Or, at least, he and Tonks would be acting. Harry wasn't so sure about Solieyu. A single day had passed since they had last talked, but it looked as if the other boy had been put through some sort of rigorous training. His hair, which he normally kept tied back, hung loose; framing and often hiding his face. His eyes seemed to be perpetually glazed over any time Harry could see them. And he only slightly seemed to bother with keeping his robes tidy. That day, Harry had also noted that most of the teachers were avoiding him. Flitwick called on him once or twice, and Snape shot a few overly-difficult questions his way, but those two aside...
It was all very weird. Harry had more than one mystery to solve, and it was hard to keep the two from interlacing. Especially since Solieyu still refused to just come out and tell him what on earth was wrong with him. "All in good time." He had said. "I'll tell you when I'm ready."
Closing the book and bringing his bad singing to an end, Harry shut his eyes and tilted his head back. They were going to Hagrid's that evening. Harry wasn't looking forward to it in the least. He still needed to go talk to Solieyu about that, but he wasn't looking forward to that, either.
Getting up and setting the book in his chair, Harry stretched and stared off towards the stairs leading to the boys' dorms. With a very audible groan, Harry trudged his way to his dorm room.
As expected, it was empty, save for his won't-tell-you-what's-wrong friend. Solieyu was once more sprawled out in bed, looking more haggard than Harry could remember him ever being. Harry closed the door behind him and walked the room, looming at his friend's bedside. A few minutes passed and then Harry sighed and asked, "It's you and me. No one else is around. No one else is going to be around. Would you just tell me what in the name of Merlin is wrong with you? I have other mysteries I need to be solving, you know."
"So solve them." Solieyu muttered.
"Oh, I'd love to. But see, one of my friends just so happens to be seemingly laid out with some unknown problems. He would tell his friends, except he's apparently still too spooked of what their reactions are going to be. Forget that some creature may start killing students again - we have to be vague and skip around the truth for some reason!" Harry shouted. "After I get out of here, I'm going to figure out where Tonks ran off to, then head for Hagrid's. I knew it would be useless to ask if you were coming, but I honestly have nothing better to be doing right now."
"Find Tonks, then." Solieyu said, still not even opening his eyes.
"Damn it, Leon..." Harry growled, leaning forward and slamming his palms down on the edge of Solieyu's bed. "Tell. Me. What. Is. Wrong."
"No."
"It's real nice that you can trust me, Leon, you know that?" Harry said.
"Isn't a matter of trust."
"Oh really? Then what is it? You already know that neither Tonks nor I will get jumpy over whatever you have to say. You should know that, anyway. Sometimes I wonder if what we say gets through to you." Harry stated, standing back up and crossing his arms.
"It does." Solieyu said. "But the same could be said for you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked.
"It means that you're too thick to let this whole thing go and wait like I've asked you to." Solieyu said, sighing. Opening his eyes, the long-haired boy sat up with, Harry noticed, a sharp wince. "Look into my eyes and tell me I look healthy enough right now to do much of anything, Harry."
Harry narrowed his eyes as he looked into Solieyu's. He was obviously tired, and something seemed to almost be sapping his strength, if his half-asleep way of speaking was to be trusted. He was looking worse than he had when he was in class last, which was saying something. Finally, Harry murmured, "Whatever's wrong with you, it's making you sick. Worse than in the past. Right? I can at least guess, can't I?"
Laying back down and letting his eyes slip shut again, Solieyu hesitated for a moment before nodding. "You could say that, yes."
"And I'd assume that, if there was an easy way out, you'd have already gone to Madam Pomfrey for it. Right?"
"...Perhaps."
"Perhaps?" Harry echoed. "The blazing hells does that mean? Look, if Madam Pomfrey can get you to feeling better, why wouldn't you go to her?"
"I'm well aware I would feel better if I went to her. Believe me, Harry... if you were in my position, you'd be trying to get off of that stuff, too." Solieyu said,
bringing an arm up to cover his eyes with.
"Trying to get off what stuff?" Asked Harry.
"You'd rather not know and I'd rather not talk about it. It would only make me feel worse." Came the reply.
It wasn't what Harry was after. "Maybe I should just sneak into her store room, see what I can dredge up on my own, then."
"No." Solieyu said, putting enough force behind the one word to make Harry blink.
"Then tell me what it is."
"No." Solieyu repeated. "I'm not going to tell you. And you're going to be late if you stay here, trying to interrogate me. It isn't pleasant, Harry. That should be enough to get you to keep out of my affairs."
"Should be, but isn't." Harry said, turning and walking over to his trunk. "What does it taste like? I'm assuming that it's rather horrible if you can't gulp it down."
While Harry rummaged around, eventually tugging his invisibility cloak out, Solieyu lay silent. After folding the cloak up and tucking it safely into his robes, Harry looked back over. "Leon?"
"Blood, Harry." Said Solieyu through a sigh. "It tastes like blood."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"You alright?" Tonks asked.
"Not really." Harry replied.
"Still worrying about Leon? Look, he'll be okay. Just give him time, he'll be back to normal soon enough." Tonks said, throwing an arm over Harry's shoulders and casting a smile. "Now c'mon, cheer up! We've gotta look like we're all for paying Hagrid a visit."
"I'd rather down whatever Leon doesn't want to take." Harry grumbled.
One swat on the back of the head later, and the Ravenclaw duo were standing in front of Hagrid's hut. As Harry rubbed his aching skull, Tonks knocked on the door. A dog's barking came from inside. That would be Fang, Hagrid's dog. Harry had seen him accompany the large man around the grounds every so often. The creature looked like its face was melting, its body was drooping so much. Harry didn't even want to think about the smell that Hagrid and his dog would make in a one-room hut.
Before Harry could begin pondering other things, such as where Hagrid went to when he needed to use the bathroom, the door opened up. Hagrid blinked down at the two, and Harry and Tonks blinked back up at him. Then a wide grin stretched across Hagrid's face.
"'Arry!" He said,bringing two large hands down on Harry's shoulders and leaning over for a better look. "Was wonderin' when ye'd come down an' see me! Come on in, come on in. S'a bit dusty. Didn't plan on havin' company tonight..."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
It had all gone downhill from there. The three barely had any time to talk, as soon after their arrival. Dumbledore had shown up at Hagrid's doorstep with the Ministry of Magic himself in tow. Lucius Malfoy had also decided to step in and have a look around. Harry and Tonks had gone into hiding under the cloak off in the closest thing to a corner Hagrid's hut had.
An argument later and Hagrid was being escorted away, protesting the whole way, after giving a vague message about spiders to the seemingly-empty hut. Once they were sure that the group were gone, Harry yanked his cloak off and tucked it away in his robes again. "Damn it all! I finally decide to come down here and this is what happens!"
For a good minute, Tonks let Harry release his aggression, somewhat surprised at the colorful vocabulary he used in certain places when describing Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, and any descendant or relative of any of the above. He finally calmed down after Fang drooled all over the front of his robes in an attempt at support. With a long sigh, Harry petted the now-ownerless hound and looked over at Tonks. "So what now?"
Tonks shrugged. "Dunno. I say we follow the spiders like Hagrid mentioned. What's the worst that could happen?"
Fang let out a sudden whimper and moved from Harry to under Hagrid's bed. Both Ravenclaws frowned at his sudden and rather strange behavior. "Well," Harry said, "that certainly bodes well, doesn't it?"
Exiting the hut and making quite sure that no one was around to see them, the two spent a few minutes looking around the general area for some spiders. "You'd think," Tonks growled after cleaning some dirt from under her fingernails, "that with how close you are with the things, they'd show right up!"
"Spiders are spiders. It's not like I can control them." Harry groused in return.
"Yeah, you can only talk to snakes. How unfortunate for us." Tonks grumped.
"Oh, shut it, Nymmy."
Finally - FINALLY - they found a group of small, black spiders scuttling down the side of the hut. Unfortunately, they seemed to be heading right into the Forbidden Forest. "My earlier point of well-boding stands." Harry sighed. "We have to go in there, don't we?"
"Looks like it." Tonks said.
"Great. How can the day get any better? Do you know what kind of things live in there?" Harry asked.
"Yup."
"Damn, me too. I think it'd be a lot easier on us if neither of us knew what might come and eat our faces off." Harry said, shaking his head slowly. "...We really have to go in there, don't we?"
"Come on, Brave Sir Harry." Tonks said, grabbing at one of Harry's hands and tugging him towards the trees. "Let's get this over with. So help me, if some creepy-crawly gets in my hair..."
The trip through the forest definitely wasn't at all fun. In addition to the constant feeling of being watched, it was nearly impossible to get around quickly.
Tree roots above the ground mixed with thorn bushes and other spiky fauna, causing one Ravenclaw or the other to let out the occasional swear. Wherever those spiders were leading them, it was somehow getting darker. Harry attributed this to the fact that the overhead brush was getting thicker. The full moon that was out couldn't pierce through here.
Eventually, they had to resort to using the Lumos spell to keep going. Neither were particularly wanting to use it, as both knew exactly how many creatures in the forest might be attracted to it. But it was either that or stumble around in the pitch black darkness. Given their options, they chose to see what might approach them as opposed to being jumped by it.
"Look." Harry whispered, around a fifteen minutes later. "Up ahead."
"A clearing? Well thank Merlin." Tonks replied.
"You realize that you probably just jinxed us." Harry said.
"Shut up."
When they exited into the clearing, a chill ran down their spines. It might have been an opening in the forest, but it definitely wasn't anything to be happy about. A network of spiderwebs lined practically every inch of the place. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny, glowing eyes all focused on them as they entered. And in the center of it all was a very large opening that was covered with downed trees, cobwebs, and less savory materials. It was from this opening that a voice startled them.
"Who...are you...?"
"Harry, the hole is talking to us." Tonks whispered aside to Harry.
"Shh!" Harry said. Then, raising his voice, he addressed the opening. "Uh... we're friends of Hagrid... he was... taken away tonight and he told us to 'follow the spiders' to find answers..."
"Hagrid is gone...?"
"Yeah." Tonks chimed in. "The Minister of Magic was there and everything..."
"Why was he taken?"
"They think... they think he's opened the Chamber of Secrets again and--" Harry began. But he didn't get far. An angered hissing filled the spiders' den and, from the large opening, an equally large spider came crawling. Behind him was a slightly smaller but still gigantic mate.
"The Chamber of Secrets!" Roared what appeared to be the ruler of the other spiders. "Hagrid did not open it! They have done this in the past!"
"...Wait, he didn't open it? Then who did? ...Do you know what's attacking the students? Something keeps petrifying students and Hagrid was removed because they thought it might end up the same way it did last time..."
"Hagrid has never done anything to harm a soul, be it human or otherwise." Clicked the large spider. "He saved me from hungry predators when I was but a newborn. He raised me in a small cupboard until I got too big for it..."
Harry frowned. "I did see a cupboard or something in the diary..." He muttered softly. "Um... so, do you know who opened the Chamber? Or what's attacking?"
"We do. But we dare not speak its name." Said the spider. "Even we acromantulas fear such a creature, as it enjoys feasting on us."
"Feasting...? But that would mean it's big. really big..." Tonks said, tilting her head in confusion.
"How big...is this creature you fear?" Harry asked, tentatively.
"Far larger than even I." Said the spider. "Most creatures in this forest fear the name of Aragog. But not it. It fears nothing. It knows only hunger and death..."
"Aragog? Is that your name?" Harry asked.
"It is." Hissed the spider. "And now... I am afraid it is time to say goodbye, young human."
"What?" Harry asked, blinking.
"While we allow Hagrid safe passage in gratitude for raising me, I cannot deny my children fresh meat..." Aragog clicked.
"You're going to eat us?" Harry cried, goggling at the acromantula.
"Yes. You should have never entered this forest, friend of Hagrid." Said Aragog.
Beside him, Tonks let out a shrill gasp. Harry turned to look at her, about to ask why her reaction to being eaten had come so late. But she was staring at Aragog in a completely different sort of horror. "I know what it is, Harry..."
"Huh?"
"I know what they're scared of! I know what's been attacking the school!" Tonks said, rounding on Harry and grabbing at the front of his robes.
"What?" Harry asked, momentarily forgetting that a pack of bloodthirsty, giant spiders wanted nothing more than to rip them apart.
"It's--!" Tonks began. But a furious noise from Aragog halted her in her tracks.
"Do not speak of it!" Roared the creature. "Get them! Quickly!"
That was all it took. The swarm of spiders that had slowly been creeping into the clearing lunged out. Harry and Tonks let out twin cries of panic, whirled around, and took off running. While Tonks kept her wand lit, Harry was busy blasting approaching acromantulas from leaping at them. It proved to be quite the difficult task, as they literally seemed to be coming from out of the darkness itself. When one fell, two took its place.
"We're never gonna make it out of here!" Tonks cried, leaping over a bramble bush.
"Oh, yes we are!" Harry shouted, shooting a spider out of the air and catching up to his friend. "I'm not going to get eaten by a bunch of bloody spiders!"
"Talk to them!" Tonks said. "You're good with spiders, aren't you!"
"NORMAL spiders, yes!" Harry exclaimed. "I've never had to deal with spiders that were larger than my head! DUCK!"
Harry grabbed Tonks around the waist and yanked her hard to the left as a particularly huge acromantula came soaring out of nowhere. The two nearly toppled over, but colliding with a tree's trunk prevented it. Harry took aim and sent a firestarting curse at the spider as it turned around, urging Tonks to resume running.
"We can't outrun these things!" Tonks groaned. "If it was only brighter in here and I could help you...!"
"Don't worry about that, I'm doing just fine!" Harry called out, knowing it was a flat-out lie. The wave of spiders coming from behind them was frighteningly large. As Harry checked over his shoulder during a clear straightaway in the brush, he heard Tonks let out a shriek.
Grinding to a halt, Harry spun around to see a pair of spiders pinning her up against another tree's trunk. Harry jerked his wand in an arc, sending a bright orange flash of light to strike one of them. But his companion quickly pounced Harry to the ground before he could send a second attack their way. Harry landed hard on his back, his wand slipping through his fingers and coming to a halt just out of reach.
"Harry...!" Tonks whimpered from nearby. The spider swarm had caught up. Harry had noticed this, as several more sets of eyes had joined the ones from the acromantula on top of him.
"We've got to think of something, quick!" Harry yelled. But he was too worried about avoiding being eaten to think coherently.
The spiders moved in, surrounding the fallen pair of students. They clicked eagerly, a disgusting, slimy substance oozing from their mouths. But, as the spider on Harry reared back for the kill, something completely unexpected happened. A frenzied hissing from nearby filled the air, causing all of the acromantulas to jerk their heads up and look off. A savage noise, along with the shrill sounds of dying spiders, then filled the eerie silence that had followed.
What happened next was complete chaos. A gigantic wolf burst through a large, thorn-covered hedge nearby, landing in the center of the spider swarm, in-between Harry and Tonks. Its teeth were gleaming distinctly with acromantula blood, which was also splattering a good amount of its body. It let out a low growl and then threw its head back in a howl. The effect was instantaneous; as one, the spiders leapt from Harry and Tonks, trying to escape the area. But the wolf wouldn't let them. While a few managed to get away, most were ripped apart brutally, be it via claws or fangs.
Harry and Tonks were quickly to their feet, with Harry grabbing at his wand. The two stood, almost mesmerized by the carnage unfolding before them. Another wave of spiders - bigger ones, if it were possible - was quickly approaching. For the briefest of moments, the two Ravenclaws stood motionless amidst one large wolf and dozens of mutilated spider bodies. Then, the wolf spun its head to the side and stared at them, baring its bloody fangs and emitting a deep growl.
"Tonks. We need to go." Harry whispered, staring back at the wolf as if piecing something together. "NOW!"
With that, Harry grabbed Tonks by the hand and began fleeing in the direction opposite the one that the second acromantula wave was approaching from. As they ran, they could hear the wolf tearing through the creatures are they arrived. But this batch seemed to actually get some attacks of their own in, as more than once, Harry and Tonks heard a high-pitched whimper.
"Hope that thing's okay..." Tonks said, quickly looking over her shoulder. "Harry, are we going the right way?"
"I'm pretty sure we are." Harry said.
"You alright?"
"Ask me again after we get back in the Tower." Harry said.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
The two slumped through the front doors of the school almost twenty minutes later, out of breath and under the invisibility cloak. But instead of heading the familiar path to Ravenclaw Tower, Harry seemed to be going somewhere else. When asked why, Harry replied with a question of his own. "What were you about to say back there, before Aragog ordered the attack?" He whispered.
"Huh? Oh! It's a basilisk, Harry, it has to be! It's just about the only thing that could spook those things... it can petrify, and its gaze causes death."
Tonks said, looking down at the floor. "Hogwarts' pipes must be gigantic..."
"A basilisk? But... if its gaze causes death, how does it petrify?" Harry asked, trying to make his tired mind think back to all the research he had done.
"I think it has something to do with indirect sight..." Tonks said, gnawing at her lower lip softly.
"...Fred had the Haunts." Harry said, eyes lighting up. "If he saw the basilisk through one of those..."
The pieces of the puzzle that had been missing started tumbling, rapidly, into place in Harry's mind. "Luna had that stupid amulet of hers... Bulstrode must have had something in her 'personal items' that caused her to indirectly look at it..."
"What about Peeves, though?" Tonks asked.
"Probably either saw it the same way or it was just because he isn't exactly alive to begin with..." Harry replied. "I'm not sure. But... Okay, so what? Ginny Weasley's been letting a basilisk into the school? How the hell would something that large go unnoticed?"
"Well, mate, it kind of has a tendency to petrify anything that gets a look at it." Tonks said, dryly.
"At least no one's been killed by it yet. ...Hey, Tonks?"
"Yeah?"
"...How did Myrtle die?"
The two stopped, turning to stare at one another. "You don't think...?" Tonks began.
"I do. She must have been the one to have gotten killed the last time the Chamber was opened." Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "...We're going to see her. I need to know."
"What? But what about where we were going?" Tonks asked, as Harry suddenly did an about-face.
"After Myrtle." Harry said. "We may have to wait awhile, anyway. Come on."
"Wait awhile? Harry, what the hell are you on about?"
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
As it turned out, it seemed like Myrtle wasn't entirely sure how she died. All she knew is that a boy's voice came from outside her stall while she was in the bathroom, crying. She opened the door to tell him that it was a girl's bathroom and that he should get out... and that was it. The next thing she knew, she was a ghost, choosing to haunt the area she had died in.
"Does that mean...it's around here somewhere?" Harry asked, looking around the bathroom slowly. "The entrance to the Chamber, I mean..."
"Dunno." Tonks said. "Myrtle, you never noticed anything strange this year, have you?"
"Well..." Began the ghost. "I have heard someone speaking strangely from time to time, but I was never good with languages. Opal Brightsky always used to pick on me for not being good with English, either, the stupid girl... This one time I..."
As Myrtle continued her story, Tonks turned back to Harry, who was peering closely at all of the faucets in the room, along with anything else that might hold a secret. "I think we should come back tomorrow for this, Harry. It's been a long night..."
"I know, I know..." Harry mumbled, hand brushing over the ornate design of a fish that adorned the back of one of the sinks. "...Maybe we should get back to what I wanted to do before I was sidetracked."
"Which was?" Tonks asked. "You never told me, you know."
"Check the hospital wing." Harry replied, turning and giving her a grim look.
"The hospital wing? Why?"
"If I'm right, it'll explain itself. Come on..." Harry said, pulling the cloak back out and slipping it over the two of them after glancing around the room in frustration once again.
"You never tell me anything." Tonks muttered.
As the two left, and the door closed behind them, Myrtle looked up. "...It's rude to leave when someone's TALKING TO YOU!" She roared after them.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Silencing charms on?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah, but..." Tonks began. Harry quieted her with a finger to his lips, motioning for her to creep up the corridor with him. They slipped into the hospital wing slowly, making sure that Madam Pomfrey wasn't lingering about as she sometimes did.
Once he knew they were in the clear, Harry removed the cloak and began looking around the room as fast as he could. He kept the cloak out in case an emergency popped up, and whispered for Tonks to keep close to him for the same reason. The two made a lap around the hospital wing, checking every bed for an occupant. But the only ones who were in there were the current victims of the basilisk. This seemed to both confuse and irritate Harry to no end. He insisted that they sit and wait under the cloak for awhile, just in case. It was driving Tonks batty, since he still hadn't explained what he was doing.
But once he seemed sure that no one was going to spontaneously enter in the dead of night, he swore and got to his feet. "Come on. Let's go get some sleep." He scowled.
The trip back to Ravenclaw Tower was slower than it should have been. Harry was dragging his feet and, for some reason, Tonks knew it wasn't due to fatigue. As they walked, she slipped an arm around his shoulders. This seemed to at least cause him to smile a bit more, though he still seemed troubled by something. As they approached the portrait of a currently-asleep Walter, Harry cleared his throat and the duo slipped from under the cloak once more.
"Hmm? Ohh, it's you..." Said the elderly wizard, blinking groggily. "What are you doing out at this time of night?"
"Walt, did anyone come out after they shouldn't have?" Harry asked quickly.
"What's that? Oh, yes, I think your friend did, actually. He said he was going to see Madam Pomfrey. Looked rather ill, the poor lad." Walter said, rubbing at his eyes.
"Damn." Harry hissed. "I knew it! I knew it!"
"Knew what? What's wrong, Harry?" Tonks asked.
"Inside." Harry said. Then, facing Walter again, he spoke the password. Walter nodded, slumping in his reading chair once more as his portrait moved to allow them entrance. Unfortunately, the common room wasn't empty. Several older students were off in one corner, looking exhausted as they slaved over ridiculously-long sheets of parchment. Harry swore under his breath and led Tonks over to their usual chair. Harry slumped down in it, thankful that the older students at least seemed to be too busy to notice he and Tonks' ragged and dirty robes.
"Do we have to wait?" Tonks whispered to him, glancing over towards the older students.
Harry shook his head. "No. Just don't yell anything when I tell you, alright?"
"Yell?" Tonks asked, creasing her brow in confusion.
"I know where Leon is." Harry murmured, leaning his head in closer to Tonks'.
"Well, you're a fair bit quicker than I am, then. Walt said he went to the hospital wing, but he wasn't there when we were." Tonks said.
"Yeah. Because he was too busy saving our hides in the forest." Harry said, his right hand balling up into a fist.
"What? Harry, make some sense... A giant wolf saved us, not Leon. Are you sure one of those acromantulas didn't get you?"
"Tonks, look at it! It all makes sense!" Harry hissed in as quiet a voice as he could manage. "He gets really weak randomly. He has to take some potion that tastes like BLOOD. He's nowhere to be found and we just got saved by some random wolf in the middle of the Forbidden Forest! It's a full moon, Tonks, you said so yourself! Leon is a werewolf!"
Tonks blinked, working out things for herself. "But... No, Harry, that can't be right, can it? I mean, he's looked pretty rough even when there wasn't a full moon around!"
"Maybe the potion makes him feel normal... Maybe that's part of the reason he's been looking so awful this week." Harry reasoned.
"Maybe he just doesn't like potions that taste of blood." Tonks suggested.
"Oh, come on." Harry said. "Where is he then?"
"Up in your dorm?" Tonks tried, raising an eyebrow. "You haven't been up there yet, you know."
"Fine, I'll go look." Harry muttered, getting to his feet and leaving. A minute later and he was back down in the common room, shaking his head as he approached Tonks again. "Not in bed."
"But he's been around during other full moons, Harry!" Tonks said.
"Has he? Can you remember where he's been on every full moon we've had?" Harry asked.
"Of course I can't! But that isn't the ruddy point!" Tonks hissed.
"Then what is the point?" Harry asked, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms. "Didn't you see the way that wolf looked at us? It wanted us to get out of there. Now why would some random wolf not only jump out of nowhere to save us, but also stay behind to allow us a safe escape?"
"...I don't know." Tonks said, her voice even softer.
"Neither do I." Harry said, his equally as quiet. "If this is all that's wrong with him, he should have told us, though..."
"Yeah... Especially after tonight. I mean, even if we were spooked of him being a werewolf or something, after he saved us like that, surely he couldn't think that we'd hate him because of it..." Tonks said.
"I hope he's alright." Harry said, looking off towards the entrance tunnel. "He isn't back yet, and he didn't come to the hospital wing while we were there..."
"Do you... do you think the spiders...?" Tonks began, worry in her eyes.
"I dunno, Tonks." Harry said, sighing slowly. "I just don't know."
The two sat silent for awhile after that. Eventually, the older students packed up their things and went to bed, leaving Harry and Tonks alone in the common room. Both were lost in their thoughts. Harry's mind was putting the last pieces of both puzzles together and, though a few pieces were still missing from them, both seemed so complete now that it almost didn't matter.
Ginny Weasley was somehow bringing a basilisk into the main part of the school. The entrance was, probably, somewhere in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, judging by what she had said. Sure, it wasn't much to go on, but it was too convenient. Why had the diary been dumped in that particular bathroom? Out of all of the bathrooms in Hogwarts, why Myrtle's? To Harry, it seemed as if Ginny had entered and, for one reason or another, a moment of sanity took control of her. She had thrown the diary away and fled.
The victims of the basilisk all were fortunate enough to not come in direct contact with the beast. Harry had seen drawn images of a basilisk. He knew how big some of them were in comparison to humans. If the drawings were to be believed, they had enormous fangs. So even if you escaped death, you might not escape being eaten alive.
Still... a basilisk? They didn't come very small. And, providing this creature was the same one that was living during the Chamber's first opening, it had to have been very large by now, indeed. But how does such a large beast traverse the school without being seen? Naturally, some victims would have an indirect look at the thing, but students always tended to walk in groups. Even Draco Malfoy had an entourage.
And what of Solieyu? He was mysteriously absent the same night that a giant wolf had appeared before he and Tonks. It couldn't have been coincidence. It was all too convenient. Things fell into place too easily for it to have been coincidence. But this left Harry worrying about the status of his friend. The last time they had talked, it had been more an argument than anything else. Harry certainly didn't want the last things he said to Solieyu to have been laced with anger. But, as it didn't seem like the boy was going to turn up, Harry thought it best to at least try to get some sleep. If he still wasn't around by morning, Harry would go straight to Dumbledore and make him find his friend somehow.
"Tonks. We should rest." Harry said, sounding as worn out as he looked, finally.
"Are you sure?" Tonks asked. "What if Leon shows up?"
"He's never around when you need him, so I doubt he will." Harry said, smiling weakly. "Come on. Let's get to bed. I doubt either of us will sleep, but..."
"Yeah..." Tonks said, hopping off the arm of the chair at the same time Harry stood up. "I hope he's alright, though. If he really did save us... Harry, they injured him... you heard those cries of pain."
"Yeah." Harry said, walking with Tonks across the room. "I know. All we can do is hope. And pray we manage to fall asleep. It'll be far easier that way, as morning will take forever to come if we stay awake."
The two exchange a final, worried glance before parting ways. As Harry slipped back into the second year boys' dorm and slipped out of his tattered robes, he couldn't help but look at Solieyu's empty bed. And, as he stretched out on his own bed after changing, Harry couldn't help but stare up at the full moon as it shone, tauntingly, in through one of the room's windows.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: Guh. Okay, for the record? After spending way too long putting this chapter off - blame FF10, Psychonauts, and Fatal Frame 2 for my delays. I've been having fun playing games on my new PS2 - I finally sat down and powered out everything after Harry and Tonks entered Hagrid's hut in one night. I didn't want to, but I felt I needed to. It's been far too long since I updated and I was feeling mighty guilty about it.
So... let the serious "wtf-ing" begin! I'm not telling one way or another. You, like Harry, will have to wait to see what Leon has to say on the matter. If it WAS him out there. And if he's actually still, y'know, ALIVE.
Looks like it came out as one long chapter after all, huh? I was originally going to put some more in, but that would have only delayed it even further. I KNOW I'm never going to reach 20 chapters now. I think we're only three or four chapters away from finishing Chamber Reopened, and I couldn't be happier. We're OFFICIALLY in the final stretch, which means I don't have to effing pad anything and can get my version of the ending on with! Which means fun and action from there on out!
I bet you guys are wondering what the crap the Sorting Hat's going to drop out, if not Gryffindor's Sword, huh? I've had that planned from the beginning, so don't worry about it. I also have a few interesting twists and turns for a couple of people. So be sure to check back regularly. I'll try and keep my profile updated with news. And for the record, since FFN looooathes my sticking URLs in my profile, I'll stick fanart links in the Homepage link part, okay? They'll link to the newest pic, since it looks like more are going to come. I'd never think of trying to rush my artist dude, as I know how infuriating stuff like that can be. You can't rush good art, folks.
So...yeah. Enjoy this stuff, guys. If this doesn't spark a "What the hell are you doing?" debate for Chamber, nothing will.
Until next time!
Post-Edit Update: Okay, I got crap for sleep, so I apologize if I missed something in the editing of this chapter. I'm still not entirely awake yet.