Sirius POV
The summons came sooner than I thought it would. Lucius had done his part, convincing the Board of Governors to quietly file the request through Gringotts. The Basilisk wasn't a secret anymore, at least not to those who mattered, and the school was willing to pay for its removal rather than risk the Ministry poking their long crooked noses into Hogwarts. Which meant the goblins, Newt, Remus, and me were going down to deal with it.
What I hated was that as much as I wanted to keep her out of it, Cinthy had to be involved.
She could speak to snakes, thanks to that Potter gift of beast-speak, and that meant she could hear what the rest of us couldn't. Without her, we might not even be able to find the entrance.
So we brought her to the dingy, water-stained bathroom haunted by Moaning Myrtle. She hovered near me, wrinkling her nose as Narcissa fussed with her cloak. "Dad, it smells like something died in here."
"Something did," Myrtle sniffed from her stall, drifting out with her usual wail.
"Don't encourage her," I muttered, but Cinthy's lips twitched anyway. She stepped closer to the old sink with the tiny snake carved into the tap.
"Alright, Princess," I said softly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Go on then. Let's see if the stories are true."
She bent forward towards the basin laid her fingertips on the carved snake, her lips shaping the word in Parseltongue, I could hear but not understand. Open.
Stone ground against stone as the sink shuddered and folded back, revealing a yawning shaft that slanted steeply into darkness. It wasn't a straight drop it looked more like a slide slick with slime and moss.
"Well, that looks inviting," Remus muttered dryly.
Newt peered down with a sort of professional curiosity, already tugging a flame jar from his satchel.
I turned to Cinthy. "This is the part where you stay put. We'll handle what's down there."
She scowled, but Narcissa laid a hand on her arm. "Listen to your father. You'll stay up here with me, and I'll hear no arguments about it otherwise."
I nodded towards her once, then gripped my wand tighter and slid into the shaft. Remus, Newt, Lucius, and the goblins followed, one after the other, until we all spilled out into a cavernous tunnel that stank of death. Bones littered the floor... animal skeletons that had cracked and splintered, piles of feathers, all along with the long papery shed skin of a serpent thicker around than the night but was long.
"Bloody hell," I muttered, kicking a skull aside. "She's grown a lot while being left down here unchecked."
We pressed on, our footsteps echoing off the walls. The tunnel wound deeper as the air grew heavier with the pulse of old magic. Then we came to a set of massive stone doors carved with intertwined serpents.
Remus tried a dozen unlocking charms. Newt even pressed his hand to the seam, whispering a guess or two about creature wards. But nothing seemed to work, all it did was make the snakes etched into the stone hiss at us mockingly.
"It needs Parseltongue," I realized grimly.
"Which means we need your daughter," Lucius said, his face pale in the torchlight.
I grimaced, then reluctantly lifted my wand and conjured my Patronus. The great silver dog bounded up the tunnel, carrying the message to Narcissa and Cinthy.
It wasn't long before Narcissa appeared, sliding down the shaft with Cinthy clutched tight against her. My girl shook herself off and gave me that look that said I told you so.
"There is a second door," I said roughly. "It won't open without you."
Cinthy stepped forward right as Fawkes flashed into existence in a burst of golden light as if he'd been waiting for her all along. The phoenix landed near her shoulder, his song filling the tunnel and steadying her breath.
"Go on, Princess."
Her lips moved as the Parseltongue spilled from them once again. Open.
The serpents slithered apart, the stone groaning, until the great doors rumbled wide open granting us entry.
"Stay here with your aunt," I ordered. "Don't move."
Narcissa drew her wand as she stood like a wall between my daughter and the cavernous chamber just beyond the doors.
The rest of us stepped inside.
The Chamber was massive, lined with towering stone columns carved with coiling serpents. At the far end loomed Salazar Slytherin's statue, gaunt and looming, his beard flowing like stone waterfalls.
A low hiss vibrated through the air accompanied by the sound of scales scraping against the stone floor.
That's when we saw it.
The Basilisk uncoiled from the shadows beneath the statue, its body thicker than the Hogwarts Express, its eyes glowing faintly green in the darkness.
"Visors down!" Newt barked, slapping enchanted plates over his goggles. We all mirrored the move... the goblins pulling theirs into place, Lucius transfigured his into spectacles, Remus flipping the guard over his own lenses. Anything to keep the beast's gaze from killing us outright.
The fight was chaos from the start.
The goblins spread in a wedge, holding nets flashing with runes as they tried to snare the serpent's head. Newt hurled jars of bluebell fire, cold flames clinging to its scales and forcing it to rear back with a shriek that rattled my bones. Remus cast ward afterward, holding the ceiling from collapsing as the creature smashed against it. Lucius slashed with his wand, conjuring spears of stone that shattered against its hide.
All while I ran straight at the bastard.
"Come on then!" I roared, blasting hex after hex into its chest, driving it back. Remus snapped a shield up in front of me just in time to catch a spray of shattered rock, but I didn't slow.
The serpent reared as Fawkes dove from above, a streak of gold and fire. Talons raked across its face and his beak gouging at one glowing eye until it burst. The Basilisk thrashed, now blinded on one side, hissing a scream that shook my teeth.
"Hold it!" Kharzug the lead goblin barked, his voice sharp as steel. Their nets flared, biting into the serpent's throat. The goblins dug in, chanting binding runes that seared into the snake's scales as they chanted together. Sparks hissed and popped as the serpent strained its muscles rolling like living iron beneath its hide.
It wasn't enough though. The Basilisk surged forward, its jaws wide open in an attempt to swallow us hole.
I kicked off a broken slab and shouted, "Ascendio!" The spell flung me high, landing me on the taut net lines. I jammed my wand between its scales, and bellowed, "Bombarda!"
The force split bone and flesh with a thundercrack. The Basilisk shrieked, the sound echoing like the chamber itself was tearing apart. Fawkes struck again, driving his beak into the remaining eye, leaving it thrashing and blind.
Lucius roared his own spell, sending a wave of cursed fire ripping across its belly. Remus tightened the wards until the creature shuddered and finally collapsed, its body crashing against the statue of Slytherin with an echo that shook the Chamber.
Silence fell in the wake of its death, leaving only the crackle of dying flames.
The goblins wasted no time in harvesting what they were promised. They were already setting up their vessels to collect their prized venom. Newt wiped blood from his face, eyes shining with grim satisfaction. Even if he normally fought to protect creatures, he knew better than to mess with trying to tame a Basilisk. Especially one that had killed before.
I staggered back toward the door, my chest heaving, and found Cinthy waiting with Narcissa's arm firm around her shoulders. Fawkes perched beside her, crooning.
"It's done," I rasped, though my voice shook. "It's over."
Her arms wrapped around me before I could even blink, and her face pressed into my chest. I held her tighter than I'd admit to, trembling with the relief of still having her safe.
We emerged from Myrtle's bathroom not long after, dragging ourselves back into the world of flickering torches and polished stone. Students were streaming past us toward the Great Hall for dinner, but when they saw us, they stopped.
It was when Draco Malfoy spotted his parents, pale and bloodstained, stepping out of the girl's bathroom with me, Remus, and Newt at their side, that he froze.
"Mother? Father?" His voice cracked across the hall. The Slytherins behind him stopped dead, their faces draining of color as the whispers spread.
Lucius adjusted his ruined cuffs with icy composure and said, "The Basilisk that haunted this school is dead. The board and I decided to hire a goblin task force to kill it. I joined them along with Lord Black, Remus Lupin, Newt Scamander and the goblins, we descended into its nest with the help of Hyacinth Potter. Thanks to us and her bravery your lives are no longer in danger."
The entire corridor went silent. Then the shock spread like wildfire, Slytherins paling, Ravenclaws gawking, even a few Gryffindors stumbling back while the Hufflepuffs just cheered.
I just tightened my arm around Cinthy's shoulders and steered her away, ignoring the ripple of voices rising behind us. Let them talk. Let the whole bloody castle talk.
"One monster down," I said. "And only one shard left."
Remus tipped his head back and closed his eyes for a second before he said. "Then we're finished."
"Then we can finally leave this place," I said, thinking of the stars and a city that waited. "And not a day too soon."