F&L: Chapter 66

Lockhart's Office was in the Hogwarts Turis Magnus, or Great Turret, near the Hall of Herodiana. The Hall of Herodiana was a formerly hidden room that had been utilized primarily for practicing the Banishing Charm prior to the Late Nineteenth Century, but which was now just another Hall at the base of the Hogwarts Turis Magnus. Every so often, however, the remnants of the Hall's original purpose reared their heads, as floating targets were conjured by cunningly hidden runes for use in practicing the banishing charm. These targets were sometimes mildly dangerous, exploding in a minor shockwave when striking a solid object as a result of the rune scheme having been damaged years ago. While the shockwaves themselves were no more dangerous than a Knockback Jinx, if you should fall and crack your head on the stone floor or walls after being knocked back by a shockwave, that was a different story.

Whenever the Hall of Herodiana spawned targets, the Hall tended to be cordoned off by the faculty until an expert in Runic Magic could look at the rune scheme, locate the reactivated runes, and shut them down again. It just so happened that this had occurred not three days ago. There had been an announcement made at Dinner in the Great Hall, warning Students off entering the Hall of Herodiana for the next week, when Professor Babbling had time in her class schedule to check the Hall of Herodiana's Rune Scheme. Just around the corner from the Hall of Herodiana were a series of administrative and office rooms, some of which hadn't been used for centuries.

It was in one of these rooms, one of the more recently used ones, that Lockhart had set up his office. He'd refused to use the one that Quirell had last year out of some combination of Ego and Principle. After all, who knows what sort of nasty surprises might have been left behind by the man who was literally possessed by the Spirit of Lord Voldemort? Had that been how Lockhart had phrased it, I probably would have had less of an issue. However, he had just complained about hand-me-down offices, at which point Headmaster Dumbledore had apparently told him about this group of offices near the Hall of Herodiana. I'd overheard the story after eavesdropping on a conversation between Snape and Professor McGonagall at dinner early in the term.

At any rate, the Office Lockhart had chosen had last been used by Professor Galatea Merrythought, a witch who had taught Defense at Hogwarts in the Thirties before retiring to a cottage out in Devon in August of nineteen-forty-five, where she died two days before the end of that same year. If I recalled correctly, Professor Merrythought had retired the same year that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened the First Time. Whether that was the universe having some kind of sense of dramatic irony or just random chance, I'm not sure. Regardless, it was here that I'd been standing and waiting, trying to catch Lockhart doing something bad, for the past several nights, to no real effect.

I had been hiding under my Family Concealment Cloak, using Sona Inferior to muffle sound and Snape's Scent Neutralizing Potion to get rid of my scent, standing here outside Lockhart's office every night for the past two weeks from after dinner till just after midnight, trying desperately to catch Lockhart in the act of making someone his thrall. It hadn't really given me any real insight, unfortunately. Usually, Lockhart left just after midnight and headed straight to his room in the Faculty Quarters. This whole thing had so far been a complete and total bust, and I had nothing to show for my nightly stakeouts thus far.

I was honestly tempted to call it off early and just hope to catch Lockhart in the middle of a crime elsewhere when the door to Lockhart's Office opened. That was interesting. By my count, it was only just past eleven. Lockhart usually had another hour to go, stuck in his office, before he left. This might just be my shot at catching him doing something. As he exited his Office, he headed down the hall to a nearby room. I slipped in after him while the door was closing, only to find that he had entered a bathroom. That made sense for why he had left his office early. I suppressed the urge to groan, as I knew that might just give away my position, Sona Inferior Spell dampening sound or not.

Interestingly, as Lockhart finished up answering the call of nature, he reached into his periwinkle blue vest and pulled out a silver pocketwatch with bronze engraving. Flipping the cover open, Lockhart checked the time before frowning. Swearing under his breath, Lockhart shut the cover of his pocket watch, buttoned up the fly on his trousers, and turned to head out of the bathroom with a purpose. He clearly seemed to be late for some kind of rendezvous, which I couldn't think of any reason he would have if he wasn't doing something bad. I slipped out of the washroom after him while the door was still swinging shut and followed.

As if to prove that this was not just another night of preparing a ridiculous curriculum for Defense that was stuffed with self-importance, Lockhart made his way back up the Office Corridor without slowing as he neared his office. Instead, he walked right past his office and down the length of the corridor, turning as he reached the corner and heading for the intersection with the Hall of Herodiana. I followed after him as he passed through the intersection, heading for the opposite corridor, which would take him past the stairway up to the Serpentine Beast Window and Professor McGonagall's Office beyond, and out into the Hogwarts Main Keep, where the Great Hall was.

I made to follow him through the intersection, getting halfway across when both he and I paused. I felt a spike of ravenous, maddened hunger with empathy erupting from the right-hand path down the intersection. Lockhart was talented enough with the Mind Arts that he must have felt the same spike of emotion that I had. Moments later, the hissing noises began, and it seemed that both Lockhart and I knew exactly what that meant, even if he couldn't understand the Hissing. I could if I used Pob Laith. As Lockhart began to run for the Main Keep, I cast the bit of Bardic Magic on myself to temporarily give me comparable power to a Parselmouth. After all, I was fairly certain that I was too well-hidden for the Basilisk to attack right now.

"Hungry! Eat Food! Eat Unworthy! Just As Mistress Said! Then Return to Mistress!" Ranted the voice, which was sibilant, like that of a Serpent, but also lacked the drawn-out S-Sounds you would expect.

The reason why became clear shortly afterward. This was not the Basilisk that Rowling had written of the first time around, but something far more folkloric. A Rooster's Coxcomb crowned a serpentine head, which topped a snake-like neck that trailed down into a single coil, interrupted by twin, clawed legs. The maw of the beast was filled with needle-sharp teeth, but also tipped by a solid, beaklike structure. Sizzling green liquid dripped from the open maw, hissing as it scorched the flagstones of the floor before fading out, the acrid venom of a Basilisk being one of the deadliest toxins in the wizarding world. I didn't dare look to see if it had the fiery eyes that were described in various beastiaries and textbooks, though. I didn't want to chance petrification, or worse, death.

Unfortunately for me, the long forked tongue flicked out of the Basilisk's needle-filled, beaked maw as it tasted the air. It paused as it did so, and I frowned at that. Shit, couldn't serpents sense heat or something? Why had I forgotten about that? It was a stupid lapse in judgment, especially considering all the other things I'd had to do to add to the protection of my concealment cloak in order to be truly sneaky. Unfortunately, the only way out of the Hogwarts Turis Magnus right now was blocked by the titanic coils of the Basilisk. The only way I could run now would take me through the Hall of Herodiana.

"Meat Close By! Come Out Meat! Want To Eat You!" Snarled the Basilisk, looking about as it tried to pinpoint my location with flicks of its tongue.

Now that I thought about it. The Hall of Herodiana might not actually be such a bad place to run. I knew the Banishing Charm thanks to the Cross-House Study Group, after all. I could banish the Shockwave Targets at the Basilisk until somebody arrived, hopefully keeping it off balance long enough for help to come. Maybe that would even give me a chance to slip past the damned thing and make a break for it? It was worth a shot and apparently my only chance, to boot. As the Basilisk's head began to turn toward me, I spun about and took off down the left-hand Corridor toward the Hall of Herodiana.

"Meat Runs! I Chase!" Exclaimed the Basilisk as it launched itself after me.

As I ran, I flicked my wrist, my wand popping out of the spring-loaded wrist holster and into my right hand, even as I pulled a Potion of Gytrash Speed out of my Mokeskin Pouch, pulling the cork out with my teeth and downing the vial. The extra speed kicked in right away, and as I put the now-empty vial and cork back into my Mokeskin Pouch, I picked up speed. Previously, the Basilisk had been fast enough to start catching up, but now we were more even in terms of speed. It was still faster than I was, and catching up, even if it was catching up more slowly than before. I would have to find a way to slow down the Basilisk fast, or this would be the last adventure I ever took part in! Fortunately, the entrance to the Hall of Herodiana loomed large up ahead and might give me just what I needed.

I bolted through the entrance to the Hall of Herodiana next, dropping to my knees and sliding under the sudden shape of a stone cube etched with runes that materialized in front of me. As I skidded underneath the Shockwave Target that had just materialized, the Basilisk entered the Hall of Herodiana after me. I popped up and, with a shout of 'Depulso!' and a quick wand motion, cast the Banishing Charm at the Shockwave Target. The Rune-Etched Stone Cube was flung away from me and right into the open maw of the Basilisk, exploding in a shockwave that staggered the Basilisk. I didn't stop there, banishing three more Shockwave Targets at the Basilisk in quick succession, pummeling it with shockwaves of magic and kinetic force, and finally knocking the Basilisk over.

"Annoying! Will Leave! Wait Outside Burrow! Meat Must Exit Sometime!" Roared the Basilisk, turning and slithering back out of the Hall of Herodiana to wait for me outside.

I frowned at that, realizing the Basilisk was right. I couldn't live my entire life in the Hall of Herodiana. I would have to leave at some point, and now that it had my Heat Signature, it would be able to more easily locate me if I tried to slip past it using my Family Concealment Cloak, Sona Inferior, and Snape's Scent Neutralization Potion. If I wanted to regain my Stealth Edge, I was going to need to figure out a way to avoid giving off any heat in the infrared spectrum, not that Wizards knew what Infrared was or even that it had a Spectrum. However, there had to be some sort of Beast Hunter Spell or Trick that could do it. After all, Basilisks were far from the only dangerous serpentine magical beast that drew hunts.

That was something for later, though. Right now, I need to figure out a way out of this predicament. As far as I was aware, the only way in or out of the Hall of Herodiana currently had a Basilisk guarding it. I either had to figure out another way out of here or somehow get ready to fight the Basilisk. The latter option wasn't feasible right now, which left trying to figure out a way out of here as the only other solution. Was that even viable, though? Maybe I could wait in here until the Basilisk got bored and slithered away? No, what were the odds of that happening when it knew it had its prey cornered? Probably slim to none, now that I thought about it.

Just as it began to look like my only shot was hoping that a professor would come along to drive off the Basilisk, I caught a whiff of something rank wafting toward me as I paced around the Hall of Herodiana. Frowning, I sniffed, following the stench, which led me to an otherwise bare and unremarkable section of wall. A swift Revelio charm put paid to the illusion of a blank wall, revealing a doorway through which the smell was wafting. Looking through the doorway revealed a vaulted corridor with blue, white, and green-tiled floors. The corridor stank to both High Heaven and Holy Hell, but it was currently my only viable option to escape the Basilisk.

"Here goes nothing." I muttered, plunging into the corridor.

After fifteen minutes of twists and turns through the corridor, burning any hair that may have existed in my nostrils before this point while practically causing me to throw up at a couple of different points from the stench, I finally made it out of a doorway crusted in discolored, greenish slime and onto what seemed to be the Seventh Floor. From here, I knew I could take the Detention Escape Route Staircase down to a hidden passage in the Dungeons concealed in the alcove behind the Sleeping Dragon Statue. From there, I had a straight shot to the Slytherin Common Room. I think I'd had enough of an adventure for one evening, after all.

Twenty minutes later, I had made it back down to the Dungeons, clambering over the statue of the sleeping dragon that sat in an alcove near the main entrance to the Hogwarts Dungeons. Five minutes later, I had made my way through the dungeons to the Slytherin Common Room, coming to the blank stone wall where I was supposed to give the Password. Fortunately, the Password hadn't yet changed, as we were still around ten minutes shy of midnight, though even if it had, I had gone ahead and retrieved the next password using a silver point, as well.

"Vert, A Serpent Argent." I recited.

The wall slid away to reveal the Slytherin Common Room at that. The password had been the Heraldic Terms for the Slytherin Crest, after all. Tomorrow's would have been the words 'Serpens Venenum', Latin for Snake Venom. As I entered the Slytherin Common Room, I headed for my Dorm Room to grab a towel before heading for the Boys' Showers to take a long, hot shower. It wound up taking me three cycles of soap and rinse to get the stink off me, but I managed. Then, I headed back to my Dorm, downing my Bluemoon Grass Elixir and heading off to bed.

Unfortunately, when I woke the next morning, I would find out that the Basilisk hadn't waited for me outside the Hall of Herodiana all night. The Student Body was abuzz with the news, even at the late hour that I got breakfast at in order to avoid being divebombed by Post Owls. It turned out that while I was sleeping, the Basilisk had gotten bored and decided to find another victim. This time, it managed to get its mark. Another Ravenclaw, Lisa Turpin, one of Hermione's Friends, had been Petrified, and I had used the only dose of Mandrake Restorative Solution I had managed to get on Luna last week. It seemed that the Plot for this year was finally heating up.

I could only hope that there wouldn't be too many more petrifications before I or Harry managed to solve it. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. As stated, following Lockhart at night wound up with Blaise running into and having to escape from the Basilisk. After all, he's not ready yet to actually fight Slytherin's Monster. Fortunately, he was cunning enough to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the Hall of Herodia's rune malfunctions, and then escape through the Pungent Passage, even if it did wind up making him smell like he'd just taken a bath in Stinksap. Unfortunately, the Basilisk did wind up petrifying someone else, getting bored of waiting for Blaise to try to leave the Hall of Herodia. You can bet that Blaise will be looking into a spell that diminishes heat signatures as a priority for the next potential encounter with the Basilisk.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude showing various different perspectives. It will include POV Snippets from Lockhart, the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and Harry. Then we'll be back with Blaise for another Chapter from his POV.

Stay tuned. . .