Spells and Visions; A Harry Potter story

Chapter 11: Answers

Lockhart would lead us to History of Magic, and he once again reassured us that the danger had passed after Hagrid had been taken away, and that it was really him who was the culprit. And that all these extra security measures were unnecessary.
To both Ron's and my surprise, Harry agreed with him.
"Thank you, Harry," Lockhart said. "We teachers have enough on our hands without walking students to their classes and doing night's patrol..."
"You're right," Ron said, getting what Harry was aiming at. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, I think we can walk to the next class ourselves, we have only one corridor to go."
"I think I might," Lockhart said. "I've got to prepare for my next class." And he left.
"Nicely done," I smirked. Neville heard it too. "Let's go talk to Myrtle."
We let the the rest of the class walk ahead of us, and then the four of us took a side passage to the bathroom of Moaning Myrtle.
But then we stumbled upon Professor McGonagall.
"What are you doing here?" she said angrily. I opened my mouth, but no good lie came to my tongue.
"Hermione," Harry said swiftly. "We haven't seen her in so long." I looked to Harry, I didn't know he could lie that well.
"We thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, to tell her the Mandrakes are almost ready..."
"Of course," McGonagall said with surprisingly much emotion. "This must be a hard time for you. Yes, you can visit miss Granger. I'll tell Professor Binns were you are. Tell Madam Pomfrey I gave you permission."

We quickly made our way to the hospital wing. We had no choice but to go, to tell Madam Pomfrey McGonagall had given us permission. We sat beside Hermione's bed and were silent for a moment.
Harry wasn't looking at Hermione's face, but at her right hand. She was clenching a piece of paper.
"Try to get it out," I said. It was not easy moving a Petrified hand, but eventually, Harry managed to get it out of her hand. It was a page from a library book.

Neville and I read over Harry's shoulder, and Ron leaned in too.

Of  the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or deadly than the Basilisk, also known as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its method of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.

Underneath the text Hermione had written one word: Pipes.
This answered so many questions.
"This is it," I said.
"The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk," Harry said. "It's a serpent, that's why I've been hearing those voices and no one else. I understand Parseltongue!"
"And no one has died from the stare of the Basilisk, because no one has looked it directly in its eye," I noted. "Colin looked through a camera, Justin looked through Nearly Headless Nick, who couldn't die again. Hermione and Penelope looked through the mirror."
"And mrs Norris?" Ron asked. I thought back about that.
"The water," Neville said slowly. "There was water on the floor, so mrs Norris must have seen its reflection in the water."
"That's brilliant!" I said to my brother.

"And my vision..." I said slowly. "The snake I saw must have been the Basilisk. But who could've been the boy?"
"Maybe the heir of Slytherin," Ron said.
"That makes sense," I said, nodding. "But who is it?"

"The Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it." Harry read again. "Hagrid had mentioned before that his roosters were killed. The heir of Slytherin must have done that, to prevent the Basilisk from being killed by their crowing!"
"And the spiders," I said. "They were fleeing, and Aragog didn't even want to talk about the Basilisk, because they are so scared of it!"
"Wow, everything makes sense now," Neville sighed.
"But what did Hermione mean with pipes?" Ron asked.
"Pipes..." Harry muttered. "Of course! The Basilisk couldn't walk unseen through the school, so it's been using the plumbing. That's why I've been hearing the voice inside the walls."
"What if- what if the water is coming from a bathroom?" Ron said with excitement. "What if the Chamber of Secrets is in a bathroom?"
"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?" I said.
"This means that I can't be the only Parseltongue, but the heir of Slytherin is one too! That's how they've been controling the Basilisk."