Unfortunately, destroying the book wasn't the last adventure my friends and I were going to have before the end of the year. There was another attack, and this time it wasn't a muggleborn. On the 18th of May, Ginny Weasley was found petrified by the girls' bathroom on the second floor. Suddenly, Adrian, Graham, and I all had reason to believe that the book might have actually had something to do with the chamber. We destroy a dark artefact and three days later the girl we'd taken it from turns up petrified? That's a very bad coincidence. It sent the school into a panic, as this was the closest together any separate petrifications took place. An earlier curfew was implemented, and no students were allowed in the halls alone. On the bright side, it meant no one could attack the Slytherin's easily. On the bad side, they still tried.

Cedric and I were with his friends when the first blatant attack on any of my house mates took place. Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini were a short distance away from us in the courtyard, likely picking that spot because I was nearby. Patrick Bagby had just made a surprising joke with me, and I was only kept from laughing when I heard a screech of fear. The sound of a spell firing had me standing and turning to see where it was coming from, my wand sliding from my sleeve and into my hand. There wasn't a chance for me to stop the first spell, but I did see Pansy fall, Blaise stepping in front of her protectively despite his shaking. I couldn't blame him, the Gryffindor who'd just attacked them was one of the ones who put me in the hospital wing earlier in the year.

I braced myself for the pain that I was about to experience without one of my potions, hurrying towards them to get in range. I could hear Cedric and his friends behind me, but I paid them no mind. The boy fired another spell, but before it could hit my younger house mates I threw out my own "Verja!"

Cedric hissed behind me, the sound of him stopping his friends and running back towards our stuff giving me a small smile. I was happy the spell worked at least, but my face quickly turned to stone as I sneered at my former attacker's words "Oh, back for more are you? You can wait your turn."

I hissed in annoyance, the pain surprisingly easy to ignore in my fury "I never did get your name when you and your friend were firing spells at me point blank." A crowd was starting to gather, and I motioned to Pansy and Blaise to get behind me. They were happy to oblige as I addressed him again "There a reason you're picking on second years? I'd think you would want a fight."

"Vanessa, your potion!"

My eyes narrowed at the Gryffindor when he smirked, forcing me to ignore Cedric. I wasn't in a position where I could turn my back on an enemy. He held his arms out "I suppose everyone should know the name of the person who's going to stop the Heir of Slytherin." He was definitely full of himself, bowing to me mockingly "Reese Spindle, at your service."

I scoffed, glaring around me "You would think that someone in Slytherin is doing this. But the only person I see capable of attempting to kill students at this school is you." He glared at me as I continued "Stay away from my house mates Spindle. I haven't forgotten what you did to me, and I will be happy to stop you doing it to someone else."

He shifted, probably trying to look smug, but it just came off ridiculous in his anger "You don't stand a chance."

My eyes rolled "Try me, you overzealous toad."

That was the perfect bait to set him off. He fired nonverbal spell after nonverbal spell, but my shield charm from earlier still held. The nice thing about Dragonian spells was that, despite the pain they caused me to cast, they were more powerful than a student could fight. He seemed to realize that as he switched to casting verbally, clearly desperate to break through. Unfortunately, my spell did break, but not because of him – I just hadn't given it enough juice to last for more than three minutes. I had to turn to deflecting whatever he threw at me, trying to keep any stray spells from hitting the students around us.

I was surprised the ruckus wasn't attracting any teachers, but I wasn't complaining. This gave me the chance to knock the git down a few pegs, and maybe get a little payback for what he did to me. I didn't enjoy a stinging jinx to the cheek any more than the stunner that'd hit my forehead. I let him go on for a while, watching him tire himself out. I couldn't help the smirk that continued to play on my face, but it fell when I decided to stop playing games. I had to brace myself for the almighty tsunami of pain I was about to bring myself.

The moment I saw an opening I took it. I swished my wand, aiming it towards his chest so I wouldn't miss "Drepa fœti!" His next spell fumbled, giving me the chance to aim for his legs next "Kikna!" The sound of his knees hitting the ground wasn't a pleasant one, but he still had his wand so I kept my momentum running into the next spell "Eigna!" His wand went flying through the air and into my hand.

My breathing was heavy when I finally stopped moving, watching his incredulity turn into absolute rage. His face and ears burned red as he yelled "You bitch! I'll make sure to have you in St. Mungo's next time! You wouldn't stand a chance in a proper duel!"

Cedric came up behind me, handing me the full phial of my potion instead of the one I'd already opened "That was brilliant, but you aren't getting out of going to the hospital wing this time."

I could only shrug my shoulders as I chugged down the whole potion, my father rushing over in the corner of my eye. Before he could say anything I spoke "The adrenaline's keeping it at bay for now, I should have enough time for the potion to kick in."

My father frowned at me, but his anger at my recklessness dissipated as the two second years I'd been defending came over to me "Thank you, for helping us."

I smiled down at Blaise "Why wouldn't I? You're fellow snakes." I frowned as Spindle's yelling could still be heard "Besides, I owed him a nice beating for earlier this year."

I gripped my father's arm before he could turn his wrath on the seventh year, giving Cedric a look that told him to stay put too. I was surprised, however, when Patrick grew angry as well "That guy's the reason Cedric had to bring you to the hospital wing?"

"One of them." I passed his wand to McGonagall when she finally approached me, waving her off as she apologized for his behavior "I got my two knuts in where he's involved." One look showed him in tears "I'm sure he won't be a problem to my house mates any more. Now, Cedric and my father are both going to kill me if I don't get to the hospital wing, so I'm afraid I'll have to end this conversation here, Professor."

She smiled fondly at me, letting me be escorted out of the courtyard. We made it half way before the adrenaline wore off, and I collapsed in the hall shortly after. Cedric's friends looked terrified behind him, and my father's doting probably made them more worried since they'd never seen it before. My grip tightened on Cedric's shoulder when he picked me up, and while I felt bad for making him worry so much I couldn't help but be happy that I'd managed to stand my ground when I needed to. Even if it hurt like a bitch after.

Madame Pomfrey tutted disapprovingly at me once I was in a bed, but I refused to be sorry about it. Once she'd confirmed I would be okay my father stepped out of the doting dad role to the disappointed father role. I just grinned at him the whole time, eventually getting a fond smile from him. He left me with a demand that I restock my potion on my own with Madame Pomfrey's word that I'd be out by dinner time.

The next day there was another attack. This time, however, it was Graham. Adrian and I sprinted to the hospital wing at the news, and the sight of one of my best friends petrified had me in tears. Harry was there before us, looking paler than he had when Granger was found. He seemed scared of my reaction, but I only pulled him in on the hug Adrian was giving me. That was the line for me. Now it was time to go basilisk hunting, because sooner or later someone was going to die. We stayed with Graham for a half hour before I let the anger take over. Adrian didn't question it, and Harry scrambled to follow after me. I needed to think, and the best way for me to do that was to brew.

Cedric joined us, sitting on one of the tables in the room I chose to brew my potion in. Adrian whistled when I started three cauldrons, taking his own seat on the table just across from mine. Harry stayed with Adrian, not sure what to do when I was like this – he'd never been around me during an angry brainstorm like this.

It was Adrian who started things off, being the only one who knew how to go about it "So what do we know?"

I carefully started preparing the moondew, waiting for the water to boil in all three cauldrons "People are being petrified by a basilisk. It's clearly lost all direction since it's attacked two purebloods in a row when it was only attacking muggleborns before." I frowned, splitting the moondew into three equal parts and placing them in front of each cauldron for Adrian to put in for me "The Weasley girl was attacked just three days after we destroyed the book."

Harry's eyes widened "What? I thought you said the book was gone!"

My eyes snapped to his briefly before I turned to grinding up the fairy wings "Because we thought it was. I gave it to my father, he gave it to the headmaster. I ran into the Weasley girl-"

"Ginny."

"-Ginny, in the hall. She dropped all her things and there was the book. Adrian, Graham, and I took it upon ourselves to destroy the thing. That much dark magic just running around the halls untempered was dangerous. We didn't think it actually had anything to do with the chamber."

Adrian eyed my hands, waiting for my signal to lower the flame as he spoke "It's a bit strange though, isn't it? If the book opened the chamber and released the basilisk then destroying it should have closed the chamber again, shouldn't it?"

I pondered it, sniffing and looking to the left before splitting the ground fairy wings into their parts "Not if the book itself didn't open the chamber. If it took control of someone though, then the basilisk would still be free to roam the castle." I clicked my tongue and Adrian quickly levitated the fairy wings into each cauldron "And without a master to tell it who to target, it's just going by scent."

Cedric's face was a little bewildered at the tandem Adrian was working with me, but he seemed to be ignoring it as best he could while joining in on the conversation "But if it's going by smell, shouldn't it still be attacking muggleborns?"

I scowled at that, almost letting the knife slip while I was cutting the ginger root "If Weasley was carrying the book around, she was probably the one it was controlling. The basilisk would have gone after her searching for its master, but since she isn't a parselmouth and probably can't remember controlling the giant snake in the first place."

He finished my thought, nodding along "She doesn't know not to look at it and gets petrified. But what about Graham?"

Adrian picked up on that for me, waving his wand to stir three times counterclockwise for all three cauldrons when I gave him the signal "The three of us destroyed the book. It can probably smell the remnants of the dark magic that made it on us. Therefore, Graham gets caught."

The ginger went in next, and Adrian raised the flame without my prompting this time "Now the question is, where's the entrance to the chamber? The basilisk needs to be stopped, and there's only one way to do that now."

I stopped, taking a deep breath and taking the henbane in hand, slicing carefully at the leaves while Harry spoke "I've tried following it whenever I can hear it, but I lose it every time."

Adrian pulled him back and away from my set up when he tried to lean over my workspace "Where do you normally lose track of it?"

Harry paused to think for a moment, long enough for me to take each cauldron off the flame and set each carefully measured portion of henbane in front of them "Normally on the second floor, by the-"

"-Girls' bathroom?"

He nodded "How'd you know?"

Adrian's eyes rolled "That's near where you found the book, and it's where Weasley was found. Funnily enough, that's where Moaning Myrtle stays."

"Who now?"

Cedric frowned at the title "She's a ghost. People call her Moaning Myrtle, cause she's always crying about something. Floods the bathroom on that floor a lot, actually. Everyone tends to avoid it because of her."

I nodded, placing the cauldrons back on the flame "Most girls can't stand having some ghost gripe at them about something, so they stay away from it. I'll admit, I considered using it to experiment on some potions that take months to brew, but I didn't want to risk her messing with them."

"What's she got to do with it though?"

I looked over at Adrian, my brow furrowing at him "You think she knows anything?"

He shrugged "Can't hurt to ask. I bet she was alive when that book was made, maybe even the last time the chamber was opened."

Cedric's eyes lit up with an idea "What if it's both?" I only glanced at him to acknowledge his words, turning back to start cutting up the valerian sprigs as he continued "Last time the chamber was opened, someone did die. What if it was her? And what if the person who opened the chamber back then made the book too?"

I nodded in agreement "It makes sense. We can ask her once I'm done here."

Cedric's light laughter rang through my ears as he turned to Adrian "How do you do that?"

"What? Wave my wand around?" I barked out a laugh, shaking my head at his antics "I've spent three years watching her brew potions. She's perfectly capable of making two cauldrons at a time on her own, but once she's brewing three or more Graham and I need to help her out a bit. The timing can be a few seconds off between them, but not much more or else she loses track and things go wrong."

"Speaking of." The moment my hand was off the last measurement of the sprigs, Adrian had them flying into their respective cauldrons "Four times clockwise, thanks."

I tried not to be amused when Harry and Cedric squirmed at my crushing the eels' eyes, but Adrian held no shame in laughing at them "Trust me, you get used to it. The worst part is her checking each ingredient in her stock."

"Hate it all you like, but I will never risk using an expired ingredient in a potion. That's the best way to get you killed."

He narrowed his eyes at me "I'm pretty sure the time you accidentally cut yourself when you were working on the henbane was worse than possibly using month old fairy wings."

I snipped back at him as he put the eels' eyes in "Month old fairy wings can burn the skin, thank you very much."

The conversation lulled into playful banter, allowing me to take the time I needed to start bottling my potion. The three cauldrons were enough to fill twenty phials, more than enough to restock what I needed. Adrian cleaned the cauldrons for me while I packed up my potions kit, placing all the ingredients in their rightful places. Once I was done we dropped everything off in the common room knowing they would be left untouched by our fellow Slytherins. I made sure to keep a few phials on me, however. If I had a chance to take a crack at the basilisk tonight I was going to take it. Soon enough, we found ourselves standing in the girls' bathroom on the second floor.

Harry looked around uncomfortably as I called out "Myrtle? We've got a few things we'd like to ask you."

I cringed at the sound of her wailing as she came flying out of one of the toilets, stopping to hover in front of us with an angry glare "What? Come to play a game with me?"

My face wore nothing but a confused expression "Why would we do that?"

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say, her face breaking down into tears. I floundered, unsure of what to do with a crying ghost. Cedric pulled on my shoulder lightly, stepping in front of me "Myrtle, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again. We were hoping you might know something about it."

She sniffled, wiping tears from her face "It was opened when I was a student. I died that year."

My eyes widened, and I'm sure the other three had much the same reaction. Cedric took a deep breath, letting it out slowly "Do you remember what happened to you?"

She let out a sad moan "Oh, it was dreadful. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then, I heard somebody come in."

Cedric frowned, his shoulders tensing "Do you know who it was?"

She turned angry "How could I? I was distraught!" She drifted closer to us as she continued "But they said something funny, a kind of made up language, and I realized it was a boy's voice speaking so I unlocked the door to tell him to go away and," She paused, her voice turning mournful "I died."

Harry furrowed his brow "Just like that? How?"

She looked at him "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes." She looked over as she pointed "Over there, by that sink."

She started floating away as I moved to look at the sink, frowning at it. Most girls avoided this bathroom because of Myrtle, but I'd hidden from my father in here often enough when I was younger to know that this sink never worked. The rest of them had running water, but this one didn't, no matter how many times someone tried to fix it. It wasn't something anyone thought of very often, because who cared if one out of six sinks didn't work in a bathroom almost no one ever used? But, looking at the snakes carved into the faucet now, the sink was probably never meant to work. Not if this was the entrance to the chamber.

I backed up, looking over at Harry "If I had a choice you wouldn't be coming down there with us, but you're the only person in Hogwarts who speaks parseltongue so I don't. You stay behind us at all costs, understand?" He nodded at me frantically, knowing better than to argue. I gave a stern nod before looking at Adrian and Cedric "You two can turn around if you like. But I'm going after that basilisk."

They both shook their head "No chance! You're not going alone."

I gave them both grateful looks, nodding to Harry for him to open it. The hissing sound that came out of his mouth was chilling to the core, but I wasn't too upset by it. A few Slytherins had snakes as familiars, so it was something I was used to hearing. The sinks started moving, the top raising up while they began to sink into the floor. One look at the size of the pipe explained how easily the basilisk got around the school, the thing was probably triple the serpent's size. We all stared at it for a while, waiting for someone to go first. Self-preservation in a Slytherin was strong though, and Cedric was the first to step forward. I could barely hear him when he reached the bottom, and the same could be said about Adrian and then Harry. I was the last to jump, praying to Merlin that none of us died tonight. We would never be found if we did.