“ALL OF THOSE times we were in the bathroom, and she was just three toilets away,” said Ron, at breakfast, “and we could’ve asked her, and now..”

“We’ll be lucky if we can even make it to her bathroom,” said Chloe, the very next morning.

It had been hard enough trying to look for spiders. Escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into the girls’ bathroom, right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be almost impossible.

But something happened in their first lesson, Transfiguration, that drove the Chamber of Secrets out of their minds for the first time in weeks.

Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told them that their exams would start on the first of June, one week from today. “Exams? We’re still getting exams?” Seamus yelled. There was a loud bang behind Chloe, as Neville Longbottom’s wand slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk.

Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned, frowning, to Seamus. “The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education.” She said, sternly. “The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all revising hard.”

Revising hard! It had never occurred to Chloe that there would be exams with the castle in this state. There was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly. “Professor Dumbledore’s instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible. And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year.” She told everybody, firmly.

Chloe looked down at the pair of white rabbits she was supposed to be turning into slippers. What had she learned so far this year? She couldn’t seem to think of anything that would be useful in an exam.

Ron looked as though he’d just been told he had to go and live in the Forbidden Forest. “Can you imagine me taking exams with this?” He asked Chloe, holding up his loudly-whistling wand.

Three days before their first exam, McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast. “I have good news.” She declared, and the Great Hall, instead of falling silent, erupted. “Dumbledore’s coming back!” Several people yelled, joyfully.

“You’ve caught the Heir of Slytherin,” said a blonde first-year girl, at the Ravenclaw table. “Quidditch matches are back on,” roared Wood, excitedly.

When the hubbub had subsided, McGonagall said, “Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with out catching the culprit.”

There was an explosion of cheering. Chloe looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn’t surprised to see that Draco Malfoy hadn’t joined in.

Ron, however, was happier than he had ever been in days. “It won’t matter that we never asked Myrtle, then! Hermione’ll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she’ll go crazy when she finds out we’ve got exams in three days’ time. She hasn’t studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they’re over.”

Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Chloe noticed her hands were twisting in her lap.

“What’s up?” Ron asked, helping himself to some more porridge. Ginny didn’t say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table with a scared look on her face that reminded Chloe of somebody, though she couldn’t think who.

“Spit it out.” Ron told his little sister, impatiently watching her as he bit into a piece of bacon.

Chloe suddenly realised who Ginny looked like. She was rocking backward and forward slightly in her chair, exactly like Dobby did when he was teetering on the edge of revealing forbidden information.

“I’ve got to tell you something.” Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at Chloe. “What?” She asked.

Ginny looked as though she couldn’t find the right words. “What?” Ron repeated, emphatically. Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound had come out.

Chloe leaned forward and spoke quietly, so that only Ginny and Ron could hear her. “Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?” She asked.

Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan. “If you’ve finished eating, I’ll take that seat, Ginny. I’m starving, I’ve only just come off patrol duty.” He said. Ginny jumped as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look and scampered away.

Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table. “Percy,” said Ron, angrily. “She was just about to tell us something important!”

Halfway through a large gulp of tea, Percy choked. “What sort of thing?” He asked, as he coughed.

“I just asked her if she had seen anything odd, and she started to say-” Chloe explained. Percy immediately nodded and said, “Oh, that.. that’s nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets."

“How do you know?” Ron asked, as he raised his eyebrows. “Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was- well, never mind. The point is, she spotted me doing something and I, uhm.. I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she’d keep her word. It’s nothing, really, I’d just rather-" Percy said.

Chloe had never seen Percy look so uncomfortable. “What were you doing, Percy?” Ron asked, as he grinned. “Go on, tell us, we won’t laugh.”

Percy didn’t smile back, however. “Pass me those rolls, Chloe, I’m starving.” He insisted, casually.

Chloe knew the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without their help, but she wasn’t about to pass up a chance to speak to Myrtle if it turned up. To her delight it did, midmorning, when they were led to History of Magic by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Lockhart, who had so often assured them that all danger had passed, only to be proved wrong right away, was now wholeheartedly convinced that it was hardly worth the trouble to see them safely down the corridors. His hair wasn’t as sleek as usual; it seemed he had been up most of the night, patrolling the fourth floor. “Mark my words, the first words out of those poor Petrified people’s mouths will be 'It was Hagrid'. Frankly, I’m astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary." He told everybody, ushering them around a corner.

“I completely agree, sir,” said Chloe, with a friendly smile. Ron dropped his books in surprise.

“Thank you, Chloe,” said Lockhart, graciously, while they waited for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. “I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night..”

“That’s right,” said Ron, catching on. “Why don’t you leave us here, sir, we’ve only got one more corridor to go-” He suggested, equally friendly.

“You know, Weasley, I think I will. I really should go and prepare my next class-" Lockhart replied, before he hurried off. “Prepare his class. Gone to curl his hair, more like it.” Ron sneered after him.

Chloe and Ron let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead of them, then briskly darted down a side passage and hurried off toward Myrtle’s bathroom. But just as the two of them were congratulating each other on their brilliant scheme-

“Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?”

It was McGonagall, and her mouth was the thinnest of thin lines. “We were.. we were-" Ron stammered.

“We were only going to go pay Hermione a visit, Professor,” said Chloe, as she shrugged innocently.

Ron and McGonagall both looked at Chloe, as she frowned dejectedly. There were a lot of tears to shed and misery to wallow in when she lived with the Dursleys - something that helped her act upset.

“We haven’t seen Hermione for ages,” said Chloe, as she sniffled and fiddled with a thick strand of her curly hair. "I could hardly sleep last night because she wasn't in my dormitory. I thought we'd tell her not to worry because the mandrakes are nearly ready. But.. but if we're not allowed in for just a few minutes, I'm sure we'll manage." She added, sadly.

McGonagall was still staring at Chloe, and for a moment, the girl thought she was going to explode. But when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice. “Of course.” She said, and Chloe, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye. “Of course, I realise this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been.. I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor Binns where you’ve gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission.”

Chloe sniffled again, then smiled at McGonagall in a relieved, yet thankful, way. "Thank you."

McGonagall nodded, kindly. Hardly daring to believe they had just avoided detention, Chloe and Ron walked away. As they turned the corner, they distinctly heard McGonagall blow her nose.

“That,” said Ron, as he turned to Chloe, fervently, “was the best story you’ve ever come up with.”

Chloe giggled and wiped her eyes, as Ron smiled proudly at her. "Thanks, Ron." She replied. They had no choice now but to go to the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey that they had McGonagall’s permission to visit Hermione.

Madam Pomfrey let Chloe and Ron in, but reluctantly. “There’s just no point talking to a Petrified person.” She told them, and the two of them were forced to assure her she had a point when they had taken their seats next to Hermione.

Although Hermione obviously didn't have the faintest inkling that she had visitors, Chloe and Ron just couldn't help pretending that she did. "I really wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever." Chloe murmured, with a frown.

“Wonder if she did see the attacker, though? Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one’ll ever know," said Ron, as he looked at Hermione’s rigid face. But Chloe wasn’t looking at her face.

Chloe was more interested in Hermione's right hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets and, bending closer, she saw a piece of paper scrunched inside her fist. Making sure Madam Pomfrey was nowhere near, she pointed this out to Ron.

“Try and get it out.” Ron whispered, as he shifted his chair so he blocked Chloe from Madam Pomfrey’s view. It was no easy task. Hermione’s hand was clamped so tightly around the paper that Chloe was sure he was going to tear it. While Ron kept watch, she tugged and twisted and, at last, after several tense minutes, the paper came free.

It was, as Chloe found out, a page torn from a very old library book. She eagerly smoothed it out and Ron leaned close to read it, too.

And beneath this, a single word had been written, in a hand Chloe recognised as Hermione’s. Pipes.

It was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in Chloe's brain. “Ron, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk - a giant serpent! That’s why I’ve been hearing that voice all over the place, and nobody else has heard it. It’s because I understand Parseltongue." She realised, then looked up at the beds around her.

"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" Ron asked, after processing the information he and Chloe had just read.

"Oh," mumbled Chloe, as she thought for a few seconds. Then, wide-eyed, she said, "Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least. Colin saw it through his camera. The Basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin.. Justin must’ve seen the basilisk through Sir Nicholas! He got the full blast of it, but he couldn’t die again.. and Hermione and Penelope Clearwater were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realised the monster was a Basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror-"

Ron's jaw dropped. "And Mrs. Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Chloe."

Chlor thought hard, picturing the scene on the night of Halloween. “The water.” She replied, slowly. “The flood from Myrtle’s bathroom. I bet you Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection..”

Beaming with ecstasy, Chloe scanned the page in her hand. The more she looked at it, the more it made sense. “The crowing of the rooster.. is fatal to it! Hagrid’s roosters were killed! The Heir of Slytherin didn’t want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was opened! Spiders flee before it! It all fits!” She informed Ron, in sheer relief.

Ron's proud expression faded. “But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake, someone would've seen it.” He pointed out.

Chloe, however, pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled at the foot of the page. “Hermione's answered that, too." She informed Ron, brightly. "Pipes? It's using the plumbing!" He realised.

"Uh-huh," said Chloe, as she nodded in agreement, "I’ve been hearing that voice inside the walls."

Ron suddenly grabbed Chloe's left arm. “The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets! What if it’s a bathroom? What if it’s in-" He asked her, hoarsely.

“-Myrtle’s bathroom,” gasped Chloe. She and Ron sat there, excitement coursing through them both, hardly able to believe it. “This means I can’t be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin’s one, too. That’s how he’s been controlling the Basilisk.” Chloe pointed out.

“What’re we going to do?” Ron asked. His eyes were flashing. “Should we go straight to McGonagall?”

“Let’s go to the staff room,” said Chloe, jumping up. “She’ll be there in ten minutes. It’s nearly break.”

Chloe and Ron ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted staff room.

It was a large, panelled room full of dark, wooden chairs. Chloe and Ron paced around it, too excited to sit down. But the bell to signal break never came. Instead, echoing through the corridors, came McGonagall’s voice, magically magnified.

“All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please.”

Chloe wheeled around to stare at Ron. “Not another attack? Not now?” She asked. “What’ll we do? Go back to the dormitory?” Ron questioned.

“No,” said Chloe, glancing around. There was a sort of wardrobe to her left, full of the teachers’ cloaks. “In here. Let’s hide and hear what it’s all about. Then we can tell them what we’ve found out.”

Listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staffroom door banging open, Chloe and Ron hid themselves inside it.

From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

“Our worst fear has been realised, a student has been taken by the monster, into the Chamber itself.” McGonagall told the silent staff room.

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair and said, “How can you be sure?”

“The Heir of Slytherin,” said Professor McGonagall, whose face had suddenly gone very white, “left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.”

Flitwick burst into tears. “The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said," said McGonagall.

The staffroom door banged open again.

For one wild moment, Chloe was sure it would be Dumbledore. It was Lockhart, beaming. “So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?” He asked.

Lockhart didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape immediately stepped forward and said, "Just the man. The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched. “That’s right, Gilderoy. Weren’t you saying just last night that you’ve known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?” Professor Sprout questioned.

“I.. well, I-" sputtered Lockhart, after a brief pause. “Yes, didn’t you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?” piped up Professor Flitwick.

“D-Did I? I don’t recall –” Lockhart replied. “I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn’t had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested,” said Snape. “Didn’t you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?”

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues. “I - I really never - you may have misunderstood-" He responded, awkwardly.

"That's settled. We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend. Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We’ll make sure everyone’s out of your way. You’ll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last." McGonagall informed Lockhart.

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn’t look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble. “Very well. I'll just be in my office, getting, uh.. getting ready.” He told the teachers, then left the room.

“Right,” said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, “that’s got him out from under out feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories.”

Madam Pomfrey turned to McGonagall. “Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?” She asked.

“Ginny Weasley,” said Professor McGonagall.

Chloe heard Ron sliding down slightly toward the wardrobe floor before she started holding him up. The teachers rose and left, one by one.

It was probably the worst day of Chloe's entire life. She, Ron, Fred and George sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, unable to say anything to each other. Percy wasn’t there. He had gone to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his dormitory.

No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer.

“She knew something,” said Ron, who was speaking for the first time since they had entered the wardrobe in the staffroom. “That’s why she was taken. It wasn’t some stupid thing about Percy at all. She’d found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was-” Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. “I mean, she was a pure-blood. There can’t be any other reason.”

Chloe could see the sun sinking, blood-red, below the skyline. This was the worst she had ever felt. If only there was something they could do. Anything.

“Chloe,” said Ron, sounding worried. “D’you think there’s any chance at all she’s not - you know-"

Chloe didn't know what to say. She didn't want to upset Ron further but she also couldn’t see how Ginny could possibly still be alive. “D’you know what? I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He’s going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it’s a Basilisk in there." Ron suggested.

Because Chloe couldn't think of anything else, and because she wanted to be doing something, she agreed. The Gryffindors around them were so miserable, and felt so sorry for the Weasleys, nobody tried to stop Chloe and Ron as they crossed the room, and left through the portrait hole.

Darkness was falling as they walked down to Lockhart’s office. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it. They could hear scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.

Chloe knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart’s eyes peering through it. “Oh, Miss Potter.. Mr. Weasley-" He said, opening the door a bit wider. “I’m rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick-"

“Professor, we’ve got some information for you. We think it’ll help you.” Chloe explained, brightly.

“Er, well.. it’s not terribly-" Lockhart replied. The side of his face that they could see looked very uncomfortable. “I mean, well.. all right-"

Lockhart opened the door and Chloe and Ron entered. His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnight-blue, had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were crammed into boxes on the desk. Chloe and Ron both shot him a look. “Are you going somewhere?” Chloe asked.

“Er, well.. yes,” said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. “Urgent call. Unavoidable, got to go-” He told Chloe and Ron, quickly. “What about my sister?!” Ron yelled.

“Er, well, erm.. as to that, most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I," said Lockhart, avoiding Chloe and Ron's eyes as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents into a bag.

“You’re the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! You can’t go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!” Ron pointed out, furiously.

“Well, I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description about-” Lockhart said, piling socks on top of his robes.

“You mean you’re running away? After all that stuff you did in your books?" Chloe questioned.

“Books can be misleading,” said Lockhart, delicately. “You wrote them!” Chloe shouted.

“My dear girl,” said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Chloe. “Do use your common sense. My books wouldn’t have sold half as well if people didn’t think I’d done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He’d look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on-"

“You're a fraud. You've just been taking credit for what other people have done.” Chloe realised. "Is there anything you can do?" Ron questioned.

"Yes. Now you mention it. I'm rather gifted with memory charms. Otherwise, you see, all those wizards would've gone blabbing. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn’t remember doing it. It's been a lot of work, Chloe. It’s not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog." Lockhart explained, cautiously.

Chloe and Ron looked at each other, as Lockhart banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.

"In fact, er.. I'm er," said Lockhart, as Chloe and Ron nodded to each other knowingly. As they expected, Lockhart pulled out his wand, turned to them and said, "going to have to do the same to you."

But Chloe Potter and Ron Weasley were certainly not stupid - the duo already had their wands out and were pointing them at the cowardly man.

"Don't even think about it." Chloe spat, whilst Ron glared at Lockhart. Then the Potter girl pointed her wand downwards, gesturing for Lockhart to drop his wand. He reluctantly did so. Ron instantly picked it up and flung it out of the open window.

“What d’you want me to do? I don’t know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There’s nothing I can do.” Lockhart pointed out. “Well, then aren't you in for a surprise? We think we know where it is. And what’s inside it, so let’s go. Now." Chloe told him.

Chloe and Ron marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the message shone on the wall, to the door of Myrtle’s bathroom. They sent Lockhart in first. Ron was rather pleased to see him shaking.

Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” She asked, once she saw and recognised Chloe and Ron.

“To ask how you died," said Chloe, as she politely stepped forward, "if that's all right, Myrtle."

Myrtle’s whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question. “Ooooh, it was dreadful. It happened right in here in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in."

"Who was it?" Chloe asked. "I don't know. I was distraught! But they said something funny. A kind of made-up language and I realised it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go away, and.. I died.” Myrtle explained, with relish.

“Just like that? How?” Chloe asked. “I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes over there by that sink. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she’d ever laughed at my glasses.” Myrtle answered, as she pointed over to the sink in front of her toilet.

Chloe and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a look of utter terror on his face. It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Chloe saw it. Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

“This tap’s never worked." Chloe softly recalled, after she turned the tap. "Say something. Chloe, say something in Parseltongue," said Ron.

“But-" Chloe said, then thought hard. The only times she had ever managed to speak Parseltongue was when she was faced with a real snake. She stared hard at the tiny engraving, trying to imagine it was real. “Open up.” She whispered.

Chloe looked at Ron, who just shook his head at his best friend. “English.” He pointed out.

When Chloe looked back at the snake, she was willing herself to believe it was alive. If she moved her head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving. “Open up." She said. Except the words weren’t what she heard; a strange hissing had escaped her, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

Chloe heard Ron gasp and looked up again. She had made up her mind what she was going to do. “I’m going down there.” She told Ron. She couldn’t not go, not now they had found the entrance to the Chamber, not if there was even the faintest, slimmest, wildest chance that Ginny might be alive.

“Me too,” said Ron, without hesitation - he wasn't about to let his best friend go down to the Chamber alone, nor was he going to stay up in the girls' toilets when his little sister could be in danger.

There was a pause. “Excellent, Chloe. Ah, good work. Well, then, I'll just be, er.. there's no need for me to stay-" Lockhart said, then quickly tried to make a run for it. Chloe and Ron grabbed him.

"Yes, there is," said Chloe, whilst she and Ron promptly pointed their wands at Lockhart once again. “You can go first.” Ron snarled.

Completely white-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening. “Now, children, what good will it do?” He questioned, feebly.

"Better you than us." Ron sneered. Chloe nodded. "Er, but.. obviously, yes," said Lockhart. He nervously turned around and gripped the sinks as he looked down into the passage before glancing over his shoulder at Chloe and Ron again. "Sure you don't want to test it first?" He quickly asked.

"We are." Ron spat, then gave Lockhart an immediate push. He slid all the way down, at once. "It's really quite filthy down here." He commented.

"All right," sighed Chloe, just as she proceeded to slowly lower herself into the pipe, "let's go."

Then Chloe let go. It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. She could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and she knew she was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

Behind her, Chloe could hear Ron, thudding slightly at the curves. And then, just as she had begun to worry about what would happen when she hit the ground, the pipe levelled out, and she shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in.

Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost. Chloe stood aside as Ron came whizzing out of the pipe, too.

“We must be miles under the school,” said Chloe, whilst her voice echoed in the black tunnel. “Under the lake, probably." Ron pointed out, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls. All three of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead.

“Lumos!” Chloe muttered to her wand. It lit again. “Come on.” She told Ron and Lockhart, and off they went, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor. The tunnel was so dark, they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

“Remember,” whispered Chloe, as she, Lockhart and Ron walked cautiously forward, “any sign of movement, close your eyes right away.”

But the tunnel was quiet as the grave. The first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat’s skull.

Chloe lowered her wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.

Trying very hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Chloe led the way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.

“Chloe there’s something up there-” said Ron, hoarsely, grabbing Chloe's shoulder. They froze.

Chloe could just see the outline of something huge and carved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn’t moving. “Maybe it’s asleep.” Chloe breathed, as she glanced at the other two. Lockhart’s hands were pressed over his eyes. Chloe turned back to look at the thing, her heart beating so fast it hurt. Very slowly, Chloe edged forward, her wand held high.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. "It's a snakeskin," said Chloe.

"Bloody hell!" Ron gasped, in surprise. "Whatever shed this must be sixty feet long. Or more."

There was a sudden movement behind them. Lockhart's knees had given way. Ron looked down at him, then back over at Chloe in disbelief. "Heart of a lion, this one(!)" He retorted, sarcastically.

Chloe nodded. "Would you believe that I heard Hannah tell Bridget, the other day, that he's a Ravenclaw?" She asked, through a giggle.

Whilst Ron looked at Chloe in surprise, Lockhart got to his feet. Then he dived at Ron, knocking him onto the ground. Chloe jumped forward, but she was too late. Lockhart was straightening up, panting. He had Ron’s wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

“The adventure ends here, children! But don't fret. The world will know our story. I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. So," said Lockhart, before he turned to Chloe and pointed Ron's wand at her, "you first, Miss Potter. Say goodbye to your memories!"

Chloe gulped, as Ron leapt for Lockhart. He waved the Spellotaped wand and yelled, “Obliviate!”

The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Chloe flung her arms over her head and ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor. Next moment, she was standing alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock. “Ron! Are you okay? Ron?" She shouted.

“I’m here,” came Ron’s muffled voice, right away, from behind the rockfall. Chloe sighed in relief.

Beside Ron, Lockhart sat up from the ground and smiled. "Hello! Who are you?" He asked.

"Erm.. Ron Weasley," said Ron, realising Lockhart must have erased his own memory by mistake.

"Really? And, er.. who-who am I?" Lockhart aed, which just proved Ron's theory. "This git’s not, though. His memory charm backfired! He hasn't got a clue who he is!" He shouted, to Chloe.

"It's an odd sort of place this," chuckled Lockhart, whilst he picked up a small rock and turned back to Ron, "isn't it? Do you live here?" He asked.

"No!" Ron answered, then took the rock from the confused teacher. "Really?" He asked, before Ron hit him over the head with it - he was unconscious.

“What do I do now?” Ron asked, sounding desperate. “We can’t get through, it’ll take ages..”

Chloe looked up at the tunnel ceiling. Huge cracks had appeared in it. She had never tried to break apart anything as large as these rocks by magic, and now didn’t seem a good moment to try.

What if the whole tunnel caved in?

Time was being wasted at the moment. Ginny had already been in the Chamber of Secrets for hours.

Chloe knew there was only one thing to do. “Wait there. Wait with Lockhart, I’ll go on.. If I’m not back in an hour-" She said, before a pause.

“I'll try and shift some of this rock,” said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. “So you can.. can get back through. And, Chloe-"

“I'll be careful, Ron. See you in a bit,” said Chloe, trying to inject some confidence into her shaking voice. She set off alone past the giant snake skin.

Soon the distant noise of Ron straining to shift the rocks was gone. The tunnel turned and turned.

Every nerve in Chloe's body was tingling unpleasantly. She wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what she would find when it finally did.

And then, at last, as she crept around yet another bend, Chloe saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. She approached, her throat very dry. There was no need to pretend the stone snakes were real; they looked strangely alive.

Chloe could guess what she had to do. She cleared his throat and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker. “Open,” said Chloe, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Chloe, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.

Question Of The Chapter!
Goblet of Fire - Gillyweed - who do you guys think should give it to Chloe? Dobby or Neville? In the films, it's Neville, but Dobby does it in the books.
My Answer: I love seeing more Dobby moments, but I think Neville seems more fitting since he's quite the expert in Herbology.
Your Answer?