Harry, Ron, and Samantha rushed to the staffroom, taking care to not be seen. They couldn't have anyone disrupting their quest when they were so close to ending this nightmare once and for all.
The three walked around the large staffroom, too anxious and excited to sit down. They waited for break to be signaled, but no such signal came. Instead, Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified, rang through the halls.
"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please," she said, and Samantha's heart sank. That could mean nothing good.
"Not another attack? Not now?" Harry said, looking between his sister and best friend.
"What'll we do?" Ron asked. "Go back to the dormitory?"
Samantha shook her head. "No. We've got to know what happened," she said, determination running through her veins.
"She's right. In here," Harry said, gesturing to a wardrobe to the side. "Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."
Quickly, the three climbed inside, shutting the door just before the first teachers made their way into the room. Samantha focused mostly on her breathing, keeping it as silent as possible.
They listened to the footsteps of all of their professors as they came into the staffroom. No one dared talk, all too confused or scared.
"It has happened," Professor McGonagall said. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."
Samantha's eyes widened, her heart beginning to race. She tried desperately to keep her breathing normal.
There was an anxious squeal from Professor Flitwick, and Snape said, "How can you be sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin," McGonagall began, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."
Samantha bit down hard on her tongue, keeping herself silent. Her heart was beating at least twice its normal speed as she wondered who 'she' was.
"Who is it?" Madam Hooch asked after a pause where Professor Flitwick had burst into tears. "Which student?"
"Lauren Potter," Professor McGonagall said.
Samantha's mouth dropped open. It took everything in her to remain silent. Not her sister. This wasn't supposed to happen. Lauren was a half blood. She wasn't the target of the monster.
Samantha looked at Harry, who had gone completely pale. She took his hand, squeezing it tightly. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she felt sick. She needed to get to Lauren, and that was all she knew.
"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," McGonagall was saying. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said…"
At that moment, Samantha heard a bang. She jumped, and was thankful the teachers were too distracted by the new arrival to notice her start.
"So sorry- dozed off- what have I missed?"
The voice of Professor Lockhart had never made Samantha angrier. She balled her free hand into a fist, and if it wasn't for Harry, she was ninety percent sure she would have jumped out and punched him right in his smug face.
"Just the man," came Snape's cold voice. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."
"That's right, Gilderoy," Professor Sprout added. Samantha could tell all of the teachers had the same hatred for him that the students did. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"
"I- well, I-" Lockhart spluttered, being caught in a lie.
"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" Professor Flitwick chimed in.
"D-did I? I don't recall-"
"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"
"I- I really never- you may have misunderstood-"
"We'll leave you to it, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."
"V- very well," Lockhart said after a pause. "I'll- I'll be in my office, getting- getting ready." Samantha heard the snap of the door as he left.
"Right," said McGonagall, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories," she instructed.
After they were sure all of the teachers were gone, Harry, Samantha, and Ron stepped out of the wardrobe and silently left the staffroom, heading towards Gryffindor Tower.
Samantha tried her best to ignore the pull she felt towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, instead wishing Lauren was there. She knew it would be incredibly stupid to go down there, but she couldn't help but want to. She didn't want her sister to die, and if there was even a chance Lauren wasn't yet dead, Samantha wanted to get to her immediately, because even the thought of Lauren not being there made her sick.
Samantha told Leslie and Max what had happened, because it was the only way to restrain herself from doing something stupid. She had thought about using the time turner, but had realized that she couldn't do that. It was far too risky, and besides, if Lauren had been taken, she couldn't go back and alter the timeline.
"Remember this morning? When she and Ginny wanted to tell us something? They must have known something about the Chamber," Max said.
"Why was Lauren taken then? Why not Ginny, or both of them?" Samantha asked. "Speaking of that, where is Ginny?"
The three looked around the room, and Samantha furrowed her eyebrows together. Harry was sitting on a couch with Ron, Fred, George, and Percy. Fred and George looked like they were making jokes, trying to cheer harry up. Percy was silently glaring at the twins, and Ron was looking at Harry pityingly. Ginny was nowhere near, and Samantha didn't see her in the common room at all.
"Maybe she went up to bed early. She was friends with Lauren, after all," Leslie pointed out, trying to remain calm, although her voice sounded anything but.
Samantha met Max's dark brown eyes, a sadness and longing in her own hazel ones.
"I thought last year was bad. I'd take Voldemort on the back of Quirrel's head over this mess any day," Samantha commented.
Max and Leslie nodded in agreement. Neither had experienced any of the obstacle course below, and neither had felt the excruciating pain Samantha had been in while her brother faced Voldemort, but still, both had experienced a strange, foreign terror after finding out Voldemort had been in their classes the whole time, hearing their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.
The evening passed slowly, and the common room felt as if a large, grey storm cloud was hanging above it, blocking out the sunlight that usually seeped through the ceiling.
Around sunset, Samantha saw Fred and George leave to their dormitory, both concerned about Ginny, who still hadn't made an appearance. Samantha, Max, and Leslie joined Harry and Ron after that, all of them sitting quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts.
"We should see Lockhart," Ron suggested as the sun creeped slowly lower in the sky.
"What?" Samantha asked, pulled out of her daydream of a calm, happy, sunshine filled, last week at Hogwarts before their summer holiday.
"We should tell Lockhart about what we know. He said he'd try to get into the Chamber, and we can tell him where we think it is and what's inside," Ron suggested.
"There's nothing else to do," Samantha said, shrugging. She didn't really think Lockhart would do much, if anything, to fight the monster in the Chamber, but she was bored, and she needed to save her baby sister.
"I don't know…" Leslie said, looking nervously at the door of the common room as Harry, Ron, Max, and Samantha stood up.
"You don't have to come, Leslie. We'll come back later. It's probably better to have less of us go," Samantha said.
Leslie nodded. "Alright. I'll see you guys soon," she said, giving her friends a small smile. She didn't feel like heading off to tell Lockhart of the Chamber and the monster, and instead went off to sit with Damon, Elias, and Connor, the former two playing a game of wizard's chess.
No one stopped Harry, Samantha, Ron, and Max as they walked out of the common room, everyone feeling too sorry for Harry and Samantha to care what any of them did.
The hallways of the castle were quiet, not filled with the normal activity that had taken place in them that year. As they approached Lockhart's office, they could hear loads of activity taking place inside, and Samantha wondered if he really was planning to try to defeat a basilisk single-handedly.
Harry quickly met Samantha's eyes before knocking on the door, and suddenly the room went as quiet as the ghostly castle. A few quick moments later, the door opened just enough to see one of Lockhart's eyes through it.
"Oh- you four-" he said hastily, eyeing them before opening the door wide enough to see his whole face. "I'm rather busy at the moment- if you could be quick-"
"Professor, we've got some information for you," Harry told him. "We think it'll help you."
"Er- well- it's not terribly-" Lockhart spluttered, looking terribly uncomfortable. "I mean- well- alright," he said, and let them into the room.
Samantha had known, of course, he probably didn't have plans to take on a basilisk with no training and no idea of anything about it. But she hadn't expected he would run away. The once boastful office was now stripped of almost everything that had once been inside of it, with a box full of all the colors of robes imaginable and another with pictures and posters of himself stuffed inside.
"Are you going somewhere?" Harry asked.
"Er- well- yes," Lockhart answered, continuing to take a large poster off of the wall. "Ugent call- unavoidable- got to go-"
"You're running away," Samantha said, little emotion in her voice.
"What about our sister?" questioned Harry, beginning to look angry.
"It's not- not running away-" Lockhart answered, shoving the posted hastily inside of a box. "As for your sister- most unfortunate- no one regrets more than I-"
"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, you can't run away now!" Max protested. "Not when all of this dark stuff is happening!"
"When I took the job- nowhere in the description-" Lockhart began to protest.
"I can't believe you!" Samantha cried.
"What about all that stuff you did in your books?" Harry added.
"Books can be misleading-"
"You wrote them!" shouted Harry.
"He didn't do any of that stuff," Max said. "Other people did."
Lockhart stopped taking pictures of himself off the wall and looked at Max, as did Samantha, Harry, and Ron.
"My parents told me, right before we went off for this year of school. They know all about this kind of thing, and they had heard the stories of those who had experienced it," Max said.
"You didn't think it would be worth mentioning that we'd have a completely incompetent Defese Against the Dark Arts teacher in the year we'd need it most?" Samantha asked, wondering why he had kept this piece of information until now. Sure, she'd always been doubtful of him being the real deal, but she'd never had concrete proof.
"To be fair, none of us knew how terribly this year would play out," explained Max. "Besides, he's managed to convince people they didn't perform heroic acts. I thought maybe he was actually talented, just sometimes took credit for other people's deeds. There's a few books that have no proof anyone but him did it."
"Why'd you lie?" Samantha asked Lockhart fiercely, turning angrily back to him.
"My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all of those things," Lockhart replied with a false confidence. "No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on-"
"You can't just take credit for other people's work. That's unfair to them! And all you did it for was to be famous and boost your much too large ego!" Samantha ranted.
"Not to mention you got the easy part. You didn't even have to do anything!" added Max.
"It's not quite that simple, there was work involved," Lockhart told the children.
"What kind of work? Smiling?" Ron demanded.
"I had to track them down, and find out exactly how they did what they did, then put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. So it has been a lot of work," Lockhart explained to them all in a desperate attempt to defend himself.
Samantha shook her head in disbelief, anger threatening to take over. She fought against it, though, just enough to keep herself thinking as clearly as she could. "You are unbelievable," she told him through gritted teeth.
"Right, well," Lockhart started, looking around the room to see if he had left anything. "Only one thing left." He pulled out his wand and turned it on the four students standing before him. "I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you all now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book-"
Samantha had just raised her wand when Harry bellowed "Expelliarmus!" and Lockhart's wand flew out of his hand as he flew backwards, Ron reaching out and catching the expelled wand before tossing it out of the window.
"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," Harry said, walking over to the chest Lockhart was propped against. Samantha joined him, a smirk on her face, holding her wand so it pointed directly at his face, and Max and Ron followed suit.
"What do you want me to do?" Lockhart asked, looking scared of the kids who, although half his age, possessed more defensive magical talents than he did. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."
"Oh yes there is," Samantha told him. "Because we have it pretty well figured out."
"You're coming with us," Max told him, and the four of them escorted their teacher out of the classroom and down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where they pushed him inside before going in themselves.
"Oh, it's you," Myrtle said when she saw them all. "What do you want this time?"
"To ask how you died," Harry stated plainly.
Samantha had been half expecting Myrtle to burst into tears, but instead, she looked excited and flattered to talk about such a thing. Samantha suspected Myrtle never got much of a chance to talk to anyone about much.
"Ooh, it was dreadful," Myrtle said, a coy smile on her face. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall."
Out of the corner of her eye, Samantha caught Lockhart stepping back a bit, as if scared death would come for him as well if he stood too near the spot Myrtle had died all those years ago.
"I remember it so well," Myrtle continued. "I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me is that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door to tell him to use his own toilet, and then-" Myrtle held off for a second for the suspense to grow. "I died."
"How?" said Harry.
"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of grat, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…" her expression was dreamy, as if death was something she wanted to re-live. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry asked, not caring about Olive Hornby.
"Somewhere there," Myrtle said airily, waving her hand toward the sinks in front of her stall.
Samantha and Max shared a glance before joining Harry and Ron to examine the sinks right there. Lockhart was slightly forgotten about, standing against a wall with a look of utter terror on his face.
"It looks normal," Max commented, running his hand over the basin. Ron and Harry were under the sink, looking at the pipes but finding nothing.
Suddenly, a glimmer caught Samantha's attention. Her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed how the light reflected off of a small snake carved into the faucet.
"Harry," Samantha whispered, pointing her finger towards it.
Harry immediately went to turn the tap, but as he did, Myrtle said, "That tap has never worked."
Samantha, Max, Ron, and Harry exchanged glances between each other, all knowing this must be where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was.
"Harry," Ron said suddenly. "Say something in Parseltongue."
Samantha inhaled sharply, her eyes growing wide once more. "That has to be the way in!" she said, realization hitting her hard.
"But-" Harry began to protest. "I've only spoken Parseltongue when I'm facing a snake before. I don't know if I can do it without one."
"I can conjure one if that helps," Samantha offered, taking her wand out of her pocket.
Harry shook his head no. "I'll figure it out," he said, staring intently at the tiny snake carving. "Open up."
The rest of them shook their heads. "English," Ron told him, and Samantha held up her wand again in a silent offer.
Harry looked back down at the carved snake, staring at it a little longer this time. He opened his mouth again to speak, but instead of anything understandable, a strange hiss was emitted.
The tap glowed bright white and began to spin, and Samantha felt her mouth drop open. The sink then sank out of sight, leaving a large, slide-like pipe exposed.
"I'm going down there," Harry said with determination.
"Me too," Ron agreed.
"An us," Samantha added, taking Max's hand in her own.
"Well, you hardly seem to need me," Lockhart said after a pause. "I'll just-"
He reached for the door, but before he could even touch it, all four kids had their wands pointed directly at him. "I suggest you don't try to escape," Samantha advised him, her gaze fierce.
Lauren could be down there, possibly still alive, and Samantha needed to get to her. As incapable as Lockhart was, he had gone through all seven years of school, and if all else failed, he was a good test dummy or shield.
"You can go first," Ron snarled.
His face drained of all color, Lockhart walked over to the opening of the pipe.
"Children," he said, sounding completely terrified, "What good will it do?"
Harry jabbed his wand into Lockhart's back, and Lockhart, looking as if it was against his own will, stuck his legs inside. "I really don't think-" he began, but Ron gave him a quick push, and he slid down through the pipe.
"I'll go next," Harry volunteered, stepping into the pipe and sliding down as well.
Next was Ron, and then Samantha and Max were left in the bathroom, staring down at the pipe. "Let's do this," Samantha said, giving Max a quick kiss and smile before stepping inside the pipe as well.
The pipe was dark and slimy, but Samantha could just make out smaller pipes that branched in different directions. It was a steep slide, and Samantha was sure that even the Philosopher's Stone hadn't been hidden this deep in the castle.
Suddenly the pipe leveled out, and Samantha tumbled out of the end, nearly falling on top of Ron. A few seconds later, Max was dumped out from the slide, completing their group of five.
"Everyone alright?" Max asked as they observed their slimy surroundings. His voice was echoed against the dark walls.
Samantha nodded. "As alright as I can be," she answered, taking her wand out. "Lumos," she muttered, and held the wand out to look at the walls.
"We must be miles under the school," Harry said.
"Under the lake, probably," Ron agreed.
"There's a tunnel," said Max, pointing to it.
"Let's go," Samantha said, and she and Harry led the way through the dark tunnel, using only their wands for light.
"Remember," Harry started as they walked through the darkness, "any sign of movement, close your eyes."
They all nodded, although that precaution didn't prove to be necessary, as there was no movement to be seen in the tunnel, which sat still and quiet.
Lockhart nearly screamed when Ron stepped on a rat skull, and a quick look at the ground showed that the floor was littered with animal bones of all kinds. Samantha let herself fall back slightly and took Max's hand, more to feel a connection than out of fear.
"There's something- up there," Ron said, grabbing Harry's shoulder.
Everyone stopped walking. The tunnel was nearly pitch black, but they could just make out a large, curved, still object laying across the tunnel.
"Maybe it's asleep," Harry breathed, thinking wishfully.
Samantha took a deep breath and let Max's hand fall from her grip, walking back up to Harry. Squinting, she approached it, and knew Harry was right beside her. As she got close enough to see what it was, Samantha released a breath she hadn't realized she'd even been holding.
"It's a snake skin," she told the rest of them, examining the twenty foot long, bright green layer of skin laying on the floor. She couldn't help but think that it was rather interesting, and would have been much more excited about the find if they weren't about to come across the very creature it belonged to at any minute.
"Blimey," Ron whispered, looking at the snake skin.
There was a noise from behind them, and Samantha turned to see Lockhart on the floor.
"Get up," Ron told him sharply, pointing his wand, which was still held together with Spellotape, at the teacher.
Lockhart did as told, but he had apparently had enough of cooperating, as the next second, he was diving towards Ron, grabbing the wand out of his hand. Lockhart looked crazed as he held the wand, his eyes gleaming, his entire body covered in sticky slime.
"The adventure ends here, children," he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin up to the school, tell them that I was too late to save the girl, and that you four tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"
Looking back on it, Samantha didn't know why she didn't do anything. Maybe it was because she knew Ron's wand was broken, and the spell would not go as Lockhart planned. Maybe it was because everything was happening so quickly. Not just in the moment, but in the day as well. She hadn't had time to process what was being done until it was done, and by then it was too late to do anything about the outcome.
"Obliviate!" Lockhart cried, Ron's wand held high in the air. There was a crash and a scream, and Samantha ducked out of the way of a falling piece of concrete, putting her arms over her head as she ran forward.
This chapter was very hard to convince myself to write, although it's probably the fact that I'm unmotivated to do anything right now and not the story. Anyways, I hope the chapter isn't complete trash, and I'll try to update again soon! :)