The day after all the articles in the press, Harry finally got the chance to talk to his father and Draco. In Potions, Draco had 'accidentally' bumped into Harry, tipping their ingredients to the floor. Severus had immediately told the pair to stay behind after class to clear up the mess, however the second they were alone he cleared up the mess using magic and filled them in on what was happening.
Severus explained that he'd smuggled Beth into the school the day after Hermione had been attacked so she could see her daughter. He also told him that Lucius had everything in hand with the Ministry and the governors, and unless anything changed, Dumbledore would be losing his job. And finally, he explained how he'd ordered the Basilisk to remain in the chamber, so they didn't have to worry about another attack.
Once Severus had finished filling them in on what was happening, Harry mentioned Myrtle and his theory that she could potentially help him work out who had his diary. Of course, Draco really wanted to help but it was decided that it was too dangerous for him and Harry to be seen together. Harry would have to talk to Myrtle by himself, but he would also have to be careful not to arouse her suspicions that he'd been involved in the earlier incidents with the chamber.
As the conversation was winding down and Draco and Harry were preparing to depart the classroom, there was a loud buzzing sound and McGonagall's voice filled the classroom.
"All students are to return to their dorms, immediately. All staff are report to west corridor on the second floor."
"That's where the chamber's located," Harry gasped as McGonagall's magical announcement ended.
"If you're going to follow me, do not be seen," Severus warned. He knew there was no point ordering Harry and Draco to return to their dorms immediately as they probably wouldn't listen. "And once you know what's going on, go back to your dorms."
Harry and Draco nodded in agreement as Severus swept out of the classroom. Hurrying behind him, they made sure to stay to the shadows as they made their way up to the second floor. Creeping quietly behind Severus, they stopped as he turned the corner and they heard voices. Moving as noiselessly as they could, the pair tiptoed forward and peered around the corner to where the majority of the staff were gathered.
Harry was so busy trying to listen to what McGonagall was saying that he failed to notice the writing on the wall. Draco however, didn't miss the writing and he nudged Harry and pointed him in the right direction. The wall was the same one Hermione had written the message about the chamber on, which for some reason hadn't been removed, and underneath her message was a new one. Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.
"Who is the message referring to?" Severus asked with a frown as he wondered how there could be another victim.
"We don't know yet, we need to do a full headcount in each common room," McGonagall replied. "But the school will never survive a student been kidnapped and never found."
"Who says she'll never be found?" Flitwick questioned. "Last night, Gilderoy said he knew where the chamber was located."
"Indeed I do," Lockhart replied with a nod of his head. "I'll go and prepare, and once I know who we're looking for, I'll get right on it."
When McGonagall started issuing orders to the staff, Harry and Draco backed away. Hurrying down a deserted corridor, they paused to discuss things. They both came to the conclusion that whoever was in the chamber had stolen Harry's diary, and considering that person was a girl, Harry had a sneaking suspicion who it was.
"The Weasley girl?" Draco spat when Harry shared his theory. "Why didn't we think of it sooner, it makes perfect sense? She's obsessed with you. She probably thought you were writing about her in the diary."
"Probably," Harry agreed. "But what do we do? McGonagall's right, something like this will get the school shut down. We never wanted that."
"Lockhart is supposed to be saving her," Draco pointed out.
"I wouldn't trust Lockhart to save anything or anyone," Harry scoffed. "I hate to say this, but we might have to rescue Ginny. I think I can get Ron into the girls' bathroom, but I don't want to reveal I can speak Parseltongue."
"I can open the chamber for you," Draco said. "When do you want to do this, tonight?"
Harry thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "No. we need to be sure it's Ginny. If it's someone else we're still going to have to rescue her, but in that case the plans will be different. They won't shut the school tonight, so let's wait and see what happens tomorrow."
"Okay," Draco said. "But for now we better get going. If we stay here much longer we're going to be caught out of our dorms."
Sharing a final goodbye, the two boys headed in opposite directions. Draco slipped back down to the dungeons, while Harry hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. Luckily both boys made it back before their respective head of house showed up to check on the students and see who was missing.
Of course Harry's deductions had been spot on, and Ginny Weasley was flagged up as missing. As Ron's best friend, Harry was allowed to go with the Weasleys as McGonagall took them to her office as she explained what was going on. McGonagall contacted Molly and Arthur so they knew what was going on, and when they arrived at the school they urged their children to go back to Gryffindor Tower. Of course the adults were all convinced that Lockhart was on the case and that Ginny would be found alive and well by morning. What they didn't know was that as McGonagall was reassuring the Weasleys everything was in hand, Lockhart was packing up and doing a midnight flit.
C.O.T.D.
By morning, the entire school was aware of who was missing and where she was rumoured to be. Everyone also seemed to know that Professor Lockhart had done a runner. Instead of keeping the students in their common rooms, McGonagall had allowed them down to breakfast, although classes were cancelled for the foreseeable future. However, the Weasleys were all in McGonagall's office, discussing the fact that Lockhart had vanished and they had no idea where Ginny was.
Taking advantage of the fact he was without Ron by his side, Harry 'accidentally' bumped into Draco as they entered the Great Hall and slipped him a note. Draco acknowledged the note with a subtle nod of his head as he snapped at Harry to watch where he was going.
"Damn Gryffindors," Theo spat as the Slytherins sat down to eat. "They're the ones to blame here."
"How do you work that one out?" Blaise asked with a laugh. "The chamber was created by Salazar Slytherin, not Godric Gryffindor."
"Yeah but it's a bloody Gryffindor who's gone and gotten herself dragged into the chamber," Theo argued. "Because of the Weasley girl, the school will probably end up getting shut down."
"I thought you were liking the havoc this was causing," Draco said.
"I was," Theo replied. "I just don't want the school to shut down. If Hogwarts closes, we'll be off to other schools, likely Durmstrang."
"My Father debated sending me to Durmstrang," Draco said. Lucius had actually suggested that Draco, Hermione and Harry all attend the Wizarding School known for practising Dark Arts, but it was decided it would raise suspicions if Harry didn't turn up at Hogwarts. "He liked the fact they taught actual Dark Arts rather than pathetic Defence."
"That might be a plus, but the cold would be a negative," Theo said. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to attend a school in the cold. I heard the entire school is situated on a glacier."
"As if," Blaise snorted. "It might be cold, but it won't be located on a glacier."
While Theo and Blaise argued over the exact location of Durmstrang, Draco quickly grabbed some breakfast as he slyly read the note from Harry. Harry wanted to meet him outside of Myrtle's bathroom as soon as he could get away. As he ate, Draco spotted Harry leaving the Great Hall so he shovelled his food down a bit quicker.
"I'm off to the library," Draco announced as he stood up.
"Why?" Theo questioned. "We'll be home by the end of the week."
"I don't just go to the library to do school work," Draco said. "I do read other books. Besides, it'll be quiet in there. Everyone else will be outside or in the dorms. I'll catch you in a few hours, but for now I'm going to go and enjoy the quiet."
"Fine, come back when you're not being so boring," Blaise retorted, pulling a face at Draco.
Laughing at his friend, Draco exited the Great Hall and snuck up to the second floor. He found Harry hidden in one of the alcoves just outside of the bathroom, holding onto the incense burner.
"Change of plans," Harry announced. "I'm not leading Ron here, we're going to go and rescue Ginny. Obviously, you can't take any credit, but we can go down and get her and stop the school from getting shut."
"I think she might say something about me being present," Draco argued.
"If she's conscious we can stun her or something," Harry replied with a shrug.
Not wanting to pass up on the opportunity to play the hero, even if he wouldn't be credited with any of the glory, Draco agreed with Harry's plan and they used their usual routine to sneak into the girls bathroom. Once inside the bathroom, Draco locked the door while Harry opened up the chamber.
"How do we get down?" Draco asked as he joined Harry in peering down into the darkness.
"I think the walls are sloped," Harry replied as he lit his wand and used it to get a better look. "We should be able to slide down."
"And getting back up?" Draco asked.
"Let's work that out when we get to it," Harry replied with a grin.
Before Draco could respond, Harry had sat down on the edge of the chamber opening and dangled his legs down the hole. With a final grin at Draco, Harry slid out of sight, his sounds of laughter being the only indications he was down in the hole.
"Come on, it's easy," Harry shouted back up to Draco once he'd reached the bottom of the slide.
"I'm coming," Draco called back, before he followed Harry down into the chamber.
The pair found themselves in a long, dark tunnel. Lighting their wands, they found one end was blocked by bricks so they headed down the tunnel to the unblocked part. As they walked, they found several snake skins that had been shed, along with tiny animal bones they presumed belonged to rats and other creatures lurking around the bowels of the castle.
"This place is gross," Draco remarked, curling his nose in disgust as he stepped on something that cracked under his feet. "I can't believe I won't get any credit for being down here."
"Maybe we can think of something," Harry suggested, although he couldn't actually think of any way of explaining what Draco was doing down in the chamber with him.
Carrying on the pair walked for another ten minutes, before they reached a round hatch built into the wall. Around the hatch was a snake design so it didn't take them long to work out they could open it using Parseltongue. With the hatch open, they crawled through and continued on their journey.
The tunnel past the hatch was completely different, and lining the walls were marble carvings of a man with a snake coming from his mouth. Clearly the man was Salazar Slytherin, and they were in the main body of the chamber. Since they were in the main part of the chamber, they were both very wary of the Basilisk and they kept listening for any sign it was nearby.
After a few minutes, the tunnel they were travelling in gave way to a large room. The back of the room consisted of a body of water, with fresh water flowing down from the mouth of yet another carving of Salazar Slytherin. Lying beside the water was the unmoving body of Ginny Weasley, and standing near to her was a youthful looking boy with black hair and piercing eyes.
"Grandpa," Harry gasped, amazed by the resemblance to both himself and Severus. To be honest he was surprised that Dumbledore had never connected Severus to Tom Riddle since his father bore a striking resemblance to his own father.
"Harry," Tom greeted with a smile. "I was hoping to meet you. And who's your friend?"
"Draco Malfoy," Harry answered.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Draco said, lowering his head to the teenage version of the Dark Lord.
Tom smiled at Draco's show of respect. "Malfoy. Any relation to Abraxas?"
"He's my Grandfather," Draco replied.
"I don't mean to be rude, but how are you here?" Harry asked as he cautiously approached the teenage boy who also happened to be his grandfather.
"I'm a copy of my real self," Tom explained. "The weaker Ginny Weasley gets the stronger I become. When she dies, I'll be real again."
"I'm sorry, but that can't happen," Harry said. "What would happen if there was suddenly two Tom Riddle's in the world. I'm sorry Tom, but I won't let anything happen to my grandfather."
"I had a feeling that might be your view," Tom replied with a chuckle. "And don't worry, I'm not going to fight you on the subject. Just knowing the things I've achieved brought me great joy. I would have been perfectly happy just talking to you, but then suddenly it wasn't you I was talking to."
"Yeah, Ginny stole the diary," Harry explained. "But we didn't know until yesterday it was her who'd stolen it."
"Can I ask why you made her open the chamber?" Draco asked. "Hermione was petrified as a result."
"I know," Tom said with a low snarl. "That was never meant to happen. When Ginny started writing in the diary, it became clear she was weak and I could manipulate her into doing what I wanted. I had her open the chamber as a way of testing how much influence I had over her. I was not at all happy when she then wrote in the diary and mentioned that Hermione was in hospital."
"And now because Ginny is down here, they're talking about closing the school," Harry said. "I'm sorry Tom, but we have to rescue her."
"I know," Tom said with a sad nod of his head. "To save her you have to destroy me. In the pool over there, you'll find some Basilisk fangs. Use one to destroy the diary. It'll break the hold I have over Ginny."
"What about the Basilisk?" Harry asked, wary of venturing to close to somewhere the creature could spring from and destroy him. "Where is she?"
"Sleeping," Tom replied. "Don't worry, she won't disturb you. She'll stay right here, until you next need her. Now destroy the diary, and save Ginny. The diary will be the key to explaining what happened. Ginny won't remember any of this, and she won't remember taking the diary from you. As far as she and everyone else is concerned, she's been opening the chamber all this time."
"Thank you," Harry said as he went to retrieve a Basilisk fang. "And I'm sorry we have to destroy you."
"Don't be," Tom said with a reassuring smile. "I'm merely a remnant of your grandfather's past. I'm happy to go if it means he can carry on with what he's doing. Just make sure you stick to the right side, Harry. Don't let yourself be tempted by the enemy."
As he spoke, Ton looked pointedly down at Ginny and Harry had to laugh at the idea that he could be tempted to betray his entire family for Ginny. He knew where his loyalties lay, and it wasn't with Ginny Weasley or anyone else on the light.
"Don't worry, you can rely on me," Harry vowed, before he took a deep breath and jabbed the fang into the cover of the diary.
Tom let out a painful cry as he began to fade from sight. When Harry faltered, Tom urged him on. Steeling himself to do what needed to be done, Harry dove the fang deeper into the book. As he destroyed the book, ink seeped out of the pages and there was a blinding flash of light emitted from the book when Tom finally disappeared.
"Wow," Draco whispered when it was all over. "What now?"
"We get Ginny back up to the castle, and as we go we come up with an explanation as to why you're down here with me," Harry answered.
Harry tucked the ruined diary into his pocket as he and Draco raised their wands and together levitated a sleeping Ginny into the air. As they made their way back out of the chamber they discussed their options as they tried to decided what to tell people. Of course it would be easy to tell people that Harry had acted alone, but if they could they were keen to give Draco some credit for what had just happened. Besides, it would create major shockwaves in the wizarding world if the youngest Weasley child owed their life to a Malfoy.