Basilisk

The Basilisk was a giant serpent, also known as the King of Serpents. It was a magical beast that was usually bred by Dark Wizards. Herpo the Foul was the first to breed a Basilisk. Herpo accomplished this by hatching a chicken egg beneath a toad which resulted in the creature known as a Basilisk.

Basilisk breeding was banned in Medieval times, a regulation that has not changed. The practice could be hidden when the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures came to check by simply removing the egg from the toad.

Looking a Basilisk directly in the eye caused instant death, but an indirect look would merely render the victim Petrified. It was also the mortal enemy of spiders. Spiders refused to speak of the Basilisk, could intuitively sense their presence, and would flee whenever they sensed them.

The Basilisk had a classification as an XXXXX creature, meaning it was a known wizard-killer that couldn't be domesticated due to its immense powers. However, since the Basilisk was still a serpent, a Parselmouth might communicate with it and potentially place the creature under their influence.

This obedience depended on the relationship between the Basilisk and the Parselmouth. Tom Riddle was the only one who could command Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, while Harry Potter had no control over her, as he had been warned.

The Basilisk could grow up to fifty feet in length, were a dark green or a colour with a lighter green underbelly. They also possessed rows of incredibly sharp poisonous fangs and large yellow eyes. These eyes had the power to instantly kill anyone who looked into them.

Basilisk skin was armoured like that of a dragon's, which deflected spells cast upon it. For example, Stunning Spells would have no effect on the deadly beast. The Basilisk shed its skin at intervals, like all other snakes, when it grew.

Basilisks could live a natural life of at least nine hundred years, though Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk lived for approximately a thousand years. This was accomplished by using Parseltongue to put the creature into a deep sleep that prevented it from ageing, similar to suspended animation.

Their mortal weakness was the crowing of a rooster. Basilisks fed off vertebrate animals, but it is unknown how much they ate at one time. The Serpent of Slytherin survived on rats. The male could be distinguished from the female by a single scarlet plume on its head.

A Basilisk egg was the egg of said creature. They were chicken eggs hatched beneath a toad, thus creating the deadly King of Serpents.

When a live victim looked directly into the Basilisk's eyes, it resulted in instant death, making it even more dangerous than an acromantula. Although looking at the eyes through camera lens or a ghost's transparent body would dampen the lethal effects, looking through a pair of glasses did not offer the same protection, because glasses still allowed one's line of vision to connect directly and clearly with the serpent's eyes.

Myrtle Warren was such an unfortunate person, as her wearing glasses did not save her from death when she looked directly at the Serpent of Slytherin's eyes.

Ghosts could look directly into the serpent's eyes without suffering death, as the dead couldn't die again; however, they would suffer Petrification. Should a camera be reflected onto the serpent's eyes, the lens and film would be melted. A phoenix was immune to the Basilisk's gaze, whether directly or not, as the bird is immortal.

If the Basilisk's eyes were damaged (thus rendering it blind), it took away the lethal ability as well.

A way of surviving a Basilisk's gaze was by seeing it through another object. An example mentioned above was when Colin Creevey saw it through his camera, resulting in his Petrification and his camera lens becoming melted. Justin Finch-Fletchley saw the Basilisk through the translucent ghost Nearly Headless Nick, and was Petrified. The already deceased Sir Nicholas became Petrified as well, although he did look at the beast's eyes directly.

Though its eye gaze alone could potentially kill its victims, basilisk venom was an extremely poisonous substance that only had one known antidote: phoenix tears. Basilisk venom was so powerful that it could kill a person within minutes, making the person drowsy and blurry-visioned before they died. It had a very long lasting effect which still remained potent even up to five years or more after the snake had died.

The Ancient Greek basil(eus) means "king", with the suffix -iskos being a diminutive, the whole having the sense of "princeling" or the like, purportedly for the crown-like white spot on its head.