Chapter 54. Shock and Awe

The circle of large sinks shivered and shook as they all descended down into the ground, one after another, creating a circular staircase. Finally after they stopped, and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was clear, I let out a breath to remain calm. “Well… I would say that this is it…” I said, staring at the porcelain stairs, descending into blackness below. Pansy, standing beside me nodded silently, her gaze moving between the opening of the Chamber and I. Just as I was about to suggest leaving to tell Dumbledore, a shriek of a girl fleeing for her life came from below. “AAAHHH!!”

Both Pansy and I jumped in fear, Pansy grabbing the edge of my robes for a split second before letting go. The screams grew more distant, fading into the darkness that came from below. I bit my lip, judging whether this was a trap or not, but as her screaming dimmed, I couldn’t sit still. “Oh, bother it!” I yelled, heading down the stairs, leaving Pansy behind. “Go tell Dumbledor- Whoa, Ahhh!!” I yelled back at her while descending the stairs as fast as I could, however in my haste I slipped on one of the steps, and fell down the center screaming as I slid down some sort of chute.

After sliding down, screaming all the way, I was thrown out at the bottom, landing on my back with a loud crunch. As I groaned, and situated myself up, the screaming grew louder at tremendous speed. I closed my eyes shut, just in case, but the screaming girl came straight at me, both of us colliding into each other on the ground. I squinted to see Pansy’s disheveled appearance as she laid overtop of me, groaning in pain, and her hair starting to frizz.

I leaned my head back against the ground, but something poking at me felt uncomfortable, especially all of the pointy parts on my back with the added weight of Pansy on top of me. “Ow…” I muttered with all of the pain from this accidental trip, Pansy only now opening her eyes to see our situation. She stammered with her face starting to turn red, but glancing behind me, horror soon enveloped her gaze. “Oh my-!?” She yelled while jumping up to her feet. Curious, I glanced behind me to see bones… So many bones, all in different states of decomposition. The wet slime I was starting to feel on my back made me sick.

I quickly got up as well, my robes oozing with dark gray sludge. I checked my vials to see they were luckily unbroken, but it was still gross to drink from something in such a place. ”Ugh… I told you to get Dumbledore.” I angrily told her, trying to flick away any sludge on my robes, before dry heaving, the added weight of her had sunken me further into the pile of bones, crunching underneath my weight. Pansy turned uncharacteristically angry herself, her attention moving from the piles of bones most likely used to feed the Gorgon, to me. “I thought you could have been killed! If you broke something down here, you-” “HELP!! ANYONE!! AAAAHHH!!”

She was cut off from the shrieking down one of the tunnels, I nearly looked, but Pansy covered my eyes with her hand. “You won’t last a minute down here if the Gorgon is.” She whispered, taking her hand from my eyes slowly. I sighed with grit teeth, acknowledging she was right. “Fine… It would probably be best for one of us to have our eyes closed while following the other to prevent both of us from being petrified.” I suggested to Pansy, glancing at her hair, and nodded fervently in agreement, all before blocking my eyes again.

“What are you-?” “Just keep them closed.” She yelled at me before I could finish my question. “I’ll lead the way, just keep your eyes closed. You don’t think before looking.” I was silent, but her multiple times of reminding me to be careful, I could only agree that I might instinctually look towards my own demise. I kept my eyes closed as we entered the massive pipes that ran under the school. Just listening to the sound of splashing water from under our feet, carrying and echoing to and from all across the massive castle, worried me over how the Gorgon could easily slither around without us knowing.

Val was similarly scared, his shivering scales ran further under my clothes to stop his own sight. We walked in silence, the sound of screaming had turned into sobbing, with no words, the mystery girl only sobbed uncontrollably, her voice echoing everywhere, almost as if she was surrounding us. Jumping down from the pipe we were walking in, I stumbled on what felt like a massive rock. Pansy gasped, and stopped as I got my balance back. “What?” I asked, squinting my eyes just enough to see under my feet.

There I could see a torn open, old and deteriorated  snake’s skin, the size of this piece easily was over my height in diameter. “That’s not a Gorgon…” I mumbled, feeling the almost paper-like texture it had breaking apart between my fingers at the top portion. “It’s a Basilisk…” Pansy answered back, her hand placed just beside mine as we both felt the strange texture. We both stood frozen for a while, processing the difference of this. ‘Gorgon’s are terrifying from their ability to petrify those that look into their eyes, but Basilisks are much more terrifying. Petrification is considered lucky if one is to catch a glimpse of the beast through a reflection.’ I inwardly panicked, unsure if we should press on, but it was Pansy’s calmness that shook me back awake. “Now we know it isn’t the Gorgon trying to trick us, we just have to get the girl, and find our way out to Dumbledore. I can hear her from behind this… Door?” She whispered, dragging me behind, but faltering on the word door for some reason. She continued to lead me over the old skin of the Basilisk’s molt, her hand now placed over my eyes again, finally pausing once we reached the end, the only sight I could sneak was at my feet.

I glanced up at the ‘door’ to see it was more akin to a bank vault, old rusty and moist metal snakes had sunk their teeth into the stonework around the door, locking it behind their fangs. I closed my eyes again, not needing much more of a picture. I slowly rested my hand on the nearest metal snake, slowly moving my hand across its back as sudden words came forth from my mouth. “Your master’s true Heir commands you to release the combines of my Chamber…” I heard obedient hissing as the snake slithered under my touch, releasing itself, while others did the same.

The door creaked on its hinges as it slowly swung open, Pansy pulling me back to stop it from hitting my face. “Thank you.” I muttered while we both squinted into the now open Chamber. A ladder led down to a large stonework walkway, water raised high enough to overflow, dips and uneven portions, of the walkway threatening to swallow any unprepared travelers whole under the water’s murky surface. Head’s of stone snakes, with their fangs bared in perpetual hissing marked either sides of the walkway, leading towards what appeared to be a student on their back in the farthest reaches of the Chamber, still sobbing loudly.

“We’re here to help! Come to us!” Pansy yelled, trying to get the strange girl’s attention, but her voice fell on deaf ears. “C’mon…” I muttered, keeping my eyes mostly closed as I now led the way down the ladder, Pansy right behind me. As we walked together, she grabbed my shoulder, her grip becoming stronger as we continued to move closer to the blubbering girl we both couldn’t quite see. “Hello?” I asked, taking small and deliberate steps.

Taking one more step, her crying suddenly froze mid gasp, and so did Pansy and I. I gulped as the girl slowly stood up, her long black hair familiarly dancing on her back. She then turned around with a content sigh. “I knew you would come for me…” She said with a smile, only to turn sour upon glancing to my side. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, I rubbed them and looked again, but there I still saw Pansy standing before me. “How…?” I asked, my surprise and shock leaving me stunned as I turned to my left where another Pansy was still grabbing my robes.

The Pansy grabbing onto me, her expression read as total shock, and soon she grabbed at her face in pain as it started to bubble and contort. Her hair changed from the slick black that I knew, to a more untamed and unkempt brown. That hair I recognized anywhere. “Clinging onto him whenever I’m not around I see…” Pansy in front of me spoke with spite, just as the one on next to me lowered her hands to showcase her original face. “Mudblood…” ‘Hermione…’