Chapter 41 - Doubt

Iris' ears were ringing. Or at least, she thought so, she couldn't really hear anything at all except for a faint notion of a high-pitched tinnitus. Blinking her eyes, she tried to understand what was going on, but the imprint of the gigantic white arc was still burned into her retina. Also, there was that smell again. Just like in the detention wing, when she had been trying out her light.

It did seem like an insignificant detail considering everything else, but right now, her sense of smell was the only thing that seemed to be in working order at all. What on earth had just happened? She had had him cornered, on the ground, was just about to deliver the finishing blow, but then he had shouted some spell she didn't recognize—Imperium Fulgur?

Slowly, she could make out shapes and outlines of things past the ominous jagged white afterimage burned into her vision. She was on the ground, just where she had been standing. But it didn't seem like she was injured. She wasn't hurting, it just felt like her hairs were standing on end. Someone was lying on the ground across from her- Malfoy! He was still holding his wand, but his face was that of shock. He wasn't even attempting to cast anything at her anymore. In fact, he seemed to be shaking slightly, swaying in place as if having trouble to stay conscious. Looking up, to where the afterimage of the bolt of lightning had ended, she saw-

A massive crater of partially molten and cracked stone in one of the large pillars to the side of the dueling stage, easily the size of her entire body. Her eyes widened. What the fuck.

If that had hit her-

Also, why didn't it? She was pretty sure he had aimed his wand at her, not... at the ceiling. Not that she was complaining, mind you.

A flash of red light arced across the Dueling stage, and Malfoy's loosely-held wand came flying without resistance into the hands of Professor Flitwick.

"Follow me, Mister Malfoy," he simply said.

Iris swallowed at the way he had said that. She hadn't ever seen Flitwick in any mood other than overly joyful. Malfoy was simply staring, seemingly not quite comprehending the situation entirely. Not that she was, either. What on earth had he been thinking?

Malfoy staggered to his feet, still barely able to keep his balance, his expression holding a haunted look. Without a word, he began to stumble after the Charms professor. Iris was slowly getting to her feet, unsure what to do. She was still kind of in a daze, staring up at the cracked stone.

That... that could have easily killed her. Yes, wizards were supposedly more physically resilient than Muggles, but not by a lot, if her experiences with Neville and Harry were anything to go by. It was really more a matter of accidental magic coming to their rescue, a luxury that she sadly couldn't rely upon. And she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to survive being struck by a goddamn lightning bolt. Could people survive something like that? May be something to look up.

"Well, Miss Potter, it would appear you are left without a partner," came the voice of Lockhart, once again stating the obvious.

"How about you join your brother and your friend in the meanwhile and form a group of three? I'm sure they won't mind the company."

Iris wasn't in any state to argue, so she just nodded. Turning, she easily spotted the wide-eyed expression of said two people, and slowly approached them.

"Iris, are you alright?" came the inevitable question, to which she just nodded.

"Yeah. Somehow. The spell went wide for some reason, even though I think he really was aiming at me."

Harry shot her a concerned look, and replied, "You think... he was trying to kill you? With something like that..."

"I... I don't know. If he knew what that spell would do... But the way he reacted after it happened, I don't think that's really what he wanted either."

They just stood there for some time, watching the other duels, as Iris gathered her wits again, and reassured them that she was, in fact, alright.

"What even was that spell?" asked Harry, to which Iris just shrugged helplessly.

Luckily, Susan seemed happy to chime in. "I think that spell was used a lot during the last war, as a show of force or something. I don't think it's technically illegal, it's not like it is polarized magic or something, it's just... well it's very powerful, it basically almost entirely drains the caster in a second, and produces, well, you saw. But it's not really used in fights, since you can't aim it."

Well, she guessed that made some sense. If it operated on a pure elemental aspect without any control, then, it would probably act almost like a regular lightning bolt. And lightning never strikes twice or something. At least, she didn't think you could really control where it would hit, except if there was something like a lightning rod, she guessed. Also, if it drained you entirely when you cast it... She wondered how that would work for her, with her magic. Could she maybe control the power output by the brightness of the color of the aspect she used? That had worked with other spells already... And maybe, she could figure out a way to counter it as well? She supposed that it was unlikely to randomly get hit by this spell over a distance, so there probably wasn't much of a point, but... well, the giant hole in the ceiling begged to differ.

"-Iris?"

"Huh?" Iris blinked.

Harry smiled, and repeated what he said. "You feeling up for another round to clear your head? Or do you need a break after..."

Well sure, she guessed it might help take her mind off what just happened. Trust Harry to know how she felt. "Against you? Or against-" she asked, her eyes panning over to Susan.

Harry's gaze met Susan's with a meaningful look, and they both turned to meet her eyes again, until he grinned and simply replied, "Yes."

~V~

"Are you sure about this?" asked Lockhart with a concerned expression.

Harry and Susan nodded, while Iris just shrugged. She supposed she could try, but she didn't expect much to come of it. While she had managed to beat Susan the last few times they had dueled, Harry was pretty skilled as well, and there was also the slight issue that she wasn't sure if she really could cast anything at him that might potentially hurt him. Also, it was still two against one.

But apparently, Harry thought it was a good idea, so they were doing this thing now.

"Three, two, one... Begin!"

Iris immediately opened by tossing her orb of light towards Susan to prevent her from pulling a fast one on her, which apparently, hadn't even been necessary.

"Expelliarmus!" "Everte Statum!"

Ah, so that's how they wanted to play it? Trying to overwhelm her shield by casting two spells at once? Also, they were coming at a slight angle, so it would be hard to dodge both of them. Well, in this case, she wouldn't even have to. Iris called the yellow light of the Control aspect into her wand, and swiped it forward with a thought. Reiecto!

Luckily, both those spells used the Control aspect. However, that also meant that she'd be hit with the pure Destruction and Force aspects of their spells. Iris winced as the yellow counterparts were reflected, and the blue and red beam impacted her chest, causing a jab of pain and knocking her back a step, but leaving her wand firmly in her hand. Harry quickly brought up a shield with a shout of "Protego!" yet Susan simply let the yellow spell harmlessly splash against her.

Well, if she wanted to take them both out at once...

Lapsus! Both spells of Susan's combo worked on an area, so she could try and-

Pulsare! "Pulsare!"

Susan had realized what she was up to, and had met her spell with an identical one of her own, causing the shockwaves of air to meet in the center with a heavy Thwump, but other than blowing their hair back, nothing much else came of it.

Harry met Susan's eyes again, and as one, they once again shouted their spells.

"Expelliarmus!" "Rictusempra!"

Damn it. Those spells didn't match up in any aspects. She'd either have to dodge one, or-

A wild idea entered her mind. With an involuntary grin, she drew up a mix of Red and Indigo, causing her wand to glow an ominous purple, and she once again produced the reflective shield, this time also glowing purple.

And the two incoming spells once again met the shield and split, leaving her more or less unharmed. That had actually worked? Hang on, did that mean if she used it on a single dual-aspect spell...

Iris didn't counter their attack, so after a second, Susan shouted once more, "Expelliarmus!"

This time, Iris brought up both Red and Yellow, which resulted in a beautiful orange reflective shield. The red spell impacted it, and was reflected right back at Susan, who as always proceeded to ignore it as she swiped her wand again-

The reflected spell hit Susan dead center and it sent her wand flying, spinning through the air, until Iris caught it with a grin.

"Stupefy!" Iris eyes widened as she recognized the spell, but she wasn't quite sure what aspects it would use. Given what the spell did, she really should have tried it out sooner. So instead, she dodged to the side, barely avoiding the red beam of energy from Harry's wand.

"Pulsare!"

Huh, Harry knew that spell too? Iris planted her feet and braced for impact, as the shockwave burst forth, but Harry hadn't been idle.

"Accio wand!"

Oh crap, that was nasty! Iris gripped her wand tightly as the shockwave hit her, and she felt a force yank-

No, Susan's wand! She watched wide-eyed, as the wand she had captured sailed back in the other direction, and Harry caught it and tossed it back to an astonished Susan with a grin.

Well, but that had just given her an idea.

Lapsus! A swipe of her orange glowing wand caused the familiar icy blue flash to soar down the dueling stage. Susan was still fumbling with her wand, but Harry managed to bring up another shield. However, it was just a fraction of a second too late, and most of the area spell managed to slip past it. With a grin, she flicked her wand again. Accio!

Well, that seemed even more unfair than Susan's original combo. Although, come to think of it, there were spells to prevent something from being summoned, so that probably wouldn't work against someone who was prepared and had charmed their wand against that. But still, she guessed she'd take it.

There was a moment of stunned silence as the two wands came flying her way, and she plucked them out of the air with a grin.

~V~

"Iris! Come on, I found something! You gotta see this!"

Iris groaned. Just what was the ghost thinking? It was- what was the time, anyway? Iris rolled to the side and threw a look at the small clock on her nightstand, and groaned as she saw it was five in the morning. Rolling back over, she tried to close her eyes again and fall back asleep.

Myrtle flew up to her face and whispered desperately, "Come on! We gotta go! It's about the Heir of Slytherin!"

That caused her to jolt wide awake. Had the girl found something? Throwing a glance at Tracey to check if she was still asleep, she scrambled out of bed, grabbed her wand, and hurried towards the door.

"Wait! Someone's out there!" Myrtle whispered hastily, sticking her head through the door.

"What? Who'd be out there at this time?"

"Snape and some other people are in the common room, last I saw."

Iris frowned. She couldn't just waltz out there when Snape was out and about. But... but if it was about the heir...

"Where did you want to go?" Iris asked in a whisper.

"Back to the second-floor bathroom. I think I found a lead!"

Iris shifted nervously. Well, she had one way to get there, but-

Throwing another glance at Myrtle, she decided to try. Hopefully, the girl wouldn't question the reason too much.

"Can you go on ahead? I'll catch up with you there. Just to make sure it's safe."

"You sure? What about-"

"I've got it handled," Iris declared, causing Myrtle to hesitantly nod, and finally disappear through the ceiling.

With a final glance at Tracey, Iris took a breath, and brought her mind back to that night. To that voice. To what he had done to Harry. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the shadow realm once more.

With a nod, she quickly began to make her way towards the aforementioned girls' bathroom. On the way, she got a glance at the common room. She had gotten in the habit to not look too closely at it from the shadow realm, but she could still make out some people.

Snape was indeed there, but so was... Not-Snape? What? Again? What was going on? Deciding she did not want to find out whether they could detect her in the shadow realm, she quickly hurried down the secret passageway to Snape's office, and from there, down the hall and up the stairs. In a single minute, she found herself around the corner of the aforementioned bathroom, and with a glance to check if the air was clear, she once again returned back to her original plane.

"Wow, that was awesome! How'd you get here so fast?"

Iris jumped, whirled around, and then froze. God damn that nosy ghost.

"Uh... trade-secret?" Iris replied lamely. "Please don't tell anyone about that."

Myrtle made a motion as if to zip her mouth shut, although she was still grinning like a loon. Instead, she pointed them towards the bathroom, and Iris followed, now curious.

Myrtle floated up to the sink in the center of the bathroom, and gestured wildly, making muffled noises. "Mmmmhh! Mm, mmmhh!"

Iris stared at the ghost for a bit and rolled her eyes, as the ghost finally raised a finger, then lifted her other hand and un-zipped her mouth again, and repeated herself.

"Over there, on the sink. I don't know if it's related, but you said the heir might have been in here, and well, take a look."

Iris stepped closer and took a hesitant look. It... well, it was a sink. What was she-

Oh. Her eyebrows went up. There was a small snake engraved in the side of the faucet. Getting curious, she tried the handle, only to yield no result. Huh.

"What do you think it means?" asked Iris carefully.

"No idea. But it looks very old, not like something a student would have added."

"Do you think... it could have something to do with the Chamber of Secrets?"

"It's... possible? No idea what though."

Iris withdrew her wand, swiped it along the sink and whispered "Revelio."

The tiny snake began to glow in a soft purple, but she had no idea what that would mean. Also, she felt something, a strange seeping sensation, very close, maybe not quite from the snake, but also... Maybe if she knew some more of the spells that the Aurors had used- Wait, the Aurors!

"Uh... Myrtle, do you know what the Aurors are doing here?" Iris asked, having a bad feeling about this.

"Oh! Well I think I heard one of them complain about having searched the whole castle first, and only searching the rooms after... But no idea for what, or why..."

Iris swallowed. They were going to search the rooms- again? Or rather, for real this time? Last time somehow had never happened, after all. But she guessed, now that Lupin had been attacked, they had to admit that it hadn't been Peter Pettigrew after all. But- Oh crap! What would they do if they found her room half-empty? She had to get back! But-

What if this was actually related to the heir after all? What could she...

"Myrtle? Could you stay here and... keep watch? If this really has to do with the Chamber, maybe the heir will show up again?"

"Huh? What about- I mean sure, I guess, it's not like I've got much else to do, but-"

"Thanks! See you!" Iris called out, and bolted out of the bathroom. After turning the first corner, she immediately peeled open the shadows again, and made her way back to her room, and not a moment too soon.

Tracey was already awake and of course noticed her shadow become, well, herself, and immediately began her inquisition.

"Iris? What's going on? Where've you been? Also, what-"

Iris cut in with her hand raised. "Hang on, we'll talk later. Snape is coming. Better if he thinks we've been asleep."

Tracey looked between her and the door uncertainly for a second before she nodded and laid back down.

Iris had barely pulled her sheets back over herself, when the door opened up, and two men entered. Both the Snapes stepped through, and Iris barely managed to hold a giggle at the sight.

"Professor? Wha-" Tracey pretended to have woken up from the commotion.

"We are in the process of searching the castle for an alleged dark artifact that may be responsible for the attacks. Should you manage to... remain civil, we will be gone within the minute," the real Snape said.

Tracey just nodded dumbly, clutching the blanket to her chest.

Not-Snape frowned, and stalked into the center of the room, with Snape following behind, and they both drew their wands and began to cast.

"Revelio!"

As they kept casting, the gaze of the more terrifying Snape slowly settled onto Iris.

"Have you per chance been... in contact... with any sort of dark magic recently, Miss Potter?"

Iris swallowed. Crap! He... he could tell? Well, she supposed she had literally just stepped out of the shadow realm not even a minute ago... What was she supposed to say here? Iris looked up and met his eyes. She also couldn't just say that she had been practicing polarized magic to use against the Dark Lord or the heir... Oh, right!

"Well, yeah, you know, there was the thing last summer... When Professor Quirrell cursed me..."

His eyes were boring deep into hers, and Not-Snape stepped up next to her with a suspicious look.

"Right. I suppose that would... explain it," Snape finally said, and lowered his wand.

Finally, Not-Snape nodded and called, "All clear, let's go." And with that, he swept out of the room. Snape, however, was still staring. His eyes seemed to convey some sort of meaning, but Iris wasn't sure what. Finally, at another call from the hallway, he whirled around, and stalked out of the room, leaving a tense Iris and a befuddled Tracey behind.

~V~

Following that night's events, Harry had once again met up with Iris and Lockhart, in order to get an update on the situation. It looked like this time, they had indeed managed to search the entire castle. And yet-

"Nothing? Really?" repeated Harry.

"Nothing," confirmed Lockhart.

The three of them shared a long look, as the implications of this began to sink in. Either, the artifact or whoever had it had managed to hide it well enough to slip past both the Aurors and the teachers, or... Ginny had actually destroyed it, and it had never been the artifact attacking the students to begin with. The only evidence to that regard was that Ginny's blackouts seemed to have lined up with the three attacks, anyway. The only thing they were pretty sure about was that the monster was real, and that it was probably a basilisk. Speaking of which-

"I've been thinking... If we can't find or defeat the heir, the next best thing would be to defeat the basilisk, right? At least that, we know about, and can prepare against," Harry suggested.

Iris tilted her head, and Lockhart shot him a wary glance. "A basilisk is an extremely dangerous creature, Mister Potter," he began slowly.

"Yeah, well, Hermione did some digging, and found out a few things about them. While they do prefer cold places, extreme cold is dangerous for them. They are the natural enemy of spiders of all types, due to their almost circular vision, and the crow of a rooster is deadly to it. Also, if our theory holds that preventing direct eye-contact prevents its gaze from killing you, we could also use that to our advantage."

"How do you mean?" asked Iris, now intrigued.

"Well, sunglasses could work, a pocket mirror might also work. I guess we'd still get petrified, if it came to it, but we'd at least still be alive..."

"Oh, yeah, I guess, but I meant about the roosters. What's this about its crow being deadly?" clarified Iris.

Lockhart chimed in with some wisdom of his own. "It's not just that their crow is deadly, a rooster is the basilisk's natural enemy. It's not like the rooster would somehow hunt it, but the basilisk knows on a primal level that a rooster is dangerous to it, and will avoid it at all costs."

Iris perked up. "But that's good, right? We can use that against it, somehow... I don't suppose a transfigured rooster would work?"

Lockhart simply shook his head. "Not with something like this. Arcane magic like this is not so easily tricked."

"I figured," grumbled Iris. "Do we have some roosters here at Hogwarts?"

Harry perked up. "Yeah, I think I saw some at Hagrid's place!"

"Great, wanna head there and ask him if we can borrow one?" Iris queried.

Harry opened his mouth, then paused. "Uh, I've got Charms in half an hour, but we can head there after lunch, how's that sound?"

"Oh, that's fine. Wait, before you go, I found something that I have to show the two of you! I, or rather, well, Myrtle... Hang on. Myrtle? You there?" Iris called out, looking around the room.

Harry raised an amused eyebrow, and Lockhart just looked confused.

"Really? The one time I need her she isn't hanging around for no reason? Well, I suppose I asked her to keep watch... Fine, guess we'll have to go there then. I need to show you anyway."

Lockhart shot Harry a questioning look, and Harry just shrugged. Iris was just being Iris again.

She led them all the way down to the second-floor where Mrs. Norris had been killed, and then down the hallway towards the bathrooms, and finally turned right. Pushing open the door, she waved them inside. Harry shrugged, then followed.

"It's right over here!" Iris called, as she led them over to the sinks.

"Iris! You're back! I was almost getting lonely..."

Harry sighed as the clingy ghost soared through the door, and sidled up to Iris. "Hey Myrtle," replied Iris absentmindedly.

Harry caught another questioning gaze from Lockhart, to which he just shrugged.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Nope, complete snore-fest the whole time," replied Myrtle cheerfully.

"Anyway, look at... this?" Iris trailed off.

She leaned forward to inspect one of the sinks, from both sides, then she stepped around the pillar to inspect all the other sinks.

"What should I be looking at?" asked Harry confusedly.

Iris stumbled back over to the first sink and tried the handle, and then gasped as, somehow unexpectedly, water came out.

"I... It was right here..." Iris whispered. "What?"

"Huh, that's weird..." chimed Myrtle, as she flew up to inspect the sink.

"You really haven't seen anyone come in? At all?" asked Iris again.

"Nobody whatsoever," confirmed Myrtle with a nod.

"What... was supposed to be there?" asked Harry hesitantly.

"There was an engraving, of a snake, right here on the handle..." Iris muttered in confusion. "Also, the sink was broken; there was no water."

She withdrew her wand, produced a glow of purple light, and swiped it through the air with a mutter of "Revelio."

Iris frowned, and finally turned to Myrtle and shot her an accusing glare. "We're going to have a talk after this."

"What, me? Okay, I might have gotten distracted for a second, but-"

Iris sighed, then turned to look at Harry. "Sorry. I thought I had something, and I still think I did, but, well..." she gestured helplessly to the regular boring old sink.

"It's alright," replied Harry. "We'll keep looking."

Iris stared back uncertainly, and after some time, seemingly gathered her resolve, and nodded.

~V~

Iris slammed the door of the strange classroom that she and Myrtle had been using to practice, and turned to glare at the aforementioned ghost.

"So?"

"Okay, before you say anything, I'm sorry, I messed up," the girl began, looking down at her feet.

Iris just raised an expectant eyebrow.

"I... well I had this fantastic idea, you see? I was just drifting around through the pipes, thinking about your weird magic, the way you cast spells, and the way you use your orb to cancel other spells, and I was wondering... Do you think you could use that orb to... cast spells?"

Well, that was a blatant deflection if there ever was one, but Merlin be damned if it wasn't working.

It was basically what she did, anyway, except she'd just hold her light in her hand instead of in an orb, but... Hang on, did she mean that it might work even when she wasn't holding the orb? There was no way, was there? But... well, she was basically doing Corrumpo the same way, so... why not? It'd probably be at least as hard as her wandless attempt at Depulso, but...

Getting curious now, she called her orb of iridescent light, tossed it across the room, and then turned it Blue. She moved the orb to the far end of the room, then focused on the feeling of magic within it.

It was just like doing it with her hand, wasn't it? Just for comparison, she tried the spell again with her left hand, and after the second try, she got that sparking bolt of blue again. Maybe if she...

Iris focused and made as if to reach for the orb, and move it in place behind the chair—just like holding it in her hand, except that it was, well, across the room.

Still holding the orb with her imaginary hand, she focused on the familiar feeling of the Depulso spell, and tried to mimic the motion with her not-hand holding the orb.

No, that wasn't quite it. If anything, the attempted motion made it worse. So instead, she doubled down on the feeling of the magic. The way the light would be sucked in, form into that spear-shape, and then be released into a spinning motion just in the right direction... "Depulso!"

A flash of blue and a blinding shower of sparks heralded the massively unstable but yet successful cast. The way it looked, it would probably fizzle out after a meter at the latest, but, well, it didn't have to go far.

The chair lurched and was tossed across the room from the impact, until it sailed right at and then through Myrtle, who pretended to be critically hit. "Oww! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot! You were lost in your thoughts, instead of paying attention, was it? Someone must have come in and removed the snake, or done... something, I don't know! You really didn't see anything at all?" Iris demanded accusingly.

"I... well... not really? Also, you're one to talk!" retorted Myrtle.

She guessed that was fair, but also, right now, she hadn't been the one who had messed up.

"Not the point. What do you think could have happened? Also, what does it mean? If the snake had something to do with the Chamber, maybe... maybe someone has seen me and gotten rid of it, since it was no longer safe? I mean, I don't think anyone was around during that night, especially with the search, so... Maybe someone heard? But the only people who knew were me, Harry and Lockhart, you, and Tracey. You haven't told anyone else, have you?" Iris asked sharply.

"I... No, of course not! Do you think I'm an idiot?" Myrtle exclaimed indignantly.

Iris stared the ghost girl down for a few more seconds, but finally decided to let it be for now. Instead, she spent some more time practicing the new casting technique she had discovered, with Myrtle happily providing some more ideas on how to improve the stability of her spells, seemingly intent on trying to make up for her mistake.

Finally, she decided to call it quits and head out, she still wanted to get some lunch before her visit to Hagrid with Harry. Come to think of it, she had never actually visited him, despite him inviting her at the start of their first year, and Harry repeatedly trying to get her to come along. She guessed she had some apologizing to do as well.

~V~

"Harry, an' Iris! It's so good ter see yeh, how've yeh been? 'Specially you Iris, I'm glad yeh finally found time ter come 'round me humble place. Got lots ter tell yeh."

"Uh... Hi, Hagrid. Sorry I didn't... visit sooner. We've... well... okay lots of stuff happened, but yeah. That's kind of... just excuses, I guess," Iris began lamely, then looked down at her feet.

"Ah, never yeh mind. I'm jus' glad yeh found the time now. Come on, lemme get some tea ready fer the both o' yeh," Hagrid said with what was probably a smile, if the way his beard slightly shifted was any indication.

The large man stumbled back inside his hut, and Iris warily entered and took a look around. It was a cramped, rickety wooden hut, filled with all kinds of plants, garden utensils, a—whoa, that was a massive dog—, a fireplace, and... oh, right, tea. But overall, despite appearances, it did have a pretty homely look to it.

"So, Hagrid," Harry began, as he moved to sit at the table. "I think I remember you have some roosters around here, right?"

Hagrid turned around and shot a dubious look at him. "Well, yeah, I do, out back. Or, at least, I do again, now."

Iris raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, now?"

"Someone bloody killed the whole lot 'few months ago. Only just managed ter get some new ones," Hagrid grumbled.

"Someone killed them?" exclaimed Harry, sharing a comprehending look with Iris. Whoever did that must have been the one after the attacks, which also meant, they were right on the money with the basilisk.

"Poor blighters. Bloody butchered 'em in cold blood, they did."

Iris took a careful step over to the window he had pointed towards, but she couldn't make out anything. So instead, she spoke up, "Could I go have a look?"

"Ah sure, be me guest, but well, they don' make fer much conversation, yeh know," Hagrid said with a smile.

Great, as if she didn't already feel guilty enough. But still, she had to see for herself. So, with a sheepish look back at him, she turned and headed for the back door, pushed it open, and peered through.

There was a large field with some pumpkins on it, a stack of wood behind the hut, a massive axe lodged in one of the trunks, and strewn out between the pumpkins, there were indeed several roosters.

Except, for one small, teensy problem.

Every single one of them was petrified.