Audrey had done some research on most of the ghosts at Hogwarts—especially this one, a girl who seemed far too 'young' compared to the others.
"That voice! That's the voice!"
Moaning Myrtle shrieked, "Before I died, I heard someone speaking in that voice!"
She twirled around in the air a few times, then suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.
"Hahahaha! I heard it again last night too! So scary, so scary. I need to hide, need to hide!"
She shot backwards at full speed.
"Wait—Myrtle!"
Audrey quickly ran after her, shouting:
"What happened after you heard the voice?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I was scared—I didn't dare look...because...because if you look, something terrible happens!"
"What terrible thing?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I can't remember..."
Myrtle was becoming more and more frightened. Her ghostly body curled inward, and she mumbled in a low voice:
"Eyes. It was the eyes. I saw a pair of huge, terrifying yellow eyes. My whole body felt like it was grabbed by something, and then I floated away...I died."
Audrey came to an abrupt stop, realization dawning in her eyes. "You were...the student who died when the Chamber was opened fifty-one years ago?"
"That's right."
Myrtle drifted down lightly onto a sink, resting her chin on her hands with a lonely expression. "I died fifty-one years ago. I don't have anything left to be afraid of anymore."
Audrey walked over and spoke softly:
"I'm sorry."
Myrtle lifted her head, eyes sparkling. "Oh~ I like you. No one's ever spoken to me so gently. Before I died, the other students used to laugh at me and bully me. After I died, the other ghosts didn't like me and excluded me. But the one I hate most is Peeves—he's always playing pranks on me…"
She began to ramble on and on. Audrey patiently listened for two minutes before turning to leave. "Thank you for the clue. Goodbye."
"Hey."
Myrtle floated after her for a few meters, arms crossed over her chest. "Be careful not to die~ Mmm...actually, I kind of hope you do. Then you can keep me company."
"..."
I think I understand why no one likes you.
———
Just as Audrey returned to the Great Hall, Harry and his group came rushing in, clearly panicked.
"Something's wrong, something's wrong!!"
"Help! Someone help!"
"Fred—Fred got taken by a huge monster!"
Ron's voice was choked with tears. "Professor! Is there any professor who can help us? Fred was taken by the monster!"
The students in the Hall immediately erupted into chaos. Some of the more timid ones huddled together in fear, while a few upper-year students bolted out to find a teacher.
"What happened?"
Audrey hurried up to them.
Hermione, gasping for breath and pale-faced, said, "When we got to Hagrid's hut, he had already been taken away by the Ministry. But before he left, he gave us a clue—he wanted us to go to the Forbidden Forest."
Harry quickly added, "But—but we found a giant talking spider and a swarm of smaller ones. The big spider told us it wasn't Hagrid who opened the Chamber fifty-one years ago, that he'd been framed. And then—it attacked us. Fred got taken while covering our escape."
"This is all your fault!!"
Ron turned angrily on George. "You pushed me—Fred only got caught because he saved me!"
George panicked. "But—but I was trying to save you!"
"No! You weren't!"
Just then, Professor McGonagall came striding in, surrounded by a group of students. Her face was a mixture of fury and horror. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"
The group scrambled to explain everything again. McGonagall nearly fainted. Her lips trembled so much she could barely speak. "You...you..."
Ron, voice cracking, shouted:
"Professor McGonagall! It's all our fault. I'm willing to be punished—even expelled if you want—but please, please save Fred!"
"All prefects, listen up! Take your housemates back to their dormitories immediately!"
"Piertotum Locomotor"
McGonagall took a deep breath and cast a spell as she walked to the front of the Great Hall.
"Statues, to arms!"
With a thunderous rumble, the statues and suits of armour in the hallways and corridors sprang to life, leaping from their pedestals and transforming from stiff figures into moving guardians. McGonagall spun in place, turning into a tabby cat, leapt onto the shoulder of one suit of armour, and raced out of the castle.
Once the echoes faded, the students in the Great Hall began to buzz with chatter, marvelling at McGonagall's transfiguration skills. The house prefects quickly moved into action, herding students back to their dorms.
Hermione looked worried. "Will Professor McGonagall be okay going into the Forbidden Forest alone? Where are the other professors?"
Ron turned and bolted. "I'm going to find Snape!"
George grabbed him, frustrated. "Don't bother. Snape's dealing with Malfoy's dad. Professor Flitwick went to the Ministry—no one's around."
"Malfoy's dad? Why?"
"Don't forget—Harry's still the prime suspect in Malfoy's attack. And yet no one's come after him."
Harry blinked in surprise.
Audrey spoke up to calm them down. "Alright, everyone, back to your dorms. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will bring Fred back safely."
———
By the time Audrey returned to her dorm, the sky had turned dark.
Just as she was about to sit down, a small piece of paper drifted through the air and landed at her feet. She whipped around—no one was there.
Looking down at the note, her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Just like in the novels! The culprit…has made the first move!"
Meanwhile, in the boys' dormitory—
Harry sat anxiously, waiting. He felt deeply guilty about what had happened to Fred. If only he hadn't insisted on going to Hagrid's hut…if only he hadn't followed the clue into the forest…if only...
Ron lay curled up on his bed, having cried himself to sleep earlier. He was huddled up tightly, as if trying to shrink into himself, and it reminded Harry of his own days of sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was a knock at the door.
Harry's heart jumped, and he dashed to open it.
"Fred? Is Fred back?!"
But outside, there was no one.
Only another piece of paper, drifting silently to the ground.
On it were a few chilling words:
"The Chamber will open again tonight. Everyone will die."
———
When Harry cautiously made his way to the girls' bathroom, a tall figure happened to appear from the corridor ahead—it was Audrey.
Harry was startled. "Audrey? Was that note from you?"
"No," she replied, handing over a similar slip of paper. "I came because I saw this one."
"Then who left them?"
"Whoever it is clearly wants us here. They'll show up soon enough."
Just then, tap tap tap—hurried footsteps echoed down the dark corridor. Another figure emerged from the shadows. Harry's eyes widened.
"Hermione? Did you get the note too?"
"…"
Hermione didn't answer. Her expression was vacant, her eyes dull—like a lifeless puppet.
"Don't go over there."
Audrey pulled Harry back immediately, the Dragonbone Wand slipping silently into her hand. She stared intently down the corridor.
Tap, tap, tap...
The footsteps multiplied, growing louder and faster. One shadowy figure after another stepped into view—boys and girls alike, all Hogwarts students.
All of them had the same lifeless stares and hollow eyes.
"What—what's going on?"
Harry's hair stood on end, his voice trembling. "Justin? Seamus? What happened to them?"
"It's the Imperius Curse," Audrey muttered in a low voice, her gaze sweeping over the approaching crowd.
Thanks to her past training in observing others while digesting the Spectator potion, she recognized many of these students.
"They're all…Muggle-born."
Someone had used the Imperius Curse to control the Muggle-born students!
Hermione was the first to raise her wand. The others followed in unison, all pointing their wands at Audrey and Harry.
"Protego!"
Audrey quickly cast a Shield Charm around both of them, retreating into the bathroom.
The next second, a barrage of spells exploded in their direction. Most were Disarming Charms, but some older students launched darker curses. Seamus even managed to turn a Levitation Charm into a bizarre, unstable explosion.
"Have they all gone mad?!"
Harry ducked, shielding his head as debris rained from the ceiling.
Audrey waved her wand and summoned every movable object in the bathroom, stacking them against the door.
"The one hiding in the shadows…If they lured us here, they must have a bigger plan than simply using these kids to kill us. What are they trying to do?"
"%¥@#¥¥%."
A strange, guttural voice suddenly echoed from outside. Audrey couldn't understand the words, but she recognized the tone—it was the same language the Sorting Hat had taught her.
Harry cried out, startled. "What? What's being opened? Who's saying that?"
"You can understand that language?"
"What language? Didn't someone just say 'Open'? Open what?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a loud rumble shook the bathroom.
One of the faucets on the sink glowed with a blinding white light and began to spin rapidly. The entire basin trembled and sank into the floor, revealing a massive pipe—large enough for a person to crawl through.
The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Boom!
The makeshift barricade Audrey had created was blasted apart. The Imperiused students began flooding into the bathroom.
"Go!"
Audrey didn't hesitate. She shoved Harry toward the pipe and dove in after him, sliding down at top speed.
"AAAAHHH!"
Harry screamed in terror.
The steep drop sent Audrey's heart racing. She fought to stay calm and ready for anything.
The pipe twisted and turned endlessly. After several long, dizzying moments, Harry suddenly vanished from view, followed by a thump and a groan.
"Ugh—!"
A moment later, Audrey landed with a splat on the damp ground, covered in foul, black sludge.
She gritted her teeth and stood. "Lumos."
The wand tip glowed, cutting through the darkness of the tunnel. But the light didn't reach far.
Audrey raised her wand and muttered, "Incendio."
A blast of flame shot forward, briefly illuminating a massive stone corridor just ahead—large enough to stand upright in.
"Merlin…"
Harry was trying to fling muck off his hands. "We must be miles beneath the school. Ugh, this is disgusting."
"Scourgify."
Audrey cleaned both of them with a single charm.
"You think they followed us?" Harry asked nervously.
"No idea. But our only option now is to go forward."
The two walked one behind the other, their footsteps echoing with wet splats as they moved through the tunnel. Every so often, Audrey would cast Incendio again to light the way ahead.
The good news: they hadn't encountered any danger.
The bad news: they had taken turns after turns, yet the tunnel seemed endless.
"Why did Hermione…end up like that?" Harry asked quietly.
"My guess is she was hit with one of the Unforgivable Curses—the Imperius Curse. It turns a person into a puppet, completely under someone else's control."
"That's horrifying…"
He was silent for a moment, then asked, "So the person who left the notes…they wanted us to come here?"
"I think so."
"Why?"
"What do you think?"
"I…I don't know." Harry hung his head. "Everything was fine just a few days ago. I don't know why it suddenly turned into this…"
Audrey didn't say anything. She was just as troubled.
If all of this really was connected to Voldemort, it would make sense for him to lure Harry here for revenge.
But why involve her?
Why draw Audrey into this as well?
A few minutes later, they turned another corner and came face to face with a solid wall, carved with two coiled serpents. Their eyes were set with large, glittering emeralds.
"A dead end?"
"No. I think this is another door."
Audrey turned to Harry. "Try repeating what you heard earlier—in that strange language."
"What language?" Harry looked confused.
"The word you heard as 'Open'—to me, it sounded like a strange, guttural language. That must be the language that opened the Chamber…"
"But I—I don't speak any other language."
Harry scratched his head. "Open."
"No, that's still English."
"Open."
"Open?"
"OPEN~"
He tried several different pronunciations, but it was all still English.
"It's no use. I don't know any other language. Maybe I just misheard it…or maybe I can only understand it, not speak it?"
Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair, eyes fixed on the stone serpents.
"Snakes? Snakes…"
A memory flashed through his mind—at the zoo, he'd once talked to a python. He'd always thought it was just his imagination.
"Sss…ssss…"
A low, raspy hiss escaped Harry's mouth.
The serpents on the door suddenly slid apart. The wall cracked open and slowly vanished into the sides.
They stood at the entrance to an enormous, torch-lit chamber.
Giant stone pillars carved with coiling serpents stretched high above, vanishing into the shadows of the ceiling. Green mist hung heavy in the air, casting eerie shadows throughout the room.
At the far end, pressed against the back wall, stood a towering statue the same height as the chamber itself. It had an ancient, monkey-like face, with a long, scraggly beard that reached the hem of its stone wizard robes. Two massive feet rested on the smooth floor.
Between those feet stood a hunched figure.
"Ah…you've finally come, Harry Potter."
The man turned around, revealing a deathly pale, waxen face twisted into an unnatural expression. His bloodshot eyes gleamed with madness.
"And with you…the mysterious Miss Hall."
———
[Note]: Here's the promised Extra Chapter. Enjoy~ And, If we reach 240 Powerstones by tomorrow, I'll post an Extra Chapter. So, Go VOTE!
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