Hi everybody! This was one of my favorite chapters to write - it's the culmination of a lot of previous chapters. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)

Chapter 22:

Seriously Evil Wizard Coming Through

"He turned to squint at what he'd fallen over and felt as though his stomach had dissolved.
Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling."

The snow that had begun the night before had begun to pound down, cancelling the Herbology classes for the day. Harry was going to see the Hufflepuffs and explain something that had happened after the time-travellers had left the Duelling Club. Molly decided that today would be a good time to get some more reading done on the Harry Potter books.

"Madison?" she said as she entered the girls' bathroom, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in hand.

There was no response.

"Madison, are you in here?"

No response.

Molly waited a second more to see if her friend would reveal herself, to no avail. "I'll catch you up on what I'm reading," she called out to the emptiness.

A few minutes later, she arrived back at the common room and sat down near the fireplace. Snow was pelting against the window, the fire was roaring - it was the perfect picture, the kind of thing you'd see in a Christmas card.

But there was a distinct feeling in the air, the kind that can only be felt intuitively, that something was wrong.

Madison had never left the bathroom without the others, as far as Molly knew. She would always be there with some funny comment or warm smile, or just a willingness to do literally anything for the people she cared for. She would never leave the bathroom - not with Opa gone, not with everything that had gone wrong so far.

She had finished reading Philosopher's Stone when Harry came in.

"It's Justin," he said. "He's been Petrified."

Molly's eyes widened. "What?" she said, shocked. It was the first time she'd talked to him since the day she'd yelled at him and Ron about the flying car.

Harry nodded. "Him and Nearly Headless Nick. And when I was at the scene of the crime, the only thing I could find...was these."

He held up a pair of socks. They were all the colors of the rainbow, with unicorns printed on them and pegasus wings coming out from the sides.

"Madison's unicorn socks," Molly said. "And I didn't see her in the bathroom this morning...which means…"

"Madison's working with Draco to petrify everyone," Harry said confidently, as though he knew he'd won.

"Wait - how do you know that Draco's involved?" Molly said.

Suddenly, Hermione burst into the room. "Are you telling Molly that stupid theory about Draco?" she said.

"No," Harry said, running to the opposite side of the room. "I know it's a stupid theory that nobody should ever look into, and besides, why would I talk to Molly anyway; she probably still hates my guts after the incident on the first day of school."

He said all this in one, maybe two breaths.

"That's fine," Hermione said. "It's been a big day so far - you should get some rest."

Harry nodded, almost too fast. "That's a good idea, Hermione."

He sprinted up the stairs to his room.

Hermione looked over at Molly, noticing the socks in her hand. "Are those…"

"Madison's," she said. "Harry said he found them at the place where Justin and Nick were Petrified."

Hermione looked at the socks, then back at Molly. "Could I...possibly have those?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Molly said, handing them over. Hermione smiled.

"Oh, by the way," she said, "the car thing? That was an idiotic thing to do...but don't get too worked up about it. He really is a good kid, deep down, and he's trying to do the right thing."

Before Molly could process anything, Hermione ran out of the room. She stayed still in the chair for a few seconds. "Well," she said to herself, "now would be a good time to start reading Chamber of Secrets."

She pulled out the book and began to read.

It was the next morning by the time that Madison had finally maneuvered the sliding staircases and mystery doors to arrive at the seventh floor. At least this part of Hogwarts looks like it did in the movies, she thought to herself.

She stood in front of where she knew the door to the Room of Requirement should be. I need an entertaining place where I can hide out for a bit, she thought, hoping that the Room could hear.

The door formed in the wall, and she ran in before anyone could see her.

The Room had transformed itself into a beautiful foyer, with a pile of games and books in the corner. On a table, a handheld mirror was positioned next to a potted rose and a watering can.

Madison walked over to the mirror. Next to it was a note - presumably from the Room. To see when you're safe, it read. The rose is a hint.

A rose...Madison thought. A rose and a mirror - oh my God, the Room knows about Beauty and the Beast.

She picked up the mirror. "Show me the diary."

The mirror lit up in green sparks. When they cleared, she saw Ginny writing, in a trance, in the diary and could barely make out the correspondence.

It worked like a charm - but I overheard Molly saying that Madison's not in the bathroom.

Go on.

And she left her socks at the scene of the crime.

Oh, that's not good.

What does it mean?

She's trying to hide from us. And she's clueing everyone else in that she's involved in the plot.

So what do we do?

We have to Petrify somebody she's friends with. Then she'll come out of hiding.

What about Molly?

Madison's eyes widened. She knew she needed to help her friend, but if she came out of the Room, she knew she'd become a slave of the diary again. It was either hiding out until everything blew over or forcing herself into the battle.

It was the kind of choice that should've been hard to make, but deep down, Madison knew exactly what she had to do. After all, what other choice did she have?

Madison looked around the Room. "Well, I have to go," she said. "But thanks for everything. And nice job knowing what Beauty and the Beast is. You're really up to date on Muggle movies."

A door opened up in the wall of the Room, and Madison walked out.

For some reason, it took a while for Molly to get into Chamber of Secrets. It was hard for her to read about Harry and Ron's adventure with the flying car, knowing how she had blown up at them. But after a few weeks, she got past the part and could continue reading.

Maybe everything would be alright after all.

Madison tried to stay as close to the Room of Requirement as she could. If something happened and she needed to hide out, she had a place to go. So far, she hadn't run into Ginny at all.

Maybe everything would be alright after all.

And then, all of a sudden, everything became very wrong.

Molly was reading Chamber of Secrets in the hallway when she saw Ginny walking by. Her red hair, normally kept straight and tidy, was tangled and unkempt. Her Gryffindor tie was draped around her neck haphazardly, and her robes were wrinkled and dirty.

"Ginny?" Molly asked. "Are you alright?"

Ginny didn't answer, continuing to walk. She walked past Harry, Ron, and Hermione without even a word.

"Ginny?" Molly asked, more suspicious this time. "What are you up to?"

Ginny kept on walking silently down the staircase. Suddenly, Harry let out a shout, causing Molly and the others to jump a bit. Molly couldn't help but notice how nonplussed Ginny was by Harry's shout.

"The voice!" he cried out. "I just heard it again - didn't you?"

"Nope," Molly said matter-of-factly. Hermione clapped her hand to her forehead.

"Harry -" she said. "I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"

"I'll go, too," Molly said. "I need to know what's going on with Madison."

She followed Hermione, the two bookworms sprinting up the stairs.

"By the way, how are your grades going?" Molly asked.

"Good," Hermione said. "Obviously I'm not the best in Potions, but I'm making up for that with my Dark Arts grade."

"That's weird, because I'm exactly the opposite," Molly said. "I'm doing well in Potions, but my Dark Arts grade is terrible."

"Really?" Hermione said. "That surprises me. Lockhart's always given me good grades."

Before Hermione could say another word about Lockhart, the two had arrived at the library, out of breath.

Hermione raced to the back of the library, where she pulled out a piece of paper from a random book. "I found this page loose in the Potions book that I brewed the Polyjuice Potion from. I hid it from the boys - somebody must've snuck it into the Restricted Section. To hide it, I guess."

"What's it about?" Molly asked.

"A magical creature called the Basilisk," Hermione explained. "Take a look."

Molly looked at the passage on the torn-out page. "Oh my God," she said. "This is it. This is the monster that's Petrifying all the students."

"But how is it getting around the school? And what does Madison have to do with all of this?"

"I don't -"

And suddenly, everything clicked in Molly's head. The bathroom. Madison. Opa being Petrified - it all came together -

"The pipes," Molly said. "It's gotta be going through the pipes, and I think Madison might be behind it somehow. Maybe - maybe she's being forced to do it by someone."

"But who?" Hermione said. Suddenly, something clicked in her head. "Wait - Harry was telling me about this diary that he found, and when he wrote in it, this kid named Tom Riddle wrote back. Do you think -"

"Somebody has the diary, and Tom Riddle's controlling them with it," Molly said. "And Madison's being blackmailed by them, and so she decided to leave her socks at the scene of the crime so that we'd pick up on her scent."

"But then who's Tom controlling?" Hermione asked. "We know it's gotta be someone from Gryffindor, but -"

Molly remembered Ginny, walking down the hallway, not even paying attention when Harry could hear the noises. "It's Ginny," Molly said. "Tom Riddle is putting her in a trance through the diary. But then why have we never heard of Tom Riddle before?"

"Wait," Hermione said. "Maybe Tom didn't want people to know him as Tom Riddle. Maybe -"

"- he created a name for himself, a name that the whole Wizarding World would know -"

"- someone who could speak Parseltongue, the Heir of Slytherin -"

They looked at each other and spoke in unison:

"Voldemort."

Madison was hanging in the bathroom when Ginny burst in. Her eyes were glazed over, and Madison knew she had been entranced by Tom.

"Where have you BEEN?" Ginny growled. "You've been gone for months!"

"It's a long -" Madison started, but before she could say another word, Ginny drew her wand.

"Deposio Spiritus!"

Madison fell to the ground without a hair of grace. "What are you going to do with me?" she said as Ginny stood over her.

"Exactly what we've been doing with you," Ginny said, a wicked grin on her face. She started to speak in Parseltongue - "Open."

The sink burst open. Madison grabbed her wand from the floor and screamed, "Protego!" Almost instantly, a shield of magic formed around her, and just in time - a piece of sink large enough to decapitate someone bounced off the shield right after Madison cast the spell.

She closed her eyes as the Basilisk emerged from the Chamber, slithering towards the door. "Come," it said in Parseltongue.

"You're not hurting Molly - not on my watch," Madison said, trying to feign bravery.

"She knows too much," the Basilisk said. "She must be incapacitated - or do you want to be next?"

Madison, trying not to cry, shook her head. "Let's get this over with."

Hermione had written the word "pipes" on the page from the book, and she and Molly were about to try and find Harry and Ron when a girl ran into the library. She wore a Ravenclaw tie and had a panicked expression on her face.

"Penelope," Hermione said, recognizing the Ravenclaw prefect. "What's wrong?"

"The monster," she said. "It's in the hallway. I was just able to get away in time."

"Thank goodness," Molly said. "We know what the monster is - we just need to inform someone."

"But how do we get out of the library without being Petrified?" Penelope asked.

Molly looked around the library, noticing a small, handheld mirror that somebody had left on a shelf. "This," Molly said, running over and grabbing the mirror. "Hermione, you get the paper."

"Sure thing," Hermione said, grabbing the paper and holding onto it for dear life.

"Don't look anywhere else except in the mirror," Molly said. "If we get Petrified, it won't be permanent."

Penelope grabbed onto Molly's shoulder, and Hermione held Molly's free hand. Both girls' hands were shaking.

"Alright," Molly said, taking in a deep breath. "Let's do this."

Madison and Ginny were leading the Basilisk through the halls, which were almost empty; the Quidditch game would be starting soon, so many people were already at the field. Somehow, Madison could feel in her gut that the Basilisk was about to come across its intended victim.

She ran ahead of the monster to see if she could find Molly - and so she did, walking with Hermione and Penelope Clearwater while looking through a mirror.

Molly seemed to see something in the mirror. "Madison?"

"I'm sorry," Madison said, almost mournfully.

"What -" Molly began, until yellow eyes burned into Molly's mind as the world went black.

Harry was just mounting his broom when Professor McGonagall came half marching, half running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.

Harry's heart dropped like a stone.

"This match has been cancelled," Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. There were boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran toward Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick.

"But, Professor!" he shouted. "We've got to play - the cup - Gryffindor -"

Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued to shout through her megaphone:

"All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned Harry over to her.

"Potter, I think you'd better come with me..."

Wondering how she could possibly suspect him this time, Harry saw Ron detach himself from the complaining crowd; he came running up to them as they set off toward the castle. To Harry's surprise, Professor McGonagall didn't object.

"Yes, perhaps you'd better come, too, Weasley..."

Some of the students swarming around them were grumbling about the match being canceled; others looked worried. Harry and Ron followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the marble staircase. But they weren't taken to anybody's office this time.

"This will be a bit of a shock," said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the infirmary. "There has been another attack...a triple attack."

Thanks for reading! Here are this chapter's behind-the-magic fun facts:

1) The entire end of the chapter - the part from Harry's POV - is direct from the original books, other than changing "another double attack" to "a triple attack" to match the scenario.

2) Madison's inspiration suggested that somebody should have unicorn socks two or three chapters ago as a joke, so I decided to work it in as a plot point. A note to all the people who have inspired my characters: you need to watch what you say around me, because I can and will use it as a plot point.

3) In real life, I was about halfway through Chamber of Secrets when I had to stop because of my heavy workload for school. I decided to use my character's Petrification as an in-universe reason for stopping the books (especially because at Hogwarts, the workload dried up because of the Petrification and Ginny's abduction.

4) When I first started working on the story, one of the first ideas I had was for Molly and Hermione to decipher the mystery of the Basilisk together, and then get Petrified. I wrote the scene a few times before figuring out a way that I could involve Molly without selling Hermione's intelligence short.

5) And the piece of the puzzle that allowed me to do that? The piece of paper that Hermione finds in the Restricted Section. That might seem like it comes out of nowhere - but think back to the movies. In Chamber of Secrets, what character is shown, for an extended period of time, without any true payoff, ripping a page out of a book?

Thaaaat's right. Draco just unwittingly saved the day - and he probably hates that he did, too.

Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing. (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!