Hello again! We're back to wrap up the confrontation, and that mess with Narcissus! This'll be fun.


Chapter 49: I Will Save You

Zacharias' POV

How did one mite of a first year run so fast without even seeming to be running at all? Zacharias would have lost Luna entirely if not for the map.

The Ravenclaw stopped at Professor Lockhart's office. Zacharias, Draco, Hermione, and Diggory caught up to her there; Luna was already floating about the room, her eyes examining everything. Zacharias frowned in distaste at the number of photographs Lockhart had of himself. His books were proudly displayed upon the shelf on one wall.

"I guess we should look around, since we're here." Diggory mentioned, looking distinctly uncomfortable with being in a teacher's office after curfew.

Hermione made a beeline for the desk. "He has a vase of daffodils. These are one of the signs- the daffodils." The small frosted glass vase was placed upon one corner of the desk. The yellow of the petals looked almost sickly.

A snap of curtains drew his attention to Luna. She had drawn the lilac curtains hanging before the back wall open, revealing a wall-length mirror. Lovegood stared at her own reflection for several moments, before flinching back.

"Here. They're in here." Luna said, her fingers hovering just before the glass. Her fingers curled, and her hand dropped to her side.

Diggory asked, "You mean everyone who went missing?" He studied the mirror and frowned. "Is it a portal or something?"

The five of them crowded around the mirror. The frame around the glass was a simple wooden one.

"It could be." Hermione said. "Or something like it."

"Any idea how to use it?" Draco asked. Zacharias stayed quiet. Something was strange about the mirror. There was no doubt about that.

He saw the sudden flash of eyes in another face appear where his own should be. Zacharias blinked and took a step back; it was gone just like that. There was something on the other side. This was a portal, a doorway. He knew it was.

Zacharias reached forward without thinking about what he was doing. He laid his palm flat against the glass. After a beat, the glass began to ripple like water.

"We can get through." Zacharias said as his hand slid through the mirror. He leaned his weight into it, and like the portal that led to platform 9 ¾, he slipped through as if nothing was there in the first place.

As he stepped out of the mirror, he stumbled and nearly fell. Black spots danced in his vision for a moment, but when he shook his head they cleared easily enough. He swayed for a moment, feeling quite suddenly exhausted. It was late, he supposed, but it had come out of nowhere.

He looked around the small room. There was a pool of water at the back of it, but nothing in the way of furniture. The few sconces on the wall provided what light there was. There were two girls who were gaping at him in shock, sitting to one side. And behind them-

"Michelangelo!" Hermione gasped as she stepped out of the mirror. Zacharias was hardly aware that he had moved when suddenly he was past the girls and by Michelangelo's side. The Gryffindor had sharp, hollow cheeks and his skin was several shades paler. For a moment Zacharias feared the boy was dead.

Then his eyes fluttered open. The brown was glazed over, his eyes still half-closed.

"What are- who are-?" one of the girls behind them demanded. Diggory replied, but Zacharias wasn't paying much attention to them.

"Can you see me?" Zacharias asked, giving Michelangelo's shoulders a little shake. "Come on, say something." With how the boy looked, they might have come just in time. If that. Zacharias' heart was pounding against his chest. Why wasn't Michelangelo saying anything?! Was he okay? Would he live? What was wrong? What had been done to him?

At last, the boy spoke at a murmur, "Zacharias?" his speech was slow and slurred, drawing out each syllable like he was intoxicated. "Stayin' here too, then? You shouldn't. Room service is terrible. Dunno where… to complain about it. Do you know? I wanna…" His head lolled the the side. Zacharias shook his shoulders again.

"Come on, focus on me. Stay awake. Once we get out of here you can lodge all the complaints you want. Just don't- Don't close your eyes." Zacharias ordered, his own exhaustion forgotten about.

Luna was suddenly on Michelangelo's other side, her eyes wide and face pallid. Michelangelo squinted up at her.

"Luna? What're you… you shouldn't… I've gotta…"

"Oi." Zacharias snapped, looking back at the others. The girls- they had to be the two girls that had been taken during March- both looked close to tears. Diggory was talking in low tones to them. Draco was hovering nearby uncertainly. "Someone is going to need to carry him. We shouldn't stay here."

Diggory nodded and approached them. He kneeled down next to Zacharias. "I'll carry him. We need to take everyone to the Hospital Wing." The older Hufflepuff looked to the two girls. "Can you two walk that far?"

"I think so." the Hufflepuff- Zacharias was fairly sure her last name was Nash, or something like it- said, shakily rising to her feet. She didn't look nearly as bad as Michelangelo, and the girl beside her better still (she had to be the one taken only a day ago). "But how do you plan to get us out of here?"

Zacharias rolled his eyes. "The door."

"It doesn't work for us. We've tried." Nash argued. "You've just gotten yourselves stuck in here, too."

Hermione frowned, "Isn't there supposed to be another girl here? Sally-Anne Perks?" The two girls looked confused.

"I haven't seen her." said the newest one- Patricia Stimpson. She pointed to Michelangelo. "I think he's mentioned her, though. You'd have to ask him."

"I don't think we're going to get anything useful out of him." Hermione replied dubiously.

She was probably right about that, however Zacharias didn't think they needed Michelangelo to tell them what happened. It seemed obvious enough. His mouth formed a grim line, but he decided not to focus on that yet. He got up and returned to the mirror on the wall. When he placed his hand against it, it did the same as it had on the other side.

"Oh, would you look at that. The door works." Zacharias commented. "Are you all coming or what?"

"But we've tried that!" Nash exclaimed.

Diggory let out a hum, before saying, "That's right. The Smiths are known for dabbling in dimensional and time magics." Zacharias blinked for a few moments. That was true, but he hadn't realized he was doing anything. He knew some of the family magic already, but he hadn't been using it.

"Really?" Hermione asked, eyes alight with excitement. "So you opened the door that way? How does it work? You didn't use any spells, did you? Was it some sort of artifact?"

He had absolutely no idea. However, he just huffed and said. "Family secret. All of you get a move on before Professor Lockhart turns up." Draco stepped through without a word, and Zacharias followed after a moment later.

This time when he stepped through, his legs buckled beneath him and his vision went black. His mind scrambled for a few moments. At last his vision returned, though with how disoriented he was it was hard to make sense of things.

Someone had caught him, apparently, before he could hit the ground. He blinked away the patterns in his vision.

… It was Draco. Draco Malfoy had caught him.

Zacharias was on his feet in the blink of an eye. Ugh. Of all the people to catch him, Draco Malfoy? He would never live it down.

Draco himself seemed just as shocked and appalled as he was. "What- Smith, did you just faint?"

Zacharias didn't bother to reply as the others arrived through the mirror. Hermione came first, then Luna, and then the two girls. Last to arrive was Diggory, who had Michelangelo held carefully in his arms.

Michelangelo was lazily kicking his feet. "I don't think… have I seen you before?" Diggory looked dubious as the Gryffindor spoke to him. "Hm, well, you have a very nice face. I wanna draw it." One of Michelangelo's hands reached up to clumsily tap Diggory's chin. Then the Gryffindor began to giggle. Diggory hadn't gone pink, but he seemed more bemused than he had been most of the night so far.

Luna floated over to them and grabbed Michelangelo's wrist. "I'm sure the picture you draw will look lovely. Will you show me?"

"'Course." Michelangelo muttered, turning his head to gaze at the first-year. "Luna, I've got something to… I failed. I was supposed to… protect her. I told her I would." His eyes went misty. "I failed. I didn't mean to… She just, she just…" The boy began to cry.

That answered what happened to Sally-Anne Perks. Zacharias bowed his head for a moment. He hadn't talked to the fellow Hufflepuff often, but…

"You didn't fail." Luna's voice was soft. "You did your best, didn't you? You can't be expected to… to protect everyone." She looked like at any moment she would start crying, too.

Hermione's eyes blazed. "What are we going to do about Lockhart? Once we get them to the Hospital Wing, we'll be caught for being out of bounds."

"Simple." Zacharias replied, trying to steady himself. He still felt dizzy and disoriented, a little. "We get everyone to the Hospital Wing, and we tell them what is going on. With Lockhart." He paused for a moment, out of breath. "We have witnesses. We have the notes. We give them to the adults to handle."

"He's right." Diggory said, adjusting the crying boy in his hold. "We've done enough, haven't we? No one your age would ever be expected to figure out so much. That you have is enough of an achievement- but you're still just children."

The others were silent for a moment. Then Draco and Hermione nodded. Luna stared at Michelangelo, but a few moments later she nodded, too.

Wonderful. Zacharias might pass out if they stayed out much longer. Then what voice of reason would there be when the idiots tried to fight Lockhart? No, it was best left to the authorities. None of his idiot friends here would get hurt.

As they began to head to the Hospital Wing, Zacharias nearly forgot to use the map. Not that there was much point in trying to avoid anyone, but Zacharias wanted to check to see where the others were. He checked twice, and had Hermione look over it just in case he missed something, but the others were not anywhere on it. Presumably, they had found the Chamber of Secrets. Wherever that was. Hopefully, that meant they would save Neville. He didn't know what he would do if they didn't come back, or if someone got hurt. The thought was too terrible to entertain. Not if he didn't want to spiral into a panic. Another one.

The Hospital Wing was dark when they got there. No one was awake. But as soon as they walked in, Zacharias saw the dot for Madam Pomfrey stir on the map. He shoved the map into his pocket only moments before Madam Pomfrey stormed into the room, evidently having been woken from sleep.

Zacharias could tell the woman was surprised that a bunch of students had turned up with the missing students, but she didn't ask about that. One look at Michelangelo was all she needed before she got to work, ordering Diggory to place the Gryffindor on one of the empty beds, and for Nash and Stimpson to find their own.

They had only explained who the culprit was when the woman ordered, "Mr. Diggory, take Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, and go find anyone you can. The aurors will need to be called. Quickly! Make sure to bring the Deputy Headmistress! Be careful." As the three ran from the room, Zacharias wondered why he had been excluded. Lovegood he understood- she was only a first-year. He was somewhat grateful. He did not think he could run. He sat down on a chair sitting nearby and watched Madam Pomfrey as she worked. He had dozed off, and was nearly asleep when the doors slammed open and the others returned, Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout in tow.

"The aurors have been called, and will be arresting Professor Lockhart as we speak." Professor McGonagall said. She looked furious. "Someone will be by to gather your statements shortly. I hope all of you are aware of how dangerous your actions were tonight. You may have gotten killed."

Professor Sprout spoke up, "I would have expected better of you, Mr. Diggory."

"They would have done something with or without me." Diggory replied. "I came along to look after them. If I had gone to inform a teacher, who knows where they would have been at that point. I only did what I thought was right."

"We'll decide what to do about this once you've given your statements and gotten some rest." Professor McGonagall said after a moment. Zacharias couldn't really focus on anyone's faces. He hoped the aurors would hurry up. He didn't think he could stay awake much longer.

An auror arrived soon enough. The group sat together and described what happened. Zacharias kept almost falling asleep, but every time he had nearly nodded off Draco kicked his leg to wake him back up. He was sort of grateful for it, even if it was Draco and the kicking hurt.

Eventually the auror was done with them and moved on to Nash and Stimpson. While the auror did that, Madam Pomfrey demanded each of them sit down for an examination. Most of them were cleared to go and be escorted by Professor Sprout and Flitwick to their dorms.

Zacharias unsteadily got to his feet to follow them, when Madam Pomfrey's voice said, "Where do you think you are going, Mr. Smith?"

He slowly turned to look at her, and answered, "To my dorm."

"Not tonight you aren't." Madam Pomfrey replied. "You show signs of dangerous levels of magical exhaustion. You will stay in that bed right there until I say you can leave."

Zacharias took a few moments to comprehend what she meant. He opened his mouth to argue, but Draco unhelpfully decided to interject. "He fainted earlier."

"I hate you." Zacharias muttered darkly, but under Madam Pomfrey's withering glare, he had no choice but to stumble to one of the beds and fall onto it. He might be more embarrassed if he wasn't so tired.

He was asleep almost instantly.


Neville's POV

Neville did not understand why he had a blindfold over his eyes. He tried to pry away the fabric, but it wouldn't budge. If Voldemort had wanted him restrained, wouldn't it have been better to use a Full-Body Bind or something like that? Not that the blindfold wasn't effective. Every sound echoed through the Chamber, so it was impossible to pinpoint anything when so much began to happen at once. He tried to scramble out of the way- not entirely sure where 'in the way' was- and tripped himself up. Neville slid across the damp stone, hearing the sound of a huge body slithering across the ground, running footsteps, cries of the phoenix, spells, and shouts. The only relief he had in all of the chaos was that he could pinpoint Haven's voice through it all, and heard at least one of the twins. Surely if someone had been hurt they would have screamed, and he would know?

"It's not working!" he grimaced at the voice. It was one of the twins, though he couldn't tell which one. Were they on his left?

There was a sudden loud hiss of whatever beast had been called by Riddle, followed by the trills of the phoenix. He heard the crash of something heavy hitting one of the pillars. The room echoed with more and more sounds of impact, and the wretched hissing.

The phoenix's song resumed. The sound filled Neville with energy. He could feel a certain power to it, like energy and life. It washed over him, and he felt his veins run hot.

Something soft impacted with his chest, as if it had been thrown at him. Neville blindly grabbed at it. Fabric- had someone thrown the sorting hat at him?

"NEVILLE, MOVE!" he could hear the order from Haven clearly. Neville didn't hesitate; he threw himself to the side. Keeping a hold on the hat, he scrambled first on all fours and then to his feet in a direction he hoped was out of the way. He heard more explosive hissing.

He felt the hat grow heavier in his arms. Neville didn't think- he just reached in and closed his fingers around something cold and hard- metal, maybe? He drew whatever it was from the hat.

"FRED!"

At the urgent scream, everything seemed to stop. He didn't know what was happening; he needed to know. He had to help.

Power exploded outwards. He focused on the phoenix's song as it grew louder- the only sound he registered. The ground shook beneath his feet. His eyes registered a sudden light, like flame. Then he realized his blindfold was on fire, but he couldn't feel the flame at all as the fabric burned away from his eyes.

He could see.

The thing he had taken from the sorting hat was a long, gleaming sword with rubies on the hilt. Neville only spared it a glance. Fred was struggling to his feet, looking winded. A pillar was at his back- had he been thrown into it? George held a knife in one trembling hand, and his wand in the other.

Haven stood right in front of a giant snake with acid green scales, her eyes on Neville. His eyes, however, were on the huge snake- it was lunging for Haven.

Neville didn't think. The ground trembled. He flung himself forward, arm and sword first, and somehow, impossibly, he made it as the snake did.

He kept his grip steady as the sword met resistance. It dug deep into the snake's mouth. Pain exploded from his forearm- one of the long, glittering fangs had pierced right through it, pinning his arm to Haven's shoulder. But it didn't matter; the large snake writhed backwards and fell over sideways.

Everything went quiet. Neville blinked at the fang. His blood was pouring from the wound. Would it heal like all the others had? It didn't seem to be. Fire ran down to his fingers, and all the way up his arm. It was spreading. Haven was bleeding, too, though the tip of the fang had not gone too deep into her shoulder. She'd be okay, unless it was poisoned.

As he fell over from a sudden dizzy spell, he realized it probably was.

"Most unfortunate." Neville heard the voice as if from far away. "I had hoped to further study the powers you possessed…" whatever else Tom Riddle said faded out into a buzzing noise. Haven fell beside him, her shoulder soaked with a mix of his blood and her own. Would his blood heal her? He didn't know. Neville hoped, even if it couldn't save him, that it would save Haven. That would be nice.

As the phoenix landed beside Neville with a sad trill, he managed to decipher a few more words from Riddle. "You're dead, Alex Potter… so ends the famous Potter…"

Some liquid landed on his arm. He would try to figure out what it was, but he was tired… Swirls of color sailed pleasantly through his vision. He could feel Haven beside him. He could feel death's touch on her. It was cold. He didn't like it.

He could feel Riddle, too. He was some disgusting, slimy thing. An abomination. But the presences of Fred and George, steady and warm with life, were comforting.

Until they weren't. Suddenly, the twins gave an unearthly scream of anguish as one and he felt a dark, chaotic energy engulf them. It connected them, until he could hardly make out where one ended and the other began.

Streaks of color shot across the dark Chamber. It took him a few moments to register the light show as spells being fired.

Neville slumped against Haven. His vision was beginning to clear, even if he was still exhausted. Fred and George were fighting Riddle. He couldn't keep up with exactly what was going on. Fred stood on one side of Voldemort, and George on the other. Neither ever stopped moving- ducking and weaving and shooting off jets of color left and right- but always they remained on sides exactly opposite of one another, almost as if predicting the other's movements. Voldemort tried to keep up, turning constantly to react to each spell. Neville couldn't tell who was winning, if anyone was. It was hard to focus.

"Haven?" he whispered, managing to turn his head to look at her. She was still breathing, but her face was pale. Her eyes seemed out of focus. The phoenix dripped great, pearly tears onto her shoulder. The tears mixed with the blood and soaked into her skin.

Wasn't there an old tale about the tears of phoenix's having healing properties? Combined with the blood he'd gotten all over her wound, surely it would work. She would be okay.

That was nice. His heroics hadn't been for nothing.

Neville watched the duel, wishing he could summon the energy to get up and do something but every time he tried his limbs wouldn't respond. By the looks on their faces, the twins were fighting from pure rage and grief- they must have thought Neville and Haven were dead. They didn't know about the Stone, so how would they know different? He felt bad about that. He should have told them. He should tell them. Every time he called their names, the soft croak was lost amid the spells.

However, as time went on, he began to regain a little of his energy. Enough to move Haven away so her weight wasn't half on top of him. Enough to roll over onto his forearms, though the effort took the breath from his lungs. His wound had closed up, though the skin was still red and inflamed, with red lines running down his arm.

He didn't have his wand. Voldemort still had that. However, Haven's wand had rolled a little to the side. Neville stretched out his arm and managed to grasp it in his hand. But what would he do with it? He couldn't think of the name and wand movement of a single spell that would be useful.

His own spells weren't needed. He saw one twin cast a quick spell spoken so fast he couldn't decipher it above the din. When it hit Riddle in the back of the knee, he pitched forward, his head falling straight into the path of the other twin's spell.

The result was… horrible. The second spell exploded as it impacted with Voldemort's skull. Gore and brain matter splattered against the stone.

The room went silent.

Neville watched at the twins stared unblinking at the 6th year memory of Voldemort they had killed. After several moments, where they might as well have been statues, they looked up at each other.

"Happy birthday, George." Fred croaked suddenly, cracking a wry smile under the grime and sweat that coated his face.

George seemed startled for a moment, just as Neville was. Right. It must have been late enough that the last day of March had transitioned to the first day of April. Had Neville really been down here that long?

"Happy birthday, Fred."

At once, both twins burst into laughter as tears ran down their faces and their chests heaved. They continued like that as Neville struggled to crawl towards them, and to stand. As last, with great effort that left him gulping in each breath, he made it to one of them- Fred- and placed a hand on the elder's shoulder.

"It's okay." he whispered in a surprisingly hoarse tone. Neville realized his throat was incredibly dry.

"No, it's not!" Fred sobbed, head buried in his palms while his nails scratched at his scalp. "I just blew a Dark Lord's brains out and Alex- and Neville-" He stopped short, his hands dropping as he stared at Neville in shock. "Neville?! Bloody hell, aren't you- but the basilisk bit you! Its venom should have killed you by now!" Ah. A basilisk. Neville had killed a basilisk.

"Neville?" this was George. He furiously wiped the tears from his face with a dirty sleeve, leaving a streak of slime. "Don't scare us like that ever again!"

Haven chose that moment to groan and raise an arm. "I'm good, too." She pulled herself up into a sitting position and grimaced. Fred flew past Neville, nearly knocking him down, and dived at Haven. Within moments George was there too, and both of them had enveloped Haven in a hug. She squirmed uncomfortably for a moment, before giving Neville a tired smile.

"How are you two alive?" Fred asked as he pulled away to examine Haven. "Blimey, not even a mark where it bit you."

Haven smiled, though her eyes were uneasy as she exchanged a glance with Neville. "Ah, you know me. I'm too stubborn to die like that-"

"It was my blood that saved us. Or at least partly." Neville interrupted quietly. Haven fell silent while the twins blinked in confusion. He met Haven's eyes. 'Are you sure?' Her expression seemed to ask. He nodded, at first a little hesitant but then more confident. They had thought Neville and Haven dead. They deserved to know.

"Scrap what I said. It was his blood." Haven said instead. "Want me to explain it, or do you want to?"

Neville sighed, and replied. "I'll do it." He stumbled his way over to the group and sank gratefully into the ground. He could sleep for a day, at least, but he owed them this much. They'd thought him dead, and in their pain they had killed someone. He couldn't even imagine how that must have felt.

"You remember last year? With the Philosopher's Stone, and how we fought Voldemort and Quirrell?" Neville began. The twins nodded hesitantly. "If you remember, how we defeated Quirrell was… my magic had exploded. I know why it happened. In the fight, some of my blood got onto the Stone, and…" he took in a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart. "I absorbed it."

He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "I figured it out over the summer. Since then, my magic has been unpredictable. But my blood… it can heal things. Make them grow." He rubbed his wrist, not daring to look at either of them. "I tried the gold trick, too, and I managed it."

"So you…" George trailed off. Neville nodded.

"I think the whole Stone thing is the reason… well, the reason that when I wrote in the diary I revived Voldemort." Neville admitted, glancing up at them. They appeared a little overwhelmed, but Neville didn't expect much else considering everything. "Sorry I didn't tell you, but… it's just… if people find out, they'll come after me like they did the Stone. Without even knowing I was the Stone, only one thing I could do, well…" Neville traced a pattern on the floor with the tip of his shoe. "That's why he took me down here with him."

Haven hissed something through her teeth. If it was parseltongue, he didn't think it was kind. Then, she said, "We should get going. I don't know about all of you, but I'm tired. Hunt complete, go team."

"Where should we go?" George asked quietly. "Shouldn't we tell someone we've got Neville back?"

"Why? He's not hurt anymore, right Neville?" Haven asked. Neville shook his head. "Then I don't see why it can't wait until morning."


When Draco throws you under the bus. Ha. And actually letting the adults handle something! Look at that! Intelligence! Also I need to hug Michelangelo so much. We'll get into more of how he is doing.

I know everyone was looking forward to Haven and Neville kicking ass, but... I like Fred and George getting that. They deserve something, too, even if they may or may not be traumatized now... oops?

Something about the comparison between how Haven handles things and the others handles things is just... it says a lot, you know? I've recently realized what exactly all of this juxtaposition was leading me. We'll see the result of that in the next few chapters.