Misadventures in Time Travelling

Chapter 8 One down in the First Few Days

The Gryffindor common room, decked in red and gold was empty at 2 o'clock in the morning. It was peaceful, with no students making noises or pulling pranks. This peace of the elaborately decorated was shattered as two figures carrying lanterns and broomsticks met in front of the fire.

"Are you ready," whispered Jamie.

"Yes," replied Hermy.

Jamie muttered an incantation, and tapped Hermy's head with his wand. Hermy felt as if an egg was broken on top of his head, the yolk dribbling down. Jamie repeated this on his own head. Hermy then cast a spell on their feet to minimize the noise of their footsteps. Silently, the two travelers pushed open the portrait and climbed out the hole. The sound of the Fat Lady admonishing the unseen miscreants followed them as they snuck down the corridor. They held lanterns to guide their way.

They walked down in the shadows along the dimly lit, and eerily quiet corridors. They kept their eyes out for any other night walkers, attempting to avoid the ever present Filch and his familiar, Mrs Norris the cat. They walked down the corridors and down multiple flights of stairs, hurrying as much as possible. They walked in silence, not speaking. They knew what was ahead. They knew what could go wrong and worried that their resolution to go ahead may change if they spoke.

Jamie and Hermy looked at each other apprehension as they pushed open the door to the first floor girl's toilets. Jamie left his lantern in front of the door, needing his hands. They were glad to see the ghostly inhabitant, Moaning Myrtle, absent as they did not want witness yet.

"Do you know the summoning incantation?" asked Jamie.

"Yes. Do you know the conjuring incantation and movements for the roosters?" replied Hermy.

Jamie nodded and the two children walked into the water logged floor of the girl's toilets. The only sound was splashing of their feet. They were grateful that since the toilet was as unpopular as it was, they only had to worry about the water and nothing else. Hermy, like every time she walked into this toilet, was slightly surprised that even with the mess in this toilet, it still smelt better than a standard's boy's loo block.

With concentration, Hermy examined the bank of sinks, looking closely at the pipes underneath. She saw a tiny snake etched into the stone work, and focused on this symbol.

"Open up," she hissed in Parseltongue.

The sinks were moved to the side with grinding gears to reveal a cavity in the wall. Hermy and Jamie made to jump in the hole, but Hermy held out her arm to stop Jamie.

"Wait," she said in English, with some hesitation.

"Stairs, please," she hissed in Parseltongue.

Just like magic, a flight of stairs formed, reaching down into the bowels of the earth. Hermy smiled proudly, congratulated by Jamie.

"One small step for Harry, one giant leap for wizardkind," quipped Hermy, in an effort to lighten the mood.

Jamie rolled his eyes and elbowed Hermy. He had heard worse from Ron and the twins over the years, but this took the cake. They walked down the staircase, leaving the door open. They held their wands in front of them, casting Scourgify charms to get rid of the disgusting slime. They left the stairs and stepped into a large, dimly lit room with a huge statue at one end.

Hermy swallowed and breathed deeply. Her mind filled with images of a not-quite solid young Tom Riddle standing over Ginny Weasley's prone body. She remembered the pain of the basilisk venom and the horror of seeing Voldemort almost come back one more time.

Jamie waved his wand and muttered, conjuring live roosters and held up a muggle cassette player, blaring the sounds of roosters crowing. He tethered them in the centre of the room using magic and walked away to hide. Hermy conjured roosters and held onto them with difficulty as she commanded the statue of Slytherin to open using Parseltongue.

The statue's mouth widened to become a tunnel and rustling could be heard. As the sounds became louder, Hermy mounted her broomstick and rose to the ceiling. She put her sunglasses on and closed her eyes. Hermy stayed as still as possible as she hovered and conjured more roosters. Roosters fell to the ground, hitting the Basilisk. The basilisk convulsed and died.

Hermy dove to the ground, attempting to miss the piles of feathers, rooster poo and the giant snake. She surveyed the scene and with Jamie, cast preserving charms to preserve the carcass of the Basilisk. They had good intentions for the money raised by selling its parts.

With great care, Jamie and Hermy used their wands to remove several Basilisk teeth and hide them in a bottomless bag. They heard footsteps walking down the stairs and banished all but one of the roosters.

"POTTER AND GRANGER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" yelled McGonagall, her Scottish brogue strong and her face red with fury.

"Umm…"

"The legend is true!" gasped Flitwick, walking into Slytherin's mouth and seeing the Basilisk.

McGonagall grabbed Jamie and Hermy's collars and dragged them through Slytherin's mouth, followed by Snape, Sprout and Dumbledore. As her eyes took in the enormity of the huge snake, her eyes grew wide and her mouth open. She dropped Jamie and Hermy and stood staring.

The teachers held out their wands and slowly walked to the once majestic creature. Snape walked down the length of the snake, muttering, his eyes revealing pleasure as he reached the end of the snake. Once they had determined that it was dead, they turned to face the first years, their faces red and anger written very clearly.

"Potter! Explain yourself," ordered Snape.

"My dear boy, don't you think we should have this conversation somewhere more comfortable?" asked Dumbledore as he lead the group towards the stairs.

The teachers and students left the chamber, Snape being very reluctant to do so, lagging at the back of the group and dragging their feet. Once everyone had entered the bathroom, Jamie hissed (pretending to) and the door closed, while Hermy hissed quietly. The teachers looked at each other. This was another indication of power. Was the Dark Lord returning?

It was close to 3am as the group entered Dumbledore's office. Jamie and Hermy had nervous looks on their faces and appeared to be on the point of tears. They were shaking with adrenaline and held their Occulamency shields tight.

"Expell them… They damaged a valuable creature and have broken many school rules being out of bed at this hour!" demanded Snape.

"I hardly think that this is worth being expelled for," retorted McGonagall. "House points and detentions maybe."

While the teachers argued, Hermy and Jamie felt tendrils in their minds, and headaches. Someone was trying to get to the bottom of things. They let images of tears and worry past their walls and the feeling of intrusion abated.

Jamie looked at the teachers with tears in his eyes and cried, "Do not expel or punish Hermy it is my fault!"

"Jamie! Don't…" shouted Hermy.

"I miss my parents so much. I found out TONIGHT what had really happened and after I found my Dad's name engraved in my bed head… It was too much," Jamie whispered, tears rolling down his face. "I ran downstairs and saw Hermy asleep in front of the fire."

Snape rolled his eyes as Hermy continued the story, her arm around Jamie's shoulders. "He looked like he was having a panic attack and I thought he would like some privacy. I overheard some older girls talking about the out of order bathroom so took him down there so we could talk."

"We sat there in silence, and Jamie was talking to himself as he looked around the room. He was looking at the sinks, when he began hissing and that hole opened up. It seemed like a good idea at the time to check it out and then that big snake came out and I did so much reading before coming here and knew that it had to be a Basilisk. I tore a button off my PJ top and turned it into a rooster."

Dumbledore's stern expression remained, but inside he was screaming with joy. Perhaps young Jamie would be easy to manipulate into dangerous situations. His plans would work after all.

Meanwhile, the expression on McGonagall's face softened slightly as she watched Hermy comfort the crying Jamie.

"You do not believe them," said an incredulous Snape. "Two first years… Killing a Basilisk?"

Dumbledore came out of his thoughts and stood up. "I believe that the evidence is there Severus. They were very lucky. Not many first years could do this. I believe point given are in order."

Even Hermy and Jamie were taken aback by the points being awarded for such dangerous behavior. They knew that Dumbledore was encouraging them. They could see the gears grinding and working out how to play his chess pieces.

Snape attempted to complain, but was interrupted by McGonagall, "20 points each for sheer dumb luck to Gryffindor and 10 points taken away for dangerous behavior."

"I would say two weeks of detention are in order…" drawled Snape.

Dumbledore nodded and started to guide the group towards the stairs.

Jamie turned and with curiousity on his face asked, "Excuse me Professor, is it true that killers of dangerous beasts are entitled to the body?"

A formerly quiet Flitwick, his head barely reaching Harry's shoulder, piped up "Yes. It is an old wizarding law that has never been repealed, despite rarely having been used in recent history."

Dumbledore groaned quietly as he had had thoughts of money dancing in his mind after selling the Basilisk parts and keeping the money. McGonagall nodded.

She said slowly, "We would need to harvest the parts which would be an exercise in itself. Not one of us, even you Severus, have experience in this."

"What about the goblins?" asked Hermy?

Flitwick nodded enthusiastically and said with excitement, "I do have contacts within Gringotts. I will contact them immediately and ask them to survey the carcass. I think Saturday would work well. You could both end up with a handsome sum, after commission is given to the Goblins.

McGonagall escorted Jamie and Hermy to the Gryffindor tower and before she left said, "Please come to me if you are having issues. I knew your parents well, especially your father and could be some source of comfort."

The portrait closed over the hall and Hermy fell over as Jamie hugged her in glee. They lay on the floor, their faces inches apart. As they stared into each other's eyes, they started to lean forward and leapt up in embarrassment, running for their dorms. They went to bed and stayed awake for an age, their blood pumping after the excited night and missed moment on the floor.

Authors Note

Somewhat unrealistic? Somewhat unlikely? Yep. How did the teacher's find out about their adventures? Filch saw the lantern and then seeing the opened cavity called for help. I choose to think that this was not out of character.