The Basilisk

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hermione, etc.

Hermione reached for what seemed like the thousandth book. It fell open on her lap, emitting a foul smell that reeked throughout the library. She flipped through the almost-rotted pages one by one, ignoring the vile stench that now surrounded her. The pages each described vicious monsters, creatures unlovable to anyone other than Hagrid. With the speed and concentration that only she could achieve, Hermione read through the book, comparing each monster with the one that terrorized Hogwarts. What kind of creature petrified people? She thought she knew, but she couldn't be sure without proof. At last, she came to a page with a dirty picture of a menacing serpent. It was a basilisk. The fearsome beast could kill with a direct glance, and, she concluded, petrify with an indirect glance. Hermione grew excited with every new sentence. This creature died at the sound of a rooster's crow. Hadn't someone killed Hagrid's roosters? It made sense that the heir of Slytherin would have done it to protect the monster. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she had been right and the creature was a basilisk. It could talk to Harry in parseltongue, and would even be able to slither around the school using Hogwarts's intricate system of pipes. Hermione peered around the library shelf. Madame Pince was nowhere to be seen. Carefully, she tore the page describing the basilisk from the book and closed the ancient text shut. Interestingly enough, the smell vanished as soon as soon as she closed the book. As a note to herself, she scrawled the word pipes on the side of the page before folding the parchment and sliding it into the pocket of her robe.

Excited and relieved at her discovery, Hermione headed toward the library exit with the joy of knowing twinkling in her eyes. She hadn't gone two steps before she bumped into someone and fell. The girl she had bumped into was, by the looks of her badge, a prefect. Getting up, Hermione suddenly realized what her discovery meant. A basilisk, deadly at a glance, was roaming through the school using the pipes. All of Hogwarts lived in danger. She couldn't wait to tell Dumbledore; she'd have to warn everyone she met. She called out to the prefect who was already walking away.

"Excuse me!" The prefect turned around at her words.

"What is it?" She asked her, rather impatiently, Hermione thought.

"I've figured out what's been petrifying people," Hermione lowered her voice. It was, after all, a library. The girl looked at her somewhat skeptically.

"Really!" She said, "And what might that be?"

"A basilisk." Knowing that the girl wouldn't believe her, Hermione held out the library page. After reading it, the prefect's face paled in shock and fear.

"We should tell the headmaster," she decided. Hermione agreed.

"We'll go together, but first we need to protect ourselves. Do you have a mirror?"

"Why?"

"So that if we happen to meet the basilisk, it won't be with a direct glance." The other girl nodded, and pulled out a small mirror from her bag.

"We can use this." The two slowly made their way out of the library, neither taking her eyes off the little mirror. A few paces down the hall, they saw it. The basilisk. Hermione's fist tightened around her library book's page as the prefect dropped the mirror. In a matter of seconds, they were petrified.