Ron and Neville ran at top speed from the Monster in the bathroom, breathing heavily. They had thought that Harry had been in there, but he must have ran off somewhere else. Ron shuddered as he thought about the way the monster had extended its arm out to them before they slammed the door shut. And that tunnel behind it… was that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? They had to tell someone.
Ron and Neville eventually stopped after they didn’t hear anything following them. Ron glanced around the corner and looked at the hallway behind them and saw that it was empty. The hallways had been seemingly abandoned in the few short minutes since Ron and Neville had walked to the hospital wing to the girl’s bathroom. Ron heard footsteps down the corridor and frantically glanced around. He dragged Neville into the dark shadow of one of the suits of armor lining the walls in their individual alcoves. They hid behind it and watched as a group of five Aurors swept forward. A severe looking woman stopped in the intersection of the hallway just in front of them.
“Pelski, Doudna,” The woman barked, “Go back to the Ministry to get an investigation team here. No one travels alone. I want to know every step that girl took before she disappeared.”
One of the men hesitated, “Ms. Bones, should we alert the family of the situation? I’m sure Arthur Weasley would like to know, and he might be able to whip up support for more action with the light faction still reeling from Dumbledore and his allies’ arrests.”
Ron reeled back as he heard the man’s words. Someone from his family had disappeared? Who, Fred? Percy?
Ms. Bones hesitated for a moment before giving a quick nod, “Good thinking, Pelski. Tell him that Ginny Weasley has been taken by the monster. If we get him on board we might be able to find her in time. Just don’t make any promises to him, we both know this is mostly about retrieving the body at this point…”
Ginny!
Ron almost ran forward at that moment to tell them about the entrance to the Chamber and the monster, but the other Auror, Doudna, turned and spotted Ron. The man flickered and suddenly he looked different than before. The new man was covered in scars. He met Ron’s eyes and smiled widely. He put a finger to his lips playfully and cast a curse at them before Ron even registered him pulling out his wand. The armor in front of Ron and Neville exploded into fragments as both of them dived to the ground to avoid the shrapnel.
Ron and Neville shakily made their way to their feet and shot shocked looks between the smoldering fragments of armor and the unaware group of four Aurors ten meters away still talking intently with one another.
Doudna kept smiling as Ms. Bones continued giving orders to the others, unaware of the commotion taking place around her. Doudna flicked his wand and the shattered armor twisted with a loud groan of metal and reshaped itself. The metal fragments flew through the air and fused with their fellows until the shiny and untouched suit of armor stood there once more as nothing had ever happened to it.
None of the Aurors seemed to have noticed anything. Doudna made a shooing motion towards them and turned back to the other four. His body flickered again and he looked like the other Auror again. The man had a heavy frown on his face as he nodded along with Ms. Bones’ orders. The imposter and Pelski ran off a few seconds later, to go to the Ministry and relay Ms. Bones’ orders to them.
Ms. Bones and the other two Aurors kept moving and after a few seconds the sounds of their footsteps and voices faded into the distance.
“What the bloody hell was that?” Ron said, running his hand over the armor and not feeling a single flaw in its surface. He straightened up after a second as he remembered what Ms. Bones had said,
“Wait, Ginny!” Ron continued, “I have to go to Ms. Bones and tell her about that tunnel and the monster now that crazy guy is gone! Maybe the Ministry can still save her!”
He went to run off, but stopped as Neville grabbed him.
“No- No, Ron. That Auror, didn’t you see what happened? He can disguise himself as anyone, like the polyjuice potion but as a spell. And he was using some mental manipulation spell to stop them from noticing him exploding the armor too. He warned us away, didn’t you see him? We can’t tell the Ministry or he might do something horrible.”
Ron drew his wand and waved it around, “Well what do you suggest we do then?! I’m not leaving my sister to die because some jerk wants to go around threatening people!”
Neville thought hard for a moment, “Lockhart,” he finally answered.
Ron stopped and sputtered for a moment, “Wha- What? Lockhart? How would he help?”
“Well, according to his books he’s some sort of hero and skilled despite how terrible he is in class,” Neville answered, “He can help us with the monster. And he’s not- not in the Ministry so there's no risk of him entering a larger group where the imposter can imp - impersonate him without us realizing or having him alerting the imposter what we’re up to.”
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Ron warred with himself for a moment. Should he go to the Ministry and risk the mystery imposter? Or go to Lockhart and hope he was as good as his books say he was?
“Well, I suppose Lockhart took out Lucius Malfoy,” Ron muttered, and they both started running towards Lockhart's office, “That was rather clever of you, Neville,” Ron continued, “What about any of the other teachers though? I heard Flitwick was a dueling champion, wouldn’t he be better? Too bad McGonagall and Dumbledore are gone for now…”
Neville shook his head, “We can’t tell anyone that might go to the Ministry with things. Do you think Flitwick would listen to us or just report it to the Aurors immediately?”
Ron thought about it and nodded, “Yeah, that’s true… But that guy Doudna can’t be that serious, right? Can’t we just risk going to the Ministry? What if Lockhart isn’t enough?”
They almost reached the door to Lockhart's office and slowed down slightly. They hadn’t seen anyone in their whole run here.
Neville shook his head, “Ron, that was Amelia Bones that that man fooled. The head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I met her once at one of my Grandmother’s parties. If he’s that skilled then he’ll hear anything even slightly important that we tell someone in the Ministry. We can’t risk it.”
“Oh,” Ron said, face paling slightly. He hadn’t made that connection between the name and the woman and the Ministry official in charge of all the Aurors in Britain.
Neville knocked on Lockhart’s door and there was some rustling inside before it opened. Lockhart stood there in his classic flamboyant golden cape, but his classic wide smile was nowhere to be seen on his face.
“Professor Lockhart! We’ve found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and we want your help in going down there and defeating the monster to save Ron’s sister!” Neville said.
Lockhart blinked, “You two have found the chamber?” He said dumbly.
“Yes!” Ron said, “Please, Professor Lockhart, the monster has kidnapped my sister Ginny Weasley and only you can help us save her!”
“A girl has been kidnapped and is with the beast,” Lockhart said again, seeming slow on the uptake.
“Yes, please. Let’s go, professor. There’s no time,” Neville said.
“Nope. This is a job for the Aurors. I’m reporting this straight to them,” Lockhart said before pushing past them and started to speedwalk away from them down the hallway.
“Wait, no! There’s a dark wizard infiltrating them, we can’t know who to trust!” Neville said, but Lockhart ignored them and continued hustling away.
“Coward, I knew everything in those books was fake!” Ron shouted at Lockhart’s retreating back in desperation, “You just want to run off so we don’t see you as the fraud you are!”
Lockhart stopped and stood there in place for a moment before turning back around. His face was twitching and his face was twisted in rage as he stared at Ron. He looked like a completely different person than the flamboyant man in class.
“WHAT did you call me? Those adventures are MINE. ALL OF THEM! I’ve got more talent in my left pinky than you’ve got in your whole body, Ronald Weasley. And twice the style. I don’t need a snot nosed brat like you looking down on me!”
He stepped forward again and his expression flickered slightly, “I am not a fraud.”
“Then prove it,” Ron said, slightly disturbed by Lockhart's sudden shift in personality, but forging onwards. “Save my sister. Please.”
Lockhart stood there for a moment and seemed to struggle internally for a moment before his angry expression slid away and he let out a brilliant smile.
“Very well! Then lead the way, Ronald!” Lockhart said brightly, “I’ll have this little mishap cleared up in no time. Gilderoy Lockhart is here to save the day.”
“Oh- Okay. This way, Professor…” Ron replied unsteadily. The man’s tone had switched from angry to upbeat and lighthearted in an instant.
They made their way into the bathroom, Lockhart looming behind them as they entered. Ron pointed at the hole and massive tunnel inside.
“There, that’s where the creature came from,” Ron said, “It was skeletal and very tall with gray skin…”
Ron and Neville walked inside and leaned over to get a closer look at the sloping pipe that led down into the darkness.
“Stupify!”
A red beam of light struck Neville from behind and he slumped forward and fell into the pipe and started rolling into the darkness, his body completely limp.
“Neville!” Ron shouted as he twisted, bringing his wand to point at Lockhart.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Lockhart shouted again, ducking and spinning to send the spell upwards right into Ron’s core, freezing him in place. Ron’s curse went flying above Lockhart after the man’s quick duck downwards.
Ron felt himself begin to tip backwards into the pipe, but Lockhart jumped forward and grabbed him before he could fully fall in.
Lockhart looked directly at Ron again and his face shifted back into the rage from before.
“No one gets to call me a fraud,” Lockhart vindictively hissed, “How unfortunate that the Aurors will only be able to find your stripped bones in the Chamber. I’ll make sure to give a good performance lamenting all three of your deaths tomorrow when I first discover the Chamber of Secrets… Just another story adding to Gilderoy Lockhart's legend. How fitting. Goodbye, Ronald.”
Lockhart let go and with a light shove pushed Ron back into the slanted pipe. Ron began sliding down, and as he slid into the darkness he saw Lockhart's cloaked silhouette framed by the light above him. The shadow grew larger for a moment as Lockhart’s cape twirled as the man’s arm lifted to cast a final spell downwards.
The last thing that Ron saw was a red beam of light shooting from above that blasted into his chest, knocking him unconscious in an instant.