Harry Potter The Vampire Lord

Chapter 14

The Portkey, as was becoming constant, dropped Harry on his backside in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Harry got to his feet quickly, with as much grace as you could manage after being sprawled on the floor, and took note of his surroundings, and immediately went over to Hedwig, who had begun trilling happily as soon as she had seen Harry come into the office. While petting Hedwig, he noted that there were two cups of tea on the Headmaster's desk. Hermione had walked over to Hedwig as well, and joined Harry in spoiling the baby Phoenix.

"Harry, just in time, my dear boy. I understand that you want to go down to the Chamber Of Secrets?" Dumbledore said. He had been having tea with Ollivander, and he had left his office stating that he would be back when Harry arrived and would be waiting near second floor girl's toilet, saying that he was heading out to have a chat with Hagrid. Dumbledore assumed he wanted to ask Hagrid about any new developments that had taken place inside the Forbidden Forest after the last time he had visited. The forest had the largest herd of Unicorns in Britain, and he, with the help of Hagrid often asked the Unicorns for some of their tail hairs that he used in his wands.

"Yes Professor, Mr. Ollivander said that he had something to retrieve from the Basilisk. He said that it might be useful for crafting my new wand. Did he arrive yet?" Harry asked absently. He was distracted by Hedwig's attempts to fly; she had grown a lot and was apparently trying to impress him with her flying capabilities. He smiled softly at her, she would gain a few inches of flight and then plop down on his hands, her still developing wings, not capable enough to fly just yet. He could swear that he saw an amused glint in Fawkes's eyes at Hedwig's attempts.

"Yes, I have informed him of the place that has the entrance to the Chamber. I think we should proceed there now; he will no doubt be waiting for us over there. We have a little less than an hour before Miss Granger's parents will be arriving at the Leaky Cauldron to pick up the two of you." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other at the Headmaster's statement. They knew that it would be hard to explain the physical changes that the two teens had undergone, but they had planned for it, and while Hermione didn't like lying to her parents, it wouldn't be the first time that she had done so.

Harry glanced at the silent form of Perenelle and could swear that he had spied the tiniest of nods accompanied by a smile on her face, so fast that it had gone in the blink of an eye. He saw as she made her way to Dumbledore's desk and unceremoniously opened one of the drawers and took out a few stones and pocketed them. He blinked at the petulant look that Dumbledore shot her, which she ignored completely.

The quartet along with a baby Phoenix made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and were surprised to hear Myrtle giggling girlishly, and Ollivander waving his hands, gesturing wildly to accentuate his tale.

Dumbledore cleared his throat to bring attention to their group, and in short order, Harry was standing in front of the sink that had the snake engraved on its tap.

~Open~ Harry hissed at it. Dumbledore was a bit surprised at that, he had suspected that Harry's Parseltongue ability was connected to the curse scar that Voldemort had left him with. He assumed that Harry would lose this ability with the disappearance of his scar, and had prepared himself to blast apart the entrance to the Chamber. He was thankful that he didn't need to resort to that, however, it raised some questions that Dumbledore didn't have answers to.

The sink, and the surrounding plumbing, sunk into the flooring and a large hole was left in its place. Harry looked at the pipe that led to the Chamber and thought about what to do next. Last time, he was intent on saving Ginny, and didn't think twice before jumping into it, but now that there were no such pressing circumstances; he didn't want to slide down the slimy pipe. He turned towards Dumbledore with an expectant look on his face.