This left the little elf blushing at Hermione's praise. Working for the Malfoys, being praised for his work was not something Dobby had encountered before.
The massive round door that blocked their entrance to the chamber soon moved after being commanded in parseltongue to open, Hermione and Luna were left wishing it hadn't. The stench was unbelievable, it left them choking for breath and barely able to see because their eyes were watering so badly.
Hermione was struggling to cast a bubblehead charm on herself, a spell that was difficult enough to accomplish without her currently choking while trying to perform completed magic. When Harry mentioned asking Dobby for help, Hermione quickly followed his suggestion. "Dobby, can you do something about the foul air?"
Another snap of his fingers and she could breathe normally once more.
"I think I now know why wizards bind elves to them. Elves must be some of the most powerful magical users on the planet." Harry then showed Hermione the memory of Dobby throwing Lucius Malfoy about as if he was a rag doll, he also agreed wholeheartedly with his girlfriend's analysis.
As they walked toward the basilisk, that powerful little elf was reduced to tears. "Dobby saw Harry Potter just after he had defeated this creature, never did Dobby think it was such a size. That Harry Potter was able to free Dobby the very same day makes him a greater wizard than Dobby thought."
The idea that Dobby's hero worship would or could grow even larger was not something Harry was comfortable with, Hermione teasing him that Dobby had a point wasn't helping.
Luna was looking at the decomposing creature in dismay. "Hermione, we're going to need something like an axe to get those fangs out its head. I'm looking around but don't see anything we could transfigure into the tools we'll need."
Hermione too, was disgusted at what they were going to have to do. Dobby may have cleared the air but the source of the stench was still sitting there.
The basilisk's skin appeared unbroken but there were slight ripples of movement underneath it. Whether this was caused by the basilisk slowly decomposing or there was some other organism in there actually consuming the giant snake was not something Hermione was keen to discover. In Hermione's book, anything that could eat a basilisk was to be avoided at all costs. The loud wet sucking sound alarmed both girls, that was until they saw one of the biggest fangs rip free from the dead creature's mouth and float toward them. It was soon being followed by another as Dobby made a little pile of deadly fangs in front of the two witches.
After they had half a dozen fangs, Hermione stopped Dobby removing any more. Even dead, the basilisk was still incredibly resistant to magic. All three teens could see the effort Dobby was having to exert to magically remove the fangs.
While Hermione was letting Harry take control to personally thank Dobby for all his hard work, Luna wore her dragon hide gloves to carefully wrap the fangs so they would be safe until required.
It was only after they were back in the tunnel, with the giant round door once more closed, that the group could relax.
"That was absolutely disgusting. I can't wait to get in the shower and be clean again, bags first dibs on it."
"Hermione, there is no way I could hang about listening to all that lovely clean water running and not jump in too. Harry's just going to have to shut his eyes because that shower is easily big enough for two, and I can't wait to be clean either."
Chapter 5: Lions and Toads and Basilisk-Oh My!
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