Chapter 10 ~ A Secret Best Kept Hidden

Once I was certain Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were asleep, I grabbed my wand and slipped out of bed. With care I took the book out of my trunk. But I couldn't read it here. I didn't know what it would do. I remembered that Harry had told me he had opened a book from the restricted section once and it had started screaming. I couldn't risk that. So I put on my robe, put the book into one pocket and my wand into the other and sneaked into the boy's dormitory. All I needed was Harry's invisibility cloak, but if he caught me borrowing it, it would only add to his bitter feelings towards me.

I held by breath as I searched through Harry's trunk. I almost didn't see it, but there it was, near the bottom – the invisibility cloak. I quickly grabbed it and threw it over my body. And not a second too late, for Ron suddenly stirred, opened his eyes, looked around in confusion, blinked a couple of times and closed his eyes again.

With utmost care, I opened the door, slipped out and closed it again, hoping I hadn't woken anybody up. I only breathed normally again when I reached the common room. But it was still not a safe place to read the book. Anyone could come down the stairs at any time. No, I had to get out of the Gryffindor tower, just to be sure.

After roughly fifteen minutes I found myself on the fourth floor corridor in an empty classroom. I didn't know what use it had, but it wasn't anything I'd be likely to be found in anytime soon. I took of the cloak and took out the book and my wand. I sat down on the floor and laid the book on the floor in front of me.

"Lumos," I whispered.

I studied the book's cover for a good while. It was leather bound and the title had presumably, at some point in time, been written in bright green. If what I read was correct, the book was titled The Secrets of Hogwarts. What an original title.

I took a deep breath, then opened the book. There was a loud, animalistic sound. It was much like hissing, a sound a lizard or a snake would make. The pages seemed to turn into a large mouth with sharp fangs inside it, snapping. A high-pitched sound escaped my throat, but I left the book open, and the hissing and the mouth disappeared.

"Nox!" I said quickly, grabbing the cloak and throwing it over my body and the book. I sat on the floor quietly, closing my eyes and waiting for the worst to happen. I don't know how long I sat there. I heard footsteps passing the door at one point. But a few minutes later, I wasn't even sure if it had been real.

I took a couple of deep breaths and lit my wand with light again. I had to read now.

The book was around six hundred pages long. There was no way I would manage to read it all. And at first, I couldn't even find an index. It turned out I just had missed the page. 

I skimmed through a couple of chapters, looking for a mention of the Chamber of Secrets. Around page 485 – my head was dropping now and again at the time and I was on the verge of falling asleep – something sparked my interest. It said something about Slytherin's monster. It was a Basilisk; a giant snake that killed people when they looked into its eyes and could be killed by the cry of a rooster. It would explain the rooster deaths recently... it all made sense now. I read more and more of that chapter until my eyes couldn't stay open any longer. I knew it all now. I knew what the monster was, I knew how to kill it, and it wouldn't take long until I found out which bastard did this.

I closed the book, returned it to the restricted section and returned to the Gryffindor tower. Apart from a very confused Fat Lady, nothing happened. Dawn was almost upon me, and everyone was still fast asleep. I returned the Cloak to Harry, sneaked out of the dormitory without waking anyone and slipped back into my own bed. At last I got my well-deserved rest.

In the morning, I sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't here yet. I was overly excited to tell them what I had found out, so much that I almost didn't feel tired. But when they came in and I waved at them, they quickly looked away and sat down elsewhere.

"Whoa, what happened there between the four of you?" George asked, sitting down next to me.

"I thought you were best friends or something," Fred added, sitting down next to his brother.

"We – we had a bit of a fallout," I said, poking my spoon around my porridge unenthusiastically. All excitement I had before was suddenly gone and replaced with slight anger. "I told them I wasn't muggle-born."

"And now even Ron is mad at you? But he knew. Blimey, I don't know what's going on in that boys head," Fred said.

I smiled. "He's just siding with Harry and Hermione."

"Well, you've got other friends, unlike him," he said.

"You've got us," added George.

"Thanks," I smiled weakly. "But your brother does have other friends too, you know?" I forced a laugh.

"Hey, we're just trying to cheer you up. You seem like you could use some fun. We've got this awesome prank planned with Lee, you could help us. Basically we'll-"

"No offense, George, but I don't really want to be a part of it."

The twins looked at me in surprise. "If you say so." They exchanged looks. I knew they were worried about me. But all I could think about as finding a way to convince Harry, Ron and Hermione to listen to me.

All throughout the day I tried to get them to listen to me, but they wouldn't. I got extremely annoyed with them. Yes, I had lied. But now I was trying to tell them something important and they weren't even listening to me! I could do it by myself. I'd find out who was the actual Heir of Slytherin on my own and manage to kill the Basilisk somehow. No, even better: I'd ask Alec for help. He was my friend and he was very clever. I was sure he would help me.

After Potions class I didn't go back to the Gryffindor tower. I walked the other way, towards the Ravenclaw tower to find Alec. As soon as I spotted him in the crowd I pushed past people rudely to get to him.

"Alec, I need your help," I said. He blinked a couple of times in surprise.

"You know each other?" a boy I had never seen before asked.

"Otherwise we wouldn't be talking, would we?" I gave him a stern look.

"Sure," Alec said. But he didn't sound it. "What is it?"

"I- can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Fire away."

"In private." I said awkwardly. His friends eyed me funnily.

"Okay," he said uncertainly. We walked away from the crowd and into an empty corridor.

"I know what the monster is that's petrifying people and I know how to stop it, but I need your help."

"You do?" He said with surprise. "How?"

"That doesn't really matter."

"What do you need my help for then?"

"Well, for once, you're cleverer than me, and I need a good plan before I do something. For another, we could try and find out who is doing this."

"Okay, can I just take my stuff back to the common room and we can meet up and discuss it."

"Are you free after dinner? We could meet up in the library and I could tell you the details."

"Sure. Just- not in the library. Everyone is there. It would be far too easy for the Heir to listen to us. You know we're both in danger when the person finds out about this, right? We're both muggle-born."

I swallowed hard. Should I tell him too? He was my friend after all, but I couldn't risk him being mad at me too.

"We're not in danger. I'm not actually muggle-born. I was told to lie about my true heritage. The monster wouldn't attack a half-blood or a muggle-born in company of a half-blood, would it?"

"You're not actually... muggle-born?" Alec looked shocked, yes, but I couldn't detect any hurt in his eyes. Not at first glance anyway.

"No," I paused. "Are you mad?"

"A little, maybe. But... No, I'm not mad. It doesn't really make a difference, does it? And what we're about to do is far more important anyway." I smiled at him in relief.

"You're a great person, do you know that?"

"Thanks," he shifted his feet uncomfortably. "We could meet in the charms classroom after dinner. No one is going to go there, and Professor Flitwick isn't usually in there at such hours. It's perfect."

"Okay," I said. "See you after dinner. Just, uh, make sure you look around corners with a mirror or by checking nothing is behind it with some sort of reflection. The monster, it, erm, it kills you when you look it in the eyes. The victims must not have looked it straight in the eye."

"Okay, don't worry. I'll take care."

I walked back to my own common room in solitude. Ginny was sitting in one of the armchairs. She looked shocked. I walked over to her.

"Are you all right?" I asked, concern in my eyes.

She nodded her head shakily. I didn't believe her.

"You look scared. Is it because of the attacks?" I put my hand on her shoulder. From the corner of my ee I saw Ron glaring at me, but I didn't care. If he was too stuck up in his own little world to care for his sister who was clearly frightened, I would. "You know you have nothing to fear. You're a pureblood. The monster wouldn't harm you."

"It's not that. I-" Ginny broke off.

"Everyone will be safe soon. The potion shouldn't take much more longer to prepare. And should I tell you a secret? I know what the monster is. I know how to stop it and with my friend Alec I'll find out who is doing this. They'll be held responsible, I'm sure. We'll catch them, you just see. In a matter of days all this will be over."

She looked at me, fear still evident in her eyes.

"It's going to be all right," I assured her.

I was extremely nervous all throughout dinner. I barely managed to eat anything. I constantly looked over to the Ravenclaw table to check if Alec was there and that nothing had happened to him. I wasn't sure about what I had said earlier. It was possible that the monster got to him while he was alone. Deciding I wouldn't eat anything else, I left the Great Hall. While exiting, I looked at the Ravenclaw table once more, but I couldn't see him. Maybe he was already there...

I brushed past several people, not caring what they thought.

"Hey, Serafina!" I heard someone call.  I didn't stop. "Serafina." I heard footsteps following me. I accelerated my pace. "Serafina, wait!" A hand touched my shoulder.

"Not now, Draco," I snapped. I didn't want to offend him in any way, but I needed him to leave me alone now.

"I just thought we could do something now for a change."

"Maybe some other day." I turned away from him again. He grabbed my wrist. "Will you just listen to me? Merlin's beard, why do you have to be so stubborn!"

"Just leave me alone, okay?" I pulled my hand away from his grasp. I was surprised by my own harshness, but I couldn't stop now. "I don't want anything to do with you right now."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "You are just like all the other filthy mud-bloods in the end, aren't you?"

I gasped. "You did not just say that. I am not any different than you are! You think you're so much better than everyone else, but you're not! Now leave me alone, I don't want anything to do with you!"

I stomped past him, brushing a tear out of my eye as I turned around a corner. I did what I had to do. While I could argue I only did that to get him to leave me alone for a little while, there was truth in what I had said. I meant it, and he meant what he had said. I knew he did. I was angry at him for being like that. He had offended several of my friends as well as me, indirectly.

A little aggravated, I entered the Charms classroom. It was empty, except for Alec, who was standing in front of the window.

"Sorry, I'm a little late," I said. "I got held up."

"That's okay. Do you have any idea of what to do? We know what the monster is, and there is enough lore about it to know what to do against it – I did some research. But the thing isn't actin on its own, I'm sure. What we need is a plan to catch this Heir of Slytherin. But we have no suspects and no leads on anything at all. It'll take much longer to find out who did this." "We can think of something, right? There has to be a way," I said.

"Well, yes, but what if more people get petrified? What do we do then?" Alec asked. "I say we look for a solution, and if there is another victim, we take care of the Basilisk first."

"That sounds like a reasonable i-"

I froze when the reflection of something in the window caught my eye. It couldn't be, no. It was impossible! It couldn't happen, not to me! I wasn't even muggle-born, I was a half-blood! – There was a massive snake slithering towards us. Had we not closed the door? I kept my eyes fixed on a spot on its skin. I couldn't look it in the eye. Maybe it would go away.

"Serafina, are you alright?" Alec turned slightly and put a hand on my shoulder. I froze.

"Whatever you do, Alec, do not turn around," I warned him, my voice trembling.

"Why, what is it?" He looked confused.

"Just trust me on this. Turn towards the window again, please."

Alec did as I told him. "Oh..." he said when he saw the Basilisk too. "Well, I see your point."

"Maybe if we're really quiet and don't look it in the eyes, even if it's only the reflection of its eyes, it'll go away."

"No, I don't think so, Sera." Alec was scared; I could hear it in his voice. "Can't you see? It's slithering closer to us. If it reaches us, I don't know what it'll do. But a Basilisk's fangs are poisonous. I don't think we have much of a choice but to look it in the eye."

"I don't want to be petrified, Alec. I'm not even one of its usual victims. I don't fit the pattern." My hand was shaking. "Alec?" I reached for his arm. It was cold as stone and hard as rock. "No," I whispered. My breathing got heavy. I was panicking. I couldn't turn, I couldn't run. I could only hope that the monster would leave now that Alec was petrified – but that thought scared me.

I risked another glance into the window. It was still coming closer. It didn't seem to stop. So I did what I had to do. My eyes trailed up its body until I saw the Basilisk's horrible eyes. After that, I didn't do anything else. Slowly, all my body started getting stiff. My eyesight was going blurry. But in my last moments before I got petrified, yes I could swear I saw someone standing there in the room with us. I hoped it was only my eyes playing tricks on me. I didn't want it to be true. It couldn't be her, not Ginny.

So uh, maybe no a week but more like 3. But as you can tell, this story is coming to an end anyway. And I'll make sure things'll be a little different with the next book.