Chapter 7
Harry was clueless as to what was going on. He was not aware of anything and his memories were like small flashes of color that made no sense. Faces flashed through his mind's eye some he knew met a lot to him, others he felt to be his enemies, yet he could not remember why. And nothing around him seemed to be of any help, for he seemed to be lost in a sea of nothingness.
Then without warning, Harry felt a tug on his very existence. And without warning he was slammed hard into a cold stone floor, getting up he realized he was at Hogwarts, in what looked to be the Entrance Hall. His memories began returning to him, as his mind regained its mental focus. And the most recent memories reached him last of all.
The battle between the Snake and Tom. Tom's death, and Ginny's rescue, then his talking with the snake, before it finally killed him. Yet, as Harry looked around, he wondered how that could be, he seemed to be very much alive. Had it all been some sort of weird dream?
"What is going on here?" Harry asked, uncomfortably aware of the complete and unnatural silence the school.
With no quickly fore coming answers, Harry left the Entrance Hall and began to search for someone. But, no matter where he went, no one was to be found. The Library, classrooms, grounds, Great Hall, dungeons, and even the Hospital wing were empty, not one person to be found. No hint of anyone, not even a ghost. It was creepy to say the least.
He tried leaving the school grounds but found there seemed to be some sort of invisible barrier around the edges of them. So Harry was soon forced to return to the school, noticing that the sun had not moved its position during the entire time Harry had spent searching for someone. Finally, Harry decided he might as well check and see if someone, however unlikely it might be, in the Chamber of Secrets.
Upon reaching the pipe he found it was open and a set of steps to the right leading down into the Chamber. He moved down the steps till he reached the bottom and continued on down the passage. Finally, he reached the spot where the door to the Chamber itself would have been placed. But nothing was there, and Harry's sense of dread only increased.
Entering into the Chamber he saw it was much smaller than it had been before, and at the far end something seemed to be laying on the floor. Getting closer, Harry realized it was a bundle of robes. But as he came within a couple feet of it, a voice spoke, one Harry knew only too well. The voice of Lord Voldemort.
"Harry Potter, it is good to see you again," Voldemort spoke as the bundle of robes rose, forming into a figure, "It has been a while since we have met face to face like this. I am glad we finally get to meet here."
Harry stared at Voldemort in slight shock, not really understanding what was going on, "What do you mean meet, we have already met, or don't you remember your defeat now twice by my hands."
Voldemort chuckled, "I have only lost once to your hand Potter. And by no means was it any of your own doing. Now it is time I kill you and take your body as my own!"
Then without warning Voldemort sent a bolt of lightning at Harry from his hand. Harry did the only thing he could do and jumped out of the way, wanting to be somewhere else besides where he was. There was a flash of light where Harry was then he was gone. To his surprise he found himself just outside the Great Hall as if nothing had happened. Yet Harry knew that was not true, he could now sense Voldemort moving about in the Chamber leaving it and moving up into the school itself. Not wanting to hang around Harry took off up the stairs.
Looking at the facts he had, he tried to figure out what was going on. And only thing that made sense at least at this point in time. Was he was somehow trapped within his mind facing down Voldemort. How else could he have just teleported out of the Chamber into the main part of the school, or Voldemort send bolts of lightning at him without a wand? Though this could also mean that he could do things without a wand, but he had to be sure.
Looking at the one of the suits of armor that was near him, and focused on it for a half a second. Suddenly the suit had turned into stuffed doll version of Fluffy, Hagrid's pet three headed dog. Harry could barely believe it as he picked up the stuff animal and looked at it. But as he realized what this might mean, he grinned as this gave him some interesting ideas.
Harry moved up to one of the wider corridors, and began planning. He knew he would not have long before Voldemort showed up. And indeed it was only a few minutes later when Voldemort showed up. He was floating along the corridor like some ghost carefully checking each room as he passed, before moving on. Harry waited till he was about half way down the hall, before using his new found power.
Voldemort was suddenly slammed into a solid brick wall by an invisible force. Voldemort recovered quickly and spotting Harry sent another bolt of lightning flying towards Harry. But this time, instead missing Harry, it hit a solid though invisible wall. Harry grinned and waved happily, causing Voldemort's anger to increase. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, Harry used Voldemort's distraction to seal off Voldemort's escape back down the passage.
"Leave my body parasite," Harry said, as Voldemort stood back up fully, "Otherwise I will destroy you."
"If I lose now, it will mean the same thing. So I think I will fight, besides you don't have the power to stop me," Voldemort countered, sending another blast of lightning at Harry, which impacted harmlessly over the invisible barrier.
"Now that is wrong, you are a parasite. Besides, here in my mind, I am at my strongest. This world obeys my every command, you cannot beat me here, now leave!" Harry commanded.
"NEVER!" yelled Voldemort.
Then from Voldemort's hand leapt a spell that Harry knew. He did not know the name of it or even what it might do. The bright green of the spell, was something Harry remembered very well though. It was at the end of all his nightmares about his parent's deaths. As such he made sure to dodge out of the way, even though he was sure the barrier would not break.
It broke, but Harry's instinct to dodge, had already moved him clean out of the way. And he was ready for the counter attack now. At the end of the corridor, a large mirror formed, and as the spell impacted with it, the spell rebounded, swelling a little as it did so flying with increased speed right back at Voldemort. Voldemort's surprise was almost great enough to get him hit by his own spell, but he dodged just in time.
Looking back at Harry, Voldemort saw a large number of mirrors forming around him, as well as a large one on Harry's arm, that was acting like a shield. But this did not worry him to much as he began raining down spells upon Harry. Explosion spells were the most common at first but they all rebounded after impacting the mirror. And the impacts nearest Voldemort caused him to switch tactics at once, or risk killing himself.
Harry on the other hand began returning fire, as he sent balls of flame at Voldemort's position. He advanced forward slowly anytime Voldemort was forced to dodge, moving the mirrors forward in time with his steps.
Soon the hundred feet that had separated them was now only thirty. Voldemort was proving as to be just as difficult to pin down as Harry was. While he did not seem to have control over the mental world, Voldemort could dodge with surprising grace and easy, flowing between the spells and returning fire at the same time.
"I may dislike you, but you are a much better fighter than I would have thought," Voldemort commented as the spell fire between them slowed for a few moments.
"Thanks. Don't think I shall lose though," Harry replied back.
"We shall see," Voldemort commented, as suddenly a spell unlike the others erupted from his hands.
It was a massive wave of flame, which formed into a large serpent. Where its new body touched the floor the stones were suddenly scorched back, while the heat filling the corridor became almost unbearable. Harry thinking quickly formed a solid wall of ice between him and the snake.
The snake charged forward, smashing into the ice wall. Cracks appeared all over its surface, as the snake pulled its head back, readying itself for another attack. But Harry struck first. The snake, Voldemort, and indeed much of the corridor was now frozen in a solid block of ice. The snake itself fought to escape this prison. But Harry constricted the ice till finally with a loud shriek cracks to form around it, the snake vanished as the space was filled with ice.
With a wave of his hand, all the ice but a solid chunk around Voldemort vanished. Walking forward, Harry let a pure magic begin pulling in his hand. This would remove Voldemort forever from his mind. Voldemort watched Harry his eyes filled with a defiant look as they stared into Harry's own.
"You lose," Harry said, before he blasted Voldemort with the magic.
The magic, a pure white light, destroyed the ice in its path before it impacted with Voldemort. Voldemort seemed to remain untouched for a half second for his body just vanished. Harry was about to turn away when he saw that floating in the place where Voldemort had been, was a glowing green mist. Harry at once raised his shield to defend himself, but the mist did not attack him.
Then the mist broke apart and seemed to fade away into the walls and stone of the floor. Harry was shocked as he felt some new memories, spells, and other things enter into his mind. As he viewed them, like a large television in front of him, he realized these were all things Voldemort knew. Powerful spells, some general knowledge, even memories. But before he could come to terms with all this new information, the world around him began to fade from view.
But blinking his eyes, trying to bring it back into focus caused the castle to vanish. The when he opened up his eyes a third time, he saw before him the massive Basilisk watching him. Shaking his head, he looked about as his senses returned to him fully. Seeing him awake the snake came over.
"Ahh, you are awake again and the small piece of soul that I sensed in you is gone," The snake said.
"Yes, and it was a pain in the neck to deal with," Harry said sighing, closing his eyes tiredly.
"At least it is gone, and you are free from his taint, but for now I must be going," The snake said, turning to leave.
Harry looked over, "Where are you going?"
"My duty, I am the guardian of this school. So it is my job to patrol through the forest looking for those who wish to harm all who live here. Something I have been failing to do thanks to that fool you helped me destroy," The Snake replied, before slithering off into the darkness.
Harry heard a hissing 'Open,' and the sound of stone grinding against stone. Before with a clang, the snake vanished from sight complete. Getting up Harry stretched and looked down at his body, and then about him, his mind still filled with the day's events. Moving over he picked up the sword, and the Sorting Hat before he heading for the door. It listened to him this time, and he was able to leave.
Harry did not see any of the teachers, Ginny or Fawkes; he decided they might have gone further down the tunnel. So heading off, he soon found them standing by the pipe that led back the castle above them. He smiled as he had run over to them. All the teachers, except for Snape, who look bored at best, were very happy to see him. They each tried to ask question on what had happened but Harry was not in the mood to talk right then; saying they should probably get back up to the school, before they started question him.
Snape at this point spoke, "And how do we get back up to the school?"
Harry pointed to a staircase to the left of the pipe, "That is the way up out of here."
