Because of Pansy's unpredictable moods, Katherina decided to meet with Selena in her room. Draco followed and since he saw it as an excuse, Blaise joined them last minute. She was sharing it with Anna, but their halves were very easily distinguished. Blaise leaned against the girl's writing desk, looking at a few of her things without touching anything. Her notebooks were neatly stacked together, adorned with ribbon marks and fabric outer covers embroidered with peonies in creamy shades of beige and pink. She had floral shades of wax and a collection of seals with roses, lilies, and morning glories. Five rolls of floral design tape sat in a wooden box with a glass top. She had a generous bouquet of pink roses dried carefully to retain their shape, displayed in a glass vase, as well as a box of dried wildflowers. Her chair had a flowery cushion, the decorative pillows on her sofa had either a pattern or certain shades to fit the general aesthetic, and her bed had pastel beige sheets contrasting with the green cover.

Katherina was sitting on the plush green carpet while Selena was on the bench at the foot of the bed. The platinum blonde was working with a fine comb, hair oil, and a fabric napkin in order to get as much of the wax out of Katherina's hair as possible. She had a package of mint chocolates and a box of strawberry tarts on the coffee table - sent to her by her mother especially for welcoming guests if need be.

Draco took the bench from Anna's half of the room. It was dark, simple, heavily decorated with velvet of the highest quality. Anna's scheme was of deep green and dark turquoise, crisp white for contrast, and iridescent accents in scaly patterns. Draco leaned against one of those pillows, in a corner of the bench, supporting his head with his hand.

"So... what exactly happened?" Blaise raised one eyebrow. He looked half interested.

"Pansy's nuts!" Draco exclaimed. "She knows she can't say anything to me, so she's taking it out on her."

Blaise chuckled. "Alright, that's the short version. What's the medium?"

"Draco broke up with her and he was unnecessarily extra," Katherina said as she felt her scalp losing one or two strands. She cringed but tried to hold still.

"Sorry!" Selena quickly apologized.

"What do you mean by unnecessarily? She wouldn't get it any other way." When he saw Blaise and Katherina stare at him in a questionable way, he rolled his eyes. "Alright, perhaps I might have been a little bold... but that was all!"

With a smirk, Blaise hummed to himself. "Bold, right, like a dementor."

"You don't know how obsessed she is," Draco defended himself.

"I'm guessing it was much worse than Abbot?" he chuckled.

Selena sighed. She had been kind of close with Vesuvia prior to Draco making a scene. Vesuvia had stopped replying to her letters after that and wouldn't even look at her when they passed each other in the halls. Even so, Selena didn't feel secure enough to point it out to Malfoy.

Draco let out a sigh of annoyance. "Can we not talk about Abbot or Parkinson?" He levitated a piece of mint chocolate to himself from the box and ate it.

"Sure! How come Diggory still has his teeth?" Blaise watched the blood boiling inside Draco's veins and found it rather amusing.

"...Or Diggory?" he groaned.

"Let's talk about you," Katherina looked up at Blaise. "I haven't seen you around since morning."

"I was waiting for someone to bring it up. I've been with Nott. He claims to have made a time turning device that allows you to go back by a few minutes, but it turns out it doesn't work yet."

Relaxed and finally out of the spotlight, Draco nodded slowly. "That loner is a nerd, then...?"

"He's not very fun unless we're mocking mud-bloods, but he's pretty smart - a bookworm. I went to him to pair up for the Potions project, but he had already asked Snape to work alone."

"Do the same, then," Katherina challenged him.

"I could..." Blaise nodded, "but then, I'm not that interested in Potions. Now, a little birdie whispered to me that someone might still be in need of a partner...? Of course, this information is from this morning, so it might be a bit outdated, but you know, I thought I'd ask since I'm the most-"

"Irresponsible on the planet?" Draco mocked him.

"I prefer irresistible, unlike some," Blaise flashed the girls a smile bearing some of his perfectly straight and white teeth. He noticed Katherina rolling her eyes and Selena looking down at her friend's hair, but her hands were moving a lot slower. That told him she did pay attention to him. "What can I say? It runs in the family."

The door opened and Anna walked in. The initial surprise of so many guests being in her room ran off quickly as she closed the door behind her. She was paler than usual, with cheeks pink, gasping from the rush.

"Welcome, join us!" Blaise greeted her, but he wasn't really interested in her.

Anna shook her head. "It's bad... It's really, really bad. There's been another attack and another message."

Selena's amber eyes lit up with concern. "Do you know who was the victim?"

"I'm not sure," Anna went to pour herself a glass of water on her nightstand. "I couldn't make it there fast enough. I think Lockhart and Snape were having an argument. Lockhart is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, right? So, it is part of his duties and sphere of expertise to investigate such happenings."

"He's a half-witted coward who got lucky," Blaise labeled the professor.

"Let her speak," Draco stopped him before turning his attention on Anna again.

The girl took out the turquoise ribbon from her hair and let it flow freely in all of its ebony glory. "I didn't think I'd be thanking Malfoy anytime soon," she grinned towards Katherina. "I believe Lockhart realized whatever is going on is serious and way beyond what he expected. I can't be sure for lack of evidence, but I am assuming he wants to quit his job."

Draco sighed when he heard her mock him, but held his tongue until she was finished. "A coward and a quitter - why am I not surprised?"

"You said there was a new message. What did it say?" Katherina asked.

"That 'her skeleton will lie inside the chamber forever' if I remember correctly. I didn't have time to write it down precisely."

Selena felt her heart picking up its pace and her head becoming lighter. In lack of enough air reaching her lungs, she began breathing faster - but that was only an illusion. The oxygen in her blood raised and raised in concentration, making her even dizzier. Feeling that something was wrong, Katherina turned towards her and saw tears threatening to spill. Selena was looking down, staring blankly, an expression of absolute terror and imminent doom frozen on her face.

"What's going on?" Draco asked from a distance. He had never seen that before.

Blaise watched from his spot as well, arms crossed over his chest. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Anna took the glass of water and went in front of Selena, while Katherina sat beside her and held her. Anna splashed a few drops on her face and rubbed her hands. The response was slow, but eventually, Selena began to cry and held onto Katherina.

"Why are you crying? We're purebloods, we're safe." Blaise said in a harsh tone. He didn't find her very attractive in that state. Her face was puffy and red and she was shaking for what in his mind was nothing at all.

Anna went over to Blaise, caught his arm, and turned him towards the door. "Leave!" she demanded. "Right now!" It didn't matter that she barely reached his shoulder in height, Anna was still halfway to throwing him out.

"You don't tell me what to do, woman! Answer my bloody question!"

Draco stood up between them. "Let him go," he firmly ordered Anna, before turning to Blaise. "You're gonna shut up, or get out."

Faced with not one, but two adverse reactions, as well as Katherina's glares, Blaise rolled his eyes and complied. "Fine! I'm not saying anything..."

A few minutes later, Selena had calmed down enough to speak between hiccups.

"...I've seen this before, I-I've been having nightmares all week! There's a terrible snake in a... cold, wet place underneath Hogwarts. It's dark, there's water, and there are terrible echoes. It's a giant snake that slithers through large tunnels, and a statue of someone. I only looked down once, there were the bleeding bodies of two students, but I didn't see their faces. This is it," she whispered as her voice cracked and she sobbed. "The girl's been taken, now whoever goes after her...!"

"There's no such place at Hogwarts," Blaise quickly discarded her visions. "You're too stressed by this whole thing. We're all purebloods here, we're fine."

"I thought we agreed you'll be quiet?" Katherina glared at him again. "Do you have any clue about this snake?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't know, I've never seen it, but I've heard it so many times!"

Anna looked from her friends to Draco, completely ignoring Blaise. "We need to go! I think I know what we're facing."

"Oh, really? And what would that be?" Blaise mocked her.

Anna walked up to him and stared Blaise straight in the eye, ocean blue meeting midnight black. "I'm usually a lady and you may be accustomed to my manners, but in a selective circle like this, I see no need to sugarcoat anything. If you don't get the fuck out of my way and shut your filthy mouth, you son of a murderous bitch, I fucking swear that I will practice the Unforgivables on you and enjoy every second of it."

Zabini took a step back. "You don't know the Unforgivable curses..." he said in a low voice, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He looked at Malfoy, but he had a smirk on his face and shrugged - that viper had no intention to help him!

With a sweet smile and the coldest blue eyes he had ever seen, Anna drew her wand. "I'd be glad to show you precisely what I know."

One step after another, Blaise backed away from her, feeling the wall for the door. That bitch looked mental! Bloody hell! All he ever wanted was to have some fun, do something interesting, not to become her lab rat. He had heard about the Unforgivable Curses - it was very likely that every Slytherin had heard about these three at some point in their life. It only took him half a second to decide it was too high of a price for the adventure.

As soon as Blaise left, Draco began to laugh. "Nice bluff!"

Anna smiled and rolled her eyes. "He's always been on my nerves. My father works in the Ministry, there's no way I'd ever dive into the Dark Arts, but Zabini is ignorant enough to not take that into account."

Subtly, Katherina exchanged a look with Draco. That meant they couldn't share their secret with either of the girls, as Selena was close to Anna and it was likely they had similar views. She held Selena until she felt her breathing returning to normal. "You said you have a guess, Anna?"

The girl nodded. "I think that Salazar Slytherin had bred a Basilisk. From what I can remember, it has a very long lifespan and could well be alive today, perhaps surviving on rats, toads, and other small critters. The dark, wet place with tunnels may be a secret level of Hogwarts, or perhaps the sewage. This would allow it to travel through the castle undisturbed, in most areas, at least."

"I thought a Basilisk killed those who looked it in the eye, not petrify them," Draco pointed out. "I don't think anyone's been killed yet."

Anna snapped her fingers towards him. "Correct! If it's looked in the eye, but what if someone doesn't see the Basilisk, but a reflection of it? They get petrified. People had most likely seen its reflection through the glass, or a still puddle of water, or through the ghost of Sir Nicholas."

As Selena was drying her eyes, Katherina stood up. "This is it! This explains everything! We need to tell Professor Snape!"

"Do you think that coward Lockhart realized we have a loose Basilisk? Is this why he's quitting?" Draco asked as his gray eyes gleamed with excitement.

The platinum blonde jumped on her feet all of a sudden. "We need to warn Harry and Ron!"

Draco frowned. "Why? What does Potter have to do with this, and since when are you so familiar with him to call him by his first name?"

"I need to go!" Panic and worry were all over Selena's face as she avoided Draco and slipped past Anna, running out of the room and down the girls' corridor.


Author's notes:

When I had written this scene, I didn't know about The Losing Game yet. However, I decided not to change it as it seems to fit the characters too well. It's going to be a conflict of values in the other story at some point, reoccurring after some attachments had been made - that's my initial plan, anyway.

As always, thank you Ghostwriter71 for your constant support. It feels like I am writing for you alone sometimes, but that's alright.