Minerva sat on the floor, leaning against the stone wall. She had walked with Tom down to Dippet's office but she couldn't bring herself to go inside the room. Hagrid had a monster and though she hadn't seen first hand what it could do, she couldn't deny that it was huge, magical and probably beyond a boy like Hagrid's ability to control. Hagrid could not have meant to hurt anyone. It had to have been an accident. Still a girl was dead. She deserved some justice.

Tom was inside telling Dippet everything he knew about Hagrid's creature. Minerva wasn't sure what would follow, but it wouldn't be good for Hagrid. Her eyes closed. Why did any of this have to happen?

Time would tell if the monster Hagrid was hiding committed the crimes or not. If the attacks stopped, they'd know they caught the right boy.

The attacks did stop. As soon as Dippet and the other professors barged into the closet where Hagrid was keeping the giant spidery-like thing and as soon as they snapped his wand. Minerva stood in the crowd, watching as they awarded Tom his Services to School Award and Dippet decided not to shut down Hogwarts.

There was an air of joy in the school, almost like Christmas. Everyone felt safe again, even though Hagrid was still at the school. Dumbledore managed to convince the board to let Hagrid stay on and help as gamekeeper. He was no longer allowed to do magic, but no one believed he had meant to hurt anyone, so he was allowed to stay on the premises with supervision.

Minerva had never seen Tom so happy. At least, not publicly. He was smiling in classes and in the Great Hall. It must have really mattered to him that he was allowed to stay at school. They never told anyone about their relationship. Tom had never mentioned it again. Really it was fine with Minerva. She liked having Tom to herself. She liked not having to explain him to her friends. She didn't humor herself thinking they would understand.

Late one evening, Minerva went down to the dungeons to ask Professor Slughorn a question about her potions homework. She'd been struggling with understanding the medicinal qualities of a few of the ingredients.

The door to the potions store was slightly open. Slughorn must have forgotten to shut it all the way. Minerva reached out to shut the door when a cold hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her into the darkness.

Before she could scream, another hand clasped down on her mouth.

"Hey, Pet," a voice whispered in her ear. Tom. His hand dropped away from her mouth and wrist. Minerva turned to face him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Are you crazy? You almost gave me a heart attack."

She felt him smirk against her cheek as he leaned in close. "A little and sorry. I'd never want to hurt you." He paused. "You know that right?"

Minerva shuddered. The seriousness with which he asked that question frightened her. "Yes," she whispered. "I know."

Strong hands grabbed her shoulders and shoved her against the wall of potions ingredients. She gasped. Tom slammed his lips against her. Possessive. Intimate.

"Tom," Minerva said through kisses. "We could get caught."

"Yes," he said as he pulled off his shirt. He lifted Minerva up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. They were kissing and touching and crashing into the bottles of potions ingredients. Every time the glass bottles shook, Minerva tensed but it just seemed to excite Tom more.

She loved the feel of his curving muscles, the smell of his sweat. The sound of his voice in her ear. Their coming together. It made a kind of sense it shouldn't make. Like the joining of two halves of the world.

Tom held her up as she breathed heavily into his shoulder, exhausted, their bodies still as close as possible. He kissed her temple.

"You're incredible, Pet," he whispered. "So damn incredible."

The professors finally found a cure for the petrified students. It did end up involving mandrakes. All of the students were restored and returned to school. Thought a long time had passed, to them it seemed like no time at all.

Minerva was in the library helping Suzy catch back up on her homework. Suzy was really behind in potions because it was her worst subject. For the first time, Minerva wished her friends knew about Tom. He was much better at potions and would be a more suitable tutor for Suzy. If Suzy needed help, Minerva would ask Tom to at least help her for the end of the year test.

Suzy was yawning heavily and her answers sounded more like mutters than words.

"Maybe that's it for tonight," said Minerva. She wouldn't be learning anything in this condition anyway.

Suzy nodded and collected her books. She stood up from the table. "You coming, Min?"

Minerva shook her head. She wasn't ready for bed and wanted to go by and see Tom before it got too late.

"Okay," said Suzy. "Thanks for everything. See you later." Suzy left the library. Minerva waited a moment then collected her own books. She had a few she needed to return before she left. She gathered those and headed through the stacks where she had first been with Tom.

Minerva stopped and observed the scene. The old desk. The dim lantern light. Her heart pounded in her chest, her face flushed. She really wanted to go see Tom.

An old book was crammed under a bookshelf. Minerva tugged it out from its hiding place. She'd return it with her stuff, rather than just leaving it. The book was familiar it had been one she was looking at the last time she was studying in this area. She sat down her other books and flipped quickly through the pages. Her eyes caught on a familiar sketch but she didn't remember seeing it in a book. She remembered seeing it before but she couldn't remember where?

It was black ink sketch of large snake-like creature with thick fangs and hollow lifeless eyes. Minerva shivered as she stared at the image. She flipped to the page the preceded it. It was about Salazar Slytherin. What she had been reading the night Tom interrupted her.

Hermione read the words.

Mudbloods.

Heir of Slytherin.

Basilisk.

Chamber of Secrets.

Minerva's stomach churned. Whatever this beast was, it sounded a lot more like what had happened to the victims than Hagrid's pet. The one he insisted never harmed would an overgrown spider only attack muggleborns? And how could have petrified people? Not just killed them. She left the books on the table and ran to the dungeons. She had to tell Tom. He implicated the wrong person. Hagrid was innocent.

The killer was still out there.

I'm so sorry this took SO long to update. Epic fail. I got caught up in some other fics and neglected this one. Still it's one of my personal favorites and I really want to finish it. Please read and review. Thanks for your patience and for reading!