Professor Snape sat in his dimly lit office, correcting essays. It was a quarter after seven, his lesson with Ms. Varinsdottir should have started fifteen minutes ago. The tip of his quill was puncturing the parchment as he violently crossed out every second word, and wrote at the bottom a big, fat red T.
He angrily shoved the lid onto the inkwell and stood up. If he used his free time to teach Ms. Varinsdottir wandless magic, she should at least have the decency to show up on time. Robes billowing, he exited his office and swept through the dungeon corridors, until he stopped in front of the wall that led to the Slytherin den.
"Pureblood", he hissed and stepped inside once the wall slid away.
Inside, Ms. Parkinson and Ms. Greengrass were lingering on the couches, straightening up as he came into view.
"Where is Ms. Varinsdottir?", Professor Snape demanded, his black eye narrowing at them.
"We don't know, sir", Ms. Parkinson replied, grimacing at the thought of the muggleborn.
Professor Snape's anger was dampened for a moment, as he realized that Ms. Varinsdottir had it harder in his house than he had thought. Still, he wouldn't tolerate tardiness.
"Send her to my office when she arrives", he instructed sharply and left the Slytherin common room with a sharp turn.
He was about to return to his office, when something black fluttered in front of him, cawing relentlessly. Professor Snape recognized it as Ms. Varinsdottir's Raven.
'Help help help........ follow follow' the raven said, mimicking human speech, though very broken.
The bird kept tugging at his robes, then flew a few meters away before repeating the process. Professor Snape watched her for a moment, his face emotionless.
"Show me" he demanded, before he followed the bird. His instincts told him that something was wrong, and they were always right.
Professor Snape's swift pace slowed down as he followed the raven into a dark corridor. The torches were out. Flicking his wand, he relit them, and squinted his eyes upon noticing a figure huddled against the wall.
"Lumos", he muttered and walked towards the figure.
It was a Slytherin, he realized due to the robes of the student. The bird had landed on the student's shoulder, cooing sadly. Professor Snape felt his heart stop for a moment when the light of his ebony wand illuminated the Slytherin's face.
It was Ms. Varinsdottir.
Her expression, frozen, displayed her utmost horror. The girl's eyes were wide open, staring into a mirror in her hand that was angled slightly to show the corridor around the corner. Professor Snape breathed in deeply and waved his wand in the air, summoning a patronus.
"Get Albus and Minerva", he instructed the silver-glowing deer and watched it bound silently through the corridors, while he waited with the bird next to the petrified student.
It was during breakfast time in the Great Hall, when Hermione noticed Eivors absence.
"Erica", she said quietly as the little Slytherin passed her. "Do you know where Eve is?"
"No", Erica replied and shrugged her shoulders, "sorry."
Throughout the day, Hermione kept an eye out for Eivor, but she did not appear in Potions, nor during lunch time in the Great Hall. When Professor McGonagall approached her, Ron and Harry at lunch with a grim expression on her face, Hermione felt her stomach drop.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, please come with me", their Head of House instructed and led them out of the Great Hall.
Neville and Luna watched them curiously, but didn't follow. They'd find out from Hermione sooner or later. Harry traded a confused look with Ron as Professor McGonagall led them to the Hospital Wing, but Hermione knotted her fingers together nervously.
Please let it not be her, she begged silently.
Her worst fears were confirmed, when Professor McGonagall led them to a hospital bed next to Colin. On it, a huddled figure lay, her knees pulled up to her chest and a mirror in her outstretched hand.
"Eve!", Hermione cried and rushed forward, touching her friend's hand softly. It was cold and hard as stone.
"Professor Snape found her in the dungeons", Professor McGonagall said saddened and looked at the three Gryffindors.
"Mr. Malfoy was with her and claims to have heard some kind of snake. Your friend must have realized the danger and told him to run, she probably saved Mr. Malfoy from getting petrified as well." Harry and Ron were staring at Eivor, their faces ashen.
None of them were able to say anything.
"You may stay with Ms. Varinsdottir", Professor McGonagall informed them with a quivering voice, "your teachers have been informed that you three shall be missing."
She sighed tiredly, then turned and left the Hospital Wing. Hermione sat down on a stool next to Eivor, and Harry and Ron copied her movements.
"Eivor saved Malfoy", Hermione said sniffling, breaking the silence. "That means she was sure that he was not the heir."
"What if she was wrong?", Harry asked shakily and stared down at Eivors face.
"She wasn't!", Hermione snapped and the two boys looked at her, surprised by the anger in her voice. "She basically lives with Malfoy, if anybody would know it would be Eve! And we could have prevented this, if we wouldn't have let her walk around on her own." Hermione wiped her face with her sleeve.
"I'm not finishing the potion, if Eve says that Malfoy isn't the heir then we should listen to that." Harry opened his mouth to argue
"She's right, mate." Ron said, before Harry could say anything. His eyes were watering suspiciously. "We should trust Eve that she meant what she told us about Malfoy."
They fell back into silence. But right as they were about to leave there was a sad cawing and they all looked up and saw Synin flying in and landed on Eivors outstretched hand.
"hello Synin" Hermione said
'hi' the bird mimicked before she looked at Eivor 'my fend...dead?' the bird asked sadly.
"no Synin, she's been petrified" Harry said sadly.
'she stron...she will...she a god' the bird said looking at the three.
"She will what?...what will Eivor do?" Hermione asked
'beat....serpant' the raven said.
Time passed slowly. People stopped whispering that Harry was the heir of Slytherin when it became clear, that Harry's friend had been the next victim. Luna and Neville had been devastated upon hearing the news, and now nobody walked alone through Hogwarts anymore. The teachers would accompany the students to their next class and were stricter about students breaking curfew.
Synin often fluttered into the Hospital Wing to sit at Eivors side, so Madam Pomfrey had started to lay out a bowl of nuts for the bird.
When Synin wag not in the Hospital Wing, she followed Professor Snape around, and there was nothing he could do to get rid of her. He had shouted at her, thrown books at her, slammed doors shut in front of her, but the little raven kept following Professor Snape wherever he went.
If Harry hadn't been so upset about Eivor, he would have found it funny.
He and Ron had noticed a changing behavior of Ginny Weasley. The girl kept crying when anybody mentioned Eivor, and often she would clutch a small, leather diary to her chest.
It wasn't until a few weeks later, when Harry found the diary in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, that he discovered what it was. He told Hermione and Ron about how the diary showed him that a monster had been set loose fifty years ago. By Hagrid. The night the trio tried to ask Hagrid was the night the half-giant got arrested.
"Now what?", Ron sighed and pulled the Invisibility cloak off him.
"We need to go into the Forbidden Forest", Hermione said with a determined voice.
"Hagrid said that's where we'd find answers."
Answers they did find, but not in the form they expected. They soon found themselves in a dented and dirty blue Ford, racing past trees to escape hundreds of hungry Acromantulas.
"Guys", Hermione painted and put her hands on her knees, feeling very nauseous after the car ride, "it wasn't a spider that killed the girl fifty years ago!"
"I thought we already agreed that it was something snake-like", Ron mumbled and leaned against Hagrid's hut, breathing in deeply.
None of them felt any smarter than they had before. Until a thought crossed Harry's mind.
"Wait", he said and held up a finger while he swallowed down his dinner for the third time.
"Fifty years ago, a girl was killed in a bathroom, right?" Hermione and Ron nodded weakly. "What if she's still there?", Harry continued. "What if she could tell us what happened?"
Hermione's eyes went wide. The trio was under the Invisibility cloak once more, trying to move as fast as possible without making too much noise. Once they were in the girls' bathroom, they ripped off the cloak.
"Myrtle!", Harry yelled, "please, we need you!"
"Really?" The ghost suddenly appeared in front of them, turning light pink.
"Hi Harry", Myrtle giggled. Ron gagged.
"Myrtle", Harry said hurriedly, "how did you die?" Myrtle's facial expression rapidly changed and she screamed furiously.
"Why do you want TO KNOW? I DO NOT NEED TO BE REMINDED OF MY DEATH!"
She shot down into a toilet, splashing water everywhere, and started sobbing violently.
"Myrtle", Hermione tried gentler and shot Harry a glare, "please. We think that the monster that killed you is in the school again." Myrtle's head appeared out of the toilet bowl.
"What do you mean again?", the ghost sniffed and pushed her glasses up her nose. "It's been in the school the whole time. Ron breathed in shakily.
"What did you see, before you-". Hermione stopped, avoiding the word die. Sobbing theatrically, Myrtle answered.
"I was hiding here, a girl had called me ugly." Thick, white tears ran down her pimply face. "And then I heard a boy speak a weird language, so I shouted at him that this was a girl's toilet, and when I opened the door, I saw a big, yellow eye." She pointed at the sinks. "There. And then I died."
Letting out a wail, Myrtle shot down into her toilet again.
"Oh crap", Hermione whispered, finally understanding, and stared at the boys.
"What?", asked Ron bewildered.
"'It's a basilisk", Hermione said, her voice rising in panic.
"A large snake that can kill you if you look into its eyes!"
"But nobody died", Harry responded with a confused look in his eyes. Ron's face lightened up.
"Because nobody really looked into the eyes of the basilisk", he said excitedly. Harry's eyes went wide.
"You're right!", he stammered, "Mrs. Norris saw the basilisk in the puddle of water, Colin saw it through his camera-"
"And Justin saw the basilisk's eyes through Sir Nicholas", finished Hermione grimly. "And since Nick was already dead, he's just...this weird shade of grey."
"And Eivor used a mirror", Harry mumbled and breathed in sharply.
"We need to tell Professor Dumbledore", he decided firmly.