Ready for the conclusion to Book Two?

Disclaimer: I don't own Tom Riddle, his diary, or his basilisk.

They were standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering Stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

Heart beating fast, Levina took Harry's hand oncemore and they looked at each other silently before pulling out their wands and moving forward between the columns. Levina's eyes were stretched wide; she wondered how she would be able to close them when the Basilisk appeared.

Then, as they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Levina craned her neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Ginny!" Harry muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees.

Levina followed close behind and slid onto the floor next to Harry. "Ginny? Ginny, hey! Wake up!"

"Ginny-don't be dead-please don't be dead-" He flung his wand aside, grabbing Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was as white as marble, and cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't petrified. But then she must be-

"Ginny, please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her.

Levina felt her forehead, which was icy cold. "Ginny, come on! Wake up, wake up!"

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Levina spun around on her knees.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Levina were looking at him through a misted window.

"Tom- Tom Riddle?" gasped Harry.

"Wait-the guy in the-the diary?" asked Levina, eyes widening.

Riddle nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not-she's not-?"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Levina stared at him. "Harry, I thought you said-said that he was in the diary?"

"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly, ignoring Levina.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying opren there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"How...?" Levina pondered, but she didn't have time to wonder about it. She turned away from Riddle to look at Ginny.

"You've got to help me, Tom," said Harry. "We've got to get her out of here. There's a basilisk...I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment...Please, help me-"

Riddle didn't move. Harry managed to hoist Ginny half off the floor, and bent down.

"Did you see-?"

Riddle was twirling Harry's wand between his long fingers.

"Hey, Harry, isn't that...?" Levina suddenly felt beside her, and her wand was gone, too. She looked up and saw it tucked in his robe pocket.

"Hey!"

"Thanks," said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.

A smile curled the corner's of Riddle's mouth. He continued to twirl it idly.

"Listen," said Harry urgently, and Levina rushed forward to help him support Ginny. "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes-"

"It won't come until it's calledm" said Riddle calmly.

"What d'you mean?" he said. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it-"

Riddle's smile broadened.

"You won't be needing it," he said.

"What?" said Levina, taking a step towards him and letting go of Ginny. "Riddle-or, whatever your name is, give it here-"

"What d'you mean, I won't be-?" said Harry.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you. And you brought Levina SnowPetal, how kind of you. Two tasks done at once."

Levina shuddered. "How do you know my name?"

Harry seemed impatient. "Look, I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later-"

"We're going to talk now," said Riddle, smiling broadly, and he pocketed Harry's wand with Levina's.

Harry stared blankly at him. "How did Ginny get like this?"

"Well, that's an interesting question. And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to and invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?' said Harry.

"The diary," said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes-how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" -Riddle's eyes glinted- "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her..."

Levina turned to look at Harry, but his eyes were locked on Riddle.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly troubles of an eleven-year-old girl. But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom...I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in...It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket."

Riddle laughed a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him.

"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her sould to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted...I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry.

"Just spill it out already," said Levina, growing angrier and more impatient.

Riddle merely smiled at her and turned back to Harry. "Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" he said softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent on the four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered. Levina felt her heart sinking deeper into her chest.

"Yes," said Riddle calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries...far more interesting, they became...Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robe and I don't know how they go there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and not myself. I think he suspects me...There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad...I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"

And Riddle explained everything in fine, exquisite, detail, making Levina's anger raise to the breaking point, even with her necklace on. He was Voldemort, the very man who'd killed Levina's mother and father, the one who'd murdered Harry's parents, the very one...

Suddenly, as Harry and Riddle were arguing over Dumbledore, music came from somewhere. As it rose and rose, suddenly flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared. It's golden talons were gripping a ragid bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragid thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on Harry's shoulder.

"That's a pheonix..." said Riddle.

"Fawkes!" Harry breathed.

"Where-where did that come from?" said Levina. "What is it Harry?"

"Dumbledore's phoenix."

"And that-" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragid thing it had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat-"

And it was. Patched, frayed, and motionless.

Riddle laughed again.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

Levina held Ginny for Harry, who now turned to Riddle with incredible dislike, as they seethed at each other on how Harry was alive, how he had survived that night...

"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him..."

Levina swallowed hard. What was he about to do? She wished she had her wand.

And Riddle walked towards the stone Slytherin, opened his mouth wide, and hissed something in Parseltongue. Harry tensed up, and Levina gasped.

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. His mouth was opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.

And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from it's depths.

Levina backed away and Fawkes took flight from Harry's shoulder. Harry shouted, "Don't leave me!", but what chance did a phoenix have against a basilisk?

Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Shutting her eyes tightly and grabbing for the stone wall, she ducked down, trembling.

Then she heard Riddle's voice hiss something in Parseltongue.

The basilisk was moving towards them at top speed. Levina dove blindly out of the way and ran straight into a wall. In a panic, she could hear Harry's footsteps as well, echoing her own.

Something was happening. There was the sound of explosive spitting and something crashing nearby.

"NO!" screamed Riddle. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"

Levina opened her eyes, unable to take not looking, and saw that the Basilisk, green and tall, and as enormous as an oak tree, was swaying. It's yellow eyes were bloody and Fawkes was flying around him. He had been blinded.

Harry had the Sorting Hat on his head and was running. When he saw her he called, "Levina! The snake can't see you! Run!"

Levina took off running and raced next to him. Side-by-side, they dashed away, Harry holding the hat firmly to his head. Suddenly, something slipped slightly from the hat, gleaming silver. It was a sword.

The basilisk lunged blindly. Levina leapt away from its gaping jaws, terrified. It had hear her shriek, however, and went right for her. She screamed again and ducked, shielding her head with her hands.

Something grabbed her hand and dragged her to her feet, the snake just barely ramming into her. It was Harry, pulling her out of the way.

"GO!" He shouted to her. "Get out of here, it's me it wants!"

"I don't care, I'm not leaving you!" She shouted back, rushing in no particular direction.

Suddenly, the basilisk randomly struck at Harry. Forgetting that the snake wasn't just a bludger, she threw herself in between them as Harry jumped out of the way. Warm blood drenched her right side, and she shrieked in pain and agony and fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

Shaking all over, her eyes barely open, she saw more red liquid splatter the ground, and there was a tremendous THUD!

She opened her eyes. The basilisk had fallen over, it's head and fang caked in blood. The other fang was in Harry's arm, and, wincing, he pulled it out.

"H..." she panted, sitting up painfully. "Harry?"

"Fawkes, you were fantastic, Fawkes..."

And she blacked out.

When she woke again, Harry and Ginny were at her side, both of them, too, covered in blood. Where Harry's wound had been was normal skin; where had the deep cut gone?

"Harry, Ginny!" She sat up with some difficulty.

"It's all right, Fawkes healed your side, too," said Harry. "Are you ok?"

"Define 'ok'," said Levina. "All right, Ginny?"

Ginny was sobbing. "I-I-I'm o-ok..."

"Thanks for taking the blow for me," said Harry. "You've got to stop doing that."

"What happened?" asked Levina, managing a small smile. She looked down at where her wound had been. It was gone.

"Phoenix tears have healing powers," said Harry. "I killed Riddle's diary with the basilisk fang."

"But what-?"

"I'll tell you later," said Harry, and with the help of Ginny, Levina got to her feet.

Fawkes was waiting for them at the Chamber entrance, hovering in the air.

They stepped over the motionless coils of dead basilisk, through the echoing room, and back into the tunnel.

After a few minutes' progress, they could hear the sound of slowly shifting rock.

"Ron!" Harry yelled, speeding up. "Ginny's ok! We've got her!"

Ron gave a strangled cheer. Levina could see his face peeking out from behind a sizable gap in the rockfall.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How-what-where did that bird come from?"

"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry, squeezing through after Levina.

"How come you've got a sword?"

"We''ll explain when we get out of here," said Harry, with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.

"But-"

"Ron," said Levina hotly, looking at Ginny, who was now sobbing hysterically.

"Later," said Harry shortly. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Back there," said Ron, jerking his head up the tunnel and towards the pipe."He's in a bad way. Come and see."

Led by Fawkes, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was itting there, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone," said Ron. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. He hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."

Lockhart peered up good-naturedly up ath them all.

"Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No," said Ron, raising his eyebrows at Levina and Harry.

"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" said Harry as he looked up through the dark pipe.

Ron shook his head, but Fawkes flew down and offered Harry his long tail.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold," said Ron, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there-"

"Fawkes," said Harry, "is no ordinary bird. We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Lockhart-"

"He means you," said Ron sharply to Lockhart.

"You hold Ginny's other hand. Levina, hold Lockhart's."

Levina didn't like this idea, but she took Lockhart's hand and, in a rush of wings, they were flying at top speed back up the pipe.

"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" said Lockhart.

Before they knew it, they'd all hit the floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and the sink slid back into place as Levina rose shakily to her feet, Lockhart adjusting his hat.

Myrtle goggled at them.

"You're alive," she said blankly to Harry.

"There's no need to sound so dissappointed," said Harry, wiping flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.

"Oh, well...I'd just been thinking...if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," said Myrtle, blushing silver.

Levina tried to disguise her look of disgust under her hair as they left her bathroom.

"Ugh!" said Ron as they entered the dark corridor. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

But tears were now flooding silently down Ginny's face.

"Where now?" said Ron, with and anxious look at Ginny.

Fawkes was leading the way, and they found themselves outside Proffessor McGonagall's office.

Harry knocked and pushed open the door.


For a moment there was silence as Harry, Levina, Ron, and Ginny stood in the doorway, covered in much and slime and (in Harry and Levina's case) blood. There was a scream

"Ginny!"

It was Mrs. Weasley, who'd been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and they both flung themselves on their daughter.

Proffessor McGonagall was taking great, steadying gasps while clutching her chest. Fawkes went whooshing past and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder, and Levina, Harry, and Ron found themselves being swept into a close embrace by Mrs. Weasley.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Proffessor McGonagall weakly.

Harry hesitated, placed the sword, hat, and damaged diary on Dumbledore's desk. For nearly a quarter of an hour, Harry told them every last detail, from the voices, to Aragog, to their escape on Fawkes.

And Levina tipped to the left and hit the wall. Everyone stared at her.

"Miss SnowPetal, are you quite all right?" asked Proffessor McGonagall.

"Yes, well...no, but..." Levina pryed herself from the wall.

"Go see Madam Pomfrey," said McGonagall. "Have her give you something."

Exiting her office, Levina made her way down the empty hallway, worn-out and feeling as though she might tip over again.

"SnowPetal?"

Levina looked up into the usual drawling face of Draco Malfoy, but his expression was different; apparently he saw all the blood on her.

"What do you want?" she muttered, words slurred as she brushed past him.

"What happened?" He appeared to sound unconcerned.

"That's none of your business."

"There's blood on you."

"What of it?"

Levina glared at him. He was so irritating...couldn't she have run into someone from Gryffindor?

"Where are you going?"

"To the hospital wing."

For a moment, silence. Levina could have sworn there was a flicker of concern on his face, just maybe...but then, he turned, sneering, snorted as if she was something ridiculous, and headed in the opposite direction.


Levina had never been to a better Hogwarts feast. Everybody was in their pajamas, and the celebration lasted almost all night.

They'd won the House Cup for the second year in a row, Hermione had run up cheering, "You solved it! You solved it!", Hagrid was back, and Fred and George Weasley each gave her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek and thanked her for helping save Ginny.

The exams were canceled, Lockhart was not to return as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Levina had never felt so loved by so many people before.

The rest of the final term passed in a haze if blazing sunlight, and Harry told Levina that Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as school governor. Ginny Weasley, too, was happy again.

Too soon, it was time for the journey home on The Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Levina got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the last of Fred and George's fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic. Levina wasn't very good at it, but Harry excelled in it.

"Send me letters," said Levina to Fred and George, "about your new fireworks that you've invented, ok? Now that I have Artemis, I won't have to use that owl I've been borrowing from Diagon Alley..."

The Hogwarts Express finally stopped.

"This is called a telephone number," Harry told Ron, pulling out his quill and scribbling his number down three times. Handing one to Hermione, Ron, and Levina he added, "I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer-he'll know. Call me at the Dursley's, okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to."

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione to Levina and Harry as they got off the train and joined the crowd heading to the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Ha," said Levina. "Are you joking? They hardly know I exist, Hermione..."

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..."

And together they walked back through the barrier to the Muggle World.


YES! Whoo, that's a relief...Book Two is done!

Of course, now I have to work on Book Three.

Anyways, Review, tell me what you think, and I'll get Chapter One of Book Three posted sometime, so look for it!'

Thanks :)