So I finally have a chapter ready for updating. I had a lot of trouble with this one so it is slightly shorter than usual. I am still unsure of it, but I have been writing and rewriting and editing since my last update and this is the happiest I can get with it. I think it mostly comes from the fact I ended up splitting the chamber of secrets into two chapters but I was just so unhappy with it as one. So I hope you enjoy it. As always let me know what you thought and enjoy the start of 2021!!
"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets" Harry and Hermione chorused, grins wide as they took in the sight before them.
"Holy fuck," Blaise gasped out.
"I can't believe we are actually here," Theo added softly. "The world's best magical historians think it's a Myth, but here we are, standing right here looking at it."
"No one would ever believe us," Daphne laughed softly.
"It is extremely warm for how far under the Castle and Lake we are," Pansy noted.
"It is welcoming its Heirs home." Luna smiled as she looked to Hermione and Harry who had started to walk slowly down the pathway. It was just simple stone tile flooring, covered in splashes of water coming from the roof and flowing into the intentional pools of water on either side of the path. Like the rest of the Chamber, the floor was worn with bumps and little potholes the whole way. The pathway was framed with giant snakeheads coming out of the pools of water, with their mouths open as if hissing, teeth looming over whoever walked by. The beautiful yet daunting Grecian marble statues had the same emerald eyes as the door snakes, glinting in the low light.
As they walked forward slowly they kept darting their eyes around, looking for any signs of Colin, ready to shut at the first sign of the Basilisk. It doesn't take long before something else gains their attention, as they come to a stop in shock. Blaise choked on a laugh as Daphne blinked furiously as if trying to comprehend what lay in front of her. Pansy and Luna giggle at Draco as he stammered trying to find the words.
"Salazar Slytherin." Theo breathed.
"I wonder where his private studies and rooms are down here," Hermione whispered, despite the tension and the dire situation that brought them here she found herself itching to get a hold of her famous Ancestors library. Who knew what he had hidden away down here.
"What? the giant face isn't enough for you?" Harry joked, green eyes wide, although he couldn't deny he wanted to get his hands on Salazar's research.
"I don't believe this." Draco's loud indignant voice finally found itself as it reverberated harshly, breaking through the shocked silence. "You gave me so much shit because my Father and Ancestors breed albino peacocks! Yet your fucking Ancestor has a fifty-foot statue of just his face inside his own chamber!" Draco continued his voice shrill, hand waving wildly at the end of the Chamber's wall where Salazar's face came out towards them in Grecian marble. The unnerving statue seemed to be sneering down at them, Salazar's hair and beard swept out to the sides as if rippling in an absent wind. The path broke into two sides forming a half-circle around the base of the statue, before winding deeper into the cavern. Another pool of water rested in the middle below the beard, the reflection of the statue perfect in the still water.
"You're not going to let me live this down are you?" Harry sighed in resignation.
"Never." Draco denied vehemently as Blaise cackled loudly.
"Oh, Merlin" Pansy gasped in horror, interrupting the boys from devolving into bickering. Her hand was pointing to the side of them, just out of their peripheral vision. Creevey lay deadly still in a puddle of water, eyes closed, his skin pasty and sunken. The diary beside his hand, looking deceivingly innocent.
"Is he dead?" Hermione asked nervously as they approached the first year's daunting still body.
"Not yet, he is alive but only just." A voice spoke softly, deep and silky. As one they spun around to see a young Tom Riddle leaning on a pillar, just watching. Their friends blinked as they looked between Harry and his teenaged Father. It was jarring how alike the two were now they were close in ages. Although Tom seemed strangely hazy around the edges, as if looking through a misted window, but, that wasn't enough to take away from his dangerous beauty. Dark hair perfectly brushed, soft waves dangled just above his left eye. His eyes a dark and deep inviting brown, the Horcruxes had left his eyes red in their time and he glamoured them light blue when out as to deceive anyone still alive who had known Tom Riddle. It was easy to see how he had gotten what he wanted from his looks until he had proved himself with his power.
"Fath…" Harry stopped himself with a confused expression. "To... What do I call you?" He finally asked.
"My Lord is what my friends and followers call me, but as my future children and the next heirs to Slytherin, I suppose you shouldn't be expected to hold the standards of the others." Tom thought aloud.
"Oh why thank you for that consideration." Harry snarked with an eye roll, Hermione nudged him with a hissed 'Harry', as his friends shared horrified looks and stepped back. This wasn't the Uncle Tom they knew, this was the arrogant dangerous young Dark Lord.
"Take care with how you talk to me, son or not." Tom's voice was deceptively calm and silky. Harry blinked, this apparition was somehow different from the soul shard he spoke to. How did he seem more unstable when it was the same shard?
"You have to stop draining him before he dies," Hermione spoke carefully and respectfully, taking the attention away from Harry before he did or said something really stupid.
"Why should I?" Tom hissed angrily as he pushed off the pillar, stalking towards them. His eyes flashing, a red hue already starting to bleed into the brown. "With his death, I will be back, strong enough to continue my fight. Kill those who slander or stand against my bloodline." He smirked before continuing
"It was very boring listening to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old boy. But I was patient, I wrote back, being sympathetic. He simply loved me, it's like having a friend in my pocket he said." Tom laughed, it was cold and high, nothing like the warm laugh they knew. It made all the second year's flinch and step back warily.
"Father," Harry swallowed before speaking, keeping his tone neutral, pleading to the man Tom was under the insanity. "We will make them pay and we will succeed in your dreams and missions. The you of our time knows what he's doing, he has the elite working with him. But if you do this, Hogwarts will close and Dumbledore will know you are back."
"He's right, and you know it too," Hermione added with a nod. "It isn't time for him to be consciously aware that 'Voldemort' wasn't defeated yet. It could ruin everything if he is made aware before Father wants him to be. At this stage, he only has his theories and that's the way the Dark needs it for now." The calm logic seemed to placate the teenage Tom. His eyes roamed over his children, a soft, real smile stretched across his lips.
"You have inherited my silver tongue and intelligence, haven't you?" He chuckled darkly as Harry shared a look of exasperation with Hermione, he had heard stories of how arrogant his Father had been. But seeing it first hand blew their expectations. "Well, how do you plan to cover this up? Dumbledore will know I had something to do with this."
"With this." Harry grinned, pulling the fake diary out of his magically enlarged pocket. Father embed it with his Magic, it is an exact replica but without actually housing your soul in it."
"We will 'destroy' it and 'save' Creevey," Hermione added. "The new board of Governors led by the future you, will award us with The Special Award for Services to the School" Tom cackled, high and cold again.
"Oh, I wish I could be there to see Dumbledore's face." He declared gleefully. "But isn't the present me worried it could lead Dumbledore towards the truth and the other objects?" He questioned after he finished laughing, his eyes darting around the other children. Surely they weren't aware of the truth of what he was, no one could be trusted beyond his bloodline and soulmate who was already gone.
"That won't be an issue." A deep familiar voice echoed through the chamber, spinning around the second year's broke into smiles as the real Tom Riddle stepped forward with Severus.
"Father" Harry and Hermione sighed in relief.
"So this is the fabled Chamber of Secrets. I see that your arrogance is genetic," Severus drawled with a nod towards the statue. "Where is the Basilisk?" He asked as the real Tom rolled his eyes well used to the jokes, and the Horcrux Tom bared his teeth at the disrespect.
"It won't come until it's called." Both Toms said together.
"Because that's not creepy," Harry muttered.
"Why would it not be an issue if Dumbledore starts to suspect the truth of what the diary is?" The Horcrux demanded while shooting a glare at the Professor who had accompanied him.
"How does he not know?" Severus asked curiously.
"He only remembers everything up to the moment he broke apart. Anything that happened after that he has to be told." The real Tom explained patiently. "Dumbledore is the reason we had the memory lapses and he is the one who forced me to kill Myrtle and break our soul. He is the reason you are a Horcrux. He already knows of your existence." He continued looking at the Horcrux, watching as it sunk in. Without even thinking, he reacted when he felt the pressure of magic changed and threw up a wandless, wordless barrier around the Horcrux as he screamed in rage, his magic bursting out, in uncontrollable whips.
"Tom! Listen to me!" Tom shouted, trying to reach through to the younger him. "We have plans to defeat the monster, but we have to reveal who he is or else he will become a martyr, a rallying cry." He pushed his own magic out to match the Horcrux, letting the familiar warmth soothe himself. Severus stood in front of the shocked students, his own shield up and in front of them.
"Reign in your magic! You will bring the entire castle down on top of us!" Tom tried again before turning his head with a shake. "Severus! This isn't working, get the kids out of here, I don't know if I can contain him!" Although the Horcrux didn't have access to his full magical power, it was also untamed and wild without a Magical grounder or an alive soulmate to soak in the excess. Severus nodded as he lowered his shield.
"Come on, let's go." He ordered, pushing Daphne, Pansy and Luna in front of them motioning them to run towards the exit, Draco, Theo and Blaise were pushed forward next. Severus moved to grab Harry and Hermione but they sidestepped him, dodging his arms as they ran towards their Father. Theo ran back faster than he thought he could from the circular door they had come through and tried to follow his soulmate only to be held back by Severus.
"Let me go!" He shouted as he fought the hold he had around his waist. Hermione was in danger and that was all that mattered. "Hermione!" He cried desperately.
"Harry, Hermione! We have to go!" Draco called out to his cousins pleadingly as he watched the roof shudder and small stones break from the walls and fall around them.
"Father!" Harry shouted as he found himself unable to get any closer, pounding on the shield in front of him. Hermione cried at his side as she watched her brother fruitlessly hitting out in front of him, the invisible barrier holding strong.
"Go with your Uncle! I will be fine!" Tom snapped at his children. Pleading with them to leave him. "His magic is my own, he can't hurt me with it!"
"The chamber falling on you will though!" Hermione denied, her wild curls flying as she shook her head, refusing to leave.
Everyone froze, in their places up and down the Chamber, and looked towards the Horcrux as he stopped screaming. His eyes bright red, gleaming with insanity and grief, as he turned to the statue, one hand out reaching for it.
"NO!!" Tom screamed as the Horcrux opened his mouth.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
The next chapter is almost finished so hopefully, you won't wait as long as last time on this cliff hanger :P