Lily Evans hefted her purple knapsack onto her back and tossed back a piece of hard candy.

"Mmm, cherry." She ambled toward the last class for the day as she considered what she intended to do afterwards. The soft scuffing of her own shoes on stone floors beat steady but slow time to her thoughts.

Whilst stopping in an out of the way ladies' room yesterday, she had heard sniffling. As a prefect, this concerned her a little. She had glanced around the room, and when she saw no one, ventured to call "Are you okay? Who's there?"

The room has been silent for a long moment. An incredulous whisper had broken it. "No one EVER asks me what's wrong."

Lily had followed the sound down to a closed stall.

"What's wrong, honey?" She asked soothingly. She didn't recognize the voice, but there were a lot of girls in the school.

The door swung open and she saw a ghost girl with a tear streaked face. "What's wrong is I'm ugly and dead."

Lily had tried her best to comfort the younger looking female, and in doing so found out the child was prone to weeping and splashing. However, Myrtle was more than willing to talk about her death. Myrtle seemed desperate for attention, and apparently enjoyed trying to frighten Lily with her story of "two big yellow eyes…"

The story had hit a note in Lily's memory. The girl didn't remember being bit or attacked. It was as if those eyes themselves had been the weapon that killed her.

Lily remembered an animal that could kill with its eyes.

The basilisk.

It was so rare, the thought that one might even still be living in the school excited her more than she was willing to admit. The theory plagued her dreams that night, and when she woke up for the second time in a cold sweat, Lily Evans decided to get to the bottom of her personal mystery.

Hours passed. Effortlessly the correct answers were given, her hand raised, her potion perfected. The day slid by with nary another thought from the girl.

At two o clock an auburn head bobbed to the same bathroom. A cursory glance proved that Myrtle was apparently lurking somewhere else. Lily positioned herself in front of the stall that Myrtle had apparently died in. Three clicking steps put her in front of the circular sink system. On bended knee she raised her wand and drew from memory the sounds she had "recorded" out in the greenhouse in the early morning.

Unintelligible hisses filled the air.