Chapter 15: The Chamber of Secrets

A/N: Okay, so after this chapter, there are two more, then after that, I'm going to have a month's break, and then I'll upload a chapter of book 3. I have decided that for the next semester, Wednesdays shall be update days, so you'll get chapter one of book three on the 6th of June. Enjoy the chapter!

Fred sat next to the frozen form of his girlfriend, distraught. Okay, so he knew she was only Petrified, and not dead, but still. Hermione was his first serious girlfriend, and they'd been together for two months, when previously he'd only held a relationship for two weeks. With this new length of relationship, came new levels of feelings; he cared very deeply for Hermione, it wasn't quite love yet, but he could easily see himself falling completely for her. This scared him, since as a prankster, he was used to having fun, making others laugh, and just generally not being taken seriously, but the things she brought out in him were totally different. What was even more surprising was that he had decided that he liked what she made him feel, that if it made her happy, he'd do almost anything, be almost anything. He knew, however, because of one of the long evening talks they'd had in front of the fire, that she liked him just as he was; part of what drew her to him was his mischievousness and fun-loving nature. She was perfect.

He turned his head to look at her again and sighed. He couldn't bear to see her lying so still. Her eyes were open too, so he had no idea how that worked, or if she was feeling any pain because of it. He didn't really know whether she could currently feel anything, or if she was at all aware, but he couldn't help but tell her about the day he'd had.

"Okay, Mione. That's all. I guess I'll come back later, or tomorrow if I can't find the time to slip away from everyone. There's so much security, I had to duck down three secret passageways just to get here! Anyway, I'll see you then, love." He stood up and leant down, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead, and squeezed her right hand. He heard a crinkling sound, and looked down at her hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets, and bending closer, he saw that a small scrap of parchment was scrunched inside her fist.

He looked around surreptitiously, wanting to make sure no one was near, then attempted to get the parchment out. It was fairly difficult, because of how hard her hand was clenched around it, and he was trying to prevent it from tearing. After a few minutes, he managed to squirrel it out of her fist, and he unravelled it. "What—Hermione, this is a page from a library book! What was going through your sweet, intelligent little head when you tore it out?"

He read what was on the page, then blanched. "Oh, Merlin… a Basilisk…"

He looked at her. "How'd you manage this? I mean, it says that it's got a 'murderous stare', so how did you and all the others manage to get Petrified? Nothing here says how Petrification gets tied in with it."

He thought for a moment, then came to a decision. "Right. Hermione, I'm gonna go to the others, and have them look at this. Maybe they have some ideas. I'll come back and tell you all about it, I promise."

He ran off towards the seventh floor, where everyone but the firsties of their group was having a study session. When he got there, he was a bit out of breath, but dutifully handed the ripped-out page to Harry.

*Harry's POV*

Harry raised an eyebrow when he saw the state Fred was in. He'd obviously slept in the clothes he was currently wearing, he looked unkempt, and he obviously hadn't slept very much with those dark bags under his eyes, which was a far throw from his usual boyish good look. However, Fred handed over what looked like a torn piece of parchment, and looked at him expectantly. He read what it said, and his eyes widened in understanding.

"Well?" asked Fred excitedly. "What d'you reckon?"

"How did you get this?" he asked curiously. I mean, it makes sense, mostly."

"Hermione had it scrunched up in one of her hands. I noticed it, and got it out."

"What does it say?" asked Draco a bit impatiently. Harry gathered he didn't like not knowing what someone was talking about.

Harry smiled gently when Draco cringed a bit at the tone he'd spoken in, to let him know he was forgiven. "It says, 'Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or deadly thatn the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live may hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.' Then, under that, Hermione's written the word 'Pipes'."

By this time, everyone in the room was extremely pale. "Basilisks?" asked Blaise, swallowing hard. He seemed the most affected out of them all.

Neville had his eyebrows furrowed. "If she's saying that the Monster is a Basilisk, then how come no one's died?"

"Easy," said George, looking at the page over Harry's shoulder. "It says, 'all who are fixed with the beam of its eye'. What was Hermione looking into when you found her?"

Draco's eyes lit up in understanding. "The mirror! That might also explain Colin; he was looking through his camera. And remember when we came across Mrs Norris? The ground below her was covered in water, she must have only seen the reflection of its eyes. I don't know about Justin, but Sir Nicholas is a ghost; he can't die again."

Harry tilted his head to the side and nodded. "Maybe Justin saw it through him. Come to think of it, I remember seeing a couple of spiders going out a window when we found Mrs Norris, and some spiders running away from where Hermione was. Hagrid also said Aragog was scared of whatever the monster was, and he complained ages ago that something was killing his roosters."

"It would also explain why Enya told you she'd heard a huge snake a bit ago, and why you're the only one out of us who heard the voice," said Fred. "And 'Pipes' must be how it's getting around so easily; it's using the plumbing!"

"We need to take this to a teacher," Neville said. "This is something they should know about."

"Sev?" Draco suggested. "He'd be the most likely to listen to us. McGonagall would wave it aside, or ask us exactly why we're so sure about it. Dumbledore's gone, but even if he were here, I don't know if I'd want to go to him."

"Why not?" asked Neville. "Sure, he's done horrible stuff to Harry, and he's a manipulative old coot, but he'd still be the Headmaster. He's got to care about the kids here to some extent."

"Think about it, Nev," said George, "Hagrid said that Dumbledore was there the last time the Chamber was opened. He believed Hagrid was innocent. What if he knew somehow who it was, and didn't tell anyone? He'd be just as guilty as whoever's behind this, since he'd have information no one else did, and let someone else figure everything out. Just like with the Stone last year."

"Okay then, all those in favour of going to Snape, stick out your tongues," said Fred.

Everyone rolled their eyes, but complied. That is, everyone but Blaise.

"What?" he said when everyone looked at him. "I'm failing Charms, I need to study more than I need to figure this mystery out. You guys tell me how it went, though."

George shrugged. "If you're sure."

"I am," he nodded firmly, although he was still looking a bit queasy from the recent revelation.

With this, all of them but Blaise rushed down to the dungeons, where Draco knocked urgently on Snape's door. It opened, and the professor looked at the assembled group in a mixture of tiredness and resignation. "What can I do for all of you?"

They were let inside, where they quickly explained what they'd discovered. Snape's eyes got wider and wider as the story went on, and when it was over, he slumped back in his armchair and covered his face with his hands. "Great, just great! The King of Serpents, endangering children inside a school. What are we supposed to do? Do any of you have an idea of where the Chamber might be?"

"Well… no," admitted Draco, "but we do have a lead. We think Moaning Myrtle is Myrtle Warren, the girl who got killed the last time it was open. Her bathroom is close to the centre of the radius of where all the victims were found. It's the best lead we've got."

"Well then, lead the way," Professor Snape stated, and they all walked quickly to their destination. However, just before they could enter, they saw that there was a new message where the old one had been. It read:

His skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.

All of them were staring at the words in horror. Then, Snape came to his senses and vanished the message with a flick of his wand. Then, with another flick, he conjured a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink. With his wand, he directed the quill to the ink, then made it write a short message. He dried the ink with another spell and banished the quill and ink, then tapped the paper, which formed into a paper plane and zoomed off. When he turned back to the children, they were silently questioning him about what he'd just done. He huffed, but complied. Honestly, he was getting soft by spending so much time with these little brats. "A time-delayed message. If I don't go speak to Professor McGonagall within an hour, it will go to her. It tells her everything you've figured out so far, and that we were going to speak with Myrtle. We do need a chance to figure out whether she knows anything about the Chamber or not. She's our only clue."

Draco was the first to shrug and make his way to the girl's bathroom, but was intercepted by the annoying voice of Lockhart calling out from behind the group. "I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying, Professor Snape, and I completely agree. I had only just figured out the same thing, and was on my way to speak to her myself. Fortunate we ran into one another, isn't it?"

Harry tried not to roll his eyes, he really did. He failed. It was a good thing his back was turned to the idiot, otherwise he just knew Lockhart would have seen and then started in on him. "Well then, Professor," he said, trying not to inject any sarcasm into his voice. "We were just about to ask her how she died. How about you take the lead?"

"Ah, an excellent idea, Harry my boy."

Harry clenched his teeth.

Lockhart strode through the door, followed by the group, and was met by Moaning Myrtle's screeches. "Oh, sure, first a boy regularly shows up here, now a whole bunch of them, plus two teachers! This is not a picnic spot! What do I have to do to get some time alone to mope around here?"

Lockhart was about to make his usual bad impression, when Professor Snape broke through Myrtle's tirade. "A boy?" he questioned. "Do you mean to say that one boy has come in here more than once? Could you describe him?"

"A good observation, Professor," butted in Lockhart. Draco facepalmed next to Harry.

"I don't know, a boy. Slytherin robes, dark skin, dark hair, and with these odd purple eyes that flashed red sometimes."

"Blaise!" Draco gasped out and covered his mouth. Harry quickly hugged him tightly, then asked, "What would the boy do?"

"He'd just walk in, calm as you please, hiss at one of the sinks, then slide down into the entrance that would appear when he did that."

"Which sink?' asked Neville, shaken.

Myrtle pointed to a sink that looked like all the others. "It's never worked, not even when I was alive."

Harry, still holding onto Draco, went to the sink she'd pointed out. Draco had calmed down by this point, and was enjoying being held by his boyfriend, even in the middle of this nightmarish situation. He was the one to spot the tiny etching of a snake on one of the copper sinks. "Here! Harry, say something in Parseltongue, maybe it'll open!"

Harry shrugged. Wouldn't hurt to try. :Open.:

The tap began to glow and spin, then the sink itself sank right out of sight. In its place was the entrance to a huge, man-sized pipe.

"Ah, well done, Harry my boy," Lockhart exclaimed, patting Harry's shoulder and ignoring his disgusted expression. "You don't mind if I go first, do you? I've been in a very similar situation before, in Wagga Wagga, where the werewolf had hidden its lair in the sewers. For full details, read Wanderings with Werewolves."

Fred and George pretended to make themselves vomit behind him, and all the others tried to stifle their laughter.

Without further ado, he slid down the pipe and out of view. Harry waited a few seconds, then separated himself from Draco, kissed him on the lips, and followed Lockhart. It was like rushing down and endless, slimy dark slide. It twisted and turned harshly, all while maintaining a steep downwards slope. Finally, the pipe evened out and he shot out of the end of the pipe onto a ground filled with small, old animal bones and copious amounts of slime. He grimaced and sent a quick cleaning charm over himself, sighing in relief as the gross stuff disappeared.

It was then that Draco came hurtling out of the pipe, and as Harry had only just moved to the side in time, Draco did not smash into him. "Ugh, gross!" he exclaimed, and quickly hopped up and out of the way as Neville whizzed out of the opening as well. Draco quickly cleaned himself as well, and Neville followed suit. Very soon, they were all down there, and had become bored of listening to Lockhart's (fake) exploits, mixed in with whining over how he'd broken his wand when he'd landed on it. Harry butted in and said, "Remember, any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away."

"Whatever for, my boy?" asked Lockhart in a patronising manner.

"The Basilisk, sir," he said in an innocent voice. "You did, of course figure out that the monster was a Basilisk, didn't you?"

The idiot blanched, and nodded faintly. "O-of couse I did… er, I realised that yesterday, and—"

He cut himself off with a gasp as he saw a vivid, poisonous-green snake skin, and then his knees gave out as he fainted. "Wow," Draco said, standing over the prone figure. "I wonder what—"

Lockhart suddenly got to his feet and snatched Draco's wand, pointing it at all of them. "The adventure ends here," he said, with a gleaming smile on his face. "I shall take back a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the boy, and that you all tragically lost your minds at the sight of his mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"

He raised Draco's wand over his head, brought it down with a swish and yelled, "Obliviate!"

There was an explosion, and Lockhart went flying backwards into the wall. Harry flung his arms over his head as the tunnel started to collapse, slipping over the coils of snakeskin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling which were thundering to the floor. The next moment, it was over, and he coughed and waved away the dust. "Hello?" he called out. "Draco? Nev? Anyone?"

"I'm here," came Draco's voice from next to him. "I'm fine."

"Oh, thank Merlin," Harry muttered and flung himself into Draco's arms.

"Also okay!" called out Neville's voice in his ear, and he flinched away from him. Neville grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Too hard to resist."

"As far as I can tell, everyone else is fine," came Professor Snape's voice from behind the wall of broken rock. "Well, Lockhart seems worst off. You must have bonded strongly with your wand, Draco. If someone who is not the hawthorn wand's outright owner tries to use it, and handles it badly, it has a tendency to backfire. I daresay when he wakes up, he'll have lost his memory. How much, I do not know."

They heard a groan, then a dull thud, followed by, "Ow!"

"Weasley, must you?"

"Yes," came one twin's voice, "I must. George must, too."

There was another dull thud and another "Ow!"

This time, it was Snape who groaned. "You three just had to leave me with these two, didn't you?"

"We're wasting time," Harry broke in. "It would take too long to make even a small way through, and the tunnel may not be stable enough to do it magically. Nev, Draco, and I will go on, and try to get Blaise without waking up the Basilisk."

"That's not a good idea—" started Snape.

"We don't have a choice, Sev!" said Draco. "Blaise needs help, and every second we waste makes his situation worse."

There was a long pause, then, "Very well. We shall attempt to shift some of this rock to be ready for your return. If we finish before you are back, expect us to come after you."

"Understood," said Harry, and then he turned around and made his way down the dark tunnel with his boyfriend and his best friend.