Disclaimer to JK Rowling
Chapter Seventeen: O, Vanity! O, Misery
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Alfred Lord Tennyson from All Things Will Die.
It was disgusting. Lacie tried not to scream as she slid down, feeling damp and sticky and slippery all in one, but as she wondered whose screams were echoing off the edges of the pipe, she came to the realisation that it was her.
And she could not stop.
She screamed past the other openings, pipes that would take her to another part of the castle, pipes that meandered into bathrooms, and kitchens and living spaces. Pipes that a certain murderous snake had probably taken. It was not long however, when the pipes began to level slightly and she had reached her destination.
Quickly after her was Ron, who grimaced at her whilst clutching his ears as he clambered out of the pipe.
"Did you really have to scream all the way down?" he asked.
"Sorry," Lacie said, the word slipping from her lips before she even knew what she was doing. She had apologised, the act made her stomach turn. She had not only broken her unapologetic temperament, she had done it with a Weasley no doubt. If she had still cared for her father's opinions, she would have crawled up the pipe and begged the family ancestors for forgiveness. Ron looked horrified, and lowered his hands from his ears.
"Did you really just apologise?" Ron asked.
"Not important," Lacie snapped, she was never going to live this moment down. She looked down at her uniform, and it was slimy with what had grown on the insides of the main pipe. Some of her nails had dirt under them already, and her white blouse could not be saved, no matter how many spells you attacked with it. She stomped deeper into the cavern where they had ended up, trying to find Harry. She whimpered quietly at the cracking under her feet and looked down. She was crushing skeletons of small animals with every step she took.
This place was ghastly.
"It is important," Ron said, "A Malfoy just apologised to a Weasley… I can feel my family honour slowly restoring."
Lacie ignored him, and wandered further in.
"Harry?" she called out, it was not like Harry to wander when his friends were only a few steps behind. There was a muffled response to an even darker part of the cavern to her right. She moved towards it, but not before she cast Lumos. Ron, his attention no longer on what Lacie had said before, looked concerned for their friend and followed her. He kept his wand raised in a defensive position. She called out for her friend as they passed an arch.
"Don't! It's a -…"
Lacie moved quickly towards Harry's panicked voice and she felt something move quickly behind her and a grunt from Ron made her move even further forwards. In the light of her wand, Ron had keeled over and Lockhart looked almost feral. His golden locks were doused with the slime that covered all of them, and it looked matted. His robes were equally as ruined, and there was dirt all over the man. If the was a person who felt more out of place than Lacie, then it was most likely Lockhart.
Without thinking, she pointed her wand at Lockhart and half-screamed, "Expelliarmus!"
The wand that in his hand flew out of his hand in a flash of red light, and she ran towards where it had fallen. She grabbed it, ignoring that it was lying in a pile of skeletons. She trained her wand on Lockhart, who had taken to holding Ron in a headlock. He had also managed to procure Ron's wand as she had gone to retrieve Harry's. She wanted to chastise herself for being so linear, a criticism that her mother had always warned her about during her training.
Think before you act. Think of it like a chess game, and always think three steps forward. Never be afraid. That is how they will break you.
She knew Ron would not have made the same mistake, not that she would admit it to him.
"Lower your wand, girl," Lockhart hissed.
"Are you insane?" Lacie asked incredulously, her wand was firmly pointed at Lockhart. She resisted the urge to raise the other wand as well, but she knew what her mother would also say. Never be cocky in a duel.
"No, but after I'm finished with you, that is what I'll tell them, that all three of you went careering, without a plan into the Chamber of Secrets and the sight of the dead Weasley girl drove you all insane."
"How do you plan on doing that? You are still outnumbered!"
Lockhart's award winning smile glistened in what little light was available. "The same way I convinced those witches and wizards to lose their minds, and forget what they had done. Do you really think that all I did was make up little stories of how I saved villages? I stole their achievements, which is what I'm going to do with you three."
"Then you're going to write another best-seller, based on what? Lies? Your so-called horrific journey into the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Those witches and wizards were old and would have looked terrible on a book cover," Lockhart declared, "So I did the one thing I was talented at and removed their memories before I told their stories. I won't tell you again, girl, LOWER YOUR WAND."
"Do… it!" Ron gasped as his face was getting redder and redder in Lockhart's hold. Lockhart menacingly tightened his grip around Ron's neck, and Lacie relented. She lowered her wand against her better judgment. Lockhart kept Ron's wand trained on her, but he let Ron go, shoving the boy away from him as if he was rubbish. Ron fell to the ground and hoarsely began clamouring for air. Lacie kept her gaze trained on Lockhart.
"Good. Don't worry, I promise to be kind. I'll even let you remember how to dance, for you my dear, are such a lovely dancer," Lockhart said, his grip on Ron's wand growing tighter. "Oblivate."
The force of the spell knocked Lacie and Lockhart back and off their feet. The cavern exploded, and Lacie scrambled away from the collapsing walls and ceiling. The dust of it all choking her as she struggled to breathe. For a long time, Lacie could not hear anything that was not rocks smashing into each other, and the sound of her own heart beating.
After a moment, all seemed to quieten. She struggled as she tried to stand up. After conducting herself for a moment, she managed to do so, even though her legs felt like pure jelly.
Is this it? Have I completely lost my mind?
At the thought of that, she realised that the spell had completely backfired. She would not be questioning the soundness of her mind had she been truly hit by Lockhart. She cast a quick light-giving spell and found Harry, who had been bound and gagged.
"Diffindo," Lacie cast quickly as she stumbled across the fallen rock towards him. The ropes sliced haphazardly and Harry struggled free. He wrestled with the rope that was around his mouth. Once free, he called Lockhart such an inflammatory name that Lacie blushed. She handed Harry back his wand, to which he thanked her.
"I actually think you could have stared him down, Lace, if he didn't have Ron," Harry said. "That was also a really good Disarming Charm as well."
"Well, we should save that topic for later," Lacie said as she walked up to the wall of rocks that now separated them from Ron and Lockhart. "Ron? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, but this idiot isn't though!"
Harry and Lacie looked at each other in the dim glow of wand light.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked tentatively.
"The spell completely backfired, he's lost his mind. He's asking me where the nearest dance is being held too."
Lacie's mouth twisted into a bitter smile at the notion that the added cruelty Lockhart wanted to add to her memory loss had also backfired upon him. Although her mother would chastise her for being so pleased for it, as gloating on the unfortunate was not proper conduct for a lady, but she was so utterly glad that her heart almost sang. She did not have time to celebrate that her mind was safe, for now, as there were more pressing matters.
"Is there any space in this wall to get through?" Harry asked.
There was noise that suggested that on the other side Ron was scrambling around trying to get through. After a moment, Ron told them that there was no such space, and it would be better for him to stay behind and try and move the rubble. Lacie confirmed that it would be a better idea and Harry and she would trudge on.
"Bring her back safe, won't you?" Ron asked, his voice was barely audible. "Even if she-she…"
"We know," Lacie said. She walked further into the chamber with Harry following closely after. The light cast by their wands was barely enough to see the end of the corridor.
They noticed at the same time that only a few yards ahead lay something green and scaly.
"Close your eyes!" Harry exclaimed, and Lacie did as she was told and grabbed onto what she thought was Harry's arm in fear. They stood in the silence of the tunnel, and the only thing they could hear was the irregular dripping of something onto stone. There was no hissing or any raspy breathing noises a snake would otherwise make. Lacie carefully opened her eyes, and dropped the hand that was clinging onto Harry. Harry also opened his eyes when he noticed that Lacie was not holding onto him anymore and looked towards the green thing they had thought was the basilisk.
"It's just skin," Harry noted. Lacie raised her wand to see further down. Lining the small tunnel was this skin, a bright green that looked as if merely brushing your hand against it would poison you. If Lacie were not so scared of the thing that had shed it, she would have marvelled at its impressiveness. They looked at each other and decided mutually to follow the snake's skin, hoping that was the best place for them to find Ginny.
Along with the basilisk, of course, as well as the Heir of Slytherin whose reign of terror on Hogwarts was ending that night.
They followed the skin in silence, the only sounds were the crumbling of bones underfoot. At the end of the trail that was marked out with snakeskin, there was a solid wall. Lacie inspected it in her wand light before turning back to Harry.
"I think you need to open this door with Parseltongue as well," Lacie said, glancing back at the wall, which was an elaborate carving of a pit of snakes. Lacie could see every detail in every scale, every fang. Even the look in the snake's beady stone eye looked like it was about to attack her if she did not move further away from it. The same noise that Harry had made in Myrtle's bathroom came out of his mouth, as Harry managed to speak his second language on the first try. The loud sound of stones scraping each other erupted in the tunnel, and the noise reverberated off each stone surface that was around them. The cacophony of stone snakes that were mid-attack, straightened out and they slithered away to reveal a cavernous chamber.
They stepped into it at the same time.
If Lacie had more time, she would have gone to each individual column and examined it, as if she was in a museum, and gasped in wonderment as how intricate the carvings were. She may have even tried to recall details so that if she could find a suitable spell book, find the right spell to carve something similar (and smaller). If Lacie had more time, she would have taken in her surroundings in her own time, and looked at the wall sconces that cast a dim green glow into the chamber. Instead, time was of the essence, and Harry had already sprinted towards the end of the chamber. She followed him and at the end of it was Ginny Weasley, paler than Lacie had ever seen her before. Ginny lay at the base of a statue, which again, if Lacie had more time would have taken great pleasure in viewing.
It was impressive, the craftsmanship that Slytherin had gone into creating a replica of himself.
She ran to a kneeling Harry Potter, who was grasping both of Ginny's shoulders and shaking her gently whilst urging her to wake. As much as she wanted to marvel at everything in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry seemed too distraught to ignore.
"Harry."
"She's not dead, she can't be… oh, Ginny, please, please wake up."
Lacie knelt beside him and touched his arm. He let go of Ginny and looked at Lacie with wet, green eyes. She took a deep breath, "Let me try something."
He nodded furiously, and took his glasses off his face. If he was confused as to what she was doing, he did not ask for clarification. She wiped the glasses on whatever part of her robes she thought may be clean and hovered them close to Ginny's nose. For a few minutes, Lacie watched, and in what felt like eternity, part of the glass clouded over. Lacie squeaked.
"What?"
Lacie returned Harry's glasses to his face, and said with a relief, "She's not dead."
Another voice, across the chamber repeated Lacie's words, and echoed off the stone walls. They both froze at the sound of the deeper voice. Slowly, they both turned around and they saw a tall, pale figure. Lacie also noted that he was quite handsome, but that was irrelevant. What was relevant was that she had never seen this boy before, and yet he was wearing pristine robes that were embossed with the Slytherin badge. Harry was the first to stand up, and there was something in his demeanour that suggested that this person was not entirely a stranger to him.
"It's… you."
Lacie stood up, an action that Harry seemed to see in the corner of his eye, and he threw a protective arm behind him. Lacie wondered who this person was, and how Harry came to recognise him. As Lacie continued to look at the boy, she wondered why the taller boy seemed to look like a projection, not quite a ghost but not quite a human being. Who is he?
"She won't wake either," the boy said, "Not whilst I exist, Ginny's life force is linked to mine."
"Who are you?" Lacie asked tentatively. Harry turned to face her with a pained expression for a moment before turning back to the boy.
It was the first time that the boy had noticed Lacie in the chamber. The way that he did look at her, however, made Lacie feel as if she had never been noticed by another person before. He smirked at her as he glided across the stone floors around Harry's protective arm and regarded her with dark, hypnotising eyes.
"You must be Lacerta Malfoy," he said, she did not want to be entranced by his voice but she found herself gazing at his lips. "I must thank you, you have been so helpful to me this year."
The spell that the boy had cast on her, suddenly broke and Lacie was suddenly aware that the boy standing next to her was not someone to be trusted, and that she needed to get as far away as possible with Harry and Ginny in tow. She took a step back towards Ginny's immobile body. She did not want to know who he was, and she did not want to know why he knew her name, and what her part had been in his grand plan, whatever that may have been.
"How?" Harry asked, his curiosity had gotten the better of him.
The boy turned back to Harry, not before Lacie saw a wide grin, "Mostly because of you."
"Me?"
"I fed on Ginny's secrets, her fears and her pain. She wrote and wrote, about being poor and being in the shadow of her brothers, and about you, Harry Potter, and how jealous she was of your female friends, and how your affections were being frittered on the likes of Miss Granger and Miss Malfoy here."
"You encouraged her," Lacie said flatly, as she realised why Ginny had been so taciturn with her. "You made her angry at us, instead of seeing what Hermione and I really are, only just friends with Harry."
The boy's mouth twisted again, and he explained in great detail about how he had, indeed, exacerbated the raw subject, as it made it easier for him to get into her mind. He revelled in her pain, her fears and how he made her feel as if she was not good enough for Harry, before turning around and telling her that she was too good for him. He made her believe that that Lacie and Hermione were purposefully taking away the object of her affection, and that his natural charm had done the rest. He explained that he made Ginny angry with them too, her rage spilling over so much that the last time he had complete taken possession of her that she had tracked down Hermione to kill. Yes, it had been Ginny that had done everything. She had vandalised the school in blood and attacked all of the students, as he had ravaged her mind and taken all but her sanity.
"Except, that stupid Mudblood knew what was coming, and protected herself with that silly little mirror," the boy spat bitterly.
"I guess she wasn't so stupid after all," Harry said through gritted teeth. "Mudblood and everything."
"I underestimated her intelligence, but that does not mean she's less of a disgusting leech on Wizarding society," the boy replied, "What I've achieved this year will affect years to come, do you really think they will let anymore filthy Muggles into the school after this year? I'll be here to direct the basilisk to attack, year after year."
"Not if we get Ginny to the Hospital - …"
"Do you really think the fools in the school will be able to heal her? Whilst we've been talking, I've been distracting you and Ginny has gotten weaker and weaker, I doubt you'll be able to bring more than a corpse out of this Chamber."
Lacie saw determinedness in Harry's eyes that suggested that he was going to at least try. Lacie was beside him, and waited only for his instruction. Harry walked around the boy, and headed towards Ginny, and Lacie followed suit.
"We're taking her - …"
"You are not going anywhere, because I have not finished."
Harry ignored him, and proceeded to try and lift Ginny. Lacie helped, and with the two of them, Ginny's dead weight did not seem a challenge. They struggled as Ginny's shoes dragged against the floor. Suddenly Lacie's body froze, and Ginny's arm slipped from around her neck. Harry nearly collapsed without Lacie's aid and carrying Ginny's full weight. He strained as he turned to face Lacie, whose limbs had completely frozen.
"What are you doing?" Harry hissed, so snakelike that it was as if he was speaking Parseltongue again.
"Harry? What is happening to me?" Lacie asked in a small voice. Her arms slowly moved so that they were in front of her around waist height, and her fingers were brought together so they slightly touched. Her feet moved so that they were in a proper ballet position, and she pirouetted not of her own accord. She stopped for a moment, regained her position before spinning again, but she was not doing it willingly.
What is happening? Who is doing this to me?
"Harry?"
She could not stop pirouetting, she span and span and she was slowly speeding up. The chamber whizzed before her eyes as she span and she could slowly feel the insides of her stomach complain with the dizzying movement. Her arms and legs began to ache with the pain of the strenuous and repetitive activity, and a nauseous feeling rose up her throat.
"HARRY!"
She could barely make out his figure, she was pirouetting so fast now, and she could not hear his reply. Suddenly, she stopped and she toppled over, and crashed to the ground. Her head mercifully landed on her arm and not the cold floor. She gasped for air, not realising the precise toll that being animated against her will had taken. Her splutters as she tried to slow her racing echoed in the chamber, but they were not so loud that she could not hear what was happening.
"Now that I have your attention, Potter, I thought we could talk."
A/N: This chapter was the reason why I rewrote large chunks of this story because in the first draft, Lacie was stuck with Ron and there was going to be a lot of Lacie/Ron bashing whilst they dealt with Lockhart but that was boring so I wrote this version which needed the story to be rewritten in parts for it to work cohesively. Also, as I had began writing the third story and plotting out what happens, Lacie needed to be in the Chamber of Secrets, some of you might hate the idea but personally, I'm a massive fan of it.
Also a massive fan of the Ilvermorny story.
CSxo.