"All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities." The Gryffindors packed inside the common room listened to Professor McGonagall in silence. She rolled up the parchment from which she had been reading and said in a somewhat choked voice, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward," she then climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately.
"That's two Gryffindors down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff," said the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan, counting on his fingers. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin…why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?" he roared, to nods and scattered applause.
Percy Weasley was sitting in a chair behind Lee, but for once he didn't seem keen to make his views heard. He was looking pale and stunned.
Zarif didn't seem to care as he headed up to his bed and pulled out his rented out copy of magical beasts, a book on parseltongue which included a registry of all known parseltongue, and finally his notes on what had happened and started working on it devoting all his brainpower to it. He started with the one behind this his thoughts drifting back to the Malfoys. Then he remembered something. Harry had informed them that Dobby had on his own come to warn Harry not to return this year and tried to even scare him to leave. Then it fits. Draco's knowledge about the chamber, his father telling him not to show he knows a bit about it, Lucius Malfoy being on the board of school governors and his campaigning against new legislation Mr. Weasley had put forward. Now he was sure of it. The one behind this was Lucius Malfoy, but the only problem was he could not prove it and didn't know how he had set these events in motion.
Zarif frowns as he went back to the notes as now it was late in the evening as he reread the magical beasts he had narrowed it down to before falling asleep in bed.
Zarif had awoken the next morning and Harry and Ron had informed him what they had done with the invisibility cloak and then who had come to take Hagrid to Azkaban and who had been there to make sure Dumbledore had left. Lucius Malfoy himself. Zarif's insides had burnt with rage all day, even into the night at the thought of that smug prick's scheme going the way he had wanted it to.
Zarif had wanted to also go with Harry and Ron into the forest to help, but he was forced to go to his extra lessons and if he didn't show up, then they would come looking for him and the three, if caught, would have to explain where they were.
It wasn't until the next morning at breakfast when he heard from the two what had happened, horrifying him a bit, but before he could get more details, they were escorted to their next class by the professors and under their supervision during the walk there and classes, he couldn't even talk to them.
For the next few days, Zarif never got the chance to talk to the two with all the extra lessons and never being able to get some private time with the two in the common room. After a few days, Zarif's transfiguration extra lesson was canceled, leaving him time to go to the library where he got to see Merula who had been researching. Zarif told her everything he had learned from Harry and Ron. The two scoured the book on magical beasts together before coming to it. "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 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," Merula reads, then something clicked in Zarif's memory.
"All of Hagrid's roosters were killed over the school year," Zarif says nearly hoarsely.
"You o…Zarif…how long have you been up?" Merula asks concerned as she sees his sunken eyes and rubbing his throat.
"Since eight, but I haven't been sleeping well. I know who is behind this all," Zarif says.
"And that would be?" Merula questions, closing the book after marking the page.
"Lucius Malfoy. Father of Draco and whom I am now fully convinced was either a death eater or at least a supporter of theirs from the shadows," Zarif informs.
"Heavy-handed. You know…death eaters don't really know each other. It's that secret. So if it is, he could be selling off his things to fund them," Merula suggested.
"I want to get him back because this is now personal and every time I think of his smug face getting away with all of this, my blood starts to boil," Zarif says gripping the table.
"Easy," Merula says comfortingly, placing a hand onto his and makes him loosen his grip on the table. "Doing this will not help the situation. Plus, you can't go off halfcocked and ready to fight like that. Death eater or no, you have to be careful. He has some high ranking friends in the Ministry," Merula warns.
"I know…let's stick it to him later then. Now, spiders flee it and what were the spiders doing when they were still around?" Zarif asks.
"Fleeing," Merula answers, thinking to a few that ran across her shoe and her freaking out a little before kicking them away.
"So once a coincidence, twice, not so much. Now, what do all the victims have in common?" Zarif asks.
"They are all petrified?" Merula guesses after a while.
"Right, but the Basilisk kills with its gaze alone...unless they never looked directly at the creature," Zarif says as something clicked. "First attack, what was on the floor?" Zarif asks pulling their notes close.
"Water," Merula says moving over and standing beside him, peering to his notes as well.
"Second, Colin was brought in. Harry told me he was still holding his camera to his face. He must have been trying to get a picture of it. The third attack, Nick and Justin were found together. What if Justin saw it through Nick himself?" Zarif asks.
"And Nick is a ghost. He can't really die again. Just frozen for a while," Merula concludes, sitting by him now as she took the second page and holds it up. "And Hermione and Penny had a mirror. Even though it's a perfect reflection, it's still a reflection so they didn't die," Merula says before frowning. "But if it is this large snake that has possibly been growing in this castle for a long time…how is it getting around? I doubt a snake that big would be able to get away from so many students and facility that easily," Merula asks, rubbing her forehead.
"There is a way. Harry said he heard a voice come from the walls and he is a parseltongue so only he would hear it. Also, water was at every scene of the attacks according to Filch himself. What would fit all of these facts seeing as no one has seen the monster besides those attacked?" Zarif asks, already figuring it out.
"Umm…" Merula tries to come up before looking around and digging into the many notes.
Zarif just smiles and reaches over beside her, stopping her for a bit and pulls out a rough map sketch of the castle and where the attacks happened. Black double lines in the walls of each area. "Pipes."
Merula just ended up staring at him for a few moments before shaking her head and looking to the map sketch. 'Why are his eyes so…'
"We have everything and if the pipes are connected to the chamber somehow then…?" Zarif asks.
"It could also get out through the lake?!" Merula says in horror.
Zarif nods before sighing and leaning back in his seat. "If this 'heir' releases the basilisk upon the world, hardly anything would stop it short of a rooster," Zarif shakes his head at. Zarif then stood up. "Filch!" he calls with urgency.
"What's going on?!" Filch screeches, coming around with a lantern.
"We figured out what attacked Mrs. Norris," Zarif says before explaining it to him and the more he listened, the more his eyes went wide and he paled. "We need help. We need to get the professors to help and maybe the entire ministry as well," Zarif informs.
"Come with me. Both of you," Filch demands and after gathering everything up, the three headed straight to Professor Snape's office.
"I hope they believe us. This is still a hard tale," Merula whispers.
"Professor," Filch says entering after knocking.
"What is it?" Snape asks a bit annoyed as he had just come back from his house's common room.
"These two want to speak to you. They think they figured out what the monster is and how it's been getting around unseen," Filch says.
Snape raises an eyebrow to the two students. "And what did you find?"
Filch motions the two inside before closing the door behind himself, letting the two present their case.
"Professor, from all the information we have gathered and looked at the facts, we believe the monster of the chamber of secrets is none other than a Basilisk," Zarif says making Snape nearly stand up.
"Explain," Snape nearly demands and Zarif and Merula went through all the facts and observations they had and when Snape questioned how it was getting around, his face morphed into one of horror when they explained that as well.
Snape got up and grabbed something from over the hearth and threw it into the fire. "Minerva, we know what it is. Get all the faculty to meet in the lounge except that bungling fool," Snape says as McGonagall's face appeared in the fire.
"Very well Severus," McGonagall says before Snape turned back to the three in his office.
"Filch, go help. I will escort these two personally," Snape informs.
"Like to take back your statement?" Zarif whispers to Merula smirking as she gives a slight frown.
"Now both of you follow me," Snape instructs before starting to lead them out of the room.
The three walked in silence as they headed towards the teacher's lounge. Once inside, the three waited till the entire faculty got into the room. "We are all here Severus, but what are Ms. Snyde and Mr. Trazax doing her?" McGonagall asks, not liking the fact one of her students is out.
"Because they figured it out, Minerva. Proceed you two," Snape instructs and the two started trying to present it as a report for class and answering any questions the faculty has.
"Then once we evacuate the school, the ministry can make a very thorough sweep then and get the Basilisk," Septima Vector says.
Zarif suddenly snarks to the side and gets everyone's attention. "Sorry. A funny thought of the ministry coming in with roosters all over the place to kill this thing. But that would probably be actually very effective. If it remained in the school itself," Zarif says.
"What do you mean by if?" Sprout asks.
"Well, we have discussed with the house elves and we learned the pipes go into the lake. If it was ordered to, the Basilisk could possibly make a break for it that way and none of us would know about it if we left," Zarif says.
"I suggest we call the ministry now," Snape says dryly.
"Excellent work. Both of you," McGonagall says as the teachers made their way to the fireplace to get in contact when Dumbledore entered.
"Quite good work indeed," Dumbledore adds.
"Professor…you are back," Zarif says surprised.
"Finished what I had to do. Now, what is the current situation besides that explanation?" Dumbledore asks to the rest.
The teachers started to explain everything and Dumbledore noticed that Lockhart is not there.
"I see our defense against the dark arts teacher is missing," Dumbledore says as Sprout finished talking to the ministry, informing them of everything.
"Likely ran," Snape sneered and Zarif couldn't help but agree with that.
"Either way, the Aurors and department of dangerous creatures will be here. So, until then, some of you should patrol around the lake encase what Mr. Trazax predicts comes to pass," Dumbledore says.
A few nod and heads out hearing this, happy he was back. "Now Ms. Snyde and Mr. Trazax, please come with me. Minerva, would you mind if we use your office as I do not think it is safe for these two to go back to their common room at this time," Dumbledore says.
"Of course. Please do," McGonagall accepted.
"Follow me please," Dumbledore says leading the two away.
Zarif and Merula waited with Dumbledore for a long time in silence until the news of the aftermath came forward. Zarif was shocked to learn that Ginny had been taken by the monster and when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arrived, he could say nothing as both looked out of there mind with worry and despair. While they sat there, the head of the Auror office himself had come with all they could muster at the time.
Rufus Scrimgeour had taken this very seriously and had posted many Aurors around the lake after being informed of the possibility of an escape that way and now was waiting for backup to arrive before starting to take Hogwarts apart brick by brick if need be.
After a bit, there was a knock on the door and when it opened, there stood Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart covered in muck and slime and blood in Harry's case.
Zarif looked in shock as Mrs. Weasley yelled out. "Ginny!" Leaping to her feet she flung herself around her daughter followed by Mr. Weasley. "You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" Mrs. Weasley says getting off her daughter and pulls Harry and Ron into her embrace.
"I think we'd all like to know that," McGonagall says a bit drained from everything
Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the ruby-encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle's diary. Then he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour, he spoke into the rapt silence: He told them about hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how he had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom…
"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused, "so you found out where the entrance was, breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add, but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?" McGonagall asks as Rufus was also very interested in that as well. As Zarif and Merula stared wide-eyed at the two.
'After last year, should I be surprised?' Zarif thinks before Harry started again.
So Harry, his voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. He had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's diary or Ginny. She was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks. Harry then looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the firelight glancing off his half-moon spectacles.
"What interests me most," Dumbledore started gently, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."
"W-what's that?" said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not…Ginny hasn't been…has she?"
"Are you sure?" Rufus asks seriously as this was no joking matter.
"Quite positive," Dumbledore says
"It was this diary," Harry says quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"
"Who is this Riddle?" Rufus asks looking to Dumbledore.
"Tom Riddle was Voldemort's original name," Dumbledore answers as he took the diary from Harry, surprising Rufus. "Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.
"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school…traveled far and wide…sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."
Zarif, hearing this, looked to Merula who was silent and looking around uncomfortably.
"But, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with…with…him?"
"His d-diary…" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year…"
"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley says, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!'
"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it…"
"Lucius Malfoy," Zarif growls a lot of hate in his voice.
"Excuse me?" Rufus asks surprised.
"Lucius Malfoy was behind all of this. His goal was to destroy Mr. Weasley's career and with it get the Muggle Protection Act that he and I am sure other pureblood superiorist hated and even hoping he could get the headmaster sacked for being unable to deal with this," Zarif informs.
"What makes you say that?" Rufus asks.
"His actions and I know that he bragged about knowing about what happened with the chamber of secrets before the start of school and warned his son not to act like he knew too much lest he draws suspicion to himself. Why would he do that unless he knew ahead of time about this," Zarif informs and Rufus seems to nod at that as he thought about it trying to recall the articles that Mr. Malfoy had been quoted in over the last year.
"But how would he have given it to her? It doesn't seem possible without our notice," McGonagall says trying to see if there were any holes in the explanation.
"He did it in Flourish and Blotts before the school year began. Don't you remember Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that, from what I was told, he grabbed the spell books and mocked how they were second hand before putting them back in her cauldron before Mr. Weasley started to brawl with him after his tolerance of his insults couldn't take that one. No one bothered checking them so it would have been very easy for him to slip in an extra book wouldn't it," Zarif says and then it clicked in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, and Harry's head how she had gotten the dairy.
The room was silent as the professors and Rufus considered this, but Mr. Weasley's face slowly started to morph in a face of such rage that Zarif, Harry, Ginny, nor Ron had ever seen before in their lives. It kinda reminded Harry a bit of his uncle Vernon's anger-fueled expressions, but it was nothing compared to Mrs. Weasley's.
"Should we duck?" Harry whispers to Ron.
"More like be in the next county," Ron whispers back.
"Calm yourself, Molly," Dumbledore says seeing the situation brewing.
"If what you say is true, then the hardest thing about it is to be able to prove it," Rufus says thinking.
"We can't basically. He has covered his tracks that well and probably has friends in the ministry to help cover him as well even if we did find evidence," Zarif says sighing.
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she has been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice. I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment," Dumbledore says derailing the entire conversation.
"So Hermione's okay!" Ron says brightly forgetting what was said.
"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," Dumbledore says trying to comfort her.
Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, her anger forgotten in favor of looking after her daughter, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken and a bit angry.
"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"
"Right," Professor McGonagall said crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"
"Yes, Rufus, I think we can call off your Auror and other ministry wizards with this," Dumbledore says.
"We will need confirmation for that. I will take the sword and have our people verify it is basilisk blood on the blade. Only then will they be withdrawn," Rufus states.
"Fair enough," Dumbledore says as Rufus picks up the sword and leaves the office, leaving the four students standing there. "Now then, I will start with you two," Dumbledore says turning to Merula and Zarif.
Merula looks ashamed and turns her head away, rubbing her arm in nervousness.
"Well done figuring out what the monster was and getting the staff to send for backup. I dare say, you did in a matter of months what the staff of the school or even the ministry investigators at the time never managed to piece together," Dumbledore says. Merula sighs in relief at hearing that, "But it is, as Zarif said, we can not prove it, but we have him now marked by the Aurors. They will keep a closer eye on him after all of this," Dumbledore says.
"One good bonus," Zarif offers.
"Quite and both of you will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and about a hundred points each. You both may now go and rest. I expect to see you both at the feast," Dumbledore says.
"Right. Thanks," Zarif says before walking off and Merula looks between him and Dumbledore before following him.
"How obvious was it that Dumbledore wanted us out of there to talk to those three alone?" Zarif asks after getting a bit away from the office.
"A bit," Merula says, looking out the window.
"Lockhart also said nothing. Something must have happened," Zarif says as they walked.
"Yeah," Merula only says, still looking out the window.
"So the end of the year coming up very fast. You and your family going to be doing anything special for it?" Zarif asks.
"Yeah…we are going to Egypt for the summer…" Merula explains.
"Really?" Zarif asks.
Merula nods slowly. "Yeah."
"I hope you have fun there," Zarif says. Merula stutters a bit as she tries to speak and he hums before grabbing her by the hand and pulls her to a window as they see the ministry forces leaving. "Remember what I said about why I am so at ease around storms?"
"Yeah?" Merula says seeing the lights in the dark leaving.
Zarif smiles at her. "Why not I tell you how I was able to do this?" he asks, snapping his fingers and shows a will-o-wisp.
Merula looks at him and then smiles. "Next year."
"Thought that would cheer you up," Zarif chuckles. "I will be honest with you."
"Give me something to look forward to," Merula says.
"Alright, if you want. I will see you in a few hours," Zarif says as they hit the intersection where they had to split to get to their common rooms.
Several hours later, everyone was in the great hall celebrating at the feast instead of one sulking Draco. Zarif, after a bit, also got to see Hagrid to his relief and not long after that the rest of the school were informed that Gryffindor had won the house cup, exams were canceled for the year, and Lockhart would not be returning next year to teach. It was a grand day for Zarif as Autumn rested on his shoulder every so often going and snapping up different foods before circling back around to him hooting triumphantly.
"Yes, I know they have your favorite food," Zarif chuckles at the perky owl as she has multiple bacon pieces in her mouth.
Autumn hoots before turning her head away as she was so full she did not want any more food.
Zarif just smiles as he pets his strange and great owl on the head and makes her hoot softly, nuzzling his hand back. "At least you would be able to see where I came from too."
The rest of the term seemed to pass like lightning with more good news. Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor and Draco no longer strutted around like the cock of the walk. He even looked like he was sulking a lot of the time and Ginny also was very happy nowadays. Zarif and Merula made a point to hang out with her and even secretly introduced her to Merula's gang.
Then the time to board the Hogwarts express sadly came. The students boarded the train and set off back to King's cross. Merula and Zarif hung out with Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley's part of the way back before leaving to find a compartment not so cramped as an excuse to go see the gang. The entire way back the gang discussed many things that they had learned this year like spells, creatures, potions, Even Merula using a spell that made it cloudy and fake rain in the compartment much to everyone's humor.
Zarif smiled as he learned that all of them were taking care of magical creatures with them next year having learned so much from trying to figure out what the monster of Slytherin was. Zarif's only regret was he never got a fang from the dead basilisk. Though he never voiced it.
As the train pulled in, everyone started to pick up their bags and join the line of students getting off the train before Merula stops Zarif from leaving while they had both of their bags. Merula gives a wink to him and snaps her wand to the still magical cloud, making it strike thunder and lightning that made Zarif smile. Merula smiles back before dispelling it with a wave and starts to walk out with Zarif following close behind.
"See you next term," Zarif says smiling at her.
"If we survive a possible great magical beast that might eat us," Merula adds and Autumn hoots at her from Zarif's trolly cart. "Yes. Even you," she adds and Morgana barks at them. "And you."
Zarif smiles at the joke as he heads off to join the rest of the orphans.