A Potter Secret

The Entrance Discovered

Harry and Ron duck into an alcove, take out the crinkled paper, which, we see now, is torn from a library book. "'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it and only the crowing of the rooster can kill it'," Harry reads, looking up. "Ron! This is it! The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake."

"But it kills by looking people in the eye. Why is it no one's dead?" Ron asks.

Harry frowns, contemplating this, then catches he and Ron's reflection in the window opposite. He mutters softly, "Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly at least. Colin saw it through his camera. Justin, Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost, he couldn't die again, And Hermione, had the mirror! I bet you anything she was using it to look round corners, in case it came along."

"And Mrs. Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Harry," Ron reminds.

"The water, there was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection," Harry replies, scanning the page again. "The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it! That's why Hagrid's roosters were killed! Spiders flee before it! It all fits!"

"But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake. Someone would have seen-" Ron starts.

"Hermione answered that too," Harry points out. Scribbled, in Hermione's hand, is: "Pipes."

"Pipes-? It's using the plumbing," Ron realizes.

"Remember what Aragog said? About that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom. What if she never left."

"Moaning Myrtle!"

Harry nods. Just then, McGonagall's voice echoes throughout the castle, magically magnified. "All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second-floor corridor. Immediately."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

McGonagall stands before the desecrated wall, surrounded by the rest of the staff. Harry and Ron creep up the stairwell. "As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster. Into the Chamber itself," McGonagall explains. As the teachers react, she adds on, "I'm afraid we shall have to send the students home. I'm afraid- this is the end of Hogwarts."

"So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?" Lockhart asks.

"Just the man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last," Snape replies.

"My m-moment?" Lockhart asks.

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" Snape says so everyone can hear.

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

"That settles it. We'll leave it to you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend," McGonagall reminds.

"V-very well. I'll, I'll be in my office, getting – getting ready," Lockhart states.

"The rest of us should go and inform the students what has happened," McGonagall replies.

"Who is it the monster's taken, Minerva?" Professor Sprout asks.

"Ginny Weasley," McGonagall reveals. Ron's knees give way. As Harry catches him, the staff scatters, revealing what is written on the wall; Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.