Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything!

Ron Weasley stood in the middle of the Room of Requirement, feeling entirely useless. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hermione talking to Dean Thomas about something. Ron assumed she was telling him their Gringotts story.

Harry had gone off with Luna to the Ravenclaw common room, and with Hermione busy at the moment, Ron didn't know what he should do. Doing nothing just felt wrong. He stared around at the other students in the room. They all were talking amongst themselves. He heard the words "Harry" and "Gringotts" several times, so it seemed that everyone was having the same conversation.

Ron let out a quiet sigh. He hoped Harry knew what he was doing. If all went well, they would soon know if the diadem was the Horcrux, maybe even where it was. Then all they had to do was destroy it, and there would only be one left! Granted, it would probably be the hardest to destroy...

Hermione finished talking to Dean and walked over to Ron. When she had reached him, she said, "Ron, I've been thinking. How are we going to destroy all these Horcruxes without the sword? I mean, we haven't gotten rid of the cup yet, and we still have two more after that!"

Ron considered this, and her mention of Gryffindor's sword reminded him of something. His head started spinning as he realized the answer to their problem. "We need to get into the Chamber of Secrets," he blurted out all of a sudden.

This obviously surprised Hermione, and she started to ask, "But why—"

Ron interrupted her and said, "We need the basilisk fangs!" She still looked confused, so he explained further. "The only reason Gryffindor's sword destroyed Horcruxes was because it was full of basilisk venom, right? So if the basilisk's body is still in the Chamber and we can get its fangs, we won't even need the sword!"

Understanding dawned on Hermione's face, and she smiled at him. "Ron, that's brilliant!" she exclaimed. Then she wondered aloud, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Ron smiled back at her, but also rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, follow me."

"Wait!" Hermione grabbed his arm to hold him back from the door. "What if we get caught? The Carrows don't sound like they would be very forgiving to two students in the halls after hours."

Ron paused for a moment before replying, "Well then, let's not get caught." And with that, Ron snatched a broomstick from beside the door and walked up the staircase. Hermione had no choice but to follow.

O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O

Hermione Granger walked through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts, making a conscious effort to keep her footsteps silent. She was wishing desperately for Harry's invisibility cloak, but at the moment it was somewhere on the other side of the castle with him and Luna.

In front of Hermione tiptoed Ron. He was being just as cautious as her, looking around corners and jumping at small noises. He was walking slightly bent over, as if reducing his height would keep him less visible from unfriendly eyes. Hermione's heart was pounding relentlessly in her chest, and she kept getting distracted by strange shadows off to the sides of the hallways. It was never anything dangerous, just a statue or a suit of armor. But one of her moments of distraction caused her to bump into Ron, nearly knocking both of them over. He had stopped at another corner and was trying to peer around it.

Ron straightened himself up so that he was at his normal height again. He made sure he had Hermione's attention before mouthing the words, "We're here." Hermione looked around the corner they had stopped at and saw he was right. She could make out the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom through the darkness. Slowly, Ron and Hermione made their way down the hallway, opened the bathroom door, and silently slipped inside.

Hermione felt an enormous sense of relief now that they were safe from the Carrows. Judging by the look he was giving her, Ron seemed to be feeling the same way, but that was until they noticed—

"Myrtle," said Ron with worry evident in his voice. "Erm... how have you been?" Moaning Myrtle had popped her head out of the bathroom stall at the far end of the bathroom, and she was looking especially irritable. Hermione was glad that Ron was attempting to be friendly. The last thing they needed was for Myrtle to start wailing and wake up the whole castle.

"Oh, it's you two," Myrtle sighed, completely disregarding Ron's question. "Where's Harry? He hasn't come to see me in ages. I bet he's forgotten all about me!"

Myrtle's bottom lip started to quiver, and she was obviously about to start sobbing, but Hermione quickly came to the rescue by saying, "No, no Myrtle, Harry hasn't forgotten you! In fact, he mentions you all the time!" Hermione thought that this might seem a bit far fetched, but Myrtle seemed to believe her. The signs of approaching tears were fading from the ghost's face. "He wanted to come visit you, Myrtle," Hermione continued, "but he's sort of busy at the moment. So he asked us to come here and say hi to you for him before we went into the Chamber."

Myrtle looked slightly suspicious at the last portion of Hermione's statement, but she let out a loud "humph!" and floated back into the cover of her stall. Ron and Hermione exchanged silent looks of relief once more, before focusing their attention on the task at hand.

Ron walked over to one of the sinks lining the wall and knelt down to examine it. "This is the one," he told Hermione. She came closer to the sink and saw a small snake engraved in it. She looked at Ron with concern, a new thought having just dawned on her.

"Ron, didn't you tell me that Harry had to speak Parseltongue to get into the Chamber?" This seemed to have occurred to Ron too, because he gave her a quick nod before turning back to the sink. He closed his eyes, scrunching them tightly as if he were deep in thought. After about a minute, he let out a strangled hissing noise. Hermione thought it sounded like Parseltongue, but nothing happened to the sink. Ron looked visibly frustrated and he tried again. Still, nothing happened.

This went on for almost ten minutes. Hermione stayed silent the whole time, knowing that she would only annoy Ron more by interrupting his concentration. Finally, he let out a smooth hissing noise and the sink slid back, revealing a long tunnel. Hermione beamed at Ron, thoroughly impressed with him. He smiled slightly at the look she was giving him and said, "I'll go first."

Ron sat down on the edge of the tunnel, his long legs stretched out in front of him and the broomstick still held tightly in his hand. "Wait a minute before you go down. We might hit each other otherwise," he told Hermione. She nodded and he turned back to the tunnel. He pushed off and disappeared from sight. Hermione waited for awhile before sliding down herself.

The tunnel wound on for what seemed like hours, but eventually Hermione shot out of the end. She landed on a filthy floor, sat up, and looked around. It would have been pitch-black, but Ron had the end of his wand lit up. He helped her to her feet and said, "The Chamber's that way. I've never actually been in it, but if we just keep walking straight, we should find it." Hermione wasn't positive this would work, but Ron had already set off down a dark passage before she could say anything. She quickly followed behind him, not wanting to get lost in a place like this.

They walked for awhile down the grimy passageway until they came to a wall of rock. Ron climbed it and squeezed through a cleared-out space near the ceiling without a moment of hesitation. Hermione followed suit and when she had arrived on the other side, Ron tucked the broom under his arm and grabbed her hand, pulling her along next to him. Even though he was walking so fast that she practically had to run to keep up with him, she didn't shake off his hand. He had been holding hands with her a lot more lately, but it still caught her slightly off-guard.

Hermione was distracted from her thoughts by Ron halting abruptly. They had reached a sort of door in the wall. There were more snakes engraved in it. Ron stared at the door, still holding Hermione's hand, and hissed at the snakes. He seemed more confident this time, and it only took three tries for him to say the right word. He hissed in the same way he had to the sink and the door swung open. Hermione gripped Ron's hand tighter and together they walked into the Chamber.

A/N: This will be a three chapter story! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! ;)