Persephone Black

Chapter Eleven: The Attack

*CONTENT WARNING*

At breakfast on the day of the quidditch match, Persephone had made up her mind and decided to tell Draco about her encounter with Karkaroff. The news was startling, and luckily both cousins were early risers and had gone to breakfast alone that morning. Draco continued to interrogate about the party until other Slytherins joined the table. Looking quite disgruntled, and probably worried about the day ahead, he did not say much for the remainder of breakfast. The Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall to tremendous applause, and sat themselves down, trying to ignore the boos from the Hufflepuff table.

Persephone located Hermione Granger, who was seated next to Harry Potter, talking in a whispered voice. Ron Weasley was also there, and they huddled together away from the crowd, looking urgent in their discussion. To her great surprise, Persephone watched as Hermione sprung up from the table and rushed out of the Great Hall.

"Draco, she just left!" Persephone whispered, nudging her cousin.

"Follow her!" He looked up at the high table to see the professors getting ready to go down to the quidditch pitch, "go now, everyone is going to start to leave."
"Okay, she probably went to the library. You need to wait for me outside, so it looks like I didn't do anything."

Draco nodded, and as Persephone stood to leave the room, she made eye contact with Snape who had been looking at the pair intently. She nodded curtly and left the Great Hall. Making her way up to the second floor where she confirmed her suspicions of Hermione going to the library. She saw her bent over the counter, asking the librarian a question. Using the disillusionment charm, she felt a trickle of ice run down her back. Looking down at her hands, she noticed the stone pattern of the wall she was standing against. It had worked! Persephone moved onward, but stopped when a familiar voice filled her head, "kill, I will kill this time." She could sense the body of the snake moving through the pipes above her head. Someone had already set the basilisk loose. Running into the girl's bathroom, Persephone was surprised to find it empty. Whoever set the snake must have left already, she thought to herself. Thinking quickly, she closed her eyes, imagining the snake, and said, "go to the library, get the girl in the library." She repeated this sentence several times, hearing her voice echo around the bathroom, but there was no response.

The snake was roaming freely to someone else's commands, and Persephone had no way of stopping it. Then a horrible thought crossed her mind: Draco, he was waiting outside the library. What if he got petrified? She sped out of the bathroom and back toward the library, seeing Draco waiting outside. Relief spread through her body, and she grasped his hand, pulling him down the stairs.

"Did you do it?" He whispered.

"No. Don't talk about it," just as they reached the entrance hall, she made herself reappear, and McGonagall came walking toward them, Gilderoy Lockhart following behind.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Black, hurry down to the quidditch pitch with Professor Lockhart." Lockhart grinned and ushered a few more students out of the building before following Draco and Persephone.

Sweating slightly, Persephone wiped her brow and placed her hand on her wand, which was stowed in her pocket. It would be any second now. McGonagall would walk into the library to check for students, and she would find someone to be petrified. The question was: who? They continued to walk in silence. Draco seemed just as nervous as Persephone. Had they been too suspicious? They were two of the last people out of the building.

A horrified screech was heard from behind them, "Gilderoy! Stay here with the students, the match must be canceled."

Turning around they saw McGonagall running out of the castle, her hair streaming after her. The trickles of students stopped and turned to look at their professor. When she approached Lockhart, she held onto his hand, and said breathlessly, "two girls have been petrified. Madam Pince didn't see anyone enter. Keep the students here."