Chapter 73: Unlocking New Paths
Harry and Hermione apparated the group to Gryffindor common room so her parents could see where they lived for ten months of the year unfortunately, after Gryffindor apartments it looked a bit drab.
As they were leaving the portrait hole an alarm sounded
"Oh good, I was hopping that was working" said Hermione
Harry waved his hand and the alarm stopped while he explained; "most of the clashes in Hogwarts take place outside the classrooms where you have hundreds of children running around carrying lethal weapons. A system is being enforced where wands will not be allowed outside classrooms or specified areas like house and the new year group study rooms. The alarm went off because Ginny is underage and left the common room carrying her wand"
"How do I get my wand to lessons if I'm not allowed to carry it through the corridors?" asked a confused Ginny
"I'm glad you asked that," said Hermione "a Potter company has been working on a delivery system with linked trunks, you put something in a trunk at one location and it can be accessed from the matched trunk at another part of the country. The Hogwarts instillation is more complex but should revolutionise the way we move about the castle"
Harry waved his hand again and disabled the stairs allowing Dan and him to enter the girl's dorms, when they approached Ginny's bed a new wooden locker was by its side.
"When did we get these?" enquired Ginny
"Place your palm on the door and speak your name" instructed Harry
Ginny then found the door opening so she placed her wand and some books inside before closing the door, "Ok now what?"
"Now is the really clever part," a clearly excited Hermione dragged them out through the portrait hole looking for the first classroom fitted with the new lockers.
When they entered the class Hermione told Ginny to repeat the process on any of the dozen lockers in the class.
Ginny approached a locker, placed her palm on the door and spoke her name, it swung open to reveal her wand and the books she had placed in there.
"Any item placed in your personal locker can be accessed by you at a public locker anywhere in the school. The item remains in the personal locker while the public ones create a portal allowing you, and only you to put your hand in and take it. No more lugging heavy book bags up and down flights of stairs" added a starry eyed Hermione
"Mrs. Potter will not be lugging anything for the immediate future" said her father earning a scathing look from his pregnant daughter.
"Guys this is brilliant!" enthused Ginny "you can put all your stuff in here and never forget a book again."
Narcissa asked, "what if they start carrying other weapons?"
"The alarms will go off and they will be expelled, this is a school and anyone attending here will follow the rules or be kicked out. Zero tolerance means just that," declared Harry
.....
They eventually reached an area that had Ginny clinging to Harry while shaking her head in disbelief.
Harry held her tight and spoke gently to his adopted daughter, "I'm sorry Gin, this will be hard but you're better facing it now, with us here for support than when the new timetable sends you and the rest of the class. It was just too good a space not to use and its previous occupant was a gold mine covering the total cost of the renovations below. Who knew a dead basilisk was worth so much?"
They were standing outside the former home of Moaning Myrtle, gone was the toilet to be replaced by two wide spiral staircases, one red and the other blue.
The ashen face young witch refused to release her death grip on Harry as they reached the blue stairs, putting his free hand on the handrail started the stairs descending towards the fabled chamber of secrets.
Ginny could hear Hermione saying something about blue down, red up and that she didn't think students would make it out otherwise by the time Tonks was finished with them but her mind was elsewhere or rather here but eighteen months ago, how could Harry do this to her?
That one question pulled her out of the panic induced funk that threatened to overwhelm the youngest Potter; Harry wouldn't harm a hair on her head and would probably do serious damage to anyone that even attempted it. The one constant in her life was that no harm could befall her in Harry's presence, and since she had both arms around him while his right arm rested on her shoulders she would be safe.
By the time the group reached bottom Ginny's breathing and heart rates were approaching normal as she looked at the greatly widened, brightly lit and now spotlessly clean tunnel in front of her, she felt a hand on her cheek and turned her head to see Hermione looking with understanding in her eyes as the young redhead remembered she was not the only victim here. Removing one arm from Harry she pulled her best friend / mother into the embrace and with the support of both new parents started walking to face her fears.
Hermione started explaining to her family where they were, "this is the chamber of secrets where Harry rescued Ginny from a piece of Riddle's soul that was trying to resurrect his body by killing hers, oh he also fought the basilisk that petrified me and its body was measured at sixty three and a half feet. I was originally unsure about opening this space for use but Harry was right and the bonus gold raised from the carcass was all spent down here allowing for more extravagance than originally planned"
As they walked another even wider tunnel bisected the access tunnel and curved of into the distance. Hermione told them that this was the running track that surrounded the whole underground facility, this far north the weather put paid to outdoor pursuits that didn't involve the wearing of a thick coat for a good proportion of school term.
They reached the main chamber and Ginny's mouth dropped open as the view confronting her bore no resemblance to the former chamber whatsoever, it was magnificent.
Amanda Granger was in a daze, she was realizing her life long dream of visiting Hogwarts and it was so much better than she had ever imagined. She was standing in a massive chamber deep underground yet the information being transmitted from senses to mind led Amanda to believe this was a bright airy space with blue sky containing a few fluffy white clouds overhead.
Tonks appeared and offered the VIP tour of the facilities.
....
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