They say it's a bad thing when you're hearing voices no one else can hear, even in the wizarding world. Harry Potter had heard the voice quite a few times now since the opening of the Chamber, and he had always ignored it. But that was because most of the time it didn't really talk to him; he just heard it. This time however…
"Ssssspeaker, I know you are there… Lissssten, I have a message, urgent, lisssten!"
Harry couldn't help but feel it was meant for him.
"Lissssten, the girl that ssssmells of radisssshesss and sssunshine asssks for your help! My masssster hasss fallen ill, ssssshe can't leave him… You musssst come!"
It was complete nonsense, but still Harry asked Ron about it.
"Do you happen to know someone who smells of radishes?"
Ron, who had been in the middle of an exciting quidditch story, looked quite disturbed at his friend.
"Harry, are you okay?"
"No, I mean, yes, of course. I just wondered if you knew someone who smells of radishes. And sunshine, perhaps. Just a random thought."
Ron shrugged, not quite sure about what to answer.
"Weird. Radishes make me think of that crazy Ravenclaw chick though. You know, Loony Lovegood with her crazy earrings, the one that got abducted by the monster."
Harry stopped dead. Of course.
"Sssspeaker, will you lissssten now? I have repeated mysssself a dozen timesss already! You need to go to the girlssss bathroom and Sssspeak the door to open!"
"Harry? Do… Do you want me to get someone?"
"No, I'm fine, just... need to use the toilet."
With that, Harry Potter ran away, leaving his friend baffled. It could be a trap of some sort, but the "monster", if that had been it, had sounded quite genuinely worried about her master, whoever that may be. And apparently Luna had something to do with it too. Harry knew he should alert the teachers, but… well, who would believe him? He was more likely to get thrown into St Mungo's if he told anyone. No, he would have to solve this on his own.
He let the hissing voice in the walls direct him to the correct bathroom, and there he looked around for some sort of door.
"Okay. Open Sesame?"
"You mussssst Sssspeak to it!"
With the emphasis on 'Speak' apparently… and that made the coin drop for Harry.
"Of course!" He looked for some kind of snake symbol on the walls, and when he didn't find one he just imagined a snake and hissed in parseltongue.
"Open."
Surprisingly enough the washbasins started to move. From somewhere under the floor he could hear the hissing voice.
"At lassssst, the Sssspeaker underssstands!"
Harry carefully went in, slipped and went down what apparently was some kind of slide. Whoever invented that had a quirky sense of humour, Harry thought while he slid down. When he eventually landed on his butt, he looked around and saw… the old skin of a snake that had to be truly humongous. Harry slicked. This better not be a trap… He clenched his wand and wished he had brought Ron for moral support. Eventually, he reached a large room, where said humongous snake was resting lazily on her coils while a blonde girl was struggling for something with a young man.
"Tom, you are not well, you can't have that!"
"Give me, you wretched woman! Let me end this! LET ME END THIS!"
Harry's eyes widened when he recognized Luna.
"Luna?"
"Harry!"
In her surprise, she let go of the item she had been struggling for, and the man grabbed it and held it close.
"I WILL END THIS! You won't control me an longer!"
Luna turned to Harry.
"Please Harry, he is sick, he can't have that diary now. Please help?"
Harry was dumbstruck. The man struck him as slightly familiar, if not for the crazed look in his eyes.
"Don't listen to her! S-she will poison your mind, like she did to me! Please destroy it! Destroy this thing, burn it with the biting fire, let HER eat it, the traitor, she chose the side of that woman, please! Please end me!"
Harry didn't know what to think. Eventually, he decided to go with Luna's stance, after all she was the only one he knew in this fight.
"You truly don't sound too sound of mind. Stupefy."
The spell hit the man, and he dropped limply to the floor, the item he was holding –a book- slipping from his grasp. Harry picked it up.
"Err… Luna? Care to explain all this before the initial shock runs out and I start screaming?"
So Luna explained, and Harry listened. From time to time the huge snake (apparently a basilisk) added to the conversation, little snippets that made Harry place Luna's story in perspective.
"Luna… this diary… he was using you! He wanted to cleanse the school of muggleborns! Maybe I should destroy this…"
Luna shook her head.
"Oh Harry, can't you see how sick he is? Tell me, does he look like he's capable of using anyone, given the state he's in?"
Harry looked at the unconscious form of Tom Riddle, and had to admit the man looked more pitiable than dangerous, if anything. Luna sat down next to him and put his head in her lap, her hand stroking his humid black tresses.
"I believe that he has some very disturbing thoughts, his aura is very dark… but that's just because he's very ill, Harry. He has been alone for decades! Can you imagine being in solitude that long?"
Harry couldn't, so eventually he just had to agree with Luna's assessment. That didn't clarify the fifty feet of poisonous snake though.
"I do wonder about…" he nodded his head in the direction of the serpent. Luna smiled.
"Oh, you mean her? I didn't understand her name, but she's very nice. She went to look for you after all. She's very worried about Tom as well."
"You… understand her?"
"Bits and pieces. Mostly what she means more than what she says though. I can't hear her words like you do"
Harry didn't even want to begin deciphering that statement.
"Now… what are we going to do about this? With him, I mean."
Luna sighed.
"We can't leave him here, he'll catch a cold. I don't think it's wise to take him with us though… The others might not understand it, and they would probably want to take him away from us. I really think I should stay with him."
"Sssspeaker and Radissssh Girl… Why don't you bring him to the bedchambersssss?"
Harry raised an eyebrow before answering in parseltongue.
"Bedchambersss?"
"Ah yessss, sssspelled to be protected from the water… I'll sssshow you…"
Harry followed the basilisk, which slithered through the Chamber and entered a tunnel. He really hoped it wasn't a trick to eat him out of sight from Luna.
"You're not going to eat me, are you?"
"Tsss-hsss-hsss… You ssssilly Sssspeaker. Why would I eat you? Radisssh Girl likessss you."
Harry didn't think that was a proper explanation, but either way he followed the basilisk that brought him through the tunnel until the point where the tunnel had apparently been locked close. It then hissed something that sounded almost musical, and out of nowhere a door appeared in the closed off wall. Harry carefully opened it and found himself in a regal bedchamber. There was a large four-poster bed with emerald green curtains, a wall covered in bookcases, and a desk with writing utensils. It was surprisingly warm in the room and everything in it had indeed been spared from the leaking water.
"Welcome to my late massster's roomsss… Do you like them, Ssspeaker?"
"These… these are the rooms of Salazar Slytherin?"
"Mossst ssssurely yess. Masssster Tom can use them for now."
"Right… You know, my name is Harry Potter. What are you called?"
"Hekathe… But you can call me Katie, Sssspeaker. I mean, Harry. Tell the Radisssh Girl my name too, sssshe inquired yet didn't underssstand."
"I will."
Harry tried not to think too deep about everything. He feared that if he started to think things through he would either wake up with a start in his own bed, or cause himself a panic attack. The whole event was just too surreal…
X
Luna sat next to Tom's bedside, holding his hand. They had carefully put him there, waiting for the stunning spell to wear off.
"Don't you think we should tell someone? I mean… someone who can actually help?"
Luna nodded pensively.
"Maybe yes."
"Not to mention that we'll have to explain the whole issue to Dumbledore and the other professors eventually. Everyone still thinks Katie had you for lunch."
"Katie would never. She's the sweetest."
"But they don't know that, now do they? And we'll have to tell them something, unless we want to stay here forever."
Luna nodded pensively.
"We tell them the truth."
"What?"
Luna's wide, slightly bulging eyes caught his.
"The truth, Harry. It will do Tom no good if we lie. The headmaster will understand."
Harry didn't understand this girl. She got possessed, brought down to a secret chamber to be killed, and faced with a monster, and instead of doing what any sensible 11-year-old would have done -namely screaming, crying and trying to get away- she had made friends with the monster and appointed herself as nurse for the evil thing that had tried to kill her. He honestly didn't understand her; he only hoped that she was right and the headmaster would.
X
There had been quite a fuss when they returned from the Chamber, and after convincing Madam Pomfrey they really didn't need to stay in the Infirmary the headmaster whisked them away to his office. After completing his usual ritual that consisted of offering them lemon drops and making some vague remarks in that airily tone of his, he finally got to business.
"So children… will you tell me what has happened exactly? Harry?"
"Err… I think Luna can explain it better." Harry uttered, much to the headmaster's surprise. Luna smiled and said dreamily.
"It all happened when I found a Living Book. It's a diary and his name is Tom. I thought it would do him good to have someone to talk to all the time; he was very lonely you see. He had been alone for fifty years!"
"Tom?"
"His full name is Tom Marvolo Riddle."
Luna didn't seem to notice it, but Harry saw that Dumbledore paled visibly when hearing that name...
"I thought he was just lonely, but actually he was very sick and it kept getting worse. His aura was always very dark to begin with, but then it started fluctuating and wavering in other colours too. I thought he had gotten infected with Murgling Booklice, or that the Nargles had tried to steal some of his pages, but that wasn't it."
Both Dumbledore and Harry were watching Luna intently. Harry had heard the story before, but something about the young blonde girl made him want to listen to her every word. Luna's eyes widened a bit when she continued.
"He tried to hide his illness, and he even took me down to the Chamber so I could meet Katie! When I woke up there, he was finally out of the book, and I was so happy at first because I could finally properly meet him… but he was already a lot sicker then and eventually I had to ask Katie to seek help for him. Katie went to find Harry and helped him to get into the Chamber, and there he stupefied Tom and we put him in bed. Katie is guarding him now so that he can't hurt himself."
Dumbledore was speechless, and even that weird twinkle in his eyes seemed a bit confused now.
"Luna dear, do you have that diary with you?"
Luna nodded and showed the headmaster the small black book. With an innocent smile she said.
"He's still connected to the diary. I write sweet things in it to help him calm down."
"You said he wanted to hurt… himself?"
"Oh, he was very inconsistent in the end. At first he wanted to kill me, and then he said Katie had to kill me, and eventually he was trying to make Katie kill him, and when Harry showed up in the Chamber he wanted Harry to kill him… It was really sad. Poor Tom."
"I must say I am curious about this… Katie."
"It's a basilisk."
Dumbledore looked at Harry, and then at Luna.
"And Luna understands her?"
"Just her meanings, not really her words. Harry understands her words though. And Katie is really smart, she understands me as well even though I can't speak her language."
Dumbledore shook his head.
"A basilisk named Katie. Well have I ever."
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence in the room. Then Harry dared to say.
"Err… Headmaster, what is going to happen now?"
"Well… My children, you must know this. Tom Riddle is the birth name of someone you know as Voldemort."
Harry didn't flinch at the name, but neither did Luna. She just caressed the book and smiled.
"Oh, that explains why his aura is so dark. He just doesn't have enough soul, does he?"
"Huh?"
"I should have seen it, but I thought it was normal for Living Books to have such strange auras. After all, I'd never seen one before."
"My child, no one blames you for what has happened. I am sure that the diary and its occupant can be taken care of. If you would hand it to me?"
Luna shook her head.
"I'm sorry Headmaster. I promised Tom I would care for him, and I can't let you hurt him. He's so hurt already that he doesn't even want what he needs anymore. It would be plain low to misuse his weak state of mind."
X
Tom woke up, not knowing where he was and with a sense of imminent danger surrounding him. He tried to get up, but got extremely dizzy when he lifted his head. Trying to get his thoughts together, Tom tried to recall what had happened. He only got scraps of memory, dreams mixed with fear and… radishes. Even his thoughts betrayed him. Tom wrapped his arms around himself while battling the increasing dizziness, feeling cold although it was quite warm in the mysterious room. He softly whispered to himself, surprised at his croaked voice,
"Where am I?"
He didn't know, and somehow that made him want to cry. He didn't though. Had he gone mad, somehow? It seemed like it. There was a remnant of something in his mind, a reminder of some urgent task he had to complete… What was it? His panicky thoughts were interrupted by a strange hissed tune, and out of nowhere a door appeared into the stone wall. It opened, and a big, slightly (very) menacing snakehead appeared through it.
"Sssso, it ssseeemsss you are awake."
The voice sparked a memory in Tom, a memory of another life almost. He knew this creature.
"H-Hekathe?"
"I prefer Katie thessse daysss… more modern, don't you agree?"
Tom shivered. He didn't know what to answer. He remembered Hekathe the basilisk, but he didn't know from what. It would seem that a huge poisonous serpent is hard to forget, but Tom couldn't recall any details of the circumstances under which they had met. All he knew was that it had to be long ago.
"Where am I?"
"You're sssafe, for now… Radissssh Girl and the other Ssspeaker will care for you. How issss your illnessss?"
"My… ilnesssss?"
The basilisk appeared to breathe in the air and test it.
"I sssmell sssicknesss on you ssstill. Ssstrange hot-blooded creaturesssss you are, humansss… ssssuch trouble controlling your temperature…"
Tom realized he probably had some kind of fever. That would explain things, the memory loss, the dizziness, the shivering and the apparent isolation. He didn't know where he was and how he had gotten there, but perhaps he was contagious or something. He felt awful…
"Ssshall I get the Girl and the other Ssspeaker for you?"
Tom shook his head, a movement that only added to the dizziness. He whispered,
"Pleasssse… ssstay."
He didn't know why he asked that, but the thought of being alone made him want to throw up. As he lay down and closed his eyes again, he felt the snake set down her huge head on the side of the bed. It was a minor comfort, because soon bizarre dreams consumed him again and left him unaware of his surroundings…
X
Dumbledore had listened to the strange things that Luna told him, and eventually he had allowed her to keep the diary, as long as they brought him down to the Chamber so he could meet Tom, and the illustrious Katie. They had agreed, and now they were standing in the dripping wet halls of the Chamber. Katie slithered out of the tunnel, apparently happy to see them.
"Tssss, ssssstrange old man you bring with you… Ssssmellsss funny…"
Harry grinned.
"Katie, meet Headmaster Dumbledore."
He pointed at the headmaster, who graciously took off his yellow and shocking pink hat for her. The man's eyes twinkled more than usual; Harry could even think that he actually enjoyed it all…
"Sssso, will he help Massster? Massster issss getting worssse, he'll need the help. Radisssh Girl needsss to sssee him too. Her wordssss do him good."
Luna looked worried, holding the diary to her chest.
"Is Tom all right?"
"Katie says he's getting worse."
Luna needed no more direction and ran off into the tunnel, followed by Katie. Dumbledore looked as if he wanted to say something, but shook his head. Eventually he said.
"She knows things. I don't know how, but she does. I won't say that it makes me feel comfortable, but something tells me it's okay to trust her judgement on this. Her mother was just like that. Seers blood, I suppose."
Harry nodded slowly, and they followed the girl and basilisk.
"Don't you think this is weird, Headmaster?"
"Oh, certainly my child. But what is life without a little weirdness?"
(Author's Notes)
So... here we have Comprehending!Dumbledore, as opposed to the usual Manipulative!Dumbledore. I just didn't feel like writing too much hidden agendas and cunning subplots into this, if you want Cloak-And-Dagger stuff you should check out my other HP fics.
Also, the basilisk is called Katie. Because I can. And because I think she has the character of someone named Katie, in this fic. Hecate (written Hekathe here for artistic liberty) is the greek goddess of Magic, Witchcraft, the Moon, Necromancy and Crossroads. If any name was more suitable, I don't know. (Okay, in canon she had three faces, but I don't want any Fluffy parallels drawn here... damn, I just did. Urgh.)
"smelling like sunshine" must be interpreted through the senses of a snake. Snakes are cold-blooded and perceive heat and scents in a different way than we do. Biology class! (or at least the little I remember from that)
Also, I know Tom is actually afraid of dying in canon, but take it from the experienced; psychosis can mangle anyone's thoughts to the point were death has a certain appeal.
PLEASE REVIEW!
I love and cherish my reviewers, they make writing this worthwhile! Also, without comments and critics I can never improve my writing!