Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Lucius Malfoy.
Parts of this chapter are quoted from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
A/N: And this is indeed the end of this story. I'm sure Parvati would get more involved with Harry's adventures in the future, but that's for someone else to write.
Chapter 5
They landed just outside the Gryffindor Common Room. Professor Dumbledore immediately asked Parvati and Harry to stay in the corridor so as not to attract attention, and because they could best identify Riddle's diary (although they knew it had his name right inside the cover). Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall went inside the Common Room to collect the first-year girls. With only five of them, Parvati hoped they could solve this quickly. And if the suspect was being controlled—if she was under the Imperius Curse—well, they were only Firsties. What could they do? Parvati wasn't familiar with what other forms of control the diary could exert, but she was sure it couldn't be too bad.
The five girls filed out of the portrait hole, followed by McGonagall, and that was when Parvati started to get a bad feeling about the whole thing. Two of them were rubbing their eyes from having already gone to bed and being roughly woken. The other three were looking very anxious. Ginny Weasley was twitchy and only seemed to get more wide-eyed and scared the more she looked around, from Parvati to Harry to Dumbledore.
"Professor? What's wrong?" one of the girls asked. "Did someone else get attacked?"
"No, Miss James," McGonagall assured them. "However, we have come upon a matter of some urgency, which required that we speak with you at once."
At their confused looks, Dumbledore began to explain, and Parvati watched for any sign of suspicious behaviour. "We believe that one of you has in your position an unusual diary," he said in a soothing voice, and Ginny Weasley immediately flinched. Dumbledore continued, "It is black, a medium size, and is made out of muggle paper, but it exhibits magical properties when written in."
There was no mistaking it now. Four of the girls were looking at each other in confusion, while Ginny Weasley was shaking like a leaf and turning rapidly pale. The others might have diaries; they might even have diaries that looked similar, but Ginny's must be different.
"Miss Weasley, do you know about this diary?" McGonagall asked.
"N-n-no, Professor. I don't know anything," she stammered.
"She's got a diary," Lydia James said. "I've never looked at it that close but—"
"No! It's just a normal diary!" Ginny shouted, her voice strained.
Dumbledore quickly came to a decision: "Miss Weasley, please stay. The rest of you can go back inside."
The other girls looked as confused as ever, but at Dumbledore's serious look and McGonagall's stern one, they quickly climbed back into the Common Room. Ginny tried to back away with them, but McGonagall stopped her, saying, "You stay where you are, Miss Weasley."
From the way her lips were moving, Ginny seemed to be mouthing "No, no, no" to herself, occasionally glancing up at Harry. Once they were alone in the corridor, Dumbledore spoke again, more soothingly than before. "Miss Weasley, you should know that we have already pieced together much of what happened—"
"NO!" she shouted with wild eyes.
"—You are not in any trouble. We only need to retrieve your diary. It is dangerous. I do not know how you acquired it, but—"
"NO!" she yelled again. "It's not mine! I don't know anything! I didn't do anything!" She was sweating, white as a sheet, and looking around like a cornered animal and trying to find a way out, but Harry and McGonagall had both subtly repositioned themselves to block her exit.
Suddenly, Harry blurted out, "You knew I had it, didn't you?"
"What?" Parvati said.
"What?" McGonagall echoed.
"You were there when I spilt ink on it," said Harry. "That's how you knew to take it from my room."
Ginny was backing against the wall and crying, her arms wrapped tight around herself. "No! No! No!" she sobbed.
Harry took a step towards her. "Listen, Ginny. It's okay. We took care of the basilisk," he said, but that only made her cry louder. "Really, it can't hurt anyone now. No one else'll be in danger, and we can cure the people who were petrified with the mandrakes. It's gonna be okay."
Nothing he said helped. By now, Ginny was so pale that she almost seemed to be turning grey, and she looked like she was about to faint. Too distraught to speak, she doubled over as if in pain, her long hair falling over her face. But just as Parvati started to move to help her, she just…stopped.
In an instant, Ginny snapped upright, not shaking at all. Her colour came back, but it wasn't a good colour. Her face was twisted into a snarl, and her eyes—Her eyes were glowing red. In an instant, she had her wand out, and before Parvati could move, Ginny shouted "Avada Kedavra!" …pointing at Harry!
Green light flashed, no matter how much a Firstie never should have been able to cast that curse. Parvati screamed. McGonagall screamed. Dumbledore shouted "NO!" Harry was frozen in shock, with no time to get to him. And there was a shriek as Fawkes moved in a way that didn't seem physically possible, swooped in front of Harry, and ate the curse mid-flight. He burst into flame and fell to the ground, small, wrinkled, and flightless—but alive.
The world started again. Parvati ran in, grabbed, Harry, and pulled him to the ground in the vain hope that it would get him out of the line of fire, although by the time she did and looked up, Ginny was already unconscious, disarmed, and pinned to the wall. Dumbledore moved quickly, scooping up the now infant Fawkes and putting him in his pocket, while McGonagall shook herself from her shock and began casting spells around the corridor that Parvati could only guess were security charms.
"Parvati?" Harry said in confusion as the two of them half-relaxed and staggered up from the floor. "What happened? What spell was that?"
"Harry, that was the Killing Curse!" she exclaimed. At his blank look, she added, "Another one of the Unforgivable Curses. Did you really never learn about the Unforgivable Curses?"
He shrugged awkwardly. "I grew up with muggles, remember?"
"I would've thought you of all people would know. That's the curse…" She stopped herself. She leaned closer to him and lowered her voice: "Harry…that's the curse that killed your parents."
At that, Harry suddenly closed off, a guarded expression coming over his face. But even so, he whispered to himself, "The green…"
"What?"
"I…it's just…when I saw that spell, the only thing I could think was that the green light looked familiar…"
It was then that Parvati remembered the other part of the legend. Her eyes flicked to his forehead, something she hadn't done in a long time, and she said, "They say that was the curse that gave you your scar." His eyes widened, and he automatically raised a hand to touch the scar on his head. "If you believe the stories, that is. They say you're the only person who ever survived it—and I wouldn't want to bet on surviving it again," she added hastily. "No one knows how you did it."
"Oh, well, Dumbledore explained that bit."
What?! Parvati spun around in surprise. Dumbledore knew how Harry Potter had survived the Killing Curse? But seeing the scene around them reminded her that they had more pressing problems. She looked at Ginny, then at Dumbledore, and said, "Professor, what happened? Why did she do that? How did she do that?"
"That," Dumbledore said seriously, "was the end result of being affected by Lord Voldemort's magic. While Miss Weasley's fear of being found out as the putative Heir of Slytherin was no doubt great, I believe her extreme reaction to our questions was an effort to resist his control—a form of control much deeper than the Imperius curse, enabling her to perform magic that she would not and could not do on her own."
Parvati remembered Ginny's glowing red eyes. "But…but she wasn't possessed, was she?"
"Not in the same way that Quirrell was. As I told you, I took measures against that. But there are other methods—subtler ones—ones that I did not believe now that Voldemort would employ, for reasons that are best left unsaid. An artefact like his diary that could activate itself and turn inert at will would not be detected unless we were specifically searching students' luggage—something we have not done since the end of the war.
"And to that point," he added, "I do not detect any such artefact on Miss Weasley's person. We must locate it at once so that it cannot do her any more harm. Miss Patil, you know what the diary looks like?"
"Er, yes, sir."
"Good. I want you to go up to Miss Weasley's dormitory and find it. You may ask her roommates to help you, but do not tell them why it is significant. And of course, do not write anything in it."
"Albus?" McGonagall questioned softly.
"Minerva, please take Miss Weasley to the Infirmary at once. I will need to deal with the diary personally, and it is best if she stays separated from it. Harry, you should assemble her brothers and bring them to the Infirmary. You may tell them that I believe Ginny will make a full recovery with some rest, but she will need her family at her side presently. Oh, and I also urge you not to reveal which curse she cast at you. While Ginny will not be in trouble regardless, it will be far easier for everyone involved if it is never revealed. In fact, she may not even remember, herself." He turned his gaze to Parvati, who quickly nodded in understanding.
Marching orders given, Parvati climbed through the portrait hole into the Common Room—where she was immediately accosted by Lavender.
"Parv! Thank Merlin you're alright!" she squealed, grabbing her in a hug. "What happened? McGonagall came for you, and you didn't come back, and we thought maybe Padma was attacked, and then Ron couldn't find Harry, and then McGonagall came back for the Firsties…"
"Right…um, everyone's okay, Lav," Parvati said distractedly. Embarrassingly, she had barely thought about how her best friend would be waiting up for her—a best friend whom she couldn't really give a satisfactory explanation about any of this mess. What happened? Nothing serious. Dumbledore just wanted me to open the Chamber of Secrets for him. Why me? Well, I can speak to snakes, of course.
Right. That would go over well.
She tried to manoeuvre around Lavender without getting to pushy and started up the stairs to the girls' dorms.
"Are you okay, Parv? What happened? Where are you going?" she pressed.
"Sorry, Lav. Can't talk right now. I've, um, I've got an errand from Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore? Why does Dumbledore need your help?"
"Long story. Not sure how much I can really tell you…"
"What—?"
"But listen, there's good news! Dumbledore stopped the…" She thought fast. Not the basilisk. Not Ginny. Certainly not You-Know-Who. That would set the cat among the pixies in all the worst ways. "He stopped the Heir of Slytherin."
"WHAT?" Lavender squealed.
"Yeah, like I said, long story." She came through the first year girls' dorm and hurried inside, quickly going through…actually, she didn't even know which bed was whose. She saw one of the other girls in there. "Hey, Lydia, do you know where Ginny keeps her diary?"
"Her diary?" Lavender said, even as the two girls started looking through Ginny's things. "What do you need her diary for?" Then she gasped. "Did Ginny know who the Heir was?" she whispered.
"Er, right. She knew something. We're trying to figure out how much. She's fine though. We just need her diary." She wasn't fine, of course, but Dumbledore had said she would be, at least.
Luckily, Ginny wasn't too expert at hiding her diary, or at least didn't know any of the fancier magical methods. They found it; Parvati checked the first page to make sure the name T. M. Riddle was there, and she noted a distinct uneasy feeling when she held it. Not wanting to leave it any longer than necessary, she hurried back down to the Common Room to hand it over. Lavender trailed behind her, but she did her best to outrun her. "Bye, Lav! Talk to you later!" she called as she jumped out the portrait hole.
Professor Dumbledore was still standing there, alone this time. "Miss Patil, you found it?" he asked her.
"Got it, sir." She handed the diary over.
Dumbledore took it and also checked the first page to ensure that Riddle's name was there, then snapped it shut. "Thank you," he told her. "You have done a great service to this school today. I will dispose of this immediately. You may go along to the Hospital Wing, or you may go up to bed if you prefer."
Parvati thought about it, looking up the corridor, and then back at the portrait of the Fat Lady. After the day she'd had, she wanted to go to bed. But going back inside would mean getting interrogated by Lavender some more. She needed some time to collect her thoughts before facing that—and probably talk some more to Harry, too. "Thank you, Professor. I probably should see Madam Pomfrey," she said, and she started off down the corridor.
Hopefully, by the time she'd got back, she'd have some idea of what to say to Lavender and…Merlin's beard, she was going to have to tell Padma everything too. Her sister was going to be so jealous. Or horrified. Or angry…probably all three. Not to mention Mama and Papa. She couldn't keep it from them because she would have to ask them about the basilisk.
"How did I get mixed up in this?" she asked herself.
About halfway to the Hospital Wing, she heard a horrible, piercing shriek sound from somewhere overhead, one that if she didn't know any better, she would have said emanated from a banshee. She hoped that had something to do with Dumbledore destroying the diary, somehow. She didn't think Dumbledore was capable of producing that sound himself, but then again, she wasn't sure anyone was capable of producing that sound.
The Infirmary was a bustle of activity with all of the Weasleys, Harry, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey in there. Ginny was lying on a bed, still out cold, with Madam Pomfrey fussing about her. Harry had been bullied into one of the other beds himself, supposedly on general principle. For Parvati's part, she felt much better after the Matron gave her a calming draft, and she sat down across from Harry to discuss all of the insanity they had just witnessed.
They were still trying to decide what Parvati should say she had been doing without revealing that she was a Parselmouth when a new guest arrived, but it wasn't Dumbledore.
It was Lucius Malfoy.
Harry gaped at the sight, shocked at the man's arrival. Despite the late hour, the elder Malfoy looked dressed to impress in a long, black traveling cloak, and (or so Harry claimed) was as pompous as ever. She could see where Draco got it.
But Mr Malfoy was not happy. "I need to speak with the Headmaster," he demanded to Professor McGonagall. "I have been all over this castle looking for him, and I was told he was supposed to be here, so where is he?"
McGonagall stood her ground, though. "And I have told you that Professor Dumbledore will arrive here in due time, Lucius. He is a busy man, as you well know."
"I should think that the actions of the Board of Governors would take priority," Mr Malfoy snarled, "and if you can't help me, then maybe I'll—"
"Ah, Lucius," a cheerful-sounding voice called out loudly from behind him. He turned around and stepped aside, revealing Professor Dumbledore—wearing a different set of robes than when Parvati had last seen him. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting," he said, still putting on a cheerful tone as he walked into the Infirmary.
"You have, Dumbledore," Mr Malfoy said.
"Then I apologise. I was not informed you were coming, and I found myself in the middle of a very messy operation and fancied a change of clothes."
"Messy?" he demanded, his eye twitching.
"Yes, I fear that some of my paperwork may have been cursed," Dumbledore said. "The ink was everywhere." He tapped his nose knowingly at Parvati and Harry, and Parvati suppressed a giggle. She assumed that was a reference to the diary, even if she wasn't sure why it would involve cursed ink. "Messrs Weasley, I have also called for your parents, and they should be here shortly."
"If you're quite finished?" Mr Malfoy demanded, sounding just about at the end of his rope.
"Of course, Lucius. Although perhaps you would like to come up to my office first. We would not want to disturb the patients, would we."
Mr Malfoy was turning an unhealthy-looking shade of red. "I—for the love of—you're being dismissed, Dumbledore!" he snapped.
"That's enough!" interrupted Madam Pomfrey with a forcefulness that cowed even a wizard as powerful as Lucius Malfoy. "Out, all of you! You've already disturbed my patients enough for one night. Yes, even you, Albus. Family only until at least breakfast tomorrow!"
There was some confusion as the Matron shooed them all out of the room and slammed the door behind them, leaving Dumbledore, McGonagall, Malfoy, Parvati, and Harry (who had slipped out with them) all standing out in the corridor outside. And just as Mr Malfoy was about to speak, then was even more confusion as a redheaded witch and wizard that Parvati soon determined were Mr and Mrs Weasley bustled up and pushed past them. Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy, both looking annoyed to see the other there, glared at each other while Mrs Weasley knocked on the door, was rudely told off by Madam Pomfrey, and then even more rudely told her off in return (the only person who could get away with doing so, Harry claimed later), and was subsequently let inside.
When they had gone, Mr Malfoy, looking thoroughly fed up, gave a huff and thrust a sheet of parchment at the Headmaster. "This is an Order of Suspension, Dumbledore." ("No!" McGonagall gasped.) "You'll find the signatures of all twelve governors on it. After all of the attacks that have happened at this school under your watch, we feel that you are no longer fit to serve as Headmaster."
Harry started. He stepped forward and indignantly said "You can't—" but he stopped when Parvati trod on his foot.
Mr Malfoy ignored him. "—and I dare say with as long as you've kept that oaf Hagrid around, it will only reinforce their opinion."
"Hagrid?" Dumbledore said in surprise.
"Don't play the fool with me. You know his record, and so does the Ministry…The Minister came to cart him off to Azkaban just as I arrived," he said smugly.
Suddenly, the aggressively cheerful face Dumbledore was putting up to Mr Malfoy dropped away, and the blue fire returned to his eyes with an almost magical intensity. A single look at McGonagall was enough for her to turn on the spot and rush off down the corridor at just short of a run to go rescue Hagrid.
Mr Malfoy, for his part, stood his ground, but Dumbledore was just getting started. "Lucius," he said seriously, "you may wish to speak with the other governors again to reevaluate your order. You see, I found the culprit and stopped the attacks myself just a short while ago."
Mr Malfoy stopped, turning even paler than usual and looking to be on the back foot for the first time. "Well," he said sharply. "Who is it?"
"The same person as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary." And then, from under his robes, Dumbledore produced Tom Riddle's diary, soaked through and nearly dripping with black ink, as Harry had said it never was before, singed around the edges, and with a great hole through the middle of it, presumably burned into its pages by the basilisk fang. He watched Mr Malfoy very closely as he did it.
"I see…" said Mr. Malfoy slowly to Dumbledore.
"A clever plan," said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr. Malfoy straight in the eye. "Because if Harry here" — Mr. Malfoy shot Harry a swift, sharp look — "and his friends hadn't discovered this book, why — Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own free will…"
Parvati was sure she had missed something because she was suddenly lost. She looked to Harry for an explanation; he had a look of intense concentration on his face, but he didn't seem to know what was going on, either. But Dumbledore and Mr Malfoy continued dancing around each other, and Parvati gradually got the impression that Dumbledore believed that Mr Malfoy had somehow slipped the diary to Ginny for her to find and open the Chamber of Secrets, apparently for some sort of political reason, although it took them several minutes to get to that point. Mr Malfoy was being deliberately obtuse; that much she could see clearly.
"—unfortunately, there is no useful evidence left in this diary," Dumbledore said. "Not now that Riddle has vanished from it. But I think we both know that such a dark artefact—a relic of Lord Voldemort's school days—does not simply turn up on its own."
"Well, then," Mr Malfoy replied, "do tell me if you find anyone who would do such a thing, and—"
Suddenly the door to the Infirmary burst open, and Mr. Weasley stomped out, slamming it behind him. The look on his face was one of barely contained rage—a look that Parvati had only seen on her own Papa's face once, and that promised the direst of consequences. "Lucius," Mr Weasley growled.
"Arthur," Mr Malfoy said disdainfully.
"Were you talking about a diary just now?" Mr Weasley demanded, but he didn't give them a chance to answer as he kept on going. "You see, Ginny just woke up, and she told me something very interesting. Apparently, since last summer, she's been writing in a cursed diary that she found in her transfiguration textbook—a book that we certainly didn't put anything inside, and that no person who would do such a thing has touched…except you."
Harry's eyes grew wide, and he whispered, "Of course!"
But Mr Malfoy's eyes narrowed dangerously at Mr Weasley. He hesitated as if trying to decide on a response and settled on, "A book that you got at a secondhand shop where anyone could have slipped something inside it. You should be careful whom you accuse of wrongdoing, Arthur. You have no proof, and you can hardly afford legal trouble."
But Mr Weasley didn't back down. His wand hand twitched, but after a look at Dumbledore, he managed to control himself. In fact, he gave a hint of a cold smile. "Oh, no, Lucius," he said slowly. "It's not about what I can prove you did today. It's about what I'm going to prove you did tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. If you think I've been a nuisance so far, I have plenty more perfectly legal resources I can draw on. Mark my words; you will come to regret this."
The two wizards stared each other down, and for a moment, Parvati was sure they were going to cross wands right there in the corridor. Dumbledore was still relaxed, but even he looked wary.
But slowly, Mr Malfoy backed down, though still trying to look like the one in control of the situation. All he said to Mr Weasley was, "You're playing a dangerous game, Arthur."
Just then, another voice cheerfully called to them up the corridor, "Ah, hello there!" They all turned around to see Professor Gilderoy Lockhart striding toward them, immaculate as ever wearing robes of soft wisteria. "I thought I heard some hubbub going on up here." He clapped his hands enthusiastically. "So, what did I miss?"
And suddenly, Dumbledore's cheerful expression was back. "Gilderoy, just the man," he said. "I was hoping I could speak with you. You see, there is a basilisk down in the Chamber of Secrets who is in need of medical attention. With your experience with magical beasts, I am sure you could lend some assistance. You can get there through the sink in Miss Warren's bathroom, although I believe you said that you knew that already."
Everyone goggled at Dumbledore except Lockhart, who looked about as pale and nervous as Parvati had ever seen him. "Ah, right, of course, Headmaster," he stammered. "I'll look into that right away." He turned and walked away at a brisk pace, and Parvati imagined she heard his steps break into a run as he rounded the corner.
Every turned back to stare at Dumbledore again, but the Headmaster looked calm and placid. "Well, that should save me the trouble of having to fire him," he said. "Far less paperwork if he leaves on his own."