A/N: So this is my first adventure into the fanfiction world of Harry Potter, which is really exciting! This is all based off of a comic strip that I wrote and drew a couple years ago for fun (the cover image is a drawing from the comic, if that gives you any idea of my drawing ability), and it was pretty much a blast to turn into a story. That said, there will be more to follow ;)

So please enjoy this slightly insane tale of Harry and a Basilisk named Basilisky!

PART ONE: BASILISKY

Harry:

I'm walking down an abandoned hallway on a normal day at Hogwarts just minding my own business. There's nothing particularly exciting happening on this average Saturday. In fact, I'm a tad bit bored.

I wander into a vaguely familiar hallway with only the sounds of my feet hitting the stone floor for company, and then my eyes land on a large puddle of water. There's a sign floating in front of the mess that says, "Out of Order." That sort of triggers my mind into remembering where I am.

Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

I haven't been here since second year when we brewed that Polyjuice Potion to spy on Draco. I haven't even been in this relative area since then. And, for some reason, I feel the need to go inside.

I splash through the deep puddle of water and push into the bathroom. A couple feet in front of me, every single tap at every single sink is gushing enormous amounts of water. To either side of me, all the toilets are overflowing as well. No wonder the water is nearly up to my knees.

"Myrtle?" I call out. Distantly, I can hear her plaintive sobbing. "Myrtle, where are you? What's wrong? You've flooded the hallway!"

She doesn't respond or fly out to take out her pain on me. Instead, she just keeps on crying wherever she's hidden.

Sighing, I hike my robes up and wade into the bathroom. Nearest to the sinks, the water comes to just above my knees, and my feet are completely numb from the cold. I reach out and start closing all the taps, but it doesn't help much since the toilets are also overflowing. If Hermione was here with me, she'd know what to do to make them all stop…

I make my way down all the sinks until I reach the last one. When I get there, all these memories come flooding back in just like the water emptying itself onto my pants right now. I run my finger along the neck of the tap, and I feel the snake that curls along its length.

The Chamber of Secrets.

Almost unconsciously, I start talking in Parseltongue, and the sink lowers itself into the ground until a giant hole opens up. Immediately, all the standing water in the bathroom starts rushing like a waterfall into the gaping hole, and the force almost sucks me in. I back up quickly and hold onto one of the other sinks until all the water has disappeared into the Chamber and I'm left with only the amount of water that my sopping wet cloak can hold onto.

I stand there for a second, shivering because of my wet feet, and watch as the toilets continue their gushing. So maybe emptying all the water into the Chamber was pointless since I can't stop the toilets, but considering I have nothing better to be doing this afternoon, I don't care.

Well, maybe the trip wasn't entirely wasted…

I look down into the giant hole and shrug. This may cure my boredom.

Hermione:

"Ron, where on earth do you think Harry is?" I ask.

Ron shrugs from his position on the couch. He takes another bite of chocolate frog and looks over at me. "I dunno, Hermione," he says thickly. "I reckon he'll turn up eventually."

I slam my book shut, and the noise echoes around the empty common room. Everyone else is outside or in the library or up in the dormitories. "But you haven't seen him all day!" I say forcefully. "Aren't you even the slightest bit concerned as to where he is?"

"'Course I am," he says, rolling his eyes. "But this happens a lot, don't you think? Harry disappears more often than anyone else I know."

"But he's never anywhere good!" I say, trying to get the danger of this situation to permeate Ron's thick skull.

Finally Ron sits up. "Hermione, stop worrying. We don't have any homework to do. He's probably gone to visit Hagrid or something."

"Well, he would have told us, wouldn't he have?" I ask, grasping at straws.

Ron gives an overly dramatic sigh and finishes his chocolate frog. He's about to retort something to me, but the portrait whole opens, and someone clambers inside.

Fortunately, it's Harry. Unfortunately, he's soaking wet.

"Harry, where have you been?!" I shout before he's even in the room.

However, he doesn't respond. He just stares out the portrait hole and motions for the person on the other side to come in. "Come on," he says in a pleading voice, like he's talking to a child. "Come on! There's no one in here. Just my friends!"

"Harry, who are you talking to?" Ron asks.

Whoever's outside finally relents because Harry backs up… and a massive, full-on Basilisk slithers in.

"Bloody hell, Harry, what are you doing?!" Ron shouts at the top of his lungs.

Ron and I both look firmly at the ground, but the solitary fact that I know there is a Basilisk across the room from me is enough to make me panic. Ron looks white-faced and terrified too, but when Harry responds, he doesn't seem too worried.

"I went back down in the Chamber, and I found her still living down there," Harry says calmly. "I guess I didn't really kill her last time. Weird, huh?"

I'm hung up on other matters. "Her?" I ask, aghast. I simply cannot fathom how Harry is being so nice to a creature that nearly killed him and could kill someone else with one look.

"Yeah, she came after me at first, but I defeated her again," Harry says. "It wasn't easy, but I won her over with my Parseltongue."

"Harry," Ron says loudly, but he trails off, unable to adequately put his feelings to words. I must say, I'm feeling the same exact way. "You're mad."

"I'm not mad," Harry says vehemently. "Basilisky is afraid of the Chamber of Secrets, and she's lonely. I had to bring her out with me."

"You named her?!" I ask loudly. It's almost enough for me to look up, but I force my eyes back to the dusty floor of the common room.

"Of course I did," Harry says. "She's my pet."

"No she is not!" Ron says loudly. "She's a bloody mon—"

"Shut up, Ron!" Harry shouts. "Don't listen to him, Basilisky!"

There's a sound of him moving around and then a quiet hop. I hear the Basilisk move slightly across the carpet, its scales rubbing against the furniture.

That's when it hits me. "Harry… are you riding the Basilisk?" I ask in shock. "How are you riding the Basilisk?"

"Well—" Harry is cut off by the portrait hole opening.

I prepare immediately for the unlucky Gryffindor to fall dead on the carpet or run out of the common room screaming bloody murder, but none of that happens. In fact, at first, the intruder doesn't even notice the giant monster at first.

Dumbledore's voice sounds weary as he walks in. "Harry, I received a complaint from Professor Snape about your performance in Potions, and I was down on this end of the castle, so I thought we'd clear it up right away."

That, I assume, is when he looks up and sees the Basilisk.

"What is going on here?" Dumbledore asks, his voice turning hard. "Why in Merlin's name is there a Basilisk in the Gryffindor common room?"

I can hear Harry swallow from all the way over here. "Well, sir—"

"And more importantly, why are you riding it?"

I'd imagine that Harry's shoulders have slumped by now. "Well, you see, she's sort of my pet now…"

"This Basilisk is not your pet, Harry!" Dumbledore says loudly. "One look into a Basilisk's eye can kill you! Do you understand how dangerous this is?!"

Harry's voice comes out wounded. "I understand that, but, sir, what if—"

"I suggest you return this Basilisk to the Chamber of Secrets immediately or I will have to expel you!" Dumbledore commands. I find myself suddenly a bit frightened because Dumbledore never gets this angry about anything, but I'd imagine he's thinking about what happened last year. I don't think any of us (expect possibly Harry) want any more students to get petrified or, worse, killed by a Basilisk.

I hear Harry jump off the giant snake. "But, Professor Dumbledore… She doesn't like it down there. It scares her."

"And how do you know this?" Dumbledore asks, anger showing in his voice.

"She talks to me in Parseltongue," Harry concludes weakly.

"Take the Basilisk down to the Chamber of Secrets immediately," Dumbledore commands. There's no question in his voice.

"Of course, sir," Harry relents. He only hesitates a moment before leading the Basilisk through the portrait hole.

Still, I'm afraid to look up even after I hear the Fat Lady close behind Harry and the monster. Ron and I both continue to look at the floor, our hearts pounding in our chests.

"It's safe to look up, you two," Dumbledore says, the normal lightness returning to his voice.

Tentatively, I look up. Sure enough, there's not even a single sign that the Basilisk was ever in this room. I let out a huff of breath and lean back in my chair.

Dumbledore shakes his head. "It's not every day that something like this happens at Hogwarts…" He looks over and me and Ron. "No other students saw that, correct? There aren't any Pertrified Gryffindors behind the couches, are there?"

"No, sir," I reply. "It was just us."

"Very well," he replies. "I'm glad you two weren't harmed… Just make sure that Harry does, in fact, return the Basilisk to the Chamber of Secrets, and he isn't just trying to pull the wool over my very susceptible eyes."

"Of course, sir," Ron says. "I want that bloody beast hanging around as much as you do."

Dumbledore smiles good-naturedly and leaves with a nod.

As soon as he's out the door, Ron puts his head down in his hands. "Blimey… a Basilisk in the common room…"

I snatch my book off the table in front of me. "I told you he never goes anywhere good when he disappears."

Ron doesn't respond.

Harry:

Basilisky and I take a route of deserted hallways so that we don't run into anyone else while trying to get back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We don't talk, so the only sound is my feet hitting the stone floors.

I give a long sigh. I can't believe that both of my friends and Dumbledore were all against me having Basilisky. I mean, if they'd just let me explain, I could describe to them all the ways we could cover her eyes. I could get her sunglasses. She could wear cloth over her eyes. See, there are a million options, but they wouldn't listen…

I should have taken her down to Hagrid's. He would have appreciated her.

Eventually we reach Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and there's already a sizable amount of water coming out from under the door. Basilisky and I wade into the puddle, and I hold the door open for my companion. She thanks me in Parseltongue, but I can tell she's quite sad that this didn't work.

"Sorry that no one will let you stay above ground," I say, patting her massive head.

She nods her head as if to say she was expecting it. "It's alright… You'll visit me, though, won't you?"

"Of course," I promise. It's always fun to have a friend that you can have conversations with in languages that no one else can understand.

I give Basilisky's head one more pat, and we make our way over to the farthest sink where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets lies. I open it with my Parseltongue, and the gaping hole appears. Basilisky gives me a solemn nod and the slips away.

Just before her tail disappears, I say goodbye one more time. For some reason, I feel really emotional as I watch her slither away. I feel as though I've just lost a very special friend.

I sniff a couple of times and promise myself that I won't get worked up over this… That's when I become consciously aware that my shoes are once again completely filled with water. And that just makes everything even worse.

I start to romp back to the door, but Moaning Myrtle finally makes her appearance.

She swoops up right in front of me and says, "If you need someone to comfort you, my stall's always open." She wiggles her eyebrows and lets out a strangely high-pitched giggle.

I swallow awkwardly. "No thanks."

I've never been more excited to get out of that bathroom before.

A/N: So... Sorry that Harry and Dumbledore were kind of out of character. I just had way too much fun with this. What did you think?