Chapter 50: The Last Hunt of a Queen

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

November 30th, 1992, 10:23 PM - Monday

Selena, hearing her name, took Erik's side and prepared herself for opening the door in the stone bust. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Selena then pointed Slytheryn's sword's blade to the stone bust, pumped her magic into the sword and said in an out loud voice.

"OPEN."

Different from the other two doors, the stone bust stood quiet and then, its eyes started to glow with an eerie green light. Selena felt that the statue was looking directly at her, judging her, and she looked directly at its green eyes while standing in place. For an instant nothing happened, and then the stone bust's eyes went off and the group heard the now common sound of stone grinding at stone. The stone bust's mouth started opening. It continued to open until its lower lips were just centimeters above the stagnant black water. Erik then heard a loud hissing sound.

"It's coming!"

Erik said, and he felt Joan and Leona putting their guards up behind him, with Joan taking out the 'mirror' shield from her back. Erik and Selena, the ones who were the nearest to the stone bust, heard the noise of something heavy moving. Something heavy slithering over the ground and coming in their direction. The sound was getting louder and louder until Selena, who was exactly in front of the stone bust, saw it first. A big head then peaked through the stone bust's mouth and looked around curiously. It's big yellow eyes, the size of basketballs, were covered by a thin layer of opaque film. It's head had a draconic shape with two big fangs, of the size of a short sword each, showing in the front of its big mouth and coming from its upper skull. It was, definitely, a creature that inspired fear.

Selena looked at it with a serene smile on her face.

"Hello, Hilda."

She said to the basilisk, who was looking at the group inside the chamber. Its head then snapped instantly at Selena's direction. Its head slowly approached Selena's body, with its body exiting the stone bust's mouth. For those looking at the scene from some distance, they were having the strange impression that the stone bust was regurgitating something long and solid. It was not a nice vision.

The basilisk, Hilda, then hissed something. Erik, having the gift to understand all animals, translated to Selena.

"She said is confused. You called her by her given name and have a very familiar smell."

Erik spoke, and the basilisk head turned to him, letting some more hisses out.

"No, Hilda, I am not a speaker, but I can understand you, and you can understand me too."

Erik spoke to the basilisk, who gave a louder hiss in response.

"Hilda, behave."

Selena said in an authoritative tone and pumped some magic in the Slytheryn's sword, which was resting and pointing down at her side. The basilisk felt the pull of the magic of the sword and the order and its head snapped back to Selena. Its body now was out of the stone bust's mouth completely, and it was long. Twenty three meters long, give or take.

"Hilda, it's me, Sally."

Selena said to the basilisk, who had its head very near Selena. Its tongue was flicking in and out of its mouth, taking in all the smells in the chamber. Hilda then hissed again, and then some more.

"She is asking if it's really you."

Erik translated to Selena.

"Yes, Hilda. It is really me. The same Sally that accompanied you and uncle Salazar in some hunts."

Selena said while still pumping some magic into the Slytherin's sword in her hand. The basilisk then did the unthinkable for a creature of its fame. It lowered its mouth near the ground and bent its neck in a manner where space between its eyes bumped softly to Selena's body and gave out a short hiss. Selena then smiled at Hilda's behavior and started to pet the giant snake in the space between its eyes.

"I miss him too, Hilda."

Selena said to the basilisk, with a nostalgic smile on her face. She didn't need Erik to translate that last hiss. Selena could feel in her bones what was its meaning.

For Joan and Leona, the vision was a little bizarre, but nothing that they had never seen like it before: Selena petting a giant snake that just its head was the size of her body. Normally it was Erik the one to have the 'animal aura', because of his gift, and not Selena.

The duo stood there for a few minutes. Each searching for the other some comfort for the family that they missed.

"Hilda, tell me what happened, I heard you killed a student."

Selena suddenly said, while still petting Hilda. The basilisk, who was enjoying Selena's touch, froze in place with his body becoming completely still. It then started to hiss. Erik waited for it to finish hissing, and translated to Selena and to his other girls too.

"Hilda said that a boy came to the chamber and woke her up. His smell was similar to Salazar's and was a speaker too, but his magic was all wrong. She said that she would not obey him and she went back to sleep. Next time he appeared in the chamber, he brought an offering to her, big white prey with black spots. He said it was a sorry gift and she accepted. But after she ate the big prey, the pain came. She tried to regurgitate it, but the boy spelled something to keep her mouth shut. The pain was very strong. It was like her head was being torn open. Then, the boy said something and the pain stopped, but she could not resist to obey him anymore. He then made her attack the students, but she managed to avoid direct eye contact at the last second, and just petrified them. But an accident happened, and a student got caught in her gaze and died."

Erik said, finishing the translation. He and the girls stood in their places, thinking about what the basilisk had just 'hissed'.

"A potion."

Selena said.

"Yes, it was what I was thinking too. The big prey must have been dosed with copious amounts of it, and when Hilda ate it, the potion affected her."

Erik spoke.

"It must have been some sort of potion to torture and attack the mind of the drinker, letting it vulnerable to external attacks."

Leona said.

"He then cast something that made Hilda unable to resist his orders."

Joan said, continuing their line of thought.

"Tell me, Hilda, has someone been down here and made you obey him again?"

Selena asked the basilisk. Hilda stood for a moment, receiving Selena's petting, and then it hissed back. Erik waited for it to finish hissing and translated.

"Hilda said that there was a little student down here. She had a foul smell attached to her, and she was a speaker. When she ordered, Hilda could not resist and felt she had to obey. She fought it a lot, just like the first time, and managed not to kill any one, just like in the past. But she doesn't know if she could avoid it for much time."

Erik finished saying. Hilda then hissed again. It was a long and low hiss. After Hilda finished, Erik let out a sigh.

*sigh*

"She said that she doesn't want to feel like that ever again. And since she woke up the second time, she had been very tired. She…"

Erik translated the basilisk's words and made a pause before continuing.

"She said that she wants to rest."

Erik said. His face was solemn.

"She wants to rest as in… She wants to die?"

Leona asked with a low voice. Selena was petting Hilda's head affectionately, and Joan had stuck her 'mirror' shield back in her back.

"Yes."

Erik answered to Leona, while doing a short nod with his head in confirmation to Leona's question. The group stood in silence for a few minutes.

"So, Hilda, are you up for a last hunt?"

Selena asked the basilisk, who raised its head a little and looked at her with its basketball sized yellow eyes as if saying 'Go ahead, I'm listening'. Selena let out a small smile at that.

"In the florest around the castle, I heard that there are a lot of spiders living there. And not the small ones. I am talking about big ones, of the size of your head."

Selena said with an enticing voice to the basilisk.

"So, what do you say? You and me, hunting some big ass spiders?"

Selena entices the basilisk more, and it hisses back.

"She said: Just like old times?"

Erik translates.

"Yes, Hilda. Just like old times."

Selena says to HIlda, who hisses back and starts to slither through the chamber.

"She says that she can do a last hunt with Sally, and you have to follow her and use some magic. There's an entrance to the chamber that is in the middle of the forest, but it is now covered in rocks and earth."

Erik finishes saying and Selena starts running after Hilda.

"Erik, Joan, Leona, I will need you to make a clean path to us in the forest. Warn its denizens that there is a basilisk doing its last hunt."

Selena orders and the family obeys, running quickly after her. She quickly runs after Hilda until she is stopped by a collapsed corridor. Hilda hisses at the collapsed corridor and Selena just looks back and says.

"Erik, if you could, please, clear the way."

Selena asks Erik, who comes by her side and kneels with one knee on the ground. He then let go of Gryffindor's sword, making it disappear, and put both hands in the ground. With some magic pumping, Erik transfigures and transmutes the collapsed corridor, cleaning the way of the debris and creating stone supports for the ceiling and walls. As he finishes cleaning the way, fresh air with the smell of forest hits their faces. It seems that the corridor collapse had destroyed Salazar's magic on the exit to the forest and now it will be always open.

Hilda, seeing that the tunnel was now open, exits first. Selena looks at Erik and he gives a nod with his head, encouraging her. She nods back and turns, running after the basilisk. Erik watches his first wife running and turns to his other wives, Joan and Leona.

"Let's go girls."

He says to them, and his body gives a blue glow and he starts to float. Joan's body gave a yellow glow and she too started to float. Leona, in turn, unruffled her black devil wings and started to float too. As the three of them were floating, Erik gave them another nod and flew out of the tunnel with Joan and Leona flying directly after him. As they exited the tunnel, the three flew directly up, over the canopy of the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Looking down, Erik saw Selena floating by Hilda's side, while it sniffed the air around trying to pinpoint the spiders' location.

"Ok girls, enter in contact if anything unusual happens and take care. I know that there's nothing here in this forest that can harm you, but keep your guard up."

Erik said to Joan and Leona, warning both women.

"Yes, darling."

Leona replied playfully.

"Yes, husband."

Joan replied playfully too, following her devil sister-wife example. Erik smirked at their antics and both girls departed, flying in different directions. Erik waited a little for Hilda and Selena to choose a direction, and when they did, he flew ahead of the duo to warn any denizen of the forest that was in the way of the queen of serpents' last hunt.

It was two hours later when Hilda and Selena felt satisfied with their hunt. They had hunted and killed fifteen adult acromantulas, and by what Erik had seen from above and with his senses, that number would not even make a dent in the colony's numbers. Hilda had eaten two of the kills and Selena had transported the other thirteen to a warehouse in the Nexus. Their bodies would be harvested at a later time for ingredients. Selena had managed to get a lot of silk too from the acromantulas' webs in the forest, but like fifteen kills, the amount collected could not make a dent in the quantity of webs around the colony. Aside from the bodies and the silk that Selena got, Erik captured some spider chicks. Not many of them, but enough to start a new business venture in the commercial production of acromantula silk.

Erik was now watching as Selena and Hilda made their slow return to the chamber's entrance. With a quick magecraft spell, Erik sent a signal directly to Joan and Leona, signaling the end of the hunt. Twenty minutes later, he watched from above, with Joan and Leona by his sides, Selena and Hilda entering the chamber's tunnel. As the duo disappeared inside it, the flying trio flew down and entered the tunnel, landing and slowly walking the way back to the main chamber. Erik stood behind for a moment and kneeled on one knee and put his hands on the ground. Using more magic than before, Erik transmuted and transfigured the rocks and dirt to completely close the entrance of the tunnel and hide it from the outside.Hastening his steps, Erik caught up with Joan and Leona, and the trio continued their slow walk back to the main chamber.

As Erik, Joan and Leona reached the main chamber, they came across a scene that made them stop in place. The scene in front of the was a sad one for those who knew the history behind it. Selena was standing over Hilda's body while petting it. The basilisk body was unmoving, and its basketball-sized yellow eyes were closed. Permanently. On its head, just a little above the place between its eyes, standing still like the legendary sword in the stone, was Slytherin's sword, with more than half of its blade buried deep in the basilisk skull. Hilda was finally resting and no one would order her anymore.

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