Hermione
"Marikkk!" Her scream was barely even audible to her as Marik's horrifying screams echoed off the Chamber's walls. She had never heard a more terrifying and harrowing sound before in her life.
Only moments earlier had she, Harry, and Daphne had arrived at Hogwarts. The minister's floo had taken them right to the Headmaster's office, just as Daphne had told them it would. They had expected the castle upon their arrival to have aurors and ministry workers crawling all over the place, but after they left the Headmaster's office it appeared that they were the only people inside the large castle.
As they had left the Headmaster's office and made their way to the Great Hall they found the reason why the castle was still empty. Just as the ministry guard had said the entire grounds and large portions of the castle were covered in thousands and thousands of spiders. She had thought at the time that she would never see a more horrifying sight. She would be soon proven wrong with that thought soon enough though.
Luck seemed to be on their side though as they started planning how to avoid all the spiders. A loud clicking sound had echoed through the hall's of the school and in response all of the spiders in the castle and on the grounds started heading off in one direction. Hoping that the spiders may lead them to Marik and Alina the three of them had followed the spiders from a distance back. After leading them into the school's pipes and down a seemingly endless path of twisting tunnels they arrived at a door that opened into what they could only assume was the Chamber of Secrets.
After finding the door they all quickly ran through it and into the Chamber. This is where she saw truly the most horrifying thing she had ever seen.
Following Harry and Daphne into the Chamber it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to what was happening inside. All of the spiders were converging on a boy at one side of the Chamber. On the other side of the Chamber all she could see over the heads of the spiders was Marik falling to his knees. That's when. . . it, started.
Just as the boy on the other side of the Chamber sent two enormous green spells towards Marik's direction, the Chamber filled with Marik's screams. It was no normal sounding scream though. The scream was louder than any noise a person normally could make, and sounded as if Marik's vocal cords were being shredded apart. The intensity of the scream's emotions echoed throughout the Chamber, bringing tears instantly to her eyes with them as she could almost sense what he was feeling.
In a split second though the screams had died, and the Chamber grew much quieter.
"Marikkkk!" she screamed out, tears flowing uncontrollably down her face.
If he heard her screams she would never know. At once following the termination of Marik's screams all of the Darkness inside the Chamber seemed to converge towards and into Marik. All around them the Chamber became brighter as all of the shadows vanished and the darkness disappeared. It became impossible to see anything as the last few specks of black in her vision converged into her best friend. Even the light from the green spells the other boy in the Chamber had cast seemed to flow into Marik.
This all happened in an instant. Before she could even react and draw her wand to cast a lumos spell a small source of light appeared at the end of the Chamber. From what she could make out in all of the darkness it looked like two small, glowing white eyes. From their location they could have possibly been Marik's eyes, but it was hard to tell.
Before she could examine them any further though the small sources of light began to grow. As they grew the Chamber once again became illuminated, this time with a bright white glow instead of the previous green darkness that had been present.
The light grew and grew and the Chamber continued to get brighter and brighter. After another brief moment she again for the second time found it impossible to see anything in the Chamber. This time her vision was filled with a blindingly bright white light instead of the previous darkness. It was so bright that her eyes strained just from looking at it. She tried to close her eyes but even closed the light shined through her eyelids.
What is going on? She thought to herself in a state of panic. Before she could finish the thought though in the blink of an eye all of the light converged back into Marik's body and exploded outwards throughout the Chamber in a huge release of magical energy.
Her body, along with Harry's and Daphne's were sent flying back into the wall of the Chamber behind them. Her back collided with a stone in the wall and immediately she felt blood soaking through her shirt. Before she could digest the pain and comprehend what had just happened though each one of the snake head statues lining the walls of the Chamber exploded, sending a blast of rocks outwards in the explosion's wake.
The entire Chamber started to shake as all of the walls and pillars throughout it collapsed and exploded in the wake of whatever the hell had just taken place. Huge stones were falling from the roof that was hidden in the shadows a hundred or so feet above them. It truly looked like pure chaos around them.
"Hermione, Daphne!" she heard a voice shout from her left. She turned her head towards the source. It was Harry. A brief sigh of relief came over her as she saw that he was okay. "Hermione, Daphne we have to get them!" Harry was shouting. It took her a few seconds to register what he was saying. Everything felt so slow and wavy around her. She must have hit her head in the collision.
After she was able to register what Harry was saying she got up to her feet. Harry and Daphne were already running towards the other side of the Chamber. As quickly as her body would allow her to she followed them. At the other side of the Chamber the chaos was even worse. All around them rocks were falling from the ceiling and the ground was shaking. Up ahead, only a few feet away on the ground were two bodies.
Next to a small pool of water Daphne's sister Alina's body was sprawled out on the Chamber's floor. The girl looked much paler than she remembered her being during the few times she had seen her previously. Other than her skin being pale however, she showed no other physical wounds or other signs of being injured or. . . She never finished the thought.
Next to Alina's outstretched hand lay Marik. While Alina looked for the most part unharmed, Marik looked the polar opposite. His normally tan skin was ghost white. His body looked. . . She couldn't find the words for it.
All over his pale skin were black spots and splotches. They didn't look like burns, and were too dark to be blood or anything else she could think of. She had no idea what they were. The more she looked at him the more she was able to see that the black spots were moving, as if they were traveling under his skin.
She looked at one of the spots on his face more closely. The dark spot grew and changed its shape until it stretched in a jagged looking line starting from Marik's chest, up his neck, until it ended right above one of his eyes. After another brief moment the black spot vanished completely and another one appeared a few inches away from where the previous one had started.
"Torag!" A loud voice clicked from behind them. She turned to see the source. Two large spiders were running towards them. She was in so much shock from all that had happened that the thought to raise her wand never even crossed her mind. The two spiders ran past the her, Harry, and Daphne and towards the two bodies on the ground. Each of the spiders picked up one of the bodies in their large pincers and started running off towards the part of the cave they had arrived at.
"Bring me my sister back!" Daphne shouted and started firing off spells at the spiders as she ran in the direction that they had already vanished into. All at once the rest of the spiders followed the two larger spiders. Without saying a word to each other she and Harry made eye contact and started following after the spiders and Daphne. They would not let the spiders take Alina and Marik after all that had just happened.
All around them as they ran the Chamber was collapsing. More than once she and Harry had to make a dive to avoid a large falling rock. Unfortunately for them the large spiders were much faster and they had lost sight of them after a few minutes. Luckily though they were able to keep pace with a few of the smaller trailing spiders. Just as they did when they arrived at Hogwarts earlier in the night, they followed the trail of spiders through the tunnels until at last they saw light.
At the end of the tunnel she could see that the sun was just starting to come up over the horizon. Following Harry's lead they climbed the hill beside the pipe's entrance onto the main grounds of the school. Just a few feet in front of them she saw Daphne on her knees on the ground. She was hunched over crying. Beneath her and clasped in an embrace was her sister's body. A few feet away from Alina's body Marik's body also lay on the grass.
The spiders that had taken the bodies and left them there. She looked at the last spiders that she could see and saw that they all had returned into the forest. The spiders had saved Alina and Marik's bodies from getting crushed and left in the Chamber. They also most likely saved her, Harry, and Daphne's lives to by leading them out.
Moving on their own, her legs started carrying her over to where Marik's body lay. She dropped to her knees as she arrived next to him, and reached out and took his hand in her own. Looking at him it was hard to visualise his normal smirk and smile, they seemed so impossible at the moment. The black spots were still moving and growing all over his body, appearing and disappearing one after another.
The tears once again returned to her eyes as she looked at him. He looked awful, like he could break just from her touch. Feeling weak and like she might pass out from how hard she was breathing she laid her head down on his chest, clutching her best friend in her arms.
Even as cold as his skin looked he still felt warm to her. She closed her eyes, hoping that might stop her tears. It didn't work.
It would be easy to just lay here forever and pretend this was all just a dream. She thought to herself. With her eyes closed, listening to the fast beating of Marik's heart, and laying on his chest it was easy to believe that her friend was still alive. . . and still with her. . .
"Wait!" she shouted panicking! Lifting her head quickly off of Marik's chest.
"Hermione what is it?" Harry said from behind her. She ignored him.
"H-h-heartbeat! Hearbeat! Harry! He is alive! Marik is still alive!" She stood up as she shouted. She couldn't believe it. She wasn't crazy, she had heard his heart beating. Sure enough as she looked closer although it was minimal she could see her friend's chest barely moving up and down as he breathed.
"What?" Harry shouted, sounding like he did not believe her. Harry got down on his knees and put his ear next to Marik's heart. She turned her head to see Daphne doing the same with Alina. She crossed her fingers. Daphne lifted her head and to the sky and again started crying. This time though she could see the tears were different. This time they looked happy. Alina had a heartbeat too.
Her best friend was alive. . .
Alina was alive. . .
"Hey over there!" a voice shouted from somewhere on the grounds. She looked at the source and saw that a group of around fifteen aurors were running towards them.
"Please help us!" she shouted as she saw them. "We need to get them to St. Mungos now!"
"What is going on here? What happened here?" one of the aurors asked them.
"We can answer your questions later. Please help them!" Hermione pleaded with the aurors, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while that things might actually turn out okay.
All of the aurors seemed frozen to the ground, as they looked at the two bodies on the ground. After a few seconds one of them finally spoke up. She saw that it was their Professor Kingsley, who seemed to be wearing his old auror robes. She looked at where his eyes were fixed and saw that he was looking worryingly at Marik on the ground.
"Everyone, get ready to portkey to St. Mungos now! Tonks send word to Scrimgeour that we found the two remaining missing students, along with two others. And Tonks. . ." Professor Kingsley was saying to the other aurors.
"Yeah Kings?" the auror named Tonks answered.
"Keep this as tight to the chest as you can. No one besides us here and Scrimgeour knows about this until we have to tell them. I don't want Fudge and his people swarming this for as long as we can avoid it," Kingsley finished saying.
"Count on it Kings," Tonks replied and walked away from their group.
"Mister Potter and Miss Granger I will take Marik to St. Mungos myself and Miss Black my colleague Alastor Moody will transport your sister. You can trust him I promise. Is that alright with all of you?" Kingsley calmly asked the three of them. They all nodded. "Okay then, if you will each stand next to one of the aurors over there they will escort you three as well. I want all of you to get checked out," Kingsley said and the three of them made their way over to the aurors.
Each of the aurors pulled out a small feather that had been turned into a portkey and held them out for them to hold onto. After first seeing Alina and Marik disappear, the three of them shortly after were sucked into their portkeys. After the uncomfy feeling vanished they arrived in what she guessed was the entrance of St. Mungos Hospital.
"Follow me," the auror that had transported her ordered. Listening she followed the auror and she was led down a few hallways and into a patient room. "This is the aurors wing of the hospital. A doctor will be in any moment to check you out. Will you be okay if I wait outside the door?" the auror asked her. She nodded, and the auror left the room. Everything had happened so fast she was only half listening to him.
Wizard hospitals seemed to have a lot in common with muggle hospitals. Just like in all the other hospitals she had visited before she found herself waiting for quite some time for a doctor to show up. She didn't mind though. She knew her wounds were small and she hoped a doctor not being here meant they were wherever Marik was helping him. After another half hour or so of waiting a doctor finally showed up.
"Sorry for making you wait Miss Granger. Unfortunately we are not at full staff around this time in the morning. Now let's take a look at you," the doctor said and started looking her wounds over.
"Do you know how my friend is doing?" she asked the doctor as he looked her over. "And the girl that was brought with him." she quickly added.
"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to give you that information," the doctor answered her but then continued. "However, someone will be speaking with you after our examination and I'm sure he will be able to answer all of your questions," the doctor finished saying, and smiled at her. She hoped that smile was a sign of good news, and not a fake one. Silence remained in the room for the rest of the doctor's examination.
"All right you are good to go now Miss Granger. Just make sure you drink this potion once a day for the next two days and don't put yourself through anything stressful the next few days. You got a pretty large cut on your back but it should be healed in no time," the doctor told her as he walked her to the door.
Yeah right nothing stressful. . . My best friend may or may not be dead, my parents will find out now I snuck out at night, and I will probably be arrested for sneaking into the ministry and assaulting two workers. . . So yeah not getting stressed is easy. She joked to herself as she walked out the door. The doctor led her down the hallway of the hospital to a room a few doors down from hers.
Outside of the room a large group had formed. The group was mainly made up of the aurors that had found them at Hogwarts along with Kingsley. She also saw that Harry was sitting on a bench right outside one of the patient room's door. Another wave of relief came over her as she saw her friend. Harry did his best to put up a smile as she approached him, she could tell it was forced though. She ignored all of the other people in the hallway and made a straight line towards her friend. When she made it to the bench she wrapped him in as hard a hug as she could.
"Thanks Hermione, I needed that. How are you doing?" Harry asked her.
"The doctor said I'm all good and should heal quick. How about you?" she asked him.
"Same, I only got a small cut on my arm," Harry answered her and raised his arm to show a few stitches.
"Have you?" she started to ask. He shook his head before she finished though signaling he had not yet heard anything about Marik. The two of them didn't say anything else after that. She joined him on the bench and the both of them just sat in silence outside of the room she guessed was Mariks. Outside of a few aurors asking if they needed anything the hallway they were in and the room they were sitting outside of was silent. For what felt like hours they sat in silence waiting.
"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," a voice said as the door to the patient's room opened. She was surprised to see that the voice belonged to their Headmaster Dumbledore. "Please come in," Headmaster Dumbledore said to them motioning with his hand for them to enter the room with him. They both quickly got up from the bench they were on and hurried into the room. She closed her eyes as she entered, giving herself a moment to prepare herself.
Laying on the bed her best friend looked more like himself than he had in the Chamber and at the school. His skin had returned closer to its usual darker tan color, however he was still covered in the black spots that were still moving around all over him. She looked at his chest and could see that it was still moving up and down, although sporadically. He is alive. . . Thank god.
Her thanks only lasted for a second though. All of the sudden Marik's entire body turned to a deep shade of black and he started to thrash around uncontrollably in his bed. For the first time since she had arrived in the room she noticed that he was being held down by magic clamps on both his wrists and ankles. After a few seconds of the thrashing around stopped and the color of Marik's skin returned back to normal. As if nothing had happened Marik again looked like his normal self plus a few black spots, as he just lay in the bed, almost peacefully.
"Sir?" she started to ask the question.
"I'm afraid we only have some ideas Miss Granger. We were actually hoping the two of you could help us," The Headmaster said, looking directly at her with his bright eyes.
"What? How could we help you sir?" Harry asked their Headmaster from beside her.
"All we know about Mr. Ose's current condition is that he is struggling to maintain his body's form in our dimension. We do not know how to help him with this, or what may have caused this." The Headmaster paused to clear his throat and pop a small piece of candy he had taken from his robes into his mouth. "What the two of you just saw has been happening sporadically since Mr. Ose arrived here," The Headmaster explained.
"Sir, you said you had some ideas. What did you mean by that?" she asked the Headmaster.
"And what do you mean he is struggling to maintain a form in our dimension?" Harry asked looking confused.
"To answer both of your questions I only can say this. When Mr. Ose's body begins to thrash it takes a black, almost shadowy-sort of form. Correct an old man if I'm wrong but I do believe the form he takes resembles the one we saw during Mr. Ose's duel this summer," the Headmaster answered.
The Headmaster was right. Marik's body did morph into the same form that it had during the duel tournament. Even the splotches of moving black on his skin looked like Marik's shadow magic. How had she not connected those dots before?
"I still don't get it," Harry said. "What does that have to do with why he is struggling and whatever you said about dimensions." From the sound of Harry's voice it was clear he was having as tough a time dealing with all of this as she was.
"This is where my idea's become just hypotheses I am afraid. I believe Marik's magic somehow did this to himself. I think that this was the same spell or at least similar magic to that which he cast over the summer during his final duel. From what I remember of the magic I saw in the duel his body changed from one form to the other and then back again. This time I think for some reason his body is struggling to return back to its original form.
"Since I was not there when this happened I can only make inferences based off his duel. During the duel over the summer it looked as if Marik's body lost its physical form and essentially in easiest terms became a shadow. I am assuming that is how he was able to dodge Miss Delacour's spells." The Headmaster paused briefly and moved the candy inside his mouth to the other side.
"When Mr. Ose attacked Miss Delacour his body then returned back into it's normal form and released all of the excess magic outwards towards his opponent. This time though my guess is that due to whatever happened to Mr. Ose the excess magic did not release outwards but instead stayed inside Mr. Ose, maybe even attacking him from the inside. That is why it may be that his body is sporadically still switching between forms. It might be that his body is trying to find a way to control whatever magic is fighting him. Although again this is only a guess.
"Mr. Ose chose to keep his spell creation magic project a secret outside of the necessary documents he had to turn in for his projects. As a fellow creator and scholar I know it is rude and impolite to pry on someone's spell creations when they have chosen to keep them to themselves but I'm afraid for the moment I must be rude." Dumbledore switched the candy back again to the other side.
"I'm assuming as close as you three are that Mr. Ose told you both about his spell creations? If so, if there is anything you might know about the magic or spells he created it may help save him." Headmaster Dumbledore looked at the both of them with his eyebrows raised.
"He told us but. . ." she started to say but was interrupted as Marik's body shifted forms again and began thrashing. Her eyes ached as more tears found their way out. It was amazing that there were any of them left.
"He showed us all the spells he created and told us all about them. He even tried to help us learn it, but we never could perform it. Only Marik could. Even he had no idea how he did whatever he did at the dueling tournament. He had actually been trying to figure it out over the year so far. The only spells he knew where ones he did during the dueling tournament and his end of year project," Harry finished her answer.
"Hmmm. . . " The Headmaster leaned back in the chair he had sat down in and scratched his beard. "Very well then. Kingsley could you excuse us?" Dumbledore asked. She had not even realised that Kingsley had been in the room with them with all that had happened. Kingsley patted Marik's feet before he left the room with a nod of his head leaving just the four of them inside.
"Miss Granger. . . Mr. Potter. . . I need to know now what happened inside the Chamber. There might be something more we can do for Mr. Ose but I need to know all of the information first." Dumbledore looked at the both of them.
"Well. . ." she started to tell him the story of what happened. She started her story with the three of them walking out of the Great Hall, in hopes that the Headmaster would not question them on how they ended up at the school.
Throughout her story the Headmaster listened intently only stopping her once when Marik's body again changed and started thrashing. When she finished telling the Headmaster all that happened he just sat there looking off in the distance, deep in his thoughts.
"I'm afraid to say that I am even more bewildered than I was before," the Headmaster said, resulting in both her and Harry's heads dropping. "I think now all we can do it wait and ho. . ." The Headmaster was interrupted.
"Alina!" a voice in the hall was shouting loudly. Shortly after the shout the door to their room opened. It was Daphne's sister Alina. Wearing only her hospital gown Hermione could see that some of the girl's color had returned to her skin and she already looked a little better.
"Marik!" the girl shouted Marik'ss name as she ran across the room and engulfed Marik's body in a full body hug.
"I'm sorry sir. I turned my head for one second," a small auror said, apologizing from the hallway.
"It is fine. Please close the door and wait outside," the Headmaster ordered and the auror nodded and closed the door behind him. Alina was crying loudly as she hugged Marik's body. Her head was moving up and down to the rhythm of Marik's breathing and her tears were running down the skin on his chest.
"I'm so sorry. . ." Alina kept saying in whispered breaths through her tears and heaves.
"ALINA!" another shout could be heard from the hallway as the door once again opened. This time the door opened to reveal Daphne and the small auror now on the ground with a black eye.
"Alina you need to get back in bed! Please. . ." Daphne pleaded to her sister, her voice for once absent of any ice.
Alina just kept apologizing. Hermione scooted over in her chair and motioned for Daphne to sit beside her, surprisingly she did. Everyone in the room just sat there in silence for a while. The only sound was Alina's muffled tears and her occasional whisper of I'm sorry.
"Alina. . ." she heard a whisper from someone in the room. She looked around to see who had broke the silence. From the looks she received it appeared everyone else in the room was doing the same.
"Was that?" she asked everyone excited. The Headmaster stood up from his seat and went over to the bed. She switched her eyes between Marik and their Headmaster hoping for good news. She could see Marik's mouth was moving every once in awhile, but he was not saying anything. "What?" she asked after the Headmaster had still said nothing.
"I am afraid I still don't know any more. While it may be a good sign that he was able to speak it may also not mean anything. It could just be that he is talking in his sleep," the Headmaster answered.
"Alina. . . what happened?" Harry asked his cousin again breaking the silence. All eyes in the room including hers turned to the crying girl next to Marik.
"It was Voldemort. . ." was all Alina got out before she started crying again. Hermione recognized the name. Voldemort was the dark wizard who had tried to kill Harry when he was a baby. But he was dead? What did he have to do with this? How could he have anything to do with this? Apparently the name meant a lot more to both the Headmaster and Harry who both had much more of an obvious reaction to the name.
"Was he the boy in the Chamber?" she asked to no one in particular.
"What boy?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked quickly, his interest peaked.
"Sorry, with all the chaos I totally forgot. Right when we entered the Chamber there was another boy there. I couldn't get a good look at him though and he disappeared after everything happened," she answered the Headmaster's question.
"Alina was the boy in the Chamber Voldemort?" Harry asked her. She could see the wheels turning in the Headmaster's head.
"I don't remember ever being in the Chamber. . . I don't remember much of anything. . ." Alina started to answer, it looked like her eyes had somewhat dried. "All I remember right now is the name Tom. . . and him." She pointed at Marik when she finished speaking.
"Tom Riddle," was all Dumbledore said in return.
"Who is Tom Riddle sir?" she asked curiously.
"Tom Riddle was an old student of Hogwarts. A student that would later go by a different name. Lord Voldemort."
"Did he do this?" Harry asked the Headmaster.
"I don't know Mr. Potter, I don't know," the Headmaster answered. She was so confused. Almost none of this made any sense to her. "If you will excuse me for a minute I do believe all of your parents will be arriving shortly and I would like to speak with them first. I also need to inform Marik's doctor that he hasn't had a seizure in over thirty minutes now," the Headmaster said to them as he stood up and headed to the door.
"Is that a good thing?" Alina asked from her spot next to Marik. Her head was still on his chest.
"I hope so," was all the Headmaster said as he closed the door behind him. The room once again returned to silence.
"Hermione I need to tell you something. . ." Harry said beside her. She turned to him and was shocked. Harry's face was fully covered in tears. Harry was crying.
"Harry what's. . ." she started to say, reaching her hand out towards his and taking it. She could see Daphne fidgeting uncomfortably in her chair in the corner of her eye at the sight of her cousin crying.
"This is my fault. . ." Harry started to say before more tears came out interrupting him. She had never seen him like this before. It broke her inside to see him like this.
"Harry of course this isn't your fault. Why would you even think that?" She tried to comfort him.
"Because Voldemort was after me," Harry answered through tears.
"What?" she and Daphne said in unison. They both made eye contact briefly before turning their head confused at what Harry had said.
"In our first year it wasn't Quirrell who brought the troll to the school. Voldemort was possessing Quirrell. Voldemort brought the troll to the school," Harry slowly replied.
"Harry, Voldemort is dead," Daphne said from the other side of the room.
"No. . . Voldemort is still alive, or something close to it. He came to the school in our first year to try and get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone, which Dumbledore had in his possession. Dumbledore also told me that he likely came to the school because I was there. Although I didn't really do anything Voldemort and the world see me as the one who defeated him. Because of that I am his number one target. I think all of this is what Dobby was trying to warn me about. I'm s- so, so s-sorry," Harry answered, starting to stutter.
"I didn't tell you and Marik because I didn't want the both of you to worry about me. I didn't want anything to change. I didn't want to lose my only friends," Harry finished talking as he placed his head into his hands.
"Harry. . ." Was all she got out as more tears found their way to her eyes. She reached out again for his had.
"This wasn't your fault Harry," Alina said from her spot in the room. She never opened her eyes as she spoke.
"What? How can you say that?" Harry asked her.
"Tom Riddle didn't know anything about Harry Potter, he didn't know anything about any of you before me," she answered him, her voice sure and confident.
"How do you know that?" Daphne asked. She looked worried.
"Because he told me," Alina answered her sister's question.
"What?" Daphne again asked.
"Like I told Dumbledore I don't remember much, but I do remember a few things. I found Tom Riddle's Diary in my bag over the summer. I wrote in all the time, and Tom wrote back. When I didn't have friends at Hogwarts Riddle was my friend. Eventually the more I wrote the less I remembered and the more things. . . and I started to change.
"He used the diary to possess me. I don't remember opening the Chamber but I know I did, I don't remember meeting Tom Riddle but I know I did. The one thing I do remember though is writing about you guys. I remember writing in the diary after opening ceremony and telling Tom how excited I was to be like you guys when I saw you all getting special recognitions.
"Tom asked me who you all were, and what you were to me. He had never heard of your names before. No Harry, this is not your fault. If it's anyone's fault it's mine. After all, I'm the one who stunned Marik and made him miss the train back home. . . That part I remember vividly. . ." Alina fell back onto Marik's chest as she started crying again.
"It's neither one of your faults," she spoke up. "Harry it's not your fault some psycho tried to kill you when you were a baby. Alina it isn't your fault for writing in a diary that just happened to be possessed. I write in a diary almost everyday.
"Harry you are stupid if you think me and Marik would stop being your friends for any reason! And Alina if you had not stunned Marik we would never have come to the castle, Marik would not have been there to do whatever he did, and you would be dead right now. Stop feeling bad. Marik needs us to be strong right now, for him. And I know for a fact that he would not want us blaming ourselves and being sad!" she said, getting it all off her chest.
"Well said Miss Granger," Dumbledore said from the doorway. "I'm afraid though I need Miss Alina and Miss Daphne to go back to their rooms and you and Mr. Potter to come outside. All of your parents are here and I think we should allow Mr. and Mrs. Ose some time with their son." She internally shivered at the thought of seeing her parents, whom she knew would be irate at her for sneaking out.
"Alina!" Sirius shouted from down the hallway and bolted towards the girl. He looked completely different than he had over the summer. His bright eyes and smile now looked like someone who had been tortured. While it was happy to see him hold his daughter, it was sad imagining what it must have been like for him thinking his daughter was dead.
"Hermione!" Her train of thought was interrupted as her parents both engulfed her into a hug.
"Thank god you are alright," her mother said as she tightened her grip around her. Down the hall Harry was smiling at her as both of his parents were doing the same to him. She couldn't help but smile back. She had already started to miss that smile of his, it was good to see it again.
As the door to Marik's room closed she saw one last sight of his body turning black as it started thrashing again. She could hear both of Marik's parents crying as they saw their son in that state.
"Be okay please Marik," She whispered to him as the door to Marik's room closed. "Please be okay."
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