When they entered the Gryffindor common room everyone went silent and simply stared at them.
"Don't worry, everyone, I'm perfectly safe." Harry said, followed by a half-hearted chuckle when everyone stayed silent.
Harry turned to look at Percy, who was biting his lip. "What exactly happened?" Harry asked, with a penetrating stare.
"The headmaster has told the prefects not-"
"It's Hermione," Ginny interrupted as she weaved through the crowd in the common room "people are saying she was petrified in the hallway outside the library along with Penelope Clearwater." She moved to hug Ron.
Harry noticed they both had tears on their faces, though Ginny didn't simply look sad, she looked exhausted. He supposed that he should be crying too, Hermione was his best friend, but he decided that a hero wouldn't cry, a hero would simply find and kill the monster. More importantly, he decided that no one, not even a centuries-old monster in a hidden chamber gets to attack his friends with impunity.
Harry gave Ginny and Ron a brief hug. "Ron, we need to finish this monster business up. Quickly."
"You think you two can really stop it?" Ginny asked.
"I know we can. We're almost there; we made a lot of progress tonight. I suspect we can make a little more, too. Come on, Ron."
The two of them made their way up to the dorm.
"I wanna see if I can get anything else out of our friend, Tom. Like the truth, for example." Harry said as they reached the door to the first-years' room. When they opened it they were presented with the sight of all of Harry's belongings tossed about on the floor.
"I think someone went through your stuff, mate." Ron observed.
"Yeah." Harry then turned and walked casually back down the stairs and across the common room to Percy.
"Percy?"
"Yes?"
"Did you or perhaps a teacher search my dorm, by chance?"
"No." Percy answered, eying Harry suspiciously. "Should we?"
"I don't think that's necessary. Did you see anything unusual happening in my dorm? Anyone there who shouldn't be, for example?"
"No, of course I haven't been watching all day. Is something wrong?"
"Yes." Harry answered, before walking back to the stairs, leaving Percy where he was standing, confused.
Ron had started collecting Harry's possessions for him.
"Was anything taken?" Harry asked.
"I don't think so. Your money is still here, so are your chocolate frog cards. The cloak and the map were still just sitting in the bottom of your trunk, too."
"That doesn't make any sense." Harry said as they closed the trunk, filled with his belongings once again.
"Maybe someone borrowed something and already put it back." Ron suggested.
"I don't think the kind of gentleman-thief that returns his plunder also makes this much mess."
"It could just be the twins up to the something. You know how they are."
"That is even less-likely. I don't think they're crazy enough to try pranking me twice in one day. We have more important problems, though. We've got to have a word with Tom!" Harry said as he hopped off the bed and crouched on the floor next to it.
"I think I know what was stolen." Harry said, removing his head from under the bed. "The diary."
"Who would steal that? Who would even know about it?"
Rather than answer, Harry walked backed down the stairs, this time followed by Ron.
"Percy, let's say that, hypothetically speaking, Dumbledore went through all the things in my room. Let us then say, hypothetically, that he told you not to tell me that he did this. If I then asked you if this happened what would you, hypothetically, tell me?"
"Well, if the headmaster told me not to tell anyone then I suppose I wouldn't tell you."
"I suspected that, so I'm going to ask you again. This time when you answer, try to keep in mind that lives hang on the line here, quite literally. In fact, I suspect one of them will have the last name Weasley, soon enough. Do you know who went through my stuff?"
Percy gave Ron a confused look that made the latter blush. "I honestly have no idea who went through your things, Harry."
Harry walked back up to his dorm, Ron in tow.
"Thanks a lot for that, mate."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Harry replied.
"Future sister-in-law?" Ron balked.
"Oh, well I was talking about Penelope, of course. I think Fred fancies her." To which Ron gave him a glare. "Who else could I have been talking about, really?" Harry said, grinning. This time Ron simply gave him a friendly shove.
"Oh, I'm sorry; did you not want me to save Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I just wish you could go about it without telling everyone I fancy her."
"I didn't tell anyone that, not exactly, anyway. We've got work to do, though." Harry said as he grabbed the map and cloak. "We need to get to the library and see what Hermione was looking at before she was petrified and if we don't hurry the librarian will beat us to it. Let's go." He draped the cloak over the two of them and they made their way to the library.
The halls were so empty it was a strange sight but that made it easy to move quickly. When they arrived in the library they were thankful to see that seemingly no one had been there since Hermione left. They walked over to the table; the two boys read the page that the open book was left on.
"This might be it: a basilisk. It's a snake and it says it can kill you with its venom or if you look it in the eyes. It doesn't say anything about petrification, though."
"Well those people in the hospital didn't all look right at the monster, did they?" Ron asked. "Colin was looking through his camera, wasn't he? And Mrs. Norris, she's a cat; maybe she just saw a reflection or maybe it just doesn't work as well on cats."
"You might be onto something there. And Justin, he was next to Nearly-Headless Nick, right? Maybe he was looking through the ghost, so he didn't see the full basilisk, either."
"But what about Hermione and Penelope, then?" Ron asked.
"Well we don't know much about how they were found, do we?"
"Well they're stuck in the hospital wing."
"Oh, yeah." Harry said, looking down. "If only we had some sort of powerful magical device that could allow us to move unseen through the halls of the school."
When they arrived in the hospital wing it wasn't hard to find Hermione and Penelope. They had been holding something in front of them when they were petrified and their arms remained sticking straight out.
"It's a little creepy, isn't it?" Ron asked as they approached Hermione.
"More than a little" Harry replied before rustling his hand around under the sheets on her bed.
"Uh, what are you-"
But before Ron could finish asking Harry's hand emerged with a note.
"Checking her pockets, let's see what she figured out."
Harry unfurled the notes Hermione had written:
Basilisk:
Snake
Makes sense as Slytherin's monster
Speaks Parseltongue - could explain the voices that only Harry could hear prior to the first attack
Kills anything that looks at it
Everyone petrified must have only seen it indirectly. Using a mirror to check hallways could prevent deaths!
Poison has only one known anti-dote: phoenix tears
"Want to take a guess at what she and Penelope must have been holding?" Harry asked.
"A mirror! I bet as soon as Hermione figured it out she told the first person she saw!"
"That sounds like her. I think she's probably right about the Parseltongue, too."
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Dumbledore announced at breakfast that Hermione and Penelope had been petrified. Harry found himself being offered sympathy by a number of girls who he suspected might be less than genuine, not that this sort of thing normally bothered him, but today felt different.
"Ladies," Harry began, addressing the line that had started to form at his table "I appreciate your concerns over Hermione, I assure you I'm alright and I'm confident that I'll have this whole 'Slytherin's Monster' business closed up within the week. Now, if you'd be so kind as to let me finish my breakfast I'd really appreciate it." With that, the line disappointedly disbursed.
Harry and Ron resumed eating in silence for a few minutes.
"What did I just do?" Harry finally spoke.
"How d'you mean?" Ron asked.
"There was a line of girls – for the large part attractive, I might add – and I just told them to go away."
"This isn't really my thing, mate, but have you considered that there are more important things on your mind? I mean, Hermione..." but Ron trailed off.
"I think that's what concerns me so much."
"Me too, mate, she's our best friend."
"No, I mean it concerns me that something concerns me more than the line of girls I just dismissed. Like some sort of meta-concern. What's the point of being a hero if you don't get to enjoy any of the benefits because you're too busy being a hero?"
"You can't have your cake and eat it too." Fred offered and he and George flanked Ron and Harry, taking a seat on either side of them.
"What's the point of having cake if you aren't going to eat it?" Ron asked.
"My thoughts exactly." Harry said, standing up.
"Ladies," he announced "I've got the monster thing under control now. Feel free to form another line to shower me with sympathy."
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"So you want to share how you suddenly got the basilisk 'under control' at breakfast?" Ron asked as they walked from lunch to Herbology.
"Well I didn't figure much out, just that we should probably figure out where the chamber is, and then we just have to bring a rooster down there to kill the thing, right? Hagrid's probably got those so we just need to know where the chamber is."
"Look at that!" Ron said, pointing towards Hagrid's hut.
"Yeah, that looks like a rooster."
"No, at Hagrid's door. That's Dumbledore and Fudge."
"The minister?"
"Yeah, I've seen him with dad."
"Sirius isn't a big fan of attending Ministry functions, I don't really know anyone."
"What d'you think they want with Hagrid?"
"If Fudge is half as incompetent as Sirius says I'd bet he still thinks Hagrid's acromantula is responsible for the attacks. But there's only one way to find out." Harry said with a grin as he removed the cloak from his bag.
As they crept up to a window they could hear Fudge.
"I'm sorry, Hagrid, but your record's against you. Last time this happened it ended with poor Myrtle getting killed. Four students have already been petrified, this needs to stop."
"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence" Dumbledore said with a fierce look in his eyes.
"I wouldn't doubt it but this sort of thing looks-"
But Fudge was interrupted by a knock at the door that startled Harry and Ron. Fudge opened it to reveal a man with long, blond hair.
"Malfoy's dad?" Ron asked. Harry nodded his agreement.
"Hello, Lucius." Fudge greeted him.
"Already here? Good. I'm afraid-"
"What're you doin' here?" Hagrid exclaimed "Get outta my house!"
"I assure you that I no more want to be in this house than you do but, alas, this is where Dumbledore is. As I was saying, I'm afraid I have some terrible news, simply dreadful, really." Malfoy said as he handed Dumbledore some parchment. "The governors have voted and we think it's time for you to step aside."
"You can't take Dumbledore!" Hagrid shouted.
As the men carried on inside Harry motioned to the rooster pen in Hagrid's garden and the two walked over to it.
"D'you reckon it's normal for a chicken coop to have this much blood in it?" Ron whispered.
"No." Harry replied, taking care not to let the cloak snag as they entered the coup.
"So how are we gonna sneak a rooster into Herbology?"
"The same way we saved Lockhart from the pixies." Harry said, casting a freezing charm on the rooster and tucking it under the cloak with them.
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After Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry and Ron returned to the common room.
"We need to figure out where the chamber is."
"Preferably before dinner, I think it's roast beef tonight."
"Well where can you hide a secret chamber?"
"Somewhere secret?"
"That doesn't help. Maybe we should just not think about it and then, throughout the course of our normal conversations you'll say something that makes me stumble upon a sudden realization as the where the chamber must be."
"Alright, so where do you think they're taking Hagrid?"
"Azkaban, probably."
"You really think so?"
"They never even realized that acromantulas couldn't cause what's been happening. I don't think they make the most rational decisions."
"Hmm." Ron said, grimly. They were silent for a while when Harry noticed Ron staring at Percy.
"Does Percy seem a little less, uh, like Percy, to you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I was thinking he just found out about Dumbledore or something."
"I don't think that's it. He's been off since the... since the other night." Harry said, deciding not to drop Hermione's name around Ron just yet.
"He has been quite the Moaning Myrtle lately, since... you know. Hasn't he?" Ron replied.
"Wait, Moaning Myrtle is a real person." Harry said, suddenly looking brighter.
"Well, she's a ghost, she's dead."
"Right, but she was a real person, probably a Hogwarts student."
"Yeah, I reckon that makes sense. She's around our age, or was when she died, I mean."
"Well what killed her?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about it."
"I think we heard this afternoon. Fudge said that Hagrid's record was against him and that last time the chamber was opened someone named Myrtle was killed."
"I remember that! But what does that have to do with anything?" Ron asked.
"Where did we find Tom Riddle's diary?" Harry asked, visibly becoming more excited.
"Myrtle's bathroom!"
"And what about the night the chamber was first opened, where did all the water in the hallway come from?"
"Myrtle's bathroom!"
"Exactly. No one uses that bathroom because she's there. That means no one would notice someone disappearing into it to open, say - a secret chamber"
"So now what do we do? Tell Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"We can't, don't you remember Malfoy saw fit to get rid of him? Besides, we already did the hard part, why don't we just march down there with the rooster and save the day? Easy."
"Fine."
They walked through the halls with the still-frozen rooster in Harry's knapsack. As they neared the staff room, however, they noticed an unusual number of professors heading for it at the same time as McGonagall was telling the Ravenclaw prefect to send everyone to their common rooms.
"I think we should make a quick detour." Harry said, pulling Ron into a corner, throwing the cloak over both of them. They were able to get in the room when Professor Flitwick held the door for Professor Sprout. They then moved to a corner in the back as the meeting began.
"I'm afraid I have some terrible news." McGonagall started.
"We've already heard about Dumbledore." Professor Trelawney said.
"I'm afraid it's something graver, still. There's been another attack. This time with a message that the student taken into the chamber will remain there forever."
"Oh, my. Who is it?" Madam Hooch asked.
"Ginny Weasley."
Ron fainted at this and Harry had to crouch to the floor with him to keep the cloak over him. Just then, though, Lockhart walked in.
"Sorry I'm late, what've I missed?"
"Ahh, just the man we need." Snape said. "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. She was taken into the chamber."
Lockhart went pale.
"Yes, weren't you just telling me you knew where the chamber was?" Flitwick asked.
"Uh, well..."
"Your moment has come at last, Gilderoy; you've got your shot at the monster!" Snape said.
"Right, well, I'll attend to this at once!" Lockhart said, doing his best to cover his obvious fear as he practically ran out of the room.
Harry, in utter disbelief that anyone would trust Lockhart with anything just sat for a moment, considering his options. He decided that the best course of action was to leave the now-fainted Ron behind. He tried to position Ron's body as inconspicuously as possible in the corner before moving swiftly to the door Lockhart had left open.
Harry practically ran to Lockhart's office. When he arrived he saw Lockhart inside, frantically packing a bag. Harry removed the cloak.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, calmly.
"Uh, well..."
"Because I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be rescuing my best friend's sister."
"Right, well, about that..."
"Don't worry; I don't think anyone expected you to actually succeed. Have you even read your own books? Who believes that dribble?"
Lockhart's brain seemed to finally be able to process what it was confronted with and decided the best course of action was to draw his wand.
In one swift motion Lockhart drew his wand and cast a memory charm at Harry.
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A/N: Oh. My. God. Such a cliffhanger. Did Harry Potter just have his whole memory wiped out? Will he live out the rest of his days in the Janus Thickey Ward for permanent spell damage? Will I have to copy the plot of The Notebook and have Ginny read a diary to Harry in a hospital bed? Did I just admit to knowing the plot of the The Notebook?
All these questions and more will be answered in chapter 13!
Most importantly there is a new poll on my profile. Basically since Sirius can't escape from Azkaban 3rd year I want to know what you all think about what should happen it's stead. If you review feel free to explain your answer.