*hides in the bathroom, ashamed* I'm so sorry! I know this took me forever
but I couldn't help it. Please forgive me!
Anyway, hope you enjoy the next part, it's a little longer than usual.
Disclaimer: All characters you recognise belong to the great J. K. Rowling.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was common knowledge that no secret could last at Hogwarts, even if nobody was supposed to know let alone to tell. It was really surprising that the rumours about demons taking over students hadn't spread jet. In fact until this morning people hadn't even noticed that anything was wrong.
But who could possibly not notice Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley as they stormed into the Great Hall at seven o'clock in the morning, two minutes later joined by Draco Malfoy, exchanging a look and storming out of the Great Hall just as fast. They didn't seem to notice the students who were up for some inexplicable reason or other.
But what a sight it was. Everybody knew that Draco was insane. It appeared that Harry and Ginny had joined him. It didn't take more than two hours for the craziest rumours to spread around and the three of them would have received odd looks from everywhere had they cared to notice.
Well, they hadn't.
~*~*~
'How could this happen?!',
Draco cried and sat heavily down on the grass. Ginny was already sitting next to him leaning at a tree and Harry was pacing nervously. The three of them had said what they had found out the previous evening and were now pretty confused.
'I don't understand it, either. Everything seemed to fit perfectly.' Harry had a deep frown on his face.
'Maybe it would be best if we just talked to them. Ron can help us with Hermione. Do you think you can make Blaise talk?', Ginny turned to Draco as she said the last. Her face was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. She looked tired and worried.
Draco nodded and Harry stopped pacing. He looked around, eyes focusing on the lake with its clear cold water. He had had this feeling for weeks now. Even before Draco had found the Pensieve. It had been there all the time but he had ignored it.
His scar hadn't burnt. He hadn't had any nightmares featuring Voldemort. It had just been something uncomfortable . . . He remembered what Ginny had told him. That her nightmares had started again. That it was like when the Chamber of Secrets had opened. Now that he thought about it, he knew that it was true. Back then, he had also had that feeling of restlessness.
The Chamber . . . Was it possible that it had been reopened? Had that spirit something to do with it?
' . . . has to know. Don't you think so, too? Harry?'
Ginny's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked down at her but didn't really see her. He had an idea.
'I think we should pay Myrtle a visit.'
~*~*~
No sound came from behind the door as Harry held his ear pressed against it. Usually there had to be some dramatically sobbing. Checking if nobody was watching, he opened the door and entered the dimly lit bathroom. Draco and Ginny followed him and looked around.
'It's freezing in here', Ginny said and shivered, but not only from the cold. Something about the dusty room was spooky.
'Myrtle?', Harry called out. No answer came. 'That's strange. She should be here.' He walked to the back of the room and glimpsed inside the last cabin. No one there. He turned around and his eyes fell onto the sink, where the entrance to the Chamber had been.
'Well, if we can't ask her, we'll have to look ourselves. Stand aside.' Harry motioned them to step back and approached the copper tab with the small snake engraved in it. He didn't know if it would work, but he imagined again that the snake was moving and then spoke.
'Open up.' It came out as a hiss.
He took a step back himself and a moment later the entrance to the forbidden chamber was open. Draco looked slightly impressed, but Ginny looked confused.
'Didn't they lock it after . . . everything was over?', she asked.
'I thought so, too. That's why I'm not sure if it is a good thing that I was able to open it.', Harry answered and walked to the round hole. 'I'll go first.' He said and jumped. A few seconds later they could hear his voice from deep down.
'Ok, come down. It's safe.'
Draco bent down the dark hole, trying to see something. But it was completely dark. 'And you have already been there?' He turned a questioning look upon Ginny.
She nodded. She seemed even paler than before, standing there, her eyes cast downward. 'Hey, what is it? Are you frightened of going down there again? You don't have to come, you can just go back to your common room.' It was one of those rare moments when Draco Malfoy showed genuine concern. Ron wouldn't have believed his eyes.
But Ginny shook her head and waved his comment off. 'Now is not the time for fear. Besides, I want to know what's down there, too.' And with that she walked over to the hole and jumped.
Draco stood there for a moment, wondering what he had gotten himself into and then followed her. He rushed down a slide or something and finally landed on the damp ground. Harry stood a few feet away looking down a deep tunnel and Ginny stood right beside him, rubbing her backside.
'I had forgotten what it feels like to slide down here', she said with a grim smile. She was obviously trying to appear calm and undisturbed. It wasn't really convincing.
Harry shot her a worried glance and stepped closer to her. 'Alright?', he asked quietly. Ginny gave him a small smile and straightened herself. She took a deep breath and walked ahead. The two boys followed her.
The tunnel was still very dark and they used their wands to illuminate it a little. When they passed by the spot where a part of the tunnel had caved in Harry slowed down a little and remembered the first time he had come down here. He wondered briefly, where that gigantic snake skin had disappeared.
When they finally reached the entrance, the first thing they saw was, that it was open. Ginny froze on the spot and when Harry came near her she grabbed his hand and held it tight. Harry squeezed it reassuringly and pulled her near him. None of them spoke as they entered. Draco let out a small whistle, quite impressed. As they neared the gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin Ginny's grip on his arm became painful, but Harry didn't say anything. He could understand that she was frightened.
Suddenly he noticed a small light at the foot of the statue. It seemed to come from a candle. And then he saw the books.
The books that had been missing in the library were all here, stored in small piles on the floor. Someone had been reading them down here.
'Look, the Pensieve.' Draco had walked a little farther and held now the small shell in which the white substance was still shimmering. Ginny let go of Harry's hand and took a look at the books. 'There are more here than were reported by Madam Pince', she remarked.
'Some of them must be from the restricted section. I wonder what that spirit was searching in them', Harry said.
Suddenly there was a dull sound. The three students held their breaths instantly and listened. There were footsteps. And the next moment they could make out the dim light of a wand coming from the entrance.
Draco expected Blaise.
Harry and Ginny expected Hermione.
But the figure that approached them was someone else.
It looked like a third year Ravenclaw. She had blonde hair, that curled loosely around her shoulders. She was clasping an old school bag in front of her. She looked a little frightened when she stood a few feet away from them. The other three had instinctively come closer to each other and were now watchfully eying the girl.
'What are you doing here? What is this? I just wanted to go to the toilet and saw that large opening in the wall. Are you allowed to be here?' Her voice was light and she sounded like a typical Ravenclaw, asking thousands of questions in one breath.
'The question is: Are you?' Draco didn't know the girl, but any other Ravenclaw would have run to a teacher at the sight of the hole. Besides, who would want to go into that bathroom?!
Harry, too, didn't seem to believe the performance of the small girl. He stepped protectively in front of Ginny. The girl had noticed their attitude and her expression changed.
Were a moment ago had been a beautiful innocent face, was now a grimace of something really, really mad. The blue eyes had turned a gleaming shade of red and the small mouth was twisted into a n insane grin.
'Oh, I see. I can't fool you. But of course, you three are clever. I should have expected that.' The new voice was dark and menacing and Draco felt a shiver down his spine.
'Who are you?' Harry asked, sounding braver then he felt. Those red eyes reminded him too much of Voldemort.
'Right, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Igor. I live here since Hogwarts was founded. I was Salazar Slytherins servant. He raised me since I was a small child. He hid me from the others because I was ugly. He always said I was ugly.'
Igor had started pacing around, seemingly absorbed by his thoughts and memories. Unable to think clearly, Harry Ginny and Draco listened to him.
'Nobody knew about me. He used me for his experiments with dark magic or to take care of his basilisk. I lived inside that chamber and never saw daylight. One day I tried to get out of here, I wanted to see the world outside just once. But my Master found me and punished me. He took my body from me and cursed me. I became a demon. Unable to leave this place. Locked into the stone walls.
'After that he left the school. But he left some things here as well. The Basilisk stayed here to free the school of all muggle borns when his heir would return to his place. And he left me to protect his power.
'You see, everything inside here IS him. It was built by him. He put his magic into those walls. Nobody would ever be able to steel that power. Because I would protect it. To use the power I would have to be freed first. And now, the heir of Slytherin has returned and wants to take his heritage.
'He was able to get me out of my prison, but things have changed since the days of my master. And this school is not the same. The wards around it that were built so long ago have been replaced by others, stronger ones. I have to destroy them, so that my new master can come and take his power.'
Igor stopped pacing and looked at them. Sudden realisation cursed through Draco, as he stared at the girl that was a broken man.
'That's why you stole all those books and the Pensieve!' He exclaimed.
Igor nodded. 'Yes, that's why I did it. Dumbledore is the only one who knows how to break through them. But I couldn't take the information out of him. He is too strong. So I stole his Pensieve. But I couldn't find anything in there. So I looked up some of the old books. I was able to find out that the wards have been strengthened many times and that there are also wards around the Chamber that have to be broken.'
Igor looked around the huge room for a moment a sad expression on the girls face. The red eyes, Harry noticed, kept losing and getting intensity as he spoke. Suddenly the red eyes were burning again and the evil grin spread again across his face.
'You surely wonder why I tell you all this. . .well, I thought it would be a noble thing to do before I kill you. You know I can't risk having you reporting everything and taking away my last opportunity to get out of here. I hope you understand that.'
Very slowly he drew his wand, his eyes glowing in the candle light. Harry and Draco pulled out their wands as well and readied themselves for the attack. But the spell that was cast first wasn't cast upon them. It was cast at Ginny.
'Imperio!'
Ginny's eyes lost their focus and almost immediately she cried: 'Expelliarmus!' Their wands flew into her hand before either of them could react. The next spell followed suit.
'Stupefy!' It was cast upon Harry and he barely managed to jump to the side behind the overlarge foot of Slytherin. He knew that he had to find a way to stop this. But how should one do this without a wand. He heard Ginny's voice casting another spell, directed at Draco. Harry glimpsed around a toe and saw Draco running like a bunny around, trying to get near enough to her to get his wand back. Ginny had her back to him.
Harry looked at Igor, who was struggling to keep control over Ginny, not paying attention to him. Within a second Harry had made up his mind and stepped out of his hideout. He jumped at Ginny's back and forced her hands down. Draco took the opportunity and grabbed their wands.
Harry noticed, a little too late, that Ginny was much stronger under the Imperius curse, for she grabbed his arm and threw him against the stony robe of Slytherin between his feet, before she launched herself at Draco trying to get the wands back, or maybe to scratch his eyes out.
The wall Harry crushed in, however didn't seem to be made of stone, because it gave in under the force of his body. Harry blinked as he landed on the floor and saw the small creek in the wall. A hidden door! He speared a look at his surroundings, realizing that he had to act fast, if he didn't want Draco chopped to pieces (who would have thought that he'd ever NOT want that!).
Igor was preoccupied, so Harry could open the door far enough so that they could go through it and then he went to rescue Draco (another thing he had never before thought about). He took Ginny around the waist and yelled at Draco to hurry up and get to the door.
While Harry struggled with a completely mad Ginny, Draco cast a quick spell at Igor, which would take him out for only a few seconds, because Draco was to exhausted for anything strong. It was still long enough to calm Ginny down and get out. Just as they closed the door behind them they heard him moving again. Ginny was dizzy from the spell but she held onto Harry as they started running as fast as they could.
The passage they were running through went slightly upwards, but they didn't want Igor to catch them, so they paid no attention to it. They could already hear his footsteps behind them but suddenly they vanished.
The three of them slowed down a little, didn't stop, though. They continued until they saw the end of the passage. Above them was a trapdoor. With their last amount of power they managed to open it and climbed out.
Just as they wanted to give a sigh of relief, they noticed the trees around them thin rays of sunlight were shining through the thick cover of leaves above them. Draco gulped.
'We are in the Forbidden Forest', he said.
'And rather deep inside it', added Harry, as he pointed at the pair of eyes that were looking at them through the bushes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ok, so that was chappie nine. What do you think? Please tell me.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the next part, it's a little longer than usual.
Disclaimer: All characters you recognise belong to the great J. K. Rowling.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was common knowledge that no secret could last at Hogwarts, even if nobody was supposed to know let alone to tell. It was really surprising that the rumours about demons taking over students hadn't spread jet. In fact until this morning people hadn't even noticed that anything was wrong.
But who could possibly not notice Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley as they stormed into the Great Hall at seven o'clock in the morning, two minutes later joined by Draco Malfoy, exchanging a look and storming out of the Great Hall just as fast. They didn't seem to notice the students who were up for some inexplicable reason or other.
But what a sight it was. Everybody knew that Draco was insane. It appeared that Harry and Ginny had joined him. It didn't take more than two hours for the craziest rumours to spread around and the three of them would have received odd looks from everywhere had they cared to notice.
Well, they hadn't.
~*~*~
'How could this happen?!',
Draco cried and sat heavily down on the grass. Ginny was already sitting next to him leaning at a tree and Harry was pacing nervously. The three of them had said what they had found out the previous evening and were now pretty confused.
'I don't understand it, either. Everything seemed to fit perfectly.' Harry had a deep frown on his face.
'Maybe it would be best if we just talked to them. Ron can help us with Hermione. Do you think you can make Blaise talk?', Ginny turned to Draco as she said the last. Her face was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. She looked tired and worried.
Draco nodded and Harry stopped pacing. He looked around, eyes focusing on the lake with its clear cold water. He had had this feeling for weeks now. Even before Draco had found the Pensieve. It had been there all the time but he had ignored it.
His scar hadn't burnt. He hadn't had any nightmares featuring Voldemort. It had just been something uncomfortable . . . He remembered what Ginny had told him. That her nightmares had started again. That it was like when the Chamber of Secrets had opened. Now that he thought about it, he knew that it was true. Back then, he had also had that feeling of restlessness.
The Chamber . . . Was it possible that it had been reopened? Had that spirit something to do with it?
' . . . has to know. Don't you think so, too? Harry?'
Ginny's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked down at her but didn't really see her. He had an idea.
'I think we should pay Myrtle a visit.'
~*~*~
No sound came from behind the door as Harry held his ear pressed against it. Usually there had to be some dramatically sobbing. Checking if nobody was watching, he opened the door and entered the dimly lit bathroom. Draco and Ginny followed him and looked around.
'It's freezing in here', Ginny said and shivered, but not only from the cold. Something about the dusty room was spooky.
'Myrtle?', Harry called out. No answer came. 'That's strange. She should be here.' He walked to the back of the room and glimpsed inside the last cabin. No one there. He turned around and his eyes fell onto the sink, where the entrance to the Chamber had been.
'Well, if we can't ask her, we'll have to look ourselves. Stand aside.' Harry motioned them to step back and approached the copper tab with the small snake engraved in it. He didn't know if it would work, but he imagined again that the snake was moving and then spoke.
'Open up.' It came out as a hiss.
He took a step back himself and a moment later the entrance to the forbidden chamber was open. Draco looked slightly impressed, but Ginny looked confused.
'Didn't they lock it after . . . everything was over?', she asked.
'I thought so, too. That's why I'm not sure if it is a good thing that I was able to open it.', Harry answered and walked to the round hole. 'I'll go first.' He said and jumped. A few seconds later they could hear his voice from deep down.
'Ok, come down. It's safe.'
Draco bent down the dark hole, trying to see something. But it was completely dark. 'And you have already been there?' He turned a questioning look upon Ginny.
She nodded. She seemed even paler than before, standing there, her eyes cast downward. 'Hey, what is it? Are you frightened of going down there again? You don't have to come, you can just go back to your common room.' It was one of those rare moments when Draco Malfoy showed genuine concern. Ron wouldn't have believed his eyes.
But Ginny shook her head and waved his comment off. 'Now is not the time for fear. Besides, I want to know what's down there, too.' And with that she walked over to the hole and jumped.
Draco stood there for a moment, wondering what he had gotten himself into and then followed her. He rushed down a slide or something and finally landed on the damp ground. Harry stood a few feet away looking down a deep tunnel and Ginny stood right beside him, rubbing her backside.
'I had forgotten what it feels like to slide down here', she said with a grim smile. She was obviously trying to appear calm and undisturbed. It wasn't really convincing.
Harry shot her a worried glance and stepped closer to her. 'Alright?', he asked quietly. Ginny gave him a small smile and straightened herself. She took a deep breath and walked ahead. The two boys followed her.
The tunnel was still very dark and they used their wands to illuminate it a little. When they passed by the spot where a part of the tunnel had caved in Harry slowed down a little and remembered the first time he had come down here. He wondered briefly, where that gigantic snake skin had disappeared.
When they finally reached the entrance, the first thing they saw was, that it was open. Ginny froze on the spot and when Harry came near her she grabbed his hand and held it tight. Harry squeezed it reassuringly and pulled her near him. None of them spoke as they entered. Draco let out a small whistle, quite impressed. As they neared the gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin Ginny's grip on his arm became painful, but Harry didn't say anything. He could understand that she was frightened.
Suddenly he noticed a small light at the foot of the statue. It seemed to come from a candle. And then he saw the books.
The books that had been missing in the library were all here, stored in small piles on the floor. Someone had been reading them down here.
'Look, the Pensieve.' Draco had walked a little farther and held now the small shell in which the white substance was still shimmering. Ginny let go of Harry's hand and took a look at the books. 'There are more here than were reported by Madam Pince', she remarked.
'Some of them must be from the restricted section. I wonder what that spirit was searching in them', Harry said.
Suddenly there was a dull sound. The three students held their breaths instantly and listened. There were footsteps. And the next moment they could make out the dim light of a wand coming from the entrance.
Draco expected Blaise.
Harry and Ginny expected Hermione.
But the figure that approached them was someone else.
It looked like a third year Ravenclaw. She had blonde hair, that curled loosely around her shoulders. She was clasping an old school bag in front of her. She looked a little frightened when she stood a few feet away from them. The other three had instinctively come closer to each other and were now watchfully eying the girl.
'What are you doing here? What is this? I just wanted to go to the toilet and saw that large opening in the wall. Are you allowed to be here?' Her voice was light and she sounded like a typical Ravenclaw, asking thousands of questions in one breath.
'The question is: Are you?' Draco didn't know the girl, but any other Ravenclaw would have run to a teacher at the sight of the hole. Besides, who would want to go into that bathroom?!
Harry, too, didn't seem to believe the performance of the small girl. He stepped protectively in front of Ginny. The girl had noticed their attitude and her expression changed.
Were a moment ago had been a beautiful innocent face, was now a grimace of something really, really mad. The blue eyes had turned a gleaming shade of red and the small mouth was twisted into a n insane grin.
'Oh, I see. I can't fool you. But of course, you three are clever. I should have expected that.' The new voice was dark and menacing and Draco felt a shiver down his spine.
'Who are you?' Harry asked, sounding braver then he felt. Those red eyes reminded him too much of Voldemort.
'Right, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Igor. I live here since Hogwarts was founded. I was Salazar Slytherins servant. He raised me since I was a small child. He hid me from the others because I was ugly. He always said I was ugly.'
Igor had started pacing around, seemingly absorbed by his thoughts and memories. Unable to think clearly, Harry Ginny and Draco listened to him.
'Nobody knew about me. He used me for his experiments with dark magic or to take care of his basilisk. I lived inside that chamber and never saw daylight. One day I tried to get out of here, I wanted to see the world outside just once. But my Master found me and punished me. He took my body from me and cursed me. I became a demon. Unable to leave this place. Locked into the stone walls.
'After that he left the school. But he left some things here as well. The Basilisk stayed here to free the school of all muggle borns when his heir would return to his place. And he left me to protect his power.
'You see, everything inside here IS him. It was built by him. He put his magic into those walls. Nobody would ever be able to steel that power. Because I would protect it. To use the power I would have to be freed first. And now, the heir of Slytherin has returned and wants to take his heritage.
'He was able to get me out of my prison, but things have changed since the days of my master. And this school is not the same. The wards around it that were built so long ago have been replaced by others, stronger ones. I have to destroy them, so that my new master can come and take his power.'
Igor stopped pacing and looked at them. Sudden realisation cursed through Draco, as he stared at the girl that was a broken man.
'That's why you stole all those books and the Pensieve!' He exclaimed.
Igor nodded. 'Yes, that's why I did it. Dumbledore is the only one who knows how to break through them. But I couldn't take the information out of him. He is too strong. So I stole his Pensieve. But I couldn't find anything in there. So I looked up some of the old books. I was able to find out that the wards have been strengthened many times and that there are also wards around the Chamber that have to be broken.'
Igor looked around the huge room for a moment a sad expression on the girls face. The red eyes, Harry noticed, kept losing and getting intensity as he spoke. Suddenly the red eyes were burning again and the evil grin spread again across his face.
'You surely wonder why I tell you all this. . .well, I thought it would be a noble thing to do before I kill you. You know I can't risk having you reporting everything and taking away my last opportunity to get out of here. I hope you understand that.'
Very slowly he drew his wand, his eyes glowing in the candle light. Harry and Draco pulled out their wands as well and readied themselves for the attack. But the spell that was cast first wasn't cast upon them. It was cast at Ginny.
'Imperio!'
Ginny's eyes lost their focus and almost immediately she cried: 'Expelliarmus!' Their wands flew into her hand before either of them could react. The next spell followed suit.
'Stupefy!' It was cast upon Harry and he barely managed to jump to the side behind the overlarge foot of Slytherin. He knew that he had to find a way to stop this. But how should one do this without a wand. He heard Ginny's voice casting another spell, directed at Draco. Harry glimpsed around a toe and saw Draco running like a bunny around, trying to get near enough to her to get his wand back. Ginny had her back to him.
Harry looked at Igor, who was struggling to keep control over Ginny, not paying attention to him. Within a second Harry had made up his mind and stepped out of his hideout. He jumped at Ginny's back and forced her hands down. Draco took the opportunity and grabbed their wands.
Harry noticed, a little too late, that Ginny was much stronger under the Imperius curse, for she grabbed his arm and threw him against the stony robe of Slytherin between his feet, before she launched herself at Draco trying to get the wands back, or maybe to scratch his eyes out.
The wall Harry crushed in, however didn't seem to be made of stone, because it gave in under the force of his body. Harry blinked as he landed on the floor and saw the small creek in the wall. A hidden door! He speared a look at his surroundings, realizing that he had to act fast, if he didn't want Draco chopped to pieces (who would have thought that he'd ever NOT want that!).
Igor was preoccupied, so Harry could open the door far enough so that they could go through it and then he went to rescue Draco (another thing he had never before thought about). He took Ginny around the waist and yelled at Draco to hurry up and get to the door.
While Harry struggled with a completely mad Ginny, Draco cast a quick spell at Igor, which would take him out for only a few seconds, because Draco was to exhausted for anything strong. It was still long enough to calm Ginny down and get out. Just as they closed the door behind them they heard him moving again. Ginny was dizzy from the spell but she held onto Harry as they started running as fast as they could.
The passage they were running through went slightly upwards, but they didn't want Igor to catch them, so they paid no attention to it. They could already hear his footsteps behind them but suddenly they vanished.
The three of them slowed down a little, didn't stop, though. They continued until they saw the end of the passage. Above them was a trapdoor. With their last amount of power they managed to open it and climbed out.
Just as they wanted to give a sigh of relief, they noticed the trees around them thin rays of sunlight were shining through the thick cover of leaves above them. Draco gulped.
'We are in the Forbidden Forest', he said.
'And rather deep inside it', added Harry, as he pointed at the pair of eyes that were looking at them through the bushes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ok, so that was chappie nine. What do you think? Please tell me.