Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 19 – Her Skeleton Will Lie in the Chamber Forever
The common room went back to its noisy state and the trio went back to their books. Slowly the common room began to empty as students went to bed, though the trio showed no signs of stopping.
"Harry?" Hermione was the first of them to speak. It was midnight and there were only a handful of older students still present, everyone their age having gone to bed already. Harry looked up and gave Hermione his attention, and his eyes a break from staring at words. "I really hope I'm wrong, but I keep coming back to this one." She showed him and Ron a page in the book she was reading
" 'Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk.' " He read. " 'Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye.' But no one is dead."
"I know, and I have a theory on that, but this is the only serpent I've found that even remotely fits." She said.
"It does say it can live hundreds of years." Said Ron. "Any monster that Slytherin himself put into the Chamber would have to be at least that old. But it also says it's a giant serpent. Someone would have noticed a dirty great snake slithering around."
"Snape said that there could be magic protecting the monster." Harry remembered. "Magic that makes it undetectable."
"I don't think so." Hermione shook her head. "Basilisks are very resilient to magic. There's not much that can penetrate its hide, and even a spell cast over it wouldn't last long."
"So how's it been getting around?" Hermione slid over a piece of parchment in answer, one she'd been using to take notes. Everything was crossed off though, except for one word: pipes.
"Pipes?!" Ron gasped. "It's using the plumbing?"
"That's why I'm hearing it in the walls." Harry realized. Whether or not the serpent was indeed a basilisk was still debateable, but Harry was sure that Hermione had found how it had been getting around the castle. "We have to tell Dumbledore!" Harry jumped up and moved towards the portrait hole.
"At this time of night?" Ron and Hermione ran after him.
"If it's using the plumbing then anyone using the lavatory is in danger!" He had a point and the two offered no further arguments, even as Percy called for them to return. The portrait opened before they reached it, however, and McGonagall rushed in, nearing running in to them.
"Potter, what-"
"Professor, we think we know what the monster is and how it's been getting around!" The transfiguration professor was taken aback, but it lasted only a moment before her lips thinned. When she spoke, she didn't address Harry though.
"Mr. Weasley, please fetch your brothers." She said to Percy, who jumped to do the Deputy Headmistress' bidding. Fred and George quickly joined them, both looking confused. "You all need to come with me." She said no more as she led them out of the portrait hole and passed the auror, who simply nodded at the teacher. As they went the students began to bombard her with questions, which she steadfastly ignored. Finally, they reached the spinning gargoyle and for the second time that day Harry found himself heading up to the Headmaster's office. Although the hour was quite late, Dumbledore was still awake and dressed, as were Snape, an old man Harry didn't recognize, and Johnson from the Ministry, the three pouring over a table of books much as he, Ron and Hermione had done only minutes ago. However, it was the two sitting before the Headmaster's desk that drew their attention.
"Mum! Dad!" Run cried and the Weasley boys converged on their parents. They were both clearly distraught and neither said a thing, both unable to find the words. Not a minute later the door opened again and Madam Pomfrey came in carrying a tray with several vials, two of which – that were clearly calming draughts – she forced Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to drink.
"Professor, what's going on?" Harry asked the Headmaster, not wanting to wait for the potions to work to get answers from the Weasley parents. Dumbledore sighed, his face drawn and tired, the twinkle gone from his eye.
"A moment, Harry. Others are joining us." Frustrated, but knowing he'd now have to wait, Harry moved back to stand with Hermione against the wall. Within a couple minutes several teachers began filing in and a few minutes after that the floo flared to life and Madam Bones entered, followed by her Head Auror, Kingsley Shaklebolt, and the Minister. Cornelius looked just as drawn as Dumbledore as he joined Harry, asking him quietly if he was alright, before everyone turned their attention to the Headmaster. "The heir of Slytherin has left another message." He informed them. " 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.' " Mrs. Weasley burst into tears again and Harry got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Our worst fear has been realized and I am sorry to say that young Ginny Weasley has been taken by the monster, into the Chamber of Secrets itself."
"What?!"
"No!" Harry closed his eyes as the Weasley brothers made their disbelief, anger, and grief known. He had known something was wrong with Ginny when they bumped into each other earlier that day. With the attack that had happened right after and the rush to find out what the monster was he had forgotten to mention it to Ron, had forgotten to even look for her in the common room that evening, and now she was gone.
"Dear Merlin…" Cornelius murmured.
"We have to go get her!" Ron was the first Weasley to snap out of the haze they were all in. "Why are we just standing here?"
"Mr. Weasley makes a fair point." Snape scowled at his outburst but otherwise didn't comment on it. Instead he turned to Lockhart. "Your moment has come at last, Lockhart."
"M-my moment?" For someone who loved being in the spotlight Lockhart looked very much as if he'd like to disappear.
"Weren't you saying just this evening that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was?" Snape raised an eyebrow and if the situation weren't so serious, Harry would be hard pressed not to laugh; the Potions Master clearly didn't believe Lockhart knew anything, let alone the answer to an unsolved thousand-year-old mystery.
"Ah..yes, yes of course." He stuttered. "I'll just be in my office getting…getting ready." He offered a smile and took off. As the door shut, Harry could have sworn he heard McGonagall mutter "At least he's out of the way." Ron also obviously thought Lockhart was useless for he rolled his eyes and demanded they be serious now.
"Professor?" Harry and Hermione stepped forward. "We think the monster in the Chamber is a basilisk." There were a few gasps and Dumbledore's eyes widened a fraction before he looked towards Snape, Johnson and the old man.
"Not possible." Said Johnson. "Basilisks kill, they don't petrify. Besides, there hasn't been a basilisk in Britain for over four hundred years."
"No recorded basilisks you mean." Hermione corrected. Johnson opened his mouth to argue but the old man, whom Harry was beginning to suspect was the famed magizoologist, Newt Scamander, stopped him, motioning for Hermione to continue. "The Chamber of Secrets also didn't exist, until it did, so it is entirely possible that a basilisk has gone unrecorded in Britain. Especially if it has lived in the Chamber all this time."
"For a basilisk to have lived over a thousand years is…quite a feat." The old man said. "Seven hundred and nineteen years is the age of the oldest basilisk on record. Though I suppose it is possible. You have a theory for how a basilisk can petrify, I take it?"
"Yes, Mr. Scamander." Hermione confirmed Harry's suspicion.
"Of course she does." Johnson muttered with a roll of his eyes and Harry glared at him.
"Hermione is not only top of our year but is already being called the brightest witch of our age." He replied sharply. "She's smarter than most adults, I'd wager." Johnson flushed at being reprimanded by the Minister's ward but said nothing.
"I think that no one actually looked the basilisk in the eye, not directly at least." Hermione continued. "The basilisk's gaze is supposed to cause instant death, but if something obstructed their gaze, perhaps a death-like state is what occurs." She turned to Dumbledore and began to read off her notes, which she'd brought with her. "Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathroom the night Mrs. Norris was attacked and there was water in the whole corridor. I think she only saw the basilisk's reflection. Harry, you said Colin was using his camera when he was petrified. What if he saw the basilisk through the camera lens? And Justin, I think, saw it through Sir Nicholas. Sir Nicholas got the full blast, but he's already a ghost."
"Your theory, Miss Granger, would mean we got very lucky three times. A complete fluke that death did not occur." Snape pointed out, though surprisingly not unkindly.
"But it is not impossible." Said Newt. "Your theory is an interesting one, my dear, and one I can theoretically find no fault with. For obvious reasons there is no research into the effects of a basilisk's gaze, whether directly or indirectly. In fact, I do not think any magizoologist, myself included, has ever even truly seen a basilisk, let alone studied one. They are very rare beasts to begin with, and not even I am fool enough to seek one out. Tina would murder me, if I did." He murmured the last part, but Harry still heard.
"Hermione also thinks it's been getting around the castle through the pipes." Ron spoke up. "That's why Harry hears the voice in the walls." Dumbledore sighed.
"It looks as if you may be correct, Miss Granger." He said. "Of course we still do not know where the entrance to the Chamber is."
"If it's using the plumbing then it must have an entrance somewhere where the pipes have an opening to the main part of the castle." Mused Snape. Dumbledore's eyes lit up and he looked to McGonagall.
"Miss Warren was killed in the lavatory." McGonagall's eyes lit up as well.
"And if it is indeed a basilisk that killed her it must have come out of the pipes enough to do so with a clear view." She added. Dumbledore stood up and began to make his way out of his office, everyone following in his wake. When they reached the second-floor corridor where the second message was written below the first Ron let out a sob before ushering his mother into the lavatory a few feet away before she could see the message herself. A moaning could be heard when they entered and Harry saw quickly that it was coming from a ghost, floating over the stalls, though she stopped and stared quizzically at the group when they entered.
"Miss Warren." Dumbledore said. "I am sorry, but I must ask you to tell us what exactly happened when you died."
"Oh, it was dreadful!" She said quite gleefully. "I was hiding in this very cubicle because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard someone come in and they said something in some made up language. I could tell it was a boy speaking so I opened the door to tell him to go away…and I died."
"Just like that? You remember nothing else?"
"All I remember is seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes, over there by that sink." She pointed towards it and Snape began casting spells, trying to uncover something, anything, as clearly the sink's tap was a pipe far too small for a basilisk to even poke its head out of. When he deemed it safe, Dumbledore approached the sink and began inspecting it. He turned the tap, though no water came out, and ran his hands along the seams. Finally, he squinted and ran a finger along the side of the tap.
"There is a snake etched into the tap here." He said and then looked to Harry. "The only way to ensure only his heir would enter the Chamber would be to seal it with Parseltongue. Slytherin knew it was unlikely a Parselmouth not of his line would come through Hogwarts, let alone one that knew the location of the Chamber." Harry nodded and stepped forward, thinking of the snake from the duelling club. It took a moment to ensure he wouldn't speak in English, but finally he spoke.
"Open." A rumbling was heard and before their eyes the sink with the snake etched on the tap began to sink into the floor, the others moving outwards slightly to create an opening that led to a deep, dark hole in the ground; one definitely large enough for a basilisk. Harry looked to Ron and Hermione who nodded, all three pulling out their wands.
"Let's go." Said Ron, taking a step forward.
A/N - I always found it weird that no one apparently asked Myrtle how she died once they saw she came back as a ghost. If they had and she'd told them about the eyes maybe adults would have actually figured some shit out instead of leaving it to underage witches and wizards fifty years later. I also don't buy the "she was too distraught" bit. She was killed in a school full of kids and they had no idea what was going on and so no way to stop other students from being killed. She should have been asked right away. As sensitively as possible, of course, but still asked. And before any of you say "but Hagrid was blamed, they didn't need to ask her" Hagrid wasn't blamed right away, it was only hours later, if not longer, when Tom found out the school would probably close that he framed Hagrid. Myrtle should have been asked long before then. And even if they hadn't asked, Dumbledore never believed Hagrid was guilty, so at minimum he should have asked her.
Anyways, that's my little rant on Myrtle never having been asked how she died.
Review please!
