Chapter 5
As it turned out, there was a dwarven quarry near the Burrow with a perfectly flat section for the purpose of construction-based ritual magic. He eventually managed to sneak out of the Burrow at midnight. He might think the Weasleys were great but they could get a little bit much at times. When he finally got to the quarry he immediately threw the diary on the floor, just to get some distance between himself and the odious artifact. To his delight, having as much experience in drawing an interdimensional ritual circle as he did made drawing them a lot faster, seeing as he managed to get it down in about half an hour.
“Ah, now this is fascinating . It appears as though our enigmatic Mr. Riddle managed to split his soul. I can’t fathom why he wished to, but it appears as though he planned to split it into seven fragments. This… splinter is calling to its other pieces, it seems. It shall take a little while to sift through the contents, as well as to commit its resonance to memory, so that we may find the rest.”
“Padomay take me now.” Harry muttered to himself. “Once we take out the anchors, will Riddle just fucken’... dissipate? Or will he have to be taken out directly?”
“Now, that is an apt question. There is a concept that is of some similarity in Nirn, that of the Lich. The necromancer would remove their soul via ritual sacrifice, and implant it in a Phylactery, a vessel for the soul. Given the similarities, I would suspect the young Riddle achieved your realm's version of lichdom and, as such shall have to be defeated after the phylacteries have been destroyed.”
“I suppose it would be too much to ask that it be easy.” Harry complained. “Well, I’m going to get some much-needed rest. You do your tentacle-y investigations.”
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The end of the summer holidays came about rather quickly after Harry sent Mora the phylactery, though in retrospect that ought to have been expected, seeing as it had only been two weeks prior. So far, Lord Mora had managed to catalog a disturbingly long list of rather damaging curses, but he had also managed to discern that there was a hidden chamber known as the Chamber of Secrets, which apparently had a thousand-year-old basilisk that was to be unleashed. Naturally, he wanted Harry to send the basilisk to Apocrypha, whether it was for the purpose of a subject, or to dissect it, he wasn’t particularly interested.
It was on the train that he began considering how he would manage to sneak away to try and get into the Chamber. The only solution he could think of was doing it at night when everyone else would be asleep. He did unfortunately need to attend his classes, and any absences would filter up to the professors. Eh, he could just sleep in Binns’ lessons, he’d done it before.
“Well, it looks like you aren’t dim enough to have missed the Express. It’s a shame really.”
Sighing, Harry asked “What do you want Malfoy? I didn’t really plan on entertaining inbred idiots today.”
Sniffing in disdain, Malfoy replied before he left. “My breeding is far better than yours. Regardless, I’d suggest you keep a close eye on your little know-it-all. You never know what might happen.”
After Harry closed the door, and Hermione finished complaining, he settled in for as long a nap as he could get. He’d need the rest for his plans that night.
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Harry was being watched. Now, as a general statement, that was usually the case, what with the whole celebrity status. No, this instance was very different. They had barely started Sorting the new students when he felt like someone was piercing him with their stare. He had cast around, trying to find the source of the sensation, but was unable to. Deciding that a few points were worth it, he decided to ask Hermaeus Mora.
“Hey, Lord Mora, who the fuck is staring at me like they can see my soul?”
“Let me peruse the students for a bit. Hmm. Oh. It’s one of His . How did He even manage to gain a connection?”
“Mind clueing in the less omniscient of us?”
“Mm. No, knowing how He works, she’ll seek you out soon enough, and explain why. Just focus on accessing the Chamber, I shall explain your end goal more thoroughly once you have acquired the basilisk”
“Cool, I guess I just need to avoid Colin Creevey and Lockhart. They both have an… unhealthy, level of fascination.”
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To Harry’s utter displeasure, his dorm mates took hours to all fall asleep, but he eventually knew he was in the clear when he heard Ron’s snoring. He was always the last of them to fall asleep, even though he was the deepest sleeper. As silently as he could, Harry pulled on his Cloak and crept out to the common room, where a few OWL-level students were busy finishing off their homework. Making the tiniest crack he could, he opened the Fat Lady’s portrait and slipped off to a nearby alcove.
“Okay, where’s the entrance to the chamber?”
“Going based off of the phylacteries contents, it should be in a girls bathroom on the second floor. The second sink to the right as you enter will have a snake engraved on a tap. Speak the word ‘open’ in the snake’s tongue and it should open.”
“Oh, so it’s an entire quest basically.” Harry commented sarcastically, even as he made his way to the only girl's bathroom on that level. There were a few close calls, like when he almost walked into Mrs. Norris but just about managed to avoid her. He hit a minor hitch when he got into the bathroom. That minor hitch being a rusty hinge and a ghost.
“Who’s there? Have you come to visit poor Moaning, Moping Myrtle?”
“Lorkhan save us. Any idea on what I can do to deal with her?”
“You could always trap her in a soul gem. It is something that you Daedric Dagger is capable of.”
“It’s not the worst possible idea. Go ahead, eat the points for a Black Soul gem.”
It took him far longer than he would have liked, seeing as he had to surreptitiously check each stall until he managed to find where this ‘Myrtle’ was. He eventually managed to find her though, and slammed it open, stabbing her with the dagger he had conjured up.
“Well, that’s her dealt with. Now, where is that sink. Nope, nope, no- wait, that’s it!”
Looking at the tiny snake carving, Harry concentrated and said
~Open~
Causing the sink to grind back and down, revealing a giant, seemingly endless hole.
“Welp, Allons-y!” Harry called out before jumping down the pipe.
It really was quite a long drop. If he had timed it properly he was probably 7, maybe 8 miles underneath the lowest level of the school. After having a glance around at the skeletons, he forged onward and opened the door to the main part of the Chamber.
“Huh, ya think ol’ Sally Slyth was a bit of an egotist? Anyways, what do I gotta do to get the basilisk out here?”
“Call out ~Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four~ and the snake should come out shortly.”
“Coolio, ~ Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Fou r ~ . Oh wow, that is Loud.”
The mouth opening took about five minutes by itself, but the basilisk actually took about fifteen minutes to come out. It took a while of conversing in parseltongue, to convince the snake that he was an emissary of the snake’s “Master”, as well as about two and a half hours to draw the ritual circle around the snake.
The moment he activated the circle, the basilisk was replaced by a Black Book.
“I guess this is where you explain the rest of your plan?”
“Hmm, yes. Using the Black Book I have sent you, you are to begin the construction of a Shrine, to act as an anchor to Apocrypha. Through this altar, and the presence of yourself as a champion, I shall have enough presence to manifest a form in your realm.”
“Well, that’s gonna be fun . Let’s have a looksee at the book.” Harry said as he picked it up. “Oh, this is gonna take a while. Probably like, a week. Good thing I learned some daedric tongues.”
As he said that, he began reciting the words in the Black Book to begin the consecration. Speaking words that no tongue on Earth had uttered, Harry Potter began to warp and rewrite the rules of reality around him.