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After finding the opening and a finite list of suspects, Thane committed to his hands-off approach regarding the Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets. He was still missing one piece of the puzzle, and Thane's intuition told him that single piece was something to be cautious of. No matter what angle Thane approached it from, there was no reason for a member of the Weasley family to unseal the chamber. And even if they had a reason or motivation, how would they open the chamber in the first place without being a parseltounge?
While Thane could have been proactive and investigated all of Ron's siblings, there was a chance that his sudden snooping around would cause the culprit to realize they had been discovered. How they would react was too unpredictable and certainlay not worth the risk.
But just because Thane didn't openly act didn't mean he wasn't proactive. Thane was still committed to fighting the Basilisk, not slaying it, fighting it.
If Thane wanted to wash his hands of this whole ordeal as quickly as possible, he would have gone into the chamber with a rooster whose cry was fatal to the Basilisk. But Thane didn't want to take the easy way out; in fact, he couldn't. His pride wouldn't allow it.
Thane had fully adopted his identity as a pinnacle being created by the combined souls of three god-like entities. How could he ever hold his head high if he didn't at least attempt to fight the Basilisk?
It also provided an opportunity for Thane to finally test himself against a worthy opponent. The only time Thane had truly gone all out was against the remnant soul of Voldemort that had possessed Quirrell's body, and that was before Thane had undergone his awakening ritual and discovered intrinsic magic.
But Thane didn't underestimate his opponent. Any Basilisk would have proven a deadly threat, but Slytherin himself raised this particular specimen, meaning it had to be at least a thousand years old. There was no telling what the dark wizard might have done to increase the Basilisk's longevity, which usually only lasted five hundred years. The reason why the creature's age caused Thane such concern was that all magical beasts grew stronger with age, not only because of their size and mass but because of their abilities.
The fire of a newborn dragon could barely singe wood, but a young adult could burn through all but the most potent shield charms.
For a basilisk, it was even worse as Thane had to worry about its petrifying gaze and its deadly venom, which only phoenix tears could cure, which were in very short supply.
So Thane prepared in earnest, exhausting all the knowledge he had accumulated over the last year to make sure he could at least survive his deadly encounter with the Basilisk.
However, only a few days after Thane confronted Harry, Hermione, and Ron, the Basilisk struck again. It was an inevitability that Thane had accepted and, quite honestly, couldn't care less about.
However, he was glad that the victim, Colin Creevey, was only petrified instead of killed, which was quite the oddity and even more evidence that the Basilisk was being directed. Had the beast been allowed to act on its instincts, the boy would have been devoured whole without leaving behind a trace. The attack also happened when a majority of the school was out of the castle watching the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin game.
What happened next, however, Thane never would have predicted. During Dueling Club, an elective started by Professor Lockheart, Harry ended up dueling Draco, who summoned a snake using the same charm he had challenged him to cast what seemed like an eternity ago.
Foolishly, Harry spoke to the snake, revealing himself as a Parseltongue. The rumor spread like wildfire, and before long, everyone believed that Harry was the Heir who had opened the chamber of secrets. The only thought Thane had on the matter was that he was glad it was happening to someone else this time. To make things worse, Harry was later found alone with the petrified body of Justin Finch-Fletchley and the ghost of Nearly Headless Nick.
Hearing that a ghost had also fallen victim to the Basilisk's gaze made Thane pause momentarily and consider a new method to combat the creature's lethal vision.
After its third attack, the Basilisk did not strike again, and Hogwarts let out for Winter Recess with high tensions among the student body.
It was absolutely baffling to Thane that the school continued to go about its normal schedule after two students were attacked. Or the fact that it hadn't even made the front page.
Whether or not the school was suppressing news of the attack or Wizarding Britain was that numb didn't matter to Thane. He had far more important things to concern himself with.
"Promise me that you won't fight the Basilisk without us being at School," Daphne asked as she finished packing her trunk.
"Unless it forces my hand, I have no reason to," Thane replied, sitting on the edge of their bed and watching her, "Besides, I'm mostly going to be engrossed in my projects now that I can dedicate some proper time to them."
Daphne glanced at him, and after seeing the honesty in his eyes, she sighed, "Even though I've asked time and time again, are you sure you're okay spending the Holiday alone? I'm sure Luna could convince her father to let you stay, especially with Rose already being invited."
Thane smiled, seeing Daphne's concern for him, and he walked over to kiss her on the forehead, "Don't worry about me. I can handle a few weeks by myself. Besides, this is the last Holiday I plan to spend alone...if I don't discover another ancient magical beast hunting people in our school."
Daphne smirked before pushing Thane back onto the bed, "Well then, let me make sure you remember me until I see you again."
---
After Daphne left some hours later, Thane was left in the room of requirements with a content smile on his face. Then he sighed, "I guess it's time to get to work."
With a wave of his hand, Thane transfigured the Room of Requirement, watching as the bedroom around him shifted into the workshop of a master craftsman with every type of machine and tool imaginable, ranging from mundane to magical.
In the coming weeks, Thane would use all of them more than once and hopefully not blow the entire place up.