Ginny can't find Merlin. This is not generally a cause for concern, except for the fact that the snake had promised to meet Ginny up for another round of detective-ing. Or, Ginny thinks so. Understanding Merlin is not a precise science, exactly. It's mostly interpreting tones and gut-feelings.
Eventually, Ginny gives up on waiting. Either Merlin will find her, or she won't. Ginny feels really good about this lead, and she wants to get going.
Ginny isn't stupid, she knows the older kids mostly have her looking out for potential culprits as a distraction. They don't want her in the way, so they set her on an impossible task. That's why Ginny has to succeed: if she finds and stops the perpetrator, the others will have no choice but to respect her as a real member of the team.
Well, that and if Ginny saves the day, then it's okay she was stupid enough to get caught under the diary's spell. It will make everything worth it in the end.
Right now, Ginny has her sight set on none other than Professor Lockhart. For one, he's been sneaking around at night. While it is possible that he's just doing patrols like every other professor, Ginny doesn't think so: surely the professors don't go on patrol three nights in a row.
For another, Luna had let it slip that he was a total jackass to her in class. Made fun of her in front of everyone. As far as Ginny is concerned, even if Lockhart's not the culprit, he deserves a little stalking.
Honestly, who'd be mean to Luna? She's so… so neat. Ginny's thought so ever since they were both little girls.
Ginny stops in front of Lockhart's closed office door and holds her breath. It's now or never- she really wishes Merlin were here with her. She's confronted over ten people by now, and it doesn't get any less scary each time.
A part of her wonders if she should go get Percy. Then she shakes that idea off- at best, he'd humor her. No. This is something Ginny needs to do.
Ginny holds her hand up to knock on the door, then hesitates. Should she knock? Should she just open the door? Maybe he isn't even in. It is Lockhart's free period, though (Ginny's detective-ing had provided that particular bit of information), so he should be in there.
Ginny shakes her head, scrunching up her nose. Is she a Gryffindor or not? She takes another big breath, steels herself, opens the door, and slips inside.
"Sir, I was wondering if I could ask you a couple ques- oh."
"Ginny, no," Harry says. He's standing against the wall, holding himself tight. His satchel is nowhere to be found. He looks pale and shaky, and it's not hard to understand why:
In the middle of the room is- Ginny lets out a horrified gasp, hand going to her mouth. In the middle of the room floats a cage made out of green fire, and within is Merlin.
She's coiled up as tight as she can go in a little ball, since the cage is far too small for her. Fortunately, Merlin's suspended as well so she isn't actually touching any of the flames. She isn't saying anything, but her tongue is flickering frantically.
To top it all off, standing in front of his desk, is Lockhart. He's grinning crazedly, and his wand is out and pointed directly at Ginny. She wastes no more time in turning around and going for the door, but with a flick of his wrist the door locks.
"None of that, Miss Weasley," the Professor starts. Then he clicks his tongue disappointedly. "Shame. Didn't your mother ever teach you the merits of knocking?"
"It was you," Ginny says, turning back around to face the professor despite her racing heart. "You're the one who's been setting the monster on students."
Lockhart laughs. "Got it in one, Miss Weasley. You always were a bright student. Unfortunately now you are what we, in the business, like to call a 'loose end'. With that he raises his wand, points it right at Ginny, and says, "Avada-"
"Wait!" Harry yells.
Lockhart turns to him, eyebrow raised. The green cage constricts further, and Merlin lets out a hiss.
"Wait," Harry repeats. He's gone so pale he looks translucent, and Ginny wouldn't be surprised if he was about to faint.
Despite this, he still walks forward- placing himself directly in front of Ginny. His back is straight and his jaw is clenched in determination. Ginny would appreciate the gesture a lot more if she didn't think they were both about to die horrible deaths.
"If you kill her, I'll kill you," Harry says quietly.
There's a flash of something in his eyes, and all at once Ginny knows one thing for sure: Harry is not bluffing.
Lockhart throws his head back and laughs, then raises his wand again. "Out of the way, Mister Potter."
Harry narrows his eyes and Ginny holds her breath. Just then, a horrible hissing sound emanates from over near Lockhart, and he freezes, head cocked. Harry has gone horribly, horribly still and Ginny's stomach swoops unpleasantly.
She doesn't know exactly what's going on, but that hissing sure sounded a lot like someone saying the word, "collateral."
"Very well," Lockhart mutters, then looks back up to Ginny. "Give me your wand, then."
Ginny does as he says, glaring all the while. Lockhart locks the wand in his desk (likely next to Harry's wand and satchel), then jerks his head in the direction of the door.
"Best be off, yes? If either of you try anything, the snake dies." As if to emphasize his point, the cage shrinks once more and Harry flinches as Merlin lets out a low hiss of alarm.
With that, Lockhart gestures for them to get going. As they walk through the halls, Ginny desperately hopes for someone, anyone to come across them.
Of course, then she realizes that there's no way Lockhart hasn't cast some kind of notice-me-not on them. Ginny wants to ask Harry what's going on, but doesn't. She can't risk Merlin.
Lockhart stops them in front of a familiar looking wall- with a jolt, Ginny realizes that this is where the first message about the Chamber had appeared. Where she had written the first message. Lockhart waves his wand and a bucket of red paint (Ginny hopes it's paint) appears.
Lockhart gestures towards the bucket as he looks at Harry. "Start writing. Just like I told you, although I would change the pronoun to 'their'- musn't forget Miss Weasley, eh?"
Harry stares at the bucket, jaw clenched. His eyes are bright with rage, but he takes a halting step towards the bucket and dips a couple fingers in and steps up to the wall. Harry's hands are shaky, but he gets through the message well enough:
THEIR SKELETONS WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER.
Ginny does not particularly like the implications of that.
"With me now, with me," Lockhart says, gesturing for the two to walk ahead of him.
For a wild and hopeful moment Ginny thinks Harry might be able to use the remaining paint on his fingers to leave behind a trail of sorts, but with a wave of Lockhart's wand the paint on Harry's hands and the bucket itself disappears.
Lockhart pushes the two of them into the out-of-order bathroom that Ginny recognizes as the one she'd kept ending up in or near before she'd managed to flush the diary. The one with Myrtle. Looks like they'd been right about the entrance (or entrances) after all- not that that helps anything now.
Lockhart steps up in front of one of the sinks and Ginny suppresses a shiver as the hissing starts up again- it sounds like it's coming from Lockhart, but he's not the one talking.
Ginny watches in amazement and dread as the sink slides down into the floor quietly, revealing a dark damp pipe that someone could easily fit inside of.
Lockhart jerks his head. "Ladies first," he says.
Ginny would love nothing more than to kick the man in the shins, and then tear his eyes out while he's distracted, but instead she thinks of Merlin in the fiery cage and steps forward.
Ginny would genuinely prefer death-by-gravity then having the man push her, so she makes a point not to hesitate when she reaches the precipice. She just jumps.
Ginny hears Harry gasp in horror as she plummets, so she does the only thing she can think of to let him know she hasn't plummeted to her doom: as she slides down the slimy pipe, she lets out a whoop.
Hopefully that's what Harry hears it as, anyways. It sounds suspiciously like a scream, even to Ginny's own ears.
The pipe lets out and Ginny stumbles a bit as it deposits her into a big stone tunnel littered with little animal bones. She barely manages to skip out of the way of Harry, who stumbles just as much as she had.
Ginny automatically reaches for him to help keep him stable, and he shoots her a grateful look as she grabs on to his shoulders. He's covered in dirt and grime from the pipe and Ginny is sure she doesn't look much better.
"Ginny, I am so, so sorry," Harry whispers, blinking furiously.
He reaches up to where she's still grabbing his shoulder and grabs her hand. Ginny opens her mouth to respond, but by then Lockhart has already climbed from the pipe.
With a wave of his wand, Lockhart's spotless. Ginny manages not to roll her eyes, but just barely. What a pompous ass.
"Get going, we have a ways yet," Lockhart says as he shoots a couple floating green lights out of his wand.
The lights float alongside the man, and cast the tunnel in an eerie light. The shadows on the walls look a bit like huge skeletal hands, and abruptly Ginny feels six years old again: worried about the monsters under the bed coming to end her life as easily as snuffing out a candle.
Harry glowers at the man, but does as he says, pulling Ginny alongside him. He hasn't let go of her hand.
How odd to think that the Ginny of a couple hours ago would be turned into a flustered mess at just the idea of this. Now, though, it's just reassuring- they may be walking to their deaths, but at least they aren't walking alone. Ginny squeezes his hand, and Harry squeezes back.
They walk in silence, Ginny trying in vain to slow her racing heart. She tries to muster up some courage in the face of death, but right now she just wants a hug from her mum.
At that thought, a tear slips out and falls down her face. After that, there's no stopping the water-works. However, the thought of Merlin has her muffling her sobs with her free hand- how horrible would it be if Harry's familiar died just because Ginny couldn't keep it together?
Harry squeezes her hand again. He isn't crying- Ginny wonders how many times someone has to face their impending doom before the novelty wears off.
Harry stops suddenly and as Ginny sees what's stopped him, she freezes too, shocked out of her crying-
"Come on, come on!" Lockhart says as he picks his way around what looks to be a massive snake. "We don't have all day, you know!"
Ginny's heart restarts as Harry lets out a shaky sigh and whispers, "it's just some shed skin. Come on."
Ginny looks at the snake-skin with wide-eyes as they pass by. She'd been anticipating a snake monster, but this- this is ridiculous. The skin is an emerald green, and it's easily fifty feet long- bigger than most dragons, even.
That just makes her think of Charlie, then Bill, then her other brothers and all of a sudden Ginny is crying again. Harry must think she's so pathetic- she darts a glance at him and sees him hurriedly wipe away a stray tear with his free arm.
Maybe not, then. Maybe he's just a scared twelve-year old boy.
"Come now, don't cry." Lockhart says, shooting one of his typical smiles at the two as they continue to walk. "You two are going to go down in history! If you're nice, I might even write in a couple heroic moments for the two of you. How does that sound, eh? Sacrificing your lives to save mine?"
Ginny levels the most venomous glare she can at the man.
He just clicks his tongue and shakes his head sadly. "You just lost 'hero' privileges, Miss Weasley."
For some reason, Ginny can't particularly bring herself to care.
"Here we are," Lockhart says as he stops them in front of a giant circular door. The door is framed by two giant stone snakes, emerald eyes glinting wildly in the green light.
Harry squeezes Ginny's hand tightly as the hissing starts up again. Ginny doesn't dare ask what the hissing is saying- if she had to guess, though, she'd say it's just a pretentious way of asking the door to open.
Lockhart ushers the two through to a dimly-lit cavernous chamber. The floating green lights detach themselves from where they'd been hovering by Lockhart and shoot to position themselves above multiple wall-sconces. This triggers an enchantment that further lights up the room.
The room is covered in more of the dirt and grime that has been coating everything up to this point, but even through all that Ginny can tell that the place is an architectural wonder: with statues, columns, and intricately carved marble engravings everywhere. At the far end of the room is a massive statue of a long-bearded man.
"Hm, yes," Lockhart says as he shepherds the two towards the statue. "This will do nicely. Here, you sit… there, Miss Weasley," he says as he points to the foot of the statute.
Feeling a bit like a statue herself, Ginny pulls her hand from Harry's and walks stiffly over to where the man had pointed. The Professor watches impassively as she sits down, and then waves his wand.
Ginny can't help but let out a yelp of alarm as ropes appear out of nowhere and wrap around her, rendering her immobile. Harry grimaces and Ginny shoots him a queasy smile. He doesn't return it, and Ginny can't really blame him.
Then, Lockhart turns to Harry. His eyes are glinting madly in the green light, and Harry squeezes his arms around himself once more. "Let's have you go over there, Mister Potter- by that column, yes. Just back up, keep backing up, ah! Perfect!"
When Harry has fully backed up against the column, Lockhart snaps his fingers. Ginny watches in horror as a couple of the stone snake engravings wriggle to life; detach from the column; and wrap around Harry's arms, torso, and neck before going inanimate once more: effectively locking Harry to the column.
Harry takes a couple gulping breaths, but otherwise doesn't struggle. Ginny would be impressed with his stoicism if she wasn't so terrified.
"Now, to begin the ritual," Lockhart says, grinning widely. The mysterious hissing starts up again, and Ginny feels more helpless than she's ever felt before in her entire life.