Chapter Fourteen: Emergence

Five days had passed since Hermione's attack, since Prof. Dumbledore had been suspended thanks to Lucius Malfoy's handiwork, since Hagrid was framed and arrested by the Ministry of Magic. Ginny had never felt so guilty in her life, even though Riley had assured her time and time again that she was not to blame. Riley had tried everything to destroy the diary, but he couldn't even tear the pages out from the spine. Now, he was walking back to Gryffindor Tower after finishing classes for the day, and upon arrival, Percy walked over to him.

"Excuse me, Riley, but have you seen Ginny?" he asked.

"Not since lunch." replied Riley.

"I'm worried. She has been acting so out of it for months."

It had eaten away at Riley's conscience to know that something was wrong with Ginny, and not being able to tell her any of her brothers about it. He promised to keep it a secret, out of fear that she'd be to blame. His thoughts strayed toward the diary again, and he felt a pang of terror in his chest.

"I'm going to ask if any of the professors have seen her." Riley announced, quickly heading out of the tower.

"You cannot go out there right now, Riley!" Percy yelled after him.

"Sorry, can't hear you!"

Riley raced down the hallway, being careful not to run into any of the staff, until he had finally caught sight of Ginny standing in the middle of hallway. She stood facing a wall, and seemed to be holding her arm against it.

"Ginny!" Riley called, relieved.

He raced over to her, and saw that she was tracing her hand against the wall in front of her. Upon closer examination, a feeling of intense nauseousness struck the Muggleborn wizard. Ginny was writing a message on the wall in blood, and fresh tears were rolling down her face as she did so. Riley stepped forward, and tried to pull her back.

"Ginny, it's me! Riley!" he called, urgently. "Come on! Stop this!"

Ginny refused to budge. It was as if she was in a trance. Riley continued to try and move her when he felt something warm and slimy tickle the back of his neck. His heart instantly started pounding in his chest, and an ice cold chill ran up and down his spine. Riley shut his eyes tightly, knowing that if he had looked the monster in the eyes, he'd die. Suddenly a pair of hands roughly grabbed his face. Their fingers started to try and pry his eyelids open, while trying to turn the boy around to look at his would-be killer.

"No!" Riley shouted, trying to fight back. "Let me go!"

"Accept your fate, Mudblood." a new voice hissed. "You can't fight it."

"Who are you?!"

"I am the true Heir of Slytherin."

Riley felt his eyes starting to open, and reached down to his pocket. He couldn't fight this guy by himself, but he can still escape from this with his life. He could do nothing more than count on his friends to know something bad was about to happen.

"I...will...not...die!"

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Tony were visiting the Hospital Wing, and were sitting on either side of Hermione's bed after replacing her dead flowers with new ones. They broke away from their Housemates and snuck off to the Hospital Wing to see her, not knowing what to do. Things were getting more worse than they were getting better.

"Wish you were here, Hermione." Harry said, sorrowfully. "We need you. Now more than ever."

Tony looked away, miserably. He had told the two that he, Hermione, and Riley had found a book with the answers to what they were looking for. But when he had gone to find the book, the page with the information had been torn out. They were now back at square one. Fortunately, Harry had felt something in Hermione's hand, and he gently pulled out a wadded-up piece of paper from it. Tony glanced down at the wad of paper, and his heart soared with hope.

"Oh, please let that be what I think that is." he whispered.

Harry uncrumpled the paper, and stared down at it.

"What's that?" asked Ron.

Harry didn't answer. He just looked at Tony.

"Tony, this is what you're talking about, isn't it?" he asked. "Why you, Riley, and Hermione were in the library that day?"

Tony quickly hurried around the bed, and glanced down at the piece of paper. It was the missing page from the book.

"That's it!" he whispered, gleefully.

"It is?" asked Ron.

Harry told the two to follow after him, and they hurried out of the hospital. While walking down the corridors and the stairs, Harry read to them what was on the page.

"'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk.'" Harry read, his eyes not straying from the page. "'Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet the giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it.'"

He paused to look at Tony and Ron.

"Guys, this is it." he told them. "The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake."

"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" asked Ron.

"Hermione said that it was capable of killing if you only look it directly in the eyes." Tony answered, looking at him. "So, maybe you have to keep eye contact with the eyes, nothing intercepting."

Harry wracked his brain for the answer while the Slytherin Muggleborn spoke, then it hit him as he looked at a nearby glass cabinet.

"He's right." he agreed. "No one did look it in the eye, not directly at least."

The three boys continued to walk down the corridors, while Harry explained it to them.

"Colin saw it through his camera, Justin-Justin must have seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick," he listed, looking at them. "Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost. He couldn't die again. And Hermione had the mirror."

"Riley and his habits are rubbing off on her." said Tony.

"She was using it to look around corners in case it came along when you guys were evacuating the library."

Tony nodded, agreeing.

"And Mrs. Norris?" asked Ron. "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Harry."

Harry thought hard about the answer to that one. Cats couldn't exactly hold either one, or even carry one on their person, figuratively speaking. Then it hit him.

"The water." he realized. "There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the basilisk's reflection."

Harry, Ron, and Tony hurried over to a nearby pedestal with a fire still lit on it to continue reading.

"'Spiders flee before it.'" Harry read, before looking at his friends. "It all fits."

"How's a basilisk been getting around?" asked Ron. "A dirty, great snake. Someone would have seen it."

Harry nodded at the page in his hands. There was a word scribbled on it.

"Hermione's answered that, too." he said.

"Pipes?" Ron yelped, quietly. "It's using the plumbing."

"But where is it coming from?" asked Tony. "The only thing we have yet to cover is which pipe it's coming from, which leads to the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry's face brightened up, as if he had thought of something.

"Remember what Aragog said, about that girl 50 years ago?" he asked, looking at Ron. "She died in a bathroom? What if she never left?"

Ron and Tony looked at each other, suddenly catching on.

"Moaning Myrtle." they gasped.

The puzzle was almost completed now. But just as they decided to pay Moaning Myrtle a visit, Prof. McGonagall's voice suddenly spoke over the P.A..

"All students are to return to their House dormitories at once." she announced. "All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately."

Harry, Ron, and Tony looked at each other, horror filling their faces.

"Another attack?" Tony guessed, his eyes narrowing.

"Let's find out." said Harry.

The three boys jogged down to the second-floor corridor, and stopped behind a corner from where several staff members stood. Prof. McGonagall gestured to the wall to explain what was going on to her colleagues.

"As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message." she announced. "Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself, and another Muggleborn has been attacked. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."

Harry, Ron, and Tony looked at each other, stunned. They didn't know which bit of news was worse: Hogwarts was really closing down, another Muggleborn had been attacked, or that the basilisk had kidnapped a student. At that moment, Prof. Lockhart strutted toward the fellow staff members, looking pleasant.

"So sorry. Dozed off." he asked, casually. "What have I missed?"

"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart, just after the attack on Mr. Riley Cross." Prof. Snape explained, irritated by his fellow professor's attitude toward the situation. "Your moment has come at last."

Harry and Ron looked back at Tony, who pressed his back against the wall, horrified. His best friend had been Petrified now.

"M-My m-moment?" Prof. Lockhart stammered, confused.

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" asked Prof. Snape.

Harry and Ron saw that Prof. Lockhart looked completely taken aback, if this situation wasn't as bad as it was right now, they might have found their least favorite teacher's predicament somewhat amusing.

"That's settled." Prof. McGonagall declared, smiling. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."

For a moment, Prof. Lockhart looked afraid at the idea of actually doing it.

"Very well." he agreed, smiling. "Uh, I'll just be in my office getting, uh,...getting ready."

With that, the DADA professor took off back down the hallway. Then Madam Pomfrey looked at the Deputy Headmistress.

"Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?" she asked.

"Ginny Weasley." replied Prof. McGonagall.

Now it was Ron's turn to feel his heart sinking. His little sister was the Heir of Slytherin's captive. The staff cleared the corridor, and the message from the Heir of Slytherin had been revealed.

"'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'" Ron read, shaking.

He swallowed hard, his heart pounding more and more in his chest.

"Ginny." he whispered.

"I'm gonna kick that coward's hide." Tony muttered, angrily. "I don't care who this Heir of Slytherin is. This ends tonight."

"I agree." said Harry. "Go back to your dormitory, Tony."

"No."

Harry and Ron rounded on Tony, in an attempt to convince him to stay out of it.

"Tony,-" Harry began.

"I don't care if I'm Muggleborn." Tony told him, bravely. "We're a team. We're in this together. Like it or not. This guy's attacked Colin, and Hermione, and Riley, and now he's got Ginny. Either I go with you now, or I will sneak along after you when you're not looking."

Harry sighed, defeated. The three of them hurried toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, to find Prof. Lockhart's office.

"Lockhart may be useless, but he's going to try and get into the Chamber." Harry told Ron and Tony. "At least we can tell him what we know."

"When he's done putting on his make-up." cracked Tony.

"Tony, remind me to laugh at that joke later." Ron told him. "But thanks for trying."

"Anytime, buddy."

The three of them rushed into the office.

"Professor!" Harry called. "We have some information for you!"

To their surprise however, Prof. Lockhart was hurriedly trying to pack his things. He stopped and closed his trunk quickly, facing them. From the looks on his students' faces, he had been caught in the act.

"Are you going somewhere?" demanded Harry.

"Uh, uh, well, yes." answered Prof. Lockhart. "Urgent call. Unavoidable. Got to go."

He continued to pack as the students tried to persuade him otherwise.

"What about my sister?!" asked Ron.

"Well, um, as to that, most unfortunate." Prof. Lockhart told him. "No one regrets more than I."

"Oh, I bet!" Tony exclaimed, sarcastically.

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Ron reminded his professor. "You can't go now!"

Harry and Tony nodded in agreement, as Prof. Lockhart hurriedly stuffed a wig into the bag.

"I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the description-" the latter defended.

"You're running away?!" Harry asked, incredulous. "After all you did in your books?"

"Books can be misleading."

"You wrote them!"

Prof. Lockhart set his stuff down on the desk, and looked back at his students, exasperated.

"My dear boy, do use your common sense!" he exclaimed. "My books wouldn't have sold as well if people didn't think I'd done those things!"

Harry, Ron, and Tony then stared at him. This man truly was unbelievable.

"You're a fraud." Harry said, angrily. "You've just been taking credit for what other wizards have done."

"People looked up to you! Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hermione,...all those girls!" shouted Tony. "You're a real piece of work, Lockhart!"

"Is there anything you can do?" asked Ron.

Prof. Lockhart nodded, a strange look on his face.

"Yes, now you mention it." he answered. "I'm rather gifted with Memory Charms. Otherwise, you see, all those wizards would have gone blabbing, and I'd never have sold another book."

He turned away to walk to his trunk to grab his wand from a box, aiming to erase the trio's memories.

"In fact, uh, I'm, uh, going to have to do the same to you." he decided.

Upon turning back, Prof. Lockhart found that Harry, Ron, and Tony were aiming their wands back at him.

"You're going to have to do what now?" asked Tony.

"Don't even think about it." threatened Harry.

He motioned with his wand for his former professor to lower his wand, and Prof. Lockhart dropped it. He then was forced to go to the girls' bathroom with the three students at wand point, and upon entering, they heard Moaning Myrtle's quiet crying inside. She stopped when she heard footsteps entering.

"Oh, who's there?" she asked.

Harry, Ron, Tony, and Prof. Lockhart walked into view, much to Moaning Myrtle's surprise.

"Oh, hello, Harry." she giggled, shyly. "What do you want?" she added, suspiciously.

"To ask you...how you died." answered Harry.

"Oh."

Her pleasant demeanor changed into one of sorrow again.

"It was dreadful." she started. "It happened right here in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Oliver Hornby was teasing me about my glasses."

Tony stared hard at her, confused.

"Forgive me for interrupting, Myrtle, but...what's there to tease about?" he asked. "I honestly don't see what the big deal would be."

Moaning Myrtle gave him an appreciative smile, before continuing.

"Anyway, I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in." she continued.

"Who was it, Myrtle?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. I was distraught!"

Ron and Prof. Lockhart visibly flinched as the last word came out in a half-shout.

"But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language." Myrtle continued. "And I realized it was a boy, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and...I died."

Harry stared at her, confused, as to what she had meant. Tony on the other hand had an idea as to how she died.

"Just like that?" asked Harry. "How?"

"I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes." Moaning Myrtle answered, pointing at a sink. "Over there, by that sink."

"So, it was the monster in the Chamber of Secrets." said Tony. "The basilisk."

Moaning Myrtle nodded, and started to float away, moaning in misery once again.

"I feel so bad." whispered Tony. "There's no good reason to murder someone 'cause they're Muggleborn."

"That's why we've gotta put a stop to this now." declared Harry.

He stepped forward to examine the sink that Moaning Myrtle had pointed out. There was nothing special about it, and the water didn't run when he turned the tap. Then he noticed a snake was engraved on the side of the faucet.

"This is it." he breathed.

The Gryffindor student took a step back, speaking loud enough for his friends and professor to hear now.

"This is it, guys." he told the others. "I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

The others stared at the sink in awe.

"Of course." Tony whispered, amazed.

"Say something." Ron encouraged, looking at Harry. "Harry, say something in Parseltongue."

Harry looked at the sink with the snake engraved on the faucet, then he opened his mouth. A strange hissing sound escaped from his lips. They heard an unlocking sound from within the structure, and the top of the statue rose up into the air. The sinks started separating from each other, and moved onto the vents, revealing a huge entrance to a pipe in their places. The sink with the snake on it dropped down into a hole, and was covered up by one of the vent doors. Tony stepped forward, looking down into the pipe, and let out a whistle, amazed.

"Okay, now I see how it's been getting around." he observed.

Behind him, Prof. Lockhart let out a breath that he had been holding, smiling at Harry.

"Excellent, Harry. Good work." he congratulated the young boy. "Well, then, I'll just be...uh,...There's no need for me to stay!"

He tried to run for it, but Ron, Harry, and Tony grabbed him and pushed him back.

"Oh, yes, there is!" Harry grunted, shoving him toward the hole.

Prof. Lockhart held out his arms, and stopped himself from falling by holding onto the sinks, and saw the three boys pointing their wands at him.

"You first." ordered Harry.

"Now, boys, what good will it do?" asked Prof. Lockhart.

"Better you than us." replied Ron.

Prof. Lockhart nodded, mumbling something in agreement. He slowly turned to look at the entrance. It looked like a long drop. Tony waited until Prof. Lockhart had completely turned around before standing precisely behind him, smirking devilishly.

"Sure you don't want to test it first?" Prof. Lockhart asked, turning to look at the students behind him.

"Nope." Tony replied, raising one leg up.

He nudged his teacher in the butt with his foot, pushing him hard enough to knock him into the tunnel. Prof. Lockhart descended into the pipes, shouting in fear, until it went completely silent.

"I'm feeling a little better now." Tony announced, quietly.

Harry and Ron smirked at him, then they looked back down at the pipes.

"It's really quite filthy down here." Prof. Lockhart's voice called up from the bottom.

"Newsflash, boyo, hero work is never clean!" Tony called back to him.

"Alright, let's go." said Harry.

Before he and his friends could jump, Moaning Myrtle addressed Harry.

"Oh, Harry?" she called. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet."

Ron grimaced at her in disgust, while Tony smirked a little at Harry.

"Uh, thanks, Myrtle." said Harry.

He looked back down at the pipes, and jumped in first. Ron jumped in after him, then finally Tony. Tony was the only one who was enjoying the ride, while Harry and Ron were the only ones screaming. Eventually they made it to the bottom of the ride, and crashlanded in a pile of what appeared to be skeletons.

"Not having fun anymore." Tony muttered, looking at the pile.

He and his friends got up, and pointed their wands at Prof. Lockhart. Ron groaned in disgust at the sight of the bones around him. Harry then started marching forward toward what looked like the pipe that led to the next room. He looked back at Ron, Tony, and Prof. Lockhart.

"Now, remember: Any sign of movement, close your eyes straightaway." he instructed them.

"Go on." Ron ordered, glaring at Prof. Lockhart.

He followed after his friend and professor into the tunnel, with Tony following after him, his wand at the ready. The tunnel ended up leading into a cave full of rocks and some other material.

"What's this?" asked Ron.

Tony walked over beside Harry, and knelt down to pick up a piece of the material.

"It looks like a...snake." said Prof. Lockhart.

"It's a snakeskin." Harry corrected him.

Tony quickly dropped the piece of snakeskin he was holding, and wiped his hand on his robes hurriedly.

"Bloody hell, whatever shed this must be sixty feet long." Ron breathed, amazed. "Or more."

Beside him, Prof. Lockhart collapsed in a faint. Tony raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Heart of a lion, this one." Ron commented, sarcastically.

To his surprise though, Prof. Lockhart got up, snatching the wand out of his hand. He glanced between the three students, a crazed look on his face.

"The adventure ends here, boys, but don't fret." Prof. Lockhart announced, pointing his wand at each of the boys. "The world will know our story. How i was too late to save the girl, how you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body."

He then pointed the wand at Harry.

"So,...you first, Mr. Potter." he said. "Say goodbye to your memories."

Tony stepped forward, raising his hands a little.

"Now, hold on, you don't want to do that." he cautioned the man. "That wand's-"

Prof. Lockhart ignored him anyway.

"Obliviate!" he shouted.

A bright light shot out from the wand, but not from the tip. The light struck Prof. Lockhart in the torso, and knocked him back into the wall, hard. The force of the backfire caused the cavern to rumble, and Harry quickly pulled Tony back towards him. They could only watch as the ceiling started to cave-in, and quickly jumped back to avoid being crushed. Luckily though, the cave didn't collapse completely.

"Are you alright, Tony?" asked Harry.

"In better shape than Lockhart, I'll bet." answered Tony.

They got back up, and heard Ron shouting for them, but from the other side of the wall.

"Harry! Tony!" Ron called, worried. "Where are you?!"

"We're over here, Ron!" Tony called back.

Harry dashed over to the wall, and looked through the opening.

"Ron! Ron, are you okay?!" he asked.

"I'm fine." Ron answered, nodding. "Where's Tony?"

"He's with me!"

Tony walked over to where Harry was and listened in on the conversation.

"...Really?" Prof. Lockhart's voice spoke. "And, uh,...who...who am I?"

"Lockhart's Memory Charm backfired!" Ron called to Harry and Tony. "He hasn't got a clue who he is!"

Harry and Tony looked at each other for a moment, then looked back through the opening. They cringed as they heard a small thudding sound. Ron had just knocked Prof. Lockhart out.

"What do I do now?" he asked.

"Don't panic for starters!" Tony called back. "The last thing we need is for anyone to panic!"

"Right, and you wait here and try and shift some of this rock so we can get back through." agreed Harry. "We'll go on and find Ginny."

"Okay." replied Ron.

Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, the Gabriels, Jesse Reigns, Scott and Jasmine Willows. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.