The Christmas holidays were very nearly over, and I knew that this would be my last chance to get in to the Chambers... I had no choice but to try, lives could be lost if I left the Basilisk to venture through the school, killing and petrifying all those in it's way.
Staring intently at the small snake coiled, I could almost feel my mind flicking from English and in to snake tongue. Myrtle sobbed in the far corner of the bathroom, oblivious to my presence, giving me the freedom to use my other language at will.
"Open." I hissed, and soon the sink sunk away, and a tunnel large enough for a man to slide through was opened. Looking back at the damp bathrooms, I picked up the edges of my robes and slid, feet first, down the mysterious tunnel.
The trip down seemed to take forever, indicating that I was, most likely, miles beneath the school grounds. Fear spiked in my chest as I realised that I had no idea how to get back up, seeing at this slide was a one-way trip below the school.
Clutching my impossibly strong wand to my chest, I closed my eyes as my drop drew to a halt, ending with my body tumbling through a foul-smelling passageway. Rolling and rolling, my face lingered mere inches away from a sharp fang, hanging in the mouth of a Basilisk skeleton.
Taking a sharp intake of breath, which I soon regretted as the foul smell filled my lungs, I regained my composure and stood up, edging away from the fatal fang. Trying desperately to regulate my breathing and calm down, I surveyed the area around me.
It was identical to the dream that I had had only days before, with every last detail depicted clearly. I could sense that the Basilisk wasn't here right now, and I hoped that it wasn't away petrifying an innocent student, or worse...
Standing up, I ripped a Basilisk fang from the morbid jaw, and decided that it was the only thing lethal enough to kill the snake. Gripping the fang cautiously, as if it were a man-made bomb waiting to explode and murder me, I walked in to the long, dimly lit Chamber.
The high stone pillars on either side of it had long, thick serpents entwined against the cold surfaces. Running forward, me feet splashed against the water-filled stone beneath my shoes. Gripping in one hand my wand, and in the other the Basilisk fang, I felt ready to kill it.
"Basilisk! Where are you? The Heir requests your presence!" I bellowed, glaring at the stone snakes out skirting the Chamber.
I could have sworn that they were alive, blinking and moving, but that was, of course, crazy. I closed my eyes and listened carefully, waiting for the Basilisk to come to me, the Heir of Slytherin. I knew that i was not the true Heir, that my mysterious sister was, but I used the title to fool the beast.
Wissse Elysssia, clever Elyssssia, wicked Elyssssia... We will conquer... Tear... Rip... Devour... Blood... Filthy blood...
"That's right..." I hissed, egging the beast on.
Guide me... Guide me...
The thick, green beast slid out of one of the thick pipes, and my eyes immediately shut tight. I had to kill the beast blind... This would be difficult, at best. I listened as the beast moved, but soon I felt its slippery scales caress my skin.
Oh no! My dream was being replayed, and the Basilisk was coiling around me. This was the perfect opportunity, and I raised my hand to stab the beast with its poisonous fang, before it realised and squeezed me so tight that my breath ceased to reach my lungs.
My eyes became unfocused, and I grew dizzier by the second. It squeezed and squeezed, and I felt that my eyes would burst from my face, and that my lungs would collapse on to themselves. Wheezing, I gaped my mouth open and tried to suck in more air.
Lack of blood and air combined to make my hand fall. A horrid piercing sensation sparked up over my ribcage, and I realised that the fang was now embedded between two of my ribs, below my heart. No... No...
You are no Heir, you are a traitor! Die... Elysssia... Die... Sssssleep... Die...
The snake loosened it's tight coil, and air rushing into my lungs again. Pain seared my entire body as the acidic poison engulfed my healthy blood, making me turn paler and paler. Eventually, the snake slithered away, to feast, no doubt, on muggle borns, leaving me alone in the damp Chamber.
Rolling over to my back, I yanked the fang from my ribs and muttered the best healing spell that I knew,
"Vulnera Sanentur..." my voice was weak as the white-hot pain engulfed my senses.
The wound did not heal, but the blood flow stopped. Ripping a portion of my robe off and dunking it in to the surrounding water, I cleaned off the stinging wound as best as I could. My shallow breaths and limitless pain stopped me from thinking clearly, and minutes passed slowly.
Every so often, I let a small groan of agony escape my lips, but I found it harder and harder to muster the strength for such actions. Everything was swirling in a dull-grey swirl of the twisting world around me. I knew that I should have been dead by now, and yet my life dangled.
My wand strengthened under my fingers, and I knew that I had recaptured more power over it... Yet, as always, it reserved some of its strength from my reach. Every 15 minutes or so, I renewed my healing spell, as the blood would again seep if I didn't.
Why wasn't I dead?
My fingers raked into the stone, and I slowly dragged my aching body away from the pool of blood in the centre of the Chamber. Scooping water in to my mouth, I managed to cling on to life for another night.
~
Waking up, I sensed that my pain hadn't dulled, but my senses. I was alive, which was impossible. Was I, possibly, a ghost, haunting the schools, like Moaning Myrtle. Surely not, ghost no longer felt any pain... I could only wish for such a sweet oblivion.
I scooped water repeatedly in to my mouth, hydrating my deflated body. I knew that people could live on water alone, longer than they could on food. I could only hope that I stayed alive long enough to help Harry Potter and Dumbledore in any way.
I knew that I had to escape this damned Chamber; I had to reach the school once more and save myself, as well as all the students in peril. Dragging my weak body along the ground, I knew that I had to leave the Chamber the same way that the Basilisk did; through the pipes.
As I entered one of the many exits, I found myself in a labyrinth of cold, damp pipes, at the end of winter. Shivering uncontrollably, I curled up and tried to cover myself in my damp robes. Sleeping was the most dangerous thing that I could do, considering that I had to constantly use my healing spells to contain what little blood I had left.
Every few hours of sleep drained my body further, and I soon trained myself to sleep for hourly intervals every so often, which allowed my body the strength to keep crawling through the pipes, and the time to top-up my healing spells and retain my own life.
Wheezing under the cold air, I rubbed my hands and feet together, in an attempt to keep my body the slightest bit warm.
Days, maybe weeks, went on like this... With me sluggishly crawling through the tunnels. Occasionally, I found a strange root of plant that I could temporarily feast on, and water was plentiful. I yearned for the unending feasts that were occurring miles above my head, but I could not join them yet.
The basilisk no longer spoke to me, believing that I was dead, and whenever I heard it's slithering scales brushing against the stone pipes, i quickly crammed myself into the nearest pipes and whispered disguising spells to protect myself.
Everyday, I edged through the pipes a little more... coming closer and closer to freedom. I couldn't feel if I was getting any closer tot he surface, but I knew that I couldn't possibly stay stuck in these tunnels forever...
No, that was a lie to myself. I could stay stuck in these tunnels, and perhaps I would.
The pain was unending, and it did not lessen or heal as time went on. The deep gash caused by the fang hadn't healed, and without my spells, would continue to bleed. Judging by its puffy, red appearance, it was now infected, which only added to the pain.
Another week had passed in the tunnel, and my infected wound wasn't healing. To my joy, a small, water-plant had been growing in a small crack in the pipe, providing me with some food. Washing it down with plenty of water, I continued with my crawling.
The pain was intense... There weren't many words for it. Plus, my mind was so strained and confused that I could barely think of a better word for it. Intense... Intense... Intense... My eyes drifted shut and I crashed in to another short sleep.
Looking up, I saw that I had slept much too long, possibly for an entire night. Whispering my healing spell with a strained voice, I scooped more water in to my mouth and felt the stone pipe for the water plant from earlier... Except there was no water pipe, and no crack...
Where was I? How long had I been here? Why was i hurting so much...
The eternal black of the tunnel must have been weakening my eyes... But who cared? I was going to die down here, I would die alone. Neville would never know how I felt... and that friend of mine... Sally or Sandra or something, back at Ravenwing would probably miss me...
Spilling the contents of my stomach in to the water surrounding me, I crashed in to the mixture of my own filth and running water. Where was I? Who was I? Why had this happened to me? Something was waiting for me back at Hogwarts... I knew it...
More and more roots were appearing around the pipes, and I could sort of think again. I tried to remember what the colour 'Blue' looked like, but I could only assume that blue was what the water was around me. The water felt like blue, so I assumed it was blue.
Yes... the water was very blue.
I groaned and slammed my head against the stone encasing of the tunnel, trying to make a distraction for the intense pain filling my veins. Instead, it made my head hurt worse than the rest of my body, and I couldn't tell whether that was an improvement or not...
Ravenwing... Hogfarts... Blue... Where was I?
I awoke to find my mind clearer than usual, and my strength slightly replenished.
Clawing in to the tunnel, I saw the most cliché thing possible, a light… A light at the end of the tunnel. Gaining some unfound strength, I stood up and hurled my body forward, the only movement that I had the strength to transport me across the pipe with enough speed.
Pushing my body through the end of the tunnel, I sound myself in an abandoned dungeon, not even used by Snape for his potions. I realised that, usually, this dungeon would be considered incredibly dark, but compared to the tunnels, it was blinding.
Crawling forward, I forgot to replenish my spells, and blood wept openly form my wound. I didn't care, I was safe... or nearly safe. Standing up, I felt blood rush to my head, cluttering my thoughts even further. Keeling over, the contents of my stomach slid out of my body, but I persisted.
Dragging myself up stairs and through hallways, I felt my body weaken more and more. The only way to describe my pain, was to think of have your bones ripped out of my body... To have every nerve severed in the most painful way possible... To have your brain pulse so hard, that you were more than sure that veins had burst.
Disorientated, I reached a place that felt familiar. Nobody was around, but that could have meant anything. Muttering "Sherbet Lemon", I listened as something heavy leaped out of my path, allowing me to crawl up the spiral staircase that led to Dumbledore's office.
To my disconnected dismay, Dumbledore was absent, and only his valiant Phoenix was present. Huffing, I deliriously choked out a few words, before my eyes shut and I fell in to plunging darkness... Black, black... only black...
~
Opening my eyes, I saw the sun beaming through a gaping window beside me, and several empty beds surrounding me. This definitely wasn't Ravenclaw tower, because the beds were based on steel frames, all looking highly morbid.
"You're awake!" gushed a familiar voice, Neville.
I opened my mouth to speak, but a meagre croak was all that I could achieve. Neville's blue eyes opened wide, and his flashed me the biggest grin that I had ever seen on his face. I smiled when I saw both Trevor and Leon sitting on his lap, as well as Noctis on his shoulder.
"Sleeping beauty awakes? Here, take this, love,” squawked the high-pitched, motherly voice of Madame Pomfrey.
A warm potion was tipped down my throat, and I closed my eyes in appreciation. Neville ramble don about how Dumbledore had told him that it was thanks to me that Harry Potter was still alive, and that Tom Riddle and the Basilisk had been defeated.
"The night you came back form the Chamber, you told Fawkes how to get in to the Chamber and got him the Sorting Hat. So, he flew down and the hat gave Harry the sword of Gryffindor, and Harry killed the Basilisk!" gushed Neville, his eyes alight with excitement.
"Tom..?" I coughed, trying to extract the rest of the information from him.
"Oh! Well, turns out, You Know Who was called Tom Riddle when he was younger, and he enchanted this diary to keep his memories... Ginny Weasley was writing in it, and somehow Tom kind of... took over Ginny and made her do all that awful stuff... But Harry killed the diary too!" finished Neville, squeezing my hand.
I realised that, for the entire time, he had been gripping my hand, and warm butterflies filled my stomach. The unbearable pain that I had been living with for what had to have been months was now gone... but certainly not forgotten.
"You've been in here ages... It's nearly summer holidays, you know." he added, using his free hand to rub my forearm.
Footsteps echoed throughout the empty ward, and soon a man dressed in plum-purple robes, with shining blue eyes stood before me, grinning widely. Neville bowed his head to Dumbledore, before standing up and escorting himself and the wide array of animals out of the healing ward.
"I expect that you have a great many questions of your own, Elysia, but I will answer what I believe to be most crucial." began Dumbledore, his know-all eyes fastening on mine.
"The reason that you did not die instantly due to the venom, was because you already had Basilisk venom within your body. I told you that Voldemort had put a great many ingredients in to you, and this was one of his most relished, no doubt."
To be honest, I was no longer surprised as Dumbledore spoke of my highly unnatural entrance in to this world. Part of me believed that I was a walking atrocity; the other half had long since discarded any self-hate, and had come to accept what I was.
"And, I'm sure that you would be confused about the Ministry's apparent ignorance towards your use of magic outside of school," he continued, his eyes glancing to Neville down the hall when I opened my mouth to speak, "But, you will be glad to know, seeing as you were never strictly born, you aren't on the Trace... The only reason Hogwarts knows about you are because of me. Never fear, for I have your records in order for the day that you graduate from Hogwarts, but I believe that you deserve a little... Freedom, right now."
His eyes twinkled as he flashed me a quick wink, before standing up and walking away, beckoning for Neville to return to his former spot by my side. He gave me a weak smile, and I wondered fearfully as to whether he had guessed my heritage.
"Neville..." I choked, managing to form a word through my mess of a throat.
"Yes?" he replied, eagerly leaning forward.
"I... I need to tell you..." I began, trying to push out the painful words about my father.
"ELYSIA! OH MY GOD! YOUR ALRIGHT!" squealed an ecstatic voice from across the hall; Sarah.
I loved her as much as I could love a friend, but boy did she have a sense for interrupting. Her green eyes were wide as they flickered from me to Neville. She was well informed about Neville, as well as my feelings for him, so she couldn't help but let out an untactful gasp.
"Neville..! We meet at last! Elysia talks about you ALL THE TIME! I mean... all the time, no kidding. I'm Sarah, her other best friend." gushed Sarah, twirling her raven hair on her finger.
Blushing a deep shade of crimson, which surprised me because I didn't think that I would have enough blood for it, I glared at Sarah so intensely that she shut up and sat down immediately. Neville's eyes held an unreadable look for a few moments, before he smiled and waited for me to finish my sentence.
"I... needed to tell you that I..." I stammered, realising that I couldn't say it in front of Sarah, "I really like you... that's all."
I sighed, deflating visibly as I realised that, not only had I revealed even the slightest showing of my full feelings for him, I had also avoided telling him the truth. I could only hope that nobody else told him, or suspected it before I got the chance to admit it.
"I like you too..." he murmured, giving me a warm smile.
"Wow... That was a moment." gaped Sarah, her eyes attentively taking in the situation before her.
Neville and I both shot her looks which sufficiently said, "Shut up.". She cast her eyes down and kept silent, allowing for me to gaze, stupidly, in to his eyes. I felt like life was beginning to grow in to an over sized cliché, until the sappiness was cut short by Jane and Paige's entrance.
"We heard that you’re awake! You have missed HEAPS! Easter... Harry Potter saving the day... All of it!" cried out Paige, kneeling beside my bed happily.
"Well... yeah. You missed the exams too..." mumbled Jane, her eyes somehow sullen.
"They don't know?" I asked, turning to Neville.
He shook his head, and I realised that I liked it better that way. Plus, everybody think that I was just stupid for going in to the Chamber like that, and I didn't want to relive those months in the pipes again. No way in hell, would I ever repeat that story.
Resting my head in to the cloud-like pillow, I shut my eyes and drifted in to a sleep, not caring about those surrounding me. Sleep met me like an old friend, and I suppose after all these months of healing, it was.
~
My eyes flickered open, and I found myself back in my Ravenclaw bed, with Leon sleeping at the foot of it. For a few moments, I wondered if it was all a dream, but the note beside my bed, on a tiny blue bedside table, told me otherwise.
Elysia,
I am happy to say that you have been returned back to your room.
As you might know, we have entered the third week of June, and the student’s will be boarding the Hogwarts Express and returning to their homes.
However, you will be staying at Hogwarts over these holidays, so you have nothing to worry about concerning over-sleeping.
Perhaps, we may be able to spend some more time together.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore.
I re-read the letter several times over, before realising that I would be spending more time with Dumbledore over the holidays. Stretching out my arms, I realised that everybody had probably boarded the train, and was heading home at this moment. The school was all mine.
Just like old times.
~
Livvi.