Yuugiou!
A New Generation of Priests

CHAPTER TWELVE – THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

Atemu frowned, shifting in his seat uncomfortably, a strange feeling settling in his chest, almost like a really bad case of heartburn. He tried to ignore it, but it only got worse, until he found himself clutching his chest, gasping for breath.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked, privately grateful for an excuse to look away from his study sheet. Ryou's head snapped up in concern as the pharaoh shook his head, placing his other hand on the table.

"No…" he said, voice so weak sounding that everyone was worried. "I… ahhh…!"

Bakura took over Ryou's body before he even knew what happened, leaping over the table as Atemu nearly fell off his seat, Ron barely catching him in time. His skin was hot to the touch… and then suddenly cold and clammy, then hot again. His body started to shake uncontrollably as Harry and Draco got out of their seats, trying to see what they could do to help.

"What's wrong with him?" Ron asked, eyes wide as Draco eyed the pharaoh.

"It's the Puzzle!" he shouted suddenly, pointing to his neck. "Look!"

Atemu's head tossed to the side, giving everyone a good view of where the chain the Puzzle half was attached to burned his neck.

"Get it off!" Harry exclaimed, trying to grab the Puzzle, only to come away with his hands singed.

"Move aside!" Draco snapped, pulling out his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The spell hit the Puzzle… and was swallowed, glowing slightly as if it was angry. A moment later, it shot out a bolt of Darkness, and Draco just barely snapped his head to the side to avoid it. He turned to see it burn straight through the bookshelf behind him, going even through the wall all the way on the other end of the library.

"Yikes…" Ron commented.

"The chain!" Bakura shouted, trying to help Ron keep Atemu down as he started to convulse. "Cast it on the chain!"

Draco aimed carefully, before casting the spell again. The chain lifted unsteadily over Atemu's head, so hot it singed his hair, before it lifted away from the pharaoh entirely. He left the Puzzle hovering in the air, watching it out of the corner of his eye as Atemu calmed down, resting limply in Ron and Bakura's arms.

It was this scene that Malik ran in on, clutching what he took from Hermione in his hand.

"Did… I miss something…?" he asked.

"No, come and join the fun," Draco replied sarcastically. "Can I get something to put this in?"

"I know Seto has that 'briefcase of doom' of his here, and I just passed by a Ravenclaw on the way here," Malik said, eyeing the Puzzle, able to see the heat radiating off of it.

"I'll get it," Ron said, gently passing Atemu off to Bakura completely, before getting up and racing out of the room.

"Anyway, what are you so excited about?" Draco asked Malik, sitting down again uneasily.

"Oh, right. Hermione did figure out what was in the Chamber of Secrets," Malik announced, laying the paper, which had obviously been torn out of an old book, on the table so all of them could read:

Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land,
there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk,
known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may
reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from
a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing
are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous
fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed
with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee
before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk
flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.

Harry's eyes grew wide as he finished reading the excerpt, hardly believing it. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "Spiders flee before it… the dead roosters… It all makes sense now."

"Yeah…" Draco muttered; looking like his birthday had come early. "Yeah! Of course! The monster in the Chamber is a Basilisk, a snake! That's why only me and Harry could hear it! But… no one's died."

"That's because no one's looked it in the eye," Harry pointed out. "Think about it. Colin saw the Basilisk through his camera. That's why the film was all burnt up, but Colin just got petrified. Justin…"

"Justin must've seen it through Nearly Headless Nick," Bakura said, cradling Atemu carefully. "Nick probably got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again. That's probably why the priest only got petrified as well."

"And Hermione, Seto, and that Ravenclaw girl were found with Seto's mirror near them," Malik added. "I'll bet you anything they had just figured out that the creature was a Basilisk and were warning people to look around corners with a mirror."

"What about Mrs. Norris…?" Harry asked.

Draco scrunched his face up in thought. "The water," he declared. "There was water on the floor that night. She only saw its reflection."

"But, how's it been getting around the school?" Bakura asked. "Something that big; someone was bound to notice."

"Hermione answered that question already," Malik said, pointing to the bottom of the torn page. The word "pipes" was written in Hermione's tidy scrawl. "It's been getting around through the plumbing. A building this old probably has some pretty big pipes all through it."

"It also explains why we heard the voice coming from the walls," Harry added.

"This is all well and good," Draco cut in, "but we still have no idea where the Chamber is."

They were all silent at that, trying to think of where the Chamber of Secrets could possibly be. Just as Ron came back, lugging around Seto's huge briefcase, that Draco let out a yelp and jumped in his seat, looking like he had been stung.

"Harry, what did Aragog say about the person who died?" he asked excitedly as Ron set the briefcase down, trying to open it up. "'The girl who died fifty years ago was found in a bathroom'? What if she never left that bathroom?"

Malik's eyes grew wide. "Oh, please say you're joking!"

"There's only one way to know for sure," Harry declared.

"Ghhh…!" Ron exclaimed suddenly, looking like he was going to start banging it on the table. "Can someone help me with this thing!"

Bakura rolled his eyes, leaning forward slightly, eyeing the briefcase. What was supposed to pass for locks had strange panels on them, as opposed to conventional dials.

"Kaiba probably has it set to his finger prints," he said, rolling his eyes. "The thing's bullet proof; I don't think the Puzzle'll hurt it too much."

"What does he keep in there?" Ron asked as Draco set the Puzzle down carefully.

"Cards," Bakura replied, earning him a disbelieving look. "No, I'm not kidding."

Harry shook his head. "We should go get Yuugi. I think he said he was going back to the common roo—"

"Yuugi…"

Eyes were drawn down to Atemu, whose head fell back and forth almost bonelessly. "Yuugi…" he rasped again. "Danger… Chamber… Yuugi… no… no… let her go…"

They exchanged looks as Atemu's rambling slowly quieted.

"You guys better go," Bakura said after a moment. "I'll look after Atemu; you make sure Yuugi's okay."

"Right," Malik said, already starting toward the door as fast as he could.

The four of them raced out of the library, ignoring Madam Pinch as she shouted for them to walk. They made it to the stairs that led up the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, when something made Malik stop. Looking up, he caught sight of Professor McGonagall and the other professors standing near where the first attack occurred. He silently urged the others to stop as well while straining to hear what the professors were saying.

"It's happened," McGonagall announced as the five boys silently gathered around the edge of the landing overhead. "Two students have been taken by the monster, right into the Chamber of Secrets itself."

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal of horror, while Professor Sprout clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Who is it?" Snape asked, a rare look of dread on his face. "Which students?"

Professor McGonagall held up something small and golden. Malik's eyes widen; though it was misshapen from some of the pieces being knocked out of place, there was no mistaking the other half of the Millennium Puzzle.

"Yuugi Mutou and Ginny Weasley," she announced in a choked voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Malik saw Ron fall to his knees in numb disbelief. That instant, overhead, Lockhart joined the gathering of grim professors, beaming as always.

"Sorry, dozed off, what did I miss?" he asked. The other professors fixed him with angry glares; under normal circumstances they would have found this funny, but the boys were just two shocked to even react. Snape stepped forward, a sneer on his face.

"Just the man for the job," he announced, his tone mocking. "Two students have been taken into the Chamber itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"You are our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher after all," McGonagall added, her tone matching Snape's. "We'll leave it to you."

Lockhart looked as white as a sheet. He nodded numbly. "V-very well," he agreed. "I'll… I'll j-just be g-getting ready."

He took off back down the same hallway he had arrived, walking a little too fast. The professors all rolled their eyes before returning to the situation at hand.

"Now that he's out of our hair," McGonagall began bitterly, "I'll make the announcement for all students to return to their common rooms. The Heads of Houses should address the students and let them know what happened. Also, inform them that the Hogwarts Express will be taking them home first thing tomorrow morning."

With that said, the teachers headed down the hallway opposite from Harry, Malik, Ron, and Draco. As soon as they had disappeared from sight, the boys clambered up the small staircase, racing over to where the professors had been standing. There, on the wall, right underneath the first message that had been left was another, more chilling note.

THEIR SKELETONS SHALL
LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER

"Oh Gods…" Malik breathed. "Yuugi-kun… Ginny…"

"We've got to do something," Draco declared, pounding a fist into his open palm. "Maybe we should go to Lockhart. Idiot he may be, but he might also actually try to get into the Chamber. We could at least tell him what we know."

It was as good a plan as any; the boys took off down the hallway Lockhart had disappeared down, quickly coming up on his office. Frowning, Ron pressed an ear against the door. There was the sound of much activity going on inside. Harry rapped on the door, and the shuffling within stopped. A moment later, the door opened a crack, only wide enough for them to see about half of the professor's face.

"Oh, gentlemen," he began. "I'm in a bit of a hurry. If you would be quick."

"We have some information for you, professor," Harry announced. "You might find it useful."

"I don't… it's not…" Lockhart sputtered. Finally, he sighed and opened the door the rest of the way. "Come in."

When Harry had first been in the office, back when he had had detention in the beginning of the year, the walls had literally been covered with posters and framed pictures of Lockhart and his smiling face. Now, however, the walls had been stripped bare, and several trunks were scattered about the room. One of them had a lavender robe poking out of it.

"Are you going somewhere?" Draco demanded.

"Uh… yes, I'm afraid," Lockhart answered shakily. "Urgent business; unavoidable…"

"But what about my sister!" Ron demanded. "What about Yuugi!"

"Well, as to that," the professor began, wrenching open a shelf on a dresser and emptying the contents into a trunk, "terrible circumstances. No one regrets more than I –"

"But you're the Defense Against the Dark Art teacher!" Harry cut him off. "You can't leave now!"

"My dear boy, when I took the job, things like this were not in the job description!" Lockhart shot back.

"You've got to be joking," Ron said, incredulous. "After all those things you've done in your books."

"Books can be misleading," Lockhart replied delicately.

The four boys clamped their mouths shut, staring at the professor in horror.

"You're not being serious, are you?" Malik asked. "All the people who admire you for the things you've done, and now you're saying it's all a lie!"

"My dear boy," the professor stressed, "do you think my books would have sold half as well if people did not believe I did those things? No one wants to read about an ugly old Armenian warlock or a witch with harelip!"

The boys were downright scowling now, glaring at the professor with absolute hatred.

"Is there anything you can do, then?" Draco asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Lockhart replied, pulling out his wand. "I'm quite good at memory charms. Now, if you gentlemen don't mind, I can't have you going around blabbing about my –"

Malik tore his wand out of his robes and waved it quickly. "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was blasted backwards, falling over one of his trunks. His wand went flying as well, and Ron caught it and tossed it out the window. Meanwhile, Malik had grabbed the professor by the collar of his robes, hauling him up to his eye level.

"People like you make me sick," he snarled, looking like he was going to beat him up any minute. "When the time comes for your heart to be weighed, I'll personally make sure Anubis forgoes the ceremony and sends you straight to Ammit! Now, on your feet!"

"B-b-but what do you want me to do?" Lockhart asked, getting shakily to his feet. "I-I don't k-know where the C-C-Chamber is!"

"Well, you're in luck," Draco said, crossing his arms as a smirk appeared on his face. "We think we know where it is, and guess who's coming with us to make sure?"

Lockhart let out a squeak of terror, but otherwise remained silent as the boys led him back out of the office and down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They pushed him inside – he was shaking so hard at that point that he could barely stand upright – before following him in. Moaning Myrtle was sitting on her toilet as usual, her typical somber expression on her face. She looked up as they entered, surprised to see them.

"Shouldn't you be in your common rooms?" she asked, eyeing Lockhart warily.

"Myrtle, we've come to ask how you died," Harry announced.

Myrtle's eyes lit up at that, as if they had asked a flattering question. "Oh, it was quite dreadful," she said, "and it happened right here in this very stall. I was crying because Olive Hornby was making fun of my glasses, when I heard a boy speaking some strange language. I opened the door to tell him to use his own toilet, and then… I died!"

The boys exchanged looks, confused. "Well, how?" Malik asked. "How did it happen?"

Myrtle shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. "I just remember seeing a pair of big, yellow eyes coming from that sink."

She pointed to a group of five sinks arranged in a circle. Each of the boys took a sink (Malik took two), searching about for any clue that would point them toward the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Here!" Ron exclaimed all of a sudden, his hand feeling around on the faucet of his sink. "I think this is it, guys!"

Malik, Harry, and Draco gathered around him. The red haired boy pointed out a small etching of a snake, obviously dismissed by girls that would normally use the bathroom as something a Slytherin girl had carved there.

"One of you," Malik began, turning to Harry and Draco, "try saying something in Parseltongue!"

The two of them exchanged looks, before Draco shrugged and turned to the tap.

"Open up," he ordered. He paused, before looking to the others.

"English," Ron said, shaking his head.

Draco sighed as Harry took a turn, turning his attention to the faucet. He focused his entire imagination on it, trying to pretend that it was a real snake.

"Open up," he repeated.

Only this time, those were not the words that came out of his mouth. A sort of hissing noise escaped from his mouth. What he said did the trick too; the sink with the snake carved on the faucet slid down into the ground as the decorative top of the ring of sinks slid up on supports that had previously been hidden. All this revealed a very large, very black hole that no amount of illumination would show where it led.

"I'm going down there," Harry announced.

"Me too," Ron replied. "I have to, for Ginny."

"For Yuugi too," Malik added. "Atemu will never forgive us if he dies."

"And for Hermione and Seto and everyone else petrified," Draco said solemnly. "No turning back now."

Lockhart let out a nervous laugh. "Well, you young gentlemen won't be needing me anymore!" he exclaimed as cheerily as he could manage. He started walking back toward the door, when Malik and Draco grabbed him by the scruff of his cloak and maneuvered him in front of the hole.

"Oh no you don't," the Egyptian stated. "You'll be going first!"

"But I –"

"Look at it this way, professor," Draco sneered, "if there's any obstacles in the path, we'll know when to duck."

"But, but…!"

They did not even give him a chance to finish stuttering; both of them shoved him into the hole. There was a thud, and Lockhart's screams started fading away almost immediately. Harry followed soon after, lowering himself into the pit a bit before letting go.

It was like riding a roller coaster at night in a slimy seat that had obviously been used more than was healthy. Harry was able to spot other pipes branching off as he went past, but none of them were as large as the one he was sliding swiftly down. The ride seemed to be taking forever, and was only getting more steep as they progressed. He knew that had to have passed the dungeons by now.

"YAAAAAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOO!"

Harry rolled his eyes as the whoop of excitement echoed from behind him. That had to have been Malik; only he would enjoy this that much.

Just as Harry was starting to worry what would happen when they reached the end, the pipe leveled out, naturally slowing him down enough so that when he shot out the end, he did not hurt himself. He landed with a thud on a damp stone floor in a tunnel large enough to stand in. Just a ways away, Lockhart was getting to his feet, covered in slime and as white as a ghost. Harry rolled out of the way of the pipe so he would not get hit as one after another Ron, Malik, and Draco shot out of it.

"Whoo!" Malik exclaimed, bouncing to his feet. "That was fun. Let's do that again sometime."

Draco glared at him from where he had fallen, looking like he was going to be sick. "You're mental," he declared, making the Egyptian boy sweatdrop.

"Yeah, I know. I get that a lot," he replied.

After a moment of trying to look around in the darkness, Harry, Draco, and Malik took out their wands, shouting for the spell that lit the tips of them so they could see where they were going. They headed for a small adjoining tunnel, ducking so they could fit through. The tunnel gradually got larger, however, and was big enough for them to stand up straight in when they caught sight of it.

It was a gigantic snakeskin, at least twenty feet long, and glimmering a sickening poisonous green in the dull wand light. A thud came from behind the four boys; Lockhart had fallen to his knees in shock.

"C'mon, on your feet," Ron ordered, grabbing him by the arm.

Lockhart got to his feet… and then pulled Ron toward him, reaching a hand into the boy's robes. Draco leapt to help him, but was too late. Lockhart was standing triumphant, Ron's wand in his hand and a confident smile on his face.

"The adventure ends here, gentlemen!" he exclaimed. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl or the boy, and that you four tragically lost your minds at the sight of their mangled bodies. Now, say good bye to your memories!" He waved the wand dramatically. "Obliviate!"

Ron's Spell-o-taped wand backfired, exploding with the force of a small bomb right in Lockhart's face. Harry threw his arms over his head and ran, slipping over the snakeskin, as chunks of ceiling came raining down on them. He suddenly felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around his waist and tossed him down the tunnel, totally clear of any danger from the cave-in.

When the rumbling subsided, Harry got back to his feet and turned around. Where the rest of the tunnel had been was a wall of rock and debris. Standing before it with his arms crossed was Malik, his mouth screwed up in thought as he observed the cave-in.

"Just great," he muttered under his breath, before shouting, "Oy! Ron! Draco! You all right over there!"

"We're fine!" Draco's voice came, muffled by the wall of rock. "Is Harry all right!"

"I'm fine!" Harry called, coming up to stand beside Malik. "What about Lockhart? Is he okay?"

"Not really," Ron answered. "The wand blew up in his face."

There was a dull thud followed by a shout of pain, as if Ron had kicked Lockhart in the shins. Malik tried not to snigger at the thought.

"There's no way we can get through!" Draco called, sounding a bit frantic. "It'll take ages."

"Calm down!" Malik shouted back. "We'll just have to go on ahead. If you can find a way through: great. If not, and we're not back in an hour…"

He let his words hang in the air, giving them all an idea exactly how serious the situation was.

"We'll try to shift some of this rock," Draco announced. "Harry… Malik… you two be careful."

With that said, Harry and Malik set off down the rest of the corridor. Soon, the sounds of shuffling rock faded away, leaving the two of them with nothing but their own frayed nerves to distract them from what might lie ahead. Harry kept a tight grip on his wand in nervousness, while Malik's hand went to the Ring on occasion, privately hoping it would cooperate with him should it come down to a fight.

"Malik?" Harry began. "Do… you think we stand a chance?"

"Of course," Malik replied, though his voice shook slightly. "Yes," he said, a bit more firmly. "We have to."

Harry glanced up at him, still not so sure but slightly comforted by the fact that Malik was as nervous as he was. In the next moment, they turned a bend and came up on a solid wall. It was totally smooth, with the exception to two intertwined serpents carved into it, their eyes set with glimmering emeralds. The two of them gulped; it almost seemed as if the carvings were really alive.

"Well, I think this is your department," the Gravekeeper declared, crossing his arms.

Harry took a shuddering breath as he stepped closer to the snake carvings. He stared up at them, focusing completely on them and nothing else.

"Open," he commanded, only to hear a hissing sound escape his mouth.

The serpents parted at his command, as the wall cracked open. The halves of the wall slid out of sight, admitting the two of them into the Chamber beyond…