"We need to search the chamber around the perimeter," Richard suggested. "There might be other passages leading outside the castle."
"Richie," Harry turned around, "you and Hermione fly around the chamber, and I'll have a look around here."
Richard narrowed his eyes.
"Harry..."
"What?"
"I hope you're not going to do anything stupid, Harry?"
"Of course not!" Potter protested indignantly.
"All right..." Richard drawled. "But before we go, I have a question."
"What?" Harry asked warily.
"I hope"—Richie gave his companions a suspicious look—"nobody brought an owl with them?"
Harry couldn't help himself and burst out laughing.
"No," Hermione replied, looking at Harry as though he'd gone mad. "Were we supposed to?"
"No." Grosvenor shook his head. "But I had to ask."
Hermione pressed herself more firmly against Richie; the chamber's oppressive gloom frightened her.
Richard steered the glider to the left and slowly flew along the wall. In the beam of the headlights, he carefully examined the stonework.
"Richie, what are we looking for?" Granger whispered, her warm breath brushing his ear.
"Snakes."
"Snakes?"
"Yes, Hermione. Snakes."
Understanding dawned on the girl's face.
"Of course! Richie, just like at the entrance! If there are snakes on the wall, there might be a passage hidden there."
"Exactly. But so far, the only snakes I can see are on the pillars."
"Er..." Granger glanced sideways at the nearest pillar. "Richie, what if the passages are hidden inside them?"
"Then they're clearly meant for babies." Grosvenor shook his head. "The pillars are thick, of course, but I doubt you could hide a proper tunnel inside one: they're not wide enough, and a vertical passage seems unlikely."
It took Richie and Hermione ten minutes of slow flight to make a complete circuit of the Chamber of Secrets along its walls. The only snakes they found on the walls were at the entrance through which the young adventurers had entered Slytherin's chamber. Eventually, they arrived back where they had started.
By then, Harry had worked himself into a state. Those ten minutes had felt like an hour. Although he could tell roughly where his friends were at any given moment from the moving beams of light, he'd already cursed himself a hundred times for deciding to stay behind. Potter's heart was thudding heavily in his chest.
When Hermione and Richard landed and stepped off the glider, Harry felt a wave of relief.
"Well?" he asked hopefully.
"Nothing that looked like one," Hermione replied.
"Yeah." Richard gave an almost imperceptible nod. "No tunnels, no vents, no cracks, no snakes on the walls. Nothing at all. The only thing I noticed is that it's far too clean in here."
"It is?" Harry began looking around.
Hermione also started examining their surroundings.
"You're right..." she said in surprise. "If the legend is true, this chamber should be about a thousand years old. There ought to be an enormously thick layer of dust in here by now. The Chamber of Secrets must be enchanted."
"That's what I thought too, Hermione," Richard agreed. "What about you, Harry? Find anything?"
Potter turned towards the gigantic statue, looked upwards, and pointed towards its head.
"The statue."
"What about the statue?" Hermione looked in the same direction as Potter, puzzled, trying to make out anything suspicious.
Richie craned his neck as well and stared up at the monument.
Harry explained:
"I noticed some small gaps around the mouth. You know, I think there's a passage hidden in there. I might even have worked out how to open it."
"Maybe we should just leave it alone?" Grosvenor said apprehensively.
"Richie, but we still need to get rid of the bo—" Harry let it slip. He stopped himself at the last possible moment when his eyes fell on Hermione. "Oops!"
Granger narrowed her eyes and drawled suspiciously:
"What exactly do you boys need to get rid of?!"
"Hermione," Richard began hopefully, "maybe you'd be better off going back to the dormitory? Harry and I can have a little talk in private..."
The young earl's tone promised nothing good for Mr Potter.
"Oh no, you don't!" Hermione planted her hands firmly on her hips. "I'm already mixed up in this adventure of yours, and I have no intention of backing out now!"
Richard's nostrils flared angrily as he breathed deeply and fixed Harry with a heavy stare, as though trying to bore a hole straight through him.
Potter realised his mistake and took a step backwards.
"Er..." He couldn't think of anything to say.
"Harry, since you're the one who brought it up," Richard continued in a syrupy voice, "you can explain to Hermione yourself why we came down here... Perhaps it'll teach you to keep your mouth shut."
Harry lowered his gaze and began studying the stone floor tiles.
"I'm listening!" Granger pressed her lips into a thin line.
"We-e-ell..." Potter bleated. "You see, Hermione... Er... We... It's..."
"Mr Potter," Granger enunciated clearly, "we're God knows where, doing God knows what. There's no need to imitate Hagrid."
"We need to get rid of a body!" Potter blurted out in a rush.
Hermione's eyes went round, and she cupped her right hand to her ear.
"Wh-what?" She couldn't believe her ears.
Harry's mouth went dry. He swallowed the thick saliva in his mouth and continued in a loud whisper:
"Get rid of... a corpse..."
"U-huh-huh..." Hermione made an inarticulate sound through clenched teeth. She turned to Richard as though seeking support. "Is this a joke?"
Richie pursed his lips just as she had and shook his head.
Now Hermione's mouth went dry as well.
"Ah..." She froze.
"Dobby," Richard said.
"Ah!" Granger drawled in sudden understanding. "Dobby! And did he...?"
"Attacked," Richard added just as tersely. "In the contest between wandless magic and railguns, the railguns won..."
(End of Chapter)
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