82 The Return

We trudged through the pipes, Harry and Fawkes leading the way. Ginny, sobbing by my side. She believed she would be expelled and all the people she attacked. I had my arm around her to guide her.

We eventually came to the collapse. Hearing the grunts of Ron and shifting stone.

"Ron!" Harry yelled, "We got her. We saved Ginny," Harry said as we turned the corner and saw Ron's face through a sizeable gap. I pushed Ginny forward to her brother.

"Ginny", Ron said and pulled her through the gap, and Ron hugged her. She pushed away from him. "It's okay now, ginny, it's- where did the bird come from?" he said as Fawkes passed through the gap. Harry climbed through next, and lastly, I did.

"He's dumbledores," Harry said.

"Why the hell is Eddie here!" Yelled Ron, "Don't tell you're the heir."

"No" I scoffed "I came with fawkes" I said to him.

Ron saw the state of us and the sword. "What the hell happened." Ron was so confused.

"We can explain after we're out of the sewers," I said.

"Okay let's get Lockhart and go" harry said.

"Yeah, um, about that", Ron said. "Um, so the spell backfired, and now his memories are gone."

"And the curse strikes again," I said.

"Curse?" Asked harry.

"The defence against the dark arts curse. No teacher has kept the job more than a year," I said, "for the last 30 years or so."

"How does he know that?" Ron questioned Harry as he led us to where he had stashed Lockhart.

"School rumor", I said. I was left to guide Ginny again." Ginny, you're fine. You're not going to be expelled. The book tempted and took control of you," I whispered. "It's not your fault."

Once we got to Lockhart, who was at the entrance pipe, we grabbed hold of each other, and Fawkes flew us out. Arriving in Myrtle's bathroom. She was surprised to see Harry and Ron alive. "Mister Carter, what were you doing down there."

"Just lending a helping hand," I said. Fawkes chirped at us to follow him.

We did as he led us down the halls to McGonagall's office.

Harry, in the lead, knocked and opened the door.

Inside the office were Mr and Mrs Weasley, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cried and snatched up Ginny in a hug, followed by Mr. Weasley. Dumbledore was beaming with pride, looking at Harry. Professor McGonagall looked like she had a panic attack, and Snape was death-staring at me.

I shuffled off to the side to avoid the hug Harry and Ron received from Mrs Weasley. "You saved her! You saved her! How did you find her?" Mrs Weasley cried.

"That's what we would like to know, too," Professor McGonagall said.

Harry took the lead, telling them how they found out where it was and what was inside it. I leaned against the wall and listened to Harry as Harry got to the part with me. I spoke up, "I knew Potter and his friends were on to something, so one day, I was practising one of my song spells, and Fawkes found me. I asked him to take me to help Harry when he needed it."

"Why?" Dumbledore asked.

"I realised what the creature was a while ago, after all I had researched them earlier in the year" I said and dumbledore nodded.

"How is Rodney, by the way?" he asked.

"Safe. At my foster parents, I built him a coop and got him some hens. I'm sure he's happy strutting around the garden", I smiled.

"Who?" Asked Professor Snape.

"A rooster a stole at the start of the year." I said, "Keep him in my dorm room till Christmas" Snape's face palmed himself about how this could have happened in his house. Everyone was looking at me like I said something strange.

"Did you manage to figure out why a rooster cry is fatal to a basilisk?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes and no," I said. "The fact is the cry isn't fatal, or if it is, it is right after birth; loud noises mess with Basilisk's senses, disorienting them, making them vulnerable. Now a Basilisk is born from a chicken egg, and if any of you have ever had chickens roosters are pretty protective of their flocks. So they crow really loud and then probably kick the baby Basilisk to death. This means Basilisk is born with a huge fear of the rooster and runs away from them instinctively" I smiled, giving my report.

"So that spell you used against the Basilisk," Harry asked.

"Sonorus stupefy", I said, " a sound-based stunning spell, very high frequency, almost beyond human hearing and very loud," I said.

"Excelent, but what intrest me most is how voldemort managed to enchant ginny" Dumbledore said bring the topic back on track. Dumbledore began to explain things as well as Harry.

Snape came to stand behind me, and Dumbledore began to send people away, the Weasley and Ginny, to the hospital wing. Macgonagall went to the kitchens to prepare a feast. Snape was also sent to the hospital wing to check on the patients who were being de-petrified.

Dumbledore looked at Harry and Ron. "I seemed to remember saying I would have you expelled if you broke any more rules." He sighed, "But everyone eats their word eventually. You three will receive special service to the school awards and 200 house points each." He smiled.

"Mister Carter, I believe your friends are worried about you so that you can run along."

I nodded and left, heading towards the dungeons with a smile on my face. I was about to enter the common room when a black shadow grabbed my collar and dragged me into his office.

"Start talking", Snape said, pushing me into a chair.