Update schedule's a bit sporadic right now, because of other, real-life things. I'm hoping to update once a week at the minimum, but failing that, three times a month.

We can't find Ginny.

Even convincing Potter to take me down into the Chamber didn't help.

Ginny wasn't there.

We poked around down there for about three hours.

For three, goddamn, hours.

Earlier, I was pretty damn terrified.

But after three hours, I'm mostly just severely pissed.

The basilisk was still down there, by the way: it's huge, larger than I thought it'd be. Larger than Potter thought it was, too.

Don't decaying cows swell up or something before they explode? It's probably a good idea I used it before it did that, then. Even if not, it's not like the corpse is doing much right now, it'd be a shame to waste it.

Anyway.

The chamber was pretty interesting: besides the slime, it was actually decently comfortable.

Unfortunately, it was 'comfortable' to the inhuman part of me, which meant it was bad news for pretty much anyone else.

Entering the Chamber…

Well, Potter had slid down on his shoes, somehow staying on his feet as he flew down the ramp. Not really trusting my own balance, I used my wings to slow me down as I descended.

Of course, I had to withdraw them when I approached the end of the tunnel, which lead to me overbalancing, and falling onto my ass.

Once I was back on my feet, and the worst of the gunk was removed from my robes, we did a clean sweep of the entry area, then the area he had found Ginny the first time.

I snickered a few times when he pointed out the still-glittery spots on the tiles, much to his confusion. One of these days I'll tell him the whole story, but I think it'd be better if he was kept in the dark for now. More amusing, at least.

From the center area, we basically rushed a thorough investigation of the chamber. A majority of the area was pretty empty. For the most part, it was just tacky statues, the occasional snake engraving, and the rare enchanted rune.

Speaking of which, I had to save Potter's ass, after he nearly activated a rather powerful rune on a door. A door in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a hidden chamber.

Did I mention that, even though we still don't know where Ginny is (despite what Dumbledore says), it wasn't entirely a massive fuck-up?

I'm not sure if it was the study of Voldemoron, or Salazar Slytherin, or some other person who found their way down there, but we found a door leading to a study.

Potter, being the brave hero that he happens to be, had his hand about about three inches away from the door, before I tackled him to the side, which unfortunately caused us to run into a wall. He was practically cringing when I rather

Well, to be honest, I was probably just screaming at him not to touch the door.

Disarming the damn thing sucked, by the way: I didn't recognise the runes, but they looked reasonably weak. Thus, rather than leaving them be, I just overcharged the runes and ate the feedback.

Fun fact, taking feedback from centuries-old runes sucks. It's like trying to disarm a bomb by hitting it with a hammer, and praying that most of the explosion points away from you.

After my impromptu magical sledgehammer, Potter once again charged into the next room (not before asking me if there were any more traps, of course), which, to his disappointment, only contained books.

Damned rare books, but books nonetheless. We both agreed that, after everything was said and done, and we had found Ginny, we'd come back down, loot all of them, and then maybe sell them or horde them or something.

I honestly think I'll eventually use my share to bribe Granger. She'd love this kind of thing.

Unfortunately, there were no kidnapped fangirls in sight.

Pretty much after that, we both decided that she was definitely not in the Chamber, and that sitting around in an empty, dank sewer was not to either of our tastes, and started making our way back to the exit.

We briefly debated how best to escape, before we ran directly into the answer.

Quite literally.

Professor Snape, eyes full of murder, was standing in the entry hall. Turns out, the door to the Chamber does not automatically close behind us. He must've jumped down, although if his clothes were any indication, he hadn't fallen over like I had. Although I really wonder what sort of horrible thought process would cause him to find himself in an abandoned girl's restroom.

Between the ranting about having 'been forced to search the castle for a pair of foolish, pampered Gryffindors', about how Potter was 'Just as much of a dunderhead as [his] idiot father'. This of course was of course compounded by the general, undirected anger towards the destruction of a the entryway, which, to my knowledge, was probably the closest thing to sacred as these Wizards get. From what I could tell, Snape was on his merry way to reaching a straight up psychotic break.

Potter, to his credit, was holding his mouth quite well. He was pale and terrified, of course, but mostly held his ground. I mean, he still looked like he wanted to die, and was partially terrified that Snape would kill him, but he was doing the smart thing and letting me talk instead.

All of this was caused because apparently, neither of us had remembered to leave a note.

I mean, I didn't really need one, since I'm pretty sure everyone pretends I don't exist, but Potter…

Turns out Weasley (the oblivious one) had recognised that Potter was missing, and had hastily drafted up a castle-wide search. Snape himself was dragged in, after a rather furious Weasley drafted up Granger, and the two ambushed Malfoy and his gang of idiots in the halls, stunning all three in hopes of interrogating them for information.

I mean, good guess, but not correct, this time.

In retrospect, I probably was too hard on him. When we were heading back to our common room, he ran up to us, babbling about how he had 'looked all over' for Harry, and that he 'bloody well better tell us where he's going' next time.

I might've lost my temper, when I pointed out that he didn't seem to care, or even notice that his little sister was also missing. That knocked him off his pedestal real fast. 'Course, his oldest brother, the one who had personally escorted the two of us back from Dumbledore's office and walks like he has a stick up his ass, pretty much went sheet-white as soon as I had said that, but it really served the both of them right.

Anyway, back to the Chamber. I can talk about the fallout later.

Snape, who was pretty much three steps from losing his shit entirely, had put us into a rather dangerous position. Ahead of us, was the way out. Unfortunately, neither Potter nor I had a way to get out effectively (I mean, I could, but then I'd need to ask Potter to go back to the main room so I could fly out, then tie a rope or something to one of the sinks), and even if we did that, Snape would be unlikely to move, which meant no wings altogether.

We resolved it, of course, by offering him some of the (hopefully fresh enough) Basilisk corpse.

I mean, I resolved it. Potter sorta gave me a sideways look when I offered, but at that point, I didn't really care. I really wanted a shower, and I wanted one right away. Besides, I wasn't giving him the entire thing, maybe like a couple kilograms of flesh, a few fangs, and like a quart of venom.

I must've said the right thing, because he pretty much threw the two of us aside to charge towards the carcass.

We found him on a knee beside the snake, murmuring calculations about spoil rates, along with something that I'm pretty sure was the formula for maximum-strength anti-venom. He had pulled out a pad of paper as well, and was scrawling out a list of things on it, in a handwriting that, one of these days, I am certain someone will take to a henhouse to get translated.

His needs and/or greed resolved, Snape dragged the two of us out of the Chamber, using a hastily-conjured rope.

Of course, not before removing a marker from who-knows-where, circling a portion of the giant snake, and demanding us not to damage that portion. It was a decent-sized portion, but really, what do either of the two of us know about giant snakes?

And that's how we ended up before Dumbledore, who stared at us for about a minute-and-a-half before saying anything.

Unfortunately, neither Potter nor I were willing to say anything, until the exact moment we tried, at which point we just babbled at the same time.

Basically, it took us another ten minutes to communicate that Ginny had gone missing, I had drafted Potter into helping me look for her, and that no, neither of us had decided it'd be a good idea to write a note.

Dumbledore, to his credit, held his smile quite convincingly. Unfortunately, his whispered murmuring of 'Crouch, you bloody idiot' wasn't quite inaudible enough.

Anyway, he ended up reassuring us (unsuccessfully) that Ginny was fine, and that we'd be seeing her soon. He mentioned that we had technically earned points for our attempted heroics, but had lost an identical amount of points for throwing the Gryffindor house, along with a portion of the rest of the school, into a panic. Oh, and that Weasley had lost some points, after he had assaulted Malfoy.

We did, of course, mention the study we had found, and the Basilisk corpse we had bribed Snape with.

He smiled at the choice with the corpse, but his eyes grew wide when we mentioned the books. Something tells me some Wizards are willing to pay good money for them. Good thing we came across them before someone else could: I'm willing to bet that there's a whole treasure trove of Dark spells in those tomes.

And with that, we left the office, me feeling gross from the Chamber's slime, and Potter with his head in his hands, attempting to kill a rather-likely headache. I get a feeling he will be unsuccessful.

At that point, Other Weasley showed up, annoyed us, I knocked him down a peg, I'm pretty sure I already wrote about that.

Basically, by the end of it all, I had to promise Potter that if I saw Ginny, I'd let him know.

Granger is not happy.

Missing a day of classes to hunt down a missing roommate? Unacceptable!

She of course, like everyone else in this goddamn castle, got me in the hallways, after I stumbled out of my room bleary-eyed, because I had no chippy morning person to wake me up in time to get ready before breakfast.

Ginny, despite reassurances by Dumbledore, did not return during the night, and I'm seriously tempted to try and break into his office, in search of evidence.

Anyway, immediately following said encounter, was a five-minute tirade about 'educational responsibility'. I had to cut her off about a minute in, to ask if she had already grilled Potter, of if I was just the practice run.

As soon as I saw her blink at me in confusion, I was off in a run. I'm pretty sure she hit me with a stunner from behind, but I shrugged it off and kept running. She knew plenty of spells, yeah, but her power needs plenty of work.

Right now, I'm in an empty classroom on the third floor, carving runes into another wooden totem.

For the record, I still can't track Ginny, but I can still feel her signature: she's close, but I can't find her. It's goddamn infuriating.

Potter came to me today, holding a handful of Gillyweed.

Basically, he asked if I could find a way to stretch its effectiveness in a brew or something.

Apparently, the next challenge involves water breathing.

Anyway, he had apparently already gone to Longbottom to get the plant identified, as he was not willing to risk his life on a potentially mis-identified plant. After all, he was given the plant by a Defense teacher, the same teacher that prided 'preparedness' the same way a fish prided its ability to swim.

That was a bit off track.

Anyway, there was enough Gillyweed to brew up three or four doses of Lungfish Potion, each which'd last for about an hour and a bit (whoever named the potion should go die. Please.), and I know I can brew some up in about a day and a half.

Needless to say, I said yes, took the plant, and started my brewing.

Oh, and on a less-important thing, Granger's finally calmed down. Apparently, Potter gave her one of the fancy antique books we looted yesterday.

Bringing a rope to climb back up after we were done was potentially one of the smartest things we've ever done.

Anyway, I'm now about forty books richer, including everything the study had in Infernal (there were actually four books, mostly about magic theory), warding, or Dark Arts. Mostly because I don't trust Potter not to get that crap confiscated.

Hopefully, by the time she's finished speed-reading the tome (read, 12 hours at *most*), she'll be calm enough to cut the rants out.

If not, I'm certain I can outrun her.

Next challenge is in two days.

Ginny's signature is still in the school, but I still can't track her. It honestly feels like she's teleporting around.

Here's to hoping she didn't fall into an anomaly. That'd suck, and I don't feel like having to explain that to her brothers.

Is every single person in charge of this place a goddamn idiot?

I expected swimming to be involved, what with Potter's request for a water-breathing potion.

What I didn't expect, was swimming in a lake. A big lake. A lake full of Mermen.

In the middle of goddamn winter.

I was seated by the side of the lake, with Ginn

With Luna, and Monique. Ginny was at the bottom of the lake.

Needless to say, Potter looked miserable that he had forgotten to ask for a warming potion (which I'd have given him anyway, no one deserved to be as cold as it was in Scotland), Cedric was smiling, as always, the Durmstang guy was doing warm-up stretches/push ups/crunches, and Fleur looked terrified.

Now. Tell me. What happens, when you take a creature of fire, like a Veela-blood, and have them jump into a deep lake?

If your answer was 'they get a pony and Merlin comes and gives everyone candy and everyone lives happy ever after', then congratulations on your new job position as manager of the Triwizard Tournament. Please remember the door opens with a push, not a pull, and try not to hurt yourself on the way out.

If you aren't a moron, then you'd realise that not only are they bloody worthless in the water, but they drown extremely quickly (something something blood oxygenation), are generally less aquadynamic than a human, and Mermen don't like them.

Note: the lake is full of Mermen.

Also note: when I say 'Mermen don't like them', I mean 'stabbity stabbity killy killy'.

And that's exactly what happened.

Fleur was the first up out of the water, alone and bleeding rather heavily. Of course, it took about a minute and a half for anyone else to even realize this, which was enough for me to grab Luna, and charge towards the wounded Veela.

Of course, Monique asked the mandatory 'Why do you even have a medical kit'.

I will have it, until it stops being useful. And from the way my life is shaping up, that'll probably be never.

I managed to stabilize Fleur before anyone thought to send Pomfrey down.

The entire time, Fleur was rapid-firing French at Monique, while she (and Luna, who apparently could speak French) stared at her in horror. One quick translation later from Luna…

I have no words

What

Two.

They decided to put

Fleur's sister as a hostage.

Might I mention, she is Veela-Blooded. And is currently surrounded by Mermen. Who hate her. Oh, and her escape plan was another Veela-Blooded, who also is hated by Mermen. Mermen with spears.

I pretty much just entirely lost it, turned to the nearest official-looking person I could find (I looked for stupid hair), and started laying into them in Infernal. Luna had to drag me off: I wasn't stopping without that. On the plus side, I didn't manage to actually evoke anything, although the grass below me was starting to smell like burning, as was everything else I could smell.

Anyway, by the time I had calmed down (it took a while), Potter was back with a rather cold-looking Ginny in one arm, Fleur's sister (which Ginny wasn't as jealous about as I'd thought she'd be) on the other, and a brand spanking new stab wound. It wasn't serious, only cosmetic damage, and a quick dose of healing balm basically removed it entirely. Added a bandage wrap, just to be sure.

As for Ginny and Fleur's sister (apparently her name is Gabrielle), a warming charm and a small dose of pepper-up was enough.

Ginny sighed at my paranoid over-preparedness, before wandering off in search of a warm shower. Woe betide anyone foolish enough to stand before her goal.

Of course, first thing before that, she asked if I had touched her stuff.

It's good to have her back.