The Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff is about to begin.
Draco Malfoy, burdened with the serious task Hermione had entrusted to him, hurried through the bustling crowd and rushed towards the sea of gold and red in the stands—his Slytherin green standing out starkly against it.
"Longbottom, have you seen Ron's sister?" He ran up to the Gryffindor stands, grabbed the dizzy, round-faced, dark-haired boy in front of him, and asked coldly.
"Ma, Malfoy... I, I did not see her..." Neville stammered, wanting to try Ron's suggestion, he glared at him, but when he looked up, he was startled by Malfoy's terrifying expression. "I did not see her, she is not here."
Draco irritably released him, turned and ran down the stairs towards the waiting room below the stands.
Let us find Ron and Harry first.
Just as Draco arrived near the waiting room, Professor McGonagall led a bewildered Ron inside.
Professor McGonagall will not be fond of this scandal, much less likely to believe the words of a Slytherin student in this matter she might even think he was slandering an innocent Gryffindor student.
Professor McGonagall is always meticulous. To gain her trust, you have to present facts, reason, and explain everything. That would be endless.
Now, Ginny Weasley has disappeared without a trace, and may be plotting a new attack from the shadows.
So, he hid nearby and waited for a whilst, wanting to see when Harry and Ron would come out.
Then, he suddenly heard Gryffindor captain Oliver Wood shout angrily, "No! They have no right to stop the match!"
Something very important must have happened, otherwise the Quidditch match would not have been stopped.
An ominous feeling filled Draco's heart—hopefully it was not the Basilisk.
Professor McGonagall walked out of the waiting room with a sombre expression, followed by Harry and Ron. Her face was grim, and Draco was even less inclined to go out. He did not want to run into Professor McGonagall's line of fire and get a scolding from her.
However, he was extremely concerned and wanted to know what had happened, so he slipped into a gap in the scaffolding under the stands, held his breath, and eavesdropped on their conversation through a thin curtain.
Professor McGonagall's trembling voice came from the other side of the curtain, "Mr Weasley, I must remind you to prepare yourself... Your sister Ginny has been captured by the monster of the Chamber of Secrets and taken into the Chamber."
That was the sound of Ron gasping for breath.
"I have already informed your parents. Now, you and Harry should head back to your dormitory immediately. All students must take the Hogwarts Express home tomorrow," Professor McGonagall said. Her voice was calm, with a touch of coldness.
"What about my sister?" Ron cried out in despair.
"Professor Lockhart believes he can find the entrance to the Chamber, so we have entrusted him with this task. He will go and rescue your sister," Professor McGonagall said.
Draco heard no glimmer of hope in those words.
"It cannot be him!" Ron sobbed, his voice filled with utter despair.
It was as if the name "Lockhart" itself had already sentenced his sister to death.
"Mr Potter, take Mr Weasley back to his dormitory and keep an eye on him. Do not let him do anything foolish. The Hogwarts professors are discussing what to do." Her hurried footsteps echoed as soon as she finished speaking.
Professor McGonagall has probably already left, Draco thought with a conflicted expression.
"Please, Lockhart! That clueless man that is nothing good but have a good face, how could he possibly save Ginny?" Ron sobbed on the spot.
Draco pulled out the Marauder's Map and examined it closely, but Ginny Weasley's name was nowhere to be found on it. She must have gone into the Chamber of Secrets—a place not shown on the Marauder's Map.
After a moment of hesitation, he put away the map, quietly walked out from the other side of the scaffolding, and did not go looking for Harry or Ron again.
It was all too late.
Whether those messages were delivered to them or not is no longer so important at this moment.
How could he say it? Whilst Ron's sister was imprisoned in the Chamber and on the verge of death, could he excitedly tell her, "Ron, I have discovered that your sister might be the one who opened the Chamber?"
Ron might be filled with grief and anger, and pull out his wand to cast a curse on him.
Now, the worst has happened. Ron's sister is innocent, and he has to find a way to save her. He cannot just stand by and do nothing; after all, it is quite possible that his father, Lucius, dragged her into this mess.
Father, you are committing a terrible sin—the kind where the sins of the father are paid by the son.
He had assumed that Harry and Ron had a good idea of the location of the Chamber of Secrets, just like in his previous life. However, judging from their conversation, they did not seem to know its location at all.
Where exactly did things go wrong? Why did they not know?
Draco was completely baffled. He followed the surging crowd back to the castle, not taking the route to the Slytherin common room basement. He climbed the stairs, ignoring the occasional questioning glances from the students, and went straight to the Ravenclaw Tower.
The deep, quiet corridor in the corner of the tower was completely deserted.
Only the Grey Lady, the resident ghost, wandered amongst the long columns. She was as alert as ever, and would immediately try to leave at the first sound of footsteps.
"Wait, Grey Lady, it is me, Draco Malfoy," Draco said urgently.
"Ah, it is you." As if waking from a dream, the Grey Lady turned around, drifting closer to him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I think you should know what just happened at this school," Draco said, looking at her.
Her face was sad, and she nodded silently.
"You once said you did not know where the entrance to the Chamber was. When I came to ask for your help last time to get Luna Lovegood to provide the list, you also mentioned that you seemed to have a clue about the location of the Chamber. Now, after opening the Chamber so many times, you should have noticed the location of the entrance, right?" Draco said softly. "Tell me, and I will find the Basilisk, get its fangs, and destroy that thing you hate."
The Grey Lady gazed at him with a sorrowful expression.
"You could lose your life."
"That is what I need to worry about. It is worth a try, is it not?" Draco smiled at her, looking directly at her without fear.
Another long silence followed, and the Grey Lady seemed to be lost in thought.
"I think you know Moaning Myrtle, do you not?" A complex expression crossed the Grey Lady's transparent face, which finally settled into a resolute look. "I think it is in her bathroom. I passed by there today and heard something unusual. That is all I can tell you."
"Thank you, Grey Lady."
Draco rushed downstairs, leaving the Grey Lady's faint sigh behind, and ran towards the abandoned girls' bathroom on the second floor.
To his surprise, Harry and Ron, who were supposed to be back in the Gryffindor common room, arrived there before him.
What happened? In just a short whilst, they actually discovered the location of the Chamber? Draco looked at them in bewilderment, feeling a bit dreadful.
At this moment, Harry and Ron were facing Lockhart, wands raised, locked in a stalemate.
Beside them, where there used to be a sink, a deep pipe was revealed.
"What you are doing—" Even having lived two lives, Draco was still shocked by the scene, "—threatening a teacher?"
"Yes, Mr Malfoy, you have come at the right time! Mr Potter and Mr Weasley are threatening me with their wands! How dare they threaten a teacher! Disarm them! I know you can do it, just like you did at the Duelling Club!" Lockhart shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he had found a lifeline.
"Do not believe him! Lockhart is a fraud. He just told me that everything in his books is stolen from other people's experiences, and he put a Memory Charm on them!" Harry quickly said.
Ron had no longer cared about being cold and aloof towards Draco. He nodded frantically at Draco, clearly nervous and afraid that Draco would join Lockhart's side and change the current course of the battle.
"Do not listen to them, they have all gone mad! They are just desperate for attention! They actually think they can find that missing Gryffindor girl all by themselves!" Lockhart shouted, as if whoever shouts the loudest is right.
Draco smiled kindly at Lockhart, and in his hopeful return smile, he delivered a straightforward "Expelliarmus." The wand was instantly sent flying to the other end of the room, landing in Myrtle's favourite toilet cubicle.