Pippa flew low, weaving in amongst brambles and roots whilst Y/N, Ron, and Harry trudged along in her wake. The spiders kept trying to speed up or scuttle under fallen brush to get away from the metallic phoenix, but she flew around them persistently, refusing to let them out of her sight.

'Useful, isn't it?' said Ron as they almost lost the spiders under a nearby log before Pip gave out a metallic cry to show them where the spiders had gone.

'She,' said Y/N sternly. 'Her names Pippa, Pip for short.'

'It's a ring-' began Ron, but Harry elbowed him.

They followed Pip for roughly half an hour before another joined their little patrol. A low, almost growling was resonating through the forest, and it seemed to be getting louder. Fang heard it first and began growling and barking back, causing Y/N to stop and listen.

'Hold it,' he whispered to the other two. 'You hear that?'

They all stopped and strained their ears, it was hard to differentiate what was Fang and what was the distant entity but one thing was for certain, the distant one was getting louder and it was heading straight towards them, they could hear twigs snapping.

'Oh no,' said Ron as Harry and Y/N raised their wands. 'Oh no, oh no, oh-'

'Shut up,' hissed Harry. 'It'll hear you.'

'Hear me?' said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. 'It's already heard Fang!'

'Stupefy!' called Y/N, and his jet of red light spiralled off into the forest. The rumbling came to a sudden halt.

'Did you get it?' asked Harry.

'No chance,' said Y/N. 'Me being able to cast that spell doesn't stop me from being a second year, doubt it could even take down Fang.'

They waited in silence, listening carefully. The forest was unnaturally quiet, as though it was holding its breath.

'Do you reckon it's gone?' asked Ron.

'Pip, go-' but Y/N was cut off as a bright flash of light spread across their clearing. He shielded his eyes and staggered from the sudden light, but it didn't help. Ron and Harry had done the same and apparently it had made Fang jump so badly, he'd attempted to run and had gotten trapped in a tangle of thorns.

'Harry, Y/N!' shouted Ron. 'It's our car!'

'The bloody hell is it doing in here?' asked Y/N as he squinted at the blue Ford Anglia that had swerved into their clearing.

'It drove in here after we crashed it into the Whomping Willow,' said Ron brightly as he wandered over to the car. 'Blimey, it looks like it's gone wild.'

The cars doors were smeared with mud and covered in scratches from where it had travelled through the brush. Pip fluttered back over to Y/N and wrapped herself around his finger with another metallic cry before falling still.

Ron was examining the car and Harry was freeing Fang before glancing around the clearing.

'We've lost the trail,' said Harry. 'C'mon let's go and find them.'

'D'you know where they've gone, Pip?' Y/N asked the small item on his hand, but it simply gave another low cry. 'Well that's not promising, they can't have gone far-' but Y/N was cut off as something large and hairy grabbed him and lifted him bodily off the forest floor. He rose high into the trees attempting to kick at whatever was holding him as he heard Harry's yells from the floor below him.

His eyes fell on Ron who was still illuminated by the car's headlights, and the look on his face told Y/N all he needed to know. With a clicking noise, the creature holding Y/N began scuttling along the trees, heading deep into the very heart of the forest. He heard noises behind him indicating that both Ron and Fang had been grabbed, he couldn't hear Harry but figured he was most likely suffering the same fate.

Y/N was carried for what felt like hours, after a while he simply stopped struggling. This had been what they were after anyway and whilst it wasn't the way he'd wanted to get here, it was much quicker and easier. Soon, they broke into a large clearing and Y/N winced at the site below him.

Spiders. Not your normal house spiders. Spiders the size of horses surged over the clearing below them. The spider carrying Y/N made its way over to a gigantic web where it half dropped, half threw Y/N onto it. Y/N bounced slightly as he landed feeling the web under him, it was built like a houses foundation.

A moment later and Harry landed next to him, then Ron and finally Fang. Ron and Fang were both whimpering and Harry looked as though he wanted to throw up. Y/N withdrew his wand once again watching carefully.

The spider that had dropped Harry suddenly began speaking, a voice ringing out from in between menacing clicks and clacks of the chelicerae.

'Aragog! Aragog!'

From the centre of the web came crawling a spider that could rival a baby elephant, its legs curled around the web as it pulled itself into view. It had grey hairs in amongst the black and it's eyes were a pale, milky, grey.

'What is it?' he responded, his words were difficult to make out in amongst the noise of the other spiders in the clearing.

'Men!' called the spider who had spoken before.

'Is it Hagrid?' said Aragog, as he moved closer to the three boys and dog.

'Strangers!' called the spider that had caught Ron.

'Kill them, I was sleeping' called Aragog, but Y/N stepped forward.

'We came looking for you Aragog, we're friends of Hagrid. He sent us to you.'

The hollow was filled with the sound of angry pincers, clicking away, but Aragog paused.

'Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before,' he said slowly.

'That's because Hogwarts and Hagrid haven't been in this amount of danger before,' replied Y/N. Despite his want to get answers, he could feel his legs shaking. He knew he couldn't stop all these spiders. 'Not in fifty years!' he added.

Aragog turned slowly to face Y/N. 'Hagrid is in danger? Why has he sent you?'

'Because Hagrid has been taken away. They believe he has been setting a creature on the school!'

'That was years ago!' called Aragog. 'Years and years ago, the beast was sealed away after I had been blamed. They believed Hagrid had set me free to attack the school. However, I never harmed a soul out of respect for Hagrid.'

'They think he's done it again,' yelled Y/N. 'They think he's ordered the Basilisk to attack people!'

Aragog clicked angrily and the rest of the enclosure echoed it, Y/N knew he'd messed up.

'Do not speak that creatures name!' roared Aragog, looking in Y/N's direction.

'So that is what it is? It's not you?' said Y/N quickly.

'I? I was not born in the castle, my kind come from a far-off land, I was given to Hagrid as an egg. He cared for me and kept me hidden. Hagrid is a good friend and a good man. When I was blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here ever since, Hagrid still visits me, he even found me a wife. And you can see our family now.'

'The girl! Who was she?' called Y/N.

'I know not her name, only that she was found in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle other than the cupboard in which I grew up in. We like the cold and dark.'

'I want to kill it. The creature. I want it dead, help me!' said Y/N desperately, the clicking was getting louder and he knew the spiders were getting impatient.

'We will do nothing of the sort,' called Aragog. 'We fear it over all else, we will not go anywhere near it. Even now, we can feel its presence.'

'So you won't even fight it?' called Y/N, the heat rising to his face, his fists clenching. 'You'll just let it kill those in the castle?'

'The creature will do as it will, we will go nowhere close to it, humans in danger or not. The workings of that beast are not ours to control,' replied Aragog as he slunk back away into his hole, 'And nor are they yours. You shall die here. I won't deny my sons and daughters fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our home. Goodbye, friends of Hagrid.'

'Coward!' bellowed Y/N, raising his wand. 'Arania Exumai!'

It had been such a big target and yet somehow Y/N's spell spiralled straight between the legs of Aragog and crashed into a spider behind him. A dull hissing echoed through the clearing and the spider was flipped onto its back, it's legs curling. The clicking tripled in volume and the spiders surged forward.

'How dare you!' came Aragog's voice over all the others. Y/N span around and raised his wand. That snake had to die, and if these spiders were going to try and stop that. They'd have to die too.

'Arania-' but he was cut off as something long and sharp tore across his arm, ripping his robes. Y/N staggered clutching it, watching blood blossom from a wound as one of the spiders withdrew a spined leg. '-Exumai!' he finished, pointing his wand at the spider and again a hissing sound rang out as the spider was blasted backwards.

A loud noise like a siren blasted through the clearing. A bright flash of light appeared behind the spiders and many were sent scattering as Mr. Weasley's car came flying into the clearing. It slid straight down the net in front of them and came to a stop, its doors flying open.

'Get Fang!' bellowed Harry as he hopped into the passenger seat. Y/N took the driver and Ron yanked Fang into the back with him. Y/N had barely closed the door when the car span around and took off back out of the clearing and went careening through the trees. It clearly knew the path well.

Spiders leapt this way and that towards the car, but it barrelled straight through them as though they were just another branch and, before long, they were falling back as the car tore through the treeline.

Y/N and Harry span around to look at Ron, who had his mouth open in a kind of half scream.

'You good mate?' asked Y/N.

'You attacked that spider, you tried to kill that spider,' Ron said weakly.

'Oh yeah, next time, it can just eat us without a fight,' said Y/N. 'What else was I meant to do?'

'What was that thing you said that annoyed them?' asked Harry, leaning back into his seat. 'A basilisk?'

'It's a note I found in Hermione's hand in the Hospital Wing. I needed them to confirm it for me and they did, I'll explain properly once we've stopped. Ferula,' he added pointing his wand at the still lightly bleeding wound on his arm.

'You going to be okay?' asked Harry, looking worried.

'Yeah,' said Y/N, wincing slightly as the bandages wrapped tight around him. 'Acromantula aren't venomous from their legs. It's the fangs you need to watch out for. It's lucky Hagrid gave me that book for Christmas, being a nerd might have just saved my life. Can't say I was expecting the spines to be that strong though. I read that they were stronger than normal spiders, but that was like a saw.'

It took about ten minutes before they finally began to see patches of sky in amongst the trees. The trip to the web had taken much longer. Or at least it had felt like it did. Finally, the car came to a halt quite suddenly at the treeline.

Harry and Y/N staggered out, Y/N grabbed Fang whilst Harry grabbed Ron. Fang didn't need much convincing and the moment he saw Hagrid's hut, he sped off in that direction. Ron however had to be almost carried by the two boys back to the cabin. They arrived at the door, opened it, and let themselves inside.

Fang moved straight over to his bed and curled up, whimpering, and shaking. Y/N sat down next to him and stroked him gently whilst Harry tried to bring Ron back around. Finally, Ron's eyes focused and he looked around at both of them.

'Good, now that you're back with us,' said Y/N sitting down at Hagrid's table and pulling the page he'd found in Hermione's hand out of his pocket. He smoothed it out on the table and Harry and Ron read quickly. Harry's eyes lit up.

'This makes sense!' yelled Harry looking at Y/N. 'Everything adds up!'

'Most of it yeah,' said Y/N. 'There's just still one or two bits I'm unsure on with this-'

But he was cut off as Harry shook his head and began pointing to different sections.

'King of Serpents, I'm a Parselmouth, that's why I've been hearing it everywhere and you guys can't. Murderous stare, no one's looked straight at it. Spiders flee before it! The caw of the rooster is fatal to it!'

'How does the rooster part make sense?' asked Y/N. 'I've never seen any around.'

'Exactly!' said Harry. 'The day I found Justin and Nick, I ran into Hagrid and he told me about how his Roosters kept being killed. He thought it was foxes.'

'It was the heir!' yelled Y/N, jumping to his feet. 'They knew that roosters could kill it, so they killed the roosters!'

Harry was nodding excitedly, but Ron was still looking confused.

'How's no one seen it?' he asked, looking at the two boys.

'Colin was found with his camera, that's why it was fried. He saw the basilisk through that. It's also why I couldn't detect any magic from it. It's a natural ability,' said Y/N.

'Justin must have seen it through Nick, Nick got the full blast but he can hardly die again. And Hermione and that Ravenclaw girl were found with a mirror. Hermione had just figured out the monster was a basilisk. She must have told the first person she ran into, who took out her mirror and-' but Harry cut himself off, looking at Y/N who had a very solemn smile.

'She's a genius. Absolute genius,' he said distantly.

'And Mrs Norris?' asked Ron, who seemed keen to change the topic.

'The corridor we found her in was flooded,' said Y/N as he refocused. 'She must have seen the thing's reflection.'

'But how's the basilisk been getting around? People would have seen a giant snake,' he asked.

'Pipes,' said Harry before Y/N could speak. 'It's using the plumbing, that's why I've been hearing the voice everywhere. It was in the walls, and you remember what Aragog just said?'

''The girl was found in a bathroom',' said Y/N, catching on.

'You don't think-' began Ron, but Harry and Y/N interrupted him.

'Moaning Myrtle!'

The three boys snuck back up the common room that evening, feeling elated. Y/N knew what he had to do. Well most of it, they still weren't sure where the Chamber was, but they had everything else they needed to be able to stop the basilisk.

Y/N didn't know whether the other two were doing the same, but he lay awake for a long time mulling over where it could possibly be. Eventually he settled on simply asking Myrtle once he got the chance.

This proved difficult, however.

Around a week passed where Y/N kept trying to break away from the students and sneak towards the bathroom, even attempting to sneak out past Professor Snape once or twice during his trips to visit Hermione, but every time he almost got caught and instead returned to Hermione's bedside, promising her that he would stop the beast.

McGonagall had announced that the exams were fast approaching earlier that same week, but Y/N did not care. There were bigger concerns right now. He was just getting to the brink of making it another night-time excursion when he had a breakthrough.

A few days before their exams were due to start. Professor McGonagall got to her feet at the staff table and made an announcement that the Mandrakes had matured to the point of being able to be cut. That night they would be able to revive those petrified. Y/N's eyes connected with hers, she beamed and Y/N made up his mind.

'We have to find it, today,' he whispered to Ron and Harry. 'We can't let them wake back up to it still existing.'

'What exactly are we meant to do? We have no leads-' said Harry, but he was cut off as Ginny slunk into the seat next to Y/N, shaking from head to toe.

'Gin?' Y/N asked, turning to look at her. 'You okay?'

Ginny shook her head and took a deep shaky breath.

'I need to tell you something, something about-' she gestured vaguely towards McGonagall.

'Is it from the diary? About the Chamber?' asked Y/N and she nodded.

She took another deep breath-

-And Percy Weasley swept along the bench towards them.

'If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, only just come off patrol,' he said.

Ginny sprang to her feet and scurried away. Y/N threw Percy glare and chased after her, ignoring the cries from Harry and Ron. He ran into her in the Entrance Hall and grabbed her shoulder and she stopped dead still.

'Not this time Gin. You've been dodging me for weeks now. Tell me what's going on.'

'Get off me Y/N,' her voice was calm, unnaturally so. It unnerved him a little.

'Ginny, come on-'

'I said get off, L/N.'

Y/N withdrew his hand and drew his wand, pointing it at her. Fear bubbling up in his stomach. That hadn't been Ginny's voice.

'Who are you?' he spoke carefully, watching her for any reaction.

'You already know who I am, L/N,' spoke the high cold voice. 'Incarcerous!'

Ropes sprang up around Y/N and bound him on the spot.

'How do you-? I don't even know this spell,' Y/N snarled. Ginny began laughing, a high cold laugh that made Y/N's hair stand on end and sent his stomach plummeting.

Ginny turned to face him, however, the eyes he looked into. Weren't Ginny's. The slit like pupils gazed back looking murderous.

'Leave her alone,' Y/N snarled, fighting against his bonds but they were too strong. 'How are you even doing this? Didn't we deal with you last year?'

'Because she is weak,' said Lord Voldemort. 'She is weak and allowed herself to be controlled. So weak in fact that I am stronger than her, even in this form.'

'And what form would that be?' snapped Y/N.

'Unimportant,' replied Voldemort, twisting Ginny's face into a painful smile. 'You shall never see her again anyway. Goodbye L/N.'

He raised Ginny's wand and Y/N closed his eyes, but the spell never came. He opened one eye gingerly to see Ginny staring at him, her eyes were back to normal and swimming with tears, and her entire arm was shaking. She turned and began sprinting away up the marble staircase.

'Get back here!' snarled Y/N, fighting against his bindings. A moment later, he felt something slice through them as though an invisible sword had cut him free. He glanced around quickly and saw no one so instead gave chase up the marble staircase.

Corridor after corridor he sprinted down, searching every last corner he could, even going so far as to ignore the bell for lessons. He was about to sprint up to the Gryffindor common room when he realised he had another perfect opportunity.

'Myrtle first,' he muttered as he went sprinting off towards her bathroom. He turned down the corridor and began running up it towards the door to her bathroom before stopping dead.

The wall of this corridor still supported the writing from Halloween, but now another sentence was written below it in the same deep, red, glittering blood.

Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever

'Y/N, what on earth are you doing!' Professor McGonagall was striding up the corridor towards him. Y/N pointed wordlessly at the writing on the wall. Professor McGonagall read it and gasped clutching at her heart, and leaning against the wall for support.

'Ginny was acting weird at breakfast so I followed her, she ran off and-' he gestured vaguely at the wall again.

'So she-?' asked Minerva, looking at him and he nodded.

'I think so.'

'I must announce this,' said Professor McGonagall, straightening up and attempting to compose herself. 'Return to your common room at once, Y/N.'

'Yes Professor,' said Y/N turning back to read the writing as she bustled off. A few minutes later and he heard her voice throughout the