Furious Angels

Chapter 16: The Pieces Are Moving

While they waited for Neville to return with their Head of House, and for Hermione and Luna to return with the Headmaster, they worked. They moved without talking to each other; it was as if they instinctively knew what they needed to do, and set about doing it.

Several of the other children in the common room stopped their chess games, their studying, or simply stopped conversing to watch as the two younger Gryffindors moved - in fact, almost danced -- about the smaller study-group table.

Ginny giggled as she waved her wand about the table. Instantly, a low buzzing sounded in the ears of the other students in the room, making the area of the now-warded table muted and indecipherable to outside listeners. "There. We can talk now, without Scabbers hearing," she said. "Do you think Sirius is going to get all weird about us sharing a room, like Mum and Dad did? I'd hate to go through that argument again. Grownups, I'm telling you... there's just no reasoning with them..."

Harry just smiled at her. "He'll probably be a little weird about it, but then he'll let us do what we want. I mean, he's Sirius. You know how he's like. Freno!" He waved his wand over the table, creating an attraction ward. Anything placed on the table would now resist being removed.

For a moment, Ginny's smile faded. "I know how he's like?" she repeated in a low, soft voice. The thought confused her. She could picture the man they were talking about, Sirius Black, in her head. Despite the fact that she had never met the man, she could see him in her mind as clear as day. But at the same time, she knew she'd never met the man. Ginny stared into space for a moment, before shaking her head. The confusion faded as quickly as the thought.

"Can we decorate our room? I've wanted to redecorate my room at the Burrow for ages," Ginny said, finally. "Pink was all right when I was little, but now that I'm not a kid anymore, I think I'd rather have blue, or a nice deep red, or maybe green." She smiled at Harry. "To match your eyes." She moved around one end of the table. "Are you sure Freno is going to be enough?"

Harry paused a moment. "It should be... I don't want to use Freno Maximus. We'd have to destroy the table if we used the Permanent Sticking charm." He bounced to one of the couches and yanked a lounge pillow out from under Parvati Patil.

"Pardon me, please!" The girl squawked in protest. Her coffee-colored skin darkened as she flushed.

Harry stopped for a moment, and then turned back to her. "Oh, it's no problem... I just need this quickly. Thanks!"

As Parvati huffed, Harry placed the pillow on the table. He concentrated for a moment, and then waved his wand. The pillow seemed to melt before reforming into a metal-barred cage sized just right for a rat. "Better make it unbreakable, just in case he tries to escape by changing back into a man and bursting it," he said to himself, still waving his wand.

The boy looked up to see a girl standing in front of him, a confused look on her face. He searched his memory and came up with a name: Alice Kendall, sixth year girl's prefect. "hrry... hu ddd oo jss oo ddt?"

"Hey... Muffliato works both ways! Cool!" Ginny said. Harry grinned at her again, and then stepped outside the bounds of the ward.

"Sorry, yes? What was your question?"

The prefect looked annoyed and impatient. "I asked how you just did that. You transfigured the pillow into a metal box and I never saw you say any incantation!"

"Oh..." Harry looked thoughtful. Then he shrugged. "I don't know. Just needed to turn it into a cage for the rat." He picked the cage up carefully and jiggled with it until the top set of bars was open.

"Rat? What rat?"

Harry grinned again. It seemed to be the thing to do. "This one. " He flicked his wand toward the stairs leading to the boys' dormitory. "Accio Scabbers!"

From up the staircase, a loud thump sounded. Then another. Then came a splintering sound, as if something small but sturday was rapidly pulled through a very closed, yet very old wooden door. The summoned rat bounced off the lintel of the stairs before flying into the common room.

"What the hell, Potter!" Kendall ducked just in time to avoid being hit in the head by the flying rodent. It soared through the air directly toward Harry, who deftly caught the creature in the cage. Within moments, the top was back in place.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said. His smile faded just a bit. "It... um... was... it was chewing on my books! So I'm putting it in this cage to teach... urr... Weasley... Ron, I mean, not Ginny... and when I told him about it, he..."

"You mean to say that you're using your dorm-mate's pet as some sort of projectile? To get back at him for something? How dare you treat a poor defenseless... Ten points from Gryffindor! And I want you to give Weasley his rat back! In one piece, Potter!" Turning on her heel, she stalked back to her friends.

Harry looked to Ginny, who just shrugged and smiled again. Harry put the cage on the table and peered down at the stunned rodent. His near-constant smile turned dark and cruel. "Hello... my name is Harry Potter. I know who you are, Peter, and I know what you did," he whispered.

"Oh, Harry... this is going to be so wonderful." The thought of having her own home, with her Harry, excited her. Even if it would really be owned by Sirius, it would be a home for the two of them. It was a grown-up thing, she decided.

XxxxxxX

Professor Minerva McGonagall was, to put it plainly, in no mood for foolishness. Long before the Potter boy had arrived at Hogwarts, she had suspected that his time here would be filled with... interesting occurrences. Her expectations had not gone unfulfilled. While she naturally felt a fondness for the child of two of her all-time favorite students, the boy's defiant attitude bothered her.

His father had been a troublemaker, but at least he was contrite when confronted about it. Harry Potter was anything but regretful that he had cost the Malfoy boy his first wand. The snapping of a wand was a direct insult to the blood, and wasn't to be done on a whim. It was as if Harry Potter wanted to go to war with the Malfoy family.

And the situation with the Weasley girl. Minerva found her to be studious and clever in class, but also odd. She knew far more magic than a first year student should to know, including several spells that no one outside of a combat-trained Auror ought to be using. Ginny Weasley... Ginny Potter... Oh, blast it all, the Professor thought to herself. Young Ginevra... the girl... is simply... She flailed around for a moment for the right word or phrase. Nerve-wracking.

The entire situation was just troubling, and she didn't like troubling. She liked orderly. She liked quiet and peaceful and predictable. To the Transfiguration professor, chaos was to be avoided, and when it couldn't be avoided, it was to be put down quickly, efficiently, and with as much of a lesson to the chaos-maker as possible. Intellectually, Minerva knew this was why she had such a hard time keeping her cool, detached demeanor toward the two Potters. But in her forty years of teaching, this situation had never arisen before, and she was finding herself out of her depth. That irritated her. And so it was a harried and irritated Professor McGonagall who swept into the Gryffindor common room with Neville Longbottom close behind.

Potter and his... whatever she was... turned toward Minerva as soon as she entered. The professor saw the girl wave her wand in the air, then murmur something to Potter that was too low to be overheard. She was certain the girl had just canceled a spell of some type.

As Minerva strode to the study table that had been taken over by Harry and Ginny, she took in the cage, the rat, and the strangely smug and self-satisfied looks on the two students. "Mister Longbottom has told me you needed to see me, and that it was a matter of some urgency. Now that you've torn me away from my duties as deputy headmistress, how might I help you, Mister Potter?"

"There was an intruder in the tower, Professor," Harry replied, pointing toward the caged rat. "Ginny and I caught him, and thought you that, as our Head of House; we should turn him over to you so the Aurors can be called in to arrest him."

"An intru... oh, for... Mister Potter, what sort of... sick game do you think you are trying to play, here? I am not amused. Thirty points from Gryffindor for wasting my time with this foolishness."

She turned to leave, but Harry called out, "Professor, it's not a game! This is Peter Pettigrew!"

Minerva stopped in her tracks, absolutely appalled at the words the Potter boy had just spoken. The... the... the crass, hateful... not even Potter should... it was indecent, pulling this sort of prank! An insult to his parents! She spun in place. "Fifty more points, Mister Potter, and detention. This sick joke of yours is over. I cannot believe that you of all people would be so low as to exploit your parents memories just for the sake of a practical joke!"

From behind her, Neville spoke up. "But, Professor... if Harry..."

"No more, Mister Longbottom, just be grateful I don't take points from you, as well." Minerva's face was tight. She turned her attention to the cage on the table. "That is Mister Weasley's rat, correct?" She drew her wand from the pocket of her skirt.

The professor made to release it from the cage, but the moment she cast it, Potter leapt in the way and deflected it. For a moment her vision turned red at the very defiance the boy was displaying. When the boy spoke, she barely heard him. "Please, professor... just wait until the headmaster arrives! Please!"

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to become calmer. Minerva stared at the two students for a moment, and took in their expressions and body language. They didn't seem to be trying to get out of trouble. In fact, they looked as if they earnestly believed this rubbish.

She spoke slowly, still forcing herself to be calm. "Mister Potter..." She softened at the tears that were threatening in the boy's eyes. "Harry," she began again. "I don't know from where you heard the name Peter Pettigrew, and I don't understand why you think that animal could possibly be Pettigrew, but I assure you, you're wrong. I'm sorry... Peter Pettigrew was killed... murdered... the morning after your parents died. He was killed by the very man who betrayed your parents to Voldemort. Now... return Mister Weasley's pet to him and let's be done with this foolishness."

"But this is..." Potter began, only to stop when McGonagall held up her hand to silence him.

"No more, Mister Potter. No more." The Potter boy's face fell, and he was silent. Tears began to trickle down his cheeks, and for a moment Minerva felt a stab of regret for being so forceful in shutting down whatever this particular game was about. But only for a moment. Discipline must be maintained. Order must continue. No exceptions.

She took a deep breath and turned to leave, only to be stopped by a tug on her sleeve. She looked down into the eyes of Ginny Potter. The girl had begun to cry. "Please, professor... can't we wait for the headmaster?"

Minerva sighed. "The headmaster is away from the school, finalizing the hiring of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He's likely to be gone for some hours. Do as I've instructed; return the rat to your brother. Then I suggest the two of you return to your studies."

She stepped quickly through the portrait hole and out of the common room, not once looking back at the two students. It was harsh, perhaps, but they needed to learn the lesson that some things weren't to be joked about.

XxxxxxX

"What... why didn't... she didn't even try to see if we were telling the truth! And she's supposed to be our Head of House! Isn't she supposed to... I don't know... be helpful or supportive or something?" Ginny slumped into one of the chairs around the table.

Harry shrugged. "She didn't believe Ron, Hermione, or me last year when we told her that someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone." He sat down next to her and poked at the cage idly. "I do know one thing... we're not giving Ron his rat back."

XxxxxxX

Professor McGonagall had no more than sat once again at her desk when there came a rather insistent pounding on her office door. She frowned as she rose. Probably a first year... the older students know better than to beat on my office door as if it were a kettle drum, she thought to herself.

But it wasn't a first year. It was the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater. The girl was obviously distressed and rather out of breath. "Yes, Miss Clearwater? What is it?"

"Professor... please... we found one of the..." The girl began. She stopped and took in a deep breath. Then she started again. She was much more settled this time. "Percy Weasley and I found one of the Gryffindor first years lying unconscious in one of the second floor corridors!"

Minerva's face betrayed her surprise and her worry for only a moment before shifting back into her usual tightly controlled non-expressive expression. "I trust you and Mister Weasley took the child to the hospital wing?" Clearwater nodded, and Minerva asked, "And the girl in question?"

Penelope paused. "I think her name was Lovegood, if I heard Madame Pomfrey correctly, ma'am. Once we got the girl into one of the beds for the matron, Madame Pomfrey did something with her wand, then immediately directed me to come here to you. I was to inform you of the girl's condition, and relay a request that you come to the hospital wing immediately, ma'am. The matron was emphatic that you are to show a leg and come and speak to her right now without delay, ma'am... those are her words, begging your pardon."

Minerva was silent for a moment as she accessed her memory of the girl. The ability to recall the names and faces of every child to attend Hogwarts during her years as a teacher was just one of those small tricks that caused the students to think her wiser and more omniscient than she really was.

Lovegood... she thought to herself. Luna Lovegood... though everyone but her friends call "Loony"... her father is Xenophilius Lovegood... good grades and an earnestness about learning that should have made her a Ravenclaw but didn't... strange and off-puttingly blunt... and she's one of Potter's merry band of troublemakers... "Very well... thank you for delivering your message," the professor said at last. She stepped out into the corridor, sparing just enough time to Penelope Clearwater to dismiss her.

The Clearwater girl didn't move, however. She stood there with a nervous expression on her face that immediately put the impression in Minerva's mind that the girl needed to visit a lavatory. "Was there something else, Miss Clearwater?"

The girl immediately looked relieved. "Yes, ma'am. There was a message scrawled on the wall. Just above the Lovegood girl, where we found her, I mean. It read Their bones will lie in the Chamber forever! It was the Heir, professor! The Heir of Slytherin attacked Lovegood!" Penelope looked on the edge of panic. "I thought they arrested Professor Lockhart and took him away! I thought he was the Heir!"

Minerva shook her head. "Don't be daft, girl. That man doesn't have the magical strength to cough up a decent tickling charm, much less petrify someone," she muttered. Minerva was lost in thought for a moment before suddenly jerking her head up. "Just a moment... you said their bones? Plural? More than one person?"

"Er... yes, ma'am. It said 'their' bones."

"Merlin help us... the Heir of Slytherin hasn't just attacked Lovegood. He's taken someone down into the Chamber with him." McGonagall looked at Miss Clearwater and snapped, "Go! Go to Professor Flitwick. I need him to move all students back to their common rooms. Once there, I want the prefects to do a head count of all students in their houses and report the results to the Head Boy and Head Girl, who will relay the information to me. Also, I need to speak to the Heads of House. Tell them all to meet me in the Hospital Wing. Go, girl... there's no time to waste."

It took Professor McGonagall only a handful of minutes to make her way from her office to the school's hospital. Only the one bed was occupied; a quiet week. She saw Pomfrey hovering over a bed nearest the nurse's office and swiftly moved to join the other woman.

"Poppy... What has happened to Miss Lovegood?"

The nurse didn't turn from her patient. She was waving her wand over the unconscious child, muttering diagnostic charms all along. Minerva knew that Pomfrey's healer's oath demanded she finish with Lovegood before answering any questions, but the question had to be asked anyway.

Finally, Madame Pomfrey finished. She turned to the rolling potions rack and started extracting vials. "As far as I can tell, Minerva, she is suffering from Cruciatus over-exposure. She was either placed under the curse and held there for some minutes, or else was held under it for ten or twelve seconds, repeatedly over the space of several minutes." The nurse did a quick visual check of the hospital to make sure no one could intrude, then summoned a privacy screen around the bed.

With one hand, the matron popped the stopper off of the end of one vial, and with the other ran a wand-tip down the front of Luna's robes. The clothing and undergarments split down the middle. Pomfrey spread the girl's outer robes, shirt, and training brassiere out of the way and poured a dark green liquid directly onto Luna's naked skin. She placed the bottle in the "empty bin" on the rolling rack, then turned to massage the liquid into the unconscious girl's chest and abdomen.

Professor McGonagall was in shock. "The Cruciatus... Poppy, will she be... is she going to end up like the poor, broken-minded Longbottoms?"

The nurse just shook her head. "No... they were held under the curse for three to five minutes at a time, over the course of several hours. In the case of Miss Lovegood here, the nerve damage isn't permanent, but it is quite extensive." She finished the massage, wiped her hands off on a towel. She then used her wand to transform the girl's damaged clothing into a hospital gown. "The tonic I just applied will keep her from spasming long enough for her body to relearn how to control its own nerve-channels. She should be waking up shortly. You, of course, have a larger problem on your hands."

Minerva nodded vaguely, only barely paying attention anymore. She blinked for a moment, then turned to look the nurse in the eyes. "You are right, as always, Poppy. With Albus not here, it falls to me to figure out just who tortured Miss Lovegood, and who has been taken down into the Chamber by the Heir."

"Not to mention figuring out where the Chamber itself is hidden," a cold voice said from behind the Deputy Headmistress. She turned to see Severus Snape approach. "I stopped Miss Clearwater while she was hurtling pell-mell down the corridor and she said she was on a mission from you, professor. She said you wanted to see the Heads of House?"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Yes, Severus, thank you for getting here quickly. Another student has been attacked by the Heir of Slytherin. Worse yet, it appears a student has been abducted, taken into the Chamber by the Heir."

XxxxxxX

"Come on, Perce... what's going on? Tell us!" Fred Weasley asked his older brother.

Percy Weasley paused for a moment before his face contracted into a scowl. "Damn it all, George, you made me lose my count! Now I have to start all over! And I told you to stop calling me 'Perce'... I am not a lady's handbag!"

"I'm not George, I'm Fred," Fred said. "You'd think that after fourteen years of being our brother, you'd have learned to..."

"SHUT IT!" Percy yelled. The elder Weasley boy stared at Fred for a moment, then colored at the realization he had lost his 'professional demeanor'. "Look, I'm trying to get a headcount, and if you keep interrupting me, I'll never be done with it. This is important, you daft git! There's been another attack -- one girl is hurt, and someone else is missing!"

"Oh... sorry," Fred muttered. He and George went to enormous lengths to crack a joke or to pull a prank, but they both knew when to cut it out in a serious situation. "Hey, I mean it... I didn't know, you know?"

Percy nodded, trying to keep attention on his count. "Fine... go sit down so I don't count you twice."

Fred's shoulders slumped as he sat down on a long couch next to George. "Well, I found out what this is all about." The other kids in the circle around Fred and his twin leaned in to hear better. "Seems there's been another attack. One person injured, another missing."

From the other side of George Weasley, Neville Longbottom abruptly started to stand up. "What! Wait... Luna and Hermione! They never got back from trying to find Dumbledore!" He quickly scanned the common room, confirming that neither girl was there. "They must be the ones you were talking about! Did Percy say which was hurt and which missing?"

"Hey... wait a moment..." It was Harry's turn to scan the common room. "Ron isn't here either..."

Everyone just stared for a moment. "This is not good. This is very bad. Very bad, indeed," Ginny said at last.

"The Heir of Slytherin... He took them to the Chamber of Secrets, you reckon?" Neville asked.

"Must have... except the one that he merely injured," Harry replied. He thought for a moment. "Fred, George... we need to go help them. McGonagall isn't going to help. We've already found that out earlier. She thinks I'm just making things up."

"I'm for pulling a rescue mission, Harry," George began. "But we don't even know where the Chamber of Secrets is hidden. Not to mention we have to get past Perfect Percy."

"Getting past Percy will be a snap. We'll run interference while the kids get away. But finding the Chamber... yeah, that's a corker."

"Well... what do we know about the Chamber? Let's figure this out..." Ginny held up her hand and extended one finger. "Salazar Slytherin built it and hid the entrance in such a way that no one else could find it." She extended a second finger. "The Chamber contains a lethal monster." A third finger. "The Chamber was opened fifty years ago. There were attacks then, but only one death... the other victims were merely petrified." A fourth finger. "They blamed Hagrid for the attacks on the word of a school prefect named Tom Riddle."

"Voldemort..." Harry said vaguely. Everyone winced. Harry looked at everyone suddenly. "Oh come off it, it's only a name. And it's Riddle's name... look at this..." Harry lifted his wand and wrote 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' in the air in flaming letters. A further wave of his wand and the letters reworked themselves into 'I Am Lord Voldemort'. When everyone had grasped the implications, Harry dismissed the letters with a further wave.

"That's... an interesting charm, Harry. Can you teach it to us?" Neville asked, completely gobsmacked for a moment.

"Neville, not now." Ginny's scowl matched Percy's. "If Voldemort... oh, bother... just deal with it already... if Voldemort supposedly caught Hagrid releasing the Monster of Slytherin, what do you want to bet it was actually him? I mean... does Hagrid really seem to be the type to just let a rampaging monster loose in the castle?" The group glanced at each other for a moment, then back to Ginny. The girl sighed deeply and added, "On purpose?"

"Not on purpose, no..." Neville conceded.

"Especially since the person making the accusation was Voldemort. It's much more likely that he released the monster on the school. Look at who his targets were! Muggleborn students! Look who has been attacked this time! Muggleborn students!"

"Luna's a pureblood, though," interjected Neville.

Harry waved it away. "Yeah, but she was with Hermione, a Muggleborn. Luna would just be a target of convenience because she was there!"

"And Ron?" Fred asked.

"I have no idea."

"Look, how does any of this help us figure out where the Chamber is hidden?" George asked.

Ginny had that 'far off' look common to those in deep thought. "Wait... wait a moment... there was only one person killed during the first wave of attacks, fifty years ago. Right, Harry?"

"Yeah. A Muggleborn girl was killed. Her body was found in a bathroom on the second floor."

Ginny just stared at Harry for a moment. "A bathroom on the second floor? And it would be a girls' bathroom on the second floor?"

"Wait, you mean the same bathroom where they found Filch?" George's mouth was so wide open in surprise he could have shoved a whole persimmon into it. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

"Why not? I mean, have you seen what she's wearing? It's a Hogwarts uniform. She was a student here. And it's nearly the same uniform we wear, so she couldn't have died all that long ago... maybe she haunts that bathroom because she was killed in it!"

After a moment, Harry turned to the twins. "Fred, George, we need you to distract the prefects long enough for us to get out of here. We need to go talk to a ghost..."

XxxxxxX

It had taken Harry, Ginny, and Neville nearly half an hour to get to the second-floor girls' lav, creeping carefully under the invisibility cloak the entire time. Twice, they had to stop and stand motionless as one of the faculty rushed past. But finally, they reached the bathroom and entered.

"Myrtle?" Ginny called, pulling the cloak from her head and shoulders.

The boys looked around, their mouths open. They were treading in what was normally forbidden territory, yet were somehow disappointed that the girls' bathroom wasn't all that different from the boys. More sinks, maybe, and no stand-up urinals, but otherwise, the 'forbidden territory' didn't look all that forbidden.

"Who's there?" A high, sad voice came from one end of a row of toilets. A silvery, translucent girl stuck her head through one of the stall walls. Moaning Myrtle stared at the trio for a moment, her eyes wide in shock. "What are they doing in here? This is a girl's toilet!" yelled the ghost. "Get out!"

Ginny stepped forward, raising her hands in an effort to get the ghost to calm down. "It's okay, Myrtle... they won't be here for long! We need your help, though!"

"My help? No you don't. You want to make fun of me. No one ever needs my help." Myrtle retreated into her stall.

"No, wait!" Harry called.

The ghost poked her head back out of the stall. "Why should I?"

He shrugged. "I... We... We honestly need your help. I'm Harry. This is Neville, and that's Ginny. We need to rescue our friends from the Chamber of Secrets."

"But I don't know anything about the Chamber of Secrets. I spend all my time in here." Once again, the ghost turned back into her stall.

Neville spoke for the first time. "We need to ask you some questions!"

That stopped Myrtle in her ectoplasmic tracks. She was quiet for a moment before asking, "What sort of questions?"

"Well..." Harry stepped forward. He was clearly uncomfortable with the entire subject. "We... urr... we need to ask you about... the day you... died." The boy waited for the explosion, but Myrtle's reaction wasn't what Harry expected. Rather than getting angry over Harry's insensitivity, Myrtle blushed.

"Oh, it was absolutely horrible. I did just here, you know... in the doorway of this very toilet stall. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it has been years and years. I died in 1943, you know. I was only a third year... cut down in the very prime of my life..."

"Yes, but... how did you die?"

"Well, I was hiding in the toilet. Olive Hornby had teased me awful about my glasses. She called me a four-eyed know-it-all. Personally, I think she was just jealous because I had better grades than she did. Even though we were both in Ravenclaw House, she wasn't very diligent when it came to her studies, and I said so. We were constantly insulting each other... but she had more friends than I did, so they would gang up on me, you see. It was horrible."

Ginny nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. It's hard when your fellow students won't give you a break. So... how you died?"

"I'm getting to it!" Myrtle snapped. "I was hiding in the toilet, crying, when I heard someone come in. I couldn't see them, but I heard them when they started making this strange hissing noise. It took me a minute to realize that the person speaking was a boy! Well, I stepped out to tell them they were in the wrong bathroom, and then... I died..."

"But how did you die?" Harry asked.

"No idea. I just died."

Neville asked, "You just stepped out of the stall and fell over dead?"

"Yes, that's pretty much describes it. One minute I was wiping tears from my eyes, the next minute I was staring down at my own corpse. Quite a shock, really."

"But... but..." sputtered Harry.

"I mean, it wasn't painful or anything... one second alive, the next second dead. Took me by complete surprise. In fact, it was years before I realized that the reason I stayed around was so I could torment Olive Hornby... I wanted to make her sorry she ever thought about laughing at my glasses."

"Don't you remember anything about how you died?" Harry was scandalized that anyone, even a ghost, could discuss her own death that casually.

"Well, I do remember a pair of great big yellow eyes. They were over there, somewhere." The ghost waved vaguely at the row of sinks that ran along the wall in front of the toilet stalls. The three living children rushed over, examining the sinks for any further clues. "What in the world are the three of you doing?"

"We're looking for the door to the Chamber of Secrets, Myrtle. You were the only person killed during the first wave of attacks, after all, and since you died in this bathroom, it makes sense that the doorway might be in this bathroom." Neville explained as he went down on his hands and knees to examine the piping under the porcelain bowls of the sink.

"Really? Do you think it's in here?" Myrtle floated over to watch them search.

"Why not? It's as good a place as any to look," Harry said, running his hands along the sides and tops of the mirrors.

Myrtle was silent a moment before speaking again. "That might explain what that red-haired boy was doing in here."

Everyone stopped what they were doing, then turned to stare at the ghost. "Who?"

"He looked like a second or third year student. Tall, gangly, red-hair. When I told him to get out of my bathroom because he was a boy, he used a Ghost Banishing charm on me... drove me down the pipes all the way to the Black Lake, it did." Myrtle floated up to the tops of the mirrors, where she began visually inspecting them. "After that, I left the moment he entered. I don't know if you've ever been subjected to a Ghost Banishing charm, but it hurts like the dickens. I don't see anything up here, sorry."

Harry, Ginny, and Neville stared at each other in horror. None of them knew what to say, but everyone was thinking the same thing. Finally, Neville broke the silence. "But... but that would mean that... that Ron..."

"Yeah..." Ginny was horrified. "Ron's the Heir of Slytherin."

"No. He isn't. He can't be. There's no way in Hell that Ron would kill people, or turn a monster of Muggleborn students. I won't believe it." Harry's eyes were filling with tears as he shook his head. "No... it's Voldemort... he got control of Ron somehow. Voldemort's possessing him somehow." The bespectacled boy turned and slammed the flat of his hand against the mirror, over and over and over, each impact being accented with a loud cry of "No!"

Neville and Ginny were silent for a moment, letting Harry work it out. It took a couple of minutes, but finally the boy stopped striking the mirror. He took a deep breath, still crying, and said, "Let's just find the fucking entrance. Now we know we need to rescue Ron as well as Hermione and Luna." Harry turned back to the sink and turned the tap, wanting to splash his face with some water... but no water came out.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly.

Harry stared at the tap for a moment, and then saw it: scratched into the side of the handle was a tiny snake. He pulled, turned, and twisted the tap handle, trying to get it to open, convinced that this was the marker for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. "It won't open," he said in a frighteningly desperate voice.

"Harry," Ginny said calmly. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Ginny leaned into him, letting him feel her entire presence. "Harry," she said again. "Stop for a moment. Breathe. I'm right here, and we'll get through this together." Harry began to calm almost immediately. Beside them, Neville looked distinctly uncomfortable, like he was witnessing something that should otherwise be private.

"I'm calm, Ginny. I'll be okay." Harry ran a hand through his hair.

"Er... Harry... why don't you try to... give it a command... tell it to open," Neville began. "In Parseltongue. Say something to it."

"But..." Harry sputtered. "I've never tried to say something in Parseltongue on purpose before. I didn't even know I was doing it, before..." He stared for a long moment at the tiny engraving of a snake. "Open up!" he said.

He glanced at Harry and Ginny, who both shook their heads. "That was in English, sorry," Neville said.

Harry turned back to the engraving and stared at it for a long moment. He brought up the memories of the two times he had spoken to snakes before: the zoo, when he talked to the python about how hard it was to grow up in captivity; and Malfoy's summoned cobra, suddenly brought into existence without any idea of what was going on. "Open," he hissed, his mouth forming the words in Parseltongue.

The tap suddenly burst into a bright white light and began to spin. The three students and the ghost backed away as the sink began to descend out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed. The pipe was easily wide enough for a person to slide into.

The three stared at it for a minute. Finally, Harry said, "Myrtle, if we're not back in an hour, please tell Professor McGonagall what has happened. Maybe she'll believe it if it comes from someone other than me." He looked at Neville, who only nodded, then to Ginny, who looked grim but also nodded.

Harry lowered himself into the pipe and hung there for a moment. "Well... here I go. See you at the bottom."

Then he let go.

The experience, he decided, was a bit like slipping down a filthy, mud-covered slide in a disused playground. Every now and again he passed other pipes as he slid, but none were as wide as the one he was in. At the curves he would thud into the walls just hard enough to hurt, though it was a small hurt. Behind him, he heard someone -- he couldn't tell if it was Ginny or Neville -- cry out in protest at one of the rough spots.

Just as Harry had begun to worry about just how deep he was going beneath the castle, the tube leveled out. He shot out of the pipe and landed with a wet-sounding thud on the floor of a dark, circular chamber. Harry climbed to his feet and began to brush himself off. He had only begun, though, when he heard a noise from the pipe that caused him to swiftly step aside. First Ginny and then Neville came rushing out of the pipe themselves, close enough together to become tangled when they came to a stop on the floor.

"Oh Merlin," Ginny groaned as she stood. "We must be miles under the school."

Neville put a hand on one of the walls to help himself up, but pulled it away quickly once he was on his feet. "This wall's running with water... we're probably under the lake!" He squinted around in the darkness. "Anyone see a door?"

"Lumos!" The tip of Harry's wand lit up brightly. Quickly, Ginny and Neville did the same. The light merely made the chamber they were in look creepier, as it exposed the presence of hundreds of small bones on the floor.

Ginny asked, "Do you suppose whatever's down here has been eating the rats?"

Harry and Neville both nodded. "C'mon," Harry said, indicating the exit to the room. As they stepped into the dark tunnel beyond the doorway, their footsteps echoed wetly into the darkness. Even with their wands lit, the dark was so oppressive they could see only a few feet in front of them.

"Remember," Harry said, quietly, as they walked cautiously forward, "any sign of movement, try to find a place to hide." He wasn't sure exactly where they'd hide, but he figured it didn't hurt to say it. It turned out, however, that his warning wasn't necessary. The tunnel they were in was as silent as a grave, and the only unexpected sounds came from when one or the other of them accidentally stepped on a pile of rat bones.

They had walked for perhaps ten minutes when the tunnel widened out into another chamber. The three of them stopped for a moment to get their bearings and plan out their next move. "Should we hug the walls, you think? Or just set out across the middle?" Harry asked his companions.

But Neville wasn't listening. "Harry, I think there's something up ahead. Something big..."

They froze and pointed their wands in the direction Neville was indicating. They each could see the vague outline of... something... lying in the middle of the chamber. It didn't seem to be moving. Harry looked at the other two, who were squinting hard, but pressing forward at the same time. He swallowed once and took some calming breaths. He could feel his heart beating so hard in his chest that he was surprised the sound of it didn't attract the monster. He crept forward, inch by inch, until the light of his wand slid over a gigantic snake skin. It was a vivid green in color, and was curled in a pile that must have been ten feet across at least.

"The snake that shed this has to be at least thirty, maybe forty feet long," Neville whispered.

"It's not a snake." Harry and Neville both looked at Ginny as she spoke. "It's a basilisk. Oh Merlin... the Monster of Slytherin is a basilisk. It all fits. Gigantic snake skin. Petrifying people. Killing with its eyes. Oh Merlin... a basilisk." She turned to Harry with panic in her eyes. "How are we going to kill a basilisk, Harry? I'm just a first year! You two are second years... basilisks... they're one of the most lethal magical creatures in the world!"

Harry opened his mouth to speak, to tell Ginny that it would be okay and they'd make it through, but Neville beat him to it. "We're going to do it because Luna and Hermione and Ron need us to, Ginny, and there's no going back now! We're going to do this because we have to!" The boy's expression was clouded and angry, and the shadows made him appear sinister.

Ginny began, "But..."

"STOP!" Neville hissed. "Just stop talking! I know you're afraid, but for Merlin's sake, Ginny, shut the fuck up, all right?"

Harry felt a surge of rage at Neville for daring taking that tone with his Ginny. He raised his wand to curse the other boy, then forced himself to stop. This was not the time to begin fighting amongst themselves. And beside, Neville had a point. The two of them would, however, be talking later about the brusque way in which Neville addressed Ginny.

For her part, Ginny just nodded and took several deep breaths.

"Okay... let's calm down and keep going," Harry said finally. And with that, he led them past the snake skin into the darkness. Within minutes they were in a true tunnel again. They kept going as the passage turned left, then right, then left again. As they progressed, the three of them got more and more nervous, became more and more on edge. They all were hoping the tunnel would finally end, but were all dreading the moment it did because they knew what awaited them at its end.

And then, as they walked past one last turn, they came to a wall upon which two intertwined serpents were carved. Ginny and Neville stopped, allowing Harry to approach alone. There was no need for him to call up memories of other snakes; these seemed to be made of living stone, somehow.

Harry cleared his throat loudly, then looked at his companions over his shoulder. Neville gave him a supportive nod, while Ginny smiled wanly at him. He tried to communicate to her how much he loved her as he stared into her eyes. With one last glance at the girl to which he was bonded, he turned back to the wall and once again cleared his throat.

"Open," he commanded. At the sound of that single word of Parseltongue, the two serpents separated. The halves of the wall pulled apart, sliding away behind the rest of the wall.

Harry, Ginny, and Neville stepped inside, each of them shaking from head to foot in fear at what they might find.