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Harry had reckoned it was about time he ventured back into the Chamber of Secrets. It'd been a very long time since last he'd ventured down into the dark, dank tunnels, and when last he'd done so, it'd been to make a deal with a creature of myth.
Well, he supposed it was no longer a creature of myth given it was present in the bowels of the school, waiting to be called upon. That was just what he'd come to do as well. The Battle of Hogwarts had come and gone, and with the passing of Voldemort, there was no other person that might try and contest the claim of leadership over the Basilisk.
Only Harry. That was vital if he were to keep safe both the general public from her wrath if unleashed, and her safe from the aforementioned general public, when the time came for them to learn of her. Yes, if he had it his way, he'd make known the deal betwixt he and her known as he took his position atop the Ministry.
He'd be its leader, and her, its guardian.
Harry grinned as he slid down into the Chamber, coming to an abrupt halt so as to avoid falling into the pile of bones. He was glad to see the food he'd sent had been eaten as well; the fresh bones conveyed as much, as did the other product containers that were empty and ripped open. That likely meant their little deal was holding, and she was more than content to keep it going.
He only had to change it a smidge now.
"Sarea?" He called out.
In the distance, Harry heard the slithering of a large body.
He swallowed. It'd been a few years since he'd last seen her, and in that time, he'd grown considerably… based on the skins he saw now, so had she, given she was eating well for the first time since her 'father' had created her.
Salazar Slytherin. Her name, Sarea, he reckoned was done so in honour of the man himself.
Harry swallowed the bundle of nerves in his throat and pushed through into the main chamber, where he'd heard her. The steps were quiet save for the faint splashing of water, the damp ground long-overdue a cleaning.
He snapped his lead to the left when he thought he saw movement down therein the side. There was nothing.
And then, just as he swore there was nothing, something appeared. Before Harry could so much as raise his wand, he found himself wrapped up by a pair of arms and a coil-like lower body. He heard the hiss before a word was spoken, but they followed not too long thereafter.
"Harry," Sarea greeted him, her serpentine eyes peering into his; he'd have been petrified were she not in her partial humanoid form, that being with a long tail but a womanly upper-body. "You came back." His name had been hissed, but the rest of her words sounded normal enough, if a touch posh like a pureblood.
Reckoned that made sense though, didn't it? She'd been made and raised by Salazar Slytherin, after all, and who else but he could have sounded so rich by manner of speaking alone?
"Of course I did. I made a promise, didn't I?" Harry said, shifting in her grasp so that he might be able to look at her.
Merlin, was she a sight. Her eyes were serpentine and slitted as she looked him over, her face and upper arms scaled in places, but those scales tapered off into soft-looking and softer-feeling skin just the same as his. It was tinged green, just as her scales, and her hands, whilst humanoid, were clawed. Had she wished him harm, he'd not have been able to react in time.
But she was simply content to grasp him and peer into his eyes, her fangs showing when she smiled at his words. "You did," he swore her eyes flashed. "And here you are. Are you ready to have me by your side? The other is no more?"
Sarea was slowly, mesmerisingly, swaying with him still in her grasp. It had the effect of making him feel entranced as he stared into those slitted eyes.
"He's gone," Harry managed, swallowing when he noticed another portion of her anatomy swaying along with the rest of her. "And yes. I came here for you. I'm going to be rising in the Ministry. Another man, a friend, Kingsley Shacklebolt, will be the Minister until I feel I'm ready to take the position. I want you to rise with me, show everybody you can defend us if you have the right companion, and not somebody that'll use their link with you for evil."
Once he was totally finished speaking, Sarea hissed and shot them up in the air, her coil launching them. He didn't wince, no, he trusted her not to let him come to harm, and when they landed a few seconds later, he was proven right. They landed with a soft thud, her tail striking well before the rest of her, and as a result, him.
Her arms tightened around him after impact, and then she moved in close. It was only then when he felt nervous, especially seeing those teeth grow nearer to him… but he needn't fear. She rested her forehead against his own.
"I am so thankful to finally see the world once more," Her grasp tightened further. "Take me with you outside, before I have to steal all of your heat."
Harry slowly wiggled so as to affirm his grip of her, and once he did, with a verbal warning, he apparated them.
Finally, they were in the Chamber no more.
His instinct had been to take her not to the grounds of Hogwarts, but rather, to his 'home'.
Black Manor.
After Sirius had left him everything the Blacks had left, Harry opted to move to the Manor; Grimmauld place held a special place, twas true, but ghosts of the place were too painful. Besides, this worked better for Sarea. There was a massive amount of land she could do as she'd like to on with nary a worry. It was also far more secure in the sense of no persons moving around that Harry didn't personally allow.
Grimmauld Place, meanwhile, was in the centre of a Muggle city with much traffic always going around the place. He could hardly fit her there as well; really, everything pointed to the Manor and the grounds thereof being better.
Harry took in a deep breath, enjoying the crisp cool air of the outdoors. The place was oft loud enough, the many birds and other little wildlife such as squirrels singing their songs… but that wasn't the case at the present. No, as soon as he'd appeared with Sarea, much of the noise that seemed as if it were a constant ambience, died away. There'd even been a flock of nearby birds that took off, taking to the sky and flapping away quite quickly.
He supposed even in the 'partial' form of hers, they saw her as a danger to themselves and their young. Glancing at the woman beside him, he could understand. There was a certain dangerousness that one couldn't get over, be it by way of her scales, serpentine lower half or the sharp, venomous fangs she possessed.
Unlike the animals though, he could recognise her beauty, and so he looped an arm through hers and led her to the front of the home. She was large, yes, but the manor was massive, enough so that a dozen people abreast could walk through the halls all at once.
With a wave of his hand, the doors to the manor opened, and Harry fixed Sarea with a smile, wide and pleased. "Welcome home."
Sarea's serpentine slitted eyes take in the grand space before her. It's as large as Hogwarts' Great Hall, only instead of tables lining the place in four rows, there's columns, artwork, statues and two marble-made staircases that lead to the second and third floors. Towards the very top, there's even a balcony that would allow one to look down and into the centre of the space.
As it's always been to Harry, so too did it appear to Sarea; impressive.
"Home?" Sarea slithered closer to him, and then she stopped rather abruptly, her eyes going to the soft, polished floor below them. She resumed again, albeit tentatively and with her eyes focused on the floor below; she even outstretched a hand, pressing it into the stone below.
Harry's eyes were mirthful as he took in her wonder. The stone wasn't at all like the coarse, decrepit place she was used to. He wondered just how much better it felt for her, especially since he'd laced the entirety of it with charms that kept it heated.
Oh yes, he'd prepared well in advance for her arrival. The last thing he'd wanted was for her to have a home that wasn't meant for her.
"I prepared a room for you as well. One that could handle you in either form you prefer," Harry nodded then to a door four times the size of that which was normal.
It was off to the right of the grandiose room, and framed by two pillars with snakes that stretched from the ground to the ceiling above. Harry had to admit, the amount of rooms he'd done awa—
"Merlin," he said aloud as he floundered around, his thoughts interrupted as his legs were tangled by Sarea's coiled-up lower body; his arms had no choice but to fully wrap around her lest he fall face first into the hard stone floor below.
Sarea, meanwhile, tightened around his person further. It wasn't just with her lower body either, no, as his arms encircled her torso as best they could, so too did hers do much the same to him. Her head rested atop his own, and he could feel her tongue slipping out, tickling the back of his neck before it returned whence it'd come.
"Sarea?" he asked, trying to crane his neck back so as to seek out her face.
"You are too kind," Sarea hissed into his ear, her tongue once again flicking so as to hit the back of his neck before returning to her mouth as she resumed speaking. "Only my father has ever been this giving."
Harry squirmed again, this time successfully manoeuvring in her grasp. Her slitted eyes, narrow as they were, seemed watery. Her visage, meanwhile, was beyond happy, the many fangs in her mouth showing as she took in the place with a smile on her face.
Until she looked down at him, her eyes meeting his own.
Then, the smile changed into something that was more demure. The scales of her face were still green as ever, but the skin was pinker… Harry was worried until he realised she was blushing. He'd never thought such a thing possible considering, well, she was a centuries-spanning Basilisk.
But then, he supposed she went into deep slumbers whensoever an heir didn't appear, and that was where she'd spent the bulk of her time.
That didn't feel right to him. It still didn't. Slytherin had created her, and then upon his passing, left her behind for his family that failed to treat her as they should have.
Harry's hold tightened around her. "I'll give you whatever you'd like." He meant it too, and there was nary a thing in the world he couldn't afford.
Sarea laughed, the sound hiss-like, but endearing… and also very surprising. He'd never heard so much as a giggle from her before, and yet, here it was happening before his very eyes.
Or ears?
"Whatever I want?" Sarea queried, her eyes more intense, captivating even, as they bore into his.
"Of course," the words were out of his mouth were barely a thought put towards them. Such was the level of his sincerity.
Those slitted eyes of hers narrowed further. He could see many a thought behind them; the cunning of Slytherin himself was present as well, and then she pressed toward him.
Harry didn't wince. He was confident she'd never hurt him, and when he felt her lips press against his own, the points of her fangs poking incessantly at his bottom lip, he knew he was right… and he knew what she desired.