Chapter 8 - The Chamber
Nikolai felt like he was seeing more of Estelle around school. They spent a lot of time in the library, where they would just sit and complete homework, she would walk with him most places, and when she didn’t drag him back to the Gryffindor common room, they would retire to the Slytherin common room, much to Malfoy’s quiet chagrin, with Harry’s cloak under her arm. He only wished she did this for a different reason. During the week, he and Estelle would go to the hospital wing and change the water in the vase at Hermione’s bedside and at the end of each week, Nikolai, Estelle, Ron, and Harry would go with new flowers in hand to switch out the dead ones. Harry would put the new and alive plants into the glass vase as Estelle watched Hermione with sad eyes. Nikolai would put his hand on her shoulder, they’d say a few things, keeping Hermione up-to-date in case she could hear them, and then they’d leave. It had only been three weeks, but it became a routine quickly. Today was a Friday, so Nikolai found himself back in the hospital wing with the three Gryffindors.
“Wish you were here, Hermione.” Harry said. Seeing Estelle’s reaction to Hermione, it often made Nikolai forget that Harry and Ron were her friends as well. It had hit them all hard, even whilst knowing that eventually she would be back and smiling again.
“Snape took twenty points from Gryffindor again,” Estelle began the one-sided conversation she always did with Hermione, “because Seamus couldn’t stop his Wiggenweld from going up in flames.”
“It was quite impressive, actually.” Nikolai recalled the memory in the dingy Potions room.
“But Goyle spilt his and it started eating the table and he didn’t lose any points.” Ron pointed out.
Nikolai heard a light rustling and looked to see Harry unfurling a scrunched up piece of paper.
“What’s that, Harry?” He asked, directing everyone’s attention to him.
“She had it in her…” He trailed off as he read the page, then he turned to them all suddenly. “This is why Hermione was in the library when she was attacked.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Come on.” He stood up sharply and began to walk out of the room, the other three following close behind. In his peripheral vision, Nikolai noticed Estelle throw a quick glance back to Hermione, but she ran with them.
“Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet the serpent’s eye. Spiders flee before it…” Harry read aloud as they continued to walk aimlessly through the hallways, before stopping abruptly to look at them all. “This is it! The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That’s why I can hear it speak, it’s a snake.”
They all took a moment to process the information Harry had given them. Nikolai held out his hand politely. “Could I…?” Harry gave it to him and he looked down at the page. Estelle moved closer to read it with him. It was printed in a serif font and the left edge was choppy, clear it had been ripped out of a book. Behind the bends from it being crumpled, he could make out the tell-tale signs of it having been folded into quarters. The twins looked at each other, realising at the same time that Hermione did not rip this out, she would never disrespect a book like that. Which only left them thinking that someone else had, wondering who it could have been. What else struck Nikolai as odd was that the page felt familiar, if not the information itself, then definitely the layout and font. The all-bold text stood out to him, not many books did that, and he felt like he should try to remember what book it was from.
“But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why’s no one dead?” Ron asked.
After a moment of consideration, Estelle answered. “Because no one did look it in the eye, not directly anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Ron asked again.
“Of course,” Nikolai understood what his sister meant. “Colin had a camera so he saw it through that.”
“And Justin must have seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick, and, well, he’s a ghost, so he can’t die again.” Harry continued as they began to walk again.
“Hermione had the mirror.” Estelle nodded along. “I bet you anything she had figured it out, so she must have been checking around the corners with it.”
“And Mrs. Norris? I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a mirror.”
“Well…” Harry went to answer but he had to think again. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe it isn’t a Basilisk.” Ron was so quick to give up on their theory and Nikolai was frankly disappointed.
Estelle shook her head. “No, let’s figure this out. What could she have seen it through? So that she sees it but not directly.”
“Uh, a reflection?” Nikolai suggested.
“Oh, that’s it!” Harry exclaimed. “There was water on the floor, she must have seen it in the reflection of the water.”
“Besides, everything else fits.” Nikolai said, pulling them all closer to a fire pit so he could read it better, smoothing it out. “‘Spiders flee before it’, from what you guys told me, and those spiders by Justin, it certainly sounds like the spiders are running from the monster.”
“There’s no way it’s really… sneaky, though. I mean, how would a giant great snake get around the castle without killing anyone?” Estelle asked, huffing and leaning against the wall.
Nikolai’s eyes were drawn to the bottom of the page where Hermione’s neat handwriting spelled out one word. “Hermione figured that out. ‘Pipes’.”
“Of course, it’s getting around through the pipes,” Harry agreed, “that’s why I can hear it through the walls.”
Ron and Nikolai regarded the wall they were standing by with caution. “That’s ominous.”
“Aragog did say that a girl died in the bathroom fifty years ago. It’s got to be Myrtle.” Estelle added.
“Maybe she knows something about it?” Nikolai said, going through possibilities through his mind. Of course she’d know something about it, Hugo, it’s her death. He wasn’t sure if that thought was in his or his sister’s voice.
Before they could put action to his suggestion, McGonagall’s voice rang out across the school.
“All students are to return to their house dormitories at once.” The four shared a nervous glance as they continued to listen. “All teachers to the second floor corridor immediately.” They left enough time for a breath before they began to run towards the second floor corridor.
“Das wird gut.” (This’ll be good.) Nikolai mumbled to Estelle sarcastically, though he felt nervous to see what got the teachers jumpy. She sighed, recognising his worried tone. They stopped running abruptly, peering around a corner as the teachers stood in front of the wall.
“As you can see, the heir of Slytherin has left another message.” McGonagal gestured to the writing on the wall. It was in blood. Again. “Our worst fear has been realised. A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I’m afraid this is the end of Hogwarts.”
Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever. The air around them felt very cold regardless of summer fast approaching. If it were in a book, Nikolai was sure he would have found it intriguing, mystifying, but seeing it in real life, plastered across the wall in deep red, was the most chilling experience he’d ever been in. Fast steps drew him out of his mind and he readily rolled his eyes at recognition of the voice that followed.
“So sorry, dozed off. What did I miss?”
He heard Estelle breathe out angrily at Lockhart.
“A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart.” Snape snapped, and once again, the students were in the unfortunate position of supporting Snape in a matter. But his tone suddenly changed. “Your moment has come at last.”
“My… moment?” Lockhart stuttered out and for some reason, Nikolai was excited to find out what their Potions teacher was talking about.
“Weren’t you saying just last night that you have known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?”
“That’s settled, then.” McGonagall said, a light lilt in her Scottish accent showing a distinct change in mood from a mere two minutes earlier. “We’ll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend.”
There was a pause before Lockhart coughed uncomfortably and answered. “Very well. Uh, I’ll just be in my office getting… getting ready.” He sounded very unsure, but walked off before anyone could question him.
“Who is it that the monster’s taken, Minerva?” Madam Pomfrey asked with a worried voice.
McGonagall’s face turned to one of concern. “Ginny Weasley.”
They all retracted from the wall and stood hidden as the teachers sped away. Ginny had been taken, stuck in the Chamber by herself with a monster that could kill her just with a look. Nikolai’s eyes widened and he quickly surveyed the three around him. He held onto Estelle’s sleeve as he noticed her distressed expression, and saw Ron’s mouth open wide. Harry reacted little, as he often did, but Nikolai could tell he was worried from his eyebrows rising and gaze dropping to the floor.
Ron repeated the sentence on the wall, stunned with alarm. “‘Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.’ Ginny…”
Estelle took a deep breath in the silence before nodding decisively. “We have to do something.”
“We go to Lockhart.” Harry responded. Estelle deflated instantly.
“Really? Do we need to go to him?” She complained.
“Well, we don’t very well know where the entrance is.” Harry said as he began to walk. The others followed close behind him.
“I bet he doesn’t actually know.” Nikolai grit through his teeth. “I bet he just said that to seem intelligent.”
“Exactly!” Estelle agreed, pointing towards her brother. “We’ll get there and he’ll be packing up his things.”
“Whether he’s been lying or not, he’s a teacher.” Harry said as they opened the door to the classroom. “Lockhart may be useless, but he’s going to try to get into the Chamber. At least we can tell him what we know.”
They dashed up the stairs and opened the door with a crash.
“Professor, we have some information for you!” Harry exclaimed, but then fell short. Professor Lockhart was packing his bags. Estelle said that as a throwaway phrase, Nikolai knew this, but maybe it came from a subconscious feeling. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Uh, well… yes. Um… Urgent call. Unavoidable, uh, got to go.” He was flushed from being caught in the act, embarrassed about being found out.
“What about my sister?!” Ron exclaimed loudly, almost shouting.
“Well, um,” He ran to another case, checking it was secure. Nikolai couldn’t believe the gall on this man, and naturally pulled Estelle’s arm, making sure she didn’t go to hit him. She looked like she might have. “As to that, most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I.”
“This shouldn’t come as a surprise, I guess.” Nikolai said sourly, looking Lockhart dead in the eye, “I mean, this is proof in itself. Those books were shams.” Estelle was seething next to him, trying not to scream, probably.
Ron scoffed. “So you two were right, as usual.”
“They used common sense. My books wouldn’t have sold half as well if people didn’t think I’d done those things!”
“You really are a fraud!” Harry declared. “You’ve just been taking credit for what other wizards have done.”
“Is there anything you can do?” Ron spat, fear for his sister giving way to the fury from the so-called Professor in front of them.
“Yes. Now that you mention it. I’m rather gifted with memory charms.” Now that did surprise Nikolai. Memory charms were notoriously hard to master, not even Hermione would be able to perform them, not while at Hogwarts at least. “Otherwise, you see, all of those wizards would have gone blabbing, and I’d never have sold another book.”
Through clenched teeth, Estelle finally spoke. “This sounds a lot like a villain’s declaration, Professor. Will you hurry up so I don’t break your nose?”
Nikolai nodded, stage-whispering to Ron and Harry, “She broke my nose once. She said it was an accident, but I’m not sure I believe her.”
Lockhart glanced at her for a second, regarding her with self-assuredness painted thinly over the sudden jump of fear at realising her threat was real.
“I’m, er.” He turned away from them and began walking towards a case. “Going to have to do the same to you.” But he spun around far too slowly as when he reached them, all four of them had their wands pointed at him.
“Don’t even think about it.” Harry warned, gesturing down with his wand. Lockhart’s eyes were wide with shock and he sneered, noticing his position. He pulled his wand back down dejectedly, continuing to feign righteousness. Nikolai thought that he must have been feigning it because there was no way anyone would feel actually righteous in a moment such as this.
“What now, then, Harry?” Ron asked, not taking his eyes off of Lockhart, though his wand would likely only cause him harm at this point. Although, Nikolai supposed, Lockhart didn’t know that.
Harry shrugged. “We find the entrance to the Chamber.”
“Hugo said earlier,” Estelle recalled their conversation before McGonagall’s announcement, “Myrtle must know something.”
“Thank you.” Nikolai said in emphasis, appreciating her value of his words with sarcastic exasperation at the other two’s lack thereof.
“Then let’s go to the bathroom.” Harry decided.
After pushing Lockhart forward with their wands at his back, they reached Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Opening the door, they heard her howling to herself as she drifted over the stalls.
“Who’s there?” She snapped, turning towards them before easily relaxing and smiling with her cheeks. “Oh. Hello, Harry.”
Estelle mumbled under her breath while rolling her eyes. “Bonjour à toi aussi, Myrtle.” (Hello to you too, Myrtle.) Nikolai snorted.
“What do you want?” She snapped again.
Hesitating, Harry tried to answer as politely as possible. “To ask… how you died.”
“Oh, it was dreadful.”
“Sagte sie lächelnd." (She said whilst smiling.) Nikolai whispered to Estelle who tried not to smile as Myrtle continued to describe how she died.
Myrtle’s face pulled into a frown, though sad and wistful. “It happened right here in this very cubicle. I’d hidden because Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then somebody came in.” Nikolai tried not to think about the parallels between this story and Hermione in first year.
“Who was it, Myrtle?” Harry asked quickly.
“I don’t know. I was distraught! But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language, and I realised it was a boy speaking so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and… I died.” She smiled again for the last two words and Estelle felt uneasy.
“Just like that?” Estelle piped up. Myrtle didn’t like her as much as she liked Harry, but she didn’t dislike her nearly as much as she hated Ron, so Estelle figured it would be fine. “How?”
Myrtle turned to her with no surprise on her face. “I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there by that sink.” She pointed to one of the sinks that stood in a dodecahedron around mirrors.
While Nikolai and Ron kept their wands trained on Lockhart, Harry and Estelle searched the sink Myrtle had pointed to for any sort of clue as to what to do. Harry’s hands stopped as they reached the tap.
“Stella.” He said and she looked to where his hands were. It was a serpent insignia, etched within the metal of the tap.
“This must be it.” She responded.
Harry nodded. “This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.”
They stood in silence for a moment before Nikolai furrowed his brow in confusion and prompted “Well, say something, Harry. Say something in Parseltongue.”
Harry stepped back and opened his mouth. He made a hissing noise that Nikolai thought sounded like a bad impression of a snake and the sink began to move. With loud clanking noises, the sinks moved out of the way, creating a hole in the floor as the students and Lockhart watched in intrigue.
“Heilige Mist.” (Holy crap.) Nikolai murmured.
“Putain de merde.” (Holy crap.) Estelle agreed.
Lockhart looked over the edge and Nikolai tugged on his sister’s arm when he felt her flinch forward. She gave him a ‘come on’ face while he shot back ‘don’t push a teacher into an ominous hole’ look. They should start a language from these looks.
“Excellent, Harry, aha, good work.” He laughed nervously. “Well then, I’ll just be… There’s no need for me to stay-!”
He turned quickly but ran into Harry and Nikolai who pushed him back.
“Oh yes there is!” Harry shouted through his teeth. Lockhart flew to the edge of the hole, flailing, yelling and grabbing onto the sides of the sinks, teetering uncomfortably over the hole.
“Well, I don’t think that’s really necessary-”
Estelle chuckled, looking down. “Okay.” Before Lockhart had a chance to level himself out, Estelle pulled her free arm back and punched Lockhart square on the nose. There was a crack and he yelped as Ron exclaimed “Stella!” Nikolai’s brain jumped into panic mode– he had to stop Estelle from getting in trouble. Lockhart, while one hand flew to his nose and his eyes began to stream water, was still surprisingly balanced. Nikolai took barely a second to consider the situation before instinct kicked in and he shoved Lockhart square in the chest. He fell backwards into the hole and disappeared from view with an echoing scream.
“Hugo!” Estelle cried out, a grin on her face as she looked at him.
“Heilige Scheiße!” (Holy shit!) Nikolai screamed. He had just not only assaulted a teacher, but pushed him down a bloody hole. He could be dead. Who knows how far that drop was. What if Lockhart died and Nikolai got expelled? Worse, he could go to prison for manslaughter– murder? Would Estelle also get put in jail? Maybe being an accessory to the crime?
“Hugo!” Estelle shouted at him again, this time a concerned look flattening her face. She saw Nikolai’s eyes faze back onto her and smiled. “Je ne devrais pas approuver cela, mais c'était tellement cool.” (I know I shouldn’t be endorsing this but that was so cool.)
“Vous avez envie de le frapper depuis la première semaine, n’est-ce pas vous?” (You’ve been wanting to punch him since the first week, haven’t you?) Nikolai swam out of his thoughts and a small smile came onto his face.
Estelle grinned again. “Plus longtemps que cela.” (Longer than that.)
Ron shrugged, not understanding their conversation but recognising the spaced-out eyes Nikolai had. “Better him than us.”
“It’s really quite filthy down there!” Lockhart’s voice drifted up from the dark hole.
“Well, I guess, at least he’s still alive.” Nikolai said, eyebrows raised.
“Alright.” Harry said seriously, “Let’s go.”
“Oh, Harry?” They all looked up at Myrtle who was still floating above the stalls. “If you die down there, you’re welcome to share my toilet.”
“Uh… thanks, Myrtle.” Harry answered unsurely.
“Hugo, wait till I shout up, then come down after me.” Estelle instructed. He nodded monotonously, standing back for a moment as he watched her jump down with an excited smile. It only took a few seconds until she shouted back up, “It’s safe! Come on down!”
“Alright.” Nikolai mumbled, twitching his head and breathing in deeply in an attempt to psyche himself up. He turned to Ron and Harry behind them, shaking his hands with nerves. “Better get down there before she kills him.”
“Like you wouldn’t help.” Ron scoffed with a small smile, referring to his impulsive act just moments earlier.
Nikolai nodded. “Good point.” Then he jumped down into the dark.
It was just like a waterslide but without the water and a lot more painful. He slid off the end– he didn’t see the end coming– and fell to the floor with a crunch. He had a funny feeling he knew what he fell onto, but he looked down and was still appalled to see a sea of bones beneath him.
“Lieber Christus.” (Dear Christ.) He muttered, scrambling up quickly and rushing over to Estelle who was consciously standing as far from Lockhart as she could get, while still pointing her wand at him dangerously.
“Yeah. Pas jolie.” (Not pretty.) She stated.
Harry and Ron flew down in quick succession after him, screaming as they slid. Somehow, Nikolai thought they seemed to go faster than he had. They landed with equally upsetting crunches as they groaned before remembering where they were. They sprung up– or, Harry sprung up, Ron slowly got up on his feet, stroking the leg he had landed on. Harry was quick to whip his wand back out to point at Lockhart while Ron surveyed the floor.
“Ugh! Don’t tell me these are… real.” He gulped, looking at Nikolai, hoping for a pleasant answer.
“Er… I don’t know if I should remind you that there is a carnivorous monster down here or not, Ron.” He responded, looking at his friend with regret.
Ron sighed, pointedly not looking at the floor and busying himself with getting his wand out, too. “Thanks, mate.”
“Anytime.”
“Now remember what we’re dealing with here.” Estelle said, turning their attention back to her. “You only need to see the Basilisk’s eyes to die.” She hesitated, realising that she put it rather bluntly and they really did not need that right now. “Sorry.”
“Stella’s right, so any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away.” Harry continued. He was wearing his serious expression that he kept for life-threatening instances, such as the trapdoor in first year, talking about the petrifications, and Quidditch games. Nikolai tried hard not to see the light-side of that. Their situation was dire. With one final look, Harry made his way through an opening in the wall, further into the snake’s lair. The other three all turned their gaze on Lockhart, who looked scared out of his mind, no matter how many layers of bravado he tried to keep up.
Ron gestured with his wand. “Go on.” He went to say something but saw Estelle and Nikolai step closer and jumped into action, climbing through the hole after Harry.
Estelle nodded to Ron. “You go.”
“Right.” Ron said, keeping his wand steadily trained on Lockhart as he walked over to the opening.
“Hugo–” Estelle began but her brother cut her off.
“Ich gehe, ich gehe.” (I’m going, I’m going.) He said, waving her off as he joined Ron. He knew there was no way Estelle would be voluntarily staying any further than a metre away from him, and there was no way she would let him walk through last. He heard her clambering down the tunnel behind him.
They all followed as a tight group after that, listening to Harry’s “this way!”s and ducking through more dingy tunnels. It began to stink and Estelle miserably thought that that meant they were getting closer to wherever they were going. Was their plan to rescue Ginny and kill the Basilisk? That sounded awfully easy, though she was certain she must have been overestimating their ability to kill a Basilisk. They were only second-years after all, and Lockhart was certainly no help, unless they wanted to make it forget it was a snake. Maybe it would think it was on their side.
The group paused for a second as they reached a long room with a low, unstable ceiling. There was a giant snake-skin that ran the entire length of the room. Estelle felt the weight of Nikolai returning his hand to her sleeve while Harry must have leapt at the chance to put himself in more danger as he suddenly began to run along the length of the skin, running his hand along it in places.
“Don’t touch it, Harry!” Estelle shouted at him from the other end of the room. She sighed as he barely looked up at her. “Il doit toujours aller le toucher.” (He always has to go and touch it.)
“Eh bien, c’est lui l'élu.” (Well, he is the chosen one.) Nikolai responded. Estelle smiled at the familiarity of it all. It was important to stay positive in these situations and the fact that she had now been in more than one was quite troubling.
“What’s this?” Ron asked loudly.
“It looks like… a snake.” Lockhart answered looking genuinely intrigued through the fear, now.
“It’s a snakeskin.” Harry corrected from where he had crouched and was now closely examining the skin.
“Bloody hell.” Ron exclaimed.
“It must be massive.” Nikolai pointed out. Even though the context was undesirable, Estelle was proud that her brother was talking so much.
“Bloody huge.” She agreed. “We have to be careful about this.”
Right then, Lockhart swooned with a moan and fell quite graciously to the floor. Ron, standing the closest to him, didn't even attempt to catch him, and Estelle chuckled for a moment.
“Heart of a lion, this one.” Ron stated bluntly, looking down at the collapsed teacher.
Suddenly, in a move that he must have thought was impressive, Lockhart grabbed Ron’s wand from his lax arm and jumped up, holding it out and pointing it towards them all in rotation. Estelle wanted to howl with laughter, it bubbled up inside of her, but she kept a lid on it. She felt Nikolai’s hand shake on her sleeve and she turned to see him choking slightly, biting his lips, an overdramatic concern plastering his face. He was doing much worse than she was, but seeing him struggling made her start to giggle.
“What are you two laughing at? The adventure ends here.” Thankfully, Lockhart didn’t wait until they answered, because then he would have realised his mistake on the wand he chose to steal. “But don’t fret. The world will know our story. How I was too late to save the girl, how you four tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. So… you first, Miss. Wolfe.” He kept his wand trained on her.
“Je suis la plus éloignée.” (I am the furthest away.) She looked confused purposefully, though the rising anxiety from having a wand pointed at her clawed at her chest. Ron’s wand sometimes just got the spell wrong, she could end up throwing up slugs for the rest of her life. Or worse.
“Fast.” (Almost.) Nikolai corrected her, since Harry was factually furthest away, but his breathing had picked up as well. He had started trying to move in front of her, but she pulled him behind, taking a step forward.
“Yeah, right, almost. Besides, there are four of us.” She reasoned, suddenly feeling quite nervous.
“Which will just make this revenge even sweeter. Obliviate!” He shouted the spell so quickly, they didn’t have a chance to move, if Estelle hadn’t winced and pulled her arm in front of her face, she might have thought that it was impressive, but instead of feeling a… she wasn’t sure what she would feel– she saw a light and heard a loud crack. She tore her arm away from her face just in time to see Lockhart get thrown back into the cave’s wall. It looked quite painful as he dropped to the floor like a doll, but she didn’t have time to consider his well-being as she was too concerned for theirs as the room began to shake.
“Get down!” She yelled, crouching and pulling Nikolai down with her.
“Harry!” Nikolai shouted as he cowered with her, making sure the boy dropped as well. She checked to make sure Ron was down as the rocks began to fall. Thunderous boulders smashed on the snake skin, plumes of dust floated out as the storm of debris stopped quickly. It was fast and sudden and as soon as it stopped, Estelle leapt up, wanting to check the damage and check Harry, but Nikolai yanked her back down as more rocks clattered.
“Es gibt immer noch ein paar mehr.” (There’s always a few more.) He told her, standing up cautiously.
“Alles in Ordnung?” (You okay?) She stood next to him, brushing dust off his robes in a fruitless endeavour as the rest of him was covered.
“Ja, fein. Du?” (Yes, fine. You?)
“Bien.” (Alright.) She looked over to Ron, who had also gotten to his feet, and she walked the two steps between them, pulling him over to assess him. “You alright, Ron?”
“That was mental!” He exclaimed, eyes wide, waving away dust in front of him.
“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” She ran over to where the rocks had stopped before them, trying to find a hole far enough to see Harry. “Harry?! Are you okay?!”
“Estelle!” He shouted back. “Estelle, are you guys okay?!”
“We’re fine!” Ron got closer to the rocks.
“What about you?!” Estelle repeated.
“I’m okay!”
“Hello.” They all turned to the corner, where Lockhart had made his presence known by sitting up with a dazed expression on his face. “Who are you?”
The three shared a confused expression. Or maybe it was disgust.
“Uh… Ron Weasley.”
“Nikolai Wolfe.”
“Stella Wolfe.”
“Really?” He seemed quite interested before turning to the side and thinking. “And, uh… wh-who am I?”
They turned to each other again as Estelle let out an amused ‘ha!’.
“The memory charm backfired!” Nikolai shouted to Harry through the rubble.
“Lockhart’s got no clue who he is!” Ron added.
“It’s an odd sort of a place, this, isn’t it?” He chuckled, picking up a stone and tossing it in the air before looking back up at them innocently. “Do you live here?”
“I much prefer him like this.” Ron mumbled to them, taking the stone from his hand.
“Sometimes.” Estelle answered Lockhart, seeing an opportunity for a lift in spirits. “It’s our holiday house.”
“Really?” Lockhart repeated in the same naive manner.
“Wait till you see the conservatory.” Nikolai added, “It’s got stained glass windows.”
“Really?” Lockhart’s became even more interested.
“What do we do with him?” Ron whispered to Estelle as Nikolai engaged the Professor in a charming description of their new holiday house.
“No clue, but we should start moving rubble.” Estelle shook her head and sighed, walking back to the rocks. “Harry! We’re going to start shifting some of the rocks! No point in telling you to wait, is there?!”
“No! I’ll go and find Ginny!”
Estelle sighed again. “Be careful!” Harry didn’t reply and Estelle assumed he had already gone. “He’s got to stop doing that.” She said to herself though Ron nodded.
“Right, let’s get going, then.” Nikolai said, leaving Lockhart to stroke his fingers against the wall and then look at the dust on his fingers with awe in his eyes. He took off his robe, the other two following suit.
“What’d you tell him?” Estelle said as she picked up a rock.
“Told him it was gold.”
“I’d have knocked him out by now, I swear.” Ron said, following Estelle’s lead.
“That’s what we’re here for.” Nikolai started pulling a boulder from the pile. “Or, well, that’s what I’m here for.”
“Yeah, to lie to an amnesic man.” Estelle nodded sarcastically, tugging another boulder out of the way. Ron laughed, and picked up another rock.
Nikolai grunted. “This one’s– this one’s heavy.” He wrenched at another boulder, but it didn’t move.
Estelle dropped the rock she was holding and pushed him out the way. “I got this.” She did the same, gathering the same reaction from the stone. She looked at Nikolai, wanting him to join her and he did. They tugged but still no movement.
“You guys realise you have magic, right?” Ron stated, looking at them like they were trying to escape Mrs. Norris by standing still.
“Oh yeah.” The twins said in unison as they both drew back.
“After you. Please.” Nikolai laid out his hands like an offering to the stone as Estelle graciously and dramatically stepped up to the object.
“Why, thank you.” She took out her wand and pointed it at the boulder. Swish and flick. “Wingardium Leviosa.” With a heave, it began to float free.
“Bowie, this is gonna take ages.” Nikolai complained unhappily, watching how slow the boulder moved mid-air. Estelle shook her head at her brother’s reference to David Bowie in place of ‘God’.
“It’s good that there’s three of us.” Ron said, shrugging, and he picked up another rock. “Imagine if there was just one of us down here.”
“Don’t want to think about that.” Estelle shook her head, dropping the boulder and moving to another heavy-looking one.
“No, that would take days.” Nikolai crouched to lug another boulder.
“Might be exaggerating that, Hugo.”
“I don’t know, could take a really long time.”
“So could a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
“Like Bowie coming out with a good single.”
“Woah! Woah, now where to start with that? Heilige Scheiße, Lea.” (Holy shit, Lea.)
“Honestly, that was uncalled for.” Ron added in.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” Estelle apologised. Maybe the stress of the day was getting to her, though for a moment she did find it funny.
“I can’t– move this one.” Ron strained through gritted teeth, picking up a boulder but having to drop it before his knees gave out.
Estelle came over to him and crouched to pick it up. “Here, let me try.” Shifting her weight, she got her arms underneath the boulder and heaved. She teetered for a moment as she settled her balance and started walking slowly from the pile of rocks. Ron watched her, mouth agape, as Nikolai carried on moving stones. She dropped it with a huff and shook out her arms, turning her attention to Ron.
“Bloody hell! Why’re you so strong?” He exclaimed.
“Don’t say it.” Nikolai warned her as she grinned.
“Well, it certainly isn’t the genes.” She shot a pointed look at her brother and he rolled his eyes.
“Every time.”
She slung her arm over Ron’s shoulders and he scowled at her confusedly. “I play basketball. You know this.”
“Yeah, but I play Quidditch at home, too.” He countered.
“Well, I also play Quidditch. And I’ve been playing both all my life.”
“Since you were five, Lea, get your stories checked.” Nikolai rebutted.
Estelle slid her arm off Ron and turned her head dramatically to Nikolai. “Yeeeaaahhh. Which is basically my whole life.”
“It’s half your life, drama queen, you’re thirteen.”
“Older than you.”
“By an hour.” He must have a headache from all his eye-rolls.
“And twenty! Don’t forget the twenty minutes, Hugo.” She turned to Ron like conspirators. “Best hour twenty of my life.”
****
The twins had just finished asking Ron about rescuing Harry in the flying car from his aunt and uncle’s house when Estelle exclaimed, “I think this is it! We can get over the top.” She tugged a final rock out, creating a wider opening for them to be able to crawl through.
“You stay here.” Ron instructed Lockhart who seemed very nonplussed about being left behind.
“Of course.” He replied, continuing to look through his robes.
“I’ll go in last. Stella, you go.” Ron said and she appreciated his knowledge of her preferred order. Nikolai barely sighed but did roll his eyes again.
“Yeah, follow me.”
She shimmied through the wider opening then climbed up and over the last few boulders. The other two followed her quickly and they were fast to run on, though they had no clue where they were headed.
“Well, this looks right.” Nikolai stated, pointing at the circular door in front of them which had been left open, no doubt thanks to Harry.
“Must be.” Ron said.
They walked through it and descended down the oddly placed ladder to a massive chamber. It stretched long, lined with snake head statues, water running by them.
At the end of the chamber, in front of a grand sculpture of who Estelle assumed to be Slytherin himself, was Ginny, lying unmoving at the feet of a boy who must only have been a few years older than them. He was distracted, however, by Harry fending off the Basilisk from on top of the statue.
“Is that a sword?!” Nikolai asked in the air, shock plain on his face. Estelle didn’t answer, instead she bolted down the walkway with a lot less caution than she should have logically had, Ron at her heels, hearing Nikolai running after them. She skidded down to her knees next to Ginny, Ron doing a similar manoeuvre as Nikolai stayed standing. She was so cold, so pale, she looked so small. Estelle had to help. Her first thought was to light a fire, but realised that the floor was too damp with puddles, so she decided against it and instead removed her cloak, laying it over Ginny’s frozen body. She saw Ron smiling gratefully at her, which she responded to, even through the anxiety.
“Who are you?” Nikolai said harshly, directing it at the boy next to them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nikolai raise his wand at him, but she didn’t hear his answer as she screamed, “Ginny!” She hoped it would wake her up, but it did nothing but cause the huge snake to turn, suddenly noticing their presence. She closed her eyes quickly, panicked, until Harry shouted down at them.
“It’s blind! Don’t make a noise!” She opened her eyes, realising that it meant it’s eyes had been damaged. They should be safe, then. His shouts caused the snake to turn back to him with an unholy screech, slamming its head against the stone as Harry made a frankly impressive dive. He dropped the sword and his friends watched in terror as the Basilisk reeled its head back, ready to strike again. He was still down– Harry wasn’t ready.
“Harry!”
“Over here!”
The twins shouted in unison, causing the snake to direct its attention back to them, and Nikolai stood behind his sister, knee against her back. Estelle appreciated him letting her know he was there, behind her. She got to her feet, staying close to Ginny and leaving Ron to make sure she wasn’t bleeding, and held an arm around her brother, staring at the Basilisk, hoping Harry would call it back when he was ready. Hopefully he would be ready before the Basilisk came for them.
“Who is he, by the way?” Estelle asked Nikolai. No better time to chat.
“Oh,” He grabbed onto her sleeve again. “Just Voldemort.”
She spun on her heels. “You what?!” She exclaimed loudly as the snake began to lower its head towards them.
“OI!” Harry shouted, returning the Basilisk to him. It descended, mouth wide open and Estelle bit her breath. Harry was out of sight when it froze. After a second, it pulled its head back flailing around, screeching and wounded, swaying and collapsing to the floor with a splash against the water. Its landing caused the room to shake, vibrations travelling through the water and hitting each of them with an unwelcome buzz.
Harry climbed down the statue, clutching his arm. It was bleeding a lot. As soon as he came within metres of them, she rushed to him and pried his hand off the injury.
“Merde.” (Shit.) She stated as they walked back over to the group. Harry’s steps began to falter and soon enough he slumped to the ground.
“Oh teufel.” (Oh Hell.) Nikolai murmured, rushing to his side. Estelle watched him examine his arm.
“Remarkable, isn’t it? How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body? All this, Harry, just from one silly little book in the hands of a silly little girl.” Voldemort glided towards them slowly.
“Oh, shut up, Voldy.” Estelle dismissed angrily, a hand raised, still watching Harry. She spared him a glance, he was the dark lord after all, and saw that he seemed genuinely surprised. But only for a moment of course.
“What did you just say?” It was dangerous, there was a lilt to his tone. Again, he was the most powerful dark wizard of all time, so it wasn’t a staggering development.
Nikolai repeated her hand movement, eyes trained on Harry’s wound. “She said shut up. She didn’t stutter.” She bit back a grin– when he was busy, he tended to say the first thing on his mind regardless of consequence.
“How dare you address Lord Voldemort as such. I would kill both of you purebloods in a heartbeat.”
Estelle would never admit to the shiver that ran down her spine.
“Half-blood Slytherin,” Nikolai answered absently, “another fail for the big man.” His back was turned to the man, he didn’t see as Harry’s wand was raised. He was just a figment of his former self, Estelle guessed, but with a wand in hand, who knew what he was still capable of. She didn’t think, she ran to Nikolai, throwing herself in between him and the direction of the wand.
“Avada–” Voldemort’s chest hollowed into light, bursting like a page burning up. He staggered back, dropping Harry’s wand and looking in resentment and shock at the light. Estelle’s eyes opened wide, disregarding the pain in her retina. “Don’t–!” It burst out again, the hole growing in a threatening singe. Estelle looked behind her, where Nikolai and Ron were spinning their eyes between Voldemort and Harry. She drew her gaze to Harry. With a Basilisk fang tightly in his grasp, he stabbed the already overflowing diary causing more black ink to spurt out. Like a body spewing blood, Estelle thought grimly. The light shone brighter and with her view returning to Voldemort, the light escaped through his mouth. It burned up his face as he screamed, and Harry ran the fang through the cover with no remorse. The dark lord blazed brightly. After a moment, Estelle put a hand to her eyes, shielding them from the shine. Peeking through, hoping to avoid blindness, she watched as Voldemort exploded into embers with a guttural cry.
Ginny woke up with a sharp gasp, her body trembling as if she'd been pulled from the dredges of a nightmare. Estelle, who had been kneeling beside her, instinctively moved to help her sit up, firmly holding her shoulder. Ginny's face was pale, and her eyes darted around the chamber in confusion before locking onto Estelle. Sudden fear and guilt doused her expression as the weight of her actions hit her all at once, finally breaking through whatever mind-control Estelle was sure Voldemort used on her.
“It... it was me,” Ginny whispered, her voice cracking under the strain of the confession. “But I swear, I didn’t mean to-”
“Hey,” Estelle cut her off softly, her voice calm with a determined undertone as she gathered Ginny into her arms. She shook slightly as Estelle rubbed her hand up and down Ginny’s arm, hoping to warm her, hoping to ease the cold that seemed to have seeped into her bones. “We know, Ginny,” Estelle whispered, her tone gentle but assuring. “We know.”
Ron was hovering nearby, looking frazzled but relieved that his sister was awake. Despite the dire situation, Ron had a habit of pointing out the obvious in moments like this.
“We have to get out,” he said, his voice trembling slightly, casting a glance toward the massive snake carcass that lay still in the chamber. He shivered.
“How are we going to get Harry out? This poison… I don’t know what could help,” Nikolai asked with regret, breaking the silence with his concern. His eyes were fixed on Harry’s still form, utterly exhausted, though still alive.
As if answering their unspoken prayers, a sudden squawk echoed through the chamber. They all looked up to see Fawkes, the beautiful crimson and gold phoenix, swooping down through the gloomy air toward them.
“That’s Dumbledore’s bird, isn’t it?” Nikolia whispered in disbelief, knowing the answer, his voice hushed, as if he feared speaking too loudly might break the delicate reality they found themselves in.
"Yeah," Estelle answered his rhetorical question, her own voice laced with a sudden frustration, realising Dumbledore’s position. “Savait-il où se trouvait la Chambre pendant tout ce temps?” (Did he know where the chamber was this whole time?)
Understanding the insinuations, Nikolai muttered under his breath with a shake of his head, “Verdammt.” (Damn it.) The implications of that was worrying, Estelle didn’t like the idea of having someone know so much yet do nothing, especially as the head of the school. Her thoughts were about to lead further into this, about Dumbeldore standing idle while children fought for their lives, but she felt Nikolai nudge her with his elbow as he pulled Harry’s arm out of his cloak.
Despite their shared frustration, there was something undeniably magical about the sight of Fawkes gliding through the chamber. He landed beside Harry and Nikolai, his sharp eyes glinting with something like understanding, and without hesitation, the phoenix began to cry. Glimmering tears slid down his beak and onto Harry’s wounds, healing them in a matter of moments. They all watched in stunned silence, Nikolai slowly releasing Harry’s arm as Harry started to move it again without issue. The cuts and bruises faded away as if they had never been there at all.
“Of course,” Harry murmured, awe in his voice. “Phoenix tears have healing powers.”
The glow of Fawkes' magic seemed to lift the weight of fear from all of them, even if only a little. Estelle’s heart swelled with gratitude, and for the first time since entering the Chamber of Secrets, she allowed herself to breathe.
The room, previously shrouded with darkness and dread, felt lighter now. Harry was healed, Ginny was safe, and Fawkes had come for them. They were going to make it out. They were going to survive this. She grinned.
Grabbing onto each other, they held tight as Fawkes prepared to lift them out of the chamber. Estelle felt the powerful grip of the phoenix’s talons as they began to rise, the chamber growing smaller beneath them.
“Uh, this is insane.” Nikolai exclaimed, from somewhere beneath her.
“I wish Hermione could have seen this.” Estelle mumbled absentmindedly. She missed the sad look Nikolai sent her. Relief washed over her as they ascended, but then Harry, ever the noble one, had to ruin the moment.
“We should pick up Lockhart on the way,” he reminded them, his voice filled with a strange sense of duty.
Estelle couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was tempted to protest but bit her tongue. Of course, she thought wryly, we just couldn’t leave without him, could we?