Despite Hermione and the other victims being revived that evening, Hari still felt the need to speak with Myrtle on the off chance that no one had seen their attacker properly. He confided this to Ron and Draco on their way to their first class and found that they agreed.

The only trouble was finding a way to do so. With all the teachers taking them from lesson to lesson and Myrtle’s bathroom in the site of the first attack, it wasn’t going to be easy to slip away long enough to go speak to Myrtle in her toilet.

Thankfully, that morning, they were in luck as Lockhart marched them towards their History of Magic lesson.

Lockhart was going on about how much of an inconvenience it was to have to take them to their next lesson because he was adamant that Hagrid was the culprit. He spent a good portion of the lesson speaking about it as well. Hari could see Draco’s hands balled into fists at his sides as they walked through the busy hallway.

“Trust me when I say that the first thing out of all those poor petrified people’s mouths will be ‘it was Hagrid!’ Mark my words!” Lockhart was saying as they paused to let a prefect lead a group of first years past them in the corridor. “Frankly, these precautions are so unnecessary!”

“Oh, yes, definitely,” said Hari, causing Ron to drop his books onto Draco’s foot in shock.

“Thank you, Hari!” said Lockhart, beaming at Harry. “It’s preposterous! You really must speak to Professor McGonagall, Hari. Try to talk some sense, if you get me.”

Hari nodded. Several of their classmates were gaping at Hari in horror. Hari was one of the least likely students to be agreeing with Lockhart’s opinions, nor to be disagreeing with Minerva McGonagall’s. “It’s definitely excessive,” continued Hari “It must take up so much time having to lead us to all our classes.”

Draco narrowed his eyes at Hari suspiciously, tilting his head for a moment before he appeared to catch on, eyes widening. He added, “Exactly. Why don’t you let us go the rest of the way to class. It’s only another corridor left to go…”

“You know, Mr. Malfoy, I think I shall,” said Lockhart, grinning down at Draco, “I should really prepare my next lesson.” And then he hurried away back through the corridor in the direction of his office, leaving the Gryffindors to go to their class by themselves.

Hari, Ron and Draco allowed the rest of their classmates to go ahead without them and carefully worked their way towards Myrtle’s toilet. They were just about to turn the corridor towards her toilet when they heard a familiar voice calling out to them from down the corridor.

“Boys! What on earth are you three doing?” Minerva was striding over to them, pointy black hat almost falling off her head in her haste to get to them. Her mouth was drawn into a thin, straight line Hari knew was not going to end well.

“We were… er…” began Ron, eyes wide.

“Hermione! We were going to try to visit Hermione, Minnie,” blurted Hari, surprising even himself. Ron and Draco gaped at him and he subtly stepped on their toes to get them to be quiet.

Minerva continued to stare at Hari for a few moments before her scowl smoothed out and she stood up, clearing her throat. When she spoke, she sounded slightly choked up. “Of course. I understand completely. It has been especially hardest on those whose friends were Petrified, especially you three that have been under near constant speculation about whether you did it,” she said. “I will inform Professor Binns that you three will be late to class. Tell Poppy I gave you three my permission to see Hermione.”

“Thank you, Minnie!” said Hari gratefully as Ron and Draco nodded in agreement. They watched Minerva go back down the corridor, pulling out a hanky and blowing her nose as she disappeared around a corner.

“That was the best story you’ve ever come up with, Hari,” said Ron, bobbing his head. “We might as well visit Hermione anyway and go see Myrtle after.”

Madam Pomfrey reluctantly allowed them to see Hermione, muttering to herself about how pointless it was while they each sat down around her bed. Hermione was still lying frozen on her bed, staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling like one of those hyper-realistic statues.

“It’s really odd seeing her like this, isn’t it?” remarked Ron, gesturing towards her.

Draco bobbed his head, looking as though he swallowed acid. “It’s almost a bit creepy, honestly. I’ve never seen her so immobile before,” he replied. “I mean, she’s always doing something like reading or jumping up and down to answer a question or lecturing one of us for being an idiot. It’s so unnatural to see her doing, well, nothing. It’s almost as if she’s…” Neither Hari nor Ron bothered to finish Draco’s long winded question. They knew exactly what he was referring to and it left an empty, heavy feeling in Hari’s stomach.

Draco reached idly, instinctively out for Hermione’s hand where it lay curled on top of her blankets. After a moment, however, he sat up, eyes wide. “There’s something in her hand! Some kind of paper of sorts!” he exclaimed, pointing erratically at her hand.

Hari and Ron positioned themselves so that Madam Pomfrey couldn’t see them as Draco slowly and meticulously worked the piece of crumpled paper out of her tight fist, careful not to tear it. Finally, he managed to get it out and flattened it out on the bed, straightening the crinkles with his hand.

It appeared to be a page torn out of some kind of textbook, the text slightly faded from age. However, Hari could clearly make out the writing:

Known to many as the King of Serpents, the Basilisk is one of the deadliest known creatures on the planet. The snake, known to reach gigantic sizes of at least fifty feet or more, is hatched from a chicken’s egg beneath a toad and can live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Its enormous and venomous fangs will cause death within minutes and can only be treated by phoenix tears. Perhaps most terrifying and shocking is its deadly, yellow gaze which is instantly fatal to any that makes direct eye contact with it. The basilisk’s known mortal enemy, spiders and acromantulas, flee before it, though the cry of a rooster is fatal to a basilisk.

Hari finished reading the text and stared at his other two friends, both of whom wore similarly shocked and horrified faces as how Hari felt. This description sounded terrifyingly similar to the attacks both now and fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. From the wide eyed looks of his friends, they agreed.

“So, it’s a basilisk that’s been going around petrifying students?” said Hari, still scrutinising the paper closely.

“But how? If all those attacked people looked at the basilisk’s eyes, they would be dead, not petrified,” pointed out Ron, poking the page with one of his index fingers.

Hari hummed thoughtfully and read over the text once again. “But think about it, guys. None of the others ever looked directly at the basilisk, did they?” he said, “Hermione and that Prefect girl were found with a hand mirror, Colin had his camera in front of him and Justin must have looked through Nick. Nick’s already dead, so he couldn’t have died twice, could he?”

“And all that water on the floor, remember?” added Draco. “Mrs. Norris must have seen its reflection in one of the puddles of water!” Hari nodded excitedly. It certainly fit. “And that’ll be why you can hear it but no one else can. I thought it might have been something snake related because no one else can understand Parseltongue, but I’d never heard of the basilisk.”

“It all fits,” said Hari, lifting the paper to read it over. “Hagrid said someone’s been killing his roosters and their cry is fatal to the basilisk, so the heir would obviously want rid of them. And all those spiders leaving the castle and Aragog’s refusal to even speak about the monster in the Chamber… It all fits perfectly.”

Draco pointed at a scribble written at the bottom of the page in Hermione’s familiar writing and read out, “‘Pipes.’ That must’ve been how the basilisk has been getting around all year. We could never see it because it was talking inside the pipes in the walls.”

Ron’s eyes widened and he grabbed Hari’s arm, shaking him slightly as realisation dawned in his light blue eyes. “Wait, what if the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in the girls’ toilets?” he said. “It’s been travelling through the pipes, the site of the first attack is right next to the toilet and we know a girl was killed by the monster in the girls’ toilets. I bet you that’s where we can enter the Chamber from.”

“Come on, we’ve got to tell Minerva,” said Hari, hastily putting the paper in his pocket and leading Ron and Draco out of the infirmary. “Break’s in only a few minutes and I know Minerva likes to have a cup of tea with Sprout in the staff lounge, so she’ll be headed there now.”

They had just reached the corridor next to the staff lounge when all three of them froze at a message going out over the corridors. “All students will need to be taken to their common rooms immediately and all staff must make their way to the staff lounge at once,” came the familiar voice of Minerva McGonagall over the school.

“In here!” Hari whispered, yanking Ron and Draco’s sleeves and hurrying inside the staff lounge. He had been here multiple times throughout his childhood. It was a smaller room with a large wooden table in the middle with cushioned chairs around it and a small kitchenette with a tea pot and stacks of various mugs. There was a small cupboard with cloaks inside it which Hari, Ron and Draco hurried inside just as footsteps appeared outside the door.

There was a small hustle and bustle as all the teachers filed into the room, sitting down in seats and whispering nervously to each other under their breath. Minerva’s clear voice spoke again. “It has happened,” she said, voice wavering slightly, “A student has been taken into the Chamber itself by the monster.” There were several gasps of horror from the accompanied teachers. “The heir left another message below the first one: Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.”

“Who is it?” asked Professor Sprout’s voice weakly. “Who has been taken?”

“Miss Ginny Weasley,” said Minerva. Hari felt Ron slide to the floor inside of the tiny cupboard, hugging his knees. He held in his own gasp of shock. The teachers were talking in whispers about the horrible situation when the door to the staff room opened again and Lockhart stepped into the room.

“Ever so sorry. Must have dozed off,” he said, “What have I missed?”

“A student has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy,” said Minerva coldly. “Now is your chance to save the day. If I remember clearly, were you not saying you knew exactly where the entrance to the Chamber was just this morning?”

Professor Flitwick piped up, “Yes, Gilderoy. Didn’t you say you knew what the monster was as well?”

Lockhart spluttered incoherently, for once at a loss for words. Minerva cut him off before he could come up with anything of relevance and said, “I suggest you hurry along, now, Lockhart. We shall keep well out of your way so that you have full reign to stop the monster and save Miss Weasley.”

“Oh, yes! You’re right! I shall—I will just go and… get ready!” Hari heard the door slam shut behind him as Lockhart left seconds later.

Minerva sighed audibly. “Now, with him out of the way, I would like you all to go and tell the students what has happened. They will leave on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning, as soon as those who were Petrified have been revived.”

Hari waited in silence inside the cupboard until all of the staff left the room.

¤¤¤

That evening was one of the worst in Hari’s time at Hogwarts thus far. The entire common room was packed to the brim once again, but it had never been so silent after Minerva told everyone the news. No one could look at the Weasley family, sitting in the farthest corner of the common room, without eyes of pity.

Hari and Draco both felt out of place sitting with the rest of the Weasley’s. Percy shut himself in his dormitory as soon as he heard the news and Fred and George were sitting silently together, staring into the middle distance. Ron was as frozen as a Petrified person, head on Hari’s shoulder as he also stared silently ahead. Draco and Hari could do nothing but stay quiet and glance at each other occasionally.

“She knew something,” said Ron suddenly, keeping his head on Hari’s shoulder. “It wasn’t whatever Percy thought it was. The heir of Slytherin must have had her taken because she knew something and would give it away.”

“I think we should still tell Minerva,” said Hari. “Lockhart’s a lost cause, but if we tell her everything we know, Minerva and the other staff members are more likely to be able to actually do something if we tell them.”

Nobody stopped Hari, Ron or Draco as they quietly made their way out of the common room. Everyone felt too sorry for the Weasley family to stop them.

They walked sullenly over to Minerva’s office together where Hari knocked three times on her door. Minerva’s voice came from the other side of the door telling them to enter. She looked up from where she was writing a letter, shoulders stiffening slightly at the sight of them.

“What are you three doing here? You know how dangerous it is to be alone—”

Hari interrupted what he knew would likely be a long speech to scold them. “We know what’s inside the Chamber of Secrets, Minerva. And we think we know where the entrance is,” he blurted.

“You what?”

“It’s a Basilisk, Professor,” said Draco. He elbowed Hari in the side. “Show her the paper we got from Hermione.” Hari reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled paper, handing it over to Minerva. She adjusted her glasses and furrowed her brows with concentration as she read it silently. “It all fits with what happened this time and the first time.”

Minerva finished reading, and glanced up at them, eyes wide. “My word! How did you all figure it out? This sounds exactly like a Basilisk!” she exclaimed, getting up from her seat. “And someone’s written that it must have travelled through the pipes?”

Hari nodded. “I’ve been, er, hearing a voice in the walls that no one else could hear all year,” he explained. “I heard it saying it was going to kill someone right before we found Mrs. Norris and before all the other attacks. We heard it the morning of the Quidditch match and Hermione ran off to the library because she’d figured it out, but then she was Petrified as well…”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were hearing a voice only you could hear?” asked Minerva.

Hari shrugged sheepishly, “I didn’t want to cause problems, I suppose. I didn’t want everyone thinking I was crazy and hearing things.”

He dared a glance up at Minerva and saw her fixing him with a calculating but concerned look. She sighed. “Well, I wish you would have told me about this sooner, but no matter. You three said you think you know where the entrance is?”

“We’ll take you there,” said Draco.

Minerva followed them out of the office, letting Draco lead them, pulling Ron’s hand with him while Hari and Minerva followed behind. Hari startled slightly when Minerva put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her.

“Do I need to remind you again that your problems are mine as well, Hari?” she said quietly, careful not to let Ron and Draco overhear as they led them over to Myrtle’s bathroom. “I would never have thought you were simply ‘crazy.’”

“I know, but it was hard. I didn’t want to admit it to you because then, if I really was just hearing things, it would feel more real by telling you.”

They had reached Myrtle’s toilet now, therefore cutting off Hari and Minerva’s heart to heart. She gave him a look that said ‘We’re not finished talking about this’ and walked over to the door. “The entrance is in the girls’ toilets?” she asked skeptically.

Draco nodded and pushed open the door, holding it open so the other three could step inside.

Myrtle was hovering near her usual stall as they entered. “Oh, it’s you again,” she said, lowering down to bat her eyelashes at Draco. “Can I help you?”

Draco’s cheeks flushed slightly under her gaze and he coughed awkwardly. “We came to ask how you died.”

Myrtle’s face lit up in a grin. “Ooh, it was dreadful!” she said excitedly. “I was crying in that stall there because Olive Hornby was teasing me again when I heard someone come in. They were speaking a funny language and I knew it was a boy’s voice, so I came out to tell them to go away and then—” She snapped her fingers. “I died.”

“Just like that?” asked Minerva, snapping her fingers like Myrtle.

Myrtle nodded. “I remember seeing a pair of big yellow eyes over by that sink.” She pointed over at one of the sinks and Hari hurried over to the sink in question. “That tap’s never worked ever,” she added.

Hari leaned down to inspect the tap and saw, etched into the side of the faucet, an intricate carving of a serpent in the shape of an S. He ran his thumb over it. “That’s Salazar Slytherin’s mark!” he said. Minerva bent down as well, narrowing her eyes at it.

“Say something in Parseltongue, Hari,” said Ron, looking at the symbol over Hari’s shoulder.

Hari focused on the symbol closely and tried to imagine it was a real snake and not just a carving. “Open up,” he said, hearing his own voice come out as an unfamiliar hissing sound.

The wall began to vibrate and Hari and the others moved back as the sink lowered down into the stone floor, the rest of the sinks moving to make room. After a few seconds, where the sink had originally been, there now sat a large hole, leading into darkness. It was big enough for a person to slide through comfortably, the bottom completely out of sight.

“This must be it!” exclaimed Draco excitedly.

“I’m going down there,” Hari said determinedly.

Minerva straightened, glaring. “You will do no such thing!” she snapped, pointing in his face. “You three will stay up here and I will go ahead. You go and get Severus and send a letter to Dumbledore as well.”

Hari sighed and nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You go ahead and we’ll just get help, then.”

Minerva searched his face for a moment before making up her mind and turning towards the exposed pipe. She pulled out her wand and lit it, pointing into the hole. She carefully clambered into the pipe feet first, trying not to hit her head and turned over her shoulder. “Do not follow me,” she said.

And then she pushed off down the pipe.

Hari, Ron and Draco stood in silence for a moment in the toilet. Hari turned to the other two. “We’re still going with her, aren’t we?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Duh.”

“Obviously.”

Hari snorted and moved toward the exposed pipe. “I’ll go first,” he said, climbing inside. “See you in a minute.” He took one last look around the lavatory and then let go.

Hari felt himself sliding through darkness for what felt like an endless amount of time, feeling the pipe twisting this way and that as it went deeper and deeper into the castle. He could hear the distant sound behind him of Ron and Draco following close behind, the only notion of his surroundings in the endless black.

Finally, after several minutes, Hari was thrown out of the pipe, landing in a heap on the ground with a yell. He landed on cold stone, surrounded by piles of what looked sickeningly like bones. Before he could process his surroundings further, he heard Minerva saying, “Oh for fuck’s sake. Really?”

She helped Hari to his feet. “I tell you to do one thing and you proceed to do the very opposite,” she complained. Ron appeared a second later, yelping as he landed at their feet. “Of course your friends came—” She was cut off as Draco landed heavily on top of Ron, who swore loudly and stumbled to his feet.

“Sorry, Minnie,” said Hari, who was not sorry at all.

Minerva sighed, running her hand stressfully through her salt and pepper hair in it’s slightly messy bun. “You remind me more and more of your father every day, Hari. And not always in the best of ways.”

Reluctantly, Minerva led the way through the dark tunnel, her wand lighting the way. Hari and Draco lit their own wands and Ron pulled out his own as they walked through the tunnel for a few minutes. “Remember to close your eyes at any sign of movement,” Minerva told them as they turned a corner in the tunnel.

It was completely silent inside the tunnel for a long time, their footsteps bouncing around the walls. Ron jumped as someone stepped on something that made a loud crunching sound. Heart racing, Hari pointed his wand at the ground at what turned out to only be a broken skull of a small rodent. They continued.

They were walking for another few minutes before disaster struck.

As the tunnel widened, they came across the outline of a huge snake’s skin which filled the entire passageway with its bright green scales. They froze and stared at it in horror. And then, with a horrific booming sound and a flash like a firework, a spell shot right out of Ron’s wand with the force of a cannon.

Hari covered his head and ran, shutting his eyes as the ceiling began to cave in, rocks raining down on them and a thick cloud of dust filling the air. Coughing and batting the dust out of his face, Hari opened his eyes to find himself very much alone, facing a huge pile of rubble.

“Draco! Ron! Minnie!” Hari called frantically, “Are you guys okay?”

Ron’s voice shouted from the other side of the rubble. “Draco and I are fine!” he called. “But McGonagall’s been knocked out!”

“WHAT?”

“Some of the rubble must have hit her,” said Draco. “I’m sure she’ll be okay, Hari. You have to go ahead to Ginny though and we’ll clear away this rubble so you can get through.”

“Okay. See you in a bit,” said Hari, squaring his shoulders and turning around to make his way through the tunnel, resigning himself to having to fight the basilisk by himself.

Hari continued the rest of the way through the tunnel for a few minutes, heart hammering in his chest and hands shaking. Finally, he came across a large circular entrance at the very end of the tunnel. It looked like a large manhole cover made out of stone with two intertwined serpents etched into it with emeralds for eyes. They glittered in the light from Hari’s wand, almost mockingly lifelike, as though they were staring right at Hari.

Dread was flowing through Hari’s veins as he stepped closer to the entrance of the chamber, breaths shaky and palms sweaty.

Taking a deep breath, Hari hissed, “Open up.”

Creaking loudly, the snakes twisted apart and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets slid open.