This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful readers from Ecuador.
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It is a home of the queen.
The QUEEN of all snakes.
She has been waiting for her new master to come.
She has been waiting for him since her last master abandoned her.
She has been waiting for him for centuries.
Loyally... Patiently... Quietly.
Tom recalled the words again. To be honest, they had never left his mind. After that incidence in the corridor, he was sure it was a snake that he heard through the walls of that ancient castle. He knew that there had to be a snake in the castle. However, he didn't chase it blindly. He was not some reckless Gryffindor after all. He was a smart Slytherin. He was one of those who first planned and then took an action. And so, Tom decided to take help from those creatures who lived the secret passages of the castle, who roamed the school in the night when everyone else was asleep, who would never question him, who would never lie to him, who would never betray him.
Snakes.
The creatures that were as misunderstood and mysterious as his house was.
The creature that was quite close to his heart.
Tom remembered how angry he had been when he saw a skeleton of one snake nailed on the door of Gaunt Shack when he visited his uncle Morfin. It had disturbed him to see a pureblood, that too the one with the noble blood of wise Salazar Slytherin, had nailed a snake mercilessly as if it was a mere decoration piece. If he was being honest, that was the first time he wanted to punish whoever lived in that useless, poorly maintained shack. Killing the animal wasn't something out of character for him. No. In fact, if his memory served him right, he had murdered a rabbit and placed its body on a rafter as a display for its owner when he was five, just because its owner had called him names the day before. But the snakes were a completely different story.
No. It was not just because of his Slytherin pride. It was because he had talked to them since he was a kid. They used to come to him. Talk to him, when no one else even bothered to give him a second glance.
Tom remembered spending hours doing nothing but petting them, feeding them and talking to them. They were his only companion. His only escape from that filthy society. They made him realize that he was different. Way more different and capable than those muggles. They made him realize that he deserved the best.
No one looks into her eyes, for those who do die.
She passes through the pipes, in the middle of the night.
Tom figured that to talk to her, he needed a proper place. A place that will have many pipes connected to it. And from that night's events, he was sure that this place has to be close to the girls' bathroom on the second floor. It had to be since he never heard her before.
If Tom was calculating right, then this snake had to be a Basilisk. And if she was left for him by the great Salazar Slytherin, then she had been living in the castle since the beginning of this school. No snake, apart from a Basilisk, lived long enough to fill in this requirement. Apart from this, it was also the truth that it was the only snake who could kill or petrify prey by an eye-contact. Was this the legacy of Salazar? It had to be. Salazar was the greatest known Parselmouth so he would prefer Snakes over anything else.
Tom shivered. His eyes twinkled. A new kind of delight bubbled through his body. A basilisk was no normal creature. It was not some weak and pathetic rabbit. It was a powerful being in itself. One that needed no master. Yet, she was given one. The one who wasn't even born until 31st December 1926. Imagine someone leaving a treasure like this for you all those years back. And at that moment Tom felt special. Really special. All his life, no one had left him anything. Until he came to Hogwarts and became friends with Anthony, no one even bothered to remember his birthday. And when Anthony did, he remembered being bitter about it thinking the Avery boy was just doing all this out of pity, definitely not the thing Tom wanted for himself. It was not until their third year, that Tom started trusting the boy and believing he was actually a great companion. And after that Tom made sure to cherish the gifts he received from his pal. The same way he was going to cherish this one.
Tom turned around. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed. He scrutinized the corridor he just had crossed. He placed his right palm on the sleeve of his left hand. His fingers feeling the presence of his phoenix cored wand. It was a nervous habit. He pressed his ear on the wooden door. His keen ears trying to detect any source of human life in his radar. Everything was silent. With one sharp glance at his surrounding, he turned and entered into the lavatory taking out his wand in the process.
"Lumos!"
A light emitted from the tip of his wand. His eyes taking in everything. The brown chocolate orbs landed on the creamy stone basin. To his right, there were green coloured wooden stalls. There were eight of them. He looked up. His eyes landed on the white ceiling. If he guessed it right, it was at least 30 feet high. A deep sigh escaped his lips. Leave it to Hogwarts to mesmerize him at every chance. Every single inch of that castle attracted him. The school really was the most beautiful place on Earth. He looked back at the basin in front of him. The carving on that eight pillared water system was very detailed. He couldn't resist anymore. He took a step forward and place his long lean fingers on the cold stone of the pillar. Completely captivated by its smoothness, he ran his fingers absentmindedly on that structure. Like he wanted to memorize it. Every inch of it. For a moment he forgot why he had come to that bathroom in the first place. Not wanting to leave anything unexplored, he ran his thumb on the tap. The movement stopped when his thumb touched something rough. Was something carved on the tap, he wondered. He leaned down curiously. He was right. Indeed, there was something carved on that tap. And that something was a snake.
A smirk replaced a curious smile.
Mischief replaced the twinkling in his eyes.
Excitement replaced his delight when he realized what had he found.
The entrance to the chamber of secrets wasn't a secret anymore.
Well! Not to him anymore, at least.
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I wasn't sure how to write the discovery of chamber of secrets. So... this is my poor attempt at it. Just wanted to add something that will let you know the worth of chamber of secrets in Tom's eyes. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
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