Chapter 14
Draco Malfoy brushed down his formal robes and fussed with his hair as he waited in Lord Slytherin's office. He'd finally gotten rid of the slicked back hair look, as much for the fact that Slickeasy Hair Potion was part of the Potter estate as it was that he no longer had to wear his hair the way his father wanted. The room that held the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was now an office decorated in Slytherin's colors of green and silver.
He'd been waiting for what seemed like hours now and had honestly broken down out of boredom and gotten to know Moaning Myrtle, the only known lethal victim of Slytherin's Basilisk. Draco had been interested in her death, at least from a horrified point of view, and Myrtle had been very proud to have someone interested in her at all. The fact that Draco wasn't laughing at her helped a great deal. It meant that he didn't have to deal with the usual waterworks that happened when Myrtle was around, although having her loo turned into an office helped with that as well.
Draco turned towards the door as it opened and let in Ron Weasley. Ron, his new lord's best friend. Ron, who belonged to the family that his grandfather and father had been having a feud with for the last who knew how long? The same men who had gotten him into this ridiculous position in the first place by swearing to the man that his Uncle Sev said was an insane maniac. Draco stuck out his hand and introduced himself. "Draco Malfoy, Heir to House Malfoy, mis-Sorted Slytherin and no longer potioned to be the biggest prat in the universe."
Ron took his hand to shake it. "Ronald Weasley, Heir to House Travers and no longer potioned to be an idiot by the fewmets hauler," he said with a little grin.
"Fewmets hauler?" Draco asked - and Ron explained, in detail. The end result was the two of them laughing so hard that they couldn't stand up. They were startled out of it when a flash went off and they saw that someone had taken their picture.
It was a group of reporters, along with Professor McGonagall, Lady Ravenclaw, a bunch of Goblins, Potter, Longbottom, Granger, Heir Ravenclaw and some other adults that Draco didn't know. Of all the times to be caught acting undignified. "Welcome to the Office of the Heir of Slytherin," Draco said with a bow, trying to unobtrusively straighten his robes.
"What had you laughing so hard? Are we seeing an end to the Malfoy/Weasley feud?" one of the reporters asked, her quill ready to write.
"Perhaps," Draco admitted. "But we were discussing the fate of Dumbledore. Apparently the Goblins of Gringotts have a very appropriate punishment system." He then bowed low to the Goblins. "I truly appreciate the news that the thief is spending his days waist deep in fewmets without a wand to help him." The Goblins gave him a fierce grin, and nodded to him in return.
"This office is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets which was sealed, we have been told, when Salazar Slytherin left the castle nearly a thousand years ago. Myth had it that a terrible monster was left sealed in the chamber. Fifty years ago a descendant of Salazar Slytherin found the chamber and opened it, sending the monster that was proved to be inside to attack those attending the school. Myrtle here," and he gestured to the ghost, who made a curtsy, "was the only person to die in those attacks when she faced the monster right in this room. The rest of the victims at that time were petrified. When her death threatened to close the school, that descendant resealed the chamber and framed Hagrid, our current assistant Care of Magical Creatures teacher for the crime," Draco began.
"This last school year he once again unsealed the chamber and set the monster, now known to be a basilisk, on the students. Thanks to Lady Magic, those who encountered the basilisk this time were only petrified. At the end of the school year, frustrated that he had not been able to kill anyone, Tom Riddle took a first year girl, Ginerva Weasley, into the chamber threatening to kill her. Her brother Ronald, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter had been searching for the answer to the petrifications all year. Heir Granger, scion of the Dagworth-Grangers, had at the time of Heir Weasley's abduction been petrified as well. Armed with the knowledge that the three of them had gathered, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter took a teacher with them when they went to face Riddle and free Ginerva Weasley.
"An unfortunate rock fall separated Ronald and the teacher from Harry, injuring the teacher and leaving Harry to go on alone. Harry confronted Riddle, who set the basilisk on him. Harry called out for help, and Hogwarts answered, sending the Sorting Hat and Fawkes, the phoenix familiar of the school, to help. The Hat gave Harry the Sword of Griffindor. The basilisk died in the confrontation and Harry was injured. Fawkes cried on his injuries, saving his life. Riddle was not so fortunate, dying from the basilisk's venom.
"Today we open the Chamber of Secrets once more, this time to document this historical find so that future generations of the wizarding world can see what really happened a thousand years ago." Draco bowed and waved his hand towards the open door to the Chamber. The House-Elves had done an incredible job creating a doorway topped by a snake. When the door was closed, the snake would flow down, covering the door completely and become a carving on a wall covered in such carvings. Harry had already opened it.
Harry and Ron bowed to the assembled adults and led the way down into the chamber. Draco followed. He was not about to miss his chance to see the chamber for himself. Draco grimaced as he reached the end of the stairs and found the old bones. Merlin, he knew that the basilisk had to eat, but knowing about snake anatomy he really didn't want to be walking around in a snake's loo. Then he looked up when he heard everyone gasp.
Merlin, Morgana and Lady Magic! The size of the shed skin alone was just about enough to make Draco feel faint. It had to be sixty feet long! The very idea that Harry had faced a bigger basilisk than this made his insides turn to water. He reached out and touched the shed skin. It was like incredibly tough leather. He could see one of the Goblins scribbling on some parchment and peering closely at the skin, which he thought meant that the Goblins would be taking it out of the school soon. He wondered just what would be done with it.
From there Draco followed the group to a stone and mortar hallway. It ended in a wall covered in snakes. It didn't surprise him, snakes were Slytherin's heraldic animal. He looked closer at the side walls and found that they too, were covered in carved snakes, although much smaller than the ones on what had to be the hidden entrance to the chamber itself. Potter hissed at the wall, and it opened, with the snakes sliding aside. That wasn't too different from his own common room, and as it had been built by the same man, Draco wasn't all that surprised.
"You, you're a, a, a Parseltongue?" one of the reporters stuttered.
Professor McGonagall gave the man a withering look. "Parseltongues merely speak in the language of snakes and other related species such as dragons, Mr. Booth. For your information, Parsel speakers are revered in other parts of the world where dangerous snakes are common, and Gringotts has a standing policy of hiring parseltongues to work with their dragons. Parselmagic is extremely strong, and parsel-healers are the best at healing in the world.
"Dumbledore did his best to make the magical gift something to be afraid of when he used Voldemort to become even more powerful. As long as we were afraid of everything about Voldemort, Dumbledore became more powerful because he was not afraid of Voldemort. I refuse to give that man any more power. Parselmagic is going to be taught here at Hogwarts to any who can speak the language and parsel is going to be offered as a language class to those who don't. As is beast-speaking of all kinds, soul-magics, healing and wand making basics. If any of our students have a magical talent we will do our best to train them in the basics so that they may go on to a mastery if they so wish."
"Your list included some dark magics, Professor," Mr. Booth said, his quill almost a blur.
McGonagall snorted again. "More of Dumbledore's work, I'm afraid. He labeled far too many types of magic dark simply because of his own agenda. We are returning most of those magics to the curriculum, such as ritual, soul, and yes, parselmagics. Now, are you ready for what we're here for?" She turned back to Harry. "Mr. Potter, if you would be so kind as to lead us into the chamber?"
"Damn!" Draco thought. "Now that's a headmistress!" It was too bad that she was no longer going to be a head of house. He'd have liked having someone like her in charge of his new house. He followed the group into the chamber.
The chamber was huge. There were columns carved with giant snakes curving around them everywhere, and on the far side, a statue of what appeared to be Salazar himself. It also had a giant, dead snake in front of a pool of water left over from the chamber having been flooded at one point. It was over eighty feet long. This time Draco sat down in shock, right next to Ron who was hyperventilating. Harry had killed that?!?! Merlin, Morgana, and Lady Magic!!!! He barely noticed that Granger went over and kicked the corpse.
"This is the main chamber," Harry said, waving his hand around. "As you can see, there are tunnels going off every which way. That statue is where the basilisk slept. It came out of the statue's mouth when called for. I'm absolutely certain that there is more in here to find than just the basilisk. Salazar seemed to really like hiding things behind walls. So our team of cursebreakers and historians will be exploring the chamber and it's tunnels in more depth over the course of, well, as long as it takes for them to discover all of the secrets Salazar hid down here."
Then Lady Ravenclaw grabbed Harry with a desperate grip and Harry flailed around, obviously not having expected it. "How did you survive?!" she demanded to know.
"Well, Fawkes blinded it so it couldn't kill us that way. So it tried to eat me. But I had the sword then, and I pointed it up as it bit down. The sword went right into it's brain. I did get a fang shoved in my arm, but Fawkes healed that, so...I'm ok?" Harry said. "It's alright, Aunt Petunia! I'm fine, Ginny is alive and that's what's important."
"Harry, I realize that you felt you had to save Ginny. I understand that. I know that you took a teacher with you. That was good thinking." Draco could see Granger roll her eyes and Harry was looking far too innocent. Crap, they had to have taken Lockhart. Why in the world would they have taken that idiot? Draco wondered. "But you are to NEVER go after another monster again! Do you hear me? NEVER!"
Harry sighed. "Yes, Aunt Petunia." It was all Draco could do not to snort. There was no way that Potter would do that, and it was obvious that he was just placating his aunt. On the other hand, Draco couldn't say that he wouldn't have gone himself if someone he cared about had been in that position, so he really couldn't blame Potter for doing so.
Lady Ravenclaw pulled back enough to glare at Harry. "I'm going to hire you a bodyguard," she threatened. That did it. Draco finally cracked and howled with laughter and Ron joined in while Potter glared at them both.
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Griffindor's tower proved to be a lot less dramatic. The bottom of the tower held a fireplace, ancient chairs with no backs, a table carved out of a single tree trunk, a large throne like chair next to the fireplace and several trunks scattered around the perimeter of the room. There were animal skin rugs on the floor, and a place setting on the table.
Here Dudley gave a speech similar to the one that Harry had given in the Chamber of Secrets, letting the reporters know that all of the founders had sealed their personal chambers upon their deaths and today they were being opened to the historical inquiry. "No one has gone beyond this level in the tower, and even then Harry and Professor Snape only opened this room to confirm that it was Godric Griffindor's personal tower," Dudley finished.
"What do you expect to find here?" the female reporter asked.
"Well, for one thing," Dudley said. "I think we'll find evidence of Godric's reported dueling prowess. If he'd been a knight, I'd have expected to find a knight's armor and stand for his weapons for example. I have no idea just what that might be, but his dueling robes and perhaps more swords than the famous Goblin forged blade that Harry killed the basilisk with would be wicked."
"How long do you think that the investigation will take?" another reporter asked.
"I have no idea. It really depends on just what is inside the rooms. After all, we might just find that Godric was more interested in teaching at the school and defending his students than he was in collecting items in his rooms. There might be nothing more than a few chests full of robes and a four poster up there," Dudley waved his hand at the set of stairs leading further up into the tower. "On the other hand, he might have collected personal grimoires and other things to help teach his students."
"Or he may have had a secret collection of gobstones," Harry said with a grin. "We will be updating the wizarding world as to what we find once a month, beginning with this tower. If you will follow my Aunt Petunia, we'll go and see Rowena Ravenclaw's chambers next."
Rowena's chambers were, to no one's surprise just off of the castle library, hidden behind a tapestry that depicted a maiden reading a book while petting a unicorn. This too was a small tower with the entrance room being a study. The room was filled with bookcases, and they were full of books and scrolls. There was a long table with more of the backless chairs, and it was covered in even more books. "NO ONE TOUCH ANYTHING!!!" one of the historians shouted as the reporters leaned in to look at the books. "These are her personal books and as such they are priceless. As old as they are, they could crumble to dust at a touch!"
"That's not very likely," Petunia said. Then a proud glint came into her eyes. "The books and scrolls at Ravenclaw Keep are very well preserved and I doubt that my ancestress would have failed to preserve these as well."
"Ravenclaw Keep?" another historian whispered.
"Fourteen wizard space floors expanded as far as they will go," Harry said with a sigh.
"Absolutely stuffed with books, scrolls and even clay tablets," Dudley confirmed. "There's only two floors that are living quarters and even those have bookshelves full of books."
The first historian had to put his head down between his knees while the others patted him on the shoulders. Once he had recovered, he begged Petunia to allow Ravenclaw Keep to be investigated. "We plan on having certified historical librarians come in and copy all of the books and other items at the Keep. Once they have completed each item, that copy will be taken to a publishing house to be translated into modern English. I plan on picking one out after the school term has started, and our family will be purchasing a building in Diagon Alley where those copied books will be housed and made available to the public, and if someone is interested, a copy can be purchased for their own family library."
"That's, that's incredibly generous!" one of the reporters exclaimed, while the historians just whimpered.
Petunia looked stern. "Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort all did their best to stifle the minds of the average wix of the wizarding world. They used different methods, but in the end it all came down to the same thing. They wanted us to be sheep - mindless, easily frightened sheep. The absolute best thing that the average wix can do to stand up to these sorts of men is to go and educate themselves on all manner of subjects. The Ravenclaw library is just one step that we of the Ravenclaw line are taking to ensure that future generations will be smart enough not to get caught in such evil men's manipulations."
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Like Rowena Ravenclaw's chambers, no one was surprised to find out where Helga Hufflepuff's were. She had built her rooms close to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff's dorms. What was odd about her rooms was that the entrance led into a sunroom. Here Neville was the one to give the speech, beginning with the speculation that as Helga had been the founder who had been in charge of the kitchens, the sunroom was used to raise vegetables during the winter months.
"I find it hard to believe that this is Hufflepuff's chamber," one of the reporters said. "Wasn't glass invented after Hogwarts was founded?"
"Actually, glass for windows had been invented at the time, but it wasn't very good," Neville said. "This glass is enchanted to be clear. It's actually very thick and rather bubbly, as well as being framed in very basic cast iron. Without the enchantments the windows would be as leaky as a sieve. It's my personal speculation that the building of this room was done simply so that Helga could see out onto the grounds. Then I think that she discovered how warm the room became and put these pots in here to grow food plants for the kitchen. After all, there weren't that many students when the castle was first built so with some good earth magic, it would have been a viable option at the time," Neville said with a remarkably easy grin. It was obvious to the reporters that the boys at least, were taking this as a jolly good adventure.
The room was practically bristling with large pots, both those which held the remains of small trees or bushes, and those that were more long than tall and round, which could have easily held things like lettuces and legumes. There was a large open chest that looked to contain some sort of gardening tools, and a pair of surprisingly dainty leather gloves. Along the wall without glass there was an enormous fireplace. The fireplace held two brick ovens with the wood doors still in place, along with a shelf that held an iron kettle and a hook that held a small iron cauldron. In front of the fireplace there was a seating area, with one throne like chair and several of the same backless stools that were in the other towers.
Neville walked over to the seating area. "Knowing what we know about Helga Hufflepuff, namely that she refused to allow a magical student to be turned away, I believe that this was where she met with her students. We know that she was an extremely compassionate witch who made Hogwarts into a House-Elf sanctuary. She was just as compassionate with her students. Sitting on this chair, she would have had easy access to the fireplace, from where she could hand out hot drinks or food along with advice to whomever sat in these stools. I truly believe that Professor Sprout is a worthy successor to this well known witch, and I am very proud to be her descendant." He finished his speech with a shallow bow.
"Thank you, Mr. Longbottom," Minerva said. She turned to the group. "Alright, at this time we will turn these chambers over to the historians and other specialists. If you could follow Mr. Weasley, he'll lead you down to the great hall where the house-elves have prepared a lunch."