Before going in too far, Jack and Harry looked around, listening for any signs of the Basilisk but it didn't seem to be there.

Still, together they quietly made their way inside, wands in hand, and soon found Ginny and Annie lying on the cold stone floor, their eyes closed, but feeling cold and not breathing as much as they should.

"Ginny! Annie!" they boys called out shaking them lightly to try and make them to try and wake them up, Harry dropping his wand to lift Ginny into a sitting position, Jack still holding on to his.

"Annie come on, time for some breakfast cookies and chocolate pancakes…" he said remembering from last summer this was what woke her up the best.

But nothing happened.

"They won't wake." a new voice said making the boys look around and saw another boy – half there half not there almost as if he was a ghost, but he wasn't a ghost – sitting on top of one of the huge snake heads watching them.

"Who are you?" Jack asked, carefully lying Annie back down and placing his cloak on her to keep her warm.

"And why do you mean they won't wake?" Harry asked placing his cloak on Ginny.

The boy came down and looked at Jack to answer his question first "I, am a memory. preserved in a diary for 50 years. Back then I was known by the name of Tom Riddle."

Jack looked over the girls and saw that Ginny was hugging the little black diary that he Ron and Harry found in Myrtle's bathroom.

Tom then turned to Harry to answer his question.

"And they won't wake, because they're in too deep a sleep."

"Then we need to get them out of here, and quick, there's a Basilisk," Harry said trying to hoist Ginny up and looking for his wand. "Did you see?"

Tom had it in his hands, twirling it in his fingers.

"Thanks," Harry said reaching out for it but Tom didn't give it back.

"Listen," Jack said from where he was getting mad at this guy, Annie in his arms already "We really need to get out of here. If that legless lizard comes by…"

"First of all it's a snake," Tom said looking a bit put off at having to correct Jack about this "And second. It won't come until it is called."

"A snake huh?" Jack said raising an eyebrow "Then how can it blink to keep its master safe from its death-stare? Why does its tummy scales match its back? Why does it have visible ear holes on the side of its head? And why is its lower jaw fused together?"

"I know that that thing is a snake, because I am its Master!" Tom yelled using Harry's wand to fire something at Jack who quickly used his wand to shield himself and Annie, but the force made him lose his balance and fall back a little, his wand flying out his hand and reach.

"What do you mean you're its Master?" Harry asked setting Ginny back onto the floor. "And how did the girls get like this?"

Glaring at Jack for a bit, Tom pocketed Harry's wand and began to answer the second question, ignoring the first one.

"Well, that's an interesting question. And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason why Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger." Tom paused looking down at Ginny a cruel smirk on his face that turned to a look of disgust as he turned to Annie.

"That Mudblood is only here because she was found Ginny writing her farewell on the wall in front of the bathroom where the entrance was. And I couldn't have that, so I made Ginny place a spell on her to make her come along too."

"Don't you dare call Annie a 'Mudblood'!" Jack yelled from where he was on the ground hugging the girl in question to protect her.

"What do you mean when you answered about Ginny?" Harry asked confused and not sure he liked this guy.

"The diary," Tom answered pointing to it "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 no one paid her any attention. How…" here he paused and looked mainly at Harry "How she didn't think that famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever love her."

All the time Jack was looking around the chamber, drowning out the jerk's voice, trying to find a way out or at least a chance to escape.

When Tom Riddle mocked that Ginny wrote there she didn't get any attention, Jack half wanted to freeze him into a giant ice-cube, but in his human form, especially without his wand, Jack didn't have the power for that.

Nor was he going to try, what with Annie still knocked out and in his lap.

Seeing what looked like a giant door at the end of the chamber where the statue of Slytherin's (Jack was guessing since this was his Secret Chamber) mouth was, Jack carefully set Annie on the floor and was about to go and inspect it when Riddle said:

"Haven't you figured it out yet, Harry Potter? Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. Strangled the roosters. Set the serpent of Slytherin on the Mudbloods, that meddling idiot," here he looked over to Jack who let out a loud 'HEY!' and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered looking at Jack who signaled to keep Riddle busy and distracted.

And once Riddle went back to being a perfect James Bond villain by mono-logging and giving away his plan, again, Jack quietly got up, grabbed his wand and went over to door.

o0o

Jack had reached the door and first tried knocking on it, lightly of course because otherwise Riddle would hear him, but nothing answered and the doors stayed shut.

Sighing, next Jack tried pushing it open himself, but still it stayed shut.

"How do I open this door?" he asked looking up at it and seeing snake on the keystone of the arch.

Looking back at Harry and Riddle, Jack saw Tom writing something in the air, but they still seemed to not be paying him attention so quietly Jack asked in Dragonese 'How do I open this door?'

Writing appeared on the door, in a hand so fancy and in a long dead language that Jack thankfully knew.

'To open this door, if that is what you seek

To look inside and take a peek

Use the knowledge you should know

Of who I am and in you will go

Just be wary of my friend

Otherwise you will come to a cold dark end'

Reading the message over a few times, Jack tried to think hard about what he knew about Slytherin that might help.

1, he liked green.

2, he liked snakes.

3, he picked out those who were cunning, and tricky, and pure-blooded because he thought everyone else wasn't worthy enough to be there.

4, he could speak Parseltongue.

That's it.

But Jack couldn't speak it, and Tom and Harry were both too busy gossiping to help him.

But then he remembered what Mr Padfoot had said on the Map.

"Only a Parselmouth or Dragon Whisperer can get in and control the Monster…" Jack said and thinking he was about to try and ask the door to open in Dragonese, when Riddle called out in his loud voice obviously not noticing – or maybe caring, that Jack was there:

'Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!'

There was a loud thud, and slowly the door opened, and something inside was eager to come out.

AN. The points that Jack made about the Basilisk were actually from a channel on youtube called 'Snake Discovery' who give evidence that (the movie Basilisk at least) this 'snake' is actually just a legless lizard.