𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 (𝟐) || HARRY POTTER LOVE STORY

51

It was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in Julie's brain.

"Harry, Ron!" she breathed, "This is it. This is the answer. The monster in the Chambers a Basilisk - a giant serpent! That's why Harry's been hearing that voice all over the place, and nobody else has heard it. It's because he understands Parseltongue."

"The Basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died - because no one looked it straight in the eye." Harry said. "Colin saw it through his camera. The Basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again... and Hermione and that Ravenclaw Prefect were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realised the monster was a Basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look round corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror - and-"

Ron's jaw had dropped.

"And Mrs Norris?" he whispered eagerly. Julie thought hard, picturing the scene on the night of Halloween.

"The water..." she said slowly, "the flood from Moaning Myrtles bathroom. I bet you Mrs Norris only saw the reflection..."

She scanned the page in my hand eagerly. The more she looked at it, the more it made sense.

"The Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it!" she read aloud. "Hagrid's roosters were killed! The heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was opened! Spiders flee before the Basilisk. It all fits!"

"But how's the Basilisk been getting around the place?" said Ron. "A dirty great snake ... Someone would've seen...'"

Harry, however, pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled at the foot of the page.

"Pipes" he whispered. "Pipes... Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've been hearing that voice inside the walls..."

Ron suddenly grabbed one of Julie's arms and one of Harrys.

"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he exclaimed hoarsely. "What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in Moaning Myrtles bathroom?"

They sat there, excitement coursing through them, hardly able to believe it.

"This means." said Harry "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how they've been controlling the Basilisk!"

"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing. "Shall we go straight to McGonagall?"

"Let's go to the staff room" Julie answered, jumping up. "She'll be there in ten minutes, it's nearly break!"

They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted staff room. It was a large, panelled room full of dark wooden chairs. Harry, Ron and Julie paced around it, too excited to sit down.

But the bell to signal break never came.

Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified.

"All students to return to to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, Please."

Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron and Julie.

"Not another attack? Not now?"

"What will we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"No." Julie said, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of wardrobe to my left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear what its all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."

They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staff-room door banging open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, we watched the teachers filtering into the room.
Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

"It has happened." she told the silent staff room. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Julie slapped her hand on her mouth to stop her from screaming. Harry took her other hand almost directly, squeezing it to comfort her.

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and asked: "How can you be sure?"

"The heir of Slytherin" answered Professor McGonagall, who was very white "left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever!"

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed into a chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley." said Professor McGonagall.

A knot formed in Julie's throat and she couldn't swallow it. Ginny was in the Chamber of Secrets, possibly dead. Tears formed in her eyes as she felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside me. Harry was no longer squeezing her hand in a comforting way. It was rather painful.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow." continued Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."

The staff-room door banged open again. For one wild moment, Julie was sure it would be Dumbledore. But it was Lockhart, and he was beaming.

"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed"

He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Just the man." he said. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy." chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I well, I-" spluttered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.

"D-did I? I don't recall...''

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested." said Snape. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.

"You may have misunderstood... I really never..."

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy."said Professor McGonagall "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome any more. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy gin he looked weak-chinned and weedy.

"V-very well." he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting - getting ready!"

And he left the room.

"Right." said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were fired, at got him out from under our feet. "The Heads of house should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home fist thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories!"

The teachers rose, and left one by one.