"On the good side, at least they won't cancel Quidditch," Harry said.
Staring at the fifty foot long giant snake corpse, Steven wondered how Harry could worry about Quidditch at a time like this.
"I feel kind of bad," he said. "There should have been some other way to deal with it than killing it."
"It would have eaten you without a moment's thought," Snape said from behind them, "and then finished its meal with the entire Gryffindor class."
"Still," Steven said. He sighed.
"I wonder how they're going to get this out of here?" Harry said. At Steven's look he said, "It's resistant to magic."
Snape snorted. "I'm surprised you bothered to read about it at all."
"I pay attention to things that are trying to kill me," Harry said flatly.
"If that were true you'd pay much more attention in potions class to Mr. Longbottom," Snape said dryly.
"The spells bounced right off it," Steven said. "So how are they going to get it out of here?"
"A team from Gringott's will arrive later this afternoon," Snape said. "Basilisk parts are very valuable and the goblins will render them for a portion of the price."
"I'm keeping the fangs," Amethyst said from behind them, and Snape flinched.
"I'm sure that will be acceptable as part of the heroes' reward," Snape said. "In any case, the headmaster has requested the presence of Mr. Universe and Mr. Potter in his office."
"Buusted..." Amethyst said.
"You are to help me guard this body."
She scowled.
Steven was surprised to see Ron's parents along with Draco's father and a house elf in Dumbledore's office.
Mrs. Weasely ran up to him and hugged him tightly.
"What's going on?" Steven asked, confused.
She didn't let go, only hugging him more tightly. "Thank you for saving my little girl."
"The book Ginny was using was a piece of very dark magic," Dumbledore said. "It was draining her life force to power Tom's ability to return to this world. If she'd continued to keep it she'd have surely died."
"She's the one who threw it away," Steven said. "I just asked her about it."
"It showed a remarkable force of will to reject the book," Dumbledore said, "But I suspect that it's allure would have been too much for her in the long run."
"Somebody would have helped her," he said uncomfortably. Ron's mother still hadn't let go of him.
"Anyone else would have just seen a book on the floor and not think anything about it." Dumbledore said. "I've spoken to Ginny and Myrtle."
"Where is Ginny?"
"She's being checked in the infirmary for any lingering effects of her connection to the diary. Even if there are not, in the days to come she may feel guilty for her role in this matter."
"It wasn't her fault," Steven said. "She was being controlled."
Someone had strangled all the roosters in Hogwarts and written messages on walls in their blood. It startled Steven to realize that it had to have been Ginny doing all that.
She'd been lucky that no one had actually died this time; that would have been a terrible burden on her conscience.
"She may need reminding of that in the days to come," Dumbledore said.
Steven nodded. He'd had a lifetime of dealing with people who had guilt and regrets.
"Harry," Dumbledore said. "I have to ask where you got this remarkable sword."
"Fawkes brought it to me," Harry said. "It was in the sorting hat."
Dumbledore held the sword out, and while Steven privately thought it wasn't as nice as his mother's sword, it seemed very nice.
"Godric Gryffindor's sword hasn't been seen in a thousand years," Dumbledore said. "It was meant for you, Harry."
There was a snorting sound from behind them.
Lucius Malfoy said, "There's nothing to prove that to be anything more than a well crafted forgery."
"I doubt that many wizards are keeping forgeries under their hats," Dumbledore said.
"You seem to keep many things under yours," Malfoy said. "There was talk that you'd have been asked to step down if there had been another incident at this school."
"It's fortunate that it has been resolved then," Dumbledore said mildly. He glanced at the Weaselys. "I'm sure Ginny is well enough to receive visitors."
Mrs. Weasely finally released Steven and said, "As far as I'm concerned, you are family. If you ever need anything...anything at all, don't be afraid to ask."
Steven nodded. He had a fine family of his own, but it never hurt to have friends.
The Weaselys left.
The house elf behind Malfoy was pointing at the remains of the diary on Dumbledore's desk and then at his master. He then would hit himself in the head.
Steven would have said something, but Harry gripped his arm tightly and shook his head.
"I doubt these boys have anything more useful to contribute," Malfoy said. "After all, there were a thousand witnesses to most of it."
"There was only one to how it started though," Harry said. "Do you want to know where Ginny got the diary from in the first place?"
"I'm sure I have no idea," Malfoy said.
"I do," Harry said. "You slipped it inside her old transfiguration book."
"Prove it."
"What about one of those sieve things?" Steven asked suddenly. "That you can pull memories right out of someone's head? The Ministry used them on me when they were deciding what to do with me."
"A pensieve?" Dumbledore asked.
"I'm sure that if you pulled the memories out of enough people's heads you could find someone who saw what happened," Steven said.
Dumbledore smiled at Steven and offered him a lemondrop.
"I'm sure that if any other incident like this occurs we might have to investigate more closely. Arthur Weasely in particular might be interested in following through with something like this."
Malfoy scowled and turned to leave.
For some reason Harry was pulling off his sock; after the battle they'd been in it was particularly dirty, with basilisk blood splattered on it.
He grabbed the remains of the diary and stuffed the sock into it, running after Malfoy.
"Have I told you what a remarkable pleasure it has been to have you as a student here?" Dumbledore asked. "Lemondrop?"
The Weaselys weren't the only family that wanted to thank him for saving their children. The pureblood Gryffindor families wanted to thank him for saving Harry's entire class.
Most of the Gryffindores thanked him in person; other than a scare with a snake they'd been perfectly safe inside Amethyst's temple, and several had been fascinated by what they'd seen there.
Steven didn't bother to tell them that what they'd seen was nothing compared to the temple back home. Amethyst didn't have the knowledge or the technology to create anything like what they'd once had. She suspected that Pearl might be able to come closer.
Quidditch resumed, and with Steven they were able to come second behind the Gryffindores, something the Hufflepuffs hadn't managed in twenty years.
His classmates were thrilled.
Hermione returned to normal, with not so much as a cat whisker out of place.
Finally the last day came, with the awarding of house points.
"I understand that it's time to award house points," Dumbledore said. "As it stands so far, Ravenclaw has four hundred seventy two points, Slytherin has five hundred twelve points, Hufflepuff has five hundred fifty and Gryffindor has six hundred."
His housemates murmured among themselves excitedly. Second place was more than they'd expected for the year; they'd have been happy with third.
"Recent events however have to be considered," Dumbledore said.
The murmuring around them began again. Dumbledore had done something like this last year too, snatching victory out of the jaws of Slytherin.
"For heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, I award Harry Potter one hundred points for Gryffindor."
The crowd was silent. Looking around, Steven saw no one who was willing to argue the point. Harry had fought a fifty foot magic resistant snake with a sword, and everyone had seen him to it.
"I award Steven Universe one hundred points for Hufflepuff," Dumbledore continued.
It didn't seem fair to Steven. What he'd done and what Harry had done couldn't be considered equal at all.
After all, he'd had his bubble and shield and his greater than human strength, while Harry had faced the monster with nothing more than a sword and courage.
Harry deserved more than Steven.
Steven glanced at his housemates. He'd protest, but it didn't seem worth it. The extra points didn't seem to make any difference anyway.
"I award Ginny Weasely ten points for Gryffindor," Dumbledore said. "For strength of will in the face of dark magic."
"Finally," Dumbledore said. "I award Steven Universe seventy points for saving the members of yet another house, for a second year in a row."
Some of his classmates were faster at doing math in their heads than Steven and they gasped out loud.
It took a moment for Steven to realize what had happened. For the first time in fifty years the Hufflepuffs had not simply come in last or even come in second. They'd actually won the house cup altogether.
He was dazed as his housemates cheered.
For once, no one except some of the Slytherins looked like they minded.