REQUIEM - [h.p]

II; the chamber

| YEAR 2; CHAPTER SEVEN |
THE CHAMBER

     WHEN THE GROUP OF BOYS RETURNED, Harry and Ron Weasley were right behind them. The Gryffindors looked a bit peeved at the idea that their Golden Boy was fraternizing with a Slytherin, but they didn't say anything rather than just stare. As the three of them strolled down Hogwarts' halls, they kept their distance from the prying eyes of the other students.

Although, the longer they walked, the less students there were.

Ron was giving him an odd look, but Edwyn didn't bother trying to read into it. There was something with far more priority to focus on.

"What's the matter?" Harry eventually asked. The halls were barren, and the moon reflected eerily off the castle walls. They had come at a stop, and Edwyn hoped that no one would walk around the corner.

Edwyn inclined his head a bit. Glancing around the halls in caution before speaking. "The monster's a basilisk. Cedric's speaking with McGonagall right now, I'm sure that she can find some way to contact Dumbledore or help."

Shadows seemed to dance around the halls, and Edwyn struggled not to take another glance past his shoulder in paranoia. "A basilisk?" Harry asked. The boy somehow making his query both a question and a statement all at once.

"It adds up," Edwyn started. "A basilisk can kill you instantly with its stare. It's as deadly as all creatures come. Spiders run from it and it's a snake with supposedly yellow eyes."

"... But if it kills by looking people in the eye, then why is it that no one's dead?" Ron asked, opposition placed aside, it seems.

Edwyn thought for a moment, drawing a blank at the question—he hadn't thought of that. His eyes darted around the empty hall in search of something that would give him the answer he sought. "I—"

Harry glanced at the window before he turned around with wide eyes. "Because no one looked it in the eye..!. Not directly at least."

He looked to the side for a moment, taking in Harry's words with careful consideration. It certainly was possibly, but for each and every time? It was certainly a stretch. They moved forward again as Harry continued to explain.

"Collin saw it through his camera, Justin—was behind Nearly-Headless-Nick before it happened, and since Nick's a ghost, he can't die again... And Hermione! She had the mirror. I bet that she was looking at it to peek around corners!"

Ron gave a nervous laugh. "And Mrs Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Harry."

Stopping for just a moment, Harry stopped. His brows furrowed in concentration as he spoke slowly. "...The water. There was water on the floor that night; she just caught the Basilisk's reflection."

Ron nodded, finally opening up to Harry's view. They continued to wind their way through the halls until Ron had asked yet another question. "Then... how's the Basilisk been getting around? I mean, someone's got to notice some great, big snake slithering through the halls!"

Edwyn answered the question this time and responded hesitantly. "I think it was using the pipes to move around the school. Listen, guys, we should really wait for Professor McGonagall."

Ron looked at him but continued to move alongside Harry. The second half of Edwyn's words clearly not registering in the other's head. His eyebrows rose exponentially in a mix of surprise and disbelief. "T-the pipes?! So it's using the plumbing?!"

Harry nodded at Ron, stopping for a moment in the halls. "I think I have a theory. Remember what Aragog said about a girl fifty years ago?"

Edwyn chose Harry's brief pause to voice his thoughts, "Who's Aragog?"