Chapter Text
With a quick enervate he brought Luna back to consciousness, and glancing around, saw that the attack was over, they had planned to take Hermione. He took Luna’s hand and helped her to her feet, before he led her to the pub. He was pleased to see the foxes were sat at a table so he took Luna over to them. “Can you guys please mind Luna for me, someone,” he mimed a beard, “has just portkeyed away with Hermione. I assume the next move will be to demand I meet him somewhere. I need to pop away and get ready.”
“You are very calm, I would be going mental in your shoes,” Angela commented.
“If he allows Hermione to regain consciousness, he is a dead man. If he kills her out of hand she will take him with her. The fact she hasn’t reappeared tells me he has managed to subdue her, somehow. In my last few lives I charged straight in, and often got other people hurt or worse. Dumbles has no idea what he is dealing with.” He turned to talk to Luna, “Will you be OK with the girls? I need to pop over to Susan’s and track down Hermione.”
Luna nodded, “of course I will Harry, you go and find Hermione, we will get you some lunch for when you get back.” She smiled, her confidence made Harry chuckle.
“Is there anything we can do?” Alicia asked,
“Report Hermione’s kidnapping to the DMLE for me, send Amelia Bones a message telling her what’s happened and that I suspect Dumbles.” He stood and was about to jump out to the cottage when a letter appeared on the table. Harry recognised the handwriting, it was Dumbledore.
Dear Harry
I am disappointed that you steadfastly refuse to accept the truth of your destiny. It is with great sadness that I am forced to a position where I have to take Miss Granger in order to gain your attention. This letter is a portkey that will bring you to me, so we may talk. It is imperative for your safety that you understand the role you must play in the defeat of Voldemort, and that you must return to the ways of the light. Your path has strayed too far into the dark. The activation word is ‘phoenix’
Yours Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Harry looked at the letter, and shook his head. “Your time is due, old man.” He ported himself out to the cottage. Susan appeared almost immediately,
“Where is Hermione?” She asked. “I can’t sense her fully.”
“Dumbledore took her, he gave me this portkey, it is supposedly to the location. I don’t trust him one bit, and I think perhaps it’s time for my father to earn some forgiveness, what do you think?”
She smiled, “I like that, I think we can make this work.”
Hermione was aware, she could hear, but she could not see, nor sense her location, nor could she feel Harry in her magic. She realised she had been grabbed and portkeyed to a location, but she had been confident that she could take whoever it was on arrival, so had not panicked. It appeared she had underestimated her kidnapper. They had frozen her, she could not move. She wondered if it was the last of the Death Eaters, or Dumbledore.
Time would tell.
Harry spoke the code word and the portkey activated. Albus stood waiting in the basement room he had designated for the portkey’s arrival. “Harry my boy, I am so sorry we have come to this, if only you would be reasonable, you must understand that you have a destiny to fulfil, you must complete the prophecy, so that we may defeat Voldemort once and for all.”
“Albus, you really are an evil, scheming old goat fucker.” James stood holding the letter. “You kidnap Harry’s wife, my daughter in law, and talk as if you have invited him for tea. Voldemort is gone, so are all his horcruxes, Harry had his removed from the scar before he was two years old. By a muggle.”
James looked around the room, Diggory and Doge, Albus’s fan club were covering him with their wands. On a chair between them, Hermione’s twelve year old schoolgirl body sat, hands and feet tied, her eyes were rolled back in her head. A large bronze coloured amulet hung around her neck on a thick chain and sat on her chest, James could feel it’s ancient magic from where he stood.
“James, is that you?” Diggory asked.
“Yes, do you think Harry is stupid enough to trust Albus, after all the harm he has done to him in the past. You are following a wizard every bit as dark as Riddle, but one that believes he is doing good. The Greater Good.”
“But you died?”
“Yes, have you never seen a ghost? You do know that the afterlife is real, death is just a doorway. Don’t you?”
“Enough, where is Harry, sadly, he must die before Voldemort can be finished, I must be the one to end this, I am the leader of the light.”
“No. Albus. You are a senile old man, you have deluded yourself for years, and now you attack children in a temper tantrum because no one follows you any more.” Dumbledore raised his wand, “Cast whatever you like, I am already dead, what do you think you can do to me?” He stared at Dumbledore.
Albus cast a stunner, that had no effect, next Lightning arced out of Albus’s wand wrapping around James as he stood and looked at the old wizard, he went for his most nonchalant expression, bored almost. “Is that it? old man.” Albus fired a variety of spells at James, growing ever more agitated, eventually resorting to an Avada Kedavra. “Now who has gone dark Albus? An unforgivable, against a ghost, really? What did you hope to achieve?”
Amos Diggory was clearly struggling, he stood watching the ‘Leader of the Light’ cast an unforgivable curse against the greatest hero of the first Blood War. A voice next to his ear calmly spoke to him, “Amos, take the amulet off Hermione’s neck, you might not spend eternity in hell.” Lily was standing just behind him. She had arrived with the portkey, suitably dissolusioned. He looked at her, “Albus has gone dark, Hermione is a child, and you would kill her?”
This was too much for Amos and he reached over to remove the amulet. Dumbledore turned on Amos stunning him, “No, do not free the witch, she is dark, she is in league with dark forces, her powers are not natural, she must die for Harry to see his path.” Amos collapsed away from Hermione his hand holding the chain around her neck and causing her to topple over as he fell.
Lily and James both turned on Albus and bombarded him with spells, he shielded and deflected, holding his own against his one-time acolytes. Elphias Doge was conflicted, he was Albus’s greatest supporter, but this innocent young girl had to die? He stood transfixed looking down at Amos as he rolled away from the girl as he slumped unconscious to the floor. With a clatter the chain came off her neck and the girl transformed in front of his eyes.
Standing in front of him was the scariest hit witch he had ever seen. She was dressed like a ninja to his eyes, athletic and strong looking, her combat fatigues covered in knives. “Drop your wand Elphias, you were deceived.” She turned to Albus and as she walked towards him another hit wizard appeared in the room. “Better late than never dear, I was beginning,” She punched Albus in the face knocking him back, “to wonder if you,” she punched Albus hard in the solar plexus causing him to double over, “were going to turn up . Harry hit Albus with a stunning spell and he collapsed into a heap. “Still, nice to see the oldies stepping up. Hi Lily, James,”
The two wrapped each other in a hug. “What is that amulet. It put me in stasis, I didn’t think that possible, and where in the seven realms are we?”
Harry looked down at Albus, “I am surprised you used just your fists, I thought you were going to kill him on sight?”
“He is senile, he has lost the plot, at one point he called me Morgana. Killing a senile old man in cold blood, I couldn’t quite do it.” She turned to Amos who was standing rubbing his head, “Have you got a magic shielded container for that thing, she pointed to the amulet.” He nodded and fetched an old case and carefully placed the amulet into it, as he closed the lid, they felt their perceptions restore.
Susan appeared in the room. “I think it might be best if I take that. It is not something that is supposed to be available in the mortal realm, our old friend has been making deals with Daemons.” She took the box, and turning to Harry and Hermione. “I think Amelia might enjoy a talk with Albus, she is in the three broomsticks with your friends, and Luna has ordered you both lunch. Ciao Bella.” She left.
Harry looked at the two men, “Are you finally convinced that this old goat is no longer on the side of the good?” Amos and Elphias exchanged glances, and nodded slowly. They reminded Harry of Ron, unable to form an actual apology, even when they knew it was required. “OK, as you can see, we work for a higher power. If we have to visit you, it will be your last moment on this earth. This is not an idle threat, we are employed by DEATH itself, do not cause us to visit you before your time is up.”
They bent to grab Albus under his armpits and apparated over to the pub.
James and Lily enveloped each other in an embrace. “They didn’t hit us this time, do you think we might earn a hug next time.” James quipped. Lily shook her head and laughed as they faded from view. Amo2s looked over to his friend.
“How did we get that so wrong?”
“I don’t know, Potter said Voldemort is gone, and we know someone is tracking down Death Eaters across Europe. I think it’s those two, they look like the scariest hit wizards I have ever seen. She didn’t even bother with magic, she just hit Albus. I am out of this.” Amos nodded in agreement and they apparated away.
The three broomsticks was chaotic, filling up with students wanting lunch, a group of senior Aurors stood in the middle of the room talking to Luna, who was dreamily explaining how Hermione had been snatched away, as plates of food were put on the table around her.
Into this mix Harry and Hermione appeared with an unconscious Dumbledore at their feet. “Good afternoon, Madame Bones. Can I hand the kidnapper Albus Dumbledore into your custody, I would recommend a few drops of veritaserum, he is quite mad, and quite senile.” Harry turned to Luna, “What did you order me for lunch?”
“Steak and kidney pie, mash and peas, and Salmon and dill ravioli with a carbonara sauce for Hermione, is that OK?”
Hermione smiled, “Perfect Lulu, I am absolutely starving.” She walked past Shacklebolt, “Hi Kingsley, can we give you our statements after we eat, it’s been a busy morning.” He looked at the young woman,
“Miss Granger?”
“Lady Potter in this form, it’s a long story, Amelia knows what’s going on, but Miss Granger is the little girl. This,” she pointed to herself with her fork, “Is Harry’s wife, Lady Hermione Potter. If you will excuse me for a minute, I need some food.”
Shacklebolt looked at Moody and in turn his boss Amelia, she smiled, “Shack get some suppression cuffs on our dear Albus. He just kidnapped a twelve year old.”
Harry passed her the letter. “He sent me this. You will need to talk to Amos Diggory and Elphias Doge as well. I have a pie with my name on it, we will pop in later and give you statements if that’s OK.”
Amelia regarded the pair, “take Albus to holding, strip him, and make sure his cell is warded, I don’t want that phoenix of his breaking him out, he will have portkeys on his person. I will come in with the Potters once they have eaten.” Moody grunted something, and the pair of them apparated out with Albus between them.
Amelia flooed back into the Aurors area of the Ministry with the young versions of Harry Potter and his girlfriend muggle born Hermione Granger. Amelia was of course fully aware of the kickass alter egos of these two quiet kids. She played along with the game and removed the soot from them with her wand and walked them through to a meeting room, where they could be statemented. “Hermione, who is your magical guardian? they should be in attendance for this.”
“Minerva McGonagall originally, but as Harry is legally emancipated, and I am betrothed to him, I believe Harry can act as my guardian.”
“He can, but I wish to take a statement from Harry as well, and for probity, you should be in separate rooms, so Harry is not the ideal person to act as a responsible adult on your behalf.”
“Granted, adult and responsible are not words commonly associated with Harry, usually reckless and idiot are the ones chosen. If Minerva is busy, then either Sirius Black, or Remus Lupin, or Ted Tonks, he is our Law Wizard.”
“Ted would be a good choice, that will keep everyone happy that no undue pressure is brought. If we are going to pin this on Dumbledore we have to be very correct procedurally. He has too many people believing that the sun only shines if he lets it.”
Ted arrived after about half an hour, and Hermione gave her statement, describing what they had been doing, where they where and what she had seen. Which amounted to not much until James and then Lily had appeared and it had kicked off. Amelia collected the memory from Hermione, and viewed it in the pensieve, she listened to James arguing with Albus, and him declaring that both she and Harry had to die.
She collected Harry’s statements and his memories, but he had only arrived after the amulet was removed and he could apparate to Hermione. “Did anyone witness the whole thing?”
“Diggory or Doge are the people you need to talk to.” Harry replied, they will have both heard and seen the whole thing.
“Including your parents and Susan Sto-Helit.”
“So. Ghosts are common knowledge among magicals, I am the last of the Peverells, so knowing Death is hardly a surprise, it’s in the Tales of Beadle the Bard, for Merlin’s sake. You could ask Susan if she is willing to be a witness, or if she could bring James and Lily tell of everything Dumbledore has been up to?”
“She can’t do that Harry.” Hermione said, “The Auditors would have a fit.”
Fudge’s assistant walked into the room and placed a folder on Amelia’s desk. “I was tidying up and I found all these account statements, they don’t appear to be official, they look rather like a list of bribes to me, but I could be mistaken. They do come from the Malfoy account at Gringotts, so I assumed they would be useful to your investigation.” She smiled a fake smile, nodded to the kids, “Harry, Hermione.” And turned to leave the office.
“Sarah. Thanks for the help.” Hermione called.
“Thank Susan.” As she walked out of the door.
Amelia looked at the two, “Another one of yours?”
“Another time traveller, she had to go back and save herself and her son John, and prevent a disaster in the mundane world, killer machines and the end of the world level stuff. She is one tough lady, taught Hermione her knife and pistol skills. Dad’s mate Chris knew the guy who trained her, some American Special Forces guy, totally paranoid, their equivalent of Moody I guess.”
Dumbledore was questioned under veritaserum the following morning. The Interrogators ended the session after five minutes, and summoned a healer from St. Mungo’s. After some preliminary scans they confirmed that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was quite senile, and quite divorced from reality. He was as mad as a box of Jarveys. His medical condition mandated his magic to be bound, to prevent him harming anyone, this was carried out by one of the unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries, who placed a few selective memory blocks to help him settle into his new identity. Albus was quietly transferred to a rest home run by squib members of some magical families, for retired wizards, who for various reasons have lost their magic. He was admitted under the name of Albert Dunning.
------oooOOOooo------
Neville Sat between his parents, his father had emerged from his mental cocoon the previous week and the pair of them were now in a private ward on the medical floor of St. Mungo’s whilst they were monitored and given nutrient regimes and potions to restore their withered bodies.
Neville was sitting telling his parents what he could about his time at Hogwarts so far.
“Harry, that’s James and Lily Potter’s son, my godbrother.”
“Yes we remember Neville.” His mother chided.
“Well he is the Quidditch team Seeker, as a first year, youngest for a century or so. He is insane on a broom, he flew through one of the hoops last time and caught the snitch upside down as he passed under one of the chasers who was throwing the quaffle into the same hoop. We were watching and we don’t know how they didn’t collide. We won that game 350 to 10, it was a massacre.
“He sounds as bad as his father, or his friend Sirius, they were always up to no good.”
“Sirius is still a bit mad, Harry lives a few doors away from him I think, Harry lives with Hermione’s parents, she is muggleborn and so clever. She is a bit scary as well.”
“Quite attractive though, eh Neville?”
“Dad, don’t let her hear you say that, she is fierce. I have never seen anyone, wizard or witch as dangerous as Hermione when she is angry.”
“Don’t worry Neville, when she pulled me out of my coma, she was laughing with me that you were sitting staring at her bum as she worked on me. She knows you have a little crush, and she isn’t annoyed, but try to be a bit more circumspect, it is not the done thing to stare at a lady.
Neville blushed and wondered what Hermione would say to him at school on Monday
------oooOOOooo------
In the Department of Mysteries Barty Crouch Junior had an appointment with the veil. He had been interrogated with truth serum, and his list of crimes was sickening. His escape from Azkaban dictated the veil, and it was to be carried out that morning.
Wearing suppression cuffs and still under a silencing charm, he was levitated through the veil without ceremony at ten o’clock that morning. As he passed through the murmuring that could be heard near the veil, and indistinct vague sense of conversation went silent. As clear as crystal, “What, another one. Where are you lot coming from?”
The unspeakables in the room turned their hidden faces to each other, as the surface of the veil rippled and a figure stepped into the veil room.
“Why do you keep dumping these people in my Grandfather’s broom cupboard?” Susan Sto-Helit asked in her loudest school marm tones. “You, Croaker, this is your department. Why are you using our home to dump your trash?”
Unspeakable Croaker kept his calm and didn’t reach for his wand, “May I enquire who I am being addressed by?”
“I am Susan Sto-Helit. Granddaughter of DEATH. This tear in fabric of the universe leads into our broom cupboard. Do you realise how annoying it is to have criminals transported directly into your home?”
“No one has ever appeared before?”
“Not surprising, I only recently took responsibility for this world, and a sorry state you idiots have got it into, having your future in the hands of a boy, because of a drunken woman’s prophecy. I expect you to be better in future, I shall be watching.” She turned and started to leave.
“Miss Sto-Helit, could you answer a question for us, what are the voices we hear?”
“It’s my wireless in the kitchen, I am particularly fond of the Archers.” She left.
------oooOOOooo------
Harry and Hermione were both looking at the charmed conference table in DEATH’s office. Snape’s name was moving through some of Paris’s backstreets in the area between the sidings for the Gare du Nord. Two other names were visible, Avery and Bulstrode.
“Wasn’t sure if Bulstrode had a mark, he didn’t always vote with Malfoy’s poodles according to Sirius.”
“Maybe he regretted it in later life, doesn’t remove what he did to earn it.” Hermione replied. “They are converging on this area, the Square Marc Séguin, clever – there are three areas with trees and bushes, lots of cover. Easy to hide, and six streets converging.”
“We can stop them portkeying or Apparating. I am pretty sure we could run any of them to ground in under a minute.”
“Yes, but they will starburst, all in different directions. We would have to split up. It makes ambushes possible. That Amulet that Dumbeldore had acquired, it’s Daemonic magic, if they are involved, we can be overpowered.”
“Do we give James and Lily another chance, he behaved when we came for you?”
“OK. But make it clear, Lily is in charge of James.”
“Agreed.” He leant over the map, “What’s the plan then?”
The group blinked into existence on the flat roof of a twelve storey apartment block overlooking the road junction. Chris settled into position with a sniper rifle and Sirius’s younger brother Regulus settled next to him with the spotter scope. Harry and Hermione, James and Lily were all kitted out in black tactical gear, Lily had gained more knives, she had taken to training in earnest with Hermione, and was working hard to repair the rift between the two couples. James had a knife and a pistol, but still thought his wand was the better weapon.
Hermione was dressed as she had assaulting Malfoy Manor, and Harry had a helmet and goggles now, it carried the comms they would be using. He was carrying a HK33 Assault rifle chambered for 7.62mm NATO with a red dot scope and a laser sight, he wanted something with range.
The thermal imaging on the scope revealed one of the wizards standing under the trees, Snape was standing disillusioned in the shadows of a Chinese supermarket’s doorway, across the road from the former. The last one to approach, was identified as Avery. He was walking from the west quite openly; Hermione exchanged a look with Harry. “Foolish or bait?” she whispered.
“We will find out soon enough.”
The four apparated down to the street and Regulus activated the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards, They popped into place one each on the Northern and Western roads, corralling their targets into the square or to head East or South, towards Chris and his Rifle.
Avery saw Lily on the Northern road to his left and turned, seeing Hermione on the West behind him, he stepped off the path and raised his wand. Chris hit him centre mass and he died instantly.
Bulstrode saw Avery go down, and tried to Apparate away, realising he couldn’t he ran up the Eastern most of the three roads running north, Harry dropped him with a snap shot from his assault Rifle.
“Where is Snape?” crackled over the comms.
“Chinese Supermarket door on the corner between Hermione and Lily. I don’t have a shot. James cover the junction, Harry move to a position to give fire support to Lily and Hermione.”
Snape fired a series of curses at Lily, she was in cover in a doorway twenty metres from him and returning spells, James started to fire curses from the small park across the road, as Harry jogged into position. Hermione moved past Avery, checking he was down and collecting his wand. She crossed the road to get cover and moved to a point where she could see Snape. He stood ten feet from her with his back turned.
All the memories of every snide remark, all the poison the man had spewed rose in her and she covered the distance on silent feet and buried a knife in the side of his neck, severing his carotid artery and driving it between his neck vertebra and cutting his spinal cord. He dropped like a sack of loose potatoes. “Snape is down. I can hear sirens, time to go.”
They all popped back up onto the roof, and with a blink back to the cottage.
“Is that the last of them?” Lily asked as Hermione poured everyone a glass of Prosecco and handed them around.
“Yes, the table is clear, if there are any Death Eater’s left, they did not take the mark.”
“Are you two finished with this then?” James asked.
“Not quite. We need to be rid of Fudge, and we need to put blood purity where it belongs, in the list of stupid beliefs like the earth is flat, or the moon is made of cheese.” Hermione commented.
“We have to remove the basilisk from Hogwarts, it’s too dangerous to leave it at the school. If there is somewhere it can be taken to be safe, we can move it. Salazar thinks it has probably gone mad, especially after Riddle messed with its mind back in his day.” Harry finished.
Lily held her glass out for a refill. “The fighting, the war is over for you though?”
Hermione poured her some more drink, “Yes. Once we sort the Basilisk, well, I say we, probably Salazar if it’s sane. Once that is sorted, the rest we can leave to our younger selves, and perhaps we can take a long holiday somewhere long ago and far far away.” She smiled as she said the last bit. “We need to find some peace now.”
“Amen to that.” The four toasted a peaceful future.
------oooOOOooo------
Amelia was once more at her desk with a pile of paperwork. This however was the case against Cornelius Fudge, she had him cold for corruption, his lackey, Dolores was guilty of at least three counts of murder, and at least one she had done to assist Fudge. It might not stick in court, he just might not have known, but it was enough to put him in court under veritaserum, and that would see him spend at least twenty five years in Azkaban.
That gave her two problems, avoiding being railroaded into the position of Minister, and if she failed in that task, finding a replacement for herself. Moody was nearing retirement, Scrimgeour was a possible, if a little tactless, perhaps Shacklebolt? A problem for later she mused.
A knock on her door brought her from her thoughts, Shack and Dennings stood at her door. ”You wanted some help with an arrest boss?”
“Yes,” she stood and walked around her desk, “Time to take Cornelius Fudge in for questioning, he is likely to run, and I need to make sure he doesn’t get to the floo in his office.”
The three walked out of the DMLE department and headed on up to the Minister’s Office. As they walked in his ‘temp’ assistant was sat at her desk in the outer office. Fudge had yet to appoint a permanent undersecretary, so Sarah was covering a lot of those duties. “I am here to see the Minister.” Amelia stated. Sarah smiled and rising walked to the office door, “He is in, follow me.” She opened the door, “Madame Bones to see you Minister.”
“Not now Sarah, I am busy.” He replied making a shooing movement with his hand. He was reading the paper, the news of the deaths in Paris had reached these shores.
“Cornelius Fudge, I am arresting you for corruption whilst in Ministerial Office, anything you say from this moment on will be admissible as evidence. You will be granted leave to seek legal advice. Shack, cuff him.” Fudge moved with surprising speed for a man in his poor shape and leapt from his desk towards the floo. Sarah moved faster and before the Aurors even had their wands out three drum beats sounded and Fudge toppled like a broken shop mannequin to the floor.
Sarah looked over at the Aurors, “You really need to rely less on your wands. At this range I could take at least two of you before you reached them.” Shacklebolt laughed.
“You aren’t related to Lady Potter by any chance are you?”
“No, but we are good friends, I am one of her instructors in unarmed, knife and close combat. Hermione likes knives more, I like to punch blowhards if I am honest, and I have wanted to punch this one since I met him.” Dennings was laughing, he cuffed Fudge and standing held his hand out to Sarah,
“Chris Dennings, Senior Auror. Pleased to meet you, I think we might be talking to our instructors after this.”
“Pleased to meet you Chris, Sarah Connor, I only train with ladies, I get a little crazy with men if they touch me in the wrong place, and it’s difficult to keep a lid on things sometimes. People get upset when I break arms.”
“I will bear that in mind, and never touch anywhere I am not invited to?” Sarah fixed him with a look.
“You do that.” She looked across to Bones, “He has a bunch of unofficial files in his desk drawers under a ‘notice-me-not’ spell, but even I can see them. I don’t suppose you know who is supposed to look after the shop until you elect a new minister do you? Should I contact the head of your Wizengamot and see if they have a person in mind?”
Amelia nodded, “good idea, it’s going to be a bit chaotic for a couple of weeks. Thank you for your assistance.”
“No problem, Madame Bones, it’s why I was placed in this department, after all.” She smiled and left the office. Denning levitated Fudge and they headed off to the interrogation rooms.
------oooOOOooo------
Harry sat at breakfast between Hermione and Neville, Luna was still up in the dorm with the rest of the first year girls, they were up early for a Saturday and the hall was quiet.
“I was thinking we might have a trip to the Chamber of Secrets, and see if the Basilisk can be talked down, or if we have to put it down. Fancy coming along?”
Neville looked at him a bit sideways, “Basilisk, the King of Snakes. The ones that can kill with a look?”
“Yeah, it’s about sixty feet long from memory.”
“You are mad, I would not go near that willingly, not at wand point,” Nev looked at Harry as if he was barking mad.
Hermione looked thoughtful, “We would need to collect Salazar, and a suitable weapon just in case. So we need to visit the cottage first.”
Harry nodded, “We can bring Salazar into the Chamber, but not really the school, having an actual founder wandering about might be a bit much.”
“Did you ask Dad what he reckoned would stop a Basilisk?”
“Yeah, he said, ‘What the blazes, is a basilisk.” Harry laughed as Hermione smacked his arm, “After I explained, he reckoned an RPG, Russian or a copy. Basically blow it’s head right off.”
“Will that work?”
“They are supposedly almost immune to magic, and since their looks turn you to stone, we can’t try and get close.”
“What about the cockerel crow thing?”
“Harry shook his head, “Just a myth, they prefer dark places, where the death stare is more effective, so they retreat at dawn, and that apparently got twisted into cock crows being able to end one.” Hermione nodded, “Makes sense. If it can be talked to, where are you going to take it?”
“Susan wants it. I didn’t ask why.” Hermione nodded.
They dropped into the chamber from the cottage in adult form and basic combat gear, Hermione had a back pack full of the rockets, and Harry had the launcher tube over his shoulder. Salazar was a little bemused by their attire.
“My friends, you dress quite unconventionally for a wizard and his witch, do all dress as you in the era.”
Hermione rolled her eyes, “Sal, this is fireproof clothing, of we have to fire a rocket at the snake, it’s one less worry. Women do wear trousers quite commonly, but some witches still wear robes. The magical world is a long way behind the mundane world at the moment.”
“You have told me this before Mistress Hermione. It is a shame. We separated the worlds because religion was the dominant force amongst the people and they hunted the gifted and killed them, it appears that in doing so the world of the gifted has fallen behind.”
“Wasn’t it just a power struggle? The old leaders wanted the population to be theirs to control.”
“Perhaps, what you explain to me as science amongst the people, was called alchemy and was strictly a pursuit of the gifted. Perhaps it is time for the secrecy to end. Many of the advantages of magic can be replicated by the automata of the people.” He shrugged and walked into the centre of the chamber. He spoke for a short while in parseltongue, and the mouth of the statue opened as Harry remembered from his previous trip to the chamber to rescue Ginny.
Hermione cocked her head to one side. “Ron could speak parseltongue, he said he just imitated the sounds, but it doesn’t work that way, does it?”
Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, “No. The sound is a side effect, snakes have no ears, it’s a magical language. He deceived us for how long. Your memory, it was just a skeleton in here?”
“Yes, picked clean.”
“Ron must have sold the remains. No way the skin would have rotted away in that time, I wonder how much money he made behind our backs?”
“I want to go find him in the afterlife and kill him all over again.”
“We should make it an annual thing, on the anniversary of your murder, go and kill him in a different way, surprise each other with ideas,” Harry started to laugh. “We are getting a bit dark aren’t we.”
“Not in Ronald’s case. No. I can think of a few ways to end him, enough for the first century anyway.”
Salazar was speaking again, “§ My Familiar, are you still here, come and greet your Master.§”
Harry heard the reply, “§ Master, is this truly you, not the deceiver? §”
“§It is me, I have come to take you to a new home, somewhere nicer and more things to hunt, if you wish it§” They heard the sound of the great beast moving out of the area it slept in, and Harry and Hermione slipped a rocket into the launcher, as a precaution, but kept the weapon pointed up clear of the place the snake would appear.
“§ Master, it is you, where are we going, it has been so long. I feared you had abandoned me. §” The Head of the basilisk emerged into the chamber, it’s eyes red rather than yellow. The snake turned it’s huge head to the two and it’s tongue tasted the air. “§You have family with you, greetings younglings.§”
Harry replied, “§Greetings to you, do you have a name? §”
“§Rowena called me Sally. §”
Hermione replied, “§Greetings Sally, you are magnificent, it is a pleasure to meet you.§Hermione turned to Harry, and whispered, “I can speak Parsel?” Harry winked.
“§Salazar, can we transport Sally straight from here to her new home? §”
“§No. She needs to be clear of the castle wards as she is so large, and steeped in magic. Why don’t you and your witch ride her to the surface and take her out of the wards. I cannot accompany you, Susan will not permit it. §” He looked up at the snake, “§ the youngsters will guide you, I cannot be seen within the castle, Harry is my descendent, and Hermione his witch, they will guide you. §”
“§The female’s magic has the flavour of Rowena, I thought she was one of hers. I will go where they guide me.§”
Harry and Hermione popped away and back in their younger forms, the snake lowered it’s head and they climbed up behind the horns and sat either side of its huge head.
“§We need to leave the castle Sally, whichever way is easiest, §” The snake set off towards an opening in the wall and the two riders had to duck down below the horns as it powered up a pipe and emerged moments later in Myrtle’s toilet, then shot along the corridor towards the stairs.
Hermione was staring straight at Harry with a look of severe disapproval he hadn’t seen since their earliest days at the school, when she had been trying to get them to do homework. He grinned back and shrugged. The screaming started as they dropped down the stairs to the ground floor.
Harry was thankful the doors were open, not so much that the doors to the Great Hall were also wide open, so everyone who was at breakfast saw the huge iridescent green beast slither out of the school. Harry looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Sirius and Mooney laughing their heads off as the head of the basilisk went out of the doors with inches to spare. Harry pointed the way towards the quidditch pitch and looked back at the school to see a crowd gathered at the door.
“Shame Colin isn’t here yet, this would have been a good picture.” He mused, only to receive a slap from Hermione.
“We could have gone into the forest, out that exit, and no one in the school would have known.” She had her arms folded and Harry couldn’t help but laugh.
“You are so cute when you are angry. I love you.” He smiled.
Hermione looked him in the eyes with her hardest stare, “You can be impossible Harry James Potter, Aargh. I can’t even stay mad at you.” She started to laugh. “You massive prat.”
They were covering ground at a prodigious rate and soon felt the wards wash over them, as soon as the tip of the snake’s tail was clear they shifted and they were on another world. Susan stood with Salazar and the snake surged up to them both. Harry and Hermione dropped down, and Harry ran from Hermione who was chasing him calling him names, they reappeared at the quidditch pitch and ran laughing back to the castle doors.
On entering the castle Sirius called them over, “Pups, was that the basilisk you fought in the chamber last time Harry?”
“It was Sirius, it was in the thrall of Tom Riddle then, this time we had help from Salazar, so we’ve taken it to where it can live free.”
“You fought that monster with the sword of Gryffindor? In your second year? We should go visit Albus and feed him to that thing.”
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look, and a nod.