Chapter 14: An Old Danger Rears its Head Again

"Okay, you two can stop now," Ron said as he helped himself to some bacon. Harry and Ginny were sitting across the table from him and Hermione in the Great Hall, flirting and kissing over breakfast.

"Why should we?" Ginny asked after she reluctantly pulled away. "We watch you two snog all the time!"

Ron's ears turned a little red. "It's just really weird seeing you two kissing!"

Hermione wrapped her hands around Ron arm. "So it's not weird when we do that?" she asked with a sly grin.

Yeah!" Harry put in. "I don't know how many times I've watched you two at it. I never made you stop."

Ron leaned over the table. "Hermione's not your sister!" he hissed.

Their laughter was cut short though when a drawling voice interrupted them. "So, is your dad doing alright at the Ministry?" Harry and Ginny turned around to see Malfoy standing behind them with a smug look on his face.

Ron eyed him suspiciously. "He's fine. Why?"

Just then the owl post flew in. As usual, Hermione's copy of the Daily Prophet was dropped by her plate.

Malfoy's grin grew wider as Hermione picked up the newspaper. "Let's just say his job's going to get a little more interesting, what with the new crisis that he's going to have to deal with." He glanced at Harry and Ginny with a smirk so creepy it made Harry nervous. Then he sauntered away.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stared at each other for a few seconds before Hermione opened her paper. She looked at the front page and cried out.

"What is it?" Harry asked as he snatched the paper out of her hands. He gasped when he saw the headline: Convicted Death Eaters Escape from Azkaban Prison.

"The details are still fuzzy...it looks like somebody on the outside found a way to stun all the guards and lift the anti-Apparating curse!" Harry said after he scanned the article.

"Did they say anything about Dad?" Ginny asked frantically as she moved closer and peeked at the paper.

"Well everyone's watching him; seeing how he handles his first major crisis. They're already bad-mouthing him for letting this happen in the first place."

"Letting this happen?" Ron shouted as he snatched the paper. His eyes darted across the article before he crumpled it and stood up. "I'm sending an owl to him," he said.

Hermione still seemed to be in shock during all of this, but she slowly came back to herself when Ron got up. "I'll come with you," she said.

Harry and Ginny watched Ron and Hermione leave and then looked at each other. From the look in her eyes, Harry could guess that she was thinking the same thing he was.

"I assume you heard the news," Dumbledore said as Harry sat down in his office that evening. Harry nodded.

Dumbledore paused for a moment before continuing. "Well, my sources are rather vague at the moment, but it does not look like he is planning a full-scale attack on the community yet. Arthur is doing everything in his power to contain any threat that may arise. And you are making great progress in your training as well. However, I feel we should be prepared nonetheless. I would like to see you here at the same time every Monday and Friday as well."

Harry nodded in agreement. He was just as nervous about this turn of events; maybe even more so. Now that everyone knew Voldemort was back, he had nothing to lose. And now that he had most of his Death Eaters back...but Harry didn't want to think about that.

"Alright then," Dumbledore said, breaking Harry's thoughts. "I thought we should review your Occlumency skills today..."

Apprehension was thick in the air as everyone prepared for the worst. Aurors guarded every entrance to the school. The teachers were continually patrolling the halls and checking the security charms on the doors. All the students (except about half of the Slytherins) were quiet and anxious as daily owls would fly in from concerned parents. And every day, Harry would go over all the new spells and charms he learned in his head in case the moment would come that he would have to face Voldemort again.

"I am so glad we're done with exams!" Ginny said. She had taken her last O.W.L. exam that day and she and Harry were just coming back in from the Quidditch pitch after a little celebration Seeker practice.

"I know!" Harry said. "Wow, I thought Hermione was tense during our O.W.L.s! I could hardly get near you for the past few weeks!"

They were heading back to Gryffindor Tower when they passed Professor McGonagall in the hallway. Harry stopped. "I almost forgot!" he said. "I have an appointment with Dumbledore today!" He checked his watch and gasped. "I'm going to be late!"

"Well you go ahead," Ginny said. "I'll see you in the common room." She quickly kissed him and continued on her way as Harry ran toward Dumbledore's office.

About four hours later Harry returned to the common room and joined Ron and Hermione, who were sitting together near the fire. "Hi!" he said as he plopped into a nearby chair. He looked around. "Where's Ginny?"

"Wasn't she with you?" Ron asked.

Harry's insides clenched inexplicably. "Well she was, but I had to go see Dumbledore and she headed back here by herself. You sure you didn't see her?"

Ron and Hermione looked questioningly at each other and shook their heads. "We've been here since exams finished," Hermione said. "She never came through the portrait hole."

Harry stared at them for a moment and looked back to the portrait hole with concern. It's been four hours, he thought. I wonder where she could be?

"Harry, it's no big deal," Ron said. "She probably stopped to talk to one of her friends."

"Yeah, yeah, that's--that's probably it," Harry said. He settled back uneasily into his chair, not entirely convinced.

"Harry, it's been thirty seconds since the last time you asked what time it is!" Hermione said impatiently. It had been half an hour and Harry was pacing nervously in front of the fire again. "What's going on?"

Harry ran his fingers through his hair as he looked at his friends, who were staring at him with looks of concern and alarm. It's probably nothing, he told himself for the umpteenth time. She's got friends in other Houses, and she can really talk up a storm...but still, it's past curfew, she should have come back... "I'm just getting a bad feeling something's happened," Harry finally said.

"What could possibly happen?" Ron asked. "The most danger she could be in is getting caught in the hall by Filch...though that could be bad..."

"No, no," Harry said, frustrated. He sat back down. "It's not Filch I'm worried about." He took a deep breath. "You remember the prophecy that broke last year?" Ron and Hermione nodded. "Well Dumbledore knew what it said and he told me after I came back to Hogwarts." He then explained the prophecy to them.

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her hands while Ron's eyes widened with shock. "Blimey," Ron whispered. "You're the only one who can kill him?"

Hermione's hands slowly lowered from her face. "I don't know," she said quietly. "Now that I think about it, I'm not surprised...it somehow makes sense...why he targeted you and your parents..."

But Harry didn't have time for analysis right now. Before Ron and Hermione could fully recover from learning about the prophecy, Harry launched into telling them about the dream before Christmas.

"You mean to tell me Ginny's in danger?" Ron exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I tried! Don't you remember?" Harry yelled back. "I tried to break up with her, but no one would have it!"

"Does Ginny know all this?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. She still refused to break up."

"Well does Voldemort know about her? He hasn't been able to read your mind all year, right?"

"No, he hasn't; that's the thing. There was one time that I thought he might have seen something, but it was the weekend that the Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban. I've gone over that moment a million times; I'm pretty sure he didn't see anything. I don't know how else he could possibly find out about her."

"Malfoy," Ron suddenly said. He turned to Harry with a very serious look on his face. "Malfoy knows about you two, remember? He sees you with her in the Great Hall all the time. And he's probably talked to his father now that he's out of prison. They've both been after our family for years, and with Dad as Minister of Magic...it'd be too perfect."

"But what could they do?" Hermione asked. "They couldn't get into the school, you can't Apparate into the castle!"

But Harry thought about the previous year; how Dumbledore was able to sneak them out of the school the night Mr. Weasley was injured, how he sent Harry back to his office the night Sirius died, all the secret fireplace talks with Sirius...and all of them happened when the Ministry was trying to lock down the school. The grounds weren't completely airtight, and if someone really wanted to get in... "I would just feel better if I knew where she was," Harry said.

Ron and Hermione sat staring at each other and at Harry, torn about what to do, but from the looks on their faces he could tell that they were slowly beginning to think the same thing.

"Wait; what about the Marauders' Map?" Ron asked.

Harry paused for a moment, then smiled with relief as he ran upstairs to retrieve the map. He brought it down and the three of them searched the map for Ginny's dot, but she was nowhere to be found.

"That can't be right!" Harry cried frantically. "She couldn't have disappeared!" He snatched up the map and scanned it again, all the while remembering what Sirius had said; "The map doesn't lie!"

Now Ron and Hermione were starting to panic too. "She has to be on here!" Ron exclaimed. "Ginny wouldn't just leave the grounds for no reason!"

"Maybe there's a sign; some marker of where she disappeared!" Hermione said, wringing her hands. The three friends looked at each other and, without saying a word, agreed to what they were going to do.

"If we split up, we'll cover more ground," Harry said and they all got up and headed for the portrait hole.

Harry lit his wand and quickly retraced the path he and Ginny normally took when they were coming back from the Quidditch pitch. He was walking down the hall on the second floor when a voice behind him made him jump.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing in the hallway at this hour?" Harry whirled around to find Snape standing behind him, his wand lighting up the hall.

Harry took a moment to find his voice. "It's Ginny sir," he said as he continued to scan the halls. "She didn't come back to the common room."

"It is not your job to go looking for her," Snape said. "You should have reported to your Head of House and stayed where you--Mr. Potter! Come back here!"

Harry wasn't even paying attention to Snape. He continued down the hall a few more feet when he saw something lying on the ground next to a door. He ran up to it and suddenly realized what door he was in front of.

"Mr. Potter, you are not to run off when I am speaking to you!" A flustered Snape hurried to where Harry was standing. His tone changed to one of urgency though when he noticed the horror on Harry's face. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's my Firebolt," Harry whispered as he picked up the handle. "Ginny had my Firebolt." He slowly pointed to the door. "And that--"

"It's just a girls' lavatory, why are you so--"

"Professor, that's where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is," Harry finished.

Snape stared at the door for a moment before turning back to Harry. He looked even paler than before, if that was possible. "What makes you so sure she's in the Chamber?" he asked. "It is a girls' lavatory after all--"

"She wouldn't have left my broom out here," Harry said. His anxiety was increasing with each second. There were only two people alive that he knew could open the Chamber: himself, and... His feet felt like bricks as he willed himself to go into the bathroom.

"What do you think you're doing?" Snape exclaimed. He followed Harry just inside the door.

The moment they entered a silvery shape rose out of one of the stalls. "Well this has become a popular spot all of a sudden," Moaning Myrtle commented. She smiled and blushed. "Hi Harry. I should have known I'd see you here too."

"There were other people here?" Harry asked quickly, ignoring Myrtle's greeting. "When? How many? Where did they go?"

Myrtle seemed very put out by Harry's attitude. "Well it's nice to see you too," she said, pouting. "There were two men who appeared by that sink over there--" she pointed at the sink Harry knew all too well "--and stood by the door for about an hour or so. Then one of them went out and came back with some red-headed girl and they disappeared into the sink again."

Harry walked toward the sink as if in a trance, suddenly aware of the fact that his scar was starting to prickle again. He searched the copper taps on and found the spot where a tiny snake was scratched on. He stared at the snake for a moment.

"Open up," he hissed.

Snape gasped behind Harry as the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and started spinning. The sink slipped out of sight and exposed the large pipe that led to the Chamber.

Harry was just about to jump down the pipe when Snape came to his senses and grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him back. "Stop; you don't know what's waiting for you," he said.

Harry struggled to get loose. "But Ginny's down there!" he yelled. "And you heard Myrtle; there were only two Death Eaters that were in here--"

"--That were in here," Snape emphasized, tightening his grip. "There could be a dozen more down there. They're waiting for you to come storming in there."

"So what? We're just going to leave her to die?"

Snape studied Harry's anxious face for a moment. "Wait," he said. He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the open door of the lavatory. Suddenly a silver spider shot out of the tip of his wand and scuttled quickly out of sight. Then he conjured chains that wound around the parts of the sink that moved to reveal the Chamber, securing them in place.

"Alright; let's go," Snape said.