Sunday 30th May 1993
Alex trudged through the wet, slimy tunnel, levitating Harry carefully, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Alex- I'm so- I'm sorry, I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wailed, clutching her arm miserably. "I've wanted to come to Hogwarts since Bill did and now- now I'm going to be expelled!"
"Ginny, I'm sure it'll work itself out." Alex reassured, shivering as she looked up nervously at Harry who seemed to be getting paler.
Is it the blood loss or the venom?
Alex took a deep breath and put Harry down, lifting her bloody robes up and slicing a dry section off, before wrapping his arm tightly. The younger girl started sobbing in earnest when she saw Harry's drained face.
They were only halfway through the tunnel. Ron would still be another couple of minutes away.
Alex put her wand to her neck, casting the amplifying charm with trembling hands."RON! RON! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
She waited for a moment, before a voice echoed back.
"ALEX? ALEX, THAT YOU? MERLIN I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER RETURN, THE TIMER'S NEARLY UP!"
"YES IT'S ME! HARRY'S INJURED! IS THERE A HOLE IN THE WALL YET?"
Ron shouted a yes, and Alex turned to Ginny, who was holding her arm tightly. "Listen, Gin, go to Ron, I can't concentrate on getting Harry there with you crying. Okay? Go to Ron, he's waiting for you on the other side of the rock. If I don't come near in around a couple minutes, the two of you have to go back up okay?"
"I'm not leaving you!" she sniffled.
"Do you want us all to die?" she snarled, pushing her off. "GO! NOW!"
Ginny whimpered one last time, before running down the tunnel.
Alex looked at Harry, who was now fully unconscious and the black patch on his arm that had grown past the bandages and was making it's way to his neck. She didn't know if the Latin would work, but she had to try.
"Petrificus Maxima,"
Harry tensed, and with his eyes shut, he looked dead. He wasn't breathing but thankfully, that stupid black patch had stopped spreading. She didn't know whether it was the spell or the effects of the venom that had stopped his airway, but she re-levitated him and started to run across the tunnel.
They would get out of here, dead or alive.
"ALEX!" shrieked Ginny from the other side.
"HARRY!" shouted Ron, looking at his comatose, bloodied state.
"Ron, RON! Don't panic, help me get Harry across, and levitate him up. Yes, yes that's it...What's happened to Lockhart?"
"WHAT HAPPENED TO LOCKHART?! WHAT HAPPENED TO HARRY?!"
"I'll tell you everything when we're up, I promise, let's just get out of here first."
Ginny let out a sob as Harry hit the sink on his way up. Alex climbed through the hole in the mess and motioned for Ron to give her a helping hand onto the pipes.
"Merlin Alex, what did you do?"
"You're asking me?! Ask your bloody sister who thought it was a good idea to write in a talking diary and let it possess her into killing stupid chickens!"
"GINNY?" said Ron incredulously.
Lockhart let out a little laugh below when the snake snapped its jaws.
"His memory's gone," said Ron, disgusted. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."
"I see that," said Alex gravely, "You think we can leave him here?"
"No!"
"Fine," whined Alex, levitating the man up.
Now that they were all out of that horrible tunnel Alex felt like she could breathe again.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" came a shout. Myrtle was staring at them like they were baby basilisks. "You're alive." she said blankly.
"Well, just about!" snapped Alex. "Come on Ron, we need to get to McGonagall's room."
"Oh no need to be angry little witch, I just thought that if you four were dead... you'd always be free to share my toilet. Especially that one." she smiled as she floated through Harry.
Alex flinched at the nickname. What had he called her?
Little wench.
"Ugh," grimaced Ron, shaking toilet water out of his robes, "I think Myrtle's grown fond of Harry! You've got competition, Ginny!"
Ron's attempt at humour failed and she kept on crying.
They made their way down the corridor in relative silence, apart from Ginny's occasional hiccoughs. Soon enough they were standing in front of Professor McGonagall's office.
Alex knocked and stepped inside.
They were greeted with Mrs. Weasley sobbing by the fireplace, and the rest of the adults, including Headmaster Dumbledore, looking very serious indeed.
"GINNY!" shrieked Mrs. Weasley, running to the girl who was covered in dirt, slime and blood.
McGonagall had a hand over her heart as she took in the state of the children and the former Professor.
"Please," Alex pleaded, "It's Harry, he's been bitten by the basilisk and he's not breathing."
"Get Poppy," Dumbledore instructed, "I had a feeling this might happen."
A feeling? And he did nothing?
Fawkes, his golden familiar was perched on his stand, fluttering his feathers in front of the fireplace, when he hopped down looking expectantly at the unconscious boy.
"Now Minerva I really don't see what could be so importa- Oh my goodness," Madam Pomfrey came rushing in, cheeks flushed as she rushed over to look at Harry.
"Merlin, a powerful stasis charm indeed, the paralysis spell stopped the spread of the venom," she cast a couple of diagnostic spells, that left a golden glow over his abdomen. "The bezoar slowed down the rate at which the venom travelled but didn't remove it..."
She cancelled the spell looking at Alex, who was the bloodiest of them all.
"If this is what I think it is, there is a very little chance of Mr. Potter surviving. The venom has spread too far, not to mention the ridiculous amount of blood lost. The only possible cure would be-"
"-Phoenix tears?" said Dumbledore softly, pulling a small vial out of his robes.
The group gasped as Professor Dumbledore bent over the boy and uncorked the vial, letting the magical liquid cover the ugly wound. The cut closed immediately, as if it had never been there in the first place.
"Well," said Madam Pomfrey calmly, "Now that the poison has been taken care of, I will have to take Potter to the hospital wing to keep under observation and preferably get some blood into him before the spell wears off," She looked at Alex, "That's all his blood?"
Alex nodded faintly, the exhaustion finally setting in.
"It seems the both of you are in need of some potions." she stated firmly, about to leave when-
"Actually Poppy," interjected Dumbledore, "I'd like to ask them a few questions, if that's alright."
Madam Pomfrey looked like she wanted to argue but conceded, levitating Harry behind her as he was in no position to answer any questions. She said he'd be fine by the morning, blood replenishing potions were very easy to administer.
Madam Pomfrey said she'd have to use at least three.
You'd only have to use two for a fully grown adult.
"I believe Madam Pomfrey will have her hands busy between Harry and administering the Mandrake juice- I daresay the basilisk's victims will be awake any moment now."
"So Hermione's okay!" said Ron brightly.
"Yes Mr. Weasley," chuckled Dumbledore, popping a lemon drop into his mouth, "Miss Granger will be alright."
Ginny was trembling in her mother's arms when Mrs. Weasley turned her weepy gaze towards Alex.
"You saved her, you saved her!" she pulled Alex into a hug, not caring whether blood stained her robes. "How did you do it?"
"I think we'd all like to know that," said McGonagall faintly, a hand on her forehead.
So Alex launched into an explanation, starting from the first time she heard the basilisk. She spoke for nearly half an hour, often pausing to make sure she didn't divulge anything that didn't need to be shared. She talked about her chat with the baron, her looking through multiple serpentine books, Harry finding the diary and learning about Tom Riddle (at which Dumbledore raised his eyebrows but stayed silent). She told them about Lockhart's faintheartedness and how they rushed to Myrtle's bathroom.
"And the snake?" cut in the transfiguration Professor, gesturing towards the viper curled docilely around Lockhart's neck, "Where did it come from?"
"I-Uh-"
"It came out of the sink, I think it had been in the tunnel for a bit," explained Ron, "He seemed to take a certain liking to Loc- er- Professor Lockhart."
"A snake infestation!" gasped Mrs. Weasley.
"No- no, I think it's just the one," confirmed Ron.
The Headmaster's eyes twinkled knowingly.
"Alright then," said the Professor, "All very well, finding the entrance and everything else. But how on earth did you get out alive Alexandra?"
"I was getting there!" said Alex impatiently, wringing out her robes and shivering. She then told them about the memory in the diary and how Harry used the dagger to stab the basilisk and the diary. So far, she had tried to keep Ginny's involvement with the diary out of this, the girl was distraught enough.
What if she was really going to be expelled?
"And how did you come across this mysterious dagger?"
"It was a Christmas present,"
"And where is it now?"
"With the basilisk, I suppose, I have others beside my deskside if you want to see!"
Minerva shook her head slowly in disbelief.
"What interests me most," said the Headmaster softly, "Is how Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."
Ginny buried her head in her arm, tears intensifying as she held out the diary.
When had she picked it up?
"It was this diary- Riddle enchanted it when he was sixteen." clarified Alex, nearly throwing it into Dumbledore's hands, ink oozing out of the hole.
"You-know-who? As in- What- How- What has he got to do with- with our Ginny?" asked Mrs. Weasley, holding her only daughter tightly.
"Brilliant," he said in his usual soft tone. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."
Alex wrinkled her nose. There was nothing brilliant about absolute destruction. Dumbledore turned towards the confused group and started to explain.
"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school . . . traveled far and wide . . . sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced a Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."
"But Ginny- What does Ginny have to do with him?" said Mrs. Weasley, now hugging Ginny so tightly that Alex thought she might pass out.
"His d-diary!" Ginny sobbed, muffled by her mum's robes, "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year —"
"Ginny!" scolded Mr. Weasley, looking shocked. "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 —"
Didn't Mr. Weasley enchant a muggle car? Leading by example at its finest.
The Weasleys continued to scold Ginny who was bawling furiously. Professor McGonagall looked like she wished this was all a dream and Ron looked guilty. Very guilty.
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "There will be no punishment, this has been an incredibly traumatic ordeal for her. Older, more experienced wizards have been tricked by Lord Voldemort. I believe the most important thing here is that all the children have returned alive."
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley nodded and headed Ginny out of the room quietly and the Headmaster turned back once more to Alex and Ron.
"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good breakfast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"
"Right," said Professor McGonagall, moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with them, shall I?"
"Thank you," said Dumbledore as the door shut. "Now Mr. Weasley, I believe I had told you that if you broke any more school rules I would have to expel you."
Ron gulped, sweat shining on his forehead.
"But it seems even the best of us must eat our words," he laughed, "the three of you will receive Special services awards, once Mr. Potter has woken, then I believe 150 points each will suffice for your admirable acts."
They looked at each other, shocked. 450 points for breaking school rules?
"Finally, it seems one of us has been awfully quiet, Why so timid Gilderoy?"
When Ron had finally left to escort Lockhart to the infirmary Alex was left alone with the Headmaster. And the little snake of course.
"Have a seat," he smiled kindly, "Lemon drop?"
She shook her head no. Couldn't he see she was literally covered in blood?
"Alas, it looks as if I have forgotten something, you must feel quite sickly in those robes. My apologies,"
He waved his wand and Alex's robes were nearly good as new, except for a rusty, metallic smell. Alex didn't think it would ever leave the clothes, best to trash them as soon as she gets back.
"Sit down, you must be quite exhausted."
So she sat in silence for a few moments.
"...rats?"
"Not yet, I'm sorry I need to finish this first."
"Oh. Alright then."
The viper curled itself around her shoulder, hissing at Professor Dumbledore as he sat down.
"I have so many questions," she whispered, rubbing her eyes.
"Then ask away, although I don't imagine Tom Riddle being Lord Voldemort came as much of a surprise, after our talk last year. My goodness, has it really been a year? Time seems to fly so far away, ever so quickly."
"If you knew we were going to go into the chamber why didn't you send Fawkes earlier?"
"My dear, I had no true affirmation that you were going to the chamber, nor did I know of the animal inside... Nevertheless, I cannot force Fawkes to leave his perch, the tears I had gathered were from a rather painful rebirth."
Fawkes let out a little cry and the viper recoiled, nearly falling off her shoulder.
"Oh." she said softly, suddenly feeling very little and foolish. "Professor, you said that he underwent dark processes that changed him, what did you mean?"
He seemed to be in deep thought for a couple minutes before he spoke.
"Magic can be very dangerous Alexandra," he said pensively stroking his beard, "A beautiful gift, but dangerous indeed. I have a theory."
"A theory, sir?"
"Yes Alexandra, a theory. I believe that Voldemort has used some of the darkest magic known to split his soul."
"A soul? Sir, excuse me but aren't souls non-material? How can one split a soul?"
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you the specifics Alexandra, but it is possible. It is what he must have used in that diary of his."
"The diar- memor- Riddle said that he was a memory."
"Yes, of course he wouldn't wish to divulge all of his secrets, Alexandra."
She took a deep breath in, the headmaster said he wouldn't tell her the specifics. Was that because- because he feared she might end up like him?
"Sir, Professor Dumbledore, do you- do you think I might end up like him? You-know-who said that Harry and him shared some... characteristics. Do- Do you think I might-"
"Share some traits? Alexandra, the sorting hat put you in Gryffindor."
"Well yes but-"
"Alexandra, it is our actions that determine what we become, not who we are born as. I cannot say for certain what happens in the future, I am no seer. I will not pretend that you will never have to make difficult decisions, as it is but part of human nature and with Lord Voldemort's attempts at resurrections, trouble is soon to come."
"Sir-"
"I also cannot tell you the outcome of the war. It is not my place, nor part of my perception." he stroked his long white beard before standing up, "But, despite all of my fears, I trust you. And I trust that you will make the decisions that are best."
Alex rubbed her eyes vigorously.She'd wake up and this would all be a dream.
"Alas, I trust I've answered all your questions, it is truly late or rather early now, you should head to bed after such an eventful night." he opened the door and smiled kindly, eyes twinkling.
"Sir?" she said as she left the door.
"Yes?"
"Can I keep the snake?"
"I believe we can make an exception." he said after a moment of consideration. "You may keep the snake, if he wishes to be kept."
"...Hey. What's your name?"
"Name? I don't have a... name."
"Oh... listen... I'm sorry, I might have lied about the rats."
"...I was thinking so..."
"...I was wondering if you'd... you'd like to stay with me?"
"...Here?... In the big castle..."
"...Mmhm..." she hissed, hoping he'd agree, Harry had Hedwig, why couldn't she have him?
"...okay..." he agreed gently, wrapping around her wrist.
Alex walked down the empty corridors, twisting and taking turns without a single thought before she stood in front of the Gryffindor portrait.
"...By the way, what type of snake are you?"
"... A European adder..."
"Ooh... a common viper!"
He snapped his jaws at her finger, "...Not common... say that again and I'll bite... your fingers..."
"Oh...I'm sorry... can I name you?"
"...Name me?"
Alex paused, thinking, while the Fat lady tapped her foot impatiently.
"Yes, my name's Alex... what do you think of...Wilhelm?"
"...no."
"Uh...noodle?"
"I'm a scary snake!"
If snakes could stamp their feet, he would have most certainly been stomping.
"Why don't you suggest something!"
"...Danger..."
"...Absolutely not, that's a noun..."
"...So is noodle!"
She said the password quickly and ran in when she saw the Fat Lady about to leave.
"...We'll figure something out..." she muttered as she walked in, headed straight for her bed.
And when her head hit the pillow, she dreamt she was drowning.