Family is More Than Blood

by DeathRanger

Tonks and Harry had a close bond before their worlds changed and they were separated. Dora continued on with the life she was always meant to have while Harry went to his muggle relatives. When tragedy strikes, and old memories surface, what happens when a simple letter reveals to Harry the family he didn't even know he had? AU.

14. Chapter 14

AN: Hope everyone's ready for the next chapter and I hope you enjoy this rather long one. I'm posting one day early because I'll be busy tomorrow, so hopefully you also enjoy the early update. Originally I had this broken down into two chapters, but I didn't really like how it flowed that way and decided to combine them. I figure nobody is really going to complain about a long chapter. Let me know what you all think.

To answer one of the reviews that I got recently: Not all pureblood's require their children take Magical Law or Runes or Wizard Studies or Arithmancy as electives. Some do for specific reasons, be that their family history, commitments, or political reasons. I will expand on family obligations and why some have them and some don't and that whole issue in later chapters, as well as information on whether or not certain families have bonds or commitments to specific deities. Suffice to say that Ron isn't force to take any specific classes because the Weasleys generally believe in choosing your own life, plus while those classes open up career options, the other electives do as well, and many jobs, especially Ministry jobs, which Arthur and Molly clearly favor, don't require much in the way of OWLs and NEWTs beyond the core classes. Ron is not studious and this version of Ron isn't all that different than canon Ron yet, so I feel he'd still make the same choices as canon Ron, which was pick roughly the easiest classes.

Chapter 14

The attack on Hermione and Penelope Clearwater had wide ranging effects on Hogwarts. For one, students had to be in the common rooms by six o'clock in the evening and no students were allowed to leave after that time. They were all escorted to each lesson by a teacher, and teachers had to escort students to the bathrooms. Quidditch and all other evening activities had been canceled.

The only positive Harry could find was that nobody seemed to think that he was the Heir anymore. Now that his muggleborn friend had been attacked, people seemed to realize that he did indeed have a muggleborn friend and would never have attacked her. His fellow Gryffindors were quite adamant that the entire Slytherin House should be chucked out of the school in order to stop the issue.

The same night of Hermione's attack, Harry and Ron used Harry's invisibility cloak to sneak out, deciding it was time to talk to Hagrid. It hadn't been easy. The castle was heavily patrolled by teachers, prefects, and ghosts, marching in pairs, making movement, even while invisible, not easy.

Once they'd gotten to Hagrid's place, they'd found him armed with his crossbow, looking nervous. They'd had barely a moment for him to look sad and confirm he'd heard about Hermione before they'd had to hide as Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, came into the cabin.

They'd watched as Dumbledore defended Hagrid, but was unable to stop Fudge on the school governor's orders, from deciding to remove Hagrid and place him in Azkaban, due to his history with the Chamber, until it was proven that it really wasn't Hagrid opening the Chamber or attacking people.

That would have been bad enough, but only a few moments after that, Lucius Malfoy showed up with a roll of parchment that suspended Dumbledore from his position as Headmaster and forced him to leave, citing his inability to stop the attacks from happening, much to Hagrid and Fudge's horror.

All they had been left with was Dumbledore's and Hagrid's parting words that they said, seemingly for Harry and Ron's benefit, much to Fudge's and Malfoy's slight confusion.

Dumbledore's words were inspiring, but not all that helpful. "You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. . . Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

Hagrid's words were more helpful, to an extent, but not easy to act on. "If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead em right. That's all I'm sayin'. An' someone'll need ter feed Fang while I'm away."

Dumbledore's departure had caused fear to spread as never before, so that despite the warm weather of summer creeping in, nobody was enjoying an ounce of it. It didn't help that Harry and Ron couldn't even visit Hermione in the hospital wing anymore, due to them raising the protection on the petrified victims. Malfoy, of course, was absolutely delighted at how fearful everyone was and Dumbledore's departure. His enjoyment of the terror and suspicion was so great that those who'd previously been accusing Harry of being the Heir were now eyeing Malfoy as the most likely suspect, and offering Harry even more apologies than before.

It wasn't until Herbology class a couple days afterwards that they managed to spot spiders fleeing from the castle and Hogwarts grounds and towards the Forbidden Forest, which is how Harry and Ron found themselves in Hagrid's hut, preparing to go into the forest.

It had been another difficult journey through the castle avoiding the many patrols, but now that they had made it out to Hagrid's and dealt with Fang, they were homefree. Harry quickly stashed the invisibility cloak into his pockets of his normal cloak, still rather enjoying that he could now keep the cloak on him at all times with ease.

"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Harry, patting his leg, and Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them, dashed to the edge of the forest, and lifted his leg against a large sycamore tree.

Harry took out his wand, and murmured, "Revelare in lumine lunari," and Ron gasped as everything appeared to be bathed in soft moonlight, and yet the features of everything in the forest were in sharp relief.

"Mate, where did you learn to do that?" Ron asked in awe.

"It's elemental magic," Harry murmured. "There's three ways for someone to reveal things in darkness without destroying or creating light that weakens the element. I learned how to cast a nightvision spell, but it would only work for me and wouldn't help you much. I learned an echolocation spell, which would help me sense things more than see them, but again, won't help you, and I learned this spell. To us, everything appears to be bathed in bright moonlight, allowing us to see perfectly, but to everybody else, and in reality, everything is still really dark out here."

"Bloody brilliant," Ron responded, and Harry grinned at that.

Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary spiders were hurrying away into the shade of the trees.

"Okay," Ron sighed as though resigned to the worst, since spiders were his greatest fear, "I'm ready. Let's go."

So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves, they entered the forest, following the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked behind them for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for noises other than breaking twigs and rustling leaves. Then, when the trees had become thicker than ever, so that the stars overhead were no longer visible, they saw their spider guides leaving the path.

Harry paused, never having been this deep into the forest before. He could vividly remember Hagrid advising him not to leave the forest path last time he'd been in here, but Hagrid was miles away now, probably sitting in a cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spiders.

Something wet touched Harry's hand and he jumped backward, crushing Ron's foot, but it was only Fang's nose.

"What d'you reckon?" Harry said to Ron.

"We've come this far," said Ron.

So they followed the darting spiders into the trees. They couldn't move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness. Harry could feel Fang's hot breath on his hand. More than once, they had to stop, so that Harry or Ron could crouch down and find the spiders.

They walked for what seemed like at least half an hour, their robes snagging on low-slung branches and brambles. After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the trees were as thick as ever.

Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making both Harry and Ron jump out of their skins. Harry turned, looking around and then he glanced at Ron, whose eyes were fixed on a point some ten feet above the forest floor. His face was livid with terror.

Harry didn't even have time to turn around. There was a loud clicking noise and suddenly he felt something long and hairy seize him around the middle and lift him off the ground, so that he was hanging facedown. Struggling, terrified, he heard more clicking, and saw Ron's legs leave the ground, too, heard Fang whimpering and howling - next moment, he was being swept away into the dark trees.

Head hanging, Harry saw that what had held him was marching on six immensely long, hairy legs, the front two clutching him tightly below a pair of shining black pincers. Behind him, he could hear another of the creatures, no doubt carrying Ron. They were moving into the very heart of the forest. Harry could hear Fang fighting to free himself from a third monster, whining loudly, but Harry couldn't have yelled even if he had wanted to; he seemed to have left his voice back with the car in the clearing.

He never knew how long he was in the creature's clutches; he only knew that the darkness suddenly lifted enough for him to see that the leaf-strewn ground was now swarming with spiders. Craning his neck sideways, he realized that they had reached the ridge of a vast hollow, a hollow that had been cleared of trees, so that the stars shone brightly onto the worst scene he had ever laid eyes on.

Spiders. Not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below. Spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic. The massive specimen that was carrying Harry made its way down the steep slope toward a misty, domed web in the very center of the hollow, while its fellows closed in all around it, clicking their pincers excitedly at the sight of its load.

Harry fell to the ground on all fours as the spider released him. Ron and Fang thudded down next to him. Fang wasn't howling anymore, but cowering silently on the spot. Ron looked exactly like Harry felt. His mouth was stretched wide in a kind of silent scream and his eyes were popping.

Harry suddenly realized that the spider that had dropped him was saying something. It had been hard to tell, because he clicked his pincers with every word he spoke.

"Aragog!" it called. "Aragog!"

And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly. There was gray in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white. He was blind.

"What is it?" he said, clicking his pincers rapidly.

"Men," clicked the spider who had caught Harry.

"Is it Hagrid?" said Aragog, moving closer, his eight milky eyes wandering vaguely.

"Strangers," clicked the spider who had brought Ron.

"Kill them," clicked Aragog fretfully. "I was sleeping..."

"We're friends of Hagrid's," Harry shouted. His heart seemed to have left his chest to pound in his throat.

Click, click, click went the pincers of the spiders all around the hollow.

Aragog paused.

"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before," he said slowly.

"Hagrid's in trouble," said Harry, breathing very fast. "That's why we've come."

"In trouble?" said the aged spider, and Harry thought he heard concern beneath the clicking pincers. "But why has he sent you?"

Harry thought of getting to his feet but decided against it; he didn't think his legs would support him. So he spoke from the ground, as calmly as he could.

"They think, up at the school, that Hagrid's been setting a - a - something on students. They've taken him to Azkaban."

Aragog clicked his pincers furiously, and all around the hollow the sound was echoed by the crowd of spiders; it was like applause, except applause didn't usually make Harry feel sick with fear.

"But that was years ago," said Aragog fretfully. "Years and years ago. I remember it well. That's why they made him leave the school. They believed that I was the monster that dwells in what they call the Chamber of Secrets. They thought that Hagrid had opened the Chamber and set me free."

"And you... you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" said Harry, who could feel cold sweat on his forehead.

"I!" said Aragog, clicking angrily. "I was not born in the castle. I come from a distant land. A traveler gave me to Hagrid when I was an egg. Hagrid was only a boy, but he cared for me, hidden in a cupboard in the castle, feeding me on scraps from the table. Hagrid is my good friend, and a good man. When I was discovered, and blamed for the death of a girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, where Hagrid still visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and you see how our family has grown, all through Hagrid's goodness..."

Harry summoned what remained of his courage.

"So you never - never attacked anyone?"

"Never," croaked the old spider. "It would have been my instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human. The body of the girl who was killed was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the cupboard in which I grew up. Our kind like the dark and the quiet..."

"But then... Do you know what did kill that girl?" said Harry. "Because whatever it is, it's back and attacking people again-"

His words were drowned by a loud outbreak of clicking and the rustling of many long legs shifting angrily; large black shapes shifted all around him.

"The thing that lives in the castle," said Aragog, "is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others. Well do I remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go, when I sensed the beast moving about the school."

"What is it?" said Harry urgently.

More loud clicking, more rustling; the spiders seemed to be closing in.

"We do not speak of it!" said Aragog fiercely. "We do not name it! I never even told Hagrid the name of that dread creature, though he asked me many times."

Harry didn't want to press the subject, not with the spiders pressing closer on all sides. Aragog seemed to be tired of talking. He was backing slowly into his domed web, but his fellow spiders continued to inch slowly toward Harry and Ron.

"We'll just go, then," Harry called desperately to Aragog, hearing leaves rustling behind him.

"Go?" said Aragog slowly. "I think not..."

"But - but-"

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye, friend of Hagrid."

Harry spun around. Feet away, towering above him, was a solid wall of spiders, clicking, their many eyes gleaming in their ugly black heads.

Even as he reached for his wand, Harry knew it was no good, there were too many of them, but as he tried to stand, ready to die fighting, he felt the darkness squeeze around him and he felt a cold chill, similar to like he was moving extremely fast and then, what couldn't have been a second later, Harry found himself, Ron, and Fang all outside of Hagrid's house.

Harry looked sideways at Ron. His mouth was still open in the silent scream, but his eyes weren't popping anymore. Fang started howling as Harry moved Ron and the boarhound back into Hagrid's hut, amazed at what had just happened.

"Are you okay?"

Ron stared straight ahead, and then finally. "Follow the spiders," said Ron weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."

"I bet he thought Aragog wouldn't hurt friends of his," said Harry.

"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" said Ron, thumping the wall of the cabin. "He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out, and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" He was shivering uncontrollably now. "What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"

"That Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, throwing the cloak over Ron and prodding him in the arm to make him walk. "He was innocent."

Ron gave a loud snort. Evidently, hatching Aragog in a cupboard wasn't his idea of being innocent.

"How the hell did we get out of there?" Ron finally said. "Did you do something?"

Harry shook his head slowly. "I think . . . I think we just shadow traveled, but I've never even attempted it, let alone successfully done it. I can only think that one of the gods just saved our lives, and I honestly don't even care what they might expect from me in payment."

"You think the gods did that?" Ron asked in disbelief.

Harry shrugged. "It had to have been. I don't know how to shadow travel, but we definitely just did, or at least I think we did. It's supposed to be bloody difficult, as most travel by element apparently is."

"Well, whatever it was, it was bloody brilliant," Ron said, still sounding a bit weak. "Tomorrow, I'm using that spell of yours and sacrificing a large portion of my meal to whomever just saved our lives."

Harry nodded in agreement as he pulled out the invisibility cloak while Ron moved over and threw up in the pumpkin patch. When Ron looked well enough to move, Harry threw the cloak over both of them and they made the journey back to Gryffindor's common room, and up to their dormitories.

As Harry sat there, pondering everything Aragog had said, he finally came to one conclusion.

"Ron," he hissed through the dark, "Ron-"

Ron woke with a yelp like Fang's, stared wildly around, and saw Harry.

"Ron - that girl who died. Aragog said she was found in a bathroom," said Harry, ignoring Neville's snuffling snores from the corner. "What if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?"

Ron rubbed his eyes, frowning through the moonlight. And then he understood, too.

"You don't think - not Moaning Myrtle?"

**HP**

Dora was a bit startled to see Hedwig frantically flying towards her. Her coworkers were looking just as concerned as her since it was rare owls delivered directly to someone at the ministry especially at this time of day. She quickly grabbed the letter from the seemingly distraught owl and opened it up.

Dora,

Not much time. The monster is a basilisk, which explains how I can hear it and nobody else can. Nobody's died because everyone has only seen its reflection. The Heir must be a parseltongue like I am. We think the entrance to the Chamber is located in Myrtle's bathroom, and the basilisk is using the pipes to move around.

Ron and I went to the Staff Room to tell this to the Professors, but we just found out that the monster or the Heir left another message.

Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.

The Heir took Ginny Weasley. I don't know what to do, but I guess Lockhart's going to try and get into the Chamber. McGonagall thinks this is the end of Hogwarts. I don't know if I can help, but I feel like I have to at least offer my help, since I bet that, other than the Heir, I'm the only one that can open the Chamber.

I know you wanted me to stay out of it, sis, but I can't. I hope you understand and aren't too mad at me. I'm hoping that things are better by the time you receive this letter, but just in case, thanks for everything. I've loved living with you and having you in my life.

Hoping for the best.

Love,

Harry

Dora gasped in panic.

No, no, no, no, no.

She quickly turned to her two fellow trainees and her instructor who were next to Mad-Eye.

"I've got to go," she said, and she glanced at Mad-Eye who nodded grimly, and she quickly made her way out of the DMLE, hoping she would arrive in time to help, hoping that she wouldn't be too late.

Harry didn't know everything. Dumbledore had finally revealed to Mad-Eye recently that he suspected it had been Voldemort who had opened the Chamber last time, but had been unable to prove it. If that was true, it stood reason that Voldemort was once again opening the Chamber . . . and what were the chances Harry would survive another encounter with one of the most powerful dark wizards in history.

**HP**

Harry crept through the dark tunnel alone, using his night vision spell to see more clearly. He was letting his senses reach out, hoping he'd be able to feel the basilisk. His skills had improved tremendously over the course of the year, but he still couldn't just passively feel things.

He and Ron had gone to give Lockhart all the info they knew only to find the bastard packing his things and planning on leaving. Harry had disarmed him after he'd revealed himself to be a fraud and attempted to obliviate them to keep his secret. They'd taken him with them to ask Myrtle how she died, which had in turn helped them find the entrance to the Chamber. A few attempts at parseltongue, and they were in. They sent Lockhart down first, so if anything happened, they'd know, but after a slimy trip sliding down pipes, they had all made it just fine.

Things would have been fine, but when they found a twenty foot long snakeskin, Lockhart appeared to faint only to tackle Ron and steal his wand. Harry had been forced to use the shield charm he'd just barely gotten down to defend himself from the memory charm before blasting Lockhart with a disarming charm, which unfortunately caused the prat to hit the wall which brought down the ceiling, separating Harry from Ron.

Harry had moved on, knowing Ginny might not have much time left . . . if she was even still alive.

The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in Harry's body was tingling unpleasantly. He wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what he'd find when it did. And then, at last, as he crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.

Harry approached, his throat very dry. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive.

He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

"Open," said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside.

He was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny? His senses, both magical and elemental, weren't detecting anything, but that was almost as worrying as if they were finding something.

He kept his wand at the ready, Mad-Eye's "Constant Vigilance" mana flying through his brain as he moved forward between the serpentine columns. The darkness didn't unnerve him as much as it should, since the darkness was his friend, but every step he took echoed loudly off the shadowy walls, and that did make him nervous.

He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir. Still though, with his limited range, he couldn't feel an unfamiliar creature . . . but he did feel two familiar things. One was Ginny's fading lifeforce . . . the other . . .

As he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Ginny!" Harry muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. "Ginny - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He tucked his wand back into his holster, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. He could still feel her magic, but he couldn't tell if she was alive . . .

"Ginny, please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Harry jumped and spun around on his knees.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window. But there was no mistaking him.

"Tom - Tom Riddle?"

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not - she's not -?"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Harry stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen. Something was very wrong. He could feel it.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainty.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was that little diary of his, and Harry now was quite confident that he was about to get a crash course in just how dangerous that book was, and just how right Mad-Eye had been in warning him to immediately take it to Dumbledore. He had hoped he'd been mistaken when he sensed the book, but clearly he wasn't.

"I don't really have time to talk," Harry finally said, raising Ginny's head again. "I've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk, and it could be along at any moment."

Harry, sweating, managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor and turned back to Riddle, seeing him holding a wand, twirling it between his long fingers, a wand that he was sure was Ginny's.

A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at Harry, twirling the wand idly.

"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly. "The basilisk."

Harry stared at him, and lowered Ginny back to the ground, letting his wand holster redeploy his wand to his hand.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked slowly.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" said Harry.

"The diary," said Riddle. `My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how -" Riddle's eyes glinted "- how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her..."

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket ..."

Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.

"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted... I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered.

"Yes," said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries... far more interesting, they became... Dear Tom," he recited, watching Harry's horrified face, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, l can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"

Harry's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his palms, the other gripping his wand hard.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet..."

"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Anger was coursing through him, and it was an effort to keep his voice steady.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust-"

"Hagrid's my friend," said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but-"

Riddle laughed his high laugh again.

"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student... on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls... but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!

"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed... Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did ..."

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," said Harry, his teeth gritted.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again-"

"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been - you."

Harry stared at him.

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue …

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her... She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last... I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.

"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you - a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.

"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time..."

"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter..."

He pulled Ginny's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

Harry's brain seemed to have jammed. He stared numbly at Riddle, at the orphaned boy who had grown up to murder Harry's own parents, and so many others... At last he forced himself to speak.

"You're not," he said, his quiet voice full of hatred.

"Not what?" snapped Riddle.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," said Harry, breathing fast. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days-"

The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted. He was speaking at random, wanting to scare Riddle, wishing rather than believing it to be true.

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze.

Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating inside his own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye.

The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Harry's cheek, gazing steadily at Riddle.

"That's a phoenix." said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently.

"And that -" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat-"

So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet.

Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

Harry didn't answer. He might not see what use Fawkes or the Sorting Hat were, but he was no longer alone, and the gods had helped him once, maybe they would help him again. He waited for Riddle to stop laughing with his courage mounting.

"To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances. Riddle had Ginny's wand, and this memory was a sixth or seventh year version of Riddle, while Harry knew some third, fourth, and fifth year spells, not including his shadow magic, but nothing of the same caliber. He had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would be much good in a duel. The only unknown was the aid of any deities. It looked bad, all right... but the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny... and in the meantime, Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer, more solid... If it had to be a fight between him and Riddle, better sooner than later.

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you from killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year, and stopped you again. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul-"

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself We even look something alike... but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."

Harry stood, tense, waiting for Riddle to raise his wand. But Riddle's twisted smile was widening again.

"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him..."

He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. Harry, fear spreading up his numb legs, watched Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed - but Harry understood what he was saying …

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his shoulder.

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.

And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.

Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut his eyes tight he felt Fawkes's wing sweep his cheek as he took flight. Harry wanted to shout, "Don't leave me!" but what chance did a phoenix have against the king of serpents?

Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:

"Kill him."

The basilisk was moving toward Harry; he could hear its heavy body slithering heavily across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Harry yelled, "Resonare locus!" and he felt his other senses kick in, helping him feel where the snake was utilizing the darkness around him.

He started to run away, trusting in his senses, when he heard an explosive spitting sound right above him and then something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall and knocked off his feet.

He rolled away, desperately trying to keep his eyes closed and rely on the darkness senses, but he couldn't help it and squinted to see what was happening with his eyes.

The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake.

Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabers Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his eyes, it turned - Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony.

"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM. KILL HIM!"

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.

"Help me, help me," Harry muttered wildly, "someone - anyone..."

The snake's tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked. Something soft hit his face.

The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Harry seized it. It was all he had left, his only chance - he rammed it onto his head and threw himself flat onto the floor as the basilisk's tail swung over him again.

Help me - help me - Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight under the hat. Please help me .

There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly.

Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry's head, almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it.

A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its handle glittering with rubies the size of eggs.

"KILL THE BOY! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU. SNIFF - SMELL HIM."

Harry was on his feet, ready. The basilisk's head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the vast, bloody eye sockets, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin, glittering, venomous–

It lunged blindly - Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall. It lunged again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry's side. He raised the sword in both his hands–

The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true - Harry threw his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth–

But as warm blood drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.

Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it was too late. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of dull color.

A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws beside him.

"Fawkes," said Harry thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes..."

He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced him.

He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of him.

"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."

Harry blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry... She bought you twelve years of borrowed time... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must..."

If this is dying, thought Harry, it's not so bad.

Even the pain was leaving him…

But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound - except that there was no wound.

"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him - I said, get away-"

Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Ginny's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

"Phoenix tears..." said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. "Of course... healing powers... I forgot..."

He looked into Harry's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter... you and me..."

Harry raised his wand, "Reducto!"

The blastic curse sailed straight into Riddle and went through his misty visage, leaving no damage, and he felt horror knowing his spells wouldn't help him.

Riddle laughed. "You can't harm me, Potter!"

He heard a voice in his head, saying words he'd seen but never practiced.

"Tenebris industria telum!"

A black bolt of energy flew from Harry's wand and Riddle's eyes widened as it impacted his right shoulder, blasting apart part of his body, and forcing his now severed arm to drop Ginny's wand.

Riddle stared at him in shock as Fawkes soared back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap -the diary.

For a split second, both Harry and Riddle stared at it. Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.

There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. What remained of Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then–

He had gone. Silence except for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

It was over

**HP**

Dora was worriedly pacing in McGonagall's office while Molly cried into Arthur's arms and McGonagall and Dumbledore both just looked defeated.

They'd taken the info Harry had given to Dora, but found it didn't matter. They'd certainly found the entrance, but no amount of force would have gotten them through. The entrance was magically protected and it would take a team of curse breakers to breach. The request was already being worked on, but the chance of it being filled anytime soon was slim.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and it opened. Dora was stunned as Harry, bloodsoaked, covered in slime and muck, came in with Lockhart at wandpoint and Ginny and Ron right behind him.

Molly screamed, "Ginny!" and ran forward with Arthur and both flung themselves at their daughter.

Not to be outdone, Dora rushed forward, disregarding Lockhart at wandpoint and pulled Harry into a fierce hug, which he returned eagerly. She pulled back only for Molly to pull Harry and Ron into a tight embrace.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall weakly.

"First," Harry said, pulling away from Mrs. Weasley and looking at Dora. "Please arrest Lockhart here."

Lockhart tried to protest, but Harry shot him a cold glare, his eyes almost flashing with power and strength beyond his age that reduced the man to blubbering quietly, much to Dora's surprise, and quite frankly, pride. Dora didn't even hesitate and quickly used the spell she'd been taught to conjure the auror standard handcuffs that clasped to Lockhart's wrists, causing the man to whimper.

"We took the information we had on the Chamber to him and found him running. He revealed that he hadn't done anything that was in his books," Harry said, "and had only been finding out what others had accomplished, researching everything about it, and then obliviating the actual hero, and then claiming the feat. He tried to do a memory charm on myself and Ron, both in his office, and then again down in the chamber."

Dora could see that that particular information seemed like quite the blow to Molly, but the Professors seemed, while not quite unsurprised, not as shocked as they probably should be. Dora knew Lockhart hadn't shown much of an aptitude for magic compared to what his books portrayed. Once she had him secure, Dora used another one of her spells to control the handcuffs, and thus Lockhart, and force him back away from the group to sit in a chair where he was bound further.

Harry walked over to McGonagall's desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, a ruby-encrusted sword, and what remained of some book or diary.

Then, Dora with the others listened as he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour he spoke into the rapt silence: He told them about hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how he had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom…

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused, "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?"

Dora listened in awe as Harry told them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword. But then he faltered. Dora looked at him curiously, seeing that he was starting to look a little bit worried. What could make a boy who just slew a basilisk nervous now?

Dora watched Harry look at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania."

Dora could see relief fill Harry's face.

"W-what's that?" said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"

"It was this diary," said Harry quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen..."

Dora eyed the infamous diary, thinking just how worried Mad-Eye had seemed by it and now thinking that perhaps none of them had been worried enough. She couldn't believe that Tom Riddle was actually Voldemort's real name. She'd never even heard anyone say that Voldemort wasn't the monster's real name.

Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.

"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.

"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... traveled 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."

"But, Ginny," said Molly. "What's our Ginny got to do with - with - him?"

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

"Ginny!" said Arthur, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? 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!

"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "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-"

Dora felt pity and sympathy rise in her for the poor girl who'd been nearly killed simply because she'd enjoyed having someone to talk to and had used a book she thought her parents had gotten.

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "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!" said Ron brightly.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.

Molly led Ginny out, and Arthur followed, still looking deeply shaken.

"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

Dora hid her grin as she watched Harry and Ron both look uncertainly at Dumbledore.

"You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School," Dumbledore said smiling, "and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed his mouth again.

"Now, Nymphadora, if you would like, the fireplace behind me is attached to the Floo network to take in Mr. Lockhart here. It will remain open for when you wish to return, since I'm quite sure that you'd like to see and talk to Harry more before the night is over."

Dora nodded appreciatively, and went over to Lockhart who was looking at her with fear. She froze the top half of his body, so that he couldn't try anything, and then she guided him over to the fireplace where she saw some floo powder. She nodded at Harry, who smiled back at her nervously.

"Ministry of Magic!" she said as she threw the floo powder in and they were gone.

To say her first collar was interesting would be shorting the experience. The time of evening meant that people in the Ministry were rather sparse, but of course she did find a few Aurors on duty. Auror Lieutenant Shacklebolt and Auror Knight had been surprised to see her, especially bringing in Gilderoy Lockhart, but when she explained the situation, both men had been more than happy to help and teach her how to process the detainee, question him, leave a copy of her memory of Harry's statement and Lockhart's actions during the statement, and lastly pull a list of spells from Lockhart's wand, which Dumbledore had sent along with Fawkes, which did reveal that Lockhart had managed to fire off at least one memory charm recently, and a few others within the past several months, which was concerning since he had been at a school.

Shacklebolt said he had a feeling they'd be able to swing for veritaserum in this case, both to confirm Lockhart's guilt, but mostly to identify all of Lockhart's victims so that they could attempt to undo the man's actions and help those he'd hurt.

All in all, Dora had been rather happy with it, and she felt she'd done a reasonably good job of impressing both Shacklebolt and Knight, which she knew could go a long way once it came time for her year of mentorship, which would start next month, assuming she passed her fourth set of assessments.

"You know, Lockhart," Shacklebolt said with a wry grin after they were done and had just put the whimpering man in the Ministry holding cells. "Your legend might be coming to an end, but you're still going in the books. You're the first collar for this young Auror here, and I had to put young Mr. Potter down as the one who apprehended you. I'm pretty sure getting arrested by the Boy-Who-Lived will be interesting news. Definitely adds to his legend. He might just be the youngest person to ever arrest anyone. Quite impressive, I must say."

Dora laughed at that, and Shacklebolt gestured for her to follow him out of the detainment area.

"You did a good job today," Shacklebolt said, "though I am curious about how you ended up involved with something over at Hogwarts."

"I'm Harry Potter's guardian," Dora admitted, and he looked surprised at that "I went over because Harry figured out the whole Chamber of Secrets incident that had been happening, and actually just put a stop to it. That's how he came to arrest Lockhart. I was there, worried, because he had disappeared into the Chamber. Harry brought back Lockhart under arrest, covered in blood, having saved a girl that had been kidnapped, vanquished the cursed object that opened the Chamber and killed the monster."

Shacklebolt shook his head in amazement. "That's some kid. If he's accomplishing that at his age, I look forward to seeing what he will become ten years from now."

Dora grinned fondly. "So do I, at least I do if he doesn't give me a heart attack in that time frame."

Shacklebolt laughed. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Trainee Tonks. I look forward to working with you in the department."

"The pleasure was all mine, Lieutenant," Dora replied, and then she made her way back to the nearest Floo connection and returned to McGonagall's office, finding it empty.

Knowing that a feast was likely happening, Dora made her way to the Great Hall, and smiled when she entered, seeing the majority of the school enjoying themselves now that the danger had passed. Over at the Gryffindor table, she could see Harry sitting with both Ron and Hermione, which meant that the mandrake cure must have been finished.

She saw Harry get nudged by Ron who pointed her out, and Harry smiled, got up from the table and made his way to her, and together they moved out into the Entrance Hall, away from the noise and prying eyes. Once they were out in the hall, she hugged him again, glad that he was okay. He returned the hug, but his eyes wouldn't meet hers.

"Lockhart's all locked up," Dora said with a smile, trying to release some of the tension in the air. "The investigation into him will proceed, and I'll warn you that you might have to testify once we have all the facts in line. I suspect you'll find yourself in a newspaper or two concerning the arrest in the near future"

Harry nodded, looking a bit put out at that and she smirked, before it faded, seeing he still wouldn't look at her.

"I really want to be mad at you, Harry," Dora admitted and Harry winced before she sighed, "but it seems to me that if you hadn't done what you did, Ginny would be dead, and perhaps Voldemort would have risen again. I'm very, very proud of you."

Harry glanced up at her in surprise, finally meeting her eyes, and she nodded.

"I'm very proud, but I think we need to have a serious talk about you taking your studies seriously and studying defensive magic, traditional and outside more religiously, regardless of what's going on."

Harry shuffled uneasily, but nodded in agreement.

"I really don't know why the hell this keeps happening, but you seem to be a magnet for trouble, little brother," Dora said softly, and he smiled at her sheepishly, "and I don't want to lose you, which means that I think we need to consider actually having you somewhat trained. Gods knows that even Aurors would have struggled with what you did tonight, and that's a credit to you, but slaying basilisks with a sword would have been fatal if Fawkes hadn't thought you were worthy of his tears, and that scares me."

"I know," Harry said lowly. "I got really lucky, both this year and last. Riddle might have killed me with a curse before I managed to destroy the diary even after I killed the basilisk, and I'm pretty sure it was a god's voice and blessing that allowed me to survive."

"Well, if it was a god that helped you, I hope you're praying and exclaiming your thankfulness," Dora said. "That makes me feel a bit better, if you're possibly a bit favored by a god or goddess, but still, it isn't enough."

"What can we do?" Harry said. "It's not like I can use magic over the summer?"

"No, but maybe I need to enforce a bit more studying, especially when I am," Dora said, "and maybe you start going through some of my physical auror training drills with me. It'll help me, and it will help you start building your strength, speed, and stamina, and improving your reflexes. We can't do spells, but there are things we can do, and you're batting a thousand at almost dying at Hogwarts for years you've attended. I don't like that. Part of me wants to take you away from here, regardless of you wanting to stay," Dora admitted, seeing the sharp, concerned look he sent her.

"I won't," she said, placating him, "but that doesn't mean that we aren't going to find a compromise that will help me feel better about letting you stay here. Okay?"

"Okay," Harry agreed firmly, and Dora smiled.

"So, did anything big happen after I left?"

Boy did it. Between learning that the sword he had was the Sword of Gryffindor, talking with Dumbledore about what Tom Riddle had been like and how Harry was quite different, confronting Lucius Malfoy and freeing Dobby, winning the House Cup, and having dozens of people apologizing to him profusely for ever suspecting that he had been the Heir, it had been a busy night for him while she had been locking up Lockhart, news which had also shocked the school and many of the students.

"So, what do you plan on doing with the basilisk?" Dora finally asked after Harry's story had winded down and he glanced at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and she sighed, realizing it was yet another thing he didn't understand.

"You killed it Harry," she explained. "That makes it yours by conquest. If it's as big as you say it is, then you could use it for a multitude of things. You could sell most of it off and make a good pile of gold, you could give part of it or all of it to a god in exchange for something pretty substantial. There's a lot of things you could do with it."

"Oh," Harry muttered. "I'll have to think about that," he admitted, and she laughed.

"Well, you've got time," she said. "Magical creatures don't tend to decompose very quickly, but think about it. We can talk more this summer if you haven't come up with any ideas."

When Dora finally left and let Harry return to the feast with a promise for a long conversation once he got home for the summer break, Dora was emotionally, physically, and mentally drained and was extremely happy that the following day was a weekend and she would be able to sleep the day away.

**HP**

Harry looked around in confusion, finding himself in a shadowy, but somewhat comfortable room. He remembered going to sleep, and figured he was dreaming, but this seemed odd for a dream, especially since he generally didn't remember his dreams.

"Welcome, Mr. Potter," a rich voice said, and Harry turned and noticed a throne where a man, in shadowy robes that were hard to focus on, sat. He looked regal, with dark obsidian eyes, and a dark helm sat on the corner of his throne. There was an aura of power that radiated off the man.

Now, Harry didn't know who the man was, but his instincts told him that this was a man to be polite to, and that he was likely in the presence of a god.

"Thank you, um, my lord," Harry said, remembering that gods and goddesses were generally addressed as lord or lady.

The god chuckled. "I'll give you a hint about who I am. My power got you away from the acromantulas, I whispered into your ear when you fought Riddle's diary, and you used my power to fight Quirrell last year."

"Lord Hades," Harry murmured and the god smiled.

"Indeed," the god said. "Quite impressive work you've done so far. It has attracted my attention."

Harry didn't really know how to respond to that, and the god chuckled again.

"Humility is something I admire, however you do yourself a disservice by undervaluing what you have done," Hades said.

"Um, yes, my lord," Harry said, rather baffled at having a conversation with a god. "Thank you for the aid you've provided."

Hades nodded approvingly.

"Yes. As I said, you've caught my attention, but admittedly, I have a grudge against your greatest enemy, which is of greater interest to me."

Harry frowned.

"Voldemort."

Hades nodded, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"That man has trampled upon my domain, and when I can oppose him, I will," the god said, fire filling his obsidian eyes. "Not many pay tribute to me personally, and of those that do, none are who I would consider capable of being a champion of mine. You, however, just might have the potential to be his rival."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

"My lord, I appreciate your words . . . but I don't think I'm anywhere near being Voldemort's rival."

"Right now? Of course not," the god said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You have talent, some natural skill, good instincts, luck, and perhaps even fate on your side, but you are correct. If Voldemort returned tomorrow, you'd be nothing more than a bug for him to smash, a bug he could smash easily."

Harry blushed at the compliments, and winced at end of the god's words, but nodded in agreement

"Even your survival and banishment of that defiler when you were a babe was all due to your mother and her actions, not your own," Hades said. "That did not leave me thinking you were Voldemort's bane, like the rest of the mortals of your world did. Your actions these past two years though have shown that perhaps you have the aptitude to become his bane."

"So, what do you want with me, my lord?" Harry finally asked.

"The slaying of that basilisk is a feat worthy of reward," the god said and Harry's eyes widened, "however the rewards I believe you would deserve are not gifts I would give to just anybody. They are gifts that I would bestow upon my champion, the one who will work to complete my will on the earthly plane."

Harry took a deep breath.

"You want to give me your patronage?" Harry asked, stunned.

The god of darkness nodded approvingly.

"It is not a gift I grant often. With my patronage, I would grant you access to knowledge and bestow on you gifts and power."

"I'm honored, but what would you want of me?" Harry asked. "What would you require me to do in order to earn your patronage and gifts?"

Hades smiled approvingly.

"Good, you have learned from the warrior. If you'd just agreed, I would have been very disappointed," Hades said before he leaned forward, like a businessman in the tv shows Harry used to see his relatives watch. "In the short term? Nothing too arduous. You will carry my mark on you, as all who have patronage from a deity do, and you will continue with your schooling. One thing I will expect is for you to become a Shadow Mage, and I will give you until you turn fifteen to accomplish the elemental magical parts of that feat, and seventeen to become a Mage in full."

Harry frowned thoughtfully, but decided to withhold the questions he had immediately and raised a different one.

"What about long term, my lord?"

Hades's eyes became frigid.

"I want Tom Riddle's soul," the Lord of the Underworld said coldly. "He has escaped death, breaking the natural laws of the world, and he has used black magic to defile the corpses of the departed. That cannot be allowed to stand! I suspect that you yourself would like to make sure that Riddle pays for his crimes. I don't care about when he dies or even who deals the killing blow, but I care that he does eventually die, and dies for good. No more safeguards. Being an immortal, I have patience, more than enough, but he must die. Other than him? Long-term, I would expect you to do as all my vassals do. Stop necromancy if you hear of it, and I would ask you to perform rites of passage on struggling souls so that they can pass in peace, which would be a kindness, and act in a manner befitting a Shadow Mage. Re-establish protections on graveyards throughout your mortal plane. Past that, for now, I foresee no other standing orders."

Harry couldn't help but agree with the god. He would like to make sure that Voldemort paid for what he'd done to Harry's parents and everyone else that he'd hurt, and the other long term orders were nothing too hard, or at least he didn't think they were. He knew from Dora that necromancy was illegal nearly everywhere anyway, so whether he joined her in the Aurors or not, he could call upon the aid of law enforcement officials to help him crack down on those that trampled on the god's domain.

"You're right, my lord. I would like to see him pay. I don't know if I'm capable of doing that, but I'm willing to give it my all to try."

Hades' eyes gleamed approvingly.

"As for your short term requirements," Harry continued. "I don't have a problem with any of them, my lord, far from it, but I will admit that I don't really know what constitutes being a Shadow Mage, nor do I know if I can find the information needed to accomplish what you have asked in the time you have given me."

Hades waved his hand dismissively. "As long as you don't become dismissive of your studies, I think you will find that, with some aid, you will not find those difficult to achieve."

Harry shuffled a bit nervously, thinking about what Moody had said, but he also knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the way Hades talked, he suspected Hades very much wanted him to remain his servant, at least until Voldemort was finished, so he figured Hades was correct in saying that the short term requirements would be doable.

"I would be honored to accept your patronage," Harry finally said, and Harry saw triumph on the god's face.

"Good," Hades said, and smiled. "Enjoy your gifts and represent me well, champion."

Harry's vision faded and he fell back into his normal sleep.

**HP**

Harry awoke to a shriek, his eyes flying open, feeling something small and dense lying on his feet. He sat up quickly to see Ron with a terrified look on his face.

"A G-G-Grim!" he said, pointing down at Harry's feet where Harry could see a small, black puppy, some type of pure-black german shepherd, with amber eyes.

The puppy looked up at him, completely disregarding Ron, and started wagging its tail as it got up and moved towards Harry. Harry gasped as he reached out to pet the dog, feeling a cold blast fly through him and then felt some sort of mind link to his. He then laughed as the dog jumped over him, and started licking his face.

"Harry! Get away from that Grim!" Ron yelled again.

"Ron, what the hell are you yelling about?" Harry asked, as he managed to get the puppy to sit down in his lap, the animal still excitedly wagging its tail.

"It's a Grim!" Ron said, like that explained everything. "An omen of death," he finally finished seeing Harry's confused look.

"I really don't know anything about that, but it seems friendly enough," Harry said with a smile. "I just formed some sort of bond with it. I think it's a gift."

"A gift?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Harry answered slowly. "I had a talk with Hades last night. He mentioned some gifts, and well, this little guy here had to have gotten here somehow."

Harry felt a slight burn in his chest, and he pulled open his pajama top and saw the same helm he'd seen on Hades throne tattooed in black on his chest, right where his heart would be. As soon as he saw it, the burn went away, leaving just the mark, cool to the touch.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, seeing the tattoo, and he shook his head. "Harry, people see Grims and then they die. Everybody knows that."

"Bloody hell, you're loud," a tired voice muttered, and Harry saw his other roommates start getting out of their beds to see what the hell was going on. Of course it had been Seamus to complain.

Neville was the first one to see the puppy and seemed to have a much more conflicting look on his face.

"Ron is right that Grims are omens of death," he said timidly, "but I've never heard of a death omen sticking around, so maybe this isn't a Grim or maybe it's not here for that reason?"

"He's a cute little guy," Seamus weighed in, his eyes bleary, but clearing up, and Harry chuckled as the puppy moved off of Harry's chest and started wagging its tail, one ear perked up and one folded over as it went over to greet Harry's roommates.

"I think he is a she," Harry said, feeling something through the bond, "but she is an adorable little thing."

Harry frowned.

"I just realized that I'll have to go talk to McGonagall and Dumbledore. We're not allowed to have anything other than a cat, rat, toad, or owl."

Seamus snorted.

"Yeah, it's a bit hard to keep a puppy secret," Seamus agreed. "Though, I think this little girl is going to be quite popular in the Common Room after people stop having heart attacks about the scary Grim."

"Shut it, Finnigan," Ron said, still a bit nervous. "I'm telling you, Grims exist. My Uncle Bilius saw one and died."

"Maybe he did," Seamus said with a shrug. "Doesn't mean this ones going to do in Harry here. Suspect the Heir would have done it last night if someone was going to do it. Though dying by a book would have been a bit sad."

Harry snorted, rather glad that Dumbledore had kept Ginny's part in the affair quiet, instead blaming everything on the diary, which was an extremely dark object able to control the monster, and as it's power grew, it was able to produce an apparition of the Heir, a boy named Tom Riddle, who was the one petrifying people with the monster."

"The bloody book certainly tried," Harry muttered.

He looked to his bedside table, and that's when he noticed two more things he hadn't seen before. There was a black ring, and on it he could see Hades' helm and two dogs that looked similar to the puppy now running around his dorm. The ring itself was sitting on a large tome that Harry looked at in amazement, seeing that it was a large comprehensive tome titled Shadow Magic, Mages, and Creatures of Darkness. This explained why Hades thought it wouldn't be hard. He had provided him with the resources to help him learn what he needed to learn.

He put on the ring, and felt his hand tingle oddly before everything became normal again, and he wondered about the ring. Maybe it was magic in some way? Regardless, he knew that he couldn't just shut the gift away. The book though, he carefully placed into his trunk.

He got up with his roommates and left the puppy to explore their dorm while the rest of them used the loo to shower for the morning. Harry figured the smart thing to do would be to leave the puppy in their dorm until he could talk to McGonagall or Dumbledore, but the playful and mischievous feeling he felt through the bond told him the puppy had other plans, which were confirmed when Neville opened the door to leave, and with impressive speed, the puppy zoomed over towards a now panicking Neville and out the door and down towards the common room.

"Shite," Harry swore running after the dog, as Dean and Seamus roared with laughter and even Ron was smiling,

A scream from the common room had all of his bloody helpful roommates, except Neville, laughing even harder just as Harry exited the dorm. He rushed down to the common room and saw his dog easily dodging people before stopping and looking at them playfully, with a slight twist of the head, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

Some girls in the room, including Hermione, Ginny, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina, who were all in there, were making cooing noises. In contrast, Parvati, Lavender, Eloise Midgen, Kellah Scarman, and Ava Connors were screaming their heads off.

"Come here, you little rascal," Harry said, a bit embarrassed as nearly everyone in the common room looked at him as the puppy happily trotted over to him and sat at his feet.

Harry sighed and the puppy adorably looked up at him, and he could feel the playfulness through the new bond, and his eyes narrowed at the puppy.

"Harry, where did you get the dog?" Percy said, finally snapping out of it. "You know you're not allowed to have pets like that!"

"Forget that! It's a Grim!" Someone else shrieked. "We need to get rid of it before we all die."

"I woke up with her on my feet," Harry said, ignoring the second person. "I, uh, had a dream meeting with Hades last night," he said, causing Percy's eyes to widen and his jaw to drop open, an expression that seemed to have appeared on several others around the room. "I guess she's a gift."

"Twelve years old and has a meeting with the God of the Underworld," the seventh year prefect, Reggie, said in shock.

Percy overcame his shock and sighed.

"Well, we'll have to talk to Professor McGonagall about this," Percy said. "You should put her back in your dorm."

Harry nodded and leaned down and picked up the puppy, who seemed to not mind that at all, and he carried her back upstairs to his dorm, and dropped her into his dorm.

"Stay," he told her, and then, keeping his eye on her to make sure she didn't get out, he closed the door, leaving her inside.

He went back down to find Fred, George, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, Ginny, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione waiting for him.

"Bloody good prank, that dog could be," Fred said with a grin.

"Yeah, she could easily make everyone believe their seeing death omens," George added eagerly. "Cause complete chaos."

"I think she's cute," Hermione said, with Ginny nodding in agreement, looking happier than Harry had seen her all year. "Besides, that whole death omen thing seems rather dodgy."

"She's adorable!" Katie nearly squealed, and Alicia and Angelina both nodded in agreement. "I hope you can keep her here because she's just too cute to not be allowed to stay."

"Well, I'm sure everyone in school will know I have a dog before long so we should probably get to breakfast so I can head off Snape coming for me because Malfoy heard about it," Harry said grimly, and he saw various nods in agreement.

As a group, they took the journey to the Great Hall, Harry happy to see Ginny being included, though he suspected her brothers didn't want to let her out of their sight at the moment. Fred quickly reached the door to the Great Hall and opened it, just as Harry felt a speedy animal zoom on by his feet. He and the rest of his friends could only gawk and react slowly as Harry's new puppy zoomed past Fred and rushed into the Great Hall.

Harry's eyes closed as he heard the first set of shrieks and awws.

"That bloody dog's a menace," Harry said, and he heard Ron, Ginny, and his fellow Quidditch mates laugh, as Hermione yelled, "Language!"

Harry rushed into the hall with the Weasleys, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, and Hermione to once again see about trying to subdue his playful puppy who was just a fast ball of energy, ducking around the room. Harry could see Dumbledore moving his way slowly towards where the puppy was mostly located, a smile on his face, with Snape, Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall right next to him.

"Oh my gods, I love her," Angelina said in amazement behind him.

He watched one of the ravenclaws fire a red spell that his puppy dodged, and Harry became worried that someone would hurt his new pet in their fear or while trying to subdue her.

"Come here!" Harry called out and once again, the dog stopped running, and casually strolled over to Harry and sat down next to him, ears now perked up, tongue still hanging out the side of its mouth, adorably, panting slightly

Harry sighed, seeing the Professors approaching, so he picked up his new puppy, figuring she'd be less trouble in his control, and nobody would try to curse her while he was holding her.

"Mr. Potter, would you like to explain what's going on here?" McGonagall asked, her eyes narrowing. "I believe you know Hogwarts policy on pets."

"Yes, Professor," Harry said nervously.

"Of course, Potter doesn't believe the rules apply to him," Snape said with a sneer.

"I didn't intend this to happen," Harry protested. "She was a gift. I found her lying on my feet this morning when I woke up."

Snape scoffed, while Harry saw most of the other professors look a bit surprised.

"A gift from whom?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry adjusted his puppy in his arms so that he could show Dumbledore his ring, and he heard Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall gasp.

"I've got the same helm marking on my chest," Harry admitted. "The Lord of Darkness and I had a chat last night."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, looking a bit astonished. "Well, then I believe this young Grim here must be allowed to stay."

"What!" multiple voices from all around the room called out in surprise, anger, excitement, delight, and fear.

Dumbledore raised his hands, now addressing the student body.

"First, put your fears to rest. Grims also known as shadow hounds or hellhounds are not as straightforward as common legends state. They are servants of the Gods Hades and Thanatos, and thus can be omens of death if one of those gods had decided that a soul needed to be collected, but they are most known as guardians of spirits, the enforcers of the Underworld, and seekers of truth. They are magical creatures that are often misunderstood. Seeing one does not always mean death."

"The reason I must allow this young Grim to stay is that she is obviously now Mr. Potter's familiar," Dumbledore continued, "and familiars can be any number of magical creatures. Case in point, my familiar, Fawkes the phoenix. Hogwarts policy on pets is a cat or rat or toad or owl, but familiars are not bound by the same policy as they are not pets, but companions. Second, we couldn't stop this creature from entering if she wanted to. Like many magical creatures, she has her own abilities. Familiars tend to listen to their bonded partner when required, but they are still free thinking creatures, and they often possess magical abilities of their own. Grims have not been studied extensively, but it is known that they can travel through shadows."

Dumbledore turned back to Harry, his eyes twinkling.

"She can of course stay here with you, but you will be bound to her behavior. Though, I think you'll find that she'll be quite well behaved . . . when she wants to be."

With that, Dumbledore and the rest of the Professors seemed to feel the matter was settled and made their way back to the staff table. Harry let his new puppy down to the floor and made his way over to the Gryffindor table with people still glancing at him and his shadow hound who was now happily walking around the Hall, exploring.

"Aw," Ginny cooed happily, as the puppy that he really needed to name made her way over and put her little paws on Ginny's lap.

Ginny grabbed a piece of sausage off the table and fed it to the now much happier hound who licked Ginny's hand before moving off to find the next person to beg some food from, spending a fair amount of time around Ginny, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina.

"What are you going to name her?" Hermione asked, watching his dog make her way down the Gryffindor table, getting pats as she went, and admiring glances as the general unease faded away in the face of the frankly adorable little puppy.

"Um, I don't know," Harry said. "Hedwig I got from History of Magic."

"How about Midnight?" Ron asked, seeming more at ease with the dog now.

Hermione grimaced. "That's so overused for black animals."

"Well, she is as dark as night," Ginny offered up. "Maybe something like Skye or Astra?"

Harry smiled at the youngest Weasley.

"I like Astra," Harry said, and Ginny blushed. "Come here, girl!"

The puppy came trotting over, happily getting a few more pets as she made her way back.

"Do you like the name Astra?" Harry asked, much to the bewilderment of many of those next to him.

The puppy yipped happily, and put her front paws on Harry's knees, and Harry grinned and scratched behind the dog's ears and fed her another piece of sausage.

"Astra it is."

The puppy gobbled the sausage and jumped back down from Harry and then started making her way around the Hall, towards the Hufflepuffs, many of whom seemed delighted to have the puppy heading their way.

"It's going to be fun explaining this to Dora," Harry muttered as he turned back to breakfast and conversation started to flow more normally.

Suddenly, conversation stopped as a fierce and low bark and growl, nothing like that of a puppy deafened the room, followed by a scream.

Harry jumped up from the table and looked for Astra, spotting her over near the Slytherins, Malfoy on the ground in front of her. She had grown into a full sized dog, the hair on the back of her neck was raised, and she was growling at Malfoy who was looking scared.

"Potter!" Snape yelled, running over. "Control your mutt!"

"Astra!" Harry called, and the dog glanced over at him, and he could feel the controlled anger flowing from the dog. Finally, the dog backed up slightly.

"She just attacked me!" Malfoy exclaimed. "She's dangerous!"

Suddenly, Astra barked again, a fierce echoing bark that had people nervous, but Malfoy winced, his hands going to his head, looking pained.

"Potter, stop this attack!" Snape snarled again, moving towards Harry.

"Enough!" Dumbledore said, reaching them with McGonagall.

"That dog attacked me for no reason!" Malfoy said accusingly, and Astra barked deeply again, and Malfoy winced again, looking much worse for wear.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said severely, far more severely than Harry had ever heard. "I would caution you not to lie about this dog's actions. She might be Mr. Potter's companion, but first and foremost, she is a servant of the Underworld. Mr. Potter clearly did not ask his familiar to attack you, since he was over at his table, so she would only attack in self-defense."

"I'm not lying!" Malfoy responded heatedly, and Astra barked again, causing Malfoy to fall to his knees.

"Mr. Malfoy, you cannot lie to the Underworld," Dumbledore said. "Shadow Hounds enforce Hades's will, and the Underworld does not suffer fools."

Astra barked again and Malfoy winced, as Slytherins started protesting to Dumbledore, claiming he needed to do something.

"Alright, fine!" Malfoy yelled. "Maybe I accidentally almost kicked the stupid beast!"

Astra growled, and Malfoy let out a whimper.

"I purposely tried to kick it," Malfoy growled out in pain, and murmurs rose up throughout the hall.

Astra immediately shrunk back to her puppy form and moved back towards Harry, completely friendly again.

Snape looked livid, but to Harry's surprise, he was looking livid at Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy, I believe you have been punished enough, and have learned a lesson, but should you attempt something like that again, you will find that I will be unable to protect you should the Lord of the Dead decide to punish you himself for crimes against his servants," Dumbledore said severely. "You will also find that we are not tolerant of animal abuse at this school."

McGonagall, much to Harry's approval, did not seem happy with Dumbledore's ruling. Harry himself was livid that Malfoy had tried to kick his dog for doing nothing other than being his.

"My father will hear about this," Malfoy said, wincing still.

"I'm afraid you will find your father will not only be unable to do anything, but will likely be quite cross with you for your foolish actions," Dumbledore responded, his tone now unmistakably direct. "I will not tolerate someone in this school who is purposely attracting the anger of powerful deities. I can't stop them from destroying you, and I will not allow my school to face possible destruction in their wrath. If you cannot be civil and show the respect someone of your upbringing should have, then we might need to discuss whether you will remain at this school. Are we understood?"

Harry's eyes widened, not having seen this side of Dumbledore before. Malfoy obviously realized he'd overstepped as well and nodded sullenly.

"Headmaster, leave Mr. Malfoy to me," Snape said, looking angry, and for the first time it wasn't directed at Harry.

Harry knew the deities had power, but watching the adults, he was seeing just how scared they were of a possible retaliation due to letting Malfoy's actions slide.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "Return to your seat, and ensure that your familiar stays away from Mr. Malfoy from here on out. Are we understood?"

Harry nodded, and he made his way back to the Gryffindor table, with Astra following him. He made it back to where Ron and Hermione were, and Ron looked at Astra.

"That dog is brilliant!" he exclaimed looking ecstatic that Malfoy had been put in his place.

"It's not brilliant that he tried to hurt her though," Harry said sharply, still really annoyed. "Watch out for the Slytherins," he said, looking at Astra.

He watched incredulously as she clearly rolled her eyes and then left to continue her exploration and greetings with other students. Harry sighed. He suspected she was going to be a handful.