I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Relief

Alex grimaced at the taste. Mud, and grass, and wood. It wasn't the worst thing he'd tasted, but it wasn't good. It occurred to him that he shouldn't be tasting anything, since the last thing he remembered was seeing the reflection of a yellow eye, but he supposed that meant the terrible fluid he was choking down was probably stewed mandrakes. He felt his stiff body begin too regain feeling and realized he was still positioned as though seated in a chair with his arms resting on a table, despite feeling a bed beneath his back. His arms and legs were sore, as though he'd been consciously holding the position, but his body was stiff and he had to force his arms and legs down, grunting with the effort.

"There you go," a feminine voice said. "You'll have to work the stiffness out."

He forced his eyes open, seeing Madam Pomfrey walking away from his bed and toward one where Hermione was lying. Alex's throat sealed, but Madam Pomfrey simply leaned over and began to pour the Mandrake draft into Hermione's mouth carefully. Almost a minute later, Hermione's face scrunched up in a grimace and she turned her head slowly, blinking her glassy eyes several times before they focused.

"Alex!" she gasped as soon as she saw him struggling to sit up, beginning to do the same. "You're alright!"

"What happened?" Alex asked. "After the basilisk petrified me, I mean."

"We were all so worried!" Hermione said, then smiled knowingly, despite the look of discomfort on her face as she stretched. "Luna spent all her free time beside your bed."

Alex felt his cheeks warm, and used twisting his body to stretch his back as a means of hiding what he was sure was a blush.

"It took longer than it should have for me to think to ask Madam Pince what book you'd been reading when she found you, but I managed to understand what you had realized. I tore the page out of the book and had it in my hand when I heard it in the library." She paused, looking around before pointing to the girl Madam Pomfrey was giving the antidote to. "She was there too, so we used her mirror to look around a bookshelf and got petrified. Since I don't have the paper, I assume Harry and Ron must have found it."

"Which means that they probably solved everything," Alex said.

"That's right," Professor McGonagall said, walking into the Hospital Wing. "There's a feast going on right now. I came to bring everyone there."

"I'll be done in just a moment," Madam Pomfrey said, moving to the last bed where Finch-Fletchley was lying.

A few minutes later, after everyone had stretched most of the stiffness out, Professor McGonagall walked them all down to the Great Hall. The effect was instant. The moment someone saw them, the entire room began to cheer. Harry and Ron stood and Hermione sprinted toward them to congratulate them on saving the school, while Alex stared at the nearly six hundred house points he didn't remember Hogwarts having before he was petrified. They must have been awarded two hundred each for saving the school. Then, Alex's mental math was interrupted by Luna throwing her arms around him, nearly knocking him to the ground. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Luna smiled. "I was so worried!"

"What month is it?" Alex asked. "Did I miss Christmas?"

Luna laughed, nodding as she stepped back. "It's May. About to be June in a couple of months."

"Damn!" Alex cursed. "My family must be worried sick."

"Come on," Luna said. "You must be starving."

"After tasting stewed Mandrake, not really," Alex said, but followed her tot he Gryffindor table anyway, both of them sitting beside Harry and the others, including Ginny.

Despite the bad taste lingering in his mouth, he helped himself to the sweets and food mixed on the table, listening to Harry and Ron explaining everything he'd missed. Apparently, Harry had found a diary once owned by Tom Riddle, later known as Voldemort, and it contained a sentient memory of Riddle, who used his memory of framing Hagrid to gain Harry's trust. His story was interrupted just after he began to describe him and Ron going into the Dark Forest to follow spiders, on Hagrid's advice, for announcements by Dumbledore and McGonagall. Exams were cancelled, which Hermione was disappointed about, and Lockhart was going to a wizard hospital and would no longer be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Even most of the school's staff cheered at that. Then, Harry continued his story. After finding Hermione's paper about the basilisk, they'd gone to warn the teachers, only to find out that Ginny had been taken into the Chamber. Lockhart was tasked with going, so they went to tell him what they knew, only to have him admit to being full of dung and his books being the exploits of other wizards, which he'd then used a Memory Charm to make them forget. Harry had disarmed him before he could use the same spell on them, and they'd taken him to the Chamber, where he'd stolen Ron's wand, only for his Memory Charm to backfire and erase his memory entirely, including who he himself was. Then Harry had gone to inevitably fight the Basilisk and find Ginny, only to meet the partially freed memory of Riddle, who was absorbing Ginny's life force to free himself. He had revealed to Harry that Ginny was the person who opened the Chamber and set it on Mudbloods, among other crimes, but Harry stressed that it was only under Riddle's direct control. Then, Harry described Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, blinding the basilisk for him, then getting the Sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and using it to stab the basilisk. He told them about being bitten, only for Fawkes to heal him with his tears, then about stabbing the diary with the basilisk fang that had punctured his arm and destroying Riddle. Then, he explained their flight out by holding onto Fawkes' tail feathers, and about freeing Dobby from the Malfoy family.

"Are you ever going to have a normal year at Hogwarts?" Alex asked as he finished.

"I doubt it," Harry said.

Alex laughed and ate a Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean, only to gasp and promptly begin choking, managing to cough it out of his windpipe, only to swallow it instantly.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I didn't think 'Every Flavor' was quite that literal," Alex said, taking a drink of the island water in his goblet.

"What was it?" Ron asked.

Alex stared at the box in silence for a moment before shaking his head. "It must have been something else."

Ron stared at him pointedly. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"You sure you want to know?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I do," Luna said.

Alex leaned over and whispered in her ear and her face went pink.

"Oh for the..." Ron huffed, taking a large bite of pumpkin pasty. "'ou know wha? Don' te'w me."

Alex laughed. "It tastes like cherries."

Ron again stared at him pointedly. "If it tastes like cherries, why'd Luna blush?"

Alex shrugged, taking a bit of his own pumpkin pasty before starting a conversation about who they all thought would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for the remainder of the year.

Alex drifted across the water in silence, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his front and the icy lake water beneath him. The kelpie nudged him from below and he smiled, reaching down and stroking its face for a moment before looking over toward the shore, seeing Luna sitting on shore with Ginny. It was the last day before they left the school, and Alex's trunk was on the grass beside the girls, as were theirs.

He swam over, to the shore and climbed out, drying himself with his wand before sitting beside them. "You two all ready to go?"

"Mhm," Luna smiled.

"Ready," Ginny nodded. "I just want to put this year behind me and have a normal year."

"Good luck," Alex laughed. "As long as you know Harry Potter, you will probably never have a normal year."

Ginny sighed. "I know."

Alex lit a cigarette and took a long drag before exhaling slowly. "I'm kind of sad the year's over already. I missed out on a lot of time with my friends."

"Just under half a year's worth," Luna nodded. "It's alright. We'll all be back next year."

Alex nodded, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "I suppose I can wait that long."

Luna smiled just as students began to head for the train station. Alex pushed himself up, lifting the three trunks onto his left shoulder before beginning to smoke his cigarette as he walked. He carried their trunks onto the train and loaded them for the girls, then dropped Ginny off in a compartment with her siblings, Harry, and Hermione before walking to the next compartment with Luna and finding Neville, Dean, and Seamus. Alex spent the majority of the ride asking Luna and the other how life at the castle was after he was petrified, then also asking Luna more about her home and her father. He finally thought to ask her how she could see Thestrals, and she told him about her mother experimenting with spells and accidentally killing herself two years prior. When the sweets cart came around, he bought them all something to eat, then continued their conversation with what their plans for the summer were. Finally, the train arrived in the station and they all got off, Alex bringing his and Luna's trunks. As they had been last year, Chloe and April were waiting for Alex, and as soon as they saw Luna, both squealed excitedly. Alex managed to mutter an advance apology before the two disguised sirens began to inspect Luna like an extremely valuable piece of art that they were considering buying. Finally, she passed their inspection, or so Alex assumed, and they both hugged her tightly, thanking her for looking after Alex as best she could. Once he'd finally managed to convince them to let her be, he said his goodbyes and left the station, saying goodbye to Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys as well before heading to the river to go home the same way he had last year.

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