Chapter 11 – Here We Go Again
Second Year
Disclaimer: I usually check the book before writing, but I don't have my copy of Chamber of Secrets with me. So, if there are any quotes that are from the actual book in the first part of this chapter, those belong to J.K. Rowling.
HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER.
That single phrase echoed in Harry's – Ron's as well – as they ran down the corridor on their way to Professor Lockhart's office. To Harry, Ginny was more than just his best friend's younger sister. All his life, or at least what he could remember of it, had Ginny in it. Although Harry had latched onto Ron, he still considered Ginny a close friend, and family. Ginny was the girl that put up a fight when she played quidditch with the boys, could already produce impressive spells already as a first year, and sent him singing valentine cards. Harry could always count on her to talk to. On numerous occasions he could remember staying up late at the Burrow and talking to Ginny long after Ron fell asleep.
If he was being honest, he couldn't picture his life without Ginny Weasley being in it, and he didn't want to. He didn't have to, and he wasn't going to. He and Ron were going to do everything in their power to save her life, and that meant going to Lockhart to give him a head's up on the basilisk.
When the boys arrived at Lockhart's office, they expected to see him preparing for battle: practicing spells, or gathering magical items to help him. Instead, the showman was filling trunks with all of his things. Every magical photo of himself had been taken off the wall and stored away. Anything he deemed important had already been packed away, and Harry could hear him debating with himself whether or not he truly needed wall mirror, seeing that it wasn't fitting into his last trunk.
"Professor, are you leaving?" Harry asked, making Lockhart jump.
"Ah, boys… you see, I'm… I'm going to get something to help me kill the beast!"
"It looks like your packing everything you own. That's a lot of stuff for a short trip. Looks more like you're leaving."
"Well… Okay, I'm leaving. I'm not going to get something, I'm going to see someone. It's urgent I'm afraid. It's for your godmother actually. I wouldn't want to keep her waiting."
Officially knowing from his comment that he was lying, Ron yelled, "You can't leave! My sister is in the Chamber and you, I'm not really sure why, have been chosen to save her!"
"I can't go, without the thing –"
"Professor, she's dying down there! If you don't go to the Chamber she'll die!"
"I can't!" Lockhart cried, frustratingly running his hands through his perfectly styled golden locks. "I can't save her!"
"Whatever you need, we'll figure it out –"
"I can't save her because I haven't saved anyone!" Lockhart shouted, making Harry and Ron fall silent. "Everything I've written about in my books, it's not mine. I didn't fight a yeti, or face ghouls. Stories sell. If the people didn't believe I had done all those brilliant thing, I would never have sold a second book."
"You're a fraud!" Ron yelled. "You've been telling everyone for years about your amazing saves and they aren't your own!"
"You let everyone believe that you could save Ginny, and you can't! She's going to die down there because your need for fame is more important to you!"
"Ron, is it? I'm sorry about your sister. I'm sure she was a lovely girl, but there is simply nothing that I can do." Lockhart said, doing his best to close one of his fuller trunks.
"You've written about enough stories, you can use them to help you fight the basilisk!"
"A basilisk? That's what is in the Chamber?" He shivered. "There is no way I'm going near that beast!"
"Come on Ron, we need to tell Dumbledore that he needs to find another hero."
"No. Neither of you will be telling Dumbledore anything." Lockhart stopped them. Harry and Ron, gripped their wands in their pockets, ready to fire. "I may not be the best at stopping Cornish Pixies or mending broken arms, but if there is one spell I have perfected over the years is my memory charm. After this, neither of you will remember a thing. I'll give Dumbledore a gripping tale about how I fought the basilisk, but it was simply too strong for even I to defeat. It is a shame the girl must die, but at least neither of you will remember her."
But before Lockhart could fully pull his want to wipe their memories, Harry and Ron had disarmed him.
"If you aren't going to save Ginny, we are. But, you're coming with us."
"What? Why?" Lockhart cringed.
"We may need giant snake bait." Harry smirked, only making Lockhart cringe more.
With their wands poking into Lockhart's back, the boys made their way to the girl's bathroom, to meet Moaning Myrtle. Reluctant at first, she eventually told them of the story of her death, and of the large yellow eyes coming from the sink.
Searching the sink while Ron kept an eye on Lockhart, Harry came across a carving of a snake, coiled on the tap.
"This has to be it. The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is right here, but how do we open it?"
"Open it, we don't have to –" Lockhart began, but quickly stopped as Ron pressed his wand into his back a little harder.
"Say something in Parseltongue, Harry."
Focusing on the tap, Harry thought about talking to the snake that was going to attack Justin Finch Fletchley. Pretending the snake on the tap was the live one at the dueling club, he said, "open." Recognizing the language, the sink began to hiss and transform until it revealed a large pipe behind it.
"Congratulations, gentlemen. You found it. Looks like you don't need me anymore." Lockhart said, trying to make a run for the door. This time, both Harry and Ron stopped him by raising their wands to his throat and backing him up to the pipe. "Careful where you point those things!" He said, holding his hands up as a shield.
Keeping his wand raised, Ron looked down to the pipe and said, "Here we go again, jumping into the unknown. The last time we ended in a devil's snare? What do you think is waiting for us at the bottom this time?"
"Dunno. Let's find out, shall we?" Harry said before pushing Lockhart into the pipe.
Every Wednesday evening, Tawny and Remus had a 'date night'. Although the two weren't an actual couple, they treated themselves to an evening out like one. They had started the tradition after Harry's second birthday, when Molly and Arthur had noticed their obvious exhaustion. They recommended a night out, once a week to allow them to just be adults. Once a week, Molly and Arthur would watch Harry for the evening, and they'd go out to dinner.
Even after Harry went off to school, they continued the tradition. They'd grown accustomed to Wednesday nights out, and couldn't give it up. The night Harry ventured into the Chamber of Secrets happened to fall on a Wednesday night. Imagine Tawny and Remus's surprise when their dinner at the Three Broomsticks when an owl flew through the bar door and landed directly on their table, with a letter addressed to the both of them.
Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Lupin,
I would like to inform you of this evening's recent events. Earlier today, the Hogwarts Staff discovered another message written on one of our school's walls. The message told of a student being taken into the Chamber of Secrets. The student in question was none other than Miss Ginevra Weasley. Do not be alarmed, Miss Weasley is alive and well. This is only because of the heroics of Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Ronald Weasley. I understand that you both, would like to see Harry yourself and hear the full story. By the time you receive this letter, Harry will be in my office. Hagrid will be waiting by the gates for the both of you.
Albus Dumbledore
Tawny and Remus had just passed a furious Lucius Malfoy when they spotted Harry, standing outside the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Immediately they ran to the boy, and enveloped him into a tight hug.
"Um… Tawny, Remus, I… I can't breathe."
"Sorry!" They apologized in unison.
"I'm guessing Dumbledore wrote you?"
"That would be correct. What happened, start from the beginning."
"It's a long story."
"We've got time."
After finding a bench, the Harry sat Tawny and Remus down and began at the beginning. Starting with, "Everything turned out alright, so don't be mad," he told them about the voice he had been hearing, starting with his detention with Lockhart and again the night of Halloween.
He told them about finding the writing on the wall, and about Dobby showing up at his bedside, which he had happily forgotten to leave out of his update letter to them.
Telling them about the real reason he stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas was difficult. While they were upset they lied to him, they were also equally impressed that the three of them were able to successfully brew polyjuice potion at their age.
He told them about the diary, and how Tom Riddle pulled him into his memory of Hagrid, making him see exactly what he wanted him to see.
When he told them about Lockhart being a fraud, neither of them were surprised, but were appalled that he was going to erase both his and Ron's memories. They felt slightly better knowing that his spell down in the tunnels had backfired, and caused him to lose his memory instead.
What happened in the Chamber through, seemed to frighten them both. It confirmed their fear that Dobby was right when Harry admitted that Tom Riddle was really Lord Voldemort, and that he came out of the diary to control an ancient basilisk and try to kill him, after he sassed him. They were proud that he had saved Ginny, kill a basilisk, and destroy the diary. They were less happy that he tried to trash talk the Dark Lord, but both agreed they would've done the same thing.
He also kept them in the loop on his conversation with Dumbledore. Harry did not give the same speech as eloquently as the headmaster had, but Tawny and Remus understood. They too were surprised to hear about Voldemort transferring the ability to speak in Parseltongue to Harry, and proud of the tremendous number of house points that he and Ron earned for saving Ginny and the school. They did however, tell him to not make a habit of getting into dangerous situations in order to win points for the house cup.
As for his talk with Dumbledore about why he wasn't put in Slytherin, they said, "Anytime that you feel insecure about your place in Gryffindor, we will happily tell you why you belong there, and why we are so proud of you for being one."
Finally, he told them what happened with Lucius Malfoy and Dobby.
"That must be why Lucius was in an even fouler mood than usual when we passed him. Slipping the sock inside the diary, that was very clever, Harry." Remus said.
"While I too am impressed, making an enemy of Lucius Malfoy is not wise."
"Draco and I are already enemies. His dad probably agrees with him."
"We can worry about that later." Remus assured them. "What's important now is that Dobby is free, and everyone is safe."
"You're right." Tawny agreed. "Now, let's go visit Ginny, and then sneak off into the kitchen, since we didn't exactly finish out dinner. Do you still know the way, Remus?"
"How can I forget? I can tell you how many times I've visited the kitchens with Peter."
"You know how to get to the kitchen?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm familiar with every inch of this castle; every hallway, every secret passageway, every storage cupboard I have memorized."
"Secret passageways? There are more besides the one to the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Plenty," Remus smirked, throwing an arm over Harry's shoulder. "Those are kept secret though. I can't be giving a child that tends to attract danger access to secret passageways. You'll have to figure those out for yourself."
"Don't be giving him any ideas, Remus." Tawny said, looping her arm around Remus's free one. "The last thing we need is him discovering the secret passageways."
"You know about them too?"
"Of course. When you date one of the members of James Potter's crew, you learn about a few secret passageways along the way."
"The James Potter Crew? You named yourselves?" Harry laughed.
"That's not exactly the name, but that's a story for another time."
"Do you think Ron, Hermione and I have a group name like that?"
"Maybe one day. You may need a few more adventures first."
