Chapter 38:

Skylar had never felt so lost before. There was an ache in her chest as she sat in the Gryffindor Common room, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Nick and Leon around her. Percy wasn't there. He had gone to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his dormitory.

No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer.

"Sky?" Nick asked but she just shook her head.

"Ginny wasn't in class this morning, I asked Professor McGonagall about it but she didn't know anything." Leon confessed

Skylar's hands tightened on themselves as she clutched them together in her lap. She didn't look hard enough, she should have looked for her better this morning. She should have done better. All year Ginny had been avoiding her and she didn't even try to find out why. Ginny had been in trouble and she'd done nothing.

"You were right Sky." Ron muttered, speaking for the first time since they had entered the wardrobe in the staffroom. "She knew something, at the very least. That's why she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all. That must be why she was —" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pureblood. There can't be any other reason."

Skylar buried her head in her hands. The sun was sinking, blood-red, below the skyline as everything was silent.

"Harry," said Ron. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not — you know —"

Harry didn't answer. Skylar squeezed her eyes shut behind her hands, she didn't want to think about it. It couldn't be like that.

"D'you know what?" said Ron. "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a basilisk in there."

"A basilisk!?" Leon gapped he and Nick had been listening to the two, but none of the second years addressed him. Nick was blinking at them as well.

"First the forest and now a chamber with a giant snake?" he demanded.

"We just have to tell Lockhart, he's been commission too find Ginny." Harry explained as he agreed with Ron.

Skylar looked up to find them looking at her. Her face became determined and she nodded. They had to do something, anything and if going to Lockhart and telling them everything was all there was than that was what they'd do.

"We'll be back." Skylar assured her brothers.

The Gryffindors around them were so miserable, and felt so sorry for the Weasleys, that nobody tried to stop them as they got up, crossed the room, and left through the portrait hole.

Darkness was falling as they walked down to Lockhart's office. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it. They could hear scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.

Harry knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes peering through it.

"Oh — Mr. Potter — Miss. Rosenwald — Mr. Weasley —" he said, opening the door a bit wider. Skylar's eyes narrowed. First of all, when did Lockhart ever call Harry 'Mr. Potter'. She stared at him as his eyes darted between them. "I'm rather busy at the moment — if you would be quick —"

"Professor, we've got some information for you," said Harry. "We think it'll help you."

"Er — well — it's not terribly —" The side of Lockhart's face that they could see looked very uncomfortable.

"What?" Skylar began, a cold edge to her voice. "Got something better to be doing?" Harry and Ron shared a look, slightly surprised by the tone of her voice.

"I mean — well — all right —"

He opened the door and they entered.

His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnight-blue, had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now crammed into boxes on the desk.

Skylar crossed her arms as she looked at him packing up his things.

"Are you going somewhere?" said Harry.

"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. "Urgent call — unavoidable — got to go —"

"What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily.

"Well, as to that — most unfortunate —" said Lockhart, avoiding their eyes as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents into a bag. "No one regrets more than I —"

"You're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" said Harry. "You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!"

"Well — I must say — when I took the job —" Lockhart muttered, now piling socks on top of his robes. "nothing in the job description — didn't expect —"

"You mean you're running away? said Harry disbelievingly. "After all that stuff you did in your books —"

"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.

"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.

"My dear boy," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry. "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. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on —"

"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have done?" said Harry incredulously.

"Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog."

Skylar felt herself getting angrier, not because of what he'd done, though that annoyed her too, no she was angry because Lockhart was meant to be saving Ginny!

He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.

"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left."

He pulled out his wand and turned to them.

"Awfully sorry, you three, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book —"

Harry reached his wand just in time. Lockhart had barely raised his, when Harry bellowed, "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was blasted backward, falling over his trunk; his wand flew high into the air; Ron caught it, and flung it out of the open window.

"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," said Harry furiously, kicking Lockhart's trunk aside. Lockhart was looking up at him, feeble once more. Harry was still pointing his wand at him.

"You're not going anywhere, and you're going to help save Ginny." Skylar decided. "Maybe then you really will have something to write about."

"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"You're in luck," said Harry, forcing Lockhart to his feet at wandpoint. "We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go."

They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

They sent Lockhart in first, he was shaking the entire time.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this time?"

"To ask you how you died," said Harry.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then —" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."

"How?" said Harry.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…" She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

Skylar turned to look at the sink as Harry and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror on his face as the girl joined the two boys.

It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.

"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."

"But —" Harry thought hard. The only times he'd ever managed to speak Parseltongue were when he'd been faced with a real snake. He stared hard at the tiny engraving, trying to imagine it was real.

"Open up," he said.

He looked at Ron, who shook his head.

"English," he said.

Harry looked back at the snake as Skylar and Ron watched him, both slightly curious.

And then he spoke again, only it wasn't words that came out.

A strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Ron and Skylar looked surprised as in the next second, 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 was staring down the pipe and Skylar looked slightly unsure.

"Harry…" she mumbled. But he'd already made up his mind what he was going to do.

"I'm going down there," he said. Skylar glanced at the pipe before she stepped forwards.

"Same." she nodded. She wasn't leaving Ginny alone. She'd left her all year when she'd needed her, and Skylar had to make up for it.

"Me too," said Ron.

There was a pause.

"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just —"

He put his hand on the door knob, but Ron and Harry both pointed their wands at him.

Skylar turned and Lockhart released the door handle like it had burned him, before he turned around and walked towards the hole in the pipe and stayed there.

Ron rose an eyebrow and glanced at Skylar, who shrugged guiltily. The red-haired boy turned back to the teacher.

"You can go first," Ron decided in a snarl.

White-faced and wandless, Lockhart looked down at the opening.

"Boys," he said, his voice feeble. "Boys, what good will it do?"

Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand. Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe.

"I really don't think —" he started to say, but Ron gave him a push, and he slid out of sight. Harry followed quickly. He lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go.

Skylar followed next, lowering herself down, to then let go and fall downwards.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. There were more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and Skylar began to wonder what went down further, the trap door from last year, or this tunnel. Behind her she could hear Ron, thudding slightly at the curves as Harry's hair continued to disappear around each turn.

Skylar began to wonder if the tunnel would just end and hoped it wouldn't be too high from the ground before the slide began to level out. Harry went shooting out the end before Skylar did the same with a gasp. Harry was standing up before she crashed right into him and they both hit the ground with a wet thud.

"Sorry." Skylar muttered, and her voice echoed all around the tunnel.

"That's alright." Harry said and both of them moved quickly as Ron came whizzing out behind them. Harry got to his feet and heaved Skylar to her's, who turned and grabbed Ron's hand to do the same. Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost as Skylar herself felt rather damp. She couldn't help but groan slightly in disgust.

"We must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

"Why is that not a surprise." Skylar whispered, not liking how their voices echoed so much.

All four of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead. Skylar reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand.

"Lumos!" the wand light up and shined over the dark, slimy walls around her. Harry nodded to her before he did the same.

"C'mon," he said to Ron, Skylar and Lockhart, and off they went, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.

The tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

"Remember," Harry said quietly as they walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away…"

"You know a basilisk still has fangs and poison right." Skylar muttered.

Harry didn't respond.

The tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.

"Suppose it has to eat something down here…" Skylar whispered as a shiver ran down her spine. Harry glanced at her before he continued to lead the way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.

"Harry — there's something up there —" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder.

They froze, watching. Before them was a dark mass, the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Maybe it's asleep," he breathed, glancing back at the other two.

Skylar put her fingers to her lips and they all watched her as she listened very carefully to the darkness. Her forehead furrowed.

"No breathing." she whispered.

Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes. Harry turned back to look at the thing as Skylar did as well. Not only was it unmoving, it didn't seem to be alive either.

Very slowly, his eyes as narrow as he could make them and still see, Harry edged forward, his wand held high.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. Skylar gapped at it. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly.

There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.

"Get up," said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.

Lockhart got to his feet — then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground.

Skylar gapped in surprised as Harry jumped forward, but too late — Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

"The adventure ends here, you three!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body — say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, "Obliviate!"

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung himself at Skylar and yanked her as she gapped. They ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor.

Dust flooded everywhere as Harry had an arm around Skylar before the tunnel was silent. They paused for a minute, coughing slightly from the dust before turning to look back behind them.

They both blinked in surprise as they were gazing at a solid wall of broken rock. Skylar stared at it and then looked around. Ron was no where to be seen.

"Ron!" Harry shouted, his voice echoing all around the tunnel over and over again. "Are you okay? Ron!"

Skylar waited with bated breath before they received a response.

"I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "I'm okay — this git's not, though — he got blasted by the wand —"

There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!" It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.

"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through — it'll take ages…"

Harry looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it. Skylar was examining them too.

"If we blasted the rocks we'd probably just cause more cave ins." she admitted before turning to look down the tunnel ahead of them. Who knew what would become of Ginny if they tried to shuffle more of the rocks for Ron to go with them. And that was if nothing had happened yet… no one had seen her since Breakfast… just how long had she been down here for…?

Skylar bit her lip, turning back to the wall in which Ron was concealed behind. There was another thud and another "ow!" from behind the rocks.

Harry looked at Skylar and there was a resolve in his eyes. She nodded in agreement, knowing what he was thinking. It was the only thing they could do. The only thing for Ginny's sake.

"I'll come with you." she whispered before shaking her head. "I don't want you going alone." He looked at her gratefully before turning back to the rock wall.

"Wait there," Harry called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. Sky and I'll go on… If neither of us are back in an hour…"

There was a very pregnant pause.

"I'll try and shift some of this rock," said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can — can get back through. And, Harry —"

"See you in a bit," said Harry, trying to inject some confidence into his shaking voice. He looked at Skylar and she couldn't blame him for feeling scared. She felt it too. Lockhart might've been useless but there was something about having him and Ron with them. Skylar felt slightly bare now.

She looked back down the tunnel and stepped closer to Harry, taking a hold of his sleeve. He held his hand out and she glanced at it before lacing her fingers with his. They shared a look, a nod, and then, with a resolved breath in, they set off past the giant snake skin.

Soon the distant noise of Ron straining to shift the rocks was gone. The tunnel turned and turned again. Every thing was unpleasant and Skylar feared that something would jump at them with every turn, it seemed like the tunnel just went on forever. It built suspense, and yet what lay at the other end could be so much worse… Skylar knew Harry was thinking the same thing as they clung tightly to one another's hand in their fear and worry.

And then, at last, as they crept around yet another bend, they saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

The two of them approached it, and Skylar looked at Harry, his eyes were set on the emerald-eyed serpents as he cleared his throat. A low faint hiss came from his mouth.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight. They stared at the opening. Harry was shaking from head to foot and Skylar could feel herself doing the same, though not from the cold, there was a prickle at the back of her neck, uncomfortable and unpleasant, that made her want to constantly turn around.

Harry looked at her and she looked back before they looked at the entrance before them.

Harry went first and Skylar allowed him to pull her with him.