Chapter 8: The Heir and the Harpies
With the professors focused on finding and guiding all of the students out of the school, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran into no one on their way to Lockhart's classroom. From what they could hear, there seemed to be a lot of activity on the other side. Harry hammered on the large, oak door, and the room on the other side of the door went suddenly silent. There were footsteps approaching, slow and cautious, before the door slowly creaked open, and Lockhart's shockingly blue eyes peered out at them.
"Oh, you three," He said, sounding relieved, and opened the door a little wider. "Erm, I'm uh, a little busy at the moment so if this could be quick-"
"Sir!" Harry said quickly, "We have information about the Chamber for you! We think it'll help you."
"Oh, well," Lockhart said, sweat dripping down the side of his face, "Well you see, um, the thing is, well, ah, oh-oh all right. Come in, come in." He opened the door and they entered. His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor. All manner of different, brightly colored robes were strewn across the floor, The photographs that had once covered every inch of the walls were now crammed into several large boxes on the desk.
"Are you going somewhere?" said Ron slowly, as his eyes scanned the room,
"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, as he started rolling up an enormous poster of himself, before shoving it into another box on his desk, "See the thing is," He said, as he seemed to be searching for an answer, "I ah, I just received a rather urgent call, yes, urgent call! Very serious, very important, nothing to be done unfortunately,"
"But sir!" Hermione said, looking aghast, "You're our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!"
"Yeah!" Harry agreed, "You can't go now, not with all of the dark stuff that's been going on!"
"Well," Lockhart said uncomfortably, "Thing is, when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description about-"
"Job description!" Ron roared, "That thing has taken my sister!" But Lockhart ignored him,
"Sir!" Hermione pleaded, "There's no one else in castle who's capable of dealing with it! All of your achievements, the hag! The werewolves! Everything! You're the only one-"
"Oh you silly little girl, books can be misleading!" Lockhart snapped, and Hermione reeled back as though she'd been slapped.
"B-but…" She stammered out, "You-you wrote them…"
"Use your common sense Ms. Granger, My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on-"
"So, you've just been taking credit for what others have done?" Harry asked incredulously,
"Oh, come now Harry," Lockhart said, shaking his head in disappointment, "There was more to it than that. It took a lot of work; I'll have you know! I had to track these people down, ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog."
With a slam, he closed the lid on a particularly large trunk, and then locked it.
"Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left." He pulled out his wand and turned to them. "Terribly sorry about this kids, but I've other choice in the matter, can't leave you here with your memories intact, blabbing my secrets to anyone who will listen-"
But Lockhart never finished, before he could react, Harry had his wand in his hand, and called out,
"Expelliarmus!" Harry put a little more force behind his spell, and Lockhart was blasted back, his wand soaring through the air, Hermione screamed, and Ron snatched the wand out of the air, before tossing it out a nearby window.
"Shouldn't have had us practice it so much, professor," Harry said sarcastically, as he furiously kicked one of the trunks aside, and forced Lockhart to his feet. Hermione was watching Harry, panic written over her features, as Ron covered their flank, his own wand drawn and pointed at Lockhart,
"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart pathetically, "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is! There's nothing I can do!"
"You're in luck then," Ron snarled, "Because we know where it is, and we know what's inside it. Now we're going to take you there."
"We can't do this!" Hermione shrieked, "He's a teacher! We could be-"
"Hermione!" Ron snapped, his face scarlet with fury, "You heard him, he's a fraud! A fake! All those things he wrote about? They were done by other, better wizards! And besides," He turned a pleading look to Hermione, "My sister is down there Hermione! My sister!" He stressed, looking like he might be on the verge of tears, "That thing has Ginny! We have to do something!"
Hermione worried her lip, as her eyes darted between Lockhart and then Ron. She met Ron's pleading gaze, before she nodded resolutely, and drew her own wand. Ron gave her a grateful nod, and a watery smile, and turned his attention back to Lockhart.
They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They sent Lockhart in first. Harry took a savage pleasure in seeing that Lockhart was shaking. As they entered the bathroom after Lockhart, they saw Myrtle perched on the tank of the end toilet,
"Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this time?"
"To ask you how you died," said Harry. Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.
"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what real y got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then-" She paused dramatically, before puffing her chest out importantly, "And then I died," She finished, rather lamely.
"Ok," Harry said slowly, taking even and measured breaths to try and steady himself, "But do you remember the exact moment? Exactly how you died?" Myrtle paused, and seemed to consider things for a moment,
"Well, I remember opening the door, and a pair of great big yellow eyes, by the sink, and then nothing."
"Where!" Harry asked in excitement, but before Myrtle could say anything Hermione cried out,
"Harry! Over here," Harry dashed over to where Hermione was standing by the sink. She was pointing at the faucet, and Harry looked to where she was pointing. He nearly missed it, but when he squinted, Harry could see the insignia of a serpent, engraved on the side of the faucet.
"How do we open it?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione,
"Parseltongue!" Ron said, and Harry looked at him, "Try speaking parseltongue to it!" Ron said again. Harry nodded, though was uncertain. He'd only ever been able to speak it, was when he was faced with a real snake, he'd never tried to just speak it before. Unbidden, Professor Jackson's words rang in his head,
"Didn't even mean to speak it the first time I spoke Greek. It just sort of slipped out. What I'm saying Harry, is that magic is weird."
Screwing up his eyes in concentration, Harry tried to focus on how he'd felt when he spoke to snakes, and willed himself to do the same.
"Open," Harry said, only when he spoke, it wasn't in English. What came out of his mouth, was a strange, foreign, hissing sound, that sounded distinctly serpentine. The word was barely out of Harry's mouth before something happened; the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Then, the sink began to move; the sink sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.
Both Ron and Hermione gasped, and Harry looked up, meeting their eyes,
"I'm going down," He said, having made up his mind. Ginny was down there in the Chamber, and if there was even the slimmest chance that she was still alive, then Harry needed to take the chance and go after her. It's what Professor Jackson would have done.
"I'm coming too," Ron said, his face set, Harry nodded, and they both turned to look at Hermione. She was hesitating, eyeing the dark pipe warily, but after she met Harry and Ron's eyes, she gave a shaky nod of her own.
There was a small snap, and Harry looked up, it had sounded like something had been stepped on, but as Harry scanned the room, he couldn't see anything that could have made the sound, deciding not to worry about it, Harry turned his attention to Lockhart, turning his wand on him, and both Ron and Hermione followed suite,
"After you, professor," He said, shaking his head at the pipe,
Lockhart, his face ashen white and trembling slightly, slowly approached the pipe, and gazed down it. He quickly backed away,
"I don't see why you need me here," He said hastily, "I mean I can hardly see what good it will do," but Ron had had enough, and roughly pushed the Defense teacher in the back. He stumbled and he pitched forward. With a scream, he fell down the pipe. In seconds, he had disappeared into the inky blackness. Harry followed suite, and he could hear Ron and Hermione following behind him.
Harry could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons. Behind him he could hear Ron and Hermione yelp as they bumped into the walls of the pipe. Then, after they had fallen for what felt like an eternity, the pipe opened up, and they fell into a large pit. Harry landed with a thud, Ron and Hermione landing only moments after.
"We must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.
"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls. All three of them turned to stare into the darkness ahead.
"Lumos!" Harry muttered to his wand and it lit again. "C'mon," he said to the others, and they started walking, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.
"Remember," Harry said quietly as they walked cautiously forward, "Any sign of movement, close your eyes right away…" But the tunnel was utterly silent, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Hermione yelped, before immediately covered her mouth with her hands. Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.
"Oh no," Hermione muttered, "Oh no, oh no, I don't like this."
Harry felt a tap on his shoulder, and saw Ron was pointing at something up ahead in the dark. Squinting through the darkness, Harry could just make out a large, dark shape, lying on the ground a few years away. Harry raised the tip of his wand a little higher, and approached carefully.
"It might be asleep," He said softly, as he approached, but as he approached, he realized that whatever was on the ground wasn't breathing. Then, when he was only an arm's length away, Harry realized what he was looking at. It was an enormous snake skin, nearly sixty-feet in length, and seven feet in width.
Hermione started hyperventilating, and Ron looked a little queasy. There was a small thud, and Harry turned to see Lockhart having fainted on the spot.
"Pathetic," said Ron dispassionately, then turned his attention back to Harry, he was just about to say something, when Lockhart's eyes snapped open, and in a flash of movement that Harry thought the man incapable of, he had stolen Ron's broken wand out of his hand, and had Ron in a headlock, the wand pointed at Ron's temple.
Harry and Hermione instantly turned their own wands on the man, who tutted at them,
"I wouldn't do that Harry," Lockhart chided, "One slip of my wrist, and dear old Mr. Weasley here could lose his head," White-hot fury raged in Harry's chest but, seeing no alternative, he lowered his wand. Hermione did the same a moment after.
"Apologies children," Lockhart said, looking painfully smug, "But the adventure ends here, I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her horrifically mangled corpse. Say goodbye, to your memories," And he raised the broken wand,
"Obliviate!" He shouted, but the curse backfired, and he was hurtled through the air, colliding harshly with the ceiling. The walls of the cave started to rumble, and Harry dived for cover, Hermione diving towards Ron and Lockhart's body. There was a snap, and then the sound of moving earth, and the ceiling caved in. Rock, dirt, and debris fell onto the cave floor, separating Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Harry staggered to his feet, trying to shake off his daze. When he came back to his faculties, he found himself staring at a mountain of rock and rubble.
"Ron! Hermione!" He called, "Are you two all right?"
"We're fine!" Hermione called back, "Profes-erm," Hermione stumbled and tried again, "Lockhart's unconscious though,"
"What now!" Ron asked despondently, "We can't move all of this, it'll take ages,"
Harry looked around the rubble, they didn't have time for this, every second they wasted was another second Ginny might be closer to death. Harry came to a decision that he knew was going to be unpopular,
"Wait here," Harry called out, "I'm going to push on…if I'm not back in an hour," Hermione made a sound like a strangled cat,
"We'll try shifting some of the rubble, so-so you can come back through," Ron called back, then he paused and began to say, "Harry-"
But Harry cut across him, "See you in a bit," he said, trying to inject a level of confidence he didn't feel into his voice.
He turned on his heel and started walking before he lost his nerve. It felt as though he'd been walking for miles through the darkness. Then, at last, as he crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds.
Harry's throat dried up, as he approached. He knew what it was; the Chamber of Secrets. Harry knew what he needed to do, swallowing thickly in an effort to wet his throat, he focused again on trying to speak like a snake.
"Open,"
Like before, the words did not come out in English, but in a strange hiss. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside. The Chamber was long, and no brighter than the caves had been, in the shadow cast by a few flickering green torches at the far end of the hall, Harry could make out towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness.
Harry tried to steady his readily heart, and he pulled his wand out as he scanned for Ginny, but she was nowhere to be seen. Screwing up his courage, Harry took a shaking step forward, and walked froward into the chamber. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him.
As he came level with the last set of stone pillars, he found himself only a few yards away from an immense stone obelisk. It was ancient, and looked distinctly inhuman, almost like a monkey, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. Between the feet, facedown on the Chamber floor, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.
"Ginny!" Harry heard himself whisper, and before he could think about what he was doing, his legs had taken him to her side. Her face was white, and when he placed a hand on her forehead, she was ice cold to the touch. Her eyes were closed, and Harry could see her chest rise and fall slightly, and Harry breathed out a sigh of relief. She was alive, and had not yet been petrified.
"C'mon Ginny," Harry said, giving her shoulder a shake, "C'mon, wake up," He said more forcefully,
"She won't wake up," Said a familiar smooth voice from behind Harry.
Harry jumped to his feet and whirled on his heel, his wand raised. There was a boy standing by the nearest pillar. A few years older than Harry, with pale skin, and handsome features. Oddly, the edges of his profile seemed strangely distorted, and as Harry squinted, he realized with a start that he knew the boy.
"Tom?" Harry asked in shock, "Tom Riddle?" In his shock, Harry dropped his wand, which clattered to the Chamber floor and rolled a few feet away from him.
Riddle nodded, his eyes never leaving Harry's face.
Harry couldn't understand what he was seeing, how on earth was Tom Riddle in the Chamber? And why did he look like he had when he'd shown Harry the memory in the diary? Had he finally cracked?
"You're not insane, Harry," Riddle said, as though he had read Harry's mind, but his words did nothing to soothe Harry's concerns, "I'm really here. I'm a memory," He said, and pushed himself off the pillar, approaching Harry slowly, reaching down and grabbing Harry's wand from the floor, before walking forward once more. When he was only a few feet away, he pointed at something on the floor. Harry followed the finger, and saw the familiar black diary, sitting on the floor, a few feet away from Ginny.
Harry wondered how it got there, but disregarded the mystery for the moment, and focused on more pressing issues. Harry reached down and wrapped his arms around Ginny and tried to pull her off the floor, but only managed to half-hoist her onto his shoulder. Panting with exertion he said to Riddle,
"We have to get out of here," Harry said, "There's a basilisk down here somewhere, I don't know where-but we need to hurry,"
"It won't come until it's called," Riddle said slowly, twirling Harry's wand in his hand, an icy smile on his lips,
"Wha-I don't-look! Please, give me my wand back, we need to leave!" Harry said, stretching his hand out for his wand,
"Oh, I don't think I will," Said Riddle, still twirling Harry's wand, "You won't be needing it,"
"Won't be needing-what are you talking about?" Harry half-shouted, but Riddle ignored him,
"I've been waiting a long time to meet you, Harry Potter," Riddle said, "I've been waiting for this moment where we could meet face to face; for the moment when we…could talk,"
"Look," said Harry. He was rapidly losing his patience, "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later-"
"I don't think so, Harry Potter." Riddle said, still smiling at him, "We're going to talk right now," And he put Harry's wand away into a pocket in his robes.
Harry's heart was racing, he didn't like where things were going, something was wrong about all of this, and the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. Without anything else he could do, Harry asked,
"What happened to Ginny, how did she get here?" He asked, in the hopes that if he could get Riddle to talk, he could distract him long enough to do…something,
"Well, that is an interesting question," Riddle said happily, clearly pleased that Harry was playing along, "It's a rather long story; I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"What are you talking about?" said Harry.
"The diary," Riddle explained, "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it since August, telling me all her pitiful worries and her pathetic woes. She told me about how her brothers teased her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books. She told me about how the only person in the world who listened to her was her History Professor," He spat the title out like a disgusting curse, as a dark expression crossed over his face, before he smiled again, "And of course, she told me all about how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her."
The entire time he spoke, his eyes never left Harry's, looking at Harry almost hungrily.
"I cannot describe how…boring it is to have to listen to the pathetic worries of an eleven-year-old girl," He drawled, "But it was necessary, I had to do it, had to be patient. It was all…part of the plan. So I was patient, I was sympathetic, kind, empathetic. Poor little Ginny loved me," He screwed his face into a pathetic expression and spoke in a high-pitched voice, "Oh Tom, no one understands me like you do, I'm so glad we found each other," he stopped, and his expression morphed back into a sinister smile, and let out a laugh. A dark, high-pitched laugh that was so cold, it left Harry shivering,
"I've always been able to charm someone into doing what I want," Riddle went on, "It's one of my greatest talents, if I do say so myself, so Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. With every scratch of her quill in my diary, I grew stronger. I put little bits of myself in her, and as time went on, I grew strong enough to be able to…influence her."
Harry froze. If writing in the diary pulled bits of Riddle's soul into the host then…
"No need to fear for your soul, Harry Potter," Riddle said, again seemingly having read what Harry was thinking, "I never was able to put a bit of my soul into yours," He frowned, and adopted a contemplative expression, "Not for lack of trying mind you, but for whatever reason, I couldn't. I still haven't been able to figure out why," He then waved off the thought,
"But why?" Harry asked imploringly, unable to understand, "Why would you want to take control of Ginny?"
"Come now Harry Potter," Riddle said, sounding almost disappointed, "You're smarter than that, think, put it together. Where are we right now?"
"The Chamber of-" Harry started to say before he stopped as realization hit him, "You used her to open the Chamber,"
"Very good, Harry Potter," Riddle purred, "Yes, I used poor Ginny to open the Chamber. Of course, the silly girl never knew what she was doing. She has no memory of strangling all of the school's roosters, or writing that message on the wall. She doesn't remember opening the Chamber and letting loose the Serpent of Slytherin on three Mudbloods and that squib's cat." He stopped and laughed again,
"Oh how her diary entry's became far more entertaining after that, "Dear Tom," He said, his voice taking on the mocking high-pitched tone again, "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, Professor Jackson keeps asking me to stay after class and keeps asking me if I'm alright…I think he suspects me of something. 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!" He laughed again, and Harry's fist tightened in fury,
"You wouldn't believe how long it took for poor Ginny to become too distrustful of the diary before she finally tried to be rid of it. But then…that's where you came in, Harry Potter." Riddle's expression become positively predatory, as his eyes seemed to glisten in the torchlight,
"You can't imagine how delighted I was that it was you who picked up the diary. Of all the people in the castle to find it, it was you. The one person, in the entire world, that I wanted to meet,"
"But why?" Harry asked, his confusion and curiosity overcoming his fear, "Why would you want to meet me?"
"Another fascinating story," Riddle explained, and Harry to refrain from saying that he very much doubted that,
"You see, little Ginny told me all about you, you and your…fascinating history." Riddle's eyes raked over Harry's face, stopping for a brief moment on the scar on his forehead,
"I knew I had to find you, had to talk to you if I could. Though not even I could have planned for things to have gone so perfectly. Once I had you, I needed you to trust me, that way you'd talk to me, I could get the answers I so desperately need."
"And what answers are those," Harry asked, but Riddle ignored him, he seemed too caught up in his own moment,
"Only after showing you my capture of Rubeus, you did the unthinkable. You handed me over to that Mudblooded charlatan!" The last word came out as a scream, and the torches in the Chamber roared as the fires soared in response to Riddle's outburst. Riddle was panting in unbridled fury, his composed face taken over by a mask of anger, but he closed his eyes, and after a few brief moments and several deep breaths, he managed to calm himself down.
"You can't imagine my rage when the next time my diary was opened, it wasn't you, but him." Riddle snarled, "He knew what I was immediately, took me straight to Dumbledore. The pair of them spent weeks trying to destroy me. Trying to rip me from the diary," Riddle's face lost its snarl, as a cold sneer took its place, "But they didn't succeed. So the Mudblood took me back to his office, well…little Ginny panicked, didn't she? She saw you with the diary outside his office that evening and lost it. She spent weeks following the Mudblood around learning his schedule, then snuck into his office and stole the diary. She told me everything. She told me how the Mudblood was skulking around the entrance to the Chamber, and I knew we needed to act, so I ordered little Ginny to sick the Serpent on him." His eyes closed once more, and his shoulders were shaking,
"And that bastard nearly killed the Serpent!" He roared, the torches once more exploding in response to his fury, "I don't know how he stole that much power, but it matters not, the serpent petrified him, but at great cost. The Mudblood nearly killed it, I had to order the Serpent to retreat, to recover. I knew I didn't have much longer, that I needed to act, so I brought little Ginny down here, in the hopes of drawing you here as well," He sneered once more at Harry, "And my plan could not have worked out more beautifully,"
"But why, why go through all this trouble for me?" Harry asked, unable to comprehend what he was hearing, "What's so special about me?"
"What's so special about-?" Riddle laughed, "What's so special, Harry Potter, is that you-a pathetic little boy with no extraordinary magical ability-managed to defeat the single greatest wizard of all time. How did you escape that night? How did you defeat Lord Voldemort and receive little else…but that scar on your forehead,"
"Why-why do you even care," Harry asked, "What does it matter how I escaped, Voldemort was after your time!"
"No, stupid boy," Riddle sneered, "It matters a great deal, how you escaped means everything," He reached into his pocket, and withdrew Harry's wand. Raising it in the air, three words appeared,
tom. marvolo. riddle.
"It matters, Harry Potter, because Voldemort is my past," The words started to move, "My present," The letters were rearranging themselves, forming new words, "And my future." The letters stopped.
i am lord voldemort
Harry's heart hammered against his ribs. That couldn't be possible, how could that have happened, what were the odds that of all the diaries in the world, Ginny happened to find Voldemort's diary, with his own memories still inside,
"Do you see now, Harry Potter?" Riddle asked, but didn't bother waiting for an answer, "It was a name I'd begun using while in school, known only to my most intimate of allies, of course. Do you truly think I would use my filthy muggle father's name? His? When I had the blood of Salazar Slytherin running through my veins? No-no I needed a new name. A name that all would recognize, a name that all would know and associate with the greatest sorcerer who ever lived,"
"You're not," Harry said without thinking,
"What?" Snapped Riddle
"The greatest sorcerer in the world. You're not. Hate to disappoint you, but you'll only ever be half the wizard Professor Jackson is, and you'll never even come close to being the wizard Professor Dumbledore is."
"Albus Dumbledore has been driven from this castle by the very memory of me!" Riddle snarled,
"And as for the Mudblood?" He spat the word, "You think muggle trash will ever compare to the blood of Salazar Slytherin? He was petrified by my serpent! Mine! Even with all his stolen knowledge, all his skill that he took, from the backs of the real sorcerers who put the real effort in! He was no match for the pure blood of the greatest sorcerer known to man!"
"They aren't as gone as you'd think they'd be!" Harry shouted back. Riddle made to respond but froze in place, there was music flowing through the room, coming from the darkness somewhere above them. The volume and pitch of the music grew more and more before flames erupted near the closest pillar. A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.
The creature soared through the air, diving straight at Harry, before dropping the bundle to the floor at Harry's feet, before landing with a musical trill, right on Harry's shoulder.
"A phoenix…" Riddle breathed,
"Fawkes?" Harry said, relief flooding though his veins,
"And the sorting hat," Riddle laughed derisively, staring at the bundle at Harry's feet, before looking up and meeting Harry's gaze, almost pityingly, "Was this the help you were expecting?" He asked, "A bird and an old hat, that is what your life is worth to Albus Dumbledore," He shook his head, "I almost pity you Harry Potter,"
He started pacing a slow circle around Harry,
"Twice, we have met, and twice I have failed to kill you. I wish to know how and why. Speak." He commanded, "The longer you talk, the longer you live,"
"No one knows!" Harry blurted out, "I don't know why you couldn't kill me. All we know is that my mother died trying to save me. My Muggle-born mother." Harry stressed, his arms trembling, with from carrying Ginny and from barely suppressed rage. "She stopped you from killing me somehow. It destroyed you, ruined your body. Last time I saw you, you weren't even human. You're an ugly, foul-"
Riddle's snarl cut him off, but he composed himself, and a cold sneer formed on his lips,
"So. Your mother then. Yes, I suppose that could work, yes, her dying act was a counter-charm, a powerful one at that. A pity, I suppose. There really is nothing special about you after all. I had thought, you know. There is a great deal we have in common after all, even you have to have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike…but it was no skill that saved you."
His sneer turned into an ugly grimace,
"It was sheer, dumb luck."
He chuckled darkly, "Well, that was I wanted to know," And Harry tensed, waiting for Riddle to raise the wand, but Riddle didn't raise the wand, instead he smiled wickedly.
"How about a little test," Riddle sneered, "Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, mightiest of the four, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him. Even injured, the Basilisk should be more than capable of dealing with you and your…gifts," He cast an amused glance at Fawkes, before turning his back on Harry and walking away.
Harry's legs shook, and he bent down, careful not to drop Ginny, and he clutched the hat tight in his hand, never taking his eyes off Riddle, who had stopped by the foot of the obelisk. Riddle opened his mouth, as though to talk, before hissing loudly, like a snake, but Harry understood exactly what was being said,
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. "
Harry took a trembling step back, the hat still gripped tightly in his hands. Something rumbled, and Harry turned to face the obelisk. The obelisk of Salazar Slytherin was moving, its enormous mouth opening wide, until there was an enormous hole, large enough to fit a double-decker bus through it.
There was something stirring inside, something large, and it was getting closer as it rose from the depths of the statues innards. Harry screwed his eyes shut as tight as he could, and he felt Fawkes take flight from his shoulder. Harry felt his heart sink, he wanted to shout, wanted to cry out for it not to leave him, but he couldn't find the words.
The floor shook, and Harry fell to the floor, dropping Ginny as he did so, as something dropped into the chamber.
"Kill him," He hear Riddle-no Voldemort-hissed, and Harry sensed something moving at him rapidly, he tried to stand but the floor was too wet and he couldn't get a foothold. He could feel it coming closer, could hear the hissing grow louder and louder. He tried to get away, tried to grab Ginny and run, but he couldn't-
And then it screeched. An inhuman, high-pitched wail, that reverberated around the chamber.
"NO!" Voldemort hissed, still speaking in Parseltongue, and then Harry heard it, the musical trilling of Fawkes, and the flapping of its wings through the air. The Basilisk screeched again, and Harry could hear something wet explode from in from front of him, and splat to the floor, followed by two loud, distinct thuds.
Harry chanced a brief look, making sure to keep his eyes lowered. He first saw the Basilisk, it was enormous. Sixty-feet in length, green oily skin that was covered in deep, purple bruises. There were chunks of flesh missing from its hide, part of it looked scorched or burned. They were the scars left over from its fight with Professor Jackson. In the dim light of the chamber, there were two large, cylindrical shapes, only a few feet away from Harry. They were green, and oily, and unmistakably eyeballs. Harry's eyes shot upward, and to his astonishment, he saw Fawkes, soaring through the air, repeatedly dive-bombing the Basilisk. And there, near the top of its scaly head, where its eyes should have been, were two large, gaping holes.
"LEAVE THE BIRD!" Riddle was screaming, "LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!" The blinded serpent swayed, confused, and in monumental pain, but it heeded its master's command. An enormous, forked tongue jotted out from its enormous maw, and tasted the air for a moment. Before it turned, and slithered at Harry, too fast for him to do anything.
Harry couldn't move, his feet were cemented to the floor, he couldn't get out of the way in time. The Basilisk was on him in an instant. Its mouth opening wide, rows of enormous, razor-sharp teeth, the size of daggers, yellowed and blackened with blood. It raised its enormous neck, rearing back and preparing to strike.
Harry screwed his eyes shut, and he prayed. He prayed to whoever would listen that someone, anyone, would help him.
"Levis Hasta!" a familiar voice called out from behind him. Harry's eyes snapped open, just in time to watch as a spear of silver-white light struck the Basilisk right in the upper jaw. Something moved in the shadows to Harry's right, and the enormous form of Mrs. O'Leary materialized from the darkness. She was flying through the air, and landed on the back of the Basilisk's head. She reared her head back, and sunk her teeth into the monster's enormous hide. It howled in pain, its body flailing wildly, its tail slamming against the floor. It hit something, and it soared through the air, landing with a soft thud against the Chamber wall at the end of the Chamber, but Harry paid it no mind. He was too concerned with the source of the mysterious ray of light.
He turned over his shoulder, but couldn't see anything through the darkness. But then he heard what sounded like hooves on marble. Then, out of the darkness, in full gallop, came Rebecca, moving faster than Harry had ever seen anything move before. She slid to a stop as she came even with Harry. In one smooth move, she scooped both Harry and the still unconscious Ginny into her arms, before galloping back to the far wall.
She laid Harry and Ginny gently on the ground,
"You ok hon?" She asked, her expression taking on that maternal glow that she always seemed to have. But Harry didn't have it in him to answer, he had never been so relieved in his entire life. His prayers had been answered.
"You're alright sweetheart," Rebecca said, her voice remarkably calm, as she placed a calloused hand on Harry's cheek, "The cavalry's here Harry,"
Out of the shadows, three more figures appeared, and Harry's heart soared as Anna, Camila, and Sarah stepped into the Chamber, their expressions fierce and wands drawn.
"You've been very brave dear," Sarah said,
"But let us take it from here," Camila added.
Anna said nothing, but she did give him an amused smirk. Then the women sprang into action. All four, hurrying forward into the chamber.
"NO!" Voldemort screeched, "WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!" Seemingly unaware that he had switched back to English,
But the women ignored him, as one all four raised their wands, and in one voice they roared,
"VINCULA BINDING!"
Four sets of enormous, glowing purple chains materialized out of thin air, spear-like points on each end. The chains raced toward the Basilisk, still thrashing around the Chamber. Anna and Sarah hurried forward, their wands raised as they controlled the chains, then they raised their free hands, and shouted as Mrs. O'Leary leapt from the Basilisk's hide,
"NIVEUS EXPUGNO!"
From their open palms, a blizzard stormed into existence. Snow and icy wind hurtled into the Basilisk. It howled in misery, as it skinned turned icy blue. It tried to move, but its movements were slow, and sluggish. Almost as though it were moving in slow motion.
"NO! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Voldemort howled,
The women then lowered their wands, slashing across their bodies as though they were brandishing a sword. The chains soared through the air, two sets of chains flying to each side of the monster. One end of each chain magically elongated and stretched into the darkness above, attaching itself to the ceiling somewhere up above. The other ends slammed into the monster's hide, tearing through the weakened scales and flesh. Then, the sides of the Basilisk exploded in a mess of scales and blood, as the chains erupted out of the monster, and the pointed tips embedded themselves into the floor of the chamber, pinning the monster to the floor.
The screeching reached an ear-shattering volume, as the Basilisk tried to thrash, and rip itself out of the chains. But with each movement, the chains tore through more and more of monster's insides. Panting lightly with the exertion of keeping the monster at bay, Camila and Rebecca marched forward, coming even with Sarah and Anna. The pair raised their woads again,
"TONITRUM JOVIS!"
The two called out together. The tips of their wands sparked with magical electricity, before they aimed their weapons at the mouth of the Basilisk. Bright blue blots of electricity sprang from the tips of their wands, dancing across the floor, before colliding with the mouth of the great serpent. The Basilisk screeched, its howl of fury and misery shaking the walls of the Chamber, as it convulsed, and shook. The bolts of lightning tore through the creature, and it's skin started to smoke and turn black. Its head shook, bouncing and rattling against the chains and the floor, before it seemed to swell like an enormous water balloon. Then, with a noise that sounded like a canon being fired, the head of the basilisk exploded. Rebecca and Anna quickly threw up an enormous magical shield around the four of them, while Sarah and Camila turned, and cast a similar protective charm around Harry and Ginny.
Gore, blackened skin, brain matter, and teeth, shot in every direction. A tooth slammed into the side of the shield protecting Harry, before clattering uselessly to the floor. The headless body of the serpent went limp, the magical chains rattling slightly as it fell.
The shield around Harry fell, and the four women collapsed to the Chamber floor, each panting heavily from the heavy exertion of using such powerful magic. Harry too, fell back to the floor, unable to keep the smile of relief from his face. It was over, they'd done it, Professor Jackson's friends had done it. They'd finished the job that he'd started. They had killed the monster of the Chamber of Secrets.
Harry felt his palm run over something, and looked over to see that the diary had been what was launched through the air. It had landed about halfway through the diary, its yellowed pages open. Turning away from the diary, Harry stared up at the dark ceiling, laughing giddily in relief.
Though his relief soon turned to horror, as the visibly shaking form of Voldemort appeared in front of him, Harry's wand pointing right between Harry's eyes.
"No!" Voldemort hissed in English, "I have not come this far, to be beaten by you again. Not by you and some puffed up harpies! You will die here Harry Potter. The Basilisk may be dead, but this Chamber will still be your tomb,"
Harry looked helplessly at the four women, all of whom were still on the floor, seemingly unaware of what was happening behind them. His heart hammering, Harry scrambled to find something to defend himself with, when his hand brushed against something. It was hard, and had a sharpened point. He realized with a start that it was the fang that had bounced off the shield. But what good would that do against a memory. It wasn't as though he could stab a memory, even if it was somehow able to use a wand.
But the diary! Harry thought with a start, as his fingers slowly closed around the fang of the Basilisk, the diary was what was keeping Voldemort anchored to their world, if he killed the diary, maybe he would kill Voldemort too! A voice in the back of his mind said that it wouldn't work, that if Professor Jackson had been unable to kill the diary, what chance did he have? But Harry ignored the voice, he had no other options.
Voldemort raised the wand, "Avada!" He started to hiss, but Harry tightened his grip and rolled over, hefting the great fang into the air, and slamming it into the diary. Ink shot up out of the diary, spilling from the pages almost like blood.
"Ahhhh!" Voldemort screeched, and Harry, still pushing the fang deeper into the diary, craned his neck to look at Voldemort. A glowing fissure had opened in Voldemort's chest, and he was clutching at it desperately, as though he were trying to close it. Harry raised the fang again, and stabbed it into a still dry portion of the diary.
"Grahhhhh!" Voldemort screamed in pain, as more fissures opened. Cracks of light springing up along his body, as though he were made of glass, and was steadily breaking apart. Voldemort stumbled back, his body hunched over as the fissures widened. Then, in an explosion of light and dust, he vanished from the mortal world. There was a small clattering noise, and Harry's wand fell to the Chamber.
Harry collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily, and his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into the hypnotic red orbs of Anna,
"Are you… ok…?" She asked around heaving pants. Her accent was more pronounced, as though she'd lost a grip on her vocal faculties. She looked a far sight more human than Harry had ever seen her. Her auburn hair, that Harry had only ever seen neat and well maintained, was matted and tousled, and she was shaking lightly from the heavy exertion of her magic. Though, oddly enough, she was still pale, and there was a distinct lack of color in her cheeks.
"I-I think so," Harry said. There was a pattering of footsteps, and the other three women approached, having regained their strength enough to stand. Rebecca had clopped over to Ginny, and was casting diagnostic spells under her breath. Ginny was looking considerably better, and the color had returned to her cheeks, though she was still not awake.
"What happened?" Anna asked,
Harry looked over at the diary, and without a word, Sarah reached down, and tentatively picked it up.
"What the hell…" Harry heard her mutter, before showing it over to Camila, who was looking revolted. A cool hand cupped Harry's chin and Anna forced Harry to look at her,
"Explain to me what happened," She commanded, her tone soft. So Harry did. He explained how he, Ron, and Hermione had found Lockhart and forced him to the entrance to the Chamber. He told her about Riddle, and then what had happened while the women were recovering.
"Oh kid," Sarah sighed, "I'm so sorry, if we hadn't been-"
"It's ok!" Harry insisted, waving off her apology, "If I'd just killed a basilisk, I'd be tired too," He added with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Sarah smiled back, but didn't look reassured.
"There's just one thing I don't understand though," Harry said, turning back to Anna, "How did you find us?"
For the first time since Harry had met her, Anna smiled.
"You remember the argument in the staff room, yes?" She asked, and Harry stiffened. She had known they were there after all. "Yes, child, I knew you were there. Well that little…disagreement you overheard, was my plan. You," She poked Harry in the middle of his forehead, "Are entirely too much like любимый for your own good," She said fondly, "When I discovered you in that room, I knew you would do something foolish. I knew that you had been following Percy, knew about where the Chamber was. So instead of aiding the teachers, we followed you."
"But we never saw you!" Harry gasped "We had no idea that-" then he remembered something and his jaw dropped open, "In the bathroom, there was a noise, like someone stepped on something,"
Camila flinched, "That was me," She admitted, her cheeks flushing even darker, "Never was very good at sneaking around,"
"Indeed," Anna said, though she looked more amused than anything, "Regardless, we followed you down the pipe."
"That was disgusting," Sarah grumbled, "Ruined my nicest set of robes," But Anna ignored her,
"After that fool knocked himself out and caused the cave-in, we took Weasley and Granger and the fool out of the cave. By the time we got back, the serpent had been let loose."
Harry had so many questions, but he couldn't ask any of them, because there was a small groan. Turning his head, Harry watched in relief as Ginny's eyes flitted open, and Rebecca slowly helped her sit upright,
"W-what's…what's going on?" She asked blearily, "What's h-happened?"
Anna turned to Harry, "Come, child, let us leave this dreary place." And she hefted Harry deftly to his feet, and led him and Ginny out of the Chamber.
AN: AAAAAAND CLIMAX! Lol at all the people a few chapter's ago thinking I was going to have Harry kill the snake, ya'll weren't paying attention to the clues I was giving. So why did I choose this route? It all boils down to tone. I have a lot of problems with the HP series, but one of my biggest criticisms has to be the inconsistent tone. It's painfully clear that until like the fourth book, Rowling had no idea where the story was going to go, which is why the early three novels are so much more lighthearted than any other in the series, and that's painfully evident in the climax of Chamber of Secrets. You can't pretend like characters are in danger in the sixth and seventh book, when Harry was tripping and impaling Basilisks at the age of twelve. It makes any character death feel cheap and unearned and totally out of place. So, I set about trying to correcting that, Harry doesn't kill the snake, but kills the diary. This was both a tonal choice, but also a thematic one. I won't explain it to you because I feel it should be obvious with the themes I set up earlier in the story, but I think this was a bit more of a fitting end then Harry essentially tripping and impaling the sword through the Basilisk's head. Instead we have Percy's friends rising to the occasion, and doing what the teacher's should have done in the first place. Only one more chapter and we'll be done with second year. Hope you've enjoyed the story, and I'm very pleased with the support this has gotten! Thanks for the love and support, have a great day and please stay safe.
Love,
LilDB