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"Where were you standing when you looked at the door?" Harry asked, trying to piece everything together. She obviously saw the Basilisk, that's why she was instantly killed. It had been getting into the pipes from this room, but where was it entering.
"Here." She said, floating over to one of the stalls.
Harry stepped over and looked to the doorway from the stall. The only thing between them was the large circular pillar that contained all the sinks. He'd have to look there.
"Thank you Myrtle. You may have just helped us save our friends." Harry said, as he dashed over and began looking over each of the pipes on the central column,
"Oh, it must be nice having friends. I don't have any." Myrtle said, looking sadly at Harry's back as he rushed towards the center column.
"We'll be your friends Myrtle, we owe you big time. Hagrid also always wanted to be your friend, even when you were alive. He told us himself." Harry said, continuing to scan the sinks.
"Oh.. Hagrid was always so nice to me. But Hagrid was nice to everyone, so I didn't think I was special… Oh, maybe I should apologize for avoiding him all these years." Myrtle said.
As she finished, Harry found a small insignia of a snake on one of the pipes, if the entrance was going to be anywhere, it would probably be there. "I think I found it! But how would I get it to open?" Harry wracked his brain.
"The last one who came in made some kind of snakey sound." Myrtle offered.
"Must be parseltongue! That's why no one else has found it!" Padma said.
"But what would I even say it's not like it'll just be 'Open' right?" Harry said.
"Well, what is 'Open'?" Padma asks.
"sssOpensss." Harry said, and the pipes let loose a burst of steam as they separated from the wall, opening down deep into unknown dark depths.
"Looks like it was open. Apparently Salazar Slytherin wasn't clever, that's the Ravenclaw trait after all." Padma said, waving her wand and casting Lumos to look into the depths. "Some kind of slide?"
"Well, I guess maybe stairs would be kind of hard for a snake creature, a ramp a little less so." Harry said. "Lockhart, you go first. Padma and I will follow after you. You won't be running away."
The two Ravenclaws prodded the Defense professor until he went down the slide, Harry and Padma following shortly after.
Landing below, the trio were covered in unsightly dirt and grime, years of buildup on the slide had not been kind to its cleanliness, and had the situation been less dire, Harry would have likely complained.
"Alright, we are down here. What's your big plan, hmm?" Lockhart said, obviously annoyed.
"We're going to go find the Basilisk, and hopefully defeat it before it eats Susan." Harry said, lighting his wand before beginning to press on into the darkness.
"A Basilisk? You can't be serious, it'll kill us with a glance!" Lockhart said, obviously frightened.
"Then maybe you can blind it with your 'Witch Weekly's Best Smile'." Padma said with an eye roll, prodding Lockhart along.
Following the tunnel they were in for a few dozen feet, they came across a large white snake skin, roughly the height of Lockhart, and longer than a school bus.
"Oh, it seems someone has killed it already." Lockhart said, his tone somewhat relieved.
"No, I think that's a shed. Reptiles do that to keep their scales healthy. Usually when they grow out of their current set. This one must be HUGE." Harry said, too resolved to be properly scared by the prospect.
"Oh… great." Lockhart said, his face going whiter than the shed was.
"Come on, let's get going." Harry said, moving on.
"No, I don't think I will. You see, I'm going to take this shed back and say that I killed the Basilisk, unfortunately the two bright students who assisted me in defeating it were killed by it's glare." Lockhart said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the pair of students.
"I knew you were a fraud." Padma said, her wand in her hand as well.
"Oh yes, I didn't do everything I said I did in those books. When it comes to many types of magic, I'm somewhat lacking. What I am an EXPERT at however, is memory charms. I'll simply wipe all of your memories of ever even existing, and let the Basilisk clean up." Lockhart said, before preparing to cast a spell.
Harry and Padma reacted in the blink of an eye, Harry casting a disarming charm, removing the wand from Lockharts hand just a moment after Lockhart's spell was flung. Padma however had cast Flippendo which spun the free wand end over end, sending Lockharts charm into his own body.
There was a bright flash as Harry and Padma covered their eyes, and as it died down, there stood Lockhart, staring at them blankly, wand lying on the ground. "Hello. Who are you?" He asked, looking confused.
"Professor Lockhart?" Padma asked, looking to the man. Gone was his confident poise and anger towards them for trying to expose him. Now he just seemed lost.
"Is that me? I'm a professor? Wonderful!" Lockhart said, giving himself a small clap. "Is this where I teach? It's dreadfully filthy."
"No… You don't remember anything?" Harry asked, examining the man.
"Not a thing. Am I meant to?" Lockhart asked, looking around. "If I don't teach here, what am I doing here?"
"You came to help us fight a monster." Padma said, picking up his wand.
"Oh. Sorry, I don't think I can help. I'm afraid I don't know anything about fighting. Or monsters." Lockhart said, barely noticing his wand being taken.
"Looks like he wiped his own memory." Padma said, watching as Lockhart dug through his pockets looking for any sign of who he was meant to be. "What do we do with him?"