Spells and Visions; A Harry Potter story

Chapter 13: Un-Petrified

We went through the snake door, that closed behind us with a hiss. We went slowly through the tunnel, Fawkes flying in front of us. After several minutes, we came to a familiar place. A stone wall was in front of us, with a hole we could get through.
"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Ginny's alright! We've got her!" Ron cheered. Holding Ginny was painful, because I still had cuts in my hand, and my head was still burning. Ron pulled Ginny through the wall.
"You're alive! I can't believe it! What happened?"
Ginny started crying again.
"It's okay, Ginny," Ron said. "It's over now."
Harry got through the wall, and I followed.
"Where did that bird come from?" Ron asked. "And where did you get a sword?"
"The bird is Dumbledore's," Harry answered. "The sword I got from the Sorting Hat." He held the old hat up.
Ron had a questioning look on his face, so Harry said: "I'll explain on the way. Where's Lockhart?"
"Back here," Ron said. "He's in a bad state."
"Yeah, the spell backfired, didn't it?" I said.
"It surely did. Doesn't know who he is, or where he is. He's a danger to himself."

Fawkes flew in front of us, and kept floating there.
"I think it wants us to hold on," Harry said.
"Phoenix's can carry immensely heavy loads," I muttered. We all hold each other's hands and Harry held on to Fawkes's tail. My feet were lifted from the ground, and we flew back into the light. The light hurt my eyes, because we had been in the dark for so long. It felt like flying. The fun stopped when we all hit the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The sink came back into place, and it was as if nothing happened. Except that Harry and I were covered in blood and dirt.
"Jynx!" I heard, and I looked up. "You're alive! Damn, what happened?"
It was Neville.
"Hey Nev," I groaned, standing up again.
"Ginny, are you okay?" he said, but Ginny was still crying.
"She's alive," I whispered, and wanted to hug my brother.
"Nevermind, you'll get all dirty," I grinned. "But I'm alright now. We'll tell you everything."
Fawkes apparently wanted to follow us, so we did.
He let us out of the bathroom, to McGonagall's office.
I knocked and carefully opened the door. There was a moment of silence, mr and mrs Weasley, McGonagall and Dumbledore stared at Lockhart, Ron, Ginny, Harry and me, covered in dirt, slime, ink and blood.

After that moment of silence, mrs Weasley yelled: "Ginny!"
Right, everyone thought she was dead. Mr and mrs Weasley hugged their daughter tightly, and soon enough Ron, Harry and I were too crushed in mrs Weasley's arms.
"You saved her! How did you do that?" they kept saying.
"I think everyone would like to know that," McGonagall said with a trembling voice.
Mrs Weasley let go of us, and Harry put the sword, hat and diary on Dumbledore's desk.
We sat down, which I was very pleased with, because I felt like my legs could give in any moment.

Then Harry told them everything. How he heard voices, how Hermione had realised that it was a Basilisk in the pipes. How we had followed the spiders into Aragog's nest, how we figured out Moaning Myrtle was the one that died fifty years ago, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was indeed in her bathroom.
"Very well," McGonagall said. "So you found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, while breaking a hundred school rules. And how on earth did the two of you manage to get out alive?"
Harry told her about Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, where the sword came from, and that I had helped him.
"What interests me most is that Lord Voldemort still managed to get a hold over Ginny, when he is now hiding in the forests of Albania," Dumbledore said.
"You-Know-Who?" mrs Weasley said in disbelief. "He enchanted my Ginny? But- but she-"
"It was the diary," I said. "Tom Riddle, the sixteen-year-old version of Voldemort, wrote back in the diary, and at last got himself out. He would've been permanently out if we hadn't come."
"But what has that got to do with Ginny?" mrs Weasley asked.
Ginny began to cry again.
"I've been- been writing in it- all year- and he's- he's been writing back and-"
"Ginny!" mr Weasley said, a bit angry. "I always 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 that diary to me or your mother?"
"I- I didn't know," Ginny cried.
"Miss Weasley should get to the hospital right away," Dumbledore said. "This has all been terrible for her. There will be no punishment. Madam Pomfrey is still awake. The Basilisk's victims will be awakened any moment."
"So Hermione will be alright again!" Ron cheered.