May 8th 1993
Hermione was the last person Alex thought would get petrified. Hermione was smart. Smarter than almost everyone she knew, and the thought that even she couldn't escape the monster definitely rattled her.
What if she was next?
Hermione lay frozen, a scream etched onto her face. Her limbs were stiff, positioned in a clearly uncomfortable position. Clutching a mirror in her hand, Alex was definitely the first to have found her. She seemed to be making a fist with the other hand.
That was one Gryffindor ghost, two Gryffindor students, one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff.
She screamed.
Dumbledore? Dumbledore was out? As in, kicked out?
Alex knew Harry and Ron wouldn't joke about such a thing. But, it was impossible. It must be a joke.
Newsflash: it wasn't.
"YOURIDIOT FATHER'S SACKED DUMBLEDORE!" roared Alex, inside the Slytherin dorms.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER LIKE THAT!" shouted Draco, jumping off his bed.
Blaise, the only other inhabitant of the room, took the hint and left quietly.
"I'LL STOP WHEN HE STOPS TRYING TO MURDER A SCHOOL FILLED OF CHILDREN! DUMBLEDORE IS OUR ONLY HOPE TO FIND OUT WHO THAT HEIR IS!"
"THAT'S A LOAD OF SHITE!" he replied, pulling his hair frustrated, "DUMBLEDORE DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT QUIRELL! IF I REMEMBER IT CORRECTLY IT WAS A TEAM OF STUPID GRYFFINDORS THAT ADVENTURED AND FOUND OUT FOR THEMSEL-"
Alex opened her mouth then clamped it shut with a huff, glaring furiously.
"If it makes you feel better, I had no clue about Dumbledore getting sacked." Draco admitted with a frown, a pale hand scratching his equally pale hair. "And, from what I see neither do you, I suppose it was unexpec-"
"How couldn't you know?" she cut in, "You're writing letters back to the manor weekly, he must have mentioned somewher-"
"He doesn't reply." he said shortly, a blank expression on his face. And despite his best efforts his lips were curling slightly in a sneer. "It's just mother sending sweets and notes about his new business trip and how awfully busy he is."
Alex really didn't know what to say. "Err sorry, are you alright?" She could've sworn his eyes were getting a little misty.
"I'm fine. Stop asking."
"I'm your friend, I have a right to ask!"
"You were yelling at me a bloody minute ago!" Draco sighed, rolling his eyes.
Alex chewed her lip, maybe it was too personal. Whatever.
"Why do you keep defending him? Your father, that is-" she said, summoning her courage and looking him square in the eye. What did she have to fear anyways? "...he's like this perfect idol you want to be; you're obsessed with wanting his approval, for him to like you. He clearly doesn't care enough to respond."
"You don't even have parents, you wouldn't understand."
Well that stings.
"Try me," said Alex, flopping on top of his bed.
"HEY! OFF THE BED!"
Alex heard a giggle outside the door. "Doesn't answer the question Draco. " she perched onto her elbows, summoning a notebook and taking one of her new set of pens out of her robes. "Why are you so obsessed with your father's approval."
"Stop acting like a mind healer."
"You know I'd be a good one."
"Do I?" he said skeptically, tilting his head as if trying to scrutinize her carefully. He was met with a green velvety cushion to the face. "You're so violent!"
"Bloody Gryffindor," he muttered, scowling in mild annoyance.
Alex laughed, lying back down.
"BLAISE I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE LISTENING!" called Draco.
A curly-haired head popped in through the doorway.
"Dumbledore's gone?"
24th May 1993
Follow the spiders? The boys had nearly died! What was Hagrid thinking sending them into a lair of hungry spiders, all for nothing!
That bloody spider, what was its name? Oh! Aragog had simply ordered his 'children' to attack the boys, who they saw as nothing but meat. Urgh. She swore she could still smell bits of Ron's vomit in her hair.
Meanwhile Alex had been trying to figure out the monster, based on two things that she knew.
1. It had to be a snake of sorts, otherwise parseltongue wouldn't be required.
2. It had to be something that could petrify someone.
So far there was nothing! NOTHING! Maybe everyone had just gone barmy and started an... eighth life crisis?
"Exams are not cancelled." announced Minerva McGonagall, and all the second years groaned.
"Surely the fact that students are being put in potentially fatal danger should be enough to cancel exams!" cried Alex.
The transfiguration's professor pursed her lips sternly, "There is some light, however-"
"No exams?"
"Only practicals?"
"Exams are postponed till next year?"
Minerva coughed, bringing the attention back, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the mandrakes are ready for harvest tonight. Your classmates shall be returning to their normal states within the week."
There was a deafening cheer, reminiscent of the quidditch pitch.
Alex could've sworn Percy was smiling, he looked relieved. Perhaps there was more to Penelope Clearwater than a quick broom closet shag.
Perhaps, there was more to everyone.
27th May 1993
Alex had been spending more and more time in the library.
"Your eyes are starting to go square," said Ron, "Honestly, if you're studying this much, I'm terrified for the rest of us."
"Shut up Ron," snapped Alex, "At least one of us is trying to figure out what the monster is."
"It is worrying," agreed Harry, "Especially since Dumbledore's gone. I'd help you Alex, but if I try I'll end up with a troll in potions."
"Hm, what's the quickest way to speed up the brewing time of a swelling solution?"
"Err-uh-um-I thin-"
"Are you really that thick?" she looked at him with a Snape-like glare, "Half the puffer-fish eyes, and throw in two lilac leaves."
"HOW'M I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!" shouted Harry, earning a glare from Madam Pince.
"Because, lilacs are natural catalysts and the plant symboli-" she stopped flicking through the Ministry's Classification of Dangerous species and gasped loudly.
Oh they were definitely getting thrown out.
"Symbolises?" Harry said, quill writing furiously.
"A BASILISK! THE MONSTER'S A BASILISK!"
Harry and Ron looked at each other before scrambling to look at the page.
29th May 1993
Alex was 99% sure that it was a basilisk that had been petrifying the students.
average basilisk can live up to 900 years, 1000 years wasn't that far off since Hogwarts was founded a thousand years ago and it explains how the chamber could be 're-opened' with the same monster fifty years after the first murder.
2. It's a giant snake. Slytherin? Parseltongue? Need she say more?
3. If someone looks them straight in the eye, and not in their reflection they die. If they only see the reflection they'll be petrified.
Now, all Alex had to do was find out who had died the first time, and get confirmation from Hermione, or any of the petrified students that it was indeed a basilisk, and not another deadly serpent. Now who to ask?
Well the obvious choice would be a ghost, considering all of them had been around for so long. But which one?
The fat friar shies away from conflict.
The grey lady never talks. Like ever.
Nearly headless Nick is nearly always busy.
Myrtle is well...crying like always.
Which leaves... the bloody baron?
Well, it's worth a shot. Since it was a Saturday, some students were relaxing in their dorms or most were actually studying for the upcoming exams in the library. Which left the castle relatively empty, save for the occasionally patrolling teacher.
The patrol timings of each teacher rarely ever changed and Alex knew that Saturdays were Professor Flitwick and Professor Trelawney's turns.
That leaves the dungeons easy to sneak into, she thought.
So she hurried down the damp steps that led towards the dungeon, only to find the Baron missing.
"Pansy, have you seen the Baron?" asked Alex, out of breath from running down the stairs.
Pansy looked at her strangely, "What do you want with the Baron, he isn't even your ghost?"
"Yes, what do you want with me, little witch?" came a rasping voice from behind her.
Alex jumped and little red sparks flew out of her hands, involuntarily.
"Err, I wanted to ask you something Baron," she said, looking at his blood-stained chains. Pansy turned around, interested, magazine forgotten.
"Go on then."
"Do you know who died when the chamber of secrets was first opened?"
The baron's eyes widened. "I'd have thought you knew, considering how tolerant you've been of her."
Alex shook her head. Her? Someone still at Hogwarts? Dead at Hogwarts? It must be-
"Elizabeth Myrtle."
Alex ran back to the common room with her lungs burning, eager to tell the boys about the new information she had gathered. However, she was met with grim looks on their faces. She looked, confused, at the Weasley brothers who were staring solemnly at the fire.
"It's Ginny. She's been taken into the chamber."