Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed Neville's Story. I hope you like Revisiting the Chamber of Secrets. As ever, sadly, I own no rights to the characters in this story. They were created by the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling.
Did you ever wonder what happened when Ron and Hermione went down to the Chamber of Secrets? I did. This story is a little rough. When I woke up this morning, it was demanding to be told, so I've written it fairly quickly. I may work on revising it at some point in the future, but who knows? There are so many stories to be told.
REVISITING THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
Ron and Hermione watched as Harry and Luna exited the Room of Requirements to make their way to the Ravenclaw common room.
Upon their departure the room was filled with the excited murmurs of their fellow students. "Now that the time has come, we need to get organized." At Neville's words, the room grew quiet again. All eyes turned to Neville for guidance. While Ron and Hermione were more than surprised at Neville's show of leadership, it seemed the other occupants in the room were used to deferring to him.
While Neville discussed possible plans of action and fielded questions and suggestions from the other students, Ron and Hermione drifted away from the group into a quiet corner of the room. In a hushed tone, Hermione voiced her concern to Ron, "Even if we manage to locate the diadem, how are we going to destroy it? Griphook took the sword. We have no idea where it is. We still have Hufflepuff's goblet to destroy," her voice rising in pitch with her frustration.
As Ron listened to Hermione ramble, he recalled the last time they had discussed the ways to destroy a Horcrux. Right before Bill and Fleur's wedding. They had been sitting in Ron's room, and Hermione had been filling them in on what she had learned from the books she'd borrowed from Dumbledore's office. Lucky we've got such a large supply of basilisk fangs, then.
"HERMIONE!"
Hermione continued with her musings. "HERMIONE!!" This time she stopped and directed a level stare at Ron, unhappy with being interrupted while trying to find a solution.
"Basilisk venom!" Ron said, so pleased with his suggestion.
"Yes, Ron. The sword could destroy a Horcrux because it had imbued the basilisk venom when Harry …." A look of wondrous surprise replaced the strained look on her face. "When he killed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Ron, you're brilliant."
Ron positively beamed under her admiration, and wondered how he could feel so pleased in the atmosphere of impending doom in which they had lived for so long. "If we leave now, we can collect some fangs from the chamber and meet Harry back here."
"But, Ron, how will we get into the chamber? It only opens to those who order it to open in Parseltongue, remember. We'll have to wait until Harry gets back and then go down."
"We can't wait that long, Hermione. Harry said Voldemort is on his way here. We have to destroy the goblet. We have to be ready to destroy the diadem. I heard Harry open the locket in the forest. I think I can repeat it. We have to at least try."
Surprised by the reasoning Ron had put into his plan, Hermione agreed. However, she had to voice her last concern. "How will we get back out? Didn't Fawkes fly you out last time?"
"Well … we'll fly back out, again. Only this time…" he grabbed the broom standing in the corner beside them, "… we'll fly out on a broom." Gripping the broom in one hand, he reached for Hermione with the other. She took his hand and started to follow him in the direction Harry and Luna had gone only moments ago.
Before they left, she turned and called to Neville, "Neville, should Harry return before us, please tell him we went to the second floor girls' lavatory." Neville looked bewildered, but agreed to relay her message.
Ron and Hermione hurried up the steps of the passage, wondering where in the castle the room would let them out. Luck was on their side, or maybe the room had responded to what they needed, and they exited on the second floor, down the hall from the girls' lavatory. As they ran down the hall, they could hear distant echoes from other parts of the castle. Little did they know that the castle's other occupants were preparing to fight.
Ron threw open the door to the lavatory and rushed inside, Hermione on his heels. "Where's your friend?" The bossy voice brought them up short, startling Ron so badly, that he almost dropped the broom. He immediately dropped Hermione's hand and pushed her behind him, brandishing his wand. When he located the source of the voice, he lowered his wand. "Myrtle."
"Where's Harry? It's been ever so long since he came to visit me." The bossy voice had turned into a whine.
"He's otherwise occupied right now, Myrtle." Ron replied. He and Hermione made their way over to stand in before the porcelain sinks. He stared at the sink while he concentrated on recreating the sounds Harry had made in the Forest of Dean to open the locket. His throat emitted a low hissing sound, but the sinks remained firmly in place without so much as a twitch.
A sly giggle sounded behind them. "Do you really think you can get back in there without Harry?!" Myrtle's voice grated on Ron's nerves. Hermione shot her a look of pure malice.
"We'll thank you to keep your mouth shut, Myrtle. Ron can do it." Her sharp tone quieted the obnoxious ghost. Hermione took Ron's hand again, focusing his attention on her. In a softer voice she said, "You can do it, Ron. I know you can."
Turning back toward the sinks, Ron closed his eyes and thought back to that early morning in the forest. He had been so cold wandering through the trees, searching for Harry and Hermione. Then suddenly, he saw the bright light of the Patronus, and he followed it until it ran out of sight. And there he was. Harry was standing by the lake, and as Ron watched, he dove into the water. Ron could remember it all so clearly. Diving in to save him. Harry telling him that Ron should be the one to destroy the locket. Standing with the sword in his hands as Harry counted to three and then …."
As he recalled the moment in the forest, the strange hissing sound again came from his throat. This time, it was followed by the dragging and clanking as the sinks pulled back, revealing the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. "Oh my," Hermione softly exclaimed. "Ron, you did it."
"Ready, then?" Ron asked. Together they stepped over the threshold and felt as if the world had dropped out from under them as they plunged deep into the bowels of Hogwarts. While Ron had already made one trip to the chamber, he still couldn't keep the "Merlin's beard!" from escaping. Hermione, who did not have past experience to dull the shock let out a screech as they descended. Thankfully, though, the fall was quickly over and they landed in the cavernous underbelly of the school.
"This way." Ron led Hermione in the direction Harry had taken that night they sought out the chamber to save Ginny. He remembered the fear he had felt for his sister. This time, his fear was not only for his sister. He knew that the fate of the wizarding world rested on their success. In all the time since they started on their quest, he had never felt that weight as he did now. Maybe it was because he knew that the end was finally near. Defeating Voldemort was no longer an abstract idea. It was now a reality. He could tell from Hermione's silence and tension that the same thoughts plagued her.
As they made their way over the rocks and rubble, they came closer to the Chamber. Finally, the vault-like door was in front of them. Open, as it had remained on that night long ago when Harry had unknowingly destroyed the first Horcrux and rescued Ginny. Still in silence, they gingerly climber through the open portal, knowing the basilisk had been killed many years ago, yet still feeling as though it could strike at any moment.
It did not take them long to find the remains of the basilisk. The carcass lay where it had fallen after Harry had run it through with Gryffindor's sword. The damp, cool air in the cavern had done much to slow the process of decay. Rather than the bones they had been expecting, they instead saw a sunken, shriveled memory of what the great beast had been.
The ghastly sight jolted Ron out of his silence. "Oi, let's hurry and get the fangs, so we can get out of here."
"I'll second that." Hermione replied in a voice made small by the memory of what had occurred in this place. They hurried to the head of the basilisk.
"Careful of the fangs, Ron." Hermione warned.
"You think?!" Ron gripped one of the curved, yellowed fangs, prepared to give a massive jerk. Surprisingly, the fang pulled free of the skull quite easily, loosened from the years of decay. Startled by how easily, it had come free, Ron lost his footing.
"RON!" Hermione grabbed for him before he could fall and possibly pierce himself with the fang.
With Hermione's help, he quickly righted himself. "I'm okay. Just wasn't prepared for that." He moved back to the skull and pulled more of the fangs free. "I think this ought to be enough. Don't you?"
"I think it's more than enough, but we should destroy the goblet immediately. Who knows what we'll walk into when we go back up." She was already rummaging in her little beaded bag for the goblet.
"Good idea." When she pulled the goblet free of the bag, Ron took it from her and sat it on the floor a few feet from the basilisk's skull. He then picked up a fang and offered it to Hermione.
"What?" Hermione looked at the fang Ron held out to her. A look of fear on her face. Now that the moment was upon them, she could no longer control her self-doubt. "I think you should do it, Ron. It was your idea."
"Yeah, but I never would have thought of it if you hadn't done all that research. Hermione, all along, you've been the one to hold us together. The one to push us forward." Earnestly, Ron tried to convince her of her own strength and power. "You stayed, Hermione. You stayed."
And it was that simple. Hermione took the basilisk fang from Ron's outstretched hand. They kneeled on either side of the goblet, facing each other. Sensing its end, the goblet started to vibrate, as if the thing trapped inside could somehow free itself and escape. Ron gripped the goblet by the based. "Do it, Hermione."
Hermione prepared to stab the fang into the bowl of the goblet. Suddenly, she froze. Transfixed by a vision only she could see. The thing inside the goblet would not go without a fight.
"You think you can destroy me?! Fool girl. Who are you compared to me! You, who no one wants to be friends with." And suddenly, Hermione was back in her first year at Hogwarts, wanting so desperately to prove she belonged. Ron and Harry were walking in front of her, and Ron's voice echoed, "No wonder she hasn't got any friends."
"They are not your friends. Why would they be friends with an ugly, little mudblood like you. They're only using you. A mudblood, you may be, but you're still a very smart witch. I could use someone like you. You could join me." A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. "No. No." She moaned.
The scene changed to the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Lavender were huddled together in one of the chairs kissing and giggling. Hermione looked on in desolation, feeling her heart break into a million little pieces. Suddenly, the pair looked over at her. Lavender giggled, "Did you honestly, think he would want to be with someone like you?! Look at yourself!" And then Hermione could see herself, wild, frizzy hair. Buck teeth. Lavender's peels of laughter grew louder. Ron joined her, laughing wildly at the idea that he could ever love her.
Ron watched, feeling helpless, as more tears leaked from Hermione's eyes and slowly tracked down her cheeks. Although he did not know what Hermione was seeing, staring so vacantly into the space between them, he remembered what had happened in the forest when he had tried to destroy the locket. How the piece of Voldemort's soul had tried to make him doubt himself. Making him see things that weren't real. Playing on his feelings for Hermione.
And suddenly, he knew what would hurt Hermione the most. What Voldemort would use against her because he considered it the greatest weakness. Little did he know that it was the greatest power of all.
"Hermione." Still she stared into space, trapped in her own nightmare.
"Hermione." One hand still gripping the base of the goblet, he reached over with the other to wipe a tear off her cheek. At his touch, he eyes shifted to his, and finally, she was actually seeing him. "I love you, Hermione. I've always loved you. It just took me a while to figure it out."
At his words, Hermione broke free of the thoughts that had paralyzed her and raised the fang above her head, stabbing it down into the base of the goblet with a strength born of Ron's words. As the fang pierced the thin silver, they could hear a distant scream, as the thing within it died. The cup seemed to fold in on itself, the metal crinkling and buckling.
Hermione stood, looking down at what remained of the goblet. As Ron rose across from her, her gaze shifted to him. She stepped over the goblet and into his arms. He held her tight, stroking her hair, giving comfort. "Hermione, when this is over…."
"Yes, when it's over." She squeezed him tight once more, then released him. Remembering what still lay ahead. She pulled away and began gathering up the basilisk fangs. "We need to get back." Ron helped her gather up more fangs. With an armful of fangs, he mounted the broomstick he had dropped next to the basilisk skull. Hermione climbed on behind him, wrapping one arm around his waist to keep her seat. With the other, she gripped her share of fangs.
"Ready, then?" Ron turned to ask.
"Ready." And with that, he pushed off. Soaring across the chamber and through the tunnels, coming closer and closer to the battle raging above, knowing they now had so much more to fight for.