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"That sounds nice." Harry said, and he meant it, he'd always enjoyed Hermione's hugs, and Padma had been holding his hand more and more this year. Looking back, he could now realize that all four of the girls had been more openly affectionate this year than the year prior.
"Then how about we do that while you get used to the idea." Daphne suggested.
"Aren't I supposed to only have one girlfriend though? That's how it works in the movies." Harry said.
"Normally yes, but you're a special case in that you'll have to marry multiple girls anyway. Might as well start by 'dating' multiple girls to get used to the idea." Daphne said.
"I guess that's fine." Harry said, as Padma and Hermione leaned into his sides, taking each of his hands in theirs. "In other news, we made a bit of a breakthrough on the petrifications."
"Oh, do tell." Daphne said.
"We think the monster is some kind of snake, or snake-like creature. Since I can talk to snakes, and Luna can vaguely understand them, the fact that only the two of us could make out the noise from Halloween seems to point towards that." Harry said, using his still-taken hand to gesture to Luna.
"That makes sense I guess, how would a snake do the writing we saw though? Even if it was smart enough to do that, a defining feature of snakes is their lack of hands." Daphne said.
"I think I might know that one." Susan said, a dark look on her face.
"Go on?" Harry said, looking at his.. Girlfriend? He honestly wasn't sure.
"I think I did it. When I unpacked my stuff when we got here I found a diary in with my things. I thought maybe Auntie had gotten it for me and wanted it to be a surprise. I started writing in it and it started writing back. At first I thought it was just an enchanted journal to make it easier to talk about things, but then it started asking me to do things. I said no, but then I started sleeping really bad, and Hannah caught me sleepwalking a couple times. Remember when it was announced that something had killed the chickens Hogwarts keeps on campus?" Susan enquired.
"Yeah, apparently the kitchens were scrambling to find some replacement eggs because they needed so many." Hermione mentioned.
"I found feathers in my shoes that next morning. I don't remember anything that happened on Halloween, or what happened the day Colin was found. I don't know what took me so long to put everything together though… maybe I just didn't want to think I was doing it. I'm so sorry." Susan said, as she started breaking into tears. Harry was up in an instant and wrapping his arms around her.
"Shhh, shhh. It's okay. It wasn't you. It was that diary. Must be some kind of dark magic or something. Where would you have gotten it though?" Harry wondered, patting Susan on her back and holding her close.
"Malfoy!" Hannah exclaimed. "When he gave you the transfiguration book when we went shopping! He put it in your cauldron, maybe he slipped the book in with it?"
"Yeah, I remember that. Didn't your aunt check your things though?" Harry asked the crying girl in his arms.
"I told her about the book Malfoy gave me and she checked it over. She couldn't find anything weird about it though." Susan said, calming down a little bit.
"Well, it was a transfiguration book, maybe he transfigured it to be hard to find?" Padma asked.
"There was a page that kept sticking… maybe he used a sticking charm on it." Susan realized.
"Okay, well, where's the book now? Maybe we can give it to Dumbledore and he can destroy it." Harry asked.
"I threw it in the lake… I didn't want anything to do with it. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." Susan said, Harry simply held her and patted her on the head.
"It's okay. Maybe that's enough. Wonder why it made you kill the chickens though? Certainly whatever monster was let loose could do that if it was necessary." Harry wondered.
"Unless something about chickens could harm the monster! Padma, we need to go to the library now! I think I have an idea!" Hermione said, grabbing Padma and running off.
The pair returned some time later, Hermione waving a piece of parchment in the air. "I found Slytherin's monster!" She said, a look of pride on her face.
"Well, what is it?" Tracey asked.
"A Basilisk, a giant snake creature that kills anyone who makes eye contact with it. (It) Supposedly dies instantly if it hears a rooster's crow." Hermione said, showing everyone the parchment with the information copied from the book.
"But Ms. Norris and Colin aren't dead, just petrified." Daphne said, looking over the page.
"Yes, but remember what was on the floor where we found her? A bunch of water, she saw it's reflection. Same for Colin, he saw it through the viewfinder of his camera, those have mirrors too. There's no documentation on that ability, but there's precedent in some muggle stories." Hermione said.
"Yeah, Medusa could petrify her enemies through a reflection, that's how Perseus ended up beating her." Harry remembered.
"Exactly. So, now we have another question." Hermione said, her excitement waning.
"How on earth do we fight a basilisk?" Harry said.
"Yeah… with no roosters, odds aren't looking good. What'd the book say about them?" Daphne asked.
"Not much, they're incredibly rare creatures, brewing them has been banned forever, so most people who knew anything about them are long dead. There's the obvious kill on (sight instead of gaze?)gaze ability, and their scales are apparently even tougher than dragons. They also have an incredibly potent venom, stronger than any other substance known to wizard kind, there's no known antidote." Hermione said.
"So, we need to find a way to kill an unkillable snake monster." Harry said. "Well, what can we do to protect ourselves?"