Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fate Stay Night or anything else.

Fate: Emiya Night

Chapter26: Chamber of Secrets

May 1993
Scotland: Hogwarts
Slytherin Dorms

Knock Knock

The sound of knocking was driving him insane so early in the morning—damn it—it was a Sunday! Who wakes up at this ungodly hour on a Sunday anyway? After that whole mess with Ginny Weasley and her attempt to slip him a love potion, he had encountered no less than seven other attempts by several other girls over the last month trying to do the same damn thing. Just last night he had to deal with yet another one and that had deprived him of a good night's sleep so he had been catching up by sleeping in this morning.

And now someone was knocking on his door…

This had better be good…

"Give me a second!" Hari called out grumbly as he made his way over to the door and opened it. "What is it?" he blinked in confusion and looked up to the see the familiar scowl of his Head of House. "Professor Snape?"

"Potter," Snape sneered down at him. "Get dressed, something has happened that requires your presence."

Something happened…

"What's this about?" Hari asked the question with no small amount of dread in his voice.

"Miss Daphne Greengrass has been petrified."

Hari was used to pain as someone who walked with death and struggled to learn even the most basic of Magecraft. He had even felt the pain of loss before back during the Grail War when they'd lost Assassin and Saber. This was different because back then everyone knew what they were signing on for and the possible consequences of their decisions. Compared to back then, the sight of Daphne lying in a hospital bed frozen in stasis like she had just gone for a walk and hadn't stopped, was more than a little unsettling to him. Someone had done this to her and Hari had never hated anyone more.

Hatred…

He'd never felt such hatred before, not even for Zouken, Kotomine or even Voldemort. Whoever had done this to her, he would hunt them down and kill them. Hari had promised Daphne and her sister that he would save them from the Malfoys and he had done so. That meant that they were under his protection and the fact that someone had done this to Daphne was like a slap in the face to him. He would make them pay for this, he would make them pay for hurting her, and he would make them pay with their life.

He promised her that…

Minister Fudge had come to Hogwarts personally to arrested Hagrid for apparently being the Heir of Slytherin and unleashing the 'monster' into the school. As he was carted off to Azkaban without a trial, Lucius Malfoy had managed to pull some strings and get Dumbledore suspended from his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts. McGonagall had locked down the school and planned to send everyone home early until the Aurors could find and neutralise the 'monster' once and for all.

Not that Hari expected the Aurors to do much of anything about this mess…

Astoria hadn't been seen since and he had gone to look for her. She must be distraught over her sister getting attack and petrified in such a manner. Considering just how worrying the younger Greengrass sister had become since their father's death a few months ago, she wasn't exactly what people would call stable right now. Hari feared that Daphne ending up like this may have possibly pushed Astoria over the edge and she might do something she'd regret or worse, something that she won't regret.

He had to find her…

After asking around he found out from a couple of Ravenclaw prefects that she had disappeared into the girl's bathroom on the First Floor near where Filch's cat had been killed and the writing on the wall from last Halloween was. People called it 'Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom' because of a ghost that haunted it was still there and constantly cried all the time. Why Astoria would come here he didn't know but he knew that she shouldn't be alone right now, not after everything that had happened.

Damn it, when did he start caring about these girls so much?

"Astoria?" Hari asked as he entered the girl's bathroom. He knew that as a boy he wasn't supposed to be in here but he was worried about her and needed to see if she was okay. "Are you in here?"

The reply that came wasn't what he expected…

"Stupefy," a bolt of blue magic struck him from behind before he realised what had happened.

Darkness claimed him…

Hari awoke to a large dark green room with a wet stone floor under him and dozens of large snake-shaped statues lining the walls. What happened? Where was he? Wait—he was attacked from behind with a stunning spell in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, right? Damn it, his head was spinning as he rolled over onto his knees and brought his hand up to the side of his head to try and help get his bearings. After a couple of minutes shrugging off the last of the dizziness, he looked up and took stock of the situation.

He was in a massive chamber…

With a large statue in front of him made in the shape of Salazar Slytherin's head…

'Oh shit,' Hari cursed in thought as he realised exactly where he'd been brought. 'This is the Chamber of Secrets,' he thought as he continued to look around the massive green-lit chamber and noticed that he wasn't alone. "Astoria!" he scrambled over to her downed form as she lay lifeless on the wet floor closed to the statue of Slytherin. "Structural Analysis," he incanted as he placed his hand to the side of her neck and scanned her.

She was alive if only barely and was gradually growing weaker with each passing moment. At least she wasn't dead though at the rate her life was leaving her, it was only a matter of minutes before she died and he couldn't figure out what the issue was. There was no external wounds nor any form of drain on her prana yet her own circuits were active and in use right now despite the lack of prana flowing through them. What was this? How did she even end up like this?

"She won't wake," a soft voice spoke up from the shadows to his right.

Hari immediately bolted to his feet and reached for his wand only to find it missing. Of course it was missing he thought realistically, whoever had kidnapped him and Astoria wouldn't leave them with their wands. Without a wand most wizards and wizards were defenceless other than the few that wielded wand-less magic, or in his case Magecraft. Still, he was at a disadvantage at range without his wand and would be hard-pressed to protect Astoria and defeat their kidnapper with only his ice elemental Magecraft.

"Who are you?" Hari asked the question as a single figure clad in Slytherin robes stepped out of the shadows. He didn't appear completely solid as his form seemed to blur a bit but overall he looked like a normal charming Hogwarts student a few years older than him.

"My name is Tom Riddle," the apparent kidnapper introduced himself as he held up two wands. One of them was his Hari idly noted, and Astoria's wand was missing from her holster too so the second wand was clearly hers.

"You're not all here is seems," Hari said clearly commenting on the older boy's blurred form. "Are you some kind of ghost or something?"

"A memory," Tom replied with a shrug. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years," he gestured towards a small black book laying down next to Astoria's still form. "I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter, for the chance to see you and to speak to you."

"And what have you done to her?" Hari questioned as he nodded towards Astoria.

"It's not what I've done but what she did herself," Tom chuckled in amusement. "Over the last year she came into possession of my diary and started writing down her most inner most secrets to an invisible stranger."

"Invisible stranger huh?" Hari gritted his teeth as he glared at the blurred figure before him. "I'm guessing that was you."

"Yes," Tom answered with a smirk. "You should have heard some of the things she worried over—her father's failing health, her sister's willingness to do anything to protect her, her future as the next Lady Malfoy if young Draco had his way, the despair she felt when her father died, and of course the relief she felt when you saved her and her sister."

"Where are you going with this?" Hari questioned further.

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," Tom sneered in disgust at the memory of her thoughts. "But I was patient, I wrote back, I was sympathetic, and I was kind. Astoria 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," he laughed hollowly for a moment before continuing. "I've always been able to charm the people I needed so Astoria poured out her soul 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 powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Greengrass. Powerful enough to start feeding her a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her."

Soul…

A soul attached to a familiar that would allow the person to live even if the body was destroyed, that's what this was and Hari couldn't believe he didn't recognize the signs before now. He had seen it done before when Zouken implanted his soul into the crest worm that had buried itself in Sakura's heart. He knew that if Shirou hadn't destroyed it in the underground workshop of the Matou Mansion that day back during the last Grail War then that old vampire-wannabe could still be alive today.

Tom Riddle had done something similar…

"What did you do to her?" Hari demanded with a glare.

"I had her open the Chamber of Secrets, I had her kill the school roosters along with Filch's cat and write the threatening message on the wall. I had her set the Serpent of Slytherin loose upon this school," Tom proclaimed with a wide smile. "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 robes and I don't know how they got 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, 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!"

"You son of a bitch," Hari gritted out in anger. Screw the anger he'd felt when Daphne had been petrified, this bastard had spent the whole of the last nine months violating Astoria's mind and soul. "I'm going to kill you."

Kill…

Kill one to save another…

Kill one to avenge another…

Kill Riddle to save Astoria…

That was simple enough for him…

"Her father died and she lost her sanity. It was only thanks to me taking control that stopped her from losing herself entirely," Tom continued unconcerned at the wand-less twelve year old in front of him. "I had the Basilisk petrify her sister and lure you to her in order to capture you and bring you here."

"What do you want with me?" Hari asked the question.

"Well, you see, Astoria told me all about you, Harry," Tom spoke clearly with a rather cold and calculative look. "Your whole fascinating history,I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, and meet you if I could.I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Hari shot back angrily.

"How is it that you, a little boy with no extraordinary magical talentmanaged to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?" Tom questioned almost hungrily. "No, you do have some talent with ice elemental magic if I've heard right and you no longer have the scar on your forehead but I bet you didn't have those back then. So how did you do it?"

"Why do you care how I survived Voldemort?" Hari asked back confused.

"Voldemort," Tom spoke softly as he traced a set of letters in the air. "Is my past, present, and future, Hari Emiya."

The letters melded into the three words 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' and then rearranged themselves before his eyes.

'Oh you have got to be kidding me,' Hari thought as the letters melded into another three words.

Those words being 'I am Lord Voldemort.'

"Do you see now?" Tom whispered harshly. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch?No Harry,I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

Sorcerer?

"You're not," Hari denied swiftly. "A Sorcerer? You don't even know the meaning of the title!"

"What?" Tom asked back sharply.

"A Sorcerer is someone who has mastered a True Magic to such a degree that they no longer qualify as human," Hari continued with another glare. "You're not even the strongest wizard either because Dumbledore is still around."

"Dumbledore?" Tom scoffed at the mere mention of the old man. "He's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me."

"Have I really, Tom?" a new voice spoke up from the darkness.

Hari and Tom snapped their gazes towards the newcomer in shock as a lone figure walked slowly down the walkway that led away from the statue of Slytherin. Standing clad in his customary purple wizard robes and carrying the Sorting Hat of all things on his head with his Phoenix familiar riding on his shoulder was none other than Albus Dumbledore, the supposedly suspended Headmaster of Hogwarts himself. What was going on? How did he even get down here?

"Dumbledore…" Tom trailed off at the sight of the old wizard. "How did you get down here? Only a Parselmouth could have opened the entrance to the Chamber…"

"It took a bit of work but I found the entrance after speaking with Myrtle and I blew up the sink that was covering it with a blasting curse. I will probably have to repair that later," Dumbledore chuckled lightly before narrowing his eyes upon seeing the state his two students were in. "Are you and Astoria okay, Harry?"

"No," Hari answered honestly. "Astoria is dying and I don't have a wand."

"I see," Dumbledore said before throwing the Sorting Hat to him. "Catch," Hari caught the hat and put it on his head as Tom backed up towards the statue of Slytherin.

"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!" Tom hissed and the mouth of the statue opened.

"Harry! Grab Astoria and run!" Dumbledore shouted as he brought his Elder Wand up. "Fawkes!"

"Avada Kedevra!" Tom snarled out as he hurled the sickly green death curse at the old man.

Hari picked Astoria's seemingly lifeless body up into his arms and started running towards Dumbledore mere moments before the Basilisk exploded from the statue's mouth. As for Dumbledore himself, a whip of pure fire lanced out from his wand and deflected the killing curse sent at him to the side where it struck one of the giant snake statues harmlessly. Hari didn't look back as the Basilisk behind him started to pursue him only to hiss in pain and anger as Fawkes—the only being immune to its powerful Mystic Eyes—flew up to its face and started clawing at its eyes.

'Come on Astoria,' Hari thought as he hurriedly carried her behind where Dumbledore was standing. 'Please don't die like this.'

"She'll be fine Mister Potter," the Sorting Hat spoke aloud from his place upon boy's head. "Worry about yourself for now."

'Right,' Hari nodded as he set Astoria down and then turned his attention back to the battle. 'I need a weapon,' he mused thinking about whether or not to create another pair of ice-swords to fight with.

"I have one for you," the Hat told him before contracting. Hari removed the hat for a moment and felt it suddenly become heavier as a strange silvery blade materialized inside it. He pulled the sword out of the hat like it was the weapon's sheath and held it to the side as he placed the hat back on his head. It had a red ruby imbedded in the hilt and the name 'Godric Gryffindor' engraved on the blade itself. "It used to belong to your ancestor, my creator, Gryffindor himself."

"Thank you," Hari smiled as he gazed upon the goblin-forged sword in his hand. "My body is made of ice, cold is my core and ice is my heart."

"Accursed bird!" Tom snarled angrily as he aimed one of the wands in his hands at the phoenix assaulting his Basilisk. "Avada Kedevra!" the green curse sailed through the air between them and struck Fawkes in the side causing it to burst into flames and fall to the ground in a pile of ashes. "Kill the boy while I deal with the old man!" he hissed out the order in Parseltongue before unleashing another barrage of curses at the old Headmaster.

'This isn't good,' Dumbledore thought as he conjured a couple of stone walls to defend against the barrage and countered with another fire-whip. 'I cannot defeat Tom and the Basilisk at the same time,' the Basilisk was now blind but that didn't mean it wasn't still dangerous and deadly to anyone it attacked.

"Oh King of Ice, shroud this world and start anew," Hari incanted as he rushed forward and raised his left hand at the Basilisk. "Freeze: All!" the air before him turned to ice and encased the Basilisk within seconds.

Sadly the creature's magic resistance was too high and it only took a measly five seconds for it to break free. However five seconds was like an eternity to them all as Hari quickly closed the remaining distance between them and stabbed the Sword of Gryffindor straight through the roof of the snake's mouth. The Basilisk hissed for a moment before falling silent as Hari withdrew only to grab at his right arm in pain and drop his new sword. During that last action one of the Basilisk's fangs punctures through his right arm and injected its venom into him.

"Harry?! Are you okay over there?!" Dumbledore called out to him.

"Hahahahah!" Tom laughed loudly from his position not too far away. "You're dead, Harry Potter! Dead!I'm going to stand here and watch you die. Take your time, I'm in no hurry," he kept laughing mockingly as he stood opposite Dumbledore who was looking on warily. "So ends the famous Harry Potter with Dumbledore unable to save him again, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mothersoon, Harry. She bought you twelve years of borrowed timebut Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must…"

'What is this?' Hari thought as the pain started to increase. 'Why does dying hurt so much?'

No, a better question was why was the pain continuing to increase when he should be growing weaker and fading away? He could feel the Basilisk's venom seeping into every corner of his body as his Magic Circuits started burning with enough prana to make a lesser man pass out. Though he didn't realise it at the time, the venom was melding itself to his body, adapting to his own Parselmagic and integrating itself into the very core of his being.

Parselmagic…

It was an ability he had inherited from Voldemort when the Dark Lord had tried to kill him twelve years ago…

"You…" Tom trailed off as he saw Hari shakily stand back up. "Why won't you just die?!"

"Screw you," Hari shot back with a glare as he stood up straight.

Despite his words, he knew that he was at his limit. He'd performed a large-scale Freeze on the Basilisk and his circuits were overheating as it was. He had no wand to speak of and only Gryffindor's sword to defend himself with. On the other hand Tom Riddle had two wands, and with Dumbledore currently protecting Astoria, he couldn't move to defend Hari without leaving her vulnerable once again. Damn it, there had to be a way!

Wait…

The diary…

Didn't Tom say that his soul was contained within it? Hari's eyes flickered towards where the diary still lay in front of Slytherin's statue and then back to Riddle himself. Tom's eyes widened as he realised what Hari planned to do and immediately turned his wands towards you redheaded boy. Dumbledore intervened before he could fire off a spell with another lashed from his fire-whip as Hari picked up Gryffindor's sword and made a mad dash towards the statue.

"No!" Tom snarled in anger and hastily fired off a killing curse. "Avada Kedevra!"

"Go to hell you bastard!" Hari shouted as he ducked under the curse.

He swung the sword down on the black diary, and Tom screamed as the sword cut through the diary. His body broke apart within seconds, chipping away until there was nothing left. After what felt like an eternity the spectre that was Tom Riddle shattered like glass and the diary leaked black blood onto the wet stone floor. Finally silence fell on the Chamber of Secrets as the battle ended and the victors stood alone amidst the remains of the death match they'd just fought.

It was at that moment that Astoria woke up...

She bolt upright into a sitting position and immediately grabbed her head. After a few moments she looked around at the scene before her and her eyes widened as she took in the rather strange sight. Dumbledore standing not too far away from her, a clearly dead Basilisk lying on the floor a bit further away and Hari standing near a large statue of Salazar Slytherin himself with his right arm covered in blood and holding a silvery-looking sword in his hands.

"W-what the-" Astoria stammered out in surprise.

"Welcome back to land of the living Miss Greengrass," Dumbledore smiled down at her in reassurance. "I must say though, perhaps it would be best if you didn't sleep on the floor."

"Astoria," Hari said as he approached her and knelt down beside her. "Are you okay now?"

"I—it was me, wasn't it?" Astoria asked startled as the memories of Tom nearly overwhelmed her. "Merlin—Daphne, I had her petrified-".

"Stop," Hari said as he grabbed her shoulder and made her look at him. "It was Tom that did it and Daphne is going to be fine so don't blame yourself for any of it. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes," Astoria nodded shakily.

"Good," Hari smiled with no small amount of happiness. "Then let's get out of this smelly old chamber."

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed wholeheartedly. "I find this place to be most depressing, perhaps we could go to my office after we pay a visit to the Hospital Wing. I believe that I'm getting too old for these kind of adventures…"

"Same here."

Author's Notes:

That's the battle done with and I bet you were all weren't expecting it to be Astoria who had the diary, huh? I wanted to make this chapter longer but I didn't want to make it feel like I'm dragging it out so I'm ending it here; I hope you all enjoyed it. In case those of you are haven't noticed yet this is not an Evil or Manipulative Dumbledore; he is—probably for the first time ever—a competent and ruthless Dumbledore. He's someone who believes that the ends justify the means and is someone who is willing to do anything to kill Voldemort once and for all, including aiding Hari against a teenage Tom Riddle and the Basilisk. Honestly, Rowling seriously downplayed his role in canon and made him out to be utterly useless in the end despite hold three bigtime positions in the Wizarding World. Concerning Hari's combat capabilities, they are a mix between Gray Fullbuster's magic from Fairy Tail and Evangeline AK McDowell's fighting style from Negima.

Please Read and Review.

See Ya Later…