Chapter 25: I do not own Harry Potter, sentences taken verbatim are not mine. I know it's been like two weeks or so since I updated, but I'm giving myself time to catch up in my other fic, so you'll have to be patient please. Also, who knew college could be so time consuming? (Says the fifth year chem student ;) Anyways, school is getting hard.)

Three days later, and they still hadn't figured out how to get away long enough to ask Myrtle: McGonagall made an announcement at breakfast that day.

"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted.

"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled joyfully.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Wood excitedly.

"Honestly, that boy has some strange priorities." Cassie said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

There was an explosion of cheering. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco Malfoy hadn't joined in. Ron, however, was looking happier than he'd looked in days.

"It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!" he said to Harry. "Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over."

"Ron!" Cassie admonished. "Oh. We never told them, did we Merlin?" Cassie asked, realizing their grave mistake.

She was about to tell them what they'd discovered when Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap.

What's up?" said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.

Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face that reminded Harry of someone, though he couldn't think who.

"Spit it out," said Ron, watching her.

Harry suddenly realized who Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.

"I've got to tell you something," Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at Harry.

"What is it?" said Harry.

Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.

"What?" said Ron.

Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Harry leaned forward and spoke quietly, so that only Ginny and Ron could hear him.

"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"

Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan.

"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty."

Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.

"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us something important!"

Halfway through a gulp of tea, Percy choked.

"What sort of thing?" he said, coughing.

"I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say-"

"Oh - that - that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said Percy at once.

"How do you know?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was - well, never mind - the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather-"

"Does it have to do with Penelope?" Cassie asked softly.

"H-how do you- no, er. Never mind. Shouldn't you two be with your friends?"

"We are. We're with them all the time," Cassie said, nodding towards the Hufflepuff table, "Mealtimes is the only time we really get to speak." she shrugged, standing up and saying she was going to go find Ginny.

"Of course!" Cassie said, not even getting three steps away. "I've figured it out! Lockhart! He walks them to History of Magic and we walk right past them! It's so brilliantly simple! It must work! We just have to figure out how to keep the others off our tail!" Cassie told Merlin in rapid French, her excitement bubbling over

"Leave that to me, I can do it." Merlin replied in equally rapid french.

"Okay!" Cassie said, forgetting about Ginny and going to sit by Tommy. She missed him.

"Hey, haven't seen you lately." he said, taking her hand under the table and playing with her fingers.

"Yeah, I was a bit of a wreck." Cassie admitted quietly, leaning into him.

"Understandable, she's your best friend. But at least they'll be awake tomorrow! Maybe then we'll know who it was." he said hopefully.

"Thestrals." Cassie said.

"What?" Tommy asked, "Is that what's attacking? You sh-"

"No, the horses that pull the carriages. They're thestrals. You can only see them if you've seen death. Which explains why you can't. I kind of got obsessed after Hermione and read all the books on creatures I could." she said.

"I'm done eating, wanna take a walk? I have to get my books from the common room anyway. Exams and all." Tommy said, changing the subject awkwardly.

"Sure." Cassie said with a shy smile, standing up and letting him link his fingers with hers. They walked out hand in hand, and for the first time in a while, she felt that fluttering in her stomach when he pulled her into an alcove behind a tapestry and kissed her long and deep.

"We should probably go get your things." Cassie said, giggling at how his hair looked after they broke apart.

"Nah, Ced has them." he said, grinning cheekily.

"Oh, you-" Cassie said, laughing as she ran her hands through his hair once more.

"If you keep doing that I'm going to look like I just got out of bed, Cassie."

"I thought that's what you've been going for recently." she said teasingly.

"I missed your smile. It's been too long since I've seen it."

"I've missed smiling. The nightmares don't help at all, but at least 'Mione's going to be fine! And everyone else, of course." Cassie said, fixing his hair and pulling him out of the alcove.

"Yeah, I really hope whoever's doing this will get caught." Tommy said, walking back upstairs with her and stopping just outside the Great Hall. "I know that look, Cassie. Don't do anything crazy, okay."

"What look?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"The one you got when you were talking to Merlin and the Gryffindors. Don't do anything crazy."

"Okay, I won't do anything stupid." Cassie said with a short laugh.

"Somehow, I don't believe you." he said, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Tommy, I won't do anything crazy." she repeated

"Fine, I'm choosing to believe you. Against my better judgement." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and leaving with the kids from his year for his first class.

"So...what's the big, cazy plan?" Harry asked once Tommy had gone.

"Come on, I'll explain it over there, easier to tell if someone's listening in. Didn't peg you for an eavesdropper, though." Cassie said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, whatever." Harry said impatiently. They huddled by the corner and Cassie explained exactly what to do, knowing Lockhart would be daft enough to fall for it.

Harry knew the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without their help, but when they were being led to History of Magic by Gilderoy Lockhart, Cassie's plan was put to work.

Lockhart, who had so often assured them that all danger had passed, only to be proved wrong right away, was now wholeheartedly convinced that it was hardly worth the trouble to see them safely down the corridors. His hair wasn't as sleek as usual; it seemed he had been up most of the night, patrolling the fourth floor.

"Mark my words," he said, ushering them around a corner. "The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be 'It was Hagrid .'Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."

"I agree, sir," said Harry, making Ron drop his books in fake surprise.

"Thank you, Harry," said Lockhart graciously while they waited for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night..."

"That's right," said Ron, playing his part perfectly while Merlin and Cassie snuck off from their group and blended into the Gryffindors. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will," said Lockhart. "I really should go and prepare my next class-" And he hurried off.

"Prepare his class," Ron sneered after him. "Gone to curl his hair, more like."

They let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead of them, then darted down a side passage and hurried off toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. But just as they were congratulating each other on their brilliant performance, McGonagall spotted the four of them and was fuming.

"Potter, Weasley, Gratien and Rhydderch! What are you four doing?"

"We were - we were -" Ron stammered. "We were going to - to go and see-"

"Hermione," said Harry. Ron and Professor McGonagall both looked at him, Merlin and Cassie schooling their features of relief.

"We haven't seen her for ages, Professor," Harry went on hurriedly, treading on Ron's foot, "and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, er, not to worry-"

Professor McGonagall was still staring at him, and for a moment, Harry thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice.

"Of course," she said, and Harry, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been... I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professors Binns and Snape where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."

Harry and Ron walked away, hardly daring to believe that they'd avoided detention. As they turned the corner, they distinctly heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose.

"That," said Ron fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up with."

"Yeah, Harry. Good save." Merlin said with a cheeky grin.

They had no choice now but to go to the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey that they had Professor McGonagall's permission to visit Hermione.

Madam Pomfrey let them in, but reluctantly.

"There's just no point talking to a Petrified person," she said, and they had to admit she had a point when they'd taken their seats next to Hermione. It was plain that Hermione didn't have the faintest inkling that she had visitors, and that they might just as well tell her bedside cabinet not to worry for all the good it would do.

"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" said Ron, looking sadly at Hermione's rigid face. "Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one'll ever know..."

But Harry wasn't looking at Hermione's face. He was more interested in her right hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets, and bending closer, he saw that a piece of paper was scrunched inside her fist.

"How daft can one person be! We still haven't told you! The monster's a basilisk!" Cassie cried, hitting herself for being so forgetful as Harry inspected Hermione's hand.

Making sure that Madam Pomfrey was nowhere near, he pointed this out to Ron.

"Go on and get it out," Ron whispered, shifting his chair so that he blocked Harry from Madam Pomfrey's view and ignoring Cassie as she exchanged annoyed glances with Merlin.

It was no easy task. Hermione's hand was clamped so tightly around the paper that Harry was sure he was going to tear it. While Ron kept watch he tugged and twisted, and at last, after several tense minutes, the paper came free.

"What?" Ron asked her while Harry worked on getting the paper free from Hermione's hand.

It was a page torn from a very old library book. Harry smoothed it out eagerly and Ron, Cassie and Merlin leaned close to read it, too.

"She's brilliant!" Cassie said tearfully.

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."

And beneath this, a single word had been written, in a hand Harry recognized as Hermione's. Pipes .

It was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in his brain.

"Ron," he breathed. "This is it. This is the answer. The monster in the Chamber's a basilisk - a giant serpent! That's why I've been hearing that voice all over the place, and nobody else has heard it. It's because I understand Parseltongue..." Harry looked up at the beds around him.

I just said that!" Cassie said, still annoyed they'd all ignored her.

"The basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died - because no one looked it straight in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera. The basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin... Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again.. and Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect-" Harry was saying slowly.

"Penelope. She has a name, Harry." Merlin said, interrupting him.

But Harry continued as if he hadn't said a word, "-were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror - and-"

Ron's jaw had dropped.

"And Mrs. Norris?" he whispered eagerly.

Harry thought hard, picturing the scene on the night of Halloween.

"There was water on the floor, Myrtle's bathroom had flooded. Mrs. Norris probably only saw the reflection." Cassie answered quickly, remembering well being soaked with toilet water.

He scanned the page in his hand eagerly. The more he looked at it, the more it made sense.

"How'd you know, Cassie?" Ron asked.

"My research and my dreams. I wrote it down back in January, and again in March. I can't believe no one put the pieces together, the Professors all know about my 'night time excursions' to put it nicely," Cassie said in one breath.

"...The crowing of the rooster... is fatal to it"! he read aloud. "Hagrid's roosters were killed! The Heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was opened! Spiders flee before it! It all fits!"

"I forgot about the roosters!" Merlin exclaimed.

"But how's the basilisk been getting around the place?" Ron asked them. "A giant snake... Someone would've seen..."

Harry, however, pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled at the foot of the page.

"Pipes," he said. "Pipes... Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've been hearing that voice inside the walls..."

Ron suddenly grabbed Harry's arm.

"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he said hoarsely. "What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in-"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Harry, Merlin and Cassie at the same time.

Harry and Ron sat there, excitement coursing through them-Cassie and Merlin not really excited about their excitement, hardly able to believe it.

"This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how he's been controlling the basilisk."

"I have a theory on that. But I don't want to say it and have it be false. Or worse, true." Cassie said, deathly pale as she put the pieces together.

"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing. "Should we go straight to McGonagall?"

"That idiot Malfoy couldn't have picked a worse time to… have… Absolute, complete, supreme idiot!" Cassie said out loud, her original sentence tapering off as she realized something grave and hit her head in astonishment.

"What?"

"We need Dumbledore back here! If I only knew where he was! I could send him a message!" Cassie said, running her hands through her hair frantically.

"Merlin, give me something to write on." Cassie said, grabbing the quill she had in her hair.

She quickly scrawled out a note to Dumbledore on the bedside cabinet and ripped the parchment. She folded it and waved her wand, calling her magic and letting her instinct take over. She remembered he had a sheath for his wand-she'd asked him about it during her exams last year- and hoped it would get there safely. She held her wand over the paper and felt her magic rise up, eyes open to make sure it left, and waved her wand over it

"I hope it gets to him." Cassie said, worrying her lower lip and ignoring their stares.

"That's not even sixth year magic, Cassie. And you did it wordlessly too!" Merlin said open-mouthed and noting it wasn't old magic at all-it lacked the telltale golden glow of her eyes.

"Whatever. We need to tell someone, McGonagall or….. Someone!" She said, pacing and curling and uncurling her fingers compulsively.

"Let's go to the staff room," said Harry, jumping up and grabbing Cassie, stopping her pacing. "She'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."

"Good idea, Harry." Merlin said.

They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted staff room. It was a large, paneled room full of dark, wooden chairs. Harry and Ron paced around it, too excited to sit down while Cassie chewed on her lip and Merlin tapped his foot impatiently.

But the bell to signal break never came. Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified.

"All students are to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

"Shit!" Cassie said, looking around for somewhere to hide.

Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron. "Not another attack? Not now?"

"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"No," said Harry, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of wardrobe to his left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."

"This is a bad idea." Merlin said pessimistically, remembering all the times he'd said the same thing to himself.

They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staff room door banging open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

"It has happened," she told the silent staff room. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Cassie let out a scared whimper, making Ron clamp a hand over her mouth and Harry and Merlin look at each other, worried they had heard, but it was covered by the teacher's reactions.

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.

Cassie felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside her, his hand no longer over her mouth, she decided to do the same and wrap her arm around him tightly, offering her comfort and silently telling him she'd do whatever to save her.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," said Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."

The staffroom door banged open again. For one wild moment,they were sure it would be Dumbledore. But it was Lockhart, and he was beaming.

"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?" He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Just the man," he said. "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."

"At least one good thing'll come of this." Casssie said much too quietly for even those cramped in the wardrobe to hear.

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I - well, I -"sputtered Lockhart.

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

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

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

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.

"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."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble.

"V-very well," he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting - getting ready." And he left the room.

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has 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 teachers rose and left, one by one.

"We should go back, they'll be frantic by now." Merlin said quietly, untangling the tearful Cassie from Ron and leading them both out of the wardrobe.

"Let's go, I wish we could go up with you. Give… We'll help her! Ron. I swear to you." Cassie said, her tears clouding her eyes, but her thoughts going a mile a minute. They parted ways when they reached the Grand Staircase, Ron and Cassie both sullen and terrified for Ginny.

"Merlin!" Cassie hissed from where she was sitting with Tommy and Cedric. Their common room, much like how the other three common rooms must be was crowded and somber.

"Yeah?" he asked, his eyes red from another innocent getting caught in the crosshairs of a Dark sorcerer.

"I have a plan."

"Cassie I won't let you do anything." Tommy said, tightening his hold on her hand.

"Well, I'm not asking your permission, Tommy." she said with a furrowed brow, casting a non-verbal silencing charm around them so no one could hear.

"What's the plan?" Merlin said, determined to save her. He was Emrys, for crying out loud, he should be able to save her! And keep Cassie safe.

"Lockhart."

"What?" the three boys asked at the same time.

"Is Lockhart involved in all your plans?" Cedric asked.

"No, you heard what Harry and Ron did. You know they're going to go to him. I've been looking into him, and he's exceptional at the memory charm, even if he's complete rubbish at all the other ones. They're going to go to him. They're going to take him to Myrtle's bathroom, and they're going to do something stupidly brave. That's what they mean. All of them!"

"All of who?" Cedric asked, confused.

"We need you two to cover for us. Will you do it?"

"Absolutely not! I'm not letting you go and get yourself killed! It's enough one girl is dying today, I won't let you go." Tommy said.

"Then Merlin and I will do it alone." she said coldly, forcing her hand out of his grip, "And she's not going to die. Not if I can help it." she said, glaring at him before disappearing through the door to Merlin's dorm with his wrist in her clutches. "Arrange your pillows like you did the other night." Cassie commanded. She let her instincts take over and transfigured the pillows to look exactly like Merlin, except for the breathing. "Now you're in bed," she said, waving her wand and again letting her instincts take over, "And now you're breathing." she said as the fake Merlin's chest moved up and down. She turned to him and cast a notice-me-not, modified so that it would only last within the Hufflepuff common room. "And now they won't notice you. Wait for me by the tunnel entrance, I have to go do the same in my room."

"You're brilliant, Cassie!" Merlin said seriously, looking at her thoughtfully as they walked out of the boys' corridor and she went to the girls', glaring at Tommy on the way. It took her five more minutes to cast all the charms on her bed and herself and, since she'd left the door open and nobody bothered to close it, she walked straight into the tunnel and out the hole with Merlin in tow.

"Come on! We don't know where Harry and Ron are right now." Cassie said, keeping her wand in her hand and running up the stairs and down the corridors to the girls' bathroom. "They're not here yet?" Cassie said, confused. "I was so sure…" she said disappointedly.

"Let's wait here, if the teachers find us, we'll be expelled for sure." Merlin told her sitting down, trying to figure her out. "If not, well, they'e closing Hogwarts anyways, so..."

"Way to be optimistic, Merlin. I'm asking Myrtle while we wait." she said, walking over to the last stall and trying to speak with the ghost, but being rudely ignored the whole time.

She was so much like the Cassie he called family so long ago, but nothing like her at all. This Cassie was so much more protective, and apparently was a powerful Seer. His Cassie had some premonitions, but they were few and far between. And only came after Morgana had died. And she was so different in how she protected, much more passive.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Cassie asked, self-conscious all of a sudden. His gaze was intimidating.

"I'm trying to figure you out. You… one day you seem like a normal student, and the next you cast a disillusionment charm, wordlessly. Among other very advanced and very powerful charms."

"I just let my instincts take over. I'm tired of watching my family killed in front of me!" she cried, "Huh? I've never seen my family killed." she said softly, confused, grabbing her head in consternation.

"Your dreams, when you were younger, what were they about?" Merlin asked softly, filling the silence while they waited.

"Uhm, I think it had something to do with a group of red knights and a woman with dirty black hair and a tattered dress and glowing eyes attacking them. Must have been some movie I saw, or something." Cassie said, not entirely sure why he asked.

"Right." he said, nodding his head slightly and pacing with a profound look in his eyes, obviously thinking hard about something.

The doors opened suddenly, with Lockhart going in at wand point.

"Finally! Took you longer than we thought!" Cassie cried standing up from where she was seated and pointing her wand at Lockhart as well.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet, she had been ignoring Cassie and Merlin the whole time.

"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this time?"

"To ask you how you died," said Harry.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died ."

"How?" said Harry.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away..." She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

"Was that so hard? You could have answered our questions!" Cassie said zealously, holding her wand tighter in annoyance.

"You didn't ask nicely." Myrtle said, rolling her eyes at her.

Merlin, Harry and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror on his face, Cassie still pointing her wand at him.

It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.

"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."

"But -" Harry thought hard. The only times he'd ever managed to speak Parseltongue were when he'd been faced with a real snake. He stared hard at the tiny engraving, trying to imagine it was real.

"Open up," he said.

He looked at Ron, who shook his head.

"English," Merlin said, sympathetically, he knew exactly how hard it was.

Harry looked back at the snake, willing himself to believe it was alive. If he moved his head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving.

"Open up," he said. Except that the words weren't what anyone heard; a strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

Harry heard Ron gasp and looked up again. He had made up his mind on what he was going to do.

"I'm going down there," he told them all, determined.

"So am I." Cassie said, digging her wand into Lockhart's back

She couldn't not go, not now they had found the entrance to the Chamber, not if there was even the faintest, slimmest, wildest chance that Ginny might be alive.

"Me too," said Ron.

There was a pause.

"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just-"

"Merlin?" Cassie said.

"No I don't really fancy it." he said, wanting to see something, obviously not meaning it.

"You don't have a choice, Merlin." Cassie replied, knowing that he wasn't serious.

"Ok." Merlin said in that annoying tone of his that made her want to throttle him.

"You two are weird." Ron said, his wand pointing at Lockhart again. "You can go first," he snarled. White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening.

"Boys," he said, his voice feeble. "Boys, what good will it do?"

Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand. Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe.

"I really don't think -" he started to say, but Ron gave him a push, and he slid out of sight. Harry followed quickly. He lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go.

"Ladies first." Merlin said.

"Gee, thanks." Cassie said sarcastically. She, too, lowered herself, thankful she'd kept her school robes on, and let go.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. She could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and she knew that she was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind her she could hear someone, thudding slightly at the curves.

And then, just as she had begun to worry about what would happen when she hit the ground, the pipe leveled out, and she shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Harry helped her up and stood aside as Merlin and Ron came whizzing out of the pipe, too.

"We must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

"Lumos! " Harry muttered to his wand and it lit again. Merlin followed suit while Cassie trained her wand on Lockhart once more "C'mon," Harry said to Ron and Lockhart, Merlin had already begun to walk forward, and off they went, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.

The tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

"Remember," Harry said quietly as they walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..."

But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Trying very hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Harry led the way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.

"Harry - there's something up there -" said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder.

They froze, watching. Harry could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Maybe it's asleep," Harry breathed, glancing back at the other two. Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes. Harry turned back to look at the thing, his heart beating so fast it hurt.

Very slowly, his eyes as narrow as he could make them and still see, Harry edged forward, his wand held high.

"Basilisk skin, they shed it like a normal snake." Merlin told them, walking forward to examine it, Cassie doing the same out of pure curiosity.

"Normal snake? This thing's longer than a hundred adult boa constrictors put together, not to mention much bigger in diameter!" Cassie cried, keeping a firm grip on her wand.

The light from Harry's wand slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Blimey," said Ron weakly.

There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.

"Get up," said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart. Cassie doing the same from beside the snakeskin.

Lockhart got to his feet - then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground, Cassie didn't dare hex him for fear of hitting Ron in the tussle.

Harry jumped forward, but too late - Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

"The adventure ends here, boys! And girl." he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you four tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body - say good-bye to your memories!"

He raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled , "Obliviate! "

"The idiot!" Cassie murmured, relaxing her grip slightly as the wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung his arms over his head and ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor. Cassie and Merlin, thankfully were far enough away. Next moment, he was standing with them, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.

"Ron!" he shouted. "Are you okay? Ron!"

"I'm here!" came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. "I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand-"

There was a dull thud and a loud "ow!" It sounded as though Ron had just kicked Lockhart in the shins.

"Serves him right!" Cassie breathed next to Merlin

"What now?" Ron's voice said, sounding desperate. "We can't get through - it'll take ages..."

"Merlin and I will stay and try to shift some rock, Harry has to go on!" Cassie said

Harry looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it. He had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks by magic, and now didn't seem a good moment to try - what if the whole tunnel caved in?

"We have to shift the rock manually, Harry." Merlin said, a hand on his shoulder. "If we try with magic, there might be another cave-in. Go!"

There was another thud and another "ow!" from behind the rocks. They were wasting time. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours... Harry knew there was only one thing to do.

"If I'm not back in an hour…" Harry said to Merlin and Cassie.

There was a very pregnant pause, "I'll try and shift some of this rock from this side," said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can - can get back through. And, Harry-"

"See you in a bit," said Harry, trying to inject some confidence into his shaking voice.

"Go with him, Merlin. I'll handle things here." Cassie said, looking him in the eye and letting him know she'd be okay.

"Yeah." he said, turning around to catch up to Harry.

Cassie ripped the hem of her robes and made a makeshift glove. "Ron! Try to rip the hem of your robes, you won't cut yourself as bad." Cassie told him as she moved to start shifting the rocks.

"Okay." she heard him say, and then she heard the tearing of his robes as he followed her advice.