Neville's pov

Harry waited for five minutes for either girl to return before he started gulfing down his food. He was just about to leave when the doors burst open and Filch came shouting into the hall. Harry froze in his seat.

"There is a blood message on the wall. There is blood on the wall. Come quick."

The teachers immediately stood up and hurried after him. Though the prefects were able to control much of the population, a few students managed to follow the professors. Harry, twins and I were few of them. We were led to the same washroom's entrance. On the wall was a message written with blood.

Their bodies will be sacrificed in the Chamber of Secrets for the Greatest power to rise once again. The time has come for magic to rule.

The twins caught Harry as his knees gave out. He was pale white and pointing below the message. There were two items there: the radish earrings of Luna and the Weasley bracelet of Ginny.

"No no no no…" Harry kept muttering to himself. I nodded to Fred and George and they supported Harry. We led a shocked Harry back to the Gryffindor dormitory. He bowed his head into his hands as soon as we settled him in the couch, crying.

"No no no… I shouldn't have sent her. Oh no, what have I done!"

Fred and George settled on either side of him and I knelt down on my knees in front of him, trying to console him.

"Harry, it is not your fault…"

"This is Voldemort we are dealing with…"

"He won't do any harm to them, not yet at least…"

"We need to think what to do right now…"

"Not waste our time in wailing."

"Get yourself together Harry!" Both of them said together.

I remembered what Luna had said a few days back, "Harry, remember what Luna said to you about a month ago. She knew that something like this would happen. She said to not lose your control, didn't she? Come on Harry. We will lose our sisters otherwise."

That seemed to snap Harry out of his self-criticism for he looked up quickly and nodded. Fred and George wiped away his tears as he sat up straight. I sat in the chair in front of him.

"Now think. What do we need to do?" I asked him.

"I am going to the chamber tonight."

"We are coming with you." We three said at the same time.

"No!" Harry shook his head, "I cannot risk any of you anymore."

"You already risked yourself once; we are not going to let you do that again!" Fred said to him seriously.

I nodded, "Yes Harry, You did enough to ensure we do not die from Salandra's gaze. Now we are at the same risk as you, and we are not going to let you go alone."

George added his bit, "Let us help you Harry. If it feels like we are hindering you, we will back away. But this is Voldemort we are encountering. We need to be together to fight him. Please Harry, Luna is our friend too. And our own sister is in there. Don't make us feel useless."

Harry finally agreed after a little more persuasion. Just then, Dumbledore's voice rang out throughout the common room, and possibly the rooms too.

"Students, it is with great regret I inform you that two of our students have been captured by someone unknown. The Ministry has decided that the school will have to be closed by tomorrow. Please pack your bags and be ready to leave by tomorrow morning's train. Thank you."

"What is he doing?" Fred snapped, "Will he do nothing to save our sister and friend?"

Harry stood up. He was shivering in anger, "Let's go." He ordered.

"To the chambers, Harry?" I asked him for confirmation.

"No. Yes, we will go there immediately after, but first I need to know what our esteemed headmaster is planning to do. I want to help him if he shows the slightest inclination to save our sisters. Otherwise, I'll... I'll..."

"You'll do nothing to him." Fred snapped at Harry.

"Yes Harry. We need not trust him anymore..."

"but we don't need him as a constant pain in our butt."

"You are right that he is more powerful than any of us..."

"so taking his help is beneficial..."

"but only if he is willing to help us."

I finished for them, "We will save them either way, Harry. Together."

I placed my hand on his shoulder in support, and was taken in a tight hug in return. Nodding to each other, the four of us left for his office.

His office which was guarded by a gargoyle. I hit my head as I remembered a tidbit of information.

"We need a password for the gargoyle to move aside. We did know the password!"

But Harry, my sweet Harry, in all his pain and frustration, just leaned his head onto the statue and mumbled, "If you can hear me Hogwarts, please let us into the office of headmaster. Two of your children are in danger and we need to talk to the headmaster. Please hear my plea and let us in." he almost sobbed.

To our surprise, the gargoyle nodded and moved aside. We hurriedly walked up the stairs leading to the doors of his office. The door was partially opened and we could hear voices from within.

"… and this has gone on for long enough. If this continues, we would be forced to remove you as the Headmaster for your inability to act."

"If the board decides so, then so be it. But I would be very interested to know how my successor will deal with a problem that we don't even know the reason for. Because as I see it, not only I am liable to be removed as headmaster, Hogwarts would very much shut down if you fail to find the reason and stop it."

"I will discuss this with you in detail, Albus."

And then there was someone announcing 'The Minister's Office' and a swoosh; it must have been someone flooing out. Suddenly the door opened wide and the headmaster smiled sadly at us.

"Good evening my boys, please come in."

"Sir, we want to know what you are doing to get Luna and Ginny out of whatever danger they are in." Harry came straight to the point.

"I do not know where they are to start with, Mister Potter. I am trying my best to locate them."

"What will you do after all the students have left?"

"Nothing that I am not doing now. I will do my best to search for them. But as the message states, they may be lost forever."

One of the twins lost his control with his sad speech, "For your information, one of them is my best friend and another is my sister. You cannot just give up like that and lose them."

"I can understand your irritation Mister Weasley, but what would you like me to do?"

Harry spoke in a deadly voice that showed us the extent of his anger. We had never seen him like that, "You Are The Headmaster. Use You Authority And Connection With The Castle To Find Out Where They Are."

The headmaster narrowed his eyes, "You seem very knowledgeable Mister Potter."

That only angered him more and the things around the office started to shake, "For god's sake, you are not lord almighty. Anyone can interact with the castle. You have the authority to connect with the castle and order it. Did you do it or not?"

Headmaster Dumbledore's eyes widened for just an instant, "I did it, but the information is protected from me by the founder's guard. That is, there are guards established over a few secrets by the founder's themselves. Those are guarded even from me. I am sorry."

"Both of them are in the Chamber of Secrets whose entrance is in the same washroom where the message is written. That much is obvious. What are you going to do about it?" Harry asked him again. It looked like he was giving the headmaster chances to give the right answer before he gave up information.

"What else do you know, Mister Potter?"

"For hell's sake, why are you so fixated on what information I have? I say that you demolish that washroom and find out that entrance."

"And unleash the monster that must be within?"

"You are supposed to be the greatest wizard, why are you scared of what you might find? To keep from facing the monster, you are willing to sacrifice two students? That is worse than being Lockhart.

Albus shook his head, "Please boys, trust me that I will do my best to search for your friends. The grief for them seems to have clouded your minds. Pack up and take some rest." He turned around showing us his back; in effect dismissing us."

Harry stamped out of the room. Fred said in a low voice, very seriously, "I admired you for being the protector till now. Why am I getting the impression that you do not care? At all?

The headmaster turned around to answer, "Mister Weasley, I…", but we just shook our heads and walked out of the room. This was useless.

Harry was leaning back on the wall outside the gargoyle, his head raised and eyes closed. As soon as we came down, he nodded at us and we followed him to the washroom. He took a beautiful silvery velvety black cloak from his pocket.

"Fred, George, will you go back to the dorms and bring out your brooms and mine?"

The twins nodded, "what is someone sees us? We are out after curfew."

Harry handed them the cloak, "Go under this. Be careful. Be as quick as you can. DO NOT get caught."

I gasped when the twins disappeared as soon as they covered themselves with the cloak. When the twins realized this, they nodded to Harry in thanks and left immediately.

"Why did you ask them to go Harry?"

"They would not be able to stand still. Their sister is just beyond the floor." He answered sadly.

I understood and kept quiet. We were going down into a very dangerous mission, with no guarantee on what we are going to see.

When the twins returned, Harry hissed and opened the door; we flew down the entrance and came to an inner door. Paladin was waiting for us there.

:: I was waiting for you to come. You need to hurry. That monster man is nearly done forming. ::

Harry looked at the three of us, "Cover yourselves with the cloak. Please. Don't come out unless you think you can help. There will be girls unconscious there, but do not rush into helping them. We don't know what we are facing."

We agreed and covered ourselves. Harry hissed the door open once again.

George pov

Inside the door was a wide path leading to a very big hall. The path had a line of snake statues on both sides, big enough to touch the very high roof. We walked behind Harry, trying our best to remain as silent as possible. When we reached the end of the passage, my heart nearly stopped when I saw Luna and Ginny lying still on the floor. I would have rushed to them if not for the image of a boy standing in between them. He was not solid either, more like an image solidifying slowly.

Harry rushed to them instead, not bothering about that boy, and checked the pulses of both the girls. Him relaxing his shoulders must mean they were both okay.

"What did you do to them, Tom?" Harry snarled at the boy.

"Don't call me by that name. You must be Harry then, the one that this girl referred to."

"What? You don't know about me? If I can beat you once, I bet I can beat you again."

"You beat me? Hmmm… Interesting." The boy (Tom?) mused. But then he smiled.

"Let's see your claims if they are true. Match the might of the Slytherin's heir and prove your worth, boy." He turned to big statue of a face behind him and hissed something in parseltongue. The mouth of the face opened and a huge snake, I mean a really huge 50 feet long snake, crawled out of it.

"Shit!" Fred whispered beside me.

THIS was Salandra? Tom hissed to her something and the snake immediately looked for Harry and lunged at him. Harry did not meet her eyes; he instead tried to punch Tom, but his hand went right through him. Harry nodded to himself. Salandra curled her tail around Harry, but he jumped over it and discreetly motioned for us to come to a tunnel by the side of the chamber.

Still hidden, we went into the tunnel as quick as we could, but Salandra must have felt our movement for she immediately snapped her head in our direction. We froze in our place, holding our breaths and closing our eyes. She lowered her head just in front of us. I am sure she could smell us now if nothing else. But she had closed her eyes, I did not know why. She flicked her tongue out and I saw it touch the cloak.

My heart nearly stopped when she did that, but she did nothing and instead went inside the tunnel. We stayed outside it, hoping for the best. There were a few minutes of silence, and then there was the sound of water rushing. We stepped back as water came gushing from the tunnel, washing both Harry and Salandra out.

Tom started hissing angrily at her, but the snake was twisted in knots into herself. Harry shouted from where he was washed to.

"Now. Neville, get Ginny out of here. Fred, see to Luna. George, get the diary Ginny is clutching and wait for me. Now!"

Harry started firing spells at Tom, who was surprised at our appearance only for a moment before he too retaliated with the wands of Ginny and Luna. In my peripheral vision, I saw Neville running to Ginny and slowly dragging her out along the passage to the door. Fred went to Luna and enervated her. I rushed to Ginny. She indeed was holding the diary in her arms. I had to peel off her burnt fingers one by one before I could get the book. I nodded to Neville and ran back to George. Luna was awake now.

I was beside her and we brothers were helping her stand up when I saw her eyes widen. She immediately pushed us both away onto the floor, and my eyes widened as a spell hit her leg. She screamed in pain as she collapsed on the ground again.

"Are you alright Luna?"

"I broke my knee, I cannot stand."

"Why did you have to push us away? We would have gladly taken the hit. Now look at you!" Fred said in caring frustration.

"And that's why I did it. I like you both too much to let you get hurt. Go, help your Harry. He is more important."

I cupped her cheeks, "We came here for you Luna, and we are staying by you."

We turned to see Harry firing spells at Salandra and Tom, and dodging their attacks at the same time. It was scary how close his movements were from each attack. That's not to say he was not hurt. I could see his scraped knees, a trail of blood from his back, and a swollen red cheek. I was afraid to even wonder how many injuries he had under his clothes. Vigorous attacks from Salandra had chucked off many blocks from the walls around, showering us with the debris. We would have gone to help, but I am not sure we are as skilled as him in dodging. Instead we started firing spells from where we were standing while shielding Ginny and ourselves at the same time. It was difficult. Tom seemed not to be able to move from his position, as he was not solid yet. But he had gained enough to fire weak spells from the girls' wands. His repertoire of spells covered his weakness. One spell sliced my arm, another hit a punch on Fred's chest, and yet another reported burns on both of us. But we did not allow another scratch on Luna.

Tom noticed us and hissed at Salandra. She slowly turned towards us. He must have ordered her to attack us. Harry did not waste this opportunity as he jumped over her body and came to stand with us. He gave his wand to Luna.

"Shields now!"

I thought of how much I wanted Harry, Luna and my brother to be safe and shouted 'protégé' along with the other three. I spared a moment of surprise Harry cast his shield without a wand, but then had to focus on my shield. Our combined shield was able to block Salandra as she lunged at us. She drew back as if she was punched and shook her head. We saw it all through the shadows, not looking up at her. She came down for another strike. She hit the shield with her tail and then her head, and kept repeatedly hitting it until it broke. Tom was helping her from where he was standing, but his spells were weak. Luna was the first to fall unconscious, weak as she already was. I was tired too, but I was determined to hold on till I can.

"Give me the diary George." Harry shouted under strain. His shield was blocking the major part of the attacks and it was affecting him bad. I handed over the diary to him.

"Drag Luna away."

"But Harry…"

"NOW!"

Fred and I dropped my shield and immediately started dragging Luna away. We had just gone a few feet when Harry's shield broke with resounding boom. Salandra hissed, immediately baring her poisonous fangs and flaring her hood. In a flash, she came down and bit Harry, though my vision was blocked by her hood. When she came up again, Harry's arm was bleeding where she bit, and he was staggering as his vision was fading. At the same time…

"No… No, this can't be happening. No. YOU! You all will pay for this. I will come back and then you will all pay for what you did. I am the greatest wizard and anyone standing against…" His voice faded as flashes of light started appearing in between his image before he faded away too. A piercing scream came of the book as a shadowy wisp emerged out of it and then faded into nothing.

Fred and I immediately rushed to Harry.

"Oh no… What can we do?"

Harry chuckled weakly and then his breath began to choke. All he managed was, "Help… me… a'kes."

We did not understand what he said, so we looked in awe when Fawkes flashed beside him. On look at him and the beautiful phoenix began to cry. This broke me, if even the pure bird was crying. But Fred tugged my arm, "Look George. Look!"

The wound was Healing! Then I remembered the best part of a phoenix, healing tears. We watched as the basilisk's bite started to close and heal, and Harry's breathe even out. Fawkes did not stop there, he cried a tear in Harry's open mouth, and slowly, our Harry started coming to consciousness. Just then, we heard a cough from our back. Luna was awake! Fred immediately rushed to her and brought her to Harry in her arms.

Harry looked at Fawkes, "You saved my life. Thank you!" He said to him. The phoenix nodded and bent his head sideways. Harry laughed, "You are the best ever. But before I accept your help, please tell me you won't tell all this to Dumbledore."

It seemed that our Harry can actually talk to the phoenix, because then he said, "I know he can't hear you. But you are powerful enough to communicate with him. I don't want anyone to know our participation, and I want to help Salandra too. Will you help us and keep our secret?"

Fawkes gave a smooth trill, agreeing. Harry then turned to Fred, "Please go outside and find Neville. Cast a sleeping charm at your sister and bring him and the invisibility cloak."

Fred nodded and went running. He came back soon. Neville looked sad, "Am I so weak that you found it wise to keep me away?"

Harry smiled and took him in a hug, "No Neville, I trusted you enough to subdue Ginny if required. Voldemort was taking her life and magic slowly to come to life himself. By taking her away and separating her from the book, you stopped his progression. Tell me, did Ginny not move at all during all thus time?"

"She did. She thrashed for some time and then once woke up and tried to come inside. I held her to keep her outside."

"See, you did your part. Voldemort had influenced Ginny enough to be able take control over her. Do you think that Fred or George would have been able to concentrate with Ginny like that? What if he decided to make her harm herself? Would they be able to stop her? No Neville, this was their sister. Never berate yourself, you did your part." Then he chuckled. "Well if you are masochist enough to think you need to be in the fight, I can call Salandra again."

We had forgotten about the snake. She was lying curled up at the other end of the chamber with her eyes closed. She was acting docile. Ah! Harry is her master now.

Neville gave a shiver when he looked at her, and then chuckled. We all laughed for a while until Harry winced.

"Okay, there is a pocket in the cloak. Take out the minimized jar and tap it with your wand. I did as told and smiled at Fred. This was a charming experiment of ours. I enlarged it.

"This is a healing potion I nicked from the infirmary. Fawkes, this sounds odd but can you cry a little once more?"

The golden phoenix let out a happy trill as if it was laughing and then cried three drops of tears into the potion. Harry, Neville, Fred and I each took a gulp from the potion and could feel our injuries healing. That done, Harry turned to us.

"Okay, so this is what we will do. I don't want our participation be known. So this is the story that will happen. First, Fawkes you will have to bring Dumbledore here. Be it by force or persuasion. Then Salandra will emerge out of the entrance and hand over the diary and a note. Fawkes will then deliver the two girls. The end!"

"Ummm Harry" Luna chuckled, "You are missing out a lot of details."

"Of course, but first, I will have to cure the gaze of Salandra."

What happened next, I will never forget. Harry called Salandra to her; He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them, we could feel the power radiating around him. He sent a blast of magic to her; it flashed so bright that I was blinded for a moment. When my vision refocused, Harry was looking up and smiling. And for the first time, I looked into the eyes of a huge basilisk.

"I have modified her vision to give her control over it. It will be up to her whom she sees, whom she petrifies and whom she kills." Salandra hissed and Harry nodded at her, "And she promises to do what Salazar wanted her to do; protect the school and its residents."

"Now the letter. Who wished to write it?"

Fred raised his hand, "Okay. Make it as snaky and decorated as you want. This is a letter from Salazar Slytherin."

This diary was the bearer of a foul soul who wished to harm the beloved students of Hogwarts. I placed Salandra here to protect them; not harm them. She petrified them as a disguise to give me time to defeat Tom Riddle, and I have finally succeeded with the help of Fawkes and her. I am handing over the students to you, headmaster. Never overlook their care again. Hogwarts is kind, but even she doesn't give many chances. Don't misuse yours.

"Okay, I get it." I finally said, "This puts Dumbledore in permanent suspense and clears Salandra's name. Cool!"

Harry turned to Luna, "Sorry Luna, but you will have to bear to be the talk of the school for some time. I'm sorry I cannot prevent it."

Luna smiled at him, "Its okay brother. You are free to make it up to me with as many gifts as you want."

Harry kissed her cheek and then stunned her. We placed her carefully along Ginny and then Fawkes flashed us back in the common room. Harry stoked her neck and feathers, "Thank you for helping us Fawkes. Now go, be the hero."

Fawkes trilled and flashed away. Harry groaned and slumped into the seat nearby, "God, I need a chocolate!" Fawkes suddenly flashed above him, dropped a chocolate on his head and then flashed away again with a teasing trill. Harry looked stunned for a moment, before we all broke down laughing. Finally, with a kiss on Harry's cheek, we retired to our dorms, so as not to arise suspicion.

The morning breakfast was a gloomy one. Everyone was having their last breakfast at Hogwarts, and it was a sad sight to see. But then the headmaster arrived into the hall and clinked his glass.

"Attention students! I would like to say a few words. Hogwarts, the school you study in, is one that teaches the young, takes care of them and protects them from harm. Yesterday, two of them were kidnapped by someone unknown. Hogwarts has shown sentience like never before, and protected them from the danger as well as destroyed the criminal. We are free of the danger that has plagued us all the year."

Everyone's mouth was agape at the moment, as the realization set in.

"So, as you must have realized, Hogwarts is not closing and you better finish off any pending works for tomorrow's classes. And the best part of all, please re-welcome amidst us, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegod."

The doors opened and both of them walked in. Every student, irrespective of the house, stood up to clap and welcome them; happy that there have been no lives lost. The sad atmosphere turned merry once again.