PLEASE LEAVE A VOTE! IT'S FREE :)
💚💚
𝕴 𝖒𝖊𝖙 𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖞 and Ron at the Gryffindor table the following morning. I avoided Snape's' stares, putting my back to him. Harry started to tell me his theory about the girl who had died in the bathroom but I interrupted him grumpily.
"Moaning Myrtle." I said, slathering grape jam on my toast. "I understood that much."
"All those times we were in the bathroom and she was just three toilets away. And we could've asked her and now. . ." Ron drifted off bitterly, for once not stuffing his face with food. I couldn't talk though, I loved eating.
"We're going to have to talk to her." Harry muttered stirring his spoon in his porridge mindlessly. "Somehow."
"That's going to be impossible." I said, wiping jam off my hand with a napkin. "Its a girls bathroom, we aren't supposed to be in the corridor by ourselves, not to mention it's right next to the place where everyone's been attacked. How are we supposed to get in there? At night, under the invisibility cloak?"
Harry and Ron had no answers and I headed off reluctantly to double Potions in the dungeons.
I took a seat in the back of the classroom, putting my cauldron in front of my face, while Susan took a seat next to me, greeting me solemnly. I said hello back as politely as possible and we started up a conversation about literally nothing.
Professor Snape was in a terrible mood this morning and snapped instructions about. I finished my potion with no mistakes. In any other class, I would've earned points but today, he seemed fit to not notice me and ignored my potion. I didn't particularly care at this moment.
Then, at the end of class, he announced that exams were still going to take place next week. This was met with some mutters of disappointment for those who had wished they were going to be canceled. Of course, I had foreseen this and did not particularly find it interesting nor upsetting. It was good to have something to place my mind on.
The following day, I received a letter from dad. It made me blush and was glad that I had privacy when I read it.
Dear Elizabeth,
If Dumbledore is truly gone, then you shouldn't be taking such unnecessary risks. You need to stop going out to the forest and sneaking about at night! I would feel absolutely terrible if something happened to you.
I am so sorry to hear about Hermione. I know that she is a really good friend of yours. But you shouldn't worry. Professor Sprout, Professor Snape, and Madam Pomfrey are all extremely skilled at their jobs and so all the petrified are in good hands.
I don't understand the idea of getting caught up with boys but then again, I was never particularly caught up with girls either. I suppose this was because of my state of being and I never wanted to harm someone that I could romantically be in love with. However, I don't blame you for being interested in boys. A parents' love can only carry so much. However, I must approve of them and I will say that I don't approve of many boys.
I am not going to tell you that I like your sketches because I feel that if I were to tell you that they are beautiful, exquisite, and lovely, I may end up encouraging you to go back into the forest and draw more so I must refrain from any sort of compliments or encouragement.
I understand that exams will be coming up very soon so I want you to study hard. Don't be too stressed out, I know you'll do wonderfully (given that you stay safe of course).
Love,
Dad
I laughed a couple of times while reading it. It was obvious he'd tried to make the letter humorous, probably because I'd told him I was down.
True to my word, I had treats for Sadie to eat while I had read the letter and I didn't feel compelled to write him a letter back yet. So, Sadie (after eating) flew off to the owlery in order to get some sleep.
I wondered, briefly, if dad would continue to have the job over the summer or if it was a winter job only. I didn't have much time to ponder this because I had a flash of vision that made me sick. Ginny Weasley was laying on some stones, dead.
I stood up quickly, making multiple Hufflepuffs around me look up. No one bothered with me though and I went in search of Ginny.
I found her and sat with her. We'd hung a handful of times over the past couple of months, though she liked to be with her friend group. At the moment, she was hanging with her friends in the library. I politely asked if I could sit with them and they all said yes, giggling slightly, and continuing a conversation about the newest gossip magazine.
I didn't join it. For one thing, I didn't like gossip magazines and never took out a subscription for them. For another, I was simply here because I was going to keep tabs on Ginny for the rest of the school year. Perhaps I hadn't intervened with the petrified students, but that was because I knew the effects were reversible. Death wasn't reversible.
💚💚
𝕿𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝖇𝖊𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊 the first exam, Professor McGonagall made an announcement at breakfast. "I have good news."
I had expected the Great Hall to go silent while people listened to what this news might be. However, it seemed to have the opposite effect as people started shouting out the sort of news they might like to hear.
"Dumbledore's coming back!" Was one wish of multiple people.
"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin?" Was another wish, mostly among the Ravenclaws.
"Quidditch matches are back on!" Oliver Wood practically shouted above everyone else. This made me laugh.
There many other shouts including cancelled exams, Lockhart being fired, Lockhart being kept for another year, and a strange wish of Hogwarts food now including American pizza. I laughed at the last one. What was American pizza? I'd have to ask Trang when she came home this summer. It sounded like a disease.
"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."
The Great Hall erupted into cheers.
Ron looked happier than he had in days, "It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then." he said to Harry and I. "Hermione'll have all the answers when they wake her up! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time. She hasn't studied. It might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over."
I laughed aloud with Harry. Real, true laughter.
Just then, Ginny sat down at the table, surprising me. She didn't usually approach Ron or I when Harry was with us. She looked, understandably, nervous and tense. Her hands were twisting in her lap.
"What's up?" Ron asked, not particularly looking closely at her as he helped himself to some porridge.
I frowned at him, pausing in the middle of getting my own bowl of porridge.
Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up and down the Gryffindor table as though to see who might possibly be listening.
"Spit it out." Ron said, a bit rudely I though. But he was also looking at her with a look of concern on his face.
She started to rock back and forth where she was sitting and mumbled, "I've got to tell you something." She wouldn't look at Harry.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
I felt strangely tense myself.
"What?" Ron asked exasperated.
Harry leaned forward and asked very nicely, "Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?"
Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley came down the aisle and said, "If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving. I've only just come off patrol duty."
Ginny jumped up at once and sped away. Percy sat down. Without waiting, I grabbed my bag and hurried after her. Harry and Ron stayed at the table.
I rushed through the Great Hall, trying to find her. Visions were popping in and out of my brain of different occurrences. Ginny couldn't possibly. . . could she. . .No. . .yes. . .
I lost her in the crowd, which shouldn't have been possible because she was the only student with red hair. However, she was also short and I was shorter than the average second-year and so I couldn't see over the older students heads.
Frustrated, I headed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, passed it, and went to go sit in an empty classroom nearby. However, when I walked into it, I had a heart attack. Professor Snape was standing against the upper wall, his arms crossed like a. . . like a ninja or Chinese person who put their hands in the sleeves. . . you know what I'm talking about. He looked like he was waiting for someone.
"Er-" I said. I had no reason to be in this empty room. No class was held in here. I supposed that I could say that I was studying here, but would he really believe that? Possibly. . . I had been living in Hagrid's cabin after all. What would really be put past me?
"Are you skipping class?" He asked in his cool slippery voice.
I shifted my bag onto my other shoulder. I needed to stop packing so much stuff. "No." I lied.
He glared at me, "Really?"
"No." I answered truthfully. "Why could you possibly care?"
Why was he always sticking his nose into my business? Why was he always prowling around the Hufflepuff common room? He never took points from me! He treated me so differently from any other student. Why oh why!
Professor Snape strode toward me so quickly that I actually backed up. Then, I thought perhaps he was going to walk past me, but instead he stopped. If I had been the same height as him, we would've been shoulder to shoulder. He said slowly. "There are a great many things I care about Miss Kane. Not all of them I should and yet, there is something lying in me that makes it so."
Then, he stormed out of the classroom, the door slamming behind him while I stood there, a bit startled and confused.
Not all of them I should and yet, there is something lying in me that makes it so? What on Earth? I hated improper grammar! What the freak was that! Was he trying to be cryptic? Was there a hidden message in there? He had put emphasis on the words "I" and "lying".
I shook my head and sank into a seat by a nearby desk. I put my head on the desk so that I could think a bit.
What he lying? I cringed at my own improper grammar. But what in that sentence could he possibly be lying about? Perhaps the word 'many'. After all, he always acted as though he cared about nothing.
I groaned. Why was I so wrapped up in this, in him? I pulled out my textbook, saw that it was my potions one and quickly put it away and took out my Transfiguration textbook instead. I worked on some of the spells in the book with the objects in the room. I found a beetle in the corner and turned it into a perfect button on my first try.
Of course, there were no rabbits or owls or any other creatures to try and perform some of the other transformations so I stuck with the inanimate to inanimate object transformations until the bell rang. Then, I quickly packed everything up and slipped out the door in time to join Harry and Ron at the back of the line.
". . . Mark my words." Lockhart was saying as we were ushered around a corner. The Hufflepuffs then joined another line of Hufflepuffs being led by another teacher down a different hallway. However, I stayed, feeling that I should. "The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be 'It was Hagrid'. Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."
"I agree, sir." Harry said, making Ron drop his books in surprise. If my books hadn't been in my bag, I surely would've dropped them too.
"Thank you, Harry." Lockhart said, holding us up while another line of older Hufflepuffs were being led back down the corridor. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night. . ."
I wasn't sure what Harry was planning, but it obviously had to do with escaping a teacher's notice.
"That's right. Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go-" Ron said quickly, picking his books back up.
"You know, Weasley. I think I will. I really should go and prepare my next class-" Lockhart said and he dashed off down the corridor.
"Prepare his class." Ron sneered, dropping his proper, polite act. "Gone to curl his hair, more like."
The other students continued down the corridor while we hung back and then went back and slipped down the other hallway.
"Where are we going?" I asked, a bit confused.
"Myrtle's bathroom." Ron said. "We want to get information from her even if the others will be okay soon."
I nodded. Brilliant. We headed off towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom when suddenly we heard a voice say, "Potter! Weasley! Kane! What are you doing?"
It was Professor McGonagall and my stomach filled with dread. I turned slowly. Her lips were thinner than I had seen them in a long time- a sure sign that she was mad.
"We were- we were- We were going to- to go and see-" Ron stuttered, unable to finish his sentence and so Harry finished it for him. "Hermione."
The three of us stared at him. I recovered quickly. Obviously, we were going to see Hermione.
"We haven't see her for ages, Professor and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready, and, er, not to worry-" Harry said, leaning forward. I think he was stepping on Ron's foot. I barely paid attention though as tears had come to my eyes.
It was stupid for me to cry, I knew that, but Harry's sentiment wrenched my heart. Professor McGonagall however, was the last one I wanted to see me cry. She was such a strong woman herself. She would never cry in public. . .
"Of course." She said in a weird croaky voice and I turned, a little surprised. There were tears glistening in her eyes. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been. . . I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Kane, you're in my class so you have permission as well. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission."
Harry, Ron, and I walked away and we heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose as she went around the corner.
"That. Was the best story you've ever come up with." Ron said, a bit proud.
I stopped walking, horrified.
"Elizabeth?" Harry asked.
"I need- I need to go speak to Professor McGonagall real quick." I stammered. "I'll meet you in the hospital wing."
I dashed off, leaving them there, and turned the corner, sprinting. Professor McGonagall wasn't far ahead and I called her name. She quickly wiped her face and then turned and said, "Yes, Miss Kane."
I breathed hard. "Ginny- Ginny Weasley. Professor, where is she right now?"
I didn't have to explain myself, Professor McGonagall understood right away what I was saying. "Another attack?"
I shook my head. "Worse, I think. But I don't know where she is."
"I'll find her. Go up to the hospital wing, Miss Kane, get Potter and Weasley and tell them to go to the common room. I'll get Professor Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout, and we'll look for Miss Weasley."
I stood there, a bit helpless as I watched her march off and then collected my senses and dashed up to the hospital wing. Harry and Ron were just coming out of the door, Harry clutching a piece of paper.
"Elizabeth!" Harry exclaimed, thrusting the piece of paper at me. "Look at this!"
I took the piece of paper and read:
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 more 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 roosters, which is fatal to it.
On the bottom corner of the paper, Hermione had written the word: Pipes. Everything clicked perfectly.
"Oh my God." I whispered, dread and joy filling me equally. Dread for not having realized it sooner, joy for finally having the pieces click. "Hagrid's roosters were killed, Aragog said spiders fled from this creature. . . it's a snake Harry! That's why we hear it. . . the walls, the pipes. . . that's why we're hearing the voices in the wall! It's been right next to us. . ." I was so excited I was speaking in incomplete sentences, "No one's died because. . . no one's looked at it directly. Mrs. Norris- water Colin- camera, Justin- Nick, Hermione had the mirror. . .which means. . ." I looked up at them in shock. How could I not have seen this? With every advantage I had? Visions? Smarts. . . and I hadn't seen this! "The entrance is in Myrtles bathroom!" I was giddy with excitement.
All thoughts of Ginny had been thrown out of my head until Ron asked, "What're we going to do? Should we go straight to McGonagall?"
"Let's go to the staff room." Harry said, and we started running down the hallway. "She'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break."
I completely disregarded that Professor McGonagall had told us to go to our common rooms.
We ran down the stairs and we went straight into the staff room. The staff room was a rectangular shaped room with two large windows at the back. There was also a long conference table made of pine wood and dark oak chairs were lined up around the table. There were bookshelves along the walls and a wardrobe stood in the far corner.
Harry and Ron paced the room. I still had the piece of paper in my hand and was looking out the window. I had a nice view of the courtyard from here. Professor Flitwick was walking across the stones, looking about urgently. My stomach churned. Was Ginny safe?
It was a bit of time when I realized the bell for break had never rung. Harry and I exchanged a glance. Then, McGonagall's voice came over the speakerphone, "All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."
Harry, Ron, and I all stared at each other. Harry and Ron looked shocked and I felt my stomach churn even more and thought I might be sick.
"Not another attack?" Harry gasped, "Not now?"
"What'll we do?" Ron asked, his mouth open. "Go back to the dormitory?"
"No." Said Harry, glancing around. He pointed to the wardrobe. "In here. Let's hear what's it all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."
"Don't you think we should just stay out here?" I asked, hesitantly as Harry opened the wardrobe doors. "It'd be less embarrassing than if we just jumped out."
But before we made a decision, there was a sound at the door, and we all jumped in and pulled the doors closed. My heart beat fast. Please don't be anything about Ginny, please don't be anything about Ginny. . .
I looked through a hole in the wardrobe. Some of the teachers looked puzzled- they obviously didn't know what had happened. Others looked scared. My eyes searched out Professor Snape. He had no facial expression. Then, Professor McGonagall entered the room and the room went silent.
"It has happened. A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself." She said with the air of one delivering bad news.
Professor Flitwick squealed, Professor Sprout clapped a hand to her mouth, and Professor Snape gripped the back of the chair tightly and asked, "How can you be so sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin, left another message." I realized then that Professor McGonagall was very white and shaky. "Right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever'."
My knees gave out and I fell to the floor of the wardrobe. Luckily for me, Flitwick had burst into tears which covered up any noise I'd made. I had to take very deep breaths. 'My fault' I thought as tears swam in my eyes. 'All my fault'. If I'd protected her. . . watched over her. . . told them that the diary was hers. . .
"Who?" Professor Snape demanded, almost angrily.
"Who is it?" Madam Hooch asked. "Which student?"
"Ginny Weasley." Professor McGonagall said.
Ron sunk to the floor of the wardrobe too.
"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow." Professor McGonagall said heavily. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said. . ."
I got to my feet. I had to go. I knew what I had to do. At that moment, the staffroom door banged open once more. It was Lockhart. I stepped out of the cabinet and closed the door behind me. None of the teachers noticed, they were all staring at his beaming face. I glared at him.
"So sorry- dozed off- what have I missed."
I felt so happy when Snape stepped forward, glaring at him with hatred. As a matter of fact, every teacher in the room from happy go lucky Professor Sprout to calm Madam Hooch were looking at him with hatred.
"Just the man." Snape said in his most hateful, oily voice. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."
Lockhart's naturally happy face blanched.
"That's right, Gilderoy. Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" Professor Sprout chipped in. I'd never seen such a mean expression on her face. Or such a spiteful tone.
"I- well, I-" Lockhart sputtered.
"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" Professor Flitwick said, his high-pitched voice higher because of his crying bout.
"D-did I? I don't recall-"
Snape stepped in for another round of bashing Lockhart. "I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested. Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"
Gilderoy looked around at his colleagues and realizing that none of his colleagues were going to help him said, "V-very well. I'll I'll be in my office, getting- getting ready." He left the room. The teachers still didn't look my way.
"If only he did know where the entrance was." Professor McGonagall said. "Right- Miss Kane!" She shrieked as she turned to look behind her, catching sight of me. "What are you doing here?"
Every teacher turned to look at me. I opened my mouth and then closed it. "Nothing?" I said. Then I walked past the teachers.
"Miss Kane!" Professor McGonagall said sharply. "Exactly where do you think you're going?"
I didn't stop walking until I reached the door. Then I turned and with a hard, steely voice said, "I'm going to kill a Basilisk." I then slammed the door closed and locked it behind me.