In Every Darkness

Chapter Sixty Five: Basilisk

7.10.1996

 "Shit!" a voice exclaimed suddenly. Harry thought it might have been one of the officials. Facing them were the huge doors that were carved with snakes that looked so alive it was scary.

 "They have to look alive," Harry explained. "When Parslemouth's are only just beginning to learn their skills, they can't talk Parseltongue unless they're facing a snake that is real, or seems that way."
 "Then how did you get past the sink?" someone asked.

 "There's a little snake engraved on the tap," Harry replied tiredly. "When the light flickers over it, it looks like it could be moving."

 "Open," he hissed at the snakes, startling everyone over again.

 Walking inside the Chamber, Harry heard gasps of fear and amazement sweep over him. "You killed that thing?" someone asked.

 Harry turned, knowing exactly where the basilisk lay, his face pale. Everyone watched as his hand travelled to rest over a point on his arm. "Yeah," he said softly.

 "Why didn't it just attack you as you opened the Chamber doors?" another person asked.

 "Because it was hiding somewhere else, somewhere it cannot leave unless it is called," Harry replied.

 "Where?" the person pressed him.

 Harry pointed at the towering carving of Salazar Slytherin on the wall. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four," he hissed, and gasps once more filled the Chamber as the mouth opened slowly. "Up there," he replied.

 "How did you make it open?" Fudge demanded. "What did you say?"

 "I said," Harry replied, making a face to show that he didn't like it one bit, "speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four. That's the password."

 "Hey, how did this poison fang get over here?" a voice called. Some of the Ministry officials had already begun exploring the area around the basilisk.

 Harry didn't answer, his eyes had gone misty, and he seemed to be watching something in the distance. "Potter!" He blinked, still seeming a bit dazed.

 "What?" He asked tiredly.

 "That fang, how did it get to be away from the snake?"

 "It was buried in my arm when the snake died, the snake fell, and the fang shattered," Harry replied, his thoughts clearly far, far away.

 "How was it you lived?" Someone demanded in amazement.

 "Phoenix tears."

 Realising that Harry wasn't going to be very elaborate, the Ministry


 wizards shook their heads slightly. "Everyone!" Michael called, "sit along the wall and watch what happens here please!"

 The only reason Harry obeyed this command was because Ron and Hermione led him there, and forced him to sit.

 "What's the matter with Potter?" Malfoy demanded with a sneer.

 Neither Ron, Hermione, or Lily answered him, and Michael glared at the Slytherin boy. "Malfoy, absolute silence please!"

 Malfoy sulked at being told off, and the Ministry officials began moving over the body of the basilisk, examining everything carefully with magic before deciding on the best ways of harvesting its rare bounty.

 "This thing is massive … I dread to think how old it is…" One official murmured.

 "It must be over one thousand," Hermione remarked coolly. "If Salazar Slytherin left it here."

 "That's a point," muttered someone else, one of the Ministry.

 "Harry, snap out of it," a voice murmured in Harry's mind.

 "Grypis?" he murmured.

 "Who else would it be? Your memories are trying to take over, aren't they?" The griffin asked.

 "Yes," Harry admitted. "Why?"

 "Because this is a terrible place, full of terrible memories for you. It is to be expected that you have some reaction down here. Try to control things until we can get you out of here – this place is not for you. You should not have come."

 "I had to," Harry protested weakly. "I'm the only one, apart from Voldemort, who can open the Chamber."

 "That does not mean that you had to come," Grypis replied calmly. "But done is done. You will be able to leave here soon, I hope."

 "I don't know," Harry replied wearily. "Help me?"

 "Always," Grypis assured the boy, slipping out from Harry's bag and bounded to his friends shoulder with perfect grace.

 The pair of them linked minds more strongly than they ever had before. Harry lost touch of everything that meant 'individuality'. There was no Harry, and there was no Grypis. There was only Gryfas-Grypis, the one living being.

 "We/you/I must face your/our memories," a thought come into the mind of Harry/Grypis.

 "Where/how?" another thought enquired.

 "Deeper," both thought together.

 Without a thought, the 'real' world fading away from them, they plunged together deep into the memories of Harry Potter, going back almost four years.

 They watched the scene in the Chamber over, again and again. The basilisk attacking, felt the poison running through their veins, trying to destroy all life, the phoenix coming, warm and comforting, and then the fight with Tom Riddle, the diary being destroyed and Ginny waking up.

 Each time, it seemed that something changed, oh so subtly, as they/Harry/Grypis moved out of Harry's mind, and slowly began to watch the scene from the outside, trying to come to terms with the memory.

 Then, for the last time, the memory went over once more, with them/Harry/Grypis looking completely from the outside of Harry Potter's memories, a separate entity.

 Back in the 'real' world, the Ministry officials had finished harvesting what they could from the basilisk, and everyone was getting ready to leave.

 It was only then that they discovered that they couldn't get Harry to open his eyes – it seemed as if he was simply deep in thought, sitting there.

 On his shoulder was the cat called Gryphon, in a similar state. No one could tell why neither responded to anything.

 "Potter's lost it," Malfoy sneered.

 "Shut up," Ron snarled, when suddenly Harry gave a sigh of apparent satisfaction, and then fainted, his body falling limply back against the wall, the cat on his shoulder in a similar state, though it fell to the ground, it's claws unfastening from it's 'masters' clothes.

 "Oh shit," Ron muttered.

 "Language Weasley," Michael scolded, but he looked as though he agreed with Ron's sentiments completely. "We'd best get him to the hospital wing."

 Malfoy was sniggering uncontrollably now.

 Hermione, getting very fed up with it, sent a 'silent' spell, one that masked the fact that it was a spell, at Malfoy, stunning him as well.

 Ron glanced at her and smiled approvingly. Hermione gave an innocent smile, not prepared to own up for the spell … just yet. Then she winked at her friend.

***

 Sorry it's a short chapter, but I'm just getting back into the mindset of the story, the next chapter SHOULD (I hope) be longer. It'll be up fairly soon, I should think. Sorry about the long delay over Christmas, but it couldn't be helped – I didn't have access to a computer.

VOTE:

Now that I have to put the thanks at the bottom of the chapter, would you like me to just put the names of everyone, and anyone who had questions, I'll answer them? As long as it doesn't reveal too much about the story? Votes will be counted for the next two chapters, and the results will be in chapter 67, if it's not too close. PLEASE VOTE in your reviews.

Thanks to:

Maxx77: This one is kinda short too, but the next one is a bit longer, thankfully.

Chicken Stars: No, unfortunately no live basilisks.

Jbfritz: Well, I've got the basilisk this time!

Skittles-07: *grins* I hope we get to see the Chamber of Secrets again tool – one of the reasons that I brought it back.

LonelySpirit: That's ok! Yeah, I liked the review page myself *sigh* oh well.

Nicoletta: *grins* just a little bit of Malfoy bashing.

Wdeleon: I'm glad you like it! Here's the new chapter, it took a while, huh?

Ady: Didn't I? Oh well – they both got pretty good!

Ady: I've changed that now – it just says a dog. I'll update the new chapter after my beta-reader gets around to it.

Flame of Shadow: Well, here's the new chapter, so you need no longer wait for it *grins* although you had a bit of a wait before I got it finished and posted, since I wasn't at home.

Songbreeze Swifteye: Yeah, that's pretty much right *grins* Malfoy screaming like a girl … Ron and Hermione will get there eventually, don't worry!

HermioneGreen: *grins* I enjoyed Fudge bashing too! It's fun, and he deserves it.

AthenaKitty: Harry is only ahead of the Durmstrang students in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Wolfia: I know it was short, and so was this one, but the next one will be longer, I promise!

Gizachick: No, not too thrilling. This chapter a better in the thrill thing? I hope so.

Wolf-Master321: No, basilisk not alive – Harry killed it. No new one either, because otherwise more people would have died.

TuxedoMac: No, he didn't need to bring the sword.

ER: Yup, so he does.

Lord of Darkness13: Wait no longer, the new chapter is here!

Cassandra: Nope, snake not gonna come back to life. Harry's going to look at his memories and his near death experience instead.

Lady Cantara: I knew that – I forgot to write it, but she decides that she likes reading upside down, and decides to keep reading that way, sorry for the confusion.

Bluebell-uk: The bathroom migrates floors in the books, and I like it on third at the moment *grins* it's quite confusing.

Anna L. Black: No, it can't be.

Stix-the-Rebel: He sort of does …

Firecracker2: He's an annoying little bastard, the Minister, isn't he? *grins*

MiakaChan5: Here's the update! Hope it was soon enough, though it couldn't have been up much sooner …

MikiBaby: I'm afraid I have to, to stay within ff.net's new rule.

ElvenGoddess: Thank you! I will do my best to keep up the good work!

Alexis-Lee: I'm glad that you like the story, and I am sure that, with time, you will be able to write as well as I can now, or better. It just takes time and practice.

Mike Potter 2002: Yes, he is a bit, isn't he?

Elvira: There might be some new characters at a later point in the story, but not for a little bit yet, I don't think.

Clare: Glad you like it! Here's the new bit, though it was a bit of a wait, I know.

Clare: Hmm, it's a good idea, but I'll put it to vote first, to see what everyone else likes … In fact, I've done it this chapter! Thank you for your suggestion!

Amaya: *grins* Malfoy and Fudge bashing – funfun.

Evil Anti-Patriotic Elf Named Cin: Don't worry, Lily has faults, which you will learn of soon enough. Well, there is a little bit of suspense in this chapter, and might even be some more next one, but we'll see, shall we?

Fcuking Cathy: Yup, something dramatic happened alright.

Locolisa: I think we get longer holidays through the year – I can't remember exactly how it went, but a friend in Canada and I worked out that we got the same amount of holidays, just at different times.

Only Me: Unfortunately yes, you had to wait. I'm sure it wasn't TOO bad!

OhioGrl-HPFan: I don't like Fudge either … Or Malfoy … Much.

Gaul1: Well, now you know!

Flyinhigh: You'll find out about the dream later on. For now, I'm leaving it as a nice little mystery ….

BeastialSunStormDragon: I'm not saying anything about the dream *grins* so – you might be right, you might be wrong. I'm glad that you like the story, and hope that two weeks wasn't to arduous a wait.

Texasjeanette: It is a kinda difficult to keep the story going the right way. Something happened in the Chamber, but not what you were thinking!

Trstan Galland: Thank you for reviewing *smiles* glad you liked the story. I'm not saying anything about the sword dream … at least, not yet. It's a secret.

Kraeg001: Yes, there are a lot of similarities between Tolkien and Rowling, a lot of people have noticed them.

Mel: Well, this chapter wasn't much longer, unfortunately, but the next ones should be!

Peter Potter: I've read Eragon, but only over the last two weeks, so no, I didn't get the idea's from Eragon – It wasn't even published in Australia when I wrote the chapter referring to that.

Kento: Well, they might … and they might not … You should find out in before I reach chapter 70, but no promises!

Kraeg001: Grypis is a little temperamental sometimes *grins* you have to ask Harry's permission if you want to pat him!

Kraeg001: Not another one, just the same old dead one, with the old skin …

Leana: I'm glad you like it! I often do the same thing when I find stories that I like *grins*

Intothesilence: Oh well, it'll be starting up again really soon, I promise! Or even now!

LeTimbo: I sort-of belong to that camp about Sirius, but when I started this, I didn't know how I was going to write a story without Sirius, so I brought him back the most realistic way that I could. I've sent you an email talking about the rest of the things mentioned here and in the email that you sent me.

Tigerlily Padfoot: I know I said that Harry was in fifth year at some points in the story, I just haven't had the time to go back over them and change them back. My beta reader is working on the first chapters as we speak, so soon it should be good again.

Harry Shall Rise: I have got a few other stories, no other sixth year ones though. Check them out, if you want to.

ILOVETOWRITE456: I'm glad you like my story! Here's the new chapter!

Oklina: Harry and Draco? Yes, it does – but don't tell Harry that, he'll kill me! I'm glad you like the story, and please do tell your friends about it! I update every other day whenever I can, but I was away for Christmas, so it didn't happen this time round. Starting up again though, I suppose.

Fifty seven reviews! Cool! Now I have 2764 reviews! *happy* let's see if we can get at least to 2800 this time! Only another 36 reviews, it can't be that hard! REVIEW PLEASE. ALSO VOTE.

~WolfMoon~