Year Two: The Secret of Slytherin

Part 17

Anne could barely contain her stifled sobs as she relayed to what she had been doing prior to the double attack. Professor McGonagall listened to her intently but was disappointed that she had not seen the attacker.

"I don't suppose you can explain why Miss Granger had this mirror with her?" McGonagall indicated to the small circular mirror that had fallen from Hermione's frozen hand.

Sniffling, Anne shook her head.

"Very well. I shall inform Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley of this terrible misfortune," said McGonagall heavily. "I know this is a terrible shock to you but Miss Granger will be back to normal once the Mandrakes are ready. If you can think of anything else that you saw or heard, please let me know. Professor Snape will escort you back to your dormitory."

"Come along, Miss Borden," said Snape, showing no hint of emotion.

Anne goes along after him only to look back briefly watching Hermione and the Ravenclaw girl  being moved out of the library onto levitating stretchers.

"All students will return to their House common rooms by six o' clock every evening. No student is to leave their dormitories after that time. Each of you will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are postponed until further notice. There will be no more evening activities."

The Slytherins packed inside the common room listened to Snape in silence.

"Professor, is it true that there's been a double attack?" one Slytherin girl asked.

"Yes. It was a Ravenclaw prefect and another Gryffindor," Snape answered grimly. "In the meantime, I strongly advise all of you to not leave this common room until further notice. Is that understood?"

Two days later, Harry, Anne, and Ron were making their way to the hospital wing to visit Hermione. Even thought they were suppose to be heading back to their dormitories after dinner, they wanted to see their petrified friend.

The boys told Anne about their visit to Hagrid who had unexpectedly been taken away by the Minister to Azkaban; Dumbledore had been suspended from his position; and their trip into the Dark Forest.

"I don't know what you two were thinking?! Brave or foolish you sure know how to get yourselves in trouble! I'm surprised that once again you didn't get yourselves killed!" Anne admonished. "Was there anything else you learned?" 

"We know one thing. Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent," said Harry quietly.

"I knew it! I always knew he was innocent! But now we're back to square one. We still don't know who the heir is," she stated.

Madam Pomfrey let them in reluctantly.

"There's no point in talking to a petrified person," she said, and they had to admit she had a point when they'd taken their seats nest to Hermione. It was plain to see that Hermione didn't have the faintest inkling that she had visitors, and that they might just as well tell her bedside cabinet not to worry for all the good it would do.

"Wish you were here, Hermione. We need you more than ever," Harry muttered, grasping her stiff hand. As he held her hand, he noticed a piece of paper clutched in her wrist.

Ron noticed it too. "What's this?"

"Oh my gosh!" Anne gasped out loud. "Hermione and I meant to show you that piece of paper. I totally forgot about it!"

 The boys looked at her puzzled but managed to get the scrap of paper out from Hermione's hand.

The three of them quickly left the hospital wing.

"We know what it is that's been attacking people around the school!" Anne exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Read what it says. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk. A giant snake! Harry, that explains why you can hear it!"

Harry and Ron read the torn page in disbelief. It was as though somebody had just flicked a light on in their brains.

"If this basilisk kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" Ron asked skeptically.

"Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly at least," Harry answered as he, Anne, and Ron looked at their reflections in a window pane in the corridor. Immediately, he thought about the people who had been attacked. "Colin saw it through his camera. Justin.... Justin must have seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it--but he's a ghost---he couldn't die again. And Hermione--"

"The mirror!" Anne interrupted. "I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners, in case it came along. She and that Ravenclaw girl saw it in the mirror."

"And Mrs. Norris?" said Ron eagerly. "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror."

"The water..." Anne said slowly. "There was water on the floor that night. She must have seen its reflection in the water."

"There's one thing I don't understand. How's the basilisk been getting around? A giant snake---someone would have seen it," said Ron.

Anne pointed at the word Hermione had scribbled on the page. "Hermione's answered that, too."

"It's been using the plumbing!"

"Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom," Harry mentioned. "What if she never left?"

Anne immediately knew the answer to that. "Moaning Myrtle!"

They all stood there excitement coursing through them, hardly able to believe it.