lumos / phan

eight

"Dan, psst, wake up!" a quiet yet persistent voice says, while hands grip his shoulders and shake him gently.

Dan blinks his eyes open sleepily, swatting the air in a feeble attempt to rid whatever is disturbing his nap. He focuses on a shy smile and sees Gus peering down at him. Dan sits up quickly, confused.

"What's wrong Gus?" he asks.

"It's Harry, he needs to see you," Gus says, "he's waiting in the corridor, it sounds urgent."

"Okay, thanks. I'll go see what it is," He replies, jumping straight to his feet and racing out of the room.

"Dan!" Harry seems to breathe a sigh of relief when he sees Dan almost fall out of the common room, "we need your help, quick we'll explain on the way!"

He grabs Dan's arm and they begin to sprint down the corridor. Harry breaks down the situation. Apparently Ginny, Ron's sister, has been dragged into the chamber and is going to be kept there forever. Lockhart announced he'll save her and has gone to his office to 'prepare'. Ron and Harry went there, he was actually running away. Now Ron is waiting with Lockhart and they're planning to enter the chamber which Harry and Ron actually found.

"This is confusing. Knew Lockhart was a fraud. How could the teachers have trusted he'd do it? Isn't the chamber riddled with monsters? Why... need... me?" Dan huffs out after Harry's revelations.

"Ron and I aren't the best at magic, teachers somehow trusted Lockhart. You're our best bet to beat it, save Ginny," Harry says.

"But this is extremely dangerous, you can't just ask me to risk my life!" Dan argues, "there's time to talk to teachers, to Dumbledore, to work it out!"

"No, there's not," Harry says, just as they pass the blood stained wall.

Dan flinches, seeing the writing, the awful words. He sighs, casting his gaze to the ground as they continue forward. her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever...

"Fine, I'll come with you," Dan says.

"Thank you. I don't know if we can do this without you," Harry replies, turning to enter a girl's bathroom.

"Um, what?" Dan says, pausing in the corridor, "We can't-"

"This is where the chamber is," Harry says, and they enter to see Ron with his wand pointed towards Lockhart. 

"Finally," Ron breathes, Lockhart just sulks.

"Lets go," Harry says, hurrying towards the sink, "the entrance must be here somewhere near here."

"Try that one," Dan says, pointing toward a tap with a gleaming serpent on the side, "there's a snake."

Harry leans towards it and a strange hissing sound emits from his mouth. Theres a click and then the sound of heavy movement as things begin to shift beneath the floor. Soon, an entrance is revealed and they stare down into the darkness, hesitant and unwilling.

"You first," Harry says, jabbing his wand at Lockhart, who squeaks pathetically.

"Why me?" he whimpers.

Flippendo, Dan thinks and Lockhart is sent flying backwards down the tunnel. He smirks as he hears his shouts continue down, before there's a crunch. Dan winces, hoping he didn't just send Lockhart to his death. As annoying as he is, Dan doesn't want to be a murderer. 

"I'm alive!" Lockhart exclaims, sounding somewhat surprised.

And then Dan is falling, feet grasping for something to ground him as he is swallowed into the darkness behind Harry and Ron. He sees a dim light start to appear, and then he stumbles forward with a crunch, the ground almost collapsing beneath him. He looks down to see... bones?