I was very tempted to end this chapter when all of the messed up stuff happens and then be like 'nope, you know all of that stuff that had just happened, I just reversed it!' in the next chapter but I figured someone would bomb my house, so I'm not going to do that. You know, the classic 'We just killed Glen, but he'll be alive after the next few episodes.' move that pisses everyone off. But for now, live long and prosper, and enjoy the read!

Dumbledore sat in his office, alone, crying. What world is this? What kind of world would give a child the responsibility of killing a dark lord? This question was burned into his brain the day Harry survived the killing curse. The sick part is that I have to let it happen, despite being the most powerful wizard of my time. What kind of person am I, to let this happen?

"You have to, Albus." He said to himself, taking a swig of firewhiskey. It burned on the way down, ending his tears and soothing the lump in his throat. Fawkes, whose bond with Dumbledore grew stronger every day and night, soothed the man's distressed mind. "No one else has a chance to survive." Not even me. I have no chance against him. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. Why didn't you think of this before, you dolt! "Fawkes, I need you to check on Harry. He should be in his common room. If he isn't, go to the girl's bathroom. The one we spoke of before. Please hurry."

-oOoOo-

McGonagall was speed-walking along the corridor to talk to Snape about a detention given to one of her students for breathing too loudly, using 'Lumos' to light her way. As she was making her way to the dungeons, Fawkes flew right past her head on her right, knocking the wand out of her hand. The professor sighed, bending to pick up her wand, and then saw red on what was a grey stone wall. Written in blood was the text;

HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER

Heart jumping, she turned to the picture on the wall next to her that was just waking up for the light. The professor was about to talk to it, but upon reading the blood on the wall, the picture, a rather old, worn man sitting on a chair, said in an almost incomprehensible Scottish accent, "Well, that's not good. I'll go tell the headmaster."

-oOoOo-

Neville was waiting in the common room impatiently. Ginny was supposed to arrive there fifteen minutes ago! Though, he didn't blame her if she ran off to the girl's bathroom, crying. She did just get a detention from Snape. For breathing! It was terrible. Oh, well. Either way, he might as well go check up on her. Make sure she's OK.

-oOoOo-

"As you can see, a student has been taken, by the monster, into the very Chamber itself." McGonagall said to the entire senior staff and Lockhart, except Dumbledore, who had also gone missing after hearing of the message and spreading the word himself. Listening around the corner was none other than Neville, who was now recounting the reports of attacks from the Chamber, looking for a central location, an entrance. I am going to find her, even if it gets me killed.

-oOoOo-

Neville went back to the scene of the first attack, hoping to find the entrance standing wide open, because otherwise he was powerless to enter. Speak of the devil, several sinks in the girl's bathroom had been moved aside to reveal a rather large pipe downward. There was a pool of blood on the floor, leading to the pipe, and a wand in the blood. Neville, who had trained with Luna many times, recognized her wand immediately. The heir shall die. Filled with a cold rage, Neville picked up the wand and dove into the pipe after the blood.

-oOoOo-

"Luna." Harry thought again, stunned. He could feel nothing from her. Her mind, though not entirely gone, was silent. He could feel her. She was alive. But she was less conscious than she would be if she were normally asleep and there seemed to be a….mist….or maybe a veil than was growing thicker between them. Harry felt naked without her calm thoughts wrapped around his mind. Harry feared that she was dying. There was a pool of blood gathering on the floor she laid. Ginny felt worse off. She felt like she was dying as well, but, unlike with Luna, he sensed a malevolent presence around her, siphoning the life energy she used to breath and beat her heart. This was magic far beyond Harry's understanding, done by a wizard far beyond his skill. The only hope Harry felt he had was overestimation, or perhaps underestimation. And a great deal of cloak-and-dagger type distraction. Either way, he was not going to get through this honestly.

Smiling coldly, Harry stood, speaking in a voice that would have sounded at home in a normal conversation. In this setting, however, it hinted at a person who knew much and feared little. "I see you have finally found the correct moment to strike, Tom."

Voldemort hissed, "Do not call me that name! I am Lord Voldemort!"

"You are nothing but a coward who cannot even face death. Cannot even look it in the eye."

He paused at this, looking calm, yet extremely angry. Not good. "Well then. Let's see if you are any different." Then he turned to the statue of Slytherin, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four." Well, the face of Slytherin's statue exploded and out came the basilisk Harry had been waiting to meet all year. No one but Harry noticed the pool of blood under Luna grow smaller. The giant snake was more beautiful than Harry had ever hoped to imagine, though the imagination doesn't quite capture beauty as well as Harry would like. Almost immediately, bonds began to weave itself between the basilisk and Harry, growing thicker as the moments passed. By the time the snake reached the floor, they could already share feelings. The snake felt Harry's appreciation of her beauty, something she hadn't felt in….hundreds of years. The bonds began to almost fly together at lightning speed as the snake grabbed onto this feeling with a ravenous hunger. Harry felt the snake's desperate loneliness. It….no, she had been sitting alone for far too long, and Harry's heart went out to her, only feeding the bond that had now went from clear to grey for its density.

Harry thought to the snake, "Something as beautiful as you shouldn't be trapped here for so long." It was that moment that he made the mistake of looking at the snake's eyes. At first they were glowing yellow, and Harry's heart jerked in pain, but then the eyes turned green almost immediately.

"….you're not dead. How...? You are the real heir." Anger spiked into Harry's mind as the snake faced Voldemort. "That's why you can't even look at me! That's why you don't care about me! That's why you are afraid of me! You are not the heir! Harry is! It was Harry all along, yet you tried to get me to kill him! The only person that could ever care!" Voldemort was looking at the wall, anger building, and Ginny's wand in hand. The snake, whose name Harry detected as Caroline, made its eyes turn yellow again, something that Harry guessed was what her eyes looked like when they were deadly, and seemed to be triggered by negative emotions as a defense mechanism. Anger, yes, and perhaps fear.

Yelling hysterically, Voldemort pushed Ginny's wand towards Caroline. The gargantuan snake was forced away from him and wrapped in black tendrils of what looked remarkably like spirit bonds to Harry. He could feel them siphoning off her life energy, just like with Ginny. But there were no bonds between Voldemort and Ginny like there was with Caroline. Could there be another source?

"AVADA KADAVERA!" Voldemort yelled, pointing Ginny's wand at Harry. A figure in a grey cloak appeared in front of him and cast his own,

"Avada Kadavera." This spell was the purest white, and temporarily blinded any who looked at it. Except for Dumbledore, that is. In facing death, something clicked in his mind. Something that he couldn't reveal until later. Their spells clashed. Where they collided, it turned gold and stopped. Meanwhile, Harry tore at the bonds around Ginny and Caroline, trying to end Voldemort's return.

Neville walked over to Luna, who had now healed completely, and gave her wand to her. Harry successfully broke the bonds on Caroline and she was able to move again, but the bonds on Ginny seemed to be forming for months. The pattern was far more complicated than the bond on Caroline and seemed to have latched itself to several different aspects of her mind. Destroying the bond would take Harry days, which was time they didn't have. Knowing that the bond must be latched to a source other than Voldemort, Harry went to Ginny and searched her pockets. He found a diary. It was wreathed in black magic that felt caustic to the mind. He needed something powerful to destroy it. How about basilisk venom?

-oOoOo-

Voldemort and Dumbledore's spells clashed in the middle, creating a shock wave. Dumbledore was winning. He must find some way to get rid of the spell. Something in his mind snapped and he realized that his control of the snake had ended. He could feel the Potter boy prying at his bond with Weasley, but he was too weak to do any significant harm. He saw Potter run over to Weasley. At the same time, Lovegood and Longbottom were preparing an assault on him. Simple enough to deal with, all he had to do is unlatch himself from Dumbledore's spell and-

Harry pulled out the diary from Ginny's coat pocket. There was a basilisk in the room. He was going to die. He acted. Pushing Dumbledore's spell into the wall behind him, which crumbled a pillar, Voldemort thrust different sections of the pillar at Dumbledore, Lovegood, and Longbottom, buying him just enough time to-

"AVADA KADAVERA!"

"No!" Said Lovegood, diving in front of Harry, who held a look of horror on his face as he realized what was happening. A phoenix dove out the air in front of Lovegood and the spell impacted it. Voldemort smiled briefly. The spell would jump from person to person without any electrical interference. The fools. Longbottom was too slow to avoid the stone, but Dumbledore disintegrated the stone flying at him and Longbottom, as expected, now preparing to cast the same blinding killing curse. When Voldemort's spell impacted the phoenix, it exploded, forcing Lovegood, Longbottom, Potter, and Weasley in multiple directions, only a second after the killing curse jumped from the phoenix to Lovegood to Potter, where it met an electric barrier and arched upward, destroying part of the ceiling, causing it to fall downward towards them. The explosion had thrown off Dumbledore, who was now about to aim his wand at Voldemort, but noticed the falling ceiling and decided to disintegrate the rubble instead.

"Avada Kadavera." Voldemort said one last time, with a coldness that hinted at the finality of death. Dumbledore was too busy saving the dead to save himself, and was thrown back by the power of the killing curse. Suddenly, Voldemort was in the jaws of the basilisk and being shaken back and forth. Though he was not immune to the venom, he could not be punctured, which made the venom useless. Throwing the air around him against the snake in the form of a shockwave, he blew most of the fangs out of its mouth in various directions, falling back down to the floor. When he landed, his head struck the floor and he blacked out.

-oOoOo-

Harry's ears rang and he felt like he had been hit by a truck and stabbed several times. A sharp, burning pain was spreading from his arm to the rest of his body. The corrupted book was still clutched firmly in his hands. He felt himself grow weaker every second. He decided to lie still, feeling with his mind to see if he was safe. Neville and Voldemort had blacked out from concussions. Dumbledore and Luna seemed to be absent, causing part of his mind to re-visit their absence several times as he checked the other's minds, like your tongue would a missing tooth. On a conscious level, what really happened refused to register to him, so he moved on. Fawkes was OK, but couldn't really fly. He felt the phoenix move towards him. Caroline was in agony. Apparently, Voldemort had blown up her mouth, launching her fangs in all directions, and dropping himself on his head. Not a very good way to return. Again his mind went over Dumbledore and Luna and he opened his eyes to see Luna's vacant ones. She was absent, yet she was here. Harry's mind became sluggish, as if trying to prevent him from having conscious thought. Then he slowly pieced it together in a mind that wanted him to go back to sleep – to rest until he felt better – to give up and die.

Luna was dead. Dumbledore was dead. Neville and Ginny were slowly dying and so was Caroline. Voldemort was coming back, waking up, in fact. He was only seconds away from becoming self-sustaining. And now, Harry felt like he was dying. His arm burned, and when he looked, he saw a fang the size of a spearhead sticking out of his arm. He then saw Voldemort raise his head from the chamber floor, and anger filled him. Voldemort didn't get to live after what he had done. His friends weren't going to die in vain. He would not walk gently into that fateful night.

Taking the fang from his arm, he stabbed it into the book he held. It spewed black liquid and Voldemort yelled in pain, a hole of light forming over his heart, then he exploded into a billion fragments of burning light, giving Harry a terrible sunburn and throwing him to the floor, where he passed out again, faintly hoping to be with Luna soon.

-oOoOo-

Luna's eyes opened to see Dumbledore lovingly gaze down on her. She could swear that she had seen her mother's eyes recently. She went to a different place where she saw a lot of people she knew and a lot more that she didn't know. She felt so good and so free, but something snapped her back here to her body. She remembered something about Dumbledore, but….it was slipping away like water. She tried to remember anything else about it, but it just deteriorated into nothing. Just as the last wisps of the memory left her, she heard a deep and kind voice speak in her mind that she could barely recognize.

"I'm sorry, Luna, but I cannot allow you to spoil it for Harry." And just like that, it was as if she was just waking from a dreamless sleep rather than death. All she could remember about it was being hit by the curse, and now, waking up. Luna was helped up by Dumbledore. Neville was sitting up and holding his head, as if he had a splitting headache. Fawkes looked like she just hatched. Voldemort was nowhere to be seen. The basilisk, whose eyes she could now look into and whose name she knew as Caroline, was wrapped in a wide circle around something, as if trying to protect it. Dumbledore spoke.

"I tried to reason with her, but she refused to remove herself from around Harry. Although I think, since you and Harry now share all of your bonds, she would allow you into her coils. I warn you, Harry will take time to heal and it is best you not wake him. He has been through a lot and his body needs to recover."

"Dumbledore, do you share the same passion with animals as Harry does?"

"Well….in my younger years I was foolish and I didn't care for other forms of life. Now….I have seen a glimpse of the beauty that becoming one with nature holds. Look to this basilisk, this supposed monster, protecting a child as if it were her only love. Her only purpose. She is devoted to him because Harry is the only one that loves her. Do you see these bite marks on her hide?"

Now that Dumbledore mentioned it, she did see peculiar bite marks all over her body. Sections of scale were brighter than the rest. "Who could have done this to her?"

"One could argue that Slytherin did. Locking a being up alone for hundreds of years can do a lot of damage to someone. However, she hibernated most of that time. These marks are fairly recent in her lifespan, the oldest dating back fifty years. It seems that it is Voldemort that caused her to want to bite herself, waking her from her sleep and treating her like a tool, rather than giving her the affection and compassion she deserves. And now that she feels love and purpose again, she is devoted to the only one that gives her that. Also, Voldemort's disregard for the power of love lost him a valuable ally in this situation. Ironically, his disregard for life has lead to his death. Funny how that works out."

Luna had already begun walking towards the giant snake. Putting her hand onto its scaled body, she thought to her, "May I come in, Caroline?" She simply formed an arch with her body, allowing her in. In the center of her circle, Harry lay on the ground. He seemed to be bleeding from all of the openings in his face. She put his head in her lap and began healing his wounds, humming a poem that he once wrote for her as if it were a song.

Hold my poor heart

Cause it beats for you

Anyway.

If it had a choice

It would leave me and with

You would stay.

There's no doubt in my mind

tomorrow will shine with the

thought of you.

and that if you leave,

my heart will turn black

with the pain of you.

Please have my life

For it lives for you

Anyway.

It always feels this

burning Inside for you

ev'ry day

you're the reason I wake

and why I can't fall asleep

at night

so come live with me

to take away the dark

inside

Here is my soul

Its flame burns for you

Anyway

Its passions won't end

With the way you make

your beauty mine

Yet before it saw you

It could not stand the

Light of day

So keep it with you

And we'll be together till

The end of time.

Caroline sent waves of appreciation to her. Seconds passed and she eventually joined in, speaking parseltongue in an alien and melodic tone, which gave it a strange, yet beautiful twist, as if it were being sung by a magical and fictional creature of such rarity and beauty that ensnares the imagination of those listening. After a while, when Luna and Caroline realized that Harry wasn't going to wake up any time soon, they began talking to each other. Luna thought,

"You really care for him, don't you?"

"I care for both of you."

"Why? I did nothing for you."

"To say that I care for him and to say that I care for you are to say exactly the same thing. There is no difference between your mind and his. That is why I let you in."

"Tell me about yourself. Why do you seem to have such human needs when we have a snake that doesn't need people or even conscious life other than its prey for months on end?"

"Slytherin told me that he had a silver bond with me and that changed me somehow."

"Silver? That's a 'Mother's Love Bond'. Slytherin was bonded to you?"

"Yes. We could speak to each other with our minds just like right now. Also, we were able to see into each other's minds. Those where good days. Harry reminds me of Slytherin so much. He even tastes like him."

"That's weird. Why exactly is that?"

"I don't know. But I do know that everyone I have ever known that can speak parseltongue, accept you, tastes the same way."

"That's interesting. So, since being a parseltongue doesn't cause the smell, maybe you must be something else in order to be a parseltongue, like a half-snake, half-human hybrid, as weird as that sounds."

"Sounds plausible. Anyway, onto more important things."

Sensing Caroline's feelings, Luna asked, "By that do you mean, 'What's going to happen to me?'"

"Yes."

"What do you want to happen?"

"I want to be with Harry and you more often. I want to be free in the wild. I want a safe place to hibernate when it's cold. I want to be loved."

"Well, we could take you into the Forbidden Forest."

"I remember living in a forest next to a castle when I was little." She said, mind becoming misty with memories.

"That's the one I'm talking about. We could also bond you to a giant, black king cobra. His name is Thana. Would you like that?"

"How big is he?"

"Oh, he's big enough, I can tell you that much. I don't have precise measurements, but I know that you and him are going to get along just fine. He's stopped growing, too, so he doesn't require too much food. How much food do you need?"

"I haven't eaten in hundreds of years and I'm still not completely hungry, though I could use a dear or two."

Luna laughed at this, as the first part of that saying was a joke to humans, "Awesome, so we aren't going to get any flack from the acromantulas. By the way, does a rooster's crow actually kill you?"

"Well I've heard a rooster crow, so probably not."

"That's funny. A book on basilisks says that they do kill you."

"Sometimes even truth is bent by legends. What else have you heard about basilisks?"

"That they come about by a chicken's egg hatching under a toad."

"Though that is possible, it isn't true in my case. I came about simply by two basilisks breeding. Slytherin told me that their estate held many basilisks one time, but they were all killed by something called a 'ministry', whatever that is. I'm the only surviving basilisk of the estate now."

"That must make you lonely."

"Well, I'm not lonely anymore. I have you two, and I'll eventually have Thana as well. I wonder how he's going to be."

"Shall we find out? We can go now if you want."

"As long as we take Harry with us."

"That's fine with me." Luna said, picking up Harry. She noticed the venom still in his veins, though it wasn't taking affect. "I thought the venom left him."

"I don't know why it's like this, but at least he's OK."

-oOoOo-

Lockhart got back from the Chamber of Secrets and went into his office. The situation was taken care of. Apparently the basilisk was good now, so it was taken to the Forbidden Forest for who knows what reason. Harry was put into the hospital wing as soon as he was taken out of the chamber. No one knows why the venom still remains. Dumbledore says that it should have been cleaned out of his system by now. At least Harry isn't going to die, though.

After considering the circumstances, Lockhart broke out a bottle of firewhiskey. It was a special blend that he illegally brewed himself. It was stronger, hotter, and you could even breathe fire with it, but that would waste the alcohol. He was thinking of making his own business around it. He was thinking of calling it Dragon's Fire. He used to drink this stuff every full moon to knock himself out before he transformed, but now that he no longer needed to do that, the bottle was remarkably full and he only had three bottles left.

He opened the bottle and poured himself a double shot, savoring the look of the liquid. The drink was a light-scarlet color, and on the surface danced bright blue flames. The flames were a product of the drink being introduced to the oxygen in the air. The bottle was enchanted to prevent oxygen from getting in. The flame spread the scent of burning mesquite. Downing the first, he poured himself another and downed that one. The third one he let burn in his mouth, then gulped that one down as well. The fourth he used to blow flames out his nose, humoring himself. The fire didn't hurt organic life, but it did clear the hell out of his sinuses. Now everything smelled like burning mesquite.

He was half way into the bottle and most of the way to passing out when his office door opened. Damn. Forgot to lock the door. Wait, no I locked that door. The person opening the door was Madam Pomfrey.

"Hello, Gilderoy. I was wondering if you were doing OK."

"Don't you have The Boy who Lived Again to attend to?" He asked, taking another swig of Dragon's Fire.

"Well, actually I was wondering….If you would like to…."

"You caught me when I was drunk on purpose didn't you?" He asked, breathing a thin and long stream of fire after saying this. Madam Pomfrey instinctively inhaled the smell of the office deeply.

"Yes." She said, blushing. Lockhart got up and crossed the room to her, leaving the Dragon's Breath and his wand at the table. For a second he hesitated, and then they kissed.

"Is this why?" He asked her

"Petrificus Totallus." She said, jabbing him in the stomach with her wand. He grew ridged and fell on his face, breaking his nose. From the floor, he heard her say. "You dunce! Taking you down was easier than eating cake!" Then she yelled, "Kreacher!" A loud pop and then a voice that sounded like whoever owned it used the voice of a frog to speak,

"Yes, Master Bellatrix?"

"Take this man to the Riddle Home."

"Yes, my Mistress."

-oOoOo-

Luna was next to Harry's bed for the second time this year. Lines of venom had spread through his blood vessels all over his body, though he was not dying. He was very hot, he was sweating profusely, and he had gone pale. His heart was racing like he was hunting deer. Luna laughed at this observation, gently whispering,

"Furry Potter."

Madam Pomfrey was there the whole time, never left, ever, Always checking Harry's health.

"I've never seen a case quite like this." She said. "The phoenix tears had no affect on the venom, only healed his wounds. Furthermore, it seems that Harry is immune to the venom. The venom itself is nothing like I've ever seen."

Luna asked, "It's not basilisk venom?"

"No, it's far more powerful. Watch this." She dripped a sample of the venom she got from a fang in the Chamber onto what appeared to be a diamond. The diamond melted, and it went through the tray, the plate, and part of the floor before the venom stopped.

"Whoa."

"Whoa indeed. Yet he's immune!"

"Yes he is." Luna said, turning to Harry. She had already been surprised by both of them being immune to a basilisk's killing glare, now this? Luna didn't know if she should be worried or happy. She chose happy, then said,

"Can I try that out on my finger?"

"No, but I can take a flesh sample and see if it takes effect." This is exactly what she did. Minutes later and another hole in the floor, the nurse said, "No effects! Your tissue is immune!"

Luna smiled. They were both immune to the venom. She felt the temperature of the room drop a little, and then it went up again. Strange.

-oOoOo-

Harry had a dream that Norberta tried to storm the castle again. Caroline told her that he was OK and Norberta calmed down, but not until after seeing Harry safe in the infirmary through the window. A short while later, Harry's bright green eyes opened to see Luna's big, Deep Blue ones. Immediately, his mind calmed, and then he questioned her with his mind, sleep still fogging his thoughts,

"I thought you were dead. You were hit by the spell. I saw your dead b-"

"Do not think of such things. It was undone somehow. I am alive and so are you. Be happy that it is true."

"Of course I am happy; I just want to know how."

"We will know in time. But, for now, let us live together and enjoy each other. I don't want us to grow up too fast."

Harry calmed and Luna stroked his messy hair behind his ears repeatedly, like she does when he is in his wolf form. It finally registered to Harry on an emotional level that Luna was alive and tears gathered in his eyes. Luna clasped his left hand tightly and continued brushing. He squeezed her hand back, a single tear streaming down his eye. Madam Pomfrey departed to give a sample of the venom to Professor Snape for analysis. They sat there like that for a while. The relief in Harry was immense. Everyone Harry was deeply bonded to felt this relief. Around the school, many stopped and began to cry for a reason they didn't quite understand. All they knew is that they were so happy that they couldn't contain it. Many hugged, laughing and crying at the same time. For those who were bonded to Harry deeply enough, they knew why they felt this way and were able to separate themselves from it, but few did. A few hours passed, and then Harry passed out from exhaustion. Clearing the venom from his system was taking a lot out of him.

-oOoOo-

When he woke, he felt very feverish. He was cold, weak, and sweating. He was also back in the common room on the big couch, wearing all new clothes. Luna was sitting on the loveseat across from the table on Harry's right, petting Asmund. Cuddles was resting on Harry's chest in a tight ball. Harry sensed that he was dreaming of attacking three mice dancing on a clock. Norberta welcomed him from rest, seeming to relax a little. Luna said,

"Good morning, sleepy head. How do you feel?"

"Terrible, but glad." Harry said, standing up. Cuddles woke up easily and lay across his shoulders. His bones and joints ached as well. Harry tried to stretch and he yawned. The center of his jaw clicked, like his finger would when he popped it, then his mouth was filled with excruciating pain.

"OW!" He grunted.

"What happened?"

"The center of my jaw just popped." Harry said calmly, resuming what he was doing. He sat down and began thinking, shivering as he did so. It was painful to open his mouth too wide and to eat, so he refrained from talking and eating. He just went hungry for the day, and he spoke to others using his thoughts. Soon after his jaw popped, he had to go to the bathroom. When he pissed, not only did it burn like hell, it came out grey.

"Well, that's not normal," said Harry. It appeared to him that the venom was being flushed from his system. He didn't think much of it until the grey piss started corroding the toilet. "My body couldn't break it down or something?"

Harry left the bathroom and told the picture over the fireplace to tell Dumbledore what had happened. Seconds later they heard a knock on their door, except it was Snape instead of Dumbledore.

"What happened?"

"It appears that the venom from Caroline is flushing out of my system into my urine, causing the toilet to melt."

"Who is Caroline?"

"The Basilisk."

"Good. Where is the toilet?" Harry led the way. Snape brought out a large glass container that appeared to have some special clear coating on it. Snape waved his wand and cast a silent spell that separated the venom from the urine and put it inside the container. There wasn't much venom, and it was greenish black. He then said 'scourgify', which cleared off the urine and water, and 'repairo', which restored the toilet to normal. "Thank you, Harry. This venom seems to be invaluable. Please call me after every time you piss and do not flush, understand?"

"Yes, professor."

"Carry on." Snape said, leaving with the container of venom.

When Snape was gone, Luna told Harry, "That reminds me, Harry. Dumbledore told me that we needed to meet him after you woke up."

"OK." And they left for Dumbledore's office. When they got to the gargoyle, Luna was about to say 'Lemon Drop', but the gargoyle had begun to move already. Harry noticed that a picture to the left of the Gargoyle was empty when it used to have an elderly looking man in it. They went up the stairs and eventually entered the office. It had hardly changed. Dumbledore was waiting, sitting at his desk. So was Snape, Neville, Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, Ron, Hermione, and Madam Pomfrey.

Luna spoke, "I can see that you three have been revived. I'm glad," indicating Mrs. Norris, Ron, and Hermione.

"Thank you." Ron said. Hermione nodded. Those two joined them while. Mrs. Norris licked her paw. Dumbledore began.

"Yes, Luna, thank you indeed. Now, we need to discuss a few things. First, Harry, let's start with the promise you've given Filch.

Harry thought, "Ah, yes." Moving towards Filch and Norris. He put a hand on each of their heads, delving into each of their minds. Harry found that Norris had no memory of the basilisk's eyes. That was very convenient, as Filch may become paralyzed if he looked into her mind. Good, now He formed a bond with each of them, allowing their minds to become like his, finding a middle ground to build their own bond. Then, he broke the strands of the bond and weaved the broken ends together, effectively bonding Filch to Norris. Almost immediately, the bonds became green. After seeing this, Luna said,

"Whoa. I didn't know that you loved each other that much."

"Yes," said Filch, closing his eyes and rocking Mrs. Norris back and forth, as if he was dancing with his cat, "Thank you, Harry."

"Good, now," said Dumbledore, "You may leave us, Filch." He left and Dumbledore continued. "Well, Harry and Luna, I want to hear more about your symptoms, but first, some information. Norberta tried to storm the castle again, yet she stopped for some reason. I have told everyone involved that it was to be kept a secret and now everyone knows again. And, in the third thing that is terribly cliché, you were given tons of sweets again. I decided to post a list of things you are able to eat so that you aren't tortured by the concept of having to consume vast amounts of food you can't digest. So far, most of the things that you have received are candies usually meant for vampires and a muggle food I am heard is called jerky." When he said this, he brought out a package. "And I am dying to try one, so I decided to buy some myself." Then he put the package on his desk and left it alone. "I will be delivering the gifts to you after Severus has personally checked each item for unsolicited potions, poisons, and curses, as I am sure you are glad we are doing this time."

Harry nodded at this. Last time he ate something from a fan without testing it first, his tongue swelled up to the size of a balloon. After he recovered from that, he ate a chocolate frog that was dosed with a love potion. He had kissed a girl he hadn't even met from Gryffindor just before the love potion's effects wore off. He was particularly furious about that one at the time because he would have been happy to pursue the relationship if she had only asked, given the knowledge that he had at the time, but she insisted to not allow him to choose. Now he was extremely thankful that that had happened, since he likely would have never met Luna. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't remember a single thing he did under the potion, but only an hour passed by and he hadn't even hit puberty yet, so it was not like he had lost his virginity or anything.

Luna asked, "Anything else?"

"No."

"Very well. His symptoms are; basically a full-body ache. His bones, muscles, ligaments, joints, and head all hurt. Even his teeth hurt. He can't use his mouth because of how much it hurts, which is why I am talking. The mouth pain began when he yawned and his jaw cracked like his finger would, except in the middle. He has been pissing the venom out now and Snape has been able to separate the venom from the urine and collect it. Also, he has a fever."

She said this as Harry was shivering and sweating. Dumbledore spoke, "Very well. Is there anything you two wish to ask?"

Harry then asked, much to his own suffering, "Wait, why is it that Lockhart isn't here? He should be here." He then grabbed his jaw in pain.

Dumbledore spoke now, "I didn't want to worry you with this, but it seems we can't keep things from you. Lockhart went missing last night. We don't know how."

Luna spoke now, "Do you have any theories on what happened?"

"No. He just entered his office and completely disappeared. No other signs. I know I don't need to tell you this, but be careful. If Lockhart can be taken down without any trace, not even signs of a struggle, there is someone out there that is very good at exploiting weakness. I made sure to set up extra wards around the castle to the extent of hindering communication and travel, but you still need to be careful. I recommend sleeping with your various Bondmates in the same room."

"We do that anyway." Luna said. "Is there anything else, Dumbledore?"

"Yes, what are you experiencing from all of this? I heard that you receive minor physical affects whenever Harry is going through something."

"Well, I'm getting some brief shivers here and there. I feel somewhat weak as well, but I haven't felt any pain, just a minor fever."

"Alright, I want you and him to rest for a few days until all signs of disease are gone completely. If anything changes for the worse, I want to know. In the mean-time, until you get better, your teachers will give you all of the material you two need to continue learning at the end of every day, just like at the beginning of the year for you two."

And that's how the next few days went. By the time Harry's symptoms were over, nothing had changed and both of them were doing alright. They moved through the year in a cloud of controversy, as expected. Many of the Slytherins were spreading rumors that Harry was going to lead a second attack against the school, using all of his Bondmates to carry out the attack. (It sounded pretty plausible, after all, who's bonded to a dragon these days?) Draco stood up for them in most of these cases, much to the dislike of many of his Slytherin peers.

Luna eventually became comfortable with visitors being in their common room on regular bases. As a result, many of their friends were able to do homework in their common room. Luna was asked to tell what actually happened in the Chamber of Secrets, but she refused. Harry couldn't talk that much because, of all of the things, his jaw still hurt. Towards the end of the year he also couldn't eat tough food because his teeth began to hurt even worse than it had, so he resigned to drinking blood, which he had been hooked on ever since he sucked his first blood-flavored lollipop. Cow's blood seems to suit him best, and the only con to having a blood diet is that he had the worst diarrhea ever. He also had itches all over his body, especially his hair and back, and his nails and eyes had a dull ache all year.

By the end of the year, Norberta was big enough for two people to ride all the way to Luna's house, which is exactly what Harry and Luna did, though they did fly alongside in their shadow forms for quite some time because Norberta got tired. They did pay a visit to the Hogwarts express. They entered the train in their shadow forms to say 'hi' to their friends. Harry and Luna could feel the awe of most of the train. The only people that were frightened of Norberta were first years who didn't experience the dragon last time and weren't bonded to them. By now her roar was loud and ear-piercing, yet extremely deep, (the female dragons are more masculine than the male ones). It made Harry and Luna want to howl to the stars every time she roared.

Luna's pet name for Harry (Furry Potter) was revealed to his friends in the compartment by accident (Draco, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny) when Harry howled like a full blown wolf for this reason. They were surprised and had a laugh when they heard it, then Luna explained to them under oath of secrecy why Harry had that nickname. After that, everyone was impressed and most of them even wanted to be a werewolf, (namely Draco, Ron, Neville, and Ginny). Hermione didn't want to be a werewolf because she would have to eat raw meat for the rest of her life and she cared about the animals involved. So, Harry and Luna invited them to the Lovegood house so that they could get all four of the others bitten in one day. Ever since that forced transformation after the dueling club, Harry always carried a large bottle of dittany infused with silver to seal any bites or scratches he may cause. Later they discovered that Xenophilius wanted to become a werewolf as well. (Hey, the guy's a pretty radical guy, you could hardly blame him.) So, Harry mailed a merchant at Diagon Alley for another bottle of dittany infused with silver, since Xenophilius' wound would empty the one he currently had.

When he got to the Lovegood's house, he noticed some very strange things occur to his body.