"..."- Talking

::...::- Parseltongue

Chapter 7: Part 1- Into the Chamber

Once the teachers left Draco and Blaise ran to Lockhart's office. Draco banged on the door as Blaise pulled out his wand. The door opened and Lockhart let the boys in. Blaise's eyes narrowed as he took in the room.

"I see you've packed."

"Err... yes... Urgent call... Unavoidable... Got to go..."

"And what about Lily and the Weasley girl?"

"As to that—most unfortunate. No one—"

"And now we see the real Lockhart: a fraud. Blaise."

The wand was now trained on the Professor. He backed away. "What d'you want me to do? I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."

Draco and Blaise smirked. "You're in luck. We think we know where the Chamber is and what's inside. Let's go."

They marched Lockart to Myrtle's bathroom, where a sink was missing; leaving a pipe exposed. Then Myrtle showed up. She frowned. "Oh... boys..."

"Myrtle, have you seen Lily?"

"Yes... She was dragged down there." Myrtle pointed to the exposed pipe before disappearing into one of the cubicles.

Blaise turned to Lockhart. "Age before beauty, Professor. Go on."

Lockhart walked over to the edge of the pipe and turned his head to the two Slytherins. "Boys, boys, what good will it do?"

Draco shoved the Professor down the pipe. "It'll get Lily back."

Lily groaned, opening her eyes. She was lying on the floor, feeling disoriented. She sat up, looking around. She was in a large cavern, probably beneath the school. There were pillars carved with serpents that looked alive. And there, lying next to her was Ginny. The girl's eyes were closed and she felt cold.

"Ginny, come on and wake up! Please wake up!!"

"She won't wake."

Lily looked up to see a tall, black-haired boy standing in the shadow of a nearby pillar. Lily watched him wary, then her eyes widened suddenly. "Tom Riddle?!"

The boy, Tom nodded, not taking his emerald eyes off the two girls for a moment. "As I said, she won't wake."

"What do you mean? She's not..."

"She's alive, but only just."

Lily frowned as Tom approached her. He looked misty and blurred around the edges for some reason. "Are you a ghost?"

"A memory. Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

Lily glanced back to see the diary lying behind her. "Ginny took it from my room, didn't she?"

Tom nodded again, closer now. "You know, you're much smarter than what Ginny led me to believe."

"Tom, can we talk later? I need to get Ginny out of here before..." Tom grinned and Lily's heart sank when she saw her wand in his hands. "Tom, give me back my wand."

"You won't be needing it."

"What are you talking about? Tom, give me my wand."

"No. You don't need to worry, the Basilisk won't come until it's called." Her wand disappeared into Tom's pocket.

"Really... Wait, what d'you mean, it won't come 'till—"

"I've waited for a long time, Lilith Black—"

"It's Lily..."

"—for the chance to see you. To speak to you." Tom touched her face, then gripped her jaw. "We're going to talk now."

He let go of her jaw and she glared at him. She walked back to the other girl's side, kneeling but still facing Tom. "How did Ginny get like this?"

"That's an interesting question, and quite a 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?" Tom glanced behind her and her eyes widened. "You diary..."

Tom's eyes never left Lily and they had an almost hungry look in them. "It's very boring having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven year old girl, but I was patient. I wrote back and I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you Tom... I'm so glad I have this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket..."

Tom laughed. It was a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. "If I say it myself, Lilith—"

"Lily."

"—I've always been able to charm the people I needed. Ginny poured her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul into her..."

Part 2- Tom's story

Lily felt queasy and it showed on her face. Tom was standing in front of her now. "Oh bloody hell... You made Ginny do all those things? The strangled roosters, the messages, and... You made her set the Basilisk on four people and Mrs Norris?!"

"Yes. Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries... Far more interesting, they became... Dear Tom—"

"Don't recite them. Just... don't."

Tom smirked at Lily's obvious discomfort. "It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary. But she finally became suspicious and tired to dispose of it, and that's where you came in, Lilith—"

Lily finally snapped. "DON'T CALL ME THAT! ONLY MY MOM EVER CALLS ME THAT, AND THAT'S ONLY WHEN SHE'S AGNRY AT ME! CALL ME LILY, GOT IT?! LILY!!!"

Tom blinked and nodded slowly. "Sure... Lily..."

"Thank you."

"May I continue without anymore interruptions?"

"Yes, of course. Wouldn't dream of interrupting you again."

"As I was saying, you found it and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, one of the two people I was most anxious to meet..."

Lily nodded slowly, having said she wouldn't interruption Tom. Tom sighed, bloody Gryffindors and their honour. "Ginny told me about you and your first year at Hogwarts and... well... I knew I wanted find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I showed you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust."

"Modest, you aren't. And Hagrid's my friend, you framed him. I know him, and I thought you made a mistake..."

Tom laughed again. "It was my word against Hagrid's. You can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet."

"I can guess."

"I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realise that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!"

"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. Her persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed. He never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did..."

"Saw right through you, didn't he?"

"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled. I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school, but I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"You haven't though. No one who was attacked, including the cat, died this time. You've failed in completing Salazar Slytherin's work."

Tom studied her and spoke softly. "Haven't I already told you that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me any more?"

"Not until now."

"Well, for many months now my new target has been—you."

"What...?"

"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary and panicked. What if you found out how the diary worked, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worst, I told you who'd been strangling the roosters? So the foolish brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back, but I knew how to get to you. You were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From what Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would do anything to solve this mystery—your curiosity was apparent when you wrote in the diary. You needed to find out who was behind the attacks, and Ginny told me she heard you speaking Parseltongue to your pet snake..."

"...His name's Shadow."

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell and that's when you came running down the hall. It was the perfect opportunity, so I made Ginny knock you unconscious, drag you down here and wait until you awoke. She struggled and cried and became very boring. There isn't much life left in her though: she put too much into the diary, into me; enough to let me leave its pages at last. I have been waiting for you to wake since we arrived here, Lily Black."

Lily stood up and glared at the boy in front of her. "And why is that?"

"There is something I want to know, someone I need to know about..."

Lily walked around Ginny. "And what is that?"

"Tell me about Lord Voldermort."

Lily blinked. This was... well, it wasn't what she was expecting. "Lord Voldermort was a powerful dark wizard an created a terror in the magical. That was 11 years ago. Now he still scares people, but he wasn't the greatest wizard. During his so-called reign, he never attacked Hogwarts while Dumbledore was headmaster. He's the greatest wizard, and they say that he's the one the dark lord feared."

"DUMBLEDORE'S BEEN DRIVEN OUT OF THIS CASTLE BY THE MERE MEMORY OF ME!!"

Lily back away from Tom. "You... You're Voldermort..."

Tom frowned, displeased. "A younger version of himself but yes. I hadn't planned on telling you that just yet..."

"Well, things don't always go as planned, do they Tom?"

Tom ignored her. "There is something else I need to ask of you..."

"And that is? To obliviate my memory? Die willingly at your hands? Or the fangs of the Basilisk?"

"Hardly."

"Then what?"

Tom walked forward and fell onto one knee, capturing her left hand. "Marry me."

M-kun: Ok, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You, M-chan, have a sick and twisted fascination with having your kidnapped damsels in distress being proposed to by the kidnappers!! Not to mention that the damsels were originally males in the originals! I will never completely understand your mind in that regard.

M-chan: What? It's very interesting! Besides, this is very important to the plot in the uncoming Movements!