Hey guys. As a special treat, I am not posting one, not two, but THREE chapters today! :D
Enjoy!
"Lockhart may be useless, but he's going to open the Chamber! We can at least tell him what we know!" Harry called behind him, Natsu and Ron dashing behind him. They burst through the door, startling the professor. He quickly hid something behind his back, all stiff. "Professor we have some information for you!" Natsu panted. The boys looked around the office, noticing open suitcases and draws opened. Everything was on the floor or the tables. They all looked at him, noticing a piece of cloth poking out behind him.
"Going somewhere?" Harry asked, a bit angry. "Uh… y-yes! Urgent call! Unavoidable. Got to go!" He said in a stutter. "What about my sister?!" Ron asked. "And Lucy?!" Natsu growled. "As to that, most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I." He said, trying to be sympathetic, but couldn't be as he was packing as he was talking. "You're the bloody Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! You can't go now!" Ron exclaimed. "Two students are missing and muggle borns are in grave danger! If you leave, then the enemy's going to win!" Natsu growled, banging his hand on Lockhart's desk. "Well when I took this job there was nothing in the job description about fighting-" Lockhart fidgeted, trying to get past Harry. "You're running away?! After all that stuff you did in your books?!" Harry exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest to keep him from running. "Books can be misleading." Gilderoy told him, standing a bit taller. "You wrote them!" Natsu pointed out.
"My dear boys do you ever use your common sense?!" He basically yelled and placed his items on the desk behind him. "My books wouldn't have sold HALF as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things!" The three boys gave a look of realization. "You're a fraud… You've been taking credit for what other wizards have done!" Harry realised. Lockhart gave him a tight lipped look. He looked like he wanted to take it back, but he stuck by what he said. "Is there anything you can do?!" Ron asked. "Now that you mentioned it, I am quite gifted in Memory Charms. Otherwise those wizards would have gone blabing. And I would never have sold another book." Lockhart said in a snobbish manner. "So you take their stories and erase their memories. Is that it?" Natsu growled, his teeth clenched together. "Well at least there's one here with a brain. And now that you know, I'm…" Lockhart slowly walked over to a table, and held onto his wand. "Going to have to do the same to you."
He turned around about to strike, but the three boys already had their wands pointing at his face. "Don't even think about it…." Harry gritted. "Natsu here defeated five hundred spiders single handedly, and Harry survived He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Mentioned. Do you really want to go up against us?" Ron asked, jerking his head over to the other two. Lockhart gave a visible sigh and dropped his wand as he put his hands up, signalising his surrender.
Ron pushed Lockhart into the Fifth Corridor bathroom, Natsu and Harry keeping him in check by keeping their wands at his back. Inside, the boys could hear mumbling and groaning. Lockhart peered around the corner, seeing the pale girl floating around the toilets. "Oh, who's there?" Myrtle gasped in shock. "Oh, hello Harry." She smiled and looked down, blushing a little bit. "What do you want?" She asked. "I just wanted to know… how did you die?" He asked.
"Oh, well aren't I popular…." She smiled. "What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Two people came in yesterday and asked the same thing. It was dreadful. It was right here, in this very cubical. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses…" She explained, pushing her glasses up a bit. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in." She said. "Who was it Myrtle?" Harry asked. "I don't know, I was distraught!" She screamed. But then she floated down, a bit more calm. "But they said something funny, a kind of made up language. I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and… well…. I died." She finished, floating down face to face with the boys. "Just like that? How?" Harry asked. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. Over there by that sink." She pointed to the basin next to them, before floating away again. "Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours to find my body- I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom- 'Are you in here again, sulking Myrtle?, she said, 'because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you-' And then she saw my body...ooooh, she didn't forget that until her dying day, I made sure of that..." She giggled.
"Myrtle, one other thing." Harry said, Myrtle turning around. "Who came yesterday to ask you how you died?" He asked, stepping forward. Natsu darted his eyes between Harry and Myrtle. "Well it was a boy and a girl. And they looked older than you." She said, chuckling a bit, as she floated a bit. "Did they wear white cloaks?" He asked. "Yes they did. They come in quite often. Always ask me questions." She sighed and floated a bit more. "And you know who they are?" He asked. "I do." She admitted, swinging her arms around. "But I'm not going to tell you." She said with a sly smile. "What? Why not?!" Ron asked. "They asked me not to tell. Said it's a tip top secret. And I like secrets." She said, putting her finger over her lips. Harry sighed, giving up. He looked over to the basin. He walked forward, and looked at Myrtle again who was daydreaming. He wanted to ask more, but like Hermione said, one thing at a time. And this was more important than finding out who the people in white were at the moment.
He ran his hand over the basin, feeling for any anomalies. He ran over his hand over the tap and turned the tap. To Harry's surprise, no water came out. Something then caught his eye. He ran his fingers lightly over the tap, his fingers feeling a slim and scale like bump. He looked at the side, and saw a snake emblem on the side of the tap. "This is it…. Guys I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" Harry told him. "Go on Harry. Say something in Parseltongue." Ron prompted him, nodding over to the big basin.
Harry nodded and looked at the basin. He opened his mouth, and like it was second nature he began to slither his words. "Aisssssaeeeethsaaaaa…" His tongue slithered in the language, and a loud heavy click formed. The four stepped back, watching the sink slowly grind around. The top of the basin floated into the air, and the basins slid out. Harry's mind flashed back to the night when they barely escaped Draco. That was the exact same noise they heard that night. One of the sinks slowly sank down and clicked into place, revealing a slide like passageway. Once the passage was opened, a hollow bounced echoed.
Gilderoy looked down, and gave a big sigh before he smiled that fake smile again and looked at the boys. "Eeeexcellent work Harry! Good work! Well then I'll just be… There's no reason for me to stay!" Gilderoy pushed past Harry and Ron who tried to stop him. But Natsu merely stuck his left arm out, catching the teacher by the stomach. Lockhart bended over coughing and looked at Natsu. "Going somewhere?" He asked sarcastically. He grabbed Lockhart by the back of the collar and flew him towards the entrance. Lockhart managed to capture his balance by flailing his arms before holding himself on the sinks next to the entrance. The three pulled out their wands and pointed them in the Defence teacher's face.
"You first…" Harry told him. "Now boys what good will that do?" Gilderoy asked nervously, trying to think of a reason to get out. "Better you than us." Ron snarled. "Uh…. But- Obviously yes…" Lockhart muttered, looking behind him down the dark hole. He fully turned around, looking down. His legs began to shake, palms began to sweat. "Y-You sure you don't want to test it first?" Natsu silently groaned and pushed Gilderoy down the shaft. Gilderoy yelped, his arms flailing as he fell. The boys rushed over and looked down the hole, Lockhart's screams slowly fading away. They then heard a thud with what sounded like some sort of crunch.
Silence.
"...It is really quite filthy down here…." A voice muttered from down the hole. The boys sighed as they tucked in their wands. "Welp, after you." Ron offered his hand over to the passage. "Oh and Harry…." Harry looked at Myrtle, who was simply hovering. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet." Myrtle giggled. Ron and Natsu gave a look at each other, thinking in their heads that it sounded very wrong. Harry closed his mouth and gave a little nod. "Thanks… Myrtle…." He said silently. Myrtle gave a final smile and floated through the wall. Harry looked back down. He gave a sigh and jumped down. Ron jumped next, but before Natsu pursuited, he turned to Happy. "Happy, find everyone. Tell them where the Chamber is. When they come, tell them to be careful. There could be a basilisk down there." He instructed him, looking behind him. "Aye sir!" Happy saluted and flew of swiftly and quickly. Once Happy flew out the window, he took a deep breath and pursued.
"WOOOAAAAH!"
Harry and Ron screamed as they slid at a high velocity. Holes of light flashed as they slid down. It was almost hypnotic. "AAAAAHHHHH! Omph!" Harry rolled out, his body feeling spikes and pricks as he rolled. Gilderoy patted down his clothes and heard a close thud. He stepped back in surprise after Harry suddenly burst out of nowhere. Harry stood back up, and dusted himself. "Gah!" "Oaf!" Ron tumbled straight behind him, bumping into his back, forcing them to both fall over. "Ow…." They both groaned and stood up, rubbing their heads. "Hey, where's Natsu?" Ron wondered, looking around. The boys could suddenly hear a faint scream from above. "Looooooooooook ooooooooouuuuuuuut!" They looked up, seeing a small figure slowly falling from above. It came closer and closer until the boys saw the face of a figure screaming.
BAM!
"OW!"
"GAH!"
"OOOFF!"
A blur landed on top of Harry and Ron, a cloud of dust and white specks flew around where the figure landed. "Owwww…." The boys muttered, sitting up and rubbed their heads. "Natsu what are you doing?!" Ron demanded, looking at Natsu. "Shut up! I can't control where I land!" He yelled back. "Guys now's not the time to be arguing!" Harry shouted, shutting them up. As they were getting up, they noticed Lockhart trying to scurry away. Natsu swiftly stood in front of him, pointing his wand in his face. He turned around and saw Harry and Ron pointing their wands from behind. Lockhart gave a visible face of defeat and put his hands up. "Eugh…" Ron gagged, looking down at the floor. It was covered in bones and dirt. "Remember, any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away." Harry reminded them. Everyone nodded, Harry looking around and signalled the others to follow him. Natsu poked Lockhart in the back with his wand. "Come on, let's go." He said, making Lockhart step forward.
They wandered around the sewer like maze for a while, looking left and right. There were many a time where they got severely lost. Natsu was visibly getting annoyed at this. He was also getting frustrated that he couldn't use his sense of smell to find Ginny and Lucy, as there were multiple fragrances overpowering his nose. "Let's try this way…" Ron muttered, pointing to the left. What they saw was something unbelievable. "What is that…?" Harry asked, taking a closer look. "It… It looks like a snake!" Lockhart mumbled out. "But that must make the creature at least sixty feet long!" Ron exclaimed. Lockhart became sick and doubled over. "Heart of a lion this one…" Ron said sarcastically. "Come on, let's keep moving." Harry prompted, moving on. "Come on o brave lion. Let's keep going." Natsu sighed, picking up Lockhart on his feet. He only grumbled, gagging a bit as they moved past the skin.
A few more hours past. Everyone turned down a tunnel, and came across an empty room with lots of tunnels. "Uh…" Ron muttered. He turned around, rubbing his head. "Which way….?" He asked. "How should we know?! We've never been down here!" Natsu yelled in annoyance. "Natsu calm down." Harry said calmly.
"No! We've been down here for hours, and Ginny and Lucy could be hurt! Or worse. DEAD!" Natsu shouted. Ron's face became angry and he marched up to Natsu, getting in his face. "That's my sister we're talking about! Don't say those things!" He yelled. "And that's my best friend we're talking about! If something ever happened to her I could never forgive myself! I know how you feel! I want to save Lucy too! She's the only person who's ever made me feel something I've never felt before!" Natsu's eyes suddenly widened, and he took a step back.
"What did… what did I just say…?" Natsu thought to himself, and dropped his wand due to his thought. Gilderoy found himself an opportunity and grabbed Ron's wand. Everyone gasped and stepped back. Natsu tisked, and took a fighting stance. But he couldn't do anything. Even though he was a fraud he was still experienced in magic. And not to mention Harry and Ron were watching. "I'm sorry boys, the adventure ends here. But don't fret. The world will know our story. How I was too late to save the girls. How you three tragically lost your minds… At the sight of their mangled bodies." He said with a sly voice.
"You bastard…." Natsu gritted. Lockhart ignored him, and pointed the wand to Harry. "You first Mister Potter. Say goodbye to your memories…" Everyone looked in a panic, as Lockhart swung his wand. Natsu swiftly bent down and picked up his wand to counter, but he was too late. "Obliviate!" Lockhart chanted.
A green glow came from the middle of the wand, and backfired into Gilderoy, forcing him to fly back. He hit his back on the wall, and face planted into the dirt. Once he hit the ground, the ground and ceiling began to shake. Natsu looked up, noticing a boulder becoming loose above Harry. "LOOK OUT!" Natsu yelled, and tackled Harry out of the way. Just in time before the boulder could crush Harry. They skidded on their sides into one of the tunnels. Once the tremors stopped, they sat up and coughed the dust out of their lungs. "Harry are you ok?" Natsu asked, helping him up.
"Y-yeah. Thanks Natsu." Harry coughed as he stood up. Both of them patted themselves down. They looked where they entered, seeing that the entrance was blocked. "Harry! Natsu!" A muffled voice yelled through the rubble. Both of them ran over to the blocked entry, climbing over the slope. "Ron! Ron are you ok?!" Natsu yelled, trying to clear some of the rocks. But judging from the soft and muffled quality of Ron's voice, they were trapped in with a thick rock wall.
"I'm fine!" Ron called from behind the wall. A sharp groan came behind Ron. He swiftly looked behind, Lockhart sitting up straight. He gave a dazed look, until he saw Ron and smiled. "Hello…. Who are you?" Lockhart asked, leaning forward a bit. Ron looked away a bit, confused. "Ron Weasley…." Ron muttered, looking back at Lockhart. "Oh really? Who am I?" Lockhart asked, tilting his head. Ron lifted his head in realisation. "Lockhart's Memory Charm backfired! Literally! He hasn't got a clue who he is!" Ron yelled through the rocks. "It's an odd sort of place isn't it?" Harry and Natsu looked at each other, hearing Lockhart's voice through the rubble.
"Do you live here?"
"No…"
"Really?"
THUD!
Natsu and Harry heard a bang and a thud. Natsu began to dig at the rocks. "Ron! What was that?! Are you alright?!" Natsu asked. "Yeah, I just knocked Lockhart out. W-W-What do I do now!?" Ron asked through the wall. "Just wait here and try make an entrance! Natsu and I will go find Ginny and Lucy!" Harry said from beyond the wall. "Ok. Be careful!" Ron called after them as they began to walk away. Harry squinted in the dark, and took out his wand. "Lumos!" He chanted. The Lumos glowed at the tip of his wand. But what was unusual was that the Lumos was weak and was fading in and out. "What is happening …?" Harry muttered, watching the Lumos fade in and out. Natsu watched the spell, remembering that the same thing happened with Lucy last year.
"Great, so we don't have light…." Harry sighed, as he cancelled the spell. "Don't worry I got this." Natsu muttered and pulled out his wand. He flicked his wrist and a strong flame erupted from the tip of his wand. The strong flame danced on the tip of his wand, a warm heat radiating from it. Harry stepped back, in pure shock and wonder. He didn't chant anything, and yet with a flick of his wrist a flame erupted from the end of his wand. Natsu continued to walk on, but noticed Harry wasn't next to him. "Hm? Harry? Is something wrong?" Natsu asked, looking at him. Harry stood there, mouth opened to the ground. "Huh?" Natsu looked at his wand with the flame on the top. "Oh! That…" Natsu awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "How did you do that….?" Harry asked, running up to Natsu.
"Oh…. well growing up I was taught how to fight with magic. Though I was mainly taught in Fire Magic. I mean, I could use different magic if I wanted to, but Fire Magic was the best for me. I rarely touched other kinds of magic." Natsu explained. They skid down a rocky wall, going deeper into the Chamber. "What about the rest of your family? Do they use the same magic as you? Or different? Or is it like the other wizards?" Harry asked, walking beside him. Natsu gave a hum as they continued walking.
"Well, there's Laxus, he uses lightning as his main magic…. Uhhh then there's Juvia who uses water… Um…. Then there's Wakaba who uses smoke….." Natsu muttered, his head in a thinking mode. "Oh and then there's Sting and Rouge who use Light and Shadow magic respectively… Oh but don't worry. Rouge is a good mage." Natsu smiled, still walking on. Harry looked at Natsu, amazed. "Incredible…. Does such magic even exist?" He thought out loud. "Yeah, of course! I mean, you're seeing it right now." Natsu smiled, pointing at his flame. "The universe is big Harry. There is still a lot to see, do, explore. Everyday I am learning more and more about the World of Magic. Before I enrolled in Hogwarts, I would have never known such magic can exist. It's incredible." Natsu sighed. "What do you mean Natsu?" Harry asked, tilting his head. "Well, there are just a lot of things that we don't know about magic is all." Natsu explained.
"For example, have you ever heard of The One Magic?" Harry looked at his friend, confused. "The One Magic?" He repeated. "See what I mean? Anyway, in my culture, some believe that magic came from a root source. And from there, different branches of magic was formed. Though no one knows exactly where or what the root of magic is. But it is called The One Magic. Master The One Magic, and you can master all magic." Natsu explained. Harry scrunched his face up, confused. "But aren't we already learning all kinds of magic?" Harry asked. Natsu smiled and turned his head to Harry. "Just don't think about it. It's just an old wives tale." Natsu reassured, and turned forward. Harry then stood silent, and kept on walking.
The two kept walking side by side in silence. "Huh? What's that?" Harry asked, pointing at a circular door. Natsu stepped forward and held his flame up to the door. The door was big and green. It was a dark green, made of heavy stone. The door was also decorated in seven snakes, spreading across the door. Natsu placed his hand on it and gave a sniff. His eyes widened. He picked up strong three scents, two of them very familiar. It smelt like…. Lucy and... "Gray?!" But he could smell something else. He could smell…. blood.
"Harry! They're back here! All of them are!" Natsu cried, trying to use his bare strength to open the door. "We have to get in there! They could be hurt!" He cried. "Natsu step aside, I'm going to open it!" Harry said, calmly but firmly. Natsu let go of the door, and stepped aside for Harry. Harry took a big breath in and slithered his words. A loud click echoed through the tunnels. The heads of each snake began to click themselves back, as a seventh snake curled around the outside of the door. The boys stepped back as the snakes clicked into position. "You ready?" Harry asked, reaching for his wand. "I am…" Natsu said, extinguishing the flame on his wand with a flick.
The final snake clicked into position, and the door swung open.
