The Diary writhed on the ground. Will sprang forward and kicked it far across the Chamber of Secrets, where it smashed through several animal bones with a series of cracks.
Will waved his Wand, conjuring a ball of light in the middle of the chamber. By its glow, he spotted an enormous snakeskin, bright green and vivid. It clearly belonged to a venomous snake. The empty skin lay coiled across the tunnel floor.
The Basilisk that had shed it was plainly at least twenty feet long.
"Will Behrens!" Tom roared from the Diary.
Will ignored the Diary's impotent rage and aimed his Wand at Lockhart, who had seized the chance to get up. Lockhart had also reached the Wand he'd dropped nearby.
Lockhart froze at Will's movement, then sneered. "Boy, you don't actually think you can defeat a Hogwarts professor, a great adventurer, recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, five-time—aaaargh!"
He never finished. Will flicked his Wand without speaking a word. Agony shot through Lockhart's Wand arm. Lumps of different sizes swelled along it, then bloody bone spikes burst through them. Within seconds, his arm had become a mass of ruined flesh hanging from those grotesque spikes.
The moment Lockhart's Wand hit the ground, it flew to Will's feet. Will casually blasted it to pieces with Reducto. Lockhart's screams stirred nothing in him.
"Shut up, you clown. Did that wretched book ask you about the Memory Charm?"
"The Memory Charm?" Despite the agony in his arm, Lockhart felt a jolt. That was the spell he knew best. How did this boy know? And why did he think Tom's Diary would ask him about it?
"Oh, so you didn't keep our agreement, Tom." Will's voice was cold as he looked at the