31
The Heir of Slytherin
The twins stood staring down a long chamber bathed in a green light. Large columns carved in the shapes of serpents lined the chamber supporting the ceiling. Each serpent cast an eerie shadow over the path before them.
Keeping her wand in front of her she motioned to Harry that they should move forward. Getting a nod in reply the twins slowly made their way further into the chamber. Every step seemed to echo in the cavernous chamber no matter how softly they stepped. Emily eyed the stone serpents warily, their eyes seemed to follow them as if at any moment they would animate and attack them for daring to enter the chamber. When they reached the last stone serpent, the chamber opened up into an even larger cavern with a large stone statue facing them. It was a face Emily knew immediately from her studies. It was ancient looking man with a beard and long flowing hair, it was none other than Salazar Slytherin. Emily couldn't hold back her smirk. The man was obviously vain.
Emily was pulled from her musing at her brother's call of "Ginny!" She looked to see her brother rush towards the small girl who was lying before them on the floor. Emily advanced slowly as Harry shook the red-head's shoulders begging her not to be dead, yelling at her that her brothers would be devastated without her. The girl was pale and looked lifeless.
As Harry attempted to wake her, her head rolled towards Emily and she could see the girl's eyes were closed and her body moved like deadweight letting both Emily and Harry know she was not petrified.
"Please, you can't be dead! Wake up!" Harry pleaded shaking Ginny as her head lolled from side to side.
"It's futile, she will never again open her eyes," a soft voice spoke. Harry jumped but Emily turned cautiously, curious as to why she didn't feel a new magical signature. Before her stood an attractive boy who was casually leaning against the wall. He appeared to be about sixteen and had black hair. The strange thing about him though was that he was blurred around the edges as if he was more of a projected image than a true person.
"Tom…" Harry called out. "Riddle?" At the nod from the newcomer Emily noticed her brother seemed relieved. Who was Tom Riddle and how did he know her brother?
"Tom, do you know what's going on? Why won't she wake?" Harry asked urgently. "Is she…"
"She is just barely alive at the moment," Tom answered not even bothering to look in the girl's direction.
Emily stood back taking in the scene. Unwilling to act just yet, she needed more information. She began looking around the room which seemed devoid of any large serpent making Emily uneasy at the thoughts of where the Basilisk might be hiding. She turned back to the boys when she heard her brother ask Tom if he was a ghost. Inspecting the boy's image again she could see where her brother may draw that conclusion but unlike a ghost you could clearly make out various colors in the boys image and he was not transparent.
"I guess I am more of a memory that has been preserved for fifty years within an old diary," Tom said gesturing towards a point closer to the statue. There on the floor was a leather diary, one she recognized. It was the very diary that had given off a magical signature she knew all too well from the year previous. She had felt it when she helped her brother on Valentine's Day after his book bag ripped. She had written it off at the time because books didn't tend to carry magical signatures for long and her brother having a book that felt like him, well she just could not fathom how that could happen. Now though she was very wary, looking between the diary and the boy.
"Can one of you help me lift her?" Harry asked. "There is the Basilisk and it could come at any moment, we need to get out of here."
"You do have a wand," Emily reminded Harry. "You can levitate her."
Harry looked a bit sheepish and reached to the ground where Tom was now standing.
"Have you seen my wand?" Harry said looking between her and Tom.
"You put your wand down?" Emily scolded. "Never let your wand leave your hand when in a strange place, especially when you know a large beast is lying in wait somewhere!"
"She's right you know, you really should keep track of your wand. You wouldn't want an enemy to catch you unaware," Tom said smirking down at the scene before him. Emily noticed the boy was now twirling a wand in his hand, a wand she recognized as Harry's. Her brother must have noticed as well as he blushed and held out his hand.
"Uh… thanks I will remember to watch it better," Harry said but Tom made no move to give the wand back. "The Basilisk could come at any minute…"
"It has to be called," Tom replied causing Emily to raise an eyebrow. How did he know that?
"Can I have my wand please, I'm going to need it," Harry pressed.
"You won't need it," Tom said smiling back down at Harry.
Emily stepped towards Tom, "Why won't he need it?" Tom looked over to her, his eyes scanning her body. Emily held back her shudder at the look that came into his eyes.
"You must be Emily Potter," he said moving towards her, "the Slytherin of the Potter twins. Yes, I have been most anxious to meet you."
"You appear to know me but I don't know you," Emily said hiding her unease.
"How rude of me," he said giving her a small bow. "I am Tom Marvolo Riddle. It is…"
"We can talk later you two, we need to get out of here!" Harry yelled at them cutting Tom off.
"We have time now," Tom snapped without moving his gaze from Emily.
"Okay…" said Harry, hesitantly looking between his sister and Tom neither taking their eyes off the other. "Do you know what happened to Ginny?" he tried.
"It's a long story you see," Tom replied finally breaking eye contact to look at the girl on the floor. "It all comes down to a little girl, named Ginny Weasley, who spilled her very soul, her every secret and desire, to an unseen stranger."
Harry looked confused but Emily's eyes followed Tom's to the leather bound diary on the stone floor. She looked back to Ginny Weasley and Emily had an idea of what he was alluding to. "The diary…" Emily said.
"Yes," Tom seemed to purr as he focused on Emily again. "It was my diary to be exact. The little girl had been writing in it before she even came to school. She hasn't left one detail of her life hidden. She has told me of her six older brothers, how everything she owns is secondhand, how" here Tom turned to Harry and smirked, "how the wonderful and attractive, famous Harry Potter would never be able to fall in love with her like she dreams."
Emily smirked at that. The girl was a classic fangirl who was utterly star struck by her brother there was no denying that.
"It is very boring listening to an eleven year old girl who is nothing more than average," Tom continued. "I was not unkind though, I did write back to her. She did so love me. 'No one listens to me but you, Tom'… 'I'm so glad I found this diary. It is so nice having a friend that I can carry with me all the time'…"
Riddle moved towards Emily and she felt an odd sensation as he reached to run his fingers down her cheek. "She spoke of you Emily, the Potter twin that resides in the noble House of Slytherin. The twin many fear and is widely known as the smartest witch in the school, easily earning top marks in every class. Of course, she seemed more jealous of you than anything else," Tom smirked as his hand gently moved through her hair. "You are more beautiful than she ever mentioned and quite powerful. It radiates off of you."
Emily didn't move. She was torn, she wanted to push him away and not allow him to touch her but on the other hand she had never seen someone look at her in such a way before and it made her pause. Tom brought his hand to the middle of Emily's back keeping contact with her as he turned back to Harry.
"It was very easy for Ginny to bare her soul to me, and her soul was what I was looking for all along…" Emily looked up into Tom's face with puzzlement feeling very confused and a bit dazed at the moment. Tom flashed her a reassuring smile and continued, "Every entry that spoke of her greatest fears, of her darkest secrets, I grew stronger, I grew powerful. It wasn't long before I became more powerful than her and began adding a little of my soul into hers."
Emily was barely paying attention her mind kept focusing on the hand that was lazily rubbing circles on her back. She was trying to process what Tom was saying but his touches were distracting.
"I don't understand," Harry said eyeing the sight of his sister and Riddle warily.
"I will make it simple for you Harry Potter," Tom spoke softly. "Young Ginny here was the one to open the Chamber of Secrets.She wrote the messages in blood on the walls, she killed the school's roosters, and she released Salazar's Serpent so it could attack the mudbloods and the idiot Squib's cat."
That caught Emily's attention and she looked to the girl on the floor. The girl's appearance and behavior fit... she had spent the year looking pale and constantly on edge. Emily shook herself mentally trying to focus her thoughts away from the hand that was now around her waist. Wait when had his hand moved there?
"She couldn't have…" Harry whispered.
"In the beginning she held not an inkling of what she was doing. Those first few entries as she learned of what she was making happen was quite entertaining… 'Tom, I woke up in my bed covered in rooster feathers. I can't remember how they got there'… 'Tom, the night of Halloween a cat was attacked and I can't remember anything but I seem to be covered in blood'... 'Tom, Percy seems worried for me. He told me I look pale and sick, maybe he thinks I'm behind the attacks'… 'Tom, I think I know who is attacking everyone. It's ME!'..."
Emily found her head was resting on Tom's arm and quickly straightened it earning an amused chuckle from the boy. She looked to Harry whose fists were balled and was staring at the Weasley girl and Tom with anger. What was going on, she needed to clear her mind and focus.
"Little Ginny didn't want to give up her diary though, even once she knew it was spurring her to attack others," Tom said shaking his head sadly in the direction of the girl. "She knew but it took until one of her Housemates mentioned her strange behavior for her to finally fear getting caught and try to dispose of it.Of course, that is when you, Harry, came upon it. Of all the people to find it, it was one of the people I wanted to meet most."
"Why me?" Harry asked through clenched teeth.
"As I told you, Ginny told me everything and that included her infatuation with you. Of course, I wanted to know Emily as well and hoped that by showing you how I turned in that brainless half giant Hagrid, that I could gain your trust enough that you might tell me the things I wanted to know."
"But Hagrid is my friend and I knew he could never do something like that. It was you all along!" Harry yelled.
Emily looked up at Tom and tried to step away but he held her tight to him and wouldn't allow her to move. "When it came down to my word verses Hagrid's, well it wasn't much of a choice. Do you side with poor but amazingly brilliant Tom Riddle, who lives in an orphanage, is the school prefect and everything a model student should be… or do you side with a blundering oaf, Hagrid, who is always in trouble for trying to bring restricted creatures into the castle and was caught with an acromantula that truly did pose a large threat to the school. I was honestly shocked at how smoothly it all worked out. I thought more people would question Hagrid being intelligent and powerful enough to be the Heir of Slytherin but then again they were in a desperate situation."
"Only Dumbledore seemed sure of Hagrid's innocence and convinced Headmaster Dippet to keep him as gamekeeper. I think Dumbledore might have known, but it matters little when he never voiced his opinions. Either way it was unsafe for me to continue to open the Chamber while still in school. I preserved myself at the age of sixteen into the pages of the diary hoping someone would find it and finish Salazar's work."
"But Slytherin never wanted to kill muggleborns," Emily spoke finally, staring up at Tom confused. "He wanted them removed from their families or uninvited yes, but it was an effort to save their lives. Their families would have killed them out of fear, he had no intention to kill them himself!"
"Muggles are beneath us Emily, you must remember that," Tom said harshly. "This is what Salazar wanted and I will finish his work and you..."
"But no one has died!" Harry injected. "Everyone who was petrified will be given the Mandrake Draught, tonight."
"Have you yet to notice that I stopped caring about the mudbloods and started focusing on both of you," Tom said snapping his head to look at Harry. "I was livid when the next entry came and it was the foolish little girl. She panicked when she saw you with the diary. She was worried I would tell you her secrets. Even more so, she was worried you would find out it was her behind the attacks and that she had done nothing to turn the diary in and confess her actions as she should have.
So, one day when she knew your dorm was empty because everyone was in class she snuck into your dorm room and stole the diary back. I knew though, that you were trying to solve the mystery and would stop at nothing until you knew the truth. So I may have encouraged Ginny to attack your best friend to help push you to continue your research. Ginny had informed me that Emily has the gift of the serpent's tongue," Tom used his free hand to cup Emily's cheek and rubbed his thumb close to her lips. "I just needed to lead you here forcing you to have to seek her help if you wanted entry."
"Harry is a Parselmouth as well," Emily said feeling distinctly uncomfortable but unable to leave his grasp, her wand arm had been frozen for a while now and her wand was in Tom's pocket with Harry's.
Tom simply raised an eyebrow at this new information but waved it off and continued, "It matters not as you both came down here as I had wished for you to. And of course that leads us to today. I convinced Ginny to write her farewell message on the wall and come down here to await your arrival. She has little life left in her now… she gave me too much, freely of course. She knew what was happening but she continued and here we are. I have many questions for you both."
"What kind of questions?" Emily asked keeping her voice devoid of emotions.
"You are both hailed for the demise of the greatest sorcerer in the world at the mere age of one. You both share scars, or so I'm told," he glanced towards Emily's head which held no scar. "But Lord Voldemort's powers were completely destroyed from the encounter. How does that happen?"
"You expect us to know what happened that night when we were, as you said, only one year old..." Emily asked raising a challenging eyebrow at the boy who still refused to let her leave his arms.
"Why does it even matter?" Harry cried. "Voldemort was not from your time."
Tom smiled as he pulled out Harry's wand, "Oh but Voldemort was of my time…"
In the air he began to write letters made of fire that read:
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
With a wave of his wand the letters began to rearrange until they formed a new phrase:
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
"I began using the name amongst my closest friends while I was still at Hogwarts.
I couldn't very well keep using a name given to me by my filthy muggle father, who abandoned my mother when he found out she was a witch, could I? I have the blood of the great Salazar Slytherin running through my veins; it would not do to disgrace my heritage with a Muggle name. I created a name the world would fear to even speak."
Emily let this knowledge soak in. This boy before her had gone from what she was seeing now to the spirit she had encountered last year. She could tell he was angered at his past and that was what spurred him. She could understand that anger of being orphaned and wanting to show the world you are worth more than you've been given.
All of a sudden they all turned as a flash of flames appeared before them and a musical trill was echoed through the Chamber. The music filled Emily's body with warmth. She felt her heart lift when she noticed a red and golden bird swoop down dropping whatever it was holding in its talons next to her before landing on her shoulder forcing Tom to release his tight hold on her.
"A phoenix…" Tom breathed. "But how?"
Harry looked confused but Emily felt a warm tingle go down her arms and found she could move them again. "Fawkes what are you doing here?" Emily cooed, reaching up to pet the phoenix's head.
"Did he bring you the Sorting Hat?" Tom said with a bit of disbelief looking at the worn lump that Fawkes had dropped on the ground. He slowly began to laugh. Emily looked to Harry who seemed just as lost as to what was so funny.
When Tom calmed he looked towards her brother and spoke, "I want to know everything about how you both survived and the longer you talk the longer you live."
Emily tried to move towards her brother. For some reason she had a feeling that threat didn't extend to her.
"Oh no, you need to learn to be at my side Emily. You will understand one day that this was necessary, now stand still." Fawkes let out an angry screech as he was jostled when Emily was pulled back into Tom. It seemed even a young Voldemort wanted her as a consort.
Emily tried to process everything quickly. Tom had both her and Harry's wands but she had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat. She noticed that Tom seemed to be becoming more solid and stronger the longer they stood there. If she was to win a fight against someone who most likely had equal drive and power to her she needed to do it while she still had the advantage. She needed to get her wand back. She shot Harry a pleading look which she hoped he saw as her urging him to talk so she could think.
He seemed to understand and immediately started talking. "It's a mystery what happened that night," Harry started. "Dumbledore said it was our mother's love that saved us. Her sacrifice to willingly die for us was our protection from death. Last year after Emily faced you Dumbledore told me that you are weak and in hiding. You can't even support yourself, you have to rely on other people!"
Tom didn't seem fazed as Harry tried to provoke him instead a smile formed on his face that made shivers run down Emily's spine. "I understand now. You see, I was confused how you survived Harry Potter. You show no large magical talent and seem rather satisfied with no ambitions to better yourself.
But Emily you can see the many similarities between us, can't you my dear," Tom purred turning to once again caress Emily's cheek. "We both are orphaned half-bloods who were forced to live amongst muggles. We both speak Parseltongue and belong to the noble House of Slytherin, neither of us satisfied always pushing ourselves to achieve more, doing magic others could only dream of at a young age. Yes you will do quite well by my side." Emily stood there frozen as the comparisons Tom made flew through her mind. She didn't want to be like the monster Tom Riddle became but she couldn't deny their similarities.
"I think it's time we end this Harry Potter. I grow bored and I will need to get Emily out of the castle soon. No doubt she will miss you but don't worry I will take good care of her."
Harry looked to his sister but Emily just stared at Riddle as he turned to the large stone face. The second Riddle began to speak Harry knew he was in trouble.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Salazar Slytherin's mouth began to open until a large black hole could be seen in its place. Something was coming forward. Emily was jostled by a trill from Fawkes as he swept his wing against her face and took flight. She heard something large hit the stone floor and she knew what Tom had done she needed her wand now.
"Kill the boy."
Emily watched as her brother closed his eyes and began running. She threw herself into Tom's arms, at first he was stunned but soon wrapped his arms around her.
"I know it must be done but please don't make me watch," she begged looking up into Tom's eyes.
"Of course I won't" he placated her and kissed her forehead. "I am glad you can see reason." Emily reached up on her tip toes and kissed his lips. As Tom deepened the kiss Emily slowly reached into his pocket removing her and Harry's wands hiding them in her back pocket.
She broke the kiss and hid her head for a second in his chest calming herself. It was mere seconds before she was pushed aside as Tom moved towards the basilisk hissing in outrage.
"NO! YOU STUPID BIRD!" Tom ranted as Emily took the chance to race to the Sorting Hat. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? KILL THE BOY! FORGET THE BIRD AND KILL HIM! SMELL HIM!"
Emily looked to the scene and saw that Fawkes had blinded the large serpent. Getting a good look for the first time she noted that the serpent must be more than 60 feet long, much longer than the skin they had passed coming in. Emily thought through all the spells she could think of but had no idea what she could use to injure the beast. The skin had been known to be used as battle armor due to its strength but she had to try something soon, the Basilisk was starting to get its bearings and once it did Tom's focus would be on her again.
She looked at the hat in her hands and whispered 'help me'. Soon she saw something materialize in the hat, pulling it out she realized she was holding a rapier. She had to get to Harry who was now backing into a corner. Fawkes swooped down and began to distract Tom as she slipped behind him, allowing her the chance to run towards her brother.
The Basilisk lunged forward only for Harry to dodge and have its head slam into the Chamber wall. She reached Harry pushing him over as the Basilisk lunged a second time. This time as its mouth opened Emily shoved the rapier through the roof of its mouth. Emily felt a searing pain shoot through her arm as the serpent's blood rushed down her from the wound. As she pulled the rapier from the head, the beast collapsed dead on the ground.
The pain was growing and Emily didn't have to look to know one of the fangs had become lodged in her arm. Grasping the fang she dropped the sword turning to Harry and tossing him his wand.
"Harry get Ginny and levitate her out of here. I will be right behind you," she instructed.
"But…" Harry started.
"No! Go now! Quickly, I will follow shortly please go," she was beginning to feel the effect of the venom and refused to let her brother watch her die.
Tom ran towards her and grabbed her forgetting about Harry as he slipped out of the Chamber levitating Ginny. "Why would you do something so foolish," he reprimanded her.
Emily tried to stay standing but her legs gave out. Tom held her as he sat on the floor carding his fingers through her hair. "You can't die, I need you, together we will be unstoppable," he cried. "What can fix this!"
Emily pushed herself out of his grip and lay on the floor as the room began to swim before her. She felt drowsy; if this was dying she was okay with it. At least the pain was beginning to recede.
"Haven't you done enough bird," Tom spat. Emily rolled her head to the side and watched as a blurry Fawkes bowed over her wound nuzzling her arm. Then slowly the room began to come back into focus.
"He's crying… of course you marvelous bird," Tom said and began stroking Emily's hair again. "It looks as if your foolishness will be okay. Though I think we have learned that you will need to stay close to my side until I can fully trust you to make the responsible choice and not act like a rash Gryffindor."
He slowly helped the witch to sit up. Emily was extremely grateful to Fawkes but now she had another problem, how to get away from a seemingly possessive dark wizard who was still getting stronger. The look of lust in his eyes made her shiver. Suddenly Fawkes flew over her head and dropped the diary back in her lap. What was she supposed to do with this?
Tom stood walking back towards the statue of Slytherin's head looking for another way out of the Chamber as Emily desperately looked around her. Emily noticed the Fang on the floor and wondered if the venom could hurt the diary. She slowly reached for it never taking her eyes off of Tom. He never looked back towards her as she raised the fang and thrust it into the heart of the diary. The diary began to bleed ink and a piercing scream echoed through the Chamber. Tom turned towards her with a shocked expression as he dropped to the floor and began to scream, his body slowly and painfully fading out of existence. And then – he was gone.
Emily pushed herself off the floor, overcoming the disorienting dizziness as she quickly gathered the diary, rapier and hat before following Fawkes out of the Chamber. She ran down the tunnel as quickly as her body would allow in her weakened state and reached the spot where the cave-in had happened earlier that night.
"Dray," she called out.
"Thank Merlin!"
The young witch almost cried as her best friend's voice reached her ears.Seconds later she saw him reaching for her through a gap they had created in the rock. She passed him the hat, that she had the diary and rapier in, before accepting his hand and climbing through. Fawkes swooped through behind her causing Draco to raise an eyebrow in question at her.
"Later, once we get out of here," she said. Draco pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.
Emily looked over to where Harry and Weasley were trying to console a crying Ginny who seemed to have woken up. She then looked over to where Lockhart sat playing with two of the rocks making smooching noises as he pressed them together.
"We need to get out of here," Emily said grimacing at the blood that was now on Draco because he hugged her. Everyone was in agreement and with Harry dragging Lockhart to make sure he didn't get sidetracked they made it to the bottom of the tunnel they had all slid down earlier.
"How do we get back up?" Harry questioned as he looked up the pipe.
Emily had a thought and decided it was worth a try before she hissed, "Stairs." Stairs began to form and the group slowly climbed their way up the pipe back into the bathroom. Once everyone was out of the pipe the sink that had been in front of it rose from the ground and slid back into place sealing off the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets once again. Myrtle looked disappointedly at Harry as she noted that he was still alive.
"Where do we go now?" Harry said looking around as they exited the bathroom. Fawkes let out a trill in answer.
"I believe he wants us to follow him," Emily shrugged. The group followed Fawkes through the castle. A few minutes later they found themselves standing outside of Professor McGonagall's office. Emily knocked in warning before opening up the door and leading the group in.