{ A/N: Chamber of Secrets is done... wow! Thank you to everyone who has still decided to stick with this story.
I loved writing this school year (for obvious reasons) but I must say I'm really excited for Prisoner of Azkaban... I don't think you guys are ready for what I have in mind. It's probably going to be a rollercoaster for you but, remember, I've always got a plan! ;) }
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"Alright, I'm coming too, then." I said, taking a deep breath.
"Well, you hardly seem to need me," Lockhart piped up, "I'll just leave then—"
He put his hand on the doorknob, but Ron, Harry, and I drew our wands, pointing them at him.
"Actually," Ron snarled, gesturing to the exposed pipe, "you can go first."
"Now, now—" Lockhart tried.
"Go." I seethed. "Wouldn't want me to have to blast you off your feet again until you agree, now would you?"
"You three," he replied, voice shaky as he walked white-faced and wandless over to the opening, "W-what good will this do?"
Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand, forcing him to slide his legs into the pipe.
"I really don't think—" Lockhart began, but we didn't wait to hear what else he had to say. Ron gave him a push and he went sliding out of sight.
"I'll go next," I said, lowering myself into the pipe.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let go, dropping into the darkness. The wind whipped around me as I rushed down the slimy, cold slide and, when I finally got used to the wild feeling I was experiencing, I opened my eyes again. All around me was a vast and intricate plumbing system with a multitude of pipes branching off into all sorts of directions. None were quite as large as this one, though.
In the distance behind me, I could hear Harry and Ron following after me as the three of us twisted and turned down a pipe that seemed endless. I felt like I'd been sliding forever and because of that, I knew I was falling deeper below the Hogwarts Castle than even the Slytherin dungeons.
Soon the pipe started to level out. Just when I began to worry about what would happen when I reached the end of it, I was suddenly shot of it and landing harshly on the damp floor of a dark, stone tunnel.
When I got my bearings, groaning a little bit from the impact I'd taken, I noticed Lockhart was standing up a little ways ahead of me. He was covered in slime and had the most disgusted and uncomfortable look on his face.
"M-my robes!" he shrieked, eyeing his ruined attire. "These— these were quite pricey, you know!"
"Oh, shut up." I grumbled, rolling my eyes.
I shrugged off some of the slime coating my body as well, not enjoying the feeling of it on me either, and stood to my feet. I quickly moved away from the opening of the pipe just as Harry and Ron came whizzing out of it, falling in a heap on the ground. With a few groans they got up, brushing themselves off.
Harry squinted around to gaze at the dark and grimy-looking tunnel we were standing in, his mouth slightly agape in astonishment. "We must be miles under the school..." he breathed.
"More like under the lake, probably." Ron replied, reaching a hand up and touching one of the damp walls.
As I looked down the rest of the tunnel in front of us, things felt a lot like the Forbidden forest.
We could only see just a little distance ahead of us— after a few feet, everything faded into pitch black. Knowing there was no other choice but to begin our trek through this tunnel, no ability to turn back now, I sighed and lit up the end of my wand for some light. Harry quickly followed suit.
"Ready?" Harry asked the rest of us. We all shrugged. Was there another a choice? "Alright. Come on."
He brushed past me, beginning to lead the way. Ron, Lockhart, and I went after him, setting off down the tunnel as our footsteps splashed from the wet floor.
"And remember... any sign of movement, close your eyes right away," I reminded everyone as we inched into the darkness.
For a good stretch of time after that, the four of us walked. And walked. And walked. As we did so, the tunnel was so quiet that the only sound heard was that of our ragged breathing, fast-beating hearts, and the occasional drops of water that pattered against the stone floor as they fell from the ceiling.
It wasn't until a crunching noise came from underneath Ron's shoe that we heard any other kind of noise in the tunnel with us, and all of us instantly wished we'd never heard it in the first place so we didn't have to know what it meant. When we'd pointed our wandlight down at the ground for the first time tonight, trying to see what Ron had stepped on, we saw lots of different animal remains and skeletons scattered all over the place. What Ron crushed happened to be a rat's skull. Each one of us shuddered at the sight.
"My word," Lockhart gasped, face twisting up into disgust as he eyed the floor. "I have never been in such a filthy place before—"
"Stop talking." Ron, Harry, and I chimed at the same time, not interested in hearing Lockhart complain any longer.
Trying very hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if we found her down here, and ignoring the fact that we were walking all around dead animal remains, we pushed onward.
Just as Harry lead us around a dark bend in the tunnel, Ron suddenly grabbed onto mine and Harry's shoulders.
"There's— there's something up there—" he said hoarsely, pointing vaguely in front of us.
We all froze and stared off into the distance. I could just barely see the faint outline of something that looked huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel, yet whatever it was wasn't moving at all. Lockhart immediately pressed his hands over his eyes, afraid it was the basilisk.
"Maybe it's asleep," Harry whispered. He then very slowly creeped forward, wand held up high, with his eyes narrowed as much as they could be without being fully closed.
As he got closer to the large figure, the light from his wand glossed over a gigantic, vibrant emerald green snake skin. It was laid curled up and empty across the floor before us.
"Fucking hell..." I breathed, mouth wide open as I stared in shock at it. This proved just how undoubtedly massive the basilisk must be in all of its glory.
"Blimey," Ron said weakly, equally as amazed.
There was a sudden movement behind us and, as we turned, we saw it was Lockhart collapsing onto the floor, his knees having gave out from fright.
"Heart of a lion, this one..." I mumbled, rolling my eyes.
"Oh, get up," Ron began sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart, "Honestly—"
However, before Ron could finish his sentence, Lockhart bolted upright, dived at Ron, and knocked him harshly to the ground. Harry and I jumped forward but our efforts hadn't come quick enough. Lockhart had already straightened himself, Ron's wand now held in his hand as he pointed it at us. There was a sickening smile on his face.
"The adventure ends here, you little brats." he announced slowly. He pushed back some of his hair that was falling into his eyes (no longer being held up by his hairspray) with as much dignity as he could muster. "I think I'll take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl—"
"My sister—"
"— and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body... Yes, I think that sounds good, don't you? Now, say goodbye to your memories!" he continued, smile growing wider.
All the three of us students could do was gape as he quickly raised Ron's Spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, "Obliviate!"
The wand suddenly exploded, the force so strong it was much like a small bomb. Instinctively, we all threw our arms up over our heads and bolted, trying to avoid being crushed by great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were crashing down to the floor around us with thunderous noise.
When the dust and debris in the air finally cleared before us, I first noticed Ron and Lockhart were near me, but soon realized shortly thereafter that there was now a solid wall of broken rock in front of us. It reached all the way up to the ceiling of the tunnel and, as I swiveled my head around the scene, I couldn't spot Harry anywhere. My stomach dropped at the realization that we must have been separated, us on one side and him on the other... unless he'd been crushed instead.
"Harry! A-are you there?" I shouted, running up to the massive pile of rock.
"I'm here!" he replied, his muffled voice sounding from the other side of the wall. "Are you okay?"
"Yes!" I breathed in relief, "I'm okay, and Ron's okay too—"
"Hello," Lockhart's polite voice suddenly rang out, interrupting me. Confused, I turned around, seeing him sit up and look up at Ron with a baffled and utterly confused expression. "Um— who are you?"
"Ron Weasley...?" Ron replied awkwardly, equally confused.
"Really?" Lockhart answered, furrowing his eyebrows. "And— uh— who am I?"
Ron looked over at me. "Lockhart got blasted by the wand. Clearly his Memory Charm backfired," he said, gesturing to our Professor who was staring around the tunnel with a mixture of both amazement and bewilderment. "He hasn't got a clue who he is."
"Wonderful." I sighed sarcastically before directing my nexts words at Harry. "Well, Lockhart isn't okay, Harry, but at least we are."
"It's an odd sort of place down here, isn't it?" Lockhart laughed, picking up a rock and inspecting it. "Do we live down here?"
"No." Ron grumbled, taking the rock from our useless professor and slamming it against the back of his head without hesitation.
For a moment I looked at Ron with surprise, but as Lockhart slumped over onto the ground in an unconscious state, I quickly got over my initial shock. He kind of deserved it— after all, he had tried to erase our memories in the first place. He could take a rock to the head after something like that. And, also, Lockhart being knocked out would be for the best anyways. It would shut him up for awhile and keep him out of our hair— both very good things.
Ron brushed past Lockhart, coming to stand with me by the wall of rock so we could talk with Harry. "So what now?"
There was a brief moment of silence between the three of us as we each thought about what to do next. I inspected the wall before me once more, trying to see if there was any possible way of getting past it. But it was so packed with rock that there wasn't even a hole the size of an apple for us to squeeze through.
"You two are just gonna have to wait there," Harry said suddenly. "Wait with Lockhart. I'll... I'll go on. I'll get Ginny. And if I'm not back in an hour..."
"Right," Ron answered a bit croakily. "We'll— um— try to figure out how to move some of these rocks then."
There was no other option, so I could do nothing but reluctantly agree to this plan.
"Please be safe, Harry," I said, biting my lip, trying to keep it together.
"I will," he replied, but there was a sense of forced confidence in his voice that made my heart break. "See you in a bit."
I could hear his footsteps trailing off until eventually everything on his side of the wall went silent.
"Yeah... see you." I mumbled, barely above a whisper.
Ron turned to face me. "Guess we should start trying to move some rocks then, shouldn't we?" he asked quietly.
I took a deep breath. "Yeah," I replied, sticking my wand in my robes. "But no magic. Neither of us have tried to move objects this big with magic before and I don't want the roof caving in on us right now if we happen to mess up."
Ron nodded and we each rolled up our sleeves, getting to work. With Lockhart still laying helpless on the ground—knocked out but still breathing—it was just the two of us as we tried to heave the giant pieces of stone out of the way. We used all of the strength we could muster, hoping to move the rocks enough that there could be a small opening for Harry to get back through... if he made it to us again.
After what had probably been around twenty minutes or so, Ron and I both needed to take a breather. We'd made a little bit of progress, but the hole we'd made still wouldn't be big enough for Harry or anyone else to fit through yet. The stones were gigantic and it took a lot of effort just to move only one.
"Do you think he's alright?" Ron asked softly as we were sitting on the ground, leaned up against a large block of rubble. "Do you think Ginny's alright?"
I chanced a glance up at the youngest of the Weasley brothers, seeing just how scared and broken he looked.
"I-I don't know, Ron." I replied honestly. "I hope with everything in me that they are, though."
"Yeah, me too..." he mumbled back. "I dunno what I would do if they didn't come back, Nov. Ginny's my sister, my little sister. And Harry... he's my best friend. He's practically family now too."
"I know," I agreed, squeezing his hand with a deep sigh. "I'm not sure what I'd do either."
A silence washed over us, both Ron and I unsure of what to say. I stared down at my hands in my lap, fiddling with the ring I was wearing.
Though I was trying to remain positive in this moment, trying to stay strong and level-headed, my mind was uncontrollably running through all of the worst possible scenarios right now; Ginny lying dead in the Chamber, Harry being attacked and maybe even killed by the basilisk, neither one of them returning to us, Ron and I being trapped down here under the school with no clear way out, or even the ceiling above us caving in and crushing us.
Not only that, but I was beginning to feel frustrated and angry over this entire situation and the way things had turned out tonight. I was someone who liked to have things under control and also needed to fix things, fix any kind of problem or conflict, and this situation wasn't enabling either of those things about me. It was all driving me insane. I absolutely hated being trapped here behind this stupid wall of rocks, completely useless. I was unable to do anything even remotely beneficial while Harry was off doing God knows what (but surely risking his life in some form or another to save Ginny and the entire school).
I let out a heavy sigh, deciding I needed to be doing something right now or else I'd truly go mad. I stood to my feet, beginning to head over towards the rocks with the intent of starting to work on trying to move them again.
However, I'd only just made it a few feet towards the wall when I suddenly started to feel light-headed. Thinking I'd just gotten up too fast, I shook my head and tried to compose myself. I continued walking but the feeling only worsened with each step. Soon my head began to spin and my surroundings blurred until everything just went dark.
My vision faded in from black and I quickly realized I was no longer standing in the tunnel with Ron and Professor Lockheart— I was experiencing another one of my episodes. Right now, in this moment, for the first time since Halloween.
I immediately picked my head up, remembering I was now some place entirely different than I'd just been before. I needed to quickly compose myself, needed to see where I'd been taken to.
Instantly my eyes widened at the sight before me. I was standing at the very end of a long, dimly lit, gloomy-looking chamber. Along the sides of it were towering stone pillars carved into the shape of serpents that rose high into the darkness of the ceiling.
At the other end of the chamber, I saw an enormous face—long, billowing hair framing it—of a man carved into the far wall. Given the history of the Chamber of Secrets, I assumed it must be Salazar Slytherin himself, the creator of this secret place underneath Hogwarts. I didn't have much time to linger on this massive Salazar because when my eyes flickered down to the floor in front of him, I immediately gasped.
There Harry was with two unusual things with him tonight, things he didn't have when I'd seen him last. In his hand was the school Sorting Hat and sat perched on his shoulder was this beautiful crimson phoenix, a very unique bird in the Wizarding World. At Harry's feet on the damp ground laid Ginny, limp and almost dead-looking except for the fact that her chest was just barely rising and falling with slow, deep breaths.
However, what was even more strange, confusing, and shocking about this situation than all of those things was the fact that there was a third person here in the Chamber tonight— a boy I didn't recognize at all, speaking to Harry. Whoever it was had dark curly hair, was maybe about the age of sixteen, had on old-fashioned Slytherin robes, and had this fascinating glow to him, almost like his figure was blurred around the edges.
I had no idea what I'd just walked in on, but, eager to figure it out, my feet suddenly moved before I knew what was happening. I walked down the long chamber, passing by the serpent statues, until I was closer to the three of them and able to hear what was being said.
Given that my episodes—or my visions, or whatever they happened to be—were still unclear to me, I decided to keep my distance from the three people I was standing with right now. I didn't know what my episodes truly were, how they happened to me, or what I could fully do when I was in them, and for that reason, I wasn't sure about what would happen if I got too close to real life people in my current state.
"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson." the strange boy suddenly said, a devilish gleam in his eyes as a smirk danced along his lips. "Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter..."
Hold on. Was this boy implying he was Lord Voldemort?
The strange boy—or, Voldemort, rather, cast an amused eye over Harry, the phoenix, and the Sorting Hat, just before turning and walking away. I watched as he stopped right in front of the massive face of Slytherin carved into the wall and tilted his head back to look up at it. He then opened his mouth and let out a hissing noise that could only have been Parseltongue.
Immediately the gigantic stone face began moving. Horrorstruck, I stood there with my jaw dropped, watching as Slytherin's mouth opened wider and wider until it made a huge black hole. Something was stirring from within it— I could hear it, almost like it was slithering—
Harry backed up, away from the beast that was surely nearing the opening of the hole that was Slytherin's mouth. He passed right by me, signaling to me that he could, in fact, not see me while I was, in some shape or form, present in this moment with him. If Harry couldn't see me, if none of them could see me here right now, then the basilisk wouldn't be able to either—
And that's when I saw it.
Dropping harshly onto the floor from Slytherin's mouth was the most gruesome-looking serpent-monster-thing I'd ever seen. The basilisk was absolutely enormous in size, a deep green color, and was slimy and scaly all over.
Voldemort's voice hissed once more and the basilisk uncoiled itself, immediately beginning to move towards me and subsequently Harry. It's piercing yellow eyes gazed right through me, not affecting me in the slightest with their deadly ability, and looked hungrily upon Harry. It slithered down the long chamber, moving by me with its long, pointy fangs on full display. The serpent undoubtedly wanted to sink them into Harry, the fresh piece of meat that so willingly stood before it.
Unable to physically move from how scared I was in this moment, I watched with absolute horror as the basilisk inched closer and closer towards its prey. Harry stood with his back pressed up against the far wall, his eyes clamped shut as tight as they could be.
I found myself screaming at the sight— shouting Harry's name as well as countless pleas for the basilisk to stop over and over and over again until my voice was hoarse and breaking. But no matter how much I yelled, no matter how hard I sobbed, none of the people or things in this room could see or hear me right now.
The basilisk was now just yards away from Harry, and the phoenix that was sitting on his shoulder flapped its wings and flew high into the air. I let out another piercing scream, believing with everything in me I was about to witness the death of a boy who felt like my little brother, when everything went black for a second time tonight.
"Nova! Nova!" came the familiar shouting of Ron.
I opened my eyes and saw his head right above me, right in my line of sight. I'd never seen a more worried expression on his face.
"Nova! Are you alright? Nova!"
Shaking my head, I immediately sat upright, still in utter shock from what I'd just witnessed while in one of my episodes.
"Y-you just went all quiet— you collapsed— hit your head on the ground, I think, and I'm pretty sure you're bleeding— and— and— I figured it was one of your episodes but I didn't know what to do— my wand's broken— and I kept calling out to you but you weren't responding— Lockhart woke up in the middle of it all and I hit him again with a rock to shut him up because I-I was scared and freaking out—"
"Oh, my god," I mumbled, barely paying any attention to what Ron was rambling to me right now. My eyes were wide in shock as I kept replaying the vision of the massive serpent slithering through the Chamber in my head.
"Nova, what happened? What did you see?"
"H-Harry," I croaked, my throat still sore as if I really had just been screaming for the past few minutes.
I scrambled to my feet, feeling a gush of warm liquid dripping down the back of my head but I didn't even care about having hit my head at all. Trembling, I spun on my heels, stumbling over to the wall of rocks that was blocking me from getting to Harry.
"W-what about Harry, though?" Ron asked, following after to me eagerly. "What exactly did you see? Is he okay? What about Ginny? What's going on?!"
I didn't look at him. I couldn't focus on anything other than how badly I wanted to rip this wall apart and create a whole big enough for me to slip through. With a newfound sense of determination and as if I'd just been jacked up with superhuman strength, I immediately gripped onto the first rock I saw and began yanking at it as hard as I could, ignoring the fact that tears were clouding my vision and the back of my head was pounding.
"Ginny's alive, barely— Harry was there with a pheonix— Voldemort, in a sixteen-year-old's body— the basilisk, a wretched-looking thing—" I grunted in between each rock that I was desperately pulling on with all of my might and throwing onto the ground at my feet. "I-it was awful, Ron— it was about to attack him right when I was sucked out of my episode— I need to get to Harry— I need to save him— have to help Ginny— I need to move these rocks—"
I was fully aware that everything I was saying to Ron probably made no sense but I didn't have time to give him the full run-down on what I'd witnessed. The fact that I'd even gotten out that much to him during my frantic and panicked state right now was a miracle in itself.
"Help me, Ron!" I shouted after he'd just been staring at me unmoving, white-faced.
Immediately he stepped up to my side and together we began tearing at the wall of rocks before us. With so much pent up fear and desire to get to those we loved, we'd now begun to make significant impact on the wall. After at least five minutes of working hard at it as if the world was ending, there was finally a hole in the wall big enough to fit through.
I was just about to squeeze through it and charge into the Chamber of Secrets myself when I suddenly saw, through the hole I'd made, three flickering figures off in the distance.
"Nova! Is that you?!" Harry's voice called out and I swore I'd never in my life been so relieved to hear it.
"Harry!" Ron yelled excitedly.
"Yes! Yes!" I choked out, beginning to sob from how I was now feeling both so overwhelmed yet so happy at the same time. "It's me! I'm right here!"
"I've got Ginny! We're okay! Everything's okay!" Harry shouted back, and I watched with joy as the two of them—alongside the fluttering phoenix—came bolting up to the hole.
I stepped back and they squeezed through it, falling down onto the ground at my feet. My knees buckled and I collapsed practically on top of Harry and Ginny, wrapping my arms around them in the biggest hug I'd ever given in my entire life. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I held onto them tightly and I could feel Ron joining our group as well.
"Oh, Merlin, I was so worried!" I croaked, shaking my head frantically. "I had an episode! I saw you two in there— Ginny, you were lying on the ground barely breathing and I was so afraid for you— and then Harry, I saw you talking to Voldemort himself— the next thing I knew, the basilisk was coming out of Slytherin's mouth and heading right for you— I thought for sure I was about to witness you being killed— then I woke up here again and started freaking out while I tried to get to you both—"
"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.
"Yeah, but you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there—" Ron added.
"Well, Fawkes isn't an ordinary bird." Harry replied before turning to face us all quickly. "Alright, here's what we're doing. We've got to hold onto each other. Nova, you hold tightly onto my robes. Ron, grab her hand. Ginny, you grab Ron's and Professor Lockhart—"
"He means you," Ron said sharply to Lockhart.
"— you hold Ginny's other hand."
Harry tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt and we all followed his orders. As I latched onto Harry, Harry reached out and took hold of Fawkes's tail feathers.
An extraordinary lightness spread throughout my body and the next thing I knew, Fawkes, in a rush of wings, was flying all five of us upward through the pipe.
"Amazing! This is just like magic!" Lockhart yelled from below me, his legs dangling childishly in the air.
The cold wind whipped through our hair as we soared up and up. It was quite an enjoyable ride, but it ended in the blink of an eye when we abruptly hit the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"You're alive," Myrtle said blankly to Harry, eyeing us as we all stood to our feet and the sink that had hid the pipe slid back into place.
"There's no need to sound so disappointed," Harry replied grimly.
"Well, I'd just been thinking... if you'd died, you'd have been welcome to join my toilet." she said, giggling. Harry grimaced and with that, we decided to leave the bathroom.
"Where now?" Ron asked.
Harry pointed. Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor, and we strode after him. Moments later, we found ourselves outside Professor McGonagall's office. Harry knocked and pushed the door open.
For a brief moment, there was silence as all five of us stood in the doorway, completely covered in dirt and slime and, in Harry's case, blood. Then, there was a sudden piercing scream.
"Ginny!"
It was Mrs. Weasley who'd been crying by the fire. She immediately leapt to her feet and she and Mr. Weasley flung themselves onto their youngest child.
I, however, was looking past them, noticing the other people with us in the room. Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was clutching at her chest in shock. But, even those two I wasn't looking much at. I was focused on the other people sitting in the chairs in front of my professors— Jasper and George.
Jasper was on his feet in and instant, running over to me and pulling me into the tightest hug he'd ever given me before I could even process what was happening.
George stood up and walked over as well, standing a little ways behind Jasper to give him and I some room, but his eyes were boring into mine as I looked at him over my brother's shoulder. It was evident in the expression on his face that he was feeling a wide variety of different emotions right now; mainly what appeared to be a mixture of anger, sadness, relief, and happiness all in one.
"Holy shit, Nov, you're bleeding." Jasper said, breaking away from me with some blood on his hands from having touched the back of my head. He quickly wiped it off carelessly.
I'd completely forgotten about my fall, having tuned out the throbbing pain I was feeling because I'd been so worked up and focused on other things. With the reminder of it, the pain suddenly resurfaced and I winced a bit. But now wasn't the time to deal with it.
"H-how'd you know to be here?" I asked Jasper and George, looking back and forth between the both of them.
"Had a terrible feeling something was wrong with you." Jasper mumbled. "I told George about it and we decided to come here to let the teachers know. I ended up being right, didn't I?"
I didn't have a chance to reply to him or even greet George for the first time because suddenly Mrs. Weasley was shuffling over and pulling Ron, Harry, and I into a big embrace.
"You saved her! You saved Ginny! How did you three do it?!"
"I think we'd all like to know that." agreed Professor McGonagall weakly.
Mrs. Weasley let go of us and Harry walked over to McGonagall's desk, setting down the Sorting Hat, the ruby-encrusted sword, and what remained of Tom Riddle's diary on top of it.
He collapsed into a seat with a deep breath, making us all follow suit, and then he, Ron, and I embarked on an extremely long recounting of everything that had happened. For nearly a quarter of an hour, the three of us spoke into the rapt silence as everyone around us listened intently. We told the adults all of our discoveries throughout this past semester, then dived into how we found out Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was the entrance.
All while explaining the entire situation, George and I kept stealing glances at each other and I could just tell he was upset and would be letting me know that after. I wasn't looking forward to it, yet I knew he had every right to be hurt over my behavior tonight. If he'd run off and done something as stupid as I'd done without telling me and letting me join, I'd be angry too. But, still, I didn't regret what I'd done tonight. In the end, we saved Ginny and stopped the basilisk that was terrorizing this school, and that was a huge thing.
"Very well," Professor McGonagall said to Harry who'd just been talking most recently, pulling me out of my thoughts. "So you found out where the entrance was—breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, might I add—but how on earth did you manage to get out of there alive?"
Harry, his voice growing hoarse from talking so much, then told her exactly what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, how Fawkes had arrived timely, and about how the Sorting Hat gave him the sword. But then he faltered, glancing awkwardly back and forth between Riddle's diary on the desk and Ginny for a reason I didn't understand.
"What interests me most," Dumbledore suddenly said, filling the brief pause, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when all my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."
"What?!" all of us kids spluttered, completely shocked as we looked over at the young red-headed girl who had tear-stained cheeks.
"W-what's that?" Mr. Weasley said in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? Enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"
"It was this diary," Harry said quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote in it when he was sixteen..."
Dumbledore took it, peering keenly down at the burnt and soggy pages.
"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."
He then turned around to face the rest of us who were all looking utterly bewildered.
"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle." Dumbledore continued. "I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school... traveled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."
"B-but, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with— with— him?"
"H-his diary!" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it and he's been writing back all year—"
"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley scolded, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic—"
"I didn't know!" Ginny cried, clearly overwhelmed. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I-I thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it—"
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted firmly. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort."
He then strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up. Now, you will find Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice— I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."
"So Hermione's okay!" Ron beamed and Dumbledore nodded before turning to Ginny.
"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny." Dumbledore said, assuring the still distraught-looking girl.
Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley left the room, all still appearing to be deeply shaken. Dumbledore then suggested to McGonagall that a feast ought to be had to celebrate tonight's victory, so she too exited swiftly to go alert the kitchens. Jasper and George stepped out into the hallway as well, sensing Dumbledore still had things he wanted to say to Ron, Harry, and I.
"I seem to remember telling you that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules." Dumbledore said, and we all gaped. "Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. You three will each receive Special Awards for Services to the School and— let me see— yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."
All of our cheeks turned a rosy pink as we gasped at Dumbledore's words and generosity. We weren't going to be expelled and we'd definitely just won Gryffindor the House Cup.
"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"
All of us had forgotten Lockhart had even been standing in the room with us because he'd been so quiet, probably extremely confused. We quickly explained to our Headmaster about his situation, telling him all about how Ron's wand had backfired and ruined Lockhart's Memory Charm. Dumbledore found it quite amusing.
"Dear me," he shook his head. "Well, Mr. Weasley, would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too? And Miss Pierce, I sense you have two boys waiting in the hall to speak with you. I'd like to have a few more words here with Harry, if you don't mind."
Ron and I obeyed, standing from our seats and following after Lockhart as he ambled out of the office.
"I'll catch you at the feast, Nov," Ron said, jerking his head towards Lockhart. I nodded and waved goodbye.
Once they'd rounded the corner, I turned to George and Jasper who were leaned up against the wall, waiting for me. George had his arms across his chest, his eyes staring down at his feet, while Jasper was giving me a soft smile.
"All good in there?" Jasper asked, referring to Dumbledore holding me back.
"Yeah, nothing to worry about." I shrugged and he nodded. "Dumbledore was just congratulating us."
There was a brief, awkward pause as he glanced back and forth between George and I. Clearly he could sense the tension because he then said, "Alright, well, in that case— um— I'll leave you and George to... talk, I guess."
"Yeah... great," I mumbled unenthusiastically as he pushed off the wall.
"I'll see you downstairs," Jasper said, pulling me into a quick hug. "But get your head checked out before you come to the feast, though, yeah? It looks like it was bleeding pretty hard. Don't want you to have a concussion or anything."
"Alright, I will." I promised, nodding. Jasper gave me a smile before he headed off down the hall.
Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare myself for this conversation, I went over to the wall beside George and sat against it on the floor, criss-crossing my legs. George eventually followed suit, plopping down next to me.
"I know you're mad at me," I mumbled, staring down at my hands in my lap, "And I understand that. I was expecting you to be angry, honestly, because if you'd done something as insane as I did tonight I'd probably be mad at you for it too."
George sighed and I continued to keep my gaze down, now focusing on fiddling with my ring to avoid looking at him.
"We just had that conversation about doing dumb and reckless shit together, Nova, and yet you go and do this." he replied lowly. "You promised me that night we went into the Forbidden Forest that you wouldn't do anything stupid without me from that point on."
"I know..." I said quietly, turning to face him. "But I didn't intend to go through with everything tonight. Honestly. We originally just went down to Lockhart's only to tell him the information we had about the Chamber, but then he was trying to run away and one then led to another and we were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom going through with everything ourselves. And I thought about coming back to get you, I really did, but that would have wasted valuable time that Ginny might not have had. I had to make a decision fast and I decided to go down there without you."
George only sighed again.
"Look, I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses." I then said, grabbing one of his hands in mine and making him look up at me. "You just have to understand it was just a really tricky situation tonight where I didn't feel like I had much of a choice but to do what I did."
"But you did have a choice, Nova." he mumbled, rolling his eyes a little bit. "You could've decided not to do it, to have stayed safe—"
"What, and let Harry and your little brother go down there on their own instead?" I scoffed. "George, you know more than anyone that I couldn't have done that. That's not how I am. What kind of older friend—practically older sister—to them would I have been if I let them go without me? I'm supposed to protect them. Plus, don't even try and act like you wouldn't have had the same mentality as me, like you wouldn't have insisted on going with them if you'd been there in the moment too because I know you would have."
I paused, taking a deep breath as I tried to reel back my defensiveness. I had to remember that despite saving Ginny and Hogwarts tonight, both very good things, along the way I didn't keep my word to George and that was something I still had to rembember and own up to.
"Listen," I said in a calmer tone, giving George's hand a squeeze, "I realize that I went against you tonight, that I broke the promise I made to you, that what I did was extremely dangerous, and I'm truly sorry for all of those things. I really am. I didn't mean to purposefully hurt you. I don't ever mean to do that."
"And I know you're still probably sitting here thinking about how things could have gone a lot worse tonight and I get that," I continued, "but remember that they didn't. I didn't die or anything— I'm perfectly fine, minus a few bumps and scratches, and, not to mention, Ginny was saved and the basilisk was killed. I think things went pretty damn good, all things considered. So... George, can you forgive me? Please? Or at least tell me what I need to do to eventually get you to forgive me?"
George tilted his head up to look at me. I could still tell he was mildly upset, but nowhere near as much as he'd been earlier which is all I could ask. His deep brown eyes flickered back and forth between mine before he nodded.
"Yes, of course I'll forgive you." he said finally, bringing a hand up to cup my cheek. I immediately melted into his touch. "But I swear to Merlin, Pierce, if you break our damn promise again... Just, don't, okay? I'm not messing around. You can't keep running off and doing shit like this on your own and I've already told you why."
"Okay," I replied sincerely, nodding eagerly in agreement. He gave me a small smile.
"Alright. Come here." he said.
He turned to face me more and I closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his neck. His settled comfortably around my waist, pulling me into him, and he nestled his face into the crook of my neck for awhile.
"I'm sorry again, George..." I told him quietly. "For everything."
"I know." he assured me sincerely, bringing his head back to look at me.
He then leaned in, placing his lips gently on mine. For a few moments we just stayed like that, still hugging each other with our mouths moving slowly together before we broke apart.
"Now come on," George said, standing up off the ground and helping me to my feet. "Let's go get your head checked out. Then there's a feast we're supposed to be attending."
—
In the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was able to tend to the nasty gash on the back of my head, healing it and fixing up the area around it so I didn't look like such a mess.
On the way down to the Great Hall to join the rest of the school, I gave George the full story as to how I'd actually hurt myself, realizing I didn't mention much about my fall because we'd been in the presence of adults who knew nothing of my episodes. Once I'd caught him up, we continued to talk a little more about my strange magical gift, but given that we had to get to the feast quickly we decided we'd discuss it more in depth later.
When we arrived at the Great Hall, the feast that had been arranged on a whim and waiting for us was... interesting, to say the least.
The night's celebration, which lasted well into the wee hours of the early morning, included so many different great things that made this feast unlike any other Hogwarts feast I'd ever experienced. All of us students were dressed in our pajamas; Hermione and the other basilisk victims ended up joining the school in celebrating after being revived by Mandrake juice; Gryffindor secured the House Cup after the 600 points the boys and I had acquired tonight had been added to our score; Dumbledore announced Gilderoy Lockhart wasn't returning next year; and, my personal favorite, McGonagall even went so far as to cancel all of our exams as a special treat.
To say this year had ended on the strangest yet most special note was an understatement.
—
The rest of the final term passed by in a haze of blazing sunshine. Everything was all and well at Hogwarts again— Ginny was back to normal, Lucius Malfoy was sacked from being a school governor (and Harry had freed Dobby from him too), Draco was no longer strutting around the school like he owned it, Lockhart was gone and all DADA classes cancelled, and all of my friends were back to being their happy, wild, and joyous selves again.
—
It wasn't long before it was time for everyone's journey home on the Hogwarts Express. With a pretty large friend group at this point and so little room in just one compartment, all of my friends ended up grabbing three compartments right near each other on the train so we could all bounce back and forth between them, making sure we spent ample amount of time with everyone before most of us wouldn't be seeing each other throughout the summer.
For a good portion of the train ride home, I stuck by George, knowing that soon I'd be back in Castle Combe and he wouldn't be with me. It was going to be difficult not seeing him everyday now that we'd gotten so close, but we promised to try and get together whenever possible this summer. I'd even suggested to him and my other friends that they carve out time to come visit me at my grandparent's manor where Jasper, Mum, and I were going to stay for a month so that we could all hangout around the lake in our backyard. Everyone seemed pretty thrilled about that idea and promised to owl me so we could all figure out a day and time.
When the train slowed to a stop at Kings Cross, George and I had been sitting with Harry, Ron, Hermione. Harry pulled out his quill and tore a bit of parchment paper into four pieces, writing something down on them all.
"Ron, George, this is called a telephone number," he said, explaining the muggle technology they weren't familiar with to them. He then handed each of us the slips of paper. "I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer— he'll know. All of you call me at the Dursley's, okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to."
"Great idea, Harry." I beamed, pulling out a few pieces of parchment for myself. I wrote down my home telephone number too. "Here's my number as well. Sending me owls is always fine too, of course, but I would like to hear your voices occasionally."
"Brilliant." George said with a grin, tucking the parchment into his pocket and giving my arm a nudge. "I'll be sure to call you."
"You better." I smiled, standing up from my seat as the others did the same.
In no time we were each hopping off the trains onto Platform 9 3/4, hugging each other. Soon we were parting ways and joining our respective family members that were waiting eagerly for us, following the crowd through the enchanted barrier back into the muggle world.
Goodbye, Year Four.
It's been a hell of a ride, but I'm glad to be done with you.