It was eleven o'clock. Harry and Ron were sitting on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room in front of the fireplace. They both looked up to see Hermione and Ginny tiptoeing down the staircase from the girls' dorms.

"Everybody ready?" said Harry, standing up.

"Looking forward to it, mate," said Ron.

"Let's get going," said Ginny.

"Well, I still don't think what we're doing is really right, but since you…"

Ron interrupted Hermione, by giving her a quick snog on her lips and she didn't get to finish her sentence. "She's ready," said Ron.

Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He looked at the map and said, "Good, everyone's in bed. Even Filch. Let's do it."

He pulled his invisibility cloak from under his gown and said, "Okay, Hermione, first do your stuff."

"Okay," said Hermione, pulling out her wand and sweeping it in a circle among the four of them. "Cruris Occaeco."

From mid-thigh to the ground, all of their legs totally disappeared.

"Nice work, Hermione," whispered Ginny.

"Thanks."

"Okay," said Harry, lifting the cloak. "Let's all get under." With their legs invisible, they were able to comfortably drape the cloak over their upper bodies, and four of them were able to walk even more comfortably than three of them had gotten used to in recent years.

"This is pretty roomy," said Ron.

"Ssh…" said Harry, as they made their way down the corridor. "People can still hear us. Filch is a very light sleeper."

They made their way out of the castle and down the path to Hagrid's hut.

"What exactly is our plan?" asked Ginny.

"Well," said Harry, "Hagrid is a very deep sleeper. So is Fang. We'll be able to hear them snoring when we get to within 100 feet of the hut. So, I think we just walk up to the front door, go in quietly, and look around. There's a full moon tonight so it should be light enough in the hut to see. If the window shade is still shut, Hermione can do a very mild "lumos" and we'll use her wand to see. If Hagrid wakes up, we'll just run out of the hut. He won't be able to see us, so he'll figure that the door just blew open or something."

"There's no wind out tonight," said Hermione.

"So what?" said Harry. "Either way, Hagrid won't be able to see us. Who cares what he thinks. He won't know that we snuck in."

"We've snuck into his cabin with the invisibility cloak before, mate," said Ron. "You don't think he might suspect something?"

"Who's side are you on here, Ron?" said Harry.

"All I'm saying is your plan doesn't seem exactly perfect."

"Why are you taking Hermione's side this time?" asked Harry. "She's already snogging you. What more do you want?"

Hermione elbowed Harry in the ribs.

"Oof," cried Harry.

"Ssh…", whispered Ginny.

"She elbowed me in the ribs," whispered Harry.

"You deserved it," said Ginny. "And by the way. Your plan doesn't seem exactly perfect to me either. Do you usually come up with better plans? I can't believe you actually managed to destroy all the horcruxes and Voldemort with these kind of lame plans."

"Wha…," Harry started to say, but Ron interrupted, laughing.

"We're just playing with you, mate."

"That's right," said Ginny. "After all that chanting at dinner tonight, we thought you needed someone to give you a hard time."

"It's not exactly a perfect plan," said Hermione, "but I'm sure it will be fine."

As they got closer to the hut, they saw light outside the front door.

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"Not sure," said Harry. "Let's get closer and see."

As they approached the hut, they saw that the light was a campfire. Hagrid, Grawp and Fang, were sitting around the campfire. Grawp was toasting giant-sized marshmallows on a huge stick, popping some into his mouth and feeding others to Fang. Hagrid was drinking huge mugs of fire whisky. And they heard sounds. Loud sounds. Awful sounds. They weren't the sounds of snores they expected to hear.

"What is that horrible racket?" said Hermione.

"I can't tell," said Ginny. "Let's get closer."

As they tiptoed closer to the cabin, they realized what they were hearing. Hagrid was singing. Sort of. It was a song that didn't have much of a tune. Or if it did, Hagrid wasn't a very good singer. They couldn't quite make out the words. They tiptoed closer and closer, until they could hear what Hagrid was sort of singing, sort of shouting, sort of screeching with no discernible melody between his loud laughs and belches.

I know you're coming here tonight

I know you four never give up

I bet you'll use the invisibility cloak

I may not be smart but I know you guys well

I'm sitting and watching the door of my hut

If it opens, I'll know that it's you

You might as well join us for a marshmallow or two

'Cause you're not getting into my hut tonight

He finished singing his "song," took a swig of fire whiskey, and started it again

I know you're coming here tonight

I know you four never give up

"Blimey!" whispered Ron. "He's been sitting out here all night singing that over and over again?"

"I guess he knows us pretty well," said Harry. "We might as well just take off the cloak and join them for some marshmallows."

"No way," said Hermione, grabbing Harry's arm before he could pull off the cloak. "Then Hagrid will know we were really trying to sneak in."

"He already knows," said Ron. "Didn't you hear his song?"

"He doesn't know it," said Hermione. "He thinks it. If we just leave, he'll never know for sure. But if we take off the cloak he'll really know that we tried to sneak into his hut. I don't want him to know that. It wasn't a really nice thing for us to do. Even if Hagrid is making a big joke out of it."

"All right, then let's turn around," whispered Harry, and they turned around and headed back to the castle.

"Well that was a major success," whispered Ginny as they snuck in the front door of the castle. "I waited all these years to go on one of your crazy, sneaky plans, and all we end up doing is walking down the path and back? Come on, guys, give me a little something here. Tonight was supposed to be an adventure. Let's not just go back to bed."

"What exactly do you want to do, Ginny?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Ginny, "but let's think of something."

Well…," said Hermione. "I have an idea. If you guys are up for it."

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"Well…," said Hermione. "I've been thinking about something for a while. I started thinking about it more after Ron and I went down there to get the basilisk fang."

"You mean the Chamber of Secrets?" said Ginny.

"Yeah," said Hermione.

"What about it?" asked Ron.

"Well…did you notice something about it? It's called the Chamber of Secrets. Why is that?"

"Because it was secret," said Ron. "Salazar Slytherin hid it so well that no one but Voldemort could find it for a thousand years. People didn't even believe it existed."

"Sure," said Hermione. "I suppose. But did you notice that it isn't called the Secret Chamber. It's called the Chamber of Secrets. That means the Chamber HAS secrets, not just that it IS a secret. What are the secrets? The only thing we found down there was a basilisk. If the basilisk is one of the secrets, fine, but the basilisk is just one secret. It's called the Chamber of Secrets. Plural. Don't you think there must be other secrets in the chamber that we don't know about?"

"Like what?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "But you didn't exactly have time to explore when you were down there. And when Ron and I went down to get the basilisk fang, we raced in and raced out. We didn't take any time to look around. If Ginny is looking for an adventure tonight, I say we sneak back down to the Chamber of Secrets now, and really explore the place. Er…that is, Ginny, if you feel up to it. I guess you had a pretty tough time last time you were down there."

"Actually," said Ginny. "I don't really remember almost anything that happened down there. Pretty much most of what I remember is waking up with Harry, and Fawkes flying us out of the Chamber, which was actually pretty cool. I'm fine going back down there again."

"Let's do it," said Harry, consulting the Marauder's Map again. "Coast is still clear. Girls bathroom on the second floor, here we come."

"Hi Harry," came the unmistakable voice of Moaning Myrtle, followed by giggling. "Where have you been? Oh… You brought THEM with you."

"Hi, Myrtle," said Harry. "I've been kind of busy."

Myrtle began to wail. "Of course you've been too busy to visit your friend Myrtle. Everyone's too busy to visit Myrtle. Why should you visit Myrtle? After all, I am….dead….." and she began to wail even louder.

"Calm down, Myrtle," said Harry. "It's not like that. I haven't been at Hogwarts for most of the year. I just got back last week."

"What were you doing?"

"Well, I was basically in a life and death struggle with Voldemort. Remember that boy who was in the bathroom the day you died? The one who made the basilisk look at you which killed you? Tom Riddle?"

"Yeah, he was soo handsome," giggled Myrtle.

"Well, he grew up to be the most evil wizard in history and he tried to kill me, but he died last week."

"Oooh….you almost died! That would have been great! You could have shared my toilet with me, Harry!"

"Yeah…well…I wasn't ready to live in a… I wasn't really ready to die yet. There are still a few things I want to do first."

"I'll be waiting for you, Harry. What are you guys doing in here anyway?"

"We're going to go down the pipe behind the sink and explore the Chamber of Secrets."

"Oh…," Myrtle started to wail again. "You didn't come to see me. You're just coming into my bathroom so you can go on an adventure." And Myrtle wailed louder, sailed around the room, then dove into the toilet bowl sending a splash around the entire room.

"Yuck," said Ginny, who had never experienced one of Myrtle's toilet bowl showers before.

"You get used to it," said Hermione.

Ginny wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Okay, Ron, do your stuff," said Harry. "You're the only one here who seems to be able to speak Parseltongue."

Ron made a hissing sound. Nothing happened.

"I think it was more like this," said Hermione, and she started hissing.

"I know what I'm doing," said Ron, and he hissed again. Still nothing happened.

"I think it was a little more high pitched and you used your throat more last time," said Hermione.

"I know what I'm doing," said Ron, "just let me focus."

Ron hissed one more time. All of a sudden the sink started to recede into the floor and a large pipe started to appear.

"You did it!" cried Hermione.

"Why do you always sound so surprised," said Ron.

"Let's go," said Harry. And he jumped into the pipe and slid down followed by the other three.

When they landed at the bottom, they looked around. The last time Harry had been there was at the end of his second year. Boy did it feel different that time. Then, students were being petrified left and right. Hermione was in the hospital wing. Ginny had been taken to the Chamber, and was near death. Harry was in a life and death struggle with Tom Riddle and a basilisk. Now, he was with his three best friends in the same Chamber of Secrets, but they were all perfectly safe, just off on a little, fun adventure.

"ROAR….."

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of a giant basilisk, just a few feet away from them just around the bend of the tunnel. Harry jumped, and pulled out his wand. Ginny screamed, and pulled out her wand. Ron jumped and screamed and pulled out his wand. Hermione, who was already holding her wand, just stood there…smiling.

"Hermione, there's a basilisk!" yelled Ron.

Hermione just stood there smiling back at him.

Everyone looked at Hermione, smiling, and then realized that they had only heard one basilisk roar. Now it was quiet.

"Okay, Hermione, what's going on?" asked Harry.

"I was just practicing a little ventriloquism charm to scare the daylights out of the three of you," she said. "You were great, Won Won. You jumped and screamed at the same time."

"Cut it out," said Ron. "That wasn't funny."

"Okay," said Hermione.

"By the way, Harry, did you hear?" said Ron. "The N.E.W.T.s have all been cancelled for this year."

"They what?" cried Hermione. "But they can't be. I was planning…" Hermione saw that Ron was grinning at her.

"Oh," she said, "I get it."

"Enough goofing around, guys," said Ginny. "We have secrets to find."

Together the four of them made their way down the tunnel to the main chamber, where the remains of the dead basilisk still lay, a statue of Salazar Slytherin at the far end of the room. On either side of the statue, there was a tunnel.

"I never went in either of those tunnels," said Harry. "That's where we should start exploring. Let's try the left one first. We need light."

"Lumos," they all said together, and four wands were ready to light their way. As they headed along the tunnel, they passed the remains of small animals but nothing else. They kept going through the tunnel around one bend after another. All of a sudden, Ron yelled, "Look at that!", and started running with the other three following.

Along the right wall of the stone tunnel was a large wooden door. A door with no door knob. No handle. Just a wooden door framed in the stone wall, with no obvious way to open it. "Alohamora," said Hermione, pointing her wand at the door. Nothing happened. "Expulso," cried Harry. Still nothing. "Deprimo," cried Ron. Still nothing. Everyone looked at Ginny. "I'm just a sixth year. What do you expect from little old me?" she said smiling.

"Come on," said Harry, grinning at her. "You were one of the best in the DA. Give it your best shot."

"Okay," she said, thinking, and then brandished her wand and yelled, "Reducto!" Nothing happened.

"Nice try, Gin," said Ron,

"Wait, what's that?" said Ginny pointing near the bottom of the door.

All four knelt down to get a better look. Near the bottom of the door, there was writing scratched into the door. They held their wands in front of them to make it easier to read the small writing. When they read it, they couldn't believe their eyes.

No Secrets Here. Try the other one.

"Huh," said Ginny.

"The other what?" said Harry.

"Maybe it means the other tunnel," said Ron.

"Good thinking," said Hermione.

"Why do you always sound so surprised?" said Ron.

"Come on guys, let's go check out the other tunnel," said Harry. ""Seems like whoever wrote that is trying to have some fun. Like a mystery or a treasure hunt or something."

"Er…before we go," said Ginny, "I have a question."

Everyone looked at her.

"How exactly are we going to get out of the Chamber of Secrets?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at each other nervously. The first time they were in the Chamber of Secrets, Fawkes had flown out carrying Harry, Ginny, Ron and Lockhart. When Ron and Hermione went down to retrieve the basilisk fang, they brought a broomstick with them. But somehow, tonight, no one had thought to bring a broomstick.

"Oops," said Harry.

"What do you mean, 'oops'?" said Ron with a worried expression on his face. "What are we going to do, mate?"

"Why are you looking at me?" said Harry. "This was your girlfriend's idea," he said pointing at Hermione and smiling. "Why don't you ask her?"

"This is serious," said Ron. "Come on, Hermione, think. How are we going to get out?"

"I'm thinking," Hermione. "Do you think Accio would work down here?" she asked.

"This far down? I don't think so," said Harry, "but I'll give it a try. Accio broomstick."

They waited for a minute. Nothing happened. They waited for another minute.

"I think it would be here by now if it was going to come," said Harry. "What's your next idea, Hermione?"

"My what? What makes you think I have any idea how to get out of here."

"I have total confidence in you," said Harry, smiling.

"Mate, why do you think this is funny. We are trapped in the Chamber of Secrets. We could be stuck in here forever."

"Worse than that, Ron," said Harry. "You could miss breakfast tomorrow morning if we're stuck here all night."

"This is not funny," said Ron.

"Actually, I'm getting kind of nervous," said Ginny. "Why are you staying so calm?"

"Guys," said Harry. "We survived the war with Voldemort. After that, a little thing like this doesn't seem like such a big deal. I'm sure our Hermione will figure something out. After all, they've never invented a spell our Hermione can't do." He kept on grinning. Hermione punched him in the arm.

"Wait!" said Hermione. "The answer is a flying charm. The kind they use to enchant broomsticks and magic carpets. We can charm something down here and fly it out."

"Great idea," said Harry.

"There's just one little problem," said Hermione.

"What's that?" asked Ginny.

"Do any of you guys know how to do a flying charm?" asked Hermione.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron. "Don't you?"

"Have you ever seen me do a flying charm?" asked Hermione. "Have you noticed it in any of our Charms books? Have you ever heard me talk about doing a flying charm? How would I know how to do a flying charm?"

"Are you saying you don't know how to do one?" asked Ginny.

"Well, not exactly. I was once reading an advanced Charms book in the special collections in the library, and there was a page in it on flying charms. I looked at it for a minute. But I didn't pay that much attention to it. And I never tried to do one."

"Do you remember what the page said?" asked Ron.

"That's the problem," said Hermione. "I sort of can picture the page in my head. I'm trying really hard to remember what the page said. The image in my head is kind of fuzzy."

"Try harder," said Ron.

"Snapping at me isn't going to help me think," said Hermione. "Why don't you rub my shoulders? I always think better when I'm having my shoulders rubbed."

"Might as well do it, mate," said Harry, "if you ever want to get out of here."

So Ron walked around to behind Hermione and started to rub her shoulder while she stood thinking and Ginny and Harry watched.

"I think it would help me think better if you rubbed Ginny's shoulders," said Hermione, smiling.

"Yeah," said Ginny. "I have a little pain right there," she said pointing to her right shoulder. "I think my pain may be interfering with Hermione's thinking."

"You girls," said Harry, smiling and walking around behind Ginny to rub her shoulders.

"That's good, Ron," said Hermione. "I'm thinking better now. Keep going."

Ron just grunted and continued rubbing her shoulders.

"Ginny, how is Harry doing?" Hermione asked.

"Just great," said Ginny.

"Good," said Hermione. "My head is starting to clear. Just a little bit more, and I think I might remember."

After a few more minutes, Hermione said, "Volaro. That's it. It's Volaro. Come on, let's go find something to charm."

They all ran out of the tunnel back to the main chamber. They looked around, and all they could see was a basilisk skin.

"We can use part of this, and turn it into a flying carpet," said Hermione. "Diffindo," she said pointing her wand at the skin. A piece on one end, just the right size to hold the four of them, ripped off from the rest of the skin. "Volaro," Hermione said, pointing her wand at the skin.

Immediately, the skin rose slowly and hovered a foot off the floor of the chamber.

"You did it!" cried Ron.

"Why do you always sound so surprised?" said Hermione.

The four of them jumped onto the skin, Hermione pointing her wand, and they started to fly down the long tunnel that would lead out of the Chamber of Secrets.

"Wee…this is just like magic," yelled Ginny.

Harry laughed.

The flying skin reached the tube that leads up to the girls' bathroom and flew up it like a rocket until they emerged in the bathroom, and jumped off the skin.

"Oh," moaned Myrtle when she saw them. "I was hoping you were going to die," she said.

"Thanks," said Harry. "I appreciate the thought."

"I'm pooped," said Ginny. "Time for bed."

"Do you realize," said Harry, "that we forgot to search the second tunnel?"

"Another time, sweetie," said Ginny, yawning with her eyes half closed. "I'm getting sleepy."

"Let's get rid of this before someone sees it," said Harry. "Reducto." The skin burnt up and disappeared.

The four of them got back under the invisibility cloak, and headed for Gryffindor Tower. As they approached the doorway, they noticed the Fat Lady quickly close her eyes and pretend to be asleep.

"Pygmy puff," said Harry.

"Aaaar…" groaned the Fat Lady. "What are you doing out so late? Why did you have to wake me up?"

"We're tired," said Harry. "Can you just let us in?"

The Fat Lady shrugged, closed her eyes again, and the painting swung open.

As they approached the staircases to the dorms, and were about to go their separate ways, Ron stopped and asked: "Hermione, tell me the truth. Did you really forget how to do the flying charm? Or were you just trying to get a back rub?"

"What do you think?" asked Hermione. She gave Ron a good night kiss. Ginny gave one to Harry. And they turned, and walked arm in arm up the staircase to the girls' dorm.

"Girls," said Ron.

"Yeah, girls," said Harry, smiling, and the two of them went up to bed.

A/N: more chapters on their way