A few minutes earlier.
Lucien and Luster popped into existence on the now-wrecked lawn, right next to the Basilisk's mangled corpse.
The body was a mess: neck sliced clean, head already tucked away in Lucien's pocket, and a huge cavity carved out of its chest where the heart used to be.
(The eyes would upgrade his own Mage Sight; the heart would finish the dragon-magic circuit for Nurmengard.)
Lucien glanced at the ring of golden purifying flames still shielding them.
Time dilation in Salazar's inheritance space was wild, and the fight with Tom had ended fast. From killing the snake to right now had only been a couple of minutes tops.
He really was too efficient.
"Luster, drop the fire dome."
The little qilin chirped and vanished, letting the golden flames sink back into the earth.
"Lucien!"
As soon as the fire vanished, the professors spotted him, and then the Basilisk corpse. Jaws dropped.
The snake was dead already?
A XXXXX-class creature that hadn't been seen in Britain for centuries, every inch of it a lethal weapon, and this kid had ended it in the time it took them to run over here?
Professor Flitwick, tiny as ever, reached Lucien first and started circling him like a worried hummingbird.
"Are you hurt? We should get you to the hospital wing just in case—"
"I'm fine, Professor, really."
Lucien obligingly held up his arms. Aside from some dirt on his robes he looked like he'd just come from tea, not two back-to-back boss fights.
Professor McGonagall looked like she'd swallowed a lemon.
"Next time you see something like that, you tell a professor first, young man."
She sounded stern, but Lucien could tell she was mostly mad at herself for not noticing the snake sooner.
"Don't worry, Professor. Pure accident. I got a little excited when I saw it," he said with a sheepish grin.
(Also true: the second the Basilisk appeared, his high-tier lightning runes had basically screamed "LOAN APPROVED," so of course he'd charged in.)
Snape didn't join the fussing. He just slipped a healing potion back into his pocket and started prowling around the corpse, black eyes calculating.
Basilisks didn't breed naturally; they had to be hatched and raised under very specific (and illegal) conditions. No wonder they were so rare.
Every single part was priceless: blood, scales, fangs, venom, heart, eyes…
He noticed the missing head and heart, glanced at Lucien, and put two and two together.
Kid knows his ingredients.
Snape was already mentally listing what potions he could trade for.
A tiny phoenix swooped down and landed on Lucien's shoulder.
"Tweet!"
Baby Fawkes chirped something in his ear. Lucien nodded, said a quick goodbye to the professors, waved his wand, and the entire sixty-foot corpse vanished into his pocket dimension.
Crimson flames swallowed him and the phoenix, and they were gone.
Next second he reappeared inside Hagrid's hut.
He was holding Tom Riddle's diary.
"Headmaster, there are a few things I'd like you to see."
His sudden entrance killed whatever conversation had been happening.
Lucius Malfoy's smug little smile froze solid the instant he saw the diary. The roll of parchment he'd just pulled out disappeared back into his robes so fast it might have Apparated.
Lucien politely greeted Minister Fudge (they'd met once before), then handed the diary to Dumbledore.
The second Dumbledore's fingers closed around it he felt the cold, familiar taint.
Voldemort.
Tom Riddle.
His grip tightened.
Lucien gave the short version of events: Chamber opened, Lockhart dead, Basilisk dead, diary secured.
Hagrid and Fudge listened with increasing levels of bug-eyed shock.
Lucius, leaning against the door trying to become one with the woodwork, went paler with every sentence.
When Lucien casually mentioned "Gilderoy Lockhart is also deceased," Lucius exhaled in tiny relief: at least it hadn't traced back to him.
Then Lucien glanced at him.
Just a flicker of green eyes, but Lucius's heart started racing again. That look said a lot without saying anything at all.
Fudge was mopping his forehead with a handkerchief, already imagining the headlines if the Basilisk had actually killed students. His career would have been over by breakfast.
And then it hit him: Lucien hadn't just saved the schoolkids. He'd saved Fudge's job.
The boy was glowing. Literally glowing.
In the sudden silence, Fudge broke into a huge, slightly manic smile.
"Lucien, my boy! Hero doesn't even begin to cover it! Slaying that monster, saving everyone, truly splendid!"
He paused, uh, needed photos for the public, of course. Purely to calm the parents. Totally understandable, right?
Lucien shrugged. "No need to go outside. I brought it with me."
Wave of the wand: the hut magically expanded a few feet.
THUD.
The Basilisk's head hit the size of a small car crashed onto the rug, jaws slack, fangs like swords, empty eye sockets pointed straight at Lucius.
Lucius jumped about a foot.
Fudge yelped and nearly fell over a chair.
"Th-that's the Basilisk…" he whispered, half terrified, half reverent.
Dumbledore's attention had snapped to the head too, but then drifted to Lucius. He'd seen that parchment.
Lucius tried to look anywhere except at the empty eye sockets staring into his soul.
Fudge recovered enough to start chattering.
"Lucien, after tonight you deserve every honor the wizarding world has. We really, we can't just give you nothing…"
Dumbledore opened his mouth; he'd actually been planning to bring up the Order of Merlin, Second Class that the Wizengamot had already approved for Lucien's magical-creature transformation breakthrough.
But before he could speak:
"I believe," Lucius Malfoy declared in a ringing tones, grey eyes shining with sudden inspiration, "that we should nominate Lucien Graveton for the Order of Merlin, First Class!"
Everyone turned to stare at the man who'd been trying to slink out the door two minutes earlier.
Lucius smiled like he'd just invented charity.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled so hard the hut practically lit up.