Authors note(s): This is a fic set two years after Harry graduates from Hogwarts, he's currently the DADA teacher. And a basilisk roaming the grounds of the castle looking for lunch will not be an everyday occurance. The description of Professor Snape may ensicken most people, but I'm an avid Snape-loving person and the description is in the point of view of someone who thinks he's beautiful. Pwease wead and weview ^_~ Oh and this is the same as it was originally but no HTML tags jutting in every imaginable direction, and I reloaded it as an HTML thingy, it works better. ^_^ The quotations in all italics are Parseltongue, and telepaths are a pain in the ass to find, one is discovered every 300 generations but this one's different, there's more than one and both are in the same family.
Summary: There is no summary, I don't want to give any of it away. All I'm saying is this first part involves a Parselmouth, a bunch of cattle and moose. ^_^
Rating(s): PG-13 for language and mention of homosexuality. If the concept of homosexuality bugs you, either swiftly skim through it or don't read.
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Eternal Bliss: Fears, Tears and...Lunch?!
The night was dark and cold. All around Hogwarts, students of all four houses, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff were whispering and swapping rumors.
This time the topic of these rumors did not center around Harry Potter who was now teaching DADA, but around another boy who had literally talked a snake out of going after Professor Sprout just a week earlier, thus, saving her life. For it wasn't an ordinary snake that had wandered into her garden. It wasn't a basilisk either. This snake in particular was a stubborn one, too stubborn for its own good. It now was even seen in the halls, snapping at the heels of students and professors alike yet never coming close to biting them or inflicting damage.
The boy the snake saught was a first-year Ravenclaw, and the second child of the one who owned Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. His name was Orion Scott Ollivander.
The rumors about Slytherin's heir had resurfaced, and almost all of them lead to pointing fingers at the boy. Everyone had speculated of why the Sorting Hat hadn't placed him in Slytherin, for the last Parselmouth before Harry and those prior were placed in Slytherin because of their ability to communicate with the serpentine-kind. It was this night, however, that even more bizzarre rumors about the boy had arisen.
******
The Gryffindor common room was most alive with rumors and whispers flying around like the Snitch with its ass on fire if it had one. The most rumors were being batted around by the first-years, especially those who had known young Orion before the year began.
A first-year by the name of Angel Nayoshi wasn't as hyped-up as everyone else was.
"I've known he was a Parselmouth since I first saw him." the young blonde boy said as if it were nothing.
"What, he greeted you in Parseltongue?" a girl with cherry-red hair frowned. "Please, Angel, how'd you really find out."
"You're wondering why so many Parselmouths have gone through this school in the past ten years, Kim." Angel said in a flat tone as if the girl had just yelled it through the whole room.
The girl, Kim Scarlet by name stared at the one sitting across from her, her mouth hanging open in shock, "Ok, so you weren't lying about being a telepath... How many migraines did you have to deal with to be able to read minds anyways?"
Angel twittled a quill between his fingers before placing it back down on the parchment which contained the start of his DADA homework. He looked at Kim, giving her an odd look, "What?... I've been a telepath since as far back as I can remember..."
"You do know that takes severe mental and spiritual training to be able to read minds, right?" another girl who had overheard their conversation said. She was now sitting on the floor cross-legged. Apparently the conversation had grabbed her full attention.
"I didn't have to go through any of that..."
The girl gave Angel a sceptical look, "Ok, how did you become a telepath then?"
The boy who had just become the spotlight of the conversation shrugged as he reached up to pull a strand of mid-back length blonde hair behind his ear. "I was born with the ability I guess, I don't remember how exactly I became one, why?"
An expression of curiosity suddenly set into her features, Kim leaned forward over her own parchment, "Isn't your dad one?" She stared at Angel.
"Yeah, so's my mom." the boy said as if it were nothing.
A boy with multicolored hair leaned over Kim's shoulder and snickered.
Kim shrugged the boy off, "Roy, you are so annoying."
"Aw come on sis I'm not all that bad!" the boy cooed. "Oh, did you guys hear the latest rumors about that Ravenclaw kid?"
Angel sighed heavily and stretched, pulling his hair back into a hasty loose ponytail, "He's a Parselmouth, he's got a pet basilisk, his Third Eye is 112% clear and he's gay, what more are there?"
Roy grinned widely, "There's another one."
"Don't even say he's Slytherin's heir, either." Angel said in a flat tone.
Roy's jaw dropped, but he clearly had another one to bat around.
"Told ya." Kim elbowed her brother in the ribs.
"And yes I know, he's got a thing for Professor Snape." Angel said, continuing his assignment.
Roy snickered some more, "So you've already heard that one before, huh?"
"Not vocally, no." Angel replied, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
The girl who was sitting cross-legged blushed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry..."
"Karen Tangle, right?" Angel smiled warmly.
The girl nodded, "Dangit my manners stink. Sorry about that."
"Not a problem." Kim smiled and shook hands with Karen.
Roy wolf-whistled at Karen, tossing a wink in her direction.
"Sorry Roy, she's taken."
Karen's eyes went wide, "You are a telepath!..."
"Yeah." the blonde boy smiled warmly and shook hands with Karen. "My mannors suck big dick too. My name's Angel Nayoshi."
"N-nayoshi?... You're dad's in the Ministry of Magic, right? Shiarkeik Nayoshi?"
Angel nodded.
"Wow!"
"Hey! Kim, there you are! 'Been lookin' for your ass all day!" a brunette, also a first-year crawled over to them, not liking to get up off the floor to end up sitting on the floor again.
"Hey bitch w'sup?" Kim smiled.
"Friendly crowd..." a platinum-blonde girl said from across the room.
"Don't mind her." Angel said to the girl who was now sitting on her knees next to the chair Kim was seated in. "That's Citrus Malfoy. She may seem like a bitch but she's not once you get to know her."
"Weren't people from that family usually placed in Slytherin?" Karen asked curiously while looking across the room at her.
"Usually..." Kim said. "She's very friendly considering she's Draco Malfoy's youngest sister, his only sister to be truthful."
Roy sighed, looking dreamily across the room at her, "The first of the Malfoy family to be put in Gryffindor... She's probably as nice as she is sexy considering how rude the rest of her family is..."
"They shit bricks when they found out what House she was put in." Angel said, thoughtfully chewing on the end of his quill.
The brunette girl giggled, "Damn, Angel, you've got a serious potty mouth."
"Yeah, I get it from the people I hang around."
"Ha ha!" Kim whacked Angel with a pillow from the chair she was sitting on. "Aw shit! Sorry, your manners aren't the only ones that suck troll dick. This is Cindy Twinkle."
Cindy, the brunette smiled widely. But before she could say anything, Professor McGonagall entered the common room.
Not only out of respect but out of the look they saw on her face, everyone quieted down and their eyes became locked on her.
"You're all wondering why all students were instructed to be in the common rooms of their Houses by 6:30." Professor McGonagall's voice had a strange edge to it no one could quite place. "We've recieved several warnings within the past two days that something bad was going to happen here. There is a basilisk loose on the grounds outside the castle."
Students' jaws dropped like dead weight, sudden gasps and cries of shock and fear were heard throughout the common room. Even students who were in their dorms heard the Deputy Headmisstress' words and were now with everyone else.
Professor McGonagall raised her hands above her head, "Everyone stay calm!"
Apparently this didn't help much. Suddenly a shrill whistle sliced through the noise, startling everyone to silence.
Professor McGonagall lowered her hands. "Close the windows, their shutters, and curtains. Do not look out the windows at any costs." her voice was that of one used to giving orders and having them followed.
With shaky hands, students went around to the windows and did as they were told, squeals and low cries of fear escaping those who were idiotic enough to look out them.
"Why can't we look out the windows? We'll have to see what we're doing." Karen asked. She involuntarily glanced out the window she was closing and saw it...
A huge, almost impossibly large snake, one any Muggle wouldn't even have nightmares of in countless millenia was seen slithering slowly on the ground far below Gryffindor Tower.
"Holy shit! That thing's huge!! Now I see why Professor McGonagall wants us to close all windows..." Karen squeaked.
Angel slid in between Karen and the window, and closed the window. "It's not just it's size we need to watch out for."
"I...is it poisonous?"
"Is it poisonous? Why, less than half a drop of its venom could wipe out over half a million people!" Roy said in a shakey tone as he closed a window nearby.
"Not only that but it gives new meaning to the phrase 'looks can kill'." Angel said. He didn't seem as frightened of the basilisk as everyone else was, but it was obvious he was still shit-scared.
Soon, all windows in the common room and the dorms were closed and everyone else was gathered in the common room again.
"This may seem odd and the night will be uncomfortable but no one is to enter their dorms at all tonight without a Prefect or myself to accompany you." Professor McGonagall said.
Citrus Malfoy raised her hand, "Professor,...I may not want to know but what exactly can a basilisk do to us?"
A few gasps of surprise flew around the room, eminating from those who knew the power and lethality of a basilisk.
McGonagall looked at Citrus, "You don't want to know. Those here who do not know what a basilisk can do will not know, we don't need anyone with nightmares so bad it causes them to sleepwalk outside."
"Ok... I might have a nightmare like that from you saying that so can someone please tie me down or something when I go to sleep?" Citrus asked, her voice full of fear.
Before anyone could make a snide remark, if it were possible in this situation, McGonagall raised her hands for silence again. "Broomstick practice and Herbology classes have been canceled until further notice."
Angel sighed forlornly, "Da....er...dangit! Two of my favorite classes!..."
"Damnit this sucks big dick..." Roy muttered, but unfortunately this was overheard by Professor McGonagall.
"Scarlet, watch the language. Ten points from Gryffindor. Just because I'm the head of this House doesn't mean I won't deduct points." McGonagall snapped at Roy Scarlet.
A few angry stares were passed in Roy's direction but they soon subsided as they heard a very loud hiss. It was as amplified as thunder but not nearly as quick. This was followed by sudden screams which were slightly muffled.
Everyone within the Gryffindor common room, which was everyone in the House, first through seventh, fell deathly silent.
Professor McGonagall, against her better judgement looked out a window after opening it. She let out a sharp gasp of surprise.
On the grounds outside the castle, there was a small crowd of students and...the current Minister of Magic himself?! No one was expecting him to be here again since the Sorting Ceremony when the year first began.
A sudden dark, evil, uneasy feeling coiled around Angel's stomach. On instinct, he darted toward the two nearest windows, one of them Professor McGonagall was staring out of.
With just enough common sense still about him, Angel darted toward the window his Transfigurations teacher was stariing out of... He went deathly pale, so pale that he looked like he had died standing upright without falling over.
"I know there's a damn huge snake capable of swallowing a mile-long locomotive out there but my curiosity's getting the best of me..." Citrus got up from her position and went over to the window to look over the other shoulder of Professor McGonagall. Her jaw hit the floor.
Kim went to get up but was held down by the protective arms of her brother. "What's going on?"
Citrus wasn't as pale as Angel, but she didn't know he was closely related to one of the people being chased by the basilisk. But she was still quite pale... Finally, she managed to pull herself from the window and tried to make her way back over to the place she was sitting before. "T-the Minister of M-magic is out there!... Along with a bunch of students!"
"What?!" Roy barked without thinking. Why's he here?!"
"He was supposed to be welcoming first-years to the school..." another girl a few feet away said, her voice stricken with fear but she wasn't stuttering. "He came last year too to welcome us second-years when we were first-years... Been doing it since he got the position..."
"But it's already a few weeks into the year!" Cindy said, shuddering as she heard the loud hiss again. "He wouldn't be here unless something bad was up here..."
A sudden flurry of frightened screams erupted from outside followed by the dreadful sounds of students' shrieks at what had just happened.
Professor McGonagall's face went exta-remely pale as she saw the events unfold before her eyes down below Gryffindor tower...
To her, it looked like the basilisk had turned to face the group of frightened people, but it looked like only one first-year was unfortunate enough to not look away... The young first-year then went stiff, and so did the Minister, who was a few feet away.
A startled, frightened cry oozing with the deepest of pain escaped from one of the only two people standing at the window, he then collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh. My. God!!!" these were the only words to leave Professor McGonagall's lips before she fainted. She had always had a small thing toward the current Minister of Magic ever since who-knows-when, many people, even students around Hogwarts had somehow found out through the proverbial grapevine, and it was far from a secret to anyone who worked within the Ministry.
******
Down on the grounds of Hogwarts, there was a flurry of movement and cries of raw fear as people ran from what the Wizarding world called the King of Serpents. Only one boy, a first-year Ravenclaw dared look the basilisk in the eye.
The boy stood his ground, directly in the path of the giant serpent, only moving to brush a strand of raven-black butt-length hair out of his deep mahogany eyes which glared daggers directly into the basilisk's gold orbs.
"Why do you not run, boy? Do you not understand I am after lunch?!" the basilisk quickened its pace, not knowing the boy he was headed for could understand him.
"Stop!" the boy snapped. To him it sounded more like a series of sporradic low hisses than a true language, but it very much was.
The basilisk suddenly came to a halt and met eyes with the boy. "You are not the heir of my true massssssster, how can you control me?!" it hissed angrily, trying to continue onward but unable, it felt like something very powerful was binding it to its current spot.
"I will give no answers, there are things other than humans you can snack on." the boy said. Neither he nor the basilisk before him had noticed the crowd of students had gone completely silent.
"Why musssssssst you ssssssssstarve me?" the basilisk managed to move its tail a bit, but nothing more. Something in this boy's gaze of raw fury had hold of it.
"Why must you give people the impression you live to eat when in truth you eat to live?"
"I have no other sssssssssource of food. I ssssssnacked on a few Mugglesssssss on my way here but they tassssssted like sssssssshit. Muggle-born Witchesssssss and Wizards are what I crave assssssssside from the few dozen cowsssssss and moosssssssse." the basilisk hissed, it had calmed a bit and hadn't noticed when the students around it and this boy were sneaking back inside. Somehow they managed to get the girl and the Minister of Magic inside as well.
The boy pulled out his wand, his eyes still remaining locked with those of the basilisk. "How much must you eat for it to tide you over for at least half a century?" this young first-year Ravenclaw had an idea.
"I do not know, I eat until I feel full." the basilisk began to get irritated again.
The boy looked around him, making sure that all students, staff, and anything else that was human was safely concealed within the castle. He then returned his attention to the basilisk, "I will remain with you until you've had your fill."
With a wave of his wand, the boy had made appear who knows how many cattle and moose across the whole grounds of Hogwarts, placing a shield around the whole of the castle so nothing of it was damaged as this basilisk snacked.
"Thank you ever sssssssso much! May I call you masssssster?" the basilisk was now mobile again.
"With all due respect and as much as I'd like the honor, my better judgement tells me to say no. And you're welcome." the boy said as he sat on the ground, knowing the basilisk wouldn't come near him. He watched as the basilisk, with little difficulty, consumed all the cattle and moose on the grounds of the Magical school.
The process of conjuring cows and moose, and watching the basilisk eat repeated a few more times before the basilisk coiled itself up before the boy.
"Thank you again, for the delicioussss lunch..." the basilisk's face shifted into what appeared to be a smile. "Do you think anyone would mind if I remained closssssssse enough to the casssssssstle to protect it but far enough from it sssssssso that no one ssssssssseessssssss me?"
"I do not know how you'd eat unless you returned once you were hungry again so I could feed you, but I don't think anyone would mind." the boy said.
"Thank you again, young masssssssssssster!" the basilisk called to the boy as it headed into a deep part of the Forbidden Forest that not even the dwellers of the Forest dared venture.
Once the basilisk was out of eyeshot, the boy got up and headed back into the castle. It was pitch-black outside sans the full moon and its surrounding stars. A Slytherin fifth-year girl ran up and hugged the boy tightly, her Prefect badge glittering softly in the torchlight.
"Orion, you had me scared shitless!" she hissed into the boy's ear. "What the hell were you doing?!"
"All it was doing was having lunch in the evening, and I gave it something to eat aside from humans." the boy said innocently to his sister as if it were nothing.
The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore rushed forward with Madam Pompfrey at his side. The two of them, along with the Slytherin Prefect began checking the boy for injuries.
"You could have been killed!" a seventh-year Ravenclaw who was this year's Head Boy ran toward the boy and gave him a hug. "How'd you survive its gaze anyways?!"
The boy, Orion by name had no answer. He did, but wasn't sure if he should tell anyone. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. "What about Misty and the Minister of Magic?! Are they alright?"
"Fortunately they didn't see it directly, they were Petrified." Madam Pompfrey's voice was dripping with worry.
"It is true." a cold, emotionless male voice said in a flat tone as if he were stating something he'd known about for a long time. "You are a Parselmouth."
Orion looked to the source of the voice, knowing full well who it was. His breath once again caught in his throat.
The man had black silky hair all astray yet tidily laying about his shoulders. His eyes were impossibly dark and his flesh was pale, so pale one would call it sallow. The fact that his nose was beautifully aquiline did not change the fact that he was beautiful. The black robes he wore were long, he looked like a dark angel.
No one else saw the tall man in the way the boy did, for no one else that he or any other student knew of thought he was hot either. No other teacher for that matter saw him in this way either.
Finally, the young boy found his voice. He then noticed the extremely impatient look the tall gothic man had on his features. "Yessir..." it came out as a quiet whisper, but everyone present heard it.
"That is...interesting..." the tall man frowned and turned away, his black sweeping robes billowed about him as he walked.
"He still detests children, sans us Slytherins." the Slytherin Prefect by the name of Olivia said flatly.
"Come on, Orion. I'll give you a checkup before we all return to our...normal routines, or as normal as they'll get." Madam Pompfrey lead the Ravenclaw first-year to infurmary.
******
Up in the Gryffindor common room, students weren't as frightened, for many of them had opened windows to watch the events with the basilisk unfold. There was still much confusion, especially of why the basilisk ate cattle and moose, then left into the Forbidden Forest.
"I think the rumors about that kid are true, him being a Parselmouth that is..." Roy muttered. "I thought those things only ate humans..."
Headmaster Dumbledore entered the common room through the portrait hole. Everyone silenced and looked at him. To him it looked as if they were looking for guidance as what to do next with their lives, needing step-by-step instructions on how to breathe, but he knew this wasn't the case.
He let Angel dart past him out into the hall before he spoke. "Misty Potter and the Minister of Magic were Petrified by the basilisk, though no one was killed or injured. Professor McGonagall is fine, and she will be able to return to her work within a few days."
"Where's Angel off to?" a girl with chestnut-brown hair, the tips of it dyed purple for some odd reason asked without thinking. Her name was Molly Petfield, she was quite the nosy one but still kind-hearted.
"He is going to the infurmary. One of close relation to him was one of the two who were Petrified." Dumbledore's answer had a sad tone to it. He didn't say which one of the two were related to the young first-year or how, but a few students already knew...
Not the best cliffhanger but oh well, TBC.