Fic rec: Finder's Fee
Whatever happened to the basilisk, anyway? We know Harry killed it, and that presumably the Chamber was sealed up again after the grand hurrahs--but no mention is made at all of a fifty-foot-long serpentine corpse. Presumably it's still down there, and the Chamber must be well-sealed indeed if Eau de Rotting Snake isn't mentioned in any of the following books. "Finder's Fee" is the first fic I've ever seen which even considers the question of 'what became of the basilisk'--and does it so well that it makes me question why I never thought to ask. After all, surely basilisks are useful in Potions...and just as surely they're difficult to obtain. And Hogwarts has one cheerfully rotting beneath its floors which no one has bothered to dispose of or claim...until Harry lets slip to Snape what the monster in the Chamber was. "Finder's Fee" Not many authors could carry off a seduction between two characters in the same room as a giant rotting serpent, but GatewayGirl manages just fine--although this is one of those fics wherein Harry has an unexplained crush on Snape, the other elements of the story are strong, original, and well-written, from Snape's dreams of profit to Harry's indignation--and the sex is lovely, interspersed with humour.