“What’s your name?”
“You cannot pronounce it, little one.”
“Are you a ghost?”
“Cccertainly not.”
“Why can’t I see you?”
“You could.”
“Where are you?”
“In hiding, free only to travel in these walls. Ah, little one, for so long…”
“Can’t you come out?”
“I wish it dearly, child.”
“Can’t anyone… can’t I help you?”
“Sweet child.”
“Can I come back to talk to you sometime?”
“Pleassse do.”
###
“Can’t you tell me your name?”
“Little one! You came back.”
“Yeah… my name’s Harry Potter. I’m 5’1’’, actually.”
“Ah… not quite such a little one, then.”
“No. Ron’s taller than me, though. Well, most of the boys are.”
“Ron?”
“My best mate. I met him on the train in September.”
“Train?”
“Yeah, the Hogwarts Express… it’s how the students get to school.”
“In my time, they came in carriages… I have never heard of a ‘train’.”
“Oh… you must be really old then!”
“I sssuppose I am… Harry Potter.”
###
“Is it boring, being invisible all the time?”
“Harry Potter… greetingsss, child.”
“Is it?”
“I am not invisible, child… but it is better if you do not see me.”
“Why?”
“It just is.”
“I hate it when grown-ups say that.”
“I do not wish to frighten a young one such as yourself.”
“I wouldn’t be scared of you!”
“Brave child… fearless as your forefather.”
“My forefather?”
“Yesss… my master, long ago. For you to wake me, he must have been your forefather.”
“I woke you?”
“Yes, child. And I am grateful.”
###
“Are you there?”
“Well met, child!”
“Can’t you tell me your name? It seems kind of rude, calling you ‘you’ all the time.”
“My name… you cannot pronounce it, young one.”
“Try me.”
“Very well, stubborn child… my name is Aethrelic Naedrecyning.”
“Um… do you mind if I call you Cy?”
“You may call me whatever you wish… young master.”
“…”
“You awoke me, Harry Potter. I am yours to command.”
“Oh.”
“I shall serve you faithfully as I served your forefather.”
“Oh… um, thanks. Um, so, what kind of things did you do for him?”
“I accompanied him to battle, vanquished his enemies… I followed him as he wooed his love, a beautiful maiden who was so impressed with me that she escaped her evil father just to be with my master. Do you woo the ladies, Harry Potter?”
“NO!”
“Ah, a bit young for that, perhapsss… but you shall see your enemies tremble in fear of me, mark my words, young master!”
“I wish I could see you, Cy. Can’t I come visit you in your hiding place?”
“If it is your heart’s wish… there is a way to my chamber. But you must take good care, young master! Do you ride a broomstick?”
“Yeah! I play Quidditch, too! Do you know Quidditch?”
“I do not believe I do.”
“It’s so cool, it’s the best sport there is. Hey, maybe I can borrow one of Ron’s Chudley Cannons mags to show you! You’ll love it.”
“I shall look forward to it… but bring your broomstick, too, young master. You shall need it.”
“Ok, I will. Anything else I can get you, Cy?”
“Since you ask… a few pork tenderloins perhapsss… it will be a pleasant change from rats.”
###
“Welcome to my abode, Harry Potter.”
“…”
“Child?”
“… s-sorry. I kind of… I didn’t expect…”
“No apologies are needed. I am terrible to behold to the uninitiated.”
“N-no, I mean… I mean, you look… really cool, and all… I just didn’t think you’d be so big.”
“Yes, I am rather sizable even for my kind.”
“Um… what is your kind?”
“I am a basilisk, King of Serpents. My poison kills within minutes, and merely looking at me is fatal to all living things.”
“I’m looking at you.”
“You are my master. I shall never harm you, and I shall only kill those you wish me to destroy.”
“I don’t want anybody destroyed - well, maybe Malfoy… or Snape…”
“Show me the way to their lairs, and they shall be no more.”
“No, I was only joking! Just – just don’t go kill anybody, okay?”
“Your wish is my command.”
“Good. Oh - Fred and George showed me how to get to the kitchen. I brought you pork tenderloins and some trifle tart, but I guess it’s not really enough…”
“I am a magical creature, child. I can live for hundreds of years without sustenance… thisss looks fine.”
“So… why were you locked up in here, anyway?”
“It is a long story, young master, full of woe and betrayal. You may not wish to hear it.”
“Oh please, Cy, tell me!”
“As you wish…”
###
“Hey, Cy!”
“Welcome, Harry Potter.”
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
“I slept for over nine-hundred years… I am glad for every waking minute. I worry about you, young master - young snakelings need their rest, and should not roam about in the dark.”
“I know, I just wanted to see you, and I couldn’t sneak off during the day. Snape almost caught me when I climbed out of the portrait hole. Bet he was lurking in the corridor waiting for people to go out after curfew!”
“Snape, your enemy?”
“My teacher, actually… he’s the Potions Master, and he’s a right nasty git. He’s always taking points from Gryffindor, and he picks on me because… well, I don’t know. He just doesn’t like me. And he always favors the Slytherins, too.”
“Gryffindor? Ssslytherin? That was my master’s name…”
“Oh… yeah, you told me. That’s what the Hogwarts Houses are called. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. The students get sorted into one of the Houses when they start school. I’m in Gryffindor, and Snape’s Head of Slytherin. Maybe that’s why he hates me.”
“Why would he?”
“Well… Gryffindors and Slytherins don’t like each other very much. Kind of like Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.”
“Godric Gryffindor tried to kill me, once.”
“Really? Why?”
“He said I was evil…. but he was jealous, I believe, of my master’s power over me. My master left shortly after.”
“I thought he left because they had a fight over the students.”
“Yesss… but his heart was heavy with sorrow and anger even before that day. His friend – once best friend – coveting his power, seeking to destroy what was rightfully his… it embittered him. Finally he decided to leave the school… and me.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“Dear child… do not trouble yourself with things long past. Is that chicken I smell in your basket?”
“Yeah! The house elves gave me tons of food, chicken and pork and lamb chops and that trifle tart you like so much.”
“You are very generous, young master.”
“That’s okay, the house elves actually like giving food away. Try some treacle tart, it’s really good… here, I’ll toss it up-”
“Very good. Your taste is impeccable, Harry Potter.”
###
“… and then Ron made the club soar up and drop on the troll’s head, and it went down, just like that! My wand was covered in bogies when I pulled it out of its nose. But then Snape and McGonagall came and Hermione took the blame, and she’s our friend now. She’s actually kind of nice.”
“Brave young knights, rescuing a maiden at your tender age! I daresssay one of you shall reap the rewards in a few years’ time.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, time enough for that later, young master… you were very brave.”
“Thanks. But it was really mostly luck…”
“Modesty befits the inexperienced, yet do not mistake courage for luck. You fought valiantly... much like Master Slytherin did, in his time.”
“He did?”
“You sound surprised, young one.”
“Well… I thought Slytherin was cunning and ambitious, but not really, you know, brave.”
“My master chose his battles, yes, but when he fought, he showed all the courage and honor befitting one of his status.”
“Oh.”
“You look relieved, Harry Potter.”
“It’s just… at my Sorting, the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. It’s good to know that Slytherin wasn’t all evil. That’s… that’s kind of what I’ve been told.”
“And yet the blood of Slytherin courses in your veins, child… you could not have woken me, otherwise.”
“How did I wake you?”
“You spoke in your sleep… your voice woke me. You spoke of places far away, a land called Brazil, and that you wished someone good luck on his journey. You hoped he had found his way home, as you had found yours.”
“Oh. I must’ve dreamed of that day at the zoo, when I first talked to a snake. And that woke you?”
“Only the sounds of my mother tongue could have stirred me from my slumber.”
“Your mother tongue?”
“Parsel, child. You are a Parselmouth.”
###
“Cy! Cy, are you there?”
“I am here, Harry Potter.”
“Oh good! Cy, you’ve got to look at this! I got presents!”
“Tokens for a well-fought tournament?”
“No, Christmas presents! Ron’s mum made me a jumper! And I got this really cool cloak… look…”
“Where are you, young master?”
“I’m right here! See? Wicked, eh?”
“An invisibility cloak… someone must hold you very dear to bestow such a treasure upon one so young.”
“Actually, I don’t know who sent it, but the note said that it used to belong to my dad.”
“Ah, a family heirloom.”
“I guess so. It’ll be so much easier sneaking down here, now I’ve got this!”
“Be sure you are not caught, child. I do not want you to be punished by your schoolmasters.”
“Old Snape would love to get his hands on the cloak, I bet… but I’ll take care, don’t worry. Oh – merry Christmas, Cy! I got you this. Wait, I’ve got to put a charm on it… Engorgio maxima!”
“…”
“D’you like it? I put a cushion in it, and all. I thought you might like a basket better than the stone floor down here.”
“A basket…”
“Yeah! You can curl up in it when you go to sleep! Mrs. Figg, my old babysitter, had tons of them for her cats. I got this one per owl order, I hope it’s large enough with the charm on it. D’you like it?”
“It is a very thoughtful gift. Thank you, young master.”
“That’s okay. You know, it’s really nice, celebrating Christmas here at school. I never used to like Christmas, but I do now! I just wish you didn’t have to stay down here by yourself all the time…”
“I am used to solitude, child… and I do have free reign of the castle’s pipes.”
“Yeah... I just wish I could introduce you to my friends.”
“I would be glad to meet them, Harry Potter… and yet I fear I would frighten them.”
“They’re not-”
“Remember, child, that I could not speak to them. And the sight of me caused far older and wiser wizards to run in terror.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right… and you know, it’s actually kind of nice, having you to myself.”
###
“You look troubled, young master.”
“It’s just… I can’t believe what a git Snape is! Do you know what he did today?”
“Pray tell.”
“First he gave Neville detention, just because something went wrong with his potion – and then he took 20 points from Gryffindor when I told him that he was being unfair! He’s just – there’s no way you can argue with him, all he ever says in return is ‘ten points from Gryffindor, Potter, do try not to be such an annoying brat, Potter, you’re just like your father, Potter’… what? What’s funny?”
“Forgive me, young master… you do have an amusing gift for imitation.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not hard imitating him, all you’ve got to do is slick your hair down and talk like you’ve swallowed a dictionary… anyway, I sort of glared at him after that, and he said he wasn’t going to take any cheek from us Gryffindor dunderheads, and then he assigned us extra homework! Just us, not the Slytherins!”
“He does seem to be a very strict schoolmaster…”
“Very unfair, more like! I bet he’s the worst teacher Hogwarts ever had!”
“Perhaps not the very worst… Lady Hufflepuff dismissed a junior teacher once when she found that he had installed a pillory in the classroom…”
“Oh.”
“What is the task your schoolmaster set you? Perhaps you can win his favor by completing it to his satisfaction.”
“Like that’s going to happen! Snape’s never happy, no matter how long I spend on an essay. Anyway, this time we’ve got to collect some hard-to-find potions ingredient and bring it to the next lesson. He said we’re always wasting his ingredients, and he wants us to realize how much bother it is to collect them.”
“In that case, you are fortunate to have one of the rarest potions ingredients at your free disposal.”
“What?”
“Oh yesss, child… basilisk venom was highly prized even a thousand years ago, and I daresay there are even fewer of my kind left these days. I am sure Master Snape will be most impressed if you present him with a flask filled with my deadly poison.”
“Cy… that’s brilliant! Could I? I mean…”
“I would certainly be willing to donate a toothful or two for the occasion.”
“Thank you, Cy, you’re the best! Snape’s going to have to give points to Gryffindor for that, and he’ll hate it! Oh, I can’t wait to see his face – and Malfoy’s, too!”
“I wish you the best of luck, young master.”
###
“It’s astounding, Potter, that you would carry your imbecile prank as far as this… first you show up with some charmed concoction and have the audacity to claim that it’s the rarest venom in existence… and now you drag me into a girl’s lavatory for some juvenile game of hide-and-seek! Really, Potter, your father was no stranger to idiotic stunts, but even he – what are you doing, boy?”
“It’s how you open the secret entrance… I’ve got to say something in Parseltongue. Open!”
“Potter, if you are entertaining even the slightest notion that I will fall for your attempt at – aaahh!”
“You can share my broom, sir. It’s too far down to jump.”
###
“She’s in there, sir.”
“Potter, I don’t know how you found this place and how many rules you broke in doing so, but surely you’re not expecting me to believe that there is a live basilisk behind this door.”
“I told you! She was Salazar Slytherin’s familiar, and he left her behind to guard the school. She’s been asleep for a thousand years, and I woke her when I talked Parsel in my sleep. She – she said she’s my familiar, now.”
“How you can tell such lies without blushing is a mystery to me, boy. Salazar Slytherin’s familiar, indeed!”
“D’you want me to open the door, sir?”
“Potter-”
“You don’t have to be afraid. She only kills if I tell her to. And I won’t.”
“A great relief, I’m sure. Now open this door and let’s get this farce over with.”
“Okay…”
###
“Cy! Cy, are you there?”
“Potter, no amount of hissing and sputtering on your part will convince me that you are actually speaking-”
“Harry Potter! Welcome, child.”
“Cy, I’ve brought someone along, it’s Snape, he – Professor? Professor Snape?”
“I believe he is hiding behind the stone columns, young master.”
“Oh! Professor, you can come out, she won’t hurt you!”
“Potter, are you mad? That is a basilisk, you brainless child! The most deadly creature ever known to wizardkind!”
“But Cy’s really nice, sir! I’ve been coming down here for months, and she never tried to bite me or anything!”
“Please, young master, convey my most humble greetings to your schoolmaster, and tell him that I swear on my honor not to harm him.”
“Cy says hello, sir, and she promises not to kill you when you come out!”
“Potter… you’ll be giving me gray hair before the term is over…”
“Please come out, Professor!”
“Very well… I must be mad to do this…”
“Cy, this is Professor Snape. Professor Snape, this is… well, I can’t pronounce her real name, so I just call her Cy.”
“Greetings, honorable master of Hogwartsss.”
“She says hello, sir.”
“I had guessed as much, Potter, if you – POTTER!”
“Y-yes, sir?”
“Are these – are these Slytherin’s chambers? His secret hide-out?”
“I – I guess so- are you alright, Professor?”
“I… Potter! If you really can communicate with this creature, ask her if she knows where Slytherin hid his documents… his manuscripts…”
“Uh… okay… Cy, Snape wants to know if Slytherin hid some stuff in here… some papers or something…”
“Cccertainly. He would have been pleasssed to know that they are given into worthy hands… if you press the second rune carved into the far wall, a secret storage chamber opens where my master preserved his most treasured writings on potions.”
“Professor, Cy says there’s a secret room in the wall where Slytherin hid some of his old potions stuff – Professor??”
“I believe he has fainted, child.”
###
“Isn’t this brilliant, Cy? I bet you’re glad to get out of those underground tunnels.”
“Yesss… I admit it is pleasant, basking in the sun after so many centuries of darkness. It is very kind of your friend Hagrid to give me my own corner of the grounds.”
“Snape convinced him. Not that he needed much convincing, mind – he loves mons-, I mean, dangerous creatures. I bet he’ll be coming by every day to feed you rock cakes.”
“Master Sssnape is very generous. To create a heated cave for me to live in…”
“He was over the moon about those potions documents. Seems they’re really famous or something, and no one knew where they’d been hidden.”
“My master would have been pleased to see them in the hands of one so worthy.”
“He’s been a lot nicer to me, lately. I’m the only one who can ask you to give him more venom, after all…”
“I am sure he will come to appreciate you for more than that, child.”
“And do you know the coolest thing? Snape told Dumbledore that he really needs your poison and scales and stuff for his summer experiments, so I get to stay here to translate for him! I never have to go back to the Dursleys!”
“I am glad to hear it. I would have missed you, little one.”
“Me too, Cy. Can I bring my friends, next time I visit? They were kind of mad that I didn’t tell them about you earlier, and they really want to meet you.”
“Pleassse do. I shall enjoy the company.”
“Oh, and Cy?”
“Yesss?”
“You’ll tell me when those eggs hatch, right? Cause I’d really like to be there when they do.”
“You will be the first to know.”