Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 65: Opening The Chamber of Secrets

"Where are we going, anyway?" Albus asked once they stepped off the staircase onto the first floor landing, jumping as one of the portraits on the walls snored loudly.

"You're so clueless, Albus," Rose muttered, and even though it was dark, Albus could tell she was rolling her eyes. "We're going to the first floor girls' lavatory, where the entrance to the chamber is."

That's right, Albus thought, remembering. His father had once told him how he, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione had gone in there during their second year.

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, huh?" Scorpius said. "I thought I'd make it all seven years of Hogwarts without having to go in there."

"Oh, she's not so bad," Holly assured him. "Just don't mention the word 'death' around her."

"Noted," Scorpius replied, gulping.

The group continued down the first floor hallway, until when they saw a shadow moving slowly in the distance, about to turn the corner. Everyone instantly froze. Albus recognized the familiar feline figure.

"It's Mrs. Pennington," Rose whispered.

Mrs. Pennington was a dreadfully fat and old calico cat that took on the role as Mr. Filch's second in command after the late Mrs. Norris passed on. Sneaking out of bed to roam the hallways and not getting caught was a rare occurrence as long as Mrs. Pennington had anything to do about it.

She trudged around the corner, her fat belly dragging across the floor as she moved. The cat may be obese and slow, but she always somehow made it back to Filch in time to bust whoever was breaking the rules. Albus prayed Mrs. Pennington couldn't somehow see through Rose's cloaking spell.

The closer she got to the group, the brighter her yellow lantern-like eyes seemed to shine. The four friends each held their breaths as the cat strode right up to them, sniffing the air and swaying her tail. Then, by some miracle, Mrs. Pennington continued on down the hallway on her patrol, not glancing back.

When the cat was out of sight, the group of friends simultaneously breathed out in relief. Albus couldn't believe that they weren't caught. They continued on down the first floor hallway until Rose came to a halt in front of the girls' lavatory door. This was it.

"After you, ladies," Scorpius told Rose and Holly, gesturing for them to go inside.

"As you wish," Rose replied nonchalantly, pushing the door open and walking inside with Holly.

"After this is over, we will never speak of this again," Scorpius muttered to Albus, referring to the fact they had to go inside the girls' bathroom.

Albus didn't object of that plan.

The girls' lavatory was dark and reeked of toilet water. Rose and Holly used their wands to light the torches in the room. Albus's eyes immediately landed on the tall sink fixture, and knew that's where they would be going down to get to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Which sink is it?" Scorpius asked, tapping on the water taps of one of the sinks.

"There's one that doesn't work," Rose replied, twisting the handles of the tap on the sink adjacent to Scorpius. Water didn't come out of it. "This one should be the entrance."

Albus pulled the Marauder's map out of his robes, glancing at it. The Chamber of Secrets was directly below them. But then he noticed something.

"Uh, guys," he said, gulping with dread while staring at the map. "You might want to look at this."

He showed his friends the map, and their eyes widened. There was someone in the Chamber of Secrets. Though there were footprints shown in the chamber at that very moment, there was no name.