Chapter 26 - The Final Petrified Girl
I don't think I stayed awake long while I was sat next to Hermione, I had decided to go to the library after classes to see if Madam Pince knew what she was reading last before she left the library and... before she was petrified. There would be hell to pay when I find out who's behind this, and probably not just from me. I threw some cold water on my face and changed into some clean robes in the Hospital Wing bathroom and waited outside. True to their word, Harry and Ron were waiting under the cloak for me, I hugged them both when I saw them.
"We'll have to be quick, they're being very firm about us being taken to all classes." Harry said.
"We went to Hagrid's last night." Ron added hurriedly.
"I told you not to do anything stupid..." I replied angrily before Harry interrupted me.
"It's a good job, they've sent Hagrid to Azkaban! We wouldn't have been able to see him otherwise." Harry explained to my shock. "And Malfoy Senior and the board has ordered Dumbledore not to be Headmaster, he's left! We've no headmaster now." I took me a minute to digest all the information.
"How could they honestly think Dumbledore not being here is going to help? Oh, God! What are we going to do?" I asked them hurriedly.
"We're going to get to class." Ron replied simply. I sighed then nodded and we got under the cloak to go to Potions. No one seemed to notice we weren't with the group. The class went fairly quickly apart from some remarks from Malfoy leaving us holding Ron back and me promising to get him back. Herbology was cancelled again because Professor Sprout was doing something with the mandrakes so I had a free period to rush to the Library while Harry and Ron visited Hermione. They'd also planned to go to Hagrid's hut again to see if Fang was okay and if they could find anything. I went straight to Madam Pince.
"Excuse me Madam Pince, is there any way you could tell me the last book Hermione was reading in here yesterday?" I asked quickly.
"Ah, yes. I was very sad to hear she had been petrified. Hermione had the same love for book as I. You'll find the last book she was reading still on the table, she was in a hurry to leave so she forgot to put it back. Perhaps if she had put it back, she wouldn't have met the beast that is doing this." Madam Pince sighed before pointing me to the table with a single book on. I ran over and looked at it. It was called Medieval Beasts of the Past. I picked it up and rushed over to borrow it before leaving for the Hospital Wing. I settled in the arm chair I had slept in last night while Ron and Harry were talking quietly on the other side of Hermione's bed. I flicked through it quickly before Harry and Ron left to for Hagrid's Hut again. I read through a lot of the book when I came across a teared page, it had been ripped clean out. I flicked to the index of the book and it said on those pages was a creature called a Basilisk. I didn't know what it was. I sighed before continuing, I doubt it would have been Hermione to rip a page out of the book, that's like a crime against humanity for her. I spent another ten minutes reading coming up with nothing that could be the creature when I noticed something. There was a crumbled up piece of paper in Hermione's hand. How had I not noticed that before? I carefully brought it out of Hermione's hand and read it. The word; Basilisk, was in bright words at the top of the page before I continued reading about this beast.
Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.
At the top of the page was an inked word that looked like Hermione's writing saying 'Pipes.'. I thought about it for a minute, if it was a snake, then that's the reason Harry can hear it and if it's moving around in the pipes that's why we can't see it. It was brilliant!
"You're brilliant, Hermione!" I repeated out loud before kissing her on the head and running from the room to find Harry and Ron. I ran at an un-human speed towards Hagrid's hut when I saw them. Harry was sat on the floor with a dazed look and Fang laid next to him while Ron was throwing up behind the pumpkins. "What happened?" I asked, more than a little confused.
"Hagrid told us to follow the spiders last night and we did and they nearly killed us. It was the Acromantula from Tom Riddle's memory but he said it wasn't him that did it because he'd never left the box from where he lived and he wasn't born at Hogwarts but the creature was and it's something that terrifies them but that means that Hagrid is innocent." Harry told me. I grinned at him.
"The creature is a Basilisk. I was coming to tell you that I'd found out what it is. Here." I replied still grinning at them as Ron approached to read the paper. " Hermione found out, it's traveling around in the pipes and it's a snake so that's why you can hear it."
"You're telling me we didn't need to follow the spiders because you'd already found out." Ron squeaked still looking rather pale.
"Yeah, if you'd waited around twenty minutes or so, I'd have told you, because that's when I found out." I replied now giggling as Ron started to shout more swear words than I knew he knew.
"Hey, wait. I've just thought of something." Harry suddenly said pausing while Ron stopped swearing. "Ron -that girl who died. Aragog said she was found in a bathroom. What if she never left the bathroom? What if she's still there?"
"You don't mean... Moaning Myrtle?" Ron asked.
"How do you reckon no one's died though? How have the all become petrified?" I asked confused. We sat on the grass all of us deep in thought.
"Because no one looked it straight in the eye. Colin saw it through his camera. The basilisk burned up all the film inside it, but Colin just got Petrified. Justin . . . Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again . . . and Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect were found with Hermione's mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror - and -"
"And Mrs Norris, The water on the floor, the flood from Myrtle's bathroom. I bet you Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection!" I whispered excitedly.
"Hagrid's roosters were killed! Remember? The Heir of Slytherin didn't want one anywhere near the castle once the Chamber was opened!" Ron added.
"It all fits!" Harry cried.
"Hermione would be proud." Ron grinned.
"Yeah but I bet she worked all this out on her own, it took three of us." I chuckled and soon the three of us where all laughing. Ron suddenly stopped.
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he said hoarsely. "What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in -?"
"Myrtle's bathroom! That's why she was the only one who died, she saw it properly. Maybe that's why there was a flood too, in Myrtle's bathroom, the first time it was out." I replied.
"We're awesome!" Harry said laughing.
"What do we do now?" Ron asked and the three of us looked at eachother.
"Let's go to the staff room," Harry said, jumping up. "McGonagall'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break." He set off towards the castle leaving me and Ron running after him. We got to the staff room in record time and waited in a cupboard until we heard Professor McGonagall's voice as it was magically magnified.
"All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please." I turned to look at Harry and Ron.
"Not another attack? Not now?" Ron whispered.
"What do we do now? Do we go back?" I asked the boys.
"No. We'll stay and listen." Harry replied.
"We'll get in bucket loads of trouble if we're caught." I told them.
"We've got the cloak if we need it." Harry replied.
"Yeah, Ash. You're starting to sound like Hermione." Ron added.
"Shut up." I whispered grinning. I listened as the staff room door banged open. From inside the cupboard we watched the teachers filtering into the room through holes in the door. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.
"It has happened," she told the silent staff room. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself." Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"
"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." Professor Flitwick burst into tears, it was a sad sight to see a teacher cry.
"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk into a chair. "Which student?"
"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall. I felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside me and Harry while I covered my mouth to stop myself from screaming.
"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," said Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said. . ." The staffroom door banged open again and Lockhart entered.
"So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?" He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward.
"Just the man," he said. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last." Lockhart blanched.
"That's right, Gilderoy," chipped in Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"
"I - well, I -" sputtered Lockhart.
"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" piped up Professor Flitwick.
"D-did I? I don't recall -"
"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," said Snape. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"
Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues. "I - I really never - you may have misunderstood -"
"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," said Professor McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."
Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble.
"V very well," he said. "I'll - I'll be in my office, getting ready." And he left the room.
"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories?" The teachers rose and left, one by one. We climbed out of the cupboard as soon as the coast was clear, I sat in the chair Madam Hooch had departed.
"Not Ginny." I whispered to myself. "I'm sorry Ron."
"It's okay, we know where the entrance is, we know what the creature is and to not look at its eyes. We can save her." Ron replied confidently.
"On our own?" I asked not as confident.
"Why not? We did it last year." Harry grinned at me.
"We didn't have a choice last year and we had Hermione last year." I pointed out to them.
"Well, between the three of us, we have almost the amount of brain power as Hermione does." Ron chuckled. I thought for a second.
"But we're not the sensible ones, Hermione is, we'll get ourselves killed. Maybe..." I paused. "Maybe we should tell Lockhart, tell him what we know and we can go down to Chamber with him. And help. I mean, I know he's an idiot but he has won all those awards and shit. He has to be good and stuff like this." They sighed and both agreed with me before we set off to his office, there was no one around so we just legged it and hoped we wouldn't be seen. Harry knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside. Then the door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes peering through it.
"Oh - Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Hyde..." he said, opening the door a bit wider. "I'm rather busy at the moment - if you would be quick -"
"Professor, we've got some information for you," said Harry. "We think it'll help you."
"Er - well - it's not terribly -" The side of Lockhart's face that they could see looked very uncomfortable. "I mean - well all right -" He opened the door and they entered. His office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnight blue, had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now crammed into boxes on the desk.
"Are you planning on going somewhere?" I asked him, slightly glaring.
"Er, well, yes," said Lockhart, ripping a life-size poster of himself from the back of the door as he spoke and starting to roll it up. "Urgent call, unavoidable, got to go"
"What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily?
"Well, as to that - most unfortunate -" said Lockhart as he wrenched open a drawer and started emptying the contents into a bag. "No one regrets more than I -"
"You're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Harry cried. "You can't go now! Not with all the Dark stuff going on here!"
"Well - I must say - when I took the job -" Lockhart muttered, now piling socks on top of his robes. "Nothing in the job description - didn't expect -"
"You mean you're running away?" said Harry disbelievingly. "After all that stuff you did in your books -"
"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.
"You wrote them!" I shouted angrily. I had read all of his books and even though I didn't like him, they stuff he's written sounded amazing.
"My dear child," said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry. "Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on -"
"So you've just been taking credit for what a load of other people have done?" said Harry incredulously.
"Harry, Harry," said Lockhart, shaking his head impatiently, "it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. No, it's been a lot of work, Harry. It's not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog." He banged the lids of his trunks shut and locked them. "Let's see," he said. "I think that's everything. Yes. Only one thing left." He pulled out his wand and turned to us. I was practically growling in anger from what I'd just heard. "Awfully sorry children, but I'll have to put a Memory Charm on you now. Can't have you blabbing my secrets all over the place. I'd never sell another book -" Everything happened quite quickly.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry had bellowed sending Lockhart's wand high into the air; Ron caught it, and flung it out of the open window while I leaped onto Lockhart's desk while changing into my animagus, growling and baring my teeth. Lockhart went white and looked like he was about to cry while Harry and Ron walked around his desk and pointed there wands at him. "Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," Harry said furiously. Lockhart was looking up at him, feeble once more.
"What d'you want me to do?" said Lockhart weakly. "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is. There's nothing I can do."
"You're in luck," said Harry, forcing Lockhart towards the door at wand point. "We think we know where it is. And what's inside it. Let's go." I changed back and started walking behind them also with my wand pointed at him.
"I have lost all respect for you, you're nothing but an idiot and if it were up to me, I'd eat your pretty face on, then we'd see how many books you'd sell. One wrong move, and that's exactly what I'll do." I spat at him angrily before turning to the boys. "I'll go on ahead and talk to Myrtle, I don't trust myself around this oaf." They nodded and I ran to Myrtle's bathroom. "Myrtle?" I called. She flew out of a toilet and glided to float near me.
"Hello Ash." She said. "What do you want?"
"You died 50 years ago, right? Around the time that the Chamber of Secrets was open last?" I asked her, she looked a little sad and nodded. "Would you tell me how you died please, Myrtle?"
"It happened right in there. I died in that very stall." She stared pointing to the toilet she had come out of. "I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then... I died."
"How?" I asked her, pushing her for more information.
"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses." I heard Harry, Ron and Lockhart approached us as she finished.
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry asked.
"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet. Harry walked over to it and started inspecting it as the rest of us watched although mine and Ron's wand was still pointed at Lockhart.
"Aha!" Harry exclaimed. "There's a snake on this one."
"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.
"Harry," said Ron. "Say something. Something in Parseltongue." Harry made a hissy noise after his first failed attempt and the sink seemed to glow then it was like all the sinks moved to uncover a hole.
"Whoa." I whispered.
"I'm going down there," Harry said. I didn't expect any less.
"Me too." Ron added.
"Me three." I finished as I pushed Lockhart towards the hole. "And you four."
"No, wait..." Lockhart struggled before I just pushed him, he screamed as he fell.
"You do realise you might have just killed a teacher." Myrtle remarked. I shrugged.
"He wasn't a very good one." I replied grinning.
"Harry, if you die, I'll let you share my toilet." Myrtle smiled at him.
"Er, thanks Myrtle..." I heard Harry reply before I jumped in the hole after Lockhart. It was like a really long slide, I resisted the urge to say 'weeeeee'. I landed on a damp floor and immediately stood up and pointed my wand at Lockhart again. I heard Harry land behind me and Ron soon after as I wondered where on earth we would be, the slide seemed miles long. "We must be miles under the school," said Harry, answering my thought, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.
"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.
"Well done, Ron. That was quite a smart deduction for you." I grinned at him while he stuck his tongue out at me. Lockhart glared at me. "Think of it like this, Lockhart, if we get out of here, you can write another book and pretend to be the hero in this and I might even not say anything, but you won't be wiping my mind." He seemed to consider this for a minute then smiled faintly.
"Lumos!" Harry muttered to his wand and it lit. "C'mon, Ron you keep an eye on him." Talking about Lockhart. Ron nodded before we set off, Harry at the front, followed by me, Lockhart and finally Ron with his wand trained on Lockhart. We moved quickly and quietly before the floor beneath us seemed to begin to crunch.
"Lumos." I muttered to see what was below me. There seemed to be hundreds of rat's bones. I shivered slightly, worried at the sight we might see ahead. Harry suddenly froze. I immediately covered my eyes with my hands as I heard Harry gently approach something. I peaked between my hands and saw something that seemed to not be moving at all.
"Maybe it's asleep," Ron breathed. I took a deep breath and gulped before lowering my hands and carefully working my way around what seemed to be the Basilisk.
"Maybe it's dead." I breathed back as I point my wand towards it with the very dim light. It wasn't until I got to where the head was did I realise what it was. "It's the Basilisk's skin. Its shed it like I assume normal snakes do." I told the three of them in a normal tone.
"Blimey." Ron said as he walked around it and then back. "Look at how big it is." I squeaked a bit and tried to take deep breaths as I sat on the wet floor near the snake's tail. "Are you alright, Ash?" Ron asked while I was still taking deep breaths.
"Yeah." I replied a little breathlessly. "I'm having a little panic attack." I put my hands on my face leaned on my knees. "I don't like snakes. I really don't like snakes. When I was like five I was bitten by snakes and I really don't like them. They bleeding' terrify me. It's like you are with spiders, Ron, maybe a little worse." I spoke in a rush as I continued to take deep breaths. Lockhart unfortunately took advantage of Ron's distraction because of me and pushed Ron to the floor and took Ron's cellotaped wand and pointed it at Ron before me and Harry could even do anything. I jumped to stand up though.
"Drop your wands." Lockhart ordered. Me and Harry did as we were told.
"I don't really need it." I growled at him.
"The adventure ends here!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and the three of you tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body - say good-bye to your memories!"
He raised Ron's Cellotaped wand towards me and before I could do anything he had yelled, "Obliviate!" The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. It seemed to bounce between me and him and we were both thrown backwards towards the walls behind us, me hitting my head and landing on the floor in a heap, as the room began shake. I saw both Ron and Harry hit the deck and covered their heads as I did the same while bits of the stone roof began to fall in a heap sending dust and rat bones everywhere. By the time it had finished, there was a deadly silence. I couldn't see a thing so I groped around to find my wand. As sat back when I had and held the back of my head.
"Lumos." I said quietly causing my wand to light up again as I examined the hand that had been touching my head. Blood. "Why is it always the back of my head?" I muttered before I pointed my wand at my head and said; "Episkey!"
"Ash?" Ron muttered. I looked up to see him and smiled before looking towards where Harry had been standing. There was nothing but had now become a brick wall infront of me. I began to panic.
"Ron! Ash!" Harry suddenly shouted. "Are you okay? Ash! Ron!"
"I'm here!" Ron shouted. "I'm okay - this git's not, though - he got blasted by the wand." I looked towards Lockhart who was knocked out on the floor. Ron kicked him.
"Ash?" Harry called out again.
"I'm here, Harry. I'm fine, too. Are you okay?" I shouted back.
"Yeah." He replied.
"We're going to start digging through, Harry, I'm not sure how long it will take." Ron told him a little desperately.
"It's okay. Wait there, Wait with Lockhart. I'll go on... If I'm not back in an hour..." Harry replied.
"No you bloody well will not, Harry James Potter. Wait there, we'll do it quickly. Come on, Ron." I ordered. Ron jumped up to do as he was told as I put my wand on the floor and changed to my animagus and climbed up and started digging as quickly as I could.
"Shut up, Ash." Was Harry's reply, I could practically hear him grin as I heard him walk away so I growled back. Ron backed up a little so he didn't get hit by the falling rocks and held up his wand as a dim light for me even though I didn't need it with cat eyes. I was at it for about ten minutes before I made a decent enough hole that I could just squeeze through. I got through and changed back to human on the other side and turned back to see Ron at the hole with his light.
"I'll try and shift some of this rock," Ron told me, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. "So you can - so the three of you can get back through." He smiled at me. I reached through and squeezed his hand.
"I'll see you soon Ronnie" I grinned at him before I turned and started running after Harry in my animagus form so I was faster. I ran as fast as I could, flying through a metal door that I assume Harry had opened to see Harry stood over Ginny with another boy stood near him in Slytherin robes who had a wand in his hand. The room had pillars up the side with what seemed to be face in the wall at the far end with like a moat around it. The room was oddly brightly lit so I changed into my human and approached them as quietly as I could.
"Listen," Harry said urgently to the other boy. "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes -"
"It won't come until it is called," The Slytherin boy replied calmly. I couldn't see his face, only the map of black hair at the back of his head. I didn't recognise his voice.
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it-"
"You won't be needing it," The boy replied. Harry stared at him and noticed me approaching but didn't do anything to cause attention to me, which might end up being a good thing.
"What d'you mean, I won't be -?" Harry stuttered.
"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter, for the chance to see you. To speak to you." I wasn't sure how this boy new Harry.
"Look," said Harry, losing patience, "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later -"
"We're going to talk now," The boy ignored him and he pocketed Harry's wand.
"I don't think so." I said to them, pointing my wand at the Slytherin. "Who's this?" I asked Harry.
"Tom Riddle." Harry replied and I looked confused, it wasn't the Tom from the diary, was it? Incidentally, the diary I had noticed from the floor. My eyes flickered between the two.
"Yes, I'm from the diary." Tom answered my unasked question before suddenly pulling Harry's wand from his hand. "Expelliarmus!" He cried and my wand sailed from my hand to his before he pocketed it. I just glared at him.
"Why?" I asked. "How are you from the diary and you are now in front of my eyes? I wrote to you." Harry looked confused. "Ginny had Tom's diary, she wrote in it, she stole it from your room the time you had it. She was obsessed with it." I spat towards Tom. Tom merely laughed.
"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked slowly.
"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "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."
"What are you talking about?" said Harry.
"The diary," said Riddle. `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 second-hand robes and books, how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her..." He paused to see my reaction, which I was still glaring at him, before turning his eyes back to Harry.
"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven year old girl," he went on. "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..." Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that scared the bejeezas out of me. It didn't sound at all normal
"If I say it myself, Harry, 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..."
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked, I assumed he was as confused as I.
"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."
"No," Harry whispered.
"Don't be stupid, Tom. Ginny couldn't do anything like that." I sneered at his stupidity
"Yes," said Riddle, calmly and ignoring me. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries ... far more interesting, they became ... Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and 1 don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, l can't remember what 1 did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom! It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop trusting her diary," said Riddle. "But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. 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?" said Harry. Anger was coursing through him, and it was an effort to keep his voice steady.
"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, and meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust -"
"Hagrid's my friend," said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but -" Riddle laughed his high laugh again.
"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old 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. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance... as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power! Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dipper 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," said Harry, his teeth gritted.
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled," said Riddle carelessly. "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 Id spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-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 haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again -"
"Haven't I already told you," said Riddle quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been -you."
"Why Harry?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Because he is the famous Harry Potter, Ash. And my name is Tom Marvolo Riddle." He replied looking at me before using Harry's wand and wrote his name in the air with fire and did something. The words seemed to change their order and those words changed into something I did not expect at all.
I AM
LORD VOLDEMORT
I leapt into action, grabbing Harry and hurling him behind me, I was ready to pounce on his as my animagus if even made a move.
"We defeated you last year, we'll defeat you this year." I growled at him. It was just the next time we had to worry for. He laughed his scary high pitched laugh again.
"You see?" he whispered. "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 from behind me, moving to my side.
"Not what?" snapped Voldemort.
"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," Harry replied, breathing fast. "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 gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly scowl.
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed.
"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted. If there was something he knew, he needed to tell me. Voldemort suddenly as we heard music coming from behind us. That's when I saw Dumbledore's phoenix flying, carrying something which it then dropped behind us and flew to stand on a pillar.
"This is what Dumbledore sends his great warriors, a song bird and a hat." Voldie sneered as I looked and saw it was indeed the sorting hat. What was that going to do, sort him to death? "No matter, it's time to get down to business. It's time to let my pet out." He sneered again before he made a similar hissing voice Harry had done earlier. "Your parsletongue won't help you now potter, this basilisk only responds to me."
"Run, Harry!" I cried as Harry jumped to pick up the hat before he started running. I however turned to Voldemort, Harry hadn't noticed me not following him. "Give me my wand." I hissed before I launched myself at him punching and scratching and biting which I can assume he had not expected. I saw slowly realising that it wasn't such a good idea when Voldemort threw me off.
"ASH!" Harry shouted.
"Keep running Harry! You have to!" I screamed at him before I rolled over to stand up again to face Lord Voldemort and hopefully kick his arse. I looked at the water below me and saw the reflection of big bright golden eyes and then...