On God?

Chapter 42

in which things start to change

"Ron was poisoned?" I asked, gears already turning in my head as I tried to figure out how to talk to Draco about stopping before someone died. Wait. That was his goal.

Dammit.

"Yeah, but it wasn't him directly. He was love potioned, and I took him to Slughorn for an antidote-and after, Slughorn offered him something to drink, and then the next thing I know, I'm shoving a bezoar down his throat." Harry said, glancing at Ron's prone body, laying in an infirmary bed.

"It's a good thing you knew what to do then." I said, slight sarcasm seeping into my voice. "Thank goodness the Half-Blood Prince is helping you out."

I swear I've never seen anyone's head snap up faster. "How do you know about that?" He asked suspiciously, peering at me.

I shrugged, standing up. "Overheard you guys. You're not overly protective about your private business, you know that? When Ron wakes up, tell him I send my best." I called over my shoulder as I left the infirmary.

Time seemed to pass quickly after that. Gryffindor had their next Quidditch game (a complete failure thanks to McLaggen), and I was plotting on how to destroy the next horcrux, Ravenclaw's Diadem. It was in the castle, in the Room of Requirement. Now, all I needed to do was go down to the Chamber of Secrets and get a fang from the basilisk and destroy it. There was one problem though.

I couldn't speak Parseltongue.

"Myrtle, how the hell do I go about this?" I scratched the top of my head as I stared at the sink in her bathroom that I knew would lead down to the Chamber.

"You could try making hissy noises?" She suggested, and I stared at her, unimpressed. "I'm serious!" She defended herself.

I took a deep breath. "I'm gonna look like an idiot." I whispered to myself, before hissing out what I hoped meant: Open up you big fat bitch.

To my shock, the sinks began to slide apart, and I glanced at Myrtle, my jaw practically on the floor.

"I told you!" She squealed, clapping her hands together. "Now go on, there's no serious danger any more."

"No serious danger?" I asked, edging closer until I was at the edge. "Oh well, cowabunga!"

The slide-like ride through the pipe into the Chamber of Secrets was unpleasant. The air was clammy and moist, and the pipe was slimy, and as soon as my feet landed on the hundreds of little rat skeletons at the bottom, I scourgify-ed my clothes, shuddering slightly.

Every step I took made the bones under my feet crunch, and I had to keep myself to keep from running right back up the tunnel.

Finally, finally I got to the doors of the Chamber itself, and I tried to mimic what I had hissed out to the sink. It apparently worked, because the doors opened with a chink and I walked inside, grimacing at the smell of rotting basilisk.

I covered my nose with my sleeve as I moved forward, thankful that the basilisk's head was closer than me than the tail. I reached into the propped open mouth and quickly yanked out a fang, and then two more for good measure.

A shudder travelled through my whole body and I made a face as I hurried back to the entrance, nearly slipping in a puddle of slime as I did.

"Okay, how do I do this..." I pondered as I stared up the long, winding tunnel that would get me back up to the school. "Levantarse-wait, that's Spanish."

It took me several more moments to remember what spell I needed to use, not even sure if it would work. "Wingardium Leviosa!" I said, making sure to pronounce it right. I yelped as I began to float, grasping onto the equally slimy tunnel ceiling and beginning to move myself up towards the bathroom.