Harry fell into the Chamber of Secrets, pushed by one ex-Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. The large form of one Vincent Crabbe followed after him moments later, but Vincent was not as lucky to have gone down feet first and the back of his head made contact with the stone of the slide on the way down. Harry got to his feet and tried to pull Vincent aside as he heard, "Just pop off and take care of the problem, young man. I'll be waiting up here, to levitate you to safety once you're done." Vincent groaned as Harry looked behind himself into the darkness.
'What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself and your roommate into now, Harry Potter?' he asked himself. Ever since he had gotten sorted into Slytherin last year, things had been weird. He had expected to have school friends and learn plenty at Hogwarts, but between the unrelenting stares, the accusations that he was a dark wizard in training, and the attacks on his or other students' lives over the last year he knew that normal was defined differently here. At least it was for him. He had done his research and life at Hogwarts was considered safe, exploding potions, quidditch accidents and man-eating plants notwithstanding.
Harry did enough research to keep from letting anybody outside of Slytherin know he was a parselmouth, which turned out to be a great boon for himself. He swore his roommates to secrecy and told them, and all of them except Zabini were impressed. Nott still ignored him, and Goyle still hung around Malfoy constantly, but Vincent had become a true friend to him. They got along so well that Harry helped Vincent in classes and Vincent watched his back whenever they ran through the school. Which is how they ended up in this situation. Vincent and Harry were on their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in order to see if Harry could open the chamber.
All of their investigations pointed to you needing to be a parselmouth in order to open the chamber, and Myrtle was the girl who had died, so it made sense that it was a door hidden in the bathroom. He had no idea that it would open to such a gaping hole if he asked it to let them in, nor had he expected for Professor Lockhart to shadow them through the halls, barge in as the maw opened wide and push Harry from behind just as Vincent spun around. Now they were in a real fix, as Harry hadn't intended to actually face the basilisk, something else his research had confirmed a few weeks ago. He had only intended to prove that the chamber existed, where the entrance was, and to then summon Professor Snape. His Head of House would have the experience to defeat the monster, or to find a monster destruction squad. It had the added benefit of clearing Hagrid of all charges, as he wasn't a parselmouth.
"Vincent, you had better stay here. Close your eyes and don't open them if you hear anything. In fact, don't open your eyes unless you hear me tell you to," Harry said. The quiet boy nodded and closed his eyes with a sense of relief and covered them with his hands for good measure. Harry gathered his courage and carefully slid further into the darkness.
He made his way through another parsel-locked door, and was shocked to see lit torches in this section of the chamber. Or rather, he was now in the Chamber proper, and before was just the antechamber and foyer. A slight figure wearing school robes was lying on the wet ground far ahead, but Harry didn't trust that either the basilisk or the heir wasn't also in that room. He wrapped himself in the invisibility cloak that he always kept wadded up in his pocket and slinked forward. He kept a sharp ear out for any noise, as he didn't want to have the snake appear and not be able to close his eyes in time because he was caught unawares.
Once he was halfway to the figure he saw red hair and thought, 'This looks like Weasley's sister all right.' He kept slowly walking forward and reached down once he made it to her side. He checked her pulse, which was weak, and sighed. She was alive, but not conscious. How he was supposed to drag her back by himself was a mystery to him.
"She'll not be going anywhere anytime soon, if that is what you were asking yourself," a voice said. He was shocked to say the least, the cloak had not left his head. He should be invisible to the heir, which is who he presumed was in the chamber. He frantically looked around trying to make the heir's position as well as mark a hiding spot or cover he could run to. He saw a boy wearing Slytherin school robes, much older than either himself or Miss Weasley, standing to the left and walking casually towards them.
"So who are you? Let's see, glasses, black hair, green eyes, Slytherin robes... you must be Harry Potter," the older boy said. Harry was scared now, not only could this boy sense him, he could see him as well. That meant he was either like Dumbledore, a very accomplished wizard, or was not alive. Harry had noticed that the portraits could track his movements while wearing the cloak, so it only worked on the living. Dumbledore had proved last year that he didn't have problems seeing through it either, however. Well, he had no problem knowing where Harry was. he had never asked the headmaster what his experience was like.
He removed the cloak and bundled it up and put it back in his inner robe pocket. The subtle movement gave him good access to his wand as well, but the boy spoke as the tips of his fingers closed about the wood, "You won't need that either. We are going to have a nice chat, and then you are going to make the right decision."
"What on Earth could we have to talk about?" Harry asked.
Undeterred by the rebuff, the other boy continued, "Greetings, I am called Tom Riddle. You are the famous Harry Potter, vanquisher of dark lords a hundred times your power and skill." Harry shrunk at that epithet. He didn't like his fame, nor did he know how he had done it. In his mind, he was a normal wizarding child and if anybody had done something, it had been one or both of his parents who had sacrificed themselves so he could live. "Don't be modest, boy. You are very special. This one has told me all about how you saved the school last year from the remnants of the Dark Lord. I must say she has quite the crush on you, writing about how her brother has been mean to you all year long, and how everybody has been talking behind your back. I'm surprised you are even here. You should have tripped some of those ungrateful sheep down the hole as a peace offering to my pet," he concluded.
"Well, just because I'm in Slytherin does't mean I would do things as you would. We share a house, not ideals, Tom. Now either help me get the girl up or stand back. I'm leaving," Harry said with confidence he didn't feel. For him it was a simple matter of exchanges in knowledge. He knew things that Tom didn't. Firstly that he had a friend down here, and an adult upstairs who might not be on his side, but should do everything in his power to save the innocent girl if he could only get her to the entrance. He also knew that Tom didn't have any clue what he was capable of. Everything he had said to him was strictly based on the rumors of events, not eye witness accounts.
There was no way that Tom could know that Harry had been sneaking out onto the grounds to practice dueling spells and thought he was the equivalent of a much older student by now. There was no way that Tom knew anything about his skill at Charms, nor his hard won skill in potions. It had taken all of last year for Professor Snape to see Harry, really see him for who he was that is. After months and months of being polite and doing his work expertly and safely, he was given extra tutelage to make up for the first few months of failures. Tutelage that continued to this day, and there were some potions that he carried on himself at all times because while they were useless for their intended purpose to him, they had side effects he could use as non-lethal weapons or distractions if spilled or their vials broken open.
No, Harry had only two enemies here. The boy that had yet to lay a hand on him, and who was probably nothing more than a projection of a possessing entity was not a strong worry. It was the snake, and his own fear. Harry figured in a few moments time the Snake would be called, and he would have to act. Until then, he would try levitating the girl and taking her with him. He pulled out his wand and pointing it at her slumbering form said, "Mobilicorpus" he was rewarded with her body floating off of the ground.
"Harry, you haven't even heard my offer yet. Tell me, and I'll let the chit go. It's none of my concern if the mudbloods and blood traitors in the school die or not," Tom said.
Harry had begun walking backwards but his curiousity got the better of him, "Tell you what?" he asked.
"Why, how you defeated the most powerful wizard who ever lived?" Tom asked, and Harry sighed.
"I've never had a quarrel with Merlin...," he said trying to be flip, but not outright confrontational. Every second in which Ginerva's body floated closer to the exit was worth her weight in galleons.
"Voldemort!" Tom hissed at him. "I mean Voldemort, Mr. Potter!" he said, spitting his name at him like it was covered in castor oil.
"Sorry. Trade secret," Harry said. Tom's eyes glared at him.
"Either you are the worst Slytherin ever, or you think I am. I'll not tell you anything of consequence just for your asking," Harry said. He willed the girl's body to pick up speed, and she sped towards the entrance as Harry risked turning his back on the other boy. If his theory was correct, Tom couldn't touch him, and if he had possessed a wand, he'd have used it by now if he were able. It was much easier to threaten someone with a wand, even if you were currently immaterial but solid looking.
"Speak to me Salazar Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" Tom bellowed in parseltongue and Harry heard the shuddering sound of stone grating on stone, a sound he was unfortunately very familiar with by now. He gave the spell one more jolt of willpower and hoped that he aimed her well enough that she didn't just collapse on top of Vincent. He dropped the spell and began to spin around as he heard a loud whump sound off behind his back. Oh no, he summoned the snake.
"Sleep, my pet," Harry tried, commanding the basilisk in parseltongue.
"Nice try, Potter, but my pet responds only to me. Kill him," Tom said.
There was a trilling sound and Harry saw a flash of fire above him in the Chamber. It was Headmaster Dumbledore's pet bird. It was flying towards him while holding onto something that was flapping about in the wind. Harry realized that it was looking in his direction, and thus at Tom and the Snake which was slithering towards his position slowly. It must be a phoenix! No other bird could withstand the gaze of the basilisk and not be affected. If only the bird would agree to help him. He had not had time to bond with it the one time he had been in the Headmaster's office. Still the bird dropped its burden in his hands and he realized it was the Sorting Hat! Harry wasted no time in putting the hat on his head and pulling it down as far as it would go. His vision was suddenly obscured by the material of the hat which began speaking to him in his head.
"Dumbledore's pet bird has brought you reinforcements. How wonderful. It can die alongside you," Tom said.
'Greetings, Mr. Potter. Doing well in Slytherin I see.'
'We don't have time for this right now. I need a theory verified!' he said and spun around.
'That is the largest basilisk I have ever heard of,' the Hat replied.
'Thank goodness I was correct. You aren't alive, nor have you ever been, so its gaze can't kill you or petrify you. Can you help me "see" enough to fight it?' he asked.
'I'll certainly do my best, Mr. Potter. You will want to dodge to the left... now!' the Hat issued a warning and Harry dove for it.
'Where is it now?' he asked, bringing his wand back up at a parallel to the ground.
'30 degrees to your left and approaching cautiously. Approximately ten meters in front of you,' the hat spoke in his head.
Harry pointed his wand slightly to the left and yelled out, "Reducto!" he said and cast the spell with all of his might. He heard the flooring explode and the snake slithered to his right. He quickly threw a vial of potion in the direction he had herded it and was satisfied when he heard Tom scream, "What are you doing? He can't even see you! Kill him!"
"I cannot see, master!" the basilisk complained while slithering closer after backing off in the cloud of potion.
"You can still smell him can you not? Kill him now!" Tom screamed.
'If the snake's helper was half as useful as you, I'd be in trouble,' Harry thought. The hat seemed satisfied and told him, 'Get ready to dodge to the right, the snake is crossing in front of you... now!' Harry leapt to the right and pointed his wand left and fired off the most focused Tickling Hex he could. He heard the equivalent of laughter erupt in parseltongue, and he heard Tom begin another rant. This was time for his second potion, and Harry threw this one directly at the sound of laughter. He heard the glass crunch.
"Kill him!" roared over the surrounding sound and Harry smirked. The first potion, his own variant of peruvian darkness powder that causes it to stick to whatever it coats robbed the snake of its vision. The second one was a simple herbology formulation. The cloying scent of the fertilizer would cling to the beast's tongue and prevent it from smelling anything for long minutes.
'It's floundering around now. I think you could even look if you chose,' the Hat said.
Harry raised his wand, and said, 'No thanks. Where is it now?'
'40 degrees to your right,' the hat answered.
'And the mouth of Slytherin? If I'm not hopelessly turned around, it should be near the mouth,' Harry replied.
'You're right. The mouth is behind it at an angle,' he heard.
Harry nodded although Tom was the only one who probably saw the moment, as the hat could only experience it.
'Great. I'm going to move to the left and try to line them up?'
'Yes, your left,' the hat clarified.
'Let me know when I am lined up, please.' he said. The hat was silent but he began moving and he heard a simple 'Now.' and fired off a weak Diffindo. He hit the snake and felt backlash along his wand. The reason he hadn't fired any dangerous hexes at the beast before now is because its hide is spell resistant. But in this situation, if he buckled down he could push it where he wanted it to go. He thought about the fact that if he didn't win he'd be dead for sure. He could only dodge it for so much longer, and maybe Weasley would be dead by the time he worked out another way to kill it off.
A burst of willpower ended up with Harry feeling exhaustion as he heard the whump sound as the snake flew upwards and back.
'Oh my. It's head is in Slytherin's mouth!' the hat remarked.
"Speak to me no more, Salazar Slytherin!" Harry screamed out in parseltongue. Then he cast a strong Muffliato around the center of the room. His choice of charm worked as he could hear Tom screaming at the statue's mouth not to close, but Harry distinctly heard the stone moving and more satisfyingly heard it crunch solidly around the body of the basilisk.
Harry pulled the hat above his eye line and peered around. The snake's body was writhing, but it was obvious that it was mortally wounded. Tom was furious, his face a livid red. "Sorry, Tom. I borrowed some spells invented after your time. That one changes the air quality in an area so that only buzzing is heard. Regardless of the fact that parseltongue is a magical language, it still needs sound to transmit to a non-living target like a charmed door."
"You little shit! You have slain the basilisk of Salazar Slytherin! When I finally have my body I will rip your arms off myself and you will suffer torture everlasting," the older boy screamed. Just then a book dropped into his lap and he heard Fawkes' trilling song overhead once again. He flipped the book over and looked at the spine as Tom immediately ceased ranting. Tom Marvolo Riddle was written on the spine, and by the looks of things it was a custom made diary.
"So this is how you possessed Weasley," Harry said. He held it up and said, "Reducto!" and had expected the diary to rip itself to shreds in his hands. However, nothing happened.
"Why don't you just give that back to me, Potter. You aren't smart enough to damage it, and soon you will be dependent upon my largesse for your very life," Tom said as he stalked closer to Harry.
Harry just tipped the brim of the hat up using his wand and looked at Tom with a casual smirk. Once again he had knowledge that Tom appeared not to possess. He calmly pointed his wand at the statue and said, "Accio!" while visualizing his desired result. A small object lifted off the ground near the statue's outlet and sped towards him. It was white and slightly conical. Harry held up the diary and the object, a basilisk fang, sped into it puncturing it all the way through and erupting a half inch out the side facing him.
He had just enough time to think about how slow it was in comparison to a golden snitch before all rational thought was interrupted. An unearthly scream came from Tom and black ink, spewed out of the diary in an eruption of visceral liquid. It was like a fountain of blood and his left hand, right arm, face and upper chest were covered in it. The image of Tom Riddle rippled out of existence and he spat out the vile substance.
"Ugh, he tastes as vile as you'd think," he said.
"Figured out who he was, did you, Mr. Potter?" the hat asked.
"Of course I did. He only ranted on and on like his older self. I wonder how he made a thinking copy of himself, but the paintings move so it can't be too impossible. Plus, I Am Lord Voldemort? His name is an anagram? If I am not scared out of my wits next time I see old scaly, I'm throwing that one in his face," Harry said. He began walking away, carrying the impaled diary in his left hand and his wand gripped tightly in his right, just in case something else came for him out of the shadows.
"Come on, Fawkes. You will help me get Miss Weasley and my friend Vincent back to the Great Hall won't you?" he asked as he walked, and he heard the trilling song in response long before he saw the bird flying down the passageway. The phoenix had landed on Miss Weasley who was stirring. His blind aim hadn't been that far off. She was on the floor about three meters in front of Vince.
"Harry is that you?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah, Vince. You can open your eyes now," he said. His friend uncovered his eyes and looking at Harry he gaped. Miss Weasley adopted a similar expression upon taking in the sight of him, wearing the sorting hat, carrying a dripping diary with a large fang embedded in it, and covered in what appeared to be blood.
"It's ink, not blood. Now, can we please get out of here? Fawkes, if you wouldn't mind doing that thing that I'm not supposed to know you can do? I don't think ex-Professor Lockhart means any of us any good if we come up inside the bathroom," Harry said. The bird trilled one more time and Harry waved Vincent over and said, "Grab onto my robe, Vincent, Miss Weasley." They both struggled to find a clean area to grasp, but when they had both done so. Fawkes leapt onto Harry's shoulder and they were whisked away in an explosion of flames. The only sound beyond the fwoosh of the magical fireburst was the happy joy of Harry's excited laughter!
They collectively landed in a heap in the Headmaster's office and quickly stood up while letting go of his person. "Well, this is a surprise. Fawkes has taken a shine to you, and I thought you had never had time to get on with one another," they heard. Looking around they saw Professor Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, and their respective Heads of House waiting around the sides.
"Professor McGonagall, Headmaster, Professor Snape," Harry said, acknowledging the three adults in the room. He handed Professor Snape the diary and said, "Careful. That's a basilisk's fang." Snape went from holding the diary to gingerly keeping it aloft and sneered, but he nodded at Harry with a mixture of pride and respect in his eyes. Harry then pointed his wand at himself and muttered a series of cleaning charms, three in total, before he felt clean enough not to want to retch and lose his current composure. Finally, he doffed the hat and placed it on the desk.
"Why didn't you do that down in the Chamber, Harry?" Vincent asked.
"Forgot. I was kind of in shock," he replied. He looked at the three adults, "I trust we won't be docked points or given detention for being out after curfew? Mr. Lockhart pushed us down a hole in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom so we are much later than I had intended, Sir."
Professor Snape smirked and Professor McGonagall was about to say something when little Miss Ginerva Weasley spoke up, "Thank you."
"Um... we didn't really save you. Not like you think," Harry said, with Vincent nodding in the background. "I was curious, and I found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and I was going to come find Professor Snape immediately afterwards," he explained.
Professor McGonagall said, "That would have been the correct course of action. If it weren't for that miserable excuse for a teacher interrupting I am sure you would have been abed by now." She was stern, and she scrutinized his every action, but Harry felt like she secretly held him up as one of her better students. This response wasn't unusual for her. He was more surprised that the Headmaster had remained quiet all throughout the exchange.
Harry turned back to Ginerva and continued, "I only killed the basilisk because I would have died if I hadn't. I only destroyed the diary to prevent Voldemort from coming back, again to save my own skin."
"But you brought me out. You saved me!" she persisted. Harry shook his head and looked at Vincent who had a look of confusion on his face, although it was at her Gryffindorish idiocy and not at a lack of understanding of the events. It was his policy along with Greg's to pretend to be a stupid lump outside of Slytherin. It was a deception that had helped them immensely this year when Weasley's brother and the studious Miss Granger had tried to sneak into the House earlier this year.
"After all that I wasn't going to leave you down there, I am not heartless. Just curious, tenacious, and interested in my own survival and such. If you really think you owe Vincent and I for finding the Chamber you can let your brothers know about your debt and maybe they won't bully us so much going forward."
Snape snorted and McGonagall paled as Headmaster Dumbledore finally joined the conversation. "Mr. Potter, you are an interesting student indeed, and very mature for your age. Surely you can release Miss Weasley from the obligation of a life debt...," he said, his eyes twinkling in the grandfatherly way that fooled so many into believing him without guile.
"I think that sounds fair. Assuming my name doesn't get into the papers, and this whole heir business is put to rest without my involvement being known. If Fawkes had dropped us in the Great Hall like I had suggested we might have had to explain ourselves, but he dropped us off here behind closed doors," Harry said. Snape was practically beaming now.
"Don't you want the recognition for your service, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked. Dumbledore was silent but he looked eager to hear the answer himself.
"Heavens no, Professor. I have way too much fame that I don't want already. I have another good reason for not wanting this spreading around however," he said, making eye contact with the Headmaster for the briefest of moments to show him his sincerity. Not long enough to become the target of Legilimency, but enough to show his conviction.
"And why is that, Mr. Potter?" the Headmaster asked. Harry turned away and steered his larger friend ahead of him.
"Because you have to be a parselmouth to open the Chamber of Secrets, Sir. Coming Professor Snape?" he asked. Dumbledore's eyes bugged out of his head at that revelation and Professor McGonagall suddenly found herself gasping and her right hand held to her breast to avoid a fainting spell. Harry thought that the Headmaster really looked better like this. His calm mask was stripped away when he was in true shock. It was the only time he felt safe in trusting what he said.
"Oh, very well, Mr. Potter. I will see that an alternate explanation is found, Mr. Lockhart will be dealt with and Miss Weasley will swear that she will not reveal this fact to anybody on pain of you calling in her life debt."
"Ginny, wait for me on the gargoyle stair," Professor McGonagall said.
"Goodnight, Headmaster, Professor," Harry said as he nodded for Vincent to open the office door and the three Slytherins filed out, followed quickly but not immediately by the Weasley girl.
"Albus, surely you are not going to agree to his terms? I agree the boy has surprising leverage and deserves better treatment by his peers than he has gotten since arriving at Hogwarts, but kowtowing to a second year is unseemly," Minerva said once they were alone.
"No, Minerva. We will not let a word of this breathe to anyone, for our sakes as well as his. While his silence presents a problem in that we cannot clear Hagrid of his supposed crime, and that we are depending on the honor of an eleven-year-old girl in order to hold up our end of the bargain, it is in our interest that news of the basilisk does not spread. On top of that you add in Lockhart's indiscretions and flagrant disregard for the life of students in his charge, and that I will be seen as responsible for his actions, and young Mr. Potter has us over a barrel."
"What about the fact that he deserves a medal for special service to the school and saved that girl's life?" she asked.
"I don't think he would accept it on the basis of recognition adding to his fame alone. Furthermore, such awards require explanations and thus we are back at square one. However, there is something I can do," he said.
The end of term came and went and it was on the day when everybody packed to head home that the Daily Prophet carried an interesting addition on page two.
MINISTRY CREATES SCHOLARSHIP IN HONOR OF BOY WHO LIVED
by Arlene Champion
In a shocking turn of events, shortly after the release of Hogwarts gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge has announced that he will personally see a fund created for a lucky crop of deserving students. After Hogwarts professors, including dueling champion Filius Flitwick and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, discovered and descended into the fabled Chamber of Secrets and put paid to the monstrous creature discovered inside, Minister Fudge felt it was premature to arrest the gamekeeper. Having found his arrest of the staff member to be in error, the scholarship was created by way of reconciliation.
The scholarship is named the Quiet Child Scholarship, and the recipient must be in enough financial need that the funds provide them some relief. Furthermore the candidate must show good character in order to attain this award. It has been decided that the first recipient of the funds will be Miss Ginerva Molly Weasley, youngest child of Arthur Weasley's family. Arthur Weasley is a member of the ministry and his two eldest children finished Hogwarts with distinction while his remaining children are held in good standing at the school. We here at the Daily Prophet can't think of a more deserving first recipient after the harrowing events at the school this year. When asked further about the scholarship, Headmaster Dumbledore said, "It is the quiet strength of children such as our special Mr. Potter which serves as inspiration for us all."
Harry cursed under his breath at the machinations of the old coot, and smirked as he thought about how they had given him 'points' anyway. Worst yet, it was in the public eye and he couldn't do anything about it. Next year he was going to keep his head down, and he'd be damned if anybody found anything worth writing about him in the newspaper.