They headed to McGonagall's office and knocked on her door. She opened it and as soon as she saw Ginny beckoned them inside. There was a scream.
"Ginny!"
It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them hugged their daughter.
Delilah looked past them and saw Professor Dumbledore standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes whooshed past Delilah and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder, just as Delilah, Harry, and Ronald were pulled into Mrs. Weasley's embrace
"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"
"I think we'd all like to know that," said McGonagall weakly.
Mrs. Weasley let go of them and Harry set the sword, Sorting Hat, and the diary (Delilah had handed it to him) on the desk and then told the whole story from the beginning of hearing the voice til he guessed that Moaning Myrtle was the victim and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom.
"That is very well, but how on earth did you manage to get out of there alive?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Harry then explained what happened in the Chamber, and actually included Delilah's duel, which surprised Dumbledore and McGonagall, even when Delilah said that Riddle, for some reason, had gone easy on her.
Harry did leave out Riddle's diary and Ginny, who was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks.
Harry paused, looking towards Dumbledore.
"What interests me most," he gently said, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania."
"W-what's that?" said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"
"It was the diary," Delilah quickly answered, pointing to Riddle's diary. "Riddle wrote in it when he was sixteen."
Dumbledore picked up the diary and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.
"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned around to the Weasleys, who looked utterly baffled.
"Very few people know that Lord Voldemore 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."
"But, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with — with — him?"
"His d-diary!" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year —"
"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I 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 —"
"Because she didn't realize that, she found a source to tell things to, and though it was a very bad source, she has now learned her lesson. Now really isn't the time to tell her off, you can see that she's learned her lesson," Delilah coldly replied.
Dumbledore nodded. "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." 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," he added. "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."
"So Hermione's okay!" said Ron brightly.
"Yes Ron, your girlfriend will be okay," Delilah teased, grinning as his ears turned red.
"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.
Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken. Delilah probably shouldn't have acted cold to him, he was just trying to look after his daughter.
"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to take Miss Potter and alert the kitchens? Afterwards she may head to her common room."
"Right, I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?" McGonagall beckoned Delilah to follow her.
When they left the room McGonagall turned to Delilah.
"I must say, I am impressed," she stated.
"With what?"
"Well, the fact that you figured everything out almost by yourself and that you are unharmed after a duel with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"He was going easy on me. It was obvious," Delilah insisted. Why was everyone making a big deal about it? Hermione would have survived too.
"Yes, but I still wish to award you 25 house points."
Slytherin still probably wouldn't win the cup, even though before tonight they had been winning. Dumbledore would end up giving Harry and Ronald a bunch of points, the biast git.
"Well, thanks. Do you need help alerting the house elves? Or may I head to my dorm to get cleaned up?"
McGonagall let her go. When Delilah got to the common room it was empty except for Draco who was sitting reading on the couches in his green silk pajamas.
"You stayed up for me," Delilah observed, touched.
He gave a small smile. "I said I would."
"Thanks." And she meant it. "I'm going to go clean myself up. The Chamber of Secrets was filthy, you'd think Slytherin would put a cleaning charm or something on it," Delilah joked. He laughed.
She left for her room, showered, and put on a change of pajamas. It felt good to get all that grime and slime off of her.
Delilah had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everyone was still in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. Delilah thought that the best part easily was all the victims coming in, but still sent a glare in Creevey's direction.
Dumbledore had given Harry and Ronald a total of four hundred points so Gryffindor won, just like last year, even though Slytherin should have won, just like last year. Delilah knew she shouldn't be upset at that, but why did Dumbledore keep ignoring her? She knew that he knew she had helped, he had even looked impressed with her, yet he kept pretending she hadn't helped.
But then Hagrid came in and all her bitter thoughts disappeared. He cuffed Harry and Ronald on the shoulders, obviously thanking them, but didn't see Delilah. Just like everyone else. That was the only thing Riddle had been right about.
Draco caught her eye and made an impression of cocky Gryffindors making Delilah laugh. Almost everyone.
Dumbledore told them that all the exams had been canceled as a school treat and announced that Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Everyone, including most of the teachers, cheered at that.
The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences. DADA classes were canceled, and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. Apparently he had blackmailed the other school governors to sack Dumbledore. Draco was upset, as was natural. Meanwhile Ginny was perfectly happy again.
Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Delilah got into a compartment with Draco and a few other Slytherins. They had a great time playing chess and Exploding Snap.
They almost reached the station when Draco turned to Delilah.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay with me over the break?" he asked.
"I'd love to, but I need to watch Harry, make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid," Delilah joked and he laughed, disappointed but resigned.
The train pulled up and Delilah said goodbye to her friends and walked through the barrier just after Harry.
So, she walked back to the Muggle world alone, already wanting the summer to be over.