If I Fall for You [Harry Potter: Next Generation]

13. Snaky Suspicions

A/N: guess who's back :P
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Rose's feet carried her to that infamous girl's washroom - Moaning Myrtle's abode, as well as the scene of her death.

The door creaked ever so slightly as it swung open. A musty smell greeted Rose's nose as she stepped cautiously around the door, silently praying that the place would be deserted. From somewhere nearby came the sound of dripping water. Besides that, silence.

Convinced that everyone was down in the bleachers, Rose scanned the room, her eyes finding the rusted old sink. Her heart thudded inside her chest.

"Hey, Myrtle?" Rose called out, striding down the length of stalls. Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the cistern of the last toilet.

"What d'you want?" The ghost snapped grouchily. "You're that Weasley girl. Your dad and his friend used to come see me sometimes. I haven't seen him in a long time..." she trailed off, a dreamy expression on her face.

"Er - right," Rose said. "Actually, Myrtle, I was wondering if you'd be able to answer me something."

"Hmmph," Myrtle pouted. "People always want me to do something for them. All you care about is yourselves! Oh, yes, old Myrtle's occasionally useful to throw things through, but do we actually care what happens to her? No! We only care about ourselves!" Her voice rose to a wail.

"Okay, okay, don't cry, Myrtle!" Rose exclaimed, growing slightly desperate. "I'd be happy to talk to you, but - you see - I've got something extremely important to do, and I need your help."

Myrtle sniffed. "But you'd really come see me sometime?"

"Yeah, of course. I just can't right now."

"Oh, alright, alright. What do you need?"

Rose explained. Myrtle listened in silence, her expression evolving from one of tearful grudgingness to one of tearful astonishment.

"Oh," was her response when she had heard Rose out.

"Yeah," Rose sighed.

"Okay. Well, yes, it was that sink."

"Good, that's all I needed to know. Thanks very much, Myrtle."

Rose didn't hear Myrtle's reply. She was already closing the distance between herself and the rusted old sink.

There. There it was. After all this time, there it was. Scratched into one of the old copper taps.

A little snake.

Rose gazed, entranced, at the drawing, gazing, gazing, gazing... "Open," she hissed.

A brilliant white light, and then the sink disappeared altogether, revealing the dank entrance of a large pipe. A steady drip of water splashed onto the tiled floor and spattered the toes of Rose's shoes. The pounding of her heart reverberated in her eardrums as she stared that darkness in the face, finding and fanning a little candle of courage from somewhere deep inside herself; a spark of something she didn't know she had, given her odd Sorting.

Taking a deep breath, Rose stepped into the pipe, grasping the edge with shaking hands. She bit her lip, hesitated, almost backed down; but thoughts of Scorpius Malfoy overruled her fear, and she let go.

It was like hurtling down a dark, slimy, smelly tube slide, with no specific idea of where you would come out, or what was waiting at the end. Rose consistently hit her head on the sides (or were they sides? The pipe was circular, so - but no, leave it to the Ravenclaws to figure that one out). It was, all in all, not the most pleasant experience she'd ever had. After a whole lot of falling, the pipe levelled out and Rose shot of the end, skidding across the damp floor and tearing a sizeable hole in her robes.

She was surrounded by virtually impenetrable darkness. Pulling out her wand, she whispered, "Lumos."

Even the whisper seemed much to loud. Rose was sure whatever else was down there with her could hear the thump-thump of her heart.

Steeling herself, Rose set off down the tunnel, her wand lighting the path only a few feet in front of her. Her feet made slapping sounds on the wet floor as she walked, something that only served to increase her fear. The smothering darkness and the thought of how far beneath the school she was had Rose feeling rather claustrophobic to boot.

A few slight turns later, Rose came upon a point in the tunnel where evidence of a rockfall was visible in the soft wandlight. Pointing her wand towards the ground, she advanced cautiously, having no wish to trip and potentially incapacitate herself. The darkness pressed closer.

The tunnel turned and turned again. A sneaking fear crept up on Rose: what if she wasn't in the right place? What if the tunnel went on forever? And then, at long last, she crept around yet another turn and her wandlight fell upon a solid rock wall. The great emerald eyes of the two entwined serpents carved on the wall glinted in the faint light.

Rose's throat went dry. She approached slowly. The emerald eyes seemed to follow her every move.

"Open." And the serpents parted with a creaking groan, the two halves of wall sliding out of sight. Rose grasped her wand as though it were her lifeline, and, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.

She was standing at the end of a very long, very high, dimly lit chamber. More carved serpents coiled around the towering stone pillars. They almost seemed to fix their gemstone eyes upon her as soon as she stepped through the doorway.

Well, no going back now. "Nox," Rose whispered, and the wandlight died. Keeping her wand at the ready, she started off down the chamber. Every footstep echoed loudly on the shadowed walls.

But - what was that? Rose froze in her tracks, straining her ears. Sure enough, a voice drifted back to her from somewhere ahead, chanting something intelligible. The source of the voice must be quite a distance ahead, then. Rose's stomach lurched.

She was pretty sure she knew whose voice that was.

Shuffling her feet so they didn't echo quite so loudly, Rose advanced, wand at the ready. As she drew level with the last pair of pillars, a giant statue of an ancient, bearded wizard loomed into view - and there, there! Facing the statue, arms raised... there was no mistaking that waterfall of curly black hair falling down to the figure's slim waist.

But who was that, crumpled between the huge stone feet, unmoving...?

As if on cue, Vanessa Ryan stopped chanting, dropped her arms, turned and pulled out her wand in one smooth motion.

"Rose Weasley," she greeted, eyes flashing dangerously, an icy smile playing on her lips. "You really are a clever one, aren't you?" She paused, her smile growing, if possible, even colder.

"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets."
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A/N: so guys school's out (for me at least ahah #privateschoolswag) which means I don't have a life anymore which means I can live in my room which means updates for all. Wahoo. Ily unicorns.