On Saturday, Beth and Terry had another date. This time, they didn't dress up, and spent an afternoon exploring the castle and talking for an hour in the Room of Requirement. A house-elf appeared with tea and an assortment of pastries and other snacks while they were talking. The two thanked the elf, who bowed deeply, said it was an honor to serve the Girl-Who-Lived and her boyfriend, and then disappeared with a crack. Beth blushed upon hearing the word 'boyfriend' and Terry looked at the ground, his entire face a bright scarlet.
When Beth composed herself, she said, "Well, we are dating at the moment, so I suppose you are my boyfriend, Terry."
After the second date, Terry began sitting with Beth and her friends at mealtimes. Neville didn't seem very happy with this, though he never said anything and was always civil towards Terry.
The day of the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match arrived and at breakfast, Beth heard a voice. None of her friends heard it. Out in the hall, Beth heard the voice again. This time, Hermione gasped, realizing something, and exclaimed, "I need to go to the library for a few minutes! I'll see you at the match later!"
The others exchanged looks. Susan shrugged. "Hermione must have an idea as to why you're the only one that can hear the voice, Beth, and is checking to see if she's right."
Outside the changing rooms, Terry said, "Good luck, Beth. I hope you catch the Snitch." He then kissed her on the cheek and hurried away to the stands.
The Gryffindor team was walking out to the pitch when McGonagall appeared, a megaphone in her hand. She announced the match was canceled. Ignoring Wood's protests, she called the Junior Marauders over, minus Hermione, and led them to the Hospital Wing. Her voice was kind and sympathetic as she said, "This will come as a shock to you all, but there's been another attack, a double one."
The five entered the room and turned pale as they saw that one bed was occupied by Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect, and another by Hermione. Both girls were Petrified.
For the first time in three years, Beth burst into tears. "Oh, Mia! Why did this have to happen?"
Ron muttered a curse under his breath and looked as if he would attack the person responsible for the attacks if said person was in front of him. Draco punched a fist against the palm of his other hand and then patted Susan on the back, who had also started crying. Neville took Hermione's hand, and in the process noticed something crumpled up in it. He glanced around to make sure McGonagall wasn't watching and then began slowly tugging the crumpled up parchment out, using his body to shield his movement. Once he got hold of the parchment, he stuck it in his pocket.
McGonagall then came over, a mirror in her hand. "This was found next to them. Do you have any idea as to why?" The five shook their heads. McGonagall sighed heavily and Professors Sprout and Flitwick came in.
"Come along, Mr. Mal- I mean Black," said Flitwick somberly. "I need to escort you to the common room and speak to the Ravenclaws."
"And I need to escort you, Miss Bones," said Sprout.
McGonagall took Beth, Ron, and Neville to the Gryffindor common room and then announced the new rules. All students would be escorted to classes by teachers. Nobody was allowed outside in the corridors after seven, except for the prefects and Head Girl and Boy on patrol with the teachers. The study group was temporarily disbanded, and no student could go to the bathroom alone.
In a corner, Neville showed Beth and Ron the parchment he'd taken from Hermione. It turned out to be a page torn from a very old library book. Beth smoothed it out and the three began reading.
Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.
Underneath, in Hermione's handwriting, was the word 'pipes'.
"Guys," Beth breathed, "this is it. This is the answer. The monster in the Chamber's a Basilisk- a giant serpent! That's why I've been hearing that voice all over the place, and nobody else has heard it. It's because I understand Parseltongue..." She turned pale.
"The Basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died- because no one looked at it straight in the eye. Colin, well, he was holding his camera, so I guess he must have looked at the Basilisk through it. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again... and Hermione and Penelope Clearwater were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a Basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look round corners with a mirror first! And Penelope pulled out her mirror- and-"
"And Mrs. Norris?" Ron whispered eagerly.
Beth thought hard and recalled that the floor had been rather wet. "Well, I noticed as we left the Halloween feast that the floor was slippery. Mrs. Norris must have seen a reflection in a puddle of water. She was near the bathroom the ghost, Moaning Myrtle, haunts, and Myrtle is prone to flooding the bathroom when she's unhappy. If she attended Nearly-Headless Nick's Deathday party, one of the ghosts or Peeves could have said something that upset her."
Neville dug out his notebook and began writing to Susan and Draco, informing them what they'd discovered. As he wrote, Ron said, "Well, this proves Hagrid's innocent. I don't think he can speak Parseltongue, so he wouldn't be able to control a Basilisk. And that must be the gift the picture of Slytherin was referring to. I guess you'd have to be a Parselmouth to open the Chamber of Secrets, and since Hagrid isn't one, he can't be the one that opened the Chamber this time or last time."
Neville's writing disappeared and a minute later, Draco's handwriting appeared. "So it's a Basilisk that's in the Chamber? That's not good. At least nobody's died this time. Why did Hermione write the word 'pipes'? Is that how the Basilisk is getting around, through the plumbing?"
Neville gasped. "That makes sense!" He picked up his quill again and wrote, "Drake, I think you're right, it is getting around through the plumbing. What do we do now?
There was no writing for two minutes. Then Susan's handwriting appeared. (I just checked my notebook. So it's a basilisk, and getting around through the plumbing? Interesting. As for what to do, we should notify Dumbledore. And Beth should write to her parents about it.)
"Good idea, Sue," wrote Draco. "Tomorrow we'll go to Dumbledore and tell him what we found out."
"Okay," wrote Beth. "Talk to you guys later."
Neville put away his notebook and they looked up just in time to hear Lee Jordan declare that he was certain that a Slytherin was involved, since none of the Slytherins had been attacked. Alicia Bell reminded Lee that there were decent Slytherins, mainly the ones in the study group, but conceded that it seemed likely the culprit was a Slytherin. Beth got up and went to her dorm room, not in the mood to listen to any theories. Her first friend, as well as her best before she went to Hogwarts and made four more, was Petrified, and it shook her. She now understood what Evanna was going through with Colin's Petrification.
Beth flung herself on her bed and began crying again, wishing Hermione hadn't been attacked and vowing to find a way to put a stop to all this. The first time the Chamber had opened, a student had been killed. If Hermione had been - Beth immediately pushed the thought away before completing it, but she cried even harder. Eventually she cried herself to sleep and only woke up when Parvati shook her and asked her if she was feeling better. Beth shook her head and said she wasn't hungry when Lavender told her that it was time for supper. Parvati and Lavender looked sympathetic and said they'd be happy to talk to her later and help her feel better. Beth thanked them and then the two girls went downstairs for dinner. Beth drew shut the bedcurtains and burst into tears for the third time that day.