𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                       CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
                ─── DOBBY IS A FREE ELF & BACK TOGETHER

For a moment there was silence as Charlus, Harry,Alistair, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart stood in the doorway covered in muck and slime, and even blood in Harry's case. Then there was a scream.

"Ginny!"

It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter.

Charlus, however, was looking past them. Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past Charlus' ear and settled on Dumbledore's shoulder.

Without a second thought, Mrs. Weasley had swept up the two Gryffindor boys and the two Slytherin boys in a big hug after letting go of Ginny, "You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," Professor McGonagell said weakly.

Charlus, Harry, Alistair and Ron all looked to one another. They didn't even know where to begin. The only thing that Harry thought was appropriate was to step forward and place the sword down on the desk.   Alistair did the same, but with the Sorting Hat and Riddle's diary.

Then, the boys proceeded to tell them everything. They told them about Charlus,Harry and Alistair hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how all four of them had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how Charlus had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom...

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted them as they paused, "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?"

Charlus took the lead in telling the adults in the room about Fawkes' timely arrival and about Harry pulling the sword out of the Sorting Hat. But then he faltered. He,Harry and Alistair had so far avoided mentioning Riddle's diary — or Ginny.

"What interest me most," Dumbledore said 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?" Mr. Weasley said in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?" "It was this diary," Alistair said quickly. He picked it up and showed it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen..."

Dumbledore took the diary from him 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, and continued, "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," Mrs. Weasley said. "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 writing back all year—"

"Ginny!"Mr. Weasley said, 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," Ginny sobbed and Charlus started to feel sorry for her. This wasn't her fault. "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 the Hospital Wing straight 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 for her and her family.

"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 dare say the Basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"So Hermione's okay?" Charlus asked brightly, which made Ron'a ears perk up. Dumbledore nodded with a smile as Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out the door, and was shortly followed by Mr. Weasley as well."

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," Professor McGonagell said crisply, also moving to the door. "I'll leave you to deal with the Potters, Black and Weasley, shall I?" "Certainly," Dumbledore replied.

She left, and Charlus, Harry, Alistair and Ron gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore. What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant, deal with them? Surely - surely - they weren't about to be punished? Not after everything they just went through!

"I seem to remember telling the three of you that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," Dumbledore began to say. Ron opened his mouth in horror. How could he —

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

Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed his mouth. "Wicked!" Alistair cheered as he high-fived his friends. Harry laughed as Charlus smiled at his friend's obvious excitement.

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Charlus gave a start. He had completely 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 began quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart —" "Am I a Professor?" Lockhart said in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron quietly explained to Dumbledore. "Dear me," Dumbledore said, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" Lockhart repeated 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 Hospital Wing, too?" Dumbledore said at Ron. "I'd like a few more words with Charlus, Harry and Alistair."

Lockhart ambled out. Ron cast a curious look back at Dumbledore, Charlus, Alistair and Harry as he closed the door. Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire. "Sit down, boys," he said, and the three boys sat, feeling unaccountably nervous.

"First of all, Charlus,Harry, Alistair, I want to thank you," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling again. "The three of you must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."

He stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto his knee. Harry grinned awkwardly as Dumbledore watched them. "And second, I sense something is troubling you,"he said thoughtfully. "Am I right, boys?"

Suddenly, something that was nagging at Harry came tumbling out of his mouth, "It's just...you see sir, I couldn't help but notice certain things. Certain similarities between Tom Riddle and us."

"I see." Dumbledore said calmly  and looked under his thick silver eyebrows at the three boys. "Well, you can speak Parseltongue, Charlus, Harry. Why? Because Lord Voldemort can speak Parseltongue. If i'm not mistaken, boys, he transferred some of his powers to you the night he gave you those scars."

"Voldemort transferred some of his powers to us?" Charlus asked, thunder-struck. Dumbledore nodded. "Not intentionally. But yes." he replied. "And you, Alistair, you can only speak Parseltongue because of your mother."

 "So I should be in Slytherin," Harry said and looked desperately into Dumbledore's face. "The Sorting Hat could see Slytherin's power in me, and it--"

"Put you in Gryffindor," Dumbledore said calmly. "Listen to me, Harry. You,Charlus and Alistair possess many of the qualities that Voldemort himself prizes. Determination, resourscefulness, and if i may say so, a certain disregard for the rules.," he added, his mustache quivering again. "Why, then, did the Sorting Hat place you in Gryffindor?"

"It only put me in Gryffindor," Harry began in a defeated voice, "because I asked not to go in Slytherin . . ." "Exactly," Dumbledore said, beaming once more. "Which makes you very different from Voldemort. It is not our abilities or bloodlines that show who we really are, it is our choices."

Harry sat motionless in his chair, stunned. "If you want proof, Harry, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at this."

Dumbledore reached across to Professor McGonagell's desk, picked up the blood-stained silver sword and handed it to Harry. . Dully, Harry turned it over, the rubies blazing in the firelight. Charlus and Alistair shuffled closer to him and read the name that was engraved in it just below the hilt.

                                                GODRIC GRYFFINDOR

"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the Hat," Dumbledore said simply.

For a minute, none of them spoke. Then Dumbledore pulled open one of the drawers in Professor McGonagall's desk and took out a quill and a bottle of ink.

"What you need, boys, is some food-" As if Charlus' stomach had been listening, he grumbled. Dumbledore laughed slightly before he continued,"- and sleep. I suggest you go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban -we need our gamekeeper back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too," he added thoughtfully. "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we? "

The young boys got up and crossed to the door. They had just reached for the handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced back off the wall.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, fury in his face. And cowering behind his legs, heavily wrapped in bandages, was Dobby. "Good evening, Lucius," Dumbledore said pleasantly.

Mr. Malfoy almost knocked Harry,Charlus and Alistair over as he swept into the room. Dobby went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak, a look of abject terror on his face.

"So!" Mr. Malfoy said, his cold eyes fixed on Dumbledore. "You've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts."

"Well, you see, Lucius," Dumbledore said, smiling serenely, "the other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They'd heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed and wanted me back at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too. Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place."

Mr. Malfoy went even paler than usual, but his eyes were still slits of fury. "So - have you stopped the attacks yet?" he sneered. "Have you caught the culprit?"

"We have," Dumbledore said, with a smile. "Well?" Mr. Malfoy said sharply. "Who is it?" "The same person as last time, Lucius," Dumbledore said. "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary."

He held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching Mr Malfoy closely. Harry, Charlus and Alistair however, were watching Dobby.

The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on the three boys, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.

"I see . . ." Mr. Malfoy said slowly to Dumbledore. "A clever plan," Dumbledore said in a level voice, still staring Mr Malfoy straight in the eye. "Because if Harry,Charlus and Alistair here . . ." Mr. Malfoy shot the three of them a swift, sharp look, ". . . and their friend Ron hadn't discovered this book, why—Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own free will . . ."

Mr. Malfoy said nothing. His face was suddenly mask-like. "And imagine," Dumbledore went on, "what might have happened then... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pure-blood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and - killing Muggle-borns... Very fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memories wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise..."

Mr. Malfoy forced himself to speak. "Very fortunate," he said stiffly. And still, behind his back, Dobby was pointing to the diary, then to Lucius Malfoy, then punching himself in the head.

And Charlus suddenly understood. And so did Harry and Alistair. They nodded at Dobby, and Dobby backed into a corner, now twisting his ears in punishment.

"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?" Alistair asked. Lucius Malfoy rounded on him. "How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he said. "Because you gave it to her," Harry replied. "In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Transfiguration book, and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?"

They saw Mr. Malfoy's white hands clench and unclench. "Prove it," he hissed. "Oh, no one will be able to do that," Dumbledore said, smiling at the boys. "Not now Riddle has vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you . . ."

Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and they  saw distinctly saw his right hand twitch as though he was longing to reach for his wand. Instead, he turned to his house-elf. "We're going, Dobby!"

He wrenched open the door, and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor.

"That's it," Charlus muttered before he stormed through the door, towards a leaving Mr Malfoy. "No Charlus!" Harry said and grabbed his wrist to stop him from doing something he might regret later. "No Harry, I won't let Dobby get threatened like that."

 Alistair  stood for a moment, thinking hard. Then an idea came to him. " Professor Dumbledore," he said hurriedly while he nodded at the diary, "can we give that diary back to Mr Malfoy, please?'

Harry and Charlus started to understand what he was thinking while Dumbledore nodded, "Certainly,but hurry. The feast, remember... "

Alistair grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office, followed by his two friends. They could hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly, wondering if this plan could possibly work,  Alistair took off one of his shoes, pulled off his slimy, filthy sock, and stuffed it in between the pages of the diary before slipping his shoe back on.

Then  they ran down the dark corridor. They caught up with them at the top of the stairs. "Mr Malfoy," Alistair gasped, skidding to a halt in front of the long haired blonde man , "I've got something for you."

The young boy handed the diary to Lucius, to which he laughed devilishly as he took it his hand. "You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents one of these days, Harry and Charlus Potter and Alistair Black," he spat, furiously, "They were meddlesome fools, too."

Charlus gritted his teeth to hold back his anger as he watched Lucius threw the diary into Dobby's small hands. Then he turned to go. "Come, Dobby."

As the little house elf went to move, Charlus grabbed his boney arm gently and whispered, "Open it. Go on."

Dobby looked at them with terrified eyes. He didn't want to get in trouble with his master, but he did as Charlus told him to do. Dobby opened the diary slowly and his face lit up as he saw Alistair's disgusting, slimy sock in between the pages. He held it up and looked at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

"Master has given Dobby a sock," the elf said in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby." "What's that?" Mr. Malfoy asked confused as he turned around. "What did you say?" " Master has presented Dobby with clothes," Dobby said in disbelief. "Dobby is free."

Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf. Then he looked at the three boys. Alistair pulled up a bit  of his pants with a grin to reveal that he wasn't wearing a sock on his right foot. "You lost me my servant!" Mr. Malfoy shouted angrily before he lunged at the boys.

Dobby, however, would not let Mr. Malfoy harm them. "You shall not harm Charlus and Harry Potter and Alistair Black!" he houted. There was a loud bang, and Mr. Malfoy was thrown backward. He crashed down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below.

He got up, his face livid, and pulled out his wand, but Dobby raised a long, threatening finger. "You shall go now," he said fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy. "You shall not touch Charlus and Harry Potter and Alistair Black . You shall go now."

Lucius Malfoy had no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the three of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight.

"Charlus and Harry Potter and Alistair Black freed Dobby!" The elf said shrilly, gazing up at the three of them, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes. "How can Dobby ever repay them?"

"Least we could do, Dobby," Harry said and grinned. "Just promise us something. " "Anything, sir." the elf replied. "Never try to save our lives again." Charlus said as his lips curled into a smile.

Dobby smiled at the boys.

Charlus and Harry Potter and Alistair Black freed Dobby.

Dobby is a free elf.

                                       ────────⊹⊱🐍⊰⊹────────

Everyone was laughing and cheering as they waited for the end of the year feast to begin, especially now that most of the petrified people had been brought back, and they chatted merrily with their friends. Charlus was sitting at the end of Slytherin table with Alistair, Blaise, Matthew and Adrian, while Harry and Ron were sitting behind them at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione hadn't come back yet, but them had been told she was okay, and that she would soon join them, so the four boys were trying their best to wait patiently for her arrival. "Charlus!" Matthew suddenly called, grabbing the boy's attention. "It's Hermione!"

And there she stood in at her un-petrified state, at the entrance to the hall, with a wide grin on her lips as she looked around the Slytherin and  Gryffindor table, trying to find her group. As soon as she spotted them, she ran towards her friends, who quickly got up from the table.

Charlus met her halfway and pulled her to a tightest hug humanly possible.

God, how he missed this. How he missed the feeling of his arms around her, her smile, the smell of her perfume, the eagerness of her hug; everything.

They stayed in that position for awhile. Neither of them wanting to let go, as they feared it may not be real.

Hermione pulled away slightly, her arms still around his neck as she said softly, " I missed you so much,Char." "I missed you too, Mione." he replied before he did something very dangerous. Wihout a second thought, he leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Both of them blushed furiously. He had no idea what he had just done, but the butterflies fluttered in his stomach. What if she didn't like it? What if —

His thoughts were cut short as she smiled widely at him, her cheeks bright pink, "B-brilliant."

Then, to ignore the obvious weirdness between the two of them, Hermione did the only thing she could think of. She turned around abruptly and pulled Harry into a tight hug. They held on to each other for few second before let go of each other.

The girl then caught Alistair in a hug too. "I can't believe you ripped that page out of the book,  Granger," he joked with her, but she understood he was talking about the page Charlus found in her hand, and let out a soft chuckle. "Sometimes one has to break the rules."

Alistair laughed under his breath, and Hermione turned to Ron, who held out his hand for her to shake. "Uh..." he muttered awkwardly, and tried to hide the frown that wanted to pull on his lips. "Welcome back, Hermione."

Hermione sent him a small smile. "It's good to be back," she beamed. "Congratulations, I can't believe you solved it!" "Well, we had loads of help from you." Harry told her.

Charlus nodded in agreement. "We couldn't have done it without you." he said with a smile, which caused the girl to blush again, "Thanks." she said.

Professor McGonagall clinked her fork to her glass and cleared her throat. "Could I have your attention, please?" she said, which made the group sit down and turn towards Dumbledore. He stood up before he began to speak, "Before we begin the feast, l et us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, whose Mandrake juice has been so successfully administered to all who had been petrified."

Everyone, students and teachers alike, clapped for the two women who have saved so many students with their Mandrake juice. Charlus couldn't help the wide smile that pulled on his lips.

"Also, in light of the recent events, as a school treat, all exams have been cancelled." the headmaster said with a small smile, and now the students erupted in cheers and joyful shouts,with the exception of Hermione, who frowned. She had probably been studying for the final exams ever since the end of their first year.

Dumbledore sat down, and then suddenly the Great Hall doors swung open. Everyone turned around and saw Hagrid stepping through them, "Sorry I'm late."

The half-giant walked down the path in between the tables. He stopped walking at the spot where Harry, Charlus, Alistair, Hermione and Ron were sitting, and looked down at them.

"Welcome back, Hagrid!" Alistair beamed. "And I'd just like to say that, if it hadn't been for you, Charlus, Harry, Alistair, Ron... and Hermione, of course," Hagrid began with a soft smile, "I would still be you-know-where, so I'd just like to say thanks."

Harry looked to his brother and friends before he stood up and looked up to Hagrid, who now had tears in his eyes, "I think we'd all agree" — Harry looked around the room to see everyone singling in on him and the giant — "That there is no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid."

The tears started to roll down Hagrid's face as Harry came up to him and pulled him into a hug, which Charlus, Alistair, Ron and Hermione joined within mere seconds.

In the midst of their group hug, Charlus saw Dumbledore and McGonagall  stand up and begin clapping, followed by many other teachers. Just a couple of seconds later, almost every single one of the students had joined in. Especially the five  kids who had now released him from their hug.

Soon enough, people were  leaving their tables to come near Hagrid and shake his hand in greeting.  The only sound that could be heard was a joyful and excited combination of claps, cheers and laughs, while Collin Creevey took picture after picture to try and capture the pure moment.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" Hermione said as she  turned to the Potter twins.  "When they hear what you did this year?" "Proud?" Charlus repeated in disbelief. "Are you mad? All those times we could've died, and we didn't manage it? They'll be furious . . ."

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

And this is the end of the Chamber Of Secrets! Two years down, five more to go! Let's do this!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please, don't forget to vote and share if you do, and if you want, comment too ! I'd really appreciate it <3

Thank you for reading this far.

Until next time, much love to you all!