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They were standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

His heart beating very fast, he followed Professor Lupin as he used his wand to light their path. He told Harry, in a very quiet voice, to keep his eyes arrowed in case the basilisk showed up and to keep directly behind Lupin, so he did. They moved down the hall, Harry keeping his narrowed eyes peeled for a flash of red hair.

He was glad Professor Lupin was with him; the hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with of jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir.

Then, as they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Harry had to crane his neck up to look into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the stone Chamber floor. And between the feet, face-down, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Harry," said Professor Lupin softly. "Go to her, but don't look around. I've got your back. Go check and see if she's alive."

Harry sprinted to her and dropped to his knees while Professor Lupin stood in front of him, wand out. "Ginny-don't be dead-please don't be dead-" He flung his wand aside, grabbed ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. But then she must be-

"Ginny, please wake up," Harry muttered desperately, shaking her.

"Harry!"

Harry jumped to his feet at Professor Lupin's call, shutting his eyes tight.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

"Harry, you can open your eyes," said Professor Lupin, voice tight. "Who are you?"

Harry opened his eyes to see a tall, black-haired boy leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window. But there was no mistaking him-

"Tom-Tom Riddle?"

"You know him, Harry?" said Professor Lupin, not taking his eyes off Riddle's face.

"Yeah, it's okay," said Harry in relief. "He's...I don't know how he's here, but he's okay, he tried to catch the-"

Riddle interrupted him by saying, his voice strangely hard, "I didn't expect you to bring company, Harry. You must be Professor Lupin."

"How do you know that?"

Riddle didn't answer him. "I heard about you. How you've been missing classes all year. Ginny worries about you, you know. You're her favorite teacher, and you do get sick so often."

"How do you know what Ginny thinks?" said Professor Lupin quickly.

"I know what you are, Lupin," said Riddle. "I'm not surprised you got Dumbledore to hire you. He was often soft-hearted."

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry, lost.

"Your Professor is a werewolf," said Riddle with a self-satisfied grin on his face. "Didn't you know?"

Harry gaped at Lupin, whose face paled.

"That's neither here nor there," managed Lupin. "That has nothing to do with any of this."

"Oh, really? You don't think Harry has a right to know if the teacher he trusts turns into a slavering, disgusting beast once a month?"

"What were you trying to tell me, Harry?" asked Professor Lupin fiercely. "What did he try to do?"

Harry, to his later shame, ignored Professor Lupin, who closed the gap between them with a few quick steps but didn't say anything. He appeared to be stunned into silence.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Harry said desperately. "She's not...she's not..."

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

Harry stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly.

"Who are you?" demanded Lupin. "How do you know Harry?"

Riddle smiled thinly at Professor Lupin. "Harry and I met over our mutual concern for the protection of the school against the monster. You needn't be worried."

"This reeks, Harry," growled Lupin. "I don't believe him."

"You can't believe him," said Riddle. "Not someone like him."

Lupin blanched, but he didn't move from his position in front of Harry.

"To answer your question, I am a memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there; but there were more pressing details to deal with.

"You've got to help us, Ton," said Harry, raising Ginny head again. "We've got to get her out of her, the basilisk-"

"Harry, no, he's lying to you," said Professor Lupin quietly. "Run. Get her and get out."

Riddle didn't move even though Professor Lupin's hushed voice was clearly audible in the quiet of the Chamber.

Harry decided to believe Lupin. He'd never been wrong before, and he didn't think him being a werewolf made him anything other than the great teacher he'd been all year. He got to his feet, hoisting Ginny with him, looking around for his wand.

But his wand had gone.

"Oh, Merlin," said Professor Lupin, his face white. "Harry, get out of here!"

"What about the basilisk?" asked Harry.

"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly.

Riddle was still watching him- twirling Harry's wand between his long fingers.

"I really wish you hadn't brought company," he said.

Without another word, he slashed Harry's wand in Lupin's direction. Before Harry had time to blink, Lupin had yelled "Protego!" and a glimmering shield blocked the spell from hitting them.

Lupin sidestepped past Harry, who was frozen in place, unable to look away but afraid to watch.

Riddle whipped his wand again, and a burst of green light flashed out, which Lupin narrowly dodged.

"That's the Killing Curse!" Lupin cried in shock. "Who are you?"

"None of your business, half-breed!"

Lupin's eyes narrowed and his attacks became far more serious; even Harry could tell. They dueled in front of the rows and rows of watching serpents, Harry and Ginny their only living witnesses.

One of Lupin's attacks got Riddle's arm, but no blood came out. Instead his arm oozed a thick, black sludge, and he howled in rage, retaliating so vehemently that Lupin was knocked off balance, his shield flickering.

As Harry watched, Riddle used Harry's wand to slash at the disoriented Lupin, who didn't get his wand up in time. Blood spurted from Lupin's chest and he crumpled, silently falling to the ground without even a groan.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter." said Riddle, turning back to Harry. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you. Now...

"...we talk."

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