(Sorry for the late Chapter, I had to help a friend pretty much all day, hope it's worth the wait)

I feel like I'm falling in molasses. Everything is slow and uncomfortable. A white hot light scorches my retinas as I try to adjust, looking around. It's a little market place, the world seems weirdly slow. There are people I recognize. Is this… is this the Overworld? It looks just like my old one. Suddenly, Mom's eyes meet mine. "I… I shouldn't be here." I whisper. "I need to go back."

"I know." Mom sighs, "But in order to go back, you must prove you are worthy of it."

"Worthy of what?"

"The title of the Great Wizard, only if you are can he perform the Soul Return Ritual. Follow me." I get up slowly, "Things here are heavier, you'll get used to it." Mom stands me in the back of a line. "That sword only comes up for those who are worthy of the Great Wizard's throne."

"Has it come up for anyone before?"

"Only two men, and they both became the next Great Wizard." I nod gravely as the line slowly whittles down. After half an hour, I stand at the sword, gripping it firmly, then I close my eyes. Worthy. A voice rings in my head. Suddenly, the sword comes up like a hot knife from butter. Gasps of shock are heard from the crowd as I hold the golden sword in my hands, it should be heavy, but it's light. Almost weightless. "That's my boy." Mom whispers. "Follow me."

In moments, we are on a train, heading towards the Great Wizard's home, Mom is eerily silent and the train is empty. When we arrive Mom makes me go in alone, holding the golden sword. The Great Wizard isn't what I expected at all - it's a kid. My age.

"Why have you come before me?" He asks, before looking at the sword. "Oh. The sword deemed you worthy. So you're the next Great Wizard?"

"No. I need to go back."

"Think about it. Being the Great Wizard is a job one could only dream of. Don't you want to be unstoppable, with powers beyond your imagination?" He smiles, "You'll never have to work for anything again, the most beautiful witches in the land will line up for miles."

"There's only one witch that I care about. I want to go back."

"Pity." The Great Wizard sighs, "But I will do as you ask, Prince."

"Prince?"

"Any wizard who is worthy of my throne and chooses instead to return to life becomes an honorary prince to the Great Wizard." He throws me a sheath for my sword, "In your dreams, you will return here and train with me, when you die at last, Mr. Hedrich, you will be the next Great Wizard. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good." The Great Wizard stands, "Lift him up, take him away, let the prince live another day!" He casts the spell through his hands.

I wake up and push myself to my feet, my new gold sword at my hip, my dagger driven into my thigh. I pull it out and it becomes a pocket watch once more. I spot Tom Riddle.

"There- there's no way! How are you alive?!" Riddle demands as I glare at him.

"My death was…" I crack my neck and draw my sword, "Greatly exaggerated." He sends a furious stream of spells my way which are blocked with my sword. As I defend myself, I sneak a glance at Ginny and she looks awful. In comes Harry.

"Sammy?! I thought you were dead."

"I couldn't let you have all the fun."

"Well your little miracles happened too late!" Riddle shouts, "The process is nearly complete! In a few minutes, Ginny Weasley will be dead and I will cease to be a memory. Lord Voldemort will return. Very much... alive." Suddenly, the snake bursts out of the water and, from the hat, Harry draws a sword. Now we're both armed. We climb opposite sides of the statue to get away from the basilisk until we meet on Slytherin's head. We try to fend it off to little avail.

"Harry, when it strikes, through the head!" I shout. Harry nods. The snake rears back to make a strike, bares its teeth and shoots forwards. "Now!" I make sure to avoid the snake's tooth as we both drive our swords through its head. It squirms a moment before dying. I look at Harry and see a tooth jutting out of his arm. "Fuck." Harry nods before pulling it out with a groan. We make our way back down to the ground. Tom flashes an ugly grin.

"Remarkable, isn't it? How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body? If you have any final words, Potter, you'd best speak them now. I'd guess you have little more than a minute to live."

"Shut the fuck up!" I snap. Harry groans, "Come on Glasses, stay with me, alright?"

Riddle continues to bask in his victory, "So ends the famous Harry Potter. On his knees in the Chamber of Secrets. Defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry." Harry looks at Ginny and crawls towards her. "Funny, isn't it? The damage a silly little book can do? Especially in the hands of a silly little girl." Harry takes the book from her. "Wait, what are you doing? Stop." Harry opens the book and I stand, sword trained on Riddle, "No!" He lunges forward and gets sliced across the face. Harry brings the tooth into the book and black ink spills over the pages and onto the floor. Riddle shrieks in pain and starts to wither away almost instantly. Harry continues to stab the book over and over again, until he's closed the book.

"Can I do the honors?" I ask.

"Be my guest." Harry croaks. When I grab the pocket watch, it's already a dagger, and I drive it through the front cover for the final blow. The color returns to Ginny's face as I sheathe my sword, pocket my watch and wander off to find my wand. As I leave, she starts sobbing.

"Harry. It was me! But I swear, I didn't mean to… Riddle made me. He wrote to me... took me over… I didn't even know whose diary it was. I found it inside my cauldron. The day we all went to Diagon Alley and… Harry. You're hurt…" Lucius Malfoy, I should've known.

"Ginny. You need to get yourself out… Follow Sammy… You'll find Ron…"

I snatch up my wand, "Fuck that, we're not leaving you to rot in here!"

Suddenly the phoenix from earlier descends and lands on Harry's arm before laying its head down. "You were brilliant, Fawkes. I just... wasn't quick enough." Tears start falling from the bird's eyes, into his wound.

"The tears of a phoenix!" I exclaim, "They have healing powers!"

Harry smiles, "Thanks, Fawkes and thank you, Sammy. Without you, I'd be-"

"Probably where we are right now but less stressed." I grab Harry's wand. "There you go Glasses." He holsters it. "Did you guys know that a phoenix can carry up to six average-sized adult males before being overwhelmed?" We look at Fawkes and he audibly gulps.

We land in front of the school and sigh. "Good thing we got here without anyone noticing."

"Oh I wouldn't say that." The light flicks on and Snape is ahead of almost the entire administration. "Care to explain where you've been?"

The door opens again behind us. "Yes." An old voice says, "Ron, Harry, Sam, care to join me in my office?" Dumbledore stands behind us with a kind glisten in his eye as Fawkes perches on his shoulder and drops the hat into his hand.

"Could I have a second?" I ask.

"I suppose."

I give my wand to Snape. "When we're gone, swipe it like a sideways triangle and say 'Play Recording: Today.' It has sufficient evidence that will prove a conspiracy plotted out by Lockhart and reveal his true character."

"Thank you Mr. Hedrich. Your assistance is… much appreciated." Then he sees the sword on my side. "What is that?"

"I'm the Prince to the Great Wizard." Whispers ensue among the staff.

Snape nods, it's almost like a bit of a bow before strolling off with Lockhart and Ginny. We follow Dumbledore to his office.

After explaining the whole situation Dumbledore sighs, "You three realize, of course, that in the last few hours, you have broken perhaps a dozen school rules?"

"Yes sir." We all say.

"And that there is sufficient evidence to expel you all?"

"Yes sir." We repeat.

"Therefore, it seems only fitting…" We wince, ready to be punished, "That you all receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece, which, I believe, should be more than enough to secure Gryffindor the House Cup."

We all grin, "Thank you, sir."

"Now, Mr. Weasley, if you would, have an owl deliver these release papers to Azkaban. We need our gamekeeper back." Ron nods and runs out with the papers, leaving me and Harry. "First, I want to thank you both. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you." He turns to me, "First, Sam, I can't imagine how difficult it must've been to meet the Great Wizard and turn his throne down. Even if he ended up giving it to you anyway, it takes great character and integrity to make such a bold decision. Secondly, Harry, I sense you're troubled by something. Am I right?"

"It's just, you see, sir, I couldn't help noticing certain things. Certain similarities. Between Tom Riddle and me."

"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry, because Lord Voldemort can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar."

"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Not the best way to put that, Harry.

"Not intentionally, but... yes."

"So the Sorting Hat was right. I should be a Slytherin." Harry sighs.

"It's true, Harry. You do possess many of the qualities Voldemort himself prizes. Resourcefulness. Determination. A certain disregard for the rules. Yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor."

"Only because I asked it to." Harry says sadly.

"Exactly. Which makes you very different from Voldemort. It's not our abilities that show what we truly are, Harry. It's our choices. If you want proof that you belong in Gryffindor, Harry, I suggest you look more closely at this."

He hands Harry the sword that he used when we tandem-stabbed the snake. "'Godric Gryffindor.'"

"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the Hat." Dumbledore ensures, then he looks at me. "And as for you, Mr. Hedrich, no one in this school's history has ever been worthy enough to pull that sword from the trial stones. You two might just go down as the greatest wizards who've ever lived." Suddenly, the door opens to reveal Lucius pulling a house elf by the ear.

"Dobby! This is your Master? The family you serve is the Malfoys!"

The troll nods and the elder Malfoy shoves past us. "Out of my way, children. So! You've returned!"

"Yes. When the governors heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been taken into the Chamber, they saw fit to summon me back. Curiously, several of them seemed under the impression that you would curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place, Lucius." Lucius glares.

"From the beginning, my only concern has been the welfare of this school and its students."

I cough, "Bullshit!" I cough again. Malfoy glares at me and I clear my throat, "I'm sorry, I must be allergic to snobby pricks."

Malfoy shakes his head, "I assume the culprit has been identified."

"Oh yes. It was Voldemort. Only this time, he chose to act through someone else. By means of… this." He puts the disfigured diary on the table. "Fortunately, young Mr. Potter and Hedrich discovered it. One only hopes that no more of Lord Voldemort's old school things find their way into innocent hands. The consequences for the one responsible could be... severe." He says in a threatening cold tone.

"Come, Dobby. We're leaving." Lucius growls, soon booting Dobby out of the room and following himself. We can hear the house elf's cries of pain.

"Sir? I wonder if I could have that." Harry points to the diary.

"Oh, go ahead." When we're out of the door, Harry takes a sock off and puts it in the book.

"You clever motherfucker." Harry smiles and nods, then we chase him down.

"Mr. Malfoy! I have something of yours." Lucius turns and Harry shoves the diary into his hands.

"Mine? I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do, sir. I think you slipped it into Ginny Weasley's cauldron that day in Diagon Alley." Harry explains.

Lucius bends forwards and whispers, "Prove it."

"Jesus fuck! Your breath stinks. When's the last time you brushed your teeth?!" I groan.

"Why you little-"

"Mr. Malfoy! I trust you aren't threatening two young wizards?" Dad.

Malfoy spins around, and hands the book to Dobby. "No Mr. Hedrich, not at all!"

"Mhmm. What's that?"

"Your son gave it to me."

"Did he now?"

As all of this is going on, me and Harry are telling Dobby to open it. Dobby gasps upon finding Harry's sock. "Master has given Dobby a sock. Master has presented Dobby with clothes. Dobby is... free!"

"What, that's not true!" Lucius snaps, turning around. "You-" he growls, glaring at Harry, "You've cost me my servant!" He draws his wand and Dobby jumps fearlessly in front of Harry.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Dad shouts. Malfoy turns around, "I trust that I didn't just see you attempt to use your magic to harm a young wizard."

"But I - he-"

"I don't care what he did, Mr. Malfoy. It's your fault you lost him. Your ignorance cost you your servant and there is no one else to blame. Leave at once and I won't report this incident to your higher-ups." Lucius growls in frustration and leaves.

"Harry Potter freed Dobby! How can Dobby ever repay him?"

"Promise me one thing; never try to save me again." Dobby nods. Then disappears with a crack. "Hello, Mr. Hedrich."

"Harry." Dad greets before handing me one of the bags, "That's for Hermione. Whitman's Sampler, just like you said. I'm a little late, sorry." Dad looks around, "I was here on business regarding Mr. Lockhart."

"Oh, Mr. Hedrich." A voice says from down the hall.

"Snape!" Dad cheers, hugging his old friend who doesn't hug back, holding that uninterested expression.

"Yes. Me. If you have information on Gilderoy, you're just in time. We're meeting in the staff room. Samuel, they're about to wake the sleepers." Snape says.

"Hermione's gonna be woken up." I say, excitedly.

"Go!" Harry cheers. I nod and dart around a corner.

Before long, I'm at the infirmary Madam Pomfrey meets me, "I take it you're here for Hermione?" I blush before nodding. "Good. They're bringing the stew right now, just wait over here by the bed." I look into Hermione's dead eyes. Soon, two adults show up, Madam Sprout and Pomfrey. I hold open Hermione's mouth as they pour in the mandrake juice and hold her hand in mine tightly, suddenly her eyes flutter, before she sees me, then Pomfrey and Sprout. "We'll leave it to Samuel to wake your limbs up." Pomfrey says and they leave with the pot.

I start curling her arm at the elbow. "So, we solved your little puzzle Hermione. Me and Harry took out that basilisk." I say, "I also died, but I'm okay now. I'm supposed to be the next Great Wizard next time I die, so that's exciting. I wish I were joking. I even got the sword to prove it, I'll show you when I'm done. Anyway, you'll never guess who was behind those attacks. Tom Riddle. Yeah, turns out he was really Old V." I shrug. "Can you move it?"

"Mhmm."

"Oh uh… I have bad news about Lockhart. He… you know what, I'll tell you later. I'll wake up your jaw next, okay?" I quickly rush out to wash my hands before working on her jaw. My face is only a little bit away from hers, I imagine kissing her right now and blush, trying to push that thought away in this intimate moment. "I'm really glad that you're awake. It was really hard doing that without you, Golden." She smiles. I brush my thumb over her lips by accident and we both blush. "Sorry."

"Don't… be."

"You have no idea how much I missed your voice." Within the hour, her entire body has been woken up. She hugs me. "Well Harry really saved everyone."

"You died for him."

"It actually wasn't a sacrifice, it was more a product for not being safe." I pull the sword out of its sheath. "This is the golden challenge sword." I hand it to her and she holds it.

"Wow. It's beautiful."

"I think that it's been enchanted." I say.

"Yeah, otherwise gold would make a crummy sword." I brush Hermione's hair out of her face and just look at her.

"So, Gryffindor is a shoe-in for the house cup. After we got back, Dumbledore awarded me, Harry and Ron two-hundred points each."

"It's weird hearing you call him 'Harry.' I've gotten so used to Glasses."

"I only call him that to his face. Also, he's gotten the privilege to call me Sammy."

"Still no Ron?"

"Still no Ron." I nod. "I was so scared for you. Snape told me, he took me out of Lockhart's and brought me here. You've been out for a week." I pull out the bag, "I meant to give this to you for Valentine's Day, but you missed it by a day."

"These… these are my favorite, and such a big box… How much did you pay for this?"

"Well it was sixty dollars so… forty-five pounds? Yeah, that sounds right." I smile, "Didn't buy you another three-hundred dollar necklace though." She smiles and pulls it out of her shirt.

"You spoil me."

"You scare the shit out of me."

"Are you kidding me? You almost died twice and you literally just died!"

"Hey, that's part of the fun. You gotta one-up yourself."

"Answer me this, how are you gonna top being dead?"

"Didn't think of that." I mutter.

"Oh you didn't?" She asks sarcastically.

"I'll figure it out." We share a laugh. "So, would you have been my valentine?"

She blushes, "Out of pity? Yes."

"Ouch." I chuckle, "That one hurt, but I'll do you one better." I start tickling her, she starts laughing uncontrollably.

"Okay, okay, stop! I'm sorry!" I tickle her harder and she laughs harder, "Okay, okay I accept!"

"You accept what?"

"You as my valentine…" She looks up at me and smiles, "You never even had to ask, you idiot."

"Hello- oh! Am I interrupting something?" Dad. "I could leave you to it."

"No. Come in, Dad." I sit back in the chair. "How'd it go with Lockhart?"

"Here's your wand." He says, holding it out. "Also, Lockhart is fired. Your information was more telling than anything I had." Dad sees the confused look on Hermione's face. "Play it, son."

"But-"

"Sammy-"

"Fine." I wave my wand, "Play Recording: Yesterday." The screen comes up and we all watch it together. Hermione looks a little down. "Last night he tried to do the same to us, but thanks to Ron's awful wand, it backfired and now he doesn't know who he is."

"We decided not to pursue criminal charges, but I think he's learned his lesson, we've got him in my testing laboratory, getting selective memory replacement, anything about magic will be gone and left to stay in the unconscious mind. Unfortunately, we aren't sure how well this will work, it's new machinery after all." He looks at me, "Also, Sammy, I heard you died."

"…Yeah."

"You're lucky to be worthy then, because if you were gone for good, I would've killed you. Anyways, I've gotta go lovebirds."

"We're just friends!" Me and Hermione call after him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dad chuckles.

When it's time for dinner, we head down to the great hall. Me and Hermione walk in, she hugs Harry and Ron, I give them both bro-hugs and we take our usual places before Dumbledore stands.

"Before we begin our feast, let's give a round of applause to Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey, whose Mandrake Juice has been successfully administered to all those who had been petrified." We all cheer and clap. "Also, in the wake of recent events, as a school treat, all exams have been cancelled." Everyone cheers except a disappointed Hermione. I put my hand on hers.

Suddenly, the hall doors burst open and in comes Hagrid, "Sorry I'm late. The owl deliverin' my release papers got all lost 'n confused. Some ruddy bird named Errol." Ron gets a little embarrassed. "I jus' want to say... that if it wasn't fer' you, Harry… you an' Sam… and Ron… and Hermione… Well, I jus' want to say… Thanks."

"There's no Hogwarts without you Hagrid." Harry says.

Before long, Hagrid is getting a standing ovation and I see tears in his eyes. I hand him a napkin, "There you go, big guy." Hagrid nods and looks at Hermione. He tilts his head at me and whispers something to her that makes her blush as he dries his eyes and takes his rightful place at the table.