"We're almost at the bridge intersection." She notes, "I wonder how they're blocking this… bridge…" As she turns the corner, she freezes. I peek out from behind our building, and…
A fucking dragon!? How the…? it was huge, at least 40 feet long. It was covered in dark, black scales and it's tail looked especially vicious, covered with bronze spikes that looked like they could pierce through anything. I notice Narcissa come into view of the dragon, and I instantly clap her mouth; she's always been scared of dragons, ever since she had a really bad experience with one from Gringotts when she was five. And despite her rapid aging, I can still see the fear in her eyes.
"Cissy, it's facing the other way. It doesn't notice us." I whisper into her ear, quietly but quickly, "We need to go up New Bridge Street, and quickly, but we can't panic. Got it? We will be safe. It's not paying attention to us. It doesn't know we're here. Got it? I'm not uncovering your mouth until you nod." Her eyes still looked panicked, but my quick words seem to break through. She nods jerkily, and I release her… but hold her hand anyway, to make sure she doesn't run away screaming.
"Hungarian Horntail…" Hermione whispers, but she doesn't look panicked or anything, so I merely tap her on the shoulder to get her to move. She turns to me, nods, and we walk, very quickly, right through to the next street. I can feel Cissy shaking, but she's not trying to go faster than us. Hermione is trying her best to scan the street with her wand while also making sure we get out of sight as soon as possible, but it's not really working.
"Tudor street." I point out the next left, and both of them nod. Once we get off New Bridge street, Cissy falls on the ground, breathing heavily. I get her to scoot over to a building to lean on, and she scoots backward, almost knocking her head into the stone of the building. Hermione sits to the right of her, and I make my way to the right of Hermione. We just stare at the Tesco's in front of us for a while, all three of us trying to calm ourselves down. Well...
"This is getting ridiculous. Incredibly ridiculous." Hermione is breathing heavily, and she looks more angry than scared, "Horntail? Dementors? That fucking potion? If the earthquake didn't happen..." Her angry spiel drops to a low mutter, low enough that I can barely understand anything she's saying. I do hear her saying Ministry a lot, though...
"Hey. Is everything alright?" I try to get her focused again, and she shakes her head viciously.
"Fuck no. This is all so… familiar." She says, unexpectedly, "Dementors, the Hungarian Horntail, the Potion… If I wasn't so sure that it wasn't either Harry or Ron, I would think it'd be Harry or Ron. This is ridiculous. The potion is the weirdest part too, because I don't know he told a lot of people about it. "
"Wait, you've had to DEAL with that dragon?" I point backwards towards the bridge, with some amount of incredulousness.
"Well, not me. Harry was in the Triwizard Tournament, and the first task was getting a golden egg from a dragon. He just happened to pick the worst of the bunch." She says wistfully.
"Triwizard Tournament, huh?" I say wistfully, "I wish I could've gone through it myself. Testing myself against the best that Europe has to offer…" Even in the unlikely event that I didn't win, I'd still be able to meet someone BETTER than me. It'd be a great learning experience, if nothing else.
"I think Harry might've felt the same way had he not been 14." She opines, "and had Voldemort's lackey not been trying to kill him…"
"Merlin, your school life wasn't easy, was it? Is it bad if I'm a little envious?"
"Not at all, as long as you don't blame him for hating the vast majority of it." She smirks as she stands up, "Well, ladies, I think we should move on. I assume the dragon will continue to guard that bridge, but I don't want to take that for granted." We both sit up and we follow her down the narrow street, closely watching for any traps or various creatures.
"So… if you're familiar with all of this stuff, what do you think comes next?" I ask, and it's not Hermione, but Narcissa who answers next.
"You don't think it'll be a giant chess board, do you?" Narcissa smirks, and Hermione groans.
"Heavens help us if there is." At that odd proclamation, she starts ticking things off with her fingers, "Devil's Snare, A three-headed dog… Uh, don't remember anything from the third year, unless they planted a whomping willow in front of the ministry or something… Sphinx, maybe? Blast Ended Screwts?"
"What the bloody hell is that last one?"
"Hagrid's attempt at, er, creating a new species." She grimaces, and I can't help but cringe at that. That oafish moron doing something so permanent like cross-breeding?
"I guess after the 4th year, we mostly faced opposition from the Death Eaters…"
"Those were Voldemort's followers, which… er, Bellatrix Lestrange was part of." I ask, as we turn down another street to get to the bigger Fleet Road, "Death Eaters sounds like a… well, I guess I sound a little hypocritical, but it's a completely stupid name."
"I agree, but Voldemort was always scared of death, so I guess he wanted… you all to eat his death? I don't know." She shakes her head, "I only understand Voldemort so much, you know? I understand his followers more than I understand him. He was able to offer them something they wanted if they followed him, and they did it. I don't really understand why he was so scared of death, or why he was so obsessed with blood purity despite being a half-blood. I don't even know if he believed that part, or just used that to attract his following." She frowns, "Well, at least Narcissa never joined."
"I might as well have." She admits shamefully, "Even if I never took the Dark Mark, I let them live in my home for a year. I supported my husband without shame and without hesitation, even when he was out torturing Muggles. I never did any of it myself, mostly because Voldemort was under the impression I was a mediocre witch, but I would have done it if he asked."
"You did it to survive, Narcissa. Most people don't blame you or Draco. As for Lucius, well, he is a... follower." Hermione says diplomatically, but I have a better word for it.
"He's a bitch, Cissy." I shake my head, "Whomever you are, you clearly know how irritating he is. Always acting like he was Merlin's gift to the Wizarding World, when in actuality he was an idiot who lucked into a betrothal for someone way out of his league. He never admitted he was wrong about ANYTHING, and his constant blood-purity shite is so fucking infuriating. Most of Slytherin believes in it, but he talks about it so much that even some of THOSE people find him intolerable."
"It's… odd. The person I started as, the one who was 14, wants to argue with you about that. The one I am now, the one who's… got memories of him as a grown man, agrees with you every step of the way." She does seem mightily conflicted.
"Well, you two have seperated." Hermione offers, "You haven't divorced, purely because it's inconvenient, but you're living with-"
"Andromeda." She finishes, eyes widening, "I remember now. We found a place together around June of 2000, living together with her daughter and…Him." She sneers, before retraining her face, "Er, her husband."
"Andi has a daughter?" I ask with interest, "Actually, if you're talking about Andromeda…"
"Well, I don't know her that well. It's mostly Harry that can tell you about her, as her grandson is his godson." She shrugs, "As far as I know, she seems to be okay. She wasn't doing very well after the loss of her husband, so that's why Narcissa went to live with them, but now she's doing better."
"Her husband? Do you mean Tonks?" I… admit to not liking the guy. Publically I don't like him due to his status as a Mudblood, but in actuality, he wouldn't be worthy of Andromeda even if he was the Purest of Purebloods. But as wishy-washy and boring as he was, at least he wasn't Lucius.
"Yes." Cissy glances at me as we finally make it onto Fleet Street, Hermione busy with her scanning spells, "I never liked him much either, but she was really broken up about it. She mostly spends her time looking after Teddy while Nymphadora and Remus work."
"Nymphadora?" I giggle, "Really?" How embarrassing can you be, Andi? Merlin, I'd probably hate Mum even more if she tried to hoist THAT name on me.
"We mostly call her Dora, or Tonks." Hermione looks slightly suspicious as we finally step onto the wide open street, "She's an Auror, and quite a senior one as well. Remus helps out at the Weasley's joke shop, if I recall."
"Some of the Weasley's own a business? Hmm."
"Hey, Fred and George are actually quite brilliant." She doesn't seem to appreciate my distaste for the Weasley's, but as long as the one who came up with the place wasn't her idiot ex, I can cool off it, "Really, they did a lot for the war effort, and they're extremely funny… even if I feel the need to throttle them after interacting with them for more than five minutes." Hermione definitely strikes me as someone who doesn't have a lot of time with those who don't take things seriously.
"I… shamefully admit that as well." Narcissa's face reddens, "I tag along with Andi sometimes, when she goes to the Weasley's hovel for their weekly dinner thing, and I… find those two to be… adequate." Well, coming from Narcissa that's actually high praise.
"It'll be our little secret, Narcissa." Hermione grins brightly and Narcissa can't help but smile softly as well.
"Wait, what do your two friends do? Harry and Ron, right?"
"Aurors. Ron mostly does work from the desk, because he can actually be brilliant… at very specific circumstances." She says with a little bite, "One of them including detective work. Harry works in the field more often, because his strengths lie in his extraordinary reflexes."
"Harry Potter is quite remarkable." Narcissa agrees, "To do what he did as a youngster, and survive, is quite extraordinary. Actually, Bella, even you would find it hard to do battle with…"
She stops talking, and she actually stops moving. She starts glancing at the various buildings dotting this street, and she does it rather quickly. Her eyes lock on to Hermione's, and she looks extremely worried.
"Wait. I think you're forgetting something." Narcissa says with a horrified look on her face, "Your list of adversaries to and your friends have faced. Your second year, you were petrified, right?"
"...Oh. Right." She runs her hand through her voluminous hair, looking slightly terrified, "Second year… Slytherin's Basilisk. I guess I don't remember it because-"
"Merlin's Beard, girl! A bleeding Basilisk!?" I want to scream at her for failing to warn us of this before now, but that won't help. So I grit my teeth and say, "Well, regardless, Basilisks are rare, right? Extremely so? There's no way there would be one here…"
"No way?" She says fearfully, "No, no, that's exactly what's coming up next. Merlin, why am I such an idiot? Obviously they'd put their next trap around here, and considering that this road leads directly to Charing Cross Road, and that this would be the most likely route for people to take..."
"Aren't you being a little paranoid?" I ask, though I still start scanning those very same buildings Narcissa has been scanning. If there was a giant snake somewhere on this street, where would it be…
"No, this is absolutely what's next." She seems very sure of herself, "We should get moving, just in case." We'd been standing still, so we start walking, but I think we're all stuck between wanting to make sure it doesn't detect us, and getting off this road as quick as possible.
"Why didn't you remember it before hand?" I ask, trying not to sound accusatory… I don't know that it worked very well.
"I was petrified, actually." She says with a sigh, "And I had zero memories of what happened after. I think it was nearly three months that I'd been petrified, and I was lucky I was so far ahead that I didn't miss all that much. Finch-Fletchley and Colin both missed significant amounts of schooling, and Colin was a muggleborn so he couldn't really do any of his work during the summer."
"And I doubt you actively think about it." Narcissa guesses, and Hermione nods.
"Exactly. I think it's inter-" She stops, and points ahead with a shaking hand, "That's got to be where it is. There's no way it would be further up, as this street is kind of the only place it could hide before we get to Strand, and I don't think it'd be that far. I doubt this is the last trap, and I doubt they'd have space for two more unless the Basilisk is right there."
The road she's pointing to is roughly five buildings away, and I can't hear anything. She's mostly been right about things so far, of course, so it's not like I'm going to argue, but…
"How do we deal with it? Go around?" Narcissa asks, and Hermione shakes her head.
"To be honest, as long as we're going into this with foreknowledge, it should be okay. I think it's a little like the Hungarian Horntail; it would be stationary at first until it sees us, so we have time to prepare."
"Prepare… how?"
"Obscuro!" She points her wand directly at us, and I can feel a magical blindfold cover my eyes. I try to get it off, futilely, as I know it's magically bound onto me. I feel someone's hands move the piece of cloth up, and I can see Hermione staring directly into my face… I blush and duck my head before the moment gets too heated, but I can hear Hermione giggle a little regardless. Why am I thinking like this when we're about to do battle with an extremely dangerous snake, again?
"Okay, this shouldn't be needed," She points the wand on herself and casts another, "But the stare of a Basilisk is deadly, and even seeing it through some sort of glass will result in petrification. So just in case…"
"Cover our eyes, got it." Narcissa nods, adjusting the cloth vertically as though she were wearing a pair of glasses.
"What are the other weaknesses?"
"They can move through pipes. Well, I guess that's not really relevant here, but that's how Slytherin's Basilisk moved through Hogwarts. Spiders don't like them, for a reason I've never been able to really understand. Even after talking to an Acromantula. There was something else… A rooster! The cry of a rooster is fatal!" She summarizes, and I point to a nearby car.
"Could you Transfigure that into a bird?"
She pouts, as though offended I needed to ask, "Avifors!" She successfully transfigures the car into a rooster, though for some reason it looks to be asleep… Well, Narcissa picks it up anyway and starts trying to shake it.
"Er, let's just get closer, right?" Hermione suggests, and we inch closer to the supposed site of this Basilisk. I was a little skeptical, but now that we get closer I can definitely hear an odd sound, the hissing of a beast that seems far too big to be hissing anything… Meanwhile, Narcissa was still trying to wake it up, and Hermione was trying to help as well.
"Why won't this thing wake up?" Narcissa whispers as we get two buildings away from the intersection, "It seems obstinate…"
"I don't know… Transfiguration was never my strong suit, to be honest, and honestly this wand only barely likes me." She whispers back, "It's breathing and everything, so I know it isn't dead, but I'm not quite sure why…"
"Er… Hermione, how sure are you that it won't attack us until we're in it's eye-sight?" I can hear it shuffling, almost, "Because I think…"
"Oh Merlin!" Hermione starts backpedalling down the road and we both follow her, and as soon as she lets us past her she starts casting her blasting spells towards the buildings, trying to slow the incoming Basilisk down. I can hear the hissing getting louder, and fear is driving us to run faster than we ever have before.
The buildings are tumbling down and down, and I can only imagine the devastation Hermione's leaving in our wake, but I can still hear the giant snake gaining ground on us. We can't keep running forever, because I can already feel the pain in my side worsening and it's not been 30 seconds!
"Through that gate!" Hermione commands, and since Narcissa is ahead of both of us, she wrenches open the wrought iron gate, and holds it open while we enter. Hermione points behind a few garbage bins, and despite my… utter lack of understanding of what the heck she's even trying to accomplish with this, we both hide behind each one.
"Sorry Narcissa!" She says suddenly, and casts the Transfiguration spell on… her, instead. The Narcissa rooster is awake, and I despite her new form, I can still see the familiar Narcissa glare in her eyes.
Who knew a rooster could look so haughty?
"Start crowing!" She urges as she casts blasting spells on the trees in this little alcove, and despite Cissy-crow looking like she would rather peck Hermione's eyes out, starts her crowing. I can still hear the Basilisk coming, but it seems to be getting softer and softer… by the time we can see it again, it's barely limping along. I don't even think it knows where we are… all of the sudden, the car crow starts crowing too, and the Basilisk lets out an otherworldly cry as it twists up onto its belly.
"Is it…" I whisper towards Hermione, who's peeking on the other side of the garbage bin, "dead?"
"I believe so, but it would be- OW!" She whines, and I look back at her to notice the Narcissa crow pecking at Hermione's legs, very violently. Almost drawing blood.
"You might want to fix Narcissa before she kills you." I offer wryly, and she gives me an unimpressed look before she whispers the counter-spell. As she stretches out her limbs, she… picks up the other crow, who seems to have gone back to sleep again, and… strangles it?
"C-Cissy?" I say, haltingly, as she's holding the rooster with a deathgrip, "Are you… okay?"
"Narcissa?" Hermione whispers, and Narcissa gives her a very unimpressed look.
"Why is it you chose me to transfigure, instead of Bella?" She asks, very coldly, "I hope it's not for any… untoward reasons."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about." Hermione is still staring at the rooster who is still holding onto life, but not for much longer, "You were… closest."
"I'm sure." As soon as the rooster stops struggling, she tosses it into the garbage bin viciously, and I guess my face looks slightly frightened, because she's giving me a comforting look.
"Bella? Did I… scare you?" She asks, incredulously.
"Not at all." I cross my arms and pout, and Narcissa just laughs.
"I forgot how… innocent, you were. How innocent we all were, before…" She stops and offers me her hand, "To think that I could scare you…"
All these references to who I turned out to be are extremely depressing. I never had much hope for the future. The Wizarding World would always be complacent, arrogant and unintelligent. I couldn't fix that by myself, even though my family is supposed to be 'Noble', which means next to nothing if you actually want to affect change. But… at least I thought I'D be okay. I'd be married to that idiot Lestrange, but we'd have no children, live apart. I'd be able to have mistresses, warm bodies to help me cope with my malaise. Maybe I couldn't change the world overnight, or at all, but at least I could make sure I wouldn't be drawn into it.
But now, I see that whoever married Rabastian Lestrange… she did! She bought into the whole fucking thing! She abandoned everything about me that made me stand out, only retaining some of her knowledge. But she threw away her wisdom at the drop of a hat. She made her own sister be AFRAID of her! My two sisters are the two most important people in my life! How… how could she? I hate her so much…
"Come on, Bella." Hermione's voice breaks into my thoughts, and she hands me a… a handerchief? Shite, was I crying? I hurriedly wipe my face with my robes, not wanting to seem incompetent, but Hermione just looks sad as she puts back the cloth.
"Sorry… we still have to get to Diagon Alley." I try to give her a reassuring smile, but my heart is not in it.
"Bella." Cissy is looking concerned too, "Please, don't worry. I think, once we get to Ollivander's… Well, Hermione can finally fill us in on what's going on. I am very much looking forward to getting the answers."
"I will be completely honest." She says, hesitantly, "Even if… well, even if that means you hate me for it."
Huh…
Now I wonder why Dumbledore, who, I believe knew about the Basilisk (idk it's been a while) didn't put a bunch of roosters around the school. Just doodlin all up in there, all the time, and if the rooster dies a nearby portrait could confer with Dumbledore that Ginny killed him!
Tsk tsk tsk. Dumbledore. bad boy.