The next few weeks or so crawled painfully on and still Y/N hadn't managed to pin down Ginny. Every time he'd seen her, she'd either slipped off to the dormitories as he entered the common room, or in passing in the corridor and he couldn't exactly speak to her in front of teachers despite what his original anger had been telling him to do.

Y/N was still angry, he spent most evenings in the common room staring into the fire, barely eating and sleeping, and just constantly waiting for the monster within the Chamber to rear its head again, and whilst in class and moving around the school, keeping his eyes peeled for the trails of spiders like they had seen the night they had investigated the corridor.

His anger had levelled off for now however, being angry at himself served no purpose. He knew he had messed up in letting Hermione get injured, now the monster was going to pay for it, then he would deal with his own failure. The monster however, and whoever was controlling it, had apparently been put off by the sheer amount of patrols.

Harry and Ron didn't dare walk the corridors through the cloak, after their previous run in they didn't think it was worth it, but Y/N was well aware that the only person at Hogwarts strong enough to just see straight through a disillusionment charm had been Professor Dumbledore. There was always the chance the others would catch him obviously, but he was quick and careful enough that he never was.

That is, until about a week after Dumbledore and Hagrid had left.

Madam Pomfrey had barred visitors to the Hospital Wing but that wasn't stopping Y/N. Every night since Dumbledore and Hagrid had left, he snuck down here to visit her. Tonight was no different, he slunk up to the Hospital Wing door, muttered 'Alohomora' and opened the door.

Except the door didn't open.

He raised his wand and said the incantation again.

Nothing.

Then he felt something hit the top of his head and felt the familiar feeling as though something warm was trickling down his neck as his disillusionment charm was lifted. He span around, coming face to face with Professor Snape.

Snape's face was impassive, but he could see a fire behind those eyes similar to the one
Dumbledore had supported the night he'd received his suspension notice. Wordlessly, Snape pointed down the corridor and Y/N trudged along behind him. Snape led Y/N into his office and sat down, Y/N tentatively took the seat opposite him.

Snape watched Y/N for a few moments before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

'You aren't making this easy, L/N.'

Y/N was in shock. He'd been expecting detention, points taken, all sorts, anything other than this.

'Making what easy, Professor?' he asked, genuinely curious.

'Our job,' said Professor Snape, looking up at him. 'Monster on the loose, The Headmaster gone and now Madam Pomfrey is telling us about how she keeps finding the Hospital Wing door unlocked in the middle of the night.'

'Ah,' said Y/N lamely. 'Knew I was forgetting something.'

Snape shook his head at Y/N and sighed again.

'Look, I'll speak to Madam Pomfrey, see if we can get you a half an hour slot after dinner to visit Miss Granger as long as you're escorted and someone stands watch nearby. But I must ask you to stop sneaking into there after hours. It looks bad.'

Y/N wouldn't have believed Snape had said it if he hadn't watched him do it.

'Thank you sir, but if I may ask, I was expecting detention or worse, why are you helping me?'

'Because I have seen what's happening to you without her and-' Snape paused as though this next bit was giving him a great amount of difficulty, 'I'd rather not lose my two best students from your year,' he said through gritted teeth. 'I also owe your mother a favour, as she is nowhere to be found I am considering this my repayment.'

Y/N's heart skipped a beat.

'You know my mother?' he asked hopefully, but Snape shook his head.

'I do, but here is neither the time nor the place to discuss that. If I catch you at the Hospital Wing door again outside of the allotted time, I will have 100 points off Gryffindor and worse,' said Snape 'Do not expect this bout of kindness to last L/N, you've caught me in a sympathetic mood.'

'Thank you Professor,' said Y/N and he genuinely meant it. He still didn't fully know why Snape was helping him. Part of him didn't even trust the Potions Master, but he hadn't done anything to show otherwise yet and Y/N could hear the sincerity in his tone.

Snape stepped around the desk and tapped Y/N's head with his wand, Y/N felt the now familiar sensation of something cold trickling down his back and watched his body fade from view.

'I will unlock the door for ten minutes on the pre-tense of needing to speak to Madam Pomfrey. Once I return, you will leave with no arguments,' said Snape and he swept from the room with Y/N jogging to keep up.

It took a couple of days for Snape's word to come true. Y/N was near the point of disobeying his promise when Ves flew through the window with a letter attached to her leg. Ves spent most evenings either in the Common Room or the Dormitory with Y/N now and had even taken to resting on his bed with him whilst he lay there wide awake. She too seemed subdued about the loss of their friend.

Y/N took the letter and unfurled it.

'I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give permission for Mr Y/N L/N to visit the Hospital Wing After Dinner, 18:00-18:30 to visit Miss Hermione Granger, the visit shall be monitored by myself every evening and Mr L/N will be returned to his Common Room at 18:30 monitored by me.'

He felt his heart lift. Say what you will about Professor Snape, but Y/N owed him a favour for this one, and following his save of him last year, that was two now.

As so life went back to as normal as it could. Y/N visiting Hermione every evening after dinner, but it felt much more subdued than his visits used to. In the past he could sit with her, chat to her, see her smiling face and make her laugh. Now she just lay there, staring straight ahead, completely unresponsive. It broke his heart every time he saw it, but he couldn't stop visiting her, she had to know he was there.

Life outside the Hospital Wing was just as bad, everyone was on high alert, tense and worried. Well, everyone except for Draco Malfoy, who was strutting through the school as though he owned it, proud of the fact that his father had gotten rid of the last line of defence against Slytherin's heir. He even said so himself in a Potions class.

'I always thought Father would be the one who got rid of Dumbledore,' he said loudly. 'I told you, he thinks Dumbledore's the worst Headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last,' he said nastily, turning his eyes on Y/N and smirking when he saw him shaking with rage. 'She's only filling in.'

Y/N held Malfoy's gaze, feeling his stomach bubble.

'Sir,' said Malfoy loudly to Professor Snape, still staring at Y/N 'Why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?'

'Now now Malfoy,' said Snape, though he was smiling. 'Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended, I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough.'

'Yeah right,' Malfoy smirked. 'You'd have Father's vote sir; I'll tell father you're the best teacher here sir,' he finally took his eyes off Y/N and they instead fell onto the empty chair next to him.

'I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now. Bet you five galleons the next one dies. Pity it wasn't Granger-'

There was a sound like the wrenching of metal as Malfoy's cauldron tore a hole in itself. Malfoy's potion seeped out landing onto his legs, he immediately jumped to his feet yelling in pain as a faint sizzling began to echo around the room alongside the smell of burning fabric.

Snape waved his wand and the potion cleared immediately, he went over to check Malfoy's leg.

'Minor burns. Hospital Wing, now Malfoy. Crabbe, accompany him,' said Snape before moving over to investigate Malfoy's cauldron.

Ron and Harry were staring at Y/N, who now purposefully had his eyes fixed on the ceiling. He knew that if he looked at Malfoy again, he'd do something far worse. A moment later and the bell rang, and everyone began picking up their things.

'Hurry up, I've got to take you all to Herbology,' said Snape as they did so. Y/N stalked out of the dungeon and Harry and Ron moved to flank him, as though worried they'd need to hold him back, but Y/N made no move to follow Malfoy and instead followed Snape down towards the greenhouses.

'Was that you?' whispered Ron as they walked.

'Pretty sure it was, yeah,' Y/N growled back.

'I didn't realise you could do that.'

'I can't' said Y/N 'At least not consciously. I've been noticing it for a while now, whenever I'm really angry I keep accidentally doing magic, I was going to ask Dumbledore but… well.'

'What about your mum?' asked Harry.

'She's too busy,' said Y/N. 'She's Headmistress now, too many responsibilities. She doesn't need one more.'

'I think she'd want you to tell her Y/N,' whispered Ron, but Y/N was spared from answering as they arrived outside of the greenhouse and Professor Sprout ushered them inside.

Herbology with the Hufflepuffs was a sad affair, with Hermione and Justin gone and Y/N so subdued, he may as well not be there the lessons were quiet. Even when Professor Sprout asked a question to the class, there was no one there to shove their hand into the air, at least not with as much gusto as Hermione and Y/N had used to.

Professor Sprout set them off to prune Abyssinian Shrivelfigs for the lesson, a fairly complex and yet mind-numbing task of just making sure you severed the correct stalks. A short while into the class however, he heard a voice from nearby and looked up to see Ernie Macmillan looking at Harry.

'I just want to say Harry, I'm sorry that I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack Hermione Granger, and I apologise for all the stuff I said. We're all in the same boat now and… well…-' he held out a hand which Harry shook.

Ernie moved over to work on the same Shrivelfig as them. Y/N wasn't too sure whether he liked Ernie, he seemed pompous and definitely like a miniature Percy. Plus, off what he'd heard from Harry, he seemed quick to jump on any trend, including Harry being Slytherin's heir.

'That Draco Malfoy character,' he said as he snapped off dead twigs, 'he seems very pleased about all this doesn't he? I think he might be Slytherin's heir.'

'He'd have told us already if he was, made an announcement of it,' spat Y/N, still furious from the previous potions lesson. 'He can't help but show off, he's too far up his own-'

'L/N! Come help me swap these Mandrakes around pots!' called Professor Sprout.

Y/N sighed and moved over to help her.

'Your mother has asked me to pass along a message,' whispered Professor Sprout once he'd arrived, 'And I have my own to tell you.'

Y/N looked questioningly at her and she smiled pointing at the pots. He followed her pointing finger and saw two stems poking out of one pot.

'Another two weeks and they should be ready to be turned into the restorative draught,' Y/N breathed a sigh. 'Thought that'd bring some life back into you,' said Professor Sprout, beaming. 'It's been weird seeing you like this.'

'Yeah, a lot of people keep telling me that,' said Y/N. 'Just hard to be happy right now.'

She nodded smiling sadly and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

'Not long now,' she whispered. 'Anyway, your mother wishes you to go to her office this evening after your visit to Miss Granger. She says she wishes to speak to you.'

'Thanks Professor. Does Professor Snape know?' Professor Sprout nodded.

'Please make sure you go and see her L/N, she seems terribly worried about you.'

'I will Professor, don't worry. Did you actually need my help with the Mandrakes, or was it just to speak to me?'

'I can handle them L/N, just thought that'd brighten you up a bit. Can't really repot them with a full classroom anyway, don't want to risk knocking you all out.'

Y/N wandered back over to join the others and Harry immediately beckoned to him. Y/N wandered around to his and Ron's side of the table pretending to be helping with some loose roots, and Harry pointed subtly at the window of the greenhouse which Ron was purposefully avoiding look at.

Y/N saw a thin trail of spiders crawling up the wall towards a small hole in the window.

'We can't go now,' hissed Harry as Y/N went to turn towards the door. 'You'll be missed straight away.'

'What are we meant to do? Just let them go?' Y/N hissed back.

'They're heading towards the forest; we'll follow them tonight.'

'Fine,' said Y/N, glaring across at Ernie who was clearly trying to listen in, 'but mum wants to talk to me after I've visited 'Mione. I'll head down and feed Fang after that and wait for you at Hagrid's Hut, we may as well take him. He knows the forest.'

'I already said the same to Ron,' said Harry.

'You down for coming with us?' Y/N whispered to him.

'No,' said Ron, 'but I'm hardly going to let both of you go in alone, am I?'

The lesson came to an end and Professor Sprout began leading them off towards Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry, Ron, and Y/N lagged back to talk out of earshot.

'We'll need to take the cloak again,' Harry said to Ron.

'Right,' said Ron, who was absentmindedly spinning his wand around his fingers. 'Um, aren't there supposed to be… well, werewolves, in the forest?'

'Not a full moon, Ron,' said Y/N, getting a vague sense of Déjà vu.

'They can be werewolves without the moon though.'

'That's not how werewolves work Ron,' said Y/N as they moved towards the back of Lockhart's classroom.

'There's good stuff in there too,' said Harry, trying to look reassuring. 'Centaurs and Unicorns and stuff.'

'At least we've got Y/N,' muttered Ron as they all took their seats.

Y/N was about to ask what he meant, but Lockhart came bounding in through the classroom door looking as though all was right with the world. Y/N gazed down at his desk; he didn't even want to do it anymore. It wasn't as fun without Hermione there to stop him.

'Come now!' he cried as he smiled around at them all. 'Why all these long faces?'

'I wonder,' said Y/N, not trying to keep his voice down.

Lockhart glared at him for half a second before returning his smile to his face and crying out. 'Don't you people realise the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away-'

'Says who?' called out Dean Thomas.

'My dear young man, the Minister of Magic wouldn't have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty.'

Unfortunately, Lockhart ducked at that moment as a chair soared past him and crashed into the wall behind him, Lockhart threw a bewildered look around as did the rest of the class to see Y/N on his feet.

'You dare, falsely accuse, Rubeus Hagrid in my presence Lockhart, and that beast will be the least of your worries,' Y/N snarled before turning on his heel and storming out of the classroom.

He didn't go far; however, he knew getting caught out of the classroom was more trouble than it's worth, so he began pacing in the corridor. A short while however and the classroom door flew open and Dean Thomas walked out, looking smug.

'Hey Y/N!' he said brightly as he sat down outside the door.

'Hey Dean,' said Y/N, slightly confused. 'What're you doing out here?'

'Taking a leaf from your book,' Dean said brightly. 'He started talking about those closest to the case are always the most unhinged or whatever, basically calling you crazy. So I threw a book at him.'

Y/N laughed harshly and smiled at Dean.

'Appreciate it mate. Blonde haired git deserves it. Did you hit him?'

'Nah,' said Dean and he looked genuinely disappointed. 'Tried, but he's good at dodging.'

'About the only thing,' growled Y/N. 'What made you defend me anyway?'

'We're mates, aren't we?' said Dean, smiling up at him. 'Plus, I know this isn't you. If you'd have told me this time last year you'd be throwing chairs at a teacher, I'd have told you to shove it up your-'

'Appreciate it Dean,' smirked Y/N 'We'd best be ready for when the bell goes, don't want to get caught in the corridor'

Y/N and Dean played cards in the corridor outside the classroom for the rest of class before the bell for Dinner rang. They both quickly got to their feet and waited for their classmates to leave. Both got dirty looks off a couple of the girls from the class, but Y/N found himself not caring.

Especially when he saw the ecstatic look on Ron and Harry's face when they left.

'You should have seen him,' said Ron as they moved towards the Great Hall, 'Spluttering, smile gone, sweating, and after Dean did it too, barely even said another word.'

'They say no one can last longer than a year in the Defence position and quite frankly I'd like to be the one sending him out the door,' said Y/N.

Once dinner had finished, Ron and Harry said their goodbyes to Y/N and made their way off towards the Gryffindor common room. Y/N remained seated at the table awaiting Professor Snape's descent from the staff table.

Around ten minutes later, he swept over and gestured Y/N to follow him. Y/N got to his feet and followed him out of the Great Hall.

'Professor Lockhart was telling a very interesting story about how a couple of Gryffindor's threw things at him during today's class L/N. A couple of second years.'

'Oh really Professor?' said Y/N, trying his best to hide his smirk. 'I was late there so I guess I must have missed that.'

'He gave some very interesting names as well,' said Snape and Y/N could definitely see a smile curling his lips. 'A Mr Dean Thomas, and yourself.'

'That's awfully weird, Professor,' said Y/N. 'Me and Dean were together the entire class.'

'Is that so?' said Snape, smirking down at him. 'Guess it just must have been the mysterious student who used the body bind on him following the Gryffindor match. They're becoming almost as much of a legend amongst the staff as the Chamber is.'

'Oh, for our house too, Professor,' said Y/N brightly. 'I'll need to get them a present when we find out who they are.'

'Half an hour L/N,' said Snape as they arrived outside the Hospital Wing. 'Then I am to take you to Minerva's office.'

Y/N stepped inside and moved over to Hermione's bed. This part never got easier, the good days or the bad days it all stung. He looked down at the frozen body of his best friend and felt that familiar pang. He knew he'd let her down. She'd tell him he hadn't once she was back, but he knew it.

He ran his hand along hers and squeezed it. He knew it wouldn't do anything, but it reassured him at least he sighed and wrapped his hand fully around her own-

-and felt his finger rub along something frail.

He glanced down and saw Hermione had a piece of parchment clutched in her right hand. How had he not seen this already? He visited her every day for a month and only just saw this damn note?

He shimmied around so that he could shield what he was doing from Madam Pomfrey and began trying to get the note out without ripping it. It proved difficult, she had a very tight grip on it. Finally, he got it out and tucked it away in his pocket. He'd read it later and it was a good thing he did as within about 60 seconds Snape's voice called through.

'Times up, L/N.'

'Coming Professor,' Y/N leant in and kissed Hermione's forehead. 'I'll see you tomorrow,' he whispered, fighting back his tears. He wiped his eyes clumsily and moved over to the door, following Professor Snape up to his mother's office.

Snape knocked once and gestured Y/N inside.

'Ah, Y/N, please take a seat. Thank you, Severus,' said McGonagall and Professor Snape nodded before sweeping away. Professor McGonagall waved her wand and two goblets appeared on her desk, she pushed one towards Y/N before taking her own and taking a deep drink.

Y/N did the same, it was an odd beverage. It tasted sweet, but Y/N felt a warmth travel through him the moment he swallowed it.

'Butterbeer,' said Minerva when she saw Y/N's surprised look. 'You've had it before, but it's definitely been a while. They serve it down in Hogsmeade. Wonderful stuff.'

'It's odd, feels like fire in my chest,' said Y/N.

'Even on the coldest of days, the drink has a magical way of warming you up,' smiled Minerva. 'However, I'm sure you're aware, I didn't invite you to my office to drink.'

'Are you sure? I've been told I'm a good drinking buddy,' said Y/N dryly. Humour was difficult these days.

'As your mother, I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that,' said Minerva. 'How are you doing, Y/N? And seriously, not what you tell everyone else.'

'On the brink of collapse,' said Y/N, looking into his mother's eyes. 'The only thing keeping me going is knowing that she'll be back, and that the beast is still out there.'

'That beast is not something a student will be tackling,' said Minerva. 'That will be a job for the staff.'

'No one knows where or what it even is!' said Y/N. 'How can it be left to anyone when we don't even know what we're looking for? Dumbledore's gone; Hagrid's gone. Why couldn't it have taken Lockhart.'

'From what I hear, it did attempt to throw a chair at him earlier today,' said Minerva, smiling slightly. 'Shame he couldn't see the real culprit, they'd sure be in a lot of trouble if he had.'

Y/N breathed a sigh and looked at her. The gaze was friendly, but there was a slight element of disapproving in there.

'I wasn't going to let him stand there and insult Hagrid,' said Y/N defensively. 'Hagrid's fifty times the man he'll ever be, and no that's not a joke.'

'Why do you think you aren't getting punished for it, Y/N?' sighed Minerva. 'We are all well aware of the affect Gilderoy is having on the students because he is having the same on the staff. And some of us are more prone to snap than others. I just must admit, I didn't think it would be you.'

'It's been me more than once,' growled Y/N. 'Burnt a hole in Malfoy's cauldron.'

'Severus told me about that one. Whilst he couldn't be sure it was you, he had his suspicions.'

'He said he wished 'Mione had died to the monster.' and Minerva shook her head.

'That boy will get what's coming to him, but he'll get there himself, you risk nothing bar putting yourself in harm's way, Y/N.'

'I welcome it at this point. Anything to stop feeling like this,' he said, gesturing vaguely. 'I hate waiting.'

'Y/N, please understand that when I tell you we teachers are combing every last inch of this castle looking for the Chamber. Much like you, I do not believe Hagrid was the culprit, but there's not much else we can do until the heir acts again.'

'We've gotten so lucky that no one's died,' said Y/N.

'We don't know if we have,' said Minerva thoughtfully. 'I know I shouldn't really discuss this with students, however indulge me for a moment. There is barely any evidence to suggest these attacks are aiming for kills. So far no one has died, only petrified. I admit, the end goal is most likely to kill, but we cannot be sure. It's not really a theory I'd like to see become disproved.'

'They've hit every house bar Slytherin-' began Y/N, but Minerva cut across him.

'I am not removing an entire houses education over one person's actions. The part you must remember is that there are no doubt those amongst Slytherin who may be Muggleborn, however being in that house hides their ancestry. Slytherin is for the ambitious, not the pureblood. And an heir of Slytherin would hardly attack his own house.'

'Do you know anything?' asked Y/N desperately, but Minerva shook her head.

'Every lead we've gotten we've acted upon and found nothing. The only one we had left got sent to Azkaban a few weeks ago, and it wasn't one any of us bar Fudge really wanted to follow,' said Minerva.

The two sat in silence for a while, both thinking and drinking before Minerva spoke again.

'I'm very sorry about Miss Granger, Y/N. Truly I am, she didn't deserve it.'

Y/N nodded solemnly.

'She did come to speak to me one evening you know… Valentine's evening.'

Y/N froze, his goblet halfway towards his lips.

'Apparently you told her something very interesting,' and a smile was creeping across Minerva's face now.

'Nope, not listening,' said Y/N, placing down his goblet.

'I believe the correct phrase is I told you so-'

'LALALALALALALALA!' called Y/N over the top of Minerva's sentence.

The evening with his mother had proved to relieve a weight off Y/N. Even though she didn't have any answers, she was at least an ear and a shoulder, and a reassuring one at that. She listened to everything he felt he needed to say and gave her own input, eventually the clock rang 9pm and she gestured towards the door.

'Come now Y/N, off to bed with you. I shall accompany you to ensure you are safe.'

'I'll be fine mum, you look tired, get some rest,' said Y/N, getting to his feet. 'It's only two floors, and all the teachers know where I've been anyway.'

Minerva held his gaze for a few seconds before sighing deeply. 'Two-night shifts in a row and days of classes,' she said as she stifled a yawn, 'it's been a long week. Stay safe, Y/N.'

'I promise mum, good night,' he stepped out into the corridor, checked that it was empty and cast the disillusionment charm on himself.

He slipped through the corridors, dodging around the guards as usual and strode across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. He slipped inside past a very confused Fang and revealed himself, causing the great boarhound to launch itself at him.

'Yes, hello boy!' said Y/N happily as Fang bounced around him. 'Good to see you too!'

Y/N refilled Fang's water bowl and placed his food down in front of him, before sitting down at Hagrid's table and pulling the piece of parchment he'd taken from Hermione's hand out of his pocket and smoothing it out on the table in front of him.

'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 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.'

Pipes

This last word was written in what was clearly Hermione's handwriting, the rest of it was part of a full book. Hermione had clearly just ripped out the page, but Y/N kept reading the second line over and over.

'Basilisk, of course!' he cried, making Fang jump. ''Mione you absolute genius.'

He was reading it over again and again.

'All who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death.'

'No one looked straight at it,' Y/N muttered. 'Colin had his camera, Mrs Norris had her reflection, Hermione and Penelope got found with a mirror, Justin had Nick. Nick must have seen it dead on, but he can hardly die again. That's why I haven't been able to sense it! It's a natural ability, not directly magic. And that's why Harry could hear it!' he yelled, startling Fang yet again.

'Sorry boy,' he said, scratching Fang behind the ear as he read it again.

'King of Serpents'

'It's a snake, Harry's a Parseltongue, it's why no one else can hear it. Spiders flee before it. That makes sense. Pipes? Maybe that's how it's getting around, but it must have some way to get into them. Worry about that later. And this bit about the rooster, fatal to it, but I don't think Hagrid's kept any roosters.'

Y/N was so caught up in his thoughts that he'd forgotten Harry and Ron were meant to be coming down to meet him, or at least he had until the hours crept closer and closer to midnight and now he was left waiting anxiously for them, tapping his foot, and pacing angrily.

He'd just made up his mind to go himself when the door cracked open and he felt the familiar dull pulse, the door snapped shut and the two boys revealed themselves.

'You look like you're in a good mood,' said Ron, looking as though the concept disgusted him.

'Not all of us are terrified of spiders, Ron,' said Y/N brightly. 'Plus, some brainwaves compliments of 'Mione, but we'll discuss those later, we're already running out of time. What took so long?'

'The twins,' said Harry as the three made their way back outside and began heading towards the forest. 'They challenged us to Exploding Snap and then just wouldn't stop.'

'It's easy to distract the twins,' said Y/N, 'just set off a light show somewhere and they'll be fascinated.'

'Not that easy when them and Ginny are watching you, mate,' said Ron.

'Ginny was there?' asked Y/N quickly.

'Yeah, she looked out of it to be honest with you,' said Ron. 'Just staring off into space the entire time, didn't say a word.'

'The one time I'm not there,' muttered Y/N as they stepped back outside, but Harry stopped his sentence by elbowing him and pointing to the ground in front of them where a trail of spiders was crawling away into the forest.

Both Harry and Y/N drew their wands and together muttered

'Lumos.'

Both wand tips ignited, and Y/N squeezed the tail on Pippa, who lifted her head slowly and her eyes ignited as she took to the air and fluttered low towards the spiders.

'Good girl Pip, keep them lit for us,' Y/N said to the phoenix, which gave a sort of metallic wail back. Y/N turned his eyes on the other two boys. 'Ready?'

'Nope,' said Ron. 'But we've come this far, let's get this over and done with.'

'We're with you, Y/N. You're our best chance against whatever's in there,' said Harry.

'Why me?'

'Mate, you threw a chair at a teacher,' said Ron. 'I have never seen you as powerful as you are at the moment. You're doing high end magic without a word.'

'And accidentally,' added Y/N, 'But I suppose you're right. Nothing's stopping me from killing this damned snake.'

'Snake?' asked Harry, but Y/N wasn't listening, he was already striding into the forest and Harry and Ron jogged to catch up.