In a universe where Voldemort never became powerful enough to terrify people for decades after the first Wizarding War, Peter didn't betray his friends, and Remus Lupin fell in love with his best friend's twin sister.
Marauders era
Remus Lupin × fem...
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October 1975
Remus and Juliet did not sleep that night. They spent hours talking about extremely random things, trying to take their minds off the situation. They were however forced back to reality when Minerva McGonagall walked into the Gryffindor common room.
She did not tell them much, simply instructing them to warn the students, advising them not to wander alone in the school's corridors, but not to worry much. When she left, they were alone again, and it was too early in the morning, it was going to take at least another hour for others to wake up.
"Did she say that the Ministry is getting involved?" Remus asked the brunette in a quiet voice.
"If there's no need for us to worry, why is the Ministry getting involved?" Juliet sighed. "Something's going on. Something bad."
"I'm sure Dumbledore will deal with it quickly. We have to trust him." The tall boy tried to reassure her.
"Can he really be trusted, though? How could he let anything dangerous inside the school in the first place?" The twin girl frowned.
Remus didn't answer, the observation brought him doubts. Really, how could this go past Dumbledore? Were they really in the safest place in the world or were they just putting too much faith in the wizard?
The next few hours that followed, after every prefect had warned the students, all were slowly dispersing in groups within the castle after breakfast.
Juliet was following Lily and Marlene until she was pulled on the side. The two girls looked back at their friend worriedly but when they all noticed it was Pandora, the Potter girl nodded at them, telling them to continue without her.
When the girls left, Pandora dragged her best friend with her, ignoring her questions, until they were in front of the library door. There she saw Amos holding Regulus in place.
"What's going on?" She asked once she arrived.
It was her first time being with her friends since they learnt what happened to her, and she was just trying to ignore the subject, hoping it wouldn't come up and it wasn't the reason she was brought there.
"What do you know about the situation?" Amos questioned her.
"What situation?"
"Why everyone's being so careful? Why we can't stay alone? Why a student is in the Hospital Wing?" Pandora listed quickly.
"Godric, calm down." She sighed. "Regulus is a prefect too, why don't you ask him?"
The Slytherin felt his heart clench at how his best friend wouldn't even look his way. And she didn't even call him by his nickname.
"Because I only know what everyone else does."
"Reggie just followed Slughorn's instructions, but rumor has it that you saw something." The Hufflepuff whispered.
Juliet rolled her eyes. Of course, if there was any drama, a Hufflepuff would know about it. She look around, making sure no one was around before bringing her best friends closer, whispering to them.
"The student was petrified. We found a message on the wall. It looked like it was painted with blood but it was just normal paint." Pandora grimaced at the thought. "And Mrs Norris was petrified right under it."
"Well, what did the message say?" Regulus raised an eyebrow.
"Something like 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware.' It was a warning."
"Or a threat." The blonde frowned.
"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" Amos was confused, but not knowing either, Juliet shrugged.
"Come with me." Pandora suddenly said, pushing all of them inside the library, ignoring Madam Pince's glares and Amos' complaints.
While the Ravenclaw went to look for a book, the other three sat at an isolated table in silence. Pandora later came back with a few books, one significantly bigger than the others.
"Are we having a study session? What's going on? I thought we stopped those?" The Gryffindor stared at the books.
Her best friend ignored her, opening a book which Juliet believed talked about different magical creatures.
"Do you know what causes petrification?" The blonde finally asked, making the boys shake their heads.
"James told me something about advanced Dark Magic?" The brunette girl leaned on the table, trying to peek at the page opened in front of the Ravenclaw.
"That's right, but it's not the only way. There are some magical creatures that have this power." She paused to create a bit of a suspense. "Gorgons and basilisk."
It was silent for a few moments, the teenagers processing the information.
"You think a gorgon or a basilisk infiltrated the school?" Regulus whispered.
Pandora took a moment to reply. "Juliet said the message talked about the Chamber of Secrets."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, there's a story about it. Apparently, Slytherin built a hidden chamber in the castle that the other three founders didn't know of. According to the legend, he sealed the Chamber of Secrets so none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school." Pandora explained.
"What happens after he arrives?" Juliet asked.
"The heir alone would be able to unseal the chamber, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
"Unworthy of- who's that referring to?" Amos frowned.
"Probably the muggles. It's not a secret that Salazar Slytherin didn't share the same ideologies as the three others." The Potter girl replied as the blonde girl nodded in agreement.
They were shushed by Madam Pince and gave her an apologetic smile, lowering their voices more for the rest of their discussion.
"So, then, who's the heir?" The House of Black's youngest raised an eyebrow.
"No one knows, but the chamber is now open, so he has to be inside the castle." The Lestrange girl looked around, making sure they weren't being listened to.
"Hold on, back to the threat. What caused the petrification?" The brunette girl glanced at the book whose page showed a basilisk.
"Slytherin liked snakes, didn't he? Made it the emblem of his house. He was a Parselmouth too."
"Fuck." The Diggory boy cursed.
"There's a fucking basilisk inside the school." Juliet stated.
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DUN DUN DUN
this chapter is my thank you gift for the 50k <3 was originally planning to post in a few days
