"—so I'm in trouble for not telling you everything?!" Hermione stormed around the room angrily, her parents sitting on the couch. "Is that what this is? I have to tell you everything now?"
"Hermione, you're in trouble for not mentioning a major threat to your safety!" her father objected. "That's a bit different than wanting you to tell us everything!"
"Is it, though?" Hermione glared at him. "It's my life. If I can protect myself, why should I cause you worry?"
"Hermione!"
"They don't know what's causing the attacks, love," her mother tried, her tone softer, worried. "Three students have been attacked. We just don't want you to be the fourth."
"I won't be," Hermione said viciously, kicking at the carpet. "If I was going to be attacked, I would have been attacked first."
"Hermione!"
Her father stood, moving to stand in front of Hermione, physically crowding her into a corner. Despite her growth spurt, her father was still taller than her, and she had to stop stomping and storming about and look up at him.
"Hermione," he warned her. "Part of you going to this school was the condition that you would be honest with me and your mother."
Hermione swallowed. "…I know."
"You are going to sit down and have this conversation with us in a mature, civilized manner, do you understand?" he said. "If you want to go back after the holidays, you will tell us exactly what is going on."
Reluctantly, Hermione nodded, and her father stepped away, returning to his seat on the couch. Hermione took a throw pillow and sat on the floor, facing them.
"I wasn't even dishonest," she sulked. "I just didn't mention everything."
"Lies by omission count the same as lies by commission," her father told her sternly. "Now: what is going on?"
With a sigh, Hermione told her parents what all had been going on so far that year, starting with the attack on Mrs. Norris and the blood on the wall, then the attack on Colin. She told them about the rumors about Harry and the attack on Justin, and then, right before the holidays, how Lilian had been Petrified too.
"The rumors say that Salazar Slytherin hid a Chamber of Secrets somewhere within the castle and put a monster in it," Hermione explained. "A monster only the Heir of Slytherin can control."
Her father frowned. "A monster?"
"Hermione, how could you not think we would be worried about you?" her mother said, upset. "Students are getting attacked!"
"They're only Petrified," Hermione said. "It's reversible. The cure just takes a while to make, I think."
"Why does Slytherin have a monster?" her father wanted to know. "If he has a hidden monster, he sounds like an evil wizard, to me."
Hermione grimaced.
"Allegedly, it was so his Heir could return one day and remove those Slytherin deemed unworthy," she admitted. "I think it's more likely the monster was left there as a last line of defense in case the muggles attacked, really, but it was nearly a millennium ago, so no one really knows."
"What makes someone 'unworthy'?" her father prodded.
"Slytherin is known for only wanting to accept those of pure blood into Hogwarts," Hermione said, reluctantly. "Most people sorted into Slytherin are pureblood, with only a handful of halfbloods. I'm the only one with muggle parents in Slytherin right now."
Her mother's eyes widened. "Hermione, that just puts you in more danger—"
"It doesn't, though," Hermione argued. "Because I would have already been attacked, wouldn't I? I would be the first target the Heir would go after, if they thought I was unworthy."
Her father frowned. "So why weren't you?"
"Because I'm New Blood," Hermione said. "It's… it's different than a normal Muggleborn. But it means that I'm the purest of the pure, and the Heir clearly believes it, as I haven't been attacked."
"I still don't like the idea of you in a school with an unknown monster wandering the halls," her mother sighed.
"It's not unknown," Hermione said, making a face. "It's a giant serpent of some sort. My friends and I figured it out."
Her father raised an eyebrow. "And how did you do that?"
Hermione explained about Harry and the Parseltongue. Comprehension dawned on her mother as she explained, while her father looked thoughtful.
"So that's why you learned to speak to snakes," she said. "I see now..."
"Does it have to be a serpent?" her father asked. "Or could the monster be any reptile that petrifies?"
Hermione blinked.
"I'm pretty sure it has to be a serpent," she said slowly. "Otherwise Harry wouldn't have heard it speaking in the walls."
"Well," her father sighed, "at least you won't have to fight a Beholder."
Hermione hadn't the slightest idea what that was.
"Hermione, why haven't you told anyone about what's going on?" her mother asked her. "Surely you could have told a teacher when you figured out it was a giant serpent?"
"What are they going to do?" Hermione sniffed. "If it gets out that someone knows what the monster is, it will just panic the Heir, and more people could get hurt. No, it's better to either figure out who's controlling the monster and take care of them, or track down the monster and take care of it directly first."
"And you plan on doing this all by yourself?" her mother asked dryly.
"No! My friends are helping!"
"This sounds like you think you're having another adventure, Hermione," her father said, frowning. "But this time, people could really get hurt."
"Petrification is reversible," Hermione repeated patiently. "At worst, they'll have to repeat a year. And I'm not being attacked. There's no reason I would need to withdraw."
Her mother exchanged a look with her father.
"I don't like this," she said finally. "You're putting an awful lot of faith in presuming you know what the Heir is thinking."
"I know it seems bad, but this is a magical school," Hermione ventured. "Things like this just seem to... happen? Half a dozen students were run over by rampaging Abraxans at Beauxbatons just last month, and they'll be in the hospital for ages. Ilvermony is notorious for potions accidents and mutations. Compared to the others, Hogwarts comes off rather good?"
Hermione bit her lip, watching, her eyes pleading with her parents. Her parents looked at each other a while, their expressions changing, holding one of those wordless conversations that Hermione hated. Her mother sighed, and they turned back to her.
"You can go back to school," her mother said. "You can finish out the year, but if this monster is not taken care of by then, we will look into other magic schools for you to transfer to that are safe. Do you understand?"
"That's fine," Hermione said quickly. "I'm sure the monster will be caught and taken care of by then, so it won't even need to come to that."
"Hopefully," her father said. "There is one more requirement, though, in order for you to go back to school."
Hermione held her breath. "Yes…?
"You will need a weapon of some sort," he said, and here he grinned, a sparkle coming to his eyes. "No daughter of mine is going to face down a monster unarmed."
Her mother groaned loudly, while Hermione started to laugh.
"Oh, no, Richard. Are you serious?" her mother groaned, rubbing her temples. "…you are serious, aren't you."
"Deadly," he said, leaning forward and ruffling Hermione's hair. "If you're going back into the lair of a monster, the least we can do is make sure you have some sort of sword."