It was truly a new experience to fly with Harry. She had of course flown in the past...she was a witch after all...but she had always seen it as a means to an end..a pedestrian means of transportation. But as he guided them so smoothly...seemingly flowing through the pipe themselves...she understood (kind of) what all the stupid boys in Slytherin house went on and on about. It became FLYING when done like this.

They eventually landed and she found herself to be oddly disappointed before quickly remembering where they were headed. "Still a bit of a walk from here," he stated, waiting for her nod of acknowledgment before moving on.

They had walked in silence for several minutes before he began speaking in a quiet tone. "I live with my muggle relatives. They don't like me very much...don't like me to have nice things."

"Harry, you don't-" but she was interrupted again as he continued, stubbornly refusing to stop now that he had started.

"The muggle clothes I wear used to belong to my cousin...they are his hand-me-downs. I think they make a point to only give me the most worn bits."

He continued to stare straight ahead and kept walking. "After so many years with no other options, I don't even think about how I look. I should work on that. I actually do have some decent things....a suit from last summer."

She could take no more and grabbed his elbow to get his attention. "I really am sorry...you don't have to explain." She suddenly found herself not being able to stop now that she had started. "I'm so used to dealing with idiots throwing around insults and threats simply because they can, I get thrown off when anyone besides my family or Tracey is genuinely nice to me. I keep expecting you to start in with the insults."

She felt infinitely better when he gave her a small smile and nodded. "It's no problem...glad to see I fall in the 'non-idiot' category."

"It's early Potter. You could be reclassified in an instant so-".

She was jerked out of her thoughts at the sight of what looked to be a massive snakeskin that stretched at least twenty feet. "Please tell me we aren't headed to visit the former owner of that skin Harry."

Harry looked sheepish as he dragged his free hand through his hair. "We are...but it's dead...and slightly bigger."

Daphne's eyes bulged as his words sunk in. "You killed it I'm guessing?" she asked dumbly.

Harry seemed to quickly become uncomfortable and bowed his head slightly before speaking. "Yeah...but it was mainly down to luck...if I hadn't had the sword-"

"Wait," she cut in, "don't tell me you really have the Sword of Gryffindor."

"Well not anymore," he stated simply. "I um...gave it back to Dumbledore once I was...you know...finished."

Daphne stared.

"Right," he finally stated after waiting for Daphne to speak, "shall we carry on then?"

She dumbly nodded (now dubbed the 'Potter nod' since he seemed to be able to cause it at will) and followed him down the hall. Neither spoke again until coming to another entrance. Harry hissed an incantation and again the door slowly creaked open.

As they began to file in the room Harry warned, "The former owner of that skin is just through here. As I said it's...pretty big."

There are moments in life that fundamentally and irrevocably alter one's perspective forever. The moment she entered the Chamber and gazed at the sheer mass of the basilisk (basilisk!) was one of those moments. It was easily fifty feet long. Fifty. Feet. Long.

She had heard so many outrageous and outlandish stories about The Boy Who Lived. She'd even read some of those ridiculous 'Adventures of Harry Potter' books when she was younger. But none of them approached what she was now looking at...tangible proof at what he had done at twelve.

She chanced a glance at Harry and saw he was looking at her, assessing her reaction to the beast and to him. He actually looked nervous? Embarrassed? It was unfathomable to her.

She slowly made her way over to the snake and broke the silence. "So you stabbed this thing to death?"

It took him a moment to respond, caught off guard by the break in the silence. "Umm...yeah...you can probably see the stab wound on the top of its head. It umm...tried to bite me and I stabbed it through the roof of its mouth and through the top. Actually got me too. Bit me on the arm."

Daphne approached the head slowly. She knew it was irrational and ridiculous but the sheer size and power the beast exuded made her think it could not be killed...that it was pretending to be dead and would lunge at her at any moment. Eventually, she made it over and saw the clear gash in the snake's head just as Harry had said. She also noticed that both eyes had been gouged out.

The shock was beginning to wear off and the analytical part of her brain locked back in. They'd started at the end of the tale. Now it was time to start working back to the beginning.

"How did you do that to its eyes?" she said, never taking her eyes off the snake.

"Oh, that was Fawkes...Dumbledore's phoenix. I was talking to Tom...well I'll get to that later...I had shown loyalty to Dumbledore and Fawkes came to help. He flew in and clawed its eyes out."

Daphne suddenly remembered what Harry said about being bitten and slowly walked over to him. So far he had been unfailingly honest with her but this part of his story had to be exaggerated. Basilisk venom was fatal...quickly...unequivocally fatal. "You said it bit you. Can you show me?"

Harry quickly rolled up his sleeve and pointed to a shiny spot of skin above his elbow.

Her eyes bore into the arm...unconsciously grazing it with her finger. "How are you still alive?"

She looked at him and he smiled...a true, genuine smile. It struck her that she couldn't remember ever seeing him that open and relaxed. It was nice.

"It was Fawkes...he was brilliant. You're right. I was dying...knew I was going to die...but he cried phoenix tears into the wound. Healed it right up." She noticed how much more relaxed he became when he was talking about the phoenix and not about himself.

More ridiculousness. To gain the trust and affection of a phoenix enough for them to share their healing tears in such a way was rare...virtually unheard of. Daphne wondered if Fawkes would be quite as generous with the tears if she was in need.

She wanted...needed to hear it all...but one question leaped out above all...one she couldn't quite understand. She looked back at the basilisk and then back to Harry. "Before you tell me anything more I want to know why."

"Why what?" Harry replied confusedly.

"You came in here...all alone...twelve years old...and fought that. Why? Why not run away? Why not tell the professors?"

Again Harry looked down at his feet...as if he was embarrassed at what he was about to say. "Do you remember the message on the wall? 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.' That was real. There really was a student dying down here."

Daphne was struck again by how defensive he seemed. What he had done was amazing...impossible to fathom. Why wasn't he proud...gloating even?

"Ron tried to come to but we got separated in the tunnel back there...where all the rocks were. And we tried to get help from the staff but that didn't work out and we were running out of time. I know you are going to say it's stupid and it was stupid but I couldn't not try. Someone was dying!"

'Twelve years old' kept repeating in her mind. 'He did that when he was twelve years old.'

She always believed that she and her family were inherently good...that they always did the right thing when they could...but she suddenly realized that it wasn't true. They did what was right when it was feasible...when there was no risk...when it helped them. She felt like a massive fraud.

"Right," she muttered as she cast Scourgify on the floor and conjured two simple chairs for them to sit on. She waited for him to sit down before she continued, looking straight into his eyes.

"I still want to hear all the details about second-year and all the other things you've been up to but I'm in."

She looked down at the floor and continued on in a rush, vomiting out the words as quickly as possible before she lost her nerve. "I want to talk to my parents. This has implications for my family. They need to know and I'd like to get their advice on the wording of the blood oath. But even if they disagree I'm in. This is important. If I can help I want to at least try. You need to know I am rubbish at Defence though. If you are expecting me to protect you from a death eater or something you should best get to planning your funeral now."

She looked up to see him staring at her...mouth open...trying to say something and utterly failing. 'It's nice to be on this side of the stupid expression,' she mused as she smirked and waited for him to gather himself.

He eventually recovered and cleared his throat. "Uh...that's great. I mean really great. To be honest I thought this would have been a lot harder but this is...great!"

"Just make it worth my time Harry. You've been remarkably unlike an idiot so far. Don't screw it up."

He laughed and quickly looked at his watch. "We have thirty minutes until curfew. We can either head back and talk more later or we can stay as long as you'd like and sneak back late."

She regarded him and folded her arms, pondering her options. "Did you bring your invisibility cloak?"

He smiled and nodded.

"And that other thing...the parchment that you used the last time?"

Another smile. Another nod.

"Why not? I've just agreed to fight You Know Who. Getting caught breaking curfew seems like the least of my worries. Is it okay if we keep talking and risk it?"

Harry grinned and replied. "Of course! I'm a dumb, bold Gryffindor remember? This is what we do!"

Daphne smiled in reply...a real smile...the one that was typically reserved for Tracey and Astoria. "Excellent. Now since we've been talking about second-year why don't we start at the beginning."

Harry nodded his head and began. "I hope you don't mind missing curfew by a lot because it is a long story. "It all began in Flourish and Blotts about a month before fall term started..."