𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞 | h. granger

xxxiii | gildefraud lockhart

Hospital Wing

── •✧• ──

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘, 𝐑𝐎𝐍, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐇 went to the hospital wing to visit Dakota and Hermione the following evening. Harry sat down beside his cousin whilst Aliyah pulled up a chair beside Hermione. She sighed sadly as she looked between the two petrified girls.

Her brows furrowed when she saw something in Hermione's hand. It was a crumpled up sheet of paper that had been torn out of a textbook. She opened it up and scanned the page. "Boys. . .I think this was why Hermione and Dakota were in the library the day they were attacked." She stood up and hurried out of the hospital wing, Ron and Harry following behind her. She read from the page giving them information on a creature called the Basilisk. She put emphasis on the phrase spiders flee before it. "This is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk, and that's why only the Heir of Slytherin can control it."

"That's why I can hear it speak," Harry said, catching on. "It's a snake."

"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" Ron asked.

Aliyah immediately knew the answer. She explained to them that the petrified people had been seeing its eyes' reflection, which was why Hermione and Dakota were using the mirror. "'Spiders flee before it'," she reread. "It all fits."

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

Aliyah showed him the page and pointed to something written in the bottom right corner. "Hermione and Dakota have answered that, too."

"Pipes?" Harry frowned. "It's using the plumbing?"

"Remember what Aragog said about that girl 50 years ago that died in a bathroom? What if she never left? What if it's—"

"Moaning Myrtle," Ron finished the sentence. Aliyah nodded.

The P.A. system suddenly clicked on, and McGonagall's voice came out, "All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second floor corridor immediately."

The three glanced at one another before hurrying off to the second floor corridor to see what was going on. They hid behind a wall, holding their breaths as they listened to what McGonagall was saying.

"As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster into the chamber itself. The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."

Lockhart strutted up to the group of professors. "So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?"

Snape glared at him. "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last."

"Oh, that's just great," Aliyah muttered, scoffing. "The saving of this girl is being left in the hands of this complete moron. He couldn't even stop those pixies, let alone a monstrous snake."

"My moment?" Lockhart frowned. He almost sounded scared.

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

Lockhart didn't respond. He'd been caught in his web of lies.

"That's settled," McGonagall decided. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend."

Lockhart managed a convincing smile. "Very well. Uh, I'll just be in my office getting, uh. . .getting ready." He turned and walked away.

"Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?" Madam Pomfrey inquired.