10 Part 10

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It was already a month into school. The second year, in Mephistopheles' opinion, had not shown anything new. Their DADA teacher was a common cheat, incapable of even the initial stage of combat magic. The difficulty of the programme hadn't risen much, except that they were given a little more assignments, but Mephistopheles didn't get distracted by essays, leaving the writing to Malfoy. Hermione and Malfoy mostly met in abandoned classrooms, where they showed each other various spells. Mephistopheles taught Hermione how to summon many boggarts from the lower layers of reality - simple magic, how to check food for magical impurities and started to teach the girl about etiquette and traditions.

Hermione, on the other hand, showed Mephistopheles mostly household enchantments, but in much greater volume than the Prince. A couple of times they took Malfoy with them, so that they had someone to practise spells on. The poor guy would leave afterwards, pale and sometimes crying. Still, it was no fun being humiliated by a girl. Mephistopheles, on the other hand, was simply fascinated by Hermione's natural cruelty.

This time they met in the dungeons, quite close to Snape's office. Hermione came in under an invisible cloak. Mephistopheles agreed that the Gryffindor needed it more, after all, he had studied the castle enough to move unnoticed through the secret tunnels.

- So why are we here? - Hermione asked in a whisper.

Shaking her head in response, Mephistopheles led her deeper into the dungeons. Pushing on one of the stones on the wall, Mephistopheles opened a secret door that led into a small room. There was a narrow bed, a table, a couple of chairs, an armchair, and a pile of books piled on the floor.

- I found this place by accident," Potter bragged as he stepped inside. - You can sometimes wait here for me if there's an emergency.

Hermione looked around the room curiously and her gaze fell on a stone lying on the table.

- You keep the stone here? What if someone walks in? If you're not the only one aware of this room? - Hermione shook with indignation.

- 'Calm down Herm, I've sealed the entrance with your blood and mine, so only we can get in here. And if anyone can get in here, which is unlikely, I'll know right away, and the trap will be activated.

Hermione looked, infusing a little bit of magic into her vision as Harry had taught her. She couldn't see anything at first, but soon she recognised the Runes circles described in an old book from the library.

- Wasn't that dangerous? This thing could really kill someone," the student's voice was concerned, killing a student was a serious matter after all.

- Don't worry, I've calculated everything.

After talking some more, Mephistopheles escorted Hermione to her living room and walked towards the dungeons as he suddenly felt threatened. Mephistopheles tensed up. Something was near, something dangerous and it was serious at the very least. Moving slowly, Mephistopheles walked towards her living room. His senses were slowly calming down. Whatever it was, it was gone. Pensively entering his bedroom, the Prince laid down on his bed, contemplating the incident. Or rather, the lack thereof. Deciding to think about the problem later, the Prince drifted off to sleep.

The next day, walking past the DADA classroom, Mephistopheles saw the Gryffindors, who were badly beaten up. Asking Hermione, who happened to be in the company, Mephistopheles only shook his head. Wow - letting a pixie out in class without even bothering with the safety of the children. Lockhart was definitely an idiot, but what could be done.

Halloween had arrived. The castle was decorated with pumpkins and skeletons, bats and medieval weapons. The feast was a success. There was plenty of food, lots of sweets and drinks. At the Slytherin table there was merriment, songs were heard, someone seemed to be playing a guitar. On the stage, where the professors' table used to be, skeletons were dancing, rattling their bones. The commotion started when someone at the Gryffindor table threw a firecracker towards Slytherin. Slytherin responded with a few harmless spells and soon the entire great hall resembled a battlefield. Tables overturned, mountains of bones instead of skeletons, scattered food and groaning students.

After taking a bunch of points off the students, the professors sent them to their living rooms. And the next morning, it was revealed that Filch's cat had been murdered. Her body was found on the 3rd floor, with a frozen stare and dishevelled fur. In addition, Mephistopheles sensed the presence of an ancient creature at least 1,000 years old. He discreetly levitated a note into Hermione's pocket, asking her to meet him, at night.

- Hermione, come in, - they met in that small room. - Listen carefully, Hermie, that cat killing wasn't an evil joke, it was something ancient, I can feel it. So be very careful, don't walk around without your invisibility cloak and the potions I gave you, okay?

Hermione felt genuinely concerned, so she nodded silently, and hugged Potter afterwards.

- Okay, I told you, no tenderness," Mephistopheles muttered. The castle was quiet, everyone was asleep, but suddenly the alarm at the entrance went off. With a wave of her wand, Hermione made the wall transparent on one side and the pair of boys saw Snape walking slowly down the corridor, as if sniffing for someone. That's when Mephistopheles gave himself a mental smack. He had forgotten to leave the charms on the bed and apparently Snape had recognised that he wasn't in the bedroom. The sly bastard. Like he knows where to look. Hermione pressed herself against the boy. The girl was uneasy, even though she believed in Mephistopheles' spell. Snape walked past and Harry quietly opened the door.

- Now put on your robes and run," the Prince whispered in the girl's ear, and she obeyed. As soon as she was in line with Snape, Mephistopheles whistled and cackled like a hysterical lunatic. Snape instantly turned around, but of course saw no one. That was enough time for Hermione to escape the dungeons and run to the living room.

The next day, Snape summoned Potter to the carpet.

- Mr Potter, you were out of your bedroom all night, how do you explain that?

- 'I was walking around the castle,' Mephistopheles replied simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Such insolence made Snape speechless for a few minutes.

- What do you think you're doing, Potter? - Snape was clearly furious.

- No, what's the big deal? I didn't kill anyone, I didn't die, I didn't rob the castle. So what's your beef with me?

- You've broken nearly a dozen school rules Mr Potter and try and persuade me not to report it to the Headmaster," Mephistopheles hadn't expected that. Does the professor want a bribe?

The Prince laid the 1871 Potter's Handbook of Potions on the table. Snape raised an eyebrow.

- 'Where did you Potter get this from?

- Bought it, why?

Deciding that he couldn't get much more out of it, Snape took the handbook and let the apprentice go. Various thoughts wandered through the Potter's mind. The Headmaster had called him on the carpet yesterday and demanded to know where Potter had been during the attack. The Headmaster himself was at the Ministry and seemed

unhappy that Potter had an alibi. Snape hadn't been able to find out what had happened to the cat, but it seemed the Headmaster knew about it but didn't see fit to share. At night, checking the bedrooms, Snape found Potter absent. Convinced that the little Potter was up to no good, the potionist had gone in search of him and it seemed to him that he was about to grab him as suddenly a nasty cackling sounded, making him turn round. Snape was sure it was a distraction and nevertheless continued his search. Snape didn't lie down until just before morning and was as angry as a manticore all day. When he called Potter back to his room, the potionist was about to skin the insolent man, but the handbook Mephistopheles had given him made him push his rage deeper. It was unlikely that Potter had realised that Snape didn't really need the handbook, but through such gifts the professor, who was quite clever, could find out some of the hero's secrets.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Mephistopheles was standing against a wall scribbled with threats, and they were definitely not written in paint. The legend of the secret room Mephistopheles, of course, knew, but the room itself has not yet been found. And the monster in the room was most likely a basilisk, although it was impossible to tell for sure from the aura. Yes, there were still residual traces of the aura of a massive old magical creature near where the cat had been killed. Possibly a basilisk, an offspring of the Gorgon, or just a chimera with magical accoutrements.

That's when the footsteps of the students were heard and Mephistopheles retreated to the wall. He saw the students freeze in horror and stare at the inscription, commenting. And Malfoy had distinguished himself. He started ranting at the mudbloods again. He should be reprimanded. The teachers came over and dispersed the students. A grumbling Filch started scrubbing the blood off the wall, but he wasn't very good at it.

There was silence for a couple of days, and then another attack. This time the victim was Colin Creevey, a first year Gryffindor student. But he wasn't killed, he was turned to stone. Now Mephistopheles was sure that the Basilisk was at work. But who was controlling it? Undoubtedly, the Basilisk, the creature is intelligent, but it is clear that it obeys someone. And of the hypothetical heirs of the founder, there was only Mephistopheles in the school. One day Hermione dragged Mephistopheles into an empty classroom and began hurriedly pouring out information about the basilisk. Mephistopheles stopped her by saying he already knew everything, to which Hermione pointed out an incident from 50 years ago. Quickly collating the facts, Mephistopheles and Hermione dragged themselves to the library where they pulled up the archives. A student named Myrtle had been murdered in the girls' toilet and judging by the dates it all added up. Hermione and Mephistopheles headed to the bathroom and questioned Myrtle. The silly ghost tried to resist, but Mephistopheles used one rather painful spell.

- Crucio Tantos! - Myrtle squealed in pain and started spouting information. Exploring the bathroom, Hermione discovered the entrance to the secret room, but Mephistopheles suggested they wait.

- I suggest we stake out the place and find out who is controlling the basilisk and how. Then we'll begin to take action.

Hermione agreed to the plan and, under the Prince's supervision, began to draw an intricate pattern in blood directly on the floor. When the drawing was finished, Mephistopheles cast a spell. This ritual, when applied to a mage's drawing, worked like a Muggle fingerprint scanner, identifying the student by age, blood, and gender. And at the same time copying his or her image that the author of the drawing could see.

The attacks stopped. There were a couple of Quidditch matches, but while his classmates cheered in the stadium, Mephistopheles was coaching Hermione in magic. And she was getting more and more anxious to find out how Harry knew all this. But Mephistopheles was in no hurry to reveal all the cards, maybe sometime later he would tell her, but not now. Hermione was making progress. She could already reproduce moderately complex chains of spells, and her arsenal had expanded quite a bit. The days flew by and gradually fear gave way to curiosity and suspicion. The students even organised a sweepstakes to bet on the identity of the Slytherin heir.

The attack happened in early March, this time it was two Gryffindor students, Lavender and Julia. The girls were found in the corridor, petrified and the writing on the wall that read *only the worthy are worthy of magic*. Mephistopheles thought it was too childish. The alarm in the loo went off. The target was an 11-year-old girl, a blood traitor. Hermione was a little freaked out by the news. The girl had been blaming Slytherin alumni, and this was a trick.

Having agreed on a plan of action, Mephistopheles and Hermione ambushed the redhead and as soon as Ginny appeared on the horizon, the chains securely swaddled and knocked out the redhead, while Hermione cleaned up all traces of their presence in the corridor. A black notebook fell out of the redhead's hands and Mephistopheles grinned. He had seen this before and seemed to have guessed who was behind the attacks....