The two boys walked somberly in silence before Calvin spoke.
"Cheer up," he said halfheartedly. "Maybe the basilisk will let us go if we ask nicely! Now we may have to do a bit of groveling but I have lots of experience in the subject and-
"Calvin," Harry interrupted. "I appreciate it, but you're really not helping."
"My bad," Calvin said with a shrug.
They went silent for a few more minutes, trudging through the dank tunnels, before Calvin spoke yet again.
"Do you think Ginny's…" he trailed off, his voice getting shaky.
"We won't know until we get there," said Harry. "Don't think too hard about it until we know for sure."
At that, Calvin shut his mouth and they continued to walk.
In about 10 minutes they reached a dead end, on which was what looked like a large stone safe door with several snakes carved into it. Stretching from the left, from what looked like hinges, the snakes spread to different points of the edge of the door, almost as if their mouths were biting down on the stone where the door met the rock wall in order to keep it closed. The two boys approached it slowly and stared at it for a few seconds.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Calvin's voice cut through the sounds of dripping water. "Do your weird language thingy."
"Oh," Harry said quickly. "Right."
Harry stared at the door intently for 10 seconds before opening his mouth. As soon as his lips parted, that familiar creepy hissing noise escaped his throat.
As soon as he finished what he was saying, the stone door began to shake. To Calvin's surprise, the snakes unclamped their jaws from the edge of the door and began to slither backwards towards the hinge, slowly disappearing into it until their heads were the only parts of them still visible. For a moment, there was eerie silence. Calvin could hear his heart thump nervously in his chest. Then, as quickly as it began, the silence was cut off by the sound of shifting rock.
The two boys watched in awe as the giant round door began to swing open on its own, unseating countless pebbles and causing them to tumble to the ground with loud clicks. They stood, dumbstruck for a few seconds before Harry spoke.
"Shall we?" He asked nervously.
"After you," said Calvin, gesturing a trembling hand towards the opening.
And with that, the two boys made their way through the opening, Harry in the lead with Calvin following, their wands held at the ready.
Calvin was amazed by what he saw inside. They were standing in a large dimly lit hall. It seemed to be created out of a natural cave, as the ceiling was uneven and had quite a few stalactites hanging from it. Before them was a long, wide pathway that seemed to sit in a small body of water. Lining the pathway on both sides were large statues of snake heads baring their teeth, grimy looking water pouring out of their mouths and into the body of water. The pathway ended in a wider section of the cave, where there was a massive sculpture of an old man's head with flowing long hair and a matching beard.
"Man," said Calvin nervously. "While snakes are cool, Slytherins really need to get some variety in their interior design."
Despite the situation, Harry let out a weak chuckle.
"Interior design?" He asked with a smirk as they began to walk down the pathway. "We just entered the Chamber of Secrets and you're critiquing its interior design?"
Calvin grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
"Gotta lighten the mood somehow," he said.
However, just after he made this comment, the two boys got close enough to the end of the pathway so that they could just barely make out the limp form of a person lying on the ground in front of the massive stone face. Seeing this, Calvin's heart dropped into his intestines.
"No…" Harry began as the two boys slowly inched closer. "Is that-"
"Ginny!" Calvin shrieked, dashing towards her motionless body, dropping his wand and kneeling beside her. Harry followed his lead and did the same.
Ginny looked horrible, even more horrible than she had earlier that day. Her eyes were sunken and dark bags hung under them. Her fiery red hair was spread across the damp chamber floor, matted and tangled.
"No…" Calvin muttered under his breath, grasping Ginny's hands tightly, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks for the third time that day.
"Please don't be dead," Harry said frantically. "Please wake up-"
Harry was interrupted by a voice coming from behind them.
"She won't wake," the voice said, sounding deep and smooth.
Calvin whipped his head around to see a tall handsome boy approaching them. He looked to be in his late teens and had wavy black hair atop his head. Along with this, the boy was wearing Slytherin robes. Strangely, his form seemed to be blurred around the edges, almost like he was a photo taken by a slightly out of focus camera.
"And who are you exactly?" Calvin asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy.
The boy smirked and opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Harry spoke up.
"Tom?" Harry exclaimed incredulously. "Tom Riddle?"
Calvin's jaw dropped upon hearing this, and he was stunned, unable to say anything.
It can't be, he thought to himself. That was just some kind of self help book, there's no way… and if so, how does Harry know about it?
"What do you mean she won't wake?" Harry asked nervously. "She's not…?"
"She's still alive," said the boy now known as Tom Riddle. "But only just."
There was a pause.
"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked.
"A memory," Tom answered. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
And that one short phrase Riddle said confirmed all of Calvin's suspicions.
"Wait…" Calvin began, snapping out of his shock and raising an eyebrow. "You're the guy in that book that Ginny was writing in!"
Tom smirked again and Harry looked at Calvin incredulously
"Wait Ginny wrote in…" Harry trailed off and then began to search around the ground. "Where's my-"
At that moment Calvin noticed that Tom was twirling two wands around the fingers on his right hand.
"Hey," Calvin said, noticing that one of the wands looked familiar. "That's mine!"
Upon hearing Calvin's voice, Harry looked up from the ground and noticed what Tom was holding.
"You've got mine too," Harry said, standing up and holding out his hand as if expecting Tom to hand it to him.
Tom snorted and glanced between Harry and Calvin.
"You won't be needing them," he said matter of factly. With that, he stowed Calvin's wand inside his robes and kept Harry's clasped firmly in his hand.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Calvin said, quickly getting to his feet and glaring at Tom. "Give me my wand, Riddle."
Calvin was beginning to feel very uncomfortable and he knew that very soon, the illusions of safety that he had would crumble.
Tom rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Sit down, Watterson," he said. "The three of us have much to discuss."
Calvin blinked and slowly tilted his head.
"How do you know my name…?" He asked cautiously, that uncomfortable feeling growing stronger.
"The things I know about you would surprise you," Tom said, smirking evilly at Calvin.
"Look," Harry said firmly. "We're in the Chamber of Secrets, we can talk later. The monster-"
"It won't come until it's called," Tom said simply. "And we're going to talk now. I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter, for the chance to see you. To speak to you.
Calvin and Harry exchanged a nervous look.
"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked carefully.
"That's an interesting question," Tom said cheerfully. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"You don't mean…" began Calvin.
"Yes Watterson, the diary," he said, still smirking. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how…" Riddle grinned. "How she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…"
Calvin felt a small amount of jealousy and a fire began to burn inside of him as he listened the way Riddle talked about Ginny.
"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," Tom continued. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom… I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in… it's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket…"
Tom let out a laugh, a cold shrill laugh that caused Calvin's blood to boil.
"You son of a-" Calvin began to growl but was cut off as Tom waved Harry's wand, and Calvin felt his vocal cords close up, unmoving.
"Language, Watterson," Tom said with a smirk. "Ginny's told me all about you… it's why I know your name. How you met in Diagon Alley, how nice you are, how she considers you her closest friend…" He paused and snickered, before giving Calvin a stare that bored into his soul. "How she was beginning to wonder if Famous Harry Potter was truly the one for her."
Calvin turned pink and opened his mouth to say something but found that Tom's spell had not worn off.
"Anyway, now that that's sorted, let's continue," said Tom.
He turned back to Harry with that evil smirk
"If I say it myself, Harry," he began. "I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted… I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…"
Calvin gulped at the implication of what Tom had just said.
"What do you mean?" Asked Harry nervously.
"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" Asked Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She wrote the threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods and the Squib's cat."
"You jerk!" Calvin shouted, forcing the spell off of his voice, taking a step toward Riddle. "I oughta-"
"Silence!" Tom bellowed, turning to Calvin quickly.
The two simply glared at each other for a few seconds before Tom finally spoke.
"You are really beginning to try my patience," he growled.
"Yeah I tend to have that effect on people," Calvin said angrily. "It's a blessing and a curse."
"You would have been my next target you know," Riddle said, his smirk re-forming on his face. "Oh it would be too perfect. Targeting Miss Weasley's mudblood best friend, it would kill two birds with one stone. One less bit of filth in the world, and it would break her, making her easier to manipulate and setting my plan into action."
Riddle let out that awful laugh yet again.
"Yeah well, as you can see I'm still alive and kicking," Calvin growled.
Tom scowled.
"Unfortunately," he grumbled. "You see, me attempting to get Miss Weasley to set the serpent on you is what caused her to catch on to what I was doing. Knowing your life was on the line, she attempted to dispose of the diary."
Riddle's eyes lingered on Calvin for a moment longer before snapping his head back to Harry.
"That's where you came in, Harry," Tom said with a grin. "You found it. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet…"
"And why did you want to meet me?" asked Harry, glaring at Riddle with fire in his eyes.
"Well you see," Tom began, an evil glint in his eye. "Ginny told me all about you, Harry. Your whole fascinating history. I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust-"
"That was you?" Calvin interrupted, furious. "You framed Hagrid?"
Riddle glared at him, but then laughed yet again.
"It was my word against Hagrid's, Calvin. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Headmaster Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student… on the other hand, big blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls… but I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I thought someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. He didn't have the brains, or the power!"
He sighed.
"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed… Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did.
"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you," Harry said, venom in his voice.
"Well he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," Tom said with a shrug. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen your old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
"Well you've been doing a pretty lousy job," Calvin said with a snort. "No one's died."
Riddle glared at Calvin with pure hatred.
"Killing mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore, for many months now my target has been…" he turned back to Harry "...You."
"Me?" Harry exclaimed incredulously.
"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been starting the attacks? So the little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything GInny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery, particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue…"
Calvin was disgusted at Riddle's disturbing genius.
"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much left in her…. She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last…. I've been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."
"You're a monster," Calvin said, glaring at Riddle. "Textbook definition of a sociopath."
Tom let out that awful laugh once again.
"Call me what you want," he exclaimed ecstatically. "Just remember that I am the only one who will leave this chamber tonight, very much alive."
He rubbed his hands together and smirked.
"Now Harry," he said evilly. "How is it that you, a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent, managed 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?" Harry asked defiantly. "Voldemort was after your time."
"Voldemort," Tom said softly. "Is my past, present, and future…"
Calvin watched as he took Harry's wand, pointed it in front of him, and began to swish it through the air, writing words."
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
"There's the weird names again," Calvin mumbled.
Ignoring that comment, Riddle waved the wand once and the words began to rearrange themselves until they spelled something horrifyingly different.
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
Calvin gaped, and many thoughts began to swirl through his mind. Ginny was talking to Voldemort, the crazy dark wizard who was taken down eleven years ago by none other than Harry, and now he's using Ginny to come back?
Calvin massaged his temples, this news being too much for him to take.
"It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts with only my closest friends," Tom interrupted his thoughts. "Did you really think I would use my filthy muggle father's name forever? The man who abandoned me before I was born?"
He laughed.
"Of course not. The blood of Salazar Slytherin himself runs through my veins," he hissed. "I fashioned myself a new name, a name wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
"You're not," Harry said hatefully.
"Not what?" Riddle snapped.
"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," Harry continued. "Hate to break it to you, but that position lies with Dumbledore. Even when you were in full power, you didn't dare try to take over Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you all those years ago, and he still frightens you to this day."
Riddle turned purple, his face contorting into a hateful stare.
"Dumbledore," he growled. "Was driven from the school by the mere memory of me!"
Calvin suddenly got an idea.
"That's what you think!" He exclaimed, raising his hand high into the air. "Help!"
A second passed, then another, and then another, Harry and Riddle staring blankly at him.
"Um, give it a second," he said nervously.
Another ten seconds passed as he continued to stand stupidly with his hand in the air, Tom and Harry still staring at him.
"Oh come on!" he shouted at the ceiling, raising his arms in frustration. "Remember? Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it, well we need help now!"
More seconds passed and still nothing.
He was about to speak in frustration again, but he noticed that Harry and Tom seemed to be looking at something behind him. However, before he could turn around and look, something fell over his eyes and his vision went dark.
"AUGHHH!" he shrieked. "I'VE GONE BLIND!"
He bounced around like some kind of deranged rabbit until what had fallen over his eyes fell off his head and onto the chamber floor.
"False alarm!" He exclaimed, blinking in shock.
Harry and Tom however, were paying attention to something else. Flying through the air around them was a majestic red and gold bird
"That's…" began Riddle, narrowing his eyes. "That's a phoenix."
"Fawkes?" Harry exclaimed, gaping at the bird.
Calvin had no idea who 'Fawkes' was, but hoped he would be helpful.
"And that," said Tom, a smirk growing across his face as he saw what had fallen from Calvin's head. "Is the school sorting hat."
Calvin glanced down to where the thing had fallen to see a ragged old brown hat that looked like it had seen better days.
"So it is," he sighed.
Tom laughed again, a worse laugh than any of the other times he had laughed this night.
"Well Watterson," He said with an evil grin. "That was quite a- ah- meaningful speech. Too bad it was all for nothing!"
He turned back to Harry and raised his arms as if talking to a crowd.
"This is what Dumbledore sends his defenders! A songbird and an old hat!"
He chuckled.
"Do either of you feel brave?" he asked. "Knowing how Dumbledore equips his students?"
Calvin eyed the sorting hat and Fawkes nervously. He didn't agree with Riddle, but what good would a pretty bird and the sorting hat of all things do in this situation?
"Now Harry," Tom said. "Twice, in your past, in my future, we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk, the longer you stay alive."
Harry gave Calvin a nervous glance, and Calvin mouthed to him 'Keep talking.'
Harry nodded at him and began to speak.
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," he said. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother. She stopped you killing me. And 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. You're in hiding. You're ugly and foul!"
Calvin snickered and Tom looked like he was ready to commit murder, which, to be honest, he probably was.
"So," Riddle said through gritted teeth. "Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. I can see it now… there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. 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."
Calvin snorted, and Tom turned to him, narrowing his eyes.
"Got something you want to say, filth?" he asked venomously.
"Why are you so convinced you can do no wrong?" Calvin asked, grinning eccentrically. "'It was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me.'" he mocked, imitating Riddle's cold, high voice. "Was it really a lucky chance, or did you just make a mistake?"
Tom looked like he had to physically hold himself back from strangling Calvin right then and there.
"I make no mistakes!" he hissed. "My downfall was simply something I should have foreseen!"
"There you go again!" Calvin exclaimed with a chuckle. "You can't admit that there was an error in your judgement. One day, that's gonna come back to bite you in the butt!" he paused before grinning wider and speaking again. "Even more than it already has!"
Harry was frantically shaking his head at Calvin, trying to get him to back off, but Calvin ignored him.
"Do you have a death wish, Watterson?" asked, Riddle, shaking with rage.
"Not necessarily," Calvin said with a lopsided grin. "But how you've been talking has made me accept that I might not leave this place alive, so I've gotta get my kicks in now!"
Tom stared at Calvin incredulously, before regaining his composure and sneering.
"Well if that's your attitude…" he began. "Let's get this over, shall we?"
Calvin raised an eyebrow and glanced at Harry, who looked exceptionally nervous.
At that moment, Riddle spun around to the massive stone face and began to speak in that unsettling hissing noise.
Calvin watched in shock as the face's mouth began to open, a large dark hole forming, getting wider and wider. To his horror, he spotted something moving inside the mouth.
"CALVIN," Harry shrieked. "CLOSE YOUR EYES!"
Calvin didn't need to be told twice, clamping his eyes together and diving to the floor, gritting his teeth. A wet thud echoed through the chamber as something large fell onto it. Tom spoke quickly in that unnatural language a second time and the sound of slithering and clattering footsteps was heard. This went on for a few seconds before Calvin heard a horrible monstrous screech.
"NO!" Riddle shrieked. "LEAVE THIS BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"
At the implication that the snake's eyes were no longer working, Calvin slowly loosened his eyelids and was met with a horrible sight at the center of the chamber. Harry was standing there, looking up in shock at a monstrous, almost dinosaur like snake. It had to be at least 30 feet long.
The snake swayed, seemingly in pain. Calvin noticed that there seemed to be dark red blood oozing from its eye sockets. It began to blindly snap and hiss, Harry barely avoiding its massive snout each time.
"Help me!" Harry yelled pleadingly.
Calvin stood up and began to run over to Harry but was stopped by Riddle.
"No!" Tom exclaimed, pointing Harry's wand at Calvin. "He will not get any help. You will stay here. Imperio!"
As soon as the spell hit him, Calvin felt an intense wave of relaxation, suddenly feeling that nothing mattered anymore.
"Stay where you are…" a soothing voice whispered in his ear.
Calvin obliged, not knowing why. He just felt that everything would be okay if he just obeyed the seductive, smooth voice that spoke to him.
"Good," the voice said. "Just stay put and everything will be fine…"
Calvin nodded sluggishly, and slowly lowered himself to the floor, sitting down with his legs crossed.
Harry stared at him as he continued to dodge the blind snake, a pleading look in his eyes. Calvin didn't relent however. Everything would be just fine if he simply listened to the voice…
Harry, who seemed to have given up on Calvin, dove towards the sorting hat that lied motionless on the chamber floor.
Calvin watched dreamily through his glazed eyes as Harry put on the hat. There was a thud and Harry gasped. Grimacing in pain, Harry removed the hat from his head and stuck his hand into it, pulling out a shining silver sword with a hilt encrusted with rubies. Even in his trance, Calvin couldn't help but think that was awesome.
"KILL THE BOY!" Riddle screamed frantically. "HE IS BEHIND YOU, SMELL HIM!"
The snake slowly regained its composure, facing Harry and staring at him through eyes that could not see. At that moment, the snake reared back and lunged. Before it could force Harry into its cavernous mouth however, Harry shoved the sword through the roof of the snake's mouth.
Harry removed the sword from the mouth of the beast and it crumbled to the floor, lifeless. As he did this, however, Calvin noticed that a large fang had lodged itself into Harry's arm. A surge of concern shot through his trance.
"There's no point…" the voice whispered. "The venom is in his bloodstream… he'll be dead in minutes…"
Upon hearing this, Calvin fell back into his trance, but a seed of doubt had been planted in his head.
The phoenix landed by Harry, and Riddle smirked, walking over to him.
"You're dead, Harry Potter," Tom said gleefully. "You may have killed the basilisk, but it's venom has entered your veins."
He kneeled down next to Harry.
"I'm going to watch you die, Harry Potter," Riddle said evilly. "Take your time. I'm in no Hurry."
Harry grimaced and pulled the fang out of his arm and tossed it away, where it landed by Calvin's feet. Calvin regarded it drowsily for a moment before turning back to Harry and Tom.
"Even Dumbledore's bird knows you're done for," said Riddle. "Do you see what it's doing? It's crying!"
Calvin watched as there was a silence and Tom's face slowly turned to Horror.
"Get away, bird," Riddle said frantically. "I said get away!"
Tom pointed Harry's wand at the phoenix, which flew into the air. Calvin caught a glimpse of where the fang had stabbed Harry, and saw that where there should've been a stab wound, there was clean, white skin. This gave Calvin a little sliver of hope.
"It's useless," the voice said, sounding frantic now.
"Phoenix tears…" Riddle hissed, glaring at the spot on Harry's arm where the wound once was. "Of course… Healing powers… I forgot…"
He looked up at Harry's face and glared at him.
"But it makes no difference," Tom growled. "In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter… you and me…"
At that moment, the phoenix quietly glided over Calvin and dropped something in his lap. Calvin glanced at it dreamily before realizing what it was. The diary.
He glanced over at the bloodstained basilisk fang at his feet and something clicked in his head.
Why am I listening to this voice? He thought to himself.
"Because you must…" the voice responded in its sensual tone.
No I don't, Calvin thought. A bit dumb, really.
"You MUST!" the voice continued, beginning to sound angry.
No, I don't think I will.
"You little-"
Shove off.
At that moment, Calvin snapped out of the trance and quickly grabbed the basilisk fang at his feet with his right hand, and the diary with his left hand.
"Hey Voldy!" Calvin exclaimed with a grin.
Tom's head snapped in Calvin's direction, taking his attention off Harry and looking shocked that the boy had shaken off his curse.
"Seems you forgot about me as well!" Calvin said with a chuckle. "See you in hell!"
He raised the fang high over the diary and Riddle's eyes widened.
"No!" Tom shouted, running towards Calvin. "DON'T-"
But before Riddle could reach him, Calvin plunged the fang into the cover of the diary.
There was a piercing scream, and ink sprayed out of the hole in the diary like blood. Calvin watched as the memory of Tom Riddle fell to the ground and began to convulse. There was a bright flash of light, and then Riddle was gone, leaving only Calvin and Harry's wands, which they quickly retrieved.
Calvin and Harry both stared at the empty spot where Riddle had disappeared, dumbfounded.
"Well uh," Calvin began. "That's that, I suppose."
"Uh-huh," Harry said with a nod.
Their awkward conversation was interrupted when there was a groan from behind them, causing Calvin's ears to perk up.
"Ginny!" he exclaimed as he spun around and ran to her just as she was beginning to sit up, and pulled her into a crushing hug. She gasped in surprise, but realizing what was going on, she hugged him back and then began to cry.
"Harry… Calvin," she stammered. "I tried to tell you both at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy- It was me- but I- I s-swear I d-didn't mean to- R-Riddle made me-"
"Hey," Calvin said softly, looking into her eyes "It's okay."
"Riddle's finished," Harry said, walking over and holding up the mangled diary that Calvin had stabbed. "Let's get out of here."
"They're going to expel me!" Ginny sobbed as Calvin helped her to her feet. "I've been looking forward to coming to H-Hogwarts my whole life, and now t-they're gonna kick me out!"
She buried her face in Calvin's shoulder, who awkwardly patted her on the back.
They walked for a few minutes out of the chamber and through the tunnel until they came to the collapsed wall. Calvin, in his eagerness, left Ginny's side and charged up to the wall.
"Hobbes?" he asked frantically. "Hobbes, are you there?"
"Calvin?" came Hobbes's relieved voice. "You're okay!"
"They're back?" Ron's voice added, and in a more nervous voice, asked: "Is Ginny okay?"
"Ginny's fine, Ron," said Harry, who was now helping Ginny after Calvin had darted off. "A bit shaken up but she'll be okay."
Ron let out a long sigh of relief.
"This might be a poor time to ask this," came Hobbes's voice. "But how are they going to get back through?"
"Hang on," said Ron. "I think I've got a grip on this rock."
There was a groan and Calvin, Harry, and Ginny watched as some of the rocks began to tumble away, leaving an opening just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
"You're okay!" Ron exclaimed, overjoyed as they ushered Ginny through the opening in the rock. "What ha- what's with the bird?"
Ron pointed behind Harry and Calvin, who turned around just in time to see the phoenix swoop down between them and into the opening.
"Fawkes," Harry said, beaming. "He's Dumbledores!"
"He is?" Calvin asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry. "Huh, my begging did work!"
Harry just rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"What's with the sword?" Hobbes asked incredulously as Calvin and Harry squeezed their way through the opening.
Calvin glanced at the bloodstained sword clutched in Harry's hand and Harry shook his head at him.
"Uhhhh," Calvin said, eyeing Ginny, who was still crying her eyes out. "We'll tell you later."
"Where's Lockhart?" Harry asked inquisitively.
"Over there," said Ron, pointing behind him. "He's in a bad way."
Hobbes led Calvin and Harry over to where Ron was pointing, where Lockhart was sitting against a wall, a stupid grin on his face.
"The memory charm he tried to use on us blew up in his face," Hobbes said with a snicker. "His memory is completely wiped."
"Hello," Lockhart said, beaming at Calvin and Harry. "Odd sort of place, isn't it? Do you live here?"
"Ummmmm…" Harry said nervously. "N-"
"Yes," Calvin interrupted with a mischievous smirk. "Welcome to the batcave!"
"Bat cave?" asked Lockhart, glancing around with a puzzled look on his face. "I don't see any bats anywhere!"
"That's what you think!" Calvin exclaimed, walking away, leaving Lockhart and Harry confused, and Hobbes shaking his head in disapproval.
"How are we going to get out of here?" asked Ron, eyeing the black slide they shot out of when they first entered the chamber. "I don't think we're gonna be able to climb back up those pipes."
At that moment, Fawkes flew to the middle of the room with a loud squawk, presenting his tail feathers to the group.
"Are my eyes deceiving me," Hobbes began. "Or does that bird want us to grab on to him?"
"That's impossible," Ron said. "We're much too heavy."
"Fawkes isn't a normal bird," Harry said with a grin.
Within the next five minutes, the group was soaring upward through the pipes with Fawkes, hanging on to each other for dear life.
"Amazing!" Lockhart exclaimed. "This is just like magic!"
A/N: That was it, the final battle! I'm going to do one more chapter of year 1 to just close everything out and set up year 2, and then I will start on year 2! As always, let me know what you think of the story so far in reviews, and let me know what ideas you may have for the story! Also, I am happy to announce that I have made a companion playlist for the story on spotify! The playlist consists of songs that 1, describe my version of Calvin, 2, are something I think my version of Calvin would listen to, and 3, songs I think simply just go well with the story. I highly suggest listening to it while you read the story, just search: "Calvin and Hobbes Go To Hogwarts" on spotify, and it should be by a user called j3400. Side note, while my story is rated k+, the playlist I made is not. If you are sensitive to swear words, you should not listen to that playlist. Anyway, see you all in the next chapter, which will be the last chapter of year 1! Will try to get it out next Monday if not earlier!
