Dumbledore had a theory on what Lucius was up to, but preferred to keep it to himself, because, as he claimed, he might be wrong, and Severus might come up with a better theory if no influenced by his ideas.

A very flimsy excuse for simply keeping all his knowledge to make sure he reaped all the fame, Severus thought.

Still, he did form his own theories.

Whom would Lucius entrust with an artifact that would open the chamber of secrets, if not his own son?

There were a few candidates, sons of Lucius’ friends, but none of them acted in any way unusual.

And of course, Severus couldn’t focus on that alone. He also had to do some damage management with regard to Lockhart.

Which was the sole and only reason he agreed to help the imbecile demonstrate a wizard duel.

Letting the children practise among themselves went about as well as was to be expected, which was not at all.

And, with his sure instinct for catastrophe, Lockhart suggested to let Longbottom demonstrate a spell.

Severus was just congratulating himself on his choice of Draco versus Justin Finch-Fletchley, when Draco did something incredibly stupid.

Conjuring a snake was very tempting for a Slytherin, yes, but bordered on madness if one was not a parselmouth and thus could only hope to keep the snake aimed at the enemy.

“Step back, I will take care of it”, Severus said, drawing his wand, but before he could do anything, Lockhart had waved his wand and flung the snake right into Finch-Fletchley’s face.

“Whoops! Stay calm, it won’t bite unless provoked!”

Well, Severus thought grimly, Lockhart had certainly provided plenty enough provocation for the snake to attack.


Just when he raised his wand to vanish the snake, he heard a noise he was familiar with.

Potter speaking parsel.

Idiot boy!

One purposeful movement of his wand later, Severus had vanished the snake, but the damage had been done.

Not to Finch-Fletchley, who was perfectly fine, but to Harry.

Hadn’t he warned the foolish boy?

**

Snape had been right, after all.

Harry had pleaded with the snake to leave Justin alone, and it had looked at him, quite willing to listen, but for some reason, everyone now accused him of having egged it on.

Well, almost everyone.

Ron thought it was ‘wicked’ and Hermione had run to the library to research some idea Harry’s demonstration had sparked.

Most of the others, though ...


Harry walked the corridors, trying to find Justin to tell him what had really happened, when Snape suddenly appeared in his way. “Potter. To my office. Now.”

So that was it. Mysteriously nice Snape was gone, normal Snape was back. Well, it had only been a matter of time, hadn’t it?

Still, Harry couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

Too downcast to try and refuse, he trudged after Snape, only noticing they had arrived in the office when the door shut behind him.

“What were you thinking?” Snape raged. “What insanity could possibly have come over you to reveal to the whole school that you are a parselmouth, after I explicitly warned you of the dire consequences if anyone, even a single person, were to know?”

Harry stared at his feet. “I, uh, just wanted to help Justin.”

Snape sighed.

Something was strange. Right. Snape didn’t usually rage. He talked very quietly and sarcastically when he was being nasty to Harry.


And Snape certainly did not usually sigh.

“Did you not consider”, Snape continued in a weary voice “That even if that snake was dangerously venomous, and even if it had managed to bite Mr. Finch-Fletchley, that I could have easily procured an antivenom?”

“Uh, no, sir. Sorry. There’s some very venomous snakes in Australia.” It had stuck in his memory because it was the only nature documentation Dudley had ever watched voluntarily. The gruesome descriptions of what the venoms did to people had delighted him.

“And you think young Mr. Malfoy has the skill to conjure a snake from outside Scotland?”

Harry blinked. “He doesn’t?”

“Of course not. For an untrained wizard, Serpensortia would just summon the nearest snake. In fact, usually the spell should have summoned the snake you heard when ...” Snape frowned.

“I don’t think so. The snake Malfoy summoned had a different voice ... it seemed nicer, somehow.” More like the runespoor. Or the snake he had freed in the zoo. They just wanted to be left alone and bask in the sun. Oh. “Sir? Is it normal for snakes to be inside Hogwarts? It is pretty cold here at night.”

“Indeed.” Snape’s frown deepened, but it wasn’t an annoyed frown, Harry realized with some surprise. “Snakes usually are drawn to heat and would hibernate at this time of year. Magical snakes are different, but the ashwinder likes more heat, not less ...” Snape shook his head. “I cannot shake the feeling that I somehow failed to notice something very obvious. If you, or your ... close friends come up with a theory, do tell me at once.”

Harry suspected Snape had intended to say ‘your fan club’ before thinking better of it, but the fact Snape had thought better of it was in itself a miracle.

Why would he do that? If he still wanted to be nasty, why not go through with it? Sure, Snape had explaind that he would be the one who had to find Harry if he ran away, but that danger was over now.

Why would Snape care?

Harry suspected that he, too, failed to notice something very obvious.

“Yes, sir. Can I go now?”

Snape nodded. “You may leave.”


At the portrait hole, Harry met a very out of breath Hermione, who had apparently been trying, in vain, to pronounce the password.

Harry said the password and followed Hermione inside.

She was holding her chest, still trying to catch her breath and talk at the same time.

“What is the matter?”, Percy asked pompously. “Do you need Madam Pomfrey?”

Hermione shook her head.

“Then I suggest you sit down and catch your breath.” Percy gestured to the armchair he had just gotten up from. “Unlike the gossip some other students like to share, scientific research is unlikely to go out of date anytime soon.”

Now, Ron noticed, too. “Leave her alone!”, he yelled across the room.

Harry actually had to chuckle. “It’s okay, Ron, I think he was complimenting Hermione, actually.”

Hermione sat down and actually spent some time just breathing. At last, she looked up and gestured for him to come closer. “Harry”, she whispered. “The monster in the chamber – it must be a basilisk.”

“A what?”

“It is in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!” she scolded automatically, then frowned. “I can’t believe you don’t know, but regardless, it is a kind of snake and really dangerous, we have to tell a teacher, I just don’t ... they probably won’t believe me, I mean, if Dumbledore hasn’t found out ...”

“Let’s talk in our dorm”, Harry suggested. There were lots of students in the common room.

“Yes, that’s best. But ...” Hermione raised her voice. “Percy!”

Percy, who had been arguing with one of the twins, turned around. “Yes? Are you alright, now?”

“Not quite. Please come here for a moment?”

He walked over to them. “You do look better”, he observed.

“That’s not important!” Hermione was talking quickly. “Listen, you have to make sure everyone stays inside the common room – it should be curfew soon, anyway, and there’s a monster outside – promise you won’t panic?”

Percy nodded, though he was as pale as a sheet. “I am a prefect”, he said gravely. “Of course I will not panic.”

“It must be a basilisk”, she whispered. “I can’t tell you everything I know, but – you know Slytherin was a parselmouth, and he just loved snakes.”

“No one will leave the common room on my watch.”

“If they have to leave, they should use a mirror to look around corners”, Hermione continued. “I will talk to Harry now, and then we go tell a teacher.”

“I am - ”

“The prefect, yes, and that’s why you are needed here. We will be careful, I promise.”

Harry wondered if he ought to call Ron to come with them, but then he remembered what he was about to tell Hermione and decided to test it on her, first. Ron was more impulsive.

He shut the dorm door behind them. Fortunately, no one had gone to bed yet, so it was empty. “McGonagall probably won’t listen”, he said. “But ... I told you I live with the Weasleys now?”

“Yes?”

“It is a long story, but it’s actually because of Snape. I don’t know how he did it – he visited because I got an owl about underage magic, and actually listened to my explanation, and next thing I knew he tells me to go pack my stuff and that I’m going to live with the Weasleys.” Harry decided not to tell Hermione about his running away, she’d probably disapprove. “Snape is ... well, he isn’t nice all of a sudden, but he’s been ... different. He told me to tell him if there’s any problem, and I’m sure he would listen.” As an afterthought, he added: “He knows I’m a parselmouth, too.”

Hermione nodded. “He is the head of Slytherin, though. Are you sure he doesn’t have anything to do with the heir?”

She was right. After Malfoy, he was the most obvious suspect. But ... “I don’t think he wants me dead. He’s ... I think if he was lying, he’d be nicer.”

Fortunately, Hermione understood what he meant. “Dumbledore does trust him”, she said thoughtfully. “That has to count for something. And we can always tell Percy where we are going, just to be on the safe side.”

At that moment, Ron entered the dorm. “This is the boy’s dorm!”, he complained. Probably just because he felt excluded.

“Oh, shut up. There’s more important things to worry about.” Hermione stepped between Ron and the door, as if to make sure he wouldn’t run out again. “Ron, the monster, it’s a basilisk.”

Unlike Harry, Ron obviously knew what that was. “No way!”, he exclaimed. “No one has seen one since forever!”

“Colin has”, Hermione replied darkly.

“But he’s not dead, is he? Harry you said he was only petrified!”

“Yeah, but I’m no expert on basilisks - ”

“Colin saw it through his camera, that must have protected him – but that’s not important now. We need to tell a teacher. We need to go now. Harry, I think we should use the cloak. And does one of you have a mirror?”

They didn’t, so Hermione went to the girls’ dorm to borrow one from a roommate. Without asking beforehand. “No one would ever believe I suddenly need to check my make-up”, she explained when they were all under the cloak and sneaking through the common room. “It’s not like I even own any.”

Percy had made sure no one got close to the portrait hole, so people were probably wondering why the hole opened without someone coming in, but Harry was sure they’d forget that strange incidence immediately when a teacher told them about the basilisk.