PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

28 || The Monster

"Harry, what are we—"

"Just... prepare yourself..." Harry looked very weedy and his eyes were red-rimmed, radiating the impression that he had been crying. He didn't seem to think about his following action as he took Katie's shaking hand in his own and led her into the hospital wing.

All the occupied beds were shielded by draping curtains. Katie shivered uncomfortably, knowing that, behind those curtains lay many Petrified students. A cold chill ran through her body as Harry walked her to the other end of the hospital wing. Their careful footsteps echoed loudly through the dense room.

Harry came to a halt at one particular bed. For a moment, he seemed to regret ever taking Katie there, but then he took a quavering breath and pulled the curtain back.

Katie felt her heart stop at the sight.

Hermione lay still, her glassy eyes opened wide in fear, staring, as though turned to stone. Ron was sat at her bedside looking both ill and incredulous. His head was resting on his knuckles and he slowly shook his head in disbelief. He didn't even acknowledge Katie and Harry's arrival.

Katie's bottom lip was trembling from fright and she could feel the blood slowly draining from her face. She took cautious steps closer to Hermione and collapsed in a heap in a small chair.

Reaching out, Katie gently trailed her hand across Hermione's Petrified face. The Gryffindor's skin was as cold as ice. Katie's breath hitched.

"She was found by the library," Harry said, his voice breaking. "She had just told Ron and me that she had figured something out, then ran off to the library."

Katie stayed silent for many moments, still trying to process the whole situation. "What did she figure out?"

Ron finally spoke. "Something about the Chamber of Secrets, I expect. But it's no use now. She can't tell us anything."

Just then, Katie noticed something tightly clutched in Hermione's closed fist. It looked to be a scrunched up ball of paper.

"Hey, Harry..." she tugged on her friends' robe and pointed to Hermione's hand. Without thinking twice, Harry begun trying to remove the paper from Hermione's grip. It was tough work, and miraculous that Harry managed to retrieve the paper without ripping it.

"Well, what does it say?" Ron ushered. Harry unravelled the paper and read aloud,

"As 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."

Bemused, Katie stared long and hard at Harry and Ron, who were looking at each other, mouths agape.

"What?" Katie asked, aggrivated.

"Katie..." Harry whispered. "The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk."

Katie knitted her eyebrows together in bewilderment. "But you said the monster was a spider? You said Hagrid opened the Chamber? You saw it."

Harry's eyes darted between Ron and Katie.

"You haven't told her?" Ron said.

"Told me what?" Katie's heart beat was growing faster by the second. Harry sat down in a seat beside the girl.

"The other night, Ron and I went into the forest — don't give me that look, we had a good reason — Hagrid told us to follow the spiders if we needed to find out some stuff."

Ron seemed to recall the night and shivered in discomfort.

Harry continued. "There was this huge spider named Aragog, the same one that Hagrid kept in the castle, the same spider that was believed to have attacked the Muggle-borns fifty years ago. But Aragog told us that was a lie. He said that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of secrets. Riddle caught the wrong person." Harry pulled out the paper and pointed to a specific line. "'Spiders flee before it,' and Aragog told us that the monster in the Chamber is one that spiders fear above all others. The reason only you and I could hear the voice, Katie, is because the monster is a snake. We're both Parselmouths."

Katie ran all this new information over and over in her head, making calculations, putting the pieces together, but one small detail seemed to stump her.

"But if anyone who looks the Basilisk in the eye dies, then how come nobody is dead?

Harry almost grinned. "Think about it... The night Colin was attacked, he had his camera. Justin must've saw the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick, Nick got full blast of it, but he's a ghost so he couldn't die again," Harry pointed to a mirror that was sat on Hermione's bedside locker, "Hermione was found with this mirror, and there was water on the floor where Mrs Norris was found Petrified. Don't you see? No one is dead because no one looked the Basilisk directly in the eye — they all only saw its reflection."

Stunned, not knowing what to say, Katie came out with, "Well, that was lucky."