Kitty: I've been updating this a lot lately, mostly because I'd like to finish this before summer school stars so my focus will be all on getting Egyptian Nights finished and then working on the duel for I'll Worship You Forever.
Yugi: You've got it all planned out nicely.
Kitty: Kinda need to...don't know how summer school will be...
Lina: R&R!
Chapter Nineteen:
Double, Double, Here Comes TroubleThe Gryffindor common room had never been so quiet as it was after Professor McGonagall told them officially about what happened to Marik and Ginny. Almost everyone had gone up to bed, trying to pretend what they'd heard was a dream; Diana, Harry and Ron sat together in the group of red armchairs in the corner.
"She knew something," Ron said at last, "She must've known something about the Chamber. That's why she was taken. I mean…she's a pureblood…there can't be another reason."
Neither Diana nor Harry answered. Harry looked out the window at the blood-red sunset and Diana fingered Marik's gold watch, looking paler than the moon that would later rise into the sky.
"I should've gone after him," she whispered, "I should've checked to see if he was okay…and now…Marik might be gone forever…"
Diana felt warm arms encircle her as Bakura appeared in his transparent form beside her. -It's not your fault, Dare-chan.-
Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "Do you…do you think there's…any chance that they're still…that they're not…?"
Diana bit her lip, trying not to cry as to stay strong for her red-haired friend, but she honestly didn't know what to say.
After another short silence, Atem appeared next to Harry and growled in frustration. "There's got to be something we can do! We can't just sit here while Ginny and Marik-kun are trapped down in the Chamber of Secrets!"
"The only one who's even looking is Lockhart-baka," Seth concurred, "And I think his meddling will just put one more skeleton down there…"
There was yet another pause in which Diana and Harry looked at one other, before Ron said, "Maybe we should go see Lockhart. We can tell him what we know. He may be useless, but he is going to try to get into the Chamber."
Diana sighed, putting Marik's watch in her pocket. "Well, as we can't think of anything else and we all desperately want to do something…."
Darkness was slowly creeping through the hallways of the silent school when Harry, Diana and Ron stepped in front of Lockhart's office.
Diana put her ear to the door. "Do you guys hear that?"
"Sounds like my mum trying to clean my bedroom," muttered Ron, "But I highly doubt Lockhart's having his mother clean his office."
Harry brushed past the two redheads and raised a hand to knock on the door. The noise from inside the office suddenly changed into a tense silence. Then footsteps echoed on the floor toward them; the door opened the tiniest crack and one of Lockhart's eyes peered through it.
"Oh…Potter…Weasley…Randall…" the wizard author sounded a bit relieved as he opened the door a little wider, "I'm rather busy at the moment…if you would be quick-"
"We have information that might help you," Diana said bluntly.
"Er…well…it's not terribly…" the side of Lockhart's face the three could see looked very uncomfortable, "I mean…well, alright…"
He opened the door fully and they entered the professor's office.
It was almost completely stripped; two trunks lay open on the floor, one stuffed with differently colored robes, the other with books, and the photographs that had coveted the room were now crammed into boxes.
"Are you going somewhere?" Harry asked, his green eyes narrowing.
"Er, yes," muttered Lockhart, as he ripped a life-size poster of himself off the back of the door and rolled it up, "Urgent call, unavoidable…got to go-"
"What about my sister?" Ron demanded jerkily, "What about Marik?"
"Well…as to that, most unfortunate," Lockhart avoided their eyes as he wrenched a drawer out of his bureau and dumped socks on top of his multicolored robes, "No one regrets more than I-"
"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Harry interrupted furiously, "You can't go now, with all the Dark stuff going on here!"
"Well, I must say…when I took the job," Lockhart mumbled almost incoherently as he ripped the brightly shaded curtains from the window, "Nothing in the job description…didn't expect-"
"You're running away?" Harry stepped in front of Lockhart's suitcase to stop him from going any farther, "After all that stuff you did in your books?"
"Books can be misleading," Lockhart said weakly.
"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.
"My dear boy, do use your common sense!" Lockhart went around Harry to dump the curtains into his suitcase, before straightening up, "My books wouldn't have sold half as well as they do if people didn't think I'd done all those things! No one wants to read about some Armenian warlock who saved a village from werewolves if he looked awful on the front cover! And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip, come on-"
"So you've just been taking credit for what other wizards and witches have done?" Harry said incredulously.
"Harry, Harry, Harry," Lockhart shook his head impatiently as if he were lecturing the Boy Who Lived about good behavior, "It wasn't nearly that simple. There was work involved: I had to track these people down…ask them how they managed to do what they did…then I had to put a Memory Charm on them, or else they'd go blabbing and I'd never sell another book. If there's one thing I do pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms…"
The professor banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.
"In fact," he said, reaching into the bright yellow robes he was wearing and pulling out his wand, "I'll have to do the same to y-"
"Expelliarmus!" Diana shouted abruptly, making Lockhart's wand fly out of his hand. She caught it deftly, before throwing it out the window.
"You shouldn't have let Snape teach us that one," she shoved the shaking professor to the ground, still pointing her wand at his throat, "I knew you couldn't have done all the things you said, but I never imagined you'd be weak enough to steal the credit for what more powerful and worthy people have done! Don't you even feel guilt for tricking almost every witch in the world into idolizing you? You couldn't just become famous off your looks…no, you had to lie, deceive and steal! Now when people need someone like the person they think you are, you run away instead of facing your problems head on! I only wish Mione and Mrs. Weasley could see their idol now, shaking like a baby because he's forced to look at his own reflection and see who he truly is: A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING COWARD!"
Yelling had clearly made Diana feel a bit better, but she still panted lightly as Lockhart looked up at her feebly. He looked so pathetic that Diana couldn't imagine feeling the least bit sorry for him.
"W-what do you want me to do?" he asked weakly, "I-I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is, I can't do anything-"
"Well then, you're in luck," Diana smirked as Ron and Harry forced Lockhart to stand at wand-point, "We think we know where it is and what's inside it. And as it's three wands and three Millennium Items against the wandless and Itemless you, I think you know that doing what we say is the choice more in your favor, so start walking."
And with that, Harry, Ron and Diana marched Lockhart out of his office, down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the messages of the Heir of Slytherin shone on the wall, and into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As usual, they found the unhappy ghost sitting on the tank of the end toilet.
"Oh, it's just you," she grumbled when she saw them, "What do you want this time?"
"To ask you how you died," Harry replied a little awkwardly. Obviously he had never thought about how to ask someone about dying, particularly someone who had already died.
"Oh…it was dreadful," Myrtle looked like she'd never been asked such a flattering question before, "It happened in this very cubical…I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses…I was crying. Then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny…a different language, I think. Don't know which, as I was quite distraught at the time to listen…but then I noticed was that it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and…" Myrtle paused dramatically, "I died."
"Just like that?" Atem asked, appearing next to Harry, "How?"
Lockhart almost fainted at the sight of the Pharaoh, obviously thinking he was Yugi or a ghost or both.
"No idea," Myrtle answered dreamily, "I just remember seeing a pair of big, yellow eyes; my whole body sort of seized up, then I was floating away…and then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see…ooh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
Atem smirked evilly at that comment. "You go, girl! What did you…?"
"This isn't the time to be swapping prank info, coz," chided Seth, appearing next to Ron and scaring Lockhart again, "Where did you see the eyes?"
"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, gesturing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.
Diana, Harry and Ron hurried over to it, the Yamis floating next to them. To any unfocused eye, it looked like a regular sink, but to three students looking for the Chamber of Secrets, it looked like the entrance they'd been searching for, although the only indication was a scratched drawing of a tiny snake on the side of the tap.
"Harry," whispered Ron, "Say something in Parseltongue."
"I…I can't," Harry mumbled, "The only times I've ever been able to speak Parseltongue is when I've been faced with a real snake-"
"Well, try to pretend the engraving's real," Diana suggested impatiently.
Harry gulped, before nodding. He stared hard at the engraving for a moment, before he opened his mouth and a strange hissing escaped his lips.
At once, the tap glowed a brilliant white light and began to spin; the sink began to move underneath the floor, right out of sight, to reveal a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.
There was a silence. Then Lockhart chuckled nervously.
"Well done, Harry! Ha ha, good work! Well, you hardly…there's no need for me to stay-"
He tried to run, but the Millennium Ring around Diana's neck glowed; Lockhart was suddenly trapped in a purple, Shadow-magicked bubble, and the bubble gently glided over the open pipe.
"You first," Atem snarled, his arms crossed across his chest.
"N-n-now really…w-what good will it do?" Lockhart stammered.
"If you're going to use the Pharaoh's Hikari as a publicity stunt, you might as well pay Atem back by working to save his Tomb Keeper," smirked Seth.
"What? I-I'm afraid I-"
But the Tomb Robber didn't wait for Lockhart to finish; he removed the Shadow magic and let the professor fall through the pipe. His yell echoed through the pipe back to them; there was a slight crackling…a silence.
Then…
"It's really quite filthy down here."
"He's alive," Atem muttered.
"Unfortunately," added Bakura.
"At least if the basilisk kills someone, it'll be him," Seth snickered.
"Oh stop it, you three," Diana scolded half-heartedly, as the Yamis disappeared back into the Millennium Items, "Alrighty, guys…time to go down the water slide without water."
"For our friends," agreed Harry.
"And the rest of the school," added Ron.
So, starting with Diana and ending with Ron, they jumped down the pipe.
It was indeed like a water slide without water. Diana slid down the pipe, going around twists and turns that slowly and steadily downward, farther below even than the dungeons where they had Potions with Snape.
Finally Diana reached the end, the pipe leveled out and they landed on the damp floor of a stone tunnel near where Lockhart was getting to his feet. Harry rammed into Diana, making her fall over. Muttering quick apologies, they moved out of the way as Ron came whizzing out of the pipe too.
"We must be miles under the school," Harry's voice echoed through the black tunnel.
"Under the lake, probably," Ron said as he eyed the slimy ceiling and walls.
Diana looked at the dark tunnel ahead. When she realized it was as dark as a night sky without stars, she muttered, "Lumos!" and made a light appear on the end of her wand.
"C'mon," she beckoned, "This way. And remember…any sign of movement, close your eyes right away."
The tunnel was so dark that the Lumos spell only allowed them to see a little distance in front of them; the only sound in the tunnel was their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor and an occasional CRUNCH of one of them stepping on a small animal skeleton.
Suddenly, Diana stopped and flung her arms in front of her to stop the others. "There's something up there."
The three students and one professor froze, listening; the thing Diana had spotted was lying, motionless, on the floor of the tunnel in front of them.
"Maybe it's asleep," muttered Harry.
Diana shook her head. "It's not breathing."
The female Gryffindor squinted, trying to get a better look. "It's not even alive," she whispered at last, "It's a snakeskin."
"Blimey," said Ron, "What shed this must be twenty feet long…at least."
There was a quick movement behind them; Lockhart's knees had given way.
"Get up," snapped Ron, poking Lockhart in the shoulder with his wand.
Lockhart slowly got to his feet…and then snatched Ron's wand right out of his hand and pointed it at each of the students in turn.
"The adventure ends here, boys and girls," he said grandly, "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save your friends, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of their mangled bodies…so…" Lockhart looked at Harry, "You first, Mr. Potter…say goodbye to your memories!"
He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand and yelled, "Obliviate!"
What happened next seemed to go in slow motion; just before Lockhart shouted the incantation, Diana jumped in front of Harry and yelled, "Protego!" to block the spell, but it didn't block the spell: it blocked the rubble falling from the ceiling after the wand exploded with the force of a small bomb.
When the dust cleared and the Shield Charm wore off, Diana and Harry found themselves alone and facing a solid wall of broken rock.
"Ron?" Diana cried, "Ron? Are you okay? Ron!"
"I'm fine, Dare!" Ron's voice was muffled from behind the rock, "Lockhart isn't, though, he got blasted by the wand…"
There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!"; Diana guessed that Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.
"What now?" asked Ron, "We can't get through, it'd take ages…and we have to hurry if we plan to save Marik and Ginny…"
Diana bit her lip in thought. "Ron, wait there with Lockhart and try to move some of the rock so we can get back through. Harry and I will go on ahead and find Ginny and Marik. C'mon, Harry, let's-"
"Hold up," Ron interrupted, pushing a hand through some of the rock so that there was a small hole, "Seth said he wants to be there with Atem. I'm sure he could use Marik as a host on the other side. Take the Rod with you."
Diana smiled as Ron pushed the Millennium Rod through the opening to her. "Okay, Ron. We'll be back soon, I promise."
And so, Harry and Diana ran through the rest of the tunnel past the giant snakeskin. At last they reached a solid wall carved with two entwining serpents with glinting green eyes.
Harry cleared his throat, gripping Diana's hand nervously, and whispered something in Parseltongue.
The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight like the sink back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and Harry and Diana walked inside.
Kitty: End.
Yugi: Ahh...the climax is approaching!
Lina: About time.
Kara: (still holding Marik possesively) First is aNiMe-AzN-aNgEl. (frowns) Yeah, my poor Marik-chan...
Marik: I'll be okay soon, though.
Kitty:
One more chapter 'til you can find out about the fighting...I will say,
though, that Diana will not be getting a sword/weapon out of the
Sorting Hat like Harry, so that probably helps answer it for you. That
does not mean, however, that Diana will not have a role in the battle.
Lina: Next is Kyte.
Kitty: Again, poor, poor Marik-kun...
Diana: (grins as Isis is given to her)
Atem: (looks mournfully at Isis in Diana's arms)
Diana: (sighs in aggravation) Ohhh...fine, Atem, here. (hands Isis to Atem)
Atem: (eyes turn to hearts: snatches Isis and snuggles her)
Everyone Else: (sweatdrop)
Kitty: Tom will pay. I shall make sure of it. And I think I've basically answered the "fighting-the-Basilisk" question.
Kara: And...Claire!
Kitty: Good luck to you with the University. (grins) I've always liked Florida better than NY, mostly because I hate the crowds and because, after the hosting of an infamous Spanish exchange student, shopping has been a turn-off for me unless it's with friends.
Lina: (smirks) Maybe we should include the plot bunny in the Bash-a-thon, Kitty.
Kitty: Sounds good to me. I think everyone with a bishie here will be tempted to do something to 'im, anyway...
Plot Bunny: EEP! (jumps underneath Kitty's bed)
Kitty:
(starts talking like Elmer Fudd) I is hunting for
wabbits... (grins evilly as she clicks a magically-appeared rifle) And
I thought it was kinda kewl how Kaiba and I were able to agree on
something to solve the mystery.
Seto: (rolls his eyes) Only you...And don't worry, I won't hurt you for your fanfic: unlike Yugi, I have self-control.
Kitty: (whacks Seto on the head with her Whack-a-Mole mallet) Yugi-chan has control! He may want to hurt Drake, but he knows you can't hurt an author: they're only the messenger, typing the story for all to read.
Yugi: And I'd never hurt Claire-kun anyway. (gives Claire a hug) As always, Kitten and I can't wait to read more!
Hermione:
(sighs) As Ron is in denial, I have very little to work with. But I'll
find a way for him to admit it, one day... (grins)
Kitty: I cried when Phantom sang in Phantom of the Opera, so I'll probably cry when Beast does...I like those types of chars.
Lina: (stabs Bellatrix a hundred million times and shoves her body under Kitty's bed) Now presenting...Setoglomper!
Kitty: Of course I'm doing a sequel: I love this fic too much to quit on it. (smiles) Ah, now I understand. I did wonder if there was a hidden meaning between the Draco-Fatha thing.
Yugi: And Kitty will be updating a lot in the next two weeks as to finish before summer school, so expect another update very soon.
Kara: Last, but certainly not least, is ANAYAS-CREATER.
Kitty: (frowns) That reviewer's wrong. I will agree that Sakura's character hasn't been explored to its true, hard-core potential, but it is still early in the fic and you haven't even touched upon the climax yet. I think Sakura is an awesome char; that reviewer doesn't know what he/she's talking about.
Yugi: On a lighter note, we're glad to hear that another update of the DW is in progress. You know Kitty and the rest of us love reading it.
Kitty: Today is Father's Day! I sent my dad a graphic I made with this poem on it:
All those special, show-off stars
That we watch and idolize
Did not always shine so bright
In the black, stage-like skies.
Once they were but kids with dreams
And a small, untrained talent,
But when they lost or gave up too fast,
They were lucky to have a parent
To coach them with their teachings
And help them stand back up,
To give them a rose when they did good,
And say, "Never give up."
Soon those stars grew up and flew
To take their places up above;
It's times like this that I remember
Your true, unwavering love.
Kitty: I think, even vacant dads like mine, deserve to have some recognition for at least trying to love their kids like they used to.
Yugi: (hugs Kitty tightly) R&R!