All I Have Left

Chapter Twenty Five

Harry and Ronald told me all about what happened last night. They told me how Hagrid has been sent to Azkaban, how Dumbledore is being fired, how Aragog told them Hagrid was innocent and then tried to kill them and how they barely got away.

Today we decided to visit Hermione again. We know she can't hear or see us, but we miss her and just want to see her. I met up with them after breakfast so we could visit her.

We walked to the Hospital Wing in silence, but it wasn't awkward. We were all just worried about Hermione, but I feel she'll be okay. When we arrived, I knocked on the door. Madam Pomfrey opened it, but frowned when she saw us.

"There's no point in talking to a petrified person. She won't understand a word you're saying." She tells us. Ronald shifts in his spot uncomfortably and I frown. Ronald looks up at Madam Pomfrey.

"We know, Madam Pomfrey. It's just, well, you see, we thought maybe we could... be with her for a bit. She's our... friend, you see, and... even if she can't hear us... I mean, it can't hurt, can it?" Ronald stutters nervously.

I would've laughed at this, but with the current mood I was in, I couldn't crack a smile.

"Very well, then. But be quick about it." She tells us, a flicker of sympathy in her eyes.

She lets us in and I run to Hermione's side. Ronald and Harry follow behind me as I kneel down next to her bed. Ronald picks up Lockhart's get well card and studies it. He looks at Harry and I with a curious face.

"You don't think Lockhart could be the heir of Slytherin, do you?" Ronald asks us. I look at him and scoff, and he shakes his head. "Right. Forget I said it."

I hold Hermione's hand and look at her sadly.

"Wish you were here, Hermione." I mumble under my breath.

Harry kneels down on her other bedside and Ronald kneels down next to me, rubbing my back comfortably.

"We need you, now more than ever." Harry whispers. Harry then touches her hand, but pulls out a paper from inside of it.

We exit the Hospital Wing and enter a corridor. Harry, Ronald and I duck in an alcove, and Harry takes out the crinkled piece of paper that was in Hermione's hand. It was torn directly out of a library book. Ronald is still rubbing my back as Harry reads the writing out loud.

"Of many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk. Capable for living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits anyone who meet the giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it and only the crowing of a rooster can kill it."

I look up at my two friends with wide eyes as they still comprehend what the paper had said.

"Do you guys know what this means?" I ask the two of them, who both shake their heads. "The Basilisk is the monster in the Chamber of Secrets. It's a snake, which is why Harry and I can hear it talking."

Ronald looks at me confused. "But if whoever it looks in the eye dies, then how come no one is dead?"

I think about it for a moment before realizing.

"Because no one looked it directly in the eye. You see, Colin saw it through his camera, so he was only petrified. Justin must've seen it through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost. He can't die again. Hermione must've looked at it through the mirror. She was being smart, she was probably using it to look around the corners in case it came."

Harry nods in understanding, but Ronald still looked confused.

"Mrs. Norris? She didn't have a camera or a mirror, and she was only petrified." Ronald says. I think for a moment before answering.