The Journal's Guidance

by Jodaviz2

This is my first fanfic, Harry Potter will find something left behind for him that will give him answers but create more questions for him to answer along the way, with this knowledge Harry will return to the magical world and prepare for the challenges that await him. Rated M just to be safe.

31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The next morning Harry, Ron, and Neville had to be woken up by their dorm mates, Ron complained about wanting to go back to sleep but when breakfast was mentioned he was quick to get up, all three still felt groggy since they hadn't gotten as much sleep as they would have liked. In the common room the boys yawned as they heard Percy yelling at the twins, it seems that Percy had found his wand but when he tried to pick it up it kept slipping out of his hand, the twins based the solution off frictionless and made it impossible for Percy to grab his wand. Percy immediately knew who was responsible and started yelling at the twins while they were laughing, it took McGonagall threatening them with detention for them to give Percy the counter potion.

At breakfast the three boys sat with the twins and Lee to explain what had happened in the forest. "So, what happened last night?" George asked when the boys had finally joined them at the table.

"Was facing the spider worse than a troll?" Fred asked.

"It was worse than you think." Harry began, "Don't ever trust Hagrid when he says that the animal is safe, his definition of safe is clearly different from ours."

Both twins looked at each other as if they were having a silent conversation, the twins knew what the other was thinking as they turned back to the group and said, "We could have told you that, who else but Hagrid would want a dragon as a pet or a three headed dog."

"Don't feel too bad, they found out that bit of information in our first year." Lee said, "But they made me swear to not share the details of what happened."

"Changing the subject, let's get back to what happened." Fred was quick to say.

"Well, we followed the directions the spider seemed to want to go and we made it deep into the forest." Harry explained, "We didn't go completely alone, Hedwig joined us and so did Swift."

"Who's Swift?" George asked.

"She's a thestral that pulls the carriages, we met her in the beginning of the year when Luna was petting her and feeding her. You can't see the thestrals unless you've seen someone die," Harry explained.

"We know what thestrals are, we just didn't realize they were pulling the carriages." Lee spoke up, he knew the only reason he was hearing this was because his spider was used, he could see there was never a dull moment when Harry and his friends were involved.

"Yeah, but how can you see them?" Fred asked.

"Well, I was with my grandfather when he passed away, I was able to see them when we got off the train." Neville said quietly, he hadn't mentioned his grandfather that much but he still missed him.

"That explains Neville, but what about you and Ron?" One of the twins asked.

"I can't see them," Ron explained, "Harry and Neville helped me to feel her when they saw her."

"So how did you see them, Harry?" George asked.

"I can see them because of what happened at the end of last year." He explained.

"What about Luna?" Fred asked.

Before any of the boys could start explaining, George grabbed his brother's sleeve and gave him a focused look.

A moment later Fred's eyes widened, "Oh that's right," he said quietly. He suddenly remembered why Luna could see thestrals.

The twins shared a sad look without saying a word, Lee pulled out his wand and cast a privacy charm he knew would prevent the other students from listening in.

They got back on topic when Fred asked, "So just to be clear, you three went into the forest with a spider, an owl, and a thestral? Fred asked.

"Oh, and Fang," Neville added.

"Yes, they helped us stay clear of the other creatures of the forest." Harry said, glad they didn't talk about Luna's mum. "We made it to the edge of the nest where the webs were starting to cover the trees, Swift wouldn't go any further so we left her and Hedwig before continuing further in, it was so dark we couldn't see past two feet of light from the lantern."

"We walked for another 15 minutes or so when a few big acromantula came down and surround us." Ron continued; he was happy to share this part with the twins since showing them he got over his fears was extremely satisfying, especially since they started his fear of them in the first place. "They were about to kill us until Fang caught their attention, Hagrid must have taken Fang to see them plenty of times for them to recognize him. Once they knew Fang was with us, they asked us who were we."

"We explained we needed to see Aragog so they led us to him," Harry continued, "We learnt more about the creature, even that acromantula are afraid to say its name."

"Why are they afraid to say its name?" Lee asked.

"Aragog said there's power in saying a name," Harry explained, "They fear to say its name just like the wizarding community won't say Voldemort's name," Harry watched as all his friends flinched making his point, he remembered Aragog said he could feel its presence and it made all the spiders flee the school.

"Wow, never thought some creatures would show the same fear we do." Lee said, he hadn't thought how other magical creatures would react to it.

"So we aren't talking about a small creature, it might be one of the bigger ones maybe in the same classification as a dragon?" Fred asked.

"What kind of hints did he give you? Anything that can point us in a direction to research?" George questioned.

"Not much, Aragog did explained that people that can speak parseltongue can help create it." Harry said.

"Also, that a student died the last time it had been set loose." Neville said, he'd almost forgotten that.

"They gave you all that information before letting you go?" Fred questioned.

"Are you bloody crazy," Ron said, "Of course they didn't let us go, the bloody things wanted to kill us!"

"Harry managed to get their attention off of us, however after that they wanted to kill Harry." Neville said.

"So how did you escape?" Fred asked.

Harry explained, "They can feel the magic speaking parseltongue gives off and they're afraid of it, I yelled in parseltongue for them to back off then used lumos maximus to blind and stun them. We started running and I kept using frictionless to slow them down, that spell really saved us. Just before they were out of sight I threw your firework and it prevented most of them from following us."

Neville continued, "We kept running for a while when suddenly this big acromantula came out of nowhere and jumped onto Harry, his shield managed to block it but it kept trying to get at him, I was quick to blast it off of his shield."

"I was quick to cast incendio at it after Neville blasted it, it caught on fire and died soon after." Ron admitted with a pleased tone, he was proud to admit he killed an acromantula.

"We thought we were safe when Swift showed up, we climbed onto her back and she took off running at full speed, but then we saw things only got worse." Harry said.

"Oh, and what's that?" Fred asked, "Not sure what could be scarier than getting attacked by acromantulas."

"Try TREE JUMPING acromantulas!" Ron nearly yelled, he shuddered when he thought about it.

"They were able to move quickly through the trees and it was hard to hit them, they almost got us but thankfully Swift was able to fly us out of there, I don't think we would have made it otherwise." Neville said.

"What about Fang?" Lee asked.

Harry answered, "He came running out of some bushes shortly after we escaped, he was covered in acromantula silk and seemed happy, he must have thought we were all playing, we cleaned him up before finally returning to the tower." He decided not to tell them about running into Lavender, he didn't think they needed to know about what they talked about.

"At least now I can say I officially have conquered my fear of spiders." Ron said happily, "When you've faced huge spiders like Acromantula the smaller ones don't seem to be all that scary. I also got a lot of acromantula silk as a great souvenir."

Hearing Ron mention his fear of spiders made the twins flinch, Fred said "We just want to say we didn't mean for you to become scared of spiders, it was the one prank we felt bad about, we're very proud of you." They remembered when they turned his favorite teddy into a spider when he was asleep.

"Yeah," George said, "We just wanted to prank you because you broke our old brooms, we never thought it would be so bad that you would throw away your favorite teddy. We even tried to prank ourselves to get you to laugh again."

Seeing the guilty looks on their faces, Ron sighed and said "It's fine, I'm sorry about breaking your brooms." He did feel guilty about that, he knew the twins wouldn't have really hurt him.

Lee was glad to hear his friends had made it out of the forest safely, he had stayed up for a while feeling worried, wanting to change the subject Lee decided to ask, "So Ron, what will you do with the silk?"

"We were thinking of giving you guys a bit of the silk; I'm also going to keep most of it so I can show people I killed an acromantula." Ron answered.

The twins looked at each other and both had the same idea, they were having trouble with one of their recent projects and acromantula silk would be a huge help, "That seems a bit low, after all we gave you the tarantula." Fred said

"And Percy's wand." George added.

"And our experimental firework."

"It would seem fair if we got more than just a bit."

It was like a tennis match with how the twins kept switching each sentence, it was dizzying just watching them. "Besides you don't like spiders so I'm sure you wouldn't want to keep something from them, how about we get 95%," Fred said finishing the dizzy conversation.

Ron got a glint in his eye and a smile appeared on his face, he could tell the twins really wanted the silk, he wasn't going to make it easy for them, "While all that's true, we were the ones who had to head into the heart of an acromantula colony and barely escape, I might be willing to part with 35%." Ron said, his smile said this wasn't the first time he's made a deal like this.

While the twins thought of it, Lee glanced over at Harry and Neville before leaning over and whispering in George's ear, George smiled and whispered to Fred and the two nodded. "How about this, you keep 7% and we throw in some of our prank products we've been working on."

"Hmmm, I don't know…" Ron trailed off, he looked over at Harry and Neville, they agreed to let Ron keep all the silk but they had discussed how much to give the twins. Ron thought he could get a better deal and he wanted to try and make them squirm a bit more. "How about 20% then and five prank products." He knew that anything the twins made would be worth it.

The twins knew they needed acromantula silk so they offered, "How about 9% and you still get some of our prank products and we agree not to prank you for one week."

"Make that no pranks on me or my friends for a month of my choosing and five prank products I can pick at any time."

Harry and Neville watched with fascination as Ron and the twins negotiated, the two boys wondered if this is what it's like to have siblings. Lee chuckled at their antics before signaling that breakfast was coming to an end soon. The twins both let out deep sighs before agreeing.

"Fine."

"Deal."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the smug smile Ron wore on his face as he and the twins shook hands, "I didn't know you could negotiate."

Ron explained, "We've learnt to make deals anytime the twins need something from us, it was how we could get them to stop pulling pranks for a while." He turned back to the twins, "I'll give you the silk after our classes, I'll still keep a small amount as proof that we faced several acromantula."

The twins nodded and the group continued with their breakfast before they would need to head to class. The twins and Lee started discussing possibly trying to improve their fireworks and George even got an idea when Ron mentioned the tree jumping spiders.

Breakfast soon came to an end and the teachers gathered the students to take them to their first class of the day. Neville was glad to see their first class of the day was herbology, they had to work in groups of two to three so he worked with Harry and Ron. Harry felt distracted as he thought about what they had learnt from Aragog, they still didn't know what the monster was but they got some clues that could help. Harry thought of heading to the library again and finding information on acromantula, it might contain information on the kinds of creatures they're afraid of, maybe he could sneak in at night again and search the restricted section.

Their next class was defense and many of the students were already groaning knowing how bad the class will be, once they sat down Lockhart left his office and said "Welcome class, today we will be reading from one of my books and I'll need some volunteers to help me reenact some scenes."

None of the students wanted to volunteer, it was the same thing every class and the students hated how he used this time to brag about himself. One student raised their hand and everyone was surprised to see it was Sally-Anne, she noticed her friends were giving her confused looks so she winked at them.

"Ms. Perks, please come forward. Any other volunteers?" Lockhart said, he was hoping today's class would go smoothly.

Sally-Anne spoke up, "I wasn't volunteering, I wanted to ask a question about one of your books." This caught the attention of the students, many of them were wondering why she wanted to volunteer for this joke of a class, her friends noticed a glimmer in her eye meaning she was planning something.

Lockhart simply said "Oh, well please, ask away. I know everything there is to know about my books, I would be happy to answer your question." He gave a dazzling smile at the end.

"In wandering with werewolves, you said you protected an entire village from a pack of werewolves during the full moon, however when I looked at the date mentioned the full moon was still a week away, how do you explain that?"

That question threw Lockhart off for a second before he responded, "Oh, well, maybe the editor made a mistake and changed that little detail." He looked like he thought for a second then said, "Oh, I remember, I had told the editor the month and had just given the date of the full moon when someone came into his office sounding frantic. During their talk I left for an interview with a reporter from the Daily Prophet, in all the chaos he must have forgotten." He let out a light chuckle, "Thank you so much for bringing this detail to my attention Ms. Perks, take ten points for Gryffindor, I'll send him an owl to fix it."

Lockhart tried to get back to the lesson but Sally-Anne asked "Is it possible they might have gotten the name of the village wrong too? Less than a hundred people live in that village so I asked my father if he could speak to some of the villagers about the attack, many of the villagers described an older man with greying hair was the one who protected them, they were visibly confused when asked about you since they said none of them have ever seen you, how is it possible for a village you protected to forget about you?"

Lockhart lost his smile for a moment before he then forced it back on his face, "Are you sure you got the right village Ms. Perks? There are so many around that area, maybe someone else from another village had the same idea as me." He did his best to hide his nervousness, he was trying to make her think she made a mistake.

Sally-Anne could see he was nervous but she pretended not to notice, she hid her smirk and said "It's possible, maybe I can ask my father if he can speak to some of the people in the other villages to be sure."

Lockhart let out a breath of relief and smiled, "Wonderful, I'm glad to know my books interest you so much Ms. Perks, how about we change up the class a bit and read from a favorite of mine, please get out your copy of Year with the Yeti."

Sally-Anne didn't bother raising her hand this time, "Ah, that does bring up another thing I wanted to ask about."

"I-I'm sorry?" Lockhart visibly tensed at that; his nervousness returned.

"You see, my father told me that the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures keeps track of many creatures including yeti, they had the migration patterns of many groups of yetis documented to prevent people from coming into contact with them, however in your book the group of yetis weren't following any of the known migration patterns. If they were following a new migration pattern then why didn't you report it to the department?"

Lockhart seemed to be sweating a bit as he tried to come up with an answer, he said "Well, you see, my editor thought that we didn't need to report it right then, but I'm sure he did after the book had been published." He looked like he had a sudden realization, "In fact, I had a meeting with him before I came here, he assured me that he had reported it. Are you sure they didn't misplace it or it's slowly being processed?"

"My father looked into it to be sure and no one in the department had heard of anyone reporting it. A few people from the department even read your book so they can track the migration pattern of the yetis, however they said their migration pattern didn't make sense, the yetis would have had trouble crossing through such places you described and would have starved long ago, they said it almost sounded like several groups were observed instead of just one."

"Well, I know for a fact it wasn't multiple groups, it was one! I will talk to my editor about this horrible problem he caused!" He tried his best to sound confident then tried to change the subject, "Now, since we are in class I want us to read my book Voyages with Vampires, I'm sure this book is perfect in every way!"

By this point Lockhart could see the entire class was more interested in everything Sally-Anne was pointing out, he didn't want them to question his books and tried to get them to focus on the class instead. Sally-Anne gave a smile that he didn't like the look of, she said "That's a good book, it sounded like an expert really knew how to handle the vampire."

Hearing that made Lockhart relax, "Why thank you my dear, now let's begin." He was eager to move on and forget everything that happened, he didn't want to look like a bumbling idiot in front of the class again.

Sally-Anne spoke up again, "I hope you'll help me understand how you were in two different places at the same time, after all in Holiday with Hags, it said you were trapped for weeks in a place that wasn't even in the same country as Voyages with Vampires."

That made Lockhart stumble, "I'm sorry, what?" He wasn't prepared for her next big revelation.

"Both books take place in the same year, the dates were vague but after some searching my mother was able to find a report made by one of the vampires from your book. He gave the date it happened and it seems to have been during the time you were trapped by a group of hags."

By this point Lockhart was sweating, he chuckled awkwardly before saying "You know, people's memories aren't the best and it was very traumatic for them, they could have easily forgotten a detail or two. I know for a fact they were more than a year apart." He tried his best to speak with his usual confidence, many could see he was shaking nervously.

Sally-Anne knew they were in the same year, the book that happened the year after was Break with a Banshee, however she could see she made him sweat enough and didn't want to give away too much. She simply nodded to the Professor and didn't say another word.

Seeing this Lockhart decided to say, "Now, if there aren't anymore questions, I want everyone to read Travels with Trolls quietly, I have some business I need to attend to in my office." He quickly left and closed the door before anyone could ask another question.

Everyone was left stunned by what just happened, Sally-Anne could see her friends staring at her with surprised expressions, Sally-Anne looked to her side and saw Harry was sitting the closest to her so she leaned over and whispered, "I finished checking over all his books and wrote down every mistake I could find, I even got my parents to help me find some of the information, we have enough to prove he's a fraud and I plan to make copies to give to the rest of the school."

Harry felt amazed by what Sally-Anne had done, he could see clearly the girl was determined to expose Lockhart as a fraud. For the rest of class no one had bothered to read the book, Lockhart hadn't come to check on them once so the students saw it as a free period. Lavender and Parvati talked with Sally-Anne and Lavender wanted to know more about what she found, Sally-Anne wouldn't share what she found out and simply told the two girls they'll find out later when she made copies for everyone.

The day had ended with charms and Flitwick had decided to give a lecture instead of having the students practice their casting, the three boys felt relieved that they didn't need to cast a single spell all day, it gave them a chance to rest up.

The class had quickly come to an end and the students were guided back to their common rooms. Harry had thought of heading to the library right away but he still felt tired, he didn't think he would be able to stay awake while going through all those books, he looked over at Ron and Neville and could see they were just as tired as him so they decided to get some rest before dinner. Lee had come by their dorm to collect the silk, Ron asked why Fred and George didn't come get it themselves and Lee explained why. Percy was still upset about the prank from earlier and was keeping a close eye on the twins, they didn't want to risk Percy confiscating it so Lee decided to pick up the silk.

The boys felt rested by the time dinner started, they joined the rest of their friends and Harry smiled when Lavender and Parvati joined the group. Lavender asked Harry if he was doing well and Harry nodded, he thanked her again for the letter saying it really helped him. Lavender smiled and was glad to hear that, she did try to ask what the letter was about but Harry said it was private, thankfully she decided not to ask more about it after that. For the rest of dinner Harry mostly listened to the conversations his friends were having, Ron was telling Dean and Seamus about the acromantula he killed and even said he'd show them proof later, Sally-Anne was explaining to Lavender and Parvati her plan to expose Lockhart as a fraud. Harry smiled at seeing he became friends with the rest of his year mates in Gryffindor, he looked at the two empty seats where Hermione and Fay would sit and hoped they'd recover soon.

Dinner came to an end and the students were guided back to their common rooms, Harry and his friends still had detention with Filch and were following Nick to their detention, however Harry asked if they can visit Hermione first. Nick knew he was supposed to guide them to their detention but Harry wanted to visit the hospital wing first since he hadn't gone to visit earlier, in the end Nick decided to guide the three boys to the hospital wing, maybe he can think of an excuse to tell Filch to explain why they're late for their detention.

---

The Gryffindor common room was quieter than it would normally be, many of the students decided to head to their dorms while a few remained in the common room. The portrait hole swung open and a few students noticed Ginny Weasley had shown up, none of them had noticed she hadn't followed the group back to the common room. Ginny held a diary in her hand and ignored everyone as she made her way to the boys' staircase, Colin tried to greet her but was ignored as Ginny made her way up the stairs. Ginny soon stopped at one of the doors and knocked, a few moments later Percy opened the door and asked "Ginny, what are you doing here?"

Percy was caught off guard when Ginny aimed her wand at him and cast "Imperio."

---

Harry and his friends made it to the hospital wing and Nick told them he'd be back soon, he hoped he could find Filch and make a good excuse as to why Harry and his friends would be late. Harry thanked the ghost and the three boys entered the hospital wing, they gave a quick greeting to Madam Pomfrey before she returned to her office. The three boys approached the two beds holding the petrified forms of their friends, they still felt uneasy when they saw them in this state. Harry sat in the chair next to Hermione's bed while Neville and Ron stood between the two beds, they greeted their friends and Harry started telling them about what they recently found out.

---

There was a knock at the door and Fred and George opened up to find Percy standing there. They could see he was gripping his wand and they thought he was going to yell at them again about the prank from earlier. Fred said "Hey Percy, what's up?"

"I need to speak to both of you, but not here, follow me." He said with a calm tone.

The twins glanced at each other, normally Percy would start yelling at them but he sounded calm, they wondered if it was something serious. Percy turned so they started to follow him, they stopped at the second years' dorms and Percy knocked on the door, Dean answered the door and Percy asked "Where is Ron, I need to speak to him."

"He should be serving his detention with Filch." Dean answered.

Percy looked annoyed for a moment but didn't say another word, he turned around to continue walking, Fred and George wondered why Percy needed Ron to join them, they wondered if he might have figured out Ron used his wand. The twins followed Percy into the common room and he made his way to the portrait hole, one of the ghosts noticed them and came up to them, the ghost said "If you're heading out then let me guide you, where do you need to go?"

Percy said "That won't be necessary, we'll be fine on our own." The ghost was about to speak but then Percy held up his prefect badge, "McGonagall gave her permission, you don't need to come with us."

The ghost looked a bit annoyed at that but accepted, just before they left the ghost said "If you're going out then be sure to find that sister of yours, she left earlier and we weren't able to find her."

Percy didn't respond, the twins thought something was off about Percy, normally he would say Professor McGonagall and he would have been upset at hearing Ginny broke the rules, they wondered if all that time he spent studying might have fried his mind.

Nick made his way back to the hospital feeling relieved, someone had given Peeves a bunch of ink bombs and the poltergeist was cheerfully humming to himself about where he was going to set them off, Filch was currently chasing Peeves around the dungeons so he should be too busy to realize the three gryffindors are late for their detention. Nick made his way through the corridors but soon he heard something that caught his attention.

The twins and Percy continued to make their way through the corridors, George asked "Where are we going, couldn't you speak to us back at your dorm?"

"It's not much farther, we should be there soon."

Fred and George tried to think about the places Percy would take them, maybe he was taking them outside or he was taking them to a professor first. They soon met up with someone on the second floor, Fred asked "Ginny, what are you doing here?"

Ginny didn't say anything, instead Percy said "Good, I'm glad we found you, I need to speak to all of you in private." Percy's grip on his wand tightened when he saw Ginny.

Ginny said "I know the perfect place, follow me."

Nick heard voices and followed where they came from, he found the rest of the Weasley siblings and noticed they weren't being guided by a ghost. Nick decided to follow them to see where they were going, he was curious as to what they were doing.

The four siblings soon arrived at the second-floor girls' bathroom, Ginny walked in and Percy followed, the twins looked confused but decided to follow in after their siblings. Nick watched as the siblings entered the bathroom together, he felt he should inform one of the professors so he moved to a nearby portrait, he asked the portrait to inform Professor McGonagall about four students being in the girls' bathroom on the second floor. Nick entered the bathroom but kept himself hidden, he wanted to find out what these students were up to.

Once they were in the bathroom George asked "What did you need to talk about, why are we here?"

Without warning, Ginny and Percy turned around and cast a spell at them, they were hit with a partial body bind and they felt their bodies stiffen, the only things they could move were their heads.

"What are you doing?! What's going on?!" The twins yelled.

Neither Percy or Ginny said a word, instead Ginny walked over to the sink as Percy stood between the twins. Ginny tapped the faucet three times with her wand, runes began to glow and Ginny spoke into the faucet, "~Come to me, eliminate the enemies of the heir.~"

The twins and Nick were shocked when they heard her speak parseltongue, Fred yelled "What the hell is going on!?"

Ginny turned to them with a smile and said "When they find three dead pure bloods and one missing then the castle will be swarmed by aurors and everyone will be panicking, that is when Slytherin's monster will emerge, it won't be long now before I regain my body."

Nick was stunned to hear this, he thought of flying off to warn someone but then Ginny turned back to the sinks and hissed, the sinks began to move and soon opened up to reveal a secret entrance. Ginny turned to watch as the twins struggled to move, something was coming up from the sinks.

The twins continued to struggle but couldn't move their bodies, they tried to call out to Percy for help but suddenly Percy hit them with a full body bind, the spell forced their eyes open and made them stare ahead at the sink. The twins didn't know why Percy was acting like this, they thought he must be being controlled somehow.

Nick was torn not knowing what to do, he wasn't sure if he should get involved and try to stop it somehow or if he should go find a professor. He heard something coming up from the sinks and Ginny made one last comment, "Keep your eyes open."

Nick proved why he was the Gryffindor ghost, he summoned up his courage and flew out much to the shock of everyone, he stopped in front of Percy and raised his arms up blocking Fred and George's eyes, Nick looked terrified as he stared at a pair of big yellow eyes that emerged from the opening.

---

In the hospital wing Harry finished telling Hermione everything they learnt from Aragog, Neville and Ron listened to Harry explaining it and thought about what Aragog said about the monster. Harry was more focused on what Aragog said about parselmouths, he said they were the ones responsible for creating the monster, he remembered the little information he found in the restricted section, maybe he could find other books that could explain more about parselmouths. Harry looked at the time and knew they needed to get to their detention, they were probably in a lot more trouble now. Harry had just opened the door when they suddenly heard many portraits and ghosts yelling for students to return to their common rooms at once, the noise made the three boys jump in surprise. They listened to what was being yelled and heard that there had been another attack.

All three boys felt a pit in their stomachs, they couldn't believe there had been another attack so soon. A ghost flew into the hospital wing and made their way straight to Madam Pomfrey's office, he was so focused that he hadn't noticed the three boys. They overheard the ghost say "Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall sent me to inform you that she is bringing three petrified students!"

The news shocked the three boys, this time there were three petrified victims. Hearing that Professor McGonagall was coming here made them think they might be able to overhear what was going on, Harry closed the door and quickly hid behind some of the curtains and gestured for Neville and Ron to do the same. The two quickly hid with Harry just as the door to the office opened and Madam Pomfrey emerged with the ghost following behind her, they watched and waited to see what would happen.

The door opened and Professor McGonagall backed into the hospital wing while levitating three students, Madam Pomfrey gasped and asked "What happened to them?!"

"They were found petrified in the girls' bathroom on the second floor."

When they saw the three students all three were left speechless when they saw the petrified forms of Percy, Fred, and George. Ron nearly stepped out of hiding but Harry and Neville quickly grabbed him, Harry shook his head and gestured to Ron to keep listening.

Professor McGonagall set them down on three of the beds before turning to Madam Pomfrey with a troubled look on her face, she told the healer, "It's not just them, the Gryffindor ghost Sir Nicholas was also found petrified in the girls' bathroom."

That news came as a shock to the three boys, Nick was with them not too long ago, how did he end up petrified. They listened when McGonagall continued to speak, "Poppy, I need you to go to St Mungo's and have them set up rooms for the petrified victims, the students are being sent home and I have contacted the aurors, one student is currently missing."

Madam Pomfrey was startled at that, she asked "What do you mean?"

"I was informed by one of the portraits that there were four students heading to the bathroom, a new message has appeared next to the old one saying 'Her skeleton will remain in the chamber forever.' Ginevra Weasley has gone missing."

Ron froze at what he had just heard, he nearly said something but Neville and Harry were quick to cover his mouth. Harry and Neville were horrified to hear Ginny was missing, she was taken to the chamber.

McGonagall sent Madam Pomfrey to St Mungo's, the healer stepped into her office and activated the floo and called out for St Mungo's. Once she was gone Professor McGonagall turned to the ghost and said "Head to Mr. Filch's office, Ronald Weasley should be serving his detention along with Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, bring all three boys to my office at once."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall." The ghost quickly took off to Filch's office.

McGonagall left the hospital wing right after, she needed to call a meeting with all the professors then contact Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and inform them about what had happened. Once they were gone the three boys came out of hiding and rushed to Ron's brothers and saw they were all in the same petrified state as the other students.

The three boys didn't know what to do, they didn't have time to search the library for information on the monster or parselmouths. Ginny was taken into the chamber and they had no idea where the chamber was, the school was going to be shut down and it felt like everything was falling apart. Ron and Neville checked on the twins and Percy while Harry paced back and forth trying to think, everything felt hopeless.

Harry stopped pacing and turned to Hermione's petrified form, he stood next to her bed and let out a sigh before saying, "I don't know what to do, we still don't know where the chamber is or what the monster is, I wish you were here to help us, Hermione."

He took hold of Hermione's right hand but hated how cold it was, it didn't have the same warmth she always had. That thought reminded him of the comforting warmth he always felt when Hermione kissed his cheek, he wondered if maybe she would feel the same.

"I… I can't do this without you, Hermione, you were always the brilliant one who thought of what to do. If there's some way you can help us then please, I need you," Harry bent down and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek, he hoped she could feel the same comforting warmth he always felt.

Harry pulled back and gave her hand a squeeze wondering if she might have felt it, he then felt something poke his finger. Harry looked at Hermione's hand and noticed she had her hand closed around what looked like a piece of parchment, it was almost unnoticeable except for a small part that was poking out. Harry pulled out his wand and cast the summoning charm on the parchment so it wouldn't tear while trying to pull it out, he unfolded the parchment and saw it was a page from a book.

When Harry read what the parchment said his eyes widened and he called out "Ron, Neville, Hermione found it!"

The two boys looked confused and came over, Harry showed them the parchment and said "Hermione figured it out, look!"

They read what the parchment said

Of the many creatures that inhabit our world, none is more deadly than the basilisk, this creature is said to be born from a chicken egg hatched by a toad.

This creature is not known well by the magical world due to the way it is born, very few have been found living in the wild.

The creation of this creature was banned in medieval times due to how dangerous they are. This creature is said to possess some of the deadliest venom known to the magical world, it is believed there are some counters to the venom but with how quickly the venom kills its victims none have ever been tested.

The deadliest feature of this creature is its gaze, one direct look into its eyes will cause instant death.

It is unknown what age the basilisk can live to be, at the time of this publication the oldest found basilisk was believed to be around three hundred years old and was measured to be twenty feet long.

The basilisk was sought after for its rare and valuable parts, many rare ingredients can be harvested from a basilisk and sold for a high price. Over time the hide of the basilisk becomes stronger and more magically resistant, the only vulnerable parts to a basilisk are its eyes or the inside of its mouth.

The basilisk is the mortal enemy of the acromantula, they fear its presence and all spiders flee from it when it is nearby.

As it has hatched from a chicken egg it is believed that the call of the rooster is deadly to the basilisk, the sound of it will cause the basilisk immense pain before causing its death.

The three boys stared at the drawing of what the basilisk looked like, even the drawing made them feel afraid, this is what's been going around attacking the students. Harry remembered reading about the basilisk but he had crossed it off the list since it said it kills its victims, however he noticed Hermione had written on the page, she circled the basilisk's eyes and wrote the word reflection next to it.

Harry thought back to the shattered mirror he saw when Justin was petrified, he remembered where Penny had been found, he made the connection and said "That's why it hasn't killed anyone yet, all the petrified victims have only seen its reflection, Mrs. Norris saw it in the water, Justin saw it in a mirror, and Penny saw its reflection in the window."

"But then how were Hermione and Fay petrified?" Neville asked.

Harry looked to Hermione's outstretched hand and noticed the bracelet he had gifted her, he stared at the bracelet and saw his own reflection, Hermione must have used her bracelet to look around corners and she and Fay saw the basilisk's reflection. Harry explained this to the two boys, their attention turned to Fay, from the way she was petrified she must have been standing behind Hermione looking over her shoulder.

Harry looked at the page again and looked at the two other words Hermione had written; she had written the word pipes but next to it she had written Myrtle's name. Neville asked "Harry, didn't you say you heard a voice on Halloween?"

Harry nodded, "I heard it moving as it said it wanted to kill."

"That's how the basilisk moved through the school, the pipes connect to everywhere so that's how it's been going unnoticed."

Harry realized he was right, he looked at Myrtle's name and his mind made another connection. Aragog said a girl had been found dead in the bathroom, he remembered Myrtle's apology and how she said they're the only ones who have spoken to her in fifty years. Everything finally connected and Harry said "Myrtle is the girl that died! If the basilisk moves through the pipes, then the chamber has to be connected to Myrtle's bathroom!"

The boys stared at each other in disbelief, they finally figured it out. Ron was the one to speak up, "Then what about Ginny, does this mean we can save her?!"

Harry realized that was true, then needed to head there now and find the entrance right away, there was still a chance they can save Ginny. He said "Let's go, we can get her out of there!"

The two boys nodded before following Harry as they rushed out of the hospital wing, Harry hoped they would run into a professor on the way so they could get their help, just as that thought crossed his mind, he passed through something and instantly felt himself shiver. He heard a voice say, "What are you boys doing out here!?"

Harry looked and saw he walked through the Hufflepuff ghost, the Fat Friar continued, "All students are to return to their common room, there has been-"

Harry cut him off by quickly saying "We know where the chamber is!"

That immediately made the ghost become silent, he asked "W-What?"

Harry quickly said "The Chamber, it's in Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor! We need you to find Professor Flitwick, tell him where the entrance is and that the monster is a basilisk! There's still a chance to save Ginny, find Professor Flitwick!"

Hearing the urgency in his voice and that a student is in danger, the Fat Friar yelled "Y-Yes!" He quickly flew off to find the professor, he repeated the words second floor girls' bathroom, basilisk, and find Flitwick as he left, he was so focused on his task that he hadn't realized as he flew through the halls he passed by two professors.

Seeing the ghost leave to inform Professor Flitwick, Harry decided to focus on the chamber so the three boys quickly rushed down to Myrtle's bathroom, along the way some of the portraits yelled no running in the corridors and to return to their common room, they didn't stop until they reached the bathroom. They took a moment to notice the message McGonagall mentioned before rushing into the bathroom, they were met by the sight of a petrified Nick floating in the bathroom.

Myrtle had been examining Nick when the sound of the door slamming open made her jump, the ghost girl had been floating around Nick trying to figure out what happened, she turned to the door and recognized who it was, she asked "Harry, what are you doing here?"

Remembering she was the one that had died, Harry decided to ask "Myrtle, I need to ask you something, how did you die?"

Myrtle was surprised by the question, no one ever asked her that. It still hurt that the headmaster ignored her death and practically ordered everyone else to do the same. She could see the three boys had concerned looks on their faces, she looked around the bathroom truly seeing it this time and not just skimming over it, she hadn't thought of that day in a long time since she didn't like the memory, but she thought about it and explained it to the three boys.

"I came in here because Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses again, she said some hurtful things that made me cry so I came here. I heard someone enter the bathroom, I tried to be quiet in case it was Olive coming to make fun of me again, but then I heard them say something, I couldn't tell what they were saying but I thought it sounded like a boy. I opened the stall door to tell him to go away before I told a professor, however when I opened the door I saw a pair of great big yellow eyes, the next thing I knew I was dead. I don't remember anything else except a few hours later Olive found my body."

Hearing that made the boys feel bad for Myrtle, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time because of someone else. This confirmed what they found out, Harry said "Myrtle, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you."

From the look on his face Myrtle could see he was being sincere, she wiped her tears and said "Thank you."

Harry asked "Myrtle, we need to know, where did you see the big yellow eyes?"

Myrtle pointed towards the sinks where she had remembered seeing the eyes, "It was over there where the sinks are."

Harry glanced over at Nick and noticed the ghost was staring straight at the sinks.

"What is going on?" Myrtle asked.

The three boys began looking around the sinks trying to find some kind of clue, Harry explained as they continued to search, "We found out what's been attacking the students all year, it's a basilisk, the same monster that killed you, we believe the entrance to the chamber of secrets should be here."

Myrtle gasped at what she was told, Harry soon spotted something and said "Hey, I found something." The two boys and Myrtle moved closer to Harry and noticed what he saw, one of the sinks had a carving of what looked like a snake. Harry could see they were on the right track, he thought of what Myrtle said so he focused on the snake and gave an order, "~Open.~"

As soon as he hissed out the word the sink started moving, they all backed away and watched as the sinks moved to reveal a dark tunnel. They were all stunned to see they found the entrance, "That's why no one has been able to find the chamber, only a parselmouth can find it." Harry explained.

Harry stepped closer to the opening and looked down into the tunnel, it was too dark to see anything. He pointed his wand and cast a lumos to see farther down, he noticed the tunnel curved so it wasn't a straight drop.

Harry turned to his friends and said "Come on, we'll get Ginny out of the chamber and leave it to the professors."

Ron and Neville looked at each other and nodded, they were able to escape a colony of acromantulas, Ron thought this shouldn't be too bad, he was more concerned about his sister and didn't want to waste too much time.

Neville felt nervous but he wouldn't abandon his friends, they needed to save Ron's little sister. He gulped as he wondered how big the basilisk really is, he hoped that maybe it was sleeping and they can quickly get Ginny and get out.

Harry turned to Myrtle and said "Myrtle, if any of the professors show up, please let them know we're down there."

Myrtle nodded, "I will, good luck," She smiled and said "And if any of you die, we can share the same toilet," Myrtle said in a way too friendly tone.

Hearing that made the three boys feel awkward, Harry simply nodded and turned back to the entrance, he didn't want it to close so to be safe he gave another command.

"~Remain open~"

They heard something click and Harry guessed the entrance was just locked, he approached the entrance and looked down into the dark, taking a deep breath Harry jumped in.

He landed on a slide and continue to descend deeper down, feeling like he was even under the black lake, he soon reached the end and the slide threw him to the ground, the impact wasn't comfortable but he was able to stand up. Harry looked around in the darkness before pulling out his wand and casting lumos to let him see, the tunnel was filthy and full of what looked like rat bones and rocks, the ceiling looked unstable and he worried it could collapse.

Harry heard Ron's voice and soon the slide threw him out onto the ground, Ron groaned but was able to sit up.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

Ron just complained, "Slytherin could have made that more comfortable."

Harry heard Neville coming so he quickly pulled Ron out of the way to avoid Neville crashing into him.

"You okay Neville?" Harry asked, he and Ron both offered Neville a hand to help him up.

"Yeah, that wasn't as bad as it could have been." Neville said. He took both of their hands and they pulled him up.

Neville got out his wand and cast a lumos, Ron tried to do the same but ended up dropping his wand when it unleashed sparks again, he picked up his broken wand and decided just to hold onto it.

They started walking and did their best to avoid the rat bones, they didn't want to cause too much noise in case the basilisk was nearby, Harry soon noticed something that made him stop, the two boys noticed what he was looking at and both gasped, in front of them stood what looked like shed snake skin, just from the skin alone they could tell the basilisk was bigger than they thought. Harry put his wand back in its holster and walked closer while Neville and Ron stayed where they were. Harry touched the skin and felt how even the shed skin was tougher than they would have thought, this just made him think how much worse the basilisk must be.

The boys heard a scream that was getting louder, they turned back just in time to see the slide throw someone else to the ground, they were glad to see a professor but were soon disappointed when they saw it was Lockhart.

Lockhart quickly stood up and looked around, he noticed the three boys and saw Harry was standing next to the shed snake skin. He quickly took out his wand, the boys thought he was going to help them but instead he aimed his wand at them and said "Stop right there, lower your wands!"

"What are you doing?!" Neville asked as he noticed the wand was more focused on him, Ron kept his wand down and Harry cursed himself for putting his wand back in its holster.

Lockhart simply smiled and said "Imagine my surprise when I heard that three second year students found the entrance to Slytherin's chamber," he glanced around the chamber but kept his eyes focused on the boys, Neville was the only one with his wand ready but he was using it to cast lumos, he wouldn't have time to cancel the spell and cast another.

Harry was surprised to hear that, he knew he told the Fat Friar to tell Flitwick first since he knew he'd be the most helpful, he asked "You overheard us outside the hospital wing, didn't you?"

"Oh yes, I did, you were so concerned about the Weasley girl that you didn't even notice I was nearby. I was so surprised to hear what you found out, who knew it would be this easy. Everything seems to be falling into place for my next book."

The three boys stared with looks of disbelief, he was thinking of writing a new book at a time like this?

Lockhart gave his usual smile and said "Oh yes, this will be my most popular book yet! My new book will be all about my adventure in Slytherin's chamber, the excitement my readers will feel when I talk about my battle with the basilisk, and the heartache they will feel when I wasn't able to save the girl."

That stunned the three boys, Ron yelled "What the bloody hell are you talking about! My sister is in danger and we need to save her!"

Lockhart's smile grew as he said "That's just it my lad, she won't be saved. My readers will see I managed to save you three but I was too late to save her, her death will generate enough sympathy and heartache that my books will sell like never before. Plus, once they hear I saved the life of Harry Potter I will be given an order of Merlin first class."

They couldn't believe what they were hearing, he had no intention of saving Ginny, he was going to let her die just for his books!? Neville managed to say "B-But your books…" He trailed off.

"Oh, the heroic deeds in my books are true, however, I'm not the one who did those heroic deeds, I just took the credit for them."

"What do you mean?" Harry didn't like the sound of this.

"Well, seeing as none of you will remember this, I see no harm in telling you. There is only one spell I'm proficient in, I've practiced it plenty of times that it's almost second nature to me, I've learnt how to cast obliviate and erase certain memories. Whenever I hear about people who have done such great deeds I interview them, they explain everything they've done and once I'm certain I have everything I obliviate them, after that it's easy to take credit for their actions."

This came as a shock to them, they knew Lockhart was a fraud but they hadn't expected to hear he's been obliviating people, Neville yelled "So you've been obliviating other people and stealing the credit for what they did!?"

"Of course, how else would I be so great? I learnt long ago that it just takes confidence to make people believe you've done great things, all I have to do is give a brilliant smile and speak with confidence and people will believe me." He said with a wicked smile on his face. "Being able to wipe away people's memories has been a huge help, it's easy to make people forget their valuable family heirlooms, it's easy to make women forget the night I had with them, being able to obliviate people is the best spell I could have learned."

Hearing that made them see Lockhart is worse than they thought, Neville started to raise his wand but stopped when Lockhart aimed at him and yelled "Stop! Make one more move and I'll obliviate you to the point that you'll be nothing more than a drooling mess in St Mungo's!"

Ron growled at that and yelled "You bastard, my sister is in danger and you aren't going to do anything to save her!"

Lockhart simply chuckled and said "If it makes you feel better, I'll make sure to dedicate my next book to her and say how being unable to save her was my biggest regret, that'll certainly pull at the heartstrings of my readers."

Harry could see Lockhart was going to make them forget about the chamber and abandon Ginny, he needed to do something to stop him. Harry couldn't risk going for his wand or else they would have their memories erased, he needed a way to distract Lockhart long enough. Harry said "You're just a cowered who steals the glory of others! Just how many people have you obliviated?!"

That got Lockhart's attention and he started to talk, Harry didn't pay attention and instead turned his focus to something else, he looked at one of the many small rocks behind Lockhart and thought he could use one to distract Lockhart. Harry couldn't raise his hand so he needed to concentrate, he had to try and cast a spell without moving his hand. Harry focused on casting the levitation spell on one small rock, he felt tempted to move his hand to help guide his magic but he needed to use just his mind, with the slightest twitch of one of his fingers Harry mentally cast, " Wingardium leviosa!"

It was a struggle but the rock began to slowly move and Harry needed to concentrate on not losing control of the spell, thankfully Lockhart was too busy listening to the sound of his own voice to notice. Harry focused on raising the rock higher and higher, he could feel he was sweating a bit but he was able to raise the rock high enough. The rock was now floating behind Lockhart's head and Harry gulped as he hoped it would work, Harry focused on his magic and pulled the rock towards him. The rock hit the back of Lockhart's head; it didn't hit anywhere near hard enough to knock him out but it got his attention.

Thinking there's someone behind him, Lockhart stepped forward before turning and quickly aiming his wand and cast, "Obliviate!"

There was a bright flash before Lockhart noticed there was no one standing there, the moment he turned around Harry flicked his wrist and his wand shot into his hand, Lockhart quickly turned around to try to cast at them but Harry managed to cast first, "Expelliarmus!"

The spell shot forward and hit Lockhart and sent his wand flying out of his hand, Ron quickly moved and caught the wand in midair. Harry cast stupefy to stun Lockhart but the man quickly lunged at Ron and dodged the spell, the spell hit the ceiling and Harry noticed the ceiling cracked and was on the verge of breaking, he couldn't recklessly cast in here.

Lockhart tried to pull his wand away from Ron but Ron wasn't letting go, the two struggled and Lockhart yelled "Give me back my wand!"

Harry aimed at them but they were moving too much, he couldn't risk hitting Ron or missing again, Neville thought of an idea and rushed at the two of them. Lockhart and Ron struggled to keep hold of the wands, their wands mixed and they weren't sure which was which, when they each had a hold of both wands the two decided to push their magic into them to get the other to let go. Neville tackled Lockhart and Ron while they were caught off guard, he tried to knock the wands out of their hands but a random spell was cast and struck the ceiling, the ceiling couldn't take anymore and finally gave in and collapsed, Harry threw himself back and managed to avoid being buried.

Harry covered his mouth and coughed from all the dust, he cast a lumos and saw the ceiling had collapsed and he worried thinking Neville and Ron were buried.

On the other side the three were alright with only some of the rocks hitting them, Ron's wand was broken in two and Lockhart's wand was lost somewhere. Neville heard Lockhart started to get up so he quickly cast incarcerous and tied him up, Lockhart was caught off guard by the spell and tried to struggle out of the ropes, he started yelling but Neville quickly silenced him.

Neville got up and cast lumos, he helped Ron up before the two looked towards the rubble that separated them, they heard Harry yell "Neville, Ron, are you guys ok?!"

Neville yelled back, "We're fine, we managed to avoid getting buried."

Ron started to move some of the rocks but then more of the ceiling started to collapse and he quickly stopped and moved back. Once it stopped Neville said "We need to be careful, we could make the entire ceiling collapse and bury us."

Ron asked, "What about Ginny?"

Harry heard what Ron said and thought of what he should do, he looked down the tunnel and decided on what to do. He yelled out, "Neville, Ron, I'm going to go ahead to the chamber!"

Neville said "Harry, wait, you can't go alone!"

"We'll waste too much time if we wait to clear the path first, the professors should be here soon so hopefully they can clear the path for you, in the meantime I'll go and get Ginny out of the chamber and bring her back here."

Neville and Ron looked at each other, they knew Harry was right and they didn't know how long Ginny had, Ron got closer and said "Harry, I'll be counting on you, please save Ginny."

Harry could tell Ron was worried about his little sister, he got closer and said "Ron, I promise I'll do everything I can to save Ginny."

Ron thanked him and Neville said "We'll try to find a safe way through here so we can join you."

Harry nodded and said "Remember, the basilisk can kill its victims with a look so if you get through yell out my name and I'll yell back if it's safe to look or not."

The two boys nodded and wished him luck, they got started on trying to safely get through the rubble while Harry continued deeper into the tunnel. Harry could hear the sounds of the rat bones being crushed every time he took a step, he moved deeper into the tunnel but was ready to avert his eyes in case he sees the basilisk. Harry soon reached something at the end of the tunnel, he noticed there was something on the wall.

When he got closer he noticed it was a circular door with snakes carved into it, Harry looked around the door and noticed there was some strange writing carved into the door, he didn't have time to try to read it so he focused on the snakes and commanded, "~Open.~"

Harry noticed the snakes on the door began to move, once they all moved, he heard a loud click before the door began to creak, the door swung open into the chamber. Harry noticed there was light inside the chamber, he could see torches that were burning bright and illuminating the chamber. Harry was amazed when he saw the size of the chamber, it looked to be bigger than the great hall, he noticed there were large pillars in the room with statues of snakes on them, the chamber appeared to be flooded as there was water all around the chamber, his attention turned towards the statue at the end of the chamber that he could only guess was the face of Salazar Slytherin himself.

Harry's attention turned towards the end of the chamber when he noticed Ginny was laying there on the ground, "Ginny!"

Harry ran into the chamber towards the girl he hoped was just unconscious, when Harry got to her, he touched her and noticed she was cold but he relaxed when he noticed she was still breathing. He noticed Ginny was wearing her uniform and she was holding something in her hands, it looked like some old leather diary.

Harry started to shake Ginny and say "Ginny, wake up, we need to get out of here, come on, get up!"

No matter what he said or did she wasn't waking up, he suddenly heard a new voice, "She won't wake up."

Harry immediately turned to the voice and raised his wand; he was met with the sight of someone aiming a wand at him. Harry noticed it was a dark-haired student, he wore Slytherin robes and based off his looks he must have been a sixth or seventh year.

Harry demanded, "Who are you!?"

He didn't recognize the student; however, he had this feeling like he might have seen him before. The student ignored the question and simply said "Harry Potter, I am surprised to see you down here, no matter, there's nothing you can do to save her."

"What do you mean I can't save her?" Harry asked.

The student simply smiled and said "It won't be too long now; her life is being drained and soon she will die."

Harry glared and demanded "What are you doing to her, who are you!?"

The student lowered his wand and didn't look concern at the wand Harry still had aimed at him, he said "Her life is being drained, it's thanks to her that I'll be able to return soon, after all she's the one who made the decision to write in my diary."

Harry was confused by that, he looked at the diary in Ginny's hands and noticed there was something written on the cover, it said T. M. Riddle. Harry felt his eyes widen and he made the connection, he turned back to the student and asked "Are you Tom Riddle?"

The student's eyes widened slightly at the question, his smile grew as he said "I see, so you were able to find out about me. Yes, I am Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry was stunned to hear this, how, he was supposed to be a student fifty years ago, how is he here? Before he could ask Tom decided to say "I wanted to thank you, Harry Potter."

"Thank me? Why?" Harry didn't' like where this was going, something was off about Tom but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Tom began to slowly walk around them, Harry kept his wand trained on him the entire time, Tom answered, "For making it easier to control young Ginny here."

That immediately confused Harry, he asked "How did I help you control her, also how are you even here, weren't you a student here fifty years ago?"

Tom chuckled and said "It's my diary," He gestured to the book, "A part of me was tied to the diary, I needed someone to write in it so I could build back my strength enough to create a shade of me, now that I'm taking Ginny's life it won't be long before I return to a body once more." Tom continued to slowly walk around them as he explained, "I wanted to thank you for making it easier for me to control Ginny, I needed her to open up to me so I could begin to control her. When she first started writing I had to pretend to be her friend so she would open up."

Tom's face became a frown and he said "Do you have any idea how boring it was to pretend to care about some stupid little girl's feelings?! 'Oh Tom, I got to meet Harry Potter today!' 'Tom, I heard Harry Potter call me cute, do you think he likes me?' 'Tom, how can I get Harry Potter to be my boyfriend?'"

"Wait, Ginny likes me?" Harry was surprised to hear that, he remembered Ron mentioned something like that before but he didn't give it too much thought.

Tom simply sneered and said "It was dreadful having to pretend to care about some stupid little girl's feelings, but I needed to make her believe I was her friend so she would open up to me. I was prepared to wait the few months it would have taken but then something happened, you made her open up to me and pour her heart out."

Harry went from surprised to confused, he asked "How did I do that?" He tried to remember if he did anything that could have affected Ginny.

A smirk grew on Tom's face before he answered, "She saw you with that mudblood you're close to, 'Tom, I heard today is Hermione's birthday.' 'Tom, it looks like Harry is spending the day with her, I thought she'd want to spend it with all her friends.' 'Tom, I saw Harry flying her around on his broom, why are they so close, you don't think Harry likes her, do you?!'"

Harry was shocked by that and thought back to Hermione's birthday and how he spent the day with her, he hadn't known Ginny was watching them. " Ginny thinks Hermione and I like each other, but we're just…" He wasn't sure why but his mind suddenly thought of moments he shared with Hermione; he wasn't sure what he felt.

Tom continued, "Seeing that she was experiencing a broken heart made it easy for me to use that against her, it was easy to play with the feelings of a heartbroken girl and soon she was pouring out her heart and soul. It wasn't long before she was completely under my control, by the time she realized what I was doing it was too late, she tried to fight back but it was useless, I was the one in control."

"Why would you do this, what's the point of this?" Harry asked.

"A few reasons, I needed her to open the chamber, to complete Slytherin's dream of cleansing the school, but most of all, I needed to find out what the hell is so special about Harry bloody Potter!" Tom yelled.

That surprised Harry, he asked "Why would you want to know about me? I'm nothing special." He watched as Tom continued to circle them; he kept an eye out for any sign of the basilisk.

"I needed to know how the hell some sniveling little brat was able to destroy the greatest dark lord of all time!"

Harry was confused again, he asked "Why would that matter, Voldemort was after your time, why do you need to know about him and me?"

"It seems you don't know everything Potter, allow me to write it out for you." He raised his wand and Harry focused his, Tom turned around and began to write in the air, fiery letters spelled out his name before he waved his wand and rearranged the letters, Harry nearly took a step back when it spelled out 'I am Lord Voldemort.'

Harry looked at Tom and now he understood why he felt he was familiar, feeling shocked at this revelation Harry asked "Y-You're V-Voldemort?"

A wicked smile grew on his face as he said "Yes, I am the greatest dark lord to ever live, Lord Voldemort."

Harry couldn't believe it, he was facing a younger Voldemort, he stuttered out, "B-but your name…" He trailed off.

"I created the name in order to stop using the name my mother had given me, I refused to be known by the name of my filthy muggle father!"

At the mention of his parents and hearing him say muggle father Harry realized who his mother must have been, he asked "So your mother was Merope Gaunt? We thought you were connected to the Gaunts but we never dreamed we were looking at Voldemort's family tree."

Tom looked a bit surprised to hear that but he simply said "So, it seems you did know more about me, yes, my mother was from the Gaunt family, a family that had fallen from grace and was reduced to nothing! When I discovered the remaining Gaunt it led me to my father, I had taken my revenge on him and his family before taking what was rightfully mine from the Gaunts, it is thanks to them that I discovered the truth about the chamber and the monster that resides within!"

Harry could hear the madness in his voice and it made him feel more nervous, he was hoping the professors would come soon to help but it was looking less likely. He glanced over at Ginny and could tell she was getting weaker with every passing moment, he needed to get her out of here.

"So, you used Ginny to release the basilisk so it would kill the muggleborns, thankfully your plan has failed since it hasn't killed anyone yet."

Tom started to chuckle at that and said "Did you really think my plan was to kill the muggleborns one at a time?" That confused Harry, "It's not pure luck that no one has died yet, I intended for that to happen, I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time. If one mudblood died then they would have shut down the school, as long as they were just petrified then they would keep the school open."

Harry's eyes widened at that, he realized it was true, Justin, Penny, and Hermione had been petrified but they didn't close down the school, when Fay was petrified, they canceled classes for a week. Now that the twins and Percy have been petrified, they finally decided to close the school and send the students home, even the minister was only concerned by the news of a half blood being petrified.

Tom continued, "My plan was simple, with each attack more and more mudbloods would being petrified, Dumbledore would be forced out of the school for not protecting the students and once he was gone it would be easy to kill all the mudbloods now that they're petrified. My plan would have been completed by December but then I heard about the Boy-Who-Lived, I decided I needed to learn more about you. I changed my plans because of you, while I was looking for more information about you, I turned the school against you. I researched why my older self wasn't able to kill you and now I know why, you were right about one thing Potter, you are nothing special. You're just some brat whose mother gave her life to protect yours, there's nothing special about you.

I intended to drain Ginny's life force and regain my body, with the school full of aurors and the students being ready to be sent home I would have released the basilisk and escaped during the chaos, but now that you are here, you can be the first victim of the basilisk before I unleash it upon the school."

Harry was horrified by what he heard; he could only imagine how many people would die if the basilisk is released. Harry glanced at Ginny and felt guilty for not checking up on her all year, she was a new student away from home so he should have tried to befriend her, maybe then he would have realized something was wrong. Harry thought to himself, " Ginny, I'm sorry, I promise I'll save you."

Tom stopped before the statue of Salazar Slytherin and turned to face Harry, he held the wand in his hand but didn't raise it. Tom was about to speak but suddenly they heard a shout, "HARRY!"

Harry turned back towards the entrance and felt relief wash over him at what he saw, Neville and Ron were running to the chamber and along with them he noticed a few of the professors, they must have cleared the path and came to help, Harry suddenly heard Tom shout in parseltongue.

---

Flitwick left the tower after informing his students that the train was coming and they would be sent home in an hour, he thought about the meeting McGonagall had called with all the professors and hearing about Ms. Weasley being kidnapped and her brothers petrified, he knew it was for the best that they send the students home and close down the school. Flitwick arrived at McGonagall's office to see her trying to contact Arthur and Molly to inform them of what had happened. McGonagall noticed him and asked "Filius, how did it go?"

Sighing, the short professor said "I've informed my students and sent the house elves to help them pack, the train should be here within the hour."

McGonagall nodded at that; it was a difficult decision to shut down the school but they needed to think of the safety of the students. She was about to contact the Burrow when suddenly the Fat Friar flew into the office, he seemed to be out of breath despite being a ghost, spotting Professor Flitwick the ghost said "Professor Flitwick, the chamber of secrets, the entrance has been found!"

That immediately left the two heads of houses speechless, as soon as he recovered Flitwick asked, "What do you mean, where is it, how did you find it?!"

"Harry Potter found it, he said it's in the girls' bathroom on the second floor, he said the monster is a basilisk!"

The moment Harry's name was mentioned a sense of dread came over the two professors, it was only made worse when they heard the monster is a basilisk. McGonagall had several questions, how did Harry find out where the chamber is, why was it in the girls' bathroom, how did they find out what the monster is?

Flitwick asked the ghost, "Where did you last see Mr. Potter?"

"It was outside the hospital wing, as soon as I left, they took off in the opposite direction."

Hearing that made McGonagall think, " Were they in the hospital wing the entire time, and if Mr. Potter was there then most likely Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom were with him."

McGonagall and Flitwick looked at each other, they knew right away the three students are most likely heading to the chamber if not already there. They needed to head there right away; McGonagall swore that if this was some kind of prank then those three will be in serious trouble. The two pulled out their wands and cast, "Expecto patronum!"

Two silvery creatures came from their wands, they ordered them to deliver a message to the other professors telling them to head to the girls' bathroom on the second floor. As soon as the two silvery creatures left the two professors rushed to the second floor, they hoped they weren't too late.

It seems many of the professors received their message, when they arrived at the second floor they found Professor Sprout and Snape already there, they were soon joined by Aurora and the runes teacher Professor Babbling. As soon as they were spotted Snape was the first to ask "Minerva, what is the meaning of this, why did you call us here?"

"We recently got information from the Fat Friar of where the chamber of secrets is located, he said it should be in the girls' bathroom on the second floor." McGonagall explained.

Snape however didn't look convinced, he asked "And how is it that the Fat Friar found the entrance when no one has been able to find it in hundreds of years?"

Before she could answer Flitwick cut in, "Are you really going to keep asking questions when a student's life is in danger, we can ask questions after checking!"

With that said Flitwick moved towards the bathroom with the other professors following after, they entered the bathroom to find the floating petrified form of Sir Nicholas there. Their attention soon turned to Myrtle before noticing what was behind her, the sinks had been moved to reveal a secret entrance none of them have ever seen before.

"Professors, I'm so glad you're here!" Myrtle rushed over and stopped in front of them, "You need to help, they went down the entrance thirty minutes ago, please you have to help them!" She sounded frantic.

"Who was it?" Snape asked.

"There isn't much time Professor, please!" Myrtle yelled as she moved towards the sinks, she swirled around them as she felt worried about what might happen to her friends.

Snape was about to question the ghost girl again but Flitwick lost his patience, "There's no time Severus, we can ask questions after we know the students are safe!"

Snape wasn't pleased but said "Very well."

The Professor's looked down into the tunnel, they could see it was a slide that went deeper down under the school. Snape scrunched his nose in disgust at how filthy it looked before casting an overpowered scourgify to remove it. Once it was clean McGonagall was the first to jump in, she kept her wand drawn in case she needed to quickly cast at something.

McGonagall reached the end of the slide and was thrown onto the ground, luckily, she managed to land on her feet before casting a quick lumos to let her see. Flitwick followed right behind her and rolled when he landed before standing up, soon the other four professors joined them. They scanned their surroundings amazed to see a tunnel was underneath the school this entire time, Flitwick cast a spell to clear away all the rat bones, once everything was cleared, they heard voices.

"Careful, careful, don't move that or you'll make the whole thing collapse!" McGonagall heard what she thought was Neville Longbottom speaking.

"This bloody wand doesn't want to work with me, it's way worse than my old wand!" She heard who she assumed was Ron Weasley.

The professors moved towards the voices and spotted a light up ahead, they soon spotted Neville and Ron trying to clear a path that was blocked by rubble. They reached the two boys and McGonagall asked "What is going on here?!"

The two boys turned to them and a sense of relief washed over them at seeing the professors finally arrived. The Professor's noticed a struggling Lockhart was tied up on the ground, it looked like he was yelling but no sound came out meaning he was silenced.

"Professor, we're so glad to see you, the tunnel collapsed when Lockhart and Ron got into a fight!" Neville started explaining.

Snape glanced at Lockhart before saying "And why did you feel the need to attack a professor? This is plenty of reason to have you expelled."

Ron quickly spoke next, "The git followed us down here but wasn't going to help us! He planned on obliviating us so he can leave my sister to die and take credit for pretending to fight the basilisk!"

As the two boys explained what happened both Aurora and Babbling created some lights to make it easier to see the tunnel. Flitwick looked around the tunnel but didn't spot anyone else, he knew Harry would always be around his friends but now he was nowhere to be seen. Worry began to build up in the short professor as he asked "Where is Mr. Potter?"

Neville and Ron glanced at each other before Neville decided to answer, "When the tunnel collapsed Harry was on the other side, he sounded fine but we couldn't get to him. He went ahead to save Ginny; he's been gone for around ten minutes now."

Snape had been half listening to them, he was focused on the rubble and was thinking of several ways to fix the tunnel without making it collapse.

No sooner did the words leave Neville's mouth that a sense of dread overwhelmed many of the professors, Flitwick and McGonagall remembered the Fat Friar's message and he mentioned the monster is a basilisk. If what he said is true then that meant James and Lily's son was facing a bloody basilisk!

Snape looked towards McGonagall, "If we can reinforce the walls and the ceiling, we should be able to fix the tunnel for us all to go through, we also shouldn't get sloppy just because we're in a hurry."

The Professors agreed and quickly acted to clear the path, Neville and Ron were left momentarily stunned at the display of magic, none of them uttered an incantation and the path was cleared in just a minute or two. They reinforced the ceiling and conjured and transfigured several pillars to provide support, once that was done, they rushed ahead to get to Harry, Neville and Ron followed after them even though they were told to stay behind.

The group ran through the tunnel and soon the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets came into view, Ron and Neville remembered what Harry had told them and the two boys shouted Harry's name so he knows they're almost there. The Professors could see into the chamber and noticed Harry was standing at the end facing an older student, they couldn't tell who the other student was.

Ron was glad to see Harry but his heart nearly stopped when he noticed Ginny, she was laying on the floor unmoving and appeared dead to the world. Ron's eyes widened with worry as a thought crossed his mind, " Please, no."

There was a sudden loud hiss from the older student and the Professors realized it was parseltongue, it was clear that student was the heir. Soon panic overcame the professors when they heard loud creaking and the door started to close. Professor Flitwick cast a spell to force the door open but his spell dispersed when it came in contact with the door.

McGonagall saw the door was closing and mentally scream, " NO!" She leapt into the air and turned into her cat form, she ran as fast as she could hoping to reach before it closed, unfortunately the door closed too quickly and slammed shut before she could reach it. Her heart sank and she turned back as the snakes on the door moved to lock it, she hit the door and shouted "HARRY!"

Harry felt panic set in when he saw the door close and none of the professors managed to reach the chamber, Tom yelled "I will not have anyone interfere, Potter, no one is coming to save you!"

Harry thought of shouting in parseltongue to open the door, he was about to when he suddenly heard a voice that sent a chill through his spine, "~Master, who is there? I smell another.~"

He recognized the voice from Halloween and knew it was the basilisk, only now it was closer and clear for him to hear. Tom's smile grew wider before he turned to the statue of Salazar Slytherin and spoke, "~Speak to me, Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts founders! Your master summons you, destroy the enemies of the heir!~"

Harry watched as the mouth of the statue began to open, he knew the basilisk was coming.

I've always wanted to end a chapter on a cliffhanger.

My beta helped me a lot with this chapter, especially the conversations, please leave a comment and let her know what you think.

Please comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.