Chapter 87

Since he had some time alone before anyone arrived, Ethan got to think about the incoming year.

The promises he had made to his mother were not just to reassure her, he did actually mean what he said. A Basilisk was a terribly dangerous monster, one so dangerous actually that one may argue it would be more dangerous than the average dragon.

Ethan had made his research on the beast during the summer, and it was even more dangerous than he remembered. Its scales were as potent as a dragon's, capable of fending off all but the mightiest of spells.

It also was a beast of immense physical power with a venom potent enough to kill even the mightiest, but its truly most fearsome ability was to cause instant death to anyone looking at it in the eyes.

Adding to that the sheer speed of the snake, which would make it virtually impossible to even look in its direction, the Basilisk truly deserved its title of King of Serpents. And even Ethan felt fear at the prospect of fighting a beast that could kill him with but a stare.

There was no cheating either, as looking at it through a reflection, while it would not cause instant death, would end up in petrification instead, which might as well be death if one was fighting the beast.

The only weakness of the beast was a rooster's crowing, which was said to be deadly to it. Still, for this to be of any effectiveness, one had to be prepared for the fight, and Basilisks were capable of being surprisingly stealthy, despite their massive size.

In the original timeline, Harry had only survived through sheer luck, and a little bit of plot armor. The phoenix of Dumbledore, Fawkes, had managed to blind the beast because it was technically immortal, and thus immune to its stare. Then, Harry had been lucky enough not to get smashed into a pulp by the rampaging Basilisk, and ended up killing it with a lucky stab with the Sword of Gryffindor.

Overall, it was an extremely dangerous beast, and that was not even counting the one who controlled it. One so dangerous that it would be much better left asleep, which was where the problem stemmed from.

According to the original plot, Ginny Weasley would get Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary, which was one of Voldemort's Horcrux, ergo a part of his soul, that would manipulate her into unleashing the beast onto Hogwarts with the eventual goal of reviving himself.

The thing was, to this day, nothing pointed at the fact that these events would go the same way. He had seen Ginny, and he found no traces of dark magic on her, or more importantly, anything that was tampering with her mind.

Of course, maybe Voldemort, or rather Riddle, was just that good, even when he was just 17 years old, but Ethan had also not seen any signs of Voldemort having actually survived that fateful night with Harry Potter.

So while Ethan would very much like to have the Professors or any kind of professional deal with the Basilisk as soon as possible if it would attack, he also did not want to wake it up if it was never supposed to be waken up.

After all, who was to say whoever was sent to do the job would manage to finish it? What if they failed, and instead of killing the beast, they were the one to die, and then the school had to deal with an enraged snake capable of moving through the school undetected?

So, as much as he disliked it, Ethan did not plan to do anything but investigate until he was sure the Basilisk was actually going to attack. Of course, he still remembered what his inaction had cost last year, so he would not be waiting for an actual attack to act. He would start investigating from the very start of the year.

And maybe, if he was lucky enough, nothing would happen.

On these auspicious thoughts, the door to Ethan's car was opened, and Daphne let herself in. She had not changed much since the last time they saw each other. Her features did look a little sharper, and she also had two braids. She had a nice summer dress on as well, which, now that he thought about it, was the first time Ethan ever saw her in anything else than her Hogwarts robes.

Lifting her luggage with a quick Wingardium Leviosa, Daphne sat down with grace on the opposite bench. Her chin was held high, her chest was puffed out and her eyebrows were a little higher than usual.

The two looked at each other silently, before Ethan finally broke the silence, "You look like you have a broom up your ass."

Daphne remained composed, replying, "And you look like a child trying to impress his parents."

The two narrowed their eyes at each other, trying to make the other break, when the door was once again opened. They both sharply turned their head to see Theodore, whose eyes had dark circles around them.

Theodore stopped there, looked at the two, and said tiredly, "You look funny. Are you playing dress-up or something?"

Okay, maybe Ethan was still a tad too young to wear a suit.

Not so keen on embarrassing himself any further, Ethan took off his jacket under Miyuki's snickering, leaving him with his white shirt. Daphne also relaxed, leaning in her seat like a slouch as Theodore crashed next to Ethan.

Sending a look at his friend, Ethan wondered aloud, "How is it that you are always tired? Aren't vacations there for you to sleep."

Theodore side eyed him, clearly judging, "You're one to speak, Mr. Hero."

Daphne joined in, "You just can't help yourself play hero wherever you go, can you?"

Ethan leaned back against the window, snorting, "Saving myself from being possessed by an old soul-eating monster is hardly a heroic deed. And how come I get called a hero, and my family just gets glossed over?"

Daphne replied neutrally, "People expect someone like the Flash Wizard and Loki to do these kinds of things. The same can't be said about an 11 year old, especially one called Grindelwald."

One unexpected result from the entire debacle was the revelation of who exactly Ethan's parents were. Henry had disappeared for close to 15 years from the Duelling scene as the Flash Wizard, while Helene's Loki identity had always been shrouded in mystery. Very few were those who knew they were together, and had Ethan together.

Their identities had been revealed by the different articles however, which by itself was not exactly that big of a problem. It was not like their identities were critical, Helene was already recognized as great enough for her clients not to care for her name. Not to mention Ethan's actions had started cleaning the Grindelwald name.

It was more that it felt like their private life had been invaded. They were perfectly fine with the world not knowing of their lives and who they were, so the sudden change was grating.

Ethan flipped his hand, eager to end the conversation, "Whatever. At least I did something of my summer."

Theodore's tiredness was momentarily replaced by a prideful look as he took out a dark green vial and said, "Who said you were the only one?"