Year Two: The Secret of Slytherin

Part 20

When the rubble stopped, Harry saw he was standing alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.

"Anne! Ron! Are you okay?" he called out.

Anne coughed. "I'm okay!"

"Me too!" Ron answered.

There was a groan as Lockhart regained consciousness. He looked dazed and confused. "Uhh....hello. Who are you? Who am I?"

"Oh no," Anne muttered.

"Lockhart's memory charm backfired," said Ron feeling somewhat guilty. "He hasn't got a clue who he is!"

Oblivious, Lockhart gazed around in a dream-like state. "It's an odd sort of place, isn't it? Do you live here?"

Sighing warily, Anne raised her wand at Lockhart. "Stupefy!"

Lockhart fell to the ground out cold.

"What do we do now?" Ron shouted. "We can't get through---it'll take ages...."

"You and Anne wait here and try to shift some of this rock so I can get back through," Harry shouted from the other side. "I'll go on and find Ginny!"

"We'll do that! And Harry, do be careful!" Anne shouted after him.

Moving rock was back-breaking work, and Anne knew they would never get through in time.

She raised her wand. "Bombarda!" A section in the wall exploded and an opening appeared wide enough for one person pass through.

"Thanks for saving us the trouble. Wish I had thought of that. Right now all I could think of is.....I hope she's not....." Ron trailed off choked.

"Try not to think about it, Ron, " said Anne strongly. "Harry will find her.....that is.....if the Heir of Slytherin doesn't get him."

"You think?"

"We musn't give up. I wish there was something else we could do." She sighed in frustration. She couldn't think of anything else.

"I know, Anne. All we can do is wait and hope that Harry will make it back with Ginny," said Ron weary.

For the next hour or so, Anne and Ron waited anxiously. Whenever they heard any sound in the tunnel, they would shut their eyes and grip each others' hands.

Finally, they heard footsteps. "Ron! Anne!" Harry called, appearing in the opening. "Ginny's okay! I've got her!"

Anne and Ron cried out happily when they saw Harry leading a very-much-alive Ginny through the opening.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust his arms forward and pulled his sister towards him, embracing her. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"

A large red fire bird swooped in after Harry and Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," Harry replied. He was clutching a sword of some kind.

"How come you've got a sword?" asked Ron, gaping at the glitering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," Harry answered with a sideways galnce at Ginny, who was clearly shaken.

"Have you thought how we're going to get out of here?" he asked Anne and Ron.

"Uh...no," replied Anne. "How exactly are we going to get out of here?"

The large bird fluttered in front of them, its beady eyes bright in the dark. It was waving its long gold feathers.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold....." said Ron looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to lift--"

"Fawkes," said Harry, "Is no ordinary bird. He's a phoenix."

An exordinary lightness seemed to spread through Anne's body and the next second, in a rush of wings they were flying upward. Fawkes had Lockhart by the shoulders, with Ron holding on to his robes, Anne had her arms wrapped around his waist with Harry's arms wrapped around hers while Ginny hung on to him. Above her, Anne could hear Lockhart shouting in excitement, "Amazing! This is just like magic!"