snake in the lions den|| WTM

seventeen

The next day, Ada and Ron are visiting Hermione in the Hospital Wing again; Ada takes the old dried up flowers out of the vase next to Hermione's bed, puts in some new white flowers, then sits on the bed."Wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever."Hermione just lays there with her glossy facial expression as Ron sighs sadly. Ada rubs Hermione's left hand; feeling something in it, she looks down and removes her hand to discover a crumpled up piece of paper, a library book page, which he carefully removes and straightens out.

"I still can't believe that you ripped out a page from a book." Ada says knowing her friend hates anything that happens to a book. "I know, it was a difficult task but it had to be done." Hermione says sadly causing people to look at her with amusement.

Ron glances at the page "What's that?"

"Ron, this is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked." She glances at the page and then back at Ron as he gets up "Come on!" Ada and Ron walk through the corridor as Ada 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..." She finishes reading looking up at Ron. "Ron, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake."

"I'm sorry a snake that can kill you by looking it in it's eyes lived in Hogwarts since the founders and no one knew what it was?" Remus says in disbelief and shock. 50 years ago the chamber was opened and they thought Hagrid was the cause, but did no one follow up after he was expelled. They just let the monster stay for events to repeat themselves.

"I don't get why everyone in Hogwarts it so stupid, no offence, well to some of you, but my beautiful Monie figured it out in her second year, not one teacher managed to do what she did." Ada rants. A lot of the teachers look down in shame knowing that she was right. Hell some of the teachers didn't even try to figure out what the monster was.

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

Ada starts thinking for a few seconds then looking at the window seeing her refection. "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."

"And Mrs. Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Ada."

She thinks about how Mrs. Norris got petrified, then remembering "The water... There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection." Ron nods; Ada takes another look at the page, then walks to a nearby torch to more easily read the page, running her finger along it as she reads. "Spiders flee before it. It all fits."

"But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake, someone would've seen it."Ada and Ron glance at the bottom of the page where the word "Pipes" is written "Hermione's answered that, too." She slightly smiles, they really would be lost if it wasn't for Hermione.

"Pipes? It's using the plumbing!"

"Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago, she died in a bathroom? What if she never left?"

Ron thinks for a second "Moaning Myrtle."

"Ha! I was right." Blaise says with a triumphant smile as Draco shakes his head.