As promised, chapter 7. Now on to the Disclaimer...
Disclaimer; I don't own Harry Potter, all I own is Cindy and Kial, and any other OC that doesn't appear in the books or movies.
Please get to reading and enjoy... and review.
Draco Malfoy's POV
Half an hour later...
I was stroking Cindy's hair (Her disalument charm had warn off and I had the cloak over us) as she slowly stirred from her sleep, but I continued stroking it, and I think she almost fell back to sleep. Almost.
"I'm sorry, Cin." I whimpered sobbingly.
Cindy slowly lifted herself up, "It's okay, Draco." She sleepy reassured me.
I frowned at her, she was lying, and I quickly stopped stroking her hair, once she fully sat up straight, "It's not."
She put her hand on top of her's, "It is."
I looked at our hands before moving mine, and felt something buzz in thing back of my head, "I have to go." I was slowly getting to my feet, and about to cast a disalument charm on her.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy." Cin growled low and dangerously.
I quickly sat back down, and looked her dead in the eye, "I really don't have time to talk, Cin."
"Why not?" Cindy frowned.
I did the same and sighed, turning my head away from her, this was so hard, "I don't really know... did you see the last message I sent you?" She frowned, before grabbing her console from her book bag and opened it, revealing a new message. When she clearly did, her eyes filled with tears of sorrow when she read what I sent.
'Mudblood.'
"Draco..." Cin whimpered.
"I'm sorry..." I whispered softly, "I'm such an idiot."
Cindy frowned, "You're not an idiot, Draco."
"Malfoy." I corrected and Cin's frown deepened, "You were gonna call most people you didn't like by their last names, and my last name's Malfoy."
"I don't hate you, Draco." She took my hand and squeezed it.
I, however, just pulled my hand away, "I really need to go." I got up again, the buzzing in my head hurting it, but this time, she did too, the cloak (Amazingly) staying over us.
"How long were you stroking my hair?" Cin asked curiously.
I frowned, "For half an hour."
"Why were you crying?" Cindy asked, and I remembered that I was crying as she dozed off.
My eyes darkened, "I was-"
"Don't you dare lie Draco." Cindy growled.
"Malfoy." I corrected again.
"I don't hate you!" Cin snapped angrily.
"Then why are you being so snappy?!" I growled. Cindy instantly took several steps back, and neither of us noticed that she was stepping closer to a wall till she hit her head against it.
Cindy quickly recovered, but I got really worried. "Sorry." Cindy sighed.
"My fault." I brushed some hair out of her eyes.
"No. I was the one that hit my head." Cindy waved it off.
"But I was the one that made you." I whispered softly.
"When can you ever just let something go, Draco?" Cindy groaned.
"Not when it comes to something that's happened to you... and Kial." I added quickly and she frowned.
"Draco...?" Cindy gave me a light hug, "It's okay."
I wrapped my arms around her, tight, "Thank you."
Cindy shook her head and pulled out of the hug a little, "It's okay."
"But... Cin... I..." I wanted to protest.
"Draco...!" Cin's voice was full of warning, and I felt myself stepping closer to a wall.
I clearly had to two choices; Give up, or be hit in the head.
I went for the first choice, "Sorry."
Cindy smiled lightly, and brought me back to the middle of the hall (The cloak almost slipped several times, but we held onto it), "It's okay."
I smiled and nodded slowly, "Yeah." Before I knew what I was doing, I hugged her, tight.
"Draco... can't... breath..." I quickly let her go. Cindy smiled lightly before she noticed something. "How quickly can you get from here to the Slytherin House?" She asked simply, her gaze wasn't on me, but on the Forrest outside.
"Five, ten minutes." I figured.
"Do you have ANYTHING on you that you think you might lose in the Forrest?" She continued to look at the Forrest.
"Other than you?" I blinked, definitely a Preteen thought, like what I felt the first Christmas Eve with her... with the Kiss. "Uh... no." I answered aloud.
She nodded and slung her book bag over her shoulder again, as I saw Hagrid being lead out of his Hut, clearly unwilling, as was Dumbledore and my father, (THAT made me shiver in fright.) "Follow me, and keep your voice down." Cin instructed. I rolled my eyes, and did as told.
"So where are we going." I whispered as we walked onto the grounds, holding the cloak over us so we could see and walk.
"Hush! Listen!" Cindy instructed and pointed to the Black and Ginger-haired Gryffindors going into the Dark Forest that we were quickly following after.
"Why Spiders?! Why couldn't we 'Follow the Butterflies'?!" I heard Wesley ask in a fearful squeak when we got close to them.
Cindy giggled softly, and when I looked at her as if she were nuts, she explained, "Kial and I love that line... that's the only line in this part that I like, actually. I mean... really Hagrid?! 'Follow the Spiders'?! Why couldn't it have been 'Follow the Butterflies?!"
She looked up at the sky, looking for an answer, before sighing and we went back to following Weasley and Potter, who were 'Following the Spiders'. We ditched the cloak when we got to the front of the Forrest and just started walked.
When we got pretty far into the Forrest, we slowly climbed through a small opening (Cindy squeaking about how many small spiders there were) and once we got out of it, I felt something sticky and silky wrap around my legs when we got on the outside. "What in the world?" I looked at what was on my legs, before I heard a scream beside me.
"DRACO!" My head snapped up and I saw Cindy dangling from her feet in silk webs... Spiderwebs. Before I could do anything, though, I got hung upside-down myself.
"Can we eat these two, daddy?" A giant spider asked as it came into few. Cindy looked like she was hyperventilating from how close it was. She did NOT seem to like spiders anymore than Weasley.
"Is one of them Hagrid?" We we flung forward and were close to Potter and Weasely. The latter of which seemed even more uncomfortable than Cindy.
"We're... We're also friends of Hagrid's!" Cindy screeched, "Now please... please tell your children to put us down!"
"Very well, put the boy and girl down." The giant spider told his 'Children' who quickly put us down and we rushed to get closer to The Gryffindors. "As I was saying..." The giant spider hissed, "The monster was born in the Castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land, in the pocket of a Traveler."
Cindy and Ron looked around us and their muscles tensed, "Harry."
"Shush." He instructed.
"If you're not the monster," I frowned, "Then what killed that girl 50 years ago?"
"We do not speak if it!" 'Aragog' answered in an angry hiss, "It is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others."
"But have you seen it?" Harry asked.
"I never saw any part of the Castle." Aragog hissed, "Except for the box, in which I was kept. The girl, was discovered in a bathroom. When I was accused, Hagrid brought me here."
"Guys...!" Cindy and Ron whimpered and got our attention as they looked around.
"What?!" We glared at them.
"Look!" Cindy and Ron squeaked and motioned around us. Harry and I did just that, and saw other Giant spiders crowding around.
"Well... Thank you." Harry told Aragog calmly after clearing his throat.
"We'll just... go." I added in a gulp.
"Go?" Aragog hissed. Cindy and Ron nodded quickly, both of them quivering in fear. "I think not. My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye 'Friends of Hagrid'." The other spiders crowded more. I took Cindy's hand and we both paled.
"Can we panic now?" Cindy and Ron's voices were a few octaves higher than normal. I nodded as I looked around. A spider landed right behind me and Cindy, causing the latter's grip to tighten.
"You're lantern, Potter!" I noticed the lantern in Harry's hand.
"Er... right." Harry hit the spider closet to us with the lantern, then did the same to the next that got up to us. He quickly dropped it as he and Ron went back to back, as did Cindy and I.
"Know any spells?" Ron questioned us and I gulped cause I was drawing a blank.
"One." Cindy and Harry noted, "But it's not powerful enough for all of them!"
"Where's Hermione/Kial when you need her?!/him?!" Ron and I gulped. The spiders got even closer, and just as I was about to let the inevitable happen, a car came zooming in, and pushed several spiders out of it's path.
"Thank goodness." Cindy breathed relieved. The car came to a stop next to us, and the spiders scurried away. It opened all four doors, and I took that as one command.
"Get in!" I called out, and pulled Cindy into the back to seats.
"Let's go!" Harry shouted as he and Ron got into the front two.
Sadly the spiders got over their shock, and were scurrying back to us. "'Arania Exumai'!" Cindy and Harry called out, blasting some spiders away from their doors, before shutting them. Sadly even more spiders came onto the car. One even landed on the hood. "GO!" Both Cindy and Harry shouted at Ron, who did just that, driving backwards through the forest, and getting under the tunnel, which got the spider on the roof off. He stopped a little ways after that.
"Glad we're out of there." Cindy and Ron breathed heavily. Harry and I nodded our heads and smiled calmly. Sadly that calmness was short lived when the two spiders the car shook off came back through the windows and their pincers wrapped around Ron and Cindy's necks.
"Spell! Now!" Cindy coughed out as they tried to pull the pincers off.
"'Arania Exumai'!" Harry and I pointed our wands at the spiders holding Ron and Cindy, causing the formers to release them, and fall back.
"Thanks for that." Cindy and Ron's eyes were wide and filled with fear.
"Don't mention it." Harry and I put our wands away. We looked back out the front window and our eyes narrowed as more spiders came over the horizon.
"Get us out of here! NOW!" We shouted at Ron. The Weasely did just that.
"Move faster!" Cindy's voice was filled with fear as the spiders moved after us.
"Get us in the air!" Harry decided.
Ron tried to move a lever next to him, but he just paled, "The flying gear's jammed!"
"Just great!" I groaned.
"Help them pull!" Cindy slapped my arm.
"Oh... right." I nodded, and started pulling on the lever that they were trying to get.
"Come on! Pull!" I shouted, and we finally got the lever up. Suddenly the car drove on a fallen tree, and started flying in their air. We all fell against our seats, and breathed sighs of relief. When we landed in front of the forest, we quickly got out.
"'Follow the Spiders'! 'Follow the Spiders'!? If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!" Ron declared as we all got to the front of the car.
"Sadly... I'd have to agree. I hate spiders..." Cindy shivered, I quickly walked over to the forest entrance, grabbed her special cloak and brought it back to her, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." I smiled lightly.
Suddenly the car started up again, and drove itself back into the woods, "I mean... what was the point of sending us in there?! What have we found out?!" Ron questioned while looking at the Forest.
"We know one thing." Potter answered, "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets."
Cindy nodded in agreement, "Yeah... He was, and still clearly is, innocent."
Cindy Hiolna's POV
3 days later...
"That was your smart idea, Kial?!" I snapped as I paced in the Hospital Wing in front of my Gryffindor best friend's bed, "'Follow the Spiders'!? 'Follow the Spiders'! If you ever get unpetrified, I'll kill you!"
"It wasn't that bad." Harry looked up from were he was changing the flowers for Hermione.
"You don't fear spiders like Ron and I do." I scuffed.
Harry shrugged, before he sat on Hermione's bed with Ron on the other side, "I wish you were here, Hermione. We need you. Now more than ever."
I shook my head, "It's not gonna work. I've tried every last thing I could with Kial, she won't wake up."
"Stay positive." Ron growled. Harry rubbed his hands over Hermione's lowed left hand, and felt the piece of paper in her hands. He took it out, and opened it up.
"What's that?" Ron and I asked as I walked over to them. Harry looked at me hesitantly.
"What? Kial's petrified. Finding who did this is top priority on my list." I growled, "Now... Parchment please." Harry gave me the sheet of book paper. I looked at it and my eyes widened and I looked over at the two boys of the Golden Trio, "Guys... this is why Kial and Hermione were in the Library the day they were attacked." I gave the sheet back to Harry, "Come on." We headed out of the Hospital Wing.
When we got to a corridor close to the Teacher's Lounge, Harry started reading from the paper, "'From many fearsome beast the roam our land, none is more deadly than the Basilisk.'."
I shivered as we continued to walk to where I know the most important problem will be, "I gotta go tell Draco, we need to get to where this Basilisk is."
"That's not all..." Harry's eyes darkened, from both the mention of Draco, and from what was on the page, "'Capable of living for hundreds of years, instant death awaits any who looks at this Giant serpent's eyes. Spiders flee before it...' Guys... this is it. The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a Basilisk. That's why I can hear it speak. It's a snake!"
"You know that doesn't make thing ANY better, right?" I questioned the Boy-Who-Lived's sanity.
"Yeah." Ron actually agreed, "And if it kills, by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?"
I pointed to a mirror we were close to, "Because no one did look them in the eye, not directly at least." We started walking again, "Collin saw it through his camera, if what I heard's right. Justin... Justin must've seen the Basilisk through Nearly-headless Nick."
"But Nick got full blast of it." Ron noted.
"He's a ghost, he can't die again." Harry caught on, "And both Hermione and Kial... had mirrors! I bet you anything they were using them to look around corners, encase it came along."
I nodded, "Sounds like something Kial would do."
"But what about Miss. Norris?!" Ron brought up a good point, as we stopped, "I'm pretty sure she didn't have a camera or a Mirror, guys."
"The water... there was water on the floor that night." I remembered the Halloween night all too well, "She only saw the Basilisk's reflection."
We got closer to some fire so Harry could read more of the page. "'Spiders flee before it.'!" Harry reread that line, "It all fits!"
"But how's the Basilisk even getting around?!" Ron questioned, "It's a giant snake, someone would've seen it."
"Hermione's answered that too." Harry showed him the bottom right corner with 'Pipes' written in Hermione's hand writing.
"Pipes?! It's using the pluming?!" Ron looked at the walls.
"Remember what Aragog said?" I asked, "About that girl fifty years ago? She died in a bathroom. What if she never left?"
"Mourning Myrtle?" Ron whispered.
"All students are to return to their House Dormitories at once." The voice of Professor Mcgonagall got our attention, "All teachers to the second floor Corridor immediately."
After hearing the second part we ran to the Second Floor corridor.
When we got their, I almost screamed in fright. There were TWO messages on the wall, not one.
"Oh no..." I whispered in fear, we quickly hid around the corner of another hall as Teachers started to rush in.
"As you can see... the Heir of Slytherin, has left us two messages." Mcgonagall showed the teachers the messages, "And our worst fears have been realized. Two students -one would be bad enough- but two students, have been taken by the monster... into the Chamber itself." I blinked, and resisted the strong urge to look at the second book. "...The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts." I growled softly as Lockhart came into the group of Teachers.
"So sorry, dozed off." He apologized, "What have I missed?"
"A girl, and a boy have been snatched by the monster, Lockhart." Snape answered and I paled, a boy? Not just Ginny? "Your moment has come at last."
"My... My moment?" Lockhart gulped.
"Weren't you just saying last night that you knew were the entrance to the Chamber is all along?" Snape questioned the Fake adventurer.
I silently chuckled, getting flicked in the ear by Ron to be quite.
"Ow!" I hissed softly.
"Keep it down." Ron growled quitely, I just rolled my eyes.
"It's settled then," Mcgonagall decided, "We'll leave you to deal with the monster Gilderoy. You're skills, after all, are legend."
I held back my laughter again, "I told him so." Harry and Ron glanced at me but then shrugged.
"Very well," Lockhart got the smug look on his face again, "I'll just be in my office getting... getting ready." My laughter was getting harder to hold back as Lockhart quickly waked away.
"Who is it the monster's taken, Minerva?" Madame Pomfrey asked the Deputy Headmistress.
Mcgonagall looked away for a second before looking back and answering, "Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy." My laughter died instantly in my throat.
"What?!" I hissed softly at this reveal. When the Teachers walked away, the messages became clearer.
"'Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.'." Ron whispered the first part, but I was more focused on the second.
"'The boy will be the one who watches it happen.'." I whispered in sorrow.
"Ginny." Ron whimpered.
"Draco." I whimpered too.
Anger started to boil within me, "Come on... we gotta get to Lockhart." I went in the direction the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had headed, the other two close behind.
10 minutes later...
We rushed into the D.A.D.A. class room, "Lockhart may be useless," I breathed out as we ran across the room to the Fake Adventurer's office, "But he's gonna try and get into the chamber!"
"At least we can tell him what we know!" Harry (Who was the one leading us) ran up the steps to the office, and Ron and I followed.
"You're gonna be shocked at what he's doing." I grumbled as we got up the steps, and I leaned against the door-frame of the room, my arms folded over my chest.
"Professor we have some information for you!" Harry told Lockhart as he and Ron came to a stop in the middle of the office, and saw the fake adventurer packing, "Are you going somewhere?" I chuckled at this.
"Uh... yes." He nodded, "Urgent call, unavoidable... uh... gotta go."
"What about my sister?!" Ron gaped.
"And, to a lesser extent, Malfoy?" Harry asked for me, while I just chuckled.
"I believe, my beginning of term statement came true, Lockhart." I smirked as said Professor stumbled over his next excuse.
"Well... um... as for your friends and family... most unfortunate." He continued to pack things, "No one regrets more than I."
"You're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Ron growled, "You can't go now!"
"Well I must say, when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description about-" Lockhart was just about to rush out the door when Harry Ron and I blocked it.
"You're running away?" Harry growled, "After all that stuff you did your books!?"
"Books can be misleading." I scuffed at that, "The dude's a fake, guys. Always has been. Any intelligent reader could tell you that."
"You said-" Lockhart gasped at me.
"It's pretty clear you're secret's out with these two." I motioned to Harry and Ron.
"But he wrote them!" Harry noted.
"My dear boy use your common sense!" Lockhart put a small case down on the desk, "My books would never have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things!"
"He's a fraud." I sighed heavily, though I remained in the same position, "He's just been taking credit for what other wizards have done." The three wizards stared at me for how calmly I put it. "Again, any intelligent reader could tell."
"Is there anything you can do?" Ron growled at Lockhart.
"Yes, now that you mention it," Lockhart noted, "I'm rather gifted with Memory Charms. Otherwise, you see, all those other wizards would've gone blabbing, and I'd never have sold another book." He walked over to an open suitcase to grab his wand.
I stood up straight and unfolded my arms.
"As a matter of fact, I'm gonna hafta do the same to you." He pointed his wand, but we were one step ahead of him as he turned around. Our wands out.
"Don't even think about it." Harry and I chorused, we motioned for him to let go of his wand, and he did, causing it to clatter to the floor.
I smirked, I enjoyed having the upper hand with Lockhart.
20 minutes later...
We slowly walked into Mourning Myrtle's bathroom. "Who's there?" She asked gently, making me inwardly breath a sigh of relief, when she saw Harry she smiled, "Oh, hello Harry." Her smile soon fell, "What do you want?"
"To ask you... how you died." Harry asked as gently as possible.
"Ah... It was dreadful. It happened right here at this very cubicle." She pointed to the cubicle she was floating above, "I'd hidden because people where teasing me about my glasses. I was crying, and then, I heard somebody come in."
"Who was it, Myrtle?" Harry asked.
"I don't know." I cringed as she flew down, "I was distraught! But they said something funny, some sort of made up language. Then I realized it was a boy speaking, so I locked the door and exclaimed, 'Go away', and... I died." When she finished she was floating in front of me and got me nervous.
"Just like that?" I gulped, and stepped closer to Harry, "But... how?"
"I just remember seeing a great big pair of yellow eyes." Myrtle answered, "Over there... by that sink." She pointed to one of the sinks in a circle.
She floated off and Harry looked at the sink she had pointed at.
He messed with the foist before seeing the snake emblem on it, "This is it guys." He stepped back to us, "I think this is the entrance to the chamber of secrets." We stared at the sink and I gulped.
"Then say something." I elbowed him, "Say something in Parseltongue."
"Like what?" Harry frowned.
"I don't know... 'Open'?" I figured.
Harry closed his eyes for a second, before saying the Parseltongue version of Open.
When he said it, the whole round port came apart and the sink with the snake on it went down, revealing a small hole in the middle. The four of us walked up to it and noticed that it was completely empty.
No ladder, no staircase... no nothin'.
"Excellent Harry." Lockhart noted, "Well I'll just be... there's no need to me to stay!" He was about to turn and run when we grabbed him.
"Oh yes... there... is!" I ground out as we shoved him in front of the only entrance to the Chamber. Lockhart screamed and held onto the other sink pedestals as we held our wands out at him. "You first." I finished.
"Now... what good would that do?" Lockhart asked fearfully.
"Better you then us." Ron noted, "And to a lesser extent, Hiolna."
"I'll take that as a compliment." I glared at the Ginger-hair.
"Um... well... obviously... yes." Lockhart caved and turned to face the entrance of the chamber, he looked back one last time, "Sure no one wants to test it fir-" I pushed my hand lightly into his back and he fell in. Landing in what I figured was a soft 'Crunch'. Harry, Ron and I stood by the entrance next, "It's really... quite filthy down here." Lockhart called up.
"Well... he's not dead." I sighed, "Alright... let's go." I looked at the two boys as they nodded.
"Oh! Harry, Cindy." The Boy-Who-Lived and I looked up at Mourning Myrtle, "If either of you die down there, you're both welcome to share my toilet." I gulped back the lunch that threatened to come up at the thought.
"Um... thanks, Myrtle." I smiled weakly.
"We'll... keep that in mind." Harry added, before jumping into the Entrance, then Ron, then I gulped.
"Draco... Kial... you two SO owe me for this!" I growled before I finally jumped in after the Boys.
I started sliding after Ron as they both scream, "This is actually kinda fun... if you don't scream in fright."
I rolled my eyes at the boys, seriously? A None-Gryffindor isn't afraid of a slide while Gryffindors are. I mean, come on!
When we landed, we landed on bones. We quickly got up, and dusted ourselves off and saw Lockhart doing the same. We pointed our wands at him before Ron came upon the creepy realization on what we were standing on, "Ew." I gulped back my lunch again.
"Come on, any sign of movement, close your eyes instantly." Harry instructed.
Harry Potter's POV
Hiolna and Ron nodded before Hiolna and I climbed into one of the other holes in the walls.
"Go on." I heard Ron instruct Lockhart as they also climbed into the hole.
"You might wanna keep hold of your wand for the moment, Harry." Hiolna whispered softly to me.
"Why?" I questioned her.
"You'll see." Was her answer. We climbed into a small section and I saw some snake skin.
"What's this?" Ron asked from behind us.
"It looks like a..." Lockhart gulped.
"It's snake skin." I answered.
"Bloody hell." Ron breathed out.
"Whoever shed this must be 60 ft. long." Hiolna declared.
Suddenly Lockhart fainted, but Hiolna put her hand in front of me stopping me from going over to him.
"Heart of a lion this one." Ron lowered his wand.
"No don't!" Hiolna gripped as Lockhart got back up and snatched Ron's wand, pointing it at the three of us.
"The adventure ends here, boys and girl." Lockhart moved Ron's wand between the three of us, "But don't fret, the world will know our story. How I was too late to save the boy and girl and how you three lost your minds at the site of their mangled bodies."
"That's never gonna happen." Hiolna growled, "Trust me, when Kial Biralion finds out what you'd do to me... well, you're better off down here."
"Very well. You first Miss. Hiolna." Lockhart pointed the wand at Hiolna, "Say goodbye to your memories."
"You might wanna think twice about that." She ground out but Lockhart didn't listen.
"'Obliviate'!" The 'Adventurer' shouted, but was thrown back against the wall by Ron's wand instead.
"I tried to warn him." Hiolna shrugged.
Suddenly the walls around us started to shake and rocks started to fall down, "GET DOWN!" She pulled me away from the rocks and laid on top of me as they fell around us.
When the rocks subsided, Hiolna quickly got off me.
"Harry?! Hiolna?!" Ron called out, "Harry?! Hiolna?!" We stumbled over to a small gap in the wall the rocks had formed.
"Ron! Ron! Are you okay?!" I called out.
"More importantly did anything happen to Lockhart?!" Hiolna asked and I flicked her ear, "Ow! What?! I hate that faker!"
"I'm fine." Ron nodded.
Suddenly there was grunting, "Hello... who are you?"
"Um... Ron Weasely." Ron answered and I frowned, that doesn't sound good.
"Really? And... uh... who... who am I?" It was Lockhart that was asking.
Cindy chuckled softly, "Let me guess... Lockhart's memory charm backfired?"
"Yeah." Ron answered, "He hasn't got a clue who he is!"
He took a rock Lockhart was holding and hit the fake adventurer over the head with it knocking him out.
"Serves him right." Hiolna smirked.
"What do I do now?" Ron breathed nervously.
"You wait here and shift some of these rocks so we can get back through." Hiolna answered, "If Lockhart wakes up either have him help out or knock him out again."
I nodded in agreement, "We'll go on and find Ginny."
"And Draco." I rolled my eyes as Hiolna added that part.
"And Malfoy." I grumbled.
"Okay." Ron nodded. Hiolna and I quickly got off the rock pile we were on and started walking through the chamber.
"For future names it's Cindy. You don't have to call me Hiolna." Hiolna gripped.
"Well you're friends with a Slytherin." I reasoned.
"Just because Draco's a Slytherin doesn't make me bad, okay. I saved you last year for Pete's sake." Cindy sighed.
I nodded, "Okay Cindy."
"Thank you." She breathed a sigh of relief. We came to a doorway with seven brass snakes on it, each holding one end of the door-frame. "Um... Open it Harry."
I nodded and spoke, "Open."
Suddenly, the snake heads moved back as an eighth snake slithered around the border.
"Man that's awesome!" Cindy declared.
I looked at her and she just shrugged as the door swung open and we walked inside, we climbed down a short ladder, and looked around the room.
Stone snake heads lined the walls and one human-looking head with it's mouth in an 'O' like shape was straight in front of us, the pathway was narrow, as the sides were covered in water. We slowly made our way up to the Human-looking head.
As we walked, we saw two figures laying on he ground. They looked unconscious, "Ginny." I realized was one of them.
"Draco." Cindy looked at the other one.
We rushed over to our two separate friends.
"Ginny..." I dropped my wand and tried to shake her awake.
"Draco..." Cindy dropped her wand and tried to shake Malfoy.
"Oh Ginny/Draco... please don't be dead!" We murmured, "Wake up! Wake up!... Please wake up!" We begged.
I glanced over at Cindy who suddenly tensed.
"No... not now...!" Cindy growled angrily.
"They won't wake." The voice of Tom Marvolo Riddle got our attention and we turned to see him standing close to some shadows.
"Not you." Cindy hissed angrily. Tom simply walked up to us.
"Tom? T... Tom Riddle?" I questioned.
Cindy growled, "What do you mean they won't wake up? They're not..."
"They're still alive." Tom assured her, as he continued to walk up to us, "But only just."
"Are you a ghost?" I frowned.
"A memory." Tom answered as he finally got up to us, "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
"Couldn't have stayed longer in there?" Cindy growled angrily.
She and I touched Malfoy and Ginny's arms, "He's/she's as cold as ice. Oh Draco/Ginny please don't be dead. Wake up." We begged again, "You've got to help us Tom. With this Basilisk."
"It won't come till it's called." Tom explained simply. Cindy and I reached for our wands but when we tried to grab them, they weren't there.
We looked up, then stood up, held out our hands and frowned, or in Cindy's case snarled, "Give us our wands, Tom."
"You won't be needing them." He pocketed Cindy's wand, and just kept mine away.
"Listen... we've got to go, we've got to save her... them." I corrected cringing as Cindy stepped on my foot.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Tom retorted, "You see, as poor Ginny and Draco grow weaker, I grow stronger."
"No..." Cindy whispered.
"Yes," Tom's eyes darkened, "It was Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy who opened the Chamber of Secrets."
"No... they couldn't... they wouldn't..." Cindy and I tried not to believe him.
"It was Ginny who set the basilisk on the Mudbloods and Fitch's cat." Tom continued, "It was Ginny who wrote the first, and Draco who wrote the final, messages on the walls and it was Draco who set the Basilisk on the one Blood Traitor he knew so closely."
"Why?" I questioned him, while Cindy looked ready to brake something at the news of why Kial Biralion got petrified.
"'Cause I told them to." Tom answered.
"But... Draco never touched your diary." Cindy gulped.
"Oh, but he did." Tom countered, "When Ginny found the diary again and was about to get rid of it -Again- Draco snatched it from her hands and he, too, followed my voice. I can be very... persuasive."
"Draco is nothing like you!" Cindy growled, "He and Kial are friends!... Though that would explain his odd behavior before we went into the Dark Forrest that night." She frowned and started murmuring to herself.
Tom simply shrugged, "And it wasn't like they knew what they were doing anyway. They were in... shall we say in a kind of trance. Still the power of the diary began to scar Ginny at first, and she tried to dispose of it in the girls bathroom. And then... who should find it... but you, Harry Potter." Tom circled me holding my wand out, "One of the very people I was most anxious to meet."
"What do you mean?" Cindy frowned, but Tom and I ignored her.
"Why did you want to meet me?" I growled.
"I knew I had to talk to you. Meet you if I could." Tom answered, "So I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust." Tom continued to circle us.
"Hagrid's our friend!" Cindy and I snapped, then realization hit us (Or maybe just me), "And you framed him, didn't you?!"
"It was my word against Hagrid's." Tom answered, "Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent."
A smile grew on Cindy's face, "Bet Dumbledore saw right through you."
"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that." Tom snapped, "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again while I was still in school, so I decided to leave behind a diary. Preserving my 16 year old self in it's pages so that one day, I would be able to lead another to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work!"
"And look where that's got you." Cindy snapped, "There's two of us, and one of you."
I nodded and growled at Tom, "So you haven't finished it this time! In a few hours, the Mandrake Drought will be ready."
"Most annoyingly loud plant in history, best cure for being Petrified." Cindy smirked, "Cause everyone who's been petrified will be right again."
"Haven't I told you?" Tom smiled slyly, "Killing Mudbloods, and maybe some blood traitors, doesn't mater to me anymore. For many months now my new target," His smile fell and I gulped, "Has been the two of you."
Cindy frowned in confusion as did I.
"How is it, that a baby without extraordinary magical talent, and a young girl with curiosity that could get any normal human killed, was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time, and live to see the greatest fight of all time. How is it that you, Harry, escape with nothing but a scare while Lord Voldemort was destroyed. And how could you, Cindy, lived through all of your troubles to this day, with nothing but the knowledge of Lord Voldemort's demise and thirst for adventure but also peace?"
"Why do you care how I escaped?" I questioned him.
"And why do you care how I know?" Cindy growled angrily.
"Voldemort was after your time." She and I chorused.
Tom smirked, "Voldemort is my past, present, and future." He turned and with my wand wrote;
Tom Marvolo Riddle
He then flicked his wrist so the letters rearranged and spelled out;
I am
Lord Voldemort
When the letters burned away I looked at Tom, "You. You're the heir of Slytherin."
"You're Voldemort." Cindy's voice was dripping with hatred and anger.
"Surely... you didn't think I was going to think I was going to keep my filthy muggle father's name." Tom hissed.
"Muggles AREN'T filthy!" Cindy snapped.
"That's what you think." Tom shrugged, "No. I fashioned myself a new name. A name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak. When I became the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Cindy and I snarled.
"Dumbledore's been driven out of his castle by the mere memory of me." Tom countered simply.
"He'll never be gone! Not as long as those who remain are loyal to him!" We snapped back.
Suddenly a Phoenix's screech came from behind us, when we turned to look, we saw Fawkes flying in.
"Right on time." Cindy breathed gently.
"Fawkes?" I blinked as Dumbledore's Phoenix dropped something rolled up and Cindy and I caught it.
"The Sorting Hat!" She whispered as Fawkes flew around the Chamber before flying out.
Cindy and I undid the tie that had the thing rolled up, and saw that it was indeed the Sorting Hat.
"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defenders." Tom scuffed, "A song bird. And an old hat."
Cindy Hiolna's POV
"Harry... whatever you do... don't turn around." I whispered to him as I looked over my shoulder at Tom Riddle as he opened the Basilisk's hiding area.
Harry, however, did turn around.
"Let's test the power of Lord Voldemort, heir to Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter, and the infamous, Cindy Hiolna." Riddle growled as the mouth opened and the Basilisk slowly slithered out.
"We need to run, Harry!" I told the Boy-Who-Lived, but he didn't move, "Harry, we need to run!" I grabbed Harry's arm, pulled him away and started running like mad.
I heard Tom give a short Parseltongue instruction.
"Parseltongue won't save either of you now! It only obeys me!" Tom growled.
"Come on!" I shouted at Harry as we continued to run.
Only problem is I soon tripped sending us both to the ground and Harry's glasses to fall off.
He quickly got them back on, But we both heard the Basilisk right behind us.
"Don't... move." I whispered to Harry.
"Don't need to tell me twice." Harry scuffed. We both covered our heads before Fawkes came back.
I smiled lightly as Harry and I got to our feet and started running again.
"No!" Tom shouted, "Your bird may have blinded the Basilisk! But it can still hear you!"
"Keep moving Harry!" I shouted at the Golden Boy himself. I groaned inwardly as we got into a small area with a grate separating us from our would be safety.
As Harry tried (And clearly failed) to pull it off, I heard the Basilisk coming this way.
We stopped and slowly brought our backs to the grate as the Basilisk came up to us.
I grabbed a rock and tossed it out to the left of us, causing the Basilisk to move back and go to the left where the rock landed. We slowly got up and watched the Snake slither away.
I mouthed, 'Let's get back to the Chamber.'
'Good idea.' Harry agreed and I blinked, 'Yes I can read lips, now come on!' He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the main Chamber.
Harry let my hand go, and we ran up to our unconscious friends.
"Yes Potter and Hiolna, the process is nearly complete." Tom informed us as we brushed our hands over Ginny's and Draco's cold ones, "In a few minutes Ginny Weasely and Draco Malfoy will be dead. And I will cease to be a memory."
"Why don't you just cease to exist!" I snarled as Harry and I got to our feet.
"Lord Voldemort will return." Riddle continued as if I hadn't said a thing, "Very. Much. ALIVE."
Suddenly the Basilisk resurfaced out of the water.
I glanced over at the Sorting Hat, and hissed, "Now would be a good time!" Suddenly the sword of Godric Gryffindor appeared, but it wasn't the only thing.
"A Shield of Helga Hufflepuff?" I whispered confused as Harry grabbed the sword.
I thought for a second and grabbed the shield that was bellow it and secured the shield on my right arm, "Harry get behind me!" Harry did just that, "Now follow me... and try not to trip... I don't wanna be shush-kabobed." Harry nodded and I lead him over to the figure of the Human-looking face and started to climb up it.
"You're crazy." Harry hissed.
"Believe me, I'm just going off what I know." I whispered, as the Basilisk came at us.
I gripped the stone and held the shield above me and Harry as the Basilisk came down and surprisingly the Basilisk's fangs couldn't go through.
"Dumb idea... smart outcome." I nodded for Harry to continue following. When we got to the top of the head I gulped.
"I've got this." Harry told me as he started swinging the sword.
"Sure you do." I rolled my eyes and put the shield in front of him as the Basilisk forced him back, but this time, I miss calculated and the Basilisk was able to get some of my hand, causing me to hiss in pain, "Ow."
Harry got up and started swinging the sword before he was pushed back and I got pushed back with him, "Double ow."
"The sword!" I shouted as Godric Gryffindor's sword was about to fall of the head figure.
"I got it!" Harry quickly gabbed the sword and stood up again before finally sticking the sword in the roof of the Basilisk's mouth.
"Yes!" I smiled happily, before the pain in my right hand made me groan. The basilisk cried out and started thrashing around before falling back on the ground. Dead.
I watched Harry pull out the Basilisk's fang that had caught in his arm, "This can't be good."
"It's not." I gulped.
Harry and I made our way to the ground, and slowly walked over to our friends, only as we did the room started to spin.
We fell to the ground close to Draco and Ginny in pain, our House founder's weapons forgotten, before Tom walked up to us.
"Remarkable isn't it?" Tom asked as Harry and I crawled closer to our friends, "How quickly the venom of the Basilisk penetrates the body. My guess is you both have a little over a minute to live. You'll be with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry. And you'll be joining your dead Muggle family as well, Cindy."
"No..." I whimpered gripping Draco's hand that held one side of the diary, as Harry grabbed Ginny's hand that held the other side of the diary.
"Funny, the damage a silly little book can do." Tom noted, "Especially in the hands of silly little children."
I snarled, before Harry and I took the diary out of their grasp.
"What are you doing?" Tom frowned.
I smirked weakly, "Your stories about to come to an end." I gripped the top of the Basilisk fang with my left hand and lifted it above the Diary.
"Stop!" Tom shouted, but I brought the fang down onto the page the book was open to, "NO!"
I pushed the fang down harder, and Tom's chest started glowing, when I figured he had enough on this page, I lifted the fang up and gave it to Harry, letting him bring the fang down onto the other page causing Tom's face to glow.
When Harry lifted the fang up we closed the book and looked at each other, "On three."
I took hold of the fang along with Harry, "THREE!" We brought the fang down onto the cover of the diary. Causing Tom to fully disintegrate.
I smiled slightly as the color in Draco's and Ginny's faces returned and they opened their eyes and started breathing heavily as they sat up, "Welcome back you two."
"Ginny." Harry held his right arm.
"Harry." Ginny looked at him.
Draco looked at me breathless, "Cin I am... I... I'm... it was me... it was me who sent the thing on Kial..."
"And I... I did the others..." Ginny added.
"But we swear... we didn't mean to." Draco and Ginny apologized, "Riddle made us... and..." They saw the basilisk bites we had gotten, "Cin/Harry you're hurt." I quickly covered my right hand and Harry covered his right arm.
"Don't worry." Harry and I breathed out weakly, "Guys you need to get yourselves out. Follow the Chamber and you'll find Ron."
Draco frowned, "I'm not leaving you here."
Suddenly Fawkes screeched and flew down to us.
I smiled at the bird, "You were brilliant Fawkes."
Harry and I winced in pain, "We just weren't quick enough."
Fawkes lowered her head to just above my right hand and tears came out of her eyes, causing the Basilisk wound to heal instantly.
She then stepped over to Harry and healed his right arm. Draco and Ginny stared open mouthed as I remembered something about Phoenixes.
"Of course... Phoenix tears have healing powers." I smiled at the bird, before I gave it a light hug, "Thank you, Fawkes." I let go of her and she screeched in reply.
Harry smiled and looked back at Ginny and Draco, "It's alright guys. It's over. It's just a memory." I rolled my eyes yet smiled at the pun.
Alrighty... I hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway... I'll get the next chapter up next Monday, please review in the meantime.