Climbing out of the Shadows [1D-5SOS-HP]

twenty-two.

Hope, Harry, and Ron were visiting their friend and Hope's brother in the hospital wing. Harry had brought in new flowers, to replace the dead ones by Hermione's bedside table. 

They had been in here far too long for anyone liking. And it wasn't like it was just easy to stroll on over to the hospital wing. You needed to have a teacher come and escort you to it. And that had proven itself to be difficult over the period of time they had been stuck here, petrified. Because so many other students need to be somewhere as well. 

Hope looked over to where her brother Harry was. He was always here when he could be for Niall, not wanting him to be alone at all during this time. He was taking it the hardest, not liking the empty bed next to his own. 

His body was currently slumped over in his chair as his head rested on Niall's bed, the only time he got some peaceful sleep. Purely out of the fact he was exhausted. 

Hope picked up a blanket as she walked over to him. Placing it around his shoulders to make sure he stayed warm. 

"Wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever," Harry held Hermione's left hand, the one that was not permanently stuck up in the air. Harry was puzzled, however, as he left something in the palm of his friend's hand. Looking down, he noticed a piece of crumpled up paper no one had noticed before. 

"What's that?" Ron sat up as he watches Harry unfold it. Hope walked over to see what was going on.

"This is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked," Harry read over what was on the paper. "Come on!"

The three of them said their goodbyes before leaving the Hospital wing. Harry looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Not wanting to get in trouble with a teacher for not following the school's new rules.

"'Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk. Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who meet this giant serpent's eyes. Spiders flee before it,'" Harry read off of the paper that was in Hermione's hand. "Guys, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. Thats why I can hear it speak. It's a snake."

"Oh great," Hope groaned. "First a giant spider, now a giant snake. Can no one have a normal pet now and days?"

Ron nodded his head in agreement, but then he thought about it, and something seemed off. "But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?

Hope thought about it for a second, before it hit her. Clapping her hands together, she did a little jump. "Because they aren't looking at it! They're looking at its reflection. Think about it, Colin had his camera. Justin had Nearly headless Nick. A-and Hermione and Niall were probably looking through that handheld mirror McGonagall showed us. They probably figured it out, and were trying to stay safe. That must be why they are being petrified, and not dying."