Supernatural Magics

by AnnieArson

Harriet "Harry" Potter has lived with the Dursleys since her parents were killed. Over the years she had learned to hate them, but not as much as they hated her. When a "camping trip" turns out to be the Dursleys getting rid of her, and she is left on the ground injured and alone, Harry gets introduced to the world of the Supernatural.

11. Chapter 11: Timmy Riddle and the Chamber

A/N Alright so I definitely just jumped to a two week schedule without letting you guys know so sorry about that. To make up for it though, here is my longest chapter yet. Turns out I had written 2 more, but I just combined them because I'm ready to be out of second year so here you go.

Credit to the Jester prank idea goes to Sakura Lisel. I didn't develop the idea as far as Oz did, but I like it and I think I'll re-use it eventually.

Thanks to MagicalCatgirl68 for recommendations.

As always, unbeta-ed, sorry if I miss any errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or Supernatural, or anything belonging to J.K. Rowling or Eric Kripke, I'm just using the characters for fun. I receive no money off of this story. Don't sue me.

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Chapter 11: Timmy Riddle and the- "THAT'S NOT MY NAME!"

What kind of diary talks back?

This isn't just a diary, it's a memory of my teenage self, imbued in my book to help future generations in case history repeats itself.

So he was going to play hero.

Are you talking about the Chamber of Secrets? It's happened before? Do you know who opened it?

Yes, the Chamber opened when I was in my fifth year. I know who opened it, who unleashed the monster that eventually killed a girl.

Can you tell me about it?

No. Harry deflated, sighing in annoyance.

But I can show you. What? Uh oh. Harry felt a wind as the diary pages flipped forward until they came to a stop, resting on a date in June. Let me take you back fifty years. The bed disappeared out from under her as the diary drew her in, and she found herself falling into the pages, right into the memory of a teeny-bopper Dark Lord.

A young man stood in Dumbledore's office, except it wasn't Dumbledore behind the desk. The man was old and wheezy looking, an apathetic expression on his face holding the slightest tinge of pity.

"I'm sorry Tom, but we can't let students stay over the summer. Especially not in light of all these attacks, and now a girl is dead. Truth be told, I'm not sure if Hogwarts will be open next year." Tom looked crestfallen.

"Sir, what if the culprit were to be caught?" He propositioned carefully.

"Well then I imagine everything would resolve itself. Why, is there something you wish to tell me?" Armando Dippet, for that's who it must be, raised an eyebrow at Tom Riddle.

"No, sir." Harry felt it was the exact same kind of 'no' that she had given Dumbledore. Riddle left the office, and she followed his harried looking steps. He climbed down to the dungeons, going deeper to some of the lesser used ones. He crouched behind a wall, waiting for something, and Harry watched as he stared at the wooden door connecting to one of the dungeon side chambers. Of course, nothing happened for what felt like hours, and Harry was pondering why the memory didn't just skip to the action. The dungeon floor was cold and hard, even if it was a memory, and her incorporeal bottom was feeling the effects like she was actually there. Finally, after her hundredth time counting the scratches on the stone walls in the dim torchlight, she heard a bit of scuffling. Riddle burst through the door, revealing a large figure hunched over a crate.

"It can't stay here, Hagrid."...What?

"He's 'armless. He never did nothin' wrong!" Hagrid protested, guarding a crate behind him.

"A girl is dead Hagrid. I'm sure you never meant for it to harm anyone, but the girl's parents deserve justice. Aronia eximae!" A flash of light shot out of the end of Tom's wand, and Harry leapt back pressing her back as far into the wall as possible when a five foot spider came barreling out of the room.

"Aragog!" Harry found herself lying on her bed, slightly sweaty and panting. She took a moment to regain her bearings, letting out a few choice curse words that Dean had taught her. When Harry caught her breath and no longer saw the image of a bloody acromantula in front of her, she sat back to consider what she'd seen. Firstly, what the hell Hagrid? Harry supposed she probably could have seen it coming, especially after Norbert and Fluffy. But also, what the hell was Voldemort playing at? He was the reason Hagrid got expelled? Harry inwardly grumbled in suppressed rage, looking warily at the book. There was something wrong with the journal, and it wasn't just the fact that it had belonged to Voldemort's younger, tattle-telling self. The diary was sentient, and a sentient memory of Tom Riddle could prove extremely dangerous.

She closed the book and stuck it in her trunk, placing as much of a feeling of 'don't touch' into the spell as she could. Finishing with a fifth year ward she had come across, Harry plopped down cross-legged on her bed with her chin propped up by a fist. Her forehead creased as she pondered what the diary could be. It could just be a memory, similar to a wizarding portrait, but it had too much control. And Harry doubted one of Voldemort's creations could be so innocent. Eventually, she gave up, and crawled under the covers to go to sleep.

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Four days later, and Harry still hadn't pulled the diary back out. She got out of bed early, went for a run around the grounds and through the outermost layers of the forbidden forest with her perception filter active. After exhausting herself, she jogged back to the castle and to the seventh floor, where a cool room she had found was. She'd been walking around the castle at night, last year when she was exploring the castle, and heard Filch up ahead. She turned the other way in an attempt to escape, but she saw the staircase at the end of the hall shift away. She was forced to turn back, pacing back and forth quickly trying to decide which way to go, and thinking that a place to hide would be great, when a cupboard door appeared on the blank stretch of wall. She'd stayed there that night. After discovering that it could produce a bed if she asked for it, and began to use it regularly if she got caught outside at night and couldn't safely get back to the common room. Her use for it tended towards a gym-like space after she had received her invisibility cloak at Christmas. Harry found it extremely useful in continuing her hunter training.

She walked through the doors to find a sort of wide open gym, with a couple mats on the floor, a punching back hung up on the left, and a target range complete with a variety of projectile weapons. Harry walked up to the punching bag first and let out some of her stress from the Chamber situation. And just Hogwarts in general. Harry was constantly on guard, whether it be for pranks or Slytherin monsters, or Voldemort hiding on another teacher's head. Although, she doubted he was on the back of Lockhart. Even Voldemort had some standards.

And, she had to keep up her act. Harry Potter had to be mildly ignorant of a lot of wizarding culture, had to be average at spellcasting and schoolwork, and had to be out of the know about details pertaining to Voldemort or the wars. Although, she was beginning to realise that Dumbledore must either not pay a lot of attention to her, or he has a reason to explain away the things she's let slip. Like last year when she had murdered Quirrell with the power of 'love'.

She walked up to the mats next, summoning an opponent courtesy of the room. She defeated it in hand-to-hand several times, and then magically. Finally, she stood in front of the target range, trying out the plethora of weapons available to her. Harry shot at the targets with a pistol, then a rifle, then a shotgun, then a bow and arrow. She threw some knives into the body-shaped targets, striking the heart or brain, or aiming for non-lethal spots.

When she was at last tired of her training, she took a shower in the bathroom the Room of Requirement provided. She wrapped a towel around her, and thought of her dorm room, where her clothes were. No sound was heard as she appeared in the room, and she tiptoed to her bed so as to not wake her still-sleeping roommates. Pulling on her Hogwarts uniform, Harry sat down on her bed, drying her hair with a flick of her wrist, and trying to brush the wild curls out into something more manageable. She gave up and just pulled it back into a ponytail, letting the thick curls tumbled down her back. She stood up and grabbed her messenger bag. Harry hesitated in the doorway, looking back at her bed as Hermione first started to wake. A dark pulse was emanating from her trunk, stashed under the bed. It drew her in, trying to convince her to let it out. Harry shook her head and left, casting one last wary glance to her bed.

Harry stopped by the library to drop off some books, and when she entered the great hall, Hermione and Ron were there at the Gryffindor table. She walked through the great double doors and immediately her features morphed into that of disgust. The hall was decorated to the extreme. Pink and red hearts were plastered all over the walls, bubbling versions floating around and occasionally popping near someone, who sighed in happiness. There was pink and red confetti floating continuously down from the enchanted sky, and the tables had been fitted in pink. Lockhart sat at the head table in dark red robes with lighter lacing, a goofy smile on his face that really made Harry's trigger finger itch. She needed a hunt before she killed the oaf.

"What's going on?" she forced out, sliding onto the wooden bench across from Hermione and Ron. Hermione giggled and ducked her head while Ron made a face of disgust.

"It's Valentine's Day!" exclaimed Hermione, and she began to giggle again. Harry was alarmed, as she had never seen Hermione act this way. Just then, Lockhart stood up from the table and opened his arms up to the hall.

"Good morning everyone, and Happy Valentine's Day! I would first like to thank the sixty-seven people who sent me Valentines."

"Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the sixty-seven," pleaded Ron. Hermione became mysteriously deaf and turned away.

"I mentioned to Professor Dumbledore that the student body morale was down because of this whole Chamber business, and that this might be a way to cheer everyone up." He gave a charming smile and a wink. "Of course, he readily agreed. So, let's all get involved in the Valentine's day spirit. Ask Professor Flitwick about Entrancing Enchantments, or inquire to Professor Snape about the way to brew a love potion!" Flitwick ducked his head into his food, and Snape looked like he would murder the first person to ask him about a love potion.

"Oh! And, I have a surprise for you all." He clapped his hands and a bunch of surly looking dwarves dressed in diapers and wearing sparkling heart wreaths filed out into the hall. "Your own personal cupids! They will deliver Valentines to anyone, or you can use them to send a personal singing Valentine, anonymous or not!" He sat back down as the hall broke out into conversation. Harry looked down at her toast for several seconds before nodding to herself and standing up. She casually walked down the table, stopping behind two redheads who were chatting animatedly with Lee Jordan.

"We need to talk," she announced in their ears, grabbing the backs of their robes and pulling so they'd turn around. "You too chuckles," she added, pointing at Lee. Harry swished around and exited the hall, followed by three confused fourth years. Harry ducked into an empty classroom and sat down on the desks pushed up against the far wall. Fred, George, and Lee walked into the room, and she willed the door to close behind them. After casting some silencing charms and other wards on the room, Harry looked at the three of them.

"I have a proposition for you." Fred and George exchanged looks, and their eyes turned back to her.

"We're flattered,"

"But you're a bit too young to date us," The twins said. She rolled her eyes.

"You're hilarious. No, I mean an opportunity which will be beneficial to us all." She pushed off the desk and started to slightly pace. "I think I speak for us all when I say that Lockhart is becoming increasingly annoying and should never have been hired here in the first place. There were some pranks at the beginning of the year, but they seem to have stopped, and with that, Lockhart's confidence has risen. Normally, confidence is a good thing, but when Lockhart grows confident, his ego grows confident, and then people get hurt. Example A, letting loose a bunch of creatures in his class. Example B, my arm. Needless to say, it has to stop."

"So, you're saying-"

"Lockhart's ego needs to be knocked down a bit,-"

"And his ego is knocked down when-"

"He is pranked mercilessly and is embarrassed in front of the entire student body." Harry rolled her eyes at Fred and George finishing each other's sentences. Their excitement grew as they spoke. Lee continued to look at her, smiling, but confused.

"What do you want us to do? We can't get away with a joke that large, and me and George are still on probation because of that time we made all the doorknobs in the castle bite Snape when he tried to use them," Lee said.

"I have a plan." Harry shared her ideas with the trio, who soon adopted skeptical looks.

"But how are you going to get him to respond? Nothing we've tried has worked." George wondered.

"Yah, and no offense, but I still don't entirely believe them yet," Lee interjected.

"Don't worry about that. I just need you guys to run interference with everyone else. You know, stage your normal sized pranks throughout the day while I get this ready. Oh, and use this to record everything." She tossed them each a camcorder, which they held upside down to scrutinize. "It's a muggle invention that I modified to work around magic. It sort of works like a wizarding pensieve. It will record the memory, and then it can play it back. Good luck, see you at lunch." She exited the room, leaving the three boys to look through their camcorders.

The morning passed quickly, with dwarves bursting into classrooms to deliver Valentine's, musical and not. Harry almost laughed out loud when Professor McGonagall clenched her jaw, the twitching fingers on her wand stayed by her other hand to keep herself from zapping the few that interrupted her lesson.

Apart from the general chaos instigated by the dwarves, there had been an upturn in unusual accidents throughout the morning, and the Weasley twins were conspicuously absent from all their classes. Harry had passed at least three students stuck with antlers after Snape's 5th year class on the animagus potion had gone wrong and all of the cauldrons had simultaneously started spewing potions around the room, curiously only giving students the features of assorted antlers. Peeves had also been more active, flying through the school with a paintball gun (Where had he gotten that?) and pelting students with pink and red splotches.

On an unrelated note, Harry had forgiven Peeves for his mistakes. For now.

Soon it was lunchtime, and the student body filtered into the great hall for another dose of sickly sweet pink and red decor, many looking around apprehensively after their trying morning. Harry smiled secretly as she watched Lockhart drink from the goblet in front of him. She looked at the cup in front of her, and grabbed it, discreetly pouring a three inch vial of liquid into it. Harry filled the rest with pumpkin juice, and stared at Lockharts goblet when he put it down. A slight rush of magic was felt as they switched, and in her hand she held the goblet he had just been drinking out of. Harry took a cotton swab out of her pocket, and rolled it along the edge where his lips had been. She pulled another couple vials out of her pocket, this time filled with a sludge-like mixture.

When Hermione had brewed the polyjuice potion, they had quite a lot leftover. Harry had taken half of the remainder to experiment with, as even Hermione couldn't reject the possibilities of invention. Her machinations had led to a polyjuice potion that worked with any DNA, and it transformed the user quickly and painlessly. She even theorized that the user would not notice they had changed at all.

Harry dropped the swab into the first vial, and watched as it turned an ugly purple. She smiled and repeated the process four more times. Harry held five bubbling vials, and she vanished the contents to other goblets in the room.

Harry shoved all evidence back into her pocket, and deactivated the notice-me-not charm, dragging some food onto her plate as she looked for Fred and George down the table. They gave her a nod, and she took it to mean that everything was ready, and Lee was in position. Harry looked up to the head table to notice that there were several Lockharts sitting there, in different states of dress, all calmly eating. A smile graced her face, and she noticed the other students hadn't picked up on anything wrong. That is, until Ron Weasley walked into the great hall and let out a loud cry of "Bloody Hell!"

McGonagall looked up to scold him, except she wasn't McGonagall anymore. The students all stared as Lockhart, in dark green witches' robes and a pointy hat, swept down the aisle to admonish Ron.

"Mr. Weasley! Such language should not be used in front of- What are you staring at Mr. Weasley?" She looked around and noticed the students staring at her as well, and McGonagall conjured a mirror, which then fell from her hands with a loud crash and an exclamation of "Merlin's pants!"

Dumbledore watched from his seat as Professor McGonagall yelped, and chortled when he saw Lockhart in witch's dress. Then he stopped when he looked to the side and saw Lockhart watching himself from the head table. And another Lockhart on the left of him. On the right of Dumbledore was another Lockhart, staring with an air of curiosity. The students in the hall were now all either laughing or staring around in confusion at the six Lockharts in the Hall. Dumbledore stood up and demanded silence.

"Now, this situation will be dealt with, and rest assured whoever is the cause will be punished-" He was cut off as the hall broke out into even louder laughter. He looked down and noticed his beard was missing, and his vision had gone slightly blurry. Dumbledore took off his glasses and conjured a mirror for himself. Staring back was the image of Gilderoy Lockhart in purple starred wizard robes.

It took several minutes for the hall to successfully calm, and Harry alone noticed Lee Jordan hiding just outside the doors, holding a camcorder in front of him. Another was spelled onto a candle and under a disillusionment spell. The last one had somehow been stuck to Lockhart's hat, invisible to everyone not looking for it.

After the staff realised there was no hope of fixing their appearance until it wore off, they left the hall to prepare for their lessons in peace. Lockhart looked traumatised after seeing himself in so many fashions.

In the chaos, Harry slipped away from the table, high fiving Lee once she made it outside the hall. She moved to the empty classroom she had dragged the pranksters into that morning, and pulled out a portable altar from her pockets, glad she had purchased it that summer. Placing it in the middle of the room, Harry laid out an assortment of chocolates from the House Elves, and sliced her finger, letting the blood drip onto the empty middle plate, chanting the words to call forth Loki.

"Who DARES to summon the- Oh, hey Harry." The shaggy haired pagan greeted. "Nice offering, I love chocolate frogs. You gotta bite the head off first, otherwise they squirm around in your mouth. Blegh." Harry sat in wait while Loki gorged himself on the candy.

"So, what's up?" Harry ignored the chocolate stains around his mouth, and pulled out the photo of Lockhart stashed in her robes.

"This guy is a danger to society, and I believe he fully deserves some of your just desserts. And since I stopped your last run, or discouraged it I suppose, I figured you wouldn't mind another ready-made target?"

"I'm always up for a little mischief, and this guy looks like a verified douchebag. I mean the hair alone would put him on my watchlist, but that whole look just screams 'hurt me!'" He crossed his arms, using one finger to tap his chin as he thought. Harry started as he swerved the arm around to point at her. "So, little witch, what do you have in mind?"

"You want my help?"

"Well, I certainly don't need it, but you can't rely on me for everything you do. I know, it's tempting to call upon my awesomeness all the time, but I do have things to be doing." He popped another chocolate frog into his mouth, gesturing for her to begin.

"Alright, well I've already set up something to occupy Lockheart this afternoon, but for dinner me and the twins wanted a spectacle."

"Go on…" Harry and Loki spent the remainder of lunch planning Lockhart's downfall, though Harry did specify that she didn't want him permanently incapacitated, as she was wary of what Dumbledore would drag in as a replacement. Loki also agreed to stop by and awe the twins later.

Harry had the luck of her next class being Lockhart's, and she struggled to converse with Ron and Hermione about who could have possibly achieved such a prank while her thoughts were on pulling off the next stage, The trio sat down in their seats and waited for the Professor to enter. When he did, he still seemed affected by the lunch debacle. Almost as soon as Lockhart started raving about The Wagga Wagga Werewolf, the classroom door flew open and a cupid-dwarf stalked in with his eyes on the Professor.

"I got a message for Professor Lockhart. Anonymous."

"Well, go ahead then," he announced jauntily, buoyed by the familiar action. The dwarf cleared his throat.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is the hottest of the hot

With golden curled hair and a striking pose

But today at lunch I saw something that was not

What do you think of you in McGonagall's clothes?"

The dwarf exited and Lockhart drawled in a superior kind of voice, "It was dreadful. I mean, that old bag doesn't have any kind of fashion taste to begin with, and to have her rags forced on myself, it's unspeakable." He froze, as though realising what he said. He laughed nervously. "I'm not joking. That's the truth." He frowned, like he didn't mean to say that. Laughing nervously, Lockhart turned a page in his book, hastily saying, "Let's get back to the lesson."

Harry knew her plan was working when throughout the lesson dwarves would burst in, sing a Valentine with a question in it, and Lockhart would answer completely truthfully, though he didn't know why. The class was laughing at his last answer when asked "How do you get your hair so wavy?" and he replied, "I wear magical hair curlers, with a tablespoon of Sleakeazy's in my lilac scented conditioner."

He grew exponentially frustrated when he answered like that, and by the end of the lesson, he kicked them out, almost seething. Harry and her class spread the word of Lockhart's inability to lie, and by the time their next lesson was finished, the entire school was in the know.

Harry was walking in the halls with her friends, plotting dinner's surprise, when a dwarf looked like it was trying to get close to her. She darted into a tapestry, taking the hidden passage with Ron and Hermione yelping in surprise and trying to follow her. Harry came out at the other end and dove into an empty classroom as the dwarf caught up and grabbed her legs, sitting on them.

"I've got a musical Valentine for Miss Potter." Ron and Hermione showed up, and Harry waved at the door, which closed in the confusion.

"Her eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,

Her hair is as dark as a blackboard.

I wish she were mine, she's truly divine.

The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."

The dwarf got up and left the classroom as Ron burst out laughing.

"That's bloody brilliant! Who'd be crazy enough to send that?" He rolled over laughing as Hermione sniffed and Harry glared. Later Harry was accosted by a frantic Parvati. One look at the girl's expression and Harry knew something bad had happened.

"Harry, I don't know who did it, but someone's trashed our dorm! I mean, everythings ripped and torn, and I think stuff might be missing!" Harry stood up and hurried after Parvati, knocking in the dorm room door. The pillows were pulled apart, feather strewn all over the floor. Harry saw the hangings of the bed ripped open, and their sheets pulled off the mattresses. Her trunk was out from under her bed, flipped open. Harry rushed to it and looked for the diary, thinking it the only possible thing that could have incited someone to do this.

She came up empty, and growled at her own stupidity. She should have destroyed it when she had the chance Now it was loose in the castle again, either influencing someone else or in the possession of someone with ready access to the Chamber. At least she knew it was probably a Gryffindor, and a girl as no one else could have climbed the stairs.

Her mood thoroughly shattered by the diary missing, Harry headed to dinner in the hopes that the spectacle could cheer her up. As the trio sat down in their usual seats, Harry sent a wink to Fred and George, who were almost bouncing in their seats in excitement. After she was sure everyone had trickled in, she sent an invisible gust of air towards one of the floating candles above Lockhart, who was sitting at the Head table gripping his silverware tightly, one eye twitching.

Loki, somewhere invisible in the rafters of the Great Hall, got the signal and whistled sharply, his voice projected out to the entire Hall.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, witches and wizards of all ages and statuses, living or dead, get ready for tonight's live entertainment! A Valentine's Day special,please welcome Mister Gilderoy Lockhart to the stage!" The noise of echoed cheering and applause that sounded like it came from a wrestling arena followed Loki's words. While most of the students looked confused, a few were catching on after the day Lockhart had had, and started cheering as well. Lockhart looked terrified as he jumped up to race out of the hall, but strings came out of nowhere to attach to him as though he was a marionette puppet.

"In this corner we have the man with no plans, the boorish buffoon, the winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award! He's the guy you don't want to sit in front of in the braid train, give it up for GILDEROY LOCKHART!" Crickets chirped, the hall silent apart from them and Lockhart's grumbles as he tried to escape the strings. "And in this corner, the challenger! He's the ghost with the most, the sparkly spectre, the guy you don't want to meet in an empty hallway, give it up for PEEVES!" Conflicted cheering came from students who didn't necessarily like Peeves, but were ready to see what would happen in this showdown. Dumbledore looked like he was about to get out of his seat, but was suddenly trapped by invisible bands across his chest. He gave up after a second to watch.

Everyone watched in anticipation, fangirls and boys on the edge of their seat in apprehension and the sane population out for blood. Loki's voice rang through the hall. "Three! Two! One! Fight! Harry watched as Peeves soared across the hall, screaming gutturally. Lockhart grappled for his wand, his hand jerked up by a string so that he could aim properly, but Peeves reached him before the oaf could fire off a spell. The poltergeist flew straight through Lockhart, setting the Professor into shivers as he dropped his wand. Harry started munching on popcorn as the fight got more intense, Peeves going into flips and spins that Lockhart couldn't hope to match without the help of the strings. Hermione looked on in worry while Ron reached over her to grab some popcorn from Harry.

After a while, Lockhart was lying on the floor panting, and Peeves was flying around the Hall amid cheers of a majority of the students, flowers that had appeared in stacks on the table getting tossed towards the resident poltergeist. Loki's disembodied voice was layered on top of the commotion, making sarcastic comments aimed at Lockhart.

"Did you see those acrobatics, ladies and gentlemen? It appears we have a true performer among us. But he can't put on a show looking like that!" Loki scoffed and then Lockart was pulled up by the strings again. "Now there's an outfit for a true performer!" The hall erupted into laughter at the sight of the blond in a blue and silver jester's outfit, complete with the hat and bells. "And now, your dessert." The dessert appeared on the tables, and Loki vanished from the hall along with the strings like Harry had planned. Lockhart looked down at his clothing in disgust, and pulled off the hat immediately. Only, instead of there being a dishevelled Lockhart wearing jester clothing and no hat, a new hat had appeared instantaneously on his head, this one yellow and black. Lockhart furrowed his brow and dropped the silver and blue hat, pulling at the yellow and black one. Once again, a new hat slipped seamlessly from the old, Lockhart now adorned in mixed Ravenclaw and Gryffindor attire. The professor ran from the hall with a sound of distress, leaving the mixed reactions of mirth and concern behind him.

Harry caught Fred and George's eyes, smirking at them as they stared. Lee was looking back and forth between the twins and Harry, half skeptical half awed. Harry had a feeling Loki was going to gain a new follower soon.

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In the next few weeks after the Lockhart hilarity had died down, and his clothes had finally faded back into his normal robes, Harry felt the tension return to the school. She was continually cautious, on the lookout for any strange signs from students. Soon enough, the Easter holidays had passed, and the panic over the Chamber was overtaken by Quidditchand the beginning of preparation for the finals. Harry was glad to be heading down to the pitch for Gryffindor's qualifying match for the Quidditch Cup, and was therefore suitably dismayed when McGonnagal showed up and cancelled everything.

And then she heard about Hermione. Harry vowed then and there that whoever was doing this would be sorry when she found them. All the pranks and jokes to lighten the mood stopped working, and the students were even more depressed than usual. Overwhelmed by the stifling atmosphere of the castle, Harry grabbed Ron and pulled him under the invisibility cloak so they could go visit Hagrid and finally get to the bottom of what the diary had shown her.

"Wah, watch where you're pointing that thing!" Harry pulled Ron to the side as Hagrid opened the door with a crossbow.

"Oh, sorry Harry. Wasn't expectin' yeh," Hagrid apologized. Harry wondered who he was expecting that he would need that for. She and Ron sat down as Hagrid rambled, half-heartedly scolding them for sneaking out when it was dangerous. Eventually, Harry couldn't take it anymore, and she interrupted him as he tried to serve them chicken feed.

"Hagrid!" The man startled, looking up from where he was making tea. "We need to talk to you about the Chamber of Secrets." Hagrid blanched.

"How -how do yeh know 'bout that?" He stuttered.

"It doesn't matter, but right now we need information if this thing is going to stop." Harry's words were met with a knock at the door. The students scrambled to pull the invisibility cloak over themselves, hurrying to the corner of the room. Hagrid opened the door with the crossbow once again, but lowered it immediately and stepped aside, revealing the figure of Albus Dumbledore in sparkling evening robes. Even more shocking, though, was the doddering wizard who followed Dumbledore into the hut. Cornelius Fudge looked around curiously at the menagerie that was Hagrid's home.

"Evenin' Headmaster. Minister."

"Good evening, Hagrid. It is most unfortunate to be meeting like this."

"Yes, well, the ministry needs to be seen as doing something. And you have to admit, it doesn't look good-"

"I maintain that Hagrid has my full confidence."

"Yes, well, that's all very well and good but. Something needs to be done."

"Not Azkaban," Hagrid whispered, pale as Peeves. "Aragog never killed no one!"

"I'm sorry, Hagrid, but the circumstances as they are… well this is how the Ministry wants to take action." Fudge didn't really look sorry, more stressed and glad to be done with his part. Dumbledore seemed to start to say something, but was cut off with the creaking of Hagrid's rather large front door. All the occupants in the room turned to see Lucius Malfoy enter the hut.

"Get outta my house!" Hagrid yelled angrily, hand twitching towards the crossbow. Harry made a face of surprised appreciation at Hagrid's rationale for opening the door with the crossbow earlier.

"Believe me, I'd rather not be forced to stay in- You call this a house?" Malfoy's slippery words made Harry narrow her eyes, and that combined with Fudge's expression of relief upon Malfoy having entered told her there was no way this would play out that would benefit Hagrid. She saw red as they debated about whether Hagrid should go to Azkaban. And then Malfoy brought out the Governor's signatures, and she held back from face-palming. She hated Dumbles, but even she knew that him leaving would be the worst decision at this point. Yet, she watched as it unfolded before her, occasionally stomping on Ron's foot when he looked about to speak.

"They would just have to follow the spiders." Harry didn't know how much she would regret listening to Hagrid just then. After watching the adults vacate the hut, Harry and Ron sat with a depressed Fang, talking about their next move.

"We have to follow them, it's the only lead we have!" Harry argued, watching as Ron went greener and greener in the face until she thought she might have to summon the bucket in the corner for him. Eventually though, he relented.

"Fine." They grabbed a lantern and led Fang out to the forest. Ron trailed slightly behind Harry and the dog, mumbling under his breath. "'Follow the spiders', why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies?'" They entered the forest, the trees casting shadows just as menacing as Harry remembered from last year. The small spiders on the ground seemed to know exactly where they were going, moving quickly, which causes a small problem for Harry and Ron. The hurried as fast as they could alongside the arachnids, trying not to squash them. The trees started to curve together, forming a sort of hollow, and Harry looked around warily at the streams of spiders joining the main group as they walked deeper into the dark. Ron groaned at the extra spiders, curling into himself and holding onto the lantern for dear life. Harry opened her mouth to make a joke and lighten the mood, but was unable to continue when a very large spider grabbed her around the waist with its pincers.

Later, when she told the story to Dean, she would leave out the part of how she screamed. She screamed a very loud high pitched scream, one met by Ron's.

The lantern was knocked out of the red-head's grip, and Harry could only guess that Fang was also0 coming along for the ride as the spiders hurried towards the darkened hollow. Soon, theft emerged in a sort of clearing. There were webs strung out along the trees, glittering black eyes peering out from the branches. Harry was glad when she was set down, but it allowed her to see the full scale of the area. Her gaze was drawn towards the pit near the back of the clearing, and she watched as a very large spider pulled itself out of the pit to stare at them with milky eyes.

"Aragog! There are humans!"

"Hagrid?"

"No. Younger. Fresher meat."

Ron was whimpering beside her, and to be honest she wasn't feeling much better. She'd never seen so many hostile creatures in one place before, and the hunter in her was equally ready for a fight and keeping a running streak of curses as she took it all in. Still, Harry stepped forward after a deep breath, addressing the spider.

"Aragog, I assume?"

"Why are you in my hollow?"

"Well, Hagrid sent us. He's in trouble."

"Why would he not come himself?"

"Well, he's sort of been arrested and taken to Azkaban." Harry said all this very quickly, but the spider still understood and angry hisses sounded out all around them. "They blame him for the Chamber of Secrets. It's been reopened."

"This I know. They thought that I was the monster."

"But you aren't… right?" Harry hoped so.

"No! The monster has been there for thousands of years. I came from a foreign land, given to Hagrid as an egg and hatched into my crate. I never saw outside of my crate, and the girl that was killed was found in the bathroom."

"Right. Well, do you know what the real monster is?"

"Yes."

"Wanna tell me?" Harry cajoled.

"We do not speak of it!" Harry was getting really tired of people having information but not giving it. "It is our ancient enemy."

"Harry," squeaked Ron.

"Not now Ron." Harry could tell there wasn't much she could get from the spider, but she had to try at least one more time. "Surely you could tell us something."

"It would be of no use."

"Harry!" Harry turned to see what Ron was going on about, and saw that it was very much something to be going on about, and getting away from. What looked like hundreds of spiders were descending slowly upon the hollow.

"Why's that?" She asked, feeling slightly panicked. She took deep breaths, trying to control herself. Her dagger slipped down her sleeve, ready to be used.

"You will not live long enough to make use of it." Nope. Nope, that wasn't a good thing. She didn't like that one bit.

"We're friends of Hagrid's, we're trying to save him!" She attempted to argue.

"You are children. Hagrid is already lost, regrettably. I owe him a great debt. He set me up here, and found me a wife." Harry couldn't help but think of the image of Hagrid as a wingman. "And so I allow him into my hollow unharmed. I cannot, however, let fresh meat walk away, not when it wandered here so willingly."

"Okay, you're starting to sound a little murdererey. That's okay, I get like that sometimes too. Maybe tone it down a bit and then we'll just be on our way."

"Goodbye, friends of Hagrid." The spider crept back down into its hole, and Harry stared after him for a moment.

"Bugger." The spider's converged onto them, and Harry whipped out her dagger. "Ron! Use 'aronia eximae'." Harry held the dagger in front of her, placing her back at Ron's. "We're going to cut through that section and get out of here alright. Ready? Go!" They started running, Fang bounding along behind them.

They made for the entrance to the hollow, where the spiders were the thinnest. Harry took the lead, slashing with her dagger and sending bursts of 'aronia eximae' out periodically. Ron was shooting off the spell as well, a little weaker in his panic. Fang just ran, barking as though cursing his owner for sending him into this situation. As he should. Surprisingly enough, they were making good time. Then a spider grabbed Ron.

Harry turned and saw the arachnid start dragging him away, spiders closing in around him forming a barrier between Harry and her friend. She glared and cast a spell on her dagger, morphing it into a sword. "Accio Raid Spray!" In the meantime, She charged forward, meeting the first few arachnids as they jumped. She sliced, cutting off one's pincers, and rolled away, under a spider. Harry came up with her sword, slashing the underbelly of the spider in half. Spider guts spewed onto her and she continued, swinging her sword around in a circle, warning back some of the monsters. Harry jumped up with a wordless ascendio, soaring over the wall of spiders and landing on the creature that held Ron, bringing her sword down and stabbing the bug through the thorax. Grabbing Ron and casting another ascendio, Harry made it back over the wall of spiders, half dragging the blubbering red-head with her as she ran, occasionally decapitating spiders as she went.

The green-eyed girl looked to her right when she heard a whistling, and raised up a hand to catch a can of Raid. Ron could keep up on his own now, she decided, and Harry pointed the can at the bugs in front of her and sprayed it, running through the mist although it stung her nose.

"Ugh, what is that?!"

"Shut up and run!" Harry could see the trees thinning out, the light of the moon and stars brightening the forest. They were so close. Harry threw the can of Raid back behind her, spinning and sending an incendio towards it, then pulling Ron faster behind her as the can exploded and the spiders hissed. The two students broke the treeline and ran full pelt to Hagrid's hut, letting themselves and Fangt in, before collapsing in the kitchen chairs.

It was at least ten minutes before either of them spoke.

"Bloody hell, Hagrid, 'follow the spider.' Never again," He said seriously. "If I agree to another one of your plans, you stop me then and there and turn me into the authorities because someone's Polyjuiced as me because I'm never agreeing to another one of your plans." He vowed, slamming his hand onto the table. "Bloody hell. My wand's broken, you know. Must've happened when that big one got me." He pulled out his wand, the tip snapped and dangling by a thin strip of wood and fraying unicorn hair.

"I'm sorry, Ron."

"It's alright. I probably need a new one anyway, it's a hand-me-down. But you're paying for it." Harry gave a little chuckle and looked up at Ron.

"No problem." She paused. "It was a good plan." He glared at her. After a moment, Ron spoke again.

"At least you know how to get us out of the scraps we get into. How'd you get a bloody sword?" He wondered.

"I pulled it out of a stone."

"Harry," He started.

"I know, just kidding. It's my knife, just a little spell." Ron stared at the table, muttering under his breath.

"You and Hermione. Bloody terrifying."

.

---

.

While two second years thought through their near brush with death in Hagrid's hut, Draco Malfoy was sitting up in bed, thinking while he couldn't sleep. He thought about how earlier that day, Hermione Granger had been petrified. That didn't bother him, no, he was sort of ecstatic about it. Of course, he'd only have Potter and Weasley to mess with now, and that would be even more dangerous without their calmer third. Draco absently brushed his throat.

What really worried him, though, was that Penelope Clearwater was also petrified. She was a half-blood. She wasn't even a blood traitor, her family was one of those who weren't quite high society, but respectable. And she'd been targeted by Slytherin's Heir. Draco couldn't stop thinking about this, because it meant that he might be in danger too. Sure, he was a pureblood and in Slytherin, but Clearwater had been collateral damage, apparently. According to the rumors, she was supposed to be in the Dungeons to meet with the Slytherin prefect that she'd been paired with to go over patrol schedules. But instead, she'd gonje down the opposite hallway by the library, with Hermione Granger. The Heir had attacked Granger, and Clearwater had gotten in the way and been attacked as well. Which sort of meant, for Draco, that no one was safe.

Which also meant that his belief in the Heir might be… wrong?

He threw himself down onto his bed, lost in contemplation. His thoughts lingered on Granger, Clearwater, and the Heir long into the night.

.

---

.

Harry and It was a few days later when something occurred to Harry before their Charms class.

"...Fuck." Harry dashed around the corner and sprinted down the hall, Ron at her side. The two of them ran into the hospital wing. Ron looked around hastily for Madam Pomfrey, not wanting to have to explain Harry's erratic behavior. Thankfully, the wing was empty. HArry strode over to Hermione, looking at and around her. Something caught her eye, a little bit of parchment sticking out from Hermione's fist.

"Harry, what's going on?" Ron asked, exasperated. Harry 'aha-ed' when she managed to extricate the ball of parchment from Hermione's fist. Straightening it out carefully, Harry moved so Ron could read over her shoulder. In her hand wa the answer to Sluytherin's Monster.

"It's a Basilisk? How am I supposed to stop that?"

"You get the teachers?"

"Oh. Right." Harry felt a little disappointed, it would be really cool to have 'Basilisk' on her hunter transcript. Harry saw the word 'pipes' scribbled in Hermione's handwriting and tilted her head, confused.

"Wait, how did you know?"

"It's Hermione! Of course she would leave us information to help. Plus, she had to have discovered something that made her a target. She was prepared with the mirror, if that reduces the killing sight, so she knew someone might have been after her." All of a sudden, McGonnagall's voice could be heard through the halls.

"All students go to their dormitories. All teachers come to the staff room." Harry and Ron looked at each other, worried. They started making their way towards the dormitories when Harry stopped again, something else occurring to her. She swore again, running off. Ron yelled and followed after her. Again. They reached Myrtle's bathroom, the ominous proclamation 'Her Body Will Lie In The Chamber Forever' staining the wall below the original. Harry threw the door to the bathroom open, bursting into the dim room. Ron leaned against a sink, panting.

"Harry, what the bloo-"

"Shuddup," Harry muttered, scanning the sinks with her eyes, her hands running along the faucets. After a partial circle around the apparatus, she bumped into Ron. Hands grabbed his robes and threw him away from the sink, Ron crashing onto the floor in a pile of robes with a muffled 'oomph'. "Aha!" She yelled, jumping up and grinning.

From behind Harry came rustling noises and grunts, and she turned to find Ron pulling himself up and straightening his robes. He brushed his shoulders and wiped his face, turning to Harry with an affronted look and his arms held wide.

"What the h-" She walked forward and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh, no talking, I'm thinking," She chastised him. She pulled him forward, bending over the sink and staring, mumbling. "Of course the entrance would be here, 'cause Myrtle died-"

"Hey!" Myrtle appeared from her cubicle, offended.

"Sorry, I meant 'cause Myrtle was gruesomely and unjustly murdered, putting her in the hearts and minds of students for generations afterwards until someone solves her tragic death."

"...Better."

"Yes, anyway, that, here, meaning the pipes message from Hermione is because of the sink- hold on, the sink was invented in the 18th century, so they had to have done some remodeling at some point. Did they not see the entrance to the massive scary secret chamber that must never be opened lest a beast descends upon the student population to purge those it deems unworthy?" She paused, squinting. "Nah." And resume. "Probably just thought it was a normal plumbing system. Mind you, the water's probably contaminated with all the snakey bits from this basilisk that it's acquired in the last fifty years, notwithstanding its thousand year nap.

"Anyway, the sink, we're talking about the sink. Wait, so the Salazar Slytherin built his Secret Chamber over the girls bathroom? Not the best idea, although I'm sure Gyrffindor never thought to look there. So Timmy has to sneak into a girls restroom unseen for about a year to carry out his- are you licking me? You are licking my hand, Weasley, what the hell?" She looked at Ron, his blue eyes glaring at her as he licked her hand in an attempt to escape. "I'm not letting you go. This is stupid, moving on. So then he takes control of a student here through his diary, which I found coincidentally in the same bathroom that the snake has access to. At least Malfoy planted it on someone who would have cause to go to a girl's bathroom, great planning Tom. So Ginny takes the diary and-"

"GINNY!" Ron had pulled out of her hold. Harry wiped her hand on her robes.

"Well, yes, obviously."

"No, not obviously. Explain, Harry. Explain right now!" he demanded.

"Well, that's what I've been trying to do, but you keep interrupting me! So, Ginny has the diary, after Malfoy planted it on her, meaning she's the one who's body will 'lie in the chamber forever', which is pretty dark, I mean, kind of like writting a suicide note-"

"Harry!"

"Right, yes, don't worry, she'll be fine. I mean, it's just a basilisk. Basically just a hunt, now that I think about it. I'll have her back-"

"Ahem."

"We'll have her back in no time." She turned around and hissed at the snake on the sink to open. Something else occurred to her, making it a very productive day. "Oh, idea." She waved her hand at the door in a twisting motion and pulled inwards, like sharply opening a pull doorknob. Ron turned to her.

"What the hell."

"Do you have any other curse words that you could use, I mean I know it's easy but gosh darnit have some creativity." By this time a faint screaming could be heard. It was quite shrill, actually, sounding almost like Ron when he sees a spider. Harry smiled happily when the form of Gilderoy Lockhart sped into the room and collapsed in a heap after being forcibly summoned from his classroom. He breathed heavily, throwing his robes over his head after they had managed to get tied around his face. Lockhart stood up, looking frantic and cornered.

"I never should have taken this job. I should have gone abroad and written another book! This school will be the death of me, and if not it, then it will be you, Potter! You are a demon! Begone, hellspawn!" Lockhart finished pathetically, his perfectly curled hair in disarray, red faced, and a limp finger pointed halfheartedly at Harry.

"That rhymed, good for you. Now, we're about to go to the Chamber of Secrets and rescue Ron's sister, and could use a Defense official such as yourself. Now, losers first." She flicked her fingers towards the sink and Lockhart was thrown forward into the tunnel. His screech could be heard as he plummeted, sliding down to below even the bowels of the castle. Ron lifted his eyes heavenwards, then sighed and stepped up to the sink.

"If I'd've known that being your friend was going to be like this, I think I would have just stayed home." He stepped forward, sliding after the 'professor'. Harry smiled, checking her holsters and daggers, before jumping in after them with a "Weeeeeeeeeeeee-OOMPH!" Harry smacked into Ron as she zipped out of the tunnel. They tumbled forward across bones, crunching heard among the cries of pain. Ron sat up, holding his head with a screwy expression.

"Ow." Harry sat up right next to him, a smile bright on her face with rat bones tangled in her ponytail.

"That was fun. This hunt is already starting out fun. Oh, Dean would be so jealous." Ron turned to her with a murderous glare, but she hopped up oblivious. A moaning sound to their left distracted the two students, and they turned to see Lockhart kneeling and clutching his arm to his chest.

"My arm, it's broken! I need help, please! Oh, woe is me, the end is near, I'll have phantom pains for the rest of my life!" Ron rolled his eyes and walked forward, his wand held loosely by his side. He kicked Lockhart's knees.

"Get up, ya great big lump." Before anyone could react, Lockhart had jumped to his feet and grabbed Ron, wrestling the wand out of the Redhead's grip.

"Aha!" He brandished the stick at them. Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's a mistake you won't make twice, Weasley. All those books I wrote, my adventures, well they made me proficient in memory charms, especially when I erased the minds of those who actually performed the acts!"

"Why are you telling us this?" Ron asked. Harry rolled her eyes.

"Because now I'm going to erase your memories! HA!" He jerked the wand back, and Harry sighed deeply, raising her palm so that it was straight out, facing Lockheart. He froze.

"Poor man, he thinks he's special.." She tilted her head, thinking about whether Lockhart could even cast the spell with a broken wand that was also not his. "Hmm. For science." She released her hold on him, casting an invisible shield between Lockhart and Ron and her. The so-called professor raised his wand as Ron yelled in surprise.

"OBLIVIATE!" The wand burst in a shower of sparks, sending Lockhart flying backwards into the wall. The pillar he was thrown through collapsed, and the whole cave started shaking. Harry glanced at Ron and laughed weakly. "...Oops?"

"RUN!" They hurried away from what seemed to be the epicenter of the shaking, but weren't quick enough. Harry glanced rock about to topple and crush them, and she threw Ron backwards with a wave of her hand. The rock fell, creating a wall between them.

With the dust came silence, until Harry pushed herself up with a groan. "Ron?"

"Still alive."

"Cool." She moved to a sitting position, stretching her shoulders. "Well, this rock isn't shifting anytime soon. Got your wand?"

"No."

"That's too bad. Alright, gameplan, I'll go kill the basilisk and save the day, you stay here and try to shift the rock so we can get back, and make sure Lockhart doesn't try to kill you again. If you need to knock him out, aim for the jaw. It'll push the bone into the pain receptors near the ears. Instant knockout. Cool? Alright, see ya." She stood up, walking away from the pile.

"Harry! Harriet Potter!" Ron groaned and plopped down on his butt, starting to shift the smaller rock.

Harry came upon a large circular door with a snake engraved into the hinge. She tilted her head consideringly.

"Open?" She asked in parseltongue. The snake came alive, slithering through the locks on the door until the hatch swung open. Harry grinned and stepped through, looking into the large chamber.

Behind the hatch was a great hall, opening up like an enormous cavern. There were statues carved into the walls lining the walkway that lead to a gigantic depiction of what Harry could only assume to be Slytherin himself. She tilted her head as she looked up at the man. He had the Gargamel vibe for sure.

At the feet of the statue was a crumpled pile with flaming red hair. Harry pulled out a throwing knife from the multi sheath on her wrist. Running forward, she stopped at Ginny's body, circling her while looking for any possible assailants or gigantic freaking snakes. When no one jumped out and yelled boo, she crouched down and grabbed Ginny's wrist, checking her pulse. It was weak, barely there, jumping against Ginny's pale skin.

"Come on, Ginny, what's wrong?"

"She won't wake." Like lightning, Harry spun around, a knife held by her ear, ready to throw. Standing before her was Tom Riddle, looking almost amused. "That can't hurt me."

"Wanna bet?" Harry threw the knife, which went right through Riddle's forehead. "Huh, that's not

great. Is this a projection? Am I being punked?" She asked with a smile.

"While I'm not sure what that word means, I can say that you aren't being… 'punked'. I am the visualization of a memory, not truly part of this world. Not yet, at least." He circled her, Harry watching him with wary eyes.

"So you're feeding off of Ginny's energy?"

"Yes, actually. As poor Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger. The girl has been confiding in me for weeks, months. It was only too easy to take over-" Harry cut Riddle off.

"Take over her mind, possess her, whatever creepy shenanigans you like to get up to. I know, it's not that hard to figure out, considering." Riddle looked angry that she had dared to interrupt him. "What I don't get is how this is happening."

"I've just said-"

"That you are a memory. But that can't be the whole truth. A memory should not be able to be this powerful, it shouldn't be able to siphon life energy out of someone else. I mean, look at the portraits, they aren't constantly draining the life out of everyone. In fact, it shouldn't really even be possible, the only memory viewing and retrieval device I know of is a pensieve, and even then the memories cannot interact with the people viewing them. No, this is something darker, and I'd like to know what you've gotten yourself into Timmy."

"That's not my name," he protested.

"Sorry, what was that? Oh, right, you like going by Voodletort. No, that's not it, Voldetite maybe? Moldyshorts, Baldymart, Voldy, Volvo, Volkswagen? No, hang on, those last two are cars-"

"Stop this insolence!" He demanded.

"Sheesh, someone's got issues," She muttered. Riddle's face was red with anger, and she smirked.

"Nevermind that, what I don't understand is how an infant defeated the greatest sorcerer of all time."

"Well…. I don't know about greatest, I mean have you seen Merlin? Grindelwald? I mean, even Dumbledore's got something on you, and he's limited by 'morals' and other silly things."

"You dare insult the likes of me, Lord Voldemort?"

"Yep," she smiled, popping the 'p'. He glared at her.

"You are insufferable-"

"Thank you."

"-And you will see what defying me means." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's see how you do against Lord Voldemort. No mudblood mother to save you now!" Riddle laughed, smirking down at Harry.

"I've kicked Voldemort's ass, fully grown. Sorry to disappoint you, Tim, but you're a real floof in my time. Kind of insignificant. Oh no, another psychopath formed because of an absent mother and daddy issues! Whatever shall we do! That's totally unique! Pfft, you're not special."

Riddle sneered, making what could have been a handsome face scream ugly. "You are nothing more than the dirt on my boot, girl!"

"I didn't want to have to unleash this, I was afraid it might hurt your feelings. Riddle, you're a meany butt. A great stinking pile of doodo, oooh I said doodoo."

"You should take this seriously! I am threatening your life!" He screeched, looking more comical than unhinged. Although he did look unhinged. "You make jokes while I murder your friends! Do you care nothing for them?" Oh, he went there. Harry's appearance darkened immediately. It was such a sudden change that Riddle stepped back in apprehension. Harry looked at the ground, as if she were finding something interesting in the muddy water.

"I'm not taking this seriously enough for you? Ok, let me make it serious." Her eyes rose to meet Riddle's, the green turning dark and furious. "You say that it was a fluke that I destroyed Voldemort when I was a child, nothing more than an old protection wasted on me by my useless mudblood of a mother. But you're wrong, Riddle. By my reckoning, you're the one who was so idiotic that you didn't think to take old magicks, the ones that you claimed to revere, into account. Your downfall was set into motion by a muggleborn, a woman who you considered to be lowered than dirt. If she's lower than dirt, what does that make you? If I was able to defeat you as a baby, what makes you think I can't do it now. Even when you don't count that time, what about last year when I discovered you, a weak, pathetic spirit clinging to life stuck on the back of a stuttering, blithering idiot. When you were reduced to depending on one of the weakest men I have ever seen just to scrape by in that fragile existence. When I stabbed you with a simple knife and forced your spirit to flee back to the dark, dank, hideaway befitting for one so piteous as yourself. Was that luck, Riddle? You are not special, you are not unique. You're a dark magic fanboy riding the coattails of Grindelwald's reign." She spat at him, jutting out her chin.

"Grindelwald was defeated. I am still out there." He was seething, trying to remain in control after Harry's monologue.

"Grindelwald was defeated by Dumbledore, and you aren't Grindelwald. He could defeat you if he wanted to, he just has more 'mercy' than he knows what to do with. It gets other people killed and I hate that about him, but whatever I say, Albus Dumbledore could defeat you."

"Dumbledore's been driven out of this school by the mere memory of me!" Harry tilted her head. She almost thought he was pouting, in the middle of that temper tantrum.

"No, he's too much of a petty bitch to leave completely. Mark my words, he's still here, at least in spirit, thwarting you at every turn." Harry was distracted from her reluctant praise by birdsong. She looked towards the entrance to the Chamber, seeing Fawkes flying in with a lumpy package. The bird dropped it at Harry's feet, and she almost sighed when she saw the sorting hat. "If it was that easy for you Fawkes, how is it that no one has found this place yet?" She muttered.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his great champion? A songbird and an old hat?" Riddle smirked.

"Woah there, Timmy, I'm not Dumbledore's anything. Step off."

"You're beginning to get on my nerves."

"Beginning?! Have I really lost my touch? You're only now getting annoyed?"

"SILENCE! You will face off against me, and the world will finally know the might of Voldemort. Who is greater? One of the darkest and most powerful wizards of all time, or a little girl?"

"I take offense to that, I am of average height at least." No she wasn't.

"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the house four." Harry watched as the wall opened up to his Parsletongue, a slithering outline moving towards the door.

"Welp, that's not good." She turned around, sprinting for the narrower walkway where she could have some chance of seeing shadows clearly. A splashing noise sounded behind her, followed by a hissing one that confirmed her target's whereabouts.

"It's just a hunt, just another hunt. Where you can't look into the eyes or you die. Heh, simple." A snapping noise behind her made her jump. She almost turned, but allowed herself to only watch the shadows on the wall. The snake head was right behind her. Was it possible she could take out the eyes judging by the shadow's positions?

Harry shrugged, still running while pulling on the gun tucked in the holsted at her side. She pointed it blindly behind her and let off a round of shots. 10 rounds and the clip was empty. She heard hissing, possibly because she blinded the thing? Riddle's shouts confirmed her suspicions, and she turned with a smile on her face.

"No! Get away bird! You've blinded it!" Oh, so Fawkes had done the work for her. Oh well. She could hear him urging the snake on in parseltongue, telling it to use hearing instead. She spotted a side tunnel and ran down it, silencing her steps with a charm but unable to stop the splashing of the water. The hissing behind her, and translated death threats, was a very good motivator for keeping up her speed, and Harry decided she'd found a new memory to use when jogging if she got out of this place.

The green eyed girl darted into an offshoot of the tunnel, freezing when it ended with a grate. She pushed her back up against the grate keeping completely still as the snake moved into her space. Harry pointed her finger around the snake carefully. With wide eyes, she spelled a rock to bounce down the tunnel. Thankfully, the snake was fooled, and Harry let out a breath when it slithered off. She raced back to the main room, catching sight of a very pale Ginny lying motionless on the floor.

Harry grabbed the sorting hat, ignoring Riddle moving towards her in her peripheral vision. She jammed it onto her head, asking for help and trying to think about what Dumbledore wanted her to do. Nothing happened, and she thought harder while backpedaling away from Riddle, who looked shocked at her childish move.

What's wrong with you?!

Well, the Headmaster calibrated this to send a sword to a true Gryffindor. You are not.

Well, thanks for that, you couldn't have told me that before I wasted like a minute?

My apologies.

Harry pulled the hat off her head, throwing it at Riddle. It smacked him in the face, leaving a bit of dirt on his now corporeal-enough body. Harry tried to think of what she was going to do when a loud hissing from the other side of the chamber interrupted her, making her aware that a very large snake had just reappeared and was coming towards her. She didn't even bother with the smaller throwing knives, summoning her dagger and transforming it into a sword like she had with the spiders.

The witch stood in the middle of the filthy ancient chamber, sword raised with a fierce look in her eyes. She glared at the snake. "Bring it on, scales."

As the snake reached her, she jumped up, flying over the basilisk's head and landing on its back. Conjured ropes wrapped around the snake, and she rode the outraged snake like a mechanical bull, her sword swinging dangerously. Harry tightened the ropes until the snake had trouble moving its body side to side. After trying to stab the scales and remembering that basilisk hide was incredibly hard to penetrate, she jumped off and stood directly in front of the monster. The snake reared back, ready to strike, and Harry angled her sword at the soft, fleshy part of the basilisk's mouth. When the snake surged forward, Harry's sword met it, and she felt the pressure as ther metal sank into the basilisk's brain.

The snake shuddered, moving away and writhing in the air before collapsing onto the dirty chamber floor. Harry sighed in relief, dropping her bloody sword and walking towards Ginny as the spectre of Tom Riddle sputtered from the sidelines.

"Are you convinced now, or do I have to take a written test as well? I'm afraid I don't have a quill, but I'd be happy to use your blood." Harry's adrenaline was quickly fading, and she was surprised to feel pain in her forearm. A glance told her why that was.

Harry looked down at the fang protruding from her arm, the tip peaking through the edge of her forearm. "Well, that's not good." She fell to the floor.

"The venom of the basilisk, Potter. You'll be with your mudblood mother soon enough, and Voldemort will rise again through me!" Riddle grabbed Fawkes when the bird tried to get to Harry. "I'm not allowing anymore of your tricks, you beast."

"No, I'm alright. I think I'm just allergic-" She collapsed backwards, sprawled out on the floor, and felt herself sinking into blackness, though she tried to fight it.

The body of the Girl Who Lived lay dead on the floor. Tom Riddle smiled, a hideous sight, as his words were proved correct.

The body of the Girl-Who-Lived lying dead on the floor jerked. Tom Riddle faltered, a frown pulling at his face.

The body of the Girl-Who-Lived sat up and coughed, then cleared her throat and looked at the basilisk fang that had clattered to the floor. Tom Riddle yelled.

"NO! What magic is this?"

"For one who likes to pretend he knows all, you're not that well informed."

"You were de-"

"Hush now, Timmy Boy, I've got this plan that I had, but it's not coming back to me. Give it a

moment." She held up a finger.

"You dare-"

"Honestly, you aren't even fully corporeal, just shut up for a wee minute. You've been quiet for fifty years, another moment won't be much trouble. Now, plan, oh yes. I've forgotten it. Wait, no I haven't, that's right, I didn't get this far." She turned to look at him. "That's terribly unprofessional of me, my bad. What to do, what to do, OH! That's genius, just the right bit of impulsivity-"

"I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!"

"Nice to meet you, goodbye!" Harry swept up the basilisk fang and plunged it into the diary. Black ink poured from the stab...wound? Yes, wound, covering the floor of the already dirty chamber. "I'm glad that was the right decision. But really, would it kill you to get a maid in here? It's filthy." The Riddle apparition burned away like an image on old film exposed to light. Harry blinked, then stretched, pausing when she caught sight of a non-injured arm.

"I could have sworn I was impaled there…" She shrugged, cataloguing it for a later time. Ginny sat up suddenly, heaving in huge breaths. "Oh hello Gin, been having a nice nap?"

"Harry!" She threw her arms around the black haired girl, sobbing into her robes. "...so sorry, didn't know. He made me! I didn't want to do any of it! The chickens, the messages, oh I'm so sorry!" She continued the stream of apologies as Harry patted her on the back, not sure what else to do in ways of comfort.

After the crying had subsided, Harry helped Ginny up and grabbed the journal and shoved it into her pocket. They left the Chamber, Ginny leaning heavily on Harry, and found Ron shifting rocks back near the entrance tunnel.

"GINNY! You're alive!" Ron stepped through the hole he had shifted and helped move some of his sister's weight off of Harry, hugging them both for a moment. He smiled down at her, cringing slightly when he caught her glance at his ripped robes. "Mum and Dad are gonna be pissed." Ginny gave a watery chuckle as she hugged her brother. Harry gave a little cough.

"Not to break up the tender moment, but I think we should really get out of here. Your parents are probably distraught, and I think Lockhart is waking back up." Ron nodded.

"How are we getting out of here? And how do we take him?" Harry tilted her head.

"Well, I mean we could always… leave him?"

"Harry," Ron started.

"Ugh, fine, we'll take him. But he's such a pain. I don't even want to know what Dumbledore was on when he hired this guy." She nudged the stirring Lockhart with her foot. His eyes opened blearily, and he looked up at her. Suddenly wide-eyed, Lockheart stared at her without recognition. Harry swooped down and grabbed the front of his robes, drawing his face close to hers. She had on an intimidating glare, one that promised violence.

"Now, Lockhart, you're going to listen to me. If it weren't for Ron, I'd be leaving you down here to get eaten by rats, but fortunately you've managed to annoy me while someone more sane is holding me back." Her eyes turned dark. "If you ever threaten one of my friends again, even accidentally, I will toss you down this tunnel with a bell on, followed by a new basilisk, visually impaired to make sure you don't get an easy death. Do we understand each other?" He stared at her curiously.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"What?"

"Harry, what if the obliviate did something to him?"

"Oh, lovely, a perfect cover story." Harry shoved him down and he fell in the dirt. "Alright," she said cheerfully, "Let's get out of here. Grab my hand, hold tight." Ron grabbed her right hand, Ginny her left. Harry cast a tethering charm around Lockheart so that there was a rope wrapped around his waist that connected to one slung across her body. She looked up at the tunnel. "Ascendare." And they were flying.

They shot up through the tunnel with the wind whistling past them. Harry thoroughly enjoyed the sounds of thunks and bangs coming from Lockhart smacking into the walls of the tunnel when it came too close, though she was slightly guilty as he wasn't technically Lockhart anymore. At least not the one that she knew. He screamed once when it turned sharply and he was dragged around the corner, and Harry winced.

Harry canceled the spell when they were back on steady feet in Myrtle's bathroom. She looked surprised to see them.

"Harry! Is the monster dead?"

"Yep. Good thing too, it had rather bad breath." She threw the rope off of her, turning to see Lockhart clawing his way up from the edge of the tunnel where he had almost fallen back down. He collapsed on the floor, his perfect blonde hair in perfect disarray. Harry smirked.

"Well, that's a shame. I was hoping to have a BFF in my stall."

"I'm flattered, Myrtle, but I'm not dead yet." Which was debatable, honestly. "We should really go check to see if the teachers still think we're dead. Come on Lockhart, don't stray." She snapped her fingers and his rope was pulled ahead of him, walking him almost like a dog. She'd hate for him to get lost without any of his memories.

Ginny started, turning to her brother. "She's doing wandless magic! And nonverbal! How?" She whispered to him. Ron sighed and cast his eyes heavenward, contemplating his life decisions.

"She's Harry Potter, just go with it."

"She seems rather intimidating," Lockhart stage whispered to them, and Harry rolled her eyes, continuing on.

They followed Harry, who was looking for the Weasleys' aura, and found them in Professor McGonagall's office. Harry gestured for them to wait behind her. She knocked on the door. "Professor, I need to speak with you, it's important." She could hear the talking in the room stop before Professor McgOnagall called out.

"Not now Miss Potter." Harry heard a chair being scraped backwards as McGonagall walked towards the door. "What are you doing out of your house, that's against the school-" She cut herself off as she opened the door and stared wide eyed at the three children and the grown man.

"-rules, yah I know. Just thought this might be a little more important." Mrs. Weasley burst out of her chair in a flurry of motion and grabbed the children, dragging them into the office. She cried into Ginny's hair, hugging her so tight Ginny's face was almost as red as her hair. Then she pulled Ron in, spreading out the pressure of the hug.

"Oh, my babies! What happened! When the school called, and we had to come and they said you were dead-" She sobbed some more while a white faced Mr. Weasley stepped forward and placed his hands on his children's shoulders. Harry strolled over to an empty chair and plopped down, kicking her feet up on the desk. McGonagall raised an eyebrow at her, and she sighed and dropped them to the hard floor.

"Miss Potter, would you care to explain how, well what's happened? And why is Professor Lockhart restrained?" He was indeed tied up in rope, with the end being held by a very polite suit of armour. Harry smiled and leaned back in the chair, stretching, before she composed herself into a better position to tell the story. The Weasley's were paying close attention, as well as McGonagall and Dumbledore, who had yet to say a word.

"Well, it started when I met Myrtle earlier this year at Nick's deathday party. I ended up visiting her occasionally and got to be familiar with the bathroom there. A while after the attacks started happening, I found a journal in Myrtle's bathroom." Harry pulled out the journal at this point. "After writing in it, I found it belonged to a one Tim- sorry, Tom riddle." Dumbledore perked up at this.

"He showed me his coverup of when he first opened the chamber in the forties, and Myrtle was killed. He framed Hagrid and his giant spider Aragog, not the best conversationalist I might add. Those spiders were huge, and after the order to kill us I didn't like them as much and-" Harry noticed Ron's look and stopped rambling. "Sorry, anyway I didn't think it was Hagrid but that little excursion proved it, especially when they said the girl had died in a bathroom, and that spiders are terrified of whatever monster was in the chamber. After Hermione was attacked, we found a slip of paper in her hand from a library book detailing the basilisk." Everyone in the room gave a sharp gasp, save for Harry and Ron. "Yah, spooky. Then Ginny got taken before we could tell anyone, and I added up the bathroom bit of information with Hermione's scrawls about the plumbing being its transportation, so we went to Myrtle's bathroom. I got Lockhart to come along because he's the defense teacher and so he must be qualified to help, if you hired him, right Professor Dumbledore?

"So we went down the tunnel. But Lockhart, turns out he's a fraud. Didn't do any of the things in his books. He tried to cast a memory charm on Ron, except the wand backfired because he was using Ron's which was damaged a couple days ago. It blasted him backwards and he hit the wall and the rocks came crashing down, separating me from Ron. Ron shifted the rock while I talked with preteen Voldie then killed the basilisk, stabbed the dairy with a basilisk fang, yadda yadda, basically it's dead, the school can return to normal. Cool?"

Harry looked around to find stunned faces all around, minus Ron's exasperated one. Mrs. Weasley stood and starte strangling Harry in a hug. "Thank you, you saved two of my children now!" Harry gave Ron a confused look over his Mother's shoulder, to which he smirked back.

Soon after all the thank yous were exchanged, Dumbledore had the Weasley's leave, and turned his piercing blue eyes to settle on Harry, who refused to shift uncomfortably.

"How exactly did you kill the basilisk?"

"Well, Fawkes came with the sorting hat. I don't actually know where Fawkes went afterwards, I think he was escaping Riddle. There was a sword, so I stabbed the basilisk in the softer part. I don't know where the sword is now, it sort of disappeared." Dumbledore nodded, as if he had expected that.

"Do you have any idea how this diary came to be in the possession of Miss Weasley?" He asked calmly.

"I suspect Malfoy. Senior, I mean, Lucius Malfoy. He was at Flourish and Blotts this summer when I was there with the Weasley's. It wouldn't have been very hard to slip it into Ginny's cauldron, and I know it was there before the start of school because Ron told me about how he was late because Ginny had to grab her diary." He nodded, a calculating look in his eyes. Suddenly, the door burst open, and Harry turned and raised an eyebrow at a furious Lucius Malfoy, who stormed through the doorway. He kicked Dobby in front of him, causing the little elf to go sprawling on the ground.

Harry didn't like that.

"So, you've managed to save the school yet again, eh Potter?" He spat.

"Yes, it's so great of you to be worried, Mr. Malfoy, as one of the governors. Don't worry, all the muggleborns will be revived soon, no permanent harm done." She smiled sweetly at the man, who only glared further.

"Dumbledore, you're not supposed to be here." Dumblebore smiled benignly.

"On the contrary, Mr. Malfoy, it seems the Governors have petitioned me back. Many of them said they wouldn't have asked me to resign in the first place. In fact, it seemed as though they were under the impression that you would harm them and their families if they did not agree. Silly, yes?" Dumbledore's eyes pierced Malfoy like daggers.

"Yes, silly." Ha glared at the two of them once more before sweeping out of the room, yanking Dobby along with that cane of his. Once he had cleared the room, Harry turned to Dumbledore.

"Sir, may I borrow that diary, if you don't mind."

"Of course." Harry grabbed the book and yanked a slimy sock off her foot, sticking it to the front cover. She ran out of the room.

"Mr. Malfoy! Hey!" He stopped and she jogged up to him.

"What?" He hissed.

"I believe this is yours." She shoved the diary at him, which he took with a wrinkled nose, flinging the sock off the cover.

"Be careful what you imply, Potter, it might come back to bite you."

"Oh, I'm not implying anything. You planted the diary on Ginny Weasley that day in Flourish and Blotts. You wanted the Chamber of Secrets open and ready for business. But you failed, Voldemort failed, again. Even if I can't prove it now, I'll get my payback. Remember that. Have a nice day, Mr. Malfoy." Venom dripped from her words. He sneered, then swished around.

"Come, Dobby." A few steps forward, then he paused. "Dobby?" Malfoy turned rolling his eyes until he froze, staring at Dobby, who was reverently clutching Harry's slimy sock.

"Master has given Dobby a sock," the elf whispered.

"What?"

"Dobby is… free!" His face broke out into a smile ear to floppy ear. Malfoy snarled and pulled at his cane.

"You lost me my servant!" his wand was out.

"My bad."

"Avada-"

"You shall not harm Harriet Potter!" Dobby snapped and Malfoy was thrown across the hall. He rolled the last couple feet, coming to a stop with frazzled hair and raging features.

"I'll remember this, Potter. And you'll pay!" He shouted, jutting his finger at her.

"I'm so scared." He turned on his heel, strutting away. Dobby twisted around, a smile back on his face.

"Harriet Potter has freed Dobby. Dobby is indebted."

"No, Dobby, you aren't. And just call me Harry."

"But-"

"Just do me one favor." She crouched down to be level with him.

"Anything!"

"Never try to save my life again." Dobby smiled sheepishly before nodding and disappearing with a pop.

"He's a funny little guy." She stared at the spot Dobby had occupied for a second before, "He took my sock."

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The End of Term feast was much larger than last year, celebrating the downfall of the Heir and the muggle borns being revived. Harry was especially happy when Hagrid returned amid a chorus of cheers. Gryffindor won the house cup, perhaps deservedly this time. Harry was still suspicious.

Everyone was being a lot politer to her again, which made her roll her eyes of course, but it was nice to have so many people smile and offer congratulations when she passed the on the Hogwarts Express on the way back to Kings Cross. Harry, Hermione, and Ron spent the trip playing exploding snap and talking, Hermione mostly bemoaning the cancelling of exams. Harry just nodded sympathetically while eating a bar of Honeydukes chocolate, left on her pillow the night after the Chamber Debacle with a note saying 'Nice, -L.' Harry had to suppress a smirk as she noticed Lee following Fred and George carrying loads of chocolate and other sweets towards the back of the train. She'd have to remember to watch out for any exit pranks as she got off the train, just in case Loki was in the mood.

Harry was still concerned about the whole dying and waking up deal, but she hadn't told anyone and was trying not to think about it herself. For the moment, she just wanted to sit back and watch the countryside go by while Hermione and Ron argued in the background. She felt peaceful, and wanted to savor it while it lasted. She knew moments of peace were rare for her, and she was pretty sure those already rare moments would become rarer in the coming years if the current trend continued.

She had no idea how right she was.

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