why
they were so hard to kill... there were so few things that could damage
them.� The crow of a rooster � which he
didn�t have with him.. and
the sword of Gryffindor..at least.. the
sword of Gryffindor at the tender inner palate of the mouth.� It had had no effect on its outer hide.

::Are you afraid, little ssserpent sspeaker:: the deep rasping voice of the basilisk preceded
it into the small stone room.

::Tom said you can�t eat me.� He�s coming back soon::
harry managed, his eyes clenched tightly.�

He could smell its breath now.� It was
right in front of him.

::You
ssspoke with me..child.� I did not realissse you underssstood our wordss.� I would not
have moved to harm you after he claimed you.�
Ssslytherin forbade it.� I do not eat
ssserpent ssspeakerss.�

...I will not look at you.� You may open
your eyesss::

Harry shook his head slightly.� He didn�t want to offend it but he was not going to open his eyes now.

He leapt back when a large leathery surface nudged at
him.� There was a puff of reeking air and
more loud slithering.�
He could feel movement on all
sides.� The stone floor seemed to vibrate
with it.� The basilisk was coiling around
him!

::Stop!!:: he cried

The slithering sound abated and he reached out to the
sides.� Left right, in front.. even behind.� On all sides there was a curved wall of huge
scaly muscle.� It reached higher than his
head.�

::My eyesss
are closssed.�
What isss your call sssound,
ssserpent ssspeaker?::

The voice emanated from further away and above.� His mind painted the image of those wide
toothed jaws gaping, waiting for him to look up and see his end coming.

::my call sound?� What?::

::The other isss
�Tom� � a sssstrange call ssssound..
what isss your call sssound::

::Harry:: he mumbled.

::Alssso
a ssstrange sssound.� I am Ssseshassstra.::

Harry nodded numbly

Suddenly he realised what he�d just told the Basilisk.

His name.

His real name.�

Shit.

In shock he actually opened his eyed.

And screamed and closed them again.

Enormous yellow orbs the size of dinner plates had been
hanging a metre in front of him watching him in the dim green room..

::you are a very ssstrange choice for my massster�ss
mate..� Sssso easssily frightened..::

Harry, processing that he was apparently not dead, therefore
whatever he had seen must not have been the full strength gaze of the basilisk,
opened his eyes again indignantly.

::I am not easily frightened!::

::Perhapsss
only the timesss I sssee
you..:: the great serpent amended. ::are you lesss frightened now?::

Harry looked up at the massive head barely visible in the
gloom, only the large yellow rings of its eyes shone.� He realised that they were covered with a
pattern.� The creature really did have its eyes closed.� It could see through its lids apparently.

::Yes.� I�m ..ok now.:: he
offered uncertainly.�

The basilisk moved back and there was a loud slithering and shifting around
him.� He panicked

::What are you doing?!! Stop!!::

The animal stopped.�
Its coils were much closer now.�

::You are warm:: it hissed at him.� ::It iss ssso
cold down here.� Alwayss sso
cold.� You will share your heat
with me::

it started to move again and harry froze in horror as it curled and coiled
itself tighter until he was encased in a cold tube of black scales.� He looked up to the hole overhead and the
basilisk�s head appeared above, looking down on him.

::ssso much better..::� the creature hissed with quiet satisfaction.

::There�s a fire in the library::
harry told it desperately.� ::you can lie in there!�
Let go!::

The serpent hissed disapprovingly.

::Massster inssstructed that I wasss never to enter the library.� Ssssleep little
snake.� Ssleep
here::

::The bedroom!� Are you allowed in the bedroom?!::� Harry tried.� There had been a fire in there too.� A smaller one.� It hadn�t been lit.� He could light it.� He�d gladly light it to get the huge body of
the basilisk off him.

::Massster
did not tell me not to enter hisss sssleeping chamber...:: the
basilisk mused thoughtfully.

::Good!� Get off.�
We�ll go in there!::

The creature uncoiled itself carefully.� Harry was astounded that the scales did not
even graze him as it withdrew.� This had
to be one of the runners-up for weirdest day, he realised.��

The basilisk was waiting, leaving the corridor free, obviously
expecting him to go first.�

..Of course, the size of the beast � he probably wouldn�t fit in the corridor
once it started down there, he thought uncharitably.

In the bedroom he used his wand to levitate the bed to the
side slightly and make more space in front of the tiny fire.� It lit without any trouble.�

He moved and leapt on the bed as the huge snake spilled into the room.� It was like his fear upon waking had come
true.�

The vast black body piled in and coiled itself messily in the centre of the
room, blocking the door.�

He pointed his wand and amplified the fire slightly.� The basilisk gave a soft hiss of approval and
lowered its head to lay upon a black coil.�

::Good.�� I will sssleep here.:: it announced in a pleased tone.�

Harry frowned at the upper portion of the door visible over the black mountain
of snake.��

Damn it.� He really needed to go to the
bathroom still.�

He was lucky, in fact, that he hadn�t already gone when the bloody snake chased
him down the corridor.� But now.. he would still need to get out
of here to go.

::Um.. could
you maybe.. move a bit.. I need to get out::

The basilisk wanted to know why and then when he finally
explained why it sniggered and then it wouldn�t let him go.� It insisted it had to be between him and the
chamber.� He was getting quite pissed off
and more than a little uncomfortable by the time he persuaded it that he�d be right back and that there was nobody outside and that nobody except Tom could get in.� In the end he reminded it of how cold it was
out there and how warm it was in here and it relented and shifted its coils
somewhat to let him past.�

He slipped away, dashing down to the open bathroom (whose
door he could not close, due to Tom�s bloody vague warning about doing so) and
experienced the most profound, if embarrassed relief he�d felt in a long
time.�

He hesitated about going back.

He knew that if he didn�t, the bloody snake would come and
see where he�d gotten to.� It would probably be angry with him.� It certainly wouldn�t be persuaded to let him
wander off again.�� So he stopped off in
the library, only to pick up Tom�s diary, ink and quill and then returned to
the bedroom.��

The basilisk didn�t stir as he edged past it and returned to the bed.

He opened the diary, keeping one eye on it.

Hello?

Caedmon.�

I did not intend to
upset you earlier!�

I am sorry that I could not promise what you
asked.

He felt a surge of guilt again suddenly.�
He�d been a bit ticked off..or.. really... more disappointed
with the Tom in the diary earlier.�

Or.. maybe it was just the
situation.� The thought of Tom Riddle
wandering around in the flesh while his twelve year old self had nightmares
about killing him.. nightmares
about being killed by him.�

He wasn�t sure how time worked.. no matter what Tom and his paper-bound counterpart insisted
- perhaps the diary tom really could kill him if it lived.

One of them was going to have to die, after all, weren�t
they?�� If bloody gin-soaked Trelawny could be believed..

...Or if Dumbledore could be believed...

The prophesy had been made in the
presence of Dumbledore alone.�

Perhaps that thought deserved more attention.

Caedmon??

Are you angry?

He refocused on the page in front of him.

No.�
I was thinking about something else.�

It�s ok.� About earlier I mean.�

I�m relieved.�

I was...concerned...
you might not wish to speak with me any longer.�

I cannot make
promises about things I may or may not do when I do not yet know the situation

...but I will not harm you.� Obviously.

It�s fine.� I don�t want to think about it anymore.�

The basilisk is
here.� in the
room.�

it apparently does leave the antechamber.

WHAT?!!

Why did it.. are you safe?� I can�t speak to it.� What is it doing?�

Caedmon???

I�m fine.

It�s sleeping.� It was cold.� I put the fire on for it.�

It doesn�t seem to be
about to eat me just now but it doesn�t much like me leaving the room for any
reason.

it seems ok though.�

Why did it leave the
antechamber?� What happened?

I um..called
it.. sort of.� I
just wanted to make sure it wasn�t awake.�
It was awake.

It followed me.�

I thought it was going
to kill me.

You called it?� What did you
say?�

And it came after you?!

I said �hello�

The diary didn�t respond immediately.� Harry assumed tom might be confused.� He was about to tell Tom that he spoke
parseltongue when the basilisk hissed at him in an amused tone

::Hogwartsss
iss looking for you, little sssnake::

The bizarre comment through him off totally.� What did it mean?!� It reminded him of some kind of recruitment
drive � your country needs you.� Hogwarts
needs you.� Was that what it meant.� He asked and
the snake laughed.

::No... sssomeone is in the heart.. they
are asssking Hogwarts to find you..� I can hear it whissspering..� looking
for you.� It will
not sssee you here.�
My Massster was very clever..::

Harry experienced a paradigm shift.�

::You say it as if it would be a
person.� You mean that someone�s using
some spell to track me don�t you.� And
they�re keying it to the founders spells?::

::No.� Hogwartsss iss alive.� It isss
looking for you.� Sssomeone hass asssked it to do sso.�

Harry blinked.�
Obviously it would be Dumbledore..� but.. Hogwarts is
alive?!� He didn�t know what to do with
that statement.�� He looked down at the
diary where four rows of his name with increasing size, punctuation and
untidiness showed just how worried the tom on the other side was that he hadn�t
responded again after telling him that he was alone in the room with the
basilisk.

Tom � is Hogwarts alive?!

CAEDMON!!� YOU IDIOTIC LITTLE WAISTREL � I THOUGHT YOU
WERE DEAD!!

He smiled.� That somehow gave him a
warm feeling.

Tom cared if he lived or died.� Tom didn�t
want him to die.

I�m sorry.� I was distracted.� I�m fine.�
The basilisk is not doing anything.�

Is Hogwarts alive?!

I..

I don�t know.� Possibly.� Define alive.�

Technically I might not be considered by some to be alive.� And yet.. I am
sentient.�

Why do you

The writing trailed off strangely.�� Harry frowned at it.�

Tom?

There was no response.� His frown
deepened.� �He was about to close the diary when the words
appeared again.� They were messy and
appeared quickly.

Hogwarts is alive but not alive!

Caedmon you are
brilliant.�

Don�t go away.� I need to think.

He raised his eyebrows at it.�

He was brilliant?!�� What had he done?!�

When will my other
self be returning?! �

Harry cast tempus and was horrified to see that it was almost
midnight.� He�d slept all afternoon.� Tom should have been back by now,
surely.� What if something had happened
to him?!

No..he�d have felt it.�

Why was he still gone?!� Was he
researching?� Maybe Grindelwald
changed his mind and threw him in a dungeon or something?!�

Maybe he did something worse.

I don�t know.� He should have been back by now.� I can�t say.�
Anytime hopefully.� Why?

I need him to..

I think I may have a
means of escaping the diary.� At least
while it is kept within the school grounds.�

If Hogwarts is alive.. or at least sufficiently alive
to possess an essence, an energy.. then perhaps I can
feed on it.� Perhaps I can tie myself to
it.�

Harry blinked.� It was a horrible
idea � Voldemort sucking the essence of Hogwarts like some kind of
vampire.� Whether or not it was possible
� it was definitely horrible.�

What would happen to Hogwarts?!

Well obviously,
his mind supplied � nothing - Since it was fine when he arrived fifty years
later to attend school.�� It didn�t feel
any different now to him, so either whatever Tom�s idea was hadn�t worked or it
hadn�t damaged the school at all.

It�s a building.� It can�t exactly write down all its secrets
in a diary, you know.

I did realise that Caedmon, thank
you.

I was just wondering
what I might substitute..

Perhaps the heart
might advise me if It was willing to accept the connection..�

I doubt it would be possible to bind anything to Hogwarts without its permission.�

The founders were rather paranoid about that sort of thing.

I must think about
this.� It is very promising.�

I could just kiss you right now,
Caedmon!

Direct my other self
to the diary as soon as he returns, if you would.

Harry read the words which had a vague finality about
them.�� Tom needed to think about things
and didn�t want to be distracted.

He suppressed a scowl.� He was apparently
brilliant enough to come up with the idea (even if he hadn�t actually realised
it was an idea) but not intelligent
enough to discuss said idea with.

He frowned up at the basilisk which hadn�t moved.� He didn�t know whether it slept like that �
with its glowing yellow eyes visible - or whether it was watching him.

::Where is the heart of Hogwarts??::� he asked it.

The head moved slightly and the creature opened its mouth,
flickering out a black forked tongue briefly.

::What hass
upssset you little sssnake?::� it asked

::Do you know where the heart of
Hogwarts is?::� Harry asked again, trying
to get rid of the vague irritation he felt that Tom didn�t think he would be of
any help.

::Yesss..
Why do you want to know?::�
it responded with a slightly reticent tone.

Harry swallowed and held up the diary.�

::Tom.. part of Tom is in
this and I need to take it to the heart of Hogwarts so that he can get
out.� ..That�s why he left �he went to
another wizard to look for information on how to get this part of himself out �
but i�ve just realised that he can get out if I take
him to the heart of Hogwarts.::

The basilisk raised its head and slithered closer till the
enormous scaled snout was inches from the book in his hand.� He felt the cold of its inhalation.

:: It sssmells not alive.� It doesssnt sssmell of massster::

::I don�t know if you know what a
soul is.� Part of his soul is in it.� If I connect it to Hogwarts � then he might
be able to get free::

The basilisk nosed the book again tentatively.� Feeling an entirely peculiar temptation, Harry
put his hand out and stroked his fingers over the large leathery scales of its
snout.� Its head moved slightly to place
his hand near its slitted nostril and it
inhaled.� Then it surged forward slightly
and the surprisingly cold forked tongue flicked out and slid over his wrist,
tasting him.�� He froze.� �

The massive head moved closer until it could rest on the bed beside him. It was
shoulder high.��

Swallowing, he stroked it on the smooth slightly softer
patch below the sharp horns that extended backward from the head.� It emitted a soft hiss that he imagined was
the snake equivalent of a purr.

::Massster
will know where the heart isss when he returnsss::� it
hissed, sounding uncertain.

::Yes, but I have to do it
now.� You said that I was a weak mate for
him.� I have to save him myself � to show
him that I am not a weak mate::

The basilisk shifted slightly as if it was considering this.

::It isss
right that you try to� sssave your mate.� I
will help you.� I will bring you to the
heart.� Massster inssstructed
me to guard you.� I will guard you.::

Harry laughed in glee inside.� Tom would come back and he would have solved
the diary horcrux problem!� Hah!�� He wouldn�t have to go back to Grindelwald again.�
He�d think of Harry as more than.. well.. more than a source of
information.� More than..

Well.. more
anyway.

::Can we go now Seshastra?:: he urged.��

The snake seemed to be agreeable to this as it pulled back from the bed and
turned its huge head about, pointing itself out the door and pouring into the
corridor.� Harry tucked the diary into
the back of his pants under his robe and followed it.�

It seemed the basilisk couldn�t open the stone
entryway.� He asked it what he needed to
say to open it and after it told him, he opened the way and it slithered out of
the gap in Slytherin�s mouth.�

He had no idea how to get the stepping stones to rise in the
green-black waters around the stone head.�
After he stood uncertainly mulling over whether to swim, the basilisk
extended its head back toward him, pushing him gently back through the gap and
resting on the bone and scale covered floor.

::I will carry you acrossss:: it informed him.�

He grimaced slightly, shifting from foot to foot anxiously
before stepping forward and, with difficulty, throwing himself up onto the
thick body which reached higher than his waist.�

It was cool and smooth and dry.�

He tentatively gripped hold of the horns behind the creature�s head and then he
clenched down against it, as it suddenly moved backward swiftly.� He had a horrible memory of clinging to the whomping willow as the basilisk moved fast.. its body
whipping behind him as its head was propelled rapidly across the chamber.��

It turned and darted into one of the large tunnels.� Harry ducked in fright as the ceiling swooped
past him at speed.�

He stretched his body out along the snake somewhat and held
on tight, in as far as he was able.� �

It was pitch black in the tunnel now.� He assumed the basilisk knew where it was
going, considering the speed at which it was moving.�

It was somehow.. not
altogether unpleasant to feel the wind of its movement and the sensation of an
insanely powerful animal below.� He didn�t
think he could admit it to anyone.. not even Tom.. but he was kind of enjoying riding the basilisk.�

::You mussst
open the passssage:: the snake hissed, its gritty
voice echoing in the tunnel.��

He couldn�t see anything.

::How do I do that?:: he asked
it.� It told him.�

When the passage opened, a tiny measure of light fell down
upon them both and Harry blinked.�
Through the gap that had opened in the wall he could see another stone
wall a few metres away.�

A corridor then.�
Somewhere in the dungeons perhaps.� It hadn�t seemed like they were moving
upwards much.�

The basilisk moved to the opening and halted, scenting with
its tongue and moving its head from side to side.�

It apparently decided the coast was clear because it surged into the corridor,
turning to the left and slithering at an even greater speed down the stone
floors.�

Harry gripped its horns tighter.� They
were moving away from the faint distant torchlight and it became darker.��

Corridors�
flashed by and� harry
hadn�t the faintest idea where they were but eventually the beast turned down a
rather narrow passage.� It barely had
room to wriggle forward.� Harry had to
pull his legs up to lie atop it.� He
could hear its hissy complaints as it struggled on.�

::I wassss
much..younger.. the lassst time I wasss here:: it
explained.�

Eventually the passage opened out into a vast octagonal
chamber.�

It was the heart of Hogwarts.�

It was in fact unmistakeably the
heart of Hogwarts.�

A bright white light emanated from the centre of the room.� It threw off sparks every so often in red,
green, blue and yellow in four different directions.� Below it on the hewn stone floor was a great
and complex carving.� Circles, interwoven
and bisected with angles and lines were inscribed with millions of tiny runes
and cuniform characters.�

It was amazing.�

Silvery slivers of light crawled over the lines of it here and there from time
to time.��

The overall impression was that of a massive white fire
burning over a vast round carved pit.�

::The heart of Hogwartsss::
the basilisk announced unnecessarily.��

Unable to take his eyes away from the brilliant white
glowing tongues of light in the centre of the room, harry slid down off the side
of the great black body and stumbled a few steps forward to the edge of the
outer rune circle.� �

He wanted to stumble even closer but he had the feeling that it would be wrong
to do so.� Perhaps even
dangerous.��

He took out the diary and wondered what to do next.�� How was he supposed to communicate with
it?!� The basilisk had said it
whispered.� He didn�t hear anything.�

::You said it talked to you?!:: he
asked Seshastra.

::It isss
talking to you now... can�t you hear
little sssnake?::

He shook his head, strangely disappointed.� He�d hoped that it just hadn�t started to
speak to him yet.� Turns out he was just
deaf.� Great.

::What is it saying?::

The snake emitted something like an amused serpentine
snort.�

::How would you have sssaved massster if I had allowed
you to come alone?!�� It sssays it knowsss you Harry
Potter..� It sssays it will help.�
Give it the book and it will tell you what to do nexssst::

Harry�s hand tightened on the diary.� Tom was in there.� He felt a bit uneasy about letting it out of his
grasp.� What if he couldn�t get it back.� What if he
couldn�t get it back and it didn�t
work...��

But... this was what Tom had thought was the best option.�

True.. he hadn�t actually
known Harry was going to bring him up here and give him to a big white fire in
the air.. But it seemed like that was the thing to do.�

The basilisk probably wouldn�t risk any part of Tom knowingly.

And unknowingly?�

But it was Hogwarts.�
Hogwarts wouldn�t harm a student, surely � and Tom was still technically
a student.� Even if this was the foulest
most evil magic there was..

They were bloody learning dark magic in their defense class.� He didn�t think that the founders would
necessarily be principally opposed to dark magic.� Salazar loved dark magic after all.� He�d be represented in this big design thing
somehow..

Reluctantly he raised the diary and tossed it in an underarm
throw into the incandescent white flames.�

It froze in midair and the pages ruffled as if turned at
speed, then the book opened at about halfway and hung there in the air.�

::it sssays
you musssst bring the four elements from the ssseat of the four powers.�
Now::

Harry gaped.�

What?!

He cast tempus.� It
was one thirty in the bloody morning.

He knew what the four elements meant in general terms.. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, right?!�

He could even figure how they would apply to the four houses..
but .. bring them from the
seat of the powers?!

What exactly was the seat then?

He asked the basilisk and it, after a moment, told him that
it was a gathering place. The place where the students
gathered.� So.� The common rooms then?

The heart of bloody Hogwarts wanted him to somehow
get into the common rooms of the other three houses at bloody one thirty in the
morning while accompanied by a twenty foot snake?!� That was insane!

The white fire in the centre of the room flared bright
yellow suddenly.� Harry jumped back
slightly.� What?!� Calling the insane plan insane was rude or
something?!!

::It isss
whisssspering sssomething
about loyalty..unity..::� the basilisk informed him mildly.�

Harry took a deep breath.

Oh.

Oh.� That was somehow
better then?!� Take a twenty foot
basilisk into the Slytherin dorms and somehow persuade Abraxas to make all the
others go and do his bidding and get the things he needed.

Of course.. a twenty foot
basilisk would probably go a long way to persuading any Slytherin to obey..

He snorted.

But he..probably wouldn�t be able
to do it as himself.�

How the hell would he explain to the others that he could talk to snakes?!�

It would be unnecessarily complex and someone might somehow figure out why he
had this extremely rare and unusual ability.�
That or they�d think he was related to Tom.� Also not good.�

Polyjuice?��

It was up in Tom�s room..� There was no way he was taking a basilisk up
to the first floor.. and he
doubted it would be allowing him to go anywhere without it.

But there was probably some in the dorm, surely � if they
had been keeping Willowstead there..
So..
some of Tom�s hair..

There might be some of that
there too..

Alright then.� Fine.�

He could do this.

The basilisk required no persuading to take him to Slytherin
dormitories, although it at first refused to venture up to the first level of
the dungeons, bringing them instead to a blank wall in the third sub-dungeon
level which it insisted was a passage.�
Harry spent almost twenty minutes tapping every stone in the section
before he, infuriated, demanded the damn thing take him to the shield and let
them enter through the common room.� It
was the middle of the night.� Who the
hell would know?!�

He didn�t think an enormous killing machine with death ray
eyes could be afraid, but the creature seemed more than skittish as it
slithered rapidly up the stairs to the first basement level.�

It writhed impatiently in front of the shield as Harry whispered the password
and no sooner had the thing started to open, it was forcing its way through the
gap and rushing into the common room.�

It skated across the long dim hall at speed and plunged down the stair to the
boy�s dorms.�

Harry held on for grim death.�

::The last door.� Wait when you get there.� I have to summon something from the room::

The snake didn�t respond - it did obey however.�

Harry climbed down lightly and moved to the door, ignoring
the restless slithering behind him of the snake impatient to remove itself from
such a vulnerable corridor.

He opened the door no more than a hand and a half�s width,
peering in gingerly.� The room was still
and sounds of sleeping reassured him.�

�Accio polyjuice�
he whispered, waiting.��

There was a glassy clink and he flinched, afraid that it might have woken one
of them.� But the soft breathing and
snoring continued unabated and he grasped the jar floating in the air before
him.��

He barely breathed the accio for Tom Riddle�s
hair.�

There was no immediate reaction - at least not from the room.� He noticed though three hairs floating in the
air before his hand.� They must have been
on his robes, he supposed.

He mixed and gulped the bitter pear syrup and less than a
minute later he was tossing the door open and silencioing
the entire room.�

His eyes met the steady gaze of Antonin.� He seemed awake and alert.� His lips curled slightly for a moment and Harry
cursed inwardly.� How the hell did the
Russian keep bloody recognising him.� Was he not acting quite like Tom?!� He�d have to find out somehow.�

Gyphus had jolted awake at the feel of the spell and
he could see Abraxas and Alphard were coming around
too, blinking blearily through the dim room toward his figure in the door.��

He stepped forward and, smirking nastily, tossed the door wide.�

::You can come in now:: he hissed
softly.�

The basilisk needed no further permission.� It surged into the room like a black wave of
moving death � which it was, he supposed.��

Chaos erupted.� He
closed the door after the serpent�s tail was through the door.� Several of the boys were screaming in terror.� A spell splattered on the basilisk�s skin
harmlessly and dissipated.

::Sorry about that.:: he apologised
to it.� It turned and bowed its head
slightly at him.�

�Calm down� he commanded them all, barely raising his
voice.� He flicked a charm to light the
torches and was now able to see a
room of terrified faces.�� With the exception of Antonin,
who looked both fundamentally shocked and inexplicably understanding, the others all looked petrified.

�I apologise for waking you so harshly..�
he offered, still with the tiny smirk.. �But I have need of your
assistance.�

Immediately.�

�He watched them
sputter and bite their tongues.

�I require some things retrieved from the common rooms of
the other houses.� I need these things now-..�

�Why do you have a...a..the Basilisk with you, Tom?!!� Abraxas managed finally, unfortunately
interrupting him.� Seshastra
darted forward, incensed, and hovered over the terrified blonde.

�Please do try to remain focused, if you would.� Nevermind the
basilisk � You are in ..negligible danger.. And those
of you who set off right now to retrieve the items I desire will not even be in
the room with him.� Volunteers?��

Every hand went up, with the exception of Antonin.� Harry
cursed over that too.� No doubt the damn
observant Russian would want to know things now.

�Very well.� I will need someone to retrieve the elements
from the common rooms of the houses � that is � Someone will retrieve a torch
lit on the hearth fire in the Gryffindor common room, a jar of compressed air
taken from a draft or breeze in the Ravenclaw common
room and some earth found somewhere in the common room of Huffelpuff.� Perhaps in a potted plant,
if necessary.�

�H-How are we supposed to get into the-�

It was Roan.� Harry
sighed slightly, feeling sorry for him. �

�That is for you to decide.� Show me how
resourceful you are.� I might suggest.. if any of you are capable of
projecting a full patronus, you might use it to wake
and summon any contact you perhaps have in the houses to open the door for
you.� You will need to obliviate them afterward however.� Use whatever method you consider most
suitable � provided it does not lead to alarms and attention of teachers..�

He observed Abraxas nod slightly.�

�There�s a girl in Huffelpuff...maybe..� Gyphus started
uncertainly.� Harry nodded

�Very well.� you�ll take Huffelpuff.� Does
anyone else have any links there?�� No
one did apparently.�

After he had asked each in turn it transpired that Abraxas
and Darius would take Ravenclaw, Alphard
and Roan would take Gryffindor and Gyphus and Palmer
would take Huffelpuff.� They all departed soon thereafter in a hurry,
although he suspected that had more to do with the bloody great big snake in
their dorm room than any eagerness to bring him what he needed.

�Where is Tom?�

He groaned at Antonin�s perceptive
question.�

�He had to visit Grindelwald again this afternoon.� He isn�t back yet.�� Would you tell me how you know every time?!��

Antonin smiled distantly and shook
his head.� �If I did that, I would be as
helpless as the others, no?� What do you
need these things for?� Why is there a snake..a
basilisk in the room?� No... how is there a
basilisk in the room is more important..�
you are a zmeagovorya�

Harry moved to stroke the black scales of the waist high
coil next to him.� He found,
unaccountably, that he kind of felt differently about the �monster� now.� Seshastra turned
his massive head and looked at him curiously, before slithering back and carefully
coiling himself around Harry where he stood.�

�I need the elements for Tom.� Seshastra is here
because he is helping me.�� Also.. you have no idea how fast he moves
through the corridors.� Its crazy. ��I have no idea what a smaya..whatever is.� If you mean a parseltongue � yeah.� Since the binding..I
can talk to snakes it seems.

Antonin�s eyes widened in slight discomfort.� �I hope I never find out how fast it moves..� he muttered.� �You
know Dumbledore has been looking for you all day?��

It was an hour later when Abraxas and Darius returned from
the Ravenclaw common room.� They flinched when they came in and found
that the others weren�t back.� Abraxas
couldn�t take his eyes off the enormous serpent baring its teeth at him evily.�

Harry was amused.�

He was sure that Seshastra was doing it for his own
entertainment.�

They had successfully captured a jar of wind crossing the
room from a crack in the pane of the Ravenclaw
stained glass shield panel.�� Darius crept
closer nervously to where Harry stood wrapped in a coil of basilisk.�

�Can I touch it?� he whispered uncertainly.� Harry asked the basilisk respectfully and
then granted the boy who was now marginally more fascinated than terrified
permission to touch .�

�It feels so hard� he observed.� �Like stone.. not like a living thing at all.��

Harry called the snake to bring its head closer and showed Darius
how to rub the soft leathery pads by its ears.�
The boy took to this with great enthusiasm, only jumping away in fright
once when the enormous snake started to hiss softly, before Harry explained
that that was an expression of pleasure.�

Gyphus and Palmer returned next and
both were very much of the Abraxas camp of things, keeping far away from the
snake and the two boys stroking it.� Antonin seemed thoughtful as he watched however.��

Gyphus gingerly approached and passed Harry a small pottle of earth with a hole in the middle.� The charitable
boys had obviously nicked the pot and left the plant lying.� Nice of them.

Alphard and Roan did not return
until the tempus showed nearly four in the morning.� They both stalked back looking extremely
pissed off but attempted to rein in their discontent in the face of Tom and a
big man-eating snake.�

Roan crept over, seemingly forced by Alphard into the
task, and offered a burning fackel in a jar, frozen
in place with a stasis charm.� He looked
in dismay at Darius petting the snake, as if the boy had gone insane.

�Well done, all of you.�
A difficult task achieved admirably... ��

He praised them all and stroked their egos for a few minutes before leaving
them with the basilisk in order to go and collect the water sample from the
Slytherin common room.�� That completed
he was off, the creature needing no
encouragement to move rapidly and get them out of the exposed upper level of
the dungeons.�

::Massster
will be angry:: it muttered as it whipped its way down to the darker deep
sub-dungeon levels.�

Harry held on and laid his cheek against the black shiny
scales.� They felt like fingernails on
this part of the basilisk.� They were slightly
smaller than the size of his palm.�

He wondered whether Tom had ever ridden the basilisk and if so, why.� For the hell of it?�

He hissed softly just as he�d heard the basilisk hiss when he was being rubbed
beside the ears.� It gave a soft
answering hiss

The tiny little passage irritated it once again and it made
what was probably the serpent equivalent of expletives as it wriggled and
forced itself through.� He didn�t
understand the words.� Perhaps there was
no equivalent for them in english.�

::What is sisthashash?!::

The snake told him it was this stupid passageway.� He asked
again � making clear he didn�t know the word.�
The basilisk laughed hissily

::Sisthashash
is the feeling when your sssskin is caught and refussses to be shed, sssso you
must sssscrape and bite it away.� It issss� mossst
annoying::

Harry nodded against the animal�s back
thoughtfully.� Obviously he wouldn�t have
a word for that.

They inched into the Heart chamber again and the basilisk
stopped struggling as soon as there was enough space for him to slide off into
the room.� It left its body in the
passage.�� Harry privately thought that
wriggling out backward would likely be even more difficult.� Perhaps it was weary.

::It isss
calling you clossser little ssnake..� go to the flamesss::� the
basilisk hissed impatiently.

Harry pulled the elements he�d gathered from his pockets and
restored them to regular size.� The fackel was still a bright orange shard of frozen flame in
the glass tube Abraxas had transfigured for it.

Uneasily, he stepped over the first carved circle, placing
his foot down gingerly on the elaborate runes and markings.�

They seemed to shiver in his vision, shimmering blue for a moment.� Each further step repeated the strange
reaction of the thing.�

He had the feeling that he was doing something bad... or wrong...� He should perhaps have at least taken off his
shoes...�

but then.. the thought of
putting his naked feet down on those shivering somehow unnaturally alive lines.. no...
maybe not.�
Maybe he�d rather be a bit rude.

The closer he moved to the white flames in the centre of the
thing, the larger they seemed to grow.�

He could see the book hanging in the centre of the flames still open.

::They whisssper
ssssomething... They sssay
it isss good that an old anger isss
undone..� they will assist the heirsss::

Harry frowned slightly.�
Did the heart of Hogwarts know about the
future then?.. and Voldemort
and everything?� Perhaps it was reading
his mind?� The hat did after all.� How much of a stretch was it to think that
the castle could do it to when it wanted to.�

Maybe all those times when you didn�t catch the stairs and had to wait on every
bloody level it wasn�t just your dumb luck.�
Maybe Hogwarts was mildly peeved at you for whatever reason and was
being a bit passive aggressive.

::What do I do now?:: he called back
to Seshastra

::Go into the flamessss::� came the slightly irritated answer, as if he
were dense.

Harry gulped thickly and turned back to the massive fire
only a couple of metres in front of him now.�
It didn�t feel hot.. but
it was still burning and flickering and sparking.. This seemed like a very bad
idea all of a sudden.

::Go... go.. little
ssssnake.. ssstrong
mate!� Go and sssave
masster::

Setting his jaw he grit his
teeth.� It would be alright, surely.� Hogwarts wouldn�t hurt him..
whatever this was.. it
probably wouldn�t burn him.. right?�� He�d be fine.� It seemed pleased to see him before didn�t
it?

Or at least the basilisk said it was.� It
had pretty much seemed like nothing more than a great big white fire to him..

Pulling together his courage he stepped forward the last few
paces and into the flames

Author note.

Review replies can be found at
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/18725-review-replies/
- 21
- 22
- 23
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

That which we make for ourselves