PART 2: ACT 3

PART 2: ACT 3

“What the hell are you doing?” Severus hissed, hurrying after Delphi as she swiftly headed down the staircase. “You might get killed!”

“I know what I'm doing,” Delphi answered breezily. “Trust me.”

“But what if someone sees you?”

“I'm the one wearing a school uniform. You should be worried about what happens if someone sees you. I hope you can cast a good Disillusionment Charm.” She smirked as she rounded down another flight of stairs with Severus still bristling after her.

“Do you even know where the Chamber is, and how to get in it? And for your information, there is a Basilisk down there! One of the most dangerous creatures there is!”

Delphi stopped and closed her eyes momentarily, holding up her hands in a gesture of truce before speaking. “Honestly, Severus, I've got this. The Basilisk is fatal if you look in it's eyes, so I suggest you keep your eyes averted if you're coming with me. As for the rest, you just need to trust me. Please?”

Severus did not look happy. “Why are you doing this?”

“There is chance that Myrtle Warren might still be killed by You-Know-Who when he opens the Chamber. I have to stop that happening.” And with that, she continued down the stairs and turned right into a corridor on the second floor, with Severus still at her heels glaring with exasperation.

“Hmm, it's got to be here somewhere...” she murmured to herself. “Aha!” And with that, she dived into a girl's toilet, leaving Severus hovering outside for a moment, not knowing if to go in or not. Letting her out of his sight made his skin itch, so despite his better judgement he followed her through.

“So what's your plan? Are you intending to kill the Basilisk?”

“Nope,” said Delphi unhelpfully, bending over and examining the sink taps one by one until she found the one with a little engraving of a snake on the side. “I don't like killing harmless animals.”

“So what, then?”

Delphi stood and withdrew her wand, pointing it at the mirror above the sink and cast a spell which ripped it from the wall and sent it soaring over to Severus, who caught it easily.

“We're going to make it commit glorious suicide, just like we're going to do with You-Know-Who. You'll need to bring the mirror.”

Severus processed the plan as he watched Delphi lean in close to the tap. She appeared to be whispering something, but what he could not make out. Suddenly, the room began to shake as the sink started to move. The juddering sink sank right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for them to slide into.

“Coming?” she asked, before stepping inside the pipe and sliding away.

Clutching the mirror tightly to his chest, Severus followed after. It was like sliding down a very steep, slimy, pitch-black slide. He could hear Delphi laughing and whooping ahead of him as he passed many smaller pipe openings branching out in all directions. Down and down they went, surely deeper below the school than the dungeons, and just as he'd begun to worry that they would fall forever, the pipe levelled out and he shot out of the end with his feet landing heavily on the wet floor with a squelchy thud.

“Whoo, that was a rush!” Delphi cried, her excited voice echoing off the dank walls. She'd already lit the tip of her wand and the light from it cast an eerie glow on the damp stone.

“Are you sure you know what you're doing?” Severus replied, in a tone that suggested that he did not for one minute believe the answer.

“Of course. When we get in there, you need to keep that mirror in front of you at all times. Any sudden movement, shut your eyes. OK?”

“But what about you?”

“Don't worry about me. I told you, I've got this.”

And with that, Delphi went striding off into the dark tunnel, leaving Severus to follow in her wake.

The tunnel turned and turned again, almost doubling back on itself into a large spiral shape, until they rounded yet another bend and saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

“Open,” said Delphi with a hiss, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker in the dim light as the serpents parted and the two halves of the wall divided and slid smoothly out of sight.

“Parseltongue?” Severus gave Delphi a sharp look as his stomach seemed to flood with cold water. “Who are you?”

“I told you, no questions,” Delphi replied calmly. “Trust me. Now come on, I need to concentrate. And keep that mirror up.”

Together, they slowly entered the Chamber, which was very long and dimly lit. Severus held the mirror in front of his face, staring down at his boots as they carefully edged forwards, trying hard not to look around at the details around him. Towering stone pillars were entwined with more carved serpents, supporting a high ceiling lost in darkness, and casting long black shadows through the murky greenish gloom.

Delphi stopped suddenly and cocked an ear. Then, holding her wand to her throat to magically amplify her voice, she spoke loudly and clearly in Parseltongue.

“Come to me, serpent. I am the heir of Slytherin and you are compelled to do my bidding!”

To Severus, it just sounded like hissing and he'd had no idea what Delphi had said, but he now knew for sure it was Parseltongue and the noise of the inhuman speech made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

After a moment, a sickening scraping sound of what could only be scales over stone could be heard from just ahead of them as the giant Basilisk answered the call of the snake language and obeyed Slytherin's heir.

Delphi ducked behind Severus and pressed close into his back. “Keep that mirror up, it's coming,” she breathed.

Closer and closer came the serpent. Severus could hear it hissing as it drew near but only Delphi understood what it was saying: “I am coming, Master. I am here to obey you.”

Delphi said in return, “Let me see you, beast of Slytherin! Come to me!” And then she her lit wand and held it just in front of Severus, in order to illuminate the mirror.

The scraping got louder and louder and suddenly stopped, followed by a terrible scream and the sound of several tons of dying Basilisk keeling over on to the ancient stone floors. And than, there was silence.

Severus slowly peered over the mirror as Delphi stepped from behind him.

“Dead,” she announced with a note of glee. “Killed by it's own gaze. It's quite poetic really.”

Severus chanced a look at the dead serpent, and winced at what he saw. The beast was terrible, thick as an oak trunk with poisonous green scales and fangs as large as a man's hand. It's bulbous eyes looked as if they had been melted away with acid, leaving gaping black holes.

“Right, let's clean this mess up shall we?” Delphi got to work vanishing the giant snake, which took several attempts as it was so big, leaving Severus mulling over what he had just witnessed.

She could speak Parseltongue, the rarest of languages that was associated with Salazar Slytherin himself. Legend had it that the Chamber of Secrets could only be opened by Slytherin's heir. Which must mean...

“You're related to him, aren't you?”

“I don't know what you mean,” Delphi replied, vanishing the mirror for good measure.

“Slytherin. You're descended from Salazar Slytherin.”

Delphi turned and faced Severus, her expression serious. “I renounce the symbol of the serpent and all that it stands for. I am the new past. I am the new future. I am the answer this world has been looking for. I am the Augurey.”

Severus blinked, not fully understanding the Sphynx-like riddle in answer to his interrogation.

“Oh, and I'm also bloody starving. Let's get some chips.” And with that, she began walking towards the Chamber doors, leaving Severus staring at the brilliant yet puzzling woman in front of him like she was slightly deranged.