An hour after the juvenile basilisk was killed, found the veterans of team West America crowding in a single of the resting rooms. Matt laid in one of the beds, he had only been awake a few minutes. The recoil from unlocking his genetic constraint left his body exhausted. He would’ve been sent to the infirmary if not for the fact all the beds were taken up by the students who were attacked.

Thankfully, the only casualty was the newbie of their team, Matt’s final spell may not have healed everyone fully but was enough to put them in stable condition. The worst off was a fourth-year girl who had lost so much blood she was put into a magical coma in order to let her body heal. The news of such a large attack in the school had quickly spread, Dumbledore and several other teachers were currently tied down by the number of letters and parents coming in. This left the team some freedom to discuss what to do next.

“So,” Josh began “what do we do now?”

“Now that we’ve confirmed Matt’s alright” Logan answered “we go into the chamber and destroy the horcrux”

“We need to complete the bonus missions first” Lance interjected

“You still want to do those?” Logan questioned “we can’t waste time on those. Let’s complete the mission and head back with whatever we get”

“We need to profit from this movie” Lance insisted “going back now would be a waste”

“The basilisks will be enough” Logan stated “I got a D rank reward and 1000 points for killing a juvenile. Whatever the mother gives out will be enough to prepare for the next movie”

“We don’t know if we can get any points from returning to movies” Lance reminded the leader “if we leave before we complete these missions, we risk losing everything they offer”

“Then we lose them” Logan said stubbornly “we don’t have time to be looking for them. Once the school starts recovering, they will be watching us closely. One wrong move and they could have us banned from the school. Then we’ll have no way of getting to the horcrux”

“One evening!” Lance insisted “we’ll split into two teams and complete the missions at the same time. Then tomorrow we can go down together and take on the chamber”

“You’re asking us to take a big risk” the leader pointed out

“I think he’s right” Josh stepped in “we don’t want to waste these rewards”

Logan looked at the rest of the team. Eve of course was siding with Josh and Lance. Gwen looked incredibly nervous at the idea but wasn’t protesting.

“Fine but Matt sits this one out” Logan decided

“What?!?” Matt asked in indignation

“You’ve just unlocked your constraint” the leader said firmly “I don’t want you taking the risk of using it too much in this movie”

Unlocking the genetic constraint released a powerful poison into a person’s body, which could only be survived through having one’s body strengthened through God. A veteran could survive for a while after the initial unlocking but eventually their body would collapse without being healed by God. The more someone enters the unlocked mode before being healed, the faster their body breaks down.

“You rest for today” Logan decided “we’ll need you for the chamber”

Matt didn’t look happy at the idea but didn’t voice any complaints.

“Besides, we’ll need you to watch the newbies” Gwen added cheerfully, resulting in a pained groan from the injured team member.

“Don’t worry” Lance comforted “we’ll be taking Elijah with us”

“We are?” Josh questioned

“You are” Lance nodded “You, Eve, and Elijah will be the team to meet Aragog”

“Are you sure we should be bringing him?” Gwen questioned “risking him might not be the best idea”

“Especially for the Aragog mission” Josh agreed “there’s greater danger in the forest than in the castle”

“He needs as many points and rewards as he can get” Lance explained “sending him on the more dangerous mission should get him the most rewards”

“He has the jade anyway” Logan agreed with the decision

“Fine” Josh submitted to the plan “but make sure he has a weapon before we leave”

“Of course,” Lance smirked.

The team discussed the last few details of the plan before moving out of the room. Gwen, Lance, and Logan would take on the mission in the Room of Requirement. Logan was needed as they may end up running into a basilisk within the castle. None have been seen since the courtyard, but they had personally seen several escape. Due to this risk they opted out of having any newbies join, instead they would wait with Matt until the rest returned.

Entering the other classroom turned resting area, the veterans were met with an anxious group of newbies. Otis, the botanist, stood with the remaining fast food worker, the two constantly looking around the room. As if they were expecting an attack from anywhere. Crystal was sat in a chair and glaring venomously at nothing. Elijah sat by the window, he seemed to be trying to look aloof, but his twitchy movements gave off how unnerved he was. Claire didn’t seem to be as bothered as the others. She was currently reading a rather large book and didn’t notice when the veterans came in until they started talking.

“Alright everyone” Logan called out “we are going to have you guys wait in Matt’s room for the foreseeable future”

“We are going to start our plan to complete the movie” Lance added

“It’s about time” Elijah moaned “I’m sick of this rundown castle”

“Wait!” Claire came forward and shoved her open book into Lance’s face “Look what I found”

On the page was a drawing of a Basilisk, which looked surprisingly similar to the page Hermione had on her at the time of her petrification.

“This is about the basilisk” Lance read the page

“Look at the bottom” Claire instructed

On the bottom of the page was a description of the basilisks growth cycle. They had four main stages. Newborn, Juvenile, Matured, fully grown.

“So that juvenile is far from the strongest we’ll face” Lance surmised as he read aloud to the others.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Not even close” Logan looked at the book “and they get their petrifying stare when they mature”

“Meaning the sooner, we take them out the better” Josh concluded

“Thank you for this,” Lance said to the younger team. Claire beamed at the praise.

“Now, everyone head on over to Matt’s room” Logan ordered “except for you Elijah. You’ll be coming with us”

“What?” Elijah cried out “why should I come with you?”

“Because if you don’t” Logan began “you’ll regret it”

“What Logan means” Gwen interrupted “is that as the psyche force user you need to remain close with use in order to gain as many points and rewards as possible”

“No way!” Elijah refused “I’m not going down in that chamber”

“You’ll be well protected” Lance promised “plus you have that jade. No matter where you are, you’ll be the safest person”

“If you don’t get any useful abilities after this movie” Logan drove the point home “we won’t be offering this kind of protection in the next one”

“Fine” Elijah agreed “but if I get so much as a scratch it’s on you!”

“Excellent” Lance continued “now why doesn’t everyone head over to Matt’s room”

“I have a question” Claire spoke up again “How come the plot changed so much? I thought you said it only happens if we do something to cause the change”

“Usually it does” Logan said dismissively “Sometimes God just wants to screw with us”

“I believe it’s because of the movie” Lance added in “God may not want us to take our time in this world, so it changed things up to let us know the longer we wait the harder it becomes”

Claire accepted the answer easily and moved to leave with the other newbies.

Crystal hadn’t moved yet; she had been silent the whole time the team talked. Judging from her facial expression she was growing more and more angry as it went on. Once the newbies started leaving the room, she finally let out what was bothering her.

“What about Raymond?” she asked heatedly. This question made all the veterans pause.

“Who’s that?” Logan asked, but the question only added to the newbie’s fury.

“The man who died today!” Crystal exclaimed “a student came by to let us know where his body is being stored”

“Figured they’d handle it” Logan shrugged at the information.

“You just left him there!” Crystal shouted again.

Lance and Logan didn’t look particularly bothered by the cry. In their minds his death had been the end of their concern for the man. He hadn’t shown any real talent or potential, so the loss wasn’t something they regretted.

Josh on the other hand felt his heart sink at the revelation. He had been so caught up in the aftermath of the fight he completely forgot about the fallen man. They actually just left his body in the courtyard for someone else to take care of without even thinking about it. His stomach clenched at his own apathetic actions. Was this the kind of person he wanted to be?

“I don’t see what you want us to do” Logan continued “we told you people die in this world”

“I want you to treat him and the rest of us with respect!” Crystal demanded “You didn’t even learn his name”

“I’ve met nearly a hundred people in this world” Logan said bitterly “Less than ten of them are still alive. It’s a waste to try and learn names when they can die at any minute”

“It’s a waste of time to treat them like people” Crystal corrected “If they can’t do anything for you, they’re not worth your time right?”

“Crystal” Gwen started to speak but a glare from the woman stopped any more words from coming out.

“Forget it” Crystal snarled and pushed past the leader, “I knew where we stood when you gave out that defensive item”

The veterans watched as the woman stormed out of the room. Josh looked at the door after she left. He thought a moment before grabbing Lance and whispering into his ear.

“Crystal!” The shout stopped Crystal as she was about to enter Matt’s room. Josh was running towards her.

“What do you want?” she asked irritated

“I want to apologize” Josh said when he was in talking distance

“I don’t want your fake apologies” the woman rejected “words are worthless”

“I know” Josh said solemnly “but I had to say it. I think you’re right. We should have taken care of Raymond after the battle. We should’ve gotten to know him”

“Yes, you should have” Crystal chastised “Just because someone doesn’t have some magical ability doesn’t mean they should be thought of as some expendable pawn”

“You’re right” Josh agreed “I had similar thoughts when I first joined”

“What happened?” Crystal asked

“I guess I just let myself forget about them,” the jock explained, “easier to let myself get carried away on others' apathy. Focus on group problems instead of each individual”

“Thank you for reminding me to keep fighting for what is right,” Josh said after a moment of thought.

“Of course,” Crystal let out a small smile at the teen “That’s why I got into teaching”

“I want you to have this” Josh pulled a jade pendant from his pocket

“You had another one of those?” Crystal’s smile fell quickly

“We wanted to keep it for the battle in the chamber” Josh explained “but it could take a while. I want you to take it and decide who should use it”

“What if I decide to keep it for myself?” Crystal asked as she took the pendant.

“I wouldn’t blame you” Josh shrugged “You know the newbies better than any of the veterans. I trust you’ll make the right choice”

With that Josh rushed back to the room with the rest of the team, leaving Crystal alone in the hallway looking thoughtfully at the pendant in her hand.

Josh arrived back in the room with the other veterans just in time to hear Logan yell at Elijah.

“You will go into the forest or I’ll toss you out this window right now” the leader shouted “Damn the consequences”

Josh walked in and saw the team leader glaring down at the newbie who had lowered his head in submission. In contrast to the tension filled scene in part of the room Gwen stood on the other side handing Eve what looked like a cell phone. These were the communication devices the team had gotten for this movie. In the previous movie they had used devices that could piggyback off existing cell phone towers. This wasn’t an option as Hogwarts was too remote, any signal they got would be too weak.

“I set up several transmitters around the castle” Gwen explained as she handed another device to Josh “We should be covered anywhere inside but I’m not sure how far it’ll reach in the forest”

Josh thanked the gamer and stepped over to where Lance and Eve were standing. Lance handed her two-hand sized grey canisters.

“What are those?” Josh asked, they looked like smoke grenades he had seen in some games. Almost rectangle shape with a large pin on top.

“These are chemical grenades I traded for this movie” Lance explained “they’ll help if you have trouble with the spiders”

“If you say so” Josh took one from his stepbrother and fit it onto the belt loop on his pants.

“I saw a trail of spiders when I was putting out the transmitters” Gwen said and pointed out the window “Follow them just like the movie and you’ll meet Aragog”

“If you run into trouble don’t hesitate to run” Logan ordered

“We will” Josh promised. He looked at Eve and Elijah, the two he would be walking into this unknown mission with. Eve looked calm and impassive as always. Elijah looked annoyed and his mouth kept twitching as if he were barely holding back from saying something. Josh wished the whole team could have worked together on these missions, but it just wasn’t an option.

Gwen gave everyone an unlimited ammo pistol they had traded for before entering the movie. Lance had insisted to only get the unlimited versions as they were still extremely cheap and would remove the chance of anyone running out of ammo. They also received hi-tech bandages and antidotes in case they had any injuries.

After double checking everyone’s supplies were set Josh’s team set off, leaving Gwen, Logan, and Lance behind. The remaining trio went over what Gwen had left in her inventory before deciding they were as ready as they could be. Heading through the castle Lance led the way through the labyrinth of corridors. Following his instructions, they walked down a hallway three times before a door appeared from the empty wall.

“Alright let’s get this diadem” Lance said and opened the doors. In front of them was a large empty room, a single beam of light illuminated a single piece of parchment that was laying on the floor. The trio stepped inside, all looking carefully around the room, but nothing could be seen. Logan was the first one to reach the parchment and pick it up.

“This might be more trouble than we thought,” he said, showing the other two the written words.

Welcome seekers of Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem to your final resting place.

You may have come seeking treasure but all you’ve found is your doom.

A loud bang rang through the room as the doors slammed shut. At the same time the single light in the room disappeared, plunging the trio into darkness.