The girl who died Harry Potter's Twin Sister

Chapter 11- CoS

Harry and Ron race into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and up the stairs to Lockhart's office. "Lockhart may be useless, but he's going to try to get into the Chamber. At least we can tell him what we know!" Harry whispers. He opens the door to the office and steps inside. "Professor, we have some information for you." Lockhart stuffs some clothes into his trunk, which he closes as he turns toward them; Ron scowls at him. "Are you going somewhere?" Harry asks.

"Um... well, yes. Urgent call. Unavoidable. Uh, got to go,"

"What about my sister?!" Harry shouts outraged.

"Uh, well, um... As to that, most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I." Lockhart acts ashamed.

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. You can't go now!" Ron butts in. Lockhart starts to put things in his handbag then he moves around his desk.

"Well, I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description about--"

Harry blocks his path. "You're running away? After all that stuff, you did in your books?!"

"Books can be misleading," Lockhart states. Harry scoffs.

"You wrote the books!" Lockhart places his bag on his desk. "My dear boy, 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!" Harry stares at him in disbelief.

"You're a fraud. You've just been taking credit for what other wizards have done!"

"Is there anything you can do?" Ron asks folding his arms.

"Yes. Now you mention it. I'm rather gifted with memory charms. Otherwise, you see, all those wizards would've gone blabbing, and I'd never have sold another book." Harry and Ron look at each other as Lockhart walks toward his suitcase. "In fact, uh... I'm uh..." Ron nods at Harry, and they both reach into their robes to pull out their wands. "going to have to do the same to you." He collects his wand from the suitcase, but Harry and Ron already have their wands trained on him.

"Don't even think about it." He points downward, gesturing for Lockhart to drop his wand; Lockhart reluctantly does so.

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"Oh? Who's there?" Myrtle sees Harry, she smiles warmly at him. "Oh, hello, Harry. What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died."

Myrtle smiles slightly. "Oh..." Her smile fades. "...it was dreadful. It happened right here in this very cubicle. 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, Myrtle?" Harry asks.

Myrtle chokes up. " I don't know. I was distraught!" She floats towards the three. "But they said something funny, a kind of made-up language, and I realized it was a boy speaking, so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away, and... I died."

"Just like that? How?"

"I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes, over there, by that sink." She points at the circle of sinks in the centre of the bathroom.

As Myrtle floats off to the stalls, Harry steps forward to examine the sinks. Reaching up to the circular stone above the sinks, he moves his hand down to the sink in front of him, he turns the tap, but no water comes out. At that second, something else catches his eye; looking more closely at the tap, he sees a snake carved on it.

"This is it." He takes a step back. "This is it, Ron. I think this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets." Lockhart glances at the sink in surprise.

"Say something. Harry, say something in Parseltongue."

After a few seconds, "Hesha- Hassah. (Open up.)"

The circular stone above the sinks rises, then all the sinks begin to move outwards. Harry, Ron, and Lockhart back away slowly as the sinks move; the sink with the snake carved on its tap descends into the floor, then a grating slides over it. Lockhart steps towards the opening that the sinks concealed and looks down into a very wide black hole

Lockhart inhales then turns to Harry with a grin. "Excellent, Harry. Ah, good work. Well, then, I'll just be, uh... there's no need for me to stay." He tries to run, but Harry and Ron grab hold of him.

"Oh, yes there is!" With all their might, they push Lockhart backwards toward the passage before drawing their wands. "You first."

"Now, boys, what good will it do?"

"Better you than us." Harry nods.

"Um, but... obviously, yes." He nervously turns around and grips the sinks as he looks down into the passage before glancing over his shoulder at the boys again. "Sure you don't want to test it first?" An annoyed, Ron pokes Lockhart with his wand, sending him into the passage, screaming as he disappears into the darkness; a second later, a crash is heard as Harry and Ron walk up to the opening. "It's quite filthy down here."

"All right." Harry turns to Ron. "Let's go." Ron nods in agreement.

"Oh, Harry?" The two boys look up at her. "If you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet." She giggles; making Ron uneasy.

"Uh... thanks, Myrtle." He smiles at her, then turns to the opening, and jumps into it; Ron immediately jumps in after him.

Harry and Ron scream as they go down a slide, which leads to a small pit filled with animal bones, most likely the Basilisk's feeding area, as Lockhart brushes the dirt off his robes when the boys land. They immediately get to feet and point their wands at him. Ron glances at the muck around them. "Ugh."

Harry steps on the bones. "Now, remember: any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away." He turns and goes into the passageway behind him.

"Go on," Ron says to Lockhart who reluctantly follows Harry into the passage with Ron right behind him.

To be continued...