Author Note If your liking this story please review

I read every one of your reviews and if you want to make any suggestions or ideas I will respond to you in the next chapter.

Thanks and Hope you enjoy

Chapter 34

June 8th 1992

Hogwarts

Everything had gone crazy in the past twenty four

Ravenclaws Penelope Clearwater,Gryfindors Angelina Johnson,Hufflepuffs Cedric Diggory and Slytherins Scarlett Lympsham had all been found petrified in the course of an hour setting off a large panic as all houses had been impacted.

Shock had permeated the school upon the discoveries and rumors that had begun to surface that they might be sent home early and never return back here.

The idea terrified both Harry and Daphne.

Harrys brilliant girlfriend had been looking up more about the Chamber of Secrets and after their visit into Tom Riddle's Diary a few weeks back had figured out that the last time the Chamber had been opened before in 1943 where a Myrtle Warren had died in the process.

Daphne said that their was a Moaning Myrtle ghost that inhabited a abandoned girls bathroom near the place where Filch's cat had been petrified

She wanted to go talk to Moaning Myrtle, something that was easier said than done since after the attacks a policy had been implimented where if you wanted to go somewhere outside of the common room you had to be escorted by a member off the staff or a Prefect.

It was a cumbersome system that made going anywhere a real pain and Harry doubted it would be easy to get close to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom that was so close to one of the attacks.

But Harry wouldnt pass up a chance to speak to Myrtle if it turned up but he wasnt sure if and when there was a chance.

After Lunch Harry and Daphne were in his room looking over some books they had about mythical beasts.

Daphne then caught his attention.

"Look at this Harry"She said, handing him one of the books that was open to a page.

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more

curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake,

which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's

egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its

deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with

the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their

mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to

It."

And then it was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in his brain.

"Daph" he breathed. "This is it. This is the answer. The monster in the Chamber's a

basilisk — a giant serpent!…"

"The basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died — because no one

looked it straight in the eye. Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick and Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again and Cedric was found in the Bathrooms next to a mirror".

"And Penelope,Angelina,Scarlet and Emmalyn were all found holding their hand mirrors, "Daphne said.

"And Mrs. Norris?" Harry wondered

Daphne seemed to be thinking hard and then "The water…" she said slowly. "There was flooding from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom nearby that night. I bet you Mrs.

Norris only saw the reflection…"

Harry scanned the page again and the more he looked at it, the more it made

Sense.

"The crowing of the rooster… is fatal to it"! he read aloud. "Went Hagrid's roosters were

Killed a few weeks ago!

"The Heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was

opened! Daphne said.

"But how's the basilisk been getting around the place?" said Harry. "A giant snake would've been seen by someone…"

Daphne looked to be thinking and then.

"It could have used the pipes" She said "I remember last year i was hearing from Layla that their are a lot of burst entrances to pipes in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and i'm pretty sure that Myrtle was the last person affected in 1943"

"You think that she might know about where the monster came from,"Harry asked.

"She might very well"Daphne said "There are also a lot of mirrors in that bathroom so something must have happened to have made Myrtle different than Cedric".

"If Myrtle was the last person to be killed or pefrified by the monster, maybe the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets' '.

"Could be in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Daphne.

A thought than went through Harrys head.

"This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of

Slytherin's one, too. That would be how he's been controlling the basilisk."

"What're we going to do?" said Daphne, "Should we go straight to Snape and since he concealed what had happened with Quirrell last year we could tell him our thoughts leaving your Parseltoung out of the mix?"

Harry looked at the time

"Its nearly break "He said "Snape should be going to the staff room soon we can catch him before then".

"And use Disillusionment Charms' 'Daphne said.

They ran downstairs into the Common Room disillusioning themselves before sneaking out of the Common Room where they went straight to the staff room waiting outside for the bell to signal break that never came.

Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor Dumbledore's voice, magically

magnified.

"All students return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff

room. Immediately, please."

Harry wheeled around to stare at Daphne. "Not another attack? Not now?"

"What'll we do?" said Daphne, aghast and glancing around. "Go back to the dormitory?"

Before Harry could say anything more Daphne pulled him into a supply cabinet.

"In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell Snape what

we've found out."

They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving

about, and the staff room door banging open several could see the teachers walking into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor Dumbledore arrived and closed the door.

Still in the closet they tried hearing what was going on in the quick staff meeting it seemed before everyone started streaming out.

After the door opened they heard Dumbledore's voice

"The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has

happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow and will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their

Dormitories."

Harry could hear the teachers leaving one by one.

They heard Professor Sprout talking to Professor Lockhart.

"Good Luck Gilderoy"She said "I'm sure with your expert skill you will be able to get into the Chamber of Secrets with us not in your way and will be able to rescue Mrs Murdock.

Harry and Daphne felt sick.

Murdock.

Could it be Layla Murdock.

They could not hear Lockharts response, just some shuffling away.

"D'you know what?" said Harry. "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we

know. If 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."

Daphne nodded.

After they were sure that all the staff had left the area Harry and Daphne left their hiding spot and made their way to Lockharts office as darkness was falling.

Once they got there there seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it. They could hear scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.

Harry knocked on the door 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 — Mrs Greengrass —" he said, opening the door a bit wider. "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. "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.

"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 Layla?" said Daphne angrily.

"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 Defense 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 harelip. 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

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 if you want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog."

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 two 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 and Daphne reached their wands just in time. Lockhart had barely raised his, when they both bellowed, "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was blasted backward, falling over his trunk; his wand flew high into the air;

Daphne caught it, and flung it out of the open window.

Harry furiously kicked Lockhart's trunk aside and Lockhart looked up at him, feeble once more with Harry and Daphne still pointing their wands at him.

"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. Harry was pleased to see that he was shaking.

A Ghost of a girl who must be Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

"Oh,Hello"She said "What do you all want?"

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

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 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 and 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 , 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.

Harry and Daphne hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror

on his face.

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 Daphne. "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 Daphne, who shook her head.

"English," she said.

Harry looked back at the snake, willing himself to believe it was alive. If he moved his head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving.

"Open up," he said.

Except that the words weren't what he heard; a strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. 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 heard Daphne gasp and he looked up.

"Well I think we found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets"She said."Now what".

"Maybe our esteemed Defense Professor should go down there and face the monster as a real hero "Harry said sarcastically.

Lockhart then in a seeming burst of craziness said "Lady's first then "And pushed Daphne pushing her down the pipe screaming.

White-faced and wandless, Lockhart then looked scared at a pissed Harry who just used Bloodbending to force Lockhart down the pipe before he jumped in himself.

Well it looks' like they were going into the Chamber of Secrets.

Author Note As to why they are going into the Chamber of Secrets.

Its not really about rescuing anyone its about making sure that Hogwarts stays open which is extremely important to both Daphne and Harry.

Besides later on in the story after this year the Chamber will be very important