A minute passed before enough of the Founder crept back into the mortal plane, his form shattered and shifted like static on a dead television channel. Salazar Slytherin huffed at the sight of the three children.
"Necromancer," he said. "You have summoned me."
"I have questions," Harry said, standing up as darkness licked the blood from his flesh. His eyes were the only light remaining, casting an unpleasant neon glow over the twisted features of the dead garden. "Answer them, and I will release you back into death."
"Then ask away, necromancer."
"Where is the Chamber located, how can one enter it, and what is your Monster which guards it?"
Salazar began to speak in a monotone voice of the pipes inside the walls, of hidden dungeons beneath the Black Lake, of basilisks as large as trains. Of roosters and spiders and venom and petrifying eyes. When he finished, Harry did not speak again, just released his hold on the spirit and let death seep back into the earth. He gathered himself for a moment, pushing his darkness down, and when he turned around, he found the great cherry tree had morphed into brittled bark and crumbling leaves, devoid of color and life.
Unable to look at what he'd done to the garden, they shadowed back to Hogsmeade, then into the Transfiguration courtyard. The whole evening's worth of magic left Harry rather winded. He was more than ready to head into bed and deal with the basilisk tomorrow when the party crashed right into a frantic Ginny Weasley, a chicken under one arm.
"Ginny?" Ron questioned. "What are you doing up? It's the middle of the night - It's not safe!"
Her face flushed white in fear, her eyes darted around the quiet hall as the shadows released the group from hiding.
"I - I could ask the same of you," she whispered. "I went looking for you in your dorm around midnight and you weren't there!"
"What were you looking for me for?"
"Well it was for Harry," she flushed red this time. "Look - I don't - I don't." The chicken began to cluck with impatience. Harry noticed Ginny wasn't in her pajamas, and was trailing mud around the floor from her boots. She'd been up for a while.
"What's happening, Ginny?" He asked as he'd been under the assumption that Ginny thought he was weird and would not be interested in seeking him out in the middle of the night.
"Ok, please don't be mad, I promise, I swear I didn't mean to! Tom made me! But there's a snake under the school and he told me if I stopped he would kill Ron and Fred and George and Percy and I didn't know what to do and - and -" Ginny heaved, beginning to hyperventilate. Luna pulled the girl into a hug, while Ron stood frozen in horror.
"You're the Heir of Slytherin," Harry surmised. "And you went looking for me for help, I assume. And when you couldn't find me, you went looking for a rooster to kill the basilisk."
Ginny nodded pitifully.
"Well alright, don't worry, I was already planning on killing the thing tomorrow -" A loud rumbling hiss echoed off the corridor. Hungry. Hungry! Find and eat red-haired humans. Harry and Ginny flinched in terror.
"Ok! Well, that was the basilisk. Everyone, eyes on the ground! I'm going to the Chamber!" Harry bolted toward the nearest grate in the wall and cast a sonorous charm, hissing quickly into the grate.
Oh great monster, it is I, Tom Riddle, the Heir and most evil guy. I have heard your complaint and I am going to bring you a snack, just meet me at the Chamber, please!
Master bring snack? It hissed after a long moment.
Yup, big tasty human snack. Many red-haired humans. Go back to the chamber right now!
Ok. It hissed again, and he faintly heard its massive body moving down the hall away from the group. Harry turned back around to find Ginny and Luna running off, and Ron waiting for him grim-faced and nervous.
"I'm coming with you," he announced with bravado. "I sent the girls off for a professor. Luna complained, but Ginny's a mess and Luna's a bit young for this sort of thing."
"We're twelve, Ron." He deadpanned. "You're sure you want to help?" He didn't want to be rude, but he probably wouldn't need Ron's help. Ron held up the disgruntled chicken.
"I'll be safe. I've got this bird to protect me."
"That's not a rooster, it's a hen."
"It'll be fine," Ron insisted. "I'm not sending you down to the Chamber by yourself!"
Harry sighed but relented, and the boys hurried off to Myrtle's bathroom. He hissed at the faucet and they looked down at the ominous, black hole. Ron dropped the chicken down the pipe, its squawks echoing and fading as it fell. Eventually, they heard a plop and some chirping as the bird landed safely at the bottom.
Harry slid down unceremoniously, Ron a few beats behind him. They landed in a pile of bones. Thousands upon thousands of dead rats, owls, and other small creatures that had gotten lost in the pipes. Harry wondered how many pets went missing each year due to the hungry basilisk. He waved his magic over them and suddenly the room was deafened by an army of squeaking undead rodents.
"Was that necessary?" Ron screamed over the noise.
"Oh, come on! How often do you get to raise an undead army of this size! Besides, I promised the thing a snack, this should distract it for a good while."
On cue, a door at the end of the tunnel opened up. The boy's eyes shot to the floor as they heard the mighty serpent hiss in excitement at the feast of mice in front of it.
"Bloody hell, Harry. Good job!" Ron yelled.
"Stop yelling at me and get behind me!" Harry yelled back, his hand waved through the air. "My army! Rise and seek your revenge!"
The howling, undead squeaking rose in fervor, their bones formed into mottled flesh and beady green eyes. The rodent army charged as one toward the great beast, who roared out a guttural cry and lunged. Harry quickly shadowed the boys behind the basilisk and away from the fighting and teeth.
"Great plan!" Ron shouted. The boys watched as the snake's mouth gobbled up half of the army in a single chomp, the remaining rats' unholy squeaks rattled the walls with their rage as they charged at the beast's eyes.
The army was breached, their frail bones collapsing under the weight of the snake, which simply crushed them all to death once it realized the undead creatures were not tasty. Surprisingly nimble in the cramped tunnel, the basilisk twisted over itself and turned around towards the boys, giving them only a moment to clamp their eyes shut and scurry backward as the beast slithered straight for them.
Open! Open up hurry up what the fuck open! He hissed at the door blocking their path. They rolled underneath it as it began to slowly lift up. Ok, close! Close! The walls rattled as the basilisk collided with the door. The boys stopped to catch their breath as they heard the beast scream in anger. Then the door started its slow lift up again. They took off, finding themselves in a large, open chamber riddled with ornate and pretentious statues of Slytherin, including a massive one that took up the entire far wall.
"I am regretting volunteering to go down here," Ron said as they threw themselves behind a statue.
"Yeah, same honestly. Why do I always end up fixing things?" His eyes darted around the room for anything that could help. At least it was dark. The mice might not have worked but perhaps something stronger would do. The shadows twisted and bent to his desire, forming a long row of snarling wolves. They squirmed against his control for a moment; his magic was shuddering in over-exertion.
"I have an idea," Ron said. "Summon a famous basilisk slayer to kill this thing for us."
"Did we not just go on a hunt for the bones of the guy that took all my energy to summon? Do you see any basilisk slayer bones in here?"
"Fine. What can you do then? Could you shadow-travel the basilisk somewhere else, maybe? To a rooster farm?"
"This thing is way too large for that," Harry complained. "And I can only shadow-travel to places that I've been before. I could try fiendfyre worst case scenario but I have to warn you I cannot control it. I could try to siphon its life source away but - fuck! Basilisks are magical creatures, so they're magic-resistant. I'm not sure if anything I do to it would stick."
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