"Our greatest fear has been known!" McGonagall voice echoed through the corridor. We ran up to the corner. McGonagall continued, "One of our students are in the Chamber with the monster themselves!"
I looked to Harry and Ron with concern. They both looked at me, and back around the corner. We all looked around the corner, making sure to not be spotted and keeping quiet.
"I'm afraid that we'll have to close Hogwarts and send people home," McGonagall said, saddly.
My mouth went ajar and I stared in disbelief. I can't go back home.
Just as I thought things couldn't get worse, I heard one of the most annoying voices ever, "Sorry that I'm late. Fell asleep. What'd I miss?"
I rolled my eyes, Not now.
"A girl was taken into the Chamber, Lockhart. You're time has come to be the hero," Snape said too deadpan.
"M-My time?" He asked.
"Oh yes," Snape nodded. "Last night, didn't you say you knew where the entrance was?"
There was silence before McGonagall, "That settles it. We will trust you to go deal with the Chamber." I had to stop myself from laughing. She conintued, "I mean, after all, you have great skills."
We heard him laugh, "Okay. I'll just be getting ready in my office," he turned and swiftly left.
It went silent as we stood there. Until we heard a question asked, "Who's the girl it has taken?"
"Ginny Weasley."
It got dead silent until the teachers started to walk away. There's no way it could be Ginny. She has been acting a little weird lately but...there's just no way. She would've told me if anything was up, right?
When all the teachers had left, the wall caught my attention. "'Her body will lie in the Chamber forver'," I read aloud. I looked to Ron, who seemed like he was gonna cry. I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Ginny," he whispered. He faced me and gave me a hug. I put my arms around him and slightly rocked him. He nussled his face into the crook of my neck.
I pet his hair as I spoke softly, "It's okay. We're gonna go find her, and we're gonna save her."
He removed his head and nodded, "Okay."
"Okay," I nodded, "now let's go."
---
We ran into the DADA room. It was dark but the moonlight helped a lot. "He may be useless but Lockhart is going to try and get into the Chamber," Harry told us as we ran.
We ran up the stairs, and into his office area. I looked at him and cringed; until I noticed he was packing up his stuff that is, "What are you doing?"
"Are you planning on going anywhere?" Harry asked.
"Y-Yes. Very important call. Gotta leave," He told us frantically.
"I don't believe that rubbish," I put my hands on my hips.
"What about Ginny, my sister?!" Ron asked.
"Well, that's very saddening news. Nobody regrets more than me."
"But you're our Defense Against the Dark Arts teach. You can't just leave!" I spat at him.
"Well when I took this job, it said nothing about-"
"Yeah, and I didn't get the news that the new tech we were getting was a narssisstic coward!" I yelled.
"Are you trying to run away?" Harry asked. "What about what you did in your books?"
"Books can be taken the wrong way," He told us.
"No! Your books are just a way for you to become famous for nothing you did!" I put my eyes straight at him.
"You're a fraud," Ron said.
"Yeah, you've been taking credit for what other people have done in the past," I growled.
"What can you even do?" Harry asked.
"I am very gifted with Memory charms," Lockhart put his chin up. "That how I sold my books."
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he noticed stepping away. "I think I might just have to do the-" Lockhart reached for his wand.
I took out my wand, and pointed it in his face, "Don't. You. Even. Dare."
He dropped his wand, and I sighed. Welp, this is a start.
***
We guided Lockhart into the bathroom. I could hear Myrtle from outside. Once we got in, she noticed us, "Who's that?" Once she saw that it was just us, she smiled, "Hello Harry and Bridget."
"Hello Myrtle," I waved.
"So, what do you want?" She asked.
"We were wondering," I started to twiddle with my thumbs, "if you could explain how you died..."
"Well," she started off very softly, "I ran into this very cubical because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I heard someone come into the bathrooms."
"Do you know who it was?" Harry asked.
"No, I don't!" She snapped. "I was crying too much!" She slowly floated towards us, "But they were tlaking funny. Almost like a made-up language. I knew it was a boy speaking, so I got out of my cubical and was going to tell him to get out of the Girl's lavatory. Then I died."
"Did you see anything before you...died?" I asked.
"Mhm. A pair of big, yellow eyes. Next to that sink," She gestured her head towards one of the sinks.
Harry walked over to the sink as Myrtle floated away. "Thank you so much, Myrtle!" I smiled.
"We found it," Harry said. I looked back to Harry who was feeling the spout. He continued, "We found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
We all stepped back to look at the sink, "Say something in Parseltongue," Ron suggested. Harry continued to speak gibberish. Within seconds, the sink and stuff started to adjust itself and move around. The sink Myrtle talked about went down into the ground and covered by a vent. We all looked over the ledge. It looked like a clear shot down.
I heard Lockhart clear his throat, "Well done students. Amazing work, really. Now I'm just gonna go since there's no need for me here," he tried to get past us.
I as well as Harry and Ron grabbed onto him and pushed him. He nearly fell into the bottomless pit, but caught himself. I took out my wand, "You are staying here."
"And you are going first," Harry added.
"What's that going to accomplish?" Lockhart said frantically.
"It'd be worse if we went first," Ron told him.
"Well, I guess you're right," Lockhart turned himself around. He gazed down and back at us, "but shouldn't you try fir-" Ron and I just pushed him down. He fell in and started to scream. We gathered to watch him descend downwards. We were all silent until we heard a loud thud and a groan. "It's rather dirty down here," Lockhart's voice echoed.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Who's next?"
"We'll go, then you can follow," Harry told me. I nodded.
"And Harry," Myrtle added into the conversation, "if you happen to pass away down there, I'd be happy to share my toilet."
"Thanks," Harry nodded, uncomfortably. I turned and watched as the guys fell simultaneously. They both screamed and hollered. I took a deep breath when I heard them hit the bottom. "Alright Bridge," I heard Ron's voice echo, "you can come down here."
"Good luck Bridget," Myrtle told me. I looked back and saw her genuinely smiling.
I smiled back, "Thank, Myrtle," and with that I cannon-balled into the hole. It was pretty dark, and I could only hear my hollers. Before I knew it I was sliding down a long, winding slide. "WEEEEEEEEE!" I smiled as I screamed. As the slide came to a close, my screaming lessened. I flew out of the bottom, and landed on something that crunched.
I looked at the floor, "Welp, this is a very interesting and quite gross ball pit." The floor was covered in skeleton bones of-what I hoped is-rodent bones. I got up and looked to the three boys. Lockhart seemed to be cornered by the two wand-wielders. "Boys," I muttered and shook my head. I started to looked around. There were tunnels everywhere. I decided to take the one with the most light.
"Wait-ugh-Bridge-" The guys were coming after me as I walked through the cement tunnel.
"Just make sure to close your eyes at any movement that isn't us," I mentioned and kept walking.
As we continued to walk, we came upon a rough looking tunnel, "Why not go that way?" I told myself. We walked in, and this thing was lying on the ground. I went up and touched it. I knew exactly what it was.
"What is this?" Ron asked.
"Looks familiar to a snake," Lockhart commented.
"It's a snake's skin," Harry and I said in unison. We both looked to each other and started to giggle. I looked back to the skin, and started to feel along it's spine. I ran and kept following the spine. I could hear the footsteps running after me.
"Wait!" I heard them call.
I stopped, "What?"
"Let us evaluate."
I rolled my eyes, "Fine."
"So this thing has to be at least 60 feet long," Ron commented.
"That's about right," Harry added. I turned to Harry who wasn't that far from me. Ron was next to Lockhart, who honestly didn't look too good. They both were about a yard or so away.
Just then, Lockhart fell to the ground. I took a step over, and scaled his body with my eyes, Something doesn't seem right...
Ron bent down to look at him, "Wow. Real tough guy, this one."
Within seconds, Lockhart had Ron's wand in his hand and pointing it at all of us, "This is the end of the line, pupils. I will be too late to save the girl, and you three went crazy at the sight of her. "
I looked in his eyes, they were filled with madness and greed. I was not letting him get away with this.
"Now," he faced me, "you first, Meadows."
I put my chin up, and held onto my wand tight.
"Obliviate!" Lockhart casted. But instead of hitting me with it, it backfired...literally. The wand went bright as he was thrown backwards. When he hit the rock interior, the ceiling started to crumble and crack.
I got in front of Harry to block any debris. Harry grabbed me and we both fell to the ground. A few boulder-size rocks rolled past us. I grabbed Harry's robes, and took a deep breath. As all the rocks stopped falling, Harry and I stood up. I wiped myself off.
"Harry?! Bridget?!" I heard Ron's panicked voice echo.
"Ron?!" I yelled back climbing up the rock pile.
"Are you okay?!" Harry yelled. I turned and saw that he was up there with me.
"Y-Yeah. I'm okay," we heard Ron yell back.
There was silent as I sighed in relief. That was until Ron yelled at us, "The memory charm got Lockhart. He hasn't a clue of who he is!"
"Yes!" I whispered to myself.
Harry glared at me.
"Not yes?"
He rolled his eyes and looked back at Ron. Ron spoke up, "What do I do now?"
"We'll go find Ginny. You can move these rocks to we can get back through," Harry told him.
"If we make it," I muttered.
I watched as Harry smacked my arm, "Ouch," I told him. "Wish us luck Ron," I told him before I started to descend down the rocky slope.
"See you later Bridge," Ron yelled. I smiled and started to get teary eyed. That might be the last time I'll hear that nickname.