We Met In The Shadows.

Of Serpents and Roosters

The mouth of the statue gritted open and out crawled a large snake. A really large snake. ‘Large’ doesn’t do it justice, that thing’s gigantic, thought Harry, as he slowly stepped towards the girls. Greengrass looked even paler than she usually looked, something Harry hadn't thought was possible.

“Slay this girl, who dares desecrate the sanctity of Salazar Slytherin’s sacred Chamber!” hissed Tom, now pointing towards Greengrass.

Greengrass tried to back away, but was unsuccessful. Her body seemed unable to move, despite her efforts. Harry had to do something. The only advantage he had right now was the element of surprise, and he had to utilise it properly. So he gripped his wand tightly, and waited for the right moment to strike.

As the Basilisk got closer, Greengrass let out a scream. That was the moment to strike, the attention of both the Basilisk and Tom was on Greengrass. He ripped his Cloak off his head and took off his school robe, quickly aiming his wand at it.

He muttered a quick “Incendio,” causing the robes to catch fire and he flung them to the side with a Flipendo.  It caught the Basilisk’s attention, which slithered away from the girls and towards the burning cloak instead. He shouted at Greengrass, “GO! GET OUT OF HERE!”, snapping the girl out of her daze, who began to carry an unconscious Ginny Weasley away with her.

The Basilisk heard his shout and turned its head to look at him. He squeezed his eyes shut and began brainstorming for plans. Harry was only a 2nd Year student, and his opponent was an immortal magical snake. He hoped the Basilisk would be  all that he would have to fight, and that Tom wasn’t corporeal enough to cast spells yet.

“Harry Potter! We meet at last. Prepare to meet your-” Tom never managed to finish his sentence as Harry fired a Diffindo which hit the serpent.

The creature hissed in response, but was neither deterred nor slowed. It unhinged its jaws, ready to swallow Harry whole, as it began slithering towards him. Harry tried to use his surroundings to his advantage by climbing on top of a smaller statue. He knew that on open and flat surfaces, the Basilisk held the advantage. But on vertical structures, Harry could climb over while it couldn’t. He smirked in triumph at Tom, who was watching from below.

However, that moment of triumph didn’t last long. Harry had failed to account for the fact that the Basilisk was insanely large and thus had enough strength within it to knock a stone statue down easily.

It crashed into the small statue with immense speed, cracking the base considerably. It backed up, hissing at Harry, before crashing against it again, which caused the statue to shake furiously. Harry braced himself, as the final blow sent the statue toppling over. Harry tried to jump towards the other statue but it was too far. His hands landed on one of the ledges but he failed to grab on. He slipped and fell, landing on his back.

Harry groaned in pain. I really ought to be more athletic, just practising Quidditch won’t cut it, Harry thought in dismay. As he rolled over, he saw the Basilisk’s underside. It started lowering his head, so Harry had to shut his eyes. He could hear the serpent hiss. He knew it was about to devour him and he knew he didn’t have enough time to get away, so he did the first thing that came to his mind.

“Daphne Greengrass has strawberry scented hair and it is intoxicating!” Harry screamed in Parseltongue.

It seemed to work, as the bite never came. Instead, Harry heard a melodious song followed by a chirp, as he felt something land in his hand. The smooth voice was that of Fawkes the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s familiar! He had come to his rescue. Harry crawled away quickly, draping his Invisibility Cloak over himself hastily, making sure he grabbed whatever the bird dropped too.