— — — — — —
"Icy Dragon!"
"Damn it!"
Voldemort's face twisted, his translucent body flickering like smoke. He was only a fragment of a soul right now—there was no way he could muster his full power, which was why he was being overwhelmed so badly.
A massive ice dragon materialized out of thin air, roaring as it charged him. Its sheer size and killing intent sent a wave of pressure crashing over the entire chamber.
Voldemort was panting hard, his strength spent. There was no way he could dodge this one.
The ice dragon clamped its jaws around him, fangs piercing straight through. With a thunderous crash, it slammed him into the wall and pinned him there, frozen in place.
"Cough… cough…"
Voldemort's once-impeccable robes were in tatters, his body a shivering wreck. His bloodshot eyes glared at Hermione with pure venom.
"You think this means you've won?" he hissed. "Filthy little mudblood… I will kill you one day."
"Oh, is that so?" Hermione looked him over with a cold smirk. "Then try not to be this pathetic next time, trash."
Without sparing him another glance, she turned and walked away.
"I won," Hermione said proudly, practically glowing as she looked at Rimuru and Milim.
"Yeah, not bad at all," Rimuru said approvingly. It was impressive how far she'd come in such a short time. Her training had clearly paid off.
"As expected of my friend!" Milim cheered, jumping onto Hermione and clinging to her like a koala.
"Alright, enough praise." Hermione was happy, but she couldn't help a wry smile. "Compared to you two, I'm still ridiculously weak."
"Hahaha!" Rimuru scratched his head. "We've been training for ages, remember? For you to catch up this fast is actually pretty amazing. Don't sell yourself short."
"Thanks for the compliment." Hermione smiled back.
"Okay, that just leaves the last one." Milim turned toward the stone wall at the end of the chamber, clenched her fist, and—without even touching it—punched a hole clean through.
Through the rubble, a massive serpent's head slowly emerged, its yellow eyes glinting cruelly as it stared down at the three intruders.
But to their surprise, the basilisk didn't attack. When it got a good look at them, it actually tried to pull back, retreating into the chamber. Unfortunately, the wall was already gone, so there was no escape.
"I think it can sense how strong we are," Rimuru said, intrigued.
"Who cares? Let's just beat it up." Milim hefted her hammer, grinning like a maniac.
The basilisk tried to slither away, but Milim grabbed its tail, yanked it back, and began smashing it with the hammer over and over.
"...Oh god…" Hermione covered her eyes with both hands—but peeked through her fingers anyway—because the scene was absolutely not child-friendly.
After a good while, the once-mighty basilisk lay sprawled on the floor, limp and lifeless. Milim had literally beaten it to death.
"Bestie, look! I caught it!" Milim beamed, running over to Rimuru for praise.
He sighed and patted her head. "Good job, I guess."
"So what now? Just leave the corpse here?" Hermione asked, a bit uneasy.
"Why not eat it?" Milim suggested, practically drooling.
"You can't be serious." Hermione glanced at the snake's massive body, its dead eyes still open, and shuddered.
"Hmm…" Rimuru studied the corpse for a moment. "She might be right. There's a lot of magic energy stored in this thing. It could actually be useful."
"You're not seriously agreeing with her, are you?" Hermione said in horror. "No way am I eating something that ugly."
"You sure?" Rimuru raised an eyebrow.
---
An hour later
The basilisk had been stripped to the bone. The three of them were lounging in chairs nearby, too full to move.
"...Okay, fine. It was delicious." Hermione rubbed her now-round stomach, utterly satisfied and completely forgetting her earlier words.
Truly, the 'smells too good not to eat' law was absolute.
"Yeah, it was pretty tasty," Milim agreed, sprawled out like a starfish. "But that's thanks to Bestie's cooking. Who knew you were such a great chef?"
"Of course I am." Rimuru puffed out his chest. "My Wisdom Library has almost every piece of knowledge imaginable. Cooking is just one of the many things I've mastered."
Once they'd digested their meal, they finally left the Chamber of Secrets and returned to their normal—well, as normal as it ever got—school life.
---
The next day…
Ding ding. Ding ding. Ding ding.
"That's it for today. Class dismissed."
As the bell rang, Rimuru, Milim, and Hermione were just about to go watch Harry's Quidditch match when a tall figure blocked their path.
"What do you want, Professor Snape?" Milim said, puffing out her cheeks. Ever since the potion incident, she hadn't dared step foot in the dungeons again. "I can pay the damages, ok?"
"The headmaster wants to see you," Snape said flatly, completely ignoring her weak hostility.
"Looks like we've been found out," Hermione said with a helpless sigh.
"Relax, it's probably nothing serious." Rimuru smiled, completely unfazed.
Hermione just shrugged and followed as they were led to a meeting room.
...
Headmaster Room
Inside, Professor McGonagall was already waiting along with Dumbledore.
"Thank you for coming," Dumbledore said. "Let's get straight to the point. Who are you, really? Why are you here?"
"And Miss Granger—" his blue eyes turned sharp "—I expect a proper explanation."
.
.
.