Idly tuning out Dumbledore's welcoming speech I instead thought of the one I asked to help. Because the sword isn't the Gryffindor Sword, not the castle wants the Basilisk to LIVE and THRIVE. Once Voldemort is dead permanently, and Harry is independent I would likely take her with me. Because she is but another cursed with immortality and insanity, a grieving beast left to rot.
"Please welcome Professor Lockhart, and two of his assistants for DADA this year."
Standing up I glanced over the entire hall and said my piece, given I was told I would need to make an introduction beforehand.
"I'm Kaiser Lockhart, I'll be your DADA professor this year and potentially longer. If you think I'll be lenient or something, get over yourselves. You'll be learning hands on what to do and not to do if you want to live in an encounter with any manner of beast or person. No, I'm still Human even if I've gained some Wendigo traits. No I don't eat flesh, no I won't date anyone, if you bug my adoptive son or others with me around, even after they told you to fuck off, I'll ruin your day. Disruptions or idiotic blunders in my class will result in either being dismissed, or failing before the year even starts as you'll be kicked out the rest of the year. So Weasley twins, that means if you want to actually learn something fun, don't test me."
I could hear two teens scream at suddenly being singled out by a new teacher before they've even done anything. Everyone that heard me having a small laugh at the sudden call out against the twins who likely already made a name for themselves on the train here. Although I could hear outraged comments about me not being able to just kick people out of class for a year. Sitting back down I blinked when a plate of egg rolls appeared before me on a plate, staring at them. I had everyone that could see me wondering why I was looking at them so intently. Sirius and Sasha chuckled at the confusion on everyone's faces, I suddenly started casting Purify Food and Water several times before tearing into the food with reckless abandon. The eggrolls disappear from sight within three seconds flat, more appearing before me the next instant only for a repeat of last time with purifying them then devouring them rapidly.
Needless to say I spent most of the initial dinner devouring eggrolls and talking to other professors, or informing Sasha of my plans since she would follow me regardless of my wishes unless I told her to watch Harry. Once all the student's were sorted, however, Hogwarts did something unexpected with the sorting hat. Magic in the air rips the hat from Mcgonagall's hands, sending it towards me prompting Sirius to grab the damn thing and put it on my head.
"I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do with you or where to put you! But if I'm sitting on your head then I'll just do my job! You seem to fit with all the houses in all honesty, however, I believe given your smarts you're better off in RAVENCLAW!"
"Did the castle just fucking sort me into a house on its own?"
"Really out of all places it puts you THERE? At least it wasn't Slytherin…. Even if you'd probably fit well in there just for your mindset with deals."
Snorting at Sirius' remark, I had him set up in the DADA classroom while I and Sasha got a move on to get the most powerful "sword" in the castle. Because that is the thing, while Gryfinndor's sword is an actual sword it's not the sword I am to help the castle let see the light of day once more. In this instance sword is a metaphor for a certain animal raised to defend Hogwarts from threats, Slytherin's sword the Basilisk. Following the trail of spores that lingered in a heavily magical area such Hogwarts, we found the bathroom.
I put the languages of snakes I had learned through a ritual via a contact in another part of the world. Watching the sink and wall open up, we headed down into the waterways and sewers of Hogwarts. Spores guided me to where we needed to go the entire time, the differences in the types of spores being an interesting thing to notice to be able to produce my own of the type at a later time. Stepping into the lair of the Basilisk, finding the sight of Slytherin's mouth opening up to let the giant snake slither out of it to be reminiscent of a certain snake ninja.
We could hear the Basilisk waking up and slithering towards our location fast… not from the mouth but in the waterways on the sides of the path.
"EYES! DOMINATE BEAST!"
My voice booms loudly in the chamber, reverberating the echo all over the place all at once. The Basilisk lunged from the water to right, magic flying my hands and slamming directly into its face. While many can consider the snake a monster, it's more a middle ground depending on the universe's definition of monsters and beasts. Dragons are monsters regardless of the universe, Basilisk's are a toss up, and it seems in this instance it was indeed a beast. Casting Enlarge/Reduce I shrunk the Basilisk to the size of a boa constrictor and had it slither up along my left arm and my shoulders, the serpent's tail even then was still able to firmly touch the ground.
Wrapping its tail around my arm, reaching into my bag hidden by coat I pull ingots of steel and rubber out, fabricating them into a blinder and muzzle for the Basilisk. Only leaving breathing holes and a hole for its tongue to poke through since I didn't want anyone freezing from its eyes or its venom getting anywhere. Pulling out a rune engraver tool from an inner coat pocket I etched a continuous Reduce ritual on the blinder muzzle to keep the Basilisk from suddenly growing in size and causing trouble.
"Target secured."
Sasha's eyes immediately snapped open, her tail wagging wildly when she saw that I had indeed safely secured what I was going to get. The werewolf growled lowly with clouding eyes, her body shaking…. I left with quick steps. I wasn't going to stick around to watch her orgasm from this, I refused. Nope nope nope nope I have enough shit to deal with than disturbing puppy love although. I'll already have to deal with that shit once her heat cycle hits, and I will NOT do it any sooner. Leaving the underbelly of Hogwarts we made our way to our classroom which was bigger than the actual DADA room. Which was a given as at most seven people will be using it since it also doubles a professor's room.
Sirius was busy writing the rules I had previously written out on paper, up on the upper right corner of the chalkboard in the room, when we entered. The Basilisk was docile as I moved fast to get various materials from our room. Having the hindsight to send dozens of different materials ahead of time, some especially meant to build a cage for a snake. Loading certain magical tools and mundane environmental materials, like sand and a large sturdy tree branch, onto two turrets that quickly assembled themselves from cubes stored on my belt. Returning to the others I got to work on fabricating essentially an aquarium cage given I never planned on killing the Basilisk.
I was always going to save her, from death and the insanity of being alone for so long. Because she deserves to do what she's meant to, deserves to live a life Slytherin never got to give to them. Once her new home was finished my Ritual Writer activated, segmenting into separate constructs. A massive compounding ritual being etched into the aquarium cage. Multiple spells for repairing, size control, temperature, cleaning, and many more were etched into it, at a level requiring a microscope or extremely powerful eyes to even see. It took two hours to finish before I put the Basilisk in while removing her blind muzzle.
Once her home was sealed I cancelled my spell keeping her tame, the serpent shaking its head once freed. She tried to petrify us, however, nothing happened, confusing her entirely. Even when the Jacks materialized in the room suddenly while setting down my bag onto the classroom desk. The Basilisk only stated confusedly at us all because absolutely nothing was happening to us. Chuckling I watched as the Jackie's carried two sleeping adults to bed given the time. Once it was just me and the Basilisk, I spoke only a simple request.
"Purge it now."
The room darkened to the point it felt like we had stepped into the void. The screaming of a terrified soul echoing, the Undying toying with Riddle's curse and sliver of a soul, before the sound of glass was heard. The room returns to how it was previously, looking at the Basilisk in the eyes I grinned.
"It's just us now, so how about some therapy? Getting you caught up on the times huh?"
The Basilisk only numbly mutters only one word, kill, over and over the insanity in her eyes flickering with uncertainty. Thus a long night ensued with me and the serpent talking back and forth, or just listening to each other talk. The Basilisk hesitated at first, until my rambling finally got her to snap, utterings of kill slowly replaced with coherent sentences as she actually thought and talked more. The spells to calm the mind on her aquarium cage showing their worth over time.
As the morning sun started to shine through a window we were both quietly just looking at each other. The last of the rabbits Gunner got for the Basilisk disappeared down her gullet.
"You are worthy… hard to understand truly… yet worthy of a legacy left behind. The heir will get their own in time, or maybe the heir is already gone. This Riddle isn't an heir, not worthy, they'll DIE for their slander of Master Salazar."
While still broken at times, I nod my head at the Basilisk. My own blend of a Warlock and Druid pact, my Pact Familiar, a pact spell created after tireless trial and error, taking hold. While I could've turned Jerry into my familiar it wouldn't have lasted because the Wyvern's mind would be slowly subsumed by the weight of my own. The pact requires the familiar to have more intelligence, more thought processes, than the Wyvern currently had compared to the Basilisk. She was created, forged through rituals from an ordinary snake, to be smart and powerful in order to defend the school.
My Pact also would severely weaken her natural weakness, a rooster's cry would no longer kill her out right. Disorient her as if she was drunk, but not kill unless in excess due to our being tied together. So my own soul would shield her from instant death should a rooster show up and cry out. Looking towards the sound of a door opening I saw Sirius leaving the bedroom slash office. The man looked over to us and snorted as he spoke wearily. Sarcasm on the tip of his tongue for the last half.
"So you actually went and brought the most dangerous magical beasts into the classroom. From the looks of it you're even bonding with it. Oh what joys the students and Harry will have with you both."
Smiling good naturedly I spoke up while pointing at the Basilisk.
"The druid in me wouldn't have it any other way. It's my job to preserve all aspects of nature and this big girl isn't due for extinction just yet. So the kids will just have to deal with it because me and the Basilisk are low level friends now. Once we get a high enough bond we'll see about letting her out, and interacting with the class safely."
Sirius just snorts with a laugh dipped in madness from his years imprisoned and tortured. Sasha eventually comes out of the room, with the jacks on her heels. Snorting, I placed a hand on the Basilisks aquarium cage, the bottom of it turning into four Eldritch cannons, utilizing my ability to make more in order to bring her with us so that she's always where I can see her. Our group headed to the Great Hall for breakfast, Basilisk occasionally hissing in surprise at students and how much the castle had changed.
This will be an interesting breakfast.