Chapter 13

The three figured out why no one was killed by the Basilisk this time, it was because they all saw the beast indirectly.

"Ron," Harry called, "The girl who died, Aragog said she was found in a bathroom."

Rose clicked her fingers, she connected the dots. "What if she's in the bathroom?"

"What if she never left?" Harry finished. The duo looked at Ron, waiting for him.

"Moaning Myrtle?" The duo nodded.

"This means I'm not the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin is one too and they're controlling the basilisk. We need to tell Professor McGonagall."

"Where would she be?"

"The teacher's lounge? Let's start there."

"All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers to the second floor immediately," McGonagall announced, her voice echoing down the halls.

"Let's get to the second floor and see what they found," Rose wrote. They dashed to the second floor and stopped not too far away from the group of teachers who were staring at a wall.

"As you can see the Heir of Slytherin has left another message. A student has been taken by the monster."

Rose's breath got caught in her throat. "Who was taken? We need to find the chamber." Harry took her hand to comfort her. A small gesture went a long way to ease her.

"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last," Snape said, as Lockhart made it to the other teachers.

"M-my m-moment?" He stammered.

"Yes. Weren't you saying just the other night you've known all along where the entrance to the chamber is?"

"Did I? I-I don't remember."

"That settles it," said McGonagall. "We'll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself." The other teachers nodded.

"V-very well. I'll be -in my office. Ah -getting ready," Lockhart dashed the same way he entered before any more could ask more of him.

"We need to find Lockhart," Rose wrote. "We need to tell him what we know." The boys nodded.

"Who has the monster taken, Minerva?" That sparked the three's interest.

"Ginny Weasley," she had in sorrow. Ron's knees buckled, the duo caught him just in time. They heard him gasp and followed his gaze.

Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever . . .

"Why would she be taken?" Ron asked. The duo didn't know how to answer.

"We'll find her Ron, it'll be okay." Rose knew she could live up to her words. All Ron could do was nod, while Harry had a troubled expression.

Rose whistled to get Harry's attention.

"We need to head back to Gryffindor tower before McGonagall. She's going tell the Weasleys what we just found out."

"What about Ginny?"

"We can't help Ginny if they find us wandering the halls. They need to see your face before we can sneak out."

"I got a plan to sneak us out," Rose wrote. They nodded before heading to the tower.

As much as it was the best thing to do, the silence in the Gryffindor common room was something Rose didn't want to experience again. Seeing the boys and the twin's faces with worry, Rose wanted to do something to help them, but what? The whole afternoon was silent, she managed to make the twins smile but it quickly faded.

"Ginny will be okay," she wrote. She had to believe in her words, who else would?

"She knew something, Rose," Ron spoke out. "That's why she was taken." His face was strained. This was Ginny Weasley we were talking about. The Baby Weasley of the family, the one you keep safe. Of course, the brothers were taking it hard, they weren't there to protect her, or properly comfort her during these attacks. "We need to go tell Lockhart what we know."

Harry and Rose looked at each other.

It was time.

"I hope you got your plan ready, Rose." She whistled.

"Your plan was to use Prissy?" Ron asked.

"In case we need a distraction from a teacher." The boys smiled.

By the time they made it to Lockhart's office, the sun was setting. A lot of noises could be heard.

"I hope he's not dancing."

The three barged in Lockhart's office to see him throwing his belongings in large trunks.

"Going somewhere?" Harry deadpanned.

"Um -well, yes. Urgent call, you see. Unavoidable. Got to go," he continued putting his things in the trunks.

"What about my sister?"

"You ain't leaving." Rose was slowly reaching for her wand.

"Most unfortunate. No one regrets more than I-"

"You're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Ron interrupted.

It was than Lockhart confessed his lies. How he was a fraud, stealing other people's adventures.

"Is there anything you can do?" Ron was not pleased. The chance of saving his sister was decreasing.

"Now that you mention it. I'm rather gifted with memory charms."

"You should have been an Obliviator then." Rose was unamused like the boys.

"I'm afraid I'll have to do the same to you," Lockhart turned to grab his wand.

"Don't even think about it," Harry said, and the three had their wands pointing at him.

"Drop it," she mouthed.

"You're coming with us," Harry said as he gestured for Lockhart to leave his office. Once they got out of the classroom, Prissy was wagging her tail at them.

"Thought she left," Ron. Was Ron finally warming up to the wolf?

Rose tapped her board, "I'll lead her away and I'll meet you there?"

"You don't have to come," Harry said all too quickly.

"That stung." She began writing again. "Not up for debate, I want to bring Ginny home too, I'll meet you there." Ron's mouth twitched a little. They weren't close but the fact she was going to help save his sister meant a lot.

"Where is there?" No one answered the professor's question.

"We'll see you there," Ron nodded before Harry could interject. Rose went with Prissy. Hopefully, she could draw her attention away.

Rose kept looking at Prissy, wondering why she was here.

"Was McGonagall keeping count of the students?" If that is true, she might have trouble getting to the bathroom. "Prissy you need to go back please, you need to stay with the others. I need you safe." Prissy looked at her like she heard her thought.

Rose and Prissy took a long detour taking the hidden passageways, as ghosts and teachers were walking down the halls.

They were now waiting on Peeves to move to another corridor, but so far, no luck.

"Ugh," Ron said, looking at what he was stepping on. Old skeletons of rodents. The boys went down the tunnel, getting close to the Chamber.

"Now remember, any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away," Harry said as the boys had their wands pointing at Lockhart.

A whistle echoed from above. Before the boys could respond, they could hear Rose coming through the tunnel. Harry didn't move in time and ended up bumping heads with Rose as she got down.

"Sorry," she mouthed.

"About time," said Ron, helping her get up. Harry got up and moved in front of them. Rose, Lockhart and Ron followed. They moved along until they came across a snakeskin. One that isn't from your average garden snake. "Bloody hell, whoever shed this skin must be sixty feet long or more," Ron gulped. Lockhart fell to the ground. He seemed to have fainted at the sight of the skin. "Heart of a lion, this one."

"There's a reason why he wasn't placed in Gryffindor."

Within a moment later, Lockhart grabs Ron's wand. "The adventure ends here boys."

"I feel like I should be offended."

"The world will hear our story. How I was too late to save the girl. How you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body.

"Does he not know I'm here?"

"Say goodbye to your memories, Harry," Lockhart points the wand at him. "Obliviate!" The wand exploded, the force making Lockhart knock the wall behind him with a heavy thud.

The ground started to shake as rocks fell from above. Harry and rose coward close, avoiding the rocks.

"Harry, Rose!"

"Ron," Harry shouted back. "Ron, are you okay?" The small explosion from Ron's broken wand, caused the rocks to fall, creating a barrier.

"I'm okay, this git's not, though. He got blasted by my wand."

Lockhart sat up looking gazed. "Hello, who are you?"

Ron looked at him confused, "Ron Weasley."

"Really?" He sounded amazed. "Who am I?"

"Lockhart's memory charm backfired. He hasn't got a clue who he is."

"I take it back about him being an Obliviator."

"What do I do now?"

"You wait here and shift some of these rocks," Harry instructed, "We'll bring Ginny back."

"Harry," Ron's voice shaky.

"See you in a bit," Rose whistled. Hoping to give Ron some confidence.

"Are you okay, Rose?" Harry gestured to her leg. There was blood soaking her sock around her shin.

"I'm fine," she mouthed. She left her blackboard in the bathroom. She hoped she didn't need it for what they were to face.

They walk further and further away from where they last heard Ron. The duo stopped at a stone wall with two serpents entwined.

The duo looked at each other before Harry spoke in Parseltongue.

"Open." Slowly the serpents parted, and the wall opened.

It revealed a passage that led to a series of tall pillars with snakes wrapped around them. At the end of the pillar was a tall mighty statue of Salazar Slytherin himself, which gave the duo the chills.

The duo dashed towards Ginny trying to wake her up. She was still, cold to the touch but not dead. Rose felt a cold chill down her spine, with the hairs on the back of her neck standing up instantly. She spins around to see a boy slightly older than her with pale skin and jet-black hair. She wondered why he looked familiar, or at least some of his featured did.

"Tom Riddle? Are you a ghost?"

He shakes his head. "A memory, preserved in a diary for fifty years."

"You've got to help us, Tom. There's a basilisk-"

"It won't come until it's called," he said calmly. That set Rose on alert.

"What d'you mean? Give me back my wand."

"You won't be needing it, nor would you need to be taking out yours little girl," he said looking at her hand, which was an inch away from her wand. "I'm afraid I can't let you take her. You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger."

Rose stared wide-eyed realising what was happening. Riddle explained to the duo, revealing how Ginny was the one to open the Chamber of Secrets, how she set the Basilisk to do all those attacks and how she didn't have a clue of her actions, all because Riddle had her under a trance. He admitted to framing Hagrid for opening the Chamber, which didn't sit right with the duo.

"Why did you want to meet me?" Harry was angrier than shocked by Tom's confession.

"All Ginny ever did was talk about you. The boy who lived. I have so many questions."

"Like what?" Rose held on to his robe, she was getting worried. She could hear the beast slithering around.

"How is it an ordinary baby defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care? Voldemort was after your time." That seemed to have made him twitch.

"Voldemort is my past, present and future," he said angrily. He turned and used Harry's wand to write in full name. He gave it a wave and the letters rearrange them on its own.

I am Lord Voldemort.

Rose could feel her body go still. The chills down her spine only intensified with this new information.

"You're the heir of Slytherin? You're Voldemort?" Harry sounded baffled.

"Surely you didn't think I would keep my filthy Muggle father's name?" He seethed. "I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak."

Rose was deep in thought as Harry and Riddle were 'talking'. "If I move slowly and am subtle, I could get my wand. Can't do wandless magic . . . I can hear it moving, but I can't see that far."

Suddenly music could be heard, they all stopped to see. It was getting louder, Rose had a smile on her face. "Fawkes!" The music got louder before the crimson bird could be seen. He flew straight at Harry, dropping the sorting hat behind sitting on Rose's shoulder. She felt confident with him on her side.

"That's a phoenix," Riddle said amazed.

"Fawkes?" Rose whistled with a smile.

A smile Riddle didn't like. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defender? A songbird and an old hat?" He began to laugh. "Do you feel safe now?"

Harry didn't answer. The thought of not feeling safe never came to him. He had Rose with him and now Fawkes too. He didn't understand the purpose of the Sorting Hat, but Dumbledore must've had a reason for it.

Fawkes was rubbing himself on Rose's cheeks, his form of comfort. Her hand automatically went to her throat, at a memory she didn't want to think of. "I'm safe. He can't hurt me."

"We're probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself," Riddle said, breaking Rose from her thoughts.

Harry instinctively went to hold Rose's hand, like he knew something was going to happen.

"Now, Harry, let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him."

Riddle turned to look up the stone face of Slytherin, speaking in Parseltongue. The duo understood what he was saying. The slithering of the serpent was getting louder, they squeezed each other's hand, worried for what was to come.

Riddle spoke again, "Kill him." The basilisk, the bright green serpent slithered out of the mouth of Slytherin, heading straight for Harry.

"Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter. The Basilisk only obeys me."

Rose stood in front of him, "You will not harm him!"

The basilisk halted and looked at the girl. All Rose did was look at its tail. She was shaking, she didn't want to die.

"I said kill him."

"No." The basilisk kept looking between Tom and Rose, hard to say what a confused Basilisk looks like.

"You," Riddle pointed at Rose. "Who are you?" She just shrugged her shoulders. "Tell me!"

Harry looked at Rose, wondering why Tom was taking an interest to her now. All Harry could think was keeping his eyes on Rose or closing them. This was a more dangerous situation than he expected. He should've made sure Rose didn't follow.

He couldn't protect them both.

"Kill him!" Riddle said once more, having lost his patience with the girl.

"Harry Run!" He didn't need to be told twice. He ran fast, hoping the Basilisk would keep his focus on him.

"His eyes!" Fawkes fluttered his wing, hearing her thought. He took flight, screeching as he soared towards the Basilisk in such speed. He confused the beast, moving in odd directions before he drove his sharp talons in the beast's eyes. The beast cried in agony, hurt.

"NO! Leave it alone you stupid bird. Just because he lost his eyes doesn't mean he can't hear you." The Basilisk waited for a sound, Harry was only a couple of feet from the beast. Fawkes distracted the Basilisk once more for Harry to create distance between the beast.

"You, who are you?" He pointed Harry's wands at her. "The one that doesn't talk," he answered his own question. "Ginny wrote quite a lot about you too, I think she's jealous. The girl that doesn't have a house, a girl that no one knows her name, a girl who indeed has more than one deep dark secret and I think I know one of them."

Her stomach sank at the truth.

The night Harry and Ron went to meet Aragog, Rose had unknowingly told the Basilisk to not harm another like she just did with Harry. It had confirmed what she feared.

She had controlled the Basilisk.

She was starting to question everything. "I need to think."

"I can see it on your face, you're trying to figure out how this is possible. I must've –"

"Expelliarmus!" She caught him off guard. Harry's wand dropped a few feet away from him.

"Nonverbal, you are indeed talented, even for your age." He was looking at Rose in a new light. A light Rose never wanted to be in. "Who are your parents? When I was in school, I was the only one from this bloodline, I'm not alone." He almost sounded happy.

Almost.

"Who are your parents? How did you come to be?"

"I was born from the curse you put my parents through." She was shaking.

She wanted to cry.

The person she knew to be pure evil was only a few years older than her. Was she going to be like him?

"No, I know who my parents are. I know how I was born. I know who my father is, he raised me."

"We could pass as siblings." That struck a nerve, she sent him flying, hitting a pillar on his way down.

"We are nothing alike and we're certainly don't look alike." She was physically shaking, from fear or anger, it was hard to say.

His eyes widened at her. "We may not look alike but we are similar in many ways." He got up and wave his hand at her, sending an invisible force to knock her down.

She grunted, on the floor. Moving her hand, searching for her wand.

"You may not like to hear it, but only the Heir of Slytherin can control the Basilisk...running through your veins is the blood of one of the best wizards in history." She finally got back on her feet, holding her wand tightly.

"You should feel honoured," he hit her with another nonverbal spell making her fall. "Get up, don't make me use force," his voice dripped with venom.

"I-I don't know what to do."

"Don't cry, this isn't a real duel. We would've bowed otherwise," he shakes his head at her. "Think of this as a lesson with the greatest sorcerer."

"Bighead." She whistles at him.

"So, you can communicate," he smirked at her. He hit her again. "Protect yourself," he mocked.

She shook her head. "Petrificus Totalus."

His lips turned into a thin line, "Protego," there was a quick flash of light. "It's a shield charm," he stated before he pointed the wand back at her.

"Protego." The spell bounced back. Her face lit up.

"Good, you pick up fast for someone you can't talk."

For what felt like hours, Rose was deflecting spell after spell and wasn't able to get anything across to Riddle. It only came to an end once he had Rose backed up on a wall.

"You're stronger than most of the wizards I know. My question is who taught you Occlumency. No doubt you will be a skilful one, a Legilimens too."

That took Rose off guard, everything was happening so fast. She could hear footsteps coming close, but not the slithering.

"Harry is okay," she sighed in relief.

"Stupefy!" Her relief was short lived once Riddle hit her with another spell, one she wasn't focused enough to block. Stunned, she fell to the ground in a loud thud.

Harry returned to an unconscious Ginny and Rose, with a Tom looming over them. While Fawkes was distracting the beast, the Sorting Hat had revealed a sword to him, and he used that sword to kill the beast. He drove the sword into the roof of the Basilisk's mouth but doing so also determined his fate. A tooth of the beast had penetrated his arm, the poison was now in his system.

He only pulled the tooth out of his arm once he could see Ginny in sight. He dropped to his knees to see how she was. It was only then Tom revealed how the venom was fatal and working in Harry's system fast. Talking and talking about how a silly book could cause, which is what prompted Harry to do the next thing. He took the tooth and stabbed the diary with it, many times until Tom was gone and Ginny woke up confessing what she had done.

Once Fawkes had healed him, it was only then did he see Rose getting up. He had completely forgotten she was down here with him. He immediately went to give her a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, I don't know what happened when you were alone with Riddle," he moved and examined her for any wounds. She had small cuts and red marks, which he knew would end up being bruises. Rose was still not steady from being stunned, Harry held onto her hand tightly all the way to Dumbledore's office, leaving a certain girl with rosy cheeks.

She was then escorted by Ron to head to the hospital wing with Lockhart.

"Rose," she tilted her head at him. Ron seemed lost for words. "I-I w-want to thank you for bringing my sister back," he finally said.

She smiled. "No need to thank me, we protect those we care about and who they care about." Her hands were still shaking from the previous events, what she still wrote, nonetheless.

He smiled brightly. Maybe they could get along.

"Though, you need to seriously change your wand." He laughed at that.

Rose was quietly waiting in front of the Headmaster's office, she had immediately walked back there once her wounds were tended to. She didn't want to knock the door until they stopped talking, she wasn't eavesdropping on purpose, they just happened to be loud.

Suddenly an elf came flying out the door, Rose was shocked but not surprised to see it was Draco's father that had caused the scene. Even Harry passed by her with the diary, not noticing her. She took it as a sign to enter.

"And here I was thinking, I'd come visit you," he smiled at her as she made her way to his desk. She wasn't able to return his smile. "For starters, are you alright?"

"I'll heal," she wrote.

"I wasn't referring to your tiny cuts."

She shook her head. "I'm not sure why what happened, happened." He nodded, understanding where she was coming from. "He seemed to be testing me."

"Testing?" His eyebrows rose.

"He even taught me a shield charm." Her hands were shaky again. "Like he was seeing my potential. Like he expected something from me, but I don't know why." She sucked in her breath, "He never gave me a scar like Harry's so why am I important?"

"I had a feeling something like this would happen in my absence. Yes, you and Voldemort have similarities, but I can confirm you aren't a descendant of Voldemort nor did he pass anything to you."

She hadn't realised she held her breath in.

"I know you have a lot of questions and I'll be happy to answer some of them once you're feeling up to it." She nodded. Her breathing became shaky, and before she knew it, tears were falling down her face. Realization hit her hard. She faced You-Know-Who, even if it was a version from a diary, he was real.

"He wanted me to join him, I could sense it"

"I'm glad you stayed strong," he took her hand in his. "You seem to be becoming quite the witch we all expected you to be, we're proud of you." The door to his office opened and there stood her guardian. Rose ran into their arms.

"You're safe."

"You solved it!" Hermione said and she dashed to the boys. She hugged Harry.

"We got loads of help from you," Harry said as he returned the hug.

"I didn't help at all." There was an awkward reunion between Ron and Hermione, something Rose would've laughed at. "You found the paper I had, right?"

"Yeah. You found out it was a Basilisk," Harry was getting confused.

"It wasn't my paper. Rose dropped it the other day from her robe and I never got to return it and I was curious and," her cheeks were red at her confession. "Once I looked at it, I realised that it was the beast."

"You mean that Rose knew about the monster being a Basilisk?" She nodded.

The boys looked at each other shocked. How can that be?

"Speak of the devil," Ron tilted his head to the entrance of the Great Hall seeing Rose and Hagrid walking in together with a happy Prissy right behind them.

The trio were curious about Rose, more now than ever.

Did they know her well like they thought they had?

Things were changing soon, good or bad.

Hard to say.