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38. Wrapping up

When Harry and Remus went into the Chamber Sunday morning it was a very different sight. The body of the basilisk was gone, only the mouth skeleton remained. Devoid of skin and meat, the basilisk mouth was still very intimidating. Some of the fangs were a foot in length while some were only a few inches. The one that Harry had pulled out of his arm a few months previous was about six inches long. They saw Darmok supervising the last of the packing up of the remainder of the beast.

"Good morning, Darmok."

"And to you as well Mr. Potter. Mr. Lupin."

"You were able to get most of the basilisk harvested apparently," stated Remus.

"With no interruptions it was easy to keep the men on task. It should only take a few more hours to finish, depending on how easily the fangs are able to be removed. We must be very careful to avoid any nicks or cuts or it could be fatal. Even though there is no longer a source of venom, there is some still stored in the fangs."

"Could I have a couple of the small ones? Maybe five?" asked Harry.

"Of course. I will see that they are properly packaged for you and will have them waiting for you when we are ready to leave."

"Would it be possible for you to place them and the skin in my vault?"

"Certainly."

"Is there anything else you require of us?" asked Remus.

"No. We should be complete by mid-morning. Noon at the latest unless there is a complication we have not foreseen."

"We will check on you then. If you need anything before, please have Dobby find us."

The pair climbed back up the stairs and had a late breakfast. The castle was slow to wake up on Sundays with many of the students opting for more of a brunch than a true breakfast. The elves were used to this routine and were happy to adjust their menu to that type of schedule. Harry found Hermione and the twins at the Gryffindor table.

"Ron still asleep?"

"You mean our brother…"

"…..Who lives to eat…"

"….But doesn't come down for breakfast…"

"…Unless dragged out of bed?"

Harry laughed, "Yeah, that git."

"Still in bed," said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

Harry pulled his vial of potion out of his pocket and quickly drank it down, then dug into a decent breakfast. He was getting more comfortable eating larger meals now and had begun putting on weight. He still had a month before his checkup with Madam Pomfrey to gain some more. Hopefully he could stop the potions then, but knowing the Mediwitch as he did, he wasn't going to bet on it. He'd probably still be taking them at the end of the term knowing her.

Once they had completed breakfast, Harry and Hermione headed to the dungeons to brew his potion since they hadn't had time the previous day. Harry had tried to get Hermione to go ahead and take care of her own studies but she said she enjoyed this. She even thought about asking the dour professor if she could try some of the other healing potions Madam Pomfrey used. When they entered the classroom they found Professor Snape doing a delicate dance between three simmering cauldrons.

"If you could gather your own ingredients today, I have another commitment."

"Sure, Professor. Is there anything we can help you with?" asked Harry.

"I believe I have everything under control but I would appreciate it if you would remain quiet. Interrupting my concentration could prove disastrous for us all."

With that, Hermione began gathering what they needed while Harry cleaned his used vials. By the time he was done, Hermione had all of the ingredients they needed and was preparing them. Harry joined in quietly and they had everything set up. The actual brewing moved along quickly and soon their cauldron had a nice blue potion bubbling happily. Hermione turned off the flame to allow it to cool.

"We're done, Professor," said Harry.

"Very good. Miss Granger, if you could slice this gnarlroot for me and Mr. Potter if you could crush those moonstones into a powder I would appreciate it." Both teens looked at each other questioningly, but moved over to the Professor's work stations to lend a hand.

"Mr. Potter, can you tell me what potion I am making?"

"Well, it looks like a calming drought, Professor."

"Very good. Miss Granger, what ingredient governs the strength?"

"Valerian root, Professor."

"And if I want to make a standard Calming Drought, how much valerian root should I use?"

"The book states ten ounces."

"Yes, that is what the book states, but what do you think?"

"Ten ounces is a bit heavy for a standard strength. Eight would be better, otherwise you risk having the person fall asleep."

"Ten points to Gryffindor. That is exactly the recipe I use. What is the function of the gnarlroot, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh, ummm, it acts as a muscle relaxer, sir?"

"Are you asking me or telling me, Mr. Potter?"

"Telling, sir."

"You are correct."

Just as Severus was about to ask another question, there was a soft 'pop' and Dobby appeared in the classroom.

"Harry, sir," said Dobby, "the Goblins say they be done. I've told Master Wolfie and he told me to get you. He said he'd meet you at the entrance."

Severus had to bite back a chuckle at the elf calling Lupin 'Master Wolfie.'

"Thanks Dobby! I'll pack up and be there soon."

Severus conjured up a box with seven places to hold the vials. "Your elf can take them to your dormitory safely with this."

"Thank you sir! Last chance to go down into the Chamber before we close it again," he looked around but nobody showed an interest.

Remus was waiting for him at the door to the bathroom. Apparently there had been attempts to gain access to it as the security troll was now standing outside the door and glaring at anyone who came by. He had passed several first years running away as if they feared for their life. The troll moved away from the door long enough to let them pass then moved back into place. Darmok was waiting for them.

"We have completed our task here. If you would escort us out. Griphook will contact you with the details for disposition."

"Certainly. Let me let the Headmaster know you are leaving the castle," said Remus. He flicked his wand and a silvery wolf appeared. Remus gave it instructions and it ran off quickly.

"What was that?"

"It's the Patronus Charm, Harry. It has several uses besides combating dementors. One of them is to act as a messenger."

"Can you teach it to me?"

"It is possible. We'll discuss it later. Darmok, if you and your group will follow us. Harry, if you'll lead, I'll bring up the rear."

Once the group had made it to the top and outside of the bathroom, Remus stayed with Harry long enough to close the entrance again. When they got to the Entrance Hall, Dumbledore was there to meet them.

"I take it you have completed your work in the Chamber."

"Yes, Headmaster," said Harry.

"Remus, if you will show them to the front gate."

"Of course, Headmaster."

Harry went with Remus as they walked across the lawn. There were quite a number of students on the grounds and almost all of them paused to stare at the group of goblins leaving the castle. At the front gate, Harry paused to thank the goblins for their work.

"Thank you all for your work these two days."

"It has been profitable to work with you."

Harry and Remus both shook the hands of all of the goblins present - they knew that showing them respect was the best way to earn it themselves.

Harry and Hermione decided to go to the library and do their homework after lunch. He went up to the dorm to get his book bag to find Ron in a chess match with one of the upper years.

"Hi Harry. Ready for lunch?"

"Yeah. Hermione and I are going to the library to do homework afterwards. Want to join us?"

"Probably. Have you finished the essay for Charms yet?"

"No, I've been too tied up with the basilisk. That's the first thing on my list and then Ancient Runes. "

Harry took a quick lunch before going to the library. Hermione was already there surrounded by the ever-present pile of books.

"Which class are you working on?"

"Arithmancy. Professor Vector has us looking at the structure of levitation charms. She was asking us to look at how changes to the analysis of the wand movement effects the efficacy of the spell."

"Hermione, speak English!"

"She wants us to look and see if we can make the wand movements smaller. You know how the swish and flick works. Well if we can make the swish part smaller, it would be more efficient and possibly easier to learn."

"I'll leave you to that. I'll take Charms any day. I'm glad you decided to drop Muggle Studies and Divination. You'd be absolutely bonkers by now."

"After Professor Trelawney predicted your death even without you there, it was evident she wasn't much better than a street performer. Muggle Studies is decades behind current day. They haven't updated the class since before your parents were students. There is so much they should be teaching, especially about current technology."

Harry knew he needed to stop Hermione before she spent the next fifteen minutes on how she would change the class. "Well, we can still take the OWL without taking the class. No need to waste time needlessly."

Harry pulled out his Charms book and some parchment. This was one of the spells that he'd gone over with Remus and Sirius while checking out his power issues. They'd had a discussion on it and how he could moderate his power. He'd brought the supplemental book they'd given him from the Potter Library for the additional information he was going to use. He'd talked to Professor Flitwick about the practice he'd already done so he was going to be adding a part on how you could moderate the spell. Flitwick had called it "attenuation". Harry was half way through the essay when Ron finally showed up.

"Harry, you're getting to be like Hermione!" Hermione glared at him, "Oh, no offense Hermione. I'm just not used to seeing Harry surrounded by books."

"Well, most of them are Hermione's."

"Yeah, mate, but still. You've never spent this much time on homework before."

"I've never had Sirius and Remus watching my grades either, not to mention my parents."

"Oh, yeah. There is that."

Ron pulled out his books and started on his work. Harry quickly wrapped up his essay and moved on to his Ancient Runes homework. They were really just getting into it and were learning the differences in the uses of runes.

Ron's short attention span quickly showed itself, "So did you finish your Charms essay, mate?"

"Yeah, it's all done."

"Can I look at it?"

"You can, but it won't help you much."

"Why not?"

"Well, my topic isn't exactly the same is yours, remember? Because of the power issue, he has me writing more about what I need to do to adjust how I cast it."

"But that's not fair to you to make you do more work than the rest of us! Is he giving you extra credit?"

"Not that I know."

Before Ron could get wound up, Hermione interrupted, "Ronald! I'm sure having Harry do something a little more towards what he needs to know right now is much better for him. Just because you can't copy his essay doesn't mean Professor Flitwick is being unfair to Harry."

They went back to their work, but a few minutes later Ron interrupted again, "So what about Herbology? Have you finished it?"

"No, I was going to work on it after dinner. I read the chapter but haven't gotten to the essay yet."

"How about you, Hermione?"

"I finished it after we left the dungeons."

"Well, can I look at yours?"

"I left it in my room."

Ron was starting to get upset that his friends weren't helping him with his homework anymore. How did they expect him to get decent grades if they didn't help him? That's what friends were for, right?

Harry looked at Hermione knowing they were thinking the same thing - Ron was going to have to get used to the new Harry and learn to stand on his own two feet. Neither teen was sure how to explain it to him, though. He probably needed to talk to Remus about it.

After another half an hour, Ron gave up, "I'm going back to the dorm. Want to play some chess Harry?"

"Maybe after dinner. I have to turn this essay in tomorrow."

Ron left in a huff.

"You can't keep pushing him away, Harry. You're going to have to talk to him."

"Me? What about you?"

"Well, we both will, but he's used to spending more time with you."

Harry sighed deeply, "I know, but I'm not sure how to approach him. There's just been so many things going on since the start of term that I haven't really had time to think about how it's all affecting Ron. I'm going to have to talk to someone for advice. I don't think he's quite forgiven me for ditching Divination and it doesn't help that you've dropped it now too."

"He can't keep depending on us to do his work for him."

"Do you want to explain it to him?"

"I guess not."

The pair continued their work quietly until it was close to dinner time then took their books back to their dorm.