Blood. There was blood everywhere and Ginny had no idea where it had come from. The dried blood felt sticky on her fingertips and in her already-red hair. Her clothes were soiled and stiffened. It would take time to clean them. As she lay on her bed in a pool of blood and feathers, she began to hyperventilate. It had happened again. She also had no idea how long she had been here or how much time had passed. Ellipses in times like these were becoming more and more common. She didn't know whether she should be relieved or more terrified that the blood covering her was not her own.

The last time this had happened was Halloween and Ginny had heard about what had happened that night. It was frightening and Ginny knew that she was involved in it. As much as she disliked Flitch she couldn't imagine someone being mean enough to petrify his cat, Mrs Norris.

Ginny had no idea what to do. She knew it was Tom but she had no idea how he was controlling her or whether she could break free. At first he was kind: a good help and a secret friend. As time went by Ginny began to feel like all of the energy in her body was being sucked out. Before Tom was finished with whatever his dark agenda was, she would be drained dry. She had been a fool to trust him. She should have thrown the diary away on the train. Whoever had thrown it away before her had the right idea.

She remembered Tom's last message:

'Noone will believe you, silly girl. Who would believe a book would make you do such things? Are you really so stupid? Besides, I'll tell everyone your secrets if you try to break away from me.'

That had been the last time she had written in the book, a week ago. However, she and Tom were still bound strong. He knew too much about her: her desire to standout from her successful and talented brothers, her disagreements with her mother, her crush on Dean Thomas, her yearning to be popular with her peers, fear of rejection, fear of failure. There was no way out.

To Ginny's relief, the other girls in her dorm were sleeping. With strenuous effort, she changed from her dirty clothes into her pyjamas. After than she brushed away all the feathers. She then gingerly made her was down the stairs into the common room where there was a sink where she could wash herself with water and soap. It was there that she cleansed herself of all the blood. Ginny must have washed herself at least seven times before she was confident that she was clean.

As Ginny passed the girl's dorm corridor mirror as she went back to bed, she saw her reflection. She was so pale that her skin was a pastel shade of grey. Then a horrible realisation came to her. She realised that she was going to die.

Snape drifted around Hogwarts' Great Hall corridors with a subdued sense of terror. Over the last couple of weeks, the atmosphere around Hogwarts had changed. It was no longer the fun mystical place of learning that he had been calling home for the last ten years or so. He could sense the fear in the air. He missed being able to stalk the halls like King.

He hated being on night patrol. Taking Vitality Potions so he could stay up all night was starting to take a toll on his body and mind. Without sleep or distraction of students during the day, his mind wandered onto topics that he did not want to go back to. He began to remember all of the mistakes he made, including the pivotal one that he made when he called Lily a mudblood when he was fifteen. He regretted the loss of the woman who could have loved him. He regretted that he could not be the father that Harry needed. He regretted all of the innocent blood he spilt at the Dark Lord's side. There was nothing that he could do to make it better.

He was also becoming increasingly paranoid but he didn't know whether that was a side effect of the potions or not. Knowing that a live basilisk was residing in the school was not at all comforting. If the students or their parents had been smart enough to figure what Slytherin's Monster is, none of the students would be left here. What he couldn't believe was that Dumbledore had known all along and had done nothing about it during all the decades that he had been Headmaster. However, he could understand – he wasn't about to track down a basilisk either. It was suicide.

"Severus," A gruff familiar voice called from behind him, "I'm glad to see you here."

Severus jumped. For such a large man, Hagrid had a talent for sneaking up on other staff members.

Severus managed a groan of a greeting, "Good evening, Rubeus."

Hagrid gave a forced chuckle that came out as more of a nervous tick, "You mean good morning, it's almost three in the morning."

"Good to know. I've missed a Vitality Potion so excuse my mood."

If it were any other staff member Severus would have not hesitated to be rude. However, Hagrid would be an exception tonight. The man was becoming useful. He had found out long ago that Hagrid was much more intelligent than his speaking patterns and education level suggested. The half-giant must have inherited his brains through his father. The man must have been reasonably clever, but perhaps not clever enough know not to have sexual relations with a giantess.

"That is fine, I ain't so good myself. Now let's cut the small talk and get ter' business. Someone has killed all my chickens. Yer know what that means."

"'The basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it,'" Severus quoted, "Do you have any idea who is behind the slaying?"

Hagrid pursed his lips and his black eyes hardened, "We both know who is behind this. We know who the 'Heir of Slytherin' is. He had destroyed countless lives without a speck of remorse. I will never forget what he did to me all those years ago."

"What I mean is 'do you have any idea who is under his influence?'"

"I have meh theories but none I can prove at the moment. Also, I must say that my dear old Aragog and his family are scared. Yer know I love my creatures but I do have me limits, I think a big killer snake would be a wee bit much."

Severus frowned, "There doesn't seem to be anything we can do but wait."

"Wait?!" Hagrid whispered fiercely, "How long before a student is killed? The longer we wait, the more damage will be done. We've already have a petrified cat. How long before it attacks a student? How long before another child dies? What if it hurts Harry?"

Severus began to seethe. Trying to use Harry to manipulate him was low.

Hagrid shrugged and turned away, "We may be on the same side Severus but I don't trust yer."

Before Severus could retort, there was a sharp scream from behind them. Fearing the worst, they both ran through the corridor and up to the fourth floor.

"Close your eyes!" Severus shouted, "I thought I saw a tail."

Severus had heard some pretty vile sounds during his lifetime but the sound of a basilisk slithering through the corridor and the deep hissing sounds that came out of its mouth would have to be one of the most chilling. The hairs stood on the back of his neck. His nerves were on edge.

"It's safe to open yer eyes." Hagrid said in a despondent voice. Something had gone wrong.

On the floor was a blond Gryffindor first year lying on his back, his body frozen with his hands clutching a camera with both hands. The poor boy was a muggleborn. Severus found the boy's tendency to take pictures of everything and anything annoying but in this case, it saved his life by shielding him from a full basilisk's gaze.

"It's Colin Creevey." Hagrid said with sadness, "Poor boy."

"At least the boy is only petrified," Severus said, "We have to take him to Madame Pomfrey right away. Then we will alert the other staff."

Hagrid nodded and picked up Colin's body.

"Oh, and Rubeus," Severus said as a final quip, "This is our mistake. We were arguing instead of looking out for students. We could have saved him. People make mistakes."

"Yer've made mighty big ones don't yer forget that."

"Hermione, we need to get to Draco now." Ron said anxiously.

"If you have any good ideas besides using a Polyjuice Potion to disguise ourselves as Crabbe and Goyle to get a confession," She retorted, "Let me know."

Harry shrugged, "It's the best idea we have at the moment. It sounds better than nothing."

Hermione scoffed, stirring the cauldron containing the potion contents, "For a start making a Polyjuice Potion is difficult, even if Harry and I are combining our skills. Secondly, entering the Slytherin commonroom is a stupid idea because it contains Slytherins, ew. Third…"

"Yeah, yeah. We know Hermione." Ron retorted, "It's not a particularly smart idea but Malfoy is currently our only lead."

"Hermione," Harry said while looking at the interior of the girl's bathroom, "Do you think it is a good idea to hang around here? I mean, this is a girl's bathroom. Ron and I aren't girls."

Hermione scoffed, "Don't worry, nobody comes in here. Don't ask though, you might wake her."

"Talk about not asking," Ron said curiously, "Where have you been going at night after class?"

A lump rose in Harry's throat, his extra lessons with Snape were secret and he wanted them to stay that way.

"I've just been reading in my secret spot," Harry said nervously, "If I told you were it was, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?"

"Ok, forget I asked."

Before he knew it, there was a low slithering sound that came then faded.

'Kill… ssssssssssss… I was so close… I need blood… sssssss…'

"Can you hear that?" Harry said, "That voice saying 'kill…I need blood'?"

"No Harry," Ron shrugged, "We didn't hear anything. Just a sliding noise but I reckon it's just the pipes playing up."

Hermione said with a frown, "Are you sure that you're alright?"

"I'm fine." Harry said, "I know Luna can hear it too."

"You mean that strange girl that is in my sister's class. Her dad's the editor of the Quibbler. The man is a bit nuts. Speaking of my sister, have you noticed anything wrong with her? She's been quiet lately and she looks pale."

"I wouldn't know Ron," Hermione said, "I've always assumed she was shy."

"Shy? Ginny? That's a joke." Ron said, "At home the girl never shuts up. There is something wrong. Percy and the twins think so too."

"Maybe she's not adjusting well to Hogwarts or maybe someone's picking on her…"

Harry wasn't listening to Ron and Hermione's conversation. He remembered when Luna asked him 'do you like snakes?' and the time he set a boa constrictor on his cousin Dudley at the zoo. Then something clicked in his head. Maybe he and Luna could talk to snakes. He had figured it out.

"Of course!" Harry shouted, "Slytherin's monster is some kind of serpent. What else would it be? It makes sense! What else would it be?!"

His two friends just stared at him as if he was insane. Then of course, they had no idea about his train of thought.

"Be quiet!" said a girl's sad and mopey voice from inside one of the cubicles, "I'm trying to sleep."

Hermione shook her head, "Thanks for waking Moaning Myrtle."

A/N: Sorry for my sad attempt to try and write Hagrid's accent but thank you for reading, following, reviewing or putting a favourite on this story. Feel free to continue to do so.