I've gone back and fixed a lot of typos and other small mistakes in the previous chapters, so if you've been thinking about reading the story from the beginning again, now would be an excellent time to do that.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

First thing the next morning, Harry penned a letter to Lucius Malfoy.

Dear Mr Malfoy

I am returning to you something which I believe you misplaced several weeks ago in Diagon

Alley. I would advise you to keep better track of your things, particularly when their

mishandling could potentially lead to several deaths. I'm sure that's the last thing you

would want, upstanding citizen as you are. I am certain it would also be very awkward

for your family if this particular item's previous owner ever became known to the public,

especially should anything untoward ever occur. That would no doubt lead to all sorts of

difficult questions regarding how it came to be in your possession in the first place.

Fortunately, disaster has been averted in this case. Arthur Weasley's daughter is safe, no

one was harmed, and the Muggle Protection Act will carry on as planned. I hope this

letter finds you well, and wish you a pleasant day.

He did not sign it, obviously, but did indulge himself a small stylized drawing of an eye in the corner of the parchment. Let Malfoy interpret that however he would.

He sealed the letter, then rummaged around in his trunk until he found what he was looking for: a sock that he had had specially made for Dobby. It was all four colors of Hogwarts in a tartan pattern with the word "Free!" written on it in fine calligraphy. He transfigured it into an exact replica of the diary (post fang stabbing), then added a charm so that it would revert to its true form the second it passed from Lucius's hands to Dobby's. The added bonus of that was Lucius would know it wasn't the real diary, and would be left wondering and worrying where it was, who had it, and what they planned to do with it.

He was leaving a lot to chance, but hopefully the little elf would remember his advice from before (and hopefully Lucius Malfoy wouldn't destroy it immediately, though given he thought it was Voldemort's, that was a low risk). If it didn't work, they'd just have to find another way to free him later on.

He could hear his dorm mates stirring, so he hurried out the door and down the spiral staircase to make a stop at the Owlery before breakfast.

Hedwig glided down and landed on his shoulder as soon as he entered the draughty tower. He reached up and stroked her wing.

'Sorry, Hedwig, we're going to have to be a little more clandestine than usual with this one,' he said, handing her an owl treat because he knew she wouldn't like that. 'If I send you, they'll know it was me. You're a very stunning owl, but that means you stand out a bit and this needs to be anonymous.'

She hooted softly, which Harry took to mean she understood (she didn't peck or scratch him, at any rate), and remained perched on his shoulder while he gave the letter and package to a school barn owl and relayed his instructions. The bird flew off, and Harry gave his own pet another treat and stroked her wing once more before bidding her farewell and making his way to the Great Hall. The rest of his classmates were already there by this time.

'Where were you?' Ron asked.

'Just sending a letter,' he said.

'Who're you writing to?'

'For heaven's sake, Ron, mind your own business!' Hermione scolded. 'If Harry wanted to tell you he would have.'

'All right, all right, sorry!'

'No worries,' said Harry. 'Did I miss anything?'

'There were a couple of roosters in the cellar according to Ernie Macmillan,' Ron said. 'Apparently they didn't catch them all yesterday and when the sun came up this morning one started crowing and started the whole thing all over again.'

'Ha!' Harry bellowed, unable to help himself.

'From what I've heard, it was Hagrid's originally,' Hermione said, stirring some treacle into her porridge. 'But one of them is still missing, so some people are saying whoever was behind this still has something else planned.'

Harry cursed inwardly. That was another loose end they'd left behind. It was nothing major, but he already recognized the pattern of tiny breadcrumbs that he and Ron and Hermione always ended up following when they were younger; they never did seem to manage to put them all together until it was too late. Now that he was the one inadvertently dropping them, he could only hope that pattern held. Though really, his two best friends were the least of his worries. Dumbledore was going to notice a lot more than they were, and he'd put it together faster as well. As with his conversation with the headmaster about the mirror, the only thing he and Ginny had going for them was that the actual truth was supposed to be impossible, as far as even Dumbledore was concerned.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

By the end of the week, the basilisk's body had been cleared away – Harry couldn't help wondering what they did with it – and the corridor containing Moaning Myrtle's toilet was open once more. However, since there wasn't much else down there, and since few people used that bathroom anyway, it was still largely deserted most of the time. Still, a few people went by out of curiosity to see if they could spot traces of the monster or the message (Professor Flitwick had successfully removed it, although its contents were by now common knowledge throughout the school somehow).

'It's always something, isn't it?' Ron asked on Friday as the three of them observed some of these curious hopefuls. 'Last year it was You-Know-Who, this year a giant monster snake, what's it going to be next year, an escaped murderer?'

Harry's eyes widened briefly. There was no way…

'Or maybe a dragon!'

He relaxed again. It was just Ron being Ron, and a very uncanny coincidence.

'I think I'd prefer a nice quiet school year myself,' Hermione said.

'You and me both, Hermione,' said Harry earnestly. 'Mind, this year's only just started. Plenty of time for more shenanigans.'

'Don't jinx it, Harry!' said Ron. 'We're just lucky we weren't around when that snake came out. Beats last year when we all had to watch.'

'That must have been difficult for you,' said Harry dryly.

'Er, sorry, Harry, but you know what I mean,' Ron stammered awkwardly. 'If there's going to be trouble, just as well it happens when nobody's around, right?'

'I can't argue with that.'

The next day brought with it another Quidditch practice in the pounding rain and mud. Even Harry had trouble keeping up his enthusiasm for the sport in such conditions, and the rest of the team was feeling down because Fred and George had told them how well the Slytherin team was flying on their new brooms.

This didn't bother Harry, of course, who knew he could out-fly Malfoy no matter what broom he was riding, but it did make the practice even less fun. He was the only one not moping around afterwards and thus ended up returning to the castle by himself, covered in mud and drenched to the bone. As he entered, he very carefully made sure no one was around to see him, and magically cleaned himself off. He left his clothes a bit damp so it still looked like he'd been outside, but at least he was no longer dripping water and tracking mud everywhere.

On his way up to change clothes, he passed Nearly Headless Nick, who was muttering to himself about something, and a few floors up from there, he came upon Cho Chang, who was in her Quidditch gear and carrying her broomstick.

'Oh!' she said, looking mildly startled. 'Hi, Harry.'

'Your captain's got you practicing in this too, has she?' he asked wryly.

'Unfortunately,' she said. 'We've been trying to wait out the bad weather, but Eva says we've waited long enough, it's not getting any better, and we've missed enough practices as it is.'

'At least your first match isn't until next month,' he offered.

'True, but it'll be my first time starting,' she said, chewing her lip. 'Were you nervous before your first match?'

'Absolutely,' said Harry, thinking back to his original first year. 'But at that time I'd only first heard about Quidditch about two months ago. You've got loads of experience compared to me.'

She clutched her broom and looked down for a moment. 'You're a natural, though,' she said. 'Everyone says so. What if...what if I'm not good enough? What if Eva ends up replacing me?'

'Hey, come on, I've seen you fly,' he said, trying his best to be encouraging without sounding patronizing. 'You earned your spot on that team same as everyone else.'

'You think so?' she said, brightening up. Her face rose again and she pushed some of her hair back behind her ear.

'Course I do,' he said. 'And I'll tell you a secret; as soon as the whistle blows and the match starts, all those nervous feelings go away and you're only thinking about the game. It'll be great.'

She was smiling brightly now; Harry felt rather proud of himself. 'Wow. That does sound great. Thanks, Harry! I should...I should get going!' She spun around and was off, moving quickly and with a bit of a bounce in her step.

Harry watched her go with an air of bemusement. She'd sure cheered up easily just from a little pep talk from – oh. Oh, no.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Harry didn't have time to worry about Cho, however. When he returned to his dormitory, he had another surprise encounter.

'Harry Potter, sir!' Dobby, who had been apparently waiting for him on his bed, jumped off excitedly as he came through the door. He was wearing the sock Harry had made for him and looked as ecstatic as Harry had ever seen him.

'Hello, Dobby,' he said as neutrally as he could manage, though it was difficult to keep a huge smile off his face.

'A package came, Harry Potter, and nobody knew who it was from, but Dobby remembered Harry Potter's advice, sir, and was there waiting, sir, though he did not know what would happen.' He was practically bouncing up and down as he told the story. 'Dobby's old master sees the package and is not happy, sir. Not happy at all! "Hide this away," he says to Dobby, but as soon as he hands it away, it transforms back into a sock, Harry Potter! And now Dobby is free! Dobby is free and he is forever grateful to Harry Potter, sir! Dobby never thought Harry Potter would try so hard to help him, but Dobby is most thankful, sir!' He was dancing back and forth from one foot to the other in a sort of jig now, and Harry had to laugh. He took a seat on his bed.

'Just repaying a favor, Dobby,' he said. 'You took a risk trying to help me – even if maybe not in the way I would've liked – and I wanted to do something for you in return. I'm sure you've heard the danger's over now, unless you were talking about something other than the Chamber of Secrets.'

'Yes, Harry Potter, yes! But Dobby is wondering, how did Harry Potter know?'

'Well, after a great bloody basilisk appeared from a secret hidden chamber, I figured that must have been what you were talking about,' Harry lied smoothly.

'Was Harry Potter not the one to stop this plot, sir?' Dobby asked, visibly confused.

'I couldn't tell you what happened, Dobby, or who was responsible,' Harry said. It wasn't really a lie. 'The important thing is you're free now, and you can stop trying to get me kicked out of school.'

'Dobby is very sorry for that, sir,' said the elf, hanging his head and wringing his hands. 'Dobby never wanted to cause trouble for Harry Potter; he only wanted to keep Harry Potter safe.'

'I understand,' said Harry. 'It's why I'm not really upset about it. I know you were trying to help the only way you could.'

'Harry Potter is too good to Dobby!' wailed the elf. 'Harry Potter forgives Dobby and even gives him his freedom! Dobby can never repay Harry Potter for this!'

'Don't worry about it,' said Harry. 'What are you going to do now?'

'Dobby will look for new work, sir, new masters,' he said. 'It may be difficult, sir, for many wizards do not want an elf who has been given clothes, sir. Dobby thinks he might like paying too, sir, but it is hard to find work that pays for a house elf. Many will not like it.'

Harry grinned a very satisfied grin. That had gone exactly as he'd hoped.

'Say, Dobby,' he said. 'How'd you like to come work for me?'

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Dobby was so full of elation at Harry's offer that it took several minutes to calm him down, by which time they could hear footsteps coming up the spiral staircase. Harry told him he'd call for him later that night to discuss terms, and the elf disappeared mere moments before Neville came into the dormitory, soaking wet.

'What were you doing outside, Neville?' he asked.

'I wasn't,' Neville said. 'Peeves upended a bucket on me. Then Filch gave me detention for tracking water everywhere.'

'Oh, Neville, I'm sorry,' said Harry. 'That's rotten luck. There's got to be dozens of people tracking water around today.'

Neville shrugged and went over to his trunk to retrieve a change of clothes. Something about this incident prickled at Harry's memory, but he couldn't think why. He had more important things to concern himself with at the moment, though. He secluded himself in his four poster, dried himself off, and retrieved his notebook, checking off another important step complete, and reading over what had to come next.

That night in the Room of Requirement, Harry called for Dobby, who appeared at once. He was surprised to see Ginny, and even more surprised to learn where they were, but was very anxious to enter Harry's service as quickly as possible.

Harry knew that Dobby wanted to be paid, but his initial offer was evidently far too high (he had no idea what Dumbledore had been paying him or would have started around there), for Dobby haggled him down to one galleon per week, which didn't feel like enough, but it was all the elf would accept. Harry also wanted to give him weekends off, but here Dobby flatly refused any time off whatsoever.

'What if Harry Potter is needing Dobby and Dobby is not there?' he said. The elf absolutely would not budge on this point, so guilty as it made him feel, Harry went along with it, though he made Dobby agree to an additional sickle added to his wage in exchange.

Once that all was out of the way, the terms of Dobby's service needed to be laid out. He mostly gave Dobby the same basic set of instructions as Kreacher, with emphasis that he was not to punish himself if he felt he had done something wrong, but rather to bring the issue up with Harry himself so that if there was a problem, they could rectify it.

The next step was Ginny. 'I'm going to marry her someday, Dobby,' he said. 'Though no one else knows that so you can't say anything. But I want you to treat her as if we're already married and she's party of my family, all right?' This meant of course that any instructions from Ginny would carry as much weight as those from Harry himself.

'Dobby understands, Harry Potter sir!' said the elf enthusiastically before turning and bowing to Ginny. 'Dobby is happy and honored to serve Harry Potter's family, miss! Dobby is at Miss Ginny's service!'

'Thank you, Dobby,' she said kindly.

After that, they made sure Dobby understood that under no circumstances was anyone else to ever find out that he was Harry's house elf. Any tasks he performed for either of them would have to be carried out with the utmost secrecy and discretion. If anything, this seemed to excite him even more. He claimed it was a great honor to keep their secrets for them, and he would be proud to be in their confidence.

Lastly, Harry sent him off to Ivy Hall, his family home that he was not scheduled to learn about for several more years.

'No one lives there, Dobby,' Harry told him, 'and no one will for a long time yet. It's your responsibility to keep it maintained and protected. Can I trust you?'

Dobby clacked his heels together and gave a salute. 'Harry Potter can always count on Dobby!' he said. 'Dobby will make sure Harry Potter's home is safe and as good as new for when Harry Potter and his miss come to live there!' He bowed to both of them again, and with a loud pop, he was gone.

'That went extremely well,' Ginny said. Getting Dobby to work for them had always been a sort of an "if we can manage it" part of the plan, but it definitely simplified a lot of things for them down the line. They had no intention to tell Dobby specifically that they were from the future, but there was no need to hide their machinations from him either, and there were aspects of the plan toward which he would be exceptionally helpful.

'Now that that's taken care of,' said Harry, 'how are you doing? I know we haven't had a chance to talk much this week. Are you coping?'

'I was afraid you were going to ask that,' said Ginny, looking down. 'You're right; I do need to talk about it, but every time I think about bringing it up with you I freeze up and convince myself it can wait.'

'I know that feeling too well. Come here,' he said gently, holding out his arms. She came to join him in his armchair, already in tears by the time she got there, and curled up in his lap while he wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair.

'Your nightmares have gotten worse again, haven't they?' he asked. She nodded wordlessly. He kissed the top of her head and waited for her to speak. It was a few minutes before she did.

'I didn't think it would be this bad,' she said. 'I thought I'd put it all behind me. That was all so long ago, and he has no power over me anymore, except obviously he does, and now I feel like I'm right back where I was twelve years ago.'

'Don't say that,' Harry said. 'He has no power over you. None at all. Isn't that what you're always telling me? You fought him off for a year when you were eleven, for Merlin's sake, and now you've killed his basilisk. That was all you, I'll point out; all I did was open the bloody door. I'm a glorified bellhop in this scenario.'

She laughed through her tears. 'Your shield certainly helped. We'd both have been snake food without that.'

'Okay, I'll accept credit for that,' he said. 'But everything else was you. You got the roosters, you did all the transfiguration we needed, you were the one that got the bloody thing to actually crow like it was supposed to. I couldn't even keep mine alive for three effing seconds.'

'You still had to destroy the diary, though,' she said, retreating to misery again. 'In the end, I still couldn't bring myself to go near it.'

'No one could blame you for that. I certainly don't, and you shouldn't either. That thing almost ruined your life. Of course you want nothing to do with it.'

'I just feel so weak,' she confessed. 'Like when it comes down to it, I won't be strong enough to do what we need to do.'

'I wish you wouldn't,' he said. Though hearing her say that reminded him of something. 'Do you remember the first few weeks after the war? That first day after he was gone, how it felt like a dream, like we were all just celebrating that it was finally over, and then after when it all sunk in?' She nodded and he continued. 'Don't you remember what an absolute wreck I was? How completely weak and helpless I felt in the face of losing so many people? Do you remember what you told me?'

'"You're one of the strongest people I know,"' she repeated. '"But it's okay to let yourself feel.'"

'That's not all of it,' he said. 'You also told me, "You can be strong in the moment, for however long it lasts, but when it's over, it's all right to let yourself let go."'

'You remembered all that?' she asked, astonished.

'I remember everything you say to me,' he said. 'But especially that. That was exactly what I needed to hear. That I wasn't weak, that what I was feeling was normal and it wouldn't last forever. And you were right. So now take your own advice. You were strong in the moment; we did everything we needed to do. The basilisk is dead and the horcrux is gone. Hagrid's name will be cleared. So now it's okay to let go, so you can be strong again the next time something comes around.'

'You really are the best,' she said, hugging him tightly. 'I don't know what I did to deserve you.'

'That's supposed to be my line,' he said, hugging back. 'I remember at the time thinking how amazing you were, holding me together like that when you were hurting just as much as I was. I still don't know how you managed it.'

'I love you,' she said, as if that were enough to explain everything.

And perhaps it was.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The biggest hurdle of the year now behind them, Harry prepared himself for another long, dull school year. Lockhart's classes were exactly the joke Harry remembered them to be. Just as before, he was the charlatan professor's favorite subject to help him reenact scenes from his books, which was essentially all they did in class ever since the pixie fiasco. That Monday, he had told them to bring Voyages With Vampires. However, before they could start, Parvati raised her hand.

'Yes, Miss Patil?' Lockhart prompted, smiling widely.

'Professor, have you ever faced a basilisk?' she asked. Harry was caught off guard, but he supposed it was a natural question for people to be asking about.

Lockhart, for his part, did not give any indication that the query had thrown him.

'Why do you ask?' he said.

Harry rolled his eyes. Why do you think she asked, you idiot? He thought.

'Well, that's what that monster was they found last week, wasn't it?' Parvati said. 'That's what everyone's saying, anyway. And it was supposed to have been living under the castle all this time. I was just wondering if you've ever faced one, or what you could tell us about them.'

'Ah,' said Lockhart, bearing his toothy grin again. 'Quite understandable, quite understandable,' he said. 'Alas, I've yet to face the king of serpents, but believe you me, if I ever do, it will be the most thrilling, exciting tale of my adventures yet! Frightening, formidable beasts they are. Yes, indeed. Whoever set this one loose should consider themselves lucky that their plan was foiled so quickly before they had to deal with me.' He grinned again and winked at all of them.

'What would you have done, sir?' Harry asked, putting his hand up. He couldn't resist.

'I'm sorry, Harry?' Lockhart said, looking over at him.

'I was just wondering, sir, how you would have fought the basilisk. If it had gotten out, I mean. They're supposed to be really deadly, right? I bet that would have been a really exciting thing to see.'

'Right you are, Harry,' said Lockhart, rallying again. 'It would have been a battle for the ages! Alas, we have all been robbed of the opportunity to witness it. Though of course, I would never suggest that the way things turned out wasn't for the best! No one was ever in any real danger, and had the beast been allowed to roam free, it might have hurt someone before I was able to deal with it.'

'Should we act it out here, sir?' said Harry, truly enjoying himself now.

'Sorry?'

'I mean, you're absolutely right, that would have been amazing to watch,' said Harry, laying it on thick. 'So why shouldn't we? You can show us exactly what you would have done to kill it, and we can imagine it. Plus, we'll all know how to deal with one of we ever meet one!'

'Are you serious?' Ron whispered from his side, looking somewhat aghast and even disgusted.

'Shut up; this'll be great,' Harry muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

'That's a fine idea, Harry!' Lockhart declared after just a half second's hesitation. 'Yes, that would be a valuable experience! Would you care to assist in the role of the basilisk?'

'Certainly, sir,' said Harry, fighting to keep a straight face as he got up from his chair and walked to the front of the room. From the looks on everyone's faces, Ron wasn't the only one confused as to what he was getting at.

'Now then, pay close attention,' Lockhart addressed the room. 'We shall assume Harry is the basilisk, who has just emerged from its hiding place. Observe as I face it head on, to keep its focus away from innocent bystanders.' He held his wand out in front of him and faced Harry, striking a somewhat flamboyant dueling pose. Lavender, Parvati, and Neville looked impressed, but Hermione, who would obviously have spotted the problem with this right off, just looked confused.

'Wouldn't that kill you, sir?' Harry asked casually. Lockhart lost his momentum and looked at Harry, somewhat lost.

'What's that?' he asked.

'I mean, looking a basilisk straight in the eye is fatal, right?' Harry clarified. 'I'm pretty sure I read that.'

'Er, yes! Of course!' Lockhart said, regaining his footing and giving a weak chuckle. 'Well spotted, Harry! Ten points to Gryffindor. Now then, covering my eyes like so,' he did so with his left hand, 'I shall draw the creature toward me and away from others. Come now, Harry.' He made a beckoning motion with his wand.

'What exactly are you doing, sir?' Harry asked. He knew full well that the reason Lockhart's stories always sounded so impressive was because they were true, and every detail was explained and able to pass any and all scrutiny because someone had actually done it all and it really worked. When he had to make up the details on his own, he had to gloss over things he knew nothing about, which people were too often happy to let him get away with. Not Harry.

'What do you mean, Harry?' Lockhart asked.

'You said you're luring it away by getting it to follow you,' Harry said. 'I think that's a good idea, sir, and very brave. How are you going to do it?'

'Well, that's...that's a very good question, Harry,' Lockhart said. Harry was amazed he wasn't visibly sweating. 'I shall first endeavor to draw its attention with a combination of light and sound, like so.' He waved his wand, and some colored sparks shot out, not unlike what the class had used against the pixies. Parvati and Lavender, who were seated closest to him, jumped back in their seats, startled.

'How will you know if it worked, sir?' Harry asked once the light show died down.

'What?' Lockhart asked. The look on his face was getting desperate.

'Well, you're not looking, right? How will you know once you've got its attention?'

Lockhart continued to squirm under Harry's endless barrage of questions regarding his every single action. It wasn't long before other students started to chime in with their own questions. Hermione, who of course had read all about basilisks by this point, asked among other things why he would cast spells at its belly, when its scales would protect it. Dean asked how he would effectively dodge its strikes without looking where he was going. Even Neville asked why he didn't try to put out its eyes at any point.

But the best – the absolute best question – came from Seamus. Lockhart had been stewing for most of the class period by this time, and kept digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole he couldn't get himself out of. He was visibly losing his composure, to the point where even Parvati and Lavender were starting to look like they had doubts regarding his competence. Then Seamus asked, 'Why not just bring a rooster?'

The whole room turned to look at him. He looked around at all of them. 'What?' he challenged. 'We all know a rooster's call kills basilisks. Dumbledore told us it died because of that stupid prank. If you knew you were going to fight a basilisk, why not just take a rooster with you?'

There was a prolonged period of silence as everyone's head swiveled back to Lockhart, who appeared to have been frozen where he stood. Several seconds went by, but he apparently recognized an escape route because he grinned toothily and said, 'Well done, Mr Finnigan! Ten more points to Gryffindor!'

Seamus and Dean shared a skeptical look with each other, and Harry distinctly caught Ron rolling his eyes. Hermione, however, looked somewhere between satisfied and relieved.

'Shall I...pretend you have a rooster, sir?' Harry asked.

'Yes, Harry, go ahead. Give us a nice death.'

Harry unceremoniously collapsed to the ground. This was met with laughter from the rest of the class, and Lockhart thanked him and sent him back to his seat.

'Well, that was certainly educational, wasn't it?' Lockhart beamed at them. 'Now then, let's get back to Voyages With Vampires.' In no time at all, he was back to regaling them with stories from his book, though none but Hermione were paying him much if any attention now. The bell rang shortly after – Harry having successfully distracted him for most of the lesson – and he sent them off with homework about the best opening lines to use when greeting a vampire. Nothing about basilisks.

'What was all that about?' Ron asked Harry as they were packing up to leave.

'What, you didn't think it was funny watching him flail about?' Harry asked, not bothering to conceal his amusement. Hermione frowned at him.

'He was just trying to help us arrive at the answer on our own!' she said irritably. 'Why else would he have given Seamus those points?'

'To save himself from looking like an idiot,' Ron said. 'Too little too late, if you ask me.'

Hermione huffed and stormed off, leaving the two of them behind.

'What's eating her?' Ron asked. 'Does she just not want to admit she was wrong about him? Or does she just fancy him because he's good=looking?'

'It's probably partly both,' Harry said honestly. 'But I expect it's also that he's written a lot of books. That likely counts as much if not more than being good-looking to Hermione.'

'You're probably right about that,' said Ron, nodding.

Harry sighed. He'd had his bit of fun, but he inwardly wished that he could just get rid of Lockhart and be done with it. However, he and Ginny both agreed that doing so could be dangerous. A defense professor leaving this early in the year could mean that whoever ended up replacing him could very well fall victim to the jinx on the job in ways they couldn't predict or control. They didn't want to risk someone getting hurt if they could avoid it. They'd gotten lucky last year in that Overdeck had only been around for a few months; they hadn't even thought of the jinx and its potential ramifications until after the fact and had been horrified once it dawned on them. They would be taking no unnecessary chances this year.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The Hallowe'en feast was a grand affair, with live bats fluttering about as usual, and Hagrid's massive pumpkins carved into lanterns large enough for three people to sit comfortably inside. Colin had his camera with him and was excitedly taking pictures of everything. It wasn't until the dancing skeletons appeared that Harry realized he hadn't been to this feast before. It took him until that night to work out that was because this must have been the year he'd attended Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party. That put so many other pieces together, such as why he, Ron, and Hermione hadn't been in the Great Hall when they'd discovered Mrs Norris.

This was a disturbing realization for Harry, reminding him yet again that his memories were not completely reliable. He hadn't forgotten about the deathday party; it was a very distinctive memory, after all. But he hadn't really thought about when it had occurred, and hadn't considered it important enough to include in their timeline of events, even though now he took the time to think about it, it couldn't have been in any other year.

They would need to go over the timeline again. True, the deathday party wasn't a crucial moment in the overall scheme of things, and they'd already dealt with the basilisk besides, but the fact that he'd completely forgotten the connection between them worried him. How many other seemingly innocuous events had they overlooked? And how many would turn out to be not so innocuous after all?

'We should be using Bill's trick more,' said Ginny at the end of the week when they met up again. 'Now we've got the basic timeline laid out, let's start from the end and work backwards. You're probably right; there are bound to be more things we've missed that don't have an obvious cause and effect relationship at first glance.'

So it was that they took a break from their spell practice to start going back over their timeline carefully in reverse, looking for anything they may have missed. Harry could not help but feel discouraged; it was bound to take a while.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The morning of the quidditch match against Slytherin was dark and grey, but Harry's spirits were high. He wouldn't have to worry about a bludger trying to kill him, and could just enjoy the game. The rest of the team had gone down to breakfast early and were mostly gone by the time he arrived with Ron and Hermione. He was surprised to find Luna sitting next to Ginny at the Gryffindor table, but happy to see her nonetheless.

'Good morning, Luna,' he said brightly. 'What brings you to our table this morning?'

'Hello, Harry,' she said with a smile as he sat down on her other side, Ron and Hermione next to him. 'Ginny's invited me to watch the match with her. I hope it'll be fun. I've never watched a quidditch match before. I'll be supporting Gryffindor, of course.' She pulled a little Gryffindor flag out of her robes and waved it around.

'You've never seen a quidditch match?' Ron asked incredulously.

'Neither had Harry or I until a year ago,' Hermione pointed out.

'Good point,' said Ron. 'Oh, just wait,' he said to Luna. 'You're going to love it.'

Harry allowed himself a private smile. Luna never really had the attention span for quidditch, but she always claimed she did enjoy supporting her friends, even if the game itself didn't much interest her.

'You'd better hurry and eat and get out of here, Harry,' Ginny said from Luna's other side, 'or Wood is going to have a heart attack. Fred and George said he's hanging on by a thread this morning.'

'Maybe I gave myself too much of a lie-in,' he admitted before wolfing down some food and getting up to go. They all wished him good luck as he went. The rest of the Gryffindor table followed suit.

He walked past Cho and a few of her friends in the entrance hall. 'Good luck, Harry!' she called out. He gave her a little wave of thanks and heard her friends giggling as he went by. He gritted his teeth and walked a little faster.

Wood told him off for taking so long, even though he was technically still early, and then went into his speech. It ended with the declaration that it would be all on Harry to catch the snitch before Malfoy.

'So no pressure, Harry,' said Fred with a wink.

Most of the school had turned up as usual, despite the dour weather. It looked as if it could start raining any moment. He could see his friends up in the stands. His year mates sat together, as they typically did, and the first years were in the next seats over. He could see Ginny's bright red hair and Luna's wavy blonde, and Colin's face was obscured, as was customary, by his camera.

'On my whistle,' Madam Hooch was saying. She counted down from three, and then they were off. Harry cast an impervious charm on his glasses the moment they were in the air, just in case it did start raining. Malfoy, predictably, came over to him right away.

'All right there, Scarhead?' he asked.

'You'll want to be paying attention, Malfoy,' Harry said calmly. 'It would be a shame if your father spent all that money to get you on the team only for you to end up losing.'

Malfoy sneered and looked ready to make a retort, but Harry turned and sped off before he had the chance. He wanted this match to be over with as quickly as possible. Loathe as he was to admit it, the Slytherin team's better brooms did give them an advantage, and he didn't want them to build up the score too much.

He tuned out everything that was going on around him. Usually he kept one ear on Lee's commentary so he had some idea how the match was going, but not today. He weaved in and out of the match, getting in the opposing chasers' way whenever he could, but mostly just actively searching for the snitch. It did start to rain about five or ten minutes in, but his charm held and it didn't impair his vision any.

Malfoy seemed more interested in trying to rile him up than in actually looking for the snitch himself, which he used to his advantage. Every time the Slytherin flew over to him to say something rude or insulting, he would turn and fly the other way. Malfoy was growing visibly frustrated by the fourth or fifth time this happened. He clearly had a number of verbal barbs prepared and was annoyed that Harry wasn't listening to them. He thought back to what Luna had said on the train, about Malfoy being desperate for his attention, and laughed.

After a while, Harry allowed himself a quick glance at the scoreboard, and was pleased to see that his team were holding their own. Slytherin were only up 80 to 60. During this pause, Malfoy flew up to him again.

'Still haven't given up, Potter?' he sneered. 'Not tired of having circles flown around you?'

'I'm sorry, Malfoy, did you catch the snitch while I wasn't looking?' he asked casually. He'd seen the snitch off to his left, so instead of veering away like he had been, he only turned slightly and allowed Malfoy to keep pace with him.

'You must've noticed your team is outmatched,' Malfoy shot back, his entire focus still on Harry as they flew side by side.

'Are we?' Harry asked. Just a little bit more. 'Because it seems to me that with such superior brooms, a better team would be leading by more than twenty points by now.'

'You just wait, Potter,' Malfoy snarled. 'When I get that snitch out from under your stupid, scarred nose, it'll wipe that smirk off your face.'

'What, this snitch?' Harry asked, reaching out to snatch it and then holding it up in front of him. Malfoy had almost flown right into it without noticing.

Madam Hooch's whistle blew, and a great cheer erupted from the stands. Malfoy's mouth dropped open and he seemed incapable of speech.

'I told you you should be paying attention,' said Harry. 'It's all right; you'll get the hang of it.' He dropped down to the ground before Malfoy could say anything. There in the pouring rain he was mobbed by the rest of his team in what had become something of a ritual at this point. Harry couldn't help but feel that the sweetest part about this particular victory was that he still had all of his bones.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

As I post this, it's May 11, 2021. That means it's 20 years to the day since I posted my first fic on this site (for the love of all gods, don't read it). That's literally more than half my life. I think I've developed a lot as a writer in that time, though clearly I need to work out a more disciplined writing schedule.

Thank you all, old and new readers alike, for embarking on this journey with me. Here's to another (hopefully more productive!) 20 years.