I own nothing but the plot, and not even all of that.

Padfoot crept down empty hallways. Only once did he have to hide in a broom closet as Professor Snape rushed by. He made a mental note to send a thank you card to whomever had injured the overgrown bat. Snape was kind enough to inform Sirius how to address it as he ranted about 'that insufferable brat Potter' as Professor Flitwick tried to cast healing charms at him. The rest of the school seemed abandoned.

He had heard the alarm bell ringing. It started near enough to the time he had entered the wards to concern him that they were for him. He had only heard them sounded once before, when he was in school. There was a rumor that Voldemort was going to attack the school, and someone got a bit antsy on sounding the alarm. To have them sound for him was disconcerting. He waited in the closet till he was sure Snivelus was gone. He needed to get back to the main floor.

Lockhart landed at the bottom of the entrance. The hole curved into a tunnel as it went down, so while his rope controlled his descent, he still ended up getting his robes dirty. The troopers and the boys, having gone down at a far more reckless pace, had moved forward already. He rushed to catch up, casting a lumos ahead of him to keep him from tripping over the numerous skeletons of small animals that littered the floor.

"Thanks for waiting," he said, sarcastically. Harry glanced at him, but kept moving forward.

"We're not going back," Harry said, resolutely. "Not without Ginny, and not without killing whatever that thing was that took her."

"I wouldn't fancy going back the way we came in, anyway," Draco said.

"No," Lockhart agreed. "I only conjured the one rope, and it won't last long enough to get us all back up, even if we turned back now."

"We'll just have to get out the way they do," Draco said.

"What do you mean?" Lockhart asked.

"I'm pretty sure whatever those things are need to eat," Draco answered. "I doubt they get everything they need in here, and someone would have noticed if they were popping up to nick food every day. This must open up in the Forest somewhere."

"They're called gorgans," Lockhart said.

"That's what you said up there," Draco said. "What are gorgans?"

"Have you ever heard of a chimera?" Lockhart asked.

"No," Neville answered.

"You haven't covered them in any of your classes," Draco said, almost accusingly.

"Not in second year, certainly," countered Lockhart. "They're not typically studied till NEWTs. They are creatures or beings that wizards have created using existing creatures or beings. They are named after the beast called a Chimera, which is a three headed monstrosity with lion, snake, and goat heads. Definitely a five-x creature. In fact, almost all true chimeras are, like the manticore. Most of them are incredibly dangerous, even the ones that aren't actively hostile against humans."

"Which ones aren't?" Draco asked.

"Centaurs and Merpeople," Lockhart answered, "to name two. That doesn't mean they like us, mind you. In fact, that is the main point of contention between wizards and both of those races. The Centaurs especially deny having ever been created by humans. If you ever meet them, I highly advise you to never bring it up."

"So," Harry said, showing interest in the conversation for the first time, "these gorgons are chimera. How does that work?"

"I wouldn't know," Lockhart said. "Obviously you take two or more host bodies and use magic to merge them. In the gorgans case it was obviously a woman and a snake. Done wrong, you either get nothing or you get a one off monster. Done right, you've created a new self replicating species. Even trying to make one has been illegal since the 1500's. It seems that some animals, like lions and snakes, are very adaptable, thus heavily used in the process."

"What more do you know about gorgans?" Harry asked.

"I don't know much," Lockhart admitted. "They used to be used in ancient Greece as guardians for tombs. The muggles have a legend of one named Medusa. No one knows enough about them to know if that story would be helpful in dealing with them or not. They were supposed to be insanely protective and territorial. They had the power to turn anyone they looked at into stone, but according to legend, it only worked if you made direct eye contact. Their hair was composed of living snakes. Unfortunately, that's all that I really know about them."

"I've never even heard of them," Longbottom said. "How rare are they?"

"Until now, they were thought to be extinct," Lockhart said. "They thought so even in the founders days. Obviously Salazar Slytherin found some regardless and stuck them down here."

"How could they live all this time," Neville asked. "Are they immortal?"

"Nothing in the legends suggests so," Lockhart said, "but nothing says they weren't, either. The texts I've read suggested they were all female, but if any still exist they must be reproducing somehow."

"At least Professor Snape was right," Draco said with a smirk. "So much for the beast being a basilisk." He jerked to a halt as Professor Lockhart shot his arm across him to grab Harry and Neville by the arms. Harry started to protest, but noticed the look on Lockhart's face. He looked forward again, then blanched.

"So much for it not being a basilisk," Lockhart said in dismay. In front of them was a huge length of empty snake skin.

As the troopers examined the skin, they all noticed a feeling of fear beginning to creep up on them.

"Oh, no," moaned Draco. "This is what I felt before."

"We can't go back," Harry insisted. "We must keep going."

"I'm not sure Longbottom can," Draco said. Harry was surprised that Draco said this without his customary sneer. Harry looked at Neville and saw him standing with his eyes closed, shivering.

"We have to keep moving, Neville," Harry said. Neville was trembling from head to foot, and tears of shame were streaming down his face.

"I can't!" he cried. "I'm sorry, but I just can't. It's a basilisk! Do you know what they do?" He sank to his knees and then collapsed into a sitting position.

Harry could feel the waves of terror the beast was throwing at them too, but his Jedi training allowed him to cope with it. The troopers were feeling the strain as well, but they had a lifetime of combat experience to help them cope.

As defensive mechanisms went, this creature had an amazing ability. The psychic ability to terrify its opponents before they even got near the thing would help ensure the creatures longevity. Harry was about to suggest that Neville head back to try and get help, but Lockhart kneeled down beside him and started talking to the boy.

"Do you want to know a secret?" he asked Neville. "I'm not really as brave as I act." Neville looked shocked.

"You mean all those rumors were true?" Neville asked, disappointment evident in his voice. "You really didn't do all those things in your books?"

"Mr. Longbottom," Lockhart admonished, "You should know not to listen to rumors." A bit of the boldness was back in his voice, but it quickly drained back out. "No, those rumors are not true, and I really did do all of those things in my books. They may not have played out quite as dramatically as I let on, but the core of each story is true. That's the secret of writing a bestseller, Neville. Dry, strictly true accounts of events do not sell."

Lockhart closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "No, my secret is far more shameful than making up stories for profit. Come on, I'll tell you as we walk. You can't tell secrets sitting down."

He pulled Neville to his feet and gently, but persistently guided him down the dark tunnel. The troopers took the lead again as the group continued down the tunnel. Lockhart really didn't want to lead these students onward, but there was no getting back up that tunnel. Not without leaving someone behind.

"I used to be married, did you know that?" Lockhart asked. "Sarah, my wife, was an amazing woman. She was a muggle. Knew nothing of magic, of course, but she was magical enough just as she was. She was one of those amazing people who could see the good in anyone. Even in me." Lockhart smiled as he remembered.

"I used to tell her stories," he continued. "I pretended that they were stories that I had made up, but they were actually true stories. They were tales of me and my brothers at Hogwarts, and of our experiences after school. Highly dramatized, of course, but that's how stories go. Because they were mostly real stories, though, I was able to embellish them with amazing details. Sarah would encourage me to write the stories down. She said I had a talent for it. She was right, of course, but then she was Sarah, she was always right." They had gone far enough down the dark passageway that they were walking in almost total darkness. Only the dim light of Harry's Lumos charm allowed them to keep their feet.

"While I was writing, I felt more than just alive," said Lockhart. "The adventures I was describing transformed me into a hero! An endlessly brave, never say never, hero. But I never felt that way in real life. Oh no, not Gilderoy Lockhart! I trembled at the thought of climbing a tree, public speaking was enough to cause me to faint, and if I ever got into an argument I squeaked instead of roared.

Still, the books she had me write were quite good. They were published as muggle fantasy novels, of course. The publisher sold a lot of copies because they were the sort of tales that people love to read. Romance, adventure, mystery, all the good stuff that makes a great story. The stories that ended up in those books were dramatized to the point where they were no longer true, of course, but everyone loved them. They made a lot of money, and Sarah and I were living a very good life." The trio continued heading down the tunnel, which seemed to go on forever.

"One day," Lockhart continued, "we decided to go to London and having a shopping day. Just a romantic day on the town with my beloved. Two young men, scruffily dressed, walked up and asked for the time. As I was distracted by one of them, the other grabbed Sarah's purse and started yanking it off of her."

By this point, it wasn't clear if Lockhart was still aware the others were with him. He continued to forge into the tunnel as he talked, lost in his memory.

"I froze," Lockhart confessed. "The strap of her purse had tangled in her hair, and the thug apparently thought she was fighting him for it. He reached into his pocket and brought out a knife. With a wave of my wand I could have ended it!" he said, bitterly. "I could have turned his knife into a flower, or vanished it completely, but I didn't even have it on me." Lockhart's head hung in shame, but he continued to move them down the tunnel.

"While my wife bled out," he whispered, "I just sat on the sidewalk next to her and blubbered."

Harry and Neville, knowing there was nothing they could say that would alleviate the man's pain, just listened and walked.

"The thugs had run off, abandoning their prize. As my Sarah lay there, dying," Lockhart said, stammering a bit, "she took my hand in hers and held it close to her."

Lockhart stopped for a moment as he recalled his wife's last words to him. "Stay brave, she told me. Make your life extraordinary. You are the man I know you can be. Believe in yourself. I love you. And then she died."

He stood there for a moment longer, the took a deep breath and walked down the last few yards to a large, circular door. The door had a face etched into it. It was a horrible face, with rubies for eyes. The gems reflected every bit of light, and appeared to glow red from the light emitting from Harry's wand. Metal snakes protruded from the door, sealing it from being opened. They all stared at it, knowing that this was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

"I returned to the wizarding world," Lockhart finished, "and began to throw myself into adventures. I wrote books detailing them. True books, this time. I force myself to go places where I am too afraid to go, Neville. I force myself to do things that I am too afraid to do. I do it because I have a greater fear than any of the things I face. I'm afraid that if I don't do it, I won't live up to her vision of me. Someday, I will die. And I will be reunited with my Sarah. And when I see her, I know that I will be able to say, Yes, I did. I made my life extraordinary!"

Neville now stood tall and proud. He was still afraid, but he was now able to face it. Harry looked back at Lockhart, and they nodded to each other. Harry examined at the snakes that locked the seal, took out his lightsaber, and ignited it. With a series of short strokes, he had severed the snakes from the door. When the last of them had been destroyed, a long, metal snake wound its way through a track on the outer edge of the seal.

"Well, lads," Lockhart said, "We are about to throw our destinies against the foulest creature known to wizardkind. We will face our worst fears in this room. Let's see what we make of them!"

The snake finished running its course. There was a heavy groan and vibration, and the seal swung free. The Chamber of Secrets was open.