Before Madam Bones left to deal with the Malfoy debacle, she copied ten memories from Harry; his encounter with the thing killing the unicorns in the forest, his clearing of the traps protecting the stone from the dungeon on the third floor corridor, and his encounter with the Two-Faced Voldemort Hybrid from his first year school year. From the current year, he had her pull his two brief meetings with Dobby, his Polyjuiced interrogation of Draco Malfoy, the conversation with Neville and Hermione about the memory Neville had seen about Hagrid being responsible for opening the Chamber, Lockhart's attempted attack, and the memory of facing Voldemort Jr. and the Basilisk.
Dumbledore had been less than pleased that Harry had allowed her to copy those memories (and convinced her to make him an extra copy of each that he immediately stored in his Inventory in case he needed to share them with someone else). Harry didn't really care though; he wasn't exactly pleased with Dumbledore trying to cover everything up or his attempt to make Harry look mentally unstable. He was sorely tempted to make arrangements with the Weasley twins to have the old codger pranked in revenge before the end of the year.
May 14, 2023 through June 16, 2023
Harry was finally released just before lunch on the fourteenth of May and he wasted no time in vanishing into the Forbidden Forest for a much needed vacation. He'd been bored out of his mind for the past five days and even though he'd felt fine, Madam Pomfrey had refused to release him sooner because he'd been bitten by the Basilisk. She had claimed that she was only worried that there would be complications due to the sheer volume of Basilisk Venom that had been running through his veins.
Harry secretly thought the woman had kept him locked up on Dumbledore's orders in order to punish Harry for not taking the man's advice back on the eighth when Mr. Malfoy had stormed into the infirmary.
Then there was the fact that Harry had refused to tell the man how to dismantle the traps that Harry had placed through the tunnel leading to the inner door of the Chamber of Secrets (the bearded wizard had been caught up in a number of the traps each time he attempted to explore the Chamber). Harry had cleared the Dungeon and therefore he'd more than earned the right to have first selection of any treasures that had been hidden within the Chamber. And you could bet your bottom dollar that he'd be exercising that right just as soon as he could sneak back down into the Chamber without anyone knowing what he was doing.
There was no way he was going to risk Dumbledore confiscating a Key Item that he might need to complete the next core quest when the man was so determined to keep Harry from finishing the game.
Harry returned to the castle four days later when he received word that the Restorative Draught for those that had been petrified had finally been finished; Harry had kept Hedwig safe in his Inventory while waiting for the potion to be brewed because he had been worried that someone would attack or steal her while she was vulnerable. The twelve year old hovered over his helpless familiar and intently supervised the process as the draught was administered to the occamy (which involved feeding it to her through an eyedropper that was inserted through the small gap in her beak). Knowing it would take at least twelve hours for the potion to reverse the petrification, Harry had then hauled his familiar up to his bed and sat with her until she'd been restored.
Within two days of the potion being administered, all of the petrified victims had been restored and Ginny Weasley had finally woken from the coma she'd been in since Harry had rescued her. On the twenty-fifth, when the Weasleys came to collect their children in order to help the two youngest to deal with everything that happened, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley formally thanked Harry for risking his life to save Ginny (for a second time) and for preventing her from being unjustly arrested. Hagrid was released from Azkaban and awarded compensation for his wrongful imprisonment the same day thanks to the memories that Harry had provided and Neville's memories about what he'd been shown by the memory of T. M. Riddle and what he'd learned from Aragog.
Four days after Hagrid's release and the Weasleys' early withdrawal, Headmaster Dumbledore announced that the normal end of year exams for the first through fourth year and the sixth years had been canceled due to the disruptions to their classes in the wake of the multiple attacks. Unfortunately for the fifth and seventh years, they were still required to take the standardized tests (O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s respectively) administered by the Wizarding Examination Authority. A number of the more studious students were irked by the cancellation of the tests (mostly the Ravenclaws and a handful of members from the other Houses, including Hermione).
The student standings for the year were determined by their classwork and their mid-term tests that were taken back before the winter holidays. Harry shared the top spot amongst the second years with Hermione this time around while Neville moved up from the thirteenth spot to the number nine spot.
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