Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 146: Five snakes long

Harry smacked his head with the heel of his palm, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that? They need the cloak so they can use magic."

But as he pulled the cloak from out of his pocket the emptiness felt cold and cavernous. Holding the barely perceptible, silky cloth in his hands, he puzzled over how to send it through the little hole with the little snake while fighting the desire to hide it away.

"This skin you're holding is ancient," Nio commented.

"Skin?"

"A shed skin... of a powerful being."

A shiver snaked over Harry's spine. The cloak had always provided a safe place to hide... safer than his cupboard. It was a warm hug, a shield from prying eyes, and a way to slip by unnoticed.

"I need you to take it to Healer Jordan and Septima. But I don't know how you can do that. It is so large and you are tiny."

"I'm not so tiny. I'm bigger than my brothers. I am smaller than you. But you are so big that you cannot fit through the hole."

Harry couldn't help but smile at the little snake who was coiling around his hands, examining the cloak that Harry held with his wisping tongue. Harry felt the Nio tugging on the fabric, and felt it moving sluggishly in his hands. It was finer and lighter than the silkiest of Aunt Petunia's fancy blouses, but much longer.

"How long is the tunnel to travel to where Healer Jordan is?"

"It is about five snakes long."

"You-sized snakes or Basilisk-sized?"

"Ah, no. Not that long. The Basilisk... he was legendary in his length. Over twenty snakes long, I heard."

"How many snakes are you?"

"Like I said, I'm not so tiny. I'm a little more than a snake long." There was a smile in Nio's hisses.

"So, how long do you think this cloak is?"

"Hmmm. You'd better lay it down so we can figure that out."

Harry found a corner of the cloak and shook it out so that it floated over the surface of the tunnel stirring up dust and settled into a ribbon of cloth in front of him. As he crawled along the side of it, pinching in the sides to make it snake-shaped, his foot hit his cane. He reached for it and placed it alongside the cloak.

Maybe I could use my cane to help Nio with the cloak... kind of hold it up while he carries it. He ran his hands over the sleek material which almost felt like a snake when it was bunched together. Nio's comment about it being a skin made sense even if it made his skin crawl.

Whose skin? he wondered.

Then Little Friend slid along the length of the cloak while Harry placed his hands at the snake's tail and head to count how many snakes long the cloak was. They determined that the cloak was about three and a half snakes long. Harry's cane was nearly a snake-length less than the cloak.

"Okay, so if you hold the cloak in your mouth, and I hold the cloak up with the cane, maybe you can get it through the tunnel?" Harry asked.

"The tunnel turns, though."

"Oi, I didn't think of that. Does it turn a lot?"

"Not like a snake, but I don't think you can push your stick all the way through."

"Well, I guess we'll hope that it helps enough to keep it from getting snagged on things. I wish I knew a charm that made things float. Oh! Wait a second! Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry had flicked out his wand and held against the cloak. With his other hand, he held a section of the cloak down on the tunnel floor while the cloak floated up.