Chapter Forty Nine
Exposing the Imposter and Opening the Chamber
Harry and Ron turned on their three brothers with their wands out. "You three go back to the dorm and make sure everyone is all right. Your not coming with us. We work better alone, and we don't want you to get hurt." They were looking serious when they said this, and Fred, George and Percy weren't sure that they wanted to argue with them. But also they didn't want to face their mother if something would happen to the youngest Weasley's without them trying to help out.
"I don't think so you two. Your not going to go down there at all, and if you think you are, you don't think that we will let you go without our help do you?" Percy was stern when he said this and Fred and George were nodding their heads in agreement with their older brother.
"We thought so." At a nod from Harry, they raised their wands yelling. "Petrificus Totalus and Stupefy," while dodging the third ones attempt at stopping them. They stunned the third one also before putting them in the bathroom and went off to find Lockhart to tell him what they knew.
When they got to the DADA classroom, they found him packing his stuff up quickly, and getting ready to leave. "What do you think your doing Professor? Aren't you going to help out our sister? Why are you leaving?" The two students were completely dumbstruck by the look that their professor had as he was getting ready to leave.
"Well yes, I was actually leaving. So sorry for your sister, she was a smart student, but there isn't anything that I can do to help her you know. Don't believe everything that you read in books boys, sometimes they are totally falsified." With that, he turned his back on them and continued on with his packing. What he didn't notice when he turned his back, was them pointing their wands at him and then he felt the cold point of a wand in his back as they told him this.
"We don't think so. You are going to help us, and the only reason we're taking you with us, is because there is no one else that we can trust to help us here. Now march, and I will take that before you think about doing something stupid." Ron took his wand, and they started marching him out of the classroom and towards the bathroom. On their way to the bathroom, they were talking about what was wrong with what Lockhart was doing. "Why did you say that you did all those things if you didn't? I mean did any of it actually happen?" Ron was a more than a bit mad at the teacher that the females were all going goo goo over.
"Do you think that the readers out there are interested in hearing that Horris the Honorable had defeated the Hag of Horichy, or that Matilda the Lame was the one who talked the Banshee from taking down the village that had taken her homeland. No they wanted someone that they could love, and was heroic like. You don't know this, but I wasn't a Gryffindor like you two, I was actually a Slytherin. Yes I was one of the dreaded snake children. I didn't do all those things, but I am one of those that would take advantage of those that were of weak minds. I would get their stories, and then use a memory charm on them to make it so that they forgot what it was that they just told me that they did. Then I would take their stories and say I did it. Now doesn't that sound like it is a most Slytherin thing to do. I actually went to school with your parents Ron, and they didn't like me at the time either. That is actually funny that I was one of those that were looked down at because of the way I looked, and for the house I was in. Now I'm one of the most beautiful wizards in the world. Now you were leading me down to take out the Basilisk as you obviously figured out that is the problem. Have you found out a way to take it down, or are we going to go in and fly by the seat of our pants on this one." The professor was looking like the two of them didn't know what they were doing, and he was worried that they would get him killed along with themselves, instead of an innocent young girl that got herself taken away by the true evil.
"We know how we're supposed to take it out, but we aren't sure where we are to get one. It is said that it is best to take off it's head before it can look you in the eye, or bite you. Do you have anything that can be used to take off the head of the Basilisk?" Harry was looking at their prisoner from a new point of view right now. He didn't trust him to help them, but he promised that they would take a Professor with them.
When they got to the bathroom, Harry went looking around the sinks that Myrtle told them about while Ron kept an eye on their prisoner. While he was looking, he could hear the voice of the Basilisk as if it were far away, but still loud enough to hear. "Damn, we need to get in there to help her." Harry was mumbling under his breath until he found the symbol of the snake on the faucet. When he saw it, he muttered 'open' in parselmouth, and the sinks started to move out of the way. "Come on you two, I think that this is the way in." Harry moved out of the way, and showed them that the sinks and mirrors were moving out of the way to reveal the entrance to a large pipe that lead underground. "Come on, you first Professor, I don't want you at our backs yet."
Professor Lockhart hesitated before the prodding of Ron's wand pushed him to jump into the pipe. After he went in, Harry told Ron to go down and he soon followed. What he found when he got to the bottom of the shaft, made his heart freeze.