Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. Self-beta'd

"…" = speaking

'…' = thoughts or quotes

Word translated below

Word is written word

"*…*" = Parseltounge

Before the chapter begins I just want to thank everyone for being so patient with me in getting this chapter out. Please enjoy.

-Nanananananananananananananana-

"That would be a pelle et basiliscum." Luna calmly replied from the back of the group.

"Not exactly sure what Luna just said; but that would be the shed skin of a basilisk." Harry smugly answered. Everyone stared in shock at the giant snake skin. From where they were standing in the doorway they could easily see the giant head, with smoky lenses still attached, leading into the body that wound it's way into the darkness.

"That is what I said Harry. Pelle et basiliscum is Latin for skin of a basilisk."

"Koi, is that what you fought?" Ryosuke asked in awe of the shedded skin, slowly moving closer.

"Hmm? Oh, this was here when I first came through here a few years ago. I think there's a spell on it to keep it in tact." Harry walked up to the skin without any worry and knocked on it gently. "Yep, feels like stone. I bet Voldemort froze this over 50 years ago when he first came through. It's not as long as the basilisk I fought. One more door to go through." Harry shrugged before continuing on towards the last door. Once he reached the last barrier, Harry turned around and watched everyone make their way past. A few would stop every few feet and gaze in awe at the petrified skin; while some would hurry past, ignoring it as much as possible. Luna, alone, calmly walked past while running one hand along the skin whenever it was within reach.

"This isn't even how big the thing I fought was." Harry mumbled and shook his head in amusement as the last person, Koyo, finally finished gawking at the shed skin. "Everyone ready to move on to the last room now?"

"Harry," Kazuma started, "how did you fight off, and survive, something bigger than this?"

"What do you mean, 'something bigger than this'? Kazuma, a twelve year old couldn't fight this normally! Sure, it's a rumor that Harry gets in and out of ridiculous things every year. But no twelve year old could live after fighting a snake larger than this. I doubt that any of our current professors could. Lockheart for sure wouldn't have been able to." Blaise shook his head, looking back at the skin lying behind him. The skin wound around in the shadows making it difficult to get a good read on the length. However, it was clearly over 20 feet long.

"Not even a parslemouth?" Kazuma raised his eyebrow at his mate.

"According to some rumors Voldemort was also here, meaning he likely had the upper hand in parsle control." Blaise crossed his arms stubbornly. No way a Gryffindork would be able to live after meeting such a deadly snake, they were too rash in their decision making to be able to strategize that kind of fight.

"If you are interested in knowing, Fawkes played a big part in it." Harry calmly added before he got the last door to open.

"Who's Fawkes?" Junpei asked from his spot next to Fred and Koyo. Junpei ran a hand through his blue hair.

"That's our Headmaster's phoenix." George spoke up before Harry could. "He's great at giving us the stink eye paired with laughter whenever we are summoned to the Headmaster's office after a prank."

"Laughter?" Koyo queried.

"Haha, yah. Each time we leave Dumbledore's office after getting busted on a prank Fawkes sends out a high pitched note that leaves us feeling better and more determined not to get caught the next time, seems like laughter to us." Fred grinned while slipping an arm around Junpei, taking care not to get tangled in the long hair.

"So it was you and a phoenix against a basilisk?" Minato asked in concern turning away from the fossilized skin.

"As well as the sorting hat and the sword of Gryffindor." Harry said as the final door finished sliding away. He swept his arm out through the opening, grabbing everyone's attention. "Welcome to the main chamber."

"What is that smell?" Fred and George spoke in tandem. Before anyone could really taken in their first view of the main chamber, they were all hit by the overwhelming smell of decay.

"My guess the dead snake lying in the water there." Blaise snarled as everyone covered their noses, trying to block the smell.

"This is completely non-salvageable." Naoya called out as he made his way closer. "Any usable part has decayed too far here in the chamber while partly submerged in the water."

"Can anyone do anything about this smell before we all move closer?" Neville asked from his position by the door, partially hidden behind Shoko, as if the herbologist could protect him from the smell by his presence alone.

"Bubble head charms should fix the issue until we can clear out the cause." Luna spoke up as she started to place the charm on those closest to her. Others followed her example and soon everyone found themselves breathing easier.

"Tensai dana." Junpei muttered to Koyo and Ryosuke.

"Iie, kanojo ga reibunkurou da. Zenin ga sono gurai atama ga ii." Ryosuke responded before he moved closer to where Harry had wandered off to. "Koi, what are you doing?"

"I was just looking at the statue. It seemed so much bigger before." He responded, gazing fixed up at Salazar face. "I thrust the sword up through the head from the tip of this statue."

"From the top?"

"Yah, I climbed up the face of it as Fawkes was attacking the basilisk. Once I got to the top it turned and lunged at me. I thrust the sword out and it went through the roof of its mouth, killing it." Harry responded, leaning back against Ryosuke.

"Hey lovebirds," Blaise yelled out, "Shoko believes he has a solution to our smell problem."

"With the level of decay here, I can breakdown the basilisk into earth. That won't change the water that has been poisoned nor the stone under the dead creature." Shoko spoke up, hands held out over the head glowing faintly green as his powers poked and prodded the basilisk. Minato joined him and held his own midnight blue glowing hands over the water.

"The water is very poisonous. It would take a few rounds of cleansing before it normalized out. At this point it would poison anything that had prolonged contact with it. So don't touch the water." The last point was clearly aimed at Kazuma who had stepped closer to the water in interest.

"Before we do anything to the chamber, is it something we could use for lessons? If it's not suitable there's no point in fixing it up." Harry pointed out. Shoko and Minato both pulled their powers back in and began to look around the chamber with the other Joukriger. Thirty minutes later they seemed to come to a consensus.

"If we get rid of the basilisk and cleanse this place, not just the standing water, this would fit our needs. Plenty of space for each of you to practice accessing your powers without getting into each other's way. The chamber is still structurally sound despite the broken statues everywhere." Minato reported.

"How long will it take to cleanse the area?" Fred asked.

"The basilisk will take me at least an hour to remove safely." Shoko supplied looking back along the length of the creature.

"The water will take another 3 hours on top of that." Minato added.

"What about the fossil out there?" George asked looking back down the tunnel they came through.

"I might be able to shift that around and bring it in here as a decoration piece. Or just destroy it." Koyo spoke as he hugged George from behind. "Moving it in here wouldn't take up much time. Since it is stone I can manipulate it through the entry."

"In any case, we won't be able to do any of that in this room today. We've already been gone too long. Any longer and people will start to ask questions we can't answer." Blaise stated while looking at the glowing clock in the air before him.

"Blaise is right. We'll have to come back at a different time to deal with those things. If we can get more water and plant users they maybe able to speed up the process as well. Let's head back up and I'll talk it over with Suzaki and Suzaku." Ryosuke spoke before any of the students could protest.

With one last look around the infamous chamber, the group shuffled out back to the entrance. Everyone was thankful to not find Moaning Myrtle hanging around the bathroom when they emerged. Harry took one last look down the tunnel before closing the entrance behind him.

Author's Note:

So sorry lovely readers! I'm sorry to keep you waiting this long after such a cliffhanger! That was not my intention. I didn't expect my move cross country or starting my new job would be so energy draining. I am having a lot of fun but work definitely is not your stereotypical 9-5. Many weeks I'll have 1 or 2 after hour client and networking events that I need to go to as a part of my job which can be anywhere from 1 to 4 hours long. I also got hit by a bit of writer's block during March and April which didn't help. That seems to have lessened so hopefully chapters will continue to flow. However, with work taking up so much of my time it will be hard for me to set up a schedule like I had for the first 6 months, or even guarantee a set schedule. So I will do my best to update as soon as I have a chapter complete and looked over for editing. Please continue to be patient and I hope you continue to enjoy this.

This chapter is smaller than usual since I feel bad about taking so long to get it to you. The second part that I had planned for this chapter will be the start of the next. So since that is already partially planned out hopefully I can get it to you sooner.

As a Ravenclaw I wouldn't be surprised if Luna knew and could speak Latin. It seems like something she would learn.

Koi = (恋) love

(To the review who don't think this can be used as a term of endearment. I have Japanese friends in Fukushima, Japan who use this with their spouses, so it may not be the norm but it isn't incorrect. Thanks for the concern.)

Tensai dana = (天才だな) Genius, isn't she.

Iie, kanojo ga reibunkurou da. Zenin ga sono gurai atama ga ii = (いいえ、彼女がレイブンクローだ。全員がそのぐらい頭がいい。) No, that girl is a Ravenclaw. They are all at that level. (If any of my Japanese readers have a better katakan for Ravenclaw please let me know. This one seemed closest to me.)