The place we landed in was disgusting, to say the least. Bones crunched under foot with every step we took, and all four of us were wary that the basilisk could come out of any pipe opening at any second. Halfway in we caught sight of the skin it had just recently shed, terror running through us all. My fascination took over for a moment, pulling me closer to look at it. I couldn't help the awe I felt looking at it, a little wonder at the magical properties of the skin creeping in.

Adrian yanked at my arm, pulling me along after them "You can drool over the skin after we're not at risk of being eaten by the thing that made it."

I almost pouted, but he was right. We continued on until we came across what looked like a door, with seven snakes crawling out to the edge of it. Harry spoke for it to open again, and each snake head pulled back, allowing the door to swing open. Inside was a massive room, probably the size of the Great Hall. The wall was lined with carved out snake statues, all leading to the end where a giant statue of a man stood. I could only assume it was of Salazar Slytherin himself. We all stepped inside carefully, tiptoeing despite the fact that the snake probably knew we were here already. That thought was confirmed when Slytherin's statue's mouth opened, a giant snake slithering out of it faster than we could expect.

Harry spoke to it, giving it pause for a brief moment. It didn't last long, as the snake started charging right for us. I could feel the adrenaline taking over, and before I could think better of it I threw up a shield in the hopes it would slow the thing down. Surprisingly, it did, but I could feel the shield straining against the force being thrown against it. I forced myself to look at its teeth while I shouted "Ced, get Harry out of here!"

My teeth clenched as Cedric protested "Are you mad? I'm not leaving you here alone!"

Adrian stepped forward, throwing up his own shield to reinforce mine "She's not alone, she's got me! Potter's a liability down here, now get him out!"

I just knew Cedric was warring with himself, so I tried to reassure him "Get Harry out, then come back! We can stand our ground until then!"

I didn't hear another word from him, but I didn't have to. Harry's protests were loud, his fighting to help us carrying over even the screeching of the basilisk. Adrian stood by my side, trying to stay calm in the face of what could very well be our deaths "Graham is going to be so pissed with us."

I laughed, wincing as my shield cracked "You didn't have to come, you know."

"Of course I did. Someone's got to cover for you when you go too far."

If I hadn't been focused on not dying, I would have rolled my eyes at him. Instead, I was forced to grab him with my free hand, pulling us out of the basilisk's path as my shield shattered "Statue!" I didn't have to say more as Adrian followed me without question.

We climbed up Slytherin's statue in the hopes of getting out of its range, but we weren't that lucky. Really it was probably the worst position we could have been in. He looked to me as I leaped away from the basilisk's teeth "Have you even got a plan?!"

I felt my eyes turn red and my teeth sharpen to points as I spoke "Don't suppose I could be lucky enough to be the kind of Dragonian that sprouts wings, do you?"

His face turned incredulous "Are you mad?!"

I laughed, letting my skin scale over "Possibly, yeah."

"Vanessa, don't you dare!"

I glanced back at him apologetically, making sure my claws developed when I launched myself off the statue. My aim was a little off, since avoiding looking at the snake's eyes also meant avoiding looking at its head from the height I was at. The claws were what saved me. The claws of my right hand sank into the underside of its neck, forcing me to cling desperately to the little hold I had as it bucked wildly. I took the chance to dig the claws of my left hand into it the moment I had it, and while it was still trying to buck me off I had to struggle to climb into a better position.

I made it to its back when Adrian started firing spells at it, and I almost shouted at him for it until I realized he was making himself bait so I could do what I had to. The whole point of me climbing onto this thing was so that I could take out its eyes, seeing as they were the biggest problem in the whole of this fight. But the question was, how did we kill it after I made it only slightly less deadly? It's not like I could actually transform into a dragon and fight it that way. I only had my Dragonian spells, and none of them were – wait. If I put every ounce of magic I could into it, then the Dragonian killing curse might do the trick, I just need to aim for a soft spot.

That was enough motivation for me. I wrenched myself up its back, wincing when I got to its head as it lashed out at Adrian. He was running around like a gnome in a garden to try and stay alive, and if it weren't such a dire situation I would have been laughing at him. Still, riding a basilisk would probably be more fun if it liked me. As it was, this thing was about three wrong moves away from crushing me against the ceiling like I was a bug. I moved into a more stable position, steadying myself with my left hand dug deep into the spot right above its mouth. Finding the spot where its eye is was the hardest part, but the moment I did I stuck two fingers in it.

The basilisk screeched, rearing its head back and thrashing me around. The feeling of its eye being mutilated by my hand wasn't a great one, and I was forced to dig my hand deeper into its eye socket so I could keep from flying off. Adrian fired a few more spells to distract it for me, and once it finally calmed down I pulled my left hand free from its place to stabilize me. I didn't bother wasting time on the other eye, knowing I would need to get off of it to kill it. My plan was to jump off of it in a direction to land me in water. What happened instead was the basilisk bucking me off and flinging me into one of the serpent statues, pieces of stone collapsing on top of me. Admittedly, it hurt more than I could describe. I'd bitten my tongue on the way down too, and I wasn't sure if I was immune to the venom my dragon teeth produced or not, so I had to finish this quickly.

I attempted to stand, feeling extremely disoriented as I used the remnants of the statue I'd been thrown into to pull myself up. Once I felt a tiny bit stable I made to reach for my wand, dropping the eye I'd pulled out when I was thrown out of surprise. The jolt it sent through my system was a bad sign. If I wasn't noticing these things then I might not be able to aim. My head shook as I stumbled forward, denial taking over at the state I knew I was in. But Adrian was still fighting, I couldn't let him die. This time I was successful in retrieving my wand, but I was still tripping over my own feet. The scales were fading from my skin without my willing them too, and my claws had already receded. I only had one chance to get this right, the adrenaline wasn't going to keep me conscious much longer. Through blurry vision I lifted my wand, aiming for the basilisk in the middle of the five I saw. I heard the spell, saw the flash of dark red as it left my wand, but I was already unconscious by the time it met it's mark.

It took far longer than I would have liked to get back to the chamber. Cedric left me in the girls' bathroom, probably hoping that I would go and find a teacher or something. I waited a full minute before I jumped in after him. It didn't matter if she wasn't a Potter, Vanessa Snape was like an older sister to me, and I refused to leave her down there. The basilisk said she wanted Vanessa and Adrian dead for taking her master away, and I couldn't just leave that alone.

Cedric had a minute's head start on me, but I sprinted the whole way back where he kept a steady run, so we both made it into the chamber just in time to hear Vanessa cast one last spell "Banamaðr!"

She collapsed the moment it left her wand. I tried to sprint to her, but Cedric held me back, watching as the spell hit the basilisk. I watched as the massive snake moved violently in pain, her screams sounding gut wrenching in my ears "No! My master's wishes! I must uphold them!"

Adrian ran out from behind her where he had been out of sight. His eyes landed on Vanessa and he sprinted straight to her, stumbling at the earth shaking crash of the basilisk falling on the ground. Once it was clearly dead Cedric let me go, rushing to Vanessa's side like he'd wanted from the start "What happened to her?"

Adrian was in tears, leaving streaks across his face where dirt wasn't "She jumped on the thing, ripped its eyes out. It bucked her off, she flew into one of those statues. Oh Merlin, I should have caught her."

Cedric turned her over gently, cradling her at the sight of all the blood. Her temple had a large gash in it, and the blood from it was mingling with blood making its way out of her mouth. A glance at her shirt soaked in blood made it clear those weren't the only injuries she was suffering from. I tried to stay calm, standing from her side "We need to get her out of here. How do we move her?"

Adrian sniffed, picking her wand up as he stood "I've got her, Diggory." Cedric pulled away from her, making sure her head sat gently on the ground before standing for himself. Adrian waved his wand at her "Mobilicorpus!"

She floated gently beside us the whole way out of the chamber, Adrian and Cedric being careful to hand her off between their wands when we climbed back up to the girls' bathroom. I ran off to get Professor Snape while the two took her straight to the hospital wing. Given how frantic he'd become, I wished I had gone to him the first time I came back up. The three of us explained what we could, but not even Adrian knew everything that'd happened to her down there.

With the news of the basilisk's defeat came the Ministry and school governors. I was surprised to meet Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, and to see genuine concern for Vanessa on his face. He spoke to Professor Snape for a while, addressing Professor McGonagall in a cordial manner when she came into the room as well. He didn't really acknowledge me, something I was grateful for. I just wanted to sit with Vanessa while Madame Pomfrey took care of her.

It was another week before the mandrakes were ready for cutting, and Nott and I were sitting with Hermione when the remedy for petrification was administered. It was coupled with Lockhart's rather obnoxious boasting over his achievements and, when he looked over at Vanessa, how he could have taken the basilisk himself. That it was such a shame she came out as injured as she was. Professor Snape gave him a murderous glare, cowing the Defense professor where he stood. Lockhart's ego wasn't welcome here.

Plenty of people came to visit her over the course of her recovery, each of them just as worried as the last. Vanessa hadn't suffered anything horrible enough to be sent to St. Mungo's, but the longer she was unconscious, the more everyone grew concerned this would be like the last time. Adrian was fraught with worry, and Cedric wasn't much better. I could only look down at her with hope "Come on, Vanessa, we need you."

When my eyes opened again, it was the middle of the night. The sheer panic at the thought that I was still in the chamber overtook me for a moment, making me shoot up in bed to look around me. Thankfully, I could recognize the hospital wing for what it was, calming me slightly. It didn't reassure me about the condition of the boys who went down to the chamber with me, but I couldn't do much about that. The chair next to my bed was occupied by my father, the state of him making me frown with worry. How long had I been out this time? The stack of parchment on the table next to him suggested it was long enough for him to start grading essays at my bedside again. Still, I had to take comfort in the thought that my being here meant good things. I went to sleep focusing on that.

When I awoke again the sun was out, and this time it was Cedric who was in the chair beside my bed. The relief was potent on his face and in his grip on me as he hugged me. He answered my questions rather reluctantly, but he didn't try to stop me from asking. The students who'd been petrified were revived the day before I woke up, just in time for them to join in on the feast. Hagrid was released from Azkaban, and the headmaster was reinstated in his position. I was grateful that everyone was okay, but I wasn't going to feel right until I saw Adrian and Graham joking away at my expense.

Cedric left me to go and get lunch with his friends, and shortly after he left I was greeted by a surprising visitor. Mr. Malfoy was just as stern as he'd always looked, even as he sat down by my bed. I tipped my head in a cordial greeting "Mr. Malfoy, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

He smirked, something that looked like an attempt to smile but failed halfway in "I'm here on behalf of the Ministry to get your half of the story. Your friends admitted to not having all the details, and we'd like to make sure nothing like this happens again."

I nodded, pondering for a moment before deciding my question was safe enough "Would you like me to start with the chamber, or before that?"

He raised an eyebrow "There's more than just what happened in the chamber?" I nodded, so he leaned back in his seat "Please, give me every detail."

I thought nothing of his blank face as he listened "There's not much from before we went into the chamber. Just that there was this book floating around, soaked in dark magic. I turned it into my father," I paused, debating on if I should really go so far, but Lucius Malfoy wasn't the kind of man to blindly defend Dumbledore, so I continued "Who I know turned it over to the headmaster. It was a little over two weeks ago when I found it in a first year's hands. My friends and I took it upon ourselves to destroy it, and three days after we did the first attack on a pureblood happened."

"You think the book had something to do with the chamber?"

"Considering the first year we took the book from was the first pureblood victim, and the next attack was on one of the people who destroyed it, yes. I'm not sure how it's connected, exactly, but those two things are very unlikely coincidences. Besides," I sniffed at the memory of the book "The dark magic on that thing was palpable. It's not surprising, if the thing was meant to unleash the basilisk on Hogwarts."

"And your choice to enter the chamber? Why did you go after such a dangerous creature?"

"My friends were in danger, as was everyone in the school. We destroyed the one thing controlling the basilisk and it went on a rampage without it. It was going to kill everyone in Hogwarts."

He hummed thoughtfully "And what happened to you in the chamber? Your friend who was there with you says he lost sight of you after you took its second eye."

I grimaced at the memory, my side flaring at the thought of it "It bucked me off, I lost my grip. I went flying into some statue, pretty sure a few stones hit my head. I know I bit my tongue, but that's all I was actually aware of. After that hit I can really only remember aiming for the neck of the snake, and there's the faintest glimpse of a flash of red, but I was collapsing even as I fired the spell."

He leaned forward a bit "Fascinating, and what spell did you use to slay the beast?"

My brow furrowed, a small frown forming on my face "It's an ancient spell, from some book I found in Diagon Alley the day I was shopping with you and your family, Mr. Malfoy. They're not easy to cast, I'm surprised it worked with the state I was in."

He nodded, holding his tongue at the sound of the door opening and Harry walking in with his friends. Shockingly, Malfoy was with them, talking quietly with Nott. Harry's face lit up when he realized I was awake, and he sprinted forward, jumping a bit to hug me tightly "Vanessa! I knew you'd wake up soon!"

I laughed, only just registering the inquisitive look on the older Malfoy's face "I'm alright Harry. Nothing Madame Pomfrey couldn't fix."

Nott snorted "I told him, but he just doesn't listen."

Hermione sighed, tugging at Harry's robes "Harry, she's not a ragdoll, she needs to breathe."

He clambered off of me, looking sheepish all the way "Sorry, I just, I'm glad you're okay."

I smiled at him, even as Mr. Malfoy interrupted us "Draco, don't be rude. Who are your friends here?"

Malfoy's face grew red as he started introductions, making sure to place a hand on each person he introduced as he spoke "This is Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter. Everyone, this is my father, Lucius Malfoy."

Mr. Malfoy sneered as he looked at Granger "You would be the muggleborn witch who scored higher than my son last year?" She nodded anxiously, not daring to speak a word as he inspected her "Well, I'll have to make sure he works harder from now on." My jaw almost dropped, but he just continued on as he turned to Harry "Mr. Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Draco picks his friends well."

He gave me a tip of the head in farewell, something I returned easily. Malfoy followed his father out briefly, only to return shortly after. Apparently, Harry was about to have a little blond following him around too. They stuck around to chat with me for a while, letting me know that exams for the year had been cancelled. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but I took it in stride. I was given the rest of the day in the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey released me the next morning.

The end of the year was bittersweet, but I spent the whole ride on the train with my best friends and Cedric, making sure they would write at least once a week before it was over. When we arrived at King's Cross I parted from my friends to track down Harry, following him through the barrier and out into the muggle station. His uncle paled at the sight of me once again, and I gave him a particularly harsh sneer as I hugged my brother goodbye. I watched them from the corner of my eye as I headed to meet my father at the apparition point, satisfied that Harry would at least be getting home. Hopefully, this summer would be a good one.