I do not own 'Harry Potter' or anything related


"I needed to ask the headmaster if I could stay over the summer," Adam innocently told Cessi.

"And why would you want to stay at school over the summer?" He asked him suspiciously.

Cessi was now eye to eye with Adam. At first, Harry thought that Cessi was taller, but now they looked like the same height. Cessi's smile never faltered. Adam's face suddenly became bestial.

"It's none of your business, Darren!"

And he stormed away. Harry had no choice but to follow him. The scene suddenly changed. Adam was being followed by a handful of teachers through the corridors. He was holding a rooster in his hands.

"This way, quickly!" He told the teachers, "We may be able to get there in time!"

They arrived at the door that Harry recognised led to the girls' bathroom. Adam closed his eyes as he opened the door.

"STOP, RIDDLE!" He roared, "I have a rooster and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Harry screamed at what was in the bathroom. Out of where one of the sinks was, was the head of a gigantic green snake. In the bathroom there was also a boy the same age as Adam. Harry saw Adam point his wand at the rooster.

"NO!" The boy cried, "Get out of here, flee! Close!" He screamed at the snake, in what Harry recognised as Parseltongue. As the snake retracted back through the hole, the rooster crowed. The snake looked as if a sword was thrust through its neck. The sink closed in front of it like a door.

"Freeze, Riddle!" the headmaster shouted, his wand raise like the other teachers'. One of them rushed to the open cubicle. Harry realised it was a fifty year younger Dumbledore.

"Is there a student in there, Albus?" the headmaster asked, "Is he or she all right?"

Dumbledore looked up. His face was sombre.

"No Armando, I'm sorry," He said, "We didn't make it in time."

Armando looked at Riddle. He shook his head.

"I never would have thought that it was you who was behind these attacks, Riddle. You were our most gifted pupil, and a prefect too! You had such a promising future ahead of you, and now you've thrown it all away, and for what?"

Riddle looked speechless.

"This is my fault!"

Harry turned to look at Adam. He had his hand covering his face. He looked wreck with guilt.

"I was scared of what Voldemort would do to me if I turned him in-that's what he forces us to call him- if only I had been a little braver, that student wouldn't have died! It never would have come to his-"

He was now in tears. Armando put his hand on his shoulder.

"You have no need to feel guilty, Adam. Very few people would have come forward like you, given the circumstances. I apologise for being so hostile towards you."

Riddle's face had become bestial.

"YOU FILTHY LITTLE BLOOD TRAITOR!" He roared, raising his wand at Adam.

It flew out of his hand and into one of the teachers'. They then all aimed their wands at Riddle and ropes flew out of them, tying around Riddle. His expression became almost identical to that of the snake that was in here a moment ago.

"YOU TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU TURN ON A FELLOW SLYTHERIN! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN! HOW DARE YOU STOP SALAZAR SLYTHERIN'S NOBLE WORK! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE HOUSE! YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE IN HIS HOUSE!"

Adam just stared at him.

"No, Riddle. It is you who are a disgrace to the house of Slytherin."

As Riddle continued to shout insults at Adam, Harry felt himself rise in the air. He was being sucked out of this world of memory, and out of the diary. It was at that moment that Ron entered.

"You alright, Harry?" He asked.

Harry turned to look at him.

"I know who the Heir is," He said.


The next day, Harry told Hermione everything he had told Ron.

"So what, are we thinking this Riddle or Voldemort escaped from Azkaban or something?" Ron asked.

"Azkaban?" Harry asked.

"It's the wizard prison, Harry," Hermione told him.

"He must have done," Said Harry, "He's escaped somehow to finish what he started fifty years ago."

"But how?" Pointed out Hermione, "No one's ever escaped from Azkaban before!"

"Maybe he used some sort of dark magic he inherited from Slytherin?" Ron suggested.

Hermione wasn't too sure.

"If there's been a breakout from Azkaban, then why haven't we heard of anything? Something like that would have made it into the Prophet!"

"Dunno, maybe no one knows he's escaped?" Ron suggested.

"Or maybe they've covered it up?" Said Harry.

"There's something else I don't get," Said Hermione, "From what you've told us Harry, it sounds like Eago killed the basilisk with the rooster he was holding. If that's so, then how is it still alive today?"

"Dunno," Shrugged Harry, "Maybe it wasn't near enough to be killed, or perhaps the sink closed before whatever effect the rooster was having on it could be finished.

"Yeah, maybe," Admitted Hermione, "It's just that from what I've read, even a slight crow is enough to kill a basilisk."


What was the diary doing here? Harry thought. How did it get here? Was Ginny the one who brought it down here? But why? Was she the one who stole it? But-why? Why did Ginny want the diary? Did she believe that it was his, and wanted to know how he really felt about her? He couldn't believe that Ginny would do something like that. Then again, he hadn't known her that long. He looked up. At the top of the structure was another student. He was facing a giant purple gem, resting at the top of the pyramidal structure.

"It was here," He was muttering, stroking it, "It was here all along."

Harry got a better look at the student. He was of average height and had blond hair. When he got closer, he couldn't believe who it was.

"Adam? Adam Eago?"

The student spun around. Adam smiled.

"Ah, Harry! Good, you're awake. I was worried that you wouldn't be around to see this moment."

Harry did not understand. He didn't understand how he was there in front of him, not aging for fifty years.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked.

Adam shook his head.

"No. An imprint of the real Adam Brant Eago, laying dormant in that diary for over fifty years."

It was then that it occurred to Harry that he must be in the Chamber of Secrets. But where was the Heir? And the basilisk? He tried to take out his wand, but couldn't find it in his robe pockets. He looked around for it. Was it still in the girls' bathroom?

"Looking for this?"

Harry turned around. Adam was holding up his wand. His mouth had broken into a large smile, his eyes glinting. It was the same expression Ginny had before. The exact same expression. Despite this, Harry smiled.

"Thanks."

He stretched out his hand to receive his wand. Eago, however, just stood there smiling at him, waving the wand.

"Give me my wand, Adam!"

"No."

"Look, I may need it!"

"You won't be needing it."

"Sorry, I don't think you understand. I think we're in the Chamber of Secrets! Riddle and Slytherin's monster could arrive at any moment!"

"Riddle?" Adam laughed, "Riddle has been locked away in Azkaban for fifty years, Slytherin's monster hasn't attacked anyone since."

Harry was getting frustrated now.

"Look, don't you get it?" Harry snapped, "We're in the CHAMBER OF SECRETS, Riddle's been attacking muggleborns again, just like he did fifty years ago, remember me telling you?"

"No, my dear boy, YOU don't get it!" Adam snarled. His expression had become bestial. Harry did not understand.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"My God, boy, you're surprisingly thick! Haven't you realised it yet? Isn't it obvious?"

Harry still did not understand. Adam sighed.

"I was the one who attacked those muggleborns! I was the one who stunned you and your friend, Ron! And it was I who dragged you down here to witness this moment!"

Harry's brain went numb.

"I really thought that me taking your wand was kinda a giveaway. Oh well, still," He grinned, "Big twist, eh?"

What Adam was saying didn't make sense. He was the one who caught the Heir of Slytherin, why would he be the one who was continuing his work? And it was Ginny who attacked Harry and Ron, not Adam!

Unless…

"Of course," Eago added, "I did do all those things through Ginny Weasley."

"WHAT! H-How did you-?"

"You see that diary down there? It had come into the hands of Ginny over there. And as she poured her soul into me, into the diary, I was able to pour a bit of my soul in her…"

What Eago was telling Harry was horrifying.

"But how could you have been the one who had attacked the muggleborn students this time? Unless…YOU'RE THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN?"

"Oh good gracious no!" Eago laughed, "One infamous ancestor is quite enough for me! No, what I showed you was all true. It was Tom Riddle who was the Heir of Slytherin, who led the basilisk out to attack muggleborns."

"Then…how could you attack them, if you didn't have the monster?"

"Didn't I already tell you? THE MONSTER HAS NOT ATTACKED ANYONE IN FIFTY YEARS."

Realisation was starting to dawn on Harry.

"Then…what did?"

"I've already told you that as well. I did, through Ginny Weasley, of course!"

"But…no! What attacked them couldn't have been human, otherwise Dumbledore would have been able to heal Mrs Norris-"

"Oh yes, Harry, no human spell in the world could possibly be undoable, if no human spell can't be undone, it must be something inhuman, shouldn't it?"

"But why would you attack muggleborns, if you were the one who caught the Heir in the first place? Or have you had a change a heart, and thought of finishing what Riddle started?"

"What, drive out muggleborns?" Eago roared with laughter, "Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to deprive wizardkind of fresh talent and blood? Why would I want to force my kind to intermarry, to the extent that we marry our own cousins, and become so inbred that we're unable to perform the simplest spell? I may have been sorted in Slytherin, Harry, but that does not mean I share my kin's narrow mindedness. And besides, if I really wanted to kill muggleborns, I would have done so."

"Then-why? If you didn't want to get rid of muggleborns, why did you attack them?"

"To make you think what you thought had attacked them. To make you think that Slytherin's monster was unleashed once more. To make you try to solve the mystery, to track down the Chamber of Secrets, and open it yourselves."

Harry stared at him.

"I don't understand."

"No. I didn't think you would. Well, Harry, let me explain in its entirety. It all begins, and ends," He tapped the gem with his wand, "With this little gem here."

He smiled at Harry.

"Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story, Harry?"

No he did not, but he didn't see any other choice. Eago began.

"Once upon a time, there was a wizard named Nevalow. And he was a BAD wizard, or at least that's what people thought of him to be. For he was also a GOOD wizard, and a powerful one at the day too, power that rivalled Cain Eago's, an ally of his, considered to be the most terrible dark wizard to ever live. Among his many inventions, his greatest achievement was a very special gem, perhaps the most powerful magical artefact ever created! But when the final battle approached between his side and the GOOD side, he decided that he needed to hide his most valuable treasure, to keep it safe. But where to hide it? Where would be the safest place? And that's when it hit him. The Chamber of Secrets, where no one knew its location. He had guessed the location of the chamber, but how to open it? Because it was said that only the Heir could do so. But Nevalow had worked out what the key to the chamber was. He realised that it had to be something uniquely passed down through the Slytherin family. It couldn't be any odd old spell, that could easily be forgotten over a thousand years, it must be something that could never be lost in the family. But what could that be? It was then that Nevalow remembered that Slytherin's most unique gift was his ability to speak to snakes, something that it was rumoured every Slytherin could speak from birth. And that's when Nevalow realised how to open the chamber. He needed someone who could speak parseltongue. And as it happens, he knew one (Slytherin was obviously so proud of his gift, thought so highly of himself, that he didn't consider another parselmouth being capable of opening the chamber!). And so he had him open the chamber, took the gem down with him, and created an adjacent chamber, hiding the gem there. And so, while Nevalow lived miserably ever after in Azkaban, his gem remained hidden, in a secret chamber within a secret chamber! The perfect hiding place!

"That was the bedtime story told to me by my mother, along with other stories connected to my 'illustrious' ancestor, Cain Eago, and I became fascinated with the story. Alas, I never thought I could ever open it, not knowing any parselmouth.

"Then along came Tom Riddle, who as it happened, could speak to snakes. My fellow Slytherins were in awe with this ability. Many wondered if he was the last living descendant of Slytherin. For me it didn't matter. From what I was told it was clear that any old parselmouth could open the chamber. And so over the years, I approached Riddle, I fed his ego, I assured him of his supremacy, his destiny to rule the wizarding world, to finish what Slytherin had started!

"Not directly, mind you. For being descended from the most infamous Slytherin hater of all time, I wasn't exactly popular within my house. But I dropped subtle hints, including the tale of the Chamber of Secrets. I had hoped that Riddle, filled with pride, would track down the chamber, and attempt to open it and unleash Slytherin's monster upon the school. It took six years, but it finally happened. We had found the chamber. He had opened it. But while he was finishing Salazar Slytherin's 'noble work', I was doing something a bit more constructive. Every time he opened the chamber I would slip down undetected, and search for Nevalow's chamber. Which wasn't easy, mind you. Nevalow didn't exactly make it easy to find even within the chamber. And of course my time was limited each time. I had to get out of there before Riddle had sent the monster back into the chamber and closed it.

"And then he had to kill that girl, just when I was so close to finding the chamber. And I found out from Dippet that the school was going to be closed down. I knew that it was over.

"But was I going to let my work be ruined, all that trouble come to naught? No Harry, I had to make sure that the chamber could be open again. And for that I needed another parselmouth.

"I had long suspected from what I was told, that unlike usual parselmouths, who learn snake language through close affinity with the animal, that the ability in Slytherins was hereditary, as if they were part snake themselves. I've never understood it much, but it was clear that the ability could be passed down genetically. And so I took an old hair from Riddle's bed, and I swore, I swore that one day, I would extract that aspect of Riddle that enabled him to speak to snakes, and transfer that ability into someone else. And I can see that I stuck to my promise."

Harry stared at him. He did not like where this conversation was going.

"What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you ever wondered how you're able to speak to snakes? You speak it because of me, because I injected the gene that carries the ability into your parents, which has been passed down to you."

Everything that Eago had told him so far had not horrified him more until now.

"You- put a bit of the Heir- of Slytherin-in me?"

"Just the Parselmouth gene. I can imagine how it went. Over the years I would have caught or cornered a number of people, and they seemed to have escaped, when in fact I let them escape, but only when I had secretly and stealthily injected them with a sample of Riddle's DNA. I see that out of all the fifty people I injected, the ability has only manifested in you. Perhaps your DNA was more compatible to Riddle, you certainly bear somewhat of a resemblance to him! I have been waiting for you for fifty years, my parselmouth!

"Of course, replicating the key was only half of my plan. For I also needed to replicate the user, so I left an imprint of myself in a diary, so that one day the imprint would guide the key into opening the Chamber.

"However, all has not gone to plan. I meant for my diary to fall into the hands of my parselmouth, so that I could control him or her. But I learnt enough from Ginny Weasley about you. You struck me as the type of person who would get down to the bottom of a mystery, so my plan was simple. I would petrify people, paint a message that the Chamber of Secrets had been open, make it look like the same attack as fifty years ago, to make you find the Chamber of Secrets itself and open it, so I could finally discover and open Nevalow's chamber!"

"But, wait a minute! If the basilisk has never been released, and it was you who attack all the muggleborn students, then what was the voice I was hearing within the walls?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Eago pointed his wand to the ground.

"Serpensortia!"

A snake erupted from the wand.

"Tell me, Harry, was this the voice you were hearing? Imperio!"

The snake was hissing, but instead of hissing Harry could hear words.

"Come to me…let me hurt you…let me kill you…!"

It was the exact same voice he had heard all year.

"That…was what I was hearing?"

"Oh yes! Every now and again I would create a snake, imperiase it and send it through the pipes, to confirm what you would later discover that it was a basilisk.

"However, when you came across my diary, I gave up on staging the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. I was confident that if I was in your hands long enough, I could possess you like I did with poor Ginny, and open the Chamber myself."

His expression suddenly became bestial.

"However Ginny then stole me from you, fearing what I would tell you what she told me. For you see, she was aware of having memory gaps, and feared she was the one attacking the students. She told me all about it.

"So I had to restart the whole Slytherin monster thing again. However you seemed content that the Chamber had been closed so in order to get you more motivated I attack your friend Hermione Granger, and later made you believe that the Heir had kidnapped Ginny and brought her to the Chamber."

"So," Harry's tightened fists were shaking, "You went through all this trouble, manipulating Riddle, attacking muggleborns, possessing Ginny, manipulating me, all so you can get your hands on a shiny rock?"

"This is no ordinary shiny rock, Harry. Do you really think I would have gone through all of this just to acquire wealth, when there were easier ways? I am not a mad genius who comes up with overly unnecessarily complicated plans just for the fun of it! I've already told you that this is the most magical artefact in the world."

"Then tell me!" Harry spat, "What's so special about this gem that you have called all this misery for?"

Eago's grin became even wider. His eyes seemed to glow red.

"It has the power to drain magic."

The only sound that was made was the dripping of water.

"What do you mean?" Harry slowly asked.

"Exactly as I said it. The gem of Nevalow has the power to suck out magic from any nearby area, and can transfer the power elsewhere. Just as the muggle world is based on technology, the wizarding world is based on magic, and just as the one who has a monopoly on technology controls the muggle world, he who controls magic controls the wizarding world! Imagine it, Harry. The power to defeat my enemies by ripping them of their magic forever! To bring others to my side by offering them power! I can use its power to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world! No, scrap that," he added frowning, "I can use its power to become a god!"

Eago turned to grasp the gem.

"There's just one thing I'd like to know before I end the wizarding world as we know it."

"And what's that?" Harry snapped.

"How is it that a baby with no extraordinary powers defeat his majesty, the great sorcerer, Tebadam Nargo?"

Harry was startled by this question.

"Why do you care? Nargoa was after your time!"

Eago chuckled.

"Tebadam Nargoa is my past, present and future, Harry Potter."

He started writing his name in the air with his wand.

"Riddle was ashamed of being named after a muggle who abandoned him and his mother just because she was a witch. That's why he gave himself a new name. Nevalow was similar. His real name was Daniel Newton, yet he sought to make himself distinct by giving himself a unique name. They weren't alone. I too gave myself a new name."

Eventually he finished writing:

ADAM BRANT EAGO

He waved his hands. They now spelt:

TEBADAM NARGOA

"So you see," Grinned Eago at the startled Harry, "It was a name I had already come up with at school, a name that only my brothers knew of. Was I to forever bear the shame of being descended from a muggle and squib lover, or the name Brant, the weakest Eago branch, whose members were mediocre in comparison to others and the great dark wizard whose name still invoked fear when I was at school?"

He shook his head.

"No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new identity, a name that I knew would send a chill down the spine of every wizard and witch, when I became THE GREATEST SORCERER IN THE WORLD!"

His booming voice bounced around the great chamber. His eyes had become glowing red. Harry stared at the boy Adam Eago, who would grow up to kill his parents, and so many others.

"You're-not," He managed to say through gritted teeth.

"NOT WHAT?" Eago demanded.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world. I hate to disappoint you, but his name is Darren Cessi!"

"Darren who?"

His voice had become normal again, his eyes returning to their normal, black colour.

"Darren Cessi, the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts here, the one everyone says stood up against you, and if he's anything like his ancestor, if it wasn't for me he would have defeated you, just Like Lucas Cessi defeated Cain Eago! He's still here teaching while you've had your powers broken. You're now in hiding, you're nothing now!"

Eago was frowning.

"This Darren Cessi," He asked slowly, "Does he look like me? Only taller, thinner, with deep blue eyes and not as handsome or athletic?"

Eago had described him perfectly, apart from the last two bits. As if he read his mind, Eago stared at him. He then roared with laughter.

"Darren Cessi!" He managed to say through his fits of laughter, "So that's what he's calling himself nowadays! Oh! It seems Michael and I weren't the only ones who discarded our surname! And I can see he's done a good job on you! Oh!"

He got a hold of himself.

"You still haven't answered my question though. How did you defeat me in the future?"

Harry didn't know what to do. Perhaps if he kept him talking, he could stall him from getting his hands on the gem, although that's all he could do.

"You were defeated," Harry began, "Because my mother died trying to save me from you. And her sacrifice left her protection on me, and whatever curse you tried to inflict on me rebounded!"

Eago's eyes went wide.

"You're kidding me? That's what defeated me? Love? I, the great Tebadam Nargoa, the greatest wizard who ever lived, whose feats even outshone Cain Eago's and pushed him back into the history books where he was forgotten, was defeated by love?"

He groaned.

"I wished you didn't tell me now! I was kinda hoping that it was some kind of hidden power that defeated me. Like you could use telekinesis or could perform magic at an early age, but it was LUV that defeated me?"

"That's right, love!" Harry shouted, "The love that my mother had for me, the love that made her die for me! She loved me so much that she was willing to die for me, and that protected me from you, forever!"

He shouted the last few words, as if to make it clear to the world. Eago started to smile.

"So, you are proud, are you? Of your mother's sacrifice? How she killed herself, and left you an orphan, in the care of muggles who, from what I gathered from Ginny, made your life miserable?"

Once again, Eago said something to Harry that made his core shake, harder than anything he said previously.

"She didn't kill herself!"

"She might have well done," Eago shrugged, "She might as well have taken that wand and killed herself with it if what you told me is true. She didn't have to die, but she choose to."

"She died protecting me-!"

"And left you in the care of people who did not love you, made you an orphan who missed his parents dearly. Forgive me if I don't see the nobility in that."

Harry stared at him.

"People make a big deal about others sacrificing themselves for others, for the ones they love, yet they never seem to consider how that death affects the people they love. What is noble in an action that is clearly selfish? When a person flings themselves on the crossfire of a loved one, are they really thinking about that loved one's well being, or are they really thinking about their own, their own state of mind? Do they ever consider how their death will leave not only the one they protect, but also all the ones they love? From my opinion, perhaps a truer, more selfless act of love would be to sacrifice the one you love, rather than sacrificing yourself for the one you love."

"And what would you know about love?" Harry shouted at him. Eago raised an eyebrow.

"What do you, you who have never known your parents? You who had never received love from the family you grew up with? Or do you perhaps love your friends, or Professor Cessi, the man you so clearly admire?"

Harry didn't answer him.

"Well this has been an interesting chat, Harry, but right now I've really got to start the dawning of a new era."

Before he could turn back to the gem, they both hear a loud 'QUACK!' They looked upwards. A duck was flying into the chamber. It swooped down to where Eago's diary was laying, and transformed into Professor Cessi.

"Professor!" Harry cried. He was very glad to see this person right now.

"You!" Eago shrieked, his eyes going wide with rage.

"Hello, little brother," Cessi greeted him, "long time no see."