Harry and Ron walked into the bathroom after a trembling Lockhart and saw Myrtle on a tank staring at one of the sinks. When she saw them, she sighed, "Oh, it's you. What do you want this time?"
"To ask how you died."
Her disposition changed as soon as Harry had asked, it was almost as if she had been asked a flattering question. "Not the first time I've had to tell a part of this story today, the last person was rather curt." Before they could ask who she was talking about, she continued, "But it was dreadful. 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 bust have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to use his own toilet, and then- I died."
"How?"
"No idea. I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…" She looked dreamily at Harry, "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
"You mentioned someone else asked you?"
"Well, he asked about any passageways I might know of. The only thing I could think of was where I saw the eyes. He said something in another language too now that I think about it, and it opened. He went in there just before you came." She pointed at one of the sinks.
Harry felt himself pale at this. If the Heir of Slytherin was here now, he had a head start on them. He and Ron went to examine the sink.
"The tap's never worked." Myrtle said as Harry found the snake engraving.
"Harry, say something in parseltongue." Ron said.
"But-" Harry paused. The only time he'd been able to speak it was when faced with a snake, unless… He stared at the image etched into the sink. "Open up."
He looked to Ron who shook his head, "English."
He looked back to the engraving, willing him to believe the image was alive. "Open up." He hissed. The sink shifted out of sight to reveal the passage; a pipe wide enough for a man to use that dipped into the darkness like a slide.
Arthur had made it through the cavern a large wall that had two serpents carved into it, great, glittering emerald were used on them as if they were eyes. He was about to command it to open when an explosion back the way he came rang out, echoing through the caves.
Cursing under his breath, the personification raced down toward the entrance. Turning a corner, he saw the way was blocked by rocks that caved in. Harry was shouting to the other side.
"I'm here!" Ron's muffled voice came from the other side. "This git's not though- he got blasted by the wand-"
"What happened?" Arthur asked, coming over.
"You?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Yes, me." He said, exasperated. This was the last thing he needed.
"You're the heir?!"
"Excuse me?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm looking for Miss Weasley. I promised Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic I'd keep an eye out for the students and the school."
"But the only way to get down here is to speak-"
"Parsletongue." England finished. "Yes, well, I've been able to speak it but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily related to Salazar Slytherin, now does it? I mean, one of you would have had to speak it to get down here yourselves, wouldn't you?"
Harry sheepishly nodded.
"Now, I heard Mr. Weasley on the other side, who else is down here?" He asked though he already knew the answer.
"Professor Lockhart. He took Ron's wand and the spell backfired. It caused the ceiling to collapse." Harry explained.
"And I think he wiped his own memory!" Ron shouted. "What do we do?!"
"I want you two to stay here and try to remove the rocks so we can get out of here for one thing." Arthur sighed, gazing up at the wall of rocks and dirt. "I'll continue on and try to locate Miss Weasley-"
"I'm going with you." Harry stated.
"It's too dangerous."
"And it isn't for just you? The monster is a basilisk, you'll need help." Harry looked at him determinedly. It reminded him of too many of his colleagues and siblings.
"…Why do I feel like you're going to follow me no matter what I do or say?" Arthur sighed, "Fine, but stay close and do whatever I say. If I say run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. Got it?"
Harry nodded.
"My order for you remains the same, Mr. Weasley! Try to remove as much as you can, but if it feels too unstable, then stop and wait. If we're not back in an hour, go get one of the other teachers and tell them everything you know!"
An "okay" came from the other side followed by the sounds of Ron lifting the rocks out of the way. Harry and Arthur walked through the cave.
"So, you're the man Moaning Myrtle said came in before us?"
"Yes. I would've tried to find the chamber before now, but with patrols and my… health being shaky at best, I haven't been able to find the time. When I heard your friend's sister was taken, I knew I had to act."
"But how did you find it so quickly?"
"Well," England thought up an excuse quickly, "You tend to learn a lot about the castle when you're patrolling it every day, and I've always been interested in the history and legends surrounding Hogwarts." He made sure to leave out that he was around for the castle's construction and early enrollment years.
"…You're not mad I'm going with you?" Harry asked after a minute of silence.
"Frustrated, yes. But mad? No." England stated, "From what I've heard and seen, you and your friends are brave to a fault. You embody the traits of your house well, though to the point where I fear you'll be brave to the point of stupidity if I'm being honest."
"Oh…"
"…You remind me of my brothers if I'm being honest. One in particular. He's brash and reckless, but his heart's in the right place at the end of the day. Just promise me that from here on out you won't go searching for danger. It might not be much coming from me since we don't know each other too well, but I know Dumbledore would want the same."
At that moment, they arrived at the wall.
"Open up." England hissed, and the serpents parted as the wall cracked open. England stepped inside first with Harry following suit.
They walked through a long, dimly lit chamber, wands out and ready. Towering stone pillars entwined with more stone serpents supported the ceiling. At least England was sure there was a ceiling at the end of the darkness above them. As they came to the full chamber, there was a large, looming statue of Salazar Slytherin toward the back. On the ground in front of it was the familiar fiery hair of a Weasley. Ginny was lying face down at the statue's feet.
Before Arthur could stop him, Harry bolted to the girl, dropping to his knees to turn her over, begging her to not be dead. Arthur briskly walked to them, eyes alert for the monster or whomever it was that released it in the first place.
"Ginny, please wake up." Harry muttered as Ginny's body remained almost lifeless.
"She won't wake." Both turned toward the voice and saw a young man leaning against the pillar behind them, though some of his features toward the edges of his form were almost blurred.
"Tom- Tom Riddle?"
Arthur looked at Harry instantly. How had he learned that name, and this man… No, it couldn't be.
"What'd you mean, she won't wake?" Harry asked. "She's not- she's not-?"
"She's alive. But only just." Riddle stated, his eyes never leaving Harry. Arthur began to feel nauseous again, though he swallowed to keep his composure. He had to be ready.
"Are you a ghost?"
"A memory. Preserved in a diary for fifty years." He pointed toward a little, black diary opened on the floor some ways away.
"You've got to help me Tom-"
"He won't." Arthur cut Harry off, wand out and pointing toward Riddle, "He's the one who had her come down here in the first place."
For the first time, Riddle's attention was brought to the bushy-browed man. He looked at Arthur curiously; Arthur wondered if this man could tell what he was. Riddle twirled Harry's previously discarded wand in his fingers, "You're a strange one… You're the one who opened the door to the chamber just now… Who are you?"
"Someone who knows who you are, or to be more precise… who you will become, Tom."
Harry looked between the two, confused and still concerned for Ginny's condition. "We…we need to go before the basilisk comes-"
"It won't come unless it's called." Riddle stated, his eyes never leaving Arthur, trying to figure him out.
"What do you mean? Look, give me my wand, I might need it."
Riddle smiled at Harry, "You won't be needing it."
"What d'you mean I won't be-"
"Because he's the one who opened the chamber and has been using the basilisk to petrify students." Arthur brought their attention back to him as he began to figure out what had happened. He had always heard rumors, but, "You put part of your soul in the diary, and were just waiting for some unsuspecting student to come along so you could use it to influence them and complete what you started fifty years ago."
"Smart." Riddle seemed to glare at him, warily. "Who are you?"
"Someone who won't let you take another life with Salazar's insane plan."
"Influence?" Harry asked confused.
"Yes." Riddle smiled again. "She opened the diary and poured her little heart out to it… to an invisible stranger who was willing to listen when not even her big brothers were keen to. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes- how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how-" his eyes glinted- "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her… It was all very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl, but I was patient and wrote back." He laughed, "I've always been able to charm the people I needed, and as she poured her soul out to me, I grew strong enough to pour some of my own to her."
Riddle turned to Arthur next and Arthur felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, he could barely stop himself from stumbling.
"Your friend here was right, in a way. I did open the Chamber of Secrets, though it was through Ginny Weasley. I had her strangle the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She sent the Serpent of Slytherin on four mudbloods, and the squib's cat."
"No," they heard Harry whisper.
"Yes," Riddle said, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first, it was all very amusing. Her diary entries became much more interesting, less 'pre-teen anxiety' and more 'troubles of a possessed amnesiac'. She began to suspect that she was the one attacking everyone whenever she had bits of her memory missing. The panic in her words were quite… amusing. She finally became distrustful in her diary, and tried to get rid of it, only for it to find its way to you, of all people! I was actually most anxious to meet you, Harry."
Arthur felt the dizziness increase. Was Riddle doing this? Trying to keep him from interfering with meeting Harry? It would make sense since Riddle was part of the reason he felt a threat to his land.
"And why did you want to meet me?"
"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry. Your whole fascinating history. I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust-"
"Hagrid's my friend, and you famed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but-" Harry said, his voice shaking as he noticed how pale Arthur was becoming.
Riddle laughed, "It was my word against Hagrid's. He'd always get in trouble every other week for trying to raise some creature or another, it wasn't too hard for old Armando Dippet to believe. Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Haggrid was innocent and persuaded Dipper to keep him on as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed… Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did…"
"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you."
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled." Riddle said, carelessly, "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the chamber again while I was at school, but I certainly wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. Hence why I decided to preserve myself in my diary. Of course though, now my target is you…"
"Me?"
"Yes. Once she got my diary back after seeing you with it, I had her write her own farewell message and had her come down here. I knew since her brother was your friend then you'd be motivated to come after her. I have many questions for you. How is it that you, a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent, managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time…"
"Voldemort," Riddle said softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter… And I suspect your friend there has had it figured out since he heard my name…"
Harry turned to Arthur, noticing the man wasn't looking so well.
"…Harry, you need to take Ginny and run. He's Voldemort." Arthur got out before he felt his stomach lurch again. He fought to keep it down, keep his composure.
"You're not the greatest wizard of all time." Harry stated, his fists clenched, "That's Albus Dumbledore. Even when you were at your strongest, you didn't dare try to take over Hogwarts, everyone knows it. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days-"
A frown adorned Riddle's face as he glared at the boy, "Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!"
"He's not as gone as you might think!"
Riddle went to retort but froze as music filled the cavern. It grew louder, eerie and unearthly. Arthur felt some relief as soon as flames erupted and Fawkes the phoenix flew from them, clutching the Sorting Hat in his talons. The phoenix dropped the hat at Harry's feet and landed on Arthur's shoulder, gazing intently at Riddle. Fawkes felt warm, he seemed to radiate the heat and it in turn made Arthur regain more of himself.
Riddle laughed again, hard and long. "This is what Dumbledore sends to his defenders? A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave now Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?" He smiled confidently at them, "Now tell me, how is it you managed to escape me not once, but twice in your young, insignificant life?"
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," Harry said, abruptly, "I don't know myself, but I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother- my common muggle-born mother, died to save me. She stopped you from killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul-"
"So, there's nothing special about you after all. Your mother simply died to save you, a powerful counter-charm. It was all merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know from you…" he turned to Arthur, "Now you-"
"Stay away from him." Harry stated, noticing that even though Arthur had recovered somewhat, he was still swaying.
Riddle laughed, "Okay, first something to preoccupy you. Let's put Dumbledore's trust in you and what he sent to the test, shall we?"
He turned to look high up into the stone face of Slytherin. He hissed and Harry and Arthur could understand what he said.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
Fawkes took flight as a giant serpent emerged from the stone face's gaping mouth.
"Kill him."
The serpent eyed Harry and went toward him.
"Harry run!" Arthur screamed. He wished Fawkes hadn't left as the familiar feeling of dread and sickness washed back over him. He hated how soft he had gotten in recent years since the last war. He couldn't even help a child. Harry finally listened and did so, running off into the tunnels, the basilisk slithering after him. Fawkes swooped down and began to scratch and claw at the basilisk's eyes, gaining its attention as Riddle screamed at it to leave Fawkes and to go after Harry. The serpent had been blinded by Fawkes's sharp talons and finally listened to its master, sliding into the tunnels after Harry.
Arthur stumbled to one knee as Riddle approached him, standing over him as he twirled Harry's wand between his fingers.
"Normally I would've sent a curse at you to kill you, but unfortunately until my body finishes reforming, I am unable to cast any spells." Arthur sent a spell at him only for it to phase right through. Riddle laughed, "The same can be said for any spell you try to throw at me in the meantime. Now, who are you? How is it you, a no-named wizard who seems to be friends with Dumbledore, is a parselmouth?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" God how Arthur wished the apparition in front of him was solid so he could give him a good punch. This was why he had been feeling off all year, why he was feeling at his worst now. Voldemort had found another way to come back.
"Oh, I would. You don't seem to look too well." He laughed, "What an idiot, coming down here when you're unwell- or…" his eyes narrowed as he looked at the blond.
Oh no, he couldn't know-
"There were whispers, in those ridiculous theory books and even among my ranks… Of a group of people who never aged and represented civilizations, empires, countries… Who were affected by threats and events that shaped history." He gazed into Arthur's eyes, "You-"
He was interrupted as Harry ran back in, the basilisk following. Fawkes was still attacking the giant snake. Its tail whipped around, causing the sorting hat to fly toward Harry. He picked it up and put it on his head in a last-ditch effort to gain some help. He threw himself to the floor to avoid the Basilisk's tail. He grabbed the hat off of his head and reached in, pulling out a silver sword with large rubies on its handle.
Riddle had turned his attention from Arthur and back to the boy in the time this happened. He was shouting at it to forget the phoenix.
The basilisk lunged blindly at Harry who dodged and raised the sword with both hands until, finally, he drove the sword into the roof of the serpent's mouth. The serpent keeled over sideways and fell, twitching on the floor as it died.
Arthur, though his blurring vision, saw Harry slide down the wall, a large fang poking out of his arm. He wretched it out and stumbled toward Ginny. He collapsed at her side and Fawkes landed next to him. Arthur took that moment to get up and hobble to them. Maybe there was still time to save Harry, he should have a spell or two that might at least slow the poison's work.
"Fawkes," Harry looked at the bird, "You were fantastic Fawkes…" The phoenix laid his head on Harry's arm. Arthur paused, knowing he wouldn't have to cast a healing spell.
"You're dead, Harry Potter." Riddle stated, "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying. I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time, I'm in no rush, and there's nothing your friend here can do, what with his… illness." He seemed to smirk at Arthur. "So ends the famous Harry Potter. You'll be back with your dear mudblood mother soon, Harry… She bought you twelve years of borrowed time… but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must."
Arthur glanced to the wound poking out from under Fawkes's head. It receded under it as it was beginning to be healed by the phoenix's tears. He had to stop himself from smiling.
However, it seemed Riddle remembered as well as he began to point Harry's wand at it, "Get away, bird. Get away from him- I said, get away!" There was a loud bang as Fawkes flew off. "Phoenix tears… Of course… healing powers… I forgot… But it makes no difference. I prefer it this way, in fact. I can finish you off myself."
So Riddle could use spells now. Arthur began to go through a plan on how to keep him away from Harry. If he could use spells then maybe he could be hit by them too.
"You'll have to go through me first." Arthur stepped between them.
Riddle laughed, "You can barely stand. Even if you are who I think you are, you're no match for me in your condition." He raised Harry's wand toward Arthur who raised his in turn. At once the two casted spells at each other, streams of sparks colliding as they fought to overpower the other.
Harry watched on, helplessly. Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes flew back and dropped the diary into Harry's lap. Without thinking, Harry gabbed the basilisk fang and raised it above the small black book. Riddle glanced behind Arthur and saw just as Harry plunged the tip of the fang into the heart of the diary. There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary as if it was bleeding. Riddle dropped the wand and began to writhe and twist, screaming and flailing before vanishing in a puff of light. He was gone.
Arthur sighed in relief, feeling more and more like himself with each second Riddle was no more. The crisis he felt had been averted.
A/N: I have no excuse other than I lost my copy of the book, have no access to the movies via streaming services since the Harry Potter movies were removed from HBO Max, and my copy of the DVD is being lent out to my mom's friend who's never seen them before. That and I was too stubborn to buy a copy of a book I already own or ask anyone if I could borrow theirs. Long story short I found it under my bed since it probably fell without me noticing. Thanks to anyone who stuck around. I'm not going to make any more promises on when the next chapter will be out but know that I have no plans on canceling this fanfic. Life and the fact I'm unlucky just gets in the way.