Harry had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted all night. The whole night, apart from Susan and Neville scolding him for 'being an idiot', was brilliant. Hermione showed up only about 20 minutes after Snape kicked Harry out of his office with the instructions to "go annoy your friends and I will revive Miss Granger." Harry and his friends had jumped to their feet when Hermione entered the hall and she rushed to the table and surprised everyone by hugging Theo immediately. Theo's mouth hung open in shock before he hugged her back tightly. Ron whistled at them and they broke apart, both blushing furiously.
"I'm sorry," Harry said softly to Hermione after she sat down. "But I killed the basilisk, and you can even have the fang as proof if you want."
"Why are you sorry?" Hermione asked. "You didn't do anything to me."
Harry glanced at Susan, who huffed out a quiet 'told you so'.
"It's my fault you got attacked," Harry said slowly. "I said we weren't going to kill the basilisk, remember?" His face heated up as he added on a mumbled, "And I said I'd hoped someone else got attacked."
"That doesn't make it your fault Harry," Hermione said, smiling softly at him. "I wasn't mad at you before Professor Snape told me what you did and I'm definitely not mad now."
"Promise?" Harry asked.
"Promise," she said solemnly.
"So, do you want the fang?" Harry pulled it out of his bag and showed it to her. "This is the one that was stuck in my arm."
"Ew!" Hermione and Susan both cried, cringing away from him. "Harry that is disgusting!" Hermione added.
"I think it's amazing," Luna said. "Basilisk fangs are good luck you know."
Harry smiled at Luna and handed her the fang.
"You keep it then," he said. "I don't need it."
After the rest of the previously petrified students, and Snape, joined the Great Hall, Dumbledore called Harry, Ron, and Draco up to the Head Table. He talked about their 'bravery and dedication to the safety of the school and students' and gave them each an award for Special Services to the School.
Snape had huffed when Harry accepted his award, but Harry saw him smile too.
After that, Dumbledore had asked for a moment of silence, to honor 'the brave sacrifice' by Gilderoy Lockhart. Harry had very carefully not smiled during the silence, even though Susan looked at him suspiciously. Hagrid, the Groundskeeper, returned from the Ministry and tearily thanked Harry for 'proving his innocence'. Harry would have asked for a favor in return, but decided that the less he had to do with anyone who was that close to the Headmaster the better.
Dumbledore also called Ginny Weasley up to the Head Table and said that the Sorting Hat had made a mistake and at her parents request he was allowing her an opportunity for a resort. Harry had cheered the loudest of all when she was sorted in Gryffindor. Just because he saved her life didn't mean he forgot about the horrible stuff she said to him.
'You're a monster.'
"Thank Merlin," Ron said quietly to their group. "She told Mum how Slytherin was 'terrifying' and if she couldn't change houses then she wanted to study magic at home instead."
"Slytherin is not terrifying," Harry scoffed.
The other Slytherin boys glanced at each other before looking wide eyed back at Harry.
"You're the terrifying part of Slytherin," Theo said. "How many housemates have you attacked so far?"
"And you told them all you were the Heir of Slytherin, didn't you?" Blaise said with a smirk.
Harry shrugged, "Yeah well Ginny was leading the bloody basilisk around practically on a leash all year. She doesn't really have room to say that Slytherin is scary, now does she?"
None of the boys had argued the point once they saw the stubborn look on Harry's face.
The boys' combined six hundred points secured the House Cup for Slytherin, again, and Harry laughed outright when Snape winked at him while he shook Dumbledore's hand in acceptance. After that, Professor McGonagall stood up to tell them all that the exams had been canceled as a school treat.
"Oh no," Hermione groaned. "But I studied for ages!"
"You've been petrified," Blaise said. "You can't possibly be ready for exams."
"We've been studying all year, haven't we?" Hermione sniffed, glancing at Theo who nodded eagerly in agreement.
"Theo's in loveeee," Susan whispered in Harry's ear.
"Gross," he whispered back, sticking his tongue out and shuddering dramatically.
"Aha! You were wrong Luna!" Neville cried. "You said we'd all pass exams but there aren't any!"
"No she wasn't," Harry said shortly, crossing his arms. "She said none of us would fail the exams, didn't she? And none of us did, did we?"
Neville looked chagrined at Harry's chastisement and apologized to Luna. Luna smiled radiantly up at Harry.
"Thank you Harry," she said softly. "You have made this a wonderful year. I didn't think I would like Hogwarts much when I got here, but I've been very happy since we met. You are a good friend."
Harry felt his face heat up once again at Luna's blunt frankness with her thoughts and 'feelings'.
"Welcome," he murmured, averting his eyes to Ron who was heckling Theo for the money he owes him.
"But Harry didn't get rid of Lockhart, the basilisk did!" Theo protested.
Ron rolled his eyes and dropped it, proving his commitment to the vow he made.
"Here Ron," Harry whispered, digging in his robe for his coin pouch. "Since you can't tell Theo why he's wrong, I'll pay his debt."
"Cheers mate," Ron said with a wink.
When Harry went to bed, at sunrise, he laid there and thought about the night they'd just had. He thought he might let another basilisk bite him if it meant he could have more nights just like it with his friends.
***
The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled, which bothered Hermione and Theo a lot and the rest of them not a bit. Ginny Weasley no longer glared at Harry at meals, now she sat at the Gryffindor table beside her twin brothers and stared at him with weirdly soft eyes.
"She's sweet on you again," Ron laughed. "Guess you saving her life made you a great hero to her after all."
"Should have left her down there," Harry grumbled.
Harry and his friends tried to set up times during the summer when they could all meet up. Blaise wanted everyone to come to Italy, Draco and Ron both wanted them to come to their houses to play Quidditch, Hermione offered to take everyone to the beach with her family, and Luna said something about hunting for rare fairies that only come out at 2:47 in the morning.
"This is why we needed the charmed diaries," Susan complained. "It'll be a mess trying to figure this out through owls!"
"Why don't we just pick a day and everyone meets at my house?" Harry offered. "We could meet up on Neville's birthday?"
Neville turned red and stammered out excuses why they shouldn't do that but Harry waved them off.
"We'll make plans for what to do in August when everyone comes over on July 30th then," Harry said decisively.
Too soon it was time for the journey home. Snape had stopped Harry at dinner the night before the train left and told him that he didn't need to ride the train.
"We can floo directly from my office to Spinners End," he explained.
Harry frowned and shifted nervously.
"Can- can you maybe meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow night instead?" he asked. He wasn't sure why he was feeling so nervous, but thought it was probably because it was the first time he'd asked Snape for a favor that would be outside of Hogwarts. "I need to ride the train and I have something important to do in Diagon Alley afterwards."
Harry peeked up when Snape hesitated long enough that he was sure he was going to tell him no.
"Will you allow either Lucius or Amelia Bones to see you through the floo at the platform?" Snape asked.
Harry nodded quickly, he was sure Mister Malfoy would be more than happy to.
"Yes sir," he agreed.
"The train should arrive at the platform at four o'clock, are you amenable to me meeting you at the Leakey Cauldron at six thirty? We can get dinner there before returning home."
Harry smiled, "Sounds brill sir, thank you!"
Snape gave him an approving nod before leaving, muttering something about how he isn't a "helicopter guardian" under his breath.
"What're you doing after the train ride?" Hermione asked him.
Harry shrugged, "Little of this, little of that," he said evasively. He didn't want to say anything about his plans just in case they didn't work out how he hoped they would.
The nine of them got a compartment to themselves and spent the last few hours together just goofing around. Ron, who had apparently won quite a bit of money this year, bought everyone treats off the trolley. Hermione got a pack of Muggle cards and dealt out poker chips to everyone.
"You can be on my team," Harry told Luna who still hadn't grasped the concept of Texas hold 'em.
They played cards, ate candy, and laughed as some of the kids passing their compartment still looked fearfully at Harry.
"The rumor in Slytherin is that you're the Heir but the basilisk went rogue, attacked Hermione, and you killed it in a fit of rage," Blaise told him.
"And everyone else thinks about the same," Neville tacked on. "Except Fred and George keep telling everyone you're 'too nice of a bloke' to be the Heir of Slytherin."
Harry laughed it all off. Nobody had bothered him since he returned from being expelled, if they were all too afraid of him to shove him in to walls or call him a freak in the corridors then all the better for him.
They were nearly at Kings Cross when Harry suddenly remembered the sole reason he needed to ride the train instead of flooing directly to Diagon Alley.
"Nobody move!" he ordered the rest of the kids. "I'll be right back!"
He ran down the train hall, glancing in compartment windows until he found the person he was looking for.
"Daphne!" he said, smiling at the quiet Slytherin witch. "Will you do me a favor?"
He ignored the giggles of the other girls in Daphne's compartment, including Parkinson who hadn't said so much as two words to Harry since Halloween night.
"Of course," Daphne said softly, standing up to follow him.
Once they got back to Harry's compartment he handed her his camera.
"Will you take our picture? We need a new one," he asked politely.
"Sure." Daphne held the camera up and waited for them all to scrunch together on one bench. Harry laughed as Draco wound up laying across Neville and Ron's laps. Hermione squeezed in between Theo and Blaise, and Harry sat between Susan and Luna, and even took a deep breath before putting one arm around each girls shoulder.
All nine of them smiled at one another before turning towards the camera.
"Smile," Daphne said before clicking the button and temporarily blinding them all with the flash.
At six thirty that night Harry sat at the bar in the Leakey Cauldron, tapping his parchment excitedly as he waited for Snape to show up.
He had gotten his photos developed, made prints and copies, bought the notebooks Snape said he'd help him charm this summer, and his meeting at Gringotts had gone great.
He watched the floo impatiently, Snape was two minutes late.
At exactly six thirty four Snape stepped gracefully through the floo and immediately looked around for Harry.
"Apologies," he said, sitting next to Harry. "I was-"
"Here," Harry interrupted him, too excited and nervous to wait. "This is for you sir." He handed Snape the parchment and waited impatiently as Snape raised a brow at him before unrolling the scroll.
"Ownership of Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk bequeathed pre-mortum from Harry James Potter to Severus Tobias Snape," he read slowly. "Estimated value... Holy God Potter," he breathed. "Absolutely not."
"Griphook checked all the laws, rules, and everything sir," Harry said quickly. "Magical Creatures can't belong to the school, and whoever takes control of the creature, in this case whoever puts a giant sword through its head, owns it. So it's mine." Harry nudged the parchment, "And now it's yours."
Snape looked at Harry and his usually blank face looked surprised for once.
"Harry, liquidate the money tied up in the basilisk parts and put it in your vault," he said. "I do not need the money, I assure you."
"It's not about money," Harry said with a scoff. "It's because you saved my life, isn't it? And you can use the parts for loads of rare potions and research, that's what Theo said."
Snape's eyes took on a momentary manic gleam that Harry has associated with Hermione when she's about to check out thirty books from the library. Then he shook his head, slid the paper towards Harry, and gave him an exasperated sort of look.
"I do not require compensation for providing you with a potion and escape plan. If you would like to 'make it up to me' then you could simply never put either of us in that position again."
Harry slid the parchment back to him and smiled at him.
"Better keep this in that case sir. We never know what'll happen next year."