Star and Lightning

21st Chapter – The Chamber of Secrets

Elisha lay in her comfortable four-poster bed, desperately trying to stay awake. She heard the other girls in her dormitory breathing calmly and felt Serena's curled-up body under her left arm. She was tired, exhausted from her practice and worried. She wasn't afraid that she might be expelled. But what if she was caught and Dumbledore found out that she was the Dark Heiress?

Finally, she heard the distant sound of the Hogsmeat Church's bell striking midnight. Serena raised her head and uncurled while Elisha silently got up. Making as little sound as possible, she opened the dormitory's door and squeezed through, Serena sliding at her heel. She conjured a little shining ball inside her palm to enlighten the dark corridor. When she reached the door leading to the common room, she carefully opened it and peeked inside, making sure it was empty. Taking some deep breaths, she stood in front of the window clutching her wand and concentrated. Now she was doing what she had been practicing and reading about all afternoon and evening, praying it would work. The air around her began whirling and her wand glowed in a cold blue. Slowly, her figure faded and eventually she became invisible. When it was done, she stood there panting. She had read about this spell in one of Harry's advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts books and had found her new wand a great help. This was much easier for her than transfiguring a match. Serena hissed:

"It might be a great experience having accomplished such a complicated spell, but we really should get down to the Entrance Hall. I don't want to keep Nagini waiting any longer than necessary."

"Yeah, you're right." Elisha hissed back. "So I'm really invisible?"

Serena nodded and slid towards the common room's exit. Elisha followed her and quickly they made their way down to the Entrance Hall. They didn't meet a patrolling teacher.

Behind the statue, Nagini was curled up and hissed angrily: "What took you so long?"

Without waiting for an answer, he uncurled and slid through the hall very fast. Elish had to run to keep up with him and was carrying Serena who couldn't have kept up with this speed. She desperately tried to put the way they were going in mind but she wasn't used to the corridors of Hogwarts, yet. Finally, Nagina slowed down in front of a girl's bathroom and hissed:

"In here, you'll find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. There's a ghost in it, but you only need to threaten her a little and she won't tell anybody that you have been here. There used to be a Basilisk inside the Chamber, but your brother slaughtered it. You're supposed to use the chamber as exercising room. There are wards around the chamber so that Dumbledore won't realise any magic being done in there."

That said, Nagini disappeared in a slit of the wall and Elisha stood panting in front of the girl's toilet on the second floor. What the heck was she supposed to do now? Slowly, she entered the toilet. Inside, there was nothing unusual. Serena set off to explore and find the mentioned entrance while Elisha looked around carefully. Suddenly, Elisha heard a loud scream and a slivery girl rushed out of a toilet, Serena following. This had to be this toilet's ghost.

When the ghost saw Elisha, whose invisility charm had worn off till now, she tilted her head and asked: "What are you doing here, in the middle of the night?"

Elisha remembered what Nagini had said and replied in a threatening tone: "That's none of your business. You won't tell anybody that I have been here or you will regret it."

Moaning Myrtle looked at her wide-eyed, then retreated into a toilet, sobbing. Meanwhile, Serena had continued exploring and had found the carved serpent on the faucet.

"Look, I believe I've found the entrance." She hissed.

Elisha examined the serpent curiously and hissed: "Open."

And it did. The washbasins moved, revealing a large hole. Elisha looked inside anxiously and saw that there was a tunnel beginning. She hesitated to jump inside. But she knew that she had to, so she grabbed Serena and jumped.

During the ride down, Elisha was wotrying about how to get out again. She certainely wouldn't be able to climb this pipe up. As the tube ended, Elisha and Serena fell on thousands of rat skeletons. Elisha pulled a face and dusted her robe. Carefully, she went foreward till she reached the copper-plate with the serpents. Seven of them were wound across it and the head of an eighth one was barely visible. She bent foreward to have a closer look at them and muttered in Parseltongue: "How do I open you?"

In response, the eighth snake made its way around the plate and whenever it touched one of the others, it snapped its head back. When the serpent had completed its round, the plate sprang open, revealing a circular opening. When Elisha hesitated, Serena slid foreward. After walking around some more corners, they entered the Chamber of Secrets. Elisha gasped and even Serena seemed astonished as she stopped moving and looked around. Slowly, they passed by the statues of serpent's heads till they stood in front of the huge statue of Salazar Slytherin's head.

There was something about this statue's face and eyes, that made Elisha shiver. She didn't really like the idea of coming down here regularly. It was cold, wet and unpleasant down here. True, she had lived in a lot of places like this one, but nevertheless she didn't like it. When she was wondering wether there were any more secrets about this place, the head suddenly spoke up.

"Are you an heir of Slytherin?" it hissed.

"uhm, yeah." Elisha stammered. "I'm supposed to train here."

"Yes, training is the only thing one can still do down here. The Secret of this Chamber, the Basilisk, is gone."

Elisha didn't dare ask what exactly a basilisk was. She had a feeling, that she was supposed to know that. When she thougth that the silence would crush her, the head suddenly hissed:

"There's a well-equiped training room to the left and a library on the right."

Elisha thanked him and went to the left first. And there, behind the statue, was a plain door, guarded by the statue of a serpent, that let her enter. The Training Room was not very big, but big enough for two persons to use it. There was a collection of swords and daggers at one wall and the whole room was stuffed with cushions, very dusty cushions. She'd have to clean this room before she could use it. Serena, who had gone off exploring, suddenly gave a serpentine shreak and rushed out of a cupboard. Elisha curiously went over and looked in. She squealed too, but caught herself. Skulls of all kind, teeth that were labeled with the names of Dark Creatures and bottles filled with mysterious potions were inside.

Elisha decided to clean this mess later and check the library now. The other door was guarded by a serpent's statue, too. The Library was enormous, it looked almost as big as Flourish and Blotts. The floor was covered with dust, but there was none on the bookshelves. Must be some sort of dust-repelling spell, Elisha mused. The books were old, most of them from the Founders' time or even older. She got absorbed in them, quickly. While Serena explored the room and then curled up next to her, Elisha flicked through books about Parseltongue, the Dark Arts, Potions, but also about Light Magic like Transfiguration and Healing.

Suddenly, she realised with a jerk, that she had no idea what time it was. It could already be next morning. Elisha quickly grabbed some books and headed out of the chamber. When she stood in front of Slytherin's statue again, she remembered, that she didn't know the way out. So, she timidly asked the head:

"Excuse me, Sir." It opened its eyes. "How do I get out of here again?"

The head laughed a cold and cruel laugh and replied: "Usually, I would let you find the way on your own, but as I like your guardian snake.." Serena flicked her tongue out, confused. "There is an old broom hidden underneath the sixth serpent's head on the left. It is an ancient model, but I think it still does its job."

Elisha thanked him with a nodd and got the broom. Standing at the beginnig of the pipe that led to the exit, Serena curled around her right arm, she hesitated. Harry and his friends hadn't showed her how to fly, yet. But it couldn't be too difficult, could it? She seized the broom firmly and pushed off the ground. Shakily, she zoomed upwards until she finally reached the girl's bathroom. She hid the broom behind the washbasins and told the entrance to close. Dim daylight was already lightening up the toilet, so she hurried to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind the next corner. Elisha cursed under her breath, she had forgotten to do the invisibility charm. Panic was beginning to rise inside her, when the steps came nearer. She forced her breathing to slow down and concentrated on the spell. Just at the moment, Professor Snape came round the corner, it was complete. She stood pressed against the wall, waiting for the professor to pass by. But he had sensed something and listened carefully. Elisha barely breathed and concentrated on the charm. If she becam visible now, she'd have a hard time explaining what she was doing in the corridors of Hogwart at this time in the morning carrying books, that were hundred of years old, protected by a highly complex invisibility spell. Serena saved her, by throwing down a statue fifty meters away. Once Snape headed towards the fallen statue, Elisha let the charm down and ran as quietly as possible back to the Ravenclaw Rooms. She got to her bed without any further incidents. After hiding the books under her matress, she fell into bed and fell asleep immediately.

One hour later, Sophie and Padma had no idea why it took Elisha that long to get up and get herself clothed.