Chapter Twenty-Five: Fiends and Friends

They stood at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

Daphne took a tentative step forward, trying to see if she could spot Ginny anywhere, but she saw nothing.

"Wands out?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

They moved forward between the serpentine columns. Their footsteps echoed loudly, but nothing in the chamber moved. Daphne and Harry had their eyes narrowed so they would be able to shut them quickly.

Then, as they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue as high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

Daphne and Harry sprinted forwards. "Ginny…don't be dead…please don't be dead…" Harry muttered.

Daphne was silent. She could only stare in horror as Harry tried, and failed, to wake Ginny up.

"No…" she whispered. "Please…no…"

Her eyes burned. This was her fault. All her fault. After all that talk about being there to help…she'd failed. Utterly and completely.

"She won't wake," a soft voice behind Daphne and Harry said.

She whirled around, wand at the ready, and Harry did the same.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges.

"Tom Riddle, I presume?" Daphne asked in a shaky, angry voice.

Riddle nodded.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not…she's not…"

"She's still alive," Riddle said. "But only just."

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"A memory," Riddle said quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

"And now you're back to do…what, exactly?" Daphne asked, still keeping her wand trained on Riddle.

Riddle smirked. "What do you think, Daphne Greengrass? What could the Heir of Slytherin possibly want?"

"So it is you," Harry said.

"Of course it's me. Did you really believe, even for a second, that that oaf Hagrid could ever be the heir of the great Salazar Slytherin?" Riddle asked.

He looked at Daphne. "I know you didn't. But you're a Mudblood lover, aren't you? You're a little blood-traitor who will never live up to the greatness of her family heritage," he said.

"Then what does that make you?" Daphne asked.

Her knuckles were white around her wand, so tightly was she holding it.

"You're a pathetic little half-blood playing at being a pureblood. And now it's all over for you." She tried to sound as contemptuous as possible, but the waver in her voice betrayed her.

Riddle laughed, a high cold laugh that didn't suit him. "Is it? Is it really? Because you seem to forget what lurks down here in these depths. What it is that I can call at any moment, to rid myself of both of you."

"Petrificus Totalus!" Daphne yelled.

The spell went right through Riddle.

"Come now, Daphne. And here I thought you were clever, at least. Did you really think your pathetic magic would work on me?"

He turned to Harry again. "But fret not, because there are a few things I would like to know, before I kill you. For you see, Ginny told me some very interesting things about you. As I was forced to endure her incessant whining, she kept coming back to one person. Harry Potter. The famous, great, good Harry Potter. She was afraid you'd never like her, that she'd never dare to talk to you… But you know what was the one interesting thing she said?"

Harry shook his head.

"That Harry Potter had been the hero who defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort," Riddle said.

A red gleam appeared in his eyes. "How did you do that, Harry Potter? How did a skinny boy with no extraordinary talent manage to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped?" Harry asked slowly. "Voldemort was after your time…"

Daphne had a very bad feeling about what would happen next.

"Voldemort," Riddle said softly, "Is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter…"

He pulled Ginny's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of the name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

Daphne took a step backward. It made so much sense, yet the possibility had never even crossed her mind.

"You see?" Riddle said softly. "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!"

"You're not," Harry said quietly. Daphne had never heard so much hatred in his voice.

"Not what?" Riddle snapped.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world. Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days…"

The smile had disappeared from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he snarled.

"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry yelled.

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze, and Daphne understood why. 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… Daphne felt stronger, hearing the music. As if hope was bubbling up directly from within her.

Then, when the music reached a pitch that Daphne could feel vibrating inside her ribs, 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, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed on his shoulder. The bird stopped singing. It sat on Harry's shoulder, gazing steadily at Riddle.

"That's a phoenix," Riddle said, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Harry asked softly.

"And that…that's the old school Sorting Hat," Riddle said, looking at the ragged thing at Harry's feet.

Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

"He isn't alone, Riddle!" Daphne yelled, and she stood partially in front of Harry. "He's got me, too."

"A twelve-year-old girl is hardly more of a threat than that hat," Riddle said casually.

"I don't care," Daphne said, now stepping directly in front of Harry. "Last year, I couldn't help Harry fight you. This year, I failed Ginny. But even if all I can do is fail to help my friends, I will at least do everything in my power to take you down with me. You will not touch him!"

Riddle smiled evilly. "Won't I?" he asked.

He raised Ginny's wand. "I'm not even going to bother calling the Basilisk for you…"

"You might want to reconsider, Riddle," Harry said.

He put his hand on Daphne's shoulder and gently pushed her aside. "You wanted to know how I escaped? It's because my mother died to save me. My common, Muggleborn mother. She stopped you killing me. I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. Do you want to take your chances? If you hurt Daphne, if you dare to kill her…then who's to say her sacrifice won't protect me? Who's to say you won't be destroyed again? Leave her alone, Riddle. This is between you and me."

Daphne gave Harry a shocked look. If he thought she'd let him fight Riddle alone…

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now…there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike… But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."

Riddle's twisted smile widened. "Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him…"

Riddle walked away. Daphne considered trying to curse him again, but Harry put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"It's no use," he whispered. "If he calls that snake…close your eyes, and try to get Ginny out of here. I'll deal with the Basilisk."

"Are you insane?! You can't–"

Daphne was cut off when Riddle stopped walking between the high pillars and looked into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. He opened his mouth wide and hissed…and Harry and Daphne wheeled around to look at the statue.

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. His mouth opened, wider and wider, to make a huge, black hole. Something stirred in the statue's mouth.

"Close your eyes and protect Ginny," Harry said. He tried to smile. "Trust me."

"You stupid, reckless, Gryffindor idiot!" Daphne said, but then she dived onto Ginny's motionless form and closed her eyes.

She grabbed Ginny's robes. She opened her eyes just a crack to make sure she was holding the right parts of the robe, and then quickly closed them again. She was just in time. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Daphne could imagine what it would look like, but she didn't dare to open her eyes and began trying to move Ginny.

Riddle hissed something, and she was pretty sure she got the gist of it.

The Basilisk seemed to slither away from Daphne, probably tracking down Harry, so she resumed her attempts to drag Ginny away.

"Come on…" she groaned.

Riddle laughed. Then, there was a loud, angry hissing sound, that could only have come from the Basilisk itself.

"Don't you dare to die, Harry…" Daphne muttered.

Part of her was insulted that Riddle didn't seem to consider her worthy of any attention, but she was mostly glad.

There was more angry hissing. Did that sound like…pain?

At that moment, Riddle screamed something at the snake. He sounded angry, and now Daphne opened her eyes just a little bit… and saw that the Basilisk's eyes had been put out by Fawkes.

Harry was crumpled against a wall, also staring up at the Basilisk. His wand lay a good twenty feet away from him.

Daphne pulled her wand and aimed it at the massive, thrashing serpent, but Harry shouted, "No! Get out of here!"

His shout caused Riddle to focus on Daphne. He shouted a last command at the Basilisk and then raised Ginny's wand at her.

Daphne dodged out of the way of the spell.

"Locomotor Mortis!" she shouted, but just like before the spell went straight through Riddle's ethereal form.

He smiled and took aim again…but this time he aimed at Ginny, now about ten feet away from Daphne after her dodge.

"No!" Daphne shouted. "Kill me instead. I don't care what you do to me, but leave her alone."

Her eyes burned again, and she didn't bother stopping the tears. She knew pleading would be useless, but she had to try. She'd failed her friends often enough already.

Riddle raised his wand…and from behind him came a loud, horrifying noise. Riddle whirled around and Daphne quickly rubbed her eyes to clear them.

Harry had thrust a sword — where had that come from? — through the Basilisk's mouth and killed it…but one of the serpent's broken fangs stuck out of his arm.

Harry wrenched the fang out, but by the way he slid down the wall Daphne knew it was too late.

Fawkes landed next to him, but Daphne couldn't see what happened next.

She collapsed onto her knees with her face in her hands, crying. Everything was over. Through her sobs, she could hear Riddle saying something to Harry, but she couldn't make out the words. They'd failed. She had failed. Again. After everything she'd done — tried to do — that year…this was how it would end. The Basilisk was dead, but Harry would die with it. She couldn't hurt Riddle, and he would kill her, and Ginny, and then everyone else in the castle who tried to oppose him.

Riddle's voice became more urgent, and once more Daphne wiped the tears from her eyes to see what was happening. Riddle was chasing away Fawkes from Harry, and Harry seemed to be strengthening again.

Daphne saw Riddle raise his wand, and out of sheer desperation she extended her arm and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The jet of red light flew through the air, and by pure luck struck the wand directly. It was ripped from Riddle's hand, and he shot her a murderous look — but that moment Fawkes flew back over Harry and dropped something into his lap.

Riddle looked back at Harry — just in time to see Harry raising the broken Basilisk fang and ramming it into the object Fawkes had dropped into his lap, which could only have been the diary.

Riddle screamed in agony, and Daphne knew it was a sound she'd be hearing in her nightmares for years to come.

Riddle writhed and twisted, even as the diary pumped torrents of ink all over Harry…and then he was gone.

Harry began to pull himself up, and at the same moment Daphne heard a faint moan just next to her. Ginny was stirring, and Daphne quickly ran over to her.

"Ginny! Ginny…you're alive…" she whispered.

Ginny looked at Daphne and sat up, looking around in bemusement, from Daphne right next to her, to the dead Basilisk, to Harry who was hurrying over, carrying both the Sorting Hat and the sword he'd killed the snake with. She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

"Harry…Daphne…It was me…It was me all along, but I– I swear I never meant to, R-Riddle made me…he t-took me over…and…how did you kill that…that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I remember is him coming out of the diary…"

"It's all right," Daphne said, at the same moment as Harry did. In spite of the tears she, too, had streaming down her face again, she laughed.

Harry held up the diary. "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the Basilisk. C'mon, Ginny, Daphne…let's get out of here."

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept as Harry and Daphne pulled her to her feet. "I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and…w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

"You're not getting expelled," Daphne said fiercely. "If anyone should be, it should be me. I should've gone to Dumbledore, the moment you told me what was happening. I should've been smarter, and then…then…"

"Give it a rest," Harry said sharply. "Daphne, all the time we've been down here you've been tearing yourself down, saying you failed us, that it doesn't matter if you die as long as we survive…Stop doing that! Do you really think you're worth less than us? Why?! You've been helping us from the start, fighting with us from the start. You're one of my closest friends, so don't…don't act like you don't matter," he finished quietly.

If Daphne hadn't already been crying, she would've started then.

"And you did help me," Ginny added softly. "It was because of you that I stopped trusting the diary to begin with and tried to get rid of it."

Daphne smiled through her tears. Now she was being comforted by the person she came here to save. How pathetic — and yet it was a great feeling all the same.

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance. Daphne and Harry supported Ginny, stepped over the coils of the dead Basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. The stone doors closed behind them with a soft hiss.

After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, Daphne heard a distant sound of slowly shifting rock.

Daphne and Harry sped up.

"Ron!" Harry yelled. "Ginny's okay! We've got her!"

Daphne heard Ron give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see his eager face staring through the sizable gap he had managed to make in the rock fall.

"Ginny!" Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How…what…where did that bird come from?"

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

"He's Dumbledore's," Harry said, squeezing through himself and then holding out his hand to help Daphne through.

"How come you've got a sword?" Ron asked, gaping at the glittering weapon in Harry's hand.

"I'll explain when we get out of here," Harry said with a sideways glance at Ginny, who was crying harder than ever.

"But…"

"Later," Harry said shortly. "Where's Lockhart?"

"Back there," Ron said. He still looked puzzled and shot Daphne a questioning look, but she just shook her head. They'd explain everything later. All she wanted now was to get out of the filthy tunnels.

"He's in a bad way. Come and see," Ron said.

Led by Fawkes, whose wide scarlet wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe. Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting there, humming placidly to himself.

"His memory's gone," Ron said. "The Memory Charm backfired. Hit him instead of us. Hasn't got a clue who he is, or where he is, or who we are. I told him to come and wait here. He's a danger to himself."

Daphne looked at Lockhart and felt absolutely no pity for him. He deserved this.

Lockhart peered good-naturedly up at them all. "Hello," he said. "Odd sort of place this, isn't it? Do you live here?"

"No," Ron said, raising his eyebrows at Harry and Daphne.

Harry bent down and looked up the long, dark pipe.

"Have you thought how we're going to get back up this?" he asked.

Ron and Daphne shook their head, but Fawkes had swooped past Harry and was now fluttering in front of him, his beady eyes bright in the dark. He was waving his long golden tail feathers. Harry looked uncertainly at him.

"He looks like he wants you to grab hold…" Ron said, looking perplexed. "But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there…"

"Fawkes isn't an ordinary bird," Harry said.

He looked at Daphne and the others. "We've got to hold on to each other. Ginny, grab Ron's hand. Daphne, you grab Ginny's other hand. Professor Lockhart–"

"He means you," Ron said sharply to Lockhart.

"You hold Daphne's other hand…"

Daphne was disgusted by the idea of having to hold the hand of Lockhart, even briefly, and she considered suggesting just leaving him to die, but she was too tired to argue. She grabbed Ginny's and Lockhart's hands, and once Ron had grabbed onto Harry's robes, Harry grabbed Fawkes's tail feathers.

An extraordinary lightness seemed to spread through Daphne's whole body, and the next moment they were flying upward through the pipe.

"Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" Lockhart yelled.

Soon, the five of them hit the wet floor of Myrtle's bathroom, and the sink that hid the pipe slid back into place.

Myrtle goggled at them.

"You're alive," she said blankly to Harry.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed," he said grimly, wiping flecks of blood and slime off his glasses.

"Oh, well, I'd just been thinking…if you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet," Myrtle said, blushing silver.

Daphne shuddered.

"Urgh," Ron said as they left the bathroom for the dark, deserted corridor outside. "Harry! I think Myrtle's grown fond of you! You've got competition, Ginny!"

Daphne chuckled, but tears were still flooding silently down Ginny's face.

"Where now?" Ron asked, with an anxious look at Ginny.

Harry pointed. Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor.

They strode after him, and moments later found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Harry knocked and pushed the door open.

If this story were any less serious, I'd have had either Daphne or Harry rearrange the letters again into the well-known MR TOM A DILDO LOVER, but it really didn't fit the angsty tone of this chapter.

Year two is nearly at an end, even though in this timeline, this entire confrontation took place in February rather than June, so there's going to be some serious time compression happening. Still, some important things need to happen in the setup for year three, so all of that will most likely be shoved into next chapter, or the one after that.