"That's right. And a basilisk has only a few weaknesses: The main one is the crowing of a rooster, which kills them upon hearing it. Magically conjured roosters won't work, though. They have to be live ones," I told Harry.
"So that's why Hagrid's chickens were all killed!" Harry realized with a gasp. That caused Remus and Sirius to immediately gain concerned looks. They'd thought this question of his had been purely academic, but somehow, there was somebody going around killing animals?
"Yup. The other weakness basilisk's have is they're still snakes, and thus have to obey a Parseltongue," I revealed. "Although if this beast really is one created by Salazar himself, then I don't doubt he'd have laid protections on it to ward off other Parseltongues taking control."
"Only those two weaknesses…" Harry muttered thoughtfully.
"Yup. I mean, a sword or spear could probably still hurt it, same with combat spells, but I don't think anyone would want to have to fight a giant snake in melee combat. There's a reason they are one of the most dangerous creatures in existence, surpassed only by Nundu and dragons," I said grimly. "And even then, I'd say the basilisk has pretty good odds against the other two if it manages to look them in the eyes or ambush them and land a bite with its venomous fangs."
"Drat, I guess it was too much to hope I'd be able to do something about this myself," Harry grumbled.
"HA! Yeah, no, there's no way in hell I or anyone else here would let you try and confront a freaking basilisk!" I said firmly, Sam nodding furiously in agreement.
"A basilisk in the castle? Are you serious?" Remus asked, looking skeptical of my claim.
"Wait, you're a Parseltongue?" Sirius exclaimed at the same time, seeming to catch onto to what Harry had been implying, and Remus soon gained a shocked expression as he too caught on.
"Oh, um, yes, apparently," Harry said with a nod.
"I know that tone. What happened?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the Boy-Who-Lived, who winced, embarrassed.
"Well, Professor Lockhart restarted the Dueling Club after Halloween, and I had to duel Draco in front of everyone else. And I started winning! But then Professor Snape cheated and taught Draco a spell that summoned a snake. He couldn't control it, though, and it was going to attack Susan! So I just… I yelled at it. And it listened," Harry said, looking down.
"Well, shit," I muttered. "That's… is anyone giving you a hard time for it?"
"Not really," Harry said with a shrug. "The Gryffindors in my year already knew, and it kinda spread to the Hufflepuffs through Susan and Hannah. I think some people are, uh, afraid, but they're not saying anything about. Even the Slytherins seem subdued, like they don't know what to do about."
"Well, just remember that Parseltongue is neither inherently good or bad. Just because some assholes were able to speak it doesn't make you bad by association."
"Yeah, Padma and Parvati were really surprised but didn't seem scared or worried. Apparently they have an uncle or something in India who's also a Parseltongue, and they know it's just another skill. That's really helped, honestly."
Harry then tilted his head to the side. "Actually, a couple of Ravenclaws have been really excited to ask me about it. One First Year, Luna, has been asking me a bunch of questions about what it's like being a Parseltongue and if I could speak with things other than snakes."
"Can you?" Sam asked, curious, and he nodded.
"Yup! I can talk with anything that has a forked tongue. One of the students in Ravenclaw had a goanna lizard and I could speak with it. I think the Ravenclaws want to study me and write a research paper on what I can do," Harry said, relaxing a bit.
"Can we please go back to the part where you think a basilisk is in the castle?!" Remus demanded, and we all winced at his loud voice.
"Uh, well, sometime during Halloween, somebody petrified Mrs. Norris, that's Filch's pet cat by the way," Harry began. "They also wrote 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware!' on the wall."
"Is that all?" I asked.
"No! Colin Creevy, a First Year, was also found petrified in November, before Thanksgiving!" Harry added. "And Nearly Headless Nick was also somehow petrified before Christmas Break!"
'Hmm, good, good, not too many people suffered this time around. And of course I knew Justin avoided his fate from the books already,' I mused, quickly dipping into my Occlumency for a moment. 'It seems that his friendship with Harry has helped him avoid all of that. He's also not antagonistic towards Harry, either. Another plus!'
I was glad that things had happened differently compared to the books. I liked Justin, and didn't want him to get hurt.
"Well, if they're petrified, then it's definitely not a basilisk," Sirius said, relieved. "It's probably a gorgon or some sorta curse. Mandrake draught will fix that right up!"
"Maybe," Sam said, unconvinced. "Harry, was there anything odd about the victims when they were petrified?"
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