Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 25 - Animals
"Really?!" said Harry, smiling.
"It's ready?" asked Hermione happily.
"Yes," said Sirius, smiling broadly. "I brought it with me knowing how eager you both are to be like me." He then pointed at a table in the corner with two glasses on it. "I had it protected so that if a stray spell hit it, it wouldn't get damaged."
At that moment, two recliners appeared next to the small table. Remus said, "Once you drink it, you'll pass out for a few minutes. I figured you'd rather be sitting in a recliner when that happens than standing up."
"Good idea," said Harry eagerly as he started walking toward the table, holding Hermione's hand.
They grabbed their cups and sat in the chairs, reclining back. "Do you want to go first?" asked Harry.
"Let's drink them together," said Hermione.
Harry drank the vile potion as fast as he could, noting that he definitely needed to use mouthwash, brush his teeth, and then use mouthwash again once this was over. As he felt himself get light-headed, he glanced at Hermione, who was actually glancing back at him.
For a few moments, Harry found himself in complete darkness, which slowly faded away as though the sun were rising rapidly. He found himself standing on the sand in what appeared to be an endless desert. He looked ahead and saw a small puddle of water a few meters in front of him. It was the only thing he could see besides dry sand. He walked up to it and looked down.
Instead of seeing his reflection, he saw a bird in mid-flight. It was a large bird with broad wings (about a 78-inch wingspan) and a broad tail. It had a short, hooked beak. Its plumage was mostly dark brown, and its eyes were green and appeared to have some sort of thin circles around them that looked very much like Harry's glasses. He recognized the bird from a muggle biology class as a golden eagle. He smiled to himself, thinking about the advantages of being able to fly. He was just wondering how soon he'd take his first flight when everything started getting dark again.
He opened his eyes and saw he was back on the recliner with two marauders standing over him. He could see them looking at him expectantly. He smiled broadly and said, "I'm, I'm a golden eagle."
"I always knew you were a bird-brain," teased Sirius.
"I'll bet the ability to fly without a broom will come in handy!" said Lupin, smiling broadly.
At that moment they heard Hermione's voice call out, "I'm sure it will!" They all turned toward her and looked expectantly. She smiled and said, "I'm an eagle owl."
-
After the young couple had rested a few minutes and been instructed not to attempt a transformation for twenty-four hours, they left and took a short walk around the school. "I'm glad you're over your fear of heights, Mine," said Harry. "It would be funny to see an owl walking on the ground afraid to flap her wings."
She soft-punched him in the shoulder and said, "That's not funny, Hero!"
"Yes it is," said Harry, earning another not-so-soft punch. "Ow. That hurt."
"Good," said Hermione. "The hero got beat up by his girlfriend."
Harry suddenly got a wicked grin on his face. "I'd say that qualifies as a fight," he said slyly. "Which means that it's time to…"
"…make up!" said Hermione eagerly, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward a broom closet.
-
Later that day, they found themselves sitting in the library reading books on types of protective clothing. They'd brought their laptops in case they found anything important. Harry was bored. He'd much rather revisit the broom closet. "Mine," he said sweetly, "Remus said he'd look into types of armor. We really don't have to…"
"I want to, Hero. We may find something he didn't think of." She flipped through her book for a few minutes and then smiled. She put something in that page and then flipped to another section. She whispered, "Perfect!"
Harry looked at her and asked, "What's perfect?"
"I've come up with a solution that I doubt Professor Lupin thinks is possible. This book says that dragon-hide is one of the most magically reflective substances in the world, and is therefore worn by many people such as aurors wishing to protect themselves."
"I'm sure Lupin would have found that out if he doesn't already know it."
"The next line says that the only thing that can protect even better is basilisk-hide, but that it is extremely rare."
Harry looked interested. "I guess it is. But if you're thinking of the one in the chamber, I'm sure it's rotted away by now."
"No it hasn't," Hermione said proudly. "I looked it up. It said that although its insides decay normally, the skin of a basilisk won't even start to rot for at least ten years. It also said that only extremely powerful spells, as well as powerfully enchanted swords and knives can penetrate its skin. It can even block one avada kadavra every twenty-four hours! Once the skin is properly made into armor, it never rots. This book contains a spell to cast on a dead basilisk to take exactly the right amount of skin and create a complete set to cover an entire body. This includes boots, socks, pants, long sleeve shirt with a hood, and gloves. It says that a full grown basilisk can be used to make suits for up to four full grown people!"
"Wow!" said Harry. "That's great! Hold on. What about when we grow? I need new robes every year. I'll end up with great armor that I can't fit into."
"The book also says that it can be recycled with a spell, so every year or so we could increase the size. Don't worry! It's perfect."
Harry grinned at her. She was so smart. "Alright. What do you say we visit the chamber tomorrow?"
"Visit the chamber?" came a female voice from behind them. They turned to see a nervous-looking redhead girl behind them. "You mean the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Er," said Harry, showing his remarkable mastery of the English language. He tried to think up a lie, but knew it was useless. He glanced at Hermione, who nodded at him. "Yes, Ginny," he whispered, "We're going down there to get the basilisk skin to make armor out of it."
"You are," Ginny said, obviously having a hard time with this topic. "Why?"
"Basilisk-hide is the most magically reflective substance that occurs naturally. It's even more powerful than dragon-hide," said Hermione.
"And we figured that since it's there, and I seem to always end up in danger, we might as well get it. Hermione found a spell to make the armor, so we don't have to cut up the snake ourselves."
Ginny looked down at the floor for a few seconds, and then surprised them both by saying, "Can I come too?"
"Er, um, well," said Harry. "Why would you want to come?"
Ginny looked down again. "Er, I, I still sometimes have nightmares about that place. I think it might help if I, y'know face my fear. I've thought about asking Harry to take me down there before, but, well, I didn't know how he'd react."
After getting a nod from Harry, Hermione took the other girl's hand and squeezed it saying, "Of course you can come along."
"Thanks guys," she said, "I also think I deserve one of those outfits."
"No problem," said Harry, "According to the book, we can make four, and we can adjust them for when we grow so that it always fits."
"So when are we going?" asked Ginny.
"Going where," said the voice of Neville, who had just arrived at the library.
After they quietly explained it to Neville, who also wanted to go with and get his own armor, Hermione copied that book into her computer so that it was ready for them to bring down to the chamber.
-
The next morning after practice, which Harry now won when Hermione was stunned by Lupin an hour and forty minutes into the match, they started talking.
Hermione said eagerly, "Professor Lupin, you don't have to worry about getting us armor now, we've come up with a solution - Basilisk-hide!"
Remus and Sirius both looked stunned. Remus spoke, "Basilisk? Where would you find…even if you could, how much money?"
"It won't cost anything," said Harry, "and it's underneath this very school."
"You mean in the Chamber of Secrets," said Sirius. "I remember you guys telling me about it. Actually as I recall, Hermione was talking while you were hiding your head."
"The Chamber of Secrets exists?" said Lupin. "I heard rumors, but I thought…Harry, you really slew a basilisk?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I got lucky. The point is that its skin protects even better than dragon skin, and it's down there for the taking.
Hermione nodded, "We're going to get it later today with Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. We even found a spell that will do all the work for us, making each of us an outfit."
"They overheard us. Ginny wanted to go with, and we felt she's entitled to an outfit, and Neville wanted one too. I'm afraid we won't have enough left for the two of you," said Harry.
Sirius and Lupin gave each other a quick glance.
"I do suggest that you get yourselves a dragon-hide outfit," added Hermione.
"Alright," said Sirius, "let's get started on animagus practice before we stay here all day. You've obviously got plans for later. By the way, Tonks is going to come to Hogwarts next weekend."
Both teenagers' faces brightened at the news, "Really?" they both said together.
After about an hour, each of them had managed a beak, while Harry also grew a few feathers on his arms. They were only able to hold these forms for a few minutes. Remus and Lupin complimented them on a good first attempt before they left for the common room to meet up with Ginny and Neville.
They found the two of them having an obviously pleasant conversation, sitting closely together on a sofa. "Hi guys," said Harry, startling them from behind, "Are you ready to go?"
"Oh, er, yeah," said Ginny nervously.
"I'll go get my firebolt so that we can get out of there," said Harry. "Who has a broom? It's a long walk through there, and it would be easier and faster to fly."
"Harry," said Hermione, "You know I got myself a Cleansweep before school started, and we've practiced flying a few times since we got here."
"I know that. I meant the others. Ginny, Neville, do you have one?"
Neville spoke first, "You saw what happened the first time I tried to fly. I've never gotten on a broom since."
Ginny looked down, "Er, no. I asked my parents for one, but…"
"That's alright, Ginny. You can ride behind Hermione, and Neville can ride behind me."
-
They got their brooms and Hermione's laptop in a carrying case strapped across her shoulders, and made their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. When they entered, Myrtle said, "Hello Harry, why haven't you visited in so lon…who's that other boy? He's kind of cute."
Neville blushed slightly to everyone else's amusement. "Er, my name is Neville."
While Neville reluctantly chatted with Moaning Myrtle, Harry hissed at the appropriate sink and revealed the entrance to the chamber. "Ok," Harry said, "I'll jump down first. Then Neville, Ginny, and Hermione."
"What do you mean, `jump?'" asked Ginny. "You're supposed to say, `stairs' in Parseltongue to make a staircase appear. Didn't you know that?" Harry shook his head, dumbfounded. "Well, I'd wondered why they weren't there when we left. I was too distraught to think about it at the time, and didn't want to bring up the subject later. Did you really think that Salazar Slytherin or Tom Riddle would jump down a hole when they couldn't see the bottom?"
"Er, I guess not," said Harry, now looking at the carving of a snake on the faucet. He hissed, "Stairs," in snake language, and a circular stone staircase appeared. They then walked down the staircase. Once they were downstairs, Harry could see Ginny start to tremble before Neville put his arm around her. Harry said, "I think we should mount our brooms now," so they got on the brooms the way they'd agreed.
Harry and Hermione, who were at the front, held one hand on the broomstick with one hand pointing a lit wand forward like headlights. They quickly flew past the layers of rat skeletons that littered the floor, and in no time, they came across the remains of the snakeskin and the cave-in Professor Lockhart had caused.
There was just enough room for them to fly past the rocks on the ground that Ron had cleared out a year earlier. Neville said, "What caused the cave-in." After Harry explained what Lockhart had done, he said, "That fraud! That bloody coward! That evil git! I hope he never gets out of St. Mungo's!"
"St. Mungo's?" asked Harry, Hermione, and Ginny at the same time.
Neville looked nervous, "Er, yeah, that's where they sent him. I, er, was at the hospital visiting, er, someone and ran into him."
They soon reached the solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved. Harry hissed, "Open," in the language only he and Voldemort could speak. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and the quartet, still on broomsticks, flew inside.
The first thing they noticed was the stench. Instinctively, Harry wandlessly cleared the air. Fortunately, neither Neville nor Ginny noticed. They were too occupied with the horrid smell, and then too relieved by its departure to care how it went away.
They quickly flew past the pillars and came to the spot where Harry had found Ginny a year ago. They dismounted the brooms, and Ginny knelt on the floor, putting her hands where she had awoken the year before, and started trembling slightly. "This, this is the spot where Harry found me." Tears were now starting to fall from her eyes as Neville gently put his hands on her shoulders. "There're the remains of the basilisk," she said pointing at a smelly, decomposing snake."
Harry and Hermione walked toward the snake. When they were close enough, Hermione took out her laptop and turned it on. Once she had the spell on the screen, she pointed her wand at Harry (they didn't want to let the others know about their wandless abilities, plus they weren't sure whether they could do this exact spell), and uttered a long Latin incantation. Harry's body glowed green for about five seconds, and then Hermione pointed her wand at the basilisk and uttered more Latin, until the basilisk glowed green.
Suddenly there was an incredibly bright flash of green coming from both the basilisk and Harry. When the flash was over, the basilisk was missing some skin, Harry was wearing his new outfit, and the clothes he had been wearing were folded neatly in a pile on the floor in front of him. His trainers were in front of the clothes. He looked at his form-fitting green basilisk outfit and said, "Not bad! It's actually pretty comfortable, too."
Ginny and Hermione both whistled at him (the flash had gotten Ginny and Neville's attention) while Neville nodded appreciatively. Hermione then performed the spell on Ginny, who received whistles from both Neville and Harry. Neville was next (He was glad he'd dieted that summer when he got whistles from the girls), and then Harry performed the spell on Hermione. Harry was so overwhelmed by her appearance that he couldn't even whistle, but Neville did. Harry said, "You look incredible!" when he was finally able to speak, causing Hermione to blush.
To change the subject, Hermione said, "Now we should put our old clothes on over this."
After a few minutes, they were redressed. They decided to keep wearing the boots, vowing to claim it was dragon hide if anybody asked. Hermione put her laptop back in its case, magically had the four sets of trainers follow them, and they all headed out of the chamber.
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