The right path

Nineteen

It was a peaceful Sunday morning, the February chill making most of the student population stay inside the castle. Everything was calm and still, not a sound to be heard in the lone passageways of Hogwarts.

That is, until a green eyed boy was seen running like the devil was on his tail, bolting towards the Slytherin common room, not sparing a single second to watch where he was going, thus tripping in more than one occasion.

Tom was meanwhile sitting in his favorite armchair next to the fireplace, wondering where the hell was Potter. When he woke up he noticed the other boy was already gone, and decided to check if he was in the RoR or the library, to get to work already. But there was no trace of him. That irked him to no end, since they were supposed to get to work on the anti-trace pendant from the very beginning of their day. They were so close to figuring it out! Then again, it was Potter who he was talking about, that boy did whatever he liked, whenever he decided to, never minding Tom's opinion in the slightest.

Suddenly, the common room entrance  opened, revealing a panting Potter. Well, that answered the mystery of his disappearance all right, but it still didn't make Riddle feel less annoyed about the fact that they had lost at least two hours of work. Said annoying creature hurried to the place Tom was sitting at, casting privacy spells as he arrived.

"Riddle, the basilisk is about to hatch. Hurry up, I need you to be there."

And just as quickly as he came, he cancelled the privacy spells and bolted out of the room once again.

The moment Tom processed what he had been told, he also stood up abruptly, and left the room as quickly as he could without losing composure. He needed to maintain his image, thank you very much.

But even if he appeared rushed, he couldn't care less. The most magnificent creature to roam the Earth was about to hatch in his presence. Finally. This was a once in a lifetime experience, hell, not even that, it was a once in a fortunate lifetime experience. Because not everybody had the guts, talent, or knowledge to hatch one.

When he arrived to the hidden room he stumbled upon a very flustered Harry Potter, who was in the middle of a complicated incantation. Knowing better than to meddle, Tom just waited in silence, anxious to see everything for himself.

Soon enough, Harry finished chanting, and finally, the egg started to shake lightly. Tom watched as Potter sank to the floor, completely exhausted. He wondered if a lesser wizard could even hatch a basilisk, seeing Potter was this drained now.

"It should be hatching in the next ten minutes. I couldn't sleep so I decided to come by and check how it was going, since we knew it was due soon, but when I arrived the toad had already suffered the last metamorphosis and was about to die, I didn't have time to go get you before. You know, with the potion I had to finish brewing with the toad's blood and the subsequent process of maturing the egg to its final stage. I could only leave during the cooling time, but even then I only had some minutes to spare. Now, when it hatches, you need to make it clear that you are its master, because it will immediately recognize my magical signature as the caster, so if you don't claim it soon, it will run wild throughout the school, and we definitely don't need that."

Tom already knew that, they both had read the process plenty of times before, to be prepared for this very exact moment. However, instead of reminding Potter of that fact, he merely nodded, more worried about the fact that Harry hadn't slept. Honestly, why was this boy so hard to understand? Sometimes he slept untill noon without remorse, and yet there were instances like this one, when he simply disregarded his sleep.  Unbelievable.

Just as he was going to reprimand Potter for missing his sleep, the egg started convulsing violently, angry hisses escaping from it's insides.

"Stupid eggshell, just break already! I swear, when I get out I will rip this thing into so small pieces that it will be mistaken for dust."

Harry had to refrain from laughing, he wasn't supposed to understand what the basilisk was saying. But it was so utterly hilarious to hear that. The mighty basilisk, the king of snakes, was cursing over its own eggshell. Because it wouldn't break already. And to further his amusement, Tom was staring at the egg with a look of complete horror. He probably expected a snake with a stoic personality, graceful and powerful. More or less a personality to match himself or something like that.

And then, a small head with soft yellow eyes poked through the stupid eggshell. Looking around for the first time, the basilisk then slithered out of the egg. And, just as it promised, it started hitting the eggshell with its tail, smashing everything to the ground. Of course, Harry was now having serious trouble containing his laughter, preferring to zone out before he exploded, pretending to be exhausted.

"Hey, you, human! You were my caster, did you bring food, or do I also need to smash you to the ground?"

The basilisk was now heading towards Harry, expecting him to feed its hungry little stomach. Yet, another human answered the question.

"He cannot understand you, but we do have food. Here."

Strange. The caster was almost always the one who claimed the spot as master, but there were some exceptions it seemed. Quickly, the snake slithered to get the food, and curled in Tom's outstretched hand.

"How can he not understand, he is a speaker too. Are you humans that stupid? Can't you sense it in your tail?"

And in that moment Harry knew he was screwed. Tom would not believe the snake for now, maybe, but later on it was inevitable that his secret came to light. He needed to be extremely careful from now on, or else, he would put himself in a very awkward position. So he decided to play dumb for now, unless something happened to force him to reveal his ability.

"So, have you claimed him already? I saw he ate the food."

"Yes. She accepted me as her master. Although she is quite annoying. I should now think for a suitable name"

Harry noticed the lack of question towards the 'speaker' situation, and was quite grateful for it. And it made him happy that Tom had already taken a fondness for the animal, even if wouldn't admit it. Harry could tell by watching the expression in his face. If Tom truly despised the snake he would have that look in his eyes, the utter hatred imprinted there. Instead, he found awe, and almost happiness in those black eyes.

"Master, what are we waiting for? I need warmth, soft blankets and cuddle time. Maybe I can even get that human caster to be my slave."

The moment those words were said, many things happened at once. Harry almost fell out of the mirror door, out of pure shock. The basilisk was watching everything amused, her plan proving to be fruitful. And Tom. He had a look of pure anger in his face.

"You will not do anything to him. He is mine. Understood?!"

And then Harry did the most stupid thing he could think of.

"I guess she got the idea Tom, although if I may intervene, I would like to think I am no one's property."

Shocked silence met that last sentence. Peace returning once more to the empty corridors of the castle.