"Open!"
This time, Harry didn't need to rack his brains imagining that he was facing a living snake.
He had done it once before, and the snakes carved into the wall before him looked remarkably lifelike.
A hissing sound arose. The two intertwined snakes on the wall slowly parted, and a crack opened down the middle of the stone, widening rapidly.
It was a door—the door to the real Chamber of Secrets!
Hermione's voice trembled as she said, "The Chamber of Secrets!" It wasn't fear, but excitement at being so close to the truth.
Without wasting words, the group went straight in. None of them noticed the dark shape that flashed past behind them and vanished.
Harry and the others took every step carefully. No one spoke; they could almost hear one another's hearts pounding.
They gripped their wands, ready for the Basilisk to strike without warning from any direction.
The chamber was dim. Stone pillars entwined with great serpents supported the ceiling, but when they looked up, all they could see was darkness.
"What's that?" Ron cried suddenly.
The others had noticed it too. At the far end of the chamber, between two unusually thick pillars, stood a statue.
Its enormous face was ancient and gaunt, with sharp, pinched features. A long beard reached all the way to the hem of its robe.
"It's Slytherin! Salazar Slytherin!" Hermione recognized the statue's face at once. She had seen it in a history of Hogwarts and remembered it vividly.
"Creevey!" George exclaimed. "No wonder even Guoguo Tea couldn't find him. He was here all along!"
Following his pointing finger, they finally saw a small, robed figure lying between the statue's enormous feet.
It was Colin Creevey, who had been missing for so long!
Harry rushed forward. "Wait!" Hermione called after him.