Into the Chamber

 

"Do you think he'll find it?" Hermione asked anxiously, watching Harry leave with Luna. She looked up at Ron who was looking around at all the scared faces.

 

"If he does before You-Know-Who gets here, it'll be a bloody miracle," he replied, tearing his eyes away from Ginny, who had been giving Cho such a look of distaste that one might think Cho had switched sides just to put one over on Ginny.

 

"But that's the thing, isn't it? What are we going to do once Harry finds it?" Hermione said frowning. "We still haven't got rid of the cup, and we don't have the sword anymore."

 

Feeling on the brink of tears at the prospect of being so close, yet so far away from the end of this, Hermione felt someone grab her hand and give it a squeeze. Her eyes fell to her hand and then up to Ron's face, which was calm, if not a little green.

 

"It'll be all right," he whispered kindly. "Harry might be a while, we can think of a way to destroy the Horcruxes until he gets back – and you never know, he might find another way himself." His eyes gazed into her own and any worry Hermione was feeling minutes before seemed to fade away.

 

Hermione's mind drew a blank, as all she could think about was how it would feel to kiss him right now; to run her fingers through his hair and over those shoulders …

 

"Hermione?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"Are you all right? You looked a bit funny," Ron asked.

 

"Yeah, fine. I was just thinking…" she said, lowering her gaze. "I can't think off the top of my head what we could use other than the sword. It's the only thing that contains basilisk venom to my knowledge."

 

Suddenly, Ron yelped. Jumping back, Hermione stared at him, dazed.

 

"What the –?"

 

"I've just thought!" He sounded very excited and was grinning ear to ear. "I know what we can use!" He watched Hermione, whose dazed look had not gone. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "We don't need to find something that contains basilisk venom, because there's a basilisk here!"

 

It took several long moments before Hermione had caught up with what he was saying. What does he mean there's a basilisk here? There can't be one; the only basilisk I know of is in the Chamber of –

 

Her eyes widened with understanding. "You – are – brilliant!" she whispered, utterly impressed and amazed with his train of thought. "I can't believe I didn't think of it! Oh, Ron!"

 

And resisting the urge to kiss him, she followed as he pulled her towards the door, his hand still firmly holding onto hers.

 

"Where are you going?" Ginny called after them.

 

"Bathroom!" Ron shouted back.

 

***

 

The bathroom was eerier than she remembered it. The torches were not lit and Moaning Myrtle's wails were not heard. The only light that shone in the room was that of the moon through the window. The only familiar presence was the damp floor.

 

"Ron, I've just thought of something," Hermione said, eyeing the room fearfully. She was holding onto his arm tightly, worried that a Death Eater would catch them off guard or that by some miracle, the giant snake had not died and was in fact waiting for them. She knew this was silly, but with You-Know-Who involved, anything was possible.

 

"What's that?" he asked. Ron was standing next to an old sink and rubbing his thumb over some sort of symbol on one of the taps. From his and Harry's account of their second year, Hermione guessed this was the entrance.

 

"Neither of us speak Parseltongue, how are we going to get in?"

 

Releasing her arm, he looked her, embarrassed. "I – er – I've been practicing."

 

"Practicing? Why on earth for?" she asked.

 

Rubbing the back of his neck gingerly, he half smiled, his face turning a bright shade of red. "After Harry opened the locket using it, I thought, 'what if Harry isn't there when we find the next? What if you need to know Parseltongue to do it?' So I've been practicing how Harry said it."

 

"And you managed it?" she asked incredibly, her eyes wide and alert. I can't believe this! She thought. What happened to the Ron who couldn't even do a simple levitating charm in his first year?

 

He was replaced with the Ron who beat McGonagall's chess set, burped slugs and faced giant spiders in the forest for you … she thought to herself.

 

"I think so," he said, sounding unsure. "I mean, I didn't meet any snakes when we were camping, so I can't be sure, but it sounded near enough the same as when Harry said it."

 

Hermione walked around to his other side and examined the snake on the tap. "I believe you can do it," she said. She looked up at him, pride and admiration covering her face. It was quite dark in the bathroom, but she thought she saw him blush.

 

Ron cleared his throat and stared at the snake with such concentration, he started to sweat. Suddenly, he let out a horrible strangled hissing noise.

 

Nothing happened.

 

So he tried again.

 

Nothing.

 

Five more times with no luck passed. The last time, Ron accidentally spat in the sink itself. He looked dejected with himself as he closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead with his index finger and thumb.

 

"Don't worry, Ron," Hermione whispered to him. "You did a really good attempt. But this isn't like learning French; it could take years of practice."

 

"I know, but we don't have years. And who knows if Harry will have time to get down here to help." He opened his eyes, looked at her and moved away from the sink.

 

Grabbing his arm, Hermione stopped him. "No! I know you can do this. We don't need Harry, I need – we need you!" She kissed his cheek, feeling the heat of his skin on her lips. "Try again?"

 

Looking dazed but smiling, Ron grabbed hold of the sink with both hands and once again, made a loud, coarse hissing noise. He staggered back as the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Holding Hermione back, he watched as the sink began to move and descend out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed.

 

Hermione peered into the dark unknown and swallowed hard.

 

"I'll go first," Ron announced, sounding braver than she felt. "Don't worry; I'll be waiting at the bottom for you." He gave her a loving last look and then was gone.

 

Shaking slightly, Hermione pulled herself into the pipe and let go, sliding down below the school. It felt like miles before she saw a faint light getting bigger and bigger and before she knew what had happened, she fell into Ron's arms, which were outstretched and waiting for her.

 

She could hear his heart beating fast against her head as she held onto him. His grip on her loosened and she pulled back to look at him.

 

"See?" he asked.

 

"We better – ah – hurry. Everyone will be wondering where we are," she replied. I will NOT have my first kiss with Ron at the bottom of a toilet sink! She took hold of his hand once again and he led her through the tunnel. They both took out their wands and whispered Lumos into the darkness.

 

Hermione was walking as though the ground was on fire. She was given quite a fright when she noticed the ground was littered with small animal bones, and was trying her best not to step on them as she followed Ron.

 

After ten minutes of twists and turns in the tunnel, they found themselves in front of a solid large wall, which had two entwined serpents carved into it. Hermione knew they were not real, but there was something in their eyes that told her differently. Clutching Ron's hand tighter, she raised her lit wand over the wall to see where they would go from here.

 

"I need to speak Parseltongue again," Ron murmured, more to himself than Hermione. Before she could say anything in return, Ron let out a long hiss, and they were both surprised when the snakes parted for them on his first try.

 

Even though the chamber was long, they could see something visible in the distance. Hermione raised her wand again over the chamber walls; there were large stone pillars with the same carved snakes entwined around them. The walls were green and damp, which gave a murkiness to the chamber. When she moved her wand to the ground, she noticed, with horror, a mix of blood and water in the odd puddles as Ron led her to the end of the chamber. She wondered if this blood was Harry's or the basilisk's, and hoped it was the latter.

 

And there it was. Hermione gave out a strangled cry when she saw it, while Ron stared stonily at the creature that had caused his family and friends pain five years ago.

 

The snake was decaying; there were patches of dark yellow and brown in its skin and where Harry had stabbed it, the wound was dark red and black, and giving off a terrible smell. Its eyes were probably the most disturbing part of it; they were poked out and crusted with dark blood. A few maggots were wriggling over them and around the wound on his head.

 

"How should we do this?" Ron asked, his voice echoing around the chamber. "Is there a spell that could remove the fangs or should we just start pulling?" he added quieter.

 

Releasing his hand, Hermione walked over to the head of the giant snake and crouched down beside it. Carefully and feeling the urge to gag at the stench, she opened its large mouth with both hands. She examined its gums with her wand light and saw that they were already starting to fall out.

 

"They're already falling out, so they shouldn't be too much of a problem to get out," she said. Ron crouched down beside her and picked up one of the already fallen fangs. "We can just use Defodio to knock the rest of them out."

 

Ron put the fang down beside him and pointed his wand at the snake's gums and muttered, "Defodio!" A hole appeared in the gum, which broke ties with the fang it held in place. The curved fang simply fell onto the tongue below and then was put with the other on the chamber ground.

 

Taking turns, they each removed a dozen fangs between them. When Ron asked how many they might need, Hermione explained that they should at least take half the fangs; she wasn't sure how much venom would be needed or how much was stored in each tooth.

 

When they had enough, Hermione started to look through her beaded bag for something. She pulled out Hufflepuff's cup and placed it between herself and Ron.

 

"We should do it here," she said, eyeing the fangs certainly. "Someone might see us up in the castle and it could get back to You-Know-You."

 

"Good idea," Ron replied. He was crouching quite close to her and Hermione could feel his hot breath on her neck. "I think you should have the honour this time," he added.

 

"Me?" she replied, taken aback.

 

"It's only fair," Ron said. "Harry got rid of that diary and I broke the locket." At these words, he looked quite shaken. "I reckon it should be you who does this one."

 

Shaking, Hermione choose a fang. It was curved and reminded her of a bison horn. "Will it do anything?" she asked, her hand holding the fang over the cup ready. "I mean, will it try to stop me doing something to it?"

 

Ron's hard expression returned and without looking at her, he replied, "I don't know."

 

Feeling as though it was now or never, she plunged her fist down, cracking the cup in two. The fang started to vibrate and she couldn't let go. A high-pitched scream echoed within the chamber like a banshee as she felt Ron grab hold of her and pull. As quickly as it came, Hermione found herself on her stomach, lying across Ron, the chamber quiet.

 

"Are you all right?" he asked, brushing her hair from her face to check.

 

"Yeah fine," she replied, pulling herself up beside him. "Did that happen to you with the locket?" Harry and Ron never gave her the details of what exactly the locket did when they destroyed it.

 

"Yeah, near enough," he said, avoiding her eyes. He stood and picked up the cup. It was in one piece, but broken four ways, each piece hanging off the other. You could barely tell it used to be a cup.

 

"C'mon, we should get out of here," Hermione said, grabbing an arm full of fangs. Ron put the cup in his jacket and collected the rest of the fangs.

 

They followed the tunnel back the way they came, but when they reached the pipe they had used to get here, they both stopped before it and looked up.

 

Ron swore and put the fangs he was holding on the floor. He climbed into the pipe, only to slide down. "We had Fawkes to help us before, how are we going to get out?"

 

"At a risk of sounding like Luna," Hermione said with a smile, "we'll have to fly, won't we?" Amused at Ron's confused expression, she helped him. "Were you not watching what Harry did in the first task of the Triwizard?" she asked.

 

"What, fly around a blood-thirsty dragon?" he asked, scratching his head. "OH! Fly!" And grinning at Hermione, he raised his wand up the tunnel and shouted, "ACCIO BROOMSTICK!" For two minutes, nothing happened, but then they heard a whistling noise and stepped back from the tunnel entrance as an old Cleansweap stopped beside Ron, high enough for him to mount.

 

"Brilliant!" Hermione said, beaming at him. She pulled out an old top of Harry's from her bag and wrapped the fangs she was holding, and the ones Ron left on the floor in it to save dropping any in the flight. Ron had already mounted the ready broom and waited as Hermione put her leg over the side and joined him.

 

"Hold onto me," he said, pocketing his wand and taking hold of the broom. Hermione put one arm around his waist and clutched the bag of fangs with the other.

 

She closed her eyes and held herself against his back as she felt Ron kick off and enter the tunnel. Up and up they flew until they reached the bathroom once again. The sink slid back into place with a click as Ron helped Hermione off the broom.

 

"You were – You were incredible, Ron," she said breathlessly to him. His face turned noticeably pink as he leant in towards her. Heart beating so loudly that she wondered if he could hear it as well, she closed her eyes.

 

There was a loud bang from below and several screams. Ron jumped back and mumbled something. "We better find Harry," he said, taking a few of the fangs from Hermione and grabbing the broomstick.

 

"Yeah," Hermione said, heart aching as she watched him walk towards the door. She pushed Harry's top back into her bag and held the fangs freely as she followed.

 

They were barely around the corner when they heard:

 

"Where the hell have you been?"