AN: Nearly there! R&R!
9 - Christmas
"Attention," McGonagall called, and the excited noise died down. "I have good news."
Instantly, everybody perked up. The headmistress smiled, and looked out upon the Great Hall.
"Our mandrakes are growing rather well, and we should be able to make the potion and revive the petrified students at the end of the Christmas holidays."
The entire hall cheered, and the headmistress sat back down behind her table. For the rest of the meal, the only thing people could talk about was seeing their friends again.
"I can't believe it! We get to see Thaddy-kins again!" Levi smiled, glancing between each of his friends. "Well, and I guess having my Potions partner back would be nice too, but Thaddy-kins!"
"I'm sure he'll be happy to see you all again." Valerie added in, before smiling and leaving the table.
"Landon is planning something. I know it." Valerie told the others as they gathered at the Quidditch pitch.
"Did he say anything specific?" Sean asked, but Valerie shook her head.
"He said he was waiting for Christmas holidays. So at least one of us is going to need to stay behind and watch him."
"And someone needs to watch Aubrey too." Levi cut in.
"And we know that there's only one Slytherin here…" Julian trailed off, looking at Valerie. She turned red.
"No way! I was going to suggest you two," she gestured to Julian and Levi, "because you haven't done anything!"
"Ah, but what if they split up?" Sean changes the conversation. The others just stay silent.
"I guess we're going to need some Slytherin help…"
"I've got it! Brooke!"
"Brooke?" Asher asked Valerie, who was beaming ear to ear.
"Yeah, she's a Slytherin in my year. She hates Landon and Aubrey!"
"Then I guess we're using her help. You two need to watch the two of them during holidays."
"Alright, but you guys still better be careful. We know what happened to Thad because he knew too much…"
A week later, Levi, Julian and Sean were on the train returning to the platform for holidays. Valerie and Asher waved goodbye to them as the train took off down the tracks.
"Are you sure you want to stay?" Valerie asked Asher, who nodded.
"Yeah, my dad is here all holiday, and I figured I could spend it with him."
The two of them returned to the castle, where they instantly spotted Aubrey and Landon laughing and walking together. Turning his head a little, Asher could see Brooke watching the two of them.
Brooke was pretty. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and blue eyes. There were a few freckles scattered on here face and she was usually smiling.
"She seems nice." Asher stated to Valerie, who simply laughed.
"She is. But she's feisty. Think of her like a female version of Levi." She laughed at the comparison.
"Whoa! Your hair! It just changed colour!" Valerie shouted, and Asher glanced up slightly. Sure enough, where his brown hair was sitting moment ago, there was a tuft of black hair.
"Did I not tell you about that? I'm a metamorphmagus. I can change my physical appearance at will. But sometimes it just changes. No big deal."
Valerie continued to eye Asher, until she took off following Brooke after Aubrey and Landon.
Asher returned to the common room, where Chase and Damon were snuggling by the fire.
"Oh, hey Asher." Chase greeted as Asher slumped down on a chair by Thad's working table. "What's up?"
"Just trying to figure some things out."
"Anything we can help with?" Damon asked, brushing a bit of hair our of Chase's eyes.
"What do you guys know about basilisks?"
"Well, they're big. They don't like roosters, and spiders get really freaked out by them. I know there used to be a big colony of spiders in the Forbidden Forest, but I heard Hagrid say they left recently. Why?"
"A couple of us think it's a basilisk that petrifying students."
"Who is included in 'a couple of us'?" Chase asked, peering over Damon's shoulder.
Asher smiled nervously.
"Levi, Julian, Sean, myself, Brooke, your sister, and Thad before he was…"
"So really, all first years."
"Pretty much."
"There's your problem. The older students know that it wouldn't be a basilisk." Damon said.
"Why not?"
"Because nobody would be able to control it." Damon replied.
"But what if someone could? Like a parselmouth."
"There hasn't been a parselmouths since-"
"Harry Potter, I know. And that was because he was linked to Voldemort."
"Exactly. Harry was linked to Voldemort, and Voldemort was the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin. So there can't be any more parselmouths." Damon explained, and Asher frowned.
"But wait, Damon," Chase interrupted, "didn't Harry Potter's friend speak parseltongue to get into the Chamber of Secrets years later?"
"Yeah, why?"
"He wasn't a parselmouth, and you can only get in if you are. Maybe this hypothetical 'controller' only knows enough parseltongue to tell it to attack and obey?" Chase asked, and Damon just shrugged.
"I guess that makes sense, but who teaches their kids 'kill' or 'obey' in parseltongue?"
"Death Eaters." Asher answered, "are any of the Slytherin students descendants of Death Eaters?" Asher asked, and Chase nodded.
"I think there's three. The two are brother and sister, and the other one is that kid who knocked Flint off his broom on the day of Flying practice."
"Kai?"
"Yeah, him." Chase answered, smiling.
"But everybody knows that the Death Eaters are all in Azkaban. They won't get out."
"Let's hope you're right, Damon." Chase replied, before kissing him chastely on the lips.
"I overheard a conversation between Aubrey and Landon." Brooke told Asher and Valerie, who instantly perked up.
"And?" she asked, and Brooke leaned in.
"I heard them arguing about something. They said something about 'knows too much' and 'fags'."
Valerie paled.
"I think they were talking about their next planned victims." Brooke whispered, "Oh! They're leaving; I'm going to go follow them."
"You okay, Valerie?" Asher asked, and Valerie shook her head.
"They're going to attack my brother. We have to stop him!" She whisper-shouted, but Asher just placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be fine. He knows enough to protect himself."
"So did Thad, and we all saw how well that turned out." She snapped, and Asher flinched away.
"I'm sorry, I'm just… angry at them. I didn't mean that." Valerie apologized, and Asher nodded.
"We should probably head back to our common rooms now." Valerie mumbled, and Asher nodded.
The two split up, and tried to enjoy the night.
Another two weeks later, the holidays were coming to a close, and there were no new attacks. Students were visibly happier that they were going to get their friends back, and it was the talk of the school.
Asher was walking to the Great Hall with Valerie when he found out.
"Ms. Baxter. I'm going to need to ask you to come with me." Professor Slughorn stepped forward in the Great Hall, and she looked back at Asher.
"Can Asher come?" Professor Slughorn nodded, and the two of them were ushered to the hospital wing.
"What happened? Why are we coming here?" Valerie asked, before Professor Slughorn pushed the door open and saw.
Crouched over one of the beds, holding onto a petrified hand, was Chase. He was sobbing loudly into the sleeve of the petrified boy. Neither Asher or Valerie knew who the petrified boy was, but as soon as she stepped closer, she saw.
It was Damon.
And Chase looked absolutely heartbroken. Chase had a large bandage wrapped around his right arm, but he was still gripping Damon's petrified hand.
"What happened?" Valerie asked, through tears at her brother's expression.
"D-Damon and I, w-we were going to the G-great hall," Chase choked out in between sobs, "a-and then we heard a noise, and I c-closed my eyes. D-Damon, h-he asked what was wrong, but he didn't f-finish. H-he was just stiff. S-so I k-kept my eyes closed until I-I thought it went away, b-but it bit me."
"Mr. Baxter was very fortunate. We managed to stop the venom and close his wound."
"You w-were right, Asher. It's a b-basilisk. A-and it got D-Damon." Chase continued to sob, and Valerie could only attempt to comfort him.
"Asher, I'm going to stay and comfort him. You need to go meet up with Brooke. As soon as possible."
Asher nodded, and he left the hospital wing alone.
"They said something about failing. That he got away. Do you know if the victim managed to get away?" Brooke asked, and Asher nodded.
"Really?" Brooke shot up, "this is great news! We have proof!"
"No, we don't. We just know it's a basilisk. We still can't prove that it's Aubrey and Landon doing the attacking." Asher pointed out, and Brooke sank back down.
"Well we know that they're going to try to finish what they started. Who was the victim that got away?" Brooke asked, tilting her head slightly to the left.
"It was Chase, Valerie's brother. He and his boyfriend were attacked but he closed his eyes, and got away with just a bite."
"That's terrible! At least he's okay! He is okay, right?"
"Chase is fine, but his boyfriend is petrified."
Brooke gave him a saddened look, and the two of them walked into the Great Hall together.
A little bit into dinner, the headmistress tapped her glass.
"I have some…" she trailed off, "unfortunate news. There has been another attack. And due to recent events, which are still baffling us teacher, the greenhouse containing the mandrakes had been set alight. The mandrakes are lost, and we will not be able to revive the petrifies students. Until, that is, we get a shipment of the potion from 's."
All the students that had opted to stay for the holidays groaned, displeased. The headmistress gave them an apologetic look, before returning to her meal.
The next day, the students who had left for holidays returned, and the news sprung on them the night before had been spread.
The word got around that Chase had gotten away from an attack, and he was being congratulated. However, he still spent most of his time in the hospital wing with the petrified students, especially Damon.
"It's good to be back." Sean stretched as he stepped off the train.
"Indeed it is," Julian quipped, and Levi jumped on Sean's back.
"Piggyback ride! Whee!"
"Guys, it's not time to be happy. We need to be planning our revenge on those three."
"Three?" Sean asked, dropping Levi to the ground playfully.
"Yeah, three," Asher answered, "We're pretty sure they have another accomplice."
Julian looked over at Asher.
"Who do you think it is?"
"Well, the mandrakes were burned, and it wasn't Landon or Aubrey, because we were watching them all the time." Asher explained.
"And we were still watching them when my brother and Damon were attacked," Valerie said, "so there needs to be a third person."
"We think it might be Kai," Asher said, looking up at Sean and the others from his gaze on his feet, "Chase told me that he has Death Eater parents, along with Landon and Aubrey."
"So," Levi said, from the ground, "Death Eaters are the common factor here…"
"Pretty much. And we need to plan what we're going to do," Valerie said, "I'm getting them back for hurting my brother."
"What are we going to do?" Levi asked, standing up and dusting himself off.
"Well," Asher started, "we thought that we'd follow them into the Chamber and stop them."
Sean snorted, "And that's a good idea, how? The bathroom is guarded, and we can't fight a basilisk. All we have is that spell, and we don't even know if it works."
"You're really cynical, you know." Valerie pointed out, and Sean grinned.
"It's my trademark."
"Where's Brooke?" Valerie asked, and Asher just shrugged.
"I haven't seen her since yesterday, why?"
"Well I figured since McGonagall isn't announcing when students are attacked anymore, I thought she might have been."
"I doubt it. She's a Slytherin, I don't think they'd attack their own House."
"Are you Asher Wood?" a boy asked, and Asher nodded while tuning around. "Erm, Madam Pomfrey wanted to see you."
"Okay…?" Asher raised an eyebrow, and him and Valerie made their way to the hospital wing, where they walked in. There wasn't anybody new on the beds, so Asher walked up to Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes?"
"Oh, yes. I found this in that boy's pocket." Madam Pomfrey said, pointing to Thad. "I thought you'd like to see it." She handed him a small piece of parchment, and Asher began to quickly unfold it. He read it aloud so that Valerie could hear.
"Three attackers; Landon, Aubrey, Kai. Don't use second floor bathroom." Asher stared down at the note. Below the small note, there were two large words, "piping transportation" and Asher turned back to Valerie.
"What does this mean?" Asher asked, and Valerie took the note.
"It means…" Valerie thought, and then her head snapped up. "Thad is a genius."