Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I know this update wasn't exactly a few days, but it wasn't nearly the months I sometimes make you guys wait! Also decided to start doing responses again so I'll put those at the end. Enjoy!
Chapter 17: The Chamber, Part 2
"Harry?" Ellie shouted, not realizing that as she shouted her shield disappeared. It was the biggest mistake she'd made of the night. Tom ran over to her, knocking her to the ground, and tried to tear her wand out of her hand. But she held onto it. If she could think straight, she would have done a nonverbal spell, but she couldn't, and his hand was clutched around her throat.
"Say anything and Harry dies," he said instead, and threw the cloak on top of her. She struggled to stand up again, but Tom gave her a warning glare. Even though she knew she had the advantage, she had a feeling he could do what he had threatened to. She stayed silent.
Harry ran in a second later, eyes on Ginny, who was now unconscious.
"Ginny," he breathed, running over to her. He crouched at her side, trying to see what was wrong. He looked up at Tom, not nearly as worried as he should have been. "Tom," he said. "What's going on? Where's the Heir? Where's Ellie?"
Tom smiled calmly at Harry. "I'm afraid I can't answer either of those questions."
Harry shook his head, looking down at Ginny. "She's not petrified." He was trying not to look up at the basilisk, who was obviously waiting for a command. "Why is the basilisk here, but not the Heir?"
Again Tom made no motion to answer him.
"It's not Hagrid," Harry said, dropping his wand so he could attempt CPR on Ginny. Ellie tried to warn him, but again she was sent a glare from Tom, and she felt too powerless to do anything. If she could just do one more nonverbal spell… but Tom was stronger, and if it didn't work, he could kill Harry.
"Perhaps you're right," Tom said. "I was younger then. Didn't know what I was doing."
"Where's Ellie?" Harry repeated. "She came here with Ginny."
Why had Fred told him that, but not that Tom was bad news? She'd have to yell at him when this was all over. But her heart sunk when she remembered Fred had come with Harry. Where was he? And Ron?
"I haven't seen anyone except Ginny," Tom replied calmly. He stooped down and picked up Harry's wand. Ellie's heart sank. Harry looked confused, but not too worried.
"What's wrong with Ginny?" Harry asked.
"A lot is wrong with her," Tom replied. "She had my diary before you did, you know. She wrote to me about all of her woes. All her worries about Hogwarts… and her crushes, or should I say crush—the one on you." He gave a small, amused chuckle. "I wrote back each time, comforting her, gaining her trust."
Harry looked up, now starting to really suspect something. Ellie wanted to hit him for his incompetence.
"As we spoke, I grew stronger," Tom said. "I convinced her to do things. I had a very strong power over her. I convinced her to open the Chamber of Secrets."
Harry stood up in a flash. He still didn't seem convinced of anything, but looked more worried than he had been.
"You know the rest of the story," said Tom. "Up until here."
"Why?" Harry demanded.
Tom changed the subject. "You fought Lord Voldemort last year," he said. "You must be very powerful, to have lived through that."
Ellie realized then that this form of Voldemort didn't have the same memories as the Voldemort they had fought the previous year.
Tom continued to pry about Voldemort; Harry seemed to grow more and more suspicious, and Ellie more agitated and worried. Again and again she debated throwing off the cloak and doing her best to help him. But Tom had a wand now. He could kill Harry in a split second.
"Why do you care so much?" Harry demanded. "About Voldemort?"
Tom sighed. "You're really not as clever as your reputation suggests," he said, and lifted Harry's wand. He wrote in the air, letters sticking like fire, TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE.
Harry shrugged.
Tom gave a swish of his wand, and the letters scrambled around. I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.
And finally Harry understood.
"And now you know," said Tom, smirking. "You know that here you are, without a wand, alone. Against the most powerful wizard in the world."
"Albus Dumbledore," Harry said furiously, "is the greatest wizard in the world."
Tom's expression changed from calmness to furiousness.
They were interrupted by a beautiful caw. A familiar caw. The chirp of a phoenix. Everyone looked up, and Ellie used the distraction to throw off her cloak and reach out her arm for Fawkes. The phoenix landed and looked at her, and she whispered something to it. It flew over to the basilisk's eyes and did as she had whispered: blinded it.
"No!" Tom gasped. Harry was busy staring at Ellie in disbelief. But she, knowing that she had put Harry in danger by making herself known, transformed and tackled Tom to the ground as a dog.
Tom lifted his wand and flicked it at her, and she was thrown backwards. He laughed. "Your dad did leave you with some decent powers," he said. "Don't worry, I won't stay true to my word. I've still got a few things to get out of Mr. Potter before I kill him. And Harry, I suggest you answer them, if you want this friend of yours to live."
Harry glanced sadly at Ellie, who had changed back at her fall. She crawled back up, rubbing her head, and gave him a helpless shrug. Fawkes returned to her shoulder as the basilisk moaned impatiently, waiting for orders to attack. Tom gave none, still questioning Harry; Ellie took the opportunity to see what Fawkes had brought. It was the Sorting Hat.
Tom chuckled when he saw Ellie take the hat. "Dumbledore didn't send you two very good weapons," he said. "Must be losing his touch."
"The phoenix just saved our lives once," Ellie said sharply. "Don't be so sure."
Tom glared at her and turned back to Harry. "How did you survive, those eleven years ago?"
Harry remained silent.
"Speak, boy, or risk this girl's life."
Harry sighed. "My mother," he said. "My mother died protecting me, and that kind of love you know nothing about. It saved me."
Tom looked relieved. "There's nothing special about you, then, boy." He laughed madly. "It was just as I hoped. We're very equally matched, you and I. Similar origins… and of course the parentless childhoods… Even our appearances. And our wands."
Harry didn't want to hear this at all. Ellie knew why. He was still suffering from the Slytherin things he had heard from the Hat.
"And now," Tom said, "we duel. Just because my snake can't see you doesn't mean it can't hear you." He hissed something to the snake, who slithered readily out of its waiting place. But, still blind, it started to sway, trying to catch its balance.
"Harry!" Ellie shouted, and tossed him the Hat. She wasn't sure what it would do, but Dumbledore had sent it to them for a reason. Harry grabbed it and glanced down at it in confusion. Tom laughed. "You honestly think the Hat will help you," he remarked.
"Put it on!" Ellie shouted desperately. The basilisk was slithering over to them.
Harry stuffed the hat onto his head. "Help me!" he shouted, and pulled it off, jumping away as the basilisk slammed its tail where he had just been standing. A second later, a glittering sword appeared. Tom's expression changed.
"I've had enough of you!" he shouted to Ellie, and lifted his wand. But she lifted hers at the same time and shouted "Protego!" just as he shouted "Avada Kedavra!" The green light shattered at her shield charm, and she used the opportunity to hit him with a Stupefy. Again it hardly hurt him, but it damaged him enough to turn back to Harry and the basilisk.
Harry was using the sword, but for a boy who had spent ten years as a Muggle and two more as a wizard, he had no experience with sword fighting. He could hardly carry it, it was so heavy; and he was spending more time running than even trying to stab the basilisk.
Ellie tried to think fast. Fawkes chirped in her ear, and she followed the phoenix's gaze to a large, crumbled slab of rock near Harry. Somehow she knew what it wanted. "Harry," she shouted, "get on the rock!"
Looking at her like she was crazy, Harry followed her orders. Tom turned back to her to try another killing spell, but she began to sing again, protecting both Fawkes and herself. When Harry was safely positioned on the rock, she pointed her wand, shouted "Wingardium Leviosa," and continued singing. She shakily moved the rock, with Harry on it, up toward the head of the basilisk, jerking the stone away from it when it tried to bite Harry.
"Ellie, a little less jerkily, would you?" he shouted.
"Sorry!" she shouted back, panicking. She hoped her wand and situation had enough power to keep the heavy objects moving. She pointed at the basilisk again, and Harry held his sword out at the ready. He looked very panicked.
The basilisk's mouth was wide open, and Ellie didn't know what to do. It seemed the only opportunity to kill it, but at the same time it could close at any second.
"Do it!" Harry shouted. Biting her lip, she sent him closer. Harry drove the sword up the roof of the basilisk's mouth and into his head, pushing as hard as he could, then drew it back. But when his arm came out, Ellie saw something that made her shriek out loud: the basilisk was missing a tooth, one that was stuck very deeply in Harry's sword arm.
He collapsed onto the rock, which she settled safely to the ground. The basilisk swayed again and collapsed, clearly dead. Tom looked angry that he had lost his basilisk, but not worried at all.
"Harry got himself killed without my help," he said calmly to Ellie. "And I can assure you, you won't get out of here alive, either. Keep singing if you like. Once Ginny is dead, I'll have the power to kill you, too."
Ellie didn't know what to do except run over to Harry, still singing. She yanked the basilisk's fang out of his arm and tried to press her shirt against his wound to stop the bleeding, but nothing was working.
Fawkes gently hopped from Ellie's shoulder to Harry's and, to Ellie's disbelief, began to cry. Ellie, too, wanted to cry, but she couldn't; the fear was overpowering her. She was watching two of her best friends—one who she also loved in a very different way—die. She released her shirt, still somehow singing, when Fawkes nudged it, and she saw that he was crying onto the wound.
"Even the bird knows he's dying," Tom chuckled. "How touching."
But the bird wasn't just crying, Ellie realized. It was healing Harry. His wound closed, he regained full consciousness. His eyes went straight to Tom, who looked overwhelmed.
"Its tears—heal?" Tom managed, eyes wide.
Harry was focusing only on how to kill Tom. He glanced from the diary at Ginny's side to Tom and back. Tom seemed to realize Harry's train of thought, and he lifted his wand, obviously thinking he could overpower Ellie's shield by now. But she was faster. She stopped singing and lifted her wand. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted, and Harry's wand flew out of Tom's hand.
Harry ran over to Ginny's side and grabbed the diary. "Ellie, the fang!" he shouted, and she tossed the basilisk's tooth over to him. He grabbed it and, with a final, murderous look at Tom, stabbed the fang into the diary. A blinding light appeared in the middle of Tom's body, where the stab in the book had been made. Harry, still looking murderous, stabbed at the diary again and again until Tom was almost entirely white light. And then he gave a final moan and disappeared. Harry glanced down at the diary to see that it was bleeding in a way.
They both stood in silence for a few seconds, before Harry took a few steps over to Ellie and kissed her.
If their normal kisses were brought to great heights, this one was a thousand times better. After such a life-threatening event, after all the if's and possibilities, all they cared was that they were both okay. And that they could both still be together. Ellie had no idea something so strong could come from a kiss.
"Get a room," said a voice from the ground.
They broke apart to see Ginny slowly sitting up.
"Ginny!" Ellie exclaimed, remembering how deeply Ginny had liked Harry. "Ginny, I'm so sorry—I was going to talk to you first—"
Ginny laughed. "You've done enough for me this year," she said. "I owe you a few."
Harry grinned at Ellie.
"So everything's okay?" Ginny asked. "Tom's dead?"
"You mean Voldemort," Ellie said.
Ginny went from amused to looking like she was about to cry again.
"Okay, I have a question," said Harry. "Does this mean we killed Voldemort again? Or was it just a past Voldemort that has nothing to do with the Voldemort we killed last year?"
Ellie laughed. "Let's hope all Voldemorts are dead now."
Somehow this was incredibly funny to both Ellie and Harry. Ginny looked appalled.
"Wait," Ellie said. "Where are Ron and Fred… and Lockhart?"
"Right," Harry said. "Er—that was odd. Let's hope Ron hasn't lost his memory—they were having some kind of memory charm fight when the walls caved in and separated us."
Ellie raised her eyebrows and took Ginny's hand, helping her get up. Fawkes stayed perched on Ellie's shoulder, and Ellie gave the phoenix an affectionate stroke, really getting to love the bird. Harry gathered the diary, the sword, and the hat. Ellie handed him his wand and took the basilisk's fang, wondering if it would ever come in handy again. When they came to the buildup of rocks, they decided the best thing to do would be to use Wingardium Leviosa to stack them carefully. Ginny's Reducto idea was a bit more dangerous.
Ron and Fred were on the other side, looking frantic. They were with Lockhart, who looked very vacant.
"Terribly odd place, isn't it?" he asked them. "Who are you?"
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Better question. How do we get out of here?"
Fawkes chirped something in her ear and fluttered above her a bit, extending a paw. Ellie bit her lip, but Fred explained, "Phoenixes can carry really heavy loads. Don't worry about it, El."
Ellie nodded and, frowning, grabbed onto the bird's tail feathers. Sure enough, they were as strong as iron. Harry grabbed her ankle, and they made a chain of people, all flying up out of the pit and landing in the girls' bathroom, where Myrtle was waiting.
"Oh, no," she said. "I was hoping you'd be dead, Harry. I would've shared the bathroom."
The five students burst into laughter on the ground, partially because of how funny it was and partially because they were so glad to be alive.
"Fawkes," Ellie said to the bird, who landed again on Ellie's shoulder. She was going to miss the bird. "Think you can lead us to McGonagall's office?"
"Don't worry," said Myrtle, "the students weren't going to leave until morning, anyway."
It really was, like everything else right about now, incredible news.
The bird led them down the hallway and to McGonagall's office, each a different expression: Ginny, happy to be free at last; Ron, relieved that all his fears were over; Fred, glad to get back to his twin and the rest of life; Lockhart, dazed; and Ellie and Harry, hand in hand, completely changed by this experience.
There you have it! One final wrap-up chapter for Chamber of Secrets and we'll be on to Prisoner of Azkaban! Just as a side note, I did a quick re-reading of this chapter and it really wasn't one of my favorites - if you guys feel the same, I'm sorry about that! I see my writing improve over the course of this extremely long story, and hopefully you guys will too! It's also hard to make a chapter like this that has to fit fairly snugly in with the plot of the books, without sounding stuff and unoriginal. At any rate, things stray far from the book in the next few chapters, so you'll have that to look forward to!
Anyway, here are a few quick review responses –
Mykk47- I've already written well past PoA and I can assure you, you won't be disappointed! Thanks for the review and please keep it up!
Goaliebaby- Thank you so much! My favorite thing about writing for the entire series is that I can develop Ellie's relationships with so many different characters. I am going through her 7th year. I already wrote up through her 6th and have taken a long break since then, but once my updating reaches that point, I think I'll pick it up again. I miss this story! Thanks for the review :)
My Little Reminder- What would I do without you? Enough said!