Chapter Fifteen: Uncovering Truths
Harry and Tony walked back the other way away from the blocked off section of the cave to find the next tunnel. They ended up finding a door with seven snakes on it.
"Think that's the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Harry.
"Either that or Disney Land." Tony cracked, looking at him.
Harry glared back at him, and Tony looked away, taking the hint. Now was not the time to joke. He watched as his friend spoke in Parseltongue again, and the first snake head at the bottom of the door retracted. The rest of them followed suit as another snake slithered in the outer rim of the door. It disappeared in the other end of the hinges. The two students waited for the door to open before marching into the doorway, and climbing down the ladder. They looked from side to side, and checked to see if anyone was in the Chamber. There were statues of snake heads on each side of the road in the water, all staring at the ones on opposite sides of them. Harry and Tony looked at each other, thinking the same thing.
"Chamber of Secrets." they said in unison.
The two of them looked forward again, walking down the sidewalk, and they felt their hearts somersault a little. At the end of the road was a young girl. A girl in Hogwarts robes and long red hair.
"Ginny." gasped Harry.
He broke into a run towards Ginny, the basilisk being furthest from his mind at the moment, and Tony hurried after him. Harry knelt down beside Ginny, who laid on the ground, unconscious, and dropped his wand beside him.
"Ginny! Oh, Ginny, please don't be dead!" Harry pleaded with the girl. "Wake up! Wake up! Please wake up!"
Tony stopped short behind him, and saw the black book in her hands.
"Tom Riddle's diary." he whispered.
As he started to think, the three Hogwarts students were soon joined by another person.
"She won't wake." a male voice told Harry.
Harry and Tony looked around, and saw a teenage boy just a few years older than they were standing in the mouth of a cave at the side of the statue of the gaunt face towering over them. He wore a black set of robes with a dark sweater vest over a white collared shirt and a green and silver striped tie, and black pants with black shoes. His black wavy hair was neatly combed over the top of his head.
"Who're you?" Tony asked, cautiously.
Harry stared hard at him, then his eyes narrowed a little, as if recognizing him.
"Tom. Tom Riddle." he spoke, relieved. "What do you mean, she won't wake? She's not...?"
"She's still alive, but only just." Riddle explained, calmly, as he walked toward the students.
Before the conversation could continue, Tony made himself be heard.
"Wait, wait, wait, pause and rewind here, gentlemen." Tony interrupted, looking between the two, and raising his hands a little." Harry, you know this guy?"
"He's the one who spoke to me through the diary." Harry told him, not taking his eyes off of Riddle.
Something didn't seem right to either of them though. Harry had described his trip to the past that Tom Riddle had shown him, and the boy standing before them looked as he did in the memory.
"Are you a ghost?" asked Harry.
"A memory." Riddle corrected him. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."
Tony narrowed his eyes at him a little as he dropped down to his knees to examine Ginny, while Harry checked for any signs of life.
"She's as cold as ice." said Harry. "Ginny, please don't be dead. Wake up."
"I think I can start a fire," Tony offered, looking at him. "I've learned how to from Riley's brother's old school books."
"Let's get out of here first."
Harry looked up at Riddle again.
"You've got to help us, Tom." he pleaded with the older teen. "There's a basilisk."
"It won't come until it's called." Riddle told him, casually.
Harry then noticed that Riddle was holding a wand in his hand. His wand. The Gryffindor rose to his feet, and held out his hand.
"Give me my wand, Tom." he demanded.
"You won't be needing it." Riddle responded, fingering the wand.
"Listen, we've got to go. We've got to save her."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, as poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger."
Tony stared up at him, suspicious.
"What, are you stealing her life force or something?" he asked.
Riddle simply smirked at him and Harry. Harry had a bad feeling where this conversation was heading, and Riddle nodded in confirmation.
"Yes, Harry, it was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets." he announced.
"No. She couldn't." Harry said, disbelieving. "She wouldn't."
"It was Ginny who set the basilisk on the Mudbloods and Filch's cat, Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the walls."
"But why?"
"Yeah. What does Ginny stand to gain from doing all of that?" asked Tony. "Most of the people who were attacked were her friends, people from her own House. Innocent people, and a cat and ghost."
Riddle merely smirked in response.
"Because I told her to." he admitted. "You'll find I can be very...persuasive. Not that she knew what she was doing, she was, shall we say, in a kind of trance. Still, the power of the diary began to scare her, and she tried to dispose of it in the girls' bathroom, and then who should find it but you?"
Riddle started to circle around Harry and Tony now.
"The very person I was most anxious to meet." he continued, smiling maliciously. "Though I wish you had come without the Mudblood. No matter. This will give me the perfect opportunity to clean my old House of any Mudblood filth."
Harry saw Tony's eyebrows twitch with fury, but he didn't move to attack.
"And why did you want to meet me?" the Gryffindor student asked.
"I knew I had to talk to you, meet you if I could." the older teen answered. "So I decided to show you my capture of that brainless oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust."
"Hagrid's our friend! And you framed him, didn't you?"
"It was my word against Hagrid's. Only Dumbledore seemed to think he was innocent."
Harry looked as if he wanted to laugh.
"I'll bet Dumbledore saw right through you." he said.
"He certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after that." Riddle snarled, angrily. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was at school, so I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my 16 year old self in it's pages so that one day I would be able to lead another to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
"Well, you haven't finished it this time. In a few hours, the Mandrake Draught will be ready, and everyone who was Petrified will be alright again."
To Harry and Tony's surprise though, this didn't seem to even phase Riddle.
"Haven't I told you?" the latter asked. "Killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore."
"Oh what a load of crap." spat Tony. "That's the Heir of Slytherin's main purpose, isn't it? We know why Slytherin left the school, because he didn't get his stupid wish."
"I don't expect a simple Mudblood to understand, and how they allowed trash like you into Slytherin House is beyond me."
"There's more to a Slytherin than their blood, Riddle. Slytherin House is made of people who are cunning, resourceful, clever, and risk-takers. Like it or not, I'm one of those people."
Riddle's glare seemed to darken, if that was possible, then he turned his attention back on Harry.
"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, for many months now, my new target has been you." he spoke, calmly. "How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care how I escaped?" asked Harry. "Voldemort was after your time."
"Voldemort...is my past,...present,...and future."
Riddle turned away from them, and started to use the tip of Harry's wand to trace some letters into the air. Letters written in thin, fiery writing. The letters formed his full name: "Tom Marvolo Riddle". With a wave of the wand, the letters rearranged themselves to form "I am Lord Voldemort".
"Harry, isn't this the guy who you took down last year?" Tony asked, slowly, his voice going weak.
Harry didn't hear him. He stared down Riddle, who smirked back at him.
"You. You're the Heir of Slytherin." he gasped. "You're Voldemort."
"Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father's name?" asked Riddle. "No. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world."
"Get real, you psycho!" snarled Tony.
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world!" Harry argued, standing beside his friend.
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me." retorted Riddle.
"He'll never be gone! Not as long as those who remain are loyal to him!" Harry shot back.
Their argument was interrupted when the trio heard a cry in the distance. Harry and Tony turned around to see a red bird flying their way with something in it's claws.
"What's that?" asked Tony.
"Fawkes?" Harry spoke, confused.
Fawkes flew towards him and dropped a rolled up material into his hands.
"Harry, what sort of bird was that?" asked Tony.
"A phoenix." answered Harry. "He's Dumbledore's."
Tony stared up at Fawkes in amazement as it flew out of sight once again.
"Riley is going to go bananas when we tell him about this." he grinned.
Harry smiled at him, then looked at what the bird had given him, and unrolled it. It was the Sorting Hat.
"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defenders." Riddle quipped, smirking. "A songbird, and an old hat."
Harry and Tony looked at the hat in the former's hands, while Riddle walked toward the statue. When he started suddenly speaking in Parseltongue, the two boys turned to stare at where he was standing.
"Tell me he's not doing what I think he's doing." Tony whispered to Harry, as they took a few steps back.
Harry didn't answer. They continued to watch as the mouth of the statue started to drop down slowly, creating a massive hole. Then Riddle turned back to them, smiling.
"Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the great Harry Potter." he declared.
Harry and Tony continued walking backwards slowly, and heard a strange sound coming from the mouth. A growling sound, that sounded also like a snake hissing.
"Run." Harry said, pulling on Tony's arm.
He and Tony started rushing back down the way they came from, dropping the Sorting Hat in the process.
"Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter." Riddle warned Harry. "It only obeys me."
Harry and Tony continued to run, taking special care not to glance into the water to avoid being Petrified. Harry suddenly slipped, and subconsciously grabbed onto Tony's arm, dragging him down with him. The basilisk was now just towering over them, and the two covered their heads. Fawkes suddenly cried out again, and it flew over the two boys' heads. The sounds of something crunching, and the shadows of both creatures fighting showed that Fawkes was helping their chances by blinding the beast.
"No!" howled Riddle. "Your bird might have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you."
Harry turned over on his back to watch as Fawkes flew away, and took Tony's hand as he pulled him to his feet. The two started to back away, watching as the basilisk writhed in pain, blindly trying to find it's prey. Unfortunately for the boys, Tony had accidentally stepped into a puddle, making a splashing sound that was loud enough to get the monster's attention. Harry pushed his friend along, and they ran for it down another hallway just as the snake tried to chomp at where they were.
"Hang on." whispered Tony.
He reached into his robes, and took out his wand.
"Lumos!" he whispered.
The tip of his wand shone with a bright light, which, luckily, the basilisk couldn't see. He and Harry ducked into one of the nearby tunnels, just as the basilisk tackled through the wall, and were chased further and further down the tunnel. They ran into the side of the tunnel, but were blocked off by a steel gate on the other side. Harry tried to push and pull to get it to break off, but to no avail. Tony aimed his wand at the gate, about to try and eliminate it, but the basilisk had already reached them. He and Harry pressed back against the gate as the basilisk moved in closer and closer, as if trying to sense their presence. It was only a matter of time before they were snake chow. Then Harry picked up a nearby rock and threw it through the gap between the wall and the monster's head. The rock clattered onto the ground, creating an echoing sound, and the snake hesitated. Both boys watched as their predator pulled away to follow the source of the noise, and left through a tunnel opposite of the one that led to the main chamber.
"I. Hate. Snakes." Tony muttered, low enough for only him and Harry to hear. "Nox."
He put out the light on the tip of his wand before following after Harry, who headed back through the tunnel that led straight back to Ginny and Riddle. Harry collapsed to his knees beside Ginny, and checked for any signs of life, while Tony doubled over, panting heavily.
"Yes, Potter." smirked Riddle. "The process is nearly complete. In a few minutes, Ginny Weasley will be dead, and I will cease to be a memory. Lord Voldemort will return, very much alive."
Tony raised his wand towards Riddle, aiming to curse him, but Riddle was faster.
"Expelliarmus." Riddle spoke, calmly.
The wand flew out of Tony's hand, and the Heir of Slytherin had caught it easily.
"A tool this powerful doesn't belong in the hands of a Mudblood." snarled Riddle. "The last one who stood against me ended up Petrified, you won't be so lucky, boy."
Harry glared up at him for a moment, then looked back at Ginny, his expression softening.
"Ginny?" he whispered, urgently.
A loud splashing sound from behind the four of them made both Harry and Tony jump, startled, and they looked behind them to see the basilisk emerging from the water. Tony stepped back beside Harry and Ginny, gulping audibly.
"Got a plan?" he asked.
To his surprise, Harry suddenly crawled towards the hat that laid nearby them, and withdrew a shining silver sword with rubies embedded in the hilt.
"Yeah." he answered. "We fight."
"I'll try and distract him." Tony offered, grinning. "Don't argue, we haven't got a lot of options right now."
Harry nodded, reluctantly, and they split up. Tony ran right into the massive puddle of water, and deliberately splashed around in it, while Harry started climbing up the stone statue.
"Oi, you overgrown worm!" taunted Tony. "I've seen butterflies scarier than you!"
He dove to the side as the basilisk lashed out towards him, and landed into the puddle, getting himself soaked. Tony spluttered and coughed as he spat water out of his mouth, and groaned as he wrung out his sleeves.
"Stupid snake,...stupid Voldemort,..." the Slytherin boy grumbled.
The sound of steel scrapping against stone alerted the basilisk to Harry's presence, and it slithered towards Harry once again. Tony quickly got up to his feet, and looked around for something to fight with. He heard the sound of something hitting the statue hard, and started jumping around in the puddle, making loud splashes.
"Come on, come on!" he muttered, hopefully. "Attack me, you stupid snake!"
Fortunately for him, the basilisk started heading his way once again. Tony slowly looked up and saw it coming.
"Me and my big mouth." he grumbled, kicking water around him.
The basilisk snapped at him, a few times, but missed each time. Harry was then able to make it to the top of the statue, and his footsteps alerted the snake to where he was. The basilisk lunged at him, but Harry warded it off by swinging the sword at it's snout. The second lunch sent him falling on his back, but he recovered quick. Harry swung the sword at the basilisk again, but was knocked further back towards the wall the back of the statue's head was attached to.
"Harry!" Tony called out to his friend. "Hold on, buddy!"
He dashed forward and went to try and attack the snake himself, but the basilisk heard him coming, and whipped it's tail at him, knocking him into the air. Tony bounced off his back, and flipped over on his stomach, groaning in pain. He looked up to see that the basilisk moved in to attack again, then suddenly gave a great howl of agony. The sword had pierced the roof of it's head. The basilisk flailed around, howling in pain, lowering it's head enough to look at it's home, then finally dropped to the ground, dead.
"Yes!" whispered Tony.
He dashed around the corpse of the basilisk to meet Harry, and to his horror, the Gryffindor was staggering slightly, while gripping his bloodied right arm. In one hand was the sword, and the other held a fang from the basilisk.
"Harry?" Tony called out, worried.
The Slytherin boy watched as Harry dropped the sword, and hurried to help him over to Ginny's side.
"Oh, no." he moaned. "Harry!"
"Remarkable, isn't it, how quickly the venom of the basilisk penetrates the body?" Riddle observed, smirking. "I'd guess you have little more than a minute to live. You'll be with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry."
Harry and Tony glared up at him, then the former looked back down at Ginny, and took her hand.
"Funny, the damage a silly little book can do, especially in the hands of a silly little girl." Riddle taunted, enunciating the last three words.
Both Harry and Tony looked at each other, then Harry took the diary out from under Ginny's arm, and set it down on the ground, opening it.
"What are you doing?" asked Riddle.
Tony watched as Harry picked up the fang of the basilisk, and smirked.
"Stop!" shouted Riddle. "No!"
Too late. Harry pierced one side of the book with the fang, making black ink gush from it like blood from a stab wound. Tony looked up at Riddle and saw that a light was shining out of where one would think his heart was.
"It's working!" cheered Tony. "Keep it up, Harry!"
Harry removed the fang from the book, and looked up to see Riddle about to lunge at him, and stabbed the other side of the book. Part of Riddle's face started shining in a bright white light, causing him to grab at it. Harry removed the fang once again, and looked at the deteriorating memory. He flipped the book to the front cover, and stabbed at it again. More and more parts of Riddle started to disintegrate, until finally he exploded into nothingness. Instantly, Ginny let out a gasp, and woke up. She sat up and looked around, confused. Behind her, Harry called out to her, and she looked at him and Tony, who both smiled at her.
"Harry. Tony." Ginny gasped, obviously scared. "It was me. But I swear, I didn't mean to. Riddle made me, and..."
The Weasley female trailed off when she saw that Harry was injured.
"Harry,...you're hurt." she observed.
"You should see the basilisk." Tony told her, jerking his thumb behind him.
"Don't worry." Harry reassured Ginny, before turning to Tony. "Tony, get Ginny out of here. Follow the Chamber and find Ron."
Tony looked down at him, and shook his head.
"We're not leaving without you, Harry." he responded, looking between him and Ginny. "Riddle doesn't know anything. As long as we don't take you to Lockhart, you'll be fine. Prof. Snape might have a bezoar he can give you, or Madam Pomfrey might have a cure."
"Don't worry about me." Harry told him, firmly. "Ginny is the main priority here. Tony, get her out."
The trio heard Fawkes squawking again, and watched as it landed beside Harry.
"If it isn't our little friend." observed Tony. "Thanks for the save, by the way. We owe you one big time."
"He's right. You were brilliant, Fawkes." agreed Harry. "I just wasn't quick enough."
He appeared to look more and more pale, more closer to death. Fawkes then lowered it's head over where the basilisk's fang pierced him, and started to cry. Tears dropped down onto the injury, and suddenly, the hole closed up. Harry looked better again.
"Of course! Phoenix tears have healing powers." he whispered, amazed.
He turned to look at the phoenix beside him, and smiled gratefully.
"Thanks." he said.
Harry then looked over at Ginny.
"It's alright, Ginny." he reassured her. "It's over. It's just a memory."
The three of them, with Fawkes flying behind them, headed back through the Chamber, and met up with Prof. Lockhart and Ron, who had managed to shift the rocks enough to create a big enough opening for them to get back through. Fawkes provided a ride back home for them, which was by flying back up through a hole in the cavern outside of the castle.
"Amazing!" cheered Prof. Lockhart. "This is just like magic!"
Fawkes was holding onto his shoulders by the talons, with Ron and Tony hanging onto either one of his legs, and Harry holding onto each of their legs with one arm, while the other arm was wrapped around Ginny.
Yes, I am a fan of the Buffy and Angel series, but mostly I am a Spike fan.
Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, the Gabriels, Jesse Reigns, Scott and Jasmine Willows. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.