"Yeah." Sirius said quietly. "Just promise me no more basilisks."
"I promise that I will not fight any more basilisks if I can help it." Harry said.
"That's good enough." Sirius patted his back and eased away, still keeping a hand on Harry's shoulder though to ground himself.
Moody wandered over and Harry smiled at the old Auror who gave him a nod of acknowledgement. "I'm looking forward to having you in my Defence class, Potter. You did a good job with this bloody basilisk."
"I was lucky." Harry replied. "Fawkes helped me out a lot."
Moody nodded. "Luck's half the battle, lad." His magical eye swivelled and fixed on Sirius. "Black, you're as pale as a ghost. Here." He thrust his flask at him. "Take a sip and don't argue with me."
Sirius took a swig of what Harry assumed was whiskey or some other alcoholic beverage, and handed the flask back. "Thank you, sir."
"None of that 'sir' business. Haven't had the chance to say anything to you since you got cleared but I cocked it up with your arrest. Should have checked on you after Crouch hauled you off and made sure there was an interview." Moody said grimly.
"I don't blame you, Alastor." Sirius said. "I remember what the office was like back then. You were lucky if you got a minute to do the paperwork before there was another raid to go on."
"Still, it's no excuse." Moody said crisply. His magical eye suddenly swivelled towards Harry. "Where's your wand?"
Harry grinned and showed him his wrist holster.
"Good lad." Moody nodded at him. "Always remember…"
"Constant vigilance!" Sirius and Harry chorused together.
A chuckle behind them had them turning to find Remus smirking at the two of them. He ruffled Harry's hair. "I had a moment of déjà vu there. You know after every training session with Professor Moody here Sirius and James would turn up and yell 'constant vigilance' at me?"
Moody looked over at Sirius who had a hint of colour in his cheeks.
"We might have maybe sometimes done that…" Sirius allowed. "Anyway, enough about me…"
Harry exchanged an amused look with Remus at Sirius's discomfort.
"…how's Ginny?" Sirius asked as Ron and Hermione gathered back around them.
Harry sobered and awaited Remus's reply eagerly.
"With Madame Pomfrey." Remus said. "I sent a patronus message to her so she was waiting in the bathroom. She's taken Ginny to the infirmary; she thinks it was just too much for her."
"Mum and Dad tried to convince her not to come but she wouldn't hear it!" Ron confirmed, but there was relief written across his face with the news that Ginny was fine.
"It was brave of the lass to make an attempt." Moody said.
Snape gave a large snort in the background.
Remus put a hand on Sirius's arm so he wouldn't retort. "How are things going down here?" He said lowering his voice.
"Well, so far I've freaked out, Harry gave me a hug and Moody gave me some Firewhiskey." Sirius answered.
"I don't do hugs." Moody deadpanned.
They all burst out laughing at that.
"Some of us are trying to work." Snape snapped.
Sirius was prevented from retorting again by Remus who suddenly pointed at the statue of Slytherin. "Didn't the basilisk originate from the mouth of the Slytherin statue?" He began walking towards it and Sirius settled for glaring at Snape before nodding at Harry in agreement that they should follow Remus.
The others saw their direction and Bill walked over to join them. "We haven't found anything here in the outer chamber." He admitted. "Bertie, Caro and Professor Dumbledore are going over it a second time but I don't think anything's here."
"But the basilisk came out of the statue so perhaps there's something beyond it?" Remus mused out loud. He started waving his wand in a scanning spell that Harry recognised from the ring search.
Bill joined him, repeating the movements. He inhaled sharply. "There's a parseltongue ward."
"Didn't the…the diary version of Riddle say something when he called forth the basilisk?" Sirius prompted.
Harry nodded. "Should I…?"
"Just wait a moment until we've updated everyone." Bill said, walking back towards Caro.
It seemed to Harry to take forever before everyone bar the Creature Specialist team were back in front of the statue – or rather to the side in case any additional mythical beasts came out – and waiting for Harry to say the password.
"Speak to me, Slytherin! Greatest of the Hogwarts four!" Harry stated loudly. The rumbling sound of the mouth opening had Harry instinctively ducking his head, the memory of the basilisk emerging uppermost in his thoughts.
Sirius and Remus immediately moved closer to him. Hermione sneaked her hand back into his and smiled at him reassuringly as Ron hovered closer.
It took a long moment but he realised there were no sounds of slithering – nothing was coming out of the mouth.
"Right." Caro said briskly. "I'll go up and take a quick look." She transformed into a tiny sparrow and took flight.
Harry watched her wide-eyed. He'd been thinking about his animagus form ever since Minerva had agreed to allow him the same deal as his father since Sirius would actually be teaching him. He really didn't want to be a stag. He loved that his patronus was a symbol of his father but he wanted to be something different. He got 'you're so like your father' enough without adding his animagus form to it. He had toyed with the hope of canine forms – a wolf or a dog; he wouldn't mind either as both would represent his respect and affection for Sirius and Remus. He wasn't sure about cats; he didn't mind them but he remembered his days of hell with Mrs Figg too much to want to be one. He definitely didn't want to be a snake. He didn't mind snakes, basilisks aside, but he didn't like the idea of transforming into one. A bird though…to be that free…
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