The night that was supposed to be the most hopeful of the year, the night in which the Mandrake Draught would be ready, and all those who had been Petrified would be revived, proved to be the most haunting night of the year instead.

Katie had been leaving Potions class with Pansy when Professor McGonagall's voice, loud and booming, echoed through the corridors.

"All students are to return to the dormitoties at once. All teacher to the second floor corridor immediately."

With a hopless glance around, Katie changed course and started making her way out of the dungeons, leaving a confused and terrified Pansy behind. Once she was on the first floor corridor, Katie rounded a corner and ran straight into two people. They all let out loud yelps of fright.

"Katie?"

"Harry?"

"What are you doing here?" a red-head chimed in.

"On my way to the second floor, of course," Katie told Ron. "What about you two?" Katie knew at once that it was a stupid question. With a small nod, the trio sprinted up the next set of marble steps. They arrived at the same place of the first attack and saw all the teachers gathered around the stone wall on which 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE' still shone in bright red.

Katie, Harry and Ron hid behind a nearby pillar and listened in to the teacher's conversation.

"As you can see," McGonagall began, "the heir of Slytherin has left another message."

Katie peeked around the pillar to catch a glimpse of said message, but the huddle of teachers were blocking it from view.

McGonagall continued on. "Our worst fear has bee realised — a student has been taken, by the monster, into the Chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts." Katie had never heard Professor McGonagall, a brave, strong and stern witch, speak with so much terror and hopelessness in her voice.

Lockhart, dressed in pink robes, strode down the corridor, a spring in his step, his usual smile on his face. "So sorry — dozed off. What have I missed?" He didn't seem to notice the looks of disgust and hatred that the other teachers were shooting at him.

"A girl has been snatched by the monster. Lockhart, your moment has come at last." Snape said ever-so teasingly.

Lockhart looked as though he had been thrown into a pool of ice cold water.

"M-my moment?" he stammered.

"Weren't you just saying last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" Snape's lips curved into a curt smile, one that McGonagall mirrored.

"That settles it," she said. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."

Lockhart glanced around, his wide eyes begging for help, but none came. Finally, he managed to wipe the flabbergasted expression off his face and moulded his mouth into a smile.

"Very well! I'll be in my office getting..." he paused. "Getting ready."

Once Lockhart had retreated from the corridor, Madam Pomfrey turned to McGonagall.

"Who is it that the monster has taken, Minerva?" she asked cautiously, as though scared of the answer, her breathy voice filled with fear.

McGonagall sighed sadly and said, "Ginny Weasley."

Ron let out a small whimper and then Katie felt him sink to the floor.

With that being said, the teachers cleared from the corridor. Katie and Harry could finally step out from behind the pillar and read the message that had been written on the wall. Upon reading it, they both gasped in terror, and Katie instinctively grabbed Harry's hand, who did not hesitate to grip it back.

There, printed on the wall, in the same glowing red as the first message, were the words, 'HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER.'

The three second years rushed to Lockhart's office. Each of them new very well that he was useless, but they thought it wouldn't hurt to tell Lockhart what they knew about the Chamber of Secrets.

Ron pounded his fist against the door to Lockhart's office. A tiny crack appeared, and through that crack, a tentative eye peeked out.

"Oh... Mr Potter... Mr Weasley... Miss Blair... I'm rather busy at the moment. If you would be quick..." Lockhart said.

"Professor, we've got some information for you. We think it'll help you." Harry told the teacher.

Lockhart let out sound that was somewhat a mix of a scoff and a sigh. "Well... all right." He opened the door and allowed the students to enter his office. They were all taken aback by the sight in front of them.

The shelves and walls had all been stripped. Robes of colours such as purple and green had been stuffed into two large trunks, and the many framed pictures of Lockhart that had been displayed on the wall were packed neatly into boxes on the Professor's desk.

"Are you going somewhere?" Katie bit waspishly.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Lockhart responded, his voice quavering. "Urgent call — unavoidable—"

"What about my sister?" Ron yelled.

"Ah, yes, about that — a terrible thing. No one regrets more than I." Lockhart babbled.

"You're the Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher!" Harry said. "You can't go now!"

Lockhart slammed a trunk shut. "Well, I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the description about—"

"So you're running away? And after all those things you done in your books..." Harry said in disbelief.

"Books can be misleading."

"You wrote them!"

"My dear boy, do you use your common sense?" Lockhart snapped in exasperation. "My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things."

Harry's eyes darkened and narrowed into slits. "You're a fraud. You've just been taking credit fot what other wizards had done."

Katie knew Lockhart was a bit of a tosser, but she had to admit she was not expecting him to paint himself as the hero in other wizard's stories.

"Is there anything you can do?" Ron sneered.

"Yes," Lockhart said stiffly. "As it so happens, I'm rather gifted with Memory Charms, otherwise you see, all of those wizards would've gone blabby, and I never would've sold another book."

"Git." Katie muttered under her breath.

Lockhart pulled out his wand. "Awfully sorry, children, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't be having you revealing my secrets to the public—"

But Katie was too quick. In a flash, she whipped out her wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was flung backwards, falling over his trunk. His wand flew from his hand. Ron caught it, grinning broadly, and then tossed it out the open window. Lockhart's courageous deamanour was suddenly faltered as he stood wandless, his secrets exposed, in front of the three second years. He let out a great wail.

"What d'you want me to do? I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

"You're in luck. We think we know where it is." Harry said coolly as Ron and Katie forced Lockhart to his feet. Katie raised one eyebrow.

"We do?" she asked.

"Well," Ron said, " Harry and I do."

Katie rolled her eyes. "You guys have got to start telling me things."

Less than five minutes later, Katie found herself standing with her friends and her Professor in Moaning Myrtle's grim bathroom. She was very confused but decided not to question Harry and Ron.

Moaning Myrtle floated out of one of the cubicles. "Oh, it's you," she said upon spotting Harry. "What do you want?"

"To ask you how you died." Harry responded.

Katie let out a noise that expressed both shock and bewilderment in perfect contrast. "This just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"Oooh, it was dreadful," Myrtle said with relish. "It happened right here. I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then—"

She paused, her face glowing.

"I died."

"Huh?" Ron let out.

"How?" Katie inquired.

"No idea," Myrtle shrugged. "I just remember seeing a great pair of big yellow eyes over there by that sink." She pointed to a specific sink in the ring that seemed to be more battered than the rest. Harry glanced briefly at Katie, who nodded, egging him on. Harry then stepped towards the sink and examined it. It didn't take him long to notice the image of a snake that had been engraved on the tap.

"Say something in Parseltongue." Ron suggested. even he wasn't sure if he was talking to Katie or Harry, but Katie quickly decided to let Harry do the honours.

Harry took a deep breath and, this time, when he spoke in Parseltongue, Katie heard the eerie and cold hisses that the rest of the Duelling Club must have heard. She came to the conclusion that, now that she was aware that she was a Parselmouth, she was able to distinguish between English and Parseltongue.

Once Harry spoke, the sink glowed with a brilliant white light and started to spin. Next second, the sink began to move. The sink, in fact, sank right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

"I'm going down there." Harry said without hesitation.

Ron clapped his hand down on Harry's shoulder. "Me too."

Katie also put her hand on Harry's other shoulder. "Same."

The trio turned to Lockhart, whose face had gone a ghastly white, his eyes popping out of his skull. He gulped harshly.

"Well, you hardly seem to need me," he said, forcing a smile. "I'll just—"

Professor Lockhart's hand had just grabbed the doorknob when Katie, Harry and Ron pointed their wands at him.

"You can go first." Ron snarled.

White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening. "I really don't think—"

Just as Lockhart had begun speaking, Ron gave him a push and he fell straight down the pipe, letting out a lingering yell, which slowly grew fainter as he slid further down through the pipe.

Harry followed quickly. He lowered himself into the pipe and held on tightly to the rim, his knuckles turning white.

"Oh, Harry—" Katie started to say, but before she could finish, Harry slid out of sight. He made much less of a fuss than Lockhart did.

"Ladies first." Ron joked, bringing a bit of light to the grim situation. Katie let out a breath of a laugh and, her whole frame trembling with fear, slipped into the pipe.