The café visit itself can be described easily and without much fuss — Daphne raided the establishment's stock of pastries and tea. Even I indulged in a couple of particularly appealing pastries to my own taste — anything creamy and airy, meringue and the like, I can't stand at all, but combinations of various sponge cakes, soakings, layerings, and small fillings remain my one weak spot in the world of sweets. And, to be fair, we spent a fair amount of time entertainingly discussing the couples or groups of students coming and going. Yes, this place attracts not just "couples," but plenty who come simply for the pastries, in groups, since it's the only place in Hogsmeade offering that particular category of goods.
One pastry after another slowly vanished, leaving me wondering whether Daphne concealed some sort of bottomless pit for food, since even I, with my ability to accelerate the processing of ingested food, couldn't have managed such quantities, even spread out over time. Conversation inevitably accompanied all this, ranging across various topics, and Daphne demonstrated a truly feminine gift for leaping from one subject to another without any transition whatsoever. However does one manage to jump from discussing the use of ancient runes in ritual schemes to some rather unfashionable boots on an excessively, even vulgarly, dressed Muggle-born witch?!
Casting Tempus with my wand, so as not to leave anyone nearby with any uncomfortable thoughts, I checked the time.
"I think it's time."
"Definitely, darling."
"Check the site?"
"As planned."
We left the café and headed for the edge of the village. Midday.
The weather was overcast, though by my reckoning there'd be no rain, at least not before deep into the night. Beyond the village, walking along a dry, well-trodden path, one could enjoy the scents of late autumn, the forest readying itself for winter, withering grass and leaves.
At an unhurried pace, we made our way to that particular stretch of the Black Lake's shore, tucked out of sight a short way into the Forbidden Forest.
"A memorable spot, in a way," Daphne said quietly, after a minute spent gazing out across the water's surface toward the far shore.
"Quite. I hadn't planned on witnesses, that time. Are you sure you won't need help?"
Daphne turned to me with a smile on her face.
"Of course not. If there's one thing I can do, it's work with runes," Daphne drew her wand and swept it around us in a broad gesture.
The rocky shore began to level itself out, and faint runic outlines began appearing in the air just above the ground, tracing out a circle some twenty metres across. I felt the concealment magic activate at once, along with the sealing off of magical currents from within.
Nodding in approval, I watched Daphne with genuine admiration, and here's the amusing part — she plainly enjoyed that, enough that she made no effort to hide the faint blush that rose to her cheeks, though her gaze never wavered. Focusing my thoughts for a moment, I shifted my attention to my phoenix-self.
"Hm?" Daphne reacted to the faint crackle of lightning above our heads and looked up.
Barely ten metres up hovered my phoenix-self, an enormous thing, black shot through with blue.
"He'll keep watch in case of surprises," I explained. "Not even the area around Hogwarts is entirely safe these days, and your work here requires focus — you can't afford distractions."
My phoenix-self threw a Disillusionment charm and various other concealment magic over himself and flew off to perch on a thick branch of the nearest tree.
"I'm quite capable of defending myself, you know."
"Constant vigilance," I gave Daphne a quick kiss. "Best not to underestimate a potential enemy."
"Go on," she placed her hands on my chest. "You've got even more work ahead of you than I do."
"True enough."
Turning, I headed back toward the castle — I needed to prepare everything in the Chamber of Secrets, work on the basilisk's carcass, prepare the bones, and a great deal more besides.
I reached the castle quickly, and just as quickly made my way to the entrance of the girls' bathroom — the very one concealing the passage down into the Chamber of Secrets. I hadn't run into anyone along the way — the youngsters left behind at school presumably found wandering corridors with nothing of interest whatsoever thoroughly dull — but I hadn't forgotten to throw disguising and concealing charms over myself all the same.
Approaching the sink, I focused my thoughts on the tap bearing the snake emblem and spoke:
"Open… up…"
A creak, a grinding sound, the sinks began sliding apart, revealing the way down, and all the while I couldn't quite shake a thought lingering at the edge of my mind: "Where, exactly, where did I get this ability to speak Parseltongue?!"
The moment the passage had fully opened, I dropped smartly down into it, steering my fall with magic, and, on the way down, ordered the passage shut behind me, at which the familiar rumble and grinding sound rang out at once, growing more distant as I fell faster and faster.
The now-familiar tunnels greeted me with a dim light coming from who-knows-where, so I gave a flick of my hand, sending a pair of Lumos points up into the air above me to follow along.
Tunnels, tunnels, stone, dust, grime, a faint dampness — all familiar. Familiar too was the transfigured passage beneath the rubble — I'd created it myself, during that excursion under Potter's guidance.
Another door opened at the sound of Parseltongue, and I stepped into the spacious Chamber of Secrets. The same columns as ever, the statue of Slytherin looming in the distance. In the centre — the basilisk's skeleton.
Walking right up to it, I ran a hand over the bones of the enormous monster — they still radiated magic of an almost impossible density, and, as far as I could tell, might well be its very source.
"Right, then. Let's begin."
Drawing my wand for greater precision and finesse in the magical manipulations to come, I focused my thoughts, directed my will, opened access to the dimension of neutral magic, native to every local wizard, and… a sweep of the wand.
An invisible, but no less furious, torrent of magic tore free from the tip of my wand, whirling around the basilisk in a violent vortex. In my mind I held a clear, detailed image of the runic scheme I needed to etch onto the skeleton, and the sheer number of these symbols was staggering.
"Bloody hell…" I hissed, closing my eyes — sight was of no use to me right now; I could sense everything within the flow of magic far better without it.
A faint irritation rose in my mind, since the process of etching runes into the skeleton using ordinary neutral magic was proving extraordinarily difficult. There was a real risk I'd be at this until evening, if not late into the night. And I'd still need to inscribe the ritual runic scheme on the floor, beneath the skeleton!
"This'll take a while…"
Time passed, the work progressed, though not particularly efficiently. Honestly, so thoroughly absorbed was I in controlling the process that I lost all track of time, though at the edge of my consciousness some sort of count kept running, as if a nonexistent clock were ticking away, measuring out each passing second.
One hour, two, three, four…
"Done…" I exhaled and sank down onto the cold stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets. "There we are."
Before my eyes lay the same basilisk skeleton, though it looked somewhat different now. It was so thoroughly covered in tiny runes, their colour noticeably darker than the bone itself, that the remains of the enormous monster seemed to have grown a set of scales.
"Time for the feast…" I exhaled and hauled myself up off the floor.
There was something like a crust above my upper lip, so I wiped at it with my hand — dried, crumbling blood. Hardly surprising, really. Channelling an enormous flow of magic, maintaining it constantly, controlling the entire process with the mind alone, without a single incantation, purely on will — that was a savage strain even for me. It would honestly have been easier to burn down the whole of Hogwarts with Fiendfyre, controlling the process the whole while, than to etch runes into bone. In the end, engraving runes isn't like carving wood. One has to cut into an object's magical structure, deforming it without damaging it, laying down a channel for magic to flow through. It's nothing like cutting into ordinary, non-magical material, where you can cut however and wherever you please.
Examining the floor beneath the skeleton, I gave another sweep of my wand, this time carving out the ritual runic circle by a far simpler method — five minutes sufficed for that. Everything was ready now, and I could head back to the Great Hall. Focusing on my phoenix-self for a moment, I confirmed that Daphne had also finished her work and was now gathering up the various items scattered around her into a small bag with hidden expanded space. So our timing had worked out precisely, matching our respective abilities, meaning we'd most likely make it back to the Great Hall together, so long as I didn't rush.
Leaving the Chamber of Secrets, and, of course, sealing the passages behind me, I headed for the Great Hall.
In the corridors, students kept appearing here and there, pleased with how their day off had gone. They chattered loudly, laughed, showed off their purchases, even swapped various small trinkets, all while moving in the same general direction — toward the Hall.
I found Daphne at the entrance to the Hall.
"Hungry, I expect?" she said with a smile, slipping her arm around me and taking my elbow.
"Rather. You look tired too. Shall we sit together?"
"I don't mind. Especially since it's rather dull and sickly-sweet sitting at our own table on Halloween."
My housemates barely reacted at all to Daphne's presence at our table, so we spent the whole holiday feast, overloaded as it was with pumpkin-based dishes, quite pleasantly, enjoying not just each other's company but easy, idle conversation with our fellow students too.
Once the feast had wound down, Daphne and I slipped out of the Great Hall together, quietly, English-style, drawing not the slightest attention from anyone.
"Impatient to get started?" I glanced at Daphne with a smirk.
"Impatient for the results. Though I do enjoy the process of the research itself too."
We reached the bathroom quietly and without incident, under our charms. Standing by the sinks, I readied myself to whisper the necessary word in Parseltongue, but caught a rather sceptical look from Daphne, mixed with anticipation of something particular.
"Hm?" I arched a single eyebrow, Snape-style.
"Just curious what you'll surprise me with this time. I've a few guesses, of course, but still…"
"Oh, it's simple, my dear," I answered with a smirk and turned to the correct sink, its tap bearing the engraved snake. "Open… up…"
As the sinks slid apart with their characteristic grinding and rumbling, Daphne herself began mimicking Snape, watching it all with one eyebrow slightly raised. The final sound faded, the sinks settled into place, the passage opened, and Daphne exhaled, shaking her head with a smile and half-lidded eyes.
"And here I am, no longer even surprised by that sort of thing."
"Not even the tiniest bit?"
"Just the tiniest bit," Daphne demonstrated with her fingers exactly how tiny that bit was.
"I'm almost at a loss for a response."
Deftly and swiftly wrapping an arm round Daphne's waist, which drew a quiet startled squeak from her, I leapt down into the passage, supporting and steering our fall with levitation magic.
"You were rather more courteous about it last time," she declared with mock reproach, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing closer as we flew down the passage toward the Chamber of Secrets.
"Last time I wasn't quite so enthused about everything going on. And don't tell me you don't enjoy this."
"What I definitely don't enjoy is the scenery," Daphne changed the subject, turning pointedly away, though there was nothing to look at here besides the walls of the narrow, pipe-like passage. Well, and me, of course.
The journey to the Chamber itself took barely five minutes. Daphne moved deftly through the tunnels, over the stones and the countless other uneven, jutting surfaces. Last time, under Potter's guidance, we'd moved slowly, so I hadn't noticed the girl's talent for navigating rough, uneven, obstacle-strewn terrain.
"Astonishing…" Daphne breathed, catching sight of the basilisk's skeleton.
"Hey, we've already seen it, this skeleton."
"To Mordred with the skeleton…" Daphne was at the skeleton's side in an instant, studying the tiny runic chains covering every millimetre of the bones with intense focus. "Such fine work…"
Every so often she reached out as if to touch the skeleton, to trace the runes with her fingers, but held back each time — the right call, from a safety standpoint. I stood beside her, watching in silence as she examined it all with such thoroughness.
"…I understood what the result should look like, but… seeing it in person… given the density, the magical structure…" Daphne muttered, continuing to inspect everything closely, trying to peer into the skeleton's many hard-to-reach spots. "Incredible…"
Daphne turned sharply toward me.
"And this, in just a few hours?"
"Did you doubt me?"
"No, but…" Daphne looked, for a moment, as though she might start gesturing, but held back. Almost. A couple of gestures slipped through regardless. "There are methods, standards. Engraving materials like this takes an enormous amount of time. We read the manuals together…"
"Well, yes. But I couldn't be bothered spending a whole year on manual engraving with specialised tools."
While Daphne marvelled over and inspected the completed work on the skeleton, my phoenix-self flew into the Chamber and landed precisely on the skeleton — specifically, on the basilisk's skull. Daphne didn't even notice. And went on not noticing, right up until she'd examined, if only briefly, the entire skeleton and the runic ritual circle on the floor beneath it.
"Oh," she couldn't help letting slip, catching sight of the enormous black-and-blue bird. "I hadn't even noticed."
"Happens. What do you think?"
"Looks flawless. Have you checked it yourself?"
"Of course. Shall we begin? The process isn't a quick one, regardless."
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