The Heir of Slytherin
Arthur found himself at the end of a really long, dimly lit chamber. It had towering stone pillars that entwined with carved serpents rose to support a ceiling that couldn't be seen as it was in the darkness. There was also an odd greenish gloom that filled the place.
Arthur looked everywhere, listening to the chilling silence. He had no idea where the Basilisk could be so it could surprise him from behind a pillar for all he knew. But he was more concerned with finding Mary first.
He pulled his wand out and moved between the pillars. Each of his calculated footsteps echoed loudly from the shadowy walls. His eyes were narrowed just in case he needed to close his eyes upon seeing movement.
Seeing the hollow eye sockets of the snakes on the pillars made him feel like they were watching him.
Once he finally reached the last of the pillars, he saw a statue as high as the Chamber come into view, up against the back wall.
Arthur had to look up to see the giant face above. It was ancient and very monkey-like. It had a long thin beard that fell nearly at the bottom of who was clearly Salazar Slytherin's robes, where two large grey feet stood on the smooth floor. Arthur snarled at the statue until he stopped when he saw that between the feet, face down was a body in robes and with silver hair.
"Mary!" He gasped, sprinting right to her and dropped to his knees once he reached her.
"No, no, no, no… please don't be dead!" He muttered, setting his wand aside and grabbing her shoulders, turning her over. He was horrified to see that her face was as white as marble and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified.
"Wake up! Please!" he begged, desperately. He shook her, Mary's head lolled limply from side to side.
"She won't wake." A soft voice said.
Arthur got to his feet and spun to face where the voice came from.
Leaning against the nearest pillar was a tall black haired boy, who was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Arthur was looking through a misted window.
And based on his Slytherin robes and the fact that Arthur now felt rage and fury upon laying eyes on him, it was clear who it was.
"Tom Riddle." He snarled with the deepest loathing.
Riddle nodded back, his eyes never leaving Arthur.
"Is she… is she dead?" Arthur asked him.
"She's still alive. But only just."
Arthur glared at him, seeing how he still looked as he did fifty years ago, not a day over sixteen.
"Are you supposed to be a ghost?" He spat at him.
"A memory. Preserved in a diary for fifty years." Riddle said quietly.
He pointed towards near where the statue's giant toes were. Lying open was the diary.
"I don't know about you, Riddle, but I'm leaving with Mary before the Basilisk comes." Arthur said, kneeling down and raising Mary's head and then managed to hoist her half off the floor.
When he bent to pick his wand up, he saw that it was gone.
"Where did -?" He looked up and saw Riddle, still watching him, twirling Arthur's wand between his fingers.
"Give me my wand back." Arthur warned him, stretching his hand out for it.
A smile formed in the corners of Riddle's mouth as he continued staring at Arthur, twirling his wand as though this was an average day.
"Look, Riddle…" Arthur said as he placed Mary back on the ground and fully faced him. "...I'm losing my patience here, now give me my wand back before the Basilisk comes!" He demanded.
"It won't come until it is called." Riddle said calmly.
"For the last time, give me my wand! I'll need it!"
Riddle's smile broadened, looking sinister now.
"You won't be needing it."
Arthur narrowed his eyes on him.
"And why is that?"
"I've waited for a long time for this, Arthur Pendergast. For the chance to see you. To speak to you." Riddle told him as he pocketed Arthur's wand. Seeing that he was getting nowhere close to getting Mary out of there, he may as well go along with what Riddle wants.
"If it's a talk you want, then we'll talk. Starting with how you possessed Mary in the first place."
"Well, that's an interesting point." Riddle said pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Mary Merlon, a descendant of Merlin himself, is like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"Really?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. The diary, my diary. Little Mary's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how she has expectations placed on her, being the only daughter, how she wants to be independent and not rely on her family to solve her problems, how -" Riddle's eyes now glinted. "- how she was scared that the famous, good, great Arthur Pendergast would find out about her crush on him…."
As Riddle spoke, his eyes never left Arthur. There was also what Arthur can describe as a hungry look in them.
"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. Mary simply loved me. I feel like I can tell you anything, Tom…. I'm happy to have this diary to confide in. I feel like I have a friend that I can carry around in my pocket…."
Riddle then released a high, cold laugh. One that not only didn't suit him but one that sounded very familiar, making Arthur's hairs on the back of his neck stand up. And seeing how he acted in front of Dippet and Dumbledore was all indeed an act.
"If I say it myself, Arthur, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Mary 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 Merlon. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Merlon a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…."
"And so you possessed her to open the Chamber of Secrets." Arthur snarled.
"Indeed." Riddle said softly. "She also stabbed the roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls with their blood. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods and the Squib's cat."
"Because you forced her to." Arthur pointed out.
"Yes." Riddle replied calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish I could have seen her new diary entries…. Far more interesting, they became… Dear Tom…" He then recited, watching Arthur's disgusted and angry face. "...I think I'm losing memories. My hands are covered in blood and I don't know why. Dear Tom, I don't know what I did on Hallowe'en, and a cat got attacked. Dear Tom, Sam kept telling me that I'm pale and that I'm not myself. Even my other brothers. I think they're starting to suspect me…. Another attack happened and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think… I think I'm the one behind the attacks, Tom!"
Arthur's fists now clenched so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms and might draw blood.
"It took a very long time for stupid little Mary to stop trusting her diary. But finally she became suspicious and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Arthur. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet…."
"Why would you want to meet me?" Arthur asked, his voice steady, yet having burning hot fury in his eyes.
"Well, you see, Mary told me all about you, Arthur." Riddle said. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes moving to the lightning scar on Arthur's forehead, his expression growing hungrier. "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."
"Well you didn't!" Arthur yelled at him. "Hagrid's my friend and I knew you framed him because he seemed like the obvious suspect."
Riddle made his high laugh again.
"It was my word against Hagrid's, Arthur. 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 realise that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole school 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!"
Hearing all of this was just making Arthur's fury reach beyond boiling point and reminded him some can be really stupid, not realising the obvious.
"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…."
"Dumbledore saw right through you, didn't he?" Arthur said through gritted teeth, glad to know that he knew Hagrid was innocent.
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled." Riddle said 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 I'd 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, sorry to disappoint you and your disgusting ancestor, but you haven't." Arthur corrected him. "No one has died, even Filch's cat. And in a few hours time, the Mandrake Draught will be ready and all those that are Petrified will be alright again."
"Haven't I already told you…" Riddle quietly said. "...that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been… you."
Arthur glared at him wordlessly.
"Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Mary 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 stabbing roosters? So the foolish 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 knew who the heir of Slytherin was with that brain of yours. From everything Mary 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 Mary had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue…."
So Riddle intentionally planned for Chrys to get attacked and therefore get Arthur into the Chamber.
"So I made Mary 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 life left in her: she put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last. I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Arthur Pendergast."
"Such as?" Arthur spat out his question, seeing that Riddle is killing Mary.
"Well…" Riddle smiled pleasantly, which didn't fit his egotistical, arrogant and cold personality. "...how is it that a baby 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?"
Arthur noticed a red gleam in his hungry eyes, which made Arthur connect the dots. Now he understood why he felt anger at first when seeing Riddle and now rage and fury. And also why his laugh sounded familiar.
"Why would you care how I escaped your future self? Voldemort was after your time." Arthur replied, implying how he knows who he truly is.
"Voldemort…" Riddle softly said with a smile that told Arthur that he was smart in figuring it out. "...is my past, present and future, Arthur Pendergast."
He then pulled out Arthur's wand and traced three shimmering words in the air.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
He then waved the wand once and all of the letters rearranged to say:
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
"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 before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Arthur. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
Arthur glared at Riddle for a while, at the orphaned boy who grew up to become a tyrant and a madman who murdered his parents among many others.
"You're not." He spat with the most venom he could project.
"Not what?" Riddle snapped at him.
"You're not the greatest sorcerer in the world. Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world. Who else would everyone call for to defeat Grindelwald, the darkest wizarding tyrant before you? Besides, even when you were powerful, you didn't even dare to take over Hogwarts all because you feared him. He saw right through you when you were a student and you're still afraid of him, wherever you're hiding these days. You're so scared that you had to have one of your followers plant your diary to Mary so that it could get to Hogwarts and even get him suspended."
Riddle's smile was now replaced with a very ugly look.
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" He hissed.
"He'll never be truly gone! Not as long as those who remain at Hogwarts are loyal to him!" Arthur roared at him, truly believing every word he said as he himself is loyal to his Headmaster.
Riddle opened his mouth but then he froze.
Music came from somewhere. Riddle turned to stare down the empty chamber. This music then grew louder. It was spine tingling and unearthly, lifting Arthur's hair on his scalp and making his heart feel as though it swelled twice its size. And then the music reached such a pitch that Arthur felt it vibrating in his own ribs. He knew who was coming as only one magical creature could produce a song that can increase the courage of the pure of heart.
Flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar and Fawkes had arrived.
He was not ugly like when Arthur first met him. Instead, he was now a crimson bird the size of a swan, piping his music to the vaulted ceiling. His glittering golden tail was as long as a peacock's and he had gleaming golden talons, which gripped what can be described as a ragged bundle.
A second later, Fawkes flew straight at Arthur, dropping the ragged object he carried at his feet before landing heavily on his shoulder. As Fawkes folded his great wings, Arthur could clearly see his long, sharp golden beak and beady black eyes.
He then stopped singing, sitting still and warm next to Arthur's cheek, gazing steadily at Riddle.
"That's a phoenix…." He said, staring shrewdly back at it.
"His name's Fawkes. He is Dumbledore's phoenix." Arthur said proudly, earning a gentle squeeze on his shoulder from Fawkes' golden claws. Dumbledore was right, he is very handsome.
"And that -" Riddle then eyed the ragged thing that Fawkes dropped. "...that's the Sorting Hat."
This confused Arthur as he looked down at the patched, frayed and dirty Hat that lay motionless at his feet. Why would Fawkes bring it?
Riddle then started to laugh again. He ended up laughing so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though there were multiple Riddles at once.
"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Arthur Pendergast? Do you feel safe now?"
Arthur may not know why he has the Sorting Hat, but knowing Dumbledore, there must be a reason. And he could easily see why Fawkes is with him.
"I may not feel safe, but I'm brave enough to make Godric Gryffindor proud." Arthur retorted, intentionally referring to his house founder. This made Riddle stop laughing.
"To business, then, Arthur." He said, still smiling broadly. "Twice, in your past, to 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."
Arthur knew that he said that because the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was being drawn out from Mary, which became clear as his outline was now more solid, making him look more like a normal person.
He had to end Riddle quickly.
"No one really knows why you lost your powers when you first attacked me as a baby, even I don't know. But I at least know why you didn't kill me. My mom sacrificed herself to save me. My Muggle-Born mom." He added with rage. "She prevented you from killing me. This helped when I faced the real you last year. You were just a wreck, barely alive. All of that power and it led to that state. You're now hiding like some little coward!"
Riddle's face contorted before forcing it into an awful smile.
"So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter charm. I can see now, there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. Because there are strange likenesses between us, Arthur Pendergast. 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."
Arthur waited for Riddle to raise his wand at him, yet Riddle's dark and twisted smile widened again.
"Now, Arthur, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Arthur Pendergast, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him." He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat.
He then walked away. Arthur watched as he stopped between the high pillars and looked up to the face of the Slytherin statue, high above him in the near darkness.
Riddle then opened his mouth and hissed, though Arthur could understand him, being a Parselmouth as well.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."
That last part made Arthur growl as he looked up at the statue. Fawkes swayed on his shoulder,
Slytherin's huge stone face then moved. And horror struck, he saw the mouth opening wider and wider, making a large black hole. The Basilisk is about to emerge.
Stirring can be heard in the statue's mouth and the large snake slithered up from its depths.
Arthur ended up backing away until he hit the Chamber wall and closed his eyes tightly just as Fawkes' wings swept his cheek and took flight. He wasn't worried that he left off because he knew phoenixes are powerful magical creatures.
Arthur heard and felt something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber, which shuddered. Arthur could sense, almost see the Basilisk uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle hiss "Kill him."
It moved towards Arthur, which he knew because he could hear its heavy body slithering across the floor.
Deciding to risk it with his eyes tightly shut, he ran to his left with his arms out in front of him. This made Riddle laugh mockingly at him.
At some point, Arthur tripped and fell hard onto the stone and felt blood trickle down from his nose. The serpent was now barely feet from him.
Arthur heard a loud, explosive spitting sound from right above him and felt something heavy hit him so hard that he got thrown up against the wall. Waiting for the Basilisk's venomous fangs to sink into his body, he heard some more mad hissing and something thrashed wildly off the pillars.
He couldn't resist opening his eyes so he did, though, only wide enough to squint at what's going on.
The large poisonous green serpent as thick as an oak trunk had raised itself high in the air and its blunt head weaved as though it was drunk between the pillars. Arthur was of course ready to close his eyes if it turned his way.
He eventually saw that it was Fawkes that was distracting the snake.
He soared around its head, the Basilisk itself snapping furiously at him with fangs as long and thin as sabre swords.
Fawkes had dived and his long golden beak sank out of sight into one of the Basilisk's eyes and a shower of dark blood splattered on the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Arthur and before he could close his eyes, it turned to him. Arthur saw that its bulbous yellow eyes were both punctured by the phoenix, blood still streaming to the floor as it spat in agony.
Fawkes dealt with its eyes so that Arthur could face the Basilisk.
"No!" Riddle screamed. "Leave the bird! Leave the bird! The boy is behind you! You can still smell him! Kill him!!
The now blind serpent swayed confusingly yet still deadly. Fawkes circled its head, piping his song, making a jab here and there at the snake's scaly nose as blood poured from its eyes.
"Help me. Something, anything, just help, please!" Arthur muttered desperately.
The snake's tail then whipped across the floor once more and Arthur ducked in time. He then felt something soft hit his face.
It seemed that the Basilisk swept the Sorting Hat into his arms.
He seized it, knowing that it was his last and only chance to face the Basilisk. He saw something reflecting light into his face from within the Hat and so he threw himself flat on the floor as the Basilisk swung its tail towards him and looked into the Hat.
"Please… help me…." He whispered to it and reached his hand into it and tried to reach for what reflected light in it. The Hat then suddenly contracted around his arm as though an invisible hand squeezed his arm tightly.
Then he felt a sword hilt fill his hand up. When this happened, the Hat let its grip loosen and Arthur pulled out a gleaming silver sword with a glittering hilt with rubies the size of small eggs. Arthur's eyes widened in shock as it happened to look exactly like the swords his two mediaeval ancestors had when he looked into the Mirror of Erised.
"Kill the boy! Leave the bird! The boy is behind you! Sniff, smell him!"
Arthur got to his feet, ready to kill the Basilisk now that he had a weapon.
Its head was now falling, its body also coiling around, hitting various pillars as it twisted to face the boy, who saw its bloody eye sockets and its mouth stretching wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs as long as the sword he's wielding which are glittering.
It then lunged blindly, making Arthur move in time to dodge it and it hit the Chamber wall. It then lunged again with its forked tongue lashing Arthur's side.
Growling, he raised the sword with both hands.
The Basilisk lunged once more, this time its aim being true. Arthur now yelled a battle cry, like a lion before it strikes, and threw his whole weight behind the sword, driving it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth.
As he felt the warm blood drench his arms, he also felt an agonisingly searing pain just above his elbow. It turns out that one of the long, poisonous fangs sank into his arm, and was getting deeper and deeper, until it splintered when the Basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor now dead.
Arthur slid down the wall, gripping the fang that is now spreading poison through his whole body and wrenched it out from his arm. Any other time, he would fear that he was going to die, but thanks to Fawkes being present, he felt calm and patient as he ended up laughing. He actually killed Slytherin's own Basilisk with a sword. Godric Gryffindor would've admired him for that considering how he was known for being a sword duelist as well.
Either way, white hot pain started to spread slowly and steadily from the wound. He dropped the fang next to him on the floor and watched his blood soak his robes. His vision also went foggy, the Chamber of Secrets becoming a whirl of dull colours.
He saw a patch of scarlet swim past and he heard a soft clatter of claws beside him.
"You're brilliant, Fawkes… go on." He said thickly with affection. The bird lay his beautiful head directly where the fang pierced him.
Then there were echoing footsteps and Arthur saw a dark shadow move in front of him.
"You're dead, Arthur Pendergast." Riddle's voice came from above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Pendergast? He's crying."
Arthur blinked as he saw Fawkes' head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears trickled down his glossy feathers, making Arthur smile.
"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Arthur Pendergast. Take your time. I'm in no hurry."
Arthur now felt a bit drowsy as everything around him started spinning.
"So ends the famous Arthur Pendergast." Riddle then said. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, forsaken by his friends, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Arthur…. She brought you twelve years of borrowed time… but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must."
This all made Arthur start chuckling until it grew into laughter, catching Riddle off guard.
"What's so funny about death, Arthur?" he coolly asked.
"For someone so powerful and smart, you can be so blind to the obvious." Arthur told him.
The Chamber started coming back into focus and Arthur shook his head slightly. He then looked over at Fawkes, who's still resting his head on Arthur's arm. He watched a pearly patch of tears shining all around where his wound once was, as phoenix tears have healing powers, as what Dumbledore told him and from reading the Fantastic Beasts book.
"Get away, bird." Riddle demanded. "Get away from him. I said, get away!"
Arthur raised his head in time to see Riddle pointing his own wand at Fawkes. Then there was a loud bang like a gun and Fawkes now took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet. This made Arthur's rage spike much more, like a beast was about to be unleashed if he did anything like that again.
"Phoenix tears…." Riddle said quietly, staring at Arthur's arm. "Of course… healing powers… I forgot…."
He then looked at Arthur's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Arthur Pendergast… you and me…." He then raised the wand.
Suddenly, in a rush of wings, Fawkes soared back overhead and he dropped something into Arthur's lap, Riddle's diary.
He knew what to do as Riddle stared at it. He flung it open on the floor and seized the fang next to him and stabbed one side of the diary with it, causing black ink to squirt out like blood, covering Arthur's hands.
This caused a gaping bright hole to form in Riddle's chest. It then started spreading. Riddle growled at Arthur, who stopped the stabbing and then stabbed the other side as Riddle tried to reach him. Riddle then started making a dreadful and piercing scream as another hole formed on his face.
Arthur pulled the fang out of the diary and watched Riddle scream in pain as the light filled holes grew in size.
Deciding to end him properly, he closed the diary and roared at the top of his lungs like a lion and made one final stab from above his head into the cover, causing much more ink to squirt out. Riddle then screamed louder than before and then he disintegrated like he was made of fireworks.
Arthur's wand had fallen to the floor before silence filled the entire Chamber except from the steady dripping of ink from the diary. Arthur then noticed that the Basilisk venom burned a sizzling hole right through to the back cover.
Shaking from his near death and from all of the energy he used us, he got up to his feet, head spinning as though he travelled many by Floo powder. After waiting it out, he gathered his wand and the Sorting Hat, then with a powerful tug, he retrieved the sword from the roof of the Basilisk's mouth.
When he heard a faint moaning from the end of the Chamber, Arthur was beyond relieved to see Mary stirring. He hurried over to her as she sat up.
Mary's bemused eyes travelled from the dead body of the Basilisk to Arthur is his blood stained robes and the diary in his hand. This made her gasp before tears started forming and poured down her face.
"Arthur…. I - I tried to tell you and David at b-breakfast, but I - I couldn't say in front of Sam. It was me. I s - swear that I didn't mean to… Riddle made me… he took me over. But… how did you kill that… abomination. And where's Riddle?"
"Hey, hey, hey… it's okay." Arthur tried calming her as he showed the diary with the fang hole. "He's taken care of, as well as the Basilisk. Now, let's get out of here -"
"I'm going to get expelled, aren't I?" Mary wept as he helped her up on her feet. I've been looking forward to Hogwarts since Rob went and now… what will mum and dad say?"
Arthur hugged her for a moment, stroking her back soothing.
"Don't worry… once everyone knows what happened, you'll still go to Hogwarts. You were just a victim. And… I think by talking with your family you can deal with your… insecurities, okay?" He told her, hinting that he knew of what she wrote in the diary, which made her cry a bit harder until she calmed down and was ready to leave.
Fawkes had been waiting for them by the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Arthur led Mary forward, stepping past the dead Basilisk, through the echoing gloom and back into the tunnel.
Arthur heard the circular door close behind them as they walked off.
After a few silent minutes of making their way through the dark tunnel, there was the distant sound of shifting rocks.
"DAVID! I'VE GOT MARY!" He yelled, speeding up a bit. He then heard a cheer that was holding back tears for sure and when they turned the next bend, they saw his eager and overjoyed face staring through the sizable gap he made in the rock fall.
"Mary!" David thrust an arm through the gap and pulled her through first, wanting to hug her. "Thank goodness!" He did indeed hug her and she just cried some more.
"It's alright, it's all over now. And… where'd the phoenix come from?" He then asked as Fawkes swooped through the gap after Mary, and then Arthur came through.
"He's Dumbledore's phoenix." Arthur replied.
"And where'd the sword come from?" David then asked, stunned to see the glittering weapon in his hand.
"I'll tell you everything once we're out of here." Arthur said, making David nod wordlessly. He then realised something. "By the way, where's Lockhart?"
"He's back there." David grinned as he pointed up the tunnel towards the pipe. "You need to see this."
Being led by Fawkes, whose wings emitted a soft golden glow in the darkness, they walked all the way back to the mouth of the pipe where Lockhart was sitting, humming placidly.
"His Memory backfired and now his memory's all gone." David explained. "Sohe doesn't know who he is, where he is or who we are. He's actually become so much of a danger to himself, I told him to wait here."
Lockhart then looked up at all of them good naturedly.
"Hello. Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?"
"No." David shook his head as Arthur bent down to look up the long pipe they travelled down. He knew that they couldn't get back up by themselves but he turned and looked directly at Fawkes, who fluttered and his beady eyes became bright in the dark. He then waved his long golden tail feathers.
Arthur knew what he was trying to say, as did David.
"He wants you to grab hold." David said, sounding uncertain. This made Arthur shake his head with a smile.
"Dumbledore said phoenixes can carry heavy loads." He replied, remembering what he said when he was in the Headmaster's office. "We all have to hold onto each other. Mary, grab onto David's hand. Lockhart -"
"He means you." David sternly told the adult.
"Hold onto Mary's other hand."
Arthur then tucked both the sword and the Sorting Hat into his belt as David grabbed tightly onto the back of Arthur's robes. Arthur then reached out and grabbed hold of Fawkes' hot tail feathers.
This ended up causing a brilliant lightness to spread throughout his entire body and then, whoosh, they all flew upwards through the pipe. Arthur couldn't resist the smile that formed on his face as he heard Lockhart dangling down below saying "Amazing! Amazing! This is just like magic!" The cool air whipped through his hair and shortly after, the flight was over as all four of them now hit the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
When everyone made some distance from the sinks, the entrance had closed up, looking like it normally did before the entrance was opened.
"You're alive." Myrtle said blankly at Arthur as she goggled at them.
"Do you really have to sound disappointed?" Arthur said, feeling a bit disturbed as he wiped off flecks of blood.
"Oh, well… I'd just been thinking. If you had died, you'd have been welcome to share my toilet." She said, blushing silver.
"Oh, boy." David muttered in disgust as they all left the bathroom and entered the dark and deserted corridor outside.
"Honestly, a ghost being attracted to me is not something I'd ever expect." Arthur muttered.
"Where do we go?" David asked. Arthur just pointed as Fawkes was leading the way, glowing gold along the corridor.
They all followed after him and eventually found themselves outside McGonagall's office.
Frowning in confusion to David, Arthur then knocked and opened the door.
Now, I should mention that Tom Riddle in this series of stories will look like Christian Coulson, who played him in the Chamber of Secrets film, because he is EXACTLY how I imagine Riddle when I read the books.
Now just wait for the next chapter as certain things are made clear for Arthur.
