Chapter 6
"Phelps! What in the name of all magic are you doing?!" Severus demanded as he watched Hermione slowly slice up the softened Dragon Horn. Hermione dropped the knife in irritation and looked at Severus with the best death state she could pull off.
"I am cutting up the Dragon Horn, what else does it look like?" She replied, not attempting to keep the irritation out of her voice.
"And why exactly are you cutting it?"
"The bloody book tells me too! That's why!"
"You're a bloody idiot I swear. That book is wrong. You don't cut it, just crush it with the flat side of the knife and place it in the cauldron."
"Oh are you the expert now then?"
"Better at it than you are. Just do as I say! I don't want to fail this course…" Severus looked away and continued on working on the Veritaserum.
With Severus' attitude Hermione knew it was better to just listen to him rather than argue. Though he could be right about the potion book. He will become a Potion Master in the future so he could be right about this… Hermione silently scolded herself for agreeing to the snobbish Slytherin without a fight and started crushing the Dragon Horn instead. I still need to think about how to sabotage the Veritaserum but dammit I'm almost out of time!
The time soon indicated that the class was finished and Hermione left the dungeons as quickly as she could, eager to avoid Snape for the rest of the day- And perhaps forever- as she made her way to the Great Hall.
Upon entering she quickly found a spot with Sirius and the gang, save for Remus who was gone. It's the first night of the full moon today, I guess it's expected… Sitting next to Sirius she quickly picked out from all the amazing food that was available to her, quickly filling up her plate.
"Where's Remus?" Hermione asked, trying to sound as clueless as she could be. "Is he alright?"
"Yeah he is," James replied. It wasn't obvious to everyone but Hermione could clearly see that he was worried for his furry friend's situation. "He's not feeling too well so he's up at the boy's dormitory for now."
"Oh okay, well tell him I hope he gets better for me will you?"
"Yeah sure we will don't worry. I think he'll actually appreciate it a lot, coming from you," At this comment Hermione blushed and looked away for a second. This didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the group and they all smiled and hoped that when the time came for her to know, she would accept Remus for who he was.
Once Hermione was able to straighten herself up again, she continued to eat with them and create small talk as she formulated her plan. Since Remus is going to preoccupy Sirius and James' time it'll be best I do it tonight so I know I won't run across them as I'm getting the fang. It shouldn't be too hard anyways… Right?
XxX
Stupid! Why are you going down again to get the basilisk fang on your own again? Because we need it to kill Tom.
She looked down at the looming black hole at stood in front of her in the girl's bathroom. There's no going back now I guess. Closing her eyes, she jumped into the unknown.
XxX
Tom paced his room, trying to hide the smile on his face. He rarely smiled now, but boy was he in a good mood. How Hermione has reacted when he was in her dreams. She's going to come back to me. I just know it.
He continued to pace back and forth, thinking about his next move. One thing was for certain. By the time he made his next move, his darling Hermione would be standing next to him. There was no way for her to escape reality.
XxX
Hermione sighed in frustration and scolded herself. Why was she doing this again? Oh that's right, you need a basilisk fang and you're too stupid to ask for help. Before she could create an internal battle within herself she stopped and focused on the task at hand. Ok… Now just remember where to go, it hasn't been that long you can do it…
After what felt like hours she finally felt the entrance to the Chamber. After taking a deep breath she did her best imitation of Parseltongue
"Open up"*
To her surprise the door did open up in a similar fashion to when Ron and her were here. Well, good job! Entering the dungeon slowly with her wand pulled out she carefully examined her surroundings in fear of Tom somehow appearing or perhaps one of his followers. Upon entering she found the mouth of the great face statue was open. The sight of this sent chills down her spine, though she had no idea why. Her gut started to scream for her to run as fast as she could out of the Chamber but she knew she couldn't. Not until she had the fang with her. Suddenly she heard a hissing sound to her right and she froze. Slowly turning her head, she saw a tunnel right of the face and a shadow that slowly appeared closer and bigger. Oh shit… It's alive… I forgot about that. Looking down onto the ground quickly she heard the hissing sound near, causing her to near one of the snake statues**. Hermione calm down, calm down. Harry faced this so that means you can do it well… I hope. The hissing continued to near and Hermione knew that now was the time to either run or fight. Run, you're seriously thinking about running? Woman you know we need that fang and the only way to do it is to kill it! Gripping tightly onto her wand she left the safety of the statue and looked down on the ground, staring only at the shadow of the basilisk. The shadow raised slightly and she could make out that the basilisk had seen her, with the hissing growing louder. That's right… NOW RUN!
Hermione turned away and out of the chamber, the basilisk hot on her tail as she zipped in ad out of all the tunnels, constantly moving around in circles whenever possible. There is no way in hell I can kill this beast without spells, but they'll just reflect back on it… How the fuck am I going to get the fang now…
Sooner than she preferred she ended up again in the chamber, with the basilisk covering up the entrance. I am well and truly fucked. Hermione did what she could and zipped through the snake statues as the basilisk attempted to bite her. She felt herself tiring from all the running that she was doing and she knew that if this lasted any longer she'd be dead. She continued to shift through all the snake statues regardless of her feet's plea for a break until she reached a wall. She turned around and stared at the shadow of the basilisk, ready to accept her fate until the last moment. Her feet moved suddenly avoiding the serpent's bite, causing it to become attached to the wall for a few seconds. But this was enough for her as she made space between herself and the basilisk. Just as the basilisk pulled itself off the wall it hissed loudly in pain, causing Hermione to look up as high as she dared, realising that the serpent had lost one of its fangs from the collision. Now where is it?! She scanned the floor as quickly as she could until she noticed the dull pale fang lying below the basilisk. Get it! As quickly as she could she slid underneath the basilisk, obtained the fang and then quickly made her way to the exit of the Chamber.
"Lumos Maxima!" she bellowed out, pointing her wand in the direction of the serpent as she ran, hoping to buy herself more time as she escaped the Chamber and closed the door before the basilisk could react. At the sound of the door sealing the basilisk within the Chamber, her legs crumbled beneath her and she fell onto the pile of skulls and bones without a care. I… I actually got it. She ran out of energy and fell into a quiet slumber.