Carefully maneuvering her broom through the sharp twists and turns of the pipes, Adele finally leaped onto the floor, which was thickly littered with small bones that crunched unpleasantly under her soles.
— Luna, are you alright? You didn't hit anything?
— No, it was actually quite thrilling! — Luna smiled radiantly, dusting off her robes as if she had just stepped off an amusement park ride rather than falling a hundred meters underground.
Harry, peering tensely into the tunnel stretching into the distance, turned to everyone:
— From here on, be extremely careful. At any movement, any rustle—close your eyes immediately. Do not hesitate for a second.
— Why? — Luna asked curiously, examining strange growths on the walls.
— A basilisk lives in the Chamber of Secrets. Its direct gaze is lethal, — Ron explained grimly.
— If we can't even look at it, how are we supposed to fight it? — Adele asked reasonably, shifting her grip on her wand.
A heavy silence fell after her question. No one could find an answer to this simple yet terrifying query.
— Actually, I know a couple of spells that might work against the beast, — Lockhart interjected smoothly, flashing his habitual Hollywood smile. — If you return my wand, I could... well, you know, lead our operation.
Everyone looked at him simultaneously.
— Why is he even here? — Adele pointed at the professor, whom Ron was still holding at wandpoint.
— To... well... help us, — Ron muttered, not entirely certain.
— Victor says Professor Lockhart is a fraud and a cheat. And that he couldn't defeat even the most ordinary dying chicken, — Luna added in an innocent tone.
Harry sighed heavily:
— Fine, it doesn't matter now. We can't leave him here—who knows what he'd pull behind our backs. Let's go. And don't forget: watch your eyes.
They moved cautiously behind Harry deeper into the tunnel, while Ron brought up the rear, keeping a watchful eye on Lockhart.
The further they delved into the tunnel, the more the air reeked of dampness and rotting fish. Finally, they emerged from the narrow passage into a vast cavern, where a colossal scaly skin lay right in the middle of the path.
— What on earth is that? — Ron exhaled in fright, nudging Lockhart ahead of him.
— It... it looks like a snake, — whispered Lockhart, his teeth beginning to chatter.
— It's a snake's slough, — Adele explained, catching Luna by the collar. The latter had already managed to crouch beside it and was poking at the scales with interest.
— It's so huge... — With a groan, Lockhart collapsed, falling into a faint.
— Are you still hoping he'll help us? — Adele raised an eyebrow questioningly, looking at Ron.
Ron had just opened his mouth to reply when something no one expected happened. Lockhart, who had just been faking a faint, suddenly leaped up with feline agility and snatched the wand from a distracted Ron's hands.
— That's it! Our adventure ends here! — Lockhart laughed maniacally, triumphantly waving his prize. — Now I shall return to the surface and tell the world the story of how I heroically tried to save the girl but, alas, was too late. And you... you completely lost your minds upon seeing her mangled body. So, who shall we start with?
— Ahem, — Adele coughed nonchalantly and raised her hand as if she were in class.
— What?! — Lockhart barked angrily, irritated that his triumphant speech had been interrupted.
— Did we all four lose our minds at the same time? — Adele asked calmly.
— Yes! And now I will continue...
— Ahem! — Lockhart's eye twitched when Adele raised her hand again.
Everyone looked at her. Luna was still unconcerned by what was happening—investigating the skin of the ancient serpent was much more interesting to her than the current proceedings.
— It's just that they won't believe you, — Adele continued reasonably. — It would be one thing if one of us snapped and went crazy, but four—it looks... suspicious. Even for your fangirls.
Lockhart frowned. Adele was damn right.
— Bravo, Miss Moss! If we were in class, I would award you ten points. Но don't worry, though you won't get points, you will become legends! Two friends rushed to Ginny Weasley's aid and tragically perished with her... You will be heroes, albeit posthumously!
His smile turned into a ghastly snarl. He aimed Ron's broken wand directly at Adele's face. Harry and Ron froze in horror, but Adele didn't even flinch. An icy expression remained on her face. And when Lockhart shouted "Confringo!" with a triumphant cry—and the wand in his hands sparked menacingly—a barely noticeable, anticipatory smile touched her lips.
The wand in Lockhart's hands exploded with a deafening crack. The spell ricocheted straight into the professor's chest, sending him flying backward and slamming hard against the cavern roof. Due to the powerful magical surge, the ceiling began to crumble. Adele instantly lunged toward Luna, throwing up her wand in mid-motion:
— Protego!
A translucent dome rose over them, against which falling stones began to thud heavily. When the roar subsided and the dust settled a bit, Adele looked at Luna, who was still pressing her palms to her ears.
— Are you alright?
Luna blinked and slowly lowered her hands.
— I'm fine. Look, — she smiled radiantly and held out her palm, on which lay several large, shimmering scales. — Look what I found.
Adele didn't know what to say to that. She only sighed heavily, looking at her unruffled friend, and turned to the rubble.
— Ron! Ron! — Harry ran to the pile of stones in a panic, feverishly throwing aside the debris. — Ron, are you alive?!
— I'm here... I'm fine, — came a muffled voice from behind the barrier.
Harry exhaled with relief, but then he remembered the professor.
— What about Lockhart?
Ron turned to check and froze. His face instantly turned an earthy gray. A second later, Harry heard unmistakable sounds—his friend was retching violently.
— Ron? What is it?
Ron was on all fours, his body racked by heavy tremors. The sight was not for the faint of heart: the point-blank explosion of the wand had literally ripped Lockhart apart. His arm and half of his torso had turned into a bloody mess, and from his torn abdomen spilled things that were supposed to be inside.
— Harry... he's dead, — Ron finally managed to choke out, trying to suppress his nausea.
— What? — Harry couldn't hear clearly over the sound of water in the pipes.
— He died! I... I'll go for help! I'll call someone! — Without waiting for an answer, Ron, swaying on leaden legs, rushed out of the cavern back toward the pipe. He didn't want to stay here a second longer and see that nightmare again.
— Alright, but be careful! — Harry shouted after him, but Ron had already disappeared into the darkness.
— Well, shall we go? Or do you plan to wait for help? — Adele's calm voice suddenly rang out.
Harry turned around in fright. He was struck by the girl's cold, almost indifferent face and the sight of Luna, who was busily pressing snake scales to her ears as if trying on earrings.
— No... let's go. We need to find Ginny quickly, — Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and resolutely headed deeper into the tunnel.
Adele watched him go and slowly lowered the hand in which she had been hiding her wand behind her back. Harry was lucky—he sincerely believed Lockhart had killed himself. If he had shown even a glimpse of suspicion that she was involved in this death, she would have had to adjust his memory.
Victor always said that mental magic was the most dangerous weapon in this world. With it, one could destroy even the strongest enemy by using their own feelings. Victor had turned it into an art back when magic was just hypnosis to him. As a caring older brother, the first thing he did was teach Adele to protect her mind and, of course, to attack another's.
— Help me find more scales, I want to make a necklace, — Luna tugged at her sleeve.
— Ha-ah... Luna, let's do it later. We'll ask Victor, and he'll get you as many scales as you want. Right now, we need to find Weasley.
— Find Weasley? — Luna tilted her head uncomprehendingly.
— Well, yes. The Heir dragged Ginny to the Chamber of Secrets; we're here specifically for that.
— I know Ginny, she's nice. Let's go quickly, she needs to be saved! — Luna obediently tucked the scales into her robe pocket and hurried after Harry.
Adele shook her head wearily and followed them.
When the children's footsteps began to fade, a silhouette emerged from the shadows on the other side of the cavern, where Ron had recently been. Looking at Lockhart's mutilated body, a strange smile played on his lips.
— What a clever and cunning little sister... — whispered Victor. — I wonder, if I were in her place, how would I have acted? — He laughed softly, rubbing his chin. — Damn, I think the original will get angry.
— You think correctly, — a cold, bone-chilling voice responded.
A crimson mist burst into the cavern, out of which another Victor materialized. But this one looked different: there was no blindfold on his face, and in his scarlet eyes, three black tomoe commas slowly rotated.
— Oh, you finally awakened the Sharingan! — the clone exclaimed, looking at the original with curiosity.
Victor didn't answer. He only looked tiredly at what was left of the professor.
— You had one simple task—to watch over her. Is it really that difficult? — Victor winced.
He had protected Hermione by hiding an amulet in her robes, but how could he have forgotten his own sister? Through trial and error, he had learned to create clones, pouring colossal amounts of energy into them. But he couldn't fix the side effect: the clone would adopt a random trait of his character. And the stronger the clone, the more it resembled him. Victor had spent seventy percent of his magic on Adele's protection, and the clone had received almost all of his feelings.
— Hey, I'm doing a great job! — the clone pouted offensively.
— So, the fact that my sister killed someone is "great" in your opinion?
— Pfft, hypocrite, — the clone snorted. — First of all, she didn't kill him—he died because of his own stupidity. And besides, is it for me to stop her? I'm a man with over a hundred lives taken to my name!
— She is still just a child... — Victor frowned.
— I made my first kills when I was five years old, — the clone reminded him ruthlessly.
— That was completely different. There was simply no choice.
— Yeah, sure. And what about those guys in the psych ward a couple of years later? Or those slave traders just before entering Hogwarts? — the clone continued, enjoying how the original's face changed.
Victor had no argument. He simply turned away.
— Enough. Yes, I'm a bit of a maniac, I admit it. But I've set out on a path of redemption! Now I'm all about world peace, — an illusory halo flared up above Victor's head.
— Sure, keep lying to yourself. I am a part of you, and I know we can't be remade, — the clone smirked skeptically.
— I'll try anyway, — the halo vanished, and Victor's gaze became heavy again. — And yet, I knew this would happen one day...
The clone stood beside him, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder.
— Yes, ever since we first met. When she attacked us... At first, I denied the obvious, but my dear sister wasn't just trying to save herself. She was purposefully aiming a chair fragment at the neck to kill.
Both Victors smiled simultaneously with the same tender smile. The day he met Adele turned out to be the happiest of his life. Well, if you don't count the day he slit the throats of his foster parents—that was unquestionably Top one on his personal list.
— Fine, keep watching her. I'm going back, I'm a bit tired; I could use some rest, — Victor stretched. — By the way, you don't have to worry about the Basilisk.
He turned into crimson smoke and silently flew up the pipes.
— Hm, I seem to differ a bit too much from the original, — the clone muttered, frowning. — Dealt with the Basilisk, allowed Adele to go down with Harry, didn't get angry with me at all. What is happening?
The clone thought for a moment. The fact that he didn't recognize himself frightened him quite a bit; it's normal for people to change over time, but such changes in just a couple of months were strange, and in his own case, it was also dangerous.
— Whatever, who cares. I'm just a clone.
Casting one last, almost proud look at Lockhart's corpse, he vanished, dissolving into the air.