Magic

Harry... Harry had no time to answer at all!

The moment Cyberlina finished speaking, the Basilisk had already turned around. Harry swiftly shut his eyes and ducked back behind the stone pillar, running through spell after spell in his mind.

"Looks like you're ready."

Cyberlina's voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. Harry nearly stopped breathing. Holding his breath, he swallowed stiffly and gave a tiny nod—he wasn't actually sure whether he was ready, but he knew Cyberlina would force him to be ready anyway, so he might as well nod—after all, Cyberlina had said she would be watching over him.

"Very good, but don't tense your body up too much, Harry."

Watching Cyberlina move in front of him and then vanish from sight, Harry licked his lips and began listening for movement behind him—he heard the Basilisk moving toward him, and he heard it smash through a stone pillar. Harry lowered his gaze to the ground. Because of that dazzling oil lamp, he could see the Basilisk's shadow—a huge silhouette slowly drawing closer alongside the sound of scales scraping.

It's all right... it's all right, Cyberlina is watching over me. I'll be fine.

Harry kept telling himself this, gripping his wand in both hands and leaning back against the stone pillar, his head tilted up. The pounding of his heart filled his ears—thump, thump, thump—it drowned out the scraping behind him, leaving him to judge the moment to strike only by watching that steadily approaching shadow—thump, thump, thump—within the beat of his heart, the Basilisk's shadow moved slowly. Time itself seemed to have stopped. The spellbooks he had read stopped turning in his mind as well, leaving only a few spells circling endlessly.

Just as the shadow was about to pass the pillar at his back—he spun on his heel, twisted around, lowered his head, and raised both arms. The spell that had rolled over his lips dozens of times burst forth—

"Incendio!" (Blazing Flames)

"Diffindo!" (Severing Charm)

Flames erupted inside the Basilisk's open mouth. They were not large, but they were enough to make it feel the searing pain. Several bloody cuts appeared on its forked tongue. The tongue curled from the pain, only to enter the flames burning within its mouth, and the double agony made the Basilisk violently fling its head—straight into the stone pillar beside Harry.

"Perfect magical control. Well done, Harry!"

Cyberlina's voice came from behind him—from where she had vanished moments ago—and then Harry realized that he had been scooped up around the waist.

Yes, scooped up.

Clamped against Cyberlina's side as she leapt onto the Basilisk's head, Harry could only be grateful that the food at Nick's deathday party had looked so awful that his stomach was still completely empty. Otherwise, if he threw up on Cyberlina, he would definitely be in for it.

"You're very talented, Harry, but you're still too young. If you keep using spells that consume this much magic, not only will you run out of magic very quickly, you also won't be able to bring out their full power." Cyberlina steadied herself atop the Basilisk's head, her wand pointed at its one remaining eye—within an instant, fierce flames ignited inside it.

The Basilisk let out a pained shriek. Its eyeball was swiftly burned away, leaving behind only charred, mangled flesh within the flames. Cyberlina carried Harry as they floated in midair. With a light flick of her wand, the fire went out, revealing a blackened eye socket that crackled and sizzled.

The discomfort in Harry's stomach rose upward. The urge to retch surged into his throat, turning into a foul taste in his mouth. Harry covered his mouth, once again thanking the inedible cakes at Nick's deathday party.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Cyberlina ignored the Basilisk as it writhed and wailed, lowering her head to smile at Harry.

"W-what..." Harry asked indistinctly through his hand.

Cyberlina laughed and pointed beneath her feet. "I said, the Levitation Charm. A simple but incredibly useful piece of magic."

Harry froze. Only when he looked beneath Cyberlina's feet did he realize that they were no longer standing on the Basilisk's head—they were floating in the air!

"Actually, I never fully stood on it in the first place. It hasn't bathed in a thousand years." Cyberlina winked at Harry, then "floated" him down to the ground and stuffed him into Snape's hands.

Snape: "..." What filthy thing was this?

Harry: "..." He did not dare remove the hand covering his mouth.

Cyberlina ignored their displeased expressions. Facing them, she casually raised her wand. "Harry, many times, simple basic spells are no worse than powerful ones. 'Levioso.'"

As Cyberlina uttered the short incantation, the massive Basilisk writhing on the ground behind her rose effortlessly into the air like a feather.

Harry's eyes widened.

"Depulso." (Driving Back the Enemy)

"Boom—"

After the deafening blast, Harry stared at the dust billowing behind Cyberlina and the two stone pillars that had shattered in succession. Only then did he blink belatedly and realize—the Basilisk had been sent flying in an instant!

Harry was stunned.

"That's because Cyberlina possesses abundant magic and is highly skilled at using spells," Dumbledore explained from the side. "So many simple spells can produce unexpected effects. She loves combining all sorts of spells."

Harry nodded repeatedly, indicating that he had learned something.

Snape said nothing, but he was clearly deep in thought.

Cyberlina smiled at the three of them, turned her back, and raised her wand high—

Snape felt that strange gust of wind again. But this time, he suddenly realized that it was not wind at all—or rather, not merely wind—it was the shockwave stirred up by magic passing through the air, magic that he could not perceive.

So that was the invisible magic Dumbledore and Sekerei had been speaking in riddles about from the beginning. Not some special non-magical ability, as I had initially thought.

As he thought this, Snape looked toward Dumbledore and found him intently watching Cyberlina's back, a trace of nostalgia in his eyes.

Cyberlina did not chant a spell. She merely gave her wand a small flick, then brought it down sharply—

"Boom!"

Blue-white magic like lightning appeared out of thin air, descending from above and striking the Basilisk directly. The powerful, violent magic kicked up waves of dust, and the shockwaves rolling through the air were suffocating. Dumbledore quietly let the wand in his sleeve peek out and gave it a gentle wave. The crushing pressure vanished from Snape and Harry.

The Basilisk convulsed continuously beneath the descending magic. It tried to crawl forward but was powerless to do so. The sharp hissing pouring endlessly from its mouth made Harry cover his ears and squeeze his eyes shut in pain. Dumbledore gently stroked the back of his head in comfort.

When the magic finally faded, dust filled the air, and the Basilisk lay on the ground without moving.

Silence.

Cyberlina lightly raised her wand to clear away the dust, then cast Scourgify on everyone.

Snape watched Cyberlina casually flick her wand, his face grave and his heart filled with wariness.

With both hands behind her back, Cyberlina swayed a few steps from side to side, seemingly waiting for the Basilisk's next move before delivering another blow. Yet when the Basilisk slowly raised its head, she suddenly turned to Harry and said, "I see you've learned the Severing Charm, and you control it well, but... you can make your control over it even more precise." Standing sideways toward Harry, she looked at the Basilisk struggling to rise. The wand in the hand behind her back lightly pointed in its direction. "Diffindo."

The Basilisk let out a weak cry, but there were no obvious wounds on its body.

Cyberlina gently lowered her wand. "Accio."

With a sharp whoosh, something flew rapidly from the Basilisk's direction. Harry instinctively stepped back, only to be shoved aside by Snape in disgust.

Harry pressed his lips together and puffed out his cheeks. He did not dare turn around to see Snape's expression, only staring at the enormous snake fang that suddenly stopped in midair and hovered above Cyberlina's palm.

"A Basilisk's venom fang. Good stuff." Cyberlina smiled and flicked her wand. A green box appeared out of thin air. She directed it to open, floated the fang inside, then sent the box drifting before Snape and raised an eyebrow at him. "Potion ingredient?"

A glint flashed in Snape's eyes, and the corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. He reached for the green box, only for it to pull back!

Cyberlina played with the green box in her hand, smiling cheerfully. "Sorry, this one's an alchemy material."

Snape's arm froze in midair. "..."

Snape lifted his chin slightly and narrowed his eyes, staring darkly at Cyberlina in profile. Then he slowly lowered his arm and let out a long breath. The instant he inhaled again, he gave a short, icy sneer.

Harry shuddered and silently shuffled his little feet, moving sideways from between Snape and Dumbledore to Dumbledore's other side. Dumbledore smiled and drew him close, the oil lamp in his hand swaying constantly as he took the opportunity to quietly explain, "Nearly all of Cyber's robe sleeves have pockets sewn into them with Undetectable Extension Charms."

Harry: I want that!

Cyberlina blinked innocently at Snape, though she could not suppress the amusement at the corners of her mouth. She raised and swept her arm—two chunks of stone rose from the shattered pillars and smashed toward the Basilisk, which had already gotten up and was preparing to slither away. Then—Cyberlina turned to face the other three and lightly lifted her wrist. Four sharp stones rose from the ground and plunged into the Basilisk's mouth.

The Basilisk was forced to open its mouth again. Its sole remaining fang was severed by a silent, wandless Severing Charm and flew into a new empty box Cyberlina had already opened.

This time, the box settled steadily in front of Snape, with no intention of retreating again.

"This one is a potion ingredient."

Snape stiffened his neck and shot Cyberlina, who was laughing hard, a sidelong look. Then he glanced unpleasantly at the floating box before him. At last, after pursing his lips for a long while, he gave a cold snort, raised a hand, and took the box down before quickly opening it. After carefully examining the sheen on the venom fang for a few moments, the gloom on Snape's face visibly eased.

Dumbledore laughed aloud—then immediately reined it in somewhat after Snape whipped around and glared at him—before turning to face Harry, covering his mouth as he held back his laughter.

Snape: ...Go on, laugh. It's not like either of you got a venom fang.

Harry clutched Dumbledore's robe with one hand and held up his wand with the other, hiding the half of his face closest to Snape—completely unaware that, given how much taller Snape was, hiding his cheek did nothing to conceal his snickering. Then he looked at the Basilisk behind Cyberlina, which had nearly stopped moving, and asked, "Is it... dead?"

Cyberlina looked at Harry. "Do you remember what I told you before? About snakes..."

"They're cunning. Don't believe what they say," Harry answered obediently. "No matter how nice they seem—so it's pretending."

Dumbledore gave Cyberlina a subtle look.

"Very good, Harry." Cyberlina smiled and met Dumbledore's gaze. "Albus, you're the headmaster of Hogwarts. You decide what happens to this Basilisk."

Dumbledore fell silent for a few seconds, then said somewhat helplessly, "Cyber, thanks to you, it's blind, fangless, and has lost all will to fight... If I said it should be put down anyway, how would you argue against me?"

"Hmm, probably..." Cyberlina actually thought about it for several seconds. "Raise it a little longer. Maybe it can shed its skin a few more times, serve as Harry's sparring partner a few more times, and give us more good snake meat and bones."

Snape immediately looked at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore raised his hand and swung the oil lamp, smiling with inexplicable brightness. "Then we'll leave the Basilisk here and seal off its path into the school's pipes. It's time to go meet our old friend."

The smile Snape had been about to give immediately vanished. The arm clutching the box tensed, but when he noticed Cyberlina's fleeting glance in his direction, he immediately forced himself to relax, and his mind swiftly went blank.

To prevent any structural problems with Hogwarts Castle, Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand in his hand and repaired the damaged stone pillars.

"Oh my, what a familiar-looking wand, Albus," Cyberlina said with a teasing smile.

Dumbledore paused. Only then did he realize that he had been too excited just now and had momentarily forgotten to hide it—he always put it away before Cyberlina entered his office. Though he knew it was merely self-deception, that Cyberlina must have known about it long ago, he still wanted to conceal it, all to avoid hearing that teasing remark!

Yet he had heard it anyway.

Dumbledore did not answer Cyberlina. With a stern face, he assigned her the task of sealing the passage.

Cyberlina accepted with a cheerful smile, then floated herself into the air and went before the statue of Salazar Slytherin. Raising her wand, she began carving runes.

Snape stood below and watched intently, realizing that he truly did not recognize those characters that resembled ancient Runes.

"Severus, do you want to learn?" Dumbledore stood behind Snape, watching him with a smile.

"No." Snape answered without hesitation.

He was indeed a little curious about that writing, but only curious. He had no interest in alchemy or rune magic.

"All right." Dumbledore nodded, then looked at the cloth bag Cyberlina had handed him, a trace of emotion appearing in his eyes. "Nicolas and Cyber are both masters of alchemy, but their areas of expertise are rather different. They often argued over alchemical matters, especially later on... But there's no denying that the couple and Cyber were always very good friends. Perenelle and Cyber were especially close. If... if Cyber had returned a few months earlier, perhaps they could have met one last time..."

Harry froze slightly at those words, then lowered his head with his lips pressed together.

"Oh, Harry, my good boy, it was their own choice." Dumbledore stroked Harry's head. "Just as I told you, they merely went on to their next great adventure."

Snape scoffed at that sort of thing people said to comfort children, but the timing Dumbledore mentioned made him think of the courtyard full of Chinese Chomping Cabbages and Man-eating Plants he had seen the day he went to meet Cyberlina—they did not look like things that could have been planted in a few days. Still, he could not rule out the possibility that it had been the effect of that magic he could not see.

Come to think of it... had Sekerei ever gone back to pick any of those plants?

Just as he was thinking, Snape suddenly heard the sound of flames surging up. He looked up to see that the black hole in the statue had completely closed and returned to normal.

A cluster of white flames appeared at the statue's mouth, then slowly spread—covering the statue's face, covering its entire body.

Cyberlina floated in midair, her wand pointed at the statue as she murmured an incantation Snape could not understand at all. As her chanting gradually softened, the flames likewise dwindled until they finally went out.

"What else did you do?" Dumbledore asked when Cyberlina descended and came over to them.

"I removed the Parseltongue password Salazar set up. This door can't be opened anymore." Cyberlina spoke lightly. "Sorry, Harry. There's one less door that can use you as a key."

Harry: "..."

Harry spoke with complete sincerity. "Thank you very much."

"By the way, Albus. What was the password you ended up getting?"

Dumbledore glanced at Cyberlina, who seemed to be asking in earnest, then fell silent for a moment before looking at Harry.

"..." Harry was expressionless. "'Speak to me, Slytherin—the greatest of Hogwarts' four founders.'"

Snape froze mid-turn, staring in disbelief at the old stone statue behind him, its face dark and menacing.

"The real Slytherin, huh." Cyberlina laughed.