16 March 1993, Hogwarts
Honestly, it took far too long to reach the end of the tunnel. It wasn't as scary as it looked; it was more like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. Harry could see more tunnels branching off in all directions in a giant Labyrinth of tunnels, but none as large as the one he was sliding down in, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, for what felt like miles.
When he finally saw a small light at the end of the tunnel, Harry raised his wand and cast, "Molliare!" towards the ground.
As expected, Harry landed softly on the cushioned floor and bounced up immediately after. Longbottom didn't get so lucky since he bounced off the floor and fell on his backside.
He got up, slowly, while holding his arse, "You could have warned me…"
Harry didn't answer him and just shrugged, deciding to look around. They arrived in some kind of small room with a tunnel going forward. Longbottom whistled, "We must be miles under the school, maybe even under the lake itself."
"I wouldn't really say so, since it's a pocket dimension. We're technically not in Hogwarts anymore, just the entrance to the chamber is there. I think is this some kind of playground for the Basilisk to move around with. Maybe the heir could map the tunnels of this place to the school's pipe system. It would explain how a large Basilisk would go in and out without being noticed."
"I did hear the voices from the inside the walls," Longbottom admitted.
"From now on, Longbottom, I want you to be very careful. We're in the heir's territory now, which means that anything here could be a weapon or a trick. From now on, I want you to listen to me and do everything I say. This isn't schoolyard antics anymore, this is serious."
The boy who lived nodded, "Enough with the last name stuff. If we're going to fight a monster together, we might as well call each other by our first names, huh, Harry?"
The Potter scion rolled his eyes, "Fine, Longbottom, just follow me."
The tunnel was extremely dark, so he conjured a ball of light that would follow them. Their journey was as quiet as a gravesite, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Longbottom, no Neville, stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skill.
When the boy looked down, he yelped as he realized that the floor was littered with small animal bones, "Why are there bones everywhere?"
"Basilisks are known for their long hibernation cycle, but they tend to be famished when they wake up. I'm guessing the heir had to collect a large amount of food discreetly to feed it, so that it would start attacking again, rats were probably easy targets. He probably used some kind of modified summoning enchantment or maybe a pheromone charm targeted to rats. What you're seeing here is the remains."
"You have an answer for everything…"
Harry shrugged, "I don't leap into anything without planning."
"But aren't you leaping here without a plan?"
"I have several plans. Just because you just jumped into the mysterious tunnel without thinking doesn't mean that I have."
The Longbottom scion snorted, "You're an arrogant ass, Potter."
"Maybe I am, but how would you know?"
"It's been nice," Neville said, "being able to talk to you like that. I know you kind of forced me to come at wand point, but I always thought that we would be close when my grandmother told me about us being godbrothers. I was really looking forward to meeting you."
"Must have been such a disappointment, right?" Harry answered with a smirk.
"You have no idea," the boy commiserated, "the first time I saw you was when you were sorted into Slytherin of all places."
"I didn't really choose it. I just asked the hat to put me where it thought I would do best."
"I don't want to admit it, but Slytherin suits you," Neville said.
"And Gryffindor suits you."
They stayed silent for a few minutes, just walking forward, and the boy who lived asked, "Do you think we ever had a chance at being close?"
"Not really. We're too different, from two different backgrounds. I think we would have stepped on each other's feet a lot."
The boy hummed but before he could respond, he gasped. When Harry followed his sight, he saw the outline of something huge. Harry moved the ball of light towards it and marvelled at the sight. It was a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.
"Blimey," said Neville weakly.
"I know, it's quite big. The actual Basilisk must be a little bigger since it had to shed the skin," Harry commented.
"How can you be calm? Did you see the size of this thing?"
"Trust me, its size isn't a big deal, its glare, on the other hand, is very dangerous. Big things are less agile. Slowing it down even more should ease things a bit."
The Longbottom scion looked hesitant for a bit before asking, "How well do your goggles work?"
"Not sure," Harry answered.
"What do you mean you're not sure?"
"Well, I don't have a Basilisk to test them on, do I? Look, the worst that can happen is you getting petrified. See the rubies at the back of the goggles, when these get hotter, it means that it's going to fail soon and to not look it in the eye. Try not to look it in the eye in general, but a few glimpses aren't a big deal. This is so you don't move around blind like an idiot."
The boy didn't seem convinced, but Harry continued for him, "Look, I'll be frank here. Our chances aren't that great, but like I said, the Basilisk is big, and that means that it's not as agile. It has two main weak points, the eyes and the mouth since the hide is as strong if not stronger than that of a dragon, that comes with the magic resistance and everything. Snakes are also cold-blooded, so any ice spell would slow it down. I'm giving you these in case you're in trouble."
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