"We know," said Harry, easing her away. "Neville and I dealt with it." With a gobsmacked expression on her face she asked, "What do you mean by you 'dealt with it'?"
"Neville and I went down into the Chamber of Secrets and killed it," said Harry, smiling.
"Harry James Potter!" she barked. "Neville Francis Longbottom!"
Harry backed up a bit and grinned at Neville, who was grinning just as much back.
"Yeah, she's better," he snickered.
"Yeah, all three names," chuckled Harry back.
"You could have been killed!" she yelled at them. "You should have let the professors handle it!" "Woah, Hermione!" said Harry holding up his hands. "It took a parselmouth to get in and time was of the essence."
"Yeah," said Neville. "There was a damsel in distress who would have died had we not gone down."
Looking at Neville, Harry quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Damsel in distress?" before thinking about it for a few moments. He shrugged and said, "Yeah, actually; that's about right."
"You two idiots!" she barked.
"Hey, that's what Susan called us," said Neville.
The girl in question came over and said, "I did, too!"
"Look, Hermione," said Harry to the angry girl. "I'll let you yell at Neville some more. I'll be with Daphne." "Hey!" complained Neville. "What happened to 'Where a Longbottom goes a Potter will be by his side'?"
"That's the future Lady Potter over there, Nev," replied Harry, pointing his finger to Daphne.
"Then I'd best come with," he happily said.
They'd taken only a few steps when Daphne called, "Yes. It's my turn to yell at you."
The adults around her bed separated to allow Daphne to see them both. Cygnus and Sirius were both sporting wide grins. Daphne, however, was not.
Both boys stopped dead in their tracks. They looked at each other and Neville said, "Errr - I think breakfast is about to be served in the Great Hall." "Good idea, Nev," replied Harry happily. "We'd best go, then."
"What?" scoffed Daphne. "You have no problem facing a thirty foot basilisk that can kill you just by looking at you; but you won't face me?"
Both boys looked at each other again before turning back and saying in stereo, "Hell yes!"
While it amused the adults, by the look on her face, it clearly didn't amuse Daphne. "Get over here, you two!" she growled.
With heads hanging and attempting to ooze contriteness, both boys moved to stand each side of her bed.
"As Hermione said," she said, "'You two idiots!' It was not your job to go charging in like silly Gryffindors..."
"Hey!" said Neville. "... just because some girl might have been in danger!"
"We were prepared!" said Neville.
"Yeah we had these roosters transfigured as blocks of wood," said Harry "And it took a simple Magic Cancelling Charm to transfigure them back..."
"Plus, we had a pair each of my mirror sunglasses for our eyes..."
"And the note Hermione had, said a simple rooster's crow would kill the thing..."
"So all we had to do was not look at it eye-to-eye..."
"While we transfigured the wood back to roosters..."
"And just let the roosters crow within it's hearing range!" "Is that what happened?" she ominously asked.
"Errr..."
"No."
"And what did happen?" she quietly asked with a bit of a growl.
"Ummm - you'd best watch the memory your father has."
"Yes; that would be best."
"We may muck up the telling of it."
"But, the memory doesn't lie."
"You two are starting to sound like the Weasley twins," she said, calmer now. "Now, that's just..." said Harry.
"Wrong," said Neville, before they both grinned at each other.
"Comedians, the pair of you," she huffed. From where he was leaning on a spare bed, Sirius was trying not to laugh so much he was crying. Cygnus wasn't far off, either. And, Isabel was trying to glare at the two boys in support of her eldest daughter, but had her lips pursed like she was sucking on an unripened persimmon.
From the next bed over came the voice of Tracey. "Do I get to yell at them now?"
Both boys glanced at each other for a few moments, then ran out the door. It would have been a photo finish as to which one made it out first.
"Cowards!" Tracey yelled after them amidst laughter.
"Imagine what they'd have been like..." mused Sirius.
"If they'd grown up together?" asked Cygnus. "Now don't you two start!" said Isabel.
Both man laughed even harder.
When Harry and Neville walked side-by-side into the Great Hall for breakfast, the Hall went silent again.
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