– y/n's pov –
"Ba... BASILISK! Look away everyone!"
I looked up to see where the voice was coming from and then my eyes fell on this gigantic something... It was really the Basilisk, the mythical creature I had read about in Care of Magical Creatures.
Immediately, the Great Hall turned into a chaos. There were gasps and yells and all the students turned around with their eyes tightly closed, trying to avoid the gaze of the creature. Right, its gaze can kill you! What are we going to do? Where are all the professors?
Shane, Kyle, and Amber all had their eyes closed, seemingly petrified by the horror its presence caused. I looked over to the end of our table, and Krum was doing the same.
"Hey... Hey! Close your eyes!" Draco whisper-shouted at me and I did as he told me to. Then I heard a voice. An extremely hoarse yet roaring voice.
"Ahh... Let me see...."
Instantly, I knew it was the Basilisk speaking. The Hall was already quiet and only the quiet sniffling sounds of students who were horrified filled the huge space. My ears were now so focused and thus sensitive to every little sound... Then I heard the creature approaching the table.
Shit.
"Who... can hear me....?" As the creature hissed around the Slytherin table, I almost couldn't breath. It was truly terrifying but the horror didn't end here.
"Does anybody... want to know... why I'm here..?" The penetrating voice sent chills down my spine. Nobody answered to the creature and some students began weeping. As I sensed the creature move towards the weeping students, I felt the need to do something.
"...Why are you here?" It took a lot of courage for me to open my mouth and talk to... the bloody Basilisk.
"Ah - Finally." The creature raised its voice. I couldn't see but it definitely was making its way to me... hissing wildly. Shit, I'm gonna die here.
"Leave... leave us alone, please." My voice trembled and my sight behind my closed eyelids grew darker... The creature was right in front of me.
"Take out... your wand..." The voice hissed as if enjoying the evidently frightened face of mine. I didn't know why it was telling me to take out my wand - maybe it was going to eat it - but I knew I had no other choice. Draco then grabbed my hand as if trying to comfort me.
"You... Do not open your eyes. Ever." He whispered to me but it did no help. One of the most dangerous creatures was gazing at me, probably looking for the perfect timing to kill me. My trembling hand searched for the wand in my robe. When I took it out, the voice hissed again.
"Spell... your... favourite unforgivable... curse..."
Wait, what? I almost opened my eyes and my heart dropped.
"On... whom?" My voice cracked.
"Me." I could feel its head closer to me now. The creature's cold breath hit my face.
"You want me to ki... kill you?"
"Yes! My child..." The creature then excitedly spoke. It was becoming more and more frightening, I felt petrified. My body didn't listen to me and I couldn't raise the wand at the creature.
"Come on..."
At that very instant, I knew that whatever it wanted had to happen... I didn't learn the unforgivable curses at Hogwarts but I knew this one spell.
"Avada Kedavra!" I shouted as I pointed my wand towards the direction where the creature's presence was felt. Then I flinched as a sudden streak of light beamed out in front of me. Though I had my eyes closed, it was still so bright I had to look away. After a while, there was a thudding noise from the Great Hall entrance and a familiar, a very missed voice was heard.
"Happy Halloween!" It was Dumbledore's voice.
What? I slightly opened my right eye to see what had happened. The creature was gone and Professor Dumbledore was standing at the - now widely opened - door with Professor McGonagall, Filch, and Snape.
"We prepared you a little Halloween surprise. Uh- seems like it wasn't a 'little' surprise, though." Professor Dumbledore chuckled. Students were letting out sighs all around and soon after they all turned their faces to look at me, as if I displeased them. I just saved you guys, though?
"We owe you an apology if our surprise haunted you a lot but somebody had the courage and... ability to stand up for you..." Professor Dumbledore then joined the crowd and looked at me.
"Very... very impressive, Y/N... 100 points to Slytherin!"
I was expecting the Slytherin table to go wild and cheer for me, but instead I heard whispers and awkward "Yay"s. What's wrong?
I turned to look at Draco and he was also staring at me, stunned. Amber was also speechless, and so were Shane and Kyle.
"Did- Did I do something wrong?" I asked the group.
"No- no! You were... brilliant! Haha.." Amber shook her head while awkwardly laughing.
"...You are a Parselmouth, Y/N." Draco spoke in a low voice.
"I'm a what?" I was confused and Draco explained to me what he meant.
"You can speak the language of serpents... It's an extremely uncommon skill and it's considered... dark because only dark wizards have been using the language."
"Wait, what..?"
"You just spoke with the Basilisk, though it was a fake one. You understood what it was saying when nobody else could" Draco's voice was serious and he still didn't make much sense.
"No..? I was speaking English." I corrected Draco then Shane interrupted and corrected me.
"You were- uh hissing."
"What?!"
"I mean you're an Allorant, which means you were born with exceptional abilities so speaking parseltongue could be one of your... specialties." Draco tried sounding casual but I knew there was something hidden behind his attempt.
"Just- just be careful is all I can say." He then added, looking at my perplexed face.
✧
The rest of the day before the dinner feast felt... unsettling. People gave me awkward smiles and walked away swiftly as if I had done something bad.
I hoped time could fly so everyone would just forget about it and move on, which did happen, as it was already dinnertime in the blink of an eye. It was a special feast as the champions for the Triwizard Cup? the tournament thing were to be announced.
A huge goblet that was emitting fire thew out papers and Professor Dumbledore caught them to read off the names written on the notes. That was fascinating but it didn't excite me much. I just wanted it to be bedtime already.
"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!... The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour And! The Hogwarts champion is... Cedric Diggory!"
Nice! I should congratulate Cedric after the announcement.
"Excellent! We now have our 3 champions, but in the end, only one will go down in history! Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, The Triwizard Cup!"
But something seemingly unexpected happened. I thought the champion selection was done but the the goblet of fire threw out two more notes.
"Harry Potter..." I knew something was off but my heart plummeted at Professor Dumbledore's next remark.
"...Y/N Lascelles?"
"What..? Did he just call my name?" I asked Amber, confused.
"Harry, Y/N, did you put your names in the Goblet of Fire?"
"No, sir." Harry replied and I said the same thing.
"No, sir."
"Did you cast a spell to malfunction the goblet?" Professor Dumbledore continued interrogating.
"No, sir."
"You're absolutely sure?"
"Yes, sir." Harry and I answered him in unison. The crowd glared at us unpleasantly. My eyes then searched the room to see Krum. He mouthed me something and I think it was: "What?"
"Of course they are lying!" One of the professors scolded us but another defended for us.
"The Goblet of Fire is an exceptionally powerful magical object. Only an exceptionally powerful charm could've hoodwinked it and made it to announce 5 champions but still, that possibility is near zero."
I wanted to say something but I knew it would make things worse. Plus, I didn't know what to say because this was so out of the blue. Then I saw Professor Dumbledore, looking baffled by what just happened. He managed to continue his speech, though.
"Still, the rules are absolute. The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract. Mr. Potter and Ms. Lascelles have no choice. They are, as of tonight, Triwizard Champions."
Draco was standing beside me along with the group and he looked at me concerned.
"Did you... really?"
"No! Why would I?"
Draco still seemed quite displeased as well, just like the rest of the crowd.
"Trust me. I didn't... How can this happen..?"
Then somebody tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and Krum was standing behind me.
"May I have a word with you? Properly, this time. I promise."