Into the Chamber of Secrets

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. The only light came from above. There were other pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward. That seemed deeper under the school even than the place where the Philosopher's Stone had been hidden in the previous year. She could hear someone else sliding down behind her.

All of a sudden, the pipe leveled out and Lily was ejected out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Lockhart was already there, a few feet away from the exit, and next to him was Harry.

"Lumos!" Said Lily as soon as she could stand, not wanting to be in the dark with Lockhart, when he could take her wand any minute.

Ron came whizzing out of the pipe just after her.

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

"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

All four of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead.

"Lumos!" Harry muttered to his wand and it lit again. "C'mon," he said to them, and off they went, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.

"The tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

"Remember," Harry said quietly as they walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away. . . ."

Lily wanted to ask what they were supposed to do after shutting their eyes, as it was unlikely that the Basilisk would stop attacking. Would they just blindly try to dodge the snake's lunges? But she didn't say anything. It had been her choice to get in the Chamber of Secrets, and she didn't want to show fear.

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. Lily and Harry lowered their wands to the floor to see that it was littered with bones of small animals, which made Lily ask herself how many rats were enough food for a twenty feet long snake for a thousand years.

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

They froze, watching. The wandlight was only enough to make up the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Maybe it's asleep," said Harry.

Lily tried to push away the thought that snakes often slept after a meal. Hector had told her that years before, when he had read a book about snakes in the library in their old school. Lily's heart felt like it could explode any second.

Very slowly, Harry stepped ahead of them, his wand held high.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly.

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

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

Lockhart got to his feet — then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground.

Lily and Harry jumped forward, but too late – Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

"The adventure ends here, children!" he said. "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 two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body — say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's spellotaped wand high over his head, and yelled "Obliviate!"

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Lily was thrown to one side, and only had time to protect the back of her neck before hitting a wall. Then she tried to run, confusedly, out of the way of the chunks of tunnel that were collapsing above her. Next moment, the thundering noises stopped, and only dust remained in the air. Her tight grip told Lily that she was still holding her wand, and the light around her told her that it was still alight.

"Ron? Harry?"

"Are you alright?" Called Harry's muffled voice, but Lily couldn't tell whether it was coming from left or right.

"I'm okay!" Yelled Lily. "Ron, where are you?"

"I'm here!" Came Ron's voice. It was muffled, but seemed close. "I'm okay – the 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's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through – it'll take ages!"

Lily thought she could locate Ron's voice better now that the dust was starting to settle.

"Ron? Keep talking, I'm getting close!"

"Lily?"

Holding her wand above her head, Lily could spot Ron's silhouette. She ran to him. He was standing next to a wall of rock, and next to him was Gilderoy Lockhart, on his knees, and seemingly very confused.

"Harry's on the other side?" She asked.

"I'm here!" Called Harry's thoughtful voice. "Look, you two wait here, I'll go ahead and look for Ginny. If I don't come back within an hour…"

There was a very meaningful pause.

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

"See you in a bit," said Harry, but Lily could hear that his voice was close from breaking.

They heard Harry's steps getting away at the other side of the rocky barrier.

Lily and Ron immediately started trying to push a few smaller rocks away.

"Should I try to blow it up?" Asked Lily.

"No, the tunnel could cave in."

"Maybe I could lift the rocks one at a time, then."

"I'll just help shift it with my hands, I guess," said Ron miserably. "Wish this git hadn't done it."

"He would have done anything to escape."

They didn't speak for a while. Ron was trying to push and pull the rocks away, while Lily improvised charms to open a passage through which Harry and Ginny could at least crawl. Lockhart was still on the floor, but Lily didn't have her wand lit anymore so she could cast the charms, so she couldn't see what he was doing.

"Do you think… Harry will come back, right?" Said Ron.

Lily didn't reply. She didn't want to think about it. After a few moments, Ron didn't insist on his question either.

It felt like an eternity had passed. They had already made a whole enough for a small child to cross, when Ron spoke again.

"I do know you are part of my family."

"Everyone does, and yet nobody does. I know you probably didn't even know my mom existed until that day at King's Cross."

"Yeah, my mom didn't talk about her siblings. I knew there had been someone called Violet, but we all assumed she was dead. And even now, we barely meet outside of Hogwarts. You never came visit."

"My mom is depressed," said Lily, making a particularly big stone float away from the wall. Now there was a decent hole on top, which was large enough for a small child to crawl through. "She lost everything when she left. I think she's scared of aunt Molly. After all, mom was raised by her."

"Yeah, I get her," said Ron. "My mom does know how to frighten us."

They laughed for a moment, and then their hearts felt heavy again, and they went back to shift rocks aside.

"I think I might be able to squeeze in there," Lily said at last. "Can you push me up?"

Lily lit her wand again to find Ron. He had crouched, and was ready to give her the impulse to get up to the hole. Lily carefully stepped onto his shoulders, and threw her arms through the hole. She pulled all her weight, and felt Ron push her legs up, but her shoulders simply wouldn't let her get to the other side.

"Okay, pull me back!" She yelled. "We need a little more space."

Ron was pulling her, but all of a sudden he yelled, and she started falling back with no support at all. Before she could do anything, her back was hitting the floor.

"Ouch."

"Sorry, lost my balance," said Ron. "Have I fallen on top of you?"

"No, I'm here."

"So who's under me?"

"I am," said Lockhart's confused voice. It sounded oddly friendly. "Would one of you mind telling me where exactly I am?"

"Into the Chamber of Secrets," said Ron exasperated.

"Oh," said Lockhart. "And where is it?"

"Underneath Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts? What happened to the poor hog?"

Lily and Ron exchanged a look.

"I think the memory charm backfired, Ron."

"Well, that's an improvement."

"Improvement? Why? Who am I?"

"Nobody," said Lily.

"Oh. I see," said Lockhart as he got up and started to slowly stumble away from them, touching the slimy walls as if it was the first time he felt anything like that. Lily looked at Ron, unsure what to do.

"Follow this tunnel," Ron ordered him. "Wait for us back there."

Lockhart went along his way, humming.

All of a sudden, music filled the tunnel. They turned away from the wall, facing the darkness. Something was coming toward them.

Something red, emitting a golden glow, passed flying above them and dived into the hole in the wall.

"What was that?"

"No idea," said Ron. "But we have to get to Harry."

Lily nodded, and they went back to work. Many times they had to start over, or run away, because the wall started collapsing onto them. But with every attempt, they made a little progress.

At last, after what had felt like an eternity of lifting rocks, and sometimes just pushing, when they thought the balance was too delicate, there was enough room for a person to fit. But, right as they were removing the last rock, Harry's voice came from the other side, and they were filled with joy.

"Ron! Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

Lily and Ron cheered, and in the very next moment they could see Harry and Ginny, both covered in dust and slime, but very alive.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. As soon as she was through the gap, Lily pulled her into a tight embrace. Ginny was crying very hard.

"You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How — what — where did that bird come from?"

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through himself.

"How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny.

"But–"

"Later," said Harry shortly. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Back there," said Ron, still looking puzzled but jerking his head up the tunnel toward the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."

Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone," said Ron. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."

Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all.

"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry, who had bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.

"Have you thought about how we're going to get back up this?" he asked them.

Lily was still holding Ginny against her body, trying to warm her up, as she was awfully cold.

Ron shook his head, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold . . ." said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there —"

"Fawkes," said Harry, "isn't an ordinary bird." He turned quickly to the others. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Lily, grab Ginny's other hand. Professor Lockhart —"

"He means you," said Ron sharply to Lockhart.

"You hold Lily's other hand —"

Lily let go of Ginny, only to take her hand. She took Lockhart with her other hand. After Harry had tucked the sword and the thing that looked a lot like the sorting hat into his belt, he held onto Fawkes' golden tail.

An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through her whole body"and the next second, in a rush of wings, they were flying upward through the pipe. Just below her, Lockhart was saying "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" The chill air was whipping through her hair, and before she stopped enjoying the ride, it was over — all four of them were hitting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place.

Myrtle goggled at them.

"You're alive," she said blankly to Harry.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed," he said grimly, wiping his glasses.

"Oh, well . . . I'd just been thinking . . . if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," said Myrtle, blushing silver.

"Urgh!" said Ron as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

But tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face.

"Did you even warn anyone?" Lily asked.

But Moaning Myrtle simply dived into a toilet, spreading even more water all over the floor.

"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed.

Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Harry knocked and pushed the door open.