Cassie heard an awful rumbling that sounded exactly like something she heard when she and her Dad had watched a documentary about avalanches. About a second too late, her brain finally kicked into gear and she ran, attempting to avoid the chunks of tunnel ceiling that were now falling all around her.

Suddenly, there was a terrible pain, a great burst of white light and then nothing.

Cassie attempted to open her eyes but her eyelids were so heavy. She felt almost as if she was floating through space, not tethered to anything but merely just existing in the darkness. Cassie could hear faint voices but they sounded incredibly far away. She slipped back into the comforting dark.

"Cassie"

Her name was called by a vaguely familiar voice, sounding like it was at the end of a vast tunnel.

"Cassie"

There it was again, louder this time and it sounded incredibly scared.

"Cassie !"

Her name was called a third time and this time, she heard it at normal volume, right beside her ear.

There was a rush of awful pain as Cassie came back into consciousness and Ron's face swam into view, pale and worried.

"Are you okay?" Ron was saying but his mouth was moving slower than the words she could hear "Cassie, please, just say something"

" 'm okay" Cassie rasped, her throat raw.

Pain washed over her with every new breath she took in "What happened?"

"It was Lockhart, the git" replied Ron, looking immensely relieved "He tried to cast memory charms on us but you know what my wand is like, it completely backfired and caused half the cave to come down. He's over there now, doesn't know who he is or anything and he's been no help"

"Harry" Cassie groaned, realising the person missing from their group

"He got trapped on the other side" said Ron, his face creasing in worry again and gesturing to the wall of crumbled rock they were next to "He's gone to look for Ginny and I've been trying to move all this rock"

"What happened?" asked Cassie again "Why did I pass out?"

"The cave started coming down and I didn't see exactly what happened" answered Ron "But you got hit pretty hard by one of the falling rocks and then you got trapped under some more so I had to pull you out and your arm" Ron swallowed deeply "It's pretty bad"

Cassie then noticed that her right arm had been covered up by Ron's dusty cloak and felt her head swim again as she turned over to look better.

"I'm sorry Cassie" Ron continued, sounding desperate "I had to move all the rocks by hand, I didn't have my wand you see, and you were under there for such a long time and I managed to get most of you out but your arm was stuck and I was heaving and heaving and-"

"Ron" Cassie cut off his rambling, coughing again weakly "It's okay, just let me see it"

Ron's hand trembled as he reached for his cloak, wide blue eyes swimming with tears. Cassie swallowed, she could feel herself shaking as the pain mounted, it was nothing like she had ever experienced before. Finally, Ron removed his cloak and Cassie's brain stuttered to a stop, it took her a second to even realise that what she was looking at had previously been her right arm. Clearly it had taken the brunt of the injury as the rest of her felt mostly unharmed.

It was a mess, her wrist and elbow sticking out at different angles, she could even see the white of her bone in the dark light of the tunnel. Cassie's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she passed out again.

There was a sharp, short pain on her cheek, different from the dull, persisting ache of her arm and Cassie gasped awake.

"I'm sorry" Ron said, holding his hand if it had burned him "You can't pass out on me again Cassie, I don't know any healing spells but my mum always says you have to keep the person awake"

Cassie made a noise in the back of her throat, too tired and in too much pain to even speak. Ron had covered her arm back up again and taken off his jumper too, tucking it tenderly around her. She tried to thank him but found that even making noise was beyond her and blinked slowly at him, Ron gave her a small, scared smile to show his understanding and placed his on her other shoulder.

"You'll be alright Cass" Ron said, voice wavering "You will"

There was a sudden noise from the other side of the rocks and Ron darted up, peering through the hole he had made. His face flooded with emotion and he turned back to her, grin splitting his face.

"Harry" Ron said, voice shining with relief

"Ron!..Cassie!" Cassie could now hear Harry's voice "'Ginny's OK! I've got her!"

Ron gave a strangled cheer and reached through the gap in the rock to pull his sister through.

"You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"

Ron tried to hug her but Ginny held him off, sobbing.

"But you're okay, Ginny," said Ron, beaming at her. "It's over now, it's – where did that bird come from?"

A gorgeous red and orange bird had soared through the gap after Ginny, it was about the size of a swan with an amazing fiery plumage and specks of blood on its golden beak. The bird swooped down and settled next to Cassie, it's warmth a comfort on the cold floor

"He's Dumbledore's" said Harry, squeezing through the gap himself

"And how come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain-" Harry stopped speaking having spotted Cassie and Dumbledore's bird huddled on the ground together

"Cassie, what happened?" Harry asked, kneeling down next to her "Are you okay?'

"We need to get her to the hospital wing" said Ron quietly "She got injured during the rockfall"

Cassie was enjoying the bird's warmth and she had almost forgotten her pain, it was so soothing having the feather's brush along her skin. She then noticed that it had knocked aside Ron's cloak and small pearly tears were dripping from the bird's eyes onto her arm.

"Don't cry" she pleaded, finding her voice at last "Please don't cry"

"It's okay Cassie" said Harry, a smile now gracing his face, disrupting the dirt that was smeared there "Phoenix tears heal"

"Oh" said Cassie in a small voice, watching as the worst of the injury seemed to magically clear away and her pain receded like the sea at low tide.

Ron and Harry both helped her to her feet and Cassie smiled at them both, she still held her arm awardley for the injury was not completely gone but she at least had the strength to stand.

"Thank you" Cassie told the Phoenix who almost seemed to smile at her before swooping back into the air.

"Where's Lockhart?" Harry asked, seeming to remember the final member of their group

'Back there,' said Ron, grinning and jerking his head up the tunnel towards the pipe. "He's in a bad way. Come and see."

Led by the phoenix, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone" said Ron. 'The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."

Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all.

"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

'No,' said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry and Cassie

Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.

"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" he said, worry creeping back into his voice.

Ron shook his head, but the phoenix had swooped past and was now fluttering in front of Harry, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked uncertainly at him.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold …" said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there."

'Fawkes,' said Harry, finally revealing the phoenix's name.'Isn't an ordinary bird.' He turned quickly to the others. 'We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Professor Lockhart –'

'He means you,' said Ron sharply to Lockhart.

'You hold Ginny's other hand and Cassie, you hang on at the end, okay.'

Harry tucked the sword into his belt, Ron took hold of the back of Harry's robes, and they formed a chain, Cassie gripping onto the Ginny's hand tightly and tucking her bad arm into her chest.

Fawkes beat his wings and soared upstairs and an extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through Cassie's whole body, and next second, with a whoosh, they were flying upwards through the pipe. Cassie could hear Lockhart from above her, saying, "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" The chill air whipped through her hair and before she knew it, Cassie was back on the bathroom floor in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Myrtle goggled at them.

"You're alive," she said blankly to the five of them.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed," Cassie rasped

'Oh, well ... I'd just been thinking. If you had died" Myrtle directed this at Harry, "You'd have been welcome to share my toilet,' said Myrtle, blushing silver.

"Urgh!' said Ron, as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's got fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

But tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face.

"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny.

Harry pointed. Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Harry knocked and pushed the door open.

For a moment, there was silence as Harry, Cassie, Ron, Ginny and Lockhart stood in the doorway, covered in dirt and there was a scream.

"Ginny!"

It was Mrs Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter.

Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder.

Cassie then found herself being swept up into Mrs Weasley's embrace along with Harry and Ron. She let out a pained groan as pressure was put on her arm and Mrs Weasley sprung away,

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

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

Harry then walked over to the desk and laid upon what seemed to be the Sorting Hat, a ruby-encrusted sword and the remains of Riddle's diary.

Then 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 realised that he was hearing a Basilisk in the pipes; how he, Cassie and Ron had followed the spiders into the Forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the Basilisk had died; how they 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 Harry 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?"

So Harry, his voice growing hoarse, told them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving him the sword and his battle with the Basilk.

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

"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."

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. Cassie was also feeling terribly confused.

"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 ... travelled far and wide ... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transfor- mations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognisable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But Ginny," said Mrs Weasley, "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 Mr Weasley 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 …"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing straight away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wiz- ards 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 dare say the Basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione's OK!" said Cassie brightly, feeling a weight roll off her chest at the news.

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

Mrs Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr Weasley 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, Weasley and Black, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

'I seem to remember telling you both, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules,' said Dumbledore to Ron and Harry

Ron opened his mouth in horror.

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. 'You will both receive Special Awards for Services to the School, along with you Miss Black, and – let me see – yes, I think two hundred points each for Gryffindor.'

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

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Cassie gave a start, clutching her arm again. She had completely forgotten about Lockhart. She turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart –"

"Am I a Professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore. "He brought the roof down on us and really injured Cassie"

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver moustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?' said Lockhart dimly. 'Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though.' He pointed at Harry. 'He'll lend you one."

'Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the hospital wing?' Dumbledore said to Ron. 'And Miss Black had better go too, although Fawkes is a talented healer, he is not quite Madam Pomfrey"

Dumbledore gave Cassie a soft smile and gestured to the door,

"I'd like a few more words with Harry …"

Lockhart ambled out. Ron and Cassie cast curious looks back at Dumbledore and Harry before leaving too, Ron's arm coming around her shoulders for support.

Ron took Cassie to the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey had tutted before quickly fixing Cassie's arm.

"The Chamber of Secrets, what a concept" she grumbled, waving her wand as Cassie's bones clicked back into place "You'll have some scars you know, this was a terribly serious injury…phoenix tears you say, well you're a lucky girl"

But Cassie couldn't care less about the pinkish scars running down her arm as, as soon as Madam Pomprey had finished stitching her up, Hermione had launched herself around the curtain, jumping for joy.

She wasn't sure whose face was the wettest, hers or Ron's as they careened around the hospital wing, the three of them joined tightly in a hug. Although as they walked down to the feast, Ron staunchly denied any tears while Cassie and Hermione giggled at him.

Cassie had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pyjamas, and the celebrations lasted all night. Hagrid turned up at half past three, cuffing the four of them so hard on the shoulders that they were knocked into their plates of trifle. Perhaps the best part of all was hers, Harry and Ron's six hundred points securing Gryffindor the House Cup for the second year running, or maybe Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been cancelled as a school treat ('Oh, no!' said Hermione), or Dumbledore announcing that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.

"Shame" said Ron, helping himself to a jam doughnut. "He was starting to grow on me."

The rest of the summer term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal, with only a few, small differences: Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled ("but we've had plenty of practice at that anyway"' Cassie told a disgruntled Hermione) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor. Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. On the contrary, he looked resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was perfectly happy again.

Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Cassie, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster Fireworks, and practised disarming each other by magic.

They were almost at King's Cross when Harry said suddenly,

"Ginny – what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"

"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well – Percy's got a girlfriend."

Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head.

"What?" gasped Ron, letting go of the chocolate frog both he and Cassie were tugging on. Cassie pocketed it.

"It's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny.

"That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was – you know – attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking as if his birthday had come early.

"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.

The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped. Harry pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment and turned to Ron, Cassie and Hermione.

"This is called a telephone number," Harry explained to Ron, scribbling it three times, tearing the parchment in three and handing it to them. 'I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer, he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys, OK? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to …"

"Of course" said Cassie, pocketing the slip of paper and gathering up her luggage

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione, as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging towards the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you mad? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious …"

And together the four of them walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world.