The Reticulation, Part II

As she looked at the mirror with its engraved snakes, Luna got a brilliant idea. It could get them out of there, if she could just convince Fudge to cooperate. That would be the hard part, but she was ready.

"Mr. Fudge," she said, "Ronald Weasley thought that this mirror could get us out of here if you speak Parseltongue at it."

"What good would that do?" Fudge asked angrily.

"You're a Parselmouth," Luna told him, "so you should at least try."

"I am not a bloody Parselmouth!" Fudge shouted. "Parseltongue is a mark of a dark wizard. I mean, how d'you think I could've berated Harry Potter for being a Parselmouth if I was one myself?"

"Maybe it remained you too much of yourself," Luna suggested. "You don't need to worry about revealing that you're a Parselmouth to me. I wouldn't tell anyone and I wouldn't judge you for--"

"I am not a bloody Parselmouth!" Fudge shouted. Luna gave him what she hoped was a meaningful look.

"Look, I already know the truth," she said. "What harm could it possibly do? Besides, my father's the editor of The Quibbler, so who would believe me if I said anything?" Fudge cursed under his breath and turned to the wall, but after looking angrily at it for a moment, he turned around and walked up to the mirror.

"Reveal your secret," he said Parseltongue.

Luna, smiling, stepped forward to see that the word "Reticulatio" had appeared on the mirror in blazing red letters. She reached forward and touched them.

The next thing she knew she was falling through a beautiful blur of color. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long and she soon found herself lying on the hard floor of an immense underground chamber...

Ginny finally stopped pacing and turned around to look at the two red eyes in the giant picture frame.

"Professor Umbridge," she said coyly as she looked at them, "I--I really have to go the bathroom. I know you said you wouldn't feed us--" (she shuddered) "--b-but I--I just really have to go." Everyone stared at the blank, unreadable eyes for what seemed like forever, but eventually Umbridge's face materialized.

"All right," she said, "but I'll transport you myself to make sure you don't try to go anywhere else."

"Okay," Ginny agreed, looking down as though too bashful to look Umbridge in the eye, "J-just bring someone else along--I have certain, you know, 'issues' and I--I really need someone else there. Just don't make it Harry, because I would be really embarrassed. And--and p-please, don't put me in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom--I hate it in there." Harry could now see what she was doing and resisted grinning.

"You're not in a position to make demands, Miss Weasley!" Umbridge shouted. "You will be going to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with Harry Potter." Ginny looked demurely down at herself--you would have almost expected her to cry--but, eventually, she nodded.

"Okay," she said, "but there're mirrors in there and you could at least not watch. I really don't want--"

"Don't waste your breath, Miss Weasley," Umbridge interrupted, "I have much more important things than to see what your little 'issues' are." Ginny nodded.

"Th-thank you, P-Professor," she said, quivering like Professor Quirrell. The ground shook and Harry and Ginny found themselves in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry immediately knew what to do--he ran up the tap with snake etched on it and tried to make himself imagine it was real.

"Open," he said in Parseltongue.

For the second time in his life, Harry watched the bathroom sink sink down into the giant pipe that led to the Chamber of Secrets. It was rather ironic that the last time he had been entering the Chamber to rescue Ginny and that now she was standing right next to him, looking very determined. Harry knew it wouldn't be easy to convince her to stay behind, but he really didn't want to see the lights leave those beautiful brown eyes.

"Ginny," he told her carefully, "I want you to stay here and--"

But before he could finish the sentence, Ginny grabbed his arm and jumped into the pipe, pulling them both down into the darkness...