The Slytherin Mudblood: Book 2

Chapter 19

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

The three of us, and our teacher, ran in a hurry over to the second-floor girls' bathroom. Lockhart stayed in front of us, our wands out in guard, so he wouldn't try any funny business and escape. We crept inside to hear Moaning Myrtle crying in sorrow. She turned around to see us, jumping at the sight, "Oh, Who's there? Oh, hello Harry. What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died," Harry answered, carefully so as not to offend her.

"Ohh, it was dreadful. It happened right here in this very cubicle," She pointed to the toilet below her. "I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in."

"Who Elizabeth?" I asked.

She started tearing up, "I don't know! I was distraught!"

"No need to get upset Elizabeth, it's okay. What else happened though?" I tried to comfort her through her story.

Myrtle kept on moaning and floated down towards us, "The person said something funny, a kind of made-up language. I realized it was a boy, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and... I died."

"Just like that?" Harry questioned. "How?"

She continued, "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there... by that sink."

She pointed to a specific sink near the circle of sinks in a separate side of the bathroom away from the stalls. She turned around and moaned while floating off to her cubicle. While Ron and I kept watch on Lockhart, Harry stepped over to the sink to examine it. Moving his hand around it to find a lever, button, something abnormal, or uncharacteristic. 

He turned the nozzle of the sink but no water came out of it which was odd. He bent down lower to examine the nozzle. He must've seen an identifier because stood back straight and looked at us and the sinks again, "This is it... I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!"

I walked towards the sink to see it with my own eyes, engraved on the side of the nozzle was a snake, similar to the Slytherin emblem. Harry was right. Ron encouraged, "Say something! Harry, say something in parseltongue!"

Harry looked wide-eyed at the sink and hissed a sort of word or phrase I didn't not know of. The sound of pressure being released grew loud. Then, the roof of the sinks raised upwards as though lifted by an invisible giant. The sinks one by one moved outwards to reveal a hollow inside, the sink with the imprint lowered into a small area and out of sight. The Chamber of Secrets was now open.

Gilderoy looked into the entrance to find a large hollow pit, the bottom was pitch black. None of us knew what dare be lurked down there. Lockhart congratulated Harry, "Excellent, Harry! Good work! Well, then, I'll just be... There-is-no-need-for-me-to-stay." He tried to escape once again, but we grabbed at him and shoved him forwards, away from the exit to the bathroom. He almost tumbled into the pit. 

We raised our wands at him. Ron grinned, "You first."

"Now, boys what good will it do?" He pleaded.

"Better you than us," Ron answered.

"But... obviously, yes," Lockhart said, coming to his senses that the adult should head first into the danger and not  the children. Lockhart turned around looking into the pit, scared to go first and jump. "Surely, you don't want to test it first?"

"NO!" All three of us exclaimed.

He looked back down into the pit, not jumping. "For Merlin's sake!" I rolled my eyes and shoved my foot into his back, our professor falling into the pit. He tumbled, his voice slowly draining the further down he went. It grew quiet, until we heard a thud. He seemed calm, saying, "It's really,  quite filthy down here."

I winked at Harry and Ron and walked feet first into the pit. The straight tunnel for Lockhart became a slide for me. As I was sliding down, I noticed holes above me that created different entrances and exits. I cheered on as I came down the slide, almost making it fun to come down. 

Exiting, I was shoved into a flat pit. I stood up looking around, the walls were cylindrical and there were little circular holes in the walls, a network of tunnels leading to here. The ground was covered in bones; skulls, spines, rib cages, and other things. I could hear screams coming from all around me, mostly just the echoes of Ron being terrified.

I wasn't paying attention and Harry was thrusted out of the slide into the front of my legs, tripping me and falling onto the ground. I hit the ground with a crack and an, "Ahhh!" Falling on the cracking bones felt like breaking my own back. I winced as Harry helped me up, "Sorry, Haynes."

"It's fine. I'm okay," I squeaked out.

I twist my top half around, stretching myself out. Successfully, I hear a pop. We held our wands up to Lockhart just to be safe. Harry reminded us, "Now remember: any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away." 

We nodded as we followed Harry deeper into the Chamber. Harry led us into a vast section. It was covered in a long, thick, translucent, rope with an intricate pattern. It was easily recognizable as snakeskin. The Basilisk must've just shed it. Harry examined the skin, "It's a snakeskin."

Ron gasped, "Bloody hell."

I walked over towards Harry, "Harry, this is bad."

"Why?"

"This is snakeskin, this means the Basilisk just shed. Muggle common knowledge states that when a snake sheds its skin, that means it's making more room for growth! This skin, means it's bigger now!"

Ron added, "It must be like sixty feet long, or more!" We heard a thud coming from where Ron was. Lockhart had apparently passed out, curled into a ball. Ron looked back at Harry, sarcastically, "Heart of a lion, this one."

While Ron was distracted, Lockhart dove up and grabbed his wand, catching us by surprise. He laughed, "The adventure ends here, boys. But don't fret, the world will know our story. How I was too late to save the girl, how you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body... So, you first Miss Haynes."

The professor pointed Ron's broken wand straight at me, "Say goodbye, to your memories.

I smiled at him known he's holding Ron's faulty wand, it was just gonna backfire. I held out my hands welcomingly, and said, "Go on, I dare you!"

Lockhart hesitates for a quick second at my willingness to forget my memories, but he beams, "Obliviate!"

A green blast shot from Ron's wand, going backwards and propelled Lockhart into the cave walls. It was amazing that Ron's faulty wand actually saved us. From the vibrational shock of Lockhart hitting the wall, the cave started shaking furiously. Large rocks started falling down in between Ron and Gilderoy, and me and Harry. We moved backwards to avoid being hit by the rocks, multiple had fallen down causing a barrier. We were trapped on our side.

Once the rocks stopped falling we got up, hacking and coughing from not being able to breathe with the dust. I helped up Harry and a shout came from the other side of the pile of rocks. It was Ron worried, "Harry? Victoria?"

Harry started running towards the rocks trying to find Ron, "Ron! Ron, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," he answered. "Lockhart's Memory Charm backfired! He hasn't got a clue who he is! What do I do now?"

Harry instructed to him, "You wait here and try to shift some of this rock so we can get back through. We'll go and find Ginny!"

"Okay," Ron breathed. "Good luck and bring her back safely!" Harry got down from the rocks and we ran to the end of the cave, our wands out in case any mysterious things jumped out to scare us. Into the heart of the Chamber we go.