𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 | 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

Dobby Freed & Everyone Agreed

CHAPTER TEN:

Third Person P.O.V.:

Charlie, Harry, Ron, and Ginny all subconsciously agreed that it was in their best interest to tell McGonagall about what had happened. They had let Lockhart bugger off for now, but we're planning on letting everyone know he was a fraud as soon as this was over.

The brown eyed boy had knocked twice on McGonagall's office door before opening it. For a moment, there was silence as the four of them stood in the doorway covered in muck and slime, and even blood in Charlie's case.

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.

Charlie, however, was focused on the sight of his grandfather standing next to the mantelpiece with McGonagall at his side. Fawkes, who had been on his shoulder the entire time, whooshed through the room and landed on Dumbledore's arm.

Without a second thought, Mrs. Weasley had swept up the three young Gryffindors boy in a large hug after releasing Ginny, "You saved her! You saved her!How did you do it?"

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

Charlie, Harry and Ron all looked to one another. They didn't even know where to begin. The only thing that Charlie thought was appropriate was to step forward and place the sword and sorting hat down on the desk in front of his grandfather. Harry did the same, but with Riddle's diary.

Then, the boys proceeded to tell them everything. They told them about Harry hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes;
how all three of them had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how Charlie 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 prompted 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?"

Charlie took the lead in telling the adults in the room about Fawkes' timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. Both, he and Harry had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's diary — or Ginny.

"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."

Relief — warm, sweeping, glorious relief — swept over the boy's faces. However, Charlie couldn't help but raise a brow. He didn't know his grandfather was keeping tabs on Voldemort. What else was he not telling him?

"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," said Harry quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen..."

"Brilliant," Albus said softly before addressing the room, "Very few people remember Lord  Voldemort as Tom Riddle, but I do. I taught him all those years ago. What happened to him was tragic. He fell so deeply in love with the dark arts that he lost himself. When he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable."