Chapter 23: Mystery Solved

Albus was finally back in his office after at least a month of living in the Hog's Head. However, his feelings weren't of happiness or relief of being back in the familiar circular office. No, they were feelings of failure and despair crashing over him like cold waves. It was hard to believe that he had been sitting at the Hog's Head only a few hours ago just to receive wonderful… and then later on… terrible news.

*Flashback*

Albus was slowly losing his mind from being stuck in this room. It had already been a few days since he had heard from any of the portraits and he was wishing that he was back at his office with something to do. He got up from his table and stretched, getting up to pour himself just a little bit of oak-matured mead—when it happened.

"ALBUS!" screamed out a female voice from the wall, making him jump, almost spilling his glass. He looked up to see Dilys standing there looking excited as she leaned against the side of the painting, gasping for breath. But before he could greet her, she called out, "THEY DID IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THEY ACTUALLY DID IT!"

Albus didn't have a clue to what she was talking about. "Who did what, Dilys?" he asked calmly.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione!" she called out, her eyes shining with excitement. "They figured out what's in the Chamber of Secrets, how the students all became petrified, and even have an idea where the Chamber is!"

Albus dropped the goblet of mead. The liquid slashed all over the table, but he didn't pay any attention to it. Instead, he demanded, "What has happened? How did they figure it out?"

She was beaming, "Harry and Ron came to the Hospital Wing to see Hermione! You remember that day she was attacked? She went running off to the library? Finally found out what she was up to! She found out that the monster in the Chamber… is a Basilisk!

A Basilisk… he slapped a hand over his, feeling so idiotic for not seeing it sooner. He remembered reading about that monster himself years ago…

Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.

"I know!" Dilys cried out happily at his stunned expression. "I was in my portrait, watching the victims on your orders… and then they just came in! McGonagall gave them permission to see Hermione, and they were just sitting there by her side when Harry said that there was a piece of paper in her hand! And it explained everything about the Basilisk; Harry put it all together! That voice that he's been hearing all over the place? It was the snake! That's why he could hear it and no one else has! He's a Parselmouth!"

"The Basilisk," Albus said, excitement rising up inside him, "Kills by looking it's victims in the eyes. But no one's dead because nobody did look it in the eye—well not directly at least. The only way of surviving a Basilisk's gaze is by seeing it through another object or… or a reflection…"

"That's what Harry said," Dilys shouted. "He figured it all out. The cat? There was water on the floor that night remember? She only saw the snake's reflection! Creevey saw it through his camera! Finch-Fletchley saw it through Nick, Nick was already dead, and Hermione and Clearwater saw it in that mirror that was lying next to them! That boy has got some brains in there somewhere!"

"And I never thought of it," Albus said with a bitter smile. "It was right in front of our faces this whole time, and I never saw it! The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it! All of Hagrid's roosters were killed! Spiders fleeing the castle and the Acromantulas afraid to speak it? It all fits perfectly!"

"They also figured out how the snake's been getting around Dumbledore!" she called out happily. "Hermione wrote down the word 'Pipes' on that paper!"

"Pipes!" cried out Albus. "Of course, it's been using the plumbing! It's so clear, so simple; I can't believe that we never thought of it before!"

He felt the need to smack himself for not seeing all this before. Really, what was the matter with him? He looked up to Dilys and asked quickly, "You said that they have an idea to where the Chamber is?"

She continued to smile, "They think it's inside the second floor girl's bathroom! The place where the last victim of the Basilisk died!"

Albus had to laugh, it wasn't because he thought that it was funny, but he laughed rather out of the irony. The chamber had been right in front of him this whole time but he never put two and two together.

"What do they intend to do?"

"They're going straight to McGonagall. You should be hearing from her soon!"

*End of Flashback*

Yes, he did receive news from McGonagall. But not any of the good news that he had expected. Instead, he received word from, not only Minerva about the tragedy that had just happened, but also from eleven of the twelve governors to return to Hogwarts as soon as possible.

His worst fears had just been revealed… one of his students was taken from the school and right into the Chamber of Secrets.

Ginny Weasley…

Oh, poor Arthur and Molly. They were going to be devastated when they heard this.

He returned to his office about half an hour ago and was preparing to go downstairs to the front doors where the Weasleys were going to meet him. He got up from his seat and was about to leave when something unexpected happened. Fawkes, who had been chirping sadly from his perch let out a loud cry of triumph.

Startled, Albus looked up to see Fawkes take flight. He flew over to the shelf where the Sorting Hat sat and grabbed it with his golden talons before vanishing in a giant fireball.

Albus stared, for a second, not understanding what was happening until he heard Armando's voice calling out to him. "Albus! It's Potter and Weasley! They went down into the Chamber of Secrets!"

The other portraits let out cries of amazement and incredulity; Phineas Nigellus actually snorted.

"They didn't!"

"There is no way!"

"They could be killed down there!"

"You can't be serious!"

"Impossible!"

"You honestly expect some brats to find a Chamber that was built the great Salazar Slytherin himself?"

"ENOUGH!" Albus shouted to make his voice heard over the cries. He turned back to the previous Headmaster and demanded, "What has happened? How do you know they went into the Chamber?"

"I saw them!" he shouted in a dumbfounded tone. "I was keeping an eye on Potter like your orders said and they decided to go and tell Lockhart what they knew about the Chamber."

"Why Lockhart?" asked Dexter.

Armando shrugged. "Lockhart was supposed to go and find the Chamber tonight, I guess they wanted to do something to help."

"But they know better than anyone that he's a fraud!" Everard yelled.

"Yes, why ask him and not someone like McGonagall?"

"Don't ask me!" he shouted back, as he went back to Dumbledore and said loudly, "Turns out you were right all along! Lockhart has been stealing the credit from what other people have done and modified their memories so no one would complain about it. Once the boys found out, he—er—he tried to perform a Memory Charm on Potter and Weasley…"

There were more shrieks of rage from the portraits, and Albus felt his anger rise—along with a sudden desire to go and curse Lockhart within an inch of his life, but Armando went on before he could think about his bitter thoughts. "He didn't get a chance of course. Potter disarmed him and dragged him along with them to Myrtle's bathroom about half an hour ago. That's where they thought think the Chamber is."

"And you're telling me this only now?" Albus said in a calm, yet cold and annoyed voice.

"I didn't really think that the Chamber of Secrets was actually in there!" he said defensively. "I waited outside for them to come back at for at least 20 minutes before I finally realized that there was no way that they could be taken that long unless… unless they truly found the Chamber."

He shrugged in a helpless sort of way. "I finally came up here when I heard Snape and McGonagall saying that you were back when they walked passed. I don't know what to do and…"

"Fawkes," Albus said suddenly as a smile spread over his face.

"What?" Armando asked him confused.

"Fawkes, just disappeared," he whispered as he walked around his desk to look at the perch where Fawkes usually stood, becoming lost in thought. He left his office soon after that, after telling Armando to continue to keep watch on Myrtle's bathroom and to let him know when they come out. He was scared for the boys, yes, but he knew that they were in safe hands. He knew that Fawkes would take care of them.

And yet… why did he feel like someone was squeezing his heart? Why did he feel a moment of pure panic when he heard where Harry had gone? He suddenly had an intense desire to speed off to the second floor and see if they were alright. Just what was the matter with him? He knew that the boys were safe now that Fawkes was there… the phoenix won't let anything happen to them… so why did he feel so afraid?

He had gone down to the Great Hall, where he saw Molly and Arthur Weasley, who were beside themselves with grief. Molly half-shrieked as she demanded to hear the whole truth from him and what happened to her daughter as Arthur looked as though he had been turned to stone. Minerva came down just as Albus tried to comfort them and together, they took the Weasleys up to Minerva's office to tell them everything that they've been told.

Molly sank into an armchair in front of the fire and cried her eyes out as Albus and Minerva tried everything they could think of to comfort her. Arthur just stood there, staring at the flames, but not really seeing it—his expression hardened, and he looked as if he had aged a thousand years of misery.

About half an hour of this, Albus heard Armando's voice call out from an empty picture on Minerva's wall. "Dumbledore!" he called out with a look of pure astonishment on his face, the two teachers looked at him. "They're coming!"

Albus knew right away who they were. A feeling of utter relief had swept through his body like the world's best Firewhisky. He had never felt as light-hearted as he did at that moment.

"Who's coming?" Minerva asked him through bloodshot eyes.

"I'm sure that we're about to find out," Albus whispered to her as a smile spread across his face. And sure enough, a few minutes later, the door had opened to reveal Harry Potter—covered in slime and blood while carrying a blood-stained sword and the Sorting Hat, Ron and Ginny Weasley—both pale and dirty while Ginny was crying, and to his surprise—Lockhart with a dazed off expression on his face like he didn't have the slightest clue to why he was there.

Albus beamed at them all, at Harry especially, knowing that he was the one who had called Fawkes to him… and why. Molly had turned around to see who was at the door. Her eyes widened in disbelief and joy as she shouted out Ginny's name and flying over to embrace her daughter with Arthur right behind them.

Molly continued to cry as Minerva, gripped her robes above her heart, as if she was about to have a heart attack; a look of stunned wonder over her face.

'Yes, these kids truly knew how to do the impossible,' Albus thought with amusement. It took a lot to stun his deputy Headmistress. At that moment, with a cry of happiness, Fawkes flew passed them all and over to land his master's shoulder. As Albus beamed at his oldest friend, Molly suddenly scooped the two boys up into her arms and was screaming out, "You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," Minerva said in a weak voice. Molly let go of Harry and, after waiting for a moment—like he was afraid that someone was going to say something, he stepped forward to place the Sorting Hat, the sword of Godric Gryffindor, and what appeared to be a mostly destroyed diary.

Harry took a deep breath and said to him, "Professor? You remember when you asked me on Halloween why we were found where Mrs. Norris was?"

"Yes," Albus said softly, listening to every word that Harry was saying.

"Well…" Harry hesitated for a moment before he looked back at Ron, who nodded as he allowed his mother to hold onto him and Ginny tightly as they all listened quietly. "It was because I could hear a Basilisk in the pipes," Harry finished.

"A Basilisk?" screamed out Minerva in horror.

"That's what the monster of Slytherin was!" Harry explained quickly. "It had been slithering in the pipes all year petrifying the students! I was the only one who could hear it because it's a snake, and I can understand Parseltongue! I've been hearing it all over the place all year, but I didn't think that it would be a good idea to tell you."

"Why on earth would you think that?" Minerva demanded. Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I was afraid that you would think I was losing my mind," he admitted.

Albus felt his heart go out to the boy as he went on. "Anyway, we've been trying to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets and we… er… overheard Draco Malfoy say that the last time that the Chamber was opened was fifty years ago."

Albus fought a smile. Harry was clearly neglecting telling him about the Polyjuice potion. Which was probably a good idea because the information would have surly found its way back to Severus and he knew that his Potion's Master would be furious if he heard that kids had robbed his office.

"We heard that when the last time the Chamber was opened," Harry continued, "Someone had died and the person responsible for it was expelled. That's when we, we as in me, Ron, and Hermione, started looking to what happened back then. We then found out that Hagrid was blamed for the Chamber being opened and we went down to see him. That was after Hermione was attacked and talked to him about it. But Hagrid was taken away before he could tell us anything important."

"You mean that you snuck out in the middle of the night?" Minerva said sharply, her eyes blazing.

"We weren't thinking straight!" Harry told her. "We were upset and wanted to do something to stop the person who attacked Hermione and it was the only thing that we could think of! But before Hagrid was taken away, he told us to follow the spiders. And we did. Me and Ron followed the spiders all the way into the forest and…."

"You went into the forest!" Minerva shouted again in shock.

"Hagrid told us to!" Harry said defensively, and Albus noticed Ron shuddering in his mother's arms. He smiled, knowing just how much courage it must've taken the boys to do that. Harry took a deep breath and said, "That was where we met this giant, talking spider named Aragog, and he told us that Hagrid had been innocent and everyone thought that he was the monster attacking everyone. But you see, Aragog didn't come from the Chamber. That was when he told us that the person who died fifty years ago was found in a bathroom. So we thought that maybe it was Moaning Myrtle."

And she must've told them what they wanted. Albus was deeply impressed. He had been asking Myrtle what had killed her for years, but she always refused to tell him. She must've liked Harry for her to actually tell him what he wanted.

"But before we went to talk her, we went to see Hermione today and we found a piece of paper in her hand that was torn out of an old book! She figured out that it was a Basilisk that I've been hearing. We know why the students weren't killed. Colin Creevey saw the snake through his camera, Justin saw it through Nearly Headless Nick, Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost so he can't die again."

So simple, and so obvious, Albus still couldn't believe that it took this long for him to see it for himself.

"And Hermione and that Ravenclaw saw it through the mirror that they were found with. As for Mrs. Norris, there was water on the floor that night from Myrtles' bathroom. So she only saw the reflection of the Basilisk! That's why no one died. That's when we realized that maybe, the entrance to the chamber was in her bathroom!"

"Very well," Minerva said as Harry took a second to catch his breath, "so you found out where the entrance was — breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add — but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"

Harry let out a tired sigh as he explained. "Me and Ron went down there to try and find Ginny. I used Parseltongue to open the entrance. We went down there but we got separated. So I went on ahead alone and I was able to find Ginny who was unconscious at the time," he looked back at Ginny as he said this, and Albus followed his gaze to see that she was crying—silently, but crying very hard. He felt terrible for the girl, but before he could say anything to comfort her, Harry said calmly, "That was when the Basilisk appeared." The others in the room gasped, and Albus felt his heart clench at the thought of a child actually being forced to fight something so dangerous.

"As the snake slithered out, that was when Fawkes appeared at the end of the Chamber with the Sorting hat," Harry said with a grateful smile to the bird who was still on Dumbledore's shoulder. Fawkes looked at him peacefully, and Albus knew that the bird would've smiled if he could. "I was able to pull this sword out of the hat and I was able to stab the snake. By luck more than anything I assure you," he finished with a sigh. He looked back at Ginny again, before looking pleadingly at Albus.

Albus smiled gently at him as he looked into Harry eyes, and then looking into his mind to see what it was that Harry didn't want to tell him. To his complete amazement, he saw Voldemort—as Tom Riddle standing in a dank and dimly lit chamber.

He heard the conversation that Harry and Tom had—how Tom had been using the diary to suck the life out of Ginny Weasley and forced her to commit these terrible crimes all year, how Harry's loyalty to him and the school called Fawkes to his aid, how Harry learned who Tom truly was before fighting the Basilisk, before stabbing the diary with the same fang that almost killed—thus destroying the Riddle in the diary.

He felt as if a knife had pierce his heart when he saw Harry being stabbed and nearly died down there before Fawkes came to him and healed his arm. He couldn't remember feeling more grateful that he had gotten a phoenix instead of an owl.

It was then he saw two things at the forefront of Harry's mind… Harry's worries of Ginny being blamed for all this… and his worries of how similar that he was to Tom Riddle.

Albus smiled at him gently, seeing all that he needed to see. He then said in a kind voice, "What interests me most is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

A look of relief swept over Harry's face as Arthur stuttered and said in a strangled voice, "W-what's that? You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not… Ginny hasn't been… has she?" He was looking from him to Harry, to Ginny, trying to understand just what was going on.

"It was this diary," said Harry quickly, picking it up and showing it to him as he explained, "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"

Amazed, Albus reached over and took the little destroyed book and stared at it. So this was the cause of all the fear and suffering this year? A tiny little book that you could fit inside your pocket? It was hard to believe that something so small could be so powerful… and dangerous. But then again, he looked quickly to Harry's face; size was no guarantee of power.

But what was this? This wasn't any kind of magic that he had ever heard of. A mere memory draining the life out of an innocent girl and possessing her to attack the other students? No, this was no mere memory. This was something far more sinister.

"Brilliant," he said softly. Tom continued to surprise him even after he left school. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."

He turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered and he elaborated, "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… travelled 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 as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

Indeed, if he didn't know what Tom was like as well as he did, the he too would've had trouble seeing the connection. This diary was proof that even fifty years ago, Tom was dabbling with Dark Magic to make himself more powerful. But he felt that it might be for the best not to worry the Weasleys anymore than they had already, but also to understand what happened here wasn't Ginny's fault.

"But," Molly gasped clutching her daughter closer to her. "Ginny, what's our Ginny got to do with — with — him?"

"His d-diary" Ginny sobbed into her mother's robes. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year —"

"Ginny! Haven't I taught you anything?" cried out Arthur, looking terrified. "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!"

'It wasn't her fault,' Albus thought. She's young and innocent, she had never lived through a war or dark times; she had no idea that this little book could've hurt her the way that it did.

"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny as more tears fell. "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," Albus said firmly, reminding them all that now was not the time to blame anyone, but to take care of those who had been hurt. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment."

Ginny stared at him, as if she couldn't believe her ears as he finished, "Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort."

He smiled at her gently before walking to the doors and opened it for them, "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up." He couldn't help but smile just a little wider as he said, "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 Hermione's okay!" Ron said brightly, surprising him a little for he hadn't said a word the whole time. Albus smiled at his obvious happiness and nodded. Ron and Harry shared a delighted look as he turned back to Ginny and said, "There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny."

'Though I do hope that you learn to be more careful in the future,' he added in his thoughts.

Molly and Arthur took Ginny and left, neither one seemed to want to let go of her. Albus watched them all go, his heart feeling lighter, before saying to Minerva, "You know, Minerva, I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

This was definitely a call for celebration.

"Right," Minerva responded briskly as she left. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," he replied as she walked through the door. He turned back to the boys who were looking nervous like they thought that they were going to be punished. Nothing could be further from his mind at the moment.

"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," he told them, feeling the urge to laugh at their horrified expressions before saying to the pair of them, "Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School and — let me see — yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

They both turned a pleasant pink color, and Ron whose mouth fell open in horror had closed as they smiled at each other. But something seemed a little off. Albus looked to Lockhart, who hadn't said a single word at all, which was a big improvement—but it wasn't like him. He would've thought for sure that he would've tried to take all the credit for this. So he asked, "But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure. Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Harry jumped as if he forgot that Lockhart was in the room. But when they all looked at the man, he turned around as if looking to see who he was talking to.

Ron looked up at him and said quickly, "Professor Dumbledore, there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart —"

"Am I a professor?" Lockhart finally spoke up in surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

Albus had to fight down a laugh, but he couldn't hide his amusement as Ron explained in an undertone, "He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired."

Well, looks like Gilderoy Lockhart finally got what was coming to him. Karma was an amazing thing. He shook his head, still fighting laughter and said as calmly as he could, "Dear me. Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

Lockhart looked surprise and said hazily as he pointed to Harry, "Sword? Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though. He'll lend you one."

Which brought up another important issue that Albus wanted to discuss. He could see how troubled Harry was when he looked into his mind and wanted to talk to him privately… and of course, to thank him. He turned to Ron and asked, "Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too? I'd like a few more words with Harry…"

Ron looked vaguely surprised, but nonetheless, the two of them left the room—Lockhart strolling through the door as though in a daze. Leaving him alone with Harry, who was looking nervous again. Albus merely gave him a kind smile as he crossed to one of the chairs by the fire and asked politely, "Sit down, Harry."

(Another chapter down! Only one more to go for the Chamber of Secrets, and then we'll be moving straight to the Prisoner of Azkaban. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please be kind.)