Not Again//Harry Potter [2]

28

"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed at something in the distance.

It was Fawkes; and he was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. Harry helped Autumn walk, just now realizing how bloody she was.

They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office. Harry knocked and pushed the door open. There was a moment of silence as all of them stood in front of the door. Then there was a scream.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley screamed. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter.

Fawkes went whooshing past Harry's ear and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder, just as Autumn, Harry, and Ron found themselves being brought into Mrs. Weasley's tight embrace.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

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

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, Autumn, and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how they had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall spoke him 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?"

Autumn spoke this time. She explained how Fawkes arrived at a perfect time as he poked the eyes of the basilisk and how the Sorting Hat gave Harry the sword.

Harry and Ginny avoided talking about how Ginny was the one who actually opened the chamber.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in 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 this diary," Autumn said showing Dumbledore. "Riddle made it when he was sixteen." She handed the book to Dumbledore as he flipped through all the 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 were looking utterly bewildered.

"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort 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 w-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 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 the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic—"

"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it-"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "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, twinkling kindly down at her. "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.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.

"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter, Grey, and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

She left, and the three gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore.

"I believe that I said, to Ron and Harry, that if they broke another word, I'd have them expelled."

Ron and Harry looked at each other in fear.

"I guess that shows that sometimes, people just eat their words."

Harry let out a breath of air.

"You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School and, let me see, yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart—"

"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron. "I'd like a few more words with Harry and Autumn."

The three looked at each other in confusion. Ron looked at them before walking Lockhart out.