Furious Angels

Chapter 17: The Chamber of Secrets

They found themselves in a long, damp chamber that was dimly lit by flaming torches set in the moss-covered marble walls. The ceiling rose into the shadows, supported by stone towers carved into the shape of twisting, intertwined serpents. Despite its size, the the omnipresent shadows made the entire room feel claustrophobic.

Harry, Ginny, and Neville stood for a moment, listening to the silence of the chamber. The only sounds they heard were the occasional random dripping of water somewhere off in the darkness and the pounding of their own hearts. Their eyes darted everywhere, looking furtively for any sign that the basilisk might be rushing at them from out of the shadows. And where were Ron and Hermione?

"Nox," Harry whispered, extinguishing the lit end of his wand. After a moment, his companions did the same. With a nod to Neville, he began to move forward between the serpentine columns, with his friends following. Their footsteps seemed like canon-blasts, echoing back upon them off of the walls. Harry kept his eyes peeled for any movement, swinging his wand back and forth, from left to right, just in case he needed to attack in a hurry. A quick glance to either side showed that Neville and Ginny had fallen into formation with him, a sort of rough triangle with Ginny covering his left and Neville guarding the right flank.

Harry's nervousness grew and he stopped for a moment. The tension was beginning to get to him. The darkness, the dank smell, the horrific way in which the chamber was decorated, and fear for their friends all added up. It felt like an enormous weight in Harry's stomach. And there was something else. "Do either of you get the feeling we're being watched?" He still hadn't seen anything move, but the sensation of being spied upon was getting stronger and stronger as they moved forwards.

"It's the snakes on the statues," Neville replied. He pointed his wand toward the snake-columns. "Take a look at their eyes. No matter where you stand, or where you walk, their eyes seem to follow you."

"And I'm fairly sure I saw at least one of these things move, just a little bit..." Ginny added.

Harry nodded. If this wasn't over soon, all three of them would be completely freaking out. That would be the last thing they needed if the basilisk came. "Can you guys keep going?" he asked.

Ginny's visible nervousness was replaced with visible irritation. "What kind of question is that, Harry? I'm with you forever, wherever you go. Remember that."

Neville swallowed. "While I'm not quite that dedicated, I can't turn back now. What would my Gran say if she heard I ran away while you kept going into danger?" Harry could tell that the other boy was thinking more of what his parents would think of him, were they capable of understanding. For a split second, Harry wondered how he knew that Neville's parents were... but then it was gone, pushed out of his head by the needs of the moment.

"Okay, we keep going."

Only a few minutes later, as the trio passed the last pair of serpent pillars, a gigantic statue came into view. The statue was of a thin, sour-looking wizard. The face was small and round, looking vaguely animalistic, with a thin beard that fell to the statue's toes. The statue soared to the ceiling, forty or fifty feet above their heads.

Between the statue's feet was another serpent-column standing only ten or twelve feet tall. Chained to the pillar, hanging limply, was a naked figure with bushy brown hair. Lying at the figure's feet was a lumpy pile of black robes and red hair.

"Hermione! Ron!" Harry called. The three students rushed forward. "Neville, check on Ron. Ginny, help me with Hermione!" Harry reached upward and yanked on the iron chains holding her arms above her head to no avail. The chains rattled, but didn't loosen.

"Oh, Merlin... what happened to her?" Ginny gasped. Hermione was hanging from the chains, as naked as the day she was born. Vicious bruises marked her arms and legs, and the words "Mudblood Whore" had been burned or branded into the unconscious girl's abdomen. Ginny gently pushed Hermione's head upward, allowing access to her friend's face. There were bloody streaks below her nose and at the corners of her mouth. Hermione had clearly been tortured before she fell unconscious.

"I think," Neville began before he stopped and swallowed, hard. "I think someone's tortured her. The Heir..."

"Stand back and get ready to catch her," Harry said. He touched the tip of his wand to the chains and muttered, "Exuro Per!" White hot sparks cascaded down from where his wand touched the chains. Harry gritted his teeth when a spark touched him; it was very hot, and he knew that he'd have a blister there later. He ignored the pain and stayed where he was. For some reason he couldn't understand, it actually made him feel better to see Hermione flinch sluggishly when one of the sparks landed on her shoulder. Maybe because it was proof that she was still alive. A second later, Hermione was falling into Ginny's arms.

"How is she, Ginny?" Harry asked, out of breath. He turned to see to Hermione's condition himself, but found himself blocked by Ginny.

"She's unconscious... it's... she's pretty bad off." Ginny looked up at Harry, a particularly fierce burning clear in her eyes. "Harry, give me your over-robe... I need to cover her up. You shouldn't see her like this..." She turned to where Neville knelt next to her brother. "And you stay where you are too." When Neville nodded, she asked, "How is Ron?"

"He's white as a sheet, and cold as ice," Neville said. "I can't get him to wake up..."

"He won't be waking up," a smooth, low voice said. The three children jumped, spinning around to see a tall, black-haired boy leaning against one of the closest of the serpent pillars. The boy was strangely blurry, as if he wasn't quite all the way there.

Harry gritted his teeth. "Tom Riddle." It wasn't a question; rather, it was the affirmation of fact that the three of them had already known.

Riddle nodded. "That's right. I've been waiting for a long time to finally talk to you, Harry Potter. I have so many questions that only you can answer. The first and most obvious being, how did you know who I am, Mister Potter?"

Harry began to seethe. He didn't want to waste words with a phantom while one of his friends lay dying. "I'd know you anywhere. I remember you, you bastard." Harry saw the older boy's jaw working, as if Riddle was grinding his teeth. "You're a pathetic, angry child who hides behind a silly acronym, afraid of his own name!"

"Why should I, the Heir of Salazar Slytherin himself, want to use the name of a filthy Muggle?" Riddle spat, then shrugged. "So you know who I am... It changes nothing. You know nothing of my life or my feats. My accomplishments. But I... I know all about you, Harry Potter. Your friend Ron was most helpful in that regard. His jealousy gave me the perfect opening, you see."

"Jealousy?" Ginny asked. "What could Ron possibly have to be -"

"Merlin, girl, you are thick, aren't you." Riddle smirked. "Or are you merely self-involved? Your pathetic love-sickness has blinded you to the people around you."

"That's enough!" Harry stepped forward, brandishing his wand at the specter.

"Ronald Weasley has been writing in my diary since before the school year began. When he discovered the diary, he couldn't wait to open his heart and spill all of his secrets into it. Telling me all of his pitiful, childish anxieties - how his family is so poor he has to make do with hand-me-downs; how he couldn't escape the long shadow of his brothers; how angry he was at his baby sister, who bewitched his so-called 'best mate' away from him; and how very, very angry he was that his supposed best friend had turned his back on him."

While he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's. They glinted with an almost cruel, hungry look.

"You have no idea how utterly boring it is, being constantly forced to listen to the fears and concerns of an eleven-year-old boy," he continued. "But I put up with it. I endured it, patiently. I was sympathetic. I offered advice and encouragement. Ron trusted me. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, mate. There's no one else here I can talk to about this, Tom. My family'll just tease me, and Harry wouldn't listen..." The shade of Tom Riddle laughed. It was a high, cold laugh, the sort of laugh no one likes to hear. It made the hairs stand up on the back of the three children's necks.

Harry was glaring daggers; in his mind, he was reviewing every combat spell he could think of. He could only imagine what Voldemort as a sixth or seventh year was capable of, but Harry had no doubt it would be bad. Neville had taken a position beside him, wand at the ready; the presence of his friend bolstered Harry's resolve. "We're not afraid of you, Tom. You're not the Dark Lord. You're just the memory of a pathetic teenage malcontent with a chip on his shoulder."

"Oh, I assure you, I am much more than that. Much more. I'm the living memory of the most powerful wizard ever to have lived."

"You're not!" For the first time since Riddle stepped out of the shadows, Neville Longbottom spoke up.

"What? What did you say?"

"You're not the most powerful wizard ever to have lived," said Neville, breathing quickly. "Albus Dumbledore is the -"

"Albus Dumbledore couldn't stop me from possessing Ron Weasley and unleashing the beast of Slytherin on his school. He couldn't stop me the first time around, either! I, the Heir of Slytherin, let loose the monster and killed, right under his nose!"

Riddle's voice lowered to an almost quiet conversational level. "And when the process is complete, Ron Weasley will be dead, and I will have returned to life to continue Salazar Slytherin's holy work."

Harry grit his teeth and spat, "You won't succeed. You're going to make you pay for what you have done to our friends. We will stop you!"

Riddle threw his head back, laughing at the threat. It was clear he wasn't intimidated by the two second years and a first year student at all. "That would be a trick I would enjoy watching." He strode forward into the flickering torchlight. "Do you really think any of you can match the power of the greatest sorcerer in the world? Look at you... a mere slip of a girl, a near-Squib, and an untrained boy with no real talents of his own?"

The older boy was growing more and more distinct by the second. Harry barely noticed. "Shut up!" He couldn't help rising to the bait. "You don't know anything about us, Riddle!"

"Oh, don't I? Your friend told me all your secrets, Harry Potter. How very desperate to escape the shadow of his older brothers. The only thing he had to claim as his own was his friendship with you, and that was ruined by a meddling baby sister." Riddle sneered. "When he wrote in the diary, he was full of anger and depression and betrayal, his best mate taken away by a sister who should have stayed in his shadow where she belonged..."

Riddle was almost three-dimensional and whole. "His anger made it that much easier for me to pour myself, a little bit at a time, into him. At first, I wanted to continue the noble work I had started, in the name of my honored ancestor: driving out the Mudbloods and the Mud-tainted from this school." Riddle smiled. It was a grim, humorless, cruel smile. "It was only at the very last, when I heard the prophecy regarding you and the Dark Lord that I realized I'd been a fool; you should have been my first and only --"

Harry raised his wand. "Merlin, you do like to hear your own voice. You're like a criminal mastermind who just can't shut up until he tells the hero the details of his unnecessarily complicated plot to take over the world." He flicked his wand sharply and said, "Anyone else completely bored? Candelassius!"

An incandescent beam of blue-white light burst from Harry's wand. Riddle didn't so much as move. The beam passed through him, seemingly to no effect. The red beam of Neville Longbottom's Stupefy and the blue-white beam from Ginny's Confringo were equally useless.

"A nice attempt, Potter. Unfortunately, you cannot hurt me. I, on the other hand, can definitely hurt you."

From behind the three children, a new voice called out, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry spun desperately, knowing what was about to happen. Horror and despair warred on his face as he saw the sickly green-light streaking, not toward himself as he expected, but rather his precious Ginny. He stared helplessly as his love tried to spin out of the way of the spell. But she was too slow; the Death Spell slammed into her side, knocking her into the stone wall. Her eyes glazed over as she slid to the floor. "Ginny!" Harry ran to her, kneeling at her side as he searched for some sign that she wasn't dead. "No! Don't be dead, Ginny! Please!"

Behind Harry, Neville strode forward. He waved his wand, spitting out the spells Harry taught him at the shadowed newcomer. "Stupefy! Stupefy! Incarcerous! Confringo! Petrificus Totalis!" The new opponent clumsily tried to bat away the first spell with his wand, but the others struck true. In seconds, the newcomer was tied up, frozen into position, unconscious, and blown backward into one of the columns where he, too, collapsed to the floor.

"Ginny... come on, Ginny... don't leave... I need you!" Harry wiped at the tears that were flooding his eyes, hoping against hope that she somehow survived the spell.

"Harry!" Neville called, voice quavering. "It's Justin, from Hufflepuff House! But... but... he's a Muggleborn! Why would a Muggleborn be helping You-Know-Who?"

Riddle laughed. The cold, cutting nature of the sound caused Harry to shiver, but just for a moment. He pulled Ginny up onto his lap, clutching her body to his chest. "Don't leave me, Gin. You can't leave me," he muttered, almost under his breath.

The shade of Tom Riddle laughed. It was a full, loud laugh; the sort of laugh one expected from movie serial villains. Cold, cruel, and absolutely sadistic in quality, it was a horrible sound. Neither of the boys even so much as noticed.

"Riddle must have been controlling him, somehow," Neville said. The boy turned and approached Harry. "Harry, is she -"

A muffled cough interrupted him. "I'm okay." The voice was strained, but it was loud enough to be heard. "Harry, I'm okay." Ginny shook as she coughed again. She rolled out of Harry's grasp onto her hands and knees and retched for a moment. The tears that had been streaming down Harry's face continued, but now he was smiling.

"Oh, Ginny, you're alive. You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive, Harry." Ginny coughed again, then accepted Harry's hand as she climbed to her feet.

"Impossible! No one survives the Killing Curse!" The shade of Riddle screamed in a voice that sounded outraged and offended. "No one has such magic!"

Harry, Ginny, and Neville all spun toward Riddle, as if suddenly remembering that he had been there all along. "Harry survived it, Riddle." Ginny hawked and spat, aiming for the shade's feet. "The Professor said... an entire class-full of fourth years could cast it and you'd likely only suffer a nosebleed. Remember?"

Harry didn't bother to wonder what she was talking about. He was too happy that she was still alive to wonder.

Riddle seethed. "Very well, then. I'd hoped my Mudblood puppet would be more effective. If all he's done is supplied me yet another victim, fine. Let's see how you stand against the Monster of Slytherin!" With visible contempt, Riddle's gaze moved over the three children, who watched as the apparition lifted its arms toward the great stone face of Salazar Slytherin, high above them in the darkness. Riddle hissed, but Harry could understand him. "Speak to me, Slytherin! Greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"

Harry began to back away. Without turning, he spoke. "Neville, get Ron and Justin to cover. Ginny, you take care of Hermione. Get them out of the Chamber, or at least out of sight, and then hide! I think he just released the basilisk!"

"I'm not leaving you, Harry! You need -"

"Ginny! Go! Get Hermione out!" Harry interrupted her. "I'll take care of the bloody great snake." He wasn't sure how, precisely, but he knew he had to buy his friends time to get their three unconscious classmates out.

Harry watched as the stone face of Salazar Slytherin moved, its mouth opening wider and wider. He could see something moving in the shadows of that deep open hole. Harry continued backing up as he watched first the head, and then the long body of the basilisk emerge from Slytherin's mouth. The gigantic snake slowly lowered itself toward the floor of the chamber. He could only hope his friends were following his directions.

The basilisk landed in a moving pile, its great weight causing the floor of the Chamber to shudder. The snake began freeing itself from the tangle of its fall from the statue's mouth, and it was enough to shock Harry back to reality. He quickly raised his wand and shouted, "Diffindo!" The blue-white beam of the cutting curse struck the basilisk in the side without any seeming effect. "Diffindo! Reducto! Confringo!, Sectumsempra!" he shouted in quick succession. The basilisk didn't seem to even notice.

From behind him, Harry heard more spells cast. Neither Ginny nor Neville had listened to him, preferring to stand with their friend against the Monster of Slytherin. The sheer horror of the situation made it hard for Harry to think. He had to find some way to stop the basilisk. He had to keep it from killing Ginny!

The basilisk, now fully uncoiled, moved swiftly. It curled itself up the right leg of the statue of Slytherin, gazing at the shade of Tom Riddle in expectation. Riddle was laughing again. "You underestimate the power of the King of Serpents, Potter! No schoolboy spell will kill it!" Riddle again spoke in Parseltongue, directly to the basilisk. "Kill the boy! Kill his friends! Kill them all!"

Harry's mind whirled, desperately seeking some way the great beast could be destroyed. His eyes traveled down the snake's length, and then up the leg of the statue around which it was still coiled. It took only a second, but the barest beginnings of an idea formed, and Harry once again raised his wand. Harry smiled as he completed the motion, quickly as he could, and shouted, "Bombarda Maxima!" As the basilisk slithered down from the statue's leg and began sliding toward the three children, the yellow, cone-shaped beam of the Blasting Spell flew from Harry's wand and over the body of the basilisk, missing it completely and impacting the legs of the statue.

"Pathetic, Potter. You should learn to hit your target," the shade of Riddle taunted. The older boy was almost solid, now.

Harry's smile widened as the sound of shattering stone filled the Chamber for a moment. "I did hit my target, you git!" he replied.

As Harry spoke, huge cracks began to spread through the legs of the statue of Salazar Slytherin. The sound of shattering stone thundered through the air. Chunks of stone began falling around the basilisk, several bouncing off of its gray, scaly hide. The beast began to writhe in pain as larger and large chunks slammed into it from above, but it was too late for the creature. The whole, stone head of the statue came toppling down, crushing the snake and pinning its body to the floor.

The basilisk gave a long, shuddering breath, and then died.

The three children, along with Tom Riddle, all stared at the dead monster for a moment. "It's dead..." Riddle's voice was forlorn, as if the boy had just lost a beloved pet. "You killed it." The Heir of Slytherin turned to the three children suddenly and raised a wand. Absently, Harry noted that it was Ron's wand... the one that used to belong to his brother Charlie. "It makes no difference!" Riddle was still speaking. In fact, I think I prefer it this way! I'll kill you through the strength of my own magic!" The boy raised the stolen wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

The sickly green spell raced toward Harry, who brought his own wand up in a sharp wave. A chunk of stone that had formerly been a part of the statue of Slytherin leapt into the air in time to intercept the Killing Curse. Harry dodged to the right and yelled, "Candelassius!" The silvery light beam that made up Harry's spell rebounded as his opponent called out, "Protego!"

Neville Longbottom and Ginny Potter both ran forward. Neville shouted, "Reducto!" as Ginny called out, "Ferotellum!" A four foot long sharpened spike of iron flew as if fired from a ballista toward the Heir of Slytherin. It punched through the hastily-erected shield, but Riddle was able to sidestep and avoid the conjured spear. Neville's Reductor Curse struck the boy in the arm, causing Riddle to spin away from his attackers. Harry moved toward Riddle's left as Ginny continued to move. She edged to Riddle's right as Neville and Harry fired curse after curse at the Heir of Slytherin. Quickly, they had the older boy in a three-way crossfire, but very few of their spells could make it through his shields.

"You've lost and you don't even know it, Potter! All I have to do is outlast you! Your friend Ron is about to die, and there is nothing you can do about it! Even if you knock me out and turn me over to the Aurors, your friend will still be dead, and I'll still be the most powerful wizard in the world." Riddle sneered as his shield repelled another set of attacks.

Harry's teeth ground as he dodged Riddle's counter-attack. He took a step back but stopped when he bumped against something large. Looking over his shoulder quickly, he was surprised to see he'd run into the neck of the dead basilisk. Even in death, the creature was frightening. Not only its great size, but its dagger-length fangs...

"Basilisk fangs..." The thought floated up into his mind from somewhere in his memory. With a grin, Harry turned to his wife and called, "Ginny! Toss me the diary!"

Ginny looked surprised for a moment, but then glanced around at her feet to find she was standing almost on top of her older brother. With almost casual ease, she stooped to pick up the diary that had been lying on his chest. She flung it overhand toward Harry, who caught it with the ease only an experienced Seeker could display.

Harry pulled the book open with both hands, turned, and impaled the open pages on one of the dripping fangs of the Monster of Slytherin. For a split second, everyone stared at the book. Then there was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted from the diary in fast jets, like blood from an open artery. Riddle screamed and, convulsing, fell to the floor. The Heir of Slytherin seemed to shatter like glass, a great black smoke pouring into the air from his body.

And then the memory of Tom Riddle was gone.

Neville's wand clattered to the floor, while Harry and Ginny both slumped against the neatest columns. There was silence in the chamber other than the slow drip-drip-drip of black ink falling to the floor from the diary. The children looked to each other and smiled. Slowly, they pulled themselves upright.

There came a soft moan from behind Ginny. Ron shifted, and then sat up. His terror-struck eyes traveled from Harry to Neville to Ginny, then fell on the huge form of the basilisk for a moment, then slid to where the diary still hung from one of the great beast's fangs. A sad, desperate, hungry look crept onto his face as Ron drew in a long, shuddering breath.

"It was - He made - I didn't -" Ron began, stopped, and then began again. "He wanted - He took me over! I tried to fight him, but he was so strong! He made me do things. Horrible, evil things--"

"It's all right, Ron." Ginny gathered her brother up into a hug. "He's gone. We killed the basilisk and destroyed the diary. You're free of him." She helped him to his feet, and then looked to Neville and Harry. "Come on, let's wake Justin up and get out of here. I'll take care of Hermione?"

"You don't understand! I tortured Herm - " Ron gaped for a moment, then continued. "The things he made me do! I killed people!" Ron refused to be consoled. He also refused to look them in the eyes. Instead Ron stared downward, toward the floor. The boy shivered, then wiped absently at his running nose with a sleeve. "Mum is going to kill me," he muttered, almost to himself.

"She'll understand, Ron. Mum will understand." Ginny waved her wand over Hermione and muttered, "Levicorpus." The unconscious girl's body floated into the air, moving at Ginny's direction.

Harry walked over to the still-bound Justin Finch-Fletchley as Neville and Ginny got Ron moving toward the Chamber's entrance. With a quick Finite and an Ennervate, Harry removed the ropes bounding the Hufflepuff boy and woke him up.

Justin blinked in the dim lighting, and then burst into tears. "Oh, Christ! What have I -- Harry Potter? That horrid Weasley boy came and - and then I was -" His face was white as a sheet. He looked up at Harry in utter confusion. "What's happened to me?"

Harry gave a hand and helped Justin to his feet. "Let's get out of here. Pomfrey should take a look at you and Ron both."

At the mention of the name, the Fletchley boy jerked as if stung. "Ron? Ron Weasley? He's the one who - he appeared out of nowhere last night. Waved his wand in my face and suddenly I was hearing some bloke's voice in my head again! Telling me I wanted to..." Justin flushed, and then glanced at Harry from the corner of his eye. "I didn't mean it, Potter... I swear I didn't mean it.

"I know," Harry sighed. "Don't worry, Justin. You're not the first person to fall under Voldemort's influence." He walked over to the body of the basilisk and very carefully removed the diary from the fang from which it hung. With a last look around, he led the other children out.

Soon enough they were back in the pitch dark entrance to the Chamber, staring at the various pipes from the light of their wands. Ginny gently lowered Hermione to the floor, and then moved to stand next to her brother. Ron had yet to say a word to anyone since they left the main chamber. Ginny had tried to show her brother how much she cared by rubbing his back and supporting him, but he quickly shrugged off her touch the moment she tried. Justin, on the other hand, hadn't shut up, talking about the horror of not being under control of your own mind non-stop. Other than his lack of color and the babbling, the greatest effect of his trauma was that he wouldn't come within ten feet of Ron.

The group stood in the entrance for several minutes, each contemplating what to do next. Finally, Neville leaned against the wall next to the pipe they had slid down and stuck his head into it. "Harry," Neville asked, his voice echoing up into the darkness. "I don't suppose you've thought how we're going to get back up this?"

"Well, I know we're not going up that way," Harry responded. He thought the problem over, and then shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea."

"Riddle opened the Chamber several times the first go round, back in the 40s. There's bound to be a safe way to get back up." Ginny turned to her brother. "Um... Ron... I hate to ask you this, but do you remem - "

"No!" Ron almost shouted. "I don't - I don't remember coming down here... I don't remember coming down here." He kept repeating that phrase, I don't remember coming down here like a mantra or a prayer.

Finally, Harry seemed to come to a decision. "I know one thing... there's no way the self-appointed Heir of Slytherin would crawl up a pipe. It's just not... dignified. Let me try something." He strode to the center of the entrance chamber, and then turned slowly in a circle. He stared at each of the walls in turn. He pictured the snakes on the door to the chamber, those snakes that looked to be carved of living stone, and imagined he was speaking to them in Parseltongue.

"Stairs!"

The children all waited in the darkness for something to happen. Nothing did.

"Open!"

Nothing.

"Exit! Door! Escape!"

Still nothing. A panic was creeping into Harry, starting from his toes. The other children were growing more and more frightened as the shadows seemed to lengthen around them.

"Please, let us out... please..."

Harry was almost in tears. He didn't know what else to try. With a sigh, he said, "I want to go home..."

Everyone jumped when the bricks in the wall next to where Justin Finch-Fletchley was standing began to shift and open, revealing a spiraling staircase upward. The children all stared at each other for a moment. Then the nervous giggling started.

"I don't know what you said, Harry, but whatever it was, I agree completely," Neville said. He patted his friend on the shoulder, and then led the way up.

"That was bril, Love." Ginny once again levitated Hermione, and followed. Harry waited for Ron and then Justin to go ahead before taking up the rear of the line.

The climb was steep and long and seemed to carry on for hours and hours, but finally the stairs ended at a landing. An iron-banded wooden door, featuring an old-fashioned ring-handle, blocked any further progress. Neville grabbed the ring and pulled the door open. They were surprised to find themselves back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, just in time to see the hole by which they entered the Chamber close again. Myrtle stared at them, surprised.

"You're still alive!"

"Well, yeah..." Harry stammered as he wiped flecks of grime from his glassed with a sleeve. Unfortunately, the action only caused the smudges to get worse, as the sleeve was also covered in muck.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed, Myrtle," Ginny said grimly.

"Where now?" asked Neville, who was glancing anxiously at Ron and Justin, both of whom were looking on the ragged edge of hysteria.

Harry pointed to the door. "Go with Ginny... take Hermione straight to the Hospital Wing. I'll go with Justin and Ron." The two shell-shocked boys just nodded and followed Harry along the corridor. They shuffled after him, and moments later found themselves outside of Professor Dumbledore's office.

Harry tapped on the gargoyle's nose and spoke. "Please let us in."

The gargoyle moved aside, and the three boys stepped forward onto the moving staircase.