Something sparked in Hermione, and she ran off to check the library. That was around lunch, it is now dinner and she isn’t back yet. The boys went to the common room to get ready for our trip to Hagrid’s tonight, while I went to check on Hermione. I had made it one corner from the library, when I found her. She and a Hufflepuff student were lying petrified on the floor. Not sure what to do I quickly wrote a note to Professor Dumbledore, folded it into a paper crane then placed a spell on it to fly to him.
I waited several minutes guarding their bodies until he arrived. “Miss Saint, thank you for sending your message. Help me get them to the infirmary and then you need to go tell Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley.” Using a hover charm, Dumbledore and I floated the two up to the hospital wing.
As I laid Hermione into a bed I saw Professors McGonagall and Snape, fussing over something small he was carrying. I quietly got closer to have a look. “Why would she have been petrified? Up until now whoever is doing this has only gone after Muggleborns. Of course I am not saying that is right, but it deviates from its motive of operation.”
“I don’t know, I just found Miss Saint in the hallway and brought her here. She will be ok won’t she?”
“Yes she will, Madame Sprout is just about done with the mandrake potion and we will be able to wake her up soon.”
“Professors, I am really touched that you care so much about us students, but if you will look around the neck, there is a mark missing proving that it is not me.” I said from behind them.
When I said me they turned around and stared at me in shock and relief. “If it is not you then who is it?” Professor Snape asked as McGonagall grabbed me in a tight hug.
As she released me I caught a glimpse of Snape and he seemed to be resisting the same urge to do so himself, “I believe it is just a regular kitten. A Ravenclaw received her as a birthday present a week ago.” I said as I kept glancing at Snape.
Satisfied with my explanation, he handed over the kitten and left after he regained his composure. “If you are alright, why are you here Miss Saint?”
“I’m sorry professor, but a few minutes ago I found two more students petrified. Professor Dumbledore and I just brought them up here. One was a Hufflepuff and the other…was Hermione Granger.”
“No, do the boys know yet? I am so sorry.” She said as she gave me another hug.
“No, I am supposed to go tell them right now, but I heard you speaking with Snape and decided to wait a few minutes.”
“Thank you, run along and inform the boys.”
I ran the common room and relied the information to Harry and Ron. We were even more determined to see Hagrid now that a close friend was lying in a hospital bed. Once everyone was in bed the three of us headed out underneath the cloak.
When we knocked on Hagrid’s door and removed the cloak, he answered it with a cross bow pointed at our heads. “What is that for Hagrid?” Harry asked a little worried.
“Oh it’s you three. I- I was expecting someone else. Git in ‘ere afor yer caught.” He said lowering the crossbow and shooing us inside.
“Who were you expecting if you need a crossbow?” I asked taking a seat by the fire and petting Fang.
“Ne’er mind that, what are you three doing down ‘ere? Wit’ ev’ything goin’ on you shouldn’t be outside of the castle at night.” He scolded as he started making tea and setting out cups.
“We came to ask you something, about the Chamber of Secrets. You were here the last time it was opened weren’t you?” Harry asked gently not wanting to upset him any more then he already seemed to be.
“Why do you ask that? Even if I was I shouldn’t tell you about it.” Hagrid said becoming defensive.
“We don’t have much time if he is expecting company, Hagrid I hate to be rude, but we need to know your side of the story. We know Tom Riddle accused you of being the one to open the Chamber and set a spider loose, we also know you didn’t do it. Do you know who did? Or anything about the Chamber that could help us?” I said cutting through the bush instead of around it.
“I didn’t do it, and neither did Aragog! That twit Riddle never did like me and used the girl’s death to get rid of me. I’m sorry but I have no information for you.” He said as he looked out the window. “Quick! Hide!” He said, and the three of us went to a far corner, throwing the invisibility cloak over us just as there was a knock on the door.
“Professor Dumbledore and Minister Fudge, please come in.” Hagrid said spreading his arm wide for the two visitors to come in.
“That’s Cornelius Fudge, Dad’s boss.” Ron whispered when he got a good look at the short rotund wizard with the tall Dumbledore.
“Evening Hagrid, sorry to intrude but we needed to speak with you.” Dumbledore said as he looked around the room, and for a split second he seemed to be staring right at the three of us.
“It’s all right Professor, would you like some tea?” He offered as he nervously picked up his tea kettle.
“Ah no thank you Hagrid. I am regretfully here to do more than visit. I am afraid that I have to take you with me.” Fudge said rather timidly as he looked up at Hagrid.
“Cornelius, is that really necessary? I trust Hagrid, I know he would never harm a student, let alone petrify them.”
“I’m sorry Albus, but I must do something. I have parents and media breathing down my neck. He must come with me at least until we can sort this out.”
Hagrid stood up, “Take me where? You can’t mean Azkaban prison.”
Fudge removed his green bowler hat and looked down regretfully, “I am afraid I do. Please understand, that if it were up to me I would not be here to take you away but everyone is demanding I do something and until we figure out who is doing this, it is the only other option.”
There was another knock on the door and Professor Dumbledore answered it as he was the closest, “Lucius Malfoy, how may I help you?”
“I’ve come to speak with you, ah Cornelius you are already here? That is great.” The man said as he entered the hut. He must be Malfoy’s father.
“What do you need?” Dumbledore asked as he shut the door and turned to him.
“By order of the Governors of Hogwarts, I am here to relieve you of your duty as headmaster.” Lucius said with a slight smile and handing over a piece of parchment.
“What do you mean relieve him of his duty, you cannot do that. That is my job not yours.” Fudge said as he took the piece of parchment from Dumbledore and read it over.
“Actually Cornelius, we can if we believe the headmaster is not fit for duty. The way students are being petrified left and right, and nothing being done about it…well we just think it would be best to find someone else who can do a better job.”
“There is no one be’r for the job than Professor Dumbledore! If you take him away who is going to be here to protect the students?” Hagrid asked angrily.
“He doesn’t seem to be doing a good job of that right now.” He continued to smirk.
Before Dumbledore could rebuke, Hagrid took a few steps forward “Get out of my house! NOW!”
“You call this a house? Oh my.” Lucius looked around disgusted. I wanted so badly to send a curse his way but that would give us away and get us into trouble.
Hagrid looked as if he was going to rip the man to shreds but Dumbledore stopped him, and speaking a little loudly said, “It’s all right Hagrid, I will go quietly if it will please the Governors, but help will always be given at Hogwarts for those who ask of it.”
Everyone had a puzzled look on their faces but didn’t comment on his words or the fact that he was staring straight at seemingly nothing but a corner of the room.
When Fudge regained his composure he looked up at Hagrid and asked, “Do you have anything you would like to say before we go?”
“Nothin’ but if anyone wanted to find somethin’ all they would have to do is follow the spiders.” He said also rather loudly again confusing Fudge and Lucius. “Oh and someone will have to feed Fang while I’m away. That’s all.”
“Alright let’s go.” Fudge said as the four of them left the hut, we inched forward slowly so we could watch out the window. When they were out of sight we took the cloak back off.
“What are we going to do now? They took the one person we could ask for information and the school’s best protector. We are truly alone on this one.” Ron said having a little meltdown.
“You heard Hagrid, if we want information we need to follow the spiders. I am not sure about Dumbledore’s advice, since he couldn’t have known we were here but I think he means some of the other teachers will be willing to help us if we just ask them.” I said gathering some food for Fang, and making sure he had some water for the night.
“Follow the spiders where?” Harry asked looking around for any spiders, but could find nothing but cobwebs, a sign that they were here but had long left.
“Not sure on that part, I bet there are tons in the castle. We can look for them tomorrow. We need to get back to our dormitories soon.” I said noticing it was getting really late. “And it’s not like we haven’t been through something like this alone before. Last year we faced down Lord Voldemort without him.”
“She has a point Ron, we can figure this out and we can prove that people are wrong about both Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore. We need to get sleep, we are going hunting tomorrow.” Harry said as he went around blowing out lanterns and putting out the fire.
“Let’s go. Be good fang.” I said as we gathered under the cloak and headed off to bed.
“This is near to impossible.” I said as we were searching for spiders, three weeks later. “It has almost been a month and not a single spider anywhere.
“We can’t give up. Maybe we should go visit Hermione and take our minds off the siders for a few minutes.” Harry said trying to keep our spirits up.
It is a gloomy scene walking into the infirmary. Over half of the beds are full with students, a couple of cats and a ghost all petrified with no chance of waking up until Professor Sprout finishes the mandrake potion. We wandered over to Hermione’s bed and sat down next to her.
Not sure if she could hear us or not, we explained everything that was happening and where we were with classes. Soon Madam Pomfrey was trying to get us to leave and we each touched her hand in a way to say goodbye, Ron found something. He gently pulled it out of her fist, “It’s a piece of paper.”
Harry took it and unfolded it, as he started reading he said, “Guys time to go.” We left the hospital wing, and once we were sure we were alone he stopped and explained what Ron had found. “Hermione has figured out part of our dilemma! A Basilisk, a giant snake that produces very deadly venom and can kill with a look into its eyes. Spiders flee before it, and the crow of a rooster can kill it.”
“That explains why we can’t hear it but you can. Harry, this is the voice you have been hearing all year! Spiders don’t like it, which is why Hagrid told us to follow the spiders, I bet Aragog is still alive somewhere and he wants us to check on him. Didn’t you say that Hagrid came in complaining that all of his Roosters had been killed one day? Whoever is doing this wanted to make sure the Basilisk was safe.”
“It can’t be a Basilisk, no one has seen it. I think someone would notice a giant snake roaming around the castle. Plus no one is dead, they have just been petrified. I think Hermione got it wrong this time.” Ron said doubting Hermione’s capabilities.
“No look, she wrote down the word Pipes, I bet it uses them to get around. Which makes sense, as I hear the voice in the walls.” Harry explained pointing out the word on the page. “Spiders flee before it, we cannot find a single spider in the castle. It all fits.”
“How is it that no one has died yet?” Ron asked still trying to disprove the theory.
“Maybe no one looked at it directly. Remember Hermione had a mirror with her, I bet when she found this she was using it to look around corners and saw its reflection…Justin must have seen it through Nearly Headless Nick! Since he is a ghost he cannot be killed twice.” I said thinking of how it would be possible.
“But what about the others, and Mrs. Norris? I am sure they didn’t have a mirror or a ghost just happened to be floating by.”
“Water! There was water on the floor where Mrs. Norris was found. She probably seen the reflection in the water and a couple of the others were near windows or a suit of polished armor.” Harry explained.
“Ok, now we know the what, but we still need to find the who and the where.” I said looking at the paper to see if there were any more clues Hermione might have left for us.
As we headed down to dinner thinking about the new information, I just had an idea when we ran into Percy. “I am glad I found you three. Dinner is going to be served in the common room tonight. There has been another petrification and we are having some added security measures announced.”
“Who has been attacked Percy?” I asked upset that even though we had been loaded with more information than before we are quickly running out of time.
“Brace yourselves, but this latest attack has been on Deputy Headmaster Professor McGonagall. She was found by a sixth year near a girls’ bathroom. The one Moaning Myrtle frequents, she had flooded the floor again and poor professor was found lying in water.”
“Thank you Percy, we will head straight for the common room.” I said as I grabbed the boys’ arms and turned them around. I kept looking back to make sure Percy was gone, and once he was out of sight I steered the boys down a deserted corridor. “We have to get to a professor and tell them what we know. If we can get all the students into their common rooms and find the entrance we can stop anyone else from being attacked.”
“But we don’t know where to look for the entrance.” Ron had said.
“Ron, you are full of a lot of negativity tonight, do you know that? Besides I have an idea, Tom told us that a girl was killed here fifty years ago by the snake, what if that girl never left?” I asked looking at the two of them to see who would get it first.
“Moaning Myrtle! She died in the bathroom she haunts.” Harry exclaimed, “I bet the entrance is in there somewhere. No one would ever think to look in a bathroom. Come one we have got to find a professor.”
As we headed towards the teacher’s lounge, we saw them gathering outside and talking very animatedly. I whispered to the boys, “Be quiet and wait here.” I quickly shifted and edged closer so I could hear what they were talking about.
“This is it, a teacher has been petrified and a student taken. Hogwarts is doomed to close now.” Madam Pomfrey wept.
“We will not close, we must get the students into their common rooms then look for the Chamber of Secrets.” Professor Snape said, awkwardly patting Pomfrey’s shoulder.
“Where do we start?” Professor Lockhart asked shakily.
“We were hoping you would tell us. Haven’t you been saying for months you know where the entrance is? Since you are the best man for the job why don’t you go down and retrieve the girl while we gather the students.” Snape said as he folded his arms.
“A-a-yes, yes just let me go prepare. Which student did you say it was again?” Lockhart asked becoming more nervous by the minute.
“Ginny Weasley. She is a redheaded first year.” Snape said describing Ginny, “She was taken a little while ago.”
I ran back to the boys to deliver the bad news. “I am sorry Ron, but we need to catch up to Lockhart. He has no clue what he is doing and Ginny is in danger.”
We ran down the hall into Lockhart’s office, to find a most disturbing scene. Lockhart was frantically packing his trunks and preparing to leave. When we entered he started babbling about receiving an urgent owl and he must be off. “But you are the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher! You should be the one to help us get my sister back.” Ron pleaded.
“I am sorry about your sister, but I am needed in another country on a more pressing matter.”
“What is more pressing than saving a school full of children?” I asked getting mad at him, “You are a fraud! You are running scared, from something that should be a piece of cake for you, if the books are to be believed.”
“That’s where the magic is Miss Saint, I never did do any of those things. Other witches and Wizards did the real work. All I did was what I do best, erase their memories and reap the rewards…speaking of I am going to have to erase your memories now. I can’t have you running around and divulging my secret to anyone.” He said as he went for his wand.
As he was reaching he took his eyes off of us for a split second to look at a picture of himself on the wall, and all three of us drew our wands. “I don’t think you are going anywhere Professor Lockhart, except with us.” Harry said.
“Come now children, you cannot attack a teacher.”
“We do not look at it as an attack, you threatened us we chose to fight back. So you are coming with us into the Chamber to save Ron’s sister, or we will let Ron curse you and you know his wand is broke so there is no telling what curse would actually land on you.” I said walking closer to him, so I could get behind him and push him forward.
“How do three second years even know the location to the Chamber of Secrets, if the greatest witches and wizards could not even find it?”
“Unlike you, we are not dumb. We know how to pay attention to those around us.”