Consciousness came quickly to Harry. He cracked open an eye and looked around furtively, while he tried to remember where he was. It took a minute to realize he was in his room in Slytherin and he was safe. He allowed his eyes to close for a brief moment, letting out a deep breath.
Once he did, Harry's eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly. He felt his muscles respond despite the stiffness and accompanying soreness that reminded him vividly of the rest of the previous night's events.
Harry remembered not wanting to try and flame through the wards to the Chamber. He had regretted this choice as he had been violently woken up the night before in the secret passage with the sensation of Kreacher smacking his face, none too gently. Harry had pushed the demented house elf off him with a groan, every muscle in his body sore.
When he had glared at Draco, the prat had merely smirked and said in an innocent voice, "Well, I thought of enervating you, but your friend Granger was always spouting off about the muggle way of doing things. I would have done it myself but Kreacher offered and I let him do the honors. I must say they might be on to something, I rather enjoyed that."
Harry had groaned but had been too tired to retaliate at the moment, merely filing away a mental note to exact vengeance at a later date. They had worked their way back through the secret passage, Draco leading the way, while Harry moved slowly and stiffly behind him. Kreacher brought up the rear, since he was tasked to levitate the still unconscious Regulus behind him. When they reached the end of the secret passage, Harry decided it was time to bring out one of the few things he retained from his parents. Something he hadn't used in years, and not since he arrived in this world, but it was custom made for sneaking around the castle.
He reached into the moleskin pouch and pulled it out. Draco watched curiously as Harry pointed to the parchment and murmured quietly. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Harry watched as the familiar reddish ink and flowing cursive script filled the parchment declaring it the Marauder's Map, proudly for anyone to see. He watched as the map filled out the familiar map of the castle. But then it stopped. Harry watched the map with expectation, but nothing further happened, there was no spread of names anywhere. Harry tapped his wand to the parchment and repeated the phrase only to have no change.
Harry cursed softly under his breath, as much irritated with the map not working, as he was for assuming it would and not having checked himself already. He made another mental note to get the map to work as soon as possible.
"We'll just have to keep a sharp eye out." Harry said shortly, while he ignored Draco's puzzled look before Harry opened the secret passage quietly.
They made it to the girl's bathroom without incident, Harry left Draco in the bathroom before venturing down into the Chamber, and had gotten Regulus into the Chamber with surprisingly little hassle.
He gave Kreacher the option to stay with Regulus or come back upstairs. Predictably, the house elf immediately volunteered to stay and care for his master. Harry ordered the elf not to go anywhere beyond the Chamber but the point became moot when Kreacher realized that he couldn't teleport in and out of the Chamber. Something in the wards of the Chamber prevented elf travel.
Harry handed Kreacher the shrunken picnic basket they had brought with them initially, and brought out a few blankets from his trunk so Regulus didn't get cold in the admittedly damp Chamber.
Harry was then forced to reconsider his earlier stance on not killing the basilisk when he had to gave a nearly twenty minute explanation to the large snake that Regulus and Kreacher were not food and they were not to be eaten. The snake seemed to have trouble grasping the concept that food could exist and yet it couldn't eat it. When Harry was stiff and sore and wanted rest, explaining the concepts began to tread upon the last frayed edges of his patience.
In the end, Harry resolved to bring it food the next day. Snakes didn't eat often, so he didn't think it would be too much trouble for it to wait a bit longer.
Harry made it back to the entrance and had Draco summon him back up the pipe. Draco was rather disappointed when Harry didn't even let out the smallest cry. Their trip back to the common room was slow, but it was eventually made without incident. Harry had enough presence of mind to tell Draco that there would be no swim in the morning before he stumbled toward his room.
Flaming two times with a passenger had taken a lot out of him. It wasn't that he felt magically tired, as flaming like that was a direct drain his physical stamina rather than his magic. When he'd collapsed into bed that night, Harry hadn't even been certain he'd be able to move his stiff muscles the next morning.
He pulled himself out of his memories, and frowned as he stood up. He stretched his frame out, and realized that he was nowhere as stiff as he expected to be. He also noted that he had passed right out in bed without even taking time to take off his armor, though he chalked that as much up to habit as he did to tiredness from the evening before.
He was so tired he realized he hadn't bothered to even secure his room before he fell asleep. He was thankful that the Fidelius charm on his room prevented anyone from entering it, since only Draco knew the secret. That thought stopped him cold. How had the world flipped so upside-down that Draco knowing a secret filled him with reassurance?
After a quick tempus on his wand to tell the time, and determining that it was still before dawn, Harry pulled his trunk off his neck, and removed his cloak and armor, taking time to set it in his trunk, before pulling out some of the clothing he had gotten with the Flamels the previous week. He took time to cast a few Scourgifys in lieu of a shower.
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