If You Want To Kill Me, Do It Right Chapter 23: Basilisk, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter 23: Basilisk

It was the last night of his 6th year here at Hogwarts. It didn't feel too much like it though. Usually he was very excited to go home to Godric's Hollow, but here he was feeling like he was leaving his heart here at Hogwarts. It was currently 1:34 am and here he sat in the Gryffindor common room waiting for Hermione to get back from wherever she was.

There had been the annual break-up party Gryffindor in the common room tonight and everyone was safely tucked in bed now.

Thoughts of her hugging Regulus came to the surface. His fists clenched out of their own accord. He couldn't control his jealousy. How could she like that loathsome little shit? For the first time in his life, he felt jealous of his own brother. That had never happened.

Hermione walked into the common room covering a yawn. She made a beeline for the stairs to the girls dormitory.

"Hermione!" he called out and she tried to make out who it was before realising who it was.

"It's late, Black" she said trying to get toward her bed. She was so tired, she had finally come up with a plan for how to deal with the basilisk that didn't involve sheer luck like the last encounter with Harry and Ron.

He rushed to beat her to the stairs and stood barring her from it.

"Please just listen" Sirius said. She was adjusting her notes that she hastily gathered up, having no energy to shove it in her bag.

"Make it fast. I don't know why this couldn't wait until morning" Hermione said irritated this boy was going to stop her from her blissful sleep.

"Hermione, I know our history isn't that great" he said suddenly nervous now that she was in front of him. "But I really do care for you and I would be so honoured if you would consider having me as your boyfriend".

The muggleborn witch stared at him for awhile before bursting out into laughter. She wiped the tears from her eyes. It might have been the delirium of exhaustion that contributed to her mirth.

He felt indignant that she thought his feelings a joke. "I'm serious, Hermione. Please stop laughing".

She laughed harder. This was just so juvenile, how could she not laugh? He might as well have passed her a note asking this with two boxes to tick: yes or no. Laughter truly did have a way of soothing her.

Sirius finally had enough of this.

He reached out with one hand on her waist and the other around her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. He immediately felt her warmth through her lips.

The dark haired wizard could feel her melt into his kiss, so he pulled her closer until every part of their torsos were touching. Hermione's hands hesitantly rested on his forearms before travelling to his shoulders. He reached out with his expert tongue to gently caress her lips.

She was so shocked but felt the ease of his embrace to be exactly like how she remembered it. The all so familiar heat from her navel spread throughout her chest. It felt like coming home, to describe it best. Her hands found themselves trailing up his shoulders to his head. When she felt how long the hair running through her fingers were, she got shocked back into reality. This wasn't her Sirius.

The brunette pushed him off hard and for good measure slapped his face with so much power, the sound ricocheted off the walls. She pushed past him to get into her bed.

"Love, please" he called out after her. It was a voice still unbroken by cigarettes, prison and war. It was not the voice of the man she loved but it still pulled at her heartstrings.

She could feel the anger push through and come out her mouth.

"Love, please what?" she all but screamed at him. "Do you think this is a joke? That you can play with people's feelings like this. I've told you before, this ISN'T funny".

"So you do have feelings for me too?" he asked, oblivious to the rest of the sentence. She rubbed her eyes feeling so tired that she had to deal with this shit. Sirius couldn't stop the giddy feeling that rose in his chest. There was hope.

But he could see that it was upsetting her more so he had to stop focusing on this and convince her he felt the same way.

"What about me pining for you for the last year makes you think that I'm joking?" he asked softly.

"Do you think that maybe you like me because I'm the only girl that won't have you?" she asked. She felt her heart breaking that he might have thought her playing hard-to-get. Once he got it, he'll toss it out like last night's leftovers.

"I'm not that stupid, Hermione" he said feeling mildly irritated that she was really grasping at any excuse not to be with him.

"You are that stupid. You're a teenage boy like the rest of them, you only think about who'll get you off next " she said, feeling her voice crack as she struggled even more to keep her composure.

"Then fuck me and I'll show you I want you longer than a night in bed with me" he said with a bit more heat. "Or maybe you're just scared that you care for me too much and that I'll break your heart. That's why you're coming up with all these reasons not to be with me".

Hermione felt the shock run through her system that he hit the nail on the head. She turned around and kept climbing the stairs.

"I know you feel what I'm feeling too or you wouldn't have kissed me back. I know you care about me, Hermione, even when you say you don't" Sirius called out "Please don't walk away from me".

He sounded so broken and so hurt that she slowed to a stop.

"I-" she began but she didn't know how to continue. They had hurt each other so much, could this possibly work? Could she open her heart to this boy, despite their shared past. Would she even consider it? She had truly showed her full hand when she got caught up in that kiss.

"I'm sorry for surprising you with that kiss" he continued "I know I keep forcing my presence on you and I keep doing all these things to keep you close when you say you don't want me".

"I promise I will stop trying to force you to do anything. I mean you don't have to sit with us for any meals or during class and I will stop trying to get you to talk to me. But I will wait for you Hermione. I will wait however long it will take for you to know that I do mean it when I say I want to be with you" he said with a strong conviction.

"What if I never want to be with you?" she asked with her back to him on the stairs. "What then?" her voice was tight.

"I don't know, love" he said, his voice thick with emotion. She could tell he was trying not to cry "But I'll deal with it when it happens".

She didn't know why she couldn't turn around and say the words. She couldn't say the words her brain was desperately telling her to say 'I don't want to be with you'.

So she carried herself up the stairs and into her bed, where she stayed up for the next few hours to contemplate Sirius' words. As much as she had been adamant that her Sirius and this Sirius was completely different. His kiss was exactly the same.

It was still the warm comfortable feeling of returning into the arms that loved you. That was a moment of weakness but it did pose the thought that Mrs. Potter had wondered earlier on. He became that Sirius once, could he do it again? Could she live through the pain if he didn't? Would he ever love her to the same depths as her own Sirius?

It was a lot to ponder on based on one kiss. Fuck, how long had she been starved of love and affection that this kiss affected her so. She was going to change her entire perception of a man based on one ruddy kiss. Fuck, she couldn't let that happen.

Yet in a strange way, she couldn't not.

-8-

The next morning, Sirius sat at the Gryffindor table looking across at where Hermione had usually sat. He didn't realise that in the short few weeks with the brunette sitting across him, he had gotten too used to it. He looked down at the sausages and toast on his plate. This was perhaps his shittiest meal at Hogwarts.

Suddenly a figure moved out of the corner of his eye and he looked up to see Hermione, looking worse for wear this morning, sit down in her usual spot.

His face morphed into one of the largest grins his face had ever held. She looked directly at him "Don't get your hopes up. I need to speak to James".

His face still held its radiant smile. He was just happy she was here at all.

James looked to Hermione, shocked that she would want to talk to him. He quickly swallowed the food in his mouth and turned to wipe it after.

"If we could talk in private after" Hermione asked trying her best to put on a friendly smile. James was still so shocked all he could do was nod.

Sirius' face turned into a frown and was about to open his mouth, but remembered his promise last night. He wouldn't force her to say anything she didn't want to.

So he looked down and continued eating his breakfast.

Once breakfast was over and everyone was heading back to their dormitories to collect their things, Hermione gestured for James to talk to privately.

Sirius was so curious about the conversation but knew he needed to leave them to it.

When Hermione was alone with James she started "I know this is a terribly personal thing to ask. But I was hoping if I could borrow your invisibility cloak?".

Had she not sat so close to him and he been so friendly to her, she would have just stole it. But her conscience was being a nuisance again and wouldn't let her do that.

He was surprised she knew that he had one but wasted no time is saying "Yes, of course you can".

She smiled, not surprised at his consent "I will bring it back right after I use it and that will probably be next weekend. Is that alright?".

"Yeah, sure. Can you stay the weekend?" he asked hopefully. He knew his father would start to forgive him when she came home out of her own volition.

Looking at the hopeful look in his eye and the fact he was helping her to not get eaten by a fucking basilisk, she nodded.

"I'd love to. I'll write to your parents and ask for their permission. I'm sure Dumbledore will be fine with that" she said returning his smile.

"I can't wait" he said before breaking off into a run back to the dormitory to get his stuff. They planned to meet at the entranceway. When Hermione got there, she could see a few people already gathered saying goodbye to their friends. Off in the corner of the room was Severus and Emmeline whispering to each other. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes at how cute it was but dared not. She approached the couple trying to be as loud as possible.

Emmeline was the first to see Hermione and blushed before quickly scattering off. Hermione couldn't understand why the girl was so shy around Hermione.

"Get your snogs in while you can, Sev" she said coming round to take a seat on his trunk. "She might forget what you taste like".

Severus blushed a deep red before taking a seat next to her "Shut up!" was all he could reply with. Hermione couldn't help how much she wanted to pinch his cheeks, this was too cute.

"I should say the same for you" Severus said looking around for the object of her affection "Black taking his time putting on some lipstick?".

She laughed pulling out an illegal portkey. It was a ball of yarn. "Listen, I know you live in a muggle suburb" Hermione started off feeling very awkward. Her and Severus' conversation was almost never serious "This is a portkey. It will bring you back to Hogwarts if anything…. If anything happens. All you have to think is 'Danger' and it will activate".

He was shocked at the thought she had to create this for him. Creating a portkey was highly illegal and took a lot of thought that, frankly, he didn't think he was worth.

"I've asked one of the house elves to listen out for you as well, her name is 'Dinky'. Only call him when you are in danger and if the portkey doesn't work because he has been trained to just come, grab ONLY you and apparate back to Hogwarts. I can't assure the safety of your family that way".

In one of Hermione and Dumbledore's long conversations about how to prevent casualties in the war, the brunette had mentioned to Dumbledore about how Magical creatures helped Lord Voldemort during the first war. This struck up some genius as Dumbledore then asked the house elves to help them. Ever since then, the casualties drastically reduced as most families had a house elf listening out for them to transport them to safe houses should they need it. The only problem at the moment was the fact that they simply did not have enough house elves for everyone. There were some muggles that paid the price for that.

"-And you better write me, git" Hermione continued "I'm stuck here all holidays tutoring Regulus. So I will need some form of entertainment".

Severus felt a well of emotion rise up in his chest. He just nodded. He would write her every week.

Hermione spotted the Marauders move into the entrance hall and so she got up to her feet and turned to her future potions professor.

He stood and pulled her into a tight hug "Bye, Hermione".

Usually she would have made fun of the fact that he was being a big baby again. But she would truly miss talking to him everyday. "Bye, Sev. Be good and wash that greasy head before you meet Emmeline during the hols, please".

She quickly ran off before he could retaliate. Severus was about to fire a tickling charm at her before she disappeared into the crowd.

Hermione felt that recently her mischievous side had been coming out more and more. She thought that maybe she was always this way, but her fear of getting expelled from Hogwarts and being rejected from the wizarding world put a stop to being free. In this time she couldn't give less of a rat's arse whether she passed a test or not. Her test results last week were littered with E's and she laughed when she received them. Is this what she was so afraid of? Letters?

Sirius saw her approach and smiled brightly at her. She gave a quick, friendly smile before turning to James.

He gave her the cloak bundled up as discreetly as possible. She tucked it beneath her robes out of view.

"Thanks again. I will take good care of it"

"I don't doubt that" he said not daring to ask what she needed it for. "I can't wait for you to come over, Lily will be home as well".

Hermione smiled and looked at each of them individually. Peter looked permanently frazzled, like he had forgotten something, she wouldn't miss this rat. Remus stood off to the side talking to Alice. He was looking significantly better with each full moon. James already had Lily in a lip lock so hard you'd think they were parting forever.

Sirius was staring at Hermione quite unabashed. "I'm happy you're coming home".

"Well, I am grateful for James' generosity" she said looking ready to leave them.

"Be safe" he said before she had a chance to dash "With whatever you're doing with the cloak and good luck".

She didn't look at him as she walked off. As usual her heart was beating a mile a minute.

-8-

Tonight she stood outside the girl's lavatory on the third floor wearing some old running shoes, her hair up in a tight bun pulled away from her face and loose comfortable clothing. One look at her and you wouldn't think she was going to battle a basilisk. She had been waiting for this for awhile.

"Be careful, Hermione" Dumbledore said resting his hand on her shoulder. As much as he wanted to be there with her, she was right. He was far too valuable to risk. She was immortal and there weren't too many times where that came in handy but tonight it did.

"Thank you" she said before entering the toilets. It was just approaching midnight and the castle was empty. The only inhabitants were safely asleep in their own chambers or in Regulus' case, the dormitories.

She had a fanny pack attached to her hip, magicked to hold the Sword of Gryffindor in it, James' invisibility cloak in one hand and her wand in the other.

"Looks like someone's up to something tonight" Myrtle said snottily from above one of the stalls.

"Good evening, Myrtle" she said pulling the invisibility cloak around her. During her research, she had reason to believe that the basilisk was asleep as it had been for the past thousand years. But she couldn't be too sure if when she planned to open the chamber, it would awaken or not.

She really hoped it would stay asleep.

She pulled the invisibility cloak around her and made some hissing noises like Ron did once before.

The sinks opened up and the staircase presented itself. She walked down the staircase and hissed at the door to shut behind her. She cast a light on her wand as she walked down the staircase. The brunette had made it far enough in the chamber that she was feeling a chill run down her spine.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw something move. She kept walking straight and then she heard it, the hissing of a big bad snake.

Fuck, she thought as she pulled out the sleeping mask she had brought. She was really hoping she didn't have to use this. After pulling on the sleeping mask, Hermione pulled out another device. It looked like a little record player about the size of her fist. She really didn't like this part.

"Imagus sonus" she uttered pointing her wand at her ears before tapping the juke box. Out from the tiny box played a rooster crowing so loudly, you would not believe it if you didn't know magic. The sound filled up the large chamber easily. The sound bounced off the walls and came back to Hermione in such a way that a picture formed in her head of the chamber. She was very surprised to see that the basilisk had been so close. It was a mere 6 feet from her, but now it scurried away with its tail whipping in her direction. She easily dodged it and could 'see' it scurry away from her. She guessed that even if he didn't see her, it might have been able to smell her.

Hermione walked closer into the chamber and saw it scurry into a nearby sewer. After being sure it was completely out of the chamber did she pull off her mask and cloak to get to work with her ruin circle.

She pulled out a piece of chalk she packed and made to drawing ruins on the ground around her. Hermione had etched these ruins into the back of her eyelids as to not forget a single stroke. Once she stood and looked at her work, she found that it would do.

She drew a few protective charms around the ruin circle and took her shoes and socks off, her magic had to flow through her and it couldn't do that with any barriers. Hermione had watched many movies growing up about witches. Never before had she felt so close to one of them.

Ancient runes was deemed an almost obsolete subject, with it being studied for information purposes rather than practical uses. With the wand being used exclusively, magic was no longer wielded as a group. In the past, to do powerful magic such as will a basilisk to sleep took the effort of multiple people coming together and letting their magic flow between them. In this case, the only magic she had to flow through her was Salazar Slytherin's ancient and strong magic in the Chamber of Secrets itself because her magic was not strong enough to battle this beast. Now this would be the hard part.

The muggleborn witch stood with her feet positioned in the appropriate places. She then flicked the little record player off and closed her eyes.

"Maleficis artibus fluxus" she incanted feeling power rise through her feet. "Dormient somnum ingens bestia".

She repeated these words in a round. The tune had to be easy and flow. She managed to control her breathing as she could feel the magic flowing in all directions around her.