Snape was absently marking papers and wondering what else he could do about the Parkinson girl. It was more than halfway through the term, and she remained abstracted. Her grades were marginal and the prefects had noted that although they were trying to keep a close watch over her, she was beginning to slip off to some hidey hole they had thus far been unable to locate. He had left instructions that she be sent to him when she next surfaced – it was time to see if Poppy could find some answers.

Perhaps the mind-healers he planned to take Harry to see should consult on Parkinson as well. Snape sighed and wondered if he was responsible for both children’s incipient breakdowns. He was, after all, in charge of both of them, and so far this year no other first years had showed similar difficulties adjusting to school life.

What else could or should he be doing? And why didn’t the other Heads seem to have these problems? Did he drive his snakes too hard? He heard a creak and glanced up. “Harry?”

There was no answering shout, and with a shake of his head, he returned to his papers. Just when he thought he had seen all the possible permutations of wrong answers, his students came up with some new idiocy. Why did he do this to himself? Other Potion Masters only had to worry about blowing themselves up while experimenting with new draughts; they didn’t have to prevent a classful of willfully ignorant dunderheads from blowing up or poisoning each other, let alone act in loco parentis for the spotty, moody creatures. He really needed to rethink his career plans.

Another noise had him looking up sharply. “Harry? Is that you?”

Silence.

He glanced at the time and frowned. The brat should be back from the Forest soon. At this time of year, it grew dark early, and surely even Hagrid wouldn’t be so half-witted as to be out in the Forest with a first year after sunset. Even as the thought occurred to him, his mind filled with images of the plethora of Dark creatures that roamed the Forest at night and would be all too happy to snack on a Wizarding child.

Distracted as he was, he nearly missed the strange slithery noise behind him. He surged upright, his hand snatching for his wand, but tight coils encircled him with such breathtaking speed that he was trapped in his chair, his legs bound together, his arms pinned against his body, before he could complete the motion. He coudn’t even manage to cry out as the bands immediately grew so tight that he could only take shallow breaths. He twisted his head trying to see what had so completely incapacitated him with such stunning speed.

“Sssssso, you are the faithlessss traitor my master ssssent me to kill. Ssssslowly.”

The hissing in his ear nearly made his heart stop. He remembered that sound all too well, though it had been a decade since he had heard it last. Nagini, he thought frantically, but how…?

He tried to imagine what wandless spells might prove useful but then the enormous serpent lowered her head and he choked as he felt her tongue flicker against his carotid artery. “Evil ssspy,” Nagini crooned, lightly drawing her fangs down the rapidly pulsing blood vessel. “You will die in agony for the wrongs you have done my master.”

Snape had no idea what the snake was saying, but the low hissing, coupled with the lightly raking fangs, made it clear that this was not a social call. He closed his eyes, trying not to imagine the hideous pain her corrosive venom would cause.

He had watched Nagini kill many times on Voldemort’s orders, and her victims’ remembered shrieks of agony played loudly in his ears. Apparently Voldemort – or at least his familiar – wasn’t nearly as far away as he had hoped.

With her fangs already playing over his throat, Snape knew there was no spell that could help him. The instant she was startled, she would strike, and with a strike in that region, the poison would be at his brain in seconds. That was assuming she didn’t just tear out his throat with her fangs – with her size that was a distinct possibility. Either way, he was already beyond hope of rescue.

He had seen enough to know that Nagini’s poison was incredibly painful. With a bite at his throat, he would die quickly, but not quickly enough to be spared the hideous suffering. For a moment panic overwhelmed him, and he struggled, but the snake merely tightened her coils and he broke off with a low moan as his ribs felt as if they were being crushed.

The certainty of his imminent death helped, oddly, to combat the terror. He had never really expected to survive Lily. He only regretted that after all that he had been through, his death would be so meaningless: murdered in his office as – Merlin help him! – he graded homework papers. He would have preferred to go out in battle, preferably taking several Death Eaters with him. So much for his finely honed dueling skills. After all that, he’d been surprised by a snake and killed without managing a single spell in his own defense.

He spared a thought for Harry. At least he’d convinced Dumbledore of the Muggles’ unsuitability. Presumably Sirius would get the boy now. The mutt loved Harry, but would he be able to steer the boy through all the dangers that Voldemort and his Death Eaters would pose? His idea of strategy was faking a twisted ankle to get an attractive witch to notice him.

Still, in some ways, perhaps it was better for the boy in the long run. With his Dark Mark, Snape would never have survived Voldemort’s second rise. Better that he die now, before the boy grew too attached.

He stiffened involuntarily, a gasp escaping his lips as Nagini nipped a little harder. “Where ssshall I bite you first, traitor? Ssshall I sssink my teeth into an eyeball and let it melt in its sssocket while you writhe in agony? Or perhapss I sshould ssimply give you another little sssqueeze – like ssso?”

Snape felt his ribs creak as the snake tightened her coils, and the breath was forced from his lungs. “My master ssaid to make sure you sssuffer, lying one. Would you like to ssee what being crushed to death feels like? Perhapss I will crush you a bit and then bite you until you revive enough to ssscream…”

The edges of Snape’s vision were beginning to gray out, and he prayed that he would lose consciousness quickly. Then he heard the one sound that could force him back from the brink.

“Da? I’m back! The unicorns were fanta-“ Harry broke off with a gasp as he jerked to a halt on the threshold of Snape’s office.

“Run….” It was hardly the shout Snape had wanted. With the amount of air left in his lungs, it was barely a whisper, but it was all he could manage. At least Nagini had remained wrapped around him, rather than going after the boy, though her head was now pointing towards the boy and weaving dangerously, tasting the air.

Snape hoped Harry would, for once, do the sensible thing and either flee or hit the creature with a blasting hex. He’d be dead too, of course, but he was already; his still-beating heart was merely a technicality. Even Flitwick, champion dueler that he was, could not target Nagini’s erratically bobbing head, and anything else would leave Nagini time to kill him before launching a new attack. She was Voldemort’s familiar, after all, and she was as strong in her own way as he was in his.

Harry gaped in astonishment. His da hung, grey-faced, in the coils of an enormous snake which, from the looks of it, was slowly squeezing him to death. The red scratches around his da’s throat, where his high collar had been torn aside, showed that the snake had been playing with him, threatening to bite. A jolt of possessive rage surged through Harry.

“Oi!” Harry yelled in outrage. “What’re you doing?” He didn’t even realize he’d lapsed automatically into Parseltongue, or that his wand was already in his hand.

Harry was utterly incensed. How dare some stupid snake threaten his da? Wasn’t he a Speaker? All the other snakes he’d ever spoken with had been impressed and respectful. What was wrong with this horrible creature? He’d never seen a serpent this big before – it made the boa at the zoo seem like a garter snake by comparison – but he’d never before met a snake he didn’t like. He was prepared to make an exception for this one though.

Well, it was going to be sorry it had messed with his da! He would teach it a lesson once and for all. “Get away from him!” he stepped forward fearlessly. “He belongs to me! How dare you attack what is mine? Do as I command!”

Nagini tasted the air again, puzzled. The small human didn’t smell familiar, but there was… something… about him that was reminiscent of her master. And he certainly sounded like Voldemort in a temper.

“I said get away from him!” Harry shouted, livid with rage. “I am a Speaker and YOU WILL OBEY ME!”

Nagini hesitated. The boy felt like her Master. He sounded like him. But he didn’t taste like him. A wild bolt of magic shot past her head and she ducked in fear. Okay, that felt a lot like her master when he was in a fury. True, he had sent her to kill the traitor, but as much as Nagini loved her master, she had to admit that consistency was not one of strong points. There had been more than one occasion where a favored Death Eater at one meeting became her lunch at the next.

And there was no denying that this wizard sounded like her master at his most possessive, not to mention that he spoke Parseltongue with the same inflections, and there was a feeling of familiarity that positively radiated from him, particularly now, when his anger was exploding outward.

The snake’s hesitation, coupled with his da’s growing pallor, was the last straw. Harry’s accidental magic, perhaps triggered by or strengthened through his horcrux’s link with Voldemort’s familiar, lashed out in a blaze of dazzling light aimed at the snake.

That did it. Her master had clearly reconsidered. Nagini fled, bewildered and blinded.

Snape fell back into his chair, gasping for air, as the snake unwound itself with even greater speed than it had shown in capturing him. His eyes had been somewhat less dazzled by the light, since it wasn’t directed at him, but even so he barely managed to make out the snake’s tail vanishing out the door to the corridor.

Harry, poised at the other door, yelled something in Parseltongue, then – No! No! Idiot child! – promptly raced after it.

Snape tottered to his feet and, using the desk and walls as support, struggled after the little nincompoop, determine to strangle the brat the instant he got his hands on him.

##

Hagrid prowled down the dark dungeon corridors, his crossbow at the ready. After dropping Harry back at the castle’s doors, he had been alarmed to find a breach in the building’s wards, and signs that some Dark creature had recently slipped inside. He had been able to track it to the dungeons, but there had lost it… until a huge snake whipped around the corner and knocked him flying.

Hagrid banged his head on the wall hard enough to see stars and was only minimally aware of a small form trampling unceremoniously over his back in pursuit of the snake. By the time his wits had cleared enough to be aware of his surroundings, Hagrid caught sight of Professor Snape, looking half-dead, trying to stagger down the corridor, and he ran to help him.

Harry charged after the snake, determined to punish the creature who was stupid enough to attack his da. The staring portraits helped identify which way she had gone, and then he came upon a white-faced Ron and Hermione cowering behind a sheltering suit of armor. “Did you see a big snake?” he demanded.

“Blimey! I’ll say!” Ron gasped. “Forget spiders – it’s snakes that are scarier than anything!”

“Which way did it go?”

Hermione clutched at his arm. “You can’t possibly want to follow it!”

“It nearly ate my da, and I’m going to teach it a lesson,” he snarled back, sounding remarkably Snape-like.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance, and then Ron shrugged. “Three wands are better than one,” he pointed out philosophically.

“Oh, I just know this is a bad idea,” Hermione said miserably, but she too drew her wand and followed the boys.

“It went in there?” Harry said in disbelief, indicating the half-open door.

Ron just nodded.

“But we can’t go there!” Harry said, scandalized. “I mean, it’s a girls’ lav!”

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh, for heaven’s sake! You’re willing to take on a fifteen foot snake but you won’t go in the girls’ toilet?” She pushed past the other two and cautiously entered the room.

Sheepishly, the boys followed her.

“Eeeeeeeeeee!” A shrill, hollow voice screamed at them, and all three jumped, their wands coming around to target the source of the noise.

“Don’t you dare try to hex me! I’m already dead!” the ghost scolded. “What’s wrong with everyone? First that annoying girl keeps coming in, and then some huge snake, and now two boys and –“

“Where’s the snake?” Harry demanded, even as he and the others scanned the lavatory for the serpent.

Myrtle gave him a petulant look. “You’ve got no manners, you know that?”

“You want the snake to come back?” he countered.

“Oh, fine,” Myrtle surrendered with a huff. “It hissed something over there, and a big hole opened and then it disappeared down it.”

The children hurried over to the site Myrtle indicated, and Harry quickly spotted the snake carvings. “Did you let a big snake through some secret passage?” he demanded, ignoring Ron’s gasp of shock and Hermione’s surprised expression.

“A speaker! Hello, speaker!” the snakes exclaimed. “Yes, we allowed a snake into the Chamber. Do you wish to follow?”

“Erm, okay…” Harry’s temper had cooled to the point where he realized that following the snake into its lair was probably a bad idea, but he figured it was at least worth knowing where it had gone.

A moment later, the wall in front of them sported a gaping hole, and the three first years peered down into the gloom.

“Whoa,” Ron commented. “You’re not going down there, mate?”

“No, he’s not!” Hermione said fiercely. “Harry, we need to find a professor before we go a step further.”

Harry hesitated. He knew Hermione was probably right, but…

“Your da will kill us if we go down there alone,” Ron pointed out. “And I really don’t want to get whacked again.”

Harry sighed and capitulated. He knew Ron was definitely right, and he was beginning to feel guilty for just charging after the snake, rather than making sure his da was okay or summoning Madame Pomfrey for him. “I guess…” he said, taking one last long look into the darkness before them.

An instant later, a strong hand gripped the back of his robe and jerked him backwards, then a hard smack landed on his bum. “Ow!” he yipped, even as he realized the same thing was happening to Ron and Hermione.

Snape’s heart had nearly stopped as he entered the lavatory, only to find three little dunderheads innocently standing over a pitch-black abyss. He had, thanks to Hagrid practically carrying him through the corridors, mostly recovered by the time they tracked the children to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. He had pushed the door open and beheld a spectacle only slightly less horrific than Nagini’s face weaving in front of his own.

A split second later, he was dragging them all back and administering a resounding slap to each backside. Ron yelled and Hermione squeaked, while Harry – predictably – protested. “We weren’t going to go in there, Da!” he said in injured tones, doing his best to sound as if the idea had never occurred to him.

“And what would you have done if Nagini reached up out of the darkness and pulled one of you down?” Snape demanded furiously.

“Oh.” Harry exchanged guilty looks with the other two. “We didn’t think of that,” he admitted meekly.

“Sorry, Uncle Sev,” Ron said, rubbing his behind.

“Yes, we’re sorry, Professor,” Hermione echoed automatically, still a bit stunned from having been swatted. (She consoled herself with the thought that it meant the professor was unlikely make a note in their permanent records.)

Hagrid was looking down into the opening, his crossbow cocked and ready. “I don’ see anythin’ down there, Pr’fessor!” he called. “But it looks like the tunnel might go on f’r a while…”

“The snakes that opened the passage said it went to some place called the Chamber,” Harry volunteered, trying to be helpful.

Snape looked over at Myrtle. “Kindly fetch the Headmaster at once.”

Myrtle looked sullen. “Oh, all right,” she grumbled.

“Are any of you injured?” Snape asked, turning back to the children.

They shook their heads, knowing better than to mention their tingling behinds, and Harry remembered how awful his da had looked back in their rooms. “Are you okay, Da? That stupid snake didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“Do you know it, Professor? You called it Nagini, didn’t you?” As usual, the know-it-all had caught what had escaped the boys’ notice.

“Yes. It belongs to You-Know-Who.”

“You mean, that’s Voldesnort’s snake?” Harry exclaimed.”No wonder it was so mean!”

Meanwhile, down in the Chamber, Nagini was finding her problems were far from over. She was still blinded from Harry’s magic, but she was able to navigate through taste and scent quite well. She wended her way through the dusty corridors, heading to the Chamber her master had told her about before sending her to the castle. Abruptly she sniffed, scenting more human flesh. But her master had said that the Chamber would be deserted!

She slithered closer and discovered another small human, only this one appeared comatose. “Who are you?” a familiar voice demanded.

“Master?” Nagini turned her head sightlessly, trying to triangulate on the sound. She could scent no one but the unconscious form in front of her.

“I could be your master,” the voice agreed. “Who are you?”

“I have a master already – he sounds like you…” Nagini was growing more bewildered by the minute.

“Hmmm. Maybe you know an older me. I am –“

The grinding of stone interrupted them, and then a new voice joined them. “I smell blood. Who has violated my Chamber?”

“Calm yourself, great one,” her master’s voice ordered. “It is nothing more than a kindred spirit. This snake seeks a master, and I –“

“No! I am your familiar! Not some weak and pathetic little worm!” the new voice roared in rage.

Nagini gasped in outrage. “A worm? How dare you! I will kill you for your presumption! Know that I am the familiar of Lord Voldemort, the greatest Dark Lord –“

“Wait – I am Lor-“ the wizard tried to speak but was shouted down.

“No! I am the familiar of the Heir to Slytherin, Lord Voldemort!” the other creature bellowed, and the sounds of scales on stone told Nagini that it was moving forward.

Abruptly Nagini began to rethink her strategy. She was blind, in unfamiliar surroundings, and from the sound of the other creature, it was big. She had never met a snake larger or more powerful than she was, but there was something wrong here. The new creature was also claiming to be Voldemort’s familiar, and while she could hear her master’s voice, she could not sense his presence nor did he seem to recognize her.

“Hey, Da,” Harry looked over to the entrance to the Chamber, where muffled noises were emerging. “I think Voldemold’s snake is getting into an argument with someone.”

Snape forced himself not to gape. “You think there is someone alive down there?”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno if it’s someone or something.” He cocked his head. “It sounds like the voice.”

“What voice?” Snape demanded.

“Y’know. The funny voice I was telling you about before. The one that I can hear if I don’t do the exercises right. Ooooh!” Harry’s attention swiveled sharply to the Chamber. “That had to hurt!”

Snape gaped at him. The voice was real? The boy wasn’t having hallucinations but was merely hearing an actual Dark creature hidden deep within the castle?

“What is it, Harry?” Hermione asked. “All I can hear is some hissing.”

The realization struck Snape like a bucket of cold water. “That voice you talked about hearing?” he demanded furiously of Harry. “Why did you never mention that it was speaking in Parseltongue?”

Harry looked thoughtful. “Hey, I think you’re right, Da. I never realized it before.”

Snape fought back the desire to strangle the child. All the sleepless nights he had had over the boy’s “hallucinations”!

“Uncle Sev, is Harry really a parselmouth?” Ron gulped, looking sick.

Snape gave the boy a sharp glance. “Yes, and I expect you to keep that knowledge to yourself, Mr Weasley.”

Ron gulped again and nodded.

“Oh wow! Da! I think they’re really fighting! They started out insultin’ each other and the funny voice called Nagooni a worm, an’ she got really mad, an’ then they started arguin’ about who was ol’ Voldesnort’s real familiar, an’ somebody else is down there trying to get them to calm down by sayin’ they can both be his familiars, but I don’t think he’s havin’ much luck. Oh! The weird voice just called her a really bad name and Nagooni said – oooh!” Harry looked impressed. “I’m not even sure what that word means, but the other voice is really - Uh oh!” A blood-curdling scream echoed up from the Chamber below, and all present jumped in shock. “Um, I think Nagooni might have just gotten eaten,” Harry reported, a little green.

“Severus, what is – “ Dumbeldore hurried through the lavatory door and stopped abruptly, staring at the opening. “The Chamber of Secrets! I had heard rumors…”

“Headmaster!” Four voices began to speak simultaneously, while Hagrid just shrugged and kept guard with his crossbow.

“Quiet!” Snape’s classroom bellow silenced the children, and they shrank back at his furious tone. “You will be still,” he ordered them in a voice that would brook no insubordination, and they hastily nodded. “A short time ago, I was attacked in my quarters by Voldemort’s familiar, Nagini,” he explained succinctly. “She was interrupted by Mr Potter, who managed to drive her away, and she fled here. These foolish children saw fit to follow her, and we have just heard her apparently engage in a fight with another creature who is currently residing in the so-called Chamber, while yet a third entity attempted to intervene.” Snape carefully glossed over Harry’s parselmouth abilities. Hagrid gave him a look of surprise, but Snape hoped that the half-giant would keep his mouth shut unless Dumbledore quizzed him directly. Then, as everyone knew, the giant would instantly reveal all, whether or not he intended to do so.

Dumbledore was silent, but it was clear that he was thinking furiously. “I have long had my suspicions…” he said, more to himself than to those listening. Then he nodded once, decisively. “Severus, while I would like more than anything to close up the Chamber, I suspect that we must first find out what lies below. Children, I need you to summon the other Heads of House for me. You must tell them that under no circumstance are they to enter this room without taking proper precautions. Mr Potter, explain to Professor McGonagall that she must use the special spectacles of which we once spoke. She will understand.” Harry and the others nodded and ran off. “Hagrid, you and I will go below – if you are willing?”

“Right, y’are, Pr’fessor!” Hagrid said stoutly, hoisting his crossbow.

“Albus, surely I should accompany you! –“ Snape protested.

“No, my boy. I need you up here, in case the creature I expect to find gets past me and threatens the school.”

“And just what do you expect to find?” Snape pressed.

Dumbledore looked grim. “Salazar Slytherin’s familiar.”

Hagrid’s eyes widened. “His familiar! Slytherin’s familiar was a basilisk!”

“Yes.” Dumbledore nodded. “We both know that Aragog was not responsible for Myrtle’s death, Hagrid. Are you prepared to face the creature I believe was?”

Hagrid nodded fiercely.

Dumbledore waved his wand and two strange-looking pairs of spectacles appeared in his hand. “Here. Wear these, or one look and you will be killed. Severus,” he turned to the Potion Master. “I do not have a spare pair. Please use the mirrors along the wall to keep watch. If you see any movement in the reflection and do not hear Hagrid or myself call to you, leave immediately and ward the door as strongly as you can. Hopefully the other teachers will soon be here to help you, and Minerva has her own pair of protective glasses.”

Snape nodded once, clutching his wand tightly.

Hagrid and Dumbledore donned their spectacles and stepped forward into the Chamber. Snape watched them in the mirror, waiting tensely.

There was silence for several long moments, and then everything seemed to happen at once. Snape heard muffled voices, then shouting and inhuman screams. A few moments later, he heard Hagrid shouting from far below. “Sev’rus, help me up! Sev’rus! Hurry - I’ve got a student here wi’ me!”

Snape instantly abandoned his post by the mirrors and ran to the opening. He could see the giant, with a small girl cradled in his arms, and brought them both up with a rapid levitation spell.

“C’n you summon Poppy?” Hagrid panted as soon as he’d stepped back into the lavatory. “She’s not lookin’ good an’ I don’t know much ’bout doctorin’ humans.”

Snape barely registered that the pinched white face belonged to Pansy Parkinson before sending his Patronus off to bring Poppy. “What happened?” he demanded.

Hagrid shuddered. “Dark magic. Ver’ Dark,” he muttered.

“Severus, I could use your assistance, my boy!” Dumbledore’s words were calm, but there was an undercurrent of strain in his voice and Snape ran back to the opening and helped the elderly wizard out of the Chamber. “It would be best if we made a quick exit, gentlemen.” The Headmaster was directing powerful bolts of magic down into the Chamber as he spoke, and Snape and Hagrid wasted no time in sprinting for the door. Even Myrtle fled with them.

No sooner had they crossed the threshold than Albus cast an intensely powerful locking and shielding charm over the door to the lavatory. Mere seconds later a powerful roaring noise was heard in the room, and the wizards – and ghost – took an involuntary step backwards.

“What was that?” Snape demanded.

“Fiendfyre,” Albus answered briefly. “Now if you’ll give me just a moment, I need to make a brief alteration…” He closed his eyes, and a moment later, a solid wall existed where the door had been previously.

Snape blinked. “Headmaster, you…”

“The fiendfyre will soon burn itself out, my boy, but I see no reason to take any chances.”

“What happened down there?” Snape demanded. “Why did you cast a fiendfyre spell? Was Nagini down there?”

Dumbledore abruptly looked his age. “Worse, Severus. Much worse.”

Poppy rushed up then and began casting diagnostic spells even before she got a good look at the unconscious child. “To the infirmary, quickly!” she ordered Hagrid.

“Go see to your student,” Dumbledore told Snape with a brief smile and the hint of a twinkle. “I will reassure the other Heads when they arrive momentarily, then I will explain everything to all of you later this evening.”

Snape nodded and hurried after Poppy.