Hey people... enjoy!
Don't own... do I have to do this for every chapter?
Last Time on Black and White:
"But nobody's died." Harry said before he had a realization. "Because nobody stared it directly in the eye. Mrs Norris and Penelope saw it's reflection in the water those nights. Colin had his camera and Tonks and Su Li had a mirror to look around with. Nobody made direct eye contact with it."
"Well... that's quite convenient..." Andrew muttered with a raised brow.
"But it doesn't change the fact that this Basilisk got Ginny." Harry added ignoring Andrew's comment. "Also how has it been moving around?"
"We'll figure that out when he get there, for now, we have to save Ginny." Ron said with a serious face.
"Right, so next order of business. I heard the girl who got killed was named Myrtle from Filch, from there we can work backwards and... what's with the look on your face?" Andrew asked Hermione.
"Myrtle... I think I know who he was talking about." she said with a tired sigh.
Chapter 27: Memoirs of Moaning Myrtle.
Hermione told the boys about the ghost that haunted the girls' bathroom on the third floor.
"Seriously? I always thought that those weird sounds were from the pipes..." Ron said with a confused face. Harry and Andrew nodded in agreement.
"Well, we'd better get going, we don't have time to waste." Harry said, Andrew stood still and turned to the others.
"You guys go... I've got a thing I think I might have to do. I'll meet you there though." the dark skinned boy said.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked in a rushed tone.
"Lockhart... the guy might be completely useless but he might actually go after Ginny, I'll lead him back to you." Andrew explained as he turned and headed for the defense class.
The other three weren't so sure in letting Andrew go alone, especially since everything was escalating at a pace they hadn't anticipated. Hermione looked to Ron, "Go with him, Harry and I can tackle Myrtle." she said as she grabbed Harry and started making their way towards the bathroom.
Hermione and Harry arrived in the bathroom and stopped, the room was quite large with a massive imposing sink in the dead center... "Are all the girls' toilets like this?" Harry asked in an impressed tone.
"Some..." Hermione answered distractedly. "Hey Myrtle, are you here?" she called out.
"Oh, more people come to make fun of poor little Moaning Myrtle?" said a disembodied voice from somewhere in the room.
"No Myrtle, we aren't here to make fun of you, we'd just like to know something." Hermione rushed trying to ease her paranoia.
The ghost regarded the two with a cold stare before huffing. "And what is it you'd like to know?"
"Exactly what happened, leading up to your death." Harry responded stepping forward.
"Oh, well... nobodies ever asked me that before, they all think I offed myself, but that isn't true... nah-uh, not one bit." The ghost teen responded with a shake of her head. "I was murdered right here in this bathroom..." she said in a hushed tone.
Hermione and Harry turned to look at each other before turning back to Myrtle.
"I remember it all like it happened yesterday. It was an ordinary day, Crystal McMillan was making fun of me again, but I'd grown used to her taunts; 'Oh look, it's Moaning Myrtle.' she'd say. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing me react. My mother always told me that girls like that wouldn't amount to anything and to just let the insults run off me, like water off a duck's back." the ponytail girl had told them with a nod.
"But apparently to Crystal and her friends it just meant they had to try harder. I didn't have many friends while at Hogwarts, see I'm a half-blood, but my father; a wizard was killed when I was in third year. Since my mother was a muggle born; the Ministry basically robbed her of our father's insurance fund, so we had no money. Back then Grindelwald was still around and had quite a few pureblood families rallied behind his message of muggles being below wizards, then... well, you can imagine the rest."
"I was one of the many students in Hogwarts that was targeted for my blood, there was another boy older than me, he was in his seventh year if I'm not mistaken, he would be picked on then a few hours later the people who hurt him ended up getting hurt, in the most terrible ways. One boy was even found outside with a snapped spine, they found him and where able to correct it but apparently he had been out there for a few hours, the rumors were that he had been thrown out of the Astronomy tower."
Hermione gasped at the news, that was an ungodly height, anyone who survived that would be mentally scarred for life.
"Tom Morvolo Riddle; he had dark hair and even darker eyes, his posture was something even the most prominent pureblood couldn't duplicate. He had this unbelievable air of mystery about him. He also had this uncanning ability to attract anyone to him, he just had this inviting aura about him..." Myrtle cut herself off.
Hermione looked at the girl with a small amount of sympathy, it was quite obvious to her that this once alive young girl had a crush on the boy she was talking about.
"Ahem, well anyway it was a Friday, during exams I believe when Chrystal and her friend had covered all of my books with ink and also managed to get my hair covered with bubblegum. They began teasing me again and I... I just- I was so angry and so I snapped, I screamed and punched Chrystal in the face breaking her nose. Later Dumbledore called me to his office and I was given detention, when I explained myself, I was met with 'Why not tell a teacher, rather than taking matters into your own hands, you should remember Myrtle, violence only ensures more violence.' So I ran to this bathroom and cried, I must have cried for hours, because I heard several people come in and out of here."
Harry took a slight step towards the transparent girl.
"What happened next?" he asked engrossed in the story.
"Well, I was sitting in my stall, it was probably sometime after supper when I heard the bathroom open again, I held my breath and waited, the whole day, girls from all years would come in here and tease me, so I had been expecting the worst, only I didn't hear any teasing, just this weird whispering, like hissing. I listened closer until I heard a loud creaking, a little more hissing, and then it was just quiet. Then I heard him. He called me out of my stall, saying that he wanted to see me and ask if I were alright. It was Him; Tom, he had come to check on me." Myrtle gave a sorrowful and humorless laugh.
"Of course I thought he was doing that because he cared, but the moment I opened the stall, I saw his dark eyes, beautiful face and charming smile, he told me he was sorry, I was about ask what he was sorry about then I heard a sound to my left and saw the most yellow eyes I had ever seen in my life then... I died." she stated with a small shrug.
"Hold on; just like that?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Yep, just like that... if it's any consolation the eyes came from over there." she said gesturing to the sink.
Harry moved over to the sink and felt around; his fingers ran over a small groove in the grimy metal, looking closer, he noticed a large snake carved on the tap, this was it.
"This is the entrance to the chamber..." Harry stated in a hushed tone.
Just then Andrew and Ron burst through the door dragging a struggling Lockhart whose muffled screams were barely heard through the school tie that was shoved into his mouth.
"Stop fighting!" Andre grunted as he gave a final heave and Ron quickly shut the door behind them.
"Mmmfff! MmmMMmmMFFff!" Lockhart screamed with no result.
"Err, Andrew, Ron, care to explain exactly why and how you got a teacher tied up and gagged in the third year bathroom when his office is on the sixth floor?" Hermione asked giving the two boys a look.
"It's a long story..." Ron started.
HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP-HP-AP
Andrew and Ron made their way towards the sixth floor taking two steps at a time to save some time.
"What do we do when we get in there?" the red head asked when they were down the hall from the Defense class.
"We tell Lockhart what the situation is and we show him the way." Andrew responded.
Nodding but not looking too convinced Ron went along with Andrew, and soon the two were standing by the door. Not bothering to knock they entered the room and quickly made their way to the connected office, giving a single knock to alert the teacher of their presence they then opened the office door and froze at what the saw.
"Ah! Oh, Andrew and Mister... Weasel..."
"Weasley." Ron corrected quickly.
"Err, yes, of course sorry about that, so... what- what can I do for you boys?"
The two twelve year old boys stared at the man with a large amount of disbelief and suspicion.
"Going somewhere?" Andrew asked in a dangerously low whisper.
"Hmm? Oh this!" Lockhart said gesturing to all the packed clothes, books and various awards that once littered his walls, except for his best smile award that he was way too obsessed with. "I've just been called for a very important... thing, yes very crucial things that need my attention, I must leave immediately."
"You're running away!?" Ron yelled angrily.
"You smarmy bastard!" Andrew shouted right after him.
Lockhart turned around while sighing and slowly reached for his wand before turning to the boys. "Now boys, there is nothing wrong with-" he was cut off when he saw two wands pointed directly at him.
"You're so easy to read..." Andrew said in a bored tone.
Freezing the man, started laughing slightly before clapping his hands; slightly awkwardly as he still had his wand in his hands.
"Congratulations boys! You managed to get one over on me, the great Gilderoy-"
"You're obviously a fraud, I read all of your books and the timelines are not consistent not only that but you contradict yourself at nearly every interval; tell me how were you able to save the Village in Scandinavia from that dragon attack while also fighting off the vampire coven from Russia?" Andrew asked rhetorically.
Lockhart stared at the boy with a surprised look on his face. "You read all of my books? And you memorized them?" he asked as a small sparkle started in his eyes.
"I read them because every girl in this bloody school kept going on about them and the only reason I remember them is because I have a photographic memory... it wasn't by choice." Andrew said in a monotone voice.
"ANYWAY!" Ron interrupted. "My sister has been taken by the beast in the chamber and there is no way I'm letting get away without saving her!" he said heatedly.
"Oh? While the exploits in my book my not be very truthful..." Lockhart said, making air quotes around the word 'truthful'. "I am still a fully grown adult with a larger range of magical spells than two second years."
Ron and Andrew seemed to realize this as well as they gave each other a look.
"That may be true..." Ron said with a nod of his head.
"But I bet you aren't that great at muggle fighting." Andrew with a small grin.
"Muggle-?"
Lockhart didn't get to finish as Andrew threw his wand at the man, momentarily shocking him before rushing forwards and putting all his strength in to a punch- his fist connect with Lockhart's solar plexus causing him to double over in pain, before Andrew knocked him over the head with the heavy award that sat on his table.
Breathing heavily Andrew turned to Ron and smiled while giving him a big thumbs up.
"Well, now we've got to get him to the third year bathroom." Ron said as he watched the passed out teacher who currently had his face buried in the ground.
"Right, grab that curtain tie." Andrew said pointing to the thick rope that was hung lazily next to the window covers.
Acting quickly Ron pulled the rope free while Andrew got his wand and gave it a quick polish before putting it back into his pocket.
The two boys acted quickly, tying the rope around the mans hands and feet. They quickly realized their next issue.
"How are we actually going to get him there?" Ron asked.
"Hold on, I remember something I read in Penny's Defense book." He pulled his wand out again and pointed it at the knocked out man. "Revenerate!" he said as he thrust his wand forward.
There was a beat of silence before Lockhart suddenly woke up, raised his face off the ground and started screaming really, really loudly.
The two boys jumped before Andrew pointed his wand at the man again. "Stupefy!" he yelled and the spell hit the man causing him to once again slam his face onto the cold surface of the floor.
The two boys shared a look. "We should probably shut him up..." Andrew said with a small shrug and Ron nodded with a shocked expression. And that is how Lockhart ended up with a tie shoved into his mouth, when they once again revived him his screams were now silently muffled causing the two boys to sigh contently.
They explained to the man that they were now going to go to the third floor, when he denied Andrew pointed his wand at the man again, "You can agree or I'll just keep knocking you out and waking you up until your face is unrecognizable..."
Lockhart instantly agreed to the boys' demands. When they pulled him up to his feet, they shuffled him out of the room and started on their way to the third floor. "Make a noise and I'll make sure you fall face first from this height." Andrew threatened again.
They luckily didn't run into any problems as they made their way towards the moving staircase. It was there that the two boys realized their next issue.
"How the hell are we going to get him down?" Ron asked turning to Andrew.
"Hold on, why am I the one thinking of all the plans here?! Why don't you come up with a solution for this one." Andrew responded frowning at the boy.
"Why should I? It was your idea tie the idiot up!"
"So he couldn't get away, but we definitely can't untie him now, there are too many rules and probably a law or two we're breaking as is!"
Lockhart watched the exchange for a bit before shuffling around the boys and made his way to the top of the staircase, he took a breath before hopping on to the next step. He turned to the boys in order to let them know that he had found a solution.
Unfortunately at that moment Ron made a large gesture with his hands and caught the Defense Professor right in the face causing the man to lose his balance and fall backwards. He tumbled down the staircase painfully and after what felt like an eternity. He reached the bottom, he didn't move for a moment scared the pain might make him cry, then he finally groaned as he rolled on to his back.
He opened his eyes to see Ron and Andrew staring at him before the dark skinned boy turned to the red head. "Well, he didn't die, I'd say that's a win."
They hurried along this time making sure to let Lockhart hop down the stairs as quickly but safely as he could, last thing they needed was the death of a teacher on their hands... well, an innocent teacher; Lockhart was an idiot not a follower of Voldemort so his death would be unwarranted.
They finally made it to the fourth floor when they heard a sound from behind them that essentially spelt death.
"Was that?..." Ron asked not daring to look back.
"God... why have you forsaken us?" Andrew muttered while looking upwards.
"MmmMM! MmmmmFFFff!" Lockhart mumbled happily at the sound of footsteps approaching.
Not waiting another Andrew grabbed the slack on the rope they had tied to the man and gave an almighty pull causing the Lockhart fall flat on his back, once again knocking all the wind out of his lungs.
"Hey Ron! Help me out here!"
Not needing to be told twice, the red head grabbed the rope as well and the two were able to drag the man through the hall and made their way towards the staircase. The two boys shared a look.
"You think we should...?" Ron asked gesturing to the third floor.
"Well, he did survive it once... he should be fine." Andrew replied with a shrug.
They pulled Lockhart to the top of the stairs where the man started struggling against his bonds... "Oh, let me do this. Stupefy" Andrew said knocking the teacher out again. "Now he won't feel it." Andrew said as Ron gave him a look.
With a heave they shoved the man down the stairs where he bounced rather violently off the steps before landing in an undignified leap at the bottom.
"If anyone could see what we're doing to the poor bastard they'd think we were sadistic." Ron commented with a sigh.
The rest was rather simple as they pulled him into the bathroom, but the pain from rolling down a second flight caused the man to once again wake up and begin his muffled wails of pain.
"And that's about it..." Andrew informed the two as he looked down at the teacher who was now glaring at the boy.
"What about you two? Figure anything out?" Ron asked the group, getting back on track.
"Oh yeah right, we just spoke Myrtle over here." Harry said gesturing to the ghost girl which made Andrew and Ron do a double take. "And we think we may have found the entrance to the chamber."
Andrew and Ron turned to the raven haired boy expectantly. Harry simply motioned to the sink that lay in the center of the room. With a look of disbelief and annoyance Andrew and Harry turned back to Harry.
"The sink? Really?"
"Come on, be serious, Ginny's probably terrified where she is."
Harry didn't respond, and simply walked up to the sink, he examined it for a bit before stepping back and drawing a small amount of air into his lungs.
"Open." he said, which to Andrew sounded normal, but to the others in the room, came out as a whispered hiss.
The sink groaned before it started shifting, the entire thing, looked abnormal as the top of the sink rose and the rest of it started sinking into the floor below, revealing a large and grimy looking tube that darkened as it went lower.
The four Gryffindors and one teacher peered down the tube nervously before stepping away and looking at one another.
"So... are we...?" Ron asked as he pointed down the hole.
"Teachers' first." Andrew said with a nod.
At this declaration Lockhart let loose another string of muffled yells as he shook his head vigorously.
"Come on you great prat! The quicker we get this done the quicker we can untie you!" Andrew stated as he pushed the Defense professor towards the ominous tube. With the help of Harry they managed to get the man to the edge.
"Let us know what's done there, yeah?" Andrew said before stopping and reaching up, he then pulled the make-shift gag out of Lockhart's mouth. "There we go, should be easier to communicate now."
"Listen here, you little-"
Lockhart didn't get to finish as Harry gave him a shove which resulted in the man letting out a high intensity scream which seemed to fade as he disappeared from view. They then heard a thud and Lockhart letting out a string of curses that caused Hermione to look horrified.
Once they assumed the coast was clear Harry and Ron then jumped down the tube, when Hermione went to follow, Andrew gripped her arm and turned her so that she could face him.
"Mio, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we don't know what's down there..."
"Are you going?" she asked cutting Andrew off.
"Of course, but you don't have to..." the dark skinned boys said trying again.
"You are my best friend, Andy. There is no way in... hell that I am letting you go through this without me there." Hermione said, determination shining in her eyes.
Andrew sighed but relented none the less, the two then made their way down the tube and met up with the others.
Once the initial disgust of landing in a literal graveyard of rat bones the group made their way into the chamber. They had untied Lockhart in order to make this a speedy mission. No one wanted to be there longer than they needed to be.
As they continued on their way they were suddenly met by a large snake skin. This caused the group to freeze unintentionally.
"T-That has to be... 60 feet at least..." Lockhart muttered, his eyes wide in shock.
"Snakes, shed their skin when they need to grow..." Hermione provided not realizing that it didn't help anyone's nerves, including her own.
"Depending on the species a snake can grow any where between an inch to three inches..." Andrew said, unable to help himself.
He then turned to Harry and thought. "But we aren't dealing with a regular old snake here, it's a magical snake born and raised in a magical school..."
Harry's eyes widened as he caught on to what Andrew might be saying. "So the growth could be magically enhanced, so instead of only growing a couple of inches, this thing could be more than a few feet larger than this already."
Andrew nodded and Harry suddenly felt unbelievably small. "Okay, let's keep moving, and if you see any type of movement close your eyes and do not open them."
As the continued on they ran into another obstacle, but this blockage came from behind them. Lockhart currently held Ron by the throat and had the boys wand pointed towards his neck.
Harry, Andrew and Hermione responded by pulling out their own wands and pointing them towards the phony professor.
"Now, now, you wouldn't want something to happen to your friend here would you?" he asked, the underlying threat not even hidden in his tone.
"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked her eyes narrowing.
"I am Gilderoy Lockhart, conqueror of Trolls, Vanquisher of Vampires, Defeater of Dark Lords! I demand to be treated with some damn respect!" he yelled at the students.
"You're a God damn phony! You didn't do any of those things!" Andrew yelled back.
"I might as well have! Those morons, those utter imbeciles who had such glorious stories! Stories filled with such wonder, tension and triumph all wasting their lives away in seedy bars across the world, retelling the tales for a coupled of free drinks and loose women, but me?! I saw an opportunity; an opportunity to cash in, get all the fame and fortune those fools were too blind to chase! A couple of drinks in the poor sods and they'd spill any and every detail I wanted. Then a simple obliviate and the bastards would forget about everything, their story, the fact that they had even done the deed and more importantly; me."
The kids all stared at Lockhart in something akin to shock, but honestly they weren't surprised the man did all those things, he chased the lime light, and people who did that were often willing to do anything to do it, case in point; Malfoy.
"So you stole their accomplishments." Harry said, his wand sparking slightly.
"Call it whatever you want, the point is, I had everything I could have ever wanted, until now... this bloody school! Full of loons this place is! But, there is always a silver lining. First, I am going to get rid of all of you, then I'll leave this God awful place and return to Dumbledore. I'll tell him how I heard of four students from Gryffindor who went down to the chamber to save their housemate, only to die by the hands of the beast. And little Ginny Weasley? Well, unfortunately I couldn't find the entrance... poor child- oomph!"
Lockhart was cut off when Ron drove his elbow into the man's unsuspecting groin. Once he got away from the pounce, the others let loose with their spells.
Andrew fired the Stupify, Harry shot off the Expelliarmus and Hermione hit the man with the Depulso charm. The force of three spells sent the man flying at a dangerous speed into the rock side, the impact was so intense it caused the entire cave to shake, acting quickly, Andrew shoved Hermione over to Ron's side before the rocks above them collapsed.
"Harry?!"
"Andrew!"
"We're okay!" Harry called out coughing slightly.
"Hermione? Are you okay?" Andrew called.
"Why did you push me back to this side?!" the girl asked angrily.
Hermione was met with silence, she let out a yell and scream of frustration.
"Ron, you guys see if you can make a path through this, Andrew and I will go on." Harry called to Ron deciding to get the group back on the same page.
After a confirmation from Ron, the two Potters made their way forwards. They were in silence before Harry spoke.
"You know, she's going to be pissed beyond words, right?"
"Not my concern right now. We've almost lost more than a few friends already, I refuse to put Hermione in a situation where she could be next." Andrew said straight faced.
Harry said nothing and the two boys soon went into another lull of silence... until:
"Is that a large metal door...?" Andrew asked pointing out the secure looking door ahead of them.
Harry looked confused too and the two boys quickly made their way over to it. "Wanna get this one?" the raven head asked with a small laugh.
Andrew sighed. "Well, you did the first one I suppose. Open..."
The two boys watched in morbid fascination as the door opened and they were met with a cold breeze and moldy stench. They looked around and were blown away at what they saw.
They had found it; the legendary room that all in the castled believed to be fake; The Chamber of Secrets.
Hello people! At last the chapter is complete! Took me way to long to get this done! Had to reset my PC so I lost most of the chapter and so on and so forth but it's done!
Sorry it was mostly just drabbles of the characters and the story barely progressed but we're finally reaching the end of BOOK 2! Next chapter is the last one of this arc!
IMPORTANT! PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHETHER YOU WOULD LIKE ALL SEVEN BOOKS IN ONE STORY OR IF I SHOULD SPLIT THEM UP; TWO PER STORY! EITHER DROP ME A PM OR EVEN IN THE REVIEWS LET ME KNOW WHICH WOULD BE EASIER FOR YOU GUYS!
Next chapter will be packed full of Action, Basilisks, Heroic Moments and Andrew generally being a smart arse!
Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading!
Peace, Love and Respect
Zak
