Madelyn Potter WTMs 𝙲

2.25| Missing

[The next day, Maddie, Sky and Ron are visiting Hermione in the Hospital Wing again; Maddie takes the old dried up flowers out of the vase next to Hermione's bed, puts in some new white flowers (most likely roses), then sits on the bed.]
Madelyn: Wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever.
[Hermione just lays there with her glossy facial expression as Ron sighs sadly. Maddie rubs Hermione's left hand; feeling something in it, she looks down and removes her hand to discover a crumpled up piece of paper, a library book page, which he carefully removes and straightens out.]
Skyler & Ron: [glancing at the page] What's that?
Madelyn: [examining the page] Sky, Ron, this is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked. [glances at the page and then back at the twins as she gets up] Come on! [Maddie, Sky and Ron walk through the corridor as Maddie reads from the page] "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 eye. Spiders flee before it..." [looking up at them] guys, this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake.
Ron: [processing the information they just read] But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?
Skyler: [thinking for a few seconds then looking at the window] Because no one did look it in the eye. Not directly, at least. [they walk along as they go over how each of the victims were petrified] Colin saw it through his camera. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost. He couldn't die again. And Hermione... had the mirror. I bet you anything she was using it to look around corners in case it came along.
Ron: And Mrs. Norris? I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a mirror, Sky.
Madelyn: [thinking about how Mrs. Norris got petrified, then remembering] The water... There was water on the floor that night. She only saw the Basilisk's reflection. [Ron nods; Maddie takes another look at the page, then walks to a nearby torch to more easily read the page, running her finger along it as she reads] "Spiders flee before it." It all fits.
Ron: But how's the Basilisk been getting around? A dirty great snake, someone would've seen it.
Madelyn: [as she, Sky and Ron glance at the bottom of the page where the word "Pipes" is written] Hermione's answered that, too.
Ron: Pipes? It's using the plumbing!
Madelyn: Remember what Aragog said about that girl fifty years ago, she died in a bathroom? What if she never left?
Skyler & Ron: Moaning Myrtle. [Maddie nods]
Professor McGonagall: [on the speakers] All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. [Ron glances at Maddie and Sky in surprise, wondering what could be going on now] All teachers to the second floor corridor immediately.

"Oh no"

[Maddie, Sky and Ron hurry to the second floor corridor. In the section where the bloody message is, Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey, and Filch run up to the wall, where Professor McGonagall directs their attention to a newly written message.]
Professor McGonagall: As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. [Maddie, Sky and Ron walk into the corridor behind them] Our worst fear has been realized, a student has been taken by the monster, into the Chamber itself. [sadly looks at the others] The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts.
Lockhart: [happily walking up to the group] So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed? [grins at Snape and McGonagall]
Snape: A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last.
Lockhart: [slightly stunned] My... moment?
Snape: Weren't you saying just last night you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is? [Lockhart looks bewildered]
Professor McGonagall: That's settled. We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend.
Lockhart: Very well. I'll just be in my office, getting, uh... getting ready. [turns and walks away; Filch watches him, then glances at Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall]
Madam Pomfrey: Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?
Professor McGonagall: [glances at her] Ginny Weasley. [Maddie, Sky and Ron straighten up in shock; Sky and Ron quavers slightly]
[Professor McGonagall sadly walks away, along with the other staff; a second later, Snape follows them, revealing the newly written message, which reads "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever".]
Skyler & Ron: [reads the message with dread in his voice] "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." [Maddie looks at Ron and Sky as he's becoming all the more devastated by his sister's abduction] Ginny...

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Published: 10/4/2023