Hogwarts Castle,
Chamber Of Secret,
19 June 1993
6:47 P.M.
Harry Potter P.O.V.
As I opened my eyes, the first thing to register was that I was lying on cold and hard ground.
The next was the excruciating pain in my right arm, which set my head to throbbing so hard it was impossible to do anything other than groan. As I shifted my head to look at my surroundings, I realized that a beautiful bird was perched on my shoulder with his magnificent red-feathered head rested on my bleeding arm. While the memories in my head pulled together enough for me to recognize it was a Phoenix, it wept on the puncture in my arm and the pain gradually disappeared. Apart from a pearly patch of tears all over the arm, there was no other sign left of any kind of injury. Finished with his duty with a cry Fawkes took flight in a whirl of gold and scarlet.
I shakily pulled myself up from the dirty floor, my head still spinning and feeling like I'd been put through the wringer. Slowly I gathered my holly wand and the school sorting hat from the floor. Slowly the memories of the last 12 years began playing in my mind, making me realize that I was somehow in the body of Harry Potter.
Looking around the room I noticed that I am standing in a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long shadows through the greenish gloom that filled the place. I realized that I was in the Chamber of Secrets. My eyes fall at the huge form of the dead basilisk. It had fallen sideways with the goblin sword driven to the hilt in the roof its mouth, with a huge effort I pulled the glittering blade of Godric Gryffindor free from its fleshy prison.
The room was dead silent but for the steady drip-drop of ink still oozing from Riddle's diary. The fang of the basilisk that I had stabbed into the diary was still stuck in it, though the venom had burned a sizzling hole around it. Gingerly. I picked up the diary from the ground, making sure not to touch the venom. On a closer look, I was amazed to note that the fang was almost as long as a short sword. Venom still dripped from it, so I moved very carefully when wrenching it free from the diary. I almost tossed it before remembering that Professor Dumbledore might want to examine the fang as well as the diary, so carefully wrapped both items in torn-off strips of my dirty and bloodied robes before dropping them in a pocket.
Suddenly I heard the sound of moaning coming from the end of the chamber, looking to the source I saw that Ginny Weasley was finally stirring. As I hurried towards her, she sat up groggily. Her eyes traveled from the towering form of the basilisk to me in my blood-soaked robes. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.
Taking pity on the poor traumatized girl I crouched down to gently put my hand on her shoulder and reassure her. "Ginny, thank Merlin you are alright." I said, "don't worry, Riddle is gone. He won't harm you anymore, believe me."
At that, Ginny threw her arms around me and cried in relief and anguish. "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry, this was all my fault! Please don't hate me. Tom has been making me attack all those students the whole year. Now I'm definitely going to be expelled. Ever since Bill came to Hogwarts I had wanted to come here as well, but now they'll expel me."
I hugged her tighter and patted her shoulder while she sobbed into my arms, rocking back and forth to calm her down. "Ginny, Professor Dumbledore won't expel you. He'll realize that you didn't mean to do all this, and thankfully nobody has hurt permanently anyway. It was the Diary's fault, I am sure Dumbledore will say the same. If he has any doubts I'll convince him. Now come on, get up, we need to get out so that we can go back to Ron before he's worried sick. He's waiting for us just outside the chamber."
Finally, Ginny calmed down a bit and nodded her head slowly. Once she had wiped the tears from her face and eyes I helped her to her feet. Fawkes was waiting for us at the front of the chamber entrance. Soon we were back in the tunnel and the stone doors to the chambers closed behind us with a soft hiss.
After a few minutes of progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached our ears. As we hurried towards the sound I called loudly. "Ron, we're coming mate. Ginny's okay. I've got her here with me."
We heard Ron give a strangled cheer and start digging faster, as soon as he saw us he was pulling Ginny through the small gap in the rockfall into a tight hug. Turns out Ron isn't an insensitive jerk, after all, he really does love his sister. When they separated Ron turned to me and I saw tears of happiness and relief shining in his eyes. As he opened his mouth to no doubt thank me I interrupted him and cheerfully said "Come on, let's just get out of this place."
Ron nodded at me gratefully. "Yeah, you're right mate. This place gives me the creeps. But we need to collect Lockhart first on the way out." Soon, led by Fawkes, we walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe leading to the girl's bathroom. Lockhart was sitting on the ground nearby, humming a tune happily to himself. "The fraud's memory's gone completely," said Ron in a cheerful voice. " The memory charm he tried on you backfired on him brilliantly. For the last half-hour, he's just been sitting there with that stupid expression on his face."
Seeing the fraud Defense Teacher in such a state, I couldn't help but feel happy that the man was finally paying for all the memory Charms he had performed on poor unsuspecting folks.
As Fawkes fluttered in front of me, with his golden tail feathers waving, I tucked the sword and the hat in my belt and grabbed hold of Fawkes's hot tail feathers. As Ron looked uncertainly at my actions so I clarified. "Fawkes is Dumbledore's Phoenix, Ron. I met him when I went to the Headmaster's office. Grab onto each other. Fawkes will be able to carry us up through the pipe."
Ron looked doubtful that the Phoenix could lift the weight of so many people but he nodded trusting me and had Lockhart grab Ginny's hand and then grabbed her hand himself. In the end, he grabbed a fistful of my robes, and as soon as he did Fawkes had all of us flying up through the pipe.
As we returned to the surface of the school I got my first look at the 2nd-floor girl's bathroom and its regular occupant the ghost, Moaning Myrtle. By Merlin, she really looked sad and depressing. The moment she saw that we were all safe and alive. She released a high-pitched wailing and jumped down the toilet. Ignoring the ghost's outburst we exited the bathroom.
Here Fawkes took up the front and began to lead us through the hallways to wherever Dumbledore must be. As I walked around the hallways I had to keep my jaw from hanging open in awe, as I saw numerous paintings pointing at us and murmuring.
Before I could marvel anymore at all the magic around me, we arrived at a door. Specifically, the door to Professor McGonagall's office, as Harry's memory helpfully told me. With no time to prepare, I braced myself for the first real test of my ability to successfully play the role of Harry Potter.