Chapter 58: Basilisk and Parseltongue
"Calm down, Miss Granger!" Felix enquired, "You need to tell me how much time has passed since you and Harry last saw each other? Can you determine his location now? And in what way is he trailing the basilisk?"
Hermione quickly said: "No more than five minutes, Professor. We presumed that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in Myrtle's lavatory, so we agreed to meet there. Harry was able to locate the basilisk through the Parseltongue ..."
"Very well," Felix interrupted as he waved his wand and from the tip flew a silvery glow that condensed in the air into a tiny bird that hovered in midair with a pair of narrow, scythe-shaped wings.
Felix said aloud: "Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry Potter pursuing the Chamber of Secrets basilisk alone, please come quickly to the abandoned lavatory of Myrtle, where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is most likely located."
After saying that, the tiny bird waved its wings and turned into a stream of light, and instantly disappeared.
"Professor, what kind of magic is this?" Even though the situation is an emergency, the little witch still can't help but ask.
"Patronus charm, it can help you defend against dementors, or on some occasions, you can use it to deliver a message or something."
" That's a kind of rain swallow?"
"Well, it's fast."
"Let's go to the lavatory first." Felix said to Hermione, "You can tell me all the details of what happened on the way."
By the time both arrived pretty close to Myrtle's lavatory, Felix had figured out the situation.
An hour ago.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall finishing a quick supper when they looked at each other and slipped out in silence.
"It's six-twenty," Hermione told the two before moving on, "We have about forty minutes, so as long as we make it back and return to the common room with the rest of the group before seven, no one will notice we've been out."
They were going to meet with Professor Hap, gain his trust, and then report the secret room information to Headmaster Dumbledore.
But something went wrong in the halfway -
"Rip you ... to pieces ... have to kill ... hunger for blood ..."
As they passed through a dimly lit corridor, Harry suddenly heard the voice, and he shouted, "It's the basilisk! It's out!"
"You heard it?" Ron said nervously.
Harry rushed out, he climbed the stairs, straining his ears to keep searching, he seemed to hear a subtle friction noise, so he rushed ahead, Ron and Hermione followed closely behind.
But the sound, if any, Harry would occasionally be lost, he had to climb up and down to confirm the location.
The trio ran for most of the time, tired and panting.
"It went back? Maybe it just came out for a walk?" Ron asked expectantly.
"Absolutely not!" Harry said, "It wanted to kill, it said it craved for blood!"
"Tear you ... apart... target ."
Harry jerked his head up, the voice overhead.
"It's upstairs!"
Harry quickly ran upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione far behind.
Turning around to a corner, he saw Justin alone from the other side of the corridor.
" Coming ... out to kill someone ... to rip them to shreds ..."
Harry's expression turned horrified, it is going to be too late. He shouted toward Justin, "Close your eyes, Justin! Close your eyes, the basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets is out!"
Justin, who had been avoiding Harry for the past few days, sniffed in shock and asked, "What?"
Harry had no time to explain, he had already heard the " clattering" sound clearly, that must be a basilisk, it's coming out, it's going to kill!
" Flipendo!" Harry pulled out his wand, a Knockback Jinx knocked Justin away, his face still wearing surprise and panic at the time.
Harry lunged at Justin to drag him away, which wasn't easy - Justin struggled for dear life as he broke free of the spell's effects, and the two tangled.
"What are you going to do? Harry, what are you going to do!"
"Shut up! I'm saving your life!" Harry gave him a hard punch to silence him, "Listen! The Chamber of Secrets monster is out, and its eyes can kill anyone, so close your eyes now."
There's a rustling sound that came through the hallway that is distinctly clear.
Justin closed his eyes tightly, and his body couldn't stop shaking. Harry also closed his eyes, while one hand fumbled for his wand - which had fallen on the ground during the brief fight between the two.
"Are we going to die, Harry? I don't want to die, Harry, and I'm sorry I misunderstood you." Justin said incoherently.
"Shut up!" Harry yelled, a clear echo echoing down the hallway.
He touched a small wooden stick which was his wand, but he had absolutely no way to fight the basilisk, his eyes were still closed!
Harry judged that the snake monster is less than two meters away from them, and perhaps its head is dangling in front of him?
He even smelled a pungent fishy odour.
"Get out of here!" He shouted.
"What?" Justin asked, shivering.
"Not you, get out of here!"
Justin only understood the first half of the sentence, and the second half, which came out of Harry's mouth, is a creepy sound, like the "hiss" of a snake, but much more terrifying.
It is Parseltongue, he realized immediately.
Harry kept speaking Parseltongue, telling the basilisk to " leave here " and " go back ", and it worked, the sound of the basilisk movement stopped.
But it also did not move away, but instead responded, "kill ... master's orders ... rip ... clean muggles ..."
"Get out of here!" Harry said in a Parseltongue, "I order you, get out of here!" Thanks to the magic scrolls he had been working on for the past two days, it had made him a lot more proficient in Parseltongue.
"Master's orders ..."
"Your master and I are best friends, we're on the same team, listen! You are in danger, there is a powerful wizard coming! Just leave here quickly!" Harry kept urging, he didn't know if it would work, but Hermione had learned from Professor Hap that Parseltongue could be used to control snakes.
He did not know whether it is true or not, but could only pray in his heart it is true.
Finally, the basilisk went into action, and Harry held his breath, waiting for his fate - and hooray, the slithering sound of the basilisk got further and further away, and eventually disappeared.
"Can't stop killing ... the next attack ... soon ... held back a little longer... ..." were the words Harry heard from the ceiling, and it appeared that the basilisk had returned to the pipeline.
Justin shivered and slumped on the floor, aghast.
"It's over." Harry opened his eyes.
A few dozen second later, Hermione and Ron came panting from behind, "Harry, what happened?" They lost him and took a bit of a detour.
Harry said very fearfully afterward, "The basilisk tried to attack Justin and I stopped it."
"What- oh my God!" Hermione pointed to the scrape marks on the ground, "That's ..."
"Yeah, I had a head-on encounter with it."
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