kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Harry charged after the snake, determined to punish the creature who was stupid enough to attack his da. The staring portraits helped identify which way she had gone, and then he came upon a white-faced Ron and Hermione cowering behind a sheltering suit of armor. "Did you see a big snake?" he demanded.

"Blimey! I'll say!" Ron gasped. "Forget spiders тАУ it's snakes that are scarier than anything!"

"Which way did it go?"

Hermione clutched at his arm. "You can't possibly want to follow it!"

"It nearly ate my da, and I'm going to teach it a lesson," he snarled back, sounding remarkably Snape-like.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance, and then Ron shrugged. "Three wands are better than one," he pointed out philosophically.

"Oh, I just know this is a bad idea," Hermione said miserably, but she too drew her wand and followed the boys.

"It went in there?" Harry said in disbelief, indicating the half-open door.

Ron just nodded.

"But we can't go there!" Harry said, scandalized. "I mean, it's a girls' lav!"

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Oh, for heaven's sake! You're willing to take on a fifteen foot snake but you won't go in the girls' toilet?" She pushed past the other two and cautiously entered the room.

Sheepishly, the boys followed her.

"Eeeeeeeeeee!" A shrill, hollow voice screamed at them, and all three jumped, their wands coming around to target the source of the noise.

"Don't you dare try to hex me! I'm already dead!" the ghost scolded. "What's wrong with everyone? First that annoying girl keeps coming in, and then some huge snake, and now two boys and тАУ"

"Where's the snake?" Harry demanded, even as he and the others scanned the lavatory for the serpent.

Myrtle gave him a petulant look. "You've got no manners, you know that?"

"You want the snake to come back?" he countered.

"Oh, fine," Myrtle surrendered with a huff. "It hissed something over there, and a big hole opened and then it disappeared down it."

The children hurried over to the site Myrtle indicated, and Harry quickly spotted the snake carvings. "Did you let a big snake through some secret passage?" he demanded, ignoring Ron's gasp of shock and Hermione's surprised expression.

"A speaker! Hello, speaker!" the snakes exclaimed. "Yes, we allowed a snake into the Chamber. Do you wish to follow?"

"Erm, okayтАж" Harry's temper had cooled to the point where he realized that following the snake into its lair was probably a bad idea, but he figured it was at least worth knowing where it had gone.

A moment later, the wall in front of them sported a gaping hole, and the three first years peered down into the gloom.

"Whoa," Ron commented. "You're not going down there, mate?"

"No, he's not!" Hermione said fiercely. "Harry, we need to find a professor before we go a step further."

Harry hesitated. He knew Hermione was probably right, butтАж

"Your da will kill us if we go down there alone," Ron pointed out. "And I really don't want to get whacked again."

Harry sighed and capitulated. He knew Ron was definitely right, and he was beginning to feel guilty for just charging after the snake, rather than making sure his da was okay or summoning Madame Pomfrey for him. "I guessтАж" he said, taking one last long look into the darkness before them.

An instant later, a strong hand gripped the back of his robe and jerked him backwards, then a hard smack landed on his bum. "Ow!" he yipped, even as he realized the same thing was happening to Ron and Hermione.

Snape's heart had nearly stopped as he entered the lavatory, only to find three little dunderheads innocently standing over a pitch-black abyss. He had, thanks to Hagrid practically carrying him through the corridors, mostly recovered by the time they tracked the children to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He had pushed the door open and beheld a spectacle only slightly less horrific than Nagini's face weaving in front of his own.

A split second later, he was dragging them all back and administering a resounding slap to each backside. Ron yelled and Hermione squeaked, while Harry тАУ predictably тАУ protested. "We weren't going to go in there, Da!" he said in injured tones, doing his best to sound as if the idea had never occurred to him.

"And what would you have done if Nagini reached up out of the darkness and pulled one of you down?" Snape demanded furiously.

"Oh." Harry exchanged guilty looks with the other two. "We didn't think of that," he admitted meekly.

"Sorry, Uncle Sev," Ron said, rubbing his behind.

"Yes, we're sorry, Professor," Hermione echoed automatically, still a bit stunned from having been swatted. (She consoled herself with the thought that it meant the professor was unlikely make a note in their permanent records.)

Hagrid was looking down into the opening, his crossbow cocked and ready. "I don' see anythin' down there, Pr'fessor!" he called. "But it looks like the tunnel might go on f'r a whileтАж"

"The snakes that opened the passage said it went to some place called the Chamber," Harry volunteered, trying to be helpful.

Snape looked over at Myrtle. "Kindly fetch the Headmaster at once."

Myrtle looked sullen. "Oh, all right," she grumbled.

"Are any of you injured?" Snape asked, turning back to the children.

They shook their heads, knowing better than to mention their tingling behinds, and Harry remembered how awful his da had looked back in their rooms. "Are you okay, Da? That stupid snake didn't hurt you, did it?"

"Do you know it, Professor? You called it Nagini, didn't you?" As usual, the know-it-all had caught what had escaped the boys' notice.

"Yes. It belongs to You-Know-Who."

"You mean, that's Voldesnort's snake?" Harry exclaimed."No wonder it was so mean!"

Meanwhile, down in the Chamber, Nagini was finding her problems were far from over. She was still blinded from Harry's magic, but she was able to navigate through taste and scent quite well. She wended her way through the dusty corridors, heading to the Chamber her master had told her about before sending her to the castle. Abruptly she sniffed, scenting more human flesh. But her master had said that the Chamber would be deserted!

She slithered closer and discovered another small human, only this one appeared comatose. "Who are you?" a familiar voice demanded.

"Master?" Nagini turned her head sightlessly, trying to triangulate on the sound. She could scent no one but the unconscious form in front of her.

"I could be your master," the voice agreed. "Who are you?"

"I have a master already тАУ he sounds like youтАж" Nagini was growing more bewildered by the minute.

"Hmmm. Maybe you know an older me. I am тАУ"

The grinding of stone interrupted them, and then a new voice joined them. "I smell blood. Who has violated my Chamber?"

"Calm yourself, great one," her master's voice ordered. "It is nothing more than a kindred spirit. This snake seeks a master, and I тАУ"

"No! I am your familiar! Not some weak and pathetic little worm!" the new voice roared in rage.

Nagini gasped in outrage. "A worm? How dare you! I will kill you for your presumption! Know that I am the familiar of Lord Voldemort, the greatest Dark Lord тАУ"

"Wait тАУ I am Lor-" the wizard tried to speak but was shouted down.

"No! I am the familiar of the Heir to Slytherin, Lord Voldemort!" the other creature bellowed, and the sounds of scales on stone told Nagini that it was moving forward.

Abruptly Nagini began to rethink her strategy. She was blind, in unfamiliar surroundings, and from the sound of the other creature, it was big. She had never met a snake larger or more powerful than she was, but there was something wrong here. The new creature was also claiming to be Voldemort's familiar, and while she could hear her master's voice, she could not sense his presence nor did he seem to recognize her.