Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 128 Amazing or not, Brother Chicken

The secret chamber reeked of the stench of basilisk blood.

"Hiss—" Snape gasped, his fingers fumbling for the straps of his mask.

When the stained mask was finally removed, he greedily inhaled a few breaths of relatively fresh air, only to find that his hands were trembling uncontrollably after the excitement of the battle subsided.

He sat on the damp floor of the secret room, feeling the stinging pain with each breath, and gritted his teeth as he took out two vials of medicine from his robe.

After drinking the deep purple pain-relieving potion, a cool sensation spread from his stomach throughout his body, instantly easing his pain. Next came the silver healing potion; after drinking this, a tingling sensation came from his broken ribs, and the bones were rapidly reconnecting under the potion's effect.

After regaining some strength, he carefully carried Dobby to the entrance of the secret chamber and gently placed him on a flat stone slab.

"Thank you, little one," Snape whispered, gently brushing the dust off Dobby.

The little elf's face remained angry. His reddish-brown face had turned a pale gray due to the petrification process.

His gaze shifted to the other end of the secret room—the roosters, which had been enlarged by the spell, were almost all standing still with their eyes closed, seemingly resting. Their bright feathers stood out starkly in the dim light of the room, their red combs like burning flames.

Only the spotted rooster was still strutting around arrogantly, continuing to scratch the ground with its sharp beak, pecking at the scattered flesh and blood of the serpent monster.

"Come here, coo coo coo," Snape called out, pursing his lips, trying to gather his heroes in a safe place.

The roosters held their heads high, ignoring his calls; the spotted rooster even glanced at him disdainfully.

He squinted, assessing the location of the fallen rocks. These creatures were clearly more intelligent than he had imagined. He then raised his wand and chanted over the scattered stones, "Restore to normal!"

As the wand swept across the room, the pebbles immediately rose into the air, automatically piecing themselves together to form a pillar and ceiling, before rumbling back to their original positions.

The loud noise of the stone flying back to its original position finally startled the roosters awake. They flapped their wings, clucking and scattering in all directions.

When the last stone was placed back in its place, the Chamber of Secrets was restored to its original state. Salazar Slytherin's stone statue still stood with its mouth agape, its empty eyes staring at everything.

The only difference was that lying before Snape was a lifeless, scaled basilisk. The monster's enormous body was covered in wounds, and its yellowish-green eyes were half-open, but had lost all their luster.

Snape walked slowly toward the basilisk, stopping ten feet away. He raised his wand and cautiously uttered the spell: "Cut into pieces!"

The moment the spell struck the basilisk, a large patch of scales was knocked off, and black blood splattered onto the ground like a shower. The basilisk didn't react—it seemed it was truly dead. Snape finally relaxed, a barely perceptible smile appearing on his lips.

He took out a pair of dragon-skin gloves from his small bag, put them on, and carefully reached his hand toward the basilisk's head.

The monster's gaping maw revealed gleaming venomous fangs, and venom slowly seeped from its lower jaw.

Snape held his breath and plunged the goblin-made dagger deep into the basilisk's jaw, all the way to the hilt. Venom flowed down the hilt, hissing as it touched the dagger's surface.

He nodded in satisfaction, having acquired the weapon to destroy the Horcrux.

Next, he didn't intend to let go of the snake monster, which was full of treasures.

Snape aimed his wand at the basilisk's fangs. Unlike ordinary snakes, each of the basilisk's fangs contained venom.

Under the levitation spell, the basilisk's first curved fang was finally pulled out by the roots as his arm gently swayed. He quickly moved it to a dragonskin bag he had prepared nearby. One, two, three... By the time he had collected the twentieth fang, the basilisk's mouth was completely bald.

“And the scales…” He looked at the roosters, who had calmed down and were now pecking enthusiastically at the basilisk’s exposed flesh, “and the snake meat.” Thinking of their contributions in this battle, he shook his head and tacitly approved of their behavior. “Eat as much as you like. This is what you deserve.”

He began collecting the basilisk scales scattered on the ground. Each of these dark green scales was the size of his palm, with edges as sharp as knives. They could be used to make top-grade armor, or to brew certain extremely rare potions.

After cutting up the Slytherin legacy, Snape felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He leaned against a cold stone pillar to rest, estimating the value of the spoils.

"It's worth at least three to five thousand Galleons," he thought, and a surge of strength seemed to rise within him. "This is a serpent king that has lived for over a thousand years."

He took out a large amount of parchment, reinforced it with magic, and used it to wrap the various parts of the basilisk, placing them into a small bag that had been enchanted with the Unseen Stretching Charm.

Despite the weight-reducing spell, the small bag was surprisingly heavy. When he stuffed it into his arms, his robes were pulled down a bit.

“Now it’s your turn. Come back with me.” Snape turned to the roosters, raised his wand, and said, “Shrink quickly!”

The spell's light flashed, but the roosters remained unchanged, still the size of hounds. Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise and tried again, but the result was the same.

"Could it be that eating the flesh and blood of the basilisk has granted you magical resistance?" he murmured in amazement. "You are no longer ordinary roosters?"

The roosters held their heads high proudly, as if confirming his guess. One of them even spread its wings, flapped them a few times, and stirred up a small whirlwind.

Snape pondered for a moment and decided to put the matter aside for now. He needed to get Dobby to the school hospital as soon as possible.

"Okay, big guys, come with me."

As he spoke, he tore several strips of cloth from his robe, tied Dobby to his back, and strung the seven roosters together with the original rope. The mutated creatures obediently submitted to his manipulation, though their eyes remained haughty.

It seemed Hagrid had trained them well, he thought; these roosters were indeed docile—at least they wouldn't attack him.

Lighting his wand, Snape carried the elf on his back and dragged the roosters out of the secret chamber.

“Let’s go, Dobby, let’s get out of here,” he whispered, though the petrified sprite couldn’t hear him.

They passed through a dimly lit, empty, and echoing room and returned to the tunnel.

The tunnel wound upwards, and the sounds of Snape's footsteps and the occasional clucking of a rooster echoed in the narrow space.

After navigating one bend after another, they finally returned to the entrance of the water pipe.

Snape took out the three-star sweeping broom he had bought earlier, put the wand in his pocket, and awkwardly mounted the broom.

"Lift!" he commanded, and the broom rose shakily into the air, its speed so slow it was almost despairing.

At this rate, he probably won't be back on Earth until next year. Perhaps we shouldn't skimp on this, Snape couldn't help but think.

Just then, the roosters he was holding suddenly flapped their wings and flew past him, the powerful pull almost pulling him off the broom. "What—!" he exclaimed, quickly gripping the broom tightly and the rope.

The roosters carried him, whistling as they flew above the pipes, the cold air ruffling his hair and robes. Snape quickly regained his composure and began to enjoy this unprecedented way of flying.

Unfortunately, the journey was too short—in the blink of an eye, he landed on the damp floor of the bathroom.

The pool that had been covering the water pipes slid back into place automatically, concealing all traces.

The roosters looked particularly proud in the dim light of the washroom, their eyes sparkling and their long tail feathers swaying arrogantly, as if they were waiting for Snape's evaluation of them.

“You are truly remarkable.” Snape expressed his sincere respect for the flock of poultry and waved his wand to clean the dust and blood off his clothes.

After letting Nagini crawl back into his robe, he took Dobby off his back, looked at the elf's stiff face, and decided to leave the roosters in the washroom for the time being.

“Stay here,” he said to the roosters who were preening their feathers. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

The corridor was deserted at dusk, with only his footsteps echoing between the stone walls.

He carried Dobby and walked toward the school hospital on the same floor.

When I pushed open the door to the university hospital, Ms. Pomfrey was dozing in an armchair. Her head was nodding, and she was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hand.

Hearing the noise, she was jolted awake, her gaze immediately falling on the little elf in Snape's arms.

"What happened?" She stood up and strode towards the door, directing Snape to place Dobby on the nearest bed. "Over here." Her voice was a little hoarse from just waking up, but she immediately switched into professional mode.

Madam Pomfrey examined Dobby quickly, her brow furrowing deeper. “He’s petrified,” she finally announced, looking up at Snape. “Snape, are you hurt?” Her gaze swept over his tattered robes.

“No,” Snape said briefly, then couldn’t help but ask Mrs. Pomfrey for confirmation, “Will Dobby be alright?”

“He’s not in mortal danger. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him.” Ms. Pomfrey said sternly, pulling the curtains around the bed. “But what exactly happened? A normal petrification spell wouldn’t produce this effect.”

“Uh, an accidental magical incident,” Snape explained.

“Students should not be conducting horrific black magic experiments in school,” Ms. Pomfrey said sternly. “I think you are well aware of this. You wait here while I go and inform the headmaster.”

“We don’t need to bother the headmistress, Ms. Pomfrey,” Snape said. “It was just an accident.”

“I don’t think so,” Ms. Pomfrey said angrily, and strode away from the school hospital.

“Alright then.” Snape shrugged and walked around the curtain to Dobby’s bedside. He hadn’t planned to tell Dumbledore so soon, but he figured it would be difficult to keep it from the headmaster in this castle, so he decided to leave it at that.

He gently adjusted the pillow under the elf's head to make him more comfortable.

Then he walked to the window, past the swaying Whomping Willow, and looked out at the Quidditch pitch in the twilight.

There were no matches today, but in the distance, a few blurry figures were still riding brooms in the sunlight, tumbling and chasing each other through the air.

Shortly afterward, there was another knock on the door of the university hospital. Ms. Pomfrey entered with Professor Dumbledore.

“What’s wrong with Dobby, Severus?” Dumbledore walked to the bedside, pulled back the curtain, and looked at Dobby closely. His crooked, long nose almost touched the elf’s stiff, greyish-white face. He scrutinized him through his half-moon-shaped spectacles, his long, slender fingers gently poking and prodding him here and there.

Dumbledore muttered some strange words and tapped the elf with his wand. But Dobby remained unresponsive, lying there stiffly like a freshly made specimen.

Finally, he straightened up.

“As you said, he is not dead.” Dumbledore looked at Madam Pomfrey and said softly, “I know of a potion that could bring Dobby back to life. But, Bobby, could I have some time alone with Severus?”

Ms. Pomfrey nodded and left, returning to her office.

“Severus, I think we need to talk.” Dumbledore turned to Snape, his voice gentle but firm. “I witnessed the same thing decades ago.”

"At that time, I was not the principal yet, and an old friend of ours was still at the school."

"At the time, several students fell into this state, and ultimately, an unfortunate girl lost her life..."

“Moaning Myrtle, I know who you’re talking about, Professor,” Snape said bluntly. “I found and entered the Chamber of Secrets. From now on, you won’t have to worry about anything like this happening again—I’ve killed the basilisk in the Chamber.”

“That’s dangerous, Severus,” Dumbledore said sternly, without any hint of admiration or surprise. “You should have told me instead of going in alone.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Snape said. In truth, he went to the Chamber of Secrets alone to prevent Dumbledore from obtaining the Basilisk's fangs and the means to destroy the Horcruxes.

“I did not think things through properly,” he added, lowering his eyes. “It won’t happen again.”

"Alright," Dumbledore nodded. "How did you kill the Basilisk?"

“The rooster’s crowing is deadly to the basilisk,” Snape replied.

“A very clever idea,” Dumbledore said approvingly, a hint of approval finally flashing in his blue eyes. “A monster that has lived for thousands of years, just like that, dies in the mouth of the most ordinary poultry. Sometimes a chicken can be more useful than a phoenix. But—” He paused for a moment, then asked, “Why did you do this?”

Snape did not answer immediately.

He slowly pulled the dagger, soaked in the basilisk's venom, from his bosom and took it out of its sheath.

“This dagger is soaked in basilisk venom,” he said calmly, holding the dagger between the two men. The blade gleamed coldly under the lights of the school hospital. “As far as I know, basilisk venom is extremely destructive. There is only one antidote, which is the extremely rare tear of the phoenix.”

"And this dagger made by fairies can absorb and strengthen what it is made of."

“So, where did you put the Ravenclaw crown, Professor?” he asked.

　Thank you to Xiangpiaopiao Strawberry, Pig Can Fly, Dawn Breaks Dawn, Little Wolf (phone confiscated), Meow Steps on Stars, Reader 1377962097924120576, Book Friend 20220618210232984, and Book Friend 20191223094302760 for the monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)