In this chapter, we'll find out what the monster really is.

It's a snake, of course, but not just any snake.

Feel free to listen to Strains of Insanity while our heroes are inside the Forbidden Forest.

Chapter 26: Almost an Aragoner

Unsurprisingly, Aragog's den was full of webbing.

And spiders, of course.

And though Aragog had eight eyes, they could tell that they were all focused on the six of them.

Judging from how milky they were, he was blind. It seemed plausible that he could detect them through the vibrations in his webbing though.

From the looks of things, he was a rather old spider.

"Is it true? Are you the monster? Hagrid always claimed you were innocent." noted Mary.

"I assure you, I'm not the monster everyone thinks I am. In fact, I'm terrified by the monster that lurks in the Chamber of Secrets. Its killing gaze is especially dangerous when you have eight eyes." noted the spider.

Sometimes, he envied other forms of life for this reason.

"Spiders are afraid of the monster? I've seen them running around the castle lately." remarked the girl who lived.

"Don't remind me…" answered Ron.

It seemed they were indeed afraid of someone.

"Well, I think we've learned valuable information. I think we should get going." noted Mary.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." explained Aragog.

"Why not?" asked Ginny.

"My family needs to feed. I hope you understand, friends of Hagrid." spoke the giant spider.

"I…guess." understood Mary.

The spiders were swarming towards them.

Fang found this to be a cruel irony. He was one of Hagrid's pets. And now he was about to be eaten by the family of another one of his pets.

Croaky found this to be ironic too, given she was a spider's natural predator under normal circumstances.

Chip was hugging Croaky tightly.

"I'm about to be eaten by spiders! This is my worst nightmare!" exclaimed Ron.

"This is my nightmare too! We won't be able to free Hagrid from prison!" shouted Ginny.

"Hagrid's….locked up?!" exclaimed Aragog.

Mary nodded.

"I'm sorry, my children, but there's been a change in plans." explained the huge spider.

"Awww…." complained the kids. They looked so tasty.

The young acromantulas backed away from our heroes.

"You're not having them eat us?" asked Ginny.

"Don't make him change his mind!" exclaimed Ron.

"I can't allow Hagrid to suffer, can I?" questioned Aragog.

Mary nodded.

"Well, I think we've learned enough from you. I'll talk to you later...assuming your children don't want to eat me." noted the girl.

"I'll instruct them not to eat you or your friends." assured the giant spider.

Suddenly, Ginny had an idea.

"Aragog, would you mind if I took a picture of you?" asked the girl.

She decided to take Colin Creevey's camera...on the basis on that Colin would want her to have it.

"You want to take a picture of him?!" exclaimed Ron.

What was she going to do next? Hang it on his wall? Deliver it to him as an April Fool's present?

"It will prove his innocence." explained Ginny.

"Why would it...oh yeah." recalled Mary.

Colin Creevey's camera film had been burned up. If the film in the camera didn't burn up when a picture of Aragog was taken, then it meant that he couldn't be the monster.

She took a picture...and sure enough, the film didn't burn up.

Aragog indeed wasn't the monster.

Perhaps they could use it to prove Hagrid's innocence.

The acromantula leader would advise his kin not to eat any more humans.

Not after what they had done for him.

When they went back inside the castle (as it turned out, her father's car had found its way in the Forbidden Forest, so they could use it as a shortcut out), they were discovered by McGonagall.

"What are you doing out of your dorms? It's especially dangerous to break curfew when there's a monster lurking around this castle." warned the professor.

"We were trying to prove Hagrid's innocence…" explained Mary.

"Of what?" asked McGonagall.

"People think that Hagrid is responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets." stated the girl who lived.

"So I've heard." nodded Minerva. Perhaps it was easy to suspect someone when their mother was a giant.

She didn't imagine Hagrid as being the Heir of Slytherin. She had been there when he had been sorted into Gryffindor. She was a bit scared at first having such a large boy be in her house, but she eventually started to consider him as a friend. She was glad he got to stay at Hogwarts, even if he had been expelled.

"He's been sent to Azkaban." replied Ron. He had been set up once more.

Ginny cried.

"How horrible…" noted Minerva.

She was glad that Mary, Ron, and Ginny weren't intending on becoming dark wizards. That way they could stay out of Azkaban. And of course, she was still afraid of Voldemort. Though she had been brave enough to say his name lately.

"We have proof that his pet acromantula didn't commit the attacks though." explained Mary.

She showed Minerva the picture.

"Colin Creevey's camera had its film burned away when a picture of the monster was taken, didn't it? I suppose this does prove Hagrid's innocence." noted Minerva.

Ginny's cleverness was admirable.

"I'm not sure if Cornelius Fudge will believe it, but it's worth a try." noted the lady.

Since Mary was without a roommate for the time being, she decided to have Ginny share her room for a while.

Since she was a Mary Potter fangirl, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

The next day, Mary, Ron, and Ginny decided to visit Hermione at the infirmary.

It made them feel happy, knowing the victims will be cured soon.

However, they noticed something they hadn't before.

Hermione was holding a mirror.

And a piece of paper.

"I wonder why she had that mirror. Did Lockhart give it to her?" asked Ginny.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be magical." noted Mary.

The first year nodded in agreement.

"Should we read that piece of paper?" questioned Ron.

As it turned out, the piece of paper was about a particular monster.

It was scary…

…but also worth a read.

"There are a variety of creatures roaming this land, but none is more dangerous than the basilisk. Also known as the King of Serpents, the basilisks can kill many other creatures, humans included, simply by making direct eye contact." read the paper.

Ron gulped. That monster sounded scary.

"The snake can reach an enormous size, and live many hundreds of years. It is born when a toad incubates a chicken egg. It has sharp, venomous fangs, and spiders flee before it. The basilisk's weakness is the cry of a rooster, which is lethal to it." continued the paper.

Mary felt more frightened than before.

Also, for some strange reason, there was the word pipes at the end of the letter.

What could that mean?

"I don't get it, if the basilisk can kill people with its eye gaze, why isn't anyone dead?" asked Ron.

Though perhaps he shouldn't look a gift hippogriff in the beak. Especially since one of the victims had been his friend Hermione.

"Perhaps I'm not the only student at school who has an exceptional amount of luck." pointed out Mary.

"Maybe Colin Creevey saw it through his camera? That would explain why the film was burned up." noted Ginny.

Mary nodded.

"Did Justin see him through Nearly Headless Nick? He was with him when the monster attacked." remarked Ron.

He doubted Nick could die again, so the gaze only petrified him. In order to get him to the infirmary, they needed to use wind magic.

"Most likely." answered Ginny.

"Hermione and Penelope must have been using mirrors." noted Mary.

"But what about Mrs. Norris?" asked Ron.

"I imagine she saw the monster's reflection." explained Ginny. There was a lot of water on the floor.

"But there's one more question I have. If the basilisk is so big, why haven't the teachers seen it?" asked Ron.

Mary remembered Hermione mentioning the word "pipes".

"I think it's using the plumbing system." noted Mary.

It was surprising how stealthy a giant snake could be.

"Man, I seriously hope the monster doesn't attack me when I use the restroom…" remarked Ginny.

"Everyone, report to the Grand Hall!" exclaimed Pomana Sprout on the intercom.

Mary, Ron, and Ginny nodded. This sounded very important.

"I'm afraid we have no good choice but to close down Hogwarts. A second year student has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Report to the Hogwarts Express tomorrow." explained McGonagall.

"HIS SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER." read the message.

Mary was upset. Though to be fair, her uncle didn't want her to go back to Hogwarts anyway.

Maybe she could go to Stonewall High?

"Who got dragged in?" asked Ron.

"It was…Neville Longbottom." answered Minerva.

And yes, it was unusual that the victim was a pureblood.

The Gryffindors all gasped. It appeared that one of their own was inside the chamber. The death chamber.

"Noooo! Not Neville!" screamed Mary, her eyes widened with terror.

How was she going to live without him?

There had to be a way to rescue him. His grandmother would want him to return home. Though she wasn't always as nice to him as he should have been.

The only problem was that she did not know where the Chamber of Secrets was.

Although, she imagined it was located underground.

The monster had been using the plumbing system, after all.

Wait…was Moaning Myrtle the victim of the basilisk?

She decided she should ask her whether she died from its gaze.

It was worth a try.

However, Ginny had another idea.

"I think we should ask Gilderoy Lockhart for help. He's fought all sorts of magical creatures." advised the first year.

"Didn't he have trouble with those pixies though?" pointed out Ron.

"I still think we should do it." noted the first year.

Ron and Mary shrugged. Why not?

The three of them headed to Lockhart's office.

Sure enough, he was packing his bags, as the other teachers were doing.

"Shouldn't you all be in your common rooms and dorms?" questioned Lockhart.

"We know what the monster is!" exclaimed Ginny.

"We also might know where you can find it." noted Mary.

She handed Lockhart the piece of paper Hermione had in her hand.

However, his response wasn't what they wanted to hear.

"I'm afraid I can't kill that." noted Gilderoy Lockhart.

"But you've fought so many creatures!" exclaimed Ginny.

"Yes, but none of them could kill someone with a simple eye gaze." remarked the defense against the dark arts professor.

"I suppose that's true." noted Ron.

Well, it had been worth a try.

"By the way, can I have a drink?" asked Gilderoy Lockhart. "I'm working up a sweat packing up all my belongings."

"I have a potion, but-"

Ginny was interrupted when Lockhart took it from her hands and wolfed down the Veritaserum.

If Gilderoy Lockhart was an occlumens, he would be able to resist the effects of that potion.

But as his failure to stop the pixies would imply, he wasn't as talented as he said he was.

So he started telling the truth about himself almost as soon as he finished the potion.

"For the past ten years, I've been stealing the credit from wizards and witches all over Britain, using Memory Charms so they don't remember the things they had done." explained Lockhart.

"What?!" shouted Mary.

"I only signed up as Defense against the Dark Arts for the publicity. Though I do consider Mary to be my friend, I can say that much." noted the man.

"He didn't do that for the welfare of us students?" questioned Ron.

"Last week, I forgot to flush the toilet." remarked Gilderoy.

Ginny stuck her tongue out.

At that very moment, Lockhart realized what he had done.

"My cover has been blown! I must erase your memories immediately!" exclaimed Lockhart.

He pulled out his wand to cast a Memory Charm as he had done so many times before, but Mary cast Expelliarmus.

Gilderoy dropped it on the floor immediately.

"You're going to write an apology letter to every wizard and witch you've stolen achievements from!" exclaimed Mary.

"Oh no…." said Lockhart. That was going to take forever.

Since Ron still had a broken wand and likely couldn't cast spells without them backfiring on him, Mary decided to have him guard Gilderoy Lockhart's office instead to make sure he didn't weasel his way out of his punishment, as Death Eaters before him had done.

Hopefully he would be able to get it fixed. Though considering that Hogwarts was about to be closed down, he wasn't sure what he would use it for.

The wand might have been broken, but Lockhart didn't know that.

"You'll take good care of my sister, right, Mary?" asked Ron.

He could try to persuade Ginny not to enter the Chamber of Secrets, but once Ginny had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.

He had learned that from living with her for over a decade.

She was smart enough not to go alone though, much to his relief.

After the two left Ginny's office, the Gryffindor first year began to cry.

"I can't believe it…Gilderoy Lockhart is one giant fraud!" exclaimed Ginny.

Mary placed her hand on her shoulder.

"I thought he was a hero…but he was a liar this whole time." noted the first year.

A big fat one.

"If it makes you feel better, I think you're a hero." comforted Mary.

"Me? Really?" asked Ginny.

"You were the one that stopped the pixie rampage. You also told the teachers about Colin Creevey. And of course, you provided evidence of Hagrid's evidence." noted the girl who lived.

"It's true. I did all those things." remarked the Weasley girl.

"You're more of a hero than Gilderoy Lockhart, I can say that much." spoke Mary.

"Yeah…" nodded Ginny.

Having Mary say those things made her feel better.

"I know that you're not faking defeating You-Know-Who. You have that lightning scar on your forehead as proof." noted the first year.

"Try to call him by his proper name. He might come back someday." suggested Mary.

Though she certainly hoped not.

"V-v-v-Voldemort…" spoke Ginny.

Mary applauded her, as she did Neville one year before.

Speaking of Neville, they needed to find him…and fast.

It was time to speak with Moaning Myrtle.

Oh no! Neville has been kidnapped!

Can he be rescued?

Oh, and I'm afraid Gilderoy Lockhart won't save the day, because he is a fraud.

Ginny might though.

One can only hope.