Rosabella's Point of View:
After being trapped in endless darkness as I grew weaker and weaker. I was suddenly able to open my eyes and I felt my strength slowly start to return. I groaned as my eyes fluttered open. It all started coming back to me. I shot up and looked round. There was a huge fucking dead snake not far away from.
"Shit! What the hell did I miss?" I said aloud.
I heard someone laugh.
I looked in the direction the sound came from. I saw Harry, robes torn and bloodied, holding a sword, the Sorting Hat and his wand. I got to my feet and started to run towards Harry as he was running towards me.
"Are you alright?" I said concerned as I threw my arms around Harry's neck.
Harry wrapped his arms around my waist. I heard him breath a sigh of relief.
"I'm fine. Are you okay?" Harry said as we both pulled out of the hug.
"I'm fine. A little weak and dizzy but I'm fine. Harry! It was Ginny. She opened the Chamber of Secrets but I think that Diary was controlling her -" I said frantically.
"Calm down. It's all right." Harry said, holding up the diary, and showing me the fang hole.
"Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk. C'mon, Ro, let's get out of here -" Harry said.
"But how? Did you kill that snake? And is that Fawkes? Why do you have the Sorting Hat? Where did you get the sword?" I asked quickly.
"I'll tell you on the way back. Ron and Lucas are waiting for us." Harry said.
Harry led the way back telling me everything Riddle had told him.
Fawkes flew ahead of us.
After a few minutes of progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rocks reached our ears.
"Lucas! Ron! Ro's okay! I've got her!" Harry yelled and we sped up.
We heard Lucas give a strangled cheer, and we turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.
"Oh thank Merlin! Ro, are you okay? Nothing broken? No missing limbs? Cuts? Bruises?" Lucas said frantically.
"Mother hen." I muttered to Harry.
I debated whether to torture him a little and say both my legs were gone but he was worried enough.
"Fine, Lu. Voldemort was only trying to take my life force or soul whatever you want to call it. Nothing too bad." I said.
"WHAT?" Lucas shouted.
"Harry stopped it, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you right now." I said casually.
"Ro! You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How - what - where did that bird come from?" Ron said as he and Lucas thrusted an arm each through the gap in the rock to pull me through first.
Fawkes had swooped through the gap after me. The second I was through the gap I was smothered in a big bear hug from Lucas. I hugged him tightly back.
"You'll follow me anywhere." I said jokingly to Lucas.
Lucas laughed and when we pulled out of the hug, I saw tears fall down his face. Tears of relief and happiness.
"He's Dumbledore's." Harry said, squeezing through himself.
"How come you've got a sword?" Ron said, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.
"I'll explain when we get out of here," Harry said.
"But -" Ron said.
"Later. Where's Lockhart?" Harry said shortly.
"Lockhart? Why would he be here?" I asked confused.
"He was the one who was supposed to save you." Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"Did you want me to die?" I exclaimed.
The other three laughed.
"You'll love this, Ro. He's back there. He's in a bad way. Come and see." Lucas said.
Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, we walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.
"His memory's gone. The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself." Ron said.
I blinked at Lockhart and then started laughing hysterically.
"He thought he could pull off a Memory Charm? The idiot. I never actually seen him do a spell correctly." I said, still laughing.
"Turns out he is quite good at Memory Charms." Lucas said and then told me how Lockhart erased the memories of the wizard who had actually done the things he claimed he had done.
"Then he got what was coming to him. You know what they say. Karma's a bitch." I said, unbothered.
Though I did feel bad for the people whose memories he erased. Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at us all.
"Hello. Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?" Lockhart said.
"No." Ron said, raising his eyebrows at Harry.
Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.
"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" Harry said to Ron and Lucas.
They both shook there heads, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark.
He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked uncertainly at him.
"He looks like he wants you to grab hold. . . But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there -" Ron said, looking perplexed.
"Fawkes, isn't an ordinary bird." I said, remembering what Dumbledore told us about Fawkes.
Harry turned quickly to us.
"We've got to hold on to each other. Ro, grab Ron's hand. Lucas you hold Ron's other hand. Professor Lockhart -" Harry said.
"He means you." Lucas said sharply to Lockhart.
"You hold Lucas's other hand -" Harry said and he tucked the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt.
Harry grabbed my other hand and then with his other hand, Harry reached out and took hold of Fawkes's tail feathers.
An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through his whole body and the next second, in a rush of wings, we were flying upward through the pipe.
"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" I heard Lockhart say from below me.
The chill air was whipping through my hair, and before we'd stopped enjoying the ride, it was over. All five of us were hitting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and as Lockhart straightened his hat, the sink that hid the pipe was sliding back into place.
Myrtle goggled at them.
"You're alive." Myrtle said blankly to Harry.
"There's no need to sound so disappointed." Harry said grimly, wiping flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.
"Oh, well. . . I'd just been thinking. . . if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet." Myrtle said, blushing silver.
I giggled and Lucas hid a smirk.
"Urgh! Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you!" Ron said as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside.
"Where now?" Ron said, with an anxious look at me.
"I'm fine. I wouldn't mind a nap though." I said.
Harry pointed.
Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. We strode after him, and moments later, found ourselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.
Harry knocked and pushed the door open.
For a moment there was silence as Lucas, Harry, Ron, Lockhart and I stood in the doorway, covered in muck and slime and (in Harry's case) blood. Then there was a scream.
"Rosabella!"
It was Remus, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. He leapt to his feet, and I jumped into his arms. Remus and I both hugged each other tightly. Over Remus shoulders I saw Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest.
Ginny was also there, looking hysterical. So where Mr and Mrs Weasley, looking shocked and shaken.
Fawkes went whooshing past and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder.
Remus set me down.
"Are you all alright? You saved her! How did you do it?" Remus asked as he pulled Lucas into a hug.
"I think we'd all like to know that." Professor McGonagall said weakly.
Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the ruby - encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle's diary.
Then he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour he spoke into the rapt silence. He told them about hearing the disembodied voice. How Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes. How he and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died. How he had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom. . .
"Very well, so you found out where the entrance was -breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add - but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?" Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused.
So Harry, his voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. He had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's diary - or Ginny. She was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks. Riddle's diary didn't work anymore. . . How could we prove it had been Riddle who'd made her do it all?
Instinctively, Harry looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the firelight glancing off his half-moon spectacles.
"What interests me most, is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania." Dumbledore said gently.
Relief - warm, sweeping, glorious relief - swept over me.
"W - what's that? You - Know - Who? En - enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not . . . Ginny hasn't been . . . has she?" Mr. Weasley said in a stunned voice.
"It was this diary. Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen. . ." Harry said quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.
"Brilliant. Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." Dumbledore said and he turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.
"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. 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." Dumbledore explained.
"But, Ginny, what's our Ginny got to do with - with - him?" Mrs Weasley said.
"His d-diary I've b - been writing in it, and he's been w - writing back all year -" Ginny sobbed.
"Ginny! 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? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!" Mr. Weasley said, flabbergasted.
"I d-didn't know, I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th - thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it -" Ginny sobbed.
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away. 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." Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice and he 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." Dumbledore added, twinkling kindly down at her.
"You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice - I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment." Dumbledore said.
"So Hermione's okay!" I said brightly.
"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny." Dumbledore said.
Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.
"You know, Minerva, I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?" Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall.
"Right, I'll leave you to deal with Potter, Weasley and Black shall I?" Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door.
"Certainly." Dumbledore said.
She left.
Harry, Ron and I gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore. What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with us? Surely - surely - we weren't about to be punished?
"I seem to remember telling you three that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules." Dumbledore said.
Ron opened his mouth in horror. My eyes widened in panic.
"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. You will all receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor." Dumbledore went on, smiling.
Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed his mouth again.
"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure. Why so modest, Gilderoy?" Dumbledore added.
Harry and I gave a start.
I had completely forgotten about Lockhart. I turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.
"Professor Dumbledore, there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart -" Lucas said quickly.
"Am I a professor? Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?" Lockhart said in mild surprise.
"Everyone heard him admit he was useless right?" I said, laughing.
"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired." Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.
"Dear me. Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!" Dumbledore said, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering.
"Sword? Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though. He'll lend you one." Lockhart said dimly as he pointed at Harry.
I couldn't stop laughing. I was loving this.
"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too? Miss Black, I should like Madam Pomfrey to check you too. I'd like a few more words with Harry. . ." Dumbledore said to Ron and I.
Lockhart ambled out.
Ron cast a curious look back at Dumbledore and Lucas, Remus and I followed Ron out the door.
I didn't miss Remus had been looking at Harry remorsefully and yet eagerly. Probably because he's, you know, the boy who lived.
It took some time to convince Madam Pomfrey to let me go to the feast. After the school heard the news that the Chamber of Secrets has been closed and that I was rescued, my other brothers sprinted to the hospital wing and basically dog piled me. I could barely breath with all the tight hugs I was receiving.
In the end it took me cartwheeling from one end of the hospital wing to the other and back again for Madam Pomfrey to be satisfied I was alright. Remus hugged us all tightly one last time before he departed for home saying he'd see us on the platform and he has to go tell Andromeda I'm okay.
I had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. When Hermione entered, I sprinted towards her and hugged her tightly. Ron and Harry closely behind me.
"You solved it! You solved it!" Hermione said as she ran towards us.
"Please don't ever get petrified again!" I begged as I hugged her tightly.
The four us then sat down.
Not long after Justin came hurrying over to Harry from the Hufflepuff table to wring his hand and apologize endlessly for suspecting him.
Hagrid turned up at half past three, cuffing Harry and Ron so hard on the shoulders that they were knocked into their plates of trifle. I laughed hysterically.
Gryffindor won the house Cup for the second year running. Professor McGonagall then stoodding up to tell us all that the exams had been canceled as a school treat.
"Oh, no!" Hermione said and I looked at her in disbelief.
Dumbledore then announced that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.
"Shame. He was starting to grow on me." Ron said, helping himself to a jam doughnut.
The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences - Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled ("but we've had plenty of practice at that anyway," Ron told a disgruntled Hermione.) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor.
Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.
Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Jason, Jacob, Lucas, Michael and I got a compartment to ourselves. We made the most of the last few hours in which we were allowed to do magic before the holidays. We played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very good at it.
We were almost at King's Cross when Harry remembered something.
"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?" Harry asked.
"Oh, that. Well - Percy's got a girlfriend." Ginny said, giggling.
Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head.
"What?" Fred said
"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater. That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was - you know - attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" Ginny said, anxiously.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Fred said, who was looking like his birthday had come early.
"Definitely not." George said, sniggering.
My twin brothers and I laughed.
The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped.
Harry pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment and turned to Ron, Hermione and I.
"This is called a telephone number," Harry told Ron and I, scribbling it three times, tearing the parchment in thre, and handing it to us.
"I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer - he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to. . ." Harry said.
"I'll see if I can convince Rem to let you stay." I said.
"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they? When they hear what you did this year?" Hermione said as we got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier.
"Proud? Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious. . ." Harry said.
And together we walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world.