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Chapter Sixteen: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire.

Harry felt relieved, all the horror, all the trauma that had came over the last year with the attacks and the people thinking he was the ultimate evil, the one who was the Heir of Slytherin, it was over. His mind, as far as Hogwarts was concerned for the remainder of the year, could finally be set at ease.

Of course, there was the problem of the Foot Ninjas searching the tunnels around the lair of his home and they fact they drove his brothers and Master Splinter out but Harry felt if they just laid low for a couple of months in that abandoned warehouse, the Foot Ninjas would eventually give up their search and believe they were mistaken in thinking they could find the Turtles, Harry, and Splinter down in that area of the sewer.

Harry attempted to forget about that fact for the moment and remembered about the good he accomplished on this day. The monster was no longer alive to threaten anyone and he saved Ginny from the possession of Riddle. This day, which could have ended in tragedy, turned out to have a happy ending.

Arriving at the Slytherin Common Room, Harry saw Daphne and Theodore sitting around, looking rather anxious.

"There you are Harry, what happened, no one is telling us anything," said Theodore in a low voice

"What's the story? Is Hogwarts going to close or not? What about the Basilisk? Is Ginny alive or dead? Surely if anyone knows it's you!" cried Daphne anxiously. "The teachers really aren't saying anything right now, they refuse to let us know, all we could get out of Snape was "it's over" but we did not know if it was the school being closed or the entire mess with the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry looked at them, sitting down.

"The Heir of Slytherin has been defeated and Ginny is safe," said Harry simply. "I assume the school is staying open since it’s over, but I did not even hear anything about it closing."

"Who was the Heir, Harry?" asked Theodore.

Harry looked at both of his friends before drawing in a deep breath.

"Lord Voldemort," said Harry simply.

That got a lovely reaction out of Daphne and Theodore, who looked in shock.

"A younger sixteen year old version of Voldemort through, in the diary," said Harry. "I did suspect something was not quite right about that diary and as it turns out, I was right. Unfortunately Ginny had the misfortunate of being forced to carry out the attacks but that’s all I am going to say. Anything else about what happened; it’s her business to tell you and not mine."

"Exactly how did you do it Harry?" questioned Daphne. "How did you manage to defeat the Basilisk and You-Know-Who at the same time?"

"Simple really, Basilisk venom is extremely corrosive and it burned a hole through the diary," said Harry. "The backlash of the diary destructing also blasted the Basilisk into little tiny pieces, thus ensuring the victory. Thus, I saved the world from Lord Voldemort, again, and saved Ginny's life at the same time."

"All in a day's work, eh Harry," said Theodore smirking. "Save the girl, slay an evil monster, maybe we should write a book on your adventures at Hogwarts. Market it to millions of children everywhere, make you even more famous."

"Who in their right mind would read a book written about me?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Just a suggestion," said Theodore shrugging his shoulders.

"Where’s Ginny right now, anyway?" asked Daphne curiously.

"She’s up in the Hospital Wing, much against her will I can assure you," said Harry. "I talked to her and then I met Ron."

"So what did he have to say?" asked Daphne. "Was he still accusing you of being the epitome of all things evil?"

"No actually, he was quite civil, in fact, he apologized to me for all of what he accused me of," said Harry coolly. "Surprised me really, I thought he was going to try and curse me for talking to Ginny. Of course, I told him that's who he should have really apologized to."

"The great and noble Harry Potter, always thinking of others, I must say a pretty good trait to have," said Daphne in amusement. "Admit it, your true revenge was putting young Ronald in a room alone with his sister, who had to be agitated at him after all that happened this year. Ginny must have given in an earful in there, especially if she was irritated already by being cooped up in that Hospital Wing."

Theodore shuddered at the very thought.

"Daphne, remind me to never tick off a red head," said Theodore.

"Noted," said Daphne before turning to Harry. "Harry remind me to remind Theodore to never tick off a red head."

"Why must I do everything?” asked Harry irritably.

"Because you're Harry Potter, everything is expected of you," said Daphne in an amused tone of voice.

"Yeah Harry, how else are you going to keep up with the fame and glory of Gilderoy Lockhart?" said Theodore sarcastically.

"Actually, I don't think we’ll have too much trouble from Lockhart anymore," said Harry. "After he had a little accident."

"So it has finally happened, he finally annoyed you to the point where you killed him," said Theodore.

"Wow, Harry, you really don't mess around, you have a perfect record when it comes to Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Daphne. "That's the second one you knocked off in two years."

"No I didn’t kill him, although I kind of wish I did when he tried to do what he did to Ginny and me," said Harry. "He tried to wipe our memories, so he could take credit for what happened. Unfortunately something happened that caused him to lose his mind. Namely his wand backfired on him but how Ginny and I were protected, remains a mystery to me."

"What happened Harry?" asked Theodore.

"It seemed a protective dome formed by the water on Myrtle's bathroom floor threw a protective dome over us and caused the curse to bounce off the dome, and strike Lockhart down," said Harry.

Daphne and Theodore burst out laughing.

"Lockhart got finished but what brought him all that fame and glory," said Theodore.

"The irony of it all is quite entertaining," said Daphne who looked rather entertained.

"Also, Snape did tell me the Mandrakes would be ready in a couple of weeks and all the people who were attacked will be returned to themselves," said Harry.

"Even Malfoy," whined Daphne.

"Unfortunately," said Harry in a grim tone of voice.

"Well, every cloud does have a silver lining," said Theodore.

The three Slytherins talked late in the night about the events of the day but Harry felt relieved the cloud of darkness left by Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin had now past from over Hogwarts.

While the three were talking, Dumbledore was in his office, late at night. It felt so good to be home yet something had gone horribly wrong. The Weasley girl had somehow survived her possession by Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy had came out of his encounter by Potter definitely coming at worst.

Dumbledore looked at the Sorting Hat, he was so sure Potter could pull that Gryffindor Sword out of the hat for him. He needed the sword if his plans were to go through yet Dumbledore sensed something different about the hat, as if it was missing something. He felt the Gryffindor Sword still in the hat, but out of his reach. The Hat had refused to tell Dumbledore what had been removed.

Dumbledore sat at his desk, sucking on a Lemon Drop in frustration. He sensed Lily had ancestors who was of the Wizarding World and he was so sure it was those of Gryffindor origins, whose magical power had disappeared and become Squibs hundreds of years ago, but if that was the case, if Potter pulled anything out of the hat, it would definitely be the Gryffindor Sword. Perhaps Dumbledore was mistaken in believing that Prophecy, the real Prophecy, not the fairy tale proclamation he forced Trelawney to make nearly thirteen years ago and he let slip to Voldemort to force him to go after the Potters. It was a tactic to bye him some more time by leaking part of this false Prophecy to Voldemort, but it had worked.

The plan Dumbledore had to control Harry Potter was sound, if that Dursley fulfilled his end of the bargain and did not dump the boy in New York. Petunia did not need much convincing into mistreating the boy, making him live a miserable life, due to her hatred for her sister and anything magical but the greedy pig known as Vernon wanted compensation to do Dumbledore's dirty work and not kill the boy outright once he arrived at Privet Drive. Of course, Dumbledore paid him off as long as Dursley kept the boy alive and into a battered shell of a human, so Dumbledore could manipulate the boy into his perfect weapon to take out Voldemort. Dumbledore wanted the entire Slytherin line wiped out, for personal reasons. The revenge for what Salazar did to him in a past life would be sweet.

Dumbledore decided he would trick Potter into doing his bidding, one way or another. Dumbledore had a suddenly inspired idea, something incredibly cruel. He would use one of his closest friends to do so and she would not even know what she was doing. Dumbledore decided to take the summer off from manipulating people to carefully map out what needed to be done. This plot required a steady hand, so Dumbledore needed to plan his moves carefully.

Hagrid had returned from Azkaban the day after the incident with the Chamber. He thanked Harry for clearing his name and seem rather horrified to find out exactly who Tom was. Harry was glad to see an innocent man saved from a terrible prison, as he heard the tales about Azkaban and none of them were all too pleasant.

Harry also been spending time with Ginny, just talking and hanging around, attempting to help her get over her ordeal in the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny started to get back to her old self over the past couple of weeks, which was a relief for Harry.

The mandrakes were ready a couple of weeks later and Harry, Ginny, Theodore, and Daphne were in the Hospital Wing, waiting for Hermione to get cured from her petrified state.

As she received the draught, Hermione opened her eyes, weakly.

"Daphne, Theodore, Ginny, Harry," muttered Hermione weakly. "I found out what the monster was, it was a Basilisk, I am sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner."

"It's already been taken care of, Hermione," said Harry kindly.

"You went down and fought it, didn't you?" asked Hermione rhetorically. "Harry, when will you stop getting yourself into dangerous situations."

"When there are dangerous situations to stop getting myself in," said Harry coolly. "I'll tell you the full story later."

"I look forward to it," said Hermione shortly. "After all, it is not everyday that the closest thing I have to a brother fights a fifty foot snake in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Unfortunately, it seems that Malfoy is coming to," said Theodore darkly.

Sure enough, Malfoy was waking up and as he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Ginny standing across the Hospital Wing. The last person he saw before he became petrified and the same person who he heard say was Lord Voldemort. Malfoy's eyes went wide in horror.

"Oh no, it's the Dark Lord!" cried Malfoy. "The Dark Lord, here in this Hospital Wing, the Dark Lord has come back to kill me. Keep her away from me, don't you know she is the Dark Lord. She tried to kill me, why isn't anyone helping me!"

"What a baby," whispered Harry to Ginny who started giggling at Malfoy thinking she was still Lord Voldemort.

"Potter, you beat the Dark Lord before, even if it was by accident, well don't just stand there, save me from the Dark Lord," said Malfoy. "Potter, you’re supposed to be the great savior and I’m an innocent person that could be killed by the Dark Lord at any second."

Daphne, Theodore, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione started laughing at Malfoy who looked confused. Harry then turned to Ginny, whispering in her ear. Ginny got a mischievous smirk on her face, before turning to Malfoy

"Malfoy, kneel before me, as I am the Dark Lord and your Master," hissed Ginny in a spooky voice that even made Harry shudder. Harry made a note not to ever make his friend mad, ever.

"Mummy!" screamed Malfoy, ducking under the covers, cowering in fear.

"I don't think he will be bothering you for a while, Ginny," said Harry. "Come on, let's go, I have better things to do then tormenting Malfoy."

"Really, like what," said Daphne curiously.

"I don't know, but I am struggling to not choke the stench that is coming from Malfoy," said Harry.

"Maybe he wet himself," said Theodore looking amused.

"Come on, let's go," said Hermione. "No doubt I missed a lot in the last month or so that I need to know."

Before, anyone could ever imagine, the year at Hogwarts was finished. Slytherin won the House Cup this year, as Snape had decided to award fifty last minute points to Harry by "putting Hogwarts out of its misery by disposing of that twat Lockhart."

The five friends had found their compartment on the Hogwarts express and the train ride had been quiet, without much incident. Malfoy seemed to be keen to avoid Ginny. Eventually Harry felt Malfoy would come to his senses and realized Ginny was not being possessed by Riddle, but until that day came, Harry felt he would get hours of amusement on Malfoy running in the other direction every time Ginny went into the room.

"Well, it has been wild year this one," said Daphne. "I trust you will all keep in contact this summer. Hopefully it will be a quiet one, with nothing major happening."

"I really don't know anything that will top this year," said Theodore darkly.

Harry remembered something and went through his trunk before pulling out the last of mirrors before turning to Ginny.

"Ginny, this is a two way mirror, it is how we communicate because I’m extremely paranoid and know owls can be intercepted, especially on long intercontinental trips," said Harry handing Ginny the mirror. "If you want to talk to me about what happened this year, all you need to do is say my name to the mirror. I should be available to talk to you at any time. I do look forward to any and all conversations with you and hope you manage to talk to me at least once this summer."

"Thanks Harry," said Ginny. "I'll be sure to keep in touch and remember what you said."

The five said their good byes before going into opposite directions. Harry took out his Portus-Amulet and he felt himself pulled to the abandoned sporting goods warehouse the Turtles and Splinter were hiding out at.

The sight that greeted his family was them sitting around, talking. Raph seemed to be rather agitated about being forced into hiding, but was trying not to show it.

"Harry, I must say it is good to see you again," said Don.

"I must say, you did a nice job with making this place, fit for habitation enough for a temporary fix," said Harry, looking around at the set up of the factory, as crates seemed to be turned over and made into makeshift beds, with a ragged old curtain served as a rug and a dartboard propped up two coquet mallets served as a table. Chocolate wrappers and empty soda cans were all over the place as well.

"Yeah, it's not exactly the Hilton, but it will have to do until those Foot Ninjas get away from the sewers," said Mikey.

"I wish I could get my hands on those Foot goons and show them not to invade our turf," grumbled Raph in an agitated tone of voice.

"Raphael, enough, we need to wait and see what they are doing down in the sewers," said Master Splinter before turning to Harry. "Now Harry, Leonardo tells us that you have an interesting tale to tell us about something that happened at Hogwarts involving you recently. As we have no other entertainment then swapping stories due to our limited resources, I would suggest you tell it in detail to pass the time."

"Very well, Master Splinter," said Harry as he launched into the tale about the Chamber of Secrets. Raph seemed to want to pound Lord Voldemort into paste after hearing about him trying to kill his brother and Don and Mikey exchanged mischievous smirks whenever Harry talked about Ginny but decided to not say anything to their brother with a bunch of sports equipment such as baseball bats, coquet mallets, and hockey sticks laying about and the fact Harry had a bit of a temper, which could cause him to be prone to use such items on their skulls if they teased him too much.

Early the following morning, Harry went out for a walk on the rooftops high above the city to clear his head. It was swimming with the events of the past couple of weeks. Master Splinter had given Harry his blessing but warned him about trying to go back to the lair alone. Harry reluctantly agreed to follow his Sensei's advice.

The sky was clouded and rain was beginning to pour down. Harry was about ready to head back but suddenly, he found himself delayed by a most sinister element of evil.

A dozen Foot Ninjas, all wielding swords, were surrounding Harry on the rooftops high above the city, no doubt ready to do some serious harm to the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry prepared himself for battle, as the Foot Ninjas moved in for the attack.