Nico POV
The next day on the way to breakfast Ron and Harry corner me and Will.
"We found out something about the creature." Harry tells us.
"So did we." Will tells them.
I had told Will as soon as I woke up. Since then we have spent almost every moment researching creatures who petrify through reflections and have killing looks.
They start to recount what happened in the forbidden forest with the spiders.
Remind me to never invite Annabeth to the forbidden forest… then again…
"I snuck into the infirmary and noticed something about the victims." I tell them. "I think they all saw the reflection of the creatures eyes."
They blink. "Huh?"
"Lots of creatures kill with a look, if you don't see it directly…" Will explains, making them gulp.
"What creature petrifies with a reflection and flees from spiders?" I wonder.
We head to breakfast, where everyone was reading the daily prophet.
Was there another article on the attacks?
I notice a crowd gathered around Malfoy.
"Can you believe it?"
"Her a Malfoy?"
"I thought she was a muggleborn!"
"Apparently so did the creature."
I freeze. They know.
The whispers all cease when they notice me and Will. Suddenly people are running up to us.
"Is it true?" A Ravenclaw boy asks.
"Is Kat a Malfoy?" Padma Patil asks.
"She's Elladora?"
"How did she survive?"
Harry and Ron give us confused looks.
"Later." I mouth.
Suddenly Draco stands up. "Anyone else that asks about the article will have their wands shoved so far up their asses their nose bleeds."
How could I not tell earlier?
The hall goes into silence. "I guess that's a yes." I hear Lou Ellen mutter.
I grab a muffin and walk out of the hall.
Kat's going to be furious. How did they find out?
Harry and Ron run after me.
"Kat's a Malfoy? The bloody hell?" Ron asks.
I turn to glare at them. "Yes, but it's none of your business."
They pale at my glare.
"I heard about Elladora." Ron mutters. "Everyone thought she was dead."
Harry turn to him "Who?"
"Draco's sister. It was all over the prophet for months. I remember meeting her at a ministry gala once, she was very… different. She was very sarcastic and was even polite to the elves." Ron tells us.
I smile. Of course.
"What happened to her?" Harry asks, looking intrigued.
"Apparently a muggleborn man killed her as revenge against Lucius for killing his daughter when he was a follower of YouKnowWho. I think his daughter was also five. He's in Azkaban now." Ron explains.
I never knew most of that.
Knowing Kat won't remember when she wakes up I decide against telling her for now. I do not need to deal with her finding out twice.
Though the mandrakes are almost reading and the potion will be ready by next week, Kat being a Malfoy is still anything but old news. Apparently Lockhart knew all along. Idiota.
While Will and I are on our way to class we almost walk straight into Harry and Ron.
"Are you alright?" Will asks.
They both look very panicked.
"It's a baskilisk." Harry tells us.
I share a look with Will. Of course.
"It's getting through the pipes. Myrtel was the death seventy years ago. We think it's opening is in her bathroom." Harry continues.
How didn't I realize sooner? Bianca found the body in a bathroom! And the girl was always teased…
"Are you going to tell the teachers?" I ask.
"All students return to their House dormitories at once. All teaches return to the staff room. Immediately please." McGonagall's voice booms over the school.
Was their another attack?
We all run to the staff room, ignoring McGonagall's request.
I pull them into the staff room, hiding in the shadows.
They stare at me confused, probably noticing people overlooking us as if we're invisible.
The rest of the teachers filter into the room.
"It has happened." McGonagall tells the staffroom. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."
I feel my eyes widening. Who?
The teachers let out panicked noises.
"How can you be sure?" Snape asks.
"The Heir of Slytherin." McGonagall tells them, looking very white. "Left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever."
Professor Flitwick bursts into tears.
"Who is it?" asks Madam Hooch. "Which student?"
"Ginny Weasley."
Aren't the Weasley's purebloods?
I feel Ron tense next to me. His sister.
I try to remember Ginny, but all I can remember is a faint memory of a red hair girl being sorted into Gryffindor. Then it strikes me: the girl with the diary.
It can't be a coincidence. Tom Riddle must have something to do with it, but he must be dead by now or at least very old. How could his diary mean anything? I remember the sick feeling in my gut when I touched the diary and around Tom…
"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow." Professor McGonagall says. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."
The door slams over to reveal a beaming Lockhart.
Great.
"So sorry- dozed off. What have I missed?" he asks brightly, gaining himself angry glares from the rest of the teachers.
"Just the man." Snape tells him, with a nasty smirk "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."
Lockhart freezes.
"That's right, Gilderoy." Professor Sprout adds. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"
"I - well, I -"sputters Lockhart.
"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.
"D-did I? I don't recall-"
I smirk.
"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," Snape continues. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"
Lockhart stares around at his stony-faced colleagues.
"I - I really never - you may have misunderstood-"
"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by youself. A free rein at last."
Lockhart gazes desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He doesn't look remotely handsome with that terrified expression on his face.
"V-very well. I'll - I'll be in my office, getting - getting ready." He agrees before leaving.
"Right." Says Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories."
Once the teachers are all gone, I pull them out of the shadows.
"Ginny." Ron whimpers, looking stricken.
We spend the rest of the afternoon stuck in the Hufflepuff dormitories with Ernie, Zacharias and Lockart's fanclub.
"You should't be so worried." Hannah tells us. "Lockhart will kill the monster in no time, just like he did with…"
"NONE OF IT'S REAL!" I yell, silencing her. "He obviously made it up. Chances are his bags are already packed and he's on a plane to some island to give himself even more of a tan."
The girls glare at me, before storming back to their dormitory.
"Good they're gone." Zacharias sighs, folding his arms.
I just roll my eyes.
"Will?" I ask, gaining the blondes attention. "Can we go talk? In the dorms?" I suggest.
He gives me a curious look. "What?"
I take him by his shoulder and shadow travel us the hallway around the corner from Myrtle's bathroom.
"I was being bored out of my mind." I tell him.
"Nico, are you sure I should be out here. I'm a muggleborn!" he reminds me.
"Nothing's going to happen to you." I promise him. "I won't let it."
We both blush and look away. "And uh, I grabbed this." I tell him, pulling a bow and quiver out of the shadows.
He raises his eyebrows, taking the bow and arrow from me "Thanks, Marry Poppins."
I glare at him. "I don't know what that means, but my name is not Mary."
He chuckles, before pulling me to the side. "Someone's coming."
I gather the shadows around us, and transform my ring.
"Please, I don't know how to defeat the creature!" Lockhart pleads.
I see a herd of blonde, red and black hair heading toward us. Why are they with Lockhart?
I pull us from the shadows, causing Lockhart to let out a high pitched scream.
I then remember that we're both holding weapons. "What's this idiot doing here?"
Harry raises his eyebrows at us. "He's going to help us fight the creature."
I snort.
"Actually we're going to feed him to it and run like little girls." Ron adds, making us laugh.
"He wouldn't taste very good with all the hair dye." Will chuckles.
Lockhart frowns at us.
"Why are you here? And why are you armed?" Harry asks.
"Well when hunting a Baskillas it is usually best to be armed." I shrug, finally lowering my sword.
They nod. "Should Will be here?"
Will glares at them. "I can take care of myself!"
I give him a small smile. "He's one of the best archers I know. Now, lead the way."
They give me confused looks, before leading us to Myrtle's bathroom.
"NICO!" Myrtle yells, pulling me into hug, before noticing the others. "Oh, you brought them. What do you want?"
They give me confused looks.
"Myrtle, I was wondering if you could tell us how you died?" I ask calmly.
To my surprise she smiles. "
"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she says with relish. "It happened right in 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, I think 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 -" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."
"How?" Harry asks.
"No idea." Myrtle answers in a hushed tone "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away..." She looked dreamily at Harry. "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."
Big yellow eyes? That's what Kat said.
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry asks again.
"Somewhere there." Myrtle answers, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.
We run over to it, while Lockhart stands well back, a look of utter terror on his face.
It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.
"That tap's never worked." Myrtle says brightly as Harry tried to turn it.
"Harry." Ron says "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."
Harry stares at the sink before letting out a hissing noise, causing the tap to glow with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.
We all gasp.
"I'm going down there." Harry announces.
"Me too." Ron says.
"I'm going as well." I tell them.
"Count me in." Will agrees, looking nervous.
"Well, you hardly seem to need me." Lockhart says, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just-"
He put his hand on the door knob, but we all point our wands at him.
"You can go first," Ron snarls.
Why are we bringing him? Hell probably mess everything up.
White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approaches the opening.
"Boys," he says, his voice feeble. "Boys, what good will it do?"
Harry jabs him in the back with his wand. Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe.
"I really don't think -" he started to say, but Ron gave him a push, and he slid out of sight.
Harry and Ron followed behind it.
I get in after them. Are we ever going to have a normal year at Hogwarts?
With that thought I slide down, until the slimy dark tunnel.
With a thump I land, covered in slime. My senses tingle: we're underground, and there are animal and even some human bones everywhere. I almost smile, just my area.
I grunt and attempt to wipe the slime off.
"We must be miles under the school." Harry's voice echoes through the dark tunnel.
I look around. We're all down here, even the cowering Lockhart.
"Under the lake, probably." Ron answers, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.
We turn to the dark tunnel ahead. I can see perfectly, a large snake skin across the ground.
"Are you glowing?" Ron asks suddenly, looking Will who was as usual lighting the tunnel.
He blushes. "Maybe."
"Meet Will, our human glow stick." I tell them, a small smirk on my lips.
They raise their eyebrows at us.
"Lumos!" Harry mutters, lighting his wand. "He may be bright, but we still need more. C'mon."
I chuckle and follow them down the tunnel.
"Remember," Harry says quietly as they walk cautiously forward, "Any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..."
As we walked further I notice the floor is littered with animal bones. I create a path through the bones for myself. Bones will definitely be useful to me in a fight, but they're not particularly nice to walk on.
After a few minutes the others seem to notice the bones as well, letting out loud pitched squealing noises.
"Harry - there's something up there -" Ron says hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder.
They freeze. I see a large serpent out of the corner of my eye. It doesn't seem to be moving.
"Maybe it's asleep." Will suggests.
I notice Lockhart covering his eyes.
We edge forward, all holding our weapons high.
As we get closer I realize that it's not the snake, but it's skin.
"Blimey." Mutters.
There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.
"Get up!" Ron hisses, pointing his wand at Lockhart.
Lockhart quickly got to his feet, knocking Ron to the ground.
I move to attack, but Lockhart was already standing up, pointing Ron's wand at us.
"The adventure ends here, boys!" he declares with a bright smile"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 raises Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yells "Obliviate!"
The wand explodes with the force of a small bomb, throwing me back into the snake skin.
"IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT!" I yell, getting to my feet.
"Will!" I yell, rushing over to the blonde boy who had gotten the full force of the rockfall and is stuck behind the rubble.
"I'M FINE!" He yells back.
I attempt to move away the some of the avalanche, but decide against it. I'm not very good with the earth, it's more Hazel's area.
"I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "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's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through - it'll take ages..."
"You two start digging through." I tell them. "Harry and I can go ahead."
Will starts talking in ancient greek. "NICO! Can't you shadow travel the rubble away? And Hades is the god of all things underground, can't you do something?" Will asks.
I sigh before replying in ancient Greek. "I'm not very good at controlling the earth, and I can't shadow travel that much of it at once, and removing even a little could cause an avalanche."
Harry gawks at me and Ron lets out a surprised noise.
"Was that Greek?" Harry asks.
"Ancient Greek." I correct.
"How do you-" Ron begins before Will interrupts him. "You two should go, but please be careful."
Me and Harry share a look. Neither of us are exactly known for being careful.
There was another thud and another "ow!" from behind the rocks. They were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours...
"Wait there." Harry calls to Ron. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on... If I'm not back in an hour..."
After a moment Ron replies. "Will and I can try and shift some of this rock." Ron says, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can - can get back through. And, Harry-"
"See you in a bit." Harry says quickly.
We walk in silence. I can tell Harry is nervous, but I'm not. I've faced down far worse monsters than a Baskillas, my only worry is Harry.
"Are you worried?" I whisper to Harry.
He nods. "Yea… not as much as I probably should be, then again after what I saw you do to that Troll I'm not as worried."
I give him a small smile.
Soon the distant noise of Ron and Will straining to shift the rocks was gone. The tunnel turned and turned again.
As we crept around yet another bend, I see a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.
Harry hisses to the snakes, causing the wall to crack open.
The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.