A quietness prevailed in the Chamber of Secrets, the smell of sweat, blood, and death intermingling over its wet floor.
Harry eyed the empty spot where Tom Riddle had been standing a few moments ago.
Stunned, he looked down at the diary, bleeding black through the giant hole in the middle of it. Then he looked at the splintered, venomous fang in his hand.
Finally, as if only now realizing how the fang had come to him, Harry looked to his right and saw the Basilisk's corpse, a silver sword plunged deep into its head, its hilt donning a red ruby at the top.
There were questions… dozens of them… bubbling in Harry's mind.
However, some questions got pushed aside by the pain coursing through him in pulses, and some questions were forced aside by him as he saw Ginny twitching.
As Harry stumbled his way to the girls, he finally saw Daphne.
The girl was just sitting with a dreadful paleness on her face.
Harry could guess her emotions… if not truly understand them.
It was the first time a magical creature had gotten hurt after summoning it.
Even if the creature somehow survived the torn wing… then what about the Basilisk's venom?
Harry put a hand on Daphne's shoulder, remembering the creature's name. "Talonflame… if it weren't for him, we all would have died."
"She's getting up!" Ron cried and suddenly winced, clutching his broken ribs.
As Daphne, still silent, helped Ginny sit up, the red-haired girl finally remembered bits of what happened. Then, she bawled her eyes out, imagining the horror her actions must have caused.
"It was Professor Lockhart!" Ginny cried. "I don't remember… But it was him! He gave me a diary…"
As Lockhart had claimed, Ginny didn't remember anything related to her opening the Chamber of Secrets after Umbridge, Harry observed.
He looked at Draco, who was sprawled unconscious on the floor a few feet away from them.
"Don't worry…" Harry said, turning around to look at Hermione, "… no one will…"
Harry's green eyes landed on Lockhart, his wand raised high.
The blurriness over his face was not there anymore. It had been replaced by utter shame, fear, and terror.
Harry didn't need the Brave Heart Spell to know what the Professor was trying to do now.
"No!" Harry lunged at Lockhart but slipped.
Lockhart swung his wand. "Obliviate!"
CRACK!
Harry and others couldn't see what happened in the next moment.
There was a loud crack. A blinding whiteness. A boom. A scream. And it was over.
By the time their vision returned, Lockhart was gone.
In his place, there was standing something small, with a bald head.
If it wasn't for the long nose, Harry would have thought Voldemort had arrived to exact vengeance upon them.
"Dobby!" Daphne screamed out the name.
Dobby turned around and looked at them, a wide smile on his face. "No one shall harm Mistress' friends!"
Tears streamed down Daphne's cheeks as she crawled toward Dobby and hugged him.
From the side, Harry gawked at the creature. He knew about Dobby, as Draco had told him. But this wasn't the Dobby Harry had in his imagination.
Instead of rugs, Dobby was wearing a black suit, with a tie and everything. And, of course, he looked very clean.
Daphne wiped away her tears and looked at Dobby. "H… How?"
Dobby looked toward his left. "Master Draco called Dobby."
They all looked at Draco. Knowing him, he must have done so exactly before passing out. Still… "What… took you so long?" Daphne asked.
House-elf apparated not even a moment later after being called out.
Dobby had come here after several moments. Something didn't make sense.
Dobby fidgeted, twisting the thumbs of his naked feet. "Miss Darcie also called Dobby… Dobby went to her first…"
All questions suddenly vanished from their minds.
"Darcie's awake?!" Daphne asked, smiling for the first time.
"What about Black?" Harry asked.
Dobby looked away.
"…?"
"I will explain later," Daphne told them. They hadn't told anyone that Dobby had almost killed the boys, and especially Black, twice. "Dobby… can you conjure a shawl?"
Some of Dobby's pride returned. He clicked his fingers.
Daphne grabbed the black shawl and looked at Ron, who was still consoling Ginny. Then she looked at Harry. "I will bring Hermione and… Lockhart. Grab Draco."
Harry nodded, getting up, still holding the diary in his hands. "Can you please bring that sword down?" he asked Dobby, who hurriedly nodded.
As they all began moving, Dobby eyed the book with a hole in it. Even though he had come late here, Dobby didn't mind it a bit.
Dobby was a free elf.
He could decide to whom he would go first.
It turned out to be a good decision because Miss Darcie had given a specific task to Dobby. If he had come here first, he would have missed her request completely.
When you go to them, make sure everyone's OK, Darcie had told Dobby. Also, I need you to do one thing. If Harry Potter is holding a diary, you need to make sure that he doesn't come back with it. Replace it with a fake. And don't tell anyone.
Dobby couldn't understand why his mistress would ask him to do this simple thing.
But Miss Darcie was the smartest and the kindest person he knew. If she requested him to do this thing, then she must have a great purpose behind it, for the greater good, as she often said.
So, making sure no one was looking at him, Dobby clicked his fingers.
…
A quietness prevailed in the Chamber of Secrets, the smell of deceit, relief, and victory intermingling over its wet floor.
The massive corpse of Basilisk stirred as Biokinesis worked its charm.
The mass of flesh collapsed. Bones crunched. Blood ran dry as it condensed before gaining a blue tinge.
Wearing a black jacket over a black shirt and black jeans, Black ran his hands through his black hair with a smile on his face.
Ghostly silver mist oozed out of him.
The Time-Devourer, wearing a hooded, white robe, looked at Black and hissed objectively. -You dodged a bullet, master.-
The Space-Devourer, with long white hair and a single, closed eye, hissed dreamily. -I would have taken that bullet for him…-
The Life-Devourer, short-white-haired, wearing a jacket and skirt, chewed a chewing gum. -That little runt touched me… four-eyes brat!-
Black's lips twitched.
If it wasn't for Biokinesis, getting impaled by the Gryffindor Sword could have truly brought down his Quality by a percent as per Lucky Intuitions.
It wasn't that the sword was strong, but what it represented.
Still, Black needed to infuse the sword with Basilisk's venom.
So, he had to use Selene's help with it. The fang that Harry used was also a piece of Black's flesh with Selene in it.
The moment he had seen Ginny standing in front of the sink days ago, he had figured out the things leading up to that moment. He had begun preparations for this day since then.
The only thing that went out of Black's planning was Draco pulling out Gryffindor's sword.
He had sent the Sorting Hat's image to Harry's mind, hoping Draco would bring it to Harry, letting him use the sword.
Draco becoming the Basilisk killer in the end was a nice but insignificant surprise.
-The people who dance on our fingers, Selene…- Black said, stepping forward, -… are they lucky or unlucky?-
The Time-Devourer remained silent.
The Space-Devourer looked at Black reverently.
-Who cares?!- The Life-Devourer hissed, rolling her eyes. -Fuck them! Stop talking like an old man and just get the diary! I am getting bored here!-
His lips twitching, Black crouched and touched Tom Riddle's Diary.
And his old, black eyes welcomed a dull-gray notification, as planned.
*****************
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