Disclaimer: Don't own DBZ or Harry Potter

A Saiyan With Magic

Chapter 13 Fight

They walked forward along the long tunnel. They reached a solid wall, which two entwined serpents were carved. Their eyes set with great glinting emeralds. Harry approached it and said something in a low hiss, the serpents parted, wall split into two, and the two parts slid smoothly out of sight. They continued moving forward.

Harry and Gohan were standing at the end of a very long dimly lit chamber. Stone pillars, decorated with carved serpents, supported the ceiling. There seemed to be a greenish gloom that filled the place.

As they walked forward, each step they took echoed off the walls. When they came level with the last pair of pillars they saw a stone statue as high as the chamber itself. The statue was ancient; it had a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two feet stood on the stone floor. Between the feet a small black robed figure with flaming red hair lied, motionless.

"Ginny!" Harry muttered. He ran to her and leaned over her. "Ginny – don't be dead – please don't be dead –"

Gohan rushed over to Harry and Ginny. He searched for Ginny's Ki, it was weak, but she was alive. "She's alive." Gohan whispered to Harry.

Harry turned her over. "Ginny, please wake up!" He muttered, shaking her.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Harry jumped and spun around on his knees. Gohan stood slowly preparing for a fight, if need be.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though they were looking at him through a misted window.

"Tom - Tom Riddle?" Harry questioned.

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately.

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a ghost?" Gohan asked, he couldn't sense his Ki.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary they had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. For a second, Gohan wondered how it had gotten there - but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"We've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk…I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment... Please, help me -" Harry said, raising Ginny's head.

Riddle didn't move. Gohan bent to help Harry lift Ginny off of the wet, stone floor. Gohan held Ginny in his arms. Harry bent to get his wand off of the floor, but his wand was gone.

"Did you see - ?" Harry asked aloud.

He looked up. Riddle was still watching Harry - twirling the wand between his long fingers.

"Thanks," said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.

A smile curled the corners of Riddle's mouth. He continued to stare at Harry, twirling the wand idly.

"Listen," said Harry urgently, "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes -"

"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly.

"What d'you mean?" Harry said. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it -"

Riddle's smile broadened. "You won't be needing it," he said.

"What d'you mean, I won't be - ?" Harry sputtered.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"Look," Harry said impatiently, "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later -"

"We're going to talk now," said Riddle, still smiling broadly, and he pocketed Harry's wand.

Gohan stared between the two of them. There was something very strange going on here and he didn't like it at all.

"How did Ginny get like this?" Gohan asked.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" said Harry.

"The diary," said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how-" Riddle's eyes glinted. "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…"

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No ones ever understood me like you_, Tom… I 'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in… It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket…" Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It reminded Gohan of the way Freeza laughed. "If I say it myself, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted… I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley, a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…"

"You're despicable." Gohan said, at the same time Harry asked "What d'you mean?"

"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry and Gohan whispered in unison.

"Yes," said Riddle calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries - far more interesting, they became. Dear Tom," he recited, "I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there.

Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I 've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I 'm pale and I 'm not myself I think he suspects me. There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad… I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"

Gohan was starting to get angry. This evil being manipulated an eleven-year-old girl to do his bidding. He told him self he had to keep his emotions in check, the last time he let them go, his lack of control cost him his father.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet…"

"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry, anger was apparent in Harry's voice.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust -"

"Hagrid's my friend," said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but -"

Riddle laughed his high laugh again. "It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student… on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls… but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance… as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power! Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed… Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did…"

"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," said Harry, his teeth gritted.

"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again -"

"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been - you."

Fear coursed through Gohan's veins. He needed to help Harry get out of this chamber.

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue… So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her… She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last… I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat, clenched fists at his sides.

"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you - a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?" There was an odd red gleam in Riddle's eyes.

"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time…"

"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter…"

He pulled Harry's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words: TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

Gohan's fear for his friend's safety became much more pronounced. He gripped Ginny's motionless body tighter, and looked around the chamber trying to find a weak spot or a clue to where this chamber was under.

"You're not," Harry said, his voice full of hatred.

"Not what?" snapped Riddle.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," said Harry, breathing fast. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days -"

The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted.

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Gohan felt it vibrating inside his ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder, as it folded its great wings. It had a long sharp golden beak and beady black eyes.

The bird stopped singing. It sat still next to Harry's cheek, gazing steadily at Riddle.

"That's a phoenix…" said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently.

"And that - " said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat -"

So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet.

Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark Chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once -

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

Gohan wondered what use were Fawkes or the Sorting Hat for, but they had to help in some way or another.

"To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -"

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. I can see now… there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. Because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike… But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know." Riddle's twisted smile was widening again. "Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, his friend, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him…"

Riddle walked away and looked up into the face of Slytherin. He hissed something Gohan couldn't understand. Then Slytherin's face moved and its mouth opened wider and wider, becoming a huge black hole, something was slithering up from the statue.

Gohan shut his eyes and relied on his Ki sensing ability to keep tabs on the snake, Harry, Fawkes, and Ginny's dwindling Ki. He heard the snake hit the floor and Riddle hiss to it. He set Ginny down against one of the pillars as he heard Harry start to run from the beast.

Gohan ran with Harry, he sent a small Ki blast over his shoulder at the snake. It hit but didn't do anything. The snake's skin must be like armor. Riddle laughed as Harry tripped.

Gohan stood in front of Harry (who was standing up) in a fighting stance, making sure to keep his eyes closed. Suddenly, Fawkes flew through the air and, Gohan could smell the blood as he punctured the only weak spot on the snake's body, its eyes.

He opened his eyes to see a shower of blood on the floor and Harry behind him. The snake's eyes had been destroyed. "Harry, it's safe." Gohan said quickly. The snake blindly thrashed about almost hitting Harry and Gohan.

Riddle hissed some indecipherable instructions to the snake.

Gohan was unsure what to do but grasp the snake's tail. In order to hold it down, so that it had to stay in one spot and the tail couldn't hurt Harry. As he was grabbing its tail he noticed the sorting hat and tossed it to Harry.

Riddle hissed another instruction to the snake and it lunged toward Harry, three times. The third time Gohan sensed Harry's Ki spike while the snake's dropped dramatically. The basilisk fell to the floor and Harry's Ki was dropping below his normal level.

Gohan let the snake go and rushed over to his friend. Harry was against the wall, holding a snake fang, had a gash in his arm, and blood drenched his robes.

"Gohan, thanks." Harry said thickly as Fawkes landed next to Harry's injured arm. "Fawkes you were fantastic, Fawkes…" The bird laid its head on the wound.

Footsteps approached them and a dark shadow came in front of them.

"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."

Fawkes's head laid on Harry's arm. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."

Gohan dug in his pockets for a senzu bean. He didn't have any with him.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter," said Riddle's distant voice. "In the Chamber of Secrets, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry… She bought you twelve years of borrowed time… but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must…"

Fawkes was still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound - except that there was no wound -

"Get away, bird," said Riddle suddenly. "Get away from him - I said, get away!"

Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

"Phoenix tears…" said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. "Of course… healing powers… I forgot… But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way."

He raised the wand, but before Gohan could react, there was a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap - the diary.

For a split second, Harry, Gohan, and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.

There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then – He had gone. Harry's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was silence. Silence except for the steady drip… drip… of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Gohan stood and smiled at Harry as he stood up. Harry gathered his wand, the Sorting Hat, and retrieved a glittering sword from the roof of the basilisk's mouth. Gohan started walking over to where he had placed Ginny down when he heard a faint moan from the pillar he left her at. Ginny was stirring. Gohan and Harry hurried toward her. She sat up and her bemused eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Harry, in his blood-soaked robes, to Gohan, then to the diary in his hand. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

"Harry, Gohan - oh, I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy - it was me - but I – I s-swear I d-didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over - and - how did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary -"

"It's all right," said Harry, holding up the diary, and showing Ginny the fang hole,

"Harry got rid of Riddle and that stupid snake. Lets go." Gohan said.

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Gohan helped her to her feet.

"I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and - w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. They stepped over the motionless coils of the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. Gohan heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss.

After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Gohan's ears.

"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's okay! We've got her!"

He heard Ron and Videl give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first.

"You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How - what - where did that bird come from?"

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through himself.

Gohan climbed through the gap.

"How come you've got a sword?" said Ron, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.

"But -"

"Later," Harry said shortly. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Over here." Videl said, "It's not pretty."

Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone," said Ron. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."

Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all.

"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Harry.

Harry bent down and looked up the pipe.

"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" he said to Ron and Videl.

Ron and Videl shook their heads, but Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold…" said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there -"

"I can carry some people and fly up." Gohan said, simply. "Videl? Ron? Ginny?" He held out his arms as Harry took hold of Fawkes and Lockhart held on to Harry's ankle.

In two minutes Gohan and his passengers landed, along with Fawkes, Harry, and Lockhart, on Moaning Myrtle's bathroom floor.

"You're alive." She said blankly to Harry.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed." He said grimly.

"Oh, well… I'd just been thinking… if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," said Myrtle, blushing silver.

"Urgh!" said Ron as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

Tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face.

"Where now?" said Ron, with an anxious look at Ginny. Harry pointed.

Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor. They strode after him, and moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Harry knocked and pushed the door open.

There was silence for a moment as they all stood there in a mix of sweat, muck, slime, and blood. Then there was a scream "Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley who had been crying in front of the fire leapt to her feet followed by her husband and they hugged their daughter.

Gohan noted that Professor Dumbledore was in the office and when Fawkes saw him, flew from Harry's shoulder to Dumbledore's. Mrs. Weasley squeezed Harry, Ron, Videl, and Gohan tightly.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" Mrs. Weasley cried happily.

"I think we'd all like to know that." Professor McGonagall said.

Mrs. Weasley let go of Gohan and his friends. Harry walked to the desk and placed The Sorting Hat, sword, and the remains of the diary on it.

Harry started talking, telling the adults everything. Harry said he heard the disembodied voice, how Hermione figured out it was a basilisk – everything. Harry had only gotten to how they guessed where the entrance to the Chamber was when Professor McGonagall interrupted.

"Very well," She said, "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?"

Harry continued telling the adults the story, leaving out Gohan's powers and the diary. After he explained how the sorting hat gave him the sword he stopped and looked at Dumbledore.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

"W-what's that?" said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not… Ginny hasn't been… has she?"

"It was this diary," said Harry quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"

Dumbledore took the diary from Harry and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.

"Brilliant," he said softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered. "Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school… traveled far and wide… sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But, Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with - with - him?"

"His d-diary!" Ginny sobbed_ "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year -"

"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "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," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it -"

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he added, twinkling kindly down at her. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice - I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione's okay!" Harry said brightly smiling at his friends.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," said Dumbledore.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.

"You know, Minerva," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter, Weasley, Son, and Satan, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

She left, and the four friends gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore. What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with them? Surely - surely - they weren't about to be punished?

"I seem to remember telling you that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," said Dumbledore.

Ron opened his mouth in horror.

"Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words," Dumbledore went on, smiling. "You will all receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed his mouth again. "But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Gohan almost laughed, he had almost forgotten about Lockhart. He turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart -"

"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Videl explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering.

"Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron, Gohan, and Videl. "I'd like a few more words with Harry…"

Ron, Gohan, and Videl left the office with Lockhart in their care.

It was Videl who spoke first, "So that's everything that happened?"

"Yeah," Gohan said, "I tried to help, but didn't do much. Tossed Harry the sorting hat and held the snake down."

"Wow." Ron said.

They continued walking to the infirmary, where they left Lockhart and Ron explained to Madame Pomfrey what happened to him. Before they walked away Madame Pomfrey noticed blood on Gohan's robes.

"It's not mine!" He said as she looked him over.

"Very well. Now get to your dorms!"

They did what she said; Gohan had gotten into the shower and ran the hot water on his body until it ran cold. When he had gotten to the common room it looked as if his friends had showered and gotten dressed as well.

They went down to the feast, Gohan was starving but, it wasn't the food that made the feast great. Everyone, except Gohan and his friends, were in their pajamas. The celebration lasted all night, and those that were petrified came into the Great Hall, healthy and smiling.

Hermione had one into the great hall screaming, "You solved it!" And hugged Harry so hard Gohan had to catch Harry's glasses when they flew off of his face.

The others that had been petrified warmly welcomed by their friends, as well. Justin came over from the Hufflepuff table to apologize for suspecting Harry. Hagrid turned up at half past three, clapping Gohan and friends on the back.

Gohan, Videl, Ron, and Harry were awarded 200 points each securing Gryffindor's victory in the house cup race. Professor McGonagall announced that the exams had been canceled, as a school treat. Professor Dumbledore announced that, unfortunately, Professor Lockhart would be unable to return next year, owing to the fact that he needed to go away and get his memory back. Quite a few of the teachers joined in the cheering that greeted this news.

The rest of the school year passed by quickly and Hogwarts was back to normal, well almost. Defense against dark arts was canceled and Lucius Malfoy had been fired as a school governor. Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place; he had been resentful and sulky. On the other hand, Ginny was perfectly happy again.

Gohan had mixed feelings about going home, sure he loved his friends and family back home, but he was going to miss the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and Videl. The day to go home had come and Gohan, his friends, the Twins, and Ginny got a compartment to themselves.

During the ride they made to most of doing magic before they couldn't during the summer. They played exploding snap, set off the last of the Twins fireworks, and practiced disarming each other.

They were almost to Kings Cross, when they found out what it was that Percy was caught doing that he didn't want anyone to know about.

"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"

"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well - Percy's got a girlfriend."

Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head.

"What?"

"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was - you know - attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early.

"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.

The Hogwarts Express slowed and finally stopped.

Harry pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment and turned to Ron, Hermione, Gohan, and Videl.

"This is called a telephone number," he told Ron, scribbling it four times, tearing the parchment in fourths, and handing it to them. "I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer - he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to…"

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious."

"Good luck this summer, Harry." Gohan said as they walked toward the gateway to the muggle world.

That's chapter thirteen and the end of second year! Don't forget about the Facebook page! Let me know your thoughts and opinions!

Just Mione