Harry opened his eyes just in time to see Fawkes's tears hit the puncture wound from the basilisk. His head snapped to the side when he saw movement. Ginny was beginning to wake up and Harry was considering just leaving and locking her in the chamber. As much as he wished he could, it was best if he still played the golden boy. And that thought made him pause. Sure he wasn't on Dumbledore's side but he wasn't on Toms either. He decided to think about that when he wasn't kneeling on a cold, wet floor covered in both his own blood and a thousand year old basilisks.
Slowly he stood and made his way to the red head. She was just opening her eyes as he knelt over her. The second her eyes focused on him she began babbling. A lot of sorrys and I didn't mean to's. Harry wasn't really listening as he pulled her up. He just wanted to leave but before he could move Ginny launched herself into his arms. He swallowed a growl and forced his arms around her.
She continued to babble and every time he tried to let go she would cling tighter. Resigned to his fate, Harry tried to drown out the redhead's mumbling and started to look around the chamber. It was hard to drown out her babbling, as even though she was mumbling it still somehow managed to be shrill.. Looking around he could see into the open mouth of Salazar Slytherin's statue. He squinted his eyes and realized he could make out shapes in the darkness. There was definitely something in there. and wasn't that a thought. He was at the school for four more years and never thought to come back down here. Resolving to come back as soon as he could, his eyes continued to sweep the chamber and settled on the last important thing: the diary. He was not giving it to Dumbledore this time. There was just one problem. If Ginny saw it she would make him take it to Dumbles. He needed to get her out without her seeing anything.
Slowly he began to release her and with a bit of a push she let go."Come on, we should get you out of here." Ginny went to look back at where the snake lay right by the diary. Gritting his teeth Harry rested his hand gently on her cheek and turned her face back towards him. "Don't look, it's not pleasant." her eyes still held a twinkle of curiosity, and all he could think about was all the times she had told him how traumatized she was. But right now she looked almost gleeful. "Its eyes have been gouged out and there is a gaping hole in its head where I put a sword through it." Ginny's eyes lost their twinkle as her complexion took on a green tint. She nodded once and started heading to the exit, not daring to turn her head.
Meeting back up with Ron. (who had managed to clear enough of the cave-in to make their way through.) They used Fawkes to get back up the pipe and made their way to Dumbles' office, with Lockheart in tow. At this point Harry was beginning to notice the fog starting to creep back into his mind. It would seem whatever was on Harry was not removed in death's realm but temporarily disabled. He would have to be careful and as aware as possible. When they reached the office the gargoyle was already to the side with the stairs visible. Looking to one another they started up the stairs and knocked when they came to the door.a bellowing come in was heard and the door was pushed open.
Sitting in his throne behind his desk was Albus fucking Dumbledore, eyes twinkling brightly as he looked at the collection of people entering his office. "Harry. My boy. Please sit. Lemon drop?" Everyone shook their heads as they took their seats. With the exception of Lockheart who started wandering round the office babbling to himself. Dumbles cast him a befuddled look and Harry took that as his cue to talk.
"Headmaster." Dumbledore's eyes snapped back to Harry and he continued. "When we heard Ginny was taken to the chamber and Lockhart was going to go get her, we thought we would tell him what we knew. When we got to his office he was packing. He was going to run. We ended up dragging him to the chamber, and when he saw a chance he took Ron's wand and was going to do a memory charm on us but…" he trailed off and looked over to Ron, who held up his spellotaped wand.
"The spell backfired." Ron continued the story, gesturing at Lockhart, who was currently poking at one of the old headmasters portraits with a look of amazement on his face. "He doesn't remember his own name and It caused a cave-in that split me from harry. I was clearing the rubble while Harry got Ginny." At this Dumbles turned back to Harry Twinkle still as bright as ever.
"I went on ahead and found Ginny lying unconscious. I went over to her, while I was with her a boy came out of the shadows. He called himself Tom Riddle. He said he was going to take her magic for himself, that he had used a diary to possess her and made her open the chamber. He then set the basilisk on me. I killed it and stabbed the diary with a fang from the basilisk. It broke the connection and Ginny woke up.'' He really hoped Dumbles would leave it at that, but he knew that was wishful thinking.
"And where is the diary now my boy." Harry bit his tongue at the endearment and prepared himself to lie through his teeth.
"When I stabbed it sir this black liquid gushed out like it was bleeding, then the diary started giving off this black smoke, and the whole thing just crumbled into ash, and sunk into the inky liquid. There was nothing to bring back." At this point Harry had noticed the old coots twinkle had died somewhat. He wasn't happy but Harry could see he believed him. so, mission accomplished.
Suddenly the door was flung open and in strode one Lucius Malfoy, and Harry was berating himself for forgetting this. Using this as a distraction he quickly conjured a scrap of parchment and a quill and wrote a short note. When he was done he banished the quill he tuned back in just in time as Malfoy senior was just leaving and no one had noticed his note taking. He was quickly dismissed, Ron and Ginny staying behind so their parents could floo to the office.
Harry ran down the corridor noticing the portraits lining the walls. They would probably report this to the headmaster. Not to mention Dobby. As much as Harry loved Dobby, he was loyal to Dumbledore more than anyone else. It wasn't a problem before but now… it wasn't great. "Lord Malfoy! Lord Malfoy!" he paused and turned to look at Harry, one perfectly manicured eyebrow raised in question. "I know this was you! You gave Ginny that book!" Harry stepped forward, poking the man in his chest. It was to distract from his other hand pushing the scrap of parchment he wrote on earlier into Lucius's hand. The man's eyes that were filled with anger and resentment flashed in surprise as he felt the parchment be pressed into his hand.
"Oh? I believe you are mistaken Heir Potter." Harry froze. He called him Heir Potter. Was that something to do with why death told him to go to the goblins. Questions for another time. Lucius moved and held his cane in such a way that he could read the paper surreptitiously.
Lucius would admit in the privacy of his own mind that he was surprised and curious when he felt the parchment be pressed into his hand. And then there was what the parchment said.
'You may be Dobby's master but you are not the one he is loyal to. He spies for the old goat and has been reporting your actions.'
When Lucius had finished reading he was even more curious and dare he say impressed. In the last two years not one person had doubted his mask of an innocent golden boy. But his actions today make him wonder just how he was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin. Admiration aside, the contents of the note was troubling. His eyes hardened and he looked back to harry
"I know you did it! You put the book in Ginny's cauldron that day at Diagon Alley." Harry continued raising his voice.
Lucius leaned forward so he was close to Potter, and with as much venom as he could muster, he spoke. "Prove it!" he spat. Pulling away, and with one terse nod and a smirk, he spun on his heel and strode away. Harry knew to anyone else that nod would look dismissive, but to Harry it was an acknowledgement that he was taken seriously. Harry was just glad he could do this before the fog taking over his mind could completely settle. It was extremely distracting and Harry wondered why he had never noticed it in his past life. Before he could venture down that rabbit hole, he decided to head to the dorms and sleep.