solution

"This is..." Harry stared at the silver sword in his hand, bewildered.

While Harry was taken aback, he heard Dumbledore's voice saying, "Harry, can you give me Gryffindor's sword?"

Gryffindor's sword? A magical artifact left behind by Gryffindor, one of the legendary Big Four at Hogwarts?

Harry was even more astonished, filled with doubts. Why could Gryffindor's sword be pulled out of the Sorting Hat?

"Of course, Professor! But...how do I get Gryffindor's sword into your hands?" Harry was perplexed.

Ciaran heard the conversation between the two and immediately turned her head to glance at the object in Harry's hand. The shining silver sword looked even more beautiful and dazzling in the dark environment, making it almost impossible to look away. Especially since that silver sword held another powerful value in Ciaran's eyes.

Another special magical item filled with Force Points!

It was challenging for Ciaran to retract her gaze and focus on the Basilisk. So far, he had absorbed all the Force points from Ravenclaw's crown, a special magical item. Although the Sorting Hat's Force points were plentiful, they possessed a certain intelligence, and absorbing Force points would cause a certain degree of damage to magical items. Hence, Ciaran dared not stretch out his hands to absorb Force points from the Sorting Hat.

Gryffindor's sword had no intelligence. It might not be usable at other times except for the current situation. Even if she secretly absorbed the Force points in Gryffindor's sword, Ciaran couldn't discern any potential consequences. 

However, the timing wasn't favourable now, so Ciaran restrained her urge to use the summoning spell, although there was a high probability that the summoning spell would be ineffective against special magical items like Gryffindor's sword.

"Fawkes will help." Dumbledore's voice was brisk and cheerful.

Phoenix Fawkes snatched the silver sword from Harry's hand, fluttered its beautiful wings, and delivered Gryffindor's sword to Dumbledore's hand. Immediately, the phoenix circled and disappeared into the darkness.

Dumbledore held Gryffindor's sword tightly and waved his wand with his right hand. Seven or eight thick stone pillars entrapped the basilisk, leaving it dazed. Ciaran took the opportunity to cast a coma spell at the basilisk.

"Move aside! Crush those stone pillars and use your strong body!" Harry heard Riddle's anxious Parseltongue.

"Collapse!"

No matter how resistant the basilisk was, it was still greatly affected by Ciaran's more than ten stupefying spells, leaving it dizzy, akin to a drunk person.

"Well done, Ciaran," Dumbledore commended silently, casting a lightness spell on himself. He leaped over the stone pillars deftly, aiming at the basilisk's flat head, and slashed it with his sword.

Wow——

A chunk of the basilisk's head was severed by Dumbledore with Gryffindor's sword, and black blood sprayed freely. Dumbledore recited a protective spell for himself to prevent the black blood from contaminating him and to ward off any attempts by the snake's fangs to pierce his body.

Boom! ! !

The basilisk finally fell down weakly, its tail twisting and twitching a few times before succumbing to death. It met its end in the hands of Dumbledore and the sword of Gryffindor!

"I believe it's time for this matter to come to an end," Dumbledore declared solemnly, holding the Elder Wand in one hand and the sword of Gryffindor in the other, facing the blurry figure of Riddle.

"Do you reckon I am the real life, Dumbledore," Riddle sneered, "the vessel of my soul..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his expression froze, his pupils dilating instantly.

Snap...

Phoenix Fawkes grabbed a diary and threw it at Dumbledore's feet. Riddle's eyes followed the diary.

Ciaran knew it was the vessel of Voldemort's soul fragment, manifested in the outside world due to absorbing too much of Ginny's life force.

"Goodbye, Tom," Dumbledore said, raising his silver sword high and plunging it straight into the ground.

Ahhhh...

A terrible, long-lasting, piercing scream echoed in the secret room, streams of ink spurted out from the diary like a spring connected to the underground sewer, but not a single drop touched Dumbledore. Contaminated by the ink, all were blocked in mid-air by the protective spell, then fell to the ground.

Riddle's blurry figure distorted instantly. He struggled, arms flailing like a drowning man, emitting a sharp howl that pierced eardrums. Harry couldn't help but cover his ears.

Ciaran casually cast an earplug charm on herself, replacing the piercing howl with a gentle buzzing in her ears.

A few seconds later, Riddle vanished. Everything fell silent in the secret room. Only the sound of ink dripping from the diary could be heard. Gryffindor's sword pierced the diary, destroying it. It was a Horcrux made by Voldemort in his student years.

"Alright, it's done. No lives lost. The students in the hospital and Mrs. Lorris will recover after Professor Sprout's mandrake matures," Dumbledore said happily, pulling out Gryffindor's sword, stowing the wand in his robe, and picking up the diary in his right hand, studying it carefully.

Ciaran glanced at Dumbledore's wand without betraying any emotion. She recognized it as the Elder Wand, one of the Three Hallows of Death, which had caused countless conflicts in the magical world's history. The Elder Wand was also what Ciaran believed to be the most potent of the three Hallows.

But it was impossible for her to wrest the Elder Wand from Dumbledore.

"Professor, Ginny...Ginny..." Harry cradled Ginny in his arms. The young witch remained unconscious. Harry was distraught.

Ciaran comforted Harry, saying, "Don't worry, Riddle's diary has been destroyed. Ginny will wake up soon."

He recalled that in the original timeline, Ginny woke up shortly after Riddle's diary was destroyed.

Sure enough, a soft moan emanated from Harry's arms. Ginny began to stir, bringing a glimmer of joy to Harry's face.

Ginny sat up, looking confused. Suddenly, her cheeks flushed crimson as she realized her proximity to Harry. She hastily extricated herself from his embrace, accidentally bumping Harry's chin. Harry's eyes welled up with tears. It stung!

"Sorry, Harry, sorry," Ginny apologized quickly. Her gaze shifted to Ciaran and Dumbledore, then to the massive basilisk corpse and the crimson phoenix flying in the secret room.

Her pupils dilated, her body trembling involuntarily as tears streamed down her face, soaking her clothes.

"Oh, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Frémont, Harry, I... I intended to gather the courage to confess to the professor... But in front of so many students in the common room, I... I couldn't. I'm too cowardly, afraid of being expelled from Hogwarts!"