Chapter 8

Whispers began running along the tables, everyone was worried about what had happened. Had someone been hurt? Was the Dark Lord planning to attack Hogwarts? Was the school being shut down?

Hermione held her breath, already knowing what he was talking about, but fearing the worse. Natasha moved her head to so it was near Hermione's hand in hopes of catching what was going on.

"Pavati Petal was found dead along with Sean McGrimbly this morning in the second corridor near the eastern tower. Though the cause of death is still unknown, we are almost positive that it is a basilisk."

The whispering started up again as confusion spread among the students.

Hermione sighed; she had been hoping to recapture Senitra before she could do any damage.

'Damn, I can't believe this person struck so fast!'

"Head Master, how is that possible?" cried one of the students. "Wasn't the basilisk already defeated 4 years ago?"

Dumbledore waved his hands around, signaling for silence. "It appears that we might well have been mistaken. Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure this beast is slain as soon as possible."

"NO!" hissed Natasha loudly in parcel tongue, the sound echoing through the Great Hall in wake of the silence which had followed Dumbledore's proclamation.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Cho along with several other Gryffendor's turned to stare at Hermione. However, Hermione didn't notice. She had turned a sickly pale color at the thought of Senitra being slain, knowing for a fact that it would be a violent and most likely very painful death. The thought in general made her sick.

"Hermione, are you alright?" asked Harry quietly.

Shaking her head to clear away the mental images which flooded her mind, Hermione gave Harry a weak smile and small confirming nod. "I'll be fine," she assured him. "It's just, what happened last time and all…"

Harry held up his hand and nodded. "I understand," he assured her with a smile before turning his attention back towards Dumbledore who was setting down the rules that would be in place until Senitra had been killed.

The second he finished speaking, Hermione stood from her place and headed towards the door, much to the surprise of the other Gryffendor's and most of the rest of the Great Hall. It couldn't be helped though, she needed to get some things done before class, and the only way to do that was to leave now.

At the Slytherin table, Draco, Pansy, Vince, and Greg watched with interest as Hermione hurried from the room, the door closing with a loud bang.

"Harmony," hissed Natasha as soon as Hermione was out of the Great Hall. "You won't let them hurt mother, will you?"

"No," replied Hermione. "I won't, not if I can help it."

"Thank you Harmony, I'm sorry about my response in the Hall."

"It's alright; you responded the same way I would have, if I gave a crap about my mother that is."

Natasha nodded and slid back into Hermione's robes, settling her head on the coils around Hermione's stomach.

Hermione winced slightly at the contact; she'd had a run in with several death-eaters who'd wanted to capture her over the summer. She'd won the battle, but not without injury. The battle had made her all the happier to get back into Hogwarts with TJ so she could keep an eye on him. Unlike Hermione, TJ had chosen to stay with the coven and there for was only seen by Hermione during the school year. This had lead to near endless worry after she had been attacked. TJ might have been with the coven, but that didn't mean he couldn't wonder off and his lack of sorcerer blood would have made him an easy target for attackers.

She'd seen TJ on the train the day prior, though she'd only had enough time to pass him a note before his Slytherin friends had shown up. He wasn't a popular Slytherin sense he spoke against the Dark Lord as she see did, though he had a few friends.

Sighing, Hermione shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts of death-eaters and such, focusing instead on finding the Hall of Hogwarts.

The Hall of Hogwarts was a special place only accessible by the Founders and their descendents. It contained tons of maps of Hogwarts, even a special map made by Rowena and Salazar that created a three dimensional version of Hogwarts for defense and tracking purposes. After all, if you could see the exact shape of a room, you could track what you were looking for or defend it against any attacker. There were also a lot of unknown rooms and exits in Hogwarts, all of which this map displayed. Those who had been descended after the founders had continued to add onto the map, so it was never out of date.

Finally finding the portrait she sought, Hermione tapped lightly on the frame, waking the sleeping occupant. Ayden had been born from Anwyn, Samuels's oldest daughter. Yellow eyes with familiar, slit pupils opened as the figure slowly sat up, her hood falling away to reveal black hair like a raven's wings. Ayden had definitely been a beauty of her time if ever one was known.

"Oh Harmony, it's you," exclaimed Ayden as she moved to sit completely up in her portrait. "How can I help you today?"

"I need to get into the hall Ayden. I need the map," explained Hermione as Natasha moved her head so it was sticking out of the collar of Hermione's robes.

Ayden nodded and opened the portrait without asking questions. None of the founder's descendents questioned Hermione; they already knew they wouldn't get an answer.

The chamber beyond the portrait was large, resembling oddly enough an Egyptian hall. A long table which had once been used to hold meetings of the Council of Heads stood in the middle of the chamber, pillars of stone running back along both sides which supported a ceiling covered in a mural of the dusk sky in the Sahara as it would have been 6,000 years ago. The back also gave way to a room made of glass, though it appeared to be made of stone from the outside, which held jars and shelves of maps and documents, including the original peace treaty between the Sorcerers and Wizards which had been signed over 1,000 years ago.

Entering this room, Hermione immediately found what she was looking for: the 3-D map of Hogwarts. Pushing aside many scrolls from a small work table, Hermione unrolled the map scroll and began to examine the 3-D image which appeared before her.

By now, Natasha had slid from inside Hermione's robes and was coiled on a large pile of dirt in a pot that had once contained a plant of some kind. Her yellow eyes flashed as she watched Hermione work. Back in the main chamber, the portrait creaked open and TJ stepped into the large hall.

TJ looked pretty much just like Hermione with two exceptions: his hair was a Darker brown and he was taller. Aside from that and his obviously more masculine features, he looked just like Hermione. She often wondered how no one noticed, though she assumed it was due to the concealing spells she used. If she didn't use those, she was willing to bet anyone could tell they were siblings.

"Harmony, you in here?" he called out, quietly. It was dangerous to say their real names in the halls of Hogwarts, though TJ could rarely bring himself to call her Hermione unless he had to.

"Yes, I'm here," replied Hermione from the back chamber.

"You know, you freaked everyone out, running off like that," he commented as he came to stand in the doorway leading to the chamber.

"Why would I care?" asked Hermione in response. "They can go shove sticks up their asses for all I care."

"It's not the most discreet thing you could have done," responded TJ with a sigh as he examined his finger nails. It was a habit he had picked up in the Slytherin dorms that drove Hermione insane. She considered it vain, but also knew he wouldn't stop any time soon.

"Well, I'm not always discreet am I?" snapped Hermione in return as she spun to glare slightly at her brother. She did not need this right now. "What does it matter anyway? I'm sure they will assume that I'm afraid of basilisks." Hermione turned back to the maps. "Don't you have class or something?"

"So do you," remarked TJ with annoyance. He hated it when his sister told him what to do!

"I'm not going," explained Hermione as she turned back to face her brother. "I have more important things to do then go to some class where I don't even learn anything."

"Fine!" responded TJ, his voice rising as he swung one of his hands in front of him sharply. "Be that way! But don't expect me to help bale you out when they all figure out what you are!" Turning angrily, TJ stormed from the room and into the hall, slamming the portrait shut.

Hermione blinked several times in shock. TJ had never spoken to her like that and he knew tracking down the basilisk was more important then going to class. So what was his problem?

With a sigh, Hermione picked up her bag and exited the Halls of Hogwarts. She knew when TJ was right, though she hated to admit it. With that thought, she began to trudge off to class.