Chapter 18 - Chamber of Secrets

        That night, right on time, Eric and I snuck out of our dorms and met up in the empty common room before walking out the entrance. Harry and Ron were there, just like they said and were quick to let us under the invisibility cloak. It didn't take the four of us long to quietly sneak out of the castle and across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. When we finally stood in front of the hut's door, Ron reached his hand out to knock firmly. A few seconds later, we heard Hagrid's voice from inside,

"Who's there?"

Not wanting to get caught outside, the four of us kept quiet and kept the cloak on, waiting for Hagrid to open the door. But all of a sudden, the door swung open to reveal Hagrid holding a crossbow pointed in our direction. "Hello? Hello?"

Immediately, Harry, Eric, Ron and I all dropped the cloak, and Hagrid lowered the crossbow.

"What's that for?" Eric demanded as we were all a bit freaked out. But Hagrid shook his head,

"Oh, nothin'. I was expectin'... It doesn't matter. Come on in. I just made a pot of tea."

A bit nervous but trusting our giant friend, the four of us entered the hut and followed Hagrid toward the table. As Hagrid started pouring, his hands nervously shook the kettle, and he accidentally spilt the tea.

"Hagrid, are you ok?" I gently asked, worried.

"I'm fine. I'm all right," Hagrid nodded but with an uneasy tone.

"D-did you hear about Hermione?"

"Oh, yeah. I heard about that, all righ'."

Deciding to get straight to the point, my twin asked,

"Look... we have to ask you something. Do you know who's opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

Hagrid took a deep breath and started to answer,

"What you have to understand about that is-"

Suddenly, there was a loud knock, causing Hagrid to pause and Fang to bark. "Quick, under the cloak," Hagrid whispered, ushering us to the other side of the room. Panicked, the four of us did as he said and walked toward the fireplace as Hagrid urged, "Don't say a word. Be quiet. All of you."

Without another thought, Ron threw the cloak over all of us before Hagrid opened the door with his crossbow in hand. After a moment, I heard Hagrid sigh in relief, "Oh. Professor Dumbledore, sir."

"Good evening, Hagrid," I heard the headmaster reply. "I wonder, could we...?"

"Of course. Come in. Come in," Hagrid said. Professor Dumbledore then walked in, followed by a man I didn't know. Ron whispered,

"That's our dads' boss! Cornelius Fudge. The Minister of Magic!"

"Bad business, Hagrid. Very bad business," the Minister said, "Had to come. Three attacks on Muggle-borns. Things've gone far enough. The Ministry's got to act."

"But I never... You know I never, Professor..." Hagrid pleaded, and Professor Dumbledore turned to the Minister,

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid... has my full confidence."

"Albus, look, Hagrid's record's against him. I've got to take him," the Minister protested. Hagrid frowned,

"Take me? Take me where? Not Azkaban prison!"

"I'm afraid we have no choice, Hagrid."

Just then, the door opened, and Lucius Malfoy spoke,

"Already here, Fudge? Good..."

"What're you doin' here! Get out of my house!" Hagrid yelled in anger. As Mr Malfoy walked inside, he slowly made his way toward where we were hiding under the invisibility cloak.

"Believe me, I take absolutely no pleasure being inside your-"

The four of us quickly backed up as Mr Malfoy walked closer to us when he thankfully stopped and furrowed his brows, "Do you call this a house?" Mr Malfoy then turned away, "No, I simply called the school and was told the Headmaster was here."

"And what exactly is it that you want with me?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"The governours and I have decided it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension." Mr Malfoy finally started walking away from us. "You'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you've rather lost your touch. Well, what, with all these attacks, there'll be no Muggleborns left at Hogwarts. I can only imagine what an awful loss that would be to the school." Mr Malfoy walked toward us again, allowing us to see his evil grin as he spoke about the Muggleborns. Hagrid protested,

"Yeh can take Professor Dumbledore away! Take him away an' the Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin's next!"

"You think so?" Mr Malfoy challenged before Professor Dumbledore softly said,

"Calm yourself, Hagrid. If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I will, of course, step aside. However..." Dumbledore stepped toward Mr Malfoy "You will find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who... ask for it." Dumbledore's eyes drifted to us as though he knew we were there. Confused, Mr Malfoy quickly glanced behind to see what Dumbledore was looking at but quickly grew cocky again,

"Admirable sentiments. We shall all miss your highly individual way of running things, Albus, and only hope your successor will manage to prevent any more, um, 'killin's'. Shall we?" Mr Malfoy strode to the door before Professor Dumbledore followed. The Minister of Magic then fiddled with his bowler as he urged,

"Come, Hagrid. Well?'

Hagrid nodded, then cleared his throat,

"If... uh... If anyone was looking for some stuff, then all they'd have ter do would be to follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I have to say."

The Minister stared at Hagrid in amazement as our giant friend started on his way out before noting, "Oh, and someone'll need to feed Fang while I'm away."

The Minister then followed Hagrid out with a shake of his head and a nod toward Fang,

"Good boy."

As the door slammed shut, Harry, Ron, Eric and I all pulled the cloak off of ourselves before Eric spoke,

"Hagrid's right. With Dumbledore gone, there'll be an attack a day."

"Look..." Harry whispered, staring at the window. The rest of us turned to follow my brother's gaze to see a trail of spiders escaping through a crack in the glass. "Come on." Harry went to grab Hagrid's lantern while Eric, Ron and I followed.

"Come on, Fang," Eric called as we walked out the door. Quickly, Harry went up to the side of the hut to illuminate the trail of spiders. The eight-legged creatures were crawling from the window, to the ground and to the dark trees in the near distance.

"Come on," Harry gestured toward the trees.

"What?!" Ron asked.

"You heard what Hagrid said: 'Follow the spiders'."

I frowned, terrified,

"They're heading into the Dark Forest."

Eric and Ron nodded, agreeing with me, but Harry sighed before walking off. Not wanting to leave him alone in the Dark Forest, the three of us reluctantly followed as Ron whined,

"Why spiders? Why couldn't it be, 'Follow the butterflies'?"

The forest was just as dark and scary as the last time we were here, but it was worse without Hagrid. When we heard a wolf's howl, I immediately stepped up beside Harry and grabbed onto his free arm. My twin simply gave me a slight, comforting smile, and the four of us kept walking.

After a little while, as the trees became denser, there was suddenly a loud rumble. I whipped my head toward the sound and noticed something over a hill.

"There's something moving up there," I said, squeezing Harry's hand.

"Listen," Harry added, "It sounds like something big."

I glared at my brother for making me feel worse when Ron excitedly shouted,

"Guys! Guys, it's our car! Must have been here all the time."

Eric then pointed out,

"And look, the forest has turned it wild."

"Come on," Harry encouraged, "We don't want to lose the trail."

Not much longer after seeing the car, the trail of spiders began to grow as more seemed to be crawling on the ground. As Eric, Ron, Harry and I continued slowly following with Fang, Ron cried,

"Guys, I don't like this."

None of us said anything, but I offered Ron my hand to make him feel better as we kept following the spiders. "Guys, I don't like this at all."

"Shush," Harry demanded, making me furrow my brows at him for being mean, but I didn't really want to be loud either. After a few more steps forward, there were even more small spiders, and they streamed toward a dark opening. Inside the opening, there seemed to be trees strewn with strands of white webbing.

"Can we go back now?" Ron cried again, uncomfortable with the number of spiders there were around us. But Harry shook his head and determinedly urged,

"Come on."

Without letting go of Harry or Ron's hands, Eric now holding Ron's free hand, the four of us crouched into the hollow together where spiders crawled everywhere. After getting through the small opening, the hollow was much bigger, with enormous trees that towered over us, strewn with even more webbing. We kept walking deeper into the hollow until, all of a sudden, there was the loud sound of a giant branch snapping.

"Who is it?" a raspy voice asked from up ahead. I felt terrified and could feel Ron squeezing my hand as I squeezed Harry's, but my brother only whispered,

"Don't panic."

"Hagrid?" the voice asked as more snapping branches could be heard, "Is that you?"

"We're friends of Hagrid's," Harry explained before giant legs appeared, causing Ron to let go of my hand as he and Eric moved behind Harry and me while we backed up a bit. As the creature continued to come forward, I could see that he was a huge spider the size of a small elephant. "And you... You're... You're... Aragog, aren't you?"

"Yes," the giant spider replied. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."

"He's in trouble. Up at school, there've been attacks."

"They think it's Hagrid," I added, "They think he's opened the Chamber of Secrets... Like before."

"That's a lie!" Aragog shouted, "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets!"

"Then you're not the monster?" I asked, feeling less frightened and more curious.

"No! The monster was born in the castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land, in the pocket of a traveller."

Ron then whimpered as he tugged on Harry's jumper,

"Harry..."

"Shush!" Harry frowned before turning back to Aragog, "But if you're not the monster, then... then what did kill that girl fifty years ago?"

Aragog answered,

"We do not speak of it! It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others."

"But have you seen it?"

"I never saw any part of the castle but the box in which Hagrid kept me."

Ron then whimpered and tugged on my sweater,

"Ella..."

Worried about my friend, I turned to him with a comforting look,

"Hm?"

"The girl was discovered in a bathroom," Aragog continued responding to Harry's question as Ron pointed up. With a frown, I looked up, and my eyes widened with panic and fear when I saw the army of big spiders coming toward us. "When I was accused, Hagrid brought me here," Aragog finished explained, allowing me to tug on Harry's shirt,

"Harry..."

"What!?" Harry asked, annoyed as he turned to me, Ron and Eric. Ron pointed at the spiders, and Harry looked, becoming pale. Slowly, my twin turned back to Aragog and gave a nervous look, "Well... thank you. We'll just go..."

"Go?" Aragog repeated, "I think not. My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid."

Aragog turned, disappearing into the shadows of the cavern when Ron turned to us,

"Can we panic now?"

I tried not to scream and cry when one of the spiders jumped behind us, blocking our way out. Harry swung the lantern at the arachnid and pitched the lantern aside, but the rest kept coming, surrounding us. Quickly, we all pulled out our wands, standing back to back when Eric asked,

"Know any spells?"

"One, but it's not powerful enough for all of them," Harry answered, and Ron whined,

"Where's Hermione when you need her?"

The spiders were getting closer, and we didn't know what to do. We were probably done for.

"Nice knowing you," Eric frowned as Fang whimpered when all of a sudden, there was a loud revving noise. Turning our heads, we saw the headlights and blue paint of the car thundering down the slope toward us, knocking the spiders out of its path. As it screeched to a halt, the spiders fled before the doors flung open.

"Let's go!" Harry urged just as the spiders started coming back. Ron got in the driver's seat as Eric, Fang and I got into the back. Just before Harry could get in, there was a spider headed for him, allowing my twin to use the spell he knew,

"Arania exumai!"

Harry swiftly got in the car and shut the door before another spider was able to get him. Another spider suddenly landed on top of the roof of the car, and I screamed before Eric yelled,

"GO!"

Ron quickly started reversing out of the hollow, knocking the spiders off and getting away until we went over a hill. The car flew as we all yelled,

"WHOAAA!!"

As the car landed with a thud, we were finally able to stop. Once there were no more spiders in sight, we all took a deep breath.

"Glad we're out of there!" Ron smiled, to which Eric, Harry and I smiled back, relieved. Suddenly, a spider appeared at Ron's window, and I screamed as it grabbed hold of Ron's neck. Quickly, Harry pulled out his wand and shouted,

"Arania exumai!"

There was a bright flash, and the spider was tossed away, allowing all of us to relax a little.

"Thanks for that," Ron squeaked, and Harry nodded,

"Don't mention it."

As I leaned my head back to try and breathe calmly, I heard a distant odd sound. Looking up and out of the front windshield, I saw the army of spiders running toward us.

"Get us out of here," I pleaded with a shaky voice, but Ron seemed frozen with fear.

"Now!" Eric demanded, terrified as the spiders got closer. Ron immediately moved the gear shift and reversed.

"Come on!" Harry yelled, "Come on, move faster!"

Ron was then able to spin the car and turn it around to drive away. "GO!"

Ron drove as fast as the car would go, but the spiders were still getting so close! "Get us in the air!" Harry instructed, but when Ron tried, the only thing that happened was the sound of gears grinding.

"The flying gear's jammed!" Ron shouted.

"Come on! Pull!"

"I'm trying!"

"GUYS!" I yelled, seeing more spiders had gotten ahead of us and were blocking the path. Ron kept driving and knocking into spiders as he and Harry continued pulling on the flying gear to get it unstuck. As we all screamed, the gear finally moved, and the car started flying, hitting a huge branch but causing nothing but a jump. I started relaxing a bit as the car flew over the trees and finally landed next to Hagrid's hut and out of the Dark Forest. As soon as the car stopped, I immediately opened the door and got out, Fang following before I closed the door and took in deep breaths.

"'Follow the spiders'," Ron mocked, "'Follow the spiders'! If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!"

If I hadn't been horrified but what happened, I probably would have laughed. Before any of us could answer, the car suddenly started making a noise, and we all turned to watch as it started reversing before turning to drive back into the forest. "I mean, what was the point of sending us in there?" Ron questioned frustratedly, "What have we found out?"

"We know one thing," Harry replied, and I continued, realizing what we had heard and learned,

"Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent."

"Alright, well, as great as that is, I am definitely ready to go to bed," Eric partially joked, and I nodded in agreement. With a nod from Harry and Ron, the four of us brought Fang back into the hut and gave him some water and food before grabbing the invisibility cloak and sneaking back through the castle to our dorms.

A few days later, before dinner, Harry, Eric, Ron and I decided to visit Hermione in the hospital. Last time, we had left her flowers on the bedside table that had quickly wilted, so I changed them before sitting beside her on the bed. Ron, Harry, and Eric were all sitting in chairs on the other side of our brilliant friend.

"Wish you were here, Hermione," Harry said, hoping that she could maybe hear us.

"We need you," I added, knowing she would have figured this out within a few hours. "Now more than ever."

Ron and Eric sighed as we all missed Hermione. Taking her hand in mine, I suddenly felt something and looked to see a crumpled piece of paper. Curious, I pulled it out of Hermione's grasp and uncrumpled it to see it was a page from a book.

"What's that?" Ron asked as he, Eric and Harry furrowed their brows in my direction.

"Guys, this is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked," I smiled, proud of my best friend, "Come on!"

Getting up, I swiftly walked out of the hospital wing with the three boys following after me. As we walked down the halls, I read aloud, "'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it, and the crowing of the rooster can kill it...'" Looking up at the boys, I grew excited but serious, "Guys! This is it! The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk."

"That's why Ella and I can hear it speak," Harry caught on, "It's a snake!"

"But if it kills by looking people in the eye," Eric questioned, "Why is it no one's dead?"

I frowned, contemplating and turned to look out the window behind me when I suddenly saw my reflection and realized,

"Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least..."

The four of us started rushing down the hallway as I thought about all of the attacks that had happened, "Colin saw it through his camera. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost. He couldn't die again..."

Harry continued,

"... And Hermione... had the mirror! I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners in case it came along."

"And Mrs Norris?" Ron asked, "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, guys."

"The water..." Harry and I realized at the same time, and I explained,

"There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection..."

Ron and Eric nodded, agreeing before Harry brought the page over to the light to scan it again,

"The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it! That's why Hagrid's roosters were killed! Spiders flee before it! It all fits!"

"But how's the Basilisk been getting around?" Ron questioned, and Eric nodded,

"A dirty great snake. Someone would have seen it."

Harry pointed to the word written in Hermione's handwriting,

"Hermione answered that, too."

Aghast, Ron frowned,

"Pipes? It's using the plumbing."

"Remember what Aragog said? About that girl fifty years ago?" Harry said, "She died in a bathroom. What if she never left."

Ron and Eric simultaneously realized,

"Moaning Myrtle!"

Harry and I nodded when, just then, McGonagall's voice echoed throughout the castle, magically magnified,

"All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second-floor corridor immediately."

Knowing that wasn't good, Harry, Ron, Eric and I all ran toward the second-floor corridor. When we were almost there, a little way down the hall, we heard McGonagall talking to the other professors,

"As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message."

The four of us slowly and quietly hid behind the wall to see all of the professors looking at the wall as Professor McGonagall spoke sadly, "Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster. Into the Chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid... this is the end of Hogwarts."

Eric, Ron, Harry and I all shared a look of shock and worry when we suddenly heard footsteps and saw Lockhart finally joining the other teachers.

"So sorry. Dozed off," Lockhart said cheerfully, "What have I missed?"

"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart," Professor Snape explained, "Your moment has come at last."

"My m-moment?"

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"D-did I? I don't recall..." Lockhart tried to say, clearly either afraid or a liar, but Professor McGonagall interrupted with a grateful smile,

"That's settled. We'll leave it to you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."

"Very well. I'll- I'll just be in my office, getting- getting ready."

With that, Lockhart walked off back down the hall.

"The rest of us should go and inform the students what has happened."

"Who is it the monster's taken, Minerva?" Professor Sprout asked before McGonagall grimly replied,

"Ginny Weasley."

Ron's knees gave way, leaving me and Eric to catch him as the professors scattered, revealing what was written on the wall. Walking forward to get a better look, Ron shakily read,

"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. Ginny..."

Harry, determined, suggested,

"Let's go see Lockhart. He may be useless, but he's going to try and get into the Chamber."

"At least we can tell him what we know," Eric nodded in agreement. I nodded as well before we were about to start heading toward Lockhart's office when Ron stopped us to ask,

"Guys. Do you think there's any chance at all she's not, you know..."

Ron looked horrified at the idea that his sister would be gone. With a comforting smile, I placed my hands on Ron's shoulders,

"We'll find her, Ron. Ginny's going to be fine."

Ron nodded and smiled shakily before looking away. As he did, a troubled look crossed my features as I thought about everything that could go wrong. But before my mind could start thinking even more negatively, Harry softly urged,

"Come on, we have to hurry."