Chapter 43: Basilisk skin
"Harry…"
"Yes Hermione?"
"What is that?" she asked as she pointed at the large piece of skin lying on the table that was still dripping blood on the ground a drop at a time.
"That's Basilisk skin Hermione." He said it in such a casual way that she wondered if she had heard him wrong.
"Basilisk skin?" she asked.
"Yes" he nodded nonchalantly while still focusing on the task ahead of him, as if there was nothing wrong with there being a Basilisk skin in his table.
"Harry?"
"What is it Hermione?"
"You do know that Basilisks are XXXXX class creatures and that there is a ban in breeding them?" she asked worriedly. Harry was a smart person. No, that was an understatement. He was the smartest person that she'd known in her entire life. But he had the tendency to avoid general things that everyone else thought as common sense.
"Yes I do Hermione." He replied "I also know that while it is illegal to breed them, there is no ban on their parts like hide, venom or eyes. So you don't need to worry about me."
She let out a breath at that and felt a bit embarrassed. In fact, she had not known that buying it's hide was not illegal but had simply assumed that it was as breeding the snake was illegal as well. Just goes to show how much she knew and how much she had yet to learn.
But just as she was feeling relieved that Harry was not doing something illegal, he spoke once again. "But even if it was illegal, I would still not care. And you know that better than anyone else Hermione."
He said it with such seriousness that she took a step back in surprise and a bit of shock.
Yes, he had already told her that he would do many illegal things in his quest for understanding magic. And that if she felt uncomfortable, then she was free to leave him at any moment.
But she had also given him her word that she would not leave him no matter what. And she would stand by her words.
"Yes. I know." She said and moved forward in order to observe the Basilisk's skin. It was the first time she had seen such a thing and she would be a fool to miss such an experience.
"Harry. Where did you get this skin?" she asked curiously as she waved her hand over the cold skin that felt as tough as steel to her.
"Asked a friend for it."
"Friend?"
"Yes. She was reluctant to give it to me at first. But I was… persuasive."
Hermione must not have liked the way he said it because her eyebrows crinkled for a bit before the worried look in her eyes returned full force.
"Harry, you do realize that this… skin is still dripping blood right?" she asked with concerned laced in her voice.
"Yes. It was… under stasis till just now." He lied easily, though he did felt a bit bad about lying like that. He had really forgotten about Hermione when he brought the skin in this room. Continuous time travel day in and day out does that to you.
"I see." Hermione said though the skepticism in her eyes was clear and he knew that she wouldn't forget this anytime soon. "I just… be careful Harry. Alright?" she asked while holding onto his shoulder and he gave her a nod before going back to his work.
"What are you going to do with the Basilisk skin anyway?" she asked.
"Experiment." He said and wondered if he should stop right here but then decided to continue in case she might make some ridiculous assumptions on her own. "I wanted to see how magical resistant a Basilisk skin is. Why it was the way it was. What properties it holds that allows it to shrug off spells that would easily kill an adult wizard… or witch." Then he wondered if he should tell her the whole truth and the decided that since he'd come so far, he might as well tell her everything.
"I also wanted to see if I could transfigure my skin into Basilisk skin or something close to it. On a temporary basis of course" he added hastily as he saw Hermione's horrified expression. "So that I could become magical resistant during a battle and all that. You understand?"
Hermione gulped a bit at that. She knew that Harry wouldn't let anything stop his desire to learn more about magic and she thought that she would be able to deal with it when the time comes. But this was happening all too fast. She had not thought that he would do something so highly illegal like human transfiguration so soon.
"Harry, human transfiguration is highly illegal, not to mention dangerous. There's a reason why it has been banned by the ministry for such a long time." She said, trying to persuade him to… to do what? She had no answer to that. And she knew that he would not listen to her anyway. He was stubborn when it came to magic and a part of her highly respected him for that. But another part of her was equally afraid of him and for that as well.
Harry looked in her worried eyes with a blank expression and the room descended in a long silence before he finally dropped the runic tools he was working with and cupped Hermione's cheeks with both his hands.
Such a brilliant witch. But so naive. And so thoroughly bound by chains controlled by authority and laws.
"I've told you this before Hermione. And I'll tell you this again." He said. "In my quest to understand magic, I'll do many things. A lot of them will be illegal. And a lot of them will be unethical. If you think that you cannot do this, then feel free to leave."
"I would not lie to you and say that your departure won't hurt me because it will. But I'll not keep you here against your wishes. I'll not have you work halfheartedly when you could do so, so much more with your talent."
"Go back to your room and think about what I said. Take your time. Then come back and tell me your answer. Now that you've seen a little bit of what I'm willing to do in order to understand magic, you have a new and better perspective. So think about it once again. And then give me your answer. Alright?" he asked, hiding the bitterness in his heart.
He really didn't want her to go. Not only was she a really brilliant witch whose talent and work ethic far outstripped anyone else in the whole generation but she was a good friend as well. His first human friend.
He did not know how and when she grew up on him. But she did.
And he did not want to lose that.
Did not want to lose her.
With a shaky breath and a hesitant nod, Hermione turned away and left the room and he moved the Basilisk skin inside his purse.
Was it a bad idea to show her his dark side so early in their friendship.
Possibly.
Because for all her brilliance, she was still quite young and still held authority in high regard.
But he did not want his friendship to be build on a lie.
Though he would still prefer if she choose to remain his friend.
He looked at the blood on the floor and the table and removed it all with a wave of his hand, performing a spell with such ease with even Minerva or Flitwick would gape at his control over his magic.
Then he sat down on his chair and started to think.
He needed a way to avoid detection from other people.
Albus Dumbledore was the headmaster of this ancient castle and Harry did not know what kind of things the old man could do in order to keep an eye on him.
He needed a place where all his future experiments could be hidden.
He needed a place that was his own.
And he knew the perfect way to gain such a place.
Though in order to gain such a place, he would have to learn a particularly hard charm that even most adults would find extremely hard to cast.
The Fidelius charm.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Fortunate_Soul
Fortunate_Soul Not much to say about this chapter.
Hope you like it.
Have a nice day :)
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