Harry Potter and the Bucket List

Year 6 - 9

 Beta: Cloudy

Shout out to JuneToons for a cute fanart of Rosie!

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Originally, I planned to explore the Chamber of Secrets in my seventh year after N.E.W.T.s.

The fact that Tom hadn't even found the spare chambers Salazar Slytherin hid during his tenure at Hogwarts meant they were incredibly well hidden, and given Salazar's penchant for the Dark Arts and... you know, the fact that he put a basilisk in a school meant the hidden rooms were likely dangerous.

I wanted to be as well prepared as I could before tackling the Chamber of Secrets.

But now that Tom and I were planning on jumping back in time, that meant I had to readjust.

Namely—

"My, my," said Dumbledore as he looked around the Chambers of Secrets.

Right behind him was Hagrid, who was nervously wringing his hands.

That's right.

I taught them how to open the Chamber.

"Pretty impressive, right?" I asked.

"Very much," he said, observing some architecture.

"Think you'll be able to find a curse-breaker team to raid it?" I asked, idly twirling one of my curls.

"I believe curse-breakers across the world would jump at the opportunity to explore the Chambers over the summer," said Dumbledore.

"Excellent. All I ask is a detailed report of all of their findings. I don't care about keeping any of it, I just want to know what they found and how they found it," I said with a smile.

After all, why should I take that risk when I could let a bunch of complete strangers do it, then when Tom and I jumped back in time we could reap the benefits?

Showing off the Chambers wasn't the only reason I had brought Dumbledore and Hagrid along.

I actually wanted to introduce them to the basilisk, and try to have the basilisk become part of the seventh years' curriculum. It was something I had recently brought up with the basilisk when I visited the snake last week. It was quite the conversation.

The old basilisk kept blending Old English, Latin, and modern English. I was decent at Latin, but not fluent enough to easily keep up with him.

It was a long conversation on top of it all, nearly all night.

Salazar imprinted upon him one purpose—to protect Hogwarts. He was previously under the impression that it needed protecting from Muggle-borns and Muggles, and it took a lot of explaining to dissuade that impression.

From that point, it was time to decide what to do with him now. He wanted to remain in Hogwarts since that was his home, and I agreed with him.

But, I didn't want him to be alone down here.

I asked him if he'd be okay becoming part of Hogwarts' curriculum—a creature to be introduced for seventh year students in Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It seemed like a win-win scenario. I wouldn't be able to take him with me after I graduated anymore, and basilisks were talked about in sixth and seventh year classes. Also, you know, he deserved a proper home.

That was why I brought Hagrid along.

"Come out on, dear one," I hissed out to the statue.

The basilisk slithered out, his eyes shut tight. He inhaled deeply, sniffing at Dumbledore, then at Hagrid.