"~Parseltongue~"


It was the end of the day and I decided I would go to the Room of Requirement and continue my animagus transformation instead of going down to dinner.

I was almost finished with the transformation. Throughout the year I have finally been able to turn all of my limbs–including my hands and feet–into that of a wolfs. While my legs were transformed it was too hard to stand up, so I just decided to sit on the floor. I had to be careful when I sat down because I was now able to grow a tail, and once I accidentally sat on it. The pained yelp that came out of me was decidedly dog like, and I didn't want to feel that pain again.

Looking in the mirror the room provided for me I closely examined the way my ears changed shape to look like a wolfs. I grinned whenever I would move my ears, whether to lay them flat on my head or just twitching them. It was hard changing my ears because I had to change them to match that of a wolfs hearing as well, the inside mechanisms of a human ear and a wolfs ear were different and if I changed them without knowing that difference I could mess up my hearing.

The same went for my eyes, along with my sight. The only difference now between my eyes and a wolfs eye is that mine were their normal purple color, when a wolfs is typically a golden-yellow.

I was finished with all of the small things when it came to the transformation, but now I had to focus on the rest of my body. My eyes were closed and I imagined myself in my current form (My arms and legs switched out for a wolfs front and hind legs, my hands and feet turned into paws, instead of just a tailbone I had an actual tail, my ears no longer looked human but like a wolfs, and my vision was also a wolfs).

With the image of myself I began to think of the rest of my body transforming. My head changed shape, causing my ears to be placed more towards the top of my head. My nose elongating to create a snout, and my hair shortening and spreading until my head was covered in fur.

My torso would change so my arms and legs would be beneath my body instead of stretching to the sides. My spine, ribs, and organs would change their positions and my organs would also change sizes.

I imagined all of these changes happening, down to the very detail. After I was sure the changes were exactly as they needed to be I looked deep into myself until I felt the warmth that signaled my magic. I took hold of my magic and pushed it to follow the changes that would be necessary to change my body and become a wolf.

As soon as I directed my magic pain shot through my head and torso. My skull shifting and my teeth growing longer. I could feel my insides squirming and moving against each other. The pain of the transformation was everywhere and it felt like days before it finally receded.

When I was finally able to think clearly I realized that I was panting, but it sounded rather…odd. I tried standing up from the floor only to collapse once again. Huffing I looked back and instead of seeing any clothes or skin I found nothing but fur.

Excited that this might have actually worked I carefully stood up until I was on all fours. I stayed still until I was used to using four legs instead of two before I took a slow step forward with my front leg. It was an unsteady walk but eventually I reached the mirror and plopped down with a thankful huff.

When I saw my reflection the first thing I noticed was that I was big, maybe twice the size of a normal wolf. My shaggy fur was a pure black color, the only color anywhere on my body were my eyes. I opened my mouth and examined each of my teeth. Each one seemed to have lengthened and tapered of to a point, especially my canines.

I saw something moving behind me and I turned my head to see my tail was quickly wagging back and forth. I cocked my head to the side and forced my tail to stop. When I turned back to the mirror I could feel it continue its wagging. I quickly turned around and snarled at my tail, causing it to abruptly stop. I gave a victorious snort and turned around, giving the mirror a wolffish impression of a grin.

My tail suddenly started wagging again and I waited before quickly lunging back and trying to bite it…only for it to move out of reach and cause me to face plant into the floor. I stood up again and shook it off Well at least now I can better understand why dogs chase their tails.

I started walking around the room so I could get more used to walking with four legs. After awhile it wasn't that hard and I was soon trotting around the room. My surroundings suddenly changed and I was soon surrounded by trees. The floor was replaced with grass and the ceiling became a sky.

A happy whine escaped me and I was soon trotting through the trees. I continued pushing myself until eventually I was running as fast as I could while weaving through the forest the Room provided for me.

I soon came upon a clearing and I happily pranced around. I had finally done it. I became an animagus. An illegal one, maybe, but that didn't matter. I wasn't going to register as one either. It was very likely I would get in trouble for doing this kind of magic without any supervision, and I didn't see the importance of telling anybody anyway.

I stood in the clearing, panting from all the running I had previously done. I sat on my haunches and brought up an image of me turning back into my regular body. I focused on the thought of my body changing back and I felt my body slowly, and painfully, start shifting back. Gritting my teeth through the pain I forced myself to keep the image in my mind, not wanting to end up only halfway transforming because I lost focus.

My body slowly stopped changing and when I looked around I saw the Room had changed from the forest and back to the warm atmosphere of the study. I spotted the mirror and I scrambled towards it to see not a single piece of fur remained.

I squealed and quickly left the Room. Prancing around the corridors I paid no attention to where I was going. It was inevitable for me to end up tripping over something and falling onto my back.

Sitting up with a grunt I looked to see what I tripped over and froze, because laying out on the ground in front of me was a body. I stared at the body in horror and quickly scrambled over and looked down at his face.

His eyes were wide open in terror and his mouth was partially open, mostly likely about to scream. I pressed my fingers underneath the boys jaw and waited until I felt his light, fluttering pulse. Knowing he was alive made me sigh in relief.

My relief was short-lived when I heard something hurrying down the corridor. I whipped my head up and saw that it was Minerva who was hurrying towards us.

She abruptly stopped in front of me and the petrified boy. Minerva looked at the boy in surprise, which quickly changed into horror. She turned her horror filled eyes onto me and I held my hands up, "I didn't do it I swear! I found him like this!"

Minerva collapsed onto her knees on the other side of the boy, never breaking eye contact with me. "Is he–?"

I quickly shook my head, "He's not dead, just petrified."

Her shoulders sagged in relief and she finally looked at the boy. "This is getting out of hand." I nodded in agreement, even though she couldn't see it. "I've heard the headmaster is thinking about closing the school." She looked at me with frightened eyes, "Do you think he will?"

I looked back at her with equally frightened eyes, "I hope not."

I knew the school wasn't going to close. When Riddle is told by Dippet that the school is going to close, he blames everything on Hagrid. Poor innocent Hagrid. I knew–have known ever since before the first attack–the Riddle was responsible for everything, and I could have told any one of the teachers about it but I didn't.

The guilt was almost overwhelming but there wasn't much I could do about it. Nobody would believe that Mr. Perfect Student was behind it all, except maybe Dumbledore. He's always been pretty suspicious of Riddle, probably because Dumbledore knows about his parseltongue ability. Plus if I was to accuse him of doing these things then people would ask me why I would accuse him of all people, then how I knew. I don't really have any answers for this questions so Ive forced myself to keep quiet about it.

My thoughts were interrupted by a low hissing from the walls. I quickly scanned my eyes along the corridor but naturally I found nothing. Minerva was still looking at the petrified boy, acting as if she heard nothing, probably because she didn't.

I cleared my throat to get her attention, "Why are you up here? I thought you would be at dinner."

"I was," she sighed, "but when I saw you weren't at dinner I was worried. I thought the monster had gotten you too." She chuckled humorlessly, "Turns out it wasn't you who was attacked huh?" She looked back down at the boy, but I kept my eyes on our surroundings.

"Why are you up here anyway?" I looked over at her for a moment as I thought of something to tell her.

Before I could tell her anything another hiss echoing through the hallway. I knew Minerva had heard it by the widening of her eyes and the slight fear shining in their depths. "What was that?" she whispered.

I didn't answer her as I slowly stood up, scanning the corridor for any movement. Minerva stood as well, and made her way next to me. "Danielle what was that?" Her eyes quickly flitting around until they finally locked with mine.

I took a deep breath before I spoke, "It's the monster." As soon as the word left my mouth the sound of something very large sliding against stone entered our ears. I followed Minerva's eyes to see a large form come around the corner behind her. Before she could see anything more–heaven forbid she looked it in the eyes–I placed a hand on each side of her face and turned it so she would look at me.

"Don't look at it" I told her frantically.

"What? Why?" she sounded equally as frantic.

I gave her a flat look, "Really? That thing," I pointed to the end of the hall where the basilisk was slowly coming closer. Seeing that I spoke much more quickly, "is the reason everybody is getting petrified!" I latched onto her hand and gave her a hard look, "Do not look back, else you might die."

Turning around I quickly started running down the hall, dragging Minerva behind me and ignoring the unhappy hiss from the basilisk.

"What do you mean die?!" She yelled the question at me.

"Should you look it in the eye, you will die instantly" I gasped out.

"But–" I quickly cut her off.

"Now is not the time for talking! Now is the time to run for our lives!" With that said we continued our sprint through the corridors. Considering Minerva hasn't screamed or dropped dead I assume she hasn't looked behind her.

"~Kin…Blood…Mistress…~" Hearing the hissing noises made Minerva tighten her grip on my hand. "~Speak to me~"

Hearing the basilisk say a whole sentence surprised me, making me stumble a little before I continued running. Faster than before if that was possible.

We finally made it down to the first floor and we could hear the muffled voices from the Great Hall, signaling that it was still dinner. We didn't stop running as we dashed towars the door.

Halfway down the corridor I heard a yelp before something thudded to the floor. I turned around and found Minerva sprawled out on the floor. Bending down I grabbed her arm and dragged her off of the floor. "Sorry I tripped!"

I shook my head, "That's fine–" my sentence was cut off by another hiss, and I looked up to see the basilisk barreling down the hall. It wasn't often that I felt scared, but at this very moment I felt no shame in screaming at the top of my lungs and bolting down the hall. Minerva's arm still firmly in my grasp.

Ignoring all of Minerva's frantic questions I quickly flung the both of us through the Great Hall doors, effectively killing everybody's conversation to watch us pant in exhaustion.

I quickly stumbled my way to the doors and slammed them closed, making everybody jump at the sudden noise. Not five seconds later something very large slammed against the doors causing them to push inward, but I stubbornly kept them closed. The whole hall gasped and shrunk away.

Everyone held their breath as they waited for it to happen again, but nothing happened. I slid my hands off the door and backed away until I ran into one of the house tables. Looking down at the table my eyes landed on a goblet and I greedily grabbed it and drank its content, uncaring that it was pumpkin juice.

Once it was empty I gave a grateful sigh and slammed the goblet on the table. Realizing the only sounds in the Hall was the tired panting of both me and Minerva, I looked up to see everyone's eyes glued to our tired forms.

I straightened as best I could and brushed off my robes while clearing my throat, "I'm sorry for our abrupt entrance. We seemed to have run into a bit of, um, trouble."

"Trouble?!" Everyone's attention turned from me and onto Minerva who was looking at me incredulously, "You call that 'trouble'?!"

"Well it was!" My tone was a touch exasperated How else am I supposed to describe what just happened?

The sound of someone clearing their throat cut off our small argument and we looked at the head table to see both Dippet and Dumbledore standing from their seats. "What seems to be the problem?" Dumbledore calmly asked.

Minerva and I looked at each other and silently agreed that I would speak, for now. "Well would you like the whole story, or just the main detail?"

"I assume the main detail is the reason you both burst in here?" We nodded and Dippet continued, "Then the main detail should suffice."

I cleared my throat uncomfortably and mustered up as much courage as possible, "We were running for our lives," I paused and let the suspense grow before Minerva finally nudged me, "from the monster."

The silence was deafening before it was broken by a student shouting out "What?!" That seemed to have broken everyone out of their shock and everybody tried to talk at once. Most turning to worry with their friends while those closest to me and Minerva tried asking us all sorts of questions, trying to get all the scary details.

"SILENCE!" The Great Hall went instantly silent and everyone turned startled eyes onto Dippet. He took his wand away from his neck and his voice went quiet once again, "Miss Abby, Miss Mcgonagall, would you like to take this up to my office?"

I shuffled, still uncomfortable being center of attention, "Erm, maybe instead we could pretend this never happened and get back to dinner?" I suggested.

But both Dippet and Dumbledore shook their heads, although Dumbledore had a smile as if he was amused at my discomfort. Bastard.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Miss Abby." Dippet continued, "You two are the only ones who have seen the monster, and we need you to give us any possible information you can."

It was at this moment that Minerva step forward to speak, "Actually Headmaster, I didn't see the monster."

"No?" Dippet raised his brows.

"No sir." Minerva gestured to me, "Danielle was the one who saw it. She made sure I didn't look back, incase I became petrified as well."

I averted my eyes and looked everywhere around the room until my eyes locked with midnight blue eyes sitting at the Slytherin table. Immediately I felt something gently push against my mental shields. If he really wanted to get in he could break through them, with a bit of effort. I decided to let him through so I could tell him one thing. I know this is your fault, and when they finish interrogating me I'm going to hit you. I shoved him out of my mind and ignored the flicker of amusement in his eyes before looking at Dippet. "We can go to your office Headmaster."

Nodding his head Dippet dismissed all of the students off to bed (besides me and Minerva) and had us follow him up to the headmasters office.

When we made it to his office Minerva and I sat in front of his desk while the teachers situated themselves around us. It was rather intimidating.

"Now," Dippet folded his hands on top of his desk, "could one of you please tell us what happened, from beginning to end."

I shrunk deeper into the chair I was seated in, "Well," I cleared my throat when everyone looked over at me, "I wasn't feeling too hungry so I decided to skip dinner and just wandered around the seventh floor."

Dumbledore interrupted me, "My dear you shouldn't have been wandering around alone."

I smiled, "I know Dumbledore." I continued my story, "I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going and I suddenly tripped over something. When I looked over I saw a boy lying motionless on the floor." I took a deep breath, "He was petrified."

The declaration made some of the teachers gasp in sadness and shock. I nodded, "That was when Minerva found me." Everyone looked to Minerva for confirmation, and when she gave it they returned their gazes to me. "We were, um, wondering what to do with the petrified boy when we heard something. We got up from the ground and looked around the corridor until we finally heard it coming from the end of the corridor. When we saw something come from around the corner I turned Minerva's head so she would be facing me instead of the, ah, monster" I shifted in my seat again, still uncomfortable with the attention. "I told her that I didn't want her to accidentally make eye contact otherwise she would die."

"Miss Abby, surely you mean she would be petrified?"

I looked into professor Slughorns eyes and shook my head, "No. If one was too look directly into its eyes, they would be killed instantly."

"Then what's been petrifying the students?" All the teachers seemed even more worried than before and I wanted to bang my head against a wall.

Taking a calming breath I told them, "The monster is a basilisk."

Just like in the Great Hall everybody in the room grew silent. The air was tense and Dippet brought up his hand and rubbed at his eyes before leaning back in his chair. "This is much more dangerous than I thought." He took a deep breath and released it before telling me to continue.

"After I warned Minerva I grabbed onto her hand and we raced through the halls and down staircases until we made it down to the first floor. We heard all the noise in the Hall and we raced towards it. When we made it to the doors we burst through and well, you know the rest" I finished awkwardly.

The room descended into another silence and everyone turned to Dippet when he cleared his throat. I was glad the attention was no longer on me. "For now we shall keep this information quiet. Don't let any of the other students know that the monster is a basilisk. It may do more harm than good." He looked at each person in the room and waited for their nod of consent before continuing. "As for you two," he looked at me and Minerva, "I shall have one of the professors take you down to your common room before they join the rest of us in the teachers lounge."

Everyone agreed and Dumbledore was the one to volunteer to bring us up to the common room. It was a quiet and cautious journey, but eventually we made it to the portrait hole. "Thank you professor."

Dumbledore smiled gently but the twinkle was missing from his eyes, "Not a problem dear." He turned around and just as cautiously as before.

We spoke the password for the portrait and entered the common room. As soon as someone saw us the pointed us out to their friends until finally everyone in the room was looking at us. We ignored the stares and made our way up to the dormitory. As soon as we were out of the room we heard the talking resume in the common room and we both sighed.

When we stopped in front of my dormitory door I reached up and squeezed her shoulder, "Goodnight Minerva." She gave me a tired smile and continued down to her room. Before I entered the room I heard her give me a tired 'goodnight'.

I tiredly changed into a tank top and a baggy pair of sweatpants. When I had gone down to Diagon Alley for a wand holster to hold the Elder wand I went to Madam Malkins and had several different pairs of these designed, as either pajamas or if I'm feeling lazy.

My attempts to fall asleep were useless. I could do nothing but toss and turn, the images of the basilisk haunting my thoughts. When the dorm door opened I forced myself to lay still, not wanting to bother August Rookwood. No doubt she would get tired of my constant moving and tell me to shut up.

I waited until I could hear her heavy breathing, signaling she was asleep. Sitting up in my bed I put up a silencing charm and quietly called for Hatty.

She popped in as bouncy as ever and it made me wonder if they ever slept. "Hatty, I need you to go to the Slytherin common room as quietly and discreetly as possible, and tell me if anyone is in there. Can you do that for me?"

Her response was to pop out of the room, and I quietly waited for her return. It felt like hours but really only a couple minutes when she reappeared,ms tattling me in the process. "Hatty looks in the snakies room. There be's seven boys sitting by the fire."

"Do you know if either of them was Riddle?"

She tilted her head with a look of concentration before her eyes lit up, "One of them be misters Riddle"

I smiled at her and it seemed like it made her even happier, "Could you go down and check our common room and see if anyone is there?" She popped away and was back much quicker than before.

"Tis empty mistress." My smile grew wider and I quietly opened my bed curtains, breaking the silencing charm. I reached under my bed and grabbed my bag to retrieve my Jester book/map.

When I had it tucked under my arm I padded out of the dorm room, careful not to wake Rookwood as I closed the door.

Making it down the the common room I walked up to the painting of a sleeping lion and muttered, "Jester". The lion peeked open an eye before the portrait swung open and a set of steps slid down to the floor. I slowly climbed the steps and when I was in the passage I pulled up the steps, making the portrait swing shut.

Casting Lumos I stuck my wand behind my ear and set my hand on the books cover, speaking the password. The book automatically flipped open to the seventh floor and I traced the path I would be using to make sure it was clear before I closed the book.

I made my way through the dark tunnel, carefully feeling in front of ,e until I finally found where the tune suddenly drops. Swinging my legs in front of me I felt around until I found the first step and slowly made my descent. Reaching the bottom I turned around and put my hand forward, instantly I was met with something wooden.

The portrait swung open and I crawled down the same steps as the ones from the lion portrait. When I reached the bottom I turned around and was met with the familiar room of the founders portraits, and to my immense surprise they were all sleeping.

The portrait I crawled out of softly closed and I saw Godrics sleeping form. I smiled softly and strode to the other side of the room until I was below Salazar's portrait. "~Open~" normally I would just ask Salazar to open it, but considering he was asleep I decided to try something else.

Just like the other portraits his quietly swung open an I crawled up the steps until I was enclosed into another dark tunnel. This time when I crawled forward I was met with nothing but air and my body plunged down into the dark. I held in my screams to keep anyone from hearing and I waited for it to end. Slowly I felt the tunnel start shifting and I slowly came to a stop.

Tightly clutching my book I shakily got onto my hands and knees and continued my way through the dark tunnel, my wand was the only source of light.

When the light from my wand came across another smooth panel of wood I quickly made my way over and pressed my ear against the wood, listening for any voices.

I heard several voices nearby, most likely the seven boys Hatty told me about. I knew it wouldn't be smart to throw the portrait open, it would most likely startle them and cause them to start throwing curses at me, and I don't want to see what curses they knew.

Whispering Nox I was soon shrouded in darkness and I put my wand into the book, marking the dungeons page. Before I lost my nerve and ran (well quickly crawled) back in the other direction I quietly knocked on the wood.

The voices instantly stopped and I nervously chewed on my bottom lip before knocking again, causing the portrait to click open. I pressed my hand against it and pushed it away to reveal seven boys, all of whom had their wands threateningly pointing in my direction.

I examined each of them in turn and when they realized it wasn't anything threatening the lowered their wands, but I noted that they didn't put them away.

"Quite the welcoming party." I said dryly.

Quickly walking down the set of steps I waited for them to disappear behind the portrait before speaking again. "There is just one thing I wanted to do before going to bed."

I calmly looked at Riddle before taking a step towards him. The other boys tightened their grips around their wands but Riddle flicked his eyes over to them and they immediately calmed.

Wonderful. He's already started forming the Death Eaters. Changing him is pretty much a lost cause now. I thought.

We looked each other in the eyes, neither of us saying anything. I shifted my book into my hands and tightened my grip before bringing it up and repeatedly whacking him with it. All the while scolding him.

"You sir" *whack* "are absolutely" *whack* "horribly" *whack* "terrible." *whack**whack* He tried to duck away from my assault but I was having none of it. "All of this" *whack* "shit" *whack* "is happening" *whack* "because of you!" *whack*

My book hung next to my side and I watched as Riddle stood up straight from his hunched over position from when he tried to escape me. He straightened his robes and gave me a blank look, his emotions carefully hidden, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Abby."

I shook my finger at him, "Oh no. Don't you play innocent with me you know exactly what I'm talking about." I jabbed my thumb at the other boys, "Whether or not they do I don't know."

He said nothing for awhile but eventually gave a quick nod, "They know. But the question is," he took a step closer to me but I stood my ground, "how do you know?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, "How I know is entirely unimportant. Of course the basilisk might have had something to do with it." I leaned in closer and whispered, "You should talk to her about that." I turned around and would have used the portrait again but then the others would know how to get in. Although the founders told me only the heir of all the founders could use these tunnels. I contradicted them and told them I was only an heir of two, but they told me I had the potential to be the heiress of all four.

My thoughts were cut off when my shoulders were firmly grasped and I was forced to sit onto the couch. The boys situated themselves around me with Riddle on my left and the arm of the couch trapping me on my right.

Before anyone could say anything I held up my hand to stall any further conversation, "Look I only can down here to hit Riddle like I promised him."

"Yes indeed, and what an interesting entrance you made." Riddles dark voice really creeped me out, but I made sure nobody in the room could see how creeped out I was. Thank God Salazar taught me how to hide my emotions with occlumency.

I sniffed, "It's nothing special."

"No?" He raised a smooth brow, "Then what would you call it?"

I pursed my lips thinking of what I could possibly say, "Well it's just how I get from one common room to another." I wanted to slap myself Cause they needed to know that. "And speaking of common rooms it's time for me to get back to mine." I tried to get up from the couch but I suddenly couldn't move and I was stuck sitting in the couch.

"Oh I'm not quite done talking with you yet miss Abby." Riddle smirked at me.

"Well I am certainly done speaking with you," I wanted to spit the words at him but I kept my tone cool. Finding my always at the ready magic I got rid of whatever spell had me frozen to the couch but I acted as though it was still there, deciding to wait for a better moment to try and make my escape.

Riddle chuckled as if amused, and I wondered if he really was or if it was just for show. "Come now, we're all friends here," I wanted to snort but held it in, "no need to be so cold to us." His eyes drifted to the book in my lap and I kept my hand from tightening around it. "And what's this? I've never seen this book in the library."

He slid the book from my hands and now it took no effort to keep myself frozen stiff. I stared at him with wide eyes and inwardly cursed myself for not clearing the book. "It really nothing just–" he was about to open the book when I quickly punched him across the jaw and his face snapped to the right. I snapped the book shut before hopping over the back of the couch. Vaguely noticing that my wand was still in the book and for that I was grateful.

I ran for the around the common room, dodging any and every spell that came towards me. In the confusion and noise I called for Hatty. The sound of her popping in went unnoticed and when she saw what was going on she grabbed onto my pants and popped us away.

We landed in the Gryffindor common room, and when I looked around the empty room I gave a sigh of relief and took no time in picking Hatty up and squeezing her in a hug. "Thank you"

I set her down and she was looking away at the floor with what looked like a blush, "Hatty is very welcome," and she popped away.

Making my way back into my dorm I said the locking password and safely tucked it away before climbing into bed and closing the bed curtains, intent on sleeping off the stress from the day.