Year Two: The Secret of Slytherin

Part 19

They found Moaning Myrtle floating above the cistern. "Who's there?" She smiled when she saw Harry. "Oh! Hello, Harry! What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died," Harry told her.

"Oh! It was dreadful! It happened right here in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in."

"Who was it, Myrtle?"

"I don't know. I was distraught! But they said something funny, a kind of made up language. And I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and.....I died," she explained sadly.

"Just like that?" asked Anne.

Myrtle shrugged. "No idea. I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes. Over there by that sink." She pointed to the cylinder of sinks.

Harry, Anne, and Ron made their way over to the sinks. Harry saw, etched on one of the taps, a tiny snake.

"This is it! This must be the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets," he told Anne and Ron.

"Say something, Harry. Say something in Parseltongue," Anne said.

Harry concentrated hard staring intently at the sink with the snake on its tap. When he finally spoke, it sounded like a hiss.

At his command, the cylinder of sinks moved; they spaced apart from each other, the one with the snake sunk to the floor, revealing a gaping tunnel.

"Excellent, Harry. Good work! Well then, I'll just be going...." Lockhart started to walk away. "There's no need for me."

The three blocked Lockhart from his path, their wands drawn.

"Oh yes there is! You first!" Harry commanded pushing him to the opening.

"Now, you three! What good will it do?" Lockhart tried to reason with them.

"Better you than us," Ron replied. He gave Lockhart a shove making him topple headfirst into the tunnel.

After a minute, Lockhart called up to them. "It's really quite filthy down here!"

"All right. Let's go," said Harry. He, Anne, and Ron gathered around the opening. "I'll go first. You two follow."

"Oh Harry, if you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet," Myrtle chirped.

"Thanks, Myrtle." He then turned and jumped into the tunnel. Seconds later, Anne and Ron followed.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy dark slide. Anne could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as this one, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and she knew that she was falling deeper below the school.

And then, just as she had begun to worry about what would happen when she hit the ground, the pipe leveled out. She, Harry, and Ron shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark tunnel large enough to stand in.

Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost.

The tunnel was so dark that they could see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous.

"Remember," Harry cautioned quietly as they walked forward, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away...."

But the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound was a loud crunch as Anne stepped on what appeared to be a rat's skull. Harry and Ron looked down at the floor and saw it was littered with small animal bones. Harry led the way forward around a dark bend in the tunnel. 

"What's that?" Ron asked hoarsely. He was staring at what looked like the outline of something huge and curved, lying across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

Anne froze, watching as Harry edged himself forward to get a good look. "It looks like a..... snake."

Harry  held his wand high shining his light on a gigantic coil of snake skin. "It's a snake skin."

"Bloody hell! Whatever shed this must be twenty feet long or more," said Ron wide-eyed.

There was a sudden movement behind them. Lockhart had fainted.

"Heart of a lion, this one," Ron complained as he kneeled down by Lockhart, who at once snatched Ron's wand and scrambled to his feet.

"The adventure ends here, you three!" Lockhart said gleefully. "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. I'll even bind a limited edition in this snake skin. Say good-bye to your memories!"

Knowing Ron's wand was malfunctioned, Anne didn't bother to raise her wand. Remembering what happened when Ron tried to curse Draco, she stepped back wondering what effect his Memory Charm was going to have when it backfired.

"Oblivate!" Lockhart yelled.

The wand exploded with a force of a small bomb, shooting Lockhart off his feet into a wall behind him. Anne and Ron flung their arms over their heads and ran one way, and Harry the other, as great chunks of rock came thundering down.