Hiya folks OMG I LOVE you guys! Thanks for sticking with me and this mad story! :3
Here's chapter 18 just for you (next update will be in the end of the week I think 'cause I'll be terribly busy from now on, hehe)
Ah, this is the CHamber chapter, and you all know how the Basilisk came out to face Harry in the book.. welkl, I'm changing that Little detail too, hehe, have fun!
Also, own nothing but the plot and Jennie and so on
18 May 5 1993
Jennie glanced out the window; the sun rising quicker every second, her stomach was a knot of wriggling snakes – ah the irony! – and she felt like crawling back in her bed in Minerva's office. But of course she didn't. She stood, took a deep breath and then dressed as quick as she possibly could as so not to chicken out.
"Minerva?" she called out as she pulled on knee high sensible boots without heels and added a thick sweater over her t-shirt.
"Yes dear?"
"Are we really doing this?" Jennie asked, now feeling rather silly since they were of course doing what they had planned to do.
Minerva emerged from her bedroom, fully dressed and looking as stern as ever, but Jennie saw the glimmers of fear in her eyes, for she shared the same fear herself and also cloaked them.
"Yes", said the older witch sternly and Jennie sighed and recalled the argument she, Minerva, Narcissa had had with Albus a few days ago.
####
"So, I'm sure you understand that we can't let you use Harry in your plan", said Jennie in mild annoyance as Albus still hadn't said anything after her long rant.
"I think, my dear, that you are overprotective, which is understandable. But, if I may be so bold and say out loud, you must let the boy grow up, his connection to snakes shows that he is destined to end this."
Jennie snorted.
"With all due respect, shut the hell up! Now, repeat what you just said and realize how mad you sound! Are you really going to try to convince me to put a twelve year old boy in the same room as a freaking Basilisk?!" she snarled and by had she been a witch she would've cursed him into oblivion!
"I am saying that you need to step back and let him shoulder his responsibility!"
"Albus, really, listen to yourself! Surely you can't think this is sensible!" said Minerva who uptil now had been quiet.
"Yes, I have to agree with Minerva, Headmaster no child can shoulder a responsibility of taking on a deadly snake!" said Narcissa with a shiver.
Albus sighed and sat down beside his desk, and for a moment, Jennie saw sadness in his eyes before it was cloaked away and replaced by firmness. She decided to change tactic.
"I know you have something planned; I can see it and hear it. Can't you please tell us, we might be able to help, no one should take on to much responsibility, not even you", she said and she meant every word for it was true.
For an instant, the old man looked shaken, but then he was back to stern again; Jennie groaned mentally at this.
"I have no plan, I simply want to let Harry feel important and show him that he is capable of greatness."
"Ah… as admirable as that sound, don't you think it'd be better let him finish school and have a job? Really, how is he supposed to fight a fucking giant snake?" retorted Jennie, more annoyed by every word she spoke.
"Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who need it", said Albus simply, and this time Jennie groaned aloud.
"Please, please, please stop this madness! Just… take care of this situation yourself! Protect your students; you are the Headmaster! Hell, let us help you, we can walk like one step behind you, just leave Harry out of this and handle your own respnsibility!"
####
"Jennie?"
"Hm? Oh sorry, flashback… shall we go then?"
Minerva nodded softly, and together they left her rooms, only to find Narcissa waiting just outside; the blonde witch looking paler than usual, and Jennie did not back off when the married woman grabbed her hand.
"I say we get on with this before we run screaming down the hall", muttered Jennie and Narcissa laughed nervously.
"You're awfully calm.2
"I wish I was! I'm screaming mentally, believe me", Jennie confessed and then, as one person, the three women steered their way towards a certain bathroom…
####
"Right… recorder, check… now, where is that silly snake symbol? I mean, Salazar must've been proud that he had a pet snake, so I think he might've wanted to show off… erhm… Myrtle, which way did you say you looked when you died?" rambled Jennie as she glared at the many sinks in the mostly unused bathroom.
"Oh, that one over there. Will you die?" said the little ghost girl and pointed at a sink.
"Eh, I hope I won't…" mumbled Jennie and then she set to work; walking to the sink Myrtle had pointed at, she grabbed the recorded in one hand and gave a triumphant yell when she spotted a small snake carved into the sink. She pressed play, and heard only hissing, which was to be expected but still scared her.
"It sounds mad", she muttered and glanced over at her companions.
"Mirrors ready?"
The witches nodded.
"Right then", muttered Jennie as she watched a hole appear, a very large hole, where the sink had been mere seconds ago.
"Are we supposed to just jump down that?" groaned Narcissa and looked down at her robes, and Jennie giggled.
"Leave them here, they're way to pretty to be ruined."
####
"I'm beginning to think this is crazy", whispered Jennie as they stumbled upon a large shredded snake skin; apparently the Basilisk liked to change style.
Narcissa giggled even more nervously than before, but Minerva was still silent and Jennie suspected that that was her way of handling nervousness.
"Perhaps it's a she snake", giggled Jennie "that'd explain the changing of clothes."
Narcissa almost squealed, but then she seemed to remember they had to be silent, so she placed a hand over her mouth and muffled her giggled.
"May I remind you that we are in a cellar, about to hunt out a very large, very deadly snake?" said Minerva pointedly and Jennie stilled her silliness.
"Sorry, blame my nerves!"
They went on in silence, and they stumbled upon a door which had snakes with eyes that gleamed on it, and Jennie played the hissing sound she'd recorded once more, the door opened and they went inside. The Chamber was huge, pillars stood everywhere, snakes entwined on them, supporting the roof high above them, and there was a statue which was as big as the Chamber itself; when Jennie craned her neck to look at its face she realized it must be Salazar himself, forever watching over the stone room.
"No ego, none at all", she mumbled and carefully looked around, mirror ready in her hand.
After minutes of walking around, the all had to agree on one fact: there was no Basilisk in the Chamber.
"Okay, this feels like a bad suggestion, but what if I play the record that say 'come to me?'" said Jennie and groaned when Narcissa and Minerva paled but nodded.
"Well, if we are to dispose of it then we have to get it here", admitted Narcissa.
So, Jennie pressed play…
It began as a soft thumping, growing louder and coming nearer, but they could not see from where the sound came. And then, when the suspense reached the killing peak, the statue of Salazar Slytherin burst apart, and Jennie whirled around to the others.
"Get the fuck behind a pillar, and don't look!"
"Oh Merlin, what do we do?!" mumbled Narcissa as the hurried behind a pillar each.
"Eh… think of something, I don't know, I thought we'd have Albus here by now!" muttered Jennie in a sing song voice.
Jennie let her mind flow around, seeking for some fact she might have stored away… stone, mirrors, the two were connected somehow, but she couldn't figure out how…
"Use the mirrors! Don't look into them; look at the floor to detect the snake and try ti aim the mirrors at it; remember Filch's cat? She got petrified and I remember someone saying there was water on the floor; she must've looked in the water and seen the Basilisk's eyes, or else she would've died!"
"Ah Jennie, you should do excellent in Ravenclaw!" called Minerva from her pillar as she started glancing at the floor, waving her mirror about.
There was a hissing somewhere in the room; it echoed of the walls and made it impossible to detect exactly where the snake had its head; Jennie groaned annoyed and stole another look at the floor where she could see the snakes body being perfectly still, like it was smelling them and just waiting for a moment to strike.
"This is getting us nowhere!" declared Minerva, and Jennie saw, amazed and horrified, how the elder witch stepped out behind her pillar, her hand as a shield in front of her as she walked.
"What are you do-"
There was a swooshing sound; Jennie saw the snake body move sickly fast, and then she saw a blur being hurled through the air; Minerva. The older woman smashed into the wall and then crashed on the floor and lay very still.
"Shit! Narcissa, can you get to her?" snapped Jennie and Narcissa nodded.
"If you can draw that thing away!"
"I'm on it!"
Jennie gave herself a mental kick in the ass, shielded her eyes, raised the mirror and sprinted in the opposite direction of where Minerva and Narcissa were.
"Oh come here snakey!" she hummed loudly and then things happened very fast; she saw the tail coming swooping towards her and she tried to jump away but failed and was pushed into a pillar hard enough to make her see spots, and she dropped the mirror and while she tried to regain her sight, she also felt and heard the stupid giant snake coming closer and she cursed herself for being so careless.
Jennie turned her head downwards, the spots finally went away and she spotted her mirror just out pf reach.
"Well, fuck."
She glanced up only a little and saw – fuck times ten – that the snake was in front of her, but it was still as though it knew she was trapped and waited for her to move.
"Oh go to hell and die!" she growled and threw herself towards the mirror; it was cool in her hand and she scrambled around on the cold floor made entirely of stone, and in a flash of awareness Jennie realized that the only way to get the snake to see its own reflection was to look herself since she never would be able to catch where the silly serpent had its head otherwise.
"Ah hell… they better now how to un-stone me…" she mumbled as she stood up, looked in the mirror and saw a flash of yellow…