The Gryffindor team was ready to go to the Gryffindor entrance to start the Quidditch match. Everyone was in their seats waiting for the game to start. The team's walk to the entrance was cut short when McGonagall was walking towards them. "Professor McGonagall," Oliver said.
"This match is canceled," she informed them.
"We can't cancel Quidditch," he said.
"Silence Wood. You and your teammates will go to Gryffindor Tower. Now," she said, motioning for them to leave, "Potter, you and I will find Mr. Weasley." They both went to look for Ron and when they did, McGonagall had led them to the hospital wing, "There's something the both of you have to see. I warn you. This could be a wee bit of a shock."
"Hermione!" Ron called out. Madam Pomfrey, Ella, Edward and Carlisle were standing by.
"She was found near the library along with this," she said grabbing the handheld mirror from the side table, "Does it mean anything to either of you?"
Harry looked at what McGonagall had held and said, "No." Ron shook his head. Harry gently reached out and touched her frozen hand.
"Harry, are you okay?" Ella asked.
"I don't know… I'm confused," he answered.
"We'll leave you both here to give you some time to process what's been happening," Ella said. McGonagall nodded and all five of them left Harry and Ron alone with Hermione. "I better go and inform Dumbledore about this."
"I agree. Something needs to be done about this," McGonagall said.
"What should I do?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Talk with Professor Sprout and see if Mandrake juice needs to be made. I fear that we may need more in case any other students are Petrified," McGonagall said.
"Of course," she said and left.
Later that evening, McGonagall had gone to Gryffindor's common room and saw that most of the students were there. Ella was right behind her. "Could I have your attention, please? Because of recent events, these new rules will be put into effect immediately: 'All students will return to their house common rooms by 6:00 every evening. All students will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No exceptions.' I should tell you this: Unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught, it is likely the school will be closed." McGonagall touched Ella's arm and Ella nodded. She made it look like she was leaving but put on her invisibility charm and went back into the common room. She looked around the room to pay attention to anything. She noticed that Ginny looked a bit apprehensive about something but she overheard what Harry and Ron were saying but couldn't make out what they wanted to do. She kept note to herself to keep an eye on Ginny. She thought of asking Edward for help in keeping tabs on Ginny. Maybe he could pick something up, she thought.
There was a knock on Hagrid's door one night and he opened it. He was surprised to see Dumbledore there along with Fudge, Ella and Edward, "Professor Dumbledore, sir."
"Good evening, Hagrid. I wonder, could we…?" he asked, motioning to enter his home.
Hagrid stepped aside to allow everyone to enter in, "Of course. Come in. Come in."
Once everyone was inside, Hagrid closed the door, Fudge said, "Bad business, Hagrid, very bad business. Had to come. Three attacks on Muggle-borns. Things have gone far enough. The Ministry's got to act."
"But I never – You know I never, professor," he said, starting to defend himself.
Dumbledore decided to intervene at that time, "I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence."
"Albus, look," Fudge replied. "Hagrid's record is against him. I've got to take him."
"Take me? Take me where?" Hagrid asked and then realized what Fudge meant, "Azkaban prison."
"I'm afraid we have no choice, Hagrid." Then Lucius appeared at the door.
"Already here, Fudge? Good," he called out.
"What are you doing here? Get out of my house!" Hagrid said.
Lucius stepped into his house and looked around. He said, "Believe me, I take absolutely no pleasure being inside you… You call this a house?" he asked. He shook his head, "No. I simply called up the school and was told the headmaster was here."
"Well, what exactly is it that you want with me?" Dumbledore asked.
"The other governors and I have decided it's time for you to step aside. This is an order of suspension," he said, holding out a rolled up parchment. Dumbledore took it and opened it, "You'll find all 12 signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you've rather lost your touch. Well, what, with all these attacks, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts. I can only imagine what an awful loss that would be to the school."
"You can't take Professor Dumbledore away," Ella called out.
"Take him away and the Muggle-borns won't stand a chance. You mark my words, there'll be killings next!" Hagrid replied.
"You think so?" Lucius asked.
"Calm yourself, Hagrid, Ella.. If the governors desire my removal, I will, of course, step aside," he said and then stepped closer to Lucius and looked towards Lucius' right side and said, "However, you will find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
"Admirable sentiments. Shall we? Fudge," Lucius said as everyone left. Ella immediately went to McGonagall's office.
When she did, she knocked on the door she heard a voice inside, "Come in. Ah, Ella. Glad you're here. I need your help… What is it, Ella?"
"As you know that I was Professor Dumbledore and Fudge to talk with Hagrid. Lucius showed up and handed Professor Dumbledore a parchment with all 12 signatures of the governors ordering Dumbledore to step down."
"What? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I've seen the parchment. It's an order of suspension," she said.
"We need to gather all the teachers and the staff in the transformation classroom now," she replied. Both McGonagall and Ella both ran out of her office and immediately began searching and telling all staff and teachers to meet in the classroom.
A week later, McGonagall stepped up as Deputy Headmistresss of Hogwarts. She was in Dumbledore's seat, reviewing any and all notes that she could get her hands on from Dumbledore's desk. A knock was heard, "Come in."
"Professor, you need to come see this," Ella called out.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It would be better if you saw this yourself," Ella replied. She led her down to the hallway that led to the Gryffindor tower and showed her what was written on the wall. The Cullens were there guarding the place.
"Oh, dear. Do you know who was taken this time?" she asked.
"Yes and it's not who you think it is," she replied.
"I better get the teachers here and see what we can do," McGonagall said and left to Dumbledore's office. Moments later, on the PA system, McGonagall's voice could be heard. "All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately." McGonagall had come with a few teachers and said, "As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."
Lockhart had come walking in and said, "So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?"
"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last," Ella said.
"My moment?" Lockhart asked.
"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" Snape asked. No reply came.
"That's settled. We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend," McGonagall replied.
"Very well. I'll just be in my office getting… getting ready," he said and left.
Pomfrey asked "Who is that the monster's taken, Minerva?"
"Ginny Weasley." The teachers gasped at the news.
Edward and Ella stayed behind the teachers as they left to figure out how to deal with finding the chamber and saving Ginny. "Harry and Ron, I know that you know about this," Ella called out.
"Miss Cullen, that's my sister, I can't just sit back and do nothing," Ron said.
"I know that," she said.
"I think both of you need to talk with Lockhart now. We all need to talk to him," Edward said.
"What is it?" Ella asked.
"We need to go now and you'll understand why I'm being so cryptic right now," Edward said, urgently as he led all of them to Lockhart's office.
As they all walked quickly towards his office, Harry said, "Lockhart may be useless, but he's going to try and get into the Chamber. At least we can tell him what we know," all four of them walked into his office and noticed that he was packing, "Professor, we have some information for you. Are you going somewhere?"
"Well, yes. Urgent call. Unavoidable. Got to go," he said.
"What about my sister?" Ron asked.
"Well… as to that, most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I," he replied.
"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. You can't go now," Ella said.
"I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the description –" he didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying when Harry said, "You're running away? After all that stuff you did in your books?"
"Books can be misleading..."
"You wrote them!" Harry called out.
"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. You've been taking credit for what other wizards have done," Harry pointed out.
"Is there anything you can do?" Ron asked.
"Yes, now that you mention it. I'm rather gifted with Memory Charms," he said, as he walked over to an overstuffed chair. Edward and Ella stepped in front of Ron and Harry with wands in hand and pointed to Lockhart, "Otherwise, all those wizards would have gone blabbing. I'd never have sold another book. In fact, I'm going to have to do the same to you."
"Don't even think about it," Ella said. With that, Edward and Ella kept their wands trained on Lockhart as Harry and Ron led everyone to the girls bathroom where Moaning Myrtle was in.
Moaning Myrtle was by the window when she heard a noise and called out, "Who's there? Hello, Harry. What do you want?"
"To ask you how you died."
"It was dreadful. It happened right here in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in."
"Who was it, Myrtle?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. I was distraught! But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language. And I realized it was a boy, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and then I died."
"Just like that? How?"
"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there by that sink."
Harry walked towards the sink and looked for clues and focused on the spigot. He noticed a small snake was drawn on it, "This is it. This is it, Ron. I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
"Say something in Parseltongue," Edward said. He stood back from the sink and spoke in Parseltongue and the tap began glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into. Harry and Ron gasped and looked up again. He had made up his mind what he was going to do.
"Excellent, Harry. Good work. Well, then, I'll just be… there's no need for me to stay," Lockhart stated.
"Yes, there is. You first," Ella said.
"Now Miss Cullen, what good will it do?" Lockhart asked.
"Better you than us," Ron responded.
"But – obviously yes. Sure you don't want to test it first?" Lockhart asked. Before he knew it, Ella was the one who pushed him down the pipe. They all stood around and waited for some kind of response. "It's really quite filthy down here."
"All right. Let's go," Ella said.
"Oh, Harry. If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet," Moaning Myrtle said.
"Thanks, Myrtle," Harry said.
"Maybe it would be best if Edward or myself went in first to keep Lockhart in place," Ella suggested.
"You're right, but who?" Harry asked.
Ella looked towards Edward who in turned said, "I'll go. I want to see what's down there first and I'll be able to read Lockhart's mind as well." Ella nodded and allowed Edward to jump into the pipe and waited for his response. "You can come down now. Lockhart's secure."
Harry, Ron and Ella jumped in after each other and landed on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in.
"Now, remember: Any sign of movement, close your eyes straightaway," Harry said.
"Harry, Ron go on," Ella said as she and Edward kept their wands on Lockhart.
"This way," Harry said heading down one of the tunnels. They approached some kind of animal.
"What's this?" Ron asked.
"It looks like a snake," Lockhart answered.
Harry and Ella walked around it and saw what it really was when they arrived to the end of it, "It's a snake skin," Harry answered.
"Bloody hell. Whoever shed this must be 60 feet long, or more," Ron commented. Just then Lockhart fainted. "Heart of a lion, this one."
Edward pressed his wand towards Lockhart's left shoulder and said, "Don't even bother getting up."
Lockhart jumped up, startling Edward out of his posture and grabbed Ron who shouted. "Mr Weasley, where is your wand?" Ron gave him his wand, "The adventure ends here, boys, Miss Cullen, Mr. Cullen. But don't fret. The world will know our story. How I was too late to save the girl. How you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body and how I managed to mind control two vampires. So… you first, Mr. Potter. Say goodbye to your memories. Obliviate!" The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb, Ella flung herself over Harry while Edward pulled himself over Ron as great chunks of the tunnel ceiling came flooding onto the floor. At the next moment, he was standing with Ella, gazing at the solid wall of broken rock.
"Harry? Harry!" Ron called out as Edward was calling out for Ella.
"Ron! Ron, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ron asked.
"Ella?" Edward asked.
"I'm okay, Edward," she answered.
Lockhart sat up from where he fell and looked up towards Ron, "Hello. Who are you?"
"Ron Weasley."
"Really? Who am I?"
"Lockhart's memory charm backfired. He hasn't got a clue who he is," Edward responded.
"It's an odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?" he asked.
"No."
"Really?" Ron didn't answer him, instead he picked up a piece of rock and hit him on the head. He passed out from it. Edward held in this laughter.
"What do I do now?" Ron asked
"Both you and Edward wait here and try and shift some of this rock so we can get back through. Harry and I will go and find Ginny," Ella said.
"Okay," Ron agreed as Edward and Ron both worked on removing the rocks as Ella and Harry went to find Ginny. Harry and Ella continued to walk down the tunnel and then, at last, as they crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. Harry approached, his throat almost very dry. There was no need to pretend those stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive. He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker. He spoke in Parseltongue and told it to open. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slide smoothly out of sight, and Harry shaking from head to foot , walked in with Ella following.