Chapter Text
The school was in turmoil, the Professors where extremely worried and involved in serious debates among themselves in order to decide on their next course of action; meanwhile, the students had all been locked inside their respective common rooms. The three Gryffindors, Ron, Seamus and Dean already working on a way to sneak out and Harry and Theo working on a way to reach the second floor without any of the other Slytherins being aware of it.
Unfortunately for the two Slytherins, as they were about ready to flee under the invisibility cloak, Professor Snape entered he common room, billowing robes behind him as he rushed everyone to their respective dormitories and putting the common room into a state of lock down, blocking any of the students from leaving through the door and snooping around while the Professors were busy trying to find a way to save the student that had been brought to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, chamber which they had absolutely no idea where it was located.
"We won't be able to sneak out. What do we do?" whispered Theo discretely to Harry while the both of them, along with the rest of the other first, second and third years, where escorted to their respective dorms.
"For now, let us enter our room, then we plan." while saying that Harry was looking around seeing exactly where the Prefects were being stationed on guard duty so that they could apprehend any student that tried to circumvent the lockdown measures. Then, as they all finished climbing the stairs that led to the various dormitories, and where about to turn left so that they entered the main corridor that led to their dorms, something caught Harry's eye; there, in one of the stones near to the floor, on the intersection between the corridor for the male and female dormitories, was a small engraving of a snake, something that he had already seen before. Said engraving was extremely similar to the one on the tap in Myrtle's bathroom as well as the various other ones that he'd found the previous year in some of the walls in the dungeons and some of the upper floors. And that, that had to mean something especially when their founder had been a Parselmouth.
With a calculating look in his eyes, Harry pretended not to notice anything and kept going in silence until Theo and himself had entered their dorm.
"I think that I know of a way out." said Harry as soon as the door had been closed behind him. "I just don't know whether or not you will be able to come through the passage."
"What passage? There isn't any other door that leads to the outside of our common room."
"That's true, but only if you are unable to speak Parseltongue. Luckily for me I'm perfectly able to do so."
Wide eyed at the revelation, Theo looked at Harry in something akin to a mix of shock and amazement. "How did you find out about that?"
Harry was not sure whether the other was referring to his ability to talk in the snake language or if he was referring to the fact that he had found a way out; in doubt he answered only the later of the assumptions.
"I just noticed it a few moments ago when we were coming to the dormitories. I had already seen some of those engravings before spread out through the castle but hadn't given them much thought since they were mainly around the dungeons, and well... that's where our common room is so I just assumed that it was part of the decoration or something like that; most of our section of the dungeons is filled with snake themed portraits after all."
"That makes sense. If the engraving were anything like the one on the second floor's bathroom it would be quite difficult to connect to anything related to Slytherin. That one didn't resemble a snake at all, but perhaps it was damaged when they did works on the second floor about five years ago, there was some kind of incident around that time that did some damage around the area."
"What's the plan?" asked Theo, whiling to help whether he was able to tag along or not.
"I was thinking of using my cloak, passing by the prefects and sneaking through the passage under a Silencing Charm and a Masking Spell around the area."
"I think that should work." said Theo thoughtfully, "I'll go out anyway and distract them, I did forget one of my books in the common room after all." he added with a smirk, to each Harry responded with one of his own.
"That's settled then. We'll wait twenty more minutes and then we'll go with the plan."
Theo nodded once. They had a plan.
"Tell me everything after you're back."
"Don't worry, I will." said Harry,
Harry grabbed his cloak and hid underneath it; opened the door slowly and carefully and went out. Theo followed him out in the open.
They began walking through the corridor on their way to the staircase that led to the common room, and then, their first obstacle appeared. The fifth-year prefect, Graham Montague, standing in the intersection to the first, second- and third-year dormitories.
"Excuse me," said Theo politely, announcing his presence, "I think that I forgot one of my books in the common room, could you or one of the other prefects accompany me there so that I can search for it?"
"Nott, the book won't go anywhere. You can go and retrieve it tomorrow." said Montague.
"It is one of my father's books, should it disappear while I'm locked inside the dorm, shall I tell him that it was your fault? That could get you into a lot of trouble. Don't you think?"
Montague was now visibly less hostile, hesitant. Should the book really disappear and the other tell something like that to his father, he would not be able to bear the responsibility. Gritting his teeth, he had no other choice but to give in to the second year. "Very well Nott, keep going and tell the seventh-year prefect near the stairs that I've let you through to get your book."
Theo nodded in agreement. Not sparing another glance to the fifth year he kept walking forward.
Harry who was hidden under the cloak went after him, carefully walking so that none of his body got exposed. Soon enough they were at the place where the passage was hidden. A prefect, standing just in front of it as Montague had said would be.
"What are you doing here, Nott?" said the prefect as soon as he was spotted. "You should be inside your dormitory. Get back right now."
"Montague gave me permission to come down to the common room; I forgot one of my father's books in here and neither you nor him would like it if someone stole it, right?" he said in a detached and cold tone.
"Very well. But I will be going with you. Don't try anything funny or you'll regret it."
"Of course not. I only came for the book."
Eying Theo suspiciously the Slytherin prefect went after him while Theo searched for the book. For the next couple of minutes, the prefect's eyes were entirely focused on the second-year as the other walked through the common room, shifting pillows and settees in search for the book he claimed to have forgotten somewhere down in the common room; so enraptured that he was in his watch that he didn't even register that something was amiss, the telltale signs that a Masking Spell had been cast in the vicinity as Harry whispered in parseltongue near the stairs where the prefect had previously stood guard.
As soon as Harry looked closely at the serpent engraved on the stone wall, he was sure that he'd been right about it, casting the necessary charms he then did the last required step and whispered on the snake tongue, ~Open~
Just like that, the stone bricks begun to shift, much like those at Diagon Alley, and soon, a passage was visible. Stepping inside the dark stone passageway, Harry was immediately engulfed in overwhelming darkness; the bricks that had opened into a doorway, now returned to their original position, solid wall behind Harry's back and preventing him from stepping out of the corridor.
"Lumos!" whispered Harry, starting to walk forward to wherever the passaged lead him. Inside, he was celebrating, the plan had worked. Now, he had work to do.
Harry walked for a couple of minutes through turns twists and staircases until finally he saw the end of the long passage, the back of a painting, in a location unknown. Getting back under the cloak and extinguishing the light with a whispered Nox, Harry slightly opened the portrait hole and looked around through the crack in an attempt to try to identify where exactly he was, and, more importantly, if there was anyone around; after a couple of minutes of stillness and silence, Harry deemed it safe enough to proceed and slipped out.
The portrait had just closed, when he heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps, and when he turned around in the direction they were coming from, he saw the looming figure of his Head of House followed closely by Professors McGonagall and Flitwick.
"What should we do now, Severus, Fillius?" said the worried voice of Professor McGonagall. "We can't find the Chamber's entrance anywhere and soon there will be Aurors in here."
Snape scowled.
"Let's keep looking and pray that no dunderhead manages to escape from their common rooms."
Professor Flitwick let out a tired sight, "Shall we proceed to the fifth floor?"
"I think we should have a look around yes." said Professor McGonagall.
"Very well." said Snape, "Let us hope that we are able to find the damned entrance,"
Their steps kept getting farther and farther away and Harry thanked Merlin for small mercies; he had almost been caught. Cold sweat was still present on his back, chilling his skin as he froze in place from the scare. 'That was close,' thought Harry, 'Let's hope that it doesn't happen again.'
Taking a few moments to calm himself, Harry had a good look around and found that he was currently on the fourth floor near Binns office; quickly devising a plan of action, Harry started walking through the corridor until he found the painting of Edward Rabnott who opened up to give him passage into a secret corridor after a quickly whispered password: "Three heads are better than one."
The knowledge of this secret passage and the way to use it had been found out earlier that year when Theo and Harry were going down said corridor and came upon the Weasley twins just as they were opening it and slipping inside; since that day, they'd both closely guarded the information for later use, one never knew when such a shortcut could come in handy. Right now, it was such an occasion.
This passage, unlike the one he had used earlier, had plenty of lighting, provided by the torches hanging every few meters, the cobwebs were visibly less and even the floor wasn't as dirty. Dust was most certainly not swirling in the air with every single one of Harry's steps. When Harry exited on the other end, he was greeted by the portrait of a runespoor who was guarding the exit; 'This is rather fitting,' Harry thought to himself, 'both portraits are characterised owners who possess three very different personalities.'
Not wasting any more time, Harry continued on his way. He went through the second floor, silencing the sound of his footsteps as best as possible with his current abilities, and went on his way to the entrance to Myrtle's bathroom, which was, as that would be expected, closely guarded by two professors, Professor Sinistra and Professor Sprout.
'How am I supposed to pass through them now!' cursed Harry, stopping in his tracks and leaning against a wall, silently observing the two professors, and assessing the situation.
Meanwhile, on the seventh floor, three Gryffindors had managed to slip away after 'accidentally' letting lose a series of dungbombs near the sixth-year boys dormitories and forcing the seventh year prefects down in the common room to go upstairs in order to resolve the issue; all of the sixth-years had been knocked unconscious by the pestilent smell that had infiltrated their dormitory and now permeated the fifth and seventh year dormitories as well.
Ron, Dean and Seamus sprinted out of the common room, carefully enough as not to wake up the Fat Lady, she would undoubtedly report them if they were caught. As soon as they were out of sight, Ron led the other two to a secret passage that had been shown to him by Fred and George a couple of weeks ago when the attacks had grown in intensity so that Ron and his friends could avoid the main corridors and effectively avoid danger; said secret passage connected the Fat Lady's corridor to the fourth floor. Emerging on the fourth floor, the three Gryffindors slowly made their way to the staircases, that they hurried to descend while simultaneously doing their best not to wake up the numerous sleeping portraits around them.
A stressful walk afterwards, they were finally on the second floor, and now, the really difficult part begun. They would need to avoid whoever was guarding the entrance before attempting to open the Chamber to go down and rescue Ginny.
As they were whispering and planning, Lockhart came strolling down from behind them followed by six big trunks, and three smaller ones. Apparently, he was hurrying to go somewhere.
"P-Professor Lockhart!" stuttered Dean, staring wide-eyed at the Professor who seemed to be equally as shocked at seeing the three Gryffindors.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be in your common room?" he asked, trying to mask the alarm from his voice.
"You have to help us!" said Ron suddenly, dropping all pretences. "We need to get to Myrtle's bathroom so that we can save my sister! Can you help us professor?"
"Well, I... I have particularly important business to attend you know, very important indeed. " Said Lockhart, "Can't avoid it. I must go right now."
"You're not going anywhere." said Seamus, raising his wand to the professor, followed right after by the other two.
"Now, you will tell the professor that is near the bathroom that they are required near the- Er... fifth floor bathroom. Yes... because, because... Snape needs their help." said Ron.
"Well? What are you doin'? Go on." prompted Seamus.
"I'm going, I'm going." said Lockhart, sneakily drawing his wand and pointing it at them. "Oblivi- "
"Flipendo!" shouted Dean. Lockhart was flung back a couple of meters, losing his wand on impact.
"What were you trying to do?" asked Ron, shocked and angry "I think that we should just knock him out. We could create a different diversion."
"I say we use him and turn him into a human shield against whatever his down in the Chamber!" said Seamus.
"Yeah, let's do that!" said Ron, convinced that that would be best.
"Now wait here!" said Lockhart, "You can't do this to me! Do you know who I am!" he protested as he was guided through the corridor.
"Shh! Keep quite!" whispered Seamus, pocking his wand at Lockhart rib.
"Are you sure that we should do this?" whispered Dean.
"Yes! There is no backing down if we want to save Ginny!" said Ron determined, "Now go on professor, we are counting on you."
"Keep your wands on the ready, if he tells on us, we will make sure to hit him with a couple hexes before he is caught by the professors." whispered Ron to the other two.
"Professor Sinistra, Professor Sprout, I'm afraid that you are needed on the fifth floor. Severus and Minerva have just asked me to come and fetch you." said Lockhart with one of his sickening smiles.
"Don't worry, don't worry no one shall pass through this corridor while I'm keeping watch, I didn't defeat the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her." he said, smiling.
"Very well, Gilderoy, we will go now." said Professor Sprout kindly, "Could you tell us exactly where you saw them last?"
"Of course, my dear, they were near the Art classroom."
The two professors hurried away, a bit suspicious but with no reason to really distrust the other man after all, he was acting as he always did. They hurried along nonetheless, the fastest they reached the fifth floor the earliest they could come back.
"Great! He did it!" said Ron and Seamus at the same time.
Not much farther away from them was the invisible form of Harry who had heard the entirety of their plan thus far and was smiling sharply, ferally even as he planned how to better exploit the current situation.
"Let's go." said Ron, and the three Gryffindor's got out of their hiding place.
"Professor Lockhart, wait up!" said Dean, "We are going to need your help."
"Look here," he begun, angry and outraged, "If you think-"
Seamus pointed his wand at him. "What were you going to say, Professor?"
"N-Never mind. Lead the way."
Walking in the direction of the bathroom the four of them hurried in, Harry silently following closely behind them. The three Gryffindor's and the cowardly professor crowded over the sinks, the three Gryffindors looking intently at a special one.
"That's it, we're here." said Ron in a whisper.
"We're where, exactly? I do not see anything special around." said Lockhart dumbly, staring at the walls and wet floor.
Ignoring him the other three continued talking, "How are we going to open the Chamber then?" asked Seamus.
"Can either of you imitate Parseltongue?" asked Dean.
"Well, not exactly... " said Ron, "But I have been practicing some hissing noises, I'll give it a try."
"Hiss, Hiss"
"Do you think it worked? Nothing's happening though."
Seamus and Dean looked at him disbelievingly.
"I don't think that's going to work, Ron." said Dean.
"What strange noises are you three doing around there, hm?" asked Lockhart, who was now paying attention to their conversation. "Where you trying to whistle?"
Not one to spare a chance of bragging Lockhart was quick to add, "You know, in my time at Hogwarts no one in Ravenclaw could whistle better than me. Gained a few competitions, poor Olivia could never beat me!"
"Shut up!" said Ron furiously, "No one wants to hear about you whistling capabilities. But if you are that great try and hiss something, you could at least imitate parseltongue if you're that good at everything else."
Lockhart looked deeply offended, nonetheless, he still leaned over the designated sink and started making some terrible hissing noises. Tired of the farse, Harry approached them and hissed the necessary words while Lockhart was making noise; the entrance to the Chamber, of course opened, to the great shock of everyone else present.
"Bloody hell!" said Ron.
The tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.
Ron, Seamus, and Dean all let out shocked gasps. They made up their mind, they would be going in no matter what.
"I'm going down there." said Ron.
"Me too." said Dean, quickly followed by Seamus.
"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just– "
He put his hand on the door knob, prepared to leave the bathroom, but Ron, Dean and Seamus all pointed their wands at him.
"You can go first," Ron snarled.
White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening.
"Children," he said, his voice feeble. "Children, what good will it do?"
Harry, who was under the invisibility cloak and already impatient, whispered a Tripping Jinx; and like that, Lockhart fell right into the pipe. The other three shared confused looks between them.
"He must have tripped. Did you see how long where his robes?" said Seamus.
"You're right mate." agreed Ron. Dean nodded.
They jumped.
It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, grimy, dark slide. Ron could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind him he could hear Dean, thudding slightly at the curves, followed by Seamus.
And then, just as he had begun to worry about what would happen when he hit the ground, the pipe levelled out, and they shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Miniscule bones could be felt cracking under their weight as they stood up. Lockhart was getting to his feet a little ways away, covered in slime and white as a ghost.
"We must be miles under the school," said Dean, his voice echoing in the black tunnel and carrying all around.
"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.
Up on the second floor Harry smiled; He'd completed what he had come here to do.
In a couple of minutes, Harry was once again going through the secret passages of the castle, sneaking out of sight on his way back to the common room. In no time at all he was safely inside once more.
A soft click sounded as Harry pushed open his dormitory's door. Theo roused from where he was lying on his bed, a book hanging open in his lap.
"Harry?" he asked, "Did you do it?"
"Yes, it's done." he said, "Better yet, the Gryffindors went down there, with Lockhart." he added with a cruel smile.
Theo smiled back.
"It serves them right, luckily they'll have a few bits less when the Professors get down there."
"And the Aurors, they should be arriving any minute now."
****
Down in the Chamber, the three Gryffindors and Lockhart stared at the darkness ahead.
"What now?" asked Seamus.
"Lumos!" whispered Dean.
The charm barely even served them of anything, the tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead.
"C'mon," hurried Ron.
The tunnel was quiet as a grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Dean lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Trying extremely hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Seamus led the way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.
"There's- There's something up there." said Seamus suddenly, taking a couple of steps back.
They froze, watching. All of them could just see the outline of something huge and carved, lying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.
"Do you think that that's a snake?" asked Dean fearfully. Lockhart squeaked.
"Maybe it's asleep," Ron breathed anxiously, his heart beating in his chest furiously.
Very slowly, Ron hedged forward. Wand held high with a Lumos on its tip.
The light slid over a gigantic snakeskin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.
"Bloody hell!" he stuttered.
"Merlin!" Dean breathed.
Seamus stared ahead in shock. Lockhart paled and started getting faint.
There was a sudden movement behind them. Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way.
"Get up," said Seamus sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.
Lockhart got to his feet – then he dived at Seamus, knocking him onto the ground, before he quickly leapt towards Dean.
Ron jumped forward, but it was too late – Lockhart was straightening up, panting. He had one arm tightly around Dean's neck, Seamus' wand in his other hand, and a gleaming smile back on his face.
"The adventure ends here, children!" he said as Dean, choking, struggled to pry his arm away from his neck. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"
He raised Seamus' wand over Dean's head and yelled, "Oblivi-"
Lockhart was once again interrupted, this time by Dean who in a last effort to get away from the Professor cast the only spell that occurred to him, "Densaugeo!"
At once Lockhart's teeth grew to such a grotesque length that he could barely stand still without swaying out of balance, no matter speaking as it would be nearly impossible in his state; not wasting time, Ron had cast an over powered Flipendo that sent Lockhart against the nearest wall with such a force that the ceiling collapsed, a stray rock falling on top of the Professor's head with an heavy thud.
"Dean, Seamus, are you ok?" asked Ron, they were now engulfed in darkness once more.
"I'm fine!" shouted Seamus. "The git got knocked out though." he added.
"I think that I twisted my ankle, but I'm fine." said Dean, not far away from Ron.
"Where are you mate?" asked Ron. Casting a Lumos.
"Over here, on your right." said Dean.
"Do you think you'll be able to walk?"
"Don't know, but we best leave this place." said Dean, "The ceiling might collapse again."
"C'mon, I'll help you."
Dean greeted his teeth. The pain was nearly unbearable. "Let's go."
They slowly walked forward. Then they came across an imponent metal door, carved and coiled metal snakes all over it, blocking their way forward.
"What should we do now?" asked Dean, sitting on the floor with a sigh of relief.
"Don't know mate, but we need to get through. Ginny needs us. We must save her, she's my sister!"
"I know Ron, don't worry we'll find a way."
Then, as Dean finished his sentence, the massive door swung open with a heavy noise and something was heard slithering in their direction, approaching with great velocity. Ron, who had been the closest to the door only had time to jump out of the way, and Dean, who was sat on the floor, inspecting his ankle had no way to move as fast had Ron had. With a loud and sickening crunch both of Dean's legs were crushed under the overwhelming weight of the basilisk who had just slithered over them.
"AH!"
Dean let out a horrible, bone chilling scream as he felt all of the bones of his legs get turned into powder beneath the basilisk; his face turned ash white, and he vomited from the blinding pain. Seconds after he passed out in a puddle of his own blood.
"Dean!" screamed Ron, running in the direction the other had been moments before; Ron got incredibly pale as he stared at the mangled body of his friend. Pale and unconscious, lying on the slimy and dirty floor of the Chamber, bloodied crushed legs that resembled a mangled floberworm, nearly unrecognisable; breath coming laboriously.
Tears started flowing uncontrollably through Ron's eyes, body trembling as he stared in shock and horror at his friend; it had all been his fault. He should have known better than to bring the other two down to the Chamber with him. Ginny was his sister, not there's. It just wasn't fair.
Vision misty, Ron kneeled near the other and cried uncontrollably.
Much farther behind, near the entrance of the passageway where they'd found the snakeskin, Seamus and Lockhart were now being taken back to the school by a group of Professor's that had come down to the Chamber with an entire squad of Auror's.
The basilisk was fast approaching, and moments later they all could perfectly hear it. Moving out of the way and casting shields all around, the Auror's who were fully prepared to face the creature, hastily conjured half a dozen roosters who, moments after the caved ceiling was blasted away by the force of the basilisk started crowing furiously; the sound, fatal to the deadly creature that had rushed at them enough to render it motionless. The mighty basilisk was now dead.
The Auror's and professors rushed forward.
Inside the Chamber, laid the unmoving figure of Ginny Weasley, sprawled over the wet floor, holding a black covered diary. A worrisome paleness over her features as she remained still, eyes closed and barely breathing.
The Aurors didn't spare a minute further and started throwing containing charms at the book, who let out thick and powerful dark magic, magic which was intermingling with Ginny's own, suffocating it and coiling around her core, shackling it in its powerful hold.
"Hurry!" screamed on of the Aurors. "She doesn't have much more time."
As fast as was humanely possible the five remaining Aurors with the help of Professor Babbling and Professor Flitwick begun disentangling the magic, forcing the diary's incredibly dark magic back into the object and preventing it from striking back at them or Ginny, who was now moaning in pain, her awareness slowly coming back to her.
In the distance, a tall, black-haired, icy blue-eyed boy now emerged from the deepest parts of the Chamber, a furious expression that settled on his beautiful features as he attacked them. Maddening rage contorted his expression as he saw his plans getting foiled.
Professor McGonagall recognised him at once. Tom Riddle. Prefect and Head-Boy. Someone who shouldn't be down here no matter what, especially while looking so young, he had attended school with her after all, and that had been nearly fifty years ago.
Not wasting time with such thoughts any longer he immediately begun casting spells at the blurred form of the once student, none of them hit the target. Despite her best and the wide range of spells that were thrown at the other, she could do nothing to stop the approaching boy.
Then, as she though that all would be lost, a flash of light spread through the Chamber and little Ginny woke up with a choked breath, tears pooling in her eyes; Tom Riddle's form who had been mere moments away from launching an attack at the Aurors was now disappearing as if consumed by light, drowned and forced back into the diary as he let one last and furious scream of fury.
Professor's and Aurors stood there looking beyond exhausted, Ginny was shaking; trembling and crying.
"Let us go and bring her back to the school." said one of the Aurors, "Her parents have already been called."
"Yes, we can return at a later time." agreed another.
They were still a little shaken at the events that had taken place down in the Chamber when they next emerged. For a moment there was silence as Professors, Aurors and students stayed there, covered in muck and grimme.
They all went to the Hospital Wing. A Calming Draught would do everyone some good after the stressed they'd been under. The Infirmary was enveloped in a deafening silence, only broken by the sound of a frantic Madam Pomfrey who was giving some first aid to the various injured, stabilizing Dean and making sure that Ginny had had no major injuries from whatever happened down in the Chamber; while waiting for the Saint Mungos' healers to arrive through the floo.
Then, suddenly, a worried scream was heard as the Hospital Wings doors were burst open.
"Ginny!"
It was Mrs Weasley who had arrived, incredibly worried as she run at their daughter's direction. Followed closely by an equally worried Arthur Weasley.
The next couple of hours passed in a blur. Ginny and Dean had both been brought to Saint Mungos and hospitalized for an unknown period as they had different degrees of major and worrying injuries. The Aurors accompanying them and taking the diary along; it would be immediately brought to the Ministry to be locked away inside the Dangerous Dark Artifacts Storage in the bowels of the Ministry and next to the Department of Mysteries.
Meanwhile, Lockhart, who had temporarily lost his memory, was brought into custody and hold at one of the Ministry's cells for the illegal use of the Obliviate charm and assault of three minors.
That very same night, the respective Heads of House of the three Hogwarts's Houses went to their student's respective common rooms and announced that the lock down had been lifted; Ginny Weasley was now at Saint Mungos recovering from the sequalae of the kidnapping and the culprit had been taken care of.
As soon as such was announced gossiping burst all around, students left their common rooms and met at the Great Hall as they convened and speculated about the night's events with their friends and acquaintances of other houses. Meanwhile, Harry and Theo sneaked out and closed the Chamber's entrance. No one would be getting inside again.
Harry had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Nearly everyone was in their pyjamas (not the Slytherins, of course), and the celebration lasted all night. The petrified students had been cured at last, Hagrid had come back from Azkaban and even Dumbledore had been re-admitted as Headmaster of the school. The four Houses were cheering loudly and enthusiastically, even Slytherin house appeared to be a little less poised than usual.
The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal. Exams had been cancelled and Gryffindor would be winning the House cup once again, this time no one could really recent it since the hated Gryffindor quartet had done a great service to the school when they found and opened the Chamber (although with the unknown help and guidance of Harry and Theo), allowing the Auror's and Professors to get rid of the threat over them all.
Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express.