What help Harry Needs?

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When Neville reopened his eyes, his hand instinctively went to his face where Harry's punch had landed. The stinging pain in his facial muscles made him remember the last few things that had happened before he had lost consciousness.

He pushed his body up and sat in a cross legged position, finding Harry facing him who also had been sitting in cross legged position.

By this time, Neville's anger had faded and he had an embarrassed look on his face.

"Harry," he mumbled, "sorry."

As if recalling why he was being sorry, he questioned in genuine shock, "Harry, how do you know about my parents and Bellatrix Lestrange and the Lestrange brothers?"

He spat the names of Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers in disgust and hatred.

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he responded, "I do not think it is some kind of secret, is it?"

Neville was stupefied as he realized that whatever Harry was saying was true.

"No one talks about it in Hogwarts…" he muttered, "and when you suddenly brought it up, it felt strange."

Harry nodded, and the two sat in silence for a few moments.

"So," Neville asked, "this is the fabled Chamber of Secrets?"

Harry nodded. "Yes."

Neville looked around the Chamber of Secrets- the stone pillars with snakes carved on them, the wide corridor in which they were sitting.

The chamber had been illuminated only by the torches hanging on the walls. Overall, it gave a frightening and scary vibe.

Even so, Neville did not show a trace of panic on his face. He could not get out of his mind what Harry had said. Would facing Bellatrix really be this dangerous?

"And you need my help in doing some business here?" Neville asked after few moments.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"And what help?"

Harry did not speak; he simply raised his eyebrows, gesturing for Neville to look behind him.

Without much thought, Neville turned around, and the shock hit him so hard that he stumbled back on the floor.

He was breathing heavily, and fright had taken over his body.

It took him a few minutes to regain his normal breathing before he sat down again to look carefully at what lay ahead.

And it was not hard to see why- a massive corpse of a Basilisk was lying in front of him.

"Harry," Neville stumbled, "what is it?"

"Don't you see, Neville?" Harry asked back. "It is a Basilisk… one of the rarest creatures in the entire world."

Neville gulped, and he had no doubt that Bellatrix was not going to be as frightening as this snake.

"You killed it?" he questioned. No matter how much he wanted to, he could not remove his eyes from the Basilisk. It felt as if the Basilisk would open its eyes at any moment and lunge at him.

"Yes," Harry added with amusement, "and that too with a sword- the Gryffindor's sword, if you remember."

Neville's eyes widened further in shock, and he continued to stare at the Basilisk.

"And you want some help from me regarding this Basilisk?"

Neville could not think of any help that he could provide regarding the creature.

"Yes," Harry said.

"You are a top student of Herbology," Harry continued, "and you know a lot about harvesting plants and their different body parts…"

Harry let his words hang in the air, and Neville realized in an instant what Harry meant.

"You want me to harvest the body parts of the Basilisk?" he all but screamed in rage.

Harry nodded.

"Why are you acting so surprised? Every part of the Basilisk is more valuable than gold worth its weight," Harry remarked.

"A single corpse would give us more wealth than the entire assets what quite a lot of noble families have."

Neville's eyes widened in shock. "You know of noble families?"

"I know a lot of things, Neville," Harry said calmly. "I keep quiet; that does not mean that I am a fool."

Neville remained silent as he looked at the corpse and then at Harry.

"Harry," Neville said as he raised his trembling hands, "I do not think I can do it."

"You can do it, Neville," Harry countered immediately. "And you will have to do it. Today, if you want, you can get used to the corpse. You can begin tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I want the harvested parts by Christmas."

Neville did not know from where, but then Harry produced two daggers and threw them in front of him.

"Do not be a coward, Neville," Harry whispered. "The generations of Longbottom would be in disgust seeing their sole heir be so pathetic."

"Your ancestors could have killed this Basilisk alone, and you cannot even harvest its materials."

Harry's words stung Neville like a sharp dagger, further hardening his resolve. With a deep sigh, he picked up the dagger and walked close to the Basilisk.

As Neville reached closer to the Basilisk, Harry could not help but recall what had happened in his past life.

He had killed the Basilisk, and when Ron had come to retrieve its teeth during the final battle, nothing had been left of the Basilisk except for its bones.

Harry had learned this later from Hermione, and at that time, he was too naive to know anything.

It was no way possible that the corpse of the Basilisk would have decomposed in such a short time. It was a magical creature, and for it to decompose naturally, it would have taken at least a few dozen years.

It was clear that someone had sold off the materials of the Basilisk, and though Harry did not really try to find out who was behind it in his previous life, he could only think of three names—Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and someone from the Weasley family.

Ron Weasley was not smart enough to know the worth of the Basilisk or to pull this trick, but his family was smart—especially when one of them worked with the goblins and one another with the dragons.

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