Chapter Nine: The Beginning of the End

Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall, acting Headmistress while Dumbledore was gone, had an announcement during breakfast. "I have good news."

"Dumbledore's coming back!" Several people yelled.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" Isobel squealed with excitement.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" Wood roared.

"No exams!" Seamus joined in.

She waited until everyone quieted down. "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting. Tonight, we will be able to revive all who have been Petrified."

Everyone cheered again, and Charlotte grinned over at Harry as the mail arrived. Circe dropped a letter on the table in front of her.

Charli,

Why on earth are you wanting to know about Basilisks? I only know they're huge snakes and very, very dangerous.

Dad

She sighed and didn't bother writing him back. However, as Lockhart was leading them to History of Magic, it occurred to her she hadn't shared her information with Harry yet, but as she opened her mouth, Lockhart spoke. "Mark my words, the first words out of those poor people's mouths will be 'it was Hagrid.' I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."

"I agree, sir." Harry said, making Ron drop his books and Charlotte smack his head.

"Thank you, Harry. I mean, we teachers have enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night…"

"That's right." Ron agreed. Charlotte smacked him as well. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will. I really should go and prepare my next class." Lockhart hurried off.

"What are you two idiots playing at?"

Harry just held her arm as the other students kept walking and they darted down a side passage, Harry dragging Charlotte with them. "Potter! Weasley! What are you three doing?" Professor McGonagall, her mouth the thinnest Charlotte had ever seen it, blocked their path to the unknown destination. "We, uh, we were going to see-" Ron stammered.

"Hermione." She and Harry answered, to Ron and McGonagall's surprise. Harry continued, "We haven't seen her for ages, Professor, and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready, and er-"

"Not to worry." Charlotte finished.

"Of course." McGonagall's voice was croaky. "Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."

Madam Pomfrey reluctantly let them in. "There's just no point talking to a Petrified person." She said, leaving the trio alone.

"You think she saw her attacker, though?" Ron looked sadly at their friend's face.

Harry and Charlotte, however, had noticed a piece of paper clenched tightly in her hand. "Harry! That's the paper she took from the library!"

"Try and get it out!" Ron said eagerly, shifting his chair.

After a few minutes, Harry succeeded and they left the hospital wing. As they walked along, Harry read from the paper. "Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the king of serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live for hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it." Harry looked up, breathless. "Ron, Charli! It all fits. That's why I can hear it! It's a snake!"

Charlotte, who'd grown pale with Harry's every word, said nothing. "But if it kills by looking people in the eye, how is it no one's died?" Ron asked.

"Because no one did look it in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera. Justin must've seen the snake through Nearly Headless Nick, but Nick can't die. He's already dead. And Hermione and the Ravenclaw girl had the mirror!"

"I'm pretty sure Mrs. Norris didn't have a camera or a mirror though."

Harry frowned for a second. "There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection."

"How's it been getting around, though? A dirty great snake, someone would've seen it."

"Hermione's answered that, as well." Harry said, showing them the paper. "Pipes. It's using the plumbing…and that explains why I've been hearing it in the walls-" Charlotte interrupted his excited rambling by throwing up in the nearest trash bin. The thought of there being a snake in the bathroom made her sick. "Charli, are you okay?"

"Don't like snakes." She muttered, trying to calm herself, and wiped her mouth. "Freak me out. I'd hoped it was over."

Harry smiled sympathetically. "Come on, let's wait in the staff room. McGonagall will know what to do."

"All students are to return to their House dormitories immediately. All teachers report to the staff room." McGonagall's voice, magically amplified, echoed in the corridors.

Harry quickly yanked the two into an old wardrobe, full of cloaks, and positioned himself to where he could see through the crack. "A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself." McGonagall said.

Snape's voice, tight with worry, asked, "How can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin left another message, right under the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."

"Who is it?" Madam Hooch inquired weakly over another teacher's sobs. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley." Ron slid down onto the floor, his eyes wide with shock. "We shall have to send the students home tomorrow. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."

Suddenly, the door burst open. "So sorry, dozed off. What've I missed?"

"Just the man." Snape said, and Charlotte could hear the sneer in his voice. "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last."

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber lies?" Professor Sprout added.

"We'll leave you to it then, Gilderoy." McGonagall said sharply.

"Very well. I'll be in my office, getting- getting ready."

As soon as the teachers left, Harry opened the wardrobe. "Lockhart may be useless but he's going to try to get into the Chamber. At least we can tell him what we know."

"Do I have to go?" Charlotte asked weakly.

Harry sighed. "Come on, Charli!"

As they opened the door, the sight that met their eyes drove all thoughts of creepy, slithering snakes from Charlotte's mind. Lockhart's trunks were hastily packed, his portraits gone, books crammed inside his trunks with his robes. "Are you going somewhere?" She asked coldly.

"Er, well, yes. Urgent call, unavoidable, got to go."

"What about my sister?" Ron nearly yelled. "You can't just leave now!"

"Most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I."

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Harry said in disbelief.

"There was nothing in the job description about-"

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "You're running away?"

"After all that stuff you did in your books?" Harry finished.

"Books can be misleading." Lockhart said softly.

"You wrote them!"

"My dear boy, do use your common sense! My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things!"

"You're a fraud! Is there anything you can do?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm rather gifted with Memory Charms." He pulled out his wand, but all three of them had theirs trained on the incompetent teacher.

"Don't even think about it." Charlotte snarled.

"You're going with us." Harry said. "We think we know where it is."

They marched through the corridors to an out-of-order girls' bathroom and Charlotte's fear came back. "H-Harry, you don't think it's in there, do you?"

He nodded and a ghost girl, wearing glasses peered at them. "Hello, Harry. What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died." Harry said delicately.

"All I remember is seeing a pair of great big, yellow eyes over there," she pointed, "by that sink."

Harry inspected the sink and found something he was looking for. Charlotte was trying to will herself not to get sick again. "This is it." He said, turning back to the sink and spoke to it in Parseltongue.

The sink sank down into the ground, revealing a large pipe. "Well, you hardly seem to need me." Lockhart smiled. "I'll just-"

"You're going first."

"Why?"

"Better you than us." Ron sneered, pushing the professor down the pipe.

Harry turned to Charlotte. She'd sank to her feet her wand in her lap. "You can stay up here. If we're not back by tomorrow, let McGonagall know what happened."

"Thank you!" She said gratefully. "Harry, Ron, be careful."

With that, they jumped and disappeared out of her view. She leaned against the stall. This had to be Harry's stupidest plan yet, she thought to herself. The ghost girl, who she realized was Moaning Myrtle, ignored her, and Charlotte fell into an uneasy sleep.