The train passed through the forest like a snake ready for its kill. Silently it passed unnoticed and swift. It was heading towards a very well known school and it was packed with nosiy students ready to enter its great building.
"I'm hungrrrrrryyyyyy" A blonde curly haired girl complained
Her friend looked at her sceptically, "We are going to a school for witches and wizards for our first time and all you can think about is food?"
"Yes" She said sticking her tongue out, "I didn't eat much for breakfast. Ok?"
"Yeah same actually. I just have been to excited figuring out I could do magic and everything!" The brown hair girl said gleefully
"Guess it must be exciting for you. I am just so used to it" She said in a bored manner, "But I am excited about finally be able to use my new wand" She said gleefully getting out her wand from her pocket and admiring its sheen.
"You have said that at least three times Grace, we get it. It's shiny." She said rolling her eyes
"But I mean how rare is it? Werewolf hair. I had never heard of it and its redwood." She said her face beaming.
"Yeah yeah"
"So what did ya get then? Miss all mighty June"
"Dragon heart string and holly wood" June said picking up her wand that had been laying on a book
There were sounds of movement from outside the compartment; it was time to change into robes.
That had been five years ago. Grace stared outside the window watching the rain hit the window. She was thinking back about her time in Hogwarts. They definitely could not be called boring, after all when can magic be boring? Other then if you just used it to stir tea with grace thought.
"Grace!" Her name penetrated between her thoughts
"Huh?" She turned around to see June her room mate
"Did you hear the rumours?"
"What rumours?"
"The one saying Harry Potter is the heir to Slytherin"
"Yeah. I wonder if they are ever gonna give this guy a break" She went back at looking at the rain drops on the window
"There is also another rumour"
"What's that?" Grace said looking back at June
"That he also the one that's made Mrs.Norris freeze and stuff. Petrified, that's the word"
"Wait. Petrified? You sure?"
"Yes…"
Grace jumped off her bed and chucked her Gryffindor robes off her trunk and started searching. Flings flew through the air and June missed most of them "AHA" Grace cried triumphantly. She pulled out a red bound book with the words 'Magical Creatures' It was thick and ready to burst
She opened the book on the floor and started searching through it muttering, "good thing my parents gave me this for Christmas"
"There" She pointed at a page and June walked over to see what it was, "Basilisk?"
"Yep" Grace said beaming at the logic, "They petrify people when you see their reflection"
"It's a snake…." June said looking at the floor worriedly
"Yeah and its HUGE. Its much bigger then you and …." Grace just noticed her flaw
"A huge snake is able to wonder through Hogwarts without anyone noticing?"
"Well, what's your idea then?" Grace said sticking her tongue out
"Not really"
"So there" June rolled her eyes
Grace's kneazle, speckle walked over and put his paw on the book then looked at Grace. "See even Speckle agrees" Grace said proudly patting her kneazle
"Ok. Gang up on me then but its not going to make it different that a huge snake can't just walk down the corridors without being seen"
"Well maybe it can get smaller…." Grace mumbled to herself as she started to pack up her trunk.
"Well until you find some evidence to back it up….""
"We don't go running down the corridors screaming there is a huge snake on the loose." Grace laughed, "Yeah yeah I get it"
"June" A black haired girl opened the door, her name was Rosalyn and was a room mate. "Someone wants to see you downstairs" She said winking
"Oo…." Grace said mockingly and dodged June throwing a book at her, "I'll come down also," She said stretching and throwing the last item in her trunk, "its nearly dinner" She grabbed Junes wrist and pulled her down the stairs so that she nearly bumped into her caller.
"Uh..Hi Cedric" June said trying to look more presentable and less like she was just tossed down some stairs. It wasn't really a secret that she liked him. Well he didn't know but it wasn't a secret to her room mates and maybe some people that caught her blushing.
"You ready to feast" He said smiling, "The Halloween feast is the best!"
"Well that's stating the obvious" Grace muttered which resulted in June elbowing her
"Yep. Let's go so we can all sit together" June said happily.
As usual the Halloween feast was amazing. Huge pumpkins, spooky candles, live bats and even the very amusing and frightening dancing skeletons. Of course there were sweets galore and so much food that it made you feel like you were about to explode but it was so good you didn't care. It was fantastic and it still wasn't over, there was to be a party in the Gryffindor common room afterwards because Fred and George had promised to get some sweets and butter beer.
With the invite of fun June and Grace headed back before everyone else to avoid the rush. Grace had pocket full of sweets while June was chewing on a jelly bean which turned out to be chicken flavoured.
"It's really weird," June commented, "Like muggle's never put chicken in jelly beans"
"Well that's muggle's for you" Grace said walking down the silent corridor. A sudden blow of cold wind came down the corridor and they shuddered and hurried along. It was pitch black and freezing cold, you could only see a bit of moonlight coming from an ajar window.
"Why are we standing in the dark?" June complained, she got her wand out, (now sticky because of the sweets), "Lumos!"
There wasn't a gasp but they probably should have been one there was more just dead silence. The light reflected of the pasty face of a boy in the second year. He was cold and rigid his face frozen in surprise. Next to him floated Nearly Headless Nick, in the dark he could nearly be mistaken for some one frozen in shock but when they got closer towards him they noticed the black smoke that seemed to consume him.
"It's another attack…" June whispered scared the attacker might hear her, "and a ghost…"
"Their expressions…." Grace started not sure what to say, it was a very unnerving feeling to find them like this.
June went over to the guy and inspected him for marks but she couldn't find anything. She went to stand up and her wands light made something on the stone wall glint, she walked towards it and ripped the shining piece off.
"We have to go" Grace suddenly whispered urgently
Footsteps and talk could be heard coming up the corridor. They didn't have to say anything else they just ran. It wasn't the heroic thing to do but what would those people think if they saw two girls over the petrified bodies it would defiantly be more the suspicious and so they ran and they ran till they got to the fat lady's painting. Breathless they leaned against the wall.
"Are you girls alright?" The painting asked them, "You look like you saw a ghost" The painting chuckled at her own joke.
"Yeah, fine" Grace lied
"Chocolate frogs" June said, the painting opened and they entered the common room. It was kind of surprising that they were the only ones there but they were thankful for it and slumped into the chairs near the fire place.
"That was a close one" Grace said as she got a sweet out of her pocket
"Yeah, way to close for my likes"
"What's that you've got?" Grace pointed at June's hands
Looking at her hands, it was the first time since they had began running that she remembered she had it. Looking at it closely…it looked like scales. Really big scales… that shined like green venom. She handed it to Grace silently who took it with a questioning look. Grace went pale when she saw the scales.
"You know something" Grace said breaking the sticky silence, "I just remembered that I am terrified of snakes"
"I think that a huge snake running around the castle is a good reason to be scared" June said jokingly trying to make the atmosphere better
"Well all I hope is that we are wrong"
"Me too" June replied
"You too what?" a voice said behind her
Grace and June jumped they were so into their conversation that they hadn't notice Fred and George come in with their stash of butter beer.
"We were wondering if you were ever going to get here" Grace said after a few moments of watching the twins smirk, "Pass a butter beer"
"Not that fast" Fred said (or was it George…)
"What?" Grace said
"You have to tell us that we are the greatest" Said George (or was it Fred…)
"Sure…you two are the greatest. Now pass" Grace said lunging out of her seat and falling on top of one of them and wrestling a bottle out of his hand, "HAH!!"
"Not fair…" Fred (or George. You get it already XD)
Grace just stuck her tongue out. Soon enough everyone filled in through the picture but it was not a partying spirit as everyone has expected but a scared one. The news of the second attack had run through the school. No one was safe anymore supposably after all who is safe if a ghost isn't? Everyone huddled around even in the Griffindor common room, it was like everyone was scared that if they were alone they would be picked off.
"We gotta do something" Grace whispered to June.
They were sitting in their bedroom on a small lounge, Grace's book was open to the Basilisk page they kept on going over it and they couldn't find anything that would help. The presumed snake skin sat next to the book flashing its evil green at anyone that passed.
"We should tell a professor"
"They won't believe us, even with the skin"
"But we have to try" June said persistently
Grace sighed, "So…Which teacher?"
"Definitely Professor McGonagall"
"Why? Because she is the least likely to laugh at us"
"One of the reasons" June said, "But also because she is the most likely to believe us and the most likely to do something about it."
"True, let's just talk to her after Transfiguration because I really don't think it would be smart for anyone else to hear." She said as she sunk into the lounge some more, "You know…they probably would either panic or…. Think I am more insane then usual…"
Lights were turned off, people tucked into beds, chatter turned to silence and even though the notion of a second attack terrified everyone Hogwarts finally went to sleep.
"Ask her now" Grace whispered urgently
"You do it" June whispered back
"It's your idea!"
"Your's too!"
"o… STUFF THIS" Grace whispered harshly, "Proffesor!"
Professor McGonagall turned around with her books in her arms, "What is it, Grace?"
"I know this is probably gonna sound crazy but what the heck. We believe that there is a Basilisk in the school, it's a bloody huge snake and it can petrify people like it did to those other people" She looked at the professor wondering if she was going to be sent to a mental hospital for a second but her expression did not change
"And how do you suppose a big snake would get through the school?" She said with a raised eyebrow
Grace and June looked at each other, "We don't know" June answered
"Well unless you have any further information that might help, then there is no way to see if you are right or wrong. I have another class, make sure you practice on transfiguring those mice" And with that she walked out of the class room leaving two stunned and annoyed students.
"Well she didn't think we were a crazy" Grace said hopefully
"That's a start" June laughed
"So..how we gonna figure out how a huge snake gets around the school?"
"Find a book on Hogwarts corridors and secret hide ways and such, I guess" June said
"TO THE LIBRARY" Grace exclaimed and grabbed June and started running madly through the corridor singing a theme song the whole time
When they had reached the library with quite a few stares and a quick slip from a prefect, they got piles of books about Hogwarts and the sewers, the secret corridors, the paintings, the spells. EVERYTHING! But…. It was getting dark and they had no solutions. Where would this snake hide? And how to get there?
"This is getting hopeless" Grace whined, "I mean, I believe it's a Basilisk but I doubt my own logic here. How could it get to its victims without people noticing it!?" With a groan she fell face forwards on to her open book.
"Maybe…." June said for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, "it goes through the portraits…. You know secret passage ways that aren't shown in the books…"
"One fault, I am pretty sure the portraits would tell someone if a huge snake passed them."
"Ok, I GIVE UP!" June said shutting her book
"Excuse me can I use this" A meek voice said to June startling her and Grace because they hadn't notice her walk up to them.
"Yeah sure" June said passing the Hogwarts book to a brown haired girl, she took it and disappeared behind a book shelf.
"She appeared out of nowhere" Grace said, "Wasn't that Hermione person we here about?"
"You mean Hermione the know it all"
"Or Hermione the smartest girl in possibly the whole school"
"Or Hermione one of Famous Harry potter's friends"
"Or D, all of the above." Grace said laughing
"I wonder what she was doing?" June thought out loud
And so that's how it happened, you know the rest. Hermione is credited with figuring it all out when she actually overheard us! Well it turned out right in the end anyway… everyone lived and the petrified people were brought back to consciousness etc, etc. But it still annoys me that we got no recognition well at least Professor McGonagall said afterwards that we were right.
Ok then walk away!! Don't believe me!!! Hide away from the truth!!!
Damn critics…..