Warning: another character death.

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HERMIONE GRANGER AND THE PRINCE OF SERPENTS

by CreatorZorah

Part II.

Chapter 25.

Deep in dungeons of the ancient castle, in the hall of Chamber of Secrets, stood a young red-haired girl. She held a long sword in her hand. Her other hand lay on the head of a terrible beast. Once mighty, now dead. Her eyes were sad and apologetic as she was looking at the Basilisk. Next to the dead Basilisk lay an unconscious seventh year Slytherin.

"What a damn mess," she said and looked at the conjured sword in disgust as it began to disappear.

Then she stared at her tiny hands and began to laugh madly. For him, the Dark Lord, to be stuck in the body of a child. A first year at that. It would make it difficult for him to control his magic for some time. Besides, how would he get his Death Eaters to follow him when he was in this bloody Weasley girl's body. But it was still better than nothing. He had a body a year earlier than he had expected and what is important, no one knew about it. That meant, he would have at least an additional year to prepare. Furthermore, he had a good opportunity to mould Hermione Granger into the weapon he needed now.

'How is the girl, by the way?' he wondered and began to sort through the redhead's memories. A few minutes later he scowled and growled, "Those fools will pay."

Hermione Granger had been in Azkaban and he had no way to tell if she still was sane after months in the prison. Her Occlumency shields weren't strong enough to withstand Dementors. Many, especially a young girl like her, would break after only a week in Azkaban. At least she had escaped, but if the prison had already broken her, she would be of no use to him.

"Damn moron," Tom Riddle cursed. It was a simple task of keeping an important object safe and the fool managed to create this mess out of it. One wasted Horcrux, potentially ruined weapon named Hermione, five dead students, the dead Basilisk, and he, reborn in the body of an eleven years old girl.

He had no choice but to convince everyone that Ginny and Hermione were innocent and to do that he would need a scapegoat. He looked at the unconscious student and pointed a wand at him. Then he sent a reviving spell. The student opened his eyes, but before he could say anything, Riddle used Legilimency.

Almost a hour later Tom Riddle stupefied the student again, stepped back and sighed. It was very exhausting to cast such complex spells in his new body. The student's memories were rewritten so that no one would ever suspect anything. He would be a perfect scapegoat. But there was still one single evidence of what really occurred in the Chamber of Secrets. The wand. It didn't work well for him. Obviously, he wasn't Ginny Weasley. Therefore he would need to get another wand from Ollivander. This wand had to be destroyed to erase evidences of the spells that had been used with it.

He took the wand from the Slytherin student and sent another stunner at him. Then Tom burned down Ginny's wand with a simple fire spell and looked around. Evidences destroyed, the scapegoat ready. He glanced at the carcass of the Basilisk and sadness entered his eyes again. There weren't many things precious to him, but the serpent was one of them.

"Rest in peace," he whispered.

Hermione sat in the living room, reading a book on advanced Transfiguration. She had convinced Sirius to teacher her animagus transformation. It was still beyond her skills. At first she had to learn more about transfiguration. Perhaps in a year or two she would get her animal form if Sirius would continue to tutor her.

"Hermione," her mother called from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready."

She closed the book with a sigh and walked to the dining room. Grandpa Marius, Sirius and her parents were already at the table waiting for her. A big family in hiding, Merlin's pants. She sighed.

"Did you see Naga?" she asked as she sat down.

"Aye, he vanished after Jean gave him a chicken," her grandfather said.

"The snake is probably on the roof," Sirius said, "It's sunny today."

She pouted. "I hope he'll come around."

"You didn't let him get his revenge. Obviously, he is angry," Sirius answered. "I still say you should have let him kill the bastards."

"Sirius!" Jean exclaimed.

"Excuse me, Jean," Sirius said. "But you have to agree that the Malfoys..."

"Hermione was right," Marius interrupted him. "Creusa informed me earlier this day that the Malfoys updated their wards. The snake wouldn't get through. Besides," he said with a smile. "Don't you know? Revenge is a dish best served cold. They've pulled their son out of Hogwarts and don't leave their Manor."

"Father," Edward said sternly. "It's not the place and the time to talk about it. Especially not when Hermione is at the table."

"Your daughter has seen..."

This again. Hermione sighed and began to eat. Every single family meeting ended in a quarrel. Her parents couldn't accept that she wasn't the same innocent girl she had been. Grandfather had apparently made it his personal mission to get under her father's skin. And Sirius, the typical Gryffindork, didn't know how to keep his head cool. She knew it was just because of the constant stress. Living in hiding was difficult for everyone.

Suddenly they heard someone fall down to the floor and they rushed to the living room. Hermione didn't even notice that Naga climbed onto her. In the living room was Creusa Greengrass and before they could utter a word, she handed over a copy of Evening Prophet.

HERMIONE GRANGER IS INNOCENT!

Hermione Granger, Muggleborn celebrity of the Wizarding World, the youngest prisoner of Azkaban, famous for owning the first domesticated winged basilisk and being among the two first persons to ever break out of the prison, is innocent of the attacks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Even if someone had some doubts, after the shocking words spoken by Hermione Granger at the end of the trial, only few stayed unconvinced in her guilt. The latest events at Hogwarts showed us that sometimes even an evident proof isn't enough to avoid mistakes. The miscarriage of justice in Hermione Granger's case is a perfect example.

Suddenly, Hermione found herself being hugged by the whole family. They were congratulating her and much to her annoyance hindering her to read further.

"There is more. Let's read," she said finally.

A first year student defeats a thousand years old Basilisk.

The truth about horrible events at Hogwarts was revealed by young Ginevra Weasley, first year student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Today, on 8th May she was taken by the culprit to the secret dungeon of the school, legendary Chamber of Secrets. Ginny Weasley managed to free herself and engage in duel with Marcus Flint, the seventh year Slytherin student.

"He was controlled by a dangerous dark magic artifact," said Ginny Weasley. "It was a diary."

Controlled by the dark magic, Marcus Flint unleashed a thousand years old Basilisk on the young courageous girl. But then she was saved by the appearance of some mysterious sword in her hand. Maybe it was the long lost Sword of Gryffindor? It's believed that the sword would come to aid the true Gryffindor in the time of need. Was the old legend true?

"It's just appeared out of nowhere. Right in my hand," Ginny Weasley said.

The Basilisk's eyes have the power to instantly kill anyone who looks into them. They cause petrification to anyone who looks indirectly into them. This power has petrified Fred and George Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Ginny Weasley knew about the power and closed her eyes.

"I didn't really do anything, It's a bloody Basilisk! I've just fell down to the knees awaiting death and raised the sword over my head. It was just a coincidence that the Basilisk struck at that exact moment," Ginny Weasley told the aurors.

The girl was indeed lucky to raise the sword at the right moment. The great serpent impaled itself on the sword, dying immediately. Ginny Weasley was knocked back by the impact, but stood up immediately and saw Marcus Flint lying on the floor unconscious. Apparently the dead beast's tail hit his head.

Seeing the chance, the brave girl destroyed the diary with the sword releasing the older student from clutches of the Dark Magic. The experts were able to confirm the presence of traces of dark magic in the diary that had been found in the Chamber of Secrets.

As the one who defeated the beast, Ginevra Weasley claimed the carcass as her property. The ingredients gathered from the dead Basilisk will be sold at auction organized by Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary in cooperation with Gringotts. According to our experts the summary cost of all Basilisk's parts exceeds 50,000 Galleons and that makes the heroic girl the richest underage witch in the world.

More about Ginevra Weasley on p. 7-9.

"An eleven years old girl defeated a Basilisk?" Sirius said in disbelief. "This has to be a joke!"

"Do you have another explanation?" Hermione said shaking her head. "Coincidences happen all the time and the girl was just lucky to stay alive."

"But it's still unbelievable. Basilisks are huge creatures!

"Size has nothing to do with strength," Hermione said. "I'm sure Naga would kick the Basilisk's arse."

"Language, Hermione," Jean said.

"Anyway, I don't envy her," Hermione continued. "She's probably as much celebrity as me now. I didn't like the attention at all, neither did it help me."

"She's a pure-blood, Hermione," Sirius said. "She won't have a half of the problems you had. Besides, one thing is to own a winged basilisk, the other thing is to kill a true basilisk," Sirius said. "I doubt someone will be stupid enough to bother her."

"I don't know, they shouldn't have bothered me either," she said. "Here is more about me."

Kiss On Sight order suspended

Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge suspended the order of Dementor's Kiss forHermione Jean Granger after the new important discoveries had been made at Hogwarts. Reconsideration of her case is planned for the Wizengamot Session on 10th May.

Ministry of Magic advises everyone to stay on alert. "We have to remind people, that she (Hermione Jean Granger) escaped the Azkaban along with a very dangerous convict, Sirius Black. Of course, considering the situation, we won't hold the poor child responsible, but we have to assume the worst. The girl might have already been killed or worse," said the Head of the Auror Office Rufus Scrimgeour.

"Or worse." Hermione snickered. "I have to live with the fleabag in the same house."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed as everyone laughed. Everyone was relieved that the nightmare was in the past. The tension was finally broken.

"Congratulations are in order, Hermione," Creusa Greengrass said. "You'll have to stay here for another two days just in case, then you'll be able to return to Hogwarts."

"I wish I could continue private lessons here," she muttered with a sigh.

"Unfortunately, it's not an option," Creusa said and looked at Sirius. "And Sirius, your turn's next. With Hermione's help I'll be able to convince the majority of the Council to vote not guilty on your case. It isn't the ideal solution, people will still blame you, but at least you will be a free man."