Chapter 30
In which Thomas had an uncomfortable talk
Severus desperately wanted to go back to his chamber and floo'ed to the Malfoy Manor rather than listening to the litany of complaints from the Basilisk. This kind of things were supposed to be Lucius' kind of work. He had enough listened to the dunderheads in his house, he didn't need to add a snake's complaints, of all things, on top of it.
"…and the skins from my previous shedding clogged the drain through the years no one came to check on me. Honestly, I thought my first master left instruction of my care to the next headmaster and so on. I had one of those squeaky little creatures that didn't look like a mouthful to help maintain the Chamber for a few hundreds of years, and then nothing. It was only after the Bigger Hatchling started to come and visit that the Chamber is cleaned, and I can eat more regularly…" The basilisk complained through the translation stone Harriet attached on her. (And wasn't that a marvel that his Lady created something so impressive at the tender age of twelve?)
Wait a minute…
"Shedding, you said?" He asked the Basilisk hopefully.
Basilisk skin sheds were hard to come by, (due to both reluctances to approach one, or even the knowledge of one's existence) and judging by the size of this Basilisk, the skin shedding should fetch quite the price as it was used as an ingredient in some obscure potion. It also can be cured to become protective gear materials, even more potent than dragon hide, as Basilisk skin was impenetrable by anything.
The Basilisk in question turned to face him and tilted her head as if in thought
"Yes, well, I don't know about you humans, but we Snakes shed at least once a year when we grew longer and bigger. Basilisks, especially, sheds rather often as we have to shed before we grew too large for our skin. It isn't like I can break through the old skin, it's way too tough for that. I usually use my venom to bit into the little flap at the end of my tail. It burns just a little bit before it dried, and I can use the dead end to pull the rest of the old skin of my body." Medusa answered.
"And the shedding? Where are they now?" Severus asked eagerly.
"I don't know, My Master, the little thing that didn't look like a mouthful and The Bigger Hatchling came every now and then and made the pile of dead skin disappear." Medusa circled back to Harriet, apparently bored with the conversation about dead skins.
"Severus?" the Headmaster stared at him curiously.
"The skin, My Lord, what did you do with the skin?! Please tell me you sell them and keep the proceedings in your vault." Severus sweated bullets as he had a bad feeling about the basilisk skin.
"Of course not. I wasn't even aware I had a vault, I usually vanished it. Besides, what are you going to use it for? It's just a pile of trash." Thomas said nonchalantly.
"Trash?! Trash?! Basilisk skin sheds can be sold up to 1,750 G per meter squares. Medusa's sheddings can reach up to 3,500,000 G to 4,000,000 G at this size!" Severus almost cried.
"Lucius should hear about this! He'd have an apoplexy if he knew you squandered a fortune every year!" he turned to Medusa. "and were you aware that you could milk Medusa's venom regularly and sell it?!"
Thomas looked pale as he sat down in his chair.
"Uh, I didn't know. I mean, it wasn't like there's any book ever written about a basilisk's value. All I ever found was that it's dangerous and you shouldn't look into its eyes."
"Yeah, well, no one has ever gotten close enough to get the complete information. My mother knew this because she was a Potion Mistress who apprenticed to an elderly Potion Master who collected ancient scrolls. These days, Britain sourced Basilisk Hide from Greece with a rather steep price." He massaged the bridge of his nose.
Professor Dumbledore looked contemplative.
"I've heard that Salazar Slytherin used to fund everything on the first few years Hogwarts was established. So he harvested his basilisk to do that"
Medusa nodded.
"My master used to come and milk my venom once a week. We can continue with the practice, if you like. After all, that was one of the reasons why I was put in the Chamber. Also, I'm over a thousand years old, Bigger Hatchling, I would like to try to breed."
The room went silent.
"ah…Medusa? There is just one problem with that. We didn't have any male Basilisk in Britain. Sourcing it from abroad is a bit…impossible at the moment." Thomas coughed uncomfortably.
"Impossible at the moment?! It's impossible at all. There's no at the moment at all." Professor Dumbledore spluttered.
"Basilisk is an XXXXX Dangerous creature. There is a ban from the ICW for that class of creatures for a reason! The last time someone tried to transport a Basilisk, the whole city died as the Basilisk run rampage. It was only by dawn the next day that the only surviving creature in the city, a rooster, crowed and it died. That's how we came to know that a cock's crow killed it."
Harriet raised a hand as if in a class.
"What does a male Basilisk look like? And does it have different abilities with you, Medusa?" she asked curiously.
"How would I know? I never met one before" Medusa grumbled. "But luckily for you, no male basilisk is actually required for the process. All I need is an egg and a toad to hatch it."
"An egg?" Thomas asked bemusedly.
"a toad?" Severus thought of one such creature he ever had the pleasure to meet and shook his head.
That particular toad was actually a woman who worked in the ministry, and the Basilisk most likely meant something literal.
"My egg, of course. When it hatched, they have to stay with me for a while, of course, as I was with my Dam. I will teach them everything they need to know so they can take over. I'm not young anymore, master, my days will end anytime soon, and I haven't had the chance to breed and teach my young about the school protection. If I die without a successor, the school will have no protector." Medusa said matter-of-factly.
"Don't say that! I forbid you!" Thomas bellowed, upset with the turn of this conversation.
"I will put you to sleep if I have to! But none of this talk!"
Medusa lowered her massive head to stare down her master and said calmly.
"Little one, death is a fact of life. It just is. When the time come, not even the longest sleep could prevent it. In fact, I may fall asleep and never wake up, which is the most peaceful death anyone could ask for. My Dam went through it, as does her Dam. The only thing we can do is to prepare for the eventuality. Don't be caught unprepared." She advised wisely.
"I don't want you to die, Medusa. You're my only family." He was so upset that he hissed in parseltongue. "You were my first friend, even before the humans here accepted me. You were…you were like my Dam. Please don't leave me alone."
Medusa laughed softly. "You're not the young boy back then, Little Hatchling, you're not alone anymore. Look! There's your soon to be Nest Mate, and there's also your new pet."
Rexy coughed and slithered beside her. "You also have me, bigger human. I can see that you also have friends. There is nothing to be scared of about the Great Beyond. We live to leave a legacy, and our spirit lived through the legacy we left. Even if the Great Old Madam passed, her legacy will live forever. Look at it this way. At least she's still healthy enough to acknowledge that she will have to pass. You wouldn't want to deal with her when she got cantankerous, chasing her own tail and not have a back-up. I mean, I know I'm awesome, but I can acknowledge that I lacked in size to defend the castle by myself in case something happened to her. You would need a thousand of me, that looks like me, and fought like me, but there's not quite any snake like me."
"Did you just quote Eminem?" Harriet asked incredulously.
"Who's Eminem?" Rexy swayed again, this time in a surprisingly accurate rendition of the muggle musician.
Harriet sighed and shrugged.
"we'll do our best, Medusa. And The Conservation will welcome this challenge, of course. I will write to Bill and Charles Weasley to design wards for your future brood."
She patted Thomas' arm sympathetically before leaving, sending a hand signal to her Head of House to leave Thomas alone with his snakes.
"What? Oh, right. Professors Dumbledore and Snape let's go. We need to reassure the students that the Basilisk meant no harm. I'd imagine that Minerva and Pomona would have quite the handfuls."
The other two professors looked at Professor Flitwick with a frown, then to a stern-faced Harriet, and nodded fervently.
"Ms. Potter, I was wondering if your translation stone could work on Phoenixes?..." Professor Dumbledore hurriedly followed the young girl out of the room.