DICLAIMER
I do not own Harry Potter ... but I'm not 100% sure if Lucius was casting the killing curse to Harry or not but I sort of went with it
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Fawkes was a very strong bird.
He had managed to fly the group of five up through the sewers, taking them out of a different entrance which let out just outside of the castle.
The sky a dark shade of navy blue, white spots of stars littered around the moon.
Lockhart had been the one to hold on at the front, Harry holding onto his ankle, Bel wrapping her arms tightly around the boy's torso as Ron held onto her ankle and Ginny wrapping her arms around his torso in turn.
They had all walked through the school in total silence, the trick to keeping Lockhart quiet being a charm Bel had cast to stop him from being able to talk.
Firstly, they returned a very still-in-shock Ginny, who hadn't stopped crying, to the Gryffindor common rooms where they told her to wake Fred, George, and Percy who would more than likely take her to see McGonagall.
Secondly, they dropped Lockhart in his office, not caring what he did after they left.
"What do we do now?" Ron asked in a whisper as they all exited the DADA classroom.
"I need to take Fawkes and the Sorting Hat back to Dumbledore's office", Bel replied.
"We might as well join you. I'll leave the sword there too", Harry said.
The three were all secretly thankful they didn't yet have to separate.
Ginny wasn't the only one still in shock.
Harry, Bel, and Ron were all still reliving the events that had just transpired.
Being together is what they needed right now.
"You don't think we'll get in too much trouble, do you?" Ron mumbled as they approached the entrance to Dumbledore's office, Bel saying the password before answering her friend.
"It depends on whether the fact we saved Ginny's life counteracts the danger we put ourselves in."
"You don't have to worry. Weren't you a part of the search anyways? Surely Dumbledore won't punish you", Ron pointed out as the brass bird started to move upwards, the stone stairs leading to the office following it.
"I wasn't supposed to be part of it anymore. I'm in the same boat as the two of you. But if worse comes to worst, I'll take the blame. Dumbledore certainly won't expel me, and I don't have any family for him to speak to. The same can't be said for you. It's like when the three of us were in trouble after crashing the flying car into the Whomping Willow. I got let off much easier than the two of you."
Both Harry and Ron looked at her with eyes that said, 'No chance'.
"I think you're forgetting the howler you received from your mum. She said one more toe out of line and you'd be sent home. What we did tonight was certainly more than a toe out of line!" Bel argued.
Ron's eyes shifted from 'No chance', to 'Ok maybe a chance'.
"Fine. Then the two of us will cover for Ron", Harry said before Bel could continue, the three finally having reached the wooden door.
"That won't be necessary."
The voice of Albus Dumbledore spoke out to them as they walked into the office.
Bel should have hung her head in shame.
The state of her uniform, face, and hands told one all they needed to know about what they had been up to.
Not to mention the bloodied sword and punctured diary in Harry's hands.
But she was so happy to see Dumbledore sat in his chair once more that she found herself smiling from ear to ear as they walked up to his desk.
It was silent as Harry placed both the sword and the diary onto the desk, Bel carefully putting the Sorting Hat onto her beanbag in the corner of the room for the time being, and the three lined up across from their headmaster.
"You three realize, of course, that in the past few hours, you have broken perhaps a dozen school rules", Dumbledore started once Bel had returned to Harry's left side, Ron stood to his right.
"Yes, sir", the three students all replied at the same time.
His tone had wiped the smile off Bel's face for now.
Getting away without a punishment seemed less likely.
"And there is sufficient evidence to have all three of you expelled", Dumbledore continued.
"Yes, sir", Harry and Ron muttered again.
"Sir, I was the one who dragged them along with me. You told me not to get them involved. Harry and Ron were only trying to help. If anyone should be expelled, it's me", Bel interjected.
"That's interesting, because I specifically remember you keeping it all a secret, against our better judgement, until we had figured things out for ourselves", Harry immediately argued.
"Harry's right. Bel had to save our skins from man-eating spiders the size of houses before she accepted our help", Ron added with a shiver as he spoke of his worst fear.
"No, that's not how it happened. You see, I rather lost it after Hermione was petrified and –", Bel started to argue back but Dumbledore cut her off.
"Enough!"
"Sorry, sir", the three students then all said simultaneously, shutting their mouths.
"As I was saying ... there is evidence that calls for each of your expulsion", the headmaster continued, showing that their efforts to cover for each other was in vain.
"Therefore, it is only fitting ... that you each receive Special Awards for Services to the School."
Harry, Bel, and Ron all shared relieved and excited glances, the smiles having returned to their faces.
"Thanks, sir", Ron said.
"And now, Mr Weasley, if you would, have an owl deliver these release papers to Azkaban", Dumbledore moved on as he stood from his desk, handing Ron a letter.
"I believe we want our gamekeeper back."
Harry and Bel looked at each other with even bigger smiles knowing Hagrid was going to be returning as Ron took the letter and walked out of the office.
"Bel, if you could take Fawkes out the back and feed him for me. I believe he has earnt a treat. I'll talk to you when you return", Dumbledore then addressed her.
It was rather odd for her to be excused, leaving Harry behind.
Bel wondered what Dumbledore had to say to him that he couldn't say to her.
Or rather, what he could say to her that he couldn't say to him.
But she was so thankful to not only be alive, but to be off the hook that she quickly nodded, walking over to where Fawkes was sat on his gold stand, holding out her arm for him to transfer onto.
Once the phoenix got the message that it was his feeding time, comfortably sitting on Bel's forearm, she glanced back to Harry who was already sending her a look which told her he would speak with her later too.
And then she left.
"I would like to make sense of a few things, Harry", Dumbledore started once Bel had walked out of a back door.
"I understand enough to know what you did, but the details of how you all achieved it allude me."
"What would you like to know, sir?" Harry asked.
"I would firstly like to know how my phoenix and the sorting hat found their way into the Chamber at all."
"That would be Bel. She left to find Professor McGonagall and returned with the hat and Fawkes. You'd have to ask her just why she chose them over a teacher", Harry answered honestly.
"So Bel was not with you the entirety of your time there?"
"No, sir. We ran into a problem with Lockhart, and I got bordered off. When Bel returned, I assume she sent Fawkes on to find me with the hat until she got through."
"Well, then, I'd like to thank you, Harry. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber for Fawkes to have stood by your side if Bel was not around."
Harry glanced over to the phoenix's empty stand, his mind finally recalling upon the events that had transpired in the Chamber.
The shock was starting to wear off, and his mind now had time to think it all through.
Doing so was rather troubling.
It was so for two reasons.
And those reasons tied back to a running theme that had underlaid the entire year.
That Tom Riddle, Voldemort, was very similar to not only himself, but Bel as well.
The things that he had noticed were uncanny.
They couldn't be denied.
Linking himself in line with such a person was one thing, but Harry was rather uncomfortable linking Bel to Voldemort in any way.
"I sense something is troubling you", Dumbledore then said as he slowly walked closer to where Harry was stood.
"Am I right, Harry?" he asked as Harry tried to filter his mind down.
"It's just – You see, sir, I – I couldn't help but notice certain things, certain similarities between Tom Riddle and ... me", Harry decided to answer first.
Get himself out of the way, and then Bel can have her own conversation with Dumbledore.
"I see. Well, you can speak Parseltongue, Harry. Why?" Dumbledore asked.
"How did you know about that?"
"How else did you manage to get into the Chamber of Secrets unless you could speak such a language?"
"I – I don't know."
"Because Lord Voldemort can speak Parseltongue."
"Oh, no", Harry muttered aloud.
"What is it, dear boy?" Dumbledore asked, evidently taken aback by his seen change in emotion.
"Tom Riddle mentioned something in the Chamber. He said he was one of the Heirs of Slytherin. That there was another. It's me, isn't it?"
It hurt him to ask such a question.
He had been afraid of the answer almost all year.
Bel had managed to calm his nerves about it, but Dumbledore appeared to be gently breaking it to him.
"Well, you see, that's very interesting. But that is not what I'm insinuating. If I'm not mistaken, Harry, he transferred some of his powers to you the night he gave you that scar", Dumbledore replied, immediately vanishing the fear that had plagued Harry.
But this new information was still shocking to the young boy.
"Voldemort transferred some of his powers ... to me?"
"Uh-huh. Not intentionally. But yes", Dumbledore replied as he made his way back behind his desk.
"So the Sorting Hat was right. I should be in Slytherin", Harry reasoned.
"It's true, Harry. You possess many of the qualities that Voldemort himself prizes. Determination, resourcefulness, and if I may say so, a certain disregard for the rules. Why, then, did the Sorting Hat place you in Gryffindor?"
"Because I asked it to", Harry immediately replied, remembering the night of his sorting very vividly.
"Exactly, Harry, exactly. Which makes you different from Voldemort. It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices."
Harry smiled softly, attributing such a statement to one of his closest friends.
Bel had proven that to be right.
Her abilities that she possessed with her wand were inherently evil. But she had made choices that combatted it.
She had kept it in check because of who she really was and what she decided to do.
"If you want proof why you belong in Gryffindor, then I suggest you look more closely at this", Dumbledore then said, holding the sword up for Harry to take.
After Harry had taken it, his eyes scanned one side of the silver blade.
There was an inscription that he hadn't seen before.
A name.
"Godric Gryffindor", he whispered.
"It would take a true Gryffindor to pull that out of the hat", Dumbledore explained, but Harry already knew that.
He placed the sword down on the table and pulled out the small one Bel had carved him for Christmas, placing it beside the real one.
The resemblance was rather accurate.
"Young Bel never fails to pleasantly surprise me", Dumbledore muttered as he smiled along with Harry at the swords side by side.
Harry kept thinking one thing as he did so.
That she had been right.
She had told him that she had no doubt he would one day come across the real sword.
That he couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin.
That it was who he truly was. A Gryffindor.
Because the decisions he made came from his nature.
Not Voldemort's. But his.
Bel had known all of this for one reason.
Because she was his best friend. And she believed in him and trusted him. No matter what. As he did for her.
Something he would really need to rely upon.
Because he wasn't the Heir of Slytherin. His ties to Voldemort had been explained in a very different way, even if only in theory.
But Bel's hadn't been.
And in that moment, there was revelation.
Harry's mind flicked through events of the past year like scenes from a movie.
Dumbledore involving Bel in the search for the never-before-found Chamber of Secrets despite her being just a student.
The suspicious looks and behaviour of the staff around her all year.
Filch blaming her for Mrs Norris being petrified.
Snape suspecting it had something to do with her situation.
Dumbledore telling McGonagall that Bel might be their only hope the night Colin Creevy was petrified.
The way Dumbledore put emphasis on Harry watching out for her this year.
Draco Malfoy saying that she of all people should have known who the heir was when they interrogated him over Christmas.
Her stays at Malfoy Manor because of the Malfoy's very weird regard of her for an unknown reason.
The similarities Harry recognised between Bel and Tom Riddle's early life when he was shown the memory from 50 years ago.
Lucius Malfoy suggesting she be placed in Azkaban when the attacks were occurring.
Hagrid saying she was innocent like he was.
Lockhart asking for Bel's assistance when he was tasked with going to the Chamber to search for Ginny Weasley. Not to mention his shock when Bel said she hadn't yet found it.
Bel instructing Harry through how to open the entrance when they had arrived so precisely.
Ginny Weasley saying that Tom Riddle had asked her to retrieve some of Bel's blood. The very blood that was on Harry's hand when the entrance started glowing a faint shade of green.
Tom Riddle saying that he had been eager to meet her. That he had an agenda for her. That Harry himself had only been getting in the way.
Harry could hear his voice in his head, narrating over the flashes of memories.
Many, many reasons.
None of which she is quite fully aware of, despite the signs presented to her.
The way her Parseltongue commands worked on the basilisk. It stopping when she told it to.
She could control it just like Riddle could.
Aragog claimed they left Bel alone for a reason. That it had little to do with being associated with Hagrid. Spiders must be terrified of such a person who can control the monster they feared above all else.
It even tracks back to last year. The Sorting Hat announcing to everyone that she could have been placed in Slytherin due to her heritage.
The overwhelming guilt she constantly felt despite having little reason to do so as often as she does.
The fact that she was a Parselmouth herself at all. Voldemort couldn't possibly have transferred some of his powers to her too. So there was only one more explanation.
It was genetic.
That was when the memories stopped, and the voices started speaking.
Heritage.
Slytherin.
Genetic.
Tom Riddle's voice joined them.
To doubt her would be to doubt myself.
Agenda.
One of them.
There was more than one Heir of Slytherin.
More than one person descended from Salazar Slytherin.
And that person would be related to Voldemort by blood.
Blood that would be used to open the Chamber.
Blood that flowed through the veins of someone who could control the monster within it.
Harry felt as if his own blood had been drained from his body.
His skin going pale, his legs going weak, his mind spinning wildly.
The final thought was screaming at him.
The conclusion.
One that he had dismissed so easily earlier that year.
Because it was impossible.
He wasn't the Heir of Slytherin.
Mabel Whitlock was.
There was no chance for him to start spilling everything out at the headmaster sat in front of him as the door to the office opened behind him.
Harry turned around to see Lucius Malfoy burst through the door, at his feet a familiar house elf.
"Dobby!" Harry exclaimed; his brain not able to take more revelations.
"So this is your master. The family you serve is the Malfoy's", he added, glancing over at a very angry looking Lucius Malfoy.
Another thing that made more sense.
Dobby had spoken of a friend he had. One who treated him with kindness.
The house elf had to have found out about him somehow in order to show up to his house before term started.
That friend must have been Bel.
"I'll deal with you later", Lucius spat down to the terrified house elf before lifting his cane and approaching the desk.
"Out of my way, Potter", he said, using his cane to shove Harry to the side.
"So it's true. You have returned."
Lucius' relieved tone was evidently masking his angered disappointment upon seeing Dumbledore sat back in his office chair.
"When the governors learned that Arthur Weasley's daughter was taken into the Chamber, they saw fit to summon me back", Dumbledore calmly replied.
"Ridiculous", Lucius muttered.
"Curiously, Lucius, several of them were under the impression that you would curse their families if they did not agree to suspend me in the first place."
"How dare you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"My sole concern has always been and will always be the welfare of this school ... and, of course, its students", Lucius said as he glanced over in Harry's direction, Dobby now stood to his side.
"Specifically the welfare of Miss Whitlock, I presume?" Dumbledore said with a suggestive tone, one that Harry now knew exactly what he meant by it.
Lucius bit his tongue and raised his chin, staring daggers into the old wizard.
"Well I am pleased to assure you that she no longer needs rehabilitating to your care. She will be staying right here, where she belongs", Dumbledore added.
"The culprit has been identified?" Lucius asked, knowing that was the term of the deal for taking Bel from Hogwarts.
"Oh, yes."
"And? Who was it? If not the girl, then who?" Lucius asked, Harry, once again, being able to catch onto the fact that they were referring to Bel.
Dumbledore glanced over to Harry, the two sharing a look, wondering whether it was wise to let Lucius Malfoy know the truth.
"Voldemort", Dumbledore chose the truth after a brief hesitation.
"Ah", Lucius muttered.
"Only this time he chose to act through somebody else ...", Dumbledore continued, picking up the diary, "by means of this."
"I see", Lucius said as he glanced down at the floor.
Harry felt Dobby pulling on his robe sleeve, tilting his head towards his master, trying to tell him something.
But Harry's mind was still trying to process what he had already learnt.
"Fortunately, our young Mr Potter discovered it. One hopes that no more of Lord Voldemort's old school things should find their way into innocent hands. The consequences for the one responsible would be ... severe."
The tone Dumbledore used was once again suggesting towards something.
Something Harry couldn't place this time.
"Well, let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day", Lucius said through gritted teeth as he stared right at Harry.
The young boy's mind was silenced as he was addressed.
There had been a small voice mixed in with the others that he was ashamed of.
One that told him to fear Bel. To be cautious of his friend.
In a weird way, to blame her for what had happened that year.
But the voice didn't stick around for long.
Because Harry trusted her more than he trusted anyone.
That he was certain of.
He trusted that she was simply in the same boat he was.
Unfortunately afflicted with traits and power that she never asked for.
Ones that she had to work so hard to battle against.
Ones that would put her in danger, not accounting for the danger he had kept her from in regard to Voldemort's mysterious 'agenda' for her.
And so, Harry was also certain of one more thing.
That Bel would need protecting more than anyone.
And he would be there to do it.
"Don't worry. I will be", he answered with more certainty in his tone than ever before.
Lucius shot him a tiny fake smile in the corner of his mouth, before turning back to the headmaster who was smiling at him triumphantly.
"Dumbledore."
Dumbledore nodded to say his goodbye.
"Come, Dobby. We're leaving", Lucius coldly instructed to the house elf who reluctantly walked away from Harry's side.
On the way out, Dobby was both kicked down the small set of stone steps leading up to the desk and smacked in the back of the head with Lucius' cane.
Harry watched on, now having a calm mind.
The two revelations he had reached an equilibrium.
Bel was an Heir of Slytherin. Somehow related to Voldemort himself.
But she was no threat, no danger. She was his best friend, and he trusted her.
This meant that he could now piece together just what Dobby had been trying to tell him.
Harry's memory flashes had also bought up two more memories.
One of Dobby explaining that house elves can only be freed if their master were to gift them an item of clothing.
The other of just who the diary had belonged to.
The way he had seen it before.
In the bookshop where Lockhart was doing his signings.
He had seen it in Ginny's cauldron.
It not having been there until Lucius Malfoy had arrived and gone.
"Sir? I wonder if I could have that?" Harry asked, pointing to the diary.
Dumbledore smiled, nodding slightly as permission.
Harry quickly grabbed the diary, as well as the small hand-carved sword, off the desk and rushed over to the door to catch up with Lucius before his plan would go to waste.
But just as he reached the exit, he stopped himself.
"You will tell her, won't you?" he asked.
Dumbledore raised his chin, looking at Harry with a blank expression.
"You'll tell Bel who she really is", Harry added.
All he received was a silent nod.
But that was enough.
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"Mr Malfoy!"
The sight of Lucius Malfoy's long, platinum blond hair caught Harry's eye as the man walked down the hallway just outside of the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
"Mr Malfoy!" he called out again, running to catch up with him.
Fortunately, Lucius saw no way out and decided to turn around to face the insistent young boy.
"I have something of yours", Harry said as he shoved the diary of Tom Riddle into Malfoy's hand.
"Mine?" said Lucius in fake confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, I think you do, sir. I think you slipped the diary into Ginny Weasley's cauldron that day in Diagon Alley. I also think you insisted on having Bel to stay at your Manor to try and make her take it over summer, but decided to pass it along when she left it alone", Harry sternly explained.
"You do, do you?"
Harry nodded firmly as Lucius shoved the diary over to Dobby, the house elf taking it from his grasp.
"Why don't you prove it?" he spat as he stepped closer to Harry, lowering himself down slightly to be at his eye level.
Harry stayed silent.
Until his plan worked, he had no real evidence other than his word.
Lucius could tell, and so he scoffed before turning back towards his initial path.
"Come, Dobby", he instructed as he started to walk away.
"Open it", Harry whispered to the house elf who hadn't yet moved.
Dobby followed Harry's instructions immediately, letting the diary fall open.
It naturally landed on a page that contained a single sock.
"Dobby?" Lucius Malfoy called out further down the hallways as he noticed the house elf hadn't followed after him.
"Master has given Dobby a sock", Dobby said in a whisper, his tone reflecting his total disbelief at what was happening.
"What? I didn't give –", Lucius started as he turned back around.
But as he did so, he saw the open diary and the piece of clothing that had set Dobby free.
"Master has presented Dobby with clothes. Dobby is free!" Dobby exclaimed as he gripped onto the sock representing his new freedom.
Lucius shifted his glare onto Harry.
His plan had worked after all.
If the diary really did belong to Lucius as he suspected, the sock would set Dobby free once Malfoy gave it to him.
And Harry had no problem shoving his success in Lucius Malfoy's face.
So he lifted his trouser leg up slightly, revealing that he had a missing sock.
"You lost me my servant!" Lucius yelled as he grabbed onto the silver snake head at the top of his cane, pulling it out to reveal his wand.
Harry stayed perfectly still as Lucius advanced towards him, his wand pointing directly at his torso.
His eyes were practically glowing red with anger.
Harry hadn't quite processed the threat he was under, not even attempting to reach for his wand as Dobby took a step to stand in front of him.
"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" Dobby shouted.
"Avada –", Lucius started to say, but he never managed to finish the incantation.
Dobby used his own magic to throw Lucius Malfoy back across the hallway, the man landing on his back.
Harry glanced down to Dobby who was now stood with his arms crossed, a triumphant and satisfied expression on his face.
"Your parents were meddlesome fools too. Mark my words, Potter. One day soon, you are going to meet the same sticky end", Lucius snapped as he pulled himself up from the floor, repositioning his black cloak before walking off.
"Harry Potter freed Dobby. How can Dobby ever repay him?" Dobby asked once Malfoy had disappeared.
"Just promise me something", Harry replied.
"Anything, sir."
"Never try to save my life again", Harry answered with a small smile.
Dobby gave Harry a sheepish smile in return, clearly understanding that he was trying to get at.
"And can you also answer a question I have?" Harry quickly added.
"Of course, sir."
"That friend you mentioned in the hospital wing. Who was it?"
Dobby looked rather uncomfortable.
He had made a promise to Bel.
But Harry had just freed him, and so he decided that she wouldn't mind.
After all, Dobby was aware that Bel certainly trusted Harry Potter if the stories she told him were any indication.
"Miss Whitlock. Dobby misses her greatly."
"I'm sure she misses you too", Harry replied, genuinely knowing that Bel would.
She always had a way to bond with others.
Creatures even more so than humans.
And it was because of her kindness.
Her gentle and caring nature.
All of which were reminders to Harry Potter that Mabel Whitlock may be an Heir of Slytherin, but that wasn't who she was.
Who she truly was, was a Hufflepuff.
And his best friend.
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We are near the end ... so close!
Now listen, this chapter was so stressful to write because I wanted to include all the little clues I left about that Harry would have experienced.
I hope I got them all haha
I'll go back and re read in edit and probably find one or two that I missed but if y'all point one out that is missing I would greatly appreciate it
Don't blame me ... it's 4 am whilst I'm writing this so my brain isn't functioning well lmao