AN: I know Thad is sort-of a Mary Sue, but he DOES have some serious flaws. You just haven't seen them in full light quite yet.
8 - The Bad News
The Great Hall was quieted by the tapping of a spoon on a glass. Every eye in the room turned to look at the headmistress, who had a solemn look on her face.
"I do not have good news."
The entire room went dead silent. As the headmistress stood behind the table, a throat was cleared at the back of the room.
"What are you talking about, miss?"
"The second floor bathroom will not be under constant supervision. Any student caught in, or outside, of it will be given an automatic detention, and pending investigation, expulsion."
The room broke out into whispers. Before a shout was heard from the back again.
"But I actually use that bathroom!"
"As some of you know, the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in that bathroom." The hall broke out into murmurs again, "and it has been re-opened."
They hall became chaos. Some girls were crying, and others looked absolutely outraged.
"By who?" Came the voice from the back of the room. "And why are you banning us? It's not like anything has happened!"
The headmistress looked sheepish.
"But, that is the thing. Something has happened."
The entire room went dead silent. Until the voice spoke up.
"What happened?"
Everybody in the room waited with bated breath until the headmistress spoke, but she stepped down from her spot to stand in front of the Ravenclaw table.
"A student has been attacked and petrified." Everyone broke out into murmurs, "and this student is from the Ravenclaw house."
The Ravenclaw table began throwing questions to one another. Asher and Sean looked around frantically for Thad. However, he was sitting at the end of the table, right by the headmistress.
"The student's name is Elizabeth."
Asher and Sean's eyes went wide, and they looked at each other.
"She is a first-year student, and was found in the second floor bathroom, on the floor, in front of a large puddle of water.
To take action against the danger, students are advised to travel in groups."
The Great Hall started whispering again, and the headmistress returned to her seat.
"So what are we going to do?" Sean asked, looking at Asher and Valerie.
"You guys are thick." Valerie deadpanned, "we aren't going to do anything. It's a twenty-foot snake that can kill us and petrify us. We're eleven. What can we do?"
"We can read Thad's essay." Asher supplied, and Valerie gave him a look.
"Because reading an essay is going to help us."
"But it will!" Sean exclaimed, and he received a look from Valerie. "The point of the essay was to explain how to beat the creature with magic. We can do magic. Thad has just put us, like, forty steps ahead!"
"Except that we need to hand that essay in today," Asher looked over at the large clock, "In twenty minutes, actually."
"Well then we'll ask Thad, he must know the stuff he wrote. Or we can somehow convince him to hand in the manticore paper, and Levi can fail. I'm sure Levi won't mind, I mean, it's to save lives."
"I seriously doubt that will work. Levi just got his hands on that paper, he's not going to give it up."
"Then we'll get Thad to-"
"Get me to do what?"
The three of them turned, and saw Thad, walking toward them, holding a report in his hands.
"Thad! We need your report." Sean said shakily. Thad raised an eyebrow.
"Let me think about that…" Thad went into his messenger bag, putting his report into it, "no. I just got this back from Levi, and I'm not risking it being taken again."
"Wait, you're handing in the report on manticores?"
"Well, duh. That one is much better written. Besides, I left the other one under my mattress anyways." He turned to leave, "I'll see you guys later."
"Alright class, time to hand in your papers."
Asher looked around the room, and saw Levi with his head in his hands, and Thad grinning slightly. Thad handed over his paper, and Levi looked up at the teacher.
"Would you believe me if I told you that my owl ate it?"
The teacher only scowled, and passed him to collect the rest of the papers.
"Alright class, today we're going to learn some offensive spells. Starting with the basic knockback jinx, Flippendo," Thad's hand shot up, "Yes, Thad?"
"I already know the knockback jinx, sir."
"Erm, lets see… you can skip on to the next spell, Vermillious. It is an offensive spell that shoots red sparks." Thad's hand shot up again, "Yes, Thad?"
"I already know that spell too."
The entire class began to giggle a bit, and the teacher glanced at Thad.
"Are there any spells in this text that you don't already know?" He grinned slightly, and Thad tilted his head a bit.
"No sir, I've practiced all of the spells in the text."
The entire class looked at Thad, dumbfounded. The teacher only grinned. He went behind his desk and grabbed another textbook.
"Here," he said, placing it on Thad's table, "try this. It's filled with offensive spells used solely for the defeat of magical creatures. I expect it back when you're finished."
Thad nodded, reaching for the textbook, but the professor pulled it back slightly.
"However," He grinned lopsidedly at Thad, "I'm going to need proof that you know this spell."
Thad grabbed his wand from his robes and pointed it at the cage on the teacher's desk. The cage was filled with what looked like rats, and Thad grinned.
"Flippendo."
There was a bright blue light, followed by a crash, as the cage was knocked from the desk onto the ground, opening. Thad then continued flicking his wand at each rat, until they were flying up in the air, when Thad began spinning his wand, creating what appeared to be a small tornado.
The class stared in awe as the tornado knocked the rats back until they were back in the cage, when Thad swung his wand, closing the latch.
The professor was speechless.
"I… that… third-year level…"
Thad silently grabbed the book from the professor's hands, and leaned back in his seat, flipping it open.
"Hey Thad."
Thad looked up from his new textbook to see the eyes of two Gryffindor students looking down on him. Flint on the left, and Emma on the right.
"What are you reading?" Emma asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Thad looked between the two, blushing dark red.
"Just a textbook that Professor Demogorgon let me read. It has some pretty interesting things on killing snakes." Thad replied, looking up and gesturing to his textbook.
"That's cool. Can you walk with us? I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure thing, let me just get the rest of my stuff." Thad replied, grabbing a few textbooks from his table, putting them in his messenger bag, before grabbing his hand-mirror and placing it between the pages of his book, and closing it.
"So we're going to go down to the Quidditch pitch, and see if Aubrey or Landon is acting suspicious?" Sean asked, getting up from his spot in the common room.
"That, and cheer on Valerie at her first practice. She's the Slytherin Beater you know, which means that all the Slytherins will be there."
"Right, and we're gonna make sure that they don't sick the basilisk on anybody else."
"Pretty much."
The walk to the Quidditch pitch was short, and within a few minutes, Asher and Sean were sitting in the stands, watching as Valerie flew by in green Quidditch robes, waving to them. They grabbed a seat nearby the other Slytherins, and waited.
Valerie was hitting Bludgers like nobody's business. They were chasing after her teammates, and she would swing her arm, sending them flying in random directions. She was a good Beater.
"Hey, Landon, where's Aubrey?"
Asher and Sean looked over to where the voice had come from, and sure enough, there was Landon, sitting with a few other Slytherins.
"She just went to the bathroom, she should be back soon."
The one simple sentence sent chills down Sean and Asher's spines. They watched as Landon turned to watch the practice again, but caught their eyes.
There was a definite guilty look in them, and his eyes widened when he caught Sean and Asher staring. He quickly excused himself and ran from the stands.
Asher and Sean didn't bother to follow, they simply watched from a distance as Landon ran the path up to the castle.
A loud clinking filled the Great Hall that night.
"Attention please," the headmistress called, tapping her glass, "Attention."
As the students stopped to listen, the headmistress' face fell.
"Students will now be escorted to and from classes. Quidditch will be cancelled until further noted, and students are restricted, for their own safety, from wandering the corridors alone or at night."
A few people began to whisper, as a voice came from the back of the room.
"Was there another attack?"
Nervously, the headmistress nodded. The hall broke into whispers and murmurs again, and the boy at the back called out again, "Who was it?"
The headmistress stepped down from her spot again, so she was standing in front of the table that she once stood behind.
"There have been three attacks."
The entire crowd burst into noise, and this time, the headmistress didn't bother to clink her glass. Instead, she shouted, "I will have silence!"
The entire room went without noise, and the headmistress bowed her head.
"The three students who were attacked, were careful. I'm sure that if they hadn't taken the precautions they had, they wouldn't be alive.
Two of the attacked students are Gryffindors, and the third is a Ravenclaw student. All first years."
Sean and Asher searched the table frantically, but did not see any trace of Thad. Asher's stomach dropped as he listened to the headmistress' next words;
"The students who were attacked are Flint Wilson, Emma Bradbury, and Thad Jenkins."
"Can we see him?" Sean asked Madam Pomfrey, who nodded.
"You can, although I don't see the point of speaking to someone who has been petrified, they can't hear you."
Sean and Asher only nodded, as they pushed past Madam Pomfrey.
Lying on a bed next to Flint and Elizabeth, was Thad. He was completely still, one arm outstretched, as if holding a book. Sean couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of Thad being petrified with a book. His upper body was tilted slightly to the right, as if leaning in to show something.
"Madam Pomfrey," Asher called, and the nurse hustled over, "was Thad holding anything when he was petrified?"
"Why, yes. He was holding a book. He appeared to have been showing the other two something inside it when the attack happened. Would you like to see it?"
Asher nodded, and the nurse hustled over to Thad's bedside table, where she grabbed the pale green textbook that Professor Demogorgon had given him earlier.
"Here you go, boys."
Asher grabbed the book, and flipped it open, to find that there was something sticking out between some pages. Asher flipped to it, to find a shattered mirror lying inside the textbook. Flipping it closed, Asher led Sean from the room.
Back in the common room, Asher immediately went to the dormitory. As soon as he entered, Levi and Julian were at his side, asking if he knew anything. Instead of answering, he walked at a brisk pace to Thad's bed.
Levi and Julian gave him questioning looks, as he threw back the sheets of Thad's bed. As soon as they were removed, Asher lifted the mattress to find a small roll of parchment.
"So that's where he put that!" Levi exclaimed, as Asher unrolled the parchment.
The basilisk is a giant serpent, also known as the King of Serpents. It was a creature bred by Dark Wizards. Herpo the Foul was the first wizard to breed a basilisk. He accomplished this by hatching a chicken egg under a toad, which resulted in the creature we know today. Basilisk breeding was banned in medieval times. The practice, however, can be hidden by simply removing the egg from under the toad.
Although classified as an XXXXX creature, meaning it is a known wizard killer that cannot be domesticated due to its immense powers, because the basilisk is still a serpent, parselmouths may put a basilisk under his or her control. This depends on the relationship between the basilisk and the master, as Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, was the only one who could control Salazar Slytherin's basilisk in 1993, while famous wizard Harry Potter had no control over it.
Basilisks can grow to over fifty-feet long, and have rows of sharp, venomous teeth. The basilisk kills its prey with its gaze, however it is not its only means of attack. If a victim looks indirectly at a basilisk's eyes, it may become petrified, as is the case with the 1993 attacks. Known 'victim' Hermione Granger explains in a report;
"I was fortunate enough to only be petrified by the basilisk. A friend of mine and I were looking around corners with my mirror when we encountered it."
Other known victims explain that they survived the attack through various means; one seeing the basilisk through his camera, and another seeing the basilisk through the body of the Gryffindor Tower ghost, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.
However, glasses do not have an effect, as the wearer is still looking directly at the creature. This is proven true, as known victim, and ghost at Hogwarts, Myrtle, is seen wearing glasses, although she was the first and only victim of the basilisk attacks in 1943.
The basilisk is known for its ability to manoeuvre by squeezing through pipes to find its victims.
The crow of a rooster is fatal to a basilisk, and spiders flee before it, as it is their mortal enemy. Phoenixes are immune to the gaze of a basilisk.
The only known, and recorded, defeat of a basilisk was done by Harry Potter, who explains;
"I did not have my wand at the time, as it was taken by Tom Riddle, but Professor Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes, was able to scratch out the basilisk's eyes so I was able to look at what I was fighting. I ended up standing on the head of an enlarged Salazar Slytherin and impaling the basilisk through the roof of its mouth with the sword of Godric Gryffindor. The basilisk's fang stuck into my arm, but Fawkes healed me with his tears. I was fortunate. If I remember correctly, my close friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stated that years later they returned to the Chamber of Secrets and came across the basilisk's body and took its teeth. There should be no more basilisk threats at Hogwarts."
In one copy of the book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' that Harry Potter had taken out of the library at Hogwarts it is stated that basilisks had not been sighted in over 400 years. Mr. Potter states that he made a comment beside said line saying; "That's what you think."
The difference can be told between male and female basilisks, as male basilisks have a red plume on its forehead.
Asher set down the report after reading it aloud to the three other occupants of the room.
"It seems to me like we're screwed. Harry had a sword and a phoenix. We have none of that."
"But it said Harry didn't have his wand, so he hadn't tried magic. We have magic, so we can use that to out advantage." Sean stating and Asher nodded.
"But how is it getting around? Where are we supposed to stop it?" Julian asked, flailing his hands in the air.
"Thad has the answer in his report," He holds the report out, "He said it's known for using pipes as transportation."
"Why isn't Elizabeth dead though? She didn't have a mirror like Thad and the others did." Levi pointed out, shuddering at the thought of a classmate being dead.
"The water," Asher responded, "McGonagall said that there was water all over the floor in the bathroom. She must have seen the reflection."
The others nodded, and the four of them looked at the book sitting on Thad's bed.
"Do you reckon there are any spells in there to use on a serpent?" Sean asked, pointing at the pale green book. Asher walked over, and flipped it open to the page with the mirror shards. He quickly dumped the shards onto Thad's bed before scanning the page.
"Thad has told us that too," He said pointing down at the page, "he left the mirror in this page on purpose."
Asher showed the others the page, where it explained the use of a spell that can be used to kill serpents.
"And what if this doesn't work on a basilisk? It said it was the King Serpent, so maybe it's immune or something?" Levi asked.
"It's in here too, look." Asher pointed down to the page.
"A spell that makes the noise of a rooster? That's handy."