"I'm glad we don't have to do that again for another two years, though I'd be happier to never have to go through exams again," Ron commented after finding his friends once the exams had ended.
"It feels weird to know we're coming to the end of our time at two years we will walk out and that's that," Dudley commented, earning a murmur of agreement from Hermione.
"We have to make the most of our time here, we won't be kids much longer," Harry added, only half paying attention to the conversation at hand.
Harry's words inspired his friends to arrange an impromptu Quidditch match with no house barriers, resulting in Slytherins and Ravenclaws on the same team as Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. They played a tournament style game, which lasted until dark, ending June on a much better note than it began.
/_^_^_-/
"It is July already," Professor Gaunt announced. "A year of teaching has passed by, and you will all be returning home for the summer. I must admit I accepted this job with trepidation and uncertainty, after all I was placed here as a favour to the Minister, but now I realise just how much I enjoy teaching. Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to realise this about myself." Professor Gaunt ended their first Defence lesson after the O.W.L.'s with a mini speech, with most of the students finding themselves saddened by the approaching year's end and the loss of a good teacher.
"Before you all leave, I wanted to let you all know that Professor Lupin and I are going to put together an assault course for a bit of end of year fun, seeing as your next lesson with me is followed by Duelling it only makes sense to do it then." Immediately following these words was the bell, indicating that lunchtime had begun, Harry opted to stay back and have a brief chat with the Professor.
"Mr Potter, something you would like to say?"
"Yes there is, Sir. When you first showed up at Hogwarts I was prepared to have to get rid of you, I feared that you were here to recruit or hurt students, but now I realise that you are somewhat trustworthy."
"Only somewhat?"
"Okay, I do actually trust you, you've earned that much. How do you plan to deal with the fact that you're on Voldemort's enemy list?"
"I wasn't aware you were concerned with my well-being, as it stands I have places I can go to escape His reach. Do you have plans in place to avoid any attacks from his people?'
"I know what I'm doing, let's leave it at that for now."
"I do expect that you will be ever vigilant in keeping an eye on me. If you wish to send me a letter, you should address it to Marvolo Gaunt."
"How did you know I would want to?"
"I had unfettered access to your mind for quite some time. I know you, how you think, and what you want in life. You are probably the only person I trust completely, as weird as that is to say." Professor Gaunt didn't look at Harry when saying that, instead finding the floor vastly more interesting in the moment.
"I'll be honest in saying I'm not exactly sure how to respond to that, hopefully one day I shall trust you completely. "
"One day perhaps," the professor uttered with a tone of finality.
Harry left a few minutes later, thoroughly surprised by the whole thing.
When Harry returned to bed that night, it would prove to be less relaxing than he would have hoped for, this was entirely caused by a letter on his bed, it contained only one sentence made up of four words that would haunt Harry.
"The dragons have escaped."
It didn't have a name on it, but Harry could recognise the writing of Charlie Weasley, he penned a response offering his help in finding and returning them to him.
/_-^^_^/
With only a few days until they would leave the school, Harry decided to arrange one final Elemental session with all of the seventh years who had gone through the ritual, as it would be their last chance to train together. Ever since May he had taken over instructing the seventh years exclusively to ensure they would be able to grow and improve on their own, though he did offer the chance to meet up close to the end of Summer.
When he called an end to the final session of the year, Harry realised that he was more emotional about the fact that he wouldn't be able to teach them anymore, his emotional state only becoming more soppy after his students all thanked him individually and some gave him gifts to remember them by, some gifts were of candy, while others were more tangible and permanent.
Standing alone on the grounds, after watching his class walk away, Harry shed a tear or two before he continued into the school, wanting to get everything sorted before leaving.
Walking in from the grounds and into the castle Harry made his way to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. Not stopping to speak to the girl, he cast a charm to keep his robes clear of grime and dirt, before opening the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and sliding down the pipe.
He passed through the area of collapsed rocks and walked by the stream with a tree that wouldn't die, before opening the second door to the Chamber proper. Upon entering, he saw the form of two large snakes approaching him, but it wasn't until he got close to them that he saw just how large Rigor had gotten.
"Blimey, Rigor, you'll be the size of a full basilisk when I next see you," Harry joked while he scratched the snake on the side of his head.
"Yet you remain so small, hello Master," Rigor hissed excitedly.
"I'm not small, you're just unexplainably massive. Basilisk, have you come up with a name?" Harry responded as he walked further into the Chamber, flanked on both sides by the snakes.
"I wish to be named after one of my hatchers, Helga," the Basilisk responded, making Harry stop in his tracks.
"I was unaware that she helped hatch you, I thought Salazar would have been more private."
"I was a gift from the Gentle One to the Cold One. She hatched me and looked after me for some time before I was gifted."
"Thank you for sharing that with me, that is fascinating," Harry responded as he continued walking.
Once Harry reached the back of the Chamber and over to the area containing his sword, he closed his eyes before removing the cover he had placed on it, wanting to give his glasses time to block out the blinding light. Upon opening his eyes however, Harry was shocked to see that the blinding glow had vanished entirely, with the sword being so perfectly reflective that Harry felt like it would start a fire if drawn in the light.
"You really have been sneaking off to the Chamber of Secrets, I thought Colin was crazy at first when he told me, but here you are." It was Dennis Creevey's voice that sounded from behind him, though when Harry turned and revealed the sword in his hand, the other boy stepped back a bit.
"Dennis, why have you followed me down here? If you've come for a fight you won't get one from me."
"You will fight me, Harry Potter! You got my brother kicked out of the school, all he wanted was to be your friend and you went and targeted him."
"Hang on a minute, I told him to keep away from me, in return he tried to permanently disable or disfigure my leg. I think you've got your ideas backwards."
"Don't you dare put this on him, Colin had a lot to deal with here and asked you time and time again to be his friend, you could have prevented this. Now he sits at home with his wand snapped and his magic bound, unable to discuss magic with even my father or me, I've never seen him so depressed. Here's what is going to happen, you and I are going to walk out of here and go to Professor Dumbledore to explain that you forgive Colin and want him back at Hogwarts, then we can all be happy and go on our way." Dennis was deranged, even after he had stopped talking to Harry he was still muttering to himself.
"Yeah, that's isn't going to happen. Your brother is a very spiteful person, he will just go back to his stalkerish tendencies."
"It's not stalking to follow someone, or I guess you're calling me a stalker, too!"
"Yes, exactly. Following me down here was very creepy."
"I wouldn't have had to, your friends make it very difficult to get them alone long enough," the boy said earnestly, as if he was just talking about the weather now. Now it was Harry's turn to become angry, however.
"Have you been following my friends around?" Harry snapped at Dennis who became confused.
"I never got the chance to hurt them or put them under the Imperius Curse, I guess I'm not very good at planning."
A silence followed these words, a terrible, but short lived silence, as Harry stared at the third year. Before Harry could draw his wand, Dennis sent an Imperius Curse at Harry, which was reflected uselessly into the ground by Harry's sword, a property that intrigued Harry infinitely.
"I'll kill him," Rigor hissed, moving to attack the boy until Harry raised his free hand.
"Rigor, stand down, I want to try something. Helga, I want you to open your eyes and look at my sword, I'll petrify him with the reflection."
"As you wish," Helga responded, opening her translucent eye covering and staring at the very shiny sword, while Rigor looked away.
Dennis' eyes were drawn to the movement in the sword blade and, upon seeing yellow eyes, he fell to the floor rigid and unmoving.
"You can close your eyes now, Helga, I'll levitate him up the path to the Vipers' Arena and restore him in his room, hopefully he will think this was all a dream."
With that Harry gave Helga and Rigor some head scratches before he shrank the sword down, the Philosopher's Pommel having turned black in the time since the Stone was broken.
/_-^_^_-/
The eighth of July saw the departure of the students from Hogwarts, some of them never to return, while others had only just begun their educational journey. When the train pulled up at King's Cross Station, there were more goodbyes than normal, with people who he barely knew coming up to bid Harry goodbye.
When he, Dudley, and Elias all reached Petunia and Sirius, they disapparated with a smile.