The Benefits of Saving Veela- Chapter 44

AN: It's been a rather frustrating week. Most of my stories were deleted from fanfiction.net, and then 'Exclusive Rights- Part 2' was removed from here because the bot thought there was incest. Hopefully that will be back up today or tomorrow.

One important thing! There's been a change to Chapter 42! After a great deal of thought, I changed the end of the duel between Sue and Solen. There was some good discussion around Sue losing on purpose, and ultimately, I've decided it didn't fit her personality, even if I think there could be a way of arguing it does. If you aren't interested in going back to reread it, Solen still won, in a very close match, but Sue didn't intentionally lose.

Anyway, here's the new chapter. It's a bit of transitional chapter, but I hope you enjoy.

Casting-

Ginny- Megan DeLuca

Daphne- Nicole Deliah

“Whatchya reading?” He glanced up from his book as Ginny nestled onto the couch beside him.

“A book that Dumbledore gave me.” The thing was filled with more spells than most people would learn in a lifetime, but more importantly than that, detailed explanations of the connection to magic necessary to, with some exceptions, forego spells altogether and rely on inherent command of magic instead.

“Ah, for your super-secret, private lessons?” The girls liked to joke about it.

 “Yes, because they’re oh, so secretive.” He poked her in the nose, “I only tell you any time you ask about them.” And she didn’t have the slightest problem asking about them when there was a quartet of second years in the corner working on their essays. Though they were so engrossed in their work that he was sure a rampaging hippogriff was the only way to distract them.

“When is the next one anyway?” she asked, leaning to read over his shoulder.

Tilting the book to give her an easier time, he sighed, “This week’s actually been cancelled.”

“Dumbledore too busy with one of his seven different responsibilities?”

“No, he’d make time if that were the only thing causing a problem.” Considering how early Harry was up, Dumbledore’s other responsibilities had never been a problem.

“Why then?” Ginny’s eyes lit up as he turned the page, “Oh, that sounds even more unpleasant than the Bat-Bogey Hex.” He had to agree with her. Bats flying out of your nose was bad enough, but bees forming in your ear, where they could sting you, sounded even worse.

“I should hide this from you,” Harry turned away and she huffed, reaching for it playfully, “Some things just aren’t safe in your hands, you know that?”

“I wouldn’t use it on anyone who didn’t deserve it.” It really was impressive how she could make just about anything sound convincing.

“Really… not even Ron?”

“Who says that Ron wouldn’t deserve it?” That was actually a fair point, but since he apologized after the Yule Ball, it seemed that he’d turned over a new leaf.

“Alright, that’s fair.” He flipped the book back open to the page and gave her the chance to read over the text, “But to answer your question, the reason that our lesson has been cancelled is because we need somewhere for practical application lessons, and the Headmaster’s office isn’t nearly big enough.”

She furrowed her brow, “How much room do you need?”

“Considering I’m going to be dueling Dumbledore,” And from their conversations, far from regulation duels, “I’d reckon a fair amount of space.”

Ginny shook her head, the corner of her lip up in a half smile, “Anybody else in the school could say that, and I’d think they were absolutely barmy… but coming from you, it’s as mundane as being told what the weather’s going to be for the day.”

Chuckling, he really couldn’t argue with her, “That’s fair.”

They sat there in silence for maybe thirty seconds. He could see the wheels in Ginny’s head turning, and he thought it best not to interrupt her. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft enough that he almost didn’t hear her, “Have you considered the Chamber?”

“No.” It was the truth. Slytherin’s Chamber had never even crossed his mind for their lessons, even if it had for horcruxes. The place wasn’t in the best state the last time he was down there two years before, and it brought back memories that he thought were probably better left in the past.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders, but leaned closer into him, “It’s certainly big enough…” It was also disgusting to reach, and he wasn’t sure that any amount of magic would ever make it clean again. It smelled, was half flooded, and, at least as far as he knew, still had the rotting corpse of a basilisk in it. And given the sort of magic Dumbledore and I will be throwing around, it wouldn’t surprise me if we caused another cave-in.

“True, but I’m sure we can think of something better.”

Ginny scrunched up her nose and seemed to be struggling with what she wanted to say next but finally managed to get it out, “I’d like to go back down there.”

That certainly got his full attention. He looked at her, and for one brief second all he could see was the dying girl on the cold stone floor as Tom mocked her. But she was so much more than that. There was a cold steel in her eyes, one that only existed because of going through that ordeal.

He pulled her closer, rubbing her shoulder. There was a part of him that never wanted to go back down there again, but then he knew that he had to. He and Dumbledore had already discussed the possibility that Tom had hidden one of his horcruxes down there.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, he stood and offered his hand, “Alright, let’s go.”

“Really?” She clearly hadn’t been expecting him to agree so easily.

“If it’s something you feel you need, I want to help you.” She beamed up at him, “And unless you want to go looking for another parselmouth, I’m the only one that can anyway.”

It took her a second to really take in what he was saying, but when she did, she took his hand, “Great… let’s go.”

Taking a quick look at what she was wearing, her pajama bottoms and thin strapped shirt probably weren’t the best for trudging through the pipes beneath Hogwarts. His own comfy trousers weren’t much better if he was being honest, “We should probably change first though.”

Looking down at what she was wearing, she snorted out a laugh, “You’re probably right. Meet you back down here in five, yeah?”  

When he came back down a few minutes later, he was wearing a pair of boots, and an old pair of jeans and shirt, neither of which he minded ruining. Ginny joined him less than a minute later wearing something similar.

“Ready?” She just nodded her head. Taking her hand, he guided her toward the portrait hole.

As they exited, she asked, “Do you think Daphne would want to come with us?”

That was a question he wasn’t expecting. He knew from her previous curiosity that Daphne would almost definitely want to come with, he just didn’t expect that Ginny would want any extra company for this little excursion, “Yes… are you sure?”

“She’s one of the seven people I’m closest to, thanks to you.” She nudged his shoulder, “I don’t mind if she comes along.”

“Alright.” One advantage of the bond was it made it infinitely easier to find one another in the castle. Focusing on that thread of magic that he knew connected him to Daphne, he only needed to follow it to find her.

Daphne was in the courtyard with Astoria and Tracey, them and about half the castle was out there. While it was far from warm outside, it was downright balmy compared to the height of winter, and many in the school were taking advantage of the sunny day. The two older Slytherin’s were helping walk her younger sister through a Transfiguration spell that seemed to be giving her some trouble.

When they caught Daphne’s eye from across the courtyard, they waved her over. The blonde said a few quick words to the other girls before she hurried their way. It appeared as though they were finishing up because Astoria and Tracey both tucked their wands away and headed inside.  

“What’s up?” she asked.

Quietly, so they weren’t overheard, he explained, “Ginny and I were going to make a trip down to the Chamber. We thought you might want to join us.”

Her eyes widened before looking to Ginny for confirmation. She nodded firmly and only then did Daphne agree, “That sounds amazing… shall we?”

“Do you not want to change first?” Much like Fleur, Harry doubted that Daphne owned a single piece of clothing that would be truly suitable for what they were about to do, but he thought it was best to at least give her a chance.

“No, this’ll do.” She could always do a good job of masking her emotions, but Harry and Ginny could both see her excitement.

“Come on then.” The three made their way back into the castle and up to the second-floor girl’s lavatory. As ever, it was entirely empty. Myrtle still haunted it, and while she didn’t seem to wail nearly as often since his second year, she still kept the girls of the school out.

As they approached the sinks, Daphne commented, “I still can’t believe that the entrance to Slytherin’s Chamber ended up in a girl’s lavatory of all places.”

Harry had always wondered about that, because the school certainly didn’t have modern lavatories back in the 11th century when it was founded. He always wondered if someone had discovered the entrance when they were added or if the magic of the school simply adapted to accommodate it. He wasn’t to know that it was one Corvinus Gaunt who ensured the entrance remained hidden when the new plumbing was installed.

“Maybe that’s exactly why he decided to put it here.” Ginny was staring at the sink, memories flooding back to her, “It was the very last place that anyone would think to look.”

“Or he was just a perv.” Daphne said nonchalantly. Even though they’d been thinking the same thing, Harry and Ginny guffawed at her blunt appraisal. She looked at them with an arched eyebrow, “What? Just because I’m interested in seeing the Chamber doesn’t mean I can’t critique him too.”

“Fair.” Ginny agreed as Harry made his way over to the sink. Engraved into the faucet, right where he remembered it, was a snake.

Holding it in his mind, he spoke one word, “Open.”

There was the sliding of stone as the sink broke apart and dropped beneath the ground to reveal the hole in the ground. They all stood at the precipice staring down into the dark.

Ginny broke the silence, “You said you slid down the tunnel, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I’ve always had a vague memory of stairs…” Harry felt the need to smack his head against the wall because now it just seemed incredibly obvious.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he said, “Stairs.” Around the edge of the tunnel, going down in a circle, they appeared.

“Guess we won’t have to get quite as dirty as me and Ron did.”

“You won’t hear me complaining.” Daphne commented as the trio made their way down together. At the bottom of the darkness, they illuminated their wands before making their way down the only tunnel ahead of them.

When they passed the snakeskin sitting on the rocks less than twenty meters from where the cave-in happened, Daphne was brought up short. She gazed down the length of it before looking at Harry in awe, “Sorry… it’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s an entirely different thing to see it for yourself.”

“Just wait until you see the real thing. It’s not far now.” There was still a gap in the cave-in, more than big enough for the three of them to fit through. But he had a far better command of magic than when he was younger. Holding his wand steady, they all watched as the whole widened and the stone smoothed out until it was no different than the rest of the cave.

“How did that happen anyway?”

Harry snorted out a laugh, “Ron was trailing me as we came down the tunnel. He saw the skin back there well after I did. I probably should’ve warned him if I’m being honest…” He shook his head, “Anyway, he cast a spell at the thing thinking it was real. Couldn’t tell you what it was if I’m being honest, might’ve been on instinct, but even shed basilisk skin is magically resistant. It bounced right off and smacked into the ceiling of the cave. We were separated in seconds.”  

“Ah,” she furrowed her brow, “I still don’t understand why two second years were the only ones to come down here.”

“We were the only ones that knew where the entrance was hidden, Dumbledore was gone, and I wasn’t leaving Ginny down there any longer than I had to.” None of the professors had a clue, and they were far too preoccupied with gathering up students and informing parents of the school’s inevitable closure, “And I’m not always the best at thinking things through… I’m more of a man of action.”

Arms tighten around his waist and Ginny looking up at him adoringly. He just squeezed her back as Daphne pointed out, “You’d think that Lockhart would’ve been volunteering. It would’ve made for another book.”

“He was always far less impressive than I was expecting.” He was a fair teacher, but certainly nothing to write home about when considering his supposed exploits. And he was sorely outmatched by Snape in a duel.

Ginny and Daphne nodded their agreement as the latter added, “I know my mother thinks his stories are nothing more than pure fantasy… and not even particularly well written fantasy at that.”

They reached the door into the main chamber. The metal snakes engraved into a large stone face staring at them as they approached. He hissed once more, “Open.” The snakes hissed back as the stone split down the middle to reveal the Chamber.

Inside, the Chamber looked just as he remembered. Pillars flanked either side of the expansive room and at the end was a massive statue of Salazar Slytherin. The man must have had quite the ego. It was the same, from the flooding and rather precarious looking ceiling, right down to the hulking remains of the dead basilisk.

“Bloody hell…” Daphne’s voice was quiet, in complete awe as she looked around, “Hard to believe that its really… real. I mean, I always believed your story but seeing really is believing. No description can really do that,” she pointed at the basilisk, “justice.”  

“You should’ve seen it when it was moving.” The thing had barely decayed in the years since its death, and it didn’t even smell.

Harry stayed close to Ginny. She was quiet looking at everything around her while she pressed against his side. The last time he could ever remember her looking so vulnerable was when he walked out of there with her two years before.

“You alright?”

Her eyes seemed far away before they finally rested on him. Then she was very much herself again, “Yeah… I am. There are still nights, once in a blue moon, where I wake up to memories of this place, of things I did against my will.” She took a deep breath, “But seeing it again… it just reminds me that I survived it, and him. That I wasn’t weak.” Pushing up on her toes, she kissed him on the cheek, “Thanks for coming to save me.”

He beamed at her, “Anytime.” He placed a soft kiss to her forehead that left her blushing.

Daphne realized that they were having a moment, and waited until it had passed before she spoke up, “So… where exactly did the basilisk come from then?”

“The statue.”

“Think there might be anything else back there?”

“Honestly, I’m hoping there is.” It would be a boon if they were able to find another of Tom’s horcruxes, “Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the four.”

As the statue slid open to reveal a large opening, Daphne asked, “What did you just say? Sounded a bit more complicated than the others.”

“Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the four.” He had a hard time managing it with a straight face.

Both girls rolled their eyes at that, “Cor, the man really did have quite the ego didn’t he.”

They all nodded their agreement as they made their way into the tunnel. It was large, big enough for the basilisk to easily enter and exit. As they made their way down, torches alighted on the wall with green flame.

At the bottom was a large circular room thick with humid heat that made it feel as though you were breathing water. There was a depression in the middle where the giant snake once slept. On the far side of the room, there was a doorway.

The door opened without a spell or password. Seems the first three were enough. Inside was a cozy study with another room attached where there was a simple bed. Daphne made to take a step in, but Harry stopped her with a hand around her waist, “Wait.”

Holding his wand aloft, he tried to detect any nasty traps waiting for them. If there was a horcrux there, he expected it to be protected no differently than the ring at the Gaunt House. When nothing happened, he let her go, “Seems safe.” He tried not to sound disappointed, but didn’t really manage it.

The girls started looking around, but there wasn’t much to be found other than musty cobwebs and a few loose bits of ink-faded parchment with very little of import written on them. Ginny rifled through a few of them, “Shouldn’t be surprised that there’s nothing left. If there was anything of worth here, Tom certainly hoarded it for himself.”

“Dumbledore’s almost certain that Tom hid one of his horcruxes in the castle,” Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration, “I was sure that this was where he would’ve done it.”

Ginny rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, “There must be somewhere else that only he knows about, or at least that he thinks only he knows about. I’m sure you’ll find it eventually.”

“Hard to believe there’s anywhere in the school that you and Dumbledore don’t know about, though.” That really didn’t fill him with confidence, but she wasn’t quite done, “The only people who probably know it better are the house elves.”

The blonde squeaked as Harry picked her up and squeezed her tight, “Daphne… that’s absolutely brilliant!”

While she wasn’t complaining at the sudden surge of affection, she didn’t have the foggiest idea about what she’d done to earn it, “What is?”

He didn’t answer her conventionally instead he just called out, “Dobby?” There was a chance that the house elf would be unable to reach the Chamber, but that proved false when there was a soft pop.

“Master Harry Potter, sir…” Daphne hid her laugh behind a cough, “what are you doing in such a dark… horrible place?”

“Trying to find a place to practice dueling with the Headmaster…” He thought it was best not to tell the loyal elf about the horcruxes. He might get it in his head to try protecting me again.

“Oh, Dobby knows of far better places than this… Harry Potter should use the Come-and-Go Room.” He said it as though the answer to his problem was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I… have no idea what you’re talking about, Dobby.” Looking at the girls, it was clear that they were as befuddled as him.

“Dobby will show you.” He took his hand and in a moment, they were somewhere else entirely. Harry looked around as Ginny and Daphne popped in next to him. If he wasn’t mistaken, they were in the seventh floor corridor. Turning around, he was certain that’s where they were when he recognized the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy.

Daphne was focused on something else entirely though, “That was… so much better than apparition.”

“Right?” Harry couldn’t help but smile, “If Dobby can teach me how to do it, I want to learn.”

“It would be difficult, sir.” Dobby piped up from between them, “But it might be possible.”

“One of these days we’ll have to find out.” He glanced up to the blank wall in front of him, “Now, where’s this room that you were talking about?”

“Sir or his missuses only need to pace three times and think of what they need, and then the Come-and-Go Room will reveal itself.” Despite his skepticism, Harry trusted Dobby nearly as much as he trusted his girls, so he was willing to give it a shot.

Three times he paced in front of the wall with a singular thought in his mind. I need a place to duel Professor Dumbledore. When he came to stand in front of the blank stretch of wall again, an ornate metal door appeared.

Sharing a look with Daphne and Ginny, he opened it. Within was an impressively large room that looked extremely sturdy. As though the room had a sort of sentience and was aware of the sort of damage the two wizards would be capable of doing to it.

“Merlin and Morgana,” Ginny followed in next with Daphne right behind, “this is bloody amazing.”

“I can’t believe this has been here all this time and not a soul knew about it.”

“Oh, people know about it.” Dobby corrected her, “Though most only find it in a time of need. Then, they struggle to find it again after.”

“And is there any limit to what it can do, Dobby?”

“No, Miss Ginny, at least not as far as Dobby knows.”

“I’m sure it has to adhere to the basic laws of magic, but beyond that…” Ginny was clearly only half listening to Daphne as she started thinking. A few seconds later, another door appeared that she quickly hurried through and then reappeared ten seconds later.

“That’s just mad.” She opened the door again, just to make sure that she’d been seeing things correctly before finally turning back to them.

“What is it?” Daphne asked.

“My room. I mean, my room at the Burrow, exactly the way it looks. There’s even a view of the back garden.” The Slytherin didn’t look convinced and made her way over to check for herself.

Alone with Dobby, Harry found his mind wandering. The room was obviously well-hidden and difficult to come across. It seemed the perfect place to hide something. Focusing he filled his mind with one thought. I need to find what Tom Riddle hid.

The room lurched briefly, but it seemed as though it couldn’t change with them still within. Still, it was promising, and something he’d need to discuss with Dumbledore.  

As he waited for the girls to return, Harry couldn’t help his curiosity, “Dobby, if you knew about this room, why didn’t you just put Orina and Anya here when they arrived? It would’ve saved you a good deal of trouble.”

The house elf scuffed his feet against the floor and looked as though her were resisting old urges to scold himself, “Harry Potter already seemed quite fond of that room… and Dobby enjoyed getting to make it just theirs.”

Chuckling, he patted Dobby’s head, “I suppose I did spend some good times there, you’re not wrong.” And he’d made plenty more fond memories since.

The girls reappeared from the other door, and Daphne looked firmly impressed, “Alright, that decides it, this room is… incredible.”

Dobby surprised them all then, “It was designed by Miss Ravenclaw, and Dobby is to understand she was the brightest witch of her age.”

The three of them shared a look. They were probably the only students who could ever boast it, “We’ve been in two of the founder’s rooms in the same day.”

“We’ll need to tell Padma about this place.” Ginny pointed out.

“And Luna.” Daphne added.

“And Hermione too if we’re being honest.” Harry finished and they all shared a laugh.

“Do you think that the other founder’s have rooms of their own too?”

“They do.” Dobby was having himself a day as far as revelations were concerned, “They’re just not as hard to find, Miss Daffie.”

As the Slytherin contended with being called ‘Miss Daffie’, Ginny valiantly managed not to giggle and asked, “What are they?”

Dobby seemed genuinely excited to tell them, “The kitchens were designed by Miss Hufflepuff. And the Headmaster’s Office was designed by Mister Gryffindor.”

“Hmmm, I suppose that makes sense… at least the kitchens.” Ginny commented, “Fred and George told me the kitchens are right near the Hufflepuff Common Room.” While he never got a chance to visit them himself, he remembered Susan taking him near them before they… got distracted.

Taking that opportunity to recover, Daphne cut in, “Honestly, going to have to give the win to Rowena on this one as far as ‘most interesting room.’”

“I should pull that snake badge off your robes for even considering the thought.” Harry joked.

“Nope,” Daphne nudged his shoulder playfully, “Any sensible Slytherin would have the sense to admit that this beats a dank old chamber with a dead basilisk in it.”

“In all fairness, that last part is my fault.” He looked around the room one more time as they fell into a comfortable silence, and commented, “I should probably tell Dumbledore about this.”

“Definitely,” Ginny agreed, before saying with just a bit of guilt, “At least today wasn’t a total waste.”

He hugged her to his side and kissed the side of her head, “I could’ve found nothing, and it still would’ve been worth it.”

Daphne pressed into his other side, and he hugged her tight too, “Thanks for bringing me along. I’ll have to think of a good way to thank you both.” From the look she shared with the redhead, he was confident there were already plans in motion.

They thanked Dobby for his help before they left the Come-and-Go Room behind. After they left, they parted ways, Harry to Dumbledore’s Office and the girls to share the news with the others.