Hello everyone! Thank you for your reviews and for following my stories! Still receiving reviews for my First Instalment so thank you everyone! So I have one more chapter to post following this one and that will be the end of this one but not to worry I am finished Book Three and am just editing at the moment! Please let me know what you think! So without further ado Chapter Thirty-Four!
Chapter Thirty-Four
It took them all a second to realise what exactly they were looking at and the Goblins especially looked as if they needed a forklift to pick up their jaws. The long beautiful body of the Basilisk lay in front of them all and truth be told the majority held in the urge to Pinch themselves because no one had ever seen a snake as large before. Even Albus was in complete shock at what lay in front of them.
"Such a magnificent creature...did she have a name?" Draco nodded at Ragnok and they all walked closer to her before the blonde knelt down to look at her and put his hand on her head.
"This is Shakatha...she was being used to do the bidding of Voldemort who believed he was the Heir of Slytherin but he wasn't." Draco seemed sad as did all of the children and the more they thought about what had happened in the room the more it made way for their anger more so than anything else. Salazar had spoke with such honour when he described Shakatha to them and they knew he would be dreadfully upset at what had happened here.
"Why did he kill her?" Hermione did not understand it...the Basilisk itself was not harmful to anyone once Draco used the spell that Salazar gave to him so what personal gain did Voldemort get? Granted Voldemort had the snake at his beck and call all year before Draco scuppered his plans for it.
"Because he could...his selfish egotistical pride got in the way of anything else and I am guessing once he saw the Basilisk respond to me then she was a means to an end to him. Although I think I'm now on his radar...when he cut her throat killed her he gave me this look...he was just an apparition of course but...his eyes he knew something..." The goblins took that at their cue to start and they looked like a little army, Severus was looking around the structure of the Chamber in awe of what the children had found.
"According to Salazar he housed his research in here correct?" The Potions Master has an idea and the children nodded their heads at him and walked over to the statue of Salazars head and the feel of magical wards were completely obvious but so strong he would imagine the Curse Breakers would need a few weeks to get passed them.
"Yeah anything he was working on would be around here somewhere unless he moved it all before he left the castle." No one said anything but Albus and Minerva smiled at the Potions Master who was feeling the stone of Salazars face a little bit too much causing the children to laugh at him.
"Do you want us to leave you alone with him Professor...I cant imagine he would be much of a conversationalist but whatever floats your boat?" He glared at Ron instantly looked away causing everyone even the teachers to avoid the mans gaze and try and hold his laughter in.
"You children are so not funny...now if you would like to be serious then Draco can you say something in Parseltongue...say all passages open or something..." He nodded his head and asked for all entrances and exits to be opened and soon a wall to the left and right rose up and the mouth of Salazar opened in front of them along with another opening behind them.
"Point to Snivellus..." Sirius just smiled at his old nemesis causing Amelia to smack him in the arm slightly.
"I guess we should split up...have a look around...be careful..." Severus and Minerva took Draco and Daphne through the one on the left, Sirius and Amelia took Harry and Ginny through the mouth, Albus and Filius took Hermione and Ron through one on the right and Remus and Dora took Neville and Luna through the one behind them all.
Pomona Sprout had a fear of enclosed spaces and so she decided to stay with the goblins. Severus team slowly made their way through the door and began walking up a long corridor which appeared to get warmer and warmer the further up they went. It seemed to come to a dead end but Draco pushed the wall and it popped open and revealed a large circular study. All around the room was bookshelves filled with so many books and what looked like more journals for them to read. On the far side of the room was a Cauldron and a storage room with Ingredients that even Severus had not seen before.
Surprisingly all of the ingredients were still fresh and it appeared they were under a stasis charm and as good as the day Salazar left them, he even had a Potion brewing in the cauldron that was also under a stasis charm. The room itself was warm and inviting and the fire was still lit...all of the occupants did not know if the house elves knew about this room but there was not one speck of dust of any of the surfaces and it appeared to be frozen in time causing Minerva McGonagall to get a little emotional.
"This is amazing and slightly sad...all of this knowledge has sat down here for over a thousand years and it's still as secure as the day Salazar left it...his life's work...completely forgotten..." Severus Snape was a Potions Master and a Slytherin so naturally this was getting to him but Minerva was an educator first and foremost and everything they were sure to find today would teach the children so much and maybe even the Wizarding World.
"It seemed he left in a hurry..." They rummaged around for a while and with Minervas help packed up everything of immediate importance and stored it in Transfigured extendable bags and made their way back out to the main part of the Chamber where the Goblins were about half way through and they were the first group back, all they had to do was wait on the others to see what they found.
Sirius team made their way through the mouth of the statue and they came to a staircase which seemed very Similar to the Headmasters only larger in scale and it wasn't an eagle but a snake, it took all of five minutes to climb and what they found was incredible...the room was simple and square but a small fire was burning enough to allow the room to be heated. In the middle of the room four Basilisk eggs were sitting in a large nest and Harry knelt down to look at them. They were absolutely massive, about the size of a Labrador puppy and had a dusting of brown and green spots on the shells, Sirius ran his hand over them and somehow he knew that they were living, the crackle of magic he felt from them was incredible.
"I have a feeling that this is not going to be the only surprise we find down here today...I think these baby Basilisks will be able to atone for the loss of their mother. Shakatha herself was an extraordinarily wonderful creature. I doubt her babies are going to be any different..." Harry immediately thought of Hagrid and knew with the spell Salazar had given the children they would be able to make them safe to look at. Each person took a Basilisk egg and encased it in fabric before putting them in a bag and holding it to their bodies and slowly made their way down to the main Chamber where Severus, Minerva, Draco and Daphne were waiting. The other two teams were not back yet but they made their way over to the others to wait.
Albus team made their way to the right of the Chamber and instead of going up there was a staircase that took them down further into the underground of the Chamber and Hermione was in awe of what they found. A large circular room was filled with bookshelves and books of all kinds, some texts looked incredibly old and they were scared to touch them almost and noticed a large desk at the top with a ladies robe draped over the chair.
"I think this is Ketsyias study...she had wondrous taste in books and there is a staircase here that leads up to a different part, I think it is an alternative entrance." Soon enough it appeared that Hermione was right and the secret entrance appeared right at the entrance hall and after much discussion they knew they could not move the entire library and so took a book for each person and made a mental note to bring everyone to it. All of them began to make their way out of the room and noticed that the majority of the others had came back and only Neville and Luna were still gone with Remus and Dora. Hermione all but ran over to the others to see what had happened and to wait for the others.
Remus took the lead and walked down towards the entrance door again and walked under the secret door that had appeared directly under it, it was a long tunnel that took them deep underground and Luna followed behind Remus with Neville and Dora behind them respectively. It felt like they were walking forever and they appeared in a place that looked like a Salazars own quarters, it had a bedroom that was gigantic in size and stature, both of the children ran their hands over some of the things in the room and they sorted what appeared to be notebooks.
Upon seeing they were in Parseltongue they did not understand it and place it in a conjured bag that Dora provided and it was Luna that noticed it. A beautiful antique silver necklace was placed on the top of a hand drawn picture of a beautiful young girl. She had long hair and perfectly symmetrical features, if they didn't know any better they would say she wasn't real and she did not look like Salazar or Ketsyia and so they knew it wasn't their daughter. In the drawn photograph though she was wearing the necklace.
"She is beautiful...I wonder who she is?" Remus snickered at them all and looked around the room.
"Maybe Salazar had a little mistress on the side..." Luna and Neville looked at him completely and totally gob-smacked and offended at even the implication of him doing that to Ketsyia. Having spent some time with the man and also knowing the way their own bond works they couldn't even imagine him doing that. Everything that they feel for one another went against what Remus was implying and it was clear the man knew he had offended them both at this and held his hands up and stepped back from them all. They spent another little while looking around the place and put different books away in the bag and made their way back to the other where they were all waiting. As soon as Luna and Neville got back to the Chamber they gave Remus a look like poison and walked over to the others. Immediately they could feel the tension and Sirius took that opportunity to try and find out what was going on.
"Why is Luna pissed at you? What did you do?" He let out a sigh and put his head in his hands and Dora explained what he had done causing Sirius to start laughing so loud he interrupted the goblins from extracting the teeth.
"Could we keep one fang each for the children please Ragnok?" The goblin was confused at the Headmasters request but rendered them safe and handed the children one each.
"They are supposed to be good luck..." All of the children smiled at the man and nodded without thinking anything more about it but the Goblin knew better and planned to have a conversation with the headmaster at some point.
"What did you find?" It took them the rest of the time to go through everything and Draco put the charm on the eggs as soon as he saw them which would allow Hagrid to keep them until they were old enough and then they would be released into the forest to be allowed to thrive. Once Ragnok had declared that everything was done they made their way back out again and once in the entrance hall they had all gathered and Draco took point.
"We will have the full value of everything laid out for you and return tomorrow is that alright?" The boy smiled, nodded and thanked the Goblin before they made their way back down to the apparation safe point just outside the school gates and the adults also left with Remus apologising to Luna once more before he left.
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The following day the goblins arrived and they were allowed to use their Common room as it was just Ragnok and Bogrod whom would be taking to do with the transactions. All of the children opted for their heads of houses to be there and Albus excused himself for a prior engagement. All of them invited the two Goblins in and offered them a beverage to which they opted for tea and coffee, which Minerva conjured and offered to everyone.
"Now as you can imagine a carcass this size is going to have pretty substantial rewards. The Basilisk hide itself is momentous and we can sell it for g1.2 million as it is needed for protective clothing armour that sort of thing." Draco had been thinking all night about that and was going to ask for something unusual.
"Is there enough Basilisk hide to make a protective suit for the eight of us?" Bogrod nodded his head at the young boy and knew there was more than enough.
"Of course and the subsequent sale would only be decreased to g700,000 is that acceptable?" Draco nodded and again knew this was going to take a lot of time and effort on the Goblins part.
"Could I donate the leftover to each of the goblins equally whom came to Hogwarts yesterday and harvested the Basilisk?" The goblins were shocked at that and were a bit unsure how to proceed, all they could do was nod at the young boy.
"Of course we can sort that for you and send you a statement by the end of the day. Now next order of business is the Potion ingredients. From the carcass there were twenty seven different usable ingredients and you can keep them yourself under stasis or we can arrange to sell them for you...at the moment you are looking at a estimated g58.2 million...because of the rarity of the ingredients." Draco was a little unsure what to do and turned to the potions master.
"Do you have any use for the Basilisk ingredients?" Immediately Severus shook his head and did not want this boy to do anything as generous as what he knew he was going to.
"None of the Potions we make from first to seventh require Basilisk ingredients so you are probably better selling them Draco." All of the children agreed with Severus and so Draco nodded his in agreement with the Goblins.
"Is there anyway we can split it between the victims? Susan as well?" The Goblins were shocked again because never before had they seen such generosity in a wizard never mind one so young. The young Malfoy heir is most definitely not his fathers son, Draco was growing into a fine young man and they knew that his mother and Sirius's influences were the main thing that was making him into a wonderful young man.
"We could but it is highly unorthodox..." Draco contemplated for a moment and asked for a piece of paper.
"Ok g30 million split equally between the victims including Myrtle if she has any family left? That's Mrs Norris so Mr Filch can her share, Hannah, Colin, Justin, Susan, Hermione, Ginny...don't argue please it is fair, and Hagrid also I mean the man lost his freedom twice not to mention he had his wand snapped for something he didn't do..." The two girls could only nod at their friend in agreement although they weren't happy about it, the both of them had more money that they knew what to do with.
"Ok so that will work out around g3.3 million each. What would you like to do with the rest of the money?" Without a second though he smiled and looked at the Goblin.
"Donation to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school needs new school brooms and whatever is left over can be donated to whatever the school needs but each subject gets equal funds for anything they need." The both of the goblins agreed to his terms and soon they had completed the transaction with the had asked for the skeleton of the carcass to keep as a payment and that was already previously organised and so Draco signed all of the documents he needed to and soon the Goblins were gone and the children were exhausted.
"Ok children...we will leave you to it but if you need anything let us know..." The heads of houses had dispersed and the children all decided to get some sleep before their lesson with Severus that night. The last quidditch match was the following week and so Severus decided to have a session the weekend instead. There were only two Occlumency sessions left and Daphne, Luna, Neville and Ginny had progressed onto Ligilimency and Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione were actively pushing Severus out now which meant they were at the last stage. An hour nap turned into three hours and before they knew it they were on their way down to the dungeons for the second to last lesson and were actively looking forward to it, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to attack.
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