The legend of the Chamber of Secrets had existed for a thousand years. Generations of Hogwarts headmasters had searched for it many times, yet none had ever found Salazar Slytherin's hidden chamber.
The Chamber became a vanished legend—nothing more than a myth.
Until 1992, when the Chamber was opened once again, and people finally realized that it wasn't just a legend, but something real. No one could have imagined that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was hidden right inside the girls' bathroom—beneath the sink.
Headmaster Dumbledore was the first to enter the passage, and Eda followed right after him.
The dark, slimy chute sent Eda sliding downward; it felt a bit like riding a water park slide, except this one was narrow, oppressive—and filthy.
There were many branching pipes beneath the sink, extending in all directions. These must have been part of the school's underground drainage system. But none of the branching pipes were as large as this one, and Eda's heart sank a little. The basilisk must be enormous.
The pipe twisted and turned, winding steeply downward. Eda had no idea how long she had been sliding before the tunnel finally leveled out—and she shot out of the pipe's mouth.
While still in midair, Eda used her magic to adjust her posture, preventing herself from smacking flat onto the ground. When she landed safely, she saw a dark stone passage stretching out ahead. Dumbledore was holding up his wand, using the light at its tip to inspect the tunnel before them.
The air, as well as the ground, was damp. The walls around them were dark, slick, and sticky; if one listened carefully, the faint sound of dripping water could be heard. Snakes had always loved cold, wet, and shadowy places—and the basilisk was no exception.
This was practically a paradise for such a creature.
Casting a Cleaning Charm to rid herself of the filth, Eda felt much fresher and stepped up beside Dumbledore. Not long after, Harry, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout appeared behind them.
Both professors were spotless, while Harry was covered head to toe in sticky mud, looking like a little swamp monkey.
Eda walked up beside him, raised her wand, and murmured softly, "Scourgify!"
"Let's go," Dumbledore said quietly. "Be careful, and listen for any unusual sounds." His voice echoed faintly through the dark tunnel. After speaking, he raised his wand and moved forward, and the others quickly followed.
The tunnel was pitch black. The only light came from the Lumos charms at the tips of their wands, casting their shadows long and distorted against the wet walls, adding to the eerie, sinister atmosphere of the place.
The silence in the tunnel was like that of a tomb. No one spoke; everyone held their breath, trying not to make a sound. Gradually, they began to notice small animal bones scattered across the floor—and the deeper they went, the more bones there were.
Turning around a shadowy bend in the tunnel, Dumbledore, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.
The people behind him stopped at once. Narrowing his eyes, Dumbledore flicked the light from his wand farther ahead.
In that brief illumination, Eda saw the outline of a massive coiled shape lying motionless across the tunnel. Instinctively, she thought it was the basilisk and quickly lowered her head, staring at the ground to avoid looking directly at it.
"A snakeskin," Dumbledore said solemnly. "A big one. Be on your guard— we must be close."
The shed skin looked like it had been there for quite some time, but even so, it stretched nearly twenty feet long. The basilisk inside the Chamber had to be far larger—perhaps fifty feet or more.
The three professors and two students continued deeper into the tunnel. As they passed the snakeskin, Eda glanced at it. The shed scales shimmered a glossy green, the color vivid even in the dim light, coiled neatly along the tunnel floor. It almost looked like the real deal.
As they walked, they finally reached the end of the tunnel. The basilisk that everyone had been dreading never appeared—instead, what awaited them was a solid stone wall.
On the wall were two snakes carved in relief, coiled around each other, their eyes set with large, gleaming green gems that shimmered faintly in the dim light.
"Harry, my boy," Dumbledore called softly. To get past this wall, they needed Harry's Parseltongue.
The designated "door-opener" Harry stepped forward, with Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout following closely, positioning themselves on either side of him. Dumbledore stood just behind Harry, his stance coincidentally blocking Eda's view.
In this formation, if anything happened when the wall opened, the three professors could instantly shield the two students—and stand between them and the basilisk's deadly gaze.
In the darkness of the tunnel, a low, raspy hissing echoed as Harry spoke in Parseltongue. The two carved snakes slowly separated, and the stone wall split down the middle, sliding aside until it vanished completely.
Dumbledore lowered the hand that had been shielding Harry's eyes and began to walk forward again, saying as he did, "It seems we've arrived."
The basilisk still didn't appear. What unfolded before them was a long, dimly lit chamber—the Chamber of Secrets itself, built by Salazar Slytherin, lost to Hogwarts for a thousand years.
Rows of towering stone pillars lined the chamber, each carved with great entwined serpents, their forms seeming almost alive as they stretched upward to support a ceiling that melted into darkness.
The faint green glow that filled the air cast long, shifting shadows across the floor, filling the entire space with an eerie, haunting aura.
Only the echo of footsteps broke the silence as they advanced, and at the far end of the chamber loomed an enormous statue—so tall it nearly reached the ceiling—its base pressed against the shadowed wall behind it.
"Salazar Slytherin!" Professor Flitwick blurted out as he looked up at the enormous statue. Its face was identical to the portrait of Slytherin preserved in the castle.
"Ginny Weasley!" cried Professor Sprout, her voice echoing eerily against the stone walls.
Between the statue's two massive feet sat a small figure in black Hogwarts robes. Her once-fiery red hair had lost all its luster, now dull and lifeless like a clump of withered straw.
Though deeply worried for Ginny, Eda didn't rush forward. Instead, she raised her wand, staying alert to her surroundings. The three professors did the same, forming a silent perimeter.
Harry, however, dashed forward recklessly, dropping his wand without a thought. He crouched beside Ginny, softly calling her name again and again, hoping to wake her.
But Ginny sat motionless, her vacant eyes staring at nothing, her small head hanging limply. No matter how Harry called or pleaded, the girl didn't respond to her idol—she looked like a broken doll.
"Pick up your wand, Harry!" Eda called out sharply, unable to stand it any longer. "We need to get Ginny out of here first!"
Even in such a dangerous place, no matter how much he worried for Ginny, Harry shouldn't let go of his wand. A wizard without a wand was barely better than a Muggle—defenseless in the face of danger.
But before Harry could react, a strange voice suddenly echoed through the Chamber.
"Welcome, welcome. The great Dumbledore himself graces my humble Chamber—it's truly an honor."
A tall, dark-haired boy appeared abruptly in the room. His outline was hazy and indistinct—neither fully solid like a living person nor transparent like a ghost.
To Eda, the boy looked like a projection—his figure faint and hazy, as if cast by a light rather than truly there. Though his features were hard to make out, strangely enough, Eda had the feeling he must be very handsome.
"We meet again, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, as though the boy's sudden appearance didn't surprise him in the least.
Hearing that name, the two professors froze for a moment. After all, Tom was a common enough name—the barkeep at the Leaky Cauldron was also called Tom.
"Tom Riddle, The Dark Lord," Eda said quietly, "the Heir of Slytherin."
Both professors shuddered. Even Hogwarts professors couldn't help but feel a chill at the mention of that name—Tom Riddle, who would one day become the fearsome Lord Voldemort.
A strange, misty glow surrounded Tom Riddle's body. He smiled faintly and said, "Yes, we meet again. After all these years, you can still recognize me at a glance."
"That's because you're exactly the same as you were fifty years ago—nothing has changed," Dumbledore replied evenly. "You've opened the Chamber again."
A beautiful smile appeared on Tom Riddle's face. His long, slender fingers toyed with a wand—Harry's wand.
He said lightly, "Back then, I fooled everyone. They all believed that oaf Hagrid was the one who killed that Mudblood. Only you—only you—kept doubting me."
"So," Dumbledore said quietly, "you preserved your sixteen-year-old self within the diary, waiting for this very day… didn't you?"
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