Scotland - Hogwarts school
Of Witchcraft and Wizardry
The next day was awful, not one of them had slept the night before, worrying about who would be next or when or why. Time went by excruciatingly slowly, (Y/n) could even feel it when she was sat on her own in the common room with Ginny. The honey blonde girl had noticed that the youngest Weasley had been acting off recently, she looked more tired, more pale and definitely less cheerful that usual. She sat with her at a table where they were both doing homework, at least that's what (Y/n) was doing. She sighed as she dipped her quill into the ink for about the hundredth time to continue to scribble on the piece of parchment.
Ginny's quill had stopped scratching at the parchment, her eyes glued to the girl in front her. The lack of noise prompted (Y/n) to look up from her work, to her surprise, she was met by her ginger friend's hazel irises staring at her. She placed down her quill, "Are you alright Gin? You've been really off recently" (Y/n) asked, searching for any sign of reassurance in Ginny's eyes, but to no avail. Ginny stood up "He is finally strong, it will be complete" she monotonously droaned with no life in her voice. "Gin what are you talking about? I should go and get someone, you aren't yourself" the older girl announced and stood up, eyeing the black notebook Ginny was clutching.
She turned her back and headed for the fat lady's painting until she heard the ginger speak "Imperio!". She stopped dead in her tracks, her vision went black but she could still feel her body moving. However, she was not able to voluntarily move her limbs, instead, they moved on their own. She felt her legs start to move in a direction of which she could only assume she was following Ginny. After a while, she lost consciousness of what was happening, she could no longer feel anything, everything was black. She remained in this state for what felt like years until she felt the curse leave her body, causing her to fall onto a cold and wet floor.
She inhaled sharply and deeply whilst trying to regain her vision. Her surroundings had change drastically, instead of the warm and comforting sight of the Gryffindor common room, she was met by an eerie opening that lead out from some narrow pipelines.
She sat up slowly, her breaths were shakey and quiet. Slowly standing up, she turned around to see Ginny lying on the floor lifelessly. (Y/n) gasped as she hurried to he friend's side, she shook the ginger girl's shoulders "Gin! Cmon, wake up please! You can't be dead, not now!". Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, progressively coming closer and closer.
She turned her head to see an older boy with dark hair and Slytherin robes. His face was pale and held no emotion as he stared at the sight before him. "Please! You have to help me, she's not waking up!" (Y/n) pleaded to the boy. He knelt down beside her, examining Ginny's lifeless body before turning to the honey blonde girl "Who are you both?" He asked as he held up Ginny's icy cold hand. "I'm (Y/n) Finnigan and her name is Ginny Weasley, who are you and what is wrong with her?" She answered trembling. The boy set Ginny's hand down "she's growing weaker by the minute, as I grow stronger" he proclaimed, standing up.
(Y/n)'s eyes widened when she heard what he said. She stood slowly and faced him, swallowing the large lump in her throat. "What have you done to her? Tell me now!" She screamed as she reached for her wand, but to her dismay, it wasn't in her robe pocket. She panicked as she rummaged around in all the possible placed it could be before noticing the older boy twirling something between his fingers. It was her wand! "You see (Y/n), didn't your mother ever tell you not to get too close to strangers? I can't imagine you'd be able to do anything to me even if you did possess your wand." He taunted smugly
He pointed the tip of the wand at her "Imperio" he spoke as the familiar sensation of the curse wafted over to the girl in front of him. Her vision went dark again as she felt her limbs move on their own once again. "Now, you will be used as a token of bargain in case the boy doesn't need the other pathetic girl" he explained, knowing full well (Y/n) couldn't hear him.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron walked through the corridor holding the piece of paper they had found crumpled up in the hand of petrified Hermione. It told them all about Basalisks which led them to figure out that the monster was in fact a Basalisk. Suddenly, as they turned the corner, they heard Professor McGonagall's voice echoing through the halls "All students are to report to their house dormitories immediately, all teachers to the second floor corridor at once!" Without hesitation, Harry and Ron swiftly made their way to the second floor corridor, blatantly ignoring Professor McGonagall.
They hid behind a corner as they spied on the teachers having a serious conversation. "As you can see, the heir of Slytherin has left another message." The older woman spoke as she motioned to the wall behind her that was coated in fresh blood, spelling out a sentence just as it had last time "Our worst fear has been realised, two students have been taken by the monster, into the chamber itself. The students must be sent home, I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts." The two boys gaped in horror at the words they heard, they looked at eachother before listening to the new voice that joined the conversation.
"Sorry, dozed off, what have I missed?" Professor Lockhart spoke in a carefree manner. "Two girls have been snatched by the monster Lockhart, your moment has come at last." Snape spoke sternly. The smile on the overdressed man faded "m-my m-moment?" He asked rather shocked. "Weren't you saying just last night youve known all along where the entrance to to chamber of secrets is?" Snape pointed out in his dreary voice. Lockhart's face grew paler and paler every second he stood listening. "That settles it then, we'll leave you to deal with the monster Gilderoy, your skills after all are legend." McGonagall spoke almost sarcastically with a smug look on her face.
The strawberry blonde man quickly put on a cocky smile and nodded "Very well, I'll just uh....be I'm my office getting...... getting ready." And with that, he turned his back on the teachers and hastily made his way back down the corridor. Madam Pomfrey turned to the deputy Headmistress "who is it that the monster has taken Minerva?" The older witch sighed and spoke "Ginny Weasley and (Y/n) Finnigan." The two boys froze, both feeling sick to their stomachs at the news they had just heard. The Professors left the scene before Harry and Ron walk out from their hiding spot, "Their skeletons will lie in the chamber forever." Ron read the blood aloud.
"Ginny!" Ron whimpered, "(Y/n)" Harry sighed before turning to his ginger friend "we need to get them both out of there, if the professor's have entrusted their rescue to Lockhart, there's no way they'll get out of there alive." The pair ran down the halls towards the defence against the dark arts classroom where they burst through the door to Lockhart's office "Professor we have some information for you!" Harry started before noticing a strange creature screaming in a trunk that was abruptly closed by Lockhart suspiciously. The office was filled with his packed luggage, all the books were bound along with his artwork of himself.
"Are you going somewhere?" Harry angrily questioned the panicked man. "Uh yes! Urgent call, must be off, can't keep them waiting." He made for the door but was immediately stopped by the two second year Gryffindors. "What about my sister and our friend?!" Ron demanded. "Um..well as for that it is most unfortunate, no one regrets it more than i." His voice was shaky and guilty. "But you're the defence against the dark arts teacher, you can't go now!" Ron pointed out, squinting his eyes in disgust at the man in front of them. "Well when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description about fighting an unseen monster!" The man protested before making another attempt to leave the office before being stopped again by Harry.
"You're running away?! After all the stuff you did in your book?!" Harry yelled getting more and more sick of Lockhart. "Books can be misleading!" The man argued but Harry quickly shot back "YOU WROTE THEM!" Lockhart set his bag down "dear boy do you not have any common sense? My books wouldn't have sold half as well as they did if people didn't think I actually was the one who had done all of those things." He finished abruptly. The truth laid thick in the air, "You're a fraud! You've just been taking credit for what other witches and wizards have done!" Harry shouted. "Is there anything you actually can do?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"Yes, now that you mention it, I'm rather gifted in memory charms, otherwise all of those witches and wizards would've gone blabbing. They would've written their own books, which is why I'm going to have to do the same to you two!" The older man pulled out his wand towards the two boys only for him to realise that both Harry and Ron had beaten him to it. "Don't even think about it" Harry warned dangerously causing Lockhart to drop his wand. The two boys motioned for the man to move out of the office, their wands still pointed at him as they made their way to the girls bathroom where they found Moaning Myrtle whimpering as she floated around in the air.
She heard the boys and Lockhart's footsteps enter the cold and damp room. "Who's there?" She demanded in her raspy voice before turning around to see the raven haired boy. "Oh, hello harry" she giggled before going serious "what do you want?" Harry swallowed the lump in his throat before cautiously asking "to ask you.....how you died." Myrtle gasped with joy "It was dreadful, it happened right here, in this very cubicle" she added, pointing to the stall below her "someone was teasing me about my glasses, I was crying, but I heard somebody come in." Harry immediately pushed "who was it Myrtle?"
The girl almost looked offended, "I don't know! I was distraught! But he said something funny, a kind of made up language, and I realised it was a boy speaking so I unlocked to door to tell him to go away! And....I died" her voice went soft as she floated down towards Harry. "Just like that? How?" Harry asked rather confused. "I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes over there by that sink" her voice went sinister as she pointed to one of the sinks in the middle of the room. The raven hair boy approached the indicated sink and inspected the taps. On the side of one was a picture of a snake with great detail.
"This is it Ron, this is the entrance to the chamber of Secrets!" Harry declared. "Say something, Harry say something in parseltongue!" Ron pleaded as he looked at the sinks along with Lockhart. Harry approached the sink, in his mind he heard "open up" but in reality, it came out as a hushed hissing sound. The top had lifted off and each of the individual sinks that formed a circle began to move outwards slightly. Once everything was in place, the specific sink Myrtle had mentioned earlier sunk down into the ground, revealing a dauntingly deep pit that looked endless.
Lockhart glimpsed over the edge and looked like he was about to throw up at the sheer depth of the hole. "Excellent work Harry! Well now that's sorted, I guess you won't be needing me!" The man charged for the exit but was quickly blocked by the two boys who pushed him back. The duo pulled out their wands and pointed them at the quivering man, "You first!" Harry demanded scowling. "Now boys, what good will it do?" He asked. "Better you than us!" Ron growled. Lockhart nodded and reluctantly turned around to face the edge. "Are you sure you don't want to test it-" before the man could finish, he was prodded by Ron's wand, causing him to fall down the hole.
His screams got progressively more distant until they heard a thud, signalling that he had hit the bottom. "It really is quite filthy down here." Lockhart's voice groaned from below. Satisfied, Harry nodded before saying "let's go!" Just before the pair jumped, the ghostly girl's voiced chimed in one last time, "Oh Harry~ if you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet" she cooed whilst letting out a little giggle. Harry winced at the thought but acknowledged the somewhat kind gesture, "Uh..thanks Myrtle." And with that, the boys plunged themselves down into the darkness.