Chapter Twenty-Four: Into the Chamber

Fortunately, Ron's gloomy prediction of an attack a day didn't come true, but that was the extent of the good news over the next few days.

Ginny still hadn't been found. No one had been told she was behind the attacks, but people were beginning to wonder what had happened to her.

Mrs. Weasley wanted to pull all her children out of Hogwarts immediately, but Ron and his brothers absolutely refused to leave the school until she'd been found. He, Harry, and Daphne had kept up their search for Ginny for a couple of days, but as they had no new leads, scouring the school each night just mean they were risking their lives for nothing, and in Daphne's eyes it was a miracle the school hadn't already been closed.

The only person in school who seemed happy was, of course, Draco Malfoy. In one Potions class, he loudly said, "I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore. I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst Headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent Headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long, she's only filling in…"

Snape swept past, and Malfoy said, "Sir! Sir, why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job?"

"Now, now, Malfoy," Snape said. He had a thin smile on his face, but Daphne was looking at his eyes, which were as hard as ever. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."

"Yeah, right," Malfoy said with a smirk. "I expect you'd have father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job…I'll tell father you're the best teacher here, sir…"

Snape returned Malfoy's smirk, but the moment he turned away, Daphne saw his face contort in anger. Snape was still adamant to stay on Malfoy's good side, then…had this been what he meant with 'unwanted outside interference' that day he'd told Daphne and Malfoy not to openly fight? Well, if that was the case, the worst had happened anyway. Maybe she should–

"I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now," Malfoy continued. "Bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger–"

A lot of things happened at once then. Daphne, Harry, and Ron all leapt up from their seats…but there was someone else who did, as well.

"T-that's enough, M-Malfoy!"

Nothing but hearing that particular voice could've stopped Daphne from jumping on Malfoy, and clearly Harry and Ron were just as surprised.

Neville Longbottom had gotten up from his seat and stepped towards Malfoy…in Snape's classroom.

"You might want to worry as well, Longbottom, seeing as you're big Squib," Malfoy said.

"Five points from Gryffindor for getting up without permission, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom," Snape said. "Now sit back down or–"

"No!" Neville shouted. "I– I will not let you insult my f-friends, Malfoy!"

"Longbottom, are you as thick as you– ARGH!"

Malfoy was interrupted by Neville tackling him off his stool, either too angry to use magic or simply knowing he wasn't good enough at it.

Crabbe and Goyle tried to pull Neville off of Malfoy, but Neville had dragged Malfoy into an awkward spot between two tables and they couldn't reach him.

Snape, however, did not have that problem, as he simply flicked his wand and brutally yanked Neville off.

He had a split lip and black eye, and when Malfoy sat up Daphne could see his nose was bleeding, and he seemed to have a small cut above his eyebrow. It was surprisingly bloody.

"ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, LONGBOTTOM, AND DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!" Snape roared. "I will see you expelled for this, mark my words! Potter! Weasley! I told you to sit down! Another twenty points from Gryffindor from each of you! Crabbe, Goyle, take Malfoy to the infirmary. Longbottom, come with me. Everyone else stays right here until I return, or it's detention!"

Snape left the room, dragging Neville by his collar, while Malfoy was helped to his feet and led out of the dungeon by Crabbe and Goyle.

A stunned silence filled the class. Daphne, Harry, and Ron still hadn't sat back down and couldn't do anything else but exchange glances. Had that really just happened? Neville had surprised them last year by trying to stop them from going after the Philosopher's Stone, but this time he'd really outdone himself.

The bell rang, but no one in the class moved, all fearing Snape's wrath if they left without permission.

Snape eventually returned, without Neville, and angrily commanded them to follow him to their next class.

To Daphne's great irritation, for the Slytherins that meant Defense Against the Dark Arts. "We seem to be missing some of our number today," Lockhart said.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle hadn't returned yet, and Daphne was wondering what took them so long. Maybe they had to wait for a teacher to escort them, even though Snape had sent him to the infirmary alone.

"But no matter, because the danger has passed! The guilty party has been arrested and taken away," Lockhart went on.

Daphne groaned angrily.

"Indeed, I suspected Hagrid from the very beginning, of course, but I wasn't allowed to act. If I had, I daresay all of this could have been avoided. Like that time when I saved a small village from a sorcerer who–"

"Do you ever even listen to yourself?" Daphne interrupted.

She could imagine why the other teachers hadn't told Lockhart that Ginny was the likely culprit, but for him to not even care that she was missing…

"Is anything you ever told us even true? Your 'grand accomplishments'? All you've done since you came here is spout a lot of hot air and remove the bones from my left arm. You know what I think, sir? I think you're a fraud. No, actually, that's too kind. I think you are the biggest, most insufferable, self-centered, raving, imbecile who has ever lived!"

Her classmates laughed, but Daphne wasn't joking.

"Miss Greengrass–"

"Don't bother. Take as many points as you'd like, I'll see myself out. The danger is gone anyway, isn't it, Professor?" She grabbed her bag, shot Lockhart a withering look, and left the classroom.

She had no real idea where she was going, but she knew she wanted to be alone. She couldn't barge in on Harry and Ron's Herbology class, after all, and there was no one else she even wanted to talk to, except maybe Hermione, who was Petrified, or Ginny, who was missing.

But where could she go? They were bound to look for her, given the situation, so she didn't have much time. It had to be a place people wouldn't really think to search. A place where a sane person wouldn't want to go. A place like…Moaning Myrtle's toilet.

She opened the door and walked in. It wasn't as flooded as it had been last time, but the floor certainly wasn't dry.

Myrtle, who'd heard her come in, floated through her stall door and looked at her.

"Didn't expect to see you here," she said. She had a small smirk on her face and Daphne just knew she was recalling their first meeting.

"Believe me, I don't really want to be," Daphne said. "But y'know what, Myrtle? I'd sooner take you making fun of me than listening to Lockhart blow his own trumpet for an hour."

She scoffed. "I bet he would, too, if he could bend over that far…"

"I wouldn't make fun of you," Myrtle said a bit indignantly. "Not with other people present, anyway. Why do you think I'm haunting a toilet? I didn't die here because people were so kind to me, you know. Wouldn't do that to anyone else no matter how funny it would be. Except Olive Hornby. She deserves it."

Myrtle's words triggered a memory in Daphne. The last time the Chamber had been opened, a student had died…and she'd been found in a bathroom. Could it be…?

"How did you die, anyway?" Daphne asked.

Myrtle seemed to light up upon being asked that question.

"Ooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. 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, it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then…I died."

"How?" Daphne asked, her heart speeding up.

"No idea," Myrtle said in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body seized up, and then I was floating away… 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."

More and more things were falling into place now.

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Daphne asked.

"Somewhere there," Myrtle said, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

Daphne hurried over to it. It looked like an ordinary sink. She examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then she saw it: scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," Myrtle said brightly when Daphne tried to turn it. Daphne hadn't expected it to.

Here, then, was the answer she'd been looking for. At long last, she knew where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was, and even how to get in, but there was no way she could do it herself. She needed to find Harry, and fast.

"Hey, where are you going?" Myrtle yelled after her.

Daphne didn't listen and stepped outside into the corridor. She glanced at the message on the wall, that had been there since Halloween…and only now noticed that something had been written underneath it.

HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER

"No!" she shouted.

When had that message been written?! It couldn't have been there long, or something would've happened. It could only have been a few hours, at best.

She ran down the stairs. Harry and Ron were in Herbology. If she could get to them…But when she was in the entrance hall, McGonagall's magically amplified voice sounded through the castle.

"Attention, all students to the dormitories at once. All students to the dormitories at once. Further information will be given by your Head of House. Everyone to the dormitories immediately!"

That must mean that the message had been spotted and reported. Myrtle's bathroom had been empty when she arrived, so Ginny had to already have been in the Chamber by then. Maybe, just maybe, there was still time to save her.

She changed course and headed for the Gryffindor common room, but she got caught up in a stream of third-year Ravenclaws.

When she arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, she'd lost nearly fifteen minutes because of all the times she had to dodge out of sight of teachers and Prefects.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"I don't know," Daphne said. "Just tell Harry to come out, it's urgent!"

"I can't do that," the Fat Lady said.

"Then let me in and I'll find him myself!"

"I know you, but I can't let you in without the password," the Fat Lady said.

"You don't understand," Daphne pleaded. "I need to talk to Harry, I–"

"Daphne? What are you doing here?"

Daphne whirled around and looked into Percy's frowning face.

"Percy! You need to get Harry, please!"

"You need to go to your common room, Daphne, Professor McGonagall–"

"I know where Ginny is!" Daphne yelled, and Percy fell silent. "Please, Percy, get Harry. He is the only one who can get to her. I am not letting her die here!"

Percy hesitated only for a moment. Then he said, "Wait here."

He turned to the Fat Lady and said, "Alea iacta est."

The portrait swung open and Percy climbed through the opening.

Minutes later Harry and Ron emerged.

"Lead the way," Harry said, and they set off immediately.

"Fred and George wanted to come as well, but Percy wouldn't let them," Ron said as they ran. "He didn't want to let me go, either, but he seemed to realize there was no time to keep arguing."

"There isn't," Daphne said. "Harry, the entrance to the Chamber is in Myrtle's toilet. And she told me that she died by looking into the eyes of something, so whatever the monster is, don't look into its eyes. I think it's some kind of snake, though, both because it was put here by Slytherin, and because you kept hearing voices we couldn't. I'm pretty sure that you must've been hearing Parseltongue."

"It was in the walls?" Ron asked.

Daphne shook her head. "In the pipes. The entrance to the Chamber is in a sink, so I think the monster moved through the plumbing. If it's indeed a snake, that would make sense, anyway."

They stormed through the castle, but just when they ran into the corridor leading to Myrtle's toilet, they ran into someone else.

Lockhart was approaching them, looking a bit deranged and dragging his trunk. By the looks of it, he was fleeing the castle. When he spotted Daphne, however, he stopped walking and blocked their path.

"And where are you going?" he asked.

For the first time since Daphne had met him, he wasn't smiling. Instead, he looked angry.

"Get out of the way," Daphne said. "We have no time for more of your idiocy. We're going to do what you claim you've been doing. We're going to deal with the monster ourselves. Now, move!"

Instead of moving, however, Lockhart drew his wand.

"I don't think so," he said. "See, you made a fool out of me in class earlier. I don't appreciate it when people do that, you know. And I don't think anyone will think it odd that the three kids who went after the monster went a bit mad when they ran into it…"

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, and Lockhart was blasted off his feet.

His wand flew through the air, and Daphne caught it. With devilish glee, she snapped it in half and discarded the broken pieces. That wand wouldn't remove the bones from anyone else's arm ever again.

"We should take him with us. Maybe he can be snake bait," Ron said angrily.

Harry and Daphne nodded. She'd welcome a chance to get Lockhart killed. Both Harry and Daphne aimed their wands at Lockhart. Ron's wand was still damaged, and he wisely kept it pocketed.

"Come on, turn around and walk. Into that out of order bathroom over there," Harry ordered.

They moved into the bathroom, where Myrtle looked at them in surprise. "What're all of you doing back here?"

Daphne kept her eyes and her wand on Lockhart, and directed Harry to the correct sink.

"Open it, Harry," she said tersely.

"Open up," Harry said.

"Nope, English," Ron said.

There was another moment of silence, and then Daphne heard a sinister, low hiss.

From the corner of her eye, Daphne saw the tap glowing with a brilliant white light, and it began to spin. Then, the sink itself began to move, sinking right out of sight and leaving a large pipe exposed, which was wide enough for a person to slide into.

Daphne jerked her head at Lockhart. "You first," she said. "If you die it wouldn't be a great loss…"

"What…what good will it do if I go down there? What do you think I can do?!" he asked, rather hysterically.

"Maybe you can do something useful for once in your life. Aren't you glad? If you survive, you'll be able to write a book you actually feature in," Ron said.

"Get moving," Harry ordered. "We don't have time."

Unwillingly, Lockhart lowered himself into the pipe.

"I really don't think–" he began to say, but Ron gave him a push and he slid out of sight.

Harry followed quickly, then Ron and Daphne.

She rushed down the pipe, which sloped steeply downward, twisting and turning. She saw many branches, but none of them were as wide as the main one she was skidding down. After what felt like an eternity, the pipe began to level out and she was launched out of the end, landing hard on the stone floor of a long, dark tunnel.

"We must be miles under the school," Harry said. His voice echoed in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably," Ron said.

Harry and Daphne lit up their wands, and the four of them set off. It was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

"If there's any sign of movement, close your eyes right away," Harry said.

But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull.

Both Harry and Daphne lowered their wands to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Daphne hoped it wasn't an omen for things to come and once again she felt a pang of guilt for not helping Ginny earlier.

They moved on, going around a dark bend in the tunnel.

"There's something up there," Ron said hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder.

They froze, watching. Daphne saw the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Maybe it's asleep," Harry whispered.

Daphne kept her eyes squinted to narrow slits and looked at the ground as she cautiously moved forward behind Harry, but she soon realized this wasn't a live snake. She opened her eyes all the way and looked at the gigantic snake skin she was stood next to.

It was a vivid, poisonous green and lay curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Blimey," Ron said weakly.

There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.

"Get up," Ron said sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.

Lockhart got to his feet — then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground. Daphne and Harry jumped forward, but too late. Lockhart was straightening up, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming, deranged smile on his face.

"The adventure ends here, kids! I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head.

Daphne ran, throwing herself between Harry and Lockhart. If Harry, at least, could carry on, Ginny might still be saved…

"Obliviate!" Lockhart yelled.

There was a loud explosion. Daphne flung her arms over her head and ran, pushing Harry in front of her. They slipped over the coils of snake skin, dodging great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor.

The next moment, Daphne and Harry were gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. "Are you okay? Ron!"

"I'm here," Ron's muffled voice said from behind the rockfall.

Daphne breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm okay! This git's not, though…he got blasted by the wand."

There was a dull thud and a loud, "Ow!" It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.

"What now?" Ron asked, sounding desperate. "We can't get through…it'll take ages…"

Daphne and Harry searched for a way to move the mountain of rubble, but neither had any clue where to even begin, and time was running out.

"We have to go on," she said to Harry, who nodded.

"Wait here," he called to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. Daphne and I will go on. If we're not back in an hour…"

There was a very loaded pause.

"I'll try and shift some of this rock," Ron said. He seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can– can get back through. And, Harry–"

"See you in a bit," Harry said, trying to inject some confidence into his shaking voice.

Daphne and Harry set off past the giant snake skin. "She'd better be alive," Daphne muttered. "She has to be…"

Harry didn't reply. He looked lost in his own thoughts

Soon, the distant noise of Ron straining to shift the rocks was gone, and they were walking through turn after turn.

With each passing step, Daphne became more nervous. If the monster was even bigger than the giant skin they'd just found…what would they be able to do against it?

She glanced at Harry, who looked scared but determined. Last year, she'd had to leave things up to him alone, smacked down by a giant chess piece. This year, she wasn't going to let Harry face the evil alone. Even if she had to die trying, she would make sure he and Ginny got out. If she'd just listened to Ginny earlier, gone to Dumbledore earlier…The whole situation they were in now was her fault, and she'd fix that in any way necessary.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel. Ahead was a solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

They approached, and Harry cleared his throat. Again, the sound that came from his throat was low and sinister, and Daphne couldn't help but shudder.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry and Daphne exchanged one fearful glance…and then stepped inside.