I forgot to post this yesterday! Sorry about that.
(Word Count: 2,592)
Without waiting to see if the password worked, he turned and ran back towards the entrance.
Behind him, he could hear the stone grating against each other as the mouth of the face opened up. Something large shifted from deep within, slithering up towards the mouth.
Before he could even make it halfway back to the entrance, the rooster let out a loud cry.
The basilisk died instantly, and the slithering he could hear stopped.
In his foresight, he could see that the basilisk hadn't even managed to get out of the mouth.
Harry looked back, and saw nothing poking out of the mouth. Still, it had likely died with its eyes wide open, so Harry transmuted the surrounding stone into a band and sent it into the mouth to wrap around the basilisk's eyes, preventing any incident.
"Okay, guys!" Harry called out. "The basilisk is dead! It's safe to come in!"
The rest of the group came into the chamber, looking around for the dead basilisk. Harry pointed to the open mouth. "It's in there."
Harry transmuted some more stone from the floor into a dozen small golems, which looked like Rocky from Project Hail Mary but with more legs, and infused them with a portion of his memories so they knew exactly what to do.
The golems climbed into the mouth and slowly dragged the corpse of the King of the Serpents out into the chamber. It was laid out from head to tail down the center walkway, nearly running the entire length of the chamber.
Ginny edged closer, craning her neck to take it in from fanged head to trailing tail. "Merlin's beard," she breathed, an incredulous laugh slipping out.
"She's beautiful!" Luna said in wonder. "It's such a shame you had to kill her, Harry. Do you think there was a way we could have moved her to a special reserve?"
Harry shook his head. "Basilisks are too dangerous to let them live. Besides, this particular basilisk is too loyal to Slytherin. It would never leave the castle willingly."
Luna nodded, and quietly patted the dead basilisk on its snout. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"This thing is huge," Hermione said, cautiously placing a hand against the side of the dead basilisk. "How did it manage to sneak through the castle without any of the portraits seeing it?"
"Did Riddle make this thing invisible?" Susan asked.
"No, the spell could never hold for long," Luna said. "These scales are very resistant to magic."
They all—minus Harry—looked to Hannah, who shook her head. "I don't remember much of anything Riddle did. It's like trying to recall a dream. I only remember bits and pieces."
"It used the pipes to move around," Harry explained.
A chorus of "Ooooh"s came from everyone in realization.
Neville scrunched his face in confusion. "Wait, then how did it leave the pipes to get into the castle? There's no entrance to the pipes big enough for this thing to fit through."
Harry shrugged, "I'm sure Riddle opened a hole for it to get in and out of temporarily."
Ginny snorted, and everyone looked at her. "Sorry," she said with a smile, "It's just, Riddle seems to be a bit of a drama queen. He went through so much effort to hide what the monster really was, and he was even writing a message on the wall to announce his arrival. He definitely wanted to drum up an air of suspense."
Everyone chuckled, and even Hannah smiled faintly at the image. The mood settled quickly though as they stood around the corpse of the giant snake.
"Well, with this, this ordeal is now over. The monster of the Chamber of Secrets is dead, and the diary can no longer harm anyone else, Hannah," Harry said gently.
Hannah sniffed, fighting back the urge to cry again. "Yeah. I suppose it is… I'm glad it's over. Thank you, Harry, for bringing us along. It didn't seem like you really needed our help at all, but I think seeing it with my own eyes did help a little."
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "I just hoped that when you remember Riddle, you don't remember him as some scary figure haunting you. Instead, you can remember this. We killed the monster he wanted to unleash."
Neville swallowed, staring at the basilisk's scales. "Still, I can't believe that this thing died so easily to a rooster. I mean, just look at it! You'd think something this big would be harder to kill."
"Magic isn't about how big something is. The basilisk could kill anything instantly by just its gaze. There had to be something to balance it out. In this case, the cry of a rooster having the same instant-death effect," Hermione said matter of factly.
They all looked over to where the rooster was still standing stuck in place on the floor. It clicked resentfully.
Harry quickly released it and picked it up, handing him over to Ginny.
"Still," Ginny said with a prideful grin, "I'm going to enjoy knowing Slytherin's big bad scary monster was taken out by the Weasley family rooster."
Susan snorted. "You can't tell Ron about this. He'd never shut up about it."
"What should we say about this? Should we tell anyone?" Hermione frowned.
Harry just shrugged. "I don't mind if you tell people about tonight. Afterall, I plan to hang the basilisk's skeleton in my foyer once Potter Manor is finished being rebuilt. It'll be hard to keep it a secret then."
Ginny chuckled. "That'll be amazing!"
"Surely, you're not going to keep it?" Hermione looked aghast.
"Why not?" Harry asked. "We may have killed it to protect the school, but I'd rather not let it go to waste. I feel like that would be disrespectful to such a creature."
Luna beamed at him. "That sounds wonderful! It's like the old hunters that respect the animal they've killed. It really is such a shame it had to die, but perhaps this way we can honor it."
"What do you plan to do with it?" Neville asked curiously.
"I plan on using these golems here to dismember it all for parts and study every bit of it. Dumbledore and Flamel discovered the alchemical uses of dragon's blood, and I intend to discover the uses of basilisk blood. I've been studying alchemy lately. For the skin, I plan on commissioning some dueling robes to serve as good armor. Its skin is very magically resistant. If any of you would like, I'm more than happy to commission a set for each of you as well."
"I want one!" Ginny said excitedly.
"That sounds like it would be really expensive, Harry. We are all pretty young and we would grow out of them pretty quickly. Maybe such expensive clothes can wait until we're adults? That way it would last a lot longer," Hermione suggested.
"We're wizards, Mione," Harry laughed. "We can set it so the armor grows with us."
"How would that work?" She asked.
"Make the armor initially with far more of the leather than it actually needs, with the excess vanished away or tucked away somehow. Then, as we grow, it automatically adds material as needed to adjust to our new sizes," Harry said.
"The skin is highly magically resistant though. Would the spell even work?" Hermione pointed out.
Harry froze, and rubbed his chin. "Bollocks. You're right!"
"Oh, I know this one!" Susan said. "Dragon hide is also magically resistant. I don't know how basilisk hide compares to it, but it should be the same, right? Anyway, for dragon hide clothing, they use an inner lining that's sewn to the back of the leather that's not resistant to magic, and they apply all of the spells to that layer instead."
Harry grinned. "There we go! Problem solved. I hear acromantula silk takes spell enchantments rather easily."
"That does sound pretty smart," Hermione admitted.
"So, aside from Ginny, who else wants one?" Harry asked.
"Harry, basilisk hide and acromantula silk dueling robes, including the enchantments you're talking about, really would be too expensive. I can help pay as well," Neville said.
Harry waved him off. "I have more money than I know what to do with. I'd rather my friends be well protected."
"In that case, I'd like a set as well," Susan said. "I'm planning on being an auror after school anyway. This would be helpful in a fight."
"Um, I'd rather not be in any more fights," Hannah said quietly.
"It doesn't have to be dueling robes. It could be some gloves for gardening, or maybe just a simple vest to wear underneath your robes for a more subtle protection," Harry suggested.
"Oh, gloves sounds nice!" Hannah said. "Would they be better than the dragon hide gloves though?" Hannah said.
"Yes, I think basilisks are more magically resistant than dragons, and the scales themselves should be comparable," Harry said.
In the end, Harry made plans to have a full set of dueling robes, including a cloak and gloves, be made for each of them. Whether or not they used them would be up to them. Between the shed skin he had collected earlier and the skin on the corpse itself, he had enough material to make them all a full set five times over. He wasn't too worried about it.
Actually, now that he started thinking about it, he should have a set made for Sirius, Remus, and Dora as well. Perhaps the set for Dora should be made first. She was the one most actively in danger, being an auror and all.
A nice set of gloves would be a good gift for Arcturus as well.
For the eyes, he didn't really plan on experimenting with them for alchemy. He had the thought to use them for their instant death effect. Perhaps he could set up a ward on the Potter Manor to reveal them to someone attacking the manor? Oh! Or, he could set it so the basilisk skeleton came alive with the eyes appearing back in their sockets as it did so, and have it attack anyone attacking the property?
'I like that idea.' It couldn't be an inferus, those were illegal and he would be sentenced to Azkaban if it was ever revealed, but he could easily animate the skeleton as if it were a golem.
Harry set those thoughts aside and began conjuring dozens of barrels for the golems to store the blood and parts of the basilisk. He also conjured several glass jars for the organs, one of which was completely opaque for the eyes. It was likely the eyes still had some power left in them and he didn't want to accidentally kill himself. He made sure to conjure far more than he would actually need, so the golems wouldn't run out of storage space.
The golems were imbued with his memories of what he had planned, so they would know what to do.
He hit each of the barrels and jars with a preservation charm so the contents would remain fresh.
Finally, he brushed his hands with satisfaction and turned to the group. "Right, then! How about we take a picture to commemorate our adventure tonight?" He took out a camera, much like Collin's own camera, from his trunk and set it to float a bit away.
"A picture?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah, why not? It's not every day Slytherin's Monster is slain. This is literally a historical moment. It should be documented!" Harry said.
They all posed around the slain basilisk, and the camera took a group photo of them.
"I think that's everything," Harry said, looking around the camber. There really wasn't much down here. Many of the fanfics would have Slytherin's study down here, but if that was the case, Riddle would have found it already and have taken everything. Though that did remind him of the Slytherin scriptorium in the Legacy game. He had to check if that was true.
Though… it did require someone to cast the crutiatus curse on somebody else. He couldn't go alone, and he really didn't want to have to cast the crutiatus curse on one of his friends. Maybe one of them could cast it on him. But none of his friends would be able to cast such a dark curse. There was a reason they were his friends, after all. The only one he could think of was Draco.
Still, whether or not Slytherin's study was down here or not, he can explore the Chamber of Secrets another time. It was getting too late as it is. They needed to get to bed before they lost any more sleep.
"The golems will handle everything. Why don't we head back up and get some sleep? Ginny, if you'd like, I can quickly pop over and return the rooster. You can head up to the common room with Hermione and Neville," he said.
Ginny shook her head. "I'd like to come with you! I helped get the rooster, I want to return it as well."
"Alright, then," Harry accepted.
They returned back to the stairs and started the long arduous climb back up. Coming down the stairs was easy. Climbing them back up left everyone's legs like jelly. When they finally made it back to the bathroom, they collapsed onto the floor.
"Maybe we should bring brooms if there's ever a next time?" Hermione puffed, desperate for air.
"Yeah," Harry gasped, bracing himself against his knees. "Even if I had to make multiple trips, it would have been worth it. I really should have brought out the broom."
"You mean to tell me," said Susan, breathing hard, "that you had a broom all along?"
"I was too caught up in thinking about my future basilisk armor! I didn't think about it until we were already nearly up," Harry said regretfully.
"You wanker," Susan cursed breathlessly.
Hannah groaned, "I feel like I need to shower before going to bed now."
Neville was just lying there, looking like he had already passed out.
Hermione quickly shook him back awake. "Neville! You can't sleep there! We have to return to our dorms!"
Myrtle peeked out from her stall. "So you've returned alive then?"
"Don't sound too disappointed," Harry said wryly. "But, yes, we're alive. The basilisk that killed you is now dead, Myrtle. I hope that gives you some comfort."
Myrtle stared at him for a moment, before she started crying. Instead of floating away, she floated closer and tried to give him a hug. She ended up just hovering just close enough so it looked like they were touching. The ghostly hug sent chills throughout his entire body, but he accepted it and mimed patting her on the back.
After a too-long hug with Myrtle crying into his shoulder, Harry was thoroughly chilled to the bone. He cleared his throat. "*Ahem,* M-Myrtle? W-we r-really s-should b-be g-g-going. We-e ne-need t-to g-get back to-o bed," he chattered. The chill was really getting to him.
Myrtle sniffled, and wiped her eyes clear, floating apart. "Thank you, Harry."
"N-no p-problem!"
"You know, if you ever die here at Hogwarts, you're welcome to share my toilet," Myrtle said shyly.
"Um, thanks?"
The group split ways back towards their common rooms, and Harry and Ginny snuck back out of the castle underneath his invisibility cloak to return the rooster.
By the time Harry could finally crash back into bed, Harry was completely exhausted. Tonight was a long night, but it was finally over.