Chapter 160

A/N: The text in Bold is quoted directly from the book. I could have paraphrased it but I couldn't write this scene any better than JKR did, though I have changed some things to allow for the difference in personality of my Harry after the years of friendship with Spencer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry wasn't sure how much he could trust Dumbledore's Phoenix but it wasn't like he had any other options at this point so he was glad of the backup. Phoenixes were creatures of the light so he trusted that Fawkes wasn't here to help Tom kill him even if his owner/companion might have supported that idea. He wondered whether Dumbledore had sent the phoenix to him or if Fawkes was acting on his own volition and if Dumbledore had sent him, why? Was he even here to help or just to witness the death of Harry, Ginny and Tom and return Ginny's body to her family. He'd read that a phoenix was capable of transporting several people at once and wondered why Fawkes hadn't brought Dumbledore or even a whole group of professors or Aurors down to help him.

"That's a phoenix. …" said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it. "Fawkes? And that's the old school Sorting Hat."

So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet. Why would Fawkes have brought that?

Riddle began to laugh again. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"

Harry didn't answer. Dumbledore might not care much whether Harry survived this but he definitely wouldn't want Tom to be reincarnated, so whatever he sent him was designed to help him defeat Tom before he got out of the Chamber. He might not see what use Fawkes or the Sorting Hat were, but he was no longer alone, and Fawkes must have thought there was a purpose in bringing the hat even if Harry didn't yet know what it was.

"To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice — in your past, in my future — we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

'So he wasn't just monologing for the sake of his own ego, Tom clearly had some reason for stalling instead of attacking, so that meant that stalling probably wasn't in Harry's best interests,' Harry thought shrewdly, asking himself if Tom was underestimating his intelligence or was it a bluff.

Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances … but the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny … and in the meantime, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer, more solid. Harry honestly didn't care all that much whether he managed to save Ginny or not at this point since it seemed that it was her fault Tom even existed and her obsession with him that caused Tom to target him, but if it had to be a fight between him and Riddle, better sooner than later before the older boy got any stronger.

Harry shot a blasting spell at him with all his strength but it went right through the still not quite solid Tom Riddle and carved a chunk out of one of the columns behind him.

Harry cast a shielding spell expecting Tom to return fire, but Riddle's twisted smile was widening again. "Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him. …"

Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." The hideous face of the statue started to open its mouth.

Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and turned so that he couldn't see the basilisk emerge as he frantically transfigured the rats scurrying away from the basilisk into roosters and tried to force them to crow. He shut his eyes tightly burying his face in his robe as he cast the lumos charm with all his might, lighting up the entire chamber. At least one of the roosters crowed but the sound of the basilisk slithering towards him didn't falter. Obviously either the Basilisk wasn't as vulnerable to roosters as the author of that book Hermione supposedly desecrated thought or perhaps he needed a real rooster or at least a better transfiguration to harm it. Harry didn't think he could do any better at the moment so he gave up on roosters and tried frantically to work out what he should try next.

"Kill him." Riddle hissed.

There were pools of water everywhere, so even facing away from the basilisk wasn't enough to protect him from being petrified. Eyes tightly shut, Harry began to cast blasting curses in the direction of the basilisk deliberately aiming low to avoid hitting Fawkes wherever he'd gone, Ginny had caused this whole mess so if she was hit then it was better than killing Fawkes who's been trying to help him. The strength of the spells was impressive but basilisk hide was resistant to magic and his aim was off and most of them either glanced off its scales without doing damage or missed it entirely.

He heard Tom laughing at him as he began to run blindly sideways, his hands outstretched so he wouldn't run face first into a wall or pillar — Harry tripped— the serpent was barely feet from him, he could hear it coming and he scrambled back, desperately trying to get away since he didn't have time to try to get up and run again— There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall. Aching and dazed he waitedfor fangs to sink through his body, thinking that he should just open his eyes and let it kill him with its gaze, surely that would be less painful. He heard more mad hissing, something thrashing wildly off the pillars — He couldn't help it — he opened his eyes just wide enough to squint at what was going on. The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars.

As Harry trembled, ready to close his eyes if it turned, he saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was back and hewas soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabres — Harry held his breath asFawkes dived, praying that the brave phoenix wouldn't be harmed.Fawkes' long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Harry, and before Harry could shut his eyes, it turned — Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony, and Harry was still alive and hadn't been turned to stone, the basilisk's deadly gaze had been destroyed by the brave red and gold bird. Harry didn't know if he was pleased or not, sure the odds had been evened somewhat but he was probably still going to be eaten if he didn't do something.

"NO!" Harry heard Riddle screaming. "LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE BOY IS BEHIND YOU! YOU CAN STILL SMELL HIM! KILL HIM!"

Harry thought that if he could shut Tom up, he might have a chance at talking the basilisk into leaving him alone if he promised to call Fawkes off and let him return to his nest. He shot another piercing curse at Tom but it still passed straight through him and Tom did not even seem to notice it. The basilisk didn't seem to be following his orders either though, still snapping at Fawkes who continued to attack it, giving Harry the opportunity to try to sneak away.

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes.

Harry quickly cast silencing charms on his shoes and clothing and began to move away. Fawkes was darting about too quickly for Harry to risk any more blasting or piercing charms near the basilisks head but he tried his best to use a severing charm further down to cut the snake in half. The charm barely pierced the scales and Harry cast again and again desperately hoping to hit one of the existing wounds and get through the armour of the scales. "There has to be something else I can do" he muttered as he began to run out of energy and felt his spells becoming weaker.

The snake's tail whipped across the floor again. Harry ducked and flinched assomething hit his face. The basilisk had swept the Sorting Hat into Harry's arms. Still not seeing what help the hat could possibly be but totally out of options and trusting Fawkes had been trying to help he put it on.

The hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly. Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry's head, almost knocking him out. Harry wondered whether the hat was trying to render him unconscious so he wouldn't suffer the pain of being killed and deciding that he'd rather go out fighting Harry grabbed the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it. Harry looked into the hat and pulled out a sword, it's bade shining wickedly sharp. He wondered whether he could banish the sword into the hide of the basilisk pointed end first but wasn't sure enough to try it. If he couldn't get through the hide he needed to somehow get around it.

Riddle was yelling at the snake again, encouraging it to sniff him out and kill him. Harry thought that was stupid, snakes didn't smell with their noses, didn't Tom who was a Parselmouth even bother to learn about snakes?

The basilisk's head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face him. He could see the vast, bloody eye sockets, see the mouth stretching wide, wide enough to swallow him whole, lined with fangs long as his sword, thin, glittering, venomous — It lunged blindly — Harry dodged and it hit the Chamber wall, giving Harry time to get back to his feet. It lunged again, and its forked tongue lashed Harry's side. Harry tried slashing it with the sword since it was too close for him to be able to poke it with the tip. The sword scraped across the scales barely causing any damage, the hide was too thick for someone of Harry's strength to penetrate. The Basilisk knew where he was now, unless he moved it wouldn't miss next time but this was the best chance he had to get past the scale's protections. It was terribly risky but it was the only hope Harry had.He raised the sword in both his hands — The basilisk lunged again, and this time its aim was true — Harry threw his whole weight behind the sword and drove it to the hilt into the roof of the serpent's mouth — But as warm blood drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor. Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his arm. But he knew it was too late. Still the Basilisk wouldn't kill anyone else, though Harry dejectedly realised that wouldn't make much difference if Tom restarted the war. He wondered if the school would remain open if Ron managed to get through the tunnel and bring his sister back, telling everybody that the basilisk was dead. Or would Tom kill Ron and Professor Idiot and seal up the Chamber as he escaped? Would he sneak through the school killing everybody in his path? Either way Fawkes could bring someone down here to see what had happened and maybe Dumbledore would be able to piece it together and realise that the students would be safer here at Hogwarts after Voldemort had left than they would be home with their families once the war started up again and keep the school open. Even if Harry never wanted to come back here, he didn't want the school to close.

The pain spreading up his arm was almost unbearable, even to Harry who had far too much experience in dealing with pain.He dropped the fang and watched his own blood soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of dull color. A patch of scarlet swam past, and Harry heard a soft clatter of claws beside him.

"Fawkes," said Harry thickly. "You were fantastic, Fawkes. Thank you," He felt the bird lay its beautiful head on the spot where the serpent's fang had pierced him. He could hear echoing footsteps and then a dark shadow moved in front of him.

"You're dead, Harry Potter," Riddle's gloated. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying. So ends the famous Harry Potter defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. Harry wished that the smug git would shut up and let him die in peace, he wanted to think about the things in his life that mattered to him not this boy who even at sixteen had already become a monster. Harry regretted that Spencer would never know what had happened to him. Would Dean or Mrs Thomas write and tell Spencer that he'd been killed or would Spencer just keep sending letters until it became obvious that Harry wasn't going to reply. He hoped that someone told him, and that Spencer would know he hadn't just abandoned their friendship.

Harry blinked. Fawkes's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers. He felt sorry for the bird's distress.

"It isn't your fault Fawkes, you were amazing. You gave me a chance, it's just bad luck that I got bitten killing the Basilisk. I wouldn't have had any hope without you," Harry tried to reassure the phoenix.

Fawkes shook his head slightly and kept crying.

"I wish I could write a letter, say goodbye," Harry said sadly. "Would you take it to him if I can?" he asked searching through his pockets with his good hand for parchment and a quill or pencil.

Harry felt drowsy. Everything around him seemed to be spinning.

If this is dying, thought Harry, it's not so bad. Even the pain was leaving him, even his head which had surely been concussed from all the blows to the head, seemed to be getting better. But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound — except that there was no wound — Fawkes had healed him. Sent down here by Dumbledore or not the phoenix had proven himself to be a true ally against Voldemort.

"Get away, bird," said Riddle's voice suddenly. "Get away from him — I said, get away —" Harry raised his head. Riddle was pointing Harry's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet. Harry watched anxiously, relieved when his saviour didn't appear to be injured.

"Phoenix tears …" said Riddle quietly, staring at Harry's arm. "Of course … healing powers … I forgot …" He looked into Harry's face. "But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Harry Potter … you and me. …" He raised the wand — and Harry tried to cast a shield for whatever was coming but he wasn't at all sure the shield he felt forming would stop much more than a wet paper bag would have. He just didn't have enough energy for anything stronger. It seemed that Tom was going to get his desire. 'Third time lucky.' Harry thought cynically, staring Tom in the face. If he was going to die it wouldn't be like a coward cringing in the corner. He wondered whether killing Ginny when Tom first appeared would have done any good. For that matter would it help now or was it already too late?

Then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and something fell into Harry's lap — the diary.

For a split second, both Harry and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Harry seized the basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book. There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then — He had gone.

Ginny's wand fell to the floor with a clatter and there was silence.

Ink continued to drip from the diary where the basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it.

Harry looked around for Fawkes idly wondered whether Dumbledore was able to communicate with him. Was there such a thing as Phoenixtongue? If they could communicate, would Fawkes be willing to keep his secrets from the Headmaster if he asked? Or would asking just make things worse.

"Thank you Fawkes, We did it, Tom is gone and the school is safe again. Or as safe as it ever is which is not really all that safe for me," he said, wondering whether he should beg the amazing bird to keep his secrets.

Before he could decide what to do, Ginny moaned and tried to push herself up.

Harry sighed and reluctantly headed toward her.She lookedfrom the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Harry, in his blood and inksoaked robes, then to the diary in his hand.

Harry hoped that if she noticed the blasting spell damage to the chamber she would think that Voldemort had been responsible for most or all of it, and not question how he'd survived it. Still Tom was gone and Ginny had been unconscious the whole time so he could lie his ass off about it and everyone knew from quidditch how quick his reflexes were. Maybe he could convince her that he'd managed to dodge the blind snake and Tom's blasting curses.

She drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

"Tom Riddle was Voldemort! Did you know that?" Harry said angrily.

"Where is he?" Ginny asked anxiously. The cynical part of Harry wondered whether she was afraid he would hurt her or more afraid of what he might tell Harry.

"He's gone, I destroyed the diary and he screamed and vanished, and the basilisk is dead. It can't be set loose to attack anyone else," Harry said tiredly.

"You saved me!" Ginny said trying to smile. "You came for me!"

Ron dragged me down here to save his sister, he didn't know that you were behind all this. Why on earth didn't you hand the diary to your parents or Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall? Why didn't you tell someone you were in trouble when students started being attacked? You're lucky that none of them died!" Harry demanded.

"Harry — oh, Harry — I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy — it was me, Harry — but I — I s-swear I d-didn't mean to — R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over — and — how did you kill that — that thing? Did you really kill Riddle? You're so amazing!I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny wept.

"Telling me and Ron wouldn't have done any good. You needed to tell an adult, and you should have told them months ago," Harry scolded, as he reluctantly grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, wondering if he would get away with stunning and levitating her so he didn't have to listen to her try to whine and flirt at the same time.

"I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and — w-what'll Mum and Dad say?"

"They're going to be glad you're alive and upset that you didn't trust them or your brothers enough to go to them for help when you first noticed you were having blackouts when writing in your diary. They're going to be disappointed and think that you were an idiot for keeping writing in it once you noticed and even more for stealing it back off Hermione when you finally were rid of it. It was safe with Hermione, she wasn't writing in it, and she probably would have given it to McGonagall if she had it much longer," Harry said, not even trying to be sympathetic. He dragged her around the dead basilisk and back towards the tunnel hoping that Ron and Professor Idiot had managed to at least clear the blockage so they could get out of here, he didn't look forward to trying to climb back up the pipe they'd come down.

Ron had managed to make a hole and it didn't take Harry long to help make it big enough for the two of them to squeeze through even though he was exhausted. He decided he wouldn't even care if Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping him in bed for a week.

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

Please stay safe everyone.