"Of course." Daphne answered and walked down the stairs in front of him as if to prove she wasn't afraid. Harry laughed and followed her down into the dark tunnels. When they were both safely at the bottom Harry looked around, trying to remember which way he had went two years before.
"Well, the smell hasn't improved." Harry said as he looked around, eliciting a small laugh from Daphne. "We'll go that way." Harry finally said, pointing towards one of several similar looking tunnels.
"Are you sure?" Daphne asked.
"These tunnels are all sort of connected. This leads the right way and if we're lucky we will be able to avoid the cave in." Harry responded. Daphne decided to trust his judgment on this one since she had no idea where she was going anyway. For the next fifteen minutes they walked through the tunnels occasionally turning and entering a new passage. Eventually Daphne had no idea which way they were headed and suspected Harry didn't either.
"Harry you better not have gotten us lost down here." she said with a bit of worry evident in her voice.
"We're almost there, I promise." Harry answered, although it did little to relieve his girlfriend. Daphne was surprised when a few minutes later they the grand hall of the Chamber of Secrets. The huge corpse of the basilisk lay where it had fallen and still looked as if it had died only minutes before instead of two years ago. When Daphne saw the giant beast she wrapped an arm around Harry's waste and wondered how being back was effecting him.
"I can't believe you faced that thing when you were only twelve years old." Daphne said.
"I got lucky, and I had help." Harry replied. "I owe my life to Fawkes, if he hadn't shown up I wouldn't have had the Sword of Gryffindor and the basilisk venom would have killed me."
"Need I remind you that near death experiences are not necessary to end the year?" Daphne asked jokingly. "Although I guess you've already gotten that out of the way for this year."
"I'll do my best next year." Harry answered. He then led her towards the fallen basilisk and began inspecting it curiously. "Why hasn't it started rotting? It's been here a long time."
"Magical animals are different" Daphne reminded him. "And this basilisk was over a thousand years old to begin with. Can you imagine how much this thing must be worth? It's amazing."
"Really? I hadn't thought of it." Harry said truthfully.
"Basilisks are rare and most of their parts are useful for something. One this size could bring in hundreds of thousands of galleons, easily." Daphne said as Harry nodded. "I guess you came down here for something from the basilisk. What?"
"The venom." Harry replied. He then walked over to the animal's head and picked up a large fang that had broken off and was covered with blood and venom. Harry was very careful handling the dangerous item and slowly placed it into a box he had brought with him to store it. "The diary contained a piece of Voldemort's soul, and I got very lucky that there just happened to be one of the few things that could destroy a Horcrux handy when I faced him that day. I plan on destroying all of them as soon as possible, and I'll need this to do it."
"How hard will it be for you to get to them?"
"Some will be harder than others." Harry answered. "One of them will be gone by tonight, but there are others that I still don't know how I will get to. Like Hufflepuff's Cup in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringott's. I really hope I can find a way to get to it without having to break in."
"Especially considering no one's ever been able to do that."
"Voldemort did." Harry corrected her. "Although he didn't get anything. I guess I've got everything I need here."
"What about the rest?" Daphne said. "Remember, you and Voldemort are the only two that can get down here. If you don't use it he might. Plus you can spend the money on something nice for me."
"I suppose you're right." Harry laughed. "But doesn't it technically belong to Hogwarts?"
"You killed it." Daphne pointed out. "I'd say that gives you a decent claim to it. Besides, they'd never be able to get it without your help."
"Ok, I'm convinced. But you're going to have to help me find a way to get it out of here." Harry replied. Daphne nodded in agreement. "Let's get out of here, I don't want to miss Fudge looking like an idiot." Together the two of them left the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk behind. The trip out was a little shorter than the trip in had been since they both had a better idea of where they were heading. Fortunately. they were able to make it out in time to not miss any of Cornelius Fudge's hearing.
...
Harry and Daphne were far from alone in wanting to listen to what would hopefully turn out to be the downfall of Cornelius Fudge. The event had major implications for politics in the wizarding world and was being broadcast internationally. Some where even speculating that it could equal the amount of listeners that tuned in for last year's record breaking Quidditch World Cup. Even in Hogwarts students crowded around radios to listen, an event that left many muggleborns wondering why no one had yet created a magical equivalent to television.
The Ministry of Magic itself was crowded like never before. Thousands of witches and wizards showed up hoping to be able to find an open seat in the Great Hall of the Wizengamot which had been expanded to its maximum capacity. Unfortunately for most of them, the empty seats rapidly filled up leaving them to try and find somewhere else to listen in. The Wizengamot itself consisted of one hundred witches and wizards and the Chief Warlock who at this time was none other than Albus Dumbledore. All of the members of the Wizengamot were purebloods, although not all of them agreed with the pureblood bigotry associated with Voldemort and his followers. Almost all of them were additionally from old and wealthy families. As a result the main legislative and judicial body of wizarding Britain tended to be quite conservative in its outlook compared with the rest of the population. Change generally came slow, if it happened at all.
....
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