Chapter 30

Amelia Bones was pacing in Dumbledore's office wearing a groove in the carpet as she waited for any news about hers son and niece. She thought she was having a bad day when Minerva flooed her office informing her that Susan was missing and that she was believed to be kidnapped by this Heir of Slytherin character and taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

Just as she got over her shock and and flooed over to Dumbledore's office along with her brother and his wife ( Susan's parents) and she was about to demand some answers from Dumbledore who had just arrived on receiving a message from Minerva when a prefect burst into the office exclaiming that her son along with Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley were also missing and she just collapsed on the floor in shock on finding out that her baby boy was missing.

Amelia had just managed to compose herself when Lily and James burst into the office and Lily fainted on finding out that her son was most probably in the Chamber of Secrets and Sirius and James were trying to console Amelia and Lily respectively while trying to sound optimistic about

Harry's wellbeing when the Weasley parents and Augusta Longbottom entered Dumbledore's office and began demanding answers from Dumbledore about their child and grandchild respectively.

As her mind was coming up with all types of horrific scenarios, Dumbledore's office door opened to admit a weary looking Harry and Susan who looked to have been sobbing.

Amelia took of from her seat and embraced Harry tightly and from the corner of her eyes she saw Susan rush to hug her parents.

She felt Harry detach himself from her embrace only to be hugged tightly by Lily, when finally Harry managed to extract himself he said, " Longbottom and Weasley along with that ponce Lockhart are in a tunnel leading to the chamber of secrets in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, they are still down there as me and Susan came up using my broomstick. "

Dumbledore immediately sent Fawkes to retrieve the three of them. As Fawkes flamed away Dumbledore turned to Harry and asked, " Harry, if you could please enlighten us as to what happened, or you could give me a memory of what happened in the chamber we can watch it in my pensieve. "

Harry agreed saying, " I had just figured out that Slytherin's monster was a Basilisk when I had overheard Neville and Ron talking about him hearing voices from the walls and having known that Longbottom was a Parselmouth and Slytherin's fascination with snakes and the fact that all the petrification victims were petrified by looking at something in a reflection, I concluded that it was a basilisk as I had heard from Hagrid earlier in the year about something killing all the roosters and I knew that the crowing of a rooster is deadly to a basilisk and this confirmed my hypothesis and I was about to go to the staffroom to inform Professor McGonagall about it and how it was using the plumbing to move around and how Harry suspected that the entrance to the Chamber was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom as I knew that last time the Chamber was opened 50 years ago a student died and I had learnt from Luna about the ghost of a girl wearing schoolrobes that haunted a bathroom and I suspected that she was haunting the bathroom that she had died in, when I heard about Susan being taken into the Chamber and on reaching the staffroom all the teachers were absent and not having any time to waste I went by myself to rescue Susan, and it was a good thing I went immediately as I rescued her just on time, a little delay and she would have been dead. The rest of what happened in the chamber, you can watch from my memory. "

Harry brought the memory of him entering the chamber and killing the basilisk and destroying the diary to the forefront of his mind but excluded the part of taking the books from inside the small chamber and Dumbledore used his wand to retrieve it in the form of a silvery strand from his temple and placed in the silvery fluid of the Pensieve and Dumbledore, McGonagall and Harry's Parents ( all 4 of them) and Susan's parents and Susan entered it as Harry just collapsed in a seat.

Inside the Pensieve:

Lily Potter was shocked as they suddenly fell into the memory but they all quickly got up and watched how Harry got past the Parseltongue password and she was impressed at her son's creativity.

They saw Harry cast the silencing charm on his feet and scent masking charm on himself before entering the cavern and Minerva remarked, " smart boy, he made sure no one inside could hear him enter and also made sure that the Basilisk couldn't smell him out. "

They saw Harry disarm the shade and Amelia remarked, " good boy, he remembered the things I taught him about taking advantage of any mistake by your opponent. "

Lily along with the others paled as they heard the shade reveal his true identity and how the strong compulsion charm on the diary made Susan a puppet for Lord Voldemort himself.

Edgar and Mary Bones looked sick at the thought of their daughter being used by Lord Voldemort as a puppet.

Everyone paled as they saw the size of the Basilisk and then they saw the mirror enlarged and used by Harry to stun the basilisk for a few moments and Albus pointed out, " look at the runes painted on the top of the mirror, looks like Harry used the runes to make the mirror unbreakable and perfectly reflective to trap the Basilisk using the reflection of its own deadly gaze, it's genius! "

And as they saw Harry transfigure all the matchsticks he carried with him into long metallic spikes with just a flick of his wand and banished them at the Basilisk's face , rupturing it's eyeballs and making it blind and then further banishing those spikes in its eyes into its brain and killing it, Minerva said, " Harry really is a genius at Transfiguration , look at the ease with which he did that Transfiguration and Albus, he looks like he read the book on Battlefield Transfiguration you gifted him with and also it was a good idea to carry those matchsticks with him so as to have materials at hand to transfigure them to use on the Basilisk as he doesn't have the reserves to use conjuration on that scale yet. "

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Harry save Susan's life by destroying the diary just as it seemed that the shade of Lord Voldemort had completely solidified and Albus commented, " clever boy, he remembered that Basilisk venom is highly corrosive and used it to destroy the diary without wasting precious time trying to destroy the diary using different spells, " and no one saw the satisfied glint in Dumbledore's eye as he saw the shade of Voldemort being destroyed when Harry destroyed the diary using Basilisk venom as it confirmed his theory on what that Diary was and answered the question as to how Lord Voldemort had survived the rebounded Killing curse 12 years ago on that Halloween.

They also saw Lockhart admitting that he was a fraud and attempting to Obliviate them but instead being Obliviate himself when Harry deflected his memory charm back to him and Dumbledore softy chuckled saying, " impaled on your own sword huh,

Gilderoy, but also it was a masterful deflection of the spell by Harry, spell deflection is not a topic taught till seventh year, seems like Harry is even more advanced than we expected. " he said to McGonagall. and the memory came to a close as they all exited the Pensieve and back into the real world.

------------------------- Pensieve memory end -------------------

As everyone in his family and the Professors were watching his memory in the Pensieve, Harry found himself under scrutiny from Augusta Longbottom. Harry knew that she didn't like him as she had tried to usurp his father as Lord Potter as she was James aunt and she wanted the vast wealth of the Potters for her grandson as the Longbottom fortune had shrunk drastically over the years and therefore had even tried to arrange a marriage contract between Neville and Hyacinth, so that in the future they could kill Harry and control House Potter through his sister who would be Neville's wife, but James had refused point blank to enter any of his children into any marriage contracts.

Harry stared back challengingly at Augusta with a smirk on his face, he knew that if Neville or his grandmother tried to harm his family, he would kill them both, prophecy be damned and no one would even find their bodies.

As soon as everyone emerged from the Pensieve, Harry found himself in the crushing embrace of both his mothers as they berated him for going up alone against a sixty foot basilisk, " Harry, you are getting a spanking next time you pull a stunt like that. I am proud that you succeeded and saved Susan's life but please Harry, think about us before you do something like that again. "

Harry nodded his head agreeing to their demands and was then thanked by his uncle Edgar and Aunt Mary for saving Susan.

Dumbledore interrupted everyone saying, " Well, Harry what you did was stupendous, you will be getting a Special Services to School Award and two hundred points for Ravenclaw and you can claim the corpse of the Basilisk as spoils of your victory according to law. Minerva I think this occasion calls for a feast, would you please inform the kitchens and Ms. Bones you should not blame yourself, older and much more experienced wizards than you have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort. It think a Night's stay in the Hospital wing and a Dreamless Sleep potion will help you rest and I would suggest that you visit a mind healer this summer. "

As Susan and her parents along with Professor McGonagall left, Harry turned to Dumbledore and asked, " Professor, what is that diary? that was no mere memory, memories cantt possess or suck the life force out of people!. "

Dumbledore shook his head saying, " I am not sure Harry, but I have my suspicions but I will have to perform some tests to confirm them. But for now I think it is time to take rest, you have been through a terrible ordeal today. "

As Harry was leaving Dumbledore's office Lucius Malfoy burst into the office with his house elf following behind and he nearly spat at Dumbledore saying, " returned to Hogwarts have you? despite being suspended by the Hogwarts Governors. "

Dumbledore genially smiled at Lucius saying, " you are mistaken, I received floo calls from all the other other ten Hogwarts governors saying that I was the best man for the job and they were all under the assumption that you had threatened their families if they didn't agree to remove me as headmaster. "

" But you don't have to worry about any of that as you have been removed from your post of a Hogwarts Governor, all the other ten Governors voted unanimously in favor of removing you from your position. " Dumbledore smiled sharply as he handed a letter to Lucius.

Lucius glared hatefully at Dumbledore and said, " so have you solved the problem yet? who is the culprit? "

Dumbledore smiled saying, " the same one as last time Lucius, Lord Voldemort was using a young girl as his puppet using a cursed artifact of his, but young Harry here destroyed it and Slytherin's monster, otherwise could you imagine the scandal caused by the fact that the niece of Head of the DMLE attacking Mughleborns, " pointing at the destroyed Diary on his table.

Harry saw Lucius Malfoy blanch as he saw the destroyed diary, he was most probably thinking about the reaction of the Dark Lord if he returned to full strength and learned that Lucius had played a part in the destruction of his Diary that he had been given for safekeeping in one of his plots to discredit Amelia Black as she was a staunch opponent of his.

" It was indeed fortunate then, " Lucius replied with a grimace on his face and left quickly with his House elf following him.

Harry decided against trying to free Dobby as he had no connection to the elf and he wouldn't depend on the elf to defend himself from Malfoy should he attack him as he was still not capable of defeating death eaters, especially strong ones like Lucius Malfoy. Harry consoled himself with the thought that Malfoy would be dead by his hands in a couple of years and then Dobby would be free of his abusive master.

Then, Harry considered the possibility of freeing Dobby and bonding him to himself as it would serve as a way for Harry to be able to access Malfoy Manor in the case of an emergency, and deciding on his course of action, Harry turned towards Dumbledore and said Professor may I borrow the diary for a few minutes, I have some unfinished business with it. I will return it to you. "

With Dumbledore's permission Harry said his goodbye to his parents and rushed out of the office and after Malfoy while placing his handkerchief in between the pages.

As soon as he saw Malfoy walking down a corridor, Harry intercepted him and pushed the diary into his hands saying, " Mr, Malfoy, I came to return your Diary to return the Diary to you, I know that it was you who placed it in Susan's belongings."

Malfoy looked at destroyed diary in his hands and tossed it to his elf and Dobby caught it.

" Careful boy, if you stick your nose in matters that don't concern you, one day you will suffer the consequences, like your parents would have at the hands of the Lestranges and you will not be so lucky as them, " Lucius warned him and stalked away ordering his elf to follow him, but seeing as his elf was not following him he turned back to see Dobby holding a white Handkerchief.

Dobby looked at the handkerchief and said ecstatically, " Master threw the book and Dobby caught it. There be cloth in book, Master be giving Dobby clothes, Dobby be freeof bad master. "

Lucius looked at Harry with his mouth frothing as he understood that he had been tricked and shouting at Harry, " you have lost my me my servant , boy" he raised his wand at Harry but Harry was faster and disarmed him and fired a reduction at him and Malfoy was blasted backwards as Dobby also attacked him and the combined attack had knocked him unconscious. "

Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry turned around to see Dobby looking at him with wide eyes and said, " hey little guy, now that you are free of the Malfoys you can do anything you want. "

Dobby looked at the young wizard and said, " Master Harry, Dobby be wanting to work for you, if you agree. "

Harry agreed saying, " sure ,little fellow; I accept Dobby as my personal elf. " and after forming a bond with Dobby Harry asked him to work in Potter Manor for the time being and asked him to transport Malfoy outside of Hogwarts. Dobby popped away with Malfoy to fulfill his orders.

Harry looked at the wand in his hand and decided to keep it as his spare wand as he had won it from Malfoy and it now served him and also it did not have the pesky underage magical trace on it and it was always useful to have a spare wand and this wandvwas roughly the same length as his wand.

Harry returned the Diary to Dumbledore and he smiled at Harry saying, " that was a good thing you did Harry, I am proud of you. "

The feast that night was one of the best Harry had at Hogwarts as midway through the feast Padma came running into the Great Hall and hugged him tightly as all the Petrified people had been revived using the Mandrake restorative draught. She then along with Daphne and Tracey proceeded to read him the riot act about his stupidity in confronting a basilisk alone. Dumbledore announced the cancellation of all exams except the OWLS and NEWTS. As the feast came to an end Hagrid also returned to Hogwarts to raucous applause from all the students except the Slytherins as everyone had a soft spot for the gentle half giant and he hugged Harry tightly as he had lobbied with Dumbledore about Hagrid regaining the right to use a wand as the real culprit had been caught and he had been proven innocent.

Hagrid hugged Harry tightly saying, " thank you Harry, you don't know how much this means to me, you not only cleared my name but also got me back my wand rights. "

Harry just smiled and said, " Hagrid you are one of my best friends, you don't have to thank me. And once you obtain a new wand I will even help you learn all the new spells. "

The Quidditch matches continued and Harry and his team thrashed Slytherin 400- 50 despite them having the superior brooms due to Malfoy's bribe and won the Quidditch cup along with the House cup for the second consecutive year much to the irritation of Malfoy and Longbottom. Especially Longbottom as he seemed to be of the belief that Harry had stolen his glory by slaying the Basilisk and destroying the Heir of Slytherin and had taken to trying to ambush him or taunt him, both of which turned out very poorly for him as when he along with Ron had tried to ambush him Harry had stunned the two of them, stripped them to their boxers and strung them up in front of the Gryffindor common room much to the amusement of the whole school.

Harry had also claimed the basilisk corpse and rendered it down with the help of Gringotts goblins. Harry had kept a large amount of Basilisk skin and the Basilisk venom for himself but sold the rest of it to the goblins for a profit of nearly 1.5 million galleons. Harry intended to gave a Battle robe made of Basilisk skin be made for him when he finally stopped growing and also armor made from Basilisk skin for his parents. He refused to sell Basilisk venom as he didn't want such a dangerous substance being in the market where anyone could buy it and it could be used against him or his family in the future.

The rest of the school year went peacefully and he slept for most of the return journey to London on the Hogwarts express with his head in Padma's lap. They all agreed to meet up during the holidays and said goodbye to each other and went to their respective homes.