A Memorable Tale

13 | Basilisk

"Miss Griffin!" Snape snapped.

Draco slapped my arm and I lifted my head, which I hadn't even realized was falling.

Snape stared for a moment and sighed. "There are some who believe they are too intelligent to listen in class. Do not be such a character."

I nodded and looked down at my notes, realizing that I had starting falling asleep mid-sentence and a line of ink from the word cauldron trailed off the page and onto the desk.

"What's the matter with you?" Draco questioned.

"I ran out of coffee. I need to send a letter to my dad." I crumpled the piece of paper and rewrote everything on the page.

My mind kept straying, wondering if one of the creatures I had read about resided within the castle. The very thought made me shiver.

When we left Potions, I was suddenly conscious of the strange hissing noise that echoed in my ear, faint but detectable. I looked around, spotting a hoard of spiders leaving through the window.

"Since when did spiders move in groups?" I wondered.

Perhaps I wasn't so occupied with the topic of animals that I'd be able to list every fact as if I were Hermione, but at least I knew that spiders didn't travel in groups if they lived in a place as dry as Britain.

I went up the stairs and saw Professor McGonagall walking down the hall and began rushing towards her, meaning to ask her a question about Salazar Slytherin.

However, when we turned to the corner, we found much worse.

"Justin..." I whispered, then looking up to see Sir Nicholas frozen in the air. Peeves the Poltergeist, who I had only heard of previously, screeched, "Attack, attack! No mortal is safe! Attack!"

My eyes flickered to Harry, who stood there insisting that he had nothing to do with it.

It was getting hard to believe, but I continued to anyway. He saved the school once, he wouldn't do that just to destroy it the next year.

Right?

The hallway cleared except for me, who was hypnotized by the sight of the frozen figures. Whether out of horror or fascination was, morbidly, unknown to me.

I turned to the window, spotting spiders running off again, and furrowed my brow.

"Y/N," Cedric appeared behind my, grabbing my shoulder. "What are you doing here? It could be dangerous, what if whatever thing that petrified him is still here?"

"I'm fine, Ced."

"I'll walk you to your tower."

"Right, and then tonight I'll have an assassin holding a knife to my throat." I began walking away but I heard his footsteps follow, a smirk tugging at my lips.

Some passing students stared at the lost puppy that followed me. I would have liked to say that he resembled a bodyguard but the gentleness of his face could never.

He had only known me for a few months but he cared for me as if he had held me when I was a baby. Of course, he seemed more acquainted with me than I was with him so that was a possibility.

I got to my common room and everyone had their eyes glued to the Hufflepuff that walked me to the door, his hands on my shoulders as he warned me to be careful in the halls.

"Could you tell me how to get into Ravenclaw Tower? I could wait for you in your common room."

"I would, Ced, but..." I glanced at the bronze eagle knocker and knocked on the door. He shook as if he were asleep and asked, "I fool by appearance and sound; I am loved and hated equally; I cannot be hidden but I can be lied; what am I?"