Chapter 29

In which Harriet interviewed a Basilisk

Harriet looked around and saw that the coast was clear. She quietly entered the Defense Classroom and locked the door behind her. Inside was Thomas, slumped on his chair with his head buried in the crook of his arm, while a pack of sheeps bleated sadly from where they were confined in the middle of the room, right beside a group of wildly jumping rabbits that seemed to not go much higher than half a meter. Both groups of animals had sequestered themselves in the middle of the room, as far away from the two feasting snakes in the opposite directions, though it doesn't seem to help them any as when both snakes finished one of their respective meals, they immediately go for another.

"…and you wouldn't believe his nerve. He neglected to visit for about thirty years, and then when he returned, it was in the back of a smelly human's head. Do you know how awkward it was to see him and his smelly pet?..." The Basilisk said to the Cobra.

"That is not so bad. You can just eat the smelly pet. It wouldn't be a problem for someone your size. Why, I once met a Phyton who swallowed a human whole. He was way smaller than you. It made him really slow, and he got caught by a group of other humans who cut his belly open to take the human back. I learned that lesson well. Don't eat anything wider than you. It made you slow and pathetic." The Cobra answered.

"I should have. Because the next time my master visited, there's an even smaller and irritating pet that my master forbade me from eating. Like I cared about it. It was so small I might as well pass over it. It wouldn't taste like anything, and it might be stuck on my fangs. Can you imagine how irritating that's going to be?" The Basilisk said again.

"Not so much. I'm perfectly sized, the very picture of Majesty, one might say. So, I wouldn't have your problem. Anyways, what was it like to live more than a thousand years? Must be quite boring." The Cobra said nonchalantly.

Harriet turned to Thomas and nudged his shoulder with her elbow.

"What is going on here?" she asked him as he opened one eye to see her.

"They were bickering, and then I conjured them the sheep and the rabbits because they keep complaining that they were hungry. Now they were the best of friends." He answered. "And now I have a headache."

"I see…but don't you think that you conjured them too much food? Do you want them to get indigestion?" she turned to watch the chatting snakes with a mild fascination.

"Oh, they don't get indigestions. They'd only get sluggish, or slow, as Rexy mentioned, but they'll be fine. Medusa is a glutton, though, so I might have to conjure more sheep." Thomas waved his hand unconcernedly.

Harriet eyed the pile of bones beside the Basilisk skeptically and shrugged. She figured that Thomas must have known his familiar's limit for how long she'd been his familiar.

"So, this is Medusa…" she commented slowly.

"Yes, I am, Little Hatchling, and you, Bigger Hatchling, don't think I didn't hear you say I'm a glutton. How dare you imply that I eat a lot!" The Basilisk said crossly.

Thomas groaned and thunked his head back to his arm.

"Why are you offended? It's considered a great trait if you can eat your prey whole, and a picture of health if you eat a lot. For my race, those traits on females are considered beautiful." The Cobra, apparently named Rexy, commented.

"The Bigger human called me Rexy, Little Hatchling" He introduced himself to Harriet who smiled at him.

"Yes, as if he needs anymore snakes." Medusa grumbled, still sore that Thomas had named the King Cobra, and more or less adopted him.

"Oh, you know you love me. You don't need to pretend. I know that my expansive hood naturally attracted all kind of females. Snakes and preys alike." Rexy said proudly

"You're a very handsome snake, aren't you?" Harriet said as she rubbed soothing circles on Rexy's forehead.

"Oh yeah, born handsome, raised handsome, and grew handsome." He crowed in satisfaction.

His straight, proud posture started swaying in a dance like move.

"And so proud, I see. Hello Medusa, I'm sorry we have to cancel our tea." Harriet turned to the Basilisk.

"I like you, Little Hatchling. You're polite. Not like this one, who thought he could barge into my lair and start ordering me around. Me! who is a thousand year older than him! What nerve! You learned your lessons, haven't you, Bigger Hatchling?" her tail jabbed at Thomas's stomach, making him grunt at the pressure.

Apparently, Thomas learnt his manners from this snake. No wonder he was rather sensitive about age.

"Wait a minute! Harriet, you can talk to the snakes?!" Thomas suddenly realized.

Harriet rolled his eyes and shown him her earrings.

"My new and improved translation stones. I put a universal rune on it so that I hear the snake talk in English and my answer came in Snakish. My next project is to make it that the Snake hear me speak Snakish, and other people, like you, hear English."

"It's Parseltongue, the Snake Language, not Snakish." Thomas said in exasperation. "Snakish sounds like snackish, like you're the snack."

"Oh, so it's an actual language? How fascinating…" she answered blithely.

Outside the classroom, Professor Dumbledore approached Professors Flitwick and Snape who were doing a headcount and sending the students back to their dorms in groups for safety.

"I heard from the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black that there's a basilisk on the loose in the Defense Classroom. Was that true or had he overindulged in the painted fire whiskey Sirius put on his other painting?" he asked worriedly.

"It is true. It was inside the classroom with Professor Higgs and Ms. Potter, it seemed." The small Professor said with a squeak.

They had just done the headcount for Ravenclaws and found Ms. Potter missing. Her friend was inconsolable, so their Head of House sent her to be escorted to the hospital wing with a seventh year while the others herded the younger years back to the dorm.

"Oh..that's okay then." Dumbledore sighed in relief before his brain caught Flitwick's words.

"Ms. Potter is inside?! With Professor Higgs?! Oh, what do we do? What do we do?..." he turned to the two teachers.

"Filius, Severus, it is very grave matters indeed, but we must be brave to save our comrade and our student. Are you willing to sacrifice your life to save them? We must act before it is too late. If they are indeed gone, at least their bodies will give comfort to their families." He took a deep breath.

"Know that I would not blame you for not following me to rescue them, but we need all of you to subdue the monster."

Severus could just feel the beginning of a migraine, but shrugged and readied his wand as Filius grunted, seemingly hyping himself to the point that his face was completely red with battle rage, and he could have sworn that smokes started to appear above his balding head.

Dumbledore nodded to the two of them and strode to the door. He hesitated as he touched the handle.

"Are you with me?" he turned to his two comrades again and asked for the last time.

Filius and Severus looked at each other and nodded at the Headmaster.

"To the Death." They answered solemnly.

Dumbledore raised his wand and intoned "Alohomora!"

The three of them ran inside with eyes clenched shut and stay close together. They stood back-to-back, trying to listen for any unusual noises. The adrenalin rush had them tightly coiled as they moved slowly to the center of the room.

"What are you doing, Professors?" Harriet's voice had them slumped in a heap to the floor.

Of course, the reigning champion of the junior team wouldn't be felled that easily by the Basilisk, and he had succeeded in protecting Ms. Potter, Filius thought in relief, and then he made the mistake of opening his eyes to see the most bizarre image in his life.

Harriet was having tea with Clarence on his teacher desk while writing something in a parchment while The Basilisk, (was that a real Basilisk?) was eyeing them.

He screwed his eyes shut once again before realizing that he was still alive and kicking.

"Don't worry Professors, Medusa had a protective layer in her eyes so that she didn't accidentally kill anyone." Harriet's voice made him reopen his eyes in relief and he blinked in confusion.

"Are we really alive or was this what afterlife looked like?" he questioned the girl.

"Well, unless we're all now ghosts and Medusa has been lying to me, I think we're alive and well. Do I look see through, Professor Higgs?" she asked the Defense Professor.

"You looked as lovely as ever, my Lady" Clarence looked away, red faced.

"Voldemort! You're back at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore looked crossly at the young Professor.

"I'm still Tom, or Thomas if you prefer, at this age, Professor" Thomas answered politely.

"Merlin, I need a fire whiskey." Dumbledore grumbled.

Behind him, Severus downed the whole flask of McGonagall's emergency brandy without a second thought.