Riddle Me This

Chapter 14

Catherine's POV

About a month later, Hermione was out of the hospital. I was happy to be back to studying with her. We caught up and talked and tried to find out what was really going on.

I had been walking through the halls with Daphne when McGonagall came walking towards me with Harry and Ron in toe.

"Miss. Smith, come with me." I nodded, said goodbye to Daphne, and followed McGonagall to the Hospital Wing. On the bed was Hermione, and she had been petrified. I nearly screamed.

"No, no this can't be happening. This has to be another nightmare." I stood next to her, grabbing her hand that was outstretched and must have been holding the mirror McGonagall showed us.

Later that night, Snape came into the Slytherin common room and read off new rules. Six o'clock curfews for every student, being escorted by a teacher all around the building, and that there were no exceptions. Draco seemed annoyed, but when he saw how shaken up I was, he mellowed a bit.

"Cat?" Pansy asked as she turned to me, my mind not really on my homework. "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you hear? Granger's been petrified by that monster." Goyle said. "Shame she isn't dea-"

"Shut up!" I screamed, though by the looks on their faces, it wasn't in English, but I didn't care, Goyle looked like he was about to soil his pants. I took a deep breath before speaking again, making sure everyone could understand me. "Hermione's my best friend, so you'd be wise to watch your tongue. If I ever find out who opened the chamber and sent this thing after Hermione, expulsion will be the last thing they need to worry about."

"W-What do you mean by that?" Crabbe asked. I gave a dark, murderous smile.

"I mean that puking up slugs will seem like a slap on the wrist when I'm through with them." I turned back to my homework, and finished quickly, though correctly, and then closed my books. "I'm headed to bed now." I stated as I stood. "Good night." Draco grabbed my arm quickly before pulling me to the stairs.

"Are you alright, Smith?" He asked as he cast a glance out to the other students to make sure they didn't hear us, though with my previous outburst, I doubt they would.

"No, Draco. I'm not. Hermione's been attacked. And I don't know how to stop it." I clenched my fists as a tear ran down my face. "I just wish this was all a dream. A horrendous nightmare that I'll wake up from, but it just doesn't happen." I didn't mean to throw myself into his arms and cry, but Draco, after acting complete horrified that a girl would actually bury their face in his chest in search for comfort, gently wrapped his arms around me and pet my back.

"Everything will be fine, Smith. They... They'll find who did this... and Granger will be fine." Draco said, though he sounded uncertain. But the fact he said Hermione would be fine made me feel better. I pulled back and smiled, whispered a soft thank you, and headed to bed.

The next day I went with Ron and Harry to visit Hermione. Harry found a piece of parchment in her hand, and told us he knew why Hermione was in the library when she was attacked.

We headed out as Harry read to us. The parchment was a page out of a book and spoke of the Basilisk, a snake that spiders fled from and who died at the rooster's call, and he explained why no one's dead yet. And Hermione had given us the answer on how the giant reptile moved through the school. The pipes. And that the girl who had died the first time the chamber had opened, maybe never left the bathroom she died in.

"No wonder I hear voices at random." I said, the two looked at me like I was strange. "I've been hearing whispers for most of the year, in parseltongue. I wasn't sure how I could be, but now I do. There's been a snake going around, attacking people through the plumbing."