Hermione scrambled on all fours over to Harry the moment she was free.
Lockhart, however, didn't seem to notice anything. He picked up his wand from the ground and started gesturing dramatically at the basilisk's corpse.
"One… two… three…" he counted seriously. "My goodness, this snake must be twenty yards long."
"He… he's actually lost it?" Harry asked, stunned.
"This time it's real," Julien said, lowering his wand and letting out a long breath. "I boosted the spell strength on purpose. I probably wiped out his memories of wetting the bed as a kid too."
"How do you even know the Memory Charm?" Hermione asked, rubbing her reddened neck in disbelief. "That's O.W.L.-level magic. And you used a strengthened version?"
Julien gave a mysterious little smile. "All thanks to Professor Lockhart's excellent teaching. I spent class listening to him brag, so after class I had to find something useful to do—like going through his lesson notes. Gotta say, his Memory Charm notes were extremely detailed, even if the handwriting looked like chicken scratch."
What Julien didn't mention was that most of the charm had come straight from the Magical Resonance Library—though the original source was still Lockhart's doing.
"You stole his own spell and used it against him? That's so you," Harry panted, clearly impressed.
"I still don't buy that it was that simple," Hermione said, frowning. "The Memory Charm isn't something just anyone can learn. Also, what's that stone you secretly pocketed? Why did Lockhart want it so badly?"
"Well…" Julien gave an awkward laugh.
"And what's this Moon Shadow Council you two were talking about?"
"What are you guys even saying? I don't understand any of this," Harry muttered, looking strangely confused. "Ugh… my head feels dizzy."
Hermione rushed over to check on him. "Harry, your arm is turning black! Julien, come look—his wound is leaking black blood!"
Julien crouched down immediately. Sure enough, the cut on Harry's shoulder was rotting and oozing dark fluid. The whole arm was starting to discolor.
"That must've happened when Harry stabbed the basilisk—some of the other fangs must have grazed him. Don't worry, phoenix tears should fix it right up."
"Hey, where's Fawkes?"
Deep in another pipe of the underground maze, a silver raven was tugging at Fawkes's wing. The two creatures were having a very enthusiastic and friendly debate about whether basilisk eyeballs were edible.
Meanwhile, Liriya and Rosier carried the still-unconscious Ginny over and laid her down beside Harry.
Harry glanced at her weakly. "Is Ginny okay?" Then his head lolled to the side, his legs kicked once, and he passed out.
"Harry! Harry! Ginny! Ginny!" Hermione shouted in panic.
Julien caught Liriya's eye and gave her a quick hand signal. Liriya stared at him in shock. Julien nodded seriously.
"Julien, what are you—uh…"
Liriya brought the edge of her hand down in a clean chop against the side of Hermione's neck.
Hermione's head drooped, her legs twitched once, and she collapsed.
Julien raised his wand again, pointing the tip at Hermione.
"Hey, hey, Julien—what are you doing?" Liriya stepped forward to stop him, confused. Rosier, however, stayed put.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt them. This whole thing only needs to involve Harry and the other two. The rest of us don't need to be part of the official story."
"Liriya, let him do it," Rosier said calmly. "This was Dumbledore's little test for Harry and his friends from the beginning. Our goal was the star fragment. The fewer people who know the full details, the better."
"But what exactly are you going to do?" Liriya still looked worried.
"Relax. My ancestor was an expert at pulling memories."
The books Memory Surgery: A Guide to Event-Specific Memory Extraction Based on Anchoring Theory and The Mind Weaver: Pulling Threads of Pain from the Tapestry of Fate were currently sitting in his Magical Resonance Library—right underneath Murphy.
"Eximo Memoria!"
Julien's wand tip touched Hermione's temple precisely. He then drew it outward in a slow spiral, pulling out a thin, silvery thread that looked like delicate gauze.
He did the same to Harry.
---
Later, when Harry and the others received another round of praise from Dumbledore for the Chamber of Secrets incident, and Gryffindor once again won the House Cup, Rosier asked Julien quietly:
"If you hadn't done that, all those honors would have been yours."
"You know, in the East there's an old saying," Julien replied in a dramatic tone, "'Their work done, they depart with grace so light, their names and selves concealed from mortal sight.'"
"What does that mean?" Liriya asked.
"I think that was Chinese," Rosier said.
"Yes. It means:
Their work done, they depart with grace so light,
Their names and selves concealed from mortal sight."
"Whatever. Boring," Rosier muttered.
"Still… you took a huge risk back there," Rosier added softly, a hint of lingering fear in her ice-gray eyes. "If my shield had been even one second late…"
"But I won the bet," Julien smiled. "And I knew you'd be right on time."
Rosier gave a light snort and turned her face away, but the tips of her ears turned faintly pink.
Liriya looked at him curiously. "When exactly did you learn the Memory Charm? Was it really just from reading Lockhart's notes?"
"Well…" Julien pulled a Chocolate Frog from his pocket (he had no idea when he'd stuffed it in there), broke it into three pieces, and handed them out. "Some secrets are better left inside the Chamber."
---
By the time Fawkes flew back to the scene in a panic, Hermione had already woken up. She was rubbing her sore neck, looking a bit dazed.
Lockhart—the former "Defense Against the Dark Arts master"—was now sitting on the basilisk's head, speaking to her with complete seriousness:
"You know, you really need braces. I know an excellent dentist in… in…" He scratched his head in confusion. "Where was it again?"
Fawkes's tears healed Harry's wound instantly.
"What happened to me?" Harry asked, confused.
"You used the Sword of Gryffindor to kill the basilisk, then passed out from your injuries."
"Oh, right… I remember now. We entered the Chamber, killed the basilisk, destroyed the notebook, and saved Ginny. Speaking of which—how is Ginny?"
"Harry…" Ginny had just woken up. She looked around, and memories seemed to flood back. "I'm so sorry… I opened the Chamber. The notebook was controlling me…"
"It's okay, Ginny…" Harry comforted her gently.
"Notebook?" Hermione glanced at the two of them with a puzzled frown. "I don't remember any notebook… It feels like I'm missing something."
Lockhart: "Is that a phoenix? I thought they only existed in legends! Oh my, how marvelous!"
Early the next morning, Moaning Myrtle poked her head out of a toilet, stretched lazily, and grumbled, "Ugh! All that coming and going last night ruined my beauty sleep! I'm filing a complaint with Professor McGonagall!"
"Since when do ghosts need beauty sleep?" Peeves popped out of nowhere. He took one last look at the snake-shaped carving on the faucet that led to the Chamber, faintly visible in the morning light.