The Twisted Path

by Xetarma

When Minerva McGonagall discovers that Harry Potter's relatives intend to keep him from attending Hogwarts, she takes matters into her own hands. But when Harry comes to Diagon Alley one day early, it sets events into motion that end with him and his friend, Hermione Granger, sorted into Slytherin. Now the two of them must somehow tame the House of the Snakes.

16. When Everything has Changed

Chapter 16: When Everything Has Changed

February 27th, 1993

For a moment Ginny recoiled at Harry's reaction. Harry shook his head. She had to think he was scared of her. That he had rejected her. She ran closer to the statue of Slytherin crying.

"Ginny!" said Harry as he ran up behind her, "I'm still your friend Ginny."

And then he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"I'm still your friend," he repeated, and Ginny turned around and began crying into his chest.

After several minutes Ginny managed to stop crying. "I'm sorry," she said, "I saw… all the things he had done. Even as a teenager he was a monster. The things he did were horrific! And to have his thoughts in my mind. It just makes me feel dirty. I hate him. I hate him more than I've ever hated a person. I want him dead! And now he's part of me! It makes me just want to…"

And suddenly Ginny let out a scream, a horrible primal sound. Harry just held her tighter.

"Believe me I know," said Harry, "I hate him as well. And he left me a few presents too."

Ginny sighed, "Yeah, he did," she said. Harry could feel the tension flow out of her for a moment.

"You know, I'd have given anything to get you to hold me like this a week ago, or a month ago. But now that I'm here…" Ginny trailed off for a moment, "Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for your support, but it wasn't exactly worth it."

"I'm not able to erase what you feel Ginny," said Harry, "I can only help you recover from it. And even then, I can only do so much." Despite his words, he didn't let go.

"I know, but I'm a witch," said Ginny, "I guess I expected magic."

"Do you want me to let go?" asked Harry.

"No," said Ginny, "When you let go, we'll have to figure all this out. And I'm not ready yet."

"Take as long as you need," said Harry, as he rested his head on her shoulder.

XXXXX

"You know Ronald, you could help me a bit here," said Luna as she moved a rock away from the cave in.

"Sorry Luna," said Ron, "I was trying to get up the slide."

"It looks like it won't be easy," said Percy. He was very subdued compared to how he had been acting twenty minutes ago.

Suddenly they heard a grinding noise from upstairs, and what little light was coming from the entryway vanished.

"Oh, fantastic," said Ron.

"Blaise should have awoken by now," said Luna.

"Ehhh, about that," said Percy.

Luna and Ron both turned to stare at Percy.

"I, uh, may have put Blaise in a body-bind," said Percy, "He isn't going anywhere for a couple hours."

Luna considered this for a moment. It was rather inconvenient. If she didn't know better, she'd think Percy had made a serious mistake. Of course, he was a school prefect so she must be mistaken.

"I'm pretending to be oblivious to myself," she muttered, "that's probably not a good sign."

Ron laughed, having somehow overheard her. "Yeah," he said, "it probably isn't." He walked over and started helping her pull out a particularly big rock.

"I don't like this place anymore," said Lockhart.

"Me neither," said Luna.

XXXXX

Ginny had finally managed to compose herself, and had let go of Harry. "Okay," she said, "First things first, you understand that we can't let anyone know that I have Voldemort's memories, right?"

"You think if the wrong people find out they'll do something?" asked Harry. He actually was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he was interested in her reasoning on this.

"At best we're talking people watching me constantly and interfering in my life," said Ginny, "We both saw what happened. That horcrux died. But some people won't believe that."

"From what I've heard I wouldn't put much past Cornelius Fudge," said Harry, "If the right people demand your head, he'll give it to them."

"From what Dad says, I agree with you," said Ginny, "So we keep this from everyone until I say otherwise okay?"

"Okay," said Harry.

"I mean everyone," said Ginny, "I mean Snape. I mean McGonagall. I mean Dumbledore, my parents, my brothers, Luna…"

"...and Hermione," said Harry, "I understand."

Ginny smiled at Harry. "Thank you, Harry. I know keeping a secret from Hermione will be awkward for you. Eventually I do think we will tell some of our friends, but they have to be able to protect the secret. Which brings us to our second problem. Your mind is completely open to being read. You'll need to learn a skill known as Occlumency."

"I already know a little Occlumency," said Harry.

"Really?" asked Ginny, "that's rare at your age. I mean... I know you're older than me. I just meant…"

Harry held out a hand to calm her down. "I know it must be confusing," he said, "Anyway I can detect if someone enters my mind, I can throw them out, and I can almost create a very weak barrier around my mind. Do you know Occlumency now?"

Ginny nodded. "I'll have to adapt it though, Riddle knew how to protect his mind, but my mind is entirely different from his. Still I think I can pull up the basics. This is important right now though, because Dumbledore is willing to use Legilimency on people he thinks are lying to him. He did it to Tom once."

Harry shook his head, "Is that legal?" he asked.

"I'm not sure about current law, but at the time Riddle was in school the law on Legilimency was very antiquated. It mostly dealt with exposing state secrets as opposed to personal privacy," Ginny said with a shrug, "It's a relatively rare talent, and few people learn Legilimency at any real skill level. I'd bet it's still the same."

"I have a minor talent for it," said Harry.

"That will be useful for kicking him out, but not keeping him out." said Ginny.

"So, we need to make sure our story doesn't raise any red flags," said Harry.

"There's the big problem," said Ginny, "how do we explain how we destroyed the horcrux? They're practically indestructible."

"I could Reducto it," said Harry.

Ginny shook her head, "There is no spell you can cast at this stage in your life that could hurt a horcrux. And any spell that could hurt it would be something like the killing curse or Fiendfyre. If you claim to know those, Dumbledore WILL read your mind, and he won't back off."

Harry nodded. Suddenly he remembered the basilisk. "What about a basilisk fang? Isn't basilisk venom one of the most destructive substances in the world?"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Brilliant Harry! That would be perfect. Lucky we have a dead basilisk here, huh?"

"You didn't get chased by it," said Harry, "I wouldn't call it luck."

Ginny started to giggle. "Sorry Harry, I just…"

"Don't apologize," said Harry with a lopsided grin, "it was funny."

Harry took the diary and took it to where the basilisk's corpse lay. Luckily, he was able to reach in its mouth and press the diary against one of the teeth. Making very sure not to get any venom on him he pushed the fang through the diary.

"So, our story is that while you held off Voldemort's assault, I ran with the diary and pushed it against a basilisk fang," said Harry.

"Sounds good," said Ginny.

"You know," said Harry, "before we leave, I want you to know, you were incredibly brave. Even though it was only a fragment, you held off Voldemort's soul and defeated him. That took strength. I just want you to know that."

Ginny blushed a bit. "If we're talking about things like that," she said shyly, "Part of the reason I opted not to fight being in Slytherin was because of Riddle, but there was something else."

Ginny laughed a little, "It's so silly," she said, "I ran into an old seer, and she told me if I followed the narrow and twisted path to its end, I'd know your true heart."

Harry blushed, "Oh?" he said.

"At first I thought it meant that you'd fall in love with me, and I still kind of hope it means that," said Ginny, "But if it doesn't, well, I'm open to that as well."

And suddenly Harry hugged her again. Ginny laughed this time as she returned it, "Okay, okay, it got a bit dramatic again, maybe I should have held off on that."

"Let's see if we have an exit," said Harry.

"Oh?" asked Ginny.

"Gilderoy Lockhart sort of caused a cave in behind me." said Harry.

Ginny scoffed. "Why'd you bring Lockhart?"

"I didn't. Percy did. He thought I'd abducted you."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Of course he did."

"Lockhart was trying to Obliviate us, as it is the only spell he can use effectively, but he picked up Ron's wand instead of his own. Fortunately, Ron broke his wand when we went down the slide out there."

Ginny winced. Harry knew she was thinking that that was a lot of money.

"I'll buy him another one," said Harry.

"Mum will never let you," she said.

"I'll just say I landed on it," said Harry.

Ginny nodded. "That might work."

They finally reached the cave-in. There was a small tunnel that had been dug out of the rubble.

"Hey! Ron! Luna!," said Harry.

Ron's face appeared on the other side of the hole, "Did you save Ginny!" he asked.

Ginny knelt down by the hole and waved, "I'm fine. A bit tired but fine," she said.

Relief flooded Ron's face. "Thank goodness," Harry heard Percy say.

"Did Blaise come with you?" asked Ginny.

"Percy stunned him and put him in a body bind in Myrtle's bathroom," said Luna.

"Probably for the best," said Ginny, "He would have used the Reducto on you Percy."

"Yeah, why do you think I targeted him?" said the prefect.

"I think you can make it through Ginny," said Harry.

Ginny nodded and crawled through the small hole. Harry looked at the hole once she'd gone through. He might be able to make it through. And he did, but it was tighter than he was comfortable with.

"I'm getting bigger than I thought," said Harry.

"The basilisk?" asked Ron.

"Very dead," said Harry.

"Riddle's diary?" asked Luna.

Harry pulled the book out for his robes. "Impaled on a basilisk fang."

"You don't do things halfway, do you Harry?" asked Ron with a laugh.

"We have a problem," said Luna, "the door in the bathroom shut."

"Harry should be able to open it with his Parseltongue," said Ginny.

Harry concentrated on speaking to a snake. "Open," he said. He heard the grinding as the door opened.

"How do we get up?" asked Ron.

Ginny waved her wand and most of the detritus on the floor swept away, revealing a circular platform. "Stand on this."

All of them stood on the platform, except Lockhart, who just stared at them.

"Come along Gilderoy," said Luna, "We're going to a better place."

Lockhart smiled and stood on the platform. Harry told the platform to rise in Parseltongue, and it rose. Soon they had risen into the girl's bathroom.

Harry walked over to Blaise, who was still on the floor. "Finite," he said. Blaise's eyes popped open.

"Thanks Harry," he said as he sat up. He looked at Percy and Lockhart, as well as Ginny, "You okay Ginny?"

"Like you give a fuck," said Ginny with a grin.

"Ginny!" said Percy aghast.

"I don't give a fuck," said Blaise, "but if I had to lay on the floor of a girl's loo for nothing…"

"Oh, you're back," said Myrtle, floating out of her stall, "I was hoping you'd die so you could share my toilet."

"If only," said Harry.

"That is a very enlightened attitude Harry," said Luna.

"I like this place," said Lockhart, "Let's stay here."

"What did you do to Lockhart?" asked Blaise accusingly.

"Turns out Lockhart never did any of the things he claimed," said Harry, "Other people did them and Lockhart memory charmed them. Well he tried to memory charm me with a broken wand, and well…"

"Oh," said Blaise sadly, "Dammit, did you have to be so right Harry?"

"Why don't you and Percy take him to the hospital wing," said Harry, "the rest of us can take Ginny to Dumbledore."

"You think he's back?" asked Blaise.

"Snape went to get him," said Harry, "Bryant will make sure he gets back here."

"Right," said Percy, "Follow me Gilderoy."

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

"I figure the less we have to explain right away, the better," said Harry, "If Percy is there, we have to explain what he did first. Without him we can make it an afterthought."

"I hope Blaise doesn't try to get revenge," said Luna.

"I kind of hope he does," said Ginny.

XXXXX

Harry did not know where Dumbledore's office was, and neither did Ron or Ginny. Luckily, Luna knew where it was. "I made a point to find it my first week," she said.

Luna led them to a corridor on the third floor and stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle. "Sherbet Lemon," she said. The gargoyle moved out of the way, revealing a spiral staircase.

Harry, Ron and Ginny all stared at Luna. "I may have waited here until someone came by to see the headmaster and used the password," she admitted.

"Luna, have I told you that you're brilliant before?" said Harry. He had to admit that Luna had been very helpful. First she'd realised that Lockhart was dangerous, now this. Harry regretted not taking her into his confidence earlier.

"Yes, you have, but it is rather nice to hear it again," said Luna.

The four students made their way up the staircase. As they approached the door at the top, they heard voices. The first voice was clearly Bryant Greengrass.

"We are in the process of having the school searched, and with this new information we are confident that the Chamber will be found this time," he was saying.

"It hasn't been found for 1000 years, what makes you so certain now?" demanded the voice of Arthur Weasley. Harry should have known the Weasleys would be summoned once Ginny disappeared.

"We have the best lead that we have ever had," said the voice of Dumbledore, "We know what the creature is, and we know how it has been getting around the school. If we have to rip out the entire system of pipes to find the chamber, we will."

"What about the perpetrator, do you know who has done this?" demanded Arthur.

"We know who did this!" said the voice of Molly Weasley, "Percy has been certain all year that it is Harry Potter."

Ron rolled his eyes, and Ginny just shook her head.

"That is impossible," said Dumbledore.

"We don't know that Percy is right dear," said Arthur.

"I know you all have a soft spot for the boy, but he is a danger to this school!" said Molly.

And with that it was clear that Ginny had had enough. She swung the door to the office open and marched in.

"That's a hell of a way to talk about the boy who just saved my life," said Ginny angrily. Dumbledore was there, as was Bryant Greengrass. Snape was in the corner. The Weasleys were sitting at Dumbledore's desk. There was a tea set on the desk and both Dumbledore and Molly had a cup in front of them. Apparently, someone had been trying to calm Molly down.

Of course, none of this stopped her parents from running up to her and throwing their arms around her as if she hadn't said anything. Which seemed to annoy Ginny even more.

"You're all right!" cried Molly.

Ginny pulled away angrily. "Oh no, I am not dropping this. I told you that Percy was full of…" Ginny stopped herself just before she swore in front of her parents, "...it. How dare you come here and start attacking Harry again! Well let me tell you that Percy tried to attack Harry when he located the Chamber of Secrets, and as a result Harry ended up having to try to save me by himself. If Percy had been even slightly more successful, I'd be dead!"

"Maybe you should start from the beginning?" said Dumbledore.

Harry sighed. This was exactly what they had been trying to avoid by sending Percy and Blaise to the hospital wing.

"I came to tell Ron that his sister was missing, but Blaise and Luna were already there," said Harry, "Anyway, we figured out that Moaning Myrtle was the girl who was killed the last time the Chamber was opened, so we went and checked her bathroom for the opening. I was able to open it with Parseltongue."

"You should have come straight for a teacher Harry," said Bryant.

"I was going to," said Harry, "But then Percy and Lockhart showed up. They stunned Blaise and Luna pushed Ron and myself down the hole into the pipes. Ron broke his wand on the way down, but we managed to disarm Percy and Lockhart when they followed us. Lockhart tried to grab his wand and use a memory charm on us, but instead he grabbed Ron's broken wand, which backfired, so he wiped his own memory. The force from that misfire caused a cave in so I was separated from the rest of the group. I had no choice but to try to enter the Chamber alone."

"Who was the Heir of Slytherin?" asked Arthur.

"Voldemort," said Harry, prompting both of the Weasleys to flinch, "He had been using this to control Ginny all year." He pulled Riddle's diary out of his robes. Dumbledore took it immediately, and his eyes seemed to widen a bit when he saw the state it was in.

"Ginny!" said Molly angrily, "What have we told you about not ever speaking to a creature if you can't see where it keeps its brain!"

Ginny deflated at that immediately, but Harry would have none of it. "Ginny had no way to know how dangerous that thing was. It was probably planted in her school things by Lucius Malfoy back at Flourish and Blotts. Why would she think something in her school things was dangerous?"

"I agree with Harry," said Dumbledore, "Far greater witches and wizards have been fooled by Lord Voldemort. If I am not mistaken there was likely an enchantment on this diary that made it irresistible to write in."

"Anyway, inside the chamber there was some… image of Tom Riddle, who, if you haven't figured it out, is the real name of Lord Voldemort. He was draining her life energy, and said he was trying to bring himself back to life." Molly gasped at that.

"That's when he set the basilisk on me," said Harry.

"He did what?!" said Bryant in a stunned voice.

"He ordered the basilisk to kill me," said Harry, "I will admit, I thought I was going to die. But I managed to drop a giant stalactite into its mouth and impale its brain. Anyway, I ran back, and Ginny was doing a marvellous job holding off Riddle's attempt to drain her life energy, but I knew that I had to destroy the diary. No spell I knew did anything, so I took it to the dead basilisk and impaled it on one of its teeth. That destroyed it."

"That would destroy anything Harry," said Arthur.

"Yeah, I know," said Harry, "What is this thing anyway? It survived a point blank Reductor." He looked at Dumbledore pointedly. Would the old man dare lie to him about this?

Dumbledore looked uncertain. "I am not sure at all Harry, but I doubt we will know for certain for some time." Harry immediately knew that Dumbledore was lying. He knew what that was. He just wasn't sure if he should tell Harry what it was.

"All right Headmaster," he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. At which he failed.

Apparently, Dumbledore had noticed something was up, because he felt a pressure in his mind. Dumbledore was using Legilimency on him! Harry immediately threw the Headmaster out of his mind.

"Headmaster," said Harry calmly, "I'm sure you're very interested to know how much I know about the rather obvious lie you just told me. But that is no excuse to try and read my mind."

"Albus!" said Bryant angrily, "That is uncalled for!"

"Forgive me, but the type of magic typically employed in these sorts of artefacts is quite dark. I was worried that Harry had come across… a dangerous source of knowledge," said Dumbledore.

"Riddle's shade told me some things that hinted that the diary was very important," said Harry, "Though he didn't give me a lot of details."

"This is not the sort of magic that you should have details on Harry," said Dumbledore.

Harry realized that this was futile. "Fine," he said shortly.

"Where is Percy?" demanded Molly.

"He's fine," said Ron, "He and Blaise took Lockhart to the hospital wing."

"Which is where Ginny and I need to go now," said Harry, "We weren't hurt, but we should have Madam Pomfrey look us over. Just in case." Dumbledore looked at him with surprise. But Harry was done with this conversation. If the Headmaster wasn't going to answer his questions, he wasn't going to answer any more of the Headmaster's questions.

"Of course, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"What about Lucius Malfoy?" demanded Arthur.

"Mr. Greengrass," said Harry, "I do have a suggestion about him. I doubt we have enough to convict him of any crime, but maybe we can get him off the Board of Governors…"

And Harry explained his idea to everyone.

XXXXX

Harry, Ginny and Bryant entered the hospital wing as they came back from Dumbledore's office.

"More?" asked Madame Pomfrey disapprovingly.

"I nearly got my soul sucked out by a cursed diary," said Ginny.

"I fought and killed a basilisk," said Harry.

Pomfrey sighed, "Well, you aren't dead, so it clearly didn't bite you. I'll take a look at you in a moment."

Harry walked over to Hermione. "We got him Hermione. We took care of the heir and the basilisk. Everyone will be safe now." He put his hand over her hand, the same one that had held the crucial information about the basilisk.

Bryant had followed, and sat by the side of Daphne's bed. He smiled at Harry's simple gesture.

"Don't worry Harry," said Bryant, "the mandrake draught will be here in just a few days. Then everyone will be right as rain."

Harry nodded and made his way to an empty bed. Soon Madam Pomfrey came and examined him.

"Hmm, you seem a bit tired, but that's expected. I suppose you should stay the night here for observation," said the mediwitch.

Pomfrey decide to also keep Ginny there as well. Percy was still hanging about, fussing over her. After Ginny had yelled at him, he walked over to Harry.

"Umm, I wish to apologize for my behaviour," said Percy, "I'm actually a bit embarrassed, I didn't expect to get beaten by a first- and second-year student."

Harry laughed, "Percy, you're a gifted student. You have a lot of ambition. But you weren't sorted into Slytherin. You know why?"

Percy shook his head.

"It's because you don't have the killer instinct. The knowledge that this is the time to move, or this is the time to stay put. You meant well, but following us down a blind drop was not a great tactic," said Harry.

Percy nodded a bit sheepishly.

"Sometimes, what may seem to be an opportunity can be a trap, and what might seem to be a disaster can be an opportunity. I mean I got sorted into Slytherin now didn't I?" noted Harry.

"So was Slytherin an opportunity or a trap?" asked Percy.

Harry looked Percy straight in the eyes. "It was both."

XXXXX

February 28th, 1993

The next day, Harry waited anxiously for Lucius Malfoy's arrival in Dumbledore's office. Lucius didn't know that Harry would be taking part of this conversation. This entire plan was a real risk, but if Lucius was anything like Draco, and Bryant assured Harry that he was, he would respond to Harry in the way that he wanted.

Bryant smiled at Harry encouragingly. He had to understand of course. Malfoy was a Death Eater, and Harry simply wasn't used to talking to Death Eaters. Well there was Snape, but Harry wasn't sure that Snape counted. Still, this sort of deliberate confrontation was new to Harry.

Lucius entered the room, his elf Dobby behind him. When Dobby saw Harry, panic set in on his face. Harry looked at him once and then pointedly ignored him. When Dobby realized that Harry wasn't going to rat him out his relief was visible.

"What is this about?" demanded Lucius, "Where is Dumbledore?"

"I told you, there are some issues that came up regarding our resolution to the Chamber of Secrets situation," said Bryant, "Specifically, issues that Harry has raised."

"Bryant convinced me to approach you before going public," said Harry, "I think we'll agree that dealing with things quietly is to all our advantages."

Lucius seemed to immediately get his guard up. He had to know this was a trap, but what kind of trap?

"Let's start with what I know," said Harry, "Someone planted one of Lord Voldemort's school things, a diary, on Ginny Weasley. The diary possessed her, causing her to open the Chamber of Secrets and sic a basilisk on the student body. I have killed the basilisk, and the diary is now not a problem."

"What I also know," continued Harry, "is that it was you who planted the diary on Ginny at Flourish and Blotts."

"Do you have evidence of this?" demanded Lucius.

"Lucius, please! If I did, we would not be speaking, and you would be under arrest," said Harry.

Lucius nodded, "So is there another reason you have come here today? Other than to gloat about how very clever you are."

"Yes," said Harry, "You are going to resign from the Hogwarts Board of Governors."

Lucius scoffed, "I will not."

"Lucius," said Bryant, "that book was a horcrux. It didn't care about blood supremacy. All it wanted was to gain enough power to bring itself back to life. Anyone who came across it was at risk of being drained to fuel the Dark Lord's rebirth. Including my daughter, and your son. My daughter was nearly killed by the creature. This plan put every child here at Hogwarts at risk! Anyone willing to do that should not be on the Board of Governors."

Harry's eyebrows twitched. He hadn't meant to tell Lucius that the diary was a horcrux! What was Bryant thinking?

"You don't have anything on me," said Lucius, "I don't have to listen to this."

"We have this!" said Harry as he held forth the diary. He'd subtly transfigured it so it looked undamaged. It should hold up for a few minutes at least.

"Why would I care about that?" asked Lucius.

Harry smiled. Time to roll the dice again. "Take a look," he said. And then he handed the diary over to Lucius.

Lucius gave a vicious grin. "I think I'll keep this," he said, "Dobby, take it." He threw the diary to Dobby.

Harry clapped his hands in triumph. "Got you!" he said, "Dobby open the diary."

Dobby opened the book revealing a sock in its pages. "Master has given Dobby clothes," said the stunned elf, "Dobby is free!"

"What!?" shouted Lucius, "You've cost me my servant boy!" Lucius raised his wand to strike at Harry.

But then Dobby was there. "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" cried the elf as he knocked Lucius off of his feet.

"I told you he'd be just as predictable as his son," said Bryant, "Though I didn't think he'd actually attack you."

Lucius clambered back to his feet. "What is this now?" he demanded.

"One, you just tried to attack me," said Harry, "Two, your house elf is now free of the horror you have inflicted on him, and three, Dobby knew all about your plan and will now be able to testify to it!"

"Yes! Yes! I can!" said Dobby happily.

"No one will ever listen to a house elf!" insisted Lucius.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Harry, "but if you don't agree to resign from the Board of Governors, we're going to find out."

Lucius stewed for a moment then made a growling noise. "Fine, I'll submit my resignation tomorrow," he said.

"I'm glad we could come to a civilized arrangement," said Harry.

Lucius glowered at Bryant. "How could you do this?" he demanded.

"Remember, I do everything I do for my daughters, for my family," said Bryant, "The moment Daphne was harmed, this was inevitable."

Lucius was taken aback by that. "Well, all right then. As it is clear that we are done…" he said, and without finishing he left the room.

Bryant groaned in exasperation, "I am starting to hate that man," he said.

"I am well past you on that," said Harry.

"Thank you, Thank you Harry Potter!" shouted Dobby.

"No problem," said Harry, "You can call me Harry. I've always hated it when people picked on the little guy."

"Harry Potter is so noble and brave and…" Dobby continued on and on about how great Harry was.

This might take a while to clear up, thought Harry.

XXXXX

March 1st, 1993

While it was largely unnoticed by the rest of the school, the resignation of Lucius Malfoy from the Hogwarts Board of Governors hit Slytherin house like a thunderbolt. Virtually everyone in the house knew that Harry had been behind his ouster. Another rumour had spread that Harry had personally killed a basilisk and found the Chamber of Secrets.

Things came to a head when Malfoy rushed into the common room Monday afternoon.

"Potter!" shouted Malfoy at Harry, who was reading his Charms textbook, "What did you say to my father?"

"You want me to tell?" said Harry, "That's funny, your father really didn't want me to talk. But that's fine with me. I accused him of being behind the attacks on the school, and then I tricked him into freeing your house elf, and then the house elf agreed to testify against him, and then Lucius Malfoy agreed to step down from the Board of Governors."

Draco's mouth dropped.

"But I'm pretty sure he didn't want me saying that," said Harry, "Oops. It appears that the Board of Governors has already accepted his resignation, so he can't rescind it though!"

Everyone in the house stared at Malfoy who looked completely taken aback.

"You know what the best part of this is?" said Harry tauntingly, "Since you demanded that I explain myself in front of the entire house, Lucius can't even pretend I broke our agreement! It's your fault. Which was exactly what I was counting on."

Draco went white.

Harry leaned in as if he was going to speak softly so that only Draco could hear him, but instead spoke to the whole room. "If you want to be my rival so badly, you'd best do better than this. This, right here? It's a disgrace to Slytherin," he said before he walked away.

"Wow," said Nott. Millie and Pansy both nodded in agreement. In fact, everyone in the house seemed to be in agreement. Draco Malfoy had just been thoroughly owned.

XXXXX

March 5th, 1993

The day had finally come. Harry rushed up to the Hospital wing at the news. The Mandrake draught had arrived.

"They're going to wake you up today Hermione!" said Harry as he ran to her bedside.

"Mr. Potter," said Madam Pomfrey, "Do you think we need every student crowding them when they wake up?"

"Hermione would want me to be here," Harry insisted.

"Oh, let the boy stay," said Professor Sprout in an annoyed voice as she and Snape entered with a cauldron full of Mandrake draught, "Loyalty like that should be rewarded."

"Oh, very well," said Madam Pomfrey.

They decided to administer the draught in the order in which the students were petrified. Colin was first.

They poured the draught into his mouth which immediately opened to admit more of the potion. After only a few moments, Colin sat up.

"Why am I in hospital wing?" Colin asked, confused.

"You were petrified by a basilisk," said Harry.

"Cool!" said Colin, "What's a basilisk?"

The next person woken up was Justin. When he opened his eyes, he looked around and yawned. "I got petrified, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Don't worry, I killed the creature that did it."

"I bet Ernie gave you trouble," said Justin.

Harry nodded, "More like your entire house. Ginny gave them a dressing down like you wouldn't believe."

"Really?" said Justin.

"Yeah," said Harry, "though, well you'll find out all about what happened soon enough. They're doing Hermione next.

Justin's face grew sympathetic, "The Heir got Hermione? I'm sorry Harry."

"And Daphne," said Harry, "They've only been out a little under two weeks, though."

"Actually, I think we'll do Miss Greengrass next," said Pomfrey, "as she's closer to the cauldron."

When Daphne woke up, she immediately shouted, "It's a basilisk!"

"We know Daphne," said Harry, "It's dead."

"Oh," she said sheepishly, "I guess you found the note on Hermione."

"Yep," said Harry.

Finally, they brought the cauldron over to Hermione's bed. They gave her some of the draught and within moments her eyes opened.

She inhaled sharply as she suddenly squinted at the light. Then, seeing Harry, she threw herself at him, pulling him into a hug.

She was quivering as she held him. Harry realized that something was very wrong.

"Hey there," said Harry as he put a hand behind her head, "It's okay, you're okay."

After a moment Hermione pulled away. "I was awake the whole time," she said.

Everyone stared at her in disbelief.

"I mean, there were times when I slept, but my mind was aware the whole time," she said, "I could hear all of you in here."

"That's impossible," said Snape.

"No," said Madame Pomfrey, "Just very rare. My guess is that she caught the reflection of the reflection of Miss Greengrasses mirror, thus weakening the petrifying effect further."

"It was horrible," said Hermione, "I kept screaming at you to figure out that it was a basilisk, but nothing came out. It was pure torture. The only thing that made it bearable was Harry coming to talk to me."

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Without that I think I'd have gone insane."

Harry grimaced. "So, you heard everything?" he asked.

Hermione giggled, "And felt a few things too," she said mischievously.

Harry could feel his face going red, "I... uh…"

Hermione put her finger on his lips, "I am not complaining about anything Potter."

Harry laughed nervously. "Right," he said.

Well this was not something Harry had expected to happen.

XXXXX

After all the check-ups were done, and after Hermione had reunited with all her friends, Harry and Hermione eventually headed back to their room. Harry had noticed that Ginny had disappeared once the petrified people returned. A point that would have to be dealt with.

Once in their room Hermione sat on her bed. "It's been a tiring day," she said.

"Yeah," said Harry, still standing.

Hermione smiled at him. "Harry, I was very flattered to know how much you needed me," she said softly, "I was also very flattered that you kissed me. I just want to know why you did it."

Harry shrugged, "You know all the stories where the Prince kisses the Princess and she wakes up?"

"So, you kissed me because of a fairy tale?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," said Harry with a grin, "I was pretty desperate."

Hermione stood up and walked up to Harry. She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Well, I'm glad you did it," she said, "Even petrified, it made my day."

Harry blushed again. He didn't mind so much this time. After all, Hermione was the only person who could see it.

Author's Note: Second year isn't over, but that is pretty much the Chamber of Secrets story done. We're pivoting pretty much directly into the plotline that is going to dominate 3rd year.

On the subject of Occlumency, Harry was really only worried about Voldemort reading his mind when he asked Bryant for help. And he is only twelve. The whole thing was a lot less urgent until Colin got petrified, which reminded Harry that his enemies were still quite dangerous.

Since people have begun to notice Snape and the way he is acting, I will only say that some of my characters don't have POV's for very good reasons. There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that Harry does not have an inkling of yet. And he won't for a long while. Corollary to that, there some things that Harry has been told that are just plain wrong. They aren't lies, but the people who told Harry what he was told were just mistaken. Of course there are also people who have lied to him.

Next time, Harry and Hermione have a REALLY bad idea, Bryant Greengrass also has a REALLY bad idea, Rita Skeeter has a POV section, and Sirius Black has a heart to heart with Minister Fudge. Also Vernon Dursley is a piece of shit.