Framed

"I can't believe it..." Ron said bitterly the next morning at breakfast, "she was only three toilets away... we could've asked her, and now..."

Now they weren't able to so easily sneak off, not with the teachers leading them to every class. Might be different if it were a boys bathroom, or if Hermione wasn't petrified, but seeing as how neither of those were the case, (Y/N) didn't readily see how they were going to accomplish this.

In Transfiguration, their first class, they found out they were still going to have exams. (Y/N) wasn't surprised, and even with all that had happened, he felt confident in his ability to pass them flawlessly, but others were surprised, "Exams?" Seamus howled in disbelief, "We're still getting exams?"

There was a loud bang somewhere near the back of class, and when (Y/N) turned to see what happened. Neville had dropped his wand, which vanished one of the legs on his desk. McGonagall pulled out her own wand and fixed it before turning to Seamus with a frown, "The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," she said sternly, "the exams will, therefore, take place as usual, and I trust you all are studying hard."

(Y/N) wasn't worried about exams, he was worried about Hermione. He heard a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, and it caused McGonagall to scowl darkly.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said to them all, "and that, I hardly need to point out, means finding out how much you've learned this year."

(Y/N) glanced over at his friends; Harry looked like he was deep in thought, and Ron looked like he'd just been told he had to go live in the Forbidden Forest.

"Can you imagine me taking the exams with this?" He heard Ron ask Harry as his wand began to let out a low whistling sound.

*******

Three Days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall had made another announcement at breakfast, but this one contained good news for a change, "I have some good news, everyone."

Instead of silence, the Great Hall erupted in theories.

"Dumbledore is coming back?" Several people yelped in glee.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin?" A Ravenclaw girl squealed.

"Quidditch Matches are back on?" Wood asked excitedly. (Y/N) couldn't help but laugh; the man loved his Quidditch games.

It was only after the hubbub subsided when Professor McGonagall spoke again, "Professor Sprout has informed me that the mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those who've been petrified. I don't think I need to remind you that one of them may be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this Dreadful year will end with us catching the culprit."

(Y/N) couldn't believe his ears. Hermione was going to finally wake up by tomorrow. He was the happiest he'd been in a while.

There was a sudden explosion of cheering. The Slytherin's, most of them at least, didn't join in on the cheering. He heard Ron talking about how it won't matter if they go and see Myrtle at all, just before Ginny showed up and sat across from them.

She still looked awful, and (Y/N) wondered just what the hell was wrong. Before he could dwell further, Ron spoke to his sister, "What's up?"

She didn't say anything, but she glanced up and down the table with a scared look on her face. For some reason, he felt it was almost like looking into a mirror.

"Spit it out," Ron said, more forcefully than he meant.

"I've got to tell you something," she mumbled, not looking at Harry or (Y/N).

"What's up, Ginny? Have you seen something odd?" Harry asked her, but she still said nothing, like she was trying to find the right way to say it.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" (Y/N) asked, concern etched into his voice.

She leaned forward to say something, but no sound came out of her opened mouth. She drew in a deep breath, but at that moment, Percy walked up to them, looking exhausted, "If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I just got off patrol duty and I'm starving."

She jumped up as though her chair had been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look, then scampered off. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.

(Y/N) couldn't believe his eyes. Ginny clearly didn't look well, and her brother just shrugged it aside as though it was a bother for him, "Percy!" Ron said angrily, "she was just about to tell us something important."

Percy, who was halfway through a gulp of tea, started to choke, "What sort of thing?" He asked in between coughs.

"Harry asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say-" Ron was cut off.

"Oh - that - that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets," Percy said at once.

"How do you know?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well... if you must know, Ginny... er... walked in on me the other day when I was... well, never mind, the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather-"

(Y/N) had never seen Percy so uncomfortable before. His inability to explain properly what it was Ginny caught him doing wasn't helping his case either.

"What were you doing, Percy?" Ron asked with a grin, "Go on, tell us, we won't laugh."

Percy didn't look amused at all, "Pass me those Rolla, Harry, I'm starving."

(Y/N) looked down the table where Ginny ran off to. He saw what looked like a troubled expression on her face. He had an oddly bad feeling about her.

*******

(Y/N) was damn determined to talk to Myrtle, despite the chance of all this being cleared up by tomorrow. Thankfully for him, the chance to talk to Myrtle did arise after their DADA class. They were being led to History of Magic by Lockhart.

Gilderoy Lockhart, a Fraud and a horrible Professor by (Y/N)'s standards. At least in Potions he was learning things. Lockhart was blissfully ignorant and felt that the danger had passed, only to be proved wrong immediately, was once again blissfully ignorant, and didn't see the need for Professors to guide the students to their next classes anymore.

His hair hadn't been as sleek as it usually was. Probably a result of him being up all night on patrol around the Fourth Floor, "Mark my words," he ushered them around a corner, "The first words out of those poor petrified people's mouths will be, 'It was Hagrid.' Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all of these security measures are still necessary."

"I agree, sir," Harry said.

It caught (Y/N) off guard for a moment, but he quickly caught on. He couldn't go along with him because Lockhart wouldn't believe him, but Harry, he'd take Harry's word as gospel, probably.

"Thank you, Harry," Lockhart said graciously as they waited for a long line of Hufflepuff's to pass, "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with without having to walk students to classes and stand guard all night."

Ron seemed to catch on quickly too, "That's right, why don't you leave us here, sir? We've only got one more corridor to go-"

"You know what, Weasley, I think I will," Lockhart said excitedly, "I really should go and prepare my next class-" he said and hurried off.

"More like to curl his hair," (Y/N) said in a disgusted tone.

They let the rest of the Gryffindor Second Years walk ahead of them and then they darted down a side passage, making their way to Myrtle's bathroom. (Y/N) was pacing ahead of them when they suddenly heard an angry voice, "Potter! Weasley! (L/N)! What are you doing!?" The angry voice belonged to Professor McGonagall, and she was furious.

Ron began to stammer, "We were - we were-"

"We were going to see Hermione, P-Professor," (Y/N) quickly said, tears forming in his eyes.

She looked at him, her fury lessening slightly.

"I-It's been so long... s-so long since I last saw her, wh-when I used to see her e-every day here at Hogwarts..." his voice was on the verge of breaking.

Professor McGonagall's face softened completely, tears even formed in her own eyes, "Of course... of course, I understand this has been... been hardest on the friends of those who were attacked, I - yes, (L/N)... you, Potter, and Weasley may go and visit Miss Granger... I will inform Professor Binns of where you've gone. Let Madam Pomfrey know you've been given my permission to be there."

The three of them walked away, in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Just as they rounded the corner, they heard the distinct noise of Professor McGonagall blowing her nose.

"That..." Ron started, "was the greatest story you've ever come up with."

"It wasn't a story," he said quickly and almost broke into a run to get to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey had let them in, but only reluctantly, "Do not dawdle in here for too long," she said and went to check on something.

(Y/N) stood beside Hermione, his vision blurry as he stared at her, "Don't worry, Hermione-" he stopped to calm himself down. "The Draught w-will be ready by tonight..." he brushed a few stray hairs from her face.

He noticed that her left fist was a bit larger than it should've been, "Harry... check her left hand..."

He did and felt a piece of paper. He removed it from her hand and uncrumpled it, "A Basilisk?"

It clicked the moment Harry said that. (Y/N) now understood why Harry could hear it and no one else. It was a Snake. And the only way it could get around the school would be the plumbing system.

It's gaze is deadly, but no one died because they never directly looked at its eyes, they all saw it through other means. Hermione used the hand mirror she was found with, Justin saw it through Nick, who can't die again, but he saw it directly, Colin saw it through his camera, and Mrs. Norris saw it reflected in the water on the floor. The water came from Myrtle's bathroom. It all suddenly made sense to him.

'Hermione saw it first... she pieced it together first..." He thought to himself.

He was so worked up that he simply bolted from the Hospital Wing, leaving Harry and Ron looking dumbfounded. (Y/N) didn't stop until he reached the corridor that Myrtle's Bathroom was in.

Upon reaching it, he found Ginny standing idly, her hand near the wall, like she was painting something onto it, "Ginny? What are you doing here?"

She turned to look at him and her eyes looked soulless. She turned to fully face him and she smirked, "Figured it out, did you?" Her voice sounded like it was melded with a male voice.

"The Diary... Ginny, she must've gotten it before school started and-" he remembered Lucius Malfoy picking out a book of hers before shoving back in the Cauldron, "That bastard..."

"Well now, I guess the secret will die with you," she raised her wand, "Avada Kedavra!"

(Y/N) didn't know what compelled him to, but he raised his hand, as though to stop the spell from hitting him.

The spell did indeed stop, but he felt it trying to force its way towards him. He closed his fist around the spell before he was blown backwards and impacted the wall painfully, before falling and lying motionless on the ground.

Ginny turned back to the wall to add something to it:

Her Skeleton will lie in the Chamber, forever.

A pity you never figured me out

-(Y/N) (L/N)