Lindsay POV

On the ground were the bones of small animals, the leftovers of the basilisk's dinner. Disgusting to look at, Ron couldn't help but mention so.

"Now remember any sign of movement close your eyes straight away." Harry said before going through one of the tunnels. Ron motions for Lockhart to move with his wand. I push him forward. Lockhart goes in first then me and Ron brought up the rear. We travel a bit till we come to something quite odd. I move quickly to it and travel the length of it with Harry.

"What's this?" Ron asked wide eyed.

"It looks like a snake." Lockhart said.

"It's a snake skin." Harry informed.

"Definitely a basilisk's shed skin." I confirmed with Harry.

"Bloody hell. It must be sixty feet long." With those words Lockhart fainted.

"Heart of a lion this one." Ron commented sarcastically. Our guard was down so we didn't expect Lockhart to jump up and grab Ron's wand from him. He pointed at us daring to move toward him.

"The adventure ends here. But don't fret the world will know our story. How it was too late to save the girl. How the three of you lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. So you first mister Potter. Say goodbye to your memories. Oblievate!"

The light flickered over the wand and shot itself out at the back instead of the tip and hit Lockhart forcing him back into the wall of the cave. It was such a hardening blow that it shook the cave into falling down debris separating Harry and I from Ron and Lockhart.

"Harry! Lindsay!" He shouted for us. I had been shaken back and hit something. I was wobbly trying to stand, but Harry ran towards the sound of Ron's voice. "Ron!"

"Ron, are you okay!"

"I'm fine. What about the two of you?"

"Slightly disoriented, but I will live." I told him.

"We're fine." Harry said through the crack. It was then that something about Lockhart came up. The memory charm had backfired on him and caused him to lose his memory instead of the one he was aiming for. I move to Harry and look in time to see Ron hit Lockhart in the back of the head with a rock. "It was about time someone hit him. Just upset that it wasn't me."

"What'll I do now?"

"You wait here and try to shift some of this rock so that we can get back through. I'll go on and find Ginny." What did he say?

"You mean we'll go on and find Ginny."

"No I'll go find Ginny. You need to help Ron with shifting the rocks." He moved forward.

"I am going with you." I said cutting him off.

"Lindsay, please."

"Don't please me, Harry. Ginny is my friend too. Almost my sister and I will not lose a friend again." I begin to run so he couldn't argue further with me. We stop at snake themed wall blocker. Harry at this time realized I wasn't staying behind opened the door with parseltongue. We cautiously go through the door wands at the ready for whatever the case could be. We come upon some stairs that I jump down from since it was low enough while Harry climbed down. Looking around the fear of a basilisk was more powerful by ten as the columns around us held their shape. A giant head laid at the end of the columns a vain tribute of Salazar Slytherin no doubt. We walk slowly at first and soon found speed in our soles at what also lie at the end of the columns. Ginny.

We come to her body, pale as marble and the fear of her being dead shivered through our minds.

"Ginny please wake up."

"She won't wake up." A voice said not one of our own. We turn to find a boy enter from the shadows. A boy who was oddly calm for being in a place like this.

"Tom? Tom Riddle?" Harry said in realization.

"Tom?" I questioned. He couldn't be. He went school here fifty years ago. He couldn't be that young unless.

"What do you mean she won't wake up?"

"She's not?" Please don't say it Harry.

"She's alive, but only just." He said while advancing towards us.

"Are you a ghost?"

"A memory preserved in a diary for fifty years." There is something wrong about him. Something wrong.

"She's cold as ice." Harry said taking my mind away from Tom and back to Ginny. I took her pulse and found that it was weak but still there.

"Tom you have to help us there's a basilisk."

"It won't come until it's called." That is creepy. How could he have known that?

"Give me my wand Tom." Harry put out his hand as both of us rose.

"You won't be needing it." Tom said making no attempt to give it back. To my dissatisfaction he was also holding my wand.

"We have to get Ginny out of here."

"I'm afraid not. You see as poor Ginny grows weaker. I grow stronger."

"He's the one behind this." Both turn to me. "He's the reason for the basilisk attacks. How else could he know all this? I just don't get why he needs Ginny." Harry was thinking something in his head and whatever it was clicked.

"Yes, Harry. It was Ginny Weasley who opened the chamber of secrets."

"No, she couldn't."

"She wouldn't." I finished for him. Tom continued on.

"It was Ginny who set the basilisk on the Mudbloods and Filcher's cat. Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the walls."

"Why?"

"Because I told her to." I am going to rip through this guy's flesh. "You can find that I can be very persuasive." He already persuaded me to hurt him. "Not that she knew what she was doing you could say that she was well in a kind of trance? Still the power of the diary began to scare her. She tried to dispose of it in the girl's bathroom. And then who should find it, but you the very person I was most anxious to meet." That explains Ginny's change in mood this jerk was controlling her.

"But why did you want to meet me?"

"I knew I had to talk to you. I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf Hagrid in order to gain your trust."

"If anyone is brainless it's you." He ignored me.

"Hagrid's our friend and you framed him didn't you."

"It was my word against Hagrid's. Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent."

"But Dumbledore saw right through you."

"He knew a bad apple when he saw one." I say to him and this time he looked at before

"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that. I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again while I was at school. So I left behind a diary preserving my sixteen year old self in the pages so that one day. I would be able to lead another and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work." Noble? That's a load of bull.

"Well you haven't finished it this time. In a few hours the mandrake draught will be ready and everyone who is petrified will be all right again."

"Haven't I told you? Killing mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore. For many months now my new target has been you." Harry? Why him? "How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while lord Voldermort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldermort was after your time."

"Voldermort is my past, present and future." He moves Harry's wand to spell out his name and then rearranges the letter's into spelling out. I am Lord Voldermort. He was the madman wizard. I move closer to Harry watching every move that Tom made carefully.

"You're the heir of Slytherin. Voldermort."

"Surely you didn't think that I would keep my filthy muggle Father's name. No, I fashioned myself a new name. A name I knew that wizards everywhere would fear to speak as I became the greatest sorcerer in the world."

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world." Actually it's Merlin, but he is a humble man.

"Dumbledore has been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me."

"You wish Snake boy!"

"He'll never be gone not as long as those who remain loyal to him." Tom or Voldermort's expression hardens with clenched teeth. A shriek goes off it sounds like a bird we look around and see a phoenix coming towards us. He comes closer and closer and then drops something for Harry to catch. The phoenix leaves soon after. Harry looks at what it was that it had dropped and found that it was the sorting hat. Why did he bring that to us?

"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defender a songbird and an old hat." Tom moves to the front of the head of Slytherin, placing his hand up as if to summon something. He was going to summon the basilisk. In haste I ran to stop him. He turned in time to grab my arm and twist it around my back.

"Nice try little girl, but you will not stop me." He hisses into my ear. I struggle a bit but he twists my arm painfully forcing me to stop. He summons in parseltongue for the basilisk to come. The mouth of the statue opens.

"Let's match the power of Lord Voldermort Heir of Slytherin against the famous Harry Potter. Even if you do survive your prize will be to watch me kill her." I wanted to lash out at him but a loud hiss drew me into closing my eyes. I heard the great snake's scales slide across the stone floor and water and Harry's running. "Parseltongue won't save you know Potter it only obeys me."

"A coward more than a hero your friend is."

"You tell yourself that. Delusion is a talent of yours." His rebuttal was ended by the cries of a phoenix.

"No!" Riddle shouted angry. "Your bird may have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you." Did I hear that right? The snake has been blinded? I hear footsteps on water run-off and the sound of a force striking something sold and hard. This time I opened my eyes and found the snake was gone. Riddle chose this time to throw me to the ground harshly. I spun quickly around to face him and found that he was pointing my wand at me this time.

"Enjoy these last moments you have in this world. Once the basilisk has done its job. It will come after you next."

"I am not sure that will happen. Harry will kill the snake."

"You are becoming rather annoying."

"You did say to enjoy these moments." I said being careful to raise slowly and move away from him to Ginny's body. She felt colder than before and her pulse was getting weaker. Softly so Riddle wouldn't hear I say to her. "I swear you will not die here."

Footsteps were coming towards us. It was Harry he had gotten away from the basilisk.

"You're too late Potter. In a few moments Ginny will be dead. And I will cease to be a memory. Lord Voldermort will return. Very. Much. Alive." We look to Ginny's body racking our brains trying to think of a way to snap her out of it. My hand and Harry's goes to Ginny's hand. She was tightly grasping the diary. My mind went into thinking why did Tom have to take his diary back? He completed his mission with Harry, so why was Ginny grasping it as she lay dying?

"ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!" The loud hissing roar broke us out of our thoughts as the basilisk rose from the water splashing us about like the pounding waves of a tempest sea. Harry looked around for a weapon as I did too. Then inside the sorting hat a glow was shining. It formed and gathered into the hilt of a shining sword. Harry dashed at it pulling out revealing that it was indeed a sword and leapt upon the statue climbing it and fending off the great snake as he did so. It struck at him not once but three times. All eyes including Riddle's were on Harry's movements. This gave me an opportunity I took the diary out of Ginny's hand before Riddle would have seen it. I turned to look when I heard the sound of metal scraping against rock and saw that Harry had been knocked down by the snake and was now scrambling for the sword before it should fall. He grabbed it in time and when the dirty snake came down for what it knew was to be its last strike against Harry. He rammed the sword through the mouth and up the out of the snake's head. It wailed out in pain and the fear it knew was death coming for him. It rocked about in spastic movements. Rounding this way and that as it fell to the ground with a thud. The great beast was dead. No more could it do the evil work of his dark master. Puzzled fury was the look of its no longer master. His ill raised pet was dead and gone defeated by the boy he thought would be its meal.

Harry came down from the top of the statue, a wounded warrior. His arm was bleeding badly as he clasped the fang that he pulled from his arm. He fell to his knees by Ginny and me. His breathing was quick and heading into the swallow side. At this Riddle looked pleased that his pet managed this before death. He moved forwarded with a gloat in his voice he said.

"Remarkable isn't it? How quickly the venom of the basilisk penetrates the body. I guess you haven't more than a minute to live. You'll be with your dear mudblood mother soon Harry." I show Harry the diary that I took from Ginny's body. In silence we exchange a look that Riddle couldn't understand. Without alerting Tom, Harry slid the basilisk fang into my hands. Our hands wrap around it and to Riddle I'm sure it looked like a weak attempt at comforting each other.

"Funny how much a little book can do? Especially in the hands of a silly little girl." One nod was given for us to take action. We opened the book to a random page and raised the hands that held the fang. One defiant look we gave to Riddle.

"What are you doing? Stop! No!" Together we force the fang down into the pages. Up bubbled the effigy of Tom Riddle's blood in the form of Black Death ink. We see that in the form of Riddle a hole appeared in his stomach. He screamed in anger and tried to come at us again when we rose the fang. Then we forced the fang down again. A hole came to his face this time. This time when we rose the fang I shut the book and with all our might we stab through the think leather cover with black blood spurting and soaking us to the cries of pain from Riddle as he in turn burst into nothingness. Something he may have always been. With the vanishing of Riddle Ginny came back to life. Breathing deeply at first and then rising up slowly to a sitting position.

"Ginny" we call. She was surprised to see us. "It was me. But I swear that I didn't mean to. Riddle made me. And..." She trailed off when she saw Harry's arm something I too had forgotten about.

"You're hurt." Harry moves his arm to cover the wound which looked worse from what it had looked like ten minutes ago. "Don't worry about me. The two of you need to get yourselves out of here. Follow the chamber and you'll find Ron."

"Harry we aren't leaving you behind." I go to the side of his wounded arm and push his hand out of the way. "What are you doing?"

"Maybe I can suck the poison out of your blood."

"No you could get poisoned too."

"We have to try something!" A shrill cry of a bird goes off and it is the phoenix who has returned. A smile decorates my lips. I move out of the way for the bird to get closer to Harry. "You were brilliant Fawkes. I just wasn't quick enough."

Fawkes now that I know him as that lowers head down to Harry's wound and sheds his tears on to it. The winds of the desert that whisk away the footprints of time could not have done as fantastic a job as Fawkes had with ridding the wound of Harry's.

"Of course phoenix tears have healing powers." He turns to Fawkes giving him a word of thanks.

"How do you feel?"

"Alive. It's alright. It's over. It's just a memory."

"How are we going to get back?" Ginny asks. I loop my arm around Ginny in a quick hug before answering her.

"Fawkes." I said letting go of Ginny to motion to the scarlet love. The two look to me perplexed.

"Harry when you found out that Phoenix's having healing tears didn't you also find out that they can carry immense weights?" I said smiling at Fawkes. Who gives a little purr of sorts. Oh how I wanted to rub the ruby prince's head in appreciation, but I remembered Phoenix feathers are hot to the touch. So I stroke along the skin of his beak.

We gather our wands and ourselves up before leaving the chamber. Ginny takes one look around as if the fear of it wasn't over yet.

"Ginny." She spun around to face me. "It's only a memory now. Just like Harry said."

She smiles and both of us follow Harry to look for Ron and the forgetful ex Professor Lockhart. Ron had managed to clear a path and was more than happy to be reunited with his little sister. Fawkes was raring to go and had picked up Lockhart first who was so delusional happy that it didn't bother him that a bird was holding on to him. Then Ron grabbed a hold of Lockhart, Harry grabbed Ron, Ginny took one side of Harry and I took the other. All of us went flying into the sky were Lockhart shouted.

"Amazing! This is just like magic!" I laughed so loud and hard that the sound echoed merrily across the caverns and stone. The others might have laughed to if they were not so worried about falling.

The next day Ron, Harry and I were in Dumbledore's office. Heads held down.

"You three realize that of course. That for the past few hours you have broken perhaps a dozen school rules." We reply with a bit of shame yes sir. "Therefore I have suffocate evidence to have you three expelled." Mom and dad are going to have words with me. Kicked out of school after one year. There has got to be a royal record for that somewhere. Again we say yes sir with more shame.

"Therefore it seems only fitting that you three each receive special awards for the services to the school." Did I hear him right? Are we not getting expelled?! Do I Get To Stay At Hogwarts!? I was to relived to speak so Ron did it for us.

"Thanks sir."

"Now Mr. Weasley if you would have an owl deliver these release papers to Azkaban. I believe that we want our game keeper back." He said handing Ron the papers and sending him out leaving Harry and me alone with the headmaster.

"Harry, first I want to thank you. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the chamber."

"He did sir." I confirm. Dumbledore continued. "Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you. And second I sense that something is troubling you." This was news to me. Harry defeated Voldermort for like the second time, found he wasn't the heir of slytherin, proved Hagrid had nothing to do with the chamber monster, got Dumbledore back and together he and I saved Ginny's life. What could possibly be troubling him?

"Am I right Harry?"

"It's just that…You see sir I couldn't help to notice that certain things, certain similarities between Tom Riddle and me."

"I see well you can speak paseltongue Harry why?" Harry didn't answer so Dumbledore continued. "Because Lord Voldermort can speak parseltongue. If I'm not mistaken Harry. He transferred some of his powers to you the night he gave you that scar." That makes sense and it's not the first time that's happened. Ask Merlin he has seen it all.

"Voldermort transferred some of his powers to me?"

"Not intentionally. But yes."

"So the sorting hat was right. I should be in slytherin."

"It's true Harry you possess many of the same qualities that Voldermort himself prizes. Determination, resourcefulness, and if I may say so a certain disregard to the rules. Why then did the sorting hat place you in Gryffindor?"

"Because I asked it to."

"Exactly Harry. Exactly. Which makes you different from Voldermort. It is not our abilities that show who we are. It is our choices. You need more proof that you belong in Gryffindor. Then I suggest that you look more closely at this." Dumbledore raises the sword and Harry takes it. I lean over to get a better look myself. Dumbledore was right. On the sword was etched the name Godric Gryffindor.

"It would take a true Gryffindor to pull that out of the hat." It was at that moment the sound of a door opening alerted us to someone's arrival. In came a man with long pale blood hair, a stern uppity face and a black pricey and fashionable cloak. In one hand he held a walking stick with a silver snake head. My mind went back to the columns in the chamber. Behind him was a house elf. He looked nervous, not that I could blame him he had a scary master. In a way he was kind of cute with his large light eyes and cute floppy ears.

"Dobby. So this is your master. The family you serve is the Malfoys." Dobby started to put his hands up in an attempt to block a blow. It didn't happen instead the man, Mr. Malfoy said icy. "I'll deal with you later."

Now I see where Malfoy got his attitude. They came up the stairs to shoving Harry with his walking stick out of his way, not even asking politely. I wave to Dobby. He shudders at first. I don't take it personally. He has a bad master. He does wave back softly and gives a little smile that I return.

"So it's true. You have returned."

"When the Governors learned that Arthur Weasley's daughter was taken into the chamber. They saw fit to summon me back."

"Ridiculous."

"Curiously, Lucius. Several of them were under the impression that you would curse their families if they did not agree to suspend me in the first place."

"How dare you." He so threated the governors with cursing their families. "I beg your pardon?"

"My soul concern has always been and will always be the welfare of this school and of course its students." Mr. Malfoy turned his head to stare at Harry and I. I think it may have been the first time he noticed I was there. He looked back to Dumbledore. "The culprit has been identified I presume?"

"Oh yes." Dumbledore nods. "And? Who was it?" Mr. Malfoy questions. His voice sounds a little strained.

"Voldermort. Only this time he chose to act through somebody else. By means of this." He holds up the now ruined dairy of Tom Riddle a smirk comes to my face. "I see" Was all Mr. Malfoy said. But Dobby was motioning and nodding to his master with hints for Harry and I.

"Fortunately our young Mr. Potter and Ms. King discovered it. Let's hope that no more of Lord Voldermort old school things should find their way into innocent hands. The consequences for the one responsible would be severe."

"Well let us hope that Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day."

"Don't worry both of us will be." The senior Malfoy looks to both Harry and I. He leaves with a flourish of his cape and a kick to Dobby. I went down the stairs and helped Dobby up to find the Mr. Malfoy whacked him away with his cane. They leave the room and I turn to Harry and he was talking to Dumbledore asking if he could borrow the diary. I wonder what he was planning to do with it? We exit Dumbledore's office with the dairy.

"Why did you borrow Riddle's diary?"

"You'll see." He took off his shoe then the sock and placed it in the pages of the diary. "Come on we have to catch up with them."

We race down the hall and caught a glimpse of Mr. Malfoy. Harry shouts at him. When he stops Harry tells him he has something of his. He gives the book to Malfoy Senior. I think I can see where this is going now. He denies that it is his.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh I think you do sir. I think you slipped the diary into Ginny Weasly's cauldron that day at Diagon Alley."

"You do, do you?" he quickly gives it to Dobby who takes it from his master's hands. I put a comforting hand on Dobby's shoulder. He again smiles at me. "Why don't you prove it?" Mr. Malfoy demanded with a scowl and a sneer. When Harry said nothing, He order Dobby to come. Harry whispered to Dobby to open the diary. He was reluctant at first. "Dobby you do want to open it."

He opens it to the page with the sock. His eyes light up and he smiles brightly. Gingerly he touches the sock should it all be a dream. Malfoy calls for Dobby again.

"Master has given Dobby a sock."

"What I didn't give you…" His voice is lost to him when he sees the book holding the sock inside Dobby's hands. "Master has presented Dobby with clothes. Dobby is free."

He is so cute when he expresses joy. Malfoy doesn't look too good as a boiling mad lobster especially when he finds harry doesn't have a sock on.

"You lost me My Servant!" He whips out a wand that was hidden in his cane. Pointing it at Harry ready to utter the words of some horrible curse.

"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" Dobby warns him. Malfoy raises his wand begins the uttering, but it stopped by a wave of magic from Dobby that sent him flying onto his back.

"Go Dobby." I say bending down to his level with hand held ready for him to high five. He looked confused. "You're supposed to do this with your hand." I demonstrate with my other hand. He gets the idea and we high five. Then Lucius Malfoy rose.

"Your parents were meddlesome fools too. Mark my words Potter. One day soon you will meet the same sticky end."

"And you." This time he pointed at me. "Heed that as a warning to you as well." He huffed out of sight.

"What a Drama Queen."

"You said it. Lindsay." Dobby turned to face us breaking our eye contact with each other. "Harry Potter freed Dobby how can Dobby ever repay him?"

"Just promise me something."

"Anything sir."

"Never try to save my life again." Dobby blushes a little. "Hey Dobby."

"Yes, Ms. King?"

"Would you like to wear something nicer than that pillow case?" he nods. "Good. I have just the thing. Wait right here." I come back shortly with a robe of velvet that I accidently shrank with a wayward potion.

"I think you will find it to your size." I drape it over his tiny frame and was happy to find that it fit him like a glove. He ran his hands over it enjoying the texture of new fabric.

"Where did you get that?" Harry asks. "Potion mishap." I reply.

Time passes and already we started to see the faces of those who had been petrified now animated again.

"How do you fare gallant Sir Nickolas?" I ask curtseying before him.

"I fare well. Young Ms. King, but wonder of your sincerity." He replied jokingly before floating off among the aisles of students who were glad to have the ghost back among them. I sit with the guys but not for long since a familiar face has returned to us. Hermione was back. Together we raced to greet her with hugs and words of welcome. Okay so I had one question.

"What was it like being petrified?" Silence. "Sorry."

"Congratulations. I can't believe you solved it."

"Well we had loads of help from you." Harry told her. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"That's for sure."

"Thanks." A clinking spoon upon a glass goblet brought our attention to the professor's table. "Can I have your attention please?" McGonagall called to the crowd of students. We take our seats and listen.

"Before we begin the feast. Let us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout, Madame Pomfrey. Whose mandrake juice has been successfully administered to all those who had been petrified." We applauded for the women who brought back our friends, classmates and castle dwellers.

"Also in light of recent events. As a school treat. All exams have been cancelled." That sent a vocal round of applause with only one disappointed no from Hermione. "There is always next year for exams Hermione." I tell her. "But lucky me first year here and no exams to take."

The doors of the great hall open allowing the entry of a dear friend's return. Hagrid was back.

"Sorry I'm late. The owl that delivered my release papers got all lost and confused. Some ruddy bird called Errol." We turn to Ron. His bird struck again. Hagrid stopped at where we sat. "I know that I would just like to say that if it hadn't been for you Harry, and Ron, Hermione of course and you Lindsay." He's making me blush. "I would still be you know where. So I would just like to say thanks."

Harry rose from his seat. "There's no Hogwarts without you Hagrid." He then gave Hagrid a hug. Dumbledore began to clap and rose from seat and joined in the clapping too. It didn't take long for the entire great hall to clap for Hagrid's return. Cheers sounded off and whistles. Students came to shake his hand and wish him a welcome. The big guy was tearing a little from the joy. I know I was a little, then a funny little thought came into my head. I turn to the three friends I had made.

"Have any of you ever thought about visiting America?"