Harry informed Ron and Mika of his suspicions the next day and told Mika of what he and Ron had been doing.  The white-haired boy gaped at him in shock.

“The forest?  Acromantula’s?  Why in Slytherin’s name didn’t you invite me, Harry?  I’d have killed to see that Darcorn!  They’re a hell of a lot rarer than a unicorn.”

“Sorry, Mika.  Did’n thin’.  But loo’, if I’m righ’, the creature in the Chamber is a Basilisk.”

“If your right,” said Ron.

“Yeh.  Though I doan know wha’ else i’ would be.  I’ jus’ makes sense.”

“What makes sense, Mr. Potter?”

The three boys looked up at McGonagall, who was looking sternly down at them.

“Nothin’, professor,” said Harry in a calm, unhurried voice.  “Nothin’ a’tol.”

McGonagall frowned and snapped, “Then move along.”

Harry nodded and walked around her, moving swiftly down the hall in long strides.  Ron and Mika followed him and as soon as they rounded the corner Mika spat, “What’s her problem?  She’s had it in for you since day one, Harry?”

“I know,” muttered Harry, frowning.  Why did McGonagall seem to dislike him so much?  Could it simply be because he was a Slytherin?  Or…could she know?  Could she have seen what no one else had seen?  Could she have seen the subtle, but most definitely there, resemblance between him and his father?

Harry shook off those thoughts.  He had bigger worries.

“C’mon, Mika.  We’ve go’ Lock’art.”

“Oh, still my heart.”

Ron snorted and said goodbye to the two of them, walking over to join the group of Gryffindors heading for the Charms classroom.  Mika and Harry continued on their way and soon came to the Defense classroom, making their way to the back of the room.  Harry looked sadly at the seat to his right where Niamh should have been then scowled when Lockhart bounced into the room.

“Wonderful new!  The Mandrakes are ready and tonight the victims shall be awakened.”

Mika let out a whoop but was hushed by Harry’s sneer.  The dark-haired boy could already hear the next words out of Lockhart’s mouth.

“And mark my words, the first thing out of those poor people’s mouths will be ‘It was Hagrid.’”

Harry snorted loudly, earning a look from Lockhart.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Potter?”

Harry opened his mouth to say something rather rude, but was stopped when Mika stomped hard on his foot.  Eyes flashing fire, he ground out in a slightly strained voice, “No, sir.  Nothin’ a’tol.”

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Now that would have been really stupid, Harry.  What if you had said something that had brought suspicion back onto you?  Most people already don’t trust you because you’re a Parselmouth.”

Harry shook his head as he and Mika headed towards the dungeons.

“But I’m na the only one.  Whoever is controllin’ the Basilisk is one two.”

“Y’know, we should tell someone.”

“Snape?”

Mika threw up his hands and turned his eyes upwards.  “Who else?”

Harry chuckled and looked at his watch.

“Le’s go ter the staff room.  ‘E should be there soon.”

Mika nodded and the two of them headed in that direction, sweeping up Ron as they went by the Charms classroom.

“Where are we going?”

“Staff room to talk to Snape,” replied Mika.

“Why not just go to his office?”

“Because…”

McGonagall’s magnified voice echoing through the hall silenced Mika’s voice.

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

The three boys froze.

“Another attack?” gasped Mika.

“C’mon!” snarled Harry as he took off at a dead run.  They made it into the staff room just as McGonagall and Sprout rounded the corner.  Harry spotted a wardrobe and hissed, “I’ there.  Quick!”

The three of them scrambled inside of it and Ron nearly shut the door (“Never shut yourself in a wardrobe!” hissed Mika) when the staff room door banged open.  They hid themselves among the cloaks as outside there were a few minutes of a confused murmuring before McGonagall spoke.

“A student has been taken by the monster.  Right into the Chamber itself.”

Flitwick squealed as Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth.  Harry (he had gotten by the door) could see his father grip the back of a chair and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” said McGonagall.  “The Heir of Slytherin left another message right underneath the first one.  ‘Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.’”

“Which student?” asked a very white Madam Hooch.

“Ginny Weasley,” replied McGonagall, sending a rather sad look in Snape’s direction.  Harry heard Ron slid down to the floor of the wardrobe.

Snape turned a pasty shade of white and gasped, “One of my Slytherins?”

McGonagall nodded and said, “We have to send all the students home tomorrow.  This is the end of Hogwarts…”

Suddenly the staff room door banged open again and Lockhart bounded in, beaming.

“Sorry – dozed off – what have I missed?”

The other teachers were glaring at him but he didn’t seem to notice.  Snape stepped forward, still pale but eyes blazing, and Harry couldn’t help but smile.  Oh Lockhart was going to get it…

“Just the man.  A girl – one of my Slytherins – has been taken into the Chamber itself.  Your moment has come at last.”

Lockhart paled.

“Wh-why, Severus, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Snape sneered and Sprout chipped in.

“That’s right, Gilderoy.  Weren’t you just saying last night that you’ve know all along where the entrance to the Chamber is?”

Lockhart gaped like a wish and Mika and Harry laughed softly in mirth.

“Well – I-I…”

“Didn’t you tell me you know what was inside the Chamber?” piped Flitwick.

“D-did I?”

“I certainly recall you saying you were sorry you hadn’t had a chance at the monster before Hagrid was arrested.  Didn’t you sat that you should have had free rein from the beginning?” said Snape in clipped, icy tones.  Harry silently cheered his father.

Lockhart looked around fearfully at the stony-faced professors.

“We will leave it to you then, Gilderoy.  We’ll make sure everyone’s out of your way.”  McGonagall fixed Lockhart with a cold look as she said this.

Lockhart gasped some more then finally said, “V-very well.  I’ll be in my office g-getting ready.”  He turned and fled.

“Now that he’s out from under our feet…  The Heads of Houses should go and inform the students.  Tell them the Hogwarts Express will be taking them home first thing tomorrow.  The rest of you make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories.”

The teachers nodded and left, one by one.  As soon as they were gone, Harry, Ron, and Mika tumbled out of the wardrobe onto the floor.

Mika gasped, “Ginny,” and hung his head.  Ron began to mutter that is was all his fault, head held in his hand.  Harry simply sat there, staring into space.  He had to do something about this.

And he had to do it now.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Harry and Mika sat together on the couch in the shadowed corner, staring blankly at nothing.  Mika finally asked, “D’you – d’you think she’s…”

Harry looked at his friend and shook his head.

“Na.  And I’m goin’ ter make sure she is’n.”

He got up and walked into his dorm, returning with a bundle stuffed under his shirt.  Mika rose and asked quietly, “What are you going to do?”

“Go an’ ge’ her,” replied Harry with a snarl.

“You’re not forgetting me this time.”

Harry looked stonily at Mika for a moment then said, “Alrigh’.  Le’s go ge’ Ron.”

Mika nodded and they headed for the door out into the hall.  Just as they reached it, Draco’s voice drawled, “Where are you two going?  We’re supposed to stay in our common room.”

“Sod off, Malfoy,” snapped Mika, clamping a hand on Harry’s arm.  Harry simply narrowed his eyes at Draco then turned and swept out of the room, dragging Mika along with him.  He pulled out the invisibility cloak and covered the both of them with it as they set out for Gryffindor Tower.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Rap, rap.

“Enter.”

“Sir?”

“Mr. Malfoy.  To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I thought I’d tell you, sir.”

Sigh.

“Tell me what?”

“That Potter and Davids left the dormitory.”

Gasp.

“They did what?”

“Left the dormitory, sir.”

“How long ago?”

“A few minutes.”

“Thank you, Malfoy.  Return to Arx Serpens.  I will handle Mister’s Potter and Davids.”

“Yes, sir.”

Snape rose and sped from his office, heart hammering against his ribs as he wondered where his son could have gone.

Draco, ignorant of Snape’s worried thoughts, smirked and punched his fist into his other hand.

He had Potter now.  Even if Hogwarts opened again after this, Potter would be expelled, along with Davids.

He laughed gleefully.

He had them!

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

“Lady, please.  We’re goin’ ter save ‘is sister.”

The Fat Lady frowned at Harry then nodded.

“Alright, dear.  But you make sure you bring him back.  And yourselves with that poor girl!”

“We will,” promised Harry.  The Fat Lady smiled slightly then swung aside.  Harry sprang inside and ran through the common room to where Ron sat with Fred and George, who were unnaturally subdued.  He grabbed Ron’s arm and grabbed him out into the hall, flinging him under the cloak.

“What the…  Harry?  Mika?”

“Shhh!” hissed Harry as he pushed Ron along the corridor.

“What’s going on?” breathed Ron, looking from one boy to the other.

Mika replied, “We’re going to save Ginny.”

Ron looked at Harry then growled, “Let’s go.”  Harry nodded and the three of them crept down the corridors until they reached the second floor, where they heard the sounds of grunting.  Peering around a corner, they saw Lockhart piling books back into a box.  Harry sneered and flung off the cloak, knowing exactly what Lockhart was doing.

“Leavin’, professor?”

Lockhart let out a startled scream and dropped the heavy book he was holding.  In another part of the castle, Snape took off at a run towards the sound.

“H-Harry!”

Harry sneered, “Yeh.  Me.”  He shook his head and snarled, “An’ ye call yourself a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

“Well – when I took the job – nothing in the job description…”

“What about my sister?” roared Ron, throwing the cloak off as well.  Mika followed, eyeing Lockhart coolly.

“Very unfortunate…”

“Unfortunate!  What about your books!”

Lockhart shook his head sadly and said, “Now, now.  You shouldn’t believe everything you read.”

Harry bared his teeth and spat, “Ni was righ’.  Yer nothin’ but a fraud.”

“Now, now, Harry.  If there’s one thing I pride myself on its my Memory Charms.  Now that the three of you know, I can’t have you babbling my secrets.  Its not all books signings and publicity involved, you know.  I have to track the people down and ask them how they’d done what they’d done.”

“And took credit for their accomplishment!” yelled Mika.

“Sadly, yes,” said Lockhart, drawing his wand.  “Now…”

Harry had his wand out in a split-second and roared, “Expelliarmus!”

Lockhart was blasted backwards, tumbling to the floor.  His wand flew up into the air and Mika caught it, bringing it down across his knee in a fit of anger.  The white-haired boy then snarled, “Shouldn’t have let Professor Snape teach us that one.”

Harry snarled incoherently in agreement and point his wand at Lockhart, who was shaking, “Get up.”

Lockhart fumbled to his feet and said, “What do you want me to do?  I don’t know where the Chamber of Secrets is.  There’s nothing I can do.”

Harry sneered, “Lucky fer you we know where i’ is.  An’ wha’s inside i’.  Now move.”

Lockhart preceded them down the hall way to the bathroom next to the spot where the two messages still shone on the wall.  Harry shoved Lockhart inside and was highly pleased to see the man shaking.  Looking at Mika and Ron, he sheathed his wand.  Ron trained his on Lockhart as Mika laid the invisibility cloak aside before drawing his own.  Harry then walked down to the last stall and opened it, recalling what the Gray Lady had told him about this ghost.

“Myrtle?”

Moaning Myrtle looked up and said, “What do you want?”

“Ter ask ye how ye died.”

Myrtle’s face lit up at that.

“It was dreadful.  Happened right in this very stall.  I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses.  I was crying and then I heard somebody come in.  They said something gunny – a different language, I think.  But it was a boy.  So, I opened the door to tell him to go away and then – I died.”

“‘Ow?”

“I don’t know.  My whole body just seized up and then I was floating away.  And then I came back.  I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see.  She was sorry she’d ever laughed at my glasses.”  Myrtle paused then added, “But I do remember a pair of great, big, yellow eyes.”

Harry smirked and thought, Bingo.  He then asked, “Where did ye see the eyes?”

“Somewhere there,” said Myrtle, pointing at one of the sinks.  Harry walked over to it and studied it.  It looked ordinary enough except for the snake carved on one of the taps.  He tried to turn it and Myrtle said brightly, “That taps never worked.”

“Say something in Parseltongue, Harry,” suggested Mika, eying the snake.

Harry frowned.  He had only spoken Parseltongue when a live snake had been around before.  But, what the hell…

“Open up.”

“English,” said Ron.

Harry cursed and glared at the snake, imaging that it was real.  He spat again, “Open up.”

A strange hissing escaped him and the tap began to spin, glowing brilliant white.  The sink then sank into the floor, revealing a man-sized pipe.  Harry turned to Ron and Mika and said, “Le’s go.”

Ron and Mika nodded in agreement.

Lockhart suddenly said, “Well, you don’t seem to need to anymore, so…”

Three wands trained on him and six eyes glowered at him.

“You can go first, “snarled Mika.

Lockhart inched towards the opening, beginning to shake again.

“Boy…”

“Move,” snarled Harry.  Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe and was about to say something but Ron shoved him down into it first.  Harry waited a moment then followed.

The pipe was dark and slimy and seemed endless.  There were other pipe’s branching off from the one that they were in but Harry kept going straight.  He could also sense that he was going down further than the dungeons.  Much further.  Behind him came the sounds of Ron and Mika following him.

Suddenly the pipe leveled off and he shot out of it, landing on the damp floor with a wet thump.  Getting to his feet, he saw Lockhart hovering a few feet away, covered in slime and moaning something about his hair.  Ron suddenly shot of the tunnel, followed by Mika.

“Where are we?” asked Mika.

“Under the lake, probably,” said Ron, pulling a bit of slime out of his hair.  “Ugh.”

“Remind me to never go on vacation here.”

Harry pulled out his wand and muttered, “Lumos.”  Ron and Mika echoed him a moment later as he turned to them.

“C’mon.”

They set off, Lockhart lagging behind them.

“Close your eyes if you see anything,” warned Mika.

They walked in silence until they rounded a bend and Ron said, “There’s something up there…”

Something huge and curved lay across the tunnel before them, not moving.

“Maybe its asleep,” breathed Mika.

Harry crept forward, wand held high.  The light from his wand fell on a vivid green snake skin.  Whatever had shed it had to have been at least twenty feet long.

“Blimey,” said Mika weakly.

At a sudden movement behind them, all three of them turned.  Harry lunged and Lockhart tackled Mika but he was too late – Lockhart straightened, Mika’s wand in his hand.

“Well, boys.  This is it.  I take a bit of this skin up to the school, tell them the girl was lost, and that the three of you lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body – say goodbye to your memories, boys!”

“No, you fool…” began Mika but Lockhart had already lifted his wand.

“Obliviate!”

Mika’s wand exploded.  Harry dove out of the way as most of the ceiling gave way and fell in.  After the dust settled, he found himself standing alone looking at a wall of solid rock.

“Damn…  Ron!  Mika!  Are ye okay?”

“Yeah,” said Ron’s muffled voice.  “We’re okay.  But this git’s lost his memory.”

Mika spat, “I tried to tell him.  My wand is specially charmed to only work for me.  Thank my dad for being such a paranoid Auror.”

Harry sighed with relief then peered up at the ceiling.  Huge cracks had formed in it and he had the feeling if he tried to move the rocks by magic, it’d fall in even more.  He frowned for a moment then made the only decision he could.

“Ye wait here.  I’ll go on.  If I’m na back soon…”

There was a pause.

“We’ll try and move some of this rock so you can get back through,” said Mika.

“Harry…” began Ron.

“See yer in a bi’,” said Harry quickly, hurrying off.  He headed on and on until finally the sound of Ron and Mika moving rocks faded away.  Wand high, he continued  on until he came to a wall with two entwined serpents on it, their eyes gleaming emeralds.

Harry stepped forward and hissed, “Open.”

The snakes parted as the wall cracked open, sliding out of sight.  Harry stood there for a moment then entered.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Snape ran down the corridor from which he had heard Lockhart’s scream come from.  Trust the man to scream like a girl…

He skidded to a halt as he spotted two trunks and several boxes of books sitting in the middle of the corridor.  Bending down, he picked up a heavy book lying between his feet.  As he turned it over, Lockhart’s beaming visage winked up at him.  Snape sneered and tossed the book into one of the boxes, which collapsed and scattered more books over the floor.  Rolling his eyes, Snape strode down the hall to the suit of armor at the end.

“You.  Where did that idiot go?”

The suit of armor rattled then raised an arm with a creak.  It pointed down the next corridor.

To where the first attack had happened.

Snape thumped his fist against the helmet and growled out a thank you before striding down the hall.

“Harry, what in Merlin’s name are you doing now?”