98: Chapter 98 Halloween Countdown

At the end of October, the Great Hall was decorated with pumpkin lanterns. Ginny sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, her porridge growing cold in the bowl, her hand gripping her schoolbag tightly.

Hermione pushed the pumpkin juice toward her. "Ginny, drink a little."

Ginny pushed the cup back. "I'm not hungry."

Ron leaned over. "You said that yesterday, too. If Mom finds out, she'll send me a Howler."

"Ron, leave me alone."

Harry looked at the schoolbag in her arms. "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Just dreaming."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Forgot."

Ginny stood up and walked around the table. Just as Percy looked up, she had already hurried away.

Ron stared at her retreating back. "What is actually wrong with her?"

Hermione retrieved the cup. "She's afraid of us."

Harry rubbed his forehead. "What she's afraid of isn't at this table."

On the other side of the Slytherin table, Draco sat next to Pansy as per Lucius's request, but he kept looking toward Gryffindor.

Pansy asked, "Why are you staring at the little girl from the Weasley Family?"

Draco put down his toast. "Seeing if she'll pour the porridge on herself."

Zabini walked by with a plate. "Mr. Malfoy is practicing restraint, with mediocre results."

Draco looked up. "Is your breakfast not enough to shut your mouth?"

Zabini sat diagonally across from Allen. Nott pushed a folded piece of parchment to the edge of Allen's book.

Allen didn't open it. "Speak."

Nott flipped a book to hide his lip movements. "After eleven last night, Ginny left the tower and went to the Second Floor Girls Lavatory. She stayed for fourteen minutes. Myrtle made noise for ten minutes, and the pipes made a sound once."

Allen asked, "What about the diary?"

"It's in her hands. She wrote at least three pages. After the handwriting disappeared, the reply emerged on the paper."

Zabini put down his cup. "Content?"

"I was too far away, I can only confirm there were new words."

Across two tables, Draco suddenly spoke up. "Potter, lend me your Potion notes."

Pansy frowned. "Didn't you say not to get too close to him?"

Draco stood up. "Borrowing notes doesn't count as getting close; it counts as using him."

Allen pushed the old notebook to the edge of the table. "Don't dog-ear the pages."

Draco walked over to take the book, using the movement to scan the parchment, and placed a book with an empty cover next to Allen.

"You write slowly. My father said that efficiency is also a part of one's upbringing."

Allen opened the cover; there was a thin piece of paper tucked inside.

Draco leaned in half an inch. "When Ginny returned to the tower last night, her complexion was worse than this morning. When Ron asked her, she said she had a headache."

Allen closed the book. "Sit back down."

Draco took the notes back to Pansy. "Borrowed Potter's wrong answers."

Zabini looked at him. "Acting was decent."

Nott closed his book. "Pansy believed it, and Flint is watching too."

Allen tucked the thin paper into his sleeve. "Let them watch."

After Charms Class in the morning, Harry stopped at the corner leading from the second floor to the Third Floor, his face pale.

Ron bumped into his back. "What's wrong with you again?"

Harry stared at the pipes inside the wall. "It's speaking."

Hermione hugged her books tight. "What is it saying?"

Harry hesitated. "Hungry, cold, and it said the scent is above."

Ron stepped back half a step from the wall. "I'd rather you say you misheard."

Hermione looked toward the end of the corridor. "From which direction?"

Harry pointed inside the wall. "Toward the Girls Bathroom on the second floor."

"That place again."

Hermione grabbed Harry's sleeve. "Don't follow it. You can't let others see you listening to the wall during the day."

Harry frowned. "What if it wants to hurt someone?"

"The corridor is full of people; it won't dare come out. It's always in the pipes; it needs someone to open the door."

In the shadows of the corner, Allen waited until he finished listening before going downstairs.

Nott followed from the other side. "Granger borrowed 'Parseltongue and Ancient Wizard Bloodlines' and 'Brief Overview of Slytherin Symbols' this morning, and also requested an index of fatal Dark Arts creature cases, but was refused by Madam Pince."

Allen asked, "What did she exchange it for?"

"'Legends of British Snakes', 'Records of Early Student Deaths at Hogwarts', and a page from the school newspaper from fifty years ago."

Zabini came from the stairwell. "If she connects Parseltongue and Harry, Gryffindor will explode."

Allen said, "That's why she'll shut up."

"You don't have a low opinion of Granger."

"She knows that if the secret spreads, the first one to be bitten will be Harry."

Nott added, "And Ginny."

At lunch, Ginny didn't return to the Great Hall. Ron stabbed his fork into his plate.

Hermione said, "Percy said she went back to the tower to rest."

Ron asked, "Do you believe it?"

Hermione looked toward the door. "No, that's why I asked Harry to wait at the stairwell."

When Harry returned, his complexion was even worse. "She didn't go to the second floor, she went back to the tower, but she was holding that diary."

Hermione asked, "Did she write in it?"

"No, she hugged her schoolbag after she saw me."

Ron gripped his fork. "What on earth did that thing do to her?"

Hermione opened her notebook. "If it can reply, it might be memory magic, or it could be a stored consciousness."

"Don't put my sister and stored consciousness in the same sentence."

Hermione stopped writing. "Then keep an eye on her."

By the Slytherin table, Draco heard the commotion and just set his cup back on the table.

Pansy asked, "Why aren't you laughing at Weasley today?"

Draco closed his book. "Laughing at him won't make him smarter."

Zabini looked down to cut his meat. "Malfoy is frighteningly kind today."

Draco looked at him. "Say one more word, and I'll tell everyone about you looking at that signed photo of Gilderoy Lockhart."

Zabini stopped his knife. "That was a clipping sent to my mother."

Nott followed up. "The difference is limited."

Allen stood up. "Not going to the second floor this afternoon."

Draco asked across the table, "Who are you talking to?"

"To those who understand."

Pansy frowned. "What are you all talking about?"

Draco pushed the Potion notes to her. "Saying Potter's handwriting is ugly."

In the Library in the afternoon, Hermione had four books piled in front of her. Colin passed by holding his camera and was stopped by her.

"Colin, don't go to the second floor to take photos lately."

Colin was stunned. "Why?"

Ron chimed in. "The lighting is bad, and the walls are leaking."

Colin nodded. "Then I'll go to the stairs to take photos of Harry."

Harry covered his face. "Don't take photos of me."

Hermione waited until Colin was far away, then turned the book to the page about Parseltongue. "Harry, Parseltongue is often linked to Salazar Slytherin."

Harry asked, "If others know I can speak Parseltongue, will they think I am the Heir of Slytherin?"

Ron said, "If they dare say that, I'll make them shut up."

Hermione looked at him. "The more you do that, the more people will suspect."

Harry put his hand on the page. "Then what do I do?"

"Don't talk, don't show it, and don't stare at the wall in the corridor."

Behind the bookshelf, Nott wrote down these words and walked to Allen's table.

"Granger confirmed Parseltongue is related to the Heir of Slytherin, but hasn't confirmed the Basilisk yet."

Allen flipped through a history of the pipes. "She will confirm it."

Nott asked, "Before Halloween?"

"Possibly."

Zabini sat down. "There are many people at the Halloween feast, the Professors are all in the Great Hall, so the corridors are actually empty."

Nott looked at Allen. "Will the first attack be on that day?"

Allen pressed down on the page. "The diary needs panic; a holiday is most suitable."

Draco walked out from behind the bookshelf and slammed a book on the table. "Potter, I can't find the chapter on poison antidotes."

Allen didn't look up. "Table of contents."

Draco opened the book, using the pages to hide his mouth. "If it really is Halloween, what do we do?"

"Eat, go back to the dormitory."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Nott asked, "Not intervene?"

"Don't intervene in the first one."

Draco crumpled the page. "What if someone dies?"

Allen looked at him. "The first target won't be a human."

"Are you sure?"

"The diary is still testing the route, and Ginny can't handle direct murder."

Zabini asked, "So you're just recording?"

"Route, time points, interval of entrance opening, direction of the Basilisk's retreat."

Nott wrote it down. "Monitoring pipe fluctuations with the Void?"

Allen nodded. "Focus on the second floor, from the lavatory to the corner, and leave a line from the Great Hall to the stairwell."

Draco closed the book. "You're treating the first attack as an experiment?"

"As evidence."

"What's the difference?"

"Experiments can be repeated, evidence only needs to happen once."

Draco took the book and left. "Your explanation is still unpleasant."

Allen put away his pen. "As long as it's easy to understand."

At night, the curtains in the Slytherin dormitory were drawn. Allen sat by the bed and opened the entrance to his Portable Space.

The Void coiled beside the ebony box, its silver eyes fixed on the golden pattern on the north side. Peter in the cage had his gag removed and immediately shrank into a corner.

"Don't let me get near that thing; the Basilisk will smell the scent of a living person."

Allen spread out the parchment. "It can't smell this place."

Peter swallowed. "Tom in the diary likes to choose times when there are few people. He will make people afraid first, then make them suspicious of each other."

Allen wrote down the time. "Halloween?"

"Suitable. After the feast, the corridors are empty, students are dispersed, and the Professors are busy wrapping things up."

"Target?"

"Cats, ghosts, or lone students are all possible, but the first time, it probably won't kill anyone."

The Void's tail tip pointed toward the second floor. The golden pattern on the north side of the space lit up. The cracked pocket watch beside the ebony box exuded blue light, and the pipes deep within Hogwarts responded silently.

Allen looked at the Void. "From tonight on, mark any fluctuations in the pipes. Do not follow, do not bite, and do not touch the diary."

The Void flicked its tongue, its tail tip pressing down on the parchment where 'Second Floor' was written.

Peter hurriedly added, "Don't let that child who can speak Parseltongue get too close; the Basilisk will respond to him."

Allen circled Harry's name. "It already has."

Peter shut his mouth.

Allen wrote 'Halloween' in the center of the parchment, and listed 'Girls Bathroom', 'Second Floor Corner', 'Torch Stand', and 'Great Hall Corridor'.

Draco asked through the bed curtains, "You're not asleep yet?"

Allen put away the parchment. "Soon."

"On Halloween, I really won't do anything?"

"Sit in your seat, don't leave the Great Hall, don't mention the Chamber of Secrets, and don't look at Ginny."

Draco was silent for a moment. "What if that's the day my father is waiting for?"

Allen closed the space entrance. "Then let him wait for panic first."

"You're really annoying."

Allen lay down. "Go to sleep."

Inside the Portable Space, the Void's tail tip still pointed toward the second floor. The cracked pocket watch lit up with blue light, only to be suppressed back down by the ebony box.