Chapter 11:
"Oh, Professor Lockhart!" A relieved greeting which came quite literally from mid-air as one of the other Black's landed lightly on his feet immediately in front of them a second or two later. Gilderoy Lockhart had never bothered learning how to tell the other two Black's apart utilising the general name of Spike and ignoring all three as much as possible. "I've been looking for you everywhere."
"You have?" Gilderoy Lockhart tried on a smile for size, but it soon withered to a pained grimace as he heard what Fai'lo Black was saying.
"Spike, I've been telling him I'm not the one to ask for the Chamber's location, but he won't believe me."
"That's obvious." The tone was withering. "You're headed in completely the wrong direction."
"Th-the wrong direction?" Lockhart was aware that his tone was far too close to a squeak for dignity, but that horrible boy had grabbed a sleeve and was heading back into the guts of the castle. Gilderoy Lockhart managed one last glimpse of freedom and fame, so close and yet so far away...he would have been welcomed as Lockhart and feted for bringing the boy...all that now lost around a corner of grey stone. Why, oh why did the horrible boy have to know where the Chamber of Secrets was hidden.
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To call the current environment volatile was pushing the boundaries of understatement. In a school under lockdown five students were missing and one teacher. The teacher was no loss, and three of the students were irrelevent also since most of the staff would like to lose them, but Albus Dumbledore had summoned the Weasleys himself. Mrs Weasley was taking the disappearance of two of her offspring very badly. That their daughter was the most likely victim mentioned in the message on the wall was given, since all the other absentees were male. Loss of an only daughter to a monster was reasonable cause for grief and should have been easily bundled off to the hospital to wait out the next few days. That was until Sirius Black had ambled into the room looking excrutiatingly bored. Why Sirius Black had shown up was more than a slight mystery, and it was like adding a lit match to a powder keg. The Weasleys had promptly accused the man's wards of having stolen their children and though Dumbledore couldn't think of a way to refute the accusation he didn't get a chance to even try and diffuse the situation.
"I've no doubt they've got their reasons if they did." Black was slouching, his eyes fixed on his pocket watch, which was even more complicated than Dumbledore's. "Headmaster...have you confirmed yet that it was Lockhart who removed Fai'lo from the Ravenclaw Commonroom?"
"Filius has confirmed that he gave Gilderoy permission to question Fai'lo Black about the whereabouts of the Chamber of Secrets."
"Well, that was stupid." Black closed his watch with a snap and stood up. "Spike was the one who knew about the Chamber, not Fai'lo...call me when they all return since I've no doubt that's where Spike's vanished to...and given Hades' last letter they'll probably bring the two Weasleys, or their remains, back with them since Hades said that the boy had developed an irritating habit of following him." Somehow Black managed to leave the office unhurriedly, yet still get the door firmly closed before Molly's spell exploded against it.
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"Hel..." Ginny Weasley had jerked upright, began to speak before falling silent as she stared around herself in confusion. She had no idea where she was and the dead snake larger than her house wasn't helping at all.
"Brandysnap?" The wary query came from somewhere nearby and was like a douche bath to panic.
"Spike." Ginny found where the boy sat, half hidden by shadows, and bolted across to burrow into his side.
"Only scrapes and bruises?" The next query came several minutes later when Ginny finally eased off her grip on the boy.
"Yes." Ginny scrubbed her face dry on her sleeve. "Sorry for bawling...Harry told me I should tell...I just..." she left it, unable to even begin to think of words to cover the situation.
"Two generations of premium negotiators were lost to that boy...I am all too well aware of his impact when he puts his mind to it." Hades sounded more than a little tired. "If those versed in the dark magic can be taken in by him, I can assure you that the daughter of the light need feel no guilt or responsibility for failing to realise the peril...though next time you find an interactive bit of magic you don't know the history...please get the damn thing checked out."
"But..." Ginny stopped, her panic and subsequent relief sufficiently passed to start thinking. "Why are you here?"
"Harry...Hogwarts...Fai'lo...your brother."
"Which?"
"Me." Somehow three more people had arrived in the chamber and Ginny found herself in the comforting grip of family. "You alright?" Ron's expression was worried.
"She's fine...physically, a few scrapes and bruises." Pluto Black had a grip on both Weasleys and was dragging them towards the tunnel and the way out. "You two coming any time soon?"
"No."
"Why not?" Ron looked back curiously at the two figures that seemed to be doing something lost in the shadows as they were.
"Got a basilisk to prep for rendering...we'll be up in about an hour."
"Right." Pluto gave a very slight wince. "Do I need...?"
"No." The response was rather too curt.
"Keep safe and I want in on the render." Pluto closed the door carefully behind himself and took a moment before he began leading the two Weasleys back to where Lockhart was hopefully still waiting...at least it had only been Fai's wand the twit had grabbed with whatever nasty intent he'd had...not like scrambled eggs was such a bad fate...the man was unlikely to ever remember that he'd ever been otherwise. The Bounty Hunter who'd got hold of Hades' wand had a perfectly fine brain...but something got messed up because the man had been partially spastic and no matter how clear his mind, he could not communicate...even legillimency was messed, for Sirius had checked on that one after it became apparent that speech and writing were out...not that the hunter had suffered the condition for long. The mindless minions of Voldemort tended to have very short life-spans.
"Wha..." Ginny was staring at a mass of tumbled and melted rock. Pluto shook himself out of his thoughts and glanced around, noting that Lockhart was indeed still there.
"That's Pluto Black in a VERY big hurry." Ron's tone was slightly awed. "We kinda got split up by this...why Black went for you alone since the other two were helping to shift this lot...couple of minutes ago this one swore up a storm, told us to stand back...next thing I know that other one dragged me to one side and rock was dripping everywhere...I still reckon that was dark magic."
"Dragon's Breath is a mining spell...not even slightly grubby." Pluto glanced away from his study of the walls in the area and then gave a shrug, it would hold...possibly hold for longer than the rest of the tunnels. "It only works on rock...clearly there's nothing of value in these tunnels or it would have pooled on the floor. You'd have been fine if Fai hadn't moved you...scared stupid, but fine."
"You saying I scare easy?" Ron's expression became pugnacious.
"No, I'm observing that human instinct doesn't appreciate being enveloped in flame...been in the way of that spell and I promise you, that's one thing I never intend to do again, even knowing that it won't hurt me."
"What happened to Professor Lockhart?"
"Not totally sure...but I do know it's because he grabbed Fai's wand with intent to harm one of us." Pluto gave a shrug. "Probably Hades or myself given how the roof came down."
"How did you three get involved? I've been following Black for days...I knew he was up to something and then when... breaking the lockdown and so followed him since I figured it might lead to Ginny...but the rest wasn't explained." Ron scratched the side of his head as he thought back over the last mad hour.
"Moaning Myrtle...she got killed by the basilisk last time...not sure why the Headmaster never questioned her or, if he did, elected not to persue the information she could supply. Hades had been talking to her and got all the info...I think he was heading to the Headmaster when all went pear-shaped. We'd just untangled that when Weasley caught up with us again." Pluto gave a shrug.
"Why'd Lockhart grab Fai?" Ginny was worried.
"Double value and less trouble." Pluto's grin was a sudden flash. "Lockhart knew he couldn't get me or Hades. Grab Fai though...get's him someone to blame the Basilisk on who will be considered plausible...so, loads of fame and another book or two. Second bonus lay in the fact that Fai's the Potter Heir and a Black...the Dark Lord has a distinctly large bounty out for any of us...and a slightly larger one out for Fai."
"Why does you-know-who want you?" Ron's expression was intent. "There's loads of people he wants dead, but he doesn't go around putting massive bounties on them...and then there's the whole fact that he wants you alive...dead's acceptable, but he's a lot more interested in you being breathing."
"We're Blacks. The Dark Lord wants the Vampires on side, but Blacks are the Vampiric Negotiators. Daiyati is the current negotiator, but he's not playing ball with the Dark Lord. Dark Lord figures that if he gets us, Daiyati will cave. He also figures if he can get Daiyati than that will also fix the problem. We've got safeguards against it happening...but we're our own first defence."
"That why the spell came out of the wrong end?" Ron gave a slight scratch of his head and then whistled softly.
"If we've lost our wand, we don't want someone with less than fuzzy feelings for us using it on us...they get hit with whatever they cast...well, more or less." Pluto gave a shake of his head. "Let's get this twit moving...or they'll finish prep and catch up with us and we'll never hear the end of that!"
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"You alright?" Fai'lo Black had sunk back onto his heels with a tired sigh after banishing the nifty illusion which had been the dead basilisk. Precisely why Hades had done it was beyond him, considering the circumstances, but getting rid of it was a necessity before continuing. The ongoing lack of response caused Fai to crouch down next to his brother and study him with a detached and careful gaze. To say the least they were all hoping that the two Weasleys were too traumatised and distracted by the basilisk illusion to note that Hades' voice had been too deep and smooth, with an accent which could only be described as archaic. There'd be hell to pay if it was ever truly comprehended what Hades and Pluto were, because muggle drugs and magic did not mix.
"He's...alive." The words were chosen with clear deliberation and the eyes which opened were smeary silver and green.
"This might take more than the hour." Fai had taken one limp, bloody hand into his own grasp, but he was still hesitant because he simply never had done this and confidence in a theory didn't sound so hot when two lives were on the line and one death.
"You've got the hour...contract won't hold after and the bite will kill him."
"Sorry, sorry...forgot." Fai'lo dithered for a moment before he took a steadying breath and focussed on the task at hand. "You said you could do it without getting bit."
"I said within reasonable bounds there would be no bites too worry."
"Fine." Fai took a deep breath and focussed, he had a brother to save and a price to pay. No time for dithering because Hades would not specifically mention limits unless they were very close...and basilisk venom really wasn't funny even in the best scenario.
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