Chapter - 11 : Aftermath Part - 5
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To his considerable relief, they managed to clear the rock fall away without creating another one. Peters held up his hand to pause him when he moved to unlock the inner door.
"Just a minute, Harry. Alright everyone. Mr. Potter is fairly sure there's not another Basilisk waiting for us down there, but before now centuries of wizards would probably have been ready to swear that there wasn't one. You all got briefed on Basilisks before we came over, but it's recap time. Matheson! Dangers?"
One of the younger aurors, who looked like he couldn't be many years out of Hogwarts, straightened. "Fangs, highly venomous, a lethal gaze, spell resistant, large, and fast for its size."
"Excellent. Smith! Weaknesses?"
"Er, enough magic will overwhelm its natural defences and bring it down? Eyes are normally a weak point in creatures with spell-resistant hide but that doesn't work with a Basilisk."
Peters narrowed his eyes, "Anything else?"
Looking like a student suddenly aware he'd left an unanswered question on a pop quiz, Smith appeared to be thinking rapidly. "Oh! Also, the first crow of a cock at dawn, sir. Though... I guess that's useless here."
"Not useless, just not necessarily needed. If we do run into another Basilisk we'll be retreating immediately, then returning bright and early here tomorrow with one. Unfortunately, conjured animals don't work, or it'd be a handy back-up plan. Nor does any cry other than the first one at dawn. You're still thinking inside the box, but acceptable." Then those eyes shifted focus to him, "By the way, Harry, how exactly did you do it?"
He shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention. "Fawkes blinded it for me, then we had a bout of hide and seek for a bit. It found me and I found a sword at about the same time. When it lunged at me with its fangs open, well..." He shrugged again. "I didn't know what to do other than hold on and stab. The sword went through the roof of its mouth and into its brain." (He ignored the soft 'Bloody hell!' from Matheson.) "That pretty much killed it instantly, except one of the fangs went through my arm. Only Dumbledore's phoenix's tears saved my life."
Peters' eyebrows were raised. "The Headmaster didn't go into details. I'm not sure whether to be impressed by your bravery or appalled by your foolishness."
To that (familiar) observation-accusation, he managed to summon a wry grin. "Yes, well. The Hat put me in Gryffindor for a reason, you know. It's expected."
That got a small round of chuckles and the tension decreased a notch. Peters shook his head again. "Listen up everybody, Mr. Potter opens the chamber and the first team goes in ahead. I want three teams, divide by training exercise triads. I'll be with Smith, Matheson, and Brant, Mr. Potter will be with me. Questions?" At the negative replies he nodded, then looked to Harry. "If you would?"
He once again opened the chamber, although this time all the aurors seemed to be prepared for the sound of his talent. Then, obedient, he stepped back and allowed the first team through.
For the next several minutes he followed Peters like a small, silent shadow, knowing that this – the chance to observe aurors prepared for a combat situation – was part of what he'd realized he needed. The way they moved, how they kept in contact, the pattern of search they employed – all of it was fascinating. In other circumstances the impressed exclamations when they stumbled across the Basilisk's corpse would have been an ego boost, but his gaze had been inexorably drawn to Ginny's still form. He looked up to see the captain's face, but the man was already speaking. "I see her."
It took twenty minutes for the aurors to satisfactorily explore the side passageways – many which seemed to just loop back into the main chamber. An abandoned potions laboratory was found, as was what one of the aurors tentatively identified as a rituals chamber. A bedroom and a bathroom, too, were searched.
They all rendezvoused back in the great antechamber, and Harry spoke up loud enough to get the captain's attention. "Sir, the Basilisk was originally hidden in a chamber behind that statue. Do you want me to open it?"
A quick glance around assessing the assembled aurors' readiness, then the captain gave him a nod.
Harry turned to face the statue, hoping the password and not an actual blood or house connection was all that was needed. Hissing "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four," he mentally rolled his eyes at the size of ego Salazar Slytherin must have had. To make that a private password? But the passageway opened smoothly, and the first team levitated each other up seamlessly and disappeared through its mouth.
The sight gave him the slightest shiver.
Only a minute had passed before a blonde head popped out. "Looks to be all clean, Captain. I think this might have been an experimental snake-breeding workroom."
"Room for more?"
"Sure, Sir. Come on up."
She was right, Harry observed as he followed the captain up. There was space for all eleven without undue crowding. Harry absorbed the details of the room, fascinated. There were a variety of splintered metal cages flattened against walls or the floor. No way of telling what had happened to their original occupants, whether they'd died, or been eaten by the Basilisk, or been taken with Slytherin when he left Hogwarts. One of the large cages was probably where the Basilisk had been kept before it outgrew it. Dusty, dirty, surfaces bare, and smelling strongly of snakes, whatever secrets Slytherin had once discovered here, nothing seemed to remain.
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IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE BY 25+ ADVANCED CHAPTERS YOU CAN DO IT BY GOING TO
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