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.
With all his Gryffindor bravado and stupidity, Harry ran straight inside the creature's open mouth, wrapped his hands around one of its fangs, and pulled the tooth with all his might. Inky blackness took over his form as he tried to pull the fang through the darkness with him. The beast pulled against him and clamped down its jaw. He was mostly incorporeal, but his vision began to go white around the edges. He was running on two hours of sleep and he'd used too much magic. His form slipped for just a moment, and he felt a sharp pain shoot through his arm. He screamed and in his rage, used the last of his strength to rip the tooth loose.
Harry crashed to the ground in a heap beside Ron, the fang tumbled from his grip with a loud crash. He felt faint, and could only lie there as his soul started burning in pain. In another burst of Gryffindor bravery (stupidity), Ron risked a glance towards the basilisk, its back facing him. He clambered up onto the beast and ran along its body, his weight in comparison so small that the basilisk considered him like that of a fly and not anything to be concerned about. That is until Ron stabbed it in the eyeball. It screamed and shook with rage, but the fang was lodged tight, and Ron's grip was firm. He swung around to dangle in front of its face. His eyes screwed shut, Ron kicked blindly at the thing. Being the youngest brother in a flock of rowdy Weasleys, Ron had mastered his kick long ago, useful as it was when an older brother stole one's sweets. So it was with this same fury that Ron's foot went right into the other eye of the beast and he flew off into a heap beside Harry.
They were right back where they had started, but now with a blind and extremely pissed-off basilisk. It roared in rage and pain, thrashing around on the ground in an attempt to remove the fang lodged into its eye. Ron grabbed Harry and dragged him away.
"Harry?" He asked, looking down at his friend's prone form. Harry babbled something incoherent, sweat dripping down his face. His sleeve was torn off, and Ron saw a thin gash on his arm bleeding thick, black blood. "You got poisoned!" Ron gasped in terror. "But there's no cure for basilisk venom!" Ron cursed and wrapped his cloak around the wound, careful not to touch it with his skin. It stopped the bleeding but he could do nothing more. Harry was quickly becoming delirious with the pain and it was now up to Ron to kill the basilisk. Yeah, he was really, really regretting offering to come down here.
Just as Ron was contemplating his inevitable death, there was a piercing screech, and to his confusion, Ron saw a phoenix fly into the chamber, something clutched in its claws. It flew over the flailing basilisk without concern, landing beside the boys. Its head tilted and it chirped in greeting.
"Um, hello," Ron said, flabbergasted. "I don't suppose you know how to kill basilisks, do you?" The bird dropped its package into his lap and bounced over to Harry, examining his festering wound. Ron unfurled the Sorting Hat. He sighed, his brain reached a state of calm and he accepted his fate. This was their only help? They were going to die down here, as Ron had nothing but a bird and a singing hat to help him. He threw the hat over his head and Ron felt something heavy collide with him. The Sword of Gryffindor fell from the Hat, which was much more helpful. Harry groaned in pain.
His wound was closing up before their eyes, the phoenix tears drawing the venom from his veins. This was extremely convenient as basilisk venom was basically Harry's only weakness. He was breathing erratically and shot Ron a manic grin as his face began to get its color back.
"Ok, wicked," Ron said, feeling bad he'd mentally talked shit about their backup. "Now that it's blind, and we don't have to worry about dying from its fangs, let's hurry up and stab the thing, yeah?" Harry nodded. On shaking feet, the two stood. The shadow monsters had dissipated but the basilisk was still focused on throwing a hissy fit, not having noticed them hiding in the corner.
"Fawkes," Harry ordered. "You get in front of it, distract it, try to smell good or something, I dunno. I'll try to sneak up and stab it. Ron - "
"I'll stay behind it if you don't mind," Ron said. This had been enough excitement for one day. "Just make sure you go for its brain or its heart. I think if you miss, it'll eat you, I dunno if even the bird can save you from that."
So Harry crept his way over to the front of the snake, who had noticed the phoenix flapping around its nose. It chased after Fawkes, snapping its jaws at it. Harry went in for a stab, but the basilisk twitched, scenting the human near it. It swung towards Harry, maw open. Ron picked up the first thing he found on the ground, a sharp bit of rubble, and tossed it as hard as he could. It collided with the beast's head. Distracted, it turned away from Harry towards the sound of the falling rubble, and Harry used that moment to drive the sword through the roof of its mouth and out through the top of its head. It shuddered and wilted just inches from Harry's face.
There was a long moment of silence and heavy breathing, before they began to laugh, adrenaline and terror thick in the air.
"Bloody fucking hell. We are never doing anything like that ever again!" Ron gasped. "It's a good thing I decided to go with you, we almost died!"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, next time, I think we ought to make an adult handle things instead - oh shit. My mama. I completely forgot about her. She's going to kill me."
....
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