Beth stared at the scene before her, trying to make sense of it. This was very wrong. It was unthinkable. "Evan -- what --"
Evan finished tying the girl off and looked up at Beth with shadowed eyes. "Get in here," he ordered. She took a step back instead. "Come on," he said irritably.
"What have you done?" she finally managed.
Evan had his wand out and was suddenly pointing it at her head. "I said, get in here, and I'll explain," he growled. His limp, dark hair fell in his face. He looked wild, frightening. Shaking, Beth started slowly towards him. Very carefully, she casually reached into her pocket for her wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
The wand flew out of Beth's hand and landed across the room. Evan glared at her.
The door went open with a bang, and Daedalus, Uther and Bruce all came in. "Get out, it's a trap!" Beth cried, throwing caution to the wind, just as Evan shouted, "Hurry up and get inside, I have to --"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence, because the boys had already seen what was going on. They rushed him as a group. He was only able to freeze Bruce before Uther had him pinned to the wall and Daedalus was tearing the wand out of his hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" snarled Uther, his hands at Evan's throat.
"Get your hands off me and I'll tell you," Evan choked out.
"Beth, help me untie them," said Daedalus.
Evan struggled against Uther's grip. "No! Don't let the girl get away!"
By then Beth was tugging at the ropes that held Melissa. They must have been magical; she couldn't move them.
"Help me," begged the girl tied to the chair. She could have only been eleven, and was obviously terrified. "Let me go ..."
"Don't listen to her!" shouted Evan.
Richard and Riggs burst in. They stopped dead as they realized the extent of the chaos around them.
"Ginny Weasley!" gasped Riggs. All the color had drained out of his face. "What -- what is she doing -- tied up?"
"Let me go," Ginny Weasley begged again, writhing in her chair.
"It's Evan!" bellowed Uther, tightening his grip on the boy's neck. "It was him all along! He's the Heir of Slytherin!"
"No," gasped Evan, pulling desperately at Uther's clenched hands. "It's her."
Ginny Weasley started to laugh.
There was something very wrong about the way she threw her head back and laughed, eyes glinting madly, a dark passion in her face that somehow twisted beyond that of an eleven-year old girl. Her thin body shook with the force of the laughing. Then she lurched against the ropes -- her head flew backward before sinking to her chest -- and she fell deathly still.
There was a terrible silence.
"You'd better let him go," said a voice. "He was right, you know."
Behind the Ledger stood a boy that Beth had never seen before. He was tall, possibly as old as Daedalus, with neat black hair. He was very handsome. As Beth looked, she started to realize that his outline was a little fuzzy ... he was a bit blurry around the edges, like a half-ghost. He was also holding her wand in his hand, and there was a S.S.A. ring on his finger.
The boy smiled. "Well," he said, "he was almost right."
Richard came forward. There was a look of awe on his face. "You're -- you're --"
"Yes." The boy bowed at the waist. "Tom Riddle. It's good to be back."
Richard turned to Uther. "Let him go, then!" Bewildered, Uther released Evan, who slid to the floor. He turned back to Tom Riddle, who still stood fingering Beth's wand. "You've come to help us. We'll do whatever you need. Gloria serpens," he finished fervently.
"I'm afraid I disbelieve you," said Tom Riddle, a little sadly. "Most of you have been nothing but a hindrance to my entire quest."
Richard looked crushed. He rallied himself and went on, "But now that we know you're here -- you can help us close the Chamber of Secrets -- you did it before --"
Tom Riddle let out a short, mirthless laugh. "The Chamber of Secrets. I remember that period in my life very well. It was a time of fear for the students; and after a girl was found dead, well -- the headmaster would believe any story to usher away the past. I wonder, did any of you find out what is hidden in the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Yes," said Richard eagerly. "A basilisk -- it took us nearly all year --"
"I expected as much," said Tom Riddle. "I was careful to record everything for the Society." He gestured to the Ledger. "Everything," he repeated.
Beth looked back at the girl tied to the chair. She still sat there like a rag doll, head bowed impossibly low. Riggs stood near her, his face white. The other members looked just as stunned; no one moved except Evan, rubbing his neck.
"I would have expected the Society to continue my goals," Tom Riddle said, twirling Beth's wand in his fingers idly. "It was, after all, my creation. But somewhere along the way there was a ... division. Different ideas that I didn't anticipate. My legacy was not passed on. That was my mistake: entrusting the greatest of Hogwarts' secrets to those who would not use them correctly."
"Like who's the Heir of Slytherin," Richard said eagerly.
"My dear boy," said Tom Riddle, "I am the Heir of Slytherin."
Richard reeled back. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "But you -- you closed the Chamber --"
Tom waved dismissingly. "How could I close it unless I had first opened it? Fifty years ago when the girl died it became too dangerous to carry on. I locked up the basilisk --"
"You?" choked Richard.
"Yes, I. Please stop blathering, you claim to be one of the elite." Richard winced. "The basilisk was the perfect weapon. Only Salazar Slytherin's true heir could control it, do you see? He was brilliant." His smile broadened. "But he never attained immortality. I did."
Uther and Daedalus were starting to shake loose from their surprise. They began to move towards the foggy image of Tom Riddle.
"Don't move." Tom's voice became sharp suddenly.
Richard was still fighting back shock. "But how did you -- why did you --"
"How did I come to be here, when the Tom Riddle of the Ledger is dead and gone? My old associates could have told you. I believe you met most of them after Baltus Gatherum died. The blood of Slytherin himself runs in my veins -- a great honor and a great responsibility, to carry on his ideals. I tried to do his work and eliminate the tainted blood from Hogwarts. But I attained to something more. I wanted to live forever.
"I started by preserving myself at sixteen -- the person you see now -- in a diary. It was a good start, but I knew that I would need to delve deeper. I did, and it worked. I should have died twelve years ago -- but I didn't. I lost my body but not my being. And I live now, twice: a shade of what I was, and a shade of what I am."
Beth couldn't understand what he was saying. There was something that he wasn't saying, some underlying truth that they did not know.
"What ... what are you?" said Richard, his voice shaking.
"I am the once and future ruler of wizardkind. I am Lord Voldemort."
At first Beth hardly realized what he had said. Then the cloud in her mind started to lift ... she felt her mouth fall open dumbly ... she wondered if she was going to scream ...
Tom Riddle started to shimmer and fade. His voice grew thinner. "But now I have work to be done; I can't have my own Society interfering." He pointed his finger around at them as if counting. "All ten are here; that's good. And it was so kind of your young black-haired friend to tie up some of you already -- Wilkes, if I'm not mistaken."
"They were trying to let the girl loose," Evan spat hoarsely.
Riddle laughed unconcernedly. "I remember your father -- one of my favorites," he said offhandedly to Evan. Then he looked back at Richard. "You'll be so kind as to stay here, out of the way, until my mission is fulfilled. I'm sure you'll hear about it when it's over. The death of Harry Potter is going to go in the history books." He was fading faster, both his image and sound. "If you aren't willing to cooperate, I'm sure my newest loyal servant will help you see the light. Gloria serpens ..."
And he vanished completely, letting Beth's wand clatter to the ground.
Dumb silence. Then Uther blurted: "Where'd he go?"
There was a rustling from behind. Beth whirled around just in time to see the red-headed girl run out the door.
Standing beside the empty chair, cut ropes in his hand, was Riggs.
Evan stumbled to his feet. "He's possessed her! Go get her!" he cried hoarsely. "She's going to go to the Chamber -- she's going to die! Don't just stand there!"
Riggs dropped the rope and took out his wand.
"He's getting away! We have to stop him!"
"Omniphera paribus," Riggs said, "accio wand."
Nine wands flew through the air: Beth's from the ground and others from robes or hands. Riggs caught them in a bundle above his head and stuffed them in his pocket. He was breathing heavily. His glasses had slipped down his long nose again, and his hair was in disarray. Very deliberately, he went to Vivian and dragged her upright. Then he put his wand to her neck.
"Now," he said quietly, "we're all going to do exactly as my master says, and stay here -- or Vivian is going to die."
There was a stunned silence.
Then Daedalus started forward. "You dirty traitor -- I'll kill you --"
Riggs pressed his wand harder into Vivian's neck. "Avada --" he began. Daedalus stopped as if he had run into a wall. Riggs relaxed. "That's better. No one comes any closer. Especially you," he added, looking at Mervin laying Body-Bound on the floor, and let out a sudden stream of half-maniacal laughter. There was something in his eyes that Beth had never seen before. "Everybody can just have a seat."
No one moved.
"Sit down!"
Shaking, Beth sat on the nearest low couch and everyone else did the same. Richard remained standing.
"Riggs, what are you doing?" he begged.
"It's Randall!" Riggs spat. His brown hair fell into his face. "No one ever calls me by my first name! My name is Randall!"
Richard looked completely nonplussed. He held out his hands tentatively. "All right ... Randall ... let her go and I swear no one will leave."
"I like her right here." Vivian let out a muffled whimper.
Richard took a deep breath. "Why are you doing this?"
Riggs laughed again; it chilled Beth's bones. "Gloria serpens, old boy. To the glory of the snake. There might be a few Petrifications, maybe even some deaths if we're lucky, but Slytherin has never gotten the respect it deserves until now."
"But --" Richard stammered. "You're helping the Dark Lord!"
"Helping him to bring back the rule of Slytherins everywhere."
Richard just stood and stared at him for several tense seconds. He seemed to be at a loss for words. Then he managed, "How long ... have you known?"
Giving a superior smile, Riggs pulled Vivian over to the abandoned chair and forced her down into it. "Quite a few months now," he said casually, using his wand to tie her to the chair. "Rothbard told me that Tom Riddle was the Heir of Slytherin, but he wouldn't say any more. It was Ebenezer Nott who helped me along. Dropping hints until I figured it all out ... showing me what good had come of the Dark Lord's reign ...
"Of course," he added, putting his wand back to Vivian's throat, "to be any use to my master I had to discover whose body the Dark Lord had possessed. He's weak, you see -- he needs someone to draw power from. Melissa's tea reading helped with that. 'A riddle possessing a red-haired weasel'," he recited, and Beth let out a gasp of recognition. Melissa twisted angrily in her ropes. "Once I realized that Riddle was taking over someone's body, it was easy to see that it meant one of the redheaded Weasleys. I started shadowing them, and it became obvious that it was the youngest.
"I kept an eye on her. One night I saw her slip from the castle, so I followed her outside. She went to Hagrid's chicken coop -- it was she who had been strangling roosters, while the Dark Lord controlled her mind. The cry of the rooster is deadly to a basilisk. I went to her -- to him -- and offered my fealty. He allowed me to kill the rooster."
"And now you've just let him kill her," Uther spat loudly.
"You be quiet!" shouted Riggs. His glasses fell askance on his long nose. "What's one life compared to the glory of us all?"
"There's no glory in serving evil," said Richard quietly.
"You're wrong!" Riggs practically screamed. "Who was more powerful than the Death Eaters? No one! With Dumbledore gone and Potter killed, there'll be no one left to stop another glorious era -- and then who'll rule the world? Not the enemies of the Dark Lord -- they'll be killed one by one!" He was breathing heavily. "He is not dead and he is not gone. There is deep power behind him."
He took a deep breath and relaxed again. "He took me into the Chamber," he said, and his voice was eerily conversational. "Told me to close my eyes. He had the girl call forth the basilisk and let it slither under my outstretched hands. It was bristling with power ... power to kill, to maim, to strike fear. And that power's going to be mine."
A terrible smile washed over his face. "Very soon, Harry Potter will be following his best friend's sister into the Chamber of Secrets. I made sure of that. I gave him hints to where it was ... put ideas in that scarred head of his ...
"The problem was, everything would be ruined if he actually found out what the creature was. He'd have time to arm himself ... that wouldn't do at all. Luckily, when Miss Granger discovered that the monster was a basilisk, she came to myself and Miss Clearwater first. I was able to warn my lord, and have them frozen before they told anyone else. It wasn't easy to be so subtle, but I think my work will pay off ..."
"Pay off!" Uther sputtered, earning him a snarl from Riggs.
"Oh yes, it will pay off. Potter will describe what went wrong last time. Then he'll die. There's nothing you can do about it. We'll all show up again tomorrow morning and pretend as if we were in our beds all night -- wouldn't want to expose your precious society, would you, Rich?" he sneered. Richard flinched. "By then, of course, it'll all be over ... my lord will be restored to full power, with his greatest enemy out of the way ... Then we'll see what happens. It'll be an adventure. Won't it, Rich?"
Richard had nothing to say.
Silence descended on the company like a smothering cloak. Beth, afraid to take her eyes from Riggs, only stared at him in despair. In the course of a year, what had gone wrong? What had made him take the path that so many others had taken, only to meet death or worse? Evan Wilkes' father had died for his role in Voldemort's rise. Beth's entire family was incarcerated and probably going slowly mad as dementors circled in and out of the dank halls of Azkaban. What would make Riggs disregard all of that, in a futile quest for power?
Obviously, he didn't think it was futile. And judging by how well Riddle's -- Voldemort's -- plan was going, Riggs might have been right.
There was the click of a latch.
Riggs perked up and glared around at them. "Don't try anything, or you can say goodbye to Vivian," he growled savagely. Vivian closed her eyes.
Another scraping noise. A slow creak. Then, as Beth watched, Herne Rudisille came into the Vase Room.
"Sorry I'm late -- got caught --"
Riggs whirled on him and raised his wand ... but as he did, Uther and Daedalus leapt into action. They barreled forward like a pair of trains, shoving things out of their way as they went. Riggs turned back around, but he only had a split-moment before both larger boys had thrown themselves onto him and brought him to the ground.
The action brought everyone else out of their stupor and to their feet. Evan leapt up and joined the fray, where he ground his foot into Riggs' wrist until he let go of his wand. Beth and Richard darted to Vivian's side and began tugging at her ropes.
"Wands," Daedalus gasped, grabbing the stack of wands from Riggs' pocket and tossing them onto the ground behind him. He picked up one randomly and quickly enunciated, "Petrificus totalus." Beneath him, Riggs grew as cold and still as if he had stared into the gaze of a basilisk.
Uther and Daedalus stood and looked down at the frozen boy on the ground. Then they looked up. Herne was backed up against the door, eyes wide and frightened.
"What ... what did I miss?"
Evan came up and got his wand from the pile. "Not too much," he said coolly, his voice calm. "Better get in here and help us clean up, though."
He set about freeing the frozen and bound, and the rest of them gradually joined in and helped him.