Coffee and Spearmint Toothpaste - Dramione

35-The Basilisk

The Basilisk sprung at her, poison dripping from its fangs, and all she could think to do was drop to the floor to dodge it whilst it launched itself at the wall with such power the the stone cracked slightly. She doubted she was getting out of here, if she could just wound it enough that it's unable to move into the rest of the school then everyone else would be safe. She got to her feet quickly, carful not to slip on the wet floor, and held the sword of Gryffindor tightly with both hands, the cold metal biting into her hands. The echolocation spell wasn't as hard to use as she thought, it was just like watching an old monochromatic movie.

The basilisk shot towards her again, but this time she dodged again moving to the side staying on her feet. She thought back to all of the time she had spent with Draco, training to use a sword, she could do this. As the snake moved forward she made her move and swung the sword at the snakes side, cutting through the scales leaving a gash of blood. Now the snake seemed even more desperate to kill her. The basilisk began to thrash and twist snapping its jaws at her. She figured that if she were to do this she would have to trick it some how. Suddenly out of nowhere as she was focusing on the snakes head, its tail swept under her from behind, leaving her to crash to the floor hitting her head on the stone. In the process she found that the bandage that covered her eyes had come loose and fallen to the floor. She got up on to her hands and realised how hard it was to keep her eyes shut, the temptation to just open them and get a better view of her surroundings was unbearable but she knew that if she did she would most likely die instantly. As she was on her feet again the basilisk's tail swung towards her again this time hitting her square in the chest, throwing her straight into on of the metal snake heads lining the chamber. As she fell she slid into the moat of water.

Just as she was about to get back up and continue fighting she realised that she couldn't her arm was caught in the mouth of the metal snake head, she was afraid to look now that she could feel the hot blood on the surface of her arm. With out looking she lifted it of what she now knew was a large silver snake fang, the pain almost unbearable she clenched her teeth hard. The basilisk started to slither towards her once so she got to her feet and ran, holding her arm as she went.

She remembered Harry telling her how when he went to the chamber of secrets to save Ginny, he had hidden in the tunnels of to the side and confused it because it was blind, but she didn't have that option. As she ran to the tunnels she chanced a quick look behind her she saw that the snake was not following her, perhaps it was going to try and flush her out by confusing her instead, or by waiting for her to bleed to death.

As she entered the tunnel all she could see was the curved walls followed by an intersection only followed by more curved tunnels. She had read about basilisks in her second year and rememberd almost the exact page from the book on how the ould use their sense of smell to track their prey. She opened her eyes finally to take a quick look at her arm and almost vomited when she saw it. The silver snake tooth had left two holes either side of her arm just above the elbow as it had gone straight through. Hermione knew she had to think fast to cover the scent of her blood before the snake would use it to find her. She she quickly looked around the tunnel for something she could use to stop it from smelling her blood but found nothing.

The only this she could do for now was fix the wound. Although she knew quite a lot of healing spells, one to heal a hole in the arm would take time to perform as she would have to stitch back together tissues and nerves. She had to get rid of the blood fast, and the only thing she could think to do she knew would hurt more than the wound itself. Hermione pulled out her wand and placed it to the entrance of the wound, she would have to cauterise. In her head she said the incantation 'insendio' and a white hot flame shot from the wand straight into her arm. All she could feel was pain. It felt like every nerve in her arm had been disintegrated, destroyed. After a few minutes and the pain had eased she conjured a bandage and wrapped it around the wound quickly, tying it of within a few seconds.

It was then that she heard the harrowing sound of the basilisks scales sliding against the stone tiles, echoing through the chamber, making her immediately close her eyes again, reverting her back to the echolocation spell, holding her sword aloft. She turned right and pressed her back against the wall, hoping that the snake wouldn't see her, smell her, or hear her. As she heard the beast get closer she held her breath, and held the sword close to her body. The snake moved with an almost deadly grace, and to her surprise right past her. She could go after it and try to attack it from behind but she figured that it would only end in her death. But what did she really have to loose, her parents we in Australia, their memories of her completely gone. Harry and Ron would never be the same after the war. She twisted the ring Draco had given her on her finger, the warm metal a comfort in the silence of the tunnel. Draco. She had him, she was going to get out of here and find her way back to him, she would crawl if she had to. Hermione was not going to give up.

If only there was some way that she could trap it or trick it somehow. It was then that she remembered the small metal grate in the floor that covered a smaller tunnel, roughly half her high. She bent down and picked up several small stones of the floor and placed them in the hidden pockets in her dress, just incase she needed to distract it some how, and made her way back to the main chamber, and to the grate in the floor.

A/N:This chapter may have dragged but I swear that the next few chapters will be really good, I promise. Thank you for all the reads. BYEEE!!