Chapter 13: Answers revealed and Backfires.
"I really wish you were here," Harry whispered as he sat down on the bed next to Hermione. "We could really use your help." He stroked his thumb on the back of her hand.
Ron sat on the other side of the bed while Mia sat next to Harry on a chair. All three of them were staring at Hermione, who was still petrified.
"She'll wake up soon," Mia told him. "Madam Pomfrey has been getting everything ready for the mandrakes because Professor Sprout swore that they are nearly ready to be taken out."
"I know, but it doesn't stop it from being so frustrating," Harry replied.
"We know mate," Ron told him before he looked at his watch and sighed. "I need to get back to the common room. The twins have been worried about Ginny and they want to talk to me about it." They nodded as he left the hospital wing. Mia looked back at Harry before she stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm going to get Draco. Screw hiding everything - he deserves to be here," Mia told him. Harry smiled gratefully as she left the Hospital wing, leaving him alone with Hermione.
"You'll need to get better soon. If you don't, you'll miss more class work," he teased weakly before his shoulders slumped. He needed to hear Hermione's voice, to hear her laugh and her scolding when he didn't do his homework.
Ginny came in and sat next to Harry before she pulled her chair closer to him.
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked. Harry looked at her, startled. He shook his head as he turned back to Hermione.
"No, they picked the wrong person to mess with this time. No one attacks Hermione and gets away with it," Harry informed her. Ginny paled slightly.
"She'll be fine," Ginny tried to assure as she placed her hand on Harry's arm but moved it away when she felt it stiffen under her hand.
"Still doesn't matter. She shouldn't be in here in the first place," Harry replied; coldly as he reached over and brushed back some of Hermione's hair. "She is going to freak when she finds out how much class work she has missed," he said fondly as a small smile touched his face. Ginny just frowned.
"Isn't that a bit boring of her?" Ginny asked. "I mean, there is more to life than studying." Harry looked at her, insulted.
"Studying is what makes Hermione, Hermione. I love it when she goes into her study mode. It's one of the reasons why I'm attracted to her. She breathes in books and learning - it's a passion for her," Harry said coldly before he turned back to the petrified girl. "I want to see that passion again."
Ginny just got up and left the hospital wing as tears filled her eyes. She thought that she could comfort Harry but he made it pretty clear that he wanted Hermione to comfort him, not her.
Ginny ran down the corridors, wanting to get away from the hospital wing. She needed to send a message and let them know that their plan had just gotten harder in getting Harry away from Hermione. They didn't want Harry and Hermione to get together and were trying everything they could to prevent it from happening. It seemed, however, like that fate was stepping in and giving Harry and Hermione a helping hand.
Mia made her way back into the Hospital wing with Draco. They made their way over to Harry and Hermione.
"Hey, I saw Ginny bolt it out of here like she just caught fire," Mia told him and Harry looked at her.
"I think she came here to give me comfort but she insulted Hermione. I'm afraid that I wasn't very polite with her," Harry informed them.
They nodded as they sat down, surrounding Hermione.
"Do you have any ideas what to do next?" Draco asked from where he was sitting on a chair on Hermione's right side. Harry shook his head.
"She was coming back from the library when she was attacked. We can't figure out what she was researching when she was there," Harry explained. Draco stared at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"There has to be something we can do. I mean, whoever is doing the attacking picked out their victims. Who's to say that they won't come back and try it again?" Mia asked. Harry looked at her, sharply - obviously he hadn't thought of that.
"You're right," he frowned, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.
"What are you thinking?" Draco asked. He recognised the signs of Harry suddenly recalling something that didn't fit when he wanted it to fit.
"It's just, when Hermione went off to the library, I asked Ron to go and check on her and make sure that she was safe. He promised that he would, but he came to the Quidditch pitch he swore to me that was the first time we spoke that day," he explained. Draco frowned.
"So what? Do you think someone made him forget?" Draco asked and Harry nodded.
"I mean think about it. Muggle borns are being attacked and I know that Ron would have gone with Hermione just to keep me happy, yet he didn't go. He said that he hadn't seen me at all yet we spoke a few minutes before he turned up," Harry told them.
"Memory charm?" Mia asked and Harry nodded.
"Why not? I mean, this attacker, they have to pick out their victims right? I mean, they're not going around doing random attacks," Harry told them and Draco's eyes widened.
"You think that someone deliberate memory charmed Ron into forgetting that he was to go and check on Hermione so they could attack her?" Draco asked.
"Yes," Harry told him but Mia frowned.
"Why? Wouldn't they know that they were going to be picking on the wrong person?" Mia asked. "A lot of people saw you lose your temper when Pansy called Hermione that degrading name so they know that you are not going to be happy about the attack. Why risk that? Why risk attacking Hermione Granger, the best friend of the boy who lived?"
"Maybe it's the other way round?" Draco asked and they looked at him questioningly. "Think about it - Colin was irritating Harry by taking pictures every second, Justin was bad mouthing Harry, and Filch got Harry into trouble at the beginning of the year. Maybe it's connected to Harry in a way we never thought. I think the attacker is doing it to help Harry," Draco told them.
"Hermione?" Harry demanded.
"She's the one female that you're attracted to. Why not get her out of the way and place someone else there," Draco suggested.
"Nick? Penelope? I'm pretty sure that none of them annoyed Harry," Mia pointed out and Draco shook his head.
"Nick was found with Justin - it could be possible that he was talking to Justin when they were attacked. He could have been an innocent bystander. Penelope - didn't you say that Hermione was found with her? Maybe Hermione found some way to deflect the attacker but Penelope got caught in the crossfire," Draco explained.
Harry just took Hermione's clenched hand in his own again when he felt something scratchy along his palm. Puzzled, he examined her fist and saw she had been grasping a piece of paper when petrified.
"Harry?" Mia asked as Harry reached into her hand and slowly tugged the paper out, coaxing it out so it would tear till it finally came loose. He lifted it up and read it out loud.
"One of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land there is none more curious or more deadly than the basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it," Harry recited and noticed that Hermione had wrote the word 'pipes' underneath the paragraph. His eyes lit up in understanding as Mia and Draco looked at each other, the same truth dawning on them.
"I gotta get Ron!" Harry exclaimed. "Stay here and look after her - I don't want the attacker getting a second chance at her." With that he ran out of the hospital wing, hell bent intent on finding Ron so they could find some way to get the truth to a teacher.
"Whoa," Ron exclaimed, obviously not understanding how Harry saw this fit into everything that's been happening. "How can you be so sure?" he asked.
"Because the spiders have been fleeing - you saw them, they all left the Castle. Roosters have been killed off, Hagrid had been complaining about it. It explains the voice that I have been hearing all over the castle - the Basilisk is a snake and as I'm a Parseltongue, I understand it," Harry explained.
"What about the people who have been petrified? I mean, it did say that the stare kills, you know," Ron informed him.
"Colin only saw it through his camera. You only see a reflection of what you are taking a picture of. Justin saw the stare through Headless Nick so he never got the full effect. Nick is a ghost so he can't die again. Hermione and Penelope were found with a mirror - I bet you that Hermione were looking around corners with the mirror to tell when the snake was coming," Harry informed him. Ron just looked at him, doubtfully.
"And Mrs. Norris?" Ron asked. "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a mirror."
"No, but she had a pool of water, remember? So that meant she saw the Basilisk's reflection," Harry told him.
"Wait a minute, how the basilisk getting around then? I mean, something that big, surely someone would have seen it," he pointed out. Harry smirked as he lifted up the piece of paper and showed it to Ron, showing the neat writing that Hermione wrote.
"Pipes, the basilisk has been using the pipes, Ron - that's why I've been hearing it all around the school," Harry told him. Ron paled as he looked around the entire building surrounding him.
"Oh great," he moaned out before a thought hit him and he clutched Harry's arm. "And the entrance…" he trailed off and Harry nodded.
"The entrance is in the girls' bathroom on the second floor," Harry told him. "Come on, we have to warn the teachers," as they hurried through the corridors to find a teacher when a loud voice called over the walls.
"All students return back to their common house, all teachers - please go to the second floor!" it shouted.
"Come on!" Harry exclaimed and they hurried their way to the second floor and saw the teachers surrounding the wall.
"Look!" McGonagall exclaimed. Harry and Ron peered round the corner and saw the saying 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever,' right under the first message that had been there since Halloween. "A student has been taken into the chamber by the monster itself!" she cried.
"Who is it?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"Ginny Weasley," McGonagall told them and Ron slumped against the wall in order to hold himself up.
"Ginny," he whispered under his breath.
Soon there were hurried footsteps. Harry peeked back round the corner and saw that Lockhart was breathing heavily as he moved closer to the teachers surrounding the wall.
"Sorry about that, I was getting ready for my…next class," Lockhart told them. The teachers just rolled their eyes. "So, what happened?" he asked and Snape hit up on an idea.
"It's a good thing you are here. A girl has been snatched by the monster and taken into the chamber. This is your moment to shine!" Snape told him.
"Me?" Lockhart asked, going somewhat white.
"Yes, weren't you telling me that you knew where the Chamber of Secret was all this time and how you regretted that you couldn't stop the monster?" McGonagall asked, catching on to Snape's plan.
"I did?" Lockhart asked, gulping slightly.
"There's not a moment to lose!" Flitwick squeaked out. "You best get a move on if you wish to save the school!"
"Oh…yes…" Lockhart trailed off, unable to deal with what was happening. "I'll get to my room and get ready," he told them before he walked off.
"Now that's him out of the way," Snape muttered. "What are we going to do now?" he looked at McGonagall, who only shook her head.
"The only thing we can do. Tell the students to pack because after this incident there's no way that Hogwarts will be allowed to stay open," she told them. The group of professors walked off to deal with their students.
Harry growled. "Mia is going to kick my ass if I let that happen," he muttered under his breath before he turned around to face Ron and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Lockhart may be an idiot but he could try and stop this monster - the least we could do is supply him the evidence," Harry told him as they both hurried toward the vain professor's room that was in the DADA Classroom. All teachers had their own room at the back of their classroom so it was easier for the students to know where the teachers were when they needed them.
Harry and Ron rushed through the class and into the private chamber, where they saw Lockhart packing everything away like mad.
"Professor Lockhart, we know where the chamber is!" Harry exclaimed only to stop and look around before he arched an eyebrow. "Are you going somewhere?" Harry asked as he saw all the packed trunk.
"Yes, sorry. It's urgent," Lockhart told them as he thrusted a pile of wigs into his trunk.
"What about my sister?" Ron demanded and Lockhart looked up at him.
"I'm sorry but there was nothing in the Defence Against the Dark Arts contract saying that I had to do this," Lockhart told them.
"You did all those things!" Harry shouted.
"Books can be misleading," Lockhart shot back and Harry snorted.
"You wrote the books!" Harry pointed out and scoffed. "Is there anything you can do?" he demanded and Lockhart puffed out his chest.
"Now you mention it, I am rather gifted with memory charms," Lockhart told him. "I couldn't have people going around and saying that I never did the things - I would have never sold another book!"
"Meaning, you stole people's heroics and passed them off as yours," Harry concluded and Lockhart sneered.
"And I'm afraid that I'll need to do the same to you," he told them as he lifted his wand only for Harry to send it flying backward.
"Shouldn't have taught us the spell," Harry retorted. Lockhart just looked at him, now scared. "Now, we know where the Chamber of Secrets is and as we're not allowed to go through the corridors ourselves. It looks like you just volunteered to protect us." He grabbed Lockhart's arm and shoved him forward. "Now, to the girls' bathroom on the second floor."
They made their way into the bathroom and saw that Moaning Myrtle was floating about, moaning and wailing to herself.
Harry moved forward.
"Myrtle," he called out and Myrtle stopped and turned to see that Harry, Ron and Lockhart were staring up at her and she scowled.
"Oh, it's you again," she muttered. "What do you want now?"
"To ask how you died," Harry told her and she lit up like someone had given her a present for her birthday.
"Ooh!" she squealed before she swooped down in front of Harry. "It was horrible. I was hiding in here because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was in the stall when I heard this funny language. I thought it was a boy so I opened the stall door to tell him to go and use his own toilet but then I found myself staring into those bright yellow eyes and I knew no more," she told him.
"Where did those eyes comes from?" Harry asked and Myrtle nodded her head over to the circle of sinks.
"Over there, from one of the sinks," she told him and Harry moved forward.
"This is it Ron. This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secret," Harry told him.
"Saying something in Parseltongue," Ron encouraged and Harry nodded as he looked around the taps till his fingers hit a snake pattern. Harry took a deep breath.
"Open," he commanded, he looked at Ron, who shook his head.
"English, sorry," Ron told him and Harry closed his eyes and envisioned a real snake in front of him before he hissed out the word open.
A rumbling sound started up, causing Harry to take a step back. The top of the sinks lifted away and each sink pulled apart from each other till one slid down into the ground before a metal grate shot out. Harry peered in and saw darkness.
"Now, you don't need me," Lockhart told them as he tried to back away but found two wands pointing at him.
"You first," Harry informed him before he motioned his wand to the hole. Lockhart moved over to it and looked down.
"Are you sure you don't want to go first?" he asked, fear entering his voice.
"You're the defence against the dark arts teacher," Ron reminded him before Harry shoved the vain professor into the hole, who went down screaming like a girl.
Ron and Harry leaned over and listened till they heard a loud thud.
"Its really quite filthy down here," Came a disgusted voice and Harry smirked.
"He's alive, us next," Harry told Ron. Moaning Myrtle called out to the boys.
"Oh Harry," she crooned and he looked up at her. She gave him a shy smile. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet," she simpered and Harry shot her a weak grin.
"Thanks Myrtle," he told her before he jumped into the hole with Ron right after him.
They both landed and saw that Lockhart was looking around the area. The boys brought up their wands while examining at the ground. Ron could see hundreds of bones.
"What is this?" Ron demanded.
"Animals bones. The basilisk has been feeding on small animals," Harry explained. Lockhart let out a disgusted groan.
"This is really quite horrible," he informed them.
"Welcome to reality of saving people's lives," Harry informed him. He moved ahead of them and looked around the large tunnel.
Soon Harry spotted something large and scaly near the centre of the tunnel. He made his way over to it while Lockhart and Ron watched him.
"Harry, what is that?" Ron asked as Harry ran his hand over the stuff. Lockhart peered at it.
"Looks like is a sort of skin," Lockhart told them.
"Actually, it's a shed snake skin - it must be over 20 feet, at least but as each snake shreds, they actually grow a few more inches," Harry explained. Lockhart felt all faint before he slumped to the ground.
Harry looked up, startled, and saw that Lockhart was on the ground while Ron just stared at him before he looked at Harry.
"Heart of a lion," Ron muttered, sarcastically. Lockhart yanked his wand out of Ron's hand and held it up at them.
"Tough luck boys," he told them. "The adventure ends here now. I'll take a bit of snake skin up with me and tell that I was too late to save the girl and that you two tragically lost your mind at the sight of her mangled body." He waved his wand. "Obliviate!"
A bright light shot out from Ron's wand, but not from the wand's point, but from the where the wand was broken. The spell shot back and hit Lockhart instead, sending him flying backward till his back hit the wall and he fell to the ground.
Soon a rumbling sound started up and Harry understood.
"Cave in!" Harry shouted at Ron and they both jumped out of way as the rocks came tumbling down in the middle, separating Harry and Ron from each other.
"Harry!" Ron called out. Harry lifted himself up, coughing and shaking his head, causing dust and bits of rocks to fall away from his hair.
"I'm alright," Harry called back. He made his way over to where the rocks were creating a barrier. "It's blocked."
Ron let out a frustrated groan before Lockhart lifted himself up and looked around his surrounding before looking at Ron.
"This is a strange place, do you live here?" he asked and Ron looked at him like he had grown two heads.
"No," Ron told him and Lockhart nodded.
"Who are you?" he asked and Ron's arched an eyebrow.
"Ron Weasley," he told him and Lockhart nodded.
"Who am I?" he asked and it dawned on Ron what had happened.
"Harry, Lockhart's memory charm has backfired on him, he doesn't know who he is!" Ron explained. Harry rested his head on the rocks, fighting back laughter.
"Okay," Harry shouted back while Lockhart picked up a rock.
"This does seem a good place to live, doesn't it?" he asked and Ron rolled his eyes. The red-headed boy grabbed the rock and whacked it across the back of Lockhart's head, knocking him out.
"What do I do?" Ron asked.
"I'll go on ahead. You try and clear a path for Ginny and I to get through when we come back," Harry told him.
"Okay," Ron shouted back.
Harry continued on as he made his way through the dark chamber, till he came to a stop when he saw a large semi-circular stone door. He walked up to it and pressed his hands against, realising that it was the final entrance to the chamber. He could finally meet the person who opened the chamber and attacked Hermione.
TBC
Sorry for the cliffhanger but I had to.