With a nod and smile in return, Harry gave her hand a gentle squeeze and went to move away. Suddenly, he stopped and moved back. "One last thing, Ginny," he said, with his face showing curiosity. "Where on earth did you find that diary?"
"It was in with my books when we got home from shopping for school supplies," she said.
"In?" he asked.
"Yeah, it was inside another book," she said. "A second hand one my parents were able to buy for me." "Was it your Transfiguration book?" he asked.
"Umm - Yeah," she said. "How'd you know?"
"You can think of it as just a guess," he replied. "Now I've reallygot to go." He smiled and moved away.
'Lord Malfoy. In the bookshop. With the Transfiguration Book,' thought Harry. 'Gotcha! And that explains Dobby.'
He returned to the adults to find Neville had returned and was dressed neatly in everyday 'casual' wizarding robes without the outer robe.
"Is it dinner time yet?" asked Harry, rubbing his hands together. "Slaying a thousand year old basilisk has managed to make me build up an appetite." Neville snorted. "Only you, Harry; would make such a remark," he said.
Turning to the adults, he asked, "I hope you're willing to join us for dinner? I'd like you to see what happens, here, when a Potter and Longbottom enter the Great Hall."
"Me?" stammered Neville. "I think you mean you, Harry."
"Not any more, Nev," disagreed Harry. "You just slayed a thirty-plus foot long thousand year old basilisk one moment, and crossed wands with Voldemort, kicking his arse, the next. Twice!"
Gran gasped.
"Oh!" said a surprised Neville. "I did, didn't I?"
Harry grinned and one-arm hugged his mate. The adults smiled, looked at each other, and Cygnus said, "As long as you're inviting us, why not?"
With the adults following, Neville and Harry walking side-by-side into a now full Great Hall. As expected, the entire Hall went silent.
"See?" said Harry over his shoulder.
Walking forward, Harry was looking around for where they'd be sitting, when they saw Hannah and Susan rise from their seats at the Hufflepuff table and come running over.
Susan grapple-hugged Harry while Hannah did the same with Neville. "You bloody idiots!" said Susan, softly. Then the girls switched.
Sirius, ever the wag, called out, "Yes, yes. It is I, Lord Sirius Black, the ever-lovable." Looking up at the head table in the silent hall, Harry called, "Headmaster, do we have room at table for a few guests?"
The old man smiled and magnanimously said, "Of course, Mister Potter."
With a girl under an arm each, Neville and Harry walked over to the Hufflepuff table. They quietly made room for the extra six of them.
Once they were all sitting, and the noise of conversation renewed, Harry leaned over to his Godfather and said, "The whole Hall going silent like that when we enter is what's been happening all year."
"When you enter, Harry," corrected Neville.
"Not any more, Nev," replied Harry with a grin. "Expect your name to now be, 'Neville Longbottom, basilisk slayer'. And when we enter a room, it'll be, 'Hey, there's Neville Longbottom and his friend Harry'."
Gran sat up, proudly.
As the meal wound to a close, one of the younger 'Puffs finally gathered up their courage and asked Harry, "You really went into the Chamber of Secrets?"
Clearly, Susan and Hannah had been talking with their housemates, at least.
"Yes," he replied.
"What was it like?" asked the 'Puff.
"Big. Damp. Dimly lit by torchlight. And scared the whoopeesout of the both of us," he replied with a bit of a shrug.
Neville snorted and said, "Got that right."
Harry could see those within hearing distance of what he said had gone quiet to listen. "It's a long room, with pillars running down both sides just in from the walls. There's a snake motif going on, throughout. And, at the far end, is this huge stone statue of Salazaar Slytherin, himself.
"The entrance to the chamber, itself, has a huge stone door barring entrance. And requires parseltongue to open it."
"And the monster was a big basilisk?"
"Yeah. Neville effectively killed it. I just administered the final killing blow to make sure it was dead."
"How big was it?"
"Ummm – Thirty feet, I think." Turning to Neville he asked, "Hey, Nev?"
Looking back, Neville asked, "Yeah, Harry?" "The basilisk," said Harry. "You had a better look at it than I did. How big was it really?"
"Ummm - about - thirty foot long, I think," he said with a shrug of his own.
"I just remember how big a mouth it had," said Harry. "The thing could have easily swallowed a person whole."
"The strength in it's body was pretty impressive, too," said Neville. "It smashed to rock-dust that pillar you were first standing behind. And left big smashed holes when it rammed the walls trying to get to you."
"But, who was doing it? Who first opened the chamber?"
"Hang on," said Harry. Turning to Neville he said, "You know, we're going to plagued with these questions over and over again. How about we just tell the story once to the student and staff body and get it out of the way?"
"Yeah," replied Neville, understanding. "That would be good."
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