"What do we do?" Anthony asked, staring up at the ceiling where the voice had gone. "Someone else is going to get Petrified, aren't they?"
"The snake in Slytherin told me this one eats humans," Harry said uncertainly. "I've been wondering why it Petrifies people instead of eating them. Maybe the Heir wasn't letting it?"
Anthony looked pale. "So people are going to start disappearing instead?"
Harry had a gruesome thought. "I hope we don't find bits of them if they do."
"I didn't need that mental image right now, Harry," Anthony informed him, looking sick. "I say we go back in the library. What are the odds of the snake going there?"
"Without a master, it can do whatever it wants," Harry said, feeling a bit panicky. "It could just roam the halls, picking us off as it finds us."
"I'd still feel better in the library," Anthony said uneasily. Harry glanced down the deserted hall. He thought he might feel safer there too.
"You know what we could do," Anthony said suddenly. Harry gave him a questioning look as they hurried back to the doors of the library. "We could figure out what kind of snake it is. Big, man-eating, petrifies people, not many snakes do all that. Maybe there's a way to kill it."
Harry felt his hopes rise. "That's a really good idea. I'll get Hermione to help us."
They opened the doors to the library and went back inside, only to be confronted by a still angry Madam Pince.
"And what do you two think you're doing back here?" she demanded shrilly. "Out! Out now!"
"But we need -"
"Please, Madam Pince -"
"None of that! You will not bring filthy creatures into my library and expect no punishment! You boys are lucky I don't give you a detention!"
She ushered them out, deaf to their pleas, and closed the doors in their faces.
They stood in silence for a moment, staring in shock at the doors.
"If the snake eats us, I will haunt her for all of eternity," Anthony said bitterly. Harry made a sound of agreement.
"Now what?" Harry leaned against the wall and tried very hard not to look up and down the corridor every five seconds. He was starting to feel uncomfortably paranoid in the open space.
Anthony slid down to the floor. "You could teach me how to say, 'Don't eat me, I'm poisonous' in Parseltongue," he suggested half heartedly.
One of the doors to the library opened, and they looked up in hope. It was just a fifth year, but she did leave the door open.
"Oh, good," Anthony said, standing up and peering inside. "Madam Pince is back at her desk. I can see your friends. We can probably get their attention without her noticing."
Harry looked inside as well. Anthony was right.
"How do we get their attention, though?" he asked. Anthony looked around, but there was nothing near them that would attract attention. He shrugged and started waving frantically at them. Harry followed suit, waving his arms wildly.
After about five minutes, Ron got up and came over to the doors.
"Hermione wants me to ask what the bloody hell you two think you're doing," he informed them, grinning.
"Hermione did not say bloody hell," Harry disagreed. Ron laughed.
"Well no, but I could tell she wanted to so I added it in for her," he explained, shrugging.
"Tell her we need to talk to her," Anthony said. "We've been kicked out of the library, and this is of the utmost importance. Tell her that."
Ron nodded and ambled back over to the table, where he leaned down and presumably relayed the message. Hermione looked back at them and said something to Ron, who scowled and came back over to Harry and Anthony.
"She says you're acting like me," he said grumpily. "And she's busy."
"Well fine," Harry said, annoyed. "Tell her it's her own fault if she gets eaten by a giant snake."
Ron's eyes popped for a second, but he nodded and started back toward the table. Then he paused and turned around. "Just checking," he said hesitantly. "But is that meant to be a threat?"
Harry threw up his hands. "No, Ron. It isn't meant to be a threat, just a serious worry at the moment. Please tell her we need to talk to her."
Ron nodded and went back to the table to relay the message. Neville and Dudley had taken an interest by this point, and Harry could see the surprised look on their faces when Ron spoke. Hermione stood up, finally, and made her way to the door.
"What on earth are you talking about?" she hissed after she'd come outside properly and shut the door. "That Heir of Slytherin business is done with, Harry. That wasn't funny at all."
"It isn't done with, though, Hermione," Harry said. Anthony nodded next to him.
"We just heard the snake," Anthony informed her. "It's still in the walls."
"It's just realised that it's master isn't coming back," Harry said hurriedly, glancing over his shoulder again. "I think it's figured out that it can do what it wants now, and it's hungry."
Hermione stared at them, speechless.
"We were thinking," Anthony told her. "We wanted to look up what kind of snake is huge, man-eating, and can Petrify people. We thought maybe there's a way to kill it. Aside from, you know…fighting it directly and getting your head bitten off."
Hermione still hadn't said a word, but she nodded vigorously.
"But we can't get into the library, because I had my snake in there to teach Anthony, and Madam Pince caught us," Harry said urgently. "So can you do it? You can get Dudley and Neville and Ron to help. Just tell Ron he'll be eaten by a great filthy snake if he gives you any trouble."
"We'd wait here to see what you find," Anthony said nervously, "But I'd really rather be somewhere safer than a hallway."
Hermione finally found her voice. "Big, man-eating, can Petrify people," she repeated. Harry nodded. She took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll look. Should you go tell someone, so they can get everyone to safety?"
"That's a good idea," Harry said uncertainly. He really didn't want to be wandering around the school unprotected at the moment, but it probably needed to be done. "So, er, I'll go get Professor Snape, then…"
"Down in the dungeons?" Anthony asked, looking up at the ceiling. "I'll go with you."
"And I'll find which snake it is," Hermione said decisively. Then she turned around and went back into the library, muttering the words, "big, man-eating, can Petrify people," over and over.
Anthony and Harry looked at each other, and started making their way down the hall as silently as possible, straining their ears for any sign of a hiss. They took the first staircase they found down to the ground floor, and from there ran down to the dungeons.
"I'm going to warn Draco and Pansy and Blaise first," Harry said as they passed the Slytherin common room. "You can come in if you want."
"I will," Anthony agreed, and they both breathed easier once inside.
"Harry, there you are," Pansy said from a chair near the fire. Not many people were in the common room. "I thought you were studying." Then she saw Anthony, and the strained look on both their faces, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Where are Blaise and Draco?" Harry asked worriedly. Pansy frowned.
"I'm not sure," she said. "I think they snuck down to the kitchens."
Harry was relieved that they'd stayed below the second floor, but still worried.
"Why didn't they just have Dobby get it for them?" he asked, unhappy.
"The spirit of the thing, Harry," Pansy smiled uncertainly. "You know Draco. Are you two alright?"
"No," Harry said curtly. "Stay here, Pansy. The man-eating snake is still running around school."
Pansy turned white. "What?" she asked incredulously. Harry nodded.
"Don't let anyone leave," he told her. "Tell them what's going on if they try."
He turned around reluctantly to go find Professor Snape, but Pansy's voice called him back.
"Harry, you're not leaving," she said in a sharp voice. "There's a man-eating snake roaming around the school."
"I'm going to get Professor Snape," he told her. "Anthony and Hermione and I are the only ones who know about it so far."
"Merlin," Pansy muttered, shaking her head. "Come back quickly, at least."
"Sure," Harry said, planning to do exactly that. He and Anthony went out into the corridor. It looked darker and less welcoming than usual.
"To Snape's office, then?" Anthony asked, and Harry nodded nervously, leading the way.
They heard footsteps pounding toward them about halfway there, and Harry had to remind himself that snakes didn't have feet before his heart would stop trying to burst out of his ribcage.
It was Neville, running along and looking at something in his hand.
"Neville?" Harry asked hopefully. "Did Hermione figure it out?"
"It was in the first book we looked in," Neville said, panting. "A Basilisk. It kills you with it's stare -"
"No one's died," Harry interrupted.
"Let me finish, would you?" Neville took a shaky breath and finished. "And it petrifies you if you don't look at it directly. Mrs. Norris saw it's reflection in a puddle."
"She was outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Harry remembered, nodding. Myrtle was always flooding the place.
"Justin saw it through Nick, and Oliver Wood saw it in the mirror behind the trophies." Neville finished rattling off this explanation and tilted the object in his hand. It glinted at Harry and he looked at it. It was a hand mirror.
"Hermione borrowed this from some girl in the library and gave it to me," he explained. "She told me to look around corners with it, and if possible, to just use it to look where ever I have to. If I see the snake in it, I'll turn to stone and it won't want to eat me."
Harry shook his head in awe. Hermione was a genius.
"Let's get back to the Slytherin common room, then," Anthony suggested. "I saw mirrors in there, and Pansy is bound to have smaller ones."
Harry and Neville agreed readily, and they started back toward the common room, Neville leading the way, Harry and Anthony staring at the floor with their eyes at half mast.
"By the way, Neville, did she mention a way to kill it?" Harry asked after a moment. Neville jumped and nodded.
"I can't believe I forgot, she told me specifically to tell you. Roosters."
Harry nearly tripped over his feet.
"Roosters?" he asked incredulously.
"'The crowing of the rooster is fatal'," Neville recited. "She made me memorise that. I was so distracted trying to get here without being eaten, I forgot. Sorry."
"It's fine," Harry said, wondering where they would get a rooster.
"Do you think the gamekeeper has roosters?" Anthony asked thoughtfully.
"We can ask him," Neville suggested hopefully. "I know where his hut is, we could go there once we get some mirrors."
All of them quite liked the idea of going outside, despite the cold.
"Alright," Harry concluded. "So we'll get mirrors, tell Snape what's going on, and then we'll go see about getting some roosters from the gamekeeper."
"Harry, that won't work," Anthony said immediately. "The first thing a teacher would do in a case like this is order all students back to their common rooms."
"He's right," Neville agreed. "We won't be able to get outside once the teachers know what's going on, and if we waste time letting them figure out about the roosters, it might be too late and someone could die."
"We can't not tell him," Harry said in exasperation. "Everyone is much more likely to die if they're wandering around the school."
They entered the common room, still trying to think of a way to solve the problem.
"Harry!" Draco appeared in front of them with an anxious Blaise at his side, looking panicked. "What's going on? Pansy said the man-eating snake is going to kill everyone in the school!"
"I did not!" Pansy interjected shrilly. "I said if they leave the common room, they'll get eaten! There's a difference!"
Harry looked around the common room. There were quite a few Slytherins huddled around the fireplace and various tables, looking terrified. It was clear that Pansy had exaggerated quite a bit to keep them all there. Harry couldn't help but feel a bit grateful.
"We need to tell the teachers so they can get everyone back to their common rooms," Harry said. The Slytherins took this as a confirmation of Pansy's tales and it seemed like a terror-induced riot wasn't far from breaking out. Harry sighed.
"Look, the snake was heading up," he said to the common room at large. "We're least likely to be attacked. If anyone has anything to worry about, it's the Gryffindors." This assuaged a lot of the panic. It wouldn't have been too much of a stretch to label a few of them as cheerful now.
"But I do need a few volunteers to go to Snape's office and tell him what's going on," he said. Silence. "Anyone?"
"You'll be safe if you bring a mirror," Anthony offered. "The worst that will happen is that you'll be petrified. It won't eat you then."
Harry reflected that, with the possibility of staying safely in the common room, no Slytherin would see lowering the threat from death to Petrification as a good reason to jump up and volunteer.
"…so hungry…"
Harry tensed.
"…I cannot eat them if they always turn to stone…"
It sounded like the Basilisk had accidentally Petrified someone this time. Harry was relieved that it hadn't killed them, at least.
"Harry?" Anthony whispered, listening with him. "It's back, isn't it?"
Harry nodded, hoping no one would understand what they meant.
"It's back?" Blaise asked, shocked. He'd said it rather loudly, and no one had to ask what 'it' was.
"Tell it to go away, Potter," Marcus Flint demanded, face pale as a sheet. "Tell it to go eat the Gryffindors instead, or something."
Neville looked highly affronted.
"That's an idea, Harry," Pansy agreed. "Tell it to go away."
There was a general murmur of agreement from the Slytherin crowd, and even Anthony looked keen on the idea, so Harry had no choice but to figure out what to say to a Basilisk to make it 'go away'.
"I might just call attention to us," Harry warned them, but to no avail. "I have no idea what to say," he added half-heartedly.
"Distract it," a sixth year suggested. "Time spent talking to you is time spent not eating us."
Harry wasn't sure if that would work, but no one else seemed to have any better ideas, so he gave it a try.
"Hello," he hissed, wondering if the snake had left already.
"Hello," the snake in the portrait hissed, amused.
Harry frowned. "Is the large snake still here?" he asked it, hoping the answer was no.
"He is on the other side of this room," the snake informed him. "He heard you. I would suggest you hurry if you wish to speak to him. He is impatient and hungry."
Harry hastened to the other side of the room, and his friends and the crowd of Slytherins followed him curiously.
"Hello?" he asked again.
"Who are you?" he heard, much more clearly than usual. It had a deep, cold voice, which sounded mildly curious at the moment. "You do not sound like a snake, but you do not sound like my master either."
"I am a Parselmouth," Harry responded, hoping that would be adequate.
"Then you must know my master…" The snake actually sounded slightly uncertain. Harry took advantage.
"I do," Harry agreed, hoping the snake wouldn't ask many questions about that. "He is gone for now, and sent me in his place."
"I am very hungry…" the snake told him. "My master promised me as much food as I wanted if I did as he told me. Where is my food?"
Harry stared at the wall, unsure of what to do now.
"I heard food," Anthony said. "What's he saying?"
"He says his master promised him food, and he wants me to get it for him," Harry explained.
"How are you supposed to get it food?" Blaise asked.
"It eats humans," Neville pointed out.
"I know," Harry said in exasperation.
"Who are we going to sacrifice then?" Draco asked curiously. Harry blanched.
"We're not sacrificing anyone!" he exclaimed, glaring at Draco.
"Fine," Draco muttered. "But, I mean, I'm not doing very well in Transfiguration at all, and I thought maybe -"
"That isn't funny at all, Draco," Pansy said sternly. "I'm doing very well in Transfiguration, and you aren't screwing that up for me."
"Where is my food?" the snake repeated impatiently. Harry turned back to the wall, and a hush fell over the room again.
"You must wait until the time is right," Harry tried hopefully.
"Master has been saying that for months," the snake said irritably. "He promised me food soon."
Harry relayed this to the crowd behind him.
"Tell it," a fourth year girl suggested, "That if it calls too much attention to itself, then it's prey will figure out what's going on and it'll be difficult to get any more food."
Harry repeated this to the snake, who became thoughtful.
"If I wait, I will have more, then?" it asked him. Harry nodded, then realized that the snake couldn't see him, and remembered how fortunate he was that this was so.
"Yes," he said. "If you wait, I will be able to get you more food."
The snake was silent for a moment. "Hurry, then," it told him, and Harry knew that their conversation was over.