(here's the thing: Harry knows a thing or two about being sent to the cupboard (chamber) under the stairs (Hogwarts).)
(here's the thing: Harry knows a thing or two about being told you're a freak.)
(here's the thing: for too long, Harry was left under the stairs and ignored. He knows what it feels like to be lonely. So he wakes up, shakily gets out of bed, and goes to make sure the basilisk is dead.)
(he tells himself it's because the basilisk is a danger to the school. He goes because he's the one who killed her. he goes because the phoenix cried but he thinks the basilisk might've too.)
Harry knows if he told his friends that he was going to go down to the Chamber of Secrets, they'd ask him why. He doesn't know how to say the snake is me and i am the snake; doesn't know how to say when the snake screamed it felt like she was screaming for help; doesn't know how to say have you ever looked at something and seen yourself reflected?
Maybe Harry's friends would come with him, would follow him down the slide, walking with crunching footsteps across bones, find the basilisk waiting for them alive or dead. But Harry has a feeling his friends wouldn't understand, (though sometimes their eyes get pinched and their faces worried and he thinks they're starting to know what he means when he says—my room under the stairs). He thinks they'd want him to stay in the light, to be seen.
(Harry hasn't forgotten that the Sorting Hat told him he could be great in Slytherin. He wonders how many others hear the same. How many of them are choosing to avoid the den of snakes because they're told such things are dark, hungry, evil things.)
(the basilisk was dark and hungry and evil, but was that all she was?)
The bathroom is quiet, silent even without Myrtle. Harry whispers a word that hisses against his lips, tingles across his tongue, skates across his body. It's not a word of power, of magic, but somehow it feels dangerous, (dangerous in the same way anything is dangerous—because you make it that way).
Like before, the sink slowly drops into the ground, vanishing from sight. This time, without fear and panic hammering so loudly in his chest, he notices how silent the movement is. There's nothing to signify the change.
(it never occurs to Harry to ask for help, to think about a way back. Harry is used to finding his own exits, creating them when none is offered. The way is forward, it does not matter how he gets back—not yet.)
Once again, he slides down the pipe. It's cold and dark but Harry's used to that.
The bottom of the pipe is littered with small skeletons. Harry ignores them, keeps his head up, and looks away. Past the skeletons, there's the massive shed skin, scales and scales and scales, coiled up and a dirty, dull green. Then, even further ahead, there's the remains of the rubble ruins. Harry doesn't even remember how they'd gotten past those by the end.
Then, the final door: a plain stone thing with a snake engraved on it. Harry stands before it and, without a word, it groans and opens. It's vastly different to the entrance—it's noisy when it shifts. It's almost like one doorway is older than the other.
Harry steps into the final chamber. He's not sure what he was expecting. Perhaps the corpse of the basilisk, perhaps nothing at all.
The basilisk is there, but she is far from dead. When Harry enters, the great creature raises her head. She sticks her tongue out, scenting the air, and Harry remembers garden snakes basking in the sun, remembers snakes slithering to hide in the shadows, (remembers a snake behind the glass and then the glass was gone and the snake was free).
"You have come," the basilisk says. Her voice is like a thundering waterfall, like the wind roaring through the trees, like the thunder of a storm overhead. It's the loudest thing Harry has ever heard, but there's nothing mean or harsh about it.
(Harry is used to loud voices, ones that are mean and harsh and awful. The basilisk does not sound like that.)
"You're alive," Harry says, and he's not sure whether he's horrified or awe-struck. The basilisk is alive, but she does not seem angry or like she wants to kill him. Instead, the creature lowers her head, revealing scratches across her eyes. There are no eyes now, and a sadness sweeps through Harry.
"Yes. You broke the curse laid over me. The spell that held me entrapped. I am thankful, one of Salazar's humans."
"Salazar's humans?" Harry echoes. He's suddenly struck by the fact that the basilisk must have seen so much over the years. How much history has been lost? How much does the basilisk know?
The basilisk lowers her head, entire body shifting. Scales rasp against the stone ground and Harry remembers the snakes that basked in the sun. Does the basilisk ever get out in the sun?
(Harry remembers never seeing the sun, remembers being locked in the shadows, alone and in the cold. Does the basilisk feel that way too?)
"The humans that Salazar called his family," the basilisk says. "Your home is here and so you are their kin."
Harry knows that's not exactly how it all works. Yet, at the same time, it kind of is. Harry's home is at Hogwarts—and so is his family. Even though the Founders aren't alive, Harry kind of has them to thank for it all.
The basilisk seems to sigh, body shuddering. "Have you come to call me, one of Salazar's humans?"
"No," Harry says slowly. "You're not- You didn't want to kill us before, did you?"
"I was made to protect, one of Salazar's humans. My will was twisted to another's control, brought low by magics not of my own. There are many things I have done which I did not want to do. But no one is infallible, not even old snakes past their prime."
That- That kind of sounds like what happened to Ginny, but not exactly. Who has not been destroyed by Voldemort? Who remains unscathed?
"What will you do now?" Asks Harry, who has never been asked what he wants to do, only been given tasks to complete without ever seeing another option.
"What is there to do but sleep? I will sleep until I am awakened by another. Until then, I only hope that I will be able to protect Salazar's humans, unlike how I have failed to do so far," the basilisk says. "I will serve my purpose. The one Salazar proposed and I chose."
Harry tries to imagine a life like that, tries to imagine choosing to leave behind your family and friends. He can't imagine making that choice.
(and yet, he will one day walk alone to leave behind his friends and family, to save them. Then, he will finally understand why the basilisk chose what she did.)
"Before- Before you go back to sleep, can I ask what your name is?"
The basilisk opens one eye from where she had coiled herself up, then lifts her head. "I had a name, once. But that was from a different time."
"Do you… Do you want a name?" Names are important things. Harry knows that, perhaps more than most. There's strength in having a name, in choosing to speak a name, (in giving something a name, you give it a chance to be something more).
Even though the basilisk doesn't have shoulders, she gives off the appearance of shrugging. "It matters not if I have a name, there is no one to say it."
And Harry, Harry who has been hidden under the stairs, been locked away, been invisible for too much of his life, says, "I'll be around to say it. I'll call you Bandersnatch."
(the Bandersnatch was a creature locked away and hidden too. A creature thought to be evil but wasn't, not really.)
The basilisk hisses in pleasure, before lowering her head down. "Thank you, one of Salazar's humans."
And so, Harry returns to the bathroom, the chamber shifting around him and the pipe turning to stairs. Once again, he is alone. But not for long—Hermione and Ron find him easily and soon he is smiling and laughing.
(Bandersnatch does not sleep for long, in the end, for a call comes to her the next year and she awakens. She awakens and she does what she chose to do—protects the students of Hogwarts. This time it involves a few dementors, but even they must fall to Bandersnatch.)
Title stolen from Alive by Daughtry. Is it about the basilisk or Harry? Great question.
I cannot tell you the number of times I wrote 'snack' instead of snake. Like. I did it so many times. Please send help.
This idea was sparked with the conclusion that surely a blow won't kill a basilisk? Especially something so small? Anyway, this was also sparked by Dragonsrule18's comment about Harry getting the basilisk as a pet. It's not quite the relationship I envision they will have eventually, but it did cause this idea to begin writing itself. Also I had a lot of thoughts of how Harry might vaguely find similarities between himself and the basilisk if he thought about it?
And then the basilisk got the name Bandersnatch because why not. I felt like it fit.
You can find me on Tumblr under silent-silver-slip!