The bad news never stopped…

The week after they found the Malfoy wasn't the heir, their nerves were shot. They each walked on eggshells, trying to find who would want to do this to students. However, as Hermione had been on her way back from the library one night, she had been petrified.

McGonagall had pulled them from breakfast in the morning to give them the bad news. She had been found with a mirror in her hand, hard as stone and cold as ice. Harry and Ron had been excused from classes, but Neville, Luna, and Ginny had to remain in theirs.

They sat in the hospital wing with Hermione, speaking encouraging words that they would find whoever it was.

However, two weeks later, they were no closer. The group of friends spirits were down, and some of their grades were dropping.

One night, on the way back to their commons from dinner, where Ginny was absent once again, they saw the message.

Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.

It looked like it was written in blood, the same as the last message. Wondering who it was, the group of friends ran to their Head of House's office, Professor McGonagall.

Harry was quick to tell her what the message said, and banishing them all to their common room for the night, she swept out of the office.

Dejected once again, the group headed upstairs. They hadn't even made it up one flight before they heard McGonagall's crisp voice ring through the castle, "Prefects, you are to lead your house to the common rooms and make sure everyone is accounted for. Professors, and Head Students, please come to the first floor corridor near the Great Hall."

Eyeing each other, they ran the rest of the way to their common rooms, hoping that the girl in question wasn't anyone they knew.

It wasn't too long before the rest of their house started trickling in through the portrait hole, while the gossip mill ran about, wondering what had happened.

The tensions rose when Ginny was nowhere to be found, and Percy hadn't seen her either. Leaving the other Prefects in charge, Percy stormed out of the tower to alert the Professors that Ginny was missing.

Anxiously waiting, McGonagall soon entered the Gryffindor common room and called Harry and Ron to her, along with Fred and George.

Each step that they took, their worries grew. It wasn't long before they were all seated in the Headmasters office and Dumbledore was explaining that Ginny was missing and was presumably in the Chamber.

Harry, realizing that he needed to head and talk to Rowena. Rushing out his apologies, Harry ran from the room. He continued running until he was rushing through the portrait hole. Stopping, as to not draw attention to himself, he headed up to his dormitory and grabbed the Invisibility cloak from his trunk. Throwing it over himself, he steadied his breathing and headed back down. Deciding that he couldn't wait for someone to go through the door, he gently pushed it open and stepped outside.

He barely heard the Fat Lady asking who was there before he began his voyage down to the unused girls bathroom. Luckily, no one was around when he reached the door, and he slowly stepped through.

Quickly shedding his cloak, Harry went to the sinks where he had heard Rowena last time.

"Rowena? Hello, are you there?" whispered Harry in Parseltongue.

He didn't receive an answer. Harry, thinking that the entrance would have to be near the sinks, started looking around. After a few moments, he noticed that a tap was engraved with two snakes, while the others weren't. Showing a wave of faith, he closed his eyes and hissed 'open,' hoping that it would work.

It did.

The sinks spread open, while one descended into the ground. When they were done moving, it showed nothing more than a large pipe leading down.

Ignoring his thoughts, and thinking only of Ginny, Harry jumped in. The slide down was winding and rigorous, causing his sides and rear to hurt. After what felt like ages, he crashed through the ending and landed in a room full of bones.

Jumping up, Harry immediately ran towards the doorway onwards, trying to ignore the crunching and snapping of bones beneath his feet. He trekked through the cold and slimy pipes and caverns, until he reached a large circular door, with more snakes engraved.

Using the same technique as earlier, he once more hissed out an 'open' in Parseltongue, and watched as the snakes slithered backwards. When they stopped moving and clicking, the door swung open slowly.

Unsheathing his wand, Harry clambered through the opening into a large cavern. There was a long walkway heading forwards, that circulated around a large stone monument of who he presumed was Salazar Slytherin. On each side of the walkway, in gaps of ten feet or so, was large snake heads poking out of stagnant water.

The lighting was dim in the chamber, but squinting his eyes and peering ahead, he saw a small figure laying on the ground in front of a pool of water surrounding the statue. Ignoring the threat of who took her, and hoping that if Rowena was there she wouldn't petrify him, Harry ran forward.

Soon enough, he sank to the ground, clutching at the prone form of Ginny, before tossing his wand on the ground beside them. Her skin was cold and clammy, while her lips were blue. Clutching at her, he tried lifting her small form close to him and standing - to no avail.

He was too weak, as she was too heavy. He had to get her to safety, but how?

Looking around, there wasn't anything to lay her on, so he tried dragging her by her robes. He was able to move her a few feet, but he still didn't have much luck of going fast.

Remembering he was a wizard, he searched his own robes for his wand, before remembering that he had thrown it down.

Turning around, he searched the ground for his forgotten wand, not seeing it anywhere.

"Are you looking for this?" asked an unknown, male voice.

They were no longer alone, and he didn't have his wand. They really were in trouble now.

Why did he not tell anyone where he was?