Summary of the previous chapter:

Newt Scamander's granddaughter arrives at the castle. She's a Magizoologist familiar with basilisks. To everybody's surprise, she is sure that spectacle wearers are safe from instant death by the basilisk's killing glance, as one has to meet its gaze without any kind of obstruction. The four Heads of House, the headmaster and the three friends brainstorm and come up with a plan to capture the basilisk.

The Serpent of Slytherin

Sky, Severus and the children inspected the rooms behind the trapdoor right the next day. They had ask Professor McGonagall to transfigure spoons into sunglasses like Sky's for everyone except Harry, who was already protected by the ones he wore. The kids kept sneaking amused looks at their teacher. Sky didn't quite understand why – she thought Severus actually looked pretty cool with his mirrored sunglasses. Were she on more familiar terms with him, she might, out of curiosity, suggest he try and tie his hair back.

He had been a tiny bit grumpy last night, when, after the strategy meeting in the office, he had been forced to admit that Lamoyant's claims were, of course, total rubbish. Even so, Sky had noted surprise and respect in his eyes, and he been quite willing to discuss a more interesting publication in the latest edition with her during breakfast.

Everybody liked the room Neville had suggested for capturing the basilisk. It had an arched ceiling that was carried by multiple pillars, but in contrast to the chamber with the flying keys, it was only one storey high.

"The bigger the room, the bigger the basilisk," Sky reiterated. "We want it to adapt to something smaller than its current size, which I fear might be enormous."

"Just what exactly does enormous mean?" asked Hermione, who liked to know exactly what to expect.

"Let's put it this way: Although basilisks can't unhinge their jaws, it could probably swallow you whole. You might not be able to close your arms around its body if you tried. Lengthwise, it might be up to fifty feet long."

Harry, Neville, Hermione and even the professor stared at her in shock.

"So it would have to squeeze to fit in here?" asked Hermione critically. "That doesn't sound very animal-friendly."

"If we don't make the hole in the wall too large, it will adapt to fit through and not go back to its full size as long as it remains in this room. As to what happens long term … there might be a way to use the basilisk's innate Choranaptyxis to make it stay in a shrunken form, no matter how big a space it is offered. That way, we could size it down to something reasonable – say a python or a cobra – which would greatly reduce the amount of food it needs and also make it a lot less intimidating for humans."

"What makes you think that such a thing is even possible?" asked the Potions Master curiously. "I have never heard of such experiments, which I assume would aim at shrinking Occamies?"

"Correct." Sky smiled at him. "You know how costly and valuable Occamy eggs are. Breeding them is a pain – on the one hand, they are too big to keep and control, on the other hand they can shrink themselves to easily fit into a teapot, making it easy for them to escape. Keeping them a manageable size – like turkeys – would immensely facilitate their breeding."

"Indeed. So who has been researching Choranaptyxis and the possibility of circumventing it?"

"I have. I know how to tackle the problem in theory, but I haven't been able to develop it into anything practical yet. Actually, you might be able to help with that."

Severus raised his brow. It was a unique and complex problem she was trying to solve, and would surely cause a minor revolution if successful. He was very amenable to the idea of contributing to it, but capturing the basilisk had to be their first priority.

Harry suggested transfiguring the room into something more forest-like. "After all, we don't want the basilisk to feel trapped or threatened," he argued. "The more comfortable it is, the less antagonistic it's probably going to be, right?"

That seemed like a reasonable approach, and so Minerva, Flitwick and Hagrid were brought on board. Harry – with the teachers' permission – also brought Marvolo, pointing out that he could best advise them on how to make the room a nice dwelling for a snake.

Now that everybody knew he could communicate with it, the professors seemed more accepting of his assurances that he wouldn't harm anyone. Marvolo was in his element. He excitedly slithered back and forth, giving out instructions that Harry duly translated for him.

Hagrid was on fire, too – a living basilisk and they might even be keeping it! He immediately set off into the forest to collect stones, moss, wood and leaves, anything that a snake-like creature might like to nest in.

"Only collect small pieces, Hagrid!" Flitwick called after him. "We can adjust the size of everything with charms. No need to bring down entire trees or large boulders, when sticks and pebbles will do!"

Minerva started by transfiguring the stone pillars into a something that looked like petrified trees. Branches grew from them and entangled and eventually covered the entire ceiling. Some branches invited climbing or offered a resting place off the ground. As a result, the chamber very much resembled an enchanted forest.

The small-sized rocks Hagrid brought in were enlarged and stacked to form a cave-like dwelling in a corner. The stone floor was covered with a thick layer of dirt, leaves, moss and wooden debris – all multiplied from the one bagful of forest soil Hagrid had brought in as well.

"We should add some plants," Neville suggested. "If we place a sunlight charm like in greenhouse two, there are quite a few plants that should do well in a warm and moist environment."

"Which reminds me that we need to put a heating charm on the walls to keep it cozy in here," said Flitwick and began to wave his wand.

Soon, they all had to discard their robes as it was getting much too warm in here. Neville had recruited Professor Sprout, who was helping to put together a selection of plants, and also instructed Professor Flitwick where the sunlight charm should be set up and how long the night and day cycle should be.

Hermione and Harry decorated the walls by attaching big chunks of bark to them here and there, which they, under Flitwick's careful eye, enlarged until they resembled tree trunks. The tiny professor also applied an infinity charm to the upper part of the still visible walls, making it seem as if the fake forest continued behind a low half-wall until it faded into mist. The illusion was so convincing that they needed the stone wall to prevent the basilisk from accidentally bumping into it.

At the end of the day, they stood in a room that resembled an almost tropical forest clearing, hidden in the mist. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore (who had some command over the castle's plumbing) had even created a small, artificial brook which flowed through the room, supplying fresh water. It even gurgled soothingly. Ferns, mosses and some climbing plants were planted and gently coaxed to accelerate their root growth.

"Can I stay here, please?" asked Marvolo, who had slithered up one of the slightly heated stone trees and was curled around one of the branches, basking in the artificial sunlight. "This is much nicer than the hut, and warmer, too!"

Harry didn't think it a good idea and pointed out that the basilisk might consider him game. "Let's stay on the safe side until we know what we're dealing with."

Marvolo gave a hiss that somehow sounded sulky, but reluctantly uncurled from the tree.

"Why don't we have something like this for us students, too?" asked Neville who looked over the mystic forest they had created with envy. "It'd be a nice place to hang out in winter."

"We could make it a school project!" Hermione suggested enthusiastically. "It'd be a great way to practice our magic skills!"

"Maybe we should concentrate on this project first, Miss Granger," Severus tried to curb her fervour before she could go overboard with it as she tended to do.

Hagrid carried another big sack in and pulled out large chunks of meat. Hermione chose not to ask where those had come from. They put the meat into a flat pit on the forest floor. It didn't look inviting to humans, but Marvolo probably felt like he was looking at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"We should put a glass window between this room and the forest chamber," suggested Sky. "We will have to look at the basilisk at some point, and having glass in-between should at least protect us from instant death in case it decides to glare at us."

"Are you so sure that glass really is enough to block its gaze?"

"Yes, as proven by evidence."

"They all saw only reflections."

"And one boy saw the basilisk through a ghost, which is not a reflection. The kids confirmed that the girl who died hadn't been wearing her glasses at the time she saw the basilisk. What a tragedy – had she not been crying and taken them off, she would only have ended up petrified."

They transfigured a large part of the wall into a huge window, then Severus reactivated the flame charm that had secured the entrance to the chamber last year, when Albus had asked him to set up the obstacle course. It was an elegant solution, as it activated as soon as someone passed through the opening, and it was doubtful the basilisk would try to escape if it meant going through flames.

When all was prepared, everyone but Severus and Dumbledore remained in the former chess chamber, deciding where to blast a hole into the wall. Surrounding themselves with a shield charm, they cast a 'Bombarda Maxima', which had the effect of a wrecking ball. Dust and debris soon covered the entire floor, and the wall now had a large, gaping hole that revealed its insides: A stretch of dark, empty space before a second, still intact wall behind it. Most likely, they had just destroyed the wizarding space at least in this section of the castle, but hopefully, the damage was limited.

Not knowing how long it might take for the basilisk to come and investigate, they quickly cast a charm on the hole that would alert them as soon as anything came through it and left the room.

"Well, I'd say that was a worthy inter-house project!" said Flitwick happily on their way back into the more trafficked parts of the castle. "I haven't had such fun in a long time!"

"Yes, much better than other things we've been asked to set up," agreed Minerva with a side glance at Dumbledore. "At least this is – hopefully – for a good purpose.

*'*'*'*'*'*

Marvolo had offered to stay in the chamber that had housed the flying keys before, repeatedly calling out for the basilisk.

"Food! Plenty of food here! Come, brother or sister, the table is laid! Snake of Slytherin, join the feast! The starving days are over! Come, big snake or small. See what Hogwarts' servants have provided for us!"

"Don't you think the basilisk will notice that it's a trap?" asked Tom, eyeing the little viper sceptically, as he slithered along the walls, hissing as loud as he could.

"I doubt he'll even be heard. Who knows where the chamber is. But let him be, he's happy to be able to help, and he's hoping the basilisk can be his new best friend. I really hope he's friendly to his own kind at least."

They didn't have to wait long for the basilisk to make an appearance. Like all animals, it had a keen sense of smell, and the pile of meat not very far from an enormous hole in the wall probably gave off a rather strong scent.

When the first alarm sounded, everyone who was in on their secret mission instantly dropped what they were doing and hurried to the third floor corridor. The second alarm sounded soon after, signalling that the creature should be safely contained in the forest chamber.

"You three stay out here!" commanded Professor Snape, when Harry, Neville and Hermione were about to enter the former chess room. "We're not taking any chances."

"You should definitely not go in there either, Severus," Sky told him sternly. "You can't be petrified, as you are the only one who can brew the restoration potion and save everyone else. Let me check first if the basilisk is where it's supposed to be. I have my goggles. Then I'm going to need Harry."

Severus didn't like it – going in there without backup seemed an unnecessary risk. But they only had one pair of the foolproof glasses, so he reluctantly acquiesced.

Sky put the goggles on, took a deep breath and opened the door to the former chess chamber, which now had the hole in the wall. While the others hovered in the background, Sky slowly approached the window. Although she knew what to expect, the sight of the basilisk that was gorging on the pile of meat still made her gasp in awe. It was enormous even in this room – bigger than any dead basilisk she had ever seen. "Oh my …" she said breathlessly.

The basilisk had noticed the movement. It lifted is head and their gazes met through the glass. Nothing happened – the basilisk's eyes were covered with a thin layer of scales.

"Harry? It's okay to come over here. She has her eyes covered."

"She?" Curiously, Harry approached the window and looked at the basilisk in awe. It was the biggest snake he had ever seen – he couldn't even begin to judge her length given how curved her body was, but she must easily have the circumference of a big tree trunk. "How do you know it's a she?"

"Male basilisks have a plume at the crown of their heads. This one doesn't, which makes it female. See if she is friendly and willing to talk to you."

"Alright. But I don't think she'll be able to hear me from here. It's a languages of hisses and you can't speak it loudly."

"Then let me put a 'Sonorus' charm on you." Sky lifted her wand at him and spoke the incantation. Then she nodded for him to proceed.

"Hello there!" Harry hissed in greeting, wincing at how loud the sound was with the charm on him. "I'm Harry, and I would very much like to talk to you. Do you have a name, too?"

The basilisk's eyes seemed to widen in surprise, but her lids – or whatever they were called – remained closed. "Hello, Speaker. I am the Serpent of Slytherin."

"I know you belonged to Salazar, the founder of Hogwarts. But what did he call you?"

The basilisk seemed to be pondering the question for a while. "I don't remember," she finally admitted. "It was a long time ago that I was addressed by name."

"Uhm, what would you like me to call you? Serpent of Slytherin seems a mouthful …"

"Call her Godzilla," suggested Tom. "It seems fitting."

"You heard Sky, she's a female."

"Okay. Priscilla, then," Tom amended his proposal.

Harry turned to Sky.. "She doesn't remember her name. Do you think Priscilla would do? I don't want to offend her …"

Sky thought about it for a moment. "It's the female familiar form of Priscus, which means 'venerable' or 'time-honoured'. So I think it would be very fitting! Good choice, Harry!"

Tom was very smug in his head, Harry could feel it. "It's not as if you knew that when you suggested the name! You wanted to give her a monster name."

"Well there's no doubt that she is a monster. Have you seen those fangs?"

Harry ignored him and addressed the basilisk once more. "Would it be okay if I call you Priscilla? It means 'time-honoured'.

"Ssscilla," hissed the basilisk. "Yessss. I like it."

"I would really like to chat face to face with you, Scilla, but we are all a bit concerned about your gaze. If you open your eyes, I will fall over dead or petrified, which is why I'm only looking at you through a window."

"I know the power of my gaze. I kill no worthy wizard!"

"Well, but how do you know if I qualify as a worthy wizard? You don't know me."

"You are a speaker, like my master! Of course you are worthy!"

"Then would it be okay if I came in?"

"You will not steal my meal, will you?" Scilla asked a bit distrustfully.

"No, of course not. Me and my friends put it there for you because we knew how hungry you were."

"Yesss. So very hungry for ssso long!" Scilla hissed and gulped down another piece of meat.

"I'll be with you in a second."

Harry turned around to Sky and everyone else still gathered in the back of the room.

"She likes the name 'Scilla' and is happy about the food we provided. She said she would not kill a 'worthy' wizard, but I'm not sure yet who exactly qualifies as that. I do, apparently, since I speak Parsel. I'm going in there."

"No, you're not!" Severus immediately said.

"But I can't keep talking to her through the window! That's not a trust-building measure at all, and we need to build some kind of relationship if we want to keep her alive, right? Eventually, someone will have to go in there, if only to bring her food."

"And what if she's lying?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. "You know what – contrary to what is said about snakes, I have not yet come across one that has ever lied to me. They are rather outspoken and blunt, quite contrary to the students of our house. I don't think falsehood is even a concept they understand."

"Let the boy go and talk to her, Severus," said Albus. "I'm sure Harry knows what he's doing."

"And you're wearing glasses anyway, so I'm sure the worst thing that might happen is that you end up petrified as well," said Sky. "Which, of course, is not ideal either, but at least not lethal."

"Unless she decides to eat him! I'll put a shield charm on you as soon as you're in there," Severus said.

"She won't," said Harry, "I'm feeling pretty sure of that."

"Forgive me if you feeling 'pretty sure' is not sufficient reassurance." And with that, Harry felt foreign magic rush over him. That must be the shield charm. The professor then gave him the antidote to the wall of flames, which Harry swallowed before stepping inside the forest chamber.

He approached the basilisk and sat down on a moss covered rock next to her head. Funnily enough, he did not feel concerned. For some reason, he was sure that the basilisk wouldn't hurt him, and the fact that Tom hadn't protested suggested that he felt the same.

"I hope the food is enough. If not, we can bring more," he said, intending to make their good intentions clear. The basilisk was even more intimidating from up close. The head was easily the size of Harry's entire torso, and not really snake-like. It wasn't smooth, flat and triangular, but had bumps and ridges and even prickles. In fact, looking at it from up close, it much resembled that of a huge lizard. The bluish-green skin was beaded and pebbled, her eyes a deep, glowing amber.

The basilisk stopped eating and abruptly swivelled her enormous head around, her yellow eyes wide. She brought it very close to Harry's face and slightly opened her mouth, revealing a large tongue and rows of really sharp teeth. Harry's heart stood still. Outside, in front of the window, Severus Snape's heart did much the same, and a hand dug painfully in his arm.

"Master! It's you!" Scilla hissed, moving her head as if she was taken aback. Once again, she slightly opened and closed her mouth and Harry remembered that snakes smelled with their forked tongues and an organ at the roof of their mouths. Although Scilla's tongue wasn't forked and she had many more teeth than a snake ought to have. "You feel different."

"I'm not your master. I'm just Harry." Harry's gaze flew to the window where his professor had drawn his wand and Sky clung to his left arm, looking pale. He lifted a hand at them, signalling that everything was okay.

Scilla paused, eyeing him like he was a very puzzling creature. "I am confused. You are Master, and yet you are not him?"

"Are you talking about the Heir of Slytherin? That's not me. Does he have a name?"

Scilla didn't seem to understand the concept of names. "Master is Master," she simply said, looking at him with slightly misty, amber eyes.

"Can you tell me what he looks like?"

Scilla seemed confused by that question as well. "Like all humans. With many limbs sticking out from their bodies. Short and naked."

Okay, that wasn't helpful. "Then how can you tell one apart from the other? How do you recognize your master?"

"I know. I feel his essence," Scilla replied, deciding to ignore the mystery for now and gulping down another chunk of something raw and bloody.

Now Harry was the confused one. His essence? How was his essence similar to that of the heir?

"Maybe she just means your ability to speak Parsel," suggested Tom. "It's a magical ability that sets you apart from others."

"Then she would call anybody master who speaks Parseltongue?"

"Probably. Maybe basilisks consider humans that can speak their language as some kind of higher beings they have to obey?"

Harry thought the theory a bit flimsy, but there was only one way to find out. "So – if I gave you a command, would you follow it?"

"Are there more enemies you need me to kill?" Scilla asked obligingly.

"No! No – I don't want you to kill or petrify anybody! As a matter of fact, those in charge here consider you to be the enemy – a monster! You are a danger to everybody in this school, and they won't allow you to kill those your master called unworthy any longer."

"I am not a monster!" Scilla sounded scandalized even in the language of snakes and reared up to full height. "I am not a danger! My duty is to protect!"

"Harry!" Tom winced. "There's this thing called diplomacy! Calling her a monster doesn't fall under the label."

"I'm not going to lie to her." Harry frowned and looked at the basilisk. "Who are you protecting?"

"All the inhabitants of the castle, as my master bade me!" Scilla announced proudly.

"But you didn't protect them. You attacked students and a teacher."

"I only attack those who bring danger. False wizards and witches who do not follow the old ways. Those who will reveal our sssecrets and betray us to our enemies. Those who endanger our world and ssseek to destroy."

Harry frowned. "Do you mean Muggleborns?

"I don't know that word."

"Well, how can you tell who the enemy is?"

"The master knows," the basilisk replied confidently. "I am but a mighty tool. He tells me where the enemy is. I serve."

"Why?"

Scilla, who had been about to grab another piece of meat from the pile, stopped and turned to look at Harry once more. Her face muscles had formed something resembling a frown. Another thing that set her apart from Marvolo, who had no face muscles at all. With her mouth closed and that expression on her face, she almost looked cute.

"I do not understand your question."

"Why do you obey any wizard?"

"I serve He-Who-Raised-Me, the Great Founder of the castle, who bade me defend it against all enemies, who told me to wait for him or his heir to return."

"So he just left you behind for centuries? All alone? With not enough to eat? Locked away in a Chamber somewhere?"

"Yes …" If Harry hadn't been speaking to Marvolo so often he might not have noted the hint of insecurity in the hissed answer. He took it as a good sign – it meant that Scilla was able to question things to some degree.

"That must have been very lonely," he said. "Personally, I think that's no way to treat a loyal servant. Besides, your master wasn't entirely truthful. There were four Great Founders. The others knew nothing about you. But if your loyalty is to the castle, you should be loyal to them as well. And they would never have agreed for you to kill any children."

"Hatchlings?"

"Yes. Those who you attacked at command of the one who claims to be the heir. They were students. Very young ones."

"I only attack enemies!" Scilla repeated what she seemed to believe. "Not hatchlings!"

"You said you attack whoever your master tells you to. And the one who claims to be your master lied. He made you attack students who all the other founders and their heirs pledged to protect."

"You know, for all that her head is much bigger than Marvolo's, her brain obviously isn't …" Tom remarked.

"She has only met two people in centuries. One who indoctrinated her with pureblood propaganda and one who took shameless advantage of her. How could she ever question anything if she was never given another perspective? The fact that she seems to think about it now does her credit."

"I am confused!" Scilla complained. "I was told to wait for the next master, and now there are two who are the same, but different, and they tell me different things! I don't know what to do! I always did as I was told!"

"Well, maybe that's what you shouldn't do any longer," Harry responded. "Think about it yourself and do what you think is right."

"Merlin's pants, Harry – you really suck as a negotiator!" Tom protested. "What if she decides she doesn't care about respecting 'those who are worthy' anymore and eats you? Why don't you just give her what she wants and tell her that you are her new master and she should obey only you?"

"Because it's wrong! And what if another Parselmouth comes along and tells her to attack everybody in the school? I really think she wants to be a good servant and protector. She'll make the right decision."

"You can't possibly know that! It's your idealism speaking."

"I call it intuition." To Scilla, Harry said: "Look, the thing's this: We, that is to say the new masters of the castle, no longer consider those you have been attacking our enemies. They have betrayed no one, and the secret of wizardkind and all magical creatures is still safe. They only seek knowledge in magic, and this is a magical school. Under no circumstances will those in charge of the castle allow you to continue following your master's command. We value every person in the school and protect them. We also value and want to protect you, a time-honoured creature worthy of respect that has been around since the founders' days. But you can't be allowed to kill any more people just because your current master regards them as enemies."

"What will you have me do, then, Speaker who claims not to be Master? How will I feed if I can't roam and hunt? Food was never plentiful, I was hungry for so long …"

"We won't let you starve," Harry promised. "Food will be brought to you. And I have a snake familiar, Marvolo is his name, who is very keen to meet you and keep you company, if you promise not to eat him. And can you promise not to kill any wizard who comes in here, since your master didn't command you to?"

"I do not kill wizards or witches who are worthy!"

"So, if a Muggleborn were to come in here, she would be safe since you can't tell if she's a Muggleborn?"

"You keep saying words I do not understand, Speaker. How can I protect if no master tells me where the danger lies? Without a master, I am just a tool that is not being wielded!"

"Well, we are fine with you not being wielded for the moment. Maybe you can consider this a sort of holiday?"

"I do not understand that word, either."

"A time with no enemies."

"A time with no enemies sounds peaceful," Scilla mused. "It is all He-Who-Hatched-Me ever wanted."

"Well, I'll let you rest, then. I'll be back tomorrow and bring Marvolo with me."