Chapter 58. Goodbye

I grappled both the top and bottom of her mouth, digging my nails into her gums as I held them apart. The basilisk hissed with hatred, tightening her jaw to crush me. I grunted, my arms starting to shake as we both were in a standstill. Tom clapped slowly at my attempt. “A slight transformation, a half werewolf I dare say… A true pity of your demise, but perhaps I can replicate the results with a more loyal dog.” He chuckled as I growled in rage, stuck between the jaws of death.

Holding the Basilisk’s mouth open with nothing but my hands, my feet slid back on the wet stone underneath me, and I faltered for just a moment. The basilisk’s fangs drew ever closer to my body as I groaned under the strain. My mind spun from the pain in my brain, and my sudden realization of my cursed blood. I had no time for either of them, but trying to think of an escape from this as my power from Vitamix dwindled and Hermione’s defenseless body laid just behind me was impossible with the stress. I slowly began resigning myself to my fate as strength left my body.

Hermione stared at Lucas. With her body still under the effects of the body binding charm, there wasn’t much else that she could do. However she refused to accept that, watching as Lucas was fighting tooth and nail to keep her alive, going so far as to jump into the jaws of such a vicious beast while she just sat and watched. She refused to leave it all to him, his confusing mindset of his thoughts on mudblood's taking a backseat while every part of her mind screamed at her body to move, to do something to help in this moment. She then heard a strange chirping and ringing that caught her attention.

She forced her head to move towards the noise, and saw Lucas’ pet snake staring straight at her. His vibrant blue eyes reminded Hermione of the deep ocean, but she followed his gaze as it moved to the sorting hat Dumbledore gave to Lucas a week or two ago. She had made guesses as to why Dumbledore would do that, most of them were ways to keep tabs on Lucas to see if he was responsible, however the glinting silver and jeweled handle of something appearing inside the hat now proved otherwise.

The black snake chirped at Hermione, using his tail to drag her hand towards the blade, begging for her to help. Hermione groaned in pain at her body being forcefully moved under the curse, but hearing Lucas’ panting under his breath, Hermione grit her teeth and bared that same pain Lucas was feeling. Her hand quivered as she forcefully opened it and her arm shook as she grabbed the handle, pulling it from its magical sheath.

Holding the blade Hermione didn’t have time to admire its majestic appearance as she shakily stood up, using the sword as a crutch to pull her shaking body up. Her entire body screaming at her to stop, the feeling of muscle and sinew tearing, her bones creaking, her very being was in agony. She screamed from the hair ripping pain, but summoned enough of her strength to point the end of the sword upwards through the Basilisk’s mouth Lucas kept open and easily pierced through, past the Basilisk’s brain, killing it almost instantly.

I watched in shock as a glint of a silver sword appeared beside me, finishing off the beast I had almost succumbed to, the one holding that life saving blade was Hermione, gasping for breath to help deal with the pain. Her entire face was flush, sweat dripping from her brow, her legs giving out on her soon after she had slain the beast. “Ah- Wait!” I yelled, my voice much darker and full of gravel as I caught her in my arms, the sword falling to the ground with a loud clink.

Her pained expression soon faded to my surprise, but it soon turned to horror as I noticed my hand felt warm and sticky. My hands shook as I stared at the warm crimson liquid staining my hands. After all that I said, she still stood by my side, and helped me. Now at the cost of her own life, I knew very well that the venom of the Basilisk was fatal, with nothing to save her from it. “No… Hermione…” I muttered with a new sense of reverence I now held for her. After the pain she had felt moving against the binding spell, the numbness of the venom helped Hermione come to her senses as she stared at me, her eyes widening seeing my hands with her own blood.

“She died anyway… You have only killed your friend by not giving that mudblood to me… In the end you have nothing to show for your traitorous actions…” Tom laughed at me, his calm and casual voice over the girl dying in my hands boiled my fury. My breathing became jagged and unstable. I glared at Tom with nothing but hate, unknowing of my green eyes, further shifting towards a yellow. I wanted him dead, having him make a joke over someone else dying right before me, while simultaneously murdering my closest friend was something that I could not accept.

I grabbed the sword laying on the ground and slowly walked over to the diary laid on the ground. “What are you doing?” Tom asked, his voice suddenly unsure. I scoffed him, each step accompanied with the sound of the metal of the sword dragging across the stone underneath my feet. “What? Shouldn’t your diary be stronger than Basilisk scales? Isn't it fun to test the limits of others?” I asked him, his smirk gone as he watched my gaze in horror. “If it is, then you should see your own limits for yourself!!” “Stop! Stop this now!” We both yelled, while I stabbed the blade into the closed diary, the blade goring the book as black ink sputtered from the wound.

Tom screamed in agony, his entire body erupting into a bright light, burning every inch of his body, erasing him from existence under its blinding gaze. I twisted the sword, finishing Tom faster. Once he was gone, and the diary stopped spitting out ink, I knelt down near Hermione, looking up at me, her breathing was weak, her face was red, and she was burning hot. She stared at me, and moved her mouth, but her weakened lungs couldn’t say the words she tried to speak.

“What… What have I done…?” I heard Pansy mutter, slowly stumbling over to see Hermione. Her hand covered her agape mouth, but her eyes showcased her the horror of her own actions under Tom’s enchantments, and persuasive words. She finally let her legs give out on her as she slumped onto the floor beside me, tugging on my arm. “Th-This is a dream right…? A long nightmare?” Pansy pleaded at me, glancing at my slightly changed appearance as a sign for her to be dreaming.

I shook my head while still staring at Hermione, Val slithering over top of her, his hissing cries could only be understood by me. “Don’t die! Val is sorry for being mean to you! You are good! So please don’t die!” Hermione’s eyes closed, the moment they did, the unicorn’s death flashed before my eyes. I clutched at my chest, the vial of blood in my hand. “Blood… I have the blood!” I yelled, tearing at my clothes and the leather necklace holding the vial of the silver substance.

I uncorked it, but froze as I held it just above Hermione’s mouth. “What!? What’s wrong!?” Pansy yelled, still confused over everything that she has realized she has done just now, but I was unsure if this was right. “Many wizards beg to be killed before the curse of Lycanthropy overtakes them… I could save her, but it would be cursing her for the rest of her life… Do I have that right…?” I asked with furrowed brow, Hermione’s unconscious breathing slowing down further as I pondered.

“Can I force her to live a cursed life? Is that what she would want?” I asked, looking at Hermione’s expression turning into pain once again. Pansy was silent, but Val yelled at me. “Why would she hate living with curses!? You are cursed, and you are the best in the world!” He hissed, his pleading childish eyes leaving me with my choice over whether to save Hermione or not. I instantly took a small gulp of the unicorn’s blood, barely a few drops, but enough to curse me for life. The strange texture stuck to my gums, it was cold yet burned all the way down my throat. I shuddered from the feeling, while trying to ignore the strange sweet flavor the blood had. “What are-!?” Pansy yelled at me, but I then stuck the vial into Hermione’s throat.

She instinctively drank the life giving liquid as her body regained her strength. “Perhaps if I am even more cursed than she is, she won't come to hate me forcing her to live on…” I muttered, seeing the last remembrance of the unicorn I was too late to save, dripping down into Hermione’s stomach. I glanced to see Hermione’s bleeding arm, closing itself while steam emitted from the sealing wound, the venom became neutralized. I sighed, all of the tension leaving my body, a relived smile growing on my face as I silently whispered goodbye to the last remembrance I had, just as everything suddenly turned dark.