Chapter 21

The four boys quickly drew their swords. Harry immediately dropped the hilt down by his left hip, pointing the blade up over the opposite shoulder.

"Good job," said the voice. Harry pivoted, the voice was from behind and to his right.

"No one has figured out about the last copy of Hogwarts a History." He pivoted again, but no matter what the voice was always coming from behind him to his right. Then Harry noticed, as the voice was heard, the jewel on the sword brightened slightly.

"Who are you?" Ron questioned.

There was an audible sigh. "For a descendant of Ravenclaw, you certainly are very daft."

"Gryffindor?" Ron tried.

"However did you figure that one out?"

Ron shot a fierce look at the sword.

"What are you hoping to achieve by being here?" Harry asked.

"I have been the life force behind the Sorting Hat, to make sure that everything went well. I needed to find the right people, those who would go into Gryffindor, even by defying me, and once Malfoy transferred houses, the hat was no longer needed, so I jumped to the sword, and continued with the bird."

"Bird?" Draco inquired.

"Fawkes."

"Oh."

"Now I gather that you know what it is that you have to do?"

"Kill Voldemort?" Harry suggested.

"Wrong, just cut him with the sword."

"Where is he?"

"He is actually coordinating an attack on the school as we speak. He has just entered into the Chamber. I must now rest, if I am to fulfill what is required."

"The chamber?" Melinda asked.

"The chamber," Harry repeated.

"What does that mean?" Malfoy asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets?" Ron put forward.

Everyone looked at him.

"Oh…sorry, stupid idea…" but Harry ran out of the library, forgetting the invisibility cloak. The others ran after him. Before he had gotten half way to the chamber's entrance, a shrill whistle sounded throughout the castle, coming from Dumbledore's office. All of the portraits instantly awoke, and the torches along the walls light instantly. Harry didn't stop to guess at what this meant. He didn't stop to check if anyone was waking up. Snape ran across the level below them, across the atrium, where he yelled, "What is it?"

"The wards have been breached!" McGonagall yelled back.

Harry bolted around the corner as soon as they caught sight of him. He darted into the bathroom and screamed 'open' in parsletongue.

The passageway to the chamber opened and he jumped in, closely followed by his friends. Unfortunately, this resulted in a large pileup of people at the end of the slide. Harry, unluckily enough, was on the bottom.

"Urgh!" he said.

They all stood up, and everyone but Harry, Ron, and Ginny looked around the dark, dusty chamber for the first time. The fallen rocks were gone, and they could see the piled up snake skin off to the side. Melinda was completely confused. Ginny whispered an abbreviated version of the story to her as they headed towards the main chamber, wands and swords ready.

Finally they entered. The Basilisk's skeleton still lay where it had died but there was nothing else in the room, save the large statue of Slytherin, from which the Basilisk had come. Did Godric lie? No…the wards were triggered. Maybe Voldemort was somewhere else or maybe he had left the Chamber already. But wouldn't they have seen them?

"I thought you were smart" A voice echoed around them. "Then again Potter," said the high, cold, murderous voice, "maybe not."