Ben was used to being bored, because that was pretty much all he did at home, but there's a big difference between waiting for summer to finish, and waiting to find out if your best friend is alive.

It was easily one of the most stressful situations Ben had ever been in. The possibility that Harry and Ginny were already dead hovered above their heads as he and Ron pushed and pulled with all their might to clear a gap in the rock wall.

He didn't know how long they would wait until accepting the truth that, if it came to that possibility, they weren't coming back and Ron and Ben would have to head back to the castle without Harry or Ginny, and with a teacher who acted like a three-year-old child instead.

Ron and him hadn't spoken about it, or about anything else at all. Ben understood that Ron didn't want to have a talk while his sister was in mortal danger, but the silence was giving his mind space to imagine terrible things.

Until, what seemed like an eternity later, they heard footsteps and a slight sniffling noise from the other side of the wall. Ron stopped pushing, and both he and Ben walked over to the hole they had managed to make in the rocks to see what was going on, wishing it was Harry and Ginny.

It was Harry and Ginny.

Ron let out a strangled cheer, and thrust an arm through the hole to bring the young redheaded girl with him to pull her into a hug. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"

Ben turned to the wall to look at Harry, wondering if it would be weird to hug him, but suddenly a large bird with red and golden feathers swooped through the gap. "What- Is that a phoenix?"

"He's Dumbledore's," answered Harry as he went through the hole too. "His name's Fawkes."

He was covered in dirt and blood, and looked incredibly tired. But he was alive, and so was Ginny, whose freckled face was flooded with tears, and that was all that mattered. Ben was so relieved that he wanted to hug them all.

"Is that blood yours?" he asked Harry worriedly.

"Only some."

"How come you've got a sword?" wondered Ron, staring at the weapon on Harry's hand.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"I'll explain when we get out of here," he replied. "Where's Lockhart?"

Ben pointed at the back of the tunnel, where the man was sitting while happily humming to himself. "He's acting like a child."

"He's lost his memory," added Ron as they walked towards the teacher. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. He hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are, so he kept asking the weirdest questions until I told Ben to stop answering and we made him sit back there."

Lockhart noticed they were all looking at him, and beamed at them happily.

"Has either of you got any idea of how to get out of here?" asked Harry.

Both boys shook their heads. "We don't know how deep we are, but we definitely can't climb all the way up there," Ben looked at Harry and Ginny. "So, I don't know wh-"

Fawkes the phoenix had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers.

"It looks like he wants you to grab hold," noted Ron. "Does he think he can pull you up there?"

"Fawkes isn't an ordinary bird," said Harry. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Ben can hold your other hand, and Professor Lockhart-"

"That's you," Ron snapped at Lockhart.

The man looked puzzled. "Lockhart? But the brunette boy said I was Professor Cockfart."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at Ben, who blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "Sorry, it's my friendly nickname for him."

"Lockhart, you hold onto Ben," finished Harry. "I trust him more than Ron to not drop you."

"Thank you for your trust, my dear friend," said Ben pompously. "I would never drop my favourite teacher!"

Lockhart looked delighted, and Ginny let out a giggle.

———————————————

"You three realise, of course, that in the past few hours you have broken, perhaps, a dozen school rules," scolded Dumbledore, sitting on the seat behind his desk as the three Gryffindor boys didn't dare to meet his eyes.

"Yes, sir..."

Ben would've liked to say that he did realise that Harry had saved the whole school, too, but didn't fancy getting expelled, so he remained silent.

"And that there is sufficient evidence to have you three expelled."

"Yes, sir..."

So that was it. Almost everything they had done that year had been to try to stop the school from being closed, and now that everyone was safe, they would be expelled because of what they did to try to avoid that.

"Therefore, it is only fitting that you three receive..." Ben wished their headmaster stopped being so dramatic and went straight to the point, because the wait to know if they were getting expelled or not in the end was driving him crazy. "Special awards for services to the school."

The three boys looked up at him in disbelief, before exchanging excited glances. "Thanks, sir."

Professor Dumbledore flashed them a smile. "And now, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Walker, if you would... Have an owl deliver these release papers from Azkaban. I believe we... we want our gamekeeper back."

"We do," smiled Ben, and the both of them left the room after Ron had taken the letters.

"Oof, I really thought we'd get expelled," sighed Ron once they had closed the door behind them.

"Me too," added Ben as they walked across the hallway. "By the way, I wanted to tell you that you've done amazing."

The redheaded boy stopped, and gaped at the blond. "Me?"

"Yep, you, Ronald Bilius Weasley."

"But it was Harry who saved Ginny and killed the monster."

"I know. He did wonderful; he's wonderful," he admitted. "But so are you."

"Why? What have I done?"

"Well the fact that you managed to not lose your mind knowing your sister was in mortal danger is something quite admirable," he told him. "I wouldn't have achieved that, I would've gone crazy. But you, instead, did what was logical."

"I guess Hermione's had some effect on me," smiled Ron.

Ben chuckled. "She'd be proud of you."

The redhead raised his eyebrows, eyes wide open. "You think so?"

"Yeah!"

Ron was looking cheerful, and they went back to walking down the corridor.

"Are your parents going to be mad at Ginny for what happened?"

"I doubt it, it wasn't her fault after all, she was just under control," said Ron. "But I fear some people won't be so understanding of that."

"You mean the rest of the students?"

Ron nodded. "I guess they won't like to know it was Ginny behind the attacks."

"Professor Dumbledore will make sure they understand it wasn't her choice," assured Ben. "And, if they don't listen, we'll beat their arses!"

Ron burst into laughter. "Let's not beat anyone's arses if it's not completely crucial, Ben!"

———————————————

Everyone was laughing and cheering as they waited for the end of the year feast to begin, especially now that most of the petrified people had been brought back, and they chatted merrily with their friends.

Hermione hadn't come back yet, but Harry, Ron and Ben had been told she was okay, and that she would soon join them, so the three boys were trying their best to wait patiently for her arrival.

Ben had been staring at the Slytherin table ever since he had arrived, mostly because of Audrey. Steve had been one of the first ones to join the rest of the students at the beginning of the feast, after being unpetrified, but he hadn't looked at Audrey once.

"Look!" exclaimed Neville, shooting Ben back to reality and making the other boys stop talking. "It's Hermione!"

And there she was, standing at the hall entrance, a wide small on her lips as she looked around the Gryffindor table, trying to find her group. As soon as she locked eyes with them, she began running towards her friends, who quickly got up from their seats.

Harry met her halfway, pulling her to a hug. It felt like it had been forever since they last saw her smile instead of her petrified face. Hermione and Harry broke apart, and the girl then caught Ben in a hug too.

"I can't believe you ripped that page out of the book, Miss Granger," he whispered.

Hermione instantly understood he was talking about the page Harry found in her hand, and let out a soft chuckle. "Sometimes one has to break the rules."

Ben laughed under his breath, and Hermione turned to Ron. They had outstretched their arms, ready to hug, but none of them seemed to dare to take the first step and come closer to the other, so there was a pretty uncomfortable moment in which nobody was doing anything.

Until Ron finally extended his arm for her to shake.

"Uh..." he muttered awkwardly, and pulled a straight face before flashing a smile. "Welcome back, Hermione."

"It's good to be back," she beamed. "I can't believe you solved it!"

"Well, we had a lot of help."

Ron nodded. "We couldn't have done it without you."

Her cheeks turned slightly pink, and she smiled emotionally. "Thanks."

Professor McGonagall clinked her fork to her glass and cleared her throat. "Could I have your attention, please?"

The four friends sat at the Gryffindor table and turned to listen to Dumbledore's speech. "Before we begin the feast," he started. "Let us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, whose Mandrake juice has been so successfully administered to all who had been petrified."

A sympathetic applause for them both filled the room, everyone clapping for the two women who saved so many students with their juice.

"Also, in light of the recent events, as a school treat, all exams have been cancelled."

The only student who didn't erupt into cheers and joyful shouts was Hermione, who had probably been studying for the final exams ever since the end of their first year.

The hall doors suddenly swung open, and everyone turned to find Hagrid standing there, waving a hand in greeting as he held up some papers.

"Sorry I'm late," he announced to the whole hall. "The owl that delivered my release papers got all lost and confused... Some ruddy bird called Errol..."

Harry, Ben and Hermione turned to Ron, whose face was redder than his hair.

The giant walked his way up to the front of the hall, making a pause in front of his four young friends. "And I'd just like to say that, if it hadn't been for you, Harry, Ron, Ben... and Hermione, of course," he smiled at her. "I would... I'd still be you-know-where, so I'd just like to say thanks..."

Harry stood up and looked up to Hagrid, his eyes sparkling.

"There's no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid."

Hagrid's eyes visibly filled with tears, and Harry approached him to pull him into a hug as clapping began to be heard from the front of the hall. Dumbledore and McGonagall were standing up, followed by many other teachers.

Just a couple of seconds later, almost every single one of the students had stood up to join the applause. People were leaving their tables to come near Hagrid, who was now crying of happiness, and the only sound that could be heard was a joyful and excited combination of claps, cheers and laughs.

A/N: and this is the end of second year! i hope you enjoyed reading as much as i enjoyed writing it <3