A Trio of Serpents

13: A Petrifying Halloween

Summary: Halloween.

It became a little easier after that, knowing that Hermione and Ron were trying to be as supportive as possible. They didn't treat Harry differently, but he noticed how they coaxed him to share what he was ready for with them. It was nice.

And it served as a good distraction to the strange voice. He didn't hear it again. At least not for a while. Besides, Halloween was coming; Harry was looking forward to attending the feast this time.

Throughout the afternoon before dinner, the Slytherins gathered around the fireplace, anticipating the hopefully troll-free feast that would soon take place. Harry and Ron were playing chess while Hermione scribbled away on a piece of parchment.

Sid was telling Jayson about a snake species that played dead. "It reminds me of you."

"How?"

"Because it will roll over to show just how dead it is. It likes the theatrics."

Jayson exchanged a look with Blaise, who shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment?"

"You're welcome." Sid flashed him a grin which Jayson returned by sticking his tongue out.

Harry looked between the pieces on the chessboard. He was absolutely rubbish at chess, but he thought he was doing at least better than last year. He moved his bishop, which was immediately taken out by Ron's knight. Or not.

"Bad luck," said Jayson, hanging over the couch. "You should've moved the other one. Or maybe the rook. It can afford to move over a square or two, I think. Or how about that pawn? You hadn't touched it yet. No, wait, the —"

"Thank you, Jayson. That was really helpful," Harry said even though he barely registered anything the other boy had said.

Finally, it was time for the feast. The Slytherins headed out to the Great Hall, which had been decorated for the holiday.

"At least there's no troll," Hermione said.

"Just you wait," Ron muttered. "The night's not over with yet."

"Don't jinx it," Harry said, dunking a piece of steak into his mashed potatoes.

Halfway through dessert, Ron looked at something past Harry. "Oh. There's Ginny. I was wondering where she was."

Harry turned to see Ginny approaching them, her head lowered.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked, but she didn't reply, just sank into a seat and began piling her plate. She looked very pale, though, and would only nibble at the edge of her food.

"Is she homesick?" Hermione said in a low voice.

"Could be," Ron replied. "But I don't think she'd be looking so sick. Maybe she's coming down with something."

Ginny certainly did look like she was ill. But before he could taking her to the hospital wing, something caught his attention.

'... rip... tear... kill...'

"That voice," Harry whispered.

Ron swung around to face him, his mind temporarily off Ginny. "Again?"

"What's it saying?" Hermione asked.

'... sooo hungry... for so long...'

The voice grew fainter until it was out of hearing range, but Harry had a terrible feeling about it. "Maybe we should tell the headmaster," he began.

"I don't know." Ron looked uneasy. "Hearing voices no one else can isn't a good sign, not even in the wizarding world."

Students were beginning to get up, blissfully full and unaware of anything gone wrong.

"Maybe we should wait until tomorrow," Hermione suggested. "Get some rest before tackling whatever it is Harry's hearing."

But things didn't quite go as planned.

They had barely stepped out of the Great Hall when silence fell. Pushing his way forward, Harry found himself staring up at a frozen Mrs. Norris. Above her, more horrifying, were the words:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Malfoy came up to stand next to him. His face was flushed with glee, not horror or fear.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

Harry stared at him with growing alarm. He knew something, Harry didn't know what. But he knew something.

Filch came running in. "What's going on here? What's going on?" His eyes fell on Mrs. Norris. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"

His popping eyes fell on the students who were unfortunate to be closest to the ominous message. "You! You murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll —"

"Argus!" Dumbledore appeared, and just in time, too; the poor students looked just as still as Mrs. Norris. "Come with me. Everyone else, to your dorms."

Harry slowly backed away, unable to remove his eyes from the foreboding words on the wall.

"Hey." Ron touched his arm. "We need to go."

Harry followed as if in a daze. When they reached the dungeons, he saw Malfoy eagerly talking to a group of Slytherins. His pale eyes sought out Hermione and he sneered. "You might want to keep an eye out, Granger. It might be you that's next."

It took the combined efforts of Harry, Hermione, and Sid to restrain Ron from lunging at Malfoy.

"To the dorm," said Harry, struggling to pull Ron away.

Ron ceased his struggles only once they reached the staircase.

Hermione started toward her own dorm. "I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said. Her head was held high, but Harry could see the fear she was trying to suppress.

Harry and Ron entered their dorm. Jayson was pacing back and forth, biting his nails.

Sid went over to him. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"Muggle-borns are in trouble, I can just feel it. Kyra has a friend who's a Muggle-born. What am I going to do if something happens to her?"

"Maybe you should write to your parents," Sid suggested.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's an idea... I'll write to them... tomorrow."

He was still muttering to himself as they all climbed into bed.

For several minutes, Harry couldn't sleep. It wasn't just Hermione that was in danger. Other Muggle-borns were as well, and even purebloods like Ron could still get hurt in the crossfire. What if someone got hurt? Or killed? What would happen then? Would Hogwarts shut down?

He forced his thoughts to cease. There was nothing he could do at that moment but sleep and deal with it tomorrow.

Everyone who saw the reflection of the basilisk's eyes: At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

(Forgot where I first saw this meme/shitpost)