A/n: Sorry! It really has been a while since I last updated, hasn't it? Well, I don't really have any excuses, except a lack of motivation.
Well, it's here now.
As it turned out, phoenixes had amazing strength on top of healing tears. Fawkes was able to carry everyone, including Lockhart, at once up the pipe and back to Myrtle's bathroom.
"Oh." Was all that Myrtle said when she saw that Harry was okay, looking quite disappointed that he wouldn't be joining her as a ghost any time soon.
"Don't worry, there's always next time." Ron consoled her jokingly as they left the room.
The next stop was McGonagall's office, to tell her what had happened. Harry knocked hesitantly on the door, not quite sure how exactly he was going to explain it all.
"Come in." McGonagall's voice sounded from the other side of the door, and Harry pushed it open.
Inside the room stood Mr and Mrs Weasley, next to Dumbledore. Harry was most surprised at Dumbledore's presence, figuring that the Weasleys were there to be told about Ginny.
The ragtag group walked awkwardly into the office, gaining gasps from the Weasleys as they realised that their daughter was safe. The two parents rushed to throw their arms around their child instantly, hugging her tightly.
Harry walked over to the desk, placing the diary, hat and sword onto it. Fawkes returned to Dumbledore, then McGonagall spoke.
"What happened?" she asked, looking over the students questioningly.
"Well..." Harry started. "We found the Chamber of Secrets."
"I can see that." McGonagall said, looking towards Ginny. "What happened then?"
"We went to get Professor Lockhart. We thought he might be able to help, but..." Cilan spoke next, glancing towards the obliviated professor, "He was a bit reluctant. We convinced him anyway, but he turned on us."
Ron nodded. "He stole my wand, tried to use a memory charm. Course, it backfired, so now he's even more useless than before."
"I like this room even more than the other one!" Lockhart announced, confirming Ron's words.
"Then the spell cut me and Harry off from the rest." Ash said. "We found the chamber, and Ginny was there, as well as Tom Riddle."
Harry cut in there, "He talked to me for a bit, then he tried to kill us. He released the basilisk, and it... bit Ash? I couldn't really see so I don't know."
Ash confirmed Harry's suspicions then allowed him to continue, "I got the sword out of the hat somehow and I killed the basilisk. Then I stabbed the diary and Riddle disappeared. Then we came here." Harry concluded, looking up to the shocked expression on McGonagall's face.
"Well, that is quite the tale..." she said.
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed. "Now, I think we need to get Miss Weasley to the hospital wing, no?" At those words, Mr and Mrs Weasley rushed Ginny out of the room, talking to her concernedly.
Next he turned his attention to Lockhart. "I think he may need some assistance getting to the hospital wing. Cilan, Ron? If you will."
The two boys complied, pulling the man out of the room.
"And I think this quite merits a feast, does it not? Minerva, if you would be so kind as to let the kitchen staff know?"
Professor McGonagall rushed out, leaving Ash and Harry alone with Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore," Harry said once the door shut. "The Heir of Slytherin..."
"Is not you." Dumbledore cut Harry off, seeming to know what he was about to say. "You may share several abilities with Tom Riddle, but this is because of his actions."
Both Harry and Ash looked at Dumbledore in confusion. "When Voldemort tried to kill you, he didn't just leave you that scar. He left some of his power too, like the ability to talk to snakes."
The two nodded, slightly less confused now.
Dumbledore looked like he was about to say something to Ash, but was stopped when someone barged into the room.
"What are you doing here?" Lucius Malfoy snapped, glaring coldly at Dumbledore, "As I remember, the council deemed you unfit to teach here."
"Ah, yes." Dumbledore said peaceably, "But they changed their minds a few hours ago; they all think I'm the perfect man for the job now. The most curious thing though, is that they all claimed to have been threatened by you."
Lucius sneered angrily at the headmaster. Getting more annoyed as they continued their conversation.
"Who's that?" Ash asked Harry, pointing to Dobby.
"That's Dobby. He's a house elf."
"House elf?" Ash repeated.
"Yeah. Apparently, they have to serve their human masters, like slaves."
"That's terrible!" Ash said, nearly catching the attention of the conversing adults with his volume.
"I suppose." Harry said, "It's all really weird. Like, they can only be released if their master presents them with clothing?"
Ash stared at Harry for a while before turning back to the conversation. Dumbledore had just implied that the diary belonged to Lucius, then Lucius had swept angrily out of the room.
"Hey Harry," Ash said, "I have an idea."
"Hey." Harry said as he stepped out into the corridor after Lucius, "You forgot something."
Lucius looked down at Harry as though the boy was something particularly disgusting that he'd scraped off the bottom of his shoe, but didn't comment.
At the lack of response, Harry threw the diary towards Lucius. He caught it, throwing it towards Dobby without a second glance.
"Come, Dobby." Lucius said, sounding like he was calling a dog, not an elf. He set off down the hallway.
Dobby didn't follow.
"I said come!" Lucius snapped at his unresponsive house elf.
Dobby still didn't respond. He was staring at the diary in his hands in disbelief. It was open, and inside lay one of Harry's socks.
"Master has given Dobby a sock." Dobby breathed, stunned and in utter disbelief. "Dobby is a free elf."
Lucius glared at Harry in outrage, then turned on his heels and walked off briskly.
"Thank you, Harry Potter." Dobby stared up at the two boys, already large eyes widening considerably in wonder.
"That's fine, Dobby. It was nothing."
After a few minutes of Dobby's relentless praise and thanking of the two, he snapped his fingers together and disappeared.
Ash stared at the place where the house elf had been. "I'm exhausted." He moaned, before his stomach rumbled loudly.
"And starving?" Harry guessed with a laugh. Ash nodded and the two of them walked off to the common room to clean up.
By the time they got to the feast, Ash was practically sleeping where he stood. He woke up enough to eat at the sight of the food, a splendorous array better than any Hogwarts feast he'd seen before.
During the meal, those who had been petrified were revived and came back to join in the festivities.
"Pikapi!" The first sign of the petrified people was Pikachu's excited shout, closely followed by Ash abandoning his food to rejoin with his partner.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted happily, "I missed you buddy."
Seeing Ash yawn slightly, Pikachu cocked his head worriedly.
"Pika chu, Pikapi?" He asked, though Ash understood the message as 'are you okay?'
"I'm fine, just a bit tired. Wow, I have loads to tell you!" He said, walking back over to the table, where a bottle of ketchup lay.
Ash presented Pikachu with the bottle as a welcome back present, recounting his tale of the basilisk slaying as the mouse enjoyed his treat.
During the feast, Dumbledore announce that the exams would be cancelled after all, much to Hermione's disappointment. Ash was glad though, as he hadn't managed to revise in the slightest.
When Ash and Pikachu were leaving, Draco confronted them.
"What do you want?" Ash asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Draco sulked. "Look, I'm... I was... we're not gonna bother you again, but you better keep those freaky pokemon away, right?"
Ash accepted the apology, feeling the regret laced in Draco's words. He left Draco and his gang to enjoy whatever they were doing an returned to the tower, for the best nights sleep he'd had since Pikachu was petrified.
"Wake up!"
"Nnng."
"Come on!"
"Ugh."
"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Pi-ka-chu!"
"Aargh!" Ash sat bolt upright on the bed as he received his rude awakening, "What was that for?"
"Come on!" Ron shouted, "Or you'll miss the train!"
"Train?" Ash asked, looking at Ron confusedly. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the night of the feast; the school didn't split up for the summer for another three days.
"Yeah!" Ron confirmed. "You've been asleep for ages! We nearly took you to the hospital wing, but Dumbledore said you were just really tired and that you'd wake up soon."
"Oh." Ash supposed that he would've slept for longer after using a lot of aura, but three days?
Cilan said this morning that you were gonna wake up now, so I came up, and you were awake. But not properly, so I let Pikachu do the rest."
Pikachu laughed while Ash glared at him, helping his trainer to get up ad dressed so they could go down to the train.
On the platform, Harry was waving the rest goodbye while he walked back to his family.
"Why can't we take him to the Burrow?" Ash asked as he watched Harry walk away. "Everyone knows his aunt and uncle are terrible."
Hermione shook her head. "He'll be fine. You'll see, we'll be back here before you know it."
"Six weeks isn't 'before you know it'!" Ash complained, "It's 'I can get three badges in that time'!"
"Yeah right," Iris scoffed. "It takes practically a month just to get from one city to another with all the crazy adventures we go on."
Ash crossed his arms, but didn't respond.
"Well, see you." Hermione said, walking towards her own parents. "Make sure to write!"
The four who were left agreed, turning to Ron's parents to go home.
"Another year." Ash sighed, "And we still haven't gotten any closer to helping Arceus."