Chapter 23: Midnight Feast and Year's End

The Great Hall was crowded with students in various states of dress - most of the Slytherins had taken time to put on either their uniform or some casual clothes, while other houses had a higher concentration of students in pajamas or dressing gowns. The tables were laden with mostly sweets, and students were chatting boisterously. To Harry's embarrassment, many of the students clapped and cheered when he walked in the doors. Luckily, everyone was soon distracted by their petrified housemates' arrivals and Harry was able to eat and reconnect with Theo in relative peace.

He told his friend about his electives, Blackwood Hall and the tutoring he'd have this summer, and Lockhart's "mysterious" disappearance. In turn, Blaise haltingly told the group to use they and them pronouns for them. They'd decided they wanted this quite a while ago, but wanted to tell everyone at the same time. Daphne updated Theo on his Quidditch team - a thoughtful thing that hadn't occurred to the rest of the group. Several Hufflepuffs, including Finch-Fletchley and Smith, came up to Harry while he was with his friends to apologize for thinking he was the Heir. Each time, Harry coolly explained that he was the Heir of Slytherin, and had been impersonated, and that he would consider their apology. Lily smirked. Her son was not so forgiving just yet, and she was glad to see him stand up for himself.

As they finished catching up, Hagrid entered the Great Hall to another round of applause, having been released from Azkaban when Dumbledore wrote in that the attacks had worsened in his absence. With everyone apparently present who would be, Dumbledore rose and called for silence to make a speech.

"First, I would like to say to the students who have been petrified - welcome back. Your absence has been felt by many this school year. It is my pleasure to announce to any who may yet be unaware that the vehicle behind the attacks, a powerful Dark artifact which possessed a first year student, has been found and destroyed. The threat that was Slytherin's Monster is no more. For his assistance to the Professors of Hogwarts as we have attempted to combat these issues this year, as well as for his daring rescue of another student I would like to award Mr. Harry Potter of Slytherin 150 points. Your families have been notified that the emergency is resolved and the Hogwarts Express will run as usual. As a school treat, and out of fairness to those who have missed months of classes and review, exams have been cancelled for the whole school." Dumbledore paused for cheering, and a few shocked or dismayed gasps from the Ravenclaw table. "It is also my unfortunate duty to tell you all that Professor Lockhart has left the school, to places unknown, and presumably will not be returning." Most of the school, including the teachers, cheered again here. A few students who still found themselves lovestruck were disappointed, but no one could say they were shocked. The Defense position was cursed, after all. "Now, I will not keep you from your celebrating any longer. Enjoy!"

The celebration lasted all night, with students finally returning to bed around six a.m. The school was like a ghost town during the day that day, as no one planned to get out of bed for meals until at least dinner.

The rest of the school year proceeded normally, without Defense Against the Dark Arts classes or frantic exam preparations. Students relished in their freedom from the safety restrictions that had been imposed, and the castle grounds were frequently crowded with students out for walks or sitting in the sun.

Blaise was given their own dorm room in the dungeons after they disclosed their gender to Professor Snape and the Headmaster. At first, Theo and Harry were disappointed not to be rooming with their friend anymore. That disappointment quickly resolved when Daphne pointed out that they wouldn't have to crowd into one person's bed curtains to have private conversations anymore - none of them had perfected a useful privacy charm yet. With this in mind, the whole group was enthusiastic about Blaise's new rooming situation.

The whole of Slytherin House knew about Blaise's gender immediately when they switched rooms. Amazingly, the entire second year was united in their support. Theo, Harry, and Daphne were their best friends and supported them immediately. Malfoy got his group to support Blaise in respect of their shared childhood. Millicent and Tracey Davis knew that anything Malfoy and Potter could agree on was the right decision to make. A few of the first or third years gave Blaise some trouble, but the second year was able to put a stop to everything quickly while united.

News spread to the rest of the school more slowly, as people noticed the Professors using different pronouns for Blaise in class. Some of them were arses, either because they had a problem with Blaise's gender (Which confused Harry to no end - how does it even impact them?) or because they were always ready to jump down Slytherins' throats. Outside the common room, even the Slytherins who were unsure about how to react to Blaise now defended them. Slytherins present a united front, especially in defense of their younger members.

Harry went back to the Chamber of Secrets to see to Gris three days after everything happened. After consulting Salazar's portrait that it was safe, he agreed to bring his friends along. ("Of course it's safe," Salazar had told him, "I built that space as a safe place for my Heirs to study and convene with those they trust. It is yours to do as you will.") Salazar had told him he could request stairs from the pipeline entrance, which made Harry feel a bit silly about all of the charms he'd needed Professor Snape to cast on their way in and out before.

The Chamber was no longer covered in bones and dust. Apparently, visiting it had alerted the house elves of Hogwarts to the uncleaned space, and they had gone immediately to work. The tiles in the main chamber gleamed, and their footsteps gave ringing echoes as they walked through. The walls were also cleaned of dirt, and Harry noticed a carving of snakes with emeralds for eyes on the wall to the right that had been too filthy to see before. Approaching it, he realized it was a door like the one that led into this room. He hissed to it, and it slowly opened.

Inside was a study. The elves had found this room as well, and Harry found himself glad. There was a lovely desk with a large wingback chair, which was certainly not original to the chamber. There was no way it was a thousand years old. The walls were lined with shelves, and on those shelves were books which looked like they could have been Salazar's. At Harry's request, Theo checked the books and found intact preservation charms, so Harry picked one up and flipped through it. It appeared to be a journal. He showed it to Blaise.

"What is this? It's nonsense."

"What? No, it's in plain English!"

Theo peeked at it. "No it isn't, Harry. It's just a bunch of curvy lines."

Harry gasped. "It's written in Parseltongue! I didn't know Parseltongue had a script!" Harry flipped carefully through the journal, but found little of interest. He picked up another, and realized it was about the creation of Hogwarts. He gasped loudly, and turned to his Mum excitedly.

"This was written by Slytherin!"

Harry set the journal down on the desk, and his friends crowded around it despite not being able to read a word of it. Reverently, Daphne brushed her fingers against the cover while Harry looked at the rest of the books on the shelf. He found three that seemed to be the family charter and training for Heirs, and put them carefully in his bag along with the journal from the desk. He turned to his friends.

"Wanna meet Gris?"

All three looked apprehensive, but steeled themselves and nodded. Harry lead them out of the study, allowing the door to close behind them, and faced the statue of Slytherin. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." The mouth opened, just like it had on Friday night, and Gris could be heard shifting within the tunnel. "Eyes closed please, Gris."

"Yes, my Heir."

"She'll have her eyelids closed so that her gaze it cut off. You're all safe. Just a warning, you can still see her yellow eyes." Daphne gulped, Theo looked ecstatic, and Blaise looked contemplative. Gris's immense body emerged from the statue's mouth, and she coiled on the floor of the chamber. Harry walked up to her fearlessly and laid a hand on her snout, hissing compliments. "You can come see her closer, if you want!" he called to his friends. None of them moved an inch, and Harry shrugged. Nothing for it.

He turned back to Gris. "I promised you food. How do you prefer to eat, lovely?"

"I can hunt in the forest," she hissed happily, "Only give me permission and I can feed myself at will."

Harry fumed. Tom Riddle only had to give Gris permission to hunt and she could be fed, but he still let her go hungry? Harry knew Voldemort was evil towards humans, especially muggles, but mistreating an intelligent animal that was magically bound to him in loyalty was a new low. "You may hunt freely at night. Only be sure to keep your eyes closed until you are away from the students."

"Yes, my Heir," Gris seemed ecstatic to be allowed to hunt. Harry was sadly reminded of himself, overjoyed to have his basic needs met because he'd been denied. He spent a little longer with the basilisk before bidding her goodbye and leading his friends out of the Chamber.

The calm, relaxed atmosphere of the castle after a year of tension allowed time to slip by unnoticed. Too soon, it was time to board the Express. Harry, Theo, Daphne, Blaise, and of course Lily shared a compartment. Ginny Weasley stopped by briefly, as did Ron and Hermione. More surprising was the Weasley twins.

"We want to thank you-" said the first.

"For saving our sister-" continued the second.

"And for welcoming her in your house when she had trouble."

"We consider ourselves in your debt-"

"For your service to our family." The twins then bowed dramatically and left the compartment, closing the door behind them. The Slytherins exchanged meaningful looks. The Weasleys were Purebloods, even if they were non-tradtional, and the twins would understand what it would mean when they formally acknowledged a debt to another wizard. Especially to a compartment of traditional Slytherins. After a moment to bask in the opportunities this debt would bring, they returned to their previous conversation - mocking stereotypes of their house.

At King's Cross, Sirius and Remus waited for Harry again. Harry turned to his friends to say goodbye, much more cheerfully than the previous year, and promised to invite them to Blackwood Hall for his birthday if not sooner. He then walked to Sirius, his trunk in tow and Mehen wrapped around his shoulders, and they apparated home.