28th May continued...
The staff room door banged open and every teacher looked around expectantly, thinking it was Dumbledore.
"So sorry- dozed off- what have I missed?" Lockhart was beaming like a kid who walked into a sweet shop.
The other teachers were staring at him with a look remarkably close to hatred. He didn't seem to notice as he fixed one of his curls, as Snape stepped forward, "Just the very man for the job," he said, "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."
The smile left Lockhart's face.
"Weren't you saying the other day that you knew all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?" chipped in Professor Sprout.
Lockhart spluttered, "Well, I-"
Professor Flitwick piped up, "Yes, didn't you tell me you knew what was inside it?"
"Really? I don't recall-"
"I certainly remember you saying you wish you had a crack at the monster when Hagrid was still around! Didn't you say you wished you had been given free roaming of the school from the first attack?" Snape slipped in.
"You must have misunderstood... I really- I never!"
"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy." Professor McGonagall concluded, "Tonight is the perfect time, we'll make sure everyone is out of your way. A free rein of the school, to tackle the monster by yourself- just like you wanted."
Lockhart no longer looked like his usual well-preened self; rather he was sweating like a pig in the butchers. If he was a dog, his tail would be between his legs and he'd probably have left a puddle on the floor.
"V-Very well, then." Lockhart spoke shakily, "I- I'll be in my office, getting- getting ready." He turned on his heels and he left the room.
"Right!" Professor McGonagall took back the attention of the teachers, "that will have him out of our hands," she began, "I want all heads of houses to go to each of the common rooms and explain the situation, let the students know that the Hogwarts express will be taking them home in the morning. Will the rest of you please make sure no students are wandering about in the corridors?"
Everyone got up and tended to their duties, leaving one by one in complete silence.
This turned out to be one of the single worst days of my life.
Harry, Ron, Fred, George and I sat in the corner of the common room by ourselves, unable to say anything. Never had the Gryffindor common room been so full, yet so quiet. Percy left to write a letter to Mr and Mrs Weasley then shut himself up in his dormitory for the rest of the day.
I sat there, full of regret and misery. Once again, I didn't give my friend the time of day. Ginny was desperate to tell me something about the Chamber of Secrets and I didn't listen to what she had to say, I didn't get the chance. Now she was... gone... I shivered and Harry put an arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder for a while. I didn't know what to do...
Fred and George went up to their dormitory around sunset, unable to stick the sound of silence anymore. Then Ron spoke, "She knew something..." these were the first words we heard from the Staff Room, "That's why she was taken. She found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. She was a pureblood. There can be no other reason..."
I looked out the window and saw the blood red sun setting in the sky.
"Do you think there's any chance she's not, you know-" Ron asked.
Harry and I remained silent, not knowing of any way Ginny could still be alive.
"Do you know what?" Ron persisted, "I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber; we can tell him where we think it is and tell him there's a Basilisk in there."
Harry and I looked to Ron and couldn't find any reason good enough to stop him, so we got up and left the common room, and no one stopped us.
Knocking on Lockhart's door, there was a sudden hush within the room. The door creaked open slightly and we saw Lockhart's blue eyes look though the gaps.
"Oh, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Pink..." he opened the door a smidgen more, "I'm rather busy at the moment, if you could be quick..."
"Professor, we've got some information to help you." Harry said.
"It's not very-"
I placed my hand on the door and gave it a shove, "Shall we come in, Professor? We really must tell you." The door swung open to reveal his stripped office, two large trunks sat on the floor, and all his robes in the many shades had been hastily folded into one of them, all his books, portraits and stationary had been crammed into the other.
"Going somewhere?" Harry asked.
"Er, well, yes." Lockhart responded, taking a poster off the wall and rolling it up, "Urgent call... unavoidable... got to go..."
"What about my sister?" said Ron jerkily.
"It is most unfortunate... No one regrets more than I-" Lockhart started emptying the contents of a drawer into a bag.
"But you're the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher! You can't go now! Not will all that's going on!" Harry stated.
"Well, I must say... When I took the job," Lockhart fumbled his socks into one of the trunks, "there was nothing like this on the description."
"You mean you're running away?" you could hear the shock in Harry's voice, "After all that stuff you did in your books?"
"Said you did in your books..." I added.
"Exactly, books can be misleading." were the delicate words of Lockhart.
"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.
"My dear boy, use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people did think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about an ugly American Warlock who may have happened to have saved a town from Werewolves. He'd have looked terrible on a front page. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hairy chin. I mean, come on..." Lockhart was disgusted by the image in his memory.
"So you've taken the credit for what other people have done?" Harry said sceptically.
"Harry, Harry, Harry..." Lockhart said, shaking his head, "It's not nearly as simple as that, there was a lot of work involved- tracking the people down, getting them to tell me exactly what they did and how they did it, and then used a memory charm on them, so they didn't remember doing it. Harry, fame's not all about book signings and publicity photos, you know!"
Harry's chin dropped in disbelief as Lockhart locked his cases.
"I'm awfully sorry you three, but I'll have to put a memory charm on you... I can't have you blabbing my secrets; I'd never sell another book..."
Lockhart reached for his wand, and so did the three of us, in a quick draw situation, Harry got there first shouting "Expelliarmus!" He disarmed Lockhart and blasted him backwards, making him fall over his trunk. Ron caught his wand and chucked it out the open window.
"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," Harry spoke with fury, pointing his wand down at Lockhart.
"What d'you want me to do?" Lockhart said quivering, "I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is-"
"You're in luck," Harry instructed Lockhart to stand at wand point, "We think we know where the entrance is and what's inside. Let's go."
We forced Lockhart to follow as we led the way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, viewing the new message on the wall as we passed. As we went into the bathroom, Lockhart was shaking; this brought us a sense of satisfaction.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" the voice of Moaning Myrtle came from the cistern of the end toilet, not sounding too amused to be seeing us.
"To ask you how you died," Harry asked, cautiously.
Myrtle looked positively delighted, "Oooh it was dreadful," she said with such pleasure, "It happened right here, in this very cubicle. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me because of my glasses. I locked myself in the cubical and was crying and I heard someone come in. They said something in a funny language. What really got to me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to 'GO AWAY', and then-" Myrtle's face swelled with excitement, "I died."
"How?" I asked.
Myrtle kept her eyes on Harry as she answered, "No idea... I remember seeing a great big pair of yellow eyes. My body all seized up and I floated away..." she looked dreamily at him, "then I came back to haunt Olive. She was sorry she ever laughed at my glasses."
"Where did you see the eyes?" Harry asked.
Myrtle pointed at the sink beside the toilet and I went to investigate. It looked like a normal sink in every way. I turned the tap, but no water came out, Myrtle said that it had never worked. I then saw a serpent design on the side of the sink.
Ron saw this too and he said to Harry, "Say something in Parseltongue!"
Harry looked at the engraving on the tap and said, "Open up!"
"English." Ron said.
He tried again, and he hissed, just as he had done in the duelling club. The tap glowed with a fantastic bright, white light and started spinning. The sink itself started moving and sank into the ground, leaving a large, exposed pipe, big enough for us to slide down.
"I'm going down there." Harry seemingly decided.
If there was the slightest chance that Ginny was still alive, I was going too, it seemed that Ron had the same idea, "Me too!" we said together.
There was a short silence before Lockhart said, "Well, you hardly seem to need me... I'll just-" he put his hand on the door knob.
"Go first?" I said, taking him by the arm and encouraging him to take the jump. Harry prodded him with his wand and Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe and with a helpful shove from Ron, he was on his way down. We heard as he touched the ground and Harry got into position and let go.
"I'll go next." I said, really not wanting to be the last one standing. I sat on the ground, dangled my feet over the edge and held my breath as I pushed myself over. The slide was dark and slimy, I was moving so fast hitting many twists and turns at high gradients. I was going lower than the dungeons, lower than we'd ever been before within the school. There was a pungent smell as I hit the bottom, closely followed by Ron who landed on top of me.
"Sorry." He said as he gave me a hand up off the damp floor, "We must be under the lake." He said as he squinted at the dark, slimy walls.
"Lumos" Harry and I spoke the incantation in order to see the path in front of us. The four of us followed the pipe-like walkway, our feet slapping loudly on the wet flooring.
"Remember," Harry whispered, "Any sign of movement close your eyes straight away..."
The first unexpected sound was a loud crunch as Ron stood on what turned out to be a rat's skull. In fact, the whole trail was covered in small animal bones. This brought an air of unease between the four of us, trying hard not to imagine the human remains of Ginny...
My heart beat steadily grew faster and faster the deeper into the tunnel we went. We turned through a dark corner and Ron stopped and whispered, "There's something over there, but it's not moving..." we stood and saw the outline of something huge and rounded lying right across the width of the passageway. "Maybe it's asleep?" Ron breathed.
I took a few steps forward, looking back at the three behind me; Lockhart had his eyes completely covered as I crept up on the unknown. My heart thudded in my chest, I was pretty sure you could see it pounding through my robes. Step by step the image became clearer- it was the shedding of green snake skin and it was at least six meters long.
"Skin," I whispered to the guys, as we investigated our massive opponent, I put a hand out to touch it, the scales were massive, "Wowzah."
"Blimey!" Ron said weakly.
There was a sudden movement behind us and we automatically shut our eyes. Then I heard Ron snort. Gilderoy (who had just lost any of my respect) had just fainted. Well, pretended to, as he jumped to his feet and wrestled Ron to the ground and stole his wand.
"The adventure ends here, you three! I shall take a bit of snakeskin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!"
He raised Ron's spellotaped wand high over his head and yelled, 'Obliviate!'
The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. I ducked, covering my head and ran toward the snakeskin. Slipping over skin and slapping the slimey floor with our feet, the ceiling gave way and fell to the floor. I let out a high-pitched scream which echoed throughout the underground passageways. The next moment as I dared to look up again, memory still intact, I saw Harry, a solid wall of rock, but no Ron...
"RON!" Harry shouted, "Are you okay? Ron!"
"I'm here!" Ron shouted back, slightly muffled as he was on the other side of the rock, the two of us breathed in a sigh of relief, we couldn't afford to lose two Weasley's in one day, "Im okay! This git's not, though- the spell rebounded and he's blasted himself." There was a dull thud and a loud "Aow!" Ron had seemingly kicked Gilderoy in the shins.
Ron sounded desperate, "Now what? It'll take ages for me to get through..."
Harry and I looked up at the cracks in the ceiling, I knew exactly what he was thinking and shook my head, "It would be too dangerous, and what if the whole tunnel was to cave in?"
He nodded. We heard Ron kick Gilderoy again. "We're wasting time..." I told Harry, there was only one option left; Ginny had been down here too long...
"Ron, wait here with Lockhart. We'll go on. If we're not back in an hour..."
There was an unbearable pause.
"I'll try and shift some of this rock," Ron's voice was all shaky, "so you can get back through. And you two?"
"See you in a bit." Harry said, injecting confidence into the worried atmosphere.
"See you soon, Ronald!" I said as cheerily as possible as Harry and I continued the journey from four to two, leaving the giant snakeskin behind. We were now unable to hear Ron's labouring efforts to move rocks and now we felt more alone than ever. I placed my hand on Harry's shoulder and said and wholehearted, "Thank you."
"What for?" he said.
"Not being stuck on the other side with Ron." I said simply, but we both knew it meant so much more.
I could hear Harry chuckle lightly as he said, "No problem!"
Through yet another bend, we came to a solid wall on which there were two serpents carved into the stone, both with magnificent emerald stone eyes, much like Harry's, which glistened beautifully in the light of our wands.
Harry coughed and focused on the emeralds, speaking in Parseltongue, he hissed and the wall cracked open. The two serpents slid apart smoothly. I looked at him and he looked at me. The two of us were trembling as we stepped past the opening into the end of what seemed an expansive, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars surrounded us that were covered in many carved serpents that rose to the ceiling that was raised so far above us it was out of sight.
The two of us stood and listened to the sound of silence, waiting for something to pounce. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I looked desperately for Ginny.
Harry took the left side of the Chamber as I searched the right, keeping our eyes squint, ready to close them at the slightest of movements. Each of our steps echoed off the walls, as I nervously tried to not look the stone snakes in the eyes, as my mind was playing tricks on me and a few times I thought I saw them move. I forced myself to stop and take deep breaths.
At the end of the long line of pillars, a statue of someone (presumably Salazar Slytherin) came into view. It spanned from the ground, right up into the unseen ceiling above. He had a long beard that was almost as long as he was tall that came from his rather large face to his equally large feet that stood smoothly on the cold flat floor. My heart was in my throat as between the feet I saw a small figure with black robes and flaming red hair lying face down.
"Ginny!" Harry muttered, sprinting and dropping to his knees.
I took a more cautious approach and prayed that she was still alive as I kept an eye out for anything dodgy. Harry had flung his wand aside as I approached, and had turned Ginny face up which showed her marble-white face. I knelt down. Her skin was ice-cold to touch but not solid like Hermione's and her eyes were closed- she wasn't petrified. I tried to find a pulse, checking her neck.
"She's alive! Harry! She's alive!" I smiled at him as he tried shaking her, hoping to wake her from her deep sleep.
"She won't wake," said a soft voice.
I jumped to my feet, fear rushing through my body once more as I gripped tightly onto my wand in my pocket. I took a look at the tall, black-haired (rather attractive) boy who was leaning against the closest pillar, watching our every move. There was something strange about his appearance though, it was like he was foggy- I couldn't see the edging of his body.
"Tom Riddle?" Harry asked. Was this the boy from the diary? He nodded, not once taking his eyes off Harry's face.
"You're right, she is still alive, but only just." He confirmed our findings.
I looked from Harry to Tom, "Are you a ghost?"
"A memory," Tom said, "preserved in a diary for fifty years." He pointed at the black book lying open beside Ginny on the ground. How did it get there?
"You've got to help us, Tom." Harry looked at me and for the first time, so did Tom. He stared at me with such intent it was borderline freaky, it was as though he knew me and was trying to place me at some point in his life.
I looked into his dark brown eyes, identical to mine and said, "I'm Kathryn, by the way." He nodded and clearly found himself mistaken as he turned back to Harry.
"We've got to get out of here!" Harry grabbed our attention, "There's a Basilisk... I don't know where it is, please-" he tried hoisting Ginny up, but I was more interested in what Tom was doing as he grabbed Harry's wand from the ground in front of him.
I took mine out of my pocket, pointing it straight at Tom, desperately thinking of a spell that could work on a memory, if there were any- "Give it back."
"Feisty." Tom twirled the wand in his fingers, idly.
"Look, we've got to go! The Bas-" Harry was struggling under Ginny's weight, desperate to get help from Tom or me. There was something about Tom that wasn't quite right.
"It won't come until it's called," said Riddle calmly, taking his gaze off me and focusing back on Harry.
Harry set Ginny back down, gently, "What do you mean? Can I have my wand back, I might need it."
I stood there debating what to do as Tom replied, "Oh, you won't be needing it."
"Don't be daft! Didn't you just hear what Harry said?" I shouted over to Tom, feeling frustrated at how unhelpful he was.
"And didn't you hear what I said? It won't come until it's called. As for now-" Tom lifted Harry's wand in the air and pointed it at me, shouting the words, "Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!" I counted, thankful that I listened to Hermione one day as she told me this particular counter-curse.
"I need my wand too, Tom." I smiled slyly, beginning to really dislike him, still holding my wand up.
"I've waited a long time to meet you, Harry Potter. For the chance to see you. For the chance to speak to you," Tom ignored me and focused back on Harry, pocketing his wand.
He seemed even worse of a fan than Ginny and that's saying something!
"Look, I don't think you get it..." Harry was really impatient, "We're in the Chamber of Secrets, we can talk later!"
"We're going to talk now." Tom smiled.
"How did Ginny get like this?" Harry asked.
"Interesting question," Tom said pleasantly, "I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."
"What're you talking about?" Harry asked, but I had already worked it out.
"The diary," I said.
"My diary. Little Ginny has been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how her brothers tease her, how she's had to come to school with second hand robes and books, how-" Tom's eyes shone, "how she didn't think famous Harry Potter would ever like her..."
I took a few steps closer to Harry, now seeing clearly the hungry look in Tom's eyes.
He continued, "It was very boring listening to the troubles of an eleven year old girl, but I was patient, wrote back, I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend to carry around in my pocket..."
Tom laughed, a high, cold laugh, one that sounded so evil, yet sounded so familiar. Shivers travelled down my spine as I uncomfortably tried to remember.
"I've always been able to charm the people I needed. Ginny poured out her soul to me and her soul was exactly what I needed. I grew stronger on a diet of her deepest desires and fears; I grew much more powerful than Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to feed Miss Weasley some of my own secrets, pouring a bit of my soul back into her..."
Harry looked at me, and then to Tom, "What are you saying?"
"Haven't you guessed? It was Ginny who opened the Chamber of Secrets, she strangled the school roosters, she wrote on the walls, she set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods,"
I gasped aloud.
"and the squib's cat."
"No," Harry whispered.
"But of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first, but it made her new diary entries much more exciting: Dear Tom, I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what happened on the night of Hallowe'en... Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and quiet and not acting myself, I think he suspects me, there was another attack and I don't know where I was... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!"
I gulped, thinking about how much I actually write in this diary. She must have been terrified. I heard Harry clench his fists beside me.
"It took a very long time for Miss Weasley to stop forgiving her diary. When she disposed of it and who was to pick it up, but... you? I couldn't have been more delighted, you were the person I was most anxious to meet."
"And why do you want to meet me?" Harry was angry, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Ginny has told me all about you, see, and your whole fascinating history." Tom then looked to the lightning shaped scar on Harry's forehead, "I had to meet you, so I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust."
"Hagrid is my friend, and you framed him." His voice was now shaking uncontrollably.
Tom did that laugh again, and the shiver painfully travelled down my spine.
"It was my word against Hagrid's. You had me, the model student, poor but brilliant, parentless but brave, then on the other hand, Hagrid, in trouble every other week, caught trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed... Even I was surprised at how well my plan worked, old Armando Dippet... I don't know how anyone thought Hagrid could be the heir of Slytherin. It took me fivewhole years to discover all I could about the Chamber. Only the transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent, he didn't like me as much as the other teachers did."
"And rightly so." I spoke audibly.
"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you!" Harry spoke through gritted teeth.
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close eye on me after Hagrid was expelled; I knew it wasn't safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. I wasn't going to waste all those years, though and I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen year old self in its pages, so that one day, I could lead another in my footsteps."
"Well you haven't finished it; no one's died this time!" Harry said triumphantly.
"The Mandrake draught is being made as we speak; everyone who was petrified will be restored once more!" It was once I said it, that I remembered that I was muggle born. I was surprised I was still alive, I'll be honest.
"Killing mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore," Tom shared, "Unless they get in my way." He glanced at me, as though it was my final warning, "For many months now, my target has been you, Harry."
He continued, "From what Ginny had told me, I knew you'd go to any lengths to solve the mystery- particularly if one or two" he shot another look at me, "of your best friends were to be attacked. And Ginny told me how the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue. It was all too easy trying to frame you! So I made Ginny write her own farewell and join me down in the Chamber to wait for you. She struggled and cried as her life was slowly taken from her, allowing me to escape its pages at last"
He savoured the moment, "Tell me, how is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?" Tom's eyes glowed red.
"How do you care how I escaped?" Harry questioned, "Voldemort was after your time."
"Voldemort," Tom said slowly, "is my past, present and future..." Tom took out Harry's wand and wrote in the air 'TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE' and flicked his wand to rearrange the letters into 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'.
"You think I'm going to use my filthy muggle father's name forever? He abandoned me before I was born all because he found out my mother was a witch. I fashioned myself a new name, that one day all would fear, because I knew I would become the greatest sorcerer in the world."
My head was scrambled with information. Tom was an orphan. Tom killed Harry's parents. He had killed so many people.
"You're not." Harry responded quietly, his voice full of hatred, "Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world. Even you are scared of him."
The smile on Tom's face vanished and it was replaced by an ugly look, "Dumbledore has been driven out of the castle by the mere memory of me!"
Something clicked, that night Hagrid was arrested, "Dumbledore will only truly be gone from this school when those left are no longer loyal to him." I raised my eyebrows at Tom and smiled down at Harry who knew exactly what I was talking about.
At that moment, music sounded from far away. It gradually got louder and louder- a bird appeared who was singing its heart out. It gave me a sense of relief and almost a sense of safety that something or someone was going to rescue us from this torture. It was Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes who sat on Harry's shoulder and dropped what looked like the school Sorting Hat at his feet.
Tom's laugh exploded in the Chamber, magnified to that of many people's. But neither Harry nor I felt intimidated. Yes, Tom had Harry's wand, but I had mine. Dumbledore was close-by. But we needed to help Ginny; Tom was trying to waste time. The longer those two kept chatting (I was no longer listening) Ginny was dying; you could see Tom's body become less foggy. I wondered if I touched him, would I feel his body. I had a moment of madness.
I jumped at him, pushing him over, making him fall to the ground.
"Now, it' time to fight." I whispered to Harry as we grouped together, Tom spoke in Parseltongue and the mouth of the statue opened wide. He had just called the Basilisk. Everything was now happening so fast. What had I just done? Harry and I backed away. Fawkes took flight. Tom said something to the giant snake.
Harry took my hand and whispered, "He's going to kill me, you run, save yourself. "
"Never," I let go of his hand, "We're in this together." I smiled at him. Then we closed our eyes as we felt our way towards the exit. Tom started laughed mockingly at us. I held on to one of the pillars as I heard Harry trip and fall to the ground with a thud.
Next thing I heard something thrashing at the surrounding pillars, getting closer and closer to where I was standing. There was a spitting sound right above me and I crouched down to the ground. I got whacked in the stomach and thrown from one side of the Chamber to the other. Crashing to the ground I heard something snap, I covered my head and made myself invisible in a desperate attempt to save my own life. I was in so much pain I couldn't make a sound.
I carefully opened my eyes one by one. It was my arm; I could see the broken bone as it bulged against my unbroken skin. Adrenaline was rushing through my body as I looked up, my arm went numb and I forced myself to stand. I heard the mutters of Harry as he shouted out, "Help me! Help us! Someone! Please help!" he must have thought I was dead or unconscious. I saw Fawkes blinding the Basilisk with his talons, blood spurted from the monster- the only remaining fear was the poisonous bite from the fangs. Tom was standing, watching, shouting commands to the Serpent, so I walked behind the pillars and crept up behind him, wand in my undamaged right hand. I was winded after my flight across the room, finding it hard to gain my breath. I looked over- Harry had put the Sorting Hat on his head.
I focused myself on the matter in hand. I didn't know what Tom was saying, but if I stopped him from giving the commands, I would certainly give Harry a fighting chance. It took every ounce of courage left in my body as I made myself vulnerable to try and distract Voldemort.
"I couldn't help but notice earlier, but... do I know you?" I asked, smiling sweetly, biting my bottom lip.
"I was thinking exactly the same thing..." Tom Riddle replied, giving me his attention.
I beamed at him, wondering how on earth he could know me, "I remember your laugh," I did my best attempt at a giggle.
"Your... fiery nature is overwhelmingly familiar..."
"Oh really? I probably get that from my mum, Helen." I pulled a funny face at him, wondering if the trait was a good thing or not.
"Helen? Helen Pink? What was her maiden name?" he asked.
"Smith- but there's thousands of them!"
"It doesn't ring a bell, when did she go to Hogwarts?"
"She-"
I got shoved out of the way. I landed on my knee. (That was going to be bruised in the morning...!) I didn't understand how I wasn't screaming in pain. I couldn't get myself to stand on it at first, but my attention was directed at Harry who had just used the Sword of Gryffindor to stab through the hilt of the mouth of the Basilisk. It collapsed to the ground and died. Fawkes had dropped Tom's diary in Harry's lap and he pulled one of the Basilisk fangs out of his arm... Harry had just been poisoned. It was at that point I stood strong on my feet and went to comfort my friend; surely the poison would take his life...
"So ends the famous Harry Potter." Tom lent over Harry's struggling body.
Fawkes the Phoenix was perched on Harry, crying... Tom barked, "Get away bird, I forgot, the healing powers of Phoenix tears."
What happened next was jaw-dropping as Harry miraculously summoned the energy and stabbed the diary with the fang. It let out a long piercing scream, that of a young, frightened boy. Ink was spurting everywhere. Tom twisted, turned, flapped and flailed and... Disappeared. Harry's wand fell to the ground in front of him.
He looked up and saw me, looking in shock. He quickly got to his feet and gave me a massive hug, "Aow!" I said.
"Kathryn, your arm-"
"Don't worry about me! Are you okay?" he was covered in blood, thankfully it was not his own.
He bent down and pulled the sword from the roof of the Basilisk's mouth and that was when we heard Ginny stir. Harry got over to her a lot faster than I did. I stopped in my tracks, looking at the damaged diary. I knew Harry would do a perfect job of consolation, and as soon as he had embraced her, she exploded into tears trying to explain everything.
He rubbed her back, "its okay! Riddle's finished! He's gone, the Basilisk, too! Let's get out of here!"
I didn't hear much of her blubbering as Harry got her to her feet and they made their way toward me and I took Ginny's hand and whispered, "I'm really sorry I didn't-"
"Don't-" both Harry and Ginny said together, "what was done is done."
At the entrance to the Chamber, Fawkes was waiting for us, and after a few minutes walking we heard the familiar sound of Ron shifting rocks.
"RON!" Harry yelled, speeding up, leaving me hobbling with Ginny who was still quite weak, "Ginny's okay! We've got her!"
Ron had made a sizable gap for us to fit through. All I could see was his arm as he shouted for his sister, "Ginny! Give me your hand!" he gave her tug over the stone wall.
I took a look at it and said; "Harry-" there was no way I was getting through there easily. We climbed together, him using his good hand and I mine to hold on to each other, and swapping to Ron on the other side who looked like he could throw up at the sight of my arm. I knocked my arm on the way down and that was when I first felt the pain, and my goodness it was sore.
"Where did the bird come from?" Ron asked.
"Fawkes is Dumbledore's"
"And the sword? The Sorting Hat?"
"I'll explain when we get out of here."
"But-"
"Later." Harry said, looking around, "Where's Lockhart?"
Ron led us down the passageway where we met a very confused and disorientated Gilderoy who said, "Odd sort of place, this, isn't it? Do you live here?" he looked at me.
"Goodness no." I exclaimed, I never want to be here again.
"Have you thought about how we're going to get back up here?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron shook his head, but was looking at Fawkes who was shaking his tail feathers, "I think he wants us to grab hold?"
"We all need to grab hold of each other, Kathryn, since you've one arm you can go at the end. Ginny, hold mine and Ron's hands, Ron you take Lockhart's and Lockhart take Kathryn's and DON'T LET GO!" Harry said.
"He means you." Ron spoke sharply.
Once we got sorted, we shot up into the air, and a sense of weightlessness took over my body. It was glorious as we saw glimpses of natural light and it became brighter and brighter until we were dropped off into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom back where we had started many hours ago.
"You're alive." Myrtle goggled at Harry.
"There's no need to be so disappointed..." Harry said grimly, we certainly were very lucky to be alive.
"Oh, well, I was just thinking, if you had died down there, you would have been very welcome to share my toilet." She blushed in a shade of silver.
"Urghh!" Ron made vomit noises, "I think you've got competition, Ginny!" he looked nervously at his sister, "Now where?"
"I think it would be good to let someone know we're alive?" I suggested, sarcastically, feeling the pulsing pain in my arm getting worse.
Harry took us straight to the Head's office. There was a scream from Molly Weasley, "GINNY!" she ran and wrapped her arms around her only daughter, closely followed by Arthur, her husband.
I looked to see who else was in the room and saw both McGonagall (who was taking steady breaths) and Dumbledore; it was good to see him back. Good man, Dumbledore! I limped my way over to one of the seats in front of Dumbledore's desk and sat myself down steadily. Missing all the excitement going on behind me, but I didn't feel quite right...
"Merlin's beard Miss Pink!" the shocked voice of Professor McGonagall took me out of my trance. I looked down at the mess I had of an arm, thinking of all we had been through today and exploded into tears. Scratch what I said earlier, this was the worst day of my life.
'Episkey!' within a second, my arm was put back into place again. I was given a tonic by Dumbledore which completely settled my nerves, just in time for Molly Weasley to squeeze me tight, the best hug I think I've ever had.
Harry came over to Dumbledore's desk and laid down the Sorting Hat, the Sword of Gryffindor and the remains of Tom Riddle's diary. He took a seat beside me and spoke, telling the story from the beginning. Of how he heard the disembodied voice, how Hermione realised it was a Basilisk in the pipes, how he, Ron and I followed the spiders, about how we guessed Moaning Myrtle was the victim and how the entrance might have been in her bathroom...
"Very well." McGonagall spoke, "so you found out where the entrance was- breaking about a hundred school rules into pieces in the process, might I add, but how on earth did you make it out of there alive?"