Basilisk
By tricota
Betaed by Kelly
He just blinks at me, as if I'm crazy. Just for the record, I'm not.
We're sitting in his rooms - wait, our rooms, the adoption was a few months ago. Don't ask how many, I don't know, okay? I'm not as pathetic as to count exactly how many months I've had a family of my own.
…
Fine, five months and 17 days. There! Are you happy now? I am.
But anyway, we're sitting there just talking about nothing in particular when the basilisk comes up. Not the real thing, no. That one is dead and cold.
No, wait, it was cold even when it was alive… Well, it doesn't matter, you get the point, right? It's dead, just dead.
So, where were we? Oh, yeah, the basilisk. Well, that's just the thing, somehow we end up talking about it.
"You must be lying?" he says over his cup of hot chocolate, chocolate that I might add is laced with something that smells deliciously, and that I can't have 'cause I'm "still a child." I'm not! I think that I'm old enough to drink some alcohol but he "begs to differ." He can beg all he wants for all I care, and I was about to insist a little more when he played the "Parent Card" and that was the end of the discussion. Now, how unfair is that? I hate it when he plays that card, or I think I should, like all my friends do when they argue with their parents and lose. Instead it lights a warm feeling inside me.
It's the chocolate I insist to myself, but I know better.
"I might not be a Slytherin but I know how to lie," I huff moodily. I'm still not over the "child" comment. I crush the thought that huffing is a childish behaviour.
He just lifts an eyebrow. And as I really want to try that sweet thingy I answer with the logic of an adult.
"Why would I lie about something that can so easily be proved either true or false?" I feel like Dumbledore, and Dumbledore is an adult, and alcohol is for adults, so, following my line of logic, I feel I deserve some of the sweet stuff.
He, however, didn't catch my logic and instead keeps talking about the basilisk. How very Slytherin of him!
"Are you trying to tell me then, that while we are here, innocuously talking, there's a basilisk somewhere in the lowest levels of the castle?"
I almost let go a "Duh!" but with a straight face I just nod while sipping some plain, simple, and ordinary chocolate.
"Didn't the Headmaster tell you about the Basilisk?" Now I'm curious. "We had Lockhart, so it was…" When did we have Moony? I know that Lockhart came before Moony, and we had Moody in fourth, so it was… second!, but he beat me to it saying it first, and Ididn't stick out my tongue.
Now, if that doesn't prove that I'm not a child I don't know what does.
"I honestly thought that Albus was…exaggerating."
Now, how do you answer that?
"Er…he wasn't. Exaggerating, I mean. It was very real and big and smelly, and the bastard even bit me. It couldn't even form a proper sentence, but it manage to bite all the same." I end up grumping into my mug.
"So it's true then that Fawkes healed you, and that bit about Gryffindor's sword." It's not a question but I nod all the same.
He smiles sadly. And even though I haven't even thought about the Chamber in many years, that smile makes my eyes burn a little.
After a long silence that should have been uncomfortable but wasn't, I had an idea. A brilliant one, if I do say so myself.
"Do you wanna see it?"
Now, for the untrained eye, he looks just like always. Bored.
But I know him better than that, and what I see is a man who's just been told that he can dock as many points from Gryffindor as he likes.
Unnerving thought, that. For Gryffindor, I mean. I love him to look happy, it makes me feel that I'm not just taking from him. You know, like I can give him something too.
I want to make him feel as happy as I feel every time he plays the"Parent Card." Warm, and fluffy, and full, and…awkward too, dammit!
This is a little about revenge too, 'cause you see, he throws me out of balance at least a dozen times a day. Like the other day when we were coming back from Hogsmeade and it started snowing and without a word he put his cloak over my shoulders. Or when he comes to check on me at night when he thinks I'm sleeping, or when he straightens my collar… "Thank you" feels small and inappropriate. I say it all same, but he just grunts as if it's nothing, even though it really means a lot.
He just nods, but I'm not fooled. With a big last gulp of chocolate, I start standing up.
"Now?" he asks, but he's standing up too, so it's fine.
"Sure," I say, barely suppressing a smile. "But take a cloak, it's fucking freezing down there."
With a look, he reproaches my vocabulary. Damn…there goes my sweet stuff.
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We are now getting to Myrtle's bathroom and I can feel his look of disbelief. I pray to whoever is listening for Myrtle to be somewhere else. Anywhere, I don't really care where, just don't let her be here and– Damn it! There she is…
"You are not using my bathroom for brewing again!" The nerve! It was for a good cause, I'll have you know.
"It was just once!" I say indignantly. Stupidly, really, because now Severus is looking at me with his arms crossed in front of him. Oops.
"Anyway, the entrance is this way," I say, trying to change the subject. With a look he lets me know that this is not the end of it.
I'm tempted to bargain with him to let the matter drop before I'll show him the basilisk, but I'm too slow and the entrance is now open and I don't know how to close it, which brings me to mind…
"It's a long way down, last time Fawkes flew us out…"
He gets close to the hole that I call an entrance, looks down and after some time summons my Firebolt.
"Oh." Really, what is it with this bathroom that makes me say stupid things?
"Let's go then." With that I step into the hole.
I'm really curious to see what it looks like after all this time. Besides, last time I didn't pay all that much attention to the decorations…
Ewwwwww. Damn it, I forgot about this part
"Wait!" I hear him say. Too late.
"What?" I yell back once I'm done with the slimy tube and standing in the crunchy floor. This just gets better and better.
I think his sarcasm is rubbing off on me…
"Never mind now, you reckless Gryffindor." He looks smugly clean and I just glare right back, scratching below my right ear and Occluding my mind with all I'm worth when I touch something sticky. Ew doesn't even start to cover it.
"Follow me," I say stoically while trying to clean my finger on my trousers without him noticing. When he hands me his handkerchief, I wish the floor would open up and swallow me.
In a companionable kind of silence, I start moving some rocks while he spells the upper rocks firmly in place so that we still have a way out.
"Open," I hiss to the last door and I hear him catch his breath. I think he didn't really believe me until now.
"Welcome to The Chamber of Secrets," I say. I'm trying to sound evil, but when I hear the echo of my voice, I almost jump out of my skin, so the effect was completely ruined.
I try to make fun of it, but the truth is that this place makes me jumpy, and the stain in the floor near where I remember Ginny to be makes the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end.
A hand in my shoulder brings me back to the present and when it stays there, I turn back to look questioningly at him.
He catches my eyes with his, and the protectiveness of his whole pose, his look and the warmth radiating off his hand makes me afraid of using my voice. So, nodding to show him I'm ok, I take a step toward the Basilisk.
"It looks the same" I say in wonder. I'm thankful my voice is back to normal even if my throat is still a little tight.
"There must be a spell sealing the Chamber," he whispers. It feels right, somehow, to keep the noise low.
"I didn't know you could seal something bigger that 2 inches tall and… 3 inches deep?"
"3.52 inches deep," he says as an automatic response. "And you can't." Now he looks smug. "This, my dear Gryffindor, is the work of a Slytherin at his best."
I look pointedly at the Basilisk but he is too busy looking around. Figures!
After what he said sinks in, I look back at the "stain." My blood. Still fresh.
I turn back to face him.
"So… Er… Can you use it in a potion or something?" I ask, pointing to the basilisk with my chin.
"Yes" he says, caressing the Basilisk lovingly. Even though it is disconcerting at best and creepy at worst, I'm happy for him. "I would have to look into some old books, but yes. I can certainly use it in a potion. And I think I could put this Chamber to good use too, given the seals around the place and…." He keeps going on, he's actually rambling! I could point it out, but I don't want to make him self-conscious around me, and now he's saying something about the water. Even though I have no idea what the hell is so important about some stagnant water, I'm grinning like an idiot and the chill of the place is gone.
If he's happy, I'm happy too.
"Come," he says, extending his right arm. "We can come back tomorrow. Poppy will have my head if you catch pneumonia after this. So it's a bath, to get rid of that smell." I look crossly at him but he just keeps going as if nothing was wrong. "And some clean clothes and a hot chocolate."
"With the sweet stuff?" I add helpfully
"We'll see," is his only answer and I can hear the smirk in his voice.
I smirk right back. There's no way he's going to play the "Parent Card" twice in one day, there has be some rule against that.
-The End-