The second visit to the Ministry was no more peaceful than the first one, they'd left soon after Remus had been revived and had taken a gulp of fire whisky. As a result, they flooed into the Ministry as most of the workers were returning from lunch and managed to blend in with the other few hundred that had managed to remove the cobwebs of the morning by stepping into the sunshine. They snagged an elevator with a few other people who all seemed to be in awe of Harry, slight fear of Remus and a mix of jumpy confusion and wonder over Sirius, they stopped at various levels and each watched the doors close on the three men that had been so present in the media recently. They arrived in the same dark room with the same woman waiting for them, this time with the three others all of which nodded to Remus respectfully and with no hint of the distress that he was used to seeing.
"Well lets see what happens today shall we." Arrans said with a wide smile as they set off down the corridors again.
"We've been up all night and she's still bouncing around." Killick remarked dryly.
"Oh stop being such an old grouch, this is the most excitement I've had in weeks. Something entirely new and undiscovered! I've been looking at the time possibilities for months, do you know how boring it gets…"
She carried on talking about the boringness of time exploration, thoroughly distracting Harry until they reached a room. It was obviously a conference room, a long table sat in the middle of the room with 10 chairs around it and writing material covering it. There were also three black boards around with numerous writings on them and a few diagrams.
"After you left this morning, we came here almost immediately to start putting ideas together and while we haven't made that much progress, we've made a little but we need to hear more about Harry's second year to get more information. However, we can do that later, first we thought you'd want to go and get the prophecy."
Harry thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly.
"Yes, I think it would be better to hear it. It could be nothing or something but no reason to put it off when we're just worrying. Plus you guys will get a break."
They all agreed and while Killick, Arrans and Robins went to get a coffee and a little sunshine; Vexmoor took the other three to the Hall of Prophecies, they moved through several other rooms all which had interesting objects but Vexmoor didn't stop and explain, instead leading them to another door where an Unspeakable named Barnes was introduced to them before entering. The room they entered was tall and long and wide. The ceiling was hidden in the darkness and they could only see the sides due to the pale blue flames, Harry moved his robes closer around him as the chill of the room settled into his bones. In front of them were rows upon rows of tall wooden shelves and upon those were glass orbs, some of them glowed and others were dark.
"Why are they different?" Sirius asked as they started to walk through the rows.
"The ones that are light are the prophecies that are still active, the ones that are dark have been fulfilled or the person that it was about has died."
They carried on and a few minutes later reached midway down aisle number 97 where the Unspeakable pointed up. On a shelf just above Harry's head was a slightly glowing orb with a parchment wrapped around it with S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D, Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter.
"Who are the initials?" Harry asked absentmindedly.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore naturally and the other would be the Seer Sybill Patricia Trelawney."
"Professor Trelawney?" Remus asked looking at the Unspeakable, in vague surprise.
"I don't know I'm afraid but I suppose its possible. From what I remember she only has the gift through her great, great grandmother?"
"That would be her, she's a real seer?"
"Apparently so." Came Barnes dry response.
Harry felt his stomach flip as he focussed on the orb and an arm wrap around his shoulders, he looked up into his godfathers eyes as he smiled down at him and squeezed his shoulder.
"We're here for you, Prongslet. We can always come back."
"No I want to…but what if its awful and it changes us or what if it-"
"Harry." Came the soft but stern tone. "It won't change us at all, Moony and I are always going to be here no matter what. And if it is awful then we'll figure it out but Harry you can't be thinking about what if, those two words have a power that can destroy you if you let it."
Feeling his insides untwist at the soothing tone he looked and reached up for the orb. It was heavy and smooth and fitted neatly in his hand.
"How do we hear it? We'd like to as quickly as possible." Harry asked, with his eyes on the softly glowing creation. Even after being in the wizarding world for 4 years he found himself in awe over magic.
The Unspeakable motioned and they all began to troop in the opposite direction, Barnes opened another door into a small round room with a hard stone floor which had a white circle and a small wooden table.
"The prophecy can only be heard by smashing it, you can review it via pensive. Smash it within the circle and the glass will be contained and stop any shards from flying." Barnes said importantly, before closing the door as he left.
"We have to smash it to hear it, isn't that a little weird?" Sirius said a little confused.
"I'd say, but maybe they just haven't figured out another way yet." Remus said as he cast some more advanced privacy charms around the place. "Right, are we ready?"
Harry took a deep breath and looked at each of them. Their faces were open and encouraging, no judgement or pressure and he felt a sense of peace and happiness knowing they were there as he raised his arm before bringing it down quickly and throwing it hard into the centre of the ring. The crash echoed around the room and they all flinched even as the glass only rebounded from the insides of the slightly glowing walls of the dome that kept them shielded. From within the slightly misty orb, the figure of Sybill Trelawney rose up about three feet into the air, she was seated in a dark alcove on a red seat and her eyes were the same wide, fogged look that Luna had had. Her voice on the other hand was harsh and gasping as she spoke.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.…"
The figure faded and all three were left looking at the broken glass.
"Oh yes Pads, no reason to worry at all." The dryness of the statement had them all sniggering before settling back into seriousness.
"I suppose we should get back to the Unspeakable's and see what they make of this."
They left the room and found Barnes waiting for them outside seemingly staring into space. He turned as they came nearer and asked "Are you finished?"
"Yes, thank you."
They walked out of the hall and Barnes closed the door quickly behind them. They set off back the corridor each lost in his own thoughts but with Remus and Sirius walking either side of their boy quietly protecting him, they entered the conference room to find Vexmoor and Arrans flipping through books and making notes, with a packet of custard creams and 5 Styrofoam cups in front of them. They looked up at the men as they entered but didn't immediately enquire and Vexmoor simply said "help yourselves" before returning to her papers.
Sirius immediately headed for the biscuits and stuffed two of them in his mouth before Remus wrestled the packet away from him and held it out his reach. Meanwhile Harry wandered over to one of the blackboards that had a crude picture of the diary on it, he picked up the chalk and wrote
Diary belonging to Thomas Marvolo Riddle aka Voldemort
Horcrux
Contained a memory of the boy at 16, was physical
Took possession of an 11 year old girl, let her speak parsletongue.
Can show a person a memory
Stabbed through with a basilisk tooth
Used to belong to Lucius Malfoy
Who has it now?
Are there more?
Replacing the chalk he closed his hand around the stag charm that lived around his neck since Daphne had given it to him. A smile tugged at his lips despite the mood of the room, he couldn't wait to get back to her it had barely been 24 hours and already he missed her. She'd have some ideas about all this and Neville would be ready to listen and let him get his thoughts in order, Tracey would be cracking jokes and reminding them that they were all there for each other and Theo would be thinking of the numerous dark art facts and how they all connected. They'd be finishing lunch right now, maybe heading to the library to research or hoping to catch some rays, maybe they were sitting under the oak tree. He came out of his daydream as Remus came to stand next to him and read the things off the list and Remus took the chalk to add
When a horcrux is destroyed can the one who made it feel it?
Can other horcruxes be tracked from it?
A cough had them turning away from the board to find Vexmoor looking at them with a patient gaze she grinned as they fully faced her.
"You know I think the two of you would make very fine Unspeakables-"
"What about me!?" Interrupted Sirius, crumbs around his mouth and the packet of biscuits still in his hand. They all ignored him.
"I can practically see the gears of your brain turning, trying to make sense of things. Can you talk us through it from the start, Harry?"
"It's gonna be a while, but sure. Remus, help me?" Together they pulled another blackboard over and the others looked up ready and eager to listen.
"Well it started during the summer holidays, my uncle had an important client over and didn't want me to bother them so after helping to prepare I went back up to my room. When I got there; there was a guest waiting for me, a house-elf. It said its name was Dobby and I couldn't return to Hogwarts as terrible, horrible things were going to happen." He took a breath to continue when the doors opened and Killick and Robins came in with Killick holding a large wooden box.
"Hope you haven't started without us, I thought it might be helpful to get everything we could on Horcrux, a colleague questioned me about them a few years ago and I've asked to borrow their notes, they're looking into another project right now so have allowed it as long as you give your oaths that any information stays between us and not used for nefarious purposes."
"I can't."
Harry's statement had everyone looking at him in surprise.
"Its just, my friends have helped me so much with this, I can't keep it from them. I can get their oaths before as well but I can't not reveal it, they've stood by me through everything and I won't hide it, plus they know most of it anyway and I need to be able to talk to them about it." He looked to Sirius. "It would be like Dad keeping something from you two." Sirius' eyes glowed with understanding and he looked towards Killick but before he could even open his mouth Killick beat him to it.
"I think I understand." She was quite for a moment before waving her wand and a crow appeared before her.
"Tell Cranter that the oath will need to be reworded to include others, they will also give oaths not to share, but they know half the information and it would be more dangerous to not reveal it and have them stumbling along making the wrong conclusions, I swear it isn't to create." The crow cawed and flew off through the door.
The two settled in chairs closest to them and Robins pulled one of the cups towards himself.
"What were you talking about before we arrived?"
"Harry was just starting his second year."
"Ah excellent, it does sound rather interesting." Robins pulled his hands up and settled his face in them as he leaned forward, watching Harry intently.
Harry repeated what he had said. "He had to explain what a house-elf was as I'd never heard of one but then refused to tell me his masters name, he was very agitated and he even revealed that he'd been hiding my letters from me… Eventually he left and the rest of it passed with me ending at the Weasleys. We flooed to Diagon Alley where I accidently went to Knockturn Alley and ended up in this creepy shop which had all sorts of dark things in it. Anyway, while I was in there the Malfoys came in, Lucius wanted to sell something that I couldn't see and before you worry I hid and then escaped out the shop before they found me. Apparently, the Ministry had set up some raids and he didn't want 'these items' to be found."
Arrans was nodding her head with an upset look on her face.
"Yes; I went on a few of those raids as an undercover new auror, we went to Malfoy Manor once but there was never anything suspicious enough for a second search of 'a respectable member of our society'. At least that's what Fudge said."
"I got out of there as quick as I could, met up with the Weasleys and headed to the bookstore where Lockhart used me as a publicity stunt before shoving me away. The Malfoys showed up again to sneer at Hermione's parents and the Weasley's second hand things, they got into a fight but that was it and we headed back to the Burrow. Then we went to Hogwarts or at least tried to."
"What do you mean, tried?" Robins asked.
"When we got to the station, the wall between the platforms had sealed up and wouldn't let us through. At the time we thought it was because we were too late, it turns out that it was Dobby who forced it not to let us through. As a result, we thought it would be a good idea to get there through other means…"
"Wait a minute, the car that flew? That was you?" Robins asked suddenly a smile beginning to grow on his face.
"Err.." Came Harry's intelligent reply as he looked between his guardians.
"Oh Merlin, it was! I saw the news on that, couldn't believe it!" Robins collapsed onto the table laughing his head off.
"Harry, please enlighten us." Remus spoke quietly but sternly. Determined to be the adult here as he could see Sirius's mouth twitching too.
There was a brief pause before the words were shoved out of Harry's mouth as quickly and quietly as he could manage it.
"Mr Weasley had added adjustments to his car which allowed it to become invisible and to fly. Ron and I took it and flew it to Hogwarts."
There was silence before Sirius lost it and was quickly followed by Arrans and Vexmoor, only Killick and Remus were left relatively stern though their faces were twitching and Remus did turn away for a coughing fit. It was a good few minutes before the others managed to get a hold of themselves but before another comment was made Sirius made his way to hug his godson tightly.
"Your mother would murder you, your dad would praise you. So I will say that is absolutely amazing but you're also grounded until your 30!" He gave another squeeze and returned to his seat smiling at his godsons bright blush.
"Right so we got there and-"
"Safely?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you get there safely, Harry?" Remus clarified with narrow eyes, he knew Harry was leaving some details out but he wouldn't let him leave everything out.
Harry looked down and mumbled something that not even the werewolf hearing could pick up.
"Come again."
"We kinda crashed into the wmphingwiwo…"
"You crashed into the what?" Killick asked still clueless.
"We crashed into the whomping willow."
Remus quickly sat down and Sirius pulled the biscuits towards him with a blank look in his eye.
The Unspeakables all had various expressions ranging from sympathetic to a painful wince.
"You crashed into the willow." Whispered Remus who seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Yes, but it was all okay. We didn't get hurt or anything. Ron broke his wand but it was all good." He hurried to reassure and was gratified by the colour returning to his Uncles cheeks.
"Okay, continue."
Before Harry could, a silver hare bounded into the room and made its way to Killick. The voice that came from it was deep and rough. "Understood, I trust you in this matter. Decide on the oath and report back."
"Excellent, we'll deal with that later right now you were saying, Harry?" Arrans said smiling.
"So we got out and caught by Snape of all people, he took us up to his office but just as we thought he was about to expel us, Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived and simply gave us detention and then we were sent on our way. The detention I had was with Lockhart a while later, answering his fan mail-"
"His fan mail!" Came the incredulous reply.
"Yup, for 7 hours."
"That has to be the most ridiculous detention in the world." Arrans said in disgust. "I get that you're not supposed to enjoy detention but that's just…bizarre to be honest."
"Yep, anyway detention over he finally let me go when I heard a voice."
"He let you go because there was a voice?" Sirius had an extremely perplexed expression on his face.
"Well, only I heard the voice…and it was talking about killing something. But he couldn't hear it and eventually there was just silence and he let me go."
"You sure, you weren't imagining things, lack of sleep etc?" Robins asked as he grabbed the biscuits from Sirius and helped himself to a few.
"Well I thought that at the time but after the next few things happened we thought otherwise."
"That does not fill me with happiness." Remus said dryly as he took a seat opposite Sirius.
"Moony, how badly do you think we'll get it from TigerLily when we eventually reunite?" Sirius asked, his voice slightly muffled from where his head was buried in his arms.
"Oh Padfoot, I think its safe to say we will be getting it."
"Hmph, carry on Prongslet."
"Right; so Halloween, we -Ron, Hermione and me- went to Sir Nicholas's Death Day Party and before you all ask it was because he managed to save me from Filch a couple days before. Anyway, after it we were walking back along to the Great Hall when I heard that voice again, talking about killing. We ran to try and catch up, ended up in the corridor just off of it. Hanging from her tail was Mrs Norris, we thought she was dead but apparently, she was petrified and then there was the message on the wall -The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir Beware."
"Cheerful. Direct. And pretty open, everything a message should be." Vexmoor said, slumping in her chair.
"Harry, please tell you didn't end up injured at this point?" Sirius said with his head still in his arms.
"I didn't."
"His guardians head popped up with a look of total shock on his face. "You didn't?"
"Nope."
The grey eyes lightened and he grinned "Excellent, bravo, kinda surprised but brilliant"
Harry rolled his eyes at him but decided to carry on with the story.
"The whole school then turned up, along with the teachers and that's when Dumbledore explained she had been petrified. And that was it until the Quidditch game which was maybe a week later…Erm…There was this thing that happened…"
"Harrrrrrryyyyyyy." Came the long-drawn-out moan of Remus. "Please, just let's get it over with."
"Well the thing was, we started to play and it was all normal until a bludger started trying to get me."
"I've never been a huge Quidditch fan but isn't that normal?" Killick asked looking at the others for confirmation.
"No you don't get it, it was specifically targeting me. I did everything I could to get it off my tail and nothing worked, Fred and George were batting it anywhere they could and it kept coming back. Eventually I caught the snitch but got a broken arm anyway, then Lockhart in all his infinite wisdom decided to try and fix it before Madam Pomfrey could get to me; ended up vanishing them all instead."
"So the man was a complete idiot and totally useless as a teacher?" Clarified Arrans.
"Pretty much." Harry asserted.
"What is wrong with Dumbledore!? First a Dark Lord and now an imbecile, does he not check basic credentials?" Arrans asked no one in particular and with a look of disbelief on her face.
"He did much better the next year." The youngest said with a fond smile to Remus who returned it.
"What next, Harry?"
"The next attack happened that night, Dobby had woken me up while I was in the hospital wing to tell me he was sorry for hurting me but he needed me safe and out of the way-"
"Well he accomplished that." Said Robbins with a roll of his eyes.
"Yup, anyway during our talk we heard voices come from the corridor and he left and I pretended to sleep. Some of the professors came carrying Colin Creevey; he was petrified, completely frozen it was awful. Then there was the Duelling lesson…it didn't exactly go the way one would want it to go."
"Meaning?" Came the almost growl from Sirius.
"It started off fun enough, Lockhart made a complete arse of himself in front of everyone but then they wanted Malfoy and I to go against each other, so we did. Malfoy conjured a snake, it started to move towards Justin Finch-Fletchley…I told it to move away."
There was a pause.
"Aaannnd…"
Harry blinked in shock and looked between the Unspeakables in surprise. "I told it in Parsletongue."
"We figured that." Came the reply.
He glanced to Sirius who just smiled at him and shrugged.
"Right…erm…so yeah everyone at the school then figured I was somehow responsible for the attacks due to my dark abilities."
"Harry listen to me. Being able to speak to snakes is not a bad thing, it's a gift. In fact in India, Snake Speakers are renowned and favoured as its such a wonderful ability. In the past there are stories of people speaking bird, aquatic creatures etc. It is simply another language." Vexmoor said, leaning forward to catch his eye and hold it.
A blush spread over his face and he ducked his head allowing the shaggy hair to fall over his eyes, although he'd finally opened up to Sirius and Remus about his ability in one of their many fire calls and his friends had accepted him totally, he was unused to gain such acceptance from people. They all allowed him a few minutes to gather his composure and Remus silently passed him the custard creams which drew a laugh from him.
"Okay, so Ron, Hermione and I figured that there was really only one person in the castle who might have a clue what was going on which doesn't make sense now but at the time we figured there was only one other person who hated muggle-borns enough to want to kill them…"
"Malfoy junior?" Guessed Sirius and pumped his fist in the air at Harry's hesitant nod.
"So we figured all we needed to do was ask him some questions. But we also figured even Malfoy wouldn't be stupid enough to tell us three something, so we made Polyjuice potion."
"All by yourselves?" Asked Killick with a raised eye. "That potion is extremely advanced."
"I'm assuming Miss Granger did all the work? That young lady is extraordinarily clever." Remus mused.
"Or she was until she thought Harry a cheat." Sirius said scowling, it would take him far longer to forgive Harry's friends despite what she had done for him.
"So you made the potion." Urged Vexmoor, determined to keep them on track.
"Yeah but just before it was completed there was another attack, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Sir Nicholas too. It was awful, looks everywhere and sideways glances. The Weasley twins still defended me from the worst comments but even Hermione and Ron got upset with the looks and left me alone a bit."
Sirius leaned over and squeezed his shoulder, giving a sympathetic smile before settling back in his chair.
"Then Christmas happened and although brilliant, there was definitely an atmosphere. Everyone was on edge and there was almost no one left in the castle but Malfoy stayed so we went ahead with the plan. Ron and I turned ourselves into Goyle and Crabbe but Hermione….well her transformation didn't go as well, she had the wrong hair, when we finally convinced her to open the door we saw she'd been turned into a half cat! Complete with whiskers and tail!"
"Oh Merlin, that's a bad reaction. I'm guessing it took weeks to be resolved?"
"Oh yeah, during that time I found a diary in Moaning Myrtles bathroom someone had tried to flush it down the loo and instead it had flooded. The weird thing was that all the pages were blank, when I wrote in it, it wrote back. Said it was the property of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and that it existed at the time of the first attacks when a girl died. Then it said it could show me, it was quite incredible actually the diary sucked me in and showed me around Hogwarts, I saw a young Dumbledore well a younger Dumbledore and Tom. It showed the body being removed and then Tom showed me who it was that released the monster the last time, it was Hagrid!"
"Hagrid!" Came 4 gobsmacked replies, they turned to Arrans who looked unsurprised and shrugged as she said. "I was curious when the events happened two years ago and looked into the first murder and who was blamed and why but there wasn't much to go on, from what I gathered of the reports the ministry wanted to blame someone and the half-giant was a good, safe choice."
"We figured we'd just ask him, he's so bad at keeping secrets we didn't think it would be too hard to get the truth out of him. Unfortunately before we could there was another attack, it was Hermione and a Ravenclaw prefect."
"Oh Prongslet, that must have been awful." Remus said as he wrapped his nephew into a hug.
"It was terrible, she was just frozen. They were found with a mirror and Madam Pomfrey said they still had ages until the mandrakes were ready, she was still and quiet. Two things she never is."
There were a few moments silence as Harry remembered all the horror he felt at Hermione's attack then he shook himself as he pushed it away.
"We decided we absolutely needed to talk to Hagrid, we snuck out with the invisibility cloak. We got there but before Hagrid could tell us anything Dumbledore arrived with Fudge, they said how the Ministry must be seen to be doing something and so Hagrid was going to Azkaban. Then Malfoy senior arrived and said that the board of Governors had decided to suspend Dumbledore as he didn't seem to be handling it well. Hagrid managed to impart only one small piece of advice as he was leaving which was to follow the spider."
"Where were you going to find spiders to follow?" Asked Robins with a furrow between his brows.
"Well I was the one that came across Sir Nick and Justin and I noticed a trail of spiders going out the nearest window, and then when we left Hagrid's we saw a few entering the forest. So, we took Fang with us and followed them.
"You know, I'm beginning to wonder how you're still alive." Said Arrans as she tilted her head and grinned across at him.
"Heh, yeah I wonder that too to be honest. They led us to their nest with these huge spiders in it called Acromantula –"
"Wait, are you telling me that there's a herd of Acromantula in Hogwarts forest?" Arrans asked, leaning forward. At Harrys nod he burst to his feet and began pacing. "Do you have any idea how dangerous there are? They'll eat people, they have enormous appitites and live for years! And a school has decided to keep them in the back garden!"
"Well it is called the Forbidden Forest." Sirius said almost seriously.
"Didn't exactly stop us or Harry has it." Remus said who was also looking slightly pale at the thought of the giant spiders.
"Carry on, Harry. Ignore the boys." Robbins said with a smirk.
"Right, erm anyway the head spider called Aragog explained how he was the monster that Hagrid had been raising in the castle and that the actual killer was a beast that spiders flee because its so terrible. He said how the girl had died in a bathroom and then the monster had seemingly disappeared. We left soon after-"
"Woah woah woah, they simply let you leave?" Said Arrans with a narrowed gaze and as the blush spread over his neck both Sirius and Remus groaned again.
"Well, first they kinda tried to eat us…apparently only Hagrid got away with not being eaten because Aragog loves him."
"They tried to EAT YOU!" Sirius's face was pale and his left eye was twitching slightly.
"Yes but they obviously didn't! The car came and rescued us."
"The car? What the Weasley one?" Killick asked.
"Yep, it had disappeared into the forest when we arrived and basically became wild, it roared in and got us out. As we were returning to the castle we decided to go and check on Myrtle because if a girl had died in the bathroom then maybe she never left."
"A good deduction." Praised Remus though his hands were still clutching at the table in front of him.
"Thanks, however McGonagall found us but I managed to convince her we wanted to check in on Hermione, she believed us and took us straight to the hospital wing. Which thank goodness we did as we found a page in Hermione's hand-"
"She'd ripped a book?" Remus asked in shock.
"Heh, yeah but it was all about basilisks or the King of Serpents. She'd found out what the monster was ages ago, it had all the information on it. We were going to tell someone when there was an announcement that there had been another attack, Ron and I hid as the teachers came closer and we heard that a girl had been taken down into the Chamber. It was Ginny."
"The poor family." Remus said thinking of Arthur and Molly for a moment before he encouraged Harry on.
"They decided that Lockhart had the most experience so he should be the one to go down, so we figured we'd give him the information except when we got to his office it was to find him packing!"
"He was running away." Stated Killick with such a look of disgust and coldness on her face that Harry had to stop himself from shivering.
"Yeah, we snatched his wand and forced him to go with us instead. We went to the bathroom and asked Myrtle how she died and she showed us the sink, Ron found a carving of a snake and said that maybe if I spoke Parsletongue it would open. It did, the floor just dropped away into nothing so we pushed Lockhart down first and then went after him."
"A most excellent idea." Sirius said firmly.
"We thought so too, we found a snake skin and Lockhart pretended to faint in order to grab Ron's wand from him. He explained that he was proficient in memory charms and that's how he managed to sell all the books as he took the stories from others. But hilariously enough he tried to obliviate us with Ron's wand and it backfired on himself, unfortunately there was a rock slide splitting us up so we decided I would go ahead and try and find Ginny while Ron tried to clear a path and figure a way out. I found my way to a solid wall that had two snakes entwined, asking it again in Parsletongue to open I went down into the main chamber. It was long with huge pillars with more snakes carved around them and a huge statue of Slytherin himself at the end."
"Didn't think too much of himself then." Sirius said with a role of his eyes.
"It was like he was overcompensating…" Godson and Godfather exchanged smirks with the same spark of mischief in their eyes and the women of the room shook their heads in exasperation and Remus coughed to hide his laugh and waved his hand to keep Harry going on.
"She was lying at the base of the statue and there was a boy next to her. I didn't really notice him at first but he spoke when I tried to revive Ginny. Said he was Tom, a memory of him that could be preserved because he'd basically been draining Ginny's life from her, he'd managed to possess her and make her write the messages, set the monster free and kill the roosters."
"Roosters?"
"Yes, the cry of it is fatal to the basilisk." Harry expounded. "He said he had changed his name to Lord Voldemort because he didn't want to keep his muggle fathers name-"
"You must be joking! A half blood, bet that would cause half the purebloods to have aneurysms!" Robins said as he stood and began to pace.
"I would love to tell them though I don't think any would actually believe me. Anyway he ended up calling the basilisk right there and then, it almost got me a couple of times and then somehow Fawkes found his way to me-"
"Dumbledore's Phoenix?"
"How many other Fawkes's do we know, Padfoot!"
"Just checking, Prongslet! Onward, please."
"Fawkes pecked out its eyes and also had dropped the sorting hat at my feet, there was something heavy inside it and I reached in and pulled out the Gryffindor sword. Using that I managed to evade the basilisk long enough but also get close enough that I managed to stab it through the roof of its mouth. Unfortunately I ended up with a tooth in me as I pulled it out."
"I think I'm having a coronary." Murmured Remus his hand over his heart as he stared at Harry.
Vexmoor immediately poured some water for him and Harry went to grab him in a hug which the werewolf immediately returned with repeated whispers of "you're okay, you're okay"
"Honestly Moony you already knew that."
"I didn't it was after fighting the bloody thing!"
It was a few moments later before they separated with Remus joining Robins in his pacing.
"Tom was commenting about me dying and how Ginny's life was almost over as he was getting stronger. Fawkes healed me with his tears but Ginny was still dying, I thought I needed to destroy the diary and basilisk venom must be able to do it. I stabbed it and as I did it the figure started fading until it disappeared entirely. Ginny woke up soon after, we went back to Ron who had managed to make a whole just big enough to all get out and then Fawkes flew us back up. We went straight to McGonagals office where we found Mr and Mrs Weasley and Dumbledore, we told them everything. In the end McGonagall escorted the others to the hospital wing to patch Ginny up and take care of Lockhart and Dumbledore took me up to his office, he told me that the Fawkes came to me because I showed loyalty to Dumbledore -I called him the greatest wizard in the world" He said in response to the raised eyebrows. "And then he said that the sorting hat gave me the sword because I was a true Gryffindor. Suddenly the door slammed open and in walked Lucius Malfoy with Dobby behind him, he couldn't believe Dumbledore was back but the headmaster implied that the governors had begged him to return as they had only been blackmailed into agreement beforehand. Malfoy asked what had happened to the monster and Dumbledore held up the diary as proof that it had been destroyed, Dobby started to make gestures towards his 'master' and I realised that he was trying to show that the diary came from the Malfoys. In the end he stormed out and I figured it could show my appreciation to Dobby-"
"He tried to kill you!" Sirius burst out.
"Only because he was trying to keep me safe, and he'd been hurt so badly by the Malfoys and because of what he thought he should do to himself. And he has been amazing ever since, turned into a real friend. So as they left I ran after them with the diary, I put one of my socks inside it. I gave it back to Malfoy and he threw it at Dobby, freeing him! And then it was the end of year feast and time to go home etc."
"And thus ends a perfectly calm and peaceful year." Sirius said sarcastically, throwing up his hands.
"Well I tried my best!"
"No you didn't Harry, if you'd tried your best you would have told someone about the voice and the diary and gone to a competent teacher." Remus's rebuke had another blush spreading over Harry's cheeks. There was a pause before a quiet "I'm sorry." Reached everyone's ears, the Unspeakable's tactfully retreated to the other side of the room and started to write notes on another of the blackboards as they gave the three some privacy. Sirius and Remus moved to sit on either side of Harry and there was another pause as they tried to put their thoughts together. Neither wanted to say something in anger or fear and then regret it later but at the same time they knew they needed to ensure he saw the danger and knew there were adults that he could now come to and they would listen.
"Prongslet…Harry, first I understand why. Your friends sister was in danger, teachers had already failed you before and you did go to someone you thought could help. You tried your best to go to people and they showed that you couldn't trust them…again. We just hope that you know we're always going to listen to you and be ready to support you."
"Its also the whole rushing into danger thing, we know that in both years there were extenuating circumstances but you can't say you looked out for your personal safety all that much. We just need to know that you don't have a death wish to be honest and that we can trust you to tell us everything and not withhold any information from us just because you don't think its important."
There was a pause as Harry digested his words and came up with his own.
"I don't have a death wish. I think it's more, ever since I was little I've had to do things by myself. The Durselys were never interested in anything to do with me unless they were able to punish me for it, and I know you're there for me but that does still take a bit of getting used to. But I promise that I'll double think before doing anything dangerous and make sure you guys know everything, deal?"
The old friends looked at each other of the top of his head and acknowledged it was probably the best they were going to get and nodded in agreement.
"And also a huge well done, you got through it all, made sure to help your friends and didn't let people's lack of faith stop you from doing what was right. Your parents would be extremely proud…and furious but proud."
Harry felt his throat close up a bit at his guardian's emotional words and nodded his head in understanding.
"Right, so do we want to tackle the idea of the Horcrux's or the Prophecy first?" Vexmoor asked once it was obvious the previous conversation was over.
"Prophecy, I need to think of something else other than a colossal tooth sticking out of my nephew's arm." Remus said as he got up and stretched.
"It wasn't that big!" Harry said exasperated but with a grin.
"Oh really! I'll believe that when I see it!" Remus shot back.
"Hey I killed it at least!"
"Yes after it had taken a bite out of you!"
Sirius looked on in fond amusement as the bickering carried on and he looked towards Arrans who had come nearer to watch and said.
"Honestly you can't take them anywhere."
"No…but he got through it, that's what matters."