Easy - The Girl who Lived Forever (Harry Potter's Sister)

Petrification [EDITED]

"Her face looks like a cat's face," Charlotte told us. 

"Why did she need Polyjuice potion?" Ellarose's sister Sarah wondered aloud. 

"Why would you think it's Polyjuice potion, Sarah?" Rebekah asked. 

"We learnt about what happens if a human drinks Polyjuice potion with animal hairs in it last year," Sarah explained. 

"I bet 10 galleons Harry and Ron took Polyjuice potion as well. It would explain why they drugged Crabbe and Goyle and shoved them in a cupboard," I said. 

"Yeah, I am not taking that bet," Kella told her.

The next day, Hermione wasn't in classes. Not surprising, given what Sarah had told us about her situation, but still. She returned to normal in February. And even better yet, Moaning Myrtle had flooded the bathroom, and water was leaking through the halls.

Ginny was still acting weird. She seemed to be panicking about something, but anytime anyone would ask, she'd say she was fine. But 'I'm Fine' never means I'm fine.

I'm assuming it has something to do with the book she's always writing in. I spotted Harry with it today, I wonder why he took it. That book is weird, and creepy.

And a few days later, I spotted her coming down from the boys dormitory, and disappearing into our room. 

"Is it just me or is Ginny acting weirder than normal?" I whispered to Matilda as we played wizards chess. 

"I don't know with her any more. I just ignore it," the other girl shrugged. 

An hour or so later, Neville rushed upstairs with Harry, Ron and Hermione. "What happened now?" I groaned. 

"Let's go see what the matter is," Matilda dragged me upstairs.

The dormitory had been ransacked. Feathers, books, it everywhere, a right pigsty. 

"What happened here?" Matilda asked. 

"Someone stole Tom Riddle's Diary," Harry told us. 

I exchanged a look with Matilda. "Who would do that?" I asked. 

"I don't know," Ron replied, and Hermione just looked at us.

"Alright, fess up. You know who it was," she demanded the next day before the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. She'd shoved Caridy and Rebekah apart, sitting in between them. 

"Hello to you too Hermione," Ashley smiled.

"Why should we tell you?" I asked her. 

"Because it could be important. That person clearly needed that diary, and were desperate to get it back. They flooded Myrtle's bathroom," Hermione whispered. 

I rolled my eyes, but turned and looked at Ginny, who was sitting a few seats away eating her food in silence. Hermione followed my gaze. "She's been writing in that diary obsessively, and has been acting weird all year," I whispered. Hermione frowned.

"Perfect Quidditch conditions!" said Oliver Wood enthusiastically, interrupting my thoughts as he loaded the team's plates with scrambled eggs. "Harry, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast."

Involuntarily, I left the Great Hall with Hermione, Ron and Harry, or as I dubbed them, the Golden Trio. 

 "The voice!" Harry said suddenly, looking over his shoulder. "I just heard it again - didn't you?" 

Ron shook his head, wide-eyed. 

Hermione, however, clapped a hand to her forehead. "Harry - I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library," she ran off up the stairs, and I followed her. 

"What is it Hermione?" I asked as I caught up with her. 

"Harry's been hearing voices since the start of the school year that no one else can hear. And he can speak a language no one else can speak. Don't you get it?" she exclaimed. 

"The monster is a snake. But how is it getting around. Somebody would've seen a snake slithering round the place - I mean, everyone is more anxious and paranoid than ever!" I said. 

We reached the library. "I don't know, but if we're going to find answers anywhere, it will be here," Hermione said.

We sat in the library going through books for about half an hour before she spoke. 

"I got it! 

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it. 

"When Harry found Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, he spotted a bunch of spiders leaving out the window."

"But how come no one has died?" I asked. 

"Because no one looked it straight in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera. The basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin... Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again," Hermione said. 

"And Mrs. Norris?" I asked.

"The water..." she said slowly. "The flood from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I bet you Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection..." Hermione said.

"That dream recap thing I had of Mrs Norris being petrified, she did only look at a reflection before anything happened, there was a hissing sound. But how has the basilisk been getting around the place? A giant snake ... someone would've seen it," I frowned. 

Hermione drummed her fingers on the table, then gasped, grabbing another book of the shelf. "The last time the chamber was opened, a girl was killed. I read about it, Myrtle Warren, died 50 years ago," she told me. 

"Moaning Myrtle. Does it say how she died?" I asked, looking through the book. 

"It says that she was crying in a bathroom stall, opened the door, and then she just ... died," Hermione said. 

"She looked into the eyes of the Basilisk. But why would the basilisk be in the bathroom ... unless that's where the entrance was!" I gasped. 

"The Basilisk must be getting around through the water pipes!" Hermione said. She ripped the page out of the book and wrote pipes on the paper. 

"Never thought Hermione Granger would vandalize a school book," I commented.

"We need to go find Harry and Ron," she said, scrunching up the paper.

We ran down the hallway, running into a Ravenclaw prefect about to turn round the corner. "Wait!" Hermione yelled. 

"Look around corners with something reflective," I instructed

"Why?" the prefect asked, confused. 

"Because otherwise you'll die, stupid!" I told her. 

"If you make eye contact with the monster you'll die, but use a mirror and you'll just be petrified," Hermione explained. 

The prefect pulled out her mirror and held it at the edge of the corner so we could see if there was anything there.