Harry had carefully paid attention to Voldemort Jr.'s monologue while he dodged spells and avoided the basilisk's gaze; the young gamer using his Research Skill to dissect the man's words for any clue on how to defeat him. While he had been doing that, Hedwig ended up being petrified by the sixty meter long serpent after she blinded the deadly monster (its deadly gaze glinting off of her wings scales in the same instant that she had destroyed the second eye) and Harry had barely caught her in time to prevent her frozen body from shattering as it fell out of the air.
If not for his familiar's sacrifice, Harry wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell of defeating the Basilisk on his own in battle. A battle that had been every bit as difficult as the battle he'd fought against the three-headed Hell Hound that he'd faced a less than a year earlier.
Even so, Harry had not escaped the battle without injuries… When the creature had tried to bite him the first time, the Basilisk's fang had been deflected by his shield; leaving a long gouge across the curse-singed silvery-blue scale before it had sliced through the skin and muscles of his upper right arm and shoulder to pierce the back of his right hip as he was forced to his knees. The blinded monster had reared back and flicked its tongue out at him, using the scent of his freshly spilled blood to mark his exact location as it struck a second time.
He scrambled backwards but wasn't able to get very far due to the burning pain of the venom flowing through the wounds that the Basilisk had inflicted upon him. In a desperate attempt to survive the battle once he realized he wouldn't be able to outrun the monster any longer, he'd withdrawn the heavy marble sword he'd picked up the previous year out of his Inventory and fumbled it into an upright position as the Basilisk's open mouth surrounded him. Luck was on his side for once when the sharpened blade of stone rammed home into the brain of the Basilisk; killing it instantly.
Harry had simply laid there panting and in pain as the monster had reared back and thrashed around in death for several long seconds before it shattered. The battle wasn't over just yet though…
Time sped back up as Harry watched his bloodied dagger find its mark in the heart of the black diary. The near solid shade of Voldemort Jr. screamed in outrage and pain as the diary bled out a mixture of black ink and blood while cracks began to appear on the shade. Bright white light shone through each crack until the shade once known as Tom Marvolo Riddle shattered in death at the same time as the diary that had housed the shade (which was a fraction of Riddle's soul – though Harry didn't know that yet) released a cloud of black smoke that screamed before shattering (leaving behind the ruined diary).
Harry pressed his face back down against the cold, wet stone floor of the Chamber of Secrets and closed his eyes now that the battle was over. He drifted in and out of delirium for several hours as the Antidote Crystal that he'd used fought to neutralize the venom eating its way through his bloodstream while the Weasley girl remained unconscious. During one of his brief moments of lucidity, he used one of the red Healing Crystals (that he'd been saving for emergencies since he didn't think he could get any more in this world) on himself in the hopes that it would help repair what the venom had destroyed.
Twelve hours after the battle ended, Harry finally felt well enough to collect the remains of the original diary (which was labeled as Voldemort's Soul Receptacle in his Inventory). He also noted that he'd received Basilisk Skin, Fangs, Venom, an Eye, and Tentatio's Heart that had been dropped when he defeated the monster as well as Riddle's Diary (not the enchanted one that he'd destroyed but the true diary of a young Voldemort; which was really just a copy of the shade's memories) that Voldemort Jr. had left behind upon his death.
Harry had then reluctantly placed Hedwig's petrified body in his Inventory because she was far too heavy for him to carry in his current condition. He also needed his hands free in order to carry the still unconscious Ginny Weasley out of the Chamber. The girl was still suffering from whatever it was that Voldemort Jr. had been done to her all year long alongside of the injuries she'd received early on in the battle when Harry had attempted to attack Voldemort Jr. directly before he realized that his attacks were hurting her and before the Basilisk had been called forth.
Lastly, Harry gathered up his scattered weapons and damaged shield before he wearily threaded his arms beneath the girl's arms, hefted her torso off of the floor, and began dragging her towards the exit as he hobbled along on his broken foot and injured hip; the twelve year old far too drained magically to levitate her at that point. He ran into another bit of trouble the moment he exited the main Chamber when he ran into a horde of Red Caps that had been drawn down into the area by the sounds of battle and the scent of blood that had been spilt during the battle.
Harry barely had time to lower the girl he'd rescued down on the floor before the horde was upon him. He ended up with bruises from head to toe before he'd managed to take his diamond wire from his Inventory and use it to create a lethal net trap that destroyed the horde in one fell swoop; a rather cowardly attack that Harry normally never would have used on such weak monsters. He'd not had the time or the strength to fight the horde fairly though and his life hadn't been the only one on the line at the time. Nor had he had the magic to spare to use any spells to deal with the horde of monsters.
Harry had then shut the inner door leading into the Chamber and rigged it with a few of his more reliable net traps to keep people out (until he could come back and explore the room when he wasn't in so much pain) before he carefully continued to drag the Weasley girl back to the bathroom entrance while pausing every few feet to leave a large number of additional traps in his wake. Thankfully, he made it there without running into any additional monsters. He'd been forced to rest for another hour at that point because his foot, hip, and arm were in agony.
He then used a second Antidote Crystal and drank a Potion because the earlier Antidote and Healing Crystals he'd used hadn't been enough to heal the damage he'd taken. After using the crystal and drinking the potion, he wrestled Ginny up into his back as best he could before he used Sprint to climb back up the pipe he'd slid down to enter the Chamber. He was met at the top of the pipe by a battle ready contingent of school staff and Ministry Aurors; all of whom had their wands out and ready. Harry stared blankly at the group of fifteen wizards and witches that had been prepared to brave the Chamber of Secrets before he snorted.
"You're late, the battle's already over," Harry pointed out as he limped forward a few steps before he slowly sank to the floor and let Ginny slide off his back as what little energy he'd still had fled. "I must say I really hate your End-of-Year Exams, Headmaster. Next year, I'm going to demand that you allow me to spend more time training in the Forbidden Forest if you expect me to face a third incarnation of Voldemort alongside the next Boss Monster; though I'm not certain how you plan to top a one thousand year old Basilisk."
All fifteen adults stared wide eyed at Harry as he passed out at that point; none of them had expected Slytherin's Monster to be one of the magical world's most terrifying creatures. Nor had they expected a mere twelve year old to face such a monster alone and survive.
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