Disclaimer- I don't own it.
I think people may have misunderstood me when I said I had no inspiration; I'm not planning to stop, only that the quality will probably not be great. From here on, I think I only five more chapters anyway.
Also, in response to a plot point someone else pointed out, the trio didn't get the Most Potente Potions form signed by Lupin in this version, but by Binns; he would be as easy to trick as Lockhart. :)
The next day Harry could hardly think about the Quidditch match, he was so excited about Sirius. He and Ron quickly filled Hermione in on the events of the previous night, and she had been suitably horrified (imagine, Ron, living with an Animagus for so many years!) and then worried (what do we do if Sirius Black isn't innocent and they release him?). She was also intensely interested in the reason Fudge hadn't wanted to trust Lupin (but he's such a great professor, what did he do?), but as far as Harry was concerned, that didn't matter.
When they hit the entrance staircase, however, Harry distinctly heard, "Kill this time...let me rip...tear..."
"Did either of you hear that?" he asked hopefully. Ron and Hermione looked at him blankly.
"The voice again?" asked Ron.
"Boy, things just keep happening, don't they?" said Harry gloomily.
"Wait, Harry!" said Hermione suddenly. "I think I've just figured something out. You only ever hear it right before an attack, don't you?"
"Um...yes?"
"And then...oh, I know! I have to go talk to Professor Lupin!"
Hermione hurried off, leaving them staring. They watched her sprint towards the fields in amusement.
"What does she know?" said Harry distractedly, still looking around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.
"Loads more than I do," said Ron, shaking his head. "Well, Lupin will sort her out, whatever she's on about."
Quidditch drove everything else from his mind; he raced upstairs for his broom and was just about to mount it when Professor McGonagall came half-marching, half-running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.
Harry's heart dropped like a stone.
"The match has been cancelled," Professor McGonagall called out through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. The boos and shouts were drowned out by her next words. "A student has been killed by the monster."
The crowd, instead of whispering to each other, fell silent. As one, they waited for word. Who?
"All students are to make their way to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"
Ron joined Harry, detaching himself from the shocked crowd, to walk with him back to the castle.
"Who do you think has been killed?" he asked, sounding frantic. "You don't think it could have been-"
"Harry, Ron," said a calm voice behind them. Harry and Ron turned to see Professor Lupin looking rather pale and with exceptionally large bags under his eyes, but otherwise fine. Hermione was with him, looking devastated.
"And just when I'd figured it out..." she moaned.
"Figured what out?" asked Harry and Ron together.
"Hermione thinks the creature is a basilisk," said Lupin, smiling tiredly at her. "A rather good hypothesis. If we can only find out about the spiders..."
Hermione burst into sobs. "Oh, no, I can't believe someone's been killed when we were so close, it's so unfair!"
"Professor," said Harry hopefully. "Do you know who-"
"No," said Lupin quickly. "I had been go find out, hadn't I? I will talk to you three later, and inform Professor Dumbledore about the basilisk."
"Don't forget about the pipes!" cried Hermione from between her fingers.
"I promise," said Lupin solemnly. "Be very proud of yourself, Hermione. you may have saved lives today."
"But not one," cried Hermione, running back into the castle. Harry and Ron stared after her.
"I'm not really sure what just happened," admitted Ron.
"What's a basilisk?" asked Harry.
"Someone's dead," sobbed a voice from behind them, and Harry and Ron turned to see Ron's sister Ginny run past them.
"Is it all girls?" asked Ron. "Or just them?"
"Someone is dead," said Harry, thinking of his parents and how he'd never gotten to know them. Soon the dead student's family would be notified, and they would find out that their child was dead.
Harry thought of little Colin Creevey, frozen in his hospital bed, and his stomach dropped. That could have been him; imagine his father the milkman's grief.
Harry was in a dark mood by the time they reached the common room, and Ron didn't press him.
"Before I begin," said Professor McGonagall the moment the last person had entered the portrait hole. "I will tell you the identity of the victim. It was Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw Prefect."
Percy Weasley let out a cry of distress at this and sat down heavily into a chair.
"We will..." She paused, and for a horrifying moment she almost lost her composure. when she spoke again her voice was choked. "I need hardly ass that I have rarely been so distressed. We will hold a memorial for her in school as soon as possible. Also...it is likely the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught, and soon. I would implore anyone who thinks they know anything about them to come forward."
She then listed a bunch of new rules, like being accompanied by a teacher to all classes and only going about in small groups, but Harry was barely listening. Penelope Clearwater was dead. The monster had to be stopped.
Penelope would have died if not for Hermione giving her a mirror; with Hermione going to Lupin, Penelope dies. :(
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