And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was gray in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind.
"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.
"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.
"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.
"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.
"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping ...
The memory abruptly ended as Hermione tapped the rune. She'd seen her mother was ghostly white and needed that particular memory to end.
"How...how did you get out of that?" Richard asked Harry.
"Would you believe an old car?" Harry asked and gave a quick explanation of Ron's father bewitching the Ford Anglia and it later saving them.
"And then when we got out of the car, it drove itself back into the forest," Harry explained. He glanced over to Hermione. "Ron promptly threw up."
Richard filled his glass once more and downed it in one swallow before continuing. "And this Basilisk thing?"
"Mum?" Hermione asked in concern.
"I'm fine dear," Jean replied in a fairly weak voice. "Show us this snake thing."
Hermione nodded as she scooped out the memory while Harry pulled another string of silver from his head.
"This is a Basilisk," Harry said as his wand poised over the runes to activate it. "But I should warn you, it's not a pretty sight."
"Worse than that bloody monster of a spider?" Richard asked. "Or that troll?"
Harry shrugged and touched the runes. "This is right after Fawkes, a phoenix, ripped the Basilisk's eyes out so I could fight it," He paused to make sure the Grangers were ready before touching the last rune.
Rising from the basin was the giant serpent with bloody holes where eyes should be. At first Richard and Jean couldn't judge the size of it, but then the body of Ginny Weasley could be seen, tiny against the bulk of the giant snake. Another verbal exclamation escaped the Grangers as the mouth of the snake opened to display the sword length fangs.
"Here," Hermione tapped several more runes on the Pensieve and the viewpoint of the memory moved so that both Harry and the Basilisk could be seen. "This will make it easier to see what's happening."
Now the Grangers could see the twelve year old Harry in the memory as he stood holding the Sword of Gryffindor out in front of him. The Basilisk lunged at Harry who barely dodged in time. A great crash could be heard as the giant snake hit the wall, but it didn't slow it at all. It turned quickly and again struck out at Harry. Though Harry tried to move again, the forked tongue lashed his side this time. The pain was obvious on the young boy's face as he grimaced, but he didn't let it bother him as he kept his eyes on the Basilisk. This time when it lunged, he held the sword high. The snake struck true and the sword sunk hilt deep into the roof of the snake's mouth.
Neither of the Grangers noticed the fang that had sunk into Harry's arm until the red blood started to flow freely from the wound. As the Basilisk's dead body slumped to the side, the fang splintered and snapped. The continued to watch as the black-haired youth slid down the wall as he grabbed the remains of the fang in his arm and pulled it out.
Hermione tapped the stop rune and the memory faded.
"That…that couldn't..." Richard said as he continued to stare at the air above the Pensieve.
Harry lifted his sleeve allowing Richard and Jean to see the scar right where they had just witnessed a fang sinking into his arm. "I would have died from the poison if Fawkes hadn't cried into it," Harry explained. "Phoenix tears will cure anything."
"And your Headmaster knew about that bloody thing?" Jean was now displaying her own anger.
"It's dead now thanks to Harry," Hermione said quietly. "But yes he did. When it's time, we'll let the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement know all of this."
"Why not now?" Richard asked. "He's obviously incapable of protecting you."
"Actually he does protect us in a way," Hermione argued. "Voldemort fears him. If Dumbledore wasn't around, Voldemort would move much more aggressively against the magical world and many more people would die."
"Still..." Richard wanted to argue, but after what he'd seen so far, he knew he didn't know enough to argue effectively. Finally he sighed and nodded hoping his daughter did know best.
"Now would you like to hear about our third year?"
"What monster did you have to face then?" Richard asked with another sigh as he refilled his glass once more.
"Dementors actually," Harry replied.
"And they are?" Jean asked.
"Creatures that cause fear and can suck your soul out of your body..." Hermione replied gingerly.
"Your soul? Your actual soul?" Richard asked trying his best not to believe it.
"Yes," Harry replied. "It's called the Dementor's kiss."
"And these things," Jean asked. "Are they everywhere?"
"Well..." Hermione glanced at Harry who shrugged. "They were the guards of the Wizard's prison but...but now they've joined Voldemort and yes, they are moving about. They are the real reason we're having such a cool summer."
"And they really can suck out someone's soul?"
"Sirius almost had his soul taken at the end of our third year," Hermione said.
"But Harry saved him?" Richard asked.
"Yes. We can show..."
"No," Jean said as she held up her hand. "I...I've seen enough. I'm already going to have nightmares tonight."
"Not all of our memories are of us fighting monsters and other bad things," Harry said. "We do have fun as well," Another silver strand was pulled from his head and dropped into the basin. "This is what I was telling you about the other night, Quidditch," He explained to Richard as he activated the memory. Brooms started racing at reckless speeds across the space above the basin.
"Why Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked as she could definitely make out the image of Cho Chang in her blue robes on one of the brooms.
"It's when I made my first Patronus, so I remember it very well," Harry replied.
....
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