Slow Grenade

Chapter Fourteen

Hermione, Harry, and Ron were sat in the common room discussing recent events.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice. "Who'd want all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

He glanced at Hermione. She looked back, unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy – "

"Of course I am!" Ron replied. "You heard what he said to you. Come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him."

"Dra – Malfoy is definitely not the heir of Slytherin, it would be too obvious."

"Look at this family," Harry joined in. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin, he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants."

Hermione knew she was on dangerous ground and had to be careful. Despite throwing the same accusation at Draco previously, she knew it wasn't him. He had wanted to protect her. But obviously she couldn't let her two friends know this.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione said, "While you two carry on with your conspiracy theories, I'm going to bed."

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity and Hermione barely had time to think about the Chamber of Secrets, let alone Draco Malfoy.

Following the rogue Bludger attack (which turned out to be Dobby's well-meaning attempt at protection) and Harry's brief stay in the hospital wing, he had come to Hermione and Ron with plenty of new information. The trio now knew that the Chamber had been opened before and that it housed a monster.

Unfortunately, following the Duelling Club incident, Harry was now a prime suspect to be the heir of Slytherin. It didn't help matters that Harry had been caught next to yet another victim in the corridors.

Given everything, the three of them decided to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays. Despite Harry and Ron's disputes, they had to agree that it would be beneficial being able to access the library regularly for their research.

Time continued to pass and Hermione and Draco had reached, what she called, 'an awkward truce'. They had yet to properly discuss what had happened on the Quidditch pitch, but they were not actively fighting anymore either.

Leaving the Great Hall with Harry and Ron one morning, Harry suddenly gave a cry of alarm and shouted, "The voice! I just heard it again, didn't you?"

While Ron just shook his head, wide-eyed, Hermione clapped a hand to her forehead. "I think I've just understood something! I've got to get to the library."

Hermione sprinted away, up the stairs. She couldn't believe it was only occurring to her now, when she had been piecing bits of information together for weeks: Hagrid's expulsion, Harry being a Parselmouth, a disembodied voice, people (students, animals, and ghosts) being petrified. Finally, she thought, it was all starting to make sense.

Entering the almost deserted library, Hermione headed directly for the 'Magical Creatures' section and plucked out a worn copy of Newt Scamander's 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Scanning the pages, she quickly found 'B': B for Basilisk.

"A gigantic serpent possessed of extraordinary powers... May reach up to fifty feet in length... Uncontrollable except by Parselmouths... Exceptionally venomous fangs..."

And there it was: "Its most dangerous means of attack is the gaze of its large yellow eyes. Anyone looking directly into these will suffer instant death."

Hermione gasped; her suspicions proven correct. The reason each individual had been petrified rather than killed was because none of them were looking directly at the Basilisk.

She was about to close the book when the air around her became almost painfully cold. Shivering, she glanced across the dimly lit library and noticed a trail of spiders marching towards the nearest window. Hermione's stomach dropped, she knew what was near.

Silently apologising to Newt Scamander, and promising to fix his book as soon as she could, Hermione quietly tore out the relevant page and clutched it in her hand. She drew out a compact mirror from her satchel and began using it to look around corners.

Nearing the exit, Hermione spotted a Ravenclaw student she knew to be Penelope Clearwater. Without hesitation she went quickly towards the girl and explained what she had found and the importance of staying together. Penelope must have seen the fear in Hermione's eyes because she stood up and left without complaint.

Unfortunately, they were not fast enough.

Peering into the mirror for a second time, Hermione's stomach plummeted. The last thing she saw were two, enormous, yellow slitted eyes.