Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter content whatsoever. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction on my couch.

Chapter 25

"Okay, tell me everything."

"Christ, Ron, I'm covered in slime and blood – most of which isn't my own, by the way – and I'm bloody exhausted, so can I just shower and sleep for the next, I don't know, month?"

"I just watched you get dragged into Dumbledore's office by McGonagall with a sword in your hand and a diary in the other. You have some explaining to do."

"Blimey, Ron – "

"And you rescued Ginny! You really expected me to not ask about how you rescued my sister?"

"Ron, I am begging you to please just let me get all this gunk off of me – "

"And did you free that Dobby bloke? Was he really the Malfoys' house-elf?"

"Ron!"

Harry's tone was much sharper than he wanted it to be, and he felt a twinge of regret as Ron flinched a bit. He knew his redheaded friend just wanted to know why Harry had been gone from the common room for hours, and why his sister had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets, but Harry was so exhausted he could barely walk. He was actually leaning pretty heavily on Ron as they traipsed back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Sorry, mate. It's just…" The youngest Weasley boy sighed, nodding in understanding at Harry's exasperated expression. "It's been a stressful few hours."

"Believe it or not, Ron Weasley, I can relate to that." Harry's vexation had shifted to sarcasm, and the two Gryffindors shared a laugh as they reached the entrance to their common room.

"What are you two doing out at this hour?" The Fat Lady shrieked. "And why are you so…gross?" She cringed away from Harry.

"Piss off, Lady." Ron scoffed at the portrait before grinning at his friend. "This one's just offed Slytherin's monster!"

The Fat Lady let out a gasp of both shock and excitement, and eagerly swung outwards without even asking for a password. Ron helped Harry into the common room and shepherded the bespectacled wizard up to their dormitory, to their bathroom.

"You can shower, but you're telling me everything the second you're out of there!" The redhead smirked as Harry closed the door.

Almost an hour later, he emerged from the bathroom de-slimed and free of both human and basilisk blood only to be grabbed and dragged to his bed almost instantly.

"Start talking."

"I was actually thinking about getting some sleep…" Harry muttered, curling up into a ball over his sheets. "Ow!"

"Oh please, I've seen Hermione hit you harder." Ron snickered before punching Harry in the shoulder again.

"Fine, fine." Harry sighed, sitting up straight and rubbing his shoulder. "So, obviously you know that your sister got taken into the Chamber of Secrets." Ron nodded, his eyes lighting up as Harry began to recount his adventure. "Well, before that, when I visited Hermione, she had this piece of paper in her hand that I hadn't noticed before. I managed to get it out of her hand, and it was a page that she ripped from a library book."

"Hermione Granger vandalized a library book?" Ron snorted.

"Hermione Granger lit a teacher on fire and brewed Polyjuice Potion in a bathroom stall, but it's bizarre to you that she rips out a single page from a library book?" Harry asked, and the two friends stared at each other for a moment before breaking into a fit of childish giggles.

"Alright, alright." Harry gasped out, eventually catching his breath. "As I was saying," he continued as Ron calmed down, "Hermione swiped a page from a library book about basilisks. She put it together that it was Slytherin's monster, but she got petrified before she could tell anybody."

"Brilliant!" Ron mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yeah, she is." Harry smiled to himself for a moment before he remembered he had a story to tell. "Right, anyway, so I got that paper out, and right when I did McGonagall came to get me to walk me back to the common room.

"She and I were on our way when we saw Ginny outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and she just ran in there, looking really nervous. She opened the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and ran down before we could get her. We found the entrance and I opened it using Parseltongue and we went down into the Chamber."

"Wicked…just you and McGonagall?"

"Oh yeah, she's a total badass." Harry grinned, and Ron snorted. "No, really. We ended up in this giant chamber. Your sister was there, and so was Tom Riddle, believe it or not."

"The bloke from the diary? What is he, almost seventy?" Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise and confusion.

"No, it was weird. He was kind of like a ghost, but he said he was a memory. He said he preserved his sixteen year old self in the diary so he could come back and open the Chamber of Secrets again." Harry shuddered at the memory of Riddle's icy glare once he's spotted McGonagall and Harry.

"So he looked the same as that memory you saw in the diary?" Ron asked, his intrigue increasing exponentially.

Harry nodded slowly before continuing. "Ginny was there. Turns out she'd had the diary before I found it, and eventually she managed to steal it from my stuff without me noticing. She talked to Riddle through that diary for almost the entire year, and doing so allowed Riddle to…possess her." He finished quietly. Ron flinched, every muscle in his face clenching and unclenching a few times as he processed what he'd just heard.

"So, Ginny was behind the attacks?" He asked in a weak voice.

"No!" Harry said automatically. "It was Riddle. Anyone who blames your sister is a halfwit. She had no control of herself." Ron seemed to calm down a bit at Harry's confidence in that answer and nodded his head.

"Anyway, we found Ginny. And Riddle revealed he was the Heir of Slytherin, the one responsible for all the attacks." Harry proceeded. "Then he revealed something even worse." Harry hitched his breath, and his entire body went cold for a moment.

"When you say it like that, it sounds like he exposed himself." Ron snickered.

"Ugh, gross!" Harry felt his mood lighten instantly at Ron's quip and exaggerated a gag. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Weasley." Ron threw his hands up in mock surrender and let Harry continue. "It turns out…Riddle is Voldemort. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he was a student here."

"Bloody hell!" Ron bristled. "My sister got possessed by You-Know-Who?" He asked incredulously, his face going slightly pale. Harry nodded soberly. "So you're telling me you beat You-Know-Who a third time?"

"Well, I couldn't have done it without McGonagall." Harry admitted. "Riddle started going on about how he was the greatest sorcerer of all time, and McGonagall absolutely unleashed on him."

"No way!" Ron's entire face lit up. "Did she hex him?"

"Worse." Harry smirked. "She lectured him." Ron let out an exaggerated gasp before Harry continued. "She went on about how Albus Dumbledore was the greatest sorcerer in the world, not Riddle, and that she'd rather die defending the Headmaster's honor than let Riddle wreak havoc on Hogwarts.

"As soon as she said that, a phoenix came flying into the Chamber of Secrets, and it dropped the Sorting Hat in front of us. McGonagall whipped out her wand to try and distract Riddle while I put the hat on. That's where I got – "

"The sword!" Ron gasped in genuine shock. "Bloody hell, Harry, you could write a book about this!"

"Shut it." Harry said sheepishly. "Riddle started speaking in Parseltongue to get the basilisk to come after us. McGonagall flicked her wand at me and I flew off to the side, out of sight. She must have hit me with a body-bind because I couldn't move. I guess she just wanted to keep me safe, but I was mad I couldn't fight. I just laid there while she and Dumbledore's phoenix started battling the snake."

"How come she didn't get petrified? Or you?" Ron asked. Harry had never seen the redhead so riveted before, except maybe Wizard's Chess.

"Fawkes, the phoenix, clawed out the basilisk's eyes. If you look a basilisk in the eye, you die. If you see its eyes through something, you get petrified. Think Colin's camera, Hermione's mirror, you know." Harry explained like it was the simplest concept in the world, and Ron just opened his lips in a silent 'ah' of realization. "Anyway, at one point the serpent whipped its tail and sent McGonagall flying, and whatever spell she had on me to keep me still broke for a second.

"So…I took the natural Harry Potter course of action and ran directly towards the deadly creature and stabbed it through the roof of its mouth with the sword." Harry shrugged nonchalantly.

"Wicked…" Ron whispered in awe. "Did you kill Riddle?"

"In a way, yeah. When I stabbed the basilisk, one of its fangs impaled me, right here," Harry paused and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a faint puncture wound in the crook of his arm. Ron's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "But I managed to grab Riddle's diary, so I ripped the fang out of my arm and stabbed the bloody book with it. Riddle screamed for a bit then suddenly just disappeared."

"Wicked." Ron repeated. "Was it poisonous?"

"Yeah, but phoenix tears have healing powers, so Fawkes turned on the waterworks and now it's good as new." Harry grinned, flexing his arm.

"And then McGonagall brought you to Dumbledore?"

"And then McGonagall brought me to Dumbledore." Harry nodded.

"Bloody hell…" Ron trailed off. "And, sorry, but I wasn't really paying attention back in Dumbledore's office since I was talking to Ginny and stuff, but did you actually free Dobby?"

"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting about that." Harry snorted. "Almost seems like small potatoes after all that, but yeah. He's the Malfoys' house-elf, and when Lucius came in all mad about Dumbledore being back I tricked him into giving Dobby a sock."

"Brilliant!" Ron cackled. "I saw that ugly little thing hugging your legs like his life depended on it, so I kind of guessed that's what you did."

"Killed a basilisk, freed a house-elf, saved Ginny." Harry shrugged. "Just an average day for Harry Potter, wouldn't you say?" He asked Ron, and the pair broke into laughter once again. Eventually, Ron calmed down, and his tone became more serious.

"Again, mate, I don't know how on Earth I can thank you for doing what you did for Ginny. As stupid as it was for you to go and do all that, you did it." Ron shook his head in disbelief, his face lit up in an appreciative grin. "Truly, I don't know how to thank you."

"Don't worry about it, Ron." Harry smirked. "We've got each other. Gryffindor Gang." Ron let out a weak laugh.

"Gryffindor Gang."

"Honestly, the best way to thank me right now is to let me sleep." Harry grinned, and Ron nodded in understanding.

"Right. You've earned it." The redhead sighed, crawling under his own sheets. Harry gave an appreciative smile of his own and fell back onto his pillow, his eyes closing instantly.

The Next Night

Harry slept for hours. And hours. He washed away every bit of exhaustion he'd accumulated from sleeping a few hours a night in the Hospital Wing. He vanquished all of his fatigue from entering the Chamber of Secrets and slaying a basilisk. Every trace of tiredness was banished away as he slumbered peacefully through breakfast.

And, for good measure, he slept through lunch. And most of the afternoon. He didn't stir until Ron and Seamus dragged him out from under his covers and dropped him onto the floor.

The waker-uppers snickered as Harry unleashed an unholy string of swears at his friends, absent-mindedly rubbing the shoulder he'd landed on.

"Dinner's in half an hour. Come on, champ, up you go." Ron said sarcastically as he helped Harry to his feet.

"Dinner?" Harry grumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

"It was almost breakfast when you finally nodded off." Seamus grinned. "We heard you and Ron talking last night and figured you needed the rest. Ron here, on the other hand," he threw the redhead a playful elbow, "wouldn't miss a meal for anything."

Ron shrugged, and it was Harry's turn to snicker.

"Get dressed mate, Dumbledore organized a feast to celebrate." With that, the redhead turned on his heel and left the dormitory, followed by Seamus.

After throwing on his school robes, Harry dashed down the staircase to the Gryffindor common room, where he was met with deafening applause. He looked around in surprise as almost all of his housemates were cheering for him as if he were their biggest hero.

"Harry Potter!" Fred Weasley grinned as he wrapped Harry up in a bear hug from his left side.

"Savior of Hogwarts!" George cried out as he followed his twin's example on Harry's right.

"Receiver of two-hundred points for Gryffindor!" They bellowed in unison, and the cheers in the common room reached thunderous levels. "Thanks for rescuing Ginny." They each whispered to him in uncharacteristic sentimentality before pulling away and returning to their riotous selves.

Harry flashed his fellow Gryffindors the biggest smile he could manage, and after everyone calmed down he made his way to the Great Hall, surrounded by his classmates.

"Is it true you killed a fifty-foot basilisk?" Pavarti asked as they descended a staircase.

"With a sword?" Neville's tone was practically giddy. Harry glanced at Ron, who shrugged, still smirking to himself.

"Eh, it was more like a hundred feet." He grinned, earning some playful laughter from his friends.

"So, Harry, are you excited to see – "

"Shut up, Dean, for the love of everything that is holy!" Lavender yelled in a tone sharp enough to make everyone within fifty feet flinch.

"Am I excited to see what?" Harry asked once his eardrums stopped ringing.

"Excited to see the setup for the feast?" Lavender asked. Harry shrugged.

"Sure, I guess." He responded, watching with curiosity as Lavender glared at Dean, who mouthed an apology. "What's going on?" He asked. "I fall asleep for twenty hours and suddenly everyone's acting weird…" He joked.

"We're all just glad you're alive. Some of us are a bit jumpy from everything." Lavender turned back to him, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "You gave us all a scare when you didn't come back with McGonagall."

"Oh!" Harry couldn't hide how taken aback he was at his friends' concerns. "Wow, I had no idea…" He muttered. Ron draped his arm over Harry's shoulders.

"Shockingly, Harry, your friends care about you." The redhead grinned. Harry returned the smile, and they all entered the Great Hall. Harry sat across from Ron and between Pavarti and Seamus, but Pavarti was leaving a suspicious amount of space between herself and Harry.

"Do I smell bad or something?" He asked. Pavarti shook her head, giving him a quick smile before darting her eyes to her plate. Within a few minutes, the Great Hall was filled with the student body of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the meantime, Harry finally had some time to think – something he hadn't been able to do since he'd been hauled out of bed by his roommates.

And the moment he let his mind wander, it landed on a familiar subject.

"Hey, Ron, have you heard about the victims? Did the Mandrake Draught work? McGonagall told me they'd be good to go today." He asked. The redhead shrugged.

"Just say you're worried about Hermione, Harry." Pavarti giggled. Harry felt his face heat up, which only elicited more laughter.

"I, well…I am worried about Hermione – but, obviously, you know – "

"See, I don't know how he gets better essay grades than me when he's as articulate as a rock." Seamus snorted, and Harry knew his cheeks were even redder. The blood rushing in his ears was loud enough to make him unaware of the hush that had fallen over the Great Hall.

"Oi. Harry." Lavender, who was next to Ron, nudged Harry's shin under the table. He turned to see she was nodding her head at a weird angle, and for a moment Harry thought she had been hit with a Confundus Charm. Clearly his confusion was reflected on his face, because Lavender sighed in exasperation before pointing in the direction she'd been nodding her head – towards the Great Hall doors.

Harry tried to crane his neck and see what she was pointing at, but he could barely glimpse a thing beyond the sea of heads up and down the Gryffindor table. Slowly, he swung his legs over the bench and got to his feet, scanning the far end of the room. Then he spotted what had caused everyone in the Great Hall to quiet down.

A certain bushy-haired witch was standing just inside the doors of the Great Hall, nervously wringing her hands. Harry felt his heart slow to a standstill at the sight of Hermione Granger outside of her bed in the Hospital Wing. Then, his face lit up in a grin so large he knew he was stretching his lips to their limit. But he didn't care. His entire body was positively pulsing with total, utter, unparalleled happiness at the mere sight of Hermione Granger – alive and well.

He locked eyes with her, and she instantly stopped distractedly twisting her hands. The moment she caught sight of him, she flashed him the most radiant smile he could ever remember, sending his nervous system into a frenzy. After a beat, she began running down the aisle straight towards him.

Harry didn't want to wait for her. The moment he saw her take off, he did the same, his legs moving so fast he wasn't sure if his trainers were touching the ground. The closer they got to each other, the more ecstatic Harry felt, and even though he was moving as fast as he was capable of, time seemed to slow down.

Now, since the invention of the hug, there have been five hugs that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. Harry and Hermione crashed into each other like a pair of meteors, emitting a shockwave of pure joy that bounced off the walls of the Great Hall.

Later, Harry's friends would tell him that everyone in the room – save the Slytherins, obviously – broke into uproarious applause the moment they embraced. Ron went on to mention that even a few teachers were particularly enthused – especially Professor McGonagall.

But Harry didn't notice at the time. His undivided attention was focused solely on the girl he had wrapped up in his arms, who was squeezing the life out of him more than she ever had before. Gingerly, he rested his cheek against Hermione's hair, feeling the familiar tickle he'd missed for far too long.

"You solved it!" Hermione cried out, still beaming as she stepped away. Harry nodded eagerly, still grinning like an idiot.

"Couldn't have done it without the brightest witch of our age." He smirked. Hermione blushed, but maintained her dazzling smile.

"Oh, by the way…" He smirked impishly. "I freed Dobby."

Hermione gasped in surprise, clapping her hands to her mouth for a moment. "Did you really?" She squeaked. Harry nodded once again, and felt a familiar wall of force slam into him, causing his smirk to widen into a full-blown grin.

Then, he a warm brush graced his cheek. Suddenly, he felt as if he would never touch the surface of the Earth again in favor of floating off the ground for a blissful eternity. Keeping one arm wrapped around Hermione, he brought his other hand up to the spot where she had kissed his cheek, brushing his still warm skin with his fingers.

"I can't wait to hear how you describe that one." She whispered into his shoulder. Harry didn't react for a moment, waiting for his brain to catch up with his ears. Once it did, he hitched his breath in shock. He involuntarily tightened his arms around Hermione, which only elicited a small giggle from his best friend.

'She could hear me…' He thought to himself, feeling a tidal wave of anxiety crash over him.

"How much – "

"Every word."

"Oh, Merlin…" Harry mumbled to himself, feeling his cheeks turn Gryffindor scarlet.

"Thank you for everything, Harry." Hermione whispered as she pulled away to gaze at her best friend. Harry saw nothing but positivity in her eyes – jubilation, excitement, relief, elation, just about every happy emotion in the book was reflected in her chocolate irises. They could not have been more different from the lifeless orbs that he'd seen since she'd been petrified, and Harry felt his unease melt away.

"Are you two planning on sitting down?" Pavarti asked, pointing to the two empty spots between her and Seamus. Hermione eagerly took a seat next to Pavarti, but Harry paused, eyeing his peers. All of them were looking rather smug, particularly Lavender. Even Harry Potter, the boy with the intuition of a tree stump, was able to piece together what was going on.

"A-ha!" He crossed his arms defiantly. "You all were acting weird because you knew Hermione would be back from the Hospital Wing! That's why you left two seats open," he wheeled on Pavarti, "and you were going to ask me about Hermione on the way down here!" He pointed at Dean accusingly. "You all knew, but you wanted it to be a surprise, didn't you?"

"It was Lavender's idea!" Dean blurted, pointing to the blonde girl down the bench from him. Harry stared at her, and she just shrugged.

"You're welcome." She winked. Harry tilted his head in curiosity, but she just waggled her eyebrows and returned her attention to her plate.

"Well, I think that's rather sweet of you all. Harry's reaction was everything I could have hoped for." Hermione beamed at her classmates. "Harry, have a seat before I eat all of your treacle tart." She patted the spot on the bench next to her. Harry sighed, narrowing his eyes at Lavender one last time before he slid next to Hermione.

Before he could dig into his dessert, he felt a hand slip into his. He turned to see Hermione smiling at him, the warmth that he'd been accustomed to before her petrification emanating from her skin once again. Any sorrows or troubles he might have had at that moment were wiped far from his mind as he met his best friend's cheerful eyes.

Hermione Granger was back.

A/N: I'm sure you're all itching to massacre me for not releasing a chapter yesterday, but I'm telling you all I literally could not do it. For starters, I was barely home all day, and it was actually a rather shitty day altogether if I say so myself. Additionally, I ended up scrapping several versions of this chapter between last night and the time of this chapter's publication because I couldn't find any joy while writing them.

Mercifully, an idea came to me, and thus this version of Chapter 25 was born, written, and published. And let me tell you, I had the time of my life writing it, especially the funnier moments between Harry and Ron, as well as pretty much every word after Hermione shows up. Also, finding an excuse to make a Princess Bride reference was a glorious feeling.

Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter. I really enjoyed writing it because I like to allow my story to flow through dialogue, so the recap between Harry and Ron was both enjoyable to write and I figured it would be sufficient for you readers. I highlighted how McGonagall's presence altered the fight, but dragging you all through that sequence in real time was difficult, plodding, and unpleasant to write, so I opted for this.

As always, thank you to all of you who have written reviews or added this story to your follows and favorites. You guys are my world, and I cannot express my gratitude enough. If you happened to enjoy this chapter, please feel free to leave a review/follow/favorite, it does wonders for my confidence and my happiness. Stay safe!