I do not own Harry Potter nor World of Darkness

Girl's bathroom on the second floor, Hogwarts, 25th May 1993 (Tuesday)

They met the boys, running in a panic sprint, and quickly took a sigh of relief at finding each other safe and sound.

"That's gotta be the tap with the snake!"

"Shall we go straight to Lockhart?" asked Ron.

"Let's go to the staff room. - said Harry. - He'll be there in a few minutes, it's nearly break time."

They ran downstairs straight into the deserted staff room: a large, paneled room full of dark wooden chairs. The bell to signal break never came. Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified.

"All students return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

The group stared at each other.

"Another attack? Now?"

"What'll we do?"

"You five should go back to your house dormitories." Declared a stern, yet clearly worried McGonagall who just opened the door.

"But…"

"I am sure whatever you have to say can wait, Mr. Weasley. Now, off you go to the Gryffindor tower. And the rest of you, to the Slytherin dungeon."

Her voice left no room for argument, and unless they had a way to explain the Basilisk without revealing who they learned it from, they had no way to influence the Professor's decision. As the group left the room, they saw Professors Sprout, Flitwick, Snape, Trelawney, Vector, Hooch, Sinestra and Burbage quickly making their way into the room, shutting the door behind them. As if on queue, they all leaned over against it.

"It has happened - said McGonagall to the silent staff room. - A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

One Professor let out a squeal.

"How can you be sure?"

"The heir of Slytherin left another message. Right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.'

"Who is it? - asked Madam Hooch - Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley"

Ron slid down onto the floor, his knees giving out at hearing his sister had been taken.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow. This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said…"

"Let's go. - declared Sally, lifting Ron to his knees. - We have to find Professor Lockhart."

"It's a good thing he is standing right here, then. Just the very man for the job. I've been called for a staff meeting, but I'm sure it can wait for a minute or two. How may I help you today?"

"Professor, my sister…" started Ron, almost pleadingly.

"Ron, wait! - almost shouted Daphne, covering the boy's mouth with her hand. - We can't!"

"Professor, we have something to tell you…" started Harry, hesitantly under Daphne's horrified gaze.

"...But you have to give us an Unbreakable Vow you won't ask us how we know about it or tell anyone you got that information from us." swiftly added Theo, extended his arm toward a stunned Professor, clearly expecting him to shake it.

"B-But my dear, an Unbreakable Vow? There's nothing you could possibly…"

"We know what's in the Chamber of Secrets." declared Harry, stunning the man.

"And where the entrance is located." added Sally.

"But you have to swear." insisted Theo, almost shoving his hand into the Professor's face.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Lockhart sighed, grabbing Theo's hand.

"I, Gilderoy Lockhart, swear not to divulge to anyone that you learned the information about the Chamber of Secrets from you."

"And that you won't ask us where we learn it?"

"Sure, I promise not to ask about it."

The Professor removed his hand from Theo and looked expectantly at the group.

"The entrance is in the girl's bathroom on the second floor. There's a tap that doesn't work with an engraved snake." said Daphne.

"The monster is a Basilisk. - said Harry, handing over the extract he copied from the Advanced Magizoology book to a pale Lockhart. - Someone, maybe Salazar himself, must have used a sticking charm on it so that its gaze doesn't kill anyone, but…"

Lockhart's hand shot to Harry's shoulder.

"You five should go back to your house dormitories. Go there and let me handle this. Everything is under control."

Lockhart dashed away through the courtyard, leaving five stunned students behind. After a second, they all ran after the Professor.

"Where is he going?" cried Ron. As they turned the corner, they saw the door to Professor Hooch's office wide open. By the time they took another step forward, Gilderoy Lockhart shot out of the door on a broom, sailing upwards into the sky.

"That bastard! He's running away!" shouted Ron in disbelief.

The Slytherin were shell shocked, staring at the swiftly disappearing figure of Lockhart flying away.

"I should have known the man was a fraud." muttered Harry, grinding his teeth.

"What now?" asked Theo

Ron turned around, a murderous glare in his eyes as he stomped past them.

"Ron! Where are you going?" asked Theo.

"I'm going to save my sister, that's where I'm going!"

"Ron, don't be stupid. You don't even know how to open the Chamber! Besides, do you think you can fight a Basilisk?"

"What do you want me to do then!? We can't tell the Professors because of the stupid spider and now Lockhart ran away! Do you want me to sit down and let my sister die without doing anything!?"

Ron glared at the Slytherin group.

"I'm going in!"

"Ron, wait!" tried Harry, blocking the redhead from leaving.

"What!?"

Harry sighed. This was a horrible idea. Everything about this was a horrible idea. Ron was going to die, or at the very least getting petrified. He should let him go. Alone. But there was something in him that told him that would be wrong. Something that told him that Ron didn't deserve to be left by himself in this. That he needed a friend at his side. He sighed again.

"I'm coming with you." he finally said.

Ron's glare disappeared into a hesitant smile.

"You two are going to get killed." muttered Sally.

"Are you coming too?" asked Harry.

Sally looked at Daphne and Theo, hesitantly. With a frown and a resigned sigh, Theo walked towards the open room of Professor Hooch's office.

"If we are doing this, we might as well get some equipment first. - he shouted from within the room, only to emerge carrying two brooms and tossing them to the boys. - Just wait so I grab mine."

Daphne and Sally exchanged a worried look before sighing and joining Theo to grab their own brooms.

The group darted across the corridors, jumping off their brooms as they reached Myrtle's bathroom.

"That's the tap." said Daphne, pointing at it with a worried look.

Harry and Ron moved over to the sink and started to inspect it, with Ron pressing the snake, twisting, pulling and pushing in an attempt to get some sort of reaction.

"Harry - said Daphne - try saying something in Parseltongue."

Harry nodded.

"Open up."

"That was English, mate."

Harry frowned. He hadn't spoken in Parseltongue since when they had discovered the ability… what made it different? Was it because at the time he was talking to a snake?

"Can't we just blow it up?" asked Ron, fidgeting with the tap in obvious distress.

"Do you know a spell to blow it up?" asked Sally in a hopeful tone.

Harry closed his eyes, trying to ignore the chatting between his friends. He imagined a snake, coiled around the room, its yellow slits looking down at Harry.

"Open up." he said, as a strange hissing noise escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move, lowering itself out of sight and leaving exposed a large pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

"Good thing we brought the brooms." commented Theo, hopping on his.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. They could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downwards, and knew they were flying deeper below the school than even the dungeons. And then, the pipe leveled out, and he shot out of the end of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in.

"Lumos!"

"Lumos!"

"Lumos!"

"We must be miles under the school." said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably." said Daphne, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

The tunnel was so dark that they could only see a little distance ahead, their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight.

"Remember - Sally said quietly, as they walked cautiously forward. - any sign of movement, close your eyes straight away"

The tunnel was as quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud crunch as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Theo lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.

Trying very hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Harry led the way forward, round a dark bend in the tunnel.

And then, as they crept around yet another bend, they saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. They climbed off their brooms, still holding onto them and ready to jump on at a moment's notice

Harry walked closer, understanding what he had to do. He cleared his dry throat, trying to imagine the emerald eyed sculptures as real snakes.

"Open." said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, sweating from nervousness, walked inside.

Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. With hiss heartbeat fastening, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the Basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny? Wands out, the group fanned out, high on guard as they advanced through the room, moving forward between the serpentine columns, every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be staring at them, silently judging the intruders.

Then, as they reached the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself came into view: it was an ancient face of the late Salazar Slytherin, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of his stone robes. Between the feet, face down, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming red hair.

"Ginny! - Shoted Ron, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. - Ginny! Don't be dead! Please don't be dead!" He begged, grabbing his sister's shoulder and flipping her over.

Her face was white, as cold as the stone floor, but she wasn't petrified. Carefully, the Slytherins approached the girl.

"Ginny, please wake up. - Rob muttered desperately, shaking her.

"She won't wake." said a soft voice, causing everyone's eyes to shoot back towards the source.

A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though they were looking at him through a misted window.

"Who are you?" demanded Harry, wand pointed at the new arrival.

He didn't remember ever seeing the boy, despite him clearly wearing the Slytherin uniform and a silver P on his chest. The boy offered an exaggerated bow.

"Tom Riddle. At your service."

"What d'you mean, she won't wake? - Ron cried desperately. - She's not… she's not…?"

"She's still alive. - said Riddle. - But only just."

Harry stared at him.

"You're Slytherin's heir, I take it? How come we have never seen you before?" demanded Theo, wand aimed at the mysterious boy.

"Are you a ghost?" Sally said uncertainty. He certainly didn't look like a ghost, but she knew for a fact this 'Riddle' was not a student.

"A memory. - said Riddle quietly. - Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed towards the floor near the statue's feet. Lying open there was a little black diary.

"You possessed her." Said Daphne in realization.

Sally took a few steps towards Harry.

"We've got to get her out of here. The Basilisk could get here any moment…"

Riddle didn't move, smirking at them. Slowly, he pulled out a wand.

"Incendio!"

A jet of flame erupted from Daphne's wand, phasing through the apparition and slamming against the wall, much to Tom's amusement.

"I'm afraid your magic won't affect me. You see… I don't have a body. Not for now, at least. I am limited in my interaction, but… Expelliarmus!"

A red beam shot across the air, hitting Daphne's hand, sending her wand sailing through the air across the Chamber.

Tom's smile grew larger.

"As you can see, I am corporeal enough to use that Weasley's wand."

Daphne rushed towards her wand, desperately looking for it.

"We've got to go! - said Theo, fear creeping up in his voice. - If the Basilisk comes …"

"It won't come until it is called." said Riddle calmly.

Ron picked Ginny up from the floor.

"We have to rush her to Professor Pomfrey! She can…"

"She won't know how to save her." declared Tom, enjoying the desperate look on Ron's face.

"What do you mean?" asked Theo.

But Tom didn't seem to care. His eyes were focused on Harry, in a look that sent shivers down his spine.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter. For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"And why would a 50 year old ghost want to meet me?"

He looked back at Ginny, slumped over Ron's shoulders. Maybe he could get him to talk? If they knew what was wrong with her…

"How did Ginny get like this?" he asked slowly.

"Well, that's an interesting question. - said Riddle pleasantly. - And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" said Ron.

"The diary. - said Riddle. - My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books, - Riddle's eyes glinted. - How she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her… It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven-year-old girl. But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic. I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. 'No one's ever understood me like you, Tom.' 'I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in' 'It's like having a friend I can carry round in my pocket'"

Riddle laughed, a high, cold and sadistic laugh that made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.

"I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…"

"What d'you mean?" said Ron, whose face had gone just as pale as that of the Slytherins.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Weasley? - said Riddle softly. He was clearly enjoying this. - Your sister opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No." said Sally, in a whisper.

"Yes. - said Riddle, calmly, a gleeful smile creeping on his face. - Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries ... 'I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there.' 'I can't remember what I did on the night of Hallowe'en, but a cat was attacked and I've got blood all down my front.' 'Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me' 'There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad' 'I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!'"

Tom's laughter turned hysterical, the boy was barely able to breath. Ron's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his palms.

"So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring, of course… But it doesn't matter anymore. There isn't much life left in her: she put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last. - He glared at Harry, interrupting his maddening laugh. - I have been waiting for you since I learned about you. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

Harry look at the apparition, confused, trying to desperately come up with a plan on how to deal with him.

"Well - said Riddle, smiling pleasantly - how is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"We don't say his name!" shouted Theo, almost on instinct.

Harry looked back at his roomate, confused at the frightened look on everyone's face.

"Who?"

"You-know-who! That's his name." whispered Daphne.

"That's his name?" asked Harry, in disbelief. For someone so feared, the name was so… unimpressive? Almost childish.

"Why do you care how I survived? - said Harry slowly. - He was after your time."

'Voldemort - said Riddle softly - is my past, present and future."

He began to trace Ginny's wand through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

He waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"You see? - he whispered. - It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself…"

Tom's monologue was interrupted by Harry's barely contained chuckle.

"An anagram? You used an anagram!? That's how you got your Dark Lord name?"

Riddle glared at Harry, his face contorted with anger.

"Crucio!"

Harry's laughter stopped, as he frowned as an uncomfortable stinging sensation cursed through his body.

"Ouch."

Tom frowned.

"It seems I don't have the strength to use this spell yet. A shame, but it ultimately doesn't matter. You won't die screaming like you deserve, but I will savor your death regardless."

He cast a hateful glare at Harry and his group of friends before walking between the high pillars and looked up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. He opened his mouth wide and hissed.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horror-struck, the group saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, and something stirred inside.

"Run!" shouted Theo, jumping on his broom and taking off, ahead of the rest of the group.

Something huge hit the stone floor of the chamber, shaking it. They knew what had happened, they could hear the giant frame of the Basilisk scraping the floor as it chased after them, through the door and into the giant pipes.

"Kill… kill… I want to kill."

"It's after us!" shouted Harry, rejecting all his instincts to look back at the creature chasing them.

"We know!" shouted Theo and Daphne in almost perfect sync.

They flew into the left corridor with a sharp turn, with Ron almost missing it due to him carrying his sister over his shoulder. The Basilisk hissed, slamming against the pipe as his massive body followed them into the tunnel.

"Stop running… Die… let me kill… you're dead…"

Ron started to shout, his voice raising in a panicked squeal as the Basilisk's mouth snapped close, trying to bite him.

"I'm gonna die!"

Each snap of the monster's fang got closer and closer to the two redheads, now lagging behind the rest of the group.

"Please! It's gonna eat me!" cried out Ron.

Theo grabbed his wand, pointing it backwards.

"Close your eyes! Verdimillious!"

A flash of green light exploded from his wand, causing the Basilisk to screech, his eyes shut in temporary blindness causing him to lose precious ground against the flying students.

Harry turned around, pointing his wand at the giant bright poisonous green snake behind them and swiftly waved his wand.

"Diffindo!"

The cutting charm sailed through the air, missing Ron and Ginny and slamming into the Basilisk's head before bouncing off while causing no effect.

"Got any ideas?" shouted Harry

"We can't aim! We'll get petrified!"

"Then blind him first! Count of three! One! Two! Three! Verdimillious!"

"Diffindo!"

"Incendio!"

"Incendio!"

"Fumos!"

The Basilisk was once again forced to shut its eyes. The cutting charm once again bounced off of its hide, hitting the wall, while the two balls of flame dissipated harmlessly against its face. As it opened its eyes once more, its face was already enveloped by a thick trail of smoke.

"I smell… You die… You're dead…"

"Ron, keep up the smoke! Everyone, keep firing! Incendio!"

Ron squealed as hexes and curses sailed past him, into his smoke trail and into the deadly monster that was chasing after them, his smoke spell the only thing keeping the creature from petrifying all of them.

"That's not working! Ginny is slipping, I can't hold her for long!"

"How do we stop him?" shouted Harry, still firing spells with all his might.

"You think we can stop him!? How!?" shouted Theo.

"That's what I'm asking!"

"What if we destroy this?" asked Sally, raising up the black diary.

"How did you get it?"

"Picked it up when he was monologuing!"

"Hold still! Diffindo!"

Harry's cutting charm sailed toward the diary, only for it to slam against a burst of black magic that dissipated the spell before it even reached the book. Sally cried in pain, almost dropping the diary in the process.

"Guys! - cried Ron, the Basilisk snapping fangs now inching once again closer and closer to his broom - Do something or we're all gonna get eaten!"

In a moment of panic, Sally hosted the diary above her head.

"Eat this, you stupid snake!" she shouted, sending the black book sailing across the air into the open jaws of the Basilisk.

An explosion of black magic forced them off their brooms and slamming against the pipes and into the muck of the sewage. The horrific howling of a wounded Basilisk echoed through the pipes.

"My broom is broken!" shouted Ron.

"Ron! Oh, Ron, I tried…" muttered the redhead.

"Ginny! You're awake!"

The horrific screams of the Basilisk interrupted them, the creature's head now covered with wounds bleeding red all over the pipes.

"Fumos!" Shouted Harry, pointing toward the Basilisk with his eyes closed.

"Ron, I can carry you!" shouted Theo, rushing towards the redhead, broom on hand.

Daphne did the same, grabbing hold to Ginny and taking off after Theo.

Harry looked around, frantically trying to find his broom.

"Where's my broom?" he shouted.

"There's no time! Get on mine!" shouted Sally, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him on her broom as she kicked off the sewage, following the others.

"This way!" shouted Theo, veering upwards at the next first intersection.

"You die!... Get here… Vengeance!... Murder!... I'll devour you!" shouted the Basilisk, hot on their tails despite whatever had happened when the creature had bit into the diary.

Finally, the group emerged out of the girl's bathroom on the second floor, barely dodging the stalls as they veered back into the familiar hallways of the castle.

The crashing sound of the Basilisk emerging from the tunnel, roaring and hissing barely a second behind them convinced Theo, Daphne and Sally to give it their all in their mad dash to escape the creature, dangerously swerving around the corner with the Tapestry corridor.

"Let's get in the open! It won't chase us then!"

The trio dashed out of the stone bridge, launching themselves into the void as the Basilisk smashed through the bridge, roaring its hatred at the group.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!"

With a loud screech, the Basilisk raised its head towards the sky, one last act of defiance before its lifeless corpse slid off the castle, slamming into walls on its way toward the ground.

"What happened here?" shouted the bombastic voice of Professor Lockhart, struggling to hold onto half a dozen roosters.

"Professor! You came back!"

"You! - shouted Ron. - You left my sister to die!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" thundered the amplified voice of Professor McGonagall, followed suit by the rest of the Hogwarts staff. They looked in confusion at the roosters currently pecking Lockhart's head and fingers, before looking at the group of six students in shock. Her eyes went wide when she realized young Ginevra Weasley was among them.

"Weasley! Potter! Nott! Greengrass! Perks! Weasley! Get on the ground now! I demand an explanation!"

Notes

The party saved the day! sort of. This chapter is longer than normal, but I hope everyone can understand why I didn't want to break it down in two.

As per canon, the group doesn't reveal anything to the professor, but this time they have a reason not to. And yes, they tell Lockhart, but they demand something from him first.

Did Lockhart actually make an Unbreakable Vow? Did he just pretend to? Both interpretations are valid, so... You decide!

Brooms! Because let's face it, without brooms they'd all end up stuck in the chamber and would have died horribly. Harry has no loyalty to Dumbledore, so Fawkes has no reason to help them and, as a Slytherin... could he have pulled the sword out of the hat? Debatable, but this time they didn't have to.

As you might have noticed, I abused TF out of the Fumos spell. After all, a spell that makes smoke and blocks line of sight is pretty useful against a creature that kills you when you look it in the eyes...

I decided to switch the fight against the basilisk for a chase scene, with the basilisk killing off Tom's memory by accident. I was tempted to kill off one of the main cast (my first draft had Ron getting eaten with the diary in his pocket), but decided against it. Despite everything, Chamber is still a pretty innocent book and I felt keeping it death-free was more in line with the spirit of it. Don't worry, characters will die... but not in book 2.

Lockhart being Lockhart, decides to run away like a coward... or was a strategic choice to go pick up a deadly weapon in the form of a rooster? Again... up to you!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you think! I might not respond to the comments or the DM, but I check them every couple days. See you all next week!