I'm tempted to promise that there will only be one chapter after this one, but every time I set a deadline or goal it gets screwed up. I really was hoping to have this finished though so that I could move on to year three.
ShadeDancer
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.
Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks and mimes) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.
Chapter 20: Fiery Defeat
For some reason Harry wasn't as surprised as he should have been about this revelation, after all, he knew Voldemort had been a parselmouth and you had to be able to speak the language of the snakes to even enter the Chamber of Secrets. No, it all made sense now.
"You see" Riddle was whispering "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry—I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
Harry stared incredulously at Riddle before he smirked and negligently summoned back his wand, if Riddle wouldn't give it back, he would just have to take it. This guy really was a lunatic, memory or not.
"You're not" he said, voice smug.
"Not what" Riddle snapped, it seemed like he didn't like to be contradicted.
"You're not the greatest sorcerer in the world" Harry's smirk was full of satisfaction "I'm reserving that title for myself. I've already thwarted you twice in my lifetime and I do think I'm going to get quite a lot of satisfaction on beating you yet a third time. How does it feel to know a second year will be your downfall? It must rankle just a teeniest bit. Of course I will concede the fact that I do not yet have the knowledge you and Dumbledore possess, is it true you're afraid of him?"
Harry knew he had struck a cord when Riddle hissed "Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!"
"You really are full of yourself" Harry kept baiting riddle in hopes Hermione would take the hint and get her ass out of there "the Board of Governor's asked him to leave. Why would a pathetic memory such as you frighten him? You're not even solid, you have to rely on a naïve first-year girl to do your dirty work because you're not powerful enough."
Riddle opened his mouth to send out some sort of scathing retort, but froze. Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it made the hair on the back of Harry's neck prickle even as it filled him with a quiet confidence. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating through his whole body, flames erupted at the top of the nearest 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 that Harry did not want to find himself upon the wrong end of, in the talons was clutched a ragged bundle. A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry, but he knew it meant him no harm. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and a beady black eye. It was a phoenix.
"You called a phoenix to you" for a moment Riddle seemed in awe until his eyes fell to the ragged bundle at Harry's feet "and it brought you the old school Sorting Hat."
Riddle began to laugh "how are a song bird and an old hat going to help you against the awesome power I command. You've already proved that you're muggle weapon cannot harm me, shall we see how it does against my basilisk? I would have enjoyed talking to you longer, but you've annoyed me and now must be taught your place. No one shall ever be greater than I!"
Turning, Riddle gazed up into the stone face of Salazar Slytherin and began to hiss "Ssspeak to me, Ssslytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
"Well there isss one thing we agree on" Harry hissed drolly, amusement briefly flooding him as Riddle jerked slightly at hearing him speak parseltongue; it was probably a new concept for Riddle, to hear another human speak the language he held so sacred.
Slytherin's gigantic stone face began to move, its mouth opening wide to form a huge black hole. Something stirred within the statue's mouth. The basilisk was slithering up from the depths of the statue. A gasp sounded behind him.
"Get out of here Granger" Harry yelled, he couldn't afford to be distracted by her presence, but it was too late.
The phoenix took flight as the huge form of the basilisk hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Diving to the floor, Harry snatched up the Sorting Hat, jamming it onto his head so that his eyes were covered. The Hat may not be a weapon, but wearing it would ensure he didn't inadvertently look the basilisk in the eyes. From behind him Harry heard a strangled cry that could have only come from Hermione, he just hoped the foolish Gryffindor wasn't dead, it was going to be difficult enough to explain coming to the Chamber in the first place without bringing back a dead body.
"Kill him" Riddle hissed gleefully to the basilisk.
Harry ran, blindly shooting off spells and bullets in the direction he could hear the basilisk coming from. Maybe if he was lucky he would hit the things eyes. He needed to take out the eyes. He had no chance against the King of Serpents if he could not see to hit it, and he couldn't risk looking and accidentally peering into those deadly eyes. There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, the basilisk had caught up with him. Then something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall. Quickly hauling himself back to his feet, Harry dove behind the pillar he had landed next to, feeling the stone column shudder as the basilisk thrashed wildly against it.
"NO" Riddle suddenly began screaming as Harry heard the phoenix cry out in triumph "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS STILL BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"
Almost not daring to hope, Harry pulled the frayed Hat from his head as the basilisk raised itself high in the air and began to weave drunkenly between the pillars. The basilisk was enormous, a poisonous green color and thick as an oak trunk. It was also blinded now, thanks to the phoenix. The phoenix had punctured both the eyes and blood was streaming to the floor as the snake spitted in agony while being compelled to obey its master's commands. Now that the playing field had been evened somewhat, Harry began to shoot off well placed spells and bullets only to curse as the thick skin of the serpent repelled all his attacks.
"Ancestors help me" Harry sent up the plea, he would have to get to higher ground and aim for the ruins of the basilisk's eyes; they were the only weakness Harry could currently see.
As if it had heard him, the phoenix swept down and dropped the Sorting Hat back upon his head. The moment the Hat touched his head, Harry felt it contract and something very hard and heavy thudded into his skull, almost knocking him out. Yanking the Hat off his head and keeping consciousness out of sheer, stubborn will alone, Harry pulled a gleaming silver sword with a ruby encrusted handle free.
"What the hell" Harry stated in disbelief "how is a sword going to help me against that fucking monster? Why couldn't you give me some C4 or something more useful?"
"That's the sword of Godric Gryffindor" the Hat stated as if that made all the difference in the world "but if you would prefer something more Slytherin—"
The handles of two daggers appeared within the hats opening and Harry pulled them out in disbelief "great, something that gets me even closer to the damn thing. Are you fucking insane! Wait—"
Harry shoved the daggers into the belt around his waist before searching through the pouch hanging off his belt. For once he was glad not to have had time to pull a prank as he fished out a handful of the tiny explosives his father had sent him. With a smirk, Harry cast the enchaneta reducto spell over the balls to give them some more power once detonated; now all he had to do was get them down the basilisk's throat somehow.
As if on cue, the basilisk lunged again, scenting its prey with deadly accuracy. Harry met the lunge with one of his own, forgetting about the sword he still held in his right hand. The weight of his body drove the deceptively sharp sword through the roof of the basilisks mouth. Warm blood gushed down over his arms and Harry felt a searing pain just above his elbow even as he jammed the explosives down the serpent's throat.
"INCENDIO" Harry screamed out the spell, fueling his wandless magic with his anger as the spell ripped through him; he had become so used to using a wand that it was unusually hard to focus his magic without the aide of the piece of wood.
The resulting force of his spell meeting the explosives threw him backwards, the fang impaled in his arm splintering off from the basilisk's mouth. Moments later it was all he could do not to retch from the smell of the basilisk burning up on the inside combined with the pain in his head from where he had slammed it into the stone floor. The pain in his arm didn't fade and Harry glanced down to realize the fang was still imbedded within his flesh, spreading a deadly poison throughout his body. Even as he wrenched the fang out and threw it away from himself, Harry knew it was too late. He may have won the battle, but it would be at the cost of his own life. He only hoped that his dad could forgive him for being so foolish, he knew his death would shatter his father and for that he was sorry. His vision grew foggy and the Chamber began to dissolve around him, the only bit of color still present in his vision was the fiery phoenix.
"Thank you" Harry told the bird "without you I would have died without being able to take out the basilisk."
Even through the numbing pain Harry could feel the phoenix lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced through his flesh and to his despair the bird began to cry. From somewhere in the distance Harry heard Riddle laugh in triumph.
"You're dead, Harry Potter" Riddle gloated "dead. You may have defeated my basilisk, but I am still here and you are dying. Even the phoenix knows it. At least you shall have the comfort of knowing there was someone to mourn your death, even if it was only a bird. How does it feel to know you are dying as a failure?"
The Chamber stopped darkening around him and began to come in focus. The phoenix gave him a little trill of encouragement, the tears still dripping onto his wounded arm. Harry started and looked harder at his arm. There was no wound and the numbing pain from the basilisk's poison was no longer burning its way through his body. Riddle suddenly stopped his gloating.
"The tears—get away, bird" Riddle yelled "get away from him! I said get away!"
The phoenix disobeyed, and in a fit of rage Riddle stooped down and picked up the diary, flinging it unerringly at the phoenix. With an undignified screech the phoenix took to the air, squawking angrily at Riddle. Harry gazed down at the diary now lying in his lap. Riddle had just handed him the key to his own destruction without even thinking about it. With a smirk Harry held up the diary and one of the Slytherin daggers.
"Who's the failure now Riddle" he taunted as he plunged the dagger deep into the cover of the diary "it certainly isn't me. I am a Darkov, and we never fail."
Riddle cried out as the dagger pierced the diary, but still advanced as if he was going to attempt to kill Harry with his bare hands.
"Incendio" Harry murmured almost lazily at the diary, the spell coming much easier this time as the book began to sizzle and burn.
Riddle began to scream, a high pitched sound of agony that shuddered down through Harry's spine. Then he was gone, the scream cutting off abruptly, the diary no more than a pile of ash upon a gore splattered floor. Exhausted, Harry slumped down on the floor, ignoring the filth that covered him. The phoenix settled down on a pillar near him and trilled encouragement, but still Harry didn't have it in him to move until a slight stirring near Slytherin's feet caught his attention. Reluctantly Harry stood, shoved the dagger back into his belt before retrieving the sword from the basilisk's mouth, and made his way over towards Ginny just as the girl got to her feet.
"Harry" Ginny stared in disbelief at him "how did you get here? And what's that awful smell?"
"That's the smell of scorched basilisk guts" Harry informed her "unfortunately it's going to smell down here for some time since the basilisk didn't totally burn up, the skin appears to be fire resistant so its insides cooked as if they had been shoved inside an oven."
Ginny merely gaped as she finally seemed to focus on more than just his face. Her mouth worked soundlessly as she took in his gore-splattered appearance, ripped clothing, and battered countenance. Then she fainted dead away. Harry looked down at himself. Except for the blood and guts covering him, he looked better than the time he had been kidnapped and wasn't nearly as roughed up. Come to think of it, he felt better than he had after the time he had been kidnapped, but then that might be the phoenix's doing. With a sigh he levitated Ginny and made his way over to Hermione's prone form. Thankfully he was able to find a pulse and levitating her as well, he followed the phoenix out of the Chamber of Secrets.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'd write out responses to everyone, but that would take forever.
Marshimaromadness All those reviews just made my day.
Anime monster: Hermione's a Gryffindor, that will sometimes override the smart factor.
Posted On: August 10, 2005