It had been a few days since Jade decided to let Nott into her friend group. A few days for them to get to know him a little better. A few days for Draco to sit in silence and mumble rude comments under his breath. Jade didn't know if he was still sour over the slap or the fact that Theo now sat with them at meals and hang out with them in the Common Room. Pansy and Blaise accepted him rather quickly while Gretta practically swooned over him.
"I think he's handsome." She had confided in Jade one night in the Common Room, "Don't tell him I said that!" Immediately followed and Jade pinky promised she wouldn't. At breakfast, Jade had settled for a seat next to Draco so Gretta could sit next to Theo. Gretta didn't speak much but when she did, and she had Theo's attention, her face would turn red.
"I have good news!" Professor McGonagall spoke loudly and the students' conversations stopped, and the hall fell silent.
"Dumbledore's coming back!" A few people from the Gryffindor people yelled and Draco groaned in disgust
"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" Another girl yelled as Oliver Wood roared,
"QUIDDITCH." Professor McGonagall made eye contact with him and Oliver's smile slowly faded.
"Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching of the culprit." There was an outburst of whistles and cheers. Jade clapped her hands together harshly until they stung but Draco didn't have any reaction to the news.
"Hear that?" Jade asked him and he glanced at her, "Hermione's going to be fine." Draco rolled his eyes, Jade looked across the table and shared a smile with Pansy before looking past her at the Gryffindor table to make eye contact with Harry and Ron. "Excuse me." She told her friends and since the students were now in lifted spirits she felt comfortable to slip from the Slytherin table to the Gryffindor's.
"She'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days." Ron was saying as she took her seat, and just as she did, Ron's little sister took a seat next to Ron and looked between the boys. Jade noticed her tense posture and she kept wringing her hands together in her lap.
"What's up?" Ron asked, not noticing her current expression as he put another spoonful of porridge into his mouth. Ginny didn't say anything, instead, she looked up and down the Gryffindor table, pausing momentarily to look at her two twin brothers a bit further down. "Spit it out," Ron told her once his mouth was clear.
"I've got to tell you something." She said very quietly, Jade had to lean in to hear her. Ginny was now looking from her to Ron, completely avoiding Harry's gaze.
"What is it?" Harry asked a bit gentler than her brother, Ginny opened her mouth to speak but then shut it again as if she couldn't find the right words.
"What?" Ron sighed and Harry leaned it a little and spoke quietly so only the three of them could hear him.
"Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something?" Ginny finally looked up at him but as she opened her mouth a loud voice interrupted them and made them all move out of their leaned positions.
"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty." Ginny jumped as Percy stood behind her and she only glanced at them before quickly leaving.
"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us something important!" Percy coughed into his goblet just then and set it down before asking,
"What sort of thing?" Harry explained how he asked her about anything strange and how she'd been acting weird but Percy waved this off. "Oh, that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets,"
"How do you know?" Jade asked, Percy noticed her for the first time and Jade raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer. "Well, if you must know, Ginny… walked in on me the other day when I was, well, never mind, the point is… she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather-" Percy looked very uncomfortable and Jade could only imagine what he was doing that was so embarrassing.
"What were you doing, Percy?" Ron grinned. "Go on, tell us, we won't laugh." Percy didn't smile however and didn't say anything else during breakfast after asking for Harry to pass him some rolls. There wasn't much time for breakfast left but Jade didn't have to worry because their class first this morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. Professor Lockhart waited for them to finish before beginning the walk to his classroom.
"What do you think Ginny caught him doing?" Jade asked Ron as they walked and Ron smiled again,
"I don't know. But whatever it is, I bet it's good."
"Mark my words," Professor Lockhart began a rant about how he thought the chaperoned walks to classes were no longer necessary. He looked very tired. His hair wasn't nearly as full of product as it usually was. Ron and Jade shared an annoyed look as he talked but to their surprise, Harry stepped forward to talk to him,
"I agree, sir," Harry spoke.
"Thank you, Harry." Lockhart smiled graciously at him as they waited for the Hufflepuffs to pass in the corridor. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night long."
"That's right." Ron stepped up and Jade followed him, not sure exactly what the two of them were on about. "Why don't you leave us here, sir? We've only got one more corridor to go." Jade smirked at them, surely Professor Lockhart wouldn't just leave them in the hallway, there were about thirty of them, a teacher would wonder where their chaperone went.
"You know, Weasley, I think I will." Lockhart told them, "I should go prepare for class." Jade stood there while the other students walked past her, she was completely stunned. She was stunned by the fact that she believed Lockhart would object to Ron's proposal. She watched Lockhart leave them and disappear around a corner while Harry and Ron came back for her.
"Prepare his class," Ron scoffed, "Gone to curl his hair, more like it."
"What was the point of-" Jade started and Harry took her by her shoulders and spun her around towards a corridor she'd been down multiple times and she looked at the 'out of order' sign on the lavatory door and made a noise of understanding. They all started walking towards the door at the same time and they almost got to it without being seen.
"Potter! Weasley!" They turned stiffly to find Professor McGonagall watching them, "Miss Maddex." She finished and Jade gave her a weak smile. "What are you doing?" She asked,
"We were…. We're going… to-"
"Hermione." Jade blurted out quickly and they all turned to look at her. Harry quickly regained his composure and nodded,
"We haven't seen her for ages, Professor. And, and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and to not worry..." Harry tried thinking of something else he could add but he was coming up blank. Professor McGonagall was staring at him, Jade couldn't read her expression; she only pressed her lips together in a thin line.
"Of course," she spoke to them softly, and Jade's eyes widened. She'd believed them. "Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been… I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may visit Miss Granger." Jade smiled at Harry but Professor McGonagall took her smile as happy to see her friend, not for getting away with their lie and avoiding getting in trouble. "I will inform Professor Lockhart where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission." Harry nodded and they all quickly walked away.
"That," said Ron fervently, "was the best story you've ever come up with." Jade nodded in agreement and Harry smiled sheepishly. Unfortunately, they had no choice now but to go to the Hospital Wing and tell Madam Pomfrey that they had Professor McGonagall's permission to visit Hermione. When they got there, Madam Pomfrey let them in reluctantly.
"There's just no point talking to a Petrified person," she huffed as she undid the locks on the door and they had to admit she had a point. When they'd taken their seats next to Hermione, Jade sank into her seat and her stomach turned, this was the first time she saw Hermione, the boys have been here many times. Her skin was almost waxy looking and her eyes were stuck open. It was obvious that Hermione wasn't going to know that they were there, Jade reached for Hermione's hand and grabbed it gently. Her skin was cold.
"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" Ron asked as he looked over Hermione's frozen face. "Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one'll ever know…" Jade felt something flaky in Hermione's hand and she bent her head to get a better look at it.
"Guys." She called for their attention.
"Go on and get it out," Ron whispered, shifting his chair so that he blocked her from Madam Pomfrey's view. Jad didn't want to pull it out of Hermione's hand, what if it was stuck and she had to try and wrench it out of her loose fist? Jade didn't say anything, she just took a deep breath and gently pinched a corner and pulled at it gently. It became clear that gentle wasn't going to work as it caught on one of Hermione's fingers, Jade pushed it back and tried getting at it from a different angle and she did end up maneuvering it out of Hermione's hand. Harry came to Jade's side and looked over it as Jade smoothed it out. The page was yellowed with age and looked like it was torn from an old book.
"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." Harry read quietly. "This snake, which may reach a 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."
"So, it's a Basilisk," Jade said, her heart was pounding quickly. They'd found it. They knew what it was.
"But how are we going to find it?" Ron asked, and Jade pointed under the writing at a different handwriting, this one was less elegant, and it read; Pipes.
"The monster in the Chamber's a Basilisk… a giant serpent! That's why I've been hearing that voice all over… because I understand Parseltongue."
"A gigantic snake." Jade squeaked, she didn't mind snakes that much, but a huge snake… a very large snake… slithering around the school and attacking students, it made her skin crawl. "Lovely."
