Return to the Chamber of Secrets
A Harry Potter UNIVERSE/ Sasporilla Bucket Fan Fiction
by Darren Kelly
Chapter 11
Sasporilla stepped through the opening in the mouth first. She had to duck slightly but there was more than enough room to comfortably step through. She surmised Salazar Slytherin was likely large for his time, but less than average for hers. Karry followed after, and then by Blossom. The corridor was dark but LUMOS soon lit their way. The corridor they stood in was rounded and ribbed, very organic, like the inside of a throat.
"This is very creepy." Blossom said.
"It's bloody brilliant." Karry said. "Slytherin is playing with our minds. Make us feel as though we're being swallowed alive."
They walked down the corridor to a vault which stood wide open and empty. The green marble walls were lined with empty broken shelves and the amount of old basilisk skin that lay dried and rotted around it revealed the basilisk was more than likely the guardian of this vault.
"This is the vault Dumbledore sacked." Karry said stepping inside.
"What was in it?" Sasporilla asked.
"Not really sure." Karry said. "I didn't have access to those years of documents. That was Jaz Lee's lot."
"I find it hard to believe Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of our life time, ever burgled a vault!" Blossom scoffed.
"Sorry Blossy but it's true." Karry said handing the Head Girl her notes.
Blossom gave them a good quick read.
"I must admit." Blossom said sadly. "I'm rather disillusioned."
Sasporilla stood along the back wall. "Karry come look at this."
Karry took her notes back from Blossom and flicked to the back page as she walked over to investigate. Sasporilla held her lit wand to the mark of the deathly hallows carved into the green marble wall.
"Interesting." Karry Curtiss said turning to her notes.
"What do you think it means?" Sasporilla asked.
"I think we're looking at the back door to this vault." Karry said. "Dumbledore said he marked the spot, but he never came back."
"How do we open a door that we can't even see?" Blossom asked. "If it's there at all.,"
"Sasporilla tried speaking parcel tongue. It did not work. Karry tried "Alohamora", to no avail.
"Revelio!" Blossom cast, the spell striking the deathly hallows symbol causing it to light up. The center line of the symbol turned ninety degrees clock wise as the circle spun counter clockwise and the triangle spun off the wall and turned upside down. An illusionary green marble wall faded out revealing an open doorway beyond. The girls stepped through and reformed behind them covering the doorway. Karry marked it by drawing a yellow line around it with her wand.
"At least we can find it on the way out."
The girls looked around. They stood in a great cavern. Bats hung restlessly above. A greenish slime sat in puddles on the cavern floor amongst the broken stalagmites. The girls walked across the cavern to where it split into three tunnels. Wind blew hard from the two outer tunnels for a while then drew air back, in a rhythmic pattern.
"Which tunnel do you think they took?" Sasporilla asked.
"The path of least resistance, I would imagine." Karry said. "That would be the middle one."
"Do you think it would have the next vault?" Blossom asked.
"I imagine all three of these tunnels have vaults of some sort." Karry said. "But I think the person leading is looking for something very specific."
"Like what." Sasporilla asked.
"I wish I knew." Karry mused. "I wish I knew."
The girls followed the path into the center tunnel which opened into a large room that appeared to be carved into the heart of huge ruby. At the center of the room were two statues of emerald serpents. A very obvious vault door sat at the far side of the room.
"Well at least we have no problem finding the door in here." Sasporilla said stepping through followed by Blossom.
"No wait!" Karry said as the emerald serpent statues came to life and encircled the girls in their coils.
A human shape formed in the ruby wall and stepped through. A living ruby statue of Salazar Slytherin who carried two bells, one in each hand.
"You must choose one bell to ring to free your friends. One will free them and open the vault, the other will cause the serpents to crush them, to death." The statue said. "Both serpents speak. One always tells the truth while the other only tells lies. This is Both my gift, and my curse. You may ask only one question, to only one of the serpents. After that you must choose which bell to ring. Ask your question wisely."
Karry thought for a moment. This was surely a test of intellect and logic. Blossom and Sasporilla tried calling to Karry from amongst the coils of emerald serpents but their voices were silenced.
Karry walked up to the serpent statue on the left, the one with its coils wrapped dangerously tight around her best friend.
"Serpent on the left." Karry asked. "If I ask the other Snake statue which bell to ring, the one on the right or the one on the left, which one would it tell me ring?"
"RRRRight." The serpent hissed.
"So if you're the one who always tells the truth then the statue on the right is the liar and he would tell me the wrong bell to ring and that would be the one on the right. And if you are the liar then you would still want me yo pick the wrong one and that would be the one on the right there fore.."
Karry took the bell on the left, took a deep breath and rang it. The serpents uncoiled and released the girls. The ruby statue of Salazar Slytherin walked over and opened the vault the disappeared, rejoining the body of the ruby walls.
"That was bloody brilliant Karry Curtiss!" Blossom said. "I'm very impressed with your logical prowess."
"Actually I saw the same puzzle on my fathers favorite episode of Dr.Who." Karry laughed. "Thank goodness for my fathers love of Muggle TV and science fiction."
Sasporilla swung open the vault door. Inside was a huge ancient library. Quills floated in air, adding information to volumes of books which floated back and forth past them. One set of shelves were piled high with volumes of books, while the shelves across the from them were nearly empty. Karry Curtiss walked up to the stacks and pulled down a volume. Karry was clearly shocked by what she found.
"What is it?" Sasporilla asked.
"My families name is in here." Karry said. "It lists my family as impure."
"I would imagine that's what all of this is." Blossom said. "Salazar Slytherin hated muggle borns and mixed bloods like my family and yours. He felt such hate in his heart he'd want updated lists to take down all impure families."
"Why didn't he do it?" Sasporilla asked.
"Because after he left Hogwarts he disappeared." Karry said.
"What if... no." Sasporilla said.
"What?" Blossom Kowalski asked.
"No it's to crazy." Sasporilla said. "To far fetched."
"Tell us!" Karry ordered.
"What if he never really left." Sasporilla mused. "What if he came back here with the intent of using the information to 'Save' the pure bloods some day. What if he's still here?"
"That was a thousand years ago." Blossom laughed. "No one lived that long ever!"
"It's possible." Karry said matter-of-factly. "There is no history of him after he left Hogwarts and no grave was ever found. There fore we can't discount the possibility knowing how powerful Salazar Slytherin was and all of the impossible things we've learned are actually possible."
"What do you think is in the books and scrolls in the other rows?" Blossom asked.
"I imagine it's the sum total of Salazar Slytherins knowledge." Karry said. "Heart and mind."
"What?" Sasporilla asked.
"Heart and mind." Karry Curtiss said. "That is what this repository represents, his heart and mind. Think about it, we passed through a mouth in a carving of his face. We passed through a hall which looked like a throat or gullet or whatever. Then we came to two windy passages like the lungs and one that lead to a room carved out of ruby and lead to his heart. I do believe this is all representative of the body of Salazar Slytherin."
"Wow." Sasporilla and Blossom said in unison.
"Let's find the door out and kerp looking." Karry said.
**********************
Zac built a large bon fire, easily seen in the dark forest. Hopefully it would give anything that was thinking of attacking them second thoughts. He kept the injured student close and his wand at the ready, just in case. His flare still hung high above him in the night sky.
"Where in the hell are they?" Zac said he heard the unmistakable roar of an engine in the night sky above. Hagrids motorcycle came into a landing in the small clearing and skid to a halt. Others on brooms began to touch down. Hagrid helped Madam Pomfrey out of the side-car and they rushed to the aid of the injured girl.
"Sorry we took so long." Hagrid apologized. "We was waitin' on them!"
"Kingsly Shacklebolt lead aurors Nick Owlmore and Lyra Lee-Ashwolf, as Ms.Pince gathered the seventh year student volunteers.
"Mr.Zar.... Mr.Curtiss." Kingsly said holding out his hand. "I see you've retrieved one of the missing girls?"
"Yes Minister." Zac said shaking his hand. "Poppey Rosegarden. She's alive but in a bad way. We sedated her."
"You did a damn fine job is what you did." Madam Pomfrey said. "We need to get her back to Hogwarts straight away. We need a wiggle worm gate... now!"
The most experienced and powerful amongst them opened the gate and stabilized it. Madam Pomfrey lead the way through, followed by two volunteers who carried the injured girl on a stretcher. Once they were safely on the other side they closed the gate and turned their attentions back to Zac who hovered on his broom above disguised chasm entrance.
"Follow me."
Sasporilla stepped through the opening in the mouth first. She had to duck slightly but there was more than enough room to comfortably step through. She surmised Salazar Slytherin was likely large for his time, but less than average for hers. Karry followed after, and then by Blossom. The corridor was dark but LUMOS soon lit their way. The corridor they stood in was rounded and ribbed, very organic, like the inside of a throat.
"This is very creepy." Blossom said.
"It's bloody brilliant." Karry said. "Slytherin is playing with our minds. Make us feel as though we're being swallowed alive."
They walked down the corridor to a vault which stood wide open and empty. The green marble walls were lined with empty broken shelves and the amount of old basilisk skin that lay dried and rotted around it revealed the basilisk was more than likely the guardian of this vault.
"This is the vault Dumbledore sacked." Karry said stepping inside.
"What was in it?" Sasporilla asked.
"Not really sure." Karry said. "I didn't have access to those years of documents. That was Jaz Lee's lot."
"I find it hard to believe Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of our life time, ever burgled a vault!" Blossom scoffed.
"Sorry Blossy but it's true." Karry said handing the Head Girl her notes.
Blossom gave them a good quick read.
"I must admit." Blossom said sadly. "I'm rather disillusioned."
Sasporilla stood along the back wall. "Karry come look at this."
Karry took her notes back from Blossom and flicked to the back page as she walked over to investigate. Sasporilla held her lit wand to the mark of the deathly hallows carved into the green marble wall.
"Interesting." Karry Curtiss said turning to her notes.
"What do you think it means?" Sasporilla asked.
"I think we're looking at the back door to this vault." Karry said. "Dumbledore said he marked the spot, but he never came back."
"How do we open a door that we can't even see?" Blossom asked. "If it's there at all.,"
"Sasporilla tried speaking parcel tongue. It did not work. Karry tried "Alohamora", to no avail.
"Revelio!" Blossom cast, the spell striking the deathly hallows symbol causing it to light up. The center line of the symbol turned ninety degrees clock wise as the circle spun counter clockwise and the triangle spun off the wall and turned upside down. An illusionary green marble wall faded out revealing an open doorway beyond. The girls stepped through and reformed behind them covering the doorway. Karry marked it by drawing a yellow line around it with her wand.
"At least we can find it on the way out."
The girls looked around. They stood in a great cavern. Bats hung restlessly above. A greenish slime sat in puddles on the cavern floor amongst the broken stalagmites. The girls walked across the cavern to where it split into three tunnels. Wind blew hard from the two outer tunnels for a while then drew air back, in a rhythmic pattern.
"Which tunnel do you think they took?" Sasporilla asked.
"The path of least resistance, I would imagine." Karry said. "That would be the middle one."
"Do you think it would have the next vault?" Blossom asked.
"I imagine all three of these tunnels have vaults of some sort." Karry said. "But I think the person leading is looking for something very specific."
"Like what." Sasporilla asked.
"I wish I knew." Karry mused. "I wish I knew."
The girls followed the path into the center tunnel which opened into a large room that appeared to be carved into the heart of huge ruby. At the center of the room were two statues of emerald serpents. A very obvious vault door sat at the far side of the room.
"Well at least we have no problem finding the door in here." Sasporilla said stepping through followed by Blossom.
"No wait!" Karry said as the emerald serpent statues came to life and encircled the girls in their coils.
A human shape formed in the ruby wall and stepped through. A living ruby statue of Salazar Slytherin who carried two bells, one in each hand.
"You must choose one bell to ring to free your friends. One will free them and open the vault, the other will cause the serpents to crush them, to death." The statue said. "Both serpents speak. One always tells the truth while the other only tells lies. This is Both my gift, and my curse. You may ask only one question, to only one of the serpents. After that you must choose which bell to ring. Ask your question wisely."
Karry thought for a moment. This was surely a test of intellect and logic. Blossom and Sasporilla tried calling to Karry from amongst the coils of emerald serpents but their voices were silenced.
Karry walked up to the serpent statue on the left, the one with its coils wrapped dangerously tight around her best friend.
"Serpent on the left." Karry asked. "If I ask the other Snake statue which bell to ring, the one on the right or the one on the left, which one would it tell me ring?"
"RRRRight." The serpent hissed.
"So if you're the one who always tells the truth then the statue on the right is the liar and he would tell me the wrong bell to ring and that would be the one on the right. And if you are the liar then you would still want me yo pick the wrong one and that would be the one on the right there fore.."
Karry took the bell on the left, took a deep breath and rang it. The serpents uncoiled and released the girls. The ruby statue of Salazar Slytherin walked over and opened the vault the disappeared, rejoining the body of the ruby walls.
"That was bloody brilliant Karry Curtiss!" Blossom said. "I'm very impressed with your logical prowess."
"Actually I saw the same puzzle on my fathers favorite episode of Dr.Who." Karry laughed. "Thank goodness for my fathers love of Muggle TV and science fiction."
Sasporilla swung open the vault door. Inside was a huge ancient library. Quills floated in air, adding information to volumes of books which floated back and forth past them. One set of shelves were piled high with volumes of books, while the shelves across the from them were nearly empty. Karry Curtiss walked up to the stacks and pulled down a volume. Karry was clearly shocked by what she found.
"What is it?" Sasporilla asked.
"My families name is in here." Karry said. "It lists my family as impure."
"I would imagine that's what all of this is." Blossom said. "Salazar Slytherin hated muggle borns and mixed bloods like my family and yours. He felt such hate in his heart he'd want updated lists to take down all impure families."
"Why didn't he do it?" Sasporilla asked.
"Because after he left Hogwarts he disappeared." Karry said.
"What if... no." Sasporilla said.
"What?" Blossom Kowalski asked.
"No it's to crazy." Sasporilla said. "To far fetched."
"Tell us!" Karry ordered.
"What if he never really left." Sasporilla mused. "What if he came back here with the intent of using the information to 'Save' the pure bloods some day. What if he's still here?"
"That was a thousand years ago." Blossom laughed. "No one lived that long ever!"
"It's possible." Karry said matter-of-factly. "There is no history of him after he left Hogwarts and no grave was ever found. There fore we can't discount the possibility knowing how powerful Salazar Slytherin was and all of the impossible things we've learned are actually possible."
"What do you think is in the books and scrolls in the other rows?" Blossom asked.
"I imagine it's the sum total of Salazar Slytherins knowledge." Karry said. "Heart and mind."
"What?" Sasporilla asked.
"Heart and mind." Karry Curtiss said. "That is what this repository represents, his heart and mind. Think about it, we passed through a mouth in a carving of his face. We passed through a hall which looked like a throat or gullet or whatever. Then we came to two windy passages like the lungs and one that lead to a room carved out of ruby and lead to his heart. I do believe this is all representative of the body of Salazar Slytherin."
"Wow." Sasporilla and Blossom said in unison.
"Let's find the door out and kerp looking." Karry said.
**********************
Zac built a large bon fire, easily seen in the dark forest. Hopefully it would give anything that was thinking of attacking them second thoughts. He kept the injured student close and his wand at the ready, just in case. His flare still hung high above him in the night sky.
"Where in the hell are they?" Zac said he heard the unmistakable roar of an engine in the night sky above. Hagrids motorcycle came into a landing in the small clearing and skid to a halt. Others on brooms began to touch down. Hagrid helped Madam Pomfrey out of the side-car and they rushed to the aid of the injured girl.
"Sorry we took so long." Hagrid apologized. "We was waitin' on them!"
"Kingsly Shacklebolt lead aurors Nick Owlmore and Lyra Lee-Ashwolf, as Ms.Pince gathered the seventh year student volunteers.
"Mr.Zar.... Mr.Curtiss." Kingsly said holding out his hand. "I see you've retrieved one of the missing girls?"
"Yes Minister." Zac said shaking his hand. "Poppey Rosegarden. She's alive but in a bad way. We sedated her."
"You did a damn fine job is what you did." Madam Pomfrey said. "We need to get her back to Hogwarts straight away. We need a wiggle worm gate... now!"
The most experienced and powerful amongst them opened the gate and stabilized it. Madam Pomfrey lead the way through, followed by two volunteers who carried the injured girl on a stretcher. Once they were safely on the other side they closed the gate and turned their attentions back to Zac who hovered on his broom above disguised chasm entrance.
"Follow me."
PLEASE REMEMBER
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowlings charity LUMOS and help children who need it most.
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowlings charity LUMOS and help children who need it most.