Master bring snack? It hissed after a long moment.
Yup, big tasty human snack. Many red-haired humans. Go back to the chamber right now!
Ok. It hissed again, and he faintly heard its massive body moving down the hall away from the group. Harry turned back around to find Ginny and Luna running off, and Ron waiting for him grim-faced and nervous.
"I'm coming with you," he announced with bravado. "I sent the girls off for a professor. Luna complained, but Ginny's a mess and Luna's a bit young for this sort of thing."
"We're twelve, Ron." He deadpanned. "You're sure you want to help?" He didn't want to be rude, but he probably wouldn't need Ron's help. Ron held up the disgruntled chicken.
"I'll be safe. I've got this bird to protect me."
"That's not a rooster, it's a hen."
"It'll be fine," Ron insisted. "I'm not sending you down to the Chamber by yourself!"
Harry sighed but relented, and the boys hurried off to Myrtle's bathroom. He hissed at the faucet and they looked down at the ominous, black hole. Ron dropped the chicken down the pipe, its squawks echoing and fading as it fell. Eventually, they heard a plop and some chirping as the bird landed safely at the bottom.
Harry slid down unceremoniously, Ron a few beats behind him. They landed in a pile of bones. Thousands upon thousands of dead rats, owls, and other small creatures that had gotten lost in the pipes. Harry wondered how many pets went missing each year due to the hungry basilisk. He waved his magic over them and suddenly the room was deafened by an army of squeaking undead rodents.
"Was that necessary?" Ron screamed over the noise.
"Oh, come on! How often do you get to raise an undead army of this size! Besides, I promised the thing a snack, this should distract it for a good while."
On cue, a door at the end of the tunnel opened up. The boy's eyes shot to the floor as they heard the mighty serpent hiss in excitement at the feast of mice in front of it.
"Bloody hell, Harry. Good job!" Ron yelled.
"Stop yelling at me and get behind me!" Harry yelled back, his hand waved through the air. "My army! Rise and seek your revenge!"
The howling, undead squeaking rose in fervor, their bones formed into mottled flesh and beady green eyes. The rodent army charged as one toward the great beast, who roared out a guttural cry and lunged. Harry quickly shadowed the boys behind the basilisk and away from the fighting and teeth.
"Great plan!" Ron shouted. The boys watched as the snake's mouth gobbled up half of the army in a single chomp, the remaining rats' unholy squeaks rattled the walls with their rage as they charged at the beast's eyes.
The army was breached, their frail bones collapsing under the weight of the snake, which simply crushed them all to death once it realized the undead creatures were not tasty. Surprisingly nimble in the cramped tunnel, the basilisk twisted over itself and turned around towards the boys, giving them only a moment to clamp their eyes shut and scurry backward as the beast slithered straight for them.
Open! Open up hurry up what the fuck open! He hissed at the door blocking their path. They rolled underneath it as it began to slowly lift up. Ok, close! Close! The walls rattled as the basilisk collided with the door. The boys stopped to catch their breath as they heard the beast scream in anger. Then the door started its slow lift up again. They took off, finding themselves in a large, open chamber riddled with ornate and pretentious statues of Slytherin, including a massive one that took up the entire far wall.
"I am regretting volunteering to go down here," Ron said as they threw themselves behind a statue.
"Yeah, same honestly. Why do I always end up fixing things?" His eyes darted around the room for anything that could help. At least it was dark. The mice might not have worked but perhaps something stronger would do. The shadows twisted and bent to his desire, forming a long row of snarling wolves. They squirmed against his control for a moment; his magic was shuddering in over-exertion.
"I have an idea," Ron said. "Summon a famous basilisk slayer to kill this thing for us."
"Did we not just go on a hunt for the bones of the guy that took all my energy to summon? Do you see any basilisk slayer bones in here?"
"Fine. What can you do then? Could you shadow-travel the basilisk somewhere else, maybe? To a rooster farm?"
"This thing is way too large for that," Harry complained. "And I can only shadow-travel to places that I've been before. I could try fiendfyre worst case scenario but I have to warn you I cannot control it. I could try to siphon its life source away but - fuck! Basilisks are magical creatures, so they're magic-resistant. I'm not sure if anything I do to it would stick."
"So we need a muggle solution then," Ron said, his mind whirling with possibilities. "It's magic resistant, not stab resistant. Do you happen to have a sword or something on you?" An echoing bang signified that the doorway into the chamber had finally opened and the basilisk slithered in, quickly being overtaken by the ferocious wolves. While they were doing a better job at keeping it distracted than the mice had, they were also not doing much to stop it. Their shadowed claws and teeth skimmed off the flesh of the beast without drawing blood. "Go shadow away, grab a muggle weapon, and come back!" Ron suggested urgently.
"I don't know how to use a sword! Or where to find one!" Harry said. Oh! The fangs! While the venom within them would do nothing against the creature itself, they were certainly rather pointy and sword-like in their own way. That would be perfect for stabbing into the creature's eyeballs.
The basilisk, meanwhile, had decided that the shadows were more annoying than dangerous, and not tasty as they were made of smoke. It turned to lunge towards the much more appetizing-smelling humans cowering behind a statue. The boys ran in opposite directions. The beast chased after Ron. Harry threw him out of the way with a shadow toss by the ankle across the room.
....
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