Into the Chamber
They were heading down to the first floor when McGonagall’s voice rang throughout the castle. “ All students must return to their Houses immediately. All teachers meet at the first-floor corridor.” The boys rushed down to the first floor; they got there as soon as the teachers did. Ducking behind a corner they peered around.
“As you can see, the heir of Slytherin has left another message. A student has been taken by the monster.” McGonagall says with worry.
She clasps her hands as she looks to the teachers, “ Students must be sent home, Hogwarts is no longer safe. I fear that this is truly the end of Hogwarts.”
Footsteps in the distance made them look up and Lockhart strode in, “ So, sorry, dozed off. What did I miss?” he says in a condescended tone.
“ A girl has been taken by the monster; your moment Lockhart has come at last” Snape snides. All the teachers looked at both men, Lockhart stood there dumbfounded, “I beg your pardon?”.
“Weren’t you saying just last night at the teacher’s meeting that you knew all along where the location of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?” Snape replies eyebrow-raising.
McGonagall relaxes, seeing the game Severus is playing, “Well, that’s settled then. We’ll leave you to deal with the monster Gilderoy, your skills after all are legend.”
Lockhart stands there shocked but quickly regains his composure. “ Very, well. I will be in my office getting… getting ready.” And everyone leaves.
Snape and Madam Pomfrey stayed behind; the nurse turns to the Deputy Headmistress “ Who was the student that was taken, Minerva? We need to inform the parents.”
Minerva looks at the message on the wall, “ Ginevra Weasley” Her voice waivers.
Ron and Harry were pale, Ron looks upon the message with shock, “‘Her Skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.’, Ginny”.
Harry tugs on the sleeve of Ron’s robes, “Come on we need to go find Lockhart and tell him the monster’s a Basilisk.”
They sprinted to the DADA classroom and climbed the staircase to the office, only to find the professor packing?! “What are you doing, Professor?” asks Harry; Lockhart slams a chest close and whips around.
“Potter, Weasley what are you doing here”.
“Are, are you going somewhere?” asks the raven-haired boy.
“Um, yes, well when Dumbledore hired me there was nothing in the job description about putting my life in danger so …”
“What about my sister” interrupts Weasley.
“I’m truly sorry about that. But…”
“ So, you’re running away? Even after all the things, you did in your books?” asks Harry.
“ Use your common-sense Boy! My books wouldn’t have sold half as well if people didn’t think I did all those things” yells the blond.
“You’re a fraud. You’ve been taking credit for what other wizards and witches have done” Harry yells back.
“Is there anything you can do?” questions Weasley.
“Yes, there is” the teacher turns to the desk to grab his wand, “ I’m rather good at memory charms you see. Otherwise, people will go on blabbing, and I would have never sold another book. Now, before you leave boys there’s something I need to tell…” he turns around only to find two wands pointed at him.
“Don’t even think about it” the boys say in unison. Ron takes the wand from the man. At wand point, they lead Lockhart to the girl’s bathroom down on the first floor.
Myrtle was crying as usual when they entered. They asked her how she died, all she remembers was that she was crying because Olive Hornby and a group of mean girls teased her about her glasses. She was crying when she heard a boy speaking a made-up language and when she opened the cubical door to tell him to go away she died. In her last moments, she saw a pair of big yellow eyes by the sink that never works. She points to it.
Harry goes over to the sink and sees a snake emblem on the faucet taps. “I think this is it, Ron! This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. But how do we open it?”
“Do you think it’s Password protected like the Houses?” asks Ron, thinking. “Harry, say something like ‘open’ but in Parseltongue.”
Harry looked at the faucet and pretended it was a real snake, it took him a few tries but the sink moved back revealing a large hole in the grate. Ron motions Lockhart over to the opening. “Maybe we should test it first?” he says cowardly. Ron rolls his eyes; he didn’t have time for this and shoves the pathetic man down the hole.
There was a six-second interval before the ex-professor spoke, “Really quite filthy down here”.
Ron went next, then Harry. Turns out that it wasn’t a straight drop, but a slide of some-sorts. When Harry was ejected at the end he landed on a pile of small animal bones. Gross. They brushed themselves off and began walking the labyrinth of tunnels to save Ginny, and with fingers-crossed to not run into the Basilisk.
Up in Dumbledore’s chambers: the old headmaster passed the office, grabbing the sorting hat and the sword of Gryffindor. He then instructs Fawkes to take the sword down to Harry the precise moment of him showing loyalty to him. The phoenix looks sadly at the man who is becoming more and more corrupted.
And in a flash, he was gone.