After months of half-anticipation, half-worry, the day was soon to be upon the Fateful Eight, and with a reduced number to boot. The mention of exams by Professor McGonagall on the 24th of May brought something back into their heads. Seamus' outrageous reaction had not changed a tiny bit.
"Exams?" he sputtered incredulously. "We're still getting exams?"
"The whole point of keeping the school open," McGonagall lectured them, "is for you to receive your education. The exams will therefore take place as scheduled, and I trust you are all studying hard." She spoke her last words with great emphasis. "Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school open and running as normally as possible, which means, of course, exams."
"There's no Quidditch, though!" Dean Thomas burst out angrily. A few of the other Gryffindors and Ravenclaws looked as they agreed with his point.
Professor McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Thomas, Quidditch is not a necessity. Twenty-eight of the hundreds of people at this school may participate each year, and that is not a worthwhile fraction for its reinstatement." He looked incredulous, and the class settled back down to continue the lesson, which was on the Softening Charm (Spongify).
And so the week passed with the Fateful Eight becoming very distracted in class. Natalie caused a bigger fire than she was intending to in Charms while they were learning the Fire Making Charm, appropriately. Professor Flitwick had to put it out himself and Natalie's hair got singed a bit. Sean absentmindedly accidentally cut too much off his Abyssinian Shrivelfig, leading to a stern chiding from Professor Sprout about paying attention.
Tensions were running high for the six of them, and soon they could wait no longer. On May 28th, they agreed that Tom and Sean (in honor of their newly repaired friendship) would go ahead, wait in the staffroom closet, and give the signal for the others to approach Lockhart's office. And so the two crowded in just before break, and waited. They couldn't see anything, so they had to rely on hearing the teacher's distinct voices. Fortunately, they could, as McGonagall's brisk voice cut through the air a few minutes later.
"It has happened. A student has been taken by the monster right into the chamber itself."
Then came Snape's silky, low mutter- "How can you be sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin," continued McGonagall, "left another message, right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.'"
Madam Hooch asked for a name, and McGonagall chokingly uttered Ginny's.
"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," she instructed the rest of the staff. "I fear this is the end of Hogwarts."
Tom and Sean heard the door bang open again. It was Lockhart.
"So sorry-dozed off. What have I missed?"
They couldn't see, but they knew he had a stupid grin on his stupid face.
"Just the man," Snape drawled. "The very man. A girl has been taken into the chamber itself. Your moment has come at last. After all, you were bragging last night that you knew where the entrance was."
Several teachers murmered in agreement.
"I..well, I-" Lockhart sputtered.
"Very well then," McGonagall instructed him. "We'll leave the monster to you then. No one will stop your...heroics."
As Lockhart continued to stutter, Sean slipped a little and the cupboard creaked.
"What was that?" McGonagall asked suddenly. Tom glared at Sean. When they made no noise for the next minute, McGonagall turned her attention back to Lockhart, who had informed them he'd be getting ready.
After the teachers had left, Tom and Sean slipped out of the closet.
Tom then gave the signal for Nathan and Victoria to go to Lockhart's, which was a paper airplane (like the Ministry had for their interdepartmental memos) and Tom had figured out how the spell worked.
And so the pair of Ravenclaws went to Lockhart's office. When they got there they knocked.
Lockhart was, of course, shoving everything he had into a large trunk in the corner. It was only when he turned that he noticed them.
"Oh- Mr. Turner- Miss Parker- I'm-rather busy-if you could come back later…"
"Quit the games, Lockfraud. We know you're a fake," Victoria interrupted, her brown hair flying angrily as she drew her wand. Nathan smiled a little and took his out too.
Lockhart straightened up and turned pale. "How did you kn-"
"Never mind that now, Fakehart," Nathan chimed in.
"We know you're trying to get into the chamber and we know where it is. Come on." Victoria commanded.
Lockhart looked momentarlily puzzled as to how they knew so much, but regained his composure. He drew his own wand.
"Now, now," he said sleekly, "let's all just calm down so I can make sure my fame is int-"
"Expelliarmus!" Nathan disarmed Lockhart with one swift stroke, knowing that they wouldn't have Ron's wand to bail them out.
Now even more pale, Lockhart put his hands up and looked fearfully at the two second years.
Nathan and Victoria, who guided them to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where Tom, Sean, and Lily were waiting.
"Great," Tom greeted them with when they got there. "Now. How do we open it? None of us are Parselmouths."
Sean stepped forward. "Maybe if I pulled a Ron? Try to guess our way in?"
None of them had a better idea, so Tom told Sean to go for it.
Sean leaned over the sink and hissed something that sounded remarkably like Parseltounge, as far as they were concerned. It didn't work initially, but they kept at it.
After twenty solid minutes of trying, it cracked. The sink opened and they were all astounded.
Lockhart, making the same gaping face as the rest of them, turned and attempted to leave, but was blocked by Sean and Nathan and held at wandpoint by the entrance's edge.
"Now, boys, what- what good would it do?" he pleaded. They didn't lower their wands, so he sighed and jumped down.
"Well then?" Tom said to the rest of them, "Me next?"
None of them had any objection, so he followed Lockhart down the chute, and one by one they all hopped in.
Lockhart was waiting for them at the bottom of the slide. When they all were past him, he tackled Nathan to the ground and wrested his wand back and disarmed Nathan and Lily before they realized what was up. Tom, being the fast thinker he was, quickly pointed his wand at Gilderoy and shouted, "Obliviate!" The professor fell back and hit his head on a bit of rock and was knocked out. Once they had gotten Nathan and Lily's wands back, they continued on until they reached the entrance of the main room. Sean used his fake Parseltongue again, which worked after about seven tries. Then, suddenly, they heard a rumbling.
Next second they knew, bits of rock were tumbling and falling to the ground. Four of them scattered away from the entrance, leaving Sean trapped.
"Help me with some of this rubble!" Tom asked the rest, and so they began to work on it while Sean was dealing with Riddle.
As Sean crept into the chamber, he noticed Ginny's motionless body lying on the dirty floor. He ran to her, but did not begin any attempt at waking her, as he knew it would be feeble. He felt her face to make sure she was still alive. It was cold, but, he somehow knew that she was alive- she hadn't been down there that long.
While he was doing this, Tom Riddle emerged from the shadows. His features not yet corrupted by the Dark Magic he was so fascinated by, Riddle's appearance was that of when he had owned the diary- a sixteen year old boy, still the Hogwarts golden boy, and Slughorn's favorite. Sean drew his wand but was quickly disarmed.
"I know who you are," he said quietly to Riddle. "You can't fool me, Voldy."
"Very clever, Stephens," Riddle smirked, his mouth curling into a grin. "But do you know who you are?"
Sean went pale at how Voldemort knew his name and said nothing.
Meanwhile, Tom and the rest were still struggling at trying to shift the rock. They had tried Wingardium Leviosa and failed, so they resorted to physical force and brute strength. Lily, who wasn't very strong, had taken to rambling off a list of Stanley Cup champions. Eventually, this got on Tom's nerves quite a bit.
"SHUT UP!" he yelled at Lily, making one furious pull at the rock pile. "I don't care about the 1963 Toronto Maple Leafs, all right?!" He noticed Lily was grinning, which infuriated him further. "What?!' he snapped.
"Turn around," she giggled. And so he did, and to his amazement, Lily had annoyed him so much he ripped a large enough hole in the rock pile. They all clambered through and into the main chamber.
Quickly, Natalie disarmed Riddle, and gave Sean back his wand. Now outnumbered five against one, Riddle turned to the statue of Salazar Slytherin on the back wall. He spoke Parseltongue, but they knew what he was saying.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
And so out came the basilisk. They all shut their eyes, and waited for Fawkes while they tried to blindly fend off the beast.
Soon enough, the recognizable cry of Dumbledore's phoenix rang through the chamber.
"Ow!" Tom suddenly cried, for the Sorting Hat had just hit him on the shoulder. Riddle laughed.
"So this is what Dumbledore sends his blind, bumbling, defenders? A songbird and an old hat?"
While Riddle was taunting them, Fawkes flew onto the basilisk's face and started ripping at it.
Tom bravely opened his eyes and he guessed right, Fawkes had already blinded it. Riddle was fuming, shouting something in Parseltongue.
While he was staring at the basilisk, Natalie yanked the sword of Gryffindor from the hat, and climbed up the stone face of Slytherin.
"NATALIE!" Tom screamed. "What are you doing?!"
She did not answer, her face screwed up in concentration. Then, she took a giant leap and landed on the basilisk's head, immediately stabbing it with the sword. This proved to be costly, as the snake flailed around from the pain. Natalie flew off and hit the wall, knocked out cold.
"NAT!" Tom shouted, but directed his attention back to the giant serpent now falling to the ground. Wasting no time, he ran to the corpse and yanked the sword from it.
With Riddle distracted, Nathan snuck around behind Riddle's back, snatched up the diary, tossed it over Voldemort's head, and Tom caught it with one hand, threw it to the ground, and plunged the sword right through the middle.
"NOOOOO!" Riddle cried, but that was all he could utter as he was vaporized into dust.
Once the last speck of him had disappeared, Ginny woke with a gasp.
"Wha-who are all you? I swear I didn't- Riddle made me-"
"Shhhhhhhh…" Tom whispered. "It's okay. We'll explain everything when we get to Dumbledore's. You're not going to be in trouble, Ginny.'
"But- but," she insisted.
"You won't be. Trust me," Tom assured her.
And so the six of them left the chamber, Tom carrying Natalie, they met back up with Lockhart by the entrance, and departed with Fawkes.
Natalie opened her eyes. "Wha-what happened? Did we beat him?" Nathan nodded, and Tom set Natalie back on her feet.
As they were walking to Dumbledore's office, Tom realized something. He grabbed Nathan by the shoulder and whispered, "What do we tell the Weasleys? They can't know we're from an alternate universe."
"We'll make something up," Nathan whispered back, brushing his blond hair out of his eyes.
When they reached the place, they met Professor McGonagall outside, who gave the password, "Licorice Wand," and they stepped onto the rotating griffin escalator and moved up to the door knocker. Victoria banged it once, and they were greeted with a "Come in."
They walked in, and the Weasleys were not there yet, so Tom walked over to Dumbledore and shared his concerns with him.
"I'll see what I can do," the headmaster said.
Soon enough Molly and Arthur arrived. Mrs. Weasley looked as though she had seen a ghost, with her youngest daughter covered in muck and slime. The rest of the Fateful Eight stood there awkwardly.
Dumbledore addressed the Weasleys. "As you know, your daughter was taken into the Chamber of Secrets, and I believe you have the right to know why." Mrs. Weasley looked apprehensive.
"Earlier this year, Miss Weasley came across a diary, formerly belonging to one Tom Marvolo Riddle." Mrs. Weasley gasped, and Mr. Weasley's jaw clenched.
"How she came across such an artifact…" Dumbledore glanced at Tom, "is presently unknown, but I have launched an investigation, into how such a dangerous object reached the hands of one of my students. Now, going back to young Miss Weasley here. Naturally, her curiosity got the best of her, and she began to write in said diary."
Ginny looked too panic-stricken to object at how Dumbledore knew about what was obviously a well-kept secret.
"Ginny!" Mr. Weasley hissed at her, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain! Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!"
I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me.
I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it — "
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice — I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."
"So Claire's okay!" said Sean brightly.
"Indeed," Dumbledore assured him. "Mr. Pattinson and Miss Davidson are being restored to full strength as we speak. And, Miss Weasley-" Dumbledore addressed the frightened first year, "There has been no lasting harm done."
Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.
"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"
"Certainly," said Professor McGonagall crisply, disappearing through the door.
Now left alone, all five of them turned to face the headmaster.
"Now, I credit you all again for your bravery. To know events that transpire before they happen is an amazing gift, and throughout the first two years of your education, you have used that gift well. You shall all receive Special Awards for Services to the School - Mr. Pattinson and Miss Davidson as well- and all of you recieve two hundred house points each."
They all were very grateful. "Thank you, sir," Natalie spoke up.
"Now, go enjoy the feast, while I take care of Professor Lockhart. I do believe he needs to be caught up on quite a few things," he chuckled to himself. And so they departed.
On their way to the Great Hall, they passed a seething Lucius Malfoy. Nathan was struck by an idea and knelt down to pull off his sock.
"Hey, Mr. Malfoy!" He turned.
"What?" he snapped.
"Catch!" and he threw the sock.
Lucius looked at it for a second, disgusted, then tossed it over his shoulder. Luckily, Dobby was cowering right behind him and caught it. Mr. Malfoy whipped his hair and sniffed, and continued marching onto Dumbledore's office.
"Come, Dobby," he commanded snootily. But Dobby wouldn't.
"Dobby, I said-" he turned around and stared at the sock in Dobby's hand. Then, realization dawned on him.
"You've lost me my servant, boy!" He pointed his wand at Nathan. However, he was interrupted by Dumbledore.
"Lucius, you wished to see me?"
Malfoy put his wand away at once and turned. "Yes, sorry, headmaster." He glared at Nathan and walked to the office.
When they reached the Great Hall, it was blue and bronze banners gracing the enchanted ceiling this time. Yes, Ravenclaw had won the House Cup.
As Dumbledore was making his end of year announcements, including those regarding Lockhart and the Chamber of Secrets, the double doors to the hall opened and in strode Eddie and Claire, who waved to the rest of the Fateful Eight before sitting down at their respective house tables, followed by Hagrid a few minutes later.
And soon, once again, it was time to depart. They boarded the Hogwarts Express, left Hogsmeade Station, and had a good time in the compartment on the way back. As Eddie was reflecting on his shortened year, he wondered what he would do about Hannah. He had indeed made up his mind that he liked her, but there was no telling when he would tell her that he had written the anonymous letter nearly five months ago. He figured the opportunity would present itself.
Two down, five to go, he thought, as they pulled into King's Cross Station, ready for their next adventure.