"Maybe you aren't the heir," Harry said,
crossing his arms as we walked back to the Common Room. "That's impossible," I
said, "I have to be. I am the only one who has the tattoo. You read the
statement, its hereditary by curse." I had done a bit more research and shown
Harry and Ron the things I had found. I had not, sadly, found anything about
the creature spiders flee from and kill you with looks. I had found it
extremely tiring and very stressful. How Hermione kept cool made me respect her
greatly as a person. "I think we need to tell Lupin," I said softly as we sat
around in the living area. "Really," Harry asked. "Yeah," I said softly, "last
time we kept something to ourselves, you almost died." "But didn't you almost
get in trouble last time we tried to tell anyone what happened," Ron asked.
"Yeah but this has gotten out of hand." I stood up and straightened my shirt,
"I'll go talk to Lupin, you go to the Library and do some research." "Okay,
meet us there when you're done." I nodded and then left for the door. I made my
way slowly to Lupin's office. I thought the whole way of what I was going to
say and when I finally got to the room, I knew what I wanted to say. I knocked
on the door and after a couple minutes, it opened. "Yes?" My face went bright
red and I tried to contain not only my anger but my disappointment. "Where is
Professor Lupin?" Lockhart's face went red and sighed, "Sick. Anything I can
help with?" "No." I walked away without another word and walked aimlessly. I
didn't feel like talking to the boys yet, I was to mad to talk to him. I walked
and walked until I found myself in the Hospital Wing, sitting next to
Hermione's frozen body. "Miss Curtis," Madame Pompfrey said, "You can speak to
her. She may hear you." I nodded and she walked away. "Hermione, it really
sucks that you aren't here. It's so hard to so what you do." I put my hand on
her lower one and frowned, "I wish you were here. We need you." I clutched her
hand tighter and felt something brush against my fingertips. I furrowed my
brows and pulled out a piece of paper that was crumbled up. I undid the paper
and read it quickly. My heart started pounding and I put it down and smiled at
Hermione, "I don't know if you can hear me but thank you." I turned and ran to
the Library as fast as I could. I skidded into the library next to Harry and
Ron and they looked up suddenly. "I did it, well, Hermione did it, we got it!"
"What," Ron asked. "Look!" I put the page down and pointed, "The Basilisk is a
large snake that is extremely poisonous and simply looking into its yellow eyes
can kill you. Spiders flee from it. You guys, this is it, this is our creature.
And this is the reason why only Harry and I can hear it because it's a snake.
And look," I pointed at the picture on the top, "It looks just like my tattoo."
"A gigantic snake," Ron asked in disbelief, "How is a creature like that
getting around the school?" "Hermione answered that, too," Harry said, turning
the paper. Written on the side was 'pipes.' "We have to get help," I said
quickly, "before it's too late." We took off down the hallway and were headed
towards Dumbledore's office when I suddenly heard teachers. I stopped at the
corner and pushed the boys back. "It's it," McGonagall was saying, "we have to
send students home and shut down the school. This has gone way too far." I
peered around the corner and just passed McGonagall's head, I saw markings of
more blood on the wall. There were too many teachers to see what it said but
they all looked terrified. I sat back and waited. "Minerva, do we really have
too?" "Yes," McGonagall said, answering Professor Sprout's question as blandly
as possible, "Severus, will you please contact the parents? I think they would
like to know." "Of course." "Hello," footsteps, "So sorry I am late, I was
rather famished. What have I missed?" Lockhart's voice made me grab the paper I
was holding and re-crumple it. "Gilderoy," McGonagall said, a heavy undertone
of irritation, "Now is your time to shine." "I'm sorry?" "Well, you've been
saying you have known where the Chamber is all along. Now is your time to step
up. A girl was taken into the Chamber about an hour ago. Since you know where
the Chamber is, you can go and retrieve her, killing the monster for good."
"Uh," silence, "sure. Yes, of course, I will go and get ready for that now."
There were sounds of him walking away. I waited and after a few more footsteps,
Madame Pompfrey finally spoke, "Who is it, Minerva? Who was the one that was
taken into the Chamber?" "Ginny Weasley." The last two teachers walked away and
I leaned around the wall to read the message. "Her skeleton will lie in the
chamber forever," I said with a cracked voice, my heart hurting. I looked at
Ron and his face was white as a ghost. "Ginny," he whispered. "What do we do,"
Harry asked. I felt furious and leaned off the wall, "We get Ginny back." I
took off without acknowledging the boys and practically ran to the Defense
classroom. "Lockhart, open up, we have information," I said, banging on the
door. I finally threw it open and he was running around the room, packing.
"What do you think you're doing," I asked loudly. "Leaving, I have to go."
"What about my sister," Ron asked, putting his hand on his pocket, going for
his wand. "I'm sorry about your sister, really I am but I can't do this, I'm
not up for it!" "You faced the banshees," Harry exclaimed, "you can't walk away
from this after doing that, there is a life at stake!" "You really think I did
all those things?!" He stopped moving and faced us, "I just took all those
stories and erased their memories! I can't save your sister and I am sorry!"
"So you lied," Ron asked, pulling his wand, "You lied and now you are leaving
my sister to die?!" "I'm afraid so." I pulled my wand at the same time as the
other two (completely unplanned) and pointed it at Lockhart. "I don't think
so," I said harshly, "You are coming with us."