Nico POV

As soon as we enter McGonagall's office two red head adults run towards Ginny, pulling her into her arms. "Ginny!" the woman yells.

I look over to Dumbledore beaming at us next to McGonagall.

Dumbledore had saved us… though I cannot help but feel some resentment towards him for not telling me that he knew of my past. Over the last two years Harry and I have marched to our possible death's only to be saved by somehow figuring out Dumbeldore's tricks, as if it were all a test.

I shake off these thoughts. Dumbledore is a complicated and perhaps manipulative man, but he would never purposely endanger students.

The red heads who I assume to be Ron and Ginny's parents then pull Will and I into a tight embrace. I struggle against them, before giving in.

"I'm so thankful." Mrs Weasley tells me. "What are your name dears?" she asks us with a kind smile.

"Will Solace." Will replies, easily returning her smile.

"Nico Di Angelo." I reply weakly.
"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" The man I assume to be Mr Weasley ask us.
"I think we'd all like to know that." Professor McGonagall says weakly.
The Weasley's then let go of us, leading us to the seats.

Harry and Ron begin to explain how they discovered the chamber. I occasionally added my own discoveries.

When Harry goes to explain how we confused the baskillas, I interrupt. "We then ran around the creature to distract it, occasionally throwing things in the opposite direction so it would think we were elsewhere."

Harry and Will raise their eyebrows at me, but the others with the exception of Dumbledore seem to believe me.

"You say Fawkes arrived in the middle of the battle?" he asks. "Had you said anything beforehand?"

I shake my head. "No."

He gives us a small nod, signalling for us to continue.

Once Harry had told them of Ginny's involvement McGonagall turns to me.

"How did you know Riddle?" McGonagall asks, making Harry pale.

I doubt he had meant to mention that.

I look over to Dumbledore, who was studying me. "Ask Dumbledore. I met him the same day."

Harry and Ron give me confused expressions, but Dumbledore just smiles at me.. "But I also do not fully understand how that was possible." He says, his eyes twinkling.

I give him a quizzical expression, turning to the other people in the room. Harry and the others had reacted well to my past, so why lie?

I sigh before explaining the casino to them. Mrs Weasley once again hugs me when I me when I mention my mother and sisters deaths.

"You poor dear." She says once I had finished.

I give her a forced smile.

"Right." Says Professor McGonagall as she crisply moves towards the door with the Weasley family. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter, Weasley, Solace and Di Angelo, shall I?"

"Certainly." Dumbledore agrees.

Once she left we gaze uncertainly at Dumbledore. What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with them? Were they weren't about to be punished?

"I seem to remember telling you all that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules." said Dumbledore.
Of course, we did break so many rules. Perhaps it will be for the better if I am expelled, but the other don't deserve it.

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words." Dumbledore went on, smiling. "You will each receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for your houses."

We gape at him.

Dumbledore then turns to the previously forgotten Lockhart.
"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Harry gave a start. He had completely forgotten about Lockhart.

When Dumbledore addresses him, Lockhart looks over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor Dumbledore." Ron says quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart-"

"Am I a professor?" Lockhart asks with mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"
He was.
"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver moustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore asks us. "I'd like a few more words with Harry..."

Kat (POV)

I wake up to a pale face hovering over me.

"Draco?" I mutter, making the blonde smile.

"Ella."

I think back to our last encounter. We had made a truce, though it is weird to think of Draco as anything but racist scum, it is nice to see him.

"What happened?" I ask him.

Before Draco could answer more people appear in the doorway.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron asks, glaring at him. "Come to tell the muggleborns how upset you are that they're no longer petrified?"

The muggleborns are alright?

I look around to see Hermione, Justin and Conner all stirring in their beds.

"I'm just visiting Elladora." He hisses to him, before storming out.

I freeze. He just called me by that name in front of Ron… he couldn't know.

Will pulls me into a hug.

"What happened?" I ask him.

Nico joins us, while Ron throws Lockhart into a bed before walking over to Hermione.

"Why is Hermione here? Why am I here? Why did he call me Elladora in front of Ron? And why are you both so filthy?!" I ramble.

"You and Hermione were both petrified." Nico explains.

My eyes widen. "But I'm not a muggleborn." I point out, not quite being used to it.

"The heir didn't know that." Will explains. "But everyone does now."

I start to panic. Everyone knows I'm Elladora? I've barely had a chance to get used to it myself, let alone be ready for everyone to know.

"W-what happened?" I ask them.

They share a look.

"We're not sure." Nico answers. "Someone called Rita Skeeter wrote an article for the Daily Prophet. I don't know how she knew."

I frown. I guess I'll have to get used to it soon. "So why are you so filthy?"
Nico's frown grows. "We entered the chamber of secrets."

I sit up with a start. "YOU WHAT?!"
My shout causes Hermione to sit up as well. Ron pulls her into a hug.

Nico then explains everything that happened.

"Well shit." I mutter. "At least it's all over now."

"I still want to know who gave Ginny the diary." Hermione says, looking as dazed as I feel.

Draco then reappears through the door. "Ella." He breathes. "Father's here."
Hermione looks at him in confusion, apparently being the only one who doesn't know.

I try to get up, only to be pushed back down by Will. "You are not leaving this room!"

I glare at him. "I'll have to deal with him eventually."

"Not in this condition!" Will exclaims, before turning to Draco. "Tell him she's not awake yet."

He nods before leaving the room.

A few minutes later when Will was helping Madam Pomfrey give the other muggeborns potion I make my run for it. I need to deal with him.

Just outside Dumbles office I see familiar white blonde hair with Dobby next to him.

I walk over, fully prepared to yell at him when I notice Harry. I hide around the corner, peering at them curiously.
"Mr. Malfoy." Harry gasps, skidding to a halt, "I've got something for you-"
To my amusement Harry then handed Lucius an old sock.

"What the -?" he says, ripping the sock off the book in his hand, before throwing it aside.
"You'll meet the same sticky end as your parent's one of these days, Harry Potter." He says softly. "They were meddlesome fools, too."
I grit my teeth. That man will never be my father, no matter what blood we share.
He turns to leave. "Come, Dobby. I said, come."

But Dobby didn't move. He was holding up Harry's disgusting, slimy sock, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

"Master has given a sock." The elf says in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby."

"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy. "What did you say?"

"Got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby - Dobby is free."
Huh? How could a sock free an elf? I push aside my confusion, focusing on the fact that the poor elf that my family had been treating like dirt for so long is finally free.
Lucius stands frozen, staring at the elf Then he lunged at Harry.

"You've lost me my servant, boy!"
I move to intervene, but Dobby does first.

Dobby shouts, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!"

There is a loud bang, and he was thrown backward. He crashed down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below. He got up, his face livid, and pulls out his wand, but Dobby raises a long, threatening finger.

"You shall go now," he says fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy. "You shall not touch Harry Potter. You shall go now."

Lucius Malfoy had no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the pair of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight.
I narrowly avoid being seen by him. Perhaps I should wait to confront him.
"Harry Potter freed Dobby!" said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Harry, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes. "Harry Potter set Dobby free!"

"Least I could do, Dobby," said Harry, grinning. "Just promise never to try and save my life again."

The elf's brown face split suddenly into a wide, toothy smile.
It warms my heart to see the broken elf so happy
"I've just got one question, Dobby." Harry says as Dobby pulled on Harry's sock with shaking hands. "You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well-"
"It was a clue, sir," said Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this was obvious. "Was giving you a clue. The Dark Lord, before he changed his name, could be freely named, you see?"
"Right." Harry says weakly "Well, I'd better go. There's a feast, and my friend Hermione should be awake by now..."
Dobby threw his arms around Harry's middle and hugged him.
"Wait." I say appearing around the corner.

"Mistr- Miss Malfoy!" Dobby begins happily, before correcting himself.

"I am so happy for you, Dobby." I tell him with a small smile, getting onto my knees so we are eye to eye.

His eyes widen. "You are not angry with Dobby?"

"Of course not." I tell him. "You deserve so much better than to be anyone's slave. No life is more important than another."

Harry gives me a warm smile before running off to find Hermione.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask him.

He nods eagerly, still smiling.

"How did you know who I was?" I ask.

"Mist- Mrs Malfoy." He answers. "She suspected who you were when you met her in the Quidditch shop. She had Dobby find out about you and to send you your broom." He explains.

My mother send that?

I smile at him. "Can you also explain how the sock thing works?"

"Only when a master presents a house elf with clothing can the elf be freed." He explains, studying his sock.

"Alright." I tell him. "Good luck with your new life, Dobby."

"Thank you Ms Malfoy. You are even kinder than Dobby remembered." He tells me before disappearing.

When I returned to the infirmary Will and Madam Pomfrey were steaming. Meh, it was worth it.

Once I was released from the infirmary I realized how much things had changed. With the news of my parentry being public knowledge the students treated me very differently: most of the Slytherins had began to act civil to me, Pansy even being kind (UGH!) the rest of the student body on the other hand acted the opposite: apparently they think discovering my parents are cousins is enough to turn me into a female Draco, avoiding me and whispering about me behind my back. I guess this is what Nico feels like.

The school has also changed in that Lockhart is gone, also removing my main source of entertainment: mocking him.

This year the feast was very different to in the past, as we're all in pyjamas talking about what happened. Some even walking over and patting Nico and Will on the back or going over to tell Justin how happy they were he's back. Not as many people visited me, oh well fame isn't everything.

"What are you idiots doing for the holidays?" I ask Nico and Will.

They share a look, before answering "Camp."

I groan. "Really?" I ask sceptically. "Does this mean you will be returning my letters?"

Nico looks away. "Maybe?"

I grumble, before noticing Draco piling his plate high with pudding.

"Praemium!" I yell, pointing my wand at his plate, causing the pudding to explode in his face.

"ELLA!" He screams, marching over to me

I smirk. "Whatever could you want, brother dear?"

He glares at me. The day I stop pranking Draco is the day Nico starts giving out free hugs.

"Perhaps to actually eat my food." He sneers, before pushing a bowl of chocolate pudding into my face.

I screech, reaching for the whipped cream and pouring it on his head.

Soon the hall all once again join in with the food fight, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs attacking Slytherins and vice versa. We need some way to put all of our house pride without being able to use Quidditch as an excuse to beat each other up.

As the year came to an end we once again boarded the train to Kings Cross Station.

"I'm going to miss this place." Will tells me.

"We'll be back in September." I remind him, looking back at the castle. I miss Alex and my other foster siblings like crazy, but I can't imagine being back in Miss Hannigans apartment after everything that happened this year.

Will's face gains an expression I don't understand. "I suppose we will."

On the journey back Draco pays us a small visit, ignoring my friends. "Perhaps you could visit these holidays." He suggests hopefully.

I give him a weak smile. "I don't see myself in that place with him." I tell Draco. "But maybe, and I'll definitely owl you."

He gives me a small smile before disappearing.

"I was never get used to you two getting along." Nico tells me, finally tearing his gaze from the window.

Him and Will had both been awfully quiet the whole trip.

"Neither." I agree, pulling out a chocolate frog.

When we arrive at the platform Nico pulls me into a hug. It takes me a moment to respond, Nico never initiates a hug or any contact.

"Goodbye." He tells me with an odd expression on his face.

"What's going on?" I ask, folding my arms expectantly.

He looks away. "Nothing."
I snort, making my disbelief obvious. "Whatever, but you know you can trust me, right?"

He nods. "Yea, I know."

I give him a small smile, before being pulled into a hug by Will.

It's going to be a long summer.