Chapter 9 - Year 2, part 3

January 2nd, 1993

Somehow Christmas and New Years had been totally different than before - yet still felt exactly the same.

The Grangers, Blacks, Harry and Lupin had all chosen to spend it together, and though the three smallest children were happy to be together, there was this underlying urgence…

Hermione's mum and dad did not want her and William to go back to Hogwarts after the holidays.

"You're purebloods! Of course, this doesn't affect you the same way!" Her mum had angrily sneered one night, thinking that the kids had fully left the room after desserts. What she didn't know was that all four of them were hiding just on the other side of the door - feasting on every bit of detail like it was a third helping of Christmas pudding.

"Harry's a half-blood just like Wills and Hermione, in case you'd forgotten." Em retaliated and though her voice was soft, Hermione had no doubts that she was in full mama-bear mode. No one messed with her family, and Harry was as much a child of hers as Daniel was, if anyone ever were to question it. For Merlin's sake, they even looked alike apart from Harry not having any curls.

"I know that. But as far as Rhea tells me, the entire school believes them to be muggleborns."

"Yet they've grown up with the knowledge of magic, where it came from and who they are. You have two wonderful, strong and independent children who know the difference between right and wrong. They're good kids - they all are." Sirius reassured. Hermione could almost see Sirius pull Aunt Em into his side like he always did if she was upset about something.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"They really are." Her father said in a low, strained voice. "We can't lose our kids. They're all we have."

"Just as Daniel and Harry are to us." Em answered. Nothing was said for a while and the children did nothing but listen intently. Not a breath was taken, no muscle was moved. "That's why we're sending our kids to Hogwarts tomorrow." There was a sort of finality in her voice that couldn't be questioned. But the soft buzzing of the silencing charm that followed, made her angry.

"They have got to be kidding." William whispered gloomily and made for the stairs, "They knew we were out here all along."

Hermione just stared after him…

"Come on… Let's get out of here." Daniel said as he grabbed her hand and the back of Harry's shirt, dragging them towards the front door.

Having grabbed their coats on the way they walked through the thick layer of snow and towards a roof covered terrace a way back from the house. Hermione picked up enough blankets for an entire army from the nearby shed, and they each laid down on the stone to look up into the cloud free sky.

It was beautiful. Beautiful and peaceful. But bloody cold. They hadn't been laying here for very long, before Harry declared that he was going inside so as not to freeze to death.

A few minutes later, Hermione was on the brink of shattering teeth and shivering limbs, when she suddenly felt the calming feel of a warming charm. Surprised, both she and Daniel sat up and looked around. Daniel must have seen something, as he suddenly waved.

Apparently, Sirius had seen them - or Harry had told him? - and decided to keep them warm. Hermione smiled and waved happily back at him.

"Your dad's the best."

"Seriously?!" Daniel replied and instantly succumbed to laughter.

Hermione couldn't possibly stop and joined in. "That is getting so old." She laughed lightly and made herself more comfortable in all the blankets.

"So is he." Daniel snickered and laughed lightly.

Hermione snorted. "He is. He's still the best, though."

"Yeah…" He trailed off and the silence that followed was comforting like a hug from someone you hadn't seen for a while.

She sighed loudly when a thought suddenly hit her: "I just wanted to go to Hogwarts, but our first year there's Voldemort and now there's something in the castle petrifying and killing muggleborns… It can't possibly get any worse… Right?"

"At least you're still the smartest kid in school."

"Yeah, I honestly thought it'd be smarter by now. You guys are a bad influence on my ability to find time for homework." She gloomed, remembering that one essay that she may or may not have screwed up in the aftermath of Lockhart.

"It's not my fault that you enjoy adventures more than books." He laughed.

She sat up instantly and stared at him as best as she could in the dark, her hand on her chest as she faked being hurt and shocked. "Excuse you, Sir, but I LOVE my books!"

Daniel laughed at her indignation. "I'm honestly surprised you weren't placed in Ravenclaw." He said. Was that sadness in his voice…? Why would he be sad of her going to Ravenclaw? Ravenclaw was fine!

"It… tried, actually. Just as it tried sending me to Slytherin, remember?" She murmured, and looked away from him out into the darkness around them.

Daniel didn't say anything.

She thought she could feel the warming charm slipping away just a little bit…

"I'm actually not so surprised about that, now that I think about it. You are very ambitious. But I… I like having you at Gryffindor." He put his hand on top of hers and gave it a little squeeze. "Actually, I… There's-"

"Daniel! It's time to go home, love!" Emmeline called from the house with Harry waving by her side.

Daniel gave a hard sigh. "COMING!" He called back and stood before he helped Hermione to her feet.

"What was that?" She asked, not really knowing what he had been about to say to her. Together they folded the blankets around the renewed warming charm that Emmeline had cast on them while they found their way back to the house.

"It's… nothing. I'll see you on the train tomorrow?" He said, hugged her goodbye quickly and jogged back to his mum.

She didn't even get to answer him before he was gone.

Well, that wasn't strange at all...

She didn't think she had ever seen him so sad… Which was weird because she'd already seen him in some seriously fucked up situations. But this was apparently making the top of the list.

She was sitting in a random train compartment with Neville, Daniel and Harry - the last two were currently on the floor playing Exploding Snap. Harry's eyebrows were long gone already having been singed away in one of the first rounds of the game.

She should be having fun right now talking to Neville, playing with the boys or reading a book or whatever - but she wasn't.

When she arrived at the platform with William, she had immediately caught Draco's eyes, and for the first time since returning to school in September, he didn't immediately look away. Instead, he had held it for what seemed like a million years yet was probably no more than a few seconds. She had been utterly lost.

But then someone bumped into her, and the spell was broken. She looked to the side and felt Grandma moving her out of the way as the Weasley were coming through the entrance. When she looked back to Draco, she saw Theo sneering at him and looking really angry.

A bunch of emotion was showing on both of their faces, but what had caught on to her the most was the look of complete and utter sadness. Heartbreaking, earth-shattering sadness. Like his entire world was falling apart and he had no one there to save him.

He suddenly turned around to hug his mum. His mum, who's eyes were now resting on her with a frown.

"Nene? Are you okay? We need to board the train." She was brought back to planet earth instantly when Wills called her name.

"Yes, sorry - let's go!" She exclaimed before giving Grandma a large hug and running to the train.

And that was how she found herself surrounded by her three boys in a compartment.

Outside it was dark and had been for some time. Of course, since it was the beginning of January it would be dark and cold for some time yet… She found that she couldn't wait for spring, for the world to be brighter and warmer.

A hand on her knee brought her back to the compartment again. "Hermione? Do you wanna play?" Daniel was smiling up at her, his warm hand still resting on her knee.

"Sure!" She found herself saying instantly even though she had never really liked the game. But she still found herself playing with Harry and Daniel for the rest of the trip, even as her mind was filled with gray eyes and sad looks.

Over the next couple of weeks, she spent more and more time with Harry and Daniel than normally. It wasn't like they didn't usually spend a lot of time together, but now it was easily all of their freetime.

They'd study together.

Watch Quidditch together.

Go to meals together.

Snooze by the fire together.

Go to the library together.

Team up in classes.

They were just always together.

And it wasn't even because they needed to be together because of the attacks, but more because they didn't want to be apart.

So that was how they once again found themselves - together - as they left the last class of the day.

"Hold up, I'll just go wash my hands - there was something sticky on my table today." She said with a grimace.

"Sure. Maybe we'll pop in and have a chat with Myrtle." They rounded the corner for the second-floor bathroom when they heard Filch sneering and grumbling loudly about a flooding in the bathroom that had leaked out into the hallway.

"Hold up," Harry whispered and the three of them backed up and out of sight of Filch. "I've brought the invisibility cloak. "Come on Daniel, Hermione, you just walk and we'll follow along." They hurried under the cloak and walked behind Hermione - being very careful about avoiding any puddles.

Filch eyed her suspiciously and sneered at her as she carefully passed him and walked into the bathroom, holding the door open a bit longer than she normally would so that the boys could enter with her. Nothing like airing out the public toilets every once in a while, right?

"Hiya, Myrtle." Daniel said once the door had slit shut behind them. Hermione tried to ignore the annoyingly loud noise of Myrtle crying from the pipes. Apparently, this wasn't one of her good days…

Without a word, Hermione bypassed the first broken sink, to get to the one working so she could wash the gunk off her hands.

"Get away from me! Do you want to throw things at me too?!" Myrtle yelled loudly and flung herself out of the toilet and right through Daniel and Harry like it was nothing.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the dramatics while the boys just stood there with their mouths hanging down to the floor. Sometimes, Hermione couldn't fathom how the boys had been so lucky to never have experienced the ghost's mood-swings.

"What happened, Myrtle?" She asked the ghost conversationally and sympathetically while soaping up her hands properly.

"What HAPPENED?!" The ghost roared at Hermione and flew right up to her face, Hermione raised a single unimpressed eyebrow that didn't seem to make Myrtle any less annoying. Shame. "I was just comfortably drifting around the toilet bend when someone threw something at me! THREW! I hadn't done anything this time!" Internally, Hermione was rolling her eyes so hard that they went to the back of her head - but her interest peaked.

"I'm so sorry to hear that - who threw what at you?" She asked politely and if Myrtle hadn't been a ghost, she would most likely have led her to sit somewhere with a calming hand on the shoulder or back. Behind Myrtle, the boys looked at each other with a look that told her they had had the same thought.

"Like I would know that - I didn't see them!" She sneered at Hermione, and she found herself caring less and less about the ghost the more Myrtle opened her mouth.

"At least tell us what they threw at you so that we can remove it from here. It wasn't polite - but there's no good reason to litter nor clog the toilets." Harry shrugged from where he was leaning against a sink. Myrtle surged at him and was within centimeters from his face when she sneered and pointed to the far side of the room. "Like I give a damn about clogged toilets. It's there!" She then flew right through him and into the sink behind him, where she continued to scream and cry loudly.

Throwing a scared look over his shoulder towards the sinks, Harry slowly made his way towards the thing sprawled open in the corner by the bathroom-stalls.

"Is it… a book?" Daniel asked bewildered. "A bloody book scared the hell out of Myrtle?"

Hermione sighed loudly and pushed her way between the boys as she walked to the book. "You ought to know by now, not to judge a book by its cover."

She carefully toed the black book and turned it on its back so she could see the front. "It's a diary, guys." She said curiously as she eyes the book.

"Well lets see, then." Harry said and went to his knees to pick up the book before turning it to the first page.

"Property of T. M… Biddle? Riddle? I can't tell with the ink so smudged." Daniel said as he read over Harry's shoulder.

"Riddle, definitely. I've seen the name before once when Filch had me cleaning shields for dragging mud into the hall." Harry answered while rolling his eyes at their janitor's dramatics. Hopefully he'd be gone by the time they left the bathroom. "Huh."

"What?" She asked, not being able to see the book as Harry had turned around and started walking back and forth while turning page after page. In response Harry stopped and turned the diary towards her, where she saw…

"Huh..." The pages were blank.

"Exactly." Harry turned it back to himself and lifted it up in the air and looked at it like someone spying through a Magnifying glass, or trying to check the seal on a pound note. "Whatever. Let's get to dinner." He shrugged and muttered, before dumping it into his schoolbag. He then swung the invisibility cloak over his shoulders, made room for Daniel, and made for the door where he and Daniel patiently waited for Hermione to collect her own bag and come open the door for them.

February 14th, 1993

"Calm down, mate, we can't understand what you're saying." Daniel said while clapping his friend on the back - his friend who was wheezing for air like he had done 4 rounds on the quidditch pitch without taking a single gulp of air.

"What did Zabini do this time?" She asked absent-mindedly while turning the page in her history of magic textbook. They had a big test coming up the following week and she needed to excel it - whatever it took.

"Cree - Creev - Attac -" Harry tried but had to stop again because he couldn't get the words out.

"Hold up, Harry - are we talking about the same guy? Because zabini isn't that creepy." Hermione reasoned from behind her book as she turned yet another page and frowned at the disturbing picture of a troll being cleaved in two.

Suddenly Neville came running down between the rows of tables and more or less threw himself against their table: "Did you guys hear?! There's been another attack! It's creevey!"

"Another attack?!" Daniel's horrified eyes met hers.

Harry had gotten his breath back in the meantime and added: "That's what I was trying to tell you!"

"Is he… Is creevey…?" She didn't dare finish the sentence. Creevey was a right pain in the arse, most of all against Harry whom he idolized in such a way that he apparently found it very hard to let Harry eat his breakfast, lunch and dinners in peace. But that didn't mean that he deserved to be attacked. No one deserved that.

"Petrified?" Neville asked and she nodded, "He is. They just brought him to the infirmary. I heard Professor McGonagall saying something about how he might have taken a picture of his attacker."

"Poor kid…" Daniel quipped from the other side of the table, Hermione could see him fiddling with a napkin lying on the table. He seemed awfully tense - even for the current situation.

Hermione lifted her hand over the table and on top of his, which resulted in his eyes instantly moving to hers. "I'm sure he'll be fine - Professor Sprout is already working on the Mandrakes." Inside her hand, Daniel turned his and grabbed her hand. He seemed to need the comfort - and she didn't mind.

Soon after, Neville left to go tell the rest of Gryffindor Tower about the attack. This left the trio to ponder over T. M. Riddle's diary again - like they did every time they were left to their own devices.

They had tried everything, and almost in vain. They had all of this seemingly useless information about a boy, that didn't give them any answers - only more questions.

"Prefect, top of his class, has earned a shield for special service to the school, a medal for Magical Merit, Headboy and sixty-something years old by now." Daniel listed while counting on his fingers after having let go of her hand, "He's basically the perfect student - except for the age of course."

Hermione's head snapped up instantly from where it had been staring on the table in front of Daniel: "Wait… Sixty-something - so it's fifty years since he left?"

"Yeah?" Harry's eyebrows were furrowed when he answered her, obviously not following what she was thinking.

"Didn't Professor Binns say that it was fifty years since the chamber was opened last? So what if… What if this riddle guy was awarded the shield, for ridding the school of the monster? What if he closed the chamber?"

Daniel and Harry looked like they had seen a ghost when she talked, their eyes growing wider and wider. "Would he know how to open it again?" Harry then whispered, while looking around with large horrified eyes.

"But who was here then - and is still here now?" Daniel asked, the look on his face moving rapidly from scared to suspicious.

"Dumbledore, Binns… That's it… Right?" Harry listed while looking at the head table where their professor was currently eating their lunch - at least, the professors that weren't currently in the Hospital wing with Creevey.

"Sure, but the writing said "heir", Harry. not 'enemies of I'."

Someone cleared their throat behind Daniel and Harry. Hermione calmly looked up to see Ginny, Ron's sister, standing behind them. Harry wasn't quite as casual when he looked back so quickly that she might have heard his neck snap by the motion.

"Auch!" He exclaimed and his hand went to his neck, massaging the spot. Ginny surged forward towards him but changed her mind in the last second: "Merlin, I'm so sorry Harry - I didn't mean to - oh, I'm sorry." Her hands went to her bright-red cheeks in embarrassment. "Oh, bugger - here!" She dropped something in front of Harry and ran away and out of the hall.

"What just happened?" Daniel asked after some time, all six of their eyes still locked on the door while their mouth's hung agape.

"I think… Ginny just gave Harry… A valentine's card…?" Hermione explained still, slightly very much dazed from what had just happened. To her knowledge, Harry and Ginny had barely exchanged a handful of words over the past 6 months of going to the same school.

Hermione heard the unmistakable sound of a letter being opened, and looked over to find Harry with a red and gold card in his hands, a bright lion was on the frontpage, roaring silently. Underneath was the words "Be my Gryffindor".

"That's kind of cute actually." Hermione snickered behind her cup of tea while watching Harry and Daniel, both completely entrenched. She found herself just as captivated by the fact that someone found themselves interested in Harry - not that she couldn't see why! Harry was a great person! But nevermind that fact of who her brother was - really, apparently, she had enough brothers to make up for the fact that one of them was an ignorant arsehole, and Ginny was so sweet even if she was very quiet.

Harry slowly opened the card and Hermione watched as his and Daniel's eyes simultaneously went larger and larger. "What does it say?!" She shout-whispered as curiosity got the best of her.

Harry cleared his throat before reading it loud enough for just the three of them to hear:

"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as black as a blackboard,
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."

"Oh, that's so sweet." Hermione gushed, "Very queasy, but sweet."

"Is that what girls like?" Daniel asked and looked at her all terrified.

Hermione shrugged, while she watched Harry take one last look at the card before folding it up and putting it carefully into his backpack. "I wouldn't know, really."

Daniel looked changed to pure confusion. "But why not? You're a girl."

At this Hermione laughed out loud, gaining a lot of sudden attention on her person from multiple people in the Great Hall. "Sure. But I've never received nor given a Valentine-card." With that, she stood and grabbed her backpack to go to class. "Also, you have to remember that I grew up around you lot - it's not like I have a lot of experience with girls."

"I want one and a half feet on what constellations you found to be most noticeable tonight - and why they were so, for next week. Thank you for tonight." Professor Sinatra said after clapping her hands to gather the attention of the class.

All around her Ravenclaws, Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were packing up to go to bed - it was close to curfew anyway.

What Constellation did I find most noticeable tonight? Hermione thought to herself and went out towards the railing to look up into the night sky. Her winter cloak was heavy and warm on her shoulders as she focused on the stars.

There was Lyra…

And that's Curpheus…

Ursa Minor…

Draco -

"Hermione?"

Hermione whirled around, her hands grabbing the railing behind her as she did so. She had been so focused that she hadn't even heard Daniel walking up to her. Behind him, she could see Draco looking at her before turning around and going down the stairs.

Draco looked broken. But for once, she found that she didn't care all that much - just like he obviously didn't care about how he time and time again, chose to ignore her.

"Sorry - I didn't mean to scare you." he said as he stopped a few paces away from her. He was fiddling again.

"It's okay, I was just looking at the stars - thinking about which ones I thought was the easiest to pick out for the assignment."

"I didn't really listen to the assignment. I guess I'll just… figure something out, I guess." He shrugged and shifted from one food to the other a couple of times before he went to the railing and leaned against it.

"Are you okay?" She asked, no longer wanting to keep her tongue. Something was obviously bugging him, and she needed to know what it was so she could help him.

"Huh?"

"Astronomy is your favorite class and you're trying to wing it, Daniel. What in the bloody hell is wrong with you?" She had now turned fully towards him and was staring the back of his head down while she was crossing her arms.

"Oh. I'm just not feeling it today." He shrugged dismissively.

Something was definitely wrong.

She was on the verge of calling him out on it once again when he abruptly turned around and faced her completely. His gray eyes boring into hers. They were so bright she could almost see the stars above them reflected back at her.

"I can feel the wheels turning and I know you're about 2,6 seconds away from throwing me off the tower, but just hear me out." She nodded slowly as if in a trance. There was no way she would ever be able to form a single sentence when he was looking at her like that. The cold wind was picking up around them and snow started falling again as he let out a harsh breath and started talking again. "I'm not good at words that aren't supposed to be funny or meant to piss someone off. I can't… I can't make you a card or make rhymes or poetry… But I... I wanted to… to tell you…That… I— really like you."

It was like everything was frozen.

Maybe she had been petrified and just didn't know it.

Was this how it felt? How Creevey or Justin felt?

She couldn't feel the wind against her face.

Couldn't feel her fingers that had started to grow cold during class.

Couldn't feel the hard stone floor underneath her feet.

Somehow, her eyes found their movement - and decided to focus on the boy standing in front of her. His black curls were tousled from the wind, his cheeks pink from the cold.

His gray eyes piercing into her very soul, as he waited for her to say something. Anything.

"I'm not…"

"Fuck." He said abruptly, silencing her as he went for the stairs.

"Daniel, wait!" She called, with her hand outstretched towards him. And by some miracle, he stopped. He didn't turn around, but he stopped, and that was enough for her to lower her hand and take a couple of tentative steps towards him and away from the bitter cold. "I'm not sure what to say to you. I'm not sure what I feel or how I should feel. I know I feel something for you - but I don't know what it is."

He slowly turned around and stared at her. His eyes held so much meaning and so much hopefulness she could feel her throat tightening up. "Something?"

"Something." She agreed and continued tentatively, "Is that… okay? I'm sorry I'm not sure what to say right now…"

"I'm not sure either. I didn't make it this far in my head." He laughed and she found herself giggling along. "Do you… Um… Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"I- I can't promise you anything, Daniel. You're my best friend."

"Will you try?" His voice was taking a tint of desperation and she wasn't liking it one bit.

"Yes. I'll try." As she was looking into those gray eyes that were lighting back up to their usual fire, she felt the sudden urge to go back and look up at the stars. Look at the constellations from where she had stopped.

But she didn't.

Instead she and Daniel walked together back to Gryffindor Tower, where they said their goodnights and went to their separate dorms. Just like they always did.

February 27th, 1993

"Guys! You'll never guess what happened!"

"What's up?" Hermione asked while looking over the back of the couch. She and Daniel were lounging on one of the couches in the Common Room of their tower, and had laid there for at least three or four hours by now.

The snow that had started falling on the night of Valentines Day had apparently been the last of that season - but instead of cold, beautiful, white snow, they were getting rain.

So, much, rain.

And it chilled the castle so much that it made it almost unbearable to be anywhere but near a fire.

"Yesterday when Zabini pushed me after class, all of my books were drowned in ink - but not the Diary! So I thought that maybe it's repellent! But it's not! The ink just disappears when you write! But then Riddle was writing back to me!"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up." Daniel huffed and dragged himself to lean almost all the way over the couch to get closer to Harry. "You could have stopped at 'the ink disappeared,' and it would have been creepy enough. But now you're telling me that you're writing in a Diary with someone who's 60+ years old? (Harry nodded excitedly) This sounds like a different version of the Lockhart-stuff - and I'm not getting involved with another pedophile." She felt her insides grow colder by the mention of her… Experience… And bundled up further into the blanket that she was cuddled up in.

She still had episodes in class or when he was near her, where she wanted to run and hide. Wanted to take a bath and wash his touch away. Wanted to not exist anymore.

She could still feel his eyes on her often, and she could still see him looking at her like he wanted to do… something else. Something else that she definitely wouldn't be thinking about.

But more often than not, she just wanted to prove to him that she wasn't what he wanted her to be.

That she wasn't his.

That she would never be his.

She was brought out of her trance by a warm hand on her shin. The contact shocked her so much that she flinched away from it. Speaking of the after effects of bad experiences? There was also the fact that no one could touch her without having her acknowledge it beforehand.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry asked, looking at her with confusion in his eyes.

"Mmhm, just cold." She said in a low, slightly shaky voice, but she made the mistake of looking up at Daniel who was watching her with knowing - yet hurt - eyes.

He definitely had some issues with being unable to at the very least take her hand without her flinching away from him.

To say that they had had a few arguments about it, would be an understatement.

"So, what I was trying to say - I was pulled into the Diary! and it showed me how Riddle helped catch whoever opened it - and it was Hagrid! Hagrid opened the chamber and unleashed the monster! He had it hidden in a case, but it got loose during Hagrid's expulsion!"

"Why do you look so happy about this? Isn't Hagrid sort of your friend, or something like that?" Daniel tried, mirroring her feeling of deep confusion. She knew Hagrid, of course, but she had only been visiting him a couple of times.

"Because we're friends with him! We can just tell him to stop!" His eyes were shining with excitement and hope.

"Do you seriously think that someone who's obviously not pureblood, would go around setting his monster on muggleborns, when he's clearly never said anything ill towards any of them? That's one hell of a cover story." Hermione countered, "Also, do you really believe that if he were such a coldblooded murderer, that he would just stop instead of just killing you like the others?"

"But why would he do that? I'm Harry Potter!" He cheerfully and she would have laughed at his bubbling excitement and belief in everything good, if it wasn't for his complete and utter ignorance.

"Because - you're Harry Potter." She stated. Harry looked from her to Daniel and back again, and she wasn't sure what he was hoping to see but it seemed that he didn't find it. His face scrunched up in confusion, and he looked at her for clarification. She sighed hard and loudly and sat up straighter to be more at eye level with him. "You do realize that there's already one maniac in the world trying to kill you just because of your name, right? Because, you're Harry Potter. But go talk to him if you want, I don't actually think that he's the culprit in all of this - I'll stay here and keep the couch warm." She leaned softly back on the armrest and lifted her book to the page she had been reading before.

Neither Harry nor Daniel said anything for a while, but she knew them well enough to know that they were contemplating leaving or not. It would be an adventure for sure - on the hunt for the bad guy who's petrifying students with a secret monster.

Normally she would have been out the door already with the boys falling over each other to catch up.

But she wasn't feeling it today. It was too bloody cold outside.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked her slowly, like he was walking up to a dangerous animal.

"I am, I just don't want to leave the fire or my blanket. You can go, and I'll meet you guys later?" She said, and smiled at them over her book.

"Sure!" They said in unison and Harry was up and running towards the door. Daniel wasn't quite as much in a hurry.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" He asked slowly as he stood from the couch and walked closer to where she was sitting, careful not to touch her.

She smiled up at him at his kindness. "Absolutely. Go talk to Hagrid - I'll just wait here for you guys to come tell me what he said. Alright?" She lifted her left hand a bit and softly grabbed his right. He was as warm as always.

He looked down at their hands and gave it a soft yet careful caress with his thumb.

"Daniel! Come on, mate!" Harry called from the portrait hole where his head was sticking in.

"Coming!" He called back instantly and let go of her hand, but before he turned to leave, he leaned down and gave her a hug.

She leaned her head against his and heard him hum ever so slightly. He seemed to like their hugs too.

"See you later." She whispered before he let go and ran towards the door, flashing her a large smile while he turned.

That same night, Harry was sitting on his bed while Hermione sat on Daniels with him, now cuddled up in his blankets instead of hers.

Would it ever get warmer in this damn castle, because she was slowly turning into a popsicle.

"I mean… I knew he liked big and extraordinary animals, but acromantula is taking it a bit far - and he has an entire swarm of those! It's no wonder the forbidden forest is forbidden." she found herself wondering what else he had brought into the castle before he got expelled for it. It could have been anything.

"It feels like there's a lot of things centered around Hagrid with these attacks, but I don't know why - and I don't know why they would just drag him off the school right before us. It's not like he's done anything!" Harry said angrily and threw his pillow across the room where it hit Ron's bed and fell to the floor.

This was all Harry - getting mad about other people's actions against those whom he considered friends. The other day he had given Crabbe a black eye for jinxing Neville in the hallway - he had taken the punishment of cleaning the great hall with a broom, with his head held high.

"He'll come back again, mate. They just took him to Dumbledore's, I'm sure." Daniel tried as he stood and walked to pick up Harry's pillow from the floor. He then walked back to Harry's side where he brushed off some dust from the floor before ramming it directly into Harry's face making the boy fall over flat on his back.

Harry said nothing. Harry did nothing. The room was in silence.

Then suddenly a laughter came bubbling from underneath the large pillow followed by a "I'll get you for this."

Daniel only just managed to take a step back before the pillow came flying right back at him. But he was quick - so quick that he managed to avoid it by ducking out of their way, and instead, it came flying at lightning speed, directly into Hermione's face.

She fell back and off the bed with a loud thud, but was only momentarily out of sight of the boys before she hurled the pillow right back at Harry with a loud laugh, followed quickly by Daniel's own pillow flying directly into his stomach.

April 2nd, 1993

She had flinched. Again.

She didn't mean to, but she had.

She had flinched, and he had frozen, because he had felt her do it too.

Daniel let her go with a small growl, perhaps a bit too harshly, as he pushed herself away again and went to sit on the couch behind her.

It was late, and she was apparently the only one sitting in the common room doing homework. She had been moments from being done, so that she could go to bed when she suddenly felt arms close around her upper body, in a normal, affectionate hug.

The only problem was that it didn't feel like a hug.

It felt like being strangled.

Like being pushed against a door, seconds from being violated.

Like she was there all over again.

She sighed harshly and turned to look at his hunched over form. "I'm sorry Daniel, I can't -"

"Don't." He cut her off.

"What?"

"Don't say that you can't help it - we both know that you can." He sneered, and it was like all his kindness went out the door.

"What?" She asked again, more because she didn't know what else to say to his absurd accusation.

"Don't act stupid Hermione - it doesn't suit you." He sneered and finally turned around to face her. If looks could kill…

"What the fuck Daniel! You think I want this?!" She retaliated at his poisonous words. Sure, he had been a bit cold lately, but this was nothing like him.

"Yes! Seeing as you will never let me hug you or just take your hand. You won't let me!" He yelled back at her. Hermione had a very short lived thought that maybe they should not yell since they might actually wake up the entire castle. "It's like you don't care anymore."

And then the thought was gone.

"Because you always come up from behind and surprise me, you - you - idiot! Why do you have to be like this?!" Her arms were flailing around in the air for emphasis.

"Why do I have to be like this?! Why do you have to be like this?!" He stood up and stomped around the couch to meet her head on. "Why can't you just be normal?! Why can't you just be like you were before Lockhart?!" He roared at her and it was like all the world lost its colour. All colour but the glowing, green acid that his words were dripping with.

"Because I'm not that girl anymore." She said, barely above a whisper.

Without another word from either of them, she turned around and collected her books. She then made her way up the stairs to the girl's dormitory to go to sleep in a world without colour.

April 30th 1993

Hermione felt somewhat stuck at the moment. Everything centered around either the chamber and its monster or schoolwork. Their professors had been adamant in giving them loads of homework so as to prepare them for their exams in June - and she was ready.

She was hung up - and not just because of her current situation where she and Daniel weren't talking.

Earlier that month the 2nd year students had finally had something new to do as all of them had to choose their electives for their 3rd year. Daniel had been in a fit because he desperately wanted to drop DADA while Harry never wanted to have another History of Magic lesson again. They each countered the others decision as 'but you need DADA!' and 'but Binns is so good at nap time!' Neither of them was wrong, which was the reason why Hermione wasn't dropping a single subject. In fact, she had chosen all of the possible electives that were listed. She didn't know how her schedule would look in the coming school year, but she was sure that McGonagall and Dumbledore would find a way for her to learn as much as possible.

But now that the selection of electives had been done and the teacher really had started giving them homework, that was the reason why Hermione was sitting in the library one evening after dinner. Most days, Harry or Neville would come with her, but today she was alone.

She had struggled all the way through her DADA say, answered McGonagall's questionnaires from Transfiguration, her star-chart from Astronomy and finally her potions-essay - and she was finally done.

She had finished her homework for the next week and she was looking forward to having to read nothing but Lestat and how he came into the Vampire's way of living. It was a long time since she had read anything that wasn't school related, and she was so excited.

But then, she also had to research that damn chamber…

She collected her books and put them to the side to make room for new ones and walked around the library looking for books that might help them in their search.

The smells of old books and used parchments filled her nose and mind as she returned to her seat half an hour later. In her hands she was carrying books on topics ranging from magical architecture to a new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them. She sat down hard in her chair and put the heavy stack of books on the table. The dust flew everywhere before settling back down again. She pushed the stack back and lifted the first one to see if there might be anything helpful in the tome. She was just about to open the book, when she noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the stack of books.

How odd. She hadn't picked up any loose papers while on her search.

She carefully drew it out and noticed 'Granger' written on it in a handwriting she would be able to recognize anywhere and anytime.

But… Why?

She turned it around and saw the name of a book, and a page.

Magical beings and their Hideaways, 3rd edition, page 291.

She sat in silence for multiple seconds, contemplating what to do about the note, before she forced herself to tug it away in the pocket of her jumper.

She then checked if she by pure chance had taken the requested book but put them all away when she saw that she had in fact not.

She carefully located the shelves that held books regarding animals and creatures and spent the next 15 minutes looking for the book.

She found it on a shelf at the very bottom, all the way to the side like someone wanted to be able to find it quickly again. How convenient.

She softly picked it up and found the right page

288… 289… 290… 291!

Basilisk?

She quickly read on wanting to know why Draco thought that this page was relevant…

born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad…

What in Merlin's… "Trevor!" She blurted loudly without thought as she realized that a toad had actually been missing for some time. Her exclamation earned her a chastation from Madam Pince who looked around the corner at her with a look that might as well kill her.

"Sorry…" She whispered and turned around to go back to her seat, where she sat down to read more closely.

Lives hundreds of years…

King of serpents…

A murderous stare…?

Spiders flee…

Crowing of the rooster is fatal…

She could definitely see why this was what Draco had concluded… But people were getting petrified and not killed.

She looked up deep in thought and by chance, saw that a mirror had been forgotten on one of the tables. In the mirror she could see the reflection of one of the lights hanging on the wall. "The reflection!" She gasped and quickly looked around thinking that Madam Pince would be looking around the corner once again - but no one came. The library was silent.

What if none of the petrified had seen the basilisk directly put instead had seen for example, its reflection? It would make sense. Madam Norris and the water... Justin through Nearly-Headless Nick… Creevey through his camera...

Shit, Draco was right. But how? How could he have known?

And how did the basilisk get around the school without having petrified more people, in the first place? If it was as big as the book suggested… Someone would have died already... What if…

Her eyes open wide and alert at the realization.

Listening closely and not hearing anything suspicious, she wrote a small note on the page with her pencil. At least, then she would be able to remove it again without damaging the book when she would have to return in.

She looked on the frontpage and noticed the stamp which said that the book couldn't leave the library.

Shit!

Should she get the boys instead? looking at the clock, she saw that it was close to curfew. They couldn't possibly make it back before the library was closed.

Merlin, what should she do?!

But what if she… She didn't usually…. But this wasn't a usual situation…

She quickly looked around once again to check if anyone was nearby, and listened closely. No, it was silent.

She lifted her bag and dumped it on the table, perhaps harder than necessary. She then started rustling through her bag and dumping her books hard on it - all while softly ripping the page out of the book.

She better not be caught ripping pages out of books…

After having packed her bag, she put it on and picked up the mirror, walking casually towards the exit of the library while using the mirror to look around corners.

"Umm… What are you doing?" A small voice behind her asked.

Hermione whirled around facing what appeared to be a blond girl in Ravenclaw robes.

"Oh, I'm so glad I found someone!" Hermione gasped and hugged the mirror close to her.

"Umm… What?" The girl said, looking at her in confusion.

"Listen - I know what the monster is, and we need to talk to Dumbledore!"

A few minutes later the two of them were hurrying out of the library - mirror in hand. When coming face to face with what Hermione had found, the Ravenclaw who was called Penelope Clearwater, believed her. Sure, there had been a lot of questions, but Hermione had answered them as best as she could.

They carefully turned around corner after corner using the mirror to check if it was safe.

"Just one more corner and then it's all stair -"

Daniel's POV

may 31st, 1993

"Pipes? What does that mean?" looking at Hermione's hand-written note in a page from a book, was making him more confused than good. Looking at Harry didn't help much, as the boy in front of him looked just as perplexed as he felt.

Harry responded by taking the note and looking it over. "I guess it would make sense why I can hear it and no one else can." Harry looked down at Hermione's petrified body, caressing her stone-like hand ever so softly.

Looking at her face, Daniel felt sadness wash over him once again. This was the second time he had seen her since she had been found - the first one being when they were told what had happened. But right now, he almost didn't want to be there. Even though they had snuck under the invisibility-cloak to get there, he really just wanted her to come back and give him a hug.

He felt so odd without her.

Yet, he also felt odd with her.

He couldn't make sense of it.

"But how does it get aroun- OH! The pipes! That's what she means!" Harry blurted out, looking up at Daniel with big, horrified eyes - right until his face fell. "But what pipes? This school must have billions." Daniel found himself mentally agreeing, that maybe billions were more correct than, say hundreds. But he did have a point. What pipes?

They stood in silence for longer than was probably a good idea seeing as they were currently not allowed to be outside of their tower.

He also needed to use the toilet soon…

The realization hit him like a truck running a red light.

"The toilets!"

Harry was looking at him like he had lost his mind on their way to the hospital wing.

"No, I mean it! Where was the writing?" Daniel started in a hushed voice.

"By the girls bathroom?" Harry answered instantly, still looking like he wasn't following exactly what Daniel was thinking.

"And what was attacked first?" Come on, Harry!

"Filch's cat?"

"Exactly! And according to this page, it should have died. So why didn't it? Why has none of the victims died from looking at it?" Daniel was really just thinking out loud at this point, throwing pointers and ideas out everywhere until Harry's brain started kickstarting as it always did when they were brainstorming.

"Because it… wasn't looking at it… directly…?" Harry's face was scrunched up so hard that Daniel was having trouble locating his eyes properly. He probably didn't look any better himself.

"The flooding! There was water on the floor that night - from the bathrooms! It's using the plumbing!" Harry shout-whispered suddenly.

"What if… What if that bathroom is the entrance!"

Soon enough had they realized what was happening and how, before they were sprinting through the castle to get to the staff room. they had to tell someone what they knew. Anyone.

But no sooner had they found the staff room, before they were running back in the opposite direction. There had been another attack, and the school was preparing to send all of the students home first thing the next morning.

Poor Ginny.

Her brother was a right bastard - but that didn't mean that she deserved this. No one deserved this.

"Professor! What - are you going somewhere?" Lockhart was standing by a series of purple trunks, throwing what looked like all of his belongings inside.

"Yes. Terribly sorry - an emergency came up - I- ehh - gotta go." He stuttered without looking up long enough to know who he was even talking to.

What happened next, Daniel would have never thought possible, even in his wildest dreams.

His mum had been right - he was a phony. A cheat. A liar.

How someone could have made so many people believe in his lies, believe that he had actually done all those things… It was sort of impressive, but it also showed that the man in front of them was prepared to do anything for a bit of fame. Daniel was sure Harry would have given up anything at this point, to not have his. But right now, as the oversized lunatic was pointing his wand at them, rambling on about memory charms and books - it didn't actually matter.

"It would seem that I was right once again. As I was telling the lovely Miss Granger the last time I spoke with her; the two of you really are so much below her level. I will cherish your memories of her, forever. Oblivia-"

Lockhart was fast, but he wasn't faster than Harry as the raven-haired boy fired off his expelliarmus so quickly that it sent Lockhart flying through the room and his wand flying right back to them, where Daniel grabbed the wand mid-air and snapped it in two.

The two broken halves, he threw into the fireplace beside them.

"What do you want me to do? It's not like I know where the chamber is or anything."

Daniel snorted, "Lucky you, then - you don't need to. Let's go!"

Arriving at the girl's bathroom on the 3rd floor, Myrtle was only too happy to tell them how she died. Daniel had also been at the very least, right in half of his guesses. He had had this very vague thought that maybe the ghost had something to do with all of this, and he had been right. In getting her confirmation, they had also found the entrance to the Chamber which opened up when Harry spoke to it.

It hadn't worked the first few times though, as all that came out of Harry's mouth was English - and not parseltongue. It only resulted in Lockhart mocking him for not being able to do what they so wanted to do.

Maybe it had helped guide Harry's anger or something, because he succeeded in the next attempt.

"Nope. Nu-uh, I'm not going down there." Lockhart said adamantly, while shaking his head like some kind of toddler. He was about to turn around and walk towards the door, but Daniel quickly grabbed the man by his robes and dragged him to the hole in the floor.

Harry had once again pointed his wand at the man with anger blazing in his eyes. "You're not getting out of this one, Lockhart. Jump."

"No way Pott-" The phony tried but was caught short as Daniel pushed him forward and into the hole. Daniel could hear the man screaming for a short while, then some sort of sliding sound erupted from the hole which then ended with a loud thud and a groan.

"Was that necessary?" Harry sighed while looking at Daniel like he had done something insanely stupid.

"Stop it already, you and I both know that you would have done the exact same thing. For what he did to Hermione - I've thought of worse things to do to him than push him into the unknown."

"I'm neither denying nor confirming that." He shrugged and motioned for Daniel to jump first.

Daniel grinned at having just won an argument against Harry (because let's be honest, the two of them rarely had an argument where one of them won without cheating the other first), and jumped into the hole with a salute.

No sooner was he falling in nothingness, before his back and legs hit something hard and made him slide instead. It was almost like one of those slides from the playground behind their house, where it kept turning and turning - only larger.

It would have been fun, if a giant snake hadn't been crawling through them countless times these past months. Just the thought made chills go up his spine.

He landed hard and without a warning, and looked at his surroundings while trying to make his eyes get used to the darkness. He could feel the dampness underneath him and the sound of his footsteps and Harry sliding down, was echoing off the walls.

He could also hear... The crickle of water nearby? Maybe?

He barely registered the breathing of someone nearby before he was hit on top of the head by something hard. Leaning down and forward to cradle his head as pain shot down his spine, he was taken by surprise as someone put something around his neck, forcing his head backwards.

Further behind him, he could hear Harry landing.

"Don't move Harry, or Black's dead." Lockhart breathed into his ear as a hand groped his lower body firmly and thoroughly - finally extracting his wand from his pocket and pointing the tip towards the side of his head.

Never in his life had he thought that he'd be having his own wand pointed at him.

In front of him, he could see the dark outline of Harry raising his arms in surrender.

"Good choice. Now throw your wand." Lockhart sneered.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Daniel could hear the sound of Lockhart's breathing speed up as the sound of Harry's footsteps moved closer to their location. Suddenly the tip of the wand was removed from his head and instead the grip around his throat tightened. It made it uncomfortable to breathe, and Daniel found himself unconsciously reaching up to pull at the arm.

"Don't come any closer - I'll kill him! I'll kill you!" Lockhart sneered once again, but his voice was starting to sound panicked.

"No, you won't. There's no way out of here - and if you kill us, you'll be alone with a giant snake. Are you a parseltongue, professor? Because I am." Daniel could hear the smugness in Harry's voice so clearly that the darkness around them might not even have existed. As he was talking, Daniel could hear him moving around and ended in a position where he would have been behind them, had Lockhart not turned them around to follow the motion.

"Uhh - I - ehh - I mean - sure." Lockhart stuttered.

"Now that I think about it… This place is a wreck. It's almost like the treehouse Daniel and I built with Neville and Hermione when we were kids. No help whatsoever, but it was a wreck. ceiling falling down and walls caving in, right? I'd sure like to see how it looks now."

Daniel remembered that treehouse all too well. They had built it together during the summer some years ago when they were 8 or 9 and it sure was a wreck. Dad had had to secure it with multiple spells for it to not fall down on them while they built it. It was no surprise to any of them when last year during a particularly nasty storm and no longer protected by spells, it all… collapsed.

It collapsed!

"I'll make you cave in if you don't shut up, already. We're killing that snake and I'm taking credit for it. The world shall know how I valiantly tried to save you little brats and the little Ms. Weasley - but that I had come too late." Lockhart taunted as the panic seemed to seep out of his voice. He seemed awfully sure of himself for someone who didn't know how to handle snakes.

Not that Daniel did either, anyway.

"Like you could do that. You're so stupid and full of yourself - I'm surprised you even know how to tie your own shoes." Harry mocked, still seeping with smugness. Daniel would have joined in if he wasn't currently being held in a death grip which made it hard to breathe.

"You little…! Obliviate!" Lockhart sneered and ended up pushing Daniel slightly away from him so as to get closer to Harry.

Harry in return, shouted "Expulso!"

The two spells collided, with light making the entire pipe they were standing up, light up. But it was all momentarily as shortly after, the light contracted and exploded.

Daniel felt himself being flung out of Lockhart's arm and into something hard.

"Daniel?!"

It was dark.

It was dark and everything hurt.

It was dark, everything hurt - and someone was yelling.

"Daniel, please answer me!"

He groaned hard as he tried to sit up, but found that he couldn't.

"Daniel?! Is that you?!" It kind of sounded like Harry, but it was very muted.

He groaned once again as he tried to get up in vain. He was stuck.

"Yeah… But I'm not going anywhere." He called out as he tried to look around in the darkness. Without his wand, there was nothing he could do.

"What do you mean? Are you hurt? Where's Lockhart?" The question was falling from Harry like the ability to stay out of trouble.

"I don't know, I can't see him - or hear him for that matter. And I think I'm okay, but my legs are stuck under some rocks…" He groaned loudly as he once again tried to pull himself out.

"I'll go get help! I'll -" Panic was instantly appearing into his voice, But Daniel couldn't let it happen.

"No, mate! You need to handle the snake, and then I'll come as soon as I can. I just need to remove this rubble."

"O-okay." Harry stuttered, "But I'll come back for you!"

"Sure, see you then! Go kill that thing." Daniel tried to sound encouraging but wasn't sure of how big a success it had been. When no answer came back, he guessed that Harry had taken the queue and left Daniel behind as he had asked.

That gave Daniel plenty of time (he hoped) to think of how to get out of his trouble. He was currently laying on his side with his hands and upper body free. At least Lockhart wouldn't be able to grope him again if he came around from wherever he was - or Daniel would be a very easy target when he did.

Bloody hell.

He couldn't go out like this.

While still on his side, he sat up as much as he could. It wasn't pleasant in any sort of way and he could feel stone digging into his hips and legs when he moved around, but he had to try. He used his left hand to remove some of the rocks underneath where he had just laid, before putting his hand down so as to keep himself upright as much as possible - all while the other hand grabbed at any and all rocks to try and move any of them.

He grabbed a hold of one that felt larger than the others and lifted it carefully. Relief flooded over him as he felt the weight getting moved off of one of his legs. He turned just a bit, and managed to turn fully on so that he wasn't on his side anymore, but in a position where if he leaned back, he would be lying on his back.

He lifted the rock a little more, and found a somewhat comfortable break with it resting against his stomach. It would give him the opportunity to use the muscles there to move it around instead of just his arms.

"Nnguuuhh…" A groan erupted loudly from just beside him, making him stop instantly.

Shit.

Lockhart took a while to get up and move around, but it would seem that he hadn't been quite as covered up as Daniel had.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

Play dead!

Should he just look like he might sleep, or was it better to look uncomfortable?

Probably uncomfortable.

It wasn't like he had tried playing dead many times before, but he figured that not sitting upright with a large rock resting against his stomach was probably a good idea. As silently as possible, he laid back down and made sort of a wedge with his hand between one side of the rock and his stomach, to make sure that the rock wouldn't just roll off - it would hopefully also hide the fact that the rock was rising a bit with each breath he took and make it look extremely uncomfortable while he was at it.

ever so slightly, he turned his left arm that was closest to Lockhart and currently wedged between him and the rock, hoping that it might look bent in the same way that Harry's had done when Lockhart had 'fixed it'. With his other hand, he carefully picked up what felt like little rocks mixed in with some dust, and tugged it as close to his body as possible. At least, now he had something to throw at Lockhart if he found him.

There was no way in hell he was going down easy.

Lockhart was now walking around muttering about something that Daniel couldn't hear, until a sudden 'aha!' erupted from him. "This will do, then." He muttered with what sounded like disgust.

Daniel barely managed to close his eyes and make his head lull to the side, before he felt a light being lit somewhere above him.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Daniel could both hear and feel the sound of his shoes hitting the flooring for each step he took closer to the boy.

Don't flinch.

Lockhart was barely there... He was closing in so fast.

Should he throw the rocks and hope for the best? Pick the large one up from his stomach and throw it at him?

What are you gonna do? Run? Merlin's balls he was screwed.

He could also spit him in the face and hope that his self-loving and hopefully germophobic side would freak out and run?

It sounded like Lockhart was crouching down beside him, and waited for the inevitable - a wand pointed to his face.

But it never came. Instead, a cold finger turned his slag head towards the left - towards Lockhart, and it was kind of satisfying as he felt the before-mentioned spit run out of his mouth and down his chin.

"Tut-tut, what a shame. And Potter probably buried under the rubble… Such a waste."

To Daniel's immense surprise, Lockhart then started to levitate rock after rock off of him. He must have removed about half of them when suddenly the entire room started shaking really bad.

What the hell?!

He felt the large rock on his stomach rolling off as his hand fell down and grazed his hip painfully on the way, before it landed softly on top of something else with a little 'thud!'.

"Fuck!"

Deep inside, Daniel was doing a little happy dance like he had just caught the snitch right in front of Harry's face.

Then the shaking intensified and came nearer and nearer and suddenly Daniel had forgotten all about happy dances.

It would appear that Lockhart had the exact same thought as his footsteps were suddenly running in the opposite direction of the rumbling. The rumbling that was still rapidly nearing their location.

Is that the basilisk?

It must be enormous to wreck such havoc!

As if it somehow knew that there was someone on the other side of the rubble, the shaking and rumbling suddenly started moving to Daniel's right instead and disappeared completely after a few minutes.

Harry better not be hurt. He was not losing his best friend to a damn snake.

Though it was a life-threatening situation for Daniel for a few moments, it turned out to have a couple of upsides too. For one; Lockhart appeared to be completely gone. And second; All the shaking had loosened the rest of the rocks, and Daniel was now able to wiggle himself free.

He carefully stood up and noted that he could stand on both legs, though one of them was hurting if he put too much pressure on it.

At least I'm alive.

Being very careful to not fall over any rocks on the ground, he made his way to what felt like a solid wall of rocks - he barely touched it before the shaking began again.

He limped to the side so as to not get throttled if it should happen to crawl through the stonewall.

To his luck, it didn't - but the shaking had once again loosened the wall enough for some light to get through the cracks.

Sometime later, Daniel crawled through the hole he had dug and came out into a barely lit room. In front of him was a circular, open door with snakes on.

Bloody snakes everywhere.

walking carefully through the door, he saw marks on the floor like something had been dragged…

That had better not be the snake.

It was a short walk before he entered a large open room. There was water everywhere like the pipes had exploded or something. But the most terrifying thing was what was located in the other end of the room.

A large, ginormous, snake - but it was being attacked by some kind of bird.

And Harry was there, though he looked really shaken up. Just in front of Harry laid what he guessed to be Ginny, and then there was some sort of man.

But… That wasn't Lockhart… Who was it?

He carefully picked up a couple of rocks - as big as he could carry them, but still being able to throw. He would defend Harry with his life, but putting himself in danger before it was necessary also didn't help the issue at hand.

He slowly inched closer while keeping his eye on everything possible all at once.

The unknown figure was shouting at the basilisk to 'just kill the stupid bird' while using a wand to shoot spells after it, but it didn't seem to be working in his favour.

Weasley laid unmoving, still.

I hope she's not dead.

Harry was bleeding from his head and crawled slowly towards the redhead. Was he dragging a hat? Why in Merlin's name did it look like the sorting hat?

Something small and dark was laying off to the side and a bunch of white things were spread out close to it. What it was, he couldn't tell.

He came nearer and nearer, still surprisingly unnoticed, when Harry suddenly pulled a sword out of the hat.

It was large, silver and encrusted with jewels everywhere but the blade. Daniel didn't know why, but it shouted courage and victory to him, and he really hoped that Harry felt it all the same.

Simultaneously with Harry pulling out the Sword, the basilisk managed to get a swipe at the bird with its tail. For some miracle, the bird didn't go down but just took the swipe, and then flew upwards and out of some hidden pipe.

The snake then turned to Harry.

"This is the end, Harry potter. You have survived me before, but this shall be the last that you see of Lord Voldemort. For you shall perish - and I shall not."

Harry stood up valiantly, even as he struggled to do so, and clutched the sword hard with both hands in front of him. Harry was swaying ever so slightly from side to side but seemed to stand more and more confidently for each passing second. Was the sword that heavy?

"Ahh - I should have remembered the healing powers of the phoenix." Voldemort said slowly, still looking at Harry as everything else was at a sort of standstill.

"Hey, Voldytort!" Daniel shouted and brought all the attention in the room to himself. This might be the end of himself, but if it helped Harry in the end, it would be worth it.

Also, come on, who doesn't want to mock a raging sociopath at least once in their lifetime. Live a little, right?

He followed his outburst with the largest rock he had in his hands, and thrust it at the snake - right between its bleeding eyes.

The basilisk instantly looked close to reeling at him, and Daniel didn't understand why it hadn't already - but he wasn't going to give it the time to do so. "Harry!" He shouted at his friend, who instantly seemed to understand.

Harry jumped into a sprint towards the basilisk who in its confusion forgot all about Daniel, and instead snapped forward towards Harry. Its demise came when it opened its mouth to bite, and in doing so gave Harry free access to jab the sword directly into the mouth and further into the head.

It seemed like some kind of sick joke, that when the snake fell to the side, it took Harry with him. Daniel was already in as much of a run as he was capable of doing through his pain, when the snake's giant teeth rammed into Harry and then fell to the side halfway on top of him.

"HARRY!" He was almost by his friend's side when a green spell hit the floor just in front of him.

Looking up, he saw the angry eyes of Voldemort looking directly at him.

"I don't care who you think you are - but one more step and you're dead."

"Daniel Arcturus Black - at his service." Daniel mocked again, bowed deeply and pointed towards Harry with a wide smile that he hoped wouldn't show how absolute terrified he currently was. He just barely jumped out of the way and behind the giant snake's now still corpse, when the green spell flew towards him once again.

He landed hard on his stomach and grimaced as pain shot through his body. He hadn't had time to find out what was wrong, but it sure as hell didn't feel right.

Apparently, the Great Lord Voldemort was a terrible shot. Who would have known…

"The… Book… Stab… The book." Daniel felt shock soaring through him by the sound of his best friend. They were almost face to face as the both of them laid on the cold stone floor - one being slowly crushed to death and the other being free, yet hurt.

"But - you-" He was at a loss for words. His friend was lying there half alive, and he wanted Daniel to do - what exactly?

"It's… Him… He's... The book."

"Shit…" Daniel whispered, and armycrawled to the best of his abilities to the book a few meters away.

Spells were flying everywhere as he finally made it there.

"Leave that alone!" Voldemort yelled and threw a red spell at Daniel. It missed. Again.

What does he expect me to stab it with?!

He picked up the first and best thing that he could reach, and jammed it directly into the cover of the book.

The book instantly started bleeding what looked like ink… Simultaneously, he heard Voldemort screaming behind him.

Though it cut him to the bone to listen to the painful screaming, Daniel dug the white thing into the book again and again and again, until no more sounds could be heard.

When it finally screamed, he looked up and realized what he had used. Horrified and disgusted with himself, he threw the tooth as far away as possible and scuttered in the opposite direction.

An anguished moan behind him made him turn back around in shock. It was then that he realized that Harry was still being crushed by the giant reptile.

"I'm coming mate!" He yelled and hurried back to his friend.

With all the energy that he had left in his body, he lifted the animal up. He didn't know how much room it gave Harry, but suddenly his best friend pushed himself out in a groan of exhaustion.

"Is… Ginny… Ginny… Alive." Harry gasped between breaths as he struggled to get his body back under control.

"I…" He had no idea. He hadn't sent a single thought in Ginny's direction since he passed her to get to Harry.

Feeling exhaustion begin to overcome him, he limped to the redhead and almost fell to his knees beside her. He fumbled with her cloak to get it out of the way and put his fingers on her neck.

Everything was quiet as he focused all of his energy on feeling for the small girl's pulse.

It wasn't long until Harry was at his side, pulling her wrist to him and fumbling around for the pulse point, while leaning over her with his ear directly in front of her mouth.

"I've got a pulse!" Daniel suddenly exclaimed as he felt the soft pulse of blood rushing through her veins. "It feels kind of weak, but it's definitely there."

"And she's breathing as well. So; breathing and pulse. What were we supposed to do after that?" Harry asked, while looking back at Daniel in deep thought.

"Ehhh…. 'Check for breathing… Aaaand… move to the side and tilt their head back! Then call 999 and find an adult." Daniel said and together they rushed to put Weasley on her side with her head tilted back. As they moved her around, they noticed that she didn't look quiet as pale anymore.

"Now what? It's not like we can just find a phone or run for help." Harry sighed hard, and the two friends leaned against each other in exhaustion.

Daniel took this moment to look around the room they were in. It was a huge room, barely lit up - from what, he couldn't tell - and kind of scary with a large dead snake lying behind them. Daniel found himself getting some instant involuntary chills, and looked over his shoulder at the beast.

It's definitely dead.

"Hopefully they'll find Lockhart and he'll tell them where we are." Daniel sighed just as hard. He just wanted to go to bed, but it's not like they could actually go anywhere.

"What happened to him anyway?" Harry said, suddenly looking curiously around like he expected the guy to walk in from the sidelines and be like 'Did you see what I did with that snake? It was truly exceptional! I can already see the title for my next book, before me; Beating the basilisk - How I opened the Chamber of Secrets.'

Daniel snorted loudly. "I don't know. He woke up suddenly, found my wand, decided to remove the rocks from my legs since he thought I was dead, and ran off when the shaking began again. That guy is terrified of everything." What an arsehole.

"Huh. Why did he think you were dead?" Harry asked curiously, looking his friend up and down like he had suddenly grown an extra head.

"Because I played dead. With him talking about killing us and taking the honor for everything, there was no way I was giving him the opportunity."

"Huh… Well, great thinking there, Dan." Harry said and clapped his friend on the back in acknowledgement.

"Speaking of dead… Why aren't you? Weren't you like… Impaled by that thing?" Daniel wondered out loud, once again chancing a look at the beast behind them.

At first, Harry didn't answer. Daniel was at the point of asking him again wondering if maybe Harry hadn't heard him - when suddenly an answer came.

"I don't know, actually… It was like I could feel the teeth against my cloak, but it never really penetrated… I don't know what it is with dad's old cloak, but apart from making me invisible it might be a shield… I don't know. I guess I'll have to ask Sirius what he knows about it."

"Huh…"

They both returned to silence as they waited to be rescued.

Hermione's POV

29th of June, 1993

It was the last night of their second year, and everything was supposed to be good. All their exams had been taken, the End-of-Term-Feast had been taken, the house-cup had been awarded to Gryffindor, and they were set to be going home the following morning.

Also, she had obviously been woken from her month-long petrification, feeling completely fine yet a little sore in her muscles.

But everything was supposed to be fine! And it absolutely wasn't.

Her and Daniel's relationship had gone downhill ever since their fight a couple of months ago, and it wasn't getting better. She had woken up from the petrification and she didn't know how or why, but Daniel acted like sleeping for a month had somehow… reset her system, or whatever. And it hadn't - if anything else, she had become more aware of her surroundings which also meant that she had become more aware of him.

It had come to the point where she always knew where he was in the room, and if he was on the path of coming close to her or not. Which also meant that she, without realizing it, would freeze up completely, and not relax before he was out of arm's reach of her again.

These couple of weeks (if not months) had been hell to say the least.

That was why she found herself walking into the boy's dormitories after dinner, luckily only finding Daniel, Harry and Neville in there, packing up their belongings for their return home. She didn't know what she would have done if Ron had also been there - she had honestly grown tired of his constant aggression towards her, and she didn't have the energy for it that particular night.

She knocked softly on the door, and opened it when she was called to enter. "Hi guys." She said as she entered just as Harry put his broom into his trunk. She was met with greetings from all around.

Looking around the room, she found that most of the boys in the room had all their stuff littered across their beds and surrounding spaces, but she found an empty spot on Harry's bed which she chose to use before he decided to fill it out with more stuff.

"Hey! I was going to put my books there!" Harry exclaimed with his books in his arms, as he turned around from his trunk.

"Sucks to be you, then. Why don't you just put it back in the trunk where you were supposed to put it in about three minutes and seventeen seconds?" She sighed and leaned back against his headboard. He didn't answer her, but she thought she heard him grumpy about 'broom' and 'knows everything', just as he put it down in the exact same spot as he had just taken it from. She grinned internally.

For the next twenty minutes or so, she watched the boys finish packing their trunks one after the other. Hermione felt the tension in the room grow more and more tense for each time She and Daniel avoided talking to one another.

Harry was the first to finish, and put the last pair of socks into his trunk. He took a moment to look around the room to check if he had everything. He looked at Hermione, then Daniel, and finally at Neville before he groaned loudly. "Shoot. I forgot my broom at the quidditch-pitch. I better go get it."

"I'll walk with you - I need to talk to Professor Sprout before we leave." Neville interjected and rushed to the door as Harry left. "See you later!" He called back before the door shut behind him.

"Do you want to tell him that he packed his broom as the very first thing?" Daniel asked in a low voice while putting a few small things into his trunk.

"Nah, I think it was quite intentional." She sighed as she started fiddling with Harry's bedspread underneath her.

"You didn't come here to watch us pack, did you?" He asked as he sat down hard on his bed.

"No." She said, deciding that there was no way she was getting out of this. Shit needed to be taken care of.

"Is this where you're breaking up with me?" He said slowly, still not looking at her.

"Yes."

"Is it because of Harry?" Ha asked quickly. Too quickly. Was that really what he thought of her?

"Eww… I'd actually rather date Wills… That's just… Ew, Daniel, just Eww."

Daniel sighed and followed it up with a low chuckle, before he stood and walked to Harry's bed where he sat down at the opposite and then her. "Okay, okay. I get it."

"I'm sorry - I tried. I really did." Hermione rushed while she looked at him intently. She really was sorry.

"I know." He whispered, before clearing his throat and speaking a bit louder. "It is what it is."

"It is…" She said in a low voice as she slid to the edge of the bed. Her toes barely touched the floor… "So, I'm going to go pack my trunk now. I'll see you tomorrow?"

He chuckled at that. "I thought you'd already packed?"

"Oh, I did. Multiple times - and now I'm going to go redo it. See you." She said, slid to the floor and left the room to go unpack and repack her trunk for the 5th time that day.