Chapter Eight

When Ron and Ember returned, breathless, to Myrtle's bathroom they couldn't believe how stupid their targets, especially as Slytherins, were to ignore the fact that floating cupcakes meant a trap but they were too eager to care or just plain always hungry. It was Ember who levitated them to a nearby storage room, especially as Ron's wand still hadn't been fixed nor had his family been able to get a new wand yet. She was also the one to take their hairs and clothing.

Once in the bathroom, Ember searched the stalls and sinks before finding the cups. She ladled the potion and added the hairs while Ron dressed. Then he waited until she dressed before they saluted each other and guzzled down the drink, dropping the glasses after the first swallow, barely able to swallow their second mouthful.

They each gagged, holding onto the sinks while Myrtle giggled from behind, eagerly watching their skin bubble with changes. "This better work!" Ember agreed with Ron as she stared at her reflection, a part of her worried while the other part cheered, can't wait to share this with Dad and Uncle Paddy! "We don't have much time. We have to hurry. But try to sound more like Crabbe, Ron. I'll try lowering my voice for Goyle."

Ron nodded, "Yeah. At least we have easy targets. They didn't speak much except for grunts anyways." He followed the frantic Ember through the halls, each trying to figure out where in the dungeons the Slytherin Rooms would be.

"Draco's been looking for you." They froze, both barely able to bit back their yelps of surprises as Harry suddenly appeared from nowhere. "I do hope you saw the medi-witch after eating so many sweets. Draco does not like to be interrupted. Again." From the sound it seemed as if Crabbe and Goyle had interrupted Malfoy for their sweets and were on their way back, "Come." They meekly followed Harry further into the dungeons. To their dismay, some Slytherins were leaving as they arrived. They wouldn't be getting the password this time, "Draco?"

Said blonde twisted around from his perch on a study desk, "Crabbe, Goyle, where were you!"

"Where else but the eagerness of awaiting servants t feed."

"Ugh, pigging out on sweets again." Draco seemed to not like his guards as Harry walked to his side, or at least didn't like his guards' habits, "Sit!" They did. "And you, Harry?"

Ember watched as Harry held out the book she had noticed him carrying before, "Here." She just caught the title, Moste Potente Potions.

"Finally." Draco eagerly snagged the book, ripping it open as if he was searching for something specific.

"Granger was just returning it as I entered. She seemed quite satisfied giving it back."

Snorting, Draco flipped through pages, "probably thought this would help her in class. Won't happen, anyone would see through that ploy. She's getting desperate, probably isn't getting the needed attention from her little pets, especially that pathetic weasel."

Ron's hands fisted in anger, trying to keep from blowing their cover. Thankfully, the two Slytherins seemed to be ignoring them as Harry sat behind Draco and shuffled through several papers upon the desk, "Draco." The blonde shrugged as if he wasn't going to apologize but Harry simply continued his thought, "did you hear?"

"Hmm." Draco absently hummed before forcing himself to look away from his work to register his friend's question. "Oh, yes, Father sends his regards. He even sent this." He leaned over to a bag sitting innocently on the floor and tugged out a newspaper.

The disguised Gryffindors were able to read the headlines talking about inquiries at the Ministry, "Ah, I've seen."

"Father believes it's enough. Weasley will be paying for that…that car. If he can afford it of course." Draco laughed at his little joke as Ember tried to discreetly hold Ron back from attacking but the blonde caught the motion, "What is it, Crabbe?"

"Stomach ache," was all Ron could grumble out behind grit teeth.

Harry eyed them closely, causing both the flinch. Draco snorted, "I doubt they'd be smart enough, Harry." This confused the Gryffindors, not knowing Draco meant being smart enough to actually do as their told for once, they thought maybe he knew, "Continue."

"I do not know. I simply reacted. It is what is expected. Do you not? Is that not the criteria?"

Draco waved a hand, "yes, yes, but come on, Harry, I told you Father said the same thing happened fifty years ago but this time a Mudblood actually died. Now with these ones petrified, Father will be stepping in again. That old fool can't keep quiet for long, besides it's only a matter of time before another one dies, personally I hope it's Granger. She needs to be brought down from her insufferable, prissy, know-it-all attitude."

This time Ron couldn't let that go as Ember realized the conversation was about Harry being a Parselmouth. She joined Ron jumping to their feet, trying to hold him back, whispering, "Stop!"

"What is wrong with you two?"

Harry sighed, "Must you interrupt again? Did I not ask if you saw her already? Seems the hour being here didn't help like a trip to Pomfrey."

Draco frowned, "An hour here?"

Harry nodded, "yes, Mum always said to watch eating sweets. They did not answer when I asked about Madame Pomfrey."

Another sigh filled the area as Draco turned his sneer upon his guards, "Leave! But this will stop! I will not be having you constantly interrupted because you cannot hold your sweets!"

Ember and Ron didn't have to be told twice as they rushed from the dungeons, shoving past younger years on their way to the bathroom. They were quick to clear any evidence of their act before sneaking out back to their Common Room only to be caught by another, "There you are!"

"Percy!"

Ron's older brother eyed them, as if they were trouble, "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you two."

"What? Why?" Ember didn't like this one bit. Something was wrong. All she wanted to do was find Hermione and share what they knew.

Percy turned while calling over his shoulder, "Follow me." They followed with dread in their throats which became worse as he led them to the infirmary.

"No, no, no. Not her. Not Hermione."

Madame Pomfrey gave a grim smile as she, McGonagall, and the Headmaster met them at the doors. "I'm sorry, Miss Potter." They were led to a closed off section where someone pulled back the curtain enough for two worried friends to find their third laying too still upon crisp white sheets.

"No!" They raced forward, "Hermione!" Ember traced over Hermione's frozen fearful features and raised hands, trying to believe her friend wasn't petrified.

Ron swallowed down the bile that threatened him, "W-where," his voice cracked but he didn't care, not even when tears fell, "was she?"

"A resident ghost found her. It seemed she was coming from the library. She was found with this," a small hand-held mirror was held up in Dumbledore's hand.

"That's not hers," and Ember would know. She knew all of Hermione's personal items just as Hermione knew hers.

"She wasn't the only one found. She had company but she was the only one holding the mirror." Amelia won't be happy when she learns of Susan's condition. "Do you know why they would need a mirror?"

"N-no," hiccups wrecked Ember's answer as she fought not to cry. "I know she…she was eager. She," sniffles now were the enemy, "wanted to do some research. She…she said she promised to help some other girls."

"We will give you a few minutes with her before she is moved with the others."

Silenced reign as two friends cuddled close to a fallen member.

At least until Ron noticed something, "What's that?"

Ember glanced to Hermione's clenched right hand where Ron was pointing to find a scrap of something inside. Surprisingly, it came loose with a little jiggling to turn into a torn page of paper, crumbled from being held, "It's some kind of paper." She tried to open it when footsteps returned. Swiftly, she hid it in a robe pocket from sight.

"We need to move Miss Granger now. You will need to return to your Common Room." Eyes watched as two broken friends lumbered away without care.

Halfway to their destination, Ron found his sister running the same way. She seemed frantic and Ron figured she was as late for curfew as they were. He would have questioned her whereabouts if Ember hadn't veered off for the nearest light source. "Ember?"

"She knew."

"Uh, who knew what?" He followed, confused.

Ember had unraveled the paper carefully only to read the print, "Hermione didn't go with us."

"Well, yeah, remember? She had to go to the library. Don't know why though. She could have told them to back off. She made the bloody potion, she could have joined us."

Ember chuckled at Ron's rant. Yeah, there were times they should have dropped him but Ron was entertainment as well as a great strategist. He saw things they sometimes missed. "I think this is why, Ron." She held out the paper, "Hope she didn't rip this from a book. I don't think Pince would forgive her for that. But look at what it says."

Ron mumbled as he read, "None more deadly than a…" He stared at the words in shock, "A Basilisk! What the bloody hell is that doing in a school!"

"Shush!" Ember glanced around to be sure they were still alone, "Don't yell so loud, Ron. But think about it. Hermione was right."

"You're crazy, Em! Someone would have seen it. How can we be sure it's a snake?" Ron went pale at the thought of a twenty foot snake running about the school.

"Because of what you said before. Only the heir of Slytherin could control the monster. And remember what Hagrid said about his roosters?" Ron did. Hagrid had been bawling over his precious pets when they went down for their regular afternoon tea. They had spent weeks trying to console him. "And look, spiders are afraid of it. That would explain all those tiny black ones fleeing every time a student was found."

Ron shivered at the thought before questioning something he just thought of, "But how could no one see it? How does anyone miss a huge snake running around petrifying students? Aren't Basilisks supposed to kill their prey, not freeze them?"

Ember went quiet. That was true, everything he said rang truth. "Pipes."

"What?"

"Hermione said she was doing side research. This had to be it. She lit up when you said something, I believe, about snakes. What else can a true Slytherin control as a Parselmouth but a snake? That's why she was in the library all the time. She was finding what monster Slytherin could have owned that was running around."

"But why aren't they dead? Dad always said Basilisks caused all kinds of trouble for the Ministry. Many Muggles died because the met up with one. He never mentioned petrified people."

Ember suddenly knew how as she saw her shadow reflecting off the wall from the fire. "Maybe seeing only a reflection will save someone from death. Think about it. Hermione was holding a mirror she normally would never have or carry around."

Ron blinked and went to say something else when water sloshed around the corner. They hadn't realized how close to Myrtle's bathroom they had gone. "What was that?" They hurried to find the bathroom with inches of water flooding the floor and every faucet possible spraying water, "What happened?"

"Why do you care? You did it!"

Myrtle shrieked and sobbed from the window as she glared at them, "What are you talking about?" Instead of answering she shrieked more and fled to her toilet, spraying even more water. "That was weird."

"Yeah," Ember agreed absently as she spied something floating in the corner. She lifted a seemingly waterlogged book, "Ron?" She flipped it about trying to find a name in its blank pages.

"That's Ginny's!" He remembered the dog-eared pages well. Everyone simply assumed someone else got it for her as a congratulations present to something. "She had it at the beginning of the year. I figured she wanted something to vent to for being the only girl."

"I would say let it dry but its pages are blank. Usually wet ink would run but there's nothing." She flipped through every page looking for any printed word.

"What! Empty? That's impossible! She's been writing in it all the entire time she's had it!"

"Maybe Ginny'll know why." She pondered over the blank writing when her fingers rubbed over raised letters. Finally finding a name, she read them out loud, "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Who?"

"That's whose name's on the journal."

Ron stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to believe bad of his own sister but he doubted Ember would lie. "That can't be right. Why would she use someone else's book?"

"I don't know but it might explain why it's blank." They rushed to their Common Room just making it before McGonagall had entered to do a head count. Once she was finished they quietly pulled Ginny to a lone corner to question her, "Ginny?"

The tiny redhead smiled up at her brother and his friend, "yeah?"

Ron snatched the journal from Ember's fingers, shoving it practically in her face, snarling, "Where did you get this? I've seen you with it! And it isn't your name on it, is it? Who did you take it from?"

Ginny's eyes widened with panic as she eyed the journal, "Where did you find that?"

"Myrtle's bathroom but that doesn't answer me. I'm waiting, Ginny. Tell me or I will owl Mum about this!"

She snagged the book back, hands trembling. "It's mine! That's all that matters to you, Ronald! And I'm telling Mum first!" With that she fled to up the stairs to the girls' dorm where an irritated fuming Ron couldn't follow.

Ember bit her lip, concerned over the smaller girl's reaction, "Something's not right. She seemed really scared of that book."

Ron nodded. To others he may seem stupid and unaware but he had his moments, he just saw them differently. "I know." His anger deflated as he tried to decide what to do next, "But she had to have stolen from somewhere."

And Ember's confidence in his sudden bright moment failed, sighing deeply, "No, Ron. It wasn't that. She was more scared of the fact that you found it and then ended up trying to return it to her."

"What?"

Hazel eyes watched as confusion filled blue, shaking her head, "We will go back to Hagrid. He kind of helped up last year. Maybe he'll let something slip, especially if it's about Basilisks."

"But what about Ginny? I won't let her suffer if you're implying such a thing!"

"I think that book has connections. I know I've heard that name somewhere. I'm just not sure. That's why I want to talk to Hagrid. He even might know what Malfoy was talking about." Ron deflated more. Ember felt bad. She knew Ron wanted to be a Knight in shining amour and rescue his baby sister from something evil but she promised the Headmaster she wouldn't rush off alone. Besides, they didn't have all the details yet, oh, Hermione, why can't you be here now?