that unless he killed her, he was going to have to hear her out. Turning back to her, he tried to sound concerned. "Why would you be in danger, Myrtle?"

From the beginning of the sentence, she appeared relaxed, but the word "danger" seemed to remind her that she was in a panic. "The monster chased me!" she said, offering no other explanation.

Tom was confused, this was the first he had heard of a monster in the school. As far as he knew, the wards were quite good at keeping those types of things out, and certainly, Dumbledore wouldn't stand for a monster in the school.

Unless…!

Tom's breath caught in his chest.

A monster designed by Salazar Slytherin himself…

Tom nearly lost his composure and grabbed the girl to demand answers, butHall. In the hospital wing, he'd be waited on hand and foot by the spinster Nurses who thought he was a handsome young man, but they'd know better than to bother him.

So he went to his room, took out all the books he wanted, and headed to the Infirmary.