Moral Of The Story. Discontinued

XI. SECOND YEAR

The next day, Harry and Ron are visiting Hermione in the Hospital Wing again, Nova is no where to be seen; Harry 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.

"Where are you?" Remus asks.

Nova doesn't answer and looks down with tear in her eyes. Fred pulls his wife closer.

Harry: 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. 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] Ron, this is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked. [glances at the page and then back at Ron as he gets up] Come on! [Harry 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] 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.

Everyone gasps.

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.

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

Everyone starts looking around the hall.

Ron: Pipes? It's using the plumbing!

Harry: 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]

Professor McGonagall: [on the speakers] All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. [Ron glances at Harry in surprise, wondering what could be going on now] All teachers to the second floor corridor immediately.

Harry and Ron hurry to the second floor corridor. In the section where the bloody message is, Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey, and Filch run up to the wall, where Professor McGonagall directs their attention to a newly written message.