Jack went back over to Annie and placed her with Ginny on the far side of the chamber making sure they were in a safe place, then drawing out his wand, went to join Harry, surprised to see he had a phoenix on his shoulder, and the shorting hat in his hand, who was backing up until he hit the Chamber wall, his eyes shut.

Taking his hand Jack got ready to run if need be, already icing over his eyes so he could look at the Basilisk but not die.

Feeling a waft of warm air fly past him, Jack saw the phoenix take flight.

"Coward!" he whispered, but then turned to Riddle who was speaking in English again.

"Now, let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, heir to Salazar Slytherin, again famous Harry Potter, his friend, and the best weapons Dumbledore could give them."

"Wait…" Jack said looking to Harry who still had his eyes closed "He's the Heir of Slytherin?"

Harry nodded concentrating too much on listening and preparing to run to speak.

"And he's Moldy Wart?" Jack asked raising his voice so Riddle could hear him.

Harry nodded again.

Soon the Basilisk was out and Riddle was saying 'Kill them. But start with that one…' he said pointing to Jack glaring at him.

"Parseltongue won't save you or your friend this time Potter! It only obeys me!" Riddle called as Jack and Harry – still holding hands, ran for it.

Looking around Jack found a safe-ish place for Harry and lead him over to it, making him crouch down so he would be harder to find.

"Stay here, don't move, and keep your eyes shut until I say it's safe." Jack said slowly letting go of the boys hand.

"Where are you going? What are you going to do?" Harry asked quickly grabbing Jack's hand again.

"To answer both questions," Jack said sounding as if he was standing very tall and proud "I'm going to put my Dragon Training and Dragonese to the test. Which hopefully hasn't gone rusty over the many years of me not using it."

"But!" Harry said getting up.

"Just stay there…" Jack said pushing the boy down again wondering if he should freeze his feet to the ground "You have to believe in me…"

Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded and stayed put.

With that Jack got up and walked out, hands where the Basilisk can see them, wand in the belt of his trousers.

'I mean you no harm King of Serpents!' he called out in Dragonese keeping his distance and looking just past the reptiles head.

'You are the boy who spoke to me before…' the Basilisk said coming closer and sniffing Jack coiling around him.

'Yes. And I am doing so again, to ask you leave my friends and I alone.' Jack said in a requesting / order making voice.

'But my Master…' the Basilisk said turning its head to where Tom Riddle was standing.

'Your Master was Salazar Slytherin. Not this boy who has been using you to harm the students of the school your Master and his friends built Millennia ago.' Jack said slowly reaching out and petting the reptile 'By guess, is that your Master placed you here so you could protect the students should any danger come to them. Correct?'

The Basilisk nodded, its eyes closed so it wouldn't petrify Jack a second time.

'Well what that boy over there is doing, is not protecting. He is harming. He is running your name, and your Master's name though the mud, and making everyone hate him more than they do already because of what the kid has been doing the last 50 years.'

This made the Basilisk hiss in anger at this, but the nice cold touch of this boy's hand, along with him using Dragonese rather than Parseltongue, was keeping it from attacking the Riddle boy.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' Riddle's whiny scream cried out. 'You're supposed to be killing him! Not letting him pet you like you're a weak little Garter Snake!'

'Ignore him,' Jack said looking over at Riddle loving how mad he was getting 'You're a good Basilisk, right? And definitely not a snake, right?'

At this the Basilisk shook it's head and used its tail to point out all the reasons why it wasn't a snake, pointing to its ears, its eyes, and its jaw.

"Jack!" Harry called out, still in his corner with his eyes closed. "Jack what's going on?"

"Everything ok Harry, but stay there a little longer." Jack called back looking at Riddle who seemed to have had enough and was heading towards the girls.

"Your job is to protect the students right?" he asked in human so he wouldn't get the words wrong because this was very important.

The Basilisk nodded and looked around and saw Riddle.

"There are 2 first years over there, and he's about to try and harm them." Jack said firmly, pulling his wand out. "Now, I think the best way is to…"

But the Basilisk had already slithered off to protect the girls.

"Hey come back! We need a plan!" Jack said quietly, then paused in surprise "Wow, never thought I'd hear myself say that."

Quickly Jack started running over to help, wand tight in his fist and everything, but the Basilisk didn't seem to want him near the fight, always pushing him away with its tail.

Riddle was fighting it with Harry's wand, which was working reasonably well for him.

Looking around for another way to help, Jack spotted the Sorting hat, which Harry must have dropped while they were running away, and a phoenix pecking at it.

Running over to it he grabbed it and went back to Harry.

"What's going on?" Harry asked when he felt Jack return.

"Riddle and the Basilisk are fighting each other, it doesn't seem to want me to help, the phoenix was pecking at the hat, and the girls are still knocked out." Jack recited then looked to the bird. "What's so important about the Hat?"

But the bird stayed quiet and just stared at Harry.

Confused but feeling it was the right thing to do Jack placed the hat onto Harry's head and waited.

"Hey, Jack, what? Ow!" Harry said as something hit his head before he pulled the hat off to reveal a beautiful looking sword with rubies in its handle.

Jack reached for it but quickly pulled back crying out a little as it burned him.

"Oh so I can have a staff but not a sword?" he said letting the phoenix cry onto his hand to heal it.

"What you talking about?" Harry said slowly opening his eyes and seeing the sword awe on his face.

A cry from the Basilisk made both boys look up and saw that Riddle had blinded it and was about to make the kill.

"We need to stop him," Jack said "And by we, I mean you, because it seems I can't hold that." he explained, pointing to the sword.

"Ok… But how?" Harry asked looking around not sure what to do then he saw the girls and Ginny with the little black book. "The diary… We need to destroy the diary."

"We need to get it first," Jack said not questioning what Harry was planning to do thinking it would mean the job will be done faster.

"Keep Riddle distracted," Harry said hoping this would work.

Nodding Jack got up and went back into the fight.

"You're a real coward you know that!" he called out to Riddle "Blinding your enemy like that just because she was better at fighting that you are."

"I, am no coward, boy!" Riddle said firmly pointing Harry's wand onto him and firing a blast that would have really hurt Jack had he not jumped out of the way.

"Prove it. Fight me, fists only, no wands, right here, right now!" Jack said putting his wand away and getting ready to fight.

"Ha, and why would I do that?"

"To prove you're not a coward…" Jack said loudly and slowly "What you're so old you're hearing and memory' already going? Oh and I had so many fun things I was going to say to you…"

Getting mad (well madder) Riddle pocketed Harry's wand lifted up his fists and started to run towards Jack.

While they were fighting Harry came over to the girls pulling the book out of Ginny's arms.

He was about to cut it in half with the sword, when a hiss behind him made him turn to see the Basilisk.

'I am not here to harm them,' Harry said gently 'I am here to destroy the book, that Riddle came out of.'

'Place weapon in my mouth,' the Basilisk said opening its mouth so Harry could do that.

Unsure but trusting the beast, Harry laid the sword along its tongue and let it bite down onto the blade.

Harry watched surprised that it didn't break.

'What was that for?' he asked taking the sword back, not seeing a difference in it.

'It will make destroying the book easier.' the Basilisk said gently nudging Harry towards it.

Confused but trusting it, Harry stepped forward, checked that Jack was still keeping Riddle busy and like a knight killing a dragon, stabbed the book with the tip of the sword pushing it in deeper.

Riddle had been about to give Jack a punch that would have giving him a very bad black eyes when he screamed in pain and seemed to start disappearing.

Jack got in a few more punches, grabbed Harry's wand and ran back to him and the girls to see the little black book leaking ink as though it was blood.

A few more screams and then after a blast, Riddle was gone.

Panting, Harry pulled the sword out of the diary and fell to his knees next to the girls.

Jack mean while was petting the Basilisk and asking if she would be ok.

Nodding, she said her eyes would get better over time and asked how the first years were.

"Still asleep, but Ginny is looking a lot better than she was before" Jack said after checking on them.

"Your eyes would probably heal faster if Fawks cried on them," Harry said remembering what Dumbledore had said about them having healing powers.

But the Basilisk just shook her head 'That won't work. Only time, and a shedding of my old skin would make my eyes better again.'

"But you can get around fine until then?" Jack asked in a caring/concerned way.

Nodding and proving it, the Basilisk went back in a straight line into the cave where she came from, hissing a final goodbye, before the door closed.

It took a few minutes for the girls to start waking up.

"Jack – Harry – I'm sorry – I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I couldn't say it in front of Percy. It was me, I did it…"

"No you didn't," Jack said calmly gently hugging her "You just made a bad decision on having a book of a stranger as a friend instead of having real ones." he said turning her slowly to Annie, who was looking around the place a little confused as to how she got there.

Tears in her eyes, Ginny carefully got up went over to Annie and hugged her tightly muttering how sorry she was.

"Come one you lot," Harry said picking up the dirary, the sword, and the Shorting Hat "Let's get out of here."

"I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept sniffing a little as Jack helped both girls to their feet. "I've been looking forward to coming ever since Bill came and now I'll have to leave and – what will Mum and Dad say?"

"They'll probably be too happy finding out you're ok to worry about anything like that," Jack said having some idea about how parents acted in times like this.

"What about Elisa?" Annie said quietly "She'll treat me like a baby now won't she? She won't ever let me do anything for myself again."

"She might for a while, but I'm sure if you prove you can handle yourself you'll be fine." Jack said as they walked back down the tunnel, Fawks leading they way.

AN: There we are... First one of the new year (finally)

And the Basilisk lives. Thanks to those who answered my question on this.

If you're wondering why the Sword of Gryffindor burnt Jack, it's because he's not 'A true Gryffindor' - My meaning of this is that he's not a decedent of him.

That or it might have something to do with him being a spirit - nor really sure what to pick.