Chapter 21

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"Who was it, Myrtle?" Harry asked and Moaning Myrtle shrugged. Olivia felt bad for the girl, she died young.

"I don't know! I was distraught! 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." She told them as tears streamed from eyes.

"Just like that? How?" Harry dug deeper and Olivia elbowed his softly.

"No idea. I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes. Over there..." Myrtle pointed to the bank of sinks and they looked at them. That was the entrance and no one could tell Olivia other wise.

Harry and Ron hurried over, examining the pipes below and the tile above. Then Harry saw it etched on one of the copper taps was a tiny snake. Olivia ran her finger around it before drawing her hand back.

"This is it, Ron. This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets." Olivia told the two as she got a closer look. A shiver went though Olivia as she looked at it, this was were a giant snake lived. 

"Say something, Harry. Say something in Parseltongue." Harry stared off self-consciously at the tiny snake. Olivia knew that he didn't want to speak Parseltongue anymore, it always seemed to get him in trouble.

"Open up." Ron and Olivia shook their head. Harry had spoken in his regular voice, so he took a deep breath.

"English." Harry concentrated harder this time, staring so intensely that the snake almost looked alive. When, finally, he spoke it was more like a hiss.

Parseltongue. The circular group of sinks opened and a large, open pipe is exposed. "Excellent, Harry. Good work. Well then. I'll just be going. There's no need for me..." Lockhart started to walked away. Olivia looked at him with a blank face, he was a disgrace to the Ravenclaw name.

"Oh, yes there is. You first." Harry pointed his wand at Lockhart then the opening.

"Now, boys and girl. What good will it do?" Lockhart asked and Olivia giggled softly. He was a very stupid man for a Ravenclaw, truly. 

"A bloody lot of good if it's a two-hundred-foot drop onto jagged rocks." Lockhart stepped grimly to the dark, gaping hole. Ron gave him a shove and he toppled headfirst and out of sight. They wait. Finally.

"It's really quite filthy down here." Lockhart yelled and Olivia nodded. Well it was a hole underground that hadn't been opened on 50 year's, what did he think it was going to be like?

"All right. Let's go." Olivia said and started to walk in.

"Oh, Harry... if you die down there, you're welcome to share my toilet." Moaning Myrtle told him and Olivia let out a loud laugh.

"Thanks, Myrtle." Harry turned just in time to see Olivia jump. Seconds later, he and Ron followed.

Harry and Ron slide wicked fast, in a hair-raising vertical plummet, catching glimpses of other, smaller pipes branching off in all directions. Twisting and turning until the pipe levels off, dumping them onto the damp floor of a stone tunnel.

"That's was fun can we do it again?" Olivia asked covering her fear with humor.

Lockhart stared miserably at the muck dripping from his robes. Harry took a torch from the wall and poised his wand.

"Lumos!" Olivia yelled and the torch's bloomed with a bright orange flame.

"Remember. Any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away." Harry leads the way down the tunnel.

CRUNCH!

They looked down at a rat's skull. All around them, the ground was littered with tiny skeletons. Ron squinted, seeing something huge and curved lying ahead.

When he spook, his voice was hollow with dread. "What's that? Up ahead?" Ron asked frantically and Olivia's hair went completely white.

"That looks like a... snake." Terrified, Lockhart quickly hid his eyes.

"Maybe it's asleep." Olivia drew her wand as they approached, squinting.

Harry shined his light, revealing a gigantic coil of empty skin. "Bloody hell. Whatever shed this must be twenty feet long. Or more." Olivia turned once she head a thud. Lockhart had passed out.

"Heart of a lion, this one." Ron kneeled by him and when Lockhart's eyes opened and quick as a fox he snatched Ron's wand and scrambled to his feet.

"The adventure ends here, boys! But don't fret. The world will know our story. How I was too late to save the girl. How you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. I'll even bind a limited edition in this snake skin. Say goodbye to your memories." Harry slid in front of Olivia as Lockhart raised Ron's wand.

"Obliviate!" Ron's wand exploded like a small bomb, blasting Lockhart off his feet and spitting great jets of fire into the rock above.

As rubble rained, Ron leapt one way and Harry and Olivia the other. Harry sat up, squinting through the settling dust. A solid wall of broken rock sealed the tunnel between them and Ron.

"Ron? Are you okay?" Harry yelled from the other side of the wall.

"I'm okay. This git's not, though. He got blasted by my wand." Rom yelled to the two.

"What now?" He asked and Olivia took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart.

"Wait here. We'll go on. We'll go on and... find Ginny. If we're not back in an hour..." Harry left it there. Olivia felt a shuttered make her way down her back.

"I'll try and shift some of this rock. So you can get back through. And, Harry --" Harry cut Ron off.

"See you in a bit." Harry glanced at the snake skin at his feet and moved it off. He stepped carefully through the shadows until they reached a towering stone wall, carved with twin serpents.

"Open." The siblings say in Parseltongue together. The serpents parted and the giant wall slid. Harry and Olivia removed their wands and entered.

 Harry and Olivia removed their wands and entered

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