Hello and welcome to year 3! :))
I have decided to start posting chapters as I write them rather than post chapter by school-year. Let me know what you think!
I hope you enjoy reading! :)
It was summer again in Little Whinging, Surrey. Harry's second year was anything but normal. Many students were petrified. One student died. Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister fell from the Gryffindor tower. Nobody knows how. Some say she jumped on her own. Some say it was the heir.
Hogwarts would've been shut down, if it wasn't for him. He finally found the Chamber of Secrets, and killed the beast. Not before almost dying from the Basilisk poison, which Madame Pomfrey treated with Phoenix tears. Harry kept the Basilisk fang as a souvenir.
Still, even though they're not closing the school. They did send all the students home early, to sweep the grounds and make sure the school is safe for students again. Which meant Harry has been in 4 Privet Drive since April.
It all appeared on the Daily Prophet, of course! Ginny's Death, Harry killing the Basilisk and saving Hogwarts from permanent closure, Ginny's funeral- that article featured a picture of the Weasleys, and there stood Ron. In front of his older siblings, with his rat on his shoulder, mourning. Poor Ron.
Harry sent his condolences with Hedwig.
Hermione did too. She mentioned it in one of her letters to Harry. They've been staying in touch. Harry was very happy to receive her letter in June, when she was unpetrified. Ever since, she's been mostly keeping him updated on her summer and all the fun things she's been getting up to with her parents. He, in return, would complain to her about how dull life has been at the Dursley's, and how bad he wanted to go back to Hogwarts.
He also kept in touch with Draco. They did not correspond as frequently as he and Hermione did, mostly due to Draco taking longer, much longer, to respond. Draco is mostly in Malfoy Manor hitting bludgers. They did not discuss the events of last year, and Draco did not seem to want that.
Another article featured on the Daily Prophet had to do with his former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Turns out he's a fraud. A witness to the events of his book "Voyages with Vampires", previously presumed dead, was found alive in a cave somewhere in the woods of Eastern Europe. His version of the events was very different from that of Lockhart's, which called into question the credibility of the author and, by extension, his work. After further investigation, Lockhart was found guilty of fraud and improper use of the Memory Charm. He was sent to Azkaban.
On the same issue, on the front page, was a much bigger news article: the escape of the former Death Eater and mass murderer Sirius Black.
The first few nights after Harry read that article, he slept with one eye open. What if Sirius Black came for him in an attempt to find Voldemort? However, once a few days passed and nothing happened, Harry relaxed a bit, but he couldn't shake off the feeling he was being followed.