Almost all of Gryffindor house was in shock. They couldn't believe that Harry Potter, the youngest seeker in a century, was refusing to play Quidditch. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses were equally shocked. But Slytherin house was celebrating as they felt that they would win the house cup this year.
During the next week many asked the question 'why' and the only explanation they received was that Harry had other 'priorities' now. Too many students thought that this meant his Head Boy duties as he seemed to embrace them fully. Every patrol he went on, he found all that were hiding or up to mischief, stopping anyone before things got out of hand. Very few challenged him and those that did lost points, and in most cases ended up in the hospital wing. Only Hermione knew that he used the map on patrol.
As for Harry, himself, he did what homework he needed to and spent the rest of his free time with Michael, who was cutting his first tooth, and reading more of the journals. He was to the point in Slytherin's journal where the traitor had met Eleanor Malfoy for the first time. Six whole pages were devoted to her and how she looked at her wedding. The man had been obsessed.
The Saturday following the Quidditch tryouts had Harry leading Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ernie McMillan into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and into the Chamber of Secrets. Thanks to a very descriptive section in the journal, Harry now knew that there were more rooms down in the Chamber than he thought. After all Eleanor and Slytherin had their trysts down there for almost two years. Since the woman meant everything to him, Harry had already figured that there had to be some sort of living quarters down there. The only thing that Harry didn't know was if Voldemort had found them or not. Plus Harry wanted to harvest some of the basilisk for potion ingredients, and needed help with that.
The smell at the end of the slide was strong enough to knock out Hagrid or Grawp. Everyone preformed a Bubble Head Charm on themselves just so they could have fresh air until Hermione did an Air Cleansing Charm that made everywhere smell like forest. Harry led them through the tunnel to the snake lock and hissed 'open' at it. Once the door opened, all could see the giant face of Salazar Slytherin and the huge basilisk carcass lying below it. Harry turned towards the others and saw their looks of shock.
"Harry, is that the basilisk you killed" asked Hermione, whispering her question. Harry nodded. Everyone simply shuttered. "You killed that with only a sword?"
"Um…. yeah."
Four sets of eyes went from the snake to Harry and back to the snake again, as if each one of them was trying to figure out how a twelve year old boy could kill a huge basilisk with only a sword. It was the stuff that legends were made of. Harry simply sighed.
"Neville? Will you, Luna, and Ernie start rendering the basilisk while Hermione and I check the rest of the chamber? Try and get as much as you can. We'll split the ingredients up five ways."
The questions seemed to bring the rest of the group back to reality and they split up as Harry suggested.
"Sure Harry," answered Neville, as he led the other two over to the basilisk.
Harry led Hermione through the statue's mouth and into a circular room, inside the statue. Three doors led off the room along with a tunnel, which Harry assumed the basilisk had used to travel back and forth within the chamber. Harry tried the first door and found Slytherin's other study. Hermione took the next door and found a bedroom that had a feminine touch to it. She stepped into the room and saw a massive wardrobe next to the door. Opening it up she found several gowns inside. Perplexed she continued going around the room finding more womanly things, making her wonder about Slytherin's sexual orientation. A vanity, neatly arranged stood opposite the wardrobe. It had a couple of vases on it, filled with dead flowers. She went to the bed and pulled back the curtains, revealing a skeleton lying there, dressed in a faded gown, with long blond hair coming from the skull. A scream erupted from her.
Harry had started packing up the books in the study when he heard Hermione scream. Not knowing if another basilisk was around or not, he went into the room where Hermione was, wand drawn, ready for battle. He saw Hermione pointing to the bed with a shaky finger. Harry looked to where she was pointing at and saw the skeleton. He realized who it was and quickly led Hermione from the room into the study. He held her until she calmed down.
"That wasn't Slytherin was it?"
"No."
"I wonder who it was."
Harry sighed. He knew who it probably was. "I would guess that she was Gryffindor's wife."
Hermione simply stared at him. "How in the world did you come to the conclusion?"
Harry sighed again. Hermione was staring at him so intently that he had to answer. "Research."
"Research? What kind of research have you been doing?"
"The kind that will help me understand Voldemort and how to defeat him. Now can we finish in here?"
Wordlessly Hermione started helping Harry pack up the room, all the while thinking of how Harry knew who the skeleton was. She had never run across any book that talked about the Founder's spouses, not even in Hogwarts A History. This was a mystery that she intended to solve.
With the two of them working, the room was packed up in no time at all. They left it and continued on to the third door. Inside it seemed to be a storage room full of what mostly looked like furniture. Harry quickly shrunk the entire room and sent it to Dobby to store in Grimmauld Place. They then followed the tunnel to its end and discovered that the outside entrance was covered with a waterfall, that both Harry and Hermione felt was in the Forbidden Forest. Harry placed several wards and warning charms on the entrance in the off chance that Voldemort would use it to gain access to the school.
Returning to the main chamber, Harry and Hermione finished helping with the basilisk. And after a few hours they all returned to the main part of the school, each carrying several vials of basilisk parts.
In another part of the castle, members of the Order of the Phoenix were gathering in the Headmistress' office. All there knew that Dumbledore was still alive and that Harry now knew of the deception. Those that were effected by the payments of money had already been informed of its now withdrawal, although Dumbledore assured them that it was only temporary. This meeting was to discuss Harry's new behavior, which is why Ron and Ginny were there. Both reported that Harry seemed distant towards them and also very angry. Ron also mentioned about Harry's refusal to play Quidditch. Ginny said that Harry practically ran away from her when ever he saw her. No one could explain Harry's change of attitude. Mrs. Weasley seemed miffed that Harry had refused to come to his birthday tea, and mentioned that he has spent the day with his family. That made no sense to anyone. The meeting broke up with the agreement to observe Harry and gather any information on what might have caused the change.
As Ginny was getting ready to leave, Professor Snape stopped her and handed her a vial of potion, giving her specific instructions on what to do with it.