Harry Potter and the Protectors of Hogwarts

xiii. of seeing and unbelieving

"You killed this Potter?" Snape said faintly. He looked stunned. As did the students and teachers.

Harry felt uncomfortable.

"Back everyone. Stay well back," McGonagall said sharply, though no one had taken a step forward. "Dragonhide gloves back on, just in case," quickly donning hers.

Harry put his gloves back on.

Gallagher walked over to the middle of the chamber and bent down to pick something up,
"What's this doing here?"

It was the fang that pierced Harry's arm, the one he had used to destroy Riddle's diary. There was still a dark puddle of ink where Gallagher had picked the fang up from. Harry explained what it was doing there and how Fawkes had healed him. Gallagher looked a little sick and gladly let Snape, who was ready with another jar, take it from him. His explanation only rewarded him with incredulous looks.

"So what are going to do first?" Lupin asked.

"The fangs," Snape said. "Let us extract the remaining fangs first." He pulled out a shrunken trunk from the bag he had been carrying and left it open after he'd taken the tools he'd needed. The other teachers followed suit.

"All right. We'll start there," said Moody.

"Anybody know any spells?" Gallagher asked.

They looked at each other.

"No idea," Tonks said.

"I don't usually hang around basilisks, so no," said Lupin.

"There's a spell that's used by dragon handlers to extract dragon's teeth," Snape offered helpfully.

"What is it?" Moody asked.

"I do not know. I just know that one exists." Snape said with dignity.

"We'll have to do this the old fashioned. Let's just rip them out."

"What? Just yank them out?" Gallagher asked incredulously.

"Yes. Lupin, Killian, Hagrid. You do the pulling. Snape, have the jars ready. Make sure your gloves on properly. We don't have a phoenix handy in case you get nicked by a fang so be careful." Moody instructed.

McGonagall shepherded the students, who had somehow slowly crept forwards, back away from the serpent. The teachers stood with their wands as if expecting something. Killian, Lupin and Hagrid walked over to mouth of the serpent, which had gone lax in death.

Hagrid grabbed the basilisk's lower jaw and prised it open a little more. Snape, Moody, Flitwick and Shacklebolt walked closer to examine the rest of the serpent.

"Dead nearly four years, but not a spot of decay. Very well preserved. We should be able to harvest all of it. Scales, blood, venom. Everything. Everything will be useful," Snape said reverently.

"All right. We're ready to yank these teeth out. Severus, do you want to bring those jars over?" Killian asked.

Snape ran over to the trio, jar in hand. He peered into the mouth. Killian gently moved him out of the way so that she could reach in, and yanked out a fang.

Hagrid helped extract the fangs, though he winced with every yank.

When the basilisk's jaw was finally empty, they stood back to see their handiwork, as if inspecting a piece of art.

Snape handled the fangs humbly, as if he was going to fall to his knees and start worshipping them. Reluctantly, at Killian's prompting, he put his jar of basilisk fangs away.

"What's next?" Tonks asked.

"How big is the beast?" Lupin asked.

"Really long," said Moody, looking down the pool of water the serpent's tail. "It winds down, I can't see properly. The thrashing caused the tail to get trapped somewhere. Killian, you go down and get the tail untrapped. Gallagher, grab a measuring tape from my trunk. I want an exact figure. Snape, you go with Killian."