Harry's face was still frozen in shock.

He seemed too astonished to think of dodging out of the way, like a deer in headlights.

At the last moment, Fawkes squawked as he soared off the pillar that he had been standing on, flapping his crimson wings and shooting off after the shard.

By some miracle, his claws wrapped themselves around the frozen water. Propelled forward by the ice chip's momentum, the phoenix beat its wings ever harder as it tried to overcome the force of the moving fragment. He ascended up into the sky, eventually coming to a hover over their heads, the dripping dagger of ice still firmly in his grasp.

"That bird!" Riddle spat.

Shoot it down.

Lia raised her hand once more, summoning more water towards her, as Harry pleaded once more.

"Lia! Stop!"

She glanced at the demon. His eyes were wet, and a lonely tear dribbled down his cheek. Lia frowned, she had never known that devils could cry.

Her head pounded. There was an emotion pouring through her veins, burning her blood. She saw the monster's red eyes fade into vivid green, the charcoal gnarled skin waning into a mortal cream, a scar budding on its forehead. For a second, she thought that she recognised the face.

Ignore him.

"Lia, please! You said that you'd never grovel before the likes of Voldemort! You're stronger than this. Better than whatever he's done to you. I know you can fight it!"

Her hand shook. The voice was deafening now.

Kill him. Kill him! KILL HIM!

"I don't want to." The faint thought escaped from Riddle's clutch on her mind.

"I don't want to." Louder now.

"I DON'T WANT TO!"

Her brain was on fire. She saw fragments of past memories whip past her eyes. Flickers. The moment when she'd found out she was a wizard. That time she'd first rode a broomstick. The pride she'd felt when she'd thought of a particularly good insult for Malfoy. Her joy as she laughed with Davis after they'd pranked Pansy, watching her scream as she sprouted a third eye.

"Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Head."

Relax. Breathe. It's all alrigh-"

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do!"

The memories speedily shooting around her mind, grew darker, as Riddle sent a wave of misery towards her.

Helplessness, as she saw Hermione lie petrified in the hospital wing. Fear, as Piers screamed and called her a freak. Pain, as Quirrell tortured her with the cruciatus curse. Heartache, as Dumbledore told her that her father had been a death eater. Anger, as she silently berated her dead mother for falling in love with such evil. Jealousy, as Harry was patted on the back, everyone crowding around the Boy Who Lived. Distress, as she stared at Malfoy and found that she didn't hate him.

You see? There is much pain in the world. Better yet if you let go. If you gave in to me. I will make sure that nothing hurts you ever again.

Lia gave the unwelcome visitor one last shove.

"I welcome pain," she spat at it. "Without it, there is no happiness."

So be it.

Her head was splitting open, as if someone was hacking on it with a blunt axe, again and again and again. She could feel blood drip down her nose, as she screamed. But she didn't stop pushing against the mental obtrusion.

At last the agony stopped, and Lia found that when she opened her eyes, her vision was sharp.

Riddle stood in a corner clutching at his head, his face scrunched, and a red blemish on his perfect skin. She must have burnt him. Harry was by her side, his arms around her. She could see the scratches that she'd made when she'd thrashed and beat at his clasp. Her right shoulder was wet from Harry's tears. His left shoulder damp from hers.

"I'm alright," said Lia, her voice hoarse. "You can let go of me now." She tried to force a smile, but fell short. "Ginny," she said.

Abruptly, Fawkes soared towards them, dropping something in Lia's lap. She saw that it was the heinous diary.

Riddle lifted his head up from his hands, and caught sight of what she held in her grips. He lurched forwards, making a move to grab it. The prickling was back in Lia's head.

Give me the book, or –

Riddle let out a cry of pain. Lia had been arming herself against him, and she'd imagined a column of red-hot fire against the wall in her mind. When the voice had come again, she'd flung flames at it, defending herself from its ownership.

He raised his wand, pointing at her, before shifting the direction of the tip towards Harry. "Cruci-"

Lia didn't stop to think. Harry threw the basilisk fang that lay to the right of him into Lia's hands. With one strike, she plunged the venom-ridden tooth into the heart of the diary.

There was long, harrowing scream as Riddle collapsed to his knees. Parallel with the way the ink erupted from the diary in torrents of liquid, staining the floor black, Riddle was fading, broken with holes that mounted each time that Lia raised the fang and pierced the pages, over and over again.

The shrieks went on, until finally, the last that remained of Riddle punctured Lia with its stare.

"This isn't over yet," he hissed. "Voldemort will come for his traitor of a da-"

Lia gave one last stab. Tom dissolved into nothingness, crumbling away, the diary merely a tattered scrap of ruined pages and inky splatters.

She stared at the spot where Riddle had stood. What he been about to say? In anger, confusion and relief, she flung the fang at the statue of Slytherin. It clattered against the cold stone, before thudding to the ground.

Meanwhile, Ginny stirred. Harry and Lia hurried over to her. The young girl was sitting up, her eyes large spheres as she took in the dead basilisk, Harry's blood-soaked robes, and the derelict diary that Lia held in her hands.

Tears poured down her eyes.

"Harry - oh, Lia - I tried to tell you 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, he t-took me over - and - how did you kill that - that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r- remember is him coming out of the diary -"

"It's alright," Lia said. "He …" she swallowed. "He made me do things too. No one blames you Ginny. Riddle was as evil as he was powerful. But he's finished now. Look! It's alright. He and the basilisk are dead. Come on, let's get out of here."

The waterworks kept coming from Ginny's eyes, as Harry clumsily helped her to his feet. "I'm going to be expelled!" she wept. "I've wanted to come to Hogwarts e-ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to l-leave, and … w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

Lia pitied the girl.

She knew now, how … how awful it was to be possessed by one as dark as Riddle. She could still remember the snake-like voice in her thoughts as it shoved down her own free-will, filling her with its menace, drawing out the deepest pains and fears that she had. She swallowed. She had almost killed her own brother.

Harry looked at the torment and guilt in Lia's face, and gave her a worried look. She rearranged her expression and reached out her arms towards Ginny.

"It'll be alright Gin," she said. "Listen I'll bet my life that Dumbledore will never expel you. If he did, he'd have to expel me too. I nearly … nearly did something horrible. So listen, okay? Even if we're both kicked out, which we won't be be, we can just, I don't know, go and start our own school or something. So don't worry, yeah? If we were thrown out? Hogwarts would be missing two mother-freaking badarse witches!"

Ginny gave a small snort of laughter and flung herself into Lia's arms.

She had been planning to just pat the red-headed girl on the shoulder, but with Ginny snuggled against her, she felt her tension loosen up and she let out a breath that she'd felt like she'd held for a lifetime. Awkwardly, she patted her on the head.

"Let's go," Lia said, after a pause. "Heaven knows, I want to get out of this place as soon as possible."

The three of them stepped out and moved through the tunnels, meeting Ron as they passed into the gap that he'd managed to make in the broken stone wall.

"Ginny!" Ron cheered, his entire body relaxing as he caught sight of his sister. "You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened?"

It wasn't long before the six found themselves in Professor McGonagall's office, seated in cosy chairs, as Mr and Mrs. Weasley threw themselves at Ginny, crying with relief.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" Mrs. Weasley embraced Lia, Harry and Ron.

"I think we'd all like to know that," McGonagall looked faint.

Lia bit her mouth and looked away.

She didn't feel up to recollecting what had happened yet. She didn't want to see the unavoidable disgust in their eyes when they realised that Harry would be dead, had Fawkes not intervened.

Harry hesitated, then seeing the remorse in Lia's eyes, placed the sword onto the table. Lia got up and placed Riddle's diary next to it, glaring at the ragged pages.

It took her brother almost half an hour to explain everything about how he'd heard the strange voices coming out of nowhere; how Hermione had found out that the voice was really the basilisk in the pipes; how he, Ron and Lia had followed the spiders into the Forbidden Forest; how Aragog had told them that the last victim of the basilisk had died; how Lia had guessed that it was Myrtle who was the victim; how they'd found that the entrance to the Chamber was in the bathroom; how they'd been separated from Ron when the rock ceiling had crumbled into a stone barrier.

McGonagall had cut him off there. "Very well, so you found the entrance – whilst breaking about a hundred school rules along the way, I might add – but how on earth did the two of you get out of there alive?"

It took another couple of minutes for Harry to explain about how he and Lia had been tricked by Riddle; how he'd disarmed them; how he'd set the basilisk loose and it had chased him; how Fawkes had luckily arrived and been able to blind the snake's eyes; how Riddle had tried to possess Lia, but ultimately had failed.

Lia scoffed at that. Her brother had left out the bit where she'd almost stabbed him in the heart.

Harry looked at her troubled, as if he wanted to say something reassuring, but kept narrating the events that had happened:

Lia had pushed Riddle out of his mind, and whilst he was distracted, Fawkes had flown out and thrown Riddle's diary into Lia's lap. Harry had then thrown her the fang, and Lia had skewered it, destroying Riddle as well in the process. They'd then gone to help Ginny and together they'd left the Chamber.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore said gently when Harry finished, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny and Lia, when my sources tell me he is currently hiding in the forests of Albania."

Harry showed him the diary.

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "There are few who know that Lord Voldemort was once named Tom Riddle. I, myself, taught him fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after he graduated … travelled far and wide … sank so deeply into the Dark Arts that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was hardly recognisable. Very few connected him with the clever, handsome boy who'd been Head Boy here."

Dumbledore sent Ginny to the hospital wing, thankfully giving her no punishment. The room soon deserted until it was only Lia, Harry and Ron who sat on the chairs, facing the headmaster.

"I seem to remember telling you three that I would be forced to expel you if you broke any more school rules."

Lia stared, mouth open, at the professor. "But sir, Harry and Ron are innocent! Ron was outside the whole time, trying to move the rocks so we'd have a way through, and Harry basically defeated the basilisk. After all we've done are –"

"Please, Lia," Dumbledore said, "Allow me to continue … It just goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. All three of you will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - hmmm - I believe two hundred points each for Gryffindor and Slytherin sounds justified?"

Dumbledore then asked about Lockhart, who had kept silent through the entire hour. Upon finding out that the memory charm had backfired on him, he asked Ron to escort him to the infirmary.

"Lia," the headmaster said. "Wait outside for a moment too, please. I would like a private word with Harry, and then to you as well."

She nodded, looking at them curiously and strolled outside.

"Come in, Lia," said Dumbledore, after a while, her brother beside him smiling. "I suggest you go down to the feast Harry, while I talk to your sister."

"Please, have a seat," he said, and Lia dropped onto a chair. "Harry told me what had happened, how you were controlled by Riddle. He told me that you were foolish, so you were likely to believe it to be of your own wrongdoing."

"Of course he told you that," said Lia. "He just can't shut up his bloody mouth can he? I –"

"You do know that it was not your fault?"

Lia looked at her feet. "But it was, professor. It was. I let Voldemort into my head. I let him into my thoughts. I should have been able to repel him. To stop myself." Her voice trembled. "Harry nearly died because of me."

"It is because of you that Harry is alive. You stopped that basilisk for a moment in the Chamber of Secrets, did you not? It would have otherwise torn his head off."

"But … that couldn't have been me. Why would Riddle's monster listen to what I said?"

"I suspect that when Voldemort cursed you Lia, he gave you a remnant of his own power. That coupled with your ability to speak Parseltongue, for your father was a Parselmouth himself, meant that you could govern over the serpent. Combine those two, and that made you the next heir."

"I couldn't really control that snake … wait," she trailed off, "…what did you just say?" She was gobsmacked. "Heir? You can't mean … So I'm actually the Heir of Slytherin? All this time … I told my house that I was … and it's true? What! How?"

"You are more powerful than you think, Lia."

She grunted. "Yeah right. If I'm so powerful, then why did Riddle possess me then? If I'm so powerful, why couldn't I stop myself?"

"But you did Lia. You stopped. And that made all the difference. It is rare to find a witch so young, who can throw off a possession or an 'imperio' curse. It is even rarer, for you to be able to mentally incapacitate Riddle like you did."

"Incapacitate him? I didn't do anything vaguely like that."

"You did, Lia. When Riddle clutched at his head, and was no longer able to penetrate your mind anymore, it was because you used your magic to pierce through, and subsequently burn him."

"It was only temporary."

"Yet extraordinary all the same. The fact that you were able to hurt him, shows that you were able to break through his mental defenses, Lia. And Lord Voldemort is a powerful occulmens."

"I still don't understand, sir .. How can I be the Heir of Slytherin? That doesn't make any sense."

She could have sworn that the headmaster looked uncomfortable then. "It will make sense in time," he said cryptically. He motioned for her to stand up. "I trust that you must be beside yourself with hunger, there is a feast waiting for you."

Lia stepped down the marble stairs, towards the Great Hall, still frowning, when she smacked into Lucius Malfoy's back.

"Watch where you're …!" he trailed off, catching sight of who it was. "Miss Agorios." He nodded at her stiffly.

Lia's eyes bulged in shock. Miss? Miss? Since when was Lucius ever polite towards her? She had expected him to scream and rage and threaten to sue her for physical abuse, the next time they'd met each other after Diagon Alley.

"I trust that you are well?" he continued, ignoring the fact that Lia was gaping at him. "Draco tells me that you have found yourself a new pet snake -"

"You are well? Pet snake?" said Lia. "Why are you speaking so … so civilly? Have you hit your head? What happened? Did Lockhart pull a memory charm on you too?"

He looked as if he were chewing on a particularly sour lemon. "I've realised that I've been too harsh on you. I trust that you will be able to forgive me, and that it will not harm your … relationship with my son."

"Pardon me? Relationship?" she scoffed. "What relationship? Malfoy's so ugly that when he looks in the mirror, his reflection looks away."

He narrowed his eyes, his face darkening. "You will have to excuse me for a moment. Please, enjoy the feast." He stalked off, leaving Lia still tongue-tied with amazement.

It seemed that everyone was losing their marbles lately. What had that been all about? She shook her head, too tired and drained for more investigating, and walked off to stuff her belly with as much mouth-watering food as she could.

Meanwhile, whilst Lia continued on her journey to the hall, Lucius Malfoy was tugging his son by the arm, shoving him into an abandoned classroom. His eyes were infuriated and he looked down at the squirming boy with dark displeasure.

"Sit," he said, pointing to a chair.

"What," Lucius growled out, "have you been doing?"

His voice rose into a shout. "I thought I told you to work on bonding with that Agorios girl!"

Malfoy swallowed. His eyes flickered around the room, as if her were contemplating ways to escape, in case Lucius lost it. "I … I … father I've been trying to! But it's just so hard! She hates me! And … and I don't what else I could possible do to change that."

"You'd better find a way to get close to her!" he snapped, angrily. "Do you want to be even more of a disappointment and a failure?"

His son winced. "Please, father. I asked her out! I tried … I tried."

Lucius grabbed Draco, and pulled him up roughly by the collar of his robe, his hands were white and his knuckles tight with barely controlled rage. "You. Better. Try. Harder," he spat out each word, spit flying into Draco's face.

The boy cast his eyes down. "I don't understand why I even have to do this!" he said bitterly, almost grumbling now. "Why is Agorios so important anyway?"

"There will come a time when the Dark Lord rises once more. And when that day comes, you will be thankful if you're close with that girl. She is more valuable to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named than you can ever imagine. If you can convince her to our side, we will reap the rewards that the Dark Lord shall bestow upon us."

"Why?" Draco asked. "I didn't think the Dark Lord cared about anyone except for himself."

Lucius looked around in alarm, as if expecting Voldemort to leap out of the shadows and murder them. When nothing happened, he said dangerously, "Draco! You'll think twice next time before you say criticism like that. Do you not understand how perilous these circumstances are? Do you not understand how important it is to be in favour with the Dark Lord?"

"I'm sorry," he said automatically.

Lucius disregarded his apology. "The girl, Draco. I cannot tell you yet why she's so precious to our master. Not when I'm not completely sure. But I suspect her blood is purer than any other. She would make a fine wife, bare worthy children." He paused. "Despite that temper of hers."

"What the fuck?" Draco spluttered. "Wife? Children? What! With Agorios?" He looked like he wanted to vomit, or simultaneously combust.

"Language!" Lucius snapped. "And you'll understand soon enough. If you can make Daliah like you. No … make her love you. We'll be the most important servants of the Dark Lord. We'll have everything. Because if she loves you, then through you, Draco, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can control her."

"I still have no idea what you're saying. Are we both meant to be puppets or something?"

"Just heed my words." His father looked ready to shoot him from frustration. "I don't care what you have to do. Beg. Lie. Just make sure that Agorios falls for you."

"That's impossible. She won't. Ever. You'd have more luck trying to get her to fancy a toad."

"Well. Thank goodness, you're at least better than a toad, then! Draco. Let's see, I'm giving you until. I think … Fourth Year. That's two years already. I trust even an embarrassment like yourself, can achieve that?"

Draco shook his head. "It's impossible," he repeated again.

There was a loud smack. His father had hit him, bringing his hand flying hard against his cheek.

"Then make it possible," Lucius hissed, as he slammed the door and strode furiously out of the room.