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Chapter 191 - CH 191

Harry stood and looked to the head table.

As soon as the rest of the Hall recognised Harry was standing, it went silent again.

"Yes, Ha... Mister Potter?" asked the Headmaster.

"Headmaster," he said. "It has quickly become apparent to Neville and I that we will be near-forever plagued by questions about what happened this afternoon. May I have permission to address the student body to explain?" "Errr - I don't think that would be wise..." he started to reply before be was cut off by Cygnus standing.

"Let the boys tell it, Headmaster," said Cygnus. "You know what he is saying is true."

With a sigh and exaggerated weary slump of disappointment, the old man said, "Very well. But, please make it quick."

"Thank you, Headmaster," said Harry before looking at Neville. "You, too. Come on."

Neville nodded and also stood. And both walked to stand in the area in front of the head table.

"Headmaster, I believe this will go a lot quicker, which is what you said you want, if we show this in a projector pensieve."

"Very well," said the old man, again. Harry quietly called, "Petey," and the little elf popped in.

"Yes, Master Harry?"

Kneeling down he gestured the elf forward and whispered, "Can you get me my pensieve and a - plinth - for it to sit upon, please?"

The elf nodded and disappeared. A moment later it returned with what Harry asked for next to him.

"Thank you," said Harry, and the elf popped away.

Standing back up Harry turned to the student body and said, "Mister Longbottom, Miss Bones, Miss Abbott and I, with purpose, set about attempting to solve the year long mystery of why and how students were being petrified. "We also decided to search for the so-called Chamber of Secrets, as the two issues appeared to be tied together. Many of you have come across us over the past three weeks while we were engaged in that search."

There were a few nodding heads among the students.

"Well, shortly after lunch, this afternoon, we found another message daubed onto the wall underneath the original one. For those who don't already know, it says, 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever'.

"At that time we were headed for the haunted bathroom on the second floor. Miss Bones and Miss Abbott had the very clever idea to talk with the first victim - no, not Mrs Norris - Myrtle Malone; Moaning Myrtle. The girl killed when the Chamber was last opened, in May 1943."

Neville took it up. "With the message making it clear we were quickly running out of time, we spoke with Myrtle and she provided us with three very important pieces of information. One was the identity of the student opening the Chamber and bringing the beast up into the castle. The second led us directly to the hidden entrance. The third confirmed what we believed the monster to be. It was a basilisk."

That had quite a few gasps and talking from the students.

"But, a basilisk kills when it looks at you, not petrifies you," called one older Ravenclaw. "Yes," replied Neville. "And solving why the victims were only petrified, and not killed, was part of the problem."

"However, we did just that, too," said Harry. "We discovered none of the victims were caught in the direct gaze of the basilisk.

"Mrs Norris was drinking from the still water that was on the floor of the corridor. She saw the basilisk in the reflection off the water. Mister Creevey was looking through the lens of his camera. Mister Finch-Fletchley saw the basilisk through the misty form of Sir Nicholas. Sir Nicholas saw it direct but, as he's already dead, it only petrified him. And our three friends saw it through the reflection of a small hand-held mirror Miss Granger was holding in her hand at the time.

"None of the living caught the direct gaze of the basilisk. And that, of itself, is nothing short of a miracle." "It will also interest you to know," said Neville. "That, from both their positions when they were found petrified, and by a note held in Miss Granger's hand at the time, the three of them had only just figured out that the monster was a basilisk. That is why they were looking around corners using a hand mirror before actually walking around the corner."

"It took me using parseltongue to open the entrance, which is magically sealed," said Harry. "So, you can forget about trying to do it yourself. We sent Hannah and Susan to Professor McGonagall with what information we had; in case we didn't come back.

"Neville and I had already, by this time, taken to carrying around a transfigured rooster each. They were transfigured into two ordinary blocks of wood. It is known that the crow of a rooster will kill a basilisk. "So, armed with a transfigured rooster each, our wands, and a pair each of special mirror surfaced sunglasses - that should have only seen us petrified rather than killed by the basilisk's gaze..." Harry held up his own pair, "...Neville and I went down the secret passage to the Chamber."

"After quite a while of carefully walking," said Neville, "we came upon a great stone door. Again, Harry had to use parseltongue to open it. And we entered.

"We carefully made our way down the length of the Chamber and found the unconscious body of a girl lying at the feet of a great stone statue of Salazaar Slytherin, himself."

"With me standing guard," continued Harry, "Neville tried to rouse her. He could not. And, no, I'm not going to say who it was, just yet, because she is pretty much blameless for what happened. The student was being held in thrall by a magical artefact, and was acting outside of her own control. Think of it as another form of the Imperious Curse; but much, much worse.

"There was the - essence? - of another student there, until that time hidden. That student you've heard me name before. His name was Tom Riddle."

"Mister Potter!" exclaimed Dumbledore, as the students whispered among themselves.

"You're far too late, Headmaster," said Neville turning to him. "They all already know of whom he's speaking.

And haveknown for three weeks."

Dumbledore looked very shocked and quite disturbed. But, he didn't say anything more.

Turning back to the students, Harry said, "That's right, folks. The same student who dobbed in Hagrid for opening the Chamber of Secrets in 1943, is the same one who opened it this time. So, no doubt you can figure out who actually opened the Chamber last time, yes?

"Spirit-Tom and I exchanged words, while Neville tried to help the unconscious student. And, like all megalomaniacs, Tom liked to talk about how great he was. Then, once he finally shut his yap, he called forth the basilisk using parseltongue. Here's what happened from there."

Harry then concentrated on the memory of the battle, up to them leaving the Chamber, and used his wand to withdraw the memory. He dropped it into the basin of the pensieve and tapped the rune to make it project in the space above.

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