After Harry dished out the fish and cups of water he began to talk. "Ok, so to start with I can speak to and understand snakes."
"Awesome. Can I do that too?" Puck broke in.
"No, I'm the only one. Well, there used to be two, but now there's only me," Harry said with a satisfied smirk. "But that is another story, and the story I get in return for that will have to be epic."
"Don't interrupt, Puck. Continue, Harry," Finn said before shoving more food in his mouth.
"Thank you, Finn. So students in my school started turning into stone and no one knew what was going on. They were actually going to shut the school down. One of my best friends was turned but before she was, she had found out what was happening. Someone was setting a basilisk loose in the school," Harry told them dramatically. He took in the blank stares from the three boys. "Yeah, I had no clue what it was either." Harry pointed to the snake on Puck's shirt. "That is a basilisk. About 60 feet long, 6 foot wide. It's eyes can kill you if you look into them, huge foot long fangs filled with a poison with no known antidote. I could hear it speaking in the wall, traveling along the plumbing."
"Damn," Puck whispered looking down at the snake on his shirt. It was badass.
"Then the worst happened. My best friend's sister was kidnapped and taken into the secret chamber that held the basilisk. Since I was the only parselmouth, that's what someone who talks to snakes is called, only I could open the door because the password was in parseltongue, snake language."
"Dude! You speak another language? Let's hear it."
"I'll show you, but just don't freak out ok? I have not had good experiences with people that hear it. It scares them."
Puck watched as Harry narrowed his gaze onto Puck's chest and hissed for a few moments before looking back up at the other boys.
"Dude. That wasn't scary, like at all. It was kinda hot actually," Puck stated with a grin causing Harry to blush.
"Reel it in, Puck," Mike said.
Harry coughed. "Yes, well, Anyway. Where was I? Ah, ok. I was going into the Chamber of Secrets. So I went with my friend whose sister was in the Chamber and a teacher, but half way in there was a tunnel collapse and we got separated. I had to get to her before the basilisk, so I had to go on alone. I finally found her on the floor of a huge cavern. But when I dropped my wand to run and help her I never noticed there was someone else there. It was a boy, named Tom. He was a spirit that had been possessing Ginny using a diary, and now he was draining her of life to become real again. Before I could reach my wand, Tom grabbed it. Then he walked over to a giant statue and called the basilisk."
"Oh, shit," Finn muttered.
"Yeah. I was terrified. How can you fight something over 10 times bigger than you with no weapon? Something you can't even look at without dying? Suddenly the headmasters phoenix showed up dropped something on the ground and then fought with the basilisk, scratching out it's eyes with its claws. So, you know what I did?"
All three boys slowly shook their heads, enraptured by the tale.
"I ran my ass out of there! I ran through the pipes as fast as I could, but I knew I had to go back to save Ginny. So I hid in an alcove, and the snake passed right by me, so close I could reach out and touch it. But it had lost his eyes to Fawkes, the phoenix, so it couldn't see me. I stayed completely still and silent, watching as it slid slowly past searching for me. As soon as I couldn't hear it I ran like crazy back to the chamber. I thought I was clear, but the basilisk crashed back into the chamber right up through the floor!"
Finn gasped. All three were on the edge of their seats.
"To the left of me I noticed a sword that the phoenix had dropped when it had appeared. I grabbed the sword and faced the basilisk, there was no other way. I had to fight it, but I was too small! It towered over me. So I did the only thing I could think of. I climbed the huge statue it had come out of, dodging as I went when it blindly struck out in an attempt to find me. Finally I reached the top, and there I stand level with the basilisk. It kept striking, and I had never held a sword before, so I'm just waving it around at the beast both of us missing our targets. Finally it drew back, and I knew this was it's final strike. I knew it would get me. As is descended on me I raised the sword, using the momentum of the basilisk to send it right through the roof of it's mouth. The basilisk shrieked and writhed around before falling down dead."
The three boys all breathed a sigh of relief, but then Harry continued
"But it wasn't over. When my arm was in the basilisks mouth, my forearm had been stabbed through with one of it's fangs. I could already feel the poison making it's way through my blood, and I knew I was dead. But from atop the statue I could still see Ginny laying there with Tom and I needed to save her from him. I climbed down the statue, still holding the basilisk fang and sword. When I reached the ground I ran over Ginny. Tom was very mad.
The basilisk was his pet, that was why it wouldn't talk to me, and I had killed it. Beside Ginny on the floor was the diary that Tom had used to possess her. I don't know why I did it, but I stabbed the basilisk fang from my arm right through the screamed as black oozed from his pages until finally Tom was gone and Ginny woke gasping. Finally she was safe, I thought to myself, I did what I had to do. I fell to the ground, the pain from my arm was incredible. Fawkes came over to me, and I saw he looked very sad. I told him not to worry, to take Ginny and go. Then he started to cry, I thought it was a sign I was for sure dead. But the phoenix leaned over my arm and let the tears fall over the hole in my arm. Phoenix tears can heal anything, you see, but they are so rare no one mentions them. The hole healed leaving nothing but a scar, the pain faded and I lived to fight another day."
"Holy fuck, dude. Was that really real," Puck had to know.
Harry held out his forearm and unbuckled his wand sheath exposing a puckered scar a little bigger than a golf ball before buckling it back up. "Really real."
"Damn, Harry. That's insane. How long ago did that happen?" Mike asked.
Harry thought for a moment. "About 5 years."
Puck spluttered. "5 YEARS? You were TWELVE when you did all that!?"
Harry chuckled at their shocked looks. "Yeah. You get used to it I guess. I've almost or should have died 8 times, and did die once. That wasn't even the first time, actually. I should have died twice before that."
Harry sounded like it was an everyday thing. Like it was no big deal. When Puck was twelve his biggest worry was if he could ask Santana out on a date. That was the year he started calling himself Puck because he felt like a badass for punching Nick Webster in the nose. Shit, now he felt like a fraud. Puck's badassness was nothing compared to Harry's. Puck made a mental note to be more badass in the near future.
"Wow, Harry. That was awesome. You are really brave," Finn said.
"Well, I am a Gryffindor," Harry laughed. "Now it's your turn!"
"I can assure you we do not have anything to compete with that, Harry."
"It's not a competition, Mike. Tell me a fun story. Lighten the mood a bit, you know?"
"Ok, I've got one," Finn decided. "Our junior year, we had a field trip to the Columbus Zoo."
"Oh! I love zoos! Did they have a reptile house? Wait! Don't answer that. Ignore me. Continue," Harry rambled.
Finn laughed. "Yes, they had a reptile house. But anyway, we went with out Glee Club as a reward for all out hard work on the latest competition. Our friend Brittany is a little strange. She's beautiful, you know, blonde haired blue eyed bombshell. But she is always talking nonsense. Things you really don't understand but you nod and smile anyway because shes adorable and you really can't be mean to her."
"Trust me, I know someone exactly like that. She's on the island with us actually, well I hope anyway. Sorry. Continue."
"So we go to the zoo, right? And I mean we're all pretty excited cause none of has been since we were kids and we got to get off school to go. But Brittney, I mean she was excited. No one could calm her down, not even her girlfriend. She was jumping all over the bus talking about how if she pretended to be a kangaroo she might get to sit in their pouch. It was hilarious. But we finally get there and we're walking around but she's completely silent. It was creepy, so finally I asked what was wrong. She told me the animals didn't want to be in cages they wanted to be free. Nothing would convince her otherwise. By the time we got to the primate house she had gone silent again so no one noticed when she wandered off."
"Uh oh. That's can't be good," Harry said while Puck and Mike shook their heads and Finn continued.
"When we finally noticed we were going crazy looking for her. We had been searching for like 20 minutes when she shows up out of nowhere with a little monkey! Just sitting on her shoulder playing with her hair and she's smiling like nothing is strange. We were all just staring at her. Then one of the zoo employees noticed her and the monkey and started shouting which, as turns out, is not a safe thing to do. It jumped off Brittany and started screaming and running between our legs, which had the Glee club also running around and yelling while the zoo keepers are trying to get the monkey. It took forever cause it seemed like every time they captured it another would show up! Turns out she had let all the spider monkeys out. And that is why McKinley High School Glee Club has a lifetime band from the Columbus Zoo."
Puck watched as Harry dissolved into giggles at this point. Sure a bunch of monkeys were no where near as cool as a gigantic snake, but at least Puck got to see Harry break down in laughter.
"That was the most interesting field trip we had ever been on. Well until now that is," Mike told them as Harry reigned in his giggles.
"Speaking of which. We need to figure out what we are doing. We need a plan," Harry decided.
They spent the next hour making plans. With Harry's magic they wouldn't have to worry about food or shelter, but Harry didn't want to rely solely on his magic for defense in case they got separated or it was something that he couldn't handle on his own. None of them could learn to use a sword in the amount of time they had, so Harry transfigured them all knives with wrist sheaths to defend themselves if necessary. At this point they were not completely sure it was a magic island, but they knew it was a good chance.
As a group they knew they wanted to find other survivors, especially their friends. They agreed to circle the island beach to look for any signs that anyone else had washed up like they had and would go from there. As for Puck, Harry would teach him what magic theroy he could while they walked and when they rested he would teach him the actual spells. To Puck it seemed like a lot of learning, but how bad could it be when the subject is magic?
The plans had all been settled Harry reversed the transfiguration on all of the campsite and everything turned back into rocks and shells when Mike brought up a very good point.
"Shouldn't we leave some sort of signal? For someone rescuing us, you know? Or if the others are looking for us too?"
Harry looked at him. "You come up with the most rational ideas. Alright we need a sign. There is everlasting fire, but I definitely can't make that. So I think our best bet would be the message in the sand route. What about you?"
"Sounds good. If we lit a fire someone would have to stay here to keep it going and that's not going to happen. Can you magic something up?"
"I can cast and enlargement spell on the stuff we used last night to transfigure into camping material, and then move them into place to spell out S.O.S. for something overhead to see."
Puck perked up at that. " And I can help move them ," he said while pulling out his wand
"I don't know if you'll be able to move something that big yet, but if you can't it just won't work so no harm trying."
Turns out Puck could move the rocks. Harry enlarged them to about four foot high, and between the two of them moving and with Mike and Finn directing they had the message spelled out in no time. The whole time Puck was grinning like a mad man. They had a little trouble when Puck started to chase Finn with one of the rocks, but Harry was quick to find out. Puck swore he used magic somehow because there was no way someone that small could punch so hard.
Puck was still grumbling and rubbing his shoulder when Harry transfigured a pen, paper and bottle.
"Are we going to throw it in the ocean?" Finn guessed.
"Don't be a dumb ass, Finnessa. Nothing can get out," Puck snapped.
"Don't get mad at me because you got in trouble," Finn retorted.
"Yeah, well I wouldn't have got caught if you hadn't squealed to Harry like a little bitch."
"You were threatening to squish me! What was I supposed to do? I didn't know he would take your wand away."
"Yeah well he did! And it's all your fault!"
Harry looked up from where he was writing to give Puck a glare that actually made him shut up. "Actually, Puck, you were the one who agreed to be responsible. What if the rock had really fallen and Finn got hurt? You'll get the wand back later." Harry turned to talk to Finn. "And no Finn. It's not going in the water. I'm leaving it with the message in the sand so they know where we went."
"That's a really good idea, Harry. You're pretty smart," Puck flattered with a charming smile.
"Suck up," teased Mike, getting a glare from Puck.
"Thank you, Puck. That's sweet. You're still not getting the wand back yet."
Puck groaned while Mike and Finn laughed.
After they place the bottle in the center of of O the four boys set off down the beach. They all kept an eye out for any signs of any other people. Harry began informing Puck about the different branches of magic like transfiguration and charms. Mike and Finn either listened or talked to each other. The day wasn't too hot yet, so time passed rather quickly for Puck who was absorbing the information Harry was sharing like a sponge. It amazed him how accurate some of the bedtime stories his dad had shared were. About 2 hours into the walk Mike suddenly stopped.
"I think I found proof that it's a magical island," Mike stated calmly.
"Why's that?"
Mike pointed to a cliff above them. "Look."
On top of one of the cliffs that seemed to dot the shore line there was a white horse. It was huge, Puck could tell from even this far away. The horse turned to look at them, and Puck suddenly understood what Mike had meant. It wasn't a horse at all, but a unicorn. Puck was amazed, he had never really cared for pretty girly things but even he was speechless. He was starting to feel like his brain was on repeat but Puck couldn't help but think again that magic was awesome. The unicorn caught sight of them and reared up on it's hind legs kicking at the air, before turning tail and running back into the jungle.
"Brittany would have loved this," Puck whispered.
AN: Thank you all for the great reviews! I get super excited when I get a notification :)