During a free period, Katie decided to take a walk across the Hogwarts grounds. There were not many students outside as it was a bitter January day, and anyone in their right mind would be inside by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate

The fact of the matter was, Katie wasn't in her right mind. The poor girl hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night. She tossed and turned, stressed out about her friends knowing her huge secret, and also worrying that Malfoy would go around spewing rumours about her being the heir of Slytherin. Not that it mattered anyway. People had already begun speculating that she was the heir of Slytherin, and it was because she was the first Slytherin in a long line of Gryffindors, as Malfoy had said.

Katie took a seat on the damp grass by the edge of the Black Lake. A shiver ran down her spine so she wrapped her cloak around her body to shield herself from the cold. The girl didn't quite know exactly how much time had passed when she heard a shuffling beside her. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone take a seat next to her, grunting slightly as they did so.

Katerina turned her head to find none other than Harry Potter sitting beside her on the grass. He was gazing out at the lake, like she had been doing only moments before. Katie's breath hitched and her muscles tensed up, but she didn't get up and run away. Instead, she reverted her eyes back to the glistening lake. Their pair sat in harmonic silence for many minutes before Harry broke it.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, his tone soft but also sad. Katie didn't respond for a long time. Truth be told, she didn't exactly know what to say. She felt that, no matter how she tried to justify it, her words would come out wrong and she would only make the situation worse.

"I was scared."

Harry looked at her. Faint blue and evergreen met. "Of what?"

Katie breathed slowly, her shoulders moving up and down. Yet another question that she did not quite know how to answer. Katie shrugged while picking up a small, white stone. She twirled in around in her fingers before chucking it out to the water. The pair of second years watched as the stone skipped across the lake, eventually coming to an abrupt halt and disappearing beneath the surface of the black water.

"Hermione is in hospital," Harry said, explaining quickly upon seeing the look of horror on Katie's face. "Instead of Millicent's hair, she accidentally put cat hair in the Polyjuice Potion, and it's not meant for animal transformations. She'll be stuck up there with a furry face and a tail for a good few weeks."

"That's horrible." Katie gasped. Harry nodded in agreement.

"It could be worse," he shrugged. "She could be—"

"Petrified." Katie finished Harry's sentence for him. There was a long pause. "I'm scared for her, Harry. You heard what Malfoy said. Last time the Chamber was opened, a Muggle-born died."

Without saying anything, Harry reached into his cloak and pulled out a worn but handsome, thin book, coated in leather. It had the silver initials T.M RIDDLE engraved onto the front.

"What is it?" Katie asked suspiciously.

"It's a diary," Harry said, handing it to her. "Look at the date."

Katie took the book from Harry and examined the faded date on the front, which told her that the diary was fifty years old. A strange numbness engulfed her whole body, and not because of the cold. As she stared down at the book, Katie couldn't help but feel though is was whispering — communicating with her.

"I think, since the Chamber was opened fifty years ago, this diary might be able to tell us where it is, how to open it, who opened it..." Harry explained slowly. Katie flicked through the pages of the diary with furrowed eyebrows, finding that not a single word had been written in the entirety.

"But there's nothing written in it." Katie pointed out simply and passed the diary back to Harry, who carefully pocketed the book.

"Ron recognised the name. Said he got a award for special services to the school. It was on a plaque that he scrubbed during detention at the start of the year."

Both Katie and Harry stopped talking after that. Katie shivered and her teeth momentarily chattered. Harry took note of this. He removed his Gryffindor scarf and wrapped it around Katie's neck. She smiled gratefully and fixed the scarf so that it was on comfortably.

"Thank you."

Harry smiled before his face fell sincere once again. "I don't believe Malfoy, by the way."

Katie cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"I know you're not the heir of Slytherin, Katie. Ron knows it too. You wouldn't attack Muggle-borns like that."

"Thanks, Harry. Tell Ron I said thanks, too." Katie smiled weakly.

"Tell me yourself."

Katie and Harry jumped in fright at the sound of a third voice and strained their necks to see a grinning Ron Weasley standing behind them. He plopped down on the grass next to Harry.

"Don't mind Malfoy, Katie. He's just being a prat. Of course you're not the heir of Slytherin," Ron said. "But, Blimey! A Parselmouth! I did not see that coming."

Katie frowned. "Neither did I."

***

January came and went in a blur, and once Valentine's Day had passed, everything changed. Dumbledore had been suspended and all the students were constantly on their toes, fearful that, with Dumbledore gone, the next attack would surely be a killing.

After some extensive digging and help from T.M Riddle's diary, Harry discovered that it was Hagrid who had opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago. The monster was a giant spider, and T.M Riddle, who's name, Harry found out, was Tom Marvolo Riddle, turned him in. That was why Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year.

Along with Dumbledore, Hagrid had been removed from the school, only the gamekeeper was taken to a cell in the horrible Azkaban prison.

"How do you know all of this?" Katie had asked, astounded, when Harry told her all the new information. Harry went about explaining how he was taken inside Tom Riddle's diary, to a memory fifty years ago, in which Tom found Hagrid guilty.

Katie could hardly believe it.

***

Hermione had barely left the hospital wing, furr-less and whisker-less, when she was taken back off to a hospital bed. Katie vividly remembered the day.

She was sat at lunch with Pansy and Draco, discussing their theories as to why the Quidditch match (Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff) had been cancelled.

"Do you think there was another attack?" Pansy asked, her expression wan. Katie stiffened and, at the exact same time, Malfoy smirked at her.

"Yes." Katie nodded, shifting around uncomfortably under Draco's mischievous gaze.

As the trio continued to converse about the possible attack, there was a thundering of footsteps on the stone floor, and before Katie had time to process what was happening, she was being whisked away by Harry.

"You have to see this." he said fretfully. Harry hurried up the many flights of steps and Katie followed close behind him. She eventually found herself at the doors to the hospital wing.

"Harry, what are we—"

"Just... prepare yourself..." Harry looked very weedy and his eyes were red-rimmed, radiating the impression that he had been crying. He didn't seem to think about his following action as he took Katie's shaking hand in his own and led her into the hospital wing.

All the occupied beds were shielded by draping curtains. Katie shivered uncomfortably, knowing that, behind those curtains lay many Petrified students. A cold chill ran through her body as Harry walked her to the other end of the hospital wing. Their careful footsteps echoed loudly through the dense room.

Harry came to a halt at one particular bed. For a moment, he seemed to regret ever taking Katie there, but then he took a quavering breath and pulled the curtain back.

Katie felt her heart stop at the sight.

Hermione lay still, her glassy eyes opened wide in fear, staring, as though turned to stone. Ron was sat at her bedside looking both ill and incredulous. His head was resting on his knuckles and he slowly shook his head in disbelief. He didn't even acknowledge Katie and Harry's arrival.

Katie's bottom lip was trembling from fright and she could feel the blood slowly draining from her face. She took cautious steps closer to Hermione and collapsed in a heap in a small chair.

Reaching out, Katie gently trailed her hand across Hermione's Petrified face. The Gryffindor's skin was as cold as ice. Katie's breath hitched.

"She was found by the library," Harry said, his voice breaking. "She had just told Ron and me that she had figured something out, then ran off to the library."

Katie stayed silent for many moments, still trying to process the whole situation. "What did she figure out?"

Ron finally spoke. "Something about the Chamber of Secrets, I expect. But it's no use now. She can't tell us anything."

Just then, Katie noticed something tightly clutched in Hermione's closed fist. It looked to be a scrunched up ball of paper.

"Hey, Harry..." she tugged on her friends' robe and pointed to Hermione's hand. Without thinking twice, Harry begun trying to remove the paper from Hermione's grip. It was tough work, and miraculous that Harry managed to retrieve the paper without ripping it.

"Well, what does it say?" Ron ushered. Harry unravelled the paper and read aloud,

"As the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."

Bemused, Katie stared long and hard at Harry and Ron, who were looking at each other, mouths agape.

"What?" Katie asked, aggrivated.

"Katie..." Harry whispered. "The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk."

Katie knitted her eyebrows together in bewilderment. "But you said the monster was a spider? You said Hagrid opened the Chamber? You saw it."

Harry's eyes darted between Ron and Katie.

"You haven't told her?" Ron said.

"Told me what?" Katie's heart beat was growing faster by the second. Harry sat down in a seat beside the girl.

"The other night, Ron and I went into the forest — don't give me that look, we had a good reason — Hagrid told us to follow the spiders if we needed to find out some stuff."

Ron seemed to recall the night and shivered in discomfort.

Harry continued. "There was this huge spider named Aragog, the same one that Hagrid kept in the castle, the same spider that was believed to have attacked the Muggle-borns fifty years ago. But Aragog told us that was a lie. He said that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of secrets. Riddle caught the wrong person." Harry pulled out the paper and pointed to a specific line. "'Spiders flee before it,' and Aragog told us that the monster in the Chamber is one that spiders fear above all others. The reason only you and I could hear the voice, Katie, is because the monster is a snake. We're both Parselmouths."

Katie ran all this new information over and over in her head, making calculations, putting the pieces together, but one small detail seemed to stump her.

"But if anyone who looks the Basilisk in the eye dies, then how come nobody is dead?

Harry almost grinned. "Think about it... The night Colin was attacked, he had his camera. Justin must've saw the Basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick, Nick got full blast of it, but he's a ghost so he couldn't die again," Harry pointed to a mirror that was sat on Hermione's bedside locker, "Hermione was found with this mirror, and there was water on the floor where Mrs Norris was found Petrified. Don't you see? No one is dead because no one looked the Basilisk directly in the eye — they all only saw its reflection."

Stunned, not knowing what to say, Katie came out with, "Well, that was lucky."