Fair and Foul by Lemon Curd

Harry had no idea what he would have done if Dumbledore hadn’t appeared that moment. The phoenix on the headmaster’s shoulder fluttered its wings and vanished into the dark pipe, too, but Dumbledore stayed.

“Where are the others?” Dumbledore looked more serious than Harry had ever seen him, except perhaps in Snape’s office.

“In there! It must be Slytherin’s secret chamber! They told me to wait here in case it closed up again, but I can go with you, can’t I?”

“Are you sure you want to brave Slytherin’s monster?”

“I don’t have a choice! All my friends are down there!”

“Then we shall go together.”

Harry wondered if the others had as comfortable a ride as he – likely not. While he gently floated down into the darkness, courtesy of a spell Dumbledore had done, they must have used the pipe like a slide.

“There we are. Lumos!”

Dumbledore’s spell didn’t just produce a small light, but lighted the whole dark corridor, as if someone had switched on the electric light.

They ran, but soon, Harry realized Dumbledore was falling behind. He had known the man was old, but it had never been as – as real, as in that moment.

“Hurry, please!”

But Dumbledore stopped running, and continued in a slow walk, wheezing as he caught his breath. “I sent Fawkes ahead”, he said at last. “We have to trust in him.”

“Sorry, sir.” With that, Harry resumed running. He just had to be there, he couldn’t just sit around and hope that a bird had somehow helped the others against Slytherin’s monster.

When he arrived, he saw Hermione standing there and Ron sitting on the ground, and he let out a breath of relief. Then he noticed they were all forming a circle around ... “Ginny?”

“Miss Weasley will make a full recovery.” Snape was kneeling next to a lifeless body with long, dirty blonde hair, performing some spell on the strange girl.

As Harry stepped closer, he saw that Ron was cradling Ginny in his arms. She smiled weakly at Harry, but immediately after, her gaze darted to the girl Snape was examining.

“Potter! Where’s the headmaster?”
“He wasn’t as fast – said we could only wait and hope -”

“Waiting and hoping won’t save her! Go back and tell him to hurry the f- fudge up!”

“Do calm down, Severus.” Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows. “I doubt I can do anything you have not already thought of. What is the situation?”

“Dark magic. Her life has been sucked out of her, and ... Albus, she has a ... dark aura. Death was in her thoughts often even before this happened. Miss Weasley carried the cursed object for far longer, yet was not so affected ...” Snape put his wand away and carefully lifted Luna up into his arms.

“You think ... the early loss of her mother ...?”

“The bullying by her yearmates won’t have helped”, Snape replied harshly, settling Luna’s head against his shoulder.

“Oh, stop it! Ginny feels bad enough as is!”

Harry hadn’t ever seen Ron get so protective of his sister before. But she hadn’t ever looked so sick, either.

“Bad, perhaps. Bad enough? I rather doubt it.” Snape got up, Luna’s weight causing him to stagger. “Charming as the scenery is, I do think Miss Lovegood needs the hospital wing.”

“Ginevra does not look very healthy, either”, Dumbledore noted, then turned to Ginny. “Do you think you can get up and walk with your brother’s help?”

“Yes, sir. Um. Am I not going to get punished?”

“Punished? Dear girl, whatever for?”

“Well, I ... the diary ... I think it was me who ... I must have killed Hagrid’s roosters ...”

“Ah, yes, the diary.” Dumbledore picked something up from the ground. “It seems to have been thoroughly destroyed, but I am confident in concluding that it was a dark artifact and you were not acting out of your own volition. Is that correct?”

“Yes – I mean – I didn’t even remember what I had done in the mornings, I just woke up covered in feathers and ...”

“That is settled, then. You will not be punished for falling victim to one of Voldemort’s schemes.”

Voldemort? Hadn’t he died with Quirrell? “Voldemort? But – how? Didn’t I kill him last year?”

“I doubt he has enough humanity left to fully die”, Dumbledore said slowly. “And this ... was there a name in the diary, Ginevra?”

“Yes – Tom Riddle. He – he talked to me, and I should have known there was something wrong, and – please, you can save Luna, can you?”

“Hopefully. Tom Riddle, you see, is Voldemorts true name. He made sure almost no one remembers, but I will always remember the boy he used to be.”

Snape had walked ahead, but as he was still carrying Luna, had not gotten far.

When they arrived at the pipe, Dumbledore put a spell on it that made it grow even larger, and made stairs appear in it.

Snape went first, then Hermione and Ron with Ginny between them.

The hallways were empty, they didn’t meet a single person.

In the hospital wing, though, there were more patients than Harry would have expected.

Several petrified students, of course, but also a man he hadn’t ever seen before. He couldn’t be a teacher.

“How is Mr. Lovegood?”, Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey, stepping towards the bed that held the fair-haired man.

“I had to sedate him”, the healer replied briskly, while directing Snape to lay Luna on one of the empty beds. “Poor girl ... Severus, you already saw to her? What do you say?”

“Her lifepower was sucked out of her, and preciously little remains. The spell is broken now, but the spark of life is flickering. Her father’s presence might help ...” Snape gave the unconscious Mr. Lovegood a very sceptical look.

“Is there anything else that can be done?”

“A honest apology from her tormentors might improve things, but since that cannot be procured, I am at a loss.”

Madam Pomfrey stared at Snape. “Are you saying she is suicidal? Because the other children bully her?”

“Nonsense. I have never seen a child more committed to maintaining a cheerful mood in the face of adversity. All I am saying is that, her mother being dead and the world of the living not being exactly ... welcoming to her, she might be choosing not to fight what is already happening.”

“But we can get her an apology”, Harry blurted out, unable to keep quiet any longer. “Just call everyone to the Great Hall and tell them what the problem is!”

Snape regarded him with a gaze that might have turned someone into a solid ice block. “Oh yes. What a positively splendid idea. We tell everyone that their actions actually affect Miss Lovegood. That will make them double their efforts at tormenting her, which in turn will ensure her swift demise. It may have escaped you, Potter, but the rest of us are actually trying to save this girl’s life.”

“What? No! That’s not what I – I’m sure everyone will be sorry that they were mean to her!”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Why, your father would immediately have stopped being a bully had he seen his favourite victim cry in a corner.” Snape’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “After all, where is the fun in bullying if you actually achieve your objective? We all know any given activity is only fun as long as you do not succeed in it, which explains why potions is your favourite subject, Potter, does it not?”

“My father wasn’t a bully!”

Before Snape could murder him for that, Dumbledore stepped in. “That is quite enough, Severus. A girl is dying, there is no time to lose. What do you propose we do?”

Harry guiltily looked at Luna. She looked even worse now that Ginny was kneeling at her bedside, her rosy skin contrasting with Luna’s almost white paleness.

“I’m so sorry”, Ginny whispered. “We shouldn’t have ...”

The rest, Harry couldn’t understand.

“Take her father to a separate room and wake him. Ensure he understands how serious the situation is, and that he will be no use wallowing in his grief”, Snape recommended. Then he shooed Ginny away, taking her place kneeling at Luna’s side. “If you could remove the children, headmaster, I might be better able to focus.” He touched Luna’s shoulder. “There is still one thing I have not tried ...”

Dumbledore nodded, then looked at Hermione, Ron and Harry: “Would you be so kind as to wait outside?”

They had no other choice but to retreat. As they left, they heard Madam Pomfrey usher Ginny into her office to examine her.

“What happened to Ginny, anyway?” Harry asked.

Hermione and Ron started answering at the same time.

“Okay, you go first”, Ron conceded at last.

“Ginny was bitten by a basilisk”, Hermione explained.

“Killed the monster, too”, Ron added proudly.

“A what?”

Ron shrugged. “A giant snake.”

“That is a gross simplification”, Hermione complained. “But, yes, it looks like a snake. The venom is also deadly. Phoenix tears are a very powerful antidote, so I hope she will be okay.”

What? “Deadly? And you only tell me now?”

“Snape said it would have killed her immediately if the phoenix hadn’t cried on her wound, so we figure she is safe now.”

A giant snake. Of course Slytherin’s monster was a giant snake. It was so obvious, probably that was why no one had figured it out before.

“Talking of Snape, what is he doing in there?”, Ron asked, walking closer to the door.

Harry followed suit and they listened, while Hermione frowned at them disapprovingly.

Apparently, Snape had not used his anti-listening spell this time.

“... somewhat stronger. Still, that could be only temporary.”

“Oh, I have the utmost confidence in your efforts.”

Dumbledore sounded as if he was sure Luna would be fine. He also seemed amused by something.

“Shut up.”

Harry and Ron looked at each other. How dare Snape speak to Dumbledore like this?

But Dumbledore only chuckled.

There was a silence, then they heard another male voice. “Luna? Where is my Luna? Luna!”

They heard steps and could just jump out of the way before the door opened and Snape strode out, ignoring them as he went past.

Dumbledore followed. “It appears that Ginevra has been permitted to return to her dormitory, on the condition that she not overexert herself. If you wish to see Luna, I am sure it can be arranged, but I must ask you to give her father a few private moments with her first. She is well on the mend.”

“When can we visit?” Ginny emerged from the hospital wing.

“That is for Madam Pomfrey to decide, but I do think your chances of being allowed to see Luna will be best tomorrow morning after breakfast. A good night’s sleep almost always improves a patient’s condition and therefore the healer’s mood.”