NOT. EASY.

Sorry I didn't upload anything in November but I tried making this as long as possible and I came up short. Make sure to read the author's notes at the end.

Enjoy!

Chapter 27

Rescue

The teacher and two students darted in different directions as the basilisk moved towards them. It was rather hard to navigate their way around the Chamber since their eyes were closed. Shura managed without her eyesight, using her other senses to do so. Harry and Rin, however, made their way around the Chamber by using their outstretched arms. All the while, Voldemort laughed at their plight.

"How are we supposed to fight this thing?" Rin cried. "Any ideas?"

"Why do you keep asking me these questions?" Harry exasperatedly cried back. "I have no idea how we're going to stop that thing!"

Both boys were running in random directions to throw the basilisk off their trails. They realized too late that it was a bad idea when they ran into each other and fell to the floor. It would have been funny to see if the circumstances weren't so grim.

Rin heard the serpent slither towards him. Knowing he wasn't fast enough to outrun the giant monster, Rin could only curl up into a ball and stay perfectly still in the hope that it wouldn't see or smell him (like in that American movie about the dinosaurs on that island park). Rin felt what he was sure was the basilisk's tongue on his back. He thought it was the end for him until he heard loud, explosive hissing noises. What he, Harry, and Shura didn't see was that the basilisk was backing away from Rin as far as it could, almost as if it was afraid of Rin.

This seemed like an opportunity of some kind because the tone of the hissing changed (if that made sense). Harry couldn't help but open his eyes a tiny bit to see that the basilisk was staring at something above its head. Fawkes was soaring above the giant snake's head and it was snapping at him. The bird dove towards the basilisk's eyes and literally pecked them out. The snake hissed and spit in agony.

"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOYS AND WOMAN ARE YOUR TARGETS! YOU CAN STILL SMELL THEM! KILL THEM!"

At those words, Harry fully opened his eyes. He risked looking at the basilisk and saw blood streaming down its eye sockets. The giant snake was blind.

"Guys, open your eyes!" Harry yelled to Shura and Rin. "Fawkes blinded the basilisk. We can fight back."

The others did so and saw that what the scarred boy said was true.

Riddle was ready for that. "Pin the woman! You can smell her. Pin her with your tail! Just kill the boys first!"

The basilisk stuck its tongue out before throwing its tail towards Shura. It was so fast, Shura didn't have time to do a counterattack. She was pinned to the wall so suddenly, she dropped her sword. The snake's tail also swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Out of options, Harry shoved the hat onto his head.

"Help me," he quietly pleaded.

CLUNK!

Harry saw stars as something suddenly landed on his head, almost knocking him out. He took the hat off and pulled out a sword of all things. It was silver and had egg-sized rubies.

All the while Fawkes was flying around the basilisk's head.

"KILL THEM! LEAVE THE BIRD! THEY ARE ALL BEHIND YOU! SNIFF - SMELL THEM!"

Rin ran over to Shura and started pulling the basilisk's tail away from her. She looked towards Harry and saw that he was holding a sword.

She then looked at Rin. "Get to Girl Weasley and drag her to a corner or under the statue. Somewhere where the snake can't hurt her. I'll help Potter," she instructed.

Rin nodded and darted towards Ginny, making sure that the basilisk or Riddle didn't get in his way. He knelt down next to the girl and, after moving Shura's robe from her head to her torso, dragged Ginny closer to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. He didn't stop until he was underneath the statue. He could only hope the basilisk couldn't fit its head in Rin's hiding spot.

Meanwhile, Shura snatched her sword from the floor and dashed towards Harry.

"Ever used a sword before, Potter?" she asked.

"No," Harry answered, his voice quivering with nerves.

Shura smirked and faced the basilisk. "Here's your first lesson then: stick 'em with the pointy end."

Harry sweatdropped. "Doesn't that go without saying?"

The basilisk lunged blindly towards the two. They jumped out of the way. Shura managed to run around the basilisk while Harry hit the Chamber wall. He straightened up and held the sword with both hands. The snake lunged towards Harry again but this time he was ready. He threw his entire weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the basilisk's mouth.

As Harry felt warm blood drench his arms, he also felt a searing pain right above his elbow. A long, poisonous fang was embedded in his arm and it splintered as the basilisk pulled away and started swaying.

Shura saw this as an opening. "Kirigakure Sword Technique: Serpent Fang!" she cried as she swiped her sword, launching blades of air towards the basilisk. The blades were strong enough to slice the serpent's head clean off.

Before Shura could let out a celebratory whoop, she saw Harry slide to the floor with the basilisk fang sticking out of his arm. She immediately dashed towards him. "No, no, NO! Get a hold of yourself, Potter!"

Rin saw what was happening to Harry and ran towards him too. He didn't know why, but he brought the diary with him.

"Harry! Harry! Are you okay?" Rin asked.

"Does he look okay?!" Shura asked exasperatedly. Fawkes swooped down next to them and laid his head near the spot where the fang pierced Harry's arm.

"Fawkes," Harry said thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes…" His arm was burning, his vision was foggy, the Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of color, Rin and Shura were becoming two blurry figures. Something puzzled him though. Little black bugs suddenly emerged from cracks and crevices throughout the Chamber…

The group heard Riddle approach them. "You're dead, Harry Potter," Riddle taunted. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing? He's crying."

Rin burst into blue flames. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he roared. He pounced at Riddle but he only went through him. Rin tried punching and kicking but to no avail. As his flames died down, so did Rin's rage which was replaced by defeat and sorrow for his friend. "You son of a bitch," Rin whimpered as he swung a weak punch at Riddle. His shoulders shook as he fell to his knees and started to sob.

Riddle chuckled. "So ends the famous Harry Potter, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your Mudblood mother soon, Harry… She bought you twelve years on borrowed time… but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must. Your friend and the Squib will follow you soon enough."

Shura scowled and turned her head towards Fawkes and the downed Harry. To her surprise, Harry's wound was completely gone. In fact, he wasn't as deathly pale as he used to be a few minutes ago.

Riddle must have seen her staring because he shooed Fawkes away with Harry's wand.

"Phoenix tears…" Riddle muttered, staring at Harry's arm. "Of course… healing powers… I forgot…"

Rin's head perked up at this and saw Harry slowly sitting up. Riddle aimed Harry's wand at him, ready to finish the job. Rin saw the basilisk's fang near Harry then looked down at the diary he carried over. An idea quickly formed in Rin's head.

"Harry, the diary!" Rin exclaimed as he slid the diary towards Harry. He immediately caught on to Rin's thinking. Harry picked up the fang and pierced the center of the diary.

Riddle let out a long, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, and flooded the floor. Riddle writhed, twisted, flailed, and screamed in agony and then -

He was gone. Rin and Harry's wands fell to the floor with a clatter and silence filled the Chamber.

"Thank God that's over," Shura murmured. "I'm sure as hell not gonna miss him." She looked at Harry. "How're you feeling, Potter?"

Harry shakily picked up his wand, the Sorting Hat, and carefully extracted the sword from the basilisk's mouth. "I think I'm okay," he answered. He swiped a black bug away from his face. "Where did these black bugs come from?"

Shura perked up. "'Black bugs?'" she parroted.

"Yeah. They just suddenly appeared while I was lying on the floor."

Shura guffawed then turned into a laugh. "Well, paint my skin green and call me the Wicked Witch of the West! You got your temptaint!"

Rin blinked and picked up his wand. "You mean the basilisk gave Harry a temptaint?" he asked for clarity. "But Fawkes healed you, Harry. How do you still have a temptaint?"

Harry could only shrug.

"Clearly phoenix tears can't get rid of a temptaint," Shura stated.

A groan was heard from the Salazar Slytherin's statue where Rin had hidden earlier. Ginny was stirring. As Harry and the others hurried towards her, she sat up. She looked towards the beheaded basilisk to Harry's bloodied robes and then to the diary in his hands. She drew a stuttering breath and started to cry.

"Harry - oh, Harry - Rin - Pro-Professor Sh-Sh-Shura - I tried to tell you at br-breakfast, Harry, but I c-couldn't say in front of Percy… It was me, Harry… but I… I didn't mean to - R-Riddle made me, he took over and…" she sobbed.

Shura picked up her discarded robe and put it on Ginny's shoulders. "Hey don't beat yerself up, Girl Weasley," she assured the sobbing redhead. "I've dealt with kids in similar situations like yours."

Harry nodded. "It's all right," he assured. He held up the diary with the fang hole inside it. "Riddle's finished."

"He's not gonna bug you anymore," Rin added.

"I'm gonna be expelled!" Ginny cried as Shura helped her to her feet. "I've looked forward to going to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and now… what'll Mum and Dad say?"

Shura put her arm around Ginny's shoulders. "It'll be fine, Girl Weasley. I'll talk to the boss and vouch for you."

They followed Fawkes out of the Chamber and they eventually found themselves back at the rockslide where they saw a decent-sized gap big enough for everyone to fit through.

"Ron! Yukio!" Harry called out. "Ginny's fine! I've got her!"

The trio plus phoenix crawled through the gap and Ron immediately embraced Ginny.

"You're alive! I can't believe it! What happened?" he asked her frantically. "Wha-? Where did that bird come from?"

"He's Dumbledore's," said Harry.

"Where did you get that sword?" asked Yukio.

Shura stepped in when Ginny started crying harder. "Alright! We'll answer all of your questions as soon as we get out of here. Where's Cueball?"

Yukio jabbed his thumb behind him. "Over there." Lockhart was sitting near the mouth of the pipe humming a little tune. "The Memory Charm backfired big time," Yukio explained. "He has no idea who he is, who we are, or where he is. Ron and I had him sit there while we worked on the rockslide."

Lockhart noticed the group. "Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place, isn't it? Do you live here?"

Shura gave him a deadpanned look. "Yeah, we're just doing renovations," she sassed.

"So how do we get out of here?" asked Rin.

Fawkes landed in front of them and waved his long tail feathers.

Before you guys start going on and on about how Rin didn't participate in the fight, let me say I kind of planned it out that way. If Rin used the blue flames against the basilisk, the fight would have ended too quickly and easily. Same goes for the diary. Harry kind of needs it in order to free Dobby and Dumbledore also needs it for his own...research.

Plus I wanted to show off Shura's fighting skills.

Did anyone find the little Easter egg I threw in there? It was too good NOT to put in!