Arnold's Wizarding World
Chapter 11: Chamber of Secrets
Okay so I'm currently finishing up Chapter 15, and when I suddenly remembered that today is Sunday aka it's time to post, I took a look over this chapter again and I was like 'woah, y'all have a long way to go!' Brace yourselves for the next few chapters people.
I just finished my Spring Break, which was frankly too short in my opinion. The next term is already going to start and I'm not ready. Oh well, summer vacation is right around the corner though!
"What?" Gerald asked. "If Sean isn't real, then where's the real Sean?"
"Take out the map Arnold, maybe it can help us with something."
I didn't hear Helga, I couldn't believe what I had just heard. My parents…
"Look Arnold, if we want to get back to your parents, we need you to focus. The more we focus, the faster we can get to them."
I nodded, shaking my head and pulling out the map, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
The map opened, and we immediately saw Sean's and McGonagall's names. We noticed she and Sean go their separate ways as he headed into one of the bathrooms in Gryffindor tower, a bathroom the other Gerald warned me to never go to. Then again, the other Gerald was probably evil.
"He disappeared off the map!" Helga whispered. "There must be something in there, a trap door or somethin."
"Let's follow him."
I've been told of the tale of Moaning Myrtle.
Fake Sid and Fake Gerald introduced the legend after the quidditch tryouts, and I had thought it was just a legend.
Turns out I underestimated Hogwarts, again.
Helga and Gerald stood next to me, watching Moaning Myrtle with dread as Moaning Myrtle floated above a bathroom stall and cried.
"That boy is so rude," she whimpered, rubbing her cheeks.
"She can't see us, can she?" Gerald asked, his voice slightly shaking.
"Criminy, forget the Ghost Bride, this cry baby wins the nobel prize for most pathetic ghost in the century."
"I heard that! Who's there? Show yourselves immediately," Myrtle growled. "Is that you Ronald?"
"We have to let her see us guys," I stated. "Maybe she can help."
"Help? She's a ghost Arnold! What's she gonna do? Haunt the living daylights out of us?" Helga asked.
"You've gone mad this time Arnold."
"Come on guys, not all ghosts are bad, follow my lead," I smiled as I left the cloak and revealed myself.
"Harry Potter?" Myrtle asked. "What happened to your hair? Why do you look smaller? And goodness sake, what happened to you head?"
I coughed, "I'm not Harry Potter, Myrtle, I'm Arnold Shortman."
"I was only kidding. I know who you are, that Sean boy won't shut up about you," she said as she flew toward me. "What brings you here anyway?"
"We're trying to get back home, we're not from this world."
"Ah yes, The Hole, quite the creation, considering how real I look. It's odd, don't you think? I'm a ghost so I'm already dead and unreal, but I'm made out of holographic magic here, so I'm genuinely unreal now."
"You know you're not real?" I asked.
She cried, "Don't say it like that! You rude football headed boy, you're hurting my feelings. But yes, we all know it, and we all know that once La Sombra presses that red button in the Chamber of Secrets, we'll all go down along with this universe."
She then flew away from me, but I stopped her.
"Wait! Chamber of Secrets? What is that?"
Helga and Gerald then revealed themselves, and watched as Moaning Myrtle scoffed.
"I see you brought friends, very well, I'll tell you. The Chamber of Secrets was created by Salazar Slytherin, the chamber was his headquarters, I'll say that for the sake of time. The entrance is in here, and that Sean boy comes everyday to berate me with his cruel words before going down there like the tosser that he is."
"Salazar Slytherin was one of the founders of Hogwarts right?" I asked, remembering Professor Simmons mention it briefly.
She yawned, "Yes, he was."
"Can you help us get down there?" I asked.
"I'll help you, but I don't think you'll be able to get in. You need to know parseltongue or know the password in parseltongue in order to open the door to the chamber. You don't seem like the type who knows how to talk like snakes," she noted, floating higher and sitting on a stall door.
"Parseltongue?" Gerald asked.
"It's the language of the snake," I clarified. "Boris told me."
"There's a language for snakes? Criminy, what's next? A language for frogs?"
"La Sombra outdid himself with creating this fake world, I'll give him that," Gerald agreed.
"Where are we going to learn parseltongue?" I sighed. "Do you know how to, Myrtle?"
She scowled, "Do I look like a reptile to you? Try Harry Potter, he's quite skilled on the subject, at least, he used to be. I don't know if he can still speak parseltongue."
"Okay, that's it! Who's Harry Potter?" Helga demanded. "I keep hearing his name!"
"He's pretty popular here," I explained. "He rescued everyone from a dark wizard named Voldemort — the guy that gave La Sombra his powers. But even then, where am I going to find Harry Potter? I don't even know how he looks!"
"Oh, that's easy," Myrtle bluffed. "Scruffy, raven coloured hair, bright green eyes like yours, and he has these round glasses. Oh, and let's not forget the scar on his forehead, a scar shaped like a lightning bolt, courtesy of Voldemort."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah that's all nice and dandy, but I'm Helga G Pataki, and the only lightning bolt we're about to see here is mine if we don't find a way out of this dump. I'm ready to go all Zeus on everybody here, starting with the football head."
"Me? What did I do?"
"You got us in this mess in the first place!"
"I didn't ask to be dragged here!"
"Maybe if you would have stayed in the boarding house like a good little boy instead of going out and looking for your lost parents that weren't even lost, then maybe we could be home right now, pretending to study for the Proportions Test Mr. Frank was planning to give us on Monday!"
"There's going to be a test already!?" I exclaimed.
Aw man! I'm going to be so behind!
Gerald shook his head, "Mm, mm, mmm. Will you two quit your unbearable flirting so that we can try to come up with a plan?"
"No, no," Myrtle stated. "This is the most entertainment I've had in years!"
"Myrtle, can you help us get inside?" I asked.
"But Arnold, we don't know parseltongue."
"Well what else can we do Gerald? There's nothing if we turn back."
"Wait a minute? Isn't Sean in there right now?" Helga asked Myrtle.
"The mean boy? Yes."
"Maybe we can wait for Sean at the exit, and once he opens the door, we storm in!" Helga exclaimed.
"Helga, that's a great idea!" I exclaimed.
Myrtle floated to the sinks in the middle of the bathroom and pointed inside a small hole, "You need to know parseltongue to open this too, but La Sombra keeps it open on purpose because he doesn't know how to speak the language. He only knows the password of the second door that comes before the chamber."
She then floated in front of me, "Now what will you do for me in return cute little blonde boy?"
Helga pushed me to the side, "Hey hey back off the merchandise sister! We'll put in a good word for you to all of our friends back home, how does that sound?"
She huffed, "I expected something better, but I guess that'll do."
"Come on!" I exclaimed as I held up the invisibility cloak. "Let's get going."
After Myrtle described how the path to the chamber, and the chamber itself, was supposed to look, we headed down and continued walking until we had arrived in front of a big, round door with a snake symbol on it.
"Sheesh," Helga mumbled.
"Shh!" I exclaimed, suddenly hearing the door slowly open.
Sean came out of it, an angry yet somber look on his face, and we took our opportunity to run inside.
After the door was shut behind us, we gasped.
This was nothing like how Myrtle had described it!
Myrtle had stated that the room was supposed to be long, with snake statues on the sides and a statue of Salazar Slytherin's face in the middle. But, there was none of that!
This room was highly technological! Instead of snake statues, there were people sleeping inside these pods, as if they were charging or something. Where Salazar Slytherin's concrete face was supposed to lie, there was a big screen with a sign labeling it as 'Mission Control.'
We walked ahead, and looked inside each of the pods with unease. Helga gasped and pointed to two of them, and we were stunned to find Grandma and Grandpa sleeping inside these two pods.
"I think this is where La Sombra creates the fake people from this world," Gerald concluded, suddenly gasping. "That's my Mom and Dad, and Timberly!"
"This is crazier than any science fiction book I've ever read," Helga mumbled in disbelief.
I walked ahead and approached the big screen, and I noticed that there was a control pod under the big screen, with lots of buttons. Next to the control pod lied a table, with piles of blueprints spread across it.
"Look," Gerald stated, who had approached me a few seconds before. "This is the on button."
He then reluctantly pressed it, turning on the big screen, where my room at the boarding house came on full display.
I gasped, "That's my room!"
Helga slowly approached us, her mouth wide eyed and her eyes curious. She was so focused on the screen that she tripped on my leg and accidentally pressed on another button, changing the image to Hogwarts.
The REAL Hogwarts.
How did I know? Because it was still under construction.
"That's the real Hogwarts," I told them. "See, it's partially destroyed because of the Battle of Hogwarts a few months ago. Voldemort and his army destroyed it."
I then clicked on the button Helga had landed on and changed the image to the forests of San Lorenzo, where there were currently people getting a tour from one of the forest rangers.
"It's like…" Gerald started. "La Sombra put up cameras or something."
I changed the image again, and I gasped. It was footage of the dining room over at the boarding house, where Ernie, Mr. Hyunh, Oskar, Grandma, Grandpa, Mrs. Vitello, Mr. Green, Mr. Simmons, and Principal Wartz were sitting around the table, with La Sombra sitting on the very edge, as if he was speaking to them.
"What's happening?" Gerald asked.
Helga looked at the control pod and turned up the volume, allowing us to hear the conversation.
"—surely, one of you knows where Miles and Stella are," La Sombra continued. "This is the last time I ask."
"They're not here!" Grandpa exclaimed.
"Then where are they? Tell me, or else! Remember, I have Arnold, don't test me, unless you want me to hurt him. So, where are Miles and Stella?"
The room remained silent, and I noticed La Sombra growing angry. "That's it. Bring her in!"
A splitting version of me walked in, holding Phoebe forcefully by her arms as the other Arnold threw her towards La Sombra.
I noticed Gerald flinch and Helga growl, as La Sombra used his wand to lift her above the dining room table, where all the adults winced in fear.
"Thank you Sean, I couldn't have done it without you. The polyjuice potion should be losing its effect right about now."
Sean?
The other me's head suddenly began to shrink, and he began to grow taller, and he transformed into Sean von Scheck. The real Sean von Scheck.
"No wonder!" Gerald exclaimed. "That explains everything!"
"What's happening?" I asked.
"When you disappeared, that Arnold replaced you, and we knew something was wrong because you weren't acting like yourself," Helga explained.
"And I was over here thinking you were getting tired of me man," Gerald sighed.
"Me? Never!"
We focused our attention back on the screen, and we watched as La Sombra circled the table. "You know what I realized? For the longest time after Arnold came to San Lorenzo, I asked myself, what went wrong? And then I knew, I wasn't tough on you at all, I made it easy for you! Like hiring those imbéciles as my men, I knew I should have invested in a stronger [and smarter] group of men. Outsmarted by this little girl, who created a contraption made out of a bunch of beepers and a stupid little cellphone."
Phoebe breathed softly, and she turned her head to face us, and that's when we saw the scratches on her face and a bruise on the right side of her lip.
Gerald clenched his fists.
"Now, things are different. I have the Corazon in my possession now, and it's giving me the power I need to bulldoze this place down myself! And trust me, there won't be a football headed boy alive to rescue your neighborhood this time! You all know what I'm capable of, but just to remind you—"
Sean then handed him a duffle bag full of beepers, which he gladly took, before taking one out and placing it on Phoebe's forehead.
We all gasped as he rolled up his sleeves and placed his wand on the beeper.
"Stop!" Mr. Simmons exclaimed, standing up from his seat. "Please don't hurt her. What do you want? Maybe we can come up with some sort of compromise."
La Sombra laughed, "Ah yes, the teacher. You're right, I think we can come up with a compromise."
He then pointed his wand at Simmons, "SECTUMSEMPRA!"
Simmons fell back and coughed, with a bright red color appearing on his shirt.
I widened my eyes, feeling hot tears prickling, "No…"
The screen suddenly shut off, and we turned to look at the individual who had committed the act, who was looking down on us with scrutinizing grey eyes.
"He'll be fine, I assure you."
"Professor Malfoy?" I asked. "You came back."
Malfoy grunted, "Don't flatter yourself Shortman, I only did it because Granger and The Weasel begged me to come and get you. I'm still cross with you after the utter disrespect you've had towards me the entire time we've been here."
I sheepishly smiled, "Sorry, I confused you and Boris. Why didn't you tell me you were on my side?"
"And blow my cover?" he rose an eyebrow. "Surely you don't think I'm that foolish. Besides, I thought you'd be smart enough to figure it out yourself."
"Yeah, I can be pretty dense sometimes."
He rolled his eyes, "The Ministry is ready to get you out of here, but we have to do it now. We're going to apparate."
"Appa— what?" I asked.
"Apparate. Bloody hell, you don't know anything. Teleport. We have to leave now, the Ministry is going to destroy this place once we escape, hold on to your belongings."
I grabbed Abner and the three of us extended our hands to grab Malfoy's, who pulled out his wand.
The walls started glitching and I gasped, closing my eyes as Malfoy uttered a few words and we disappeared.
I woke up to the sound of crickets, and a soft, but humid breeze hitting me softly on my cheeks. I opened my eyes and looked around: Helga, Gerald, Abner, and Malfoy were nowhere to be found, and the only things in my hand were the relic the Green Eyes gave me and the flask with the potion. As my eyes adjusted, I inhaled and felt a sense of familiarity.
I stood and stepped on a few leaves, and suddenly, it hit me.
I was in San Lorenzo.
Arnold and Draco won't be joining me today, I decided to give them a Spring Break too. On a random note though, I really hope Nick allows Craig Bartlett to do a Season 6. I don't think it'll happen tbh, but it doesn't hurt to hope.
Anyway, I want to give you all a CHALLENGE! Clearly, I haven't announced who the 'silhouette' is, but I want you all to take a guess. The reviewer who gets the right answer gets a shout out from both Arnold and Draco when I drag them back with me. I don't think it'll be officially revealed until Chapter 15, but hints will get put here and there. Thank you all!