Dissection

For the rest of the week, the older years actually took pity upon their 3rd-year house members. In Slytherin, the older years took to leaving candy out for the third years. It was their simple way of saying, "WE UNDERSTAND THE TRUE AND UTTER HORROR, and CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SURVIVAL!"

Thankfully the next week was nowhere near as bad. The last weekend of the month found Rowan carefully transfiguring a pillow to look like herself,. Prior to leaving, she made sure to close the bed curtains around her bed, before slipping out to the bathroom.

Making sure she was alone, Rowan instantly apparated into the hidden chamber found within the Chamber of Secrets. "Lumos," she said as she held her wand up high to ensure that the door to the hidden quarters is closed.

Nodding in satisfaction, Rowan reached into her pocket to tie a bandana over her nose and half of her face. Reaching into the pouch, she pulls out a high-powered beam flashlight and clicks it on instantly brightening up the room. The tip of the light at the edge of her wand goes out as she heads over to the bookcase to cast a disintegration spell.

A cloud of dust later there is nothing left as Rowan destroys the rotted laboratory. Nothing but an empty chamber is left behind, she raises her wand to cast a cleaning spell. It did not take one but multiple attempts to clear the area of dust and grime. Yet despite her efforts, there remained a musty, murky smell left behind.

Satisfied ad much as could be Rowan reaches into her mokeskin pouch and pulls out a handful of shrunken furniture. During her foray into the cellar, she discovered the out-of-use furniture. With very little persuasion needed, Dawn happily shrunk the furniture for Rowan to take and use at Hogwarts.

Carefully setting the miniature furniture, where she wants them to be, Rowan raises her wand and points it at the shrunken furniture. "Engorgio," as the furniture rapidly swells up and returns to its full size. Rather pleased at this point, she walks over to the laboratory area and proceeds to do the same.

Satisfied Rowan begins to pull out delicate items that have not been shrunken down. She couldn't very well risk glass vials breaking or being lost, since in their shrunken form they would be the size of a rice grain. It simply was not worth the effort.

Having made sure everything was in order, Rowan reached inside the pouch for a rather large, thick emerald muffler. With care, she set the emerald muffler and fully stretched out it on the stone floor. Afterward, she proceeded to put on the prepared items such as gloves, a full body protective suit, and goggles. By the end of it, she resembled a certain character from a horror film.

Rowan had plenty of preparations to complete as she took out the remaining supplies and prepared them. Finished, she double-checked she has everything and is in its proper place. She also checked the flashlights making sure they are secured in place.

Confident everything is in order, Rowan raises her wand and transfigures the emerald muffler back to its original shape. The emerald muffler had been shrunken down as part of the transfiguration. Upon the spell being released, the true size and shape of the Basilisk are revealed. The Basilisk swelled and stretched filling most of the laboratory quarters and spilling even into the library area.

Now that the Basilisk is dead, Rowan can appreciate the gigantic size of the venomous serpent. "Thankfully, it is dead now," she gratefully said with no measure of small relief. It had not been easy to defeat, and she could not have done it on her own not without the help of the acromantulas.

Reaching over to the laboratory worktable, Rowan selected a razor-sharp, magically forged scalpel guaranteed to cut even the toughest of magical beast skins. She had acquired the set of scalpels from Borgin & Burkes. Not that other locations wouldn't have a fine set of scalpels, but she needed a scalpel that was sharp enough even to cut through the flesh of a basilisk. And instruments like that are not easy to acquire since they are less than legal, so to speak.

Ensuring that her gloves are in place, Rowan approaches the enormous head of the basilisk. Her grip on her wand feels a bit clumsy as she casts a levitation charm and better positions the serpent's head. The massive maws of the basilisk slide open with a thud revealing the still-pink flesh of the serpent's mouth.

Inching closer, Rowan peers into the basilisk's mouth until she spots, the large, liquid-filled venom sacks just behind the serpent's massive fangs. See the size of the venom sacks, she easily deduces that the sacks will burst if she attempts to remove them. She would have to take another approach.

Rowan levitated large vats twice as wide and as tall as her towards her. The containers are specially designed to hold vats of poison or in this case basilisk venom.

Carefully placing the containers next to the gaping maws, Rowan sets the vats right beneath the venom sacks. Firmly holding her wand, she takes a deep breath and says, "Incisus!" A dark pulsing crimson light can be seen at the tip of her wand. Ironically, she'd learned the spell from the wizard physiology textbook she was presently reading.

With care, Rowan moved her wand as the crimson spark began to cut in and around the pink flesh of the Basilisk's gums. The venom sack wobbled ominously as it begins to come loose. Quickly switching over to a levitation spell, she catches the venom sack mid-air and gently levitates it over into one of the vats. Letting out a sigh of relief she does the same thing to the rest of the venom sacks along with the basilisk fangs.

Taking a break, Rowan carefully removes her gloves before removing her goggles and mask. Walking over to the laboratory table, she reaches for a clean handkerchief and proceeds to wipe the damp sweat off her brows. Pausing to take a swig of cold water from a water bottle, she lets out a sigh, before returning to her arduous work.

The rest of the night was spent with her methodically peeling back the entire basilisk skin to be used for future use. After that, exhausted Rowan cast a preservation spell to return the following night. And so, the following night, she had to carefully split the entire giant snake open in order to remove all of the vital organs. Interestingly enough Newt Scamander was wrong, Basilisk's do have horns. It's next to their testicles apparently.

Rowan felt more than a bit uncomfortable at the idea that Salazar Slytherin must have spent an extraordinary amount of time near a Basilisk's lower regions to have noticed that. And the reason she said that is that horns much like any other physical change only appeared after puberty. And basilisks take a rather long time before they are fully mature enough to develop said horns.

Nevertheless, firmly putting such a thought out of mind and view, Rowan continued her arduous job until almost dawn on Sunday morning. Exhausted but pleased, she made sure to make sure everything was neatly preserved and closed. Finally, she cleaned up the entire area before appariating away.

Barely able to see, Rowan somehow manages to slip into bed almost forgetting to remove the transfigure pillow. Only remembering when she found herself face to face with a sleeping dead copy of herself. Yawning, she whispers the incantation, since she is too tired to put her wand back on the bed stand instead slips it under her pillow and promptly falls asleep.

It must have only been an hour or two later when Tiffany rips the bed curtains open and says, "Rise and shine, sleepy head! Let's go and have some fun."

Rowan lets out a groan and sticks her head back under the pillow. "Go away, I'm sleeping in today," Rowan rather muffled said.

"Suit yourself," Tiffany cheerfully shrugged before scrambling over to her wardrobe to pick her outfit for the day.

"Are you okay, Rowan?" Bethanie's concerned voice could be heard as she headed over for a closer look. Silvia peeked over at Rowan but shrugged as she thought Rowan must be having nightmares again.

"I just didn't sleep much last night," Rowan truthfully grumbled as she snuggled into her pillow.

"Oh well, in that case, have a late lie-in," Bethanie softly whispered, before rather kindly closing the curtains around Rowan's bed.

"Thank you," Rowan whispered as her eyes began to close back on their own. The girls softly whispered as to not awaken Rowan, before quietly slipping from their dorm. Rowan was almost half-asleep when she felt something heavy on her lower back.

Almost having a panic attack, Rowan bolts up and reaches for her wand to see the adorable purring form of Alchemy leap off her back to curl next to her. "You utter tease," Rowan said. "You gave me a fright!"

Alchemy merely cutely stretched in reply as Rowan shook her head to plop back onto the pillow. Needless to say, they were both sound asleep within the next few minutes. In fact, they didn't even wake up until noon for lunch.