Time for the last chapter of the CoS. This years plot turned out longer than I had originally planned it to, but I enjoyed writing it and giving Ursa more of an important role. So I hope that you guys enjoy how I wrap this up as we move onto the next year.

Wrapped Up

Discovering Hermione's petrified form had left Ursa shaken to the core. Ursa had barely been able to register what was happening right in front of her when it happened. Instead of calling out for help, Ursa just stood there in shock. It wasn't until Professor McGonagall showed up that Ursa was forced to react as McGonagall started hounding Ursa with questions about what had happened. Hermione and Penelope were then moved to the Hospital Wing, and Ursa knew that the Quidditch match would be cancelled.

Though it wasn't just the Quidditch match that was cancelled, since the entire Quidditch cup was cancelled. Ursa had seen how badly Oliver Wood had protested against this, and she only got one look at Marcus to know that he was just as displeased with this turn of events. But Quidditch being cancelled was the furthest thing from Ursa's mind. After Hermione was petrified, everyone was holed up in their dorms where Professor Flitwick informed them of the new changes to the rules and that if the culprit wasn't caught and the attacks continued, the school would be shut down.

With security around Hogwarts more secure than Ursa had ever seen it, she resigned herself to researching in the Ravenclaw Common Room in an attempt to discover what was going on and how to stop it. Ursa had managed to borrow seven books from the library when Madam Pince threw her out, so with any luck, hopefully one of them would provide Ursa with the answers that she needed.

"What are you doing?" Roger asked her as Ursa searched relentlessly through her books on a Wednesday morning.

"Researching," Ursa replied.

"Well, maybe you should give it a rest. You look like you've barely slept in days," Roger commented.

"Oh, leave her be, Rog. You know what Ursa is like when she's doing her research. The entire world doesn't exist to her apart from her pile of books," Tessa stated.

"Well, we have classes in ten minutes, so we should head off now," Roger suggested.

"No, I'm not finished yet," Ursa said.

"Why are you even researching, anyways? It's not like your studying is gonna pay off. You heard what Professor Flitwick said. If the culprit isn't caught, the school will be closed and at the rate things are going, that's probably what's gonna happen," Tessa said.

"My current research does not concern our academic studies," Ursa stated.

"If this was anyone else, I'd say that it would take you like a month to get through those books, but considering your reading habits, I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to get through them in a week," Tessa commented.

"Well, it will take me considerably longer if I am constantly interrupted by fool statements," Ursa snapped.

"Geez, what's stuck up your butt?" Tessa wondered.

"Nothing," Ursa muttered as she picked up her books. "Let's just get to class."

Being escorted to every class was rather annoying for Ursa, since it meant that she was working on other peoples time instead of her own. On this Wednesday, Ursa had Transfiguration first with McGonagall, who was leading them to their classroom. As her group of fifth years were herded to the Transfiguration classroom, Ursa noticed how all of the girls were scared to walk remotely close to the rails and stayed right in the middle of the corridor.

"What's up with them?" Ursa wondered.

Tess rolled her eyes, "They're all scared of the spiders. I swear, this year we've suddenly gotten an infestation of spiders. They're always out in the corridors these days."

"Yeah, we sure have a lot of spiders," Ursa muttered as she stopped near a trail of spiders.

Something about the way that these spiders were moving bugged Ursa. It just looked so… out of sorts for them. Never before had Ursa seen the spiders move in such a fashion.

"Watcha looking at?" Tessa asked as she peered over Ursa's shoulder.

"The spiders," Ursa replied.

Tessa narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"It's just weird, isn't it? The way that they're moving," Ursa commented.

"Yeah, it's like they're in such a rush to get away from something. Though I don't see what the spiders could be so scared of," Tessa added.

"Unless…" Ursa trailed off as a realisation hit her.

I want yeh ter find the Blood-Sucking Bugbears that could be killin me roosters.

Spiders flee before it.

"Oh, I'm so stupid," Ursa hissed to herself.

"Huh?" Tessa spluttered.

"If I'm late for Transfiguration, will you cover for me?" Ursa asked as she started heading off in the direction of the library.

"Don't you remember the incident in Second Year? I'm not that good at covering for you!" Tessa called out to her.

The incident in second year was of course referring to the time when Ursa was sick, and despite Tessa's best attempts at getting her to go to the Hospital Wing, Ursa was insistent on attending her classes. Of course when the professors asked Tessa about Ursa's strange behaviour, Tessa somehow lead them to believe that she was terminally ill which resulted in Ursa being held prisoner in the Hospital Wing, and even making a brief visit to St Mungo's before it was deduced that Ursa was only sick with the common cold.

This time, Ursa wasn't sick and the only intention that she had to go to the Hospital Wing was so that she could pass a message onto Harry Potter and Ron Weasley through Hermione. But first, Ursa had to make a quick detour to the library. It had only just dawned on Ursa while she was observing the spiders strange movements that they were practically fleeing from something, just like how spiders fled from the Basilisk. Then Ursa remembered how the book on the Basilisk mentioned that the cry of the roosters was fatal to the ancient creature, which made sense given how Hagrid had suspected that the Blood-Sucking Bugbears were responsible for the death of his roosters. If Ursa's suspicion was correct, that would mean that the Heir of Slytherin was responsible for the death of Hagrid's roosters so that the Basilisk could do their task in peace.

But first, Ursa had to somehow get that information across to Hermione's friends who were no doubt trying to figure out what was going on as well. After sneaking into the library, Ursa managed to find the book that she had only just read a few days ago before tearing out the page with the information on the Basilisk. Ursa was kicking herself for having skipped over this detail when the facts were right in front of her. The Basilisk was the King of Serpents, which would be a fitting animal for Salazar Slytherin to breed considering his attachment to snakes. Then there was the fact that the Basilisk could live for thousands of years, which would make sense given that there had been several attacks over different time periods. Everything was beginning to make sense now, except for the fact that nobody had died from the attacks so far, and the fact that surely somebody would've had to have seen a giant snake like the Basilisk roaming about.

It wasn't until Ursa remembered the slithering that she had heard before she found Hermione and Penelope's bodies. When Ursa had gone to investigate it, she had been met with nothing but pipes. Hogwarts had an extensive plumbing system, so it would make sense if the Basilisk was using the pipes to get around. And perhaps Myrtle had only died because she looked directly into its eyes, which lead to Ursa realising that Hermione had to have been using the mirror that she gave her, which protected her from the Basilisk's murderous eyes. So perhaps all of the other petrified victims had some sort of technicality too.

Armed with this knowledge, Ursa scrawled down the word 'pipes' at the bottom in the hopes that Hermione's friends would be able to figure out what that meant. But since Ursa had already risked enough just by sneaking into the library now, she would have to pass this message on to Hermione at a later time. Feeling slightly better about the situation and already knowing that she would be late for Transfiguration, Ursa headed back towards the classroom, where she was met with McGonagall's stern glare.

"Ah, the late Miss Malfoy. How nice of you to join us," McGonagall stated.

"My apologies, Professor. I got caught up on the way over," Ursa apologised.

"Is that so?" McGonagall drawled. "Because Miss Hayes was just recounting me the story of how you were chased down by a leprechaun that wanted your money."

Ursa's eyes widened and she shot a glare at Tessa, who was grinning sheepishly. "Oh, yes. Us Malfoy's have a lot of gold that many people would want, including leprechauns. But us Malfoy's also have a lot of influence, which I was you know, able to use to get away from the leprechaun."

"Right," McGonagall rolled her eyes. "But since I was thoroughly entertained by your story and antics, I will not assign you a detention and will only take away ten points from Ravenclaw. Now, take a seat."

"Leprechauns?" Ursa hissed to Tessa as she took a seat.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind!" Tessa argued.

"I need to teach you how to lie," Ursa muttered.

With Transfiguration being the furthest thing on her mind at this point in time, Ursa simply mulled over how this was going to turn out. She honestly didn't have that much hope in Hermione's friends to be able to put a stop to everything on their own, but for everyone's sake she had to hope that it was exactly what they would be able to achieve.

~*•°•*~

Sneaking the message to Hermione hadn't exactly been the easiest task, but it was what she was able to achieve using some of her sneakiness that she had developed over the years. Seeing Hermione petrified again had hit Ursa pretty hard, especially since she partly blamed herself for Hermione being in this position. If Ursa had been with Hermione, perhaps she would have been able to protect her. Nevertheless, there wasn't anything that Ursa could do now except slip the piece of paper into Hermione's hand and hope that the antidote would be able to do its job.

When it was announced that Ginny Weasley had been taken by the monster, Ursa could only hope that Hermione's friends would be able to save her. Though Ursa couldn't help but wonder how Ginny Weasley had even gotten involved with this. It just seemed strange that the Basilisk would target her, a pureblood. Ursa then realised that this all started with Tom Riddle's diary, which was stolen from the Gryffindor dormitory. Since only a Gryffindor would know their password, it would make sense if Ginny had the diary all along and was stealing it back. But how she even got her hands on it was a mystery to Ursa, but she knew that she would find out all the details once Hermione woke up.

The next few days were hectic at Hogwarts. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had ventured into the Chamber of Secrets with an amnesiac Lockhart, who had been exposed as a fraud. That gave Ursa a big sense of satisfaction to know that she had been right all along, though she did feel quite ticked off to realise that she had wasted yet another year in defence. Once again, the Gryffindor boys had been awarded a large amount of House Points that gave their house the win once again, though Ursa did not miss how Ravenclaw had received an additional twenty-five points which put them in second place. Not to mention, the wink that Dumbledore gave her when he announced the results.

The best part about everything though, was seeing Hermione race into the Great Hall where she was reunited with her friends. To see her up and moving again was wonderful, and Ursa could not wait to have the chance to trade stories with her before they left. The worst part in the whole aftermath was when Dumbledore declared that as a school treat, all exams were cancelled.

"What about our O.W.L.s?" Ursa had asked in despair while her classmates had celebrated.

"Sh, don't ruin it for us," Tessa had hissed in response.

Luckily for Ursa, the fifth years were still required to take their O.W.L.s, which saw her spend the remainder of that year holed up in the library. Though it didn't take too long for Hermione to end up joining her in there during one of her study sessions. The moment that Ursa saw Hermione, she was quick to greet her while pulling her into a tight hug.

"You're so lucky that you still get to take your exams," Hermione huffed as she sat down. "Harry and Ron were quite pleased with that announcement, but to me that was the worst thing that could've happened."

"Even worse than being petrified?" Ursa joked.

Hermione nodded, "Even worse. At least when I was petrified, I got to sleep through it. But now, all of my hard work and studying has just gone to waste!"

"What was it like? Being petrified, I mean," Ursa wondered.

"I wouldn't even be able to describe it…" Hermione trailed off. "I'll tell you what happened before I got petrified. I was just heading towards the Quidditch pitch when I bumped into Penelope Clearwater. She offered to escort me there, and I was using the mirror to guide us. Then I saw the Basilisk through the mirror and the moment before I was petrified, I honestly thought I was going to die. Then when I woke up, I just felt so… relieved. I don't know what I experienced during my petrified state."

"I was so shocked when I found you," Ursa whispered. "I just felt so guilty. I just knew that I had to figure out what was going on before it got worse. Little did I know, I had already figured out what was going on. I just didn't realise it."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I'd already read that book on the Basilisk but I ruled it out because nobody had died. But when I realised that the spiders were running from something and remembered what I read about the Basilisk, I realised that the answer had been right in front of me," Ursa explained.

"Harry said that he and Ron found a slip of paper about that with me when I was petrified," Hermione stated.

Ursa sighed, "I had to get the message to them somehow, but I couldn't exactly just give it to them. I managed to sneak into the Hospital Wing after hours and slipped the paper into your hard in the hopes that Potter and Weasley would be smarter than I give them credit for, which they ended up being."

"Harry told me everything that happened. You were right about Tom Marvolo Riddle being Voldemort. When Harry found Ginny, he was faced with young Tom Riddle who basically said that he was killing Ginny so that he could return to full strength. Then Harry defeated the Basilisk and saved Ginny," Hermione explained.

"How did Lockhart get involved?" Ursa wondered.

"Apparently he said that he knew what the monster was and how to defeat it. Harry and Ron took him to Myrtle's bathroom where she explained how she died, which revealed where the Chamber of Secrets was. It had been right in her bathroom the entire time. Anyways, they went down there with Lockhart, but he tried using a memory charm on them with Ron's wand like he had used it on all of those people who's accomplishments he plagiarised. Since Ron's wand was defective, it backfired on him so now Lockhart has no memory," Hermione answered.

"So, you found out that he was a fraud, huh?" Ursa commented.

Hermione groaned, "I suspected as much after I gave his works a closer look over the Christmas holidays, but I didn't want to believe it. It wasn't until Harry and Ron left me with no doubts that Lockhart was a fraud that I believed you. I realise now that I acted pretty foolish about the whole thing. I was just too blinded by Lockhart's stupid smile and good looks that I ignored the logic right in front of me. I just didn't want to believe that…"

"Books could be wrong?" Ursa finished.

"Yes," Hermione nodded. "For so long, I've always relied on books to provide factually correct information. I know it sounds stupid, but I almost feel betrayed by those stupid books for playing me for a fool."

"Hey, listen, Hermione. Books don't lie, people do. And Lockhart is clearly one heck of a liar," Ursa stated.

"I'm just glad that everything is taken care of now and that Hagrid's name got cleared," Hermione said.

"That's one silver lining in all of this mess," Ursa agreed.

"I just hope that next year, I can make it through the school year without almost dying for once," Hermione remarked.

Ursa chuckled, "This is Hogwarts, Minnie. Strange things always happen around here."

"I'll take strange over deadly," Hermione stated.

"We'll just have to wait and see then, won't we?" Ursa stated.

With another year coming to a close at Hogwarts for Ursa, it only brought her one step closer to graduating. Next year would be her penultimate year of schooling, because after that Ursa would be leaving Hogwarts behind. So no matter how unpredictable her school years might be, Ursa was going to make the most of the time that she had left at Hogwarts.

So that's the CoS plot done and now we'll be moving on to the Prisoner of Azkaban. I hope that you guys enjoyed how I incorporated Ursa into the CoS plot. There were just a few little plot holes that I felt like filling in, since surely Dumbledore wasn't able to stop the OWL and NEWT students from taking their exams. Then there's the fact that nobody had noticed the slip of paper in Hermione's hand before Harry and Ron did, so I made it so that Ursa gave it to her once she figured it out. There's still plenty more for Ursa to figure out, but I'll just let that happen one chapter at a time.