AN: I'll admit, I've been dragging my feet on this one. I've never written a real action scene, but I figured now would be the time to start. Tell me what you thought! As per usual, I have a gigantic list of thank yous. Thanks to all my readers who've kept up with this story. Lots of thanks to my 748 followers and 490 favorites. Ginormous thanks to reviewers The Third Biker Scholar, Narnia and Harry Potter 4 EVER, RRW, Lyd, Guest, phoebe turner, MaeSilverpaws1, Cassandra30, lilmisdiva, agnar, Slicerness, Kairan1979, Majerus, Cosmyk Angel, TeresaLynne, Firenze Fox, MariusDarkwolf, serialkeller, Spring Raine, LoveLifeForever, Nanchih, Tellur, Lady Sabine of Macayhill, Anti-Social Otaku, Margaret Luna Sullivan, B00kw0rm92, and red-jacobson. You guys have been great.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise.

A gaggle of Gryffindors and one lone Ravenclaw trooped into the Headmistress' office, which was currently serving as the headquarters for the remaining staff. Harry carried a strangely shaped sack, which made thumping noises as he walked. Everyone looked oddly happy, considering the circumstances. Everyone that is, except Oliver Wood, who was nervously bouncing up and down in anticipation of exactly what Burbage would say when she discovered what he'd done.

"Transformations," Penny chirped to the stone gargoyles. One yawned and the other snorted, slowly moving apart.

"This is gonna be so much fun," Alicia squealed.

"I can't wait to see their faces," Cormac whispered gleefully.

"Mr. Wood," Burbage began shrilly. "Who is looking over the other Gryffindors?" Richard sat in the office, as well as the Head Girl.

"I left Olivia in charge," Oliver stuttered.

"Olivia?" Burbage repeated, searching her memory. "Olivia McLaggen?"

"Yup."

"They're definitely dead," Richard muttered.

"Professor Burbage," Penny intervened quickly, sensing the meeting was about to go downhill fast. "How would you feel if we were to go find the basilisk for you and kill it?"

Immediately, noises of outrage burst out from every adult in the room.

"How could you even begin to think of such a plan?" Flitwick squeaked.

"You mustn't. It's too dangerous," Sprout said.

"Really, Miss Clearwater, how could you even pull off such a plan?" Vector asked.

"No." Burbage was adamant. "I've already lost two Gryffindors, and I'm not going to lose any more."

"Well then, you'll be happy to know the basilisk is already dead, and we're still safe and sound," Fred said in what he clearly thought was a winning tone.

Alicia felt like smacking him. That was how he chose to reveal it?

"Explain. Now," Burbage ordered.

Oliver nudged Harry, who carefully set the sack on the desk.

"I wouldn't open it, if I were you," Harry warned. "I'm not sure if it can still petrify people when it's dead."

Head Girl Johanna Winters looked ready to puke.

"Harry, how about you start us off?" Oliver said calmly.

"Well, okay." He stepped forward, choosing to look at a former Headmaster picking his nose. "It all started when…"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione traipsed down to Hagrid's hut under Harry's invisibility cloak (although he omitted this part of the tale in front of professors).

"You're sure this is gonna work?" Ron asked Hermione.

She shook her head. "No, but it's all we've got."

"Hagrid," Harry whispered urgently. "Hagrid!"

The lumbering giant of a man stood and opened the door. "Who's there?"

"It's us, Hagrid," Ron said impatiently.

"Ron? Are Harry and Hermione with yeh too?" He whispered gruffly.

"We're here Hagrid," Hermione replied. "Could we please come in?"

"Oh, o' course!" He exclaimed, leaving the door wide open.

"Not so loud," Harry hushed.

"Oh, sorry."

Once inside, Harry whipped the invisibility cloak off of him and his friends. "Hagrid, we know it wasn't your fault. We just need to get a rooster to kill the basilisk," Harry said, wasting no time.

"Well, I dunno if I can let you have one o' mine. Yeh're too young to go off killing basilisks." He busied himself with putting on some tea.

"Come on Hagrid. You trusted us with a dragon before. What's so different now?" Ron wondered.

"Norbert was just a babe," Hagrid argued. "He wouldn't ta hurt yeh. A basilisk is something different."

"Please Hagrid?" Hermione begged, her eyes going wide.

His resolve started to crumble. "I dunno…"

Knock! Knock!

"Who's there?" Hagrid called.

"The Ministry of Magic," A pompous voice replied.

Hermione gasped.

"Quick! Under the cloak!" Harry said hurriedly. The trio scrambled to a corner of the hut and hid.

"Er, Minister, how lovely to see yeh," Hagrid said, wiping sweat from his brow. "An' Lucius Malfoy, too. What a surprise."

What's Malfoy doing here? Harry wondered.

A man whom had Harry had never seen before walked in. He had tufts of grey hair, and wore a cloak over his pinstripe suit, as well as pointy purple boots and a green bowler hat.

"That's Dad's boss, Cornelius Fudge!" Ron breathed.

"Shh!" Harry and Hermione hissed.

Lucius Malfoy strode in, looking arrogant and up to no good.

"Let's cut straight to the chase Hagrid," Fudge began, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder at Malfoy. "There have been too many attacks on the castle for the Ministry to stay out. We must do something to stop them."

"But I haven't been-"

"Really, it doesn't matter," Malfoy interrupted smoothly. "Something needs to be done to show the public that the Ministry cares, and this will be perfect."

"I-I—who let you in?" Hagrid demanded weakly.

"Oh, Severus was more than happy to pull a few strings for an old friend," Malfoy said with a sly smile.

Harry let out a small growl.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Hagrid murmured fearfully, eyes shifting around the room.

"We'll have to take you. Just temporarily of course. If it turns out that you're completely innocent, we'll let you go with a full apology," Fudge assured him.

"Take me where? Not Azkaban?" Hagrid asked, paling drastically.

"Only temporarily," Fudge repeated, almost looking more nervous than Hagrid.

Hagrid let out a little moan. "I –I can't believe. I-well, if anyone were ter want ter find some stuff, I suppose they could follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em straight."

Fudge and Malfoy traded looks of mutual confusion.

"Come on Hagrid, I'm sure the Azkaban guards are looking forward to seeing you again," Malfoy said nastily.

The big man heaved himself up and shuffled out the doors, not even bothering to put up a fight.

The trio stood, shell-shocked in the corner of the hut, hardly daring to think that what they had seen was real.

At last, Hermione slid out from under the cloak. "Come on," She said sadly. "We still have to get that rooster."

"What's the point?" Harry said dully. "Fudge doesn't care that Hagrid didn't do it."

"But maybe if we can kill the basilisk, he'll be set free," Hermione said optimistically.

"I guess," Ron muttered.

Catching a rooster turned out to be quite a bit harder than they thought.

"Anyone got any rooster treats?" Ron grunted.

"If we did, d'you think we'd still be trying to catch one?" Harry wheezed.

"Ow!" Hermione groaned as she fell down on the ground. "How are they so fast?"

"That's it!" Ron snapped. He slammed into a group of roosters and grabbed blindly. "Aha!" Ron held up a fistful of rooster.

"Don't hurt him!" Hermione scolded, racing towards the rooster in distress.

"Oh, so now you care about animals?" Ron challenged.

"Don't be ridiculous, we need this one."

"Squawk!"

"Shh!" Harry said to the rooster.

"Squawk!"

"Oh, shut up!" Ron said.

"Squawk!"

"You just had to get the one rooster who won't stop crowing, didn't you?" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Squawk!"

"He's going to give us away," Harry realized.

"Wait!" Hermione brightened. She pulled a small vial of blue colored liquid out of her bag. "Hold him still Ron."

The rooster pecked at the potion, getting drowsy almost right away.

"Is he going to be okay?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Of course," Hermione sniffed. "It's just a diluted Sleeping Potion."

"You carry that thing around with you?" Ron said in amazement.

"No, I just thought it might come in handy with the roosters," She said, blushing. "Let's get it inside before he wakes up."

"Follow the spiders?" Penny frowned. "You're sure that's what he said?"

"I dunno what else it could've been," Ron shrugged.

"It must somehow be connected with the Acromantula. But how?" Oliver thought aloud as he began to pace.

"Maybe he wants us to go talk to them?" Hermione suggested.

"Count me out," Ron said immediately.

Fred and George snickered.

"We don't really have the time to deal with that," Oliver decided.

"The basilisk is our top priority right now," Katie agreed.

"Here's the plan. We'll make our way down to Myrtle's bathroom, and Harry will keep an ear out for the basilisk. If he hears it, we run the other way. We need to have the element of surprise on this thing. Now, when we're there, Harry will open up the chamber. Lee will go in first, with the rooster."

"Oh, I see. No one cares about Lee. Let's just send him in first to die, and we'll be able to figure out if it's safe," Lee ranted.

"Just do it," Oliver instructed. "Next, I'll slide in, and Penny will follow. Everyone will get down there, and we'll have a look around in case the basilisk isn't there."

"Or if the chamber's really big," Hermione added.

"We just need to make sure that the rooster crows. If someone…if someone gets petrified, we have to keep going. We need to make sure that no matter what, the basilisk is really dead. Alright?" Oliver swallowed hard and surveyed them all.

Hermione distributed hand mirrors. "Most of these are from Lavender and Parvati, but some of them are from others. Use them against the basilisk."

"Oh, and Ginny and Demelza will be standing guard outside the chamber," Penny tacked on.

"WHAT?"

"That's not fair!"

"Look girls, you can't come," Oliver said seriously. "You're just first years. You don't know any useful spells against a gigantic snake. You're lucky we're even letting you come this far."

Demelza and Ginny sulked.

"Everyone clear?" Oliver double checked.

The kids nodded their assent to the plan.

"Let's go and kill that basilisk."

Lee Jordan made up his mind within two seconds: he did not like the Chamber of Secrets. For one thing, it smelled terrible. For another, it was awfully dark down there. How was he supposed to be able to see this thing when he couldn't even see his own hand right in front of him?

The rooster had stirred directly before he jumped in the Chamber, and Ron swore that it would crow in time. Lee was slightly worried, because it hadn't made a single noise this whole time. But he figured the shadow of a basilisk would summon up a squawk out of it.

"Everything okay down there?" Oliver shouted.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lee said dubiously.

Oliver and Penelope dropped down.

"Harry come on!" Penelope called up. "Can you hear anything?"

"Hang on a sec." There was some shuffling, and the sound of a boy hitting the stone floor. "Yeah, I can hear a little something. He's hungry again. He's definitely down here somewhere."

"At least we have the right place," Oliver said brightly.

Gradually, the others made it to the Chamber.

"Lumos!" Hermione chanted. The Chamber filled up with light. A loud hissing noise that they all could hear echoed throughout.

"Uh oh," Katie whispered.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ron whimpered.

A dark, green, scaly figure was slithering towards them.

"Is that the basilisk?" Demelza asked eagerly.

"What are you doing down here?" Cormac muttered.

Oliver sighed. "I told you to stay up there. Fred and Alicia, cover Demelza. George and Angelina, cover Ginny. We don't have any time to waste."

"We don't need to be baby-sat," Ginny retorted angrily.

"Then you shouldn't have come down here," Penny countered.

"Alright Lee, now."

"It won't do anything," Lee said, puzzled.

"Squeeze it or something," Cormac suggested.

"It's still really quiet. I thought you said it would crow," Lee said to Ron.

"It wouldn't stop before."

"Um, guys, the basilisk isn't very far away," Ron hinted.

"Don't look at it," Katie scoffed.

"I'm trying not to, but it's really scary."

As the group bickered over the rooster, Ginny was treated to a rather awkward conversation taking place between her brother and Angelina.

"I really hope they can get this figured out in time. I don't want to have to leave Hogwarts," Angelina said wistfully.

"Yeah, I bet," George snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Angelina turned on him.

"Don't worry, Angie, you can always come and visit us. After all, pretty boy Diggory's only a mile away," George said snidely.

"Is that what this is about?" Angelina shrieked. "Are you upset that I'm going to Hogsmeade with Cedric?"

"Oh come on, Angelina, you can't seriously believe that he actually likes you!" George snapped.

"What's so strange about a boy liking me? Do you just think that I'm not pretty enough?"

"Don't be stupid. It's Diggory; he never has a steady girlfriend."

"Well, maybe I can change him!"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

Ginny took the opportunity to duck away from the pair and race toward the larger group, knocking over Ron in the process.

"Argh!" He shouted as he hit the stone wall. "What'd you do that for?"

"You were in my way," Ginny replied simply.

"So?" Ron growled. "That doesn't mean you can just bowl me over."

Fred and Alicia loosened up at the commotion, giving Demelza a wide opening to leave. She bolted toward Ginny, and the two girls dug their feet in, refusing to be left behind.

"He's really angry!" Harry warned suddenly.

Fred grabbed Ginny and Alicia grabbed Demelza as the two sprinted to the opening. Fred threw Ginny at his twin and Angelina, who were pushed down by the force.

"Can't you tell we're in a conversation?" George barked at his sister.

"Can't you tell we're about to die?" She screamed back.

Lee shook the rooster out in vain.

"Run!" He shouted.

The group scattered in different directions, desperately trying to confuse the basilisk.

Katie congratulated herself on avoiding the head and the body entirely. Unfortunately, she forgot about the tale. It literally swept her off her feet and onto its back. She couldn't get a good grip on its scales and was sliding off the other side. It was a big snake, and she was bound to hurt herself once she landed on the ground. She closed her eyes, bracing for the fall…

Instead, she landed in Oliver's arms. He cautiously set her down on the ground.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," She said, finding it hard to breathe. "Thanks."

"No problem," He replied, gazing into her eyes.

The tail came back and whipped them into the wall.

"You stupid rooster," Lee cursed. "If you just did your job, we wouldn't be stuck in this mess."

He was currently trying his best not to look back over his shoulder at the basilisk following him. Why wouldn't the rooster just let out anything? Honestly, Lee wouldn't have minded some sort of rooster mating call at this point. Lee and Penny were the last ones standing. Everyone else appeared to have gotten knocked down at some point and were just crawling to avoid looking at their tormentor.

He kept running, but he didn't have much energy left. Was this how he would die? Running from a snake while clutching a defunct rooster? He had to admit, not exactly the way he thought he would go out.

"Lee!" Penny shouted.

He inched his head to the right to find a red spell flying at him. "What the hell?"

But the spell wasn't headed for him; it was headed for the rooster.

"SQUAWK!"

The basilisk's head slammed down inches from Lee. He began to feel just the slightest bit woozy. Perhaps a little dizzy too. Indeed, it looked almost as if the world were tilting…

"You fainted?" Richard struggled to contain his laughter.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that," Lee hissed.

"It was too funny to edit out," Fred said nonchalantly.

"And how exactly did you get its head separated from its body?" Sprout asked, looking vaguely green.

"Slicing Curse," Oliver said. "Just wanted to be sure. And then we shrunk it so that it would fit in this bag."

"You're all fine, then?" Burbage asked, checking them over like a mother would.

"Well, actually we got knocked around a lot, so we probably have bruises, but we should be okay." Hermione was rather matter of fact in her assessment.

"Does this still mean that Hogwarts will get shut down?" Harry asked quietly.

There was a slight pause.

"I don't see why we shouldn't stay open, now that our monster problem has been taken care of," Vector said finally.

The small office erupted into cheers. Hermione attacked Harry with another hug, this time a happy one. Fred winked at Alicia, causing her to give a silly little giggle. Ginny and Demelza began squealing and jumping up and down.

"Will Hagrid get to come back too?" Ron wanted to know.

"Yes, of course," Burbage assured them. "I'll get him out straight away."

"Would you care to tell us precisely why you let the Ministry in without informing any of us?" Sprout turned toward Snape.

He glared. "I see no reason why I should not let them in. They are the Ministry, after all."

"They took one of our own!" Flitwick squeaked.

"Let's go," Oliver hustled the others out the door.

"I still can't believe we did it!" Katie gushed.

"I wish it would make Percy and Colin wake up," Ginny said mournfully.

"They'll be up by the end of the year," Penny said sadly.

"But they'll miss almost the whole year," Ron pointed out.

"I wish the potion wasn't so expensive," Alicia sighed.

"How much is it?" Harry asked, thinking of the heap of gold coins in his vault.

"I was looking through a catalogue earlier," Hermione confessed. "It's about 50 galleons a vial."

Oliver winced.

"I'll buy it." The words tumbled out of Harry's mouth before he knew what he was doing.

All eyes in the room swiveled towards him.

"Harry, mate, you don't have to do that," George tried to refuse the offer.

"No. Percy and Colin were my friends too. And how is Hogwarts supposed to be run without a Headmistress?" Harry prayed it would work.

"Well…okay," Fred agreed.

"Great!" Harry grinned.

"I have to go tell the club," Ginny squealed happily.

"The club?" Hermione asked. "What kind of club is it?"

"Oh, you wouldn't have heard of it." Demelza dismissed the older girl with a wave of her hand. "It's very exclusive."

Somewhere along the line, Penelope began to slip away to visit Percy.

"Clearwater!" Oliver yelled after her.

"Yes, Wood?" She said hurriedly, turning back.

"Percy was right. You're not so bad," He conceded.

She beamed at him. "Does this mean I get to be part of your oh-so-special group?"

He fought to keep the smile off his face. "Maybe."