Draco Malfoy and the Chamber of Secrets (BOOK 2 of 7)

Chapter 11-The Diary and the Snake

Someone stomped their way to the stalls and there was a large noise followed by a wail. Moaning Myrtle's wail. There were a few loud sobs and footsteps leading away.

Myrtle screamed and there was the sound of water sloshing. In the next minute, the whole bathroom was flooded. Draco was about to emerge from his stall and go back to the common room when the main door opened once more.

He heard Myrtle wail, "Come to throw something else at me?"

"Why would I want to throw something at you?" Draco recognized this voice as Potter's.

"Don't ask me! Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me."

"But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you," said what sounded like Weasley. "I mean, it'll just go right through you."

Draco almost snickered when he remembered: a), he was hiding in a stall in a girls' lavoratory, and b), this was Weasley.

"Sure!" Myrtle said sarcastically. "Let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it! Ten points if you get through her stomach! Fifty points if it goes through her head!"

"But, who threw it at you, anyway?" Potter asked.

"I don't know. I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell through the top of my head." She screamed and flew into her stall again.

Draco had now levitated himself while they were talking and could just barely see Potter walk over to a book on the floor and pick it up before leaving. Draco didn't need to see that book again because he was sure that the book was Tom Riddle's diary.

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It was a Saturday, and although the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match would start in an hour, Draco had excused himself to the library to figure out what the monster was. He started by looking in the Magical Creatures Section and found Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. After skimming for at least fifteen minutes, he found nothing. He kept looking for books and found Most Macabre Monstrosities so he reached for it...and so did another hand.

Granger again. "Why do I keep crashing into you?" she groaned.

Draco ignored her and grabbed the book.

"Hey! I need that!"

"For what?" Draco asked. "Snooping?"

"Then what do you need it for?"

"Life saving. Oh, wait. Your perfect friends told me to stop doing that. Oh well."

Draco walked away from her and sat down at one of the tables, flipping pages until her found something.

Basilisk.

Draco had never heard of a Basilisk before, but before he could read on, he was interrupted again.

"What do you want?" Draco spat at her.

"Why are you reading that?"

"I don't need to explain reading to you."

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Since she wasn't going away, Draco asked her if she knew what a Basilisk was.

"A what?"

Draco read:

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also 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 methods 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."

"So is this what's been Petrifying things?" Granger asked.

"It seems so. I can't think of anything else."

"Well, I thought it would kill anyone that looked at it."

"None of the Petrified looked directly at it, did they? The cat saw the reflection and that camera chap saw it through the camera. I can't remember who else has been Petrified."

"So that's why Harry can hear the voice. The Basilisk is a snake."

"Good job, Granger. But how has it been getting around?"

"Hmm, it's got to be using the plumbing. There's no other way. Let me see the book again."

She went to snatch it from Draco.

"Ah-ah-ah. Hold it right there. I'm still looking. Spiders flee before it? That doesn't make sense."

"Before Harry, Ron, and I saw Flich's cat, there were many spiders heading out the window."

"Okay."

"What else did the book say?" She tried to snatch it again and grabbed one end of the book.

"Granger, if you don't stop, you're going to...rip it." Draco said the last two words after Granger had already done the action. The girl got out a quill and some ink, and wrote "pipes" on the page she'd torn out.

Suddenly, there was a hissing sound.

"Granger, quick!" Draco said. "Do you have a mirror?"

"A mirror?"

"Hurry! Use it to look around all corners."

When she'd found a mirror in her bag, she asked Draco, "What about you?"

"I'm going to hide." With that he left. He hid behind a bookshelf and when he carefully peeked, he saw a great snake slither out of a hole in the wall that wasn't there before. The Basilisk turned its head and Draco quickly closed his eyes and knelt so he couldn't be seen. Draco didn't know how much time had passed, but there was a clatter and a hiss before Draco got the courage to raise his head again. Thankfully, the snake had gone, but what stood in front of Draco was astounding.

Ginny Weasley was directly in front of the wall where the snake had disappeared and by the looks of it, the hole in the wall was gone too. And where exactly did Weaslette come from? He watched as she walked into the wall and was gone.

Draco blinked.

Then he blinked again.

Then he rubbed his eyes and found Granger sprawled across the floor, still as a statue, the mirror in one hand, the page clutched in the other. Quickly, he levitated the girl to the Hospital Wing.

Almost at once, Madam Pomfrey rushed forward to ask what had happened, and Draco, a hater of storytelling, had to explain. Soon after, Professor McGonagall came into the infirmary.

"Malfoy," she said, "what, may I ask, are you doing here?"

"I brought Granger in," Draco answered. "I expect they'll want to know what happened. If you'll excuse me now, I must go to the Quidditch game, where I have been this entire time!" Draco emphasized that last bit to ensure that McGonagall didn't repeat anything to Potter and his pet.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy," the professor started, "I'm afraid that there will be no more Quidditch matches seeing as this is much more serious than we thought. Now, I suggest that you go up to your common room and wait for further instructions."

Draco nodded, but then double back as was about to leave the infirmary. "Cancel Quidditch?"

"I am sorry Mr. Malfoy, but this has been going on for far too long."

Draco merely nodded and headed to the common room.

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