Anxiety [hp]

- 2.14

[The next day, Harry, Jasper, and Ron are visiting Hermione in the Hospital Wing again; Harry takes the old dried up flowers out of the vase next to Hermione's bed, puts in some new white flowers (most likely roses), then sits on the bed.]

Harry: Wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever.

Ron: If Jasper's throat wasn't hurting from all the screaming last night, he probably would've said something like 'Avery seriously could use your help right now'. [Jasper nodded]

"The not talking helped me out with my secret plan." Jasper muttered to his girlfriend.

"I still hate you for not letting me in on it." Avery huffed.

Jasper rolled his eyes, "It benefited us for the next school year, so stop complaining!"

[Hermione just lays there with her glossy facial expression as Ron sighs sadly. Harry rubs Hermione's left hand; feeling something in it, he looks down and removes his hand to discover a crumpled up piece of paper, a library book page, which he carefully removes and straightens out.]

Ron: [glancing at the page] What's that?

Harry: [examining the page] Jasper, Ron, this is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked. [glances at the page and then back at his friends as he gets up] Come on! [Harry, Jasper, and Ron walk through the corridor as Harry reads from the page] "Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it..." [looking up at Ron and Jasper] Guys, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why we can hear it speak, Jasp. It's a snake.

"Even petrified she's helping your arses." Evan chuckled.

Ron: [processing the information they just read] But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?

Harry: [thinking for a few seconds then looking at the window] Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least. [they walk along as they go over how each of the victims were petrified] Colin saw it through his camera. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost. He couldn't die again. And Hermione... had the mirror. I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners in case it came along.

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

Jasper: [thinking about how Mrs. Norris got petrified, then remembering and croaked] The water... There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection.

Destiny cringed, "Oh, honey your voice sounds horrible."

[Ron nods; Harry takes another look at the page, then walks to a nearby torch to more easily read the page, running his finger along it as he reads]

Harry: "Spiders flee before it." It all fits.

Ron: But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake, someone would've seen it.

Harry: [as he, Jasper, and Ron glance at the bottom of the page where the word "Pipes" is written] Hermione's answered that, too.

Ron: Pipes? It's using the plumbing!

Jasper: [straining his voice] Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago, she died in a bathroom? What if she never left?

Ron: Moaning Myrtle. [Harry nods] And Jasp, stop talking. [Jasper smacks his teeth]