Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Professor Hardy had dealt with students for some thirty years and had seen most everything there was to see in that regard. So, when Alexander Harris kicked open the door to his classroom at their regular time and strode in looking like he wanted to murder someone, Hardy merely raised an eyebrow.

"Problems?"

Alexander simply growled, slamming his books down as he paced back and forth furiously.

"Calm down."

The ice cold tone from Hardy's second student at Hogwarts brought both of them up short, and even Alexander seemed to freeze for a moment as his fury seemed to cool.

"Damn it, Wednesday!" The angry flared back up again, "She's our friend!"

"And anger, undirected, will do neither her, nor you and I, any good." Wednesday countered calmly.

Xander slumped, "She's our friend."

Hardy sighed, shaking his head, "You knew the last girl to be petrified, then?"

They both nodded, and Xander turned to him.

"Sir, did you hear back about those calls you were making?"

Hardy winced, but nodded, "Yes. The CMDC keeps certain potions on ice in Atlanta, including petrification cures, but there's a problem."

"What problem!?"

"The local ministry has a ban on imported medicinal potions," Hardy sighed, "or, rather, they insist on a two month quarantine to 'assure against tainted imports'."

"You called more than two months ago," Xander countered, "Why isn't it through?"

"Because this type of potion doesn't keep that long without some rather extreme refrigeration," Hardy explained.

"Bureaucrats." Wednesday said flatly.

"Quite." Hardy sighed. "In point of fact, I have two doses available. They were shipped to the embassy in a diplomatic pouch, one for each of you."

"Give mine to Hermione." Xander said instantly.

"I wish it were that easy, son." Hardy said wearily. "For either of you, I could force the situation. You're American citizens, and are both technically my wards while you're here in Britain. I can't do anything for a citizen of the UK without the consent of their guardians, and I'm not likely to be even told who Miss Granger's parents are, let alone where they live."

Xander let out another curse, slamming his hand into the desk. "Just GREAT."

"Patience," Wednesday suggested, "She will be fine, the petrification causes no lasting effects."

"That's true," Hardy interjected. "Given the current climate around here, she's probably safer than most."

Xander settled down, nodding.

He knew that was true, of course. The Ministry had sent in Aurors to arrest Hagrid for the crimes, and Dumbledore had been given the boot by the governing board of the school in the day following the attack on Hermione. Draco was prancing around like a peacock in full strut, bragging about how his father had given Dumbledore the boot.

For now a peace was holding, since McGonagall had received the temporary placement as Headmistress, but Xander was privy to a lot of background information and he knew that Draco's Dad seemed intent on putting a pureblood sympathizer into the position. If THAT happened, Xander was checking out and going home. He'd be sending notes to Hermione's parents advising them to get her out of the country at the same time, cause there was no way the school would be fit to live in if someone like Professor Snape took over the position.

Xander didn't have anything personal against the professor, but the way he favored the purebloods was painfully obvious, and if people like Draco thought they didn't have to worry about the rules anymore? Anarchy, at best. Tyranny at worst.

He took a breath, "Can you get that potion here, Sir?"

"It'll only keep outside our cold storage for five days, Alexander." Hardy said quietly. "We have to store it in freezers normally intended for cryogenic containment of samples."

"Five days." Xander sighed, "And when did they expect to be able to mix their own here?"

"By the end of the month."

Xander shook his head, "I hate this."

"Not much to like, son." Hardy shook his head, "Now, not to be an ogre, but we do have some work to do. Have you both done your reading?"

Xander was still in a sullen mood after the class as he and Wednesday walked back toward the library.

"So when do we start?"

Xander looked sharply at her. "Start what?"

"Hunting down the Creature."

Xander paused, leaning on a wall for a moment. "You still think it's a Basilisk, then?"

"I know it."

"And the lack of deaths?"

Wednesday shrugged, "The mind of a Basilisk is easy to understand, the mind of a human who orders one about? That can be more complicated."

"Yeah," Xander said slowly, his jaw tightening. "Someone's pulling its strings, aren't they? Someone ordered it to attack Hermione."

She nodded.

"How big are these things anyway?"

"That would depend on age," Wednesday shrugged, "Like many magical creatures, Basilisks are quite long lived, and they do not stop growing."

"If the legends are true, it's been here, what? A thousand years?"

"Then it would be quite large."

"Hard to hide."

Wednesday shrugged, "Old castles have a tradition of secret passage ways."

Xander nodded, "Alright. So we just have to find some secret tunnels, track down a big killer snake, kill it... then find the person ordering it around and, what? Catch them?... Kill them?"

Wednesday raised an eyebrow at the hesitancy in Xander's last question, "First we determine who they are, then we decide on how to proceed."

Xander nodded, "How do we find the passages?"

"That," Wednesday admitted, "Will be the difficult part."

The duo marked off their usual table in the library and began to do research as best they could, focusing on the location of the victims, as well as the few details they could locate on the last time this had happened.

"I wish we could speak with Hagrid," Wednesday said while reading.

"No way he did any of that," Xander shrugged, remembering how the big man had treated the first years. "Hagrid's a soft touch."

"True, though it is remotely possible he did something by accident." Wednesday countered.

Xander had to concede that point, but just shook his head. "Doesn't matter, he's not here. One fatality the last time, Myrtle Rountree."

Wednesday frowned, looking up, "Myrtle?"

Xander nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"There's a ghost, she haunts the girls' bathrooms."

"Yeah?"

"They call her Moaning Myrtle."

"Sounds like a lead." Xander said, pushing the books away.

She nodded and the two packed up their books and quietly left the library. As they walked, Wednesday continued to consider the situation.

"To order the basilisk, we must be looking for a Parselmouth." She said out of the blue.

"A whatsit?"

"Parselmouth, someone who speaks to snakes. A speaker." She said, "it's a rare talent that follows certain bloodlines."

"You know which ones?" Xander asked, drawing out his Coven book.

"No. Why?"

"Just checking." Xander scribbled down a couple notes, and closed the book. "Ok, so other than a parcel package, what else can we guess about this guy?"

"Most likely pureblood, of course, though if he or she is smart they may be hiding their affiliations."

"Right. Sneaky dude pretending to be a good guy, check." Xander replied.

Wednesday rolled her eyes, nodding at a door ahead of them, "We're here."

The two cautiously made their way into the bathroom, and Xander frowned. "Hey, this is where we near got killed by that troll last year."

Wednesday sniffed, causing Xander to hide a grin. The youngest of the Addamses was still more than slightly ticked at having missed a shot at the Mold in his Shorts dude who'd involved the troll.

She didn't say anything about it though as she looked around, "Myrtle?"

They waited, but there was no response.

"Hey Myrt!" Xander called.

There was a bubbling as one of the toilets began to overflow, and then in an explosion of water a ghost appeared and charged up in Xander's face.

"Oh sure!" She called, "Don't bother to learn poor moaning myrtle's real name, why should she care if you call her funny names, she's just a ghost..."

"Chill, Spooks." Xander cut her off, grinning. "I call everyone by funny names."

The ghost paused, head cocking, "Really?"

"Well, almost everyone." Xander admitted, then pointed at Wednesday. "She scares me."

Myrtle turned to look at the dark Ravenclaw, let out a screech that nearly sent Xander scrambling for cover, and dove back into the toilet.

Xander worked his fingers around in his ears, then glared at Wednesday, "What the hell was that?"

"Addams are often trained in necromancy." She replied, "It's a natural gift."

"Oi." Xander rolled his eyes, "Some gift. You scared our lead down the toilet."

He walked over to the toilet and shook his head, "I hope you got a plunger, cause I ain't going after her."