Chapter 2: Great door
"Parseltongue"
"Normal talk"
'Thoughts'
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"Are you sure it's wise to take ssuch a drastic measure? Ceasing going to most of your lessonsss and moving out of you dormitory will definitely catch a lot of unwanted attention," Asmodeus inquired from Harry's right arm.
He was currently coiled there, basking upon Harry's body warmth, and none the wiser. No one would be able to notice him as he was under Harry's clothes, with any bulges that might have been formed on his long sleeve, hidden by his robes.
It was the day after Harry's and Asmodeus first encounter and they were currently walking in the Hogwarts' grounds as Harry didn't want to find himself trying to explain why there were hisses coming from inside his clothes. That would have been awkward.
"Haven't you seen how's everyone treating me? You were there at both dinner and breakfast. The whole school hates me because I was thrown into a tournament that could very well be the end of me. And you know how uncomfortable it makes me sleeping next to that red git," he hissed in annoyance.
Asmodeus, or Ash as Harry quickly found himself calling the snake, wasn't convinced.
Flashback.
"Don't you think that your name, Asmodeus, is quite a mouthful?" Harry asked his snake companion.
"Could you kindly enlighten me as to why does my majestic name fail to meet your name standardsss, Hairy?"
'Definitely sarcastic,' Harry mused.
"By the way, do you know that apparently there's a powerful deity called Asmodeus? He's also called Ashmedai if I'm not mistaken," he inquired from the snake.
"A deity huh? Asmodeusss the deity doesn't sound too bad," he said, pleased at the information.
"So how about I just call you Ash? Yeah. It definitely sounds better," he mistakenly contemplated the last part out loud.
"You will do not such thing. Asmodeusss iss a great name, the best of names even!!"
"Sure Ash," he replied cheekily.
Hiss, hiss.
End of flashback.
"Where would we go though? I thought that you wanted to attend some lessonsss and I've got the faintest of suspicions that you want to raze through that library you keep mentioning."
If Harry was surprised at Ash suddenly speaking in plural, talking about both of their fates intertwined, he didn't let it show.
"Yeah… It would have to be very close to the school," he reflected as a cool breeze blew across them.
As he kept walking on the cobblestone path that circled the school, his eyes landed on Hagrid's hut.
"Definitely not moving in with Hagrid," he stated aloud as a shiver ran down his spine.
Hagrid was a great guy for sure but just thinking about living together with him gave him the chills. Who knew what fluffy creatures would he wake up to everyday.
"How about staying inside the school? Is there any place that you could use except our current one?" Ash tried.
Harry didn't give him an answer straight away as he pondered on the merit of the idea.
Was there a place in Hogwarts that he could move to? A place away from attention where he'd be able to study in peace without worrying about his schoolmates?
"No, I don't thi-. Wait…One place comes to mind. I'm not sure if it could be used as a living space though," Harry hissed back excitedly.
"Care to share with this ssnake?" he inquired seriously.
"Ah yes, sure. In my second year I happened on a very cryptic room, the fabled chamber of secrets. It has a hidden chamber that was opened by an evil person, releasing a basilisk upon the school, which I uh... killed."
As soon as he finished talking, Harry felt his arm go stiff. A few seconds passed and Harry got no reply.
"A BASSSILISSK! HERE!" Ash suddenly hissed.
Were Harry to look at Ash at the moment he would have seen a primordial fear dancing in his eyes. Thankfully he managed to snap out of it sooner rather than later.
"My scales!! What do you mean you killed it? Unless it was a hatchling you couldn't have possibly been able to damage it," he hiss-muttered in shock.
"A hatchling huh? I can't really guess its age but I'm certain it couldn't be called that. Don't worry you'll see its dead body when we go there…" Harry replied darkly.
Although he didn't get Ash's confirmation on that, he felt his arm loosen.
After all, a dead basilisk wasn't scary was it?
[BREAK]
"Really? A girls' bathroom. That'ss where the entrance of the chamber housing the greatest of snakesss is located at?" Ash questioned in disbelief.
"A splendid idea, wasn't it?" Harry quipped.
Not waiting to hear Ash's reply, Harry moved towards the familiar sink while looking around for any signs of Myrtle.
"She doesn't seem to be here. I suppose we can just go in and none would be the wiser," Harry vocalised.
Without further ado, Harry leaned in closer to a particular sink, his eyes on a small snake engraving.
"Open."
After a few seconds of nothing happening Harry grew confused and annoyed.
The sink didn't budge from its place and the little snake etching didn't show any signs of having heard him.
'What's going on?'
"Well wasn't that anticlimactic," Ash supplied.
Hearing the snake's words, Harry tried again only to be met with the same unchangedness.
'What's wrong, why isn't the sink moving? Did the tunnel collapse somehow render the entrance inoperative or is it something else? Was it Dumbledore? Did he place magical protections on the sink to stop me or anyone else from going inside again?'
While Harry was deep in his thoughts, Ash was anything but.
With a sudden jolt of inspiration he slithered off Harry's arm and out of his cloak of invisibility, moving towards the sink.
"Hello sssink. Could you please open for usss?" he hiss-asked.
In the next moment, breaking Harry out of his musings, the sink began to move.
The sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed. A pipe wide enough for multiple grown men to slide into.
'Or a basilisk,' Harry quickly thought with slight amusement.
"Ash? How did you do it?" he asked in genuine surprise.
The snake was somehow constantly thinking and doing things he himself hadn't or failed to do.
"That's Asmodeusss the Great for you child and you are welcome," he replied magnanimously.
Unlike Ash, Harry didn't find it funny and waited for the actual answer.
"Fine. I've noticed that while we were coming here, your magnificent cloak not only hid usss but muted your stepss. So I thought that it could also be stopping your voice from going out. I also asked the sink to open nicely unlike you," he hissed in mock indignation.
Harry was stumped.
Did his cloak really mute sounds from coming out? How hadn't he noticed it before?
'It took Ash a single walk to figure it out…'
Harry wasn't pleased with himself. Was he bloody dumb or what?
After a few seconds, he shook himself out of his thoughts and got all of his marbles together.
He'd try to be more attentive from now on but that was for later.
"Should we go in then?" he asked Ash.
"I'm ready if you are," he hissed as he helped himself on Harry's arm.
Taking three steps, the two parselmouths found themselves sliding in a not-so-clean sinks, towards the chamber of secrets.
After the exciting slide finished, Harry and Ash found themselves in a damp and dark cave.
"Lumos," Harry casted.
A bright white light that emanated a slight feeling of warmth suddenly appeared on the top of his wand and illuminated the cave.
"What in the Great Slytherin'sss name is that?" he hissed in fear.
His head which previously stuck out of Harry's sleeve, burrowed back inside for safety.
Seeing the basilisk's shed skin, resurfaced Asmodeus' earlier fear.
"Harry, you didn't mention it wasss this long..!" he hiss-remarked.
"I've thought that a picture is worth a thousand words and all that crap. Anyway, the basilisk is dead so don't worry about it," he stated.
The reminder that the basilisk was long dead seemed to relieve some of Ash's worries.
Harry closed in on the cave-in and noticed the small passage that the redhead git had managed to open.
"I think it's a tad small for me," he thought aloud.
With a few wingardium leviosas the issue was fixed and the duo moved towards the next door.
"Do you mind?" Harry asked.
Understanding what Harry wanted, Ash once again slithered from him and towards the door.
"Oh great door. Please let us poor fools pass by you and to the next room. Please open," Ash hissed while doing some weird wiggling with the end of his body.
While Harry was face palming himself, the door appeared to have heard Ash's prayer and the stone snake on it moved, unlocking the door.
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(Last edit: 12/03/2024)
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