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AN: Sorry about the delay- stuff kept coming up-; I hope some of the twists I came up with for the conclusion of this chapter make up for it

Harry Potter/Granger and the Chamber of Secrets

For a moment, the three of them stared at each other in silence, the dirty water of the chamber soaking into their clothes as they knelt on the ground while blood and ink covered Harry's hands, Hermione shaking slightly from the intensity of the pain she'd just experienced, until Ginny's eyes opened and she sat up, looking around the room until her eyes settled on Harry, the tattered diary in his hands and blood on his clothes.

"Ron- Hermione-" Ginny said, looking at her brother and Hermione as though she was trying to think of a way to say what she wanted to say to them, before her gaze returned to Harry and she broke into sobs. "Harry- I tried t-to t-t-tell you, but you were so- and I didn't know- and then I p-p-panicked- but I s-swear I d-didn't mean to- R-Riddle made me, he t-t-took me over..."

"It's OK, Ginny," Harry said, reaching over to give the younger girl a reassuring hug before he sat back and held up the now-destroyed diary, indicating the large fang hole in the cover. "We stopped him, and the basilisk's dead; it's all over now."

"'We'?" Ron said, looking over at Harry with a confused expression. "You stabbed it-"

"And you both came down here with me and kept it and Riddle occupied while I got the sword that killed it; as far as I'm concerned, we all did this, and the fact that I was holding the weapon at the last minute is just a coincidence," Harry said, his tone firm as he looked over at Ron before he walked around to the other side of the now-deceased basilisk, picking up his wand and the sword he'd dropped earlier, while Hermione passed Ginny back her wand with a reassuring smile.

"Come on, Ginny," she said, smiling reassuringly at the younger girl. "We've dealt with that idiot, and the diary's gone; it's over."

For a moment, Ginny just sat on the ground, looking at the three people standing around her with a trembling expression as though she wasn't sure if she was going to get hit for what had just happened, before she finally focused on the Granger siblings as Ron crouched uncertainly down beside her.

"Wh-why are y-you being s-s-so... nice to me?" Ginny asked, looking in confusion at Harry and Hermione as Ron gave her an awkward one-armed hug. "W-we d-d-didn't..."

"I know we didn't spend that much time with you over the last few months- things kept coming up, although I think we can guess what was coming up on your end now-, but we're going to do what we can to change that now," Hermione said, smiling over at Ginny as she crouched down beside Ginny, placing a comforting hand on her arm. "If nothing else, in case you hadn't noticed, there's not exactly an abundance of women in the Weasley/Granger household; not only does it make sense for us to spend time together in that case, but... well, from what we've heard of you and seen of your family, I think Harry and I both agree that we'd like to get to know you better."

"Hey, I started spending time with Ron because he spent time talking with us before who I really was went public; after that, any reason for spending time together works," Harry said, shrugging slightly as he smiled reassuringly at Ginny, slipping his wand into his pocket as he sat down opposite her. "You're Ron's sister, but you've never tried to take advantage of that to spend time with me; it's an odd reason for liking you, maybe, but when I've been dropped into this with something I never tried to get, 'odd' is pretty much my life all over."

Despite the fact that her eyes were still filled with tears, Ginny gave him a trembling, uncertain smile at his last comment.

"R-really?" she asked.

"What can I say?" Harry said, shrugging slightly as he looked at her with a reassuring smile. "As Hermione said, we've liked most of the Weasleys we've met so far- Percy's a bit annoying, but he means well most of the time-, and what I've heard about you sounds like you'd be good company if you'd just let yourself relax a bit."

It was a complicated way of making his point, but Harry meant it; Ginny's only real 'problem' was that she had sometimes been too embarrassed to talk to him at times, and considering how most people just stared at his forehead every chance they got, that was a fairly tame response to his fame.

Holding out a hand to the younger girl, Harry smiled as Ginny took his hand and allowed him to help her up, Ron and Hermione scrambling to their feet themselves. A brief trill from alongside them prompted Harry to turn and look at Fawkes, who was fluttering alongside them while waving his golden tail-feathers in their direction.

"Is... is he trying to get us to grab hold?" Ron asked, looking over at his friends in confusion. "But we're too heavy for a bird-"

"Fawkes isn't exactly a normal bird," Harry said, briefly wondering about their next move before he decided to go with the offer anyway; it wasn't like they had any other ideas about how to get back up the tunnel, and he didn't want to remain stuck down here for any longer than was absolutely necessary. "Come on, let's do this; everyone take hole and..."

"Think happy thoughts?" Hermione asked, looking over at Harry with a slight smile.

"I prefer just think of home, really; bit more straightforward," Harry said, shrugging slightly as he offered the end of his robes to his sister, followed by Hermione taking Ron's hand while Ron took hold of Ginny's. Tucking the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt, Harry reached up and took hold of Fawkes's strangely hot tail feathers, followed by a sudden feeling of lightness as the bird lifted them all into the air, flying upwards through the pipe as though they weren't even there. Harry had barely begun to enjoy it when the four of them hit the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the sink that held the pipe sliding back into place.

"You're alive," Myrtle said, looking at Harry with a slightly depressed tone to her voice.

"Is that a problem?" Hermione asked, looking pointedly at the ghost girl while Harry wiped the slime off his glasses.

"Oh, well... I'd just been thinking... if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," Myrtle said, her face turning slightly silver, as though she was doing whatever ghosts did instead of blushing.

"Was that-?" Hermione began, looking over at Harry with a teasing grin, only to fall silent at the swift warning glare Harry shot in her direction and the still-present gleam of tears in Ginny's eyes.

"Come on," Harry said, turning to follow Fawkes as the golden bird ceased to keep himself stationary and began to fly down the corridor, pulling back when he went around a corner to give them time to catch up, until they finally found themselves in front of the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office.

"Uh... sherbet lemon?" Hermione said in a half-hopeful voice, smiling as the gargoyle stepped aside and the staircase appeared to let them up, Fawkes briefly perching on Harry's shoulder as he walked up the stairs, a comforting arm around Ginny as Ron and Hermione walked up after him, until they reached the upper door. Taking a deep breath, Harry opened the door, resulting in a few moments of silence as the room's residents turned to look at the new arrivals, covered in muck and slime and- for Harry, at least- blood, until Mrs Weasley leapt to her feet and flung herself on her daughter with a scream of joy and shock, followed closely by Mr Weasley, leaving the Grangers to look at Harry and Hermione with an expression that left Harry momentarily wondering if he was going to be praised or hit.

"How...?" Alan asked, looking at his children and their friend in confusion.

"That's... a very long story," Harry said, looking over at where Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk as McGonagall took several steadying breathes while staring at them in shock.

"And one... I think... we'd all like to hear," McGonagall said, her voice weak as she looked at Harry, clearly surprised to see them (Harry tried not to think about what could have gone wrong with their recent actions; they might have reacted on impulse, but they'd managed to save Ginny, and that was what really mattered right now).

With nothing else to do, Harry walked over to Dumbledore's desk and laid the sword, the Sorting Hat, and the remnants of Riddle's diary in front of the headmaster.

"Harry," Jane said, looking uncertainly between her son and the objects now lying on the table before them. "What... what happened?"

Taking a deep breath Harry began his story starting with the information about his own experience hearing a voice in the walls, their research and theories about the relevance of the Chamber of Secrets, their revelation that his ability to hear the voice tied in to his ability to speak Parseltongue, the information they'd uncovered about the last time the Chamber had been opened- avoiding mentioning the diary or naming Hagrid as their source; he didn't want to get his friend into trouble-, his sudden theory that Moaning Myrtle had been the ghost of the Chamber's last victim and the possible clue to its entrance...

"Very well," McGonagall said, looking sternly at him as he paused for breath. "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?"

Despite his voice becoming hoarse, Harry continued his story, explaining about Fawkes's timely arrival and the sword he'd received from the Sorting Hat, only to falter as he realised that he was running out of other things he could talk about to avoid the central issue here; would anyone accept that Ginny hadn't been responsible for her actions in the absence of Voldemort's diary?

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore at last, a soft smile on his face, "is how Lord

Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania?"

Harry allowed himself to relax at that statement; at least Dumbledore seemed willing to accept that Ginny couldn't harbour any blame for what had happened, regardless of how it might appear at a superficial glance.

"What- Voldemort?" Jane said, looking indignantly over at the headmaster. "You're saying that the man who tried to kill Harry last year just... managed to... what, hypnotise this girl?"

"It was a bit more complicated than that," Harry said, looking apologetically at his mother for contradicting her as he pulled the diary out of his pocket and handed it to Dumbledore. "It was this diary; Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen, and... well, he said he was able to leave some part of himself in it."

Taking the diary from Harry, Dumbledore peered keenly at it for a few moments, turning the ink-stained book contemplatively in his hands.

"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen..."

"What are you talking about?" Alan asked.

"Very few people, Mr Granger, are aware of Lord Voldemort's life before he assumed that name," Dumbledore explained as he looked up at the muggle dentists and the bewildered Weasleys, the diary in his hands. "When he was a child and a student at Hogwarts, he went by the name of Tom Riddle, maintaining an impressive academic career marred only slightly by mystery and rumour, culminating in him disappearing from public life a few short years after leaving Hogwarts. What few sources remain to share the information state that he spent that time travelling around the world to explore some of the darkest mysteries and secrets of wizarding lore, to say nothing of inflicting such twisted magical transformations on himself; by the time he emerged, many years later, as Lord Voldemort, hardly anyone connected who he was now with who he had been."

"But what does this diary have to do with anything?" Jane asked in confusion, even as the slight edge on his mother's face hinted at the fear she felt at the reference to the man who had killed her son's parents.

"It w-w-was his!" Ginny suddenly sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year..."

"Ginny!" Arthur Weasley said, looking at his daughter in a flabbergasted manner. "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!" Ginny said, still sobbing. "I found it in one of the books Mum got me... I just th-thought someone had left it there and forgotten about it..."

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore said, looking firmly at the Weasleys. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her, and she needs rest. There will be no punishment; older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort."

Noting the stares that he and Hermione were receiving from their parents even as Dumbledore smiled reassuring at the Weasleys, Harry had a sudden feeling that he wasn't going to be as lucky to get out of this particular mess without punishment once he returned home...

"You will find Madam Pomfrey is still awake, I am sure," Dumbledore continued, smiling reassuringly at the Weasleys. "She has been working on preparing the other ingredients for the Mandrake juice; they still require a month or so to be completed, but they are progressing well and it is reasonably certain that no lasting harm has been caused to those petrified."

As Mrs Weasley led Ginny out, Harry gave Ron a pointed nudge and indicated the door, prompting Ron to look at him in confusion for a moment before he nodded in understanding and hurried after his family- after everything she'd been through, Ginny needed her family more than anything right now-, leaving the assembled Granger family alone with Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"You know, Minerva," Dumbledore said, his tone thoughtful as he looked at Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," Professor McGonagall said, heading towards the door. "I'll leave you with the Grangers, shall I?"

"Certainly," Dumbledore said.

As Professor McGonagall left the room, Harry could only exchange anxious glances with his sister as the headmaster turned his attention to them.

"You do realise, I assume," Dumbledore said, as he looked solemnly at them, "that you have broken nearly a dozen school rules in the last few hours?"

"Yes, sir," Harry replied.

"And there is sufficient evidence to have you both expelled?" Dumbledore continued.

"Yes, sir," Hermione said, her shoulders tensing as she prepared for the bad news.

"Therefore," Dumbledore said, his expression suddenly brightening as he looked at them, "it is only fitting that you both- and Ron Weasley, of course- receive Special Awards for Services to the School, and... let me see... yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

Harry and Hermione could only smile in relief at that news, despite the obvious surprise on their parents' faces at the news; evidently, their natural gratitude at their childrens' continued safety didn't completely replace their natural distaste for their children being in danger in the first place.

"But... really?" Harry said, looking uncertainly at Profesor Dumbledore. "I mean..."

"Your investigation has resulted in the defeat of a dangerous creature and exposed a scheme that goes beyond even what you can perceive right now," Dumbledore replied, looking solemnly at the two children. "Your actions were questionable, but I cannot question your results when faced with a challenge that many full-grown wizards would have faltered when the time came; your courage when rescuing your friend more than makes up for that..."

His voice trailed off as he looked thoughtfully at Harry. "But something troubles you, doesn't it?"

"Harry?" Alan asked, looking curiously at his son; he'd been initially overwhelmed by the story, but now that the headmaster brought it up, he could see that there was something else bothering his son. "What's wrong?"

"It's..." Harry said, looking awkwardly over at Hermione for a moment- she'd heard the same thing he'd heard down there, but had she really appreciated the implications of it?-, before he turned to look at Dumbledore. "Well, when we were down there, Riddle... he said some stuff about..."

"Is this about that stuff he said about the similarities between you both?" Hermione interjected, looking at Harry with a pointed stare. "Because if it is, Harry, I'd like to point out that you're not a lunatic willing to commit murder to make your point; you're not even in Slytherin!"

"Precisely," Dumbledore said, looking at Harry with a reassuring smile before anyone else could respond to Hermione's comment. "And that is what makes you different from Voldemort, Harry; you may have some similarities to him, but it is our choices that show what we are far more than our abilities, and you are far from the kind of person who would do what Voldemort has done."

"Exactly," Alan said, reaching over to pat Harry reassuringly on the shoulder. "You're a bit... impetuous at times, but that doesn't mean you're a bad person."

"I just wish you and Hermione could stay out of trouble for a few months each school year," Jane said, looking pointedly at her son before she turned to look at Dumbledore. "You realise, of course, that I am very disappointed in the fact that my children ended up in danger again while you were responsible for their safety."

"I assure you, Mrs Granger, the children would be perfectly safe under conventional circumstances; the opening of the Chamber of Secrets-" Dumbledore began.

"Was something that we should have been notified about," Alan interjected, looking firmly at the headmaster. "I can appreciate that you wanted to protect your school's reputation, but something like this-"

"It's not like it was his fault, Dad," Harry protested, looking urgently at his father. "The teachers all did what they could, but... well, at first it was just a bit of a mystery, and then they didn't know what to do about it-"

"And actually, we accelerated the diary's schedule- Ginny tried to get rid of it at one point, Harry found it, and then it tried to convince us that Hagrid was responsible for everything before Ginny took it back in a panic and gave it the chance to realise that we weren't falling for it-, so it could be argued that everything going this mad later on is our fault..." Hermione said, shrugging awkwardly at her parents' sceptical expressions.

"In any case," Dumbledore said, looking at the children with a slight smile, "regardless of potential blame allocation, I can satisfy one question of Harry's right now, if he would care to take a close look at the sword he has acquired during these events."

Looking curiously at the sword in his hands, Harry turned it around slightly, and his eyes widened as he took in the name on the blade in front of him.

Godric Gryffindor.

"Only a true Gryffindor could have removed that from the Hat," Dumbledore explained, his tone a simple, direct one that left no room for argument.

Whatever response Harry might have made was interrupted when the door opened and Professor Lockhart came bursting in, looking around the office for a moment before his gaze settled on Harry.

"Harry!" he said, grinning broadly at the adopted Granger. "Just the young man I wanted to talk to!"

"If you wish to speak with Harry, you will have to wait to do so, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said, looking solemnly at the professor. "He has just finished informing us about the harrowing ordeal he experienced down in the Chamber, along with Mr Weasley and Miss Granger; he requires some time to recuperate before he is required to share any more."

"He's… he already told you everything?" Lockhart said, his smile suddenly becoming more awkward.

"Of course he has," Alan said, looking at Lockhart curiously "Why shouldn't he?"

"No reason at all; just wanted to be sure…" Lockhart said, turning around to walk back towards the door, before he suddenly spun around, his wand in his hand and aimed at Dumbledore. "Obliviate!"

Harry didn't even have time to wonder what Lockhart was trying to do before Dumbledore had raised his own wand and created a large barrier of some sort that took whatever spell Lockhart had just cast and deflected it back at the caster. Lockhart immediately fell to the floor and was left staring vacantly up at the ceiling, a faint line of drool coming from his mouth.

"What the…?" Alan said, looking at Lockhart in shock for a moment before looking back at Dumbledore, trying to process the rapid exchange of spellwork that he'd just witnessed. "What just happened?"

"It would appear that suspicions about Gilderoy Lockhart were well-founded," Dumbledore said, looking grimly at the catatonic man lying before them. "What he just attempted was a memory charm, typically used to conceal knowledge of magic from muggles unfortunate enough to encounter us; he must have been hoping that he could contain knowledge of the truth about your encounter in the Chamber of Secrets long enough for him to learn what had happened and use it for himself…"

"There were suspicions about him?" Jane said, looking pointedly at Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione unable to do more than stare bemusedly at their parents and headmaster. "And you let him teach here?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts is a difficult subject to find a teacher for, Mrs Granger, and any suspicions about Professor Lockhart were limited only to acknowledgement of a few time-keeping anomalies in his books that could have been the result of carelessness; I had to work with what options were available to me and hope for the best," Dumbledore explained, looking apologetically at her. "I assure you, if I had any reason to believe that his presence would be dangerous to the students, I would have rejected his application; as it was, I had hoped that he would prove more useful than he apparently did, mainly out of a lack of options, but it would appear that the results were… not what I would have hoped."

"If it helps, his actual books aren't that bad once you ignore the irrelevant personal details he added; it's just…" Hermione began, only to shrug awkwardly when she found herself stuck for anything else to say. "Well, there's a lot of them."

"I… see," Jane said, stuck for anything else that she could say as she looked at the still form of Lockhart as it lay on the floor before turning her attention back to Dumbledore. "So… what suspicions were these?"

"Mainly involving the extent of his claimed accomplishments; as I previously mentioned, there were various anomalies about the dates in his books as some of them appeared to overlap, suggesting that he would have to have been in multiple locations at the same time to achieve them," Dumbledore explained. "A possible explanation that had occurred to some of us was that Gilderoy was writing the biographies of the people truly responsible for these events and them Obliviating them to make them forget what they had done while he took credit for it, but the logistics of such a feat seemed too complicated…"

He sighed. "In any case, it hardly matters now; Mr and Mrs Granger, if you could please assist Miss Granger in taking Gilderoy here to the hospital wing? Harry and I have a couple of things to discuss before this night's business can be closed."

Stuck for anything else to say to such a request, Alan and Jane bent down to pick up the catatonic Lockhart, one arm over each of their shoulders, and carried him towards the stairs, Hermione leading the way after a quick goodbye hug with Harry.

"You have further questions, Harry," Dumbledore said, looking inquiringly at Harry as the stairs and the Grangers vanished from view.

"Well… not much, really, just…" Harry began, looking awkwardly at the headmaster before he finally spoke. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"About Voldemort's former identity as Tom Riddle?" Dumbledore asked, allowing Harry to nod before he continued. "It was something I considered, of course- considering the followers and philosophy that Tom was gathering to him, knowledge of his own parentage could have been a crucial blow to his status-, but I eventually concluded that the risks were too great."

"There were risks?" Harry repeated.

"Even if I assumed that anyone would believe the story coming from me, when I had already made my opposition to his philosophies clear, the consequences would be unpredictable," Dumbledore explained. "Voldemort rallied many to him with promises of power and control; if he was removed as a symbol without being defeated himself, what guarantee did anyone have that those who had abandoned him would not simply seek to act of their own accord rather than allow him to lead them?"

"You mean… you were more comfortable having his followers be a single large army that you could predict than a bunch of smaller groups that you couldn't?" Harry asked, recalling a couple of stories he'd read over the summer.

"Precisely," Dumbledore said. "In any case, so much of Voldemort's activities between Tom Riddle leaving school and him emerging as a public figure are kept secret that it would be comparatively simple for him to claim that he merely met Tom Riddle at some point rather than actually being him; of those who know the truth, most are so far into his inner circle that they would never defy him, and those who do not know would probably believe whatever cover story Voldemort had come up with."

"But… wouldn't his connection to Slytherin be enough to make up for his father being a muggle?" Harry asked.

"It was not something that Tom Riddle advertised while he was at school- I believe that I was the only one aware of his ability to speak Parseltongue, and that was merely because I was the teacher who first made contact with him-, and Slytherin's line had… well, let us say for now that they had fallen into disrepute and leave it at that," Dumbledore explained.

Harry might have asked further questions, but he was distracted when the stairs opened once more. The new arrival on this occasion was none other than a surprisingly dishevelled-looking Lucius Malfoy, his normally immaculate hair looking somewhat distressed and his robes slightly off-side; it didn't exactly look bad, but compared to how smartly-dressed he'd been during his last encounter with Harry there was a surprising difference.

Thoughts on Lucius Malfoy's appearance were quickly forgotten when Harry saw Dobby walking behind Draco Malfoy's father, frantically trying to clean his shoes as he walked. The house-elf's appearance answered some of Harry's previous questions about his role in events, but he knew that he would have to stay quiet about that particular detail; judging by the bandages around his fingers, Dobby was already apparently punishing himself enough on his own without giving the Malfoys reasons to order him to do more if they learned what he had been trying to do.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore," Lucius said, looking pointedly at the Hogwarts headmaster with a satisfied smile on his face, apparently not interested in or not having fully registered Harry's presence, "I hear that a student has been taken into the Chamber?"

"Actually, your information is regrettably out-of-date, Lucius," Dumbledore replied with a casual smile. "The student in question has already been recovered and the monster in the Chamber defeated; your prompt attempts to inquire about her fate are appreciated, but unnecessary."

"Really," Lucius Malfoy said, briefly glancing at the objects still lying on Dumbledore's desk as his smile faltered before his attention shifted to the man sitting behind it. "So… I take it means that you have found the culprit?"

"We have," Dumbledore replied.

"Who was it?" Lucius asked, an overly curious edge to his voice that put Harry in mind of detective stories he'd seen on television where people 'knew' what they were about to hear.

"The same person as last time, Lucius," Dumbledore replied, as he picked up the tattered book with the hole in the middle. "Although on this occasion he chose to act through another, by means of this diary."

Glancing at Dobby, Harry noted that the elf was looking in a meaningful manner between him, the diary, and Lucius Malfoy, and then hitting himself on the head.

Could it…? Harry wondered, looking thoughtfully at Lucius, whose earlier confidence had shifted to a slight hostility.

Not only did the Malfoys fit the description of the kind of family who'd likely own a house-elf, but Draco Malfoy had only been dismissed as the Heir because he didn't fit the bill as a person; his family had still been some of the strongest candidates for the status of Slytherin's heirs before he'd found the diary, and there were their old ties to Voldemort to consider…

"A clever plan," Dumbledore said, his voice level as he stared at Lucius. "After all, if Harry 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…"

Harry didn't need to know people to know that Lucius Malfoy was hiding something now; his face was too still to be natural.

"And imagine," Dumbledore continued, "what might have happened then; the Weasley family, a prominent if poor pure-blood family, and Arthur Weasley's Muggle Protection Act, would have never survived the fallout if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing muggle-borns. How very fortunate that Tom Riddle was defeated before he could escape…"

"Very fortunate," Malfoy said, looking at Harry for a moment before he turned around and walked away, Dobby still frantically alternating between rapid glances and punching himself from behind Malfoy before they reached the stairs.

In that moment, Harry knew what he had been missing.

"Sir?" he said, indicating the diary as Lucius Malfoy vanished down the stairs. "Could I… have that?"

"If you wish," Dumbledore said, looking at Harry with a slight smile, as he pulled out a quill and a bottle of ink. "I imagine that it will make an interesting memento now that it is little more than a damaged book. In any case, I need to draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet; we'll be needing a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"

Smiling in brief agreement at the headmaster, Harry turned around to head back towards the stairs, taking advantage of the trip down to remove a shoe and sock and shove the sock into the diary before forcing his shoe back on.

He just hoped that what he'd read about house-elves during what little research he'd managed to do about them was accurate; the Chamber had always seemed like the more urgent thing to be working on when he wasn't doing homework…

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he smiled as he saw Lucius Malfoy at the end of the corridor, Dobby still limping along behind him. Hurrying up to the elder Malfoy, Harry moved into position in front of him and practically shoved the old diary into his hands.

"I think this is yours, sir," he said, trying to give the 'sir' the appropriate amount of contempt to make it clear he didn't really feel any sense of respect for him.

"What are you talking about?" Lucius Malfoy said, looking scornfully at Harry as he tossed the diary to the side, where it landed in Dobby's hands. "I've never seen this book before-"

"But you have," Harry said, looking coldly back at the older man. "You put it in Ginny's textbook when you took it out of her cauldron, didn't you?"

He probably wouldn't have remembered that under normal circumstances, but right now, glaring up at the man who had bought his way out of the sentence he certainly deserved, Harry was able to recall that confrontation in Flourish & Blotts' as clearly as if it had been the day before.

"If you believe that," Malfoy said, leaning over to glare at Harry more directly, "prove it."

Harry simply stood in silence as he glared back at Draco's father- after facing off against a basilisk when he couldn't see it, Lucius Malfoy wasn't really that intimidating-, but he didn't need to say anything; both of them knew that Harry didn't really have a leg to stand on with the evidence he had available, even if Malfoy didn't have far more connections than he did.

"You should learn when to stay silent, Potter," Lucius Malfoy said, looking slightly mockingly at him. "Your parents never learned that lesson and came to a sticky end eventually."

Harry simply stared at the elder Malfoy, not trusting himself to say anything that would actually accomplish anything useful, until the older man turned around and began to walk along the corridor again.

"Come, Dobby!" Lucius said firmly. "I said come!"

It was only when he turned around and saw Dobby staring at the now-opened diary, revealing the sock hidden within its pages, that he realised what had just happened.

"Master has given Dobby a sock," the elf said, staring at the dirty sock like it was a priceless treasure. "Master gave it to Dobby."

"What?" Lucius said, looking at the joyful elf in horror. "What do you mean?"

"Got a sock," Dobby repeated. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby… Dobby is free."

Lucius Malfoy turned to glare at Harry, pulling out his wand from his stick- Harry briefly wondered what the point of something like that was; was it some kind of elegance thing preventing Lucius doing something as common as hiding the wand up his sleeve?-, but he had barely started to advance towards Harry with some kind of threat before Dobby stepped in front of him.

"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" the elf yelled, holding out one hand and hurling Lucius to the other end of the corridor they were standing in. After a moment of disorientation, Lucius picked himself up, but the sight of Dobby glaring at him at the other end of the corridor was evidently enough to make him reconsider. After a final glare in their direction, he turned around and walked away, leaving the elf to look eagerly up at Harry.

"Harry Potter freed Dobby!" the elf said gleefully. "Harry Potter set Dobby free!"

"Least I could do, Dobby," Harry said, smiling slightly at the elf. "Just… good luck in future, all right?"

He appreciated the elf's attempts at assistance even if he'd chosen a strange way to go about it, but he wasn't sure what he could do to help Dobby later…

With the mystery and threat of the Chamber dealt with, the rest of the year went by relatively smoothly, beginning with the enthusiasm of the celebratory feast and progressing from there. With the diary gone, Ginny proved a far more comfortable companion, Harry making a greater effort to include her to make up for their previous unintentional sidelining of her in the face of their investigation, and even Ron eventually became more comfortable spending time with his sister (Hermione, naturally, was just relieved to have a chance to talk to a girl interested in more than make-up, even if Ginny's interests were more inclined towards sports than Hermione's more intellectual pursuits). She was still slightly anxious and uncomfortable at times, but with Hermione's help Ginny was encouraged to relax more and more each day they spent time together, until you would never have known that she had ever felt particularly awkward around Harry in particular. Ron sometimes felt slightly embarrassed at spending so much time with his sister, but when Harry pointed out that he spent time with his sister, Ron lost any real grounds to complain or criticise and eventually learned to ignore the potential insults, focusing more on just having a good time with the group.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was naturally hampered by the lack of a teacher, but with the school more than two-thirds of the way through the academic year when Lockhart vanished, and with Lockhart's books as a more credible source than he had ever been once the personal details were ignored, the teachers were able to organise a schedule where older pupils supervised the six younger years during their lessons while teachers sat in on the seventh year classes to help them prepare for their final exams. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it got the job done for the year; the returning students for the upcoming year would just need to rely on the books rather than the teacher they'd had this year.

Justin, Colin and Nick were eventually restored to normal with a month or so to go before the exams, leaving the two students with sufficient time to catch up with their missing coursework thanks to their various housemates lending them their notes, as well as most teachers agreeing to give them some leeway in their final marking considering the exceptional circumstances that had prevented them attending class (Harry had a theory that Snape hadn't gone along with the plan, but their final marks had apparently been sufficient for the task at hand).

With the exams concluded with another comfortable pass, the Weasleys and the Grangers spent a comfortable train-ride back to King's Cross, enjoying their last few hours of permissible magic use by practising a few of their newer spells. Harry was surprised to find that he had a particular knack for disarming people by magic, while Hermione continued to lead the way in Transfiguration.

The two Granger siblings were probably going be grounded for at least half the summer after the rules they'd broken trying to get to the Chamber- Harry thought he recalled his father mentioning plans for a holiday this summer, but whether those were still on after what had happened he didn't know-, but they'd saved a friend, exposed a fraud, and stopped a dangerous monster; whatever they received at the other end, it would all be worth it.

That was life as a wizard as far as Harry was concerned; there were always complications, but once you found the good sides you never wanted to let them go…

AN 2: Hope you all liked that; another primarily canon-rewrite, but I have plans for a few more significant divergences from canon in the upcoming 'Prisoner of Azkaban' rewrite, particularly concerning Hermione's role in events…