the rise

chapter five

Harry sat in one of the armchairs in the prefect common room, staring at the Slytherin door patiently. Hermione and Lucy had been 'kind' enough to wait with him, though he wanted nothing more than to be alone when Thomas arrived.
The Slytherin door swung open and Tom smirked. Hermione and Lucy excused themselves hastily.

"Took your time" Harry said, as he stood up straightening his robes.

Tom's eyes darted to the exit that Lucy and Hermione had taken and then back to Harry. "I was dealing with Carlos. I wish he was in Gryffindor so he could cling desparately to you instead"

"If he is being clingy surely that's good?"

"Yes. But that does not make it any less irritating"

Harry chuckled at Riddle's sufferage. "Shall we?"

"Ofcourse"

They exited the common room and began at the first floor, meandering through the hallways. They didn't talk alot, the things they wanted to talk about were far too sensitive for open hallways where they often passed teachers or found lost first years.

Finally though, they finished their route, or finished it in Tom's book, as they stopped outside the abandoned girl's bathroom on the second floor.

"Really? Salazar Slytherin built the chamber of secrets in a girl's bathroom?"

"All of the bathrooms in Hogwarts used to be unisex, to make it easier for gender diverse students. Dumbledore only recently assigned specific genders to the bathrooms"

"Huh. Still Salazar Slytherin built the chamber in a bathroom?"

"Ofcourse he did" Tom stalked around the circle of sinks in the center of the room. "It is the last place anyone would look. Aha!"

Harry rushed towards him. "What?"

Tom pointed at a small snake, which was engraved into the handle of one of the taps "Open"

Harry glanced at the doorway as the sinks began to slide away, revealing a dark pit in the floor.

"Holy shit"

"I would have chosen a slightly more dignified expression of awe, but yes. Holy shit"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You. Are a bit of a dick you know" and then, mostly to avoid Thomas' snarky comeback, Harry threw himself into the tunnel and began to skid down into the darkness.

He refrained from whooping with elation, he didn't want to alert the beast that was alledgedly kept in the chamber.

When he finally skidded to a halt, he was suprised to see Thomas sliding (albeit more gracefully) out of the tunnel right behind him.

"You fucking found it Riddle!"

Harry gazed, awestruck, around the cavernous space. Arching beams of moss covered stone, great pillars supporting the ceiling which was painted like an old muggle cathedral.

"What do you know about the chamber of secrets Harry?"

"Not alot. Hidden, secret chamber, created by Slytherin, which only a true Slytherin... a parceltounge... could enter. He also kept some sort of beast in here"

"A basilisk. And when the founders ran the school he resided down here, and he kept his own library too. According to the books I read Slytherin's library contains some of the best dark magic books ever written"

"A basilisk!"

"Enthralling is it not?"

"Not really"