It was smaller than the cave before; but it was completely untouched- and looked as if it had been for a very long time.
“This place is sacred.” Sthyss began and I glided ahead closer to the centre of the cavern.
“This is the true chamber.” I realised looking through the beauty in front of me.
The light from the outside world that seemed so far away had been refracted and twisted further and further as it travelled and seeped through the earth into this place of darkness until here it came down in columns, the glow of the water created an intricate pattern of webs on the roof that added to those of the spiders’ and created clouds of beauty. All the glowing centralised on a single point in the room that was set above from the rest. A pedestal that as a snake looked huge.
I turned back into a human and perfected the process; the key was merely being fully aware of the body you were going into, and being sure that you weren’t becoming something that was half formed in your mind.
My hair felt unnatural and I stood with my bare feet and calves in the icy water, with the warm cavern air circulating around my legs and causing a film of evaporated droplets to rise in whirls off my skin and into the air around me. I stepped slowly up to the pedestal; water streaming down my body in rivulets running from my hair. The pedestal was more of a podium, there was no mistaking that whole column was made from the skulls of humans; I thought of how I should have reacted to the surprisingly moss free skeletal mound- but thought it was rather beautiful, in a dark and morbid way. I reached it and felt my way through the rocky floor, gently laying a hand to rest on the top of the stack, Sthyss seemed cautious around the pedestal as well, though he seemed to be familiar with this all of this. The top of the pedestal was flat and glossy like tree sap; it had a mossy green glow that reflected the light through the entire pile, in the very middle of the smooth platform there was a single skull staring balefully up directly at me, I ran two fingertips over the very top and it was as hard as rock but as smooth as silk.
“Bring your hands to the centre and listen.” Sthyss commanded me and I realised what he meant; placing my hands on either side of the skull I felt like I was being held down with glue, looking intently at my hands I realised that the sap-like substance was swelling and my hands were passing through the platform deeper until they were forced around the base of the central skull by a sort of phantom current.
“Child.” It rose as a whispered echo from beneath my fists in the pedestal; I didn’t move a muscle, something about the smooth, high voice was stern and commanding. “You are the final legacy I will leave, my servant- Sthyss; has found you and you have been marked as mine, you have already released the basilisk else you would not have reached this place. You must revolutionise my school and remove the taint of the muggle-born’s from the great halls of Hogwarts.” I could believe what I was hearing and that made it all the more scary; if Harry hadn’t stopped Voldemort then my grandfathers' will would have been fulfilled, what confused me was how this room had seemed untouched before I had entered.
“Hopefully you are not the last of my line but you are the only person who can do this. Fulfil your purpose for the greater good of the magical community and rid the world of this poison.”
My hands were expelled from the pedestal and the force of it pushed me backwards and for a second I was positive that I was going to end up on the sharp rocks, thankfully my reflexes were fast and I flipped over and rolled through the air to the right of the rocks and landed face down in the cold water; coming up gasping for air.
“What was the purpose of that?” I spluttered at Sthyss and he shrugged.
“I wanted you to understand Salazar’s’ perspective- and exactly what he was willing to do to create his ‘better society’.”
“So you brought me here....am I right in thinking that Voldemort never got in here?” My mind was working fast to keep up with what was happening.
“No, he would have needed knowledge that I alone have to open the entrance.” He sounded snappy so I transitioned effortlessly into a snake that looked not too different from Sthyss and followed him back out into the larger cavern.
There was a brighter light awaiting us outside and I had a feeling I’d been in here longer than I’d first thought, the walk here had been a long one and the one back wasn’t likely to be any shorter. “You’ve met Voldemort haven’t you?” I asked Sthyss after we’d been through the small causeway out of the inner chamber and I’d transformed back into a human, I was beginning to wonder how similar he was to Salazar Slytherin, and why he was feared so much by so many, even Sthyss seemed scared of him.
He kept moving away from me and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get anything out of him; I seemed to be asking just about everything he didn’t want to answer- it was going to have to end at some point though.
“Sthyss, I respect you and there are things you don't want me to know but you could at least give me an answer rather than just ignoring me.” I told him bitterly; my clothes were still damp and I was hoping they would dry on the way back.
“I will not give you any more information than you need,” he dismissed me and I shook my head; why had things changed so much? He used to tell me everything.
“Why not?” He was still moving away from me but I could move faster than him.
“Because I don't want you to turn into another Salazar.”
“Or Voldemort?”
“They both wanted and want the same thing; I have striven to stop you from thinking like that.” He seemed regretful, but he also seemed pissed off; and I still wasn’t getting anywhere.
“Let’s go then,” changing the subject quickly, “I presume I’m going to have to levitate myself out of this place?”
“Unless you'd rather tunnel out.” I smiled at his hiss; and for now put the questions I was dying to ask away from my mind and walked back out of The Chamber of Secrets. At the giant snake I paused again, my head bowed in respect and I realised something that I hadn’t before; “You’re more venomous aren’t you? Than the Basilisk I mean.” I had stopped moving and he coiled up around my arm.
“I taught you well.” He sounded a little smug.
“I can tell by the smell, you always told me that the more pungent the more deadly- Your venom smells stronger than its’ does.”
“You’re correct, although I wouldn't suggest getting bitten by a Basilisk.” He suggested.
“I wasn’t planning on.” I was hoping that he thought that I’d forgotten about my many queries and was less tense, he was always harder to talk to when he was angry and he got angry very quickly; fortunately his moods were also very changeable so he never stayed angry for long.
As we walked up to the entrance I realised how desperately I wanted to find out more about Voldemort; and that if Sthyss wasn’t going to tell me then I would go to Harry; I was positive that there was something else to do with Voldemort that I wasn’t seeing, or that Sthyss wasn’t telling me; I knew he was cruel and obsessed with blood purity; I also knew that he was my second cousin but I couldn’t see any reason why Sthyss would neglect me information, surely it would just make me hate him more, I already hated him enough for causing the Basilisk to be killed- and for trying to kill other students- so why would he think that I was going to turn out completely evil?
XXXX
Classes had just finished on Monday afternoon and I found out why Lavender had been so depressed, she had found out that her rabbit had died and apparently Professor Trelawney had predicted bad news for her on the 16th, which was when she’d found out it had been killed by a fox. But I didn’t really care too much about that, I was more bothered about Hermione talking to me again, the fact she was talking about nonsensical thing made it seem like she had never walked out of the library, and for a moment I wondered if perhaps I had over-reacted. Ron and Hermione had also apparently made up and Harry wasn’t having to ferry himself between them, this however made talking to him alone much harder, and if I was going to bring up Voldemort I really didn’t want to have to do so in front of Ron and Hermione.
I didn’t get a chance over the next few days although I tried very hard to talk to Harry alone, but I hadn’t realized how close knit they were; it seemed that once Ron and Hermione had patched up their problems there wasn’t anything to separate the trio. If I had been in Gryffindor it may have been easier, I would have been able to talk with him more freely but I was going to have to wait for the weekend to do that. On top of everything; today was the first night of the cycle and I was feeling like I’d been exposed to a baby mandrake- even with the Wolfsbane. Professor Lupin had been looking just as bad and he had looked at me during class with an expression that said-“Yeah, it doesn’t get any better.” I had sighed loudly and Hermione had asked me what had been wrong I had just shrugged and told her that I was tired. I’d also told her that I’d spent Sunday morning in the hospital wing throwing up and she’d believed it, I’d actually been in the Chamber of Secrets until eleven so no-one could account for where I’d been and it gave me the perfect cover for not feeling so great today. I suppose I could have felt bad for lying but it was necessary, I had secrets and they needed to be kept, I understood that well enough. I went to bed that night and slept fitfully, I kept waking up with the cold wet feeling of scales constricting around my neck, and I had never been afraid of a snake before; it wasn’t pleasant. I had woken up for the second time and jolted upright, that feeling of being choked along with the sound of Sthyss moving had terrified me. I sat up quickly and clutched the blankets around me into the corner of the bed up near the headboard.
“What was it?” I was hyperventilating.
“Nothing.” I lied, forcing myself to take deep breaths and relaxing my muscles gently, I looked up and saw someone quickly shift, it was Pansy’s bed that I was looking at.
“Shit,” I whispered silently. I lay back again and tried to go to sleep but Sthyss had moved so that he was pressed against my chest, I couldn’t bear the feeling for the first time in my life he was making me feel uncomfortable. So I lay there and watched as the morbid glow of lake brightened as daylight resumed its course. It must have been four o’clock and I leapt up out of bed and ran into the bathroom lifting the toilet seat just in time to vomit noisily into the bowl. Once I’d thoroughly emptied out my stomach I flushed the toilet and stood up slowly so as to not end up falling over, I stood leaning against the door for a few minutes and then with a haul I launched myself around and out of the door; and right into Pansy.
“What the hell are you doing?” She exclaimed and not very quietly.
“You think you’d recognise the sound of someone throwing up; just looking at you is enough to make anyone want to vomit.”
“Bitch.”
“Coming from you that must be a compliment.” I retorted and pushed past her heading for my trunk to pull out my clothes. Once I’d gotten dressed I pushed past Pansy again who was still standing in the same place and strode purposefully into the commons and out into the main school; checking the clock on my way out- it was four-fifty. The school was empty apart from the single ghost that passed me on the way up to the great hall and even then it didn’t notice me. I’d left Sthyss in the girl’s dorm and I wasn’t going back. In my haste I’d only just remembered to pick up my bag with my books for the day, but for now I wanted some sort of sense of peace. Just before reaching the great hall I realised that I really wasn’t hungry, not even a little bit; and after bringing up the entire contents of my stomach I wasn’t stupid enough to go and eat a hearty breakfast. I carried on straight ahead and walked myself quietly down the steps and out of the castle.
I wasn’t going to go right out to the forest but rather just sat on the gravel pathway that led down to Hagrid’s hut and watched as the mildly chilling reminder of winters inevitable and early approach moved the edges of the trees in a one sided dance. It blew my hair around and I let it whip gently about, it was getting long and it was becoming a nuisance but I couldn’t be bothered cutting it.
The sun slowly began to drift upwards in a sick leap upwards into the surprisingly clear sky, I found it somehow reflective of how I was feeling and especially the sick aspect- I didn’t have anything left to throw up but my body was certainly trying. “I thought it was supposed to make me feel better,” I said to myself, it seemed that the Wolfsbane potion was only making me worse. I scooted over the side of the path and onto the grass, resting my back on a dry, grassy hummock; I closed my eyes and sighed loudly. I loved it out here during the day, the weather at the moment made it even better- once I’d pulled my hair back of course. I sat with my back to that lump of earth until the sun was higher over the forest, it looked less lethargic and I was hoping I was too. I got up and walked back along the path to the castle, my feet dragging through the gravel- apparently I wasn’t feeling much better. With my bag on my back I walked up through the castle to my first class and waited outside; it was potions of course and even though I would normally hate being down in the dungeon resembling classrooms it was cold down here and there was still light for me to read by coming through the foggy window.
“Imogene what are you doing here?” The sudden voice startled me, but I turned and saw that it was Professor Snape.
“I was just waiting for class,” I replied sullenly looking back down to my book. He shut the door behind him and strode around the corner and his footsteps faded, I sighed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t asked any more questions, I was too tired to want to answer. I carried on reading; it was a book on fourth year Defence against the Dark Arts and there was more information on nocturnal creatures, which was always interesting to read about. I could barely believe that I hadn’t stumbled into the section before professor Lupin had found out about my ‘condition’- it was rather obvious. I heard footsteps coming in my direction again and looked up to see billowing black robes.
“Come with me.”
I followed Professor Snape through the classroom door, which closed with a metallic grinding behind me. He had a goblet in his hand and I knew exactly what it contained, I wasn’t sure if it would help but then again why wouldn't it? “Here,” He offered me the goblet and I took it from him and downed the lot in one hasty movement.
“Thank you.” I muttered, still cringing from the god awful after-taste.
“Go.” He told me and I didn’t need telling again, I left the room without a glance back, I was feeling better, but it might just have been all in my head.