Chapter Nine: Carina Fights A Really Big Snake
"Raven, I need your help," Carina blurted upon entering the Room, feeling an unholy amount of relief that Ella and 'Rea had apparently gone back to the common room.
Myrtle floated over to her with a concerned look.
"I need you to tell someone, anyone," Carina said, taking a deep breath, "That the monster in the chamber is a basilisk, and that I've gone to save Ginny."
Myrtle's eyes widened. "You can't – "
"Myrtle, please," Carina pleaded desperately. "We haven't got the time to argue this, Ginny could be dying right now, and I'm the only one who can help her, because I'm the only parselmouth that isn't causing all of this!"
Myrtle looked at her and then sighed regretfully. "I will tell the first person I see," she promised.
Carina breathlessly thanked her and started examining the sinks, with an unfounded feeling that she would know when she found it. And there it was, a little snake carved into the stone above one of the sinks. Once again, she breathed deeply and told herself that she could do this. "Open."
One look at Myrtle's face was all it took to know that she had succeeded – Myrtle looked scared, and the sink was opening into a pipe-slide. A very dirty, messy, disgusting pipe-slide. Carina looked at it doubtfully, and hissed in a hopeful manner, "Stairs."
Carina was utterly astonished that it worked, and immediately started running down the stairs, determined to get to Ginny now, before it was too late.
She ran until she reached another door, where she hissed, "Open." again. The door did so, and she entered a large, slightly dark chamber. There were serpent carvings and statues everywhere, and it took all Carina had not to turn around and run back out of the chamber. She had come down here for a reason and she intended to do what she'd planned.
"Ginny," she breathed, seeing the girl propped up against what seemed to be a statue of Salazar Slytherin – Merlin had that man ever been arrogant.
"It was me," the girl whispered, apology written all over her face. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, before passing out completely.
"Little Miss Carina Black," a taunting voice hissed, and Carina's eyes widened in horror. That voice – that was the same voice she'd heard in Tom Riddle's memory – it was Tom Riddle. She spun around to face him, anger prominent on her face.
Riddle was holding the diary, and even without knowing how, she knew that Ginny had been writing in the journal, and Riddle had managed to come out of the diary. But Ginny had said she had done it, and that didn't make sense. From what she knew of Ginny, she wouldn't do something like that! But if Ginny had been writing in the journal, and she was now unconscious, but Tom Riddle was here and seemingly alive… had he possessed her? At this thought, she sent him a repulsed look.
"You did seem quick on the uptake," he commented slyly. "So you've figured it out, have you? Ginny Weasley, opening the chamber of secrets," he said in a mocking, chiding voice.
"Tom Riddle, possessing Ginny Weasley and forcing her to open the chamber of secrets," Carina snarled back in fury. "What kind of a sick fuck are you?"
Tom smirked smugly. "I see you haven't figured everything out," he mocked, and with a wave of her wand – wait, how had he gotten her wand?!
Tom Marvolo Riddle
I Am Lord Voldemort
Carina gritted her teeth in fury. Well, she had been right after all: Tom Riddle was an arrogant, sexist, pig, but he was also a murderous bastard of a dark lord. "Woo-hoo, am I supposed to be scared?" she said in a mocking tone, raising an eyebrow. Angry people made mistakes, and if she was angry, she would – so she needed him to as well. "A teenage boy with anger problems? You're nothing, you were never anything until you became a feared and hated figure of darkness," she spat in disgust. "At sixteen, you are nothing more than a boy with a grudge."
"Watch your tongue, girl," Riddle snarled back.
"Make me," she taunted, her mind racing. What was she going to do?
"I might just," Riddle hissed, and it took her a second to realize he'd said it in parseltongue. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the founders four."
"Like founder, like heir," Carina muttered in disgust.
"Do not mock me, the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Riddle snarled at her in English.
"You?" she laughed, unable to help herself. "You aren't the greatest sorcerer in the world, Professor Dumbledore is."
"Dumbledore was driven out of this school by the very memory of me," Riddle shot back.
"Dumbledore isn't as gone as you might think, he would never leave his students to danger," Carina said, feeling surprisingly sure of herself.
Riddle opened his mouth to reply when music began to play – it was unearthly, but beautiful and soothing, and it made Carina feel much more determined and courageous than she'd been feeling just instants before. A bird appeared in a flash of flame, making it evident where the music had been coming from – a bird that seemed familiar, and was holding …the sorting hat?
It hit Carina like an anvil, she remembered James telling her about the Marauders many visits to the headmaster, and the headmasters bird, a phoenix, named Fawkes… "Fawkes?" she asked hopefully.
Fawkes bobbed his/her head (Carina made a not to ask Dumbledore which it was later), dropped the sorting hat at her feet and perched on her shoulder.
Riddle was laughing that arrogant laugh of his, and had he been more solid, she would have smacked him across his face – gladly. And finally, it was made evident what Riddle had been attending to do when he'd hissed at the statue.
Coming closer and closer was a slithering sound, and Carina could hear it hissing under it's breath as well. Her eyes darted to the statue, where Ginny was laying, passed out, and completely unable to defend herself when that basilisk came out and in all likelihood killed her… determined as she had never been before, she yelled, "ACCIO GINNY!"
She had not even tried the summoning charm since Hermione had been petrified, so she could only hope it would work now where it hadn't before. Immediately, shockingly, Ginny's lifeless form floated towards her. With great relief, she nudged Ginny to a spot a few feet behind her, where she hoped the girl would be safe.
Despite needing, wanting, to see what was happening, Carina kept her eyes closed, knowing only too well what would happen if she looked the basilisk in the eyes, and not willing to risk it. But hell, she was risking a lot already, wasn't she? If she got herself and Ginny out of this, she'd have to explain it repeatedly, but that was if, and standing here, doing nothing, would not get them out of here.
With this thought, she opened her eyes and took note of what was happening. The basilisk – damn she had never seen or even imagined a snake that big – was head-to-head with Fawkes, and Fawkes had already managed to completely blind it in one eye, and was almost there with the other. There – now it was completely blinded, but Riddle had sent it towards her, and it was too close for comfort.
Unable to think of anything else, she scrambled backwards, taking the sorting hat with her and putting it on, thinking pleadingly, help me, someone, anyone, anything, help me!
But there was no answer, and Carina felt herself losing hope, when suddenly, she felt two –something's land on her head. Pulling the hate off with restored hope, she found that the hat had given her two daggers. They both had glimmering blue sapphires on their handles.
Unwilling to take the time to ponder this, Carina knew she had to do something. The question, though, was what was that something?
Completely against her will, she was reminded of elementary school, playing dodgeball, and it was the one time no one picked on her, because they all knew she was the best at it – her aim was killer, they'd said. Well, maybe a dagger was a bit different than a rubber ball, but it would do. Mustering up her strength, she aimed the dagger at the basilisk.
It lodged itself near the snakes stomach, and the basilisk let out a roar of pain. Later on, Carina would wonder how on earth it was that snakes could roar, but now, she was too busy.
The next time the snake lunged at her, she dodged a second too late. The fang, the venomous, deadly, fang, was lodged in her left arm, and, knowing that she even if she was dead, that didn't mean Ginny was, she forced her right hand around the serpents head, and pushed the dagger through the spot just between the once-deadly eyes.
Her world span as Tom Riddle taunted her, mocking Fawkes for crying on her – wait, her thoughts were becoming clearer, she knew – phoenix tears, healing powers – how could Riddle have missed that? She heard him murmur that he had forgotten as she managed to pull herself up into a sitting position.
"There is no difference, I get the pleasure of killing you myself," Riddle said, raising her wand, when Fawkes dropped the diary on Carina's lap. Carina looked at the bird in curiosity, and then in hit her. From what Riddle had said, the life he had had come from Ginny writing in the diary – that meant that if the diary was destroyed, he wouldn't have life to suck…
But how to destroy it? She wondered, only to catch sight of the fang that had pierced her arm, lying next to her innocently, as if it didn't hold the power to kill – that was it! She grabbed the fang and slammed it into the diary. Ink splurged out of the diary, and Riddle was screaming and writhing in pain. She knew it had worked when Riddle faded completely and the chamber fell silent with the exception of ink still dripping from the diary.
Feeling shocked, she jumped wildly when she heard a moan from behind her, only to feel joy like she'd never expected coursing through her. Ginny and she had both survived! They had lived, and now they could leave this horrible chamber! She looked at Fawkes pleadingly as Ginny clung to her and cried, sharing the same story as Riddle had with a lot less smugness and a world more sorrow, and Fawkes seemed to understand the message: Carina could not carry herself up those stairs right now, let alone herself and Ginny.
Fawkes perched once again on Carina's shoulder, and a warm, tingling feeling encompassed her, and Ginny as well from her expression, and then it was over, and they were in the Room again, with a very worried looking Myrtle, who was wringing her hands and talking to Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Professor McGonagall… and James.
Unbidden, memories rushed through Carina's mind…
…I'm angry over the duel for multiple reasons, the least of which is the school rules you broke, the most of which is the risk to your life… You and Weasley could have been KILLED, you could have DIED… You weren't thinking about the risk to your life…
I had a good reason, she reassured herself, still comforting Ginny, who was staring at her parents with fear evident on her features. He can't be mad that I saved Ginny's life and that I protected the school from a basilisk, can he?… Mrs. Weasley was looking at Carina and Ginny with mixed emotions: love, worry, and gratefulness.
"You saved her!" she whispered. "Thank you so much, Carina!"
Carina nodded politely, warily eyeing the professors and James, who were sure to want an explanation about everything.
Carina explained, leaving out some of the more incriminating parts of the stories, and handing the diary to Dumbledore when it was brought up, as well as the daggers a few minutes later. Mrs. And Mr. Weasley were hugging Ginny, both scared at the thought that their daughter had been possessed by a young Voldemort.
Finishing, Carina blew out an exhausted breath. "Can I get some sleep now?" she asked, only a tiny bit of hope in her voice as she really didn't figure that they would let her just yet.
But Dumbledore chuckled, and said, "Arthur, Molly, James, you can escort these two young ladies to the hospital wing. I'd like to talk with Miss Black when she is feeling better, though."
Carina nodded silently and followed the Weasley's out of the room, maintaining a distance between herself and her godfather. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to know how he was going to react to this. Sure, she had been panicked before, but with a clear mind, she could see that she should have warned a teacher, anyone, or at least brought help along with her, or gone down some plan in mind… there were tons of things she could have done to make it safer, and she hadn't thought of any of them at the time.
"Carina?" James' voice asked, sounding concerned.
Reluctantly, Carina let him catch up with her. "Yeah?" she asked weakly.
He looked at her for a moment, and then said, "I'm not angry with you, 'Rina."
Carina eyed him warily. "Really?"
"Really," he said with an amused smile.
"You for real?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Thank Merlin," Carina breathed, causing James to chuckle.
"Laugh it up," she said with a pout. "I was worried that my desperately needed peaceful sleep would not come along because I would end up sitting here worried about how you were going to react."
James shook his head fondly. "I'm not angry with you, only because I know that if you hadn't been panicked, you would have been a hell of a lot more careful than you were, and because you did do the right thing, sort of."
Carina looked at him and said slyly, "Do you think you could be more conflicted?"
James looked outraged.
