Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 20 – The Heir of Slytherin
"Absolutely not!" Ron had barely moved before his mother grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. "I may lose one child tonight, I will not lose another!"
"But mum!"
"Your mother is right, Mr. Weasley." Said Dumbledore. "Minerva, Severus and I will go, and anyone else of age is welcome to join us." Again he turned to Harry. "I'm sorry that I must ask, but there is no telling what other barriers we will face down there."
"No, he is too young!" Cornelius immediately stepped forward, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Cornelius, I will not put him in more danger than necessary, but it is likely we will need Harry's gift again." The Minister went to protest but Harry spoke up.
"He's right." Harry looked up at his guardian, seeing, for the second time, genuine concern in his eyes. "Going down there is pointless if Parseltongue is needed and I'm not there. Besides, I can hear the basilisk coming and warn everyone, and I can talk to it, maybe reason with it." The latter was highly unlikely, but Harry would certainly give it a shot if he could. With a reluctant nod Cornelius agreed. He removed his bowler hat and coat, throwing them on the floor, before taking out his wand.
"If you go, I go." He said with much more bravado than he felt, and Harry was shocked that he was going. Truthfully he was shocked that Cornelius had given in so quickly about him going, but never in a million years had he thought the Minister brave enough to go down there and face a basilisk, and likely the heir of Slytherin. Harry's opinion of his guardian rose then and he knew he'd be re-thinking some of his assumptions about him when they returned. If they returned. It was quickly decided that half the staff and those aurors that were present, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who refused to be left behind when their daughter was in danger, would journey down into the Chamber while the rest remained to guard the students. Especially Hermione and the Weasley brothers, all of whom looked ready to follow. Dumbledore, in a move belying his age, jumped down first before calling up that it was safe. One by one the others followed with Harry going in the middle, so as to have protection on both sides of him. The hole gradually leveled off and Harry slid the last seventy feet or so rather than fell. He landed in a heap at the bottom, noticing immediately that they were standing on bones, likely the basilisk's previous meals.
"We didn't happen to bring a rooster, did we?" Kingsley asked.
"Hagrid said they'd all been killed." Said Dumbledore. "Now we know why."
"But we can transfigure one." Said another auror.
"But will the crowing of an artificial rooster work?" Newt, another old man whose agility belied his age, said. "There is debate among magizoologists, some believe a natural rooster is required. It is another theory that due to the rarity, and danger, of basilisks has yet to be tested." While Newt obviously knew the seriousness of the situation, it was also quite clear that he was excited, and Harry supposed he couldn't blame him. When you dedicate your life to magical creatures the chance to see and observe one you never thought to see was a great gift, regardless of the circumstances.
"Well it looks like you'll get your answer tonight." Kingsley replied as he, Madam Bones and McGonagall transfigured nearby rocks into roosters; if there was even a chance that this would work they would be foolish not to take it. With a quick reminder to go cautiously, Dumbledore led the way through the tunnel. They'd been walking no more than two minutes though when he stopped, he and Snape bending to examine something Harry couldn't see.
"I think we can now confirm without doubt that it is a basilisk we're dealing with." Dumbledore told them as he continued on and Harry got a glimpse of what had stopped him. "The snake that shed this skin must be sixty feet long or more, and I know of no other serpent that reaches such a size. Am I wrong, Newt?"
"No, Albus." He replied, looking in awe at the skin. "In fact, there is no basilisk that has been recorded to be over fifty feet. I believe forty-nine point seven is the record." Cornelius let out a breath and grabbed Harry's hand, hauling his ward to his side. Harry could see the fear in his eyes, but the Minister said nothing as they moved on, only keeping a tight grip on Harry. They walked for another few minutes before they ran into the next obstacle, this one a barrier needing Harry's gift.
"Open." He spoke and watched as a metal snake slithered its way around the circular door, pushing back several locks, also in the form of metal snakes, as it went. The door swung open when it was done and Harry found himself pulled back from the front of the group. The area they were entering was obviously no longer just a tunnel and everyone was on high alert. As he entered the room, jumping down from a ledge, Harry knew that this was Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Statues of snake heads lined an aisle that led to another statue of a head, this one human, and likely meant to be a depiction of Salazar himself. There was a pool of water at the base of the head, and other parts of the Chamber appeared to be flooded, including ones leading into a few passageways that led off the Chamber. All this Harry took in within the first few seconds, for afterwards all his attention was on a prone figure lying before the statue of Slytherin.
"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley cried, rushing forward with her husband. The rest of the group followed as quickly, not wanting to separate, and they surrounded the parents who knelt by their daughter's side, Mrs. Weasley cradling Ginny's head in her lap.
"She's so cold." Said Mr. Weasley. "Ginny? Ginny!" He shook her, trying to wake her up, but to no avail, though the motion dislodged a small leather book that she'd been holding. It fell to the floor, a name printed on the back.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry read. The name meant nothing to him, but obviously did to Dumbledore.
"We must leave." He said. "Bring Miss Weasley, we will have Poppy examine her."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Professor." A voice spoke. As one the group turned to see a boy, only a few years older than Harry, and wearing a Hogwarts uniform, though his was different. He wore a blazer underneath and the Hogwarts crest, not a house crest, was on his robe, with a Head Boy badge pinned above it. His house was obvious, though, the green and silver tie giving it away.
"Tom." Dumbledore greeted, though far from happily. Of the others gathered, only McGonagall seemed to recognize the boy, though she looked confused as well, probably as to why he was here, though Dumbledore clearly knew. "What have you done to her?"
"You should really teach your students to be more careful, Dumbledore." He mocked. "Little Ginny Weasley has been writing in my diary all term. She was a little surprised when I wrote back, of course, but quickly let go of any fear she felt. I find I can be very…persuasive." Tom snapped his fingers and the two snake head statues nearest them came alive, their eyes glowing yellow, and they slithered forward to reveal the statues were not just heads, the rest of the snakes' bodies having been buried beneath the water and out of sight. "Trap them." Harry's head whipped around to face Tom, recognizing that the boy had just spoken Parseltongue. Tom was staring right at him and with a motion of his hand Harry flew towards him as if summoned.
"Harry!" Cornelius cried as the stone snakes surrounded the group, even Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who with another flick of his hand Tom banished towards the others, leaving only he, Harry and Ginny free. Harry could hear spells being cast as the adults tried to free themselves, but the stone snakes, now coiled in a circle around them, didn't budge and Tom seemed undisturbed by their attempts to break free as he relieved Harry of his wand.
"What…what's going on?" Harry asked. "Tom we have to leave, there's a basilisk-"
"It won't come until it's called." He replied calmly, confirming Harry's suspicion that he was the heir of Slytherin.
"Are you a ghost?" Was his next question. Tom had obviously separated Harry from the others for a reason and Harry was sure that he wouldn't like it. His best bet was to stall as long as possible to give the others time to get free.
"A memory, preserved in a diary for fifty years." Harry looked down at the book that had fallen from Ginny's grasp. What he described sounded to Harry like the magic behind a magical portrait, which were shadows of the people they depicted. However, while magical itself, no portrait could use magic, or grow beyond what had been placed in them to act independently. Or gain a body.
"What did you do to her?" He repeated the question Dumbledore had asked earlier.
"As Ginny wrote in my diary, she grew weaker, and I grew stronger." He said readily. "It didn't take much for her to open the Chamber of Secrets and set the basilisk on the mudbloods and the squib's cat." Harry looked at Ginny in shock. "Oh yes, Harry, it was Ginny who was responsible for the attacks, though I'll grant you she didn't really know what she was doing, she was in, shall we say, a kind of a trance. Still, the power of the diary began to scare her and it returned some of her strength. It was taking longer to drain her than I thought it would, but I still had enough control. I made her wait outside Dumbledore's office earlier today, I needed to know what was being discussed, and then you came along and told her it would be over soon. I had wanted to continue using Ginny and purge the school of a few more mudbloods, to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."
"Well you haven't finished it this time!" Harry snapped. "No one has died, and we'll stop you here and now!" Tom smirked.
"But if Dumbledore would soon solve the mystery, I had to move up my plans." He continued as if Harry hasn't spoken. "I returned Ginny's memories of the attacks and her horror at what she'd done gave me the opening I needed to finally break free from the diary." Harry was glad Tom liked to talk, though a quick look showed him that the others weren't any closer to being free, and in fact a few of them were listening intently. "I knew once I brought a student down here that someone would have to come to rescue her, and as the only other Parselmouth in the school, you, the very person I was most anxious to meet, would have to come as well."
"And why did you want to meet me?" Harry couldn't think of any reason why, though he still felt that he wouldn't like the answer.
"How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"
"Why do you care how I escaped? Voldemort was after your time."
"Voldemort is my past, present and future." Deciding to literally spell it out for Harry, Tom took out Harry's wand and wrote his name with it in fiery letters. With a wave of the wand the letters began to rearrange themselves into a sentence that shot fear through Harry: I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.
"You're Voldemort." He murmured and for a moment the silence was deafening. Everyone had seen the letters and for a moment the struggles of the others ceased, though with a cry of "Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley started them up again.
"Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin." That was a revelation to Harry.
"Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy muggle father's name?" Tom sneered. "No, I fashioned myself a new name. A name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
"Hardly." Harry scoffed. "Many are greater than you! Dumbledore will always be a greater sorcerer than you!"
"Dumbledore is rendered powerless by the mere memory of me!" He motioned to the group where Dumbledore was indeed trying, and currently failing, to break Tom's magic.
"Temporarily perhaps, but casting a spell that takes time to break doesn't make you a better wizard!" Tom went to retort but was cut off by a shrill cry. Harry turned in time to see a brilliant red bird swoop into the Chamber. It gave another cry and Harry looked to Tom, seeing him recoil slightly at the phoenix's song, though for Harry it again filled him with hope. Fawkes came nearer and Harry could see that something was clutched in his talons. As he flew over Harry he dropped it and Harry caught what turned out to be the Sorting Hat.
"So this is what Dumbledore sends his great defender?" Tom sneered. "A songbird, and an old hat." Tom moved to stand in front of the giant statue of his ancestor. Raising his hand, he spoke. "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four!" A grinding was heard and the mouth of the statue began to open. "Let's match the power of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Harry Potter." Within the statue's mouth Harry could see movement and his blood ran cold.
A/N - DUN DUN DUN! I've felt kinda proud about how I've ended that last few chapters. Often it's in kind of an awkward place that I have to rewrite to it's not awkward, but these last few chapters the perfect ending's just kind of been there.
Review please!