第 34 页

Harry, however, pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled at the

foot of the page.

"Pipes," he said. "Pipes . . . Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've

been hearing that voice inside the walls . . . ."

291*

Ron suddenly grabbed Harry's arm.

"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he said hoarsely.

"What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in -"

`= Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, "said Harry.

They sat there, excitement coursing through them, hardly able

to believe it.

"This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in

the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how he's been

controlling the basilisk."

"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing.

"Should we go straight to McGonagall?"

"Let's go to the staff room," said Harry, jumping up. "She'll be

there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."

They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging

around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted

staff room. It was a large, paneled room full of dark, wooden chairs.

Harry and Ron paced around it, too excited to sit down.

But the bell to signal break never came.

Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGon

agall's voice, magically magnified.

`All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teach

ers return to the staff room. Immediately, please. "

Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron.

"Not another attack? Not now?"

249

"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"No," said Harry, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of

wardrobe to his left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear

what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."

They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of

people moving overhead, and the staff room door banging open.

From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the

teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled,

others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

"It has happened," she told the silent staff room. "A student has been

taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her

hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard

and said, "How can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very

white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. `Her

skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. "'

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a

chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside

him.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," said

Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore

always said. . ."

The staffroom door banged open again. For one wild moment,

Harry was sure it would be Dumbledore. But it was Lockhart, and

he was beaming.

"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?"

250

He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him

with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.

"Just the man," he said. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by

the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your

moment has come at last."

Lockhart blanched.

"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you

saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to

the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I - well, I -"sputtered Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?"

piped up Professor Flitwick.

"D-did I? I don't recall -"

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a

crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't

you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should

have been given a free rein from the first?"

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues.

"I - I really never - you may have misunderstood -"

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall.

"Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's

out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by youself. A

free rein at last."

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the

rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was

trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked

weak-chinned and feeble.

"V very well," he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting getting ready."

And he left the room.

251

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared,

"that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should

go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the

Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the

rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their

dormitories."

The teachers rose and left, one by one.

It was probably the worst day of Harry's entire life. He, Ron, Fred,

and George sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room,

unable to say anything to each other. Percy wasn't there. He had gone

to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his

dormitory.

No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor

Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and

George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer.

"She knew something, Harry," said Ron, speaking for the first time

since they had entered the wardrobe in the staff room. "That's why

she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all., She'd

found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why

she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pureblood. There can't be any other reason."

Harry could see the sun sinking, blood-red, below the skyline. This was

the worst he had ever felt. If only there was something they could do.

Anything.

"Harry" said Ron. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you

know ="

Harry didn't know what to say. He couldn't see how Ginny could still

be alive.

"D'you know what?" said Ron. "I think we should go and see

*295*

252

Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the

Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a

basilisk in there."

Because Harry couldn't think of anything else to do, and because he

wanted to be doing something, he agreed. The Gryffindors around

them were so miserable, and felt so sorry for the Weasleys, that

nobody tried to stop them as they got up, crossed the room, and left

through the portrait hole.

Darkness was falling as they walked down to Lockhart's office.

There seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it. They could hear

scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.

Harry knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the

door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes

peering through it.

"Oh - Mr. Potter - Mr. Weasley -" he said, opening the door a bit

wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -"

"Professor, we've got some information for you," said Harry. "We

think it'll help you."

"Er - well - it's not terribly -" The side of Lockhart's face that they

could see looked very uncomfortable. "I mean - well all right -"

He opened the door and they entered.

His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks

stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnightblue, had

been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into

the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now

crammed into boxes on the desk.

*296*

"Are you going somewhere?" said Harry.

"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from

the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. "Urgent call

unavoidable - got to go -"

253

"What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily.

"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -" said Lockhart, avoiding their

eyes as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents

into a bag. "No one regrets more than I -"

"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" said Harry.

"You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!"

"Well - I must say - when I took the job -" Lockhart muttered, now

piling socks on top of his robes. "nothing in the job description - didn't

expect -"

"You mean you're running away?" said Harry disbelievingly. "After all

that stuff you did in your books -"

"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.

"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.

"My dear boy," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry.

"Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as

well if people didn't think Id done all those things. No one wants to

read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a

village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No

dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee

had a harelip. I mean, come on -"

"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have

done?" said Harry incredulously.

"Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not

nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had

*297*

to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to

do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they

wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's

my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all

book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you

254

have to be prepared for a long hard slog."

He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them.

"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing

left."

He pulled out his wand and turned to them.

"Awfully sorry, boys, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you

now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. Id never

sell another book -"

Harry reached his wand just in time. Lockhart had barely raised his,

when Harry bellowed, "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was blasted backward, falling over his trunk; his wand flew

high into the air; Ron caught it, and flung it out of the open window.

"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," said Harry

furiously, kicking Lockhart's trunk aside. Lockhart was looking up at

him, feeble once more. Harry was still pointing his wand at him.

"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart weakly. "I don't know

where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"You're in luck," said Harry, forcing Lockhart to his feet at wandpoint.

"We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go."

*298*

They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs,

along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the

door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

They sent Lockhart in first. Harry was pleased to see that he was

shaking.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this

time?"

255

"To ask you how you died," said Harry.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had

never been asked such a flattering question.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in

here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. Id hidden because

Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked,

and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said

something funny. A different language, I think it must have been.

Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I

unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -"

Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."

"How?" said Harry.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair

of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I

was floating away . . . ." She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I

came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see.

Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry.

*299*

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in

front of her toilet.

Harry and Ron hurried over to it. Lockhart was standing well back, a

look of utter terror on his face.