Cassius pivoted smoothly, wand still loosely in hand, eyes narrowing at the splintering surface of the cocoon.
That… should not have happened yet.
Serepha wasn't meant to hatch for months.
Not fully.
Not until she had enough time to complete her evolution using his blood as a source.
But Harry's blood—That faint, floating thread—Had changed everything.
Perhaps due to the Potters being decscendants of Griffindor his blood like mine held the same potential to be an heir of Draconis only that his personality was missing something unique the lady was always looking for.
The glowing fissure widened, green-white light pulsing through it like a heartbeat.
Bum… bum… bum…
The pulse synchronized with my own heartbeat until there simply was only one heartbeat.
The stone chamber hummed—ancient walls trembling as if bracing for something monumental.
Cracks spread across the surface of the cocoon.
A hiss—low, soft, resonant with layered tones—echoed through the cavern.
Then a claw—sleek, taloned, pearlescent green—pierced through.
Cassius felt a weight drop in his chest.
She's hatching.
The cocoon split apart in a violent burst of force, shards of pale green chitin scattering across the stone like broken glass.
A long serpent-like neck unfurled first, scales shimmering between green and opaline silver.
But scales became plates, plates folded into ridges, ridges spread into forming wings.
Massive wings.
Still soft at the edges but already stretching farther than a basilisk's body length.
A pair of luminous slit-pupiled eyes blinked open—vertical irises swirling like liquid emerald.
She looked directly at Cassius.
And spoke—not in English, not in Parseltongue, but in something deeper though as softly as she could manage:
"Master..."
Her voice in rippled as if spoken directly to his mind, thankfully she had spoken softly and as such his mind did not feel like it had been turned to goo.
Cassius stepped forward.
"Hello, Serepha."
She flicked her wings—newborn but powerful—sending a storm of warm wind blasting across the chamber.
Dust and debris skittered away from her like frightened insects.
Serepha extended her neck, lowering her snout until it nearly touched his chest.
She inhaled sharply, as though memorizing his very existence.
"It is good to see you once again master," she murmured, voice growing clearer as her form continued solidifying. "You are far better a person than Salazar ever was."
A warm glow coiled around Cassius's heart, followed by a sharp sensation—like the mark of their life-bond coming full circle enhancing itself to match her new form.
Lady Draconis's words had spoken true.
Serepha—the basilisk reborn as dragon, but not just any dragon, a True Emerald Dragon.
Even as as adolescent newly born she was already only a little bit smaller than a full sized 'dragon'.
She turned her massive head toward Harry's unconscious body.
Her pupils narrowed.
"Is he a snack you've brought for me?"
"Sadly no, he is... well my twin brother, so i cant just go letting you eat him, instead how about you get the both of us out of this dreary place?"
Her wings flexed again, sending another powerful gust swirling through the room.
"I feel…" She tilted her head, wings unfurling another meter. "I feel like I could fly."
Cassius smirked. "You probably can."
Serepha's eyes glowed with sudden excitement.
"Then ride me."
It wasn't a request.
It was instinct—hers, and the ancient magic that created her.
Cassius stepped forward without hesitation, placing one hand upon her warm scaled flank.
She lowered her body to let him mount, tail coiling like a massive living cable anchoring her to the stone.
Once Cassius was seated atop the forward ridge between her wings, she turned to Harry.
her front claws reaching for him before carefully curling him into their embrace, surprisingly gentle for a creature that could no doubt crush stone if she wanted.
Charging forwards she advanced the pathway before sliding through the vault door, into the cavern that stretched beyond, getting to the portion that opened up to the night sky.
Unfurling her wings, before beginning to beat them back and forth as her new found weight started to tear itself from the ground.
Wind blasted downwards as Serepha launched herself into the air, wings beating fast at first then slower and deeper after she adjusted to the new feeling.
Cassius leaned forward, letting the force pull him against her neck, a grin slicing across his face despite himself.
She wasn't flying.
She was ascending.
With raw, newborn power.
Serepha spiraled up the column of air toward the opening he and the girls had previously flown down on their brooms.
The moonlight making it appear like green light trailed behind her, illuminating the stone shaft like a living comet as it reflected off her shiny new scales.
Far below, the Chamber of Secrets shrank into darkness.
Far above, the moonlit night opened like a welcoming sky.
Serepha burst out of the ground in an explosion of wind and light, wings fully spread, casting a dragon-shaped shadow across the night sky.
taking a simple tour of the grounds before she sailed down beating her wings once more to slow herself down enough for a landing.
Trusting entirely on the instincts she was imprinted with during her cultivation.
She landed in the courtyard in a controlled crash of claws and wind, folding her wings with the elegance of a creature who'd been alive far longer than moments.
She set Harry down—none too gently—on the grass next to the stone path leading into the courtyard.
Cassius slid off her back, boots hitting stone as she curled protectively around him.
Serepha turned toward the castle—then the Chamber's direction—and her wings rustled.
"I should return," she said. "It wont be safe for me to be out so soon."
Cassius reached out, touching her snout.
"No."
Serepha blinked.
"No?" she echoed.
"The forest," Cassius said. "The Forbidden Forest. It's safer. Hidden. And full of… food."
Serepha tilted her head. "Food?"
Cassius smirked. "I softened them up for you earlier this year."
It took her one second.
Then her pupils dilated in delight.
"Spiders."
"Lots of spiders," Cassius confirmed.
A shiver of excitement rippled through all forty feet of her new body.
"Very well," she purred. "I will claim part of the forest."
She lowered her wings again, ready to take flight.
Cassius stepped back, raising a hand.
"Go."
And with a roar that echoed through every tower of Hogwarts, Serepha launched into the sky—wings beating with the rhythm of hunger—soaring toward the shadowed edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Her new domain.
Her new hunting ground.
Her new life.
And above it all—
Her new master.