the end part 2

"Kreacher will follow the young master." Kreacher finally say, while clutching his head, conscious that he was betraying his past House. The only reason he chooses to follow Alex was due to Regulus last order.

Alongside destroying the locket, the wizard had wished for Kreacher to keep alive the House Black by any means possible. AS much as Wallburga could order him around, she wasn't the head of the house and is fidelity was first toward Regulus, then House Black and finally Walburga.

Hearing that the elf choose him, Alex sigh in relief, before steel his mind, once the bond initiated. "Then I have a task for you, Kreacher. Go help my elves move the content of Bones Manor, before doing the same with Grimmauld Place."

"Yes, master!" Kreacher said, bowing, before vanishing.

"What now?" Susan asked when they were finally left alone.

"First, I have a snake to take care in the bowel of the castle, then a chocolate to take care off, a traitor to deal with, and finally put down an evil snake." Alex enunciate while counting on his fingers.

"That a lot!" Susan exclaims at the amount of task they still have to do. "What type of snake is under the castle?" Then asks her.

"A 1000 years old Basilisk," Alex, respond calmly.

Knowing Alex was' the type to rush headlong, Susan didn't panic. "How do you won't do it? A 1000-year-old Basilisk isn't an Acromantula; you can't just pop and tear through it."

"I know that why I will use this," Alex said while extending his hand.

In his palm, a small sphere appears, under his ability. Taking a block of wood, he put down; he launched the ball to it. The instant it bumps again the wood, sharp spikes erupts from all its surface, deeply burring themselves in the wood.

"The spikes are made of mithril, and full of venom. All I will need to do is to throw it in its maw. The instant it touches another surface after exiting my hand, the spikes will exit and poison it. All I will need is to wait for the venom to act, gather the mithril and dust, and I will be good. I will fill all the spike, just in case it fight the poison." Alex replies.

~~~

Seeing the deadly efficacity, Susan nod. Alex took back the ball, making the spike repeat when coming in contact with his magic. Taking a bottle from his pocket space, Alex opens an unseen cavity on the ball.

When she sees the 1-litre bottle full of venom, Susan's eyes widen. "How...?"

Alex chuckles at her reaction, understanding that it could be chocking to see such amount available. "How I was able to gather so much?" asked him, earning a speechless nod from his mate. "Simple, I didn't. The venom you see here is the result of Helga Hufflepuff enchantment on her cup. By using ambient magic, the enchantment copy the substance linked to them. The only downside is the more the substance is complex, the more time its take to create. Even then, it a life-saving cluster, that allowed our potion stock to skyrockets."

She only nods, while looking at him pour a tenth of the bottle inside the ball. "That should be enough, I think, but just to be sure..." Alex said while preparing another ball."... Alright, let's go."

~~~

Done with is preparation, Alex, took Susan outside, before throwing around them, a one-time-use, vanishing array.

Appearing in is quarter at Hogwarts, through the array he left before departing, Both start to make their way to the second floor. Entering the toilet, Alex was about to unlock the wards around the sink, until he feels the presence of a magical being. Acting instinctively, he throws a SED while turning around.

He barely catches the form of Moaning Myrtle, before she vanishes in the cube.

Alex and Susan look at the other silently for a second before shrugging their shoulders, and Alex returns to his works, while Susan pocket the cube.

Looking at the wards woven in Parsel magic, Alex shakes his head, before deconstructing the entire set of sinks, and the ground under.

{[Hidden objective: side "You shall not pass!"

Old Salie had protected the entry of is chamber in the restroom of the second floor... Pervert. To access further, found a way around it while not possessing Parselmouth ability.

Condition: Found a way around the wards.

Reward: Parselmouth ability.]}

"..."

-...-

-Isn't that a little useless? You already broke the wards.-

'True, but it's not, with parsel magic now available, I have a new type of magic at hand.'

Seeing the open hole, he waved his hand above, cleaning a good part of the grim accumulate during the centuries. Jumping in, he keeps his hand in from of him, continuously throwing a cleaning spell.

When he sees the pipe starting to turn flat, he threw several Lumos orbs to lighten the cave he knows not far.

Landing on is feet; thank is reflex, he cleaned the bones around, before Susan arrive. Looking around, he rapidly found the shed skin before storing it.

"The skin was already that large? How much longer is it?!" Susan shot, surprised by the size of the previous moulding.

"This one is old, around fifty years, the last time the snake was released by Tommy boy, so it should be larger by now.

"But it was already a good 13 metres."

"17, nearly 18 meters, in fact." Alex corrected, not perturbated by it, knowing the one inside should be around five good meter longers. "Your ready?" Asked him, when they stood in front of the inner door. She didn't respond but nodded. "Good, keep your eyes on the ground, and your hears open. It shouldn't come to the point of us fighting it, but be ready."

Without bothering to open the door through parseltongue, he blows through the wards, by tearing apart it anchors on the door and wall.

~~~

The moment the door vanishes, green fire lit, in the snake-themed torches, but on the pillars supporting the room. Bare the ugly head carved in the wall and the different pipes entries on the right side, the entire room was empty.

Not wanting to lose time, he erases the statue, revealing the tunnel behind. Waiting for a second to assimilate the knowledge of the wards, he chuckles.

"What wrong?" Susan asked, not knowing what he just learn.

"Turns out that the activation spell to open the statue was linked to another array, further, tasked to wake the snake. By erasing the statue and the wards, I just cut off its alarm clock."

"So... It still hibernating?"

"Yup!" Cheerily says Alex, before starting to make his way in the tunnel.

~~~

Walking fo few second, they soon arrive at an intersection. On the right, the tunnel continues, still as wide. On the left, a human-size tunnel was perfectly carved from the solid rock, leading shortly to a door.

Taking on the right, they soon land in the Basilisk nest, a large hole drilled in the rock. Lingering among the different moulds, lay the feared creature, still sleeping.

Slowly approaching alone, Alex gathers the mould on his way, until standing in front of the creature snoot. Taking the two balls, he levitates them both, until they were just in front of the snake snoot's slits.

Waiting for them to expand when he breathed out, Alex sends them both deeply in, before jumping back, and close his eyes, followed by Susan, when she see what he was about to do.

Both hear the shrieks of pain and the trashing of the beast when the spikes pierce the soft flesh and administrate the venom.

The ear busting cries only last for ten seconds, before a complete silence falls in the cave.

~~~

Cracking an eyelid open, Alex risked a gaze at was the Basilisk should have been. He didn't see anything else that the remaining skins, along with a humongous stack of dust.

Now sure that the beast wasn't a problem anymore, he lights touch Susan arm, indicating her that the danger had passed.

Gathering the dust in several crates, they were left with a boulder of ore even larger than Aragog. Lightly touching it with his finger, Alex arranges the forming ingots, into stacks. On the ground, four stacks of one hundred ingots, with a fifth partially complete stood.

"2,655t," Alex said disbelievingly.

"Oh, my!" Added Susan, an hand in front of her mouth.

While it has nothing of the amount gathered from the colony, this was for a single Basilisk.

-The amount is simply ridiculous, how many tons did you had gathered in the last years, again?-

'Something around 200t nearly everything came from the nest, not counting the mithril used on the different enchanted items.'

Broking out of his trance, he stored all those ingots, before taking Susan hand, and make their way to the other side.

~~~

Passing through the door, they found what they expected, a lavish quarter, that housed the last of the founding four, in his last days.

Entering a room similar to any common-room, made in dark shades of black, green, and silver, the room was large enough to accommodate around fifty or so persons. Opposite to the fireplace, on the left of the entry, was a unique staircase leading below.

Following it, they continue in the short corridor, before separating, Alex exploring the left side, and Susan the right.

~~~

Opening the first of the two doors on his side, Alex enters a potion lab. All wall was bare, with only a charmed window giving in the forbidden forest. Looking through it, he was surprised to see the clearing he made not too long before.

'A simple coincidence, or did Salazar had to introduce Acromantulas too, for the Basilisk to feed on, with Aragog only using an old nest?'

-A question that would surely stay unanswered, but does it matter?-

'No, not really. Let see if they something still useful here.'

Looking around the room, he only found supplies for potion preparation, cauldrons and knives, along with a large number of empty phials. Storing everything, he exits the room before entering the last room.

The room turned to be the personal quarter of the man, whose skeleton rests on the bed. If there were charms to preserve the body, they had long since worn. Surprisingly, his clothes hadn't submitted too many damages and were still in relatively good condition.

Transfering the skeleton from the bed to a stone coffin, Alex deconstructs the mattress and sheets where he once lay, before storing the bed frame, along with any furniture around.

Exiting the bedroom for the joining bathroom, he only gathers any silverware left.

-He did have lavish taste, making sink, taps and ornaments in silver and gemstones- Tsked CS his tongue at the sight.

"Well he did have the means at the time, at left, he transmutes all the facilities from the surrounding rocks.

Leaving eh sleeping quarter, raised clean, Alex rejoins with Susan, who just exit the last door from her side.

"What did you found," Alex asked her, having already a good idea.

Susan took two SU from her pocket, giving them to him. "A cupboard of potion supply that would make Snape wet himself, and an office full of book that must be in parsel, since I was unable to read them." Smiled her at him.