New Beginings

Chapter 6
" Oh man! Why didn't i think of that sooner?!" Harry said smacking his head. Hermione looked at him above her textbook. They were alone in the common room. It was two weeks after they went out with Remus.

" Harry?" she questioned slightly concerned.

" I have to go out 'Mione. Whatever you do don't let Draco know where I'm going. I don't want to get his hopes up in case I'm wrong." He said rushing to his room for his cloak and the Map which his aunt had given back to him now that she knew her way around the school.

" Harry how could I tell anyone where you are going when I don't ever know where you are going." Hermione demanded impatiently. Harry skidded to a stop before the common room door.

" I'm going to the Chamber of Secrets." he grinned. " I think that if there would be any mention of Salazr's illegitament daughter anywhere it would be there."

" Harry, Lucius didn't say anything about her being illegitament. Just that he had a daughter. With pureblood families it's usually the eldest son who is considered the heir and not a daughter. Besides I thought that the Chamber was just the sewer under the castle."

" Just call it a hunch. And yeah the sewer is the outer Chamber but what if there was an inner Chamber? It would be the perfect place for the old snake to hide things. " With that last thought Harry was out the door. He quickly slipped the cloak over him( which had gotten very difficult since he had gotten taller) and taped the map with his wand. " I solemnly swear I am up to no good." he whispered. The map slowly began to reveal Hogwarts to him. As he thought all the students were in bed and Filch and his damn cat were no where near by. Harry took the quickest root to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Quickly he slid the cloak off grateful that Myrtle wasn't around. Walking over to the taps he slid his fingers around one and hissed in Parseltongue " Open." Just as it had in Second year the Chamber slid open.

" Whoa." Harry spun around to find Hermione behind him wide eyed.

" Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry hissed. She continued to stare at the now open Chamber as she answered him.

" I followed you. I wanted to see what the Chamber was like. I didn't get to go last time and now I want to see what I missed out on."

" Not much." Harry mumbled then sighed. " All right. But you have to stay close. It's dangerous down th- Hermione!" he yelled as she jumped into the Chamber before he was done. Harry sighed again and jumped after her.

" Ewww! Why doesn't someone clan up down here?" she asked as se discovered the remains of rats and other sewer vermin.

" Maybe because aside from me and Voldy no one can get in here. And no one has been in here in over 1000 years. I don't think that even Moldy Voldy wandered down here when he was in school." Harry replied dryly. Hermione ignored him and with a wave of her wand vanished the remains. She then grabbed two sticks on the ground and lit them. She handed Harry his torch and motioned him to go ahead. They passed the old Basilisk skin and Hermione vanished that too. In fact she was a regular cleaning machine the whole way down the Chamber. 'Mrs. Weasley would be so proud.' Harry thought. Finally they reached the door to the outer Chamber and once again Harry spoke in Parseltongue. Hermione shivered.

" Harry don't do that!" she hissed. He turned to her to find her eyes closed and she was breathing heavily.

" Why not?" he asked puzzled.

" Because it's damn hot! An anyone with an ounce of hormones in their body would think so too." she snapped entering ahead of him once again. They walked down the long path that led to Salazar's giant head.(A/N: hehe ;))

" Man! I wonder if he was over compensating for something." a voice drawled from behind them. Harry spun around so fast that his robes billowed out like Snape's and he got a little dizzy. Standing there was Draco, Blaise, Professors Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore as well as Remus.

" What is this a frickginn party?!" Harry yelled. " How did all of you get here!?"

" Well Draco and I followed Hermione, who followed you, and we were followed by Lupin, Snape, and McGonagall, and well Dumbledore just sorta showed up." Blaise explained.

" And we followed them." said another voice.

" Hiya Harry!" Fred said as he and his twin appeared behind the others. Hermione snickered and turned to Harry.

" I guess the jig is up Harry. They found us." she giggled.

" This is all your fault." he growled. She gave him a look of total innocence and then walked up to Salazar's head and started to look around for a button or something that would open the inner Chamber. Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to stand in front of the mouth. " Open." he hissed at it. There was a collective shudder behind him by everyone except McGonagall and Dumbledore.

" Haaarrrrrry!" Draco whimpered a glazed look on his face. Harry ignored him and the others and splashed his way in to the inner Chamber and stopped dead when he got there. Someone crashed into his back.

" Potter! Next time-" Snape stopped mid-sentence when he saw what Harry had seen.

There, just beyond the water, was full living quarters that rivaled all of the Houses put together. It was the perfect mixture of comfort and elegance. The floor was hardwood and the walls of the fireplace were made of the palest pink brick that Harry had ever seen. The walls shimmered blue-green and looked like water flowed off of them. The ceiling was high and arched and a shade darker wood than the floor. Couches and armchair, in red and green, were scattered artfully around and made of the softest material any had ever felt. There was a kitchen off to the right, complete with an oak table and eight chairs, and a formal dinning-room beyond that. Off to the left were four additional rooms then when explored turned out to be three bedrooms, each with a bath, and an office/library.

" Wicked!" Fred and George said.

" You could totally live down here and no one would notice." Blaise said as he slowly turned in a circle. Harry agreed but what caught his eye was the portrait over the fireplace. It was set outside of Hogwarts. Two witches sat under a the very tree that Harry and his friends did on a nice day. One was sitting reading a book and her skirts spread out around her. The other sat on a bench sipping what looked like lemonade and looked towards the Black Lake where two handsome wizards were sitting at a table playing chess. One of the wizards, who looked a lot like Harry glanced over at the witches and saw the group standing outside the portrait and jumped up.

" Merlin's beard! We have company!" He said in a deep voice. The others turned and saw Harry standing with the others. The witch who had been sitting on the bench stood and smiled warmly.

" Welcome. And who might you all be?" she asked in a pleasant voice. No one answered her for a moment and then Harry spoke up.

" I'm Harry Potter." The four exchanged a look and the dark haired wizard spoke again.

" Harry Potter. Well it seems that my daughter married that Potter boy anyways."

" Ha! You ow me five Galleons!" Salazar said triumphantly. Godric rolled his eyes and tossed him the money.

" Who are the others with you Harry?" the witch who had been reading asked.

" Oh! Sorry. This is Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy,Blaise Zabini,Fred and George Weasley, Professors Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."

" Welcome all. I am Helga Hufflepuff and this is Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. And we are the Founders." Ravenclaw spoke next.

" It would seem that the four of you," she pointed to Harry, Draco, Blaise and Hermione, " are related to us."

" Well we all ready know that Harry is related to Gryffindor. Godric said so." Helga put in.

" Yes. Harry is his great-greart-greart grandson." Hermione said. Godric groaned.

" I feel so old! I mean look at me! I'm only 40!"

" It's been one thousand years since the four of you built Hogwarts." McGonagall spoke.

" Anyways we aren't sure about the rest of us though. We all have the same Animagus forms as you but that's about all we know. That and we know that I'm not the heir of Slytherin because Lord Voldemort is."

" Er.. well Draco we don't exactly know that you aren't related to him." Harry said. Draco arched a brow.

" Well it's true that Voldemort could open this Chamber and he could control the Basilisk but Slytherin had a daughter as well and you might be related to her."

" Impossible! My daughter's last name was Black. Not Malfoy." Salazar snipped.

" Then you are related to her on your mother's side Draco." Harry said softly.

" Boy! What is your mother's name?"

" Her name was Narcissa Black. And she became a Malfoy when she married my father. And your other jerk of a great-great grandson( A/N: remember Voldy is around his late sixties) murdered her." The Founders looked shocked.

" Perhaps I should explain." Dumbledore spoke. " Voldemort's true name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. His mother's last name was Gaunt. And Voldemort is currently the Dark Lord of the age. One whose kind of power hasn't been seen since the days of Merlin himself. Unless you count Harry of course." The twinkle was back.

" Harry, through Voldemort's fault solely is the only one who can destroy him." Harry sifted uncomfortably and stared at the ground while Dumbledore proceeded to tell the Founders all that had happened in the last sixteen years concerning Voldemort and the Horcruxes.

" He made six!? So the seventh is still in his body I presume?" Salazar asked.

" We believe so."

" Harry you have my permission to explore my personal library for anything that might help you. However many of the books are written in Parseltongue so you'll have to find someone to translate them for you." Harry smiled.

" It's okay sir. I speak Parseltongue. Voldemort transfered that power to me when he tried to kill me the first time. How many times has he tried to kill me anyways? I lost count."

" Well there was the time you were a year old." Fred said

" Then first year." George said ticking it off on his fingers.

" Second year and Fourth year, oh and almost forgot Fifth year." they said together. " So a total of five times. Man that must be embarrassing. Way to go Harry!" Harry smiled and the Founders looked a little shocked.

" Ahem." Hermione coughed in a perfect imitation of Umbridge that everyone turned to see if she was somehow there with them. " Could we ask them about the rest of us now?"

" Blaise is mine. He resembles my son very much." Helga said smiling at Blaise. Rowena eyed Hermione.

" What House are you in?" she demanded.

" Gryffindor but the Sorting Hat considered putting me into Ravenclaw."

" That means that your sense of courage was very strong. Hmm. Yes I do see the resemblance to my son in you but the name Granger doesn't ring a bell."

" That's because I'm Muggleborn." Hermione said to the floor. The Founders gasped. A Muggleborn the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw!

" So what? Hermione you are the smartest witch in the whole school!" Harry said glaring at the Founders.

" It's true Hermione. I haven't seen a witch as bright as you since Lily Potter was alive." Remus added.

" Don't go starting to think that you are unworthy of being related to Her!" Harry snapped jerking his head towards Rowena. " If they don't like it, well that's just too damn bad!"

" HARRY!" Draco cried in pain. He was on the floor holding his arms around his waist and he looked terrified as white magic sparked all around him and the others. Harry quickly called his magic back to him and calmed down.

" I'm sorry Draco." He said holding out his hand for the other. Draco nodded and took the hand.

" Remind me to not piss you off." He drawled and the others laughed.

" Great Uncle Merlin! You are strong!" Godric said and Harry groan.

" I'm related to Him too?! If the Prophet gets ahold of that I won't have a moment's peace for the rest of my life." The others laughed except Snape who only curled his lip in disgust. Ravenclaw cleared her throat.

" Hermione, there is no doubt in my mind that you are indeed related to me. I am sorry if I seemed rude before but I was taken by surprise. But that doesn't change the fact that I am honored to have you as my Great granddaughter. I am slightly disappointed that you aren't in my House but I am proud none the less."

" Personally I don't think the Sorting Hat is all that accurate anyways. It wanted to put me into Slytherin. I'm just glad that I talked it out of it." Harry mumbled.

" You talked the Sorting Hat out of something?" Slytherin exclaimed. " He really is your boy Godric." Godric beamed and Harry blushed.

" Well if that answers all the questions then I think that we should all head back. It is late and you six have classes tomorrow." Dumbledore said.

" Do come back and see us sometime. We are terribly lonely." Hufflepuff called as they left.

Over the next few weeks Harry made several trips back to the Chamber of Secrets sometimes he was joined by Draco and Hermione but mostly he went alone. He spent a good deal of time talking to the Founders and learning any spells that they could teach him. On one of the trips with Draco the young Slytherin heir went into the library and took out a few books on the Department of Mysteries and what was there. Harry never noticed nor did he notice that Draco, Hermione and Blaise seemed to be doing a lot of extra studding without him. After going into the Chamber the first time Harry and Hermione went back to the Gryffindor dorms and Draco and Blaise returned to Slytherin and Harry and Draco resumed their places as Captains and Seekers on their respective Quidditch teams. They continued their training together and Athena had returned to help them as well. All were improving immensely and far surpassing their teacher's goals for them. One day at breakfast, a few days before Halloween Dumbledore stood and made an announcement.

" I have decided that this year on Halloween we shall have a Masquerade ball. All years are welcome to attend as long as you come in costume. Also we will be having guests from Drumstrang, Beauxbatons and also from our sister school in Romania, Dragon's Lair Acadamy. Now I want all of you to make our guests feel welcome and show them what a wonderful school Hogwarts is. And now dig in."

Harry looked over at the Slytherin table to find that Draco and Blaise were looking at Harry and Hermione with worry. They knew what this meant. Ron would be coming back to visit. Harry noticed that Fred and George were only picking at their food and they looked tense. He looked up in time to see Draco jerk his head towards the door. Harry gave a slight nod and waited a few minuets after Blaise and Draco left before he and Hermione also rose from Gryffindor table and left the Great Hall. If he had looked up at the Staff table he would have noticed the dirty look that Snape was shooting at Dumbledore. They quickly made their way to their old common room where they found Draco and Blaise waiting. Hermione went to Blaise's outstretched arms and began to sob into his shirt. Meanwhile Harry sat down on the couch and Draco stood looking into the fireplace.

" It's not just Ron coming back that's got you so upset is it Harry?" he asked quietly.

" No." Harry replied without taking his eyes off the fire as Draco sat next to him.

" What is it Harry?"

" My parents died on Halloween." Hermione gasped and Draco and Blaise both swore. There was a knock on the door and Blaise opened it up to find Fred and George and surprisingly Professor Snape. The twins just flopped down in the armchairs while Snape stood at the door.

" Potter. A word." He said before exiting the common room once more. Harry shrugged and followed him out. Once the door swung shut Snape cast a Silencing spell and turned to Harry. " Potter I am well aware of what occurred sixteen years ago on Halloween and even though the Headmaster wishes you to attend I am giving you permission to ignore that wish. If you so wish you can go to a place where none can find you." With that he removed the charm and left. Harry stared after him for a minute before going back to the common room.

" Harry what did Snape want?" Fred demanded.

" He told me that Dumbledore wants me to go to the ball and Snape says that I don't have to and I could go to a place no one can find me."

" The Chamber of Secrets." Hermione guessed.

" Probably. Or the Shrieking Shack."

" Why would Snape say that?" George wanted to know. Harry shrugged.

" Probably because your mom was nice to him and it's his way of making up for being mean to her in school." Draco said. " What?"

" How do you know that?" Harry demanded.

" He told me once that she was nice to him when he didn't deserve it. Of course he was very drunk at the time and doesn't remember."

" Well Harry what will it be?" Blaise asked. " Should we got to the party or sneak in a few bottles of Firewiskey and hang out in the Chamber?" Harry smiled.

" I doubt that my parents would want me to wallow in misery. Plus I think that if we did hide out in the Chamber Godric would yell at us. Salazar might even kick us out."

" So we're going?"

" I am. You guys don't have to."

" Don't be stupid Harry if you're going so are we." Hermione snapped with a smile. Just then the bell rang to signal the end of breakfast. Hermione yipped and grabbed her bag and ran outta the common room. Harry and the others laughed and shook their heads. They made their way to Snape's classroom for double potions. Harry took his place in the back with Fred and George and Draco and Blaise sat with Hermione. Snape swept into the classroom.

" Silence. Today we will brewing Felix Felicis. As most of you are aware this is a highly complex potion that takes several weeks to brew and if not done properly can have dire side effects. Therefor you will be working in groups and each brewing a separate potion." The class liked this idea. Finally a potion they could have help on. " However, you will be graded both individually and as a group. If one of you fails miserably then your group grade will suffer. Now here are the groups." It turned out that Harry was grouped with Hermione and the others. Since Hermione, Draco, and Blaise sat in front of Harry and the twins they just pushed the tables together. Things went very smoothly for them because they had the Half-Blood Prince's input when it was needed.

" I'm surprised Snape let you keep that book Harry." George said as he stirred his potion clockwise and added a counterclockwise stir after every seventh clockwise stir.

" Yeah me too. But I'm even more surprised that he let the six of us work together." Harry said as he used his silver dagger to juice the ginger root. Everyone nodded and went to work on their own potions. When class was over all their potions were the correct shade of goldenrod and ready to sit for the next three weeks until they added the final ingredient at which time it should turn the color of liquid gold.

" Oh Harry!" Hermione suddenly squealed on the way to Charms.

" What?!" Harry asked drawing his wand.

" We have to go shopping on friday."

" What? Why?" he demanded putting away his wand.

" Well you need a costume for saturday and I think that you should spend the day at this great spa I know of. In fact I'm going to go ask Professor Dumbledore right now for permission." Draco and Blaise snickered. " What are you two laughing at? I'm going to have Pansy take both of you shopping and to a different spa." Harry laughed as they turned pale.

" Hermione be reasonable. Pansy will torture us until we collapse and then she'll give us a Pepper Upper potion and run us ragged." Blaise whined while Draco shuddered.

" No she won't. This is supposed to make you guys relax." With that she walked off in the direction of the Headmaster's office. Blaise tried to go after her but Harry held him back.

" Forget it mate. Once she sets her mind to it there's no talking her out of it." he said sadly. Hermione came into Charms ten minutes later with a note from Dumbledore and a wicked grin on her face. Harry, Draco and Blaise slid down in their seats while she sat next to Pansy. They sunk even lower when Pansy turned around and gave them all a smile that would make any cat proud and Draco whimpered again.

" Is there no way to get out of this?" Draco asked telepathically. Harry shook his head no. Draco groaned and Blaise put his head in his hands.

" Bugger." Harry mumbled putting his head on his arms on his desk.