Hiding from the eyes and using the chaos for cover, the boys and girls gathered in an empty classroom.
For a moment, there was absolute silence in the room.
Harry, Draco, Daphne, and Hermione looked at Ron, the flowing time trickling down their backs, chilling their spines.
They had already shared all the information Harry, Ron, and Daphne had learned from Aragog. But that led them to nowhere, it seemed.
They didn't know where the Chamber of Secrets was and how to get there, either.
They did figure out the nature of the monster wreaking havoc in the School, unfortunately.
It was a Basilisk!
Daphne had been into magical creatures and had been studying under Madam Villanelle's tutelage long enough for her to guess the name of the magical creature, given the clues.
It was a serpent…
It could kill with its gaze…
It was the nemesis of spiders…
It was related to Slytherin, somehow…
And then there was a clue that roosters and chickens had been dying all the year… probably the doing of the Heir of Slytherin…
It didn't take them long to figure out how the students only got petrified instead as well because none of them ever looked directly into the Basilisk's eyes.
"What now?!" Ron gasped. His face was paling by the second. "That thing already killed someone fifty years ago! What if…"
Harry's eyes lit up. "That's it!"
As they all looked at Harry, gobsmacked, he said, "Black told me that he would have dated Moaning Myrtle if she hadn't died fifty years ago…"
Daphne suddenly sat straight. "Yes!" she hissed, her eyes wet. "Darcie once told me that there's no record of how Moaning Myrtle actually died?"
Draco and Ron's eyes had widened as well.
In the very next moment, they found themselves making a run for the girls' bathroom.
Harry suddenly had a deja-vu as they ran. "You know…" he said, taking short breaths, "it's happening again, isn't it?"
Draco looked at him over his shoulder and nodded. "Those two are always gone when we need them the most… Tch! I am going to kill that Mudblood… always after my sister…"
Hermione made a face at Draco as if she just couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you serious? It's because of them we figured out this much…"
Daphne put a hand over Hermione's shoulder and shook her head. She knew Draco didn't mean it. He just couldn't help from saying something mean. The guy was constantly fighting his urges to say something good about his… friends.
"Oh, it's you," Moaning Myrtle said when she saw Daphne and Hermione. "What do you want this time?"
The girls had already come here with Darcie as part of her investigation.
Daphne suddenly ran toward the ghost. "Myrtle… where exactly did you see the yellow eyes before you died?"
"Not again!" Moaning Myrtle cried. "Always about my death! You promised to be my friend! Where's Darcie?!"
"It's for her!" Hermione replied. "She needs our help. Your help! Tell us!!"
Moaning Myrtle swooped down between the girls. "She… needs me?" And then she began crying.
Suddenly, as their hearts boomed against their chests to just tell the ghost to hurry it up, Moaning Myrtle pointed at the sink.
It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below. And then Harry saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.
"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as Draco tried to turn it.
"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue."
Harry looked back at the snake, willing himself to believe it was alive. If he moved his head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving.
-Open up- he hissed.
At once, the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin.
The next second, the sink began to move, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for two men to slide into side by side.
Daphne gasped. "This is it! This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!"
"Let's go!" Harry shouted. "I am going to Professor McGonagall. You guys bring other Professors. We should be back here in no time!"
Nodding at each other, they began running, except one.
Suddenly, a call from behind stopped them all. "Stop!" Hermione cried.
They looked back and found Hermione chewing her lips, thoughtful. "Let's… don't go to the Professors…"
Ron's eyes widened. "Have you gone mental?!"
Even Daphne frowned at Hermione, trying to figure out a sound reasoning behind her words.
Hermione just shook her head. "You guys are not thinking straight!" she told them, stepping forward. "What if… What if this is exactly what the Yellow Warlock wants? What if… he is the one behind this all?"
The children's faces paled.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, licking his lips.
"What would happen if we told the Professors about it?" Hermione asked. "Professor Dumbledore can't come. He's protecting the Ilvermorny School. The moment he leaves, the Dark Alliance will attack the School again.
"So, the Professors would ask Aurors to go with them inside the Chamber of Secrets, right? What about our School, then?
"If this is indeed something planned by the Yellow Warlock, then he can trap all the Professors and Aurors in the Chamber of Secrets! There will be no one to stop him if he comes to Hogwarts then!!"
Harry, Ron, Draco, and Daphne just stared at Hermione, imagining the scenario painted out by her. They felt like the earth had slipped under their feet. If she hadn't thought of it all this just now, then… they had all but doomed their own School.
"When did you get so smart?" Draco asked, coming back.
Daphne sighed. "She's always been smart. There is a reason she's the topper of our year, you know."
Harry and Ron together apologized.
"We were rash…" Harry mumbled. "We will have to do it… Where's Draco?!"
Their heads spun towards the sink with a jerk.
Draco was nowhere to be seen.
"He jumped down!" Moaning Myrtle cried in shock. "Oh! What a brave boy!"
"It's alright!" a voice echoed out from the pipe. "Too slimy… Ugh!"
Smiling at each other, Harry and Ron jumped as well.
Daphne and Hermione shook their heads behind them. "Boys…" they said together.
Suddenly, Daphne looked over her shoulder. "Myrtle… Can you go to the Hospital Wing? If Darcie wakes up, tell her about us, OK? She will publish an article about you. I promise."
Moaning Myrtle eagerly nodded.
Then, holding each other's hands, Daphne and Hermione jumped down as well.
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