I do not own…
Chapter Thirty-One: The Fight
To their horror the basilisk was coming out of its mouth.
"Fawkes' fly." Vanessa ordered
"What...but…" Harry said
"Don't ask, just move, and don't look back. Keep your eyes low." She hissed
She grabbed his hand and they started running. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber.
"Kill the boy. Leave the girl to me." Tom said in Parseltongue.
The basilisk slither towards the running Potters. Harry did his best not to look back as he could hear its heavy body getting closer. Then he tripped, taking Vanessa down with him. The basilisk was very near and was about to strike. Vanessa took off her medallion to transform into her vampire side and quickly tossed Harry away before kicking the basilisk back to the statue. The impact made a little hole and a few cracks on it. Vanessa landed on her feet and hissed at the Serpent King as a warning. She didn't look it in the eye but kept her eyes to the ground. In her years of training in fencing she had learned that you can predict her opponents next move, this was just the same. The basilisk got back up and went to attack Harry again. Vanessa used her speed to tackle it but Tom used Harrys' wand to stop her.
"Your fight is with me." He said
Before she could continue attacking the basilisk she heard Fawkes coming back. Fawkes flew over the basilisk and started pecking and clawing its eyes.
"NO!" Tom screamed in anger. "Your bird may have blinded the Basilisk but it can still hear you!" Then spoke in Parseltongue again. "LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"
"Harry run!" Vanessa yelled
Just when Harry started running down one of the pipes she dodge another spell Tom send out at her. She took her wand out and pointed at him in a fighting stance.
"Let's see if you're better than Lucas." She said
Tom smirked.
"So you know. Would you happen to know where my other son is?" He said
Vanessa said nothing and started dueling him. She had to admit, for a sixteen year old Voldemort was very skilled in magic but he wasn't a fighter. With her vampire abilities she was able to teleport herself into different areas before landing a few punches here and there on him.
"You know for dark wizards you focus all your energy and time on learning every charm and spell." She said before disappearing and reappearing to land a few more hits. "But you never thought to learn how to defend yourself in hand to hand combat." She reappeared again and gave him a spin kick that knocked him to the ground. "I believe my grandma warned you about that. If you're gonna be a strong leader, both your body, magic and mind must be strong as one."
Tom spit out blood from his mouth and glared at her.
"Even for a half-breed, you are just like her. It's a shame she couldn't be mine." He sneered and stood up. "She could have been my Lady. The wizardry world would have been ours, them kneeling at our feet. But she chose that Potter boy, your grandfather. I knew I should have killed him a long time ago. But I couldn't touch them back then because of your father. The Tepes secret gradian." He started breathing heavily and looked at her with lust. "But I must admit, even in this form, you are even more beautiful than her and much more powerful."
'Ugh, my boyfriend's father is hitting on me. That's just wrong.' She thought with a shiver.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." She muttered, fighting back the need to puke.
Harry suddenly returned from another tunnel and hurried towards Vanessa. Before he could get to her the Basilisk popped out from underground. Suddenly Vanessa noticed a sword appearing from the Sorting Hat.
"Harry, the hat!" Vanessa yelled
Harry saw the sword and grabbed it. Tom tried to stop him but Vanessa blocked his spell. Harry started to climb half way on the statue of Slytherin for a better way to fight the snake. He slashed the sword at it but only landed a few scratches on its face. When Vanessa kicked the wand out of Toms' hand she kicked him in the stomach again before flipping over to catch it. Then she used her speed to climb on the basilisk's huge body.
"Harry! Toss the sword!" She called
With all his might, Harry threw the sword towards her and she caught it with ease. She jumped up and plunged the sword right in its head and pierced its brain. The basilisk let out hissing howl as it thrashed its head left and right before the princess made a few twists with the sword. Vanessa jumped off and landed on the opposite side where Harry was before it let out one last howl and fell to the ground. Tom looked down at the creature with anger before watching the two Potter climb down.
"It doesn't matter, Potter. Because it won't be long till Ginny's life is gone and Lord Voldemort will return. And very much alive." Tom taunted
Vanessa hissed before she sensed something. A small piece of dark magic somewhere. She looked down at Ginny and smelled the darkness coming from the diary. Tom noticed her stare and smirked.
"Funny, how much damage the book could do, especially in the hands of a silly little girl." He said
Hearing the sword vibrating, Vanessa believed the sword knew what the diary was and wanted to destroy it. She took the diary out of the girl's hand before placing it on the floor. This made Tom tensed.
"What are you doing?" He said
She raised the sword above it.
"Stop! No!" He yelled
He tried to stop her but it was too late. She pierced the diary with the sword and to her and Harry's surprise it started to bleed ink. When it was stabbed so was Tom. A burst of light appeared in his chest, and then his face, making him yell in agony. Then Vanessa placed more weight on the sword to make it go through the pages and pierced the back cover. This was what completely destroyed Tom Riddle's form into nothing but dust. When he was gone the color on Ginny's skin started to return and she started to stir in her wake. Vanessa quickly placed her medallion on before the little witch woke. Her eyes opened up and saw the dead basilisk first before seeing Harry one side and Vanessa on her other side. Her eyes widened when she saw the still ink bleeding diary now in Vanessa's hand.
"Harry. Vanessa. I tried to tell you guys but I c-couldn't say. It was me...but I...I s-swear I d-din't mean to." Ginny said in tears. "R-Riddle made me, he t-ook me over...and...how did you guys kill that...that thing? W-Where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary…"
"It's okay, Ginny." Vanessa smiled and held up the diary, showing her the hole. "Riddle is gone. Both him and the basilisk are gone." She let out a tiring sigh. "C'mon, you guys, let's get out of here."
"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny cried as Harry helped her to her feet.
Neither knew what to say so Harry just patted her back as they walked out of the chamber. Fawkes was waiting for them with the Sorting Hat in beck and they all got out the door of the Chambers closed and locked itself up. They walked through the dark tunnels for a few minutes before they reached the now half taken down rock wall. Ron and Uma were in the middle of moving a few more rocks when they saw them. The Weasley boy quickly stopped and ran to hug his sister. While they were having their little reunion Vanessa looked at the pipes with sigh, wondering how they were gonna climb out of the slimy pipes. Fawkes landed on her shoulder again and that's when she remembered something. Phoenix's can lift ten times its size.
"You think you can give us a lift, Fawkes?" She asked
Fawkes chipped before grabbing onto Lockharts shoulder and lifted him up.
"Grab onto each other guys." Vanessa said
She grabbed onto Lockharts left leg while Harry grabbed his right. When they were high in the air Ron, Uma and Ginny all grabbed each other and they were off. Fawkes flew them high into the pipes and landed them in the bathroom. The entrance closed the moment they were all out. Fawkes then led them all to Professor McGonagall's office where McGonagall, Mr and Mrs Weasely and Headmaster Dumbledore were waiting for them. Mr and Mrs. Weasley quickly embraced both her children but most cried over Ginny. Then they started hugging and thanking Harry, Vanessa and Uma for help saving their daughter.
"How did you do it?" Mrs. Weasley asked
"I think we'd all like to know that." Professor McGonagall said
Vanessa let Harry and Ron explain their part before she explained her helping. She knew that they all must have broken a hundred school rules but wasn't sure what's gonna happen. She didn't mention anything about knowing that Lucas and Hunter were Voldemorts' sons. A part of her was still having a hard time coping with that knowledge.
"What interests me most is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."
"W-what's that?" Mr. Weasley said with a stun voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not...Ginny hasn't been...has she?"
"It was this diary." Vanessa said, giving the diary to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"
The headmaster took the diary from her and looked through its soggy pages.
"Brilliant. Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." He said softly and looked at the Weasleys. "Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school...traveled far and wide...sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."
Mrs. Weasley still didn't understand what Ginny had to do with this so Ginny explained herself. She told them how she found the diary with her books and how she started writing in it and how Tom was writing back to her.
"Ginny! Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." Mr. Weasley said, flabbergasted. "Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic."
"I didn't know." Ginny cried
"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away." Dumbledore interrupted "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." He strode over to the door and opened it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up." He looked at her with a kind smile. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice….I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."
This made Harry and Ron smile, knowing that this meant Hermione is going to be okay. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley thanked the Headmaster before taking their daughter to the hospital wing.
"You know, Minerva, I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?" Dumbledore said to Professor McGonagall.
She agreed and left at once. Now Vanessa, Harry, Ron and Uma were left alone with the Headmaster wondering what's gonna happen to them.
"I seem to remember telling Harry and Ron that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules. Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words." Dumbledore smiled "You four shall receive Special Awards for Services to the School and...let me see...yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."
This made Vanessa, Harry and Ron smile.
"What about for Uma, Headmaster?" Vanessa asked
"Well I...I really didn't...do…" Uma shrugged
"I know who you are Uma as I knew your mother and your grandmother who also came to Hogwarts." Dumbledore smiled
"Really?" Uma asked
Dumbledore nodded.
"And if you like, you can also come here, if you like." He asked
This made Uma smile and nodded in agreement. Then he noticed that Lockhart has been quiet all this time. Harry and Ron explained what happened to him and Dumbledore smiled.
"Dear me, Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy." Dumbledore said, looking at Uma and Ron. "Would you two mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too? I'd like a few more words with Harry and Vanessa."
They nodded and the two took the man to the hospital wing.
"Sit down, Harry and Vanessa." Dumbledore said
The two nodded and sat down.
"First of all, you two, I want to thank you both. You two must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you. And so you met Tom Riddle. I imagine he was most interested in you two."
Vanessa mentally shivered at the memory of Tom's words.
"Professor Dumbledore...Riddle said I'm like him. Strange likenesses, he said…" Harry said
"Did he now?" Dumbledore said "And what do you think, Harry?"
"I don't think I'm like him." Harry said "I mean, I'm...I'm in Gryffindor, I'm…"
He fell silent as doubt lurked in his mind.
"Professor, the Sorting Hat told me I'd...I'd have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I was Slytherin's heir for a while...because I can speak Parseltongue…" Harry said
"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry, because Lord Voldemort...who is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin...can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure…" Dumbledore explained
"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said in worry.
"It certainly seems so." Dumbledore nodded "But do not forget that your grandmother, Victoria Tepe was a Slytherin as well. She was a very gifted and talented witch that was resourceful, determinant and sometimes had a certain disregard for rules when she was experimenting with magic. But what set her different from the others was that she wanted nothing more than to mend the houses together. She has proved that not all Slytherins are dark as many believed."
"The Sorting sometimes runs in the family, right Headmaster. That's why the Sorting Hat couldn't decide whether to place us in Slytherin or Gryffindor because our grandpa was in Gryffindor while our grandma was Slytherin." Vanessa added
"That's right." Dumbledore nodded
Knowing this, seemed to ease Harry's mind some more.
"But if you want to prove that you truly belong in Gryffindor then maybe you should take a look at this." Dumbledore said as he handed Harry the sword.
Harry took a hold of it and looked at the blade. On it, it had Godric Grggindors' name on it.
"It takes a true Gryffindor to pull that out of the hat." Dumbledore said
Then he pulled open one of the drawers in Professor McGonagall's desk and took out a quill and a bottle of ink.
"What you two need is some food and sleep. I suggest you two go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban...we need our gamekeeper back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too." He added "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher...Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"
Before the two could leave the door opened and revealed Lucius Malfoy with Dobby by his side.
"Dobby. So this is your master. The family you serve are the Malfoy's." Harry said
Dobby nodded with a grim look. He then winced when Lucius glared down at him.
"I'll deal with you later." He glared before looking at Dumbledore. "So. You've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts."
"Well, you see, Lucius, the other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They'd heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed and wanted me back here at once." Dumbledore explained "They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too...Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their familiar if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place."
Lucius did his best to not show his anger but his eyes were filled with fury.
"So...have you stopped the attacks yet?" He sneered "Have you caught the culprit?"
"We have." Dumbledore smiled
"Well?" Lucius said sharply. "Who is it?"
"The same person as last time, Lucius." Dumbledore said "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary."
He held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching Lucius closely. Without Mr. Malfoy noticing, Dobby tugged onto Harry's robe to his attention. When Harry looked down at him the house elf gestured his head towards the diary and to his master. It didn't take long for Harry to make the connection.
"Fortunately, Mr. Miss. Potter discovered it." Dumbledore said "One hopes that no more of Lord Voldemort's old school-things should find their way into innocent hands. The consequences for the one responsible would be severe."
Lucius looked at the two Potter with hatred in his eyes.
"Well, let us hope that Vanessa and Harry Potter will always be around to save the day." Lucius said
"Don't worry, Mr. Malfoy." Vanessa smirked as she wrapped an arm around her cousin.
"We will be." Harry said
This made Dumbledore smile at their fearlessness. Lucius glared at them again before departing. Not before kicking poor Dobby across the room. Neither Vanessa and Harry couldn't believe what they were seeing and truly wanted to help Dobby. It wasn't until Harry got an idea and acted Dumbledore if he could borrow the diary. He went downstairs but Vanessa stayed behind as she needed to talk to Dumbledore still.
"Professor Dumbledore...there's something that...I wanted to ask you." She said "Did you know...about..."
"About Lucas and Hunter being the sons' of Voldemort. Yes, I have. But unknown to many in our world. I believe...that's what he wanted." He said with a sigh. "Like you, Vanessa, I believe that the children shouldn't be blamed for their parents' actions. If the Ministry knew about them I fear that they would be in a worse place. When Voldemort died that night the source that I had told me that the twins separated by accident. Their mother, Constance Black, fled with Hunter while the Malfoy's took in Lucas. Why? That I do not know."
Vanessa didn't know what to say and just sat down in one of the chairs.
"Are you worried, Vanessa, that Hunter might be like his father?" He asked
"No. Lucas maybe. Hunter...he has his smarts but...he's different. He accepts people that are different, he feels and cares for others." Vanessa said "I just don't know...I don't know how to tell Harry this. I can't keep this from him. I don't know how he's gonna react."