Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

46 - Goodbye, Year Four

"Shh, shh, Nov," Harry shushed me, pulling away from the others and shuffling over to me. "It's all okay now. All taken care of."

Off to the side, I saw Ginny wrap her small arms around her brother's neck in a needed hug and I immediately did the same to Harry, closing the distance between us and bringing him into me tightly. Like the over-protective, worrying older sister I felt I was to him, I kissed the top of his head and held him squished against my body.

"Everything's alright," Harry assured me again, knowing how overwhelmed I was and letting me cry against him. "The basilisk's dead and Riddle's finished, Nov. That was Tom Riddle back there—a young Voldemort—but now he's gone."

A little stunned and confused by his words, I wanted to ask him for more information but wasn't able to get the words out right now. I knew he'd tell me about it later, so for right now I just nodded profusely, continuing to hold onto him for a little while longer until he told me he wanted to hug Ron individually. I agreed, letting him stand to his feet while I looked over at Ginny, noticing she was crying as hard as I was.

"Get over here," I said, smiling through my tears and grabbing onto her as well. She let out a soft giggle from my hug. "I was so worried about you."

The four of us held one another in big hugs for a little while longer until finally we each stood up shakily onto our feet.

"So, how come you've got a sword, Harry? And where did this bird come from?" Ron asked, breaking the silence as he pointed back and forth between the two obscure objects even I didn't understand why Harry had.

"Dumbledore," Harry answered. "And this is Fawkes the phoenix. Look, I'll explain everything in detail to all of you when we get out of here—"

"But—" Ron tried.

"Later." Harry said shortly, giving a sideways glance at Ginny. "Now, where's Lockhart?"

"Back there," Ron replied, still looking a little puzzled from Harry's response. He jerked his head back to where Lockhart was now awake and sitting, humming placidly to himself. "He's in a bad way."

The four of us headed over to him and he looked up at our arrival, intrigued to see us all.

"Ah, who are you?" Lockhart asked kindly, eyeing both Harry and Ginny.

"Memory's gone, remember," Ron explained to the others, not even bothering to give our professor an answer. "I also hit him a couple of times on the back of the head with a rock to shut him up which probably hasn't helped. Long story..."

"Alright, well, let's head back to the pipe. Don't want to be down here longer than we have to be." Harry answered and, with a dimwitted Lockhart trailing after us, we weaved ourselves around the giant serpent skin all the way back to where we'd arrived originally.

Harry bent down, looking up the long, dark pipe we'd slid out of earlier.

"Have you thought of how we're going to get back up this?" Ron asked a bit defeatedly, and everyone shook their heads.

Just then, Fawkes suddenly swooped past Harry, now fluttering in the air in front of him. His beady eyes were bright in the darkness and he waved his long, golden tail feathers.

"He kind of looks like you want to grab hold..." I said, a bit perplexed.

"He does, doesn't he?" Harry agreed, equally intrigued.