Viperidae, Viperinae, Crotalinae

**Set during the Gryffindor trio's 6th year.**

hiss. Hermione rolled over in her bed. hiss. Hermione flinched. hiss hiss. Hermione groaned. hissssssss. Hermione sat up.

Groggily she blinked, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. She had been in the midst of taking her NEWTS in her dream, when suddenly her test paper had started hissing at her. Odd. Very odd.

But then, there was nothing normal about Hermione Granger's life. The only child of two dentists, had been in the midst of breakfast on their back porch one saturday morning, basking in the warmth of the sun when her Hogwarts letter had fallen directly from the beak of a snowy white owl and into her lap.

hisssssss hissssss hissssssss. She froze. What. The. Hell. was. that.

Hermione felt, for the first time since wakening the slight indentation of weight at the bottom end of her coverlet. She reluctantly shifted the directionf of her gaze.

Oh. Holy. God.

Positioned in the affore mentioned location was a huge snake.

Immediately to dull the sheer unadulterated terror suddenly pounding through her veins, Hermione switched her brain into have-memorized-every- book-ever-printed mode.

Right. We have a stout-bodied, broad-headed roughly 2.5 meter long snake with long fangs.

A Viper. The answer leapt out at her immediately, followed by a dribble of further information, none of which assisted in quelling her fears.

Viper. A venemous snake belonging to the family Viperidae, which consists of roughly 150 species. Long erectile fangs, which are folded back when not in use. They vary from 0.3 to 3 meters long. Vipers feed on small animals, which are injected with their venom and then trailed until they die. Most give birth to live young. Old world vipers belong to the subfamily Viperinae are generally ground dwelling although some are burrowers and some arboreal. New world vipers are belong to the subfamily Crotalinae and are known as pit vipers, they are known as such due to having a sensory pit between the eye and nostril used to detect the tiny changes in temperature caused by warm-blooded prey nearby.

hisssssssssssssssssssss. The long drawn out 'S' almost seemed to imply impatience. Impertinent thing. hisss. hisss. Warily Hermione looked directly into the viper's beedy black eyes.

hisssssssssssssssssssss. The long drawn out 'S' almost seemed to imply impatience. Impertinent thing. hisss. hisss. Warily Hermione looked directly into the viper's beedy black eyes.

"What?" she whispered, feeling thoroughly stupid. "D-do you want something?" hissss. "Was that a yes?". hisss. "Ummm, goodness, where's Harry when you need him..." Silently, the snake slid from the bed, to the carpeted floor and proceeded to slither to the door. Once there, it turned it's beedy eyes to her. hissssssss. It jerked its head. "Do...do you want me to come with you?" hisssss. "Okay then...why do I get the feeling that this is a bad idea..." Hermione got up and grabbed her black robe, which she had neatly draped over the back of a chair. She slid her arms into the sleeves and buttoned it up, leaving the top few buttons undone.

It occurred to her that, perhaps she should leave a note for Ron and Harry. She gave an unlady-like snort. 'Saying what, Hermione?' an inner voice mocked "Hey, Harry and Ron, Don't worry if you can't find me. I'm following a poisonous snake down the hall" ????? 'Yeah, that'd go down really well'.

She slipped her feet into a pair of shoes. hissssssssssssss. "My, you are an impatient thing aren't you?" She laughed softly.

With a rather dramatic turn, the Viper proceeded to slither out the door and into the corridor, down the stairs, into the common room and over to the hole in the wall that served as the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitories. Hermione pushed the portrait door open, dimly she heard the end of a snore and a sharp intake of breath from the Fat Lady "Who's the- ahhhh!" she had obviously noticed the viper. The Viper gave a great hiss and the Fat Lady went quiet, but glared disapprovingly at Hermione as she followed the snake futher into the dark, silent school.

**************end of part one**************

The air was damp and cold on her face, and she shivered as she stepped off one of the many moving staircases, and back onto the main floor of the school.

The viper sped quickly along the ground, not a single sound made in the course of its movement.

It turned suddenly, its beedy eyes boring into hers, as it suddenly occurred to her what exactly she was doing.

'I'm following a snake- a poisonous snake to god alone knows where!' here mind shrieked at her.

It was a dangerous time she lived in, especially for a muggle-born, or mudblood as a certain blond slytherin so charmingly put it. Snakes didn't just appear in your room, wanting you to follow them. True, she didn't couldn't prove for certain that that was what it wanted, she wasn't a parselmouth afterall, but somehow, she just knew.

And yet, even as these doubts sprouted in the garden of her mind, like ivy, spreading and taking over everything, her feet refused to stop. They kept moving forward, one after the other. Left, right, left right, further and further following the viper as it slithered toward it destination.

Left, right. Left, right.

Slither, slither. Slither, slither.

Futher and further into the darkness.

They rounded another corner, the viper and the muggleborn. It was pitch black, Hermione could no longer see the snake, but she knew it was there, two or three paces ahead of her.

Her breath was coming in short shallow pants, she could feel dampness on her forhead and the small of her back where fear oozed from her pores.

Left, right. Left, right.

Slither, slither. Slither, slither.

Futher yet into the darkness they went.

Hermione stopped. She almost cried in relief. Her feet were working! she could turn around and go ba-

No.

No, they weren't working. They were still under some kind of thrall from the snake.

Her hand reached forward into the darkness against her will.

'No,' her mind pleaded. 'Stop, please don't.'

But her body wouldn't listen.

Her hand- the snakes hand grasped something cold and hard.

'A doorhandle,' her mind dimly registered, before the hand turned it, and pushed.

The door opened with a creak. Hermione and the snake entered the blackness. She heard the door close behind them.

hisss.

And there was light. She could see!.

She could see... the girls toilet. Moaning Myrtles toilet.

'What on Earth?' The snake was standing in front of one of the sinks. Hermione could see herself in the mirror- the pupils of her chocolate iris dialated in terror.

She had changed a great deal. Almost sixteen, sweet sixteen. Her hair flowed just past her shoulders in curly brown and golden waves, slightly toussled from her sleep. Her red pouting lips pursed in concentration. She was one of Hogwarts' finest beauties.

And one of Hogwarts finest minds. There hadn't been a student of her intellect in over fifty years. And before that, the only souls recorded to posess such intellect were Salazar Slytherin and Isabella Gryffindor, Godrick's younger sibling. It was no surprise to Hermione, after having read the information about Salazar's I.Q that the star pupil of 1948 was Salazar Slytherin's desendant. Tom Riddle.

Hermione's gaze drifted across the mirror above the sink, not observing the reflection, but merely the glass. Her gaze dropped lower to the tiles below the mirror, and futher still to the tap and then the sink.

In her peripheral vision she had noticed a mark on the side of the tap that she had never seen before.

Her eys flew up to the spout of the tap and focused intently.

There.

One the side of the tap was the symbol of a snake.

Oh. Holy. God.

Harry and Ron had reluctantly told her of the events in their second year surrounding the chamber of secrets.

She knew they had found the entrance, but, due to being sworn to secrecy by Dumbledore, they had never divulged where exactly the said entrance lay.

It looked like she too ahd found it.

hissssss. hisssss. hisshiss hisssssssssssssss.

A flash of green light and the sink,tap, tiles and mirror moved aside to reveal an opening.

An opening to Salazar Slytherin's chamber of secrets.

**************end of part two**************

Hermione slid down to the bottom floor from the bathroom above. The skeletons of mice covered the floor.

hiss.

The snake was still there.

Unbidden, Hermione's feet started to move forward, confidently, weaving around the bones as if she knew the clear path off by heart.

At length, the feet came to a stop.

Hermione's eyes flew around her surroundings, taking in every detail.

In front of her, was a large silver door. It looked much like the door to vaults that the muggle banks were so fond of, except for the snakes which were intricately carved with little scales and beedy eyes.

hisss.

The ornamental snakes began to move, around and around the perimiter of the door.

crank.

crank.

crank.

as each snake moved around a loud noise resounded, sounding as if large locks were being opened...

crank.

The vault-like door gave way to an entrance.

Hermione's tour guide, the viper slid confidently inside. Hermione's feet followed.

Holy Merlin on a broomstick.

Whatever Hermione had been expecting, it certainly wasn't this. Large statues of snakes heads lined the sides of the great hall-like room inside the chamber.They were surrounded by water, which created the feel of a moat surrounding a great castle.

A path led further into the chamber, and split the "moat" in half.

Hermione walked up the path, and deeper into the chamber. Further still her feet commanded her, weaving through long, dark corridors. Turn left. Straight ahead. Turn right. Straight ahead.

Finally Hermione turned right into a corridor, and her surroundings changed. No longer was the corridor dank and decrepid, instead the walls were covered in engravings of a most beautiful and mesmerizing nature.

Chandeliers hung from the roof and provided a soft, glowing lighting.

At the end of the corridor was a door made of oak. Its handle was gold and encrusted with rubies. Dimly Hermione noted that these were Gyrffindor colours- her favourites. But the thought was soon forgotten as she reached out and turned the handle.

The door swung open noislessly and Hermione found herself in the most richly decorated and furnished room she had ever seen. It's finery and beauty were almost beyond comprehension.

The room was decorated in a rich burgandy and dark green. With touches of gold and silver here and there.

The bed was the largest Hermione had ever seen, and also the most inviting. She was so tired, so utterly exhausted that it seemed completely natural for her to pull back the red and green covelet with it's silver and gold tassles.

Had she not felt so drowsy she would have undoubtably noticed the fact that the colour scheme seemed to be a mix of both Gryffindor and Slytherin. She would also have undoubtably found this very curious and wondered why on earth Salazar Slytherin, who had dispised Godric Gryffindor would choose to decorate a room in his chamber in such a manner.

As it was however, Hermione could barely keep her eyes open. It was not beyond her to notice that the viper had disappeared, and she briefly wondered where precisely it had disappeared to, before sleep descended and she knew no more.

**************end of part 3**************