Here's the next chapter. It's Lav's and Vati's POV. They get revenge for Nina and Vati kills her first monster! Hope you like. This is the longest chapter yet.

Chapter Thirty: Near Death Experiences

Lavender's POV

How I was furious when Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let Vati and I visit Nina. Why in the name of Hades would we attack any of the students. Thunder rumbled. Oops! Sorry Lord Hades. The rumbling stopped. Vati looked at me as if she knew I had something to do with the thunder. I smiled sheepishly at her. My sister slapped me on the back of the head. I pouted at her then sighed. It just wasn't fun anymore without Nina.

I missed the other third of our trio so much and I knew Vati did too. Neville was a little off himself. Luna had completely forgotten about Nargles she was so devastated. The poor girl, Nina was her first friend. We all loved Luna, but Nina and her had a special bond. Even the ghosts seemed drearier without Nina. She was friends with most of them. The whole castle, life itself, was just blah without my sister in all but blood. I hoped the potion would be ready soon.

I heard loud footsteps coming up behind me. I turned around with Vati to see Harry and Ron skidding up behind us with a crumpled piece of parchment. It had been ripped out of a library book. If a child of Athena saw that, well let's just say we would have a couple funerals to plan. The two boys showed us the parchment and we gasped. Thinking back, I realized everyone had been looking into something where they would see the Basilisk's eyes but not directly. Everyone except Nina. I voiced my thoughts.

Harry and Ron looked a little baffled by that but shrugged it off. They told us how they thought they knew where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was. Really, Slytherin, a girl's bathroom? That is just plain wrong. An announcement came on. We were all supposed to make our way to the common rooms. Harry, Ron, Vati, and I started running. We were about to turn up the staircase to get to the seventh floor, but the professors were blocking our path.

McGonagall spoke, "It has happened, a student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself." Flitwick squealed, Sprout gasped, hands going over her mouth.

Snape was gripping the back of a chair very hard. "How can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin has left another message. Right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'"

Professor FLitwick started crying. I didn't blame him. I grabbed onto my sister for support as I started to silently cry. Who was brought down to the Chamber? It was definitely a girl.

"Who is it?" Madam Hooch voiced my thoughts. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall. Ron silently slid down the wall. His sister had been taken by the Basilisk. I quickly dried my tears and wrapped my arms around him. My sister at his other side. "We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," continued McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."

There was a loud crash as Lockhart appeared. "So sorry-dozed off-what have I missed?" The idiot didn't notice everyone's depressed appearances. I growled deep in my throat. Is that idiot so thick he can't realize something bad has happened? The other teachers were looking at him in hatred. Frankly, I couldn't blame them.

Professor Snape stepped forwards. I grinned, this had to be good. "Just the man," he began. "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 gulped.

"That's right Gilderoy," agreed Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I-well-I," stuttered the idiot.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" chimed in Professor Flitwick.

"D-did I? I don't recall-"

Professor Snape smirked. "I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you didn't have a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested. Didn't you say the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given free rein from the first?"

"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 yourself. A free rein at last."

"V-very well. I'll-i'll be in my office, getting-getting ready." Lockhart left.

"Right," McGonagall continued, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go inform their students of what 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."

The rest of the staff left the corridor. Vati, Ron, Harry, and I ran back to Gryffindor common room. It was probably the second worst day of my life. The worst was when Nina disappeared. Vati and I sat with Fred, George, Ron, and Harry. Percy had gone to send a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and then locked himself in his dormitory. It was the longest afternoon of my life. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed. It was too depressing for them down here with the rest of us.

Ron looked at us and said we should go see Lockhart and tell him what we knew. I agreed. The Gryffindors were so miserable and felt so bad for the Weasleys that no one tried to stop us. We quickly ran to Lockhart's office. We knocked and when there was no answer, Vati kicked the door in. "Remind me not to get on her bad side," I whispered to Harry. He nodded his head in agreement.

Lockhart was shocked to see us and jumped in front of whatever he was doing. He was packing his trunk! That idiot! I glared at him with a ferocity I didn't know I had. Harry began to tell him what he knew. Then, the two boys and Vati noticed what he was doing. Parvati did exactly what Nina would have done, she slapped him, hard. I was pretty sure you could hear that on the other side of the castle. Definitely not getting on her bad side.

Harry began interrogating Lockhart. The coward was running away! How dare he! Lockhart explained how he had obliviated the people who actually had done the stuff in his books and how he took the credit. What a disgusting man! Harry took Lockhart's wand and then led him t Myrtle's bathroom by wand point.

We asked the ghost how she had died. She was more than happy to elaborate. She had seen a pair of yellow eyes by the sink when she walked out of the stall, having heard a males voice in the lady's room.

Parvati's POV

I went over to examine the sink. I started with the basin. It was just a plain white sink bowl. I moved onto the faucet. There was lots of grime on it. I rubbed it off with the sleeve of my robe. There was a snake imprint on the side. I beckoned everyone over and we all examined it. Harry told it to open in parseltongue and a huge pipe opened up. The sinks had spread apart and left a gaping hole in the middle. Lockhart started to run so I kicked him behind his knee and Lav shoved him in. Better him than us.

"It's really quite filthy down here," came his voice. Shame, I was hoping the monster would eat him. No such luck. I looked at my sister. She held up three fingers. I grabbed her hand and together we counted to three. We jumped and started sliding down the pipe. I heard Ron and Harry behind us. I grimaced as we landed and I heard the crunch of tiny rodent bones. That was so gross.

"Remember," came Harry's voice from behind me, any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..." I nodded and we all cast Lumos. We walked a little ways and Lockhart fell to the ground. I flipped around rolling, my eyes. Lockhart rolled up and grabbed Ron's wand, pointing it at me. He threatened to remove our memories. I groaned, that wand was broken. It would probably backfire. I was right. The explosion caused the rock of the ceiling to collapse. It was about to land on me when Harry pulled me out of the way.

I looked up. We had been separated from the other three. "Lavender!" I shrieked. I needed to know my sister was okay.

"I'm right here, Vati. We're all alright. Well, Lockhart's managed to erase his own memories and knock himself out in one go. That's actually a blessing. Go on with Harry. Save Ginny. We'll clear a path for you."

"Alright," I called back. There was a clunk and Lav's head popped into my sight. I ran forward and she shoved something through the gap. I grabbed it, it was her twin daggers. Elpída and Písti, meaning Hope and Faith. I smiled my thanks at her. Harry looked at us funny but didn't question it. Together, Harry and I began to run forwards. It meant the world to me that Lav would give these to me. A demigod giving someone else their weapon was a sign of complete trust in that person.

When we reached the next door, Harry once again told it to open in parseltongue. The door creaked open, and we ran through. We were at the end of a long, dimly lit chamber. At the end, I saw a red splotch. I grabbed Harry's arm and yanked him forwards. Together, we ran towards Ginny. I knelt down on her side. Harry was opposite of me. I reached a hand out to feel her pulse. Her skin was so cold. Ginny's pulse was there, but it was very faint. She had a little less than an hour if my calculations were correct. I hoped they were.

A man appeared. Harry told me he was Tom Riddle. Strange, it doesn't look like he's all there. Harry asked him to help us. Then I realized something. Tom had Harry's wand. When I pointed this out, Riddle told us how he was Lord Voldemort. Wow, who would have thought Voldemort's name was an anagram. Voldemort revealed himself as the Heir of Slytherin and how he had made everyone think that Hagrid was the Heir. How dare he!

Music began to flow from the other side of the Chamber. Riddle stopped his tirade and we all looked in the direction of the noise. It was Skittles and a phoenix. Harry told me it was Dumbledore's. Between them, the two beautiful birds were carrying a hat. They dropped it next to us. It was the Sorting Hat. How was that supposed to help!

Riddle laughed at our misfortune. Memory or not, he had no idea what I had up my sleeves. I had used my wand to shrink Elpída and Písti. I pulled them from my pockets and enlarged them. Tom gulped slightly. "Let's see how you fare against the Heir of Slytherin." The memory said something in parseltongue that I couldn't understand. The statue of Salazar Slytherin's mouth opened. A huge snake slithered out of the huge hole. I gulped, I was face to face with the King of the Serpents. I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard the creature shriek and opened my eyes in shock. Skittles and the phoenix were clawing it's eyes out. I threw up a little in my mouth as the eyes fell to the floor in front of me. They could no longer do any harm. They were powerless.

Skittles landed on my shoulder and nipped my ear affectionately. She must like me a lot to do that. Riddle yelled at the basilisk to sniff us out. I gave the knife in my left hand to Harry and pulled the bracelet off my wrist. It immediately changed into a sword. I'm going to have to erase Harry's memories after this one. I ran forward and jumped onto the Basilisk's back. I ran up the creature as it started to slither towards Harry. Harry reached down to the Sorting Hat and pulled out a sword. Sweet. Harry ran forward and drove the sword and the knife I had given him up into the Basilisk's mouth at the same time I shoved Lav's dagger and my sword down between the Basilisk's eye sockets. It howled and began to flail. I gripped the handles of the weapons to keep myself from going flying. Harry wrenched his weapons from the roof of the creature's mouth. With a loud clunk, the Basilisk was dead.

Tom started screaming at us. I looked over at Harry. He was pulling a Basilisk fang from his arm. He staggered over to a little black diary. I guess that's what the memory is anchored too. Harry stabbed down and Tom screamed. He faded into nothingness. Ginny woke up and realized Harry was dying. I looked at the phoenix who nodded to me. I stopped worrying about Harry. I knew that the phoenix would heal him. During Harry and Ginny's conversation, I shrunk the Basilisk eyes, grabbed a Basilisk fang, shrunk the fang, managed to cut a 2' by 2' piece of the hide off, shrunk that, and put everything in my pockets.

I looked back at Harry, who was standing and holding the sword of Gryffindor. I beckoned to Ginny to go on ahead. She happily complied. "I'm really sorry, Harry, but I can't have you knowing my sister's and my secret." I raised my wand. "Obliviate." I erased Harry's memory of the weapons I had used and made him think I had used different spells. Harry shook his head when I was done. He took my hand and led me out behind Ginny.

When we reached the rock blockade, Lav and Ron had managed to make a hole big enough for us to squeeze through. Ginny went first, then me, then Harry. We all grabbed onto each other and Harry grabbed a hold of the phoenix's tail. Lav grinned at me. I had just slain my first monster.