Sacrifice

This chapter is dedicated to the loving memory of my darling rabbit Cyanide
June 2007 - 14th June 2009
I mourn the fact your death was unexpected and sudden, but I rejoice in the fact that you didn't suffer longer than necessary. Thank you for being my best friend for the past two years, thank you for keeping me company on lonely days, and thank you for being a constant source of joy and the inspiration behind The Prince of Rabbits.
You will always have a place in my heart.

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With his rooms deemed no longer safe, Harry had moved into Severus' rooms upon his invitation. The teenager hadn't told the Potions Master or Dumbledore why his room had been broken into, but neither had they asked. They had no reason to believe that Harry would have any idea why someone would do such a thing after all, and Harry wasn't about to tell them to the contrary. So, it was relaxing in Professor Snape's rooms where a house-elf had found Harry and then proceeded to convey the message that Dumbledore wished to see him.

The teenager had initially seriously contemplated ignoring the summons and not going. The headmaster was not one of his favourite people at that moment after all and he found summoning the effort to see the old man was very difficult. However, his obedient nature got the better of him in the end and it wasn't long after he had been given the message that he had set off for the office. He hadn't known what to expect when he first left his rooms, but arriving and hearing the voice of Sirius yelling was not something he would've ever guessed.

Without bothering to knock, the teenager opened the door and entered, Sirius previously muffled voice suddenly becoming clearer and therefore understandable: "...Don't care if it's not what you want, I'm taking him back to my house where it's safe!"

While his godfather stood in front of the headmaster's desk and Remus stood just to the side, Dumbledore sat silently behind the piece of furniture, a tired expression on his face as he listened to the rant of the man standing in front of him. When he noticed Harry's presence, however, he visibly brightened and offered the boy a smile. "Ah, Harry," he greeted cheerfully. "You got my message without trouble then?"

"Mmhmm." Harry hummed with a nod of his head as he slowly made his way further into the room. He gave Remus a quick glance and then Sirius one before he returned his attention to Dumbledore. "So what's going on?" He asked carefully.

"You're coming home with me." Sirius immediately revealed, his tone strong but also rather desperate.

Harry's eyes widened a little but he made no comment.

"What Sirius means, Harry," Remus spoke up then, his voice completely opposite to Sirius'. "Is that he would feel more comfortable if you came to live with us at Grimmauld Place, just until the petrification situation has been cleared up."

"Although there's really no need, Hogwarts is still the safest place for you at the moment." Dumbledore revealed.

"How can you sit there and lie like that?" Sirius demanded heatedly. "Hogwarts isn't safe anymore! I can't make you send every student home, but I can pull myself and my godson out at least!"

"Sirius," Harry spoke up then, making sure to keep his voice gentle and keep out any anger or irritation. "I appreciate that you want to protect me, but I'm not running away."

"It wouldn't be running away..."

"Perhaps not in your eyes, but to me that's exactly what I'd be doing. I'm too involved in all of this, I can't walk away now."

"But it's not safe here!" Sirius protested, now sounding rather weak and pathetic if the truth be told, as he all but collapsed into one of the chairs opposite Dumbledore's desk. "You'd be safe at my house, it's better protected, there isn't anything there that can hurt you!"

Harry gave a light sigh then and had to make a conscious effort not to rub his temples. Instead, he occupied his hands as he walked over to Sirius and hugged him from behind, looping his arms around the man's neck. Sirius was understandably stunned and he just sat there, a look of pure disbelief on his face.

"Thank you for worrying about me," the teenager murmured as he brought his head so he could press his own cheek to one of his godfather's. "But I'm not so easy to hurt. So please, try not to be so scared for me and concentrate on the good things you have. I'll still be here when you're tired of having fun."

Everyone was still and silent for several moments after Harry had finished speaking. Then, Harry broke that spell as he gently released his godfather, slowly trailing his arms from around the man's neck rather than removing them completely in one go. He gave Sirius' shoulders a quick squeeze and a kiss on the head before he stepped back and gave Remus a slight nod. That wordless signal prompted him to step towards his childhood friend and repeat Harry's action of squeezing his shoulders.

"C'mon Sirius, let's get you back to your rooms." Remus encouraged gently.

"But the school, and Harry..." Sirius tried to protest.

"Are both perfectly safe." Remus reassured his friend calmly even as Sirius began to stand up. "And if anything does go wrong, you'll be here to protect Harry, won't you?"

Sirius didn't answer that and instead allowed himself to be gently guided out of the room. Harry and Professor Dumbledore watched the two men leave in silence and it's only when the door had shut behind them that the two remaining males turned to face each other again.

"That was very well done, my dear boy." Dumbledore congratulated gently. "I'm sure anyone else your age wouldn't have the understanding or the maturity to not lose their temper in such a situation."

"I know he can't help it, Azkaban ruined him. I sometimes think he's not completely sane." Harry murmured sadly.

A short silence lingered then, neither male having anything to say and unable to shake away the sad thought that a once bright and intelligent man had been ruined because of a conviction he hadn't even deserved. Harry, however, eventually realised that it was the perfect time for him to ask Dumbledore something that had been niggling him ever since he had seen the vision the book had sent him. He had a suspicion and he didn't know any other way to have it confirmed or dispproved other than to ask the old wizard in front of him.

"Can I ask you a question, Headmaster?"

"Of course, dear boy."

"Did Voldemort have a name before he was known as Voldemort?"

If Dumbledore knew why Harry was asking such a question, he made no sign of it being the case and instead answered the question without quarrel or pause; "Tom Riddle."

It wasn't unexpected yet confirmation of what he had suspected still sent a chill running through Harry. So he had the diary of Voldemort before he became Voldemort? Harry couldn't imagine that the man had turned evil over night, he must have always been a bad seed, and that made the teenager very reluctant to trust what he had been shown and so suddenly he was even more doubtful that any creature associated with Hagrid was to blame for all of the trouble the school had been plagued with. It also meant that Harry was more or less in complete agreement with Hermione's theory; they were dealing with a basilisk.

"Thank you, Headmaster." Harry murmured quietly from where he still stood by the door.

"You're welcome." The old wizard assured, sounding much more like he had an idea of what the teenager was thinking now.

Harry gave Dumbledore a slight nod before he left the office without further word. Once outside with the door closed behind himself, he paused and thought carefully. There was still the question of where the basilisk had come from and where it went when it wasn't petrifying people. Of course, it was most likely the Chamber of Secrets, but that still left the mystery of where the chamber was as not even the professors seemed to know.

Then, however, a stroke of pure genius swept through the teenager and his eyes widened in realisation. A student had been killed the last time the basilisk had been set loose, right? He had been shown that in the vision from the diary as well from his own searchings so that had to be true. So, which was the only ghost of a student that Harry knew of?

Harry barely needed to think twice and within a second he had broken into an astonishingly fast run away from the headmaster's office. He kept up his pace all the way to his destination, even when he encountered stairs. Soon, he had reached exactly where he needed to be; the little-used girls' bathroom.

"Myrtle?" Harry called breathlessly into the bathroom as he entered it, coming to an abrupt stop rather than a gradual one. "Myrtle, are you here?"

"Hello Harry," the ghost's voice answered from behind and the boy turned around abruptly, slightly startled to find the misty figure standing directly behind him. "Come to keep me company?

"Um, yeah, sort of." He replied carefully. "Myrtle, I was hoping you wouldn't mind telling me, how did you die?"

"Oh it was awful." Myrtle murmured in an overly mournful manner. "I was in here, crying of course, when I heard a boy's voice hissing. I came out of the cubicle to tell him to go away and then...I died. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away...And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Oliver Hornby, you see."

"But how did you die, exactly? Who killed you?"

"I don't know, I didn't see them." She replied, sounding rather defensive over that. "All I remember is seeing a pair of bright yellow eyes, over there, by that sink."

Harry glanced over to the sinks in question and very carefully approached them. There was nothing obviously strange about any one of them so he leaned in closer to get a better look. Doing that led to him noticing that the taps to one of the sinks was more ornate than the others, carved into a detailed model of a snake. It couldn't have been a coincidence.

Common sense prompted the teenager to attempt saying "open" in Parseltongue (he wanted the entrance to open after all) but he was still startled when it actually worked. As the sound of moving stone began togrind around him, Harry staggered back a few paces and watched with wide eyes as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was revealed. Only when everything had stopped moving and everything was quiet again did Harry approach the gaping hole that seemed to lead to nothing but darkness.

"What the bloody hell!"

Harry started at the sudden voice and whipped around to see that Ron had entered the bathroom at some point and was now standing, gaping, at the entrance into the chamber. The dark haired boy fought the desire to give a frustrated groan; persuading Ron not to tag along was a delay he really didn't need. It was apparently one that he wasn't going to be able to escape though and so he prepared himself to play the understanding but firm, more mature person.

"Ron..." He began patiently.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" The red-head demanded, pointing at the entrance with an accusing finger.

"It's nothing." Harry said, cringing a little even as he spoke; could he have said anything more blatantly untrue?

"How can you call that nothing!" Ron cried in disbelief.

"I mean, it's nothing you have to be concerned about." The dark haired boy ammended quickly. "So just go back to your dorm, yeah? Didn't I hear that students aren't allowed outside their dorms without a professor now?"

The Gryffindor stared at the slighter teenager for a long moment before his expression turned horrified and the accusing finger turned to point to him. "You're going down there!" He all but shrieked. "Are you mad?"

"Ron, stop yelling." Harry scolded quickly, a little paranoid that something or someone would over-hear them. "I have to go down there, the thing that hurt Hermione and my Alpha and all the other students is down there."

"If that's true then I'm coming with you." Ron predictably insisted.

"Ron, no."

"You can't stop me!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"All the more reason for me to come with you!"

Harry was about to yell back when movement behind Ron caught his attention. He stopped completely as his gaze moved over his friend's shoulder to the form of the ginger haired female teenager who had bumped into him the day he had found his rooms trashed. There was something definitely wrong with her however. Not only was her stance very stiff and unnatural, her eyes were very dark and her gaze was blank. Harry was by no means an expert in magic but he was almost certain that the girl in front of him wasn't in complete control of herself.

"Ron," Harry said carefully, interrupting the rant the larger boy had been continuing on with.

Whether it was Harry's tone or the expression on his face, Ron immediately paused and frowned. Then, no doubt following the other teenager's gaze, he turned around to face their new company. His eyes widened in both surprise and recognition. "Gin..." He murmured.

No sooner had Ron spoken than his sister had raised her wand and pointed it straight at him. "Petrificis Totalis." She said in a tuneless, unemotional voice.

Harry didn't know what the words meant but he could tell it was a spell and he could tell when it hit Ron as the boy seized up stiffly and fell to the ground. The dark haired teenager's eyes widened slightly before his gaze shifted onto the girl who now had her wand trained on him. He swore under his breath as he made a dive for the only escape option he had available; the entrance into the Chamber of Secrets. It wasn't the safest of escape routes, but it got him out of immediate danger even if it led to later danger. And so it was head first he fell into the darkness, sliding down on his stomach into who could tell what.

In the end, "what" turned out to be a disgusting carpet of old bones that Harry unforunately landed head-first in. It was a very uncomfortable landing that bruised more than a few places on the teenager's body but he allowed himself no time to recover, too eager to get away from the creepy and disgustng bones. No sooner was he back on his feet as well that he heard the sound of something sliding down the same slope he had just been spat from. Cursing under his breath, Harry staggered over the bones, wincing as a few particularly pointy ones dug into his bare feet, in an attempt to find somewhere where he could hide. He knew he wasn't going to be able to attack the girl head on because she had a wand so he needed somewhere to hide until she passed him by so he could strike from either the side or, idealy, behind.

With nowhere immediately obvious, Harry started down a random tunnel in the hopes it would lead to somewhere he would be able to hide. As his own bare feet padded on the damp stone floor, the sound of shoed feet clicked not far behind him. It meant that Ron's sister was in hot pursuit. Harry desperately wanted to glance over his shoulder to see how close the girl may or may not have been but he dared not spare the time. Even being slowed down marginally could spell disaster for him after all.

After a couple of minutes of running, the tunnel opened out into a larger, cave-like area. Stalagmites and stalagtites rose from the ground and hung from the ceiling and the odd sound of falling grit occassionally came, not doing anything for Harry's trust in how sturdy the ceiling or the cave's very structure was. Then, right in front of him, laid out across the ground, was what he immediately recognised as being a snake skin; a really long, really wide, really thick snake skin. If the shed skin was an accurate reflection on how big the basilisk was, then it was a much larger monster than Harry had previously imagined and he felt his confidence start to ebb away. How was he going to handle a creature that large?

He suddenly found he couldn't afford to think of that when he came across a door that he couldn't open. After quite a bit of swearing and a lot of pulling and pushing, common sense caught up with the teenager and he tried commanding the door to open in Parseltongue. Sure enough, it opened. Unfortunately, the time he had taken to get that far and allowed his pursuer to almost completely catch up. Harry flinched when a shot of red light hit the wall beside him and he squeezed himself through the opening doorway the moment he could. He was about to run away again when he stopped as something sudenly occured to him. Thinking fast, he pressed himself against the wall beside the door, waiting to ambush.

When his pursuer ran through the open doorway, Harry reacted in an instant. He leapt at her with the intention of tackling her to the ground. She had an amazing balance however and he failed to topple her. Instead, the best Harry managed was to make her stumble and therefore give him time to grab the wrist of the hand that held her wand so he could try and wrestle it from her grip. She immediately started to struggle against him and it rapidly came down to a question of who would tire first.

"Gin, snap out of it!" Harry called loudly, using the name he had heard her brother use (he knew no other after all).

The girl gave no sign she had even heard the call and continued to struggle.

Harry winced as he got a stray elbow in his ribs but successfully managed to not let it affect him. He moved his left hand to try and get a better grip on the girl and as he did so, he caught sight of something in her left hand, the hand that didn't hold her wand. In that hand was a small, leather-bound book and although he had just caught a glimpse, Harry was certain that he had seen golden letters spelling out T. M. Riddle. His eyes widened as the thought that it could very well be the book that was controlling the girl and he acted on that hunch immediately, wreching it free from her hand and throwing it off to the side.

As the light thump of the book hitting the stone ground came, the ginger haired girl gave a light groan as her eyes slid shut and she tipped forward. Harry's reaction was quick and he managed to deftly catch her, saving her from hitting the ground too roughly. He gently lowered her until she was laying on the floor harmlessly, either unconcscious or just asleep. Just to be sure though, the dark haired boy took her wand and put it in the pocket of his robe. Then he collapsed into a sit with a relieved puff; that wasn't something he wanted to try again.

Lingering minutes passed then as Harry simply concentrated on recovering and giving himself time to calm down. After all, what else had he to do? He didn't know how to get out of the chamber and he couldn't just leave Ron's sister laying alone. He had to at least wait for her to wake up, and until she did he might as well relax a little.

Unfortunately, he found that he wasn't going to be allowed to rest for exactly as long as he wanted. After only a few minutes, the sound of a rough surface grinding over stone reached his ears. It was a familiar sound, too familiar, and when he heard a hissing voice murmuring to itself about intruders, he knew that he and the unconscious girl beside him were not the only ones who were down in the chamber.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Harry murmured to himself as he quickly got to his feet.

Tense seconds passed then as the teenager looked around himself frantically, trying to see everywhere at once so that he couldn't be caught unaware. It was a tactic that actually paid off and before too long he caught sight of what he had been dreading; the form of the giant snake that had been petrifying the students. Immediately, Harry screwed his eyes shut tightly; it put him at a disadvantage but it was better than getting petrified or killed. He had no plan, no plan at all, other than to avoid the basilisk. So, when he thought it sounded as though the giant snake was almost right beside him, he did what felt most natural; he ran.

Unfortunately, as common sense would have told him had he taken a moment to think, the impact of his feet on the ground was more than enough to let the basilisk know exactly where Harry was going. Each foot-fall sent out a vibration and even as the teenager ran to escape, the monster was getting ever closer to him. As Harry wasn't even thinking about that however, he was more than slightly shocked when the grating sound became so much louder and the presence of something very large passing too close in front of him was felt. He froze immediately before collapsing onto the ground on his knees, his head bowed and then covered by his hands. The sound of the basilisk swirving towards the human was heard and then the loud hiss that was a warning before a strike...

"Don't!" Harry yelled as a last ditch attempt to save himself.

Shockingly, the basilisk did stop. It froze mid-strike, leaving Harry kneeling where he was with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands held tightly over his head. They both seemed to stay in their frozen positions for an eternity before it was the basilisk that moved forward. Harry winced as it got dangeorusly close to him and he felt the flickering of its tongue as it darted out to taste his scent. He barely dared to breath let alone move.

"What did you sssay?" The basilisk hissed eventually, its voice deep and hard and completely intimidating.

"Pleassse don't kill me." Harry said again, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"You ssspeak? Are you thhhe new heir?"

Harry hesitated then. "I, um..." He murmured, not sure whether to take a chance and lie.

Before he could say anything further, a new sound caught the attention of both Harry and the basilisk. It sounded like a bird call to the teenager, though he knew that was ridiculous; how could there be birds underground?

"What wasss thhhat?" The basilisk hissed, sounding rather suspicious.

Harry really couldn't answer as he was nonethewiser. Also there was the fact he wasn't going to open his eyes for anything.

Another bird call came then mere seconds before there was a roar of pain from the basilisk. Harry felt the gush of wind created as the creature's head whipped back very quickly and it only made him screw his eyes shut tighter and cringe away.

"Cursssesss! You tricked me!" The basilisk yelled furiously.

As quickly as he could, though still being very careful, Harry cracked open just one eye and looked up at what was happening above him. To his great relief, he saw that the headmaster's phoenix had arrived and was in the process of scratching out the basilisk's eyes. The teenager couldn't help but grin in absolute joy; now he didn't have to worry about dying, he might actually be able to do something.

Harry scrambled onto his feet just as the phoenix considered its job done and flew away from the monster's thrashing head. The teenager acted without even thinking when he noticed a near-by chunk of sharp-looking stone. He grabbed the stone and charged at the monster, running around behind it to start running up its body. A combination of his speed, the angle of the basilisk's body and sheer dumb luck allowed Harry to run all the way up to the giant snake's head. There, he rammed the sharp rock as hard as he could into the snake's head...

Only for the blow to ricochette off harmlessly and for the sharp bit of the rock to snap off and hit Harry's left forearm, the speed in which it was travelling being enough to embed it quite deeply into his flesh. The teenager's eyes widened in horrorfied surprise but he had no chance to do anything else before the basilisk gave a sharp flick of his head which flung Harry off to the side. He shut his eyes in anticipation of hitting something very hard but no pain came. In fact, he felt himself stop in mid-air completely. He didn't open his eyes, he dreaded what he might see to too great an extent. Instead he just remained in the exact same position he had stopped in and just hoped that it didn't mean he was dead or something.

When he felt his body begin to drop slowly, he flinched by instinct. His eyes screwed shut tighter and he moved his hands to fist over his cheeks to protect them. When he lightly touched down on solid ground, he still refrained from moving right up until he felt a hand land on his shoulders. Only then did he turn his head and crack an eye open enough to see who the hand belonged to.

"Severus!" He gasped in both shock and relief.

A glance over to the basilisk proved that Professor Dumbledore was also down in the chamber and was busy trying everything he could to subdue the wounded beast. Harry watched the frightening sight for a lingering moment as he was helped up onto his feet. Then, he turned to Severus and all but gaped at him.

"What on earth are you doing down here?"

"I could very well ask the same thing of you, you idiotic boy." Severus hissed angrily. "Did you even think before you came charging down here? What if the headmaster's phoenix hadn't got here when it did, hmm? What would have become of you then?"

Harry opened his mouth to defend himself but a great crash from the side had his attention immediately. He winced slightly at the sight of large fragments of broken stone falling towards Dumbledore; obviously the basilisk's head had collided with something and broken off the massive chunks. The headmaster remained impressively calm and simply cast some sort of spell that stopped the decent of the rocks and then threw them harmlessly off to the side.

"Is he going to be all right doing all of that on his own?" Harry asked with a concerned frown.

"If anyone can kill a basilisk with magic, it will be the headmaster." Severus sighed in reply but didn't sound the least bit confident. "Physical attacks would be almost useless considering the defensive quality of the basilisk's scales, as you've already discovered. Unfortunately, magical attacks are little better."

"Isn't there a way to attack it from the inside? You know, where the scales aren't an issue."

The Potions Master gave Harry a brief look before sighing and producing something from inside his robes. It appeared at first to be nothing more than a mass of old, grey material. However, upon it being handed to Harry and upon the teenager shaking it out, he could see what the material had been manipulated into.

"It's a hat." Harry said a little slowly.

"Yes." Severus confirmed.

"Is the hat going to help us?"

"If you're anything like your father, then yes." The adult sighed somewhat reluctantly. "Put your hand inside it."

Harry frowned a little at that but nevertheless did as he was instructed. He was more than slightly surprised when he felt something long and metallic inside the hat and he was completely shocked when he threw the hat to one side and he was left with a sword in his hands. The teenager stared at it dumbly for several seconds before turning his confused gaze onto Severus.

"How...?" Harry tried, trailing off when he realised he had no idea how to phrase the question he wanted to ask.

"Gryffindor's sword," Severus said, his tone full of distaste. "Only a true Gryffindor could pull it out."

"I'm not a student though, let alone a Gryffindor." The teenager tried to protest.

"You're one at heart though. I should have known really; you're too reckless and stupid to belong to any other house."

"Oi!"

Severus raised an eyebrow at that protest. "You take offense when it's because of your recklessness and stupidity that we are in our current situation?"

"You don't have to say it so meanly." Harry grumbled before looking to the sword in his hand. "But since it is my fault, I'll be the one to fix it." He assured, breaking into a sudden sprint.

"Harry, no!" Severus tried, reaching out to grab him but ending up grabbing at thin air.

"Oi, over here!" Harry yelled in Parseltongue as he ran off to the side, safely away from the two adults. "I'm thhhe one you want, aren't I? Come over here and get me!"

The snake, indeed, was obviously intent on killing Harry rather than either Severus or Dumbledore (who was still actively attacking it) as it didn't hesitate to strike at him as soon as he heard the teenager's voice. Harry only just managed to escape the initial lurch, coming dangerously close to getting eaten. After that, he felt more prepared as he planted his feet firmly and held the sword ready to strike.

It was going to be close, too close for comfort really. The timing had to be perfect. Too soon and he'd miss his chance to strike. Too late and he'd most likely be bitten in half. There was no margine for error. He had to do it right and he had to do it first time.

When it happened, time almost seemed to slow down for Harry. Each crutial move from both himself and the basilisk was like slow-motion. He saw the tip of one of the monster's fangs only just miss his arm and it was then the teenager attacked. Tightening his grip on the sword's hilt, he thrust the blade upwards so that it pierced the roof of the basilisk's mouth. A hidious hissed shriek came from the creature and Harry quickly let go of the sword as the basilisk threw its head back, the blade still lodged in its mouth.

Harry ran back over to Severus and Dumbledore as quickly as possible to avoid getting squashed as the basilisk continued to writhe in agony. Unfortunately, as its life began to leave it, it decided it was going to fall towards them and all three males had to quickly dive out of the way in order to escape being crushed, Harry and Severus clinging to each other as they did. As they slid along the ground, they felt it shake beneath them as the basilisk finally collapsed, dead.

Once their momentum had stopped and they came to a halt, the three wizards simply lay there for a little while, trying to recover from the mortal danger they had faced but a mere minute before. Slowly, it was Dumbledore who sat up first, eventually followed by Severus. Harry remained laying on the floor, not really wanting to address the issue he knew he had to. Indeed, just glancing up at the two adults told him that he was about to get a severe telling off. He gulped a little and couldn't help but think to himself that he wished the basilisk was still alive to occupy their attention.

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In loving memory of Cyanide.
Wings of a Dream