Harry felt his blood freeze at the sound of the voice. His prior encounter with the owner of the voice had left him on the brink of death, an encounter he certainly had no intentions of experiencing again.
"Speak up youngling, I can smell you", the voice spoke again though it was much more calm and serene this time.
He took a deep breath and was about to reply when he was cut off by a deep sigh.
"Have you come to kill me for what I have done child? Is that why you have bought with you what I fear most?", the basilisk asked.t
Harry was more than a little taken aback by the sorrowful and somewhat defeatist tone the snake spoke with but he steeled himself to answer. He initially had no plans to interact with the beast if possible but it seemed that the choice had been taken from him.
He swallowed and attempted to bring some moisture back to his dry mouth before responding. "I must if you force me to".
"I do not wish to battle a speaker, I am here to serve those that find the chamber of my first master, nothing more or nothing less", the snake replied.
Harry frowned at the words and shoo his head slightly.
"So if I were to command you to attack students in the school you would have to obey?".
"Yes, as my first master explained, I must obey all commands of his sons and daughters that find this place", the basilisk answered, it's voice laced with reluctance.
Harry frowned and pondered what he had been told before addressing the serpent once more. "Do you not like hunting and killing?", he asked confusedly.
"No youngling I do not, I merely obey those that speak my tongue as decreed by the debt to my first master, I need only feed once every half millennia, it is the magic that created me that sustains my life. That is why us of the royal serpents live in solitude, we are hunted should we try to live amongst men and creatures because we are feared above all others".
The teen felt a stab of sympathy for the beast as he remembered his days at the Dursley, where he too had been forced to serve them and do what he was bid.
"I'm sorry", the teen whispered.
The snake let out a low growl which sounded much like a gentle chuckle.
"There is nothing to be sorry for youngling, my life has mostly been good, a life I only have because my first master saved me from those that were trying to kill me", the basilisk returned. "He brought me here so that I could live safely and protect those under his charge if necessary, though it never was. He was a great and powerful man and never called upon me to defend him or the school which stands above us, it was those that preceded him that commanded me to carry out their work".
Harry nodded and frowned once more.
"How many masters have you had?", he asked with genuine curiosity.
"Only two others, the direct son of my first master and the one that named himself Tom and now you youngling".
Harry shook his head.
"I do not wish to be your master", he explained.
The creature was silent for a moment before it replied.
"But I must obey you so you are my master, and if you wish to kill me then I shall surrender myself to you youngling". The teen felt another stab of emotion, this time sadness at the willingness the creature demonstrated to obey him, even knowing that it could be killed by doing so.
"What if I were to command you to stay within this chamber and never harm a person again?", he asked.
"Then you would be giving me the same command that my first master gave", was the answer he received, the voice holding a sense of longing and hope in its tone.
Harry nodded.
"And if you were able to request anything from me, what would you ask?", he questioned further.
Silence reigned as the snake was clearly thinking about what the teen had asked.
"I would only want two things", the serpent answered hesitantly. "My first master gave me warmth so that I could sleep comfortably in here and secondly, I wish only to sleep", it answered a little desperately. "I am over a thousand years old, very old indeed even for one of my kind and I only desire to sleep until I must feed once more in over four centuries time", it added.
Harry smiled at the simplicity of what the snake required but was hesitant to comply.
"You should not fear me youngling for my life would be forfeit if I were to attack you", the basilisk explained as though it sensed his reluctance.
Harry sighed and dragged a hand through his hair.
'It must have only attacked me because it saw Tom as its master before', he deduced inwardly.
If what the snake had said was true then he need not kill it and it would simply remain in the chamber and sleep as it clearly wanted to. He had no idea how but he knew the snake was sincere in its requests and wanted nothing more than to sleep and be left alone, a wish that Harry was happy to grant.
"OK", he agreed. "I will open the room and make it more comfortable for you".
"Thank you youngling", the snake returned, the relief evident in its voice.
Harry readied to defend himself if it did become necessary and hissed the command for the door to open, closing his eyes as he heard the scraping of the stone.
He heard another low growl of amusement and the sound of the heavy body of the snake as it slithered from its enclosure.
"My sight will only cause you harm if I wish it to youngling", the basilisk informed him. Harry opened one eye by the smallest margin and could see the outline of great beasts face staring at him. Instead of the bright yellow eyes that Myrtle had described to him several years ago, he saw that they were a light sapphire colour and he opened his own fully to get his first glance of the creature. Just as large as he remembered it to be it was indeed a very intimidating sight to behold but the lack of aggressiveness allowed him to view the creature for what it was and truly appreciate its magnificence.
He found the expression looking back at him to be one of confusion and contemplation.
The snake moved it's head tentatively closer to the boy and sniffed deeply before closing its eyes and withdrawing, pushing itself off the floor to stand at its full height.
The snake seemed to swallow deeply before it spoke, its voice now barely a whisper. "We have never met, yet I can smell me within you, how is this youngling?", it asked gently.
.
.
.
👓☕️Consider supporting me and enhance your reading experience with the ready-to-read PDFs I have on my Ko-fi.☕️👓
🎯https://ko-fi.com/cmrowling🎯