Chapter 20. The Snake in the midst
She snarled, flinging a bolt of lightning at him.
Chaos didn't even twitch and the lightning vanished into nothing. The clap of thunder uselessly boomed around them, signifying how futile her attempt was. He remained seated on the edge of her bed with the same lazy smile still etched on his face.
Undeterred and unrelenting, she snapped her hands in front of her and closed her fingers into a fist. Dozens of silver spears formed above her before shooting towards the strongest being in existence.
The Creator did not move and the silver projectiles vaporised before they could touch him.
"Enough, Voldemort. Cease your temper tantrum. I am not here to hurt you. If I wanted you dead, you would be dead." He smiled. Not a pleasant one. It was a poor caricature of a smile, like the ones sadistic psychopaths give their pets before butchering and maiming them for fun.
Even though she wanted nothing more than to destroy this monster, she knew her limits. Taking a calming breath, she stood straight and crossed her arms behind her back in a regal pose. She did not let his lecherous gaze on her naked figure make her feel uncomfortable. She was Voldemort, not some shy teenage maiden. That didn't mean she would give him a free show though. The only one who was allowed to see and touch her beautiful form was her husband. She twirled her wrist and a black robe covered her nude body.
Her red eyes were narrowed in clear anger and her lips were pulled in a frank show of derision.
"Sssay what you are here for and then remove yourssself from this cassstle." She hissed, her parseltongue slipping in due to her fury.
"A feisty one, I see. Hmm, should I enslave you for my pleasure? You will make a fine sex slave. It will be fun to break you. But nah, the ongoing game will be spoiled without you in it. Saved from me because of the plot armour, what a lucky woman you are." Chaos thought out loud as if he was thinking about the weather and not of obliterating someone.
Voldemort stiffened and fear grew in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't stupid enough to think she could escape him. He was an omniscient being. He knew everything and everywhere. She wasn't even sure if her own thoughts were secure inside her head.
"No, they are not." A whisper made her jump. She whirled around, her hand pointed at him and already glowing with fire.
'How did he get behind me!' She thought with her heart beating like a drum, she stifled the temptation to throw the fireball at his face.
"Oh, I would like to get behind you, if you know what I mean and don't bother with the fire, it won't work. As for how I appeared behind you? I am God, duh. When will people stop underestimating me? How stupid can you be? The title God should tell you all you need to know about me. It's not a bluff, but a literal title. I am the God with capital G." Chaos sighed, shaking his head at her stupidity.
"Why are you here?" She asked cautiously and in a subdued manner, ignoring his rant. It was hard not to feel hopeless when your enemy was undefeatable. She reluctantly walked back and sat down on the bed.
"To give you an offer, of course." He grinned suddenly, dropping his annoyed mood. His mood swings were enough to give her a migraine. She might actually have one after the conclusion of their conversation.
He conjured a chair and took a seat in front of her.
"Why would you give me an offer?" she asked sceptically.
"To spice things up, obviously. I just can't stand your lovey-dovey romance with your male counterpart. It's sickeningly sweet. I am here to liberate you from your blissful ignorance with the cold truth."
She chuckled icily, glowering at him. "No need, your highness. My husband told me the entire truth. If that was what you came here for then you may show yourself out."
"The entire truth? Really? Wow, I never knew Dark Lords were supposed to be honest people. Then again what can I say? It's not like I am some all-knowing God or anything?" That was his sardonic response.
Her eyes widened before they narrowed again. "What do you mean? Are you accusing my husband of lying?"
"Well, not lying, but just not telling you the whole truth. Indeed, all he said was the truth. Yes, you are half of his soul given consciousness. Yes, I have imprisoned you both in here. Voldemort inside this castle and you in this room. But did he tell you that your wedding ring is charmed?" He asked with a barely suppressed smirk.
"Charmed for what?"
"Charmed to make you love him. Charmed to keep you loyal to him."
She froze in horror before shaking her head, giving him the most venomous glare she could muster. "You lie. My love for him isn't tampered with magic. He wouldn't do that to me. Our love is genuine."
"Is it? Why don't you test it? Why not remove your ring and see if you still feel the same." He goaded with an infuriating smile. "You are really such a naive woman. He is a paranoid Dark Lord. He branded his own followers so they couldn't betray him. He split his soul and created horcruxes so if someone did betray him and he died then he would still be able to come back. He doesn't even go out of this castle knowing that he is almost unkillable in here. Now, do you really think that he is above manipulating your emotions to get what he wants?"
"What do you mean by he doesn't even go out? He can't because you imprisoned us and because he was spending all his time trying to find a way to free me from this room." She replied tartly, focussing on this instead of on his other world-changing observations. She wouldn't know what to do if his accusations held true.
"That's just an excuse. Honestly, he is just a paranoid shut-in recluse. While he can't step out directly, he can still use other methods to venture out. But the problem is that without his horcruxes to fall back onto, he is frightened to go into the outside world. He is a scaredy cat who is afraid of death and betrayal. And you changed the topic, child. Let me see your genuine love for him. Take out your ring. Do it."
"What is your offer?" She asked instead, unsubtly changing the topic again, still not heeding his order to remove the ring.
He gave her a bland look, aware of her desperate denials. "Really? Fine. I offer you freedom. You should know this already, but I am pretty sure your husband forgot to mention the only way you can leave this prison."
She gaped at him with wide eyes. "I can get out of here? There is a way to achieve my freedom?"
"Yes. You just have to kill him."
And immediately her excitement vanished. "Never. I won't hurt him."
At that exact moment, Voldemort himself entered the room and stilled at the sight of Chaos.
"What's going on here?" He asked in a threatening voice and pulled out his wand. Though it wasn't difficult to detect the fear in his crimson eyes.
"Stop and freeze." Chaos sighed in annoyance. Voldemort's body stopped following his will and he stood there helpless and stationary.
"Take out your ring and see if you still love him." Chaos whispered softly. It wasn't a suggestion, but a threat and she knew it. With trembling fingers, she took out her silver ring and put it on the bed.
Immediately, her hatred for her husband reached heavens. She growled angrily, a thick killing intent surrounding them, and sprang out of the bed.
"Here, take this knife. You might want to use it." Chaos offered with an innocent smile. She scowled, but did take the knife.
She then prowled up to her husband and stared at him.
"Why?" She asked, deeply hurt by his betrayal. "Why didn't you trust me?"
'I am sorry.' He somehow was able to convey just from the look in his eyes. Even though he was at risk of dying, the prominent emotion in his eyes wasn't fear. It was regret. She stared at him mournfully before doing something unexpected.
She threw her arms around him, crushing him in a tight hug and kissed him passionately. When she pulled back, she couldn't help, but smirk at his bamboozled expression. It was nice seeing his unflappable expression crumbling into disbelief.
She turned around and launched the knife at Chaos.
The Creator simply tilted his head, letting the blade soar past him. He rolled his eyes at her irritated expression. "Omniscient."
"I still feel the same about him. Our love is genuine. If you are done playing with us then go back to whatever hell you crawled out from. Fuck off!" She said proudly.
Instead of showing dejection or anger, he just smiled slyly and nodded at her. "Good."
A microsecond later, there were only two people left in the room.
"I am sorry." Voldemort sighed when he got his body back in control. But in return he just got a slap to his face.
"Get out! I don't want to see you anytime soon." She yelled, finally letting tears spill from her eyes when she was sure their captor wasn't physically there to enjoy their fight. Voldemort nodded silently and went back to the throne room, closing the secret passage behind him to give her some alone time.
~xXxXx~
"Harry!" Astoria groaned, glaring at him. "You are staring at me."
Harry stifled a smirk and shook his head. "I am not."
They both were in a small unused classroom. It was bereft of any furniture and was totally empty. There were two large windows looking out towards the Quidditch pitch and there was also this bookish musty smell which Harry couldn't decide if it was good or gross.
This was his first teaching session, but he couldn't take it seriously when Astoria was dressed like that.
She was wearing a white crop top and denim shorts. That could be passable if worn with a good warming charm.
While it wasn't winter yet, Scotland was Scotland. It was cool enough to require an extra layer. So, the summer look was the first thing which had made him arch his eyebrows. Then he saw her thigh high boots and the black hat. Even those hadn't been too unbelievable. The summer had just ended after all. It was fine if she was still in that mood. It was the round goggly spectacles that did it.
He had laughed out loud when he first saw her in the glasses. It was hard not to when the little menace looked like a cute bookworm. A cute bookworm with a questionable choice in clothes.
"Don't laugh!" She mumbled, pulling down the brim of the hat, trying to hide her embarrassed face. They both were standing in the centre of the room, inspecting their surroundings, but Harry's gaze always ended up stopping at her ridiculous outfit.
"I am sorry, Tori. But what were you thinking? Did you expect us to go on a hike or something? Or a picnic perhaps? And what is with the glasses? As far as I know you don't need it."
"I thought you would at least have the decency to choose a scenic view for your first class. Maybe the lakeside or some small meadow in the forest. But here we are in an empty classroom. How cliche. As for the specs, I thought it would make me look the part. Ginny agreed."
"Fine. Let's go to the lake. It isn't sunny today, but the weather is good enough." Harry smiled, quietly agreeing that the glasses did make her look the part. The part of a stupid clown that is.
Her face brightened up and she looked ecstatic.
"Great. Just let me throw these glasses away and it will be a date!" Astoria grinned and lobbed her spectacles through the window.
Well, there goes the clown glasses, he thought with wry amusement.
"No, young lady. We will just study and no stupid business." Harry said sternly, tapping her forehead playfully with his finger, not being able to get annoyed at her doggedness. Seriously, this girl was either determination personified or incredibly shameless. Maybe both. Not that Harry had any problem with that.
"Fine. It was worth a try though." She shrugged. "Let's go."
"Before that. Take this. It is cold outside." He said, taking off his outer robe and draping it on her shoulders. And he didn't miss the chance to roll the hat over her head.
"I am fine!" She protested, but didn't give his robe back, instead opting to wear it happily with a shy smile. Though she did send him an annoyed look for messing with her hat. But it made her realise how stupid she must look with the hat on. Why had she even worn a hat again? She forgot. She took it off and heaved it through the window.
Great, now even the clown hat was gone, he thought exasperatedly.
"Right. Let's go now." He said, hiding his own smile, fighting against the urge to pinch her red cheeks and yell about her adorableness. She nodded enthusiastically and latched onto his hand as they walked out of the castle.
~xXxXx~
"You don't have to focus that much. That doesn't mean you have to slouch though. Oh come on, don't be so stiff. Relax a little. Hey, no slouching."
"Oh fuck off! Do you even know what you are saying?" Astoria yelled annoyedly.
They were both sitting on a blanket spread on the grassy ground, under the huge tree beside the lake.
"No swearing in my class, Tori. Or, I will punish you." Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. It wasn't easy keeping Astoria's attention and interest in studies. Her attention span was smaller than the size of his pinky finger.
"Oh, really? What will you do? Spank me?" She challenged him with a contemptuous look. She was fed up with his vague instructions. And he had the gall to look at her as if she was stupid or something. She wasn't a fucking nincompoop damn it.
"That does look inevitable with each passing second."
"Ooh! Kinky. Come on, spank me daddy!" She smirked bitingly, flipping him off.
Harry's patience disappeared, and he fired a tickling charm at her so swiftly that she didn't even understand what happened. She fell back on the blanket.
"Wah– ah hahahaha– stop I am sorry– hahahahah– please– I am– hahahaha– sorry."
She was rolling from side to side, clutching her stomach and laughing uproariously.
"I don't care what nasty books you have read to devolve your mind into a gutter. But spare me from the details or your swearings. I don't want to waste my time on a disrespectful brat. I have many other important things to do than babysit you. Do you understand, Astoria?" This time there was no hint of mirth in his voice. He wasn't joking when he said he had other things to do. He could spend this time doing his own work, but here he was spending it on someone who couldn't give him the basic courtesy of respect.
"Hahahaha– I am– sorry– hahahaha."
He stopped the tickling charm.
She sat up sluggishly and stared at him angrily before her anger melted into hurt and fear when he still sported the stern visage. "I am sorry."
"Good. Now as I was saying, you have to find the perfect middle ground between too focused and too lax. Once you have found it, every spell will become infinitely easier to cast. The thing about magic is that it is sentient. You don't have to force it to do anything. It is inside and around you. It knows you better than anything or anyone. You just have to show a path and goal for the magic. The rest it will do itself. Are you even listening, Tori?" He stopped short when he saw she still had her head bowed and was not meeting his gaze.
"Are you crying?" He asked with wide eyes when he heard a hiccupping sound. She shook her head insistently but didn't raise her head. Not believing her, he moved closer to her and turned up her face by her chin.
Her nose was scrunched up and her cheeks were wet with tears.
He grimaced at her crying face and patted her head. "Oh Tori, don't cry. I am sorry for yelling at you. Forgive me, please? Or do you want to see your future husband cry too?"
She snorted and shook her head and choked out an apology. "I am sorry. It was my fault."
"There, there. Everything is fine. You forgave me and I forgave you. See, no need to cry." He said softly, pulling her in his arms and giving her a gentle squeeze, hoping she would stop crying.
On the contrary, she started bawling her eyes out and buried her face on his chest. He winced, well here goes his first teaching session where he made Astoria cry. Great. Just brilliant. He was a fantastic teacher. If he hadn't felt guilty enough, her next words came like an arrow through his heart.
"Do you hate me?" She asked, pulling back and looking at him with frightened eyes, desperately gripping his shirt.
"Of course not. Why would you even think that?"
"You don't?" she perked up hopefully. He wasn't sure what happened here, but she was blowing this way out of proportion. How the hell did she even reach that conclusion? Was she always this sensitive?
"Absolutely not, Tori. I love you. What is with this question? You aren't stupid enough to think that anger and hatred are same, are you? Just because I wasn't patient enough for your jokes or your mood doesn't mean I hate you." He sighed, taking out his handkerchief and wiping her face.
"It's just that you have never been so angry at me before. So, I just thought that maybe I crossed a line or something." She mumbled, making a face when he wiped her nose.
"Really, wow, that must be a record. Because I remember I have been angry at everyone at some point." He chuckled awkwardly.
"Let's continue and forget that I cried. It is embarrassing in hindsight." She muttered with pink cheeks.
"Nope. This is the best blackmail material."
"Harry!"
"Come, sit beside me. Let's get this over with so we can do other fun stuff."
She nodded and huddled beside him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The rest of the lesson went without another hitch.
~xXxXx~
It was in October that the Potter siblings got a bigger quest. They were resting after their spar in the Room of Requirement. These sparrings had become a normal occurrence, which they did in their free time when there were no quests to focus on.
Tonight was one of those nights until it wasn't.
Isis' sharp voice pulled him out of his reverie as he was laid on the bed with Iris cuddling to his side.
QUEST!
– Kill the mysterious monster hidden in the womb of Hogwarts.
REWARD:
– 5000 XP for Harry Potter
– 5000 XP for Iris Potter
– Perk: [Healing Pocket]
A red holographic arrow formed above their heads, pointing towards the exit of the room.
"Iris, we have a new quest." Harry roused her from her half-asleep state. She yawned, glaring at the hologram.
"Now? Do we have to?" She complained, burrowing her face on his neck and tightening her grip around his middle.
Harry chuckled, running his fingers through her red hair and pressing a kiss on her cheek. "Come on, don't be lazy. Let's finish this quest so we can call it a night."
She groaned and sat up. "Fine. But I am sleeping in this same bed tonight and won't go back to my dorm. That will be my reward."
"I will never say no to a cuddle-buddy." He responded with a soft smile, getting off the bed. She grinned and quickly tied up her hair in loose ponytail before following him out.
They got under the Invisibility Cloak and walked behind the arrow. Fortunately, the arrow seemed to move according to their pace so they didn't have to run to catch up. They climbed down the staircase until they reached the second floor.
Harry, in the meanwhile, told her about the quest. She donned her game face at the mention of the mysterious monster. That sounded dangerous enough.
On the second floor, the arrow took them towards the girl's lavatory. She couldn't keep a straight face at the thought of some monster hiding in this small bathroom.
"What monster lives here, Harry? I am very curious to know the answer." She whispered, smirking and shaking her head. But before Harry could reply, the central sink folded in itself, leaving a large gaping hole in the middle of the lavatory.
Giving a cursory glance around him and assuring himself that no one was around, Harry took off the cloak and put it in the Inventory.
"This looks deep. I guess the monster is really in the womb of Hogwarts." She commented dryly, looking down the giant cylindrical abyss. "It means we have to jump inside and hope for the best. Let's do it together."
"I hope you haven't forgotten that we can fly. There is no need to jump or hope for the best." Harry answered with twitching lips and moved behind her, pulling her close and encircling her waist with his arms. "You concentrate on Lumos charm and I will fly us safely down."
She gave her assent and mumbled "Lumos!" as they levitated up before gently flying down through the passage. She scrunched her nose when the light showed how dirty the passage was. She thanked her luck that she didn't have to slide down through it.
The passage curved here and there, but always sloped downwards. After what felt like hours but was just minutes, they got out of the other end and landed in a small cave littered with tiny animal bones. She gagged thinking about all the flesh and blood these bones once had. And the smell didn't help in squashing the imaginations.
Harry had a practised calm expression on his face as he stepped towards the only other path from there.
A stony tunnel leading into an unending darkness.
"Be prepared, Iris, and always stay behind me."
Saying that, he took out his own wand and used the Lumos charm. They walked silently in the tunnel. Their steps sounded as loud as firecrackers and their breathing seemed far more noisy than it should be. Their moving shadows were enough to instil fear and doubt in their hearts. Still, they kept their cool, sporting a grim, but a determined countenance. Until they stopped before something horrible.
There, a few feet ahead and to the side was the largest shedded snakeskin they had ever seen. All they could think about was that the creature was monstrously huge.
"So the monster is a giant snake. Any guesses what the 'mysterious' monster is, Harry?" asked Iris, trying not to shake from fright.
She finally gave some serious thought to this quest. The last month of quests had been easy, giving them an abundance of confidence, but the sight of this snakeskin was enough to make her question the efficiency of their overpowered abilities and equipment.
"Take out your sword, Iris. And recheck if you are wearing the necklace or not. I think the monster is Basilisk since there is no other snake I know which can grow this big. But I don't know much about it. All I know is that it can kill with just a single look. Equip your White Sword, we will take no chances." Harry ordered, taking his own Black Sword out. He would have liked to change into his stronger system Class like Necromancer or Mage, but he still hadn't crossed level 100 of [Fighter] which was required to shift to another class.
"If your necklace can negate the Basilisk's killing look then you should wear it too. As you said, there is no need to take risks." Iris suggested solemnly, gripping her sword with her right hand and her wand with the left hand.
"Good idea." He nodded gratefully and put on a spare silver necklace himself after taking it out from the Inventory. He was glad that he had made a couple of extras or he might have been screwed.
They walked slowly up to the end of the tunnel where a round metal entrance, adorned with inanimate snakes, clicked open, giving them entry.
They came into a dimly lit chamber. A straight path led from the entrance towards the far opposite wall where a great stone statue of a bearded man stood. On either side of the path, formed two pools of water out of which rose rocky sculptures of snakes, as if standing guard.
They plodded onwards with their swords ready at their sides. When they passed by the snake guards and stepped onto the open area under the humongous statue, a harsh grinding noise filled the chamber. The siblings looked up and gaped at the statue, as its mouth opened wide as if to swallow the whole world in its pride and anger. Something green poked out from it and hurtled downwards, straight on top of them.
"Fly!" Harry yelled furiously and soared up. Iris followed her brother and flew away, barely missing from getting splattered under the giant snake.
There was a second of silence as the siblings stared at the mighty snake. It had hard poisonous green scales and ugly yellow eyes. Its jaw was bedecked with teeth which looked more like triangular knives. The snake too stared at them, almost incredulously before it flung itself towards Harry with bared fangs.
It was too damn quick for its gargantuan size.
Harry slashed his black blade against the approaching maw of the basilisk. But the snake's height and mass was just too great to be damaged by a puny sword.
The sword sliced in and drew a deep scratch on the side of its face. But it was Harry who lost the first round. The impact from the lunge of the snake threw him flat against the ceiling, stealing all the air from his lungs. If he had been a normal wizard, he might have been incapacitated by such a strong attack. But he wasn't normal. He teleported right away when his body fell down in the awaiting wide open mouth of the basilisk.
Iris was doing her best to snatch away its attention from her brother, but even with her legendary White Sword she could pierce the scales only up to the hilt before she had to pull it back and fly away or get turned into red sauce. The girth of the basilisk was too big to be deeply injured by a sword.
The basilisk hissed in discomfort as blood seeped out of its various inconsequential cuts. It stared at them murderously, preparing to leap again.
The momentary lull in the fight gave Harry an opportunity to breathe. He [Observed] it.
Name: Regina
Race: Basilisk
Lvl: 1000(max)
HP: 978,455(1,000,000)
MP: 49,950(50,000)
Affection: - 50
Obedience: 0
Thoughts about you: Annoyance, Hatred
'Uh oh! It will be a long fight.'
"Iris! Attack her from behind while I take her from front." Saying that, he enabled his [Weapon Master] and [Predict] Skills. With that on, the siblings started fighting against the basilisk.
Iris would stab her sword all over its body and fly away when she would be attacked by the tail. Harry in the meanwhile would use his [Teleport] perk to escape from its jaws and would then leave deep gashes on its face by the use of his sword.
It took time. Maybe half an hour. But slowly and steadily the basilisk's health whittled down to 10 percent. Which honestly was still a lot. Its scales were covered with blood and poison. In the place of its eyes there were two gaping holes. And yet it moved just as swiftly and deadly as it did in the beginning.
But still, everything was going fine… until it changed.
"Iris!" He screamed when the basilisk finally managed to hit her with its tail. Iris spewed blood and crashed against the wall with a wham. She was unconscious long before she dropped down to the ground.
Harry immediately teleported to her side and was glad to see that she was alive even if a little broken here and there. Her hand was twisted in the wrong direction and her leg was bent awkwardly. It was only his [Gamer's Mind] which stopped him from staring blankly and uncomprehendingly at her.
He grimaced and picked up her White Sword. With both the swords in his hands, his power was multiplied by 22. His level 96 momentarily became 2112. Not satisfied with just that, he enabled his [Rager] skill too which then multiplied his strength by 2.
He literally felt his every cell fill with immeasurable energy. His body sang for a release. His eyes began glowing bright green. So now with the practical power of level 4224, he teleported right in front of the basilisk and started hacking and slashing recklessly. It screeched and hissed in pain as Harry's every attack damaged it horrendously. But Harry relentlessly kept on attacking it.
"AAAAAAHHH!" He screamed, ceasing to think logically and giving in to his berserker instincts. He cut and carved, his two hands moving seamlessly. His two swords were arcs of destruction as they left ruin behind them and butchered everything in their path.
At the end of 10 seconds, his [Rager] skill stopped and he dropped down on his knees.
In front of him laid the corpse of once a terrible monster. Now it was reduced to a pile of scales in the sea of blood and poison.
Waving away all the new notifications, Harry concentrated on his new perk.
[Healing Pocket]
– A dimensional pocket which heals every disease or injury of the patient. Can be used only once a day.
Harry laughed mirthlessly. It couldn't be a coincidence that he got a perk which he sorely needed at the moment. Not wanting to have an existential crisis right then, he ignored it and teleported back to Iris. He used his [Healing Pocket] and a square black hole opened up before him. Knowing what to do, he picked up the broken body of his sister and placed her inside the dimensional hole.
It closed for a second before opening up again and depositing Iris on her feet. She was totally fine albeit a little confused.
"That was weird. But I am glad I didn't have to go to Madam Pomfrey for treatment." She said, moving her arms and legs, checking if they were alright.
"I am glad you are okay." Harry let out a massive sigh, embracing her firmly.
She patted his back assuringly and kissed his face. "I am fine. Let's get out of here. I hope you are still hiring for that cuddle-buddy job."
Harry chuckled in relief and nodded, "Yes. You are hired, Miss Potter."
They went back to the Room of Requirement and took a quick shower before sleeping. Iris just smiled fondly when Harry held her tightly in his arms all night.
He was such a worrier. Then again, she would be too if she had witnessed his death.
She had a nice dreamless sleep.
~xXxXx~
BONUS SCENE
"So all I had to do was scream after using my [Shapeshifter] perk to turn into a rooster? That's not even funny!" Harry yelled as he and Iris read the section about the Basilisks in the book about magical creatures.
Iris giggled and patted his head in consolation.