Opening the Chamber of Secrets (Thanks to Not a Lolicon for the Like! Thank You!)

Four sets of footsteps drew closer in the girls' bathroom on the second floor.

Harry and Ron escorted Professor Lockhart, with Hermione following behind. They made their way down the dark corridor until they reached Moaning Myrtle's bathroom door. Lockhart's legs trembled, and every step felt as though he were walking on cotton. Ron shoved him, and only then did he stagger forward a few more steps.

They had Lockhart enter first. Harry was pleased to see him shaking. Ron gave him another shove from behind, and Lockhart nearly fell flat on his face, catching himself against the doorframe.

Su Yu stood before the circular sink, staring at the little snake carved into the side of the copper faucet. He had been waiting for them for quite some time, his hands in his pockets. The Nine-Tailed Fox crouched on his shoulder, her tail swaying back and forth.

Grindelwald leaned against the cold, mottled marble washstand. A cigarette rested between his fingers, his movements unhurried and steady. His long knuckles loosely held the cigarette as his fingertips flicked slightly, kindling a faint orange spark in the dim bathroom. Smoke curled up through his fingers and slowly dispersed through the air.

"You finally made it?" Su Yu turned to look at the four of them.

Su Yu's sudden voice gave all four of them a fright. Ron clutched his chest, nearly scared out of his wits, and jerked backward into Harry. Harry's glasses slipped crooked, and he hurriedly adjusted them.

Hermione's eyes went wide. Excitedly, she rushed into Su Yu's arms and asked, "Why are you here?" Her face was buried against his chest, her fingers clutching the front of his robe.

Su Yu patted her back without giving much explanation. "I came with Professor Graves. We thought something was wrong here. This should be the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

Grindelwald muttered from the side, "Have I really lost all my charm? Such a big person, and she didn't even see me..." He looked down at himself, then at Su Yu, shook his head, and stubbed his cigarette out on the marble counter.

Only then did Hermione notice the voice beside her. She hurriedly pulled out of Su Yu's arms, straightened her robes, and greeted Grindelwald. "Hello, Professor Graves." Her voice was still a little embarrassed.

Grindelwald nodded at her without saying anything more.

"Harry, look here," Su Yu called. "Use your Parseltongue. It should open it."

Harry looked at Su Yu in surprise, but he still walked over to the sink beside him. He stared intently at the tiny snake carving and tried to imagine it was a real snake. His throat tightened, his mouth opened, and a strange hissing sound emerged. "Open."

In an instant, the faucet was enveloped in brilliant white light and began to turn. The copper tap spun faster and faster with a piercing scraping sound. Then the sink began to move as well. The entire marble counter sank downward, revealing a pipe. Its pitch-black opening was only wide enough for one person to slide through. A damp, moldy stench poured from within, mixed with the smell of earth and rot.

Ron leaned over to take a look, then quickly pulled back. "W-We have to slide down that?"

"You can stay here," Harry said.

Ron looked around the dark bathroom, then at the pipe opening, and swallowed. "I'd better go with you."

"A wise choice," Grindelwald said, a trace of teasing in his voice.

Grindelwald looked at the entrance, then turned to Lockhart.

"Professor Lockhart, can you take the lead this time?" His voice carried an icy chill that brooked no refusal.

"Er, you don't seem to need me," Lockhart said. But as Grindelwald's gaze grew increasingly dangerous, his voice became softer and softer. "Can't we discuss this properly? If I go down... what's in it for me?"

"I really think—" Lockhart had barely begun before Grindelwald shoved him directly. Lockhart screamed as he slid into the pipe. His robe flapped once at the opening before he vanished without a trace. His screams echoed up from the pipe, growing farther away and more muffled until they could no longer be heard.

Su Yu slowly crawled into the pipe right after him, then slid all the way down.

Ron took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and jumped in. Harry followed immediately after. Before jumping, he looked back at Hermione, who nodded at him.

Hermione glanced at Professor Graves. Graves smiled and said, "Go on. I'll be behind you." Hermione jumped in as well.

The pipe was filthy, pitch-black, and seemingly endless. Su Yu activated the Nine-Tails Cloak, and golden light illuminated the inner walls of the pipe. Many other pipes branched off to the sides, but none were as enormous as this one. Behind him, he could hear Ron crashing through turns, along with Harry's startled cries and Hermione's screams.

Near the end, the pipe stretched out horizontally. Su Yu shot out of it and landed steadily on the wet floor of a stone tunnel. The tunnel was tall enough for people to walk upright, though everything around them was shrouded in darkness. Lockhart had gotten to his feet not far away, covered in slimy mud with some unknown mucus hanging from his hair. He looked as though he had just crawled out of hell, and his whole body was still shaking.

Ron and Harry also came whistling out of the pipe, crashing onto the floor one after another. When Ron got up, he stepped on his own robe and fell again.

When Hermione flew out, Su Yu leaped forward and caught her. Her face buried itself in his chest, and it took a while before she opened her eyes.

Grindelwald came out last. Not a speck of dirt had gotten on his clothes, and he looked as composed as if he were taking a stroll. He looked around and said, "Salazar Slytherin probably dug this pipe himself."

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"Guesswork," Grindelwald said.

"We must be miles away from the school by now," Harry's voice echoed through the dark underground passage.

"Maybe we're beneath the lake." Ron spoke as he examined the black, sticky walls around them. He reached out to touch the moss on the wall, quickly pulled his hand back, and wiped it on his robe. "Slimy. Disgusting."

All six of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead.

"Light up!" Hermione muttered at her wand. Its tip lit up again. "Let's go."

They set off through the wet passage. Their footsteps were especially loud, every step accompanied by the sound of water, echoing through the empty tunnel. The underground pipe was far too long, and they could see only a short distance ahead. In the wandlight, their shadows stretched long and twisted across the walls, warping with the flickering glow and looking especially terrifying.

"Don't you think it's getting colder?" Ron hunched his neck.

"You're scaring yourself," Hermione said without looking back.

"I'm not."

"You are."

Harry did not join their bickering. He held his wand up as he walked in front, his eyes fixed on what lay ahead.

The underground pipe was as silent as a lonely grave. The first unexpected sound they heard came when Ron stepped on a rat skull—crack. It was crisp and piercing.

Ron looked down, and his face went pale. "What is that?"

Harry lowered his wand and examined the floor. Small animal bones lay scattered everywhere. White bones gleamed coldly in the wandlight; some had been crushed to fragments, while others still retained complete skeletons.

"Probably leftovers from the Basilisk," Grindelwald said blandly.

"Harry, there's something ahead..." Ron called in a hoarse voice, grabbing Harry's shoulder. His fingers dug into Harry's shoulder so hard that Harry tilted to one side.

Ron's sudden outburst scared Hermione into clinging tightly to Su Yu's arms. Although she had activated the Nine-Tails Cloak too, Ron's reaction had frightened her as well.

Frozen with fear, Ron and Harry studied what lay ahead. Harry could only make out a huge, curved outline lying motionless at the bend in the underground passage.

"Maybe it's asleep." Harry drew a breath and turned to look at the others. Lockhart had both hands clamped over his eyes, huddled at the very back of the group as if he wished he could squeeze himself into a crack in the wall.

Harry turned back to inspect the thing again. His pounding heart almost hurt. He narrowed his eyes as much as possible, inching forward slowly with his wand held high.

The light fell across the skin of a giant snake. It was sickeningly bright green, curled up and lying hollow upon the floor of the underground passage. The enormous snake that had shed it had to be at least twenty feet long. The pattern of the skin was clearly visible, its scales gleaming with an oily sheen in the wandlight.

"This is good stuff." Grindelwald reached out and touched it, his fingers lightly sliding over the snake skin. "Basilisk skin. One of the rarest potion ingredients."

"Ah!" Ron cried loudly at the sight of the skin.

Hermione poked her head out from Su Yu's arms and glared at Ron. Ron shrank back.

"Can you stop making such a fuss all the time?" Hermione said angrily.

"I was just startled," Ron muttered quietly.

"You're taking it back?" Su Yu asked.

"Of course." Grindelwald actually rolled up the enormous snake skin and stuffed it into the pocket of his long robe. No one knew what spell he had used, but such a huge skin somehow fit inside.

They continued onward, turning corner after corner through the underground passage.

Harry, walking at the front, suddenly stopped. "Listen."

Everyone stopped. A faint hissing sound came from far away, as though something was sliding across stone.

"Is it the Basilisk?" Ron's voice trembled.

"Doesn't sound like it." Grindelwald listened closely. "It should be the sound of water."

After walking for several more minutes, they indeed came upon an underground river. Water seeped through cracks in the walls, gathering into a small stream on the ground and flowing deeper into the darkness.

"This way." Harry pointed in the direction of the current, and the others followed him onward.

When they passed the final bend, a solid wall stood abruptly before them. Two intertwined snakes were carved into it, their eyes set with huge, glittering emeralds. The emeralds glimmered with a dim green light in the wandlight.

Harry stepped forward, his throat dry. He imagined the stone snakes were real. Their eyes looked lifelike, as if they might slither down from the wall at any moment. He guessed what he had to do next. Clearing his throat, he saw the emerald eyes seem to flicker.

"Open," Harry said in a low, faint hiss.

The wall split down the middle, and the two snakes separated with it. The two halves of the wall slid smoothly apart and disappeared. A cold wind poured from the gap, carrying an ancient scent that had been sealed away for ages.

Harry and Ron trembled from head to toe as they made Lockhart go in first. Lockhart's legs were as limp as noodles, and he nearly fell after taking two steps.

They entered the end of a stone chamber. The chamber was quite large and dimly lit, with only faint green light filtering through cracks in the walls. More stone giant snakes coiled around towering stone pillars, casting long black shadows through the strange pale-green glow that filled the room. They climbed along the pillars and vanished into the dark ceiling above, whose top could not be seen.

Harry and Ron drew their wands and followed behind Lockhart, moving slowly between the serpent-carved pillars. Every footstep echoed off the walls.

Hermione curiously poked her head out from Su Yu's arms. She felt that Su Yu and Professor Graves looked as though they had come on an outing.

"Aren't you nervous?" Hermione asked Su Yu quietly.

"What's there to be nervous about?" Su Yu said, pulling Hermione closer. What he did not say was that compared to snakes, he feared insects more. That was why he had not gone into the Forbidden Forest that night. Like Ron, he was afraid of spiders. Whether he could defeat them was beside the point. Fear was fear. He would rather fight Voldemort than face a swarm of spiders.

The hollow eye sockets of those stone snakes seemed to be watching their every move.

"Professor Lockhart, walk faster," Ron urged from behind.

Lockhart's legs trembled, but he still quickened his pace.

When they reached the last pair of stone pillars, a statue as tall as the chamber itself suddenly appeared before them, pressed against the dark wall at the far end. It was a huge, ape-like old man with a beard that hung down to the hem of his stone robe. His face was fierce, and his enormous stone feet stood upon the floor, every line of his toes clearly carved.

Su Yu stopped and looked at the statue.

"All right, now that everyone is here," Su Yu said, turning to Lockhart word by word, "Professor Lockhart, you've been pretending for an entire year. Aren't you tired?"