Of Magic and Mythology

And the Snake of Slytherin

Annabeth's POV

"Wait!" Annabeth shrieked.

Everyone froze.

"the Snake!" Annabeth yelped. "We came here to kill the Snake!"
"Oh, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!" Leo said. "We came here to kill the Snake! Totally forgot about it."

"We should probably split up again to search for it," Reyna suggested.

"That didn't turn out too well the last time," Hermione countered. "We got kidnapped and…" she swallowed nervously.

"No worries," Annabeth reassured her. "Yes, there were Death Eaters, but they're all tied up now, so we should be quite safe. I agree with splitting up. We can definitely cover more ground like this."

Thalia shrugged. "Makes sense."

"So let's get going!" Annabeth clapped her hands happily. "The Wizards can be in one group. For the demigods, I'll take Nico, Jason, Piper, and Percy. Reyna can lead the group with Thalia, Hazel, Frank, and Leo. Does that sound good?"

There were murmurs of assent as everyone broke into their groups and headed down the halls, ready to get some snakes.

Ron's POV

Honestly, Ron was very nervous about this. Of course, he wasn't afraid of snakes as much as spiders, but having a snake take a chomp out of his neck wasn't going to be the best experience ever.

Harry led the way, with Hermione and Neville in the middle, and he guarded the tail. Guarding the tail shouldn't be too difficult… but in haunted houses and such, everyone simply loved to jump at you from behind instead of up front. So that wasn't exactly sweet either. To make matters worse, they were in a very scary hallway. The walls were made of roughly cut stone, and chains hung from the ceiling. The floor was slick with… well, there were only a few lamps lighting the way here and there, so Ron couldn't tell what was making the floor so slippery, but he hoped it wasn't blood.

"If I were Voldemort, where…" Harry started.

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" Ron bellowed.

"Oh! Um… all right." Harry said quickly. "If I were Volde-"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY THAT!" Ron yelled. Why couldn't Harry just not say that stupid name? Everyone said good old "You-Know-Who". Why couldn't Harry just follow the stupid rules?

"All right!" Harry said exasperatedly. "If I were… uh… You-Know-Who, where would I hide that Snake?"

Ron shrugged. He felt himself relaxing. "Maybe somewhere old and dark and damp. Like here! Seems like a good snoozing spot for an ah AH AHHHHH!"

Ron leapt back with a howl as an awful hissing sound filled the hallway they were in.

"Who is it? Is it the snake?" Neville whimpered.

"Everyone stand back! Lumos!" Hermione shouted. The tip of her wand lit up brightly, illuminating the slick stones. Harry and Ron followed suit, sweeping their wands back and forth. There was nothing in the hallway.

"Maybe a lamp just spilled," Harry suggested. "The floor looks pretty damp, so it could be the water meeting the fire."

"That's true," Ron agreed. It did sound very plausible. And it definitely calmed his frayed nerves.

"Let's move on," Hermione said.

They had barely taken a few steps when that awful hissing sound came again.

"All right, two lamps spilling?" Hermione scowled. "Not likely. There's definitely someone with us."

"Harry, you can speak Parseltongue, right? Do you understand what it's saying?" Ron asked.

Harry frowned. "No. It's just… hissing, really. Kind of like Parseltongue, but not really at the same time…"

A clump echoed through the hallway, followed by a babble of voices. Ron strained his ears, but he couldn't make out what the words were.

"Hey! Who's here?" Harry yelled.

There was one more hiss, this time much louder than before. And the Snake appeared before them.

It was huge, a coil of dark scales and flickering tongue. It reared up, its dark eyes empty and cold. It hissed and hissed, parting its mouth, revealing fangs dripping with venom.

"Not good." Ron squeaked.

"What do we do?" Neville choked.

The snake lunged.

"RUN AWAY!"

Ron had no idea who howled that, but they were way too happy to oblige as they hightailed out of there, racing down the hall. Technically, a human was much faster than a snake, but this time, not really. The Snake moved like greased lightning, shooting down the hall like an arrow. Venom hissed as it splashed onto the stones, and clumps followed as the snake thrashed across the floor, rocketing towards them.

Ron smashed into something.

"What the heck?" someone yelped.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Briefly, Ron caught a glimpse of Reyna's face.

"SNAKE!" Neville screamed. "SNAKE BEHIND! RUN AWAY!"

"Snake? You mean the… AHHHH!" Leo screamed as the Snake lunged towards him. Fire erupted from his hands, and the smell of roasting meat filled the air.

Then, silence. The smell of smoke was heavy, and the walls were scorched by the blast. A pile of charred, broken meat lay on the floor, crumpled and broken.

"Did I kill it?" Leo asked hopefully.

Nope. Oh no. Life would be way too easy if that happened. Like a horror movie happening before their eyes, the Snake hauled itself up, writhing. The charred scales was peeled off before their eyes, and in moments, the Snake appeared before them, perfectly unscathed, while a small pile of burnt skin lay in a corner. The Snake had literally shed off its broken skin and survived a three hundred degree Celcius blast.

"Blast it," Leo said.

Hazel snapped her fingers. Gemstones burst from the ground, linking together to form tightly-woven chains. The links wove together, forming a glittering, jewel-crusted cage around the Snake.

"Will it hold?" Reyna asked.

The Snake hissed and thrashed around. The gemstones wobbled, but didn't fall. The Snake spat venom at its cage, but every time a stone disintegrated, Hazel summoned another one to replace it.

"We need a more permanent solution," Reyna said. "Any suggestions?"

Carefully, Hermione raised a hand.

"Go on," Reyna prompted.

"Fiendfyre." Hermione breathed.

"NO!" Ron yelled. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THAT! YOU COULD BURN US ALL TO THE GROUND!"

"But what other choice do we have?" Hermione wailed.

"Wait!" Leo said. Everyone turned to look at him. "What if I did it? I mean, I might be able to control it…"

Hermione glanced at Reyna. "I can start the spell, and Leo can finish it."

There was a moment of grim silence.

"Do it," Reyna finally said.

Hermione took a deep breath and said a spell. Immediately, the hallway burst into flames so hot Ron felt his face peeling from the heat. The cage of jewels melted into colorful goo on the floor. The snake hissed in pain, writhing in the flames.

Leo held out his hands. His face was tight with concentration. For a moment, the fire raged. Then, it was out.

Leo fell to the ground, heaving for air.

"Leo, are you all right?" Hazel said anxiously, helping Leo out.

"Well, whadda you know?" Leo looked tired, but his face was in the biggest grin ever. "Me, good ol' Uncle Leo just killed a Snake! Tell me, isn't that a little bit cool or what?"

And despite everything, they laughed along.