The term went by smoothly after the whole roosters prank. I brewed a fresh batch of Veritaserum since I was doubting the potency of my old one. After sitting around for over a year, it had started to turn a little cloudy instead of its perfect clear when fresh. I was apparently supposed to store it somewhere dark, which unfortunately I didn't know, so I had to make a fresh batch. I learned this from a casual conversation with Snape, which made him suspicious why I needed the serum, and he's been eyeing me cautiously since then. Brewing the potion was easier this time, and it would be ready in time for the end of year feast.
Lockhart was going around bragging about all the important people he had invited to it, and I feel like Dumbledore probably somehow magically knows I'm about to destroy this man's career, otherwise I doubt he would have allowed 20 outsiders into Hogwarts for the feast. The twins and I are working together on this prank, as per usual, though their role is less incriminating should anything backfire.
Our exams went well for the year, Roger being the only reason I passed History yet again, and our little group of four doing excellent on our Runes final. Our teacher praised us for being one of her smartest classes she's gotten to teach this topic to. I was glad I did the whole rooster and Basilisk thing earlier in the year, because the amount of work the teachers piled onto us was insane.
Our best, or at least most interesting, class final though ended up being Care of Magical Creatures. Kettleburn had managed to secure us a Chimaera to study, and it was both hideous and captivating. The beast had the head of a lion, a body of a goat, and the long slithering tail of a dragon. It tried numerous times to kill us all, and eventually got a good chunk out of Kettleburn's half of an arm he had left, biting it off completely up to the shoulder. About 8 of us shot stunning spells at the beast to knock it out and then we had to rush the Professor to the hospital. He was laid out in the hospital for the rest of term after losing the chunk of his arm. It made sense on how Hagrid becomes the teacher next year, since now Kettleburn was left with only half of his other arm and two fake legs.
Draco I had noticed spent a lot of the second half of this school year with Blaise again, and even with some Ravenclaw girl I didn't know in his year. I was proud of him for branching away from his cronies and bettering himself, and let him know it frequently when I saw him. Even Hermione admitted that Draco was as good at Potions as her, and I don't remember him being particularly gifted at that before. I had partnered with Draco once during dueling club, just to gauge his skills. He has creative spells and is quick in thinking of them, but I still slaughtered him in just efficiency and talent.
I could see similar improvements with Neville. He has been growing nicely this year in his confidence, and Harry told me Neville's the best in Herbology in their year. I still help him on occasions with his homework, just like I do for Ron or Harry, but he needs less and less guidance.
I knew all year that Percy was dating Penelope Clearwater, which he was trying to keep a secret for some reason, and since I'm such a good friend, I kept it quiet for him. I let him know in less than subtle hints that I knew about his girlfriend, which for some reason he didn't want anyone to know about. It was strange to me he wanted to hide it, not just from his family but from everyone, but to each their own, and I can appreciate wanting privacy. I still never told the twins about her, though I totally will in the train ride home. But that all comes after our wonderful end of year feast that I was genuinely excited for.
Before the feast could happen though, I sadly got a summons to go to the headmaster and I knew that couldn't be good.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" I ask politely as I walk into Dumbledore's office before the end of year feast.
"Yes, I felt you and I needed to have another chat." Dumbledore says kindly, indicating for me to sit down.
"Of course, sir, what about?" I ask innocently, keeping my expression blank.
"The Chamber of Secrets, I think for starters." He replies with a knowing look. "And how you managed to open it."
"Now what would give you that idea, sir?" I tilt my head in a subtly challenging way.
"Not much happens in this school without my knowledge, Ms. Black." He replies smugly.
"Of course not, you certainly wouldn't let Voldemort in here, or an unqualified fraud teach courses." I counter back sweetly, and he sighs lightly.
"What was inside the Chamber, Ms. Black?" He asks again.
Instead of answering, I stand and walk over to Fawkes, petting him softly as I collect my thoughts on how to answer the old man. I then spot the sorting hat sitting on a nearby shelf and walk over to it. I debate for a second and lift it up and turn it around to look inside of it, silently asking the hat for the magic sword.
For me though, there was no sword inside of him at all.
"Did you know about the Sword of Gryffindor and this hat?" I ask Dumbledore instead of answering his question, holding the hat aloft to indicate towards it. The hat comes to life, but he stays quiet, likely knowing what's on my mind right now.
"Yes, you are referring to the legend that only a true Gryffindor may pull the sword of Godric from the hat in times of need." He replies with a light tone, amusement in his tone.
"I am not a true Gryffindor, I know that, but it would have been cool to use the sword to slay the Basilisk down in the Chamber. Very cool indeed." I answer his original question casually, returning the hat to its stand with a subtle wink to it.
"You do not think yourself a true Gryffindor? Why?" He asks, skipping over the 'giant dangerous beast hidden under the school' part of the story.
"I know myself well enough to know I'm a Slytherin. However, I could do more good in Gryffindor, so that's why I'm there." I answer honestly.
"A Basilisk... that explains the roosters at least, but not how you knew it was there, or how to get to it. Would you care to enlighten me?" He asks delicately.
"No, I don't think I will." I smirk at him, and feel the tug again on my mind of him trying to read my thoughts. "Ah, always so eager to enter my mind, sir. Would you like to see Konoha?" I ask him smugly. "You have tried so often to get there, and I can't blame you, it's a lovely place."
"I admit I am intrigued. Please, show me." He asks airily.
I allow him access to Konoha, and enter in after him. He looks around in wonder at it.
"Remarkable. Sights, scents, sounds, you even have it a comfortable temperature. A true oasis." Dumbledore says, now standing in front of me in my forest realm.
I conjure up some candy in a dish and offer it to him. "It has tastes here, too." He grabs a sweet and eats it happily.
"Truly well done." He compliments. "Though it does beg the question of why? Why spend the time to craft this realm so well?"
"Ah, 'why', a question you will ask me often, I'm sure." I say confidently. "My reasons are my own, though I will say, my intentions are not bad."
"You just slayed a terrifying beast on your own, under the guise of a delightful prank. You go through great lengths and even dangers, yet seek no credit for some of your exploits. I must admit, you are difficult to predict." He says jovially and I smirk at him again. "Shall we return to the real world?"
I nod and release us both from my realm. "So, what are the ramifications for me this time? Technically, I believe the snake was school property, since it was Slytherin's pet." I ask casually.
"And now it may be reunited with its master, it seems you only did it a service." He responds with an upbeat tone. "I could give you another award, or perhaps points, I know Ravenclaw is winning the cup this year."
"I already got the same award as the person who opened the Chamber last time, with my 'similar greatness' as the last recipient." I say with an edge, and his eyes darken in fear for a moment at my knowledge and the realization I knew exactly what he meant last year when comparing me to Tom Riddle. "Ravenclaw earned those points to win, and so they should still win." I say firmly. Moving on with the conversation. "How about... a pass on my next prank?" I ask innocently. "It will be a most... enlightening one." I smirk wickedly, and he chuckles lightly, brushing off his earlier negative feelings for now, though likely not forgetting them.
"I have grown to expect no less from your delightfully mischievous escapades with the Weasley twins." He says with amusement once again. "It seems an unfair trade in my favor, but if that is all you desire, then may I casually point out that Professor Lockhart likes fresh cold butterbeer with his dinners." He gives me a knowing look, a twinkle in his eyes.
"Thank you, Professor." I say smugly but sincerely, "Have a lovely evening." I stand to take my leave.
If I leave now, there's enough time to go to Hogsmeade and get a flagon of butterbeer before the feast. I left his office and ran full speed towards the village, making it back with an ice cold beverage right as the twins were looking for me.
"Got the potion?" George asks me in a whisper as we walk down to the feast together.
"Ready to go!" I say cheerily in confirmation. "I'm so excited for this. It's going to be brutal." I laugh evilly as he and Fred snicker. Lee is also joining us for this prank, just to be the extra hype man and get Lockhart talking.
Ravenclaw won the house cup this year since the magic of 'Harry Potter and Dumbledore giving him all the points every year' was broken by me interfering. No one was mad though, everyone likes the Ravenclaws a lot, even the Slytherins couldn't be mad at their victory. Gryffindor was in second place, so we all felt proud about that. Percy made sure to lecture me and the twins, saying that if it wasn't for our rooster prank Gryffindor would have won. Oliver Wood was just mad we lost the Quidditch cup to Hufflepuff, which on the other side made Cedric really happy and bashful from all the attention he was getting. Cedric was being made captain of his house's team next year, the current captain of his team is a 7th year and is graduating now.
"Professor!" I say cheerily during the feast as I walk up to Lockhart, who has a special table erected for all his esteemed guests and he's currently bragging loudly in the center of those guests. There's also a small gathering of female students around him, all giving him googly eyes and fawning.
"Aha!" Lockhart stands up and opens his arms towards me, as if he's presenting me to his friends. "My dear friends, this here is one of my brightest students, Abigail Black. No doubt you recognize her name from that nasty business with You-Know-Who years ago, but soon you will know her for all the wonders she will do, all with thanks from the Defensive skills I taught her this year, and in many years to come!" He says proudly, gaining the attention of everyone around. I lock eyes with Fred to wait before using his spell.
"You're such an inspiration." I drawl out, venom dripping from my words, though he doesn't catch it. Snape does though, and I can see his eyes lock on the flagon I'm carrying and back to mine. I wink subtly at him, and he purposely turns his head away, not stopping me at all. "Here sir, I read that your favorite beverage at feasts is fresh, ice cold Butterbeer, so I got some just for you, would you like it now?" I ask him sweetly, laying it on thick.
"So considerate!" He exclaims, handing me his glass blindly while he boasts to his fans. I pour it full, then use sleight of hand to add the Veritaserum. I didn't put it into the whole container, just in case someone else got their hands on it. "She was such a gem this year, voluntarily helping me with my fan mail, you know, such a dear." He takes a long sip of the drink, and I nod to Fred. He casts a Sonorus spell, and then Lockhart's voice was suddenly filling the whole hall.
"Professor, tell me how you defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf?" I ask sweetly.
"Oh, I didn't defeat the werewolf at all!" He exclaims, and then looks confused at his own confession.
"Then who did?" I press him further before he can figure out what's going on.
"It was an ugly old Armenian warlock who did it, but who would want to read a book with his ugly mug on it?" He says arrogantly, and again looks confused once he finishes his confession. His friends have all stopped smiling at this point as Lockhart begins to sweat.
"Sir, who really banished the Bandon Banshee?" Lee jumps in and asks the panicking Lockhart.
"A witch with a hairy chin, I couldn't let her take the credit, it was unsightly." He admits, and all the girls stand up and back away from him, glaring heatedly.
"How do these people not get the recognition they deserve?" George jumps in and asks eagerly.
"I wipe their memories and make them forget they ever did those accomplishments in the first place. I'm quite gifted at memory charms." He yells out, and clamps his hands over his mouth in embarrassment.
"Your hair potion you sell, where did you get the idea for that?" I add in as he's backing away from everyone.
"I stole the idea from Fleamont Potter, he wasn't going to make it because it's dangerous to mass produce, but I did it anyway." He admits, and I draw my wand on him threateningly.
"That's my Grandpa you cheated." I growl out angrily, not expecting that answer at all. Harry made his way to my side when he heard the Potter name, and is staring down hard at the teacher, hatred in his eyes.
"How could you get an Order of Merlin?" Harry asks with acid, noticing the trend of questions we were doing.
"I got it for all my autobiographies about defeating dark creatures." He squeaks out.
"And yet all your books are lies." One of his gathered friends says, standing up and angrily throwing her shawl over her shoulder. "You're a fraud. And I'm going right now to have a little chat with Cornelius about that Order of Merlin."
"You're coming with me, Gilderoy. Tampering with memories is illegal, and that seems to only be the tip of the iceberg of your crimes." One of his other guests, a very large and important looking man with a hard face says as he grabs Lockhart hard on the shoulders. "Guess the guilt of years of lying has made you want to confess to your crimes now. Good thing I'm on the Wizengamot and can accelerate your hearing. You're under arrest." He spits out, and I grin to Harry. Fred releases the Sonorus charm and is laughing openly, along with many other students right now. Well, the girls finally all stopped gawking at him like he's a god, so that's a bonus.
"We can face him in court for his crimes against Grandpa, if you want." I nudge Harry's shoulder, then wrap one arm around him and grin to the staff table, locking eyes with Minnie and winking again. I even caught a proud smile ghost over Snape's face for a second before falling back to his neutral scowl.
The twins join my side then, and we take a bow to the applauding teachers and students. We return back to our table and triumphantly retell our prank, letting everyone hear the questions we were asking since they couldn't hear our part of the confession, only Lockhart's. Cedric comes over and joins us, sitting by my side and congratulating me for bringing Lockhart to justice. Roger and Adrian both stop by too, each more than happy not to have the pompous idiot around anymore. They both hated him after the Valentines day debacle with the cupids. I had hid away that whole day in the Room of Requirement, so I don't know if any little ugly cupids tried to fine me, and frankly I didn't care.
The train ride home was great, I missed Dad and Remus a lot. I had decided not to tell Dad about killing the Basilisk, at least not yet. He's still really worried about me after I fought Quirrell last year, and I don't want to panic him like that, especially without knowing the real reason on why I would take that risk. I'll tell him the full truth soon, but for now, I'm blissfully happy just being his daughter and I love our relationship how it is. I don't want the truth to change it. It inadvertently changed my relationship with Remus, and while I like that he treats me as an equal and can be my confidant, he became less my uncle and more my friend. It's still great, but I didn't want to lose the relationship dynamic with Dad until I really had to.