Through Her Eyes

Chapter 20: Battle with a Basilisk

"It'll be alright, love," he whispered, "I'm sure the five of us can do this,"

"I just don't want any of you killed," Hermione croaked, "not again,"

"We won't be," Remus mumbled, clutching his shield a bit tighter as they came upon the massive steel door sealing off the entrance to the main chamber, "is this it?"

"Yep," Hermione exhaled shakily, waving to Quitz who had been trailing along behind the group, "use the Diadem. It seems to speak the loudest,"

"O-ok, Missus,"

Removing the blue velvet box from the bag, Hermione winced and felt her arm clamp up. The obsidian in her veins protested the Diadem as Quitz opened the box and held it to the door. There was a moment of silence before the intricate snake lock began to move. Reaching out and shutting the Diadem box with a snap, Hermione couldn't help but sigh in relief as Lily came to take up her arm,

"You said it didn't hurt," she snapped angrily, watching as the obsidian of her friends veins became dull once again under her skin, "I should have taken you to Madame Pomfrey right away-"

"It only hurts when there is dark magic nearby," Hermione retorted sharply, flexing her fingers and frowning, "this is ancient magic, Lily. Even if I had gone to Pomfrey, there's nothing that she could have done,"

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Sirius questioned, furry eyebrows knitting together in concern. Shaking her head, Hermione tuned to look through the sewer door,

"Because we have more important things to think about. Come on, we need to kill that Basilisk,"

Nodding their heads reluctantly, Sirius and James mounted their brooms before flying through the hole, followed by Lily, Hermione and Remus who crawled over the threshold. The space was just as Hermione had remembered it. The long stone path was flanked on either side by many open-mouthed snake heads, settled in troughs of water which seeped out from different tunnels. Standing at the other end of the room was the bald forehead of Salazar Slytherin himself, wild hair spreading out in stone as his mouth was closed. Hearing the boys flying about overhead, Hermione tensed up slightly and listened,

"Do you think we need to draw it out?" Remus questioned, "you said only the Heir of Slytherin could control it?"

"Yeah, but I'm not the heir of Slytherin. Tom is...wait, maybe the Diadem will do the trick?"

Motioning to Quitz again with a hand, the little elf nodded and pulled out the blue box once more. The air seemed to get even colder as the group of Gryffindors tensed up. Salazar's mouth was slowly lowering as a horrible hissing noise came from inside. Stepping back into an alcove as to not be spotted, Remus and Lily did the same, watching the shadows on the walls as a large silhouette slowly appeared in the chamber,

'C'mon Fawkes, please,'

Just as Hermione thought it, the sharp cry of a bird pierced the cold air of the chamber. Wincing as something was dropped on the ground before the first alcove, Hermione could hear screeching and roaring as Fawkes clawed and bit at the Basilisk's face. Soon enough, the shadow of the great bird could he seen vanishing back into the tunnel as Hermione glanced at what he had dropped. She knew that the sword appeared in the Sorting Hat, as both Harry and Neville had pulled the enchanted blade from its worn burlap. But as the Basilisk yeowled in pain, and shouted spells came from above, Hermione felt nothing but stinging in her arm. It was horrible, enough to remind Hermione of the pain Harry's scar caused whenever he was near Voldemort,

"Hermione!" Remus called, "what do we do?!"

"Attack!"

Swallowing her own discomfort, Hermione stumbled from her hiding place to take in the beast. It was the biggest thing she had ever seen, and looked to be even more dangerous then the Hungarian Horntail used during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It's face was shredded apart and bleeding, it's eyes screwed shut as it's head whipped around in panic. Pulling her wand, Hermione began to cast her own charms, only to duck and roll out of way as they ricocheted back at her,