Summary of the previous chapter:

To catch the basilisk, one of the chambers behind the trap door in the third floor corridor is transformed into a comfortable living habitat for a snake. A hole is blast into one side of the double walls nearby and food is placed in the chamber as bait. The basilisk soon is caught behind the flame door and Harry has a chance of talking to it.

The basilisk, who's given the name of Scilla, doesn't appear to be malevolent – she only fulfils the wishes of the one she regards as her master and believes she is protecting the castle by doing so.

A/N :Very mild hints at an adult relationship in this chapter. I don't think it really merits a warning, but there's now some Australian bawdiness in the chapter notes that probably breaks the T-rating. :)

Socialisations

"That was strange to watch," said Sky, when Harry exited the room to report to his anxiously watching audience. "You were hissing back and forth at each other – at times we thought she was going to attack you!"

"No, she was never threatening me in any way. In fact, she sees herself as a good guy – a protector of magical beings."

Professor Snape raised his eyebrows, and even Professor Dumbledore looked surprised. Harry told them the essence of his chat with the basilisk, and tried to explain how she saw the world.

"So I'm pretty sure she won't attack any of us – she only kills on command of this heir. As long as we keep her here, separate from him, she's harmless, I'd even say respectful. It's not so much the basilisk who is dangerous – it's her master."

"And all she could tell you is that he's a human?" asked Hermione. "That's not helpful."

"Would you be able to distinguish one basilisk from another?"

"Probably not."

"It sounds like we have to find this heir before we decide what to do with her," said Dumbledore, stroking his beard. "As long as he's free, the basilisk will remain a danger."

"I'm not sure of that …" objected Harry. "I think she would obey me if I commanded her. She says I'm like her master, but different, whatever that means."

"She did?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I told her I'm not her master and I won't command her. It would only help in the short run. What if another Parselmouth comes along? I think given time, we can make her see that she's been used badly by the two who called themselves her masters. She seemed shocked to hear that she killed what she calls hatchlings."

"But if she can't tell wizards apart, can't tell adult from child, how could she ever not be a danger?" asked the Potions Master.

Sky looked pensive. "If she's always been in that chamber, interacting only with her so-called master – how could she have learned to tell the difference? Like any animal, basilisks need socializing to develop theses skills.

"So … we're going to socialize with her?"

"I will!" Harry said firmly. "And I will bring Marvolo."

"And me!" said Sky resolutely. "I'm really looking forward to chatting with her. Let's see how things develop with her and go from there."

*'*'*'*'*'*

Right the next day, Harry and Sky were back in the forest chamber, and Harry introduced Scilla to the Magizoologist. He acted as translator for all the questions Sky had for Scilla, who allowed the witch to inspect her skin, her teeth and take some measurements.

"I think she could use a nutrient potion," Sky commented. "She has clearly not lived a healthy life in that dark and moist chamber. There are a few patches of skin that are dry and probably itchy. I have a tincture that is used for dragons which should help. And a teeth cleaning wouldn't go amiss, if you ask me – right now, even her breath feels lethal. It's a simple charm I could cast, if she'd allow me."

Scilla was very interested in everything Sky had to say and allowed her to administer whatever treatment she thought necessary. Harry watched in fascination when Scilla exposed her impressive set of razor sharp fangs and teeth and Sky cleaned each and every one of them with her wand. She didn't seem intimidated in the least and treated the basilisk as if she were a dog.

Over the next days, Scilla had a stream of visitors. As promised, Harry had introduced Marvolo to her, and much to his delight, the two got along splendidly. Hagrid was an often seen guest as well, and made sure that the basilisk was comfortable in her new home and didn't go hungry. Hermione and Neville were impressed and a bit fearful, and not overly keen to visit again.

"She's rather intimidating," said Neville. "I mean – you can talk to her, so I guess that makes a difference. But to us, she's just an incredibly gigantic and potentially lethal snake."

"Right," said Hermione. "I was really respectful of Marvolo when you first introduced me to him. Compared to the basilisk, he feels downright cuddly. I'm relieved that she's friendly and can't tell a pureblood from a Muggleborn, but I'd rather not test my luck. My time's better spent in the library, if you don't mind."

The headmaster turned up as well and asked Harry to act as translator. He too had a long chat with Scilla, asking very much the same questions Harry had asked and telling her the stories of the founders and how Salazar had left the castle in dispute over how to deal with magical children of non-magical parents. Interestingly, he also brought up the question again in which way Harry resembled the heir, but Scilla's answer that she simply 'knew' because she 'felt his essence" didn't shed any light on the matter.

"It really seems to bother him," said Tom. "He always puts on this grandfatherly act with you, but I feel like he still doesn't fully trust you."

"He can't seriously think I'm Slytherin's heir after everything."

"No, I don't think he does. It's a bit like with Professor Snape. Like he expected you to be different, and can't get over the fact that somehow, you don't act according to script."

"Tom, honestly, sometimes I think you're a bit paranoid. Not everybody has a secret agenda with me."

"No? Shall we count all the people we know for sure do or did?"

Harry wasn't keen on doing that and conceded the point to Tom. As Dumbledore didn't have another Parselmouth at hand, they had no means to test if the basilisk felt the same about any speaker, which would probably have set the headmaster at ease.

Dumbledore carefully probed how Scilla felt about unicorns, centaurs and merpeople, which she had trouble answering as she had no idea what those were. Harry felt a strong sense of kinship with the basilisk. She was as new to the wizarding world as he had been last year, and very confused by all of it.

Marvolo didn't help matters by telling her all about his adventures in the Forbidden Forest, his favourite spot on a sunlit stone next to Hagrid's hut and swimming in the lake. Even though Scilla had centuries on Harry's familiar, the basilisk realized a bit wistfully that her life had not been very fulfilling so far.

She tried to brag with how seriously she took her task as Hogwarts' protector, but Marvolo told her point-blank that she had been cheated by her self-appointed master, and that she had only once killed a young witch who was now a ghost at the castle, petrified a bunch of innocent children and a foolish teacher. No one was thinking of her as heroic, especially since she had always been kept a secret.

Scilla was not happy about any of it. She half-heartedly insisted that surely, her master, the great Salazar, must have known what he was speaking about, which made Marvolo ask her how she knew of Salazar's greatness. The answer, of course, was mostly from himself, as she had never spoken to any of the other founders. She hadn't even known there were other founders. Marvolo said that he failed to understand her loyalty, as the supposedly great master of hers had treated her abysmally – certainly not a life the Queen of Snakes deserved.

All this new information and the knowledge that her life could have been very different made Scilla question her entire existence, which the headmaster saw as an essential precondition for her potential release, but Harry and Sky found sad to watch. The basilisk retreated to the den Hagrid had built for her, and, at least for the present, refused to come out.

"She is an intelligent and sentient creature," Sky said to Harry. "Of course this is hard on her. Everything has been turned upside down within a few days – she went from being all alone in a moist, dark chamber to being a visitor magnet in a miniature zoo. She needs some time to adapt. Let's give her that. In the meantime, we can brainstorm ideas about what to do with her long-term."

"I really wish we could just release her into the Forbidden Forest and let her live her life," said Harry. "But if she grows back to the size of Godzilla, I just can't see it happening. How will she find enough food? How will she hide? I really hope that your idea of shrinking her somehow will work."

"Well, I have a theory of how it could be achieved. I'm sure with some time and brainstorming and the help or your Potions Professor, it might actually be turned into a practical application."

*'*'*'*'*'*

Severus wondered if he was forever damned to find himself in a state of mental uproar. He would like to blame Harry, as it had all started the day he arrived at Hogwarts. Before, his life had been simple and predictable. Since then, he had been forced to expect the unexpected on a daily basis, and found himself feeling bewildered more often than not.

It was not a state he was familiar with. His default setting was irritated, frustrated or vexed. But these last days, he had felt none of that (which in itself was surprising), probably helped by the fact that those who often caused him to feel irritated, frustrated or vexed had left the castle. Except for three, but (surprisingly), those had been mostly tolerable.

Potter hung out with the basilisk most of the time, Longbottom had been recruited by Pamona to help her in the greenhouses and Granger was doing research in the library. His three most high-maintenance students were doing exactly what he expected them to do.

No, the person who confused him was Skylar Sangray. For some inexplicable reason, she was immune to his grumpiness, failed to notice his anti-social streak and found his sarcasm amusing. (Actually, she was a bit like Harry in that regard, who was completely immune to it.) Severus was the person she chose to sit with at every meal and sought out to hang out with whenever the opportunity presented itself, and she truly seemed to enjoy his company. Every evening after dinner, she left the Great Hall at the same time as he did, engaging him in conversation until he had no other choice but to invite her into his quarters for a nightcap.

In the ensuing conversation, he got answers to some questions he'd been wondering about, like: If she was Newt Scamandar's granddaughter, why hadn't she gone to Hogwarts? He learned that her father was a Frenchman and she therefore had lived in France for most of her childhood. She was a graduate from Beauxbatons, the prestigious French wizarding school.

He also learned a lot of things about her that he hadn't asked: That she had loved Charms and Potions, but that her favourite subject by far had been Care for Magical Creatures. As she shared that with her famous grandfather, she had come back to England to apprentice under him. He and his wife lived in Dorset, which according to Sky was a lovely piece of Earth. She had moved in with his extended family, which included an aunt and uncle as well as a cousin who was ten years younger than she.

While Severus spoke very little (he was a rather private person and didn't share personal information with just anybody), Sky told him about the travelling she had done after attaining her mastery. She had been all around the world, doing research, working in magical reserves for endangered magical species and learning from experts in the field. Most importantly though, she got to see some of the most exotic creatures (like basilisks) face to face. After that, she had come back to England and set up a small but thriving business as a healer for magical creatures.

"Keeping exotic animals – the more rare and exotic the better – is quite the rage among those who can afford such eccentricities," she informed him. "And of course, there are often health issues due to the fact that they're not kept in their natural environment. So potion brewing is part of my job. Often, I even have to come up with recipes on my own, as nobody bothered to invent a healing draught that helps against the curling-talon-disease of dragons or a tincture to treat hoof rot of Abraxans."

So brewing, experimenting and inventing potions was an interest they both shared and liked discussing, and Severus found that she had quite astonishing knowledge for someone who wasn't a Potioneer. (He still felt mild embarrassment over the fact she had called him out on Lamoyant 's rubbish article, which really should have never been published in a journal of great renown.) Discussing her ideas on how to take advantage of the basilisk's inborn Choranaptyxis to indefinitely keep her in a shrunken size had been downright inspiring, as it had given him an idea on how to improve the commonly used Shrinking Solution.

When he had told her the following evening that he wanted to experiment on it, she had taken it as an invitation and had enthusiastically accompanied him to his lab. What was confusing about it was the fact that he hadn't even considered sending her away. A good decision on his part, as Sky turned out to be a decent assistant: Her knowledge of ingredients was up to par, and her preparation technique bore up against his critical eye.

"I started experimenting with charms at first," Sky explained, as she watched him whip up the base for the potion, "but I soon realized that I couldn't get them to last. So my idea was to try and brew a stabilizer, though I had thought of a soaking solution rather than a potion to be ingested."

Severus paused his stirring and looked at her, aghast. Because that was obviously a much better approach, especially since it would allow him to replace the wormwood with aconite, which would work much better in combination with the cowbane. How could he not have seen that right away?

"Do you have your notes with you?" he asked gruffly, upset with himself for the oversight.

"In my trunk."

"Go and fetch them!" he ordered, as if she were one of his pupils. "We'll compare our ideas and see what we come up with."

Sky hadn't minded his tone at all, even though Severus himself had realized right after uttering the command that it was rather inappropriate. But miraculously, Sky seemed to understand that it was ill-expressed enthusiasm and the urge to test out an idea right this instant – and the fact that he wasn't in the habit of making polite requests.

It had been the first of many evenings in a row that they spent theorizing, arguing, experimenting and brewing in his lab. They still retreated into his living room afterwards for a glass of wine or a cup of tea, where their discussions became conversations, often about subjects completely unrelated to their potion experiments. That was confusing, too. He rarely had guests in his quarters, certainly not seven days in a row, and if he did, it was for a game of chess with Minerva or Filius, and not to share his life story with them or listen to theirs. But – and yes, he could admit it – he was enjoying himself.

And now, to top it all off, Sky was most definitely flirting with him, increasing his confusion. Severus wasn't used to being courted. Usually, he had to work hard for any woman to even notice him, which he mostly blamed on the unfortunate combination of genes inherited from both of his parents. Well, that, and his disposition.

"Don't look so shocked, Severus," Sky chided, when he finally understood what she was suggesting, and was, momentarily, at a loss for words. "I wasn't proposing marriage. But surely you didn't take a vow of celibacy when you signed up for this position?"

Of course he didn't. But the job was a vow of celibacy all by itself. He lived in a remote castle with five days of obligatory attendance. Seven, in his case, as he was Head of Slytherin house. Of course, absenting himself for a weekend was possible, provided he arranged a substitute. But it was a long time ago that Severus had indulged in dalliances. Any private business simply had to wait until the summer holidays, which had suited him just fine.

But he was neither a prude nor a monk, and he would certainly not say no to a beautiful woman who, for reasons unknown, expressed an interest in him. She would be gone again as soon as the basilisk business was resolved, so considering possible consequences for their working relationship was moot. And so his evenings became even more enjoyable in the second half of the Easter holidays. He almost wished they didn't have to end.

A/N: My beta Dreamthrower is a lady of many talents. Truly, I sometimes regret that you can't see her corrections and annotations, because she's so smart and funny. But with this comment, she really surprised me: "My inner juvenile can just see this inspiring the newest dirty limerick to circulate among Hogwarts students." And just like that, she knocked out said limerick, and I love it! Kid who are reading this (I don't think there are any) are asked to stop doing so now. Please send kudos to Dreamthrower for gifting us with this:

Was a grumpy old teacher called Snape,

Till he helped a smart lass with a snake.

Stopped his stomping and roars,

when he helped with her chores,

She said, "Shrink mine and I'll help grow yours".