Revised: January 21, 2022
Changed a few lines to match the previous changes I've made. Will also be revising Part 15.
Please be in the correct order...
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Tom closed his eyes with relish as he held his soulmate for the first time. For fifty years, he had been stuck in that damn diary. Fifty years of longing for human contact. Of dread for what the future held for his Harry. He had guaranteed that Dumbledore would have taken measures to prevent him from being born and, if that failed, to prevent him from ever finding out about his relation with Tom. Yet here he was, face buried in Tom's robes as he processed what he had learned.
After several long moments, Harry lifted his head. "How have you coped for so long?" he asked.
"Mostly a desire for vengeance," said Tom. "When Ginny came around, I had decided I would use her to get my body back."
"It's no wonder she's been acting strange," said Harry. "She's hardly looked at me in the past week."
"How did you find out about the soul bond anyway?" And how did Dumbledore not find out he knew?
"Gringotts," Harry replied. "We found that there had been blocks and compulsions put on me, so I had them removed. After that, the parchment revealed the bond." He paused. "What did Ginny write about me?"
"Not much." Harry raised his eyebrows, surprised, Tom continued. "She knows she doesn't have a chance with you, but she does want to get to know you better. Oh, and it seems like she's one of the few Gryffindors who don't believe you opened the Chamber. In fact, she's worried you'll be attacked." Because she feels responsible, he added silently with a flicker of guilt.
Harry snorted. "Well, that might explain why she was following me around before. But there must be a way we can get you back without hurting her or anyone else."
"There may be something down in the Chamber," Tom mused. At Harry's confused look, he clarified. "There's a library back there. Athanasia guards it."
"Athanasia? Who's that?"
"She's Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk," Tom explained.
'Basilisk?' A dark shape poked out from behind Harry. It was a snake, and as Tom watched, it uncoiled itself and situated itself on the floor beside Harry, gazing up at Tom with its tail lashing excitedly.
"A basilisk?" Harry echoed, not at all perturbed by the snake that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. His eyes darkened. "Everyone that's been petrified had been lucky they haven't looked in her eyes directly," he said more to himself.
Tom nodded in agreement. Ginny had told him of the first petrification, so he had ordered Athanasia to be more careful. It hadn't worked.
'I wanna see! I wanna see!' The snake was now slithering around Harry in excited loops.
"This must be Azure," said Tom.
Azure stopped circling Harry and raised her head proudly. 'That's me.'
"Careful," Harry said as Tom leaned down and stroked her head. "She takes pleasure in insulting people she likes."
'You'd better watch your mouth, Tart-boy, or else I'll leave another dead mouse in your bed.'
Tom let out a laugh, smiling down at the snake. 'I like you.'
'No need to feed into her ego,' Harry said, a smile crossing his own face.
'Keep feeding my ego,' Azure argued. 'It's starving.'
"How do I get in to the Chamber?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"Stand in front of the sink and say 'Open' in Parseltongue. It'll open and you'll go down the slide. Or ask for stairs."
'Slide? I want to go down the slide!' Azure turned to Harry and jabbed her tail in his shoulder. 'Never use the stairs to go down or else...'
Harry just raised an eyebrow at his companion. 'You're really enjoying this.'
If snakes could shrug, Azure probably would have done so. 'Slides are cool.'
'And you are a child in a snake body,' Harry retorted.
Azure didn't try to deny it, just stuck her tongue out.
"All right, then. Tomorrow morning before breakfast."
Tom nodded. "Then I shall see you then," he said, and then Harry was back in his dorm, falling off his bed. Somehow, Azure managed to stay on.
At the same time, Draco entered the dorm. "You all right?" he said, looking down at his friend who was tangled up in the bedsheets on the floor.
"Yeah," said Harry, sitting up and trying to act normal.
He failed.
And Azure just laughed at him until she fell of the bed as well. Then she continued laughing.
'Open,' Harry hissed as he stood in front of the sink. Slowly, it opened, revealing the slide Tom had mentioned.
'Look out below!' Azure squealed before throwing herself down the pipe. Rolling his eyes fondly at his familiar, Harry followed. They continued down until they came across a wall with stone snakes that seemed to stare right back at him. 'Open,' he repeated and went through.
He removed the diary from his robes. "All right, I'm here."
Tom materialized in front of him. He looked very smug as Harry looked around the vast space. "Athanasia. She won't... you know, try to kill me if you call her, will she?"
Tom shook his head. "No, she won't. Did you know that a basilisk's gaze is not fatal to Parselmouths?"
"No." Now Harry was really interested in seeing her for himself.
Chuckling at the raw excitement in Harry's eyes, Tom stepped forward and hissed, 'Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.'
Out of the mouth came a giant serpent, hissing as it spotted Harry.
'Don't hurt him,' Tom said. 'He is my soulmate.'
'Soulmate?' The basilisk moved closer, hostility vanishing. Harry was looking directly into her large yellow eyes, but as Tom had said, he was unaffected.
'Yes, I'm Harry Potter.'
'Harry Potter.' She seemed to be scrutinizing him. 'You are a small one.'
Harry suddenly felt very self conscious of his shorter height compared to Tom. Tom was already taller than an average sixteen-year-old, but Harry would bet that he would always be at least four inches shorter than him. 'It's not my fault I hadn't always eaten enough,' he muttered mutinously.
Behind him, Tom scowled a little at that. He hadn't really paid much attention to their height difference, but looking closer he could see that Harry wasn't just short; he was skinny. Not overly so, but it was clear years of malnutrition had stunted his growth. Whoever did this would pay.
He glanced at Azure. She didn't speak, just gazed back with a sad expression.
Unaware of Tom's thoughts, Harry reached up and stroked Athanasia's nose.
Azure peeked out from behind Harry's leg and approached. 'Greetings. My name is Azure.'
Athanasia lowered her great head to gaze at Azure. 'Another snake.' She sounded pleased. 'It's been so long since I've spoken to another one.'
'Tom not good enough?' Harry teased, grinning when Tom gave him a look.
'Tomling's fine, but he is still not my kind.'
Harry looked at Tom, who looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "Tomling?"
'If it makes you feel better,' Azure said cheekily, 'I call Harry hatchling.'
'Better than Tomling,' Tom groused.
"All right, enough fooling around," Harry said. "What are we going to do about all this? Dumbledore keeps subtly insisting I'm the one behind these attacks —"
"As if he doesn't know the truth," Tom scoffed.
"True." An idea was forming in Harry's mind, but he didn't know if it would work.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Tom enquired.
"I think I know how we can end this whole Chamber fiasco and make it look like Dumbledore's plans are working."
Tom's eyes lit up. "Let's hear it."
Hey.