70 Women Woes and Quidditch Quarreling (Part Two)

That weekend saw Harry walking up to the gates of Hogwarts with Shiva and waving to his friends. Most of his core group had ended up deciding to come see the rendering of the basilisk. Luna was present with a camera borrowed from Colin Creevey to take some pictures. Neville wanted to see the thing since he had been so close to being involved in the battle. Susan and Hannah were mostly just curious. Tracey wanted to 'spit on it and kick it in the bollocks'. Daphne wanted to face it one more time. Tonks wanted to get a look at an actual basilisk. Hermione needed to see what Harry had faced down to avenge her injury.

Harry was mostly ambivalent about this adventure. He was more worried he was about to be swamped by people concerned for him and Daphne in the next few minutes than anything else. The slight tension between him and Tonks was more disconcerting than anything the Chamber could throw at him now. Harry nearly tripped as he went over that last thought. Hurriedly he reached out and knocked on the wooden Entrance Hall doors. And crossed his fingers. And, just for good measure, conjured some salt and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Harry?" Hermione asked raising her eyebrows at his antics.

"Just had an errant thought, Hermione," Harry said letting out a breath. "Better to be safe than sorry in case the universe happened to have been listening."

"I find it's always safer to let the universe play as it will rather than daring it to play with you," Luna commented with a smile.

"Yup, see, this girl knows what I'm talking about," Harry said gesturing towards his friend.

In front of Harry, Snapfist gave a deep laugh. "Ah, Warrior Potter, the best battles always come about after daring the Forge to toss more challenges at you!"

"I'm good for the moment, thanks," Harry snorted. "How come you decided to come, Snapfist? I thought we'd just be meeting the renderers?"

The goblin shrugged. "I named you Warrior. I want to see if I was justified in that and that the beast was worth the hunt."

Shiva shook her head and led the group of humans and goblins up to the second floor doing her best not to laugh at her ward. She nearly ran into Snape as they turned the corner to Myrtle's bathroom. "Shite. Sorry, Snape."

"Watch where you are going woman," the man muttered in an absent, disinterested tone. His eyes widened as he noticed her entourage. "What are all these…people doing here, Babbling? School is not in session and goblins have no business on these grounds."

"We are here on contract," the lead renderer, Crag, said with a distinct snort. "So yes, actually, we do have business on these grounds."

"The Headmaster did not inform me that any contracts would be in effect today," Snape said sounding less certain than a moment ago. "And that does nothing to explain Potter or his lackeys."

"Lackeys?" Daphne said with raised eyebrows. "I'm a lackey now am I?"

"Snape," Shiva said with a sigh, "we are here claiming Harry and Daphne's right via conquest with our chosen renderers. I informed the Deputy Headmistress that we would be on the grounds for a few hours doing exactly that. I don't know, nor care, why you feel you should have been personally informed. Kindly move out of the way or take up the responsibility of paying the goblins for their wasted time."

Snape glowered at her for another moment. He stepped aside with swish of his cloak and stalked off towards the dungeons.

"Well there goes the lack of anonymity," Tracey muttered. She continued louder, "So who wants to take bets on how long before Dumbles shows up?"

"No bet," Harry said immediately.

"Fifteen minutes!" Luna said jumping up and down with her hand in the air, smiling happily.

Snapfist raised his eyebrows at the perky blonde before turning to Harry. "You maintain very interesting company, Warrior Potter."

"You should see her when she starts going on about crumple-horned snorkacks." Harry shook his head. "I really, really hope she finds one someday."

"Crumple-horned snorkacks hmm?" Snapfist said rubbing his chin.

"Here we are," Shiva said opening the door to the bathroom. "Myrtle? Ah, not here. Well that does make it a bit dryer at least. Harry? You're up."

Harry nodded and headed over to the sink. He got the passage open and the staircase extended. On a bit of lark Harry hissed, ~Remain open.~ Surprisingly he heard a dull click resound. "Huh. I didn't actually expect that to work…"

"What did you say?" Shiva asked cocking her head at the hole in the floor.

Harry shrugged. "I just told it to stay open. Remember it shut on Daphne last time? I didn't really want to keep coming back up and down to open the door all the time if we have to make multiple trips."

"Yeah but now Dumbles can follow us," Tracey said frowning.

"The Headmaster has no part in this contract," Crag said stepping onto the staircase. His voice echoed back up as he headed down. "Whether he arrives or not is immaterial. The location of the battleground doesn't matter in the slightest when dealing with Rights of Conquest."

Snapfist followed the renderers into the passage with a predatory grin. "I would enjoy Dumbledore attempting to interfere with the contract. Then perhaps I could fine him enough to claim that…duty we discussed previously, Warrior Potter." Harry snorted at the goblin's humor and headed down with his friends.

As they reached the first corridor at the bottom of the stairs, Harry and the others found Crag and his team examining the shed skin nearby. "Warrior Potter, Warrior Greengrass. This item was not in the initial contract, but is still suitable for sale. We would be willing to add it in exchange for an additional four suits of basilisk armor."

"Six," Daphne said coming up beside Harry and nodding to the goblin.

He considered and held up a finger. "Five."

"Deal," both Harry and Daphne said. They gave each other a wry grin.

"Merlin, you fought this something this big, Harry?" Tonks said hesitantly reaching out to touch the skin.

Daphne laughed and shook her head. "This is tiny compared the real deal, Tonks. Come on everyone; let's get to the real prize."

Crag nodded and left one goblin to start processing the skin before following along. Harry opened the second door to low whistles from some of the group and muttered comments about elaborate doors for secret underground bases. As the door slid open, the torches lining the Chamber lit up and illuminated Slytherin's statue eliciting another round of comments about too large egos.

Then the light fell onto the corpse of the basilisk. And everyone present besides Harry, Daphne and Tracey drew in a sharp breath and froze solid.

The silence was broken when Hermione uttered a short scream before burying herself into Harry's chest. Neville gave a soft, "Merlin's balls…I wanted to fight that?" and was promptly engulfed by Susan and Hannah who were both trembling.

Shiva muttered several choice curses before wrapping Harry and Daphne both in a hug. "I can't believe I let you two go against this thing alone…"

"If it's any consolation, Professor," Daphne said, "had any more people been here we likely wouldn't have walked away without casualties."

"Doesn't change the fact you fought a monster alone," Shiva said with a sniffle. Harry patted her back as best he could with Hermione still wrapped around him.

Tonks was completely dumbstruck, merely blinking at the 60 foot snake in front of her. "Morgana's tits…"

"You okay, Tonks?" Harry asked his friend.

"I…I just…you said you weren't a kid a long time ago but…even with the Dementors thing I don't think I really understood until just now…" her hair had drifted back to its natural brown and her eyes were wide.

A flash illuminated the Chamber and Harry turned to see Luna holding up her camera with a huge smile splitting her cheeks. "Hermione, I need to borrow Harry for moment! Harry, Daphne, come over here! I need some shots of you both by its head for the Quibbler. Harry can you summon your sword and stick it back in its mouth? Please, please, please?"

Hermione carefully let go of Harry and pulled back, wiping her eyes. She sniffled but nodded at Harry's look. "I'm fine, Harry. I was just a little overwhelmed that you fought this thing while I was lying unconscious. Go. Go give Luna her shots." Harry leaned down to kiss her lightly before nodding and moving away with Daphne following behind.

Tracey had moved over to Crag and was talking to the older goblin. "So do you know where the bollocks would be on this thing? I'm not actually sure whether snakes have them or not…"

Crag let out a deep laugh as did the other goblins in earshot. "Come, youngling. This way."

After Luna got her photos, Tracey got her kick and Crag's team started their work, Snapfist sidled up next to Harry and Daphne. "You two, are certainly worthy hunters." His voice had lost almost all of the normal gruff tones that he usually used talking with humans. "I admit, I thought the story inflated. A basilisk is worthy prey true, but this specimen is of a different caliber. This beast would give many of Gringotts own guardians a worthy fight. It almost makes me wish the Nation had a higher honor to bestow than Warrior." Snapfist turned to the teenagers. He considered for a long moment before bowing to them. "Warrior Potter, Warrior Greengrass, the Goblin Nation officially congratulates you on your deed. Should you require our assistance in the future we will give the request its due consideration irregardless of your species. We will treat is as it befits your status and the respect you both command."

Daphne blinked several times before shaking her head. She hurried to curtsy and Harry followed suit with a bow. "Thank you, Account Manager Snapfist. Warrior Potter and I recognize the honor bestowed and promise to treat the concession with the same gravity that it is offered."

"We won't abuse that, Snapfist," Harry put in. Neville standing nearby rolled his eyes at Harry's lack of formality.

After that Harry and the other humans started to wander around the Chamber proper. There hadn't been time to explore during the first visit and he never had managed to come back prior to this. Finding most of the Chamber to be empty they did end up stumbling across one large tunnel out and a grate blocked by another parseltongue door. A quick sojourn showed that the tunnel opened up relatively deep into the Forbidden Forest which at least partially explained how the snake had been able to survive for so long down there.

Hermione was far more interested in the second find: a small room behind the statue which held several ancient tomes – at least three of which were written by Salazar Slytherin himself. "Harry! Harry, look! This is Salazar Slytherin's own personal diary! And this is a book on Hogwarts! And this is…well I don't know what this is but look! This is amazing!" Harry chuckled as he moved over to his girlfriend's side.

"It's parseltongue, Hermione," he commented checking her book. "Seems pretty boring actually. It looks like it is just descriptions of different kinds of snakes both magical and mundane. It has some notations on which ones are smarter, which ones are poisonous or have special properties and which ones make the best pets. Oh, apparently one of them can fly. That's both terrifying and awesome."

"I can't believe I'm reading one of the Founder's diaries…" Hermione said softly. She reverently turned the page with her wand. Tracey came up beside her and reached out to hold the book only to be batted away by the brunette. "Don't touch it! It's ancient! You could damage it!"

Tracey held up her hands and backed off laughing. "Whoa, sorry, Miss Bookworm. My bad. I promise not to hurt the awesome book."

Daphne shook her head and moved past Tracey to squint down at the book. "You did deserve that one, Trace. This is amazing."

"Daphne, look," Hermione said pointing to a section. "Is that what I think it?"

"Yeah, it's why he left…" Daphne's eyes widened and she stood up. "Wow. That is not what history teaches."

"Anyone care to share?" Shiva asked coming up behind them all.

Hermione nodded absently. "According to this account, Salazar Slytherin was never against Muggle-borns in general. He was against magicals being hunted and slaughtered. He advocated for raising Muggle-borns with other wizarding families so that we could hide our existence better. The other Founders disagreed with removing children from their families despite the staggering amounts of young ones who were killed before they ever reached Hogwarts for fear of being possessed by the devil when they exhibited accidental magic. The dispute grew until Slytherin could no longer remain with the others."

Daphne picked up the story. "It looks like the basilisk was left with the primary purpose of guarding the school. Slytherin felt that the attitudes of the other Founders would eventually lead to a war with the Muggles and he wanted to make sure that at least the children here would be protected…wow, that's actually rather sad what happened to the poor thing now…"

"I did try to talk to her," Harry said glancing at the corpse. "Yet another thing good thing that Voldemort destroyed."

Tonks shook her head, her hair long since returned to a black and gold pattern reminiscent of the basilisk's scales. "I doubt that, Harry. This thing was alone for a millennium regardless of whether or not it was asleep for the majority of that time. Even if Riddle hadn't convinced it to start trying to kill the students it likely wouldn't have been sane enough to be a decent guardian anymore."

"It still seems like a shame," Neville said. He sighed. "I preferred hating the monster. You're not supposed to feel bad for things like this."

"That's what makes us different from…Him," Susan said setting her mouth in a thin line.

"Agreed," Hannah nodded. "If we can feel bad for a giant monster that tried to kill us and a man who wanted to break up thousands of families than that just proves that we are better people than those like You-Know-Who and his followers."

"Yes," Luna said with a smile. "We few no longer are infested with nargles unlike most of the population."

"Nargles?" Hannah asked. Everyone else just laughed.

The goblins had managed to complete almost half the work before Snape and Dumbledore strode into the Chamber. Snape stopped dead upon seeing the corpse and his mouth dropped open. Dumbledore continued on as if he had seen this sort of thing every day.

"Ah, Harry, my boy, I see you are conducting a bit of Spring Cleaning. A few months late for that isn't it?" he asked a twinkle in his eyes.

Harry raised his eyebrows and glanced at his friends. Most just shrugged though Hermione's eyes narrowed as she stared at the old man as did Shiva's and Tonks'. "Hello, Headmaster. I thought you'd be away on business."

"We concluded the session early," Dumbledore said with a wave of his hand. "I am surprised you didn't think I should be informed of this…"

Shiva stepped in front of her ward. "Actually, Headmaster, I did inform the Deputy Headmistress that we would be conducting the harvesting today."

"Indeed? Minerva must have forgotten to mention it."

"She must have." Shiva flashed a wry grin. If he wanted to be difficult she could be too.

Dumbledore stayed quiet for a moment before continuing, "When may the school expect to see the extra income from the sale of the materials?"

That comment drew the laughter of nearly every goblin in the room as well as snorts from many of the humans. "By Right of Conquest," Snapfist said when he got himself under control, "Warrior Potter and Warrior Greengrass have claimed this corpse. A contract has already been struck between them and the Nation. Should they wish to donate any of their profits to the school that is their business. I rather doubt that you will be seeing anything like that anytime soon in my humble opinion, Albus Dumbledore."

Dumbledore's mouth set into a deep frown and he turned from the goblin back to Harry and Daphne. "Surely this is a school matter, Harry."

"Dumbledore," Shiva said raising her eyebrows, "just because the beast was under the school doesn't make it school property."

Daphne shrugged. "We can however, offer to donate several tomes penned by Salazar Slytherin to the school with the understanding that any and all rights to reproductions lie with us as the discoverers."

"Us?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry, Tracey, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Susan, Hannah, Tonks, Professor Babbling, the goblins present and myself. Basically everyone who was here before you and Professor Snape arrived, Sir," Daphne clarified. Crag looked over at her with a surprised expression. He nodded to the girl and went back to his work.

"A Founder's tome you say…" Dumbledore slowly nodded. "Very well. I will have to go over these books to ensure that there is nothing dangerous in any of them prior to release."

Tonks shook her head. "No you won't, Headmaster. That is not your right at all. We found these. We own them until we hand them over. You'll receive the originals in a few days after we get some master copies made. If you're just going to sit there and whine you might as well head back up into the school, Sir."

Dumbledore pulled back as if he had been slapped. Snape finally seemed to snap out of his stupor. He looked over to the group and strode towards them at a pace just under a run with his cloak flapping behind him. "Greengrass, this is what you faced in your second year? This?!"

"I told you not to insult Harry or myself, Professor," Daphne shrugged. "I told you that we had not been exaggerating."

Snape just gaped at her. He turned back to the basilisk and started muttering, "Impossible. Potter was useless. An idiot and a bully. How could his spawn have…"

Shiva growled low and moved to step toward Snape but Harry reached out to pull her back. "Don't, Shiva," he whispered. "Let him have his identity crisis and keep trying to justify his hate. It's not worth fighting it and he has been at least slightly better the past year."

She scowled but backed down. The group slowly spread out again. Dumbledore tried several more times to gain rights to the basilisk or at least the books discovered yet was soundly rebuffed each time. It was early evening by the time the assemblage headed back up out of the Chamber with their parcels in tow. Hermione was clutching her box with the ancient tomes like it was filled with diamonds and Shiva and Tonks were helping the Goblins to transport the skeleton back above ground.

They had almost reached the Entrance Hall when Dumbledore asked one final question. "Where are you taking the skeleton? I would have assumed it would be rendered as well."

"Oh, I'm going to hang it up in my Entrance Hall," Harry said with a grin. "Should be pretty cool, huh?" Harry and the others laughed and continued out. Dumbledore stayed rooted to the ground with his mouth open and an expression of pure horror splashed across his features.