Author's note: Sorry again for not updating for so long, I was busy with school recently and I feel a bit sick ._. Please forgive me ^^'
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. All characters and the world belong to J.K. Rowling
Chapter 9
Battle in the Chamber of Secrets
In the early afternoon of Saturday, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna and George met down by the lake near Hagrid's hut. All of them were worried…they could see it in each other's eyes…but they also seemed determined and partly also quite serious.
"Do we go…before or after dinner?" asked Ron, blushing a bit.
"During dinner. If you can't fight without having dinner before, you can steel some food from the kitchen with George." answered Hermione rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, he knows best how to do." laughed Ginny.
"I think our Ron can life without food for some hours." Said George and let himself fall backwards into the grass.
"Anyway…have you decided, Ginny?" asked Harry.
"Do you mean if I go with you? Yes, I have. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now." she answered.
"So you accompany us." He said smiling.
"Yeah…so I can finally face my fears and maybe my nightmares will end, too." She said grinning.
"This is a really good attitude…", mumbled Luna letting herself fall backwards, too.
Some hours later, they stood in Moaning Myrtle's Toilette in front of the entry of the Chamber. Harry opened it with few words in Parseltongue and then they all jumped in.
It still was as dirty as in those days Harry had been here for the first time. Ginny asked herself why they hadn't sealed the Chamber of Secrets completely when they had rebuilt the castle. She also was the first to take out her wand. For safety. The others did the same few moments later.
Led by Harry, they went through the Chamber. Hermione was the last one. Half of the wands were glowing to spend at least a bit light.
Rats were running on the ground. As Ron and Hermione figured out, they must've been new because there had been no rats when they had been in the Chamber last year.
The less distance they had to the centre of the Chamber the stranger they found it that they still hadn't met any obstacle. Not even a rock or something like this crossed their way. No one had really thought it to be like this and maybe that was also the reason why they were always looking around. Their discomfort grew with every step. They couldn't imagine this lack of obstacles to be a good sign. No way…
Finally they reached the centre of the Chamber. Nothing had changed…of course. Ginny looked straight to the place she had been lying and thus she took Harry's hand. The others looked around. No one was here. Had they mistaken?
"Impossible." Said Hermione after this question had been asked by Neville.
"Why?" Luna asked interested.
"He…he confirmed the day before yesterday. I was waiting for him downstairs."
"You…you were together?" Ron asked shocked.
"Yeah…as we were when he gave us this brain teaser."
"And he really confirmed he-" Harry wanted to ask. But he stopped because of the sound of barefoot steps.
It was, however, Hermione who turned around first. Her friends did few seconds later. There he was. He walked slowly towards them, grinning terribly. He had his wand already in his hand.
"Wait…one person against seven…that's not logical…he would never do this…" the brunette whispered just so loud that her friends could hear.
"Do you mean…" But Neville didn't had to end his question as five…creatures more or less appeared out of nowhere in the same moment.
You couldn't really describe them as human beings. They had come out of the water as if they also were just the same. On the other hand, however, they looked almost like stone. But they weren't out of stone either…
"Now it's almost fair again." said Luna jumping away from the others.
Few seconds later the first spells flew around. They were used by those creatures. Luna countered directly with Stupify as she was the only person who could move around freely. The others had just jumped aside when a spell had flown towards them. Now they also started to fight. Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna and Ginny fought against these 'soldiers' while Hermione and George started their duel against Voldemort. They actually hadn't planned it before…it must have been destiny that they were supposed to fight against him.
Red, blue or even green sparkles came from everywhere. It crackled and flashed. Luna and her opponent moved into a pipe during the first five minutes of fighting. Maybe that was a mistake as Luna was the first one to stay on the ground after she had defeated this creature. She was thrown out of the pipe back to the centre of the Chamber and fell into a puddle. She wasn't conscious anymore.
Two of the other soldiers wanted to take advantage of this fact and turned away from their duel partners, Neville and Ron. A fatal fault as the latter two sent an explosion spell à la Seamus Finnigan and thus defeated the soldiers before Luna could have been hurt.
During the following minutes they supported Harry as well as Hermione and George who had to defend themselves from really nasty spells. No Unforgivable Curses but nevertheless really strong spells. Sometimes they had to hide behind statues or had to do great jumps aside so they won't be harmed. It was not easy…
One of those spells, however, hit Neville later on. He crushed against a wall and then just stayed at the ground. About five minutes later, Ginny suffered almost the same destiny as well as Ron and Harry again five minutes later. Five out of seven were spread all over the Chamber…injured and KO. Luckily the creatures summoned by Voldemort were defeated, too.
"Hey, 'Mione…we should finally start to fight back as hard as he deserves! Watch this…" George whispered when they had to hide taking something out of this pocket and then letting it fall on the ground. It was something like a very tiny ball which eventually rolled away slowly.
"What is this?" she asked quietly but he only said grinning that she should be patient.
Then he jumped out of his hideaway and started a really fascinating duel with his brother. He made Hermione understand to stay where she was and not to interfere the battle with a sign of his free hand.
So she stayed where she was…not really sure why she did as George wanted her to. She watched the battle worried. She didn't notice how much her leg, which had been hit by a spell few minutes ago, hurt. But maybe it also was better like this.
Few time later it happened while she was looking away for a moment – actually down on her feet where this little ball was rolling over it. A red flash of light, a pained sound and a crush. George now was KO, too. He had fallen into the skeleton of the basilisk, now buried under some bones. Hermione was totally shocked…also because she felt a wand on her back not even a second later.
"Are you prepared?" asked Voldemort's cold voice.
She was breathing fast thus needed a moment to give her answer: "To defeat you? At every time!" She rammed her elbow into his belly. Because of this move, she was able to gain a little distance between them again.
And then it flashed and crackled again. Hermione had to duck very often or had to use Protego while Voldemort hardly did moves like that or even tried to protect himself. It wasn't sure if this was a good sign or not. A fact was that every spell she had to use against him wasn't easy for Hermione. In her eyes it wasn't Voldemort she fought against…but Fred.
Few minutes later she Showdown started. Their spells bounced against each other as it had happened between the real Voldemort and Harry. They tried to outdo the other so they could win this battle. For the young witch, however, it didn't look that good…until…
White lightnings flashed from all cardinal points starting at the ground towards Voldemort. They didn't even seem to stop and as he was involved in this battle he wasn't able to protect against them. They hit him…and somehow paralysed him. If you looked closely you could notice four little balls on the ground of which the lightnings came out. George's balls.
/"This is maybe my last chance…"/ thought Hermione and took a deep breath…
End note: Soooo...one Chapter to go. What do you think about this one? Nice 'trick' from George? I do like it which is not that usual for me xDD I rather hate my own ideas so this is a great exception xD
I'll close the poll now...and the result is clear, you'll get the good ending ^^
And, if you don't mind, you could also send me a review :)
