"Where are we going?" Hermione asked him
"To the Chamber of Secrets" Harry replied.
"The Chamber of Secrets? But that was supposed to be a myth" Hermione said looking at the dark tunnel.
"Well you're looking at the entrance of said myth" Harry explained
"But isn't there supposed to be a monster guarding it?"
"He is no monster, he's a guardian" Harry said, he was about to hissed for stairs but Hermione stopped him.
"Wait, are you sure about this?" She asked
"Of course, I have been doing it for days" Harry explained
"You have gone down there?" She asked him, too shock to comprehend
"Hermione, it's fine, really, where's your sense of adventure?" Harry teased her
"I think I left it at home" She replied
"Nonsense, come on" He said as he hissed something Hermione didn't understood but she knew it was parsel, after all the boy in front of her had a pet snake and just as Harry finished speaking the snake language stairs appeared in the dark tunnel as well as some light torches.
Hermione looked dubious but followed the boy, the stairs stopped on a series of tunnels but what impressed her was that the cement of the tunnel gave way to rock, they were on a cave now.
"It's ok, you should've seen how it looked before I cleaned it up" Harry said with a smile
"You cleaned this up?" Hermione asked with incredulity
"Yes, Basil wasn't exactly a very clean snake so I had to take out the leftovers of his food and shed skin" Harry explained
"Leftovers?" Hermione asked as she grew more and more concerned about following Harry.
"Yeah, he is carnivorous so he left some bones on the ground, it was disgusting" Harry replied as they reached a vault door with snakes on it, Hermione was astonished by the intricate snake carvings.
"Welcome to Salazar Slytherin's secret chamber, commonly known as The Chamber of Secrets" Harry said as he hissed at the door which began to open.
Hermione looked at the onyx floor in amazement, everything on this chamber screamed Slytherin, from the snake busts to the Salazar Slytherin's face engraved on the wall.
"Ok now what I'm about to do might seem weird and it might seem terrifying but trust me, nothing in this chamber will harm you, alright?" Harry said as he stepped forwards towards the wall and began hissing.
Hermione held her scream as a hole opened on the wall and from it a 50 feet Basilisk appeared and began to slither towards the two of them.
"Hermione, meet Basil, Hogwarts eldest guardian" Harry smirked and only managed to catch Hermione who fainted just as the introduction was made. "Hermione?" He asked the bushy haired girl now resting in his arms.
"Sssorry to frighten your friend" Basil apologized
"It wasn't your fault Basil, I think I should've warned her" Harry said rubbing the back of his head while carrying her towards Slytherin's office.
--
Gotham City…
Stephanie Brown rushed towards her next class on the next building, she deeply regretted not choosing to enroll into Harvard or Stanford University like Cass and Tim had done but she liked her city and it was close to home. Besides the city wouldn't remain safe if the Bat worked alone.
She finally arrive at Mrs. Newton's class which was one of the most boring classes she took, it was French literature but the teacher made everyone fall asleep in class.
"Just two more years of this and I'll be free" She told herself, the fact that she was one of the smartest in the family made her realize that her studies were necessary if she wanted to go to the CERN and although many of her friends questioned her about choosing French instead of Physics didn't bother her because she knew her plan very well.
The two hours of the class finally ended and she walked to the cafeteria where the sound of a motorcycle caught her attention.
"Kid! Do you need a lift?" A familiar voice yelled at her making her stop on her tracks and almost letting her books fall. The blonde student rushed to hug her older brother Jason whose appearance had changed since the last time they had seen each other.
He was beefier, his hair was dark red with a white streak on it and his face had matured his clothes had changed as well, he wore a more tactical grey pants with boots and a brown biker leather jacket with the Red Helmet he had used laying on the seat.
"Nice to see you too Steph" Jason said to the smaller blonde who was hugging him.
"It really is nice to see you Jay" She replied.
They walked to the cafeteria where they took a table near a window
"So tell me what I've missed" Jason said as they had finally gotten their food.
"Well Tim went to Harvard, Cass is in Stanford, Dick is living with Kori and Barbara, if he's screwing both of them that's something I don't know nor care, Harry went to the boarding school in Scotland and Damian and Helena are attending Gotham Academy" She explained.
"And the "adults?" Jason asked
"Grandpa Alfred is awesome as always, Selina and Talia are good mothers to their kids and they are working now, well Talia, Selina prefers to relax at home, though sometimes she's working on the Gotham Museum, she's helping with the Mesopotamian and Persian exhibits." Steph said.
"And Bruce?" Jason asked with a tone Stephanie couldn't pin point exactly if it was curiosity or indifference.
"B-Man is fine, I think, he is travelling a lot between here, London and Greece" Stephanie said
"What business does he has in Greece?" Jason asked
"Oh, you don't know?" Stephanie said with a mischievous look.
"Sorry I'm not very fond of social media, are you going to tell me?" He asked
"Why telling, when I can show it?" Stephanie said as she played with her cellphone. Then she showed him the intended picture of Bruce with a very beautiful woman with tan skin and dark alluring eyes that were hidden behind some stylized glasses and a fashionable burgundy dress.
"Who's that? Another beautiful socialite? Or is this time a model? It wouldn't be the first" Jason said a little bitter
"No, she's neither of them, she's a curator working on the Gotham Museum, he met her a few days ago" Stephanie said with a smirk that Jason couldn't understand why
"And what's weird about it? After Selina and Talia is a good thing "dad" isn't going to lower himself with some dumb bimbos" Jason replied
"Oh my god, are you that dense?!" Stephanie said "Look at the picture!"
Jason still didn't understand what was so special of the woman until it finally clicked him, he looked in surprise at his sister who was nodding with a smug smile.
"Steph, just to be clear, Bruce Wayne, our adopted father, is dating the Wonder Woman?" He said with a shock in his voice.
--
Hermione opened her eyes and saw that she was on a small office with several bookshelves and the colors green and silver adorning the walls and the portrait of a bald bearded man.
"Where am i?" Hermione asked
"In Salazar Slytherin's personal library" Harry said arriving with two glasses of water offering one to his friend.
"But I saw… a basilisk" She said
"Yes, that was Basil, he's the guardian and he isn't a bad guy, he is simply scary for his looks but its not his fault" Harry said as he sat on the couch next to her.
"I'm sorry, it just took me by surprise" Hermione said
"And I'm sorry to keep you in the dark, but this" Harry said standing up and walking to the bookshelves "This is why I wanted to bring you here" Harry said.
"Books?" She said
"Come on Hermione, you can geek out" Harry smirked and the girl quickly rushed to the books and began reading title after of the ancient books.
"Can I take the books out?" Hermione asked
"No can do amiga, the books have an enchantment that if you take them from the chamber they disappear and reappear in their shelve, I already did the experiment" Harry replied
"Well then, I guess I have to accompany you here to read all of these books" Hermione replied
"That's kind of the purpose" Harry said smirking
"If you don't mind I'd like to begin reading" Hermione said
"Sure, I'll be in the potions lab, two doors from the left, if you need me, by the way, Happy birthday Hermione" Harry said leaving the room and Hermione blushed at that, this was certainly a very special birthday present.
"This is so cool" Hermione said sitting on the couch with the book "Charms and protections"
--
The week flew by quite quickly. Harry did managed to talk with Rachel even more by taking the time to meditate every night before curfew, at this point none of the Hogwarts students or professors were surprised by the antics of the American Slytherin.
Classes were going fantastic, except DADA with Professor Quirrell whose stuttering was worsening. But professor Remus was excellent at making history come to life, especially when he did presentations or transfigurations of the first cavemen and ancient civilizations.
Harry, thanks in no small part to Padma, had been improving in potions he was proud of that.
On the other hand, on September 19th, Hermione officially celebrated her twelve birthday in the company of her fellow Ravenclaw class mates and friends of other Houses. She loved receiving many gifts from all of her friends, she received mostly books from Neville, Daphne, Millie, and the Ravenclaw, but other presents were a perfume from the Patil Twins, a very stylish sweater from Lavender, a set of earrings from Susan and Draco, Rachel gave her a bracelet with a Raven on it and Harry gave her a box of chocolates, of course the real gift she had already received it.
All in all the first month of Hogwarts school was great, but coming October the training for Quidditch began, Terrence was a great team captain, always making great flying formations and passes, after training many of the elder years said that they liked Terrence as a captain instead of Marcus who had tried to force himself into the team only to be kick out of the field before he could said otherwise. Harry knew that the Flint brothers would try to blame him for that but so far neither of them had tried to bully him.
Millie was loving the progress on her morning training and she often wrote back home to inform them about her advances and weight loss.
One day, two weeks before the Quidditch opening match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Harry was having breakfast at Ravenclaw table surrounded by his friends when the owls began to enter the Great Hall, Harry looked that Hedwig was carrying a big package and left it, it had the shape of a broom so it was pretty obvious what was inside the brown paper. He read the note first.
"To my son Harry, hope you like it and find it useful, your Grandma and Uncle told me about the regular broom you're using so I got you this, fly up up and away" Your father.
Harry smirked at the note and began tearing the paper revealing a beautiful mahogany broom with dark accents and best of all Superman's logo on the tip of the broom with the golden engrave of the broom's name: Speeding bullet
"Can't believe it!" Ron Weasley from the Gryffindor table yelled. "You got one of the best brooms in the market" He said rushing to appreciate the broom.
"Is that fast?" Harry asked
"Let me put it this way Wayne, you know the Nimbus and the Firebolt, right?" He asked
"Yeah, so?" Harry said
"This one right here is the best American broom ever made, man you won't have any competition in any tournament or game" The redhead said trying to touch the broom but not daring completely
Harry turned to his friends "Do you want me to test it?" He asked as he took off running to the main entrance followed by all the First years and Quidditch enthusiasts.
He had tested the school's old brooms, he had tested the school's new brooms but mounting the Speeding bullet was something else, he took off at an amazing speed that he had never felt before, finally his biggest fantasy of becoming Superman was here and he was flying as fast as the Man of Steel did. He couldn't wait for the games to begin and show his broom to everyone.