Ron's Moment With……..……Lockhart?
By: TheMischiefMakers
A/N: Well it's about Ron and Lockhart. What happened after Harry left them to proceed to the Chamber of Secrets. The beginning and ending sections of this story are from pages 304 and 323 in Chamber of Secrets, by Rowling, all the rest belong to us. Better beware Lockhart lies within, or is it Lockhart?
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"I'll try and shift some of this rock," said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can -- can get back through. And, Harry-."
"See you in a bit." said Harry.
Ron nodded, even though he knew Harry couldn't see him, it instilled in him a little confidence at least. He listened and heard Harry's retreating steps, hoping that he would be safe and everything would turn out all right. Soon Harry's footsteps were gone and Ron sighed, closed his eyes and rested his head on the cold rock.
"It'll turn out fine," he whispered to himself. "I know it will."
Ron shook his head to clear the dark thoughts about Ginny being trapped in the Chamber. It wouldn't help to dwell on it. He had work to do. He turned and looked around the tunnel. Actually, they were lucky to be alive after the cave-in, which was caused by a now unconscious Professor Lockhart. Ron gave Lockhart a disdainful look.
"It's me that's in for the real torture, trapped with Lockhart. At least he had the good form to get knocked out, even if I did help him along the way."
Ron kicked Lockhart, he moaned but thankfully remained unconscious.
"Stupid git," said Ron under his breath as he turned his attention back to the rock wall "Standing here looking at it won't change it."
Ron began to shift rocks a little at a time. He removed a small rock and turned to Lockhart.
"He won't notice it."
Ron threw the rock at Lockhart and it hit him on the arm but he didn't move. Ron rolled his eyes and continued to shift small rocks. He stopped and looked at the ceiling.
"Just hope it doesn't cave-in further," he said worriedly as he shifted another rock and a small amount of rubble rolled onto the ground.
"I wonder how far Harry's gotten? I wonder if he's found Ginny?"
Ron closed his eyes to keep from crying, thinking of Ginny, alone, in that place scared him to death.
"Harry will save her," he reminded himself as he continued to shift the rocks. Soon, though, Ron found his thoughts straying to Harry, Ginny and the beast that lay within the Chamber. A Basilisk was nothing to fool around with. It was one of the most horrible of magical creatures, complete with dangerously deadly eyes, a poisonous green body and long poisonous fangs. Ron had seen pictures in their books and he shuddered at the thought.
Another rock shifted.
He wanted to help save Ginny too. She was his little sister, after all so he felt it was his duty to rescue her.
"It's only her first year at Hogwarts," he thought. "She's a just a little girl who's never bothered anyone. What would Slytherin's heir want with her?"
The rock in front of him shifted slightly as he removed more stones, but it was still blocking the passage.
"She is pureblood!" he muttered savagely, as he flung a larger stone down the corridor with all his strength behind it. "Why would he have taken her."
Anger at Slytherin's Heir and at his situation swelled within him.
"I need to help her and here I am stuck on the wrong side of this stupid wall with this git!"
He glared at Lockhart's still form and had a debate with himself about whether he should throw another rock at Lockhart. He picked up another one and hefted it to check its weight. He shook his head and threw the rock instead at a point on the wall about two feet over Lockhart's head. The rock hit the exact spot Ron aimed for and a small amount of dust drifted down to settle on Lockhart's face.
"Yes! The great Ron Weasley of Gryffindor has just made the most astounding Quidditch goal of the century. From his position at goal he sent the Quaffle shooting past the entire Slytherin team and their Keeper. It was the most astounding thing…"
Ron stopped as he heard Lockhart moan behind him. Turning around he saw Lockhart shift his position slightly and the slip back into unconsciousness. Ron sighed and began shifting more rock.
"I don't believe it, his still out cold. Leave it to Lockhart to sleep when he should be helping me move this rock. The lazy lay about."
Ron continued shifting rock for several more minuets and slowly a hole began to appear in what had been a solid wall of tumbled down rock. He thought about what Harry might be facing alone in the Chamber. He had tried to listen, to hear what was going on but the Chamber of Secrets must be too far away for him to hear anything passing within it walls. He paused and strained his ears to the fullest hoping to catch some sound. He thought he heard the sound of a distant battle echoing down the corridor but he couldn't be sure. He shrugged and went back to work. Harry and Ginny would need to pass through this wall to get back to the school. He wondered whether Ginny was still alive and if Harry was doing all right.
"What would Mum do if Ginny died down here?"
He hated to think such dark, unpleasant thoughts and he told himself not to. Harry would find her alive. He would rescue her and bring her back to them.
"He will!" he said to the air around him. "I know he will."
Ron removed more of the rock blocking the passage, hoping everything would turn out fine.
"I should be there. If it wasn't for this stupid…"
Lockhart stirred again and Ron closed his mouth abruptly.
"Stupid git," he thought, shifting more of the stones. "Only a complete and total idiot would use a spello-taped wand to work a powerful charm and expect it to perform as well as an unbroken wand. Guess we're lucky that he grabbed mine instead of Harry's. Lockhart with a whole wand would be a danger to everyone around him."
He sighed and couldn't resist throwing another small rock at Lockhart. This one hit him on the face right between the eyes. Lockhart moaned softly and sat bolt upright with his eyes wide and staring. Ron froze with his hand still upraised. Quickly he put it down and stammered out an excuse before Lockhart could take away any points from Gryffindor.
"Professor Lockhart, sir. The rock fell from the ceiling," he said, thinking quickly and hoping Lockhart believed him.
Lockhart peered at Ron as if seeing him for the first time. Then he looked around.
"Rocks?" asked Lockhart with a blank expression on his face. He looked around some more. "Well, there are lots of them here aren't there."
Lockhart continued to look around with that same blank stare. Ron gave Lockhart a strange look and turned back to his work at the wall.
"Well," said Ron under his breath, "that vacant stare is not too unlike Lockhart."
"Who are you?" asked Lockhart from Ron's shoulder. Ron nearly turned and slapped Lockhart for scaring him but he stopped short.
"I'm Ron, sir, Ron Weasley."
If Lockhart recognized the name he sure didn't act like it.
"Maybe that last rock I threw addled his brains, that is if he has a brain, which I doubt."
Lockhart continued to look at Ron, still wearing that same vacant expression on his face. Ron shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the wall. Again Lockhart interrupted him but tugging on his sleeve to get his attention.
"Why are you moving those rocks, can't we just go out that way?" he said pointing down the tunnel that they had come from earlier. While it was true that was the way out, Ron merely found Lockhart's question irksome.
"We can't. Harry's in the Chamber saving Ginny."
"Harry? Chamber? Ginny?" replied Lockhart. "I'm not sure I understand."
"Harry Potter, Chamber of Secrets, Ginny Weasley," said Ron annoyed. "Could you do something useful and stay out of my way until I ask you to help. Not that I really need you're help." He said that last under his breath.
Lockhart walked away and started looking around the tunnel. He stopped and looked at the wall as if it held the answers to all his questions. Then he looked at a strange ivyish looking plant that was hanging from a crevice in the rocks. He pulled it out and began to twirl it around his finger and looking at it, with a strange preoccupied expression on his face. Ron watched him for several minutes, each minute becoming more disturbing then the last.
"He's completely mental," said Ron as he turned back to his rock wall.
Ron continued to shift rock after rock as Lockhart began to sing a song to his little ivy plant.
"Little Plant, Little Plant you are so-oo green.
Little Plant, Little Plant, can you tell me what this means.
I'm trapped in here, I know not why.
I'm stuck here with this crazy guy.
Little Plant, Little Plant can you help me please."
Ron groaned and hit his head on the rock. "Someone just kill me now."
"If you keep hitting you're head on that rock
You just might die.
I think it might take a while though.
Please, don't ask me why," sang Lockhart.
Ron rolled his eyes and counted to ten. Then he counted to ten again just for good measure and continued to shift the rock.
"Please, let Harry come soon. Please."
"Harry, Harry doesn't exist.
You made him up I swear.
Because I've never heard of him.
This I do swear."
Ron turned to Lockhart to see him dancing around the tunnel with the ivy plant as his partner. Quickly Ron turned back to the rocks, and the wall and the normal thoughts that were going though his brain.
"Please, Harry," he thought "I can't bear much more of this."
Ron dared a glance behind him to see Lockhart sitting on the floor talking quietly to his plant. Ron shook his head.
"Professor could you give me a hand here," Ron hazard to asked as another rock shifted. He got no response from Lockhart, which annoyed him. "Professor Lockhart, could you give me a hand, please."
Lockhart put a hand up to his plant as if stopping a sentence that was coming from it.
"Are you talking to me? Am I a professor? Who'd hire me? And who are you? And why are we trapped here? And why can't we just go back that way?" he pointed again down the tunnel.
It was with amusement and horror that Ron realized what had happened.
"Don't you remember anything?"
Lockhart looked to his plant for the answer, then he said.
"No. Why am I dressed like this?" he asked laying his plant in his lap and pulling at his robe. "I hate this color."
Ron turned away from Lockhart and started laughing quietly.
"Of course, " he hit the rock in front of him. "The Memory Charm backfired onto him and now…"
Ron started laughing harder; he had to put his arm against the wall to bury his face in his elbow to keep the laughter from echoing down the tunnel. Lockhart merely sat looking disdainfully at his robes, his ivy plant all but forgotten.
"I absolutely hate green," moaned Lockhart as he stood and began to pick at his robes with a disgusted look on his face.
"It's blue."
"Blue?" Lockhart looked at Ron confused.
"Blue's the color you're wearing," Ron said slowly as if he was trying to teach a child.
"Blue… this is blue?" Lockhart scratched his head, still confused.
Ron sighed. "Great I'm stuck here with a brainless twit. Professor Lockhart, maybe you could give me a hand."
Lockhart stared at Ron like he was insane but he proceed to clap his hands anyway.
" No, I mean will you please help me."
"What? Help you move these… these…" he paused to think a moment.
"Rocks, sir."
"Of course they are rocks. I'm not a fool," Lockhart waved his hands impatiently. "If you don't mind me asking, why can't we just go back out that way? I'm sure it's the way out of here."
"Because… oh never mind. You've really done a number on yourself."
Lockhart looked confused by this and kept looking all over for a number.
Ron shook his head and said "Well."
Lockhart stopped his search for a number and began looking for a well.
"Well? Can't see a well. I'm sure there's one around here somewhere," he paused for moment to double check, and then he asked, "Do you live here?"
"Argh!… No. I. Do. Not. Live. Here!"
"No need to be so rude. It was just a question."
"I'm sorry. Now are you going to help me or not?" asked Ron.
"All right,' said Lockhart, picking at his clothes again. Then he noticed that Ron was also wearing robes. "You know, we're both dressed funny."
Ron shrugged and removed a particularly large rock, setting it aside. Lockhart watched Ron for a few minuets and then he began to "help". Unfortunately his idea of "helping" was to take whatever rock Ron removed and try to put it somewhere else in the pile. After several minuets of this kind of helping, Ron stopped shifting the rock and walked away. There was now a large opening in what had been a solid wall big enough for Harry and Ginny to climb through when they returned. Ron turned his back on Lockhart and stretched his stiff back.
"You know I would have been finished with that much sooner if… Hey! Stop that!"
Ron had turned to find Lockhart in the act of putting back the last rock he had removed. The large hole he had created had now shrunk back down to the size it had been when he started.
Lockhart smiled that annoying smile of his again.
"Now that we've finished here, can we please go out this way. This place gives me the collywobbles."
"Why don't you go ahead and go yourself, Professor. I'll catch up later," said Ron in an almost deadly voice.
"Okay, I will," said Lockhart, tugging on his robes again as he spun on his heel and headed back the way they has come.
"Good riddance, " said Ron as he frantically began to toss rocks around in an effort to open the hole again.
Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw a white-faced Lockhart staring at him with wide eyes.
"Why are you doing that?" he said, indicating the rock pile.
"So that Harry and Ginny can get through. They are in…" seeing the blank look on Lockhart's face, Ron stopped. "Oh, never mind. Just sit there and don't move, please."
Ron pointed to a corner that had some low hanging rocks. Surprisingly, Lockhart did as he was told. He walked over, looked at the ground, brushed off the debris around it and sat.
"Maybe that rock will fall on him," said Ron savagely under his breath as he turned away from Lockhart and back to his task again.
Lockhart noticed his ivy plant lying nearby and after Ron turned back to the wall he crawled over to retrieve it. He looked at it and began to pet it like an animal, then a spoke:
"I don't understand any of this."
Ron pretended not to hear him and said under his breath, "What I don't understand is why I got stuck here with you. Someone, somewhere is having a really good laugh about this."
"What did you say?" asked Lockhart who was now standing at Ron's elbow again watching him with the ivy plant dangling around his neck.
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!" exclaimed Ron, startled by Lockhart and the plant.
"What!!!!" said Lockhart looking wildly around for some terrible creature to be attacking them from behind.
"You! That's what!" said Ron losing his temper and turning red with frustration. Lockhart gave him a strange look.
"You're afraid of me?" he looking down at himself. "Well, I suppose I do look pretty evil wearing these clothes"
Lockhart stood there petting a leaf of his plant like a snake and looking innocent. If looks could've killed at that moment Lockhart would've died more then a thousand times. Ron,
who's face was as red as it had ever been, was seething with pent up anger, anger that was about to explode like a volcano. Then Lockhart went one step to far.
"What's wrong? Why are you all red? Are you choking or something? Let me help."
Lockhart walked towards Ron who quickly backed away. Of course there was little space for Ron to back up and he ended up hitting his head on a section of rock. Then Ron slipped on some small rocks on the floor and fell face down at Lockhart's feet, knocking the wind out of him. Ron glared up at Lockhart then grabbed a hold of the hem of his robes and pulled with all his anger and might combined. Lockhart fell to the floor backwards. Ron got up and looked down at Lockhart who was sitting up, using his elbows for support and violently shaking his head.
"Just sit there and don't move!" commanded Ron as he rubbed his head. He turned away from Lockhart his anger satisfied. Lockhart sniffled and rubbed his nose on his sleeve. Ron didn't, couldn't feel sorry for Lockhart. He felt sorry for himself. Ron sighed and removed some more of the rocks.
"I just want to help," said Lockhart in a sad voice.
"That's okay. I don't need anymore of your kind of help."
Lockhart sighed and crawled back towards the corner he was sitting in before. Ron watched him out of the corner of his eyes. Lockhart just sat there looking sad and alone.
"Don't even think of it Ronald Weasely," he told himself. "He wants you to feel sorry for him, don't fall for it."
Ron watched Lockhart for a while longer. Suddenly, Lockhart's sadness dissolved into bitterness as he looked at his robes in disdain. Ron rolled his eyes and returned to the wall.
"Harry hurry up I'm not sure I can take much more of this. I think he's worse then Gilderoy Lockhart who knows he's Gilderoy Lockhart."
Ron returned to his task and Lockhart, for his part, sat picking at his robes muttering about how much he hated the color "red".
"Blue…" muttered Ron as the hole before him grew wider again. He looked back at where Lockhart sat dejectedly in his corner. He was petting his plant again and talking to it. Ron shook his head. Suddenly Lockhart jumped from his seat, hit his head on the low hanging rocks, and spun around with a look of abject terror on his face.
"Did you hear that? Can we please leave now… whatever made that noise is coming this way," Lockhart made as if to run back down the passage.
Ron listened but heard absolutely nothing. The passage was as silent as a tomb. Ron glared at Lockhart who had grown pale and was beginning to tremble. He shook his head and Lockhart slowly sat down, rubbing his head. He began to talk to his plant again, muttering something about "crazy lunatics in black robes". Ron choose to ignore him and began to listen for the footsteps that would herald the arrival of Harry and Ginny. He strained his ears but still heard nothing.
"They're not coming back. Might as well leave this place…" began Lockhart voicing the fear that was in Ron's heart.
"Maybe they are both dead by now. Harry's been gone for far to long and Ginny was taken hours before the three of them had entered the passageway that led to the Chamber."
"Maybe they're not even real," continued Lockhart, talking to his plant again.
"They are real! They are down in the Chamber right now!" bellowed Ron as Lockhart cringed.
"You don't need to yell, I'm not deaf," replied Lockhart calmly. "I was just checking. Can we PLEASE go now? I'm really afraid of dark, enclosed places."
Ron threw up his hands.
"What was that?" Lockhart jumped to his feet again and peered out of the hole Ron had made.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Lockhart in a panic began to try to fill the hole again.
Ron moved to stop him when he saw a sight that made his heart soar. There, running down the passage, was Harry with Ginny right behind him.
"Get back you! Go back up the tunnel. Now!" Ron bellowed.
Lockhart squealed in fright, dropping the rock he was holding right on Ron's foot. Lockhart rushed back up the passage toward its entrance, running as if Peeves the Poltergeist was after him.
"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"
Ron sighed with relief. His moment with Lockhart was finally over, or was it….
The End.