A Gryffindor Falls For A Slytherin: The Angelic Witch and Draco Malfoy (Book 2)

The Truth

For a moment there was silence as Heroneka, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart stood in the doorway, covered in muck and slime. Heroneka's head was bleeding and the robes were soaked in blood. Harry's injuries were healed by Fawkes, but his robes were covered in blood too.

Then 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 flung themselves on their daughter.

"Heroneka?"

She looked past them and saw William Pearlstone, her godfather, standing with Professor Dumbledore by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past Harry's ear and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder, just as Heroneka found herself, Harry and Ron being swept into Mrs Weasley's tight embrace.

William came running forward and hugged Heroneka. The floor beneath her feet was gone now. He had lifted her, strangling her in his arms.

Mrs Weasley was sobbing, hugging Ginny. "You saved them! You saved them! How did you do it?" She looked at Harry.

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly.

Mrs Weasley let go of 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.

Heroneka sat there, in William's arms. He never let go of her.

Then Harry 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. He told them how Heroneka had ended up going there alone, found Ginny there, and "slipped" through the tunnel while trying to convince Ginny to talk to some professor. Heroneka was glad that Harry didn't tell them that Ginny had pushed her.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted Harry as he paused, "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?"

So Harry, his voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told them about finding Heroneka dead inside, about Fawkes's timely arrival and 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. What if they expelled her? Riddle's diary didn't work anymore... How could they prove it had been he who'd made her do it all?

"What happened with you, Pearlstone?" Asked Professor McGonagall.

"After I slipped through the tunnel," she told them. "I kept walking and ended up reaching the chamber of secrets. I had no way to go out so I went inside. Then... I saw the basilisk and died... But when I opened my eyes, Harry had already killed the monster and he had saved us."

Heroneka did not mention the conversation she had with Riddle. But the guilty look on her lying face couldn't be missed by Dumbledore.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."