"Draco?" Harry spoke up slowly, and the blond span around, his eyes going wide, "Oh thank Merlin!" he was shaking slightly, "I was on my way to find the teachers when they announced that someone had been taken and that all students were to go to their dormitories.. I was headed for Dumbledores office when Nott saw me and decided it would be fun to use the body bind curse on me.. I hit my head. I only just woke up I am so sorry-"

"It's not your fault." Harry shook his head, "We're okay." he glanced at the stone gargoyle, watching as the phoenix flew to him and he hopped aside, the wall behind him splitting in two, and behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving slowly upward like an escalator. After exchanging wearing looks they all stepped onto it, the wall closing behind them as they rose upward in circles, higher and higher until Harry, who was already suffering from a headache and all other number of pains felt slightly sick.

At last they came to a stop, where a gleaming oak door was, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. Beyond the door they could hear noises, what sounded like sobbing and raised voices, but after the day Harry had had he wasn't going to wait. He stepped forward, and, without bothering knocking, pushed the door open enough to peer inside, one hand still on Ginny's back as she leaned against him.

At first no one noticed, Dumbledore was sat behind an enormous claw-footed desk, with McGonagall stood by his side, and Mr. And Mrs. Weasley sat down in front of it, Mrs. Weasley crying into her husbands shoulder as Dumbledore spoke. "I assure you we are doing everything on our power to try and find your daughter Mrs. Weasley. We've called in Aurors-" he nodded towards-Harry managed a small grin when he saw a familiar face, with pink bubblegum hair, stood next to a man with a glass eye and a face covered with scars with dark grey hair.

"We'll search the whole school." he mans voice was rough growling, "If she's anywhere to be found we'll find her I promise you that."

Harry paused at that. Clearly they'd yet to notice that there were three other students missing. He took a deep breath before nodding and pushing it open fully, making all eyes turn to them, there was a beat of stunned silence before the Weasley parents were on their feet and rushing towards their daughter, pulling her away from Harry and hugging her tightly as Ginny started sobbing even louder.

"What on-" McGonagall pressed a hand to her heart, her eyes wide, and even Dumbledore looked shocked.

Alastor Moody, and it had to be him, Harry had been given his description before by Tonks, grabbed her arm when she went to rush forward, "I think." he spoke slowly, "We ought to get some chairs and these four need to tell us what's going on."

Dumbledore nodded, calling up some more chairs for them quickly, and Harry dropped into his gratefully, whimpering slightly as he did and letting his head drop back as the phoenix flew into the room and landed Dumbledores shoulder.

"Ah. Fawkes.. and I see you have the sword and the Sorting Hat.. I did wonder where he flew off too."

Then Mrs. Weasley was rushing at the four friends, hugging Ron first, "You saved her! You saved her how did you do it? What happened why was-"

Harry held up a hand, interrupting her and taking a deep breath, "C-can I just..." he felt Hermione laying a hand on his shoulder, steadying, and he could feel Tonks' eyes on him. Which meant his dad would definitely find out about his adventures this year.

"We..." he glanced at Draco, who nodded.

"I.. over the summer I heard my father saying some things... about.. about your muggle protection act." he looked towards Mr. Weasley, "And how someone needed to teach you a lesson... and he said something about Hogwarts as well.. so... so I told the others before the year even started about it. And then... and then-"

"I kept hearing this voice." Harry shook his head, "I... I'm a Parselmouth. I don't know how." he tried to ignore the surprised looks that earned, "I mean my parents are muggles.. I dunno maybe I'm descended from squibs or something... the point is I heard it... but.. I didn't know what it was so I didn't tell... that's... I was following the voice when we found Mrs. Norris. Draco had heard of the Chamber so he told us what he knew, and when we got a chance we decided to have a look around the girls bathroom... and... we found the entrance... thanks to Myrtle." Harry paused to catch his breath and Ron spoke up.

"We... we didn't know what exactly was going on but we figured we might be wrong... were weren't exactly gonna test it.. and... the Mrs. Norris thing could have been some twisted prank... but we agreed to keep an eye out. We'd each keep watch hidden inside of the bathroom..."

"No one goes in there because of Myrtle." Hermione shrugged, "And... for a while nothing happened... until... after the first Quidditch match Harry took over from me for the night-"

"After the first Quidditch match?" McGonagall glanced at Ginny, clearly concerned.

"Yes." Harry shifted nervously, "I was just reading my book when I heard her come in... she didn't notice me. And... I knew right away something was wrong.. it was just the way she was moving... and then she started hissing at the sink-the entrance-and I just... I did the only think I could think of I used the body bind on her.. she fell and hit her head and I... I couldn't leave her there so I took her up to the hospital wing and made a lot of noise to get Madam Pomfrey's attention."

"What are you saying?" Mrs. Weasley's eyes were wide as Ginny suddenly yanked herself away and rushed over to Harry, grabbing onto him quickly, and he wrapped his arms around her again, ignoring the fact that he was in pain, since she was clearly terrified of her parents blaming her for what happened.

"She was being possessed. And... when it happened she was holding this." he lifted up the diary so that they could all see. "I took it... I knew something was weird about it right away... and I told the others that night. We didn't want Ginny to get in trouble when it wasn't her fault so we decided to hide it... and keep an eye, make sure she was okay and... and it seemed to be working. Ginny was even perking up 'cause she'd been really pale looking for a while."

"And then?" Dumbledore gave a serious look, "Something else must have happened to have caused all this."

"It.." Harry shifted nervously, "We... it started calling out to me. I'd hid it in my pillow and I... it kept calling out to me and then.. this morning... I gave in and... and it wrote back... it told me... he-told me, he wanted me to go down to the Chamber so I panicked. I.. I just got up and ran down into the common room and.. and I don't know where I'd have gone but I smashed into Ginny and she saw it... we were both kinda panicky and there was shouting and then Hermione snatched it off me and threw it in the fire so... so we thought it was over and we just.. went about our day." he ducked his head, feeling everyones eyes on him.

"I had detention this evening so it was kinda late by the time I got back.. and the twins were asking where Ginny was because she'd been missing since her first break. When Neville said that he saw her getting something out from the fire we knew. And... and we knew we didn't have much time so we-" he pointed to himself, Ron and Hermione, "Decided to go after her while Draco went and got a teacher."

"And why didn't you?" McGonagall gave him a furious look.

"I tried but Nott thought it would be funny to curse me and I hit my head! I didn't wake up again until I heard you announcing that a student had been taken and that everyone needed to go to their dormitories so I tried to come here but I didn't know the password!"

"I understand." Dumbledore's voice was reassuring, "Now keep going. I need to know everything that happened. I think we all do."

"We ran into Professor Lockhart on our way down. He threatened to Obliviate us so we disarmed him and made him come with us-" Dumbledore nodded, seeming unsurprised at that, "And we opened it and went down... he tried to attack while we were down there."

"But Harry disarmed him and I used the shield charm and the shockwave brought down loads of rocks. We only just avoided getting crushed." Hermione added, "Ron's wand snapped during the chaos and.."

"And I went on alone." Harry took a deep breath, squeezing Ginny's shoulder lightly, "I... I reached the chamber and I found Ginny led on the floor... and... and the boy from the diary was waiting for me. Tom Riddle." he noticed Dumbledore's concern deepen

"He... he wanted to meet me because Ron and I mentioned some stuff that happened last year in the letter... with... with Voldemort-" he ignored the gasps that earned, "And... and when I asked why he cared so much.. he told me that.. .that he cared because.. because he'd already started using that name amongst his closest friends-" this earned a horrified noise from the Weasley's. "After that... he summoned the monster.. a Basilisk... and... and Fawkes... that's his name right?" at Dumbledore's nod he continued, "Fawkes came, and.. and he brought the hat and he blinded the Basilisk.. and... and then... it knocked the hat towards me and I.. I was scared and I needed help and I.. I didn't know what else to do so... so I put it on thinking maybe the hat would be able to give some advice... I dropped my wand earlier so I couldn't even defend myself with that and... and the sword fell out onto my head." he let out a weak laugh, "And... and I took it and I just.. When it came at me I just stabbed upwards." he rubbed his arm absently.

"One of it's fangs got stuck in it though... and.. and it sorta... fell out of the snakes mouth and I... I tugged it out and Fawkes came and he cried on me." he smiled towards the phoenix. That.. that made Riddle angry. He'd stole my wand and... and I think... I think somehow he was.. as Ginny got weaker he got stronger. He could use it at this point... whereas at first he was... he wasn't exactly... real. He said.. said he was going to kill me and then Fawkes gave me the diary and..." he held it up, "I grabbed the fang and just stabbed it. That... it seemed to kill Riddle... and then Ginny woke up and we started making our way back. Lockhart's probably wandered off somewhere... and we... we came straight here."