Disclaimer: If I owned these characters, I must be J.K. Rowling.
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Chapter 12: Attack of the Basilisk
Hermione had never seen such a large gathering of people in her life. Seven thousand soldiers (swordsmen, spearmen, archers, cavalry) were marching towards Hogwarts. All of them wore shining, silver armor, red capes, and had a golden lion painted on their shields. There was a positive atmosphere in the air as all of the soldiers were clearly overjoyed to have finally returned to their beloved homeland after years of exile.
Sirius and Remus, now in red capes as well, were directing the soldiers and were keeping order by organizing ranks. They constantly trotted alongside the soldiers and made sure that nothing was out of hand. The Gryffindor soldiers treated them with high respect, since Lords Black and Lupin were there commanding generals. However, Hermione was amazed that the soldiers treated Harry with the same, possibly even more respect. It was almost like they deferred to Harry over Sirius and Remus.
Harry suddenly stopped Firebolt. "What's wrong?" asked Hermione, who was riding behind him.
"I heard a voice," answered Harry. He ordered for quiet and started listening. He seemed to be a little worried. After a while, he sighed. "Its gone. Probably just some random snake. Don't worry about it."
Hermione was just about to ask what he meant by 'random snake' when she caught sight of a horseback rider, galloping towards them. She saw that it was Sir Draco Malfoy astride his black mustang, Nimbus.
"Oh look," said Ron. "Its Ferret boy."
"Nice to see you too, Weasel," sneered Draco. He turned to Harry. "I've got a message from Dumbledore. He wants you to set out and find the two rings, tonight."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "He wants me to go find the rings?"
"Not you, Potter." Draco pointed at Hermione. "Her."
Harry's and Hermione's eyes went wide. "WHAT?! Why me?!"
Draco scowled. "You think I'm happy about this? I wanted to go look for the rings myself!"
"Then why aren't you?" smirked Ron. "Having second doubts about standing up to Daddy?"
Draco looked furious. "You know full well Weasley, that I no longer have any loyalties to my father!"
"Humph, well maybe I'm not convinced, Malfoy." growled Ron.
Remus and Sirius butted in. "All right you two," said Remus. "Lets settle this somewhere else..."
"What does it take to convince you, Weasley?" continued Draco.
"How about a new attitude?! Oh, now there's something you can't buy!"
"How would you know? You probably couldn't have afforded one."
"Oh, going to call Daddy for Help?"
"You keep Father out of this!" yelled Draco, clearly Furious. Hermione wondered why Draco was so touchy about his father.
"MAKE ME!" Ron yelled back.
Draco was about to retort when Harry suddenly shouted "QUIET!!!" Ron and Draco were completely stunned while Harry strained his ears, listening at something. "There's that voice again...'let me rip...tear...kill...I smell blood...I smell...' Oh My God." Hermione had never seen Harry so pale as he quietly said "Run." Then, he shouted "RUN!" A second later, Hermione found out why!
A fifty foot long, poisonous green snake burst from forest and started snapping at the soldiers! Hermione only had a chance to glimpse at it before Harry turned her away. "Whatever you do," he shouted, "don't look into it's eyes!"
Hermione immediately understood. It was a basilisk! The king of serpents. Arguably the most dangerous creature in existence. Sure it was poisonous, but it's deadliest weapon was it's fatal stare: anybody who looked a basilisk directly in the eyes would be killed instantly. Hermione noticed that everyone who had visors were lowering them over their eyes. An indirect stare at a basilisk's eyes would cause petrification, but she figured that it would be better to be petrified rather than dead.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Remus, and Sirius took cover behind some large trees. "I don't know how, but this is all your fault, Malfoy!" shouted Ron.
Draco glared at him. "You think that I lured the basilisk here?"
"Will you two stop arguing for a moment?!" shouted Harry. "I'm going to speak with the snake: try to convince it to go away."
Hermione thought Harry had gone mad. "Are you crazy?! How can you talk to that thing?"
Harry shrugged. "I'm a Parselmouth. I can speak to snakes."
Hermione was shocked by this revelation. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"You never asked."
Before Hermione could say anything more, Harry stepped away from the company and calmly walked towards the attacking basilisk! A number of soldiers had already been petrified. Hermione saw Harry open his mouth, but instead of words, she heard him hiss and spit. She heard the basilisk started hissing and spitting back at him. They exchanged hisses for a couple of moments when the giant snake became angry and started thrashing out. Harry darted back to the hiding place.
"What did you say?" hissed Hermione.
Harry actually looked embarrassed. "Er...well...I asked him what he wanted...he told me that he was under orders to destroy us...I asked him if he would leave us alone...he...er... he insulted me...I...um...I insulted him back...that...uh...made him angry...and...you know the rest."
"Smooth, Potter," drawled Draco.
"Well lets not just sit around and do nothing about it!" shouted Ron. "Attack!" Before anyone could stop him, Ron gave a war cry and charged at the basilisk, waving his sword over his head. A second later, the company heard a scream and a thud.
"That must mean he's been petrified," muttered Sirius.
At that moment, the king of serpents lashed at the trees that were hiding the company and knocked them down. The Mage Knights scattered as wood and snake fangs started flying their way. Harry and Hermione took refuge behind a small boulder.
"We can't keep this up much longer!" shouted Harry. "At this rate we're all going to end up as a bunch of stiffs!" He didn't elaborate on whether he meant as dead or as stone.
Hermione, however, was doing some quick thinking. "Harry. What animal is a basilisk's natural enemy?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's easy: griffins. But we don't have any griffins here with us."
"I was thinking about something smaller than a griffin." said Hermione. She picked up a small rock and placed it on top of the boulder. She muttered a couple of well chosen words and transfigured the rock into...a rooster? Harry was about comment when the rooster crowed. As soon as the giant snake heard the rooster crow, it shrieked in pain and keeled over. It was dead!
Needless to say, everyone was shocked. "Wh...what? H...how?" spluttered Harry.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, don't you read? A rooster's crow is fatal to basilisks."
Sirius, Remus, and Draco, were prodding the snake's corpse to make sure that it was indeed dead. Harry beamed at Hermione, causing her to blush. "You know, Hermione," he said. "You are absolutely brilliant. What would I ever do without you?" Hermione smiled back at him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Not too far from there, Tom Marvolo Riddle was surveying the scene with interest. Despite the fact that his basilisk had just been killed, he actually seemed pleased with the outcome.
"Intelligent...very intelligent," muttered Riddle to no one in particular. "That mudblood seems to possess a level of intelligence that it is quite rare. She definitely is an added bonus to the Mage Knights. I wonder, if it's all really a coincidence." He became silent before he said "Perhaps she is the one to be feared most of all. She and Potter."
Riddle looked closer at Hermione and noticed the way that she was looking at Harry. He also noticed the way that Harry was looking at Hermione. A malevolent grin came to Riddle's face. "Interesting."