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“I wonder what’s taking him so long?” asked Harry.
“Yeah, I wish he’d just give us detention and get it over with,” said Ron.
“I bet he’s talking to Dumbledore,” said Hermione.
“I wonder what they’re talking about that would take this long?” asked Ron.
“Expulsion, Ronald,” sighed Hermione unhappily, “Or the loss of our Prefect and Head Girl positions.”
“Hermione, use your brain! If we weren’t expelled before, I doubt we’re going to get the sack this time,” exclaimed Ron.
Just then, the Doctor reappeared at the top of the stairs with a huge grin. He was wearing a miner’s hat, and he had a rope over his shoulder. In his hands, he had more miner’s hats.
“You’re not going down into the Chamber without me,” he said, descending the stairs. When he reached the astonished trio, he handed each a hat.
“But-” said Harry.
“No buts,” he said. “It wouldn’t be very responsible for your Defense teacher to let you go down there on your own!”
“H-how did you know where we were going?” asked Ron.
“Headmaster Dumbledore told me this evening that you three had a penchant for adventure and to watch out for you. Since you can’t reach the entrance of the Chamber without passing my classroom, I listened for you. I heard your footfalls,” replied the doctor.
Hermione hit the top of her head with her hand. “I didn’t remember to Silencio our feet! How could I be so STU-pid?”
“Well, now, I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you,” said the Doctor, quite serious this time. “I’m rather glad you didn’t remember.”
“We’ve never actually had a teacher who wanted to accompany us before. Usually they just dock house points,” said Harry.
“Or they just let us save the school by ourselves,” muttered Ron.
“I know, and that worries me,” said the Doctor gravely. “But at any rate, I was going to ask you right after dinner, but you disappeared before I got the chance,” he continued. “I’m not exactly familiar with Parseltongue, you know. And I could use some guides-and somebody bright with extensive knowledge of the Chamber itself.”
Hermione blushed harder.
“Wait a minute,” said Harry. “Will these lights actually work here?”
“Try them,” said the Doctor, smiling toothily.
They switched on the lights, which shone brightly across the room.
“But how?” asked Ron.
“Gallifreyan technology,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes.
“Everyone ready to go?” asked the Doctor.
Harry squared his shoulders. “Sure,” he answered. “And, Doctor, there’s no way to get out of the Chamber without flying.” He showed him his broom.
“Ah,” said the Doctor, jogging back upstairs to get his own.
The chamber was unbearably hot. A couple of Reducto curses and treatment from the Sonic Screwdriver took care of the debris from the collapsed tunnel, and they were able to pass into the Chamber itself. The three students were very glad that Hermione had performed a Cooling Charm on them before they began. The Doctor, of course, weathered the heat in stride. He took a reading.
“43 degrees,” said the Doctor.
“Unbearable,” said Ron
“Unless you’re a reptile,” said Harry.
“Right you are,” said the Doctor as he scanned the room.
“Do you think,” asked Ron, “That all this could have been caused by reptiles?”
“Not just any reptiles, but a sentient race of reptilian creatures called the Silurians. I’ve faced them before. They were the dominant life form on Earth 20 million years ago, and their technology was very advanced. They saw a small moon that they calculated was on collision course with earth, and they moved underground to avoid what they thought would be the greatest cataclysmic event since the meteorite that killed the Dinosaurs,” the Doctor explained.
“Doesn’t seem too bloody bright to me, considering the fact that it didn’t happen,” said Ron.
The Doctor suppressed a grin. “Don’t sell them short. They have quite formidable powers and technologies. Every time I’ve met them they’ve been determined to transform the earth’s climate to the same that existed 20 million years ago.”
“In Pangea,” Hermione answered. “Hot…But if they’ve been down here for all those millions of years, why didn’t they wake when the chamber was opened last time, or even when the chamber was first built?”
“Who says they didn’t?” the Doctor asked. Then he continued, “Hermione, what stood on this ground before Hogwarts or Hogsmeade were founded?”
“Hogwarts was built on the location of the Gryffindor ancestral home, and Hogsmeade was an estate owned by Helga Hufflepuff. The magical population of Scotland then was very small and more widely dispersed. So, there must not have been enough magical-excuse me-psychic energy available for their purposes,” the girl answered.
“Correct,” said the Doctor. “I met Godric once, capital fellow, quite the clever wizard.”
“Gryffindor? You MET him?” exclaimed Ron.
“Long story, said the Doctor. “I have a theory. We need to get into the nest.”
The four mounted their brooms and headed to the bas-relief face of Slytherin. The mouth seemed much bigger from their new perspective, and they could see it was open. It was large enough to allow them to fly in a pair at a time. The Doctor and Harry went first. The room seemed cavernous, yet it was merely large enough to fit one fully-grown Basilisk comfortably. The floor had been swept clean recently, it seemed, and there was no sign that any huge snake had lived there.
“That’s odd,” said Harry. “We found skeletons all over the place in the tunnels.”
“Somebody has been using this room recently,” answered the Doctor.
“By the way, what are we looking for?” asked Harry, puzzled.
“You’ll know when you see it,” answered the Doctor.
“Doctor, look!” said Ron, pointing at a lab that had been set up in the corner.
The doctor rushed over and looked. He picked up a large, flat stone-like object.
“A Basilisk scale,” said Harry.
There were various pieces of equipment nearby.
“Just like I suspected, somebody has been taking DNA samples,” said the Doctor. “And they’ve been at it for quite a long time. Tell me, how long does it take a basilisk to mature?”
“Hundreds of years,” said Hermione.
“That’s why Slytherin chose that particular creature; he knew his chosen heir wouldn’t appear for nearly a millineum,” said the Doctor. “Although, with cloning, the Silurians could have cut that time by a mere fraction, say…fifty-five years.”
Hermione, blanching, said, “So you’re suggesting that they woke when Tom Riddle opened the chamber the first time.”
“Yes. I suspect that there are fully matured Basilisk clones somewhere nearby. Several would produce enough energy to generate this heat.”
“But if they could produce a suitable environment with Basilisks, why would they bother with witches and wizards?” asked Ron. Hermione and Harry agreed that this was a good question.
The Doctor smiled proudly at his student. “Excellent question. A Basilisk, other than its lethal stare, really doesn’t have that much magic. It would take enough of the animals to fill the entire Chamber, one on top of the other all the way to the ceiling, to achieve the necessary energy, and even then there wouldn’t be enough to transform the world’s environment.”
Hermione thought hard. “Does that have something to do with their brain tissue, spinal column ratio?”
“Yes, and the fact that sentient beings tend to produce more psychic energy anyway," said the Doctor. “I suspect that less than a handful of Silurians scouted the area fifty-five years ago, and the same group cloned the Basilisks to wake up a few dozen others. I’m thinking their plan is to collect all the witches and wizards they can find and take them prisoner inside Hogwarts, where they will harness their psychic energy to transform the face of the planet.”
The others shuddered.
The Doctor knocked along the walls, concentrating hard. At last, he seemed to find what he was looking for. The three students anxiously awaited an explanation.
“A door,” said the Doctor, pointing at the wall opposite the lab. “But I suggest we not try to open it now. We’re going to need a lot more people down here before we try that.”
Suddenly the door opened of its own accord, and the Doctor and Harry, who was standing next to him, were pulled inside.
“Run!” was the Doctor’s strangled cry. “Tell the Headmaster.”
Ron was flying away, holding fast to Hermione, even as he spoke.