Chapter 211
"Would you give me an Outstanding then, Minerva?" teased Dumbledore, hiseyes twinkling. Snape rushed forward and started to examine the huge cast-off skin that layon the other side of the archway. Brimbold followed and turned to Harry. "How large is this beast?"
"I'm, uh, not sure of the size," admitted Harry, "but it was really big."
"I'd estimate around fifty to sixty feet based on Harry's memory; as thick asanancient oak tree." Bertie said. "Harry, if you could, we're going to need youfor
the next bit." They all carried on down the tunnel to the massive doors, a strange silencesettling over the group. Dumbledore turned around and held up his wand for attention. "It has been
over a year since Harry defeated the basilisk so there is likely to be somedecay. You may want to cover your mouths and noses until the smell has
been dispersed."
"Here." Sirius handed Harry a handkerchief and conjured another for
Hermione's use.
"There's a perfect spell called the Bubble Head charm for this type of situationbut they don't teach it to us for another couple of years yet and, oh look!
Professor Flitwick's demonstrating it." Hermione rambled in Harry's ear. Harry looked at their Charms Professor and saw a strange translucent bubblesurrounding his head.
"It's mainly meant to be used underwater like the old deep sea diving suitsbut
an alternative use is in potions and as a supply of fresh air in spelunking." Hermione continued to ramble and Harry didn't object knowing it was her wayof dealing with her nerves. "Of course, it is very unstable if cast inexpertly andcan easily be disturbed which makes it very dangerous!" There was a loud sob and they both turned to look at Ginny who was a
trembling mess.
"That's it!" Molly declared as she rubbed Ginny's shoulders. "I'mtaking youback up! I knew this was a bad idea."
"No…" Ginny sobbed. "I just…" her eyes snapped open and arrowed in on Harry. "Please, can I stay with Harry?" Molly sent Harry a helpless look. Ron mouthed the word 'mental' at him. Harry nodded reluctantly. He held out his free hand to Ginny who immediatelyrushed over and grasped it tightly. Hermione, who held his other hand, gavehim a subtle squeeze of support.
"Well, since Harry's got his hands full, a handkerchief isn't going to work
anymore so…" Sirius frowned. "Moony?"
"You always were hopeless at remembering the wand movements for theBubble Head, Padfoot." Remus said, performing the magic so that a secureBubble Head appeared around Harry. He did the same for Hermione andGinny.
"Excellent work, Remus!" Professor Flitwick grinned at him. Bill motioned for Harry to step forward and he whispered once again for thedoors to open. From the distressed sounds that the people with only handkerchiefs made, Harry was glad of the Bubble Head. Bill and Caro were both casting in unisonand Professor Flitwick and Snape hurriedly moved alongside themto help.
It was Caro who gave the signal it was all clear and Harry felt the Bubble Headdisappear, and wrinkled his nose at the slightly stale musty smell that
remained. Bill entered with Caro and Harry waited patiently while others
walked in; he was in no rush. Eventually Hermione nudged himgently andhecleared his throat.
"You ready, Ginny?" She nodded, her face wet with tears. Her mother had walked up to stand beside them and she took Ginny's other
hand. "Come on, dear." Harry was glad of Sirius's warm presence behind him; his hand on Harry'sshoulder. They cleared the doors and shuffled around the frozen group of adults gazingat the remains of the snake. It came into view slowly; a large green creaturewith torn sightless yellow eyes that had dimmed with decay. Its mouth wasopen and filled with sharp fangs that sent another shiver through Harry.
"Bloody hell!" Ron muttered under his breath and nobody remonstrated withhim about his language.
Ginny raised her head from its hiding place in Harry's shoulder, took one lookat the huge corpse of the basilisk and fainted. Molly and Sirius reacted quicker
than Harry as Hermione had tightened her hold on his other hand. They bothcaught Ginny before she hit the floor.
"I thought this would happen." Molly muttered. "I knew she wasn't ready for
this! But she was so determined and wouldn't listen to me! Her own mother!" Bill hurried over to his sister's side. "How is she?" Remus checked Ginny's pulse. "It's just a faint but I think it's best we get her
up to the infirmary. I'll carry her for you, Molly."
"Thank you, Remus." Molly said. "Come on, Ron."
"But Mum…" Ron complained.
"You've seen the basilisk and the Chamber." Molly said briskly. "In fact there'sno need for any of you children to be down here anymore."
"Mum, Harry needs to stay in case a parselmouth is needed and I'msure he'dappreciate Ron and Hermione's support." Bill said, before anyone could argue. Molly looked for a moment as though she wanted to protest but in the end
gave a nod. She turned to Sirius. "Thank you for catching Ginny."
"Not a problem." Sirius said. Harry frowned at the strain in Sirius's voice but waited until the others hadleft
before he said anything. "You OK, Padfoot?" Sirius nodded and clasped the back of Harry's neck. "Just…I knowI've seenyour memory of what happened but seeing that beast for real and knowinghow close you came…" he stopped abruptly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 212
Harry sent Hermione a look and she let go of him so he could hug Sirius. Hemouthed a thank you at her and she sent him an understanding smile back. Sirius held onto him for a long time – long enough for the others to collect
themselves and begin organising. Brimbold had his team start on breaking down the basilisk with Snape
hovering in wondrous appreciation for the potions ingredients. Bill and Caromoved ahead to examine the walls of the Chamber and the Professors
followed after them, talking in reverential tones. A few of them, Hagrid andMoody in particular, looked sympathetically towards Sirius and Harry, andMinerva wandered over to engage Ron and Hermione in a discussion. Siriusstayed wrapped around Harry and for once Harry didn't protest the hug goingon too long or in front of someone, knowing that it was Sirius who neededthecomfort not him.
Eventually, Sirius took a deep breath and loosened the tight hold he'd hadonHarry. "OK."
"Yeah?" asked Harry softly.
"Yeah." Sirius said quietly. "Just promise me no more basilisks."
"I promise that I will not fight any more basilisks if I can help it." Harry said.
"That's good enough." Sirius patted his back and eased away, still keepingahand on Harry's shoulder though to ground himself. Moody wandered over and Harry smiled at the old Auror who gave himanodof acknowledgement. "I'm looking forward to having you in my Defence class, Potter. You did a good job with this bloody basilisk."
"I was lucky." Harry replied. "Fawkes helped me out a lot." Moody nodded. "Luck's half the battle, lad." His magical eye swivelled andfixed on Sirius. "Black, you're as pale as a ghost. Here." He thrust his flask at
him. "Take a sip and don't argue with me."
Sirius took a swig of what Harry assumed was whiskey or some other
alcoholic beverage, and handed the flask back. "Thank you, sir."
"None of that 'sir' business. Haven't had the chance to say anything to yousince you got cleared but I cocked it up with your arrest. Should have checkedon you after Crouch hauled you off and made sure there was an interview." Moody said grimly.
"I don't blame you, Alastor." Sirius said. "I remember what the office was likeback then. You were lucky if you got a minute to do the paperwork beforethere was another raid to go on."
"Still, it's no excuse." Moody said crisply. His magical eye suddenly swivelledtowards Harry. "Where's your wand?" Harry grinned and showed him his wrist holster.
"Good lad." Moody nodded at him. "Always remember…"
"Constant vigilance!" Sirius and Harry chorused together. A chuckle behind them had them turning to find Remus smirking at the twoof
them. He ruffled Harry's hair. "I had a moment of déjà vu there. You knowafter
every training session with Professor Moody here Sirius and James wouldturn up and yell 'constant vigilance' at me?"
Moody looked over at Sirius who had a hint of colour in his cheeks.
"We might have maybe sometimes done that…" Sirius allowed. "Anyway, enough about me…" Harry exchanged an amused look with Remus at Sirius's discomfort.
"…how's Ginny?" Sirius asked as Ron and Hermione gathered back aroundthem. Harry sobered and awaited Remus's reply eagerly.
"With Madame Pomfrey." Remus said. "I sent a patronus message to her soshe was waiting in the bathroom. She's taken Ginny to the infirmary; she
thinks it was just too much for her."
"Mum and Dad tried to convince her not to come but she wouldn't hear it!" Ronconfirmed, but there was relief written across his face with the news that
Ginny was fine.
"It was brave of the lass to make an attempt." Moody said.
Snape gave a large snort in the background. Remus put a hand on Sirius's arm so he wouldn't retort. "How are things goingdown here?" He said lowering his voice.
"Well, so far I've freaked out, Harry gave me a hug and Moody gave me someFirewhiskey." Sirius answered.
"I don't do hugs." Moody deadpanned. They all burst out laughing at that.
"Some of us are trying to work." Snape snapped. Sirius was prevented from retorting again by Remus who suddenly pointedat
the statue of Slytherin. "Didn't the basilisk originate from the mouth of theSlytherin statue?" He began walking towards it and Sirius settled for glaringat
Snape before nodding at Harry in agreement that they should followRemus. The others saw their direction and Bill walked over to join them. "We haven't
found anything here in the outer chamber." He admitted. "Bertie, Caro andProfessor Dumbledore are going over it a second time but I don't think
anything's here."
"But the basilisk came out of the statue so perhaps there's something beyondit?" Remus mused out loud. He started waving his wand in a scanning spell
that Harry recognised from the ring search. Bill joined him, repeating the movements. He inhaled sharply. "There's a
parseltongue ward."
"Didn't the…the diary version of Riddle say something when he called forththebasilisk?" Sirius prompted. Harry nodded. "Should I…?"
"Just wait a moment until we've updated everyone." Bill said, walking backtowards Caro.
It seemed to Harry to take forever before everyone bar the Creature Specialist
team were back in front of the statue – or rather to the side in case any
additional mythical beasts came out – and waiting for Harry to say the
password. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 213
"Speak to me, Slytherin! Greatest of the Hogwarts four!" Harry stated loudly. The rumbling sound of the mouth opening had Harry instinctively duckinghishead, the memory of the basilisk emerging uppermost in his thoughts. Sirius and Remus immediately moved closer to him. Hermione sneakedher
hand back into his and smiled at him reassuringly as Ron hovered closer.
It took a long moment but he realised there were no sounds of slithering–nothing was coming out of the mouth.
"Right." Caro said briskly. "I'll go up and take a quick look." She transformedinto a tiny sparrow and took flight. Harry watched her wide-eyed. He'd been thinking about his animagus formever since Minerva had agreed to allow him the same deal as his father sinceSirius would actually be teaching him. He really didn't want to be a stag. Heloved that his patronus was a symbol of his father but he wanted to be
something different. He got 'you're so like your father' enough without addinghis animagus form to it. He had toyed with the hope of canine forms –awolf
or a dog; he wouldn't mind either as both would represent his respect andaffection for Sirius and Remus. He wasn't sure about cats; he didn't mindthem but he remembered his days of hell with Mrs Figg too much to want tobe one. He definitely didn't want to be a snake. He didn't mind snakes, basilisks aside, but he didn't like the idea of transforming into one. Abirdthough…to be that free…
Caro transformed back into her human form and shouted down that therewasa room…and suddenly there was a shriek…
A tiny sparrow zoomed out of the mouth followed by a large black cloud…Harry was pushed behind Sirius and Remus with Hermione and Ron; the two
men took up a defensive position – wands out as the sparrow fled the blackmist… Harry could see that the others were scattering, hiding behind pillars andraising their wands…
Bill yelled something at Bertie that Harry couldn't hear over an ominous
rumble coming from the statue…but the two of them raised their wands andbegan casting something white in the direction of the black cloud…The cloud took shape into a snake and abandoned its chase of the sparrow; it
dived for the two wizard threatening it… Harry's heart pounded fast in chest. Dumbledore moved, his wand weaving sharply in the air as he cast the samespell to the rear of the cloud…
But it wasn't going to be enough…
"Stop!" Harry's voice hissed out. And the black cloudy snake disappeared just before it hit Bill and Bertie, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.
Harry could hear Hermione's ragged breathing and he took her hand as heturned to check she was alright. She nodded at his questioning look andtheyboth turned to Ron who gave a shaky nod and clapped Harry's shoulder.
"Well done, mate!" Ron said. "What was that thing?"
"A guardian spirit." Remus explained. "Obviously deactivated by parseltongue."
"Yes, obviously." Sirius said, rolling his eyes, but he grinned at Harry. "Goodthinking, Harry." Harry decided he wasn't going to tell anyone that it had been pure instinct.
"Yes, well done, my boy!" Dumbledore beamed at him. "I haven't had this muchfun in years!" Minerva shot him a 'I can't believe you said that' look. Caro transformed back. She barely looked out of breath or startled. "I
triggered the spirit when I couldn't respond to a snake ornament up therebut I
think that was the only thing there." She looked at Bertie. "Try again?"
Bertie nodded. Everyone moved back to their defensive positions as Caro flew back upinher
sparrow form once more. There was a brief silence and then she calledout it
was all clear. Harry watched as ladders were pulled out of Bill's satchel andropes to tie them securely in place. They were floated up to Caro to anchor
and Bill headed up first, followed immediately by Bertie and Dumbledore.
"Are we…are we going up?" Hermione stared at the ladders with foreboding. Harry remembered that she hated heights and squeezed her hand gently. "I
don't think so. I don't think we're needed anymore."
"What about if they need you for another one of those spirit things?" Ronasked bluntly. Harry shook his head. "I think that was it." Sirius cleared his throat. "I think Harry's right. We should head upstairs. If theyneed you for parseltongue again we can come back." Minerva nodded sharply. "I'll send a patronus if we need you." She smiledwarmly at Harry. "You did very well, Harry."
"Thanks." Harry was relieved as they set back off, leaving the basilisk andtheChamber behind. Sirius sent a ball of light through the tunnel to lead the wayand Hermione chattered on about the spell that he had used; Ron rolledhiseyes at her in exasperated fondness. The climb back up was arduous and they were all breathing heavily by thetime they got to the bathroom.
"You're back!" Myrtle warbled in greeting. Harry didn't immediately have the breath to reply; he waved at her.
"The redheaded girl was carried out this time." Myrtle informed him. "Her
mother was not pleased! My mother wouldn't have been pleased either."
"We'd best go see Ginny." Harry said to Ron and Hermione.
"You're leaving me already?!" Myrtle complained.
"We'll come back and see you when school starts," Harry said, "I promise."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 214
"Me too, Myrtle." Hermione said.
Myrtle gave a huff and jumped in a toilet, water splashing on the floor. Sirius laughed. "Somehow I think she wanted Harry to herself, Hermione." Harry shot him a look as Ron and Hermione joined Sirius in chuckling. Remus steered them towards the door. "Let's get to the infirmary." They trooped through the school with Remus and Sirius telling stories of
events in various corridors. Harry and Ron listened eagerly, sniggering as
Hermione's expression morphed from one of interest to horror at the
rule-breaking.
"You can't encourage Harry and Ron to do that!" She exclaimed as another taleended (with a boy called Mulciber dressed in a fetching purple thong dancingdown the corridor they were walking through). "Do you know howmany school
rules you broke?"
"Five, six if you consider Mulciber was out of school uniformand it was
essentially our fault." Remus answered absently. Sirius stared at his friend for a moment and burst out laughing. "Only you, Moony."
"And we can't really say anything, Hermione," Harry pointed out, amusement
colouring his tone, "how many rules did we break rescuing Buckbeak andSirius?"
"Or saving Ginny in the Chamber?" Ron agreed.
"That was different!" Hermione protested. Her chin went up and her lips tookon a stubborn set that Harry knew all too well. "Besides, when we savedSiriuswe had the Headmaster's permission so technically we didn't break any rules, and you did have Lockhart with you when you went after Ginny so…" Sirius and Remus broke out laughing again. Hermione looked at themaskance and Harry just shook his head at her when she turned to himfor
support. They all sobered up though as the doors of the infirmary came into sight. Harry felt his gut twist. He seemed to spend an inordinate amount of timeinthe infirmary and he had never liked the place. He followed Remus insideandimmediately spotted Molly sat by a bed in the corner; Ginny was tuckedupand looked fast asleep. Molly waved them over. "She was hysterical when she came to – she wantedto go back. Poppy gave her a sleeping potion. Poppy said she was sufferingfrom shock. I've left a message with Arthur's secretary. Hopefully, he'll beableto get here once his meeting is finished." She stroked Ginny's cheek gently. "She was so determined to come. We thought we were doing the right thing."
"You couldn't have known how she would react for certain, Molly." Remussaidsoothingly. "Nobody really does know how they'll face the site of a traumaticevent until they're there."
"I freaked out too." Harry confessed, hoping to make Molly feel a bit better
about allowing Ginny to go along.
"Me too." Ron admitted, shifting closer to his Mum.
"And me three." Sirius said gently. "And I only saw Harry's memory of what
happened."
"If she had been able to handle it, it would have been a positive experiencefor
her to face her fears." Remus added.
"Which was why I endorsed the effort." Madame Pomfrey bustled into theroom and glared at the crowd of people surrounding the bed. "You may haveto return her to her mind healer, Molly. She's clearly still dealing with the after
effects of her experience." Molly went bright red. "She…we…" she stuttered before getting hold of herself, "Ginny hasn't seen a mind healer. She seemed back to normal and the
Headmaster said she was OK so…"
Madame Pomfrey's eyes widened dramatically, her face turning as red asMolly's. "And when did the Headmaster receive his healing qualifications?" She all but shouted. Harry felt supremely awkward standing in between the two women.
"I told you at the time that your daughter would need…" Sirius cleared his throat. The mediwitch shot the assembled crowd a look andtook a calming breath evidently reigning in whatever she'd been about toyell
given the presence of other people.
"I highly recommend that you engage a mind healer now." She said briskly. "If
you'll excuse me…" She swept away before anyone could say anything. Molly's colour hadn't abated at all and she wouldn't look at any of them. "I
thought she was fine. She's had a few nightmares over the last year or sobut
nothing that would indicate a real problem." Harry had no idea what to say and he had a feeling Ginny would be mortifiedto hear her mother discussing her problems with so many people.
"Kids are remarkably resilient," Remus assured her gently, "but with her
reaction to the Chamber, she obviously hasn't come to terms with her
experience. I'm sure a mind healer would be able to help her."
"I can recommend a good one." Sirius added, a little hesitantly. Ron stirred restlessly. "We can use the money from the basilisk, Mum." Hebit
his lip, before he continued on anyway. "You can have my share if Ginny's
won't cover it."
"That's kind of you, Ronald," Molly patted his hand and smiled at her son, "andyou're a good brother for offering but that money's a nest egg for you."
"I'm sure Ginny's share will more than cover it." Remus said. "Basilisk productssell well." Molly nodded and met Sirius's eyes with a determined expression. "Arecommendation for a mind healer would be appreciated." Sirius smiled. "I'll owl you his details when I get home." A Hogwarts elf popped into the infirmary and bowed to Sirius. "Professor
Babbling is ready to meet with you and your Heir, the Lord Harry Potter, at your
convenience, Lord Black."
"Thank you." Sirius said formally.
The elf popped away again.
It was his test results. Harry was assaulted by a rush of nerves; twisting, torturing nerves that writhed in his belly and made him want to throwup. What
if he hadn't passed? What if he'd failed? Sirius would be so disappointedinhim…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 215
His mouth went dry.
"Come on." Sirius nudged his elbow. "We shouldn't keep Professor Babblingwaiting." Molly managed to dredge up a smile for Harry. "Good luck, Harry."
"Yeah," Ron said, punching Harry's upper arm lightly, "good luck, mate."
"You'll be fine, Harry. You can't have discussed Runes as much as you didat
lunch without knowing enough to have passed the requirements for fourthyear." Hermione informed him as they wandered out of the infirmary withfinal
farewells to the Weasleys all consisting mainly of hopes that Ginny wouldfeel
better shortly.
When they reached the main staircase, Remus paused and nodded at Harry. "Hermione and I will meet you at the entrance. Good luck." Sirius's firm hand on Harry's shoulder guided him back through Hogwarts' maze of corridors to Professor Babbling's office. She greeted them warmly and within moments Harry found himself sittingrather uncomfortably on a wooden chair in front of her desk, Sirius besidehim. Professor Babbling smiled a tad nervously. "Well, firstly, I have to admit tomaking a mistake."
"Oh?" Sirius asked immediately protective.
"I accidentally gave Harry part of the fourth year final examalong with thethird year." Professor Babbling confessed ruefully. So that was why there had been so many questions! But that meant he hadn't
had the full time for his third year questions and…Harry bit his lip, nerves
rushing him again.
"Now, it has led to some surprising results." Professor Babbling continued. "On the third year material, taking into account your reduced time for the
essay question and so removing it from consideration, you scored an
Outstanding."
Outstanding!
He'd gotten an Outstanding! He almost drowned in the relief and turnedtoSirius with a happy grin.
"I'm so proud of you, Harry." Sirius said, reaching over and gripping his
shoulder. "That's excellent work!"
"Yes," Professor Babbling smiled widely at him, "you did very well. Only your
friend Hermione and Anthony Goldstein did better on those portions of theexam and I'm sure if you had been given the full time you may have equalledor surpassed them." Harry flushed warm with the praise and the almost definable paternal pridehecould see oozing from Sirius as the Professor continued talking.
"But the really interesting thing for me," Professor Babbling said, "is that youscored an Acceptable on the fourth year material you answered, and really
once again, if you'd had the proper time you may well have scored an ExceedsExpectation. Certainly your analyses of the Runic combinations were very well
done."
"That's brilliant!" Sirius declared when Harry remained speechless. "So I
assume there is no issue with him taking the fourth year class?"
"Well, that's what I wanted to discuss with you." Professor Babbling leanedback and fixed Harry with an intent stare. "If you continued tutoring for therest of the Summer, I believe you'd pass the fourth year final exam, and wouldtherefore be able to sit with the fifth year class in September." Harry looked at her astounded. "You mean…I'd…" he gestured jumping weaklywith his fingers.
"Skip a year, yes." Professor Babbling said with a smile. "There are advantages;
firstly, it would keep you challenged. I think a fourth year placement wouldbore you. Secondly, you could take the OWL at the end of the year and thiswould mean one less OWL for you to take next year which given the fifthyear
syllabi for the core subjects is recommended. Thirdly, on the assumptionyouwould take your NEWT in your sixth year, I would not be adverse to signingyou up to complete the initial Mastery year in your seventh. Whether youcontinue or not, the training would be useful in several professions." Harry swallowed hard and darted a look at Sirius. He was really pleasedtobeconsidered but he wasn't sure if he wanted to jump a year but there werenohints at Sirius's thoughts as his father was intently listening to Babbling.
"There are disadvantages, of course," the Runes Professor said with a waveof
her hand, "you'll be taking classes with the year above you and outside of your
peer group which may lead to some resentment and suggestion of
preferential treatment. Additionally, you would be sitting an OWL a year earlyand that would make fourth year exams slightly more stressful for you. But I
think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages in your case, Mister
Potter. What do you think?"
What did he think? He glanced again at Sirius who looked back at himwithcalm thoughtful grey eyes and he knew Sirius was waiting for himto makehisown decision. He really didn't want to skip a year. People would think it was favouritismandspecial treatment. He would stand out; be different; not normal again. Hisentire being wanted to blurt out that fourth year class was fine with him. But. Hadn't he promised Sirius to always do his best? If he didn't skip a year, wasn't
that holding himself back? Just as he had with all of his schooling beforeSirius? Wasn't his aversion to his classmates resenting himjust a reversekindof peer pressure to conform?
"Mister Potter?" prompted Professor Babbling gently. Harry bit his lip and sighed. "I'd like to try for the fifth year class if I can
continue being tutored?" He looked over at Sirius who nodded.
"I can continue tutoring you, Harry; that's not an issue." Sirius assured him.
"I am worried though," Harry murmured, getting a sudden spurt of inspiration,
"about people thinking that it's favouritism? I mean, I've only gotten the
chance to move into fifth year Runes because of switching subjects andanaccident with the exam so…" he sighed heavily, "is there any way we canoffer
the same deal to anyone else who might have gotten an Outstanding onthethird year exam?" Like Hermione, who would probably jump at the chancetosit the fourth year exam with him and hopefully enter fifth year Runes
alongside him.
"Oh, what an interesting question." Professor Babbling said, slumping backinher seat as she considered it. Sirius winked at Harry seemingly understanding his ploy. "I think it's an
excellent suggestion." He smiled at the Professor. "I'm thrilled Harry's donesowell and has the opportunity to enter fifth year but I'm also concerned about
his alienation from his peer group. He has enough obstacles in that regardwith the Boy Who Lived nonsense. I think offering the other students whogained an Outstanding the opportunity to sit the fourth year examat the
beginning of September and the chance to move up would alleviate the
majority of any resentment."