Venturing deeper and deeper into the Dark Forest, with Fang as our loyal guide, the spider pack multiplied along with the goosebumps on my arms. I'd always hated the dark, my mind running with all of the things that could be stalking us from the shadows, but now, when I knew for a fact that the dark was full of monsters, it made it so much worse.
Behind the black cape of the night, whatever was out there was undoubtedly watching us in that very moment, waiting for the right moment to attack.
"Harry, I don't like this." Ron whimpered as we stepped over rocks and roots while also being careful not to squash any of the small, but still fear-inducing, spiders. I had mocked Ron when he was scared back at Hagrid's, but now I understood where he was coming from.
Watching the ground carefully to make sure he didn't trip and go face-first into the many spiders, Ron froze for a moment. "Harry, I don't like this at all," he complained once more for good measure.
"Shush!" Harry hushed him, holding the light out further to illuminate the tunnel that the spiders were heading into.
"Can we go back now?" Ron pleaded, his voice full to the brim with fear.
Harry only shook his head as he took the first few steps into the spider-infested tunnel. "Come on."
Kneeling down, we followed Harry and Fang, who was surprisingly brave for a 'coward', as Hagrid had branded him, and finally came up the other side where large roots twisted everywhere, giving perfect places for cobwebs to be made.
As we explored further into the tunnel, the spiders got larger in size. "Who is it?" a deep voice spoke from somewhere in the tunnel, followed by loud footsteps. "Hagrid? Is that you?"
"We're friends of Hagrid's," Harry answered rather fearlessly as a spider ten times larger than Fang emerged from the shadows. "And you? You're Aragog, aren't you?"
The spider stared back at us with its many dark eyes, its front legs coming to rest just feet away from our bodies. "Yes." the spider spoke, truly bringing my worst nightmares to life. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."
"He's in trouble. Up at the school, there have been attacks." Harry explained as Ron glanced around, noticing the other spiders closing in on us. "They think it's Hagrid...they think he opened the Chamber of Secrets. Like before."
"That's a lie." Aragog hissed. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets."
Harry furrowed his brows, confusion taking over the thoughts he was once so confident in. "Then you're not the monster?"
"No. The monster was born in the castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land in the pocket of a traveller."
"Harry." I tugged on his sleeve slightly, trying to get him to notice the arachnid army forming around us. However, Harry just brushed me off. "But if you're not the monster, then what did kill that girl fifty years ago?" he asked.
"We do not speak of it. It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others."
"But have you seen it?"
"I never saw any part of the castle but the box in which Hagrid kept me. The girl was discovered in a bathroom. When I was accused, Hagrid brought me here."
"Harry!" Ron started to panic.
Fed up, Harry finally acknowledged us. "What?"
Pointing up, Harry followed our fingers with his eyes up at the hundred of spiders descending from the tall roof and heading right for us. "Well, thank you." Harry turned back to Aragog, a nervous smile on his face. "We'll just go."
"Go?" Aragog questioned as we started backing towards the tunnel opening again. "I think not. My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."
"Can we panic now?" Ron's voice was terror-stricken now as a spider about the size of my torso dropped down just behind us, running closer and closer by the second.
Using his lantern, Harry smacked the spider away before we all pulled out our wands, backs against each other and facing the growing horde of hungry arachnids. "Know any spells?" Harry asked me.
"Not really." I gulped. "I didn't do much reading on giant spiders. Hippogriffs, sure. Pixies, you bet. Spiders, not a single thing!"
Before long, we were completely surrounded without the slightest clue what to do. Just when we thought we were done for, a bright light shone from the tunnel as Ron's family car drove in, running over a few spiders before coming to a stop and popping open the doors itself.
Taking no chances, we all dove inside, Fang and I in the back while Harry and Ron sat up front. As a giant spider landed on the top of the vehicle, caving in the roof slightly, the car backed out of the tunnel and back into the forest, which didn't seem that bad anymore considering what we had just gone through.
"Glad we're out of there." Ron exhaled as a spider broke through the window and latched onto him.
Pulling out his wand in the nick of time, Harry cast a quick spell to get rid of the spider. "Arania Exumai!"
"Thanks for that." Ron gasped for breath, a little freaked out still.
"Don't mention it." Harry breathed as the spider army started emerging from the tunnel. "Get us out of here. Now!"
Thinking quick, Ron put the car in reverse, buying us a bit of time as he spun the car around and went into drive. The ride was a bumpy one since we were driving over large tree roots and the occasional massive spider.
"Get us in the air," I called from the backseat, staring out the back window at the horde chasing us.
"The flying gear's jammed!" Ron screamed, but just before we hit a fallen tree, the two boys managed to unjam the gear and get us in the air, safely away from the flightless creatures below. We flew a little ways before coming down hard right in front of Hagrid's house. The car was totalled, but we were alive, and that was what mattered, right?
"Follow the spiders." Ron scoffed as we exited the car, only to watch it drive off again without us. "Follow the spiders. If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him. I mean, what was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out?"
"We know one thing." I exchanged a look with Harry. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent."
Once back in the castle, we went to visit Hermione in the hospital wing. She was still Petrified and Madam Sprout was no closer to the cure than she was before Hermione was frozen.
Walking over, Harry removed the wilted and rather unappealing flowers out of the vase before replacing them with new, beautiful ones. "Wish you were here, Hermione." Harry sat on the edge of her bed. "We need you. Now more than ever."
Grabbing onto Hermione's hand, I used my thumb to stroke her skin, which was cold and a shade paler than normal. Just then, I felt something in Hermione's hand and ended up pulling out a piece of crumpled up paper.
"What's that?" Harry asked as I skimmed the page with my eyes.
"This is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked," I answered, standing up and motioning for the other two to follow.
As we walked down the hall, Harry took the paper from my hands and began to read some of it out loud. "'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land...none is more deadly than the basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it.' Guys, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk."
I mentally slapped myself in the head for that one, knowing full well what a basilisk was and still not being able to put the pieces together. "That's why you can hear it speak." I turned to Harry. "It's a snake."
"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" Ron brought up a good point.
Harry thought for a moment before it came to him. "Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least. Colin saw it through his camera. Justin... Justin must have seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it. But he's a ghost, he couldn't die again."
"The mirror," I remembered the mirror that Hermione's body had been found with. "And Hermione had the mirror. I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners in case it came along."
"And Mrs. Norris?" Ron mentioned the cat. "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror."
"The water." I reminded them. "There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the basilisk's reflection."
Harry nodded, agreeing with me. "'Spiders flee before it.' It all fits."
Ron, who seemed to be coming up with all the good questions, sighed. "How's a basilisk been getting around? A dirty, great snake. Someone would have seen it."
"Hermione's answered that too." Harry showed us the paper, which had the word 'pipes' written on it. "It's using the plumbing. Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom? What if she never left?"
I gasped. "Moaning Myrtle."
"All students are to return to their house dormitories at once." McGonagall's voice spoke over the school intercoms. "All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately."
Looking to each other, we all had the same plan and headed up to the second-floor corridor, where we hid around the corner. "As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message," McGonagall spoke as we peered around the corner. "Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."
"So sorry. Dozed off." Lockhart walked into the group of teachers. "What have I missed?"
"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart," Snape told him. "Your moment has come at last."
"My moment?"
Snape nodded,. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"
"That's settled," McGonagall said. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."
"Very well," Lockhart smirked, too proud to admit when he was lying or in over his head. "I'll just be in my office getting...getting ready."
"Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?" Madam Pomfrey asked McGonagall.
"Ginny Weasley."
Ron gasped at the mention of his sister's name as the teachers walked off, allowing us to finally step out and see the message written on the wall for ourselves. "'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'" Ron swallowed hard. "Ginny."