~ Back to the night of the event~
Dumbledore closed the office door with a soft click.
The noise outside—the scrambling professors, the shouting students, the crackling rumor-magic—was sealed away.
Here, in the dim golden glow of enchanted lamps, only he and Cassius remained.
Cassius stood straight-backed, hands clasped neatly behind him.
Dumbledore gestured gently toward a chair.
"Please, Mr. Snape. Sit."
Cassius remained standing.
"I prefer not to."
Dumbledore inclined his head. "Very well. Can i offer you something to drink?"
Cassius again shook his head.
"Then tell me what happened."
Cassius spoke without hesitation—clean, precise, surgical.
"Ginny Weasley was lured into the Chamber by means of a cursed diary. An enchanted parasite. When I realized she been taken myself and the girls decided to act—we had during our quidditch training located a rocky outcropping on the school grounds that led underground, which i figured was the only place for such a chamber to exist—as a team we dived in and found the chamber."
Dumbledore's blue eyes flickered.
"Team?"
"Daphne and Cho. Both well beyond their peers in spellcraft. Harry and Ron followed separately—they seemed to think the entrance lay somewhere else within the castle."
"Mm. So I gathered."
Cassius continued.
"Upon entering the chamber, we found Ginny collapsed. Still alive but in some sort of state we couldnt identify. I sent Daphne and Cho to return her to the surface to seek help from madam pomfrey. Harry and ron having left earlier after realizing we had things handled.."
Dumbledore didn't interrupt.
"But after Ginny was removed, the diary sprang to life letting out a spectre from within," Cassius said calmly. "A constructed memory as it claimed. saying its name was Tom Riddle— or as he further revealed Voldemort's residual soul fragment."
The portraits rustled with alarm.
Dumbledore froze, then whispered, "I see…"
"He threatened to unleash the beast, and we started to duel."
"And what did you do?"
Cassius met the Headmaster's gaze without flinching.
"I destroyed the diary."
Dumbledore exhaled as though a great mountain had finally been removed from his shoulders.
"Tom's projection dissolved?" he asked quietly.
"Yes. Screaming. Violently. It left scorch marks."
"He would," Dumbledore murmured, voice hollow. "Even a memory of Tom Riddle screams when dying."
Cassius went on.
"And then Harry returned. He witnessed the aftermath."
Dumbledore frowned.
Cassius carried on. "He saw Voldemort's imprint dead at my feet."
The Headmaster rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"And then?"
"Then Harry attempted to kill the basilisk."
Dumbledore's head snapped up.
"Kill—?"
Cassius nodded once.
"That's right, the beast was only a tool for Tom's machinations, and he wanted to kill the beast for glory. To feel important. He thought slaying a defenseless creature would make him a hero. i had to stand against him."
Dumbledore's expression tightened—uncharacteristically grave.
"And how did he respond?"
"He attacked me."
A long, thin silence filled the room.
"He was emotional," Dumbledore said eventually, voice heavy. "He has carried a great burden for too long."
"He has carried expectations," Cassius corrected. "Not burdens."
Another silence—longer this time.
Then Dumbledore sighed.
"I appreciate your honesty, Cassius."
Cassius inclined his head.
"And your restraint."
Cassius didn't comment.
Dumbledore closed his eyes briefly, then opened them with renewed clarity.
"You have done a great deal for this school tonight," he said softly. "More than most second-years could ever hope to accomplish."
Cassius didn't react.
He simply said:
"I should go now professor, i'll need to change my clothes if im to be presentable for class afterall."
Choosing in that moment to leave the headmasters office.
And Dumbledore watched him go, old eyes troubled.
Troubled… yet undeniably impressed.
~
The Following Morning.
Morning sunlight poured over the entry hall like a golden flood.
The rumor mill had exploded.
By breakfast, the entire school knew:
Cassius Snape had saved Ginny Weasley.
Cassius Snape had defeated Voldemort's specter.
Cassius Snape had defeated Harry Potter in a real Duel.
Students parted for him as he walked, whispering and staring—different from the usual, now there was reverence behind the awe.
The Arcanum sponsored Muggleborns practically bowed before him as Arcana's chosen.
Cassius ignored all of them, heading toward the great hall with the calm, steady pace of someone who already understood the gravity of his reputation.
As he turned the corner leading toward the Draconis entrance—
He caught sight of Lucius Malfoy storming through the front doors of the castle, face pale with fury, hair disheveled as though he'd traveled by emergency Floo.
Cassius slowed his steps—not stopping, merely observing before losing sight and carrying on his way.
~
Lucius's voice boomed through the headmasters office:
"DUMBLEDORE! How dare you return to the school after being removed—"
Dumbledore appeared calm as he looked up from speaking with Harry to see the man who'd barged into his office.
"When they heard the Weasley girl was taken they saw fit to summon me back," Dumbledore said pleasantly, "Curiously, several of them were under the impression you would curse their families if that had not agreed to suspend me in the first place."
Lucius sneered.
With events playing out just as they had in canon, with Lucius storming out of the office, only to be trailed behind by Harry.
"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy" Harry called out to the fleeing wizard, "I have something of yours."
He stated shoving the remnants of the diary into Lucius's hand.
"I think you slipped it into Ginny Weasley's cauldron at Flourish and Blotts."
Lucius's face drained of color, then twisted.
"Oh really? Why don't you prove it!"
Not wanting to hold the dirty object anylonger he passed it to the houseelf at his side, before turning to leave once again.
Dobby held the book in his hands, before seeing Harry mouthing the words 'open it'—
—and froze.
His eyes widened.
Inside the hollow cover…
A sock.
Harry's sock.
"Master has given dobby a sock."
Lucius stiffened.
"No, i nev-."
Dobby trembled, voice cracking:
"Master… has… given Dobby… a sock. Dobby is Free!"
Lucius's wand was out in an instant.
"You must be my servant! Avada—"
"YOU SHALL NOT HARM HARRY POTTER!" Dobby screamed, blasting his former master across the hall with a burst of raw elf magic.
Lucius tumbled, robes flailing, hair disheveled.
~
Back in his own dormitory Cassius could only question whether or not Dobby would gain his freedom with the current state Potter is in, he was far from the pure-hearted caring child he was depicted in the novels.
Instead he was being influenced more and more by his surroundings, the jealousy he felt towards Cassius, the desire to prove himself worthy of being in the wizarding world, living up to the expectations his mother placed upon him as the 'savior'.